St. Claire’s Defeat
So, we covered the classic Battle of the Little Bighorn which was one of the last Indian wars, but a forgotten massacre during the first decade of American independence is next on the list. It was every bit as profound as Custer’s Last Stand, but not nearly as famous despite launching the first Congressional Special Committee investigation into the whole debacle.
The war began as part of the peace after the Revolutionary war. The Native Americans largely sided with the British and were considered a defeated party during the peace talks. Land that was south of the Great Lakes and East of the Mississippi was considered U.S. territory but the Miami, Chippewa, Shawnee, Illini, and other tribes didn’t take the hint and a war of removal began after thousands of American settlers were killed.
The newly independent, but deeply in debt U.S. sent a small force under Colonel Hardin. Hardin’s 400 men didn’t get reinforcements as they engaged the much larger enemy force and were forced to retreat with a 50% casualty rate. Seeking to avoid another humiliation, President Washington sent General St. Clair with 2,000 men. This being about all the army could afford with terrible wages, desertion took its toll and St. Clair found himself camped in enemy territory with about 1,000 men.
The Indians had formed a Western Confederacy of multiple tribes led by Little Turtle of the Miami and Blue Jacket of the Shawnee and surrounded the American camp, hiding in the dense woods. Just as the Americans put away their weapons to get breakfast the tribes attacked.
Many of the U.S. soldiers ran immediately and without their weapons. The more experienced troops formed battle lines and repulsed some Indian charges. The American artillery began to set up, but they were specifically targeted by Native sharpshooters and soon were forced to retreat.
As the battle lines stabilized, Little Turtle prodded the American firing lines until bayonet charges were ordered. The Natives feigned retreat before surrounding and isolating the attackers. This tactic worked to perfection multiple times as separate groups of Americans charged on their own. St. Clair accepted a defeated and met with his captains to organize a final mass charge to escape the encirclement.
Leaving behind all their supplies and wounded, the survivors burst through the lines but were harassed endlessly by the natives who knew this land so well. A trail of bodies was left in the survivors’ wake and as they looked back they could see smoke rising as the natives burned the camp along with the wounded.
The Americans had 70% (633) of their men killed and 27% of the survivors were wounded. Practically all the 200 or so camp followers: women, children, and craftsmen were killed as well. The Western Confederation had about 60 casualties. over 100 survivors were sent to the unprepared Fort Jefferson where they were forced to survive on horsemeat and almost no medical supplies.
St. Clair was forced to resign and Congress and others launched investigations into how such a defeat and retreat could have happened. This was the greatest victory in Native American history in terms of numbers and casualties on both sides. The fight for Ohio and the Great Lakes region became an “actual war” according to the furious President Washington and the way the U.S. army was recruited and paid changed drastically as a result of the horrific defeat.