INDIANA MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Volume XLIV DECEMBER,1948 Number 4

Colonel John Francis Hamtramck F. Clever Bald" John Francis Hamtramck is a forgotten hero of Ameri- can history. He is not among the elect in the Dictionary of American Biography, although his name is mentioned there in the sketch of his son, a much less distinguished person, and Stewart H. Holbrook did not bring him out of oblivion to associate with the men whom he spotlighted in the pages of his book, Lost Men of American History. There are many reasons why Hamtramck deserves to be remembered. Leaving his homeland while still a youth, he joined the army of General Richard Montgomery in the fall of 1775, and served through the Revolutionary War, rising to the rank of brevet major. Afterwards, under General Josiah Harmar in the Old Northwest, he built and com- manded several forts. As lieutentant colonel commanding the First Sub-legion, he won General Anthony Wayne's com- mendation for his valor in the Battle of Fallen Timbers; became the first American commandant of Detroit ; and after having attained the rank of colonel, organized the ex- peditionary force that built Fort Dearborn, the nucleus of the metropolis of Illinois. For all these services he should receive some recognition, at least in the valley of the Missis- sippi. It is true that a city in Michigan bears his name, but he is a stranger there. No memorial to the Colonel can be found in that city, but the oversight will one day be cor- rected; for a recent communication from the mayor's office contained the assurance that when a new city hall is built, it will display some mark of acknowledgment. * Dr. F. Clever Bald is the assistant director of the Michigan His- tori71 Colly&ions, Ann Arbor, Michigan. This pa er was read at the session on The Old Northwest" at the forty-first annual meeting of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association at Rock Island, Illinois, on April 22, 1948. 336 Indiana Magazine of History

In Detroit, which by the way, completely surrounds Hamtramck, it is the general opinion that because the popu- lation of the city that bears his name is predominantly Polish, the Colonel was himself a Pole. John Francis Hamtramck, however, was not a Pole. His father was Charles David Hamtramck, a native of Luxem- bourg who had migrated to Quebec in 1749, and his mother was Marie-Anne Bertin, a Canadian.l Baptized Jean-Fran- cois on August 16, 1756, at Quebec, he was listed in Ameri- can Army records as John F., but for his signature he used only the initials of his given names. Hamtramck had just passed his nineteenth birthday when in September, 1775, he joined General Montgomery’s army marching on Montreal. Serving first as commissary and then commissioned captain, he won the confidence of Colonel James Livingston and other New York officers, who recommended him to the Provincial Congress.2 Given the rank of captain in the New York line, he served in the Fifth Regiment until January 1, 1781, and then in the Second until June, 1783, becoming a brevet major.3 Hamtramck was not unknown to General George Wash- ington. On at least two occasions, the Commander in chief praised him for his initiative and his ability. Replying to a letter in which the Captain had outlined a plan for a sur- prise attack on a British fort, Washington wrote: “It gives me pleasure to see an Officer seeking an opportunity of dis- tinguishing himself and at the same time rendering a service to his Country.”’

1 Cyprien Tanguay, Dictionnuire Gdnne’alogique des Familles Canad- iennes (7 vols., Montreal, 1871-1890), IV (1871), 458. 2 Journals of the Provincial Congress. . . of the State of New York, 1775-1776-1777 (2 vols., Albany, New York, 1842), 11, 361. 3 Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register of Officersof the Conti- nental Amyduring the War of the Revolution, April, 1775 to December, 1783 (Washington, 1914), 271. According to Alexander C. Flick (ed.) , The Amerzcan Revolution in New York (Albany, New York, 1926), 136, the Fifth Regiment was incorporated with the Second on January 1, 1781. Evidence in Almon W. Lauber (ed.) , Orderly Books of the Fourth New York Regiment, 1778-1780, The Second New York Regiment, 1780- 1783, by Samuel Tallmadge and Others, with Diaries of Samuel Tall- madge, 1780-1782, and John Barr, 1779-1782 (Albany, New York, 1932), 570, supports the statement that Hamtramck was in the Second Regiment in 1781, although Heitman assigns him to that Regiment only on January 1, 1783, and gives him the rank of captain. In a letter to the President of Congress, December 21, 1783, General Washington refers to him as Major Hamtramck. Joh? C. Fitzpatrick (ed.), The Writings of George Washington from the Orzganal Manuscript Sources, 1765-1799 (39 vols., Washinton, 1938), XXVII, 279. 1 Fitzpatrick, The Writings of George Washington, XXIII, 462. Colonel John Francis Hamtramck 337

Two years later, after the war was over, he addressed Governor George Clinton in behalf of Major Hamtramck. “My knowledge of that Officer,” he wrote, “is such as makes the task of recommending him to the notice of the Government of this State, extremely pleasing, being assured that if it shall be in their power to favor his views his con- duct will always justify any appointment that may be given him.’15 Perhaps as a result of this letter and another signed by three New Yorlr generals which Washington enclosed with his, Hamtramck was commissioned captain of a com- pany raised in New York to serve in the United States In- fantry Regiment which was under the command of Lieuten- ant Colonel Josiah Harmar. In the spring of 1785, he was at Albany receiving prisoners returned by the Indians,6 and in October he marched his company to Fort Pitt. Ordered to Fort McIntosh on the Little Beaver, he found the works in a state of decay and the barracks uninhabitable. Flocrs, doors, and windows were gone, and Captain John Doughty, the former commandant had left no tools except an old handsaw, “whose teeth,” Hamtramck declared, “has been worn out in the service of its Country.”‘ Captain Ham- tramck remained in the fort as commandant until July 1, 1786. At this time he was nearly thirty years old. One-third of his life had been spent as an army officer, and it is likely that his character was pretty definitely formed. Although no portrait of Hamtramck has ever been discovered, and no biography has been written, it is possible from bits of de- scription and from contemporary correspondence to draw a fairly clear sketch of the man. Hamtramck did not make an impressive appearance either mounted or on foot. Small in stature, only five feet five inches tall, he is said by one who knew him well to have looked in the saddle like a frog on horseback. The same wit- ness declared, however, that “He had the faculty of inspiring the men with self-confidence, and, notwithstanding he was a most rigid disciplinarian, the troops all loved him, for he was kindhearted, generous, and brave.”8

