1. Anthony Wayne's Post on the Auglaize -Chp. 1
Proposal
The following series of blogs will be presented to support my proposal that in 1794/95 General "Mad" Anthony Wayne constructed a post on the banks of the Auglaize River at or near the site of what later became Fort Amanda. He named his new post "Head of Auglaize."NOTE: Some of what you read in this first blog is gleaned from previous blogs and my first book; "Fort Amanda - A Historical Redress." These are included to help create a timeline and continuity of events leading up to Wayne's decision to build his post on the Auglaize.
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I'd like to go west into the Ohio Country but it's far far too dangerous
A Gruesome Gift
How dangerous was the Ohio country in the 1780s? During the 10-year period leading up to 1790, Indians, with the help of their British allies, had murdered over 1,500 settlers in Kentucky and along the north side of the Ohio River. On May 7, 1782, a British officer sent a letter to the British Governor of Canada, along with eight packages, containing the scalps of 983 men, women and children murdered by the Indians. While Indians did on occasion kidnap children and raise them as their own, as the inventory of scalps listed below shows that was not always the case.|
Pkg. #1 |
43 |
Soldiers surprised at night and killed by
bullets |
|
Pkg. #2 |
98 |
Farmers
killed in home in daylight protecting families |
|
Pkg. #3 |
97 |
Farmers
shot or killed by hatchet in their fields in daylight |
|
Pkg. #4 |
102 |
Farmers young & old killed
after torture of various types |
|
Pkg. #5 |
88 |
Women scalped then killed or
clubbed to death |
|
Pkg. #6 |
193 |
Boys killed by knife, hatched or
club |
|
Pkg. #7 |
211 |
Girls killed by hatchet or
scalping knife |
|
Pkg. #8 |
151 |
A variety including a minister and
29 infants |
|
Total |
983 |
|
When Hardin and his men arrived at Kekionga, they found it deserted so they returned to the main encampment. Over the course of the next several days, Harmar’s men were constantly harassed by enemy sniper fire forcing them into small sporadic skirmishes, which created a critical shortage of ammunition for the soldiers.
Early in the morning of October 22, 1790, Harmar ordered Col. John Hardin to return to the Miami village and complete the destruction of the site. When Hardin and his men arrived, they found themselves facing an Indian force of nearly 1,100 Indians. Being outnumbered almost 2 to 1; Hardin immediately dispatched a courier back to General Harmar pleading for reinforcements. Harmar who was reportedly drunk at the time, was visibly shaken by the news, and instead of sending reinforcements to Hardin, he panicked and ordered his men into a defensive position leaving Hardin and his men to fend for themselves. The ensuing fight was very costly for the Americans. Major Wyllys, one of Harmar’s key commanders, was killed along with 180 soldiers. A large number of others either were wounded or had deserted. The Indians’ casualties numbered between 120 and 150 killed. Feeling he could no longer continue the mission, Harmar retreated to Fort Washington[1], arriving there on November 3. Soon thereafter, he resigned his commission. While the losses his army suffered were significant, it paled in comparison to what was to happen next.
[1] Fort Washington was located in Cincinnati, Ohio, near the intersection of 4th St. and Ludlow Ave.
St. Clair's original army was made up of 2000 mostly ill trained soldiers. By the time he left Cincinnati, illness, desertions and deferments had reduced it to less than 1,500. By the time St. Clair's army reached the Wabash River (Fort Recovery, Ohio) on November 3, 1791, his force had been reduced to only 920 officers and men and 200 contractors and camp followers. Waiting for them was an enemy force of nearly1,400 Indian warriors. St. Clairs misioned was doomed from the beginnning. On the morning of Nov 4th, his army was attacked and the was catastropic.
While the exact number of Americans killed will never be known, the best estimates are that 632 officers and soldiers were killed outright or died on the battlefield and another 264 were wounded. Of the nearly 200 camp followers, children and contractors, nearly all were killed or kidnapped. Indian losses that day were estimated at only twenty-one killed and forty wounded. Of St. Clair’s 920-man force, only 24 men returned to Fort Washington unharmed. The Army’s casualty rate (killed and wounded) was a staggering 97% while the casualty rate of the Indians was less than 5 percent. The battle, known as St. Clair’s defeat, has gone down in history as the worst defeat of a United States Army at the hands of Native Americans. Nearly one-quarter of the entire United States Army had been slaughtered in a single three-hour battle.
Our Nations Reputation on the World Stage
By 1792, the stakes had been raised considerably in terms of national security. Not only was there a major concern with the continuing Indian hostilities in the northwest, there was an equally growing concern that the disastrous campaigns of Harmar and St. Clair could create the impression that the United States was weak and incapable of dealing not only with her internal problems with the Indians, but equally incapable of defending herself against foreign powers as well. What the country needed was a victory and it was and it was about to get one a major one.
