Wayne’s victorious “Legion” arrived at Miamitown on the evening of September 17, 1794. Lieutenant John Boyer, to whose journal we are indebted for the best account of the conditions relating to the construction of Fort Wayne, wrote on the day of the arrival:
... there are nearly five hundred acres of cleared land lying in one body on the rivers St. Joseph, St. Mary’s and Miami; there are fine points of land contiguous to those rivers adjoining the cleared land ... the land adjacent [is] fertile and well timbered, and from every appearance it has been one of the largest settlements made by the Indians in this country.[1]
On the following day, Wayne reconnoitered the ground and selected the site for the new fort, an elevated position on the right bank of the Maumee just below the confluence of the St. Mary’s and St. Joseph rivers. The ground chosen approximates lots 11, 12, and 13 of the present Taber addition on the northeast corner of East Berry and Clay street.[2]
Wayne determined to build a strong fortification, much to the disapproval of Lieutenant William Clark, who felt that a common picketed one would be equally as difficult for the savages.[3] It is conceivable that Wayne in building a strong fortification feared a future British attack equally as much as he feared the Indians. Actual construction began on September 24. The difficulties were many. The season was late, and the fort had to be completed before winter came. The regulars had been good fighters, but proved to be poor workers. All the severity of the army code was required to keep them in line, one hundred lashes on their bare backs being the usual punishment. The volunteers were rebellious; for a while they were employed convoying the supplies from Fort Defiance to Fort Wayne over the improved road Wayne had constructed, but finally, when Wayne could no longer cope with the Kentucky militiamen, they were sent home. Provisions were also scarce and prices were high. Not infrequently the men were on half-rations, while the horses died at the rate of five a day for lack of feed. A ten gallon keg of whiskey cost eight dollars; a pint of salt, when it could be obtained, brought six dollars.[4]
Despite these difficulties, Wayne seemed well-satisfied with the construction of his new fort, which was capable of resisting 24 pound guns. By October 17, he felt “free to pronounce them [Fort Wayne and Fort Defiance] the most respectable now in the occupancy of the United States, even in their present situation which is not quite perfect as yet.”[5] Construction was pushed with all possible speed, and although the fort was not quite completed, the day of dedication was set for October 22, 1794, the fourth anniversary of Harmar’s defeat. Early that morning, after firing fifteen rounds of cannon in honor of the fifteen states in the Union, the flag was raised. Colonel Hamtramck then named the new fortification, “Fort Wayne.”[6]
The “Legion” departed for Greenville on October 28, leaving Lieutenant-Colonel John Francis Hamtramck in command of four infantry companies and one artillery battery at Fort Wayne. Colonel Hamtramck is described as being “a small Canadian Frenchman, an intelligent, capable, and meritorious officer.”[7] After serving in the Revolution, Hamtramck came to the West with Harmar, being in command at Vincennes when he joined Wayne’s army. Although somewhat of a martinet, Hamtramck was popular with his men and, from all accounts, one of the most efficient officers in the army at that time.
It was fortunate that Wayne left a capable man in charge of Fort Wayne, as Hamtramck’s difficulties proved to be many. There still remained a great deal of work to be done in strengthening the fort, which was not completed until the following spring. The garrison was plagued by an epidemic of malaria fever during the first summer. This condition was made worse by the lack of quinine or any medical supplies.[8] During the winter, the men often went about in rags and tatters. Hamtramck was forced to permit them to cut up their blankets and turn them into over-coats.
Facing such difficulties, it is little wonder that Hamtramck complained frequently to Generals Wayne and Wilkinson about the problems of disciplining his rebellious men and caring for the destitute Indians who were returning to their ruined villages. Concerning the soldiers Hamtramck wrote, “I have flogged them until I am tired. The economic allowance of one hundred lashes, allowed by the government, does not appear a sufficient inducement for a rascal to act the part of an honest man.”[9]
Hamtramck was actively engaged at this time in discussions with the chiefs, particularly Little Turtle, LeGris, and Richardville, concerning the proposed peace negotiations to be held at Greenville the following summer. In these matters, Hamtramck was aided immensely by the Lasselle brothers, Antoine and Jacques.[10] Antoine had resided at Miamitown from 1771 until Harmer’s destruction of the village in 1790. He had fought on the side of the Indians in the battle of Fallen Timbers and had been captured by Wayne’s troops. Tried as a spy, he narrowly escaped the gallows through Hamtramck’s intercession. Colonel John Johnston, Indian factor at Fort Wayne, later described Antoine Lasselle as a man of wit and drollery who “would often clasp his neck with both hands to show how near he had been to hanging by order of Mad Anthony.”[11] After his release, Antoine Lasselle with his brother Jacques returned to Fort Wayne, apparently the first traders to do so. Here they furnished the Americans with supplies and used their strong influence with the Miamis to the good advantage of the American cause.
The Indians had asked that the forthcoming peace conference be held at their old village, Kekionga, as Kiskakon had come to be called by that time. Wayne insisted that the tribesmen come to Greenville, 79 miles southeast of Fort Wayne. Resorting to the use of Indian symbolism, Wayne argued, “It was there [Kekionga] that the hatchet was first raised, to bury a bloody hatchet there would disturb the spirits of the unburied dead.”[12] Wayne’s real reasons were less symbolic, but more practical. The distance of bringing supplies to Fort Wayne would be much farther than to Greenville, and at Greenville he would have his “Legion” ready in case of trouble. In the spring the Indians going to Greenville came by way of Fort Wayne, so overcrowding the post that Hamtramck’s garrison had to go on half-rations to feed the delegates. Even this did not suffice; emergency stores were depleted, while the liquor and tobacco were so exhausted that Hamtramck had to buy additional supplies from Antoine Lasselle.
At Greenville Wayne won the peace which Fallen Timbers had secured. In respect to Fort Wayne, which remained an American island deep in Indian Territory, the United States gained an area of six square miles around the fort, free use of the Maumee-Wabash portage, and an area of two square miles at the Wabash end of the portage. The Indians also promised the United States the use of the roads leading to Fort Wayne from Defiance to the northeast and Piqua to the southeast. Little Turtle, Wayne’s keenest antagonist during the negotiations, debated long and eloquently over these concessions at and around Fort Wayne. The great Miami chief secured one compromise from the General, a reduction of the land around the fort to be ceded to the United States. After this concession by Wayne, Little Turtle addressed the council:
These people [the French] were seen by our forefathers first at Detroit; afterwards we saw them at the Miami village—that glorious gate which your younger brothers had the happiness to own.... Brothers, these people never told us they wished to purchase these lands from us.
