Auglaize County, Ohio - Chapter 6: St. Clair's Campaign, 1905 (part 1 of 2)

Chapter 6: St. Clair's Campaign

The expeditions of Harmar, Scott and Wilkinson against the Miami and Shawnee Indians, served only to exasperate them. The burning of their towns, the destruction of their corn, and the captivity of their women and children, instead of subduing them, aroused them to more desperate efforts in defense of their country. Impressed with the opinion that the United States wished to deprive them of their lands, and exterminate their race, they formed a league, composed of the Miamis, Delawares, Wyandots, Kickapoos, Mohawks, Pottawottomies, Ottawas, Chippewas, and a few Creek Indians. This league was organized and commanded by the celebrated chiefs, Little Turtle of the Miamis, Blue Jacket of the Shawnees, and Buckongahelas of the Delawares. "It was a league not to be despised. And these powerful chiefs not only had the aid of Simon Girty, but of McKee and Elliott, of the British Indian Department, and of a number of British and French traders who generally resided among the Indians, and supplied them with arms and ammunition in exchange for peltries." One of these traders was James Girty, who left St. Marys hurriedly when he heard of the approach of General Harmar's army.

By authority of an act of Congress of March 3d, 1791, Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the Northwest Territory, was appointed Major General and Commander-in-Chief. On the 21st of March, 1791, the Secretary of War sent General St. Clair a letter of instructions, from which the following is an extract :

"While you are making use of such desultory operations as in your judgment the occasion may require, you will proceed vigorously, in every preparation in your power, for the purpose of the main expedition ; and having assembled your force, and all things being in readiness, if no decisive indications of peace should have been produced, either by messengers or by the desultory operations, you will commence your march for the Miami village, in order to establish a strong and permanent military post at that place. In your advance you will establish such posts of communication with Fort Washington, on the Ohio, as you may judge proper. The post at the Miami village is intended for aweing and curbing the Indians in that quarter, and as the only preventive of future hostilities. It ought, therefore, to be rendered secure against all attempts and insults of the Indians. The garrison which should be stationed there ought not only to be sufficient for the defense of the place, but always afford a detachment of five or six hundred men, either to chastise any of the Wabash or other hostile Indians, or to secure any convoy of provisions. The establishment of said post is considered as an important object of the campaign, and is to take place in all events. In case of a previous treaty, the Indians are to be conciliated upon this point if possible, and it is presumed good arguments may be offered to induce their acquiescence. * * * * Having commenced your march upon the main expedition, and the Indians continuing hostile, you will use every possible exertion to make them feel the effects of your superiority ; and after having arrived at the Miami village, and put your works in a defensible state, you will seek the enemy with the whole of your remaining force, and endeavor, by all possible means, to strike them with great severity. * * * * jn mouth at Lake Erie, the boundary (between the people of the United States and the Indians), excepting so far as the same should relate to the Wyandots and Delawares, on the supposition of their continuing faithful to the treaties. But if they should join in the war against the United States, and your army be victorious, the said tribes ought to be removed without the boundary mentioned.''

On the 9th of March, 1791, General Henry Knox, Secretary of War, sent Brigadier General Scott, of Kentucky, a similar letter of instructions.

Pursuant to his instructions from the Secretary of War, General St. Clair proceeded to organize an army. He repaired to Pittsburg at the close of April to mobilize his forces for an early campaign. From Pittsburg he went to Lexington, Kentucky, and from thence to Fort Washington, where he arrived on the 15th of May. At that time, the United States troops in the west amounted to but two hundred and sixty-four non-commissioned officers and privates fit for duty ; of these, seventy-five were at Fort Washington, forty-five at Fort Harmar, sixtv-one at Fort Steuben, and eighty-three at Fort Knox (Vincennes). "About the 15th of July the whole of the first United States regiment, amounting to two hundred and ninety-nine non-commissioned officers and privates, arrived at Fort Washington, under orders from General St. Clair."

General Butler, who had been appointed second in command, was employed during the months of April and May in recruiting troops in the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia. But the work progressed so slowly that the necessary number of troops were not secured until the first week in September. In accordance with the powers with which General St. Clair was invested, he made a call for one thousand one hundred and fifty militia, from the district of Kentucky, to supply the deficiency of the regular troops. Of this number only about four hundred and eighteen Kentucky militia appeared at Fort Washington to join the expedition. When these recruits reached Cincinnati, no proper provision had been made for their subsistence, clothing and equipment. The officers at the head of the war department were mainly responsible for this deplorable state of affairs. Colonel William Duer was chief commissary and contractor, and Samuel Hodgdon, another satellite of the public offices, was chief quartermaster. Colonel Duer's only appearance in the campaign was at the Treasury Department, where, as Knox, the Secretary of War, wrote to St. Clair, he was in attendance in March, and drew $70,000, as reported by a committee of Congress.

In a report of the supplies in the quartermaster's department, it is stated that there was a deficiency in quantity and quality of tents, pack-saddles, kettles, knapsacks and cartridge boxes. Worse than this, the powder was poor or injured, the arms and accoutrements out of repair, and not even proper tools to mend them. Of six hundred and seventy-five stand of arms at Fort Washington (designed by St. Clair for the militia), scarcely any were in order ; and with two traveling forges furnished by the quartermaster, there were no anvils. "As the troops gathered slowly at Fort Washington, after wearisome detentions at Pittsburg and upon the river, a new source of trouble arose, in the habits of intemperance acquired and indulged in by the idlers. To withdraw them from temptation, St. Clair was forced to remove his men, now numbering two thousand, to Ludlow's station, about six miles from the fort ; by which, however, he more than doubled his cost of providing for the troops. Here the army continued until September 17th, when, being two thousand three liundred strong, including the garrisons of Forts Washington and Hamilton, and exclusive of militia, it moved forward to a point upon the Great Miami, where Fort Hamilton was built, the first In the proposed chain of fortresses. "Having completed this fort, the army on the 4th of October, continued its march toward the Miami village, and at a point about forty-two miles in advance of Fort Hamilton, the army halted and erected another fort, which was called Fort Jefferson. This fort was on a site which lies about six miles south of the present town of Greenville, Darke County, Ohio. The army was delayed five or six days, on the march from Fort Jefferson, on account of the want of provisions ; and the season was so far advanced that sufficient green forage could not be procured for the horses.

The first move made by the Indian chiefs upon hearing of St. Clair's forward progress, was to dispatch the Shawnee chief Tecumseh, at the head of a small party of spies, to watch the motions of the American army and report its advancement. This work he accomplished most faithfully. So well were the Indians kept informed of its march, and of the failure of the Americans to send forward a sufficient number of scouts, that they were all soon greatly inspired with hopes of surprising their enemy. Their courage and determination were thus kept up. At the proper time, they, too, advanced."

"October 24th, 1791. - Named the Fort Jefferson, (it lies in iat. 40° 4' 22" north,) and marched, the same Indian path serving to conduct us about six miles, and encamped on good ground and an excellent position - a rivulet in front, and a very large prairie, which would, at the proper season, afford forage for a thousand horses, on the left. So ill this day that I had much difficulty in keeping with the army.

25th. - Very hard rains last night; obliged to halt to-day, on account of provisions ; for though the soldiers may be kept pretty easy in camp, under the expectation of provisions arriving, they cannot bear to march in advance, and take none along with them. I received a letter from Mr. Hodgden by express ; thirteen thousand pounds of flour will arrive on the 27th.

"26th. - A party of militia, sent to reconnoiter, fell in with five Indians and suffered them to slip through their fingers ; in their coup articles to the value of twenty-five dollars were found and divided.

"28th. - Some few Indians about us ; probably those the militia fell in with a day or two ago. Two of the levies were fired on about three miles off ; one killed ; two of the militia likewise ; one of them got in ; the other missing ; supposed to be taken.

"30th. - The army moved about nine o'clock, and, with much difficulty made seven miles, having left a considerable part of the tents by the way; the provision made by the quartermaster for that purpose was not adequate; three days' flour issued to the men, to add the horses that carried it to his arrangements : (an ambiguous expression) the Indian road still with us. The course this day north 250 west.

"31st. - This morning about sixty of the militia deserted; it was at first reported that one-half of them had gone off, and that their design was to plunder the convoys (of provisions, etc.) which were upon the roads. Detached the first regiment in pursuit of them, with orders to Major Hamtramck to send a sufficient guard back with (the convoy under) Benham, and to follow the militia about twenty-five miles below Fort Jefferson, or until he met the second convoy, and then return and join the army.

"ist November. - Benham arrived last night; and to-day the army halted, to give the road cutters an opportunity of getting some distance ahead. * * * * I am this day considerably recovered, and hope that it will turn out what I at first expected it would be, a friendly fit of the gout come to relieve me from every other complaint.

"On the third of November, the main army, consisting of about fourteen hundred effective men, moved forward to a point near which Fort Recovery was afterward erected. Here, on the head waters of the Wabash river, among a number of small creeks, the army encamped. The details of the encampment here, and the disastrous defeat of Novmber 4th, are extracted from the commanding general's letter to the Secretary of War, on his return to Fort Washington.

