USA > Ohio > Shelby County > History of Shelby County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 12
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Let us look to the details attending this defeat. Further along we will find it not amiss to speak of the life of Gen. Arthur St. Clair, a man whose talents, courage, and sacrifices during the Revolutionary struggle and subsequent misfortunes are strangely blended. A strong prejudice has fenced him about since the disastrous defeat at Recovery. Other pages of this volume will show him, not without a military reputation to which clustered glory and renown. In this, his last campaign, he had been exhorted to levy troops, and be urgent. No money to pay troops was furnished. Everything went on slowly and badly; tents, pack-saddles, kettles, everything was deficient in quantity or number. For instance, of 1675 stand of arms designed for the use of the militia, scarcely any were in order, and with two travelling forges furnished-there were no anvils. No time for drill or practice, the troops were massed September 17, 1791, and the march began through the wilderness October 24th. St. Clair was sick, provisions scarce, roads were heavy, and militia-men deserting as high as sixty in a day. When the army reached the Wa- bash (Recovery), it numbered only 1400 men. Such was the condition and number of the troops to be opposed to a superior force of Indians, flushed with success, and at home in the forest. In addition to these causes, it must be added that between St. Clair and Butler existed an alienation which was the growth of years. Again, St. Clair had no accurate information of either the country or the enemy. He really supposed he was on the head waters of the St. Mary's River. The men fought well, and were the victims of circumstances rather than coward- ice. There was no cowardice; the only cowardice ever attending that exploit is that of the critic, who charges it home upon the brave men who suddenly found themselves in " the jaws of death ; in the mouth of hell !" True, the consternation became so complete that the men threw away their arms, and fled from the field, but this was only after fighting was useless; only after the flower of the army had fallen; only after bayonet charges, as gallant as ever made by man. This battle was so intimately connected with our local history, that we feel impelled to present a minute description after the foregoing explanation and general account. Let us follow St. Clair closely, step by step, and detail the movements of that battle which, culminating in a crowning defeat, was attended by crowning valor. The Indians were emboldened by previous successes, and kept the whole frontier in a state of alarm. It was then the Congressional measures already alluded to were taken. Arthur St. Clair, under the authority of the act of Congress of 1791, and who had been appointed Major-General and Commander-in-chief, was empowered to treat with the Indian tribes, and to be a military as well as civil gov- ernor of the territory. He was appointed to the command of the next expedition against the Indians, to destroy their villages on the Miami, and expel them from that country. The army consisted of about two thousand men, who marched for Fort Washington, on September 17, 1791, and cut a road through the wilderness to where Hamilton, the county seat of Butler, now stands, on the southeast bank of the Great
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HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY, OHIO.
Miami River, twenty miles within the limits of Ohio, and erected Fort Hamilton. Having completed this fort, and garrisoned it, he marched twenty miles northward, and erected Fort St. Clair; and marching twenty miles or more farther, due north, he established another military post, and called it Fort Jefferson. It is six miles south of the present town of Greenville, Darke County. Having garrisoned this post on October 24, 1791, his force was reduced to less than two thousand men, with whom he marched in the direction of the Indian villages, his object being to destroy those towns. His march was slow, over a wet country, covered with a dense forest, which had to be cleared for his baggage wagons and artillery trains. Besides this difficulty, the Indians hov- ered about his army, and skirmishes frequently took place; and, in ad- dition thereto, desertions took place daily -; at one time sixty men deserted in a body, and returned on their way to Cincinnati. Major Hamtramck was despatched with a sufficient force to bring back these deserters. By this time the main army was only fourteen hundred strong, which pressed to where Fort Recovery was afterwards erected, within the limits of Mercer County.
Here, on the head waters of the Wabash River, among a number of small creeks, on November 3, 1791, Gen. St. Clair encamped with his remaining troops. The right wing of the army, under the command of Gen. Butler, lay in front of a creek twelve yards wide, and this force formed the first line. The second line, seventy yards behind the first, was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel William Darke. There were two rows of fires between these lines, and the ground was covered with snow. The right flank was supposed to be protected by a small creek, with high steep banks, and a small body of troops. The left flank was covered by a body of cavalry and by pickets. The militia crossed the creek and advanced about eighty rods in front of the main army, and encamped in two lines, and had two rows of logs on fire. When this crossing was effected, a few Indians appeared, who precipitately fled on the approach of the militia.