KIbid., XXVII, 255. 6 Hamtramck to Nicholas Fish, June 14, 1785, Stuyvesant Fish, 1610-1 914 (New York, 1942), 60. 7 Same to same, December 4, 1785, ibid., 64. 8 Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field-Book of the Ww of 1811 (New York, 1869), 46n. 338 Indiana Magazine of History

Although English was not his native tongue, Hamtramck was able to express himself in that language clearly, if somewhat quaintly. Judging by his correspondence, one might say that he had a peppery disposition, he was quick to discover and denounce delinquencies of subordinates, and he drove himself as hard as he drove his men. He was an able officer in whom his superiors, from Washington to Wayne, seem usually to have had complete confidence. Early in July, 1786, Colonel Harmar put Hamtramck in command of the companies of Captain John Mercer and Captain William McCurdy, as well as his own, and sent him down the Ohio River to Mingo Bottom to drive squatters from the public d~main.~In obedience to his orders, detach- ments marched to the clearings where they burned the cabins and destroyed the growing corn of illegal settlers.lo This work was soon interrupted by an order from Colonel Harmar directing Captain Hamtramck to move at once to the intersection of the western boundary of Penn- sylvania with the Ohio River where he would find Captain Thomas Hutchins, Geographer to the United States, with his corps of surveyors.” A military escort was essential if they were to perform their task, for the Indians, understand- ing that surveying was the prelude to settlement, resented the intrusion of these men; and their determination was strengthened by the advice of Captain Alexander McKee, British Indian agent at Detroit, who continued to urge re- sistance to American expansion north of the Ohio River.l* Captain Hamtramck joined Hutchins on August 5 with his three companies, to which Colonel Harmar soon added that of Captain Jonathan Heart, when the Geographer asked for more soldiers. During the late summer and early fall of 1786, Hamtramck kept detachments out in the woods with the surveyors and moved his camp from time to time so that he was always in a position to send reinforcements to any party that might be attacked.

9Harmar to Secretary of War Henry Knox, July 13, 1786, Josiah Harmar’s Letter Book A, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. ”JCaptain John Mercer’s report to Hamtramck, August 6, 1786, Josiah Harmar Papers, Clements Library. I’Harmar to Hamtramck, July 26, 1786, Harmar’s Letter Book A, Clements Library. 12McKee to Sir John Johnson, Februa 25, 1786, in Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections (40 vols.,%ansing, Michigan, 1874- 1929) , XI (1888) , 482-483. Colonel John Francis Hamtramck 339 Because he was operating in dense forests, the com- manding officer had an exceedingly difficult task, and it was made more so by what Colonel Harmar called “the shameful neglect” of the contractor who failed to deliver ~upp1ies.l~On one occasion, after waiting in vain for pro- visions and packhorses to arrive, Hamtramck advanced with- out them, determined, as he explained to the Colonel, to trust “to providance [sic] which, by the way, can be de- pended on much more than the Contractor.”14 Reports of increasing hostility of the Delaware and the Shawnee, after Colonel Benjamin Logan’s expedition from Kentucky against the Shawnee tows and George Rogers Clark’s march up the Wabash, so frightened the surveyors that they retired to Wheeling before the middle of Novem- ber.15 Although Hutchins was disappointed because only five ranges of townships were surveyed, he praised Captain Ham- tramck for “the cheerful and ready assistance afforded me on every occasion.”1e Colonel Harmar also expressed his “fullest approbation” of Hamtramck’s conduct in having successfully performed his mission “in spite of great difficulties.”“ In fact, Ensign Ebenezer Denny, adjutant of the regiment, declared that the Colonel “thinks him one of his best captains.”18 On October 20, 1786, Hamtramck was raised to the rank of major. When the surveyors quit work, Hamtramck was not far from Mingo Bottom. Marching to the Ohio River, in obedience to orders from Colonel Harmar, he sent Captain Jonathan Heart’s and Captain McCurdy’s companies down the river to Fort Harmar; then he selected a site two and a half miles above the Bottom for a fort which would serve as winter quarters for his and Captain Mercer’s companies, and, in the spring, as a base for guarding the surveyors. Because the season was well advanced, it was impera-

