USA > Ohio > The Ohio country between the years 1783 and 1815 : including military operations that twice saved to the United States the country west of the Alleghany Mountains after the revolutionary war > Part 4
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From 1787-1790
cute the orders of the late Congress regarding French and other land titles at Vincennes and in the Illinois country, and other matters of organization.
Somewhat later, in the autumn of 1789, Major Doughty's troops built Fort Washington within the site of the present city of Cincinnati, which fort served a useful purpose for several years.
Governor St. Clair and the judges started by boat from Marietta to execute President Wash- ington's instructions about January 1, 1790, and stopped at Fort Washington where they organized the county of Hamilton, and changed the name of the settlement about Fort Washington from that of Losantiville to Cincinnati. Proceeding down the Ohio River, they arrived at Clarksville on January 8th; and thence passed to the Illinois country where they organized St. Clair County, which was to embrace all of the United States' country west of Hamilton County.
To further carry out the President's instructions, a prominent French merchant of Vincennes, An- toine Gamelin, who well understood the temper of the Savages, and by whom he was favorably known, was commissioned by Major Hamtramck to visit and conciliate those Aborigines along the Wabash and Maumee rivers. He started on this
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The Ohio Country
mission April 5, 1790; and his report evidenced a desire on the part of the older men of the weaker tribes for peace; but they could not stop their young men, who "were constantly being encour- aged and invited to war by the British "; and they were dominated by the stronger tribes, who, in turn, were dominated by the British from whom they received their supplies. All reproached him for coming to them without presents of intoxi- cants and other supplies. On April 23d, Mr. Gamelin arrived at the Miami towns, at the head of the Maumee River, where the Miamis, Delawares, Pottawotamis, and Shawnees united in telling him they could not give reply to the American overtures for peace until they had consulted the British commandant of the fort at Detroit; they desired, and were given, a copy of the message to them that they might show it to the commandant at Detroit. The British traders in this village were present at the meetings.
Gamelin, being unable to get any satisfaction from the Savages, started on his return from the Miami villages May 2d; and on the 11th reports were received at Vincennes that, three days after his departure, an American captive was roasted and eaten by the Savages at the head of the Maumee River; and that
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From 1787-1790
the tribes were sending out war parties in addi- tion to those already operating along the Ohio River.
With hope to check the more active Savages, during the latter half of April, Brigadier-General Josiah Harmar, United States Agent, with one hundred regular troops, seconded by General Charles Scott, with two hundred and thirty Ken- tucky volunteers, made a detour of the Scioto River, Ohio. They destroyed the food supplies and huts of the hostile Savages but shot only four of them-reporting that "wolves might as well have been pursued."
CHAPTER V
FURTHER CULMINATION OF THE INEFFICIENT MANAGEMENT OF AFFAIRS
Statement of the Conditions by Jurist from Personal Obser- vations-Necessity for Relieving the Long-continued and Severe Sufferings-Kentucky Territory Organized- Other Civil Organizations-General Harmar's Expedi- tion against Hostile Savages at Head of Maumee River -His Army Twice Defeated by them-Their Celebra- tion of Victory at Detroit with their British Allies- Panic along Frontier-The Weak, Inefficient American Conduct of Affairs Reviewed.
E ARLY in July, 1790, Judge Henry Inness of Danville, Kentucky, wrote to the Secretary of War, in most part as follows:
"I have been intimately acquainted with this dis- trict from 1783, and I can with truth say that in this period the Indians have always been the aggres- sors-that any incursions made into their country have been produced by reiterated injuries committed by them-that the predatory mode of warfare they have carried on renders it difficult, and indeed impos-
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From 1790-1794
sible, to discriminate, or to ascertain to what tribe the offenders belong. Since my first visit to the dis- trict in November, 1783, I can venture to say that more than fifteen hundred persons have been killed and taken prisoners by the Indians; and upwards of twenty thousand horses have been taken away, with other property consisting of money, merchandize, household goods, wearing apparel, etc., of great value. The government has been repeatedly informed of those injuries, and that they continued to be perpetrated daily, notwithstanding which the people have re- ceived no satisfactory information whether the gov- ernment intended to afford them relief or not. . . . I will, sir, be candid on this subject, not only as an in- habitant of Kentucky but as a friend to society who wishes to see order and regularity preserved in the government under which he lives. The people say they have groaned under their misfortunes-they see no prospect of relief-they constitute the strength and wealth of the western country, and yet all meas- ures heretofore attempted have been committed for execution to the hands of strangers who have no in- terest in common with the west. They are the great sufferers and yet they have no voice in the matters which so vitally affect them. They are even accused of being the aggressors, and have no representative to state or to justify their conduct. These are the general sentiments of the western people who are be- ginning to want faith in the government, and ap- pear determined to avenge themselves. For this purpose a meeting was lately held in this place by a number of respectable characters, to determine on the propriety of carrying on their expeditions this fall."
