Besides his duties as factor, Colonel Johnston occasionally served as assistant surgeon at the fort. For his position as factor, Johnston received a salary of $1,000 a year from the government and $365 for subsistence. The latter amount was funded by the profits of the factory. In 1810, William Oliver was appointed to the Fort Wayne factory to serve as Johnston’s assistant. When Oliver resigned in 1812, Johnston secured the position for his brother, Stephen Johnston.
As factor, Johnston aimed at being just to the Indians and loyal to his government, a combination of purpose attended with many difficulties. In a report to the Secretary of War, Johnston pointed out that the trading houses with the northern Indians never produced any political effect in favor of the Americans, as had been expected when they were established. Rather, on the contrary, the Indians were led to believe that the object was to make money; and in as much as the government goods were never sold cheaper than those of the private traders, it was impossible to produce a different impression.[43]
Johnston had trouble procuring the proper kinds of supplies to issue to the Indians at Fort Wayne. The goods intended for the Indian trade were rarely imported into the United States, there being no regular demand for them. On the other hand, the British traders in Canada had agents in England, long accustomed to this commerce, who sent out the very articles needed. The supplies destined for the United States factories went through many hands, and this offered countless opportunities to defraud the Indians and the government. Often the goods came out of season or were damaged. Johnston constantly urged that the trade either be put in the hands of private traders who would be licensed by the government, or, if the government thought it necessary to stay in the business, an expert should be sent to England to do the purchasing of the Indian articles. Typical of the goods used by the Indians are the following items listed in Johnston’s record book, “blankets, strouds, [a coarse Indian blanket] hat bands, head bands, Indian mats, kettles, pans, rings, cloth of various color, wampum, broaches, scalping knives, fish hooks, and tobacco.”[44] Johnston also complained that the military were generally unfriendly to his trading post and even hindered his work at times. Apparently this ill feeling was caused by the fact that the soldiers did not consider it a part of their business to furnish transportation for the furs and Indian goods or to erect the necessary buildings for the trade at Fort Wayne.[45] On one occasion, the factor lost in Lake Erie $2,300 worth of furs. Johnston claimed that the accident came about through the carelessness of a drunken non-commissioned officer, Joseph McMahan, although McMahan was excused of all responsibility by a court martial.[46] The result of the trial provoked Johnston so much that he protested to the Superintendent of Indian Trade, but nothing could be done.