Indian  Massacre in Florida

Oppechancanough massacre in 1622

….they fell again upon the dead bodies, making as well as they could a fresh murder, defacing, dragging, and mangling their carcasses into many pieces, and carrying some parts away in derision,....

The resentment on the part of the Indians indicated by such behavior would surely have resulted in torturing of the practice had been known to them.

He himself cites a case where he applied torture to an Indian:

The Council concluded, that I should terrify them with some torture, to know if I could know their intent. The next day, I bound one in the hold to the mainmast: and presented six muskets....forced him to desire life.....I frightened the other, first with the rack, then with muskets:....

….otherwise he (Powhatan) threatened to destroy us in a strange manner. First, he said he would make us dumb and then kill us... Had torture been practiced it would have made a much more efficacious deterrent.

  Excerpt from "Captured and Tortured: Trilogy of Terror"

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First Hand Account of the Slaughter and Scalping of 700 U.S. Soldiers on the Wabash

700 U.S. Soldiers were killed at the headwaters of the Wabash River in Indiana under the leadership of General St. Clair. This terrible massacre has been completely ignored by modern historians. 


General Arthur St. Clair, the commanding officer of the army on November 4th, 1791,
700 Men Slaughtered and Scalped on the Wabash River by the Miami Indians

    The coming victory over St. Clair was clearly the result not of overwhelming numbers, but of superior generalship. Here on the banks of the Wabash about daylight on the morning of November 4th, 1791, Little Turtle assailed St. Clair's army in front, on both flanks, and also at the rear near the close of the action, which was about half-past nine o'clock in the morning. At this time it became necessary to make a charge in order to clear the way to the road, so as to permit the retreat of the remnant of the army, which was hurled headlong down the trail, southward for a distance of three or four miles, with terrible slaughter by the victorious and triumphant Indian warriors. No such defeat had heretofore occurred in American history, not even that of General Braddock in 1775. Down to the present time it has only been surpassed once, the disastrous defeat of General Custer on the Big Horn, June 25th, 1876. St. Clair's defeat was described by one Mr. Thomas Irwin in a diary which he kept at the time. He was a wagoner in St. Clair's army. He says, "That battle always reminded him of a furious thunderstorm that comes up quick and rapidly, and soon disappears, leaving havoc and desolation in its path."
     The escape of Stephen Littell was remarkable. At the commencement of the battle he was in the extreme advance. Being unable to keep up with his comrades in their precipitate flight, he sprang aside and hid in a dense thicket as the yelling savages rushed by in hot pursuit. Here he remained some time in dreadful suspense as the roar of the battle died away in the distance, the Indians being in full chase of the flying army. He then ventured slowly forward until he reached the scene of the night's encampment. Awful was the scene presented to him there, the bodies of some seven hundred of the killed and wounded encumbering the ground for the space of about three hundred and fifty yards. It was a cold, frosty morning. The scalped heads presented a very revolting spectacle. A peculiar vapor or steam ascended from them all. Many of these poor creatures were still alive, and groans were heard on all sides. Several of the wounded, knowing that as soon as the savages returned they would be doomed to death by torture, implored young Littell to put an end to their misery. This he refused to do. Ling anxious as to the fate of his father, and seeing among the dead one who bore a strong resemblance to him. he was in the act of turning over the body to examine the features when the exultant and terrific shouts of the returning savages fell upon his ear, and already he could see through the forest the plumed warriors rushing back. It so chanced that an evergreen tree of very dense foliage had been felled near where he stood. It was his only possible covert. He sprang into the tree and turned its branches as well he could around him. Scarcely had he done this when the savages came bounding upon the ground like so many demons. Immediately they commenced their fiend-like acts of torture upon all the wounded. The scenes he continued to witness were more awful than the imagination could possibly conceive. Here our sub ject remained until a suitable time arrived for him to make his escape, which he did — the only one left to tell the sad story of the awful battlefield.

                                                57 gruesome tales of Indian capture and torture

Aboite, Indiana Named For Indian Massacre and French Word For Slaughterhouse

Aboite, Indiana Named For Indian Massacre and French Word For "Slaughterhouse."

