Description: Caption reads: "Fort Washington monument, East Third Street, Cincinnati, Ohio. Photo by Federal Writers' Photographer, District #12. June 10, 1937." The Fort Washington Monument was originally erected on June 14, 1901 by the Patriotic Societies of Ohio to commemorate Fort Washington, a bulwark against the Indian menace during the 1790's. From Fort Washington, Generals Harmar and St. Clair planned expeditions against the Indians that ended in disaster; not until "Mad Anthony" Wayne defeated the Indians at Fallen Timbers was the Indian danger allayed. Ini 1803 the garrison moved to Newport, Kentucky on the south side of the Ohio River. In 1808 Fort Washington was torn down, as it was no longer needed, and the reservation divided into town lots. The monument 9' tall memorial, made from Ohio stone, was made to look like one of the old fort's blockhouses, and was placed at the center of East Third Street, near the intersection with Ludlow Street. The monument was surrounded with a chain railing, with four old cannons serving as fence posts. The west face of the monument displayed two bronze plaques, the lower of which was an outline map of the main portion of the fort, showing the streets which intersected it and the immediate area. The upper tablet bore an inscription, surrounded by 13 stars, which read: "This Tablet erected by the Patriotic Societies of Ohio, Marks the Location of Fort Washington, Built 1789, Demolished 1808, MDCCCC." Though much effort was taken in 1900 to determine the exact location of the old fort before the monument was placed, in 1952 construction workers found actual remains from the fort's powder magazine a short distance away, and archeologists determined that this was the true location of Fort Washington. In 1998, partially due to the expansion of Interstate 71, the monument was moved to this new found site on Arch Street, just south of East Fourth Street. A new plaque, placed on the monument for the re-dedication reads: "Forth Washington, 1789 - 1808. This monument stands at the site that served as a major military base for the Northwest Territory. The stone replica of a blockhouse was originally dedicated on June 14, 1901. Rededicated at present site November 11, 1998. Cincinnati Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F02_33_01
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Fort Washington (Ohio); Monuments--Ohio
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Print depicting Fort Washington in 1790, and based on a drawing by Cap. Jon. Heart. The lithograph was first published in 1848 in Samuel Prescott Hildreth's book "Pioneer History" (Pioneer History: Being an Account of the First Examinations of the Ohio Valley, and the Early Settlement of the Northwest Territory ; Chiefly from Original Manuscripts). The Fort, named for George Washington, was built in 1789 and 1790 on the Ohio River near modern-day Cincinnati. It was built to protect the homes of settlers in the Symmes Purchase and served as base for expeditions against Native American tribes. It was abandoned in 1803. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02875
Subjects: Hamilton County (Ohio); Ohio History--Settlement and Early Statehood; Fort Washington (Ohio)
Places: Fort Washington (Ohio); Cincinnati (Ohio)
 

Description: Reverse reads "D. of A. Marker. On Guilford School. 4th. Str. East of Broadway." Plaque reads "Fort Washington. The ground on which this building stands formed part of the Fort Washington Reservation. 1789 - 1808. This reservation was bounded on the north by Fourth Street, on the east by Ludlow Street, on the south by the Ohio River, on the West by Broadway, which was then the eastern boundary of the city. This tablet placed by the Cincinnati chapter Daughters of the American Revolution in 1913." The Guilford School located at 421 East Fourth Street, at the corner of Ludlow Street was a public elementary school designed by Frederick W. Garber and completed in 1914. The four story brick building was named after Nathan Guilford, Cincinnati's first Superintendent of Schools in 1850. There is a D.A.R. marker on site which indicates that this area was once part of the Fort Washington military reservation. The building has since been converted to apartments. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B03F06_012_001
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Cincinnati (Ohio)--History; Fort Washington (Ohio); Daughters of the American Revolution. Cincinnati Chapter; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Print depicting Fort Washington. Construction of the fort began in 1789. Its purpose was to protect early settlements near modern-day Cincinnati. In 1790, Josiah Harmar used Fort Washington to launch an expedition against the Native Americans tribes in northwest Ohio. The fort would serve similar purposes for the remainder of the 1790s. The United States military abandoned it in 1803. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02988
Subjects: Fort Washington (Ohio); Ohio History--Settlement and Early Statehood
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Pictorial record, compiled in a photo album, of the 1930 location and excavation of Fort Jefferson in Darke County, Ohio. The project was led by H.R. McPherson of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society and Frazer E. Wilson of the Greenville Historical Society. The album contains photographs of the site as it was being excavated as well as descriptions of each photograph. Fort Jefferson was built about six miles south of Greenville, Ohio, on the order of General Arthur St. Clair in October 1791. The purpose of the fort was to serve as a supply garrison for St. Clair's campaign against the area’s American Indian population, hence its original name of Fort Deposit. In November 1791, St. Clair attacked the area's tribes, but under the leadership of Shawnee chief Weyapiersenwah (Blue Jacket) and Miami chief Mishikinakwa (Little Turtle), a large alliance of seasoned volunteer warriors from nine different American Indian tribes easily defeated St. Clair and his troops. This loss, which was one of the worst defeats of the American military at the hands of the American Indians, came to be known as "St. Clair’s Defeat." During the battle, well over half of St. Clair’s 1,400 men were killed or wounded. After the battle, St. Clair’s men fled to Fort Jefferson, but found little in the way of supplies and quickly moved south to Fort Washington. Later, Fort Jefferson was used during the campaign of General Anthony Wayne before being abandoned in 1796. The location is now the site of the Fort Jefferson Memorial Park, one of the Ohio History Connection's network of historic sites. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P91_B01A01_048
