Saturday, April 13, 2013

Pre-War Captivity In Detroit


CAPTIVE WHITE BOY STOLEN BY INDIANS IN OHIO AND BROUGHT TO MICHIGAN

"In 1793, O. M. Spencer, then a lad of 12...while at play...near Cincinnati, was taken captive by a prowling band of Miami Indians and brought to their village near the present site of Fort Wayne.  His parents sought the assistance of Gen. Washington, and at his request Gen. Simcoe, commander-in-chief of the British forces in the northwest, directed Col. England, then in command at Detroit, to ransom the lad.  This was done, but a few months elapsed before he could be sent to Cincinnati, and during this time he remained with the colonel at Fort Lernoult."

Spencer Tied For The Night [Source]

"Even at that age young Spencer was an intelligent and observing lad, and kept a daily journal of all he saw and heard.  Subsequently this journal was published, and the following is the boy's description of Detroit three years before it became an American possession:

'Detroit is a small town, contains only wooden buildings, but few of which are well furnished, surrounded by his pickets inclosing an area of probably half a mile square, about one-third of which, along the banks of the river, as the strait is called, is covered with houses.'"  [Source]

I do have Spencer ancestors, but O. M. Spencer is not among them. 


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