40° 23.648′ N, 83° 47.673′ W.
The marker is near Bellefontaine, Ohio, in Logan County. It's located on County Road 130 (Ohio Route 117) 0.2 miles south of County Route 91, on the right side of the road when traveling south toward Bellefontaine, Oh.
For those of you new to my blog, my main area of interest in history is the history of Fort Amanda. I’ll sometimes wander off into a new areas of interest and when I do I usually end up with more questions than answers. My most recent wandering led me to the subject of this blog; Manary’s blockhouse. The blockhouse was built in Logan County, Oh during the War of 1812 to protect soldiers defending the frontier along the Greenville Treaty line. While we know the blockhouse existed, there seems to be some questions as to exactly where it was located? What follows is a clue that might help answer that question.
How it All Began
In October 2020, I posted a question to members in a group on a Facebook page called “Western Ohio History Group.” I asked members if they thought frontier blockhouses were built with round logs or squared off logs. During the discussion, one member posted pictures of Manary’s blockhouse . I’d heard of Manary’s blockhouse but knew little about it so I “wandered off” to see what I could find.
The first place I looked was, “History of Logan Counthy and Ohio by William Henry Perrin (1892?). I deleted parts of sentences so the focus remains on the the blockhouse: On pg. 487 it states:
The pioneer
settler in Harrison Township was James McPherson, a native of Carlisle,
Cumberland Co., Penn., who, with a family consisting of a wife and four
children, arrived during the fall of 1811. He camped near the site of the present Infirmary building
of Logan County, and setting immediately to work, he soon completed a comfortable log cabin near
by, A few months later a
like structure was completed by Capt. James Manary's company, from Ross County.
The site of this
building was upon an elevation, perhaps one-half mile southeast of MoPherson's.
Here, in these two strongholds, the settlers from the surrounding country
sought shelter at intervals until the cessation of hostilities.
I next went to the a database of historical markers for the state
of Ohio to see what I could find. https://www.hmdb.org/results.asp?Search=Keyword&SearchFor=manary+house
The first thing I noticed was the word “stockade,” not blockhouse. A stockade is defined by Webster as “ a line of stout posts set firmly to form a defense” and “an enclosure or pen in which animals are kept. ” A blockhouse on the other hand is typically a stand alone building used for shelter or protection.
Stockade Blockhouse
The second thing I noticed on the marker was an arrow pointing west with words, “On Hulls trail 400 yards.”
Using my Google Earth app and ruler app, I scanned the area west of the marker looking for land features. I didn’t find anything. I next checked the “Historical Imagery” tool to see what the area looked like in 1994. Still nothing. I went back to the marker area to see what it looked like in 1994 and something caught my eye.
A plat map of 1790 shows a building near the site of the ground
feature but a scale shows that the building is further south. All indications are there was no building on
the site between 1875 and 1996-97
Manary’s blockhouse was built to protect the frontier
so my guess is it was inhabited most of the time. If the land feature is the remnants of the
original blockhouse it was a big one, 7800 sq. ft. (120’ x 60’). It’s referred to as a “blockhouse” and the
historical marker calls it a “stockade.” My question is, “could it have been both, a
blockhouse within a stockade?”
But why the need for a stockade if the men lived in the
blockhouse. Answer, where were the
horses housed? They wouldn’t have been
tied up outside because they could have been stolen by the Indians. A stockade also provided a first line of
defense so it would have served a dual purpose.
Key Points
1. Manarys blockhouse was approx.. ½ mile southeast of McPhersons
cabin.
2. The land
feature shown in the picture looks man made.
 |
3. Some sources
say the original building was moved at least once.
4. There were
no modern buildings on the site between 1875 and 1996-97.
5. While
blockhouse differ in size, a 7800 Sq. foot blockhouse seems very unlikely.
6. The scope of
the operation at the site would have necessitated the need for some type of housing for
horses/livestock
7.7. The 1880 Ohio census shows that that there was no home between J. McPherson and Horn.
Not meant to besmirch, the man but.........
"The conduct of Manary's company of rangers has been as to destroy all confidence in it. I would have arrested him and his officers if I were not in hopes that the President would direct the whole company to be disbanded. There certainly could be companies raised of that description that would be eminently useful but to be so the officers must be selected in a different manner from what they have been. Both the companies raised in this state and that in Kentucky are entirely worthless because the officers are deficient in every quality which is necessary for their stations. Perry is a fool, coward and a drunkard, Manary a poor old imbecile creature and Gov. Scott assured me that his Captain (Perry) was as bad as could have been selected.
Conclusion
My "wanderings" this time may have led me into wishful thinking land however, I do think I've presented enough information here to at least pose a reasonable hypothesis that Manary's blockhouse was actually a blockhouse within a stockade and located on the property at GPS coordinates 40° 23.648′ N, 83° 47.673′ W.Whatever the case, I had fun and learned a lot from the effort.