Perrysburg High School - Black and Gold Yearbook (Perrysburg, OH)

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i929 Q BLACK AND GOLD, 5 1929 about May 1, while Proctor was rebuilding Port Miami. Proctor's forces out- numbered I-Iarrison's, and they had more ammunition. Word came to Harrison that General Clay was sending aid from Fort Defiance. Harrison gave directions as to the plan these forces were to take, but Col. Dudley, in command, after spiking the British guns, disregarded orders and pursued the Indians into an ambuscade prepared for him, where all but 170 of his 866 men perished. After several days, t-he Indians deserted the British, and on May 9, Proctor gave up the seige and returned to Canada. In July, he again attacked Fort Meigs. Again a two days attempt to take the Fort by strategy, he gave it up. In 1810, Amos Spafford was given a commission as deputy postmaster of Miami in Erie District. In 1816, the post office at Fort Meigs was the only one between the River Raisin and Fremont and between Maumee Bay and Chicago. In 1816, the Federal Government sent Alexander Bourne to select a townsite at the foot of the Maumee Rapids. Deputy United States surveyors then laid out the town. Mayor Spafford named it Perrysburg at the suggestion of the following letter, written by Josiah Meigs: As you will have a town on the Miami of the Erie, it will be well to think of the name it is to bear,The act does not give it a name. Who to christen it? I wish you would think on the subject, and let me have your wishes. For my part, I will barely suggest to you Eight

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1929 5 BLACK AND GOLD Q 1929 of Fallen Timbers. It was in this battle that Turkey Foot was mortally wound- ed. He was standing on Turkey Foot Rock, encouraging his people, when he was shot. Long afterwards the Indians would carve turkey's feet on the rock, in memory of the chief who died there. The British at Fort Miami would not support the Indians after their defeat, and Wayne followed the tribes, burning their villages. After this battle the Indians signed a Treaty of Peace with the United States. Soon after 1807, settlers began to gather at the foot of the Rapids of the Maumee. By a Treaty with the Indians in 1808, a road was created, runnfing from the settlement on the Maumee, to Lower Sandusky, or Fremont. In 1826 the road was completed. With the coming of the War of 1812, Wm, Hull was placed in command of the Ohio forces. After his cowardly surrender at Detroit, William Henry Harrison was put in his place. The Indians were gathering on the north shore of the Maumee Bay in 1813 when Harrison wrote: I am erecting here a pretty strong fort fMeigsj , capable of resisting field artillery at least. The troops will be placed in a fortified camp covered on one flank by the fort. This is the best position that can be taken to cover the frontier, and the small posts in the rear of it, and those above it on the Maumee and its tributaries. The force placed here ought, however, to be strong enough to encounter any that the enemy may detach against the fort above. About March 1, 1813, word came that General Proctor, aided by the Indians was to attack Fort Meigs. The British were to take the Miami side of the river, while the Indians were to attack from the Fort Meigs side. The attack began Seven x

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i929 3 BLACI2-AND GOLD 3 1929 that, if it would be named Perryville, or Perrytown-or in some other form, which may always remind us of the victory of Erie-it would be a good policy. Although there had been a settlement here, the War of 1812 had destroyed it, leaving only charred cabins and the graves of those who had not fled. Soon large boats began to come, bringing passengers, salt, merchandise and lumber and taking back a store of furs, fish and corn. Homes, stores and sawmills appeared. The town fl-ourished in spite of its rivals, Orleans and Maumee, Maumee was then the county seat of Wood County. In 1822 the county seat was moved to Perrysburg, in spite of the protests of Perrysfburg's rivals. ln the years from 1828 to 1840, there was as much commercial business trans- acted at Perrysburg as at any other Lake Erie port, except Cleveland and Buffalo. The furs, meats and other raw materials of the surrounding regions of Indiana, Michigan and Ohio were forwarded from -here, and in return, manufactured articles from the east were distributed from here. 'iSpaffords Exchange, established in 1822-23 by Samuel Spafford is important in the town's history. The stories of its bell and its distinguished guests from time to time have contributed much to the traditions of Perrysburg. Although Perrysburg was an important port, the building of ships drawing more water, and the failure of the Government to dredge the River up to Perrysburg caused its importance as a commercial center to decline. Nine nz' W, i .4