"The right wing, composed of Butler's, Clark's, and Patterson's battalions, commanded by Major General Butler, formed the first line ; and the left wing, consisting of Bedinger's and Gaither's battalions, and the second regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Darke, formed the second line, with an inter* val between them of about seventy yards, which was all the ground would allow. The right flank was pretty well secured by the creek; a steep bank and Faulkner's corps, some of the cavalry, and their picquets, covered the left flank. The militia were thrown over the creek, and advanced about a quarter of a mile, and encamped in the same order. There were a few Indians who appeared on the opposite side of the creek, but fled with the utmost precipitation, on the advance of the militia. At this place, which I judged to be about fifteen miles from the Miami village, I determined to throw up a slight work, the plan of which was concerted that evening with Major Ferguson, wherein to have deposited the men's knapsacks and everything else that was not of absolute necessity, and to have moved on to attack the enemy as soon as the first regiment was come up. But they did not permit me to execute either ; for on the 4th, about half an hour before sunrise, and when the men had been dismissed from parade, (for it was a constant practice to have them all under arms a considerable time before daylight) , an attack was made upon the militia. These gave way in a very little time, and rushed into camp through Major Butler's battalion, (which, together with a part of Clark's, they threw into considerable disorder, and which, notwithstanding the exertions of both these officers, was never altogether remedied,) the Indians following close at their heels. The fire, however, of the front line checked them; but almost instantly a very heavy attack began upon that line ; and in a few minutes it was extended to the second likewise. The great weight of it was directed against the center of each, where the artillery was placed, and from which the men were repeatedly driven with great slaughter. Finding no great effect of our fire, and confusion beginning to spread from the great numbers of men who were falling in all quarters, it became necessary to try what could be done by the bayonet. Lieutenant Colonel Darke was accordingly ordered to make a charge with a part of the second line, and to turn the left flank of the enemy. This was executed with great spirit. The Indians instantly gave way, and were driven back three or four hundred yards ; but for want of a sufficient number of riflemen to pursue this advantage, they soon returned, and the troops were obliged to give back in their turn. At this moment they had entered our camp by the left flank, having pushed back the troops that were posted there. Another charge was made here by the second regiment, Butler's and Clark's battalions, with equal effect, and it was repeated several times, and always with success ; but in all of them many men were lost, and particularly the officers, which, with so raw troops, was a loss altogether irremediable. In that I just spoke of, made by the second regiment and Butler's battalion, Major Butler was dangerously wounded, and every officer of the second regiment fell except three, one of which, Mr. Greaton, was shot through the body.

"Our artillery being now silenced, and all the officers killed except Captain Ford, who was badly wounded, and more than half of the army fallen, being cut off from the road, it became necessary to attempt the regaining it, and to make a retreat if possible. To this purpose, the remains of the army were formed as well as circumstances would admit, toward the right of the encampment, from which, by the way of the second line, another charge was made upon the enemy, as if with the design to turn their right flank, but in fact to gain the road. This was effected, and as soon as it was open the militia took along it, followed by the troops, Major Clark, with his battalion, covering the rear.

"The retreat, in those circumstances, was, as you may be sure, a very precipitate one ; it was, in fact a flight. The camp and the artillery were abandoned ; but that was unavoidable, for not a horse was left alive to have drawn it off, had it otherwise been practicable.

"But the most disgraceful part of the business is, that the greatest part of the men threw away their arms and accoutrements, even after the pursuit, which continued about four miles, had ceased. I found the road strewed with them for many miles, but was not able to remedy it ; for, having had all my horses killed, and being mounted upon one that could not be pricked out of a walk, I could not get forward myself, and the orders I sent forward, either to halt the front or to prevent the men from parting with their arms, were unattended to. The route continued to Fort Jefferson, twenty-nine miles, which was reached a little after sun-setting.

have not yet been able to get returns of the killed and wounded, but Major General Butler, Lieutenant-Colonel Oldham, of the militia, Major Ferguson, Major Hart, and Major Clark are among the former; Colonel Sargent, my Adjutant-General, Lieutenant-Colonel Drake, Lieutenant-Colonel Gibson, Major Butler, and the Viscount Malartie, who served as Aid-de-Camp, are among the latter and a great number of captains and subalterns in each.

"I have now, sir, finished my melancholy tale - a tale that will be felt sensibly by every one that has sympathy for private distress or for public misfortune. I have nothing, sir, to lay to the charge of the troops, but their want of discipline, which, from the short time they had been in service, it was impossible they should have acquired, and which rendered it very difficult, when they were thrown into confusion, to reduce them again to order, and is one reason why the loss has fallen so heavy on the officers, who did everything in their power to effect it.

"Neither were my own exertions wanting; but, worn down with illness, and suffering under a painful disease, unable either to mount or dismount a horse without assistance, they were not so great as they otherwise would, and perhaps ought to have been.

"We were overpowered by numbers; but it is no more than justice to observe that, though composed of so many different species of troops, the utmost harmony prevailed through the whole army during the campaign.

"At Fort Jefferson I found the first regiment, which had returned from the service they had been sent upon, without either overtaking the deserters, or meeting the convoy of provisions. I am not certain, sir, whether I ought to consider the absence of this regiment from the field of action as fortunate or otherwise. I incline to think it was fortunate, for I very much doubt whether, had it been in the action, the fortune of the day had been turned ; and, if it had not, the triumph of the enemy would have been more complete, and the country would have been destitute of every means of defence.

"Taking a view of the situation of our broken troops at Fort Jefferson, and that there were no provisions in the fort, I called upon the field officers, viz : Lieutenant-Colonel Darke, Major Hamtramck, Major Ziegler and Major Gaither, together with the Adjutant-General, Winthrop Sargent, for their advice what would be proper further to be done ; and it was their unanimous opinion, that the addition of the first regiment, unbroken as it was, did not put the army on as respectable a footing as it was in the morning, because a great part of it was now unarmed ; that it had been found unequal to the enemy, and should they come on, which was possible, would be found so again ; that the troops could not be thrown into the fort, both because it was too small, and that there were no provisions in it ; that provisions were known to be on the road, at the distance of one, or at most two marches ; that, therefore, it would be more proper to move, without loss of time to meet the provisions, when the men might have the sooner an opportunity of some refreshment, and that a proper detachment might be sent back with it, to have it safely deposited in the fort. This advice was accepted, and the army was put in motion at ten o'clock, and marched all night, and the succeeding day met with a quantity of flour. Part of it was distributed immediately, part taken back to supply the army on the march to Fort Hamilton, and the remainder, about fifty horse loads, sent forward to Fort Jefferson. The next day a drove of cattle was met with, for the same place, and I have information that both got in. The wounded who had been left at that place were ordered to be brought to Fort Washington by the return horses.

"I have said, sir, in a former part of this letter, that we were overpowered by numbers. Of that, however, I have no other evidence but the weight of the fire which was always a most deadly one, and generally delivered from the ground - a few of the enemy showing themselves afoot, except when they were charged ; and that, in a few minutes our whole camp, which extended above three hundred and fifty yards in length, was entirely surrounded and attacked on all quarters. The loss, sir, the public has sustained by the fall of so many officers, particularly General Butler and Major Ferguson, cannot be too much regretted; but it is a circumstance that will alleviate the misfortune in some measure, that all of them fell most gallantly doing their duty. I have had very particular obligations to many of them, as well as to the survivors, but to none more than Colonel Sargent. He has discharged the various duties of his office with zeal, with exactness, and with intelligence, and on all occasions afforded me every assistance in his power, which I have also experienced from my Aid-de-Camp, Lieutenant Denny, and the Viscount Malartie, who served with me in the station as a volunteer."

The following comments on the deportment of General St. Clair in the engagement is taken from Howe's "Historical Collections of Ohio," Vol. ii, p. 225:

"During the engagement General St. Clair and General Butler were continually going up and down the lines ; as one went up the other went down the opposite side. St. Clair was so severely afflicted with the gout as to be unable to mount or dismount a horse without assistance. He had four horses for his use ; they had been turned out to feed over night and were brought in before the action. The first he attempted to mount was a young horse, and the firing alarmed him so much that he was unable to accomplish it, although there were three or four people assisting him.

He had just moved him to a place where he could have some advantage of the ground, when the horse was shot through the head, and the boy holding him through the arm. A second horse was brought and the saddle and bridle of the first disengaged and put on him ; but at the moment it was done the horse and servant who held him were killed. The general then ordered the third horse to be got ready and follow him to the left of the front line, which by that time was warmly engaged, and set off on foot to the point designated. However, the man and horse were never heard of afterwards, and were supposed to have both been killed. General St. Clair's fourth horse was killed under the Count de Malartie, one of his aids, whose horse had died on the march.

