Fort Miami (Ohio)

Last updated
Fort Miamis Site
Fort Miamis earthworks.jpg
Earthworks at the site
USA Ohio location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationAlong the Maumee River in Maumee, Ohio
Coordinates 41°34′21″N83°37′34″W / 41.57250°N 83.62611°W / 41.57250; -83.62611 [1]
Area3.7 acres (1.5 ha)
Built1794
NRHP reference No. 75001466 [2]
Added to NRHPJune 18, 1975

Fort Miami (Miamis) was a British fort built in spring 1794 on the Maumee River in what was at the time territory claimed by the United States, and designated by the federal government as the Northwest Territory. The fort was located at the eastern edge of present-day Maumee, Ohio, southwest of Toledo. The British built the fort to forestall a putative assault on Fort Detroit by Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne's army, then advancing northward in southwestern Ohio.

Contents

Background

Under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1783) that ended the American Revolutionary War the region south of the Great Lakes and between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers was assigned to the United States. The British, however, refused to evacuate their troops from their forts in the region, claiming that the U.S. had not complied with portions of the treaty pre-Revolution debts owed to British merchants and subjects had not been paid, and confiscation of Loyalist properties continued.

In the early 1790s, the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, made an aggressive effort to aid the "Western Confederacy" of Native American tribes (the Shawnee, Miami, Wyandot, and others) in the Maumee and Wabash River watersheds in their ongoing war with American settlers. [3] His ultimate goal was the establishment of an Indian barrier state in the region, as a way to protect Britain's North American fur trade ventures, and to block anticipated American attacks upon their remaining North American possessions. [4] [5]

Fort history

In spring 1794 the British built Fort Miami to forestall U.S. Gen. Anthony Wayne's advance on Britain's Fort Detroit, and to encourage the confederated tribes in their war of resistance. The fort was a log stockade, which had four bastions, each capable of mounting four cannon, a river battery, barracks, officers' quarters, supply buildings, and various shops. A defensive ditch, 20 to 25 feet deep, ran along the land side of the fort.

In July 1794 General Wayne and his troops marched northward toward Fort Miami from Fort Recovery. Just south of Fort Miami, encountering a barricade erected by the Native Americans and a small party of Canadian militia, he ordered a charge and dispersed his adversaries in the Battle of Fallen Timbers. The Native Americans fled to the fort, but the commander shut them out. Beaten and disillusioned, the Native Americans dispersed and one year later their tribal elders gathered at Fort Greenville to negotiate with Wayne. The Treaty of Greenville opened most of the present State of Ohio and part of Indiana to United States settlement. In 1796, under the terms of the Jay Treaty (1794), the British abandoned Fort Miami along with their other forts on American soil. Wayne occupied and garrisoned it, but about 1799 it was abandoned.

The British again occupied the site during the War of 1812, which at the time was opposite the American Fort Meigs. During the War, Tecumseh, the Shawnee chief, and British officials maintained headquarters at the fort, from where they moved against Gen. William Henry Harrison at Fort Meigs.

Abandoned again in 1814, the fort was eventually demolished. Afterward, the site reverted to agricultural and, later, public park use.

Present-day site

Today, the site of Fort Miami sits as a small enclave within a residential development. Nothing remains of the original structure except parts of the earthworks.

In 1942 several Ohio civic and patriotic organizations acquired a part of the fort site. In 1953 the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society conducted preliminary excavations, and in 1957 the Historical Society of Northwestern Ohio placed a marker at the site, which remains undeveloped. In 1975, the site of the fort was added to the National Register of Historic Places. [2]

The site of the fort was incorporated with the Fallen Timbers Battlefield into Fallen Timbers Battlefield and Fort Miamis National Historic Site in 1999, under Pub. L. Tooltip Public Law (United States)  106–164 (text) (PDF). The site is managed by the Metropolitan Park District of the Toledo Area (Metroparks), in partnership with the Ohio Historical Society, and is an affiliated area of the National Park System. [6]

A state memorial has been created at the site. [7] Ft. Miami Elementary School of the Maumee City School District is five blocks away and named after the fort.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miami people</span> Native American nation originally found in what is now Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio

The Miami are a Native American nation originally speaking one of the Algonquian languages. Among the peoples known as the Great Lakes tribes, they occupied territory that is now identified as north-central Indiana, southwest Michigan, and western Ohio. The Miami were historically made up of several prominent subgroups, including the Piankeshaw, Wea, Pepikokia, Kilatika, Mengakonkia, and Atchakangouen. In modern times, Miami is used more specifically to refer to the Atchakangouen. By 1846, most of the Miami had been forcefully displaced to Indian Territory. The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma are the federally recognized tribe of Miami Indians in the United States. The Miami Nation of Indiana, a nonprofit organization of self-identified descendants of Miamis who were exempted from removal, have unsuccessfully sought separate recognition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maumee, Ohio</span> City in Ohio, United States

Maumee is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States. Located along the Maumee River, it is a suburb about 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Toledo. The population was 13,896 at the 2020 census. Maumee was declared an All-America City by the National Civic League in June 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Fallen Timbers</span> Battle of the Northwest Indian War fought in 1794

The Battle of Fallen Timbers was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between Native American tribes affiliated with the Northwestern Confederacy and their British allies, against the nascent United States for control of the Northwest Territory. The battle took place amid trees toppled by a tornado near the Maumee River in northwestern Ohio at the site of the present-day city of Maumee, Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of Greenville</span> 1795 treaty ending the Northwest Indian War

The Treaty of Greenville, also known to Americans as the Treaty with the Wyandots, etc., but formally titled A treaty of peace between the United States of America, and the tribes of Indians called the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanees, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pattawatimas, Miamis, Eel Rivers, Weas, Kickapoos, Piankeshaws, and Kaskaskias was a 1795 treaty between the United States and indigenous nations of the Northwest Territory, including the Wyandot and Delaware peoples, that redefined the boundary between indigenous peoples' lands and territory for European American community settlement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maumee River</span> River in Indiana and Ohio, United States

The Maumee River is a river running in the United States Midwest from northeastern Indiana into northwestern Ohio and Lake Erie. It is formed at the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Marys rivers, where Fort Wayne, Indiana has developed, and meanders northeastwardly for 137 miles (220 km) through an agricultural region of glacial moraines before flowing into the Maumee Bay of Lake Erie. The city of Toledo is located at the mouth of the Maumee. The Maumee was designated an Ohio State Scenic River on July 18, 1974. The Maumee watershed is Ohio's breadbasket; it is two-thirds farmland, mostly corn and soybeans. It is the largest watershed of any of the rivers feeding the Great Lakes, and supplies five percent of Lake Erie's water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwest Indian War</span> Part of the American Indian Wars (1785 to 1795)

The Northwest Indian War (1785–1795), also known by other names, was an armed conflict for control of the Northwest Territory fought between the United States and a united group of Native American nations known today as the Northwestern Confederacy. The United States Army considers it the first of the American Indian Wars.

Whitmore Knaggs was a fighter, linguist and spy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Fort Meigs</span> Battle in the War of 1812

The siege of Fort Meigs took place in late April to early May 1813 during the War of 1812 in northwestern Ohio, present-day Perrysburg. A small British Army unit with support from Indians attempted to capture the recently constructed fort to forestall an American offensive against Detroit, and its Fort Detroit in the Great Lakes region which the British from the north in Canada had captured the previous year. An American sortie and relief attempt failed with heavy casualties, but the British failed to capture the fort and were forced to raise the siege.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Meigs</span> United States historic place

Fort Meigs was a United States fortification along the Maumee River in what is now Perrysburg, Ohio during the War of 1812. The British Army, supported by Tecumseh's Confederacy, failed to capture the fort during the siege of Fort Meigs. It is named in honor of Ohio governor Return J. Meigs Jr., for his support in providing General William Henry Harrison with militia and supplies for the line of forts along the Old Northwest frontier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Recovery</span> United States historic place

Fort Recovery was a United States Army fort ordered built by General "Mad" Anthony Wayne during what is now termed the Northwest Indian War. Constructed from late 1793 and completed in March 1794, the fort was built along the Wabash River, within two miles of what became the Ohio state border with Indiana. A detachment of Wayne's Legion of the United States held off an attack from combined Indian forces on June 30, 1794. The fort was used as a reference in drawing treaty lines for the 1795 Treaty of Greenville, and for later settlement. The fort was abandoned in 1796.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Defiance (Ohio)</span> United States historic place

Fort Defiance was built by General "Mad" Anthony Wayne in the second week of August 1794 at the confluence of the Auglaize and Maumee rivers. It was one of a line of defenses constructed by American forces in the campaign leading to the Northwest Indian War's Battle of Fallen Timbers on August 20, 1794.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of Fort Meigs</span> 1817 treaty between the United States and Native Americans

