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 19
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The " artillery being now silenced, and all the officers killed, ex- cept Captain Ford, who was very badly wounded and more than *St. Clair's report.
that chief, was soon placed at the head of a small party of spies or scouts, with instruc- tions to wateh and report the advancement of St. Clair ; and he is said to have done his work most faithfully, for, while concealed near a small tributary of the Great Mi- ami, he and his party saw St. Clair and his army pass on their way to Greenville. Though prevented from taking part in the hostile movements that followed, yet, it is evident that the efforts of Tecumseh and his little band, whose report soon reached the head chiefs in action against St. Clair, had much to do with the subsequent defeat and rout of the army.
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HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE.
half of the army fallen, being cut off from the road, it became nec- essary to attempt the regaining of it, and to make a retreat, if pos- sible. For this purpose the remains of the army were formed, as well as circumstances would admit, towards the right of the en- campment, from which, by the way of the second line, another charge was made upon the enemy, as if with the design to turn their right flank, but in fact to gain the road. This was effected, and as soon as it was open, the militia took along it, followed by the troops ; Major Clarke, with his battalion covering the rear."* Everything was now precipitate. The panic had assumed a terri- ble flight. The camp and artillery were all abandoned-not a horse was left alive to remove the cannon ; and the soldiery threw away their arms and accouterments as they ran, strewing the road for miles with them. The retreat began about half-past nine o'clock, and continued a distance of twenty-nine miles, to Fort Jefferson, where they arrived soon after sunset, having lost thirty-nine officers, killed, and five hundred and ninety-three men killed and missing; twenty-two officers, and two hundred and forty-two men wounded ; with a loss to the public, in stores and other valuable property, to the amount of some thirty-two thousand eight hundred and ten dollars and seventy-five cents.t
The following were the names of the officers who fell on this memorable occasion : Major-general Richard Butler, Lieutenant- colonel Oldham, of the Kentucky militia ; Majors Ferguson, Clarke, and Hart; Captains Bradford, Phelon, Kirkwood, Price, Van Swearingen, Tipton, Smith, Purdy, Piatt, Guthrie, Cribbs, and New- man; Lieutenants Spear, Warren, Boyd, McMath, Bead, Burgess, Kelso, Little, Hopper, and Dickens ; Ensigns Balch, Cobb, Chase, Turner, Wilson, Brooks, Beatty, and Purdy ; Quartermasters Rey- nolds and Ward; Adjutant Anderson; and Doctor Grasson. The officers wounded were :- Lieutenant-colonels Gibson, Darke, and Sargent, (adjutant-general ;) Major Butler; Captains Doyle, True- man, Ford, Buchanan, Darke, and Hough; Lieutenants Greaton, Davidson, De Butts, Price, Morgan, McCroa, Lysle, and Thomson ; Ensign Bines; Adjutants Whisler and Crawford; and the Viscount Malartic, volunteer aid-de-camp to the commander-in-chief.
Many woment had followed the army of St. Clair in its march towards the Miami village, prefering to be with their husbands than to remain behind, most of whom were destroyed ; and "after the flight of the remnant of the army, the Indians began to avenge their own real and imaginary wrongs by perpetrating the most hor- rible acts of cruelty and brutality upon the bodies of the living and dead Americans who fell into their hands. Believing that the whites, for many years, made war merely to acquire land, the Indians
*St. Clair's report. ¡Report of Secretary of War, Dec. 11, 1792.
#" History of Ohio," by Atwater, says 250 ; Dillon, in his His. of Ind., says " more than one hundred."
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VAN CLEVE'S NARRATION OF ST. CLAIR'S DEFEAT.
