The Siege of Fort Wayne
At last the savages had struck their long deferred blow. The little
garrison of eighty-five men at Fort Wayne received with alarm the first
account of the massacre at Fort Dearborn. The news was conveyed by one
of the friendly Miamis who had accompanied Wells to Fort Dearborn.
Unknown to the garrison at this date was the fact that Detroit—the
protecting center of the other northwestern posts—had been ingloriously
surrendered on August 16 to a British-Indian force by General William
Hull. Mackinac had already fallen to the British. Tecumseh and the
British now turned their attention to the reduction of Fort Wayne and
Fort Harrison (near Terre Haute, Indiana), as the principal remaining
obstacles to prevent them from driving the white inhabitants beyond the
Ohio river. After their success at Dearborn, a council was held by the
Indian tribes and British officers at the Potawatomie villages. Here it
was determined that the Potawatomies together with the Ottawas were to
be assisted in the proposed siege of Fort Wayne by a British force under
Major Muir. Meanwhile the Winnebagoes and Miamis would direct their
attention toward Fort Harrison.
When the people of Fort Wayne became aware of the gravity of their
situation, it was determined to send the women and children to a safe
refuge, the closest being Piqua, Ohio. In order to accomplish this,
Captain John Logan, a Shawnee Indian, was sent by John Johnston from
Piqua to conduct the group which numbered close to twenty-five. Among
Logan’s charges on the hundred-mile journey were Ann, Rebecca, and Mary
Wells, and the wives and children of Antoine Bondie, William Bailey, and
Stephen Johnston. This was but the first of many acts of heroism on the
part of the Shawnee brave, John Logan, during the war.[1]
None too soon were the women and children removed to a place of safety,
for in a short time about five hundred warriors began to gather quietly
about Fort Wayne, encamping in the forest and seeking to avoid open
evidence of hostility. Theirs was a waiting game, as the British had
promised troops and artillery within a period of twenty days.
Fortunately for the garrison and the people remaining near Fort Wayne,
the Indian plan to attack the fort was discovered beforehand in much the
same manner as Pontiac’s famous plan to capture Detroit had been
revealed to the British at an earlier date in history. On the night of
August 20, Metea, a Potawatomie chief, made his way under cover of
darkness to the cabin of Antoine Bondie outside of the fort enclosure
and there revealed to Bondie the plans of attack in order that Bondie
and his Indian wife might escape death. Antoine Bondie, a French trader,
was then about fifty years old and had lived with the Indians since he
was twelve near the vicinity of Fort Wayne. Metea naturally thought that
Bondie would join them and when the Frenchman did not decline the
chief’s offer, he suspected nothing.
However, Bondie accompanied by Charles Peltier, another French trader,
went to Benjamin Stickney the following morning and informed the agent
of the plot.[2] Stickney, who at a later date wrote his account of the
siege, gave himself most of the credit for the turn the events then
took.[3] At first, he relates, he was inclined to reject Bondie’s
information as false, since a mistake in a matter of so much importance
would have proved ruinous to his character and would have resulted in
his disgraceful ejection from office. However, he informed Captain Rhea
of the situation, and despite the fact that the Captain discredited
Bondie’s story on the grounds that the latter was untrustworthy,
Stickney determined to send an express to Harrison at Cincinnati and
another to Captain Taylor at Terre Haute informing them of the state of
affairs.
Why Captain Rhea should have refused and Stickney should have hesitated
to believe that an attack was imminent even though they knew of the
massacre at Fort Dearborn is difficult to understand. It can be said in
their defense that when Bondie revealed to them the plot of the red men,
they had not yet heard of the surrender of Detroit; consequently, did
not realize their position was so precarious. Lt. Curtis in his account
of the siege of Fort Wayne states that many attempts were made to send
messages through to Detroit, but that they all failed.[4] Earlier in the
same day that Metea informed Bondie of the coming attack on Fort Wayne,
Captain Rhea expressed the rather naive belief that the Potawatomies
gathering about the fort intended to proceed to Piqua for a conference
with the U. S. commissioners, and requested Governor Meigs of Ohio to
send him instructions concerning the matter. At the same time Captain
Rhea asked for information in regard to General Hull’s movements at
Detroit, which indicated he knew nothing of the surrender.[5]
Four days later it was becoming increasingly apparent that the
information furnished by Antoine Bondie was no mere fiction. Stephen
Johnston, who served as a clerk at the Fort Wayne factory after the
departure of his older brother, described conditions surrounding the
fort in a letter written August 24, 1812, to his wife at Piqua:
“We have about four hundred Indians here. Their intentions are very
suspicious. I have moved all the public goods into the garrison, so
that I am now unincumbered by the business, and if it were not for Mr.
