Allen County, Indiana - The whole text, 1889 (part 6 of 17)

At the council held with Mc Arthur, Cass and others, about the ist of August, it had been determined that Major Croghan should abandon Fort Stephenson as "untenable against heav}^ artiller}-;" and as this fort was considered of little value as a military post, it was also concluded to destroy it at the moment of evacuation. Gen. Harrison immediately dispatched an order to that effect to Major Croghan, which, the messenger and his Indian guides having lost their way, failed to reach him in time. Then deeming it unsafe, in view of the near approach of the enemy, to attempt an evacuation and retreat, after a council with his officers, the most of whom readily coincided with him. Major Croghan at once started the messenger on his return to Gen. Harrison with the following note:

"Sir, I have just received 3-ours of yesterday, lo o'clock p. m., ordering me to destroy this place and make good m}' retreat, which was received too late to be carried into execution. We have determined to maintain this place, and b}' heavens we can."

[4is main reason for writing thus positivel}' was, that he feared that the messenger might be captured, and the note fall into the hands of the British. But Gen. Harrison, without knowing fully the motive of Croghan in thus replying to his order, presumed it to indicate disobedience of orders, and on the following morning. Colonel Wells, with an escort, was sent to relieve him, and Croghan was ordered to report at headquarters. His explanation of his course and the meaning of his note, received the ready approval of Harrison, and Croghan was at once ordered to return to his post and resume its command, with written orders similar to those he had received before.

In an official report of this siege, Gen. Harrison said: "It will not be among the least of Gen. Proctor's mortifications, to find that he has been baffled bj^ a youth, who has just passed his twentj^-first year. He is, however, a hero worth)- of his gallant uncle, George R. Clark." <' Never was there," said General Harrison, " a set of finer j-oung fellows, viz: Lieutenants Johnson and Baylor of the Seventeenth, Anthony of the Twenty-fourth, Meeks of the Seventh, and Ensigns Shipp and Duncan of the Seventeenth." Lieutenant Anderson of the Twentyfourth was also commended for marked ^ood conduct; and soon after the siege of Fort Stephenson, Major Croghan was brevetted a lieutenantcolonel by President Madison; while the ladies of Chillicothe, Ohio, presented him with a splendid sword, accompanied by an appropriate address.

The Dawn Of Peace

the purpose of intercepting the retreat of the enemy. Succeeding in capturing a few British soldiers, who had been left in the general retreat, the Indians brought them to the camp, without doing them anj' injury; and, conscious that the}' had done their dut}', they were frequently seen telling the story to their brother warriors, and laughing at the terror which had been manifested b}- the soldiers, who, no doubt, expected to be massacred or carried off and destro3'ed by torture.

Soon after the events just described, occurred Perry's victory on Lake Erie, which caused the British arm}-, so latel}' filled with elation over the hope it entertained of an easy victory over the frontier militia, the untrained men of the west, to put an end to all further attempts in that direction, and the theater of war was now transferred to Canada. At the great victory at the Thames, the powerful Tecumseh was killed, and the Indians who had followed him in the belief, as he had taught them, that he was invulnerable, became totally disheartened, and lacking leaders with as warlike instincts as he, they were ready, and more than willing, to sue for peace. Indeed, before Gen. Harrison marched his army in pursuit of the British, the Ottawas and Chippewas had asked for peace, which he had promised them on condition that they would bring in their families, and raise the tomahawk against the British. To these terms they readil}' acceded, and before his return the Miamis and Pottawatomies had solicited a cessation of hostilities from Gen. McArthur on the same conditions. Even the ferocious Mai-pock, of the Pottawatomies, now tendered his submission, and an armistice was concluded with seven of the hostile tribes, which was to continue till the pleasure of the president was known. They agreed to deliver up all their prisoners at Fort Wayne, and to leave hostages in security for their good behavior. Separated from their allies and deprived of their leader, they were now glad to accept the American friendship on any terms, that would save them from extermination by famine and the sword.

Gen. Harrison, feeling that the secretary of war entertained a dislike for him, resigned his position as commander-in-chief of the western forces on the nth of Ma}', 1814. Prior to his resignation, however, he had arranged for a treaty at Greenville, where, on the 22d of July, with Gen. Cass, on behalf of the United States, they had met the friendly Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnees, Senecas, and concluded a peace with the Miamis, Weas and Eel river Indians, and certain of the Pottawatomies, Ottawas and Kickapoos; all of whom had engaged to join the Americans, should the war continue; but all need of their services was ended by the treaty of Ghent, December 24, 1814.

The conference of July, 1814, at Greenville, was one of the largest that had ever been held with the tribes, and Pecon, as the representative of the Miamis, with 113 others, were signers of the treaty.

of the Maumee by Gen. Wayne, and it had withstood the ravages of time and the efforts of the Indians to destroy it remarkably well. From the period of Col. Hamtramck's occupation, after the departure of Gen. Wa3'ne, it was in charge of various officers. After the resignation of Capt. Rhea, in 1S12, Capt. Hugh Moore assumed command, who in 1813 was superseded by Joseph Jenkinson. In the spring of

1815, by Major Josiah H. Vose, who continued in command until its abandonment, April 19, 1819. Soon after the arrival of Major Whistler to assume command here, it was feared that the Indians might again make an effort to capture the post, and it being much out of repair, and most uncomfortable for the garrison in many respects. Major Whistler applied to the war department for permission to rebuild it, which was granted by Gen. Armstrong, and the main structure was replaced by new pickets and the officers' and other quarters within the enclosure were rebuilt. Though many Indians continued, for several years after the war of 181 2, to congregate here for purposes of trade, to receive their annuity; and also from a feeling of sympath}' and attraction for the scene of their old home and gathering-place, aside from some petty quarrels among themselves, in which killings often occurred, nothing war-like was ever again manifest in the relations of the Indians and the whites.

Still remote from the " settlements," Fort Wayne continued as in former j-ears, to exist as an object of special interest to the nation as a frontier post, it not being known what conflicts might sooner or later call it into action again, in defense of the northwest.

Attached to the fort, running west to about where the " Old Fort House" was located, near Lafayette street, embracing about one acre of ground, was an excellent and well cultivated garden belonging to the commanding officer, alwaj's filled in season with the choicest vegetation. Still to the west of this was the company's garden, extending to about where the Hedekin House now stands, which was also well tilled. The road then mainly used, extended westward from the fort along what is now the canal, to the corner of Barr and Columbia streets.

Just to the south of the fort, in what is now called "Taber's Addition," was located the burial ground of the garrison, where also were interred others not immediately connected with the tort. Lieut. Ostrander, who had thoughtlessly fired upon a flock of birds passing over the fort, had been reprimanded by Capt. Rhea, and because of his refusal to be tried b}' a court-martial, was confined in a small room in the garrison, where he subsequently died, was among the number buried in this place.

Fort Wayne was then on the route for the transmission of immense quantities of furs, consisting principally of beaver, bear, otter, deer and coon, which were collected on the Wabash and Illinois rivers, and nearly all of which passed over the portage. They were the principal staple of the country, and among the traders the only currenc}', so that when debts were contracted, or payments to be made, notes were usually drawn payable in furs.

By means of this currenc}' dry goods, boots, shoes, hardware, etc., were sold at very high prices to the Indians and others, by which means, and the early purchase of lands, at a very low figure, many in after years became very wealthy. Richardville, civil chief of the Miamis, who was licensed as a trader with the Indians as early as 1815, became the wealthiest Indian in America by this trade and the sale of lands. Schoolcraft estimated his wealth some years prior to his death at about $200,000 in specie; much of which had been so long buried in the earth that the boxes in which the mone}' was enclosed had mainty decaj^ed, and the silver itself become greatly blackened.

Soon after the war of 181 2 broke out, with many other members of the tribe, including his family, this chief had made his way to the British lines for protection, intending, doubtless, to render some aid to the enemy, for but few among the tribes of the northwest remained neutral or failed to give aid in some way to the British cause. At the close of the war in 1814, he returned and passed on up the St. Mary's, about three miles from Fort Wayne, where he encamped. Major Whistler, desiring to see him, sent an interpreter, Crozier, requesting the chief to come immediately to the fort, which he did. The treaty of Greenville was then about to take place, and the major desired that the chief should be present, and so requested him; but Richardville was very indifferent about the matter, hesitated, and returned to his camp. A few days later, however, he came back to the fort, where he was now held as a hostage for some ten days, when he at length consented to attend the treaty, and was soon after accompanied thither by Robert Forsyth, a paymaster, who was on his way with a chief, Chondonnai, who had been implicated in the massacre at Chicago, and William Suttenfield joined the party.

In iSiS several French traders came to Fort Wayne, but not meeting with such inducements as they had desired, passed on after a few days, to the more remote regions of the west, where furs were supposed to be more abundant. In this year there were also a number of treaties held with the Indians at St. Mary's, Ohio, under the direction of Gov. Jennings and Benjamin Parke, of Indiana, and Gen. Lewis Cass, of Michigan.

The departure of the troops, in the following year, is said to have left the little band of citizens extremely lonesome, but henceforth peace instead of war was to reign about the historic confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's.

No history has recorded what regiments were represented in the various garrisons which occupied Fort Wayne, but a collection of military buttons found in and about the site of the fort, and now in the posession of the writer, will doubtless furnish an approximate knowledge of who were its defenders.

These buttons were worn b}' soldiers of the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fifteenth regiments of infantry, the First light artillery, and a rifle regiment.

