Rhea, and with threats of instant death, if he did not comply, and promises of safety if he did, compel him to order the gates to be thrown open for the admission of their warriors.

The plan thus arranged, was in the act of being carried into execution, at the moment when Oliver and his companions reached the gate. Their safe arrival at that particular moment, may be justly considered as miraculous. One hour sooner, or one hour later, would have, no doubt, been inevitable destruction both to himself and escort; the parties of Indians who had kept close guard for eight days previous, upon the roads and passes in different directions, having all at that moment, been called in to aid in carrying the fort.

Winnemac, Five Medals, and three other hostile chiefs bearing the flag of truce, under which they were to gain admittance to carry out their treacherous intentions, were surprised by suddenly meeting at the gate, Oliver and his companions. Coming from different directions, and screened by the angles of the fort, they were not visible to each other until that moment. Winnemac showed great chagrin, uttered an ejaculation of disappointment, and hastily returning to the Indian camp, informed the chiefs and warriors that the stratagem was defeated."

Oliver immediately upon his arrival wrote a hasty letter to Worthington, describing the situation of the fort, which he sent by the Indians. Luckily their movements were not observed, until they had actually started from the garrison gate. They now put spurs to their horses, and dashed off at full speed. The hostile Indians were instantly in motion to intercept them; the race was a severe and perilous one, but they cleared the enemy's line in safety, and then their loud shout of triumph rose high in the air, and fell like music upon the ears of the beleaguered garrison. They safely delivered the letter, and a few days after, General Harrison arrived with reinforcements, the enemy having continued the siege until within a few hours of his arrival, and that too, with such perseverance, that the vigilance of the garrison alone saved them from a general conflagration from the burning arrows of the savages.

Young Oliver rendered very important services at the two sieges of Fort Meigs, in the succeeding year, during which he encountered no less peril than in that related. He was there as an officer in the commissary's department. General Harrison, at the first siege, desired some person to communicate with General Green Clay, who was approaching to its relief with a body of Kentucky volunteers, and to direct his movements, as there was great danger of his falling into an ambuscade. The selection of one suited to this task was of no small difficulty. The peculiar qualities of Oliver, his knowledge of the country, and of Indian warfare, were such that the selection at once fell upon him. This dangerous enterprise, for the Indians were already in considerable numbers around the fort, he successfully executed.

The day before Oliver reached the reinforcements, Captain Leslie Combs, filled with the patriotic ardor of the Kentuckians, volunteered to go into Fort Meigs, taking with him three or four Shawanee Indians, and an equal number of his own men, to apprise the garrison of their approach. When within a mile, he was attacked by the Indians, and after a gallant resistance, was compelled to retreat with the loss of nearly all of his companions. Oliver, notwithstanding, determined to make the attempt. General Clay remonstrated with him upon its danger, pointed to the failure of Combs, and stated that it was impossible to penetrate the enemy's lines. Oliver, in reply, spoke of his knowledge of the country, and of Indian stratagem, and urged the importance of Harrison's knowing his approach, to form his plans of operations for breaking up the siege. He finished by expressing his determination to go at all hazards, unless he, Clay, interposed his absolute command against it.

Oliver ordered his boat along with fifteen picked men from the Ohio militia, and got aboard. As he was about leaving, Clay grasped his hand and said: "Farewell, Oliver, we shall never see you again!"

Oliver and his companions approached the fort about midnight. Everything was in utter darkness, and the only evidence of localities was the cannonading from the enemy's batteries on the opposite bank of the Maumee, and the branches of a tall oak standing within the fort. Information having been conveyed the day previous to Harrison by two deserters, that the enemy intended to assault the fort that night, the lights had been extinguished, and the garrison were on their arms awaiting their approach: mistaking Oliver's party for their advance, they were fired upon by the sentinels, but without injury. Harrison having had an interview with Oliver, made arrangements for the ensuing day-a day which is memorable for the successful landing of Clay, the gallant sorties from the garrison upon the enemy's batteries, and the defeat and massacre of Dudley upon the opposite bank of the Maumee.

