Fort Wayne was the name of two forts near the present-day border of northeastern Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas.

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

by Lt. Col. R.B. Mason of the

1st Dragoons The Royal Dragoons (1st Dragoons) was a heavy cavalry regiment of the British Army. The regiment was formed in 1661 as the Tangier Horse. It served for three centuries and was in action during the First and the Second World Wars. It was amalgama ...

. Originally, Captain John Stuart of the 7th Infantry was ordered to build the fort (then designated as Camp Illinois) on the south bank of the

Illinois River The Illinois River ( mia, Inoka Siipiiwi) is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River and is approximately long. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, it has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins at the confluence of the D ...

headwaters. Before its completion, new orders changed the location to Spavinaw Creek, nearer the Arkansas – Indian Territory border.Hitchcock, p. 77 fn. Lt. Colonel Richard B. Mason and the First Dragoons were tasked to perform the relocation in 1840. Named for Gen.

"Mad" Anthony Wayne Anthony Wayne (January 1, 1745 – December 15, 1796) was an American soldier, officer, statesman, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his mil ...

, it was intended to supplant Fort Coffee as a link in the great line of forts protecting the

American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

. Specifically, it was to protect a nearby military road and relieve residents of northwestern Arkansas of fears of depredations by Cherokees living in Indian Territory. The army abandoned the fort in 1842 due to the high incidence of malaria suffered by soldiers assigned there, and turned it over to the

Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ ''Tsalagihi Ayeli'' or ᏣᎳᎩᏰᎵ ''Tsalagiyehli''), also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It ...

. It was used thereafter by Stand Watie and his followers until the Civil War

Battle of Old Fort Wayne The Battle of Old Fort Wayne, also known as Maysville, Beattie's Prairie, or Beaty's Prairie, was an American Civil War battle on October 22, 1862, in Delaware County in what is now eastern Oklahoma. Confederate Major General Thomas C. Hindman ...

in October, 1862.May, Jon D. ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. "Fort Wayne."
Retrieved June 15, 2013. At the beginning of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

Stand Watie Brigadier-General Stand Watie ( chr, ᏕᎦᏔᎦ, translit=Degataga, lit=Stand firm; December 12, 1806September 9, 1871), also known as Standhope Uwatie, Tawkertawker, and Isaac S. Watie, was a Cherokee politician who served as the second princ ...

took over the fort site, where he organized the Cherokee Mounted Rifles. The Union met the Confederates near here in 1862 for the

. The old fort was located in present-day Adair County, near U.S. Hwy 59 just north of

Watts, Oklahoma Watts is a town in northern Adair County, Oklahoma, United States. It was named for John Watts, also known as Young Tassel, a Chickamauga Cherokee chief, who died in 1802.Hagan, Phyllis. ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. "Watts." ...

. An Oklahoma State Historical site marker can be seen alongside the highway. The marker was placed in the 1970s at the request of area residents. Up until this time most residents had no idea the fort had ever existed. The site of the newer fort built in 1840, was in present-day Delaware County near the community of

Maysville, Arkansas Maysville is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Benton County, Arkansas, Benton County, Arkansas, United States. It is the westernmost settlement in the state of Arkansas. Per the 2020 United Stat ...

Nothing remains of the fort at either location. The area is located on the Oklahoma/Arkansas border just south of present-day

Siloam Springs, Arkansas Siloam Springs is a city in Benton County, Arkansas, United States. The city shares a border on the Arkansas-Oklahoma state line with the city of West Siloam Springs, Oklahoma, which is within the Cherokee Nation territory. The town was founded i ...

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Hitchcock, Ethan Allen. ''A Traveler in Indian Territory:The Journal of Ethan Allen Hitchcock''. Edited and annotated by Grant Foreman. Originally published 1930. Web version available in part through Google Book

Retrieved June 15, 2013. * Wright, Murial H.; George H. Shirk; Kenny A. Franks. ''Mark of Heritage''. Oklahoma City:

Oklahoma Historical Society The Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) is an agency of the government of Oklahoma dedicated to promotion and preservation of Oklahoma's history and its people by collecting, interpreting, and disseminating knowledge and artifacts of Oklahoma. ...

, 1976.

External links

Oklahoma Digital Maps: Digital Collections of Oklahoma and Indian Territory
{{coord missing, Oklahoma Buildings and structures in Adair County, Oklahoma Indian Territory Pre-statehood history of Oklahoma Wayne Indian Territory in the American Civil War 1838 establishments in Indian Territory 1842 disestablishments in the United States

Notes

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External links