Siege of Dunlap's Station

During their long and complex history on the North American continent, Native Indians' vigorously adopted every imaginable effort to survive and thrive. However, "By 1690, may (sic) of the Native American peoples in the eastern part of the region had been driven out by the Iroquois and their allies." Then European Colonial Powers all but ended their sovereignty and decimated their populations.

The settlers of the Ohio were mostly escaping lives of poverty, and persecution. The Northwest Indian War began after the American Revolution, and those living near frontier outposts north of the Ohio were particularly subject to attack. In the winter of 1790-1791 a large confederation of native people surrounded John Dunlap's small armed and fortified community in what to became SW Ohio. A 25 hour long battle ensued.

This was one of their few unsuccessful attacks during this period. It was shortly after the Harmar Campaign attacks and unprecedented defeat. A few months after the siege, St. Clair's campaign famously failed.

This small episode, a week after the so-called Big Bottom Massacre in what became southeast Ohio, turned into an iconic event: Ohioans felt that a traitor had tortured innocent civilians.

The Station
Dunlap’s Station, later referred to as Fort Colerain, was on the east bank of the Great Miami River, and established in early 1790 in the midst of Little Turtle's War. It served three main functions:
 * US expansion into Native territory,
 * New Jersey based land speculation, and
 * a settlement for farmers, their fields & pastures.

The Northwest Territory had been established in 1787, within which Judge Symmes had organized the Miami Company and then advertised the availability of this land. They hired the Irish surveyor John Dunlap who led the party of men, women and children. They cleared the land, constructed the station, and grew crops outside during the first summer. The blockhouses were built as a refuge from Native attacks, since this was still disputed Shawnee hunting lands. While neighbouring indians and settlers had managed to share an earlier Christmas feast, naturally an application was made at Fort Washington for a garrison.

"...A small detachment of United States troops, under the command of Lieutenant Kingsbury, occupied the fort. It consisted of a corporal and eleven men, besides the commandant. Their names were

Taylor, Neef, O'Neal, O'Leary, Lincoln, Grant, Strong, Sowers, Murphy, Abel, McVicar and Wiseman.


 * There were on the north side of the fort, Horn, McDonald, Barrott and Barket, with their families, and


 * on the south side, White, with his family, and McDonald, whose family was not at the station..."

Three blockhouses had been constructed for the military garrison, as had a shelter for the hand mill. The ten settler's cabins faced together, A cleared line of fire was begun by removing brush and felled trees, but this was not completed in time. Another vulnerability had been that the lower edges of the roofs were on the outside and had, for example, become a way into the Fort for their dogs. This was reversed, but there were still open spaces between some of the logs. As per Shaumburgh's Plan, all this was linked with 8' high fencing of log pickets, and then extended to the shore, The total enclosed about one acre.



Initial Attack
Convinced that the undisciplined American militias were vulnerable to forays by united warriors, in November & December 1790 Chiefs of the confederated tribes met with British indian agents to plan simultaneous raids on Baker's and Dunlap's Stations. The "white" Shawnee Simon Girty was honoured with the leadership of these attacks.

Everything started, however two days before the actual siege when, a cross-border surveying incursion, mostly by civilians and military not from Dunlap's Station was attacked. On January 8, 1791 were inspecting a nearby clearing when they were surprised and assaulted by the Native forces: Cunningham was killed & scalped, and Abner Hunt was captured. Sloan was wounded and Wallace helped him back to the Station.
 * John S. Wallace,
 * Capt. John Sloan,
 * surveyor Abner Hunt &
 * a Mr. Cunningham from the station
 * Miamis,
 * Shawnee
 * Lenape (Delawares),
 * Wyandots (Hurons),
 * Ottawas, and
 * Chippewas.

The settlers and soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Jacob Kingsbury, gathered in the blockhouses to prepare for the assault. This included the women melting spoons for bullets. Perhaps surprisingly, on Sunday the natives allowed Wallace to take them to Cunningham's body "They buried it on the spot, and returned without molestation..."

The Siege
On January 10 the Natives approached the station, bragging that they were led by the multi-lingual "villain" Simon Girty and demanded surrender using their captive as an interpreter. This parlay lasted about an hour on the east side of the Fort. Gunfire broke out on the opposite side by the deep portion of the river while the demands were being made. Then the shooting continued for another two hours, but these battle demands were ignored. The attackers then withdrew until the evening, but very likely used the time to butcher their cattle.

