The battle was fought on January 21st, the defeat was complete and overwhelming and Winchester's army was practically destroyed. This left the region of the Maumee entirely open to be overrun by the victorious British and Indians, and it was expected that they would soon make their appearance at the Rapids. A council of war was at once held, and it was determined to withdraw the remaining troops to Portage river, about twenty miles. east from the Maumee. Here a camp was established and the troops which were struggling forward as well as the remnant of General Winchester's command were concentrated. Within a few days such a force had been assembled as to enable General Harrison to move back to the Maumee. He did not, however, resume possession of the old camp, Fort Miami, which had been occupied before by Genera! Winchester's command, but a better place was selected some distance up the river from the old camp, and on the south side of the river where a strong fort was erected, which was named Fort Meigs in honor of the then governor of Ohio.

It was the intention to concentrate a force at Fort Meigs sufficient to maintain it against all attacks which might be made, but on account of the terrible roads through the wilderness, the expected recruits from Kentucky and Southern Ohio, did not arrive until the fort was besieged by the entire forces under Proctor and Tecumseh.

On the 1st day of April, 1813, the fort was invested on every side and an active siege was at once begun. The siege was carried on with great vigor, the Indians being incited to bravery by the promise of the monster General Proctor to deliver General Harrison into their hands should the siege be successful and the fort taken. However, after nine days of constant bombardment and conflict the siege failed and the British and Indian forces withdrew.

Immediately after the British and Indians had withdrawn from the Maumee, General Harrison hastened in person to southern and central Ohio to urge forward the troops that were being collected to meet and repel the British and Indian forces and drive them beyond the boundaries of the United States.

It was under these anxious and harassing circumstances that General Harrison came to Franklinton and held the confer

ence with the chiefs of the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanese and Senecas. The principal chiefs of these tribes had remained true to their obligations of neutrality under the Treaty of Greenville, but so many had been lured away from their tribal obligations by British pay and British bribes and promises, and such was their strength when commanded and guided by that able and energetic warrior Tecumseh that it became necessary for General Harrison to know as exactly as possible what proportion of the military strength of the powerful tribes would remain neutral, or if necessary join with the American forces. The chiefs assembled not only assured him that they would remain true to their obligations, but if called upon would join with the American forces. against the British.

They were not called upon to take an active part in the war, but as a matter of fact several of the chiefs of these four great tribes with a considerable number of their warriors of their own volition accompanied General Harrison in his campaign, which ended in the decisive battle of the Thames. Chief Tarhe (the Crane), Grand Sachem of the Wyandots, whose village was then near Upper Sandusky, Wyandot county, and who was spokesman for all the tribes at the conference at Franklinton, although seventy-two years of age, went with General Harrison on foot with a number of his warriors to Canada, and was present at the Battle of the Thames, although he took no active part in that battle.

This conference or council at Franklinton enabled General Harrison to know what he could depend upon as to these four neutral tribes, and greatly relieved him from uncertainty and anxiety and also greatly relieved the frontier settlers from the apprehensions and fears with which their minds and hearts were filled.

From the date of that conference the tide turned strongly in favor of the American forces. The English and Indians were again in force along the Maumee and in July, 1813, again besieged Fort Meigs, but it had been so strengthened and reinforced that they made no assault upon it but retired after a few days, Proctor by water to Sandusky bay, and the Indians through the forest to Sandusky river. This demonstration was quite formidable both by land and water. Fort Stevenson at the mouth of the Vol. XIV-9.

Sandusky river, where the City of Fremont now stands, was first besieged. Oh July 31st, 1813, the British approached Fort Stevenson by water and landed about 500 British troops with some light artillery, while Tecumseh with about 2,000 Indians besieged the fort on the land side.

It is not our purpose here to narrate the history of that assault. Suffice it to say here that Major Croghan, in command of the fort with but 160 men in the garrison, successfully repelled the assault of the British and Indians and compelled them to retire after heavy losses. This brilliant victory was succeeded on August 10th by the celebrated and world renowned victory of Commodore Perry, by which the British fleet on Lake Erie was destroyed. This enabled General Harrison to move his army across Lake Erie to the Detroit river and to invade Canada.

