Week 11: Indigenous and Colonial Relationships, Effects of Colonialism Part 3
American Colonial Relations
The American Revolution
Excerpt from David D Plain, From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga, Trafford Publishing 2013 pp 157-159.
The “Town Destroyer”
In 1778 the British send 200 of Colonel John Butler’s Rangers
into the Wyoming Valley to evict 6,000 illegal immigrants who
were squatting on “Indian lands”. They had with them 300
of their First Nation allies mostly members of the Three Fires
Confederacy. The Wyoming valley was situated in the middle of
the Seneca’s best hunting grounds and land never ceded by them.
Most of the forts the illegals had built were quickly abandoned
and the inhabitants fled. Fort Forty was the lone exception. When
the warriors feigned a withdrawal the colonials foolishly poured
out of their fort and into an ambush. This resulted in the killing
of 227 of them.
The Revolutionary government turned to propaganda releasing
a series of outlandish stories of the “massacre”. One such story read
that it was a “mere marauding, a cruel and murderous invasion
of a peaceful settlement . . . the inhabitants, men women and
children were indiscriminately butchered by the 1,100 men, 900 of
them being their Indian allies”. In truth there were only 500 men,
300 of them being their First Nation allies. And according to an
exhaustive study done by Egerton Ryerson only rebel soldiers were
killed and the misinformation put out by the Congress Party was
totally exaggerated and highly inflammatory.
Colonial propaganda was designed to inflame hatred among
the populace toward the British’s First Nation allies. However, it
had the effect of inflaming hatred toward all First Nation’s people
due to the decades of violence along the frontier over land. The
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frontiersmen were convinced they had the right to push ever
westward while harboring in their hearts the axiom “the only good
Indian is a dead Indian”.
General Washington bought into his own government’s
propaganda releases. In 1779 he decided to act. The Six Nation
Iroquois League was divided on where their loyalties lay. Only
the Oneida and Onondaga backed the rebel cause and even their
loyalties were split. Washington charged General John Sullivan
with a war of extermination against the Iroquois. Sullivan headed
into Iroquois territory with an army of 6,500 men. His war of
extermination was a failure but he did destroy forty Seneca and
Cayuga towns along with burning all their crops. Although it is
true that atrocities were committed by both sides those committed
by the rebels were mostly forgotten. During this campaign the
Iroquois dead were scalped and in one instance one was skinned
from the waist down to make a pair of leggings!
The famished Iroquois fled to Niagara where they basically
sat out the rest of the war. With their crops destroyed the British
supplied them with the necessities putting a tremendous strain on
their war effort. This expedition earned George Washington the
infamous nickname of “Town Destroyer”. Now not only was any
hope gone of assistance from the Shawnee but also the Iroquois.
Meanwhile, in Illinois country George Rogers Clark was
determined to retake Fort Sackville at Vincennes. He had captured
it the year before only to lose it to Colonel Hamilton who had
marched immediately from Detroit. He left Kaskaskia on February
5th marching his 170 militiamen across flooded plains and waist
deep, freezing water. When he arrived at Vincennes he used the
old dodge of marching his men across a small patch of tableland
visible to the fort. He repeatedly marched them across this plateau
giving the enemy the impression that he had many more men
than he actually had. The history books claim that this had such
an alarming affect on the First Nations at the fort that they were
“scared off” by the ruse and the fort fell immediately.
It is true that the British were abandoned by their First Nation
allies. They were members of the Three Fires Confederacy. It is
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 159
not true that they were “scared off”. Of the 170 militiamen with
Clark some were Frenchmen from New Orleans. The French,
like some of the First Nations, were also split in their allegiances.
Captain Alexander McKee wrote to Captain R.B. Lernoult
quite worried about news he had received regarding Three Fires
support. In the letter he wrote that the Ottawa and Chippewa
had sent a belt of peace to other surrounding nations saying they
had been deceived by the British and the Six Nations into taking
up the hatchet against the rebels. If they remained with the
hatchet in their hands they would be forced to use it against their
brothers the French. They reported seeing them coming with
Clark and his Virginians and therefore withdrew as they still had
great affection for the French. Old loyalties die hard. They were
determined now to lay down the hatchet and remain quiet thus
leaving the whites to fight among themselves. They were advising
their brothers the Shawnee to do the same and that the tribes of
the Wabash were also of like mind. This was not good news for
the British.
The withdrawal of support from the Three Fires Confederacy
and the sidelining of the Six Nations Iroquois that year left the
British with only support from the Miami, Shawnee and some of
the Delaware. There would be more atrocities to follow but still
it would be another three years before the British would see any
Three Fires’ support.
Gnadenhutten Massacre 1782
Excerpt from David D Plain, From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga, Trafford Publishing 2013 pp159-162.
Massacre at Gnadenhutten
Hatred toward First Nations people by the rebels continued
to be the norm among the general populace. Most, especially
frontiersmen, failed to distinguish between their First Nation
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allies, their First Nation enemies and the First Nation communities
that were neutral and wanting only to sit out the war in peace.
In the spring of 1782 the Moravian Delaware were living near
their town of Gnadenhutten on the Muskingum River. They had
been long converted to Christianity by the Moravian missionaries
and had taken up western societies’ ways. They were farmers. They
wore European dress and had their hair cropped in European
style. They lived in houses rather than lodges. They worshipped
in a Christian church on Sundays. Their community functioned
under the auspices of their Moravian mentors.
The Muskingum had become a dangerous war zone. They
realized the danger was particularly heightened for them being
“Indians”. They had determined to abandon their farms and move
the whole community further west to seek safe haven among the
Wyandotte of Sandusky as many of their Delaware brothers who
were not Christian had done already.
Before they could leave they were approached by Colonel
David Williamson and 160 of his Colonial Militia. They
claimed to be on a peaceful mission to provide protection and
to remove them to Fort Pitt where they could sit out the war in
peace. The leaders of the Gnadenhutten community encouraged
their farmers to come in from the fields around Salem and take
advantage of the colonel’s good offer. When they arrived all were
relieved of their guns and knives but told they would be returned
at Fort Pitt.
As soon as they were defenseless they were all arrested and
charged with being “murders, enemies and thieves” because
they had in their possession dishes, tea cups, silverware and
all the implements normally used by pioneers. Claims that the
missionaries had purchased the items for them went unheeded.
They were bound and imprisoned at Gnadenhutten where they
spend the night in Christian prayer. The next day the militia
massacred 29 men, 27 women and 34 children all bound and
defenceless. Even pleas in excellent English on bended knees failed
to save them. Two escaped by pretending to be dead and fled to
Detroit where the stories of the rebels’ atrocities were told.
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 161
The Virginians decided to continue the massacre at
Gnadenhutten with a campaign of genocide. The plan was to
take the Wyandotte and their allies at Sandusky by surprise and
annihilate all of the inhabitants. They gathered a force of 478 men
at Mingo Bottoms on the west side of the Ohio River. General
Irvine, who had abhorred Williamson’s actions at Gnadenhutten,
deferred command of the expeditionary force to Colonel William
Crawford.
The force left Mingo Bottoms on May 25th avoiding the main
trail by making a series of forced marches through the wilderness.
On the third day they observed two First Nation scouts and
chased them off. These were the only warriors they saw on their 10
day march. Just before they crossed the Little Sandusky River they
came unwittingly close to the Delaware chief Wingenud’s camp.
Finally Crawford arrived at the Wyandotte’s main village
near the mouth of the Sandusky River. He assumed his covert
operation had been a success and they had arrived at their objective
undetected. But he was dead wrong. His Virginia Militia had
been closely shadowed by First Nation scouts and reports of their
progress had been forwarded to the chiefs.
War belts were sent out to neighboring Delaware, Shawnee
and other Wyandotte towns and their warriors had gathered at the
Half King Pomoacan’s town. Alexander McKee was also on his
way with 140 Shawnee warriors.
An urgent call for help had been sent to the British
commandant Major Arent S. De Peyster at Detroit. He responded
by sending Captain William Caldwell with 70 of his rangers. One
hundred and fifty Detroit Wyandotte joined Caldwell along with
44 “lake Indians”. Caldwell complained to De Peyster “The lake
Indians were very tardy but they did have 44 of them in action”.
These “lake Indians” were Chippewa warriors from
Aamjiwnaang at the foot of Lake Huron. The Aamjiwnaang
Chippewa were members of the Three Fires Confederacy and
were at Vincennes when they withdrew support from the British
in 1779. The fact that they only raised 44 warriors attests to the
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lack of their war chiefs’ support. They were probably young men
incensed by the stories of Gnadenhutten and acting on their own.
Crawford was dumbfounded when he arrived at the Wyandotte
village and found it deserted. He and his officers held council and
decided to move up river hoping to still take the Wyandotte by
surprise. They didn’t get far when they were met by the warriors
from Pomoacan’s town. They were held in check until McKee and
Caldwell arrived. The battle lasted from June 4th to the 6th and
resulted in a complete First Nation’s victory. The rebel’s expedition
to annihilate the Wyandotte ended in disaster for the Virginians.
It cost them 250 dead or wounded. Caldwell’s Rangers suffered
two killed and two wounded while the First Nations had four
killed and eight wounded.
Colonel Williamson was able to lead the rebel survivors back
to safety but Colonel Crawford was captured along with some of
the perpetrators of the Gnadenhutten massacre. They were taken
to one of the Delaware towns where they were tried and sentenced
to death. Their punishment for Gnadenhutten atrocities was not
an easy one.
Viewing Assignment 1
View the film The Moravian Massacre: http://turtlegang.nyc/gnadenhutten-massacre/ last viewed February 6, 2022.
Indian War of 1790-95
Excerpt from David D Plain, From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga, Trafford Publishing 2013 pp 166-181.
The Indian War of 1790-95
Little Turtle’s War
United States’ Indian policy grew out of the idea that
because First Nations fought on the side of the British during
the Revolutionary War they lost the right of ownership to their
lands when Britain ceded all territory east of the Mississippi.
First Nations were told that the United States now owned their
territories and they could expel them if they wished to do so. This
right of land entitlement by reason of conquest stemmed from
their victory over the British and the hatred of “Indians” which
had been seething for decades. They needed First Nation’s lands
northwest of the Ohio River to sell to settlers in order to raise
much-needed revenue. But the impoverished new nation could not
back up their new policy. So they took a different tact.
In March of 1785 Henry Knox was appointed Secretary of War
and he began to institute a new policy. He proposed to Congress
that there were two solutions in dealing with the First Nations.
The first was to raise an army sufficient to extirpate them.
However, he reported to Washington and Congress that they
didn’t have the money to fund such a project. The estimated
population of the First Nations east of the Mississippi and south of
the Great Lakes was 76,000. The Miami War Chief Little Turtle’s
new “Confederation of Tribes” was quickly gaining numbers and
strength and they were determined to stop American advancement
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 167
at the Ohio. To try to beat them into submission not only seemed
infeasible but immoral. He argued it was unethical for one people
to gain by doing harm to other people and this could only harm
America’s reputation internationally.
The second solution, which he favored, was to return to
the pre-revolutionary policy of purchasing First Nation Lands
through the cession treaty process. In order to sell this idea to
Washington and Congress he pointed out that the First Nations
tenaciously held on to their territories and normally would not
part with them for any reason. This was because being hunting
societies the game on their lands supported their population. But,
as proven in the past, time and again, when too many settlers
moved into their territories game became scarce. Because the
land was overrun by whites and ruined as a hunting territory
they would always consider selling their territory and move their
population further west.
In 1785 an Ordinance was passed by Congress dividing
the territory north and west of the Ohio River into states to be
governed as a territory. In 1787 this Ordinance was improved upon
by passing the Northwest Ordinance appointing Major General
Arthur St. Clair governor of the new territory. The new Ordinance
covered a huge tract of land encompassing the present-day states
of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. Land would
now be purchased and hostilities would cease unless “Indian”
aggression were to provoke a “just war”. America was determined
to expand westward as its very existence depended upon it. Clearly
there would be “just wars”.
