This monument honors the families and soldiers killed in what history now calls the Copus Massacre. The site is located on Township Rd. 1225 about ½ mile south of Charles Mill dam and east of SR 603, also about ½ mile. Look for the signs shown in the small photo below, fairly visible to southbound traffic on 603.
THE COPUS MASSACRE--
It is hard to imagine while driving through the forested countryside on a township road near Charles Mill Dam these days, one is approaching the location of a horrific Indian slaughter that happened there less than 200 years ago.
We were engaged in the War of 1812 then, while at the same time our ancestors were sweeping across this wilderness to the promise of a new life in the West. That massive migration was pushing the Indians from their homelands so the British easily recruited many of them to fight the colonists as part of that war.
The Copus family and three others had settled in this area in about 1803 and were befriended by the local Indians. This peaceful coexistence was shattered in September 1812 when the colonial army came through the area to protect all settlers from Indian attack and wound up burning the village of Indians peaceful to Copus and their friends.
This led to a revengeful attack by the Indians on September 10 and many deaths to the Copus neighbors. Upon learning of the attack the Copus family escaped the area and stayed in a blockhouse in present day Jeromesville.
They returned a couple of days later under the protection of a small squad of careless soldiers, and, the Indians attacked again on the 15th killing Mr. Copus and many of the soldiers.
One variation of this tale has Johnny Appleseed involved in the rescue of the survivors in these attacks. This is considered reasonable by historians because he was well known to the families in this area.
There is some variation in present day accounts on the specific facts of who was killed. Wikipedia lists Mr. Copus and three other men as victims but fails to mention a Mr. Ruffner who died defending his neighbors the Zimmers, also killed--as related by the Ashland Historical folks.
There is no authentic record of how many Indians died.
______________________________________________________
The Wikipedia story is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copus_massacre
They also offer this reference: A. A. Graham “A History of Richland County” 1880.
The Ashland County Historical Society is here: http://ashlandhistory.org/index.php?section=history&content=copus_massacre
THE COPUS MASSACRE--
It is hard to imagine while driving through the forested countryside on a township road near Charles Mill Dam these days, one is approaching the location of a horrific Indian slaughter that happened there less than 200 years ago.
We were engaged in the War of 1812 then, while at the same time our ancestors were sweeping across this wilderness to the promise of a new life in the West. That massive migration was pushing the Indians from their homelands so the British easily recruited many of them to fight the colonists as part of that war.
The Copus family and three others had settled in this area in about 1803 and were befriended by the local Indians. This peaceful coexistence was shattered in September 1812 when the colonial army came through the area to protect all settlers from Indian attack and wound up burning the village of Indians peaceful to Copus and their friends.
This led to a revengeful attack by the Indians on September 10 and many deaths to the Copus neighbors. Upon learning of the attack the Copus family escaped the area and stayed in a blockhouse in present day Jeromesville.
They returned a couple of days later under the protection of a small squad of careless soldiers, and, the Indians attacked again on the 15th killing Mr. Copus and many of the soldiers.
One variation of this tale has Johnny Appleseed involved in the rescue of the survivors in these attacks. This is considered reasonable by historians because he was well known to the families in this area.
There is some variation in present day accounts on the specific facts of who was killed. Wikipedia lists Mr. Copus and three other men as victims but fails to mention a Mr. Ruffner who died defending his neighbors the Zimmers, also killed--as related by the Ashland Historical folks.
There is no authentic record of how many Indians died.
______________________________________________________
The Wikipedia story is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copus_massacre
They also offer this reference: A. A. Graham “A History of Richland County” 1880.
The Ashland County Historical Society is here: http://ashlandhistory.org/index.php?section=history&content=copus_massacre
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