St. Clair's defeat, also known as the Battle of the Wabash, the Battle of Wabash River or the Battle of a Thousand Slain, was a battle fought on 4 November 1791 in 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 part of the unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolution. Established ...
of the United States. The U.S. Army faced the
Northwestern Confederacy of
Native Americans as part of the
Northwest Indian War
The Northwest Indian War (1785–1795), 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 Americans in the United States, Native American na ...
. It was "the most decisive defeat in the history of the American military" and its largest defeat ever by Native Americans.
The Native Americans were led by
Little Turtle of the
Miamis,
Blue Jacket of the
Shawnee
The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language.
Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...
s, and
Buckongahelas of the
Delawares (Lenape). The war party numbered over 1,000 warriors, including many
Potawatomi
The Potawatomi (), also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains, upper Mississippi River, and western Great Lakes region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, ...
s from eastern Michigan. The opposing force of about 1,000 Americans was led by General
Arthur St. Clair. A surprise Indian attack at dawn overwhelmed the Americans. Of the 1,000 officers and men under St. Clair, only twenty-four escaped unharmed. As a result, President
George Washington
George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
forced St. Clair to resign his post, and
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
initiated its first investigation of the
executive branch
The executive branch is the part of government which executes or enforces the law.
Function
The scope of executive power varies greatly depending on the political context in which it emerges, and it can change over time in a given country. In ...
.
Background
In the
1783 Treaty of Paris, which ended 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 the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
, Great Britain recognized United States sovereignty of all the land east of the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...
and south of the
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...
. The native tribes in the
Old Northwest
The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from part of the unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolution. Established ...
, however, were not parties to this treaty, and many of them, especially leaders such as Little Turtle and Blue Jacket, refused to recognize American claims to the area northwest of the
Ohio River
The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...
. The young United States government, deeply in debt following the Revolutionary War and lacking the authority to tax under the
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation, officially the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement and early body of law in the Thirteen Colonies, which served as the nation's first Constitution, frame of government during the Ameri ...
, planned to raise funds via the methodical sale of land in the Northwest Territory.
This plan necessarily called for the removal of both Native American villages and American
squatters
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...
. During the mid and late 1780s, a cycle of violence in Indian-American relations and the continued resistance of Native nations threatened to deter American settlement of the contested territory, so territorial representatives
John Cleves Symmes
John Cleves Symmes (July 21, 1742February 26, 1814) was a delegate to the Continental Congress from New Jersey, and later a pioneer in the Northwest Territory. He was also the father-in-law of President William Henry Harrison and, thereby, the ...
and
Jonathan Dayton
Jonathan Dayton (October 16, 1760October 9, 1824) was an American Founding Father and politician from New Jersey. At 26, he was the youngest person to sign the Constitution of the United States. He was elected to the United States House of Rep ...
petitioned President Washington and
Secretary of War
The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...
Henry Knox
Henry Knox (July 25, 1750 – October 25, 1806) was an American military officer, politician, bookseller, and a Founding Father of the United States. Knox, born in Boston, became a senior general of the Continental Army during the Revolutionar ...
to use military force to crush the Miami.
A force of 1,453 men (320 regulars from the
First American Regiment
The First American Regiment (also known as Harmar's Regiment, The United States Regiment, The Regiment of Infantry, 1st Sub-legion, 1st Regiment of Infantry and 1st Infantry Regiment) was the first peacetime regular army infantry unit authorized ...
and 1,133
militia
A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...
) under Brigadier General
Josiah Harmar
Josiah Harmar (November 10, 1753August 20, 1813) was an officer in the United States Army during the American Revolutionary War and the Northwest Indian War. He was the senior officer in the Army for six years and seven months (August 1784 to ...
marched northwards from
Fort Washington on 7 October 1790.
The campaign ended in disaster for the United States. On 19–22 October, near
Kekionga
Kekionga (, meaning "blackberry bush"), also known as KiskakonCharles R. Poinsatte, ''Fort Wayne During the Canal Era 1828-1855,'' Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau, 1969, p. 1 or Pacan's Village, was the capital of the Miami tribe. It wa ...
and
Fort Miami (present-day
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in Allen County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 at the 2020 census ...
