The result of these disasters was bad indeed. The Indians became so bold in their raids that a reign of terror spread along the western border. The situation was so grave that Congress ordered the organization of a force for the punishment of the savages. In addition to several forts and garrisons, this army numbered fully two thousand men, under the command of General Arthur St. Clair, governor of the Northwest Territory. Before he set out on his campaign, President Washington called him to Philadelphia and warned him to guard against a surprise by the Indians. "They have a leader of great ability in Little Turtle," said he, "and have proved more than once that they will fight with bravery. Remember, my words: _Beware of a surprise!_" [Illustration: LITTLE TURTLE'S BATTLE-AXE] General St. Clair left the nation's capitol with the words of the President ringing in his ears, and went directly to Fort Washington, arriving there in the middle of May, 1791. Various causes delayed the campaign, which began early in September, one year after the defeat of General Harmar. Fort Hamilton was built on the Miami in the country of Turtle, and Fort Jefferson forty miles farther on. Leaving a garrison in each, the army advanced, but its strength was reduced by desertions to fourteen hundred effectives. The militia were dissatisfied and unreliable. Early in November, St. Clair made his camp on high ground, within fifteen miles of the Miami villages. The militia, to the number of three hundred, crossed a creek and halted on the first elevation a quarter of a mile beyond the main body. While forming their camp, Little Turtle attacked them. The militia immediately broke in a wild panic. Without attempting any fight, most of them flung away their guns, the warriors at their heels, and cutting them down as they ran. The Indians pursued them all the way to the main body and then attacked it. The soldiers fought heroically, and drove back their enemies several times, but the charges were repeated under the direction of the Turtle, with a boldness rarely shown by his race. The end of it all was another crushing disaster, in which the troops lost thirty-eight officers and about eight hundred men. Many of the wounded suffered shocking barbarities. Thus, out of a total of fourteen hundred, nearly seventy per cent. were slain or disabled. In this woful affair, the opposing forces were equal--the Indians being perhaps a trifle the greater in number--and the credit of the victory by the red men is therefore the more marked. The horde was commanded by Little Turtle, and although there is no way of knowing his loss, it was certainly less than that of the whites. Years afterward, the chief declared that only nine of his warriors were killed, but the number was probably fifty or sixty.