Boat Builders at Fort Amanda - Charles Pellam

 


If you've ever read anything about Fort Amanda, you know that boats were built there during the War of 1812. What I'll bet you didn't know (nor did I until recently) was, "Who built them?"

If you remember, it was Lt. Col. Robert Pogue's regiment of Kentucky Mounted Militia who built and first garrisoned Fort Amanda. The quartermaster for Pogue's regiment was Major Thomas Bodley. Bodley was a an interesting individual so I've included a short bio on him at the end of this blog.

One of Bodley's jobs was to ensure everyone got paid. The document shown below is an authorization to pay 5 soldiers for building a 30 dugout canoe at Fort Amanda.

Transcription:

The United States
To Thomas Anderson, James Jones, Samuel J. Rawlings, Robert Stewart, Charles H. Pelham and Benedict H. Hobbs.
For digging one canoe thirty feet long and of width sufficient to receive a flour barrel say burthen* nine barrels of Flour (ordered in Public Service by General Payne) at one dollar per barrel
                                                     Charles H. Pelham
I certify that the foregoing men of my company dug an excellent canoe of description and burthen* as stated above which was put in public use by the order of Brigadier General Payne. Given under my hand at Fort Amanda, January 25, 1813.
                                                 Joseph C. Belt, Capt. 2nd Battalion                                                                              4^th Regt. Kentucky Vol. Militia
Received of Thomas Bodly, quartermaster general for the Kentucky volunteer militia, nine dollars in full for the above account and price of said canoe. Having signed duplicate hereof.
Fort Amanda                                                      

Charles H. Pelham            Jan. 25, 1813   

* The term "burthen" is an old English word meaning "tonnage" or weight. What they're saying is that the canoe was built to the correct specification regarding size and weight.

This letter is particularly interesting in that tells us several things:

they built dugout canoes at Fort Amanda, some 30 feet long

• the names of the men who built the large canoe.
• It suggests that soldiers doing special work may have received extra pay.
• that men from other companies (Capt. Belt's)were sent to Amanda to work on boats.
• that a 30 foot dugout canoe was large enough to transport 9 barrels of flour (24" dia x 36" high).
• nine barrels of flour 24" in diameter would take up 18 lineal feet in the canoe.

A Bonus

The group was paid $9 for their work. Divided equally among the five man, each would have received $1.80. The pay for private soldiers at the time was $8 a month or 26 cents a day indicating that it took them about a week to build the canoe.

What does a 30 foot dugout canoe look like?



 
A 30 foot dugout canoe could weigh as much as 1000 pounds.

Its' unlikely dugout canoes were used for transporting troops. In fact, from what Ensign Schillinger tells us, in addition to being quite large, construction was pretty sophisticated.

We know that some of the boats must have had lath sides. Those boats were probably built upside down on some kind of rack or sawhorses.Schillinger wrote several times that when the boats were finished they were "turned." They then took the boats over to the river and purposely sunk. This was done so the wood would swell and help seal the joints. When he wrote "turned" he likely meant that when they took a boat off the rack they "turned" it upside down to carry it to the river. Anyway that's my guess.

Boat before being "turned"

How large were the boats used to transport troops?
Again, we rely on Ensigns Schillinger's journal notes. On April 27, 1813 he wrote;

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

Schillinger was referring to a company of soldiers led by Captain Price that had loaded onto boats and left Amanda that day. 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. Note, he said used 7 boats. There was no need to carry large amounts of food because they’d be stopping at forts along the way, (Jennings and Brown) before they got to Defiance, so they probably only needed 1 boat for supplies. This leaves 6 boats to transport 90 men or in all likelihood each boat carried 15 men.



If they used the type boat shown above, with in the front and one in the rear with push poles, there would have been approx. 6 men on each side of the boat. Now figuring 3 feet space for each man, this means the boat would have to have to have been at least 30 feet long. Plus this configuration aligns with what Schillinger wrote about "turning the boat."

The Auglaize Armada
On April 8th, 1813 General Harrison and 300 of his troops arrived at Fort Amanda on their way to Fort Meigs. Schilliner wrote:

"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 one of riffle men and two of infantry makeing in all about 300 Men."

