Isaac Anderson

As printed in 1905

ISAAC ANDERSON,

Who departed this life on the 18th December, A. D. 1839, aged eighty-one years, three months and two days.

The deceased was a native of Ireland, a soldier of the American Revolution and the Indian wars succeeding it, one of the early settlers of Cincinnati, and since A. D. 1812 a citizen of Butler county, Ohio.

Below is reproduced the journal kept by Lieutenant Isaac Anderson while a member of Colonel Archibald Lochry’s unfortunate expedition in 1781. The journal will be found interesting and useful to many readers; besides it settles beyond all controversy what is sometimes disputed, that the engagement between Colonel Lochry’s command with the Indians, with renegade whites as allies, took place on the Ohio river, ten miles below the mouth of the Great Miami river, August 24, 1781.

In July, 1781, General George Rogers Clark solicited Colonel Archibald Lochry and Captain Robert Orr, who held a captain’s commission in the militia of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, to raise a company of infantry and a troop of horse to join his expedition against the Indians of the Northwest. The request was complied with on August 1, 1781, at Colonel Carnahan’s block house, eleven miles west of Hannastown, the seat of justice of Westmoreland county, it having been established there in J773; the town was destroyed by the Indians in 1782.

Captains Thomas Stokey and Samuel Shannon each had command of a company of rangers, and Captain Campbell a company of horsemen. After arriving at Fort Henry (Wheeling) it was ascertained that Clark had gone twelve miles down the Ohio river. Colonel Lochry prepared a number of boats for his men and horses, which occupied about ten days, and then proceeded to join General Clark, who had in the meantime fell down the river to the mouth of the Kenawha, where he had promised to await the arrival of Colonel Lochry. At this time Colonel Lochry’s provisions and forage were nearly exhausted. Under these trying circumstances he detailed Captain Samuel Shannon and four men who with a small boat were instructed to overtake Clark's army, for the purpose of securing needed supplies. Lieutenant Isaac Anderson being left in command of Captain Shannon's company. Captain Shannon with his party had proceeded but a few miles down the river, when it was captured by the Indians, who thereby also obtained possession of a letter to General Clark giving the condition 0 Lochry’s troops.

Colonel Lochry, somewhat disheartened by the condition of affairs confronting him. proceeded down the river to a point now known as Lochry’s creek, ten miles below the mouth of the Great Miami river. Here, on August 24, 1781, the boats were ordered to land on the Indian side, to cook provisions and cut grass for the horses, when they were fired upon by a large body of Indians. The men took to their boats, expecting to cross the river, when they were again fired upon by another party of Indians in canoes, and in the fight that ensued Colonel Lochry’s entire force was captured. The Indians massacred Colonel Lochry and several others after they were made prisoners.

The journal comprises all the transactions of each day during the entire period covering his enlistment, captivity In the Indians, his treatment by the British commandant at Detroit and Montreal, Canada, his escape by scaling the pickets and making his way through many perils, back to Westmoreland county, from whence he had enlisted about a year before.

As printed in Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio (1905). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.