Battle of Fallen Timbers

For the American Civil War action on April 8, 1862, see Battle of Shiloh.
Battle of Fallen Timbers
Part of the Northwest Indian War

An 1896 depiction of the battle from Harper's Magazine.
DateAugust 20, 1794
Locationin present-day Maumee, Ohio near present-day Toledo, Ohio
Result Decisive American victory
Belligerents
 United States

Western Confederacy
Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain

Commanders and leaders
United States Anthony Wayne Kingdom of Great Britain Alexander McKillop
Blue Jacket
Buckongahelas
Strength
2,000 2,000
Casualties and losses
33 killed
100 wounded		 19–40 killed[1]
Unknown wounded
Fallen Timbers Battlefield[2]

The Battle of Fallen Timbers (August 20, 1794) was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between Native American tribes affiliated with the Western Confederacy, including support from the British led by Captain Alexander McKillop, against the United States for control of the Northwest Territory (an area north of the Ohio River, east of the Mississippi River, and southwest of the Great Lakes). This land had been ceded to the United States in accordance with the Treaty of Paris (1783), but the British and Indians refused to comply with the treaty and likewise refused to relinquish control. British army bases were maintained there to support their Native allies. This ultimately led to the American offensive and subsequent British-Indian withdrawal from the territory altogether. The battle, which was a decisive victory for the United States, ended major hostilities in the region until Tecumseh's War and the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811.

Background

The Ohio River boundary line established by Britain in the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix recognized certain lands as belonging to the Native American nations. After the American Revolution, however, the United States government maintained the Native American nations no longer owned the Ohio lands, since in an article in the Treaty of Paris of 1783 Britain agreed to cede to the United States the lands owned by the indigenous nations. The Native Americans involved rejected the idea of the British or Americans to dispose of their tribal lands without their consent. They had no representation at the Paris Treaty negotiations, had not signed the treaty, and refused recognize the British give away of their land. As American settlers began moving into the Ohio Country, the Native Americans viewed them as unwelcome intruders. The United States government, on the other hand, insisted it had the right to occupy the lands, since it had been gained in battle and was agreed to by the treaty with Britain.[3][4]

The Western Confederacy, an alliance of Native American nations, was formed to defend their traditional lands. The confederacy achieved several victories over poorly led United States military forces in 1790 and 1791, alarming the administration of President George Washington. Washington understood that the settlers were to blame for much of the violence. Nevertheless, he took steps to defeat the alliance as the conflict became more serious. In 1792, Washington ordered Revolutionary War hero General "Mad" Anthony Wayne to build and lead a new army to crush resistance to American settlement in the Ohio country.[5] Wayne realized that the previous campaigns had failed because of poor training and a lack of discipline. Peace negotiations were undertaken in the summer of 1793, which meant he had time to build and train his army.

Shawnee war chief Blue Jacket and Delaware (Lenape) leader Buckongahelas, encouraged by their previous victories and hoping for continued British support, argued for a return to the Treaty of Fort Stanwix of 1768. They rejected the subsequent treaties awarding the lands north of the Ohio River to the United States, since they had never signed them. A faction led by the influential Mohawk leader Joseph Brant attempted to negotiate a peaceful compromise, but Blue Jacket would accept nothing less than everything north of the Ohio River, which the United States refused to accept. The American government found itself fighting a war over Ohio under the direction of Secretary of War Henry Knox.

Matters came to a head in what became known as Little Turtle's War (1790–1794). As more American settlers moved into the eastern part of area following its division under the Land Ordinance of 1785, the Native Americans retreated westward. The Miami chieftan Michikinikwa (Little Turtle) would lead a confederation of tribes against ill conceived expeditions led by General Josiah Harmar in 1790 and General Arthur St. Clair in 1791, defeating both incursions. Harmar's and St. Clair's armies consisted mainly of untrained militia, frontiersmen with rifles but little training or discipline. The green soldiers often broke ranks and ran when confronted by Native American warriors.

In late August 1794, Little Turtle and his Shawnee ally, Weyapiersenwah (Blue Jacket), faced a new U.S. Army, including a core of nearly 5,000 professionals trained and led by General "Mad" Anthony Wayne. Wayne had spent the better part of two years turning his soldiers into professionals.

Battle

Site of Fort Miami

Wayne's new army, the Legion of the United States, marched north from Fort Washington in Cincinnati in 1793, building a line of forts along the way. Wayne commanded about 2,000 men, with Choctaw and Chickasaw men serving as his scouts.[6]

Blue Jacket took a defensive position along the Maumee River, not far from present-day Toledo, Ohio, where a stand of trees (the "fallen timbers") had been blown down by a recent storm. They thought the trees would slow the advance of Wayne's Legion. Fort Miami, a nearby British outpost on American soil, had supplied the Native American confederacy with provisions. The Native American forces, numbering about 1,500, were composed of Blue Jacket's Shawnees, Buckongahelas's Delawares, Miamis led by Little Turtle, Wyandots, Ojibwas, Ottawas, Potawatomis, Mingos, and a British company of white Canadian militiamen under Captain Alexander McKillop.