At this place Gen. St. Clair intended to have thrown up a breastwork as soon as Col. Hamtramck returned with the baggage, while the main body of the army pressed forward to the Indian towns on the Maumee, leaving the baggage here under his care.
About half an hour after daylight of the morning of December 4, 1791, immediately after the militia were dismissed from parade and roll call, they were attacked by the enemy with the utmost fury. The militia fled in an instant, and came running into the regulars' camp, spreading ter- ror and confusion about. They rushed quite through Gen. Butler's line, and were hardly stopped by the second line of regulars. The officers exerted themselves to the utmost to restore order. The Indians pressed close upon the very heels of the flying militia, and instantly engaged Gen. Butler's command with great intrepidity and fury. The action forthwith became warm, and the enemy passing round the first line within fifteen minutes after the first attack, the whole army was sur- rounded by the Indians.
The artillery was posted in the centre of each wing, which the enemy attacked with the greatest violence, mowing down the artillerists in great numbers. Firing from the ground, and from every tree, they were only seen when flying from covert to covert. At length they boldly marched up to the very mouth of the cannon, and fought with the daring courage of men whose trade is war, and who are impelled to vigorous exertions by all the motives which operate on the savage mind. It was soon per- ceived that, while our soldiers were falling every moment before the bullets of the enemy, yet hidden as that enemy was, the fire of the troops had little effect. It was then resolved that Lieutenant-Colonel Darke should charge the enemy with the bayonet, at the head of the second line, which he commanded. The charge was made by nearly all the line with the utmost fury, and with so much effect that the Indians were driven about thirty rods; but no sooner had Col. Darke returned to his position than the Indians were there also; this was owing to a want of riflemen to press the advantage which Col. Darke had obtained by driv- ing off the enemy.
Instantly after this charge, Gen. Butler was severly wounded; the right wing was broken ; the artillerists were nearly all killed ; the guns were taken by the enemy, and the camp was seized by the savages. Gen. Butler, though his leg was broken by a ball, mounted his horse and bravely led his battalion to the charge. Col. Darke and Major
Clarke also charged the enemy, drove them out of the camp, and re- stored the guns. But while the Indians were pressed with the bayonet at one point, they kept up their continual fire from every other point, with fatal effect. Every charge, when made, drove the enemy back at the point where it was made, but no general effect was produced. Instead of keep- ing their ranks and fighting, the troops huddled together in crowds about the fires, and were shot down without resistance. The officers did their duty bravely, and were shot down in great numbers by the enemy, who took too sure and fatal aim.
At this time Gen. St. Clair was so worn down by fatigue and disease, that he was not able to mount or dismount his horse without assistance.
All that now remained to be done was to save the army by retiring from the field. St. Clair ordered Col. Darke with the second regiment, to drive the enemy from the path by which the army had advanced, and Col. Clarke to cover the rear of the army. These orders were obeyed, and a most disorderly flight commenced, which continued for about four miles. It was now ten o'clock in the forenoon. All this time the car- nage was dreadful. Our soldiers finally threw away their arms, and fled for their lives ; many were killed in the fight, tomahawked and scalped; many were made captives, and burnt at the stake.
After glutting their savage vengeance by killing many of our men in the pursuit, and having taken as many prisoners as they could well man- age, the savages returned to the battle ground and glutted their ven- geance on the living, the dying, and the dead.
The troops fled to Fort Jefferson, a distance of thirty miles or more. Thirty-eight commissioned officers were killed on the ground; six hun- dred non-commissioned officers and privates were killed or missing; twenty-one commissioned officers were wounded, many of whom died of their wounds; two hundred and forty-two non-commissioned officers and privates were wounded, many of whom also died. The Indians lost but few of their men, and, from the different accounts, not above fifty. We close the account of this disastrous defeat by stating that the first line of the second regiment, as encamped, was commanded by Gens. Richard Butler, Patterson, and Clarke. The second line by Cols. Gar- ther, Bedinger, and Darke. Of the first line, all the officers were either killed or wounded except three, and of the artillerists, all were killed except four privates.
To perpetuate the names of the officers who participated in the sad disaster of November 4, 1791, we give a list, many of whom had been in the dangers and glory of the war of the Revolution. They fell nobly doing their duty in their country's cause; they rest from their labors in honor, and deserve the gratitude of every American.
