FORT INDUSTRY--AN HISTORICAL MYSTERY
BY WALTER J. SHERMAN
Upon the south wall of an old brick
mercantile build-
ing, at the northeast corner of Monroe
and Summit
Streets, Toledo, hangs a faded
inscription reading as
follows, viz: "This building
stands on the site of Fort
Industry, a stockade erected by General
Anthony
Wayne, in the year 1794, as a safeguard
against the
British, who then held Fort Miami. It
was garrisoned
by a company of United States troops,
under the com-
mand of Captain J. Rhea, who held it
until after the
evacuation of all the British Posts in
the northwest in
the year 1796, an Act which was brought
about by the
operations of Jay's Treaty with Great
Britain. In July,
1805, the treaty was negotiated at Fort
Industry by
which was extinguished the Indian title
to all the west-
ern part of the reserve known as the
Fire Lands, a tract
of about 500,000 acres, granted by the
State of Con-
necticut to the sufferers by fire from
the British troops
in the incursions into that state
during the War of the
Revolution. Evidences of the Fort were
not entirely
obliterated as late as 1836. A bluff 20
feet high was
leveled and Fort Industry Block erected
1842-1843 by
Richard Mott."
This brief and tersely expressed
account of the time
and occasion for the building,
occupancy and abandon-
ment of Fort Industry and its final
disappearance should
and ordinarily would satisfy students
of local history
who seek only the essential facts concerning
this, at one
(231)
232
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
time, rather important frontier post.
However, a re-
view of the numerous authorities who
have, in their
works, referred to Fort Industry by
name or location,
discloses the fact that the above
inscription does not in
several respects harmonize with their
account, nor are
the writers in accord among themselves.
Because of
these conflicting accounts, and with
the object of en-
deavoring to clarify the history of Fort
Industry as
much as possible, the writer, during
leisure moments of
recent years, has undertaken to
assemble in convenient
form for reference, all the information
obtainable from
available authorities and to deduct
therefrom a plausi-
ble narration of facts concerning this
early post. The
result of these researches and the
conclusions reached
will follow.
Before proceeding farther, and on the
assumption
that this post may have been
established or at least oc-
cupied at a much earlier date than that
given in the
Richard Mott inscription (1794), it may
be profitable to
recall a few of the most important
events in the history
of the lower lake region and the Valley
of the St. Law-
rence River.
HISTORICAL NOTES
In 1535, Jacques Cartier, a French
navigator, en-
tered the St. Lawrence River and took
nominal posses-
sion of North America, in the name of
his King, Fran-
cis I.
In 1623, De Champlain built Fort St.
Louis, at Que-
bec, and from this strong
fortification, for a period of
150 years, France ruled a vast region,
including the
Great Lakes, and the Valley of the St.
Lawrence and
later that of the Mississippi River.
The Recollet and
Fort Industry--An Historical
Mystery 233
Jesuit Missionaries traversed the
country in all direc-
tions, and became the pioneers of
civilization in the Far
West.
In 1679, LaSalle in the Griffin sailed
the waters of
Lake Erie, bearing a Royal Commission
to establish a
line of forts along the Great Lakes and
to hold for
France this rich domain, which
Frenchmen had discov-
ered. He looked forward to a chain of
forts and trad-
ing posts, stretching from Quebec along the Great
Lakes, and down the Mississippi to its
mouth.
In 1680, Lieut.-Governor Frontenac
caused Fort
Miami to be built as a French military
trading post. In
1694, this post was under the command
of Sieur Courte-
manche. It was abandoned shortly
thereafter, (prob-
ably about 1719) for a location farther
west, on the pres-
ent site of Fort Wayne. (Note--In
Brice's History of
Fort Wayne, page 11, we read, "It is probable that be-
fore the close of the year 1719, temporary
trading posts
were erected at the sites of Fort
Wayne, Quiatenon and
Vincennes.") Fort Miami was rebuilt by the British
Governor, Simcoe, in 1794, abandoned in
1796, after
the Treaty of Greenville, and occupied
and abandoned
by the American forces a little later.
It was reoccupied
and re-abandoned by the British General
Proctor in the
War of 1812. This ancient Fortress has
the distinction
of being not only the oldest in the
state, but as having
triumphantly floated the flags of three
nations. As fur-
ther proof of the antiquity of this
post we extract the
following from a research report by the
Deputy Minister
in charge of the Public Archives of
Canada under date
of January, 1925, addressed to the
Right Honorable
234 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Sir George E. Foster and transmitted by
Mr. Foster
to the writer, viz:
In answer to the letter of Mr. Sherman,
dated the 2nd of
December, which you transferred to this
office sometime later, I
beg to say that I have had a search made
and found there is a
great deal of information on the subject
of Fort Miami. There
are, however, on the early maps of 1680
two Forts bearing the
same name, one of them I think no doubt
was LaSalle's Fort;
as they were both on the Miami River, it
is possible that one of
these may have been called Fort
Industry. We do not find the
name of Fort Industry on any document
nor on any plan. One
map we have shows a third Fort of Miami,
but a long distance
away, but these two Forts near the Lake,
I should think are the
two referred to by Mr. Sherman. I
enclose herewith a copy of
the document, dated the 26th of July,
1794, which gives the sum-
mary of the history of the Fort which
may be of interest to your
correspondent, viz:
FORT MIAMIS. Maps show five general
locations of Forts
of this name three of which may be
dismissed as irrelevant to this
inquiry. * * * Of the other two
locations, the one about
where the present Fort Wayne stands is
fairly definite. * * *
The last location which seems at all
definite is the Fort at the Foot
of the Rapids. In the MS document many
letters are thus dated.
