Micah Taul memoir

49 being enough for each of my men to get a little You are from Kentucky, Gentlemen, said she I suppose. Yes Madam was the answer. May God bless ye & prosper ye, said she, & give ye health & strength to defend the country. Brave Kentuckians said she, we know, you are real men of stout hearts, who will not run, & leave the frontier unprotected, like our own cowardly men have done. Repeating our thanks to the ladies, we marched on - our strength & spirits greatly increased by the old womans buttermilk and compliment. We found at St. Mary's [?] a block house & a considerable depot of provisions. Poague & Jennings Regiments were moved on the direction of old fort Defiance - Allens & Lewis's Regiments were in the neighborhood of Fort Wayne. Jennings Regiment was halted about 35 miles from St. Mary's, on the [?] Glaise. Poague's moved further on. On our Regiment devolved the hard & disagreeable duty of escorting convoys of provisions to the troops & posts in advance. One of our companies (Petersons) was detailed to fort Wayne distant 60 miles to remain during the winter. McNair's company was ordered to an Indian village called Waugh-paugh-ko-natti distant 12 miles, leaving only 6 companies at St. Mary's. On one occasion, having a large convoy of provisions - cattle &c. to send on, Col. Barbee detailed two companies, to be commanded by Captains Jordan & Burnett to escort it. They did not return as soon as they were expected nor had a word of intelligence been rec d from them until another large convoy was ready for the same destination, & an escort of one company to be commanded by me, was detailed. It was considered hazardous, as Jordan & Burnett had not returned - the conclusion was that they had been captured by the Indians. Just at the moment when I was ready to march, a man came in, who had been one of the escort [?]

50 [Tight binding, right side margin sometimes hard to read] informed Col. Barbee, that Col. Jennings had tamed the escort at his post, until the empty waggons & pack horses should return from fort Defiance. He said he had got tired of "Fort Jennings" & had deserted. The Col. was greatly enraged & ordered me to escort the convoy to fort Jennings & return immediately to S. Mary's. I told him, I would try & do so, if he would give a written order to that effect, which he did. I reached fort Jennings the third day with the convoy in safety, & upon my arrival was warmly greeted by Capts Jordan & [Burn?] who were very unpleasantly situated there with out tents or camp equipage. I told them I intended to return the next day, which pleased them very much. I waited on Col. Jennings with whom I had a slight personal acquaintance and talked over the whole matter about his detaining the former escort very freely [with?] [ent?] at that time, informing him of my orders from Col. Barbee. I drew two days rations of beef & flour, I directed the men to cook it [?] night, as I intended to leave early the next morning. I again waited on Col. Jennings & informed him of the situation of our post. We had then 3 or 4 companies left - & I did not see any necessity for his detaining Capts Jordan & Burnette any longer. He said they would have to remain until the empty waggons & post horses returned from Defiance to escort them back to St. Mary's - & that I would have to remain for the same purposes until those I had escorted returned. I remonstrated with him against him, in as strong & [decided?] terms as I could without effect. He was imperative [imperative] "I must remain". I showed him my orders from Col. Barbee which required me to return immediately. He said Barbee had no right to give any such order; I told him I considered it to be my duty to obey it; that I

51 did not want any collision or difficulty with him, &c &c and took leave of him for the night & lodged in the tent of one of his officers, an intimate friend. Col. Jennings was a proud vain glorious - self willed man - foolishly puffed up with being the commandant of a Regiment & that too at a separate post. He was unpopular with his Regiment, and I knew it I had a very general acquaintance with his officers, many of whom were devoted friends. I imparted to them my determination to leave in the morning, regardless of any orders I might receive from the Col. which, altho' unmilitary they highly applauded. We had no tents with us - nor camp equipage. He had none to supply us with, & of course, if we remained our situation would have been exceedingly uncomfortable it was then late in the month of October. Having eat our breakfast in the morning, I directed my men to prepare for their march back to St. Mary's. The lashed on their knapsacks in quick time. I ordered them to parade & form company - & made them load their muskets & fix their bayonets. We were inside of Col. Jennings encampments which was enclosed with a rude breast work of logs but in the direction, I had to march, there was an open space of 20 or 30 feet. Col. J. was sitting on a stump near his margins, not more than 50 yards from me. I had to march immediately by him & as I passed I saluted him & respectfully bade him good morning. "Where are you going Capt.?" (said he). To St. Mary's was my reply. By what authority? By the authority of the written order of Col. Barbee that I showed you last evening. "I command you to remain, until I countermand that order." Excuse me Col. - I have not time", was my reply & marched on. By this time, at least one half his Regiment was near enough to

