St. Clair's defeat
| Battle of the Wabash | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Northwest Indian War | |||||||
Illustration from Theodore Roosevelt's article on St. Clair's defeat, featured in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, February 1896. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Northwestern Confederacy | United States | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Little Turtle Blue Jacket Buckongahelas |
Arthur St. Clair Richard Butler † William Darke | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 1,100 | ~1,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
21 killed 40 wounded |
656 killed or captured 279 wounded | ||||||
St. Clair's defeat, also known as the Battle of the Wabash, the Battle of Wabash River or the Battle of a Thousand Slain, was a battle fought on 4 November 1791 in the Northwest Territory of the United States. The U.S. Army faced the Northwestern Confederacy of Native Americans as part of the Northwest Indian War. It was "the most decisive defeat in the history of the American military" and its largest defeat ever by Native Americans.
The Native Americans were led by Little Turtle of the Miamis, Blue Jacket of the Shawnees, and Buckongahelas of the Delawares (Lenape). The war party numbered over 1,000 warriors, including many Potawatomis from eastern Michigan. The opposing force of about 1,000 Americans was led by General Arthur St. Clair. A surprise Indian attack at dawn overwhelmed the Americans. Of the 1,000 officers and men under St. Clair, only twenty-four escaped unharmed. As a result, President George Washington forced St. Clair to resign his post, and Congress initiated its first investigation of the executive branch.