"On the day of the battle St. Clair was not in his uniform; he wore a coarse cappo coat and a three-cornered hat. He had a long queue and large locks, very gray, flowing beneath his beaver. Early in the action, when near the artillery, a ball grazed the side of his face and cut off a portion of one of his locks. It is said that during the action eight balls passed through his clothes and hat. After his horses were killed he exerted himself on foot for a considerable time during the action with a degree of alertness that surprised everybody who saw him. After being on foot some time, and when nearly exhausted, a pack horse was brought to him. This he rode during the remainder of the day, although he could hardly prick him out of a walk. Had he not been furnished with a horse, although unhurt, he must have remained on the field.

"During the action General St. Clair exerted himself with a courage and presence of mind worthy o fthe best fortune. He was personally present at the first charge made upon the enemy with the bayonet and gave the order to Colonel Darke. When the enemy first entered the camp by the left flank, he led the troops that drove them back, and when a retreat became indispensable, he put himself at the head of the troops which broke through the enemy and opened the way for the rest and then remained in the rear, making every exertion in his power to obtain a party to cover the retreat ; but the panic was so great that his exertions were of but little avail. In the height of the action a few of the men crowded around the fires in the center of the camp. St. Clair was seen drawing his pistols and threatening some of them, and ordering them to turn out and repel the enemy."

General Knox assigned as reasons for St. Clair's defeat, ist, the deficiency of good troops ; 2d, the want of appropriate training among those he had ; 3d, the lateness of the season. The committee of the House of Representatives appointed to investigate the matter, reported the causes: ist, the delay in preparing sage of the act (March 3d) for that purpose ; 2d, the delay caused by the neglects in the quartermaster's department; 3d, the ldteness of the season when the expedition was commenced ; 4th, the want of discipline and experience in the troops ; and especially exonerated General St. Clair from all blame in connection with the disaster. J. H. Perkins in his "Annals of the West," cites two causes that seem to have been overlooked by the Secretary of War and the Committee of Congress, viz., the surprise by the Indians, who were not expected by the army ; and the confusion produced by the flying militia.

Unfortunately the same ill feeling between the officers of the militia and regulars was exhibited the evening previous to the battle, that was so prevalent in Harmar's campaign. Late in the evening a reconnoitering party of regulars advanced a mile beyond where the militia were encamped, and Colonel Oldham, who commanded the militia, was ordered to have the woods thoroughly examined by the scouts and patrols, as Indians were known to be hanging about the outskirts of the army. In all this St. Clair seemed to have done his entire duty, as far as sickness would permit him.

"During the night, Captain Slough, who had charge of the advanced party of scouts, found so large a body of savages gathered about him, that he fell back and reported his observations to General Butler. But the general, for reasons unexplained, made no dispositions in consequence of this information, and did not report it to the commander-in-chief. Colonel Oldham also obeyed his orders, the woods were searched, and the presence of the enemy detected ; but he, too, reported, through Captain Slough, to General Butler, beyond whom the information did not go.

"The death of General Butler in the engagement, in regard to which there are many conflicting statements, precluded the possibility of any explanation on his part of his conduct, so much calculated to mislead the commander-in-chief, and so to endanger the safety of the army, as this withholding of indispensible information at such an important juncture. It is only known that there was an unfriendly feeling existing between Generals St. Clair and Butler, during the whole progress of the campaign.

"According to St. Clair's account of it, the difficulty first arose on the march to Fort Jefferson. Butler, in St. Clair's absence, changed the order of march, and on his arrival an altercation occurred between them, the result of which was, St. Clair asserts, 'that he afterward seldom came near me.' Subsequently, at Fort Jefferson, Butler proposed to proceed at once with one thousand men, and take post at the Miami village, in advance of the march of the remainder of the army. St. Clair received the proposition with undisguised contempt, and that circumstance greatly heightened the animosity between them. These altercations produced, it appears, so much mutual aversion between the parties, that,- during the subsequent part of the campaign, little intercourse was maintained between them. * * * *

"Captain Slough in his evidence given before the committee of Congress, deposed that he was sent out during the night with a party of observation, that he saw a large body of Indians going toward the camp, apparently for the purpose of reconnoitering it, and that in that belief he had hastened back to the militia camp, to communicate the information he had received. T halted my party,' said he, 'near Oldham's tent, went into it, and awakened him, I believe about twelve o'clock. I told him that I was of his opinion, that the camp would be attacked in the morning, for I had seen a number of Indians.. I proceeded to the camp, and as soon as I had passed the camp guard, dismissed the party, and went to General Butler's tent. As I approached it, I saw him come out of the tent, and stand by the fire. I went up to him, and took him some distance from it, not thinking it prudent that the sentry should hear what I had seen. I also told him what Colonel Oldham had said, and that, if he thought proper, I would go and make the report to General St. Clair. He stood some time, and after a pause, thanked me for my attention and vigilance, and said as I must be fatigued, I had better go and lie down.'

"General St. Clair afterward affirmed that, if he had known that the Indians were near and in force, he would have attacked them during the night, under, as he supposed, such circumstances as would insure victory.

"If these statements are true, there was nothing, absolutely nothing, to excuse the abuse and persecution to which St. Clair was afterward subjected."

The record of incidents attending the defeat and retreat of the army are very full. To avoid prolixity, we quote from a few, only, of the many interesting narratives.

McClung, in his "Sketches of Western Adventure," describes the experiences and heroism of William Kennan, of Flemming county, Kentucky. Kennon at that time was a young man of eighteen, and was attached to St. Clair's corps of rangers who accompanied the regular force. "He had long been remarkable for strength and activity. In the course of the march from Fort Washington he had repeated opportunities of testing his astonishing powers in that respect, and was universally admitted to be the swiftest runner of the light corps. On the evening preceding the action his corps had been advanced, as already observed, a few hundred yards in front of the first line of infantry, in order to give seasonable notice of the enemy's approach. Just as day was dawning he observed about thirty Indians within a hundred yards of the guard's fire, advancing cautiously toward the spot where he stood, together with about twenty rangers, the rest being considerably in the rear.

"Supposing it to be a mere scouting party, as usual, and not superior in number to the rangers, he sprang forward a few paces in order to shelter himself in a spot of peculiarly rank grass, and firing with a quick aim upon the foremost Indian, he instantly fell flat upon his face, and proceeded with all possible rapidity to> reload his gun, not doubting for a moment but that the rangerswould maintain their position and support him. The Indians,, however, rushed forward in such overwhelming masses that the rangers were compelled to fly with precipitation, leaving young Kennan in total ignorance of his danger. Fortunately the captain of his company had observed him when he threw himself into the grass, and suddenly shouted aloud, 'Run, Kennan ! or you are a dead man !' He instantly sprang to his feet and beheld Indians within ten feet of him, while his company was already more than a hundred yards in front. Not a moment was to be lost. He darted off with every muscle strained to its utmost, and was pursued by a dozen of the enemy with loud yells. He at first pressed straight forward to the usual fording place in the creek, which ran between the rangers and the main army ; but several Indians who had passed him before he rose from the grass threw themselves in the way and completely cut him off from the rest. By the most powerful exertions he had thrown the whole body of pursuers behind him, with the exception of one chief (probably Messhawa), who displayed a swiftness and perseverance equal to his own. In the circuit which Kennan was obliged to take the race continued for more than four hundred yards. The distance between the two was about eighteen feet, which Kennon could not increase nor his adversary diminish. Each for the time put his whole soul into the race.

"Kennon, as far as he was able, kept his eye upon the motions of his pursuer, lest he should throw his tomahawk, which he held in a menacing attitude, and at length, finding that no other Indian was immediately at hand, he determined to try the mettle of his pursuer in a different manner, and felt for his tomahawk in order to turn at bay. It had escaped from its sheath, however, while he lay in the grass, and his hair almost lifted the cap from his head when he saw himself totally disarmed. As he had slack- ened his pace for a moment the Indian was almost in reach of him when he recommenced the race ; but the idea of being without arms lent wings to his feet, and, for the first time, he saw himself gaining ground. He had watched the motions of his pursuer too closely, however, to pay proper attention to the nature of the ground before him, and he suddenly found himself in front of a large tree which had been blown down, and upon which brush and other impediments lay to the height of eight or nine feet.

"The Indian (who heretofore had not uttered the slightest sound) now gave a short, quick yell, as if secure of his victim. Kennan had not a moment to deliberate. He must clear the impediment at a leap or perish. Putting his whole soul into the effort, he bounded into the air with a power which astonished himself, and clearing limbs, brush and everything else, alighted in perfect safety upon the other side. A loud yell of astonishment burst from the band of pursuers, not one of whom had the hardihood to attempt the same feat. Kennan, as may readily be imagined, had no leisure to enjoy his triumph, but dashing into the bed of the creek (upon the banks of which his feat had been performed), where the high banks would shield him from the fire of the enemy, he ran up the stream until a convenient place offered for crossing, and rejoined the rangers in the rear of the encampment, panting from the fatigue of exertions which have seldom been surpassed. No breathing time was allowed him, however. The attack instantly commenced, and, as has already been observed, was maintained for three hours with unabated fury.