The first of these cession treaties was signed at Fort Harmar
in 1789. This small cession did little to change the minds of the
First Nations Confederacy. Hostilities continued provoking the
first of the “just wars”. In 1790 President Washington authorized
St. Clair to raise troops to punish Little Turtle’s Confederacy of
Miami, Shawnee, Ottawa, Potawatomi and Ojibwa nations. He
raised an army of 1,200 militia and 320 regulars and set out from
Fort Washington, Cincinnati, under the command of Brigadier
General Josiah Harmar.
168 David D Plain
Little Turtle retreated before Harmar’s lumbering army. He
led Harmar deep into enemy territory where he had set a trap in
the Maumee River valley near present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Harmar’s army was strung out in one long column. The trap was
sprung and Little Turtle attacked Harmar’s flank killing 183 and
wounding 31. Panic set in. Harmar retreated in disarray. Little
Turtle pursued intent on wiping out the American army. However,
an eclipse of the moon the next night was interpreted as a bad
omen so the pursuit was called off.
General Harmar claimed a victory but had to face a board of
inquiry. The defeat was whitewashed but Harmar was replaced by
General St. Clair who was a hero of the Revolutionary War. Little
Turtle’s stunning success bolstered the ranks of the Confederacy.
In 1791 St. Clair raised another army of 1,400 militia and 600
regulars. He marched them out of Fort Washington and took up a
position on high ground overlooking the Wabash River.
Little Turtle and his war council decided to take the
Americans head on. Not their usual tactic it took St. Clair by
surprise. Confederacy warriors scattered the Kentucky Militia.
Other militiamen shooting wildly killed or wounded some of
their own men. Bayonet charges were mowed down by fire from
the surrounding woodlands. St. Clair tried to rally his troops but
could not. With General Richard Butler, his commanding officer,
wounded on the battlefield he ordered a retreat. It was no orderly
one. Most flung their rifles aside and fled in a panic.
The American army was completely destroyed. Suffering
nearly 1,000 casualties it would be the worst defeat ever suffered
by the United States at the hands of the First Nations. Washington
was livid. He angrily cursed St. Clair for being “worse than
a murderer” and the defeat on the Wabash became known as
St. Clair’s Shame. On the other hand First Nations’ hopes and
confidence soared.
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 169
Congress at the Glaize
St. Clair’s Shame left the fledgling new nation in a precarious
position. The First Nations had just destroyed the only army
the United States had. President Washington put Major General
Anthony Wayne in charge of building a new one and Congress
appropriated one million dollars toward the project.
Wayne’s nickname was “Mad Anthony” which he earned
during the Revolution, but there was nothing “mad” about the
man. He was methodical and extremely determined. Wayne set
out to build the new army at Pittsburgh. It would be an army well-trained,
disciplined and large enough to take care of the “Indian
problem”. And he would be sure to take enough time to ensure a
successful campaign.
He began recruiting in June of 1792. His goal was an army of
5,120 officers, NCOs and privates whipped into the crack troops
needed to defeat a formidable enemy. By the end of 1792 he had
moved twenty-two miles south of Pittsburgh to Legionville where
he wintered. In the spring of 1793 he moved to Hobson’s Choice
on the Ohio River between Cincinnati and Mill Creek. Finally, in
October of 1793 he made his headquarters near Fort Hamilton.
Wayne received new recruits daily all the time relentlessly
drilling them into the army he knew he needed. But all did not
go well with the project. Desertion rates were extremely high.
The First Nation’s stunning successes on the Wabash and in
the Maumee Valley had instilled terror in the hearts of ordinary
pioneers and moving further toward “Indian Country” only
heightened their fear. Many new recruits would desert at the first
sign of trouble.
The problem had become so chronic that Wayne posted a
reward for the capture and return of any deserter. After a court-martial
the guilty would be severely punished usually by 100
lashes or sometimes even executed. An entry in the Orderly Book
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Mss. dated August 9, 1792 reads, “Deserters have become very
prevalent among our troops, at this place, particularly upon the
least appearance, or rather apprehension of danger, that some
men (for they are unworthy of the name of soldiers), have lost
every sense of honor and duty as to desert their post as sentries, by
which treacherous, base and cowardly conduct, the lives and safety
of their brave companions and worthy citizens were committed to
savage fury.”
Meanwhile, warriors from other First Nations joined the
confederacy Little Turtle and Blue Jacket had forged. In October
1792 the Shawnee hosted a congress held at the Glaize, where
the Auglaize River flows into the Maumee. Delegates from the
nations whose territories were being defended attended. These
were Wyandotte from Sandusky, Delaware, Shawnee, Mingo,
Miami, Munsee, Cherokee and Nanticoke. Also attending were
other First Nations from further away but all offering support for
the war effort. Some of these were Fox and Sauk from the upper
Mississippi, Six Nations and Mohican from New York, Iroquois
from the St. Lawrence and Wyandotte from Detroit. There were
also many warriors from the Three Fires Confederacy. They
were Ottawa, Potawatomi and Chippewa from Detroit as well
as Chippewa from Aamjiwnaang and Saginaw. There were even
some Chippewa from Michilimackinac. This was the largest First
Nation congress every brought together by First Nations alone.
Even though the United States had suffered two humiliating
defeats at the hands of the First Nation Confederacy they still
had little respect. Henry Knox characterized them as Miami and
Wabash Indians together with “a banditti, formed of Shawanese
and outcast Cherokees”. However, because their military was
in shambles and they had a deficiency in revenue peaceful
negotiations were preferable to another war.
Washington at first sent delegates to the Glaize from their First
Nation allies with offers to negotiate. There were still some groups
of individual First Nations friendly with the Americans despite the
treatment received. The delegation of “U.S. Indians” arrived and
the celebrated Seneca orator Red Jacket spoke for the U.S.
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 171
Red Jacket rose to speak to the nearly one thousand conferees.
He spoke on two strings of wampum bringing the American
message that even though they defeated the mighty British and
now all Indian territories belonged to them by right of conquest
they may be willing to compromise. They offered to consider
accepting the Muskingum River as the new boundary between
the United States and “Indian Country”. But the Confederacy
saw no need to compromise. After all they had defeated American
armies not once but twice in the last two years. They insisted
the boundary agreed to in the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768 be
adhered to. That boundary was the Ohio and they would accept
no other.
The Shawnee chief Painted Pole reminded Red Jacket that
while his Seneca group was in Philadelphia cozying up to the
Americans the Confederacy was busy defending their lands. Now
he was at the Glaize doing the Americans dirty work. He accused
Red Jacket of trying to divide the Confederacy and demanded that
Red Jacket speak from his heart and not from his mouth. Painted
Pole then took the wampum strings that Red Jacket had spoken
on and threw them at the Seneca delegation’s feet. Red Jacket was
sent back to the Americans with the Confederacy’s answer, “there
would be no new boundary line”.
There was a tell-tale sign at that conference that Red Jacket’s
task would be difficult if not impossible. In normal negotiations
the civil chiefs would sit in the front with the War Chiefs and
warriors behind them. In this arrangement it would be the much
easier to deal with Civil Chiefs that would negotiate. But at the
Glaize the War Chiefs sat in front of the Civil Chiefs meaning
that Red Jacket would be dealing with the War Chiefs.
The British sat in the wings waiting for the new republic’s
experiment in democracy to fail and hoping at least for an
“Indian boundary state” to be formed. The Spanish at New
Orleans also sat by hoping for this new “Indian State” as it would
serve as a buffer state preventing American expansion into Illinois
country. The British even had observers at the Great Congress at
the Glaize in the person of Indian Agent Alexander McKee and
172 David D Plain
some of his men. Hendrick Aupaumut, a Mohican with Red
Jacket’s emissaries, accused McKee of unduly influencing the
conference’s outcome. But the Americans were not about to be
deterred so easily.
Peace Negotiations
The year following Red Jacket’s failed negotiations President
Washington appointed three Commissioners to try to negotiate
a peace with the First Nations Confederacy. Benjamin Lincoln,
Timothy Pickering and Beverly Randolph left Philadelphia
travelling north to Niagara. John Graves Simcoe, Lieutenant-
Governor of Upper Canada, afforded them British hospitalities
while they waited for word on a council with the First Nation
chiefs. They hoped to meet with the Confederacy at Sandusky
that spring.
The Americans thought the British would be useful as an
intermediary, but the British’s interests were really making sure
the Confederacy didn’t fall apart and long-term that an “Indian
barrier state” would be formed. The United States also had
ulterior motives. Although they would accept a peace as long as
it was on their terms they would be just as happy with failure
to use as an excuse for their “just war”. Simcoe had assessed the
situation correctly when he wrote in his correspondence “It
appears to me that there is little probability of effecting a Peace
and I am inclined to believe that the Commissioners do not
expect it; that General Wayne does not expect it; and that the
Mission of the Commissioners is in general contemplated by the
People of the United States as necessary to adjust the ceremonial
of the destruction and pre-determined extirpation of the Indian
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 173
Americans”. While all this was going on Wayne advanced his army
to Fort Washington.
Meanwhile Washington asked the Mohawk chief Joseph
Brant to travel to the Miami River where the Confederacy was
in council. He was to try to persuade the Chiefs to meet the
Commissioners at Sandusky. He was partially successful in that
they sent a delegation of fifty to Niagara to speak to the American
Commissioners in front of Simcoe.
The delegation demanded the Commissioners inform them
of General Wayne’s movements and they also wanted to know
if they were empowered to fix a permanent boundary line. The
Commissioners must have answered satisfactorily because the
delegation agreed that the Chiefs would meet them in council at
Sandusky.
The Commissioners travelled with a British escort along
the north shoreline of Lake Erie stopping just south of Detroit.
Fort Detroit had yet to be handed over to the Americans and
Simcoe refused to let them enter the fort so they were put up at
the house of Mathew Elliott an Irishman who had been trading
with the Shawnee for many years. While they were there another
delegation arrived from the Miami. The Chiefs had felt that the
first delegation had not spoken forcefully enough regarding their
demands that the original boundary line of the Ohio River was
to be adhered to and that any white squatters be removed to south
of the Ohio. They also wanted to know why, if the United States
was interested in peace, Wayne’s army was advancing? No answer
was forthcoming. However, the Commissioners did inform this
delegation that they were only authorized to offer compensation
for lands and it was the United States’ position that those lands
were already treated away. Besides, the United States felt that
it would be impossible to remove any white settlers as they had
been established there for many years. The delegation returned to
the Miami with the Commissioners’ response which was totally
unacceptable to the Chiefs.
A council was held at the foot of the Maumee rapids where
Alexander McKee kept a storehouse. Both McKee and Elliott
174 David D Plain
were there as British Indian Agents. Joseph Brant suggested they
compromise by offering the Muskingum River as a new boundary
line. The Chiefs were in no mood to compromise having just
defeated the American Army not once but twice. Brant accused
McKee of unduly influencing the Chiefs’ position. The Delaware
chief Buckongahlas indicated that Brant was right. With the
Confederacy unwilling to compromise and the United States,
backed by Wayne’s army, standing firm things appeared to be at
an impasse. The Chiefs crafted a new proposal. A third delegation
carried it to the Commissioners on the Detroit.
The First Nations said money was of no value to them.
Besides, they could never consider selling lands that provided
sustenance to their families. Since there could be no peace as long
as white squatters were living on their lands they proposed the
following solution:
We know that these settlers are poor, or they would
never have ventured to live in a country that has been
in continual trouble ever since they crossed the Ohio.
Divide, therefore, this large sum which you have offered
us, among these people; give to each, also, a proportion
of what you say you would give to us annually, over
and above this very large sum of money, and we are
persuaded they would most readily accept of it, in lieu
of that lands you sold them. If you add, also, the great
sums you must expend in raising and paying armies
with a view to force us to yield you our country, you
will certainly have more than sufficient for the purposes
of repaying these settlers for all their labours and their
improvements. You have talked to us about concessions.
It appears strange that you expect any from us, who
have only been defending our just rights against your
invasions. We want peace. Restore to us our country
and we shall be enemies no longer.
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 175
The delegation also reminded the Commissioners that their
only demand was “the peaceable possession of a small part of
our once great country”. They could retreat no further since the
country behind them could only provide enough food for its
inhabitants so they were forced to stay and leave their bones in the
small space to which they were now confined.
