Outpost in the Wilderness: Fort Wayne, 1706-1828

by Charles R. Poinsatte

The next day Little Turtle and the other chiefs assembled at the home of Captain Wells, and there arrangements were made for Dennis to remain with the Indians and establish a farm. The attempt to educate the Indians to till the soil was undertaken at a point on the Wabash river about twenty miles southwest of Fort Wayne. After the departure of the Quakers, Dennis continued his efforts but only one or, at the most, two of the Indians could be induced to help him. After a year, Dennis returned to Maryland, and as no one could be induced to take his place the project was left in the hands of Wells, who had a contract to supply the Indians with fence rails for the farms.

The Indians were in no mood to give their attention to the tilling of the soil. Trouble of a subdued nature portended serious conflicts for the future. On April 26, 1805, Harrison wrote to the Secretary of War that he felt it was necessary for him to proceed to Fort Wayne to investigate the complaints arising from the Indians threat. These complaints centered chiefly around the treaty concluded with the Delawares and Piankashaws in 1804. The Miamis maintained that they should have shared in the benefits of the treaty as part owners of the land sold, while the Delawares felt that they had not received enough in the way of annuities for the land. Harrison suspected that these complaints arose primarily through the instigation of Wells and Little Turtle and had determined to investigate Wells’ activities as well as the grievances.

Harrison, however, decided not to go personally to Fort Wayne, explaining that it “would be a sacrifice of that dignity and authority which is necessary to observe in all our transactions with the Indians.”[58] In his stead, Harrison dispatched General John Gibson, secretary of Indiana Territory and Colonel Francis Vigo,[59] who on their arrival met strong opposition from Wells and Little Turtle. These two, viewing the visit of Gibson and Vigo with evident suspicion, addressed a letter to the former in which they demanded his credentials. Lieutenant Brownson, in temporary command of Fort Wayne, remarked to the Governor’s agents that he had heard Wells repeatedly say the Indians were very much imposed on in the late treaty. In a private conversation the Miami chief, Richardville, told Colonel Vigo that he was quite surprised to hear an officer who had taken an oath to support the Government of the United States, express himself in the manner Wells had. Richardville also informed them that the Little Turtle, in the presence of Wells, had produced a paper and requested Richardville to sign it. Being a remonstrance in favor of Wells, Richardville refused to sign it, saying, “if Mr. Wells had behaved well there was no occasion to write to the president in his favour that he did not wish to interfere in matters which belonged entirely to the White people, and that he, the Little Turtle, had frequently wrote letters to the president, without their being consulted or asked to sign them.”[60]

Vigo and Gibson were convinced that a certain Peter Audrian had conspired with Wells and Little Turtle in the affair. Audrian was an influential French trader at Detroit, who during his lifetime held the governmental positions of judge, prothonotary, and land commissioner. At this time he had an advantageous contract from Wells to furnish the log rails for the farms of the Indians. In one year alone the Indians purchased 63,000 rails from Audrian, many more than were actually needed.[61]

In their report to Governor Harrison, Gibson and Vigo concluded:

“... no noise or clamor respecting the treaty last summer with the Delawares ... would have been made had it not been occasioned by the Little Turtle and Wells, the latter of whom seems more attentive to the Indians than the people of the United States.”[62]

In his report to the Secretary of War, Harrison added that Wells’ services were highly useful and that he discharged his duties on occasions with great zeal and industry. Early in August, 1805, Wells, accompanied by Little Turtle, came to Vincennes. “Both are here,” wrote Harrison to Dearborn, “and I have received from each a positive assurance of a friendly dispostion as well toward the government as myself individually. With Captain Wells, I have had an explanation, and have agreed to a general amnesty and act of oblivion for the past.”[63]

Notwithstanding this seemingly peaceful settlement of the difficulty, the official relationship between Wells and the governor remained strained, and we find Harrison as late as April 23, 1811, writing to the new Secretary of War, Eustis:

“Could I be allowed to dispose of Wells as I thought proper, my first wish would be to place him in the interiour of our settlement where he would never see and scarcely hear of an Indian. But as this is impossible, from his being located in such a manner at Fort Wayne, that he cannot be removed without a very considerable expense, my next wish is to get such an appointment as he could consider an object, where he might be used to advantage, but at the same time so limited as to prevent his doing mischief.”[64]

While Governor Harrison was doing his utmost to secure more territory from the Indians, he did not wish the newly purchased lands to fall into the hands of unscrupulous traders who used the bargaining power of whiskey to rob the Indians of their furs. This was especially true of the United States land around Fort Wayne, which was too distant from Vincennes to be under his effective control. When, in 1805, Harrison heard that it was intended to sell the government land around Fort Wayne immediately, he objected strongly. “I am very certain,” he wrote to the Secretary of War, “that the money which will be put into the Treasury by the sale of it will not counterbalance the inconveniences which will arise from having it settled with the description of people who will naturally buy it.”[65] He then pointed out that Fort Wayne was too far removed from any other settlement to entice American farmers to go there, and in all probability, only Indian traders would buy the land and would thus be out of the reach of the laws of the United States regulating Indian trade and commerce. He conceded that the Fort Wayne was fertile enough for farming and concluded by saying, “If the immediate settlement of it is an object I think it would be better to sell it by contract upon the condition that there would be within a given time a certain number of American farmers upon it.”[66]