The captive Hunt was killed under disputed circumstances. While he was alleged to have been present to instigate the execution of Abner Hunt, according to an 1843 report it seems more likely that Blue Jacket led this attack while Girty was at Baker's Station on the Virginia side of the Ohio. The January 12th detailed written report from Kingsbury to Harmer simply called this a 'murder,' not a torture, or execution. Wallace had escaped to summon reinforcements, who rapidly made their way to assist. Fighting resumed at the break of dawn the next day, January 11, however the Natives lacked siege weapons. They withdrew around 8:00 A.M. before a relief force from Fort Washington arrived around 10:00 A.M. Kingsbury later boasted about scalps his men had taken.

Aftermath
On January the 14th, Kingsbury was praised by Harmer.

The apparent torture of a surveyor during the effort to capture the small fort, however, especially as 'white traitors' were said to be the leaders, was widely sensationalized as proof of the "savages' " inhumanity. Only two weeks later the press seemed to have begun the embellishment:


 * "...The lieutenant answered, that if they were three hundred devils, he would not surrender; and immediately fired on the Indians, twelve of whom were killed. The remainder, after having quartered Mr. Hunt, in the view of the fort, made a rapid retreat: none of the garrison were either killed or wounded."

In 1881, Ford called this "the fiercest and longest sustained Indian attack recorded in the annals of Hamilton county.." The station was later twice abandoned as being too vulnerable: George Rogers Clark had traversed this area in 1780, then parts of three other armies - "...Harmar' left wing, 1790; St. Clair' main body in 1791, and Wayne' center and left wing in 1793." The settlers' ownership was ultimately annulled by Washington and only after the defeat of Tecumseh's Confederation was the area successfully settled. The station had been the key to settler survival in what became the entirety of Hamilton, Butler, and Warren Counties.

Full Citations

 * Blount, Jim. "Dunlap Station besieged by Indians" Journal-News Journal-News and the Golden Triangle Association, February 14, 2001
 * Butts, pg. 297.
 * Center for the Electronic Reconstruction of Historical and Archaeological Sites (CERHAS) at the University of Cincinnati, and the Newark Earthworks Center at the Ohio State University at Newark. Ancient Ohio Trail, The Great Miami Valley.
 * Cist, Charles,. Sketches and statistics of Cincinnati in 1859. Cincinnati, Ohio : s.n., 1859. ISBN 10: 115315532X / 1-153-15532-X ISBN 13: 9781153155328.
 * Cone, Stephen Decater Indian Attack on Fort Dunlap." Ohio History. Ohio Historical Society. January 1908, Vol. 17, Number 1 (pp. 64–72).
 * Diemer-Eaton, Jessica. Woodland Indian Torture: A Perspective for Educators. Jun 13, 2011. http://voices.yahoo.com/woodland-indian-torture-perspective-educators-8571469.html
 * First Congregational Church (Franklin, Conn.). The Celebration of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Primitive Organization of the Congregational Church and Society: In Franklin, Connecticut, October 14th, 1868. Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, Printers, 1869. Original from the New York Public Library. Digitized 26 Feb 2008. 151 pages.
 * Ford, Henry A. & Kate B. 1881 History of Hamilton County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches. illustrated, BiblioBazaar, 2011 (reprint). ISBN 9781241338701. 598 pages.
 * Greve, Charles Theodore. Centennial History of Cincinnati and Representative Citizens. Chicago: Biographical Pub. Co, 1904. Pages 284-286.
 * Harmer to Hamtramack. http://gbl.indiana.edu/ethnohistory/archives/dockett_317/317_19n.html#272
 * Howe, Henry., LL.D. Historical Collections of Ohio, Vol. I. C.J. Krihbiel & Co., Printers and Binders, 1888-1890. Pg. 750-751.
 * Milligan, Fred, Ohio's Founding Fathers. iUniverse, 2003. ISBN 1469722666, 9781469722665. 336 pages.
 * Rowland, Carolyn D., R. V. Van Trees, Marc S. Taylor, Michael L. Raymer and Dan E. Krane. Was the Shawnee War Chief Blue Jacket a Caucasian?, Forensic Bioinformatics, Inc., Dayton, OH 45324; Fairborn, OH 45324; Technical Associates Inc., Ventura, CA 93003; Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45435; and Department of Biological Sciences, Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45435. Ohio J. Sci 106 (4):126-129, 2006. http://www.bioforensics.com/articles/BlueJacket.pdf
 * Scamyhorn, Richard, and John Steinle. "Stockades In The Wilderness-The Frontier Defenses and Settlements of Southwestern Ohio 1788-1795" (1986).
 * Shaumburgh, Lieutenant Bartholomew. 1791 Plan of Settlement Call'd Dunlap's Station
 * Spooner, Walter Whipple, principle author, with an introduction by Florus B. Plimpton. The Back-woodsmen, Or, Tales of the Borders : a Collection of Historical and Authentic Accounts of Early Adventure Among the Indians. Cincinnati : Jones Bros., c1883. 608 p. : ill.
 * The American museum or universal magazine: containing essays on agriculture, commerce, manufactures, politics, morals and manners .. Volume 9 of The American museum or universal magazine: containing essays on agriculture, commerce, manufactures, politics, morals and manners. 1791.
 * Turner, G., “Plan and Elevation of a Stockade Work, with Block-House Bastions; designed for the defence of the Settlement of Coleraine, on the Great Miami River, 1791.” Watercolor, pen and ink. Josiah Harmar Papers. Map Division, Small Maps 1791. [www.clements.umich.edu/exhibits/online/geometry_of_war/geometry5.php]
 * Wheeler-Voegelin, Drs. Erminie, Emily J. Blasingham, Dorothy R. Libby: An Anthropological Report on the History of the Miamis, Weas, and Eel River Indians, Vol. 1. Chapter 2. http://gbl.indiana.edu/ethnohistory/archives/dockett_317a/317a_3e.html
 * Winkler, John F. Wabash 1791: St Clair's Defeat. Volume 240 of Campaign (Osprey Publishing). Illustrated by Peter Dennis. 2011. ISBN 1849086761, 9781849086769. 96 pages.

