Tag: Ohio River

“God willing and the Creek don’t rise.”

On By Phill GreenwaltIn Emerging Revolutionary War, Memory, Native American, Revolutionary War3 Comments

If you are from a certain geographical area of the United States the title of this post is a saying you have heard numerous times. Heck, you may even use it yourself. I’ll admit that I have found usage of this American style vernacular a few instances in my lifetime.

Did you know that there is one version that connects the popular saying to a figure in American history and has its origin dating back into the 18th century?

While reading a history of Osceola, I came across the mention of Benjamin Hawkins and as many of you know, did some internet research, consulted other books on the Seminoles, Creeks, and other Native Americans and the research took off from there. This is just a brief overview of Hawkins and his possible, albeit tenuous, connection to this saying.

A possible first mention of the saying above is attributed to Hawkins, whose name probably does not ring a bell for a large segment of people, historians included. Hawkins, born in North Carolina on August 15, 1754 into a family of six, was a gifted individual who attended the College of New Jersey, now known as Princeton University with an aptitude for linguistics, which apparently including learning Native American dialects.

Continue reading ““God willing and the Creek don’t rise.”” →

Captain James Willing’s Mississippi Raid, Part 2

On By Eric SternerIn Campaigns, Navy, Personalities, Slavery, Uncategorized, Western Frontier2 Comments

Bernardo_de_Gálvez (Wikimedia Commons(
Bernardo De Galvez, Governor of Louisiana (Wikimedia Commons)

Willing’s next target was the town of Manchack upon which he descended “so rapidly that they reached the Settlements without being discovered.”[1]  On the 23rd, Willing’s advance parties captured the 250-ton British sloop Rebecca, with sixteen 4-pounders and six swivels.[2]  It was a coup worthy of Navy SEALS.  Rebecca was normally a merchant vessel, but had been armed and sent upriver to contest the Rattletrap’s advance by protecting Manchack.  Instead, her presence had strengthened Willing’s force.  Captured while lying against the levy opposite the town, she only had fifteen men aboard when an equal or superior force of Americans struck about 7 am.[3]  With Manchack captured and the Rebecca renamed the Morris, Willing turned his attention to the end game at New Orleans, where he hoped to dispose of his booty and obtain supplies useful for the American war effort.

At New Orleans, the Congressional Agent, Oliver Pollock, was aware of Rattletrap’s advance and began making preparations to dispose of the property Willing and his raiders had taken, a growing portion of which constituted slaves.  He organized a small force under his nephew, Thomas Pollock, to go up river and help Willing bring his vessels and cargo into port.  Instead, Pollock and his men proceeded down the river, where they captured an English brig, the Neptune, eventually bringing her into New Orleans as a prize.[4]  (The British would argue strenuously that Neptune and a private boat were not in fact legal prizes.)

Continue reading “Captain James Willing’s Mississippi Raid, Part 2” →

The Journal of Nicholas Cresswell, Part 2

On By Eric SternerIn Civilian, Personalities, Uncategorized, Western Frontier5 Comments

An Englishman on the Frontier

Part 1 click here.

Nicholas Cresswell left Alexandria for the Illinois Country on March 16, 1775, his correspondence as yet unknown to the local Committee of Safety.  The Ohio River served as a highway to the west, so he headed for its origin at Pittsburgh.  Along the way, he stopped to visit the battlefield where French and Indian forces defeated Major General Edward Braddock in July, 1755.  Cresswell and his traveling companions found “great numbers of bones, both men and horses.  The trees are injured, I suppose by the Artillery…the greatest slaughter seems to have been made within 400 yards of the River…We could not find one whole skull, all of them broke to pieces in the upper part, some of them had holes broken in them about an inch diameter, suppose it to be done with a Pipe Tomahawk.”[i]

Monongaela Battle (Library of Congress)
Initial Dispositions of the Battle of the Monongahela.  Cresswell walked the battlefield on his way to Pittsburgh in 1775.  (Library of Congress)

