Early History
Kekionga
The site of present-day downtown Fort Wayne is located at the confluence of three rivers: the Maumee River, the St. Joseph River, and the St. Mary's River. This originally made the area an attractive place due to inhabitants’ reliance on river transportation, resulting in the development of a Native American settlement known as Kekionga which in English translates to “blackberry patch" [8, p. 68]. The site served as a “gathering place” and “traditional trade center” for the local tribes, including the Miami, Potowatomi, and Wea. The economic potential of the area as part of a larger trade network would later be realized, mainly due to the fact there was only an 8 mile gap between the Maumee River (which flows north to Lake Erie and the rest of the Great Lakes) and the Wabash River to the south (which leads to the Ohio River and eventually to the Mississippi) [16]. The Miami Indians understood early on that controlling this area meant controlling the portage between the two river systems [3, p. 1].
Miamitown
The French were the first to arrive in the area in 1679, and in 1697 the first fortified fur-trading post was constructed [3, p. 1; 36]. During the American Revolution, Kekionga had grown in its Native American population and was being referred to as Miamitown by European settlers. After the war ended with an American victory, the British saw the opportunity to invigorate instability by encouraging the Miami Indians to fight against the United States [8, p. 68]. The newly sovereign nation had gained a lot of new territory due to the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, and this territory had to be controlled in order to avoid it being lost back over to the British. To make matters worse, an army of men under the command of General Arthur St. Clair had experienced a humiliating defeat in 1791 at the hands of Chief Little Turtle, leader of the Natives at the time [2, p. 24-26].
Mad Anthony Wayne
President George Washington was aware of what “a defeat at the hands of the northwest tribes” would mean for the future expansion of the country westward, and for this reason he appointed General ‘Mad’ Anthony Wayne as Major General in charge of bringing order to the situation. Though somewhat infamous for his egoistic and indulgent personality (hence the nickname ‘Mad’ Anthony), General Wayne proved successful in thwarting the Indians’ rebellion and “within two months he made a series of rapid marches, defeated the Miami Confederacy, and built four forts – the last being Fort Wayne" [2, p. 25-31].
The two major battles won by Wayne were at Fort Recovery and Fallen Timbers, and these victories ultimately ensured the westward expansion of the United States, not to mention the events leading up to the development of Fort Wayne as a city. The first American fort built at the site of Miamitown was turned over by Wayne “to Colonel John Hamtramck on October 21, 1794, and Hamtramck named it Fort Wayne the next day, which is considered the city’s founding date” [8, p. 68]. Wayne’s victory over the Native Americans, ending in a peace agreement at the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, serves as the first major critical point in the city’s history [3, p. 2]. Otherwise, there may not have been such a settlement built at the headwaters of the Maumee. The Forts
The original fort called "Fort Wayne" did not survive, nor did the other five forts that were built in the area, including three built by the French (Fort St. Philippe and Fort Miami), one built by Colonel Thomas Hunt which came under siege during the War of 1812, and one built in 1816 by Major John Whistler and succeeded the previous General's fort [3, p. 2-3]. A replica of the Whistler fort, which was decommissioned in 1819 and razed in 1852, has been reconstructed near the banks of the St. Mary's River and is open to the public [3, p. 3; 36]. Click here to explore the current replica of the Whistler fort in Google Maps.
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The Forts of Fort Wayne
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