Stickney’s illness, and having to attend to his department, I would
leave the place for the present, as the trading establishment is at an
end for the time being.”[6]
On the 24 or 25 of August, Captain Rhea dispatched a message to General
Worthington and Governor Meigs of Ohio, stating that he expected the
fort to be attacked that night.[7] This was the last communication
received from the garrison prior to the start of the siege. It is
fortunate that these appeals for aid were sent by Benjamin Stickney and
Captain Rhea as they served to hasten Harrison’s army of relief in time
to save the fort. By August 28, Harrison, realizing the gravity of the
situation, wrote to the Secretary of War, “The relief of Fort Wayne will
be my first object.”[8]
Meanwhile at Fort Wayne, both parties wished to delay the final
conflict, the garrison in order to give time to Harrison to bring the
necessary relief, and the Indians, from daily expectation of the arrival
of the British force which had been promised them. Within the fort, the
situation was rendered highly embarrassing and hazardous by the
condition of Captain Rhea who began to drink heavily and was incapable
of handling any duties. It is evident also that ill-feeling between
Benjamin Stickney and the two lieutenants, Curtis and Ostrander, was not
lacking. In his account, Stickney wrote, “The commanding officer was
drunk nearly all the time, and the two lieutenants were inefficient men,
entirely unfit to hold commissions of any grade.”[9] This last statement
must be taken with some allowance, as Philip Ostrander was later made
temporary commander of Fort Wayne with Harrison’s approval, and Daniel
Curtis rose to the rank of captain after creditable service during the
war.
By August 28, the post was definitely in a state of siege. About ten
o’clock that night Stephen Johnston, accompanied by Peter Oliver and a
recently discharged soldier set out for Piqua, as Johnston was eager to
join his wife there. When the three men had arrived at a point a short
distance south of the fort, near what was the Hanna homestead, they were
fired upon by the Indians. Johnston was killed instantly. The other two
men fled back to the fort. A reward of twenty dollars, offered by
Antoine Bondie the next day for the return of Johnston’s body to the
fort—a work performed by a young chief, White Racoon—revealed the fact
that Johnston had been scalped and tomahawked in a most brutal manner.
No further proof of the attitude of the Indians was needed; however the
next morning an Indian approached the fort and asked Stickney for a
white flag in order that some of the chiefs might come and speak with
him. The flag was granted under a promise of its being returned that
day, but the Indians kept it several days during which time they were
constantly plundering the gardens and cornfields and were killing and
carrying away the cattle and hogs. This they did right under the guns of
the fort, and comments Lt. Curtis, “we poor soldiers, either from
cowardice or some other agency in our captain, were not suffered to fire
a gun but obliged their repeated insults to pass with impunity.”[10]
On one occasion a party of soldiers left the fort to check the Indians.
For this the lieutenants were rebuked by Captain Rhea in an official
order.[11] Finally the Indians bearing the flag before themselves
approached the fort in large number, hoping evidently to be allowed to
enter in such force as to be able to overpower the occupants. But only a
few were admitted by Stickney, who designated thirteen chiefs who would
be welcomed. Each chief was disarmed on entering the stockade and the
party followed the agent to his quarters. At the request of Stickney the
troops were paraded during the council which followed. When the council
pipes were finished, Winamac addressing the agent disclaimed any part in
the death of Johnston. “But,” he added, “if my father wishes for war, I
am a man.”[12] With this expression he struck his hand upon a knife that
was concealed under his blanket. Stickney at the time did not understand
the language, but Antoine Bondie who was present and understood the
whole force of what was said, sprang to his feet and, striking his own
knife, shouted in Potawatomie, “I, too, am a man.”[13] His dramatic
action, together with the appearance of the soldiers, fully armed,
brought the plot to a finish. The Indians had hoped through the murder
of Stickney and the officers, to be able to control the situation within
the fort, even to the opening of the gates to allow the entrance of
their warriors. However, they filed back to their encampment
disappointed.
The garrison was cheered on September 1 by the arrival of William Oliver
who brought news of the approach of Harrison’s army. Oliver, who was
then twenty-five years of age, had been connected with the fort as a
sutler. While the Indians were gathering about the fort he was absent in
Cincinnati purchasing supplies, and there he learned of the state of
affairs at Fort Wayne. He enlisted with the Ohio troops and offered his
services to General Harrison with the proposition that the general allow
him to proceed from St. Mary’s, Ohio, to Fort Wayne with a small company
as an advance detachment of the army of relief. This he did, but when
the group of ninety-four men came within twenty-four miles of Fort
Wayne, they ascertained the size of the besieging forces to be larger
than they could safely meet in an open encounter. Oliver continued on,
however, with three Shawnees—Captain John Logan, Captain Johnny, and
Brighthorn. Well mounted and well armed, they eluded the vigilance of
the besiegers and succeeded in reaching the Maumee river at a point one
and a half miles east of the fort. Here they left their horses in order
to make a preliminary reconnoiter. The enemy was conferring on a
strategem for the capture of the garrison and had gathered on the west
and south sides of the fort. Returning to their horses, the four
messengers rode stealthily along the Maumee and up the bank to the east
wall of the fort. No member of the garrison was in sight. In despair,
they rode down the river bank and skirted the shore as they turned their
horses to the west to follow the St. Mary’s river. Then, in full view of
the Indians, they dashed up the river bank and made straight for the
north gate of the fort, at a moment when Winamac and four other chiefs
were rounding the northwest corner of the fort with a flag of truce to
hold another conference with the commandant. The sudden appearance of
the riders disconcerted the besiegers who believed them to be the
advance of a large relieving force. Winamac retired after a mere
handshake. Lt. Curtis later stated, “The safe arrival of Mr. Oliver at
that particular juncture may justly be considered most miraculous. One
hour sooner or one hour later would no doubt have been inevitable
destruction both to himself and escort.”[14]
Once within the fort Oliver announced the approach of Harrison’s army
and immediately dispatched a note to Harrison by John Logan and his
companions, who succeeded in evading the besiegers once again.
