The lives of these residents of Fort Wayne in 1814 were never without some fear of possible attack from the Indians, even though the danger had diminished. That Major Whistler expected just such an attack is evident by his letter of July 1 to Brigadier General Duncan McArthur, in which he asked for additional men or permission to reconstruct the fort. Said he “The Indians show a bad disposition to attend the Treaty [This treaty was held at Greenville]. I have Received an Account from Mr. Johnston that the Potawatomies and Taways and the Other Indians Bordering on Lake Michigan are intending to join the British and take Detroit, Malden and this Place this Moon.”[38]
The conduct of Chief Richardville had been especially annoying to Major Whistler. At the outbreak of the war, Richardville hurriedly gathered his effects and fled with his family to the British lines and there remained, without taking an active part in the trouble, until 1814. When he returned to his home six miles east of Fort Wayne, Major Whistler invited him to a conference. He responded, but he appeared reluctant to attend the conference at Greenville. Finally he came, in company with Chief Chondonnai, a participant in the Fort Dearborn massacre, and placed his signature to the treaty.
In May, 1815, Major Whistler again informed General McArthur of his intention to rebuild the fort, provided he could receive permission from the War Department. Permission was granted and in the fall of 1815, Major Whistler directed the construction of the new fort to take the place of the one erected by the troops of Colonel Hunt fifteen years before. Thus it fell to the lot of the builder of the first Fort Dearborn to become in turn the builder of the last Fort Wayne. Although the troops were destined to remain in this fort only four more years, parts of it remained standing until 1852, and for a long time after the garrison evacuated it, the fort served the government agencies and some of the citizens as a useful shelter.
The best source of information in regard to this last fort is in the record of John W. Dawson, who, in 1858, gathered information from the early settlers and wrote a series of articles for the local paper.[39] According to Dawson, the fort enclosed an area about 150 feet square. The pickets were ten feet high, and set in the ground, with block houses at the southeast and northwest corners, which were two stories high. The second floor projected and formed a bastion in each blockhouse where the guns were rigged; that on the southeast corner commanding the south and east sides of the fort, and that on the northwest corner, the north and west sides. The officers’ quarters, commissary department and other buildings located on different sides formed part of the walls, and in the center stood the liberty pole from which the flag flew.