Two months later, the British and Indians, to near the number of five thousand, again invested Fort Meigs. The post being then under the command of Gen. Clay, that officer called Oliver to his quarters, and stated that he was fearful that the fort would fall before the overwhelming force of the enemy. He implored Oliver to endeavor to make his way through the Indians to Gen. Harrison-supposed to be at Upper Sandusky, seventy miles distantrepresent their perilous condition, and urge his assistance. "I will," said the general, "reward you liberally, if you succeed in the attempt." I shall not," Oliver rejoined, "put my life in the scale against money or promotion. My country has higher calls upon me than these, and from a sense of duty to her, I will make the trial."

Col. John Miller, of the 19th Regiment United States Infantry, and afterward Governor of Missouri, was in the fort, second in

command to Clay. On learning Oliver's intentions, he accosted him and inquired if the report was true. "Yes!" was the answer. "Well," rejoined he, much excited, "you are a fool! by Why is it that you are always called upon for these perilous

services?"

!

Clay having requested Oliver to take with him any of his officers or men, he applied to one of the regular officers, but he had not sufficient nerve, and begged to be excused. At length he succeeded in obtaining, as companions, Capt. M'Cune, of the Ohio militia, and also one of the Petersburg volunteers.

About nine o'clock the same night, Oliver and his party rode. out of the gate of the fort. Just at that moment the British band struck up the tattoo on the opposite bank of the Maumee; the music sounded sweetly across the intervening water, serving, in a great measure, to drown the tramp of their horses.

They had got scarcely a quarter of a mile from the fort, when they suddenly came upon a camp of Indians. Disturbed by the noise of their approach, the savages sprang up and ran toward them, upon which they reined up their horses and awaited the movements of their enemy. For a few moments, their suspense was agonizing. Luckily their animals, as if endowed with human intelligence and fully conscious of the danger, stood perfectly still, and the Indians passed around them without making any discovery in the thick darkness. Finally they moved away to throw the party off their guard; then Oliver and his companions, taking a different direction, put spurs to their horses, and dashed forward into the almost impenetrable forest of the Black Swamp.

M'Cune being unaccustomed to the woods, got separated from Oliver and the other, who continued on in the right direction, the Indians being in full pursuit on horseback. In a short time their bodies were covered with bruises from contusions against the trees, and they were nearly naked, the briers and brambles having torn off their clothes. At nine o'clock the next night, Oliver arrived at Upper Sandusky, and there learning that Harrison was in the vicinity of Fort Stephenson, he, notwithstanding his fatigue, continued on, rode all that night, and the next day about 11 A. M., arrived at the general's camp in the vicinity of Seneca, after a continuous ride of more than one day and two entire nights, during which he had passed over a hundred miles.

M'Cune having been lost in the Black Swamp, did not arrive at headquarters until the next day. Harrison wishing to retain Oliver for other service, sent M'Cune back to Gen. Clay with a verbal message of his intentions. He arrived in safety, although after a narrow escape, having been pursued for several miles by a party of mounted Indians.

The opportune arrival of M'Cune saved the fort, as the intelligence he brought preserved them from an ingeniously devised stratagem of Tecumseh, which was put into execution that day, as we here relate.

Toward evening, a body of British infantry was secreted in a ravine below the fort, and the cavalry in the woods above, while the Indians, with a part of the British infantry, were stationed in a third direction in the forest on the Sandusky road. About an hour before dark they commenced a sham battle on that road. A heavy firing of rifles and muskets was heard, the Indian yell broke upon the ear, and the savages were seen attacking with great impetuosity a column of men, who were soon thrown in confusion; they, however, rallied, and in turn the Indians gave way. The idea at once flew through the fort, that a severe battle was going on between the enemy and an approaching body of reinforcements. The troops flew to arms, and with their officers demanded to be forthwith led to the support of their friends. Gen. Clay was unable to explain the firing, but wisely concluded from the information received in the morning from Capt. M'Cune, that there could be no reinforcements in the neighborhood of that fort; yet it required all his firmness to resist the importunity of his officers and men to be led to the scene of action. The enemy finding that the garrison could not be drawn out, and a heavy shower of rain beginning to fall, terminated their sham battle. Had it not been for the intelligence conveyed by M'Cune, the garrison would have fallen victims to this admirably planned maneuver and been totally destroyed, as they numbered only a few hundred, while their enemy amounted to several thousand strong.

