Anthony Wayne

Wayne, Anthony, 1745-96, American Revolutionary general, b. Chester co., Pa. Impetuous and hot-headed, Wayne was sometimes known as "mad Anthony," but he was an able general.

Early Career

Not inclined toward academic studies, Wayne became a surveyor in 1763. In 1765 he was engaged to survey the land for, and promote the settlement of, a proposed colony in Nova Scotia, a venture from which he withdrew in 1766. He returned to the business of farming and tanning at Waynesborough, on the farm that his grandfather had established and that he inherited. He represented Chester co. in the Pennsylvania assembly (1774-75), was an agitator against British policies, and was active in preparations to defend the cause of the colonists.

During the American Revolution

When the Continental army was formed, Wayne organized and commanded a regiment from Chester co., and in Jan., 1776, he was commissioned a colonel and given command of the 4th Pennsylvania Battalion. As agent for the Pennsylvania committee of safety, he built defenses for the Delaware River. In the spring of 1776 he covered the retreat of the Americans after their failure in the Quebec campaign. The next winter he spent in command at Fort Ticonderoga.

In 1777 he was commissioned brigadier general and joined George Washington's army at Morristown, N.J. In the battle of Brandywine, Wayne commanded a division at Chadds Ford. Later he was defeated by General Howe's forces at Paoli, Pa.; to silence rumors that the defeat had been caused by his negligence, Wayne requested a court-martial and was acquitted with honor. He fought at Germantown, made successful raids on British supplies for the troops encamped at Valley Forge, and served in the battle of Monmouth. His most famous achievement, however, was his capture of the British outpost at Stony Point, N.Y., by a night attack in July, 1779. He aided General Lafayette in Virginia and participated in the Yorktown campaign. Later he fought successfully against Native Americans in Georgia, and, after Nathanael Greene's army had forced the British evacuation of Charleston, S.C., Wayne occupied the city.

Politics and the Indian Wars

In 1783 he returned to Pennsylvania, and in 1784 he was again elected to represent Chester co. in the general assembly. The following year he returned to Georgia and tried unsuccessfully to work the land which the Georgia assembly had given him in gratitude for his services. In 1791 he was elected to Congress as a representative from Georgia but was unseated because of irregularities in the election and in his residence qualification.

In 1792 he succeeded Arthur St. Clair as commander of the American army in the Northwest Territory. After the failure of peace negotiations with the Native Americans there—which Wayne opposed, feeling that war was inevitable—he decisively defeated (Aug., 1794) them at Fallen Timbers near present Toledo, Ohio. He secured (1795) the Treaty of Greenville with the chiefs of the defeated tribes, who ceded lands in the Northwest Territory. This was the first treaty in which Native American title to lands within the boundaries of the new United States was overtly recognized.

(born Jan. 1, 1745, near Paoli, Pa.—died Dec. 15, 1796, Presque Isle, Pa., U.S.) American Revolutionary officer. He owned a tannery before he was commissioned a colonel in the Continental Army (1776). He aided the American retreat from Canada and was given command of Fort Ticonderoga (1776). Promoted to brigadier general (1777), he led troops in the battles of the Brandywine, Paoli, and Germantown. He led the successful storming of the British fort at Stony Point, N.Y. (1779), earning the nickname “Mad Anthony” for his boldness. He served in the Siege of Yorktown and later defeated the Indians allied with the British in Georgia. In 1792 Pres. George Washington sent Wayne to fight the Indians in the Ohio Territory, and he decisively ended Indian resistance at the Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794).

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Anthony Wayne (January 1, 1745–December 15, 1796) was a United States Army general and statesman. Wayne adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his military exploits and fiery personality quickly earned him a promotion to the rank of brigadier general and the sobriquet of "Mad Anthony".

Early life

Wayne was born in the family home to Isaac Wayne in Easttown Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, near present-day Paoli, and educated as a surveyor at his uncle's private academy in Philadelphia, as well as at the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania), Class of 1765, although he did not earn a degree. He was sent by Benjamin Franklin and some associates to work for a year surveying land they owned in Nova Scotia, after which he returned to work in his father's tannery, while continuing his surveying. He became a leader in Chester County and served in the Pennsylvania legislature in 1774–1780. His son Isaac Wayne, future U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania, was born in 1772.

American Revolution

At the onset of the war in 1775, Wayne raised a militia and, in 1776, became colonel of the 4th Pennsylvania Regiment. He and his regiment were part of the Continental Army's unsuccessful invasion of Canada, during which he commanded the distressed forces at Fort Ticonderoga. His service resulted in the promotion to brigadier general on February 21, 1777.

