A Journey Begun - Marion, IN
N 40° 34.300 W 085° 39.755
16T E 613205 N 4492069
A memorial statue along the Mississinewa Riverwalk in Marion, Indiana
Waymark Code: WMCWYR
Location: Indiana, United States
Date Posted: 10/20/2011
Views: 2
During the War of 1812, General William Henry Harrison ordered his troops to eliminate Miami Indian villages along the Mississinewa River because he believed British-allied Miamis were using the villages as staging areas for raids against army supply routes in western Ohio. On the morning of December 17, 1812, six hundred federal troops attacked four Miami villages along the river. One of these villages was located seven miles north of what would become the town of Marion in Grant County, Indiana. For two days the fighting continued with American attacks and Miami counter attacks until, on December 18, the army repelled the final Miami effort and began escorting prisoners on foot through knee-deep snow to Piqua, Ohio. As an act of compassion in order to spare them from more suffering, the American commander, Col. John B. Campbell, ordered his soldiers to give their horses to the thirty Miami women and children being forced to make the trip. The bronze statue located at this waymark is a memorial to that act of mercy.
The designer, Karl Kendall, is a native of Sweetser in Grant County, IN, and now lives in Prescott, Arizona. He is a graduate of the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis and a former General Motors design sculptor.
Kendall's original tabletop-size model was enlarged to a height of ten feet and cast with forty-seven hundred pounds of bronze. Said to be the largest War of 1812 sculpture in North America, the memorial was dedicated on December 18, 2005, one hundred ninety-three years after the conclusion of the battle.
According to one of the co-founders of the Mississinewa Battlefield Society, "This monument does not honor war. It is a reminder to future generations that during a hard time one culture can extend a hand of humanity to another."
The inscription reads:
A tribute to those who, in December 1812, displayed the courage to protect their culture and the compassion to embrace another as they departed the battlefield of the Mississinewa. Following the battle, the American commander ordered that captured horses be ridden by the Native American women and children, thus sparing them some of the hardship of the winter march from the Mississinewa to Ohio, as a era concluded and a new journey was begun.
Dedicated to all who died
in the Battle of Mississinewa
December 17-18, 1812
Date Erected/Dedicated: December 18, 2005
Who put it there? Private/Government?: Mississinewa Battlefield Society
Location/Address:
North River Drive
Marion, IN USA
46952
County/Province: GRANT County, Indiana
Hours or Restrictions if Appropiate: From: 6:00 AM To: 8:00 AM
Rate the Site: 
Photos Will Be Uploaded: yes
Website (related) if available: Not listed
|
Visit Instructions:
Visit logs must contain at least one new photo (by you) of the waymark. We prefer that neither you nor your GPS be in the photo.
Instead, Please provide some small tid-bit about your visit, or trip to this site, and, if possible, try to provide some fresh view or piece of information about the site.