"When the retreat commenced, Kennan was attached to Major Clark's battalion, and had the dangerous service of protecting the rear. This corps quickly lost its commander, and was completely disorganized. Kennan was among the hindmost when the flight commenced, but exerting those same powers which had saved him in the morning, he quickly gained the front, passing several horsemen in the flight. Here he beheld a private in his own company, an intimate acquaintance, lying upon the ground with his thigh broken, and in tones of the most piercing distress, implored each horseman who hurried by to take him up behind ham. As soon as he beheld Kennan coming up on foot he stretched out his arms and called aloud upon him to save him. Notwithstanding the imminent peril of the moment, his friend could not reject so passionate an appeal, but seizing him in his arms he placed him upon his back and ran in that manner for several hundred yards. Horseman after horseman passed them, all of whom refused to relieve him of his burden.

"At length the enemy was gaining upon him so fast that Kennan saw their death 'was certain unless he relinquished his burden. He accordingly told his friend that he had used every possible exertion to save his life, but in vain ; that he must relax his hold around his neck or they would both perish. The unhappy wretch, heedless of every remonstrance, still clung convulsively to his back, and impeded his exertions until the foremost of the enemy (armed with tomahawks alone) were within twenty yards of them. Kennan then drew his knife from his sheath and cut the fingers of his companion, thus compelling him to relinquish his hold. The uphappy man rolled' upon the ground in utter helplessness, and Kennan beheld him tomahawked before he had gone thirty yards. Relieved of his burden, he darted forward with an activity which once more brought him to the van. Here again he was compelled to neglect his own safety in order to attend to that of others. .

"The late Governor Madison, of Kentucky, who afterward commanded the corps which defended themselves so honorably at Raisin, a man who united the most amiable temper to the most unconquerable courage, was at that time a subaltern in St. Clair's army, and being a man of infirm constitution, was totally exhausted by the exertions of the morning and was now sitting down calmly upon a log, awaiting the approach of his enemies. Kennan hastily accosted him and inquired the cause of his delay. Madison, pointing to a wound which had bled profusely, replied that he was unable to walk any further, and had no horse. Kennan instantly ran back to a spot where he had seen an exhausted horse grazing, caught him without difficulty, and having assisted Madison to mount, walked by his side until they were out of danger. Fortunately, the pursuit soon ceased, as the plunder of the camp presented irresistible attractions to the enemy. The friendship thus formed between these two young men endured without interruption through life. Mr. Kennan never entirely recovered from the immense exertion which he was compelled to make during the unfortunate expedition. He settled in Flemming county, and continued for many years a leading member of the Baptist church. He died in 1827."

The following interview of James McDowell by John S. Houston, of Celina, Ohio, March 20th, 1847, appears originally in "Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio

"Mr. McDowell states that on the morning of the battle he and several others had just gone out to look after and guard their horses, when suddenly they heard the most hideous yells from the opposite side of the river, with discharges of musketry. He instantly rushed to camp, found his regiment preparing for action, joined them, and was with the party who so gallantly charged the enemy in the bottom. On the retreat he was among those who defended the rear, and kept the enemy in check for several miles. The ground was covered with a slushy snowy which much retarded their progress ; and, after a while, many of them were so dispirited and hungry - having eaten no breakfast - that they threw down their arms and made the beat of their way, pell-mell, among the retreating crowd.

"About this time Mr. McDowell saw a female carrying her infant, a year old. She was so tired that she was about to fall by the way-side, when he took the child and carried it some distance. Afterward, to save her own life, the woman threw away the child in the snow. The Indians took it up, carried it to the Sandusky towns and raised it. There were two hundred and fifty women in the army, following the fortunes of their husbands, of whom fifty-six were killed in battle, and the remainder were made prisoners, except a small number who reached Fort Washington.

"Soon after the woman cast her child aside, McDowell overtook a youth, some eighteen years old, wounded in the leg, hobbling along, and dispirited. He gave him a drink of spirits and a little bread (he himself had not had time to eat), which refreshed and encouraged him. Soon after a pony came dashing by. This McDowell caught, and mounting the youth upon it, he safely reached the fort.

"At Stillwater creek, twelve miles from the battle-ground, the Indians, who were no longer numerous, left them and returned to share their booty. 'Oh !' said an old squaw who died many years ago on the St. Mary's, 'my arm was that night so weary scalping white men.'

"Some years ago, said the old man to me - and here his cheeks were moistened with tears - I was traveling in Kentucky to visit a sister I had not seen in many years, when I arrived at Georgetown, and entered my name on the ledger with the place of my residence - Recovery, Ohio.

"After I had been sitting some time at ease before a comfortable fire, a gentleman who had noticed the entry of my name and residence, opened a friendly conversation about the place and country. He soon remarked that he was at the battle of St. Clair, and that if it had not been for the assistance of a young man of Butler's .regiment, he would have been there yet.

"After a few more questions and replies both parties recognized each other. The gentleman was the youth who had been shot, in the retreat, and whose life - as previously stated - was saved by the interposition of McDowell. At this discovery their surprise and consequent mutual attachment may be imagined. The gentleman insisted upon taking him to his house and introducing him to his wife and daughters. He had become wealthy by merchandising, and, on parting with McDowell, gave him a new suit of clothes and other presents, which he has carefully preserved to this day."

The number of Indians engaged in the defeat of St. Clair, according to the best accounts obtainable, did not exceed one thousand. They, however, fought with desperate valor, and from the nature of the ground, they had a great advantage over the scattered and panic-stricken troops of the Americans. They were commanded, too, by Little Turtle, the greatest chieftain of the confederated tribes. Joseph Brant was, also, present with one hundred and fifty Mohawk braves.

Butterfield, in his "History of the Girtys," states that the "Wyandots fought courageously, and none with more bravery than their leader, Simon Girty, who was presented with three of the captured cannon ; but the present proved of no value to him, as he could not remove them. He afterwards told a prisoner (William May) that there were twelve hundred Indians of the whole force (?), three hundred of which were not in the battle, but were left in the rear to take care of the horses." It is also known that the old men, women and children of Wapakoneta and.Girty's town were sent to a point down the Auglaize river to await the issues of the battle. It was probably the point referred to by Girty.

"Among those who fought with the savages on that occasion were considerable numbers of Canadians, mostly young men, and particularly such as were born of Indian mothers. There were also some refugees present. Girty was not the only one who, on that day, fought against his countrymen. After the action, he found General Butler on the field, writhing from the agony of his wounds. The general spoke to him and requested him to end his misery.

"Girty refused to do this, but turning to one of the Indian warriors, told him the wounded man was a high officer; whereupon the savage planted his tomahawk in his head, and thus terminated his sufferings. His scalp was instantly torn from his crown, his heart taken out and divided into as many pieces as there were tribes engaged in the battle."

General Wilkinson visited the battlefield about three months after the action, and reported that "the scene was truly melancholy. In my opinion, those unfortunate men who fell into the enemy's hands, with life, were used with the greatest torture - having their limbs torn off ; and the women have been treated with the utmost indecent cruelty, having stakes as thick as a person's arm, driven through their bodies. Believing that the whites.

for many years, made war merely to acquire land, the Indians crammed clay and sand into the eyes and down the throats of the dying and the dead."

There is a plaintive ballad of the time which long hung on the walls of the log cabins, and serves not only to show the popular grief, but as a specimen of the primitive literature of the West.

Sainclaire'S Defeat And Auglaize Count I.

The word "Retreat" being passed around, there was a dismal cry, Then helter-skelter through the woods like wolves and' sheep they fly. This well-appointed army, who but a day before Defied and braved all danger, had like a cloud passed o'er.

On the eighth of November the remnant of St. Clair's army reached Fort Washington, in a demoralized condition. On the ninth of December General St. Clair transmitted his report of the campaign to the Secretary of War; and on the twelfth of December, the report was communicated to Congress. The essentials of the report have already been given in the preceding pages.

St. Clair requested President Washington to appoint a court of inquiry to investigate the causes of his defeat, and expressed a wrish to be permitted to surrender his post as commander of the western forces, at the conclusion of the investigation by the court of inquiry.

President Washington, in reply to the request, informed him that "it was neither possible to grant him the trial he desired, nor allow him to retain his position. Washington's refusal to grant

In conformity to the reply of the President General St. Clair tendered his resignation as commander of the western army. Late in the session of 1792, Congress appointed a committee to investigate the cause of St. Clair's defeat. After the examination of written reports, and the oral evidence of many participants in the battle, General St. Clair was honorably acquitted.

