Battle of Fallen Timbers
|
|
Maj. Gen. Anthony Wayne at Fallen Timbers
|
|
|
World powers watched the Northwest Territory with covetous interest during the 1790s. "Lack of authority . . . left the nation a natural prey for the colonial vultures of Europe," wrote Richard Knopf in "Anthony Wayne, A Name in Arms." ''Britain had never given up hope of regaining her lost colonies. Spain eyed with envy the Trans-Allegheny West . . . France became more and more inclined toward the establishment of a new empire in the new world." Had it not been for Anthony Wayne's victories in Ohio in 1793 and 1794 and the founding of Fort Wayne in October 1794, the western border of the country might never have made it even to the Mississippi River. In 1775 the Second Continental Congress asked Pennsylvania to recruit four battalions for the Continental Army. One of the four men chosen to head up the battalions was 30-year-old Anthony Wayne. The other was Arthur St. Clair, who would cross Wayne's path several times during the Revolutionary War and the conquest of the |
|
|
The new Col. Wayne's regiment of volunteers first served in the disastrous campaign against Quebec. During the retreat, Wayne found himself in command after St. Clair stubbed his toe on a tree root. Wayne himself had received a painful leg wound during the fighting retreat, but he paid no attention to it. He was shot by his own sentry and remarked that the solider did not use enough powder as the bullet lodged in his bone. This would later lead to his demise. "Wayne's leg wound was much worse than St. Clair's stubbed toe, but he stayed on his feet during the march of anguish through the woods," Glenn Tucker wrote in his "Mad Anthony Wayne and the New Nation." For a time he commanded Fort Ticonderoga, N.Y., and he was raised to the rank of brigadier general in 1777 for his services there. St. Clair, however, had been inexplicably promoted to brigadier general ahead of Wayne, despite his own poor showing in the defense of Ticonderoga. Wayne and St. Clair feuded intermittently throughout the war. Wayne's most brilliant exploit of the Revolutionary War was the storming of the British fort July 16, 1779, at Stony Point, N.Y. His forces took the strongest British post on the Hudson River with a surprise night attack. Descriptions of Wayne vary from impetuous to vain. He inspired loyalty among his men. He was a shrewd politician but a weak businessman. He was a meticulous dresser and was nicknamed "Dandy" before he became "Mad Anthony." Several versions with common threads exist on how Wayne earned his "Mad Anthony" moniker. Glenn Tucker's book says Wayne was named by a character called "Jemy the Rover," a "nondescript character" who served as Wayne's principal spy during the Valley Forge campaign. Once when Jemy was locked up he called for his friend Gen. Wayne to get him out of the mess as he always had in the past, but a courier delivered the message to an aid and he sent a reply back stating that he could not help him. Upon hearing this he began yelling, "Anthony is mad, stark mad,". "Mad Anthony Wayne" he yelled again and again. |
|
|
At the end of the Revolutionary War, Great Britain agreed that the Mississippi River would be the western boundary of the United States and that the Great Lakes would serve as the border on the north. Presumably this meant British troops would withdraw from these areas into Canada. In fact, they did not.
The new nation, operating under the Articles of Confederation was weak, and the Northwest Territory was a lucrative source of furs for the British. The British exploited the Indians of the area to gain an advantage. They encouraged the Indians to attack settlers in the area. There were reports of many killings in the unsettled Northwest Territory. Something had to be done. Passage of the Northwest Ordinance in 1787 sent American settlers into the Ohio Valley area at the rate of 10,000 a year. Problems protecting these settlers were among those that proved the weakness of the Articles of Confederation and led to ratification of the new Constitution June 21, 1788. By 1790, Congress yielded to the appeals for protection from Indians by the new residents of the Northwest Territory. Brigadier General Josiah Harmar was dispatched to the new territory with an army and instructions to punish the Wabash and Miami Indians for their raids on river traffic. Harmar commanded 320 regular troops, 1,133 Kentucky militiamen and a battalion of Pennsylvania infantrymen. On Oct. 22, 1790, four years to the day before the founding of Fort Wayne, Harmar's army was ambushed and soundly defeated by Indians led by Chief Little Turtle. In their defense, the Indians believed they owned the land by moral right and previous treaty. Harmar's defeat was a national humiliation and a major setback to President Washington's plans for the Northwest Territory. Congress quickly authorized higher troop levels, and another army led by Maj. Gen. Arthur St. Clair was dispatched to Miami Village, now Fort Wayne, to punish the Indians. In November 1791 the army was attacked by Indians again led by Little Turtle, around what is now Fort Recovery, Ohio. The general leading the army had been warned by Washington to be careful of surprise attacks. He didn't listen. At least 700 Americans died in the fighting, including 56 women. In comparison, about 200 soldiers died at Custer's Last Stand in 1876. We all know about Little Big Horn, but this massacre overshadows Little Big Horn by a wide margin. The general who failed to heed Washington's warnings was Arthur St. Clair himself, Wayne's Revolutionary War nemesis. The debacle became known as 'St. Clair's