USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > History of Fort Wayne, from the earliest known accounts of this point, to the present period. Embracing an extended view of the aboriginal tribes of the Northwest, including, more especially, the Miamies with a sketch of the life of General Anthony Wyane; including also a lengthy biography of pioneer settlers of Fort Wayne. Also an account of the manufacturing, mercantile, and railroad interests of Fort Wayne and vicinity > Part 17
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HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE.
Being readily induced to believe, from the dispatches received from Hamtramck, that there was no possibility of forming a treaty of peace with the Miamie Indians and other tribes banded with them, Governor St. Clair determined to return to Fort Washington (Cincinnati,) with a view of consulting with General Harmar as to the expediency of an expedition against the hostile tribes; and, accordingly, on the 11th of June, he quit Kaskaskia, and by water, reached Fort Washington on the 13th of July.
Having consulted with General Harmar, and concluding to send a formidable force against the Indians about the head waters of the Wabash, by authority of President Washington, on the 15th of July (1790,) he addressed circular letters to a number of Lieuten- ants of the western counties (of Virginia, of which Kentucky was then a part) and Pennsylvania, for the purpose of raising one thou- sand militia in the former, and five hundred in the latter. The regu- lar troops then in service in the west General Harmar estimated at about four hundred efficient men, with whom the militia were to operate as follows: Of the Virginia militia, 300 were to rendez- vous at Fort Steuben, and, with a garrison at that post, to proceed to Vincennes, to join Major Hamtramck, who had orders to call to his aid the militia of that place. From thence to move up the Wa- bash, with a view of attacking such points among the Indian vil- lages along that river as his force might seem adequate. The twelve hundred militia remaining were to join the regular troops, under General Harmar, at Fort Washington. That the British command- ant at Detroit might know the true cause and course of the move- ment, on the 19th of September, Gov. St. Clair addressed a letter to him, which he sent by a private conveyance, assuring the said com- heard of a certain family among the Miamies who were called man-eaters, as they were accustomed to make a feast of human flesh when a prisoner was killed.' For these enor . mities, the Sauks and Foxes, when they took any of the Minneways prisoners, gave them up to their women to be buffeted to death. They speak also of the Mascontins with abhorrenee, on account of their eruelties. The Sauks and Foxes have a historieal legned of a severe battle having been fought opposite the mouth of the Iowa river, about fifty or sixty miles above the month of Roek riverr The Sauks and Foxes de- seended the Mississippi in eanoes, and landing at the place above deseribed, started east, towards the enemy : they had not gone far before they were attacked by a party of the Mascontins. The battle continued nearly all day ; the Sauks and Foxes, for want of ammunition, finally gave way and fled to their canoes : the Maseontins pur- sued them and fought desperately, and left but few of the Sauks and Foxes to carry home the story of their defeat. Some forty or fifty years ago, the Sauks and Foxes at- tacked asmall village of Peorias, about a mile below St. Louis and were there defeated. At a place on the Illinois river, ealled Little Rock, there were formerly killed by the Chippeways and Ottowas, a number of men, women and children of the Minneway nation. In 1800 the Kiekapoos made a great slaughter of the Kaskaskia Indians. The Main-Pogue, or Potawatimie juggler, in 1801, killed a great many of the Piankeshaws on the Wabash."
In proof of the foregoing, relative to the society of man-eaters among the Indiaus at this point, General Lewis Cass, in a speech here, delivered at the canal celebration of July 4th 1843, in "Swinney's Grove," near the site of the presant Catholic cemetery. said: " For many years during the frontier history of this place and region, the line of your canal was a bloody war-path, which has seen inany a deed of horror. And this peaceful town has had its Moloch, and the records of human depravity furnish no more terrible examples of cruelty than were offered at his shrine. The Miami Indians, our prede- cessors in the occupation of this district, had a terrible institution whose origin and
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RHEA'S ACCOUNT -- GEN. CASS' ADDRESS.
mandant that the purposes of the United States were pacific in so far as their relations to Great Britain were concerned ; that the ex- pedition was to quell the vindietive and intolerable spirit of the In- dians towards the settlements, whither and against whom they had so long, so inhumanly, and destructively carried their savage war- fare.
That the English, towards Lake Erie, notwithstanding this spirit of candor and courtesy on the part of St. Clair, gave aid to the Indians in their efforts against the United States during 1790-'91, the evidence is clear enough; but to what extent, was not fully known. The following paragraphs from a certificate of one Thomas Rhea, taken in the early part of 1790, will give some clue, at least, as to the aid then and subsequently rendered the Indians by the British :
" At this place, the Miami," said Rhea, in his account, " were Col- onels Brant* and McKee, with his son Thomas; and Captains Bun- bury and Silvie, of the British troops. These officers, &c., were all encamped on the south side of the Miami or Ottawa river, at the rapids above Lake Erie, about eighteen miles ; they had clever houses, built chiefly by the Pottawattamies and other Indians; in these they had stores of goods, with arms, ammunition and provis- ion, which they issued to the Indians in great abundance, viz : corn, pork, peas, &c.
* Brant was a Mohawk chieftain, of considerable intelligence, educated at Philadel- phia ; a favorite of Sir William Johnson, and ever greatly attached to the British .- After the struggles of these periods, he took up his residenee in Canada, where he died in 1807.
object have been lost in the darkness of aboriginal history, but which was continued to a late period, and whose orgies were held upon the very spot where we now are. It was called the man-eating society, and it was the duty of its associates to eat such pris - oners as were preserved and delivered to them for that purpose. The members of this society belonged to a particular family, and the dreadful inheritance descended to all the children, male and female. The duties it imposed could not be avoided, and the sanctions of religion were added to the obligations of immemorial usage. The feast was a solemn ceremony, at which the whole tribe was collected as actors or spectators. The miserable victim was bound to a stake, and burned at a slow fire, with all the re- finements of cruelty, which savage ingenuity eould invent. There was a traditionary ritual, which regulated with revolting precision, the whole course of procedure at these ceremonies Latterly the authority and obligations of the institution had deelined, and I presume it has now wholly disappeared. But I have seen and conversed with the head of the family, the chief of the society, whose name was White Skin-with what feeling of disgust, I need not attempt to describe. I well knew an intelligent Canadian, who was present at one of the last sacrifices made at this horrible institution. The vietim was a young American captured in Kentucky, towards the close of our Revolutionary War. Here where we are now assembled, in peace and security, celebra- ting the triumph of art and industry, within the memory of the present generation, our countrymen have been thus tortured, and murdered, and devoured. But, thank God, that council-fire is extinguished. The impious feast is over ; the war-dance is ended ; the war-song is sung : the war-drum is silent, and the Indian has departed to find, I hope. in the distant West, a comfortable residence, and I hope also to find, un- der the protection, and, if need be, under the power of the United States, a radienl change in the institutions and general improvement in his morals and condition. A feeble remnant of the once powerful tribe, which formerly won their way to the do- minion of this region, by blood, and by blood maintained it, have to-day appeared among us like passing shadows, flitting round the places that know them no more. Their resurrection, if I may so speak, is not the leastimpressive spectacle, which marks the progress of this imposing ceremony. They are the broken column which connect us with
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HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE.
" The Indians came to this place in parties of one, two, three, four and five hundred at a time, from different quarters, and re- ceived from Mr. McKee and the Indian officers, clothing, arms, am- munition, provisions, &c., and set out immediately for the upper Miami towns, where they understood the forces of the United States were bending their course, and in order to supply the Indians from other quarters collected there, pirogues, loaded with the above- mentioned articles, were sent up the Miami (Maumee) river, wrought by French Canadians."
About the middle of September, the Virginia militia began to gather about the mouth of Licking river, opposite Cincinnati, all of whom were, for the most part, badly armed and lacked for camp- kettles and axes ; but were readily organized by General Harmar, and soon formed into three battalions, under Majors Hall, McMul- len, and Ray, with Trotter, as Lieutenant-Colonel to lead them. About the 24th of September, came the militia of Pennsylvania to Fort Washington, who were also badly equipped, and many of whom were substitutes-" old, infirm men, and young boys." These were formed into one battalion, under Lieut .- Colonel Truby and Major Paul; while four battalions of militia, subject to Gen- eral Harmar's command, were commanded by Col. John Hardin. Majors John Plasgrave Wylles, and John Doughty commanded the regular troops, in two small battalions. The artilcry corps, with but three pieces of ordinance, was under the command of Captain William Ferguson; while under James Fontaine was placed a small battalion of light troops or mounted militia-amounting in all to about 1,453 regular and raw militia troops.
The militia under Col. Hardin, on the 26th of September, ad- vanced from Fort Washington into the country, for the double pur- pose of opening a road for the artillery and to obtain feed for their cattle. On the 30thi of September, the regular troops marched, commanded by General Harmar; and on the 3d day of October joined the militia.