), Harmar played into the hands of his enemies by dividing his forces. On three separate occasions, he failed to reinforce or reorganize his detachments as they were ambushed one after the other. Suffering more than 200 casualties, as well as a loss of a third of his packhorses, Harmar ordered a hasty retreat back to Fort Washington. Estimates of total Native casualties, killed and wounded, range from 120 to 150. The press vilified Harmar as a disgrace, and he would never hold a command again.
Washington then ordered Arthur St. Clair, governor of the Northwest Territory, to mount a more vigorous effort by the summer of 1791. Harmar's experience had proven that state militiamen, who made up the bulk of his army, were too undisciplined to be reliable. Congress authorized the raising of a second regiment of regular soldiers for six months,
but at a reduced rate of pay. The demoralized First Regiment was reduced to 299 soldiers, while the new Second Regiment only had half the number of recruits needed for a full contingent.
St. Clair was able to raise two regiments (five battalions) with six-month civilian
levies but ultimately had no choice but to ask Kentucky to send its militia.
In May 1791, Lieutenant Colonel
James Wilkinson
James Wilkinson (March 24, 1757 – December 28, 1825) was an American army officer and politician who was associated with multiple scandals and controversies during his life, including the Burr conspiracy.
He served in the Continental Army du ...
led a subsequent raid in August 1791, intended to create a distraction that would aid St. Clair's march north. In the
Battle of Kenapacomaqua
The Battle of Kenapacomaqua, also called the Battle of Old Town, was a raid in 1791 by United States forces under the command of Lieutenant Colonel (later Brigadier General) James Wilkinson on the Miami tribe, Miami (Wea) town of Kenapacomaqua on ...
, Wilkinson killed nine
Wea and Miami and captured thirty-four Miami as prisoners, including a daughter of Miami war chief
Little Turtle. Many of the confederation leaders had grown weary of fighting and were considering making overtures of peace to Congress. Upon hearing of Wilkinson's raid, however, the peace movement collapsed, and the tribes quickly united for war.
Command structure

The Native American forces did not have a formal command structure, and the overall planning and leadership have been debated. Blue Jacket and Little Turtle later claimed to have been in overall command of the united forces.
John Norton claimed that when the battle began, the Shawnee took the lead. Little Turtle is often credited for the victory, but this may have been due to the influence of his son-in-law,
William Wells, who later served with the United States as an
Indian agent
In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with American Indian tribes on behalf of the U.S. government.
Agents established in Nonintercourse Act of 1793
The federal regulation of Indian affairs in the Un ...
and interpreter.
The different nations were grouped by similar language groups in a crescent-shaped formation at the start of the battle. Little Turtle of the Miamis, Blue Jacket of the Shawnee, with Buckongahelas and
Captain Pipe of the Lenape formed the center.
Egushawa was among the leaders of the
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
, Potawatomi, and
Ojibwe
The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...
units to the left.
Tarhe and
Simon Girty
Simon Girty (14 November 1741 – 18 February 1818) was an interpreter with the British Indian Department during the American Revolutionary War and Northwest Indian War. As a child he and his brothers James and George were captured and adopted b ...
were among the leaders of the
Wyandot,
Mingo
The Mingo people are an Iroquoian group of Native Americans, primarily Seneca and Cayuga, who migrated west from New York to the Ohio Country in the mid-18th century, and their descendants. Some Susquehannock survivors also joined them, a ...
, and
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...
units that formed the right horn of the crescent.
In addition, two British officers from the
24th Regiment (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot were on hand to observe.
The United States command structure was as follows:
U.S. Army – Major General
Arthur St. Clair
* 1st Infantry Regiment – Major
Jean François Hamtramck (only part of the regiment under Captain Thomas Doyle was engaged)
* 2nd Infantry Regiment – Major Jonathan Hart
* Artillery Battalion – Major William Ferguson
U.S. levies – Major General
Richard Butler
* 1st Levy Regiment – Lieutenant Colonel
William Darke
* 2nd Levy Regiment – Lieutenant Colonel George Gibson
Kentucky militia – Lieutenant Colonel
William Oldham
Campaign
Washington was adamant for St. Clair to move north in the summer months, but various logistics and supply problems greatly slowed his preparations at Fort Washington (now
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
, Ohio). The recruits had to be rushed through training, the food supplies were substandard, poor hygiene and disease were rampant, and the horses were low in number and of poor quality. The expedition thus did not set out until October 1791. Building supply posts as it advanced, the Army's objective was Kekionga, the capital of the Miami tribe.