I now give you the true sentiments of your younger brothers with respect to the reservation at the Miami villages. We thank you kindly for contracting the limits you at first proposed. We wish you to take this six mile square on the side of the river where your fort now stands, as your younger brothers wish to inhabit that beloved spot again ... The next place you pointed to was the Little River, and said you wanted two miles square at that place. This is a request that our fathers, the French or British, never made us; it was always ours. This carrying place has heretofore proved in a great degree, the subsistence of your younger brothers. That place has brought us in the course of one day, the amount of one hundred dollars. Let us both own this place.[13]
To this Wayne replied:
The Little Turtle observes, he never heard of any cession made at that place [Fort Wayne] to the French. I have traced the lines of two forts at that point ... and it is ever an established rule, among the Europeans, to reserve as much ground around their forts, as their cannon can command.[14]
Wayne could not grant Little Turtle’s request for joint-control of the Maumee-Wabash portage since the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 guaranteed to everyone free use of all important portages (Article V). Wayne proved himself an economist and shrewd diplomat by arguing before the other assembled tribes that the tolls garnered by the Miamis actually were passed off to all the Indians in the form of higher prices for the traders goods. At length, Little Turtle, speaking for four tribes besides the Miamis, expressed himself as satisfied with the treaty, and being the last to sign it, promised he would be the last to break it.[15] This he never did, as he spent the last seventeen years of his life at peace with the Americans.
In a farewell address to the conference, Little Turtle asked that the United States government appoint Captain William Wells as resident interpreter at Fort Wayne. William Wells, frontier scout and pioneer, was one of the most romantic and mysterious figures in the early history of the Northwest. A biography or even a sketch of his life has never been written, although his story is intimately connected with that of Fort Wayne and the Indiana Territory. Between 1794 and 1812, when he was killed, Captain Wells was decidedly the most interesting white person in the history of Fort Wayne. Little is known about him personally, except that which we can obtain from letters written by him or those concerning him. A member of prominent Kentucky family and the brother of Colonel Samuel Wells of Louisville, William Wells had been kidnapped by a band of Miamis when he was twelve year old. Taken to Miamitown, he was adopted by the tribe of Little Turtle and was raised by the Indians, as was the custom of that time. It is not surprising, consequently, that the Frenchman, Count Volney described Wells as “tall and muscular, quick in movement, and having the complexion of an Indian.”[16] It is surprising, however, that Wells, having little or no education, in later life showed in his letters a knowledge of the English language and clarity of thought far superior to his white associates on the frontier.
Wells’ first wife was Anahquah, Little Turtle’s sister; and upon her death, it is believed that Wells married Wahmangopath, the daughter of the chief. By these marriages, Wells had the following children: Anne, who was educated at the Catholic school at Bardstown, Kentucky, and who later returned to Fort Wayne to marry Dr. William Turner; Mary, who married James Wolcott; Rebecca, who married James Hackley at Fort Wayne; Jane Turner, who married John H. Griggs, and William Wayne, who after graduating from West Point, died at an early age. On March 7, 1809, Wells married Mary Geiger, daughter of Colonel Frederick Geiger of Kentucky, by whom he had three children, Samuel Geiger, Yelberton, and Julia Ann.
Against Harmar’s and St. Clair’s armies, Wells fought willingly on the side of the Indians. In 1794, however, he joined Wayne’s forces apparently with Little Turtle’s approval. It is known that in the summer of 1793, Wells paid a visit to his white relatives in Kentucky. Upon returning through Vincennes, he met Col. Hamtramck, who employed him to carry a message to Wayne.[17] In the message, Hamtramck suggested to Wayne that Wells would prove invaluable as a scout, if the General saw fit to give him a commission. Before accepting this offer, Wells returned to Miamitown, and here secured Little Turtle’s consent. The reason for Wells’ desertion of the Indian cause has never been clear. Perhaps Hamtramck, later one of Wells’ staunchest friends, convinced him that the American cause was to be successful. Possibly, as Quaife suggests, it was due to a belated consciousness of his true race identity and the pleadings of his white relatives while he was in Kentucky.[18] The fact that Wells and Little Turtle remained intimate afterward and that their viewpoints were always identical, indicates there was no friction between them. It is known that Little Turtle did not wish to give battle to Wayne at Fallen Timbers, and advised the Indians to make peace. While only conjecture, it is not unreasonable to assume that Wells foresaw the American success in the forthcoming campaign and convinced the chief it was to the red man’s advantage to make peace.
Wells was placed in command of Wayne’s scouts, and it was primarily through his vigilance that Wayne’s forces were not surprised. At Greenville, Wells served as an interpreter, a position of trust. Wayne was willing to grant Little Turtle’s request to appoint Wells as resident interpreter at Fort Wayne, and later wrote to the government recommending Wells for the position, as well as authorizing the payment of high rewards to this valuable scout.[19]
During the winter of 1795-96, Hamtramck found the food and supply situation at Fort Wayne somewhat better, although there were about 90 children and old women entirely dependent on the garrison for their subsistence. Until the British post at Detroit was transferred to the United States, Fort Wayne was the headquarters for detachments at the following western forts: Defiance, Sandusky, Adams, Recovery, Jefferson, Loramie, Head of the Auglaise, and Michilimackinac. In June, 1796, Col. Hamtramck was ordered to proceed to Detroit and take command of the former British post there. After his departure, the force at Fort Wayne never numbered more than 100 men. These men held an important position along the first line of defense in the northwest. Other than Michilimackinac, there were no posts to the north or northwest until Ft. Dearborn was erected in 1803. The men at Fort Wayne acted as if they had little realization of their responsibility. The majority of the enlisted men of that day were drawn from the most turbulent elements of the east. The soldier’s life was not a popular vocation. At this western outpost, garrison life was more than harsh; it was extremely boring. The troops at Fort Wayne had nothing to do in their leisure time, and usually passed their days in drinking, fighting, and gambling.[20] In vain did the officers have insubordinate men flogged at parade (not infrequently the maximum penalty of 100 lashes was given), deprived them of their whiskey rations, and put them to hard labor. When, in 1812, Congress amended the articles of war to prohibit flogging, other substitute punishments, hardly less severe and equally degrading, were devised. Men were confined in small dark rooms, put astride spiked wooden horses, forced to wear the wooden collar, ankle bolts, and irons. In the Orderly Books for the Fort Wayne garrison, we repeatedly find non-commissioned officers demoted to the ranks for misconduct or crimes of one nature or another, only to be reinstated when their successors proved even more incapable. Yet, when this wild, bored garrison was besieged during the War of 1812, they successfully held the fort against a force six times as strong.
