Dudley's Defeat

If you ask a typical high school student in America if they know who George Armstrong Custer was, my guess is the answer would be; “Yes”. If you ask the same students if they know who General Arthur St. Clair, General James Winchester or Col. William Dudley were, I’m betting the answer would be “No”.
So why all the fuss about Custer? Granted, St. Clair, Winchester and Dudley were all heroes of the Revolutionary war, but face it, they weren’t as colorful as Custer plus they didn’t have the same claim to fame as Custer; getting all his men killed.
To his credit though, Custer was quite a guy. He was a general at the age of 21 during the Civil War, not exactly a military genius but he was feisty, reckless and popular which is one of the reasons he was being considered as a potential Vice Presidential candidate in the upcoming election. Hence all the media attention.

OK, so George was a little flamboyant,(as many Generals are) but let’s be fair, George did lose 268 men at the Little Big Horn so that should account for something. It does, and putting aside the fact that it was Custer’s massive ego and over confidence that led to those 268 deaths including his own, let’s put things into a proper perspective.

As the table below shows, the casualties suffered by the 3 lesser known commanders were of either equal or far exceeded the Custer's losses. The “+” sign indicates that in the number is the very minimum as many more died or were murdered after being taking prisoner.

Officer	Year	Battle	Location	Killed	Wounded
Custer	1876	Little Big Horn	Montana	268	55
St. Clair	1791	Fort Recovery	Ohio	900 +	264
Winchester	1813	River Raisin	Monroe, Michigan	457 +	27
Dudley	1813	Ft. Meigs	Perrysburg, Ohio	150 +	100 +

So to answer the question, “Why does Custer get all the press?” The answer is the media and our education system. Have you ever wondered why there is very little literature written about women or African Americans in our nations history? That’s because history has, for the most part, been recorded by and written by white males. Plus, keep in mind, Custer had the advantage of having the 19th century version of the paparazzi following him everywhere he went, the others did not.

As for the education system, I hope things have changed since my 8th grade Ohio history class days because the only thing I remember from that class is that Ohio was famous for its tire production in Akron. How sad and it’s probably one of the reasons I hated studying history until I got much older.

Anyway, my sincere hope is one day Ohio history teachers will take the time to tell students about Ft. Recovery, the River Raisin and the Battle of Ft. Meigs because I’m willing to bet their students will remember those events much longer than how many tires are produced in Akron.

Back to Colonel Dudley. If you remember from my last blog, 1800 men had left Defiance in boats. A few miles west of Ft. Meigs, 700 of those men went ashore and attached the enemy across the river from Ft. Meigs. The over confidant and over zealous Kentuckians, anxious for a fight, charged into the woods screaming and yelling and attacking the gun batteries. Meanwhile the Indians waited patiently and as the Kentuckians made their way further into the woods, the enemy slipped in behind them and cut them off from an escape to the river and the slaughter began. Meanwhile back at Ft. Amanda business was going on as usual but some of Dudley’s men who were trying to catch up with the main body were about to get a surprise.

Friday the 7th May 1813 This morning Clear & Cool
At 3:00 that afternoon a doctor, two ensigns and seven soldiers arrived at the fort from Piqua. These men were part of Dudley’s command and had been too sick to march with the rest of the company when it left there. One man, Ensign Hubbard B. Smith of Capt. John C. Morrison’s company, had remained behind because his rheumatism prohibited him from continuing.

Authors note:
Hubbard Smith went on to become a prolific writer, writing about his experiences as quartermaster during the war. Man of his papers can be found in the Filson Club in Louisville, Ky.

