The Western theater of the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
(1775–1783) was the area of conflict west of the
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. The ...
, the region which became the
Northwest Territory
The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolutionary War. Established in 1 ...
of the United States as well as what would become the states of
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
,
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...
,
Missouri
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
and
Spanish Louisiana. The western war was fought between
American Indians with their
British allies in Detroit, and American settlers south and east of the
Ohio River
The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of ...
, and also the Spanish as allies of the latter.
Background
At the conclusion of the
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...
(1754-1763), Great Britain won uncontested influence over the region between its Atlantic Coast colonies and the Mississippi River. The
Ohio River
The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of ...
marked a tenuous border between the American colonies and the American Indians of the Ohio Country. The
Proclamation of 1763 forbade British colonists from settling west of the
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. The ...
in order to prevent conflict between Indians and colonists in the vast territory newly acquired from France. Settlers and land speculators in Britain and America objected to this restriction, however, and so British officials negotiated two treaties with American Indians in 1768—the
Treaty of Fort Stanwix
The Treaty of Fort Stanwix was a treaty signed between representatives from the Iroquois and Great Britain (accompanied by negotiators from New Jersey, Virginia and Pennsylvania) in 1768 at Fort Stanwix. It was negotiated between Sir William ...
and the
Treaty of Hard Labour
In an effort to resolve concerns of settlers and land speculators following the western boundary established by the Royal Proclamation of 1763 by George III of the United Kingdom, King George III, it was desired to move the boundary farther west to ...
—which opened up land for settlement south of the Ohio River. Thereafter, tensions between British officials and colonists over western land policy diminished.
As the Revolution approached, tensions grew in the Ohio Valley. The
Grand Ohio Company
The Ohio Company, formally known as the Ohio Company of Virginia, was a land speculation company organized for the settlement by Virginians of the Ohio Country (approximately the present U.S. state of Ohio) and to trade with the Native Americ ...
was built on speculation in Native American lands,
and Great Britain granted tracts of Native land to veterans of the French and Indian War to pay off debts. But in 1772, Great Britain redeployed many of its western forces to the East Coast due to the increasing tensions with the colonists, removing a deterrent to illegal squatters. In 1774, Great Britain determined that these land grants could not be granted to colonial veterans, meaning that colonial veterans who had invested heavily in land speculation (such as
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
) would lose their investment. That same year, the
Quebec Act placed the lands between the Ohio River and Great Lakes under the jurisdiction of
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...
. That Spring, a group of settlers led by
Daniel Greathouse committed the
Yellow Creek massacre, in which thirteen women and children were killed, including the wife and pregnant sister of
Tachnechdorus, who had been friendly to settlers until that time. In a particularly brutal act, Koonay, the sister of Tachnechdorus, was strung up by the wrists while her unborn baby was impaled. As expected, Tachnechdorus took revenge, and was supported by the Shawnee, who expressed discontent that they had still not been paid for their lands. Still other Shawnee fled the
Scioto River valley, avoiding the anticipated war with the white settlers who suddenly surrounded them.
Most of the Indians who actually lived and hunted in the Ohio Valley—
Shawnee
The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...
s,
Mingos,
Lenape
The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory inclu ...
, and
Wyandots—had not been consulted in the 1768 treaties. Angry with the
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...
for selling their lands to the British, Shawnees began to organize a confederacy of western Indians with the intention of preventing the loss of their lands. British and Iroquois officials worked to diplomatically isolate the Shawnees from other Indian nations, however, and so when
Dunmore's War broke out in 1774, Shawnees faced the Virginia militia with few allies. After Virginia's victory in the war, the Shawnees were compelled to accept the Ohio River boundary. Shawnee and Mingo leaders who did not agree with these terms renewed the struggle soon after the American Revolutionary War began in 1775.
1775 to 1776 – Neutrality and small raids
Initially, both the British and the
Continental Congress sought to keep western American Indians out of the war. At Fort Pitt in October 1775, American and Indian leaders reaffirmed the boundary established by Dunmore's War the previous year. Without British support, Indian leaders such as
Chief Blackfish
Blackfish (c. 1729–1779) ( sjw, Cot-ta-wa-ma-go or ), was a Native American leader, war chief of the Chillicothe band of the Shawnee tribe.
