Two story log blockhouse
During the War of 1812, blockhouses became important defensive sites for early settlers. It was from this blockhouse in Mansfield (now relocated to South Park) that John Laylan left to make his way to Mount Vernon in early September of 1812. Credit: Mark Sebastian Jordan

History Knox

Mark Sebastian Jordan authors a History Knox column which is published each Saturday at Knox Pages.

MOUNT VERNON — It’s well known that frontier entrepreneur John Chapman — more famous under his nickname Johnny Appleseed — made a marathon run from Mansfield to Mount Vernon to warn settlers when hostilities broke out during the War of 1812. 

What is less known is the story of John Laylan, who attempted a similar run almost a year earlier, but nearly got ambushed along the way.

There is a little bit of known detail about Laylan’s harrowing trek, and I decided to reconstruct as much of it as can be deciphered. We’ll start with some background information about the man himself. 

John Laylan had a family with whom he had settled along the shores of Lake Erie, which allowed him to work as a sailor on Great Lakes ships. He had specifically signed up to serve on a small ship called the Sally of Cuyahoga on June 29, 1812. 

As the ship progressed from Huron to Maumee, it stopped and spoke to settlers and travelers along the way, including Col. Alexander Enos from Knox County. Enos told the sailors that although the natives were getting aggressive along the lakeshore, no problems had been reported down around Mount Vernon. 

Laylan decided to quit his ship job and move his family further inland.

Laylan moved his family down to Mount Vernon, where he thought they’d be safer from the looming war between the U.S. and England, which had been declared in June. Though the nearest British troops were a ways off at Fort Detroit, it was known that they were encouraging the natives to attack the U.S. settlers. 

At first, everything was calm further inland.

John entered into service with the local militia, which covered the ground between Mount Vernon and Mansfield. With the rise in tensions, the white settlers determined to remove the local Indians at Greentown, a village along the Black Fork of the Mohican, just north of present-day Perrysville. 

After the Indians were escorted away by an armed force, the local militia was told to patrol the area. The group, including John Laylan, departed from the Mansfield blockhouse (pictured at the top of this story) and soon heard some shots.

Today’s Gorman Nature Center sign seems to point downhill toward the creek, obscured by the trees in the distance. John Laylan was probably following this body of water toward the trail that ran on the north bank of the Clear Fork River, just south of this point. (Mark Sebastian Jordan)

They discovered that a separate militia group had found and shot an old Indian named Toby (the source of the stream named Touby’s Run in southern Richland County, where the shooting happened).

John Laylan knew that this aggressive overreaction would only make things worse between the natives and settlers. He asked for a five-day furlough from the militia to go check on his family in Mount Vernon and help them fortify their cabin in case of further hostilities. 

He was given the leave, but since his rifle was issued by the state of Ohio, he was not allowed to take it with him as he made his way from Mansfield to Mount Vernon on foot.

Laylan decided that his best chance for getting through without getting attacked was to travel at night. Here’s where we have to start reconstructing his movements.

Today, the Mansfield Blockhouse — still in existence after 212 years! — sits in South Park, but it originally stood on the square in downtown Mansfield. 

After dusk on Sept. 4, Laylan left the blockhouse and began making his way south through the woods. But exactly what path would he have taken?

Today’s roads were not yet in existence, only walking paths that in some instances had been widened enough for a wagon to get through existed in these parts. When Johnny Appleseed did his run in 1813, he intended to get from Mansfield to Mount Vernon as fast as possible on foot.

He may have taken this marathon approach at least in part because he knew what had happened to John Laylan. With that in mind, it is likely that Chapman tried to make a beeline down the trail that was later to become Ohio State Route 13.

Laylan had a different mode of travel in mind, at least at first: walking quietly, in an attempt to escape detection by any hostile natives. 

With that in mind, he apparently took a less direct route, heading southwest from Mansfield, roughly following what today is Lexington Avenue, U.S. Route 42, in the direction of the Clear Fork River near what is today Lexington. 

This would take him to a trail which led down to the next blockhouse, one built by the McClure family at what is now Bellville, which was his halfway stopping point.