Using the same equation used for Price’s boats (15 men per boat) suggests Harrison needed at least 20 boats to transport his 300 men. Add to that at least 3 - 5 more boats for carrying supplies, ammunition, etc , Harrison would have needed between 23 – 25 boats making it the largest armada of boats to navigate the Auglaize river before or since.
So Who Were These Boat Builders?
Checking rosters I learned the 5 boat builders, Charles H. Pelham, Benedict H. Hobbs, Thomas Anderson, James Jones, Samuel J. Rawlings and Robert Stewart were all soldiers in Captain Joseph Belts company (Pogue's regiment) formed in Fleming county, Kentucky. Rawlings was the 1st Sergeant in the company and Pelham, Hobbs, Anderson and Jones were privates.

Charles H. Pelham (23 years old)

Note: In 1810, Charles H. Pelham was living approx. 10 miles southeast of Col. Robert Pogues home (Mayslick) in Mason County, Kentucky. Its likely the two men knew each other before the war.

Charles H. Pelham was born in 1790 making him 23 years old when he was at Fort Amanda. -He fought with the Kentucky militia in Pogues Regiment during the War of 1812 and later settled in Batesville, Arkansas. He was elected as the first Independence County Surveyor (1827-1830) and served on the first Board of Trustees for the Batesville Academy in 1836, which was the first incorporated institution of learning in Arkansas. Charles was the older brother of William Pelham who was appointed by President John Tyler as Surveyor General of Arkansas in 1841 and later appointed the first Surveyor General of New Mexico by President Franklin Pierce in 1850(http://history.cosl.org/surveyors.htm)
By 1850, Pelham (60) and his Wife Sarah (50) and family were living in Batesville, Arkansas. He is listed as a farmer with $9000 worth of real estate indicating that he had been very successful.

Benedict H. Hobbs (21years old)

Apr. 5, 1792 - Aug. 18, 1845

Hobbs wife was Mary "Polly" Howe (1796 - 1833). There 9th child Sarah died at the age of 1 year. Mary Hobbs died the same year suggesting she may have died in childbirth at the age of 37.





Son Benedict Howe Hobbs jr. (1821 -1867)



Daughter-in-Law Elizabeth (Hopper) Hobbs (1815 - 1879)
Burial:Hobbs Cemetery McCracken County,Kentucky, USA

I'm still working on learning more about Thomas Anderson, James Jones, Samuel J. Rawlings and Robert Stewart.

Major Thomas Bodley (1772 - 1833)



Thomas Bodley was born in Pennsylvania on July 4, 1772, son of William Bodley. There he met and married Catharine Harris Shiell. Bodley was a veteran of Wayne’s campaign and the Battle of Fallen Timbers and held the rank of Major as Deputy Quartermaster for Pogue’s regiment. He was a very civic-minded citizen throughout his life. In 1817, he was appointed an Elector from Kentucky (Electoral College). The following year, he became Grand Master of the Free and Accepted Masons of Kentucky. He later served, as the first Secretary of the Democratic Society in Lexington, was one of the founders of the St. Andrews Society, served as Captain of the Lexington Light Infantry, and several years as the first clerk of the Fayette County Kentucky circuit court.



Bodley House - Lexington, Kentucky

Bodley built a mansion in Lexington aptly named the “Bodley House” where it remains today among the most beautiful homes of its type in Kentucky. Bodley, once a very wealthy businessman, lost his home and most of his fortune during the financial downturn of the 1820s.

When the famous French general, the Marquis de Lafayette, visited Lexington in 1825, Bodley was appointed chaperone and guide for the general during his visit. Bodley died at the age of 61 on June 11, 1833 during a cholera epidemic that claimed over 500 lives. Both he and wife Catherine are buried in the Lexington, Cemetery, Section C, Lot 24, Lexington, Kentucky. (N38°03'40.63”,W84°30'10.68”)

Conclusion

During our last Lantern Walk at Ft. Amanda, David May and a group of re-enactors made history come alive with their portrayals of 4 men who were stationed at the fort in1813. Afterwords an individual said to me, "The next time I come to Fort Amanda I'm going to be thinking more about the men here. I thought to myself, "that's the whole point."

