Kekionga,[1] also known as Kiskakon[2][3] or Pacan's Village,[4] was the capital of the Miami tribe at the confluence of the Saint Joseph, Saint Marys and Maumee rivers on the western edge of the Great Black Swamp. It became the site of several French, British and American forts and trading posts before being founded as Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1794.
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Kekionga became an important trading post due to the six mile portage between the Maumee River and the Little River, connecting Lake Erie to the Wabash River and Mississippi River. Due to the French and Iroquois Wars of the mid-17th century, the route was at first considered too dangerous. Following the wars, however, the portage proved to be the shortest route between French Canada and Louisiana,[5] and the region was teeming with wildlife due to years of uninhabitation.[6] The Miami at first benefited from trade with the Europeans. The French under Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes established a trading post and fort, first at the St. Joseph River, and later at Kekionga. Vincennes and the Miami developed a strong and enduring friendship.[7]
Kekionga remained a focal-point for the Miami for several decades, compared to other Miami villages which were more temporary. Kekionga also had a large meeting house, where official councils were held.[8] Little Turtle, in a speech at the Treaty of Greenville (1795), called Kekionga "that glorious gate... through which all the good words of our chiefs had to pass from the north to the south, and from the east to the west."[5] In 1733, however, Kekionga was struck by a smallpox epidemic and was evacuated for one year.
British merchants, seeking to expand their economic base, convinced some Miami to travel East for trade, in apparent violation of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. In 1749, the pro-British La Demoiselle left Kekionga to establish the English trading village of Pickawillany, which grew rapidly. Fighting between pro-French and pro-British villages broke out in 1751. French officials tried to persuade Miami to return to Kekionga, which was near the stronghold of Detroit and harder for the British to reach. Lieutenant Louis Coulon de Villiers was sent to the dilapidated Fort Miamis and given authority to commandeer French voyageurs to construct a new fort, which was finished in 1752.[9] In the same year, another smallpox epedimic took the life of Kekionga's pro-French Chief Cold Foot, and the French-allied Three Fires Confederacy destroyed Pickawillany. Most of the surviving Miami of Pickawillany returned to Kekionga, which may have undermined the village's loyalty to the French Empire.[10]
After the French and Indian War, New France was ceded to the British Empire. Kekionga became involved in Pontiac's Rebellion in spring of 1763, capturing the British garrison there and killing the two ranking officers. The following year, Pacanne emerged as village chief when he spared the life of captive Captain Thomas Morris and returned him to Detroit. By 1765, Kekionga had accepted the British, and deputy commissioner George Croghan recorded a description of Kekionga:
The Twightwee Village is situated on both Sides of a River called St. Josephs ... The Indian Village Consists of about 40 or 50 Cabins besides nine or ten French Houses.[11]
In 1780, Kekionga was sacked by a force of French Americans led by Colonel Augustin de la Balme, who planned to ultimately take Detroit from the British. This force was utterly destroyed by a Miami force led by Chief Little Turtle. The Miami and the traders of Kekionga would remain economically tied to the British held Fort Detroit, even after the British ceded all claims of the Northwest Territory to the new United States in the Treaty of Paris (1783).
Historians have a unique view of Kekionga in the year 1790, due to multiple circumstances. In 1790, Canadian Governor Guy Carleton warned the government in London that the loss of Kekionga would result in grave economic hardships to Detroit. He estimated that Kekionga annually produced 2000 packs of pelts, worth about £24,000 sterling. This was twice the value of the next most important trade area, between Detroit and Lake Huron.[12]
Also during the Winter of 1789/1790, traders Henry Hay and John Kinzie stayed in Kekionga. Hay kept a daily journal, which included regular routines of drinking, dancing, and parties, as well as weekly Mass. Hay played the flute and Kinzie played the fiddle, which made them quite popular with the inhabitants of Kekionga. Although Hay and Kinzie stayed primarily in the French village in Kekionga, they also described some of the Native American villages, and had frequent discussions with Chiefs Pacanne, Little Turtle, Blue Jacket, and Le Gris, as well as brothers James, George, and Simon Girty, who lived only three miles away.[13]
Later that year, General Josiah Harmar led an invasion of Kekionga. His army counted seven distinct villages in the vicinity of Kekionga, known collectively as "the Miami Towns" or Miamitown.[14] The collected villages of Kekionga had advanced knowledge of the advancing army, and evacuated. The fleeing Miami took as many of their food stores as they could carry. All traders and trade goods were sent to Fort Detroit, but all arms and ammunition were given to defenders.[15] Ebenezer Denny drew a map of Kekionga in 1790, describing a collection of eight distinct villages, surrounded by 500 acres of cornfields.[16][17] The United States army succeeded in burning some villages and food stores, but was forced to retreat after suffering high casualties in a series of battles with forces led by Little Turtle.
The victories over General Harmar's army only encouraged anti-U.S. sentiment in Kekionga, and Secretary of War Henry Knox decided that a United States fort needed to be built in the area. He ordered the territorial Governor Arthur St. Clair- who had recommended such a fort to Knox in 1790- to attack Kekionga and maintain a presence in the area, but that campaign was intercepted long before they reached their destination in what became the greatest defeat of a U.S. army by Native Americans.[15]
In 1794, American General Anthony Wayne led his well-trained Legion of the United States towards Kekionga, but then turned and marched instead towards the British held Fort Miami near modern-day Toledo, Ohio. Following General Wayne's victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, Kekionga's prominence began to diminish. The Legion arrived at Kekionga on 17 September 1794, and Wayne personally selected the site for the new U.S. fort.[18] It was finished by 17 October, and was capable of withstanding 24-pound cannons.[19] Despite their objections, the Miami lost control of the long portage in the Treaty of Greenville, since the Northwest Ordinance guaranteed free use of important portages.[20]
After the establishment of Fort Wayne, Kekionga's importance to the Miami slowly declined, and the Miami village at the Forks of the Wabash (modern Huntington, Indiana) became more prominent.[21] Despite the strong U.S. presence and loss of portage revenue, however, the Miami maintained sovereignty in Kekionga through the War of 1812, until the Treaty of Ghent in 1814.[22] The site became the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana.