Fort Wayne – Watts, Oklahoma

DATE VISITED:  05/01/2015

HISTORICAL SITE:  Fort Wayne

LOCATION:  U.S. Highway 59, just north of Watts, Adair Co., Oklahoma

MARKER #:  65-1995

 DEDICATED:   

“Fort Wayne established in 1838 by Lt. Col. R.B. Mason, 1^st Dragoons, U.S. Army, at request of Arkansas citizens fearing Cherokees who were being removed from southeastern U.S. Named in honor of Gen. Mad Anthony Wayne, the fort was originally located in the NE corner of present-day Watts on a hill overlooking Illinois River. Considered poor location because many soldiers died there, including Capt. John Stuart, 7^th Infantry. In 1839, fort was abandoned and moved to Beatie’s Prairie, west of Maysville, Arkansas. That site abandoned in 1842 and troops moved north to establish Fort Scott, Kansas”

**closer look below

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS: 

Driving down the highway I see this historical marker coming up and I quickly pulled to the side of the road. I wish I had done more of this on our way out here but I was unsure how long everything would take and my relatives in Arkansas were expecting us at a certain time.

My photographer…Dana…took the picture and we were on our way again. It’s funny, in the Sacramento area and to a lesser degree, in California as a whole, I may not know the history behind a lot of the landmarks but they are familiar on some level. We get out of my home area and I don’t have the faintest idea why something would be determined historical.

There were two “Fort Wayne’s” built. The fort established in 1838 was the second “Fort Wayne”, the first being built by Capt John Stuart of the 7^th Infantry.

Mason was ordered to move the Fort from the south bank of the Illinois River headwaters to Spavinaw Creek in Indian Territory.

While it was built to relieve the fear by the residents of northwestern Arkansas that the Cherokee’s were settling in the area, it was mainly built to protect a military road and became a link in Forts built to protect the “new” American West.

The 2^nd Fort was abandoned in 1842 because the large number of soldiers coming down with malaria and in an ironic twist…was handed over to the Cherokee Nation, the very people it was built to offer protection from.

 When the Civil War started, the Cherokee leader Stand Watie took over the site and formed the Cherokee Mounted Rifles, part of the Confederacy. In 1862, the Union met the Confederates for the Battle of Old Fort Wayne and in a surprise attack, forced the Confederate Forces to retreat almost 70 miles, leaving behind most of their artillery and capturing Col. Stand Watie.

I read that until the landmark was put up most residents of the area didn’t know that Fort Wayne had even existed. It’s good that someone did because it would be a shame to lose this history and I’m really glad that we took a couple of minutes to grab a picture.