Sweet Johnston Farm & Indian Agency Sign ~ Piqua, Ohio
Native American, Frontier, & Canal History
In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson appointed Johnston as Indian Agent at the new trading agency in Fort Wayne, and by 1809 he was in charge of two Indian Agencies. His primary responsibility was to manage trade so that Indians in the area would not seek trade with the nearby British. Johnston was responsible to the territorial governor, William Henry Harrison, and to the Superintendent of Indian Trade. Almost immediately, however, a rivalry began between Johnston and William Wells, the official interpreter at Fort Wayne. The Miami of Fort Wayne trusted Wells, who had been adopted into their tribe, while U.S. government officials questioned Wells' loyalty and sided with Johnston. Johnston remained at Fort Wayne through a period of growing resentment between the American Indians and the United States, and filed a report summarizing Indian accounts of the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811.
That same year, an Indian agency was established at Piqua, Ohio, and Johnston asked to be transferred to the new agency. He was at this agency during the War of 1812, and organized a Shawnee party under Captain Logan to rescue women and children during the Siege of Fort Wayne, where his brother, Stephen, was killed. He had much better relations with the local Shawnee and Wyandot than he had with the Indians at Fort Wayne, and served as Indian Agent until 1829. He helped negotiate the Treaty of Upper Sandusky in 1842, which removed the Wyandot from Ohio to the West. It was reported that he earned a $1200.00 salary per year as an agent, and he retained that position until let go by President Jackson - a total of thirty-one years.
Sweet Johnston Farm & Indian Agency Sign ~ Piqua, Ohio
Native American, Frontier, & Canal History
In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson appointed Johnston as Indian Agent at the new trading agency in Fort Wayne, and by 1809 he was in charge of two Indian Agencies. His primary responsibility was to manage trade so that Indians in the area would not seek trade with the nearby British. Johnston was responsible to the territorial governor, William Henry Harrison, and to the Superintendent of Indian Trade. Almost immediately, however, a rivalry began between Johnston and William Wells, the official interpreter at Fort Wayne. The Miami of Fort Wayne trusted Wells, who had been adopted into their tribe, while U.S. government officials questioned Wells' loyalty and sided with Johnston. Johnston remained at Fort Wayne through a period of growing resentment between the American Indians and the United States, and filed a report summarizing Indian accounts of the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811.
That same year, an Indian agency was established at Piqua, Ohio, and Johnston asked to be transferred to the new agency. He was at this agency during the War of 1812, and organized a Shawnee party under Captain Logan to rescue women and children during the Siege of Fort Wayne, where his brother, Stephen, was killed. He had much better relations with the local Shawnee and Wyandot than he had with the Indians at Fort Wayne, and served as Indian Agent until 1829. He helped negotiate the Treaty of Upper Sandusky in 1842, which removed the Wyandot from Ohio to the West. It was reported that he earned a $1200.00 salary per year as an agent, and he retained that position until let go by President Jackson - a total of thirty-one years.