The Commissioners packed up their bags and left. There
would be no council at Sandusky. They returned to Philadelphia
and reported to the Secretary of War, “The Indians refuse to make
peace.” Wayne’s invasion would be “just and lawful.”
Meanwhile, at the Maumee Rapids a War Feast was given and
the War Song sung encouraging all the young warriors to come
in defense of their country. “The whole white race is a monster
who is always hungry and what he eats is land” declared Shawnee
warrior Chicksika. Their English father would assist them and
they pointed to Alexander McKee.
The Battle of Fallen Timbers
While the United States was busy trying to relieve the First
Nations of their lands peacefully and on their terms General
Wayne was busy preparing for their “just” war. He moved steadily
west establishing Forts Washington and Recovery along the way.
They would serve his supply lines during the upcoming battles.
In October 1793 he reached the southwest branch of the Great
Miami River where he camped for the winter. The Confederacy
made two successful raids on his supply lines that autumn then
returned to the Glaize for the winter.
Meanwhile, Britain had gone to war with France in Europe.
Sir Guy Carleton, Canada’s new Governor, was sure that the
176 David D Plain
United States would side with France and this would mean war in
North America. He met with a delegation from the Confederacy
in Quebec and reiterated his feelings on a coming war with the
Americans. He informed them that the boundary line “must be
drawn by the Warriors.” He then ordered Fort Miami to be re-established
on the Maumee River just north of the Glaize as well
as strengthening fortifications on a small island at its mouth.
Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe visited the Glaize in April 1794
and informed the council that Britain would soon be at war with
the United States and they would reassert jurisdiction over lands
south of the Great Lakes and tear up the Treaty of Fort Harmer.
Several years before the Americans talked some minor chiefs and
other warriors into signing that treaty turning all lands formerly
held by the British over to the United States of America for a
paltry $ 9,000 and no mention of an “Indian” border. Meanwhile,
Indian Agents McKee and Elliott encouraged their Shawnee
relatives with the likelihood of British military support. All of this
was very encouraging indeed.
General Wayne had his army of well-trained and disciplined
men. They numbered 3,500 including 1,500 Kentucky
Militiamen. This army was not the lax group of regulars and
volunteers the Confederacy had defeated at the Wabash and
Maumee Valley. Neither was the Confederacy the same fighting
force of three years earlier. Many warriors had left to return to
their homelands in order to provide for their families.
The American Army left their winter quarters and moved
toward the Glaize. Little Turtle saw the handwriting on the wall.
He advised the council “do not engage ‘the General that never
sleeps’ but instead sue for peace”, but the young men would have
none of it. When he could not convince them he abdicated his
leadership to the Shawnee War Chief Blue Jacket and retired.
Blue Jacket moved to cut Wayne’s supply lines. He had a
force of 1,200 warriors when he neared Fort Recovery which was
poorly defended. Half of his warriors were from the Three Fires
Confederacy and they wanted to attack and destroy the fort for
psychological reasons in order to give another defeat for Wayne
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 177
to think about. But Blue Jacket was against this plan. The day
was wasted taking pot shots at the fort and they never cut off
Wayne’s supply line. Blue Jacket’s warriors returned to the Glaize
deeply divided.
In the first week of August an American deserter arrived at the
Glaize and informed Blue Jacket of Wayne’s near arrival. He had
moved more quickly than anticipated and had caught them off
guard. Many the Confederacy’s 1,500 warriors were off hunting
to supplement their food supply. Others were at Fort Miami
picking up supplies of food and ammunition. Blue Jacket ordered
the villages at the Glaize to evacuate. Approximately 500 warriors
gathered up-river to make a defense at a place known as Fallen
Timbers. It was an area where a recent tornado had knocked down
a great number of trees.
Out-numbered six to one the warriors fought bravely. They
established a line of defence and when they were overcome by
the disciplined advance of American bayonets they retreated only
to establish a new line. This happened over and over until they
reached the closed gates of Fort Miami where they received the
shock of their lives!
The fort was commanded by Major William Campbell and he
only had a small garrison under his charge. He was duty bound
to protect the fort if it was attacked but not to assist the King’s
allies. If he opened the gates to the pleading warriors he risked not
only his own life but the lives of the soldiers under him. Not only
that but there would be a good chance of plunging England into a
war with the United States, a war they could not afford being fully
extended in Europe. He made his decision quickly. He peered over
the stockade at the frantic warriors and said “I cannot let you in!
You are painted too much my children!” They had no choice but
to flee down the Maumee in full retreat.
It was not the defeat at Fallen Timbers that broke the
confederacy. They could always regroup to fight another day.
It was instead the utter betrayal of their father the British they
did not know how to get over. It also established the United
States as a bona fide nation because it defeated Britain’s most
178 David D Plain
important ally along the frontier. One chronicler wrote that
it was the most important battle ever won by the United States
because it was the war with the First Nations’ Confederacy that
would make or break the fledging nation. It also showed just how
trustworthy the British could be as an ally. Years later Blue Jacket
would complain “It was then that we saw that the British dealt
treacherously with us”…
A Peace Treaty with Washington
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 179
…the First Nations Confederacy under Blue
Jacket being defeated by General Anthony Wayne at Fallen
Timbers in 1794. The following year chiefs of the various First
Nations began arriving at Greenville, Ohio to negotiate a peace
treaty with the United States. That summer over 1,000 First
Nations people gathered around Fort Greenville. These included
chiefs from the Wyandotte, Delaware, Shawnee, Ottawa,
Chippewa, Potawatomi, Miami and Kickapoo.
This treaty was primarily a peace treaty between George
Washington, President of the United States, and chiefs representing
the above mentioned First Nations. My great-great grandfather
signed as one of the seven War Chiefs of the Chippewa. But not
all former combatants were represented. Among those missing
and vehemently against the peace were Shawnee chiefs Tecumseh
and Kekewepellethe. Rather than deal the Americans Tecumseh
with his followers migrated first to Deer Creek, then to the upper
Miami valley and then to eastern Indiana.
Land cessions were also included as part of the terms for
peace. Article 3 dealt with a new boundary line ‘between the
lands of the United States and the lands of the said Indian tribes’.
This effectively ceded all of eastern and southern present day
Ohio and set the stage for future land grabs. Included in the
United States’ ‘relinquishment’ of all ‘Indian lands northward of
the River Ohio, eastward of the Mississippi, and westward and
southward of the Great Lakes’ were cessations of sixteen other
tracks of land, several miles square, located either were U.S. forts
were already established or where they wished to build towns.
However, the term “lands of the said Indian tribes” had vastly
different meanings to the two sides.
The First Nations wanted their own sovereign country but the
United States dispelled any thought along these lines with Article
- It defined relinquishment as meaning “The Indian tribes that
have a right to those lands, are to enjoy them quietly . . . but when
those tribes . . . shall be disposed to sell their lands . . . they are
to be sold only to the United States”. In other words we had no
180 David D Plain
sovereign country but only the right to use lands already belonging
to the United States of America!
The Chippewa and Ottawa also ceded from their territories
a strip of land along the Detroit River from the River Raisin to
Lake St. Clair. It was six miles deep and included Fort Detroit.
The Chippewa also ceded a strip of land on the north shore of the
Straits of Mackinaw including the two islands of Mackinaw and
De Bois Blanc. The stage was now set for further U.S. expansion.
As a footnote the metaphorical language changed at the
conclusion of the peace agreement. First Nations had always
used familial terms when referring to First Nations and
European relationships. First the French and then the British
were always referred to as father. The Americans, since their
beginning, were referred to as brother. This continued through
the negotiations at Greenville until its conclusion at which time
the reference to Americans in the person of Washington changed
from bother to father.
Unfortunately because of a clash of cultures this patriarchal
term held different meanings to each side. To the First Nations
a father was both a friend and a provider. The Wyandotte chief
Tarhe spoke for all the assembly because the Wyandotte were
considered an uncle to both the Delaware and Shawnee and he
was the keeper of the council fire at Brownstown. He told his
‘brother Indians’ that they now acknowledge ‘the fifteen United
States of America to now be our father and . . . you must call
them brothers no more’. As children they were to be ‘obedient
to our father; ever listen to him when he speaks to you, and
follow his advice’. The Potawatomi chief New Corn spoke after
Tarhe and addressed the Americans as both father and friend.
Other chiefs spoke commending themselves to their father’s
protection and asked him for aid. The Chippewa chief Massas
admonished the assembly to ‘rejoice in acquiring a new, and so
good, a father’.
Tarhe eloquently defined a father for the American emissaries:
‘Take care of your little ones and do not suffer them to be imposed
upon. Don’t show favor to one to the injury of any. An impartial
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 181
father equally regards all his children, as well as those who are
ordinary as those who may be more handsome; therefore, should
any of your children come to you crying and in distress, have pity
on them, and relieve their wants.’
Of course American arrogance stopped up their ears and they
could not hear Tarhe’s sage advice. Until this present day they
continue to live out their understanding of the term father as a
stern patriarch and one either to be obeyed or disciplined.
Viewing Assignment 2
View the film The Battle of the Wabash, last viewed February 6, 2022.
Tecumseh’s Vision 1808-13
Excerpt from David D Plain, From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga, Trafford Publishing 2013 pp 192-217, 240-250.
The War of 1812
Disaster at Prophetstown
Tecumseh arrived back at Prophetstown in late January 1812
but there was no warm welcome awaiting him. To his bitter
amazement the Shawnee town at the junction of the Tippecanoe
and Wabash Rivers lay in ruins. When told the details of the
disaster he was furious. He had left specific orders with his brother
not to engage the Big Knives but to appease them at all cost. He
had told Tenskwatawa, the Prophet that the time would come for
war, but not now. It was too early. It is reported that he was so
enraged that he grabbed his brother by the hair, shook him and
threatened to kill him.
The summer of 1811 was one of fear and apprehension all
along the frontier. The summer of unrest was caused by a few
young warriors loyal to Prophetstown but nevertheless hotheads
acting on their own. They had been raiding settler’s farms, stealing
their horses and a few had been killed.
William Henry Harrison, the governor of Indiana, met with
Tecumseh at Vincennes in July. Tecumseh tried to convince him
that the confederacy he was building was not for war but for
peace. He was not successful. They had met in council before
and although they had respect for each other they disagreed
strenuously. The year before their council almost ended violently.
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 193
Winamek, a Potawatomi chief loyal to the Big Knives
suggested the warriors at Vincennes raise a large war party
and attack Prophetstown but Black Hoof convinced him
otherwise. Black Hoof and The Wolf two Shawnee chiefs loyal
to the Americans attended several councils with settlers in Ohio
convincing them that they and their three hundred warriors were
peaceful. Black Hoof took this opportunity to set all the blame for
all the troubles at the foot of Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa.
Meanwhile, in June some of Tecumseh’s entourage were
busy recruiting followers from the Wyandotte of Sandusky. They
encountered some resistance so they handled it by preying on the
Wyandotte’s fear of witchcraft. They accused their opposition
of it and three were burned alive as sorcerers including the old
village chief Leather Lips. American officials called for conferences
with their First Nation allies at Fort Wayne and Brownstown on
the Detroit River. They came from eastern Michigan, Ohio and
Indiana and all denounced the Shawnee brothers. The Shawnee
delegation to Brownstown was led by George Bluejacket and
Tachnedorus or Captain Logan the Mingo chief. Although they
affirmed their loyalty to the Big Knives they took the opportunity
to visit British Agents across the river at Amherstburg.
Harrison was convinced that all the turmoil on the frontier
emanated from Prophetstown. There was more trouble perpetrated
by the young hot head warriors. Three of these warriors believed
to be Potawatomi had stolen horses on the White and Wabash
Rivers terrorizing the settlers there. While Tecumseh was on
his three thousand mile sojourn building the confederacy
Harrison began to assemble a large army at Vincennes. He was
determined to disperse the First Nations who had congregated at
Prophetstown.
