In a farewell address to the conference, Little Turtle asked that the United States government appoint Captain William Wells as resident interpreter at Fort Wayne. William Wells, frontier scout and pioneer, was one of the most romantic and mysterious figures in the early history of the Northwest. A biography or even a sketch of his life has never been written, although his story is intimately connected with that of Fort Wayne and the Indiana Territory. Between 1794 and 1812, when he was killed, Captain Wells was decidedly the most interesting white person in the history of Fort Wayne. Little is known about him personally, except that which we can obtain from letters written by him or those concerning him. A member of prominent Kentucky family and the brother of Colonel Samuel Wells of Louisville, William Wells had been kidnapped by a band of Miamis when he was twelve year old. Taken to Miamitown, he was adopted by the tribe of Little Turtle and was raised by the Indians, as was the custom of that time. It is not surprising, consequently, that the Frenchman, Count Volney described Wells as “tall and muscular, quick in movement, and having the complexion of an Indian.”[16] It is surprising, however, that Wells, having little or no education, in later life showed in his letters a knowledge of the English language and clarity of thought far superior to his white associates on the frontier.
Wells’ first wife was Anahquah, Little Turtle’s sister; and upon her death, it is believed that Wells married Wahmangopath, the daughter of the chief. By these marriages, Wells had the following children: Anne, who was educated at the Catholic school at Bardstown, Kentucky, and who later returned to Fort Wayne to marry Dr. William Turner; Mary, who married James Wolcott; Rebecca, who married James Hackley at Fort Wayne; Jane Turner, who married John H. Griggs, and William Wayne, who after graduating from West Point, died at an early age. On March 7, 1809, Wells married Mary Geiger, daughter of Colonel Frederick Geiger of Kentucky, by whom he had three children, Samuel Geiger, Yelberton, and Julia Ann.
Against Harmar’s and St. Clair’s armies, Wells fought willingly on the side of the Indians. In 1794, however, he joined Wayne’s forces apparently with Little Turtle’s approval. It is known that in the summer of 1793, Wells paid a visit to his white relatives in Kentucky. Upon returning through Vincennes, he met Col. Hamtramck, who employed him to carry a message to Wayne.[17] In the message, Hamtramck suggested to Wayne that Wells would prove invaluable as a scout, if the General saw fit to give him a commission. Before accepting this offer, Wells returned to Miamitown, and here secured Little Turtle’s consent. The reason for Wells’ desertion of the Indian cause has never been clear. Perhaps Hamtramck, later one of Wells’ staunchest friends, convinced him that the American cause was to be successful. Possibly, as Quaife suggests, it was due to a belated consciousness of his true race identity and the pleadings of his white relatives while he was in Kentucky.[18] The fact that Wells and Little Turtle remained intimate afterward and that their viewpoints were always identical, indicates there was no friction between them. It is known that Little Turtle did not wish to give battle to Wayne at Fallen Timbers, and advised the Indians to make peace. While only conjecture, it is not unreasonable to assume that Wells foresaw the American success in the forthcoming campaign and convinced the chief it was to the red man’s advantage to make peace.
Wells was placed in command of Wayne’s scouts, and it was primarily through his vigilance that Wayne’s forces were not surprised. At Greenville, Wells served as an interpreter, a position of trust. Wayne was willing to grant Little Turtle’s request to appoint Wells as resident interpreter at Fort Wayne, and later wrote to the government recommending Wells for the position, as well as authorizing the payment of high rewards to this valuable scout.[19]
During the winter of 1795-96, Hamtramck found the food and supply situation at Fort Wayne somewhat better, although there were about 90 children and old women entirely dependent on the garrison for their subsistence. Until the British post at Detroit was transferred to the United States, Fort Wayne was the headquarters for detachments at the following western forts: Defiance, Sandusky, Adams, Recovery, Jefferson, Loramie, Head of the Auglaise, and Michilimackinac. In June, 1796, Col. Hamtramck was ordered to proceed to Detroit and take command of the former British post there. After his departure, the force at Fort Wayne never numbered more than 100 men. These men held an important position along the first line of defense in the northwest. Other than Michilimackinac, there were no posts to the north or northwest until Ft. Dearborn was erected in 1803. The men at Fort Wayne acted as if they had little realization of their responsibility. The majority of the enlisted men of that day were drawn from the most turbulent elements of the east. The soldier’s life was not a popular vocation. At this western outpost, garrison life was more than harsh; it was extremely boring. The troops at Fort Wayne had nothing to do in their leisure time, and usually passed their days in drinking, fighting, and gambling.[20] In vain did the officers have insubordinate men flogged at parade (not infrequently the maximum penalty of 100 lashes was given), deprived them of their whiskey rations, and put them to hard labor. When, in 1812, Congress amended the articles of war to prohibit flogging, other substitute punishments, hardly less severe and equally degrading, were devised. Men were confined in small dark rooms, put astride spiked wooden horses, forced to wear the wooden collar, ankle bolts, and irons. In the Orderly Books for the Fort Wayne garrison, we repeatedly find non-commissioned officers demoted to the ranks for misconduct or crimes of one nature or another, only to be reinstated when their successors proved even more incapable. Yet, when this wild, bored garrison was besieged during the War of 1812, they successfully held the fort against a force six times as strong.
