Charles R. Poinsatte

“ The area Dr. Poinsatte decided to study was Fort Wayne and not Detroit or Chicago or Cincinnati. Here what Nathaniel Hawthorne called “a sort of home-feeling with the past” worked its magic. Born in Fort Wayne in 1925, Charles Poinsatte was stirred by the names he heard as a boy, Little Turtle, Anthony Wayne, and George Rogers Clarke. Some family property was part of the old Richardville estate, and in his youth he explored an old Indian burial ground there. He has never gotten over his fascination with those men, and now he examines them with his academic tools. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Fort Wayne as a central point along this line of the Maumee and Wabash river, and at the edge of the white civilization, while touching the Indian country, held a unique and paradoxical position. The traders and land speculators at Fort Wayne—the Ewings, Hamilton, Hanna, Barnett, Hood, Comparet, Coquillard, and others—were making a handsome profit in their dealings with the Indians. As long as the Indian agency remained at Fort Wayne, and as long as the Indians remained in this area and received ever-better annuities, these men profited. ”

“ Returning to their horses, the four messengers rode stealthily along the Maumee and up the bank to the east wall of the fort. No member of the garrison was in sight. In despair, they rode down the river bank and skirted the shore as they turned their horses to the west to follow the St. Mary’s river. Then, in full view of the Indians, they dashed up the river bank and made straight for the north gate of the fort, at a moment when Winamac and four other chiefs were rounding the northwest corner of the fort with a flag of truce to hold another conference with the commandant. ”

“ Early Fort Wayne played an important and definite role in the history of the old Northwest. Its unique position as a portage site between the Wabash and Maumee rivers made the Wabash route one of the natural waterways from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi river and brought Indians and fur traders to this spot at an early date. It is most likely the oldest continuous site settled by white men in Indiana. During the French, British, and American occupation of the region, forts were built here as outposts of defense in the Indian country. ”

“ Among these early settlers who found their way to Fort Wayne in 1819, was Samuel Hanna, pioneer trader, judge, legislator, canal builder, railroad enterpriser, and banker. In many respects, Samuel Hanna was to become Fort Wayne’s most active citizen as the small community grew from a mere village to a city during his lifetime. Born in Scott county, Kentucky, in October, 1797, and later moving to Dayton, Ohio, with his parents, he came to Fort Wayne from St. Mary’s Ohio, where he had been engaged in supplying goods for the government during the Indian treaties of 1818. ”

“ That not all of the French traders at Fort Miami were scurrying to Detroit is evident from the fact that in the year 1750 one of the most noted traders of the area, Joseph Drouet de Richerville, came to Kiskakon. [51] Richerville was a scion of French nobility who either was seeking a life of adventure or was engaged in the fur trade for the mere sake of a livelihood, as the family wealth had dwindled. Shortly after his arrival, Richerville married Tahcumwah, the daughter of the reigning Miami chief, Aquenochqua, and sister of the future chief, Little Turtle. ”

“ However, the threatened outbreak of the Indians did not materialize. British intrigue had come to an end, and the red men lacked another leader as capable as Tecumseh. Many Indians continued to congregate at Fort Wayne in the years following the War of 1812. They came for reasons of trade or to receive their annuities or possibly from a feeling of sympathy and attraction for the scenes of their old home and gathering place, but aside from some petty quarrels among themselves, nothing war-like was ever again manifested in the relations of the Indians and whites at Fort Wayne. ”

“ The name of Allen county was suggested by John Tipton, who was an ardent admirer of Colonel John Allen, the gallant Kentuckian who, after aiding in the relief of Fort Wayne in 1812, lost his life at the battle of the River Raisin in Michigan.
Barr and McCorkle awaited the organization of the county government, after which they proceeded with the work of securing returns on their investments. At this time there were no streets beyond beaten paths and driveways which had, by chance, come into accepted use whenever one man chose to walk or drive over a route taken by another before him. ”

