But the idea behind the Palmer Furnace was known at least as far back
as the late 18th century, it dates to 1793 to be exact. Some authors attribute the idea of using a
small smoldering fire, built in a pit, and partly smothered with dirt, while
sitting above it, wrapped in a blanket to Lewis Wetzel; others such as Allen
Eckert, the author of The Frontiersman, attributed the early use of a Palmer
Furnace to Simon Kenton. Both Lewis
Wetzel and Simon Kenton were active during the 1790’s in the Upper Ohio Valley
area and while I don’t doubt Mr. Eckert; I believe the originator of the “secret
camp-fire” technique was actually a little known frontiersman named Josiah
Hunt.
The earliest known primary biographical source that I can find, that
speaks of the “secret camp-fire”, dates to 1847, and was written by Judge
Thomas Coke Wright. Judge Wright was the
earliest Greene County historian and was also a contemporary of many of early
settlers in Greene County and who had spoken with Josiah Hunt, whom he
described as speaking with “...a tone of candor and sincerity, as well as
modesty, in his manner of relating the thrilling scenes in which he had been an
actor...”1. In this
account, written Judge Wright, and sent by him to Henry Howe, for inclusion in
his Historical
Collections of Ohio, 1847, the
creation of “secret camp-fire” is attributed to Josiah Hunt.
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During The Northwest Indian War of 1785 to 1795, which ended with the
Battle of Fallen Timbers and the Treaty of Greenville, signed in 1795, according
to an account written by Judge Wright, Josiah Hunt in 1793 worked both as a
soldier and a hunter supplying meat to the garrison at Fort Greene-ville, as it
was then known.
Because the Native Americans of the Confederated Tribes would ambush
anyone leaving the fort, Hunt would leave the Fort after dark, walk towards his
chosen hunting ground and then bivouac for night, before hunting in the
morning. During the winter of 1793, he
used the following technique to keep from freezing to death in the night, a
technique that is like what we know of today as a ‘Palmer Furnace’.
The narrative goes on to say that the Native American warriors who
knew of this daring hunter, and who were actively hunting him, were so
impressed with the ingenuity of his secret campfire, a trick that, apparently,
they did not know about, and his skill as a warrior and hunter that they
promoted him to “Captain”, a term of great respect among Native
Americans warriors of the time. The fact
that the Native American warriors were impressed with how he made his secret
campfires, also leads me to believe that he was the inventor of this method.
Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Josiah Hunt, How He Made His Secret Camp-Fires”, where we will talk about how to make an emergency furnace to keep from freezing to death.
I
hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me
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That
is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!
Sources
Bigelow, David; History
of Prominent Mercantile and Manufacturing Firms in the United States, Vol
VI, [David Bigelow, Boston, 1857], page 265-270, https://www.google.com/books/edition/History_of_Prominent_Mercantile_and_Manu/y1w-AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22History+of+Prominent+Mercantile+and+Manufacturing+Firms+in+the+United+States%22+1857+%22josiah+Hunt%22&pg=PA266&printsec=frontcover,
accessed May 7, 2026
Howe, Henry; Historical
Collections of Ohio, [Derby, Bradley & Company, Cincinnati, 1847], page
199 to 200, https://books.google.com/books?id=ri8WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA199&lpg=PA199&dq=%22josiah+hunt%22+roth&source=bl&ots=M7iiOgL5Xj&sig=WXic_CR-GpPKHcgxxeXT3oCTcz4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=noyDU8XEDuilsQTX7ICQCw&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=%22josiah%20hunt%22%20roth&f=false,
accessed May 7, 2026
Rapacz, Andrea; Personal
conversation regarding The Phineas Meigs’ Hat, May 01, 2016, 10:51 am
University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign; “N. W. Territory Map, 1801”, by William Barker, [© 2026], https://digital.library.illinois.edu/items/9d2ba5e0-994e-0134-2096-0050569601ca-2,
accessed May 9, 2026
Webster,
Noah; A Dictionary of the English Language: Compiled for the Use of Common
Schools, [George Goodwin & Sons, Hartford, 1817], page 275, https://books.google.com/books?id=fJ8RAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA275&dq=ross+bark+dictionary&hl=en&sa=X&ei=T5kXUu-ZAcTd4QTxtYCQCw&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=ross%20bark%20dictionary&f=false,
accessed May 9, 2026
