Friday, December 22, 2017

Good Ole Kentucky Bourbon at the Bottom of the Auglaize

 Kentucky Bourbon at the Bottom of the Auglaize
APRIL 27, 1813


If you've ever canoed the Auglaize River between Wapakoneta and Fort Jennings I'm sure we'll agree on 2 things; you'll spend a lot of time dragging your boat over the shallows and it has what seems like an endless number of hairpin curves.

We know some of the boats carrying supplies from Amanda to Defiance and beyond were pretty large. In fact some carried as much as 60 barrels of flour. Now I'm not certain how big those barrels were at that time, but 60 of anything is a lot to transport.

Nothing has been found to date that accurately describes the types of boats built at Fort Amanda. We do know they built pirogues (dug out canoes) and used those for travel and shipping small shipments of materials.


Pirogues


Because of the descriptions of quantities shipped, its very possible they used "punt" boats like that shown in the picture below.


Punt Boat

A traditional punt is about 24 feet long and 3 feet wide. The sides are about 18 inches deep. Both the bow and the stern are cut square, with a long shallow "swim"; meaning the underside of the boat slopes very gently at the front and the back.

So Where is the whiskey?
On Tuesday, April 27th, 1813, Ensign Schillinger wrote in his journal that 2 boats carryin flour and whiskey had sunk.

Tuesday the 27th
This morning Showery. busy weighing Meat for the regiment all hands Loading boats -- got them ready for the voyage to the rappids. The boats 7 in number push,d of a 9 A.M. commanded by Capt Price of the regulars, the regiment of Militia march,d by land, Mr Picket our comissary who started with the boats returned at 2 P.M. with the unpleasant inteligence that 2 of the boats were sunk. One flour


Schillinger wrote that 7 boats left Ft. Amanda at 9 o'clock the morning of the 27th of April,1813. At least 2 of the boats were carrying flour and whiskey. Around 2 o'clock that afternoon, Mr. Picket (the forts Commissary agent) came back to the fort with news 2 of the boats had sunk;1 carrying flour and the other whiskey. Now for my theory on where I think the boats san

Some factors that may have contributed to this accident
1. Fort Meigs was under siege by the British at the time. Col. Dudley and his regiment of the Kentucky troops was on his way to support. (he never made it and he and most of his men were killed before they got there) Search Dudey's defeat on the net for all the gory details. In other words, Dudley was in a h

2. Dudley and his infantry left Amanda the morning of the 27 and began their march toward Meigs. Remember, they were in a hurry

3. We know there at least 50 barrels of flour being shipped. They had been brought up the day before from Fort Logan.

4 The 7 boats carrying the flour, whiskey and other supplies was commanded by a Captain Price of he Regulars. I think it a fair assumption to say that there was also a sense of urgency for Captain Price to get his 7 boats to Meigs as quickly as possible.

Now Consider This
First of all it had been raining for several days prior to the accident. Schillinger wrote that the rains actually began on April 21st (almost a week earlier) and had continued on to the 27th and some were thunderstorms.

(Personal note): I've seen the Auglaize after several days of heavy rains and I guarantee you there is no way I'd go out on that river in any kind of boat let alone one loaded with barrels.)

We know 50 barrels of flour were brought up from Fort Logan (Wapakoneta) April 26, the day before the accident so the guess is those 50 barrels were part of the shipment.

So Where Did The Boats Sink?
Clue: Schillinger wrote that the shipment left Amanda at 9 that morning and at 2 o'clock Mr. Picket came back to the fort to report the accident. This is a time span of about 5 hours.

To pinpoint the site of the accident, lets look at the timetable in reverse.

We know Mr. Picket left Amanda by boat; ""Mr Picket our comissary who started with the boats returned at 2 P.M. with the unpleasant inteligence that 2 of the boats were sunk"

The sinking site couldn't have been too close to Fort Jennings otherwise Picket would have gone to Fort Jennings for help rather than returning to Amanda. It is 23 miles from Amanda to Jennings by water.