By the spring of 1792, President Washington and Secretary of War Knox had re-structured the United States Army into what they called a “legion,” modeled in part from the ancient Roman legions. What they needed now was a battle-hardened General to lead it. Their choice - Anthony Wayne.
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Wayne had earned the nickname “Mad Anthony” from a bold nighttime bayonet-only attack on a British position during the Revolutionary War. Despite being outnumbered, his efforts proved successful and the victory provided a much-needed morale booster to the Continental army who was desperate for a victory of any kind. His fiery temper and unquestionable courage made him the logical choice to lead a new campaign. The 48-year-old Wayne came out of retirement and accepted the commission of Major General and Commander-in-Chief of the United States Army.
During the spring and summer months of 1792, Wayne assembled his army of 2,500 men at an encampment near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Needing a more suitable place to winter his troops, Wayne moved the camp twenty-two miles to the west on the banks of the Ohio River near present day Baden, Pennsylvania. He named the encampment Legionville.[1]
Legionville (1792-93)
During the winter
months 1792-93, Legionville evolved from being a temporary encampment to a
small city covering approximately 35 acres. It contained over 500 buildings, a
parade ground for practicing maneuvers and a rifle range for target practice.
By spring, the population of Legionville had grown to nearly five times that of
nearby Pittsburgh.
Sadly on April 18, Mary Penrose Wayne, General Wayne’s wife of 27 years died at the age of 44 at their family home in Radnor, Pennsylvania. It was 320 miles from Legionville to Radnor and a trip to and from home would have taken several weeks. Dates on letters sent from Wayne indicate that he remained at Legionville and as a result, it was nearly three years before he was able to return home and visit his wife’s grave.
The Flotilla Departs
On April 30, 1793, the first boats pushed off heading west. The 464-mile journey by boat from Legionville to Cincinnati took six days, traveling an average of 77 miles a day. The boats landed near a swampy area a quarter mile southwest[2] of Fort Washington, Harmar’s base of operations in 1790.
Wayne’s operational plan called for floating his men and materials down the Ohio River on barges to Cincinnati, disembark, and then advance overland to the north. Contractors had been working for months building large flat bottom boats capable of carrying 40 men and able to navigate the shallow Ohio River. Sixty boats had been built to transport Wayne’s 2,500-man army and another eight designed to carry heavy artillery pieces, powder and shot. Riders and drivers for the supply trains, horses, cattle and forage were loaded onto twelve additional boats that had been built specifically for that purpose. Early on the morning of On April 30, 1793, the first boats pushed off heading west. The 464-mile journey by boat from Legionville to Cincinnati took six days, traveling an average of 77 miles a day. The boats landed near a swampy area a quarter mile southwest[2] of Fort Washington, Harmar’s base of operations in 1790. Scouring the area, Wayne quickly determined that there was not enough open area between the fort and the Ohio River for his encampment. In addition, the area was too close to the lure of the temptations of the nearby town of Cincinnati with, as Wayne put it, “its ardent poison and caitiff wretches to dispose of it.” He finally decided on an area of high ground a mile west of Fort Washington and named his new encampment appropriately enough - Hobson ’s Choice.[3]
During the months of April – August 1793, Wayne’s men spent their days practicing battle formations and of course, target practice. In addition, recruits were reminded of the consequences of desertion and cowardice. On the morning of September 17 the men took down their tents, loaded their personal baggage onto wagons and at the beating of the tattoo[4] formed into columns and began their march north out of town following the same trail Harmar and St. Clair’s armies had taken years earlier. By the middle of October, the army had advanced 70 miles north where it stopped and began construction of a fort and made plans to winter in place. The finished fort covered sprawling 55 acres and was the largest wooden fortification ever built in the United States. Wayne named his new fort, Fort Greenville, in honor of his friend Nathaniel Green.
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(NEXT CHAPTER)
Decisions, decisions, decisions
[1] Legionville was located in Harmony twp.
Beaver County, Pennsylvania just west of the intersection of Legionville road
and Duff Ave. GPS coordinates for the
site are: N40°37’16”W80°13’42
[2] The site today is the center of the Great
American Ballpark in Cincinnati.
[3] Webster’s
dictionary describes Hobson’s Choice as, “an apparently free choice when there
are no alternatives.” The site today is
at the intersection of Gest and west. 6th Sts. in Cincinnati.
[4] A signal sounded on a
drum to summon soldiers to report to stations or to their quarters at night.
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