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. Its strategic importance was recognized in all the plans for military campaigns in the area between the Great Lakes and the Ohio river for almost a century. Here was located at a later date an important government Indian agency, and to the town on certain days of the year flocked hundreds of Indian traders. Fort Wayne was also situated in the heart of the rich Maumee-Wabash fur producing region.

While giving a comprehensive background of the French and British occupation of the site of Fort Wayne, I have stressed its importance in the early days of American settlement. The gradual decline of the fur trade, followed by the removal of the Indian agency in 1828 and the opening of the area to white settlement by the Indian treaties of that decade, all combined to usher in a new era in the history of Fort Wayne. By the 1830’s the people of Fort Wayne were feverishly making plans for the Wabash and Erie canal. This opened a new period in Fort Wayne’s history which has been studied in my previous work.[1] Since then the development of the city has been consistent and substantial.

From the modern growing city it is a far cry back to the time of the Miami Indians and the old fort in the wilderness with its little garrison of men puzzled at times, no doubt, to understand their choice of a life of loneliness in an environment which gave little opportunity for the refinements of life. The people of today are none too thoughtful of their obligation to the pioneer soldier, trader and settler. It is my hope that in addition to contributing to the annals of the Old Northwest, this work may create a deeper appreciation of these early builders. At the same time it has been my desire to treat all these people objectively rather than in the fictitious way of the sentimentalist.

Previous histories dealing with the early history of Fort Wayne, while furnishing valuable material, have either been incomplete or inaccurate, chiefly because many primary sources were not available to the writers or were not known to exist. I have made extensive use of primary material found in the Burton Collection at Detroit, the Chicago Historical Library, and the Fort Wayne Public Library as well as in the British Museum and the Public Records Office in London and the Archives des Colonies in Paris. Part of the European research was made possible by a summer grant from St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana.

Acknowledgments are due to many individuals who have so kindly given assistance, especially to the staffs of the various archives and libraries which I have used in Chicago, Detroit, Paris, and London. Mr. Albert Diserens, chief of the Indiana collection of the Fort Wayne Public Library, aided me in every way. A special debt is due to the officers and members of the Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society and in particular Mr. Fred Reynolds who assisted immeasurably in arranging for the publication of this work. To the late Reverend Thomas T. McAvoy of the University of Notre Dame I owe deep gratitude for first encouraging me to study the history of my hometown.

While almost all early American cities which originated as military outposts later changed their names—Cincinnati (Fort Washington). Chicago (Fort Dearborn)—or simply dropped “fort” from their titles—Defiance, Ohio—for some reason the citizens of Fort Wayne never followed this common practice. The old “Fort Wayne” fell into ruins, but the name survives. Undoubtedly few individuals have even wondered why, but I believe, or would like to believe, that somehow the later citizens of Fort Wayne wanted to retain an identity with the past—a past that is worth knowing and remembering. It is to these citizens—past and present and to my own family that I dedicate this book.