For the sake of argument lets say that the sinking took place before the mid-way point between Jennings and Amanda by river (near the bridge crossing the Auglaize on Piquad Rd. (Allen county). In other words, the boats carrying the flour and whiskey probably sank before they reached that spot.

Fort Amanda to Fort Jennings Midway Point by River

While the Auglaize River was running fast (because of the rains), one might assume that the loaded punt boats were traveling pretty quickly as well. However, its important to keep in mind that the Auglaize river is one of continuous hair turns so while they the boats could travel fast on a straight run, a crooked river would be much more difficult to navigate especially since the boats were loaded.

We know Mr. Picket didn’t go back to the accident site and instead stayed at Fort Amanda because on the 29th Schillinger gave him letters to take back to Cincinnati. He probably either rode a horse or walked back to Amanda from the site and in no particular hurry because he wasn’t going back. There would have been some time lapse at the accident site so for the sake of argument let say he “stuck around” for an hour.

Being a commissary agent, the assumption is Mr. Picket was an older gentleman perhaps in his late 30s or ever older. According to the internet, the average walking speed of a younger individual is 3.3 mph The average of an older individual is 2.9 so for the sake of argument lets split the difference and say Mr. Picket traveled at 3 mph on his way back to the fort. If Mr. Picket had borrowed a horse the speed of a horse with a rider is approx. 4 mph. So regardless of how Picket returned his return speed was about 3 miles per hour.

Now let’s assume that despite the fast running river, the heavily laden punt boats, taking into considerations the extremely number of hair pin curves could only travel an average of 2 miles per hour.

Pinpointing the Spot
The Auglaize River miles from Fort Amanda to Fort Defiance is 70 miles and it was a 3 day trip. This averages out to 23 miles a day. Using an average of 10 hours of travel time to day means the approx. speed on the river was 2.3 miles per hour.

The total time span from when Picket let Ft. Amanda until he returned was 5 hours. Assuming he spent an hour at the accident site, means we need to account for 4 hours time to help us find where the boats may have sunk. The only known factor Is when the boats left and when Picket returned. The timeframe may have looked like this:

The boats left Ft. Amanda at 9 o’clock. Traveling for 2 1/2 hours at 2.3 mph putting them 5.75 miles from the fort when the accident happens around 11:30. If Picket stayed at the accident site for approx. 1 hour and left around 12:30, traveling at 3 miles per hour he would have made the almost 6 mile trip back to Amanda around 2 o’clock that afternoon which agrees with what Schillinger wrote (returned at 2 P.M).

So where is the spot on the river 5.75 miles from Fort Amanda


The spot 5.75 Rive rmiles From Fort Amanda


NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS AND THE BAD NEWS
In case you’re giving some thought to trying to rescue those barrels of whiskey from the “briney deep,” you're lucky because you have at least 3 things in your favor.

1. Each soldier received 1 gill of whiskey a day. There are 32 gills in a gallon so a 53 gallon barrel would have had enough whiskey for 1696 rations. Considering the size of the garrison at Fort Meigs and the number of Kentucky troops there, a barrel might have lasted 1 to 2 days. That said, we can assume that they didn't ship single barrels at a time and that there were several barrels of Whiskey that went overboard. According to an article on the internet, barrels of whiskey spilled overboard would not float, they would sink.. That's good news.

2. If the barrels contained 25 gallons, they would weigh almost 200 pounds. If they were the 53 gallon size, they would have weighed almost 425 pounds. Trying to haul them up to the surface, even in a shallow stream would have taken a Herculean effort, so it is very possible at least 1 barrel couldn't be rescued.