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The Ohio Country
Kentucky was organized as a Territory this year (1790).
Early in June, 1790, when yet at Kaskaskia, Governor St. Clair received from Major Ham- tramck a report of the failure of his and Gamelin's mission to the hostile Savages, and of the hope- lessness of being able to make treaties for peace. Committing the resolutions of Congress relative to lands and settlers along the Wabash River to Winthrop Sargent, Secretary, who then proceeded to organize the county of Knox, St. Clair returned by way of the rivers to Fort Washington, where he arrived July IIth. Here General Harmar re- ported to him many raids and murders by the Savages, and
"it was agreed and determined that General Harmar should conduct an expedition against the Maumee River towns, the residence of all the renegade In- dians, from whence issued all the parties who infest our frontiers. The Governor remained with us but three days. One thousand militia were ordered from Kentucky and the Governor on his way to New York the seat of the General Government, was to order five hundred from the back counties of Pennsylvania. The 15th September was the time appointed for the militia to assemble at Fort Washington."
Active preparations were instituted by General Harmar for this campaign, the object of which was,
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From 1790-1794
not only the present chastisement of the Savages, but the building of one or more forts along the Maumee River, and the establishing of a connect- ing line of refuge posts for supplies from which posts sorties could be made to intercept hostiles.
Governor St. Clair sent on September 19th from Marietta, "by a private gentleman," a letter to Major Patrick Murray, the British commandant at Detroit, reading in part as follows:
"This is to give you the fullest assurance of the pa- cific disposition entertained towards Great Britain and all her possessions [sic]; and to inform you expli- citly that the expedition about to be undertaken is not intended against the post you have the honor to com- mand. . . . After this candid explanation, sir, there is every reason to expect, both from your own personal character, and from the regard you have for that of our nation [sic], that those tribes will meet with neither countenance nor assistance from any under your com- mand, and that you will do what in your power lies to restrain the trading people from whose instigations there is too good reasons to believe much of the in- juries committed by the savages has proceeded."
The army gathered for the expedition marched northward from Fort Washington October 4, 1790, under command of General Josiah Harmar, Com- mander-in-Chief of the armies of the United States. It was composed of fourteen hundred and fifty-three soldiers, viz .: three hundred and
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The Ohio Country
twenty regulars, including one artillery company with three light brass cannon, the largest a six pounder, in two battalions; eleven hundred and thirty-three militia from Kentucky in four bat- talions, three of infantry and one of mounted rifle- men; and one battalion from Pennsylvania. Most of these men were wholly unused to organ- ized warfare, were poorly equipped, and were commanded by officers inclined to be rather discordant.
Colonel Hardin arrived with his command at the Miami village, at the head of the Maumee River, the site of the present city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, on October 16th, and took possession without opposition, the Savages having fled into the woods, upon being notified by their scouts of the approach of the army. The women and chil- dren went to their former retreats, and the war- riors watched from their well chosen places for ambush attack. Upon the arrival of his part of the expedition, General Harmar determined to discover the place of the enemy's retreat, and to bring them to battle. The army was divided into detachments. The one following the main trail of the enemy became divided inadvertently, and met with a severe attack from ambush which entailed great loss. The reports of the militiamen returning
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From 1790-1794
promiscuously called forth a caustic order from General Harmar, reading in part as follows:
"The cause of the detachment being worsted yes- terday was entirely owing to the shameful cowardly conduct of the militia who ran away and threw down their arms without firing scarcely a gun. In return- ing to Fort Washington if any officer or man shall presume to quit the ranks, or not to march in the form that they are ordered, the General will assuredly order the artillery to fire on them."