103 men were massacred west of Fort Wayne, Indiana at a place called Aboite. The Miami Indians left the mutilated bodies to rot, which resulted in the French calling the site, "The Slaughterhouse." 
A slaughterhouse, also called by the French word abattoir.  Today the site is still called the "Slaughterhouse" in the name of a small town and township in Allen County, Indiana called, Aboite.

     On the 3d of November, 1780, numbers of frightened savages created alarm in the quiet Miami Town by rushing in with the tale that an army of the "rebels" (Americans) was approaching rapidly from the southwest. There was no time to call in the scattered braves and traders for a defense of their homes — nothing to do but hasten to places of safety. Hurriedly abandoning the village, the men, women and children fled to the northward or across the St. Joseph, while others launched their canoes and pirogues upon the open river and paddled to places of safety. Among the families which chose the latter method was that of Jacques Lasselle; in some manner, one of the children, a girl, fell from the boat and was drowned. Soon the invaders poured into the villages and plundered the dwellings of the traders and a large storehouse belonging to Baubien, 8 remaining long enough to make thorough work of the destruction of the property of those whom they considered the most offensive enemies of the American cause.7 Then they retired to their camp for the night. They chose a spot a few miles to the west of the scene of their raid, an open space, on the bank of a small stream, known as Aboite8 (or Aboit) river or creek. The leader of this adventurous body of men was Augustus Mottin de LaBalme. He had served in France as a lieutenant-colonel of cavalry, and as a colonel in the colonial army during the latter part of the American revolution. LaBalme had come to America with the Marquis de LaFayette and entered at once into active service for the republic. Without announcement, he appeared in October, 1780, at Kas- kaskia on the Mississippi, now under the American flag, where he was received with gladness9 by the French and the Indians who encouraged his plan to proceed to Detroit to capture that post for the United States.10 Fired with the vision of a success which should equal or surpass that of Clark on the lower Wabash, LaBalme lost no time in gathering his followers and starting to the northward. A great demonstration attended the departure from Kaskaskia. The inhabitants en masse, as well as large companies of Indians, accompanied the expedition for a considerable distance on its way up the Wabash. At Ouiatanon, LaBalme went into camp with the hope that re-enforcements would reach him before his movement northward. Here he passed twelve impatient days. The four hundred men who were to have joined him failed to appear.

The Vermilya house sits on the hill that overlooks the confluence of Aboite Creek and the Little Wabash Rivers.  It is on this hill that De la Balmes men were massacred. No historic markers have been placed at the site to commemorate the loss of American lives.

      Meanwhile, he feared, the anti-American settlements on the site of Fort Wayne might learn of the proximity of his detachment and prepare for defense. So he decided to make the raid on the offending villages and then go into camp and await the addition to his numbers before proceeding to Detroit. We have seen his confiscation of the villages, and now we find the small company of 103" men settling themselves for the night in their camp on the Aboite. The tragic fate of the expedition is soon told. While the men were arranging for a few hours of comfort, Charles Beaubien, the chief trader at Miami Town, who seems to have been the chief anti-American agitator of the region, was active in assembling the savages and laying plans for a fierce retaliation. That LaBalme 's attack on the Miami village was directed against Beaubien is shown by a clause in a letter written by Richard Winston to Colonel John Todd to the effect that "'is the general opinion that he will take Baubin [Beaubien], the general partisan at Miamis [Fort Wayne], and proceed thence to Fort Pitt." With the gathering of the shades of night, a large number of Indians, fully armed, were assembled at the village. A council, directed by Beaubien, resulted in the choice of Little Turtle to plan and execute the attack on the camp of the invaders. Following the custom of savage warfare, to which LaBalme and his men appear to have been strangers, the Indians quietly surrounded the place, and then, with the terrifying war whoop, fell upon the sleeping encampment. The scene is best imagined from the story of the results. 

A marker was mistakenly placed in the adjoining county of Whitley, Indiana that was not the place of La Balmes defeat. 

