USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > The pictorial history of Fort Wayne, Indiana : a review of two centuries of occupation of the region about the head of the Maumee River, Vol. I > Part 24
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On account of "the trouble of establishing an issuing com- missary's department," Harrison was delayed one day in his march upon Fort Wayne. From his camp, seventeen miles from the besieged fort, he wrote, September 11:
1812
THE SIEGE OF FORT WAYNE
209
"I shall, however, reach it tomorrow. I have every reason to believe it will not be without a severe contest. No information has been received from the fort since the 3d instant, and should the Indians have been assisted by the British detachment, I fear it would not have been able to hold out. *
* * You need not fear, sir, the issue of the action which, I expect, will take place tomorrow. My troops are in high spirits, and will, I am persuaded, do honor to themselves and their country."
At the dawn of September 6, the main army had moved and overtaken, at Girty's Town (St. Mary's), the advance column of Colonel John Allen. Here they were joined by a company of mounted Kentucky volunteers under Major Richard Menter John- son, later vice-president of the United States. Spies from the be- siegers returned to their camp with the report that "Kentuck is coming as numerous as the trees." General Harrison had delivered to the soldiers a speech, "in which he stated that Fort Wayne was in imminent danger and that it was absolutely necessary to make
LAKE MICHIGAN
MICHIGAN
FORT DETROIT
ST . ALL
HITHAMES
OCT. S. 1813
BATTLE OF THE RIVER RAISHO JAN. 22,1813,€
MALDEN AMHERSTBURG
PERRY'S VICTORY ### SEPT. 10. 1813
RIE
RAISED THE SIEGE OF FORT WAYNE SEPT. 12.1812
UMEE
R.
T. DEFIANCE
FORT STEPHENSON (FREMONT ).
TRANSFERRED COMMAND OF ARMY TO GENERAL WINCHESTER
UPPER SANDUSKY
ST. MARY'S
OHIO
ASSISTED | GOV.
D BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE. NOV. 7, 1811
EDWARDS ! IN DEFENSE. ( AGAINST THE INDIANS !
INDIANA
N. PIQUA. HARRISON NOTIFIED OF HIS APPOINTMENT TO SUCCEED WINCHESTER AS COMMANDER-IN- CHIEF OF NORTHWESTERN ARMY.
LEFT FT. HARRISON (TERRE HAUTE) OCT. 28, 1811
1
LEFT CINCINNATI AUG. 30, 1812
AGENERAL HARRISON LEFT VINCENNES SEPT., 1811
GIVEN COMMAND OF KENTUCKY TROOPS AUG. 22. 1812
KENTUCKY
-
HARRISON'S MOVEMENTS BEFORE AND AFTER THE SIEGE OF FORT WAYNE.
The map indicates the activity of General William Henry Harrison from the time of his departure from Vincennes and the fight with the savages at Tippecanoe in 1811 to the decisive battle of the Thames in 1813, which ended the war of 1812 in the west. During the winter of 1812-1813 General Harrison maintained his headquarters at Columbus and Chillicothe, Ohio, and made a trip to Cincinnati on account of illness in his family; reference to these matters is omitted from the map.
:
BATTLE OF THE
ILLINOIS
WINCHESTERS ROU
FY.MEIGS
210
THE PICTORIAL HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE
forced marches to relieve it," says Captain McAfee. "He read several articles of war, prescribing the duty of soldiers, and explain- ing the necessity of such regulations. He then observed that if there was any person who would not submit to such regulations, or who was afraid to risk his life in defense of his country, he might return home." Only one man, a Kentucky volunteer, quailed. He was ridden on a rail, dumped into the Miami river and "baptized in the name of King George, Aaron Burr and the devil." On the forward movement, Logan and Major Mann discovered at a point about five miles southwest of Fort Wayne the savages gathered in an ambush arranged by Me-te-a, which the cavalry was enabled to dislodge.
THE ARRIVAL OF HARRISON'S ARMY.
Within the fort the anxiety grew in intensity. Says Lieutenant Curtis :
"We could see large bodies of Indians between that time [the 10th and the 12th of September] running in great haste across the prairies, and many without arms. We were at a loss to determine the cause of this movement, but concluded that they must have met with some opposition or discovered the approach of an army between this place and Piqua, as they were running from that quarter. About 3 o'clock p. m. of the 12th, to our great joy, we discovered the approach of a small troop of horses, and on their coming up to the garrison, we learned it was the advance guard of an army of 5,000 men under the command of Brigadier General Harrison."
