William Wells (soldier)
Encyclopedia
William Wells (c. 1770 – 15 August 1812), also known as Apekonit ("Carrot top"), was the son-in-law of Chief Little Turtle of the Miami
Miami tribe
The Miami are a Native American nation originally found in what is now Indiana, southwest Michigan, and western Ohio. The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma is the only federally recognized tribe of Miami Indians in the United States...
. He fought for the Miami in the Northwest Indian War
Northwest Indian War
The Northwest Indian War , also known as Little Turtle's War and by various other names, was a war fought between the United States and a confederation of numerous American Indian tribes for control of the Northwest Territory...
. During the course of that war, he became an United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
officer, and also served in the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
.
Apekonit of the Miami
Wells was born at Jacob's Creek, PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, the youngest son of Samuel Wells, a captain in the Virginia militia during the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. The family moved to Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
when William was a small child, and his mother died soon after. Wells' father was killed in an Indian raid near Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, and the young boy was sent to live with a family friend. Three years later in 1782, he was taken captive by Miami while on a hunting trip. Wells was 12 years old.
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.
Wells 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
Wea
The Wea were a Miami-Illinois-speaking tribe originally located in western Indiana, closely related to the Miami. The name Wea is used today as the a shortened version of their many recorded names...
woman and had a child. His wife and daughter were later captured in a raid by General James Wilkinson
James Wilkinson
James Wilkinson was an American soldier and statesman, who was associated with several scandals and controversies. He served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, but was twice compelled to resign...
in 1791, and presumed dead. Enraged, Wells organized a 300-man "suicide squad" that fought with distinction at St. Clair's Defeat
St. Clair's Defeat
St. Clair's Defeat also known as the Battle of the Wabash, the Battle of Wabash River or the Battle of a Thousand Slain, was fought on November 4, 1791 in the Northwest Territory between the United States and the Western Confederacy of American Indians, as part of the Northwest Indian War...
.
Wells attracted the attention of war chief Little Turtle. He eventually married Little Turtle's daughter Wanagapeth
Wanagapeth
Wanagapeth , -1808 was the eldest daughter of Chief Michikinikwa, known as Little Turtle. She married Apekonit, or Capt. William Wells....
("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
Vincennes, Indiana
Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 18,701 at the 2000 census...
. The two travelled to Fort Nelson
Fort Nelson (Kentucky)
Fort Nelson, built in 1781 by Richard Chenoweth, was the second on-shore fort on the Ohio River in the area of what is now downtown Louisville, Kentucky. Fort-on-Shore, the downriver and first on-shore fort, had proved to be insufficient barely three years after it was established...
, where they met with General Rufus Putnam
Rufus Putnam
Rufus Putnam was a colonial military officer during the French and Indian War, and a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War...
. William Wells warned Putnam 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, Wells became a captain in the Legion of the United States
Legion of the United States
The Legion of the United States was a reorganization and extension of the United States Army from 1792 to 1796 under the command of Major General Anthony Wayne.-Origins:The impetus for the Legion came from General Arthur St...
, acting as a scout and interpreter for General "Mad Anthony" Wayne
Anthony Wayne
Anthony Wayne was a United States Army general and statesman. Wayne adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his military exploits and fiery personality quickly earned him a promotion to the rank of brigadier general and the sobriquet of Mad Anthony.-Early...
. 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
Fort Recovery
Fort Recovery was a United States Army fort begun in late 1793 and completed in March 1794 under orders by General "Mad" Anthony Wayne. It was located on the site of the present-day village of Fort Recovery, Ohio, United States, on the Wabash River within two miles of the boundary with...
on the battlesite. When Native American forces under Blue Jacket
Blue Jacket
Blue Jacket or Weyapiersenwah was a war chief of the Shawnee people, known for his militant defense of Shawnee lands in the Ohio Country...
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
Battle of Fallen Timbers
The Battle of Fallen Timbers was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between American Indian tribes affiliated with the Western Confederacy and the United States for control of the Northwest Territory...
. He went on to act as an interpreter in treaty negotiations and state visits by Indian chiefs.
William Wells, U.S. Indian Agent
Indian agent
In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with Native American tribes on behalf of the U.S. government.-Indian agents:*Leander Clark was agent for the Sac and Fox in Iowa beginning in 1866....
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 traveled to Philadelphia to visit President George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
. They were warmly received. Washington presented Little Turtle with a ceremonial sword, and Wells was given a pension of $20 a month, in compensation for his wounds at Fallen Timbers. The two traveled east again in 1797 to visit the new president, John Adams
John Adams
John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...
.
When Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
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
John Johnston (Indian Agent)
John Johnston was an Indian agent in the United States Northwest Territory. He was born on 25 March 1775 near Ballyshannon in the North of Ireland. His father was Scottish and his mother was a Huguenot. He left Ireland when he was eleven years old, travelling to America with a priest and a...
as manager. Johnston and Wells did not work well together, and each quickly came to resent the other. Territorial Governor William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison was the ninth President of the United States , an American military officer and politician, and the first president to die in office. He was 68 years, 23 days old when elected, the oldest president elected until Ronald Reagan in 1980, and last President to be born before the...