In the meantime Harrison’s force had reached Piqua on September 1. Here
he found the whole “country in dreadful alarm on account of the fall of
Detroit and Chicago and the supposed investiture of Fort Wayne by the
Indians.”[15] A body of 700 volunteers for the relief of Fort Wayne was
unwilling to go beyond Shane’s Crossing on the St. Mary’s without
reinforcements. On September 4, Harrison received information that a
British and Indian force was advancing toward Fort Wayne from Malden.
Actually, the British detachment under Major Muir did not leave Malden
until September 16, four days after the siege was abandoned by the
Indians. This delay by the British was occasioned by the temporary
armistice arranged between General George Prevost and General Dearborn.
Had the British sent support to the besieging Indians sooner, or had not
Harrison been so prompt in bringing relief, the outcome of the siege of
Fort Wayne might have been far different. As it was the garrison being
well supplied with provisions was able to withstand the attacks made by
the Indians.
Nevertheless, the situation at Fort Wayne was fairly critical from
September 3, to September 12. On September 3, Captain Rhea published his
final garrison order, saying, “It is earnestly hoped by the Commanding
Officer that for this night every man will be at his post,—relief is at
hand but means may be taken to cut us off from that relief. Should any
man be found inattentive to his duty, punishment ensues; For on this
night, our fame, our honor and every thing that is near & dear depends.
—be therefore Cautious and brave—“[16] For the following twenty-seven
days no entry was placed in the Orderly Book. The next morning, despite
his dramatic order, Captain Rhea, inwardly disheartened and apprehensive
of the doom of the garrison and its occupants, took to drink to bolster
his despairing nature.
On the same day the chiefs again approached the fort with a flag of
truce, and being asked whether they wished war or peace, Winemac
replied, “You know that Mackinaw is taken, Detroit is in the hands of
the British, and Chicago has fallen; and you must expect to fall next,
and that in a short time! Immediately”, Lt. Curtis continues, “our great
captain invited the savage over to his headquarters and after drinking
three glasses of wine with him rose from his seat and observed: ‘My good
friend, I love you; I will fight for you; I will die by your side. You
must save me!’ and then gave him a half dollar as a token of friendship,
inviting him at the same time to come and breakfast with him the next
morning.”[17]
Winamac failed to accept the Captain’s invitation to breakfast, but
instead sent five warriors who secreted themselves behind a small
building and shot two members of the garrison. From then on the siege
became active. That night the Indians made a general attack, but were
driven off by the four howitzers of the fort. Almost continuous firing
was kept up day and night until September 10; several times the
buildings were set on fire by flaming arrows, but the vigilance of the
garrison prevented a conflagration.
During this time, Captain Rhea continued “drunk as a fool, and perfectly
incapable of exercising rationality on any subject whatsoever, but was
constantly abusing and illtreating everyone that came in his
presence.”[18] The disorder and confusion he created among the men was
one of the greatest dangers of the siege. At one time Lieutenants Curtis
and Ostrander considered placing him under arrest in order to silence
his clamor. The captain would frequently talk of surrendering if the
Indian attacks grew stronger and particularly if they or the British
would bring up the cannon they had captured at Chicago. When Captain
Rhea was told by Lt. Ostrander that the largest piece at Chicago was a
three-pounder and that the first person in the garrison who should offer
to surrender at the approach of no heavier piece than a three-pounder
should instantly be shot, he remained silent on the subject.
Meanwhile, instead of waiting at Piqua for the arrival of General James
Winchester, who had been assigned to the command of the northwestern
army, Harrison issued the following call:
Mounted Volunteers! I requested you, in my late address to rendezvous
at Dayton on the 15th instant. I have now a more pressing call for
your services! The British and Indians have invaded our country and
are now besieging (perhaps have taken) Fort Wayne. Every friend to his
country, who is able to do so, will join me as soon as possible, well
mounted, with a good rifle and twenty or thirty days provisions.[19]
Although Harrison was eager to press forward, the army was detained at
Piqua for lack of flints and did not move until September 6. Two days
later it reached Girty’s Town, now St. Mary’s, Ohio. By that time the
army numbered 2,200 men, and the scouts sent out by the Indians returned
to their camp with the report that “Kentuck is coming as numerous as the
trees.”[20]
At Fort Wayne comparative calm had set in, according to Lt. Curtis’
account. “After the 10th we rested in tranquility, but could see large
bodies of Indians between that time and the 12th running in great haste
across the prairies and many without arms.”[21] On the night of the
11th, while still seventeen miles from Fort Wayne, Harrison wrote to the
Secretary of War that he fully expected a major engagement the following
day. The Indians were prepared to give battle at a swamp five miles
southeast of the fort, but finding Harrison’s army too strong to attack,
they kindled extensive fires to create the impression within the fort
that a battle had occurred. They hoped thereby to draw the troops out of
the fort, but his final ruse failed, and the Indians withdrew, some only
a few minutes before the arrival of Harrison’s advance guard.
