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Soldiering under Siege: the Enlisted Men, 1800-1815

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For the soldiers, a new fort meant months of hard labor as timber had to be cut and processed, bricks made for the fireplaces, and buildings assembled by hand. There were also less hands to do the work, as the Fort’s garrison had been cut down to a single company around the turn of the century. This meant there were sixty-four enlisted soldiers, including two musicians and two sergeants who were effectively excused from labor details.[1] Labor details handled a variety of tasks around the area as well. One noteworthy example was the burial of Chief Little Turtle, when Private Robert Milligan was paid $1.00 to dig the grave.[2] The same issues with drunkenness and theft continued, exasperated by the growing village of white settlers outsides the walls of the Fort. Repeated garrison orders were issued to prevent the soldiers from getting into trouble with the local inhabitants, with a curfew being put in place at the end of each day.[3]

Boredom certainly took its toll, particularly during the winter months when weather kept the men inside for months. Tempers flared and fights were common, but one particular disagreement between Privates James Carlton and James Johnson on Christmas Day of 1807 is worthy of note. The initial cause of the fight is unclear. Due to the timing of the incident, it seems likely that some holiday spirits were involved. One of the followers living outside the walls was charged the same day with sneaking whiskey into the Fort and was subsequently banned from being within a mile of the post. Regardless of the cause, the fight escalated to a point not commonly seen in barracks brawls across the years. By the end of the scuffle, Johnson’s ear was nearly gone, bitten off my Carlton. Which ear, unfortunately, has been lost to history. Per typical military protocol, both men were court martialed for rioting in the barracks. Carlton was sentenced to forty lashes after a guilty plea. Johnson plead guilty as well and was sentenced to twenty lashes, but these were withheld as it was clear Johnson had already suffered enough pain.[4]

In the orderly books that survive, covering the years 1802-1813, nearly 33% of the court martials that occurred were directly regarding soldiers being drunk. When the theft, smuggling, or illegal distribution of alcohol are added to the count the percentage rises to 35%. The only other charge that even compares to alcohol crimes are neglect of duty charges, coming in at 19%. It is important to note that many common issues, including neglect of duty, rioting and quarreling, sleeping on duty, or abuse, could have been tied to alcohol as well but not mentioned directly in the records.[5]

For these indiscretions, a myriad of punishments were handed out by the post’s officers. The most common was flogging. This inhumane punishment often left scars on the backs of its victims (offering a convenient way to identify deserters that was often used by the authorities) and was used liberally to encourage obedience. Lesser crimes were handled with extra duty shifts, stoppage of whiskey rations, confinement, the wooden horse, or the classic ball and chain. Small transgressions could be solved with a court ordered apology.[6] In an effort to make military service more appealing in the buildup to the War of 1812, flogging was banned but other corporal punishments remained.[7] The wooden horse was one of the more creative punishments. Consisting of a crude set of legs connected with a beam the prisoner would straddle, with sentences varying between minutes or hours. The prisoner could be weighted down with cannon balls or other weights to further the pain.[8] There is no doubt that a soldier’s life on the frontier was harsh, little improved by the draconian systems used to keep them in line.

It is not surprising that recruitment remained an issue. Inducements to enlist were increased leading up to the war, as the increased danger scared many away from serving. Congress offered a new bounty payment of $16 and well as three months pay and one hundred sixty acres of land at the end of a five year term. However, the Army was only at 18% of its authorized strength in July of 1812.[9] Frontier posts were notoriously understrength, as the lack of any local recruits and poor conditions made it hard to fill the garrison companies. By March of 1813, months after the Fort was under siege but still very much in danger, Captain Moore’s company (1st Infantry Regiment) was only at 59% strength, reporting fifty-three out of the authorized ninety privates.[10] Also included in the rolls were seven privates from the 17th Infantry, stragglers from Harrison’s relief force that were left behind due to illness. These men appear separately for years on the returns until finally getting absorbed into the newly renumbered 3rd Infantry (made up of the men from the former 1st Infantry) in October of 1815.[11]

The wives of the common soldiers shared many of the same hardships that their husbands did. Rewards like whiskey on the Fourth of July (as noted in 1803, 1804, 1805, 1810, 1812) were rare, daily tasks were much more mundane.[12] Some maintained positive relationships with their husband’s comrades, including one Mrs. Obar who received smuggled food from Private Samuel Zelcut.[13] Women’s roles in the period were mostly concerned with what would be considered household tasks, including taking care of children, laundry and mending, and basic cleaning. These tasks had to be done to a military standard, however, and strict guidelines were issued. One order regarding laundry clarified that it was the duty of “the wash women belonging to the Garrison” to “clean out the wash House and see that it is Kept Clean,” but also went on to say that a shelter would be built closer to the river for easier laundry as the summer began.[14]