Continue reading “The Journal of Nicholas Cresswell, Part 2” →

The Crawford Campaign, 1782: Birth of an Expedition

On By Eric SternerIn Battles, Campaigns, Emerging Revolutionary War, Militia (Patriot) Leadership, Revolutionary War, Uncategorized4 Comments

(part two of five)

Wiliam Crawford at 40 (Wikimedia Commons)
Colonel William Crawford (Wikimedia Commons)

In April, 1782 local leaders, in particular David Williamson, petitioned Irvine to lead a punitive raid to the Sandusky River aimed at the Wyandot and Hopocan’s Delaware.[i]  While he could provide no material support or leadership, Irvine approved the attack and laid down several conditions: that the expedition operate under laws governing the militia, that their purpose not extend beyond protecting the border, that the force assembled be large enough to accomplish the task, that the raiders equip and sustain themselves on horseback at their own expense, and that the expedition conduct the raid on behalf the United States with an eye toward bringing honor to the United States.  Perhaps he had the brutality of the Gnadenhutten raid in mind and sought to avoid a repeat.[ii]

This Sandusky raid did not reflect Irvine’s strategy of either reducing Detroit or bringing the tribes to battle; it was simply another American raid on Indian towns, which would likely be abandoned by the time the expedition arrived.  Irvine informed Washington that the expedition was going forward and did not seek permission.  Indeed, he may not have had the power to stop it given the restlessness of the local population on the frontier.  Rather that departing in early August, this raid would leave in late May, before the summer heat dried out the countryside.  Speed and surprise would be important, perhaps explaining Irvine’s requirement that every man be mounted, that the expedition dispense with artillery, and that it limit baggage and supplies to 30 days’ worth.[iii]  Irvine wrote Washington, “If their number exceeds three hundred, I am of opinion they may succeed, as their march will be so rapid they will probably in a great degree effect a surprise.”[iv]  But, it would be a risky enterprise.  Continue reading “The Crawford Campaign, 1782: Birth of an Expedition” →

The Crawford Campaign, 1782: American Strategy in Ohio, 1781-1782

On By Eric SternerIn Armies, Battlefields & Historic Places, Battles, Campaigns, Emerging Revolutionary War, Militia (Patriot) Leadership, Uncategorized3 Comments

General William Irvine
General William Irvine (Wikimedia Commons)

(part one of five)

War on the American frontier was generally brutal, but few incidents inflamed American passions in the country’s early history as much as the torture and execution of Colonel William Crawford in June 1782 in Northwestern Ohio.  Crawford’s death marked the emotional climax of another patriot attempt to neutralize British power at Detroit, generally exercised through Native American proxies who had their own reasons for fighting the Americans, and halt the raids against American settlers on the frontier.  The Huron and Wyandot who lived about the Sandusky River, and the Shawnee to their South on the Scioto and Miami Rivers, both occasionally aided by various clans of the Delaware and Mingo tribes, were particularly troublesome in the Ohio River valley.  Colonel Crawford’s campaign, which resulted in his death, was meant to punish the tribes for past raids to forestall future raids.

Continue reading “The Crawford Campaign, 1782: American Strategy in Ohio, 1781-1782” →

Visiting a Tragedy: Gnadenhutten, OH

On By Eric SternerIn Battlefields & Historic Places, Civilian, Emerging Revolutionary War, Preservation, Uncategorized1 Comment

Few places in the American Revolution evoke sorrow like Gnadenhutten, Ohio.  There, in March 1782, militia from Western Pennsylvania bludgeoned, scalped, and burned to death some ninety-six bound Indians who had adopted the Christian faith preached by missionaries from the church of the United Brethren.  Thirty-four of the victims were children.  Benjamin Franklin called the killings “abominable murders.”[1]

IMG_2540
The Chapel at Gnadenhutten with the 1872 memorial.  The Cooper’s Hut is to the right.  (ES Photo)

Continue reading “Visiting a Tragedy: Gnadenhutten, OH” →

Chief Cornstalk’s American Revolution (part two)