Living within the fort were the wives and children of those married officers and men who chose to bring their families to the wilderness with them. In many respects these women shared the army life of their husbands. They were governed by the same military regulations, even receiving the same daily whiskey ration as did the men. The officers and their families generally came from an older and more formal society and carried into the rude barracks the manners and customs of the East. One of the commanders, Col. Hunt, brought his family directly to Fort Wayne from their Boston home. With this eastern culture was added a certain punctilio, a natural consequence of military life. The officers’ families, together with those of government officials and more prominent settlers, formed the elite of the American society at Fort Wayne. In 1807 Lieutenant Philip Ostrander, an officer at Fort Wayne, wrote to his friend, George Hoffman, collector for the government at Michilimackinac:
On my arrival at this post I was received with the utmost politeness by Captain Heald [the commandant] who continues to show me every flattering attention. Indeed, sir, by every officer ... at this place I have been treated with the utmost liberality and respect. The very day of my arrival, I was requested to dine with Captain Wells [the Indian agent] and today by Mr. Johnson, our present factor at this post. [Col. John Johnston, superintendent of the government “factory”] I do not mention these circumstances through vanity, but merely with intention of informing you that everyone endeavors to make my place of residence comfortable and happy.
I could form no conception of what an agreeable situation this is, both as to the face of the country and the elegant situation of the fort. We are, however, destitute of one thing which would make the situation still more agreeable—that is, society. Mr. Johnson [Johnston], Captain Wells, J. Audrian [a trader], and the officers of the garrison compose our party. They tell me that the place is in general healthy, but, to tell the truth, I have seen a number of very sick people. Dr. Edwards had unfortunately started for Cincinnati an hour before my arrival.[21]
Dr. Edwards, who had recently been given authority to serve as a merchant at the fort in addition to his duties as post surgeon, evidently had gone to Cincinnati to obtain supplies. Judging from the above letter and other sources, it must be concluded that the number of sick at Fort Wayne was generally quite high. Before Dr. Edwards came there were twenty-five men reported on the sick list, almost 35% of the garrison. This may have been somewhat of an abnormal condition, however, as his predecessor, a man named Dr. Elliot, was so incompetent, that Mr. Johnston, the government factor, had to act as post surgeon.[22]
Colonel Hamtramck remained in command of Fort Wayne until June, 1796. In March of that year he had been ordered to move down the Maumee with a detachment from Fort Wayne in order to counteract a demonstration by the British which was possibly intended to arouse the Indians to revolt. While encamped on the Maumee, Hamtramck received a message from General Wilkinson, directing him to receive the transfer of the British Post Miami and then proceed to Detroit to take command of the former British post, Fort Lernoult.
Colonel David Strong, Hamtramck’s successor at Fort Wayne, had, like Hamtramck, served in the Revolution and in Wayne’s army. Prior to coming to Fort Wayne he had been in command at Fort Greenville.[23] The twenty-six months of Colonel Strong’s administration witnessed the beginnings of the new Frenchtown at Fort Wayne. Located across the St. Joseph from the site of the old Frenchtown, this new village was situated where Kekionga or Kiskakon once stood in the present Lakeside area of Fort Wayne. Most of the inhabitants were either former occupants of Miamitown who returned to this new site after Wayne’s victory or French-Canadians of the Detroit-River Raisin region. Volney, a native of France who traveled in the United States during 1796, questioned the Americans concerning these French “habitants” of the northwest. He was told that they were a kind, hospitable, and sociable sort of people, “but in ignorance and idleness they beat the Indians. They know nothing of civil and domestic affairs; their women neither sew or spin or make butter but pass their time in gossiping and tattle. The men hunt, fish, roam in the woods, and bask in the sun.”[24]
In weighing the value of this characterization of the French “habitants,” we must remember that Volney an intellectual coming from the Paris of the Enlightenment naturally thought of these people as crude and rustic, as indeed they must have appeared to him, but what is more important neither Volney or the Americans appreciated that these French Creoles way of life was different from theirs. The Creoles were not as interested in the middle-class virtue of respectability nor in the acquisition of much property.
Evidently the English-American opinion of the French people living in the Northwest had not changed since the days of George Croghan and earlier. Nor in all likelihood had the French “habitants” and traders changed their manner of living to any great extent. Although they had suffered a great deal financially and were less prosperous since the American occupation of the territory, there is no reason to doubt that these people lived as they did during Henry Hay’s sojourn at Miamitown, independent and satisfied with life.
There is no way of determining the number of inhabitants living in Frenchtown at this time. That the settlement was at least worthy of notice is indicative from the Orderly Books for Fort Wayne. Mention is made repeatedly of the town.[25] The soldiers and their wives were in the habit of frequenting the town, which practice some officers considered inimical to the garrison’s welfare. All military orders published for the civilians living around Fort Wayne were made out in French as well as English, and until the early 1820’s the majority of the population of Fort Wayne were either French or of French-Indian blood.
While most of these French inhabitants during these years remain unknown, there are a few individuals whom we can identify. Besides Antoine Lasselle, there was another member of the Lasselle family who returned to Fort Wayne at an early date. This was Hyacinth Lasselle, the nephew of Antoine Lasselle and the son of Jacques Lasselle. Hyacinth Lasselle was only four years old when his family fled from Miamitown at the advance of LaBalme’s force in 1780. After this he was placed in a private school in Montreal. In May, 1795, he returned to Fort Wayne from where he carried on trading activities until 1804 when he removed his establishment to Vincennes. In appearance he was rather short, being about five feet six inches tall, but at the same time very muscular. His athletic prowess and the fact that he was born at Miamitown made him a great favorite of the Miamis, who entered him in contests against the champions of other tribes.
