St. Clair's Defeat

Campaign

Washington insisted that St. Clair push northward before summer's end, yet a tangle of supply troubles and logistical headaches dragged out preparations at Fort Washington, on the site of present-day Cincinnati. Green recruits received only hurried instruction, provisions fell short of acceptable standards, filth and sickness spread through the ranks, and the available horses were both scarce and feeble. As a result, the expedition could not begin until October of 1791. Marching northward, the army erected supply posts along its route, aiming ultimately for Kekionga, seat of the Miami tribe.

At its fullest strength, St. Clair's army numbered around 2,000, comprising 600 regular troops, 800 conscripts serving six-month terms, and 600 militiamen. Desertions steadily thinned these ranks, so that by the time the column finally moved, only about 1,486 men remained, trailed by some 200 to 250 camp followers, wives, children, laundresses, and prostitutes among them. Discipline proved elusive throughout, as St. Clair, hampered by gout that made mounting a horse painful, struggled constantly to maintain command. Native scouts trailed the army without pause, and small clashes broke out from time to time. By November 2, further losses to sickness and flight had reduced the American force to roughly 1,120, camp followers included. The Western Confederacy, meanwhile, was only growing stronger: Buckongahelas brought 480 warriors to unite with the 700 already under Little Turtle and Blue Jacket, swelling the combined war party past a thousand men, many of them Potawatomis drawn from eastern Michigan.

By November 3, St. Clair could count only 52 officers alongside 868 enlisted men and militia. That day the army pitched camp on a raised meadow, splitting its forces so that the First Infantry and the volunteers lay on one side of the Wabash River while the Kentucky militia occupied the other, a arrangement that left the two groups unable to reinforce each other swiftly if trouble came. No fortifications were raised, despite native warriors having been spotted lurking nearby in the trees. Butler dispatched a small party under Captain Jacob Slough to clear away natives who were harassing his camp's edges. The soldiers, engaging what looked like a minor group, quickly discovered they were badly outnumbered and pulled back, warning that a larger assault seemed imminent. Butler, however, never passed this warning up to St. Clair, nor did he strengthen the camp's defenses.

That night, the army settled onto a high hill near what is now Fort Recovery, Ohio, close to the source waters of the Wabash. Native forces under Little Turtle and Blue Jacket quietly arranged themselves into a broad crescent around the sleeping camp, waiting through the dark hours until daybreak, when most of the Americans, busy with breakfast preparations, had set aside their weapons. Adjutant General Winthrop Sargent had only just finished scolding the militia for neglecting scouting duties when the natives launched their assault, catching the Americans off guard and sweeping over their position.

At the center of the attack, Miami, Shawnee, and Lenape fighters shattered the militia line, sending panicked soldiers fleeing across the Wabash and up toward the main camp, many without even their guns. The regular troops broke apart their stacked muskets, quickly formed into firing lines, and unleashed a volley that momentarily drove the attackers back. But the native forces on both flanks swung around the regulars and pressed inward toward the main encampment, joining together on the far side. In under thirty minutes the entire American position sat surrounded. Though the regulars fought with determination, their weapons and cannon were in such poor repair that they made little impact against the well-positioned native fighters. An attempt to haul more artillery onto the hill failed when native marksmen picked off the gun crews as they worked, forcing the remaining soldiers to spike the cannons rather than lose them.

The fighting had already begun when St. Clair was roused from sleep, still half dressed. Natives under William Wells were deliberately hunting American officers, and it is possible St. Clair's disheveled appearance is what kept him alive. Even so, two horses were shot from beneath him before he continued the fight on foot. By this stage more than 400 soldiers and militiamen lay dead or wounded, and half the horses had perished as well.

The women and children traveling with the army fled toward the covered supply wagons for shelter. Some militiamen tried to join them there but were pushed back into the fighting by the women themselves. With