St. Clair's Defeat

St. Clair's Defeat also known as the Battle of the Wabash, the Battle of Wabash River or the Battle of a Thousand Slain, was fought on November 4, 1791 in the Northwest Territory between the United States and the Western Confederacy of American Indians, as part of the Northwest Indian War. It was a major American Indian victory and remains the greatest defeat of the United States Army by American Indians.

The American Indians were led by Little Turtle of the Miamis, Blue Jacket of the Shawnees and Buckongahelas of the Delawares (Lenape). The war party numbered more than one thousand warriors, including a large number of Potawatomis from eastern Michigan and the Saint Joseph. The opposing force of about 1,000 Americans was led by General Arthur St. Clair. The American Indian confederacy was overwhelmingly victorious. In proportional terms of losses to strength, it was the worst defeat that United States forces have ever suffered in battle—of the 1,000 officers and men that St. Clair led into battle, only 48 escaped unharmed. As a result, President George Washington forced St. Clair to resign his post and Congress initiated its first investigation of the executive branch.

Background
The 1783 Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolutionary War (a war in which American Indian tribes were overwhelmingly allied with the British and were treated as defeated powers, following the American victory over the British), recognized United States sovereignty of all the land east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes. The Indian tribes in the Old Northwest, however, were not parties to this treaty and many of them, especially leaders such as Little Turtle and Blue Jacket, refused to recognize American claims to the area northwest of the Ohio River. During the mid and late 1780s, white settlers in Kentucky and travelers on and north of the river suffered approximately 1,500 deaths during the ongoing hostilities, in which white settlers often retaliated against Indians. As a result of the continual violence, President Washington and his Secretary of War, Henry Knox, decided to use military force to crush the Miami.

A force of 1,453 men (320 regulars from the First American Regiment and 1,133 militia) under Brigadier General Josiah Harmar marched northwards from Fort Washington on the Ohio River at 10:00 a.m. on October 7, 1790. On October 22, near present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana, Harmar committed only 400 of his men under Col. John Hardin to attack an Indian force of some 1,100 warriors. When a courier informed Harmar (rumored to be drunk) of the size of the enemy force, out of fear he refused to come to Hardin's aid. Had he supported Colonel Hardin with the other 800-900 men, the Indian force might have been defeated. Instead, Harmar formed his portion of the Army into a hollow defensive square and did not move. Hardin, expecting reinforcements, put up a fight for over three hours, then fell back to the main army's encampment and Harmar ordered a retreat back to Ft. Washington. (See main article: Hardin's Defeat).

At least 129 of Hardin's soldiers (14 officers, 115 enlisted) were killed in action and another 94 wounded, for a total of 223 casualties. Estimates of total Indian casualties, killed and wounded, range from 120 to 150. President George Washington then ordered General Arthur St. Clair, who served both as governor of the Northwest Territory and as a major general in the Army, to mount a more vigorous effort by Summer 1791. Congress agreed to raise a second regiment of Regular soldiers for six months, but it later reduced soldiers' pay. The demoralized First Regiment was soon reduced to 299 soldiers, while the new Second Regiment was only able to recruit half of their authorized soldiers. St. Clair was forced to augment his Army with Kentucky militia as well as five battalions of six-month levies.

The campaign


While Washington was adamant that St. Clair move north in the summer months, various logistics and supply problems greatly slowed his preparations in Fort Washington (present-day Cincinnati, Ohio). The new recruits were poorly trained and disciplined, the food supplies substandard and the horses, low in number, were of poor quality. The expedition thus failed to set out until October 1791. Building supply posts as it advanced, the Army's objective was the town of Kekionga, the capital of the Miami tribe, near present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The Army under St. Clair included 600 regulars, 800 six-month conscripts and 600 militia at its peak, for a total of around 2,000 men. Desertion took its toll and when the force finally got underway, it had dwindled to around 1,486 total men and some 200-250 camp followers (wives, children, laundresses and prostitutes). Going was slow and discipline problems were severe; St. Clair, suffering from gout, had difficulty maintaining order, especially among the militia and the new levies. The force was constantly shadowed by Indians and skirmishes occasionally erupted.

By the end of November 2, through desertion and illness, St. Clair's force had been whittled down to around 1,120, including the camp followers. He had 52 officers and 868 enlisted and militia present for duty on November 3. The force camped on an elevated meadow, but did not construct any defensive works, even though Indians had been seen in the forest. While St. Clair's Army continued to lose soldiers, the Western Confederacy quickly added numbers. Buckongahelas led his 480 men to join the 700 warriors of Little Turtle and Blue Jacket, bringing the war party to more than one thousand warriors, including a large number of Potawatomis from eastern Michigan and the Saint Joseph.

Battle
At dawn on November 4, St. Clair's force was camped near the present-day location of Fort Recovery, Ohio, near the headwaters of the Wabash River. An Indian force consisting of around 1,000 warriors, led by Little Turtle and Blue Jacket, waited in the woods while the men stacked their weapons and paraded to their morning meals. The natives then struck quickly and surprising the Americans, soon overran their ground.

