Outpost in the Wilderness: Fort Wayne, 1706-1828

by Charles R. Poinsatte

While almost all early American cities which originated as military outposts later changed their names—Cincinnati (Fort Washington). Chicago (Fort Dearborn)—or simply dropped “fort” from their titles—Defiance, Ohio—for some reason the citizens of Fort Wayne never followed this common practice. The old “Fort Wayne” fell into ruins, but the name survives. Undoubtedly few individuals have even wondered why, but I believe, or would like to believe, that somehow the later citizens of Fort Wayne wanted to retain an identity with the past—a past that is worth knowing and remembering. It is to these citizens—past and present and to my own family that I dedicate this book.

[1]Fort Wayne during the Canal Era.

Chapter I
The French and British Period

To know the history of any town is to know the significance of its geographical position. This is particularly true of the early history of Fort Wayne (Known to the Indians as Kiskakon or Kekionga[1] and to the French and English as Fort Miami). Therefore, it is necessary to explain the significance of the site of Fort Wayne in an era of exploration and trade when wilderness was king and waterways were the arteries of communication. The story of Fort Wayne begins as the history of the Maumee-Wabash portage. Located at the confluence of rivers, St. Joseph and St. Mary’s, which together form the Maumee or Miami of Lake Erie, Fort Wayne is situated at the northeast starting point of the seven mile portage to the Little River, (see map on [page 2]) Twenty-two miles southwest of Fort Wayne, the Little River joins the Wabash, which, in turn, empties into the Ohio and then into the Mississippi. The Maumee-Wabash portage was from the early seventeenth century until the mid-nineteenth century a vital overland link that tied together the great waterway systems of the St. Lawrence and Mississippi. In other respects the site of Fort Wayne was at the “crossroads”. From this point the traveler could journey northeast up the St. Joseph river into the present state of Michigan, or turn southeast up the St. Mary’s river into the central portion of the present state of Ohio. This, then, is the significance of the words of Little Turtle, the great Miami chief, who once called the site of Fort Wayne, “that glorious gate ... through which all the good words of our chiefs had to pass from the north to the south, and from the east to the west.”[2]

Of the five great portage routes used by the French,[3] the Maumee-Wabash was the last to be exploited, for, unlike the more northern routes, it was along the line of “most resistance”. The Iroquois warfare in this region and as far west as the Illinois country made it virtually impossible for the French to use the routes extending through southern Lake Erie. With the establishment of the French posts along the lower Mississippi, however, the Maumee-Wabash portage gained importance, as it proved to be the shortest route connecting the settlements of New France (Canada) and Louisiana. The first white man to use this portage may have been some unknown French “coureur de bois”, pursuing his lawless life of adventure and fur-trading. There is some claim that LaSalle used the Maumee-Wabash portage in his explorations of 1670 or later, but it is based, for the most part, on conjecture and is still open to various interpretations.[4] In any event, LaSalle’s description of the territory between Lake Erie and Lake Michigan indicates a familiarity with the region, and it was he who first directed the attention of the French to this portage by pointing out the way to shorten the route to the lower Ohio river.[5] Whatever LaSalle’s plans were for opening up this easy channel of communications[6] they had to be abandoned because of the failure of the French to appease the Iroquois. This powerful confederacy had all but annihilated the Erie Indians earlier in the century and were now pressing their attacks upon the western tribes south of Lake Michigan. Out of fear of the Iroquois the area of Indiana was largely abandoned by the Miamis and other related tribes. Therefore by the 1670’s, when LaSalle set out to achieve his great objective, control of the Mississippi for the French, he found it necessary “to go to the Illinois [river] through the lakes Huron and Illinois [Lake Michigan] as the other routes which I have discovered by the head of Lake Erie and by the southern shore of the same, have become too hazardous by frequent encounters with the Iroquois who are always on that shore.”[7] That this route had become “too dangerous” is indicated by the letter of Jean de Lamberville to Count de Frontenac on Sept. 20, 1682, in which he expressed his fears that “an Iroquois army, twelve hundred strong ... would completely annihilate the Miamis and their neighbors the Siskakon [Kiskakon] and Ottawa tribes on the headwaters of the Maumee.”[8]

