James E. Graham Arthur Niemeier Mrs. Glenn Henderson Mrs. Charles Reynolds
FOREWORD
After Harmar and St. Clair had been disastrously defeated by the Indians in the Old Northwest Territory, President Washington appointed General Anthony Wayne to reorganize the American forces, to subdue the savages, and to protect the scattered white settlements along the frontier. Wayne’s campaign culminated in his decisive victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers on August 20, 1794. General Wayne then marched his men westward to the headwaters of the Maumee at the junction of the St. Mary’s and St. Joseph rivers. Here, on ground commanding the adjacent area, a fort was constructed and named Fort Wayne in his honor. If Wayne’s campaign had failed, settlement in this section might have been indefinitely delayed, and our city might be known by another name.
The following biographical sketch of Anthony Wayne was written by Randolph C. Downes. It was published in 1936 by Charles Scribner’s Sons in the DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, volume nineteen. Both the American Council of Learned Societies, the copyright holder, and the publisher have graciously accorded permission to reproduce the article in its entirety. The portraiture, the best brief biography of Wayne, has been reprinted verbatim; citations and bibliography have been omitted.
The Boards and the Staff of the Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County present this publication in the hope that the life of the founder of Fort Wayne will prove entertaining and informative to library patrons.
Anthony Wayne (Jan. 1, 1745-Dec. 15, 1796), soldier, was born at Waynesboro, Pa., the only son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Iddings) Wayne. Isaac Wayne with his father Anthony Wayne, of English ancestry, emigrated from Ireland and about 1724 settled in Chester County, Pa., where he acquired some 500 acres of land and a thriving tannery. At the age of sixteen the boy attended a private academy kept by his uncle, Gilbert Wayne, in Philadelphia, where he is said to have been more proficient in feats of mock warfare, suggested no doubt by the Indian wars in progress, than in his classroom subjects. He learned enough mathematics to qualify as a surveyor, with some further application after he left school two years later. In 1765 he was sent by a Philadelphia land company to supervise the surveying and settlement of 100,000 acres of land in Nova Scotia. On Mar. 25, 1766, after the venture had failed, he returned to Pennsylvania and married Mary Penrose, the daughter of Bartholomew Penrose, a Philadelphia merchant. They had two children. He went to live on his father’s estate and took charge of the tannery. In 1774 his father died, and Anthony succeeded to the ownership of a profitable establishment that provided him a very comfortable competence. He was of medium height, had a handsome, well-proportioned face with a slightly aquiline nose and high forehead. His hair was dark, his eyes dark brown and penetrating, giving to his face a very animated appearance.
During the early Revolutionary movement he was chairman of the committee appointed in the county on July 13, 1774, to frame the resolutions of protest against the coercive acts of the British government. He was later made chairman of the county committee appointed to supervise the carrying out of the association drawn up by the first Continental Congress. He represented his county in the provincial assembly that met during 1775. On Jan. 3, 1776, he was appointed by Congress to be colonel of a Chester County regiment engaged in continental service, and as a soldier he served through the war. His youth and lack of formal training in the arts of war prevented him from being on friendly terms with many of his colleagues, and he had personal difficulties with St. Clair, Charles Lee, and James Wilkinson. Contemporaries agreed that he was impetuous, yet Alexander Graydon, who called his manner “fervid,” admitted that he could “fight as well as brag.” Washington admitted his bravery and his self-possession in battle but feared his impetuousness, when, seventeen years later, he chose him to lead the army against the northwestern Indians. In the spring of 1776 he was sent with the Pennsylvania brigade commanded by Gen. William Thompson to reinforce the faltering Canadian expedition. When the Pennsylvanians met the retreating remnants of Montgomery’s army at the mouth of the Sorel River, they were sent down the St. Lawrence to attack what was thought to be the advance guard of the British army at Three Rivers. It turned out to be the main army numbering 3,000, and Wayne, whose regiment was in the front of the attack, found himself sustaining a hot exchange with the enemy in order to cover the retreat of his outnumbered countrymen to Fort Ticonderoga. He was placed in command of the garrison of over two thousand men there and had his first taste of wretched provisioning, of sickness, starvation, and mutiny.
On Feb. 21, 1777, he was appointed to the rank of brigadier-general and was called, on Apr. 12, to join Washington at Morristown, N. J., and to take command of the Pennsylvania line. After a season of training and drill his division took an active part in resisting the British in their campaign against Philadelphia. In the battle of Brandywine on Sept. 11, 1777, he occupied the center of the defense opposing the British at their main point of crossing. He was obliged to retreat when the American right was flanked by Cornwallis, who crossed the creek higher up. When Washington then withdrew to the north of the Schuylkill, he sent Wayne to circle around the rear of the British and to surprise and destroy their baggage train. Wayne, however, was himself surprised and, in the battle of Paoli, Sept. 20, received a drubbing. Being accused of negligence in this action, he demanded a court martial and was acquitted. Rejoining Washington, he played a conspicuous part in the battle of Germantown, on Oct. 4, leading a spirited and almost victorious attack, but was forced back, when difficulties in the rear turned the victory into confusion and defeat. He wintered with Washington at Valley Forge and led the advance attack against the British at the battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1788.
leading an attack in the battle of Germantown