Ohio History Journal

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Winthrop Sargent 237

Winthrop Sargent            237

 

 

WINTHROP SARGENT'S DIARY WHILE WITH GENERAL

ARTHUR ST. CLAIR'S EXPEDITION AGAINST

THE INDIANS

 

Much has been written of the ill-fated expedition

of Arthur St. Clair against the Indians in 1791. While

serving as Governor of the Northwest Territory he was

appointed Major General in the United States army

on March 4 of that year. An expedition against the

Indians was assembled and organized at Fort Wash

ington. Considerable difficulty was experienced in fit-

ting out this expedition. On September 18 the troops

had advanced and commenced the building of Fort

Hamilton, on the present site of the city of Hamilton,

named in honor of Alexander Hamilton, then Secretary

of the Treasury.

Here General Richard Butler, second in command,

and Captain Ebenezer Denny, aide-de-camp to General

St. Clair, joined the army. The entire force numbered

2,300 non-commissioned officers and privates fit for

duty. A detachment was left as a garrison at Fort

Hamilton and the main army proceeded on its north-

ward march.

On October 14 the site of a new fort was selected

forty-four miles from Fort Hamilton. This was called

Fort Jefferson. The site was in the present county of

Darke, six miles south of Greenville. It is now marked

by a monument. After completing this fort the army

continued its march northward.

General St. Clair was in poor health, suffering from

the gout and unable to walk. He realized that his abil-

ity to keep the army together depended upon keeping