The Battle of Piqua, also known as the Battle of Peckowee, Battle of Pekowi, Battle of Peckuwe and the Battle of Pickaway, was a military engagement fought on August 8, 1780 at the Indian village of Piqua along the Mad River in western Ohio Country between the Kentucky County militia under General George Rogers Clark and

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 ...

Indians under Chief

Black Hoof Catecahassa or Black Hoof (c. 1740-1831) was the head civil chief of the Shawnee Indians in the Ohio Country of what became the United States. A member of the Mekoche division of the Shawnees, Black Hoof became known as a fierce warrior during ...

. The Indians were driven off and the village and surrounding fields burned, but Clark suffered daunting casualties. Clark's expedition was in response to

Bird's invasion of Kentucky Bird's invasion of Kentucky was one phase of an extensive planned series of operations planned by the British in 1780 during the American Revolutionary War, whereby the entire West, from Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico, was to be swept clear of both ...

earlier that summer by a combined force of Shawnee, Lenape and

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 ...

warriors that killed and captured hundreds of white settlers.

Background

The battle was part of a campaign in Ohio Country in the

Western theater of the American Revolutionary War The Western theater of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) was the area of conflict west of the Appalachian Mountains, the region which became the Northwest Territory of the United States as well as what would become the states of Ken ...

. Led by General George Rogers Clark, 970 soldiers crossed the Ohio River near present-day

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

in early August 1780 and proceeded up the Little Miami and Mad Rivers. They reached the Shawnee village of Old Chillicothe (north of what is today

Xenia, Ohio Xenia ( ) is a city in southwestern Ohio and the county seat of Greene County, Ohio, United States. It is east of Dayton and is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area, as well as the Miami Valley region. The name comes from the Gree ...

), which was known then as ''Chalawgatha'' to the Shawnee. Clark found it deserted and ordered it burned. He then proceeded a few miles north to the village of Piqua (not to be confused with the modern town of

Piqua, Ohio Piqua ( ) is a city in Miami County, southwest Ohio, United States, 27 miles north of Dayton. The population was 20,522 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area. It was founded as the village of Washington in ...

on the

Great Miami River The Great Miami River (also called the Miami River) (Shawnee: ''Msimiyamithiipi'') is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accesse ...

) where the Shawnee had retreated. Clark arrived at the village August 8, 1780. The village surrounded a small stockade. Piqua was at that time the capital village of the Shawnee and contained at least 3000 persons.

Battle

After several hours of fighting, both sides suffered significant casualties. The Shawnee were driven off when Clark used artillery to bombard the stockade from river cliffs above the village. Clark's men then spent two days burning as much as 500 acres of corn surrounding the village. Clark reported 27 casualties (14 killed and 13 wounded) to make it seem like a victory, but historians have corrected that number to almost three times that based on eyewitness accounts of survivors. The Shawnee suffered an unknown number dead, but at least five are known killed.

Aftermath

This defeat so decimated the Shawnee that rather than rebuild the village, they moved to the

where they settled just north of what is today the modern town of

and named their village ''Peckuwe'' (later anglicized to "Piqua"). The battle, the largest of the war west of the Allegheny Mountains, was one of only a handful of military engagements in Ohio Country during the American Revolutionary War. A memorial trail and state park, the George Rogers Clark Memorial () and Tecumseh State Park, was later built on the site of the battle by the Clark County Historical Society. An official ceremony was held on the 142nd anniversary to commemorate a monument to George Rogers Clark, an 18 ft. marble statue, as well as the birthplace of Tecumseh. The park was enlarged in 1930 and, on the sesquicentennial celebration of the battle, an historical conference was held at nearby

Wittenberg College Wittenberg University is a private liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio. It has 1,326 full-time students representing 33 states and 9 foreign countries. Wittenberg University is associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Americ ...

on October 9, 1930.Quife, Milo M. ''"The Ohio Campaigns of 1782."'' The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. XVII.1 (January 1930): 515.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piqua, Battle of Conflicts in 1780 1780 in the United States Piqua Piqua Clark County, Ohio Piqua Piqua Shawnee history

Background

Battle

Aftermath

See also

References