On the 5th of October he was able to bring the allied forces under Proctor and Tecumseh to issue at the battle of the Thames, where a complete victory was gained over the allied forces. Tecumseh was killed in that battle and Proctor ignominiously fled the field. His army was captured or destroyed. The battle of the Thames and the death of Tecumseh practically ended the war in the northwest, although the British still held a few small forts like Mackinac and St. Josephs around the head of Lake Huron; but these were powerless of any offensive operations.

The war, however, between the United States and Great Britain continued in full force and destructiveness for more than a year after the battle of the Thames, during which time the commerce of both nations upon the high seas was largely ruined. In August, 1814, the British gained possession of the City of Washington and burned and destroyed all the public buildings and threatened further serious destructions. A year had now elapsed since the battle of the Thames, during which time quiet had reigned among the Indians in the northwest.

The neutral tribes of the northwest remained favorable to the cause of the United States, and many of those who had served under Tecumseh a year before had become angered and embittered toward the British for want of their fulfillment of their promises so lavishly made before the war, and were anxious to assist in the war against their former allies.

In this situation the government authorized and directed General Harrison and General Lewis Cass to meet the Indian tribes in conference at Greenville, Ohio, where the "Treaty of Greenville" had been concluded nineteen years before. Accordingly the commissioners met at that place with the chiefs of the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanese, Senecas, Miamis, Pottawattomies and Kickapoos and concluded a treaty of peace as follows:

Article 2. The tribes and bands above mentioned, engage to give their aid to the United States, in prosecuting war against Great Britain, and such of the Indian tribes as still continue hostile, and to make no peace with either, without the consent of the United States.

The assistance herein stipulated for, is to consist of such a number of their warriors, from each tribe, as the president of the United States, or any officer having his authority therefor, may require.

Article 3. The Wyandot tribe, and the Senecas of Sandusky and Stony Creek, the Delaware and Shawanese tribes, who have preserved their fidelity to the United States, throughout the war, again acknowledge themselves under the protection of the said states, and of no other power whatever, and agree to aid the United States in the manner stipulated for in the former article, and to make no peace but with the consent of the said states.

Article 4. In the event of the faithful performance of the conditions of this treaty, the United States, will confirm and establish all the boundaries between their lands, and those of the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanese, and Miamis, as they existed previously to the commencement of the war." Thus the Franklinton conference was embodied in treaty form.

No call was made for Indian help under this treaty, as on December 24th, 1814, the commissioners of the United States and the commissioners of Great Britain concluded the Treaty of Ghent, putting an end to the war. This second Treaty of Greenville was the last peace or war treaty ever entered into between the United States and any of the Indian tribes within the boundaries of the State of Ohio; and with the exception of an unimportant treaty concluded at Detroit the following year, the last made east of the Mississippi.

TARHE-THE CRANE.

EMIL SCHLUP, UPPER SANDUSKY,

Probably no other Indian chieftain was ever more admired and loved by his own race or by the outside world. He was either a true friend or a true enemy. Born near Detroit, Michigan, in 1742, he lived to see a wonderful change in the great Northwest. Being born of humble parentage, through his bravery and perseverence, he rose to be the grand sachem of the Wyandot nation. This position he held until the time of his death, when he was succeeded by Duonquot. Born of the Porcupine clan of the Wyandots and early manifesting a warlike spirit, and was engaged in nearly all the battles against the Americans until the disastrous battle of Fallen Timbers, in 1794. Tarhe saw that there was no use opposing the American arms, or trying to prevent them planting corn north of the Ohio river. At that disastrous battle, thirteen chiefs fell and among the number was Tarhe, who was badly wounded in the arm. The American generally believed that the dead Indian was the best Indian, but Tarhe sadly saw his ranks depleted, and at once began to sue for peace. General Wayne had severely chastised the Indians, and forever broke their power in Ohio. Accordingly, on January 24, 1795, the principal chiefs of the Wyandots, Delawares, Chippewas, Ottowas, Sacs, Pottowattomies, Miamis, and Shawnees met. The preliminary treaty with General Wayne at Greenville, Ohio, in which there was an armistice, was the forerunner of the celebrated treaty which was concluded at the same place on August 3, 1795. A great deal of opposition was manifested to this treaty by the more warlike and turbulent chiefs, as this would cut off their forays on the border settlements.

Chief Tarhe always lived true to the treaty obligations which he so earnestly labored to bring about. When Tecumseh sought a great Indian uprising, Tarhe opposed it, and awakened quite an enmity among the warlike of his own tribe, who afterward