NOW THE BAD NEWS
       Whiskey                         Plus                   Tobacco         =    rotgut whiskey

If you are fortunate enough to find a barrel of whiskey at the bottom of the Auglaize River filled with 200 year old whiskey, don't start celebrating too fast. The contents weren't good old Kentucky Bourbon, it was good old Ohio rotgut whiskey (which they flavored with tobacco to give it a better taste.).   So if you find exactly where the barrels sank, even if they did raise those that fell overboard, with all the activities that would have taken place, its possible that some artifacts were lost during the salvage operation.  To be honest,  I'd rather have a rusty 210 year old barrel hoop than the whiskey anyway.  Happy Hunting!

Monday, December 4, 2017

Ft. Amanda's Journalist After the War


Ensign Schillinger's Life After the War


Schillinger passed through the gates of Ft. Amanda for the last time on August 3, 1813. He stayed overnight at St. Marys and the following day, Aug. 4, he continued on to Piqua and spent the night at the Statler family home. The following day, Aug. 5 th, he continued on through Staunton, Dayton, Centerville and spent the night with the Tibble family. The next day, Aug. 6, he rode on to his wife's Uncle's home near Mason, Ohio. He spent a short time there then continued stopping at the White Horse Tavern then continued on to Montgomery, arriving at the home of Lodowick Weller on Cooper St.

Home of the Lodowick Weller Family
7795 Cooper Rd.
Montgomery, Ohio

There's no way of knowing but I like to think Schillinger spent at least a couple minutes talking with the Weller children. After all, he hadn't seen any children for nearly 2 months. Of course, no one had any idea at the time that the Weller's 18 month old son John, would eventually grow up to become the 5th Governor of the State of California. John was also the same age as Schillingers daughter Philomelia. One wonders if Governor Weller ever remembered the day that a soldier stopped at his daddy's house.

Governor John Weller
1858 - 1860



The original plan was for Schillinger to meet Captain Hosbrook and Lt. Davis at the Statler home north of Piqua. Not knowing if he missed them or not Schillinger apparently decided to continue on. Both men would be passing through Montgomery on their way home so he left their baggage with the Wellers. After freshening up a bit, he thanked the family for their hospitality then followed the trail on home, arriving there shortly after sundown.


Homes Of Hosbrook, Schillinger and Davis

Alasanna Armstrong Schillinger
Wife of William Schillinger

Schillinger arrived home shortly after sundown on Aug. 6th. Waiting for him was his wife Alasanna, his two children, 3 year old Nathaniel (named for Alasanna's father) and 18 month old Philamelia (named for his mother who died in New Jersey in 1798 ). His third child, Elizabeth was born April 27, 1814. Yep, 8 1/2 months later.

He makes no mention of it but its probably a safe bet that his in-laws were waiting for him as well. His mother died in 1793 while William was still living in New Jersey and because his obituary states only that "he (William) walked from New Jersey to Plainville, Ohio (Cincinnati area) around 1805" with no mention of his father coming with him, its probably safe to assume that his father remained in New Jersey.


Cincinnati - 1800

Location of the Schillinger home then and now






Entrance to the Great American Ballpark off Joe Nuxall Way

A Very Active and Civic Conscientious Citizen
William and Alasannas family continued to grow. Their children were:
William Schillinger Jr. born Aug. 18, 1816
Frances Schillinger born Aug. 22, 1818
Benjamin Harris Schillinger born Oct. 1, 1820
John Stites Schillinger born July 2, 1823.

Sometime between 1813 and 1820, the Schillinger's moved from Plainville into Ward 3 in Cincinnati. The home was located at the intersection of 2nd and Sycamore. The city directory listed Schillingers occupation as "Cooper" (barrel maker).

In 1820, Schillinger served as Clerk of Courts for Hamilton County. He later
joined the "Protection Society No. 1" and served as it's treasurer before coming it's chief, a position he held for many years. The society was made up of volunteers who rushed to fires alongside the firemen, their job was to prevent people from getting too close to the fires and also to help prevent looting. They wore a special emblem on their hats to identify them. His son William jr. followed in his fathers footsteps. In 1841 he became an officer in the Cincinnati Fire Guards.

