Fallen Timbers

Northwest Ohio escapes most “top ten” lists of places to see. Still, the region’s flat farmlands extending to the west as far as the eye can see sprinkled with groves of trees, well-watered by the Maumee River, really has a beauty of its own. There’s also some history.

In one very large grove of trees in 1794 near present day Maumee, Ohio, an American militia numbering some 2,000 men, encountered approximately 1,500 warriors from a half dozen Native American tribes in what became known as the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Last August I visited the site of the battle on probably the hottest day of the year, and I was grateful to get out from under the hot sun as I entered the small forest. Immediately, however, the extensive growth of trees and underbrush cast a darkness in the woods that surprised me, and I found it even a little foreboding. As I walked, I thought back to that August day 230 years ago where, tradition has it, a tornado passed through the grove a few days before the battle, leveling many trees, and providing extensive cover for the Native Americans. Likewise, as I walked that day, I found the grove similarly littered with tall trees having fallen as if to provide protection for another encounter.

Maybe the most interesting thing I learned that day was the Shawnees, Wyandots, Delawares, and Mohawks who formed the confederation to halt the American settlements in the area, had been fasting for more than two days in hopes the God or Gods whom they worshipped would lead them to victory. Unfortunately, the militia attacked sooner than the tribes had expected, and the warriors were so weakened they could not long endure the fight. After an hour, the confederation was forced to retreat and, ultimately, never returned to northern Ohio.