Stop #8 | Address: Intersection of W. State St. & N. Arch St., Fremont
The fort was strategically located on a bluff overlooking the lower rapids of the Sandusky River. Originally the site of a French trading post, by 1813, it served as the northern most supply fort along the Harrison Trail. Frustrated by two failed attempts to capture Fort Meigs in May and July of 1813, British General Henry Proctor moved his army by water across Lake Erie and up the Sandusky River to the rapids below Fort Stephenson. Here the British and their Native American allies laid siege to the fort, certain this undermanned garrison could be easily overcome. General William Henry Harrison had entrusted command of the fort to a 21-year-old Kentuckian, Major George Croghan. Together with a garrison of 160 men and a single cannon captured during the French and Indian War, Croghan fought off a determined assault by British troops on August 2. Surprised by the Americans’ tenacious defense and their own heavy losses, the British quietly slipped away during the night. Word of Croghan’s victory spread throughout country, inspiring hope after months of gloomy war news. Never again would British troops set foot in Ohio. Birchard Library, located on Croghan Street in downtown Fremont, was constructed on the site of Fort Stephenson and houses a collection of artifacts from the battle. The old cannon that served Croghan’s garrison so well is displayed on the library lawn. Nearby, the remains of George Croghan are interred at the base of the Soldiers’ Monument.
About “Tracking the Troops, Tippecanoe & Perry, Too!” This driving tour is a five-county collaborative project with Wyandot, Seneca, Sandusky, Wood and Ottawa counties that takes you on a self-guided driving tour following the military trail of General William Henry Harrison during the War of 1812. Harrison would later become the ninth president of the United States and has the shortest presidency, dying from pneumonia one month after having taken the oath of office.