Other inhabitants of the former Miamitown who returned to the site of Fort Wayne after the American Occupation were Antoine Rivard or Rivarrd and Francis Minie. Rivard’s wife and daughter had entertained Henry Hay quite often while the latter stayed at Miamitown. Included among the new arrivals at Frenchtown were Charles and James Peltier, brothers who had come here from Detroit around 1798. In 1804 the Peltiers secured permission to sell supplies to the garrison at Fort Wayne. At a later date, Charles Peltier was attacked and eaten by wolves within a few miles of the fort. James Peltier married Angeline Chapeteau, an attractive young girl who had come to Fort Wayne from Detroit with her grandparents, Jean Baptiste Maloch and his wife. Jean Baptiste Maloch had been a resident at Detroit before the time of Pontiac’s conspiracy, and he was apparently considered to be a man of some wealth.[26] What prompted him to bring his wife and granddaughter to Fort Wayne at this late date in his life is unknown. Angeline Chapeteau, who was only sixteen when she came to Fort Wayne, instantly became a favorite of the Miamis, who called her “Golden Hair” and formally adopted her into their tribe. Her sister Theresa Chapeteau married Francis Minie, while a second sister married Charles Peltier. One of the most prosperous traders at Fort Wayne prior to the war of 1812 was Louis Bourie. Not only did he trade in furs himself, but he also kept pack horses and large warehouse for the transportation and storage of the merchandise and furs carried by way of the Maumee-Wabash portage. For these services he collected a handsome profit. Two other traders who married Miami women were Peter LaFontaine and Antoine Bondie.
To the west of the fort there came into being a collection of government buildings and sutlers’ establishments, which in time resembled a small village. These log buildings were located at the meeting place of two roads, “Wayne’s trace” (this was the road connecting Fort Wayne with Fort Washington, Cincinnati) and the old Maumee-Wabash portage path.[27] This was the nucleus of the village that made up the plat of the original town of Fort Wayne, when it was laid out in 1824. The sutlers, who lived here, were traders who had been given permission by the government to occupy choice locations near a military outpost and carry on the trade deemed necessary for the garrison. These sutlers were subject to the orders of the commander of the fort, who could dismiss them upon a just provocation. It was also the commander’s duty to see to it that the men were not overcharged and investigate any complaints brought to him either by the sutlers or soldiers. For instance the soldiers complained on one occasion that James Peltier was overcharging them for his merchandise. After an investigation, the commander, Captain Whipple, excused Peltier on the grounds that the cost of transportation for the winter had risen to one hundred dollars a boatload.[28] The sutlers brought their merchandise either by way of the Maumee from Detroit and the East or by way of the St. Mary’s from Cincinnati and the Ohio River.
The largest of the log buildings comprising the small village west of the fort was the two-story council house. This was erected in 1804 by the government to be used as a meeting place between the government officials and the Indians. Around the village and along the banks across the river were gardens and cultivated fields of vegetables and corn. One of the better farms was owned by Colonel Hamtramck and William Wells. Wells managed it and by 1800 had it well fenced. On the property were several buildings, a good orchard, a number of livestock, plus the usual corn fields. Several negro slaves whom Wells had brought from Kentucky did most of the labor.[29] Apparently this farm did not always furnish a dependable source of income, for in 1801, Wells reported to Hamtramck that although he expected to harvest 350 bushels of corn for each of them, he would not be able to sell it because of the overabundance of corn raised that year around Fort Wayne.[30] The reason for this, Wells maintained, was the fact that the military were competing in the corn market. The officers of Fort Wayne were in the practice of having the enlisted men farm the fields for wages.
In June, 1797, the newly appointed General of the United States Army, James Wilkinson, stopped at Fort Wayne during his initial tour of inspection of the western forts. Here he found conditions “truly deplorable”. In his report he stated:
“The army in this quarter presents a frightful picture of the scientific soldier; ignorance and licentiousness have been fostered, while intelligence and virtue have been persecuted and exiled; the consequences were that factions have been generated to sanction enormity, and it follows that all ideas of system, economy, order, subordination and discipline were banished, and that disorder, vice, absurdity, and abuse infected every member of the corps militarie.”[31]
Wilkinson was equally dissatisfied with conditions at Detroit. In fact he found fault everywhere, for the General had a habit of exaggerating ills so that he might gain more credit for employing successful antidotes. He never doubted that his methods were correct, and his solution for the problems at Fort Wayne and Detroit was relatively simple. He merely exchanged garrisons and commandants between the two posts. Colonel Hamtramck with the First Regiment was transferred to Fort Wayne, and Colonel David Strong at Fort Wayne with the Second Regiment was transferred to Detroit.[32]
Whether or not General Wilkinson achieved his purpose of bettering conditions at Fort Wayne and Detroit by these transfers is not known. At any rate Colonel Hamtramck did not remain long at Fort Wayne. In less than a year he was ordered back to Detroit and there he remained in command until his death in 1803. In April, 1798, a month before his final departure from Fort Wayne, his son, John Francis, was born. As far as it is known, this child was the first white person born within the stockade.
On May 16, 1798, Colonel Thomas Hunt arrived at Fort Wayne to take command. Colonel Hunt had served with distinction in the Revolution. Born in Massachusetts, he became a member of Captain’s Croft’s Company of “minute men” at Lexington and Concord, in April, 1776. Later he fought in the battles of Bunker Hill and Stoney Point. In 1793, he returned to military service as a major with Wayne. Following the western campaign and the building of Fort Wayne, he went to Detroit and assisted Wayne in the formal transfer of the British post to the Americans. He served then as commandant of Fort Defiance.[33] Following the western campaign of Wayne, he had been given command of Fort Defiance. With Colonel Hunt came his family to Fort Wayne directly from their home in Boston.
While at Fort Wayne, Colonel Hunt often drew criticism for his independent action. Nevertheless, it is apparent that he devoted his energies to the betterment of conditions at Fort Wayne, for he undertook the responsible task of building a new fort to take the place of Wayne’s hastily constructed post which by 1800 was beginning to decay. The new fort was located about three hundred feet north of the old structure and enclosed the area of the present Old Fort Park in the city of Fort Wayne. It seems very probable that the troops occupied the original fort during the period of construction of the second fort, so there were two American forts standing at the same time, separated by perhaps three hundred feet of space. The new fort was reported to be “large and substantial ... commanding a beautiful view of the river, as also an extent of about four square miles of cleared land.”[34] Six log barracks for the officers and men, a brick magazine, and smaller buildings were grouped within the palisades around the parade ground.