Of the regulars, the following officers were killed: Gen. Richard But- ler, Ferguson, Bradford, Spear, Ford, Morgan, Bines, Butts, Hart, Kirk- wood, McCrea, Thompson, Phelan, Warren, Balshe, Newman, Kelso, McMickle, Purdy, Anderson, Lukens, Burgess, Crawford, Moorehead, Cribbs, Smith, Piatt, Van Swearingen, Tipton, McMatth, Reeves, Doyle, Brooke, Greyton, Cummings, and Beatty ; also, Drs. Chase and Beatty.
Wounded officers of the regulars: Col. George Gibson, Major Thos. Butler, and Cols. Sawyer and Darke ; also, Captains Price, Darke, Bu- chanan, Lysle, Coyd, Trueman, Malartie, Cobb, and Wilson, and En- sign Purdy. Of the militia killed, were Oldham, Lemon, Briggs, and Montgomery ; wounded, Captains Madison and Thomas; Lieutenants Stagner, Owens, Walters, and Gano.
The fugitives arrived at Fort Jefferson about sunset, and continued their march that night at ten o'clock. The ground was covered with snow. They marched to Fort Washington by way of Fort Hamilton. A large number of the sentinels of Fort Jefferson, after hearing of the defeat, deserted and fled.
In the army, at the commencement of the action, were two hundred and fifty women, of whom fifty-six were killed in the battle, and the re- mainder were made prisoners, except a small number who reached Fort Washington.
St. Clair resigned his military command, and Gen. Anthony Wayne was appointed Commander-in-chief in April, 1792.
Such was the fearfully disastrous result of St. Clair's expedition, which finds no parallel, perhaps, save the defeat of Braddock. It is enough to say the causes were adequate, and at the same time uncon- trollable. Let us see if Gen. St. Clair, the first governor of our own proud State, was the man to lose a field through cowardice or weakness.
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HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY, OHIO.
Major-General Arthur St. Clair
. was born in Edinburgh in the autumn of 1734, and, after graduating at the University of his native city, studied medicine. The inactive and monotonous life of a physician did not suit his ardent temperament, and, obtaining a lieutenant's commission, he entered the army, and in 1755 arrived with Admiral Boscawen in Canada, where he served several years with distinguished credit, and was present with Gen. Wolfe in Septem- ber, 1759, in the battle on the Plains of Abraham. It was there that this heroic commander, Wolfe, purchased victory and conquest with his life.
Lieut. St. Clair was then made a captain, and after the peace of 1763 was appointed to the command of Fort Ligonier. This fort was situ- ated on the east side of Loyalhanna Creek, in Ligonier Township, Bed- ford, but now Westmoreland, County, Pa., and was erected in 1757 by Gen. Forbes. Capt. St. Clair purchased a tract of land of Gov. Penn, and entered upon the business of farming, and turned his mathematical knowledge to advantage as a surveyor before the close of 1773. .
On March 12, 1771, Capt. Arthur St. Clair was commissioned Pro- thonatory, Clerk of the Courts, Register and Recorder of Deeds for Bedford County, which had been erected into a county March 11, 1771 ; but when Westmoreland County was formed, on Feb. 26, 1773, he was appointed to the same office in Westmoreland County.
January 2, 1776, Arthur St. Clair was appointed Colonel of the 2d Battalion to be raised in Pennsylvania for the Continental service, as he. had so thoroughly espoused the American cause.
When Col. St. Clair resided in Westmoreland County the greatest distress prevailed among the inhabitants, arising from two causes: 1st. The claim of Virginia to the land. 2d. From a threatened Indian war. In process of time the first cause was removed, by Virginia and Penn- sylvania appointing commissioners to settle the boundaries of these two States. With regard to the Indian troubles Col. St. Clair met with the Six Nations and the Delawares in May, 1774, and said to them, as the representative of the colony, "that Pennsylvania is determined to main- tain the friendship existing between them, and recommended to the Indians to do no hunting on this side of the Ohio River, and by so do- ing the Pennsylvanians will keep the path open and keep bright that chain of friendship to which each of their forefathers held fast." But, on June 7, he changed his mind, for he assured Gov. Penn that the Six Nations and Delawares have too many secret meetings with the chiefs of the Shawnees, which is a bad omen. And in confirmation of his views he added that, on the 6th of this month, the Indians had killed and scalped one man, his wife, and three children, and that three more of their children were missing, which happened at Muddy Creek, now in Greene County, Pa. And on June 14, near Ten Mile Creek, in Washing- ton County, Pa., the captain of a company was killed by the Indians and a lieutenant wounded.
