General Anthony Wayne
Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana
General Anthony Wayne statue at Freimann Square shown in Street View photo from Google map which has over 200 photos of the statue and various events at Freimann Square over the years
After several years of preparation, the final plans for the erection of a bronze equestrian statue to the memory of General Anthony Wayne were decided upon in 1916. The commission, after viewing the models submitted by several of America's well-known sculptors, awarded the work to Charles E. Mulligan, of Chicago, but the sudden death of the sculptor revised the plans, and George E. Ganiere, of Chicago, was selected. The sum of $15,000 for the statue, in bronze, in addition to $900 for two separate tablets, was set aside. The monument commission was composed of J. Ross McCulloeh, William F. Ranke, Mrs. Frances Haberly-Robertson and Colonel D. N. Foster. The site chosen for the monument is the northwest corner of Hayden Park, facing the Lincoln Highway (Maumee avenue).
The agitation for the erection of a monument to General Wayne was begun previous to 1889, in which year the annual report of the chief engineer of the United States recommended that congress appropriate the sum of $5,000 for a statue to be placed on the site of old Fort Wayne. Congress failed to act. Then, in 1894, the board of county commissioners authorized a levy of one-fourth of one cent per year on each $100 of assessed property valuation for the creation of a fund to erect a monument to Wayne's memory. The money thus secured was used in payment for the present monument.
Here is an account of the dedication excerpted from a 2012 Old Fort News article by Walter Font: It was a day blessed by Providence, "a cloudless sky" with no rain in sight to mar the day's festivities.The people of Fort Wayne had planned a grand partyto celebrate Independence Day and the memory of Anthony Wayne, and they came by the thousands: "Interurban cars were crowded and all roads leading intothe city, from every direction, were alive with automobilesand buggies." Although there were numerous attendant activities throughout the community that day,the two primary events were the "monstrous" parade and the dedication of the Anthony Wayne monument in Hayden Park. Vice President Thomas Marshall arrived at the Pennsylvania Depot in the morning. Hundreds welcomed him at the station and at his reception in the Anthony Hotel where he stayed until the parade beganat 1 :40 in the afternoon. Huge crowds were on hand when Marshall and other dignitaries stepped into theircarriages and followed the military units on parade including current soldiers in the National Guard and veterans from the Civil War and Spanish-American War. Marching behind them were thousands of deferred classmen waving American flags with "colored boys scattered in their ranks." Four of the deferred-classmen were greeted with applause and laughter whenthey passed the crowd carrying "a coffin on which wasa German helmet and the inscription 'To Hel-met Der Kaiser.' Walking sadly along in the rear and kept in chains was his Satanic Majesty costumed in the lurid hue of Hades. The devil bore a sign which read 'I can see my finish.'" Third in line were those of foreign birth, or parentage, including groups representing the Romanians (with a banner "Citizens of the United States by Adoption"); the Italians with a band, lead by Joseph Tuso mounted on a horse and wearing an Italian uniform with a sword at his side; Americans of Scottish birth representing the Caledonian Society, some wearing"plaids and bonnets of Scottish fame and glory";the Irish; and Jewish citizens, "lovers of liberty in the new world and old." Bringing up the rear were various organizations including the labor unions as well as civic, social, religious and fraternal groups. The parade began on Harrison Street and ended at Hayden Park. A grandstand for 1,000 was built on Maumee Avenue, north of the speaker's stand, and from there schoolchildren opened the dedication ceremony with a chorus of patriotic songs. After an invocation and an address by Judge Walter Olds, the statue of Anthony Wayne was unveiled accompanied by "cheers and applause andsongs by the school children." D. N. Foster, as head of the monument commission, presented the statue to the city which was accepted in a brief address by Mayor W. Sherman Cutshall. Tom Marshall then rose to a"great welcome and demonstration" for his dedicatory address. George E. Ganiere [the artist who made the statue] sat with the dignitaries on the speaker's stand and after Marshall spoke, he was introduced to the spectators. The children's chorus provided the closing act of the ceremony by singing the Star Spangled Banner."
Keep Anthony Wayne where he’s star of show by Madelane Elston who is chairwoman of the Allen County Courthouse Preservation Trust published in the Journal Gazette newspaper December 30, 2012.
The Anthony Wayne Statue by Nancy McCammon-Hansen posted April 29, 2013 on the History Center Notes & Queries blog discusses the statue in Freimann Square and the facial plaques of Little Turtle and Tecumseh that used to be on the base of the statue. The graphic at the library states: These three bronze plaques, executed by George Ganiere, were originally part of the municipal equestrian statue of Major General Anthony Wayne, erected at Hayden Park (now renamed John Nuckols Park) in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1917. The plaques now reside in the Genealogy Center at the downtown Allen County Public Library. The full story was in the next issue of Old Fort News publication of the The History Center.
You can't see him, but Anthony Wayne is getting a facelift Laser used to clean statue, remove coating applied in the 1990s by Kevin Leininger published August 14, 2014 in The News-Sentinel newspaper.
Map of Fort Wayne said to have been made on July 18, 1795, for General Anthony Wayne is at the Library of Congress. "Fort Wayne ... the first American post, built in 1794 and named for Anthony Wayne after his victory at Fallen Timbers, was located across the St. Marys from the old Miami village of Kekionga and the remains of old Fort Miami, at the present intersection of Clay and Berry streets"--Ency. of Historic Forts, p. 281-282.
