Little Turtle Vs. The United States Army

"Indian Wars of the U. S. Army (1776-1865)", by Fairfax Downey, included Little Turtle of the Miamis and the war waged against Lieutenant Colonel Josiah Harmar, General Arthur St. Clair and the American Army.

Little Turtle (site at Fort Wayne, Indiana)

"On September 26, 1790, Harmar with 320 of the 1st and 1133 militia marched from Fort Washington, near present Cincinnati, against the Miami villages. Little Turtle let Harmar come on and burn a few deserted villages. Then his Miamis and their allies swooped down on the vanguard, caught in a defile. Most of the militia ran for their lives. A small body of the Regulars alone made a stand and was cut to pieces. The American Army, such as it was, had taken a sound licking, and there was no disguising it or the ineptitude of the whole affair by the whitewash a court of inquiry gave Harmar. Prestige and the safety of the borderlands demanded another campaign...". [Downey]

General St. Clair was chosen to avenge Harmar's defeat. St. Clair led his army to the one of the worst defeats, known as St. Clair's Massacre, when he battled Little Turtle.

"In supreme folly St. Clair had sent the veteran 1st Regiment to the rear several days before to round up sixty or seventy deserters who had sworn to take the ration-laden pack horses with them. The mission was important, but a detail from the 2nd would have served as well for it. As a result the troops most experienced in Indian fighting were absent at a time of critical need." [Downey]

Little Turtle capitulated at the Treaty of Greenville after General "Mad" Anthony Wayne was victorious at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.