MAY 3, 1814

200 years ago today the United States and Great Britain were at war. The British in Canada continued to encourage and support the opposition by the Indians of the former Northwest Territory of the United States to the expansion of the American frontier. Although the Western Theatre of the War of 1812 was fought on the perimeter of the new state of Ohio and the territories of Indiana, Illinois and Michigan, a territorial militia was considered necessary and was actively maintained. While the Indiana Territory was deemed safe for settlement after William Henry Harrison was successful at the Battle of Tippecanoe in November 1811 and Tecumseh’s dream of a great Indian nation in Indiana died with him at the Battle of Thames in Ontario in 1813, the Pigeon Roost Massacre of September 1812 reminded residents of Washington County that a ready defense was still required as coexistence of the Native and European cultures was unlikely. The northern boundary of Washington County adjoined territory that was still claimed by Indians and it was not opened to settlement until after the Treaty of St. Marys was signed on October 16, 1818. The 9th Regiment of the Indiana Territory Militia that patrolled Washington County in May 1814 was led by: Colonel John DePauw; Captains Thomas Denny, Samuel Huston, Absalom Sargeant, George French, John Beck, Henry Dawalt, Charles Busey, and John Royse; Lieutenant Thomas Pitts, and Ensign John Cooley.