Hi, I'm the History Guy. I
have a degree in history, and I love history. And if you love
history too, this is the channel for you. What we used to refer to in US history as the
period of Westward Expansion, most people now acknowledge was really a two century period of
conquest. Of course North America wasn't some vast open space that was waiting to be settled,
it was occupied by millions of Native Americans who had to be defeated, and subjugated in order to
open that land for settlement. But in as much as we even remember, and acknowledge the Indian Wars,
we tend to think in terms of the late 19th century Indian Wars, the ones that you see in western
movies. But that misrepresents the situation, because Europeans were at odds with Native
Americans pretty much from the first moment that Europeans showed up on America's
Shores. There were 201 years for example, between King Philip's War, which is often called
the first Indian War in 1675, and Custer's defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, in 1876.
And in those 200 years there's a lot of forgotten history, but there's a particular period of the
Indian Wars that seems even more forgotten than most. November 4th of 1791, the United States
Army faced the greatest defeat in its history at the Battle of the Wabash. And that forgotten
battle, in a forgotten period of a forgotten war, is very important to American history. It had
a lot to do with how we built our armed forces, it affected how we grew westward, and perhaps
most importantly, it defined our relationship with the native peoples of North America. It
is history...that deserves to be remembered. American Indians played a meaningful role in the
American Revolution. While many Indian nations maintained neutrality, and some support of the
American cause, others maintained long-term alliances with the British, and or saw the English
side as the best way to protect their lands from encroachment. An estimated 13,000 Native Americans
fought on the British side during the conflict. Since they were considered British allies, they
were supposedly represented by, and bound to, the terms of the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which
ended the Revolutionary War, and granted the US control of the areas northwest of the Ohio
River. But in fact, many of those nations were not represented at all in the treaty discussions,
and did not think themselves bound by the treaty. And even Britain continued to maintain forts
in the area, continuing to support the Nations, in the hope of creating an Indian buffer state, to
stall US expansion. While the Native Nations were often fractured, a loose Confederacy had formed in
order to counter American expansion in the Great Lakes region. Called the Western Confederacy, the
loose organization included members of dozens of nations, including powerful tribes like the
Miami, the Shawnee, and the Delaware Lenape. For their part, the United States saw the
Northwest Territory as more than just room for expansion, they saw it as a means of financing.
Under the articles of the Confederation, Congress did not have the authority to levy taxes, and so
their plan for funding the government was to sell the lands that was east of the Mississippi,
and south of the Great Lakes, to settlers. But some 45,000 Native Americans were still
occupying that territory, presenting a significant obstacle to Congress's plan. Continued friction,
and raiding from both sides had become a barrier to settlement. In 1790, President George
Washington, and Secretary of War Henry Knox, organized a military response under the leadership
of General Josiah Harmar. The Harmar campaign in 1790, consisted of mostly poorly trained militia.
The campaign was a disaster for the Americans, who were defeated by the Warriors of the
Western Confederacy in a string of battles with heavy losses, often due to poor command
decisions. Washington ordered General Arthur St. Clair to put together a larger force,
for a more vigorous campaign in 1791. While Congress had authorized additional troops
the pay was low, and recruiting was less than was expected. Sinclair was once again forced to
depend upon the even more poorly trained militia, for nearly half his force. By the time he was
finally ready to move, his army of 1500 was poorly trained, and poorly supplied. They were also
followed by about 250 camp followers; those are wives and children, laundresses and prostitutes,
that tend to follow an army in the field. Desertion continued to take its toll, by
November, St. Clair had barely a thousand able troops. On the evening of November 3rd,
his force had set camp near the headwaters of the Wabash River. The camp was poorly prepared;
they had failed to build any defensive works. While St. Clair's force had been dwindling, the
Western Confederacy had been gathering warriors. Around a thousand had come to the area, ready to
fight. Led by a Miami chief named Little Turtle, they attacked at dawn. As the American troops, who
had not sent out scouting parties, were mustering for breakfast. Little Turtle attacked the militia
first, who were quickly overrun and ran without collecting their guns. St. Claire's regulars
were able to form a line and fire volleys, but they were continually flanked. As the American
artillery tried to deploy, their crews were killed by Indian marksmen. The regulars attempted to
drive back the Indians with bayonet charges, but that allowed the Indians to isolate
groups, and overwhelm them. As soldiers fell, the camp followers joined in the desperate fight.