The name Miami being understood. * * *
The map of Nou-
velle France, etc. (1690) showing Port
des Miami" on the north
bank of the present Maumee River is the
earliest for this location,
or any post bearing the name. * * * Two
of the 1794 MSS.
show "Fort Miamis as proposed"
and "Miamias Fort established
in 1794," both on the north bank of
the river--the first of these
being the one referred to as making the
distance fifteen miles from
Turkey Point. One 1794 and one 1795 MS
plan each show "Site
of the Post in 1783," on the south
shore directly opposite this. It
seems probable that this south shore
site is the one established by
Captain Potts as referred to by Colonel
McKee, and may have
been maintained until the north shore
site was used in 1794.
* * * Regarding Fort Industry, there is
no map showing a
fort of this name, and so far as
learned, no record of it in the
Manuscripts. There is evidence that
General Wayne, in 1795,
had intentions of building a fort at the
mouth of the Miamis River
at Point au Chene, should he be enabled
to push that far to the
northeast. There is no indication that
he did so.
From a recent letter from Prof. Louis
C. Karpinski
Fort Industry -- An Historical
Mystery 235
of the University of Michigan in
reference to the an-
cient maps of this region in their
Library I quote as fol-
lows:
I do not find Fort Industry on any map.
I do not find Fort
des Miamis on the 1746 Amerique by
D'Anville, published at
Paris. Also on his Canada Louisiane at
Paris 1755. It appears
on the left bank but looks 30 miles from
the Lake. On the
Mitchell maps, various editions,
1755-1776, etc., it appears on
the right bank.
In 1701, the site of Detroit was
permanently settled
by French colonists under De la Motte
Cadillac and Fort
Pontchartrain was built as a defense
against the Indians.
In 1745, a Colony of English traders
from Pennsyl-
vania built Fort Sandowski, on the north
side of San-
dusky Bay.
By the terms of the Treaty of Paris
(1763) France
surrendered her possession in the Ohio
country to the
British who remained in possession
until after Wayne's
victory over the Indians, at Fallen
Timbers, August 20,
1794, when in accordance with the
provision of the
treaty between the United States and
Great Britain,
signed November 17, 1794, all of the
military posts held
by the British south of the Great Lakes
were surren-
dered to the Americans.
Prior to the arrival of the French, and
long there-
after, the Valley of the Maumee was the
abode of the
Miami Indians, the boundaries of whose
lands were so
graphically described by Chief Little
Turtle. (See To-
ledo and Lucas County, Vol. 1, p. 61) at the Council of
Greenville in August, 1795, in these
words:
My fathers kindled the first fires in
Detroit; from there
they extended their lines to the head
waters of the Scioto; from
there to its mouth; then down the Ohio
to the mouth of the Wa-
236 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
bash; then to Chicago and over Lake
Michigan. These are the
boundaries within which the prints of my
ancestors' houses are
everywhere to be seen.
The river itself was the favorite route
between the
tribes of the north and those living
along the Ohio and
Mississippi Rivers. We think therefore
it is safe to
assume that the site of Fort Industry
was at least a
convenient rendezvous for both the
Indians and the
authorities and traders from the
beginning of the
French, in 1680, to the end of the
British occupation, in
1796.
With this brief historical review
before us, we can
now note a little more intelligently
what the various
authorities have to say as to the
origin of Fort Industry.
We have already the Richard Mott
inscription from
which it would appear that Anthony
Wayne built the
fort in 1794.
EXTRACTS FROM THE PUBLIC ARCHIVES
OF CANADA
The Deputy Minister in charge of these
Archives
writes under date of January 23, 1925:
Regarding Fort Industry, there is no map
showing a fort of
this name. No record in the manuscripts.
There is evidence that
General Wayne in 1795 had intentions of
building a fort at the
mouth of the Miamis River at Point au
Chene (probably Bay View
Park) should he be enabled to push that
far to the Northeast.
(See extracts from C. Series, Vol. 673.)
There is no indication
that he did so. * * *
From these Archives we make the
following ex-
tracts:
Mr. Godfroy * * * brings the same
reports respecting
the intentions of General Wayne to
advance and built a Fort at
Sandusky, and another at the mouth of
this river. * * * All
Fort
Industry -- An Historical Mystery 237
reports say
that a fort is certainly to be built immediately at
Sandusky and
another at the entrance to this river. Whatever
General
Wayne may do at Sandusky, I can hardly think he will
send any
party below the Glaize.--From letter from Major Steele
to Colonel
England, dated Fort Miamis, August 20, 1795, Archives
C Series,
Vol. 673, page 45.
Supposing no
attempt should be made upon Detroit itself,
its
importance will be much diminished and the effects upon our
trade nearly
the same if establishments are formed by the States
at the
mouth of the Miamis on Lake Erie through
which our trade
to that part
of the country passes.--Letter from Lord Dorchester
to Mr.
Grenville, Archives, Q Series, Vol. 50, Part I, page 21.
* * * And he
heard from some of the officers that he
(Wayne)
would build a fort this Fall at Point aux Chenes, pro-
vided
Perroques with merchandise and stores were prevented from
passing the
British post of the Miamis. N. B. Point aux Chenes
is shown on
the 1795 MS. Plan (from Q 74) as being on north
shore of
Miamis Bay, opposite Turkey Point. (This is probably
a point on
what is now Bay View Park.)--Information from
Charles
Tillier, dated "Detroit, October 20th, 1795," C Series,
Vol. 673,
page 50.
EXTRACTS
FROM MICHIGAN PIONEER AND
HISTORICAL
COLLECTIONS
Upper
Posts Prior to the War of the Revolution
For the year
1774 and before the war, the King's or Eighth
Regiment
occupied the upper posts, viz:
Michilimackinac
......... 23 men
Detroit
.................. 68 "
Fort Erie
................ 29 "
Fort
Schlosser .......... 14 "
Landing ................. 7 "
Niagara
................. 100 "
--From Vol.
20, page 272.
