The 2020 version of the annual Boxley Lectures Series, celebrating Sheridan’s founder George Boxley, will feature Hamilton County historian David Heighway telling the story of the Blackberry Campaign.
Heighway
Indiana was a part of the Northwest Indian Wars from 1785 to 1795 as the early settlers coming from what is now Kentucky were met with some resistance by the native peoples who already occupied the land. This resistance resulted in President Washington ordering troops into the Indiana territory from the Ohio River to protect the new settlers. Among the soldiers in these expeditionary forces was a young officer by name of William Clark who, a few years later in the company of Meriwether Lewis, would go on to explore the lands of the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase.
Clark kept a written record of his army travels through the Indiana Territory and which may have included some travel through present day Hamilton County – or at least that is what Heighway speculates.
The Sheridan Historical Society is offering Sheridan community members a chance to listen to Heighway tell his story and lay out his evidence of the role Hamilton County might have played in this expeditionary adventure with its connection via William Clark to the more famous Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803.
This free interesting public program will be held in the Joyce Cline Auditorium in the Sheridan Middle School on Thursday evening, Feb. 20. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and the program will begin at 7 p.m. sharp.
In the event of a reschedule due to weather, the program will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at the same time in the same place.