474 C. WHITTLESEY ON THE WEAPONS AND 



I have seen no such counter-works near the ancient forts of Ohio. The lines of a besieg- 

 ing force would not be as prominent as the more deliberate works of the besieged ; but in 

 order to be successful, they must be so extensive and inrportant that natural causes would 

 obliterate both systems nearly alike. If the attacking party, except in the rare case of an 

 assault, should succeed against a permanent fort, like the one at Fort Ancient on the Little 

 Miami, in Warren County, Ohio, he must do it by demolishing a part of the line in order to 

 get in. 



I know of no case where the perimeter of an ancient fort has been cut through in this 

 way. At Fort Erie, opposite Buffalo, New York, the parallels, traverses, and embrasures of 

 the British lines are now, after an interval of fifty years, easily traced upon the ground. 

 The injuries which they inflicted upon our lines by their artillery, and the breach made in 

 our bastions by an explosion, still remain. 



If these works are not disturbed, their general features will be visible centuries hence ; 

 testifying to all professional men that an attack was made. If no lines were found on the 

 plain in front of Fort Erie, it would require no history to prove that it was not besieged. 



The works investing Petersburgh, Virginia, will stand as long as the fortifications of the 

 place, unless they are levelled by the hand of man. For centuries to come, military engineers 

 will be able to find where the great mine was sprung and wbere breaches effected. Mounds 

 of earth are the most imperishable of monuments. For a description of the Ohio fortifications 

 of the era of the mound-builders, their ornaments, utensils, and implements, I refer to the 

 exhaustive article of Mr. Scalier, and to article 7 of vol. iii. of the " Smithsonian Contribu- 

 tions." 



The race of the Mounds has left us as much in doubt in regard to their fighting imple- 

 ments as to their history. If they had used stones for this purpose to be thrown from slings, 

 or as battering-rams, they should now remain upon the soil in the neighborhood of their 

 forts. Large numbers of sculptured stones are found, but only a few that can be considered 

 as implements of war. 



Engraved shells, the teeth of animals used as ornaments, and wrought pieces of bone, 

 are frequently found in and about the mounds. For warlike purposes, if they made use of 

 stones, there must have been magazines of them collected within the works. The stone 

 mauls which were used in mining operations upon Lake Superior are still found in great 

 numbers on the spot. 1 Some of their copper arrow and spear-heads may have been designed 

 for mortal combat, but most of them have a better adaptation to the purposes of hunting. 



Implements of stone, flint, and copper that were evidently intended for cultivation of the 

 soil or for domestic purposes are abundant, while those of a warlike character are very 

 scarce. Some stone effigies of the human face are preserved entire, and many which repre- 

 sent animals; also a great variety of stone axes. The inference to be drawn from the 

 absence of military weapons is, that they must have been fabricated of wood, and have 

 decayed and disappeared. 



1 These mauls weigh from five to fifteen pounds, and are purpose of attaching a withe, to be used as a handle, wherewith 



merely oblong water-worn boulders of hard, tough rocks. Na- to swing the maul. 



ture has done everything in fashioning them, except the groove In one of the trenches on the cliff mine, north of the upper 

 which was chiselled around the middle. They were collected engine, one was found (see Plate xvi, fig. 5) with a root of 

 from the smooth boulders of the lake shore, and from banks of cedar still twisted in the groove, but so much decayed that it 

 coarse gravel that abound in the country. Most of them are fell to pieces. Dr. M. D. Senter, of the Cliff Mine, states that 

 trap ; but the hornblende, syenitic and granitic rocks, furnish he saw it before being disturbed, and it was evidently the in- 

 some. The ring or groove appears to have been cut for the tentiou of the operators to use the twisted withe for a handle. 



