visit to Cincinnati when, at Piqua, he learned that the place was
besieged. He immediately joined a rifle company of the Ohio militia;
but seeing the tardy movements of the troops, in advancing to the
relief of the fort, he resolved in the first place to return with all
possible expedition, to Cincinnati, for the purpose of inducing colonel
Wells, of the 17th U.S. infantry, to march his regiment to the relief
of the fort; and, in the second place, to make an effort to reach it in
person, that the garrison might be encouraged to hold out until
reinforcements should arrive. When Oliver arrived in Cincinnati, he
found that general Harrison had just crossed the Ohio, from Kentucky,
and assumed the command of the troops composing the north-western army.
He called upon the general, stated the condition of things on the
frontier, and avowed his intention of passing into the fort in advance
of the reinforcements. The general informed him that the troops then at
Cincinnati would be put in motion that day, and marched with all
practicable expedition to the invested point. This was on the 27th of
August; on the 31st Oliver overtook the Ohio militia at the St. Mary's
river. Here he learned that Adrian and Shane, two experienced scouts,
had been sent in the direction of fort Wayne, and had returned with
information that the hostile Indians were in great force on the route
to that place. On the next day, general Thomas Worthington, of
Chillicothe, who was then on the frontier as Indian commissioner,
seeing the great importance of communicating with the garrison,
determined to unite with Oliver in the attempt to reach it. These two
enterprising individuals induced sixty-eight of the Ohio troops and
sixteen Shawanoe Indians, among whom was Logan, to accompany them. They
marched eighteen miles that day, and camped for the night at Shane's
crossing.

Next morning they again moved forward, but in the course of the day,
some thirty-six of their party abandoned the hazardous enterprise, and
returned to the main army. The remainder pursued their route, and
encamped that evening within twenty-four miles of fort Wayne. As the
party was not strong enough in its present condition to encounter the
besieging enemy, general Worthington was very reluctantly induced to
remain at this point, while Oliver, with Logan, captain Johnny and
Brighthorn, should make an effort to reach the fort. Being well armed
and mounted, they started at daybreak next morn