Battle of Fallen Timbers
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| Battle of Fallen Timbers | |||||||
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| Part of the Northwest Indian War | |||||||
 An 1896 depiction of the battle from Harper's Magazine. |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 United States |
Western Confederacy British Canada |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Anthony Wayne | Blue Jacket Buckongahelas |
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| Strength | |||||||
| 3,000 | 1,500 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 33 killed 100 wounded |
19–40 killed[1] | ||||||
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The Battle of Fallen Timbers (August 20, 1794) was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between American Indian tribes affiliated with the Western Confederacy and the United States for control of the Northwest Territory (an area bounded on the south by the Ohio River, on the west by the Mississippi River, and on the northeast by the Great Lakes). 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.
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[edit] Background
Ohio River boundary line established with Britain by the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768 recognized certain lands as belonging to Native American nations. After the American Revolution, the United States claimed that the Native American nations had ceased to own lands in the Ohio area, citing an article in the Treaty of Paris of 1783 in which the British agreed to cede Americans lands owned by indigenous nations. Native American nations rejected the idea that the British and Americans could take their lands without their consent; they did not have a representative at the Treaty negotiations, did not sign it, and did not recognize its article giving away rights to their lands. When American settlers began moving into the Ohio territory in increasing numbers, the indigenous nations viewed them as intruders. The U.S. argued that it had to right to seize lands which had been conquered in battle, and agreed to in the Treaty of Paris.[2][3]
The Western Confederacy, an alliance of Native American nations, came together to fight for the possession of their lands, and achieved several victories over the United States in 1790 and 1791, alarming the administration of President George Washington. Even though President Washington understood that the American settlers were responsible for much of the violence, he made preparations to defeat the American Indian alliance when the battles became more serious. In 1792, Washington called upon Revolutionary War veteran General "Mad" Anthony Wayne to build and command a new army in order to crush resistance to Americans seizing their lands.[4] Wayne believed the previous expeditions against the Indians had failed because of the poor training and discipline, and he began rigorous preparations. Wayne had time to train his new army, as peace negotiations were undertaken in the summer of 1793.
However, Shawnee war chief Blue Jacket and Delaware (Lenape) leader Buckongahelas, encouraged by their recent victories over United States troops and the hope of continued British support, pressed for a return to the the Treaty of Fort Stanwix of 1768. They reiterated their rejection the subsequent treaties - agreements in some cases they had never been consulted on - that ceded lands north of the Ohio River to the United States. A faction led by the influential Mohawk leader Joseph Brant attempted to negotiate a compromise, but Blue Jacket and his allies would accept nothing less than an Ohio River boundary, which the United States refused. The two sides fought a war for title and possession of Indian lands under the direction of Secretary of War Henry Knox.
[edit] Battle
Wayne's new army, the Legion of the United States, marched north from Fort Washington (Cincinnati, Ohio) in 1793, building a line of forts along the way. Wayne commanded more than 4,600 men, with some Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians serving as scouts.
Blue Jacket's army took a defensive stand along the Maumee River (in present-day Maumee, Ohio and not far from present-day Toledo, Ohio), where a stand of trees ("fallen timbers") had been blown down by a heavy storm. They reckoned that the trees would hinder the advance of the army, if they came. Nearby was Fort Miami, a British outpost from which the Indian confederacy received provisions. The Indian army, about 3,000 strong, consisted of Blue Jacket's Shawnees and Buckongahelas's Delawares, Miamis led by Little Turtle, Wyandots, Ojibwas, Ottawas, Potawatomis, Mingos, and even some Canadian militia.
The battle did not last long. Troops closed quickly and pressed with the bayonet. The Indians were outflanked by American cavalry and quickly routed. They fled back to Fort Miami, only to find the gates closed. The British commander, not authorized to start a war with the Americans, refused to give shelter to the fleeing Indians. The American troops destroyed Indian villages and crops in the area, and then withdrew. Thirty-three of Wayne's men were killed and 100 were wounded. The victorious Americans claimed to have found 30–40 enemy dead on the field. According to Alexander McKee of the British Indian Department, the Indian confederacy had 19 men killed.[1] McKee's figure may or may not include the casualties of a group of Canadian volunteers under Captain Alexander McKillop, who fought alongside the Indians.
[edit] Aftermath
The defeat of the Indians led to the signing of the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, which 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, from its mouth at present-day Toledo to its origins in present-day Indiana. After Wayne had returned to his home in western Pennsylvania, the last of these forts was named Fort Wayne in his honor. Its location is the site of the present-day Indiana city. Behind this line of forts, European Americans settled the Ohio country, leading to the admission of the state of Ohio in 1803. Tecumseh, a young Shawnee veteran of Fallen Timbers who did not sign the Greenville Treaty, would renew American Indian resistance in the years ahead.
[edit] Legacy
On September 14, 1929, the US 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.
[edit] Fallen Timbers
The Ohio Historical Society maintains a small park near the battle site that features the Battle of Fallen Timbers Monument, honoring Major General Anthony Wayne, and other monuments to the soldiers and Native Americans who died in the battle. The park is located near Maumee in Lucas County.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Gaff, Bayonets in the Wilderness, p. 327, gives the claim of 30–40 bodies found as well as McKee's figure of 19 killed
- ^ 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
- ^ Handbook of Social Justice in Education eds. William Ayers, Therese Quinn, David Stovall, writer Enora Brown, 2009, Routledge, p.70
- ^ The American Past: A Survey of American History Joseph Conlin, Vol. I, Cenage Learning Inc., 2010, p.189-191
[edit] References
- Gaff, Allan D. Bayonets in the Wilderness: Anthony Wayne’s Legion in the Old Northwest. University of Oklahoma Press, May 2004. ISBN 0806135859, ISBN 978-0806135854.
- Sudgen, John. Blue Jacket: Warrior of the Shawnees. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2000.
- Sword, Wiley. President Washington's Indian War: The Struggle for the Old Northwest, 1790–1795. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985.