Subjects: Archaeology; Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society; Forts & fortifications; Fort Jefferson
Places: Greenville (Ohio); Darke County (Ohio);
 

Description: Marker commemorating Fort Washington, built in 1789 and 1790 on the Ohio River, opposite the mouth of the Licking River. It was demolished in 1808. The marker is located in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio. The photograph was taken ca. 1940-1949. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00353
Subjects: Memorials--Ohio; Ohio History--Settlement and Early Statehood
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image is an engraved portrait of Major Ebenezer Denny (1761-1882), Revolutionary War soldier and first mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In this portrait, Denny is wearing a ruffled shirt and a high-collared waistcoat and coat. This engraving appears opposite the title page of his book "Military Journal of Major Ebenezer Denny, An Officer in the Revolutionary and Indian Wars" (1859), published in Philadelphia. Denny was born March 11, 1761, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and joined the Continental Army in 1778. He witnessed the British surrender at the 1781 Siege of Yorktown (Yorktown, Virginia) and wrote a description of that event in his war journal. It is one of the most frequently quoted accounts of the event. After the Revolutionary War, Denny also witnessed two of the worst military defeats of U.S. military forces by American Indians: Harmar’s Campaign and St. Clair’s Defeat. Both events occurred in the Northwest Territory, in present-day Ohio. In fall 1790, Josiah Harmar, commander of the U.S. army in the Northwest Territory, was stationed at Fort Washington (present-day Cincinnati). He received orders from Secretary of War Henry Knox to end the threat of American Indian attack in western Ohio. Harmar marched from Fort Washington with 320 regular soldiers and roughly 1,100 militiamen, primarily from Pennsylvania and Kentucky. The militiamen were poorly trained and badly equipped, and the U.S. forces were soundly defeated in a series of battles with the American Indian forces led by Miami chief Mishikinakwa (Little Turtle). Following Harmar's defeat, native attacks against settlers increased. In 1791, Major-General Arthur St. Clair, governor of the Northwest Territory, led another campaign against the American Indian tribes in western Ohio, hoping to succeed where Harmar had failed. Lieutenant Ebenezer Denny was St. Clair’s aide-de-camp. St. Clair ordered the construction of forts in what is now western Ohio. He and his men left Fort Washington in September 1791. After a two-day journey, the troops stopped and built Fort Hamilton. Then they advanced forty-five miles northward and built Fort Jefferson. From the beginning of his campaign, St. Clair had trouble with his poorly trained and demoralized troops. Although it was still early fall, his men faced cold temperatures, rain, snowfall, and insufficient food. Despite these problems, St. Clair continued to advance against the Miami natives. By November 3, his men had arrived on the banks of the Wabash River, near some of the Miami villages. The next day Little Turtle, along with Shawnee chief Weyapiersenwah (Blue Jacket), led a large alliance of seasoned volunteer warriors from nine different American Indian tribes against the U.S. troops and soundly defeated them. In his account of the day’s events, Denny wrote, “The ground was literally covered with the dead.” The battle known as “St. Clair’s Defeat” remains the worst defeat of the U.S. Army at the hands of American Indians. On November 19, Denny left for Philadelphia, where he had the unenviable task of informing President George Washington and Secretary of War Knox of the defeat. Washington demanded that St. Clair resign from the army. St. Clair did so on April 7, 1792, but remained governor of the Northwest Territory. In 1794, Washington dispatched General Anthony Wayne to succeed where St. Clair had failed. Wayne defeated the Native Americans at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in August 1794. In 1795, most natives in modern-day Ohio signed the Treaty of Greeneville, relinquishing all of their land holdings in Ohio except what is now the northwestern corner of the state. Denny continued his military service until 1794, when he resigned his commission and settled near Pittsburgh. He entered local politics and held several offices before being elected the city’s first mayor in 1816. He resigned the office in 1817 because of ill health. He died in July 1822. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07028
Subjects: American Revolutionary War, 1775-1783; Kekionga, Battle of, Ohio, 1791; American Indians--Warfare; Northwest Territory--History; Veterans; Mayors
Places: Carlisle (Pennsylvania); Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania);
 

