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Free Lecture On Fort
Meigs, the Gibraltar of the Maumee
On Sunday, March 16,
2014, Garst Museum will present a program on Fort Meigs, the
Gibraltar of the Maumee. The speaker will be Mr. Rex Spencer and will
begins at 2:00.
Mr. Spencer will talk
about the reason for the construction of Fort Meigs, its importance
in American history, and his experiences when he worked on the
archaeology of the area.
According to the Fort
Meigs website, “Fort Meigs, named after then Governor of Ohio,
Jonathan Meigs, Jr., was first built as a reaction to British attacks
on American Forts in the Northwest Territory during the War of 1812.
It was built in what is now Perrysburg, Ohio, on a bluff overlooking
the Maumee River rapids. Ground was broken on February 2, 1813 under
the orders of General William Henry Harrison, who wanted to fortify
the region. Throughout the next three months professional soldiers
and militiamen alike perservered through cold winter weather and mud
that would at times be knee-deep. Despite horrid weather and disease
in the camp, the American army was able to complete Fort Meigs by the
end of April, 1813, just in time for a British attack.”
Rex Spencer is a
graduate of Versailles High School and Defiance College. He received
his Master’s degree in American and European History from Ball
State University. Between 1974 and 1978, Spencer worked with Defiance
College in Field Archaeology excavating Fort Meigs. He also studied
in the Doctoral program in American History and Anthropology
(Historic Archaeology) at Ball State. He spent his carreer teaching
at Ansonia High School.
The Sunday, March 16,
2014, free Garst program on Fort Meigs begins at 2:00. Admission to
the program is free and open to the public, however normal admission
fees apply to tour the entire museum.
Support for the Garst
Lecture Series comes, in part, from the Harry D. Stephens Memorial
Trust, Inc.
The Garst Museum is
located at:
2205 North
Broadway
Greenville, OH 45331
Phone: 937-548-5250 / Fax:
937-548-7645
http://www.garstmuseum.org
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