Later, he commanded the Pennsylvania Line at Brandywine, Paoli, and Germantown. After winter quarters at Valley Forge, he led the American attack at the Battle of Monmouth. During this last battle, Wayne's forces were pinned down by a numerically superior British force, and was abandoned by General Lee. However, Wayne held out until relieved by reinforcements sent by Washington. This scenario would play out again years later, in the Southern campaign.

The highlight of Wayne's Revolutionary War service was probably his victory at Stony Point. On July 15, 1779, in a nighttime, bayonets-only assault lasting thirty minutes, light infantry commanded by Wayne overcame British fortifications at Stony Point, a cliffside redoubt commanding the southern Hudson River. The success of this operation provided a boost to the morale of an army which had at that time suffered a series of military defeats. Congress awarded him a medal for the victory.

Subsequent victories at West Point and Green Spring in Virginia, increased his popular reputation as a bold commander. After the British surrendered at Yorktown, he went further south and severed the British alliance with Native American tribes in Georgia. He then negotiated peace treaties with both the Creek and the Cherokee, for which Georgia rewarded him with the gift of a large rice plantation. He was promoted to major general on October 10, 1783.

Political career

After the war, Wayne returned to Pennsylvania and served in the state legislature for a year in 1784. He then moved to Georgia and settled upon the tract of land granted him by that state for his military service. He was a delegate to the state convention which ratified the Constitution in 1788.

In 1791, he served a year in the Second United States Congress as a U.S. Representative of Georgia but lost his seat during a debate over his residency qualifications and declined running for re-election in 1792.

Frontier general

President George Washington recalled Wayne from civilian life in order to lead an expedition in the Northwest Indian War, which up to that point had been a disaster for the United States. Many American Indians in the Northwest Territory had sided with the British in the Revolutionary War. In the Treaty of Paris that had ended the conflict, the British had ceded this land to the United States. The Indians, however, had not been consulted, and resisted annexation of the area by the United States. The Western Indian Confederacy achieved major victories over U.S. forces in 1790 and 1791 under the leadership of Blue Jacket of the Shawnees and Little Turtle of the Miamis. They were encouraged and supplied by the British, who had refused to evacuate British fortifications in the region as called for in the Treaty of Paris.

Washington placed Wayne in command of a newly-formed military force called the "Legion of the United States". Wayne established a basic training facility at Legionville to prepare professional soldiers for his force. Wayne's was the first attempt to provide basic training for regular U.S. Army recruits and Legionville was the first facility established expressly for this purpose.

He then dispatched a force to Ohio to establish Fort Recovery as a base of operations. On August 3, a tree fell on Wayne's tent. He survived, but was rendered unconscious. By the next day, he had recovered sufficiently to resume the march. On August 20, 1794, Wayne mounted an assault on the Indian confederacy at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, in modern Maumee, Ohio (just south of present-day Toledo), which was a decisive victory for the U.S. forces, ending the war. Wayne then negotiated the Treaty of Greenville between the tribal confederacy and the United States, which was signed on August 3, 1795. The treaty gave most of what is now Ohio to the United States, and cleared the way for that state to enter the Union in 1803.

Wayne died of complications from gout during a return trip to Pennsylvania from a military post in Detroit, and was buried at Fort Presque Isle (now Erie, Pennsylvania) where the modern Wayne Blockhouse stands. His body was disinterred in 1809 and, after boiling the body to remove the remaining flesh, as many of the bones as would fit in two saddlebags were relocated to the family plot in St. David's (Radnor) Episcopal Church cemetery in Radnor, Pennsylvania. A legend says that many bones were lost along the roadway that encompasses much of modern U.S. Route 322, and that every January 1 (Wayne's birthday), his ghost wanders the highway searching for his lost bones.

Legacy

There are many political jurisdictions and institutions named after Wayne, especially in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana, the region where he fought many of his battles.

• Counties, cities, towns, communities, rivers
• Wayne County, Kentucky
• Wayne County, Pennsylvania
• Wayne County, Georgia
• Wayne County, Illinois
• Wayne County, Indiana
• Wayne County, Michigan
• Wayne County, Missouri
• Wayne County, Nebraska
• Wayne County, North Carolina
• Wayne County, New York
• Wayne County, Ohio
• Wayne County, Tennessee
• Wayne County, West Virginia
• Wayne City, Illinois
• The Town of Waynesville, North Carolina
• The Town of Waynesville, Missouri
• The Town of Wayne, New York
• The City of Waynesboro, Georgia
• The City of Waynesboro, Tennessee
• The City of Fort Wayne, Indiana
• The City of Wayne, Michigan
• The City of Wayne, Nebraska
• The City of Waynesboro, Virginia
• The Borough of Waynesburg, Pennsylvania
• The City of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania
• The Village of Waynesfield, Ohio
• The Village of Wayne, Illinois
• The community of Wayne, Pennsylvania
• The former Wayne Township, Montgomery County, Ohio (now the City of Huber Heights)
• The Village of Waynesville, Ohio
• Wayne Township, New Jersey
• the former Mad River Township and Mad River Township Local School District (now Riverside, Ohio)
• the Mad River, a tributary of the Great Miami River, Dayton, Ohio
• Wayne National Forest in Ohio

