Two Unknown Soldiers (not anymore)

                    

         This posting is about finding the identity of two soldiers killed during one of the bloodiest battles and subsequent massacres in American history. For over 200 years writers have referred to them only as "2 men." I decided it was time to find out who those "2 men" were.

The search begins

At 4 'clock in the afternoon on Saturday April 24, 1813, a small company of spies commanded by Captain Leslie Combs arrived at Fort Amanda on their way to Ft. Meigs (Perrysburg, Oh). Combs men were the "point men" the group who reconnoitered the areas ahead of the main body of troops to eliminate the possibility of an ambush. The main force off 1100 Kentuckians commanded by General Green Clay arrived at Fort Amanda the following day and set up their camp 1/2 mile north of the fort. Their objective was to reinforce the garrison at Ft. Meigs (Perrysburg, Oh) that was being bombarded by British cannons that had been set up directly across the river.
The regiment left Amanda on Tuesday, April 27th. Arriving at Fort Winchester (Defiance, Oh), they loaded onto boats and started east on the Maumee River toward Ft.Meigs. On the morning of May 5, as Clay's force neared Ft. Meigs, Harrison ordered that Clay to stop a short distance from the fort and unload 800 of the men to go ashore and destroy the British gun emplacements. The result was a total disaster and ranks with one of the greatest disasters of the war. Of the 770 men who went ashore that rainy morning, 220 were killed, 350 were taken prisoner (some murdered later that day) and only 200 made it back across the river to the safety of the fort.

Captain Combs little company of spies shared a similar fate. On May 6th, a day after the battle, Schillinger wrote in his journal:

 Thursday the 6th Clear weather this morning. - 2 o’clock P.M. Capt Perry returned from Fort Winchester in comp with 3 Men & 1 Indian & negro. Brought word that Genrl Clays Brigade had Left all the provisions & forage at fort Winchester that they had with them & Embark,d on board of the boats with his troops, and proceeded toward the rappids, said that Capt Combs with his Company of Spies were attacked by the Indians on his way to Head quarters & Lost 2 Men. When I read the last sentence of the journal entry,

A 205 year old mystery solved.

Several years ago, I purchased a book titled, "Kentucky Soldiers in the War of 1812" compiled by Minnie s. Wilder in 1931 and originally published as 'REPORT OF TH ADJUTANT GENERAL OF THE STAT OF KENTUCKY SOLDIERS OF THE WAR OF 1812 in 1891. On page 367, is a list of names of the of the men in Combs company along with a brief explanation of their fate. Notice that 3 men in the company had the same last name; Dougherty, and it's likely they were all related because most of the men were from Jessamine County, Kentucky.

Name	Rank	Date of Enlistment Appointment	To what time engaged or Enlisted	Remarks
Leslie Combs	Captain	Apr. 17, 1813	June 3, 1813	Wounded
Joseph Baxton	Private	“         “	“        “
Linsfield Bicknell	“	“          “	“         “	Wounded
John Dougherty	“	“         “	“         “	Killed May 5, 1813
Daniel Dougherty	“	“         “	“         “
James Dougherty	“	“         “	“         “
John Johnson	“	“         “	“         “	Killed May 2, 1813
Thomas Law	“	Apr. 24, 1813	“         “	Missing May 5, 1813
Shadrach Pitcher	“	Apr. 17, 1813	“         “	Missing May 5, 1813
Daniel Singelton	“	Apr. 22, 813	“         “
Isaac White	“	Apr. 17, 1813	“         “
Matthew Walker	“	Apr. 22, 1813	“         “
John Warren	“	“         “	“         “	Dismissed Apr. 29, 1813

Finally, the two men in Comb's company who were killed and who writers referred to simply as "2 men, for the past 200 years now had an identity; Private John Johnson and Private John Dougherty.

