FORTS MIAMI AND FORT INDUSTRY.
With Mention of Other Forts in and
Near the Maumee
River Basin.
BY CHARLES E. SLOCUM, M. D., PH. D., DEFIANCE, OHIO.
There were at least five forts, or
stockades of defense, in
the "Territory Northwest of the
Ohio River" in its earlier his-
tory, that were called Fort Miami,
namely:
1. The first one was built in November,
1679, by Rene-
Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle by
the River St. Joseph of
Lake Michigan, on rising ground near its
mouth. (Parkman's
La Salle and the Discovery of the
Great West, page 149.)
The builders were few in number, and
their work was well ad-
vanced after twenty days, so it could
not have been much of a
fort; but it served its purpose.
Evidently it served as a shelter,
also, for the Aborigines thereabouts,
and the occasional French
wanderer through its vicinity, for
several years; for Charlevoix
wrote "I left yesterday (16th
September, 1721,) the Fort of St.
Joseph River * *"
2. The
second Fort Miami was built by order of the French
Governor of Canada in the year 1686 (Harper's
Ency. U. S.
His., vol ix, page 486. Paris Doc. V, N. Y. Col. Docs., vol.
ix,
page 569), on the right bank of the
River St. Mary, within the
limits of the present city of Fort
Wayne, Indiana. When vis-
ited by M. de Celoron's expedition in
September, 1749, the build-
ings of this fort were small and in poor
condition. The stock-
ade timbers were rotten and falling.
"Within there were eight
houses, - or, to speak more correctly,
eight miserable huts, which
only the desire of making money could
render endurable." The
twenty-two French occupants were all
afflicted with fever. This
fort was soon thereafter abandoned. (Jesuit
Relations, vol. lxix,
page 189.)
3. The third fort of this name was built
to replace No. 2.
It was located on the left bank of the
River St. Joseph of the
Maumee, not far above its mouth, "a
scant league," say two miles
(120)
Forts Miami and Fort Industry. 121
or less, from No. 2, and also within the
present City of Fort
Wayne. It was built in 1749-50 by Commandant
Raimond who
thought it advisable at that time to
abandon Fort Miami No. 2
for the more desirable site by the St.
Joseph.
Fort Miami No. 3 was surrendered to the
British at the
time of their conquest of the French in
1760;
and its small
British garrison was captured by the
sympathizers with Pontiac in
1763.
It was then abandoned as a military post,
but the build-
ings were occupied by French traders and
Aborigines until they
were decayed and more desirable ones
were obtained.
4. A small body of United States troops
in passing along
the Ohio River about the year 1790,
stopped a short time just
below the mouth of the Little Miami
River. Their camp, hastily
protected by logs as was usual by
soldiers and even families in
those days of prowling hostile savages,
was called Fort Miami.
5. The strongest of all forts of the
name Miami, includ-
ing the buildings, garrison and
equipment, was built by the Brit-
ish in the spring of 1794 about two
miles below the lowest rapids
and on the left bank of the Maumee
River, the site being within
the limits of the present Village of
Maumee. This was a wide
invasion of United States territory by
the British for the
purpose of opposing General Wayne's
advance against the sav-
ages themselves directly, or for the
better encouragement of the
savages in their opposition. This fort
was built according to
the best military plans of that day with
the material at hand; and
was surrounded by a broad, deep ditch
which was also protected.
It was fully equipped with artillery,
and its garrison in 1794
numbered several hundred men. General
Wayne wisely decided
not to attack it; but his
reconnoiterings of the fort-"within
pistol-shot" distance -would have
brought disaster upon him
had a less conservative and considerate
officer than Major Camp-
bell been in command.
According to the terms of the Jay Treaty
this Fort Miami
was surrendered to United States troops
11th July, 1796, to-
gether with Detroit and the other forts
wrongfully held by the
British in United States territory from
the close of the Revolu-
tionary War.
122 Ohio
Arch. and His. Society Publications.
This Fort Miami is the first military
post or station authori-
tatively mentioned as existing by the
lower Maumee River. Mr.
Knapp, in his History of the Maumee
Valley, or the person from
whom he copied, probably confused the
Maumee with the Fort
Miami No. 1, built by La Salle by the
River St. Joseph of Lake
Michigan, which he called the River of
the Miamis. There has
been a lamentable number of copyists,
since the first confused
statement, to place a Fort Miami on the
lower Maumee in the
year 1680.
There has also been much of conjecture
with unauthorita-
tive statements regarding Fort Industry,
the site of which tradi-
tion places about the crossing of Summit
and Monroe Streets
in the present City of Toledo,
Ohio. Henry Howe, in his
Historical Collections of Ohio in 1846, also in his edition of 1896
volume ii, page 148, wrote that Fort
Industry was "erected about
the year 1800." H. S. Knapp, in his History of the Maumee
Valley, 1872, page 93, wrote that it was built by order of Gen-
eral Wayne immediately after the Battle
of Fallen Timbers.
Neither of these writers give any
authority; and their statements
are negatively disproved by official
records, as follows:
1. The Battle of Fallen Timbers occurred
20th August, 1794,
and General Wayne's army was very busy
caring for the wounded
and dead, in searching the country for
savages and in destroy-
ing their crops, during the two days
before the countermarch
began. The night of the 23rd, according
to Lieutenant Boyer's
Diary, the army bivouacked at Camp
Deposit, Roche de Bout
(not Roche de Bouef as written by some
early chroniclers), and
the morning of the 24th the march was
continued up the Maumee
River. This shows that there was not
sufficient time between the
Battle and the return march to build
even a stockade, with all
the other work on hand, and this, also
immediately after the
great excitements and exhaustions of the
Battle.
