Captain Rhea’s report for November was almost identical in regard to the number of his men, but he added that the garrison was 31 men short of its required strength of 81 men. He also felt that the arms of the garrison were in bad condition, while on the other hand, the clothing of the men was in good condition and the fort was regularly supplied with provisions and ammunition. Captain Rhea reported the discipline of the troops to be good, but actually it could have been no better than usual, judging from the numerous court martials recorded in the garrison orders during his command.[16]
During the summer of 1811, Fort Wayne became for the Indians the central point between the Prophet’s Town on the Tippecanoe river and Malden, the British post across from Detroit where arms and ammunition were distributed to the red men. On August 11, 1811, John Shaw, the assistant government agent at Fort Wayne, reported to the Secretary of War that the situation in regard to the Prophet was growing serious, and many of the neutral tribes were coming to him for advice.[17] To determine the exact disposition of these neutral tribes, in particular the Miamis, Delawares, and Potawatomis, Governor Harrison dispatched Toussaint Dubois to Fort Wayne. In a council on the 4th of September, Dubois found the Indians divided almost equally for and against the Prophet’s schemes. After receiving Dubois’ report, Harrison instructed John Johnston to separate the friendly Indians from the others and to place them, if possible, in settlements on the White River, where they would be safe from the contemplated attack of the American army on the Prophet’s town.
With regular troops and militia, Governor Harrison advanced up the Wabash in October towards the Prophet’s town on the Tippecanoe river. Early in the morning of November 7, 1811, on the fields of Tippecanoe, the Prophet’s forces attacked Harrison’s Army, but were driven back after a hard fought battle. At Fort Wayne the first reports of the engagement indicated that the Americans had suffered a severe defeat. Until the correct information was received a week later, the garrison and populace were in a state of great anxiety.
Two weeks after the battle, on the 22 of November, the period for the annual meeting of the Indians to receive their annuities having arrived, the tribes assembled at Fort Wayne in great numbers. Many of the chiefs were fresh from Tippecanoe, but they claimed their annuities along with peaceful tribes, saying that the Prophet alone was to blame for the hostilities, and that he had been imprisoned by his own followers. Although entirely untrue, these stories had the desired effect on John Johnston, and he was thereby induced to grant the Indians their annuities. Many of the tribes were sincere in seeking peace at this time, but Johnston’s hasty action in granting the annuities provoked Harrison, who heretofore had never criticized the factor’s decisions.
Shortly after this incident, Johnston was transferred to Piqua, Ohio, to act as principal agent for the Shawnee tribe. His precipitate action in regard to the annuities had nothing to do with the transfer, since Johnston himself had applied for the change in positions, five months before the battle of Tippecanoe, in order to be near his farm at Piqua, Ohio.
Johnston’s successor, Major Benjamin Franklin Stickney was a singularly brave man, but very eccentric and headstrong. A suggestion of his eccentric character is found in the choice of names for his children. The sons were styled, “One, Two, and Three” and the daughters bore the names of states of the union. Benjamin Stickney had been in the government service at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, prior to coming to Fort Wayne. While at Fort Wayne, he and his family occupied the council house, located just outside the stockade of the fort.
Stickney was rather cold and heartless in his attitude towards the Indians. In 1815, testifying before a Senate committee, he stated:
... it is cheaper to reduce them [Indians] by meat and bread than by force of arms; and from the observations I have had the opportunity of making, three or four months full feeding on meat and bread ... will bring on disease, and in six or eight months great mortality ... I believe that more Indians might be killed with the expense of $100,000 in this way than $1,000,000 expended in the support of armies to go against them.[18]
In December Tecumseh visited Fort Wayne. He had not been a participant in the battle of Tippecanoe, as the conflict had been instigated by the Prophet while Tecumseh was visiting the tribes along the Ohio river. The outcome of the battle had ruined his plan of an Indian confederation, but Tecumseh was still confident he could succeed with the help of the British. At Fort Wayne he made bitter reproaches against Governor Harrison; and at the same time demanded ammunition from Captain Rhea, who refused. McAfee relates that Tecumseh “then said he would go to his British father, who would not deny him. He appeared thoughtful a while, and then gave the warwhoop and went off.”[19]
Such was the spirit in which Tecumseh left Fort Wayne. The year 1812 became a period of terror throughout the West. Fort Wayne, in the center of the turmoil and uncertainty preceding the outbreak of the war, became an excellent listening-post for the news passing between Malden and the Indians along the Wabash. Harrison and the officials of the War Department paid particular attention to the information gathered by Wells, Stickney and John Shaw at Fort Wayne. On February 10, Wells reported that two British emissaries passed Fort Wayne on their way to the Prophet’s village. He added that the Potawatomis were ready to strike the Americans at Fort Dearborn and Fort Wayne whenever war was declared between the United States and Great Britain.[20]