Reburial Of The Heroes Of Fort Recovery

On the seventh of July, 1851, Judge David R. Roop, of Fort Recovery, discovered a human skull, partly covered, in one of the streets of the village, and adjacent to the ground upon which the old fort of that name was erected. The recent heavy rains had washed off the earth. The discovery led to a search, which resulted in the .discovery of the skeletons of some sixty persons, mostly in a good state of preservation. The burial place of the soldiers who perished in St. Clair's defeat was not marked by General Winchester at the time of their interment, and their resting place was unknown. As soon as the discovery of the remains became known to the citizens of Mercer county, meetings were held at Fort Recovery and Celina, and a general invitation extended to the surviving soldiers of Ohio and other states, who had participated in the campaigns of Harmar, St. Clair, and Wayne, to join them in the funeral ceremonies of a final interment in the cemetery, on the tenth of September, 1851.

In the forenoon of the day appointed for the ceremonies, the bones were placed in thirteen walnut coffins. "While the coffins were being filled the people were permitted to examine the remains, many of which bore marks of the bullet and tomahawk. It was evident that a number had been perforated by a bullet, and also had a gash smoothly cut by the tomahawk, and in different places, marks made by a sharp instrument were discernable, said by old soldiers present to have been produced by the scalping knife.

The committee of arrangements appointed officers of the day, and a procession was formed under the direction of General James Watson Riley, assisted by several aids ; one hundred and four pall bearers, selected from the different counties represented.

headed the procession in charge of the coffins, and were followed by the soldiers present, ladies and citizens, which formed a column a mile long, and marched to the stand erected on the south side of the village, in full view of the battle ground, where an oration was pronounced by Hon. Bellamy Storer, of Cincinnati, who was invited for the occasion.

"The speaker's introductory referred to the scenes enacted on that very ground, on the fourth of November, 1791 - -contrasting the then horrible wilderness with the present civilized, cultivated, and flourishing appearance of the country. He dwelt on the position of St. Clair's army at the time of the attack ; the position of the enemy - their advantages, and the fatal results of the conflict, - paying a merited tribute to the brave, though unfortunate commander, and his more unfortunate men. The speaker made a beautiful allusion to the thirteen coffins. They did not contain the bones of the people of Massachusetts, or Kentucky, or Pennsylvania, or Maryland, or the Carolinas, or any other particular section, but were the representatives of the whole Union, engaged in a common conflict in defense of the rights of the American 'compact. Their names and locality are unknown. Heaven's register alone can record their deeds of valor and patriotism, and show where and to whom they belonged. They died a common, and a martyr's death for the Union we live to enjoy, and which it is our duty to protect, and our highest honor to cling to and perpetuate. Under it, man may be independent of everything but his God. Not so in the old world. There confusion and commotion prevail ; political and religious tyranny reign ; and the American mission is to infuse the principles of Liberty into the masses of Europe, by living up to> our privileges as Americans - every man being independent of everything but his God - preventing everything that has a tendency towards disunion, or the mitigation of a single stripe or star on our national flag. Universal education, and the advancement of science, are the sure foundations of our perpetuity.

ported a series urging Congress to appropriate money to erect a monument at Fort Recovery, and one at Greenville. Committees, composed of citizens of the different counties represented, were appointed to solicit contributions for furtherance of that object. Messrs. Benjamin Linzee, J. W. Riley, H. F. Junemann,. and two others were appointed on the part of Mercer county.

The procession was then reformed in the order it came to the stand, and moved to the cemetery on the south side of the village, and the coffins were deposited in one grave, divided off with boards, each division or vault containing two coffins.

General Lewis Cass, General Butler, and George E. Pugh, Esq., had been invited to speak on the occasion. Circumstances prevented the attendance of General Butler and Mr. Pugh. General Cass was also unable to attend, but sent the following letter to W. L. Blocher, Esq., which fully explains itself :

Dear Sir - I have received your letter, and assure you if would give me great pleasure to attend the interesting ceremony of the interment of the remains of the soldiers who fell at the battle of Fort Recovery, if it were in my power. But other engagements will not permit me to be there, and I must content myself with thanking you for the invitation, and expressing my gratification at this patriotic tribute to the gallant men who sacrificed their lives for their country in the days of her weakness, and are now honorably remembered in the days of her power.

The Third Interment Of The Remains Of The Heroes Of Fort Recovery

The pioneer associations of Western Ohio decided, as early as 1890, to hold a Centennial Celebration of the Battle of Fort Recovery. Assisted by the Ohio Historical Society and the patriotic sentiment of the people of the Northwest, preparations were matured for holding a three days' celebration, commencing on Wednesday, November 14th, 1891. A few days prior to that date, the remains of the heroes were disinterred and placed in coffins, and removed to the Christian Church, in the southern part of the village. The writer was present on the second day of the exercises and examined the remains. A hundred years had passed, and yet an odor arose from the remains that filled the room. Many of the skulls had bullet holes in them, and the marks of the tomahawk and scalping knife were still plainly visible.

The remains pf General Butler, discovered in 1876, reposed in a separate coffin. His sword lay beside him, with his name and the crown of England engraven upon it.

On the day appointed, despite the threatening weather, there was a large attendance of people in the grove south of the village. The exercises of the day consisted of the speeches of Governor Campbell, of Ohio, and the magnificent historical address of General E. B. Finley, of Bucyrus. Congressman F; C. Layton acted as the presiding officer. On Thursday the Celina German Aid Society took a conspicuous place in the parade. Ohio's famous orator, General Gibson, made the address of the day. He said it was remarkable to reflect that more people were there to do homage to the fallen heroes of St. Clair's Waterloo, than could then be found in the now great State of Ohio. On Friday, ten thousand people listened to the matchless eloquence of Judge Samuel F. Hunt, of Cincinnati. Could General St. Clair have revisited the scene of his irretrievable disaster during the week, and heard, how, after all these years, his memory had been perpetuated, perhaps he might have felt that his defeat had not been in vain, for it lives in history's pages more vividly than any conquest.

Judge Hunt'S Address

It is said that for more than six hundred years after the battle of Mortgarten the Swiss peasantry gathered on the field of battle to commemorate those who had fallen for freedom. We have assembled to-day in the same spirit to do honor to the gallant dead, who, one hundred years ago, gave their lives for their country on this fatal field, and over their hallowed ashes we perpetuate the story of their unselfish patriotism. A great Republic, mighty in its memory of every man, whether on land or on sea, who has lifted up his hand for his country and the glory of the flag.

fui disaster under St. Clair, but to those tried and patriotic men who followed Anthony Wayne and perished at last at Fallen Timbers, and those hardy pioneers who protected the frontier before civil authority was established and saved defenseless settlements from the tomahawk and scalping knife of the Indian.

When George Washington, on November 25th, 1758, then in his twenty-sixth year, planted the British flag on the deserted ruins <of the fortress at the junction of the Monongahela and the Allegheny rivers, the banner of England floated for the first time over the Ohio. This was the extreme western post of British rule in North America, and from the Gateway of the West there stretched toward the setting sun the solemn and mysterious forest. There was nothing but an endless space or shadowy woodland. The forests crowned the mountains from crest to river bed and extended in melancholy wastes toward the distant Mississippi. It has been well expressed that the sunlight could not penetrate the roof-archway of murmuring leaves, while deep in its tangled depths lurked the red foe, hawk-eyed and wolf-hearted. Here -and there were great prairies with copses of woodland, like islands, in the sunny seas of tall, waving grass. In all that solitude there was no sound save that of the woodman's ax.

The English had been driven from every cabin in the basin sof the Ohio, France had her posts on each side of the lakes, and at Detroit, at Mackinaw, at Kaskaskia and at New Orleans, and the claim of France to the valleys of the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence seemed established by possession. The flag of the Bourbon Dynasty, which floated from the battlements of Quebec, was the emblem of sovereignty over this vast territory.

The victory of Wolfe over Montcalm on the Heights of Abraham, on September 9th, 1759, decided whether the vast central valley of North America should bear through all coming time the impress of French or English civilization. The continent was saved from French domination, and the dying hero praised God for the victory over the French as his spirit escaped in the blaze 'of its glory. The historian says that night, silence, the rushing tide, veteran discipline, the sure inspiration of genius, had been his rallies ; his battlefield, high over the ocean-river, was the grandest theater on earth for illustrious deeds ; his victory, one of the most momentous in the annals of mankind, gave to the English tongue; and the institutions of the Germanic race the unexplored and seemingly infinite West and North. He crowded into a few hours actions that would have given luster to length of life ; and fulfilling his day with greatness, completed it before its noon.

The Northwestern Territory, after the conquest of the French possessions in North America by Great Britain, was ceded to Great Britain by France by the Treaty of Paris in 1763. By an act of Parliament of Great Britain, passed in 1774, the whole of the Northwestern Territory was annexed to and made a part of the Province of Quebec, as established by royal proclamation of October, 1763, and by the treaty of peace signed at Paris September 3d, 1783, the claim of the English monarch to the Northwestern Territory was ceded to the United States. The title claimed by Virginia, Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut was vested in the United States by the several deeds of cession.

Congress now proceeded to perfect its title to the soil and jurisdiction by negotiation with the Indian tribes - the original owners and rightful proprietors - notwithstanding charters and grants and treaties of peace. The Indian title to a large part of the territory within the state of Ohio having been extinguished, it became necessary for Congress to provide a form of government for the territory northwest of the Ohio river. This led to the adoption of the Ordinance of 1787.

