The Land of the Miamis: An Account of the Struggle to Secure Possession of the North-West from the End of the Revolution until 1812Barce, Elmore
History
The Land of the Miamis: An Account of the Struggle to Secure Possession of the North-West from the End of the Revolution until 1812
Barce, Elmore
Indians of North America -- Wars -- 1750-1815; Miami Indians; Northwest, Old -- History
Captain Joseph Asheton in commenting on this last battle at the Maumee,
makes the following observation: "If Colonel (Major) Hall, who had
gained his ground undiscovered, had not wantonly disobeyed his orders,
by firing on a single Indian, the surprise must have been complete." The
question of whether there was any surprise at all or not, remains in
doubt. The Fort Wayne Manuscript, which possesses some historical value
at least, says that about eight hundred Indians were present; three
hundred Miamis under the Little Turtle, and a body of five hundred more
savages, consisting of Shawnees, Delawares, Potawatomi, Chippewas and
Ottawas. That the Shawnees were commanded by Blue Jacket, and the
Ottawas and Chippewas by an Ottawa chief named Agaskawak. The battle
itself, was skillfully planned on the part of the savages. They must
have known that the militiamen were in the vanguard and would cross the
Maumee first. They rightly calculated that the impetuosity of the
Kentuckians and their lack of discipline, would lead them at once into a
headlong charge. This would make the destruction of the regulars
comparatively easy and lead to the demoralization of the whole
detachment. A plan so well designed as this, and so skillfully executed,
is not formed on the instant. Besides, it is not probable that the
Little Turtle remained out of touch with the American army while it was
in the immediate vicinity of the Indian towns.
On November sixth, Governor St. Clair wrote to the secretary of war that
the savages had received "a most terrible stroke." It is true that they
had suffered a considerable damage in the burning of their cabins and
the destruction of their corn, but the total loss of warriors was only
about fifteen or twenty. The American army, on the other hand, had lost
one hundred and eighty-three in killed, and thirty-one wounded. Among
the slain were Major Wyllys and Lieutenant Ebenezer Frothingham, of the
regular troops, and Major Fontaine, Captains Thorp, McMurtrey and Scott,
Lieutenants Clark and Rogers, and Ensigns Bridges, Sweet, Higgins and
Thielkeld, of the militia.
"The outcome of the campaign," says B. J. Griswold, the Fort Wayne
historian, "considered from the most favorable angle, gave naught to the
American government to increase its hopes of the pacification of the
west." On the other hand, the savages, their spirit of revenge aroused
to the white heat of the fiercest hatred, assembled at the site of
their ruined villages, and there, led to renewed defiance of the
Americans through the fiery speech of Simon Girty, set about the work of
preparation to meet the next American force which might be sent against
them. In a body, these savages, led by Little Turtle, LeGris and Blue
Jacket, proceeded to Detroit, where they "paraded the streets, uttering
their demoniac scalp yelps while bearing long poles strung with the
scalps of many American soldiers."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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