The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West

The settlers in Marietta were deeply concerned about an attack from Indigenous tribes. On January 5, 1791, Putnam called a meeting at which it was resolved that additional fortifications were needed to defend the settlement. Anyone who was able to do so spent nights in the stockade and scouts would take daily trips into the wilderness to detect any threats. Outraged at the lack of support from home, Putnam wrote to President Washington explaining the dire nature of the threat and the need for more soldiers.

Things proceeded to get worse. On March 13, two scouts were attacked, with one killed and scalped. The other escaped. More scouts continued to be ambushed as spring arrived. On June 16, an elderly settler, Matthew Kerr, was gunned down and scalped. Kerr’s son then beheaded an Indigenous person in revenge. Relations with the Indigenous tribes had deteriorated completely.

On May 3, 1791, Congress authorized Governor St. Clair to raise a force of 2,000 soldiers under his command to put down the Indigenous confederacy (96). Washington warned St. Clair to beware of surprise attacks. St. Clair was aged, overweight, in poor health, and had no knowledge or interest in Indigenous tribes. Likewise, the troops dispatched to his force were men from the streets and jails of eastern cities with no experience.

The expedition did not get underway until October 4, with Ebenezer Denny serving as aide-de-camp and Winthrop Sargent as adjutant general. The group, containing approximately 1,700 soldiers, with poor morale, and 200 camp followers, made very slow progress through rough country. Establishing a fort on October 13 and receiving much-needed supplies of food on October 28, St. Clair decided to confront the enemy. Previously criticized for his abandonment of Fort Ticonderoga in the Revolutionary War, St. Clair was not ready to call off this expedition despite very low morale and desertions. It was an unfortunate decision.

On November 4, in a surprise attack, a highly experienced Indigenous force led by “two exceptional commanders” (102), the Miami Chief Little Turtle and the Shawnee Chief Blue Jacket, surrounded and attacked the expedition. Some soldiers were in a position to flee, which they did. Others fought, but 1,094 would be killed. Of those killed, 623 were soldiers, including 39 officers. Atrocities were common, with men scalped while still alive and women’s bodies cut in two. St. Clair called for a retreat, leaving many wounded behind, including General Richard Butler, who had his heart cut out. Given the triumph at the camp with so many wounded, the victorious tribes did not pursue the retreating forces very far. The exhausted forces made their way to Fort Washington at Cincinnati, where St. Clair stayed recovering for two weeks. Sargent took three bullets but survived.

The Indigenous tribes lost only 21 fighters. They additionally recovered muskets, cannons, and other supplies abandoned at the camp. Known as St. Clair’s Defeat, the expedition was a total disaster. Denny was tasked with bringing the news to the President. When the settlers in Marietta heard, they were fearful and some decided to leave. While Washington received Denny, and later St. Clair, with courtesy, he was outraged at this defeat given his warnings. St. Clair resigned his command post and requested a Congressional investigation into the cause of the defeat—the first such Congressional investigation in American history. It would later exonerate him and he remained governor of the territory.

As word of the disaster spread, people across the country were enraged. Washington used the incident to pressure Congress into increasing the size of the army and raising military pay. In April 1792, Washington appointed General “Mad” Anthony Wayne, known for his tenacity and aggression (116), to command the forces in the Northwest Territory. The following year, in the spring of 1793, approximately 2,000 soldiers arrived at Fort Washington in Cincinnati. These soldiers were trained and disciplined. As a result, under Wayne, the military force had an overwhelming victory in August 1794 against about 2,000 Indigenous warriors led by Chief Blue Jacket. The federal force lost only 33 soldiers.

In Marietta, the pioneers were relieved and returned from the stockade, where they had enjoyed games and dances with one another, to their farms. On August 3, 1795, the Treaty of Greenville was signed. It confined the Indigenous tribes to the north and west, allowing for a “flood of settlers” (118) to occupy eastern and southern Ohio. The gain for the pioneers thus came at the expense of the Indigenous peoples.