CHAPTER IV.

Camp Ball-First settler in Seneca county-Clinton township-Fort Ball -Robert Armstrong-William McCullock-Tiffin-Land officesMad River and Lake Erie Rail-road.

ABOUT the middle of July, 1813, a detachment of men, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel James V. Ball,* built a stockade near the old army road, upon the bank of the San

*About half a mile south-west of Ballsville, in Sandusky county, Lieut. Col. James V. Ball had a skirmish with the Indians, a day or two previous to the assault on Fort Stephenson. There is, or was a few years since, an oak tree on the site of the action, on the road to Columbus, with 17 hacks in it, to indicate the number of Indians killed on the occasion. The squadron was moving towards the fort, when they were suddenly fired upon by the Indians from the west side of the road, whereupon Col. Ball ordered a charge, when he with his suit and the right flank being in advance, first came into action. The colonel struck the first blow. He dashed in between two savages, and cut down the one on the right; the other, being slightly in the rear, made a blow with a tomahawk at his back, when by a sudden spring of his horse, it fell short, and was buried deep in the cantel and pad of his saddle. Before the savage could repeat the blow, he was shot by Corporal Ryan. Lieut. Hedges-now General James Hedges of Mansfield, the surveyor of Tiffin and brother of Josiah Hedges, proprietor of the latter place-following in the rear mounted on a small horse, pursued a large Indian, and just as he had come up to him, his stirrup broke, and he fell head-first off his horse, knocking the Indian down. Both sprang to their feet, when Hedges struck the Indian across his head, and as he was falling, buried the sword up to its hilt in his body. We have been informed, that many years after, the lost stirrup was found, and sent to the gallant Hedges, at Mansfield.

At this time, Captain Hopkins was seen on the left, in pursuit of a powerful savage, when the latter turned and made a blow at the captain with a tomahawk, at which his horse sprang to one side. Cornet Hayes then came up, and the Indian struck at him, his horse in like manner evading the blow. Sergeant Anderson now arriving, the Indian was soon dispatched. By this time, the skirmish was over, the Indians, who were about twenty in number, being nearly all cut down; and orders were given to retreat to the main squadron.

Col. Ball dressed his men, ready for a charge, should the Indians appear in force, and moved down without further molestation to the fort, where they arrived, at 4 o'clock, in the afternoon,

dusky river, opposite the present town of Tiffin; and in honor to its commandant, it was called “ Camp Ball.”

This camp was built as a transient place of security, in case of disaster at the north; and as a magazine for supplies.The camp consisted of stakes a foot in thickness, fixed in the ground, with bayonets driven through them, horizontally, near their tops. Against these, logs were piled upon the outside; and over the logs, dirt was thrown from a ditch, which surrounded the whole. There was room in the interior, for five hundred men.

After the battle of Tippecanoe, a detachment was sent by General Harrison, who was then at Seneca, up the river, to strengthen this camp. The soldiers were quartered here several days, during which time, they were frequently destitute of provisions; and once, their supply was so completely exhausted, that they were obliged to subsist entirely upon fish—a part standing guard to protect those that were fishing, from the lurking savages.

Before the battle at Fort Stephenson, this detachment left for the Maumee, but the post was occasionally occupied, until Harrison left the country. Vestiges of Camp Ball still remain.Between the ground and the river, is a beautiful spring of water, which serves to mark the spot where the camp once stood. It is on the west bank of the river, just above the new bridge which crosses the stream, at the foot of Washington street, Tiffin. Several soldiers were buried near the camp; and among their number was the father of a Mr. Powers, of Delaware.— The remains of one of these, were exhumed a short time since, by some workmen in the employ of R. W. Shawhan.

On the 18th of November, 1817, ERASTUS Bowe, the first settler in Seneca county, arrived at Camp Ball, where some hired men had erected him a log house, which was within the

limits of the camp-many of the stakes standing at the time. Here commenced the first settlement in the county.

Mr. Bowe was born in Rutland county, Vermont, and passed through this county as early as 1812, under the command of General Hull. He was in Norton's company, at the building of the fort at Lower Sandusky; and was one of those daring rangers, who scoured the Indian country, and protected the whites from savage cruelty. He was a citizen of Delaware, eight years previous to his settling in this county. After the close of the war, he occasionally hunted in this vicinity, and among the early settlers of the county was famous as a deer-hunter.

