At Fort Wayne comparative calm had set in, according to Lt. Curtis’ account. “After the 10th we rested in tranquility, but could see large bodies of Indians between that time and the 12th running in great haste across the prairies and many without arms.”[21] On the night of the 11th, while still seventeen miles from Fort Wayne, Harrison wrote to the Secretary of War that he fully expected a major engagement the following day. The Indians were prepared to give battle at a swamp five miles southeast of the fort, but finding Harrison’s army too strong to attack, they kindled extensive fires to create the impression within the fort that a battle had occurred. They hoped thereby to draw the troops out of the fort, but his final ruse failed, and the Indians withdrew, some only a few minutes before the arrival of Harrison’s advance guard. The arrival of the army around three o’clock that afternoon was an occasion of great joy to the troops and people who had taken refuge within the fort. Harrison’s men encamped outside the walls of the fort where, McAfee relates, “a few days previous there had been a handsome little village; but it was now in ruins.”[22] The government factory had been burned by the Indians as well as the large council house. Captain Wells’ farm had been overrun and laid waste, while all the outlying homes were destroyed. The corn which had been cultivated by the villagers was nearly all gone and the remainder served as forage for Harrison’s cavalry. Fort Wayne was described by McAfee as: Delightfully situated on an eminence on the south bank of the Miami of the Lake [Maumee river] immediately below the formation that river by the junction of the St. Marys with the St. Josephs ... It is well constructed of block houses and picketting, but could not resist a British force, as there are several eminences on the south side, from which it could be commanded by a six or nine pounder.[23] After referring to the proximity of the Wabash river to that of the St. Mary’s, McAfee added, “A canal at some future day will unite these rivers and thus render a town at Fort Wayne, as formerly, the most considerable place in all that country.”[24] From a military viewpoint, Fort Wayne had successfully withstood the siege, but the destruction of the village and trade must be considered as a major setback to the community. McAfee indicated this even though he foresaw a more promising future. As late as 1821, Thomas Teas wrote after visiting Fort Wayne, “The village before the late war was much larger than at present.”[25] Many of the families who left Fort Wayne in 1812 never returned. On the day following Harrison’s arrival, detachments, using Fort Wayne as their base of operations, commenced the destruction of the Indian villages of the entire region. The men who remained at Fort Wayne proceeded to remove all the underbrush surrounding the fort. The land was cleared on both sides of each river for a mile in every direction.