crammed clay and sand into the eyes and down the throats of the dying and the dead."*
B. Van Cleve, who was in the quartermaster-general's depart- ment, of the army of St. Clair, says : \" On the fourth [of November] at daybreak, I began to prepare for returning [to Fort Washing- ton, ]į and had got about half my luggage on my horse, when the firing commenced. We were encamped just within the lines, on the right. The attack was made on the Kentucky militia. Almost instantaneously, the small remnant of them that escaped broke through the line near us, and this line gave away. Followed by a tremendous fire from the enemy, they passed me. I threw my bridle over a stump, from which a tent pole had been cut, and fol- lowed a short distance, when finding the troops had halted, I re- turned and bronght my horse a little further. I was now between the fires, and finding the troops giving away again, was obliged to leave him a second time. As I quitted him he was shot down, and I felt rather glad of it, as I concluded that now I shall be at liberty to share in the engagement. My inexperience prompted me to calenlate on our forces being far superior to any that the savages could assemble, and that we should soon have the pleasure of driv- ing them. Not more than five minutes had yet elapsed, when a soldier near me had his arm swinging with a wound. I requested his arms and accoutrements, as he was unable to use them, promis- ing to return them to him, and commenced firing. The smoke was settled down to within about three feet of the ground, but I gener- ally put one knee to the ground and with a rest from behind a tree, waited the appearance of an Indian's head from behind his cover, or for one to run and change his position. Before I was convinced of my mistaken calculations, the battle was half over and I had be- come familiarised to the scene. Hearing the firing at one time unusually brisk near the rear of the left wing, I crossed the encamp- ment. Two levy officers were just ordering a charge. I had fired away my ammunition and some of the bands of my musket had flown off. I picked up another, and a cartridge box nearly full, and pushed forward with about thirty others. The Indians ran to
*Dillon's His. Ind., p. 283. From a letter to General St. Clair, dated Fort Washing- ton, February 13, 1792, written by Capt. Robert Bunti, who had previously accompa- nied Gen. James Wilkinson with a small detachment of mounted men to the scene of St. Clair's defeat, the following extract is made : " We left Fort Jefferson about nine o'clock on the 31st (of January), with the volunteers, and arrived within eight miles of the field of battle that evening, and next day we arrived at the ground about ten o'clock. The scene was truly melancholy. In my opinion those unfortunate men who fell into the enemy's hands, with life, were used with the greatest torture-having their limbs torn off ; and the women have been treated with the most indecent cruelty, hav- ing stakes as thick as a person's arm, drove through their bodies. The first, I observed when burrying the dead ; and the latter was discovered by Colonel Sargent and Dr. Brown." Pits being dug, all the bodies found were burried by the detachment under Wilkinson. The Indians seldom if ever buried those they killed in battle, or other- wise.
"As published from the manuscript of Van Cleve in the " American Pioneer," 18-43.
#Says a note to this account ; " He was in the quartermaster-general's service ; su that he ' fought on his own hook.'"
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HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE.
the right, where there was a small ravine filled with logs. I bent my course after them, and on looking round, found I was with only seven or eight men, the others having kept straight forward and halted about thirty yards off. We halted also, and being so near to where the savages lay concealed, the second fire from them left me standing alone. My cover was a small sugar tree or beach, scarcely large enough to hide me. I fired away all my ammuni- tion ; I am uncertain whether with any effect or not. I then looked for the party near me, and saw them retreating and half way back to the lines. I followed them, running my best, and was soon in. By this time our artillery had been taken, I do not know whether the first or second time, and our troops had just retaken it, and were charging the enemy across the creek in front ; and some per- son told me to look at an Indian running with one of our kegs of powder, but I did not see him. There were about thirty of our men and officers lying scalped around the pieces of artillery. It appeared that the Indians had not been in a hurry, for their hair was all skinned off."
" Daniel Bonham, a young man raised by my uncle and brought up with me, and whom I regarded as a brother, had by this time received a shot through his hips, and was unable to walk. I pro- cured a horse and got him on. My uncle had received a ball near his wrist that lodged near his elbow. The ground was literally covered with dead and dying men, and the commander gave orders to take the way-perhaps they had been given more explicitly. Happening to see my uncle, he told me a retreat was ordered, and that I must do the best I could, and take care of myself. Bonham insisted that he had a better chance of escaping than I had, and urged me to look to my own safety alone. I found the troops pressing like a drove of bullocks to the right. I saw an officer, whom I took to. be lieut. Morgan, an aid to general Butler, with six or eight men, start on a run a little to the left of where I was. I immediately ran and fell in with them. In a short distance we were so suddenly among the Indians, who were not apprised of our object, that they opened to us, and ran to the right and left without firing. I think about two hundred of our men passed through them before they fired, except a chance shot. When we had proceeded about two miles, most of those mounted had passed me. A boy had been thrown or fell off a horse, and begged my assistance. I ran, pull- ing him along, about two miles further, until I had become nearly exhausted. Of the last two horses in the rear, one carried two men, and the other three. I made an exertion and threw him on behind the two men. The Indians followed but about half a mile further. The boy was thrown off some time afterwards, but escaped and got in safely. My friend Bonham I did not see on the retreat, but understood he was thrown off about this place, and lay on the left of the trace, where he was found in the winter and was buried. I took the cramp violently in my thighs, and could scarcely walk,
141
VAN CLEVE'S NARRATION.