Col. St. Clair assures Gov. Penn that this state of affairs kept up until May, 1775, when the people of Westmoreland County resolved, in county meeting, to form an association, to arm and discipline themselves for every emergency, especially for the defence of American liberty.
On January 22, 1776, Col. St. Clair reported himself to Congress, in . session in Philadelphia, and immediately received instructions to raise a regiment for service in Canada. In six weeks his ranks were filled, and on May 11, 1776, he was in the vicinity of Quebec to cover the retreat of the defeated forces under Gen. Arnold. He remained in the North acting and counselling with Gens. Sullivan, Wayne, and other officers.
On August 9, 1776, he was appointed a brigadier-general, and in the fall was ordered to join Gen. Washington, the Commander-in-Chief, in New Jersey, and participated in the events of Trenton and Princeton.
February 19, 1777, he was appointed a major-general, and ordered to report himself to Gen. Schuyler, then in charge of the northern depart- ment, and under whose direction, on June 12, he assumed the command of Ticonderoga. For good and sufficient reasons (as the sequel to the case shows) he evacuated Ticonderoga, and through jealousy he was suspended to await his trial before a court-martial. He, however, re- mained with the army, and was with Washington September 11, 1777, at Brandywine, and was employed with Gen. Hamilton to settle a gene- ral cartel with the British commissioner at Amboy, March 9, 1780.
In October, 1778, the court-martial investigated the charges made against Gen. St. Clair, and decided that "Maj .- Gen. Arthur St. Clair is acquitted with the highest honor of the charges exhibited against him,"
which was approved by Congress without a dissenting voice, thereby justly vindicating the character of a valiant and magnanimous officer and restoring him to his rightful position.
In 1781 he was ordered to take charge of West Point, and afterwards joined Washington at Yorktown before Lord Cornwallis's surrender. On December 27, 1781, he was sent with six regiments to reinforce the Southern army and report himself to Gen. Greene, and in 1782 he re- turned to his family.
His course as a military officer through the Revolution had been use- ful and honorable, and on October 20, 1783, he was elected censor with F. A. Muhlenberg, and was returned to Congress by the Legislature of Pennsylvania in 1786, and was elected speaker soon after he took his seat in that body.
On the 11th day of July, 1788, he was appointed by Congress the first Governor of the North western Territory, and upon the organization of the Federal Government he was reappointed to the same office of Governor by Washington, and held it until within a few weeks of the territorial administration in the winter of 1802-03 when he was removed by Jef- ferson.
August 18, 1790, Gov. St. Clair made a requisition for five hundred men agreeably to an act of Congress. September 29, 1791, Gov. St. Clair asked for troops from Pennsylvania to act with the United States troops against the Indians.
In 1791, and while he was Governor of the Northwestern Territory, he suffered his memorable defeat by the Western Indians. With fourteen hundred men he encamped near the Miami villages on Novem- ber 3, 1791. The next morning, an hour before sunrise, the army was attacked, and in a few minutes surrounded by savages. The militia, who were in advance, received the first fire and fled precipitately through the main body, throwing them into confusion, from which they did not entirely recover during the action, and at length they broke and fled in disorder. The attack lasted about four hours. The loss in this battle and in the retreat was thirty-eight officers and five hundred and ninety- three men killed and twenty-one officers and two hundred and forty-two men wounded.
The House of Representatives inquired by a committee into the causes of this disastrous result, and after a patient investigation made a report, which was honorable to Gen. St. Clair's reputation as a veteran soldier and conciliatory to his feelings, as he was in feeble health, but behaved with singular coolness and bravery.
After his removal from the office of Governor in 1802 Gen. St. Clair returned once more to the Ligonier Valley. Fourteen years of fatigue, privation, and danger had left him bereft of his property which remained to him at the close of the Revolution. The State of Pennsylvania, from considerations of personal respect and gratitude for his past services, settled on him an annuity of three hundred dollars, and this was soon after raised to six hundred and fifty dollars, which secured to him a comfortable subsistence for the brief remainder of his life.