The Army under St. Clair included 600 regulars, 800 six-month conscripts, and 600 militia at its peak, a total of around 2,000 men. Desertion took its toll; when the force finally got underway, it had dwindled to around 1,486 total men and some 200–250 camp followers (wives, children, laundresses, and prostitutes). Insubordination was constant; St. Clair, suffering from
gout
Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of pain in a red, tender, hot, and Joint effusion, swollen joint, caused by the deposition of needle-like crystals of uric acid known as monosodium urate crysta ...
that made riding a horse difficult, struggled to keep order. Indians constantly shadowed the force, and skirmishes occasionally erupted. By 2 November, through further desertion and illness, St. Clair's force had been whittled down to around 1,120, including the camp followers. Meanwhile, the Western Confederacy increased its strength. Buckongahelas led his 480 men to join the 700 warriors under Little Turtle and Blue Jacket, bringing the war party to more than 1,000 men, including many Potawatomis from eastern Michigan.
St. Clair had only 52 officers and 868 enlisted and militia present on 3 November. That day, the combined force camped on an elevated meadow, with the First Infantry and volunteers encamped on the opposite side of the
Wabash River
The Wabash River () is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 river that drains most of the state of Indiana, and a significant part of Illinois, in the United ...
from the Kentucky militia's camp, a decision that made it near-impossible for the Americans to reinforce one another quickly.
No defensive works were constructed, even though natives had been seen in the forest. Butler sent a small detachment of soldiers under Captain Jacob Slough to drive off natives harassing the perimeter of his camp. The detachment engaged what they assumed to be a small party, but soon realized they were outnumbered. They retreated to camp and warned of what they believed to be an impending attack, but Butler did not send this report to St. Clair or build up the camp's defenses.
Battle
On the evening of 3 November, St. Clair's force established a camp on a high hill near the present-day location of
Fort Recovery, Ohio, near the headwaters of the Wabash River. The natives, led by Little Turtle and Blue Jacket, formed a large crescent surrounding the camp. They waited in the woods until dawn, when the Americans, distracted by preparations for breakfast, were largely unarmed.
Adjutant General Winthrop Sargent
Winthrop Sargent (May 1, 1753 – June 3, 1820) was an American politician, military officer and writer, who served as List of Governors of Mississippi, Governor of Mississippi Territory from 1798 to 1801, and briefly as acting List of Adjutant ...
had just reprimanded the militia for failing to conduct reconnaissance patrols when the natives struck, surprising the Americans and overrunning their ground.
The center, consisting of the Miami, Shawnee, and Lenape, overran the panicking militia, who fled across the Wabash and up the hill to the main camp without their weapons. The regulars immediately broke their musket stacks, formed battle lines, and fired a volley into the natives, forcing them back. The left and right wings of the Native American formation then
flanked the regulars and closed in on the main camp, meeting on the far side. Within thirty minutes, the native warriors had completely encircled the U.S. camp. The regulars fought well, but their firearms and artillery were in poor condition and had little effect on the well-entrenched Native positions. An effort to place additional artillery on the hill was foiled by Native
marksmen shooting down the crews as they tried to load their pieces, and the survivors were forced to
spike the guns.
St. Clair was awakened half-dressed when the battle began. A group of Natives led by William Wells was specifically targeting American officers, and it is possible that St. Clair's lack of proper uniform spared his life. Nevertheless, he had two horses killed under him before he took command on foot. By this point, more than 400 soldiers and militia were killed or wounded, and half of the horses had been killed.
