Have You Ever Really Looked at This?

Fort Defiance marker on the Defiance Public Library grounds, placed by the DAR

"The unveiling of the Ft. Defiance Marker occurred on October 30, 1925.
As the cords binding the veil were released, the rugged stone bearing its beautiful bronze tablet was revealed, rough hewn from granite from the hills of New England.  The marker was fashioned by E. Nelson High of Cincinnati. 

The red flecked stone suggests the strength and hardihood of the pioneers whose memory it honors.  It rises to a height of six feet from the base to the top of the curve of the front face which is four and one half feet wide.  From the tablet to the rear face it measures two feet.

Mortised into the front face is the bronze tablet bearing this inscription:
'Fort Defiance was erected on this site by General Anthony Wayne, August 9 - 17, 1794,and thus,The Grand Emporium of the hostile Indians of the West was gained without loss of blood.  From this point, Gen. Wayne advanced against the Indians and signally defeated them in the Battle of Fallen Timbers, August 20th, 1794.'

At this strategic center, in October, 1792, convened the largest Indian council ever held on the American continent.
Fort Defiance was an important military post in the war of 1812. In the upper right corner of the tablet appears a replica of the ground plan of the fort, showing the two wings of the stockade resting on the banks of the Auglaize, the block houses and inner works.  The emblem of the D. A. R. is centered at the bottom of the tablet."

Daughters of the American Revolution, Ohio State History, p. 167.