Murry came to Amanda in 1813 and he never left

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

During your next visit to Fort Amanda park, after you cross the bridge over the ravine, look to your left and you see a fenced enclosure with 2 grave headstones; one is for Captain E. Dawson and the other for Charles Murry.

The inscription on the Dawson marker reads;

"Captain E. Dawson, murdered by Indians Oct. 1812."

  

Why Is There A Marker for Enoch Dawson? 

The current gravemarker, along with those on the north side of the ravine are   typical War of 1812 grave markers.  All were installed in 1915 when the park was dedicated.  While the Dawson marker reads, "Murdered by Indians Oct. 1811."

The traditional story is Dawson was shot then scalped by Indians while he was gathering grapes in a tree near the fort.  That doesn't seem plausable as an  Indian firing his gun "near the fort" would certainly have raised an alarm in the fort.  Add to that, I doubt the Indian then would have taken time to scalp his victim.  

If Not Dawson, then Who?

 

Despite numerous attempts over the past 90 years to identify who Captain E. Dawson was, nothing has ever been found.  One argument has always been that names  were lost when the British burned Washington.  The problem with that is was no depository for military records in Washington.  In fact, the Nation Archives wasn't founded until 1934.  Before then, most of the troops stationed at frontier posts were militia companies and their records would have been kept in the respective states files.  

So the question is; "If Enoch Dawson isn't buried in the grave bearing his name, who is?"   Answer:  In all probability it's a man named Private Charles Murry.  Murry, a young soldier from Hamilton County, a private in Captain Daniel Hosbrook's company.  Murry died at Fort Amanda on June 1, 1813, possibly  a victim of the measels a disease raviging the posts along the Aglaize.    

 Who Was Charles Murry?

The first mention anywhere of Charles Murry appeared in a journal kept by William Schillinger, an ensign in Murrys company stationed at Fort Amanda from February - August 1813. Schillinger had been home on leave and when he returned to Amanda, he learned that while he was gone one of the men in his company, Charles Murry, had died. His June 6th journal entry reads:

Sunday the 6^th of June 1813

Showery this morning but Broke away about 10 A.M.   found myself quite Lonesome on account of the Companys being gone,  Note  Charles Murrey a Private in our Company Died on the 1st Day of June, & was buried with the Honors of War at this post, (Amanda)

     Notice that Schillinger spells the name "Murrey" yet the inscription on the headstone is "Murry." Schillinger often misspelled names of the men in his company. Subsequent research showed that "Murry" was the correct spelling.  The picture below is from Schillinger's journal in which he mentions Murry dying. 

Convinced Charles Murry was eitherfrom either Hamilton or Warren County.  Finding nothing in Hamilton County, I next went to the  Warren County courthouse in Lebanon, OH.  There we found an old letter listing the items Murry had in his possession when he died. The items had been given to Captain Hosbrook who then gave them to a woman named Sarah Murry."

Charles Murry's Possessions at the Time of His Death

The items given to Sarah Murry:

A list of the property of

Charles Murry deceased is as follows

Cash by the paymaster                     $15.00

Do by Captain Hosbrook                   $3.00

To one due bill on Isaac Whiteman  $10.00

Cash left in my hands                      $6.00

This is to certify that this is all the property within my knowledge in the county of Warren. This 10th of February, 1814. Sarah Murry

I understand there is a little property elsewhere which I will look for. There is no debt come to my knowledge as yet.
                                         S.M.

Note; the word "do" was another way of writing "ditto." In other words, in addition to the $15 dollars Charles had on hand from the paymaster, he also had given Capt. Hosbrook $3, apparently for safe keeping. The "due bill" indicates Murry owed $10 to Isaac Whiteman, another private in his company. 

Cheapskates

 

During the War of 1812 private soldiers in the army were paid $8 month or 25 cents per day for their service. Notice on Murry's last pay voucher his pay from April 5th to June 4th would have been $16, but because he died June 1st, 3 days before the end of a pay period he was docked three days pay or .77 cents.

Who Was Sarah Murry, Wife of Mother?

On the list of possessions, Sarah Murry wrote that she had $6 "cash being left in my hands." If Sarah was Murry's wife, why would she mention it on the list of possessions if it was her money. On the other hand could Sarah have been Murry's mother?  If Charles Murry left $6 with his mother for safekeeping while he was gone that might explain why she still had it and why it was listed among the possessions. In other words, it wasn't actually her money, she was only keeping it for Charles.

Evidence to Suggest Sarah Was Charles Murry's Mother

On the property list above Sarah wrote: This is to certify that this is all the property within my knowledge in the county of Warren. This 10th of February, 1814. Sarah Murry" Note that she wrote "within my knowledge." and underlined the word "knowledge." What's she's saying is if there property elsewhere owned by Charles, she wasn't aware of it.

Appearing as an afterthought, she went on to say,

         "I understand there is a little property elsewhere which I will look for.                 There is no debt come to my knowledge as yet," 

The key phrase here is," I understand" implying that she thinks there may be a little property elsewhere but she is unsure. She also says she doesn't know if there are any outstanding debts that she's aware of but that she'll check into it.  If Sarah was Murry's wife, she surely would have known if her husband had any properties "elsewhere" and if he had any outstanding debts. On the other hand if Sarah was Murry's mother, that would explain why she didn't know if Charles had properties elsewhere or if he had other debts.

Conclusion

Based on my research and for the reasons mentioned above, it is my proporsl that the soldier buried beneath the Captain Enoch Dawson gravestone is actually Charles Murry, a young bachelor from either Warren or Hamilton county, probably in his late teens or early 20s when he died. When I provided the Ohio Historical Society (now the Ohio Historical Connection) with my findings, the response was that they agreed with me 99.9 percent, however with a 0.1 percent uncertainty they couldn't go on records as saying they 100% agree. The only way to absolutely identify if it is Murry is to locate a living relative, do a DNA check, followed by an exhumation of the grave to compare DNA, and that is unlikely to happen. 

The OHS agreed to allow us to erect a new marker inside the enclosure. The inscription on the bronze plaque is identical to the drawing in Schillinger's journal. And because there's only a 99.9% certainty that the grave is Murrys, at the bottom of the marker we had to include the words: "Buried at Fort Amanda - Exact Location Unknown."  That's OK because we all agree (with 99.9% certainty) that the "exact location" of Murry's grave is just 5 feet away and  I doubt Charles would care.