William sr. also served in the 24th Ohio State House of Representative and again in the 34th session. The family is recorded as being one of the pioneers of Hamilton County, Ohio. He also served on several community organization boards and rose to the rank of Colonel in the Ohio militia. William was also a member of the first city council convened in Cincinnati.

William's wife Alasanna, died in 1834. He continued to live in the original home until he sold it to his son sometime befoe 1843. The 1843 Cincinnati directory shows that William had moved to Walnut st. between 6th and 7th streets.



Walnut st. between south from 7th street.
Schillinger lived in this block.

Socialite Daughter

Frances Schillinger Hinkle
Daughter of William and Alasanna Schillinger

The Schillinger's 5th child,daughter Frances married Anthony Hinkle, a grocer who owned a business at the corner of Columbia and Vine sts. Anthony Hinkle went on to become a book binder than eventually a book publisher and distributor of book to Cincinnati area schools. The Hinkles became very wealthy and moved to the very prestigious Mt. Auburn section of Cincinnati. Census information givea us a good indication of how the Hinkle family fortune developed over time.

1850 - Hinkle family and a housekeeper
1860 - Hinkle family and a housekeeper, a servant and a butler
1870 - Hinkle family and a housekeeper, 2 servants and a butler
1880 - Hinkle family and a cook, servant, laundress, coachman and a butler.



The Hinkle Household Stood at 2314 Auburn Ave, Cincinnati, an area of Mt. Auburn considered as a premier place to live. The home looked like this.


William Schillinger's Last Home Mt. Auburn area of Cincinnati

Schillinge's Neighbor

This Hinkle home no longer exists but the home shown above was standing when the Hinkle home was built. No doubt it would have been out of my price point.

In addition to the Hinkles being very wealthy they were also philanthropists who contributed large amounts of money to many organizations in Hamilton County. They are too numerous to mention here but a quick internet search will show readers the ways this family contributed to Hamilton County.

NOTE: The average income the year the Schillingers granddaughter was married was $430 a year. Her wedding dress cost $600 ($2500 in today's value)or the equivalent to year and a half wages for the average person. Put into perspective, with today's average year wage of $42,000, the dress would cost over $60,000 dollars. It must have been a beauty.

William Schillingers Death
William moved in with his daughter and her family sometime before 1860, his wife Alasanna having died in 1834. Finally on March 17, 1871, after a short illness, William Schillinger died at the age of 90.

One obituary in a Cincinnati paper reads:

                DEATH OF COL. SCHILLINGER

On yesterday afternoon at the residence of his son-in-law A. H. Hinkle, Esq., on Mount Auburn, one of our oldest citizens – Col. Wm. SCHILLINGER – departed this life at the advanced age of 89 years. Col. SCHILLINGER was born on Cape Island, New Jersey in 1782 and emigrated to the West in 1802, having walked the whole distance from Philadelphia to this city. Shortly after locating here, he removed to the settlement at Plainville, and while there married to Miss ALASANNA ARMSTRONG, of that place. In 1812 he again took up his residence in Cincinnati, and remained here until the hour of his death. During the whole of his residence in Cincinnati, COL. SCHILLINGER has been closely identified with its history. In his early manhood, and for beyond his middle life, he was “part and parcel” of the municipal government of the city, and was a member of the first City Council convened. In the very early times, when it was necessary to look after the Indians on our immediate borders, 

COL. SCHILLINGER volunteered as a member of Capt. D. Hosbrocck’s company, of Gen. Wm. H. Harrison’s command and performed a tour of duty against the Indians of the Maumee river. On the return of this expedition on the formation of the militia (which in those days meant active duty), COL. SCHILLINGER was elected successively, Ensign, Captain, Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel, and commissioned by Governors Huntington, Worthington and Ethan Allen Brown.

