Indiana's Historic Markers
The Wayne Trace
Title of Marker:
The Wayne Trace
Location:
0.1 mile north of SR 101 and US 224, 6640 N SR 101, west side of road, 3 miles east of Decatur. Formerly 01.1966.1 (Adams County, Indiana)
Installed by:
Erected by the Society of Indiana Pioneers 1977
Marker ID #:
01.1977.1
Marker Text:
General Anthony Wayne and the Legion of the United States passed this way on October 30, 1794, in route from Fort Wayne to Fort Greenville, ending the western campaign against the Indian Confederacy. The Legion spent the previous night camped 2.6 miles N.N.W. of here.
Brief History By the Author
The Indiana Historical Bureau Board currently has this marker under review. Concerns about lack of primary sources, the exact location of the Wayne Trace and the site of General Wayne's camp are the primary concerns. Find the report here. Historians know the Wayne Trace existed and passed through Adams County, but have verified little if any of the information on this marker. No evidence exists that Wayne's force camped at the location indicated on the marker.
Fort Wayne
After the defeating a confederation of Amerindian tribes at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, General Anthony Wayne continued west, building forts as he went. On October 22, 1794 his forces captured the portage between the Wabash River and Lake Erie. General Wayne had a fort built at the junction of the Maumee, St. Joseph and St. Mary's Rivers. Calling it Fort Wayne after himself, he and his troops occupied the fort. The defeated Amerindian tribes indicated a desire to negotiate a treaty. Wayne and his troops traveled along the Trace to Greenville. The Trace followed the course of the St. Mary's River from Fort Wayne southeast. It entered the current state of Ohio from east/central Adams County Indiana and met the road he had constructed earlier to connect Fort Greenville with Fort Defiance.
