Fort Washington (Cincinnati, Ohio)

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Fort Washington
Part of the Northwest Territory of the United States
Cincinnati, Ohio
Fort Washington-Cincinnati.png
Coordinates 39°5′58.24″N84°30′26.59″W / 39.0995111°N 84.5073861°W / 39.0995111; -84.5073861 Coordinates: 39°5′58.24″N84°30′26.59″W / 39.0995111°N 84.5073861°W / 39.0995111; -84.5073861
TypeArmy Fortress
Site history
Built1789
Demolished1806
Battles/wars Northwest Indian War
Garrison information
Past
commanders		Gen. Arthur St. Clair, Gen. Josiah Harmar, Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne, Gen. James Wilkinson
Occupants United States Army
Fort Washington Fort Washington.jpg
Fort Washington

Fort Washington was a fortified stockade with blockhouses built by order of Gen. Josiah Harmar starting in summer 1789 in what is now downtown Cincinnati, Ohio near the Ohio River. The physical location of the fort was facing the mouth of the Licking River, above present day Fort Washington Way. The fort was named in honor of President George Washington. The Fort was the major staging place and conduit for settlers, troups and supplies during the conquest and settlement of the Northwest Territory.

Josiah Harmar United States general

Josiah Harmar was an officer in the United States Army during the American Revolutionary War and the Northwest Indian War. He was the senior officer in the Army for six years and seven months.

Cincinnati City in Ohio

Cincinnati is a major city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and is the government seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line with Kentucky. The city drives the Cincinnati–Middletown–Wilmington combined statistical area, which had a population of 2,172,191 in the 2010 census making it Ohio's largest metropolitan area. With a population of 301,301, Cincinnati is the third-largest city in Ohio and 65th in the United States. Its metropolitan area is the fastest growing economic power in the Midwestern United States based on increase of economic output and it is the 28th-largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. Cincinnati is also within a day's drive of 49.70% of the United States populace.

Licking River (Kentucky) tributary of the Ohio River in northeastern Kentucky in the United States

The Licking River is a partly navigable, 303-mile-long (488 km) tributary of the Ohio River in northeastern Kentucky in the United States. The river and its tributaries drain much of the region of northeastern Kentucky between the watersheds of the Kentucky River to the west and the Big Sandy River to the east. The North Fork Licking River, in Pendleton County, Kentucky is one of its tributaries.

Contents

In 1803, the fort was moved to Newport, KY across the river and became the Newport Barracks. In 1806, the site of the abandoned fort was divided into lots and sold.

Newport Barracks hospital

Newport Barracks was a military barracks on the Ohio River, across from Cincinnati, Ohio in Newport, Kentucky. It was operational from 1803 until 1894.

Background

When the continental congress issued a patent for sale of 248,250 acres to Judge John Cleves Symmes, known as Symmes Purchase in 1788, it reserved 15 acres to the federal government for the fort. [2] In 1789, Fort Washington was built to protect early settlements located in the Miami River valley.

John Cleves Symmes American politician

John Cleves Symmes was a delegate to the Continental Congress from New Jersey, and later a pioneer in the Northwest Territory. He was also the father-in-law of President William Henry Harrison.

Symmes Purchase

The Symmes Purchase, also known as the Miami Purchase, was an area of land totaling roughly 311,682 acres (487.003 sq mi) in what is now Hamilton, Butler, and Warren counties of southwestern Ohio, purchased by Judge John Cleves Symmes of New Jersey in 1788 from the Continental Congress.

Fort Washington in Cincinnati Fort Washington Cincinnati map.png
Fort Washington in Cincinnati

Gen. Arthur St. Clair was appointed governor of the Northwest Territory by vote of Congress on October 5, 1787. When Governor St. Clair arrived at Losantiville [Cincinnati] the settlement consisted of two small hewed log houses and several cabins. Maj. John Doughty, under orders from Gen. Josiah Harmar, was engaged with a small military force in finishing the construction of Fort Washington. The population of the rude village, exclusive of the military, probably did not exceed one hundred and fifty. [3] Three days after Gen. Harmar took up his quarters at Fort Washington, on January 1, 1790, Governor St. Clair was received with due ceremony by the troops and citizens of Losantiville.

