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ner's sister, and Warner had married Woods' sister. This would seem a family affair, smacking of favoritism, but in those days to be the field officers of a regiment involved not only great responsibility but large danger, because they not only had to teach their regiments the rudiments of their new profession, but actually to lead them in battle, and I venture to assert in the grand armies then created to save this Nation from the great dangers which threatened it, there was not one regiment which excelled the 76th of Ohio in courage, in the measure of hard work, and in the character of its men and officers. Like all such regiments, it was sent to the front green and untrained, to engage in horrid war. My first acquaintance with it was at Paducah in the winter of 18611862, when I sent it forward to Donelson. From that day till we marched before the Nation in Grand Review at Washington, May 24th, 1865, that regiment and these field officers served every day and hour with the Army of the Tennessee, so that its history is that of the Army of the Tennessee, with which you are so familiar. Charles R. or "Susan," as we love to call him, rose from pure modest merit to be a brigade and division commander; and his brother, William B., succeeded him to the command of the regiment, of a brigade and division. When in the dark winter of 1862-3, we lay before Vicksburg, I offered him a vacancy on my personal staff, but he wisely declined it; and you all remember that subsequently in preparing for the Atlanta campaign, I appointed Willard Warner, the brother-in-law, one of my three Inspector-Generals. I watched with almost parental solicitude the progress of these three brothers, so affectionate and respectful to each other, so refined and intelligent, so anxious and willing to do all that the case in hand called for, so perfectly devoid of that personal ambition, which proper and well enough, ever demands more and more honor and rank-never is satisfied. I repeat that a careful study of the action of these three brothers, during the whole civil war, presents the best example I know of to illustrate American manhood and patriotism. Each did a man's full share in that war, rose by easy and natural steps to higher command, well-known to their comrades, but little outside, not advertising their qualities and virtues, but content with the simple recognition of their qualities, all rejoiced when the war was over, and each returned gracefully and cheerfully to the condition. he had left at the beginning. Charles R. Woods, though a Major

General of volunteers, who had skillfully commanded brigades, divisions and armies in battle, returned without a murmur to his old profession in the regular army; and as Lieutenant-Colonel of the 33rd Infantry, was on the plains in 1866, fighting Indians and guarding railroads, the great agents of modern civilization. He lived out his life, and died at his home at Newark, Ohio, Febru ary 26th, 1885, beloved of all and honored most by those who knew him best, among whom I claim a place. The two others settled in Alabama, and were among the first to discover the value of the iron, coal and timber of North Alabama. William B. Woods resumed his practice of the law; soon won the love and respect of his neighbors, by reason of his superior intelligence and refined manners; became a local Judge, then United States Circuit Judge, and finally one of the members of the Supreme Court of the United States, in which capacity he died at Washington on the 12th of May, 1887.

As I have heretofore stated, General William B. Woods was the first presiding officer of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, a man of singular refinement and of classic taste, to whom the rude work of the soldier must have been distasteful, but the times called for every man and every dollar to snatch this country from the dire consequences of disunion and anarchy. He was not content to pay for a substitute, but he freely and generously offered his own life, and with the intelligence that marked his whole career, he waived all honors to his younger brother, Charles R. or 66 Susan," content to do his whole share of work, recognizing the fact that military knowledge and experience were at the time more necessary than the knowledge of the civil law, or of the classics, in which from boyhood he had always excelled. I now consign to you, their comrades, and to history the names and fame of Generals John A. Logan and William B. Woods.

The President:-What is the pleasure of the Society with reference to the paper you have heard read by mself?

General Leggett:-I move that it be placed on our files and be printed in our regular proceedings.

Motion carried.

General Chetlain:-Before we proceed to the reading of the next paper, I have a short report which will take me but a minute to make, in connection with the appointment and action of

the committee appointed in Chicago two years ago to prepare resolutions in regard to the officers of the Society, recognizing their services for twenty consecutive years. This report the committee was ordered to have engrossed and framed. As chairman, I have taken the matter in hand, and have one copy for yourself, Mr. President, here. The other three have been sent to parties they were intended.

The work of committee was approved.

The President:-I now request General Poe to read the paper he has prepared, which was the following:

PAPER READ BY GENERAL O. M. POE.

By direction of the President of our Society, the preparation of a paper bearing upon the causes and results of the military operations on this frontier during the war of 1812 has been undertaken, 'though with great reluctance. Their general history has been so well written, and is so readily accessible in print, that the task of dressing it up in such a form as to make it interesting to a company of gentlemen met together to renew the memories of an incomparably greater war, waged in our own generation, seemed almost hopeless.