James McClure had originally lived in Fredericktown. After a destructive tornado ripped northward past Fredericktown in 1808, McClure traced its path up to the Clear Fork River, where the tornado lifted. He liked the spot, bought the land, and built his cabin and barn there. 

When tensions grew in 1812, he added a blockhouse structure for safety of his and other nearby families. It was only years later, in 1816, that he would sell it to Robert Bell, after whom the town would be named.

Laylan ran into trouble, surviving accounts say, about halfway through the first planned leg of his expedition. This puts us somewhere in the general area of what is today known as Gorman Nature Center north of Lexington.

As Laylan ran southwest along the creek, the Indians tracking him struck off due south through the woods seen in the background at the Gorman Nature Center. They hoped to reach the trail on the north bank of the Clear Fork River, but the terrain slowed them down, and Laylan made it past them. They proceeded to chase him down the trail. (Photo by Mark Jordan.)

It was here that the militiaman realized he was being trailed, and caught a glimpse of two natives in the moonlight. 

In danger of being outflanked and thus captured or killed, Laylan immediately took off running, figuring his only chance was to get to McClure’s blockhouse before the Indians could overtake him.

The militiaman ran on down the valley, making for the trail that ran along the bank of the Clear Fork River, knowing he could make some speed running down the trail, treacherous though it would be in the dark.

On the north side of what is today Bellville, the Indians almost caught up with John Laylan. They were running down the north bank trail, which is taken over at this spot by Ohio State Route 13. (Photo by Mark Jordan.)

The two Indians guessed Laylan’s destination, and tried to cut him off by heading due south through the woods, whereas Laylan was following the valley.

The steep terrain and lack of a trail slowed them down, however, and the militiaman made it past them on the Clear Fork trail before they made it out of the woods.

He ran as fast as he could in the dark, but tripped over some uneven ground, straining his ankle, which slowed him down. The two Indians were able to pick up their pace once they made it to the trail, and they began closing in on him.

By this time, the sky was beginning to lighten, hinting at dawn’s gradual approach. Laylan wondered if he’d make it while darkness still helped conceal him. Limping now, he could hear the Indians behind him on the trail.

Finally, he got to the point where he could dimly make out the blockhouse on the far side of the river.

The trail ran along the north bank of the Clear Fork, whereas McClure’s blockhouse was on the south side.

Near the blockhouse, with the Indians close behind, Laylan hobbled down the bank and jumped into the river to swim across, probably roughly where the blue bridge crosses the river into downtown Bellville today (as an aside: that bridge was made by the Mount Vernon Bridge Company many years later, but has lasted for over a century).

Approximately where the blue bridge takes Ohio 13 into Bellville, John Laylan limped from the trail and swam across the river toward McClure’s blockhouse, which originally stood on the far side. The Indians attempted to shoot him in the water, but couldn’t see him well in the pre-dawn gloom. (Photo by Mark Jordan.)

As Laylan swam across toward the blockhouse, the Indians paused to take some shots at him, but the lighter sky wasn’t yet illuminating the water. The warriors couldn’t site him well enough to draw a bead on him, and their shots were wasted.

The shots did alert the people in the blockhouse, who quickly slammed everything shut. As Laylan rounded the back side of the blockhouse, he was startled to see an equally startled girl.

She was one of McClure’s daughters, and she had been out milking their cows in the predawn quiet when she heard the shots. Those inside the blockhouse had forgotten she was out there, and had shut her out. She and Laylan shouted for them to open up. 

They were able to get inside before the two native men made it across the river.

After daybreak, McClure sent out a party to search for signs of Indians, to see whether it was a couple of scouts or an entire war party.

Nothing was found, although it is very possible that the two natives were part of the raiding party that attacked the Copus cabin near Perrysville, about a week later.

As for Laylan, he rested for a couple days at the McClure blockhouse until he could again walk.

His progress onward to Mount Vernon was uneventful, and he was able to make sure his family was secure before returning to Mansfield to finish his term of duty with the militia.