The arrival of the army around three o’clock that afternoon was an
occasion of great joy to the troops and people who had taken refuge
within the fort. Harrison’s men encamped outside the walls of the fort
where, McAfee relates, “a few days previous there had been a handsome
little village; but it was now in ruins.”[22] The government factory had
been burned by the Indians as well as the large council house. Captain
Wells’ farm had been overrun and laid waste, while all the outlying
homes were destroyed. The corn which had been cultivated by the
villagers was nearly all gone and the remainder served as forage for
Harrison’s cavalry.
Fort Wayne was described by McAfee as:
Delightfully situated on an eminence on the south bank of the Miami of
the Lake [Maumee river] immediately below the formation that river by
the junction of the St. Marys with the St. Josephs ... It is well
constructed of block houses and picketting, but could not resist a
British force, as there are several eminences on the south side, from
which it could be commanded by a six or nine pounder.[23]
After referring to the proximity of the Wabash river to that of the St.
Mary’s, McAfee added, “A canal at some future day will unite these
rivers and thus render a town at Fort Wayne, as formerly, the most
considerable place in all that country.”[24]
From a military viewpoint, Fort Wayne had successfully withstood the
siege, but the destruction of the village and trade must be considered
as a major setback to the community. McAfee indicated this even though
he foresaw a more promising future. As late as 1821, Thomas Teas wrote
after visiting Fort Wayne, “The village before the late war was much
larger than at present.”[25] Many of the families who left Fort Wayne in
1812 never returned.
On the day following Harrison’s arrival, detachments, using Fort Wayne
as their base of operations, commenced the destruction of the Indian
villages of the entire region. The men who remained at Fort Wayne
proceeded to remove all the underbrush surrounding the fort. The land
was cleared on both sides of each river for a mile in every direction.
After arranging his camp, Harrison summoned the officers and agent of
the fort and there, from Lieutenants Curtis and Ostrander, with Benjamin
Stickney as a corroborative witness, heard the charges preferred against
Captain Rhea. Rhea was placed under arrest and after a careful
consideration of the charges, Harrison was in favor of having him
brought before a court martial. However, on account of his age and his
having a young family, Rhea was allowed to resign. He was given until
December 20 to return home, at which time his pay and emoluments ceased.
On September 18, General James Winchester arrived at Fort Wayne to take
command of the army. It was only after the troops had been promised that
Harrison would soon be re-appointed commander that they consented to
march toward Detroit under Winchester.
General Winchester chose to follow the usual route to Detroit by moving
down the north bank of the Maumee. The American army left Fort Wayne on
September 22. Meanwhile unaware that the siege of Fort Wayne had been
lifted, the British commander at Detroit, Colonel Proctor, dispatched
two hundred British regulars under Major Muir together with a thousand
Indians under Captain Elliot to assist in taking Fort Wayne. Having
brought their baggage and artillery up the Maumee as far as Fort
Defiance, the British discovered the approach of Winchester’s stronger
army. A hasty retreat on the part of the British followed. Their cannon
and heavy equipment were thrown into the river.
As pointed out previously the British had delayed sending this
expedition because of the temporary armistice. Had the force under Major
Muir reached Fort Wayne before Harrison’s army, it is likely that the
fort would have fallen, which would have rendered the recapture of
Detroit much more difficult. General Brock in writing to his superior,
Sir George Prevost, expressed the belief that Fort Wayne would surely
fall to Major Muir and added, “The Indians were likewise looking to us
for assistance. They heard of the Armistice with every mark of jealousy,
and had we refused joining them in the expedition it is impossible to
calculate the consequences.”[26] That the British troops were prepared
to batter down the palisades of Fort Wayne is shown by the official
report of Major Muir to Colonel Proctor. Some of his officers endeavored
to induce Major Muir to hold his position at Defiance and use their
cannon to prevent the advance of Winchester’s troops. “I told them”,
Major Muir wrote, “that the guns were brought for the purposes of
battering Fort Wayne, but would not answer to fight in the woods.”[27]
Colonel Proctor, in turn explaining the movement to General Brock,
wrote, “The delay occasioned by the armistice prevented the attainment
of the object of our expedition, which was destruction of Fort
Wayne.”[28]
After the departure of Captain Rhea, Lt. Philip Ostrander was left in
temporary charge of Fort Wayne for a period of nine weeks. During
October, Ostrander reported that over half the garrison was sick. For
these men there was no medicine, while all the men were destitute of
clothing and blankets. Concerning the Indian menace, the situation had
improved, but the danger from attack had not passed. Lt. Ostrander
issued a stern warning to his men not to leave the fort without
permission.[29]
Word that the Indians were again collecting around Fort Wayne induced
Harrison to send Colonel Allen Trimble and five hundred mounted
volunteers to the fort. A battalion of Ohio infantry was also sent to
Fort Wayne with much needed provisions. While at Fort Wayne this group
collected firewood since the garrison was unable to do so with the
hostile Indians lurking in the woods.
