What follows are my thoughts about about claims that 75 soldiers of the War of 1812, all unknown, are buried in the cemetery at Ft. Amanda. Do I believe there are men actually buried in those graves? While I'd like to believe there are soldiers buried there, my research says that at the very least, it's questionable.
First lets look at the wording on the histoical marker below:
Seems logical that anyone who died at the fort should be buried there regardless of whether they were on duty or returned from a "forward area," but it does raise a few questions. But before we get to those let’s examine the last statement, "the British burning of the War Records Office........makes it impossible to establish the identity of these men."
"The Burning of Washington D. C."
First of all the last statement is absolutely false. First of all, why would the individual states be sending records to Washington to begin with, and even if they did, what kind of records would be so vital that they needed to be kept by the Federal government? The fact is, that statement is an urban legend and sadly, one that has been a deterent for individuals who may have thought that a search for documents would be futile.
That argument aside, the last part of that statement about making it "impossible to establish the identity of these men," is also false. There are literally millions of documents, most kept by individual states or foundations pertaining to the men and women from their states who were involved in the war. The Filson Club in Kentucky is a treasure trove of document relating to their citizens in the war.
Soldiers weren't nameless or just numbers. When someone died or was killed, someone in the company knew who they were. In other words, they didn't just dump a body in a grave, brush off their hands and say, "well, that's that." Company commanders didn't just lose men and write them off, they had to maintain records of what happened to them. A good example is found in the book, Kentucky in the War of 1812 that not only lists the names of the soldiers including if they deserted, were killed, were a substitute or otherwise absent from the company. The point is, once they became deceased they weren't just written off.
OK I think you get my point. Saying there are no records is false and identifying them is impossible is also false. Remember Pvt. Charles Murry who died at Ft. Amanda?
When Were the Markers Placed
In a paper written by Charles Lathrop, an early occupant of the fort, he stated that a Professor C.W. Williamson, a historian from Wapakoneta had contacted the government about placing stones at the site. He wrote: "About thirty years ago, through the influence and indefatiguable efforts of Professor Williamson, late of Wapakoneta, the government furnished markers for these graves."
Lathrop wrote his paper in 1919 and stated that Williamson had contacted the government about grave markers “about thirty years ago,” meaning that they were installed around 1889.
Died While on Duty ?
Ensign Schillinger was so detailed in his journal entries that he mentioned the weather every day for 180 days so it's a pretty safe bet that only 1 death occurred at the fort between March and August 1813 otherwise he certainly would have mentioned it. Q: What about the other companies at Fort Amanda, could someone in their company have died there?
A: If the first occupants (Captain Wards company) had lost any men between October 1812 and March 1813, why would they bury them on the opposite side of the ravine so distant from the fort and basically unprotected and out of view from the fort? Plus, if there were burials on the other side of the ravine, why was Pvt. Murry buried on the fort side of the ravine and not with Wards men? I think it safe to assume that no one in Wards company died at Ft. Amanda.
Q: What about Briers company or Ramsey’s company.
A: All one has to do is look at the mustering out rolls of companies stationed there and see who arrived there and who left. Another source is census records which is very time consuming because after the war large numbers of the men who served at the fort moved out of state. In addition county histories posted on the internet are a good starting point. They often listed the names of men from their county who died in service.
Died After Being Returned From the Forward Area
The question is, if a soldier was badly wounded why would they bring transport him to Fort Amanda? The "hospital" you may ask. Keep in mind, each fort had its own "hospital" which if you remember was nothing more than a cabin(s) or a building dedicated for that purpose. Remember, there were 3 forts between Ft. Meigs and Ft. Amanda; Winchester, Brown and Jennings. So again, the question is why bringing them to Ft. Amanda?
Q: But if a soldier died along the trail between Ft. Meigs and Ft. Amanda couldn't they bring the body to Amanda and bury it there.
