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 26

Author: Griswold, B. J. (Bert Joseph), 1873-1927; Taylor, Samuel R., Mrs. The story of the townships of Allen County
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago : R.O. Law Co.
Number of Pages: 760


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 26


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89


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business to the portage between the Maumee and the Wabash rivers, and for six years he "kept pack-horses and a warehouse for the deposit and transportation of merchandise and peltries." Mr. Bourie's business grew to large proportions, and the success of the enterprise would have continued had it not been for the outbreak of the Indians preceding the war of 1812. It was during this "storm" period that Mr. and Mrs. Bourie returned to Detroit. Coming once more to Fort Wayne in 1814, they brought their three- month-old daughter -- Caroline. This child, who later became the wife of Lucien P. Ferry, lived to the age of one hundred years and witnessed the transformation of the wilderness into a modern


MRS. LOUIS BOURIE.


Mrs. Frances Bourie, with her hus- band, Louis Bourie, had visited Fort Wayne several times previous to 1814, but it was in the latter year that the family came from Detroit and took up their permanent residence. During the war of 1812 their home on their farm, which included a part of the present city of Detroit, was plundered by the In- dians and most of their personal prop- erty carried away. In 1834 the govern- ment reimbursed the descendants to the amount of the loss. Because of her cul- ture and dignified manner Mrs. Bourie was commonly called "Lady" Bourie. The drawing is after a painting by Rock- well, of New York, left to the descend- ants of Mrs. Bourie's daughter, the late Mrs. Lucien P. Ferry.


CHIEF RICHARDVILLE'S SAFE.


The iron safe owned by Chief Jean Baptiste de Richardville was the first to be brought to Fort Wayne. Richardville, who first secured a near-monopoly of the portage business between the St. Mary's and the Wabash rivers and later engaged in the Indian trade with his headquar- ters on Columbia street, is said to have been the most wealthy Indian in the west. The safe was a strong wooden box securely bound with sheets and strips of iron, firmly bolted. The wood is now de- cayed and many of the bolts are missing. The safe is on exhibition in the relic room of the courthouse, as a loan of L. W. Hills, who purchased it from John W. Miller. Mr. Miller bought it from James Godfrey in 1850. The safe was opened by the use of a key which unlocked the door at the top.


city. Mrs. Ferry died in 1914 at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Eudora Boyles. Other children of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Bourie were David, Nancy Ann (wife of John P. Hedges), and Harriet (wife of Colonel George W. Ewing). The children of Mr. and Mrs. Ferry are the late Colonel Clinton P. Ferry (famous as "The Duke of Tacoma," so called because of his successful speculation in the purchase of the land on which the city of Tacoma, Washington, is built and which was developed largely through his efforts), Mrs. Boyles, of Fort Wayne, and Mrs. Harriet McMillan, of Decatur, Indiana, whose former husband was George B. Orvis.


Soon after his arrival at the fort in 1814, Mr. Bourie was given a contract to provide bread for the soldiers, and he built a bakery


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THE PICTORIAL HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE


at the corner of the present Clinton and Columbia streets. Later, he established a store and erected a log residence building ad- joining the bakery. "I well remember that the French baker whom my father employed was so clean," said the late Mrs. Ferry, "that if we children went into the room without first wiping our feet, he would drive us out."


The death of Louis Bourie' occurred in 1816.


Lieutenant Daniel Curtis, whose name appears among those who were the most active in the fort during the siege, was still connected with the post in 1814. The residents of the fort, in addi- tion to the troops, included Major Benjamin F. Stickney, the Indian agent, whose good services during the siege have been noted; Ben- jamin Berry Kercheval and Peter Oliver (the latter of whom was beside Stephen Johnston when he was killed by the savages in 1812), clerks of the agent; Jean Baptiste Maloche and his wife; Louis Bourie and family ; James Peltier and wife, Angeline Chape- teau Peltier; Charles Peltier, trader; John P. Hedges, who had first visited the fort in 1812 and who was now stationed at the fort as a storekeeper; Dr. Daniel Smith, who had removed from Lancaster, Ohio ; Robert Forsythe, who later became a paymaster in the United States army ; George Hunt, a sutler, and John E. Hunt, then a clerk for his brother George.