Mystery: Who was Fort Brown Named For?

 

Personal note: Looking over what I'd written here my first thought was, "Man that sounds a little whacky." It may be, but whacky as it is, I gave it my best shot. All I ask is that you read it with an open mind and if it causes you to question things, (my sanity excluded) great, that's how we learn new things.

Setting the Stage

If you remember from my previous post https://fortamanda1812.blogspot.com/2017/12/a-long-forgotten-military-road-in.html, Harrison's 1812 war plan called for capturing the British stronghold at Detroit before Winter weather set it. He was still at St. Marys at the time with 3000 Kentucky volunteers. His second-in-command, Gen. James Winchester, was at Ft. Wayne with a force of 2000. The plan called for Winchester to advance along the Maumee as far as Defiance and halt there and wait for supplies and further orders.

Harrison then ordered Lt. Col. William Jennings to advance with his regiment along the Auglaize and build an intermediate post mid-way between St. Marys and Defiance. He took with him a large herd of cattle, food and other supplies to deliver to Winchester once he arrived in Defiance. On Sept. 30, Harrison received word that Winchester was unknowingly marching toward a large British and Indian force near Defiance. Harrison assembled all the men at St. Marys including Pogues and Barbees regiments and immediately set out for Defiance. The sense of urgency is witnessed by the fact that despite the weather, Harrisons force of 3000 men advanced 30 miles that day and arrived Fort Jennings just as the sun was going down. When it was discovered that to be a false alarm, on Oct. 2, Harrison ordered Lt. Col. Barbee to return to St. Marys, Pogue, who was still at Ft. Jennings at the time, to finish cutting a road to Defiance then return to the "old Ottawa Town" 12 miles from St. Marys and build a stockade. He named it Fort Amanda.



The red line represents the road Pogue was to cut from Jennings to Defiance a distance of 35 miles.Coincidentally, at 20 miles, one days march, from Jennings the men someone built Fort Brown.

Where is Fort Brown?

Fort Brown is located on the west bank of the Auglaize River 20 miles north of Fort Jennings. It was one of a chain of forts built along the Auglaize river during the War of 1812 to support troops moving to the front lines and to keep supply routes open.


Historical Marker at Fort Brown
41° 6.699′ N, 84° 24.881′ W

FORT BROWN was built m 1812 by a "Col. Brown." Together with Fort Jennings and Fort Amanda to thesouth, and Fort Winchester to the north, it guarded the army supply route into the Maumee Valley. In 1813 Gen. Greene Clay's Kentucky Militia, forming the left wing of Harrison's army, passed this site in boats on their way to relieve besieged Fort Meigs. According to tradition several soldiers are buried on this site.

Who Built Fort Brown?

First of all, despite the fact that the historical marker at Fort Brown says that the fort was built by Col. Brown, it should be noted that Colonels didn't build forts, the soldiers in their companies built the forts. The Colonels just got credit for it.

Here's What We Do Know

The one thing we know for certain is that it was built before March 1813. That's proven by 2 sources. The first from a journal entry kept by Ensign William Schillinger at Fort Amanda. On March 24, he wrote:

 Wednesday, the 24th of March, 1813
Weather cold & cloudy, All hands busy raising a block house - our Major dispatch,d our orderly sergeant and one Man on express to forts - Jennings, Brown & Defiance - Our Men which had been complaining all able to walk about

The second was a journal entry written by Lieutenant William Shafor of the Ohio militia. On April 12, 1813 he wrote:

 “April 9th, we were ordered to Amanda, and on the same night started to Fort Jennings, arriving there on the 11th. On the 12th we went to Brown and on the same night to Defiance and on the 14th to Fort Meigs."

Note, Lt. Shafor tells he "went" to Brown" on April 12th, but he also tells us he didn't stay the night there. He added: "...and on the same night to Defiance..." They probably didn't stay there because for some unexplained reason they had problems getting to Fort Jennings on the 9th and were in a hurry to catch up with Gen. Harrison and he rest of the troops before they got to Ft. Meigs

Before You Yell "Eureka"

On of the most frustrating things about doing historical research is that one can spend hours, days even months following a lead only to find out it leads to a dead end. Such was the case in something I read at this site: Fort Brown:" Also in 1812, Fort Brown was built at the confluence of the Big and Little Auglaize Rivers by General William Henry Harrison’s troops under Colonel Samuel Wells."

With that information, I thought it might be a good idea to find out first if Colonel Samuel Wells was even in the area of the Fort Brown site. Turns out he may not have been.Tracking the Colonel
I tracked Colonel Wells movements from Harrison's papers and it looked to me like he was at Shane's Crossing in Mercer County in September 1812, 35 miles from Brown. I next find him at Fort Wayne where he joined Winchesters forces later that month. My guess is his regiment left Fort Wayne on the Sept. 22 and was part of Winchesters force heading toward Defiance. 

Now the dead end.

Wells was geographically in the area of the Fort Brown site, but there was a lot of activity in the area at that time including building Fort Winchester (Defiance). Add to that there was a lot of dissension among the troops who had "signed up" to fight Indians and as of this time they hadn't even seen one. Add that they were very low on supplies.

With all that in mind, if I was Harrison I would be a little hesitant to ask men who had traveled all over northwest Ohio, marched for days in mud and rain, hadn't yet seen an Indian and who were practically starving, if they would build a fort.

Keep in mind throughout all this, the only regiments Harrison refers to in regards to creating supply a chain from St. Marys to Defiance were Barbee, Pogue and Jennings. He makes no mention of a "Col. Brown" as part of that force and now there's the possibility that Colonel Samuel Wells may not have built the fort.

The $1,000,000 Question

So here's the million dollar question: Is it possible Pogue's men built it?



The red line represents the road Pogue was to cut from Jennings to Defiance a distance of 35 miles. Coincidentally, at 20 miles, one days march, from Jennings the men someone built Fort Brown.

Consider This
Pogue's Command

Pogue's Command	Officers	Men
Lt. Col. Pogue, Robert (Staff)	2	9
Capt. Simon R. Baker	3	41
Capt. Joseph C. Belt	3	75
Capt. William Brown	3	80
Capt.  Clemmons	3	59
Capt. John Dowden	3	98
Capt. Washington Kennedy	3	63
Capt. John McKee	3	79
Capt. George Matthews	3	56
Capt. Whitehead	3	37
Capt. McGuire	3	57
Capt. Thompson Ward	3	64
Waggoners (teamsters)		10
Totals (officers & men)	35	728

I realize this may be a stretch but bear with me. With all the scant information we have to date on Fort Brown, the information that is available is questionable. For example, there is some question as to whether Col. Wells regulars would even build a fort or if that was left up to contractors and militia troops. We don't know if the "fort" was a fort in the classical sense, or simply a stockade. We have no records of anyone dying there (although with all the disease, there must have been some). In fact, we don't know with absolute certainty whether the forts namesake was "Col. Brown" or if he was even a colonel.

Keep in Mind

The Kentucky volunteers with Pogue were getting pretty disheartened too because they had signed up to kill Indians and British soldiers and here they were cutting roads and doing escort service for supply wagons. Remember also these were men who did not want to be referred to as "militia" choosing instead to be called volunteers.

Now Consider This

As I wrote earlier, Colonels don't build forts, their men do, so is it possible that Captain William Brown, one of Pogue's company commanders, was part of the road cutting detail and Pogue told him to stop at one days march (20 miles), and build some kind of post (Fort Brown). Hopefully one day we'll find out.?

Regardless of who built Fort Brown, whether it was "Col. Brown' or Captain William Brown, the fact is, it existed and it was an important link in Harrison's supply chain along the Auglaize. We still have 1 clue remaining, Captain William Brown had 83 men in his company and we know who they were. When I get the time I plan to search out all I can find on them and hope that one of them, like Schillinger and Shafor, kept some kind of journal. If found it could solve a lot of mysteries about Fort Brown and the "Mysterious Col. Brown."