A Price On His Head

Because of this occurrence Captain Rhea, who was authorized to receive and distribute the mail, is sometimes referred to as Fort Wayne's first postmaster and the big elm has been called the first post office. Rhea was fully cognizant of the impending trouble with the...[Native Americans], but he failed utterly to grasp the opportunity to make a name which should be written alongside those of the nation's heroes of the time in the west.

Source

The Indian agent, Colonel Johnston, however, was alert*. On the 6th of February, 1811, he wrote Governor Harrison as follows omitting the name of his informant has been at this place. The information derived from him is the same I have been in possession of for several years, to wit, the intrigues of the British agents and partisans in creating an influence hostile to our people and government within our territory.  [Source]


*Apparently Colonel John Johnston needed to be alert because the British had "put a price on his head." [Source]

Too Far To Detroit

Swamp Land Between Wapakoneta And Detroit

Letter book of the Indian Agency at Fort Wayne, 1809-1815. ... v.21 1961. United States (original is held in the University of Michigan's Clements Library).

The Shawnees were settled at Wapakoneta (Ohio) and would have preferred to collect their annuities from Fort Wayne (Indiana) or Chicago (Illinois).

Little Turtle's Last Speech

Little Turtle (Me-she-kin-no-quah): the great chief of the Miami Indian ...:

Daniel Curtis

"Daniel Curtis migrated early...to Detroit...was appointed ensign in the First Infantry, Jan. 3, 1812...stationed at Fort Wayne...".  "The lady of Lieut. Gen. P. H. Sheridan is a grand-daughter of Captain Curtis...".

Source

Source

Daniel Curtis married Eliza Whistler, who died when she was struck by lightning.

4th Of July At Fort Wayne

The first celebration of the Fourth of July at Fort Wayne of which a record has been preserved occurred in the year 1810.  ...Commandant Rhea and his officers, together with the attaches of the fort, were enjoying the day in patriotic style when the celebration was interrupted by the appearance of a mounted courier from Detroit bringing the first regular mail and military dispatches to the garrison.  [Source]

Lieutenant Ostrander In Charge

Source

Map referencing the siege (Darnell Journal post).

A document written by Lieutenant Ostrander at Fort Wayne on 5 October 1812:

Source: Fold3

From the Indiana Magazine of History:

"Philip Ostrander (died 1813) served as sergeant in the First Infantry before being commissioned in 1806. He became a second lieutenant in 1808 and a first lieutenant October 30, 1812. He was sent to Fort Wayne in 1807. Late in April, 1813, he was arrested there and died in confinement, July 30. Heitman, Historical Register of the United States Army, 501; Griswold, Fort Wayne, Gateway of the West, 258, 390."

Helm's Story

Source

"The first disaster [after the culmination of the tensions of the pre-cursors of the War of 1812] came at Chicago, where Fort Dearborn had stood for a dozen years. Lieutenant Linai T. Helm, second in command, lived to tell the story.  Captain Heald got the information of War being declared, and on the 8th of August got Gen. Hull's order to evacuate the post of Fort Dearborn by the route of Detroit, or Fort Wayne, if practicable."


From The New Nation Grows... .

The Canadians Wanted The Destruction Of Fort Wayne

Source

From the Richardson book:

"The fall of Detroit having secured the tranquility of Amherstburg and its contiguous districts, as expedition was projected into the interior of the enemy's country, the object of which was the destruction of Fort Wayne....".

Where Jenkinson's Men Were Massacred

From The Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, Indiana:..., a massacre in "late 1813."

The Coming Attack On Fort Wayne

The gist of General Harrison's letter from The Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, Indiana: A Review of Two ..., Volume 1

Source

"Writing from Piqua on the 5th of September, Harrison pictured conditions to the secretary of war. Said he:

'I received information last night that a British army left Detroit on the 13th ultimo for the purpose of attacking Fort Wayne and, if successful, Fort Harrison [near Terre Haute] and Vincennes.'" 

See Siege From Darnell's Journal.

A Requisition From Detroit From Capt. Rhea

Fort Wayne, October 12, 1811:

Sir,

 I received your letter of the 21st Ult. respecting making a requisition the Comms. officer of Detroit for flints and cartridge paper. I enclose to you my Inspections and Monthly Returns for the garrison under my Command which I believe are correct.

Rhea
Capt.
1st Reg. Infry
Comm.

Adj And Inspector Army

This letter was written pre-war as was this one.