     During the few minutes that followed the opening of the attack, thirty or forty of the Americans, including LaBalme, were killed, a few escaped in the darkness, and the remainder, among whom was one "Mons. Rhy, who styles himself aide-de-camp"1* were taken prisoners. The Miamis lost five of their party. Such re-enforcements as may have been on the way to join LaBalme were turned back by the news of his destruction, and the Wabash valley, above the influence of Vincennes, remained in the hands of the British partisans. The LaBalme escapade sent a thrill of alarm throughout Canada. "It was certainly the beginning of a general attack against this province," wrote Governor Haldimand, at Quebec, to DePey- ster, in command at Detroit, "which, from different intelligence I have received, I have every reason to think, will be attempted in the spring against these upper posts. Monsr. LaBalm's papers clearly evince the sentiments of the Canadians, and you will benefit by the discovery. "

The Defeat, Beheading and Cannibalism of Captain Wells

The Defeat, Beheading and Cannibalism of Captain Wells

After William Wells and his men were killed near Fort Dearborn, he was decapitated and his heart eaten by the Miami Indians

    Accordingly, Maj. Siickney, with as much despatch as possible, sent Capt. 
Wells, was a sub-agent, a brother-in-law of Little Turtle and thoroughly versed  in Indian strategy from a lifelong intercourse with them, with a small force to athe beleaguered garrison. In the mean time, however, on the 9th of August, 
Capt. Heald received orders from Gen. Hull to evacuate the post at Chicago 
and move to Detroit. Three days later, Capt. Wells, with thirty picked 
and trusty warriors, fully equipped, arrived at Fort Dearborn (Chicago), when 
he was informed by Capt. Heald of the condition of affairs, and that, 
after receiving the order of Gen. Hull, he had a conference with the 
Indians of the neighborhood and agreed upon terms of evacuation. These 
terms, among other things, embraced an agreement " to deliver up to the Indians 
the fort with all its contents, except some ammunition and provisions necessary 
for their march," in consideration for which he was to be permitted to pass      unmolested. Capt. Wells thought such an arrangement ill advised, for the reason  that the ammunition and whisky especially were dangerous elements to place at thedisposal of a horde of treacherous savages, who, when under the influence of the whisky, which they were sure to become, would not for a moment regard the 
Terms of the agreement entered into. 

   The truth of this opinion soon became manifest, when the Indians, being made  acquainted with the fact of the presence of fire-water among the articles obtainable by a ready disregard of their agreement, determined at once to attack the garrison. Capt. Wells, being cognizant of their movements, took in the situation at a glance. He was not mistaken, for information had even then been communicated toMr. Kinzie of the proceedings and the intentions of the Pottawatomies engaged as an  escort for them. 

Soon after leaving Fort Dearborn, the men under Captain Wells would be attacked and massacred by 500 Indians.

The troops under the command of Capt. Heald consisted of fifty-four regulars and twelve militia. These, on the morning of the 15th of August, marched 
out from the fort to the tune of the "Dead March," as if 'some invisible force 
had impelled them to chant their own funeral dirge. Capt, Wells, too, as if 
conscious of his impending fate, marched in front at the head of his little band 
of faithful warriors with his face blackened. 

After passing outside the walls of the fort, the garrison, with Capt. Wells' 
band and the escort of Pottawatoniies, took up the line of march along- the      margin of the lake, in the direction of Fort Wayne. When the sand hills          separating the prairie and lake had been reached, the escort, consisting of five hundred Pottawatomies, instead of pursuing the regular route, kept along the     plain to the right of the sand ridge, and had thus marched something more than a mile and a half, when Capt. Wells, having in the meantime watched these movementsclosely, and satisfied himself fully as to their purpose, and that an attack was contemplated, he communicated the result of his observations to the men, and direneed of a charge upon the assailants. At this period a volley was fired from     behind the sand hills. The troops were then hastily formed into line, and chargedrapidly up the bank. " A veteran of some seventy years was the first to fall.    Capt, Wells soon fell, pierced with many balls, and, in the words of one of the  party, (Mrs. Kinzie), ' Pee-so-tum * * * held dangling in his hand a scalp! 
which, by the black ribbon around the head, I recognized as that of Capt. Wells.' 
Their leader now being killed, the Miamis fled ; one of their chiefs, however, 
before leaving the scene of disaster, riding up to the Pottawatomies, and exclaim-ing to them in pretty strong terms: ' You have deceived the Americans and us. 
You have done a bad action, and (brandishing his tomahawk"), I will be the first 
to head a party of Americans to return and punish your treachery ; ' and then 
galloped away over the prairie in pursuit of his companions, who were rapidly 
making their way back toward Fort Wayne." 

