page_title: Kekionga
section_title: Decline
hierarchical_section_title: Kekionga / History / Decline
caption_attribution_description: English: Corporate seal of the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana, adopted 1858.&#91;1&#93; The seal is defined in section 11.01 of the Fort Wayne Code of Ordinances:&#91;2&#93; "The seal of the city is a representation of Mercury's Wand, entwined with two serpents on the right, a sword on the left and a pair of scales on the top with the word "Ke-ki-on-ga" with the inscription "City of Fort Wayne, Indiana," around the outer edge. The seal's inside circle shall be white, the outside circle shall be blue and the remainder, gold."
context_page_description: Kekionga, also known as Kiskakon or Pacan's Village, was the capital of the Miami tribe. It was located at the confluence of the Saint Joseph, Saint Marys and Maumee rivers on the western edge of the Great Black Swamp in present-day Indiana. Over their respective decades of influence from colonial times to after the American Revolution and Northwest Indian Wars, the French, British and Americans all established trading posts and forts at the large village, as it was located on an important portage connecting Lake Erie to the Wabash and Mississippi rivers. The European-American town of Fort Wayne, Indiana started as a settlement around the American Fort Wayne stockade after the War of 1812.
context_section_description: In 1794, the American General Anthony Wayne led his well-trained Legion of the United States toward Kekionga, but turned and marched toward the British-held Fort Miami near modern-day Toledo, Ohio.  Following General Wayne's victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, Kekionga's prominence began to diminish among the Miami.  The Legion arrived at Kekionga on 17 September 1794, and Wayne personally selected the site for the new U.S. fort, which was named for him.  It was finished by 17 October, and was capable of withstanding 24-pound cannons.  Despite their objections, the Miami lost control of the long portage by the Treaty of Greenville (1795), since the  Northwest Ordinance passed by Congress guaranteed free use of important portages in the region.  At that time, the Miami claimed the portage brought them $100 per day.
  After the construction of Fort Wayne, Kekionga's importance to the Miami slowly declined.  The Miami village at the Forks of the Wabash (modern Huntington, Indiana) became more prominent.  Despite the strong U.S. presence and loss of portage revenue, however, the Miami maintained sovereignty in Kekionga through the War of 1812.  Under the Treaty of Ghent in 1814, they were forced to cede this and other central Indiana land in punishment for their not having supported the United States in the war.  The site was redeveloped as the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana between 1819 and 1823.
  The old name was used for one of the first professional baseball teams, the Fort Wayne Kekiongas. It also appears on Fort Wayne's city seal.
caption: Seal of Fort Wayne
exif: {}