On By Eric SternerIn Battlefields & Historic Places, Emerging Revolutionary War, Personalities, Uncategorized2 Comments

Fort Randolph (Wikimedia Commons).jpg

Modern Replica of Fort Randolph in Point Pleasant, WV (Wikimedia Commons)

At Fort Randolph, erected on the old Point Pleasant battlefield, Captain Matthew Arbuckle decided to take matters with the Shawnee into his own hands.  He was already suspicious of the Shawnee in general, and Cornstalk in particular.  In 1776, he reported that Cornstalk had traveled to Detroit and was “Treating with the English.”[i]  Of course, this was William Wilson’s attempt to preserve the neutrality of tribes nearer Detroit by inviting them to a pace conference.  Cornstalk had gone on the mission to lend weight to Wilson’s voice with those tribes.  Arbuckle did not know that.  Continue reading “Chief Cornstalk’s American Revolution (part two)” →

Chief Cornstalk’s American Revolution (part one)

On By Eric SternerIn Emerging Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War, Uncategorized1 Comment

Chief Cornstalk (Wikimedia Commons).jpg

Chief Cornstalk after an 1870 rendering (Wikimedia Commons)

The American Revolution on the frontier was brutal.  Neutrality was difficult position to maintain, but some Native American tribes attempted it.  In the Ohio River Valley, it was particularly challenging.  But, for a time the Shawnee and Delaware tribes in modern-day Ohio sought to navigate their way between British power in Detroit and the Americans in Pittsburgh.  Chief Hokoleskwa, known as Cornstalk among the whites, was a leader of the pro-peace factions of the Shawnee.  Unfortunately, it got him killed. Continue reading “Chief Cornstalk’s American Revolution (part one)” →

General Edward Hand: The Squaw Campaign

On By erwguestIn Armies, Battles, Campaigns, Memory, Personalities, Revolutionary WarLeave a comment

Emerging Revolutionary War welcomes guest historian Eric Sterner. 

In February 1778, Brigadier General Edward Hand, commanding Continental forces at Fort Pitt on the American frontier, launched what may be one of the oddest campaigns of the American Revolution, more famous for its fecklessness than any benefit to the American war effort. Born in Ireland, Hand arrived in the colonies with the 18th Royal Irish Regiment as a surgeon’s mate.  He eventually left service in 1774 and set up a medical practice in Philadelphia.  The siege of Boston found him among the besiegers as Lieutenant Colonel of a Pennsylvania Rifle Battalion.  He fought under Washington on Long Island, at White Plains, and then Princeton, after which Washington successfully pursued the rank of Brigadier for him before sending him to Pittsburgh.[1]   Hand arrived in June, 1777, finding just two companies of the 13th Virginia.[2]   As was often the case on the frontier, Fort Pitt was under-garrisoned and Continental officers would have to scrounge constantly for troops, largely relying on local militia forces to defend the frontier.

Hand
General Edward Hand (courtesy of Ohio History Central)

Hand hoped to conduct a campaign to the west, driving toward British power at Detroit, but was unable to raise sufficient forces that fall.  Instead, he settled for a trip down the Ohio to ensure local garrisons were in proper order.[3]  Around Christmas, Hand received information that the British had established a small magazine on the Cuyahoga River, likely somewhere close to where it empties into Lake Erie in the current city limits of Cleveland.[4]  As December gave way to January and February, Hand resolved to do something about it.  At the beginning of the month, he wrote Colonel William Crawford, formerly of the 13th Virginia, currently of the Pennsylvania militia and a well-respected local leader, entreating the colonel to undertake an expedition:
“As I am credibly informed that the English have lodged a quantity of arms, ammunition, provision, and clothing at a small indian Town, about one hundred miles from Fort Pitt to support the savages in their excursions against the inhabitants of this and the adjacent counties, I ardently wish to collect as many brave, active lads as are willing to turn out, to destroy this magazine.  Every man must be provided with a horse, and every article necessary to equip them for the expedition, except ammunition, which, with some arms, I can furnish.” Continue reading “General Edward Hand: The Squaw Campaign” →