General Harmar's Campaign

This short historical pamphlet brings the first of the Northwest Indian Wars into clear focus. It opens with a concise background on General Josiah Harmar’s 1790 expedition, setting the scene along the Maumee, St. Joseph and St. Mary’s rivers where early forts and trading posts dotted the frontier. The narrative stays grounded in the initial movements of the campaign, describing how Colonel Hardin’s detachment reached a cluster of Native villages that had already been abandoned and partially burned.

The work then unfolds three distinct pieces of contemporary material. One section pinpoints the exact locations of the Miami, Delaware and Shawnee towns that lay at the river confluence, using a 1791 supplement to an official report. A soldier’s journal offers a firsthand glimpse of daily life and military intent, while an 1888 speech by James McGrew reflects on the lasting significance of those early clashes. Listeners gain a vivid, source‑based portrait of a formative moment in Fort Wayne’s early history.