A journal of the daily movements of the army was regularly kept by Captain John Armstrong, of the regulars, up to its arrival at the Miami village, at this point.
After an uninterrupted march of sixteen days, on the afternoon of the 15th of October, Colonel Hardin, with an advanced detach- ment, reached this point, and stole in upon the Miami village, only the past. The edifice is in ruins, and the giant vegetation, which covered and protected . it, lies as low as the once mighty structure, which was shelved in its recesses. They have come to witness the first great act of peace in our frontier history, as their presence here is the last in their own. The ceremonies upon which you heretofore gazed with interest, will never again be seen by the white man, in this seat of their former power. But thanks to our ascendancy, these representations are but a pageant ; but a theatrical exhibition which, with barbarous motions, and sounds and contortions, shew how their ancestors conquered their enemies, and how they glutted their revenge in blood. To- day, this last of the race is here-to-morrow they will commence their journey towards the setting sun, where their fathers, agreeable to their rude faith, have preceded them, and where the red man will find rest and safety."
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ARMY UNDER HARMAR ARRIVE HERE-AN ORDER.
to find it deserted by men, women and children. A few cows, some vegetables, and about twenty thousand bushels of corn in the ear, save the wigwams, huts, and surrounding scenery, were all that greeted them; and the militia, in much disorder, soon began to move about in search of plunder.
On the 17th, about one o'clock, the main body of the army came up and crossed the Maumee to the village.
Major McMullen, of Col. Hardin's command, having discovered the tracks of women and children leading in a north-westerly di- rection, and so reported to General Harmar on his arrival, the lat- ter determined at once upon an effort to discover their place of ren- uezvous ; and, to that end, on the morning of the 18th, detailed Col. Trotter, Major Hall, Major Ray, and Major McMullen, with three hundred men, among whom were thirty regulars, forty light-horse, and two hundred and thirty active riflemen. Furnished with three days' provision, they were ordered to reconnoiter the country around the village. About one mile from the encampment, an Indian on horseback was discovered, pursued, and killed, by a part of the detachment, under Trotter ; and before returning to the main body of the party, another Indian was seen, "when the four field officers left their commands, and pursued him, leaving the troops for the space of about half an hour without any direction whatever." Be- ing intercepted by the light-horsemen, one of which party he had wounded, the Indian was at length killed. Changing the route of his detatchment, and moving in different directions, till night, Col. Trotter again, unexpectedly to, and without the approbation of Gen- eral Harmar, returned to the Miami village.
In consequence of the disorderly course of the militia on their arrival at the village, in their desire for plunder, General Harmar ordered cannon to be fired for the purpose of calling them to their ranks, and also harangued the officers on the bad results liable to follow such indifference. On the 1Sth lie issued the following gen- eral order :
" CAMP AT THE MIAMI VILLAGE, Oct. 18, 1790.
" The general is much mortified at the unsoldier-like behavior of many of the men in the army, who make it a practice to straggle from the camp in search of plunder. He, in the most positive terms, forbids this practice in future, and the guards will be an- swerable to prevent it. No party is to go beyond the line of senti- nels without a commissioned officer, who, if of the militia, will ap- ply to Colonel Hardin for his orders. The regular troops will ap- ply to the general. All the plunder that may be hereafter collec- ted, will be equally distributed among the army. The kettles, and every other article already taken, are to be collected by the com- manding officers of batalions, and to be delivered to-morrow morn- ing to Mr. Belli, the quartermaster, that a fair distribution may take place. The rolls are to be called at troop and retreat beating, and
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HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE.
every man absent is to be reported. The general expcets that these orders will be pointedly attended to : they are to be read to the troops this evening. The army is to march to-morrow morning early for their new encampment at Chillicothe,* about two miles from hence. "JOSIAH HARMAR, BRIGADIER-GENERAL."
Col. Hardin, having asked for the command of the troops returned to camp under Trotter, for the remaining two days, Gen. Harmar readily complied; and on the next day, (19th) Col. Hardin led the de- tachment along an Indian trail to the northwest, in the direction of the Kickapoo villages. Coming to a point, near a morass, some five miles distant from the confluence of the St. Mary and St. Joseph rivers, where, on the preceding day, there had been an Indian en- campment, the detachment came to a halt, and were soon stationed at different points, in readiness for an attack, should the enemy still be near. A half hour passed, and no sign of the enemy. The order now being given to the companies in the front to advance, the company under Faulkner, not having received the order of march, a neglect on the part of Col. Hardin, was left behind. Hav- ing advanced some three miles, two Indians afoot, with packs, were discovered ; but, the brush being thick, and suddenly throwing aside their burdens at the sight of the detachment, were soon lost sight of and escaped. The absence of Faulkner at this time be- coming apparent, Major Fontaine, with a portion of the cavalry, was at once sent in pursuit of him, with the supposition that he was lost.
