Travel the Old Army Trail: Ft. Amanda to Ft. Defiance
If you're looking for something to do on any given weekend, you might consider driving the old army road from Ft. Amanda to Ft. Defiance. It's a nice leisurely drive with beautiful scenery along the way, and if you're like me, at some point you'll probably think, "I wonder what this all looked like to the soldiers back in 1812?" Simple answer? Hell on Earth.
Ft. Amanda was on the fringe of what was known as the Great Black Swamp; "Great" because it covered an ara extending from Auglaize county to the Michigan border and from Toledo to Ft. Wayne, an area covering over 1500 square miles, and "Swamp" because, well, that's what it was.
What was it like marching through the swamp?
In 1794, Anthony Wayne's army left Ft. Adams (north of Celina), and marched northeast through the swamp on his way to the Auglaize River. To give some idea of how wooded the area was at that time, when the army reached the area of the Van-Del Drive-In theater west of Delphos, Oh, one of his officers wrote in his journal that this was the first time he was able to look around and see the entire army (2000 soldiers) at one time. Up to that point, the forest were so thick with trees and the vegetation so high it was difficult see any great distance. It's said the canopy (first branches) of the virgin forest was as much as 50 above the ground and in some areas so dense, practically shut out the sunlight.
Now imagine trudging for miles, in water and mud so thick it could suck the shoes off your feet. The gnats and mosquitoes were so bad it's said they actually drove some oxen and horses mad. There are stories of teamsters abandoning their wagons and quitting because of conditions were so horrendous. And as if the mud and bugs weren't the enough, at night, men had to pile brush up to lay on to keep themselves out of the water all the while trying to sleep with the terrible stench of rotting vegetation.
An account written by a soldier crossing the swamp in 1812 paints a vivid picture of what it was like. Seems it had been raining all day and he had piled up some brush to sit on to stay up out of the water. At the bottom corner of one page I noticed what looked like a water mark. Looking closer I saw he had written around the edge of the stain, "Oops...spilled some baccy juice." Here was a man sitting under a tree 200 years ago, chewing tobacco, his had pulled down and rain dripping off the brim, hunched over to keep warm all the while trying to write in his journal. That's a visualization I'll always remember.
The Swamp Today
Few traces of the swamp still exist although if you're ever driving through Putnam, Paulding or Van Wert Counties, notice the ditches alongside the road. Those were hand dug in the mid 1800's to drain the swamp.
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| Then |
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| Now |
The Forts
The army like to build forts15 - 20 miles apart, a distance soldiers could easily walk in a day. That explains why Ft. Jennings is where it is, 17 miles from Ft. Amanda. The army normally followed the river for a couple reasons. The first is for navigational aid. They knew the Auglaize emptied ino the Maumee at Defiance so all they had to do was follow the river and you'd end up at Defiance. The second is the river was always on the right side of the troops. An attack from that direction meant that the enemy was trapped between an enemy to their front and a river to their rear making a retreat very difficult.
The first leg of the trail.
No trace of the trail from Ft. Amanda to the its junction with Defiance trail remains. The assumption is that since the river was taking a gradual bend to the west a straight line from the fort to Defiance trail made the most sense.
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| Fort Amanda to the Junction with Defiance Trail (3 miles) |
The trail from Ft. Amanda to Ft. Jennings for the most part followed Defiance Trail all the way. Approaching Ft. Jennings, Defiance Trail ties into S. Water St. (SR 190) approx. 0.8 miles west of town. From that point, the route follows Water St. into town.
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| Ft. Amanda / Defiance Trail Junction to Ft. Jennings. (14.5 miles) |
From Ft. Jennings, the route followed SR 190 for 3 1/2 miles to the intersection of SR 224. At that point Defiance Trail becomes Rd. 22K. Continue on 8.2 miles to the intersection of Rd 22K and Rd. 123. At 1.6 miles, Rd. 22K turns west. The original trail continues north however it passes through private property for a distance of approx. 085 miles and connects at the intersection of Rd. 263 and Rd. 207 (see below)
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| Ft. Jennings to Ft. Brown (20 miles) |
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| Original Trail passes through private property .85 miles |
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| Location of original trail |
The trail continued on Rt. 66 for 3.3 miles to the where the Little Auglaize River dumps into the Auglaize River, site of Fort Brown (1812)
Fort Brown (Click on link for more information)
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Fort Brown |
Crossing the Little Auglaize at Ft. Brown, the trail continued on Rt. 66 for 6.7 miles to the intersection of Rd. 111 then continued on 8 miles with the road becoming S. Clinton St. in Defiance.
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| Ft. Brown to Defiance (14 1/2 miles) |
Fort Defiance (Click on link for more information)
Old Ft. Defiance (1794) and Ft. Winchester (1813)
The trip from Fort Amanda through the Black Swamp to Defiance was approximately 50 miles and took three days. Today it's still 50 miles but it takes only hour or so and I'm betting that the boys from Harrisons army would agree, it certainly smells a whole lot bette