I’d heard about the artesian well at Trail’s End in rural Grant County for five or six years, but I never got around to checking it out. It didn’t show up on Google Maps, the roads looked like a maze, and I didn’t want to drive all that way just to leave disappointed. Yesterday, though, I finally visited. The well was surprisingly easy to find, loudly flowing just a few feet from the site of one of Indiana’s bloodiest armed conflicts.
The Battle of the Mississinewa was a brutal winter campaign launched by Major General William Henry Harrison in retaliation to Native attacks on Fort Wayne and Fort Harrison during the War of 1812. It took place on the east bank of the Mississinewa River in northwestern Grant County, near the present-day community of Jalapa.
A large number of Native Americans were killed and captured during the battle’s first day1. Outnumbered Native forces regrouped, however, and fought fiercely on the second until a cavalry chase broke their assault2. By the end of the battle, twelve Americans were killed and forty-eight were wounded. On the other side, at least thirty-eight Native Americans perished3.
Warned that Tecumseh was approaching with reinforcements, the Americans withdrew. The conflict technically ended in a U.S. victory, but it came at a steep human cost: over 300 men suffered severe frostbite during their return to Fort Greenville, forcing the disbandment of an entire regiment4…