The scene within the stockade on the arrival of Harrison's army may well be imagined. The region resounded with cheers of the soldiers ; in many instances the arrival of the army of relief marked the reunion of friends and relatives.
The general, after arranging his camp, summoned the officers and agent of the fort and there, from Lieutenants Curtis and Ostrander, with Major Stickney as a corroborative witness, heard the charges preferred against the commandant, Rhea. After a careful consideration of the charges, General Harrison would have discharged the commandant except for his age, but "more particu- larly on account of his having a young family," he was allowed to resign. Reporting on the conduct of Captain Rhea, General Harri- son, writing to the secretary of war, said: "Upon my arrival at Fort Wayne, charges of so serious a nature were exhibited against Captain Rhea that I arrested him. He agreed to resign, and I gave him until December 20 to return home, at which time his pay and emoluments will cease."
During the siege, the garrison lost only three killed. The loss of the savages was probably about twenty-five, including eighteen killed close to the palisades of the fort. The army encamped around the fort, "where, a few days previous, there had been a handsome little village; but it was now in ruins, having been burned down by the Indians, together with the United States factory, which had been erected to furnish the ungrateful wretches with farming uten- sils." (McAfee). The farm buildings of Captain Wells's family also were destroyed.6
211
THE SIEGE OF FORT WAYNE
1812
On the day following Harrison's arrival, detachments commenced the destruction of the Indian villages of the entire region. The first division was composed of the regiments under Colonels John Allen and William Lewis, and Captain Garrard's troop of horse, under General Payne, accompanied by General Harrison. The second division consisted of a battalion of Colonel Wells's regiment under Major Davenport, of Scott's regiment; the mounted battalion under Colonel Johnson and the mounted Ohio troops under Adams. At the forks of the Wabash, Payne's men destroyed several abandoned villages and fields of corn. Colonel Wells destroyed the village of Five Medals, named for a chief who led in the siege, on the Elkhart river, near the site of Goshen, Indiana. Colonel Simrall, who arrived at the fort on the 17th of September, with a regiment of dragoons,
GENERAL WILLIAM HENRY HARRI- SON.
Major General Harrison, fourteenth president of the United States, was born at Berkeley, Virginia, February 9, 1773, and died while in office April 4, 1841. His bravery and energy during the days of the Indian wars of the west left their influence upon the history of the vast areas over which the savages ex- tended their warfare. His army, arriv- ing at Fort Wayne in September, 1812, brought life and hope to a besieged and despairing garrison.
CAPTAIN WILLIAM GRIFFITH.
Quartermaster Sergeant (later Cap- tain) William Griffith, one of the sur- vivors of the Fort Dearborn massacre, was a brother of Mrs. Alexander Ewing, of Fort Wayne. Mrs. Ewing was the grandmother of the late William E. Hood who loaned the portrait from which the drawing was made. The inter- esting experience of Captain Griffith are referred to in Chapter XVI of this work.
laid waste Turtle village, on Eel river, but did not molest the buildings erected by the government for the late Chief Little Turtle. General Harrison proceeded also to remove all the underbrush sur- rounding the fort extending up the St. Joseph river as far as the present State street bridge, and westward along the St. Mary's as far as the site of Swinney park, as well as toward the east and south.
Serving as chaplain of Harrison's army, Rev. Matthew G. Wallace, a Presbyterian clergyman, appears to have been the second Protestant minister to officiate at Fort Wayne.
On September 19th, General James Winchester arrived at Fort Wayne to take command of the army. Winchester, after his service in the Revolution, had retired to Tennessee, where, during the suc- ceeding years, he lived in "elegant luxury and ease," which was
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THE PICTORIAL HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE
not calculated to fit him for a vigorous campaign. He is described as "a 'fussy man,' quite heavy in person, and illy fitted for the peculiar service in which he was engaged." (Lossing's "Pictorial Fieldbook of the War of 1812").
When General Winchester reached Fort Wayne there was en- acted a scene which explains in a measure the wonderful success of General Harrison, which led him to the presidency of the United States-namely, an expression of the love and confidence of those who knew him best. The troops who had come with him from Kentucky and Ohio rebelled against the change of leadership. They demanded Harrison. Many threatened to desert. General Harrison, however, did not hesitate to turn the command into Winchester's hands, with the promise of such co-operation as he might render. It was only with the belief that Harrison would soon resume the command that the troops consented to march toward Detroit under Winchester. Harrison did in reality again become the commander- in-chief during the same month. It was Harrison who led the army against the British at the decisive battle of the Thames and there won enduring fame.