The report of a gun, in front of the detachment, soon fell upon the attentive ear of Captain Armstrong, in command of the regu- lars-an alarm gun, perhaps, suggested he. He had discovered the " tracks of a horse that had come down the road and returned." These facts were readily conveyed to the ear of Colonel Hardin. Captain Armstrong now observed the fires of the Indians-they were only discernible in the distance. Caution was large in the soul of Armstrong. Hardin thought the Indians would not fight, and moved forward, in the direction of the fires, neither giving or- ders or preparing for an attack. The little army of three hundred were now strangely separated-they were in the forest, several miles from camp. The enemy were in ambush-were numeroust -and Me-che-cannah-quah,-Little Turtle-was their leader. Har- din continued to advance, and the columns moved forward in obe- dience to orders. Behind the fires lay the red men, hidden from view, with guns leveled. Steadily the broken detachment moved forward, under the intrepid control of their commander ; and no sooner had they approached the fires than a terrible volley was opened upon them from behind the smoking entrenchments. The shock was sudden-the columns were unprepared for it. The mi- * A Shawanoe village.
+Thought by some to have been as many as seven hundred-by others only about one hundred. The locality of this engagement was near Eel River, about the point where the Goshen State Road crosses this stream, now known as " Heller's Corners."
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DEFEAT OF A DETACHMENT-MIAMI VILLAGE DESTROYED.
litia were panic stricken, and all but nine broke the ranks and be- gan a precipitate flight for the camp of Gen. Harmar. Hardin had retreated with them, and in vain strove to rally them. The reso- lute regulars bravely faced the enemy, and returned the fire. The nine remaining militia were pierced by the balls of the enemy, and twenty-two of the regulars fell, while Captain Armstrong, Ensign Hartshorn, and some five or six privates, alone made their escape, and reached the camp again at the village. The victory was with the Indians, and the retreating columns all reached the camp of Harmer without further loss.
Having, after the departure of Hardin and the detachment in the morning, destroyed the Miami village, Harmar, in the mean- time, had moved about two miles down the Maumee, to the Shaw- anoe village, known as Chillicothe, and on the 20th issued the following orders :
" CAMP AT CHILLICOTHE, one of the Shawanese towns, ) on the Omee [Maumee] river, Oct. 20th, 1790. 's
"The party under command of Captain Strong is ordered to burn and destroy every house and wigwam in this village, together with all the corn, etc., which he can collect. A party of one hun- dred men (militia), properly officered, under the command of Col. Hardin, is to burn and destroy effectually, this afternoon, the Pick- away town,* with all the corn, etc., which he can find in it and its vicinity.
"The cause of the detatchment being worsted yesterday, was en- tirely owing to the shameful, cowardly conduct of the militia, who ran away, and threw down their arms, without firing scarcely a single gun. In returning to Fort Washington, if any officer or men presume to quit the ranks, or not to march in the form that they are ordered, the general will most assuredly order the artillery to fire on them. He hopes the check they received yesterday will make them in future obedient to orders."
"JOSIAH HARMAR, BRIGADIER-GENERAL."
From the scene of the yet smoking and charred remains of the Indian village of Chillicothe, f at ten o'clock on the morning of tlie 21st, the army under Harmar took up its line of march towards Fort Washington, and proceeded about seven miles, when a halt was made, and the army encamped for the night.
The evening was clear and beautiful-one of those glorions nights in the month of October, when the stars, all in harmony, with no clouds intervening between the earth and the etherial blue to *A Shawanoe village.
tThe scene of this village, some two miles below Fort Wayne, on the Maumee, was about the site of the residence of Mrs. Phelps. Says Mr. J. W. Dawson, in his research es, concerning the history of Fort Wayne, " from Judge Colman, who settled on the farm now owned by Mrs. Phelps, in 1827, we learn that every evidence of former cul- tivation of the ground there, was seen ; there being no timber growing, evidences of ancient building, of gardening, such as asparagus, &c .; and also there found many bayonets, gun-barrels, knives, pack-saddle frames, &c."