Harrison made his plans public telling Black Hoof to keep
his Shawnee followers in Ohio so they would not be connected to
the coming conflict. He also gave the same advice to the Miami
and Eel River Wea but his words did not sit well with some of the
Miami. Prophetstown was situated across the boundary in Miami
territory and they did not appreciate having their sovereignty
194 David D Plain
impinged upon. Word of the military buildup quickly traveled up
the Wabash to Prophetstown.
Tenskwatawa hurriedly call a council to decide what to
- The decision was made to send a Kickapoo delegation to
Vincennes. Probably led by Pamawatam the war chief of the
Illinois River Kickapoo the delegation was not successful. They
had tried to negotiate that a settlement of the troubles with the
settlers be sorted out in the spring.
The news they returned with was not good. Harrison had
assemble an army of one thousand soldiers and they were about
to march up the Wabash. The only thing that would deter them
was the return of stolen horses and for those who had committed
murders along the frontier to be handed over for punishment.
Harrison also demanded the dispersal of Prophetstown.
The Prophet had to decide whether to comply or fight.
They were not in good shape for a major battle. They needed
the little lead and powder they had to get them through the
upcoming winter. They were outnumbered. The congregation
at Prophetstown consisted of mostly Kickapoo and Winnebago
warriors that had camped there to hear Tenskwatawa preach along
with a sprinkling of Potawatomi, Ottawa, Ojibwa, Piankeshaw,
Wyandotte and Iroquois. There were also a small number of
Shawnee followers that lived there permanently. In total they could
only muster four to five hundred warriors. Tecumseh was right.
The time for a fight with the Big Knives had not yet arrived.
Harrison started the long, lumbering 180 mile journey up
the Wabash on the 29th of October. One third of the army he
commanded were regulars from the 4th Regiment of the U.S.
Infantry. The rest was made up of 400 Indiana Militia, 120
mounted Kentucky volunteers and 80 mounted Indiana riflemen.
Harrison had hoped that his show of American military might
would force Prophetstown to capitulate but he underestimated
First Nations tenacity. The Prophet decided to disregard
Tecumseh’s orders and stand and fight.
Prophetstown scouts monitored Harrison’s progress up the
eastern side of the Wabash while the warriors prepared spiritually
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 195
for the upcoming battle. Tenskwatawa pronounce the Master of
Life was with them and the spirits would assist in the battle by
making them invisible. He prophesied that he had the power to
turn the American’s powder to sand and their bullets to mud.
When Harrison’s army arrived the warriors had worked
themselves into a frenzy. The Americans made camp about a mile
north of Prophetstown on a patch of high ground at Burnett’s
Creek. They sent a delegation to give The Prophet one last chance
to sue for peace but the three chiefs they met with refused the
offer. Harrison planned to attack the next day.
The Prophet and his council of war chiefs determined that
being outnumbered 2 to 1 and low on ammunition the only real
chance for success was to take the fight to Harrison that night.
Before dawn about 4 a.m. on the 7th of November 1811 the
warriors surrounded the American encampment. They could see
the silhouettes of the sentries outlined by their campfires. Harrison
and his officers were just being aroused for morning muster. The
surprise attack began.
The Winnebago led by Waweapakoosa would attack from
one side while Mengoatowa and his Kickapoo would strike from
the other. The warriors crept stealthily into position and just as
they were about to commence the assault an American sentry saw
movement in the underbrush that surrounded the encampment.
He raised his rifle and fired and the battle was on!
Blood curdling shrieks and war whoops filled the air
accompanied by volleys of gunfire from the darkness all around.
The warriors rushed forward and the American line buckled.
Others scrambled to form battle lines. The volleys of musketry
from the warriors were intense and some of the new recruits as
well as the riflemen protecting the far left flank broke for the
center. However, the main line of regulars held and the warriors
were unable to break through. The right flank now came under
a tremendous assault of gunfire from a grove nearby. Officer
after officer, soldier after soldier was felled. The line was about to
collapse when a company of mounted riflemen reinforced it.
196 David D Plain
The warrior’s surprise attack was now in trouble. The
American army was badly mauled but managed to hold.
Ammunition was running low and daylight was breaking. The
war party that had been so successful from the grove were now
uprooted by a company of riflemen and were in retreat. Harrison
turned from defense to offense routing the warriors who were
out of ammunition. They began a full retreat back to an empty
Prophetstown. When they arrived there with ammunition spent
they decided to disperse.
Harrison spent the rest of the 7th and some of the 8th of
November waiting for the warriors to commence a second assault.
When they didn’t he marched to Prophetstown only to find the
town’s inhabitants consisted of one wounded man and one old
woman who had been left behind. They were taken prisoner
but treated well. Harrison burned Prophetstown to the ground
including the granary. It was going to be a long, hard winter.
Harrison and his army limped back to Vincennes where
he would claim a great victory. But his badly mauled forces told
another story. American casualties amounted to 188 including
68 killed. First Nation estimates range from 25 to 40 killed. The
warriors had given a good account of themselves having assailed a
superior force on its chosen ground and inflicting higher casualties
on them.
War Clouds on the Horizon
When the Prophetstown warriors retreated from the battlefield
they carried some of their fallen with them. They quickly buried
them at their town and withdrew to see what Harrison would do
next.
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 197
Although the Americans held their ground during the surprise
attack they were bruised and stunned. Harrison ordered them
to stand at the ready expecting the warriors to mount another
frontal assault. He waited all through November 7th and part way
through the 8th. That attack never came. Little did he know the
warriors had withdrawn due to lack of ammunition.
When the warriors failed to materialize he marched on
Prophetstown burning it to the ground destroying everything
that was there. The warriors watched from afar. They could see
the large billows of black smoke rising from the valley. The next
day their scouts informed them the Big Knives had left so they
returned to see what the enemy had done. They were horrified at
the sight that greeted them. Debased American soldiers had dug
up the fresh graves of their brave fallen warriors. The bodies were
strewn about and left to rot in the sun. They were livid. They reinterned
their dead and left for their hunting grounds short of
enough ammunition to get them through the winter.
Tecumseh’s confederacy had been dealt a serious setback.
Warriors from the several nations that had been at Prophetstown
left viewing the Prophet with disdain. They declared him to be a
false prophet because of the outcome of the battle. Tenskwatawa
claimed the spirits deserted them because his menstruating
wife had defiled the holy ground that he was drumming and
chanting on during the battle. Often a reason such as this would
be accepted for a failed prophecy. But not this time. The nations
from the western Great Lakes that supported Tecumseh and his
vision now rejected the Prophet which left them disenchanted
with Tecumseh’s vision as well. He had a lot of work ahead of him
rebuilding the confederacy.
Harrison was basking in the glory of self-proclaimed total
victory. He confidently claimed the Indians had been dispersed in
total humiliation and this would put an end to their depredations
upon white settlers up and down the frontier. The American
press lionized him and President Madison endorsed the message
in an address to congress on the 18th of December. The “Indian
problem” had been dealt with or so they thought.
198 David D Plain
That congress was bristling with war hawks enraged at Great
Britain mostly for impressing American merchant sailors at sea
into British service in their war with France. They thought that a
declaration of war on Great Britain and an attack on its colony of
Upper Canada would give them an easy victory and the whole of
the continent as a prize. Upper Canada was weakly defended and
Great Britain’s military might was stretched thin as all its resources
were being used in Europe.
In 1808 Congress tripled the number of authorized enlisted
men from 3,068 to 9,311. In 1811 Secretary of War, William
Eustis, asked for 10,000 more regulars. Virginia Democratic
Senator William Branch Giles proposed 25,000 new men.
Democrats for the most part held anti-war sentiments. It was
thought he upped the ante to embarrass the administration
because it was generally thought that 25,000 could not be raised.
However, Federalists William Henry Clay from Kentucky and
Peter B. Porter of New York pushed through a bill enacting
Giles’ augmentation into law on the 11th of January 1812. By
late spring authorized military forces had been further pushed to
overwhelming numbers: 35,925 regulars, 50,000 volunteers and
100,000 militiamen.
When Tecumseh had visited Amherstburg in 1810 he made
the British authorities there aware just how close the First Nations
were to rebellion. Upon realizing this they adjusted their Indian
Policy. Because of their weakened position they did not want to be
drawn into a war with the Americans. So they informed their First
Nation allies that the new policy stated that they would receive
no help from the British if they attacked the United States. If they
were attacked by the U.S. they should withdraw and not retaliate.
Indian Agents were ordered to maintain friendly relations with
First Nations and supply them with necessities but if hostilities
arose then they were to do all in their power to dissuade them
from war. This policy was continued by the new administrators
of Upper Canada. Sir James Craig was replaced as governor-general
by Sir George Prevost and Francis Gore with Isaac Brock
as lieutenant-governor.
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 199
However, all the admonition to encourage peace by the British
and Harrison’s claim that peace on the frontier had already been
achieved by his victory at Tippecanoe was for nought. The British
lacked the necessary influence with the war chiefs and Harrison’s
proclamation was a myth. The Kickapoo and Winnebago suffered
through a particularly hard winter. The snow had been unusually
deep and game was scarce. The Shawnee suffered even more due
to the destruction of their granary. They were forced to survive by
the good charity of their Wyandotte brothers at Sandusky.
When spring arrived they were still seething at the desecration
of their graves at Prophetstown. Tecumseh was travelling
throughout the northwest rebuilding his confederacy. Although he
preached a pan-Indian confederacy to stop American aggression
his message was tempered with a plea to hold back until the time
was right. But the war chiefs had trouble holding back some of
their young warriors.
The melting snows turned into the worst outbreak of violence
the frontier had seen in fifteen years. Thanks to governor
Harrison First Nation warriors were no longer congregated in
one place. Now they were spread out in a wide arc from Fort
Dearborn (Chicago) to Lake Erie. They were striking everywhere
at once. In January the Winnebago attacked the Mississippi lead
mines. In February and March they assaulted Fort Madison
killing five and blockading it for a time. In April they killed two
homesteaders working their fields north of Fort Dearborn. That
same month five more settlers were killed along the Maumee and
Sandusky Rivers with one more on Greenville Creek in what is
now Darke County.
The Kickapoo were just as busy. On the 10th of February a
family by the name of O’Neil was slain at St. Charles (Missouri).
Settlers in Louisiana Territory were in a state of panic. Potawatomi
warriors joined in. April saw several attacks in Ohio and Indiana
Territory. Near Fort Defiance three traders were tomahawked to
death while they slept in their beds while other raids were made
on the White River and Driftwood Creek.
200 David D Plain
On the 11th of April two young warriors named Kichekemit
and Mad Sturgeon led a war party south burning a house just
north of Vincennes. Six members of a family named Hutson along
with their hired hand were killed. Eleven days later it is believed
that the same Potawatomi party raided a homesteader’s farm
on the Embarras River west of Vincennes. All of the Harryman
family including five children lost their lives.
The frontier was ablaze with retribution for Prophetstown and
settlers were leaving the territories in droves. Governor Edwards
complained that by June men available for his militia had fallen
from 2,000 to 1,700. A militia was raised by each of the Northwest
Territories for protection. At times American First Nation allies
were caught in the middle. Two friendly Potawatomi hunters were
killed near Greenville and their horses confiscated. Both Governors
Edwards and Louisiana Governor Benjamin Howard called for a
new campaign against their antagonizers but the Secretary of War
was occupied with the clamoring for war with Great Britain and
its accompanying invasion of Upper Canada.
The raids on settlers stopped as quickly as they started. By
May the warriors committing the atrocities declared their anger
over grave degradation at Prophetstown was spent. Tecumseh’s
coalition had gelled in the Northwest. In the south the Red Sticks
had taken ownership of his vision and had become extremists
acting on their own and not really part of his confederacy. The
stage was now set for a major war. In June of 1812, while General
Hull and his army of 2,000 hacked their way through the
wilderness to Detroit Tecumseh sent a small party of his followers,
mostly Shawnee, to Amherstburg while he traveled south to visit
Fort Wayne.
