In the territories of United States, territorial governors acted as ex officio superintendents of Indian affairs. William Henry Harrison served as governor of Indiana territory from 1801 until 1812. 1 As territorial governor and superintendent of Indian affairs for such a vast expanse of land, he would have had a large task. This was a particularly troublesome time on America’s frontier. Harrison took an active role in Indian affairs and in enforcing federal laws in the territory. As skillful as Harrison was at negotiating treaties with the Indians to the benefit of United States, there were some among the Indian tribes that believed enough had been surrendered to the white man already. 2
      America’s western land grab did not sit well with everyone. An Indian leader by the name of Tecumseh raised anxieties among Americans living in the West by organizing various tribes to oppose the United States western expansion. Tecumseh organized raids throughout the frontier. American forces had sustained losses from Detroit to St. Louis. In one of the major land battles of the war, William Henry Harrison militia repelled an attack by the followers of Tecumseh’s brother, the Prophet, and ultimately defeated them at the Battle of Tippecanoe. 3 As General Harrison marched his forces north to Tippecanoe, he had paused fifty or sixty miles north of Vincennes to establish a supply storehouse. Harrison and his men built the fort at strategic location at a bend on the eastern banks of the Wabash River. Built as close as safely possible to the Indian frontier, the fort’s location offered good views both north and south on the Wabash River as well as a convenient location if his forces had met with disaster at Tippecanoe. The fort contained about 150 square feet with two-story block-houses and each corner. The upper levels of the block-houses offered unobstructed views of the river and surrounding land. After completion of the fort on October 23, 1811, the troops held a brief ceremony and named the outpost Fort Harrison. 4
      The United States had sustained losses at Mackinac, Detroit, and Dearborn, and for a time it looked as though the whole western border lay vulnerable to attack. 5 When Indians surrounded Fort Harrison on September 3, 1812, Captain Zachary Taylor’s defense of the garrison gave hope and strength to America’s battles in the west. Although there were approximately fifty men at the fort when it fell under attack, thirty eight of those were quite ill and could not assist in the defense. Taylor provided refuge for about a half a dozen families inside the fort walls during a two-day siege by hostile Indians. 6 During the two day siege, the fort’s attackers set fire to one of the blockhouses. A cache of whiskey stored in this area resulted in a spectacular fire which the soldiers inside managed to extinguish. Despite the gapping hole left by the fire, Taylor and his men managed to withstand the assault. After the inital siege, Fort Harrison endured another eleven days of sporadic attacks before Colonel William Russell arrived with a force of 1200 men to end the battle. 7 Taylor’s defense of the fort which resulted in the first American victory on land.
      After the hostilities of the War of 1812 ended early in 1815, many frontier forts increased their association with the War Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. The function of these forts shifted from military to diplomatic affairs. As commandant of Fort Harrison after 1816, John T. Chunn had the responsibility to serve and protect American citizens in the vicinity of his garrison. Just as it had during the War of 1812, Fort Harrison often served as a refuge for white settlers during times of Indian unrest. 8 The commandants also regularly heard grievances from Americans living in the area. During Chunn’s court-martial, one area resident noted that he had been to the fort several times asking for the removal of large numbers of Indians living on the west side of the Wabash River. If the Indian department had agreed, Chunn and his men would have been responsible for the removal of that Indian population. Throughout most of its seven-year existence, the soldiers of Fort Harrison acted primarily as peacekeepers and protectors.
      Chunn had been with William Henry Harrison in 1811 when Fort Harrison was originally built as a military supply depot and strategic defense. By the time Chunn returned to Fort Harrison as commandant in May of 1816, the garrison engaged primarily in trade and the fostering of good relations with local Indians. The fort ceased to function as a military installation soon after Chunn’s departure in 1818. By 1820 the fort had been overrun with French and Indian traders. Although the fort had long since been taken down, the Indiana Society of the Sons of the American Revolution secured the site of the old garrison as a National Historic Park in 1912. 9