On November 22, 1812, Captain Hugh Moore arrived at Fort Wayne to take
command of the post. Little is known about Captain Moore. He had been
with Harrison from the outbreak of the war. At Fort Wayne he served as
commander until the summer of 1813 when he was succeeded by Major Joseph
Jenkinson. Captain Moore’s first order was the appointment of Antoine
Bondie as issuing agent at the post. This was obviously in recognition
of Bondie’s service during the siege. This position enabled Bondie to
support his family, as his trading establishment was all but ruined.
Later Bondie was also appointed captain of the scouts which were sent
out occasionally from the fort.
On April 28, 1813, Captain Moore issued an order placing Lt. Philip
Ostrander under arrest and prohibiting any member of the garrison from
communicating with the younger officer. Lt. Ostrander was never brought
before a military court, but died on July 13, 1813, while still
imprisoned. There is no reason given for the arrest in the orderly book,
other than the statement, “circumstances have transpired within this
garrison of a most destructive, injurious and dangerous nature to the
service.”[30] Brice in his short history of Fort Wayne says: “Lieutenant
Ostrander ... who had unthoughtfully fired upon a flock of birds passing
over the fort, had been reprimanded by Captain Ray [Rhea], and because
of his refusal to be tried by courtmartial, was confined in a small room
in the garrison, where he subsequently died.”[31]
This account is rendered impossible from the fact that Ostrander acted
as commandant from the time of Rhea’s departure in disgrace, until the
arrival of Captain Moore. As late as January 5, 1813, Lt. Ostrander was
a member of a court martial, which found Alexander Scott guilty of
contemptuous conduct to one of the officers, possibly Ostrander himself.
After that date his name does not appear in the record until April 27,
1813, the day prior to his arrest, when the same Alexander Scott was
tried and acquitted on a charge of traducing Lt. Ostrander’s
character.[32] In what manner Scott supposedly slandered Lt. Ostrander
is not stated in the proceedings of the trial; however, it is possible
to surmise that there was some connection between the charge and Lt.
Ostrander’s arrest the following day.
During the year 1813, Fort Wayne became the natural center for supplies
used by the American armies operating in northern Ohio and eastern
Michigan. In May of that year, Harrison addressed the Secretary of War,
saying:
“I am persuaded that a demonstration in the direction of Fort Wayne by
a body of mounted men would be attended by very happy effects. I am
not entirely at ease on the subject of the garrisons in that
direction. The enemy, if they understood their business will certainly
make an attempt to carry some of our weak posts where we have large
deposits ... I have always been partial to the assembling a body of
Troops in the Vicinity of Fort Wayne. It is in the immediate line of
communication between the Indians of the Wabash, Illinois,
Mississippi, and the South and West sides of Lake Michigan and
Malden.”[33]
Following this logic, Harrison ordered Colonel Richard M. Johnson to
proceed to Fort Wayne and from thence to scour the northwestern
frontiers. After a difficult journey over the swollen St. Mary’s river
and flooded countryside, Johnson’s men reached Fort Wayne on June 7.
Grim excitement greeted their arrival. One of the ten flatboats bringing
provisions to Fort Wayne had struck on a bar within sight of the fort.
Before help could arrive, the three crewmen were killed by Indians
lurking near the fort. Johnson’s cavalry pursued the red men, but
nightfall and rain ended their endeavor.
Leaving their heavy baggage at Fort Wayne, the regiment moved across the
St. Mary’s and established their camp in the present Spy Run district of
Fort Wayne. After a day’s rest, Johnson’s men began a march two hundred
miles in the region to the northwest of Fort Wayne. They returned to the
fort on June 14. The result of this excursion was important, for never
before had this land been traversed by such a large body of white men.
The knowledge gained at this time, together with the information
published by Capt. McAfee, played a significant part in the development
of the northwestern part of Indiana.
After spending a few days at Fort Wayne, Johnson’s regiment proceeded
down the Maumee to join Harrison’s army, and aid in the recapture of
Detroit. On October 5, 1813, the British and Indian forces were routed
at the battle of the Thames by the American army under Harrison.
Tecumseh was killed in the battle, and in effect, the Indian power was
broken forever in the old Northwest. This battle, following closely upon
Perry’s victory on Lake Erie, brought the war to an unofficial close in
this region.
