1791

 

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“Beware of a surprise! You know how the Indians fight us. Beware of a SURPRISE!”

 

President Washington warning Gen. Arthur St. Clair.

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THE FOUNDING FATHERS rightly feared abuse of power, including abuse of a minority by the majority.

 

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WHEN James Monroe joined the Senate, in New York City, it was not uncommon for delegates to cluster round the fireplace in the cold chamber. Not until three years later did the Senate open its doors to the public – a move Monroe considered important in a republic.

 

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THE FOLLOWING quotes are from Charles Coffin:

 

General Scott, of Kentucky, with eight hundred men on horseback, made a quiet march into the country, killed thirty-two Indians, and destroyed some of their towns; and General Wilkinson left Cincinnati and destroyed many of their villages; which made them all the more bloodthirsty and relentless. … The Indians were still murdering and scalping settlers and burning their cabins. (72/31, 33)

 

Lafayette sent the key of the Bastille to Washington, who had it enclosed in a glass case and hung in his home at Mount Vernon. The Republicans in France had adopted cockades of red, white and blue as the badge of their liberty, and the citizens of the United States adorned their hats with the same colors. Ladies trimmed their dresses with the colors significant of freedom. (72/58)

 

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November 4: The previous evening General Arthur St. Clair and his army, 

reached a point about a hundred miles north of Fort Washington, and encamped on one of the upper tributaries of the Wabash in what is now the southwest angle of Mercer county, Ohio. Early on the following morning his camp was suddenly attacked by an army of Indians numbering more than two thousand, under command of the chief Little Turtle and several American renegades who had joined the savages. A terrible battle ensued, in which, after a conflict of three hour’s duration, St. Clair was completely defeated. He lost fully half of his men and was fortunate to escape with the remainder. The fugitive militia retreated precipitately to Fort Washington, where they arrived four days after the battle.

 

If the defeat of Harmar had spread alarm, that of St. Clair brought terror. Everywhere were gloom and sorrow. Hardly any battle of the Revolution had entailed greater loss of life and suffering. Even the national government at Philadelphia was for a while in consternation. The responsibility for the defeat was laid with some justice at the feet of General St. Clair, who had not conducted the campaign with the necessary vigilance and caution. For once the benignant spirit of Washington gave way to wrath. He was sitting at the table when the despatches announcing the ruinous defeat of the army were laid beside him. Presently he arose and retired to his office. “Here,” said he in a tempest of indignation, “here in this very room I took leave of General St. Clair. I wished him success and honor. I said to him, ‘You have careful instructions from the Secretary of War, and I myself will add one word – Beware of a surprise! You know how the Indians fight us. Beware of a SURPRISE!’ He went off with that my last warning ringing in his ears. And yet he has suffered that army to be cut to pieces, hacked, butchered, tomahawked by a surprise, – the very thing I guarded him against! How can he answer to his country? The blood of the slain is upon him, – the curse of widows and orphans!”

 

Mr. Lear, the secretary, in whose presence this storm of wrath burst forth, sat speechless. Presently Washington grew silent. “What I have uttered must not go beyond this room,” said he in a manner of great seriousness. Another pause of several minutes ensued, and then he continued in a slow and solemn tone, “I looked at the dispatches hastily, and did not note all the particulars. General St. Clair shall have justice. I will receive him without displeasure, – he shall have full justice!” Notwithstanding his exculpation by a committee of Congress, poor St. Clair, overwhelmed with censures and reproaches, resigned his command, and was succeeded by General Wayne, whom the people had named Mad Anthony. (1219/270-271)

 

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ANDREWS gives us another description – of St. Clair headed north, building a fort at the site of present-day Hamilton, Ohio. He built a second fort near Greenville. 

On November 4, his force was attacked by, 

Joseph Brant or Thayendanegea – famed for his bloody exploits against us during the Revolution – and well-nigh annihilated. Five high officers, including Butler, were killed, and as many more sank from wounds. Cannons, guns, accoutrements, in fact the whole equipment of the army, were lost. After a four hours’ fight St. Clair, sick but brave as a tiger, horse after horse shot beneath him, part of the time carried in a litter, his gray locks streaming in the breeze, put himself at the head of the five hundred who remained unscathed, and hewed his way through the walls of savages to the rear. Six o’clock that night found the survivors back at Greenville, twenty-nine miles from the scene of carnage. Had the Indians pursued instead of stopping to mutilate the slain, every soul must have perished.

 

The announcement of this disaster called forth in the East a universal howl of rage at the unfortunate commander. Even Washington was beside himself: “To suffer that great army to be cut to pieces, hacked, butchered, tomahawked, by a surprise – the very thing I guarded him against! O God! O God, he is worse than a murderer! How can he answer it to his country? The blood of the slain is upon him, the curse of widows and orphans, the curse of Heaven.” St. Clair came East to explain. Hobbling into Washington’s presence, he grasped his hand in both his own and sobbed. (2/275-276)

 

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ONE RECENT description of the battle includes the following details: 

Pushed out of their Kentucky hunting lands and away from the Ohio River line, the Shawnees led by Blue Jacket formed a coalition with the Miami chief Little Turtle to resist further incursions into the Northwest Territories. In 1791, President Washington entrusted St. Clair, Governor of the Northwest Territory, with essentially the entire U.S. Army to break the coalition.

 

St. Clair and his men made camp on November 3, on low, wooded ground near the Wabash River. 

Blue Jacket’s Shawnees and warriors of the Miami, Ottawa, Delaware, Potawatomi and other nations attacked the camp at breakfast. For the confederated tribes, the battle was a tactical masterpiece. Native marksmen targeted officers and artillerymen, disrupting command structure and disabling a potentially potent weapon.

 

When the Regulars formed up for a bayonet charge, the warriors faded back, then coalesced around the exposed unit and destroyed it.

 

Native forces got in among the camp followers, too, and the slaughter was great: 600 killed, 300 wounded.  

Painting by Peter Dennis. Nor in blogger's possession.

In this painting the warriors of the “Miami Confederacy” seem much too far from St. Clair’s lines (tiny line of men, upper middle).