defeat . "President Washington's western policy was in shambles," G. Danforth Hollins wrote in his "General Anthony Wayne, Northwest Conqueror and Diplomat." ''The citizens of every state questioned the effectiveness of the government and the Constitution. The crisis facing the United States was critical, for the government's credibility was almost destroyed. "Foreign powers who were aware of the problems were likely to take the opportunity to invade within its borders." Into this arena of national despair strode Gen. Anthony Wayne, whom President Washington named Commanding General of the newly formed Legion of the United States. Calling the country's newly approved standing army a "legion" seemed more acceptable to much of the nation who still felt a republic should not have a large standing army. Wayne went to Pittsburg (its correct spelling at the time) in July of 1792 and began training his men. He moved his forces to the Cincinnati area in the summer of 1793 and waited for orders to attack. Washington was still trying to resolve problems through negotiation. In the meantime Gen. Wayne made good use of this time to diligently train his troops. He built 40ft. wide roads and established forts in the heart of Indian territory. He was anxious to quell the Indian uprisings. He also was tired of blood shed and war and longed for peace. He speculated on establishing a tannery in the new frontier. His wife Polly died and then his mother followed in a few months. This was a low point in his life. His health was the worst it had ever been. He was in constant pain and had to be helped to mount his horse often. But he still held to visions of glory and to becoming "Secretary of War", and entertained ideas of a higher office. In the fall of 1793 negotiations failed. The United States refused to ban any settlement by its citizens beyond the Ohio River. The Indians refused to allow intruders upon their lands. On September 11, 1793, Wayne received word to attack. Indian scouts, spying on Wayne, called him "the Chief who never sleeps." Shortly before the Christmas of 1793, Wayne led a small group of men north to the area of St. Clair's defeat and built Fort Recovery, which was named because Gen. Wayne recovered some artillery, built a fort on the spot where a dear friend of his lost his life due to St. Clairs mistakes. In June of 1794, 2,000 Indians attacked the fort. "Although the Indians vastly outnumbered the defenders," Hollins wrote, "the well-trained dragoons and riflemen within the professionally built fort held out against overwhelming odds. The Indians were forced to retreat." Their defeat at Fort Recovery shook the Indians' confidence. Little Turtle relinquished his leadership. Two of the Great Lakes tribes decided to return to their camps. Wayne continued moving north, establishing Fort Defiance (now Defiance, Ohio) in August 1794. Ahead of him were some 1,300 Indians outside of Fort Miami, the British-held stronghold near the present-day Toledo. Wayne sent one more letter to four Indian tribes with a last offer to negotiate. There were no positive responses. On Aug. 20, 1794, Wayne's army attacked the Indians at Fallen Timbers, just south of Toledo. The battle lasted less than an hour. Fleeing Indians raced toward Fort Miami, where the British had promised protection. They were turned away because the British did not want to risk war with the United States. Wayne moved south and built a new fort near the three rivers. Fort Wayne was officially dedicated Oct. 22, 1794. Peace with the Indian tribes was achieved with the Treaty of Greenville on Aug. 3, 1795. Wayne's victory at Fallen Timbers ended for all time the power of the British on American soil. A third American defeat might have led to ceding the area to Great Britain or invasion by Spain or France. Failure also would have threatened the power of the new government, diminished because of its inability to protect its citizens. So Wayne's victory in the Northwest campaign had far-reaching implications. He returned to a hero's welcome in Philadelphia.
In June 1796, Wayne was back in the frontier overseeing the surrender of British forts to the United States. In November he became ill with gout. On Dec. 16, 1796, he died. At his request he was buried in a plain oak coffin at Presque Isle, Pa (Erie) at the flag pole of the block house. Wayne is one of the few famous people in American history known to have two graves. Thirteen years after Wayne's death, his son, Isaac Wayne, decided to move his father's body to the family's burial plot at St. David's Church in Radnor, Pa. at the request of Anthony's daughter, Margaretta Wayne Atlee. |
|
|
Anthony's Death |
|
|
Isaac Wayne drove over the mountains to Erie, Pa., in a one-horse sulky to claim his father's body. Isaac Wayne enlisted the help of Dr. J.G. Wallace, who had been with Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Wayne's body was remarkably preserved even after 13 years. There was little decay except in the lower portion of one leg. The men decided it was impractical to reduce the body to small packages that would fit into the back of the sulky. With Isaac Wayne's permission, Wallace dissected the body and boiled the parts in a large iron kettle to render the flesh from the bones. Isaac Wayne took the cleaned skeleton back home in the sulky. The rendered flesh and the knives used in the operation were replaced in the original coffin and re-interred in the old grave. Had he not died in 1796 at the age of 51 he might easily have become the president in 1796! His popularity is shown by the many Cities, counties, places and people named after him to this day!
|
|