Society was then in a formative state ; land titles were to be fixed and property to be made secure from vexatious litigation. An extended frontier was to be protected and the territory must be governed and local jurisdictions were to be established. It was necessary that public sentiment should be molded and directed..

The great Ordinance was the most notable instance of legislation in the history of a free people. It determined forever the character of the men who should settle this great valley and permanently established the social, political and educational institutions of the people who should inhabit this Imperial Territory. It fixed itself upon the soil while it was yet a wilderness, and its very impress can be seen to-day in the laws and character, the social habits and material prosperity, of these great Northwestern states. With slavery in certain parts of the Union recognized and maintained, by a common sentiment it forever prohibited involuntary servitude by express enactment - that element of discord in our political system that has since filled the land with widowhood and orphanage.

It prohibited the right of primogeniture, and declared that, religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education should be encouraged. It was the first embodiment of the obligations of contracts in written constitutional law, and provided that the navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between them, should be common highways and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of the Territory as to the citizens of the United States. That sentiment is stronger to-day than when uttered. It thundered forth in every gun in the late war from the Mississippi to the seas. It was seen in the blazing campfires of every regiment of the Northwest as it hewed its way to the Gulf.

Arthur St. Clair, an officer in the old French War, Major- General in the Army of the Revolution, and President of the Continental Congress, was appointed Governor of the Northwest Territory in 1788, with Winthrop Sergeant as Secretary, and who also acted as Chief Magistrate in the absence of the Governor. When St. Clair came to the Territory in July, 1788, the tribes on the Wabash were decidedly hostile. They continued to invade the Kentucky settlements while George Rogers Clark, at the head of the Kentucky Volunteers, in return, destroyed their villages and waged a relentless warfare against them. Immigration was retarded by the fear of the tomahawk and the scalping knife.

At the close of the Revolution the "regular army" had been reduced to less than seven hundred men, and no officer was retained above the rank of captain. This force was soon after reduced to twenty-five men to guard the mighty stores at Pittsburg, and fifty-five men to perform military duty at West Point and other magazines.

It was estimated that all the tribes in the Territory at this time numbered twenty thousand souls. They were continually inflamed by British emissaries and agents, and a feeling of hostility enkindled. These emissaries and agents made their headquarters at the frontier forts which had not been given up by Great Britain, according to the terms of the treaty with the United States. The military force of the Territory consisted of about six hundred men under the command of General Harmar, who had been appointed a Brigadier General on the 31st day of July, 1787.

In the early part of 1789 Governor St. Clair held a council at Fort Harmar, at the mouth of the Muskingum, with the chiefs and sachems of the Six Nations, and with the representatives of the Indian tribes from the Mohawk valley to the Wabash, when old agreements were confirmed and boundaries established. Many of the tribes refused to acknowledge the treaty as binding; and within a short period after the council at Fort Harmar bands of marauding Indians threatened the frontiers of Virginia and Kentucky.

It became evident that permanent peace with the Indians was an impossibility. They waylaid the boats and wounded and plundered the immigrants all along the river from Pittsburg to the Falls of the Ohio. General Flarmar endeavored to chastise them, but his expedition was a disaster, and his command defeated at the Maumee ford in October, 1790.

The Federal Government proclaimed that the occupation 6f the Territory meant peace and friendship and not war and bloodshed. These appeals were only answered by renewed depredations on the part of the Indians, who were largely instigated by the infamous Simon Girty, a renegade white man, at the mention of whose name for more than twenty years the women and children of the Ohio country turned pale.

The tribes of the West under Little Turtle, the chief of the Miamis, P>lue Jacket, chief of the Shawnees, and Buck-ong-ahelos, chief of the Delawares, now confederated to resist the whites and drive them, if possible, beyond the Ohio river, which the Indians regarded as the boundary of their territory. Cornplanter, a famous chief, at the table of General Wayne, at Legionville, in 1793, said: "My mind is upon that river," pointing to the Ohio. "May that water ever continue to run and remain the boundary of lasting peace between the Americans and Indians on the opposite side."

The expeditions of Harmar and Scott and Wilkinson were directed against the Miamis and Shawnees, while the burning of their towns, the destruction of their corn fields and the captivity of their women and children only seemed to exasperate them and aroused more desperate efforts to defend their hunting grounds and to harass the invaders. In the meantime preparations were going forward for the main expedition of St. Clair, the purpose of which was to secure control over the savages by establishing a chain of forts from the Ohio river to Lake Erie, and especially by securing a strong position in the heart of the Miami country. The defeat of Harmar proved the necessity of some strong check upon the Indians of the Northwest.

Indeed, the main object of the campaign of 1791 was to build a fort at the junction of the St. Mary and the St. Joseph rivers, which was to be connected by other intermediate stations with Fort Washington and the Ohio. The importance of this position was recognized in a letter of General Knox, Secretary of War, to St. Clair, dated September 12th, 1790, and the Secretary of War, in his official report of St. Clair's defeat, dated December 26th, 1791, says "that the greatest object of the late campaign was to establish a strong military post at the Miami village Maumee, at the junction of the St. Joseph and the St. Mary. This object, too, was to be attained, if possible, even at the expense of a contest which otherwise he avoided.

The Secretary of War, under the authority and direction of President Washington, issued full and complete instructions to General St. Clair for the conduct of the campaign. It was declared to be the policy of the General Government to establish a just and liberal peace with all the Indian tribes within the limits and in the vicinity of the territory of the United States ; but if lenient measures should fail to bring the hostile Indians to a just sense of their situation, it would then be necessary to use all coercive measures to accomplish the result.

General St. Clair was informed that, by an act of Congress, passed September 2d, 1790, another regiment was to be raised and added to the military establishment, and provision made for raising two thousand levies for the term of six months for the service of the frontiers. It was contemplated that the mass of regulars and volunteers should be recruited and rendezvoused at Fort Washington by the 10th of July following, so that there would be a force of three thousand "effectives" at least, besides leaving small garrisons on the Ohio, for the main expedition.

In order to prevent the Indians from spreading themselves along the line of the frontiers, in the event of the refusal of peace, Brigadier General Charles Scott, of Kentucky, was authorized to make an expedition against the Wea or Aniatenon towns, with mounted volunteers, or militia from Kentucky, not exceeding seven hundred and fifty, officers included.

In his advance to the Miami village St. Clair was directed to establish such posts of communication with Fort Washington on the Ohio, as should be deemed proper, while the post at the confluence of the St. Mary and the St. Joseph was intended for the purpose of awing and curbing the Indians in that quarter, and as the only preventive of future hostilities. It was necessary that it should be made secure against all attempts and insults of the Indians. The garrison to be stationed there was not only to be sufficient for the defense of the place, but always to afford a detachment of five or six hundred men, either to chastise any of the Wabash or other hostile Indians, or to secure any convoy of provisions.

It was left to the discretion of the commanding general to> employ, if attainable, any Indians of the Six Nations, and the Chickasaws or other Southern Nations, with the suggestion that probably the employment of about fifty of each, under the direction of some discreet or able chief, might be advantageous. There was a caution that they ought not to be assembled before the line of march was taken up, for the reason that they soon became tired and would not be detained.

The Secretary of War presumed that disciplined valor would triumph over the undisciplined Indian. In that event the Indians would sue for peace, and the dignity of the United States Government required that the terms should be liberal. In order to avoid further war it was thought proper to make the Wabash, and thence over to the Miami - the Maumee - and down the same to its mouth at Lake Erie, the boundary, except so far as the same might relate to the Wyandots and the Delawares, on the supposition of their continuing faithful to their treaties. But if these tribes should join in war against the United States they should be removed beyond this boundary.

There was also a discretion given to General St. Clair to extend the boundary from the mouth of the river Au Panse of the Wabash in a due west line to the Mississippi, since but few Indians, besides the Kickapoos, would be affected by such a line, but there was an admonition that the whole matter should be tenderly managed. The policy of the United .States dictated peace with the Indians, for peace was of more value than millions of uncultivated acres.

the Miami village might be regarded by the British officers on the frontier as a circumstance of jealousy. It was suggested, therefore, that such intimation should be made at the proper time as would remove all such dispositions. It was the judgment of the Secretary of War that such intimations should rather follow than precede the possession of the post.

It is interesting, after the lapse of a hundred years, to know the feeling entertained by the Federal Government toward Great Britain in the campaign of the Northwestern Territory. Within twenty-one years after the defeat of St. Clair on this fatal field there was a formal declaration of war between the United States and Great Britain, and within twenty-one years General Harrison heard the thunder of Perry's guns as they proclaimed that the American arms had undisputed possession of Lake Erie.