However, orders must be obeyed, although the innocent may

suffer.

In this dilemma, and while at a loss how to proceed, the fact was recalled to mind that of all living men, the one best acquainted with the history of this region in those times, is the Honorable James V. Campbell, of the Supreme Court of Michigan. He has made it a life study, giving to it the acumen of his judicial mind, the industry of his scholarly tastes, and an unimpeachable integrity. Advantage was taken of the first opportunity that occurred to talk with him on the subject, and during the conversation he touched upon so much that was new in regard to the intrigues and machinations of the agents of England through the years between the treaty of peace in 1783 and the declaration of war in 1812, that it was a revelation.

Although he declined to attempt the preparation of a paper, which should fulfill the requirements prescribed by General Sherman, yet he finally consented to give a brief statement of the facts

alluded to in the conversation. When this was received, it was found to be a hitherto unwritten chapter of history of such interest and importance that, without hesitation, it is here given just as he wrote it.

Judge Campbell says:

The war of 1812 was generally regarded in the Northwest as the completion of our independence. Up to that time the American territory was coveted, and its repossession was looked on as at least possible. Its importance and value in the eyes of the British were never underestimated. To understand the subject it is necessary to go back some distance.

When Canada was conquered from France, all of it but what was known as Lower Canada was not only left under military control, but was purposely and by royal action closed to settlement. The province of Quebec nominally included a part of Western New York and Pennsylvania, the whole of Upper and Lower Canada, and what was subsequently the Northwest territory of the United States. In the American portion of the country there were forts and trading posts at Oswego, Niagara, Presque Isle, Sandusky, Detroit, Sault Ste. Marie, Mackinac, Green Bay, Prairie du Chien and a few less important places, and settlements of some importance at Detroit, Vincennes and Kaskaskia. There were no landed estates, except at these three places, unless a seigneurie at Sault Ste. Marie is counted, which was not largely settled and was subsequently escheated. The King forbade settlements, and discouraged the enlargement of existing ones. This was on the double ground that new settlements would interfere with British manufacturing and trade monopoly; and that the fur trade, which had become a political power, would be also injured by settlements in the woods.

West of the Mississippi the French possessions, not ceded with Canada, were turned over to Spain, which nominally retained them till shortly before our purchase of Louisiana. But that country was never occupied by Spanish settlers, and a great many French from Detroit and the other Western country crossed over to avoid the British supremacy. The accession of other than French people in Detroit and the other Western posts included very few, except traders and their dependents. These were largely from New York and Montreal, and were chiefly Dutch and Scotch, and were generally well-off and capable. When the

revolution broke out, inasmuch as Canada did not join the revolt, there was never any concert of action in favor of the United States, except in the French settlements in the Wabash and Illinois country, and in a few places bordering on the states. It has been supposed that Detroit and its dependencies contained no disaffection. But the fact has now been made to appear very clearly, from documents not long since made accessible, that there was great distrust among the British authorities concerning the French inhabitants, although some entered the British service. There were also a good many persons who were born or had resided in the English colonies that revolted, whose sympathies were known or believed to be with their Eastern friends. Several were arrested and put under bonds or sent below, and of these only one is believed to have afterwards become attached to the British. He was Matthew Elliott. After being sent down as disaffected, he joined Colonel McKee, who was a principal Indian agent under Sir William Johnson and his successor, and Simon Girty who was a renegade from Pennsylvania. These three men, as long as they lived, were at the bottom of all the Indian difficulties on the frontier. General Clark, during the revolution, got control of the Vincennes and Kaskaskia country, which came within the theoretical confines of Virginia, but no effectual work was done further north. In his operations he was favored by the French people, and received aid and sympathy from the Missouri region. Colonel Francis Vigo personally furnished him the means of making his expedition successful. Colonel Vigo, after the revolution, settled in the American territory at Vincennes, and was connected in business with the Abbotts, of Detroit, and Judge Burnet, of Ohio.

Before the revolution the Indian boundary line had been run from Lake Ontario, and through Central New York to the Ohio. This was afterwards one of the British pretexts for unfriendly action against us, as will be seen hereafter.

When the peace negotiations were concluded, instead of confining our territory by the lines of the old colonies as actually occupied eastward of this Indian line, the line was run through Lakes Superior, Huron, St. Clair, Erie and Ontario, and their connecting waters and a part of the St. Lawrence. This threw within the United States all of the important tribes and all of the best hunting grounds, and shut off access to the Mississippi,

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