Biography
Little is known about him, since he only appears in written historical records during the la ...
(Shawnee) and
Pluggy
Pluggy ( Mohawk: Tecanyaterighto, Plukkemehnotee) (died 29 December 1776) was an 18th-century Mingo chieftain and ally of Logan during Lord Dunmore's War. During the American Revolutionary War, he allied with the British and commanded a series o ...
(Mingo) raided into Kentucky, hoping to drive the settlers out. Governor
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736June 6, 1799) was an American attorney, planter, politician and orator known for declaring to the Second Virginia Convention (1775): " Give me liberty, or give me death!" A Founding Father, he served as the first a ...
of Virginia wanted to retaliate by attacking Pluggy's Town in the Ohio Country, but he canceled the expedition for fear that the militia would be unable to distinguish between neutral and hostile Indians, and thus make enemies of the neutral Lenape and Shawnees. Nevertheless, Shawnees and Delaware became increasingly divided over whether or not to take part in the war. While leaders such as
White Eyes (Lenape) and
Cornstalk (Shawnee) urged neutrality,
Buckongahelas
Buckongahelas (c. 1720 – May 1805) together with Little Turtle & Blue Jacket, achieved the greatest victory won by Native Americans, killing 600. He was a regionally and nationally renowned Lenape chief, councilor and warrior. He was a ...
(Lenape) and
Blue Jacket (Shawnee) decided to fight against the Americans.
In Kentucky, isolated settlers and hunters became the frequent target of attacks, compelling many to return to the East. By late spring of 1776, fewer than 200 colonists remained in Kentucky, primarily at the fortified settlements of
Boonesborough,
Harrodsburg, and
Logan's Station. In December 1776, Pluggy was killed in an
attack on McClellan's Station, which was located on the site of present
Georgetown, Kentucky.
1777 – Escalation
In 1777, the British launched the
Saratoga campaign
The Saratoga campaign in 1777 was an attempt by the British high command for North America to gain military control of the strategically important Hudson River valley during the American Revolutionary War. It ended in the surrender of the British ...
from Canada. In order to provide a strategic diversion for operations in the Northeast, officials in Detroit began recruiting and arming Indian war parties to raid American settlements. Unknown numbers of American settlers in present
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
,
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...
, and
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
were killed in these raids. The intensity of the conflict increased after enraged American militiamen murdered
Cornstalk, the leading advocate of Shawnee neutrality, in November. Despite the violence, many Ohio Indians still hoped to stay out of the war. This was a difficult task because they were located directly between the British in Detroit and the Americans along the Ohio River.
1778 to 1779 – American advances
In the early years of the war, the Virginians had attempted to defend their western border with militiamen garrisoning three forts along the Ohio River—
Fort Pitt,
Fort Henry, and
Fort Randolph. Defending such a long border proved to be futile, however, because American Indians simply bypassed the forts during their raids. In 1778, the Americans decided that offensive operations were necessary to secure their western border.
In September 1778, the United States negotiated the
Treaty of Fort Pitt and secured Lenape support for an attack on Detroit the following month. The campaign was abandoned after the death of Lenape leader
White Eyes.
Problems at Fort Pitt
The first American expedition into the Ohio Country was a debacle. In February, General
Edward Hand led 500 Pennsylvania
militiamen from Fort Pitt on a surprise winter march towards Mingo towns on the
Cuyahoga River, where the British stored military supplies which they distributed to Indian raiding parties. Adverse weather conditions prevented the expedition from reaching its objective, however. On the return march, some of Hand's men attacked peaceful Lenape Indians, killing one man and a few women and children, including relatives of the Lenape chief
Captain Pipe. Because only non-combatants had been killed, the expedition became derisively known as the "squaw campaign".
Besides unruly militia,
Loyalist sentiment around Pittsburgh also contributed to Hand's problems. In March, three men with close ties to the British and American Indians left Pittsburgh, defecting to the British and Indian side. They were
Simon Girty, an interpreter who had guided the "squaw campaign",
Matthew Elliot, a local trader, and
Alexander McKee, an agent for the
British Indian Department
The Indian Department was established in 1755 to oversee relations between the British Empire and the First Nations of North America. The imperial government ceded control of the Indian Department to the Province of Canada in 1860, thus setting ...