The remaining part of the army started on its return to Fort Washington, after destroying all the buildings and food supplies that could well be found. At the first encampment, seven miles from the destroyed Miami villages, Colonel Hardin, desiring to retrieve his lost prestige by dealing the Savages a heavy blow, to prevent, at least, their following and harassing the returning army, prevailed upon General Harmar to give him a de- tachment of four hundred men with which to go back in the night to the site of the towns and at- tack the Savages that, doubtless, had returned there. This request was granted.
Three hundred and forty militiamen under Colonel Hardin, and sixty regular troops under Major Wyllys, started in time to arrive at the river about break of day, October 22d. They were late
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The Ohio Country
in arriving. The enemy had returned as expected. The plan of attack was carefully outlined; but some failure to obey orders, and unexpected am- buscades by the Savages, which divided the com- mand, resulted again in a most disastrous defeat for the Americans. As in the first defeat, the regulars lost most of their men, including Major Wyllys. The loss among the Savages was thought to be about as large as that of the Americans.
General Harmar could not be prevailed upon by Colonel Hardin to return to the river with all his remaining army. His reply was:
"We are now scarcely able to move our baggage; it would take up three days to go, and return to this place; we have no more forage for our horses; the Indians have got a very good scourging ; and I will keep the army in perfect readiness to receive them if they think best to follow."
The American loss in this expedition was one hundred and eighty-three killed, and thirty-one wounded. General Harmar, annoyed by adverse criticism of his conduct of the expedition, asked President Washington, March 28, 1791, for a board of officers to act as a Court of Inquiry. This request was granted and, after considering the evidence, he was acquitted of any fault.
Nothing was said about his failure to build the
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From 1790-1794
forts that had been thought desirable. Some of the officials, however, had urged objections to the suggested forts in the wilderness, such as the cost of their maintenance with garrisons and supplies, and their rather limited efficiency. But General Harmar's command was prepared for such work, and was not prepared for aggressive warfare, as the sequel proved. Had he built a strong fort at the head of the Maumee River immediately upon his arrival there, and had he garnered, instead of burning, the products of the fields, and, upon his return, left a chain of such forts, these would have been rallying points where the soldiers might have kept the Savages away from the British influences while teaching them to favor those who were the rightful owners of their hunting grounds, right- fully so by repeated conquest and by treaty pur- chases from different tribes. These forts would also have been rallying points for the commis- sioners of peace to these Savages, as well as for those Savages who would gradually, one by one, and tribe by tribe, have been won over to lead peaceful lives. The moral and physical effects of such forts were later demonstrated, when the authorities in the East came to the realization that they were a necessity.
General Harmar resigned his commission the
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The Ohio Country
following January, and was made Adjutant-Gen- eral of Pennsylvania in 1793, in which position he rendered good service in furnishing troops for General Wayne's army in 1794.
The Savages were greatly elated at their suc- cesses in defeating General Harmar's army. Like the ancient Romans who returned home to cele- brate their great victories in triumphal processions, these Savages went to Detroit, the headquarters of their masters and allies, the British, where they daily paraded the streets uttering their de- moniac scalp yells, while bearing long poles strung with the scalps of the many American soldiers they had killed. Additional war parties of Savages were soon started for the American frontier settlements.
The British, also, were elated at the successes of the Savages, exhibiting their pleasure by words condemnatory of the American policy, and by in- citing the Savages to further atrocities.
