Fort Wayne (fort)

41°5′7.91″N 85°8′10.78″W / 41.0855306°N 85.1363278°W / 41.0855306; -85.1363278 Fort Wayne was a series of three successive military log stockades existing between 1794 and 1819 on the confluence between the St. Mary's and St. Joseph Rivers in northeastern Indiana, in what is now the city of Fort Wayne. The fort succeeded the original Fort Miami near Kekionga, the principal village of the Miami; The origins of which date back to the early 1700s.^[1]

The first fort with that name was built in 1794 by Captain Jean François Hamtramck under orders from General "Mad" Anthony Wayne as part of the campaign against the Miami during the Northwest Indian War. It was constructed to secure the territory gained in the Battle of Fallen Timbers, in which Wayne had recently been victorious. On October 22, 1794, with construction nearly complete, and in honor of the fourth anniversary of Harmar's Defeat, the fort was officially dedicated by the US Army in the early morning hours with fifteen cannon rounds to symbolize the fifteen states of the union. It was at this point that Colonel Hamtramck would name the fort, "Fort Wayne".^[2]

On September 5, 1812, the Siege of Fort Wayne occurred as part of the War of 1812. After the war, settlements started growing up around the fort. The fort was a basic stockade with few buildings. The original site was located near the present-day intersection of Berry and Clay streets.

In 1819, the fort was abandoned following the cessation of Native hostilities, and the modern city of Fort Wayne was platted in 1823. A replica of the fort as it existed in 1815 (called "The Old Fort") was created in a different location in the city, and is now a tourist attraction.