Description: Caption reads "Stephen C. Foster. Marker. On Guilford School 4th Str. East of Broadway." Plaque reads "On the site of the school between the years 1846 - 1850 lived Stephen C. Foster - Master of the art of song; Composer of "My Old Kentucky Home", "Swanee River", "Old Black Joe" and many others; in native ballad form and melodic strain distinctively American. He sang of simple joys and pathos to all the world." Stephen Collins Foster was born July 4, 1826 and died January 13, 1864. He was known as the 'father of American music'. As well as the songs listed on the plaque pictured, he also wrote "Oh! Susanna", "Camptown Races" and "Beautiful Dreamer." Foster, originally from Lawrenceville (now Pittsburg), Pennsylvania, moved to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1846 to be a bookkeeper for his brother's steamship company. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. The Guilford School located at 421 East Fourth Street, at the corner of Ludlow Street was a public elementary school designed by Frederick W. Garber and completed in 1914. The four story brick building was named after Nathan Guilford, Cincinnati's first Superintendent of Schools in 1850. There is a D.A.R. marker on site which indicates that this area was once part of the Fort Washington military reservation. The building has since been converted to apartments View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B03F06_010_001
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Cincinnati (Ohio). Public Schools; Foster, Stephen C.; Garber, Frederick; Guilford, Nathan, 1785-1854; Fort Washington (Ohio)
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Original description reads: "Cinci., O., Sept. 1937 Fort Washington Monument." In 1789, Fort Washington was built to protect early settlements located in the Symmes Purchase in the Miami Valley of what is now southwestern Ohio. The fort was located in modern-day Cincinnati and protected settlers of that city in its early years. The stockade's walls were two stories high with blockhouses located at each corner. The fort was named in honor of President George Washington. In 1790, Harmar used Fort Washington to launch an expedition against the Miami Indians, whose principal city was Kekionga (modern-day Fort Wayne, Indiana). The fort would serve similar purposes for the remainder of the 1790s until the United States Army abandoned it in 1803. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F02_14_01
Subjects: Fort Washington (Ohio)--Monuments; Cincinnati (Ohio)
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph is an image of the shelter house at Fort Ancient State Park, located in Washington Township, Warren County, Ohio. Built of stone, the open-air shelter has a pitched roof and an interior filled with picnic tables. Fort Ancient State Memorial is Ohio’s first state park. The Fort Ancient Earthworks are a series of earthen embankments that extend for more than three and one half miles around a high bluff along the Little Miami River in southwestern Ohio. Although it is called a "fort," it probably never served as a defensive work. Ditches are located inside the walls rather than outside as might be expected in a fortification. There are more than 60 gateways in the walls, making it difficult to defend the site against enemies. The Hopewell culture (100 B.C. to 500 A. D.) of prehistoric American Indian people constructed the earthworks. Later native residents built a village and a cemetery within the walls of the already ancient South Fort. Archaeologists mistakenly assumed that these villagers had built the earthen walls. It was called the Fort Ancient culture (1000 A.D. to 1650 A.D.) after the name of the site. This mistake has caused confusion for later students of Ohio archaeology. Recent excavations at Fort Ancient have discovered the remains of Hopewell culture houses and ceremonial features both inside and outside of the enclosure walls. It is not known whether the houses located inside the enclosure were occupied before or after the enclosure was built. It also has yet to be determined whether the houses were the dwellings of more or less full time residents, or the temporary shelters of visitors. The Fort Ancient Earthworks is an Ohio Historical Society site open to visitation. It is located seven miles southeast of Lebanon, in Warren County, Ohio. In addition to the earthworks, the site features a museum with interpretive exhibits about Ohio's ancient past. The Fort Ancient Earthworks site also is a National Historic Landmark. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL08011
Subjects: Fort Ancient (Ohio); Fort Ancient Culture (A.D. 1000–1650); Earthworks (Archaeology); Hopewell Culture (A.D. 1-400) (A.D. 1–400); State parks & reserves; Mounds--Ohio--Warren County
Places: Washington Township (Ohio); Warren County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photographic reproduction of a print depicting Fort Harmar in 1790. The original print was published in the American Pioneer, volume 1, 1842. Colonel Josiah Harmar was sent to the Ohio frontier to discourage illegal settlers from moving into Ohio. He ordered Fort Harmar to be built in October 1785. The fort was built near present-day Marietta on the north side of the Ohio River by the mouth of the Muskingum River. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02986
Subjects: Land settlement--Ohio; Ohio History--Settlement and Early Statehood
Places: Fort Harmar (Ohio); Marietta (Ohio); Washington County (Ohio)
 

Description: This is a photograph of an illustration of the Campus Martius in Marietta, Ohio, located on the east side of the Muskingum River, upriver from its confluence with the Ohio River. Situated directly across the river from Fort Harmar, construction on the Campus Martius began in 1788 and was completed in 1791. It was home to Rufus Putnam, Benjamin Tupper, Arthur St. Clair, and other settlers during the Northwest Indian War. The Campus Martius site is now occupied by the Campus Martius Museum and is an Ohio History Connection site. The Rufus Putnam House, part of the original Campus, is enclosed in the museum. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B02F01_007_1
Subjects: Marietta (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works; Campus Martius (Marietta, Ohio); Forts & fortifications--1770-1800
Places: Marietta (Ohio); Washington County (Ohio)