The anxiety, always present with the frontier settlers, now increased to a panic. The officers, local and general, whose duty it was to guard and protect legitimate settlers, had often been remiss in their duties; they were, probably, often with- out the necessary power. While their physical resources were deficient, they had been wanting, too, perhaps, in a broad comprehension of the
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From 1790-1794
requirements, and had been dilatory in obtaining the means that would have begotten from the first more unity of effort and strength of resistance to the treacherous Savages, while they were for- mulating broader and more definite plans for over- coming their savagery by stopping the British aid and abetment of it. Now the American authori- ties became even more disconcerted than before, and their efforts to protect the settlements with soldiers grew even more spasmodic. The sending of agents to placate the Savages at this inoppor- tune time, when another army sufficient in size to overcome them was being recruited for the building of forts throughout the forests, -those forests which the Savages had been taught by the French and British never to give up to the Amer- icans, and in their determination to retain which they were yet being sustained by the British,- was again being pointed out by the British and Savages as an evidence of American insincerity and duplicity. Such was the result of the long- continued pacific policy of the American officials, if any policy could be said to have existed, toward the intriguing British first, and the Savages afterwards! Their efforts had only occasionally been awakened, with mere temporizing effect on the enemies, to react severely upon the settlements!
CHAPTER VI
OVERWHELMING SUCCESS OF THE ENEMY
More Troops Gathered for Defence- Messenger Sent to the Senecas for Peace Agents-British Opposition-Expedi- tion against Hostile Savages Successful-Army Gathered for Decisive Blow to the Marauding Savages-Com- manded by General, and Governor, St. Clair, it Meets Overwhelming Defeat-Women with the Army.
T HE Legislature of Virginia, December 20, 1790, authorized Governor Beverly Ran- dolph to provide for the enlistment of several companies of rangers before the Ist of March for the protection of the frontier; and Charles Scott was appointed Brigadier-General of Ken- tucky militia.
Early in January, 1791, that more attention and deference should be given to the West, Congress appointed General Scott, Henry Inness, John Brown, Benjamin Logan, and Isaac Shelby a Board of War for the District of Kentucky, with discretionary powers.
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From 1790-1792
The 3d of March Congress also made provision for another regiment of Federal troops, and for raising two thousand militia for six months' ser- vice, as a further protection of the frontier; and President Washington immediately appointed Governor, and General, Arthur St. Clair Comman- der-in-Chief of this Army of the Northwest.
Colonel Thomas Proctor was sent March 12, 1791, to the Seneca tribe of the Six Nations of New York to enlist from them peace agents to the western tribes; but the British at Niagara would not permit a boat to take these agents across Lake Erie in the interest of the United States. Also, by the endeavors of the British, and Colonel Brant, false reports were circulated, that the United States was endeavoring to involve the Six Nations in war with the western tribes.
Further evidence of this continued British policy to dominate all of the American Aborigines was given in the communications of the British officers to them, and in the Aborigines deferring to their request that all questions of moment should be referred to the British.
Radical military operations against the Savages' retreats appearing necessary, and the result of Colonel Proctor's mission for the intercession of the Six Nations for peace having been awaited as
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The Ohio Country
long as practicable, General Scott, with eight hun- dred cavalry, crossed the Ohio River on May 23, 1791, at the mouth of the Kentucky River, and started for the historic Ouiotenon, situated by the Wabash River near the present city of Lafay- ette, Indiana. Rain fell in torrents with much high wind, but the troops arrived at their destination the Ist of June after an estimated march of one hundred and sixty miles through the forest with only varying trails for road. The last of the Savages were just leaving the proximal town when General, now acting Lieutenant-Colonel, James Wilkinson pressed forward with the First Battalion and "destroyed all the Savages with which five canoes were crowded."
There was a Kickapoo town on the north bank of the river from which a brisk firing was directed at the troops. The river was at flood and soldiers were sent above and below to effect a crossing, which was done by swimming, and the Savages were dislodged. Meantime Colonel Hardin's com- mand had discovered a stronger village on the left which they surprised, killing six Savages and tak- ing fifty-two prisoners. The next evening Colonel Wilkinson started with three hundred and sixty men on foot, and early the next morning they as- sailed and destroyed the important town of Keth-
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From 1790-1792
tipecanunk at the mouth of Eel River eighteen miles above Ouiotenon, returning from this thirty- six miles' walk and work in twelve hours. All the villages and supplies that could be found were destroyed. General Scott reported that:
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"Many of the inhabitants of this village [Ouiotenon] were French and lived in a state of civilization. By the books, letters, and other documents found here it is evident that the place was in close connection with and dependent on Detroit. A large quantity of corn, a variety of household goods, peltry, and other articles were burned with this village which consisted of about seventy houses, many of them well finished."1
On June 4th, General Scott set free sixteen of his prisoners who were in poor condition to with- stand the march, giving to their care a well- worded letter, addressed to all the tribes along the Wabash, requesting peace, and informing where his retained prisoners could be found.
