Evacuation of the Fort and the Increased Indian Trade
After peace came finally with the end of the struggles of 1812-15, the
scene around the fort was one of rare beauty. The extensive clearing
made by order of General Wayne in 1794, and again by General Harrison in
1812, was covered with waving grass. Circling this was the green forest,
pierced by three gates through which flowed the gleaming rivers. The
days of Indian warfare had come to an end, the day of white settlement
in numbers was yet in anticipation.
The first year of peace, 1816, brought to the troops and the few
families at Fort Wayne a well founded feeling of security and comfort.
This feeling of security and comfort was not based upon the standard of
today, for few could endure now in comfort the life typified by the
tallow dip and open fire, the ox-cart and the pirogue. The national
government realized the permanent return of peace, and already had
removed from the other western posts the troops stationed there for the
protection of the pioneers. But the time had not yet arrived when the
Washington authorities considered it wise to remove the military
garrison from Fort Wayne. The Indians still thronged here in large
numbers. Their periods of gathering to receive their annuities brought
hundreds to the little settlement and here, ofttimes, they remained for
several weeks.
Following the war, there was no settlement nearer than St. Mary’s in
Ohio, and between Fort Wayne and Fort Dearborn (Chicago) only one white
man, a fur trader named Joseph Bertrand, had ventured to establish his
abode near the site of the present city of South Bend, Indiana. Until
1818, all of northern Indiana was considered Indian territory.
However, this was not true in central and southern Indiana where
ever-increasing numbers of pioneers were settling. After the end of the
War of 1812 and the Napoleonic conflicts, a commercial depression hit
the eastern states, and multitudes sought new homes in the West. The
seaboard could no longer furnish the returned soldier nor the ruined
merchant with opportunities. This led to a rush of the people into the
new country beyond the mountains. The westward movement, in turn, gave
an immediate demand for highways of transportation.
Traffic over the rivers showed a steady increase over former years, and
the Maumee-Wabash portage once again became a busy pathway of commerce.
Chief Jean Baptiste Richardville, who was granted a license to trade at
Fort Wayne in 1815, nearly monopolized the carrying-trade over the
portage. Through this profitable business, and by the sale of the land
granted to him as chief of the Miamis in various treaties, Richardville
became the wealthiest Indian then living in American. In five treaties
he acquired over 44 sections of land and $31,800. It is known that he
had $200,000 in silver alone at the time of his death in 1841.[1]
The Miami chief established a place of business on the present Columbia
street in Fort Wayne and also one of his reserves was on the Wabash
river southwest of Fort Wayne.
In common with the people of the territory of Indiana, the citizens of
Fort Wayne rejoiced in the transformation of the territory into a state
on April 29, 1816. At the time of the creation of the state of Indiana,
all of northeastern Indiana was included in Knox county, of which
Vincennes was the seat of government. In 1818, Randolph county was
organized with Winchester as the county seat. Fort Wayne was included in
this latter subdivision.
The new governor, Jonathan Jennings, in his first message to the Indiana
legislature, urged a prompt consideration of the establishment of
internal improvements, and especially a canal to connect the Maumee and
Wabash—a waterway which would supplant the centuries-old portage at Fort
Wayne. Despite the enthusiasm of many proponents of the canal, the
difficulties were many and work was not to begin on it for sixteen
years.
The westward movement of the settlers brought about the transfer of
Major Whistler from Fort Wayne to St. Louis in 1817. The government
authorities assigned to the command of Fort Wayne, Major Josiah N. Vose
of the Fifth United States Infantry Regiment, who was destined to be the
final commandant of the post at the head of the Maumee.[2] During a
period of about three months, from February 15 to May 31, 1817, before
Major Vose assumed his new duties, the garrison was under the command of
First Lieutenant Daniel Curtis, who had served with credit during the
siege of 1812 and whose lively account of his experiences has been
quoted.[3]
A significant characteristic of Major Vose was his strict adherence to
the observance of Sunday in a religious way. John Johnston, who knew
Major Vose well, said in a letter written in 1859, that he was the only
commandant of the fort who publicly professed Christianity. It was his
constant practice, according to Johnston, to assemble his men on Sunday,
read the Scriptures to them, and talk with them in a conversational
manner about religion. Colonel Johnston adds, “The conduct of such a man
and under such circumstances, can only be appreciated by persons
familiar with the allurements and temptations of military life.”[4]
With Major Vose came Dr. Trevitt, assigned to the post as surgeon’s mate
and Lieutenant James Clark. One of the first tasks undertaken under
Major Vose’s direction was the erection of a new council house to
replace the one burned during the siege. It was a two-story structure,
which in later years was used as a school house and as a residence. The
garrison in 1817 consisted of fifty-six men.
On October 6, 1818, the Miami nation ceded to the United States that
part of their land to the south and southwest of Fort Wayne. This
section of land lay between the Wabash near the mouth of the Racoon
Creek and St. Mary’s river as far north as the portage at Fort Wayne.