. All three would prove to be valuable British operatives in the war. Amid much criticism, and facing a congressional investigation for allowing the men to defect, Hand resigned in May.
Treaty making and fort building
Following the escalation of the war in 1777, Americans on the western frontier appealed to the Continental Congress for protection. After an investigation, a Congressional commission recommended in early 1778 that two regiments of the
Continental Army
The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...
be stationed in the West. Furthermore, because a defensive line of forts had little effect on Indian raids into the American settlements, the commissioners called for a fort to be built on the Indian side of the Ohio River, the first in a line of forts which would enable the Americans, it was hoped, to mount an expedition against Detroit.
Hollidays Cove Fort was a Revolutionary War fortification constructed in 1774 by soldiers from Ft. Pitt. It was located in what is now downtown Weirton, West Virginia, along Harmons Creek (named for Harmon Greathouse), about three miles from its mouth on the Ohio River. It was commanded by Colonel Andrew Van Swearingen (1741–1793) and later by his son-in-law, Captain Samuel Brady (1756–1795), the famous leader of Brady's Rangers. In 1779, over 28 militia were garrisoned at Hollidays Cove. Two years earlier, Colonel Van Swearingen led a dozen soldiers by longboat down the Ohio to help rescue the inhabitants of Ft. Henry in Wheeling in a siege by the British and Indian tribes in 1777. That mission was memorialized in a WPA-era mural painted on the wall of the Cove Post Office by Charles S. Chapman (1879–1962). The mural features Col. John Bilderback, who later gained infamy as the leader of the massacre of the Moravian Indians in Gnadenhutten in 1782.
In order to build a fort in the Ohio Country, the Americans sought the approval of the Lenape Indians. In September 1778, Americans negotiated the
Treaty of Fort Pitt with the Lenape, which resulted in the building of
Fort Laurens along the
Tuscarawas River. American plans soon went awry, however.
White Eyes, the Lenape leader who had negotiated the treaty, was apparently murdered in 1778 by American militiamen. His rival, Captain Pipe, eventually abandoned the American alliance and moved west to the
Sandusky River, where he began receiving support from the British in Detroit. Furthermore, because of intense warfare in eastern Pennsylvania and upstate New York, Congress was unable to provide the manpower for operations against Detroit. Fort Laurens was abandoned in 1779.
Clark's Illinois campaign
In late 1778,
George Rogers Clark, a young Virginia militia officer, launched a campaign to seize the sparsely garrisoned
Illinois Country from the British. With a company of volunteers, Clark captured
Kaskaskia, the chief post in the Illinois Country, on July 4, and later secured the submission of
Vincennes. Vincennes was recaptured by General
Henry Hamilton, the British commander at Detroit. In February 1779, Clark
marched to Vincennes in a surprise winter march and captured Hamilton himself.
To American frontiersmen, Hamilton was known as "the Hair-buyer General" because, they believed, he encouraged Indians to kill and scalp American civilians. For this reason, Governor
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
brought Hamilton to
Williamsburg, Virginia, to be tried as a war criminal. After British officials threatened to retaliate against American prisoners of war, Jefferson relented, and Hamilton was exchanged for an American prisoner in 1781.
Although Clark's forces captured and held outposts in the lower areas of the territory, British forces maintained control of
Fort Lernoult
Fort Shelby was a military fort in Detroit, Michigan that played a significant role in the War of 1812. It was built by the British in 1779 as Fort Lernoult, and was ceded to the United States by the Jay Treaty in 1796. It was renamed Fort D ...
(
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
).
1780 – Major British and Indian offensive
Over the next several years of the war, both sides launched raids against each other, usually targeting settlements. In Spring of 1780, British and Native American forces swept across the Midwest to clear the territories of rebels and Spanish forces, attacking
St. Louis and Cahokia and
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
, but were repulsed in both battles. In St. Louis, the British and Indian force was repulsed by the mixed Spanish and French creole force. Fort San Carlos, a stone tower in modern downtown St Louis, was the center of this defense. Hundreds of Kentucky settlers were killed or captured in Bird's expedition, however, and within months, General
George Rogers Clark retaliated by crossing the Ohio River and attacking Shawnee towns along the
Mad River,
Chillicothe and
Piqua.