“ Stickney at the time did not understand the language, but Antoine Bondie who was present and understood the whole force of what was said, sprang to his feet and, striking his own knife, shouted in Potawatomie, “I, too, am a man.” [13] His dramatic action, together with the appearance of the soldiers, fully armed, brought the plot to a finish. The Indians had hoped through the murder of Stickney and the officers, to be able to control the situation within the fort, even to the opening of the gates to allow the entrance of their warriors. ”

“ Most of the inhabitants were either former occupants of Miamitown who returned to this new site after Wayne’s victory or French-Canadians of the Detroit-River Raisin region. Volney, a native of France who traveled in the United States during 1796, questioned the Americans concerning these French “habitants” of the northwest. He was told that they were a kind, hospitable, and sociable sort of people, “but in ignorance and idleness they beat the Indians. They know nothing of civil and domestic affairs; their women neither sew or spin or make butter but pass their time in gossiping and tattle. ”

“ A person might have remained in the woods within five or six miles of Fort Wayne for a year without being discovered by any government agent. It was the custom of the traders to bring whiskey in kegs and hide it in the woods about half a mile from the fort, a short time previous to the paying of the annuity, and when the Indians came to the fort, to give information to such of the Indians who could be confided in that there was whiskey to be had at those places. As soon as the Indians received their money they would go off to the appointed places. ”

“ It was the policy of the French to locate their garrisons and trading posts wherever there existed a sufficiently large village of friendly Indians or wherever the strategic importance of a place itself made it necessary to erect a fort. Fort Miami combined both of these advantages. Once the Miamis determined to remain at Kiskakon, they would benefit the French not only by their fur trade but would be a means of protection against hostile tribes and the English. The strategic position for a fort at the Maumee-Wabash portage was recognized even by the English as early as 1717. ”

“ He intends to return to Europe next year to explore still another aspect of history suggested by Fort Wayne’s story, the lives of French military officers who fought in the American Revolution. After that, he might consider a history of Fort Wayne in the railroad era, from 1855 (where Dr. Poinsatte’s work on the canal era ended) to the Progressive Era. Whatever the course of Professor Poinsatte’s future studies, Fort Wayne’s citizens will look forward to reading the results. He has already enriched our understanding of ourselves beyond measure. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ Johnston had trouble procuring the proper kinds of supplies to issue to the Indians at Fort Wayne. The goods intended for the Indian trade were rarely imported into the United States, there being no regular demand for them. On the other hand, the British traders in Canada had agents in England, long accustomed to this commerce, who sent out the very articles needed. The supplies destined for the United States factories went through many hands, and this offered countless opportunities to defraud the Indians and the government. Often the goods came out of season or were damaged. ”

“ Living within the fort were the wives and children of those married officers and men who chose to bring their families to the wilderness with them. In many respects these women shared the army life of their husbands. They were governed by the same military regulations, even receiving the same daily whiskey ration as did the men. The officers and their families generally came from an older and more formal society and carried into the rude barracks the manners and customs of the East. One of the commanders, Col. Hunt, brought his family directly to Fort Wayne from their Boston home. ”

“ The only means that occurs to my mind, of stopping this career of vice and immorality, is the speedy survey and sale of the lands from the mouth of the Maumee to this place; and from hence down and along the banks of the Wabash.... Thus, a cordon of hardy and respectable settlers ... would be formed along the Maumee and Wabash.... At present, there is no security to him who locates himself on the public lands, nor do I wish there should be; because every citizen ought to enjoy equal advantages. This place, if laid out as a town and sold by the government, would bring a large sum of money. ”

“ Great Britain, in violation of the treaty of Paris, continued to hold Detroit together with other posts along the southern shore of the Lakes. By this means they maintained effective control of the fur trade of the Northwest, and, thereby, to a great extent, influenced the Indians. Just how much the British officials were responsible for the Indian warfare from 1783 to 1794 is a debatable question. At times the action of the British officials seems to have been a case of the right hand not letting the left hand know what it was doing. ”

