St. Clair's Defeat

[Matthew S. Schweitzer]

The worst loss ever suffered by an American force in battle occurred on Novermber 4, 1791 on the site of present day Fort Recovery, OH. On that day, a pan-Indian force led by the Miami chief Little Turtle and the Shawnee chief Blue Jacket routed the army of the United States under the command of General Arthur St. Clair, acting governor of the Northwest Territory. The Indians struck at dawn and slaughtered over 600 American troops who were encamped on the Wabash River. The Americans were totally routed and ultimately fled for their lives, abandoning the wounded and dying to their fates.

St. Clair's Defeat has received little attention by modern historians and, as happens so often, is little remembered today, but this battle and its horrific casualties dwarfs the events that would occur 85 years later at a much more famous battle that took place on the Little Bighorn.

earlyamerica.com/review/summer/battle.html

[Hal Sherman]

A good book that covers the battle is "Banks of the Wabash", by Robert V. Van Trees and it can be ordered off of the web site bluejacket22.tripod.com/

[Matthew S. Schweitzer]

And here is another good article on the battle posted on the 215th anniversary of the Defeat.

www.bitsofnews.com/content/view/4303/2/

[lowryfalcon]

The article was good but was too one sided. If you read it closely there is all this talk about how the troops were not prepared and how St. Clair didn't do his job as well as Harmar. The reality is that the US wanted to cover up for the defeat by saying that the Native Americans only won because of the Americans own doing.
The fact of the matter is that the Native Americans were well trained and knew the area a lot better than the American troops did. The Battle of the Wabash or St. Clairs defeat was a battle that was bravely fought by the Native Americans and rightfully so they won.
The author of that article along with the naratives it displays are totally one sided but that is due to what is taught in American History. Americans are taught that Natives were savages and that Americans were in the right. Americans were just greedy and wanted more land while the Native Americans (who were quite civilized) wanted to keep what was rightfully theirs.