{Re Reg Reg}

52 hear the dialogue. The Colonel blustered about for some time. He had a tremendous stentorious voice - called for the Adjutant of the Regiment, ordered his men to parade saying he would stop [me?] by force. But instead of obeying him, they shouted & cheered Capt. Taul, swearing that I was the boy for them. I was not molested. Capt. Jordan Burnett could not, or did not attempt to retrain their men & they all followed me - the Captains bringing up the rear. Upon my arrival at St. Mary's, I rec d the thanks of Col. Barbee & the gratulations of all the officers & men at the post. This unmilitary conduct rendered me very popular & acquired for me great notoriety in the left wing of North Western Army, then commanded by Genl Winchester. Col. Jennings immediately wrote to Gen. W. charging me with "Mutiny & disobedience of orders" but I knew I was in no danger - Genl W's private secretary was John Woolfolk, a young man of great worth, fine talents & education & was brother to the Lieut of my company, Joseph H. Woolfolk, who in anticipation of charges be inhibited against me, wrote to his brother a full account of the whole affair. I had also several other very particular friends about the person & in the staff of Genl. W. who were written to, & two or three of whom, I had an opportunity of imparting the facts to in a personal interview. Col. Barbee also wrote to Genl W. & Genl Harrison saying if any thing was wrong, he "took the responsibility". Genl Winchester in a letter to Col. Jennings, of which I was furnished with a copy by his secretary, but have mislaid it, politely declined ordering a court martial, for my trial at that time owing to the uncertain movement of the army & the impracticability of withdrawing a sufficient number of officers, for my trial, from their other duties. The whole affair evaporated

53 I heard nothing more of it, until I met with Col. Jennings at Cincinnati, on our return home in the spring, when we settled it very amicably over a glass of wine. Our Regiment (the 7th) commanded by Col. Barbee was stationed during the winter at St. Mary's in Latitude. A battalion of Ohio volunteers, commanded by Maj. Jenkinson, was also stationed there. Our Reg t. was inside of an indifferent stockade fort, erected by ourselves - Jenkinson's battalion was on the opposite side of the river, without any protection but their fire arms. The weather was excessively cold. Snow two feet, all winter - the water courses all frozen up - and until about Christmas, the men were very badly clad. When they left home, they did not expect [expect] to be out but a three month tour & they were generally clad in linen or cotton hunting shirts and pantaloons & these were nearly worn out. Genl. Harrison had been appointed Commander in Chief of the North Western Army & he early made an appeal to the patriotic ladies of Kentucky thro' Gen. Shelby - for a supply of clothing - for the naked volunteers. About Christmas, an ample supply of clothing and blankets was recd., a donation from our wives, mothers, sisters, etc. We were also abundantly supplied with provisions & being not more than 30 miles from the settlements, after the snow fell & other roads were broke, the citizen of Ohio brought out butter, vegetables, poultry, etc. for sale. We had also plenty of game in the woods - such as deer, raccoons, porcupines, turkies, pheasants, etc., etc. Upon the whole, we lived very well. We erected small cabins for barracks. We had not been long at St. Mary's when an express [express] came from Genl Winchester to Genl Harrison who was then at that post, informing him, that he was in danger of being attacked by the enemy, near old fort Defiance, to which he had been ordered by a superior force that the allied army of British [British] & Indians was superior in number to his own