Fort Recovery State Museum June 2011 Newsletter

“Fort Recovery and Other Forts of Anthony Wayne”’ is David Simmons’ presentation at the museum at 3:00 on Sunday, June 5! . Simmons is the editor of TIMELINE, an OHS illustrated magazine embracing the fields of history, prehistory, and the natural sciences. He is a twenty-four-year veteran with TIMELINE. Prior to that, he was in charge of the department in the Historic Preservation Division, responsible for identifying and listing of historic sites in Ohio He holds degrees in American history from Miami University. Before joining the Columbus staff, the Darke County native worked with the Environ- mental Preservation Office in Cincinnati and was executive director of the Preble County Historical Society. He authored The Forts of Anthony Wayne and has published articles on a variety of topics, including military architecture, canal construction, and the history of bridge engineering.

The Battlefield Protection Grant - An Update on Work and Progress of Ball State Archaeologists

Photo courtesy of Mark Pummel, with permission from Frank Snyder, The Daily Standard, Celina, Ohio

Parkway Fourth Grade students (like students from Coldwater and Delta) were fortunate to have one of the “dig sites” as part of their afternoon museum tour stations. Student archaeologists led the students from site to site explaining the procedures. Previously, very sophisticated ground penetrating radar equipment had shown some promising areas to explore. With that information the Ball State project directors mapped out the steps to be taken to investigate those leads. Ten Ball State students are working with Dr. Mark Groover’s archaeology field school, with additional students conducting geophysical surveys throughout town. These students are supervised by Chris Keller.

Thank YOU! 1. Fort Recovery High School Student Council - Stacy Gehle, Nicole, Dilworth, Shelby Alig,

Abby Backs, Katelyn Jutte, Jessica Kaiser, Taylor Wendel, Olivia Thien. What an amazing group of young gals! They gave up a school day to perform a big service project – cleaning the log house, tool cabin, blockhouses, museum etc. Thanks also to their advisor, Guidance Counselor, Amy Kaiser, and Stacy Gehle – the “leader of the pack!”

2. Ken Lamm, Michael Gower, Norm Leugers, Dan Schoen, Chris Keller and Helen LeFevre - who helped get the National Register of Historic Places sign made, engraved and placed.

3. Natures Green/Steve Stone who donated the materials, supplies and service work to treat Monument Park so it would look great for Memorial Day Services and for the entire summer!

Field Trips, Events, Visitors (1) The number of school field trips continues to grow. Recently we hosted Delta (near Muncie), Coldwater, Parkway, DeColores Montessori, Fort Recovery (third grade) and a home-schooled history group from Fort Wayne. We are lucky to have great tour guides for the students! Thanks to Sharon Ontrop and Helen LeFevre who conducted the log cabin tours, Jack Hemmelgarn -the old tool cabin, and this year Chris Keller and her Ball State student crew for their special information. (2) The Fort Recovery Classic Car Club visitors were welcomed to the museum on Friday evening, May 6. The car club gives a $100 donation and all of their guests are then admitted free. This year there were over 60 visitors who took advantage of that opportunity. Thanks to Jane Weitzel of the car club for promoting that event.

Sign Up NOW – St. Clair 5K Walk-Run – July 16 (Or just get this cool shirt!!) The St. Clair 5K walk/run is on Saturday, July 16th at 8:30AM. Come and start this Morning with a fun and interesting walk/run through Fort Recovery! Early registration ends on July 5th. However, you can register as late as the morning of the race on the museum porch. Be aware though that limited quantities of shirts will be ordered, so if you do want a shirt, be sure to register early!!! Those helping or volunteering at the race can order a t-shirt for $7. Anyone else can order one for $10. Tech shirts (made of special cooling material) are also available at a cost of $12 for volunteers and $15 for all others. Registration forms can be picked up at the museum, local banks, post office, or downloaded–www.fortrecoverymuseum.com Call Kathy Gonzalez 419-375-2123 or Kim Niekamp 419-375-2065 to volunteer or to order a shirt! All proceeds benefit the museum.

The King Howitzer Cannon – The Reproduction in Our Museum General Wayne insisted he would NOT be dragging big old naval cannons down the trail as St.Clair had .

Instead, he worked with Secretary of War, Knox to design the Kind Howitzer – cannon small enough to be carried by a

pack horse – therefore weighing less than 250 pounds. This small effective cannon fit the “mold” of Wayne’s goal to

have a light-footed, fast-moving legion! Much interest has been shown by military experts in the FR reproduction – It

Just recently such an expert has contacted our museum as he plans to build his own replica - Here are email exchanges

(including other experts – David Simmons who will be our speaker on Sunday.) I hope you too find this interesting:

From Mark H., US Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Environmental Protection Specialist - Archaeologist : “What is apparent is that no original carriages have survived and that informed guess work often

has to be used to reconstruct them.”

From Simmons; “The Fort Recovery carriage was overseen in the 1970s by the OHS military historian at the time, Joe Thatcher; I discussed your question with Michael Hagan, artillery researcher from Dayton, Ohio. He commented that the Fort Recovery carriages always reminded him of miniature siege howitzer carriages, and Thatcher may have based them on that model. Mike's feeling is that a French field howitzer carriage based on the Gribeauval system would be more appropriate. There are numerous examples of this system modeled in French museums. He mentioned that a photo of such a model is found in the Osprey Men-at-Arms series volume titled NAPOLEON'S ARTILLERY by Robert Wilkinson-Latham. “

Reply from Mark H: “-- I think you hit the nail on the head. My intent is to downsize either a British or Gribeauval howitzer carriage. The question is how far to down

size. If I based the scaling on the tube size, the gun would be so small to make it

difficult to operate for adult sized men! I suspect that the carriage would actually

be a little oversized for the tube. Maybe the measurements on the Fort Recovery

carriage will verify that.”____________________________________________________________

One thing that becomes apparent is that history is not an exact science. This is where the work of archaeologists and other

researchers is so invaluable – continually contributing to the body of knowledge! How fascinating! See you Sunday? nk