“ These Indians objected to traveling to Detroit to receive their annuity rather than coming to Fort Wayne, which was almost a hundred miles closer to their village, near the present site of South Bend, Indiana. Hays, therefore, agreed that the next payments should be made at Fort Wayne, but Cass ignored the agreement and ordered the Indians to come to Detroit. After they arrived, Cass reproached them for crossing into Canada to receive British gifts. Metea bitingly replied that they would gladly give up the practice, if the Americans gave out the annuities at Fort Wayne. ”

“ Clair never reached Miamitown. Badly trained and inexperienced, his army of 1,400 men suffered one of the most terrible defeats ever inflicted on American forces. Five hundred and thirty-two men fell before Little Turtle’s Indians on the site of Fort Recovery, Ohio. The situation was now critical. The Indians now attacked the frontier with impunity and another defeat might mean the complete alienation of the West from the new union. At this crucial point, General Anthony Wayne, hero of Stony Point in the Revolution, was appointed commander-in-chief of the American army. ”

“ Men were confined in small dark rooms, put astride spiked wooden horses, forced to wear the wooden collar, ankle bolts, and irons. In the Orderly Books for the Fort Wayne garrison, we repeatedly find non-commissioned officers demoted to the ranks for misconduct or crimes of one nature or another, only to be reinstated when their successors proved even more incapable. Yet, when this wild, bored garrison was besieged during the War of 1812, they successfully held the fort against a force six times as strong. ”

“ Two weeks before his death at Fort Dearborn, Wells wrote to Harrison, stating that Stickney, “does not consider himself under your constraint. He declares publicly that you have no authority over him. Your speech to the Indians has been here seven weeks and has never been communicated to the Indians by the agent.” [26] Thus in his last letter, Wells had completed the circle of contradiction and now stood with Harrison in an attempt to uphold the governor’s authority over the agent at Fort Wayne. ”

“ British policy kept the colonists from occupying the land north of the Ohio, which meant the preservation of the Indian fur trade. Moreover practically all their furs were sold through the London market. Thus, with the outbreak of the American Revolution, the French traders at Fort Miami felt they had more to lose by being friendly with the American cause than their neighbors, the French inhabitants of Vincennes and the Illinois settlements who were primarily interested in farming. ”

“ Beaubien and LaFontaine, whose goods had been destroyed, incited the Indians to attack LaBalme, as the Indians, learning the party was French, were not disposed at first to retaliate. The red men, led by their famous war chief, Little Turtle, in his first major engagement, completely defeated LaBalme’s force, all but a few being either killed or captured. LaBalme himself was killed and his personal papers, along with the news of the victory, were sent to DePeyster at Detroit. Among these papers was the intelligence LaBalme had gathered about Miamitown and its traders. ”

“ Joseph. This river where it falls into the Miami [Maumee] river about a quarter of a mile from this place is one hundred yards wide, on the east side of which stands a stockade fort, somewhat ruinous. The Indian village consists of about forty or fifty cabins, besides nine or ten French houses, a runaway colony from Detroit during the late Indian war; they were concerned in it, and being afraid of punishment came to this post, where ever since they have spirited up the Indians against the English. All the French residing here are a lazy indolent people, fond of breeding mischief ... ”

“ The chief industry of the village in these early years continued to be trade with the Indians, either for their furs and peltries or for their annuity money. With the end of the Indian wars, the Miamis and 90 neighboring tribes once more found time for hunting and trapping. At the same time the establishment of European peace in 1815, at the end of the Napoleonic era, brought about a sharp rise in the price of furs. New and powerful traders began to operate in the Maumee-Wabash area with many coming to Fort Wayne as the central point of the region. ”

“ A few of the better traders of the region formed a society to prohibit this illegal trade, but it soon dissolved when they found that their regulations could be inforced only by action of the courts. When John Hays, Indian agent at Fort Wayne reported that all the traders were guilty of selling whiskey to the Indians, and asked for special authority to deal with them as he saw fit, the government officials replied that they did not believe such authority was necessary. ”