The splendid address of Harrison to his men, expressing his parting sentiments, pictures the nobility of his character and reveals the qualities which created the bond of strength between the soldiers and their leader. Said he to the assembled troops:
"If anything could soften the regret which the general feels at parting with troops which have so entirely won his confidence and affection, it is the circumstance of his committing them to the charge of one of the heroes of our glorious Revolution, a man distinguished as well for the services he has rendered his country as for the possession of every qualification which constitutes the gentleman."
On the following day, General Harrison departed for Piqua to take command of the military forces which had been gathering from Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with the intention of joining the Northwestern Army in the impending conflict with the British about Detroit.
NOTES ON CHAPTER XVII.
(1) The city of Logansport, Indiana, received its name from the brave Shaw- nee. General Benjamin Logan was the father-in-law of Colonel John Allen, for whom Allen county is named.
(2) Major Stickney's account of the siege may be found in the Fort Wayne Times, May 27, 1856; Fort Wayne Pub- lic Library.
(3) Me-te-a died in Fort Wayne in 1827. The late Louis Peltier made the casket in which the body was buried. Mr. Peltier, who was born within the walls of the old fort, in 1815, conceived the idea of his life work while assisting to remove the skeletons of the fort soldiers from the military cemetery which was situated in the region of the junction of the present Berry and Clay streets. This was while Mr. Peltier still was in his teens, and was engaged in learning the carpenter and cabinet- making trade with James Wilcox, whose shop was also the first under- taking establishment in Fort Wayne. In the beginning the undertaker was also the coffinmaker. The first person for whose body Louis Peltier made the burial casket was Chief Me-te-a, whose
tragic death was the result of taking poison while conversing with friends in the silversmith shop of "Father" Be- quette. From the January (1880) issue of "The Casket," an undertakers' jour- nal, published at Rochester, N. Y., the following interesting additional infor- mation is taken:
"The coffin was of poplar and, as staining material was scarce at that time, Dr. Cushman furnished Venetian red. 'To gain the dark color,' said Mr. Peltier, 'we burned oat straw and then secured General Tipton's whitewash brush to grain the coffin.' "
Soon after the burial of Me-te-a, Dr. Lewis G. Thompson had the body ex- humed in order to make an examination of the remains. "A noise was heard." says the late John W. Dawson, "which the company thought to be Indians; and, as they knew the savages were greatly hostile to such disinterments, they were at once panic stricken, and, quickly blowing out their lights, fled to the brush to await the denouement. False as the alarm proved to be. they were nevertheless suspicious of the nearness of danger. So, returning to the grave, they re-buried the body."
1812
THE SIEGE OF FORT WAYNE 213
(4) The armament of the fort con-
sisted of four small cannon fired from
the turrets of the blockhouses.
(5) A rare old relic of the siege of
1812, a remodeled flint-lock rifle, is preserved by William H. W. Peltier. The gun was used by his great-grand- father, James Peltier I, and doubt- less did good work in keeping the
stockade. The gun passed from the savages at a safe distance from the
hands of the original owner to James Peltier II, his son, who eventually gave
it to his brother, Salvador Peltier. Up- on the death of the latter, in 1914, the valuable old weapon came into the pos- session of William H. W. Peltier. In later years the rifle was provided with
a hammer and given a larger bore. It still retains its breech-loading feature. "I have heard my grandfather [Louis Peltier] tell of a quarrel between him-
self and his brother, James," relates
William H. W. Peltier. "One day, as a boy, James started out with a gun to hunt deer. My grandfather, Louis, then in his teens, followed him, and
refused to return to the fort. James, in his anger, beat him with a ramrod.
This so enraged my grandfather that
he took a good aim and peppered his
brother's legs with fine shot from a distance. My grandfather then ran , away and went to the Indian village at Leo, where he stayed until it appeared safe to return home; he was absent six months, living with the savages.
(6) A. G. Barnett, son of James Bar- nett, states (1916) that his father re -. lated to him this incident in connection with his coming to Fort Wayne as the captain of a company in General Harri- son's army: Arriving at the fort, Cap- tain Barnett's horse became badly in- jured by running into an obstacle while frightened. The rider sought to bring
the injured animal within the fort, but General Harrison employed such sharp
language in ordering him away from the fort that the captain never forgave
him. "And in the Harrison presidential campaign," said Mr. Barnett, "my father worked earnestly for the defeat of his former commanding officer."
1
CHAPTER VIII-1812-1813
British Army Under Muir, Sent Against Fort Wayne, Is Turned Back.
