Greene Artifacts

“Mad” Anthony Wayne & the Founding of Waynesburg

By Matthew Cumberledge, GCHS Executive Director

We’ve had many recent donations to the collection at the Greene County Historical Society Museum and this one really got our attention! In one single artifact, we can experience a broad range of history that extends far beyond Waynesburg and Greene County.

One of the museuem’s most interesting items is this  pen and ink drawing, created by the hands of an unknown artist, of General “Mad” Anthony Wayne.  

When Greene County was established in 1796, instructions were created to form a county seat. After looking over several sites, Thomas Slater’s land – “Eden” – was chosen as the location to form the seat of  the county government and Waynesburg was established.   

Waynesburg was named for General “Mad” Anthony Wayne. Wayne made his claim to fame by winning the Battle of Fallen Timbers on August 20, 1794 – just a couple years before our county was established.  The victory at Fallen Timbers secured control of the Northwest Territory, and opened the door for western settlement.

Fallen Timbers was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War. That war was a struggle between Indian tribes and the British over control of the Northwest Territory and had its roots in violations of the Treaty of Paris and even earlier wars fought between the British and French throughout the region. The battle took place amongst the “Fallen Timbers” in an area recently hit by tornados just north of the Maumee River in Northwest Ohio.

With westward expansion now secure, the safety of the fronteir citizens – like those living in this area – was also secured.  There would be no more massacres, such as those of the Davis, Corbly, Cumberledge, Crow, Spicer families that settled here between the 1700’s to the 1790’s. 

What makes this artifact exceptionally interesting is that it likely dates to the late 1790’s, and was probably created to commemorate Wayne’s victory at Fallen Timbers, or the founding of Waynesburg.

The drawing came to the museum by way of a scrap book put together by the founders of the Greene County Historical Society in 1925. These scrap books contained Civil War letters, early deeds and documents from Greene County, as wells as many many other mementos of Greene County hHistory.

Please stop out at the GCHS and view this drawing and the remainder of our collection that tallies over thirty thousand items, we are open Tuesday through Saturday, from 10AM to 3PM.