378 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
ST. CLAIR'S DEFEAT.
AS TOLD BY AN EYE-WITNESS--FROM ORIGINAL
MSS.
BY FRAZER E. WILSON, GREENVILLE,
O.
It is refreshing to read an
original account of any important
battle, especially when the field of
action is near at hand. Of the
600 survivors of St. Clair's unfortunate
army probably quite a
number wrote narratives which have been
lost or destroyed in
the wreck of time. The General's own
report and the descrip-
tion of Benjamin Van Cleve have been
published a number of
times and we take pleasure in printing
another from the pen of
a Mr. Thos. Irwin, deceased, of Butler
County, Ohio, who was a
wagoner in the army. Mr. Irwin has a
number of descendants in
Darke county; among whom are David P.
Irwin and Mr. William
Swartz, of Greenville. The manuscript is
in the possession of the
latter gentleman, who kindly loaned it
to the writer for copy and
publication. It reads as follows:
"The following is an account from
the memory of the movements
of General Arthur St. Clair's army from
Fort Hamilton to where said
army was defeated on the 4th of
November, in the year 1791:
"The army marched from Fort
Hamilton about the last of Sep-
tember or first of October, on a straight
line by the compass, to where
Fort Jefferson was built; encamped and
lay there over two weeks, until
the fort was built and finished. Left
there in October, marched to
Greenville creek, encamped and lay there
one week. Marched from there
on the 1st of November and was attacked
and defeated on the morning
of the 4th by the Indians. It was the
opinion of the general and his
officers that the Indians would not
attack an army where there was so
many canon with them. There was three
six pounders and three smaller
ones. On the day before the battle,
about four miles on this side,
there was a general halt. Something got
wrong. The weather was
cold. During our stay us wagoners in
front kindled up a large fire.
The general and a number of the officers
collected round it to warm
themselves. They chatted on several
subjects. One was whereabouts we
were. The general opinion was that we
had passed over the dividing
ridge between the waters of the Miamis
and St. Mary's-was then on
the waters of St. Mary's. Colonel
Serjant had been in front, came up
while they were chatting, informed them
that the advance guard had
chased four or five Indians from a fire
out of a thicket and got part