1SHarmar to Thomas Hutchins, September 21, 1786, Harmar’s Letter Book A, Clements Library. 14Hamtramck to Harmar, September 17, 1786, Harmar Papers, Clements Library. 15 Winthrop Sargent to Harmar, November 12, 1786, ibid. 16 Hutchins to Harmar, October 17,1786, ibid. 1’ Harmar to Hamtramck, November 6, 1786, Harmar’s Letter Book A, Clements Library. 18“Military Journal of Major Ebenezer Denny” Mdrs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (14 vols., Philadelphia, 1825-1895), VII (1860), 299. 340 Indiana Magazine of History tive that shelter for the men be built as quickly as possible. To encourage speed, Hamtramck promised six gallons of liquor to the unit which had its barracks ready first. With this incentive, they set to work with such alacrity that in eight days his own men had completed their houses. Report- ing to Colonel Harmar, Hamtramck observed that “the for- wardness of my Company on this Occasion can only be at- tributed to their great attachment to wesky [sic].”18 The other company soon occupied its barracks, a palisade was set up, and all the works were completed by January 8, 1787. Not knowing what to call the fort, Hamtramck wrote asking Harmar to name it. The Colonel suggested Fort Hamtramck. The Major was pleased by the compliment, but he asked to be excused “from such an honor,” and, with- out waiting for further direction, he called it Fort Steuben.*O If it had not been for this display of modesty, Steubenville, Ohio, might now be Hamtramckville. Late in May, 1787, by order of Colonel Harmar, Major Hamtramck abandoned Fort Steuben and descended the Ohio with his two companies to Fort Harmar. There he learned that petitions from Vincennes and the Illinois country to Congress had finally aroused the legislators to pass a resolu- tion directing that troops be sent to drive squatters from the public lands and to protect the inhabitants from lawless banditti. Leaving only skeleton forces to garrison the forts, Colo- nel Harmar assembled 329 men and floated down the Ohio to Pigeon Creek. There he placed Major Hamtramck in command of the supply boats with orders to proceed to Vin- cennes by way of the Ohio and the Wabash. With the re- mainder of the troops, the Colonel marched overland. Arriv- ing at noon on July 17, the regiment entered the town with colors flying and encamped near George Rogers Clark’s blockhouse. Because of low water in the Wabash, Ham- tramck did not reach Vincennes with the boats until July 25.21

19Hamtramck to Harmar, December 16, 1786, Harmar Papers, Cle- ments Library. 20 Harmar to Hamtramck December 21, 1786. Harmar’s Letter Book A, Clements Library: Ifamtramck to Harmar, January 2, 1787, Harmar Papers, Clements Library. 21“Military Journal of Major Ebenezer Denny,” Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, VII, 805-806. Colonel John Francis Hamtrarnck 34 1 The French inhabitants gave the troops a warm wel- come, for Colonel Harmar had sent word ahead that these were not, as he phrased it, “a set of Villians, but regulars and sent by the grand Council of the Empire, in order to preserve good faith with them and to protect the legal in- habitants.”22 The American settlers, however, viewed the invasion with mixed feelings, fearing that their presence was one of the reasons for the expedition. Although they praised the Colonel for bringing peace to this “heretofore unhappy country,” they expressed anxiety over the possible loss of their land.2s Discovering after investigation that titles to real estate in the Vincennes region were so uncertain as to make im- possible in a short time a distinction between legal and illegal occupants, Colonel Harmar made no attempt to re- move intruders, as he had been ordered to do, but simply accepted petitions to Congress from both French and Ameri- can inhabitants who requested that their claims be allowed. After visiting Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and the other Illi- nois towns, Colonel Harmar returned to Vincennes where he held parleys with delegations of Piankeshaw and Wea. Greatly impressed with the discipline and the military bear- ing of the troops, the Indians professed only friendship for the United States. Colonel Harmar decided that a garrison would have to be maintained at Vincennes to protect the French from lawless frontiersmen, to defend the local Americans from hostile Indians, and if possible to draw the Kickapoo, Pianke- shaw, Wea, and the more distant Miami into friendly rela- tions with the United States. Choosing Major Hamtramck as commandant and ordering him to build a fort, he de- tached Captain John Smith’s infantry company and part of Captain William Ferguson’s artillery company-ninety- five men in all-to remain at Vincennes. The Colonel and the other four companies left on October 2.24 During the next six years, Hamtramck spent most of

22Harmar to Colonel Le Gras and Major Bosseron, June 19, 1787, Harmar’s Letter Book B, Clements Library. PsAddress to Colonel Harmar, August 4, 1787, Harmar Papers, Clements Library. 24 Harmar to Henry Knox, November 24, 1787, Harmar’s Letter Book B, Clements Library. 342 Indiana Magazine of History

his time at this distant outpost. One hundred miles over- land from Fort Finney, at the Rapids of the Ohio, and three times as far by water, the route by which supplies must be sent, he and his little command were in constant danger of being cut off by hostile Indians. Major Hamtramck immediately set the soldiers to work building a fort under the direction of Captain Ferguson. Progress, however, was slow because timber had to be hauled from a great distance; and it was not until April, 1788, that the palisade was in place and the blockhouses were completed to the second story. Then the Major expressed confidence in his ability to defend the works against any Indian attack if sufficient provisions were sent to him.25 In his new post which, by order of Colonel Harmar, he had named Fort Knox, Hamtramck found the contractor even less reliable than he had been on the Ohio. When his store of provisions was nearly exhausted, he appealed to Fransois Vigo, who willingly furnished supplies for the gar- rison on credit,z6 despite the fact that the United States government had not yet reimbursed him for the funds he had expended to assist George Rogers Clark during the Revo- lution. Service at Vincennes was not popular with either offi- cers or men. The former complained that prices were so high they could not live on their subsistence allowances. Recognizing the injustice of their situation, the Major ar- ranged for the issue to them of a soldier’s ration in addition. The men disliked serving in this out of the way place where the food was scanty and of poor quality, and their pay was always far in arrears. When their terms of enlist- ment ran out, it was almost impossible to induce them to re- enlist, with the result that at times the garrison was danger- ously small. Besides, malaria sent many of them to the hos- pital every summer. The Commandant himself did not es- cape the annual visitation, and the surgeon seldom had qui- nine or other medicines. Besides having to solve the problems incident to main- taining a distant outpost, Hamtramck was burdened with governing the French civilians as well. Accustomed to being