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
Fort Dearborn
Fort Dearborn was a United States fort built in 1803 beside the Chicago River in what is now Chicago, Illinois. It was constructed by troops under Captain John Whistler and named in honor of Henry Dearborn, then United States Secretary of War. The original fort was destroyed following the Battle of...
. 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
Quaker Agriculture missions to the Miami
In 1802, during a trip to Washington, DC, Miami Chief Little Turtle extended an invitation to the Baltimore area Quakers to visit Fort Wayne and teach the Miami about white civilization and European cultivation methods. The Quakers sent farm implements in 1803...
. Wells appealed to General James Wilkinson
James Wilkinson
James Wilkinson was an American soldier and statesman, who was associated with several scandals and controversies. He served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, but was twice compelled to resign...
, but Wilkinson sided with Harrison and Johnston.
In 1805, Governor Harrison sent General John Gibson
John Gibson (Indiana)
John Gibson was a veteran of the French and Indian War, Lord Dunmore's War, the American Revolutionary War, Tecumseh's War, and the War of 1812. A delegate to the first Pennsylvania constitutional convention in 1790, and a merchant, he earned a reputation as a frontier leader and had good...
and Colonel Francis Vigo
Francis Vigo
Francis Vigo was an Italian-American who aided the American forces during the Revolutionary War and helped found a public university in Vincennes, Indiana, USA....
to investigate Wells and Little Turtle on suspicion of fiscal corruption and instigation of the Miami against the United States. Their report concluded that Wells "seems more attentive to the Indians than the people of the United States."
After Sweet Breeze died in 1805, William sent his daughters to live with his brother, Samuel Wells, in Kentucky. He and Little Turtle traveled to Vincennes, where they gave a "friendly disposition ... toward the government," Harrison wrote. "With Captain Wells, I have had an explanation, and have agreed to a general amnesty and act of oblivion for the past." William and Little Turtle signed Harrison's Treaty of Grouseland
Treaty of Grouseland
The Treaty of Grouseland was an agreement negotiated by Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory on behalf of the government of the United States of America with Native American leaders, including Little Turtle and Buckongahelas, for lands in Southern Indiana, northeast Indiana, and...
. In 1808, however, Wells led a group of Indian chiefs from different tribes, including Miami Chiefs Little Turtle and Richardville, to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
to meet directly with President Jefferson. This infuriated Secretary of War Henry Dearborn
Henry Dearborn
Henry Dearborn was an American physician, a statesman and a veteran of both the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Born to Simon Dearborn and Sarah Marston in North Hampton, New Hampshire, he spent much of his youth in Epping, where he attended public schools...
, 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
Forts of Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne in modern Fort Wayne, Indiana, was established by Captain Jean François Hamtramck under orders from General "Mad" Anthony Wayne as part of the campaign against the Indians of the area. It was named after General Wayne, who was victorious at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Wayne may have...
, 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
John Pope (politician)
John Pope was a United States Senator from Kentucky, a member of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky, Secretary of State of Kentucky, and Governor of Arkansas Territory....
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
Tecumseh
Tecumseh was a Native American leader of the Shawnee and a large tribal confederacy which opposed the United States during Tecumseh's War and the War of 1812...
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. He was the first to warn Secretary Dearborn in 1807, of the growing movement led by Tecumseh and his brother. William's eldest brother, Colonel Samuel Wells, and his father-in-law, Frederick Geiger, were both at the Battle of Tippecanoe
Battle of Tippecanoe
The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought on November 7, 1811, between United States forces led by Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory and Native American warriors associated with the Shawnee leader Tecumseh. Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa were leaders of a confederacy of...
; Geiger was wounded in the initial attack.
Wells also established and managed a farm in Fort Wayne, which he jointly owned with his friend Jean François Hamtramck
Jean François Hamtramck
Jean-François Hamtramck was a French-Canadian from Quebec who joined the Continental Army and became a decorated officer in the American Revolutionary War....
. He petitioned Congress for a 1280 acres (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
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
. Little Turtle died in his home in 1812, and was buried nearby.
In 1812 during the war with the British, Wells led a group of Miami to aid Fort Dearborn. Among the Americans under siege was his niece Rebekah Wells, who was the wife of Nathan Heald
Nathan Heald
Nathan Heald was an officer in the United States Army during the War of 1812...
. They were ordered to evacuate, but were attacked in the Battle of Fort Dearborn. Nathan and Rebekah Heald were both wounded, but managed to escape and surrender to the British.
During the battle, Wells was shot and killed by Potowatamis. He was 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.
Legacy
- Wells StreetWells Street (Chicago)Wells Street is a main North–South road in downtown Chicago. It is officially designated as 200 West, and is named in honor of William Wells, a United States Army Captain who died in the Battle of Fort Dearborn....
in Chicago, Illinois - Wells County, IndianaWells County, IndianaWells County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 27,636. The county seat is Bluffton.-Geography:...
- Wells Street in Fort Wayne, IN