General References

 * Butts, Edward. Simon Girty: Wilderness Warrior. Volume 29 of Quest Biography. Dundurn, 2011. ISBN 9781554889501. 192 pages.
 * Downes, Randolph Chandler. Frontier Ohio, 1788-1803, Volume 1. Volume 3 of Ohio historical collections. 280 pages.
 * Eckert, Allen W. A Sorrow in Our Heart: The Life of Tecumseh. Reprint. Random House LLC, 1993. ISBN 055356174X, 9780553561746. 1068 pages. Subjects	Biography & Autobiography › General Biography & Autobiography / General History / Native American. Page 407 and note 381.
 * Family Tree of Christopher W. Lane
 * Gehio: Treay of Fort Finney and Olde Coleraine
 * Hoffman, Phillip W., Simon Girty Turncoat Hero: The Most Hated Man on the Early American Frontier. American History Imprints, 2009. ISBN 0984225633, 9780984225637. 490 pages.
 * Keller, Christine, et al. Archeology of the Battles of Fort Recovery, Mercer County, Ohio: Education and Protection
 * Kingsbury, Lt. Jacob - Commanders at Fort Belle Fontaine
 * Miami Valley 1700-1865 Reenactors Company. Dunlap’s Station Revisited 1791
 * Scholle, Frank & Don Linz. Colerain Township. ISBN 9780738584331. # of Pages: 128. Arcadia Publishing. 05/24/2010.
 * Thompson, Bob. The Clash of Cultures: Understanding the Conflict between Settlers and Native Americans on the Allegheny Plateau
 * Wells, Ruth J. Colerain Township, Revisited. 1994. (PDF link)
 * Williams, Gary S. The Forts of Ohio: A Guide to Military Stockades. ISBN 9780970339515. Buckeye Book Press, Jan 1, 2003 - 166 pages.
 * Williams, Gary S. The Forts of Ohio: A Guide to Military Stockades. ISBN 9780970339515. Buckeye Book Press, Jan 1, 2003 - 166 pages.

Fiction

 * Wiete, Robin Leanne. When Morning Comes. Penguin Group (Canada), 1993. ISBN 0451403363, 9780451403360. 384 pages.