In the Illinois territory, French officer
Augustin de La Balme
Augustin Mottin de La Balme (28 August 1733 - 5 November 1780) was a French cavalry officer who served in Europe during the Seven Years' War and in the United States during the American Revolution. His attempt to capture Fort Detroit in 1780 end ...
assembled a militia force of French residents in an effort to take
Fort Detroit. The force was
destroyed in November by the
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
under Chief
Little Turtle. At the same time, the nearly abandoned
Fort St. Joseph was raided by Americans from
Cahokia. On their return trip, however, they were overtaken by British loyalists and Indians near
Petit fort.
1781
Spanish Governor Francisco Cruzat, in St. Louis, sent a force of about 140 Spanish soldiers and American Indians under Captain Eugenio Pourré to capture
Fort St. Joseph. It was captured and plundered on February 12, 1781.
In late 1780, Clark traveled east to consult with
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
, the governor of Virginia, about an expedition in 1781. Jefferson devised a plan which called for Clark to lead 2,000 men against Detroit. Recruiting enough men was a problem, however. In time of war, most militiamen preferred to stay close to their homes rather than go on extended campaigns. Furthermore, Colonel
Daniel Brodhead refused to detach the men because he was staging his own expedition against the
Lenape
The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory inclu ...
, who had recently entered the war against the Americans. Brodhead marched into the Ohio Country and
destroyed the Lenape Indian capital of Coshocton in April, but this only made the Lenape more determined enemies and deprived Clark of badly needed men and supplies for the Detroit campaign. Most of the Lenape fled to the militant towns on the
Sandusky River.
When Clark finally left Fort Pitt in August, he was accompanied by only 400 men. On August 24, a detachment of one hundred of his men was
ambushed near the Ohio River by Indians led by
Joseph Brant (''also'' Thayendanegea), a Mohawk leader temporarily in the west. Brant's victory ended Clark's efforts to move against Detroit. But that same year, British and Native American forces attacked
Fort Laurens, a U.S. fort in the Ohio Territory.
Between the combatants on the Sandusky River and the Americans at Fort Pitt were several villages of pacifist
Christian Lenape. The villages were administered by the
Moravian missionaries
David Zeisberger and
John Heckewelder. Although non-combatants, the missionaries favored the American cause and kept American officials at Fort Pitt informed about hostile British and Indian activity. In response, in September 1781, Wyandots and Lenape from Sandusky forcibly removed the Christian Lenape and the missionaries to a new village (Captive Town) on the Sandusky River.
1782 – "The Year of Blood"
In March 1782, 160 Pennsylvania militiamen under Lieutenant Colonel
David Williamson rode into the Ohio Country, hoping to find the Indian warriors who were responsible for ongoing raids against Pennsylvania settlers. Enraged by the gruesome murder by Indians of a white woman and her baby, Williamson's men detained about 100 Lenape now known as the "
Christian Munsee" at the village of Gnadenhütten. The Christian Munsee had returned to Gnadenhütten from Captive Town in order to harvest the crops that they had been forced to leave behind. Accusing the Christian Munsee of having aided Indian raiding parties, the Pennsylvanians
killed the 100 Christian Indians— mostly women and children— with hammer blows to the head.
Colonel William Crawford of the Continental Army came out of retirement
to lead 480 volunteer
militiamen, mostly from
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, deep into American Indian territory, with the intention of surprising the Indians. The Indians and their
British allies from Detroit had learned about the expedition in advance, however, and brought about 440 men to the Sandusky to oppose the Americans. After a day of indecisive fighting, the Americans found themselves surrounded and attempted to retreat. The retreat turned into a rout, but most of the Americans managed to find their way back to Pennsylvania. About 70 Americans were killed; Indian and British losses were minimal.
During the retreat, Colonel Crawford and an unknown number of his men were captured. The Indians executed many of these captives in retaliation for the
Gnadenhütten massacre earlier in the year, in which about 100 Indian civilians were murdered by Pennsylvania militiamen. Crawford's execution was particularly brutal: he was
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts ...
d for at least two hours before being
burned at the stake.