25 Hamtramck to Harmar, April 13, 1788, Harmar Papers, Clements Library. 96 Zbid. Colonel John Francis Hamtramck 343 ruled by a military commandant, they appealed to him for the redress of all sorts of grievances. Their greatest complaint was against the magistrates whose principal occupation seemed to be collecting exorbitant fees. In answer to a petition of the inhabitants, Hamtramck drew up a set of regulations for a new judicial system. Five justices were to be elected by the people. Petty cases would be tried by one justice, two would hear suits of more im- portance, and a bench of three would sit as a district court in which trial by jury would be compulsory. The Command- ant established a scale of reasonable fees and required the magistrates to take an oath before him to administer justice impartially.2T Sending a copy of the regulations to General Harmar, Hamtramck observed: “My Code of laws will make you laugh, but I hope you will Consider that I am neither a lawyer or a legislator. I have done it for the Best. One good thing is that there is not one amongst them that can find fault with it.”** The people of the Illinois country also appealed to Ham- tramck for courts and for an officer and twenty men to support the civil authority. Declaring that it would be im- possible to continue living in a community plagued by an- archy and confusion, they predicted that the few who re- mained would soon join those who had crossed into Spanish territory. The Major was unable to send a detachment be- cause many of his men were ill, but he forwarded the geti- tion to headquarters and expressed the hope that a garrison would be provided.29 The people in the western country believed that they had been completely forgotten by the United States government. On several occasions reports reached the villages that Gov- ernor Arthur St. Clair would soon visit them, but they proved to be only rumors. In August, 1789, Hamtramck, almost in despair, wrote to General Harmar : “If his Excellency does not come this year . . . most people will go away to the Spaniards, for they begin to think that there is no such a Man as a Governor. . . .”30 2~“Regulations for the Court of Post Vincennes,” April 6, 1788, ibid. 58 Hamtramck to Harmar, April 13,1788, ibid. *@Petition,September 14, 1789, ibid; Hamtramck to Ledru and Edgar, October 14,1789, ibid. 80 Hamtramck to Harmar, August 14, 1789, ibid. 344 Indiana Magazine of History

Finally in March, 1790, the Governor reached Kaskaskis and established St. Clair County; and Winthrop Sargent, as acting-governor, going to Vincennes in June of the same year, organized Knox County, thus relieving the Commandant of the necessity of improvising civil government. The French inhabitants were not unmindful of Major Ham- tramck’s labors in their behalf. They handed Sargent a letter in which they praised the “just and humane attention” which he had paid “to the rights and feelings of every in- dividual craving his interp~sition.”~~ In August, 1790, shortly after Sargent left town, Major Hamtramck married Marie Josepte Edeline Perrot, a resi- dent of Vincennes and the widow of Nicholas Perrot, a trader of that place. For some reason, the Major did not inform General Harmar of his marriage; but when the latter learned of it, he sent his congratulations and Mrs. Harmar’s to the groom and asked him to present their “kind compliments” to Mrs. Harntrarn~k.~~ Although the details of military administration and the troubles of the civilians kept Major Hamtramck pretty busy, the Indians were his most serious problem. He main- tained friendly relations with the neighboring tribes, but he was powerless to prevent raids into Kentucky by bands of savages, and they even attacked his own soldiers. In July, 1788, a party of fifty ambushed a detachment of thirty-six men under Lieutenant William Peters, which was bringing provisions up the Wabash. Ten were killed and eight wounded, the remainder fleeing to Kaska~kia.~~ Hamtramck suspected that Frenchmen of Vincennes might have informed the Indians that the provisions were on the way, and after several were apprehended carrying barrels of the contractor’s flour into town at night, he expressed the belief that some of them might even have participated in the fight.34 A year later, however, when he

31 Clarence E. Carter (comp. and ed.), The Territorial Papers of the United States (Washington, 1934- ), The Territmy Northwest of the Riuer Ohio, 1787-1803,11,292. 82 Because no record of Hamtramck’s marriage has been found, only the approximate date can be given. The congratulations and compliments are contained in Hannar to Hamtramck, September 3, 1790, Harmar’s Letter Book H, Clements Library. 53Hamtramck to Harmar, August 12, 1788, Harmar Papers, Cle- ments Library; Lieutenant Peters’ report, August 22, 1788, ibid. 34 Hamtramck to Harmar, October 13,1788, ibid. Colonel John Francis Hamtramck 345 called out one hundred of the local militiamen to go down the Wabash to rescue supply boats from another Indian attack, they obeyed with such alacrity that he praised them for their spirit of loyalty to the United States.ss Major Hamtramck’s task was made more difficult by marauding Kentuckians. One day in August, 1788, a ruffian who called himself Major Patrick Brown appeared at Fort Knox with sixty mounted riflemen. Blandly announcing that he was hunting Indians and boasting that he had killed nine that morning, he asked for boats to ferry his men across the river. When the Commandant discovered that Brown had no commission and that he had stolen horses from the French and the Indians of the locality, he ordered him to give up the animals and be gone the way he had come. Brown insolently refused, took the boats tied up at the shore, and crossed the river. Hamtramck, who had just nine men fit for duty, could only stand and look on in im- potent rage. To General Harmar he confessed: “Never was my feeling [sic] so much wounded before.”36 Recognizing the need for more troops, Harmar sent Captain James Bradford with his company of artillery early in 1789. This reinforcement increased the garrison of Fort Knox to 140.3T In March, 1790, Hamtramck received from Governor St. Clair a speech to be sent by a trusty messenger to the Indians of the Wabash and to the Miami, urging them to make peace with the United States. Antoine Gamelin, who carried the speech, was courteously received by the tribes on the Wabash, but they frankly told him that their reply would depend on that of the Miami. When Gamelin delivered the Governor’s message to the Miami chiefs, they refused to answer it without consulting the British at Detroit.38 After reading Gamelin’s report, St. Clair decided that