The isolation and the quietude of the place is suggested in Mrs. Suttenfield's impressive description of the celebration of the 4th of July, 1814, quoted from an article by Mrs. Laura G. Detzer, in Volume II of the "History of the Maumee River Basin":


"The fort at that time contained sixty men of the regular army, all patriotic and anxious to celebrate one day in the year. They made three green bowers, 100 feet from the pickets of the fort, where Main street now is-one bower for the dinner table, one for the cooks and one for the music. Major Whistler had two Ger- man cooks and they prepared the dinner. There were but eleven persons at the table; but three are now living [1869] to tell of that day. Our dinner consisted of one fine turkey, a side of venison, boiled ham, vegetables in abundance, cranberries and green cur- rants. As for dessert, we had none. Eggs were not known here for three years from that time. There were three bottles of wine sent here from Cincinnati; but one was made use of. Then there were a few toasts, and, after three guns and music, they went into the fort and the ladies changed their dresses. Then Major Whistler called for the music, which consisted of one bass drum, two small ones, one fife, violin and flute. There was a long gallery in the fort; the musicians took their seats there. But three of the gentle- men could dance. There were but three ladies present. A French four passed off very well for an hour. Then the gates of the fort were closed at sundown, which gave it a gloomy appearance. No children, no younger persons for amusement, all retired to their rooms. All was quiet and still. The sentinel on his lonely round would give us the hour of the night. In the morning we were aroused by the beating of the reveille."


The lives of these residents of Fort Wayne of 1814 were never without the fear of possible attack from savage foes, even though


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1813 1815


the treaty of peace with England was designed to govern the acts of the Indians in their relations with the American settlers.


On January 27, 1814, General Harrison, writing from Cincinnati


dir.


Headquarters 805 /4 Dist. Chillicothe May 15h Pg-


I have just received two letter from Major Whistler Going at Fort Wayne. in which he states that andany to the Northwest, have declaire their intentions to continue the war against the united states . They also say that they will not suffer the landy. in the Territories of Michigan Indiana & Alunos to be surveyed, or echter.


He also states that the Parquets in. the works at Fort Wayne, are so much de- - cage, that it will be necessary to rebuild The Fort


It will probably be necessary to how a treaty with the Indians, or send an army against them I have the house to be


Don bla Secretary of war


with great respect your bb. He serut Duncandearthur


WHEN WHISTLER REBUILT FORT WAYNE.


General Duncan McArthur, commanding the Eighth military district, wrote from Chillicothe, Ohio, to the secretary of war in May, 1815, that Major Whistler "states that the Picquets in the works at Fort Wayne are so much decayed that it will be necessary to rebuild the fort." On August 3, 1816, General A. D. Macomb, writing from Detroit, told the secretary that the fort was completed, and that a drawing of it, which had been forwarded to Detroit, was enclosed with the communication to the secretary. This places the time of the rebuilding of the Fort Wayne between the early summer of 1815 and the late summer of 1816. The original of the above letter is in the war department. This is a reproduction from the photostatic copy in the Burton Historical Collection at Detroit.


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THE PICTORIAL HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE


to John Armstrong, secretary of war, observes:


"Major Whistler, lately from Fort Wayne, says that the Indians in that quarter evince the most friendly disposition, although an- other officer who left that post since the major, says that the Miamis had informed the commanding officer that Dixon was collecting Indians in the neighborhood of Chicago to attack Fort Wayne."


Robert Dickson (Dixon) was an active and influential British trader and emissary who had been sent among the Indians on the frontier to incite them to war. (McAfee.)


That Major Whistler himself was not a little worried over conditions is suggested by his letter of July 1, to Brigadier General Duncan McArthur, in which he asks for additional forces or a revision of the fort buildings. Said he :


"The Indians show a bad disposition to Attend the Treaty [at Greenville conducted by General Harrison and General Cass] * * * I have Received an Account from Mr. Johnston [at Piqua] that the Potawatimies and Taways and the Other Indians Bordering on Lake Michigan are intending to Join the British and Take Detroit, Malden and this Place [Fort Wayne] this Moon. I am of opinion the Addition Made to This garrison [fort] Ought to be pulled Down or more Troops sent Here immediately, for the Number here are not Sufficient to man both. It Was an ill-constructed Thing at first."


The conduct of Chief Richardville had been especially annoying to Major Whistler. At the outbreak of the war, Richardville hur- riedly gathered his effects and fled with his family to the British lines and there remained, without taking an active part in the trouble, until 1814, when he made his way to a spot about six miles southeast of Fort Wayne on the St. Mary's and there encamped. Major Whistler sent him a message by the hand of Crozier, an inter- preter, inviting him to a conference at the fort. He responded, but he appeared reluctant to attend the conference at Greenville. Finally he came, in company with Chief Chondonnai, a participant in the Fort Dearborn massacre, and placed his signature to the treaty.