A: Yes, but why would they? If someone died between Jennings and Amanda it might seem logical to bring the body on to Amanda, but that happening 75 times?
We're already read in Schillinger’s journal that if a soldier was very sick or injured, they either sent him to St. Marys for better treatment of if it was serious enough, they sent him home.
So Where Did the Number 75 Unknown Soldiers Come From?
Another question is, do we know if anyone is actually buried there? Good question and I think the answer may lie in the perceptions of a 5 year old boy who lived at the fort in 1863.
Charles Lathrop who I mentioned earlier was born in 1858. In 1863, 5 year old, Lathrop and his family moved into one of the buildings of the old fort. Years later (1919), he wrote a paper about life at the old fort in which he wrote:
"Of the number of men we know little, but there is evidence of a goodly number. They erected in the enclosure, also a large warehouse to care for supplies; the upper story of which we are told was used for a hospital. The need was evident from the number of mounds that are still in evidence in the old cemetery across the ravine just north of the fort."
Mounds?
The key phrase; “mounds that are still in evidence” is very interesting. Lathrop’s observation of the “mounds” was made in 1863, almost 50 years after the army left Fort Amanda. Now let’s examine the details of frontier burials.. When soldiers on the frontier died during the War of 1812, granted some were buried in wooden boxes but others were often simply wrapped in a blanket and placed respectfully in the grave.
Once done, the dirt taken from the hole would be shoveled back over the grave and since the body displaced much of the area of the hole, the left over dirt would have formed a mound. Makes sense, but would the “mound” still be visible in 50 years?
The natural decomposition of the human body wrapped in a blanket and even a wooden coffin would deteriorate over time thus causing the mounds of dirt to sink down into the hole below ground level or at least sunken to ground level. My question then became, would mounds of dirt from a burial be visible after 50 years.
I talked with 2 different funeral detectors and posed this question; “If a man was buried in a wooden box, or a blanket, would the dirt from the grave remained mounded up for a year or more.” The response from both was, “possibly.” I then asked, “Would the dirt still be mounded up after 50 years?” The response from both was “No.” As both pointed out, one of the reasons for using a concrete vault to cover a casket is that it prevents the dirt from settling back into the hole and creating a large indentation in the ground and a possible tripping hazard.
A Further Investigation
In 2013, an archeology team led by Dr. Jarrod Burks of Ohio Valley Archaeology in Columbus, Ohio, with approval of the Ohio Historical Society, and county officials, performed a preliminary scan over some of the graves in the War of 1812 section using hi-tech equipment. The findings were inconclusive as underground features in that area are difficult to interpret using geophysical survey instruments. While the only distinguishable features they could detect were tree roots, they did find iron pins marking what appears to be plot boundaries in the southern part of the cemetery near the military markers. Those were probably just surveyor pins or benchmarks. So What Were the Mounds Lathrop Saw
We’ll never know what triggered the mind of a 5 year old boy causing him to think they were graves; was it from stories handed down or simply the imagination of a young boy. And as insensitive as it may sound, what he was seeing could simply have been abandoned trash pits In Conclusion
In the beginning of this blog I wrote that I didn’t think anyone was buried in those graves and I still don’t. If however a soldier(s) did die at Fort Amanda, somewhere there are records stating so. Who, if anyone, is buried in those Unknown Soldier graves isn’t really all that important and I think Professor Williamson knew that. He knew that there were countless numbers of soldiers who were buried where they fell, some in forests, some along streams and creek, and even under paved parking lots. I believe his intent was simply to provide a memorial for all the men and women who died in that conflict.
At the beginning of this blog I also wrote that while I didn’t think anyone is buried in those graves, I hoped there were. I still do because as long as we don’t know for certain, the possibility will always exist that there are. And if one day we would discover the name of just one individual buried in those rows of graves, that will mean one less name on the roster of Unknown Soldiers of that war and what better way to memorialize a man who died in the service of his country than simply remembering his name.