Documents: Inaccurate history remains in Fort Wayne's Gen. 'Mad' Anthony Wayne Day resolution

In 2019, then-City Councilman Jason Arp (R-4) introduced a successful resolution to Council, declaring July 16 as General “Mad” Anthony Wayne Day. The idea was to honor Fort Wayne's namesake and his role in the Battle of Stony Point on July 16, 1779, during the Revolutionary War.

However, the resolution contained several inaccuracies, ranging from the misspelling of the "Battle of Stony Point" to the mischaracterization of sovereign native tribes as "British led Native forces" and the claim that by capturing Stony Point, Wayne foiled a British attempt to capture General Washington.

In fact, the story made national headlines in Politico in 2020, when Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charlie Savage (raised in Fort Wayne) explained these inaccuracies in-depth and found that the resolution's claims about foiling an attempt to capture General Washington may have been based on a fictional AMC TV show.

See the resolution for Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne Day here:

However...

Rather than correcting the resolution, City Council did something else. They enlisted the Director of Fort Wayne's nonprofit, nonpartisan History Center, Todd Maxwell Pelfrey, for guidance drafting a new, separate resolution – this time to honor Native American Heritage Month in November.

To do this, Pelfrey gathered input from more than 60 tribal and historical experts across the country who weighed in on the new Native American Heritage Month resolution and confirmed factual inaccuracies regarding Native American tribes in the original Wayne Day resolution. In his letter to reviewers, Pelfrey noted that "any proximal review of the remaining historical content (in the Wayne Day resolution) pertaining to General Anthony Wayne, his nickname, the Battle of Stony Point, etc., has not been specifically requested" by Council.

Here's a copy of the review summary and proposed Native American Heritage Month resolution, which was ultimately approved by Council.

Here's a list of historians and tribes that reviewed the materials and responded:

Here are some of the letters from historians, confirming the accuracy of the Native American Heritage Month resolution:

It's worth noting...

Pelfrey also explained additional inaccuracies in the Wayne Day resolution (beyond those regarding Native Americans) to Council and offered to help correct them.

He wrote:

"As a whole, the historical content of the 'General "Mad" Anthony Wayne Day' resolution represents an unfounded divergence from the established histories of those events that have been overwhelmingly understood and publicly acknowledged for over two and one-quarter centuries. If City Council ever wishes to address the inaccuracies pertaining to the non-Native American history sections included in (the Wayne Day resolution) R-19-02-12, the History Center would eagerly oblige and coordinate the review amongst key subject matter experts."

As of March 1, 2025, City Council has not taken him up on this offer, as seen below in his supplementary comments.