Most of our old citizens will recollect a society identified with our Fire Department called “Protection Society No. 1,” whose members comprised the very best of our citizens. Of this COL. SCHILLINGER was for years Chief. Of this trust he was very proud. The duty of the company was to protect property at fires. They wore white badges on their hats, inscribed “Protection,” and usually took possession of the immediate vicinity of the fire, keeping the people from crowding the firemen at their work. Among the Colonel’s papers, carefully preserved, was found a list of members of this early organization. As a reminder of those days, we give the names:

COL. SCHILLINGER was early identified with the church, and was an Elder for many years of the Rev. Joshua Wilson’s First Presbyterian Church, and was one of the corporators of Lane Seminary. He was ever a consistent Christian, and was rewarded by a long life. He passed away peacefully and without pain and has, without doubt, gone to the reward promised to those who are “faithful unto the end.”
Schillinger – On Friday March 17, at 2 o’clock, after a short illness, Col. Wm. Schillinger, in the 90th year of his age.Funeral on Monday, March 20th at 2 P.M., residence of his son-in-law, A.H. Hinkle, Mt. Auburn. Friends of the deceased and members of the Pioneer Association are invited to attend. Carriages will leave the office of the Undertaker, Mr. Estep, corner of Seventh and Central Avenue, at half-pas
Internment: Burial in Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Oh
Record No. 22018
Public notice of death Mar 20, 1871
Disease: Old age
Interment Apr. 1, 1871 - 2 PM
Lot owner: Cones, Schillinger & Asjcraft (Ashcraft?)
Parents name: William & ? Schillinger
Size and kind of grave: Plain 6.10 x 28 in.
Undertaker: Estep & Meyer
T. B. Estep and A. H. Hinkle

Charges; Vt (vault) $1, Grave $4 rent $1





Next time you're in Cincinnati, if you get a chance stop by Spring Grove Cemetery. It's just off I75 and the cemetery is like entering the Roman Forum. It is one of the most beautiful cemeteries you'll ever see.. William and his family are buried in LN Garden Section 52, lot 196.

As a young man, William would have had no way of knowing how important his writings would be to readers two centuries after he wrote them. He gave us the key that unlocked the gates of Ft. Amanda so we could go inside. In doing so, he introduced us to ordinary people, heros in their own ways who never made the history books and who history forgot. If readers of the blogs this past 24 weeks have learned anything it's this. Next time you find yourself having to dispose of belongings of a deceased relative, when you get to the old, undated, unlabled,bent and crumpled photos and letters, and think, "I don't know any of these people so why would I want to keep them," treat them as treasurers. They were kept for a reason and in they're in that condition because they were very special to someone who probably looked at and read them many many times during their lives. "So, Dave, just how long am I supposed to keep them?" Forever.

David Johnson


  

Sunday, December 3, 2017

Fort Amanda's Boat Building Camp


The Auglaize Armada
Where Was The Boat Builders Camp?
(and the downside of "over analyzing")



First a confession. First of all, I've been researching the history of Fort Amanda for over 40 years. What I've learned during that time is that by trying to create a holistic picture of something, its easy to overlook minor details, that only the most inquisitive individuals would care about much less pursue.
That said, every once in a while, I'll set back and think to myself, "How did they do that?", or, "Why did they do that, and even such bizarre the topics as "where were the toilets?" (which I covered in an earlier blog - no pun intended).

Another of those questions arose a few days ago when I began to wonder, "there were a lot of people building boats across the river from the fort and they were there for several weeks; where was their camp?" Before I challenge a reader to pursue this, lets first look at what was going on in that camp.

First of all it appears as though most of the boat construction was done by hired contractors; probably civilian craftsmen from the Piqua or nearby. When work was light at the fort, the some of the men were sent across the river to help with the construction.

The Boat Construction Site. One question that has plagued Ft. Amanda lovers for years has been, "What kind of boats did they build at Fort Amanda, and how big were they?" Before we can answer that question, we need to consider the type of river the boats would be navigating.