General Harrison, explaining the situation to Secretary Arm- strong, wrote :


"The Miamies have their principal settlement at the forks of the Wabash thirty miles from Fort Wayne, and at the Missisineway, thirty miles lower down. A band of them under the name of Weas have resided on the Wabash sixty miles above Vincennes, and an- other on the Eel river, a branch of the Wabash twenty-five miles northwest of Fort Wayne. By an artifice of Little Turtle, these three bands were passed upon General Wayne as distinct tribes and an annuity granted to each."


L


Rumors of British influence kept the garrison alert to interpret every suspicious movement of the savages. Early in the year 1815- February 11-William Woodbridge, acting governor of Michigan, writing to General McArthur, states that a reward of $600 each had been offered by the British for the scalps of John Kinzie, Jr., and Chaudonet, and urged that these men assemble the chiefs at Fort Wayne to conciliate them. "May I hope for your influence and sanction in the endeavor to effect it?" he asked. "Will you, if you approve of it, enforce it by your influence with the govern-


.


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1813 1815


ment by such an order to the commandant at Fort Wayne as may be requisite ?"


Major Whistler, writing from Fort Wayne to General McArthur as early as January 14th, tells of the visit of a Frenchman named Bartrand employed by John Kinzie, Jr., who, under oath, told of the hostile intentions of two chiefs, Gemmo and Geebance. Directly afterward, a Pottawattomie chief, White Pigeon, was discovered lurking near the fort. He was induced by Antoine Bondie to visit the commandant who held him captive. In the year 1818 this Bar- trand lived in a log house on the site of South Bend, Indiana, the only dwelling between Fort Wayne and Chicago.


An interesting portion of Major Whistler's letter deals with the duties of the "armourer" of the fort, who, he explains, "fre- quently works for the Indians Such as Mending their Guns, Tommy hawks, &c. I mentioned the circumstance to the agent, Mr. Stick-


GEORGE WASHINGTON WHISTLER.


George Washington Whistler, father of James McNeill Whistler, the world- famed artist, was born in 1800 within the stockade of old Fort Wayne. He was the son of Major John Whistler, the commandant from 1814 to 1816. In later years George Washington Whistler rose to fame as an engineer. He was the builder of the Transsiberian railroad.


MRS. SUTTENFIELD'S TABLE.


This handsome mahogany table was used for several years in the old fort by Mrs. Laura Suttenfield. It passed into other hands and finally became the prop- erty of the late Colonel R. S. Robertson. It is still in daily use in the Robertson home.


ney, at St. Mary's," he adds, "wishing to be informed if the Soldier was to receive pay from the Indian department as they had done at Fort Dearborn at ten cents per day. Stickney informed me that they were to have no Work done for them unless an order from the Secretary of War. I know not what will become of the Poor devils; they must have some way to maintain themselves and familys. However I shall continue to have Such Work done for them as have been customary untill your excellency orders Me otherwise or some other officer authorized to Order it otherwise."


Concerning the lack of food supplies, Major Whistler says :


"The contractor has been very deficient in his Supplying this Post. There is not now more than Six days Issue of flour on hand at half rations. I had to send Soldiers with Sleds to St. Mary's for that Article and for the Six pounder. I am informed the Commd.


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THE PICTORIAL HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE


officer there has been firing brick bats with it and has used all the powder in that manner. No whiskey or soap. This is the second time I had Sent Sleds by Soldiers for flour to St. Mary's."1


Major Whistler, in view of the hostile attitude of the savages to the northwest, determined that the safety of the garrison, as well as the women and children under his care, demanded the building of a new fort.


In the month of May, 1815, he informed General Duncan Mc- Arthur of his intention to rebuild the fort, and General McArthur communicated the information to the secretary of war in a letter written from Chillicothe, Ohio, in which he said:


"I have just received two letters from Major Whistler, com- manding at Fort Wayne, in which he states that the Indians to the northwest have declared their intentions to continue the war against the United States. They also say they will not suffer the lands in the territories of Michigan, Illinois and Indiana to be surveyed or settled. He also states that the piquets [pickets] in the works at Fort Wayne are so much decayed that it will be necessary to rebuild the fort."


In the fall of 1815, therefore, Major Whistler directed the con- struction of a new fort to take the place of the decaying structure erected by the troops of Colonel Hunt fifteen years before.


Where was the new fort placed ?


The writer has found no better authority for an answer to the question than the record of the late John W. Dawson, who, in 1858, gathered his information from the earliest settlers and wrote as follows :


THE LOCATION OF THE FORTS.