After a desperate conflict the troops were compelled to surrender, only to be 
subjected to the barbarous inflictions of the tomahawk and scalping knife at the 
hands of the treacherous savages. The result of this massacre was twenty six 
regulars killed with all the militia, two women and twelve children. Twenty seven only were taken prisoners. One of the incidents related by Maj. Stickney, is 
characteristic of Indian warfare : " As the character of Capt, Wells was         unequaled for bravery, after his death, his head was severed from his body, and the Indians took out his heart, cooked it, and divided it among themselves in very small pieces. 
They religiously believed that each one who ate of it would thereby become as 
brave as he from whom it was taken." 

1790 Massacre of General Harmar's Army by the Miami Indians

1790  Massacre of General Harmar's Army by the Miami Indians

Gen. Harmar issued his orders on the 20th of October, 1790, before taking up the line of march on his return to Fort Washington. It is probable that the Delaware 
towns referred to in the account as being located on the St. Mary's River, are 
the '• Pickaway " towns of history, because the upper St. Mary's was long known 
as the Pickaway fork of the Maumee.* 

Some other interesting details of the proceedings on the 19th of October 
are given in an account somewhat amplified from that given by Col. Armstrong, 
which has been cited above. 

Col. Hardin, on the morning of that day, having pursued the same route as 
that taken by Col. Trotter on the day preceding, in pursuit of the savages, 
"finding himself in their neighborhood, he detached Capt. Faulkner, of the 
Pennsylvania militia, to form on his left, which he did at such a distance as to 
render his company of no service in the approaching engagement. Hardin's 
command moved forward to what they discovered to be the encampment of the 
enemy, which was flanked by a morass on each side, as well as by one in front, 
which was crossed with great promptness by the troops, now reduced to less than 
two hundred, who, before they had time lo form, received a galling and unex- 
pected fire from a large body of savages. The militia immediately broke and 
fled, nor could all the exertions of the officers rally them ; fifty-two of those dispersing being killed in a few minutes. 

" The enemy pursued until Maj. Fontaine, who had been sent to hunt up 
Faulkner and his company, returned with them, compelled them to retire, and 
the survivors of the detachment arrived safe in camp. 

11 The regulars, under Armstrong, bore the brunt of this affair, one Sergeant 
and twenty-one privates being killed on the battle-ground, and, while endeavoringto maintain their position, wen- thrown in disorder by the militia running       through their lines, flinging away their arms without even firing a shot. The    Indians killed in this affair nearly one hundred men."* 

The site of this sanguinary affair was, from the best information now attain- 
able, by observation, and deductions from the observation of others, in the south- 
western part of Eel River Township, not far distant from where Eel River crosses 
the county line. Indeed, there are numerous points within an area of less than 
three miles along Eel River, which bear unmistakable evidences of a terrible con-flict at arms. 

In the engagement that took place on the morning of the 22d, there are 
some details in the account before us not found in the more general yet mainly 
official narrative, from which we have before liberally quoted, but which, it is 
thought, contains some facts of interest not contained in the other. 