Although Oliver was, in this instance, but the indirect agent of saving Fort Meigs from the horrors of an Indian massacre, yet when taken in connection with his efforts in behalf of the garrison at Fort Wayne, it is evident that but few individuals have ever rendered so great services of this kind to their country. He died a few years since at Cincinnati, where he had held the appointment of postmaster during the administration of President Taylor.

INCIDENTS OF EMIGRATION.

THE annexed engraving represents a halt for the night of two emigrants with their families the one, perhaps, has left his native soil and the inheritance of his fathers, and seeks in the Far West for that independence in his worldly circumstances, which he has tried in vain to gain from the stony and barren patrimonial homestead; the other, perhaps, is one who has looked on his rapidly increasing family, and ambitious of doing something for his children while in the prime of life, or anxious to see them comfortably settled around him, that his old age may be cheered by their presence, has resolved to go to the Far West, the land which is represented as flowing with milk and honey.

Resolved to emigrate, the emigrant collects together his little property, and provides himself with a wagon and with two or three

horses, as his means permit; a rifle, a shot gun, and an ax slung over his shoulder, form part of his equipment, and his trusty dog becomes the companion of his journey. In his wagon are placed his bedding, his provisions, and such cooking utensils as are indispensably necessary. Everything being ready, the wife and children take their seats, the father of the family mounts the box, and now they are on the move. As they pass through the village which has been to them the scene of many happy hours, they take a last look at the spots which are hallowed by association; the church with its lowly spire, an emblem of that humility which befits the Christian; and the burial-ground, where the weeping willow bends mournfully over the head-stone which marks the parent's grave; nor do the children forget their play-ground, nor the white schoolhouse, where the rudiments of education have been instilled into their minds.

Their road is at first comparatively smooth, and their journey pleasant; their way is checkered with divers little incidents, while the continual changes in the appearance of the country around them, and the anticipation of what is to come, prevent those feelings of despondency which might otherwise arise on leaving a much loved home. When the roads are bad or hilly, the family quit the wagon, and plod their way on foot. At sunset, their day's journey finished, they halt, perhaps, in the forest by the roadside, to prepare for supper, and to pass the night. The horses are unharnessed, watered, and secured with their heads to the trough, or else hoppled out to grass. Their frugal supper over, the emigrants arrange themselves for the night, while their faithful dog keeps watch. Amid all the privations and vicissitudes in their journey, they are cheered by the consciousness that each day lessens the distance between them and the land of promise, whose fertile soil is to recompense them for all their trials.

Gradually as they advance west, the roads become more and more rough, and are only passable in many places by logs having been placed side by side, thus forming what are termed corduroy roads. The ax and the rifle of the emigrant, or mover, as he is termed in the West, are now brought daily, and almost hourly into use. With the former he cuts down saplings or young trees, to throw across the roads, which in many places are almost impassable; with the latter he kills squirrels, wild turkeys, or such game as the forest affords him; for by this time his provisions are exhausted. If perchance a buck crosses his path, and is brought down by a lucky shot, it is carefully dressed, and hung up in the forks of the trees; fires are built, and the meat is cut into small strips, and smoked and dried for future subsistence.

The road through the woods now becomes intricate, the trees being merely felled and drawn aside, so as to permit a wheeled carriage to pass; and the emigrant is often obliged to be guided in his route only by the blaze of the surveyor on the trees, and at every few rods to cut away the branches which obstruct his passage.