Little Turtle directed the first attack at the militia, who fled across a stream without their weapons. The regulars immediately broke their musket stacks, formed battle lines and fired a volley into the Indians, forcing them back. Little Turtle responded by flanking the regulars and closing in on them. Meanwhile, St. Clair's artillery was stationed on a nearby bluff and was wheeling into position when the gun crews were killed by Indian marksmen, and the survivors were forced to spike their guns.

Colonel William Darke ordered his battalion to fix bayonets and charge the main Indian position. Little Turtle's forces gave way and retreated to the woods, only to encircle Darke's battalion and destroy it. The bayonet charge was tried numerous times with similar results and the U.S. forces eventually collapsed into disorder. St. Clair had three horses shot out from under him as he tried in vain to rally his men.

After three hours of fighting, St. Clair called together the remaining officers and faced with total annihilation, decided to attempt one last bayonet charge to get through the Indian line and escape. Supplies and wounded were left in camp. As before, Little Turtle's Army allowed the bayonets to pass through, but this time the men ran for Fort Jefferson. They were pursued by Indians for about three miles before the latter broke off pursuit and returned to loot the camp. Exact numbers of wounded are not known, but it has been reported that execution fires burned for several days afterward.

The casualty rate was the highest percentage ever suffered by a United States Army unit and included St. Clair's second in command. Of the 52 officers engaged, 39 were killed and 7 wounded; around 88% of all officers became casualties. After two hours St. Clair ordered a retreat, which quickly turned into a rout. "It was, in fact, a flight," St. Clair described a few days later in a letter to the Secretary of War. The American casualty rate, among the soldiers, was 97.4 percent, including 632 of 920 killed (69%) and 264 wounded. Nearly all of the 200 camp followers were slaughtered, for a total of 832 Americans killed. Approximately one-quarter of the entire U.S. Army had been wiped out. Only 24 of the 920 officers and men engaged came out of it unscathed. Indian casualties were about 61, with at least 21 killed.

The number of U.S. soldiers killed during this engagement was more than three times the number the Sioux would kill 85 years later at Custer's last stand at the Battle of Little Big Horn. The next day the remnants of the force arrived at the nearest U.S. outpost, Fort Jefferson, and from there returned to Fort Washington.

Aftermath
President Washington was having dinner with guests in Philadelphia when he was summoned from the table and told of the military disaster. Washington returned and finished his dinner, only to unleash his rage when the guests had left. In January 1792, St. Clair arrived in Philadelphia to report on what had happened. Blaming the quartermaster as well as the War Department, the general asked for a court-martial in order to gain exoneration and planned to resign his commission after winning it. Washington, however, denied him the court-martial and forced St. Clair's immediate resignation.

The House of Representatives, meanwhile, began its own investigation into the disaster. This was the first investigation that Congress had ever undertaken, as well as the first investigation of the executive branch and as part of the proceedings, the House committee in charge of the investigation sought certain documents from the War Department. Knox brought this matter to Washington's attention and because of the major separation of powers issues involved, the president summoned a meeting of all of his department heads (Knox, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton and Attorney General Edmund Randolph). This was one of the first meetings of all of these officials together and may be considered the beginning of the United States Cabinet.

At this and subsequent meetings, the president and his advisers established, in theory, the concept that the executive branch should refuse to divulge any papers or materials that the public good required them to keep secret and that at any rate they not provide any originals. This is the earliest appearance of the doctrine of executive privilege, which later became a major separation of powers issue in matters such as Aaron Burr's treason trial, Watergate, the Iran-Contra affair and the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. In the end, though, Washington authorized the release of copies of the materials that the committee sought.

The final committee report sided largely with St. Clair, finding that Knox, Quartermaster General Samuel Hodgdon and other War Department officials had done a poor job of raising, equipping and supplying St. Clair's expedition. However, Congress voted against a motion to consider the Committee's findings and issued no final report. St. Clair expressed disappointment that his reputation was not officially cleared.

In March 1792, Congress voted to raise additional Army regiments. In May, it passed the Militia Acts of 1792, which set national militia standards and empowered the president to call up the militia. President Washington would utilize this authority in the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion. Also in 1794, a new U.S. force, the Legion of the United States under Major General "Mad Anthony" Wayne, built Fort Recovery at the location of St. Clair's Defeat and defended it from an attack. Following the Legion's victory in the August 1794 Battle of Fallen Timbers, the 1795 Treaty of Greenville brought an end to the Northwest Indian War.

Popular culture
A folk ballad, "St. Clair's Defeat" (or "Sinclair's Defeat"), was published in the 19th century. It was recorded by Bob Gibson and Hamilton Camp on their 1960 album Gibson & Camp at the Gate of Horn. It was also recorded as "St. Claire's Defeat" by the folk revival group the Modern Folk Quartet in 1964 and by Apollo's Fire in 2004.