Women and children who accompanied the army ran to hide in the covered supply wagons. Some militia tried to join them but were forced back into battle by the women. Running low on ammunition, Darke ordered his battalion to fix
bayonet
A bayonet (from Old French , now spelt ) is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , now spelt ) is a knife, dagger">knife">-4; we might wonder whethe ...
s and charge the central Native position. Little Turtle's forces seemingly gave way and retreated to the woods, only to encircle the exhausted levies and overpower them in brutal hand-to-hand combat. Several more bayonet charges were ordered to try and push back the Natives, but the Americans were beaten back each time before the whole force finally disintegrated.
Several survivors of St. Clair's Defeat wrote vivid accounts of their experiences during the battle. The governing boards of the Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County published a pamphlet, one of a historical series. The three accounts were published in 1847, 1851, and 1864, respectively.
Retreat
After three hours of fighting, St. Clair called together the remaining officers and, faced with total annihilation, decided to take their remaining men and try to break out of the Native encirclement. This meant willfully abandoning their supply wagons, the women and children, and the wounded. As before, Little Turtle's army allowed the bayonets to pass through, but this time, the Americans simply threw their guns away and ran as fast as they could to
Fort Jefferson.
Ebenezer Denny wrote that the Natives let the faster soldiers escape and focused instead on picking off the stragglers who couldn't keep up.
A Pennsylvania detachment under Major John Clark provided the
rearguard
A rearguard or rear security is a part of a military force that protects it from attack from the rear, either during an advance or Withdrawal (military), withdrawal. The term can also be used to describe forces protecting lines, such as Line of c ...
for the retreat. When Clark was wounded, however, the detachment also lost their nerve and retreated. With no organized defense against the pursuing Natives, the retreat quickly turned into a rout. "It was, in fact, a flight", St. Clair described a few days later in a letter to Secretary of War
Henry Knox
Henry Knox (July 25, 1750 – October 25, 1806) was an American military officer, politician, bookseller, and a Founding Father of the United States. Knox, born in Boston, became a senior general of the Continental Army during the Revolutionar ...
. He later wrote that the route was littered with discarded firelocks, cartridge boxes, and uniforms, as the fleeing soldiers discarded any items that slowed them down. In desperation, one cook known as "Red-headed Nance" even abandoned her baby. Another account tells a similar story, where a baby abandoned in the snow by a fleeing mother was found and adopted by pursuing Natives.
Private Stephen Littell became lost in the woods and accidentally returned to the abandoned camp. He reported the remaining wounded begged him to kill them before the Natives returned from their pursuit. After they had gone about four miles, the Native warriors returned to loot the camp. Hiding beneath a tree, Littell saw them feast on the soldiers' breakfasts, strip the wagons and tents of valuables, take the abandoned women and children prisoner, and slaughter the helpless wounded.
The head of the retreat reached Fort Jefferson that evening, a distance of nearly in one day. With inadequate space and no food, the commander decided that those who could must continue to
Fort Hamilton
Fort Hamilton is a United States Army installation in the southwestern corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, surrounded by the communities of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights. It is one of several posts that are part of the region which ...
, another away. Those who couldn't move on were left in a crowded and dirty encampment with next to nothing to eat. Those who still had their horses reached Fort Hamilton the next morning, followed by those who marched on foot.
St. Clair sent a relief convoy, escorted by a hundred soldiers under Major
David Ziegler, from Fort Washington on 11 November. Upon arrival at Fort Jefferson, they found 116 survivors eating "horse flesh and green hides".
Charles Scott put together a force of fresh militiamen to avenge St. Clair's defeat, but bureaucratic hurdles resulted in the force lingering at Fort Washington without orders until it was finally disbanded in late November. Lieutenant Colonel
James Wilkinson
James Wilkinson (March 24, 1757 – December 28, 1825) was an American army officer and politician who was associated with multiple scandals and controversies during his life, including the Burr conspiracy.
He served in the Continental Army du ...
assumed command of the reconstituted Second Regiment in January 1792 and marched them to the now-abandoned battlefield. They sought to bury the dead and collect the missing cannons, but the task was beyond it, with "upwards of six hundred bodies" at the battle site and at least 78 bodies left scattered along the road. The exact number of wounded is not known, but it has been reported that
execution fires burned for several days after the battle.