Captain
Grant being ill desires me to acquaint you that not
doubting
Major DePeyster gave you every information from the
Indian
Country, he declined troubling you on his return from the
Miami River;
that finding the provisions at the mercy of the
weather and
Indians, he built a rough block house for its lodge-
ment which
may be defended by 10 men against 100.--From Let-
ter from
Captain Burnet to Brigadier-General Powell, Detroit,
September
5th, 1782, Vol. 20, page 55.
In obedience
to your Excellency's commands, I paid every
238 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
attention in my power to the management
and conduct of the In-
dians and with the assistance of Colonel
Butler, have endeavored
to get every information possible
respecting their ideas and opin-
ions of the Peace * * * They (the
Indians) added, that
many years ago, their ancestors had
granted permission to the
French King to build trading houses or
small forts on the water
communication between Canada and the
Western Indians in the
heart of their country for the
convenience of trade only, without
granting one inch of the land, but what
these forts stood upon
* * *.--From letter from
Brigadier-General Maclean to Gen-
eral Frederick Haldimand, Niagara, May
18th, 1783, Vol. 20,
pages 117, 119.
I have your letter of Monday last. The
goods for the In-
dians at Gaspe will be sent from Lachine
and a requisition shall
be forwarded for them. Having wrote to
Colonel McKee, the
22nd ult. that if I did not hear from
him in the course of eight
days, I would make a requisition for
35,ooo rations of provisions
and 1,000 gallons of rum as an
additional supply for the In-
dians at Swan Creek and Detroit,
etc. * * * --From letter
from Captain Joseph Chew to Thomas Aston
Coffin, Montreal,
September 3rd, 1795, Vol. 20, page 419.
The policy of the British Government in
the matter
of surrendering to the United States
possession of the
upper posts is disclosed in the
following letter from
Quebec dated 14th November, 1784, and
unaddressed,
viz:
Sir,--Different attempts having been
made by the American
States to get possession of the posts in
the upper country in con-
sequence of the Treaty of Peace (Jay's
Treaty, 1794) I have
thought it my duty uniformly to oppose
the same until His
Majesty's orders for that purpose shall
be received. * * *
--Vol. 20, page 269.
Other extracts from the Michigan
Pioneer and His-
torical Collections follow:
Late yesterday afternoon, I received a
number of letters from
Detroit * * * also two letters from
Colonel McKee dated
19th, 21st, April, that of the 19th
respecting mode of paying the
Department at Detroit, the other
concerning flour, wanted for the
Fort Industry -- An Historical Mystery 239
Indians at Swan Creek, likewise two letters from Mr. Selby of the
19th and 22nd April, the first relating
to the postage of letters
sent by Colonel McKee and the latter
saying that Colonel Eng-
land had given orders for the flour
being supplied for the Indians
at Swan Creek, etc. * *
*."--from letter from Joseph Chew
to Thomas Aston Coffin, Montreal, May
12th, 1796, Vol. 20, page
441-442.
After the troops had taken some
refreshments, the Legion
continued their route down the river and
encamped in sight of
the British Garrison (Fort Miami) * * *
and continuing
from "Camp, Foot of the Rapids 22nd
August, 1794," * * *
we have destroyed all the property
within 100 yards of the Gar-
rison. The volunteers were sent down
eight miles below the
fort and have destroyed and burned all the possessions
belonging
to the Canadians and savages * * * a
small party of dra-
goons were sent over the river to burn
and destroy all of the
houses, corn, etc., that were under
cover of the fort (Miami)
which was effected.--From Boyer's Daily Journal of Wayne's
Campaign, Vol. 34, page 546.
The Indians, to all appearances have
totally abandoned their
settlements, quite to the mouth of the
river and their villages and
corn field being consumed and destroyed
in every direction, even
under the influence of the guns of Fort
Miami.--From Boyer's
Daily Journal of Wayne's Campaign, Vol.
34, page 547.
Having burned and destroyed everything
contiguous to the
Fort without opposition, the Legion took
up the line of march
and in the evening encamped on this
ground, being the same they
marched from on the 20th.--Boyer from
Camp Deposit, August
23rd, 1794, pages 547-548.
Having this day received a report from Swan
Creek that
messengers have arrived from the Spanish
Governor or his agents
to draw away the Indians from thence
(Swan Creek) to their
frontier on the Mississippi, by unjust
representations of the con-
duct of the British Government toward
(the Indians) I judged it
immediately necessary to dispatch one of
the interpreters from
hence to counteract, etc.--From letter
from Colonel Alexander
McKee to Joseph Chew, Detroit, June
20th, 1796, Vol. 20, page
456.
* * * In my last I said the Yankees were
either at San-
dusky or were hourly expected. * * * The
Iroquois have
left the Village and are at Swan
Creek.--From letter from Rev.
Edmund Burke to Brigade Major
Littlehales, Military Secretary
to Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe of the
Province of Upper Canada,
River Raisin, June 17, 1795, Vol.
20, page 406.
240 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Lieutenant Boyer, in his official
journal of Wayne's
Campaign, makes no mention of Fort
Industry.
EXTRACTS FROM WAYNE PAPERS
We located the original private and
official Wayne
papers in the library of the Historical
Society of Penn-
sylvania, his native state. There are
eleven volumes of
125 pages each, covering the period
from the date of the
Battle of Fallen Timbers, August 20,
1794, to the time
of Wayne's death at Fort Erie, December
15, 1796.
There were many volumes in addition to
the above, re-
ferring to an earlier period in his
career. The writer
arranged for the careful examination of
each paper in
the entire eleven volumes. The reader's
report says:
I have examined II volumes of
Wayne's papers, covering the
period from August, 1794, to December,
1796, and am sorry to
say I found no reference to Fort
Industry by that name. En-
closed you will find extracts from the
Wayne letters relating to
Forts, Stockades, and Blockhouses
erected in Ohio; whether any
of these extracts refer to Fort
Industry, you are better able to
judge than I am. You will notice there
are several references
to orders for provisioning various
Forts, and that Fort Industry
is not included in the list * * *."