The detachment sent out under Col. Hardin, being formed in three divisions, 
with militia on the right, and left and regulars in the center, the left, under 
Maj. Hall, was ordered to pass round the bend and cross the St. Mary's in rear 
of the Indian towns on the St. Joseph's, and remain there until the battalion of 
Mai. McMullen, occupying the right, should cross the Maumee lower down, and 
eonnnenee the action by attacking the Indians on the east side of the            St. Joseph's. 
This latter movement was to be the signal for the regulars, under Hardin and 
Wyllys, who occupied the center, with Major Fontaine's cavalry, to cross the 
Maumee at the old ford and attack the enemy in front, and thus surround the 
Indian camp. Contrary to orders, however, Maj. Hall, instead of waiting for 
the signal, permitted some of his men to fire upon a straggling Indian, which, 
alarming" the Indians in the town, they attacked the troops on the left, The con- sequence of this was the discovery by the Indians" of Hardin's men, on the      opposite side of the Maumee, who immediately began to cross over, Major Fontaine 
being in advance. Before this division had crossed, it was attacked in front, on 
the north bank and in the river, the cavalry having, in the mean time, gained a 
footing in the borders of the town. The fight, soon became general, the Indians 
having the whites at a disadvantage. The contest was terrific, the savages being 
wrought up to a pitch of desperation seldom equaled, perhaps never excelled. 
Owing to the premature engagement on the left, the whole plan was so much dis- 
arranged that no two divisions could execute orders in concert ; thus divided, 
defeat was inevitable. Though the regulars and cavalry bore the brunt of battle 
with the most heroic fortitude, they were finally overcome by superior force. 

Massacre on the Wabash, The Miami Indians Defeat of the American Army

Massacre on the Wabash, The Miami Indians Defeat St. Clair

The struggle to open the Wabash portage resulted in three massacres that included the massacre of DeLaBalme near Fort Wayne, Indiana, The massacre of Harmer and his men at the site of  Fort Wayne and the massacre of St. Clair.

ST. CLAIR'S DEFEAT

—The first great massacre to the Federal armies brought about by the Miamis.

The objectives of General St. Clair have already been mentioned. He was now to take the village of Kekionga, establish a garrison there, and erect a chain of posts stretching from the new establishment to Fort Washington at Cincinnati.
Miami Indian Photo Gallery

The army with which St. Clair was expected to accomplish this task consisted of "two small regiments of regulars, two of six months' levies, a number of Kentucky militia, a few cavalry, and a couple of small batteries of light guns." In all there were fourteen hundred men and eighty-six officers. The Kentucky militia were under the command of Colonel Oldham, a brave officer who afterwards fell on the field of battle. The levies were "men collected from the streets and prisons of the city, hurried out into the enemy's country and with the officers commanding them, totally unacquainted with the business in which they were engaged." Their pay was miserable. Each private received two dollars and ten cents a month; the sergeants three dollars and sixty cents. Being recruited at various times and places, their terms of enlistment were expiring daily, and they wanted to go home. As they were reckless and intemperate, St. Clair, in order [Pg 196]to preserve some semblance of order, removed them to Ludlow's Station, about six miles from Fort Washington. Major Ebenezer Denny, aide to St. Clair, says that they were "far inferior to the militia." On the morning of October twenty-ninth, when St. Clair's army was penetrating the heart of the Indian country, this disorderly element was keeping up a constant firing about the camp, contrary to the positive orders of the day.

In the quartermaster's department everything "went on slowly and badly; tents, pack-saddles, kettles, knapsacks and cartridge boxes, were all 'deficient in quantity and quality.'" The army contractors were positively dishonest, and the war department seems to have been fearfully negligent in all of its work. Judge Jacob Burnet records that "it is a well authenticated fact, that boxes and packages were so carelessly put up and marked, that during the action a box was opened marked 'flints,' which was found to contain gun-locks. Several mistakes of the same character were discovered, as for example, a keg of powder marked 'for the infantry,' was found to contain damaged cannon-powder, that could scarcely be ignited."

St. Clair was sick, and so afflicted with the gout that he was unable to mount or dismount a horse without assistance. On the night before his great disaster he was confined to his camp bed and unable to get up. Born in Edinburgh, in Scotland, in 1734, he was now fifty-seven years of age, and too old and infirm to take command of an army in a hazardous Indian campaign. Besides, he had had no experience in such a contest. He was, however, a man of sterling courage. He had been a lieutenant [Pg 197]in the army of General Wolfe at Quebec. He espoused the cause of the colonies, and had fought with distinguished valor at Trenton and Princeton. Under him, and second in command, was General Richard Butler, of Pennsylvania. Butler was a man of jealous and irritable temperament and had had a bitter controversy with Harmar over the campaign of the year before. A coolness now sprang up between him and St. Clair, which, as we shall see, led to lamentable results. The mind of General Harmar was filled with gloomy forebodings. Taking into consideration the material of which the army was composed and the total inefficiency of the quartermaster and the contractors, "it was a matter of astonishment to him," says Denny, "that the commanding general * * * * should think of hazarding, with such people, and under such circumstances, his reputation and life, and the lives of so many others, knowing, too, as both did, the enemy with whom he was going to contend; an enemy brought up from infancy to war, and perhaps superior to an equal number of the best men that could be taken against them."

