Five Forts were built by the French, British, and then the Americans around the three rivers of Fort Wayne. So much information has accumulated on this page that a reorganization into separate pages is in progress, so the data will be changing as items are moving around when time permits.
Because waterways were highways in the wilderness, the confluence of the St. Mary’s, St. Joseph, and Maumee Rivers was desirable to the Miami Indians and early settlers who sought to claim the land. Three American forts were built in the area, which the Miami called Kekionga, beginning with General Anthony Wayne who built the first American fort here in September and October 1794. The last of these forts was built in 1815–1816 by Major John Whistler. The fort was constructed entirely of wood and designed in such a way to be defended by only fifty to seventy-five men. It was abandoned after just three years due to swift westward expansion. These hand-forged andirons were uncovered when the ruins of the last old fort buildings were razed in 1852. Andirons are used to support wood in a fireplace. These are the only know furnishings that remain from the fort. #sociallyhistory
The Last Commandant; His Career In The West And His Religious Characteristics
When in the early spring of 1819, during the month of April, the military garrison at Fort Wayne was abandoned and the fort evacuated, the commandant was Major Josiah N. Vose. He had been here for two years, having in 1817 succeeded Major Whistler.
The local histories print his name as J. H. Voss. In fact, I have learned, through a letter one who was intimately acquainted with him in the southwest, local history was wrong. His name was Vose, and the middle Initial was "N' instead of "H," and after leaving was promoted to the rank of colonel.
While stationed at the garrison here and for some years previous, Major Vose was an officer of the Fifth United States infantry. After leaving Fort Wayne he was stationed at one of the forts in the southwest for eight years, from-1833 to 1840, being comandant at Fort Towson in Choctaw country.
His death occurred at New Orleans in 1845, while he was yet in the service of the United States as an army officer. Most of his life was spent as a soldier. He was with Gen. Harrison's army in the battle of Tippecanoe and later spent his life guarding with the soldiers in his commands, the forts on frontier settlements.
One of his sons, Gardiner Vose, became a minister of and was for a number of years a professor of rhetoric in Amherst college. A daughtor the wife of Lleutenant Barnwell, the United States army, and for years resided in North CaroIna.
Divine Worship at Fort.
Major Vose was the only commandant at the old fort here at Fort Wayne to have religious services regularly on Sunday with the soldiers and men in the military garrison and, so it is said the only commandant who made a public profession of christianity. This statement is made on the authority of Col. John Johnson, who was connected with the government Indian department and who for twelve years made his headquarters here with his family, part of the period being during the commandery of Major Vose. In a letter written in November of 1859, to one of the members of the First Presbyterian church of Fort Wayne, Col. Johnson had the following to say of Major Vose and of religious service at the Fort Wayne military garrison:
"I was appointed to the Indian department in 1800, and stationed at Fort Wayne, that being my headquarters. During the period of my service, which continued until after Col. Vose's there was not a protestant clergyman of any denomination who held divine services post there. The only officer of the army, within my knowledge, who publicly professed christianity was Col. Vose.
1927 map of Historic Sites shows the location of four forts - Key #3, #7, #15, #16
"Construction of Forts against Indians" Description: Anonymous author suggests the best type of fortification to defend against the Native Americans and describes a square or pentagon shaped fort with two-story blockhouses and a ditch around it. The author also considers making room for traders' houses and stores and suggests a location for ammunition storage. Date: [1785-1786?], Subject: Fortification--Northwest, Old Source Collection. Northwest Territory Collection, 1721-1825 at the Indiana Historical Society.
Born in Ashes: Indiana's Origins - Short Documentary about Indiana's Role in early U.S. History May 2, 2023 kennythenotsogreat on YouTube
While Indiana might not be the most well-known state today, it has played an integral role in the histories of both the (then) nascent United States and the various Native tribes that inhabited the region. What was referred to as the Northwestern Territory (Modern-day Midwestern U.S.) during the late 18th and early 19th century, would become the battleground of two major wars and Indiana would see a major part of those conflicts. Not only were there notable battles, but also exceptional people that took part on both sides of the conflict. From the Northwest Indian War to the War of 1812, Indiana's eventual statehood stemmed from these two conflicts, that finally paved the way for the United States to fully settle the Northwestern Territory. The Miami tribe, as well as other tribes such as the Shawnee, Lenape, Odawa, etc., would be either coerced or militarily forced to cede much of what used to be their lands and eventually be forced to move western across the Mississippi river. Find out in this short documentary about how all of this unfolded.
This production was possible due to the combined efforts of various organizations, all who were passionate about history and Indiana's history. We hope you find this video informative and enjoyable, as history is ever-changing, and the way we remember it shifts as well.
Organizations involved in this project:
Ball State University
The Society of the War of 1812 in Indiana: http://indiana1812.org/
Historic Old Fort in Fort Wayne, Indiana: https://oldfortwayne.org/
Title card: 0:00 Northwest Indian War: 0:09 William Wells: 6:10 Siege of Fort Wayne: 11:50 Credits, Sources, and Images Used: 17:18
Five forts were built all located within a square mile of the center of the current city of Fort Wayne. The current fort is a replica of the 1815 "Whistler's Fort." The reason for the first fort was to protect the fur trade.
"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 Newspaper 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 doubtless 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 approaching 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 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 perhaps three hundred feet of space.] This was taken down in 1817 [really in 1815-1816] by Major Whistler and rebuilt in a most substantial manner. From the best information, it seems to have enclosed an area about 150 fee square in pickets ten feet high, and set in the ground, with a block house at the Southeast and Northwest 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' quarters, commissary department and other buildings located in the different sides, formed a part of the walls, and in the center stood the different 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 extended 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 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.] * * * Another place of burial was that now occupied by the Times building [1858] and block contiguous—northeast corner of Columbia and Clinton streets, where many whites, children and Indians were from time to time buried—the bones of whom have been lifted as workmen 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, commissary departments, blockhouses, etc. The pickets were 12½ 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 2½ 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."