The Treaty of Fort Meigs, also called the Treaty of the Maumee Rapids, formally titled, "Treaty with the Wyandots, etc., 1817", was the most significant Indian treaty by the United States in Ohio since the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. It resulted in cession by bands of several tribes of nearly all their remaining Indian lands in northwestern Ohio. It was the largest wholesale purchase by the United States of Indian land in the Ohio area. It was also the penultimate one; a small area below the St. Mary's River and north of the Greenville Treaty Line was ceded in the Treaty of St. Mary's in 1818.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metroparks Toledo</span>

Metroparks Toledo, officially the Metropolitan Park District of the Toledo Area, is a public park district consisting of parks, nature preserves, a botanical garden, trail network and historic battlefield in Lucas County, Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwestern Confederacy</span> Confederation of Native American tribes in the Great Lakes region

The Northwestern Confederacy, or Northwestern Indian Confederacy, was a loose confederacy of Native Americans in the Great Lakes region of the United States created after the American Revolutionary War. Formally, the confederacy referred to itself as the United Indian Nations, at their Confederate Council. It was known infrequently as the Miami Confederacy since many contemporaneous federal officials overestimated the influence and numerical strength of the Miami tribes based on the size of their principal city, Kekionga.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farnsworth Metropark</span> Regional park in Waterville, Ohio

Farnsworth Metropark is a regional park in Waterville, Ohio, owned and operated by Metroparks Toledo. The long narrow parks sits on the western shore of the Maumee River with a view of several islands, including Missionary, Butler and Indian islands, all of which are owned by the State of Ohio.

Snake was the English language name of two Shawnee leaders prominent in the history of the Ohio Country: Peteusha and Shemanetoo. They were both commonly referred to as "Snake" in historical records, or by variations such as "Black Snake" or "Captain Snake," so it is often difficult to determine which individual was being referred to. On a number of occasions, the two Snakes both signed a letter or appeared together, so it is clear they were two different people. There may have been additional Shawnees called "Snake," further complicating the matter. According to historian John Sugden, "it is unlikely if the biographies of these chiefs will ever be completely disentangled."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fallen Timbers Battlefield</span> United States historic place

The Fallen Timbers Battlefield was the site of the Battle of Fallen Timbers on 20 August 1794. The battle, a decisive American victory over Native American and British opponents, effectively ended the Northwest Indian War, securing the Old Northwest for settlement. An area believed to be the battle site, located in Maumee, Ohio, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960. That site, now the Fallen Timbers State Memorial, is about 0.25 miles (0.40 km) south of the actual battlefield, which was identified in 1995, and much of which is now preserved as part of the Fallen Timbers Battlefield and Fort Miamis National Historic Site along with Fort Miami. The National Historic Site was established in 1999 as a partnership between the National Park Service, Toledo MetroParks, and the Ohio Historical Society.

Roundhead, also known as Bark Carrier, Round Head, Stayeghtha, and Stiahta, was an American Indian chief of the Wyandot tribe. He was a strong member of Tecumseh's confederacy against the United States during the War of 1812. He died of unknown natural causes about a month or two before Tecumseh was killed at the Battle of the Thames.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Land Grants</span>

Indian Land Grants were land tracts granted to various Indians by Treaty or by United States Congressional action in the Nineteenth century in northwestern Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Fallen Timbers Monument</span> Statue serving as a monument

The Battle of Fallen Timbers Monument or Anthony Wayne Memorial is a statuary group created by Bruce Saville.

References

  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Fort Miami (Ohio)
  2. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  3. Robert F. Berkhofer, "Barrier to Settlement: British Indian Policy in the Old Northwest, 1783-1794." in David Ellis, ed. The Frontier in American Development: Essays in Honor of Paul Wallace Gates (1969) pp: 249-276.
  4. Ibbotson, Joseph D. "Samuel Kirkland, the Treaty of 1792, and the Indian Barrier State." New York History 19#.4 (1938): 374-391. in JSTOR
  5. Dwight L. Smith, "A North American Neutral Indian Zone: Persistence of a British Idea." Northwest Ohio Quarterly 61#2-4 (1989): 46-63.
  6. Fallen Timbers Battlefield and Fort Miamis National Historic Site National Park Service
  7. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Fort Miamis State Memorial