85 Same to same, June 15,1789, ibid. !6 Same to same, August 31, 1788, ibid. The survivors of the attack on Lieutenant Peters’ detachment had not yet returned, and many soldiers were ill with malaria. 37 Same to same, March 26, 1789, ibid. Bradford’s company arrived on March 25. Captain Joseph Asheton to Hamtramck, May 31, 1789, ibid. Asheton sent provisions for 140 men. 88 “Gamelin’s Journal,” in William H. Smith (ed.), The St. Chir Papers (2 vols., Cincinnati, Ohio, 1882), 11,155-160. 346 Indiana Magazine of History the Indians must be chasti~ed.~~He ordered General Har- mar with fifteen hundred regulars and militiamen to march to the Miami towns, while Hamtramck made a diversion by moving up the Wabash with Kentucky and Vincennes militia and regulars from Fort Steuben (the new name of the fort at the Rapids of the Ohio) and Fort Knox.‘* Hamtramck set out on September 30, 1790, with 330 men and advanced to the Vermilion towns without opposi- tion. The Indians, who had learned of the expedition, had withdrawn. Finding that his supplies were running low, and failing to induce the militia to accept half rations for an advance to the Wea villages, the Major turned back toward Vincennes, chagrined that he had marched so far for nothing. In his report to General Harmar he declared that “had I to deal only with regular troops, I should order them to live on the Barks [sic] of the trees if I thought it neces- sary. . . .”‘l Meanwhile, General Harmar with his motley army pro- ceeded to the Miami villages, which also had been deserted. The troops destroyed cabins and cornfields; but after three separate columns which the General sent out had been severely mauled by Indians lurking in the woods, he re- treated to Fort Washington. General Harmar’s own experiences with militia on his expedition gave him an understanding of Hamtramck’s pre- dicament. Consequently, in replying to the latter’s report he assured him that “your conduct during your tour has met my approbati~n.”’~ Governor St. Clair asked Major Hamtramck for his recommendations on Indian affairs in the West. In the reply which he sent from Vincennes on December 2, 1790, the Major declared that “The Indians never can be subdued by just going into their towns and burning their houses and corn and returning the next day, for it is no hardship for an Indian to live without; they make themselves perfectly comfortable on meat alone; and as for houses, they can build them with as much facility as a bird does his nest.’’

89Arthur St. Clair to Henry Knox, August 23, 1790, ibid., 156. 40 Harmar to Hamtramck, July 15, 1790, Harmar’s Letter Bmk H, Clements Library. 41 Hamtramck to Harmar, November 2, 1790, Harmar Papers, Cle- ments Library. 42 Harmar to Hamtramck, January 15, 1791, Harmar’s Letter Book I, Clements Library. Colonel John Francis Hamtramck 347

The only proper maneuver, he asserted, was a surprise attack upon the villages by a force of mounted riflemen. He observed, however, that there would be no peace so long as the British held the western posts and continued to en- courage Indian hostility to Americans. On the other hand, if a treaty should be made, he declared, the Kentuckians would break it and no jury in Kentucky would punish the offenders. Hamtramck summed up his findings as follows: “These combined circumstances, sir, make me think that, until we are securely intrenched in the Indian country, we can never be sure that peace is fully established; for as the thirst of war is the dearest inheritance an Indian receives from his parents, and vengeance that of the Kentuckians, hostility must then be the result on both Five years’ experience in the Indian country was con- densed into these conclusions of Major Hamtramck. His argument was sound, but the people clamored for vengeance : and so General St. Clair set out with another army made up largely of undisciplined militia, which plodded blindly to its doom. Major Hamtramck, commanding the First Infantry Regiment, was not present at the debacle of November 4, 1791. Ordered back from Fort Jefferson on October 31 by General St. Clair to capture sixty deserting militiamen who had gone off swearing to plunder an expected commis- sary train, or at least to protect the supplies and bring them in safely, Hamtramck with his regiment marched south- ward, while the rest of the army advanced.’” Finding neither deserters nor the supply train, Ham- tramck turned northward again to rejoin St. Clair. Having passed Fort Jefferson and hearing the sound of distant can- non fire, he advanced until fleeing militiamen gasped out the news that the army had been totally destroyed. Still more than twenty miles from the battle and fearing for the safety of Fort Jefferson, which was garrisoned only by invalids, he sent Lieutenant William Kersey forward with a detachment and retired with the remainder of the regi- ment to the F01-t.‘~ Although General St. Clair was entirely satisfied with Hamtramck’s conduct, Lieutenant Colonel William Darke, 4aHamtramck to St. Clair, December 2, 1790, in Smith, St. Clair PUPTS,11,197-198. 44 St. Clair to Knox, November 1, 1791, Cbia, 251. 45 Same to same, November 24, 1791, ibid., 270; see also 261. 348 Indiana Magazine of History almost mad with chagrin over the disaster, pain from his wounds, and worry about the condition of his son who was lying critically wounded in Fort Jefferson, ordered the Major under arrest and charged him with cowardice and shame- fully retreating for fear of the enemy. St. Clair, knowing that Hamtramck was urgently needed at Vincennes, immed- iately convened a court martial which completely exonerated him of the Back at Fort Knox, Hamtramck opened negotiations for peace with the Wea and the Eel River Miami. Although he had no authority to conclude a definitive pact, he drew up a preliminary agreement which was signed by nine chiefs on March 14, 1792. One article provided that a treaty would be held as soon as possible at Vin~ennes.~~ President Washington was pleased with Hamtramck’s initiative, but, believing that the making of a permanent peace with the Indians of the Wabash was a very important matter, he expressed the opinion that “a person of more dignified character than Major Hamtramck should be em- ployed in the neg~tiation.”~~Apparently the President, when he penned that clause, had in mind chiefly the Major’s diminutive stature, for a little later he wrote that “the busi- ness might have been transacted with zeal and ability by that Officer.”49 General Rufus Putnam was sent as a special envoy, and he concluded a treaty in September, 1792. During the same month, Hamtramck was assigned to the Second Sub-legion of the force which was being assem- bled by General Anthony Wayne for another expedition against the Indians. Promoted to lieutenant colonel and named commander of the First Sub-legion in February, 1793, he remained at Vincennes until he was relieved by Captain Thomas Pasteur, who arrived in June with a detachment to occupy the fort.50 Colonel Hamtramck set out to join his regiment, but not without misgivings. For some time he had been con- templating resigning his commission, and it was only promo- tion, so he said, that kept him in the army. On his journey,

