William Henry Harrison Letter to Return Jonathan Meigs Regarding Troop Movements

This autograph letter was signed by William Henry Harrison as Commander of the Northwest Army at its headquarters in Delaware to Ohio Governor Return J. Meigs. The letter nforms the governor of troop movements and cutting of military road to Miami Rapids where Harrison was to concentrate his forces. The United States, angered by British attempts to impress American sailors into the British Navy and fearing the British presence in Canada, declared war on Great Britain in June 1812. William Henry Harrison, commander-in-chief of the Northwestern Army, built Fort Meigs, named for the governor, near present-day Perrysburg. In one of the most significant battles of the war, Colonel Oliver Hazard Perry defeated the British at the Battle of Lake Erie in September 1813. The British Captain Robert Barclay surrendered his entire fleet. Harrison learned that Perry had effectively cut the British supply line through Perry's message: "We have met the enemy and they are ours." The War of 1812 destroyed American Indian military power and confined them to reservations.