Fort Miami (Indiana)

Fort Miami, originally called Fort St. Philippe or Fort des Miamis, were a pair of French built palisade forts established at Kekionga, the principal village of the Miami. These forts were situated where the St. Joseph River and St. Marys River merge to form the Maumee River in Northeastern Indiana, where present day Fort Wayne is located. The forts and their key location on this confluence allowed for a significant hold on New France (and later the Old Northwest) by whomever was able to control the area, both militarily for its strategic location and economically as it served as a gateway and hotbed for lucrative trade markets such as fur.

The fort therefore played a pivotal role in a number of conflicts including the French and Indian Wars, Pontiac's War, and the Northwest Indian War, while other battles occurred nearby including La Balme's Defeat and the Harmar campaign. The first construct was a small trading post built by Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes around 1706, while the first fortified fort was finished in 1722, and the second in 1750. It is the predecessor to the Fort Wayne.

Archeological evidence indicates that this area around the confluence has been occupied successively by indigenous peoples for as long as 10,000 years. Some of the earliest known European contact in the area occurred in the 1690s by the French following eastward migration of the Miami towards the later portion of the Beaver Wars. The French explorers described the Miami controlled portage connecting the Maumee to the Wabash as the "Toll road swamp". In 1702, Vincennes was known to have begun visiting the growing Miami town on behalf of New France due to its increasing significance on the trade route. The land was well received by the French in reports back, "The soil was rich, game was abundant and the weather much better than that of France." This region on the eastern border of the confluence, known as the Great Black Swamp, was situated south through southwest of Lake Erie and had grown abundant with wildlife following a long untouched period during Iroquois warfare. Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac described it as "the finest land under heaven - fishing and hunting are most abundant there". With speculation around the exact date, it is believed that Vincennes established a small post for trading in 1706. The fort would be one of the first posts established by the French along the Wabash-Maumee route.

By 1715, British fur traders had made their way to the area and set to establish strongholds along the Wabash and Maumee river valleys. British colonists in the Carolinas pursued attempts to gain an alliance with the Miamis and pit them against the French who had founded the trading post at Kekionga a decade prior. Facing pressure, the French colonial government and Vincennes devised a plan to relocate the Miamis from the headwaters of the Maumee to the center of the St. Joseph River near present-day South Bend, Indiana. However, Vincennes, whom was popular with the Miami, would soon die destroying any possibility of what had originally been a plausible plan. The Miami refused to abandon their village and move farther west away from British traders, so Governor Philippe de Rigaud Vaudreuil authorized Captain Dubuisson to build a strong fort to protect the trade routes of New France, which would be completed in 1722.

In a report to the Council of the Marine, de Vaudreuil stated:

The log fort Fort Miami which he Dubuisson had build is the finest in the upper country. It is a strong fort and safe from the savages. This post which is of considerable worth ought to have a missionary. One could be sent there in 1724 if next year the council will send the four Jesuits which I ask.

It is unlikely that this requested priest was ever sent.

The recognized value of the fort was two-fold; Its location on the portage and confluence, which Little Turtle once described as the "glorious gate", allowed it to serve as a natural gateway to the trade route, thus allowing for a stronghold on the lucrative fur trade, while its embedment within the ally village of Kekionga offered protection from hostile tribes. The French soon militarized the post and garrisoned it with 20 to 30 soldiers. The fort paid off and the French were able to maintain a strong influence on the region, particularly due to its role in the fur trade and successful act as a counterbalance to British colonists. This period led until 1747, when British-allied Huron warriors under Chief Nicholas found it undermanned—the commandant, Ensign Douville, and most of the soldiers were away at Fort Detroit. The fort was sacked and burned to the ground.