Owing to delays the army which was to rendezvous at Fort Washington not later than July tenth, did not actually start into the wilderness until the fourth day of October. On the seventeenth of September, a halt had been made on the Great Miami, and Fort Hamilton erected. Twenty miles north of this place, a light fortification known as Fort St. Clair, was built. About six miles south of the present town of Greenville, in Darke county, Ohio, the army threw up the works of Fort Jefferson, and then moved forward at a snail's pace into the forests and [Pg 198]prairies. Every foot of the road through the heavy timber had to be cleared. Rains were constant. The troops were on half rations and terribly impatient. Parties of militia were daily deserting. On the twenty-seventh of October, Major Denny entered in his diary the following: "The season so far advanced it will be impracticable to continue the campaign. Forage entirely destroyed; horses failing and cannot be kept up; provisions from hand to mouth." The Little Turtle was again on the watch. A hostile army was entering the sacred domain of the Miamis. Indian scouts and runners were constantly lurking on the skirts of the army. In after years, a woman heard the great chief say of a fallen enemy: "We met; I cut him down; and his shade as it passes on the wind, shuns my walk!" This terrible foe, like a tiger in his jungle, was waiting for the moment to spring on his prey. It soon came. On the thirty-first of October, a party of militia, sixty or seventy in number, deserted the camp and swore that they would stop the packhorses in the rear, laden with provisions. St. Clair sent back after them the First United States Regiment under Major John Hamtramck, the most experienced Indian fighters in the whole army. These were the men the Indians most feared. The savage chieftain determined to strike.

Later than usual, and on the evening of November third, the tired and hungry army of St. Clair emerged on the headwaters of the river Wabash. "There was a small, elevated meadow on the east banks of this stream, while a dense forest spread gloomily all around." A light snow was on the ground, and the pools of water were covered [Pg 199]with a thin coat of ice. The Wabash at this point was twenty yards wide. The militia were thrown across the stream about three hundred yards in advance of the main army. As they took their positions, a few Indians were routed out of the underbrush and fled precipitately into the woods. The main body of troops was cooped up in close quarters. The right wing was composed of Butler's, Clark's, and Patterson's battalions, commanded by Major General Butler. These battalions formed the first line of the encampment. The left wing, consisting of Bedinger's and Gaither's battalions, and the Second United States Regiment of regulars, under the command of Colonel William Darke, formed the second line. An interval between these lines of about seventy yards "was all the ground would allow." St. Clair thought that his right flank was fairly well secured by a creek, "while a steep bank, and Faulkner's corps, some of the cavalry, and their picquets, covered the left flank." No works whatever were thrown up to protect the army, but the great camp-fires of the soldiers illumined the whole host. In the circumjacent forests, and a little in advance of the position occupied by the militia, was a camp of over eleven hundred Indians, composed of Miamis, Shawnees, Potawatomi, Delawares, Ottawas, Chippewas and Wyandots, with a number of British adherents from Detroit, waiting for the first hours of dawn of the coming day.