Captain Thomas Pasteur, an officer in the Revolution and a member of Wayne’s corps succeeded Colonel Hunt as commander in June, 1802. Pasteur remained but a year at Fort Wayne during which time there was little activity at the outpost. There is some indication from two letters written at the time that Colonel Henry Burbeck was in command at Fort Wayne in the spring of 1803, although the Fort Wayne Orderly Books give no record of this.[35] If he did serve at Fort Wayne, his stay was no longer than that of his successor, Major Zebulon Pike, who remained less than two months. Major Pike was the father of the noted explorer of the southwest, Zebulon M. Pike. The Major who was in poor health was given command of Fort Wayne in the hope that the position would be an easy one, as well as furnish an increase in his pay. The command did not meet Pike’s expectations, since his nature was such that the constant drunkenness of the men under him was more than he could stand. His rigid attitude in regard to temperance was revealed in a letter to Colonel Kingsbury while both were serving at Detroit. In it he declines an invitation of the Colonel to attend an officers’ party at which he believes some alcoholic drink would be served.[36]
Major Pike’s successor, Captain John Whipple, arrived at Fort Wayne in September, 1803. A group of Quakers visiting Fort Wayne in 1804 reported that Captain Whipple, “behaved with a freedom and gentility becoming a well breed [sic] man.”[37] That he was a man of fair intellectual talents is shown by the nature of the entries in the Fort Wayne Orderly Books during his administration. In 1804, Captain Whipple journeyed to Detroit to bring back his wife, the former Archange Pelletier, a descendant of the oldest family of Detroit, Francois Pelletier having preceded Cadillac to that spot by two years.
After serving almost four years at Fort Wayne, Captain Whipple resigned on January 31, 1807 and in his stead Captain Nathan Heald was appointed as commander. Captain Heald remained at Fort Wayne until May 16, 1810, on which day he left to take command at Fort Dearborn (Chicago), being in charge of that garrison on the day of the fateful massacre, August 15, 1812. During his stay at Fort Wayne, Captain Heald met the niece of William Wells, Rebeckah Wells, whom he later married. Captain Heald was replaced at Fort Wayne by Captain James Rhea, an unfortunate choice for the troublesome days that were to come during the crucial first year of the War of 1812.[38]
From the beginning of Colonel Hunt’s administration in 1798 to the end of Captain Heald’s in 1810, the frontier was comparatively peaceful, especially until 1807. In that year signs of the forthcoming Indian difficulties began to appear, although the actual conflict did not break out until 1811, with the battle of Tippecanoe. In August 1796, Winthrop Sargent, the Secretary of the Northwest Territory, proclaimed the organization of Wayne county, with Fort Wayne on its southern boundary. This original Wayne county was divided into four townships, bearing the names of Detroit, Mackinaw, Sargent, and Hamtramck, with the region of Fort Wayne and the Maumee valley included in the latter. In October, 1799, William Henry Harrison was elected to represent the Northwest Territory in Congress. This body, on the seventh of May, 1800, created the Territory of Indiana, composed of all that part of the territory of the United States west of a line beginning at the Ohio river opposite the mouth of the Kentucky river and running northward to the straits of Mackinac. Five days later William Henry Harrison was appointed governor of the newly created territory. Vincennes in the southern part of the territory, situated on the Wabash river, became the capital.
Up north, Fort Wayne, already an important post in the defense of the Northwest Territory, also became a government outpost of diplomacy and trade with the Indians. By 1798, the United States government had established an Indian agency at Fort Wayne. The Office of Indian Affairs was a division of the War Department from 1789 to 1849, and was under the direction of the Secretary of War. The Indian agents were the representatives of the department among the various tribes. This plan, to have official representatives of the government stationed permanently among the Indians, was adopted from that used by the English during colonial times. Captain William Wells was the logical choice to be the first Indian agent at Fort Wayne. The military and government officials both felt that he was deserving of some reward for his outstanding services during and after Wayne’s campaign in 1794-95. Above all he was admirably suited for the position, being intimately acquainted with the Indians of this region and being able to speak fluently five of the Indian dialects. When Volney asked the inhabitants of Vincennes for aid in compiling a dictionary of the Indian language, they recommended that he consult William Wells, as Wells knew the Indian languages better than any other man in the territory.[39]
Undoubtedly, Wells was anxious to secure the position for it paid a handsome salary of $1,200 a year plus some expenses, which was rather good in those days for a government employee. Moreover, the position gave the agent the opportunity of arranging profitable private contracts for services and goods for the Indians. With the purpose of obtaining the appointment, Wells secured a letter of introduction from his friend, Colonel Hamtramck, to the Secretary of War.[40] In all probability Wells used this letter and other recommendations to good advantage when he accompanied Little Turtle to Philadelphia in the winter of 1797. Upon his return from Philadelphia, Wells wrote to Hamtramck that he “was encouraged and hopeful.”[41] His hopes were well founded for in the summer of 1798, Wells received the appointment as Indian agent at Fort Wayne.
Four years later, Fort Wayne was selected as the location for one of the Indian “factories” then being established by the national government. It is somewhat difficult to make a distinction between the Indian agency and Indian factory. Strictly speaking, the factory was the place where goods were received, stored, and distributed, where trading was carried on with the Indians by the government and payments of goods and annuities made. The factor (the government representative in charge of the factory), therefore, dealt primarily in financial and commercial matters. On the other hand, an Indian agent was concerned with political matters, such as the negotiations and treaties for the cession of lands belonging to the Indians. It was his duty to see that the tribes remained friendly to the United States and to report any grievances and discontent. The distinction between the respective positions, however, was one more in theory than in fact. That the agent’s and factor’s duties would overlap is fairly obvious, even if they would have been clearly defined and adhered to. Any political negotiation of the government with the Indians called for payment in money and goods to the Indians, often for a number of years, as well as at the time of the treaty. One of the main causes of Indian dissatisfaction which the agent had to meet was that caused by the poor quality of goods sometime furnished at the Indian factories.
