Fake wooden Civil War era revolver, with sword letter opener, slave shackles, and buckles

As far as Lakewood and the Northern Ohio area go, we have known our share of warfare, although the stories are little-known and more than a little interesting.

The first instance of recorded warfare in these parts was between the Eriehronen and Iroquois Native Peoples. The Erie, as they are presently known, were defeated by the Iroquois by the late 1600's and were absorbed into the Iroquois federation. Some present-day Lakewood roads comprise part of the war trails that the Iroquois and other tribes followed.

The area today known as Cleveland was first surveyed in 1796 by Moses Cleaveland, a director with the Connecticut Land Company and a General in the Connecticut state militia. (The spelling of his name is slightly different from that of the future city.) When Cleaveland arrived at the east bank of the Cuyahoga River, he and his team quickly mapped out and constructed an orderly array of streets and cabins. The area in which we now live would become known as the Connecticut Western Reserve.

Now you might wonder where the Native Americans were when all this was going on, but the fact remains that Moses Cleaveland's group had stopped on June 21, 1796 at Buffalo Creek, New York, for a four-day meeting with the Iroquois leaders. To say that a good time was had by all would appear to be an understatement! Booze flowed like water. Before long, an agreement was reached, allowing that the land east of the Cuyahoga would unquestionably belong to Connecticut. In September, 1796, Moses Cleaveland rowed into the present-day flats and started to build the city that bears his name (albeit without the "a"). Later treaties with Native Americans would secure areas west of the Cuyahoga, some of which would be called the Firelands, where people could resettle whose homes were burned out by the British.

One of the little-known reasons for settling in this particular area was its proximity to the Continental Divide. This fairly low lying ridge, a few miles south of the city, was the boundary line for our national water flow. Waters north of the Divide flowed into Lake Erie. Those south of it flowed towards the Gulf of Mexico. As water travel was a primary form of transporting heavy goods, the strategic importance of this area was immediately evident. Portage County is so named because many a canoe could be "portaged," that is, carried, about eight miles overland from the Cuyahoga to the Tuscarawas River and on to points south. A few years after Ohio became a state, planning and construction began on a series of locks and canals. Parts of the Ohio and Erie canal can still be seen today in the Cuyahoga Valley. The canal's restored towpath is popular with bikers and hikers.

In the the War of 1812, both the British and the Americans had fleets of ships on Lake Erie. Thanks to Cleveland's changeable weather, Cleveland's homes avoided a potentially nasty shelling one day. An American fort, Fort Huntington, had been hastily built just east of the present Cuyahoga County Courthouse on a hill overlooking the lake. On June 13, 1813, two British warships, the "Queen Charlotte" and the "Lady Prescott," appeared on the Cleveland horizon. Fortunately for both sides, a storm came up and the British ships departed without bloodshed. The "Queen Charlotte" later sank Oliver Hazard Perry's flagship, "Laurence," in the Battle of Lake Erie before being defeated after its mast tangled with another British ship's. At great danger, Perry transferred from the "Laurence" to the brig "Niagara" and won the day for the United States.

And then, there was the 1837 "Battle of the Bridge" between residents of Cleveland and Ohio City. It seems that a number of issues have arisen between residents of these two communities divided by the Cuyahoga River. For that matter, a natural rivalry has always existed between Cleveland-area communities. Newburgh and Brooklyn, villages to the south and west of Cleveland, respectively, have both been involved in conflicts with Cleveland. The "Battle of the Bridge" was more violent, in that it was an actual, though short-term, war. It more or less set the tone for East-West relations for years to come in our city.

The roots for the bridge battle could be found in the completion of the Ohio and Erie Canal. Hundreds of German and Irish laborers worked on the canal, and many of them moved to the Ohio City side of the Cuyahoga after finishing their work. Issues of economics, culture, politics, and religion were probably involved between the immigrants and the old-guard New Englanders of Cleveland. Two bridges--one at present-day Detroit Avenue, and a second, newer one at Columbus Street--provided passage across the river for purposes of commerce. Misunderstandings, however, soon developed, and in 1837, Cleveland City Council directed that their half of the Detroit bridge be taken up. In the dead of night, Clevelanders removed their half of the bridge. In the pre-dawn hours, a fish wagon from the Ohio City side fell into the river, fortunately without loss of life.

Politicians and land speculators probably had been fueling the dispute for some time, and hundreds of residents from both sides of town gathered at the Columbus bridge with weapons of all types, including firearms. Diverting all traffic down to the Columbus bridge was an act that could have seriously impacted the economy of Ohio City, and to its residents it became a fighting issue.

The Ohio City people soon unsuccessfully attempted to blow up the Columbus bridge, although they did disable it by digging trenches on both sides. Soon thereafter, the Cleveland and Ohio City groups met at the bridge. Despite attempts to cool the rhetoric, an exchange of gunfire transpired, fortunately causing no loss of life. The county Sheriff was able to enact a cease-fire, after which the dispute went through the courts, ending with an agreement that there would continue to be multiple bridge crossings over the Cuyahoga.

As America entered the Civil War (1861-65), Ohioans lined up to assist the war effort. Already legendary for their help with escaping slaves on the Underground Railroad, Ohioans answered the call to service by joining groups like the Ohio Volunteer Infantry and the Cleveland Grays. Although the Civil War is often referred to as the "Battle of the Blue and Gray," both sides originally had units having both of these uniform colors.

A little-known incident can also be related concerning an escape attempt at the large Confederate officers' prison at Johnson's Island in Sandusky Bay. Prisoners were to be freed by Confederates who had seized control of a ship named the "Philo Parsons." The freed prisoners might possibly have then attacked Cleveland. After first engaging and sinking a ship named the "Island Queen," the Confederate-commandeered vessel decided instead to abort the attack and steam north to Canada when the plans of the conspirators seemed to fall apart. A Confederate cemetery still remains on Johnson's Island.

One other near-war transpired in nearby Holmes County, where a huge draft resistors' riot was quickly dispersed by Ohio infantrymen.

A local militia already mentioned, the Cleveland Grays, is still in existence as it has been since 1837. These days, the organization serves as a social and philanthropic group. It is located at the fascinating Gray's Armory on Boliver Avenue, close to Jacob's Field. The Grays served with distinction in a number of our nation's wars. Tours through the Armory are frequently scheduled. Incidentally, the Cleveland Grays escorted Abraham Lincoln's funeral train back to Illinois after his assassination. The train came through Cleveland, as well.

Since the Civil War, our area has fortunately not seen widespread warfare, although the Cleveland area has contributed with manufacturing and human resources to the conflicts of our nation, and to the pulse of this city.