The government officials apparently accepted Harrison’s advice since the proposal to sell the Fort Wayne lands was laid aside. It is fortunate that this land was not sold, for it is unlikely that any farmers would have been attracted to this remote spot in northern Indiana during the forthcoming years of Indian difficulties on the frontier. If any settlers had come, it is doubtful that they could have survived the War of 1812. Consequently, Fort Wayne was destined to remain until the end of that war primarily a government outpost of diplomacy, defense, and trade, represented by the Indian agency, the military garrison, and the government factory. There were a few farms of value, such as those of Wells and the officers, but while the land was fertile, the market was too distant for the crops to bring any considerable return. The civilians living in the neighborhood were, for the most part, French families who still found the fur trade profitable, along with a few American traders and sutlers. None of these people held any title to the lands they occupied.
[1]Lieut. John Boyer, “Daily Journal of Wayne’s Campaign,” Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, XXXIV, 554.
[2]T. B. Helm, History of Allen County, Indiana, p. 37.
[3]Lieut. William Clark, famous explorer of the great Northwest, was an officer in Wayne’s Legion at the time of the construction of Fort Wayne.
[4]Lieut. Boyer, loc. cit., p. 556.
[5]Wayne to Knox, Oct. 17, 1794, quoted in Charles Slocum. Op. cit., p. 217.
[6]Lieut. Boyer, loc. cit., p. 561.
[7]Charles Slocum, op. cit., p. 221.
[8]Hamtramck to Wayne, Aug. 13, 1795, Hamtramck Papers, Burton Historical Collection.
[9]Hamtramck to Wayne, Dec. 5, 1794, Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, XXXLV, 734.