Besides these numbered buttons, are several, representing no regiment, many of which were doubtless worn prior to the date of designating commands b}' numbers upon the buttons.

The oldest and most archaic in appearance is a flat pewter button with a rude eagle impressed. The next is shghtl}' convex with the eagle and stars as upon the earl}' United States coins. Then follows a convex button with an eagle standing on a shield, with the legend "United States Infantry," in the outer circle. A convex button with the eagle bearing a shield upon which is the letter I, in script. A flat button with a large letter I, in script, and a single star below. A flat button with the eagle over an oval, inscribed i Rt. A flat brass button with a bugle enclosing the figure i, all surrounded by fifteen stars. A flat brass button with eagle, but no number or stars. A flat brass button with eagle perched on a cannon, below which is inscribed I Regt. A flat brass button with script monogram L. A., below which is an oval of stars enclosing the figure i. A flat brass button with similar monogram, below which is a wreath enclosing an arrow. A flat silver-plated button with initials L. D.

Other buttons are without device of any kind to indicate the command to which the wearer belonged. And those who wore them have long since departed, leaving no other record of the pioneer heroes who opened, and held open, the "glorious gate " to the west, until the army of civilization could enter and take possession, and reap the fruits of their heroic daring. Let us not forget, but ever hold in grateful remembrance the brave men whose valor and privations secured to us this rich and favored region of our great country.

As has appeared in these pages, the importance of the head of the Maumee as a strategic point had not escaped the attention of the statesmen and militar}' leaders of the new republic, and most of the campaigns in the west, if not all of them, were directed toward securing a post here, as the key to the western and southwestern country. Now at the opening of the era of peace, with which the writer will close this account of the early history of the Valley of the Upper Maumee, the attention of the generals of commerce was as strongly directed to this as a strategic point for industrial development.

McAfee, in his " History of the Late War," said in referring to the Wabash and St. Mary's : " A canal at some future day will unite these rivers, and thus render a town at Fort Wayne, as formerly, the most considerable place in that country;" and in 1819, Capt. James Riley, a surveyor, suggested the connection of the Maumee with the Wabash by means of" a canal, a feat which was long afterward accomplished. This pioneer, making the ways straight for the coming civilization, with the voice of a true and sagacious prophet, hailed Fort Wayne as the " future Emporium of Indiana."

And The Maumee

A patriotic Pennsylvanian author, of half a century ago, defending the gallantry of his people, wrote: "They ask for our illustrious dead! " " At the sound, from his laureled grave in old Chester, springs to life again the hero of Pennsylvania's olden time, the undaunted general, the man of Paoli and of Stony Point, whose charge was like the march of the hurricane, whose night assault stunned the British as though a thunderbolt had fallen in their midst. We need not repeat his name. The aged matron, sitting at the farm-house door of old Chester, in the calm of summer twilight, speaks that name to the listening group of grandchildren, and the old revolutioner, trembling on the verge of the grave, his intellect faded, his mind broken, and his memory almost gone, will start and tremble with new life at the sound, and as he brushes a tear from the quivering eyelid of age, will exclaim with a feeling of pride that a weight of years cannot destroy, 'I - I, too, was a soldier with Mad Anthony Wayne! ' "

In the month of September, 1777, rumors of war startled the homes in the valley of the Brandywine. Gen. Howe, with some 17,000 wellarmed soldiers, had landed above the Susquehanna, and was to sweep like a tornado over the plains between him and the city of Philadelphia. To oppose him came Washington, with his ill-clad Continentals, from the du'ection of Wilmington. On the morning of the nth there stood under a great chestnut tree, not half a mile from Chadd's ford, gathered around the one who towered above them all, majestic and graceful in form, a group of officers among whom could be seen the sagacious Greene, the rugged brow of Pulaski, the bluff good-humored visage of Knox, the frank, manly face of DeKalb; a boy whose blue eyes sparkled and whose sandy hair fell back gracefully from a noble forehead - Lafayette; and there also, with his eyes abrim with reckless daring, was the young hero of the north, who should be the theme of a thousand legends - Anthon}' Wayne. In the afternoon, Wayne, with his men, held a hill commanding Chadd's ford, fighting in the fields he had traversed in his boyhood wanderings. In stature the general was not more than an inch above the medium. His form was hardy and vigorous. Beneath the plume of red and white that surmounted his chapeau was the face of a warrior, broad forehead, aquiline nose, clear hazel eyes. Five thousand men, under Gen. Knyphausen, were moving to the attack. Over their heads floated the banners of Hesse and Anspach. Not of their own will, but by their rulers, the}' were hired to fight for the imbecile king, who occupied himself catching flies in his palace, while men who had not learned what freedom was, were ravaging the homes of heroes who were brave enough to swear that thev and their land should be subject to no potentate nor regal power. The battle waged fiercely and attack after attack was repulsed until finally Knyphausen, glittering in black and gold, charged at the head of his guard, 400 ruthless dragoons, with whom war was a trade and slaughter a pastime. To meet these, Wayne shouted one command, " Come on," to his 200 troopers, and then under a blue flag on which gleamed the thirteen stars, he crashed against the overpowering force of the foreigners. His gallant band of Continentals charged in a wedge that drove the enem}- apart in confusion. The Hessians were hurled back at the saber's edge, into the river and across it, and the left wing of the army was triumphant. Just at this moment, the remainder of the arm\' of Washington began a retreat before superior numbers, but Wa^'ne had saved the day from disaster, and he was the last to leave the field.

A few days later Wayne and his men were watching the movements of the British near Paoli, when the enemy suddenl}' appeared in force to give him battle. On account of the nature of his operations he was ready to move, and immediately ordered a retreat under the command of an inferior officer, while he remained on the field to protect the rear. Three orders were necessarj'to bring the subordinate to understand that he must move rapidlj-, and in consequence the British under Lord Grey able to cut off a body of the Continentals. "It was "charge for England and St. George "; then a cry for quarter, and the brutal response, "Cut them down. No quarter." One hundred and fifty Continentals were butchered bj- the soldiers of England. After this the watchword was, " Remember Paoli."

Nearl}' two years later Wayne avenged Paoli in a wa}- eternally to the glory of Americans. The British had seized Stonj^ Point, a precipitous hill commanding King's Feny on the Hudson, then the ordinary path of communication between the middle and eastern states. On two sides the hill was washed by the river, and the other approaches were covered b}- water except at low tide. The enem)- encircled the position with a double row of abatis, and on the summit placed a fortification bristling with artiller}-. It was confidently believed to be impregnable. There was but one to entrust with the attempt to capture this fort, Anthony Wayne. The army and country- were overwhelmed with gloom. He must strike for the honor of Washington and the welfare of the nation, as he was again called on to do in 1792. He accepted the task without hesitation, and at midnight after the 15th of July, 1779, his command was at the morass ready to advance. There were two columns to close in from opposite sides. First in each line was a forlorn hope of twenty men, with axes to cut awa}- the abatis, then a small advance party followed b}- the main command. x\t the head of one regiment Wayne placed himself, and gave the order: "The first man that fires his piece shall be cut down. Trust to the bayonet. March on." As the troops were wading the morass, the sentinels at the fort perceived them and the rattle of drums came down the night air. Hardl}^ had the axe begun its work on the abatis, than a torrent of grape-shot and musketry poured down upon the assailants. The forlorn hopes were swept away, but their places were taken, and in the face of a whirlwind of fire and roaring of cannon that shook the hill, the Continentals marched steadily upward, teeth clenched, bayonets fixed, without a word or the click of a hammer. A ball struck Wayne on the forehead and he fell, but rising again cried out, "March on, carry me into the fort, and if I must die, I will die at the head of the column." With such a leader the patriots were invincible. In a moment their steel flashed in the lurid light on the fortifications; both columns met in the enclosure, and the British begged for' quarter as the patriots did at Paoli. Not a man was injured after the surrender, and every cry for quarter was sacredly heeded. So Anthony Waj'ne avenged Paoli.

This was the most brilliant affair of the war for independence. For many days nothing was talked of in Philadelphia but the glory of Gen. Wayne. Washington complimented him, and congress passed eulogistic resolutions. Lafayette sent word across the sea that he was " particularly delighted in hearing that this glorious affair had been conducted by my good friend Gen. Wayne." Wayne's wound was slight, and in an hour after the victory he was able to write a message to Washington, which has become historic:

" Dear General: - The fort and garrison, with Col. Johnston, are ours. Our officers and men behaved like men who are determined to be free."

These glimpses of the revolution illustrate the hero's gallant service. But much more could be told: of how, at the battle of Germantown, Wayne led one division, and in the retreat saved the arm}- by his un-. daunted courage; of how during the weary winter which Washington spent at Valley Forge, Wajme skirmished through New Jersey, repeatedly fighting the enemy; of the famous battle at Monmouth, where Wayne with 700 men, attacked and engaged the greater part of the British army, and being deserted b}- the retreat of Lee, managed to retire without loss, until he met Washington, under whom he then returned to win the day; or of that memorable occasion, when Lafayette having mistaken the force of the enemy about to retreat across the James toward Yorktown, sent Wayne with 700 to attack the rear. No incident of the war is more characteristic of the impetuous valor and cool discretion of Wayne than that event. He found he had struck the entire British arm}?, the wings of which immediatel}? advanced to enclose his regiment. Without the slightest hesitation he ordered a charge, and his little force drove the enemy back from their front at the point of the bayonet. Thinking that this movement could only be inspired by confidence in an army near at hand, the enemy drew back its advance, and Wayne was able to retreat in safety before the true situation was realized.

