Fort Wayne (Indian Territory)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fort Wayne was established 1839 in Indian Territory by Lt. Col. R.B. Mason of the 1st Dragoons. Named for Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne, it was intened as a link in the great line of forts protecting the American West. The army abandoned the fort in 1842 and turned it over to the Cherokee Nation.

At the beginning of the Civil War, Stand Watie took over the fort and organized the Cherokee Mounted Rifles. The Union met the Confederates here in 1862 for the Battle of Old Fort Wayne.

The old fort was located in Delaware County, Oklahoma on State Highway 20 about a mile west of the Arkansas border.

Nothing remains of the fort, but it is an Oklahoma Historic Site.

[edit] Bibliography

• Wright, Murial H.; George H. Shirk; Kenny A. Franks. Mark of Heritage. Oklahoma City: Oklahoma Historical Society, 1976.