Fort St.
Clair 515
For purchase of
Site of Fort St. Clair, Preble County,
Ohio, for
historical and forestry purposes (Title to
be vested in
The Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical
Society for State of Ohio) ........... $10,000
Buildings ......................................... 4,000
Roadway ........................................ 1,000
Total Site of
Fort St. Clair
................... $15,000
For this
commendable action the good people of
southeastern
Ohio and tourists from other parts of the
state are
under lasting obligations to the General As-
sembly and
especially to Honorable Harry D. Silver,
State
Representative from Preble County and chairman
of the Finance
Committee of the House, who in this
result has
crowned his excellent record of service to his
state and
county. The effective work that he inaugu-
rated in the
House was ably supported in the Senate by
Honorable G.
M. Kumler of Preble County, who repre-
sents the
Preble-Montgomery District.
THE STORY OF
FORT ST. CLAIR *
BY RALPH B.
EHLER
At the time
when my story begins, Ohio was prac-
tically
unsettled. The few settlers already here were
in constant
danger of the Indians, who were not at all
pleased with
the white man's presence in their Hunting
Grounds.
Prior to the
organization of civil government, cam-
paigns
directed by the settlers, against the Indians, had
failed to
secure peace. The National
Government,
however,
wishing to subdue the hostile Indians in the
Territory,
organized a number of military campaigns.
* Read at the
St. Clair celebration, November 6, 1922, Eaton, Preble
County, Ohio.
516 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
The first of these, led by General
Harmar, then com-
mander-in-chief of the armies in the
West, met with
defeat at Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1790.
In 1791, General St. Clair, governor of
the territory,
organized the second expedition. About this time,
several Indian chiefs, among whom was
the famous
Little Turtle, were planning a
confederacy. By this
action, they hoped to be strong enough
to drive the set-
tlers beyond the Ohio River. It was St.
Clair's pur-
pose to stop this movement by erecting
a chain of forts
from the Ohio River to Lake Erie, and
in particular,
to gain possession of the headwaters of
the Maumee
River.
He organized his army at Pittsburgh in
April and
moved westward, arriving at Fort
Washington, now
Cincinnati, in May. After some delay,
he marched north
in September to a point on the Great
Miami and erected
the first of the proposed chain of
forts, Fort Hamilton,
on the present site of Hamilton.
Leaving a small portion of his army in
charge, he
again moved forward, this time marching
forty-four
miles. At this point, just six miles
south of the present
site of Greenville, he erected the
second fort, Fort Jef-
ferson. It was on this march that he first passed
through Preble county, his route being
along Seven Mile
Creek.
After the completion of this fort, his
next advance
was to the Indian villages on the
Maumee. Due to de-
sertion, his army was much smaller than
when he
started his campaign and upon his
arrival at Fort Re-
covery, numbered only 1400 men. It was
here that St.
Clair was overwhelmingly defeated by
the Indians on
November 4, 1791.
Fort St. Clair 517
This was the most disheartening
disaster in the an-
nals of American border warfare. The
loss of men
here was even greater in proportion to
the number en-
gaged than the loss in Braddock's
defeat. Out of 1400
men and 86 officers, 890 men and 16
officers were either
killed or badly wounded. After four
hours of serious
fighting, the remnant of St. Clair's
army fled pellmell
into the woods, going south over the
same route that
two days before they had marched, a well
organized
army. As a result of this defeat, the
whole territory
was thrown open to the savage attacks
of the Indians.
Although this battle was fought many
miles from
the place in which we are interested, a
knowledge of it
is necessary for a proper appreciation
of the condition
of the country at the time when Fort
St. Clair was built.
During the winter of 1791-92, just
after St. Clair's
defeat, Fort St. Clair was erected upon
the order of
General Wilkinson, who had succeeded
St. Clair as
commander of Fort Washington. It was to
serve as a
stepping stone of refuge between Fort
Hamilton and
Fort Jefferson. The work was under the
supervision
of Major Gano of the state militia.
Another prominent
person present at the erection of this
fort was Ensign
Harrison, later, President Harrison,
who had charge of
one shift of the alternate night
guards.
Like most of the forts, Fort St. Clair
was a stock-
ade, covering a few acres of ground,
containing block-
houses and officers' quarters. About
forty acres of for-
est were cleared away from around the
fort.
In October, 1792, a great council of
Indians, the
greatest of its kind, was held at Fort
Defiance and an
armistice was entered into which the
Indians agreed to
observe until the following spring.
Peace was not very
518
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
faithfully observed, however, and was
first broken
within the boundaries of Preble County
at Fort St.
Clair on the sixth day of November,
1792.
One hundred Kentucky mounted riflemen,
under the
command of Major Adair, were acting as
an escort for
a brigade of pack horses from Fort
Washington to Fort
Jefferson. They were to make the trip
past Fort St.
Clair and return in six days, staying
each night under
the protection of one of the forts. At
this same time,
Little Turtle and two hundred and fifty
warriors were
planning an attack on a small
settlement just north of
Fort Washington. However, upon hearing
of the pack
train, the chief decided to attack it
instead upon its re-
turn trip, and with this in view, took
to ambush just
north of Fort Hamilton. According to
schedule, the
train was to arrive at Fort Hamilton on
Monday. Dis-
regarding the schedule, Adair laid over
at Fort Jeffer-
son on Sunday, and on Monday night, he
pitched camp
just outside of Fort St. Clair. Little
Turtle heard of
this through spies and at once left
ambush with the in-
tention of attacking the camp yet that
night.
It was just breaking dawn when, with a
volley of
shots and a roar of hideous yells, they
surprised the
camp. The yells frightened the horses
and many of
them broke loose. The Indians, desiring
to capture the
horses and to gather up all the loot
possible, seemed, for
a moment to forget about the militia.
Adair took ad-
vantage of this and called his men
together. This done,
he formed his men into three divisions.
Lieutenant
Madison was to attack the left flank,
Lieutenant Hale,
the center, and the Major with his
division, on the right.
As soon as it was light enough to distinguish
the whites
from the Indians, the attack was made.
It was in this
Fort St. Clair 519
attack that Lieutenant Hale was killed
and Madison
was wounded. The Indians were forced to
retreat some
distance where they then took a stand
and, in turn,
forced the militia back. This zigzag
method of fight-
ing was carried on for some time until
the Indians and
all but six of the horses were lost
sight of at about the
place where Eaton is now located.
The exact number of Indians killed in
this battle is
not definitely known, though two were
left and are
buried at the fort. Besides the graves
of the Indians at
the fort, there are the graves of
Lieutenant Hale,
Orderly Sergeant English, and Privates
Bowling, Jett,
Clinton, and Williams.
It is because of this battle that the
Historical So-
ciety of Preble County has set aside
November 6th as
St. Clair Day.
"FORTY FOOT PITCH"*
BY A. C. RISINGER
All peoples delight to discover and
preserve the
history of their pioneers, especially
the sturdy, courage-
ous, aggressive, primary pioneers who
ventured into the
wilds of the farther frontiers and
seized and subdued
the wilderness for themselves and their
posterity.
The history of the primary military and
civil pio-
neers of Preble County has been rather
fully developed
and preserved by various records and
documents and
in much part by oral traditions.
One historical mention, however, has
remained
somewhat obscure to the general
inquiring public and
* Read at the St. Clair celebration,
November 6, 1922, Eaton, Preble
County, Ohio.