What strange sense of security lulled the vigilance of the American leaders will never be known. During the night the frequent firing of the sentinels disturbed the whole camp, and the outlying guards reported bands of [Pg 200]savages skulking about in considerable numbers. "About ten o'clock at night," says Major Denny, "General Butler, who commanded the right wing, was desired to send out an intelligent officer and party to make discoveries. Captain Slough, with two subalterns and thirty men, I saw parade at General Butler's tent for this purpose, and heard the general give Captain Slough very particular verbal orders how to proceed." Slough afterwards testified before a committee of Congress, that he was sent out during the night with a party of observation and that he saw a force of Indians approaching the American camp, with a view to reconnoitering it, whereupon, he hastened to the camp of the militia and reported to their leader. "I halted my party," says Slough, "near Colonel Oldham's tent, went into it, and awakened him, I believe about twelve o'clock. I told him that I was of his opinion, that the camp would be attacked in the morning, for I had seen a number of Indians. I proceeded to the camp, and as soon as I had passed the camp guards, dismissed the party, and went to General Butler's tent. As I approached it, I saw him come out of the tent, and stand by the fire. I went up to him, and took him some distance from it, not thinking it prudent that the sentry should hear what I had seen. I also told him what Colonel Oldham had said, and that, if he thought proper, I would go and make a report to General St. Clair. He stood some time, and after a pause, thanked me for my attention and vigilance, and said, as I must be fatigued, I had better go and lie down." Fatuous and unexplainable conduct in the face of certain peril!

[Pg 201]At a half hour before sunrise on the morning of November fourth, 1791, the army of St. Clair is at parade. The soldiers have just been dismissed and are returning to their tents, when the woods in front ring with the shots and yells of a thousand savages. On the instant the bugles sound the call to arms, but the front battalions are scarce in line, when the remnants of the militia, torn and bleeding, burst through them. The levies, firing, check the first mad rush of the oncoming warriors, but the Indians scattering to right and left, encircle the camp. The guards are down, the army in confusion, and under the pall of smoke which now settles down to within three feet of the ground, the murderous red men approach the lines. The yelling has now ceased, but from behind every tree, log and stump a pitiless fire rains on the troops. The officers shout, the men discharge their guns, but they see nothing. The artillery thunders with tremendous sound, but soldiers are falling on every hand.

St. Clair is valorous, but what can valor do in a tempest of death? He tries to mount a horse, but the horse is shot through the head, and the lad that holds him is wounded in the arm. He tries to mount a second, but horse and servant are both mowed down. The third horse is brought, but fearing disaster, St. Clair hobbles to the front lines to cheer his troops. He wears no uniform, and out from under his great three cornered hat flows his long gray hair. A ball grazes the side of his face and cuts away a lock. The weight of the savage fire is now falling on the artillery in the center. The gunners sink beneath their guns. The herculean lieutenant-colonel, [Pg 202]William Darke, who has fought at Yorktown, is ordered to charge on the right front. The troops rush forward with levelled bayonets, the savages are routed from their coverts, are visible a moment, and then disappear. As the levies advance the savages close in behind. Darke is surrounded on all sides—his three hundred men become thirty, and he falls back.

In the absence of Darke, the left flank of the army is now pressed in. Guns and artillery fall into the hands of the foe. Every artillery-man is killed but one, and he is badly wounded. The gunners are being scalped. St. Clair leads another charge on foot. The savages skip before the steel, disappear in the smoke and underbrush, and fire on the soldiers from every point as they make retreat. Charge after charge is made, but all are fruitless. The regulars and the levies, out in the open, unable to see the enemy, die by scores. The carnage is fearful.

The troops have fought for about three hours, and the remnants of the army are huddled in the center. The officers are about all down, for the savages have made it a point to single them out. Butler is fatally wounded and leaning against a tree. The men are stupefied and give up in despair. Shouts of command are given, officers' pistols are drawn, but the men refuse to fight. The wounded are lying in heaps, and the crossfire of the Indians, now centering from all points, threatens utter extermination. There is only one hope left—a desperate dash through the savage lines, and escape. "It was past nine o'clock," says Denny, "when repeated orders were given to charge towards the road. * * * Both officers [Pg 203]and men seemed confounded, incapable of doing anything; they could not move until it was told that a retreat was intended. A few officers put themselves in front, the men followed, the enemy gave way, and perhaps not being aware of the design, we were for a few moments left undisturbed."

