The Garrison At Fort Amanda - Christmas 1812
The soldiers stationed at Fort Amanda during the Christmas season in 1812 were men in their early 20s, the majority of whom were farmers in civilian life. The officers were 47-year-old commandant, Lt. Col. Robert Pogue wealthy landowner from Mayslick, Ky., 26-year-old Captain Thompson Ward, a lawyer from Flemingsburg, Ky and 29 year-old Benedict Bacon from Frankfort Ky. brother-in-law of Captain Ward.
Early in December
1812, the weather was cool and balmy but by the middle of the month, the
temperature had dropped dramatically causing many of the rivers in Northwest Ohio
to freeze over. The crooked St. Marys River was completely blocked with
ice, wood and other debris.
A flotilla of boats (16
canoes and 3 large flat bottom boats) on their way to Fort Wayne with much
needed supplies were forced to stop 18 miles from Ft. Barbee, one at Shane’s
Crossing (Rockford, Oh) and the other a short distance from Waynes old Ft,
Adams (1794).
A
message was quickly sent to Capt., David D. McNair at St. Marys, ordering
him to assemble a group of men and advance to the site to help them unload
their cargo and build sheds to put them under. Because roads in the area
were practically impassible, McNair and his men likely used pack horses
and sleds to move tarps, lumber and tools to the site which they named
"Camp Ellen.".
With no way of
knowing when the St. Marys River would open the only option of getting supplies
to Ft Wayne or even Fort Defiance was by sleds.
On Dec. 5, 1812, John
Piatt, Commissary for the army, placed the following notice in the
Western Spy newspaper seeking people who owned sleds and teams of horses he
could hire to carry supplies to Fort Defiance.
Dec. 5, 1812
I wish to hire any number of sleds that may
be ready when a suitable snow falls, to transport flour to Defiance.
Those who are disposed to engage and reside near Dayton will apply to James
McClure, and those in the neighborhood of Franklin to Gen. Wm. Schenck, in the
neighborhood of Lebanon to (??) in the neighborhood of Hamilton to Matthew
Heuston. Forage for the teams will be provided at Piqua. It is
expected that they will take full loads to Piqua, and there leave part of them,
and take in a sufficient quantity of grain to supply their horses to Defiance
and back to Piqua. They will then proceed to St. Marys, or Fort
Amanda on the Auglaise, and leave all their feed except what will answer
until they return to Amanda and take a full load of provisions. Their
grain shall be kept under lock and key till they return. All sleds
carrying six barrels of flour shall have three dollars per day, or eight
dollars per barrel at the option of the undertaker
John R. Piatt
Fort Amanda
Major Thomas Bodley, Army quartermaster stationed at Ft. Barbee 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"
By the 19th, supplies from the stalled boats were transported overland to Ft. Amanda. The soldiers at McNair, still at the boat site sent the following to Pogue at Amanda informing him that that he had given 20 barrels of flour destined for Fort Defiance to a Mr. Toby.
Camp Ellen 19th
December 1812
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
So, What Was Christmas
Like At Fort Amanda In 1812?
Probably pretty miserable. In addition to the
miserable cold, the men would have been busy storing materials in sheds until they could be transported by sleds. There are indications the men were also busy
building pirogues (canoe like boats) in case the Auglaize River opened. In other words it would have been a very busy time at Amanda.
Saving Grace - Whiskey
At days end on Christmas day 1812 with the labors of the day behind them, some of the men probably went to their cabins and spent time writing letters to their families back home. The younger soldiers no doubt
enjoyed their extra ration of whiskey and music from guitars or harmonicas and sang carols.
No Firewatch’s, no decorations or carolers and a long way from home, the boys
at Fort Amanda had kept the war machine moving. It was a Christmas the boys at Fort Amanda would never forget.