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 201
The Detroit Theater
Tecumseh arrived at Fort Wayne on June 17, 1812. He met
with the new Indian Agent Benjamin Stickney and stayed three
days discussing their relations with the Americans. He laid the
blame for all the unrest in the spring at the feet of the Potawatomi
and informed Stickney he would travel north to Amherstburg to
preach peace to the Wyandotte, Ottawa, Potawatomi there as well
as the Ojibwa of Michigan. Stickney was new but no fool. He did
not believe him so he told Tecumseh that a visit to Amherstburg
could only be considered an act of war considering the two
colonizers were so close to going to war themselves. Tecumseh left
Fort Wayne on June 21st not knowing that the United States of
America had declared war on Great Britain on June 18, 1812.
Earlier that spring General Hull assembled an army in
Cincinnati. In May he marched them to Dayton where he
added to his forces before continuing on to Urbana. Meanwhile,
Governor Meigs also called for a conference at Urbana with chiefs
friendly to the U.S. The purpose was to secure permission for
Hull to hack a road through First Nations’ land to Fort Detroit.
This new road would also serve as a supply line for the American
invasion force.
Tarhe spoke for the Wyandotte and Black Hoof for the Ohio
Shawnee. Their speeches were followed by harangues by other
chiefs including the Seneca chief Mathame and the Shawnee
Captain Lewis. Captain Lewis had just returned from Washington
and like the others declared their undying fidelity to Americans.
They not only gained permission for the road but permission also
to build blockhouses at strategic places along the way. Captain
Lewis and Logan also agreed to act as interpreters and scouts for
General Hull. The long and arduous trek to Michigan began.
While Hull slowly trudged through the dense forests of Ohio
and Michigan the other governors of the Northwest Territories
202 David D Plain
arranged for another conference at Piqua with friendly First
Nations. One was planned for August 1st and included groups
of Miami, Potawatomi, Ottawa and Wyandotte. The Americans
assumed that when war broke out a few groups might flee to
Canada and join Tecumseh’s forces but the majority would
remain neutral. They were expecting 3,000 First Nations people.
The conference was designed to keep them neutral with the
combination of presents and supplies along with an expectation
that the size of Hull’s forces and its reinforcement of Detroit would
overawe them. But, Hull’s over-extended journey left supplies short
and the presents failed to arrive on schedule so the conference was
postponed to August 15th. Meanwhile British agents spread the
rumor that the conference was a ploy designed to get the warriors
away from their villages where American militia would fall upon
them killing their women and children.
Tecumseh took ten of his warriors and left for Amherstburg on
June 21st. He planned to join the warriors already sent on ahead.
They skirted Hull’s lumbering army arriving at Fort Malden at the
end of the month.
Amherstburg was a small village some seventeen miles south of
the village of Sandwich on the Canadian side of the Detroit River.
Located at the north end of the village was a small, dilapidated
outpost called Fort Malden. It was poorly maintained and under
garrisoned. Although over the previous two months it had been
tripled it still only amounted to 300 regulars from the 41st
Regiment of Foot and one detachment of Royal Artillery. There
were also 600 Essex Militia available but they were insufficiently
armed and most were without uniforms. They were mostly farm
boys from the surrounding homesteads who had no real interest in
fighting but only joined the militia for a Saturday night out.
The infantry was commanded by the able Scot Captain Adam
Muir. Lieutenant Felix Troughton had command of the artillery.
Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Bligh St. George, who had overall
command, stationed 460 militiamen along with a few regulars
directly across the river from Detroit to protect the border. They
settled in at the village of Sandwich to meet the invasion.
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 203
Directly in front of Amherstburg was a large heavily wooded
island called Bois Blanc. There had been Wyandotte and Ottawa
villages there since the founding of Detroit over 100 years earlier.
The island provided a place for the numerous encampments of
other warriors who had begun to gather in the area. A large main
council lodge was erected opposite the island on the mainland
near the village’s small dock yard. The dockyard provided slips
for the three British ships that commanded Lake Erie; the brig
Queen Charlotte, the schooner Lady Prevost and the small ship
General Hunter.
When Tecumseh arrived he found his warriors joining in war
dances with the others. Near the council lodge warriors would
give long harangues detailing their exploits in previous battles
striking the war post with their war clubs and working themselves
into a frenzy. The drums would begin their loud rhythmic
pounding and the dancing warriors would circle their sacred
fire all the while yelling their blood curdling war whoops. The
garrison would respond with cannon salutes. Soldiers would shout
out cheers while they fired their rifles into the air from the rigging
of the three ships.
Although the din of the warrior’s preparation for war was
impressive their numbers were not. They were mostly Wyandotte
from the Canadian side under Roundhead, his brother Splitlog
and Warrow. Tecumseh was present with his thirty Shawnee.
War Chief Main Poc was there with a war party of Potawatomi.
The contingent of warriors also included thirty Menominee, a
few Winnebago and Sioux, sent by the red headed Scottish trader
Robert Dickson from Green Bay. The Munsee Philip Ignatius was
also present with a few from the Goshen mission at Sandusky. The
number was rounded out by a sprinkling of Ottawa, Ojibwa and
Kickapoo. On July 4th a large war party of Sac arrived to bring
the total warrior contingent to 350.
Canada was looking decidedly the underdog. Only 300
British regulars, 600 ill equipped militia and 350 First Nation
warriors protected the Detroit frontier. Hull was approaching with
an army of 2,000 and the Americans were raising another large
204 David D Plain
invasion force in the east to attack at Niagara. And there would be
no help arriving from England because of the war in Europe.
The general population of Upper Canada was a mere
77,000 with many of them recent American immigrants. Their
loyalty was questionable. The population of the U.S. Northwest
Territories was 677,000. The American Congress had approved
a total allotment of over 180,000 fighting men. General Brock
was looking at a war on two fronts with only 1,600 regulars and
11,000 militiamen at his disposal. Tecumseh had sent out many
war belts as a call to arms but the large and powerful Three Fires
Confederacy’s feelings were that they should remain neutral. They
saw no reason to get involved in a war with the Americans that
did not look winnable. Only a few young hotheads such as Ojibwa
warriors Wawanosh, Waboose or The Rabbit, Old Salt and Black
Duck from the St. Clair had joined Tecumseh at Amherstburg.
Canada’s prospects were looking very grim!
Hull Invades Canada!
General Hull finally arrived at Detroit on July 6, 1812. He was
in overall command of his forces while Lieutenant-Colonel James
Miller commanded the veterans of Tippecanoe, the 4th Regiment
of United States Infantry. Also with him was the 1,200 strong
Ohio Militia under Lewis Cass, Duncan McArthur and James
Findlay. The Michigan Militia joined him there raising his total
force to over 2,000 fighting men.
This impressive show of American strength had the Canadian
side of the Detroit in a panic. Canadian militiamen began
deserting in droves. Their rolls quickly dropped from 600 to
less than 400. Townspeople began to flee inland taking what
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 205
they could with them. Some communities such as Delaware sent
overtures to Hull on their own. Canadian civilians were not the
only citizens to be apprehensive about the prospects of war in
their own environs. Six months earlier the settlers of Michigan
Territory sent a memorial to Congress pleading for protection from
perceived threats from the surrounding First Nations. In it they
claimed it was not the British army they feared, however they did
not trust them for protection against attacks by “the savages”.
The invasion came on July 12th. American troops crossed
the Detroit and occupied Sandwich. The few British regulars and
what was left of the Essex Militia defending the border quickly
scrambled back to Fort Malden. On the 13th Hull crossed over
to make his proclamation to the Canadians. He entered Canada
presenting himself as a glorious liberator. All citizens who
remained neutral would be treated kindly and their property
respected. However, anyone found to be fighting beside and
“Indian” would receive no quarter but “instant destruction would
be his lot”.
In an area of wetlands and tall grass prairie laid the only
defensible position between Amherstburg and Sandwich. About
five miles north of Fort Malden a fairly wide, slow moving stream
meandered toward the Detroit. There was a single bridge which
crossed the Aux Canard connecting the only road between the two
villages. On July 16th it was protected by a few regulars with two
pieces of artillery and about fifty warriors.
Suddenly, Lewis Cass and his Militia along with a few
American regulars appeared at the bridge. Cass positioned a few
marksmen on the north side of the river while he took the rest of
his 280 men upstream to find a ford to cross over. Meanwhile,
his riflemen picked off two British soldiers killing one. When he
arrived back at the bridge on the south side of the Aux Canard
he overwhelmed the warriors and their British counterparts. Shots
were fired by both sides but there were few casualties. The warriors
and their contingent of British regulars wheeled their artillery away
and retreated back to Malden.
206 David D Plain
The Americans had tasted their first real military success at
the Aux Canard as Sandwich was given up without a fight. But
this victory was short lived. That night the warriors preformed
a loud, boisterous war dance on Amherstburg’s wharf to prepare
for the expected upcoming battle. The next day Roundhead led
his Wyandotte warriors north up the road to the bridge. Main
Poc followed with his Potawatomi while the rest were under
Tecumseh’s command. To their utter amazement the Americans
had abandoned the bridge and were retreating back up the road
to Sandwich. They retook the bridge and moved the Queen
Charlotte upstream to the mouth of the Aux Canard to provide
cannon cover. While the soldiers ripped up the bridge except for a
few planks and built a rampart on the south side of the stream the
warriors hounded the Americans with wasp like sorties until they
withdrew from Canada to the safety of Fort Detroit.
General Hull was a much older soldier that he had been in
the American Revolution Then he had been daring and far more
decisive. He had grown much more cautious and vacillating in
his old age. Not only was he indecisive but he had developed an
extraordinary fear of native warfare. In fact the warriors terrified
him. It was him that ordered Cass to retreat much to the chagrin
of his men. Now he sat day after day in war council trying to
determine what to do next. But nothing was ever decided. He
fretted about the security of his supply line from Ohio and he
imagined far more warriors surrounding him than the few that
were at Amherstburg. His men, including his officers, began to
complain bitterly behind his back.
On the day after the American Invasion while Lewis
Cass retreated to Detroit the small American post, Fort
Michilimackinac, at the head of Lake Huron fell. It had come
under attack by the British Captain Charles Roberts who had
393 warriors with him. They included 280 Ojibwa and Ottawa
warriors from Superior country as well as 113 Sioux, Menominee
and Winnebago braves recruited by Robert Dickson from
those who had been loyal to Tecumseh and Main Poc. That
most northerly fort was lightly garrisoned and ill equipped so it
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 207
capitulated without a shot being fired. The warriors were on their
best behavior that day attested to by Mr. Askin Jr. who wrote, “I
never saw a so determined people as the Chippewas and Ottawas
were. Since the capitulation they have not drunk a single drop of
Liquor, nor even Killed a Fowl belonging to any person (a thing
never Known before) for they generally destroy everything they
meet with”.
When Hull received word of the fall of Michilimackinac
it only added to his anxiety. He envisioned hordes of “savages”
descending on Detroit from the north. He sent dispatches back
to Eustis begging for more reinforcements to be sent to provide
protection from the 2,000 war-whooping, painted, feathered
warriors he imagined approaching from the north.
While Hull fretted and vacillated back and forth Duncan
McArthur moved his men back down the dusty road to the Aux
Canard. As he advanced he kept encountering pesky bands of
warriors. The warriors were so determined that they forced the
Americans back. In one skirmish Main Poc was shot in the neck
and had to be helped from the field. He later recovered. In another
skirmish McArthur who was retreating had his men turn and fire
upon the pursuing warriors. A story later sprang up that when the
volley was fired the warriors all hit the ground face first except
one who remained defiantly on his feet. That one was reportedly
Tecumseh!
The Invasion Stalls
Hull worried about his supply line from Ohio. He was also
convinced he was outnumbered by fierce, unrelenting warriors.
Anxious to keep “his friendly Indians” in Michigan Territory
208 David D Plain
neutral he called for an all native conference to renew their pledges
of neutrality. Captain Lewis, Logan and The Wolf acted as scouts
for Hull when he hacked his way through the bogs of northwestern
Ohio and dense forests of Michigan to Detroit. Black Hoof joined
them just after their arrival. Hull assigned them the task of calling
the friendly chiefs to a council at Walk-In-The-Water’s Wyandotte
village near Brownstown. Tecumseh, Roundhead and Main Poc
were invited but declined.
On July 15th Black Hoof spoke to the council of nine nations.
