THE MILITARY HISTORY OF OHIO, FROM THE WAR OF 1812, INCLUDING THE CIVIL AND SPANISH WARS. J. WARREN KEIFER. With the close of the War of 1812 with Great Britain, so glorious to the United States in achievements on land and sea, in which Ohio soldiers and sailors bore an honorable part, came also peace, in large part, with the Indian tribes that had so long held back the border settlements within Ohio's limits. Farther west, Indian wars of a more or less desultory, yet bloody, kind, continued almost to the end of the nineteenth century. In these and the notable Florida Indian War, lasting about eight years (1835-1843), the bloodiest and most costly of all our Indians wars, Ohio did not participate, save by her contributions to the regular military forces, though her restless sons were ever moving with the frontier borders, as civilization advanced through forest and over prairie and plain, penetrating and crossing the Rocky mountain ranges, and stopped only by the shores of the Pacific. J. WARREN KEIFER. Excluding the Indian wars, there was, after the close of the War of 1812, a long interval (31 years) of peace - the longest in the history of the Republic except the one (33 years) following the Civil War. Then came the war with our sister republic of Mexico. 165 The annals of our still young country have been bloody, hence eventful. From Lexington (1775) to Appomattox (1865) • ninety years sixteen years, more than an average of one year in every six, were (Indian wars excepted) devoted to wars with foreign powers and to the Civil War, in each of which Ohio gave her devoted sons, as regulars and volunteers, both to the army and navy; and, Indian wars excepted, ten years of the nineteenth century were years of war. A marvel of the ages will ever be the fact that colonies, started on a newly-discovered continent infested by hostile tribes, and soon at war with a mother country powerful both by sea and land, and endangered by the baleful institution of human slavery, which had there been planted and fostered by the connivance and the avarice of monarchical countries of the old world, all of which were jealous of their free institutions, grew into a nation, within the span of of a century, to stand and to be acknowledged first among the powers of the world, and, from its birth, in population, from 3,000,000 of a somewhat heterogeneous people, now to about 80,000,000 of a largely homogeneous people, though springing from almost all the races, and coming, originally, from almost all the countries of the earth, speaking every tongue. No less marvelous is the fact that in a trackless wilderness, occupied by the most warlike of the hostile tribes of Indians, a settlement (in Ohio) was made very late in the eighteenth century, and grew, amid massacres and constant Indian wars, to a scattered population, mainly on lake and river, in 1800, of 45,365 to, in 1850, 1,980,329, and, by the end of the century, to 4,157,545, meantime furnishing hundreds of thousands of her sons, mainly as volunteers, to fight the battles of her country, thereby making it both glorious and great, and this while on its borders, in the early part of the century, its inhabitants had to fight for the defense of their immediate firesides. Many thousand of Ohio's sons and daughters emigrated to other states, principally to the West, though they are found in large numbers in all the states of the Union, especially in the great business centers, and in the important coast and other cities between the Atlantic and Pacific. Many have removed to foreign lands. I. OHIO IN THE MEXICAN WAR, 1846-1848. It is usual to say this war was commenced by the hostile acts of the Mexican general, Arista, crossing (April 24, 1846) the Rio Grande to attack the United States forces under General Zachary Taylor, then maneuvering his troops on the left bank of that river, in what was claimed to be a part of Texas, but then recently (December 29, 1845) annexed as a state in our Union. That war closed with the treaty of Guadaloupe Hildago, signed February 2, 1848, by which we acquired both the then provinces of Upper California and New Mexico, now California, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and part of Colorado. This is the only war in which the United States forces invaded foreign soil and took a hostile country's capital. This conquest resulted in the acquisition (though in form a purchase) of 545,000 square miles of territory - almost 100,000 more in square miles than the area of the original thirteen states; and a later (1853) acquisition by the Gadsden Purchase followed. Of the causes or purposes of the Mexican War I am not here to speak. If this war was not justified by the acts of the Mexican government, and if it was entered upon to acquire more territory with a view to its dedication to human slavery, its ultimate fruits and the moral and material results attained, in the light of subsequent events, may, in some sense, be a justification of the war. A higher civilization swept over a vast empire of territory, and