Following is from en-
closures: "Greenville Headquarters,
December I, 1795, Colonel
Kilpatrick--you will furnish the Posts
herein mentioned up to
the first of April, 1796, with the
following complete rations
* * * viz: Forts Washington, Hamilton,
St. Clair, Jefferson,
Greenville, Recovery, the Post at the
old Piqua Town, at Low-
mies [Loramie], St. Marys, Forts at
Adams, Wayne, Defiance,
Knox, Steuben and Massac (fifteen in
all). (Signed) Anthony
Wayne."
A letter from General Wayne to Isaac
Williams,
Agent, etc., of the Wyandottes at
Sandusky, Vol. 43--
Headquarters Greenville, May 31, 1795,
reads as fol-
lows:
Fort Industry -- An Historical
Mystery 241
Sir * * * Bluejacket assures me that all
the Indians
from Swan Creek, etc., will
undoubtedly attend the treaty and
he has accordingly gone back to bring
them on and to counteract
McKee, etc. * * * This will be handed
you by Capt. Reid,
a Shawnee Chief, who is accompanied by
Mr. MacLean, a man
whom you probably know. Reid left Swan
Creek on the 15th of
this month and says that the Indians at
that place were preparing
to come to the treaty. * * *
One of the readers of this collection
of Wayne pa-
pers says:
I do not think from what I found that
Fort Industry was
ever a Fortress or a Military Fort. Its
very name would preclude
that. I think Howe is nearly correct in
placing it 1799 or 1800,
as a stockade fort. It seems reasonable
that after Wayne had
cleared Ohio of the Indians and the
settlers flocked in there as
they did, or went back to their
abandoned farms, they naturally
built a stockade fort naming it
"Industry," for that name to my
mind could never for any reason that I
can see be given to a
garrisoned fort.
J. R. Spears, in his Biography of
Anthony Wayne,
page 228, says:
After clearing the ground about Fort
Miami, Wayne went
down the river and built a wooden fort,
called Fort Industry, on
land that now forms the easterly quarter of Summit and
Monroe
Streets, Toledo.
In his official report of his campaign
against the
Indians General Wayne wrote:
We remained three days and nights on the
banks of the
Maumee, in front of the Field of Battle.
EXTRACTS FROM PAPERS IN THE WAR DEPART-
MENT AT WASHINGTON
From Robert C. Davis, Acting Adjutant
General,
comes the following:
Vol. XXXVIII--16
242 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
War Department A. 9. O., May 1, 1922, to Mr. W. J.
Sher-
man, 302
Produce Exchange, Toledo, Ohio -- A search
of the
records on file in the War Department,
deemed likely to afford
information relative to old Fort
Industry on the site of the pres-
ent City of Toledo, Ohio, has resulted
in failure to disclose any
original official data on the subject.
The records of the War
Department during which that post was
maintained are far
from complete. * * * I find on file here
one unofficial memo-
randum
stating that Fort Industry was built under General
Wayne's orders in 1794; another that it
was built in 1800, and
another that the First Regiment of the
United States Infantry
under Colonel Thomas Hunt landed there
in June, 1803. (En
route to St. Louis.)
James H. Perkins in his Annals of
the West, 1846,
on pages 409-410, prints Wayne's report
to the Secre-
tary of War in which he makes no
mention of Fort
Industry.
NOTES OF THE SURVEY OF THE TWELVE MILE
SQUARE AT THE FOOT OF THE RAPIDS
In the office of the State Auditor, at
Columbus, is
filed a report by Jared Mansfield,
Surveyor General of
the United States, entitled "Notes
of the Survey of the
Twelve Mile Square at the Foot of the
Rapids of the
Miami River of the Lakes, made under
the direction
of Jared Mansfield, Surveyor General of
the United
States and signed by him." These
notes contain the fol-
lowing reference, viz: "* * * to
the mouth of Swan
Creek * * * where is kept a small
garrison by
the United States," dated
September 8, 1805. (Name
of fort is not given.)
A quaint old volume, entitled Sketches
of the War
Between the United States and the
British Isles, pub-
lished by Fay and Davidson in Vermont,
1815, contains
on page 15, the following: "There
was also a small
Fort Industry -- An Historical Mystery 243
settlement on Swan Creek on the
Michigan side, which
falls into the Miami seven miles below
this Fort" (Mi-
ami).
In his History of the Late War in
the Western Coun-
try, McAfee says Colonel McKee, Superintendent of In-
dian affairs for the districts of
Detroit and Mackinaw
wrote to Colonel England, the (English)
Military Com-
mander at Detroit, from "Camp near
Fort Miami,
August 30, 1794," as follows:
Sir: I have been employed several days
in endeavoring to
fix the Indians (who have been driven
from their villages and
corn fields) between the Fort [Miami]
and the Bay. Swan
Creek is generally agreed upon and will be a very convenient
place
for the distribution of provisions, etc.
Henry Howe in his Historical
Collections of Ohio
says that Fort Industry was erected
about the year 1800.
Homer and Harris in The Toledo
Directory, 1858.
on page 14, say:
A small stockade known by the name of
Fort Industry was
built near the Junction of Swan Creek
and the Maumee River
immediately after the Treaty of
Greenville. It was garrisoned
until 1808 by about 150 men, merely to
guard the territory ceded
to the United States against Indian
depredations.
L. H. Hosmer, in Early History of
the Maumee
Valley, writes:
A small stockade by the name of Fort
Industry was built
near the junction of Swan Creek and the
Maumee immediately
after the Treaty of Greenville. It was
garrisoned until 1808 by
about 150 men merely to guard the
territory ceded to the United
States against Indian depredations.
Benson J. Lossing, in his Pictorial
Field Book of the
War of 1812, 1868, states:
244 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
I visited (Toledo) on the 24th of
September, 1860, and had
the singular good fortune to be
accompanied by L. H. Hosmer
* * * and the venerable Peter Navarre (page 490). We left
the city for our ride up the Maumee
Valley * * * Mr.