The treaty was concluded at St. Mary’s, Ohio, with Governor Jennings,
Lewis Cass, and Benjamin Parke, serving as commissioners of the United
States and Chief Richardville acting as principal spokesman for the
Miamis. This treaty, together with one concluded with the Wyandots the
previous year, gave to the United States complete ownership of the
territory south of the Maumee and Wabash rivers. Thus the way was opened
for travel and settlement in Indiana as far north as Fort Wayne.
According to the treaty of St. Mary’s, many sections of land near Fort
Wayne were reserved for individuals designated by the Miamis. These
individuals included the following: Chief Jean Baptiste Richardville,
Joseph Richardville (the chief’s son), Francis LaFontaine, the son of
George Hunt, Little Little Turtle, Josette Beaubien, Eliza C. Kercheval
(daughter of Benjamin Kercheval, sub-agent at Fort Wayne) John B.
Bourie, Ann Hackley (the daughter of William Wells), and the children of
Maria Christina DeRome and LaCros. A reading of these names indicates
the strong influence the early French traders had acquired over the
Miamis by intermarriage. As mentioned in an earlier chapter,
Richardville’s father, Joseph Drouet de Richerville was a French trader.
The granting of individual reserves to the chiefs and other men favored
by the Indians in the treaty of 1818 led to a dangerous innovation in
land and Indian policy which later permitted the traders to grab the
choice land sites before the government attained control of it. In the
later treaties the Indian traders and agents combined their resources to
secure the best sections of land through the consent of the Indians in
payment of actual or supposed debts.
The year 1819 witnessed an important and significant change at Fort
Wayne, the departure of the troops and the abandonment of the fort as a
military stronghold. The formal evacuation took place on April 19, 1819,
in pursuance of orders issued by the Secretary of War. The treaty of St.
Mary’s and the westward movement of the settlers had carried the
frontier beyond Fort Wayne. At the time of the departure of the troops,
the garrison consisted of Major Vose, one post surgeon, two captains,
one first lieutenant, five sergeants, four corporals, four musicians and
seventy-five artillerymen and privates—ninety-six men in all—in addition
to a group of women and children. Major Vose and his men went directly
to Detroit by way of the Maumee, in pirogues. They took from the fort
its equipment of heavy armament, including one six and one
twelve-pounder cannon. Fort Wayne was the last of the Indiana posts
maintained by the government and had served as an American fort for more
than a quarter of a century.
It is not surprising that the news of the evacuation came as a shock to
the few families and the traders who had built their log houses just
outside the fort. When the day of departure came, the few settlers who
comprised the village felt a loneliness as their sense of security gave
way for the moment to a realization of the coming days of isolation and
possible danger. In every direction stretched unbroken wilderness and
while the Indians had been subdued, the abundance of whiskey given them
by the traders made them at times a menace to the safety of the village.
The fort buildings, vacated by the military, now came under the control
of the civil authorities, represented by the Indian agent, Benjamin
Stickney. For a number of years thereafter the wooden fort with its
bastioned blockhouses, officers’ quarters, and barracks, housed such
civil, governmental, and private enterprises as the Indian agency, the
United States land office, and the first Protestant mission school.
Moreover, the opening of the barracks to the settlers not only made safe
and comfortable living quarters for those already located there, but
induced other settlers to choose this immediate region. Even at this
period, the shelter of the stockade brought a feeling of security, and
the fort was not without its convenient firearms and supply of
ammunition. For a considerable period all but those of stoutest heart
sought refuge within its walls with the coming of darkness.
Although the depression of 1819 in the Northwest checked the tide of
immigration temporarily, there were some travelers and homeseekers who
came to stamp their names upon the small settlement, which continued to
be known as Fort Wayne even after the evacuation of the troops. These
settlers included James Barnett, who was with Harrison’s army of relief
in 1812 and who returned in 1818 as a permanent resident and trader;
Paul Taber and his sons, Cyrus and Samuel, and his daughter, Lucy, all
of whom came in 1819; Francis Comparet, who came in 1819, and who in
1820, together with Alexis Coquillard and Benjamin B. Kercheval,
established a post for the American Fur Company at Fort Wayne; Dr.
William Turner, a former post surgeon, who returned to Fort Wayne in
1819 and later served for a short time as Indian agent; and James
Aveline who with his family came from Vincennes to Fort Wayne in
January, 1820.