Chiefs from the Ojibwa, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Wyandotte,
Kickapoo, Delaware, Munsee, Sac and Six Nations of the Grand
attended. He brought them a message from the great American
war chief who was at Detroit explaining that the Americans were
obliged to go to War with Great Britain because they would not
permit them to enjoy their neutral rights. Further, it was not of
interest to the First Nations to concern themselves with the two
government’s differences. And because the British were too weak
to contend with them they were enticing all the nations around
to join them in their fight. It was the desire of their Great Father
in Washington that they not do so but remain neutral and enjoy
their peace.
Lewis and Logan followed with reminders of how the British
treated them at the end of the War of Independence and how
they were abandoned at Fallen Timbers. They argued that they
all should let the Red Coats and the Big Knives fight their own
battles and if they did they could be assured their Great Father in
Washington wanted no more of their land and he would always
care for their needs.
The chiefs still believing the British were fighting an
unwinnable war professed their continued neutrality and on July
20th the conference ended. Black Hoof, Logan, Lewis and The
Wolf left immediately for Piqua and the Conference called for on
August 1st.
A week later Major James Denny moved down the Canadian
shore of the Detroit to just short of the Aux Canard. He was at the
head of 120 Ohio Militiamen when they came upon a small party
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 209
of warriors who were out of range. They traded shots to no avail
while the warriors sent for reinforcements. Denny also sent one
of his men back up the road to Sandwich and their main camp.
Unfortunately, he ran into another small war party of thirteen at
Turkey Creek where he was tomahawked. He would be the first
American soldier killed in the war.
Tecumseh and Main Poc rushed from Malden with 150
Shawnee, Ottawa and Potawatomi warriors. They skirted the road
to a tall grass prairie called Petite Cote just beyond the bridge and
set up an ambush. The small war party that killed the militiaman
at Turkey Creek appeared and twenty militiamen gave chase
down the road and past the ambush. The main body of warriors
emerged from the tall sunflowers and wild carrots amid screeching
war hoops and gunfire directed at Denny. He saw that he had a
disaster on his hands. His troops were scattered so he broke with
the main body for a wood lot on his left to set up a defensive line.
The line held but the warriors moved to take possession of the
road to his right. When they saw their only escape route was about
to be cut off and they would be surrounded they panicked. They
rushed for the road, every man for himself, with the warriors hot
on their flank. They managed to reach the road safely but were
in full retreat, running pell-mell back to Sandwich. The warriors
hounded them all the way stopping along fence lines, orchards
and behind homesteads to take pot shots at the fleeing Americans.
They finally broke off the chase at Turkey Creek. Denny lost five
killed, two wounded and one taken prisoner. The warriors lost one
killed and three wounded.
The American captive was treated very badly because one
of his comrades, William McColloch, found time during the
skirmish to scalp the dead warrior. He was bound and whipped
with ramrods but he did live and was ransomed by British Indian
Agent Matthew Elliott.
The warriors now shifted their efforts to the other side of
the Detroit. On August 3rd Tecumseh, Roundhead and Captain
Adam Muir led a large force of warriors along with 100 Red
Coats across the Detroit to Brownstown. They surrounded
210 David D Plain
the towns of Maguaga and Brownstown and rounded up the
inhabitants. Maguaga, Blue Jacket’s town, was inhabited by a mix
of Shawnee and Wyandotte while Walk-In-The-Water’s town were
all Wyandotte. The total population was approximately 300 all
remaining neutral in the war.
The whole population was spirited back across the border
to Bois Blanc Island where a council was held. Tecumseh and
Roundhead pleaded for the Confederacy’s cause. Miere or Walk-
In-The-Water retorted with his intention of keeping his word to
remain neutral. In the end Tecumseh won out convincing the
neutral First Nations to capitulate and join his cause. This added
about eighty warriors to his force.
Two days later Tecumseh left Amherstburg again. This time
he crossed the river with a much smaller force of just twentyfive.
Their scouts made them aware of a mail run making its way
north from Frenchtown with communications from Ohio. They
ambushed the unsuspecting column killing eighteen of the French
volunteers and capturing the mail. Of the seven that made it back
to Frenchtown two were wounded.
Tecumseh’s scouts returned with more news. They had run
across William McColloch, the same man that scalped the dead
warrior at Petite Cote, who was with a scouting party for a mail
run moving south. After learning that Major Thomas Van Horne
was moving down the road from Detroit with 200 militiamen they
killed all of the advance party including McColloch. Van Horne
was intending to meet with the northbound mail to exchange
communications. Tecumseh prepared an ambush at a most suitable
spot and waited.
Van Horne approached with his mail pouches protected in the
center of his column. It was preceded and flanked first by infantry
then mounted militiamen. As they passed the point of ambush the
trap was sprung. Mounted men and officers fell first. The militia
panicked and fled. Over the next two days they straggled into
Fort Detroit in a state of shock. They had lost twenty-five killed
and twelve wounded. Tecumseh lost one dead and two wounded
but captured both north and southbound communications. One
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 211
letter from Hull to Eustis pleading for reinforcements revealed
his belief that there were 2,000 unrepentant warriors about
to descend on Detroit from the north, a most valuable piece of
information indeed.
Hull was fraught with anxiety. His most vulnerable asset
was now breached. His supplies were cut off. He failed to take
the bridge on the Aux Canard or Fort Malden. He seemed to see
Tecumseh’s warriors everywhere. He withdrew his small advance
stationed at Sandwich back to the fort and he sent a dispatch to
Fort Dearborn to abandon their post and retreat either to Fort
Wayne, Detroit or Michilimackinac. Now Hull gave up any
notion of advancing and he assumed a defensive position inside the
fort. The American invasion was over!
The Fall of Detroit
Tecumseh’s confederacy began to grow. Early successes
against the Big Knives bolstered the First Nations around Detroit.
Teyoninhokarawenor or The Snipe whose English name was John
Norton arrived with seventy warriors. He was a Mohawk from the
Grand River. His war party consisted of Iroquois from the Grand
and some Munsee Delaware he had recruited from the Thames.
Miscocomon or Red Knife joined him with a party of Ojibwa
warriors also from the Thames.
The young warriors Kayotang and Yahobance, or Raccoon,
from Bear Creek (Sydenham River) raised a war party and joined
with war chief Waupugais and his party from the Sauble. They
traveled down the eastern shore of Lake Huron to Aamjiwnaang
at the mouth of the St. Clair River. They met Misquahwegezhigk
or Red Sky at the mouth of the Black River. He was the war chief
212 David D Plain
of the Black River band of Saulteaux Ojibwa. They were all joined
by Quakegman also known as Feather a war chief of the St. Clair
band across the river. The whole entourage made its way south
down the St. Clair to the lake of the same name. They picked
up Petahgegeeshig or Between Day as well as Quaquakebookgk
or Revolution with a large group of Ojibwa warriors from the
Swan Creek and Salt River bands. The whole group arrived at
Amherstburg sometime in early August 1812.
Okemos, who was a nephew of Pontiac, was the chief of the
Cedar River band near present day Lansing, Michigan. They
were a mixed band of Ojibwa and Ottawa people. He also arrived
about the same time as the Saulteaux Ojibwa. Manitocorbay also
came leading a large party of Ojibwa from Saginaw. Tecumseh’s
coalition grew to about 600 warriors.
On the 9th of August Captain Adam Muir crossed the Detroit
with just over 100 Red Coats, most of them regulars and started
down the road to Bluejacket’s village of Maguaga. They were
joined by Tecumseh with 300 warriors. Main Poc and Walk-In-
The-Water led the Potawatomi and Wyandotte bands. Just as they
arrived some of their scouts came rushing down the road with
news. They excitedly told their chiefs that a large party of Big
Knives were arriving from Detroit.
Hull had sent out a force to re-take the road that was his
supply line from Ohio. This time the size of the force he sent
out was much larger and included a healthy contingent of battle
hardened regulars. The allied forces picked a place conducive to
the ambush style forest warfare. Muir’s men flattened themselves
on the ground on each side of the road while Main Poc and Walk-
In-The-Water took up position ahead of the British in the woods
on one side while Tecumseh covered them from the other side.
There they lay, still and silent, awaiting the Americans. They
didn’t have to wait long.
The Big Knives appeared marching down the road in two
columns one on each side of the road with a column of cavalry
in between. They were led by an advance guard of infantrymen
under Captain Josiah Snelling while Lieutenant-Colonel James
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 213
Miller rode at the head of the cavalry. Behind them were their
baggage and heavy armament, one six-pounder and one howitzer.
These were flanked by a small rear guard of regulars from the 4th
U.S. Infantry. The unsuspecting Americans marched right passed
the hiding enemy.
The warriors opened up fire upon the advance guard and the
main column. The Red Coats joined the fire and the Big Knives
broke ranks. However, they were battle tested veterans and among
Hull’s finest soldiers. They regrouped under Miller and quickly
formed battle lines. They began to advance firing mainly upon
the British as the bright red jackets made easier targets than the
warriors. Their 6 pounder also joined the fray by spraying the
wooded areas with grape-shot.
Then things began to go wrong for the allies. One report said
that the American’s forced one of the bodies of warriors to fall
back and Muir’s men mistook them for advancing Blue Coats and
so fired upon their own allies. Another report said the Red Coats
mistook a command to advance as one to retreat giving up ground
to Miller’s troops. Later Proctor would only record that during the
battle something went amiss.
The Red Coats retired from the battlefield and retreated
back to Malden. The warriors fought on for a time but were
overwhelmed by superior numbers and they gave up the road to
the Americans. But they didn’t hold control of their supply line for
very long.
Inexplicably on August the 12th the “Old Lady”, that’s what
Hull’s officers had come to call him, ordered Miller to withdraw
back to the safety of Fort Detroit. Tecumseh moved back across
the river and took control of the road to Urbana once again.
Tecumseh lost two warriors killed and six wounded in the
Battle of Maguaga. He was slightly wounded himself. Muir lost
five killed including Lieutenant Charles Sutherland, fourteen
wounded and two missing. The Americans fared much worse.
Miller suffered eighty-two casualties including eighteen dead. Jim
Bluejacket, son of the great Shawnee Chief was also killed scouting
214 David D Plain
for Miller. The Canadians lost the battle but in the end, because
of Hull’s trepidation, the blockade of Fort Detroit remained intact.
The Americans had also planned an invasion of Upper Canada
at Niagara to coincide with Hull’s arrival at Sandwich but it was
delayed. This freed up the commander of the British forces Isaac
Brock to personally survey the situation on the Detroit frontier. He
left Long Point with 350 men skirting the north shore of Lake Erie
and up the Detroit. When he arrived at Amherstburg, sometime
after the sun had set on August 13th, he was greeted with a volley
of gunfire. The rounds were not deadly but fired off into the air as
a greeting by the warriors on Bois Blanc Island.
A meeting of the officers was hastily called. Mathew Elliot, the
old Indian Agent, quickly left to fetch Tecumseh. When Tecumseh
and the General met they immediately hit it off. Both men were
bold warriors, decisive in deed and had the military acumen only
great generals enjoy. In short they were made of the same mettle.
When Brock heard of the trembling fear General Hull had
of Tecumseh’s warriors he wanted to exploit that weakness. He
decided to go on the offensive by attacking Fort Detroit. Colonel
Proctor, who was sent to replace St. George, was against the plan
as were most of the officers except for two. But Tecumseh was
filled with affirmative excitement. When that meeting broke up
the decision had been made to send Hull a letter giving him the
chance to surrender the fort. If the offer was refused they would
attack. Now Brock would replace Proctor as commander of the
forces on the Detroit front.
On August 15th the letter containing Brock’s offer was sent
across the river to Hull. In it Brock reminded Hull “the numerous
body of Indians that have attached themselves to my troops will
be beyond control the moment the contest commences”. He was
preying on Hull’s most paralyzing fear but the bluff didn’t work.
Hull refused to surrender. The following day British cannon fire
roared across the Detroit from Sandwich. Hull returned the fire
The British cannonade proved more deadly than Hull’s. Several
shots found their mark landing inside the fort killing several
people.