Anthony Wayne, though not distinctively a cavalry officer, was in the essential qualities of soldiership and personal influence the Sheridan of the revolution. A braver man never lived. There was nothing he feared to attempt; and he dared do, not only what others could, but deeds from which they shrank. The terrible power which he infused into a column of attack, was not equaled until the days of Winchester and Five Forks. His name became a synonym for unapproachable daring and invincible valor, and among all Washington's lieutenants, none can be more justly coupled with him in admiration. His history in detail can here be but briefly mentioned. He was born in Chester count}^, Penn., January i, 1745, a grandson of an Anthony Wayne who was a captain under William of Orange. As a boy he drilled his schoolmates and he neglected his books for stories of battle, but on being shown the necessity of stud}', was as rapid and successful in that domain as in all his enterprises. Dr. Franklin selected him to survey lands in Nova Scotia, and subsequently he married, and became a member of the Pennsylvania legislature. As early as 1764 he read the signs of the times and began organizing military companies and drilling them. He was called to the front as a colonel in January?, 1776, joined the expedition to Canada, was there wounded and became noted for valor, and subsequently was made a brigadier-general, a rank he held at Brandywine. After the surrender at Yorktown he went to Georgia at the head of 400 regulars and drove the British from that state in little more than a month, surprised and defeated the Creeks at Ogechee, and within a few days rendered the tribe inoffensive. When the British evacuated Charleston he and his men marched in at their heels amid huzzas and 'blare of trumpets. He became a legislator again, and served until he was appointed commander-in-chief of the United States army in 1792. , Returning to Philadelphia after the Maumee campaign, February 6, 1796, he was met four miles from the cit}' b}' a military escort, and as he entered the city, there was a salute of cannon, the church bells joined in the chorus, and all business was suspended to honor the hero. It was expected that he would be appointed secretary of war, but intrigue was revived in the west, and Wajme was again sent to the Lake Erie region with almost autocratic powers. With consummate wisdom he quelled all disturbances. Then saiHng for Presque-Isle, the last post he was to visit before returning to the east, he was seized with the gout, which, attacking the stomach, caused his death December 15, 1796. Separated in early manhood from a family he loved, to fight for his country from the St. Lawrence to the Carolinas, he sacrificed all the comforts and joys of life to America, and after winning the great west, died in the line of dut}', hundreds of miles from home and civihzation. Long may the fair city which has arisen where he trod the forests, honor and keep green the memory of Major-General Anthon}- Wayne.

Geology And Physical Geography

LLEN COUNTY is crossed by the parallel of 41 north latitude, the meridian of 85° west longitude and the annual isothermal of 51° F. Its average elevation is not far from 800 feet above sea level. Physically it forms a part of the Wabash-Erie region, a shallow trough which extends from Lake Erie southwestward nearly to the borders of Illinois. This trough is about 200 miles long, 100 miles wide and 200 feet deep. Allen county lies exactly midway of its length, and from a point just west of Fort Wayne, the bottom of the trough slopes gently toward either end. Along the axis of the trough extends one uninterrupted river channel, occupied at present, however, by different streams; from Lake Erie to Fort Wayne by the Maumee, at Fort Wayne for two miles by the St. Mary's, thence for twenty miles b}^ the Little river prairie, thence by the Little Wabash river to its junction with the main stream, and thence by the Wabash river.

The Wabash-Erie trough is crossed transversely by a series of crescentic or arrowhead shaped ridges which are parallel with the southwest shore of Lake Erie, and have their convex sides or angles directed toward the southwest. These determine the position of the drainage lines, so that the principal streams which flow down the sides of the trough to the axial channel, the Mississinewa, the Salamonie, the Wabash above Huntington, the St. Mary's and the Auglaize on the south, and the x\boit, the St. Joseph and the Tiffin on the north, follow closely the western faces of the ridges. The general course of these streams indicates that they were once tributaries of the Wabash, but at present the eastern four join the Maumee and turn back upon themselves, so that in a course of ten miles the waters of the St. Joseph suffer a change in direction of 160°. Geologists are now prepared to explain the cause of this anomalous behavior.

The face of the earth in northern Indiana is covered by a vast sheet of clay, sand, gravel and boulders, the thickness of which in Allen county ranges from 40 to 280 feet. The pebbles and boulders are found to be composed of a variety of materials, of which quartz, granite, sienite, greenstone and silicious slate are most common. These are very hard minerals and entirely different from the limestone rock which underlies the rei^ion. The most casual observer would notice that some of the citizens of Allen count_y are foreigners and came from Germany, France or Ireland. In the same way geologists recognize these boulders as being emigrants, and as having come from the region north of the great lakes. Our soil is largely made up of foreign materials, and to the whole mass has been given the name of drift. The drift is distributed over the United States north of the Ohio and Missouri rivers, and has been deposited from continental glaciers, or vast sheets of ice which repeatedh- descended southward from the Canadian highlands. During the last glacial occupation the southern edge of the ice was divided into tongues or lobes, each of which pushed southward as far as the slope of the country' and the temperature permitted. One of these ice-tongues, after passing through the basin of Lake Erie, emerged from its southwest end and traversed the Wabash-Erie trough. The weight of an ice-sheet from 1,000 to 5,000 feet thick causes it to grind, plane and scratch the rock surface over which it passes, to scoop out and reduce to powder the soft rocks and to wear away, round and groove the harder ones. The materials thus prepared are pushed and carried forward by the glacier, and finally deposited b}- the melting of the ice. The extreme edge of the ice may remain in the same position for hundreds of years, while the whole mass is moving slowly toward that Hmit 'where the ice melts as fast as it comes. Along such a line a great accumulation of material occurs, forming a ridge of drift called a terminal moraine. In the case of the Erie lobe, owing to some coinparativel}- sudden changes of climate, the melting was not uniform, but periods of rapid melting and retreat alternated with periods during which its edge was stationary. Each of these halting places is marked b}- a moraine or ridge of drift like a breastwork thrown up to cover the retreat of an army; and the parallel, crescentic ridges which cross the Wabash-Erie trough are terminal moraines of the Erie ice-lobe. During the melting of the ice immense volumes of water flowed away through various channels, the main drainage line being the St. Joseph- Wabash, then connected through the Little river prairie. As soon as the ice-fort was withdrawn to a line east of Fort Wayne, the trough sloped toward the ice, and the water being dammed back by the moraines to the westward formed the Maumee lake which, at a point four miles east of Fort Wayne, discharged its surplus by a short river flowing westward into the St. Joseph-Wabash.

Allen county is naturally divided into six regions : ( i ) the Maumee lake region, (2) the St. Mary's and St. Joseph moraine, (3) the St. Mary's basin, (4) the St. Joseph valley, (5) the Wabash- Aboit moraine, (6) the Aboit and Eel river region. The Maumee lake region comprises the township of Maumee and portions of Scipio, Jackson, Milan, Jefferson, Adams, St. Joseph and Springfield. Its surface is very nearly level and contains large tracts of swamp which are difficult of'drainage. The soil is chiefl}- a black alluvium with large areas of clay and streaks and ridges of sand and gravel. All its peculiarities are such as would result from an occupation of the region for many }'ears by a shallow lake. It is bounded on the southwest and northeast by a well marked beach line known as the Van Wert and Hicksville ridges. The Van Wert ridge upon the eastern border of Indiana is broken up into four which enter Allen county in sections 14, 15, 10, 11, 2 and 3, Monroe township. The principal and last formed ridge passes across sections 2, 3 and 4, Monroe, into section 32, Jackson. Then there is a gap of two miles, to pass through which the branches of Flat Rock creek gather from the west, south and southeast. The ridge begins again in section 36, Jefferson, and traverses sections 25, 23, 22, 21 and 16. Here it is double for about half a mile and thence westward lies upon the edge of the St. Mary's moraine, so that in sections 17 and 18, Jefferson, and 12 and II, Adams, its northern face is high and bold. Near New Haven, it ends in a bluff about forty feet high, which is curved back southwards, the cemetery being located upon its apex. The Van Wert road follows the ridge prett}' closely. " Irish i-idge," in sections 9, 10 and 14, Jefferson, seems to be an off-shore sand-bar, but may have been temporarily the shore line. The Van Wert ridge is a superficial pile of sand and gravel from 10 to 30 feet high and from 5 to 20 rods wide, and presents all the characteristics of a lake beach.

The Hicksville ridge begins in section 4, St. Joseph township, and pursues a very direct course to the northeast corner of the count}', being well indicated upon the map by the Hicksville road. It is for the most part more bold and continuous than the Van Wert ridge, chiefly because it coincides with the margin of the St. Joseph moraine. These ridges are prolonged westward to Fort Wayne, upon the sides of the channel through which the Maumee lake emptied into the St. Joseph- Wabash. In sections 14 and 15, Adams, there is a gap a mile and a half wide through which the St. Mary's river once emptied into the lake. It brought down a great quantity of sand which was deposited as a delta at its mouth. The New Haven delta extends from the center of section 5, Jefferson, westward five miles, and has an average width of one mile. Its northern boundar}' is marked by a conspicuous bluff, which once formed the south shore of the outlet of the lake. The Maumee river traverses the lake region in a very tortuous course, with a sluggish current which flows at the bottom of a channel twent}- to forty feet deep. East of New Haven no stream of any size enters it from the south, the drainage being eastward parallel with the Maumee to the Auglaize. Near the northern border of the Maumee lake region " fountain " or artesian wells are numerous. Flowing water is struck at depths of from thirty-five to forty-five feet, a copious stream of which rises to the surface, being fed by reservoirs in the gravel beds of the St. Joseph moraine. The water-bearing gravel often contains rounded fragments of coal never larger than a cherry.