46 Ibid., 270. 47 Carter, The Territorial Papers of the United States, 11, 374. 4s Washington to Knox, May 21, 1792, in Fitzpatrick, Writings of George Washington, XXXII, 50; same to same, August 13, 1792, ibid., 113. 4Q Same to same, September 3,1792, ibid., 139. 60 Anthony Wayne to Hamtramck, May 25, 1793, Anthony Wayne Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Colonel John Francis Hamtramck 349 while stopping at the Rapids of the Ohio, he wrote to General Harmar, who had resigned in 1791, informing him that he was simply going to have a good look at the army and that if it seemed incapable of performing the task assigned to it, he too would leave the service. As might be expected of an old soldier, Hamtramck was skeptical about the effectiveness of the new invention, the Legionary Corps, and asked what Harmar thought of it6* Hamtramck must have been satisfied with the potential competence of the new army, for he did not resign. A year was to elapse, however, before the Legion met its test. Mov- ing forward slowly but resolutely, and constantly training both officers and men, General Wayne attacked the con- federated tribes at the Fallen Timbers on August 20, 1794, and administered a crushing defeat. Colonel Hamtramck, who was in command of the left wing, was cited by the General for bravery and for inspiring his Wayne marched his army up the Maumee and made camp at the confluence of the St. Joseph and the St. Mary's rivers, formerly the seat of the powerful and hostile Miami tribes. There he ordered a fort built, and he made plans for bringing the Indians to a treaty at Greenville. A capable and willing emissary was at hand, Antoine Lasselle of the River Raisin near Detroit, who had been captured in the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Because he was painted like an Indian, he was tried as a spy and convicted; but he was saved from hanging by the intervention of Colonel Ham- tram~k.~~Happy to have an opportunity to show both his gratitude and his influence with the Indians, Lasselle gladly accepted the task of carrying speeches to the chiefs of the tribes along the Lakes. The fort was completed on October 22, 1794. Ham- tramck, who was made commandant, named it Fort Wayne and occupied it with a garrison of six companies. General Wayne with the remainder of the Legion returned to Green- ville. Antoine Lasselle hastened to Detroit and sent out French traders to round up the chiefs. So successful were they

51 Hamtramck to Harmar, July 7, 1793, Harmar Papers, Clements Library. 52American State Pa em: Documents Le@btive and Executive (38 vols., Washington, 18&-1861), Indian Affaws (2 vole., 1832-1834), I, 491. 68 Ibid., 494; Re?. David Jon?' Diary, 1794-1796, Octobr 18, 1794, American Baptist Historical Society, Chester, Pennsylvania. 350 Indiana Magazine of History that late in December he brought to Fort Wayne forty Ottawa, Chippewa, Potawatomi, and Delaware. Colonel Hamtramck held council with the chiefs and dispatched Lasselle with twenty of them to Green~ille.~~From that time onward until late summer, delegation after delegation arrived, and the Commandant was almost at his wits’ end trying to provide them with food, tobacco, and gifts. He wanted to be generous, for years of experience had taught him that “speaking to an Indian without presents is like consulting a lawyer without a fee.”55 General Wayne’s patience was sorely tried by the tardy arrival of some of the chiefs. Until the very last, Colonel Alexander McKee, British Indian agent, tried to prevail on them to stay away; but his efforts only delayed the council, for, as Colonel Hamtramck observed, “the Bayonet of the 20th August last Embarrasses him.”5e Finally all the chiefs were assembled at Greenville, and on August 3, 1795, the treaty was signed. Peace had at last been won for the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio. As the time approached for occupying Detroit in accord- ance with Article I1 of Jay’s Treaty, Colonel Hamtramck was ordered to descend the Maumee and be ready to advance. On June 7, 1796, he made camp a short distance above the British Fort Miamis, where he waited until July 7, when two small schooners arrived. Embarking a detachment of sixty- five men under Captain Moses Porter, he ordered them to sail for Detroit. There on July 11, 1796, at noon, after the British had withdrawn, Captain Porter occupied Fort Ler- noult and raised the flag of the United States. On the same day Colonel Hamtramck, after leaving a garrison at Fort Miamis, sailed for Detroit where he arrived on July 13 and took command. The situation was some- what similar to that which he had found at Vincennes. The majority of the people were French, but here, instead of American, the other element was British. Again, as at Vincennes, there was no civil government, and Hamtramck issued proclamations binding on civilians and soldiers alike.