Private Johnson was killed on Sunday May 2nd and Dougherty was killed 3 days later when he and 770 of his comrades stormed the British gun emplacements near Ft. Meigs.
Evidence suggests that Comb's company may have been ambushed as they were preparing to cross the Maumee at the point where Hull's army had crossed the year before (near intersection of Hull-Prairie and W. River road (Rt. 65) approx. 1/2 mile east of the point where Rt.23 (I 475) west of Perrysburg, Oh. This would have been the general area where Private Johnson was killed on May 2, 1813.

KIA - Private John Johnson

I have been unable to locate any personal information on Private Johnson's yet but the search continues. His body was probably left where he fell; somewhere near the general area shown above. I doubt they took the time to bury him not do I think the force on its way to Ft. Meigs recovered his body because their sites were set on destroying the British guns.

KIA - Private John Dougherty

Like Johnson, very little is known about John Dougherty other than he was serving with other men with the same last name who were probably relatives and possibly brothers. He took part in the disastrous battle across the river from Ft. Meigs on May 5th. Whether he died on the battlefield or was murdered along with over 40 other prisoners at Fort Miami two miles east of Meigs is unknown. Sadly, like his comrade John Johnson, his grave site is also unknown.

The "Missing in Action"

Thomas Law and Shadrach Pilcher, listed as "missing" on Comb's roster were neighbors when the war broke out. When I saw the word "missing" my first thought was they deserted. As a genealogist I thought how embarrassing it might be to learn that your ancestor deserted. Then I began to wonder, what if they didn't actually desert, but that something else happened to them. Turns out something else did; they were taken prisoner. Comb's couldn't account for them because he didn't know what had happened to them. The two men along with 350 other prisoners had been taken back to Ft. Miami, 1 1/2 miles east of Ft. Meigs where dozens were murdered as they entered the fort.


The prisoners were marched to the point where Swan Creek emptied into the Maumee River. There they were loaded onto a ship and taken across Lake Erie to the mouth of the Sandusky River where they were "Paroled."

Prisoners were not "released," they were "paroled," meaning they signed an agreement that they would no longer take part in the war once released. As the name suggests, they were simply on parole. We know Picher survived the battle and the massacre and was paroled. What happened to Thomas Law remains a mystery, however its likely he too survived otherwise, when the bodies of the slain were recovered a few days after the battle, his surely would have been identified and therefore recorded as such on the roster.

Shadrach Pilcher Shadrach Pilcher was 45 years old at the time of the battle. He was born Feb. 27, 1768 in Culpepper County, Virginia, the son of Joshua Pilcher. He married 26-year-old Sarah Proctor on Sept. 26, 1797 in Fayette County, Kentucky. After the war, Pilcher received bounty money for his service so after the war he and his family moved to near Sinclair, Illinois where they built a home and raised their family. Shadrach died on Sept. 28, 1831 at the age of 63. His wife Sarah never remarried and survived her husband by 35 years dying on May 9, 1866 at the age of 95.She and Shadrach are buried in the Hebron Cemetery, Sinclair, Illinois. The picture below is of his wife's tombstone.

Wife of Shadrach Pilcher

Thomas Law
I have not located any information about this individual.

The Wounded

By the time Comb's men stormed the British batteries, they had already slugged through over a mile of swampland. They were tired and with the rain, many of them had wet gunpowder. When they finally reached their objective it became basically a "slug fest" of hand to hand combat.

We know Captain Combs was wounded during the battle because McAfee tell us that he was "touched slightly by a ball," implying it was only a flesh wound.

In Comb's report to General Clay after the battle, Combs stated that when they were taken to the British Fort, as he was entering an Indian took his coat and with such a violent jerk, he tore the bandage off the Captains hand. This insinuates it was more than just a bruise.

During the initial fight an Indian struck Pvt. Linsfield Bicknell in the shoulder with a tomahawk with such force it split the ball in the shoulder joint.


The picture above is that of a fractured shoulder perhaps similar to the injury Bicknell suffered.