until I got within a hundred yards of the rear, where the Indians were tomahawking the old and wounded men; and I stopped here to tie my pocket handkerchief around a man's wounded knee. I saw the Indians close in pursuit at this time, and for a moment my spirits sunk, and I felt in despair for my safety. I considered whether I should leave the road, or whether I was capable of any further exertion. If I left the road, the Indians were in plain sight and could easily overtake me. I threw the shoes off my feet and the coolness of the ground seemed to revive me. I again began a trot, and recollect that, when a bend in the road offered, and I got before half a dozen persons, I thought it would occupy some time for the enemy to massacre them, before my turn would come. By the time I had got to Stillwater, about eleven miles, I had gained the centre of the flying troops, and, like them, came to a walk. I fell in with lieutenant Shanmburg, who, I think, was the only officer of artillery that got away unhurt, with corporal Mott, and a woman who was called red-headed Nance. The latter two were both cry- ing. Mott was lamenting the loss of his wife, and Nance that of an infant child. Shaumburg was nearly exhausted, and hung on Mott's arm. I carried his fusee and accoutrements, and led Nance : and in this sociable way we arrived at Fort Jefferson, a little after sunset.
"The commander-in-chief had ordered Col. Darke to press for- ward to the convoys of provisions, and hurry them on to the army. Major Truman, captain Sedan and my uncle were setting forward with him. A number of soldiers, and packhorsemen on foot, and myself among them, joined them. We came on a few miles, when all, overcome with fatigue, agreed to a halt. Darius Curtus Orcutt,* a packhorse master, had stolen at Jefferson, one pocket full of flour and the other full of beef. One of the men had a kettle, and one Jacob Fowler and myself groped about in the dark, until we found some water, where a tree had been blown out of root. We made a kettle of soup, of which I got a small portion among the many. It was then concluded, as there was a bend in the road a few miles further on, that the Indians might undertake to intercept us there, and we decamped and traveled about four or five miles further. I had got a rifle and ammunition at Jefferson, from a wounded mili- tiaman, an old acquaintance, to bring in. A sentinel was set, and we laid down and slept, until the governor came up a few hours af- terward. I think I never slept so profoundly. I could hardly get awake after I was on my feet. On the day before the defeat, the ground was covered with snow. The flats were now filled with wa- ter frozen over, the ice as thick as a knife-blade. I was worn out with fatigue, with my feet knocked to pieces against the roots in the night, and splashing through the ice without shoes. In the
*Orcutt's packhorses were branded D. C. O., and it was a standing joke, when any one asked what the brand meant, to answer that D. C. stood for Darby Carey, and the round O for his wife,-Western Pioneer.
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HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE.
morning we got to a camp of packhorsemen, and amongst them I got a doughboy or water-dumpling, and proceeded. We got within seven miles of Hamilton on this day, and arrived there soon on the morning of the sixth."
The efforts against the Miami village were, for a time, at least, brought to a close. A new order of things now became necessary, if success was to be attained in any further movement towards this point.
CHAPTER XII.
* **
" Fill up life's little span With God-like deeds-it is the test -- Test of the high-born soul, And lofty aim ; The test in History's scroll Of every honored name! None but the brave shall win the goal."-HARVEY RICE.
How Washington was effected by the defeat of St. Clair-Frontier settlements exposed to the ravages of the Indians-Appointment of General Wayne to the com- mand of the western army-Relief of the frontier settlements-Party spirit-Ef- forts of the government to form treaties with the Indians-General Wayne ad- vances towards this point-Establishes his headquarters at Fort Greenville-Er-cts a fortification on the site of St. Clair's defeat-Indians begin to be fearful of suc- cess-Send General Wayne a speech-Can't accept the terms of Wayne-They still hope for British aid-The Spanish of the Lower Mississippi-Detachment sent to Fort Massac-Fierce attack upon Fort Recovery-The army starts for the Miami village- Erection of Fort Adams-Army reaches mouth of the Auglaize and Maumee-Erection there of Fort Defrance-Wayne's report to the Secretary of War-Distrust of the Indians-Capt. William Wells and Little Turtle-Wells quits the Miamies and joins Wayne-Council of the tribes -- Speech of Little Turtle -Movements of the army-Attack by the Indians-The wisdom of Little Turtle -Anthony Shane's account of Tecumseh-Report of General Wayne -- Return to Fort Defiance-Destruction of corn-fields and villages-General Wayne and the British commander at the Rapids of the Maumee -- Repairs upon Fort Defiance- Army moves again for the village here-Its arrival-Selection of the site for the erection of a fort-Journal of the army-Completion of the fort-Lient .- Col Ham- tramck assumes command, and names it FORT WAYNE- Main body of the army, under Wayne, starts for Fort Greenville-Glorious effect of Wayne's vietory throughout the country-Indians invited to hold a treaty of peace-efforts of the British Indian agents-Agreeable adjustment of affairs with Great Britain -- In- dians dispirited thereby-They begin to visit Wayne at Greenville-Letters of Col. Hamtramck-The treaty of Greenville-effecting address of Wayne-Great rejoicing throughout the country-" Westward, ho !"
