BOLIVAR − Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine joined in ceremonies June 27 at Fort Laurens to rededicate the tomb of an unknown soldier from the Revolutionary War.
Also honoring the sacrifices of the Continental Army soldiers were more than 20 Revolutionary War reenactors and Ohio National Guard soldiers.
The Fort Laurens historic site, the only Revolutionary War fort in Ohio, is owned and managed by the Ohio History Connection. It sits just south of the Bolivar village limits in Lawrence Township in Tuscarawas County.
Amid a light drizzle and overcast skies, the governor, his wife Fran DeWine and an estimated 200 people attended at the Tomb of the Unknown Patriot of the American Revolution. Many of the reenactors are members of the Sons of the American Revolution and Friends of Fort Laurens Foundation.
DeWine said the rededication was an appropriate part of the nation’s and Ohio’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding.
“The events here occurred not too long after the Declaration of Independence, a couple of years later. It’s appropriate we rededicate this monument which really is a tribute to all who served here and the number of people who were actually killed here,” said DeWine, who added that while Revolutionary War battles in the East are often what people remembered, an important part of the conflict also took place in Ohio in what was then the western frontier.
“This is the only major real Revolutionary War site in the state of Ohio,” he said. “… It’s all part of our story. All part of the Ohio story.”
The rededication was held a day after the 50th anniversary of the original dedication of the tomb in 1976 with the inscription, “In this place of honor rests an unknown soldier who gave his life in the struggle for American independence.”
The tomb contains the remains of a man, found during an excavation of what was the cemetery at the Fort Laurens site in the 1970s.
Doug Angeloni, a former longtime Malvern High School history teacher who has studied the Fort Laurens site since 1986 and examined historical records, believes the remains are that of a Continental Army officer, Ensign John Clark from western Pennsylvania, who was stationed at Fort Laurens. Angeloni said Clark was killed in an ambush by Native Americans allied with the British in March 1779 when Clark and other soldiers went out to gather firewood.
“So today, we pay homage to all those who died here,” DeWine said during the ceremony. “When you think about it for a moment, imagine if you were one of those soldiers and you came out of Virginia and you came out of Pennsylvania or somewhere else and you may have been at Valley Forge or other places. But now you’re out here. And man, you are a long way from anything in those days. And just imagine what you would feel. What you would go through each and every day. They’re here eight or nine months but again, clear out in the wilderness. Farther out for most than they have ever, ever been before. With all the fears and all the very legitimate fears that they had. So we owe them a lot.”
Over the past two years, contractors resurfaced the tomb’s concrete with engineered cement, said Chris Buchanan, a restoration project manager for the Ohio History Connection, and Megan Wood, the Ohio History Connection’s executive director and CEO. Remains in the 50-year-old tomb were not disturbed in the nearly $1 million state-funded project.
Contractors added three flag poles, granite benches and a stone monument with the silhouettes of two Continental Army soldiers.
The new monument has 13 stars symbolizing the original 13 states and says, “In honor of those who gave their lives at Fort Laurens for the cause of freedom.” It lists the names of 12 enlisted soldiers and notes three unknown soldiers from the 13th Virginia Regiment; the names of Clark, two privates and an unknown soldier, who were part of the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment; and two unknown soldiers who were in an unknown regiment. The bottom of the inscription says, “Dedicated for America 250. June 2026.”
As part of the flag raising ceremony, the reenactors, dressed in Revolutionary War attire, raised the Revolutionary War-era U.S. flag and the flags of the 13th Virginia and 8th Pennsylvania regiments of the Continental Army.
Historically accurate reconstruction of Fort Laurens is part of project
State funding to restore the Fort Laurens site totals nearly $6 million, including the capital funding bill that DeWine signed into law this year, the Ohio History Connection says. Besides restoring the tomb, the funds to be spent by 2028 will allow a historically accurate reconstruction of Fort Laurens and renovation of the Fort Laurens Museum, the Ohio History Connection officials said.
By December 1778, Continental Army soldiers on the west bank of the Tuscarawas River completed Fort Laurens, a four-sided fortification with a storehouse and barracks, as a possible base for an attack on British-held Fort Detroit in Michigan. The American soldiers named the new fort after Henry Laurens, the second president of the Continental Congress. After undergoing a monthlong siege in the winter of 1779 by Native Americans allied with the British and a British officer and the deaths of at least 21 soldiers, the Continental Army abandoned the fort in August 1779.
The construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal in 1832 through the eastern side of what was the fort eliminated whatever was left of the fort above ground. Interstate 77 now adjoins the eastern side of the site along with what remains of the canal. The Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail goes through the Fort Laurens site and connects to a pedestrian bridge over I-77.
Ohio History Connection officials say their hope is that the restoration of the fort and its proximity to Bolivar’s I-77 exit will attract a significant number of visitors.
Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Gov. Mike DeWine among those honoring soldiers killed at Fort Laurens
Reporting by Robert Wang, Canton Repository / The Repository
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Robert Wang, Canton Repository | USA TODAY Network