Hosmer volunteered to be coachman * * *
At the Oliver
House in time for dinner and a stroll
about the little City of
Toledo * * * It covers (page 493) the
site of Fort Industry,
a stockade erected there about 1800 near
what is now Summit
Street.
James D. McCabe in his The Great
Republic, 1871,
page 836, says:
Toledo covers the site of a stockade
fort called Fort Indus-
try, built in 1800.
H. S. Knapp in his History of the
Maumee Valley,
1872, shows on the frontispiece of this
work, a wood
engraving of Fort Industry and writes:
Landing at Fort Industry (Toledo)
of the First Continental
Regiment of United States Infantry under
Colonel Thomas Hunt
in June, 1803 * * * on its way from
Detroit to St. Louis.
A night was spent in the vicinity of the
Fort under tents * * *
This Old Fort stood near the edge of the
Bluff, about thirty feet
above the river * * * erected under
orders of General
Wayne in 1794.
Knapp (page 93) says that Fort Industry
was built
by order of General Wayne, immediately
after the Bat-
tle of Fallen Timbers. He also says
(page 10):
In 1695, Captain Nicholas Perrot built a
trading station at
the west end of Lake Erie, which in 1697
was destroyed by the
Miami Indians * * * the exact location
of Perrot's station
cannot now be determined * * * about
this time (1700)
a party of factors from Detroit built
a small post on the Maumee
where Toledo now stands. (Page II.)
Andreas and Baskin, editors and
publishers of the
Historical Atlas of Wood and Lucas
Counties, 1875,
say:
Fort Industry -- An Historical Mystery 245
To counteract the influence of Fort
Miami, Wayne built a
fort at the mouth of Swan Creek and
named it Fort Industry.
In his History of Fort Meigs, James
P. Averill says
that General Wayne built and garrisoned
Fort Industry
with a small force under Lieutenant
Rhea by whom it
continued to be occupied for several
years. * * *
Upon the completion of Fort
Industry, General Wayne
marched his army back up the river.
On page 44 of his History of Toledo
and Lucas
County, 1888, Clark Waggoner says:
The immediate object sought in this
expedition to the Mau-
mee River having been attained in the
brilliant and complete vic-
tory of Fallen Timbers, General Wayne,
by easy marches, made
his way to the Grand Glaize, arriving
there August 27, 1794,
(seven days after the Battle of Fallen
Timbers). * * * Leaving
a sufficient force at Fort Wayne, the
General with a remnant of
his former command, Proceeded to
Greenville, where he arrived
November 2nd, after a fatiguing tour of
97 days during which
he marched upwards of 300 miles through
a dense wilderness,
meanwhile erecting three fortifications--Fort Adams at St.
Marys, Fort Defiance at Auglaize, and
Fort Wayne at the Miami
Villages.
And on page 64, he quotes as follows
from a letter
received by him (Waggoner) from
Adjutant General L.
C. Drumm (U. S. War Department), viz:
A stockade fort was erected about the
year 1800, near the
mouth of Swan Creek on the Maumee River,
and as near as can
be determined upon what is now Summit
Street, in the City of
Toledo, to which was given the name of
Fort Industry. It was
at this Fort that a treaty was held with
the Indians, July 4, 1805,
by which the Indian title to the Fire
Lands (Huron and Erie
Counties) was extinguished and at which
were present Mr.
Charles Jouett, United States
Commissioner, and Chiefs of Ot-
tawa, Chippewa, Pottawatomie, Shawnee,
Muncie and Delaware
Indian Tribes.
246 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
In his Settlement of the Northwest
Territory, 1896,
William Van Z. Cox, states that
Fort Industry was erected as a
blockhouse near the mouth of
the Maumee and that it was built so
expeditiously that he called it
Fort Industry.
The Uhl Brothers, publishers of A
History and At-
las of Lucas County, 1901, say on page 3:
The following important data, giving a
recapitulation of the
most important of these contests and
battles (between the Whites
and the Indians) was presented in a
paper read by Mr. Charles
B. Bliven of this city (Toledo) before
the Maumee Valley Pio-
neers' Association, in which he says:
"In the numerous Indian
wars, the war between the French and
Indians, the French and
the English, the English and the
Indians, the United States and
Great Britain, and the United States and
the Indians, many severe
battles were fought in this immediate
vicinity * * * 1669-1670
French Fort built at Swan Creek * * * 1697 French Forts
built at Kekionga (Fort Wayne) and foot
of Rapids (Miami).
* * * * When General Wayne, or rather
Colonel Ham-
tramck in 1796, took possession for the
United States of
the British Post, Fort Miami (or
Campbell) at the foot of
the Rapids, also Detroit and Mackinac,
he rebuilt the post at
the Swan Creek, very near the northeast corner of the Twelve
Mile Square Reservation and named it
Fort Industry. It was
garrisoned for some ten (1806) or twelve
(1808) years and is
distinguished as the location of an
important treaty with the In-
dians. The fort consisted of a
blockhouse surrounded by a
stockade and stood in the center of a
clearing of about four acres.
The exact location has been questioned,
but from the best at-
tainable evidence it stood on the later
site of the National
Hotel now occupied by the Duell Block or
F. Eaton and Com-
pany's store, 143 Summit Street. The
cellar or magazine as was
supposed, also some of the stockade,
were visible as late as 1830.