Among these early settlers who found their way to Fort Wayne in 1819,
was Samuel Hanna, pioneer trader, judge, legislator, canal builder,
railroad enterpriser, and banker. In many respects, Samuel Hanna was to
become Fort Wayne’s most active citizen as the small community grew from
a mere village to a city during his lifetime. Born in Scott county,
Kentucky, in October, 1797, and later moving to Dayton, Ohio, with his
parents, he came to Fort Wayne from St. Mary’s Ohio, where he had been
engaged in supplying goods for the government during the Indian treaties
of 1818. He was twenty-two years old when he came to Fort Wayne. Hanna
built at once a log house on the site which later became the northwest
corner of Barr and Columbia streets. Here, having formed a partnership
with his brother-in-law, James Barnett, a trading post was opened. Many
of their goods which came from the east were purchased from Abbott
Lawrence at Boston; the shipments were made by water to New York, thence
up the Hudson river and across to Buffalo, and from there to Fort Wayne
by way of Lake Erie and the Maumee.
Upon the abandonment of the fort by the military, the government sent
James Riley, a civil engineer, to Fort Wayne to survey the lands around
the fort belonging to the United States, preparatory to the sale of a
portion of the military reservation to the settlers. Riley was a noted
author of that day, having published in 1817 _Riley’s Narrative_, a 554
page book on his experiences in Africa as a slave of the Arabs. His
prominence and the fact that he was well known in Washington because he
had spent several years there, lent weight to his recommendations
concerning the Fort Wayne lands.
On November 24, 1819, Riley wrote a letter from Fort Wayne to B.
Sanford, Esq., advising him that he had concluded his surveys for the
season but wanted:
“... to examine for myself the practicality of so uniting the Wabash
with the Maumee as to render intercourse by water between the Ohio
river and Lake Erie safe and easy through this channel.... The little
Wabash rises in an elevated swamp prairie six miles south of Fort
Wayne, and joins the Wabash eighteen miles hence. Thus in high stages
of water, a portage of only six miles carries merchandise from the
level of the Maumee into the navigable waters of the Wabash (and vice
versa).”[5]
These observations by Riley on the possibility of a canal were
supplemented in the same letter by his early impression of Fort Wayne as
a future center of population. He stated to Mr. Sanford:
The country around Fort Wayne is very fertile. The situation is
commanding and healthful.... Here will arise a town of great
importance, which must become a depot of immense trade. The fort is
now only a small stockade; no troops are stationed here, and less than
thirty dwelling houses occupied by French and American families form
the whole settlement.[6]
Riley added that the departure of the soldiers had left this little band
of residents extremely lonely, but he predicted that as soon as the
lands were opened for sale the settlers would flock to this region. The
people living at Fort Wayne at this time had no right to the land and
were considered as “squatters” by the government officials.
Possibly the most interesting letter that James Riley wrote from Fort
Wayne was written near the close of the surveying season in 1820. It was
addressed to Edward Tiffin, Surveyor General. Riley had been in the
neighborhood of Fort Wayne, when a snow storm forced him to discontinue
his work temporarily. Taking advantage of his free time, Riley came to
Fort Wayne to witness the annual distribution of the annuities to the
Indians gathered there. After speaking highly of the natural advantages
of the site of Fort Wayne, Riley urged that the government land be
offered for sale as soon as possible, saying:
There are now in its [Fort Wayne] immediate vicinity, more than 40
families of ‘Squatters’ and traders, besides a great number of young
men each with his _bundle_ or shop, of goods and trinkets; all of whom
are depredating on the public lands, for timber for their numberous
buildings, for fire-wood, &c. &c.; and as they have not interest in
the soil, and little hope of being able to purchase the land when
sold, a system of waste and destruction is going on, and is apparently
entered into by all.[6a]
Riley then added another reason why the lands should be sold. He wrote:
There are now assembled, as I should judge, at least one thousand
persons from Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and New York, whose object is
stated to be that of trade with the Indians, in order to carry off
some of their specie, paid them by the Government. They have brought
whiskey in abundance, which they pretend to deposit with agent, until
he shall have finished his business with the Indians, but yet contrive
to deal out large quantities from their deposits in the woods, so that
the savages are kept continually drunk, and unfit for any business.
Horse-racing, drinking, gambling, and every kind of debauchery,
extravagance and waste, are the order of the day, and night too; and
in my opinion, the savages themselves are the most christianized, and
least savage, of the two classes now congregated here. Here the whites
set example to the Indians too indelicate to mention, and that cannot
fail to produce in their minds disgust for the American character.[7]
Riley concluded by saying:
The only means that occurs to my mind, of stopping this career of vice
and immorality, is the speedy survey and sale of the lands from the
mouth of the Maumee to this place; and from hence down and along the
banks of the Wabash.... Thus, a cordon of hardy and respectable
settlers ... would be formed along the Maumee and Wabash.... At
present, there is no security to him who locates himself on the public
lands, nor do I wish there should be; because every citizen ought to
enjoy equal advantages. This place, if laid out as a town and sold by
the government, would bring a large sum of money. The St. Mary’s has
been covered with boats, every freshet, for several years past. This
is a central spot, combining more natural advantages to build up and
support a town of importance, as a place of deposit and trade ... than
any point I have yet seen in the western country.[8]
This letter of Riley, which also contained a strong recommendation for
the careful survey of a canal route connecting the Wabash and the
Maumee, became a part of the official records of the surveyor-general’s
office, and through this channel found its way into the congressional
debates concerning the Wabash and Erie canal.