2. No
mention is made of Fort Industry, nor of building a
post on the lower Maumee, in the Diary
of General Wayne's Cam-
paign, nor in the reports.
3. The report to General Wayne that on
the 30th August,
1794, the British Agent, Alexander
McKee, had gathered the
Aborigines at the mouth of Swan Creek to
feed and comfort
Forts Miami and Fort Industry. 123
them ("fix them"), is also
presumptive evidence against the ex-
istence there or thereabouts of an
American fort or body of troops
at that time. (American State Papers,
Aborigine Affairs, vol.
ii, page 526. Also McKee's letter to the
British Colonel Richard
England at Detroit.)
4. Timothy Pickering, then acting
Secretary of War, re-
ported to the Congressional Committee on
the Military Estab-
lishment 3rd February, 1796, the names
of the then existing
Military Stations. In this list the name
Fort Industry does not
appear. The stations then existing in
and near the Maumee
region were Forts Defiance, Wayne,
Miami, and Sandusky, all
of which aggregated a force of one
battalion of infantry, one
company of riflemen, and one company of
artillery at Fort Wayne
which was the headquarters for these
posts. Also Forts Adams,
Recovery, Jefferson, Loramie, Head of
Auglaize, and Greenville
the headquarters, had one battalion of
infantry and one company
of riflemen divided among them.
5. The 29th March, 1796,
James McHenry, Secretary of
War, with his thoughts on economy,
particularly "ought the mili-
tary force of the United States to be
diminished," gave to the
before mentioned Committee the list of
forts to be mentioned in
this region, with the garrison each
should have, as follows: De-
fiance, Wayne, Adams, Recovery, head of
Wabash, [Auglaize?],
Miami, and Michillimackinac, each
fifty-six men, and Detroit 112
men. In these reports Forts Miami and
Detroit were recognized
as the property of the United States,
but they were not evacuated
by the British until the 11th July,
1796, according to the report
of Lieutenant Colonel Hamtramck and
others.
6. With the date of "War Department
23rd December, 1801,
the estimate of all the Posts and
Stations where Garrisons will
be Expedient, and the number of men
requisite for each garrison,"
does not contain the name Fort Industry.
7. An official statement of the reduced
army under the Act
of March, 1802, and its distribution 1st January, 1803, names
Fort Wayne, with a garrison of
sixty-four men, as being the only
fortification or military station then
in or near the Maumee
region.
2
ol. XII-2
124 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
8. The report issued from "Head
Quarters, Washington,
February 4, 1805, for the year
1803,
designating every post and
point of occupancy," does not
contain the name Fort Industry.
9. Nor does the name Fort Industry
appear in the schedule
of "Posts and places occupied by
the Troops of the United
States in the year 1804, taken from
the latest returns, and desig-
nating every post and point of
occupancy; to which is annexed
the number wanting to complete the Peace
Establishment." The
only fort, or United States troops in
the Maumee region at this
date was at Fort Wayne with an aggregate
garrison, October
31st, 1804, of sixty-eight men. (See American
State Papers,
Military Affairs, vol. ii, pages 113, 115, 156, 175, 176.)
In fact, the only authoritative
statement that Fort Industry
ever existed is the mere mention of it,
"Fort Industry on the
Miami of the Lake," as the place
where was held an important
treaty with Aborigines 4th July, 1805, (American
State Papers,
Aborigine Affairs, vol. i, page 695); nothing more, nothing be-
fore, and nothing after this date, so
far as the writer has been
able to find by several inquiries, in
person and by letters, at the
War Department, at the United States
Library, and other large
libraries; and there is nothing but
tradition to designate its site
within the limits of the present City of
Toledo.
The negatives here adduced are equal to
positives; hence we
may rest with the belief that "Fort
Industry" was little more than
a stockade built hurriedly,
industriously,- if a former stockade
inclosure as a trading post there was
not repaired instead - in
the summer of 1805 solely for the treaty
there held, and called a
"Fort" to make it more
impressive to the Aborigines. It was
soon thereafter abandoned by the troops
who were then necessarily
present, as at former treaties.
The authenticity of the frontispiece to
Knapp's History of
the Maumee Valley is completely set aside in an editorial from
the able pen of S. S. Knabenshue in the Toledo
Blade of January
24th, 1903 0. J. Hopkins who drew this view and engraved it
on wood, asserted that his drawing was
without foundation, in
fact, and purely a work of his fancy.
And such is the case, also,
with the "old painting in oil"
that is sometimes referred to, and
of many statements that have been
written regarding this fort.
Forts Miami and Fort Industry. 125
Before the grading for streets began,
two prehistoric semi-
circular earthworks, presumably for
stockades, were surveyed in
Toledo; one at the intersection of
Clayton and Oliver Streets
on the south bank of Swan Creek, and the
other at Fassett and
Fort Streets on the right bank of the
Maumee. A third work
of this character was recorded over
fifty years ago by the late
Colonel Charles Whittlesey as existing
at Eagle Point about two
miles up the river from the Fassett
Street work.
From the early records we catch glimpses
of different traders
with the Aborigines along the lower
Maumee River; and there
can be no doubt that stockades were
employed for the protection
of their goods and peltries, from the
beginning of the 18th cen-
tury, or before.