Fort Harmar (Marietta, Ohio)
Marietta · Ohio · Northwest Indian War
History & Significance
Established in November 1785, this pentagonal fort enclosed about three fourths of an acre and was completed in 1786. The fort was one of the first built by the U.S. military and site of the first U.S. artillery brought into Ohio.
Its original purpose was unusual for a frontier post: one of the original purposes of the fort was to forcibly evict settlers already living north of the Ohio, derided as "squatters," not to protect them from Indians, because Congress mandated their eviction because they lacked government-issued land titles. The presence of Fort Harmar was influential in the founding of Marietta, Ohio in 1788 to the east across the Muskingum.
The Treaty of Fort Harmar was concluded at Fort Harmar on January 9, 1789, with national leaders representing the Haudenosaunee, Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, Sauk, Wyandot, and Lenape meeting with treaty negotiators Arthur St. Clair, Josiah Harmar, and Richard Butler. Many nations were infuriated at the treaty because they perceived it to force land cessions and foreign sovereignty, and the failure of the treaty led to an escalation of the hostilities as the Western Confederacy resisted the United States invasion. The fort was abandoned in 1790 and demolished in summer, 1791, as the area had been redeveloped for other uses, and Marietta expanded to the west side of the river.
Key Facts
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Sources
- https://www.mariettasar.com/fort-harmar
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Harmar
- https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-04-02-0076
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Fort_Harmar
- https://wardepartmentpapers.org/s/home/item/39742
- https://www.americanacorner.com/blog/northwest-indian-war