Lest James Riley’s severe arraignment of the white traders present
during the time of the annuity payments appear unjust, let us compare it
with the opinion of Reverend J. B. Finney, who visited the village
during the same period in the previous year. He writes:
This was an awful scene for a sober man to look upon ... men and
women, raving maniacs, singing, dancing, fighting, stabbing and
tomahawking one another—and there were the rum-sellers watering their
whiskey until it was not strong grog, and selling it for four dollars
a gallon, their hired men gathering up all the skins and furs and
their silver brooches ... and their guns, tomahawks and blankets, till
they were literally stripped naked, and three or four were killed....
The reader may set what estimates he pleases, or call him by what
name; yet, if there were ever a greater robber, or a meaner thief, or
a dirtier murderer than these rum sellers, he is yet to be seen.[9]
The laws for preventing the introduction of alcoholic drinks among the
Indians, though very severe, were ineffectual. A person might have
remained in the woods within five or six miles of Fort Wayne for a year
without being discovered by any government agent. It was the custom of
the traders to bring whiskey in kegs and hide it in the woods about half
a mile from the fort, a short time previous to the paying of the
annuity, and when the Indians came to the fort, to give information to
such of the Indians who could be confided in that there was whiskey to
be had at those places. As soon as the Indians received their money they
would go off to the appointed places.
Another reason that the Trade and Intercourse Act was so ineffectual at
Fort Wayne was the fact that it was almost impossible to bring any
offender to trial. The nearest court was at Winchester, Indiana, eighty
miles away. A few of the better traders of the region formed a society
to prohibit this illegal trade, but it soon dissolved when they found
that their regulations could be inforced only by action of the courts.
When John Hays, Indian agent at Fort Wayne reported that all the traders
were guilty of selling whiskey to the Indians, and asked for special
authority to deal with them as he saw fit, the government officials
replied that they did not believe such authority was necessary. No
action was taken.
But these conditions at Fort Wayne prevailed to a large extent only
during the periods of the annuity distributions. It is of interest,
then, to quote the words of a man who made a “between-times” visit to
the village. We find him in the person of Major Stephen H. Long, a
topographical engineer, who visited the village in 1823. Wrote Major
Long:
At Fort Wayne we made a stay of three days, and to a person visiting
the Indian country for the first time, this place offers many
characteristic and singular features. The village is small—it has
grown under the shelter of the fort.... The inhabitants are chiefly of
Canadian origin, all more or less inbued with the Indian blood. The
confusion of tongues, owing to the diversity of the Indian tribes
which generally collect near a fort, make the traveler imagine himself
in a real babel.[10]
From the fort, a cart track angled down to the river bank and
boatlanding, the bustling center of the town’s traffic in furs; and
three embryonic roads, boggy and stump filled, let respectively
northeast to Detroit, northwest to Fort Dearborn and Lake Michigan, and
southeast to Fort Recovery, Ohio. Thomas Scattergood Teas, who visited
the village in 1821, wrote
The settlement at this place consisted of about thirty log cabins and
two tolerably decent farm houses. The inhabitants are nearly all
French-Canadians. The fort stands at the lower end of the village ...
the barracks are occupied by the Indian agent, the Baptist missionary
and some private families.[11]
The Baptist missionary, of whom Teas speaks, was the Reverend Isaac
McCoy who came with his wife and seven children to Fort Wayne on May 15,
1820, and stayed for over two years at the fort. McCoy wished to go
farther into the Indian country, but as he states, “necessity not choice
compelled us to consent to go to Fort Wayne.”[12] Despite the
predilection of some of the Indians for the Catholic faith as a result
of long contacts with French traders and past remembrances of the French
Jesuits, McCoy collected a fairly large number of Indian children for
his school at Fort Wayne.[13] The authorities at Fort Wayne afforded
McCoy every encouragement, although the Indian agent, John Hays, later
regretted the fact that he allowed McCoy to use the barracks for housing
the children. The forty half-civilized children racing around his
offices, nearly drove the agent to distraction, besides destroying a
great deal of government property.
Of the five instructors engaged from time to time to aid in teaching the
Indians, none remained over a period of three months. The McCoys found
the necessities of life very dear at Fort Wayne; flour was obtainable
only by long transportation and corn was also scarce. In the year 1821,
the mission was saved from closing by receipt from the United States
Government of four hundred and fifty dollars. This money was taken from
a fund of ten thousand dollars appropriated by Congress for civilizing
the Indians. Because of the steady demoralization of the Indians around
Fort Wayne brought about by the traders’ whiskey, McCoy decided to move
his mission in 1822. A new mission was established one hundred miles
northwest of Fort Wayne on the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan River.
