What Was Little Turtle’s War?

Little Turtle’s War is sort of a misnomer. Yes, this was a conflict between the United States and the Native American Confederacy organized in part by Miami Chief Little Turtle. But the war also formed part of two longstanding conflicts for control of North America. For starters, this conflict was the latest installment in the three-sided struggle for the continent between European empires like Britain, Americans, and Native Americans. Moreover, official United States military records consider Little Turtle’s War the first campaign of the Indian Wars, which lasted until 1891.

In the years following their victory in the Revolutionary War in 1783, the young United States sought to expand westward, encountering fierce opposition from Native Americans and the British. The Northwest Territory, encompassing present-day Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, became a focal point of tension.

Much to the disgust of officials in Canada and Native American leaders, British diplomats negotiating the end of the American Revolutionary War ceded lands west of the Appalachian Mountains, including the Northwest Territory, to the nascent United States.

However, while the 1783 Treaty of Paris directed the British to transfer control of frontier outposts like Fort Detroit to the Americans, officials on the ground refused to comply. In fact, the British aimed to create a Native American buffer state to block American expansion. Thus, until the British withdrew from places like Detroit, American control of these western lands existed only on paper.

Even more alarming for American officials was the renewal of Native American raids on American settlements west of the Appalachians. In fact, Britain’s Indigenous allies were not involved in the peace agreement of 1783 in any way. In other words, there was no peace between Britain’s Native American allies and the United States. The lack of a professional United States military only made attacks more likely.

Congress disbanded George Washington’s victorious Continental Army from the Revolutionary War in October 1783. As a result, there were barely any professional troops defending American territory. Historian Raymond K. Bluhm points out that at times between 1783 and 1788, there were scarcely 100 professional troops representing the United States.

Lands west of the Appalachians, particularly the Northwest Territory, proved far too valuable to American security and commercial ambitions to abandon to British and Native American interests. Settlers had already begun to move westward in increasing numbers after the American Revolution. But Native American attacks in the mid-1780s stemmed the flow of settlement in many areas of the frontier.

Many wealthy American investors and government officials were unsatisfied with the status quo. Congress, for example, faced increasing pressure to establish regulations to settle and administer the Northwest Territory.

In response, Congress passed the Land Ordinances of 1784-1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. These ordinances established the framework for American settlement of the territory and the process for admitting new states to the Union.

Revolutionary War veteran Rufus Putnam was among those investors eager to settle and profit from the valuable lands west of the Appalachians. In fact, Putnam was likely one of the authors of the Northwest Ordinance. Putnam, though, did more than help establish the government of the Northwest Territory.

For instance, Putnam also had a massive financial stake in the territory’s future. He helped organize the Ohio Company of Associates in 1786. Congress granted the company over a million acres of land in the Northwest Territory to resettle veterans of the American Revolution. In 1788, Putnam led a group that founded Marietta, Ohio. This was the first permanent American settlement in the territory.

Little Turtle & The Northwestern Confederacy 

Little Turtle, or Mishikinakwa, was a Miami chief from the vicinity of present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana. He achieved fame by defeating a French attempt to seize Fort Detroit after France entered the American Revolutionary War.

In response to the encroachment on their lands and the ever-growing threat posed by American expansion, Little Turtle and several other leaders like Blue Jacket and Buckongahelas forged a coalition of Indigenous tribes, including the Shawnee, Delaware, and Potawatomi. This confederation, sometimes referred to as the Northwestern or Western Confederacy, resisted the westward expansion of the United States.

This confederacy was built upon an alliance organized by Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant at the end of the American Revolution in 1783. With British backing, Brant organized a coalition of roughly thirty tribes to resist American settlement west of the Appalachians.

However, Brant’s alliance quickly dissolved as tribes began to make separate peace agreements with the United States. Many of these treaties were controversial within Native American tribes, and American settlers often violated terms.

As a result, the late 1780s witnessed an escalation in violence along the frontier. President George Washington’s administration was forced to respond by organizing the first official military campaigns in the young country’s history.

Revolutionary War veteran Josiah Harmar became the highest-ranking American officer in 1790. President Washington and Secretary of War Henry Knox called for a major recruitment campaign to give Harmar an effective fighting force. Harmar’s objective was to attack the Miami capital of Kekionga near present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Washington expected Harmar to move quickly from his base at Fort Washington near modern Cincinnati, Ohio. But Harmar dithered in camp. Accusations of drunkenness and incompetence soon haunted the aging Harmar.

Harmar’s troops eventually moved against the Miami towns in October 1790. At first, the campaign was successful, and several Miami villages were burned. But Little Turtle soon responded.

On October 19, Harmar sent 140 militia under Colonel John Hardin out to scout the surrounding area along the Miami River. Little Turtle organized an ambush near a swamp and routed Hardin’s inexperienced troops. Fleeing militia disrupted a detachment of American regular forces sent out as reinforcements. Captain John Armstrong and about 30 US troops made a stand against Little Turtle’s warriors. Only Armstrong and seven of his command survived the day.