Casualties
The casualty rate was the highest percentage ever suffered by a United States Army unit and included St. Clair's second in command, Richard Butler. Of the 52 officers engaged, 39 were killed and 7 wounded; around 88% of all officers had become casualties. The American casualty rate among the soldiers was 97 percent, including 632 of 920 killed (69%) and 264 wounded. Nearly all of the 200 camp followers were slaughtered, and a total of 832 Americans were killed. Due to its relatively small size at the time, approximately one-quarter of the entire U.S. Army had been destroyed in one day. Only 24 of the 920 men engaged came out of it unscathed. The survivors included future officeholders
Benjamin Van Cleve
Benjamin Van Cleve (February 24, 1773 – November 29, 1821) was a pioneer settler of Dayton, Ohio in the United States. He held several offices in the town.
Benjamin Van Cleve was the oldest child of John and Catherine Benham Van Cleve of Monmout ...
and his uncle
Robert Benham; Van Cleve was one of the few who were unharmed. Native casualties were about 61, with at least 21 killed.
So many people died on site that when 300 soldiers from the
Legion of the United States
The Legion of the United States was a reorganization and extension of the United States Army from 1792 to 1796 under the command of Major General Anthony Wayne. It represented a political shift in the new United States, which had recently adop ...
arrived to establish an outpost in late 1793, they recognized the battlefield by the sheer amount of human remains, and had to clear most of them just to make space for their beds. The Legion buried remains in a mass grave.
Sixty years after the battle, in September 1851, the town of
Fort Recovery, Ohio organized Bone Burying Day to inter the remains of bones discovered at that location. Historian William Hogeland calls the Native American victory "the high-water mark in resistance to white expansion. No comparable Indian victory would follow."
Aftermath
Native American response
The confederacy reveled in their triumph and war trophies, but the victory proved short-lived. The 1791 harvest had been insufficient in the region, and many warriors soon returned home to hunt for winter stores. A grand council was held on the banks of the
Ottawa River
The Ottawa River (, ) is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word "to trade", as it was the major trade route of Eastern Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border betw ...
to determine whether to continue the war against the United States or negotiate peace from a strong position. Some felt that the United States would surely beg for peace after suffering such high losses, while others argued that without further action, the Americans would simply return to keep fighting. As finding food for their villages was a much more pressing concern, the final decision was postponed until a new council could be held the following year. Little Turtle and Blue Jacket both claimed credit for being in overall command of the native forces at the victory, causing lasting resentment between the two men and their followers.
British response
The British, surprised and delighted at the success of the Natives they had been supporting and arming for years, stepped up their plans to create a pro-British
Indian barrier state that would be closed to further settlement and encompass what was then known as the Northwest Territory. The plans were developed in Canada, but in 1794, the government in London reversed course and decided it was necessary to gain American favor since a
major war had broken out with France and British forces needed access to American foodstuffs and military stores. London put the barrier state idea on hold and opened friendly negotiations with the Americans, leading to the
Jay Treaty
The Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, Between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, commonly known as the Jay Treaty, and also as Jay's Treaty, was a 1794 treaty between the United States and Great Britain that averted ...
of 1794. One provision was that the British acceded to American demands to remove their forts from American territory in Michigan and Wisconsin. The British, however, maintained their forts in Ontario, from which they supplied munitions to the Natives living in the United States.
United States response
News of the defeat reached the eastern states by late November. A French resident learned of the battle from friendly Natives and shared the news at
Vincennes
Vincennes (; ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Vincennes is famous for its castle: the Château de Vincennes. It is next to but does not include the ...
. From there, a traveler headed east sent word to Virginia Governor
Henry Lee, who received it along with an urgent message from Charles Scott demanding a joint-military effort to ward off further Native incursions.
Major Denny, St. Clair's aide, carried his official report to the capital at
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
. Secretary Knox himself escorted Denny to an audience with President Washington on 20 December. Washington was outraged when he received news of the defeat. After cursing St. Clair, he told
Tobias Lear, "General St. Clair shall have justice. I looked hastily through the dispatches, saw the whole disaster but not all the particulars." St. Clair left James Wilkinson in charge of Fort Washington and arrived in Philadelphia in January 1792 to deliver his own account of the disaster. Blaming
Quartermaster General Samuel Hodgdon for insufficient supplies, as well as the
War Department, the general demanded his right to
due process
Due process of law is application by the state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to a case so all legal rights that are owed to a person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual p ...
in a
court-martial
A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...