The battle ended fairly quickly. Wayne's soldiers closed and pressed the attack with a bayonet charge. His cavalry outflanked Blue Jacket's warriors, who were easily routed. The Indian warriors fled towards Fort Miami, but were surprised to find the gates closed against them. Major William Campbell, the British commander of the fort, refused to assist them, unwilling to start a war with the United States. Wayne's army had won a decisive victory. The soldiers spent several days destroying the nearby Native American villages and crops, then retreated. Wayne's army had lost 33 men and had about 100 wounded. They reported they had found 30 dead warriors.

Aftermath

The battle of Fallen Timbers had ramifications that stretched all the way to Europe. News of the American victory helped negotiator John Jay secure a treaty with the British that promised British withdrawal from the frontier forts—securing the area for the Americans. The Treaty of Greenville, negotiated between Wayne and Little Turtle the following year, secured most of what is now Ohio for American settlement. The victory fears of frontiersmen about Native American raids and secured the area's allegiance to the United States. From a long-term perspective, the battle of Fallen Timbers secured American access to the western Great Lakes and the western Ohio River valley, giving farmers in the area access to international markets for their produce.

The defeat of the Native Americans led to the signing of the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, in which they ceded much of present-day Ohio to the United States. Before withdrawing from the area, Wayne began the construction of a line of forts along the Maumee River, from its mouth at present-day Toledo, Ohio to its origins in today's Indiana. After Wayne returned to his home in western Pennsylvania, the last of these forts was named Fort Wayne in his honor. It is the location of the modern Indiana city. Behind this line of forts, white settlers moved into the Ohio country, leading to the admission of the state of Ohio in 1803. Tecumseh, a young Shawnee veteran of Fallen Timbers who refused to sign the Greenville Treaty, would renew American Indian resistance in the years ahead.

Legacy

On September 14, 1929, the United States Post Office issued a stamp commemorating the 135th anniversary of the Battle of Fallen Timbers. The post office issued a series of stamps referred to as the 'Two Cent Reds' by collectors, issued to commemorate the 150th Anniversaries of the many events that occurred during the American Revolution and to honor those who were there. For 200 years, the site of the Battle of Fallen Timbers was thought to be down on the floodplain on the banks of the Maumee River. In the early 1990s, however, local researchers, after reexamining the sources from Wayne's campaign, came to believe that the battle actually took place one mile further inland on the land above the floodplain. In 1995, an archeological exploration was carried out on the newly proposed battleground site by a team of researchers. Musket balls, pieces of muskets, and uniform buttons were found, which led to the land being granted National Historic Site status in 1999. A federal grant allowed the Metroparks of the Toledo Area to purchase the land where the artifacts were found in 2001, and the site is currently being developed into a park in affiliation with the National Park Service.[7]

Fallen Timbers Monument

Lines of trees at the battlefield park

The Ohio Historical Society maintains a small park near the battle site that features the Battle of Fallen Timbers Monument, honoring both Major General Anthony Wayne and his army and Little Turtle and his warriors. Additionally, there are plaques describing the Battle of Fallen Timbers and honoring the several Indian tribes that participated. The main monument has tributes inscribed on each of its four sides honoring in turn, Wayne, the fallen soldiers, Little Turtle, and his Indian warriors. The park is located near Maumee in Lucas County.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Gaff, Bayonets in the Wilderness, p. 327, gives the claim of 30–40 bodies found as well as McKee's figure of 19 killed
  2. ↑ Lossing, Benson (1868). The Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812. Harper & Brothers, Publishers. p. 55.
  3. ↑ American Indian Policy in the Old Northwest, 1783-1812 Reginald Horsman, The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Jan., 1961), pp. 35-53
  4. ↑ Handbook of Social Justice in Education eds. William Ayers, Therese Quinn, David Stovall, writer Enora Brown, 2009, Routledge, p.70
  5. ↑ The American Past: A Survey of American History Joseph Conlin, Vol. I, Cenage Learning Inc., 2010, p.189-191
  6. ↑ Pratt, G. Michael (1995). "The Battle of Fallen Timbers: An Eyewitness Perspective". Northwest Ohio Quarterly 67: 5.
  7. ↑ Vezner, Tad. "Change Bears Down on Historic Battlefield". The Blade. Toledo Blade. Retrieved 11 August 2014.

References

External links

Coordinates: 41°32′39″N 83°41′51″W / 41.54417°N 83.69750°W / 41.54417; -83.69750

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