CRIDEERSVILLE — The Auglaize County Historical Society will host the presentation “Fort Amanda: A Historical Redress” with David Johnson on Thursday, Oct. 5, at 6:30 p.m. in the community room of Otterbein-Cridersville, 100 Red Oak Drive. The event is free and open to the public.
Johnson describes redress as a “remedy to set things right,” which is the purpose of his book of the same name, published at the end of July. Johnson states, “Much of what has been written about Fort Amanda during the past century has been a repeat of what others had written before; namely, that Colonel Thomas Pogue built the fort and named it for his wife, Amanda; that a captain at the fort was murdered by Indians while gathering grapes in a nearby tree; and that war records were destroyed when the British burned government buildings in Washington, D.C., in 1814. None of these claims are true. In the early 1970s, armed with new information, I began a study of Fort Amanda that has spanned 40 years. While the goal of this book is to redress the story of Fort Amanda, it’s also meant to inform, challenge and inspire others who have a passion for history and who find identifying and honoring the ordinary men and women who made that history, not only personally satisfying, but who also a patriotic duty.”
For his Oct. 5 presentation Johnson will focus on his theory that the fort sat in a different location. He plans to walk people through how the whole story began, then explain the rationale behind his claims. He will also discuss where all the soldiers camped when they came to the fort.
Johnson grew up in Ada, moving to Lima in 1964 when he married. He worked in several positions at BP/Amoco from 1966 until taking early retirement in 1998. Johnson has a Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational Management from Bluffton University and a Master’s Degree in Adult Education from the Ohio State University. He reports that he disliked history classes in high school because he thought “they were mind-numbingly boring.” He is an adjunct faculty member at Bluffton University.
The Auglaize County Historical Society was founded in 1963. The Auglaize County Historical Society collects, preserves, interprets, and shares the history of Auglaize County and its people through exhibits, programs, and publications.
For more information about this or other Auglaize County Historical Society programming, email [email protected] or call 419-738-9328.
The Auglaize County Historical Society is also on Facebook.