Living within the fort were the wives and children of those married officers and men who chose to bring their families to the wilderness with them. In many respects these women shared the army life of their husbands. They were governed by the same military regulations, even receiving the same daily whiskey ration as did the men. The officers and their families generally came from an older and more formal society and carried into the rude barracks the manners and customs of the East. One of the commanders, Col. Hunt, brought his family directly to Fort Wayne from their Boston home. With this eastern culture was added a certain punctilio, a natural consequence of military life. The officers’ families, together with those of government officials and more prominent settlers, formed the elite of the American society at Fort Wayne. In 1807 Lieutenant Philip Ostrander, an officer at Fort Wayne, wrote to his friend, George Hoffman, collector for the government at Michilimackinac:
On my arrival at this post I was received with the utmost politeness by Captain Heald [the commandant] who continues to show me every flattering attention. Indeed, sir, by every officer ... at this place I have been treated with the utmost liberality and respect. The very day of my arrival, I was requested to dine with Captain Wells [the Indian agent] and today by Mr. Johnson, our present factor at this post. [Col. John Johnston, superintendent of the government “factory”] I do not mention these circumstances through vanity, but merely with intention of informing you that everyone endeavors to make my place of residence comfortable and happy.
I could form no conception of what an agreeable situation this is, both as to the face of the country and the elegant situation of the fort. We are, however, destitute of one thing which would make the situation still more agreeable—that is, society. Mr. Johnson [Johnston], Captain Wells, J. Audrian [21]
Dr. Edwards, who had recently been given authority to serve as a merchant at the fort in addition to his duties as post surgeon, evidently had gone to Cincinnati to obtain supplies. Judging from the above letter and other sources, it must be concluded that the number of sick at Fort Wayne was generally quite high. Before Dr. Edwards came there were twenty-five men reported on the sick list, almost 35% of the garrison. This may have been somewhat of an abnormal condition, however, as his predecessor, a man named Dr. Elliot, was so incompetent, that Mr. Johnston, the government factor, had to act as post surgeon.[22]
Colonel Hamtramck remained in command of Fort Wayne until June, 1796. In March of that year he had been ordered to move down the Maumee with a detachment from Fort Wayne in order to counteract a demonstration by the British which was possibly intended to arouse the Indians to revolt. While encamped on the Maumee, Hamtramck received a message from General Wilkinson, directing him to receive the transfer of the British Post Miami and then proceed to Detroit to take command of the former British post, Fort Lernoult.
Colonel David Strong, Hamtramck’s successor at Fort Wayne, had, like Hamtramck, served in the Revolution and in Wayne’s army. Prior to coming to Fort Wayne he had been in command at Fort Greenville.[23] The twenty-six months of Colonel Strong’s administration witnessed the beginnings of the new Frenchtown at Fort Wayne. Located across the St. Joseph from the site of the old Frenchtown, this new village was situated where Kekionga or Kiskakon once stood in the present Lakeside area of Fort Wayne. Most of the inhabitants were either former occupants of Miamitown who returned to this new site after Wayne’s victory or French-Canadians of the Detroit-River Raisin region. Volney, a native of France who traveled in the United States during 1796, questioned the Americans concerning these French “habitants” of the northwest. He was told that they were a kind, hospitable, and sociable sort of people, “but in ignorance and idleness they beat the Indians. They know nothing of civil and domestic affairs; their women neither sew or spin or make butter but pass their time in gossiping and tattle. The men hunt, fish, roam in the woods, and bask in the sun.”[24]