Arthur St. Clair American soldier and politician

Arthur St. Clair was a Scottish-American soldier and politician. Born in Thurso, Scotland, he served in the British Army during the French and Indian War before settling in Pennsylvania, where he held local office. During the American Revolutionary War, he rose to the rank of major general in the Continental Army, but lost his command after a controversial retreat from Fort Ticonderoga.

Northwest Territory United States territory (1787-1803)

The Northwest Territory in the United States was formed after the American Revolutionary War, and was known formally as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio. It was the initial post-colonial Territory of the United States and encompassed most of pre-war British colonial territory west of the Appalachian mountains north of the Ohio River. It included all the land west of Pennsylvania, northwest of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River below the Great Lakes. It spanned all or large parts of six eventual U.S. States. It was created as a Territory by the Northwest Ordinance July 13, 1787, reduced to Ohio, eastern Michigan and a sliver of southeastern Indiana with the formation of Indiana Territory July 4, 1800, and ceased to exist March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Ohio, and the remainder attached to Indiana Territory.

John Doughty United States general

John Doughty was an American military officer who briefly served as the senior officer of the United States Army in 1784.

Fort Washington was distinguished by its large size: it was larger than a modern city block and designed to house up to 1500 men. Gen. Josiah Harmar described it as "one of the most solid substantial wooden fortresses. . .of any in the Western Territory." The stockade's walls were two stories high with blockhouses located at each corner. [4]

Indian campaigns

The fort was used as a staging point and to supply all the northern forts. It played a key supporting role in three Indian campaigns: Harmar's Campaign 1790, St. Clair's Campaign 1791, and Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne's campaign in 1793-94.

In 1790, Harmar used Fort Washington to launch an expedition against Native Americans in northwest Ohio, especially the Miami Indians, whose principal city was Kekionga (modern-day Fort Wayne, Indiana). On October 22, 1790, Gen. Harmar's army was ambushed and massacred by Indians led by Chief Little Turtle. The Indians of the Ohio Territory were in open revolt aided by the British. Indian raids came close to Cincinnati, despite the presence of the nearby Fort Washington.

Kekionga also known as Kiskakon or Pacan's Village, was the capital of the Miami tribe. It was located at the confluence of the Saint Joseph, Saint Marys and Maumee rivers on the western edge of the Great Black Swamp in present-day Indiana. Over their respective decades of influence from colonial times to after the American Revolution and Northwest Indian Wars, the French, British and Americans all established trading posts and forts at the large village, as it was located on an important portage connecting Lake Erie to the Wabash and Mississippi rivers. The European-American town of Fort Wayne, Indiana started as a settlement around the American Fort Wayne stockade after the War of 1812.

Fort Wayne, Indiana City in Indiana

Fort Wayne is a city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Allen County, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is 18 miles (29 km) west of the Ohio border and 50 miles (80 km) south of the Michigan border. With a population of 253,691 in the 2010 census, it is the second-most populous city in Indiana after Indianapolis, and the 75th-most populous city in the United States. It is the principal city of the Fort Wayne metropolitan area, consisting of Allen, Wells, and Whitley counties, a combined population of 419,453 as of 2011. Fort Wayne is the cultural and economic center of northeastern Indiana. The city is within a 300-mile radius of major population centers, including Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Indianapolis, Louisville, Lexington, and Milwaukee. In addition to the three core counties, the combined statistical area (CSA) includes Adams, DeKalb, Huntington, Noble, and Steuben counties, with an estimated population of 615,077.