The late George W. Brackenridge thus described the appearance of the fort in 1830:
"Timbers of the old fort were standing in 1830. They were about a foot square, eight or ten feet high, pointed at the top. The stump of the flagpole was also in front of the two blockhouses which occupied the high ground at the east end of Main street, north side—both built of hewed logs. These buildings were two stories high, consisting of two large rooms below, same above, both lengthwise north and south. The one farthest from the street was taken down when the canal was dug. The other stood many years afterward, occupied by tenants. A blockhouse for storing arms and ammunition with an all-round over-jet second story, stood about seventy-five feet west of the two aforementioned."
"A common road ran down along the canal and across the old fort ground, between the old well and the only building of the fort then standing. This building stood on the vacant ground [now Old Fort Park]; it was two-story, and had been changed from a shed to a conical roof. It had been used originally for officers' quarters. A broken pole stood in the center of the parade ground, on which the Federal flag had been originally hoisted. The pickets which had enclosed the ground had nearly all been removed, yet the line where they stood was marked. A post at the gateway at the southwest corner of the stockade on the alley between Berry and Wayne street, was standing. These pickets and the logs which had composed the other buildings within the pickets, had all been removed by the people for building purposes."
The last of the buildings was torn down in 1852. Early in that year enough of the original stockades and buildings remained to arouse a vigorous but ineffectual protest against their final destruction. In that year Dr. G. W. Bowen, writing in the Laurel Wreath, a local publication, gave utterance to his sentiments in verse. The title of the poem was, "Spare Wayne's Fort." The opening stanza follows:
Why tear it down and spare it not?
Are other days so soon forgot?
Are other scenes no more to be
Brought back to sweet, blessed memory?
And must those walls that served so well
To shield at night from savage foe
That daring band, be leveled low?
The silent truth forbid to tell!
Where the First French Forts Stood on page 34 of 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. A map drawn by Father Jean Bonnecamps while on the site of Fort Wayne in 1749 (forty-five years before the coming of General Wayne) shows that the French fort of that period (Post Miami) stood on a site which may now be described as a point on the right bank of the St. Mary's river, a short distance north of the Nickel Plate railroad tracks (see map). The commandants in succession appear to have been Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes (1697), Francois Morgane, Sieur de Vincennes (1725), Ensign Douville (1734), Ensign Dubuisson (1747), M. de Raimond (1748). Ralmond, in 1750, abandoned the place and erected the last French fort on a site at the junction of the present St. Joe boulevard and Delaware avenue, on the St. Joseph river, a point also within the present city of Fort Wayne.
Fort Wayne’s first fort was built as a dream of the French, and especially the renowned 17th century explorer Robert Sieur de La Salle, to create a wilderness empire that arced through the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River valley from Quebec to New Orleans. Is the first sentence of the First Fort of the Fort by Tom Castaldi, local historian posted October 9, 2014 on History Center Notes & Queries blog. Fort Miami (Indiana) at Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
French built a palisaded fort on this strategic site in 1722; named Fort Saint Philippe des Miamis. One of three French forts built in what is now Indiana to protect French fur trade from encroaching English. First of five forts built over time within a square mile of the center of present-day Fort Wayne.
Side two:
Nearby confluence of St. Mary's and St. Joseph's rivers forms Maumee River, a strategic central part of the waterways system connecting Great Lakes regions with Mississippi River Valley. Using a portage between Maumee and Wabash rivers, travelers could journey nearly 2,500 miles by water from French Canada to Louisiana.
Page 43 in Chapter V--1733-1749 The Last French Posts of the Site of Fort Wayne is WHERE THE LAST FRENCH FORT STOOD — SCENE OF THE HOLMES MURDER OF 1763 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. The landscape is a view looking up the St. Joseph river in Fort Wayne from a point near the junction of St. Joe boulevard and Delaware avenue. On the high ground at the right. M. de Raimond erected the last of the French forts in 1750. Raimond at that time abandoned the site on the St. Mary's river, near the present Nickel Plate railroad tracks. It was from the new fort that Raimond wrote in alarm to the French governor of Canada that "nobody wants to stay here and have his throat cut: if the English stay in this country we are lost — we must attack and drive them out." In 1760, the fort fell to the British. Ensign Robert Holmes, three years later, was murdered by the Indians and the men of the garrison were taken prisoners. The Murder of Holmes is discussed on page 60 .
Miamis, Shawnees, and Delawares camps shown in View of the Maumee Towns Destroyed by General Harmar October 1790 Map of Kekionga, before its destruction, drawn by Ebenezer Denny ,1761-1822, Osprey Publishing as File:Map of Kekionga.jpg from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. See our page Indians - Native Americans of Allen County, Indiana.
Street View photo from Google map shows the large rock with the marker on Clay Street at East Berry Street which is one block south from the last two forts (Stop #11) marker on Main Street just west of Clay Street. The History Centerbuilding is two blocks west on East Berry Street. Anthony Wayne’s Fort (Stop #10) by ARCH ( Architecture and Community Heritage) includes the Building and Dedication of Fort Wayne map image shown above. It states: Older Historical Marker reads: “The site of General Anthony Wayne’s fort dedicated Oct. 22, 1794. It was the first United States fort near “Three Rivers.” This fort commanded the shortest portage between the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi systems. A portage known to the Indians as “Glorious Gate,” and a strategic crossroads in early trade and exploration.” The Site of General Wayne's Fort Dedicated October 22nd 1794 is at The Historical Marker Datatbase HMdb.org.