The St. Mary's and St. ^Joseph moraine is the most extensive and important ridge in the Wabash-Erie region. It extends along the right bank of the St. Mary's river and the left bank of the St. Joseph from Lima, Ohio, to Hudson, Michigan. It has been compared to a dead wave on the surface of the ocean, hardly perceptible to the eye on account of its smoothness, but revealed by its effect on everything that encounters it. The crest of the ridge can be easily traced upon the map, since it forms the watershed between the St. Mary's and the Auglaize, and between the St. Joseph and the Maumee, being about four miles distant froni the rivers on the west and sometimes thirty miles from those on the east. In Allen county, south of the Maumee, the Wayne trace follows the crest very closely. It is a slightlj- rolling strip of country four or five miles wide, elevated from Hhy to eighty feet above the general level, and occupying the greater portion of the townships of Madison, Marion and Adams, part of Wayne, and the whole space between the Hicksville ridge and the St. Joseph river. A former channel of the St. Mary's cuts through the moraine from the great bend of that river in section 6, Marion township, along the course of Merriam's creek, the Trier ditch and Six-mile creek, to New Haven. It has a nearly uniform width of one-quarter of a mile, and its bottom is from fort}- to sixtv feet below the summit of the moraine.

The St. Mary's basin lies almost entirely on the left bank of that river and consists in Indiana of a flat strip of country ten or twelve miles wide, occupying in Allen county. Pleasant township and portions of Marion, Lafayette and Wayne. The St. Mary's river is a sluggish, muddy stream, almost without bluffs or flood plain, the highest water seldom being more than sufficient to fill its channel. Its minimum flow has been estimated to be from 1,500 to 2,000 cubic feet per minute. In its lower course it has been tossed about from one channel to another repeatedly. The Six-mile creek channel, probably the oldest, has been described. A second channel leaves the present river at the southeast corner of section 22, Wayne township, and extends southwestward to section 35, about where it joins the Wabash-Erie channel. The Bluffton road crosses it at Chief Godfrey's. It now forms an arm of the prairie six miles long and one-half mile wide. A third and later channel leaves the river one mile below the second, near M. Strack's, and extends westward two and one-half miles to the Wabash-Erie channel.

The broad Wabash-Erie channel, above mentioned and previous!}' referred to, deserves careful description. From the western apex of the Maumee lake in section 3, Adams township, to Fort Wayne, it originally gave passage to the waters of that lake westward. It is bounded on the north by a continuation of the Hicksville ridge, which, as it approaches the St. Joseph, curves sharply northward, parallel with that river, to a point two miles above its mouth. The new asylum for the feeble minded is built upon the edge of this bluff. The Wabash-Erie channel passes through the northern half of the city of Fort Wayne. Lines down from the Allen county jail to St. Vincent's orphan asylum, and from the Fort Wayne college to Linde#wood cemetery cross the channel at right angles. From Fort Wayne it extends southward twentyseven miles, with a breadth varying from one, to one and a half miles. It is bounded on the north by a bluff forty to sixty feet high, and on the south by a system of ridges and bluffs hereafter described. This portion o£ the channel was originally occupied by a stream which carried the united waters of the Maumee lake, the St. Joseph and the St. Mary's, into the Wabash river below Huntington. This stream, which I have called the Wabash-Erie river, was thirty miles long, one mile wide, and may have had a depth of from 60 to lOO feet. For more than twenty miles, the channel is now occupied by a marsh called the Little river prairie, through which meanders an insignificant stream, the successor and heir of a river once comparable with the Detroit or the Niagara.

In the triangular space bounded by the Six-mile creek channel, the second St. Mary's channel and the Wabash-Erie channel are grouped a series of sand and gravel ridges, variously called bj' geologists kames and osars. They are portions of, or appendages to, the St. Mary's moraine. On the east the system is almost continuous with the Van Wert ridge, being separated from it by the Six-mile creek gap. Kama No. I forms the western border of that gap in section 15, Adams, on the farm of D. Rodenbeck. It is a file of gravel twent}- rods wide, twentj' feet high and half a mile long. Kame No. 2 lies on the eastern border of the city of Fort Wayne and extends from a point east of the Vordermark homestead westward about one mile to Holton avenue. It has been pactiall}^ removed for the new freight j-ards of the P., Ft. W. & C. railway. West of these yards it rises in a conical hill, the summit of which is the highest point of the St. Mary's moraine in Allen county. Kame No. 3, very symmetrical and one-fourth of a mile long, extends parallel with No. 2 about forty rods north of its eastern end. Kame No. 4 begins near the Main street bridge over the St. Mary's, and extends southward one mile to Shawnee run. In the neighborhood of Fort Wayne college it has been graded down thirt}- or fort}' feet. The Swinnev gravel pit has been extensively excavated out of it. The old Catholic cemetery and Riedmiller's grove are situated upon it. A low spur crosses Broadway near the McCulloch park. Kame No. 5 extends along Walnut street from Fairfield avenue to Shawnee run. Kame No. 6 begins south of the corner of Creighton avenue and Broadwa}', passes westward through the grounds of B3-ron Thompson, curves southward along Thompson avenue and ends at " the high banks " of the St. Mary's. Kame No. 7 begins north of the Allen countj- poor farm and extends southward one mile to the third St. Mary's channel. In front of the infirmary it forms the left bank of the St. Mary's river and is about forty feet high. Kame No. 8 lies west of No. 7 in the north halves of sections 21 and 20, Wayne township. It is verj' irregular, built along three parallel axes but not complete on either. Two branches extend northward from St. John's cemeterj- into section 16. West of the cemeter}' it is broken by gaps into a series of conical hills. Its western end at G. Rapp's is broad and slopes genth- toward the prairie. It forms the north bank of the third St. Mary's channel. Kame No. 9 begins in a broad, high mass which occupies nearly the whole of the southwest quarter of section 22 on the east of the Bluffton road between Chief

Godfrey's and M. Strack's. It has been extensively excavated for moulding sand. Thence two branches extend westward, the southern along the south Hne of section 21 to its west line, the northern through the middle of sections 21 and 20. Kame No. 10 is also double and occupies the north half of section 29. Kame No. 11 lies a few rods south of the west end of No. 10. Nos. 9, 10 and 11 are parallel, en echelon, and form the divide between the second and third channels of the St. Mary's.

To this system belong several small islands in the Wabash-Erie channel, now the prairie. The Wabash railway crosses one on the west line of section 20 and another on the line between sections 19 and 30. The latter is known as Midway island. The most interesting and characteristic kame of the series forms Fox island in section 25, Aboit township. It is plainly visibly a few rods to the south of the Wabash railway, but should be visited to be appreciated. A road recently opened across the prairie gives easy access to its western end. Here one beautifully symmetrical ridge, lithe and graceful as a serpent, sweeps in a gentle curve like the Italic letter (5), three fourths of a mile long, 20-25 f^^t^t high and as steep as sand can be piled. Several wings and branches upon either side enclose coves and land-locked bays; and covered (as it still is) with luxuriant forests and embraced in mid-channel by the waters of the great river, it must have been one of the most charming and unique parks in the world.

The question of the origin and formation of kames is still an unsettled one. The present state of opinion among geologists inclines to' the theor}' that they were in some way produced by sub-glacial streams or in dry cracks and tunnels under the ice; the materials ma}' have fallen in from the top of the ice sheet, or they may have been squeezed and scraped up from below by the enormous pressure and unequal motion of its mass.

The St. Joseph valley lies between the St. Joseph moraine on the east and the Aboit moraine on the west. It has a nearty uniform width of a little more than half a mile, and is bounded b)' well marked bluffs often broken into several terraces. Between these the present river winds from side to side with a strong and clear stream, its minimum flow being estimated at 4,000 cubic feet per minute. As in the case of the St. Mary's, the basin of the St. Joseph hes almost wholly upon its western side, being fed from numerous lakes and streams in Steuben and Noble counties. Careful examination shows it to have been once a much larger stream than at present, to have flowed at a level about thirty-flve feet higher and to have discharged its waters through the Wabash-Erie channel into the Wabash.

The Wabash- Aboit moraine is similar in character to the St. Mary's and St. Joseph moraine and parallel with it. It extends along the right bank of the upper Wabash river to the village of Murray, Wells county, thence into the southwest corner of Allen county, where it turns to the northeast and fills the space between the St. Joseph valley on the east, and the valleys of the Aboit river and Cedar creek on the west. It occupies the greater part of the townships of Lafayette, Aboit, Washincrton, Perr}^ and Cedar Creek. The moraine has a breadth varying from four to eight miles and an elevation of from 80 to 120 feet above the St. Joseph river. It is a broad, rolling table land, the chief material of which is a gravell}' cla}', with frequent mounds, ridges and patches of sand and gravel. Along the line between Lafayette and Aboit townships, it is cut in two by the Wabash-Erte channel, on either side of which bluffs rise to a height of from 60 to 125 feet, the hill at Bowman's, section 8, La Fayette, being 873 feet above tide. In the northern part of the count}' it is cut across again by the gorge of Cedar creek, 50 to 100 feet deep and 800 feet wide. At the bend of Cedar creek, in sections 3, 10 and 11, Perry township, the moraine rises to an extraordinary height, where "Dutch Ridge " attains an elevation on the farm of H. Hensinger, of more than 100 feet above the creek and 925 feet above tide, being the highest point in Allen county. This region abounds in precipitous bluffs and deep ravines and deserves the name of the Alps of Allen. Its picturesque beauty is heightened by the presence of a few small lakes, Viberg's and HoUopeter's in section 7, Cedar Creek, being gems of their kind, and typical specimens of morainic lakes. '

The Aboit and Eel River region comprises the townships of Lake and Eel River, and portions of Aboit and Perry. The Aboit and Eel rivers have their sources in a marshy prairie which lies in wide, tortuous channels, with various tongues, peninsulas and islands of dry land between. West of Huntertown the prairie is two or three miles wide, and from a bold bluff *on the north shore the view across the marsh, diversified with wooded points and islands, is worthy of an artist's pencil. Living and extinct lakes are not rare, the largest being Mud lake, in sections, Lake township, and White lake, section 3, Eel River. The northwest half of Eel River township hes upon the borders of the moraine formed between the Saginaw and the Erie ice-lobes, and is quite hilly. The peculiar morainic topography of mound and hollow, although upon a miniature scale, gives sufficient variety and irregularity to render this the most pictures(|ue portion of the county.

