Robert Yost diary   Save
Ohio History Connection Archives/Library
Description: Robert Yost, a sergeant in Captain William Stephenson's Company, the 2nd Battalion, 1st Regiment, Ohio Militia, kept this diary of his service in the War of 1812. Yost records his rendezvous with the company in St. Clairsville and documents his observations as he marched. He writes about buying supplies from local residents in Barnesville and camping at Cambridge. In Franklinton (now part of Columbus), Yost writes about meeting Governor Return Jonathan Meigs and seeing 21 of the British prisoners captured by Major George Croghan at Fort Stephenson. In Upper Sandusky, the regiment took command of 300 British troops captured by Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry at the Battle of Lake Erie. He also writes about the death of the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, who was killed during the Battle of the Thames. 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." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: VOL1168_01
Subjects: Military Ohio; War of 1812; Soldiers -- Ohio; Military life; Tecumseh, Shawnee Chief, 1768-1813
Places: St. Clairsville (Ohio); Barnesville (Ohio); Belmont County (Ohio); Cambridge (Ohio); Guernsey County (Ohio); Lancaster (Ohio); Franklinton (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio); Delaware (Ohio); Delaware County (Ohio); Upper Sandusky (Ohio); Wyandot County (Ohio)