INDIAN VILLAGES NEAR FORT WAYNE
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.
Most readers know that there were a number of Indian villages at and near the junction of the St. Mary’s and St. Joseph rivers, but few persons know the exact location of these towns. To add to the general information which we have heretofore given on Fort Wayne’s early history, we present the testimony of a writer who wrote a supplement to the official account sent to the War Department. That writer included some details which could not go into the official report. The supplement was written in 1791 and was published in the PHILADELPHIA DAILY GENERAL ADVERTIZER of that year; hence, it may be considered accurate. It was read in 1840 by the late John W. Vancleve of Dayton, Ohio, who knew much of the report to be true. With reference to the towns at the forks of the Maumee, we quote as follows:
“There were at that time seven towns on the three rivers in the vicinity of the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Mary’s rivers. The principal Miami village was called Omee Town, and among its inhabitants were a considerable number of French traders. Omee Town stood upon the east bank of the St. Joseph, or north side of the Maumee, directly opposite the mouth of the St. Mary’s; it had been burned before Colonel Hardin’s arrival. Another Miami village of thirty houses stood on the bank opposite Omee Town. The Delawares had three villages. Two were on the St. Mary’s about three miles from its mouth, with forty-five houses in all; the other village was on the east bank of the St. Joseph two or three miles from its mouth, with thirty-six houses. The Shawnee had two villages about three miles down the Maumee. Chillicothe was on the north bank with fifty-eight houses, and the other village of sixteen houses was on the opposite side of the river. The army burned all the houses in the different villages and destroyed about twenty thousand bushels of corn which had been hidden by the Indians. Considerable property belonging to the French traders was also destroyed.”
The above quotation contains the best information that we have found concerning the Indian towns at this place. It locates the exact sites of the Miami towns. The large village was built on the bottom land at the junction of the Maumee and St. Joseph rivers, and the smaller one was on the tract afterward called the Wells Pre-emption between Spy Run and the St. Joseph River. It also ascertains that Chillicothe was a Shawnee town three miles down the Maumee River. The spot is identified on which General Harmar dated his orders on October 20, 1790, before starting his return march to Fort Washington. The Piqua towns mentioned in some accounts must have been the two Delaware towns located on the St. Mary’s River which was once called the Pickaway Fork of the Maumee River.
In 1790 there were five hundred acres of cleared land at and around the junction of the three rivers. Four years later, on the seventeenth of September, 1794, General Wayne’s army reached the Maumee villages. The next day that distinguished commander designated the spot on which to build a fort. On October 22, the work was finished; and Colonel Hamtramck, after fifteen rounds of cannon were fired, called it Fort Wayne.
DAWSON’S FORT WAYNE DAILY TIMES, October 15, 1860