A change in the management of the Indian agency at Fort Wayne took place
in 1819 when Benjamin F. Stickney was transferred to a post on the lower
Maumee and Dr. William Turner was named to succeed him. Stickney had
served for nine years, and during this time, like all agents, had made
many enemies. General Duncan McArthur writing from Chillicothe, Ohio, as
early as March, 1815, informed Secretary of War James Monroe, that
Colonel Lewis, a Shawnee chief had placed before him severe criticisms
of Stickney’s methods. “The Indians are generally displeased with Mr.
Stickney as an agent,” added General McArthur, “and several of them have
requested me to make it known to the president and solicit his removal.
He is certainly not well qualified to discharge the duties of an Indian
agent.”[14]
As a federal Indian agent, Stickney was responsible for the fate of
numerous whites and Indians. Among his duties at that time were the
licensing of traders and the settlement of their claims and disputes
with the tribes, enforcement of the intercourse regulations,
disbursement of annuities and gifts, and expenditure of funds for
improvements, and the punishment of unruly Indians. Tactful handling of
these problems and of numerous squabbles between the two races was an
invaluable factor in preventing bloodshed and preserving good relations.
Stickney was inclined to be too arrogant in dealing with the Indians,
and at times seemed to lack any humanitarian feeling toward those under
his care.
On April 20, 1818, Congress passed an act which consolidated the
agencies of Fort Wayne and Piqua, and John Johnston was appointed agent
for the agency thus formed. In effect this left Stickney out of the
service, but as it was impossible for Johnston to take care of the Fort
Wayne agency as well as that of Piqua, Stickney remained at Fort Wayne
as sub-agent.
Stickney continued to serve under this arrangement through the year
1818, though there appears to have developed a degree of friction
between the sub-agent and his superiors. Governor Lewis Cass of
Michigan, writing in January, 1819, to John Calhoun, Secretary of War,
said, “... circumstances have occurred at Fort Wayne which have had a
tendency to injure the usefulness of Mr. Stickney there.”[15] What these
circumstances were we do not know, other than a supposition that
Stickney might have made many powerful enemies among the traders at Fort
Wayne. This was quite likely due to the nature of the Indian trade and
the power of the agent. Lewis Cass was not one to disregard the
complaints of the traders, as he usually supported the large trading
companies, in particular Astor’s American Fur Company. As a perennial
political appointee, Cass found it worthwhile to have friends among
these influential traders, and as Stickney’s superior in the Indian
Department, Cass was in all likelihood inclined to support the traders
in any quarrel that might have developed. In commenting on the charges
brought against himself by some of the traders at Fort Wayne in 1824,
John Tipton, another agent, wrote to John Calhoun, “You will no doubt
recollect that Mr. Stickney while Agt here was harassed with charges and
all kinds of persecution.”[16]
Under these circumstances, which we can only surmise, Benjamin Stickney
left the agency in 1820 and moved to Toledo, where he later gained
prominence as a leader in the fight to keep that section of the country
under the government of the state of Ohio rather than the state of
Michigan.
Dr. William Turner, Stickney’s successor, had been stationed at Fort
Wayne between 1810-12 as garrison surgeon’s mate. On April 7, 1813, he
was promoted to surgeon in the Seventeenth Infantry. He resigned from
the army on January 31, 1815, returned to Fort Wayne as a private
citizen, and married Anne Wells, daughter to Captain William Wells. On
March 6, 1819, he was appointed agent for the Miami, Eel River, and
other Indians, and in 1820, assumed all of Stickney’s duties. Because of
ill health, Turner began to drink considerably, and within a year, on
May 24, 1820, Calhoun informed him of his removal from office in
consequence of “unsatisfactory conduct.”[17] However, the affairs of the
agency were not turned over to his successor, John Hays, until August,
1820. Turner died at Fort Wayne in 1821.
At a time when the story of Indian relations was a sordid and corrupt
one, revealing on the part of traders, agents, and officials of the
Indian administration a baseness and moral depravity that was unusual
even for the nineteenth century, John Hays stands out as one of the few
agents who could not be classed in such a group. Hays was born in New
York City in 1770. While a youth, he engaged in the Indian trade as a
clerk in a trading house in Canada. In 1793 he settled at Cahokia,
Illinois, where he held a number of government positions until his
appointment at Fort Wayne. Unfortunately for the Indians of this area,
Hays remained at Fort Wayne less than three years.
John Hays was never happy at Fort Wayne, despite his good work. He could
not bring his family here, as they were too numerous to move a great
distance, and the five hundred miles to Cahokia was also too far for
Hays to visit them. Furthermore, Hays became disgusted when he found
that by his own efforts, he was helpless in checking the traders from
furnishing the Indians whiskey. On one occasion the traders combined
against him to prevent the issuance of a presidential order curtailing
the amount of whiskey brought to Fort Wayne.