The events which took place near the turn of the eighteenth century completely altered the situation for the French in this region. Differences between the Fox Indians, located west of Lake Michigan, and the French alienated the former entirely. The result was to compel the French to seek a more direct line of communication with the Mississippi settlements than by the Wisconsin river-Lake Michigan route, and to encourage them to promote the trade in the less remote posts. This new policy was inaugurated by Cadillac’s plan to establish a post at Detroit, which met with the Crown’s approval and was carried out in 1701. At the same time, the French were able to conclude a temporary peace with the Iroquois and to induce the pro-French tribes of Miamis to begin migrating eastward and to re-establish themselves at the headwaters of the Wabash and Maumee rivers. This migration of the Miamis was a gradual process and can be traced from northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin around the head of Lake Michigan to their old settlements on the Wabash, Maumee, and Miami rivers. The Miamis were persuaded to move for a number of reasons—the hostility of the Fox Indians, the advantages in trade and protection furnished by their proximity to Detroit, and finally the abundance of fur, especially beaver, to be found in the area south and southwest of Lake Erie. By 1712, the Miamis had taken possession of the entire Wabash valley,[9] and the country as far eastward as the Big Miami river. Their principal village, Kiskakon, was situated where the present city of Fort Wayne now stands. Of the northern tribes the Miami confederacy was second only to that of the Iroquois. Father Marquette paid them high tribute, while LaSalle described them as “the most civilized of all nations of Indians—neat of dress, splendid of bearing, haughty of manner, holding all other tribes as inferiors.”[10]

Other tribes came to the Ohio valley about the same time. The Wyandots established themselves along the southern shore of Lake Erie about 1701. The Shawnee, a southern tribe, settled principally in the lower Scioto valley around 1730, while the Delaware were to be found in the Muskingum valley by 1750. A small group of Ottawas were located on the Auglaize river, a tributary of the Maumee, about fifty miles northeast of Kiskakon. The importance of this small tribe rests in their famous chief, Pontiac, and his “conspiracy” against the English in 1763. Altogether these tribes numbered about 15,000 people. For the most part, they were friends of the French, although at times they expressed discontent.

Grasping the new importance of the Maumee-Wabash trade route after 1712, the officials of New France were quick to suggest to the crown the construction of a chain of posts from the head of the Maumee to the mouth of the Wabash in order to protect this increasingly vital line of communication between Canada and Louisiana, and, equally, important, to counteract the English ever pressing closer to the Indians in the upper Ohio valley.[11] The idea was not new, as LaSalle had suggested such a policy to the home government previously, but the time was now ripe. Economic reasons for establishing these posts were not lacking. Fear of the English meant fear of their participation in the fur trade, which was exceedingly valuable in this area. Wild life had increased abundantly during the years of Iroquois warfare when the region was practically uninhabited. A French memorialist, writing at this time, pointed out that the New York traders, through the medium of the Iroquois agents, secured between 80,000 and 100,000 beaver skins annually from the area south and southwest of Lake Erie.[12] This almost equalled the amount taken annually from the whole of the land north of the Great Lakes. Cadillac, the founder of Detroit, reported in 1707 that the Maumee valley was “the finest land under heaven—fishing and hunting are most abundant there.”[13]

The revitalized village of Kiskakon became the location of one of the earliest posts established in the French chain along the Maumee-Wabash route, and was known as Post or Fort Miami. The exact year of the founding of Port Miami by the French is uncertain. Although some writers believe the post was established as early as 1680 or 1686,[14] there is no evidence to support such suppositions. Some confusion seems to arise from a misinterpretation of those French colonial documents which refer to the Fort Miami built by LaSalle at the mouth of the St. Joseph river of Lake Michigan, and not, as these writers believed, to the Fort Miami at the headwaters of the Maumee. A careful reading of these documents is necessary in each instance to determine which Fort Miami is meant. About the same time that the eastward migration of the Miamis began 1697 Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes, was appointed attache to the Miamis.[15] At first he was obviously at the Miami fort on the southeastern shore of Lake Michigan, although, as the Miami village, Kiskakon, grew in importance, Vincennes found it increasingly necessary to visit the Miami village from 1702 to 1719. It is possible that in 1706 he built a small post primarily for trading purposes at Kiskakon.[16] By 1715 a new element, the English fur trader had entered the picture and Vincennes, as well as the French colonial government, was convinced that it was no longer feasible to encourage the Indians to migrate eastward. From Kiskakon, Vincennes reported to the royal officials that the English of Carolina were having recourse to every sort of expedient to persuade the Miamis to join them against the French.[17] The increased English efforts to gain footholds in the Wabash and Maumee valleys, determined Vincennes upon a course of action approved by the Marques de Vaudreuil, governor of Canada. Vincennes’ plan called for the removal of the Miamis at the headwaters of the Maumee to a new center on the St. Joseph river of Lake Michigan, near the present city of South Bend.[18] It is possible that the plan might have succeeded as Vincennes was “much loved” by the Miamis; however, with his death at Kiskakon in 1719, the Miamis “resolved not to move to the River St. Joseph, [but] to remain where they are”.[19] The Miamis preserved for a long time the memory of Vincennes. Thirty years after his death, Celeron de Bienville, while urging a group of Miamis to return to Kiskakon, used the name of Vincennes to work upon their minds, speaking of him as the one “whom you loved so much and who always governed you, so that your affairs were prosperous.”[20]