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HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE.
shut out their joyous example, seem to twinkle a heavenly anthem to the sombre hues and waneing aspects of Autumn. No stealthy tread was heard-no savage form was to be seen-the whoo-whoo, wh-o-o of the night-owl ; the careful movement of the sentinel; the mingled voices of the soldiery, and the falling leaves, rustling through the branches to the earth, were all the sounds that fell upon the attentive ears of Harmar and his army.
Looking thus out upon the stillness and beauty of the night, a thought had stolen upon the mind of Colonel Hardin. His am- bition-his desire for the chastisement of the Indian-was by no means appeased. The Miamies had perhaps returned to the village immediately after the departure of the army, thought he ; and a most propitious opportunity was presented to return and "steal a march upon them." Thus imbued, he readily imparted his feelings to General Harmar-urging " that, as he had been unfortunate the other day, he wished to have it in his power to pick the militia and try it again." He sought to explain the cause of the militia not meeting the Indians on the 19th; and insisted that he then wished to retrieve their course. The earnest demeanor of Hardin prevailed. Harmer gave his consent. The commanding general was anxious that the Indians should be as well subdued as possible, that they might not give the army trouble on its return march to Fort Wash- ington ; and, as the night advanced, amid the stillness of the scene about them, with a body of three hundred and forty militia, and sixty regulars under Major Wyllys, with a view of advancing upon the Miami village before daylight, and thus be enabled the more effectually to surprise the Indians, the force took up its line of march in three columns, the regulars in the centre, and the militia to the right and left. Captain Joseph Ashton moved at the head of the regulars, while Major Wyllys and Colonel Hardin were in his front. Contrary to expectations, some delay having occurred by the halting of the militia, the banks of the Maumee were not gained till after sunrise. Indians were now soon discovered by the spies, at the announcement of which, Major Wyllys called the reg- ulars to a halt, and ordered the militia on to a point in front, and presented his plan of attack to the commanding officers of the de- tachment. Major Wyllys reserving to himself the command of the regulars, Major Hall was directed, with his battalion, to move cir- cuitously round the bend of the Maumee, crossing the St. Mary's and, in the rear of the Indians, to halt until an attack should be made " by Major McMullen's battalion, Major Fontaine's cavalry, and the regular troops under Major Wyllys, who were all ordered to cross the Maumee at and near the common fording place, which was about opposite the residence of Mr. J. J. Comparet .* Hardin
* Among the wounded in this engagement, there was a man by the name of John Smith, who, during the engagement, with several others fell in the river. He had re- ceived a severe wound, and, as a means of safety, had remained quiet until all had left, when he erawled to the bank of the river and concealed himself until some time during the night. When all seemed still, he cautiously left his hidding place, moved
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BURIAL PLACE OF MAJORS WYLLYS, FONTAINE, AND OTHERS.
and Wyllys had aimed to surround the Indians in their encamp- ment; but Major Hall, having reached his position unobserved, disregarded the orders given by firing upon a single Indian that appeared in sight before the general attack was made. The report from the point of Hall's battalion had startled the Indians, and small squads of them were seen hurrying away in many directions, rapidly pursued, contrary to orders, by the militia under McMul- len, and the cavalry under Fontaine, leaving Wyllys, at the head of the regnlars, without support, and who, crossing the Maumee. were attacked by a superior body of Indians, under the lead of Lit- tle Turtle, and at length, after the fall of Wyllys and the largest portion of the regular troops, were forced to retreat. Major Fon- taine, at the head of the mounted militia, in a charge upon a small body of Indians, with a number of his men were killed,* while the remainder sought safety in retreat. In the meantime, while the regulars were engaged with the party under Little Turtle, the mili- tia under Hall and McMullen, at the confluence of the St. Mary and St. Joseph, were briskly engaged in combating small parties of Indians ; but soon retreated after the defeat of the regulars, hav- ing killed and wounded many of the red men, who made no at- tempt to follow them, in their rapid march towards the main body under Harmar. A single horseman having reached the camp of the main army, about 11 o'clock, a. m., Harmar at once, upon learn- ing the news of the defeat of the detachment, ordered Major Ray, with his battalion, to advance to the aid of the retreating forces. But the effect of the panic on the militia was too great-but thirty men could be prevailed on to advance to the rescue under Major Ray, who had advanced but a short distance, when they were met by Hardin and the retreating forces under him. Gaining the en- campment, Colonel Hardin, flushed with excitement, and still en- tertaining a strong desire to carry his point against the Indians, urged Harmar to set out at once, with the entire force, for the Mi-
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