Anthony Wayne’s fort by Tom Castaldi, local historian published on the Heritage Trail on ARCH ( Architecture and Community Heritage).
General Wayne's Camp Bed on page 141 in The pictorial history of Fort Wayne, Indiana : a review of two centuries of occupation of the region about the head of the Maumee River by Griswold, B. J. (Bert Joseph), 1873-1927; Taylor, Samuel R., Mrs, Publication date 1917, on Archive.org. General Anthony Wayne's Field Bed is still on permanent exhibit at the The History Center. Wayne used this camp bed during the Revolutionary War and in the Northwest Territory from 1792-1796. Folding camp beds were used by military officers such as Anthony Wayne and George Washington in the eighteenth century. Copied from page 141 above: Probably the most Interesting and valuable Item in the exhibit of historic mementos in the relic room of the Allen county court house, is the camp bed used by General Wayne during his western campaign. The bed, which is made of walnut and hinged in such manner as to permit It to be folded and placed in a small box, has an interesting history. After his Revolutionary war service, Wayne, who had used the bed during his campaigns, took it to his farm home near Waynesboro. In 1792, he brought it on his western expedition and used it until the time of his departure from Greenville where the famous treaty was effected. He then gave the bed to Major Ambrose Whitlock, who had served through Wayne's western campaign and had assisted in the building of the fort. After the death of Major Whitlock at Crawfordsville, Indiana, in 1863, the bed remained in the home until some time after the death of the widow, Elizabeth Whitlock, when it came into the possession of the nephew of the widow, James W. Binford. then living at Paris, Illinois. In 1890, Mr. Binford removed with his daughters to Washington. D. C. Two years later, Mrs. Amy R. Seavey, of Fort Wayne, while in Washington, learned of the relic and visited the Binfords. This resulted in the loan of the bed to the local Sons of the American Revolution for exhibition purposes during the centennial celebration in Fort Wayne, in 1895. Again, in 1902, through the efforts of the members of the Mary Penrose Wayne chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the daughters of the late James W. Binford loaned the relic, with the understanding that It should remain on exhibition in Fort Wayne until such time as a proper place could be made for it in the National Museum In Washington. It is considered a permanent feature of the Fort Wayne historical exhibit.
Mad Anthony Wayne posted Jan 3, 2015 by Decater Collins on YouTube
Part of the Quitting The Grave series of documentaries on American frontier history. Special Thanks to Walter Font and the Fort Wayne History Center. Please visit their website here: fwhistorycenter.com/ Shot and Edited by Decater Orlando Collins.
March 25, 2019The History Center posted a statement on Facebook: STATEMENT ON MAD ANTHONY WAYNE DAY For 98 years, the community has entrusted the Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society (The History Center) with serving present and future generations by collecting, preserving and sharing artifacts, documents and images that describe the people, places and events that define Fort Wayne and Allen County history. The organization adheres to a rigorous code of professional standards and ethics that requires historical interpretations to reflect thorough research, sound scholarship, temporal context and cultural inclusiveness. The History Center was not consulted in the creation of the “Mad Anthony Wayne Day” resolution; however, if City Council wishes to address the concerns regarding the accuracy of the history included in R-19-02-12, the organization would eagerly consider such a request.
Historical fiction Resolution perpetuates long-debunked Native American stereotypes by Stephen Warren published April 26, 2019 in The Journal Gazette newspaper.
Haunted Places in Erie Pa. Mad Anthony Wayne posted Nov 14, 2019 by David DiCola on YouTube Erie News Now produced a three part series on Haunted Urban Legends in and around Erie Pa. We learned about Revolutionary War soldier Anthony Wayne and how his spirit still haunts Route 322 every New Years Day.
Waynesborough Home of Revolutionary War’s General “Mad” Anthony Wayne on Philadelphia and The Countryside states Wayne is buried in two graves. Thirteen years after Wayne’s death and burial in Erie, PA, at the family’s request, his son Isaac brought back the General’s bones for another burial in the family’s plot in Radnor, PA.
Mad Anthony Wayne’s Bones published October 30, 2014 by Jamestown Settlement & American Revolution Museum at Yorktown blog states: There is a strong oral tradition in Pennsylvania that all of Mad Anthony’s bones did not make it back home. As the story goes, the bones had not been properly packed, and many of them were lost on the long overland trek from Erie to Radnor. This circumstance gave rise to one of the best ghost stories about a Revolutionary War hero. Every year on January 1, the General’s birthday, Mad Anthony Wayne goes out searching for his lost bones. His ghost rides along U.S. Route 322 in Pennsylvania, a road that follows the path along which the bones were scattered, and seeks to recover them. Understandably, the General is mad that he is buried in Erie, in Radnor, and at several locations in-between.
Sketch of the Life of General Anthony Wayne starting on page IIX of 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 Wayne; 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 by Brice, Wallace A, 1868, on Archive.org.
The storming of Stony Point by Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society, 1953 on Archive.org
This sketch was published in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette on July 9, 1879.
A little known actor named Marion Robert Morrison was originally given the stage name Anthony Wayne, but Fox Studios change it to John Wayne who became a leading man in 142 of his 153 movies a Hollywood record.