The danger of Indian hostilities at Fort Wayne was never again critical,
but the safety of the people about the fort was still menaced by
occasional attacks. Such a one occurred late in 1813, when Major Joseph
Jenkinson arrived to succeed Captain Hugh Moore as commander of Fort
Wayne. On the march from Newport, Kentucky, three companies of militia
which accompanied Major Jenkinson found it convenient, in the latter
part of their journey, to convey their supplies by flatboats on the St.
Mary’s river. At a sharp bend in the stream about a mile from the fort,
the Indians ambushed the last of the boats and killed the men who were
guiding it.
Major Jenkinson’s period of service at Fort Wayne was brief. His family
did not accompany him to the post, and after six months he chose to
return to Kentucky where he was appointed adjutant of the state militia.
The only existent letter of Major Jenkinson while he was stationed at
Fort Wayne, throws some light on the attitude of the local French people
toward slavery. The major, writing to his wife, complained that some of
the French men living near Fort Wayne had thoroughly “corrupted Ephraim
[the major’s slave] by their ideas”; so much so that it was necessary
“to cool the fellow off, by two very hard whippings.”[34]
In May, 1814, the command of Fort Wayne was given to Major John Whistler
of the First United States Infantry. Major Whistler was not a stranger
to Fort Wayne. As a lieutenant he had accompanied Wayne on his western
campaign, and was here to assist in the building of the original fort.
He remained as a special officer to oversee the maintenance of the forts
of the surrounding region. Later, his wife joined him at Fort Wayne, and
it was here that their son, George Washington Whistler was born in
1800.[35] Following Major John Whistler’s early service at Fort Wayne,
he was transferred to Detroit, and from thence to Chicago, where he
built Fort Dearborn and became its first commandant.
Major Whistler was chronically in debt. In fact, his financial outlook
was almost hopeless. With a salary, as a captain, of $40.00 a month, he
had a family of fifteen children to maintain. To make matters worse, the
visits of the government paymaster were highly irregular. On one
occasion, he wrote to a creditor that he had received no pay in a period
of more than two years. “I hope you will not think I complain against my
government for detaining my pay,” he added, “No, but necessity forces me
to make the real statement to satisfy my creditor.”[36] It is distinctly
to Major Whistler’s credit that even in the act of pressing for payment
his creditors frequently paused to express confidence in his honesty and
sympathy for his lot.
The year 1814, which marked the return of the Whistler family also marks
the re-establishment of family life in and about Fort Wayne. While the
Maloch and Peltier families remained at Fort Wayne throughout the war,
the other Fort Wayne families had taken refuge mainly in the more
settled areas along the Ohio river. Some of the families never did
return, but among those who did was the Louis Bourie family. Bourie as
early as 1786 maintained a profitable enterprise at the portage by
keeping pack-horses and a warehouse for the deposit and transportation
of merchandise and peltries. During the war, he moved to Detroit with
his wife and two children. Soon after his return to Fort Wayne in 1814,
Bourie was given a contract to provide bread for the soldiers, and in
1815, he built a bakery at the corner of the present Clinton and
Columbia streets. A short time later he established a general store and
erected a log residence adjoining the building.
George Hunt, who had served as a sutler prior to the war, also returned
to Fort Wayne in 1814. He was the son of Colonel Thomas Hunt, the third
commander at Fort Wayne. With George Hunt came his younger brother, John
Elliott Hunt.
Lt. Daniel Curtis, to whom we are indebted for the best account of the
siege, was still connected with the post in 1814. Other residents of the
fort in that year included Benjamin Stickney, who remained as Indian
agent; Benjamin Berry Kercheval and Peter Oliver, clerks of the agent;
Charles Peltier a fur trader; John P. Hedges, who had first visited the
fort in 1812 and who was now stationed at the fort as a storekeeper; Dr.
Daniel Smith, the post surgeon; Robert Forsythe, who later became a
paymaster in the United States army; and a French blacksmith,
Louisaneau, who had a government appointment to do work for the troops
as well as the Indians about the fort.
One of the new arrivals at Fort Wayne at this time was William
Suttenfield. Suttenfield had first visited Fort Wayne in 1811, at which
time he was in Colonel John Johnston’s employ, being in charge of a pack
train hauling military and Indian stores from Piqua, Ohio, to the fort.
In 1814, he brought his wife, formerly Laura Taylor, and his infant son,
William F. Suttenfield, to Fort Wayne by way of the St. Mary’s river,
the route used most frequently by travelers from southwestern Ohio.
Suttenfield was for many months after his arrival employed in bringing
provisions to the fort from Piqua and other points. He was short,
slender, and very active and agile. For these reasons he boasted that
the Indians could not catch him while he was bringing in supplies. Soon
after their arrival, the Suttenfields built a log house outside the
fort. This was the first home erected beyond the protecting walls of the
fort, following the siege. It stood near the river to the south of the
fort.
