General Anthony Wayne's Expedition into the Indian Country

Prepared by the staff of the Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County 1953
One of a historical series, this pamphlet is published under the direction of the governing Boards of the Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE SCHOOL CITY OF FORT WAYNE
B. F. Geyer, President Joseph E. Kramer, Secretary W. Page Yarnelle, Treasurer Willard Shambaugh Mrs. Sadie Fulk Roehrs
PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD FOR ALLEN COUNTY
The members of this Board include the members of the Board of Trustees of the School City of Fort Wayne (with the same officers), together with the following citizens chosen from Allen County outside the corporate city of Fort Wayne:
James E. Graham Arthur Niemeier Mrs. Glenn Henderson Mrs. Charles Reynolds
By the Treaty of Paris in 1783 ending the Revolutionary War Great Britain ceded to the United States the territory lying between The Alleghany mountains and the Mississippi River. The British, however, continued to maintain garrisons in strong forts within this area. Among the posts thus garrisoned were Detroit, Presque Isle near Erie, and Fort Miamis near Toledo. From these vantage points the British continued to influence the Indians and incite them to attacks upon white settlers. Hundreds of families of frontiersmen were slain and their homes plundered.
When General Washington assumed the Presidency in 1789 he dispatched General Harmar at the head of an expedition to pacify the marauding Indians. Little Turtle and his Indians bided their time. In a sneak attack they utterly defeated the American forces near the Indian village of Kekionga within the limits of the present city of Fort Wayne. In 1791 a second and more powerful American force under General Arthur St. Clair was defeated by Little Turtle’s braves near the present town of Fort Recovery, Ohio. This overwhelming defeat cost the little American army most of its soldiers and nearly all of its officers. The frontier was then unguarded, and the American Government for a time seemed impotent to protect its citizens against the Indians and their British and Canadian allies.