Ohio History Journal
FORT MALDEN* TODAY
BY JAMES A. GREEN
In his correspondence with Washington,
William
Henry Harrison, while Governor of
Indiana Territory,
frequently reported that the Indians
had gone to Maiden
for arms and ammunition. That British
Fort at the
mouth of the Detroit River was a menace
to the men of
Ohio and Indiana in the early days. It
profoundly af-
fected our relations with the Indians.
If they disliked
our policy they could go to Malden
where the British
received them with open arms. There it was
the English
fur traders gathered and with great
success diverted the
fur trade of the northern parts of Ohio
and Indiana
from the American traders. Those
Canadian fur
traders were splendidly organized, were
fine men of
business and they were backed by the
power of their
Government. Of course, the fur trade
was a mere inci-
dental. The great thing was that Maiden
occupied a
strategic position, commanding the head
of Lake Erie
and the entrance to the Detroit River.
We had it is
true, a fort at Detroit, but Malden was
master of the
approach to it. From a military point
of view, Detroit
was badly placed. Had we built Fort
Meigs, or a fort
on the site where in 1813 General
Harrison built Fort
Meigs, we would have had an ideal location
both from a
commercial and a military standpoint.
General Hull realized the disadvantage
of Maiden at
* See editorial note at the conclusion
of this contribution.
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