Captain George Croghan at Fort Wayne-Revolt of Captain Ward's men-
Winchester's rosy view of the future-The death of Ensign Leggett- Winchester's army puts to rout the expedition under Major Muir designed to destroy Fort Wayne-Suffering of the Kentucky troops-General Tupper's disobedience-Harrison's inspiring address-The battle of the River Raisin-Death of Colonel Allen-The siege of Fort Meigs-Harrison finds Fort Wayne in peril-Colonel Richard Menter Johnson sent to pro- tect it-Johnson's men ambushed by savages within sight of the fort- Closing incidents of the war of 1812-Death of Tecumseh.
A TTENTION now centers upon the campaign which brought into conflict the American and British troops in the theatre of war in the Maumee valley extending from Fort Wayne to Detroit.
Bidding farewell to the troops who were left to garrison the fort at the head of the Maumee, General Winchester on September 22, 1812, led his men across the Maumee and down the north bank of that stream in the direction of the enemy gathered at Detroit and Malden. He followed the route over which General Wayne came to the site of the fort eighteen years before.
CROGHAN AND MOORE, COMMANDANTS.
The garrison at Fort Wayne was placed in temporary command of Major George Croghan, a youth of twenty years and a nephew of George Rogers Clark, who was later to write his name in ever- lasting remembrance of the people of the West in his gallant defense of Fort Stephenson (Fremont) in Ohio, where a monument to his memory bespeaks the gratitude of the present generation.
Major Croghan soon was transferred to Fort Defiance, and the command was entrusted to Captain Hugh Moore, of the Nineteenth Infantry, who had accompanied Harrison to Fort Wayne. The order which transferred Major Croghan to Fort Defiance was carried from Harrison's headquarters at Piqua to Fort Wayne by Peter Navarre, a famous scout, who is said to have shot Tecumseh at the battle of the Thames. Between the years 1802 and 1807, Navarre had been engaged in trade at Fort Wayne. With his brothers, Robert, Alexis and Jacques, he was serving as a scout in Hull's army when Detroit was surrendered to the British. After his parole, Navarre served with Harrison's army, and his famous ride to carry a dispatch from General Harrison to Major Croghan at Fort Ste- phenson was one of the thrilling incidents of the war.
News of the successful defense of Fort Harrison (near Terre Haute), under the command of Zachary Taylor, who defeated the efforts of the Indians to surprise the garrison, cheered both the men of Fort Wayne and those on the march down the Maumee. 2 4
1812 1813
BRITISH ARMY SENT AGAINST FORT WAYNE 215
On September 20, Johnson's and Simrall's dragoons, which were not included in Winchester's command, started from Fort Wayne to join Harrison at Piqua, but were met at St. Mary's with orders to return. Ensign William Holton, with twenty-four men of Captain Ward's company, refused to obey the command and proceeded to their homes in Kentucky. The others obeyed the order to return to Fort Wayne.
On September 22, General Winchester wrote to Governor Meigs, of Ohio, that "I rejoice at the prospect of regaining lost territory * * * and with the hope to winter in Detroit or its vicinity." He requested Governor Meigs to send two regiments to join him at the lower Maumee rapids, "well clothed for a fall campaign."
In the meantime, General Proctor, in command of the British at Detroit, was without knowledge of the raising of the siege of Fort Wayne, and an army under Major A. C. Muir was moved up the Maumee to assist in taking the fort at the same time that Winchester's command was proceeding from Fort Wayne.
The first indication that the Americans were approaching a British army came with the capture of Ensign Leggett, with four men, in advance of the American troops, who were taken by a Frenchman and eight Indians and put to death. Muir's army con- sisted of two hundred British regulars, and Colonel Matthew Elliott's band of 1,000 Indians. The troops had four pieces of artillery. Had they reached Fort Wayne previous to the arrival of the relief army under General Harrison the result doubtless would have changed the history of all succeeding years in the middle west. Having brought their baggage and artillery up the Maumee as far as Fort Defiance, the British and Indians here discovered the approach of Winchester's army. A hasty retreat followed, after their cannon and a portion of the ammunition had been thrown into the river. 17/2019
That the British troops under Muir and Elliott were prepared to beat down the palisades of Fort Wayne is proven by the official report of Muir to General Proctor, in explaining the movements of his troops. Some of the officers endeavored to induce Muir to hold his ground and use their cannon to prevent the advance of Win- chester's troops.