Hays also urged the appointment of a sub-agent to assist him in
controlling the situation, and the reestablishment of a military force
at Fort Wayne. “It is neither [at] Chicago, Green Bay, Prairie du Chien,
Falls of St. Anthony, Rock River, or any part of the Mississippi or even
Michilimakanac ... that in my opinion a Military force would be more
necessary.”[18] he wrote to John Calhoun. The opinion of Hays was not
one to be lightly put aside, as it was he, who on the strength of his
wide experience, furnished information on the routes for the armies and
the distribution of forces from Montreal to Michilimackinac during the
War of 1812.
Owing to the disapproval of his proposal by Governor Cass, head of the
Fort Wayne agency, none of Hays’ suggestions were adopted, however. Hays
was often at odds with Cass as to the manner of dealing with the
Indians. In one instance, Hays had been having particular trouble with
the Potawatomies under Metea. These Indians objected to traveling to
Detroit to receive their annuity rather than coming to Fort Wayne, which
was almost a hundred miles closer to their village, near the present
site of South Bend, Indiana. Hays, therefore, agreed that the next
payments should be made at Fort Wayne, but Cass ignored the agreement
and ordered the Indians to come to Detroit. After they arrived, Cass
reproached them for crossing into Canada to receive British gifts. Metea
bitingly replied that they would gladly give up the practice, if the
Americans gave out the annuities at Fort Wayne.
During his second year at Fort Wayne, Hays was obliged to reduce his
expenditures from $5,000 to less than $3,000 in line with a general
reduction of funds for the Indian Department. At the same time, he
needed money to repair the agency quarters within the fort, which were
fast decaying. Added to the decay was the destruction brought about by
Reverend Isaac McCoy’s Indian school children living within the fort.
The property of the agency at this time was listed as “public dwellings
inside the stockade, five dwelling houses outside the fort, one
blacksmith shop, one coal house, one root house, one stable, two
pastures, one timothy meadow, and one field all fenced.”[19]
While John Hays was Indian agent at Fort Wayne, Benjamin Berry Kercheval
served as his assistant at a salary of $500 a year. Kercheval was born
at Winchester, Virginia, April 9, 1793, and went to Detroit when he was
eighteen. Around 1818, Kercheval came to Fort Wayne and here served for
a time as an interpreter for Benjamin Stickney. Later he became a
representative of the American Fur Company, a position he held when he
was employed by Hays. Hays used Kercheval a great deal and trusted him
implicitly. In 1821, the birth of a daughter to Benjamin Kercheval and
his wife, formerly Maria Forsythe, was an event of such interest to the
Indians that they shortly adopted the child with solemn ceremonies as a
member of the Miami tribe.
The national government recognized the growing importance of Fort Wayne
in the establishment of a post office in 1820. Although Samuel Hanna was
in reality the first man to serve as postmaster at Fort Wayne, Kercheval
whose commission bore the date of February 4, was the first appointee of
President Monroe. Hanna established the office in his store, after
Kercheval evidently had declined to serve.
At this time there was one mail every two weeks from Cincinnati, and the
only newspaper to find its way to the pioneer village regularly was the
_Liberty Hall_ from Cincinnati. In 1822, in response to the demands of
the town, the government established regular routes between Fort Wayne
and Chicago, as well as the Ohio villages on the St. Mary’s.
The chief industry of the village in these early years continued to be
trade with the Indians, either for their furs and peltries or for their
annuity money. With the end of the Indian wars, the Miamis and
neighboring tribes once more found time for hunting and trapping. At the
same time the establishment of European peace in 1815, at the end of the
Napoleonic era, brought about a sharp rise in the price of furs. New and
powerful traders began to operate in the Maumee-Wabash area with many
coming to Fort Wayne as the central point of the region.
We have already noted the firm established by Samuel Hanna and his
brother-in-law, James Barnett in 1819. A year later the American Fur
Company, operating from Detroit and owned by John Jacob Astor,
established an important branch at Fort Wayne. Benjamin Kercheval,
Alexis Coquillard, and Francis Comparet were its first representatives.
Comparet and Coquillard, both came directly from Detroit for the purpose
of establishing the company’s branch house at Fort Wayne. Comparet
remained at Fort Wayne permanently, but Coquillard later established a
trading station on the St. Joseph river of Lake Michigan, on the site of
the city of South Bend, as an outpost of the company’s establishment at
Fort Wayne.
In 1822, the family of Alexander Ewing came to Fort Wayne from Troy,
Ohio. The Ewing family consisted of Alexander Ewing, an old Pennsylvania
trader, his wife, Charlotte, three daughters—Charlott, Lavina, and
Louisa—, and four sons—Charles, who became president judge of the
circuit court of Indiana, Alexander H., who later became a prosperous
Cincinnati merchant, and George W. and William G., who became associated
with their father in the trading establishment.
