Thomas Freeman in Indiana Territory: A Research Essay on the Fort Wayne Surveys (1803) and the Vincennes Tract Boundary Survey (1803–1804)

Abstract

ABSTRACT:From 1802 to 1804, under orders from Secretary of War Henry Dearborn, and under the supervision of William Henry Harrison, first governor of Indiana Territory and superintendent of Indian Affairs, Thomas Freeman surveyed two tracts of land at or near Fort Wayne, Indiana, as specified in the 1795 Treaty of Greenville, and the boundary of the “Vincennes Tract,” as specified in the 1803 Treaty of Fort Wayne. Author Thomas Jandebeur examines existing scholarship on Freeman’s surveys and, using correspondence and other documents from Freeman’s time, corrects both the dates and sequence of Freeman’s surveying in Indiana Territory.