54 Colonel Richard England to Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe, February 4, 1795, E. A. Cruikshank (ed.), The Cowespondence of Lieut. Gowemr John Graves Simcoe (5 vols., Toronto, 1923-1935). 111 (1925), 286-287. Colonel England was the British commandant of Fort Lernoult at Detroit. Simcoe was Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. 55Hamtramck to Wayne, September 24, 1795, Wayne Papers, His- torical Society of Pennsylvania. 66 Same to same, June 17,1796, ibid. Colonel John Francis Hamtramck 35 1

He had plenty of trouble. Drunkenness among the troops and desertion encouraged by British subjects were frequent, and the twelve hundred Indians who had swarmed into town to await the arrival of General Wayne drove Hamtramck nearly frantic with their importunities for food and present^.^? The Colonel was greatly relieved on August 13 by the arrival of General Wayne, who brought with him Acting- Governor Winthrop Sargent. Again, as at Vincennes, it was Sargent who established civil government, thus freeing the Commandant of that responsibility. While Wayne was in Detroit, he disbanded the Legion in accordance with a new act of Congress and organized four regiments of infantry, the corps of artillerists and engi- neers, and two companies of light dragoons. Some officers were dismissed as supernumerary, but Hamtramck was re- tained and given command of the First Regiment. On No- vember 15, 1796, General Wayne sailed for Presqu' Isle after naming him the commandant at DetrokS8 Mrs. Hamtramck had been drowned on May 21, 1796, while descending the Wabash from Fort Wayne to Vin- cenne~.~~Wanting to provide a home for his two small daughters, Julienne and Henriette, Hamtramck invited his widowed mother, who had remarried and was now Mme. Joachim Biron, to come to Detroit. He bought a farm for her east of the fort and provided that it should pass to his children when she died.s0 In 1797, Colonel Hamtramck decided to mark the birth- day of President Washington by a military display. This would be the last opportunity of the kind to honor him before he retired from office, and it would be the first observance of his anniversary in Detroit. Perhaps the Colonel hoped that the French and the British inhabitants would be favorably impressed. On February 22 the troops performed maneuvers on the Esplanade, and a national salute was fired by the guns of Fort Lernoult.61 A ball was held on Saturday night in the Council House, and Father Michel Levadoux, the village

67Same to same, August 1, 1796, ibid; Anthony Wayne to Isaac Wayne, September 10, 1796, ibid. 88 Wayne to Hamtramck, November 13,1796, ibid. 69 Louise Rau, unpublished biqgraphical !ketch of Hamtramck, 6, Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library, Detroit, Michigan. 60 Zbid., 19. Madame Biron died in July, 1800. 01 Orderly Book, First United States Infantry Regiment, February 21, 1797, Hamtramck Papers, Burton Historical Collection. 352 Zndiana Magazine of History priest, invited the officers to attend a special vesper service the next day. On that occasion he read a long and florid eulogy of President Washington.B2 Late in June, 1797, General James Wilkinson, who had succeeded to the command of the army after the death of General Wayne, came to Detroit, where he found a danger- ous state of affairs. Drunkenness was demoralizing the garrison, and British subjects were enticing American soldiers to desert and cross the river. Because civilians were involved, Wilkinson proclaimed martial law within the circuit of the palisade around the town, thereby arousing the resentment of the merchants, most of whom intended to retain their British allegiance. General Wilkinson had been dissatisfied with conditions at Fort Wayne also. His solution for the problems at the two posts was to exchange garrisons and commandants. Lieutenant Colonel Hamtramck with the First Regiment was transferred to Fort Wayne, and Lieutenant Colonel David Strong with the Second Regiment, to Detroit.63 Sometime in 1797, Hamtramclr married Miss Rebecca Mackenzie. On April 19, 1798, at Fort Wayne was born a son who was named John Francis, Junior. Another son, Alexis H. was born on April 8, 1799.R4 Early in 1799, Colonel Hamtramck wrote a letter to George Washington in which he must have congratulated him on his appointment during the previous summer as Lieutenant General in preparation for a war with France. Washington replied very graciously as follows : Sir: Your polite and flattering letter of the 28th. of January, dated at Fort Wayne, has just got into my hands. If any thing besides a duty, which I think every good citizen owes his Country when its rights are invaded, and everything dear to it is threatned [sic] would console me for quitting the peaceful scenes on which I had entered with avidity, it would be the meeting again in the Field of Mars of so many of my Compatriots in Arms, with whom I had toiled through more than a Seven years War; and for whose aid and exertions, I was so much indebted. Among this number I certainly shall place Colo. Hamtramck.85

GZZbid., February 25, 1797; Levadoux to Bishop John Carroll, March 1, 1797, Letters to Carroll, 4Y9, Archbishop’s House, Baltimore, Maryland. 63 General Orders, July 9, 1797; General Orders-General James Wilkinson, 1797-1808, War Department Archives, Old Records Division, Adjutant General’s Office. 64 Rau, Hamtramck, 20, 21. 85 Fitzpatrick, The Writings of Gsorge Washington, XXXVII, 165- 166. Colonel John Francis Hamtramck 353