Several of the older citizens of Toledo
have a vivid remem-
brance of it, and substantially agree as
to the precise point of
location. It has been thought that the
location was nearer the
river, but aside from the evidence of
the living, it must be re-
membered that Water Street was not then
in existence, hence
the bank or shore was much nearer this
location of the fort than
now. Also there was a very steep bluff
on the north side of
Monroe Street, the original bank of
Ottawa River, later Swan
Fort Industry -- An Historical
Mystery 247
Creek, now Mud Creek, rising some
thirty feet or more. There-
fore, the center of the indicated theory
would be about the spot as
here stated. While we give the precise date of the
rebuilding of
the Fort by General Wayne, the evidence is abundant
that a
French Trading Post was located on this spot in 1680
and there
is also strong evidence that it was occupied many years
earlier
even before LaSalle came down the river in 1669-1671,
probably
1640-1648 when the French escorted
the Hurons to the Miami
confederation.
Fort Miami or Campbell which was
situated on the west
bank of the river about twelve or fifteen miles from
its mouth
and rebuilt by the British in 1763 after
its surrender by the
French, appears to have been a regular
military work, mounting
fourteen guns, four nine-pounders on the
river side, and six six-
pounders on the land side, also two large howitzers and
two
swivels. It was surrounded by a deep ditch with
horizontal pickets
projecting over it. It was doubtless the
strongest fort ever built
in the valley. Its outlines are
distinctly visible. Although its
construction probably antedates any
other earthwork in the valley,
the precise date of its occupation as a
post is like that of Fort
Industry, quite indistinct, but is
doubtless contemporaneous, as
the Foot of the Rapids, as well as Swan
Creek and Kekionga (Fort
Wayne) were places early recognized as
being objective points to
the earliest whites in the valley."
John Gunckel in his Early History of
the Maumee
Valley, 1902 (pages 41, 43), says:
After completely routing the Indians,
General Wayne fol-
lowed them down the river, passed the
silent Fort Miami, where
upon a high bank (Swan Creek)
overlooking the river, he rapidly
constructed a military fort on August
23, 1794, and this was built
so expeditiously that he called it Fort
Industry. This fort or
blockhouse, as it was familiarly known,
General Wayne left in
charge of a small but efficient force,
by which it continued to be
occupied for several years. The
dimensions of the Fort were
about 200 x 250 feet. * * * On
August 27, 1794, he started
with his main army for Fort Defiance.
Harvey Scribner in the Memoirs of
Lucas County,
1910, (page 77) says: "S.
S. Knabenshue, in an edi-
torial in the Toledo Blade of
January 24, 1903, writes
that 'The date of its (Fort Industry)
erection, by whom
248 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
and for what purpose have never been
determined. The
tablet on the Monroe Street side of
Fort Industry Block,
recites the popular legend, but no
historic proof of the
statement has ever been found;"" * * * "The
popular belief is that it was erected
by a detachment of
Wayne's army soon after the Battle of
Fallen Timbers,
which is probably correct, even though
the records on
the subject are not clear," says
Scribner.
Randall and Ryan in their History of
Ohio, 1912,
page 560, say:
Fort Industry, located at the mouth of
the Maumee, was
erected by orders of Wayne, after the
Battle of Fallen Timbers,
as a safeguard against Fort Miami. It
was never in possession
of the British.
In Charles E. Slocum's History of
the Maumee
River Basin, 1905, page 387-388, he says:
Two Quakers, Hopkins and Ellicott,
started from Phila-
delphia February 23, 1804, taking Philip
Dennis with them to
remain with the Indians and teach them.
They traveled to Fort
Wayne, via Zanesville, Lancaster,
Chillicothe, Piqua and Lora-
mie and reached Fort Wayne March 30,
1804. They departed
for Detroit, April 15, 1804, via the
Maumee River. In the report
of their journey we find, "Prudence
seemed to dictate that we
should run into a harbor, which we did,
at the mouth of Swan
Creek, where is a small fort (Fort Industry) lately
established
by the United States."
In Slocum's The Ohio Country, 1910,
(pages 161,
164-165,), we find the following:
In the United States "Estimates of
all posts and stations
where garrisons will be expedient and of
the number of men
required," made December 3, 1801,
but three military posts were
mentioned for the territory northwest of the Ohio
River, viz:
Detroit, one company of artillery and
four of infantry; Michili-
Fort Industry -- An Historical Mystery 249
mackinac, one company of artillery and
one of infantry; Fort
Wayne, one company of infantry.
In this same work occurs the following:
Fort Industry was built in 1804 on the
left bank of the lower
Maumee River, at the mouth of Swan Creek
for protection in
various ways, and for the convenience of
the commissioners who,
July 4, 1805, there effected an
important treaty with the chiefs and
warriors of the Wyandotte, Ottawa,
Chippewa, Munsee, Dela-
ware, Shawnee and Pottawotami tribes and
those of the Shawnees
and Senecas who lived with the
Wyandottes at this time, all of
whom ceded to the United States their
entire claims to the West-
ern Reserve of Connecticut for and in
consideration of an an-
nuity of $1,000, in addition to $16,000
paid to them by the Con-
necticut Land Company and the
proprietors of a half million
acres of Sufferers' Lands (Fire Lands)
granted to those who suf-
fered by fire in Connecticut by acts of
the British during the Revo-
lutionary War. The small stockade
composing Fort Industry
was abandoned by the United States soon
after the treaty. (Page
164.)
As fast as possible McKee (the Indian
trader) assembled the
savages by the Maumee River, at the
mouth of Swan Creek, about
eight miles below Fort Miami. (Page 118.
This was after the
Battle of Fallen Timbers.)
Colonel Richard England (Commandant at
Detroit) wrote
October 28, 1794, to Francis LeMaitre,
British Military Secre-
tary, complaining of the great amount of
food supplies taken by
Colonel McKee to the Maumee River, at
the mouth of Swan
Creek. (Page 119.)