Concerning the rocks which underlie the drift in Allen county nothing is known except in the isolated spots where deep well borings have been made. These are quite numerous in the vicinity of Fort Wayne. They all pass through the same strata and show that the variations of thickness and level are very slight. The following table embodies all the important geological results:

Vali.Ey Of The Upper Maumee

The bed rock in the southern half of Allen count}' is undoubtedly upper Silurian of the Niagara or waterlime group; in the northern part probably Devonian of the corniferous group, but the line of parting can hardly be conjectured. The chapter upon outcrops in Allen county resembles the famous one upon snakes in Ireland. Rumors are afloat of the existence of stone quarries at various localities, but all have proved to be mythical. There are strong indications that rock lies very near the surface in the bed of the Maumee at Bull Rapids; in the bed of the St. Mary's, on the farm of J. J. Essig, section 29, Marion township, and on the farm of J. Akey, section 35, Adams township. Mr. Frank Randall, jr., late of the county surveyor's office, reports a ledge of limestone upon the bank of the Aboit river, in section 20, Aboit township.

The surface of Allen county, together with that of the greater part of Indiana, remains to-day substantially as tht mighty stamp of the glacier moulded it. To it we owe our landscape, our soil, our wealth and prosperity. Agriculture and brick manufacture are the onl\- occupations in the countv which depend upon the geological structure. Agriculturally the land ma}' be divided into three classes: (i) Lacustrine land: lake bottom without muck; soil chiefly fine, tough clay with occasional streaks of sand and gravel; drainage difficult. (2) Bottom or muck land: the largest tracts are inter-moraine in old drainage channels, and basins of extinct lakes; soil black and mucky. (3) Moraine land: high and rolling; soil gravelly clay with mounds and ridges of sand and gravel; drainage easy. Perhaps in no other county of the state has drainage been more important or undertaken upon a larger scale. The Eel river ditch, completed in 1S87, is eleven miles long and drains 3,000 acres of marsh. The Little river ditch, completed in 1889, with all its branches has a total length of forty miles, and furnishes an outlet for the water which falls iipon 200,000 acres of land. At an expense of $170,000, 35,000 acres of marsh have been converted into rich farming lands, and a fertile source of miasma has been removed, greatly to the improvement of the sanitary condition of 50,000 people. This may be said to be the closing chapter in the history of the Wabash-Erie river. Its channel can never be obliterated, but nothing less than some great convulsion of nature can now divert it from the dominion and use of man.

Settlement And Development

OUND about the old fort, after peace came finalh* with end of the struggles of 1812-14, the scene was one of rare beauty. The extensive clearing made by order of Gen. Wayne in 1794, and again by Gen. Harrison in 1812, was covered with waving grass, and circling this stood the primeval forest, like a wall of emerald, pierced b)' three gates through which flowed the gleaming rivers. The days of Indian warfare had come to an end, the day of white settlement was yet in anticipation. Nature smiled restfuUy, and the few who held this frontier fort spent their days in quiet, perhaps undisturbed by dreams of the whirl and excitement of the city that would rise in this lovely park, with block after block of lofty edifices; for no one then could picture to himself the reality of the flood of immigration that would people these vast solitudes and crowd the busy cities of northern Indiana.

The first business of the vicinity consisted in the portage of goods and furs by way of a well-worn trail seven miles long, from the bend of St. Mar3''s, one mile west of the fort, to Little river, from the Maumee to the Wabash, and this had previous to about the year 1800, been m.ainly controlled b}- the mother of Richardville, who engaged a large number of Frenchmen with ponies, and did a business, according to the representations made at the treaty of Greenville, that amounted to as much sometimes as $100 a day. Then Louis Bourie, of Detroit, established a branch trading house at the fort and carried on the transfer from 1S03 to 1809, and his clerk here was an important intermediary in the shipment of goods for the traders from Detroit or Canada up the Maumee to Fort Wayne, and then b}" packhorses to the Wabash headwaters. This way the transportation would move in the summer and fall, and in the spring great collections of fur of beaver, otter, deer, coon and bear would pass in the other direction coming up from the wilds of Indiana and Illinois.

One notable among the early traders was Hyacinth Lasselle, who was the first white person born at the site of Fort Wa3'ne, and it is believed, the first in northern Indiana. His father, Col. James Lasselle, removed from Montreal to the Indian village, Kekionga, opposite the site of the city, in the fall of 1776, having been appointed agent among the Indians for the British government. On February' 25, 1777, H3-acinth Lasselle was born. The famil_y remained at Kekionga until La- Balm's invasion in 1780, when they fled with most of the villagers down the Maumee. In this precipitate movement, the only daughter of the famity fell from their boat and was drowned. Returning to Montreal, Hyacinth was put in school. At the age of sixteen he became a clerk with his brothers, James and Francis, traders at Detroit, which he reached after a voyage of two months in batteaux. When peace followed the establishment of Fort Wayne, Hyacinth was sent by his brothers to trade at that post, and he was in that business here for about eighteen months subseijuent to May, 1795. He then descended the Wabash, but was a frequent visitor at the fort until 1804, when he made his home permanently at Vincennes. He served during the war of 181 2, acting four years as an officer in the Rangers, and became majorgeneral of militia. He died at Logansport, January 23, 1843. He was a great favorite with the Miamis, who called him Kekiah, or Little Miami, and his remarkable athletic powers made him famous among the Indians. The Miamis, at one time, challenged all the tribes to meet their Kekiah in a foot-race. The Winnebagoes, of Lake Michigan, sent their champion, with a delegation, and as the race neared the close with Lasselle in the lead, the Winnebagoes were so excited that they let fly their arrows at the victor, one of which pierced his thigh just as the race was won. As Lasselle was not seriously hurt, he prevailed on the Miamis to overlook the outrage, but it is not recorded that he was engaged in an}^ more international contests. Another noted trader was Antoine Bondie, whose important services before and during the siege have already been described.

Another early birth at Fort Wayne was that of John Elliott Hunt. He was the son of Col. Thomas Hunt, of the First United States infantr}', who fought at Lexington, Bunker Hill and Stony Point, and was in command at Fort Wayne from 1796 to 179S, having his wife, Eunice, with him. Within the fort, John E. Hunt was born, April 11, 179S. His early life was spent with his brother Henry at Detroit. He became known as Gen. Hunt, and in 1816 formed a partnership with Robert A. Forsyth, doing business at Maumee City. He was very energetic in promoting railroad and canal construction, and should be remembered as one of the benefactors of the Maumee valley. He was treasurer of Lucas county and postmaster at Toledo. Col. Hunt, the commandant, died near St. Louis in 1806.

In May, 1814, wJien Major Whistler took command of the fort, among the residents are remembered the major's two daughters, William Suttenfield and his wife Laura, Lieut. Curtiss, Baptiste Maloch and wife, and James Peltier and wife. Within the stockade Hved a French blacksmith, Louisaneau, who came about the time of the war of 181 2, under government appointment. The remains of his shop were discovered in making an excavation for the residence of Judge Carson on Berry street, now owned by heirs of Samuel Hanna. Dr. Daniel Smith arrived in 1S14, from Lancaster, Ohio. Dr. Turner came in 181 5 and Dr. Trevitt in 1816. During the wai' of 1812, John P. Hedges was a clerk of John H. Piatt, commissar3'-general of the northwestern army, and visited Fort Wa3'ne to report on the rations at the fort. At the treaty of Greenville, his father, Samuel P., and he, issued rations to the Indians, and subsequently, in 1S14, John P. Hedges became one of the residents of the village at Fort Waj-ne. At this date George and John E. Hunt resided near the fort with a store of goods; Peter Oliver and Perr}' Kercheval, a clerk of Major Stickne\''s. A more extended notice of some of these pioneers and their descendants can here be appropriately given.