In the very instructions to which wTe have alluded it was declared that it was neither the inclination nor the interest of the United States to enter into a contest with Great Britain, and that every measure tending to any discussion or altercation should be prevented. General Knox said, "The delicate situation, therefore, of affairs, may render it improper, at present to make any naval arrangements upon Lake Erie. After you shall have effected all the injury to the hostile Indians of which your force may be capable, and after having established the posts and garrisons at the Miami villages, and its communications, and placing the same under the orders of an officer worthy of such high trust, you will return to Fort Washington, on the Ohio."

"It is proper to observe," continued the Secretary of War, "that certain jealousies have existed among the people of the frontiers relative to a supposed interference between their interest and those of the marine states; that these jealousies are illfounded, with respect to the present government, is obvious. The United States embrace, with equal care, all parts of the Union, and, in the present case, are making expensive arrangements for the protection of the frontier, and partly in the modes, too, which appear to be highly favored by the Kentucky people. The high station you fill of Commander-in-Chief of the troops and Governor of the Northwestern Territory, will afford you pregnant opportunities to impress the frontier citizens of the entire good disposition of the general government toward them

General St. Clair proceeded to organize his army under these instructions. He was in Pittsburg in the following April, toward which point horses and stores and ammunition were going forward. On the 15th of May St. Clair reached Fort Washington [now Cincinnati], and at that time, the United States troops in the West amounted to but two hundred and sixty-four non-commissioned officers and privates fit for duty. On the 15th of July the first regiment, containing two hundred and ninety-nine men, reached Fort Washington.

General Richard Butler, who fell in the engagement, and for whom Butler county was named, was appointed second in command, and during the months of April and May was engaged in obtaining recruits, but when obtained there was no money to pay them, nor to provide stores for them. There was great inefficiency in the quartermaster's department. Tents, pack saddles, kettles, knapsacks and cartridge boxes were all deficient, both in quantity and quality. The powder was poor or injured, the arms and accoutrements out of repair and not even proper tools to mend them. Of six hundred and sixty-five stands -of arms at Fort Washington, designed by St. Clair for the militia, scarcely any were in order ; and with two traveling forges furnished by the quartermaster, there were no anvils. The troops gathered slowly at Fort Washington, and there were vexatious detentions at Pittsburg and upon the river. Intemperance prevailed to a great extent. St. Clair then ordered the soldiers removed, now numbering two thousand men, to Ludlow Station, about six miles from the fort.

The army continued here until September 17th, 1791, when, being two thousand three hundred strong, moved forward to a point on the Great Miami river, when Fort Hamilton was built, the first in the chain of fortresses.

On September 13th St. Clair reconnoitered the country and selected the ground to erect another fort for the purpose of a deposit. Two hundred men were employed the following day under direction of Major Ferguson, at the new fort. This was the second in the chain of fortresses and was called Fort Jefferson. The army took up the line of march on the morning of the 24th and pursued an old Indian path leading north through a fine open woods, and, after advancing six miles, encamped along thebank of a creek with a large prairie on the left. This camp was afterward called Fort Greenville by General Wayne, and marksthe site of the town of Greenville.

On the third day of November the army encamped on pleasant, dry ground, on the bank of a creek about twenty yards wide, said to be the Pickaway fork of the Omee, but known since to bea branch of the Wabash. This was ninety-eight miles from Fort Washington. It was later than usual when the army reached theground that evening, and the fatigue of the men prevented the General from having some works of defense immediately erected. Major Ferguson, commanding officer of the artillery, was sent for and a plan agreed upon for work to commence early next morning. Indeed, it was the intention of St. Clair to leave theheavy baggage at the place and move on with the army to the- Miami village. The high, dry ground was barely sufficient to encamp the army, so that the lines were contracted. The front line was parallel with the creek, which was almost twenty yards wide. There was low, wet ground on both flanks, and along most of the rear. The militia advanced across the creek about three hundred yards. The frequent firing of the sentinels through the night had disturbed the camp, and excited some concernamong the officers, while guards had reported the Indians skulking about in considerable numbers. At ten o'clock at night General Butler, who commanded the right wing, was directed to' send out an efficient officer and party for information. There wasmuch bitter controversy on this subject afterward. An aid-decamp to General St. Clair stated that lie saw Captain Slough, with two subalterns and thirty men parade at General Butler's tent for that purpose, and heard General Butler give Captain- Slough very particular orders how to proceed. The aide-decamp, with two or three officers, remained with General Butler until a late hour, and then returned to the Commander-in-Chief who was unable to be up, and whose tent was at some distanceon the left. General St. Clair had been indisposed for several days past with what at times appeared to be "a bilious colic, sometimes a rheumatic asthma, and at other times symptoms of the gout." to General St. Clair, published by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, will be found, perhaps, the best account of the engagement itself.

A light fall of snow lay upon the ground - so light that it appeared like hoar frost. On a piece of rising ground, timbered with oak, ash and hickory, the encampment was spread, with a fordable stream in front. The army lay in two lines, seventy yards apart, with four pieces of cannon in the center of each. Across the stream, and beyond a rich bottom land three hundred yards in width, was an elevated plain, covered with an open front of stately trees. There the militia, three hundred and fifty independent, half-insubordinate men, under Lieutenant Colonel Oldham, of Kentucky, were encamped.

The troops had paraded on the morning of the 4th of November, 1791, at the usual time. They had been dismissed from the lines but a few minutes, and the sun had hardly risen, when the woods in front resounded with the fire and yells of the savages. The volunteers, who were but three hundred yards in front, had scarcely time to return a shot before they fled into the camp. The troops were under arms in an instant, and a brisk fire from the front line met the enemy. The Indians from the front filed off to the right and left and completely surrounded the camp, and, as a result, cut off nearly all the guards and approaches close to the lines. The savages advanced from one tree, log or stump, to another, under cover of the smoke of the guns of the advancing army. The artillery and musketry made a tremendous noise, but did but little execution. The Indians braved every thing, and when the army of St. Clair was encompassed they kept up a constant fire, which told with fatal effect, although scarcely heard. The left flank, probably from the nature of the ground, gave way first. The enemy got possession of that part of the encampment, but were soon repulsed, because the ground was very open and -exposed.

General St Clair was engaged at the time toward the right. He led in person the party that drove the enemy and regained the ground on the left.

The battalions in the rear charged several times and forced the enemy from the shelter, but the Indians always turned and fired upon their backs. The savages feared nothing from the Federal troops. They disappeared from the reach of the bayonet and then appeared as they pleased. They were visible only when raised by a charge. The ground was literally covered with the dead and dying. The wounded were taken to the center, where it was thought most safe and where a great many had crowded together after they had quitted the posts. The General, with other officers, endeavored to rally these men, and twice they were taken out to the lines. The officers seemed to be singled out, and a great proportion fell or retired from wounds early in the action.

The men, being thus left with few officers, became fearful, and, despairing of success, gave up the battle. To save themselves they abandoned their ground, and crowded in toward the center of the field. They seemed perfectly ungovernable, and no effort could again place them in order for an attack.

The Indians at length secured the artillery, but not until the officers were all killed, save one, and that officer badly wounded. The men were almost all cut off and the pieces spiked. As the lines of St. Clair's army were gradually deserted, the lines of the Indians were contracted. The shots then centered, and with deliberate aim the execution was fearful. There was, too, a cross-fire, and officers and men fell in every direction.

The distress and cries of the wounded were fearful. A few minutes later, and a retreat would have been impossible. The only hope was that the savages would be so taken up with the camp as not to follow the retreating army. Delay was death. There was no opportunity for preparation. Numbers of brave men must be left on the field as a sacrifice. There was no alternative but retreat. It was after nine o'clock when repeated orders had been given to retreat. The action had continued between two and three hours. Both officers and men were incapable of doing any thing. No one was aroused to action until a retreat was ordered. Then a few officers advanced to the front, and the men followed. The enemy then temporarily gave way, because there was no suspicion of the retreat. The stoutest and most active now took the lead, and those who were foremost in breaking the lines of the enemy were soon left in the rear.

When the day was lost one of the pack-horses was procured for General St. Clair. The General delayed to see the rear. This movement was soon discovered by the enemy, and the Indians followed, though for not more than four or five miles. They soon returned to share the spoils of the battle-field. Soon after the firing ceased an order was given to an officer to gain the front, and, if possible, to cause a halt, that the rear might reach the army. A short halt was caused, but the men grew impatient and would move forward. By this time the remainder of the army was somewhat compact, but in the most miserable and defenseless state. The wounded left their arms on the field, and onehalf of the others threw them away on the retreat. The road for miles was covered with firelocks, cartridge boxes and regimentals. It was most fortunate that the pursuit was discontinued,, for a single Indian might have followed with safety on either flank. Such a panic had seized the men that they were ungovernable.

In the afternoon a detachment of the First Regiment met the retreating army. This regiment, the only complete and best disciplined portion of the army, had been ordered back upon the road the 31st of October. They were thirty miles from the battle ground when they heard distinctly the firing of cannon, were hastening forward, and had marched about nine miles when met by some of the militia, who informed Major Hamtramck, the commanding officer, that the army was totally destroyed. The Major judged it best to send a subaltern to obtain some knowledge of the situation, and to return himself with the regiment to Fort Jefferson, eight miles back, and to secure at all events that post. Stragglers continued to come in for hours after the main army had reached the fort.

