Metroparks to mark battle’s 220th anniversary

Fallen Timbers event is Saturday in Maumee

8/22/2014

Historians and dignitaries will be among the participants in events on Saturday to mark the 220th anniversary of the Battle of Fallen Timbers.

The Metroparks of the Toledo Area and local historical groups are sponsoring the commemorative events, which will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Fallen Timbers Battlefield Memorial Park in Maumee.

Guided tours of the actual Fallen Timbers battlefield site, which is north of the memorial park, will follow.

From 2 to 4 p.m. representatives of the Canadian Militia, Kentucky Militia, and Black Swamp Intertribal Association will give presentations on interpretations of early settler life. The U.S. Army’s Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps is also scheduled to perform.

Visitors are urged to park in the Fallen Timbers Mall near the battlefield because of the limited parking at the monument parking lot, just south of U.S. 24. Shuttle buses will be available to take people from the mall parking area to the monument site.

The events mark the Aug. 20, 1794, battle, in which U.S. forces led by Gen. “Mad” Anthony Wayne defeated a confederation of Native American tribes, leading to the signing of the Treaty of Greene Ville. In that treaty, the tributes ceded much of present-day Ohio.

The brief battle, an overwhelming victory for General Wayne’s forces, was fought in an area that had been recently ravaged by a windstorm, hence the name Fallen Timbers.

Up to 33 men in General Wayne’s army were killed, and 100 others were wounded. The casualty estimate on the other side ranges from 19 to 100.

“This was one of the top decisive battles in U.S. history,” said Dave Westrick, president of the Fallen Timbers Battlefield Preservation Commission.

A commemoration and memorial ceremony with a wreath laying will begin at 4 p.m. at the battlefield monument.

Speakers will include state Rep. Mike Sheehy (D., Oregon), Steve Madewell, Metroparks executive director, Mr. Westrick, and a Canadian consul.

Metroparks staff and volunteers will be available from 5 to 6 p.m. to take visitors on a tour of the actual battlefield area, which is owned by the Metroparks.

Mr. Westrick advises tour participants to wear long trousers and sensible footwear because of the terrain of the battlefield site.