Editing Defiance, Ohio (section)

==History==
The city contains the site of [[Fort Defiance (Ohio)|Fort Defiance]], built by General "Mad" [[Anthony Wayne]] in August 1794 during the [[Northwest Indian War]]. Wayne surveyed the land and declared to General [[Charles Scott (governor)|Charles Scott]], "I defy the English, Indians, and all the devils of hell to take it."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.defiancetourism.com/history.htm|title=Defiance Ohio|publisher=Defiance Tourism|access-date=2012-07-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802051857/http://www.defiancetourism.com/history.htm|archive-date=2017-08-02|url-status=dead}}</ref> Using the fort as a [[base of operation]]s, Wayne ordered his troops to destroy [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] crops and villages within a radius of {{Convert|50|mi|km}} around the fort.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Defiance, Ohio - Ohio History Central|url=https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Defiance,_Ohio|access-date=2021-05-03|website=ohiohistorycentral.org}}</ref> Today a pair of cannons outside the city library on the Maumee River overlook the confluence and mark the location of Fort Defiance, along with a mounded outline of the fort walls. The city was named after Fort Defiance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=16600|title=Profile for Defiance, Ohio, OH|publisher=ePodunk|access-date=2012-07-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170626221016/http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=16600|archive-date=2017-06-26|url-status=dead}}</ref>

From Fort Defiance, the U.S. forces moved northeast along the Maumee River to fight the decisive [[Battle of Fallen Timbers]] near the current town of [[Maumee, Ohio]]. This victory secured for the United States the [[Northwest Territory]], now the states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin.

Fort Winchester was built on the same spot during the [[War of 1812]], but it was a larger fort that extended southward somewhat along the Auglaize River. Historical plaques in the sidewalks mark the full extent of Fort Winchester.

In 1822, Defiance was laid out as a town. In 1845, it was made the county seat of the newly created county, and it became a city in 1881.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Defiance |volume=7 |page=926}}</ref>