Mrs. Laura Suttenfield lived until 1886. Before her death, she left an
impressive description of a 4th of July celebration in 1814. The
isolation and quietude of Fort Wayne in that year is suggested by her
account:
The fort at that time contained sixty men of the regular army, all
patriotic and anxious to celebrate one day in the year. They made
three green bowers, 100 feet from the pickets of the fort ... one
bower for the dinner table, one for the cooks and one for the music.
Major Whistler had two German cooks and they prepared the dinner....
Our dinner consisted of one fine turkey, a side of venison, boiled
ham, vegetables in abundance, cranberries and green currents. As for
dessert, we had none. Eggs were not known here for three years from
that time. There were but three bottles of wine sent here from
Cincinnati; but one was made use of. Then there were a few toasts,
and, after three guns and music, they went into the fort and the
ladies changed their dresses. Then Major Whistler called for the
music, which consisted of one bass drum, two small ones, one fife,
violin and flute. There was a long gallery in the fort; the musicians
took their seats there.... A french four passed off very well for an
hour. Then the gates of the fort were closed at sundown, which gave it
a gloomy appearance. No children, no younger persons for amusement,
all retired to their rooms. All was quiet and still. The sentinel on
his lonely round would give us the hour of the night. In the morning
we were aroused by the beating of the reveille.[37]
The lives of these residents of Fort Wayne in 1814 were never without
some fear of possible attack from the Indians, even though the danger
had diminished. That Major Whistler expected just such an attack is
evident by his letter of July 1 to Brigadier General Duncan McArthur, in
which he asked for additional men or permission to reconstruct the fort.
Said he “The Indians show a bad disposition to attend the Treaty [This
treaty was held at Greenville]. I have Received an Account from Mr.
Johnston that the Potawatomies and Taways and the Other Indians
Bordering on Lake Michigan are intending to join the British and take
Detroit, Malden and this Place this Moon.”[38]
The conduct of Chief Richardville had been especially annoying to Major
Whistler. At the outbreak of the war, Richardville hurriedly gathered
his effects and fled with his family to the British lines and there
remained, without taking an active part in the trouble, until 1814. When
he returned to his home six miles east of Fort Wayne, Major Whistler
invited him to a conference. He responded, but he appeared reluctant to
attend the conference at Greenville. Finally he came, in company with
Chief Chondonnai, a participant in the Fort Dearborn massacre, and
placed his signature to the treaty.
In May, 1815, Major Whistler again informed General McArthur of his
intention to rebuild the fort, provided he could receive permission from
the War Department. Permission was granted and in the fall of 1815,
Major Whistler directed the construction of the new fort to take the
place of the one erected by the troops of Colonel Hunt fifteen years
before. Thus it fell to the lot of the builder of the first Fort
Dearborn to become in turn the builder of the last Fort Wayne. Although
the troops were destined to remain in this fort only four more years,
parts of it remained standing until 1852, and for a long time after the
garrison evacuated it, the fort served the government agencies and some
of the citizens as a useful shelter.
The best source of information in regard to this last fort is in the
record of John W. Dawson, who, in 1858, gathered information from the
early settlers and wrote a series of articles for the local paper.[39]
According to Dawson, the fort enclosed an area about 150 feet square.
The pickets were ten feet high, and set in the ground, with block houses
at the southeast and northwest corners, which were two stories high. The
second floor projected and formed a bastion in each blockhouse where the
guns were rigged; that on the southeast corner commanding the south and
east sides of the fort, and that on the northwest corner, the north and
west sides. The officers’ quarters, commissary department and other
buildings located on different sides formed part of the walls, and in
the center stood the liberty pole from which the flag flew.
The plaza, in the enclosure was smooth and gravelly. The roofs of the
houses all declined within the stockade after the shed fashion, to
prevent the enemy from setting them on fire, and if fired, to protect
the men in putting it out. The rainwater was carried along by wooden
troughs, just below the surface of the ground to the flagstaff, and from
thence led by a sluiceway to the Maumee.
Dawson believed that when Major Whistler rebuilt the fort, he did not
include all of the ground covered by the fort built under Colonel Hunt’s
direction. This conviction is substantiated by the fact that before
building the new fort, Whistler expressed the opinion that the old fort
was too large for the number of troops he had to defend it.[40]
Writing to General McArthur on October 17, 1815, Major Whistler reported
that the new fort was almost completed. Only one section of the old fort
needed to be taken down and replaced by the new. Whistler expressed the
belief that the new fort was the most substantial in the West. “The
pickets”, he wrote, “were 12½ feet long and were put in sets of six,
with a cross-piece two feet from the top, set in and spiked, and a
trench dug 2½ feet deep, into which they were raised.”[41] The major
added that he was anxious to complete the work as he expected
difficulties with the Indians, who declared their intention to continue
the war against the United States. Benjamin Stickney, also writing from
Fort Wayne, expressed the same belief.[42]
However, the threatened outbreak of the Indians did not materialize.