On pages 122-125 of Volume 12 of the Ohio
Archae-
ological and Historical Society
Publications, 1903, Slo-
cum writes as follows:
There has also been much of conjecture
with unauthoritative
statements regarding Fort Industry, the
site of which tradition
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 General
Wayne
250 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
immediately after the Battle of Fallen
Timbers. Neither of these
writers give any authority; and their
statements are negatively dis-
proved by official records, as follows:
I. 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 destroying their crops, during the
two days before the coun-
termarch began. The night of the 23rd,
according to Lieutenant
Boyer's Dairy, the army bivouacked at
Camp Deposit, Roche de
Bout (not Roche de Boeuf 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 stock-
ade, 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 them
("fix them"), is also
presumptive evidence against the existence
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 Establish-
ment 3rd February, 1796, the names of
the then existing Mili-
tary Stations. In this list the name of
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 com-
pany 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
the Auglaize, and Green-
ville, the headquarters, had one
battalion of infantry and one com-
pany 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
beforementioned 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
Fort Industry -- An Historical Mystery 251
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 Ist 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.
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 of 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 designating
every post and point of occupancy; to
which is annexed the num-
ber 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,
V. 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 necessar-
ily 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
252 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
the able pen of S. S. Knabenshue in the
Toledo Blade of January
24, 903 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.
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.
On page 20, of A Story of Early
Toledo, 1919, Judge
John H. Doyle, the author, says:
Shortly after the treaty (Greenville)
and about the year 1800,
there was erected by the Government in
the vicinity of what is
now Monroe and Summit Streets, a fort
which was called Fort
Industry. This was erected and
garrisoned to enforce obedi-
ence to the treaty and to protect the
reservations from depreda-
tion, and for a number of years a
company of regulars was sta-
tioned there. At this fort, in 1805,
another treaty was con-
cluded with the Indians, by which their
title to the Fire Lands
(now Erie and Huron Counties) was
finally extinguished.
On page 130, Vol. 1, of Toledo and
Lucas County,
1923, John M. Killits says:
Fort Industry was erected on this site
by order of General
Anthony Wayne just after the Battle of
Fallen Timbers as a
defense against the British who occupied
Fort Miami.
RESUME
We now have assembled in convenient
form for ref-
erence the views of practically all the
historical writers
who have expressed themselves as to the
origin, occu-
pation and abandonment of Fort
Industry. It will be
seen there is much divergence in their
views. Practi-
Fort Industry -- An Historical Mystery
253
cally all of the later writers,
dependent as they were on
those who had attempted to record
history while the
important actors were still living,
have simply re-af-
firmed the views of some one of these
pioneer historians.
Lacking access to source material, they
merely reflect
the views of the early writers, so they
should be disre-
garded.
It is indeed strange that the elements
of doubt and
uncertainty should exist at all, for we
must admit that
in the life of a nation this span of
one and one-third
centuries since Wayne's campaign is
indeed a brief one,
and an accurate history of important
events should be
available and at our command. In the
present instance,
difficulty in verifying events of such
a recent date may
be explained in part by the destruction
of the records
of the War Department when the British
occupied the
City of Washington during the War of
1812; in part
by the fact that Northwestern Ohio was
possessed of an
exceedingly sparse white population
during and imme-
diately after the Revolution and none
or practically none
of these were members of Wayne's
"Legion of the
United States"; so local family
records do not avail.
Reviewing briefly the numerous
references hereto-
fore cited, we find that Mott, Knapp,
Averill, Gunckel,
Spears, MacAfee, Killits and Randall
and Ryan all
agree that Fort Industry was built by
Wayne in 1794.
In this opinion, Scribner hesitatingly
concurs. On the
other hand, Hosmer, Homer, Herne and
the Toledo
Directory of 1858 assert that while this fort was built
by Wayne, yet it was in the year of
1795 instead of
1794.
Bliven claims the fort was built or
rather rebuilt
254
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications
after the British in 1796 surrendered
to Wayne the
posts at Miami, Detroit and Mackinac.
Howe, Lossing, Waggoner, and Doyle
place the date
at 1800 or four years after the death
of Wayne.
Slocum says (1903) that Fort Industry
was built in
1805, "for protection in various
ways and for the con-
venience of the commissioners who
negotiated the In-
dian Treaty in 1805 at this
point." He also states that
Hopkins and Ellicott, the two Quakers,
were sheltered
here late in April, 1804, "where a
small fort had lately
been established."
The War Department is unable to furnish
any in-
formation owing to the incompleteness
of the military
records for the period prior to about
the year 1820.
They are, however, inclined to think
the post was es-
tablished about 1800; and under date of
October 8, 1828,
they say "there was a treaty with
the Indians at Fort
Industry July 4, 1805, and still others
in that region on
various dates as late as October 6,
1818, which fact
suggests that there may have been
troops at the site
of Toledo for nearly twenty years after
the year 1800."
An old war map, in the writer's
possession, of "Up-
per and Lower Canada and the United
States contigu-
ous" dedicated "to the officers
of the Army and the citi-
zens of the United States" under
date of November 4,
1812, does not show Fort Industry at
all. So it is safe to
say there was no garrison there during
the War of
1812 though the post may have been
reoccupied later for
conferences with the Indians.
War Department estimates and reports
under dates
of February 3, 1796; March 29, 1796;
December 23,
1801; January 1, 1803; October 31,
1804; and February
Fort Industry -- An Historical
Mystery 255
4, 1805, make no mention whatever of
Fort Industry
in referring to the posts maintained in
the West by our
government.
We know from the Quakers' journal
referred to that
in the latter part of April, 1804, Fort
Industry had
"lately been established."
We also know that it was at least
temporarily occu-
pied in June, 1803, so it was probably
built or rebuilt
in the spring of 1803 as a military
outpost of Fort
Wayne or Detroit, having been
previously occupied as
a trading post or supply station from
the earliest arrival
of the whites and during both French
and English oc-
cupations.
L. H. Hosmer, and also Homer and
Harris, in the
Toledo Directory of 1858, say that Fort Industry was
abandoned as a military post in 1808
and that during
the period of its occupation it was
garrisoned by about
one hundred and fifty men. Bliven says
it was aban-
doned in 1806 or 1808.
