Apekonit of The Miami
Wells was born at Jacob's Creek, Pennsylvania, the youngest son of Samuel Wells, a captain in the Virginia militia during the American Revolutionary War. The family moved to Kentucky when William was a small child, and his mother died soon after. Wells' father was killed in an Indian raid near Louisville, and the young boy was sent to live with a family friend. Three years later in 1782, he was taken captive by Miami while on a hunting trip. Wells was 12 years old.
Wells was adopted by a chief named Gaviahate ("Porcupine"), and raised in the village of Kenapakomoko, on the Eel River. His Miami name was "Apekonit" (carrot), perhaps in reference to his red hair. He seems to have adapted to Miami life quite well, and accompanied war parties- sometimes as the decoy.
Wells was located and visited by his brothers around 1788 or 1789. He visited Louisville but remained with the Miami, perhaps because he had married a Wea woman and had a child. His wife and daughter were later captured in a raid by General James Wilkinson in 1791, and presumed dead. Enraged, Wells organized a 300-man "suicide squad" that fought with distinction at St. Clair's Defeat.
Wells attracted the attention of war chief Little Turtle. He eventually married Little Turtle's daughter Wanagapeth ("Sweet Breeze"), with whom he had four children. He served the tribe as a scout during his new father-in-law's wars with the United States.
At Vincennes in 1793, Wells met with his eldest brother, Samuel, a survivor of St. Clair's Defeat two year before. The two travelled to Fort Nelson, where they met with General Rufus Putnam. William Wells warned Putnam that the British had been inciting Native American tribes to violence against the United States and negotiated a release of prisoners as a goodwill gesture. General Putnam wanted to organize a grand council of tribal chiefs to discuss peace terms, but the Native Americans- still undefeated by the Americans- rejected his offer.
Later, with Little Turtle's permission, Wells became a captain in the Legion of the United States, acting as a scout and interpreter for General "Mad Anthony" Wayne. Captain Wells led the First Sub-Legion to the battleground of St. Clair's Defeat (which he had fought in), and located abandoned U.S. cannons, which the American Indians had buried. General Wayne ordered the Legion to bury the bones found, and then build Fort Recovery on the battlesite. When Native American forces under Blue Jacket attacked the fort on 30 June 1794, Wells led a scouting mission that discovered British officers who had brought cannonballs and powder, not knowing that the United States had already recovered the buried cannons.
Wells was wounded in the Battle of Fallen Timbers. He went on to act as an interpreter in treaty negotiations and state visits by Indian chiefs.
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