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The Associated Press (Toledo, OH, bureau)
in the Advertiser-Tribune (Tiffin, OH)
9-09-00
Preservationists say they soon will begin buying land to preserve the Fallen Timbers Battlefield site now that they have $2.5 million from the state.
An additional $2.3 million is needed to acquire all of the land in suburban Toledo, said Gary Horn, deputy director of the Toledo Metroparks.
Most of the additional money is expected to come from the federal government. Local money is also being used to buy the site from the city of Toledo.
The Fallen Timbers battle in 1794 eventually led to statehood for Ohio and the opening of America's western frontier. In the battle, American forces led by Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne defeated a band of American Indian tribes.
The 187-acre battlefield, now only wooded areas and cornfields, will become part of the National Park Service.
Gov. Bob Taft on Friday attended a ceremony to mark the state's involvement in preserving the property.
"Fallen Timbers was a turning point in both Ohio and American history," Taft said. "This will truly become a place where Americans will come and teach their children."
The battle along the Maumee River is particularly significant to the history of Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Indiana because it led to a portion of those states being settled by Americans, rather than the British.
Up until the last five years, the battlefield site had been marked incorrectly.
Excavations in 1995 showed the marker for the battle was not in the right place, and the wrong property had been set aside in the 1930s.
The discovery led to a new effort to combine state and private money to buy the land and link it to the Park Service as a national historic site.
Preservationists say it is fortunate the land near Interstate 475 south of Toledo isn't filled with homes. Subdivisions have inched near the area in recent years, but now they are no longer a threat.
"We found out about the site just in time," said G. Michael Pratt, an archaeologist from Heidelberg College who rediscovered the battle's true location.
"I never imagined it would be developed into a national historic site," he said.
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