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 215
Brock marched his men boldly up the road to within sight of
the main gate and its gatehouse. He led 800 men who included
300 regulars and 400 Militia with some dressed in red coats to
give the impression he had more regulars than he did. Norton
and his seventy Mohawk and Munsee warriors also marched with
Brock. When they arrived to within sight of the fort they realized
they were about to be met with the deadly fire of two twenty-fourpounders
and one 6 pounder loaded with grape and canister shot.
Brock peeled off taking shelter in a small ravine.
Roundhead, Walk-In-The-Water, Main Poc and Splitlog led
their warriors through woods in order to attack the fort from the
left and rear. Tecumseh led the rest of the coalition and joined
them as they faced off against Hull’s militia. One story relates
that during the face off Tecumseh had the 530 warriors march
out of a small wood lot across an open field and into the main
woods, circle around to the starting point. They filed passed
the Americans again all the time screeching blood curdling war
hoops in full view of the enemy. Three times the warriors showed
themselves deceiving the militia and General Hull into actually
believing the warriors they feared so much were there in the
thousands.
While Brock had his men stationed in the ravine trying to
entice Hull out of the fort he received bad news from scouts who
had been patrolling the road south of the fort. They reported
that a force of 350 militiamen under McArthur and Cass were
approaching from the south. They had been sent two days earlier
skirting through the forest to meet a supply convoy at the River
Raisin. Before they reached their goal they were urgently recalled
by Hull when he received Brock’s letter. Now it seemed Hull had
Brock and his allies hemmed in.
However, neither Brock nor the war chiefs would entertain
retreat. It was a tactic only to be used as a last resort. Brock
decided to abandon the ploy to entice the Americans out of the
fort to fight in the open. About 10 o’clock in the morning as Brock
was preparing his men for a frontal assault the big American guns
stopped firing across the Detroit. To Brock’s utter amazement a
216 David D Plain
white flag was hung over the fort’s wall. The militia facing the
warriors withdrew. Not a shot was fired by either side.
Hull had fretted all morning about unrelenting “savages”
overrunning the fort and committing unspeakable atrocities on the
civilian populace. He especially worried about the safety of his own
daughter and grandchildren who were with him. He surrendered
the fort, the American army and all armament and supplies. There
had been only a few cannonades exchanged across the river. Never
before had First Nation warriors so overwhelmingly contributed to
such an immense victory over a common enemy.
Hull’s men were utterly dismayed and humiliated at being
denied the chance to give account of themselves. They are said to
have piled their small arms in heaps along the fort’s palisade with
tears in their eyes. Cass and McArthur’s men had stopped to roast
an ox they had caught running through the woods and were never
a factor in the almost battle.
The American colors were lowered and the Union Jack hoisted
above Fort Detroit to the sound of volleys of gunfire shot in the
air. Sandwich returned the salute with cannon fire to celebrate
the victory. The British flag had been absent from the Territory of
Michigan for seventeen years. Now it had returned. The Territory
of Michigan would be annexed into the Province of Upper Canada.
General Hull was taken prisoner along with 582 regulars and
1,606 militiamen. There was also 350 Michigan Militia taken
into the British forces because they were not part of American
federal forces. However, half of them had already defected
when the engagement commenced. Hull also gave up 39 guns
including 9 twenty-four pounders, 3,000 rifles, a huge quantity of
ammunition and twenty-five days’ worth of supplies. The spoils
also included the Adams, a new American war ship not yet quite
finished.
When Hull was returned to the U.S. he faced a court-martial
charged with treason, cowardice, neglect of duty and bad
conduct. The trial took place in April of 1814 where he was found
not guilty of the first two charges but guilty of neglect of duty
and bad conduct. He was sentenced to be shot but mercy was
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 217
recommended because of his age and his exemplary war record
during the Revolution. President Madison remitted his sentence
and William Hull spent the rest of his life trying to defend himself
and explain his conduct. He died in 1825.
240 David D Plain
Fort Meigs
Meanwhile, in the Detroit Theater General Harrison was
laying plans for his second attempt at a Canadian invasion. In
February 1813 he set Captain Wood busy improving Fort Meigs’
fortifications. The fort was vital to his plans as he wanted to use
it as a springboard for his invasion. Wood worked feverishly and
by spring the improvements were almost complete. The fort was
a potato shaped structure near the mouth of the Maumee River
just south of the old British Fort Miami but on the opposite bank.
Wood had added a twelve-foot palisade fronted by huge mounds
of earth.
On April 1st the six month tour of duty was up for the Virginia
and Pennsylvania militias and all but 250 men left the fort for
home. The 250 men that remained only planned to stay another
two weeks. Tecumseh’s scouts had the fort under surveillance
and reported the departure to him immediately. Tecumseh told
General Proctor the time to attack Fort Meigs had come and
Proctor agreed but bad weather held him up at Amherstburg until
April 23rd. Proctor arrived at the mouth of the Maumee on April
26th with 450 regulars and 475 militiamen. Tecumseh joined him
with 600 warriors and then Roundhead arrived with another 600.
Harrison who had heard of the British plans to advance on
Fort Meigs rushed forward from his winter quarters at Cincinnati.
He managed to arrive at Fort Meigs before Proctor and his First
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 241
Nation allies. All he could do now was take shelter in the fort
along with the few troops left there and their Shawnee scouts.
They anxiously awaited reinforcements who were on their way
from Kentucky.
By May 1st the British had built reinforced blockhouses across
the river and were firing on the fort. However, their cannonballs
sunk uselessly into the soft mud of the earthen ramparts.
Meanwhile, hidden among the woods the warriors busied
themselves by taking pot shots at any slight movement behind the
stockade. The siege continued for four days during which General
Green Clay made his way down the Maumee with 1,200 Kentucky
Militiamen.
Most of the Shawnee scouts loyal to the Americans were holdup
in the fort but a few others were leading Clay’s forces. These
Shawnee were rather reluctant participants. They had preferred
to remain neutral in the conflict but were enlisted by the Indian
agent John Johnston after he put them under considerable
pressure. Among these reluctant warriors was Black Fish the son of
a Shawnee war chief.
Black Fish and three militiamen traveling ahead of the main
force in a canoe reached a point within sight of the fort. There
they ran into a hostile party of Potawatomie. They turned and
fled back up the river but two of the Kentuckians were captured.
However, Black Fish and the other man who was wounded in the
encounter escaped. Clay kept coming.
On May 1st they landed just south of the fort on the American
side of the river. Clay, acting upon Harrison’s orders, split his forces
in two. He sent 800 militiamen under Colonel William Dudley
along with all his Shawnee warriors across the river with orders
to capture and spike the British cannon then recross the river to
the fort as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, he and the other 400
fought their way to the fort.
Dudley was successful. The warriors who were fighting Clay
outside the fort realized what Dudley was up to and quickly swam
the river to engage him. Dudley’s men were raw recruits with
no military experience and they became over exuberant at their
242 David D Plain
victory. Tecumseh’s warriors arrived and lured the militia deeper
and deeper into the woods. When the Shawnee, who were adverse
to the adventure in the first place, saw what was happening
surrendered to the British immediately. Tecumseh and Roundhead
sprung their trap and the militia panicked and fled back toward
British lines to surrender. Dudley was killed and many were cut
down. Many more were captured. Of Dudley’s 800 Kentucky
Militia fewer than 150 made it back to the fort.
The prisoners were escorted to old Fort Miami where they
were held under a small British guard. The warriors were in a
highly excitable state and began tormenting the Americans by
making them run the gauntlet. Suddenly one was tomahawked
and scalped on the spot. Things were getting out of hand. The
British soldiers in charge tried to control the situation but one of
them was killed so they backed off and sent for help.
Help quickly arrived in the form of one very recognizable
warrior riding into the ruins that was once a British fort
brandishing a tomahawk and yelling orders to cease and desist.
It was Tecumseh and he quickly took control. He reamed out
the leaders of the agitated warriors by threatening death to the
next one to disturb any of the prisoners. He didn’t want another
massacre like Frenchtown laid at the feet of his confederacy.
Black Fish insisted he and his warriors had been coerced
into service by the Americans. In fact he told Proctor that all
the Shawnee in Ohio had British sentiments but were being held
prisoner in their villages at Wapakoneta and Lewistown. Upon
hearing this Proctor made an offer to Harrison; the return of all
American prisoners if they would allow any loyal Shawnee to
remove to Canada. However, this British offer only served to cast
suspicion on the Shawnee at Wapakoneta loyal to the Americans.
They came under attack again by militia and settlers alike. Black
Hoof complained so Johnston intervened managing to settle
things down.
The warriors collected all the booty from the battlefield. One
by one individual war parties withdrew following their chiefs back
to their villages as was their custom after a great military victory.
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 243
This left Proctor and Harrison stalemated so Proctor withdrew.
The weather had been bad the whole time so he blamed his failure
to take Fort Meigs on it. He also blamed his commanding officer,
General DeRottenburg for not adequately supplying the mission.
Fort Stephenson
Robert Dickson, a tall Scotsman with flaming red hair, had
been appointed Indian Agent for the First Nations of the far North
West Territories. He had traded with them for some time with
the reputation of being always honest and fair. The Sioux called
him Mascotopah or The Red-Haired Man and he was married
to one of their own, a Yanktonais woman. In short he was well
liked. It was only natural that he was tasked by the British Indian
Department to recruit warriors for the cause. Dickson had great
success. Sioux war chiefs Little Crow, Itasappa and Red Thunder
joined him easily as they had already been plied by Tecumseh and
The Prophet a few years earlier.
Tecumseh’s warriors began amassing at Amherstburg again in
July. Main Poc returned from Illinois Territory where he had been
recruiting with the help of fellow Potawatomi chiefs White Hair
and White Pigeon. At the same time a large group of warriors
from the North West Territories, flags flying, all decked out in
their finest war regalia paddled out of Lake St. Clair and into the
Detroit River. In the lead canoe was the red-headed man Dickson.
His entourage included Ojibwa, Sioux, Menominee, Potawatomi,
and Winnebago warriors all recruited from his base at Le Bay or
Green Bay. Their arrival at Amherstburg bolstered Tecumseh’s
forces to 2,500.
244 David D Plain
Tecumseh pressured Proctor to invade Ohio again. Captain
Barclay warned Proctor of the fleet being built at the U.S. Naval
Yards at Presque Isle. But Proctor was short on supplies for his
heavy artillery so he postponed an attack on the ship yards.
However, he did have 2,500 men to add to Tecumseh’s 2,500 which
he felt was more than enough to mount an invasion. Tecumseh
wanted to return to Fort Meigs but Proctor wanted to attack Fort
Stephenson a much weaker fort on the Sandusky River. To take
Fort Stephenson would have cut the supply line to Fort Meigs but
Tecumseh was insistent so he left Amherstburg in the middle of
July bound for Fort Meigs. Proctor followed on July 19, 1813.
General Harrison had left Fort Meigs in the command of
General Green Clay while he moved to the Lower Sandusky.
Tecumseh’s warriors arrived first at the mouth of the Maumee
so Clay called for reinforcements from Harrison. He sent none
convinced Fort Meigs with its current garrison was strong
enough to withstand any assault. Instead Harrison withdrew
up the Sandusky to Old Seneca Town leaving Fort Stephenson
under the command of Major George Croghan. From this
vantage point he could either move on Fort Stephenson or Fort
Meigs wherever he was needed. This was good strategy the
only hindrance being he would have to contend with the Black
Swamp which lay between them.
Proctor settled in for a siege of the fort and began pounding
the stockade with cannon fire. But his guns were not heavy
enough. He had come with only three six-pounders and two
howitzers. The warriors spread out among the thickets surrounding
the fort taking pot shots at the men inside whenever they popped
up to fire through the loopholes. Tecumseh complained it was
too difficult fighting these Americans who were acting like
groundhogs instead of coming out and fighting like men.
He came up with a plan to lure them out. The warriors moved
to the road that led to Fort Stephenson just out of Clay’s sight.
They began firing their rifles and hollering loud war whoops
increasing in intensity. This ruse was intended to convince Clay
they were engaging a relief force sent by Harrison. But Clay had
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 245
already received word from Harrison that he would not send
reinforcements unless he received the call from Clay and he
had sent no such message. Although he had trouble convincing
his officers it was a trap he did manage to hold them back.