In the beautiful cemetery incorporated by the name of St. Clair Ceme- tery Association of Greensburg, Westmoreland County, Pa., at which place he died, as also his wife, the Brethren of Greensburg Lodge No. 64 of Free and Accepted Masons, erected a monument to the memory of Gen. St. Clair, which speaks in fraternal language of this great and good patriot.
On the South Face. THE EARTHLY REMAINS OF MAJOR-GENERAL ARTHUR ST. CLAIR ARE DEPOSITED BENEATH THIS HUMBLE MONUMENT WHICH IS ERECTED TO SUPPLY THE PLACE OF A NOBLER ONE DUE FROM HIS COUNTRY. He died August 31, 1818, In the 84th year of his age.
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HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY, OHIO.
On the North Side. THIS STONE . IS ERECTED OVER THE BONES OF THEIR DEPARTED BROTHER BY THE MEMBERS OF THE MASONIC SOCIETY RESIDENT IN THIS VICINITY.
General Wayne's Expedition.
The Congress of the United States apprehending that late failures to negotiate and misfortunes in arms would be supplemented by hostilities against the settlements, a bill was introduced in the House of Repre- sentatives, providing for three additional regiments of infantry and a squadron of cavalry, to be raised for a term of three years unless sooner discharged. By this bill the military force was fixed at five thousand men. In April, 1792, General Anthony Wayne was appointed com- mander-in-chief, vice General St. Clair, resigned. While preparations were making for a vigorous campaign, measures of a pacific character were undertaken to end the war. Two envoys were sent into the Indian country with conciliatory offers, but the agents were murdered, and no alternative remained save a resort to arms. General Wayne was in com- mand, a Revolutionary major-general, ranking high. He was "the right man in the right place." In June, 1792, he moved forward to Pitts- burgh, and proceeded at once to organize his army. Washington's instructions were: "Train and discipline the men for the service they are meant for, and do not spare powder and lead, so the men be made marksmen." In December following the forces were put in camp twenty miles below Pittsburgh, on the west side of the Ohio, since called " Le- gionville," in honor of the army, which was called The Legion. Here some time was devoted to thorough drill. The army finally moved out: the commander determined to chastise the Indians in a summary manner. The march was directed into the heart of the Indian country of the Miami of the lakes, now the Maumee. He passed the winter of 1793-4 not far from the scene of St. Clair's defeat, where he Juilt a stockade which was named Fort Recovery. Passing the winter with head-quar- ters and general camp at Greenville, he in the spring pushed northward with vigor and dispatch. This march has been much discussed, and many opinions, differing widely, have been entertained. This, we think, has arisen largely from Wayne's own studied concealment of his route. In one of his dispatches he says, he cut one road toward the Miami Town (now Fort Wayne), and one toward the foot of the rapids near Maumee, in order to mislead and deceive the Indians, as he intended to follow neither road, but to push his way between them. When march- ing, he cut his road as he went, day by day-so that he fell into the Maumee country almost without warning to the Indians.
Before us lies the journal of that march from Greenville down to the Maumee, of the battle, the building of Forts Adams, Defiance, and Wayne, and of the return march to Greenville in November, 1794. This journal was kept by Lieutenant Boyer, and its accuracy vouched for by George Hill, who joined Wayne's army at Pittsburgh and continued therein until discharged at Detroit in April, 1798. We here insert so much of the journal as bears upon the subject in hand :-
Fort Greenville-where we were employed in erecting huts, and re- mained until the 28th of July, 1794.
Camp at Stillwater, July 28, 1794 .- Agreeable to the general order of yesterday, the legion took up their line of march at eight o'clock, and encamped at half past three on the banks of Stillwater, twelve miles from Greenville. The weather extremely warm-water very bad. Nothing occurred worth noticing.
Camp one mile in advance of Fort Recovery, July 29, 1794 .- At five o'clock left the camp-arrived on this ground at one o'clock, being fifteen miles. Nothing took place worth reciting.
I am now informed that tracks were perceived on our right flank-sup- posed to be runners from the Oglaize.
Camp Beaver Swamp, eleven miles in advance of Fort Recovery, July 30, 1794 .- This morning the legion took up the line of march, and ar- rived here at three o'clock. The road was to cut, as will be the case on every new route we take in this country. The weather still warm-no water except in ponds, which nothing but excessive thirst would induce 7
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