, knowing that he would likely be acquitted and thus free to resign his commission without shame. Washington, however, asked him to resign immediately and put the matter to bed. He then reappointed St. Clair as governor of the Northwest Territory.
The
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...
arranged for an investigation of the War Department and its handling of the campaign. It was the first Congressional Special Committee investigation,
[ as well as the first recorded investigation of the executive branch. As part of the proceedings, the House special committee in charge of the investigation sought certain documents from the War Department. Knox brought that matter to Washington's attention, and because of the significant issues of ]separation of powers
The separation of powers principle functionally differentiates several types of state (polity), state power (usually Legislature#Legislation, law-making, adjudication, and Executive (government)#Function, execution) and requires these operat ...
involved, the president summoned a meeting of all of his department heads. It was one of the first meetings of all of the officials together and may be considered the beginning of the United States Cabinet
The Cabinet of the United States is the principal official advisory body to the president of the United States. The Cabinet generally meets with the president in Cabinet Room (White House), a room adjacent to the Oval Office in the West Wing of ...
. Washington established, in principle, the position that the executive branch should refuse to divulge any papers or materials that the public good required it to keep secret and that at any rate, it was not to provide any originals. That is the earliest appearance of the doctrine of executive privilege
Executive privilege is the right of the president of the United States and other members of the executive branch to maintain confidential communications under certain circumstances within the executive branch and to resist some subpoenas and ot ...
, which later became a significant separation of powers issue.
The final committee report sided largely with St. Clair by finding that Knox, Hodgdon, and other War Department officials had done a poor job of raising, equipping, and supplying St. Clair's expedition. However, Congress then voted against a motion to consider the committee's findings, and disbanded it without issuing a final report. St. Clair later expressed disappointment that his reputation was not officially cleared.
Within weeks of learning of the disaster, Washington wrote, "We are involved in actual war!" Following up on his 1783 "Sentiments on a Peace Establishment", he requested that Congress raise an army capable of conducting a successful offense against the Northwestern Confederacy, which it did in March 1792 by establishing additional army regiments (the Legion of the United States
The Legion of the United States was a reorganization and extension of the United States Army from 1792 to 1796 under the command of Major General Anthony Wayne. It represented a political shift in the new United States, which had recently adop ...
), raising the period of enlistment for new soldiers to three years, and increasing military pay. That May, it also passed two Militia Acts. The first empowered the president to seize control of state militias without the consent of their legislators if he deemed it necessary. The second required all free, able-bodied white male citizens of the various states between the ages of 18 and 45 to enroll in militia companies, with the failure to enlist now made a federal offense. Washington would use his new authority to formally suppress the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion (also known as the Whiskey Insurrection) was a violent tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 and ending in 1794 during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called "whiskey tax" was the first tax impo ...
in western Pennsylvania.
General Richard Butler, a well-established trader, had many friends among the Seneca who mourned his death. A Seneca delegation led by Cornplanter
John Abeel III (–February 18, 1836) known as Gaiänt'wakê (''Gyantwachia'' – "the planter") or Kaiiontwa'kon (''Kaintwakon'' – "By What One Plants") in the Seneca language and thus generally known as Cornplanter, was a Dutch- Seneca ch ...
visited General Anthony Wayne
Anthony Wayne (January 1, 1745 – December 15, 1796) was an American soldier, officer, statesman, and a Founding Father of the United States. He adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his military expl ...
in 1793 to declare their regret for Butler's death, and a Seneca chief, Big Tree, later joined Wayne's Legion. In early 1794, he committed suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death.
Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
as hostiles began to wind down.
In December 1793, the Legion of the United States built Fort Recovery at the battlefield site and spent the following months preparing to fight the Native confederacy. From 30 June to 1 July 1794, the Legion successfully defended the fort from a Native American attack. The following month, the Legion under General Wayne won a decisive victory in the Battle of Fallen Timbers
The Battle of Fallen Timbers (20 August 1794) was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between Indigenous peoples of North America, Native American tribes affiliated with the Northwestern Confederacy and their Kingdom of Gre ...
