First Battle Site
War of 1812
The first war of 1812 on Ohio soil was fought here when about 60 exhausted citizen soldiers were ambushed by about 130 Indians on September 29. Twenty men held the Indians at bay in a cabin while the main body escaped by boat to Cedar Point. Two days later the defenders were rescues. Forty Indians including several chiefs and 8 Americans were killed in the skirmish, neither victory nor a defeat for either side..
..The Ohio Historical Society and Ottawa County Historical Society..
The War of 1812 was a war between Britain and France..Why then did this battle take place ?
War of 1812
My great great grandfather John Phillip Ohl participated in the War of 1812 and I
am a member of the Ohio Society of the National Society of the War of 1812.
The War of 1812 in the United States was an attempt of the British to
retake the colonies and their refusal to recognize our independence. As you
may know the most blatant action they took was to impress American seaman to
serve on British warships for they still considered Americans as British subjects.
A lot of the war occured in Ohio, southern Michigan, and southern
Ontario. The Battle of Lake Erie won by Commodore Perry was the most
significant event. However Ft. Meigs was an important Fort and Fallen
Timbers an important battle. The action on Marblehead peninsula was the
result of the British enlisting Indians to fight with them and drive the settlers out.
You are correct in stating the war was between Britain and France.
The British had won the territory as a result of the pre-revolutionary
French and Indian War and were trying to retake it. Many historians feel
the taxation leading to the revolution was an attempt to recoup the cost to
the British of defending the colonists against the French and Indians.
Actually Ohio was very important and central in the action of the War of 1812.
According to the plaque at the Lighthouse Keeper's Home a
Revolutionary War Veteran is buried in the cemetery at that site. As a
member of the Sons of the American Revolution, I would be interested in
learning who it was. If confirmed this might make another article for our
(Western Reserve Society[Cleveland]) newsletter. I wrote one on the
Fr. Avery Memorial which is on River Road north of Milan near the turnpike
and Mason Road. Two headstones are there, one of a Veteran of the
Revolutionary War and one of a Veteran of the War of 1812.
If you have further questions I will be gland to research them for
you. I look on the War of 1812 as the most important war directly involving Ohio
One item I should have mentioned
was Col. Croghans stand against the British attack on Ft. Stephenson in
Fremont (Lower Sandusky Rapids at the time). One of the web sites I found
on the subject felt it was the turning point of the land operations of the War of 1812.
Also your page shows a rank of Confedrate re-enactors, one of whom is
Bill Waggoner of Fremont, a member of our Sons of Union Veterans of the
Civil War camp. They celebrate Confederate Memorial Day which is different
than the national day and I think it is April 26th 2003
All those buried there are Confederate except one who was a Union deserter and buried
there after his execution. Another fact I learned at our last SUVCW camp
meeting that the bodies are not buried in the neat rows the headstones
indicate, some are under the fence and some may be under what is now the
parking area. Thank You Sir.. Dr. Robert E. Bartholomew - Sandusky, Ohio
Note....The Johnson's Island cemetery has had two different thermo scans of the area in the last year (2001) .
.It is quite certain there could as many as 300+ buried here and true they are not where the headstones say they are...
Roy S. Swartz
If you have information or a question about this page please contact me..
Work on page 5 / 10 / 03