In after years it was learned that Captain William Wells was in charge of a party of about three hundred young Indian warriors, who were posted behind logs and trees, immediately under the knoll on which the artillery stood. They picked off the artillery-men one by one, until a huge pile of corpses lay about the gun wheels. As the Indians swarmed into the camp in the intervals between the futile charges of the regulars, the artillery-men were all scalped. Wells belonged to a Kentucky family and had been captured by the Miamis when a child twelve years of age, and is said to have become the adopted son of Little Turtle. He had acquired the tongue and habits of a savage, but after the battle with St. Clair he seems to have been greatly troubled with the thought that he might have slain some of his own kindred. Afterwards when Wayne's army advanced into the Indian country he bade the Little Turtle goodbye, and became one of Wayne's most trusty and valuable scouts. After Fallen Timbers he returned to his Indian wife and children, but remained the friend of the United States. In General Harrison's day he was United States Indian agent at Fort Wayne, but was killed in the massacre of Fort Dearborn, in 1812, by the faithless bands of Potawatomi under the chief Blackbird.

[Pg 204]The retreat of St. Clair's army was very precipitate. "It was, in fact, a flight." The fugitives threw away their arms and accouterments and made a mad race for the walls of Fort Jefferson, twenty-nine miles away, arriving there a little after sunset. The loss of the Americans was appalling, and recalled the disaster of Braddock's defeat on the Monongahela. Out of an army of twelve hundred men and eighty-six officers, Braddock lost seven hundred and twenty-seven in killed and wounded. St. Clair's army consisted of fourteen hundred men and eighty-six officers, of whom eight hundred and ninety men and sixteen officers were killed or wounded. The slaughter of officers of the line had been so disastrous, that in the spring of the next year, Anthony Wayne, the new commander, found it extremely difficult to train the new troops. He had first to impart the military tactics to a group of young officers. "Several pieces of artillery, and all the baggage, ammunition, and provisions, were left on the field of battle, and fell into the hands of the Indians. The stores and other public property, lost in the action, were valued at thirty-two thousand eight hundred and ten dollars and seventy-five cents." The loss of the Indians was trifling. As near as may be ascertained, they had about thirty killed and fifty wounded.

The field of action was visited by General James Wilkinson about the first of February, 1792. An officer who was present relates the following: "The scene was truly melancholy. In my opinion those unfortunate men who fell into the enemy's hands, with life, were used with the greatest torture—having their limbs torn off; and [Pg 205]the women had been treated with the most indecent cruelty, having stakes, as thick as a person's arm, drove through their bodies." In December, 1793, General Wayne, having arrived at Greenville, Ohio, sent forward a detachment to the spot of the great defeat. "They arrived on the ground, on Christmas day, and pitched their tents at night; they had to scrape the bones together and carry them out to make their beds. The next day holes were dug, and the bones remaining above ground were buried; six hundred skulls being found among them."

The whole nation was terribly shocked by the news of the defeat. The bordermen of Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky were immediately exposed to a renewal of Indian attacks and the government seemed powerless. St. Clair came in for severe censure, more severe in fact, than was justly warranted. The sending back of Hamtramck's regiment, the unfortified condition of the camp on the night before the attack, the posting of the militia in advance of the main army, and the utter lack of scouts and runners, were all bad enough, but on the other hand, the delay and confusion in the quartermaster's department, the dereliction of the contractors, and the want of discipline among the militia and the levies, were all matters of extenuation. To win was hopeless. To unjustly denounce an old and worthy veteran of the Revolution, who acted with so much manly courage on the field of battle, ill becomes an American. A committee of Congress completely exonerated him.

The administration itself and the department of war, were sharply criticized. But the representatives of the [Pg 206]people themselves were more to blame than the government. Thousands had deprecated the attempt of the President to protect the frontiers and to sustain the arm of the western generals. The mean and niggardly support accorded the commander-in-chief, was largely instrumental in bringing about the lamentable result. The jealous and parsimonious states of the east, had regarded only their own selfish ends, to the utter exclusion of the national interest.

Massacre on the Maumee River, Forts Wayne, Indiana's Bloody Beginings

Kekionga, (Fort Wayne, Indiana) The Miami Indians Seat of Power

Miami Indians of the Wabash and Maumee Rivers

Miami Indians in Indiana with Rare Photographs


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