ST. CLAIR’S DEFEAT
Prepared by the Staff of the
Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County
1954
One of a historical series, this pamphlet is publishedunder the direction of the governing Boards of the PublicLibrary of Fort Wayne and Allen County.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE SCHOOL CITY OF FORT WAYNE
- B.F. Geyer, President
- Joseph E. Kramer, Secretary
- W. Page Yarnelle, Treasurer
- Mrs. Sadie Fulk Roehrs
- Willard Shambaugh
PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD FOR ALLEN COUNTY
The members of this Board include the members of the Board of Trustees of theSchool City of Fort Wayne (with the same officers) together with the followingcitizens chosen from Allen County outside the corporate City of Fort Wayne:
- James E. Graham
- Arthur Nieneier
- Mrs. Glenn Henderson
- Mrs. Charles Reynolds
FOREWORD
Several survivors of St. Clair’s Defeat wrote vividaccounts of their experiences during that terrible battle.These personal reports detail one of the worst defeats eversuffered by an American army. Encouraged by victoriesover the forces of Generals Harmar and St. Clair, the Indianspreyed upon the defenseless frontier. Therefore, thesuccess of General Wayne’s expedition, undertaken in 1792to subdue the redskins, was of primary importance to thedevelopment of the West.
The first of the three articles in this pamphlet containsthe accounts which Henry Howe included in his HISTORICALCOLLECTIONS OF OHIO, first published in 1847.Sources of quotations used in Howe’s COLLECTIONS arenot always clear, but the material is considered of sufficienthistorical significance to warrant reprinting without exactcitations. The second item appeared in the INDIANA HERALDon April 13, 1864. The third article is a brief newspaperreport which was published in the INDIANA STATEJOURNAL on September 27, 1851.
The Boards and the Staff of the Public Library of FortWayne and Allen County present this publication in the hopethat it will prove interesting to the general public as wellas to students of the history of the Old Northwest. Grammar,spelling, and punctuation have been changed to conformto current usage.
The great objective of St. Clair’s campaign was to establisha military post at the Miami village (the site of thepresent city of Fort Wayne) at the junction of the St. Mary’sand St. Joseph rivers. Intermediate posts of communicationwere to be maintained from that place to Fort Washingtonat Cincinnati. This was felt to be the only way to preventfuture hostilities.
Acting under instructions, St. Clair proceeded to organizehis army. At the close of April, 1791, he was atPittsburgh where troops an