Harmar’s battered army was soon in full retreat. Just days later, another ambush near Miami Town routed Harmar’s regular troops and militia alike. Harmar was wounded while leading a relief force to save the troops involved in the ambush. Wounded and low on supplies, Harmar ordered a retreat to Fort Washington.

The defeat stunned Washington and Knox. Harmar’s brief campaign had been a complete disaster, with roughly 200 soldiers lost. Despite public dismay and some reservations within the government, Harmar retained command of the army.

However, Harmar was replaced in early 1791 by another aging veteran of the American Revolution, Arthur St. Clair. St. Clair had a solid reputation as a Revolutionary War general and became the governor of the Northwest Territory.

Washington once again sought to expand the size of the American military. Major General St. Clair was to command an army of at least 3,000 in the summer of 1791. However, St. Clair’s force faced shortages of troops and supplies from the onset.

Washington had hoped for a quick victory against the Native Americans to erase the memory of Harmar’s defeat. But St. Clair’s army did not come close to mounting an offensive until late October 1791.

St. Clair and roughly 1,400 troops made it to the banks of the Wabash River by early November. On the morning of November 4, Little Turtle and 1,000 combined forces of the Northwestern Confederacy attacked St. Clair’s camp. Over 900 Americans were killed in the ensuing rout that became known as St. Clair’s defeat.

Historian Colin G. Calloway calls the battle “the biggest victory Native Americans ever won and proportionately the biggest military disaster the United States ever suffered.” Calloway also refers to the battle as the “victory with no name.” While occasionally called the Battle of the Wabash, American history books have long known this as St. Clair’s defeat. In this instance, the battle’s losers wrote its history, not the victorious Native Americans.

“Mad” Anthony Wayne & The Legion of the United States 

Indeed, the shock of defeat reverberated through an anxious American population, shaking public confidence in the country’s military leadership and prompting a reevaluation of strategies for westward expansion.

St. Clair’s disaster on the Wabash put President Washington in a difficult position. Threats of a congressional inquiry forced Washington to quickly reorganize the defeated American army.

In March 1792, Congress authorized an army of 5,120. Washington was granted authority to organize the troops. On Knox’s advice, Washington established “The Legion of the United States.” Historian Vince Hawkins explains that the Legion combined infantry, cavalry, and artillery into a single combined-arms unit.

Washington turned to one of his most trusted commanders in the American Revolution, Anthony Wayne, to command the Legion of the United States. A fierce disciplinarian, Wayne spent most of the next two years training his troops. His nickname “Mad Anthony” came from his aggressive battlefield tactics and fiery personality.

Wayne’s intensity and aggressive style were precisely what Washington and Knox wanted to see in the commander of this revived American army. The summer of 1794 witnessed the renewal of hostilities in the Northwest Territory.

At the same time as Washington prepared to deal with the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania, Little Turtle and Blue Jacket renewed attacks on American troops in the Northwest Territory.

In mid-August 1794, Wayne and the Legion crossed the Maumee River toward British-held Fort Miami. Wayne’s Legion met the Northwestern Confederacy’s warriors a few miles from Fort Miami at Fallen Timbers (near present-day Toledo, Ohio) on August 20, 1794.

Little Turtle and the confederacy’s leadership set up an ambush in the tangle of dense brush and fallen trees that gave the area the name Fallen Timbers. This position was ideal for an ambush and increased the likelihood of a repeat of Harmar’s and St. Clair’s defeats. But Wayne’s troops were far more disciplined than those from the previous American armies fighting in the region.

Moreover, a group of warriors ruined the trap set by most of the confederacy’s warriors and allied Canadian militia by attacking Wayne’s advance guard. Unlike previous ambushes, Wayne’s troops did not panic and flee. Instead, they charged into the dense wilderness. After 45 minutes, the Legion of the United States had won the Battle of Fallen Timbers.

The Treaty of Greenville

The warriors retreated to what they believed to be the safety of Fort Miami. However, the fort’s British commander refused to open the gates and assist the Native Americans. Wayne called on the British to surrender Fort Miami. Although Wayne menaced the fort for a few days, his troops ultimately did not attack the British.

Following the battle, the Legion marched to the site of Harmar’s defeat at Miami Town and built Fort Wayne.

The American military victory was not the only event to change the situation in the Northwest Territory. For example, in March 1795, Congress ratified John Jay’s treaty with the British, which included an agreement to evacuate all remaining military posts in the region, such as Fort Detroit and Fort Miami. With no hope of British military aid, the tribes of the Northwestern Confederacy began to seek peace terms from American officials.

Stunned and angered by the British decision to withdraw to Canada, representatives of 12 tribes negotiated with Wayne to conclude the Treaty of Greenville on August 3, 1795.

However, the Treaty of Greenville was a fragile peace between Native Americans and the United States in the Northwest Territory. For his part, Little Turtle emerged as a leading advocate for peace and reconciliation between Native Americans in the region and the American population. He died at Fort Wayne in July 1812.

In the early 1800s, Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, a veteran of the Battle of Fallen Timbers, revived dreams of a Native American confederacy to resist American encroachment on tribal lands. However, Tecumseh’s movement collapsed during the War of 1812.