"The exact spot, or, rather the very bounds of the fort grounds are not, at this distant period, to be ascertained; but enough is certainly known to advise the interested that the ground selected for this [Wayne's] fort is that which is designated on the city of Fort Wayne as lots 11, 12 and 13, within Taber's addition, laid out 15th April, 1835, being at the northwest corner of Clay and Berry streets, near where Clay street crosses the canal [Nickel Plate railroad tracks] at the Maumee bridge [then at Main street] just below the junction of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's. [Lot 11 is now occupied by the new building of the Western News- paper Union, erected in 1916. Calvin K. Rieman states that when his father purchased this lot in the ' seventies and commenced an excavation on the property, he dug out the fragment of a pole, set deep in the ground, which the late Franklin P. Randall believed to be the flagpole of Wayne's original fort. Mr. Dawson, writing in 1872, says that this stump of a pole was doubt- less the remnant of one of the liberty poles erected by the whigs in honor of General Harrison in the summer of 1840, when "this place, as others in the west, ran up so many poles that the traveler ap- proaching the town was reminded of the spars of shipping in some harbor."] This [Wayne's] fort was of log construction, well located but not very safe. The location commanded the Maumee for half a mile below the junction, and the mouth of the St. Joseph and the St. Mary's. It was small, and, not serving the purpose, was torn


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down about 1804 [really in 1800] and a new one built on what is now lot 40, in the addition named above [Taber's] by Colonel [Thomas] Hunt. [Lot 40 is almost identical with Old Fort park. It seems very probable that the troops occupied the original fort during the period of construction of the second fort, so there were two American forts standing at the same time, separated by per-


MAJOR JOHN WHISTLER.


Major (then Lieutenant) Whistler first served at Fort Wayne in 1794, when Wayne assigned him to perform special service for the government. In 1803 he built Fort Dearborn (Chicago). He served as commandant at Fort Wayne from 1814 to 1816. Major Whistler came to America as a British soldier in the Revolution, under Burgoyne. He was captured, paroled and sent back to Eng- land. His elopement with Miss Ann Bishop, daughter of Sir Edward Bishop, a close friend of his father, is an inci- dent of importance, as it brought to America the fugitive lovers, who first made their home at Hagerstown, Mary- land, in 1790. Major Whistler at once joined the army of the United States and In the following year came west with General St. Clair's army. He escaped from the "Wabash slaughter field" with severe wounds. At Fort Washington (Cincinnati), where Whistler was as- signed to duty, he was joined by his wife. Upon the arrival of Wayne's army he was taken on the northward march. He participated in the battle of Fallen Timber and assisted in building Fort Wayne. After the war the Whistlers were residents of the fort, and here, in 1800, George Washington Whistler was born. Mrs. Laura Suttenfield, who died in Fort Wayne in 1886, at the age of ninety-one years, has left many remin- iscences of Major Whistler, with whom she was well acquainted; the Whistlers and the Suttenfields occupied homes within the fort at the same time. The commandant was a man of high charac- ter, a linguist and a musician; his wife was a woman of rare charm and force of character. To Major Whistler and wife were born fifteen children. In 1816 the commandant was transferred to duty at St. Louis.


C


CHIEF RICHARDVILLE (PE-CHE-WA) "He was," said Senator John Tipton, who knew him well, "the ablest diplomat of whom I have any knowledge. If he had been born and educated in France, he would have been the equal of Tally- rand." The portrait of Chief Jean Bap- tiste de Richardville (Pe-che-wa) is aft- er an oil painting in the possession of his granddaughter, Mrs. Archangel En- gelmann, of Huntington county. Richard- ville was the son of Joseph Drouet de Richardville, a French trader, and Tau- cum-wah, a sister of Chief Little Turtle. He was born about 1761 in a hut near the historic apple tree in the present Lakeside. While yet a boy, an exhibi- tion of great daring in rescuing a white prisoner from burning at the stake made Richardville a chief of the Miamis. Al- though he was present on the occasion of Harmar's defeat, he did not participate in the slaughter, as his tendencies were always toward peace and the betterment of his tribe. He was a signer of the treaty of Greenville. A daughter, La- Blonde, married James Godfrey. A


daughter of James Godfrey was named Archangel. A son of James Godfrey (John Godfrey, Sr.) was killed by his son, John Godfrey in 1908. Catherine, a second daughter of Chief Richardville, became the wife of Chief Francis La- Fontaine. There was a third daughter, Susan. The chief died at his later home on the St. Mary's August 13, 1841.


whistler 1


SIGNATURE OF MAJOR JOHN WHIS- TLER.