The remnant of the army, with the First Regiment, was now at Fort Jefferson, twenty-nine miles from the field of action, without provisions, and the former without having eaten any thing for twenty-four hours. A convoy was known to be upon the road, and within a day's march. The General determined to move with the First Regiment and all the levies able to march. Those of the wounded and others unable to go on were lodged as comfortably as possible within the fort. The army set out a little after ten o'clock that night and reached Fort Hamilton on the afternoon of the sixth, the General having reached there in the morning. On the afternoon of the eighth the army reached Fort Washington.

out assistance. He was not in uniform. His chief covering was a coarse crappo coat, and a three-cocked hat, from under which his white hair was seen streaming as he and Butler rode (walked) up and down the line during the battle. He had three horses killed under him. Eight balls passed through his clothes. He finally mounted a pack-horse, and upon this animal, which could with difficulty be spurred into a trot, he followed the retreat.

That evening Adjutant-General Sargeant wrote in his diary: "The troops have all been defeated, and though it is impossible .at this time to ascertain our loss yet there can be no manner of doubt that more than one-half of the army are either killed or wounded."

Atwater, in his history of Ohio, says that there were in the army at the commencement of the action about two hundred and fifty women, of whom fifty-six were killed in the battle, and the remainder were made prisoners by the enemy except a small number who reached Fort Washington.

The true causes of the disaster have been the subject of much controversy. The Committee of the House of Representatives, .as stated in the American State Papers (Vol. XII, 38) exonerated St. Clair from all blame in relation to everything before and during the action.

The real reasons were doubtless the surprise of the army and ;the consequent confusion and plight of the militia, who were first attacked. The militia, as St. Clair says, were a quarter of a mile in advance of the main army, and beyond the creek; still further in advance was Captain Slough, who, with volunteer party of regulars sent to reconnoitre ; and orders had been given to Colonel Oldham, who commanded the militia, to have the woods thoroughly examined by the scouts and patrols, as Indians were discovered hanging about the outskirts of the army. The want of discipline and inexperience of the troops, doubtless, contributed to the result. The battle began at six o'clock in the morning and lasted until about half-past nine. They were not overwhelmed, as St. Clair supposed, by superior numbers. The Indians, according to the best accounts, did not exceed one thousand warriors. They fought, however, with desperate valor, and at a great advantage from the nature of the ground and from the facilities the forest afforded for their favorite mode of attack. They were led, too, by the greatest chieftain of that age. It has been the received opinion that the leader of the confederated tribes on that fatal day was Little Turtle, the Chief of the Miamis ; but from the family of that celebrated warrior and statesman it is ascertained that Joseph Brandt (Stone's Brandt, II, p. 313) with one hundred and fifty Mohawk braves were present and commanded the warriors of the Wilderness. Colonel John Johnston, long the Indian Agent, thinks that the number of the Indians could not have been less than two thousand men, but this estimate is not accepted as accurate. General Harmar not only refused to join the expedition, but the relations between St. Clair and Butler were not of the most cordial character. It is evident from the events connected with the campaign, as well as from his subsequent career as Governor of the North Western Territory, that St. Clair was dictatorial in manner and spirit.

The battle which took place here on that eventful day in November, 1791, seems to pale before the mighty achievements of the late civil war when great armies were picked up on the banks of the Potomac and dropped on the banks of the Cumberland and the Tennessee, and when the shouts of more than a million of men, mingled with the roar of the Atlantic and Pacific as they passed onward in the ranks of war. The defeat of St. Clair was the most terrible reverse the American arms ever suffered from the Indians. Even the defeat of Braddock's army was less disastrous. Braddock's army consisted of twelve hundred men and eighty-six officers, of whom seven hundred and fourteen men and sixty-three officers were killed and wounded. St. Clair's army consisted of fourteen hundred men and eightysix officers, of whom thirty-seven officers and five hundred and ninety-three privates Were killed and missing, and thirty-one officers and two hundred and fifty-two privates wounded. It is true that when the army advanced from Fort Jefferson it numbered about two thousand men, but discharges and desertions reduced the effective strength on the day of action to only about fourteen hundred men. The Second Regiment had but one battalion with the army. It was well appointed, but inexperienced. The officers and men, however, did their whole duty ; they, with the battalion of artillery, were nearly all cut off.

the dead. Never had there been such a harvest of scalps. As evening approached the woods around Fort Du Quesne rung with the halloos of the red men, the constant firing of small arms, mingled with the peal of cannon from the fort. The next day the British artillery was brought in, and the Indian warriors, painting their skins a shining vermillion, with patches of black and brown and blue, gloried in the laced hats and bright apparel of the English officers. This language, but for the English artillery and the English officers, would be descriptive of the field.

The people of the western counties of Pennsylvania and Virginia memorialized their Governors for protection. "In consequence of the late intelligence of the fate of the campaign to the westward/' says a committee of the citizens of Pittsburg, "the inhabitants of the town of Pittsburg have convened and appointed us a committee for the purpose of addressing Your Excellency. The late disaster to the army must greatly affect the safety of this place. There can be no doubt but that the enemy will now come forward, and with more spirit and greater confidence than ever before, for success will give confidence and secure allies."

"The alarming intelligence lately received," said the people of the western portion of Virginia, "of the defeat of the army of the Western country fills our minds with dreadful fear and apprehension concerning the safety of, our fellow citizens in the country we represent, and we confidently hope will be an excuse for Your Excellency, whose zeal has been so frequently evinced in behalf of the distressed frontier counties, for the request we are compelled to make.

But the comparative losses of the two engagements, says a writer in the "Western Annals," represents very inadequately the crushing effect of the defeat of St. Clair. An unprotected frontier of one thousand miles, from the' Alleghanies to the Mississippi, was at once thrown open to the attack of the infuriated and victorious*savages. The peace enjoyed for the several preceding years had wrought a great change in the western settlements. The Indian hunters of the Revolutionary War had laid aside their arms and their habits and devoted themselves to the cultivation of the soil; the block-houses and forts, around which the first settlers had gathered, were abandoned, and cabins, clearings and hamlets instead were scattered in exposed situations all along the border. Everywhere the settlers, unprotected and unprepared,.

were expecting in terror the approach of the savages, and everywhere abandoning their homes or awaiting in helpless despair the burnings, massacres and cruelties of Indian wars.

General Harmar was at Fort Washington in September, 1791, to solicit a court of inquiry to examine into misconduct in the last campaign. The court was ordered - with General Richard Butler as President - and a report was made highly honorable to General Harmar. He was then determined to quit the service and positively refused to take any command in the campaign of St. Clair. He conversed frequently and freely with a few of his friends on the probable results of the campaign and predicted defeat. He suspected a dispositon in Major Denny to resign but discouraged the idea. "You must," said he, "go in the campaign; some will escape, and you may be among the number." It was a matter of astonishment to General Harmar, who had experience in fighting the Indians, that General St. Clair, who had an excellent military reputation, should think of hazarding that reputation and even his life, and the lives of so many others, with an army so completely undisciplined, and with the officers so totally unacquainted with Indian warfare, and with not a department sufficiently prepared. There, too, was an absolute ignorance of the collected force and situation of the enemy. Indeed the scouts who left camp on the 29th of October under command of Captain Sparks, and composed chiefly of friendly Indians, missed the enemy altogether and knew nothing of the battle, and but for an Indian runner whom they met after the engagement would probably have all been captured. It was unfortunate, too, that both the general officers had been disabled by sickness.

The popular clamor against St. Clair was loud and deep. He had suffered a great reverse, and was, therefore, accused by the public voice of great incompetence. He asked from the President the appointment of a Court of Inquiry, but the request was denied because there were not officers enough in the service of the proper rank to constitute such a court. He then offered to resign his commission on condition that his conduct should be investigated, but the exigencies of the service would not permit of the delay, and his request was again refused.

In a letter to Jonathan Dayton from John Cleves Symmes, dated North Bend, August 15th, 1791, the writer says that nothing is known when the present army is to be put in motion. They are encamped at the Ludlow Station, five miles from Fort Washington, on account of better food for the cattle, of which they have near one thousand head from Kentucky. Many and important are the preparations to be made previous to their general movement. Not long since I made General St. Clair a tender of my services on the expedition. He replied : "I am very willing that you should go, sir, but, by God, you do not go as a Dutch deputy." I answered that I did not recollect the anecdote of the Ducch deputation to which he alluded. His Excellency replied : ''The Dutch, in some of the wars, sent forth an army under the command of a general officer, but appointed a deputation of burghers to attend the general to the war that they might advise him when to fight and when to decline." I inferred from this that I should be considered by him rather as a spy upon his conduct than otherwise, and therefore do not intend to go, though I should have been happy to have seen the country between this and Sandusky.