Soon after his arrival in 1817, he erected a house just below Camp Ball; and here he opened the first tavern in the county. His charges must have been somewhat in advance of those of the present day; as butter was worth, at that time, two shillings a pound; pork, six dollars per hundred; and flour, twelve dollars per barrel. Mr. Bowe has ever since resided in the county, and is now a resident of Hopewell township. Thirty years ago, he came to this county, and for several months was the only settler within its limits.

With what astonishment, mingled with admiration, must he look back upon the years that have passed, and see the mighty change that has been wrought, since he first located upon the banks of the Sandusky! Instead of standing in the door of his humble log shanty, which was then far in the wilderness-a dense portion of which occupied the present site of the town. of Tiffin-he now sees there, from the beautiful village of New Fort Ball, a large and flourishing town, the county-seat of a populous and wealthy county!

There is now the track of a rail-road, where was then an Indian trail; and instead of the wild whoop of the Indian hunt

er, his ears are now greeted with the shrill whistle of the locomotive, and the thundering of rolling wheels!

Clinton township was organized on the first Monday of June, 1820; and its boundaries, defined by the commissioners of Sandusky county, as follow: "Commencing where the township line between (townships) No. two (2) and three (3) strikes the river, on the east bank thereof; thence with said line, to the north-east corner of township No. two, (2,) in range fifteen (15) east; thence south with the range line between ranges fifteen (15) and sixteen, (16,) to the south-east corner of the aforesaid township; thence west to the township line between (townships) No. one (1) and two; (2;) thence northwardly, with the meanders of the river, to the place of beginning." It received its name from De Witt Clinton, governor of New York.

The first township election was held on the 15th of June, 1822. Its population in 1840, was 2,195. Since that time, it has steadily increased in business, population and wealth, numbering among others of its enterprising farmers-George Stoner, Samuel Waggoner, Ezra Baker, Jacob Souder, Elisha Olmsted, Thomas Coe, Jacob Adams, John Souder, Dennis Stoner, Levi Davis, Samuel Rule, John Swander, William Hunter, Joseph Richards, Eli Olmsted, Thomas Ellis, Frederick Cramer, Ezra Derr, John Baugher, William Baker, John Keller, Hezekiah Searles, Jacob Holtz, Joseph Burnsides, Grafton Bernard, Dennis Cramer, and Aenas Cramer.

In 1819, Abner Pike settled in Oakley; (now New Fort Ball;) and, on the 1st of April, of the following year, David Risdon came to this town, and shortly after was appointed postmaster, the first in the county. Subsequently, Mr. Pike located upon the farm at present owned by Ezra Baker.

At the time of the survey of Oakley by Joseph Vance, there were no dwellings upon the site of the town, and only one

house in its vicinity, which was the residence of Mr. Bowe. In 1824, the town of Fort Ball was surveyed upon the same plat, by David Risdon, receiving its name from the camp before mentioned. Had it not been that the land upon which this town was surveyed, belonged to Robert Armstrong, it would, doubtless, have become the county-seat of the county.

At the treaty of the Miami of Lake Erie, the United States granted to Mr. Armstrong this tract, consisting of one section, of 640 acres of land, afterwards known as the “ Armstrong Reservation."

Armstrong was taken captive by the Wyandot Indians, at three years of age, in the state of Pennsylvania. He married a half-blood Indian woman, and was in every respect a gentleman. He spoke excellent English; so much so, that it would not have been suspected he had ever lived among the Indians. Having been for a number of years, employed as interpreter by the United States, it was in consideration of his valuable services in this capacity, that he received his grant of land.He died in 1825, about two miles from Upper Sandusky, upon the Wyandot reservation.

The United States granted, at the same time and place, to the children of William McCullock, a section of 640 acres of land, lying just below the Armstrong reservation, above mentioned. McCullock was killed by a cannon ball at the siege of Fort Meigs, while sitting in General Harrison's tent; and was employed at the time, as interpreter for the United States.

Dr. Eli Dresbach, from Circleville, a graduate of the Ohio Medical college, settled in this town, (Fort Ball,) on the 17th day of February, 1823, and removed from the latter place to Tiffin in 1826, where he has since resided.

Rodolphus Dickinson, from New York, a member of Congress for this district, settled in Fort Ball, in 1824, and was the first attorney at law in the county.