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WELLS COUNTY, INDIANA
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Captain William Wells
William Wells (c. 1770 –
15 August 1812), also known as Apekonit ("Carrottop"), was the
son-in-law of Chief Little Turtle of the Miamis. He fought for the
Miami in the Northwest Indian War, but during the course of that war,
he became an United States Army officer, and also served in the War of
1812.
Wells was born at Jacob's
Creek, Pennsylvania, the youngest son of Samuel Wells, a captain in the
Virginia militia during the American Revolutionary War. The family
moved to Kentucky when William was a small child, and his mother died
shortly thereafter. The elder Wells was killed in an Indian raid near
Louisville, and the young orphan was sent to live with a family friend.
Three years later, he was taken captive by Miamis while on a hunting
trip. Wells was 12 years old at the time.
Wells was adopted by a
chief named Gaviahate ("Porcupine"), and raised in the village of
Kenapakomoko, on the Eel River. His Miami name was Apekonit (carrot),
perhaps in reference to his red hair. He seems to have adapted to Miami
life quite well, and accompanied war parties- sometimes as the decoy.
William was located and
visited by his brothers around 1788 or 1789. He visited Louisville but
remained with the Miami, perhaps because he had married a Wea woman and
had a child. They were later captured in a raid by General James
Wilkinson in 1791, and presumed dead. Enraged, Wells organized a
300-man "suicide squad" that fought with distinction at St. Clair's
Defeat. William attracted the attention of war chief Little Turtle, and
eventually married Little Turtle's daughter Wanagapeth ("Sweet
Breeze"), with whom he had four children. He served the tribe as a
scout during his new father-in-law's wars with the United States.
In 1793, Wells met with
his eldest brother, Samuel, at Vincennes. The two travelled to Fort
Nelson, where they met with General Rufus Putnam. William warned that
the British had been inciting Native American tribes to violence
against the United States, and negotiated a release of prisoners as a
goodwill gesture. General Putnam wanted to organize a grand council of
tribal chiefs to discuss peace terms, but the Native Americans- still
undefeated by the Americans- rejected his offer.
Later, with Little
Turtle's permission, William became a captain in the Legion of the
United States, acting as a scout and interpreter for General "Mad
Anthony" Wayne. Captain Wells led the First Sub-Legion to the
battleground of St. Clair's Defeat (which he had fought in), and
located abandoned U.S. cannons, which the American Indians had buried.
General Wayne ordered the Legion to bury the bones found, and then
build Fort Recovery on the battlesite. When Native American forces
under Blue Jacket attacked the fort on 30 June 1794, Wells led a
scouting mission that discovered British officers who had brought
cannonballs and powder, not knowing that the United States had already
recovered the buried cannons.
Wells was wounded in the
Battle of Fallen Timbers, and went on to act as an interpreter in
treaty negotiations and state visits by Indian chiefs.
William Wells, U.S.
Indian Agent
Following the Treaty of
Greenville, Chief Little Turtle asked that Wells be appointed as an
Indian Agent to the Miami. The U.S. built an agent's house in the newly
renamed Fort Wayne, and William and Sweet Breeze, with their children,
moved from Kentucky to resettle with the Miami. At the suggestion of
General Wayne, Little Turtle and Wells travelled to Philadelphia to
visit with President George Washington. They were warmly received.
Washington gifted Little Turtle with a ceremonial sword, and Wells was
given a pension of $20 a month for his wounds at Fallen Timbers. The
two would travel east again in 1797 to visit the new president, John
Adams.
When Thomas Jefferson
became the United States' third president, Wells requested that he
establish a trading post at Fort Wayne to encourage friendly relations
with the area natives. Jefferson did establish the post, but appointed
John Johnston as manager. Johnston and Wells did not work well
together, and each quickly came to resent the other. Territorial
Governor William Henry Harrison at first favored Wells, and appointed
him a Justice of the Peace. Wells was also charged with establishing a
mail route between Fort Wayne and Fort Dearborn. Well's good standing
with Harrison would soon sour, however, when he sided with his
father-in-law, Little Turtle, in opposition to the Treaty of Vincennes,
which gave large amounts of land to the Americans for settlement.
Harrison responded by accusing Wells of opposing the Quaker Agriculture
missions to the Miami. Wells appealed to General James Wilkinson, but
Wilkinson sided with Harrison and Johnston.
In 1805, Sweet Breeze
died. William sent his daughters to live with his brother, Samuel, in
Kentucky. He and Little Turtle travelled to Vincennes, and signed
Harrison's Treaty of Grouseland. In 1808, however, Wells led a group of
Indian chiefs from different tribes, including Miami Chiefs Little
Turtle and Richardville, to Washington, D.C. to meet directly with
President Jefferson. This infuriated Secretary of War Henry Dearborn,
who fired Wells and replaced him with his rival, John Johnston.
In 1809, William married
his third wife, Mary Geiger, daughter of Colonel Frederick Geiger. They
and Wells' four children returned to Fort Wayne, where he received a
discharge from the new U.S. Indian agent John Johnston. Wells had the
support of the Miami chiefs and of Kentucky Senator John Pope and went
to Washington, D.C. to challenge Johnston's decision. Ultimately,
Well's position was left in the hands of territorial Governor William
Henry Harrison who, though distrustful of Wells, sided with the Miami
out of fear that they could join Tecumseh if provoked. William Wells
continued to act as United States Indian Agent in Fort Wayne, and was
able to keep the Miami out of Tecumseh's confederacy. His brother,
Samuel Wells, and his father-in-law, Frederick Geiger, were both at the
Battle of Tippecanoe; Geiger was wounded in the initial attack.
William Wells also
established a farm in Fort Wayne. He petitioned Congress for a
1,280-acre (5.2 km2) tract of land at the confluence of the St. Joseph
and St. Mary Rivers in 1807, which was granted and signed by President
Jefferson. Little Turtle died in his home in 1812, and was buried
nearby.
In 1812, Wells led a
group of Miami to come to the aid of Fort Dearborn. Among the Americans
under siege was Rebekah Wells: William's niece, and the wife of Nathan
Heald. They were ordered to evacuate, but were attacked in the Fort
Dearborn Massacre. Nathan and Rebekah Heald were both wounded, but
managed to escape and surrender to the British. Wells was shot and
killed by Potowatamis. He was himself dressed in Indian fashion, and
his face was painted black in anticipation of death. His opponents,
although considering him a traitor to their cause, nonetheless
reportedly ate his heart to gain some of his courage
Source: From
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia