Hardin's Defeat

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Hardin's Defeat
partof=Northwest Indian War
date=October 19, 1790
place=Indiana, United States
result=Decisive Indian Victory
combatant1=Western Confederacy
combatant2=United States
commander1=Little Turtle
commander2=John Hardin
strength1=1,050 warriors
strength2=540 regulars and militia
casualties1=120-150 killed or wounded
casualties2=129 killed
94 wounded

Hardin's Defeat was a battle in the Ohio Country on October 19, 1790, between the United States Army and two tribes of Indians. It was part of General Josiah Harmar's campaign in the Northwest Indian War.

Prelude to battle

President George Washington and Secretary of War Henry Knox ordered General Harmar to launch a campaign into the Shawnee and Miami Indian country in retaliation for the killing of over 1,500 civilians in Kentucky, along the Ohio River, and at the few settlements north of the Ohio from the mid to late 1780s. The primary objective of the campaign was the destruction of the large, main Miami village of Kekionga (present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana), where the St. Joseph and St. Marys Rivers join to create the Maumee River.

The campaign was launched from Fort Washington (Cincinnati) in the southwestern Ohio Territory. At 10:00 a.m., on October 7, 1790, General Harmar began the march north, along the Great Miami River, with 320 regular U.S. Army troops and 1,133 volunteer militia, for a total of 1,453 men. Also deployed were three 6-pounder wheel-mounted, horse drawn cannon. By October 14, Harmar's force had marched to within convert|25|mi|km of Kekionga (Fort Wayne). At that point, Kentuckians serving as scouts for the army captured a Shawnee. After some intense interrogation (and possible torture), the Indian informed Harmar that the Miami and Shawnee were gathering at Kekionga, preparing for his army's advance. Before dawn on October 15, a detachment of 600 men under Col. John Hardin was dispatched north on a convert|25|mi|km|sing=on forced march to "surprise" the Indians at Kekionga. When Colonel Hardin's detachment arrived, they found the village abandoned and burned it, and camped south of the destroyed town.

Battle of Heller's Corner

On October 19, Colonel Hardin was given command of a scouting party consisting of 180 militia, a troop of cavalry under Major James Fontaine, and 30 regulars under Captain Armstrong. The party came within a few miles of Kekionga, where they encountered an Indian on horseback, who fled along a minor trail leading away from the village. Hardin ordered his company to pursue, but sent Major Fontaine's cavalry back to bring up a company that had been left behind. The Indian was a decoy, and led Hardin into a swampy lowland by the Eel River, where he could neither pursue nor easily retreat. Here, Little Turtle attacked from three sides. The militia fled, warning Major Fontaine's reinforcements to turn around.

The regulars stood their ground with about 9 militia, but only 8 of the 30 regulars survived. 40 Americans, total, had been killed, and another 12 wounded. [Allison, 73] Captain Armstrong hid in the marsh and escaped with his life. He blamed Hardin and the militia for the defeat, and claimed that only about 100 Indians had been involved. This was the approximate number of warriors available from Kekionga and Le Gris' Village. [Carter, 92-93]

Hardin's Defeat

On October 20, General Harmar arrived at the camp and immediately sent out a detachment of 300 men under Ensign Phillip Hartshorn northward to reconnoiter the Indian force's trail. Eight miles above Kekionga, Hartshorn was ambushed by a large war party, which killed him and 19 of his men. Instead of advancing immediately to attack the Indian force, Harmar pulled back, several miles south of the village, not even permitting a burial detail to bury their twenty dead. Morale by now had plummeted, and the men were enraged at the cowardice of their commander. Hardin then demanded that he be allowed to take 400 men and attack the Indian force, or at the very least, bury their fallen comrades.

At dawn on October 22, Colonel Hardin, with 300 militia and 60 regulars from the First American Regiment under Major John P. Wyllys, reached Kekionga to find a force of approximately 1,050 warriors encamped there. Hardin immediately sent a dispatch to Harmar requesting reinforcements. When the courier told Harmar (who was rumored to have been drunk) about the size of the enemy force, he became visibly shaken and ordered his 800-900 remaining men into a hollow defensive square and refused to come to Hardin's aid, leaving him alone to face an enemy more than twice his number. Colonel Hardin, expecting reinforcements at any time, divided his command into four groups under Major Wyllys, Major Hall, Major Fontaine, and Major McMullen. He planned to divide the forces and flank the Indians on all sides. [Allison, 74]

Little Turtle attacked first, however, sending small parties to fire on the militia and retreat. The militia gave chase in many instances, until the Regulars were left unguarded. Little Turtle then attacked Major Wyllys, with results as devastaing as Heller's Corner. [Allison, 75] Major Fontaine, meanwhile, lead a cavalry charge into a wooded area and into an ambush. Soon the Shawnee and Miami force was attacking Hardin from three sides. Still holding out for reinforcements from Harmar, Hardin's men put up a valiant defense, holding the Indians at bay for over three hours before finally falling back to join the rest of the army.

180 men were either killed wounded. [Barnhart, 284] The army forces reported 129 men killed in action (14 officers, including Major Wyllys and Major Fontaine, and 115 enlisted men) and 94 wounded (including 50 of the Regulars). Estimates of Indian casualties range from 120 to 150 total. The campaign came to be known as Harmar's Defeat. It was the worst defeat of the U.S. forces by Native Americans until that time, and would only be surpassed by St. Clair's Defeat and the Battle of the Little Bighorn. [Allison, 76]

References

*
* Barnhart, John D. and Riker, Dorothy L. "Indiana to 1816. The Colonial Period." ©1971, Indiana Historical Society. ISBN 0-87195-109-6
* Carter, Harvey Lewis. "The Life and Times of Little Turtle: First Sagamore of the Wabash." ©1987, Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-01318-2.

External links

* [http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=505 Ohio History Central]
* [http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=1338 Historical Marker Database]