Fort Recovery and the Battle of the Wabash

Fort Recovery, Ohio is a small town located near the head waters of the Wabash River. The center of town boasts a towering obelisk as well as a partial reconstructed fort. The town itself has only a few stop lights and a population of less than 1500 but it is a place of much historical significance. Unfortunately most people have never heard of the town or its history.

If you ask people to name the worst defeats ever handed down to an American fighting force, you will most likely hear them mention Custer’s last stand at the Battle of Little Bighorn or the 1812 invasion of Canada. You may even hear them suggest that the Texan defeat at the Alamo is the worst. What you are probably not going to hear mentioned is St Clair’s defeat at the Battle of the Wabash....but.... Why would you? Most history books and nearly all history classes skip right over this significant battle in United States history.

The Battle of the Wabash took place on a triangle stretch of land near the head waters of the Wabash River in present day Fort Recovery, Ohio. The battle was the largest confrontation between Native Americans and the United States Army and it was also the largest defeat ever suffered by the United States Army. 900 of the roughly 1200 American soldiers met their fate at this battle. In total 25% of the entire American Army was decimated at the hands of the nearly 1500 native warriors. [1]

Why did the war happen?

After the American Revolutionary War the newly formed American nation was deeply in dept and needed to raise money to survive. Under the authority of the Treaty of Paris the government planned to raise money by selling the newly acquired land within the Northwest Territory. That idea sounds non hostile enough but there was a major problem with that idea. The Northwest Territory was Indian country and the Native American inhabitants who lived there were not part of the Treaty of Paris and they had no desire to give their land to the American invaders. As a result of settler expansion, tribes living northwest of the Ohio River decided to band together in defense of their land and form what was called the Western Indian Confederation. [2]

The Confederation was led by Chief Little Turtle of the Miamis, Chief Blue Jacket of the Shawnees and Chief Buckongahelas of the Delaware Indians. Blackhoof, Tecumseh and his brother the Prophet were all members of the Confederation and all were reported to have fought during the Battle of the Wabash.

    

Cheif Little Turtle

Cheif Blue Jacket

General St. Clair

  

 Under the orders of President George Washington General Arthur St. Clair had undertook a campaign to rid the greater Ohio valley of all its native inhabitants. Roughly 1200 soldiers and 250 civilians had set up camp near the head waters of the Wabash River. On November 4^th 1791 the first attack took place. Led by Chief Little Turtle the first attack came so swiftly that several of the American fighters fled in panic without even so much as grabbing their guns. By the time the others readied themselves for battle Little Turtle’s forces had already surrounding them. St Clair, with his cannons positioned in a clearing on the high ground; ordered them to fire at the attacking natives. However, unbeknown to him, Chief Blue Jacket had positioned his Shawnee marksmen to take them out as soon as they were wheeled into position. Tecumseh and his band of Indian scouts had been tracking and watching the movement of St. Clair’s men for days. The Native attackers were very well prepared and they knew the lay of the land.

The battle raged for three long hours. In total 920 American soldiers and nearly 100 civilians were killed compared to the meager 21 Confederation warriors lost. Severely wounded and in a final charge General St Clair managed to escape with an estimated 200 soldiers and civilians but the battle was a near total annihilation and a massive blow for the United States military.

St Clair Monument

St. Clair statue

                                                                                             The Aftermath

           In the wake of the crushing defeat General St Clair resigned his commission and returned to the less dangerous role of Governor of the Ohio Territory. As a result of the Battle of the Wabash, congress passed two militia acts; one required that all able bodied men sign up for active duty in their state militias and the second granted the President the power to call upon those militias to fight on behalf of the United States.[3]

Under his new found authority President Washington ordered that the army be enlarged and within the year he had nearly doubled the previous size of the units under the command of General “Mad Dog” Anthony Wayne. In 1793 General Wayne sent 8 infantry units along with artillery to the very sight of St. Clair’s defeat. Wayne ordered the construction and fortification of Fort Recovery.

Fort Recovery

In the coming months native skirmishes and raids were attempted but the Confederation was now out manned and out gunned. The surrounding tribes would never again find victory at the site and were forced to withdraw and flee the area.[4]

Greenville Treaty Line Marker

 In 1794 Wayne put an end to the Western Confederacy when his much larger and well trained army won a decisive victory over the Confederacy on the banks of the Maumee River during the Battle of Fallen Timbers. One year later the Treaty of Greenville was signed and the once power Western Indian Confederacy was forced to relinquish all claims to land south and east of the Greenville treaty line. Native inhabitants living within Ohio and Indiana found themselves unwelcome on their own homeland and in grave danger if they stayed.[5]

The irony of The Battle of the Wabash is that it stands as Americas worst defeat at the hands of the Native Americans but because of that defeat the battle also stands as the call to arms that would lead to a national military and near genocidal results for the Native inhabitants of the Northwest Territory.

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[1] Winkler, John F. Wabash 1791: St Clair’s defeat. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011

[2] See Winkler and Eid, Leroy V. "American Indian military leadership: St. Clair's 1791 defeat." The Journal of Military History 57, no. 1 (1993): 71.

[3] "1792 Militia Act establishes conscription under federal law." 2009. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/militia-act-establishes-conscription-under-federal-law.

[4] Hurt, R. Douglas. The Ohio Frontier: Crucible of the Old Northwest, 1720-1830. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1996 
[5] Pratt, G. Michael. "The Battle of Fallen Timbers: An Eyewitness Perspective." Northwest Ohio Quarterly 67 (1995): 4-34. and Sugden, John. Blue Jacket: Warrior of the Shawnees. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000.