Enemy Approaching Ft. Amanda

Saturday the 8 1813 Cloudy Drizley weather
About 4 o’clock in the morning one of the sentinels on guard duty spotted two Indians approaching the fort from the north. He fired at them but missed. Hearing the shots, Schillinger and Lt. Davis quickly roused 8 men and set off after them. They followed the fresh tracks of what looked like three individuals down the river for about 6 miles. Unable to make contact, they returned to the fort and reported their findings to Major Kain and Capt. Hosbrook.
The men from Dudley’s command left Amanda shortly before noon. Ensign Hubbard Smith, still ailing and unable to march, remained behind. Neither he nor any of the others in his group had any knowledge at this point about the battle and subsequent massacre of some of their friends near Ft. Meigs.
Despite all the drama of the previous week, Schilling’s entries appear almost nonchalant noting that the highlight of his day was shooting some pigeons for dinner.

Authors note:
While probably not the most appetizing dish to set before a modern American family during the 19th century, pigeon was a common dish on many frontier tables.

Sunday May the 9th 1813 Rainy Weather

As a precautionary measure several men were sent out to reconnoiter the areas near the fort to see if the Indians spotted the night before might still be in the area. It rained off and on throughout the day so one again, the remainder of the company spent their day making cartridges.

Monday the 10th This morning Clear and Pleasant
Capt. Hosbrook, Lt. Davis and one of the sergeants decided to go down the river toward Ft. Jennings to see if they could find any signs of the enemy. Seeing none they returned to the fort. On their way back to the fort, the sergeant shot a buck deer and brought it back to the fort and shared some of it with Ensign Schilling and the other officers. Ensign Smith of Dudley’s command left the fort that morning to join his company at Ft. Meigs.

Survivors of Dudley’s Defeat Tell Their Tale

Tuesday the 11th Clear and pleasant
Around 2 o’clock that afternoon two men from Col. Dudley’s regiment came to Ft. Amanda with details of the massacre. They told how they were supposed to land their boats near about a mile and a half from Ft. Meigs march to the British gun emplacements across the river from Ft. Meigs and spike their cannons. He said they landed 5 miles from Meigs and when they got to the gun emplacements they found them deserted so they spiked the cannons but within a few seconds they were surrounded and their escape route to the river cut off. He said Dudley’s men fought for about 2 hours before getting totally overwhelmed adding that Col. Dudley and Major Shelby were among the first killed in the fight. Dudley said to be a “fleshy man,” was shot first through the hip then the torso. He set down on a stump and was immediately surrounded by Indians, then murdered and scalped. His body was horribly mutilated.

Schillinger wrote that day:

“This Day our Quarter master, & 3 of our Men went Down the river to where the boats were Store & got A number of Articles our of the river which was Lost such as Tents, Camp Kettles, & clothing that was lost by the K.M.” 

Mystery.
The key phrase here is “where the boats were stored.” This couldn’t have been the area were Dudley beached his boats near Waterville because the distance from Amanda to that point is nearly 100 miles. Schilling wrote that the men from Amanda retrieved several articles including tents, camp kettles, clothing, etc and returned the same day. Whether the boat overturned or Dudley’s men intentionally beached the craft is unknown but judging the time span from when the men left in search of the equipment and when they returned, it is most likely they found the materials between Ft. Amanda and Ft. Jennings.
Trouble At Wapakoneta

Wednesday the 12th May Rain
Lt. Davis, Regimental Quartermaster Joseph Warner and Capt. Perry left Amanda that morning to go to Ft. Logan. As they were nearing the fort, they noticed a great deal of commotion and large numbers of the friendly Indians from the nearby village flocking to the fort for shelter. Seems the night before they had spotted and shot at three of what Schillinger referred to as “hostile Indians.” This morning several of the local Indians followed tracks for about 8 miles but couldn’t overtake them so they returned to the village. Apparently the furor died down later in the day as the only additional note that Schillinger made was that Lt. Davis brought some sugar back with him from Ft. Logan.

