Anthony Wayne - Early life, Revolutionary War, Political career, Northwest Indian War, Legacy

US soldier, born in Wayneboro, Pennsylvania, USA. A Revolutionary war hero, he gained his nickname because of his courage on the battlefield. He fought in many important battles during 1775–8, and demonstrated his military excellence in his surprise attack on and capture of Stony Point (1779). In 1780 he took quick action that prevented a British seizure of West Point after Benedict Arnold's betrayal of the post. Following his retirement (1783), he was recalled to military service in 1792 to meet a threat from Indians in the Ohio R valley. He campaigned cautiously (1793) before winning a decisive battle at Fallen Timbers (1794), and forced the Indian chiefs to accept the Treaty of Greenville, which opened up new areas to white settlers.

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 Wayne.

Early life

Wayne was born to Isaac Wayne in Easttown Township, Pennsylvania in Chester County, near present-day Paoli, Pennsylvania and educated as a surveyor at his uncle's private academy in Philadelphia.

Revolutionary War

At the onset of the American Revolutionary War in 1775, Wayne raised a militia and, in 1776, became colonel of the Fourth Regiment of Pennsylvania troops.

The highlight of Wayne's Revolutionary War service was probably his victory at Stony Point.

Political career

After the war, Wayne returned to Pennsylvania and served in the state legislature for a year in 1784.

Northwest Indian War

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.

Washington placed Wayne in command of a newly-formed military force called the "Legion of the United States."

On August 20, 1794, Wayne mounted an assault on Blue Jacket's confederacy at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, just south of present-day Toledo, Ohio, which was a decisive victory for the U.S. forces, ending the war. Chief Little Turtle, leader of the Native American troops, after battling General Wayne, told his superiors that General Wayne did not sleep, and that failure seemed evident. Wayne then negotiated the Treaty of Greenville between the tribal confederacy and the United States, which was signed on August 3, 1795.

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). His body was disinterred in 1809 and, after boiling the body to remove the remaining flesh where the modern Wayne Blockhouse stands, was relocated to the family plot in St. David’s Episcopal Church Cemetery in Radnor, Pennsylvania.

Legacy

Wayne's was the first attempt to provide formalized basic training for regular Army recruits and Legionville was the first facility established expressly for this purpose.

The Treaty of Greenville was procured due to Wayne's military successes against the tribal confederacy and gave most of what is now Ohio to the United States, and cleared the way for that state to enter the Union in 1803.

It is said the reason General Wayne was nicknamed "Mad Anthony" Wayne, was because he could lead an army with two and a half hours of sleep or less.

George Washington despite his lax position on foreign entanglements, considered General "Mad Anthony" Wayne as a last resort for the "Indian Problem". named for Wayne

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. A small sample:

Counties, cities, towns, communities, rivers Wayne County, Georgia Wayne County, Illinois Wayne County, Indiana Wayne County, Michigan Wayne County, North Carolina Wayne County, New York Wayne County, Ohio Wayne County, West Virginia Wayne City, Illinois The Town of Waynesville, North Carolina The City of Waynesboro, Georgia The City of Fort Wayne, Indiana The City of Wayne, Michigan The City of Waynesboro, Virginia The City of Waynesburg, Pennsylvania The City of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania The Village of Waynesfield, Ohio 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 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 high stepping marching band is known as the Generals. The Anthony Wayne Movie Theater in Wayne, Pennsylvania The former Anthony Wayne Bank in Fort Wayne Wayne State University, Detroit Wayne High School, Huber Heights, Ohio Waynesfield-Goshen Schools, Waynesfield, Ohio Wayne Middle School Erie, Pennsylvania Anthony Wayne Drive, in Detroit, Michigan Anthony Wayne Middle School, in Wayne, New Jersey Anthony Wayne Restaurant, defunct, in Wayne, New Jersey (Anthony)Wayne Avenue, Ticonderoga, NY Anthony Wayne Avenue in Cincinnati, 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 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 IN General Wayne Inn in Merion, Pennsylvania Major General Anthony Wayne, US Army tug based at Southampton, UK

Popular culture

Wayne's legacy has extended to American popular culture in the following 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.