General Harmar's Campaign

Prepared by the Staff of the Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County 1954
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 Mrs. Sadie Fulk Roehrs Willard Shambaugh
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 Nieneier Mrs. Glenn Henderson Mrs. Charles Reynolds
General Josiah Harmar’s ill-fated campaign in 1790 was the first of three historic expeditions against the Indians in the Old Northwest. The defeat of General Arthur St. Clair followed in 1791, and the victory of General Anthony Wayne in 1794.
The first article in this pamphlet identifies the exact sites of the Indian villages around the three rivers. The destruction of these villages was one of the objectives of Harmar’s campaign. The journal of one of Harmar’s soldiers and admirers provides a firsthand account of this expedition and is printed as the second article. The third article is a speech delivered by James McGrew at a meeting of the Maumee Valley Monumental and Historical Association on August 15, 1888.
The Boards and the Staff of the Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County present this publication in the hope that it will increase interest in local history. Grammar, spelling, and punctuation have been changed to conform to current usage.
On October 15, 1790, Colonel Hardin and a detachment of six hundred of General Harmar’s men reached the Indian towns at the forks of the Maumee River. The destruction of these towns was the object of General Harmar’s expedition. When Colonel Hardin’s command arrived at the towns, they found them abandoned by the Indians. The principal one, called Omee Town, had been burned. On the seventeenth, General Harmar and the remainder of the army joined Colonel Hardin.