The Auglaize River was the interstate of it's day. It was used for centuries before the War of 1812 by Indians, trappers and armies going into Kentucky. The site at Fort Amanda was the perfect debarkation point for moving men and materials northeast cross country from the post at St. Marys to the Auglaize.
General Anthony Wayne referred to river at the Ft. Amanda area as “head of Auglaize,” or “head of navigable waters” because the water at that spot is deep enough there to support watercraft carrying heavy loads.

Another consideration is that fact that the Auglaize River is a very winding river with a large number of hairpin turns and narrowing river widths. It can also be a treacherous river to navigate at certain times of the year, particularly in the spring. It was not uncommon for boats to overturn in the currents and their lading lost.

One long held tradition states that some of the watercraft, particularly rafts, were large enough for Commodore Perry to pull his ships up onto rafts and float his ships over a sandbar on Lake Erie on his way to fight the British. Calculating the weight of wood and the approximating the size of rafts, even small rafts could have weighed up to 2 or 3 tons. Did Perry use them to get his ships over sandbars? That has never been proven, but it does give a relative idea of how large the rafts may have been.

River Rafts



River Raft

Logs have been lashed together for the bottom and some added a wall on the sides to protect the men from sniper fire from the riverbank. I used the following dimensions to calculate the weight of a raft using 6” diameter oak logs 20 feet long, and 18 logs lashed side by side. This would create a craft 20 feet long and approx. 9 feet wide. Using oak as the wood, the weight of such a craft would be 6,300 pounds. I would argue that with men using push poles, they could navigate a river like the Auglaize, however it would be, in my opinion very difficult..

What Kinds of Boats Did They Build At Ft. Amanda?
River Pirogues We know that they used canoes/pirogues to travel back and forth between forts and for transporting small quantities of materials, however, Ft. Amanda was being used to ship large quantities on a regular basis to the forts to the north. They needed something much larger than canoes for that purpose. To accomplish that the army contracted with a civilian company to have their men help in building the boats. Perhaps one clue as to size and type can be found in Ensign Schillinger’s journal on April 27, 1813.

“ The boats 7 in number pushed of a 9 A.M. commanded by Capt Price of the regulars.”


The number of men in a company varied throughout the war but the average seems to have been between 70 and 100 privates. Using an average of 85 plus 5 officers, means we’ll assume Price left Amanda with 90 men. Schillinger tells us they used 7 boats. They didn’t need to carry food as they’d be stopping at forts along the way, (Jennings and Brown) before they got to Defiance, so they probably only needed 1 for other supplies. This leaves 6 boats to transport 90 men or 15 men per boat.

It's very possible the boats built at Fort Amanda for troop transport looked like the colonial military bateau (shown below).

Schillinger also tells us on several occasions that they had to “turn” the boat. The practice was once a boat was finished, it was literally sunk in the river for a few days then raised and “turned over’ emptying the water. This caused the wood to shrink thus sealing the space between planks and making the craft more leak proof.

What Kinds of Tools Did They Use? Perhaps that question is best answered using the information found in the letter below describing the types of tools a group of boat builders were instructed to take with them on their next construction job.

December 19th, 1812

By your request I send you the following men and tools attached to my company agreeable to your orders on the 10th Instant

Robert S. More & Ely Edmonson & William Whiteman and John Forquer

Men you will proceed early on the morning of the 11th Instant with the United States waggon with _________ tools and other United States property to General Perkins Camp at Saint Duskey (Sandusky) and when you arrive there, you will report yourselves and tools to General Perkens or officer commanding. At said camp, the following is the number of tools delivered by me for said party out of the stock of the United States tools that is under my care and ________.

