· 398 barrels of
flour
· 32 barrels
whiskey
· 72 barrels
salt
· 20 kegs of
powder
· 10 kegs lead,
· 1 box of
cannister shot
· several boxes
clothing
· 150 cannon
balls
· 10 bushels
oats
· several
boxes of hospital stores.
· Iron bars
· Bars of
steel
· Coils of rope
The trip would not be an easy one
because of the tremendous number of bends and turns of the St. Marys River.
The weather December 4, 1812 was balmy and cold but the St. Marys River was still navigable at that point but that was about to change. Ten days later Dec. 14th, Major Thomas Bodley wrote General Harrison with the bad news the St. Marys River was so blocked with ice, driftwood and other debris, the first group of boats were forced to halt at Shane's Crossing, 18 miles from Ft. Barbee (St. Barbee). The second group of boats met the same fate and were stopped near General Wayne's old Ft, Adams (1794).
Because the St. Marys River is so
crooked the blockage had cause the water to damn up and overflow its
banks for miles, making even the nearby roads impassable.
It was decided the best course of action was to unload the supplies and store them until the St. Marys River opened. Captain Jordan and his company at Shane's Crossing secured their boats and cargo while the commander of the second fleet sent word to Gen. Barbee at St. Marys that he needed help.
Back at Fort Barbee, Capt. David D. McNair and a group of men were ordered to advance to the site of the second group of boats and help them unload their cargo and build sheds to get the materials undercover. Because the roads were basically of no use, the assumption is McNair and his men likely used pack horses and sleds to move tarps, lumber and tools to the site.
In the meantime, Major Bodley suggested
to Gen. Harrison that until the St. Marys River opened up, all supplies
being shipped be sent to Fort Amanda because, as he pointed out,
"The Auglaise is much straighter, has more water, and will not freeze up so soon as the St. Mary's"
Because of the rapid rise in water Pogue hadn't had time to build more pirogues so the men at Fort Amanda loaded barrels of flour, whiskey, salt and clothing onto rafts and sent them north on the Auglaize to Fort Winchester. The assumption is the rafts from Amanda and their cargo reached Fort Winchester without incident.
One can only imagine how difficult it
would have been working in waist high frigid water unloading the boats. As
Major Bodley pointed out in his letter to Harrison, the men were all volunteers
and ofen risked their lives to unload and store all the mateirals.
" no set of men ever exerted themselves more than these have done on this occasion. Mr. McClosky is an experienced water-man, him and many of the crew were often in the water and sometimes risqued their lives. He got in here last night very much fatigued and almost exhausted.
While we don't know exactly when the river opened up what we do know is that the men working at the site east of old Fort Adams were still on site on December 19th and they named the site "Camp Ellen. " On December 19th Captain McNair sent the following to Lt. Col. Robert Pogue, Commander at Fort Amanda.
Camp Ellen 19th
December 1812
(Authors note: I don't remember where I found this document or who transcribed it but becasue the commander of the boats that froze in here was a "Mr. Allen" it seems more probsbler that the it was camp Allen, not Ellen.
Col Pogue
Dear Sir, I have delivered to _____ Toby, twenty
barrels of flour in good order for which his receipt has
been taken.I hope it will arrive safe.
I wish you by the next waggons to send an order for the loading they now carry and for what they may be able to carry next time. I have understood verbally that the provisions were to be carried to Ft. Amanda but of this I have not been officially notified. But _____ your order will be sufficient. I am sir with due respect, your obedient servant Capt. D. D. McNair
No records exist telling us what
Camp Ellen looked like, but my guess is it was an assortment of makeshift
shelters hurridly constructed to protect the materials from the winter
conditions. Because the trip to Ft. Wayne took several days the
men either slept on the boats or possibly in tents onshore each night.
Locating Camp Ellen (or Allen)
Simple! When you take into consideration the weather conditions,
working conditions and the large number of materials unloaded from the boats at
Camp Ellen/Allen, I think is safe say, "Someone simply dropped
it."
, 398 barrels of flour
· 32 barrels whiskey
· 72 barrels salt
· 20 kegs of powder
· 10 kegs lead,
· 1 box of cannister shot
· several boxes clothing
· 150 cannon balls
· 10 bushels oats
· several boxes of hospital stores.
· Iron bars
· Bars of steel
· Coils of rope
While locating Camp Ellen/Allen is of historical interest, hopefully the most notable part of this story is recognizing the sacrifices made and the hardships endured by those young soldiers in December 1812. Heroism in wartime is found in many places, and not always on the battlefield.