In theory, both the agent and the factor at Fort Wayne were responsible to their immediate superior, Governor Harrison, as commander of military forces and superintendent of Indian affairs in Indiana Territory. However, those agents, such as Wells, who held their positions prior to the creation of the territory continued to deal directly with the Secretary of War as well as with the Governor. Benjamin Stickney, Wells’ successor as agent, refused to recognize Harrison’s authority over him. The factor also received his orders from the Governor and the Secretary of War. More directly he was under the Superintendent of Indian Trade, an official answerable to both the Secretary of War and Congress. During the years before the War of 1812, the post of Superintendent of Indian Trade was held consecutively by William Irvine and John Mason. This lack of central authority pertaining to the factories and agencies only served to add to the confusion already created by the nature of the positions. At a later date, the agent assumed the duties of the factor and the latter term fell into disuse, but until the factory was destroyed by the Indians at Fort Wayne, the two positions remained separate and from the start, difficult to harmonize.
“Colonel” John Johnston served as the first Indian factor at Fort Wayne from 1802 to 1811. Johnston, a prominent figure in the northwest, during his lifetime served thirty-one years with the Department of Indian Affairs. He was born in Ireland on March 22, 1775, and came to America at the age of eleven. A few years later, while yet a youth, he undertook the job of driving supply wagons to Wayne’s army. After receiving his appointment as factor for Fort Wayne, Johnston married sixteen-year-old Rachel Robinson at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, much against the desire of the young girl’s parents. The Johnstons’ wedding trip consisted of the journey by horseback through the wilderness to Fort Wayne. While living at Fort Wayne, Colonel Johnston and his wife were noted for their stern rectitude, which contrasted considerably with the type of life generally found at this military outpost. In later life, Johnston, for his years of government service, became known as “Colonel Johnston”. He is described as “six feet and more in height, very erect, in his bearing and he had a blond complexion inclined to ruddy.”[42]
Besides his duties as factor, Colonel Johnston occasionally served as assistant surgeon at the fort. For his position as factor, Johnston received a salary of $1,000 a year from the government and $365 for subsistence. The latter amount was funded by the profits of the factory. In 1810, William Oliver was appointed to the Fort Wayne factory to serve as Johnston’s assistant. When Oliver resigned in 1812, Johnston secured the position for his brother, Stephen Johnston.
As factor, Johnston aimed at being just to the Indians and loyal to his government, a combination of purpose attended with many difficulties. In a report to the Secretary of War, Johnston pointed out that the trading houses with the northern Indians never produced any political effect in favor of the Americans, as had been expected when they were established. Rather, on the contrary, the Indians were led to believe that the object was to make money; and in as much as the government goods were never sold cheaper than those of the private traders, it was impossible to produce a different impression.[43]
Johnston had trouble procuring the proper kinds of supplies to issue to the Indians at Fort Wayne. The goods intended for the Indian trade were rarely imported into the United States, there being no regular demand for them. On the other hand, the British traders in Canada had agents in England, long accustomed to this commerce, who sent out the very articles needed. The supplies destined for the United States factories went through many hands, and this offered countless opportunities to defraud the Indians and the government. Often the goods came out of season or were damaged. Johnston constantly urged that the trade either be put in the hands of private traders who would be licensed by the government, or, if the government thought it necessary to stay in the business, an expert should be sent to England to do the purchasing of the Indian articles. Typical of the goods used by the Indians are the following items listed in Johnston’s record book, “blankets, strouds, [a coarse Indian blanket] hat bands, head bands, Indian mats, kettles, pans, rings, cloth of various color, wampum, broaches, scalping knives, fish hooks, and tobacco.”[44] Johnston also complained that the military were generally unfriendly to his trading post and even hindered his work at times. Apparently this ill feeling was caused by the fact that the soldiers did not consider it a part of their business to furnish transportation for the furs and Indian goods or to erect the necessary buildings for the trade at Fort Wayne.[45] On one occasion, the factor lost in Lake Erie $2,300 worth of furs. Johnston claimed that the accident came about through the carelessness of a drunken non-commissioned officer, Joseph McMahan, although McMahan was excused of all responsibility by a court martial.[46] The result of the trial provoked Johnston so much that he protested to the Superintendent of Indian Trade, but nothing could be done.
During the decade of its existence prior to the War of 1812, the Fort Wayne factory was the most prosperous of all the trading houses established by the United States government. A report submitted by the Secretary of War to Congress showed that in the three years and ten months preceding January 13, 1812, the Fort Wayne factory made a profit of $10,502.77. This was by far the largest profit shown by any of the ten factories then operated throughout the nation.[47] Another report shows that the fur and peltries received from the Indians at the Fort Wayne factory sold for $27,547.07.[48] While the government did only a small fraction of the fur trading, this is a good indication that the fur trade of the Maumee and Wabash valleys which led the French to fortify the spot was still the principal economic asset of Fort Wayne. Colonel Johnston’s account books suggest that the once abundant beaver skins were becoming scarce. Instead of beaver, racoon and deer skins were being shipped in great quantities.[49] These furs were carried by way of Lake Erie to New York and Philadelphia, where they were sold at auctions. Most of the furs obtained from the private traders were taken to Detroit where they were purchased by the American Fur Company. Skins were worth deer, $1.25; raccoon, $.50; bear, $3.00 to $5.00. These values were nominal, as the price fluctuated and the furs were paid for in goods which were passed off on the Indians for more than double the initial cost and transportation.
In order to transport the skins, they were dried, compressed, and secured in packs. Each pack weighed about 100 pounds. A pirogue or boat, that was sufficiently large to carry forty packs, required the labor of four men to manage it on its voyage. In favorable stages of the river, such a vessel, under the management of skilled boatmen, was propelled by poles fifteen or twenty miles a day, against the current. On the return trips the pirogues were loaded with merchandise to be sold to the Indians.
Turning our attention once more to Indian treaties and their resulting difficulties, important events centered about Fort Wayne between the years 1800 and 1809. The year 1800 in which William Henry Harrison was appointed the first governor of the Indiana Territory was one of peace in the Great Lake region of the United States. The British had evacuated the posts they had held in the northwest, according to the agreement in the Jay treaty, and the Indians appeared content. At Fort Wayne, the future appeared so calm that William Wells wrote to Hamtramck that he expected the garrison to be withdrawn shortly.[50] However, the spark that set off the flames of Indian warfare was soon to be ignited and kept aglow by British intrigue. This spark was the never ending demand for new lands by the western settlers, which resulted in the attempts of the government to satisfy this demand by gaining new land cessions from the Indians.