General Hull's Fatal Letter To Captain Heald

Source

Captain James Rhea In Fold3

Letters Received By The Office Of The Adjutant General, 1805-1821

Page One of a letter written on behalf of (former) Captain James Rhea by B. Van Cleve from Dayton, Ohio, on May 20, 1815 to the Honorable Secretary of War in Washington, City.:

Source

Some of the information in the letter included:

--General David Forman was a friend of James Rhea's when young
--Brother of Jonathan Rhea, Esq., dec'd, late Chancellor of NJ
--He fought under St. Clair and "I think" under Wayne
--He is now about 50 years old [bapt 28 Sept 1760]
--He was charged with intoxication and the letter writer believed the charge to be true - "like too many of our old military character..."
--He is a man of honor, of integrity, as honest I believe as any man living

"...his savings from a life spent in the services of his country has supported him and his family til now
Without employment, without money, with but few acquaintances, he is about to encounter poverty with all its mortifying attendants -- A party of his officers had combined against him at Fort Wayne perhaps blame might attach both to him and them.  He resigned, perhaps he would have been broke -- ...".

Mr. Van Cleve asked the Secretary of War if some employment could be found for James Rhea at "some of the outposts...a quartermaster, keeper of an arsenal, or conductor of military stores or anything that would earn bread for his family."

Siege From Darnell's Journal

Source

Darnell's Journal, A journal containing an accurate and interesting ... included the entry below that referred to the Siege of Fort Wayne:

[About 12 September 1812]

Winchester's campaign. seemed to shake the boasted valor of some of our bravest heroes.

This day's march was twenty miles to Fort Wayne... . 

Our arrival at this fort gave great joy to the inhabitants, who were one company of regular troops and a few families. The Indians had closely invested the fort for several days, and burned the United States factory and all the other valuable houses which were not inside of the stockading. Three of our men who were caught out of the fort were killed by the Indians. 

The Indians encamped about the fort two weeks before they made the attack on it, and were admitted in by Captain Rhea, the commanding officer of the garrison, who would have surrendered to the savages, had it not been for his lieutenant, who defended the fort with great bravery. Three Indians were killed and a few wounded. Captain [James] Rhea was arrested and would have been broken had he not resigned.

See a previous post from Darnell's Journal here.

Captain Rhea's Letter

Source

Who was Captain Rhea?

In the midst of the agitation Captain Nathan Heald was transferred from the command at Fort Wayne to the post at Fort Dearborn [Chicago]. In his stead came Captain James Rhea, who arrived in the spring of 1810. The weakness of character of the new commandant under the trying conditions which were soon to surround the little garrison of the fort in the wilderness, might have proved of frightful consequence but for the bravery and intelligence of the subordinate military and civil authorities within the stockade.

Rhea was a native of New Jersey, and a lieutenant and adjutant of "Rhea's Levies" in 1791. He was ensign and second lieutenant of infantry in 1799, and was promoted to first lieutenant in 1800.  He was commissioned a captain in 1807.

Rhea, after serving under Wayne, had been in command of a post established by Wayne below Swan creek, which empties into the Maumee, in Ohio.

From The Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, Indiana:...,

From Captain Rhea At Fort Wayne

This letter was written pre-war; however Captain Rhea was the commandant at Fort Wayne during the early war years.

Dated Fort Wayne, February 2, 1811, to Major Abymael Nicholl, Inspector of the U.S. Army:

Source

I received yours of the 11th, 15th & 29...enclosing the contract and an order from the War Dept of Dec 1807...my monthly and Inspection return for the month of January 1811 which I believe is correct...I received from Newport, Kentucky*, from Major Martin Eighty Stands of Rifles without any powder ___ or bullet bags...without any Instructions.

I will thank you to inform me whether they are intended for this post or other wise.

Rhea
Capt.
1st Reg Inf
Comm of---

*NEWPORT BARRACKS. 

In 1803, General James Taylor, as agent for his father and other owners, sold to the government the ground upon which the barracks are situated.


In 1811 and '12, Newport barracks was the chief depot for military stores. From here were sent supplies of ammunition, arms and provisions, to General Harrison at Vincennes.

The 10 Things

From a tip at Genealogy Gems: News from the Fort Wayne Library, No. 99, May 31, 2012, the Smithsonian Magazine printed an article "The 10 Things You Didn't Know About The War of 1812, " that is pretty interesting.

Major John Whipple

From Bench and bar of Michigan: ....

WHIPPLE.  Charles Wiley Whipple was born at Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1805.  He was the son of Major John Whipple, an officer of the War of 1812, who won some notoriety in being fined for contempt by Judge Woodward, of the First Territorial Court of Michigan.  The offense consisted in uncomplimentary remarks made on the street concerning that jurist.  It was about the time when the factional quarrel in this court as a legislature was most bitter.  Governor Hull remitted the fine, and at the instance of Judge Woodward was indicted by the grand jury for the exercise of such clemency.  Judge Whipple was a graduate of West Point and afterwards studied law.  He was secretary of the Constitutional Convention of 1835, and President Judge of a circuit in 1850, succeeding Judge Ransom as Chief Justice.  He died in 1855, and was succeeded by Nathaniel Bacon.  His service on the Bench was long and creditable.


See a trial where Judge Charles Whipple presided here.  It's not related to the War of 1812, but it was through the "Daum trial" research that I found the information above.