-0-
HE NEWS of the defeat of Gen. St. Clair fell heavily upon the mind of Washington. He had long looked upon the cap- ture of this locality and the establishment here of formidable fortifications with the highest degree of interest and concern ; and to learn of the defeat of an army like that under St. Clair -a defeat greater than that of Braddock in his movement against Fort Du Quesne, in 1755-was to be most severely felt by him.
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HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE.
He had hoped for speedy relief to the sparse and greatly exposed settlements of the west, and had relied largely upon General St. Clair to carry his designs and those of the government to a suc- cessful termination ; and while, in the main, Gen. St. Clair was but little if any to blame for the terrible defeat that impeded his march to the Miami village, yet Washington could but feel it most sorely. His feelings are said suddenly to have overcome him ; and though most unlike the man of courage, hope, perseverance, and usual calm, self-complacency, when told of St. Clair's ill success, his bet- ter feelings suddenly gave way to those of the most intense discom- fiture. "It's all over!" he exclaimed; "St. Clair is defeated ! routed !" His private secretary, according to the account, was the only one present, and he is said to have been " awed into breathless silence by the appalling tones in which the torrent of invective was poured forth by Washington. But his composure was as soon restored, and new resolution as readily formed in the plastic mind of the President.
The defeat of St. Clair's force was doubly embarrassing. Be- sides disappointing and perplexing the government, it had " ex- posed the whole range of the frontier settlements on the Ohio to the fury of the Indians," against which they made the best arrange- ments in their power for their own defence; while the government took measures for recruiting, as soon as possible, the Western army. Among the military commandants of the time, General Wayne was a great favorite with the people of the west, and he readily received the appointment to the command of the western troops ; though " a factious opposition in Congress, at that time, to the mil- tary and financial plans of the administration, delayed the' equip- ment of the army for nearly two years; " and thus, "while General Wayne was preparing to penetrate the Indian country in the sum- mer of 1794, the attention of the Indians was drawn to their own defence, and the frontiers were relieved from their attacks."* Party spirit now ran high. The west felt sorely agrieved, and every act of the general government tending towards conciliation with the British, who were charged with inciting the Indians on the frontier, was looked upon in the most disapprobative feeling ; and while General Wayne, from 1792 to August,' 1793, was gathering his forces for the renewal of efforts against the Indians of this point, the government of the United States used strenuous efforts to estab- lish treaties of peace and good-will among the tribes hostile to the Americans in the nerthwestern territory, by sending out messen- gers with speeches. On the 7th of April, 1792, Brig .- General Wil- kinson dispatched such messengers (Freeman and Gerrard) from Fort Washington to the Indians on the Maumee;t but who were captured, and being taken for spies, were murdered some where near the rapids of this river ; and the efforts of the government re- sulted in but little success, in so far as the direct desire for peace *: " American Pioncer," p. 206. +Dillon's His. Ind. pp. 287, 289,
.
145
WAYNE'S MOVEMENT FROM FORT WASHINGTON.