Alexander Ewing with his sons, George W. and William G., did business
under the name of “A. Ewing and Sons”. After the older Ewing’s death in
1826, the firm became “W. G. and G. W. Ewing.” The Ewings became known
for their real-estate and fur-trading operations, the latter on a scale
that made them rivals of the American Fur Company in the Great Lakes
region. At first the two firms were friendly toward each other, but a
trade war which eventually broke out between the two companies in 1828
resulted in the bankruptcy of the American Fur Company five year later.
The Ewings also found it profitable to advance goods to the Indians,
thereby presenting large claims against the annuity payments for the
Indians. The Ewings had branch houses in Logansport, Largro, and Peru,
and posts in Missouri, Iowa, Michigan, Kansas, Wisconsin, and Minnesota,
at the height of their business interests.
The year 1822 also brought to Fort Wayne the families of William Nesbit
Hood and his brother, Robert Hood, who came from Dayton, Ohio. The Hoods
also secured a license for trading with the Indians. Although successful
in their operations, they never entered into large scale trading such as
the Ewings, and later became involved in politics and real estate
speculation.
Most of the traders at Fort Wayne seldom left town, but had a number of
men called “engages” in their service who accompanied the Indians in
their hunts, supplied them with goods in small quantities, and watched
them that they did not sell their furs to traders other than their
employers. The furs brought in consisted principally of deer and raccoon
skins. Bear, otter, and beaver were becoming scarce. In the
eighteen-thirties, when the beaver prices tumbled and the raccoon skins
became popular, the Maumee-Wabash region became for a few years the
center of interest of the American fur trade, as this area produced
large numbers of raccoons.
The skins when brought in were loosely rolled or tied, but they were
afterward made into packs which were three feet long and eighteen inches
wide after being subjected to a heavy pressure in a wedge press. The
values of the furs were nominal, as they were paid for in goods passed
off to the Indians for two or three times their actual worth. Moreover,
fur prices fluctuated greatly, depending upon the fashion.
On February 24, 1823, John Hays wrote to Calhoun tendering his
resignation as Indian agent at Fort Wayne, pointing out that he was too
far from his home at Cahokia, Illinois. After elaborating on the
benefits the Indians had received under his administration of the
agency, he strongly recommended that Benjamin B. Kercheval, his present
assistant, be appointed as his successor. Kercheval was an excellent man
for the position, but did not receive the appointment, as Hays had
allowed the news of his intended resignation to leak out before writing
to Calhoun. As the fears of British intrigue around Fort Wayne had
vanished after the War of 1812, the agency at Fort Wayne came to be
regarded as a political plum. The state delegation in Congress had been
exerting pressure on the president for some time to appoint citizens of
Indiana to positions in the state. Calhoun, early in 1822, had refused
to remove Hays in order that John Tipton, a native of Indiana, could be
appointed in his place. However, when the Indiana delegation heard of
Hay’s intended resignation, they carried the matter of their
recommendation of Tipton directly to President Monroe and secured his
approval before Calhoun had the opportunity to recommend Kercheval. When
Kercheval brought the news of his failure to Hays, the latter wrote to
Lewis Cass, “I never was more disappointed and mortified than on the
arrival of Mr. Kercheval. I certainly should not have resigned at this
moment, had I not thought Mr. Kercheval would be successfull.”[22]
Hays remained at Fort Wayne until June 5, 1823, and for a short time
both he and Tipton were present at the agency. John Tipton was a product
of the east Tennessee frontier, where he was born in 1786. When he was
seven, his father was killed by an Indian. In 1807, the Tipton family
moved to Harrison County, Indiana. Although he lacked any formal
education, Tipton’s dynamic qualities as a leader more than compensated
for his educational shortcomings. In later life, Tipton learned to read
and write, but it always remained a difficult task for him, judging by
his letters. In 1811, Tipton took part as a common soldier in the battle
of Tippecanoe. Afterward his advancement in the army was astonishingly
rapid, for in six years, he became a brigadier general. After the War of
1812, Tipton’s rise in the political field was equally as rapid and his
influence became statewide. The political positions he held were as
follows: justice of the peace, deputy sheriff, sheriff, member of the
state legislature, state commissioner, Indian agent at Fort Wayne, and
finally U. S. Senator.
In 1823, Tipton was glad to accept the position as Indian agent at Fort
Wayne for life at Corydon, his former home, had become unpleasantly
complicated by financial and domestic difficulties. His marriage to
Martha Shields had ended with a divorce in 1817. The salary of the
Indian agent was $1,200 a year, a fair income in those days. The
position also gave Tipton special advantages in the treaty negotiations
to secure choice sites of land either for his friends or for himself. It
was primarily through this means that Tipton was well on his way to
becoming one of the wealthiest men in the state at the time of his
death. Obviously Tipton’s financial and political success were closely
linked. In today’s society the public and private “conflict of interest”
in his career would be grist for many crusading journalists. However in
an age when the “Spoils System” would soon become acceptable and in a
small isolated frontier community where the agent had to deal constantly
with the same few individuals, his career should also be judged in
relation to the time and place. Tipton was not insensible to the needs
of the Indians under his care, but he usually decided on the issues with
his personal and political future in mind.