. The following year, the United States and the Northwestern Confederacy negotiated the Treaty of Greenville
The Treaty of Greenville, also known to Americans as the Treaty with the Wyandots, etc., but formally titled ''A treaty of peace between the United States of America, and the tribes of Indians called the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanees, Ottawas ...
, which used Fort Recovery as a reference point for the boundary between American and Native settlements. The treaty is considered to be the conclusion to the Northwest Indian War.
Legacy
The number of U.S. soldiers killed in St. Clair's defeat was more than three times the number the Sioux
The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin ( ; Dakota/ Lakota: ) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples (translati ...
would kill 85 years later at the Battle of the Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota people, Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Si ...
. Despite being one of the worst disasters in U.S. Army history, the loss by St. Clair is largely forgotten. The site of the battle is currently the town of Fort Recovery, Ohio, and includes a cemetery, memorial, and museum
A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...
.
One of the more significant effects of the Native American victory was the expansion of a standing, professional Army and militia reforms in the United States. The Congressional investigation into the battle also led to the establishment of executive privilege
Executive privilege is the right of the president of the United States and other members of the executive branch to maintain confidential communications under certain circumstances within the executive branch and to resist some subpoenas and ot ...
. The 1795 Treaty of Greenville used the site of St. Clair's defeat to draw a line opening most of modern Ohio to U.S. settlement. The Greenville line roughly corresponds to the contemporary Ohio-Indiana state line, slightly more than west of the battleground site.
Popular culture
A story was published years after the defeat of St Clair about a skeleton of Captain Roger Vanderberg and his diary that were supposedly found inside a tree in Miami County, Ohio
Miami County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 108,774. Its county seat is Troy. The county is named in honor of the Miami people. Miami County is part of the Dayton, OH Metropolitan S ...
. However, no one of that name was a casualty of the 1791 battle. The story originated in 1864 from a Scottish novel.
A folk ballad, "St. Clair's Defeat" (or "Sinclair's Defeat"), was published in the 19th century and was popular in the 1800s. It may have been based on the earlier Crawford's Defeat by the Indians. Music historian Anne Grimes cites ''Recollections of Persons and Places in the West'' by Henry M. Brackenridge, 1834, in which Brackenridge recalled hearing the song from its author, a blind poet named Dennis Loughey, at a racetrack in Pittsburgh around 1800. It was collected as a folksong in Mary O. Eddy's 1939 book ''Ballads and Songs from Ohio.'' It was recorded by Grimes on her 1957 album, ''Ohio State Ballads'' and by Bob Gibson
Robert Gibson (November 9, 1935October 2, 2020), nicknamed "Gibby" and "Hoot", was an American baseball pitcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1959 to 1975. Known for his fiercely competi ...
and Hamilton Camp on their 1960 album ''Gibson & Camp at the Gate of Horn''. It was also recorded as "St. Claire's Defeat" by the folk revival group the Modern Folk Quartet in 1964 and by Apollo's Fire in 2004.
St. Clair's defeat is, along with the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe
The Battle of Tippecanoe ( ) was fought on November 7, 1811, in Battle Ground, Indiana, between United States Armed Forces, American forces led by then Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory and tribal forces associated with Sh ...
, a likely source for the name of the fife and drum duet " Hell on the Wabash."
See also
* List of battles won by Indigenous peoples of the Americas
* Battle of the Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota people, Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Si ...
Notes
References
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External links
* – William Darke's report to George Washington
* – President Washington's dispatch to Congress reporting the defeat. See footnote 1 for St. Clair's report to Henry Knox.
2016 Terrain Analysis of the Battle
from National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...
and Ball State University
Ball State University (Ball State or BSU) is a public research university in Muncie, Indiana, United States. The university has three off-campus centers in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and Fishers, Indiana. The university is composed of seven aca ...
Fort Recovery State Museum
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* Anonymous.
{{Authority control
1791 in the Northwest Territory
Conflicts in 1791
Battles in Ohio
Battles involving Native American people
Wabash
Pre-statehood history of Ohio
Mercer County, Ohio
Native American history of Ohio