After the battle

The roster below shows that four of the men of Capt. Comb's company who took part in Dudley's battle re-enlisted on June 2. What became of James Dougherty is unknown. I located an article that was written by an eye witness to the battle and he said:

Just before the batteries were taken, a body of Indians lying in ambush had tired upon Captain Combs’ command, and shot down several of his men.

Was James Dougherty among those "shot down?" 

Another mystery yet to be solved.

NAME	Rank	Date of Enlistment Appointment	To what time engaged or Enlisted	Remarks
Leslie Combs	Captain	June 2, 1813	Sept. 20, 1813
Linsfield Bicknell	Private	“          “	“         “
Daniel Dougherty	“	“         “	“         “
Daniel Singelton	“	“         “	“         “
Isaac White	“	“         “	“         “
Matthew Walker	“	“         “	“         “

Note: Despite his wound Lindsfield Bicknell re-enlisted in Captain Comb's company.

The Hero with Lima ties.

 Linsfield Bicknell was born in Wilkes County, North Carolina in 1785, the son of Samuel and Ann (Parks) Bicknell. On May 5, 1813, twenty-eight year old Linsfield along with 866 of his fellow Kentuckians crawled out their boats across the river from Fort Meigs and started uphill to destroy the British cannon emplacements that were shelling the fort across the river. In their rush to fight the enemy, the Indians used one of their favorite tactics; allow them to come ahead and then fall in behind and surrounding. In this case it cut off the escape route back to the boats. The ensuing fight turned into hand to hand combat. Fighting for his life, and during the fight, an Indian hit Linsfield in the shoulder with a tomahawk so hard it split the cap of his shoulder. The result was that it crippled him for life.

After the war, on Jan. 28, 1820, Linsfield was given a pension of $48 dollars a year. On July 15, 1834, 52 year old Bicknell made application for an increase in his pension in Madison County, Kentucky. His reason for asking for the increase was his shoulder "slipped in and out of place." The pension rolls of 1835 showed that he had received $710.53 to date. On May 15, 1815, he married Mary Pauline Asbell and together they had seven children, Serelsa (1817, Hiram, (1820), Tyre (1829), Paulina (1831), Patterson (1833), Nancy, (1838) and Elizabeth (1839). Census records show Linsfield living near Locust Branch, Kentucky. There is a short section of road south of Locust Branch called "Bricknell rd" that terminates at a dead home in front of what I believe is the old Bricknell homestead. See picture below:


For some odd reason, the 1860 census for Estill county, Kentucky lists Linsfield (75 years old) as "Bend Linsfield." He and wife were living with Ben and Ann Green at the time. (note: census often recorded the names of individuals as they heard them or remembered them, ie., Bicknell name has been also been spelled as Becknell).

A Google search of cemeteries in the area lists one called Kindred cemetery. Its located at GPS Coordinates N37°34'56.29”,W84°03’08.92”. Records show that Linsfield's son Tyre is buried in Kindred Cemetery so more than likely Linfield and his wife are buried there as well. Kindred Cemetery 9 miles southwest of Ravenna, Kentucky on Rt. 594 .



What about the connection between Bicknell and a Lima area resident?

A friend my wife and I have known for many years, emailed me one day and said that she saw the name Linsfield Bicknell in my book and thought that perhaps she might be related. She sent me some of her genealogy files and turns out she is. Linsfield Bicknell, the Kentucky soldier wounded in the battle at Fort Meigs is the 5th Great Uncle of Jeanne Goodwin Haver Ray, a docent at the Allen County Museum.

Next time you visit the museum (one of the best in the country I might add) if you see Jean, congratulate her, not everyone descends from an old Indian fighter who survived hand-to-hand combat, while severely injured, was taken prisoner and survived a massacre at Ft. Miami, endured the long and no doubt painful march to the ships at Swan Creek, taken to mouth of the Sandusky River, dropped off and then walked nearly 350 miles home. Now that my friends, was heroic.