When Tipton received his appointment there were only 2,441 Miami,
Potawatomie and Eel River Indians left in the territory covered by the
Fort Wayne agency. In 1824, their annuities amounted to $17,300 for the
Miamis, $1,100 for the Eel River Indians, and $1,700 for the
Potawatomies. These annuities, which increased threefold during Tipton’s
administration, were a stake well worth effort of the traders. Moreover,
added to these annuities were the gifts and other contingencies which
the government furnished the Indians and had to buy from the traders.
The traders in the vicinity of Fort Wayne realized the fur trade was
declining, but they also knew the Indians sill needed their goods and
encouraged then to buy heavily on credit. The Indians recognized these
debts, some of which were artificial even, and before the annuities were
paid, the traders made sure they received their payments. What was left
for the Indians was either spent on whiskey or in buying more goods.
There was no limit to the greed of many of the traders. Finding the
annuities inadequate, they joined with the Indians in asking for
increased payments by the government and conspired to hold up treaty
agreements until demands were granted.
The outstanding incident of Tipton’s second year as agent was his
seizure of goods belonging to the powerful American Fur Company for
violation of the Intercourse Act on the part of two of their clerks at
Fort Wayne. Tipton’s action was upheld by a jury in the United States
district court, and the goods were declared forfeited. However, when the
case was carried to the United States Supreme Court, the judgement was
reversed, and the case was ordered back to the district court, where it
was finally dismissed.[23] Whatever the legal merits of the case, it was
clear that not even someone with Tipton’s political influence could
challenge the important traders, especially Astor’s American Fur
Company.
[1]_John Tipton Papers_ I, _IHC_, XXIV ed. Nellie Robertson and Dorothy
Riker, p. 49.
[2]Major Vose was a native of Manchester, New Hampshire. He was
commissioned a captain in the twenty-first infantry in 1812 and
promoted to major during the war. In 1842, he received the
commission of colonel. His death occurred at New Orleans Barracks,
in Louisiana, in 1845.
[3]_Above_, pp. [p 66-69.]
[4]J. L. Williams, _Historical Sketch of the First Presbyterian Church,
Fort Wayne, Indiana_, p. 12.
[5]Riley to Sanford, Nov. 24, 1819, quoted in Riley W. Willshire’s
_Sequel to Riley’s Narrative_, pp. 401-404.
[6]_Ibid._, p. 403.
[6a]Riley to Tiffin, Nov. 14, 1820, quoted in T. B. Helm, _History of
Wabash County_, p. 78.
[7]_Ibid._, p. 78.
[8]_Ibid._, p. 78.
[9]Rev. J. B. Finney, _Life Among the Indians_, p. 34.
[10]William H. Keating (comp) _Narrative of an Expedition to the Source
of St. Peter’s River ... 1823 ... under the command of Stephen H.
Long_, I: 81.
[11]“Journal of Thomas Scattergood Teas”, _Indiana as Seen by Early
Travelers_, ed. Harlow Lindley, p. 98.
[12]Isaac McCoy, _History of Baptist Indian Missions_, p. 68.
[13]Chief Richardville, himself a staunch Catholic, sent his son to
McCoy’s school. Later his son died a drunkard. After that
Richardville would allow no school to be established for boys of his
tribe unless they were instructed by a Catholic. See, _John Tipton
Papers_, II: 134.
[14]Duncan McArthur to James Monroe, March 16, 1815, McArthur Papers,
Burton Historical Collection.
[15]Lewis Cass to John Calhoun, January 7, 1819, _Michigan Pioneer and
Historical Collection_, 28 91.
[16]_John Tipton Papers I, Indiana Historical Collection_, XXIV, ed.
Nellie Armstrong Robertson and Dorothy Riker, p. 432.
[17]Calhoun to Turner, May 24, 1820, _Tipton Papers_, I, _IHC_, XXIV,
ed. Nellie Armstrong Robertson and Dorothy Riker, pp. 535-6.
[18]Nellie A. Robertson “John Hays and the Fort Wayne Agency”, _Indiana
Magazine of History_, 39: 230.
[19]Nellie A. Robertson, “John Hays and the Fort Wayne Agency”, _Indiana
Magazine of History_, 39: 226.
[22]_John Tipton Papers_, I, _IHC_, XXIV, ed. Nellie A. Robertson and
Dorothy Riker, p. 303.
[23]_John Tipton Papers_, I, _IHC_, XXIV, 434-5; 439-40; 782-3.