Governor Harrison, on assuming his office, proceeded promptly to enter into treaty agreements with the Indians for the purchase of their large tracts of land in what are now the states of Indiana and Illinois. This was in accordance with President Jefferson’s objective, the acquisition from the Indians of the whole territory east of the Mississippi. Harrison sent word to the Indians to meet him at Fort Wayne in the summer of 1803 for the first of his important treaty councils. By June 7 of that year, he completed his task, having secured from the Eel River Miamis, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Piankashaw, and Wea tribes a large tract of land around Vincennes, as well as the valuable salt spring on the Saline Creek. This treaty had been brought to a successful conclusion for the United States through a combination of Harrison’s shrewdness and stubbornness in bargaining, the financial backing of the factory at Fort Wayne, and the influence of Capt. Wells over Little Turtle. Although Harrison and Johnston obtained the cooperation of Wells in gaining the consent of the Indians, the agent, for the most part, strove against any cession of lands by the Indians. Wells went so far as to instigate the Indians to protest to the national government against a treaty Harrison concluded with the Delawares and Piankashaws the following year.[51]
Between Colonel Johnston, the factor, and Wells, the agent, there was no coordination of purpose or even good will. Outside of the fact that the conflicting duties of their respective positions involved them in quarrels, Wells and Johnston seemed to have been mutually antagonistic, and each put the worst interpretation on the other’s actions when writing to their superiors. Wells felt that Johnston’s policy of trying to win an active alliance with the Indians for the United States in the event of war with Great Britain was in effect evidence of Johnston’s gullibility in dealing with the red men. Even after the battle of Tippecanoe, Johnston gave arms and ammunition to the Indians who had participated in the affair. Wells knew the Indians well, and realized that in the event of war the best that could be expected would be that they would remain neutral. On the other hand, Johnston felt that Wells was completely unprincipled and could not be trusted.
Johnston’s opinion of Wells was shared by Governor Harrison, who nevertheless realized the agent’s great ability in dealing with the Indians. Harrison wrote of Wells on one occasion, “My knowledge of his character induces me to believe that he will go any length and use any means to carry a favorite point and much mischief may ensue from his knowledge of the Indians, his cunning and perservance.”[52] In all matters, Wells and Little Turtle were in agreement, and while the latter’s influence with his fellow tribesmen had diminished considerably with the rise of a new generation, he was still a force to be reckoned with in any treaty negotiations. It is almost certain that neither Wells or Little Turtle intended to arouse the Indians to war against the advance of the tide of settlers, yet they were ready to oppose Harrison’s objectives at the various treaty councils.
Although Harrison indicated in his correspondence with the Secretary of War that he knew the reasons behind Wells’ action in opposing most of the land cessions, the Governor’s letters do not definitely reveal what he meant. In an indefinite manner, Harrison ascribed the reason for Wells’ action to the agent’s attachment for Little Turtle, mingled with a jealousy of the Governor. Harrison apparently felt that Wells had a personal animosity toward him, and that Wells’ opposition was intended to discredit him.[53] In one letter to the Secretary of War Harrison suggested that Wells was profiting dishonestly from his position as Indian agent at Fort Wayne. He wrote:
I am really of the opinion that the Turtle, the Five Medals, and two or three others receive much the greater part of the annuities and provisions which are intended for and said to be given to the Potawatomies and Miamis and I am by no means certain that Wells himself does not largely participate. The fact is admitted that he makes more money than any other man in the Territory. Mr. Johnston told Col. Vigo that he [Wells] cleared last upwards of $6000. How he can do this honestly I am at a loss to know.[54]
Concerning the reason for Little Turtle’s opposition to further land cessions on the part of the Indians, Harrison is more definite in his convictions. In 1803, the Governor wrote of Little Turtle:
“Conscious of his superiority of his Talents over the rest of his race and colour he sighs for a more conspicuous theatre to display them. Opportunities for exhibiting his eloquence occur too seldom to satisfy his vanity.... A chosen connexion among the neighbouring Tribes and a regular convention of their chiefs has been long the ruling wish of his heart and the object of numberless intrigues.”[55]
Assuming that Harrison was correct about Little Turtle’s ambition to form an Indian confederation, it is interesting to observe that had the Miami chief succeeded rather than Tecumseh, the league formed would have been inclined toward peace rather than war with the United States. Following the Treaty of Greenville Little Turtle often objected to further cessions of land, yet, at the same time, he endeavored to induce the red men to lay aside the tomahawk and scalping knife and take up the peaceful tools of agriculture. This fact made him unacceptable to the majority of Indians, as Harrison himself admitted at a later date. “It was the rock upon which the popularity of Tecumseh was founded”, he wrote, “and that upon which the influence of Little Turtle was wrecked.”[56]
The truth of this assertion is made plain in the report of the visit of two Quakers who, in response to an appeal by Little Turtle, came to Fort Wayne in 1804 to attempt to introduce the best methods of agriculture among the Indians. From the official report of Gerard T. Hopkins to his church, the story as here reviewed has been obtained.[57] Mr. Hopkins was accompanied by George Ellicott, also of the Society of Friends, and Philip Dennis, a practical farmer who was engaged to serve as instructor.
The Quakers arrived at Fort Wayne on March 30 and were conducted to Captain Whipple, then commandant of the fort, to whom they presented a letter of introduction and recommendation from Henry Dearborn, Secretary of War. This letter was a liberal commendation of the committee and their motives. General Dearborn was personally acquainted with the members of the committee, was in hearty sympathy with their mission, and rode on horseback from Washington to Ellicott’s home, a distance of forty miles to present the letter to the committee before leaving.
The Quakers were surprised to find that no attention was given, either in the fort or the Indian village, to the proper observance of the Sabbath day. The Friends were entertained by John Johnston, and there the chiefs took supper with the mission committee. Under the guidance of Captain Wells the following days, the Friends went over the lands most suitable for cultivation, and at the same time observed the most historic places and listened to the stories as told by Wells of the Indian villages and of Harmar’s and St. Clair’s defeats.