The son of a union between the IMaloch and Peltier families, is Louis Peltier, the oldest living resident of Fort Wayne. The history of his parents is romantic and interesting. James Peltier, his father, was one of the early French traders, and a favorite with the Indians. After he had been carrying on this business here six or seven years, Baptiste Maloch, also a trader, and his wife, came to the post in 1807, bringing with them their sprightly grand-daughter, Emeline Chapeteau, who in 1S14 became the wife of James Peltier. Miss Chapeteau was a great friend of the savage inhabitants of the region. On landing she was named b}' the Indians, "Golden Hair." Some time prior to the famous siege of 1812, she accompanied a pleasure party to the home of a French family a short distance down the Maumee. The party was menaced by a crowd of unfriendl}' Indians as soon as it was out of sight of the fort. Mile. Chapeteau was at once appealed to bv the white part}- for protection, and she managed to persuade the Indians to allow them to proceed without further molestation. At another time, when she happened to be alone in a cabin without the fort, a party of Indians made a sally upon the latter, and retiring baffled, some of them came to her lonely abode, and entered, but finding her, the}' made no hostile demonstrations, contented themselves with obtaining food and using the floor as a sleeping place. After they left in the morning, an officer ventured out, and finding Mile. Chapeteau, to his surprise alive, insisted that she should remain within the fort, and she there resided with her uncle, David Bourie, during the subsequent siege. She was a native of Detroit, born in 1792, so that her life was spent, up to a good age, among the stirring scenes of frontier posts. After the death of James Peltier, at about eighty years of age, she married Mr. Griswold, and in February, iS76,she passed awa}'. Three of her children are living. Louis Peltier, the second, was born at the old fort, March 14, 1814. When a boy, he learned tfie Miami tongue, and traded with that tribe until 1832. He then began the cabinet-maker's trade with James Wilcox, and four rears later succeeded to the business, adding to it undertaking in 1840. This business he continued for man}- years, being engaged twenty-four 3'ears at his stand, opposite where is now Root &Co.'s store. This venerable citizen is a man of strict honestj^ and integrity, has been affectionate in his family, and has the good will and reverence of the community.

Throughout his long career he did a successful business, being known as one of the leading undertakers in northern Indiana, but so fair and equitable and lenient were his transactions, that in all his life he sued but one man. Politicallj' he was a whig, but since Gen. Scott's campaign has been a democrat. He was married in 1833 to Laura Gushing, who died in 1850, and in 1856 he was united to Mar}- Nettlehorst, a native of Germany. He has three children, James C. and Ellen, b}- the first marriage, and Angeline b}- the second wife. James C., who carries on the undertaking business, was born in Fort Wayne September 21, 1S43. He attended the Catholic schools of the city, and studied two 3'ears at Notre Dame, his college work being interrupted by the w'ar. In 1862 he enlisted in Compan}- K, Twelfth Indiana, and the following August was wounded at Richmond, K.\. He was honorabh- discharged in the winter of 1862 on account of physical disabilit}-. He then went into business with his father, and since 1S82 has conducted the establishment in his ow-n name. He is widely known as one of the leading undertakers of Indiana; is a Catholic in faith; and politically is a democrat. A prominent member of the Sion S. Bass post, G. A. R., he is the only one who has served two terms as commander, which position he filled in 1887-S. He was married December 25, 1866, to Selena F. Wadge, a native of England, and thej- have two children, William H. and Laura A. Mrs. Peltier is a member of the Episcopal church.

The river St. Mary's was a favorite route for the coming of visitors and settlers from " the settlements " in southwestern Ohio, and for a long period many flat-boats and pirogues would come down that river and tie up at the landing just above the fort. Among those who came by that route, as early as 1814, were William Suttenfield and his wife, and a party of friends, who made their home in the fort. Mr. Suttenfield was for a considerable period a non-commissioned officer at the fort, and for many months after his arrival, was employed with a squad of three or four men in bringing provisions and goods to the garrison from Piqua and other points. He was short and slender and ver}' active and frequently declared that the Indians could not catch him. He subsequently arose to the rank, or title at least, of colonel. The first house in what is now called the old plat was erected bj- Mr. Suttenfield, at the northwest corner of Barr and Columbia streets, and he and his wife resided there many years in the comfortable log house. Mrs. Laura Suttenfield was born in Boston, Mass., in 1795, and survived her husband many years. She numbered among her friends in the early da3's, the agent, Major B. F. Stickney, a manly soldier, to whom so m^lch credit belongs for the saving of Fort Wayne from capture in 1S12, Gen. John Tipton and Col. John Johnson, two important leaders in their era.

Major Benjamin F. Stickney, appointed an Indian agent b}- President Jefferson, was one of the most famous pioneers of the Alaumee valley. After leaving Fort Wayne, about 1820, he settled at Swan Creek, and he and Samuel Allen founded Vistula, which became part of Toledo. . There was a question of boundaiy between Ohio and Michigan, and Stickney was the leader in the " secession " of the Toledo settlement from Ohio to Michigan, and afterward, during times of canal speculation, back to Ohio. The last move resulted in the Toledo war of 1835, worthy of the pen of " Diedrich Knickerbocker." Of this, Stickney was the hero. He was a man of considerable attainments, and had an estimable wife, Mary, daughter of the celebrated Gen. Stark. His eccentricities furnished much amusement, especially his selection of names for his children, the boys being dubbed One, Two, etc., and the girls named after the states.

In 1815 the fort was rebuilt, logs being hauled by the soldiers from the forest, covering the site of the residence of Samuel Hanna, deceased, and that vicinit}-. About the buildings a stockade was made of pickets, twelve and a half feet long, put in in sets of six, with a cross piece, two feet from the top, let in and spiked. They were flrml}' planted in a trench three and a half feet deep. Aside from the rivers there were no available routes in an}- direction, although there was the Wayne trace which could be followed by horsemen to Fort Recovery, one toward the site of Chicago, along which the carrier of the militar)^ mail found no hut or trace of white men until he reached Fort Dearborn; shorter traces tha; led down the Maumee on each side, and one to the reservation of the unfortunate Capt. Wells on Spy run. The fording places were Harmar's, loo rods below the old Maumee bridge, now obliterated, and one above it. At the former ford the tirst observation of independence day that is recorded, occurred in iSio, by Capt. Rhea and other officers, who took dmner under an old elm, afterward known as the " post office," because on that very day the courier arrived with mail from Detroit and government dispatches. By this route, the mail was carried to Chicago and Green Bay for several years. In 1817, Major Whistler was removed to Missouri, being succeeded by Major Josiah H. Vose, of the Fifth regiment, who held command until April, rSip, when, much to the regret of the few settlers and traders, the fort was abandoned forever, and only the campfires of the numerous Indians and their noisy pow-wows, remained to furnish a variety to the life of the pioneers at the site of the future city. Among the residents then, were John B. Bourie, one of the eariiest traders, and Samuel Hanna and James Barnett. Mr. Hanna built a hewn log house on the corner of Columbia and Barr, and he and Barnett opened a wholesale house to supply traders, in the following year, 1820. Their goods came from Boston by ship to New York, by way of Albany to Buffalo, by lake to Swan Creek (Toledo), and thence up the Maumee on pirogues. In 1820, Francis Comparet engaged in the Indian trade, and became with Alexis Coquillard, who afterward did business at South Bend, and Benjamin B. Kercheval, who became Indian agent, who came at the same time, the agents of the American Fur Company, which was established here in 1820. George W. and William G. Ewing began trading in 1S22 and in 1825 Peter Kiser established himself as a butcher and issued rations to the Indians at the forks of the Wabash and on Eel river while treaties were being made with them. Allen Hamilton made his home here in 1823, as deputy register, and soon became the confidential adviser of Richardville.

The status of the settlement at about this time may be inferred from the letters of Capt. -James Riley, who came from his survey in Ohio, to visit the plaqe in 1819, and was impressed by the remarkable possibilities of the location as a "depot of immense trade." He said: "The fort is now only a small stockade. No troops are stationed here, and less than thirty dwelling houses, occupied b)' the French and American families, form the settlement. But as soon as the land shall be surveyed and offered for sale, inhabitants will pour in from all quarters to this future thoroughfare between the east and the Mississippi river. I was induced to visit this place for curiosity, to see the Indians receiving their annuities and to view the country. While here at that time, leveled the portage-ground from the St. Mary's to Little river, and made some practical observations, as aftertime has shown them to be." He wrote that the St. Mar3^'s had been almost covered with boats at every freshet for several j-ears. He describes this as a "central point combining more natural advantages to build up and support a town of importance, as a place of deposit and trade and a thoroughfare, than anv point he had seen in the western country." He said at this time there were assembled about 1,000 whites from Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and New York, ' to trade with the Indians during pa3'ment, and that they brought whisky in abundance, which they dealt out to the Indians and kept them continually drunk and unfit for business. Horse-racing, drinking, gambling, debauchery, extravagance and waste were the order of the daj- and night, and the Indians were the least savage and more christianized, and the example of those whites was too indelicate to mention." This Capt. Rilej^ had a world-wide notoriety on account of his shipwreck and captivity on the coast of Africa.