The severe rains and the swollen condition of the streams, with his forced marches through the al- most trackless forest, had disabled his horses and, his supplies being depleted, he reluctantly directed the march southward instead of toward the Mau- mee River, and arrived at the Rapids of the Ohio
1 See American State Papers, Indian Affairs, volume i, page 129.
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The Ohio Country
June 14th. He reported no death in his command and only five wounded, while of Savages thirty- two were killed and fifty-eight taken prisoners, of which the forty-two not liberated were given to the care of Captain Asheton of the First United States Regiment at Fort Steuben. No French- men were captured, if seen, and no scalps were taken.
General St. Clair recommended another expe- dition to the Eel River to weaken those tribes which would ally themselves with the Miamis against his army then forming for the purpose of laying waste the strongholds, and establishing a series of forts in the Maumee country. Accord- ingly Colonel Wilkinson, with five hundred and twenty-five cavalry, started from the vicinity of Fort Washington to the northward, "feinting boldly at the Miami Villages, " and then turned northwestward to the Wabash near the mouth of Eel River. The evening of the sixth day he cap- tured the Savages' most important town in this vicinity, known by the French name L'Anguille- the Eel. This expedition then ranged along the Wa- bash River, passed through the site of Ouiotenon, thence along General Scott's route, and arrived at the Rapids of the Ohio August 21st, having trav- elled four hundred and fifty miles, destroyed sev-
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From 1790-1792
eral villages and more than four hundred acres of corn; captured thirty-four or more Savage pris- oners and killed ten or more others. One Amer- ican prisoner was recovered. Two soldiers were killed and one wounded. Colonel Wilkinson also left behind some infirm Aborigines, unharmed, to whom he gave a letter, addressed to the different tribes, urging them to accept the favorable terms of peace still offered to them. This, as well as the former letter, was taken to the British, who gave their own desired rendering of it to the Aborigines; and the warriors were incited to greater efforts in their savage work.
General Harmar predicted defeat for General St. Clair's army which, with great difficulties, was being gathered to operate along the Maumee River. This army was not ready to advance until Sep- tember 17, 1791. Then, about twenty-three hun- dred soldiers, including regulars, moved from the vicinity of Fort Washington and built Fort Ham- ilton on the west bank of the Miami River at the site of the present city of Hamilton, Ohio. Again advancing under command of General St. Clair, they began to build Fort Jefferson, six miles south of the present city of Greenville, October 12th. Twelve days later the march again began, but the progress was very slow.
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The Ohio Country
The evening of the 3d of November the army encamped by the Wabash River about one mile and a half east of the present Ohio-Indiana State line. During the night there were many Savages near the pickets, and much firing of the pickets' guns. About ten o'clock that night Gen- eral Butler, who commanded the right wing, was requested to send out an intelligent officer with a detachment of soldiers to reconnoitre. He detailed Captain Slough, two subalterns, and thirty men of the line for this purpose, but nothing alarming was discovered.
Early the next morning, the army, then num- bering about fourteen hundred regular and militia soldiers, and eighty-six officers, was furiously as- sailed by about the same number of Savages, and it went down to the most disastrous defeat ever suffered by such large numbers from such foe. General St. Clair's Adjutant, Ebenezer Denny, thus describes the scenes :
"The troops paraded this morning, 4 November, 1791, at the usual time, and had been dismissed from the lines but a few minutes, the sun not yet up, when the woods in front rung with the yells and [gun] fire of the savages. The poor militia, who were but three hundred yards in front, had scarcely time to return a shot-they fled into our camp. The troops were under arms in an instant, and a smart fire from the
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