List of tools and names as follows;
2 Broad axes 2 Whip saws
1 Falling ax 3 files, one flat, one half round and one square
1 Top maul 1 Bevel wooden
2 Four planes 1 Inch and a half auger
2 Smoothing planes 4 Chisels of different sizes
1 Jack plane 2 Iron wedges
2 Spike gumblets 1 Close tent
1 Roll 1 Hollow plane
1 Iron square 2 Camp Kettles
2 Caulking irons and mallets 1 Hammer
2 Hand saws 1 Drawing house (Shaving horse?)
2 Auger screws and pod, ¼ 1 Solel (?)
1.Shaving horse: Similar to a saw horse.

T
he Auglaize Armada In April 1813, General William Henry Harrison arrived at Fort Amanda with 300 troops on his way to the besieged fort near Perrysburg, Oh.; Fort Meigs.
The journalist at Fort Amanda (Ensign William Schillinger) wrote in his journal on April 9th;

 All hand busyly employ,d preparing to Desend the River, Making oars, etc. at half past 11 A.M., all Embark,d. on one company of Regulars
The significance of this entry is it gives us some clue as to the size of the boats leaving Amanda that day. We know that Captain Price, in addition to the 7 boats he needed to transport his 85 men, he also needed boats to carry supplies, ammunition, baggage, etc. In his case he had 2 or 1 for every 7 boats.

Using the figure 15 men per boat and 1 supply boat for every 7, means that for Harrison to transport 300 men, he would have needed between 23 – 25 boats. Regardless of whatever the final number was, it was without a doubt the largest armada of watercraft ever to navigate the Auglaize River before or since.

As I pointed out in a previous blog the boat building area was on the east side of the river a short distance south of the fort in the area of the present day canoe livery. Mounds used for constructing boats were still visible into the 1970s, but nearly all traces of them are now gone. The boat builders consisted of soldiers from Amanda along with private contractors hired for that purpose. A man named Captain Perry oversaw the operations.

The "Mounds"
This of course leads to the question, how did they cut the wood into planks. Two possibilities. The first is that they created a saw pit. A saw pit is exactly that, a pit. One man stands at the bottom of the pit and another at the top and they use a large two handled saw to saw up and down, cutting the wood into planks. There is nothing to indicate that such a pit was used at Amanda so another possibility is that the planks were cut elsewhere and shipped to Amanda where the men assembled the boats.

Saw Pit

Where Was the Boat Builders Camp?


We know from Schillingers journal that they were building boats at this site from March 28 to May 16. During that time the weather was:


17-Apr
Clear and pleasant

18-Apr
Pleasant

19-Apr
Warm and rainy

20-Apr
Thunderstorms and lightening

21-Apr
Cold and rainy

22-Apr
Cold and light showers

23-Apr
Heavy showers

24-Apr
Clear and pleasant

25-Apr
Clear and pleasant

26-Apr


27-Apr
Showers in morning

28-Apr
Heavy rain and thunder

29-Apr
Heavy showers

30-Apr
Clear and cool

1-May
Clear and pleasant

2-May
Pleasant

3-May
Cloudy 

4-May
Light showers

5-May
Drizzly weather

6-May
Clear

7-May
Clear and cool

8-May
Cloudy drizzley

9-May
Rainy

10-May
Clear and pleasant

11-May
Clear and pleasant

12-May
Rain

13-May
Clear and pleasant

14-May
Clear and cool

15-May
Clear and cool with frost

16-May
Clear and pleasant
No. of Days
4
Unrecorded
4
13
Clear and pleasant
13
18
Rain
18
5
Stormy
5
8
Cool or cold
8
2
Other
2


50

Overthinking vs Analyzing - a very thin line
As I was analyzed the weather information, I thought to myself, "if it rained, 36% of the days, was cold and stormy almost 20% of the time did the boat builders across the river stay in tents or did they build some type of log structures to keep them out of the rain.

I turned to my wife and explained what I was doing and asked what she thought and she said something that almost caused me to delete this whole posting. She said, "Maybe they didn't have a camp, maybe they stayed in the fort."

MYSTERY SOLVED

  " In your face General Harrison! "   Tenskwatawa (the "Prophet) 1775 - 1836 How in the World could he predict a solar eclip...