Finally, facing annihilation St. Clair ordered a retreat, forcing the force to leave behind its
supplies, and its wounded, who were slaughtered. St. Claire's defeat at the Battle of the Wabash
had the highest casualty rate of any battle in the history of the United States army. Of
930 troops in the field, 632 were killed, and 264 wounded. A casualty rate of 97%. Nearly
a quarter of the entire US Army was lost. In addition, virtually all the camp followers were
also killed. As for the Western Confederacy on the other hand, their losses were only
about twenty killed, and forty wounded. In 1792, Washington argued that
we are involved in an actual war, and Congress raised the funds for a larger
and better trained force. That force will be called the Legion of the United States.
In 1793, under the command of Major General Anthony Wayne, the Legion would defeat
the Western Confederacy at the Battle of the Fallen Timbers, and force upon
them the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. The greatest defeat in the history of the
United States Army would have far-reaching ramifications. The Legion of the United States,
for example, created as a response to St. Claire's defeat would eventually become the first
four regiments of the United States Army, still in service today. In addition to creating
the Legion of the United States, Congress also passed two militia acts, one requiring that all
able-bodied men sign up for their state militias, and another authorizing the president to call
upon those militias. That authority would be used to put down the Whiskey Rebellion
in 1794. The militias that were created as a result of those acts would eventually
become the United States National Guard. While the Western Confederacy won a significant
victory at the Battle of the Wabash, they were unable to effectively follow up that
victory, there had been a poor harvest that year, and the Warriors had to go home to hunt
in order to feed their families. The newly created Legion of the United States under
Major General Wayne, was significantly larger, better trained, and better equipped than the
armies that had been put in the field in 1790, and 1791. And while the Western Confederacy
took relatively light losses at the Battle of the Fallen Timbers, near modern-day Toledo Ohio,
in August of 1794, they were soundly defeated. And the British had gone to war with France, and
were afraid of antagonizing the United States, and so withdrew their support for the Nations,
forcing the Western Confederacy to negotiate. The resulting Treaty of Greenville put
an end to the Northwest Indian Wars, and demarcated the line between Indian
lands, and settler lands, opening up southern Ohio for settlement. But perhaps more
importantly, it created the system of annuities. The annuity system had the government promise
to give the nation's an annual tribute, usually food and blankets, in exchange for
respecting the treaty boundary lines. That system would be exploited over the next hundred
years, to take away Native Americans lands. What it really did was allow the government to
purchase Native American land at a very cheap price. And if you wanted more land, all you had
to do was threaten to withhold the annuities, to force the Indians to make more concessions in
further treaties. Finally unable to survive on the land that they were allowed, the Nations would
go into debt, which would be paid by taking, even more land. Ironically, by inflicting on the
US Army the greatest defeat in their history, the Western Confederacy had set into motion
the dynamic that would be used to subjugate Native American peoples across the continent.
What the treaty did not do was buy peace, settlers continued to settle across the
Greenville line causing more tension, and in 1811, the Tecumseh War would erupt
in the same area. The United States-Indian Wars would not end officially until
the end of the Apache War, in 1924. I'm the History Guy. I hope you enjoyed this
episode of my series, five minutes of history, short snippets of forgotten history five to ten
minutes long. If you did enjoy it, please go ahead and click that thumbs up button which is
there on your left. If you have any questions, or comments, feel free to write those in the
comment section, and I will be happy to respond. And if you'd like five minutes more forgotten
history, all you need to do is subscribe.
