Traveling with the Schroeders -- Fort Meigs, Perrysburg, Ohio

A free Saturday allowed our family to visit a fort from the War of 1812.  Fort Meigs is in Perrysburg, Ohio, and was constructed to prevent the British from advancing to claim territory for Canada which would become Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.  They had also enlisted help from local Indian tribes who were annoyed by Americans impeding on their territory.  The British had already come down Michigan, had captured Fort Wayne (Detroit) without firing a shot, and intended to sweep down into Ohio without any resistance.

The US commissioned Major General William Henry Harrison to build a fort along to Maumee River to stop the British soldiers' advances.  The fort eventually became one of the places from which the US troops beat back the British.  The greatest battle in the area was on Lake Erie where Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry defeated the British in a naval battle.  Another historical site to be visited eventually.

I did not expect Fort Meigs to offer as much as it did.  The fort has been reconstructed completely.  Its footprint was determined to within a foot of the original fort and beams of timber were placed around it.  Seven block houses have been rebuilt, originally designed to withstand canon ball fire from the British across the river--and they did.  The only other original remnants of the fort are traverses--large earthen mounds which were built up to absorb canon fire which was being lobbed into the camp.  The soldiers' tents were pitched behind these traverses which protected them quite well.  The traverses stopped canon fire from hitting the soldiers, and any efforts to lob canon fire over these traverses usually meant that cannon balls cleared the fort completely.  It was a brilliant design constructed very hastily by William Henry Harrison.  Due to erosion over the past 200 years, the traverses are only half the size they once were.

Side note: The one thing that I did not see (and maybe I just missed it in the museum) is who this "Meigs" guy is for whom the fort is named.  As best as I can determine, it would be Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr. who served as governor of Ohio at the time.

The cost of admission is $10 for adults; Peter was $5.  It is well worth the cost.  Photos are below.

The wooden horse (above) was used to discipline disobedient soldiers.  The soldier would have weights tied to his ankles and would "ride the wooden horse" for 30 minutes, perhaps several times.

The monument to Commodore Perry is in downtown Perrysburg where we had stopped for lunch.  A larger monument is in Put-In-Bay, Ohio, on an island in Lake Erie, which we will have to visit some day.