Should Ohio rename Wayne National Forest? Here’s the controversial history of its namesake.
cleveland.com: John Bickers, the Jesse Hauk Shera Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the College of Arts and Sciences, examined the potential renaming of Wayne National Forest in Southeast Ohio, and the legacy of the forest’s namesake, “Mad” Anthony Wayne. “If you’re talking about the (American) Revolution, he was a war hero,” Bickers said. “He served with the patriots … He fought the British. From that perspective, that legacy is patriotic. From a (Miami) perspective and for indigenous peoples in Ohio, his legacy was one of violence and destruction. He led U.S. forces into invading our homelands. He burned our villages to the ground, killed Miami people, and that’s how he’s remembered in our community.”
