Fort Harmer, Ohio – Legends of America
Alright, history buffs and curious minds, let’s take a trip back in time to the good ol’ days of the American frontier! We’re talking about Fort Harmer, Ohio, a spot that played a pretty important role in shaping the early days of the United States.
(Image of Fort Harmar, Ohio by Benson J. Lossing)
The Beginning: Keeping the Peace (Sort Of)
So, picture this: It’s 1785, and the U.S. is still a relatively new kid on the block. The country is expanding westward, and there’s a bit of a land grab going on. The government wanted to keep settlers off Native American lands and survey the area. That’s where Fort Harmer comes in. It was built right at the spot where the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers meet, thanks to the efforts of Colonel Josiah Harmar (the fort’s namesake) and his crew.
(Image of Colonel Josiah Harmar)
Building the Fort: A Pentagon of Protection
Major John Doughty, along with Captain Jonathan Heart, Lieutenants James Bradford, and Ebenezer Frothingham, led about 150 men from Fort McIntosh, Pennsylvania, to the Muskingum River. After arriving on November 5th, they started building the pentagon-shaped fort on the west side of the Muskingum River where it joins the Ohio River.
This wasn’t just any old fort. It was strategically designed to watch over the rivers, with walls about 12-14 feet high surrounding about three-quarters of an acre. Each of the five corners had log bastions, some armed with cannons.
Inside, there were cozy quarters for the officers, complete with kitchens and fireplaces. The enlisted men had barracks along the main walls, with a cupola on top for keeping watch. There was even a well in the middle of the fort, just in case they got stuck in a siege.
The main gate faced the river, and outside the walls, they had gardens growing vegetables and fruit trees to feed the soldiers. By November 30, the first detachment moved into the new quarters, but the fort wasn’t finished until the spring of 1786. From 1786 to 1789, it served as the U.S. Army field headquarters for the entire western frontier.
Life at the Fort: Not Always Exciting
One soldier stationed at Fort Harmer wrote home in February 1786, saying that the fort was "very commodious and completely finished – the gates are all shut at night, and we rest secure. If no hostilities should commence, we shall have an agreeable tour in this part of the world."
Land Deals and New Beginnings
Things started to pick up when Rufus Putnam, Benjamin Tupper, Samuel Holden Parsons, and Manasseh Cutler got together in Boston, Massachusetts, in March 1786, and formed the Ohio Company of Associates. They wanted to buy, settle, and sell land in what is now southeastern Ohio. They ended up buying 1.5 million acres from Congress.
In July 1786, Colonel Josiah Harmar and his wife arrived at the fort, and he took command.
(Image of Rufus Putnam and the Ohio Company pioneers)
Then, in July 1787, Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance, which created the Northwest Territory – basically, the area that would become several states in the Midwest.
Settlers Arrive: Marietta is Born
On April 7, 1788, Rufus Putnam and 47 other members of the Ohio Company arrived from New England at the mouth of the Muskingum River. They started the settlement of Marietta, right across the river from Fort Harmer. In July, Northwest Territorial Governor Arthur St. Clair and Territorial Secretary Winthrop Sargent came to Marietta to set up a government.
Trouble Brewing: Murder and Treaties
Not everything was smooth sailing, though. In July 1788, Colonel Josiah Harmar had Lewis Wetzel arrested for killing George Washington, a Delaware Indian who was loyal to the United States. Wetzel escaped from jail and eventually ended up in New Orleans, where he was arrested for counterfeiting.
In January 1789, two Treaties of Fort Harmar were signed near the fort. One treaty was with representatives of the Wyandot, Delaware, Ottawa, Chippewa, Potawatomi, and Sac tribes; the other was with the Six Nations. These treaties were supposed to bring peace, but they didn’t really work.
(Image of Fort Harmer Treaty Council House)
Moving On: New Headquarters, New Problems
After the treaties were signed, the government moved its territorial capital and military headquarters from Marietta to Cincinnati.
In December 1789, Governor St. Clair and Colonel Josiah Harmar, with 300 men, left Fort Harmar for the new headquarters at Fort Washington.
By January 1790, only a few soldiers were left at Fort Harmar. Local militia took over defending Marietta and the surrounding settlements.
Harmar’s Defeat: A Costly Mistake
In October 1790, Secretary of War Henry Knox told Harmar to punish Shawnee and Cherokee raiders who were based at Kekionga (now Fort Wayne). Harmar marched from Fort Washington with 320 regular soldiers and 1,100 militia to destroy the villages at Kekionga. On October 22, a confederated army of Indians, led by Miami Chief Little Turtle, defeated Harmar’s forces in what became known as Harmar’s Defeat. 183 men were killed or missing, and 31 were wounded.
(Image of Northwest Territory, 1787)
The End of the Fort: Dilapidation and Demolition
By December 1790, Captain David Zeigler was in charge of the mostly empty and run-down Fort Harmar. Most of the 20 or so soldiers there were wounded or sick, and there wasn’t much artillery or equipment.
In May 1791, Major General Arthur St. Clair wrote to Secretary of War Henry Knox that Fort Harmar was in "a very ruinous situation. The pickets are very much decayed and the barracks very rotten." He suggested tearing down parts of the fort.
The fort was finally demolished in the summer of 1791. The area was redeveloped, and Marietta grew to the west side of the river.
Legacy: Harmar Lives On
On October 13, 1791, Josiah Harmar, who had been the senior officer of the army from 1784 to 1791, resigned from the army effective January 1, 1792. He stopped in Marietta on his way home to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to visit friends. He later served as Adjutant General of Pennsylvania from 1793 to 1799. He died on August 20, 1813.
The Fort Harmar site became a market and then two schools. The area of Marietta is still called Harmar, and the neighborhood is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Harmar Historic District.
So, there you have it – the story of Fort Harmer, a place that was once a key outpost on the American frontier. It might be gone now, but its legacy lives on in the history books and the name of a neighborhood in Marietta, Ohio.