Dilbone Family Massacre - Ramsey's Company Arrives - Pogue Returns

On Aug. 2, 1813 Schillinger passed through Piqua on his way home. He was following what today is Piqua-Troy rd. He stayed the night of the 2nd at the home of Christopher Statler and his family located 2 miles south of Piqua (near the intersection of W. Peterson and Piqua-Troy roads.) Two week later on Aug. 18, just 3 miles east of the Statler home, a man named David Garrard was murdered by Indians. The same day, five miles to the northeast, a family was ambushed in the field and the mother and father murdered.


Route Schillinger Took on Aug. 2, 16 days before the Dilbone and Garrard Murders

August 18, 1813

Henry Dilbone was a 27 year old Pennsylvania born farmer. He and his wife BarbarMilhouse Dilbone lived in a cabin with their 4 children ages 7, 5, 3 and 9 months in a small cabin 5 miles east of Piqua. Late in the afternoon of Wednesday August, 18, Henry along with his wife and children went into one of their fields to pull flax, a grass-like plant used to spin into thread for material. Henry was kneeling in the field when he heard his dog start barking. He stood up and was immediately shot in the chest by an Indian who'd been standing at the edge of the field. A younger Indian accomplice standing nearby did not didn’t have a weapon. Mrs. Dilbone recognizing the older Indian as Mingo George, a local trouble maker, ran towards her children but Mingo George caught up with her and struck her in the head with his tomahawk killing her instantly. As George and his accomplice were walking up to the children, they heard a shot in the distance then turned and ran away. It was found out later that the shot came from another attack 4 miles south of Dilbones that killed the Dilbone's neighbor, David Garrard.
Dilbone’s oldest son John, age 7, took his younger siblings back to their cabin, where neighbors, Mrs. Samuel Winan and William McKinney, both neighbors arrived shortly afterwards. John took the McKinney back to where his mother lay dead. His father was nowhere to be seen. The neighbor then took the children to his home. Since it was getting dark, a search party was organized for early the next morning, and they found Henry Dilbone in the woods near the field, still alive. He had stuffed a piece of his shirt into the bullet wound to stop the blood, but he died a day later.
The Dilbone’s had traded with local Indians for some time and it is said that in talks about current events, Henry was quite outspoken about his dislike for the Indians who were helping the British and especially Tecumseh. Mingo George was a disreputable and unsavory character, so it’s possible he killed the Dilbone’s for that reason. We’ll never know.

Neither Henry nor Barbara had been scalped so the location of where they were buried was kept secret so that the Indians couldn’t find the bodies and scalp them for the reward. The tracking down and punishment of Mingo George seems to be an appropriate end.


Kind of an Appropriate End

A party of settlers set out to find the murderers. Mingo George and his cohort escaped and traveled north into Shelby County. They stopped for dinner the next day at the Robert McClure cabin, which was located north of what is now Houston, Ohio. Only 16 year old Rosanna was home.
Unaware of the Dilbone tragedy, she fed the Indians and sent them on their way. The Indians were fortunate. Rosanna had the reputation as an excellent marksman, having killed a panther, 6 wolves, 22 raccoons and 2 deer in one winter.
Frontier justice was not long in coming. Gardner Bobo, formerly a militia captain in the Revolutionary War and a friend of the Dilbone family, secured the services of William Richardson. Richardson was happy to help as he was the brother in law of Barbara Dilbone. Together they lay in wait for Mingo George where the present Miami-Shelby county line crosses the Miami River. He appeared at dusk as he was returning from the grist mill on the Miami River. They shot the Indian and punched his body into a quagmire near the river bank with a long pole.
Rich Wallace - Shelby County Historical Society




Site of the Dilbone Massacre - Aug. 18, 1813
Located on the north side of SR 26 two miles west of Fletcher, Ohio

For a more indepth account of the massacre go to this website:
http://www.shelbycountyhistory.org/schs/archives/indiansarchives/dilboneindiana.htm

Third Command at Fort Amanda


Aug, - Sept 1813
A mystery yet to be solved is why was a company of Ohio militia moved into Fort Amanda when it was due to be discharged in only 2months? Unfortunately, no written records have been found to date telling us what took place at Ft. Amanda after Aug. 1813.


Fourth Command at Fort Amanda


October 11, 1813 – April 10, 1814.
It is very likely that when Briers company’s enlistment time ended on Oct. 11, 1813, the next company to occupy the fort was one from Preble County led by a Captain William Ramsey. Ramsey’s company was the only Ohio militia company entering the field on that date. His company roster is as follows:


Ramsey, William Captain
Newton, James Sergeant
Douglas, Samuel Corporal
Dailey, William Drummer
Newton, Henry Fifer


PRIVATES PRIVATES PRIVATES
Bonebrake, John Beeson, James Baley, Gough
Clawson, Josiah Dougherty, Thomas Dougherty, Edward
Dailey, Dennis Green, David Harlin, John
Hammon, Phillip Hammon, William Hamilton, Andrew Kester, Paul Kays, John Killough, John Kirkham, Mikel Lambert, Jonothan Lesh, Henry
Morris, William McGaw, Moses Pressley, John
Pressley, Joseph Pressley, Robert Stephen, Richard
Stephen, William Smith, Robert Smith, Phillip
Wead, Andrew Wright, John White, Johab


Pogue Returns


While things remained relatively quiet at Ft. Amanda during this period, events to the north had changed the course of the war. The British had lifted their second siege on Ft. Meigs, suffered heavy casualties trying to capture Ft. Stephenson and lost the battle for control of the Great Lakes. By the end of September, General Proctor could sense defeat and General Harrison, could smell blood. Proctor began pulling supplies and men out of Ft. Malden to make sure he had supplies for his retreating troops. The American force made up of regulars and Kentucky militia caught up with Proctor and his retreating army at Moravian town 50 miles from Detroit on October 5th in what became known as the Battle of the Thames. It was one of the most decisive battles of the war. The most notable casualty of the battle was the great Indian chief, Tecumseh. His death shattered the coalition of the Indian tribes he had assembled and that coupled with the string of defeats suffered by the British, the Americans had regained control of the Northwest Territory.


Lt. Col. Robert Pogue (builder of Ft. Amanda) had been called back to duty and was in charge of a regiment at the battle of the Thames. While battle casualties were light on both sides, the greatest losses for the American forces took place on their way home. The winter of 1813 was particularly brutal both in terms of snowfall and cold temperatures. In January 1814, Joseph Desha, a member of the U.S. House of Representative from Kentucky wrote Lt. Col. Pogue with his condolences for the loss of his men. The letter reads in part:


Governor Shelby informs me that we have lost upward of two
hundred of our brave companions in causes, by sickness, which is
nothing more than I anticipated. When it was determined that we
should march round the lake to our horses – poor fellows, my heart
bled for those men and when I reflect on the hardships they had to
endure and their ----------- please accept my wishes for your welfare,
Your obedient servant. Joseph Desha