He advised the speedy survej- of the lands which soon followed, and every inducement to rapid settlement, and encouragement b}' the government of this " future emporium of Indiana." As an earnest of his faith he purchased a number of tracts at Willshire, moved his famil}- there, laid off a town, built a grist-mill, and surveyed, in 1822, all the country on both sides of the St. Mary's, embracing Fort Wayne, and also about twent}' townships, of six miles square, between the St. Mary's and the Maumee. It will not detract from the value of his historical statements to recall that Capt. Rile}^ was famous for snake stories, and that his most famous one related that snakes were so numerous in a certain field he was running a line across, that ever and anon an angr}- serpent would fasten its fangs in his leathern breeches. Slashing their heads off with his knife, he calmU' proceeded, and after completing his work, found thirt^'-eight snake heads fastened to him. One of the houses outside the fort, but within range, was the council house, the headquarters of the Indian agent. The first was destroyed in the siege of 181 2, but a new one was built in 1816, on lots 32 and 33, the county addition, and was first occupied by Major B. F. Stickney. This building was subsequently replaced by the residence of Mr. Hedekin, and the old council house well is still in use. The year following the erection of this house, Major Stickney, in a letter to the superintendent of Indian affairs, gives some interesting observations concerning the aborigines. He spoke despondingly of the prospect of civilizing the Indians, the insurmountable obstacles being the insatiable thirst for intoxicating liquors on their part, and the thirst for gain on the part of the white people. Not only were thev averse to the civilization of the whites, but viewed the character of the latt-er in an unfavorable light on philosophical grounds, believing them to be alwaj-s actuated by motives of trade and speculation. Said he: "All the Miamis and Eel River Miamis,^are under m}' charge, about 1,400 in number; and there are something more than 2,000 Pottowatomies who come within mj- agency." The Indians gathered here in great numbers during 1S15, to receive rations according to the treaty of Greenville, and the}- remained in the countr}^, harmless in their relations to the whites, until about 1846, when all those not installed upon reservations were transferred to the plains beyond the Mississippi, a change which they endured with patient sorrow, for the power of the Miamis ended forever with the days of Little Turtle, their famous chieftain.

In 1822 the little village had a postoffice, of whom Samuel Hanna was the functionary; the Maumee mail came once a week by horseback, Mr. Suttenfield being the contractor. For one trip the Fort Dearborn mail was carried on foot by Samuel Bird, a Pleasant township settler, an old soldier who rebuilt the fort. He carried mail several years. In 1824 hotels were added to the conveniences by William Suttenfield and Alexander Ewing, who each paid a license of $12.50, and each occupied corners at the intersection of Columbia and Barr streets. " Washington Hall," as Ewing's tavern was known, was managed by him until 1829, when Robert Hood and Abner Gerard became the proprietoi^s, and they in turn were succeeded b}' Samuel Sauer. To give an idea of the population at this time it may be stated that in 1823, when Indiana was divided into two congressional districts, and John Test was elected to congress from the first district, there were only about fifty votes cast in the whole of northern Indiana. In 1822 two famous men. Gen. Lewis Cass, and the historian, H. R. Schoolcraft, landed from a canoe b}' which they had come up the IMaumee, en route to the Mississippi. A notable feature of the town site at that time was a pond, covering about one lot, lying about half a square east of the court-house and between Berry and Columbia streets. A little brook meandered from the southwest down the west side of what is now Harrison street past the Berrj^ Street Methodist Episcopal church, into the St. Mary's. Near the site of the church was a " fishing hole," much frequented. Among' the hazel bushes along this creek the Indians were accustomed to idle', and on its banks one day a Shawnee Indian, being asked to drink out of the stream by a Miami, received as he was stooping a deadly knife-thrust from his companion. The Shawnees who were encamped to the southeast were enraged, and two days later a band of that tribe painted and armed for the frav, came up and halted upon an elevation at what is now the corner of Clinton and Washington streets. Diplomacy was at once brought into action, and it was managed to appease the outraged tribe b}' the gift of several horses, and many trinkets and other goods. Thus, the stor}- goes, the creek came to be known as Shawnee run.

Another famous Indian murder was the killing of a half-breed Indiannegro woman, by Newelingua, or Big-Leg, a Miami. The woman, whom he claimed as a slave, frequently stole meat from his cabin, he asserted, and he finally threatened to kill her if she did not desist. Her kleptomania was unconquerable, however, and she fled to Fort Wayne and took service in a white family to escape her fate. Big-Leg kept his promise, however. Finding her doing a washing, he stealthity crept up, and plunged a knife through her body. Looking at her corpse, he exclaimed, "Wasn't that nice!" The settlers took a different view of it, and although the not infrequent murders among the Indians were unpunished, except by their own vendetta, the villagers decided to draw the line at invasion of their homes for such outrages. Big-Leg was consequenth' imprisoned in the old'county jail. Being told that he would be hung he was concerned about what the nature of that ceremony was, and linall}' concluded that it was something like the weighing of venison by the traders. He communicated this to his friends, who soon brought a dog near the jail, where Big- Leg could have a glimpse of them, and proceeded to " weigh " the canine with a rope about his neck upon an improvised scaffold. The violent contortions of the victim of this experiment gave the Indian a great aversion to "weighing," and he pleaded that he might be shot instead. His friends desired his release, and sought to exchange another Indian of less importance for him. He was prosecuted by James Perry, before Judge Charles H. Test, William N. Hood, associate judge, at the May, 1830, term of circuit court, and convicted, but recommended to mercy. The governor pardoned him, and he moved to Kansas, with other Miamis in 1848.

Among the well-known residents of Fort Wayne between 1812 and 1838, besides those already mentioned, were F. D. Lasselle, who became a merchant on the south side of Columbia street, and subsequently sold out to the Miami Indians, the store being then managed b}- Chapine (Richard Chute); William S. Edsall, a trader, associated with the Ewings; James Aveline (or St. Jule, as he was then called, father of Francis Aveline) who came from Vincennes previous to 1824; the father of Zenas Henderson, who kept a trading house at the site of the Dewald store, and was succeeded b}- his son (Zenas Henderson & Co. were licensed in 183 1 to keep a ferry across the St. Mary's at the old ford, where the county road crosses leading to Pigeon Prairie, Mich.); Peter Gibeau, who manufactured cand}', and his father, said to have lived to the age of one hundred and five 3'ears; Ribedeau, Francis Minie and

The Village At The Fort. 1S7

John B. Bequette, who manufactured trinkets for the traders all o\er the west; Benjamin Smith, a grocer; Anthon\' L. Davis, the first count}' clerk; Stephen Coles; Joseph L. and Thomas W. Swinney, respectively sheriff and treasurer; Thomas Johnson, a prominent law3'er; James Lillie, Samuel Lillie, who opened a hotel in 1S35; Anthony Lintz, a shoemaker; Dr. Lewis G. Thompson, O. W. Jefferds, still living, proprietor of the woolen mill; Henry Cooper, the first school teacher and a famous lawyer; Rohert Hood and Benjamin Cushman, who were the associate judges in 1S37; Hon. I. D. G. Nelson and David H. Colerick, both distinguished in law; John Cochrane, builder of many of the old mansions; Samuel Sauer, a hotel keeper; Merchant W. Huxford; James B. Dubois, a jolly French tailor; Jesse L. Williams, Henry Rudisill, Royal W. Taylor, Philo Taylor, Samuel Freeman, merchants; F. P. Randall, Henry and John Steer, Thomas Hamilton, a merchant, brother of Allen ; William Rockhill, one of the first county commissioners and justices, afterward congressman; Hugh Hanna, in 1S26-7, and John Majors, 1836, pioneer carpenters; John Spencer, receiver public moneys; John E. Hill; Thomas Tigar, founder of the Sciif/)iel: George W. Wood, of the same paper; John M. Wilt, L. P. Ferry, a prominent lawyer; Philo Rumse)-, now living at Omaha; Major Samuel Edsall, who became state senator; Robert E. Fleming, clerk of the circuit court for sixteen years; William H. Coombs, a distinguished lawyer; Michael Hedekin, who became a contractor on the canal; Hon. Hugh McCulloch; Marshall S. Wines, a contractor on the canal, miller and legislator; John Trentman and Oliver Morgan, who each founded famous business houses; Wilham N. Hood, an associate judge; Joseph Holman; David Pickering, elected sheriff in 1830; Dr. James Ormiston; Capt. Robert Brackenridge, register of the land office; Philip C. Cook, 1S28, blacksmith; Isaac Marquis, and Absalom Holcomb, who built the first tannery- in 1828.

Among the first farmers near by was Capt. Hackley, son-in-law of Capt. Wells, who cultivated in a primitive way a few acres now in the northern part of the city.

While the treat}' of Greenville (1S14) was going on, Peter Edsall and wife, from New York, kept a boarding house in a shanty, and saved enough to move to St. Mary's, where a similar gathering enabled them to clear enough to buy a farm on Shane's prairie. The father died and the mother and nine children moved to Fort Wayne in 1824. Before this the eldest boj-s, Samuel, John and Simon, made frequent trips to Fort Waj-ne, and cut hay on the prairie west of the fort where the water stood so high that the grass had to be carried to high ground to dry. Then Capt. Rile}' resided at Willshire, but there was only one house between Shane's prairie and Fort Wayne, that of George Ayres, on Twenty-four mile creek. The widow Edsall occupied a cabin on the St. Mary's, near the usual route of the Indians to the rival trading establishments of the Ewings, Barnett & Hanna, and Comparet & Coquillard. William S. Edsall was an attache of the corps of United States topographical engineers, under Col. Shriver, which was detailed in

1826 to survey a route for the Wabash & Erie canal. An idea of the fataHty that accompanied that work may be obtained from the fact that after beginning work at Fort Waj'ne in the spring of that year, but very little was done before the entire party was prostrated by sickness, and soon afterward Col. Shriver died at the old fort. Col. Asa Moore succeeded him, and the survey was continued to the mouth of the Tippecanoe, and continued down the Maumee in 1827-8, until Col. Moore also fell a victim to the malaria. Young Edsall established a ferry and soon became acquainted with W. G. Ewing, and eventually became a clerk with the Ewings. He subsequentl}^ took charge of a branch house at Huntington, where he became county clerk and recorder. In 1836 he returned to Fort Wayne, and formed a partnership with his brother Samuel. In 1839 ^""^ became a partner in the great firm of Ewing, Edsall & Co. In that spring he took a horse-back ride through the west, as far as Madison, Wis. He became register of the land office in 1S43, and in 1846, became a partner of his brother in merchandise and milling. The Edsalls originated the plank road from Fort Wayne to Bluffton about this time, a ver}- important enterprise. In 1853, they made a contract for making the road-bed of the Wabash railroad from the state line fort3--seven miles, and carried the job through, although the}- received little pa}' until the}- had completed the work, and meanwhile wages had risen, and the cholera had swept off workmen by hundreds. These are only instances of the large and beneficent enterprises in which the Edsalls were engaged. The second railroad they also did much to secure. Major Samuel Edsall died in February, 1865. In 1868, at the close of three years' business life in Chicago, William S. was elected clerk of the circuit court by the unanimous vote of the county.