• Businesses, schools, structures
• Anthony Wayne Elementary School in Defiance, Ohio
• Fort Wayne in Fort Wayne, Indiana
• Fort Wayne in Detroit, Michigan
• Anthony Wayne Recreation Area in Harriman State Park, New York
• Anthony Wayne Suspension Bridge near downtown Toledo, Ohio
• Anthony Wayne Trail, in Toledo, Ohio
• Wayne High School in Fort Wayne
• Anthony Wayne School District in Whitehouse, Ohio, whose sports teams are known as the "Fighting Generals."
• The Anthony Wayne Movie Theater in Wayne, Pennsylvania
• The former Anthony Wayne Bank in Fort Wayne
• Wayne State College, Wayne, Nebraska
• Wayne State University, Detroit
• Wayne County Community College in Detroit, Michigan
• Wayne High School, Huber Heights, Ohio
• Waynesfield-Goshen Schools, Waynesfield, Ohio
• Wayne Middle School Erie, Pennsylvania
• Anthony Wayne Terrace Housing Association Baden, Pennsylvania
• Anthony Wayne Drive, in Detroit, Michigan
• Anthony Wayne Middle School, in Wayne, New Jersey
• Waynesboro High School , in Waynesboro,Virginia
• Anthony Wayne Restaurant, defunct, in Wayne, New Jersey
• (Anthony)Wayne Avenue, Ticonderoga, NY
• Anthony Wayne Avenue in Cincinnati, Ohio
• North & Souh Wayne Avenues in Lockland, Ohio
• Anthony Wayne Barber Shop in Maumee, Ohio
• General Wayne Elementary School, in Paoli, Pennsylvania
• Mad Anthony Ale, a product of the Erie Brewing Company
• Mad Anthony Brewing Company, in Fort Wayne, Indiana
• Wayne Corporation defunct school bus manufacturer, originally Wayne Agricultural Works, then Wayne Works
• AWS, formerly Anthony Wayne Rehabilitation Center for the Handicapped and Blind, Inc. in Fort Wayne, Indiana
• General Wayne Inn in Merion, Pennsylvania
• Major General Anthony Wayne, U.S. Army tug based at Southampton, UK
• The Fort Wayne Mad Ants, a basketball team in the NBA Development League—The city (Fort Wayne, Indiana) is named in his honor, and the nickname (Mad Ants), in addition to winning the name-the-team contest, is a salute to his nickname ("Mad Anthony")

Popular culture

Wayne's legacy has extended to American popular culture in a number of ways:

• Actor Marion Robert Morrison was initially given the stage name of Anthony Wayne, after the general, by Raoul Walsh, who directed The Big Trail (1930), but Fox Studios changed it to John Wayne instead. John Wayne was leading man in 142 of his 153 movies, more than any other actor.
• Contrary to the popular belief that the character was named after John Wayne, comic book writer Bill Finger named Batman's alter ego, Bruce Wayne, after Robert the Bruce and Anthony Wayne. In the DC Comics, General Wayne is depicted as Bruce's grandfather.
• In Tender Is the Night, Dick Diver mentions his descent from Mad Anthony Wayne.
• In The Catcher in the Rye, Mr. Spencer, one of the teachers at fictitious Pencey Prep, lives across the street from campus on "Anthony Wayne Avenue".
• Anthony Wayne is one of the main characters in Ann Rinaldi's historical novel A Ride into Morning.
• The Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne, a side-wheel steamboat, sank in April 1850 in Lake Erie while en route from the Toledo area to Buffalo, New York. Thirty-eight out of 93 passengers and crew on board died. On June 21, 2007, it was announced that the wreck had been discovered by Thomas Kowalczk, an amateur shipwreck hunter.
• Erie Brewing Company in Erie, Pa brews an American pale ale (APA) named after "Mad" Anthony Wayne: Mad Anthony's APA.

See also

References

• Carter, Harvey Lewis. The Life and Times of Little Turtle: First Sagamore of the Wabash. ©1987, Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-01318-2.
• Dubin, Michael J. United States Congressional Elections, 1788–1997: The Official Results of the Elections of the 1st through 105th Congresses. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland and Company, 1998. ISBN 0-7864-0283-0.

External links

• Anthony Wayne and the Battle of Fallen Timbers from The Army Historical Foundation
• General Anthony Wayne
• National Park Service Museum Collection: American Revolutionary War Exhibit, Wayne portrait & bio
• Maumee Valley Heritage Corridor
• Anthony Wayne - The Man Buried in Two Places
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