“General, I have no Division”

Picket to Lee, Gettysburg, July 3, 1865

Thursday the 13th May This morning clear and pleasant
The Quartermaster and 4 Men from Amanda went down the river to collect more of the gear lost in the river by the Kentuckians. They found several more pieces of camp equipment and a canoe which they towed back to Amanda. Apparently the number of items lost by the Kentuckians was sizable considering this was a second trip made to retrieve items.
Hubbard B. Smith the Ensign in Capt. John Morrison’s company assigned to Dudley’s regiment, and who left Amanda just 3 days earlier returned to Amanda along with some of the survivors of Dudley’s regiment. Apparently he met the others along the route to Defiance and learning of the fate of the other men in the regiment, must have felt there was no reason to continue on to join his regiment because his regiment basically no longer existed.

Authors note:
When I read this it reminded me of something General George Picket said following his ill fated charge at Gettysburg. Pickett's division had just suffered 2,655 casualties (498 killed, 643 wounded, 833 wounded and captured and 681 captured unwounded. When General Lee inquired of Pickett as to the condition of his division, Picket replied, “General, I have no division.”

Friday May the 14th 18 This morning Clear & Cool (frost)
One of the sergeants at Amanda who’d gone to St. Marys the day before returned with more details of the battle. He made no mention of casualties, only that American forces had taken about 40 prisoners. One again, Schillinger seems to have a nonchalant attitude about recent events. The only mention of killings that day was his journal entry where he wrote only that he went frog hunting and killed two frogs.

Saturday the 15th Clear & Cool, with frost
Once again, the day started off cool enough to frost. The men worked at clearing materials out the north blockhouse. Three of the blockhouses were cleaned out in March but for some reason the north blockhouse still had materials stored in it. What was stored there is unknown. Another group was assigned the task of cutting a door into the lower part of the new picket blockhouse.
Col. Orr and Major Joseph Jenkinson, both senior staff members of the First Regiment of Ohio Militia, came to the fort that day but the most anxiously awaited individual was John McDonald; the Regimental Pay Master. Sunday the 16th was payday. In preparation, Schillinger spent most of the day working on the muster pay and receipt rolls and finishing the paperwork necessary to receive the company’s pay the following morning.

More Desertions

Sunday Morning the 16th May Clear & Cool
After breakfast, the men lined up to receive their one month’s pay. Schillinger received his pay plus $15 subsistence money. Col. Orr then paid the civilian workers who had come to Amanda to help build boats. They were being released from duty and returning to their homes. Orr, Jenkinson and McDonald left for St. Marys in the afternoon. Being a day of rest Schillinger spent his afternoon writing a letter to his wife.
During the night, two of men deserted at Ft. Jennings. Apparently they had planned to leave shortly after they had received their pay. As of this date, there had been desertions from Forts Logan, Jennings, Winchester and Amanda.
The standard practice for dealing with deserters was to post notices in local newspapers, sometimes offering rewards for information leading to their capture. McHenry had the following notice placed in Saturday edition of “The Western Spy” newspaper Vol. III No. 141 It read:

Capt. McHenry reports two deserters, Adam Merrill (a substitute in the place of Job Hayhurst, “a noted fiddler” and shoemaker) and John Stauton (from Dayton, a substitute for Uriah Teahowe.


Monday the 17th May Clear and pleasant
With much of the construction work completed, at least for the time being, the men were kept busy making something solders can never have enough of; bullet cartridges. Schillinger paid Capt. Perry for the sugar that he had brought from Ft. Logan on the 12th.
The practice of the day was the army leased wagons and hired teamsters from civilian contractors to haul supplies for them. No longer needed, the wagon and driver was paid for their services and he left that morning. Capt. Hinkson and several of the men building boats were returning to St. Marys so Schillinger gave him some letters to drop off at the closest pickup point.
With little going on, Capt. Hosbrook and Lt. Davis decided to go up river to look for any signs of enemy activities. They didn’t see anything suspicious, but they did find more of items lost by the Kentuckians.




[1] Source: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/clementsmss/umich-wcl-M-421cla?view=text

[2] The men traveled north to near where SR 81 and North Defiance Trail intersect.

[3] Source: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohhamilt/news/1802.html

[4] Biography

[5] Should be Uriah “Teabow.” (Hamilton County, Ohio) See Uriah Teabow biography