The Spokesrider

Three books about the War of 1812 that I have been reading: Mahon, John K. 1972. The War of 1812. Gainesville: University of Florida Press. Hickey, Donald R. 1989. The War of 1812: a forgotten conflict. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Taylor, Alan. 2010. The civil war of 1812: American citizens, British subjects, Irish rebels, [...]

I’m still on the topic of Captain James Manary of Ohio, even though this scene is in Elkhart County, Indiana.   It’s from the 2nd day of my  October ride to New Madrid.  I stopped for a peaceful mid-morning break a few miles east of Topeka, at the David Rogers Park, as I usually do.  Sometimes [...]

(More from Labor Day weekend, 2008.)   As stated in the previous post, this marker for the Manary House is just outside of Bellefontaine.   One source says Manary had a trading post here, even before the war broke out.   James Manary’s home and farm were near Bourneville in Ross County, a hundred miles to the [...]

Saturday night we were eating at the Asuka restaurant in Battle Creek when I got to thinking it was time for more bike rides in the  Bellefontaine area in Logan County, Ohio.   That’s because Bellefontaine is another small town that has an excellent Japanese restaurant.    We ate at the Tokyo Grill on September 2, 2008, [...]

A couple of days ago Ronald Irick posted a comment about the buildings in the distance of this scene. He says the “county home” in Logan County, Ohio has now been abandoned. But he also had some information that makes me want to go back there to visit again: Col. James McPherson is buried nearby. [...]

Until today I hadn’t really known anything about Isaac Zane, even though I came across his name several times while on last year’s Ohio bike rides. Today I was looking for a photo to go with a post I wanted to write about Jonathan Alder. Alder told of having spent time at the present site of Zanesfield when he was living as an Indian among Shawnee and Mingo people, so I pulled up my Zanesfield photos from September 2, and learned that Isaac Zane had a life story somewhat like Alder’s.

I now see that back on September 2, in an article titled “Hull’s Trace in the Mad River Valley,” I gave out some bogus information about the route that General William Hull’s army took in 1812 as it marched from Urbana, OH to Detroit. That day I rode to the east where I should have [...]