The failure of the
Crawford expedition caused alarm along the American frontier, as many Americans feared that the Indians would be emboldened by their victory and launch a new series of raids. Even more defeats for the Americans were yet to come, and so for Americans west of the
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. The ...
, 1782 became known as the "Bloody Year". On July 13, 1782, the Mingo leader
Guyasuta
Guyasuta (c. 1725–c. 1794; see, Kayahsotaˀ, either "he stands up to the cross" or "he sets up the cross") was an important Native American leader of the Seneca people in the second half of the eighteenth century, playing a central role i ...
led about 100 Indians and several British volunteers into Pennsylvania, destroying
Hannastown and killing nine and capturing twelve settlers. It was the hardest blow dealt by Indians in Western Pennsylvania during the war.
In Kentucky, the Americans went on the defensive while Caldwell, Elliott, and McKee with their Indian allies prepared a major offensive. Fort Estill was attacked by
Wyandot Indians in March 1782. Colonel
Benjamin Logan, commanding officer of the region, and stationed at Logan's Station, learned that the Wyandot warriors were in the area on warpath. The Indians, aided by the British in Detroit, had raided from Boonsborough past Estill's Station along the Kentucky River. Logan dispatched 15 men to Captain Estill at Estill's Station with orders to increase his force by 25 more men and reconnoiter the country to the north and east. Following orders, Captain Estill reached the Kentucky River a few miles below the mouth of Station Camp Creek and camped that night at Sweet Lick, now known as Estill Springs. On the day after they left Estill's Station, a body of Indians appeared there at dawn on March 20, they raided the fort, scalped and killed a Miss Innes in sight of the fortification and took Monk, a slave of Captain Estill, and killed all the cattle. As soon as the Indians retreated, Samuel South and
Peter Hackett, both young men, were dispatched to take the trail of the men and inform them of the news. The boys found them near the mouth of Drowning Creek and Red River early on the morning of March 21. Of the 40 men, approximately 20 had left families within the fort. They returned with the boys to Estill's Station. The remainder crossed the Kentucky river and found the Indian trail. Captain Estill organized a company of 25 men, followed the Indians, and suffered what is known as Estill's Defeat, later known as the
Battle of Little Mountain
The Battle of Little Mountain, also known as Estill's Defeat, was fought on March 22, 1782, near Mount Sterling in what is now Montgomery County, Kentucky. One of the bloodiest engagements of the Kentucky frontier, the battle has long been the ...
(March 22, 1782) in Montgomery Co.
In July 1782, more than 1,000 Indians gathered at Wapatomica, but the expedition was called off after scouts reported that George Rogers Clark was preparing to invade the Ohio Country from Kentucky. The reports turned out to be false, but Caldwell still managed to lead 300 Indians into Kentucky and deliver a devastating blow at the
Battle of Blue Licks in August. One of the last battles of the Revolutionary War was the September 1782
Siege of Fort Henry. With peace negotiations between the United States and Great Britain making progress, Caldwell was ordered to cease further operations. Similarly, General Irvine had gotten permission for a Continental Army expedition into the Ohio Country, but this was cancelled. In November, George Rogers Clark delivered the final blow in the Ohio Country, destroying several Shawnee towns, but inflicting little damage on the inhabitants.
Peace and legacy
The war in the Northwest, in the words of historian
David Curtis Scaggs, Jr.
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
"ended in a stalemate".
In the war's final years, each side could destroy enemy settlements, but could not stay and hold the territory. For the Shawnees, the war was a loss: the Americans had successfully defended Kentucky and increased settlement there, so that prime hunting ground was now lost. Although the Indians had been pushed back from the Ohio River and were now settled primarily in the Lake Erie basin, the Americans could not occupy the abandoned lands for fear of Indian raids.
News of the pending peace treaty arrived late in 1782. In
the final treaty, the Ohio Country was signed away by Great Britain to the United States, even though "not a single American soldier was north of the Ohio River when the treaty was signed".