While it was never assumed that a frontier post was a safe place for women and children, one particularly unfortunate incident is recorded amongst the court martials on October 26th of 1810:

Archd. McCollom a private was this day brought before Lieut. Whistler and Doctr. Turner by order of the Commanding officer; charge with attempting to have connection with a Female Child of William Baily’s on the 25th.[15]


It seems the Bailys were a troubled family even before this incident, with William Baily being tried for brutal treatment of his wife (being demoted from sergeant to private due to it) and her being verbally abusive to the others assigned to their barracks room in a separate incident.[16]

There were some twenty-five women and children evacuated from the Fort before the Siege, and the Bailys were more than likely amongst this number, hopefully to find happier lives away from a the Fort that had done little to protect them.[17]

The next section will highlight the establishment of the Indian Agency at Fort Wayne and the growth of the village outside the Fort’s walls.
 
[1] Emory Upton, The Military Policy of the United States (Washington: War Department Office of the Chief of Staff, 1912), 92.
[2] Privates at the time were making a mere $5 a month, so this was a significant windfall for Milligan. Private Robert Milligan, Character Files, Historic Fort Wayne Materials, Allen County - Fort Wayne Historical Society.
[3] Fort Wayne Garrison Orderly Book, 4 November, 1803 (as transcribed in Bert J. Griswold, Fort Wayne: Gateway of the West, 1802-1813 (Indianapolis: Indiana Library and Historical Department, 1927), 150.)
[4] Fort Wayne Garrison Orderly Book, 26 December, 1807 (as transcribed in Griswold, Fort Wayne: Gateway of the West, 1802-1813, 263.)
[5] Griswold, Fort Wayne: Gateway of the West, 1802-1813, 669-670.
[6] Griswold, Fort Wayne: Gateway of the West, 1802-1813, 669-670.
[7] An act making further provision for the Army of the United States, Sec. 7, Statues at Large, 12th Congress,16 May, 1812.
[8] John Hare, “Military Punishments in the War of 1812,” The Journal of the American Military Institute 4, no. 4 (Winter, 1940): 232.
[9] Upton, The Military Policy of the United States, 92.
[10] To increase the Army’s manpower quickly and efficiently for war, Congress opted to expand the size of each company from sixty-four to ninety privates. The number of non-commissioned and commissioned officers remained the same. Despite the ease of this approach on paper, the men needed failed to materialize. Monthly Return of the Garrison of Fort Wayne, March, 1813, Returns from U.S. Military Posts: 1800-1916, National Archives roll 1400; Upton, The Military Policy of the United States, 95.
[11] Monthly Return of the Garrison of Fort Wayne, March, 1813, Returns from U.S. Military Posts: 1800-1916, National Archives roll 1400; Monthly Return of the Garrison of Fort Wayne, October, 1815, Returns from U.S. Military Posts: 1800-1916, National Archives roll 1400.
[12] Fort Wayne Garrison Orderly Book, 2 July, 1803 (as transcribed in Griswold, Fort Wayne: Gateway of the West, 1802-1813, 128.); Fort Wayne Garrison Orderly Book, 3 July, 1804 (as transcribed in Griswold, Fort Wayne: Gateway of the West, 1802-1813, 189.); Fort Wayne Garrison Orderly Book, 3 July, 1805 (as transcribed in Griswold, Fort Wayne: Gateway of the West, 1802-1813, 215.); Fort Wayne Garrison Orderly Book, 4 July, 1810 (as transcribed in Griswold, Fort Wayne: Gateway of the West, 1802-1813, 307.); Fort Wayne Garrison Orderly Book, 3 July, 1812 (as transcribed in Griswold, Fort Wayne: Gateway of the West, 1802-1813, 365.)
[13] Fort Wayne Garrison Orderly Book, 3 March, 1809 (as transcribed in Griswold, Fort Wayne: Gateway of the West, 1802-1813, 285.)
[14] Fort Wayne Garrison Orderly Book, 19 May, 1811 (as transcribed in Griswold, Fort Wayne: Gateway of the West, 1802-1813, 328.)
[15] Fort Wayne Garrison Orderly Book, 26 October, 1810 (as transcribed in Griswold, Fort Wayne: Gateway of the West, 1802-1813, 314.)
[16] Fort Wayne Garrison Orderly Book, 3 January, 1805 (as transcribed in Griswold, Fort Wayne: Gateway of the West, 1802-1813, 204.); Fort Wayne Garrison Orderly Book, 6 December, 1809 (as transcribed in Griswold, Fort Wayne: Gateway of the West, 1802-1813, 301.)
[17] Griswold, Fort Wayne: Gateway of the West, 1802-1813, 314.

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