was concerned. The strong arm of war seemed the only means left to bring the tribes to a true sense of regard for the government and its real purposes towards the Indians of the western country. Thus stood matters from the time of the last efforts of the United States, on the part of its last commissioners to the Indians, (Benjamin Lincoln, Beverley Randolph, and Timothy Pickering) in August, 1793, with some activity on the part of the Indians, and much hope and anxiety on the part of the settlements of Marietta and other points in the west, till Wayne had advanced from his headquarters, at " Hobson's Choice," near Fort Washington, on the 6th of Octo- ber, 1793, to the southwest branch of the Great Miami, within six miles of Fort Jefferson, and, about a month subsequently, estab- lished his headquarters at Fort Greenville,* which was built by him about the period of his arrival at that point. On the 23d of Decem- ber, of this year, from this fort, he gave orders for the erection of a fort on the site of St. Clair's defeat, in '91, and for that purpose ordered Major Henry Burbeck, with eight companies of infantry, and'a detachment of artillery, to proceed to the ground, whither the soldiers arrived, executed the order of General Wayne, and the fortification was appropriately called "Fort Recovery." At this bold procedure, the Indians began to exhibit signs of uneasiness, and soon sent General Wayne a "speech," desiring to present over- tures of peace with the United States ; but the terms presented by Wayne were not then agreeable to the Indians, who had, about the time of Wayne's proposition, much as in the case of the French, at the time of the Pontiac struggle against the British, been led to hope that early in the coming year ('94), Great Britain would render them sufficient aid to enable them to expel and destroy the Amer- ican settlers situated on the territory northwest of the Ohio.t
Matters now agitating the general mind, and, to a considerable extent, calling away the attention of the Government, relative to a proposed expedition against the Spaniards of the Lower Mississippi, and to oppose which, General Wayne was ordered by President Washington to send a detachment to Fort Massac, on the Ohio, about eight miles below the Tennessee river, there "to erect a strong redoubt and blockhouse, with some suitable cannon from Fort Washington," the expedition of Wayne remained in compara- tive quiet at the different posts, (Jefferson, Greenville, Recovery, &c.,) till the morning of the 30th of June, '94 when Major *Which formerly stood in the vicinity of what is now the town of Greenville, Darke county, Ohio.
+In February, 1791, Lord Dorchester, then Governor-general of Canada, at a council of chiefs at Quebec, told the Indians "that he should not be surprised if Great Britain and the United States were at war in course of the year." Hence their encouragement in part, at least. It was about this period also that France was experiencing much trouble of a revolutionary nature, and that Genet, the French Minister in this country, had sought to raise a body of troops, &c., to move against the Spaniards of Florida and Louisiana. Lord Dorchester, doubtless infering that such a movement, aided by the United States, would soon precipitate the two countries into a war again, was most probably led to encourage the Indians by the remark quoted above. A proclamation was issued by Washington against the movement, March 24, 1794. (10)
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HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE.
McMahon, commanding, with an escort of ninety riflemen and fifty dragoons, was fiercely assailed by a body of some fifteen hundred Indians "under the walls of Fort Recovery." Assisted, as was thought, by a " number of British agents and a few French Cana- dian volunteers," the Indians, during a period of about twen- ty-four hours, made several sallies upon this fort, but finding their efforts unavailable, retired. The loss, however, to the garrison was by no means trifling-twenty-two men being killed, and thirty wounded, and three were missing; two hundred and twenty-one horses were also killed, wounded and missing. The Indians hav- ing been engaged in carrying away their dead during the night, but eight or ten of their warriors were found dead near the fort. Major McMahon, Captain Hartshorne, Lieutenant Craig, and Cor- net Torry, fell on this occasion.
Major-General Scott, with some sixteen hundred mounted volun- teers, having arrived at Fort Greenville, on the 26th of July, ('94), and joined the regulars under General Wayne, on the 28th of July, the army began its march upon the Indian villages along the Mau- mec. On this march, some twenty-four miles to the north of Fort Recovery, Wayne had built and garrisoned a small Post, which he called Fort Adams. From this point, on the 4th of August, the army moved toward the confluence of the Auglaize and Maumee rivers, where they arrived on the 8th of August. At this point, " a strong stockade fort, with four good stockhouses, by way of bas- tions," was soon concluded, which was called by Gen. Wayne Fort Defiance. On the 14th of August, General Wayne wrote as fol- lows to the Secretary of War : " I have," said he, " the honor to in- form you that the army under my command took possession of this very important post on the morning of the Sth instant-the ene- my, on the preceding evening, having abandoned all their settle- ments, towns, and villages, with such apparent marks of surprise and precipitation, as to amount to a positive proof that our ap- proach was not discerned by them until the arrival of a Mr. New- man, of the quartermaster-general's department, who deserted from the army near the St. Mary's. * I had made such demon- strations, for a length of time previously to taking up our line of march, as to induce the savages to expect our advance by the route of the Miami villages, to the left, or toward Roche de Bout, by the right-which feints appear to have produced the desired effect, by drawing the attention of the enemy to those points, and gave an opeuing for the army to approach undiscovered by a devious, i. e., in a central direction. Thus, sir, we have gained possession of the grand emporium of the hostile Indians of the west, without loss of blood. . Everything is now prepared for a forward move to-morrow morning toward Roche de Boute, or foot of the rapids. * Yet I have thought proper to offer the enemy a fast overture of peace ; and as they have everything that is dear and interesting now at stake, I have reason to expect that they will
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