"I told them," he wrote in his official report, "that the guns were brought for the purpose of battering Fort Wayne, but would not answer to fight in the woods." General Proctor, in turn, ex- plaining the movement to General Brock, said: "Fort Wayne had been relieved about ten days previous to the detachment's arrival at Fort Defiance. The delay occasioned by the armistice prevented the attainment of the object of our expedition, which was the destruction of Fort Wayne."
General Winchester's army, expecting to force its way to Detroit and recover for the United States the stronghold surrendered to the British by General Hull, continued its cautious advance down the Maumee. In the meantime, General Harrison, who had been busy at Piqua, received a notification that he had been appointed commander of the Northwestern Army, to succeed Winchester. Immediately, he set his troops in motion for the advance to Fort
1
216
THE PICTORIAL HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE
Defiance, where he found Winchester's army in a deplorable condi- tion. Many of the patriotic Kentuckians, willing to sacrifice all for their country's welfare, had hastened to the relief of Fort Wayne, clad only in their light summer garments. Cold weather was now coming on, and there was a shortage of food. A repetition of the hardships of Valley Forge was soon to be the fate of the entire army. Many were to suffer death from exposure and disease; hundreds were to die at the hands of the savages and the British. Much of the blame for this terrible result has been placed not upon General Harrison, but upon General Winchester, to whom the com- mander-in-chief entrusted the left wing of the army. The name of General Tupper, who commanded the central portion of the advanc- ing army, is also written in the list of those upon whom falls much of the responsibility of the disasters of the campaign of the winter
Fort Wayne 14 th March 154
Dear Sarah
I have nothing of importance to inform you of but I shall duffer no opportunity to escape unembraced I hope my love that you and my children are well I do not know what to think of your comeing here but I wish you was here and had come with me when I first came am bringing Ephraim completely under Shave had once in the guard house , handcuffed I have give him two whipings , the last of which was a very hard one I shall cool the fellow he bounces at the word ? I am my love your devotes Husband Sarah Bewikinson Joseph Parkinson, Save my love to Gather Mother and Hell friendly
L
A COMMANDANT'S "LOVE" LETTER.
The original of the accompanying private letter written by Major Joseph Jenkinson, commandant of Fort Wayne, March 14, 1814, to his wife, was loaned by Miss Emma Jenkinson, his granddaughter. "Ephraim," referred to in the letter, was the colored slave of the commandant. The letter was carried from
Fort Wayne to Franklin, Ohio, by W. Swain.
217
BRITISH ARMY SENT AGAINST FORT WAYNE
1812 1813
of 1812 and 1813. Wayne's Fort Defiance was in ruins. A new and larger fort was erected but a short distance from it; in honor of the leader of the left wing of the army it was named Fort Winchester.
With the arrival of General Harrison the spirits of the men revived. Previous to this, according to one private soldier who has preserved his story of the events of the campaign, "Colonel Allen, in an animated and encouraging address to his men, banished the idea of shrinking in the day of adversity. * *
* General Harrison addressed the whole army in a most thrilling speech, which kindled in the breasts of the men, generally, an increased desire to meet the enemy, and a willingness to endure any priva- tions they might be called to suffer." (Sce the "Narrative of the Suffering and Defeat of the Northwestern Army, Under General Winchester," by Rev. William Atherton: Fort Wayne Public Library. The writer of this little book details the sufferings of the army, the massacre of the prisoners and the incidents of his own sixteen months' imprisonment.)
Had General Harrison remained continuously in command of the army, it appears very probable that he would have taken his troops over an entirely new route to the attack of Detroit, approach- ing it from the west while the enemy was expecting the Americans to come from the south. To the secretary of war, writing under date of September 21, 1812, the day before Winchester's departure from Fort Wayne, he had said: "From Fort Wayne there is a path which has sometimes been used by the French, leading up the St. Joseph river, and from thence across by the headwaters of the River Raisin, to Detroit. It appears to me highly practicable, with a mounted force, by this route, to surprise and retake Detroit." The suggestion was not adopted, and it was now too late to make use of the plan.
General Harrison, while yet busy with his arrangements at Fort Winchester, learned that the savages were again surrounding Fort Wayne. Five hundred Ohio troops under Colonel Allen Trimble were hurried to its relief. They found the condition as reported, but the savages fled into the forests as soon as the Americans appeared.1
In his report to the war department, General Harrison deplores the condition of the army, "the prodigious destruction of horses," and the great expense entailed. "I did not make sufficient allow- ance," said he, "for the imbecility and inexperience of the public agents and the villainy of the contractors," who failed to deliver to the soldiers thousands of warm garments sent to them by the women of Kentucky. Typhoid fever brought death to scores of the men.
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