Day 102: Fort Meigs, OH

We are still camped at Mary Jane Thurston State Park.  We stopped here yesterday for its proximity to Fort Meigs State Memorial in Perrysburg, OH, a place that I have wanted to visit for some time now.  It is a reconstruction of a 10 acre fort built during the War of 1812, as base from which we planned to recapture Detroit from the British.  The British didn't cotton to that idea, which led to their laying siege in early May of 1813.

The British set up their artillery on the northern shore of the Maumee River, hoping to pound the Yanks into submission.  That didn't go so well, due to the soft muddy ground upon which Fort Meigs was erected - a lot of their exploding shot sank in the mud, preventing the shrapnel from working as intended.  There was relatively little loss of life from artillery fire during the siege.

All the same, the American side couldn't have the British blocking their water access, so a request was made for reinforcements to come and disable the British artillery.  These new troops were Kentucky militia men, and among them was my third great grandfather, James Malone, Senior (b. abt 1776, d. 1866).  He was in Captain Joel Henry's Company, in a regiment commanded by Colonel Dudley.  The particular battle of interest during the Siege of Fort Meigs came to be known as Dudley's Defeat.

It was James' misfortune to have been captured by the British in this battle, which resulted in him being taken to the nearby British fort, Fort Maumee (aka Fort Miami).  As the prisoners approached the fort they saw Indians lined up on either side leading up the gate, where the prisoners were forced to run the gauntlet before reaching the imagined safety of the fort.  A brief account of this event by one of James' descendants says that he was beaten with clubs and whips, bearing the marks from this event to his dying day.  However, published accounts from other eyewitnesses say that tomahawks, pistols and other weapons were also used to kill or maim the victims, with the effect that nearly 40 prisoners perished just trying to get through the gauntlet.

Fifteen stars?  When the fort was built in 1813, there were 18 states!

Inside the fort, the killing frenzy continued, with several more killed, and almost no intervention from the British commanders.  It was only when Chief Tecumseh intervened that the bloodshed stopped.

This display shows Ft Miami at the top on the left bank,
and Ft Meigs just below center on the right bank.

A short time later, a prisoner exchange was arranged and the prisoners (who had been taken to Fort Detroit), were sent to the mouth of the Huron River, from whence they eventually found their way back home.

James survived for more than 50 fifty years after that fateful day, and only seven of his more than a dozen children managed to outlive him.

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After touring the fort, we took advantage of the shopping opportunities in the suburbs of Toledo, OH in order to continue to optimize how we store our gear in the van's cargo box.  The biggest unresolved inconvenience was our laundry basket.  We need to get it out of the van a couple of times a week (or more), and it would often shift forward during driving, which would interfere with me loading my bike in the van.  And the location of the tiered laundry hamper where Alea stores her cycling clothes was also less than optimal, as it interfered with access to her shoe organizer and we would have to move it every time we removed the laundry basket.

A piece of C-channel aluminum provides a new place to hang Alea's hamper.

We decided that by exchanging the location of Alea's hamper with our laundry basket things would work a lot better.  The two upper hamper compartments (containing mainly jerseys, shorts and gloves, could still be accessed with the basket in front of it.  And it is easy enough to move the basket out of the way for the rare times that she needs to grab heavier gear in the bottom compartment, for riding on cold and wet days.  Plus we can put her hamper on top of the laundry basket on those occasions where we need more room on the cargo floor for groceries (or even the occasional passenger).  

Easier access and more room for groceries!

So it was a rest day that was well spent, as there was even time to make sure that Lana got plenty of exercise.  We will continue our journey westward tomorrow...