Little Turtle Chief of the Miami people (c. 1747 – July 14, 1812)

Little Turtle,, was a Sagamore (chief) of the Miami people, who became one of the most famous Native American military leaders. Historian Wiley Sword calls him "perhaps the most capable Indian leader then in the Old Northwest," although he later signed several treaties ceding land, which caused him to lose his leader status during the battles which became a prelude to the War of 1812. In the 1790s, Mihšihkinaahkwa led a confederation of native warriors to several major victories against U.S. forces in the Northwest Indian Wars,sometimes called "Little Turtle's War", particularly St. Claires Defeat in 1791, wherein the confederation defeated General Arthur St. Clair, who lost 900 men in the most decisive loss by the U.S. Army against Native American forces.

In the summer of 1793, Major General Anthony Wayne moved his forces from the training center at Legionville, PA, down the Ohio River by barge to a camp outside Fort Washington that was called Hobson's Choice. In the fall, Wayne departed fort Washington and moved his army northward, past Fort Jefferson to build Fort Greene Ville.

Decline and sale

In 1803 Fort Washington was replaced by the larger Newport Barracks. It was opened just across the Ohio River in Newport, Kentucky. James Taylor Jr. an influential resident of Newport, Kentucky, had lobbied his cousin James Madison to place the post in Newport.

On February 28, 1806, Congress directed the Secretary of the Treasury to cause the site of the abandoned fort to be surveyed and laid off into lots, streets and avenues conforming to the plan of the city, and to sell the lots to the highest bidders at a sale at the Cincinnati Land Office. [5] [6] The survey, certified July 8, 1807, shows the fort's boundaries to be Fourth Street to the north, Ludlow Street to the east, the Ohio River to the south, and Broadway to the west. [7]

Rediscovery

In October 1952, excavators discovered the remnants of Fort Washington's gunpowder magazine under the northeast corner of Broadway and Third streets, at the site at which Western & Southern Life Insurance Company's parking garage was to be constructed. Researchers with the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio first visited the site on October 13, 1952. [8] [9]

The fort's name is retained in Fort Washington Way, a section of Interstate 71 and U.S. Route 50 that runs through downtown Cincinnati and passes just in front of the former fort. The highway was given this name in 1958 upon a suggestion from the Cincinnati Times-Star editorial board and with the support of the state's Anthony Wayne Parkway Board, the Cincinnati Enquirer editorial board, and Mrs. William T. Buckner, whose great-grandfather William Henry Harrison once served at the fort. [10] [11] [12]

The location is marked by a plaque at the Guilford School building, at 421 E 4th St, Cincinnati, which now occupies the site.

Notes

  1. ↑ Lossing, Benson (1868). The Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812. Harper & Brothers, Publishers. p. 41.
  2. ↑ Knepper 2002  : 32
  3. ↑ History Of Cincinnati And Hamilton County, Ohio
  4. ↑ Fort Washington – Ohio History Central – A product of the Ohio Historical Society
  5. ↑ Peters, William E. (1918). Ohio Lands and Their Subdivision. W.E. Peters. p. 282.
  6. ↑ 2  Stat.   352 – Text of Act of February 28, 1806 Library of Congress
  7. ↑ Knepper 2002  : 54
  8. ↑ Knopf, Richard C.; Baby, Raymond S.; Smith, Dwight L. (January 1953). "The Re-Discovery of Fort Washington" (PDF). Bulletin of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio. Cincinnati, Ohio: Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio. 11 (1): 3–12. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  9. ↑ Baby, Raymond S.; Knopf, Richard C. "Additional Structural Features of the Fort Washington Powder Magazine" (PDF). Bulletin of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio. 11 (4): 320–325. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Three Roads, Three Heroes". Editorial. The Cincinnati Enquirer . Gannett Company. February 21, 1958. p. 4. Retrieved October 25, 2015– via Newspapers.com. (Subscription required (help)).
  11. ↑ Kirkpatrick, Dick (February 15, 1958). "Board Urges Development Of Waterfront To Preserve Area's Historical Resources". The Cincinnati Enquirer. p. 1. Retrieved October 25, 2015– via Newspapers.com. (Subscription required (help)).
  12. ↑ Sands, Gilbert (February 25, 1959). "Fort Washington Freeway Favored Name For Distributor". The Cincinnati Enquirer. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com. (Subscription required (help)).

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References

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