The Baptist missionary, of whom Teas speaks, was the Reverend Isaac McCoy who came with his wife and seven children to Fort Wayne on May 15, 1820, and stayed for over two years at the fort. McCoy wished to go farther into the Indian country, but as he states, “necessity not choice compelled us to consent to go to Fort Wayne.”[12] Despite the predilection of some of the Indians for the Catholic faith as a result of long contacts with French traders and past remembrances of the French Jesuits, McCoy collected a fairly large number of Indian children for his school at Fort Wayne.[13] The authorities at Fort Wayne afforded McCoy every encouragement, although the Indian agent, John Hays, later regretted the fact that he allowed McCoy to use the barracks for housing the children. The forty half-civilized children racing around his offices, nearly drove the agent to distraction, besides destroying a great deal of government property. Of the five instructors engaged from time to time to aid in teaching the Indians, none remained over a period of three months. The McCoys found the necessities of life very dear at Fort Wayne; flour was obtainable only by long transportation and corn was also scarce. In the year 1821, the mission was saved from closing by receipt from the United States Government of four hundred and fifty dollars. This money was taken from a fund of ten thousand dollars appropriated by Congress for civilizing the Indians. Because of the steady demoralization of the Indians around Fort Wayne brought about by the traders’ whiskey, McCoy decided to move his mission in 1822. A new mission was established one hundred miles northwest of Fort Wayne on the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan River. A change in the management of the Indian agency at Fort Wayne took place in 1819 when Benjamin F. Stickney was transferred to a post on the lower Maumee and Dr. William Turner was named to succeed him. Stickney had served for nine years, and during this time, like all agents, had made many enemies. General Duncan McArthur writing from Chillicothe, Ohio, as early as March, 1815, informed Secretary of War James Monroe, that Colonel Lewis, a Shawnee chief had placed before him severe criticisms of Stickney’s methods. “The Indians are generally displeased with Mr. Stickney as an agent,” added General McArthur, “and several of them have requested me to make it known to the president and solicit his removal. He is certainly not well qualified to discharge the duties of an Indian agent.”[14]