Great Britain had not consulted the Indians in the peace process, and the Indians were nowhere mentioned in treaty's terms. The western theater had a markedly different tone than the
European style battles in the east, which left a generational impact on US settlers and Native Nations. For the Native Nations resisting the encroachment of their lands, the struggle would soon continue as the
Northwest Indian War
The Northwest Indian War (1786–1795), also known by other names, was an armed conflict for control of the Northwest Territory fought between the United States and a united group of Native American nations known today as the Northwestern ...
, though this time without the explicit support of the British.
[Downes, ''Council Fires'', 276.]
See also
*
Western Department
Notes
References
;Published sources
*James, James Alton. ''George Rogers Clark papers.'' 2 vols.
*Kellogg, Louise P., ed. ''Frontier Advance on the Upper Ohio, 1778–1779.'' Madison: State Society of Wisconsin, 1916.
*Kellogg, Louise P., ed. ''Frontier Retreat on the Upper Ohio, 1779–1781.'' Originally published Madison, Wisconsin, 1917. Reprinted Baltimore: Clearfield, 2003. .
*Nogay, Michael Edward, " Every Home a Fort, Every Man a Warrior," (Tri-State Publishing Co.: 2009) .
*Thwaites, Reuben G. and Louise P. Kellogg, eds. ''Frontier Defense on the Upper Ohio 1777–1778.'' Orig pub. 1912, Kraus reprint, Millwood, NY 1977.
*Thwaites, Reuben G. and Louise P. Kellogg, eds. ''The Revolution on the Upper Ohio, 1775–1777''. Originally published 1908, Kennikat reprint, Port Washington, NY 1970.
;Articles
*Belue, Ted Franklin. "Crawford's Sandusky Expedition". ''The American Revolution, 1775–1783: An Encyclopedia'' 1: 416–420. Ed. Richard L. Blanco. New York: Garland, 1993. .
*Calloway, Colin G. "Captain Pipe." ''American National Biography''. 4: 368–69. Ed. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. .
*Clifton, James A. "Dunquat." ''American National Biography''. 7: 105–07. Ed. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. .
*Quaife, Milo Milton. "The Ohio Campaigns of 1782". ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review'' 17, no. 4 (March 1931): 515–529.
;Books
*Bakeless, John. ''Background to Glory: The Life of George Rogers Clark''. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1957. Bison Book printing, 1992; . Popular history which portrays Clark as a military genius who conquered the Old Northwest. (The 1992 introduction by historian James P. Ronda reflects later doubts about this traditional view of Clark.)
*Calloway, Colin G. ''The American Revolution in Indian Country: Crisis and Diversity in Native American Communities''. Cambridge University Press, 1995. (hardback).
*Dowd, Gregory Evans. ''A Spirited Resistance: The North American Indian Struggle for Unity, 1745–1815''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992. .
*Downes, Randolph C. ''Council Fires on the Upper Ohio: A Narrative of Indian Affairs in the Upper Ohio Valley until 1795''. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1940. (1989 reprint).
*Grenier, John. ''The First Way of War: American War Making on the Frontier, 1607–1814''. Cambridge University Press, 2005. .
*Hurt, R. Douglas. ''The Ohio Frontier: Crucible of the Old Northwest, 1720–1830''. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1996. (hardcover); (1998 paperback).
*Kenton, Edna. ''Simon Kenton: His Life and Period, 1755–1836''. Originally published 1930; reprinted Salem, NH: Ayer, 1993.
*
*Nelson, Larry L. ''A Man of Distinction among Them: Alexander McKee and the Ohio Country Frontier, 1754–1799.'' Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1999. (hardcover).
*Nester, William. ''The Frontier War for American Independence''. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2004. .
*Scaggs, David Curtis, ed. ''The Old Northwest in the American Revolution: An Anthology''. Madison: The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1977. .
*Smith, Thomas H., ed. ''Ohio in the American Revolution: A Conference to Commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the Ft. Gower Resolves.'' Columbus: Ohio Historical Society, 1976.
*Sosin, Jack M. ''The Revolutionary Frontier, 1763–1783''. New York: Holt, 1967.
*Van Every, Dale. ''A Company of Heroes: The American Frontier, 1775–1783''. New York: Morrow, 1962. Popular history with emphasis on George Rogers Clark and Joseph Brant.
{{American Revolutionary War, state=collapsed
History of the Midwestern United States
Wars between the United States and Native Americans