During the next two years, whenever General Wilkinson was absent, Hamtramck was acting commander of the Western Army, a position which required him to visit the various posts.B6 He was at Detroit in the summer of 1799, and in the fall he moved to Pittsburgh, where he stayed until the spring of 1801. Returning to Detroit at that time, he remained there in command of the Department of the Lakes. On April 1, 1802, he was promoted to the rank of

Colonel Hamtramck apparently lived well as befitted one who was the ranking officer and a property owner at Detroit. Entries in old account books show that he bought China silk hose, fine shoes, pocket handkerchiefs, and hair powder for himself, as well as considerable quantities of alcoholic beverages : bitterd, London bottled porter, Jamai- ca rum, Madeira, brandy, and port wine. For the children he purchased toys, and for his wife, a black beaver hat, sealskin slippers, ribbons, gloves, a silk umbrella, and a silver thimble. In his home he had a small library which contained among other books The Life of Frederick ZI of Prussia, Military Tactics, Thompson’s Seasons, Montes- quieu’s The Spirit of Laws, Cicero’s works, Mirabeau’s works, The American Revolution, and a French Bible.B8 Besides his farm near Detroit, Hamtramck owned a great deal of unimproved land, most of which he had re- ceived as bounty for his services in the Revolutionary War. He and William Wells owned a farm near Fort Wayne which the latter managed. It apparently was not a dependable source of income, for in 1801 Wells reported that although he expected to harvest 350 bushels of corn for each of them, he would not be able to sell it because too much had been raised in the neighborho~d.~~ The Colonel was not successful in business either. A partnership with James and Robert Abbott in a distillery at Detroit produced nothing but trouble and debts. Among his papers, accounts entitled “Adventure of the Distillery” show only losses, and even after his death, years passed before the disastrous business was wound up.

66 Alexander Hamilton to Secretary of War James McHenry, April 29, 1799; and Hamilton to Hamtramck, Ma 2, 1799, Bernard C. Steiner, ThR Life and Correspondence of James Mcdnry (Cleveland, Ohio, 1907), 441-442. 67 Heitman, Historical Register of Officersof the Continental Amy du&agthe Wwof the Revolution, 271. 68 Hamtramck Papers, Burton Historical Collection. 69 William Wells to Hamtramck, October 29, 1801, iM. 354 Indiana Magazine of History

In the spring of 1803, in obedience to orders from Secretary of War Henry Dearborn, Colonel Hamtramck made arrangements to send a detachment under Captain John Whistler to build a fort at the mouth of the Chicago River. No less an authority than Milo M. Quaife has held that “The building of Fort Dearborn marks the real begin- ning of civilized Chicago,” and that Hamtramck may be called the founder of the metropoli~.~~ The Colonel, however, was not permitted to have any further hand in the work, for he died on April 11, 1803, before Captain Whistler set out from Detroit. He was bur- ied in Ste Anne’s Cemetery on April 13, and the officers of his command provided a marble slab for his tomb.“ Later, when Detroit expanded, his remains were moved to Mt. Elliott Cemetery where today the restored stone bears the original inscription which reads in part : SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN FRANCIS HAMTRAMCK, ESQ., COLONEL OF THE FIRST UNITED STATES REGIMENT OF INFANTRY, AND COMMANDANT OF DETROIT AND ITS DE- PENDENCIES . . . . TRUE PATRIOTISM, AND A ZEALOUS AT- TACHMENT TO NATIONAL LIBERTY JOINED TO A LAUDABLE AMBITION, LED HIM INTO MILITARY SERVICE AT A [Sic] EARLY PERIOD OF HIS LIFE. HE WAS A SOLDIER EVEN BE- FORE HE WAS A MAN. HE WAS AN ACTIVE PARTICIPANT IN ALL THE DANGERS, DIFFICULTIES AND HONORS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. AND HIS HEROISM AND UNIFORM GOOD CONDUCT PROCURED HIM THE ATTENTION AND PER SONAL THANKS OF THE IMMORTAL WASHINGTON. THE UNITED STATES IN HIM HAVE LOST A VALUABLE OFFICER AND A GOOD CITIZEN, AND SOCIETY A USEFUL AND PLEAS- ANT MEMBER. TO HIS FAMILY THE LOSS IS INCALCULABLE, AND HIS FRIENDS [WILL] NEVER FORGET THE MEMORY OF HAMTRAMCK.72 If this recital smacks too much of the exaggerated sentiment associated with funeral eulogies to be credible, a tribute paid the Colonel in a private letter written by Joseph Campau, a merchant of Detroit, has the ring of honest reporting. Campau wrote : “It seems that everyone mourns his passing.’’73 No man could want a finer epitaph.

70 Milo M. Quaife, “Detroit and earl Chicago,” in Burton Historical Colection LeufZet (10 vols., Detroit, dichigan, 1922-1931), V (1926- 1927), 38. 71 Registro de Sainte Anne, Detroit, 1801-1842, copy in the Burton Historical Collection. 72 The tevt on the restored stone varies somewhat from that printed in Silas Farmer, The History of Detroit and Michigan, or The Metropolis ZZEustrated (Detroit, Michigan, 1884), 64. 73 Joseph Campau to John R. Williame, April 20, 1803, John R. Wil- liams Papers, Burton Historical Collection.