 ENAWEE HISTORICAL SOCIETYMUSEUM LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN The other important founder of Tecumseh, Joseph Brown, remained in Lenawee, and it was a good thing that he did because he played a very important role in the birth of the state of Michigan. In 1835 Michigan met all the qualifications for statehood set by Congress. However, Ohio refused to allow Michigan to become a state until the boundary line between the two, running almost 70 miles from Maumee Bay west to the Indiana border, was settled to Ohio’s satisfaction. The sticking point was the Maumee Bay area at the western end of Lake Erie, an area valued as a potential center of trade and transportation. The rest of the territory in question, including a 30-mile stretch along the southern part of Lenawee County, was wet wilderness. Clearly, though, Lenawee had a significant interest in how the dispute between Ohio and Michigan came out. With Michigan about to become a state in 1835, Ohio decided to assert its claim to this “Toledo strip,” placing permanent markers along the claimed boundary line. This led to open conflict in April 1835, involving an Ohio surveying team caught at its work in Lenawee. Joseph Brown was the man in charge of the Michigan forces in this drama. A Brigadier General in the Michigan militia, Brown was ordered by Michigan Governor Stevens Mason to keep an eye on the Ohio surveyors. If they crossed into territory regarded by Michigan as its own. Mason wanted them arrested for trespassing. On April 25 Brown’s scouts told him that the party of Ohio surveyors, plus some armed guards, were in Michigan territory about 15 miles south of Adrian. Brown alerted Deputy Sheriff McNair, who immediately formed a posse while Brown called up some of the militia to intercept the Buckeyes. Once the Michigan forces had reached and surrounded the cabin occupied by the surveyors, McNair and Judge Blanchard of Tecumseh entered and told the Ohioans they were under arrest. When a few of the guards raised their firearms, McNair signaled to the men outside, who let out a mighty roar. The Buckeyes panicked, rushing for the door and taking to the woods, whereupon Brown ordered some of the militia to shoot their guns into the air as a warning to the Ohioans to stop. Some did, but others ran all the harder as they thought they were under attack. Most headed east toward the village of Maumee on the Maumee River. This meant traveling about 20 miles through meadows, forests and swamps infested with wolves, bears and snakes, but it was the nightmarish vision of angry Wolverines shooting at them which drove them on. When a number of them staggered into Maumee hours later, their stories of these dreadful Wolverines (this was one of the first times Michiganders had been compared to this foul-smelling, quick-tempered animal) inflamed all of Ohio. Ohio Governor Robert Lucas immediately ordered up 10,000 more of the Ohio militia. Lucas had had enough. He meant to occupy Toledo and keep it. Upon hearing of Lucas’ action, Mason ordered Brown to take 1,500 Michigan militiamen into Toledo. Brown did as he was ordered, and all accounts say that his handling of his men as well as the villagers helped to keep tempers down. Meanwhile, cooler heads managed to head off the impending conflict. A settlement between Ohio and Michigan was reached. Ohio would get the disputed territory while Michigan would get the rest of the Upper Peninsula (it was already slated to get the eastern part of that peninsula). For Lenawee this settlement meant the loss of almost one-fifth of its territory. However, no one could say that Lenawee had not fought admirably and well even if the results were not to its liking. The county had served notice to the entire state that it was proud, pugnacious, and purposeful. In fact, it could be said that both the development of the Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad and the actions taken by Brown and his militiamen showed that the people of Lenawee were moving out of the early stages of pioneer development. Both of these efforts required planning, organization and a fair amount of capital or manpower. Clearly, the people of Lenawee were moving toward a more complex and organized way of life. History of the Toledo War (An Internet Website) |
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