The rides to the country included visits to large sugar camps and the “prairie” between the St. Mary’s and Little River, the distance from one to the other being but four miles in the then swampy land; and the watershed ridge but five feet high with reports of canoes passing over in highest stages of water. The subject of a canal through this ridge was also mentioned. Indians were constantly coming and going, the women carrying the burdens of packs of skins and bark boxes of maple sugar each weighing about fifty pounds.
The next day Little Turtle and the other chiefs assembled at the home of Captain Wells, and there arrangements were made for Dennis to remain with the Indians and establish a farm. The attempt to educate the Indians to till the soil was undertaken at a point on the Wabash river about twenty miles southwest of Fort Wayne. After the departure of the Quakers, Dennis continued his efforts but only one or, at the most, two of the Indians could be induced to help him. After a year, Dennis returned to Maryland, and as no one could be induced to take his place the project was left in the hands of Wells, who had a contract to supply the Indians with fence rails for the farms.
The Indians were in no mood to give their attention to the tilling of the soil. Trouble of a subdued nature portended serious conflicts for the future. On April 26, 1805, Harrison wrote to the Secretary of War that he felt it was necessary for him to proceed to Fort Wayne to investigate the complaints arising from the Indians threat. These complaints centered chiefly around the treaty concluded with the Delawares and Piankashaws in 1804. The Miamis maintained that they should have shared in the benefits of the treaty as part owners of the land sold, while the Delawares felt that they had not received enough in the way of annuities for the land. Harrison suspected that these complaints arose primarily through the instigation of Wells and Little Turtle and had determined to investigate Wells’ activities as well as the grievances.
Harrison, however, decided not to go personally to Fort Wayne, explaining that it “would be a sacrifice of that dignity and authority which is necessary to observe in all our transactions with the Indians.”[58] In his stead, Harrison dispatched General John Gibson, secretary of Indiana Territory and Colonel Francis Vigo,[59] who on their arrival met strong opposition from Wells and Little Turtle. These two, viewing the visit of Gibson and Vigo with evident suspicion, addressed a letter to the former in which they demanded his credentials. Lieutenant Brownson, in temporary command of Fort Wayne, remarked to the Governor’s agents that he had heard Wells repeatedly say the Indians were very much imposed on in the late treaty. In a private conversation the Miami chief, Richardville, told Colonel Vigo that he was quite surprised to hear an officer who had taken an oath to support the Government of the United States, express himself in the manner Wells had. Richardville also informed them that the Little Turtle, in the presence of Wells, had produced a paper and requested Richardville to sign it. Being a remonstrance in favor of Wells, Richardville refused to sign it, saying, “if Mr. Wells had behaved well there was no occasion to write to the president in his favour that he did not wish to interfere in matters which belonged entirely to the White people, and that he, the Little Turtle, had frequently wrote letters to the president, without their being consulted or asked to sign them.”[60]
Vigo and Gibson were convinced that a certain Peter Audrian had conspired with Wells and Little Turtle in the affair. Audrian was an influential French trader at Detroit, who during his lifetime held the governmental positions of judge, prothonotary, and land commissioner. At this time he had an advantageous contract from Wells to furnish the log rails for the farms of the Indians. In one year alone the Indians purchased 63,000 rails from Audrian, many more than were actually needed.[61]
In their report to Governor Harrison, Gibson and Vigo concluded:
“... no noise or clamor respecting the treaty last summer with the Delawares ... would have been made had it not been occasioned by the Little Turtle and Wells, the latter of whom seems more attentive to the Indians than the people of the United States.”[62]
In his report to the Secretary of War, Harrison added that Wells’ services were highly useful and that he discharged his duties on occasions with great zeal and industry. Early in August, 1805, Wells, accompanied by Little Turtle, came to Vincennes. “Both are here,” wrote Harrison to Dearborn, “and I have received from each a positive assurance of a friendly dispostion as well toward the government as myself individually. With Captain Wells, I have had an explanation, and have agreed to a general amnesty and act of oblivion for the past.”[63]
Notwithstanding this seemingly peaceful settlement of the difficulty, the official relationship between Wells and the governor remained strained, and we find Harrison as late as April 23, 1811, writing to the new Secretary of War, Eustis:
“Could I be allowed to dispose of Wells as I thought proper, my first wish would be to place him in the interiour of our settlement where he would never see and scarcely hear of an Indian. But as this is impossible, from his being located in such a manner at Fort Wayne, that he cannot be removed without a very considerable expense, my next wish is to get such an appointment as he could consider an object, where he might be used to advantage, but at the same time so limited as to prevent his doing mischief.”[64]
While Governor Harrison was doing his utmost to secure more territory from the Indians, he did not wish the newly purchased lands to fall into the hands of unscrupulous traders who used the bargaining power of whiskey to rob the Indians of their furs. This was especially true of the United States land around Fort Wayne, which was too distant from Vincennes to be under his effective control. When, in 1805, Harrison heard that it was intended to sell the government land around Fort Wayne immediately, he objected strongly. “I am very certain,” he wrote to the Secretary of War, “that the money which will be put into the Treasury by the sale of it will not counterbalance the inconveniences which will arise from having it settled with the description of people who will naturally buy it.”[65] He then pointed out that Fort Wayne was too far removed from any other settlement to entice American farmers to go there, and in all probability, only Indian traders would buy the land and would thus be out of the reach of the laws of the United States regulating Indian trade and commerce. He conceded that the Fort Wayne was fertile enough for farming and concluded by saying, “If the immediate settlement of it is an object I think it would be better to sell it by contract upon the condition that there would be within a given time a certain number of American farmers upon it.”[66]
The government officials apparently accepted Harrison’s advice since the proposal to sell the Fort Wayne lands was laid aside. It is fortunate that this land was not sold, for it is unlikely that any farmers would have been attracted to this remote spot in northern Indiana during the forthcoming years of Indian difficulties on the frontier. If any settlers had come, it is doubtful that they could have survived the War of 1812. Consequently, Fort Wayne was destined to remain until the end of that war primarily a government outpost of diplomacy, defense, and trade, represented by the Indian agency, the military garrison, and the government factory. There were a few farms of value, such as those of Wells and the officers, but while the land was fertile, the market was too distant for the crops to bring any considerable return. The civilians living in the neighborhood were, for the most part, French families who still found the fur trade profitable, along with a few American traders and sutlers. None of these people held any title to the lands they occupied.