British intrigue had come to an end, and the red men lacked another
leader as capable as Tecumseh. Many Indians continued to congregate at
Fort Wayne in the years following the War of 1812. They came for reasons
of trade or to receive their annuities or possibly from a feeling of
sympathy and attraction for the scenes of their old home and gathering
place, but aside from some petty quarrels among themselves, nothing
war-like was ever again manifested in the relations of the Indians and
whites at Fort Wayne.
[1]John Logan as a small child had been adopted by General Benjamin
Logan of Kentucky. In 1813, Logan was killed while undertaking a
most hazardous mission. “More firmness and consummate bravery has
seldom appeared in the military theatre.”, wrote General Winchester
in his report to Harrison.
[2]After the war, Bondie was rewarded by being appointed issuing
commissary for the Fort Wayne garrison.
[3]Stickney’s account of the siege first appeared in the _Fort Wayne
Times_, May 27, 1856.
[4]Daniel Curtis to Col. Kingsbury, Sept. 21, 1812, Kingsbury Papers,
Chicago Historical Library. Curtis also wrote to a friend named
James Cullen C. Witherell on Oct. 4, 1812, concerning the siege.
This second letter is almost a copy of the one sent to Kingsbury and
is found in the Indiana Historical Society Library.
[5]_IHC_, IX, _Harrison’s Messages and Letters_, ed. Logan Esarey, p.
89.
[6]T. B. Helm, _History of Allen County, Indiana_, p. 39.
[7]_IHC_, IX, _Harrison’s Messages and Letters_, ed. Logan Esarey, p.
99.
[8]_Ibid._, p. 99.
[9]_Fort Wayne Times_, May 27, 1856.
[10]Curtis to Kingsbury, Sept. 21, 1812, Chicago Historical Society
Library.
[11]_IHC_, XV, _Fort Wayne Garrison Orderly Books_, ed. Bert J.
Griswold, p. 371.
[12]_Fort Wayne Times_, May 27, 1856.
[13]_Ibid._
[14]Benjamin Drake, _Life of Tecumseh and of his Brother and Prophet_,
p. 50.
[15]_IHC_, IX, _Harrison’s Messages and Letters_, ed. Logan Esarey, p.
108.
[16]_IHC_, XV, _Fort Wayne Garrison Orderly Books_, ed. Bert J.
Griswold, pp. 371-2.
[17]Curtis to Kingsbury, Sept. 21, 1812, Kingsbury Papers, Chicago
Historical Society Library.
[18]_Ibid._
[19]_IHC_, IX, _Harrison’s Messages and Letters_, ed. Logan Esarey, p.
131.
[20]Robert McAfee, _History of the Late War_, p. 123.
[21]Lt. Curtis to Col. Kingsbury, Sept. 21, 1812, Kingsbury Papers,
Chicago Historical Society Library.
[22]Robert McAfee, _op. cit._, p. 126.
[23]_Ibid._, p. 127.
[24]_Ibid._, p. 127.
[25]_Indiana as Seen by Early Travelers_, ed. Harlow Lindley, p. 243.
[26]Major Brock to Sir George Prevost, Sept. 18, 1812, _Michigan
Historical Collections_, XV, 88.
[27]Major Muir to Colonel Procter, Sept. 29, 1812, _Michigan Historical
Collections_, XV, 93.
[28]Colonel Proctor to General Brock, Oct. 5, 1812, _Michigan Historical
Collections_, XV, 97.
[29]_IHC_, XV, _Fort Wayne Garrison Orderly Books_, ed. Bert J.
Griswold, p. 373.
[30]_Ibid._, p. 390.
[31]Wallace Brice, _History of Fort Wayne_, p. 134.
[32]_IHC_, XV, _Fort Wayne Garrison Orderly Books_, ed. Bert J.
Griswold, pp. 381 and 389.
[33]_IHC_, IX, _Harrison’s Messages and Letters_, ed. Logan Esarey, p.
157.
[34]Major Jenkinson to Mrs. Jenkinson, March 14, 1814, Fort Wayne Public
Library.
[35]George Washington Whistler rose to fame in the topographical service
of the government. His death occurred in Russia in 1849, while he
was superintending the construction of the St. Petersburg to Moscow
railroad. His son, James Abbott McNeil Whistler, became one of the
most famous artists.
[36]M. M. Quaife, “Detroit Biographies: John Whistler”, _Burton
Historical Collection Leaflet_, V (1926), p. 4.
[37]_Fort Wayne Times_, Oct. 17, 1869, Fort Wayne Public Library.
[38]Major Whistler to General McArthur, July 1, 1814, Burton Historical
Collection.
[39]_Fort Wayne Times_, April 7 to April 15, 1858, Fort Wayne Public
Library.
[40]Whistler to McArthur, July 1, 1814, Burton Historical Collection.
[41]Whistler to McArthur, October 17, 1815, Burton Historical
Collection.
[42]Stickney to Secretary of War, April 30, 1815, _Michigan Pioneer
Collection_, XVI, p. 87.