Coming to the Summit City? Maybe you’ll be here in time to visit one of our living history events at the Old Fort. If so, you’re in for a good time. But maybe you’ll want to touch up on some of your Old Fort knowledge before you get here. So try this quiz! (Answers are below.)
1. The original Fort was built by what European soldiers?
2. What American Indian settlement was built in the region, possibly in the early 1700s?
3. Fort Wayne (Post Miami) became a British fort as a result of what war?
4. How many American generals tried to reach the Fort Wayne area, in order to provide an American presence in the far west?
5. Can you name some of the American Indian groups that have lived around the Fort Wayne area?
6. After whom was Fort Wayne named, and when was the American fort built?
7. How many different American forts were built here?
8. When was Fort Wayne decommissioned?
Note: you can find more information in Volume 1 of the History of Fort Wayne and Allen County, Indiana, edited by John D. Beatty. Much information for this quiz was adapted from that text.
Answer 1: The Fort Wayne area was first explored by the French, who became trading partners with the American Indians. Fort St. Phillipe des Miamis was built in 1722 by the French.
Answer 2: Kekionga. The Miami built Kekionga, a “major village” near the confluence of the three rivers. The people of Kekionga farmed the area and charged a toll for using the nearby land portage that cut from the St. Mary’s river to the Little River. The portage provided the shortest access to traveling routes between Canada, the Gulf of Mexico, and the East coast – valuable for fur trappers and traders, warriors, soldiers, explorers, and settlers.
Answer 3: The French and Indian War. Post Miami (as it was sometimes called), became a British possession after French troops abandoned it in 1760. The British only manned the fort until 1763.
Answer 4: Three. George Washington, the first President of the United States, wanted to secure America’s western front and establish a United States presence that could interact with the American Indian groups, instead of the British and French emissaries that were here. So General Josiah Harmar was sent over in 1790 – his troops were defeated by a united American Indian front. General Arthur St. Clair in 1791 camped his troops on the wrong stream and was overcome by another American Indian front in a worse defeat than Custer Last Stand in 1876 at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Washington sent General “Mad Anthony” Wayne in 1792. Wayne trained his troops for two years at Cincinnati, Ohio. They then defeated a combined force of American Indians and Canadian militiamen at the Battle of Fallen Timbers and reached the Fort Wayne area on September 17, 1794.
Answer 5: Miami, Potawatomi, Wea, Fox, Chippewa, and Huron.
Answer 6: Fort Wayne was named for Anthony Wayne, a Revolutionary War general who came to the region in 1794. The fort was dedicated on October 22, 1794.
Answer 7: Three. Wayne’s fort was built in 1794; a replacement was erected in 1798; and a third fort in 1815. This was a swampy region, and timbers have a tendency to rot – hence the need for new forts.
Answer 8: Fort Wayne was decommissioned on April 19, 1819.