It may have been temporarily garrisoned
at subse-
quent times as suggested by the War
Department but
that it was not occupied during the War
of 1812 is in-
dicated by the military map heretofore
referred to and
by Slocum's statement "that on
January 12, 1813, Gen-
eral Payne of General Winchester's
army, routed a
gathering of Aborigines from an old
stockade post on
the north bank of Swan Creek near
its mouth."
THE SWAN CREEK TRADING POST
There is little doubt that Swan Creek
was consid-
ered by both the French and the Indians
a point of
strategic importance for trading with
the latter. There
256
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
were numerous Indian villages in the
Maumee Valley be-
tween the present site of Fort Wayne
and Maumee Bay,
including one at the mouth of Swan
Creek. The river
itself was a favorite route of
communication between
the Indians of the Ohio Valley and
those of the North.
The importance of the Maumee route was
very early
recognized by the French, for Killits
says, (Vol. 1,
page 61), that after the loss of the Griffin,
LaSalle re-
turned to Fort Frontenac for supplies
and from there
wrote, "There is at the end of
Lake Erie ten leagues
below the Straight (Detroit River), a
river by which
we could shorten the way to Illinois
very much. It is
navigable by canoes to within two
leagues of the route
now in use," so LaSalle knew all
about the Maumee
River as early as 1680. Indeed, it
appears well defined
on the map of 1656 by Nicholas Sanson,
the Royal
Geographer of France, referred to and
shown by Kil-
lits.
Bliven says, "The evidence is
abundant that a French
trading post was located on this spot
in 1680 and there
is also strong evidence that it was
occupied many years
earlier, * * * probably 1640-1648, when
the French
escorted the Hurons to the Miami
Conference." He
also states that a French fort was
built at Swan Creek
in 1669-1670.
Knapp speaks of a trading station built
in 1695 "at
the west end of Lake Erie" and
about this time (1700)
a party of factors from Detroit built a
small post on
the Maumee River where Toledo now
stands."
The British Military Archives contain
many refer-
ences to the Indians at the mouth of Swan
Creek and to
Fort Industry -- An Historical
Mystery 257
supplies furnished them at that point,
and also to sup-
plies for Fort Miami from Swan
Creek.
It is evident that this was an
important British trad-
ing post and supply station both before
and after the
Battle of Fallen Timbers, even up to
the final evacu-
ation of the American posts in July,
1796.
Slocum says: "In 1702, Captain
Francis Morgan
de Vincennes with French soldiers and
others from
Canada, established posts along the
Maumee and the
Wabash as far southwest as Vincennes,
Indiana," and
that in 1742, there were forts on the
Maumee and Wa-
bash and that in 1748, the French
established trading
posts on the Maumee.
Slocum, on page 165 of The Ohio
Country, says:
The small stockade composing Fort
Industry was abandoned
by the United States soon after this
Treaty (July 4, 1805).
He further says:
From the original 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
eighteenth century or before.
Captain Grant, in command of British
Naval opera-
tions on Lake Erie, on returning from
the Miami River
in September, 1782, "finding the
provisions at the mercy
of the weather and the Indians, built a
rough
blockhouse for its lodgement which may
be defended
by ten men against one hundred."
We have nothing
definite as to the location of this
blockhouse. If on the
site of Fort Industry, it may have been
destroyed by
Vol. XXXVIII--17
258
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Wayne's volunteers who immediately
after the Battle
of Fallen Timbers pursued the Indians
as far as Swan
Creek where they "destroyed and
burned all the pos-
sessions belonging to the Canadians and
savages."
(See Boyer's Journal of Wayne's
Campaign.)
CONCLUSIONS
1. During the French occupation of the
Maumee
Valley from 1680 to 1763, and the
English occupation
from 1763 to 1796, trading posts or
supply stations were
maintained on the north bank of Swan
Creek near its
mouth, it being a convenient place for
receiving supplies
and for distributing them among the
numerous Indian
tribes in the valley.
2. These trading posts or supply
stations were sub-
stantial log structures for housing
stores of all kinds
and for protecting them from Indian
depredations and
may have been and probably were
stockaded.
3. They were never garrisoned by
regular troops
and therefore never bore the name of
"fort."
4. Fort Industry was not built by
General Anthony
Wayne prior to the evacuation of Fort
Miami, in July,
1794, and its occupancy by General
Hamtramck, nor
was there need for him to build it
thereafter with Fort
Miami in his possession only eight
miles away.
5. It did not exist as a recognized and
occupied
permanent army post during any portion
of the Wayne
Campaign nor in December, 1801; nor
January, 1804;
nor October, 1804; nor in February,
1805; nor during
the War of 1812; and in January, 1813,
it was occupied
by the Indians who were driven out by
United States
troops.
Fort Industry -- An Historical Mystery 259
6. It did exist as a temporary outpost
station in
June, 1803; and in April, 18C4 and in
July, 1805; also,
in September, 1805.
7. It was probably established and
occasionally oc-
cupied as an outpost of Detroit, the
nearest and most
important regularly garrisoned army
post, or it may
have been an outpost of Fort Wayne on
the upper
Maumee. It was occupied temporarily
from time to
time as conditions required the
presence at this point
of United States soldiers. The most
important event
occurring at Fort Industry was the
Indian Treaty in
July, 1805.
8. On the site of Fort Industry was
probably an
English trading post or Indian supply
station estab-
lished about 1670 (Bliven), abandoned
in 1796, but later
repaired or rebuilt by United States
troops and first
occupied by them in the spring of 1803
and thereafter
as required until 1808 or possibly
until the War of 1812,
when it fell into the hands of the
British and later of the
Indians who were driven out by United
States troops
under General Wilkinson, in January,
1813.
9. We have no later information of a
definite char-
acter concerning its history, so must
assume it was al-
lowed to gradually decay and finally
made way for the
Fort Industry block of 1842-1843.