Tecumseh’s plan failed.
The siege of Fort Meigs was also a failure. A few hundred
of Dickson’s warriors from the west drifted away since there was
no plunder to be had. Proctor packed up his cannon and sailed
to the mouth of the Sandusky and up the river to within a mile
of Fort Stephenson. It was a much smaller post than Fort Meigs
and although it was an impressive looking fort it was in truth
weakly defended. It had a stockade of sixteen foot pickets and
was surrounded by an eight foot wide moat. Each picket had a
bayonet thrust horizontally through its tip. However, it only had
one heavy gun, an old six-pounder left over from the Revolution
affectionately referred to as “old Betsy”.
Tecumseh had moved his warriors up the Sandusky between
Fort Stephenson and Old Seneca Town to cut off any retreat or
prevent any reinforcements arriving. Okemos was a redoubtable
Ojibwa war chief from Cedar River and also a nephew of the
renowned war chief Pontiac. He and his cousin Manitocorbway
from Saginaw were further upriver scouting for any signs of
Harrison coming to Croghan’s aid. They ran into one of Harrison’s
patrols and Okemos was severely wounded in the skirmish.
Meanwhile, the seven hundred warriors with Proctor settled in
among the surrounding woods as spectators. A frontal assault
facing cannon fire out in the open was not their style of warfare.
Proctor decided to storm the fort. He was in the habit of
becoming unsure of himself when patience and resolve was
required. His men were unprepared to storm the garrison. They
didn’t have the ladders to scale the palisade which was higher than
they thought. Their axes were dull from lack of use. The moat was
deeper than they realized. Proctor’s men became bogged down
in the moat and “old Betsy” raked them lengthwise with grapeshot.
They lost 150 men either killed or wounded. Proctor made
246 David D Plain
no second attempt to take the fort but withdrew limping back to
Amherstburg.
The Americans had a clear and decisive victory at last. And
they had a national hero in Major Croghan a mere youth just
turned twenty-one, who had defeated the British General in
command of their western army and a force five times his size.
Proctor had to explain himself to his superiors. He openly admitted
he ordered the disastrous assault on Fort Stephenson under the
threat of First Nations withdrawal from the war. General Prevost
retorted he never should have committed any part of his valuable
force due to the clamoring of “the Indian warriors”. To Tecumseh
the failure to take either fort may have been a sign that the tide of
the war was turning but he was resolved to fight on.
Retreat up the Thames
The Americans continued their shipbuilding efforts at Presque
Isle (Erie, Pennsylvania) unabated. Proctor wanted to use a naval
attack to destroy the fruits of their labors but he was just not
ready. All summer long they waited for supplies and ammunition
to arrive. The supplies included sail and guns for the brig Detroit
which was still under construction. There were few trained
seamen at Amherstburg to sail the other three war ships anchored
there. On June 3rd 1813 Captain Robert Heriot Barclay arrived at
Amherstburg with nineteen sailors and the schooners Lady Prevost
and Chippewa. These two brought the British fleet to six ships.
Barclay had arrived from England that spring fresh from naval
action in the Napoleonic wars. He had lost an arm at Trafalgar.
In charge of the American Lake Erie fleet was Master
Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry. He was in charge of the
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 247
shipbuilding at Presque Isle when Barclay arrived at Amherstburg.
He also had to oversee the transfer of five ships built at Black Rock
which, with the ships built and under construction at Presque
Isle would consolidate his Erie fleet there. During the third week
of June while Barclay was cruising the lake trying to catch the
transfer Perry slipped the five vessels into the harbor at Presque
Isle under the cover of fog. Barclay missed them. The American
fleet was now consolidated and the construction phase was nearing
completion. But the British fleet was still not ready so Barclay
advised Proctor to attack the U.S. shipyards by land. Proctor had
500 regulars and Tecumseh 1,000 warriors at Amherstburg but
he vacillated saying that he needed to wait for reinforcements to
bolster his regiment the 41st Foot.
By August 10th Perry was out on the lake with his fleet of nine
war ships. They included the brigs Lawrence 20 guns, Niagara 20,
Caledonia 3, schooner Ariel 4, schooner Scorpion 2, sloop Trippe 1
and schooners Tigress, Porcupine and Ohio 1 each. His plan was to
attack Barclay’s fleet at Amherstburg before the Detroit could be
completed but he became gravely ill along with 270 of his sailors
with lake fever and had to postpone.
The British were now in a desperate situation. Supplies were
held up at Long Point because Perry now controlled the lake.
DeRottenburg had to impress wagons from the general populace
and haul them to the Thames where they could be barged down
river to Proctor. On September 5th some supplies along with
thirty-six more sailors arrived at Amherstburg. Still not enough
but Prevost and DeRottenburg both pressed Proctor to take
action. Proctor gave in and stripped Fort Malden of its guns to
outfit Detroit.
On September 14th Barclay sailed out of the Detroit River
and into Lake Erie woefully out manned and out gunned.
His fleet consisted of H.M.S. Detroit 21 guns, H.M.S. Queen
Charlotte 18, schooners Lady Prevost 14 and Chippewa 1, the brig
Hunter 10 and the sloop Little Belt 3. He could only supply each
ship with ten experienced sailors. The balance of the compliment
of 440 men was made up of infantrymen supplied by the 41st.
248 David D Plain
They engaged Perry off the Bass Islands. For two hours the
roar of the ship’s big guns could be heard back at Amherstburg
but could not be seen. Then silence. It would be two days before
Proctor got word of Barclay’s total defeat. In the meantime
Harrison was moving north toward Detroit with 2,500 regulars,
3,000 Kentucky Militia and 150 Pennsylvania Militia. Proctor’s
situation had gone from being desperate to hopeless. He planned
to evacuate the fort and retreat up the Thames but kept his
decision to himself for three days.
Tecumseh wanted to cross back into Michigan and ambush
Harrison at the Huron River. But some men were seen dismantling
Fort Malden and Tecumseh and the other chiefs demanded a
conference with Proctor. Ojibwa war chiefs Naiwash and Nahdee
were with him but his closest ally and staunchest supporter
Roundhead was not. He had died unexpectedly of natural causes
earlier that summer. Finally, after several days they met in council.
Tecumseh spoke for the chiefs:
Listen! When war was declared, our Father stood up
and gave us the tomahawk, and told us he was now
ready to strike the Americans; that he wanted our
assistance; and that he certainly would get us our lands
back which the Americans had taken from us. Listen!
You told us at that time to bring forward our families
to this place. We did so, and you promised to take care
of them, and that they should want for nothing while
the men would go and fight the enemy . . . When we
last went to the rapids [Fort Meigs] it is true we gave
you little assistance. It is hard to fight people who live
like groundhogs. Father, listen! We know that our fleet
has gone out. We know they have fought. We had heard
the great guns, but know nothing of what has happened
to Our Father with One Arm . . . We are astonished
to see our Father tying up everything and preparing to
run . . . without letting his red children know what his
intentions are . . . and we are sorry to see our Father
From Ouisconsin to Caughnawaga 249
doing so without seeing the enemy . . . Listen Father!
The Americans have not yet defeated us by land; neither
are we sure they have done so by water. We, therefore,
wish to remain here and fight our enemy should they
make their appearance. Father! You have got the arms
and ammunition, which our Great Father [the King]
sent for his red children. If you have an idea of going
away, give them to us, and you may go . . . Our lives are
in the hands of the Great Spirit. We are determined to
defend our lands, and if it is his will, we wish to leave
our bones upon them.
Proctor was embarrassed by Tecumseh’s speech so promised
his answer in two days. Again they met in council but this time
Proctor was more forthcoming. With a map of the Detroit area
laid out on a table he explained that both his supply lines were
now cut off. Fort Malden was now defenseless having lost her
guns along with the brig Detroit. Not only did Perry control
Lake Erie but he could sail right past the fort into Lake St. Clair
to stop supplies arriving via the Thames. Proctor saw no other
option but to retreat up the Thames and make a stand near
Chatham. Tecumseh reluctantly agreed but Main Poc left with his
Potawatomi warriors crossing back into Michigan determined to
harass Harrison’s advance.
Harrison crossed into Canada occupying Amherstburg
unopposed seventeen days after the battle of Lake Erie. Proctor
and Tecumseh left Sandwich about the same time heading for
the Thames. Twelve miles upriver they passed the great burial
mound left over from the Iroquois War more than a century
earlier. They passed Chatham deciding instead to make a stand
at the Delaware village of Moraviantown. Harrison left Brigadier
General Duncan McArthur with 700 men to defend Detroit and
pursued Proctor and Tecumseh up the Thames. On October 3rd
Tecumseh decided to test the Americans. He had 1,500 warriors
and he prepared an ambush after destroying the two bridges over
McGregor’s Creek. One they burnt but the other was too wet so
250 David D Plain
they tore up the planks. Harrison had over 3,000 men and the
skirmish lasted for over two hours. Tecumseh’s lines finally broke
and he retreated back to Moraviantown. Seeing the strength of the
Harrison’s forces many of his warriors drifted away and he was left
with only 500.
On the morning of October 5th Proctor formed a line three
and one half miles west of the village of Moraviantown. It ran
north from the river for 500 yards to a large swamp. That line was
held by 540 men of the 41st Foot Regiment and 290 men of the
Royal Newfoundland Regiment. The warriors took up positions
in the swamp and they waited.
Harrison arrived at eight o’clock in the morning with 1,000
Mounted Kentucky Riflemen, 2,300 Kentucky Volunteers and
140 regulars. The mounted riflemen were unusually well-trained
by Colonel Richard M. Johnson. Each carried a tomahawk, a
scalping knife and a long rifle and Johnson had drilled them over
and over again in a highly unusual maneuver Instead of charging a
defensive line then dismounting and continuing the fight on foot
they rode right through the line then dismounted attacking from
the rear. This took the British by surprise and they surrendered
almost immediately. When Proctor saw this he fled in his carriage.
Tecumseh fought on. Johnson’s tactic could not be employed
because of the swamp. So they dismounted and advanced on foot.
The warriors would wait until the Kentuckians were almost upon
them then shower them with a hail of bullets. The Kentuckians
kept coming screeching cries of “Remember the Raisin”. Then the
great leader fell and the warriors broke away. The British suffered
12 killed, twenty-two wounded and 600 captured. The Americans
lost seven killed and twenty-two wounded. The warriors’ casualties
are unknown except for the incalculable loss of their august
Shawnee leader Tecumseh.
Viewing Assignment 3
View the film Tecumseh’s Vision – We Shall Remain – YouTube last viewed February 6, 2022.
Removal Policy of 1830
Introduction
Reading Assignment 1
For an introduction to “Indian Removal” read: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2959.html last viewed February 6, 2022.
Viewing Assignment 4
View the film The “Indian Problem” last viewed February 6, 2022.
Trail of Tears 1838-39
Viewing Assignment 5
View the film The Trail of Tears: They Knew It Was Wrong last viewed February 6, 2022.
Although The Trail of Tears was the most famous Indian Removals, every First Nation was affected. For example, the Treaty of Detroit in 1807 created two reservations in Michigan, Swan Creek and Black River. Those two bands ceded their reservations in 1836, losing their lands and federal recognition. The United States government offered them land in Kansas.
The removal of the Swan Creek and Black River bands caused much angst and turmoil among the people. A few families accepted the offer and moved to Kansas but most wanted to stay in their homeland. Many moved across the border into Upper Canada but most moved to the reservation at Saginaw, Michigan.
The Swan Creek and Black River bands have kept track of their membership and are today appealing to Congress to have their federal recognition restored.
Questions
- Sullivan’s devastating attack on the Seneca resulted in what fate for the Six Nations Iroquois?
- What underpinned the American Militia’s hatred for the Moravian Delaware?
- Why do you think the most consequential war of all the Indian Wars is the most forgotten?
- What would have been the outcome of the War of 1812 if the First Nations had remained neutral?
- If Tecumseh and Brock had survived, do you think Tecumseh’s vision would have come to fruition?
- Do you think the small group of Cherokees who believed the only way for their nation to survive was to give up their homeland and move west were right?