millions of human beings have been given political, commercial and religious advantages and freedom, and which other unborn millions are likewise to enjoy. Gold was discovered (1848) in California, and the world seems to have been the gainer by the acquisitions made. Even Mexico, though humiliated by the conquering armies of Scott and Taylor, has risen to a better civilization, and her people seem to have become freer and happier than before that war. Happily, not one foot of the vast territory acquired from Mexico became slave territory, and later (1861-65) the inhabitants of all this territory were singularly loyal to the Union of the The annals of our still young country have been bloody, hence eventful. From Lexington (1775) to Appomattox (1865) — · ninety years sixteen years, more than an average of one year in every six, were (Indian wars excepted) devoted to wars with foreign powers and to the Civil War, in each of which Ohio gave her devoted sons, as regulars and volunteers, both to the army and navy; and, Indian wars excepted, ten years of the nineteenth century were years of war. A marvel of the ages will ever be the fact that colonies, started on a newly-discovered continent infested by hostile tribes, and soon at war with a mother country powerful both by sea and land, and endangered by the baleful institution of human slavery, which had there been planted and fostered by the connivance and the avarice of monarchical countries of the old world, all of which were jealous of their free institutions, grew into a nation, within the span of of a century, to stand and to be acknowledged first among the powers of the world, and, from its birth, in population, from 3,000,000 of a somewhat heterogeneous people, now to about 80,000,000 of a largely homogeneous people, though springing from almost all the races, and coming, originally, from almost all the countries of the earth, speaking every tongue. No less marvelous is the fact that in a trackless wilderness, occupied by the most warlike of the hostile tribes of Indians, a settlement (in Ohio) was made very late in the eighteenth century, and grew, amid massacres and constant Indian wars, to a scattered population. mainly on lake and river, in 1800, of 45,365 to, in 1850, 1,980,329, and, by the end of the century, to 4,157,545, meantime furnishing hundreds of thousands of her sons, mainly as volunteers, to fight the battles of her country, thereby making it both glorious and great, and this while on its borders, in the early part of the century, its inhabitants had to fight for the defense of their immediate firesides. Many thousand of Ohio's sons and daughters emigrated to other states, principally to the West, though they are found in large numbers in all the states of the Union, especially in the great business centers, and in the important coast and other cities between the Atlantic and Pacific. Many have removed to foreign lands. I. OHIO IN THE MEXICAN WAR, 1846-1848. It is usual to say this war was commenced by the hostile acts of the Mexican general, Arista, crossing (April 24, 1846) the Rio Grande to attack the United States forces under General Zachary Taylor, then maneuvering his troops on the left bank of that river, in what was claimed to be a part of Texas, but then recently (December 29, 1845) annexed as a state in our Union. That war closed with the treaty of Guadaloupe Hildago, signed February 2, 1848, by which we acquired both the then provinces of Upper California and New Mexico, now California, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and part of Colorado. This is the only war in which the United States forces invaded foreign soil and took a hostile country's capital. This conquest resulted in the acquisition (though in form a purchase) of 545,000 square miles of territory—almost 100,000 more in square miles than the area of the original thirteen states; and a later (1853) acquisition by the Gadsden Purchase followed. Of the causes or purposes of the Mexican War I am not here to speak. If this war was not justified by the acts of the Mexican government, and if it was entered upon to acquire more territory with a view to its dedication to human slavery, its ultimate fruits and the moral and material results attained, in the light of subsequent events, may, in some sense, be a justification of the war. A higher civilization swept over a vast empire of territory, and millions of human beings have been given political, commercial and religious advantages and freedom, and which other unborn millions are likewise to enjoy. Gold was discovered (1848) in California, and the world seems to have been the gainer by the acquisitions made. Even Mexico, though humiliated by the conquering armies of Scott and Taylor, has risen to a better civilization, and her people seem to have become freer and happier than before that war. Happily, not one foot of the vast territory acquired from Mexico became slave territory, and later (1861-65) the inhabitants of all this territory were singularly loyal to the Union of the |