Re-Enactment at Fort Wayne-- Part 2

The War of 1812 opened very badly for the United States.  First, Fort Michilimackinack, in upper Michigan fell in July.  Then came the fall of Fort Detroit and Fort Dearborn, leaving Fort Wayne as the only American fort in the upper Northwest Territory.

Fort Wayne's commander told his junior officers to evacuate the fort and then spent the rest of the time drunk in his quarters.  There were soon surrounded by Indians led by Tecumseh.  Two lieutenants put the commander under arrest and ordered the fifty soldiers to hold the post.

Indian attacks began in September and some of the soldiers were killed, but the fort remained in American hands.  The British commander in the Great Lakes area, Gen. Henry Proctor sent a force of 200 British, 400 Canadian troops and 800 Indians to take it, but U.S. Indiana Territory Governor William Henry Harrison sent militia to reinforce Fort Wayne and the two armies met near Defiance, Ohio, and the British were forced to retreat.

Fort Wayne Held.  --Brock-Perry