Hon. Hugh McCulloch visited Fort Wayne in 1833, on the invitation of Dr. Lewis G. Thompson, whom he met at South Bend. He was making a 'trip of inspection, starting from Boston, and, says the distinguished writer, in his " Men and Measures of Half a Century," " Fort Wayne was about as uninviting in every respect except its site as any of the towns through which I had passed." " In 1833, the stockade of the fort, enclosing two or three acres, and a number of hewn log houses, was still standing." " Uninviting as Fort Wayne was in many respects it was fortunate in the character of its settlers - intelligent, far-seeing, wide-awake men, among the most prominent of whom w-as Samuel Hanna, one of that class to which the west has been indebted for its public improvements. Commencing business in a small way with his brother-in-law, James Barnett, he became the leader in all enterprises which were undertaken for Fort Wayne, and the country around it; the most important of which were the Ohio & Indiana, and tlie Fort Wayne & Chicago railroads. The construction of these roads was uphill work from the start. Again and again the companies were on the verge of bankruptcy, and nothing saved them but the faith, energy and unyielding tenacity of Mr. Hanna.

The Village At The Fort. 1 89

" Allen Hamilton was a protestant Irishman of a respectable but impoverished famil}'. He joined a small party of his countrymen who were about to emigrate to Canada. In due time he reached Montreal, and after spending a few daj'S in that city in fruitless efforts to find employment, he proceeded on foot to New York, and being equally unsuccessful there, he pushed on in the same way to Philadelphia. Here he was after a weary search kindly given a place by an old Quaker, and this was the turning point in his life. From that day his career was one of uninterrupted success. In a conversation with him in the spring of 1834, I said that a friend of mine, a ship-master, tired of the sea, was coming to Fort Wayne, with $15,000 in cash. ' That is a large sum,' said he, ' if I had that amount of clear cash, I should consider myself rich.' He died about twenty-five years from that time, leaving an estate worth a miUion or more. Nor was his good fortune confined to the acquisition of wealth. He was equally fortunate in his family relations. Especially fortunate was he in having sons who (unlike the sons of most rich men in the United States), are adding to the estate which their father left them, and at the same time maintaining his good reputation.

"William G. Ewing and his brother George W., formed the firm of ' W. G. & G. W. Ewing.' They had come from Ohio, and with Mr. Hanna, Mr. Hamilton and others whom I shall mention, were among the first settlers of northern Indiana. As there were at that time no surplus agricultural productions in that section, the only business opening for them was trade with the Indians and white hunters and trappers in furs and skins. Commencing in a small way at Fort Wayne, they rapid))' extended their field of operations, and in a few years from that time at which they bought the first coonskin, the firm became one of the most widely known and successful in the northwest. But large and profitable as was their trade, the bulk of their large^ fortune was the result of investments in real estate, the most fortunate of which were in Chicago imd St. Louis. Enterprising, laborious, adventurous men the}- were, but so devoted to business, so persistent in the pursuit of gain, that they had no time to enjoy the fruits of their labors. Charles W. Ewing, their brother, was a lawyer, and one of the most graceful and fascinating speakers, one of the most accomplished and agreeable men socially, that I ever became acquainted with. He had a splendid physique and a classic face. He was an exxellent singer and story-teller. He had made a study of Shakespeare, and could quote the finest passages from the works of the great master in a manner that could hardly be surpassed hy distinguished actors. So thoroughly equipped was he for success in the higher walks of life that the most distinguished positions would have been within his reach, if his convivial habits had not led him into dissipation which terminated prematurely a career, the opening of which was full of promise.

His wife, a lad}- of rare intelligence, was ihe aunt of Gen. Lew Wallace, who is adding to his high reputation as a soldier, enviable distinction as a writer. The house in which Mr. Lewis lived was a double log cabin, the latch-string of which was always out, a cabin which was rendered interesting in summer b}- the beaut}' and odors of the honeysuckles and climbing roses which covered its walls, and in -winter by the cheerful blaze in its ample fireplaces, and which was always made doubly charming bv the open-handed hospitality of its host.

"Jesse L. "WilHams, the chief engineer of the Wabash & Erie canal, was living at Fort Wayne in 1833. When the state engaged in an extensive system of public water works he was appointed chief engineer of the state, and went to Indianapohs, where he remained until the entire system collapsed in the general financial crash of 1837, and all hopes of its revival had been abandoned, when he returned to Fort Wayne, where he recently died, the last survivor of those whom I first met there. Few of our civil engineers have surpassed Mr. Williams in engineering skill, and I have never known his equal in industry and endurance. His labors as chief engineer of the Wabash & Erie canal, and other public works in Indiana, were prodigious, but he never failed to be equal to them. Week after week, and month after month, every day except Sunday, on which he always rested, he could be found upon the line of the public works, usuallv in the saddle, and in the evening, and until midnight, at his desk. Mr. Williams acquired a large property, and he was very fortunate in his family connections. His wife (the daughter of Judge Creighton, of Chillicothe, Ohio), who is still living, is a lady of superior culture, who has always been distinguished alike for her social qualities and active beneficence. His sons, while they do not come up to their father's standard in energy, will not discredit the name which they bear. The men whom I have thus mentioned, with Robert Breckenridge, register of the land office, a man who possessed the best qualities of the distinguished Breckenridge family of Kentucky, of which he was a distant connection; Marshall S. M^'ines, a man of extraordinary enterprise and force: John Spencer, receiver of the land office; Francis Comparet, and John B. Bourie, Canadian Frenchmen, who were just commencing what soon became a large trade in furs with the Indians, made up, with their families and a few stragglers, the population of Fort Wayne in the early summer of 1833. Since then I have been thrown among people of all grades; I have been brought into social relations with men standing high in public esteem; but the men of whom I have spoken, after the lapse of more than half a century, stand out before me in bold relief as remarkably intelligent, enterprising, far-seeing, and wilhal kindhearted, generous men. Nor ought I to conclude what I have thought it proper for me to say about my early acquaintances in the west, without saying a few more words about a prominent and remarkable man, John B. Richardville, who succeeded Little Turtle as | civil] chief of the Miamis. He was a man of great natural shrewdness and sagacity, of whom no one ever got the better in a trade. Nor did he find an e(|ual in diplomatic skill among the government commissioners when treaties were to be made with his nation. ' He is ', said Senator Tipton, who often met him in councils, ' the ablest diplomat of whom I have any knowledge. If he had been born and educated in France, he would have been the equal of Talleyrand.' Although he dressed like a white man, and lived in a brick house, he had a commanding influence over the tribe. He was watchful of the interests of his people, but b}^ no means unmindful of his own. In all treaties, large reservations of the choicest lands were secured to him and not a few boxes of silver were set apart for his special use." Mr. McCulloch reached Fort Wayne on the 26th of June and remained to dehver the Fourth of July oration, and before he had decided to make his home here was attacked by the malarious diseases which every new-comer at that time had to undergo. He was desperately ill, but his courage and pluck carried him through. Then, reduced almost to a skeleton, he took possession of a little office Dr. Thompson had built for him and began the practice of law, which, however, he abandoned in October, 1835, to begin as cashier of the branch of the State Bank that career in finance which has made his name a famous one.

Louis Peltier, before mentioned as the oldest native citizen of Fort Wayne, kindly furnishes for this work the following additional facts regarding the city in its infanc}^ : Mrs. James Peltier came to Fort Wayne in 1S07, with her uncle, Baptiste Maloch and wife, and lived where now stands Baker's saw-mill, east of which was situated a trading post owned by George Hunt. The first mission was at a shant}' where the Methodist college now stands.

Baptiste Maloch and wife built a house on about the third lot from Clinton, on Columbia street, and there started the first bakery with Mr. Felix as baker. On the corner of Columbia and Clinton was situated a hewn log house (two-storj') in which W. G. and G. W. Ewing conducted a dry goods store. East of Maloch's bakery Messrs. Anthony Davis and Walker had a dry goods store. Two lots from that Mr. Bourie kept a dry goods store. On the corner of Barr and Columbia streets Alexander Ewing kept a hotel. On the corner of Columbia and Barr streets ( south side ), was situated a two-story house where Dr. Cushman, of Vermont, the first physician in Fort Wayne, lived. On the north side of Columbia street where Monning's mill is now, was a log house in 1824 - Suttenfield's hotel. There was a blacksmith shop adjoining the hotel kept b}- Madore Katchee. Between that and the fort, Francis Aveline, grandfather of the present Avelines, made buckskin slippers, principally for the ladies. Mr. Peltier remembers when the fort was in good condition and Col. Tipton was acting as agent for the Indians, previous to his removal to Logansport. There was a porch extending around the fort under which a number of leathern buckets were kept, painted blue, and this constituted the fire department.