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THE PICTORIAL HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE


haps three hundred feet of space.] This was taken down in 1817 [really in 1815-1816] by Major [John] Whistler and rebuilt in a most substantial manner. From the best information, it seems to have enclosed an area about 150 feet square in pickets ten feet high, and set in the ground, with a block house at the southeast and north- west corners, two stories high. The second floor projected and formed a bastion in each where the guns were rigged; that on the southeast commanding the south and east sides of the fort, and that on the northwest the north and west sides. The officers' quar- ters, commissary department and other buildings located in the dif- ferent sides, formed a part of the walls, and in the center stood the liberty pole on which was placed a metal American eagle, and over that floated the Stars and Stripes of the United States.


"The plaza, in the enclosure was smooth and gravelly. The roofs of the houses all declined within the enclosure after the shed fashion, and to prevent the enemy from setting it on fire, and, if fired, to protect the men in putting it out; and the water which fell was led in nicely made wooden troughs, just below the surface of the ground, to the flagstaff, and from thence led by a sluiceway to the Maumee.


"It is thought it left out a small portion of the old ground [that is, when Major Whistler rebuilt the fort he did not include all of the ground covered by the fort as built by Colonel Hunt], for it is definitely known that the southwest corner of the new fort was exactly at the corner of lot 40, the pickets running south of east, toward John Brown's blacksmith shop, and near where the shop now stands [1858], and where was one of the forts [blockhouses]. The east side ran to a point on the north bank of the canal, then west to the second fort and then [south] to the place of beginning.


"The stone curbing of the old well may yet be seen [1858] in the edge of the south bank of the canal and near the northwest corner of the fort. [In June, 1847, the Fort Wayne city council paid Dennis Dumean $1.50 for "filling up well at old fort"]. The canal cut off the north end of the fort, by which the pickets were removed, and this ancient relic invaded about 1833.


"Commencing at the north and at the upper side of the fort was a fine wagon track that ran obliquely down the bank, landing near lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, Taber's addition, and just below and about the south end of the present bridge over the St. Mary's at that place. [The bridge, at that time, 1858. crossed the St. Mary's at Lafayette street. The lots mentioned compose the unoccupied south bank of the St. Mary's running east from the Spy Run bridge. This was known for many years as the pirogue landing.]


"The fort itself was one of the most substantially built in the west. Attached to it was the commanding officers' garden of about one acre, which was on the west, including what are now lots 35, 36, 37 and 38, Taber's addition. *


* * The company's garden ex- tended to the west of that of the commanding officer, and ended about where the Hedekin house now is [Barr street], embracing, perhaps, lots 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 26, 27, 28 and 29, County addition, and was most highly cultivated.


"The road ran about where the canal does now [right-of-way of the Nickel Plate railroad], from what is now the northeast corner


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JENKINSON AND WHISTLER COMMANDANTS


1813 1815


of Columbia and Barr streets, eastward to the fort.


"To the south of the fort, where F. P. Randall, Esq., now lives [northwest corner of Lafayette and Berry streets], lots 35, 26 and 37, County addition, and lots 11, 12 and 13, Taber's addition, was a graveyard, where were buried many persons-officers, citizens and soldiers, who had theretofore died. [It will be observed that this * graveyard included the area occupied by Wayne's fort.] *


4


Another place of burial was that now occupied by the Times build- ing [1858] and block contiguous-northeast corner of Columbia and ยท Clinton streets, where many whites, children and Indians were from time to time buried-the bones of whom have been lifted as work- men have dug for foundations for building."


A later observation by the same writer is as follows:


"The timbers [for the rebuilt fort] were cut by the troops on the grounds now [1858] held and occupied by H. B. Taylor, James Embry, Samuel Hanna, and that between here and there on the east of town. It was hauled by the aid of oxen, ropes used instead of chains, and raised by the troops into officers' quarters, commis- sary departments, blockhouses, etc. The pickets were 121/2 feet long and were put in sets of six, with a cross-piece two feet from the top, let in and spiked, and a trench dug 21/2 feet deep, into which they were raised. A part of the old was taken down at a time and replaced by the new. It was in this year [1815] that a small log house was built in what is now Barr street, near the corner of that and Columbia, and was located within range of the fort, that it might be razed if it were attacked by the enemy. This primitive building was afterward set out of the street and stood for a long time as a part of Washington hall [Ewing's Tavern], facing Barr street."




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