The former site of Fort Ball is following suit with much of Ohio Monday as the Statehouse celebrates the bicentennial of the War of 1812.
“People always forget this was the war that was in our backyard,” Seneca County Historical Society member Jim Roberts said.
“This war is often not covered well in school history books.”
June 18 marks 200 years since the United States declared war against Great Britain, which the 1812 Bicentennial Commission has encouraged all 88 Ohio counties to celebrate.
The Historical Society is doing its part to recognize Fort Ball as the supply depot along the Sandusky River that supported American soldiers with a ceremony at 11 a.m. at the Rotary gazebo on Frost Parkway.
Fort Ball existed north of the river between Frost Parkway and South Sandusky Street and south of the railroad tracks, Historical Society member Phil Engle said.
Engle said he is planning to bring a painting of the Battle of Lake Erie featuring Oliver Hazard Perry.
The 1812 Bicentennial Commission invited the Historical Society to read the declaration of war, raise the flag and ring bells.
“During that time period the only form of communication was ringing bells,” Roberts said.
Historical Society member Brian Courtney will be there to talk about the War of 1812.
Engle said there will be a finale 21-gun salute at noon.
“Around this time soldiers fired three shots as a way to tell the opposing side it was time to clear the dead from the battle field, before reconvening in battle. It was just a coincidence there were seven guns,” Roberts said, adding that it has since become an honored tradition.
According to the 1812 Bicentennial Commission, a 15-star flag is to be raised above a county building in each Ohio county. The flag is to be flown at the Seneca County Museum.
The 1812 Bicentennial Commission was created through Senate Bill 93 and is responsible for the federal grant and recruiting support from the Historical Society.
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