St. Clair's defeat
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St. Clair's defeat, also known as the Battle of the Wabash, the Battle of Wabash River or the Battle of a Thousand Slain, was a battle fought on 4 November 1791 in the Northwest Territory of the United States. The U.S. Army faced the Western Confederacy of Native Americans, as part of the Northwest Indian War. It was "the most decisive defeat in the history of the American military" and its largest defeat ever by Native Americans.
Illustration from Theodore Roosevelt's article on St. Clair's defeat, featured in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, February 1896.
This lithograph of Little Turtle is reputedly based upon a lost portrait by Gilbert Stuart that was destroyed when the British burned Washington in 1814.
St. Clair's defeat. a-Butler's Battalion, c-Clarke's Battalion, d-Patterson's Battalion, e-Faulkner's Rifle Company, h-Gaither's Battalion, j-Beddinger's Battalion, crosses indicate the "enemy", z-"troops retreating" (north on right)
Monument to the fallen at St. Clair's Defeat in Fort Recovery, Ohio
Northwest Territory
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The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolution. Established in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation through the Northwest Ordinance, it was the nation's first post-colonial organized incorporated territory.
Check signed by Arthur St. Clair while governor of the Northwest Territory, 1796
Rufus Putnam. This portrait by James Sharples Jr. is in the collection of Independence National Historical Park, and hangs in the Second Bank of the United States building in Philadelphia.
Campus Martius ("Field of Mars" in Latin) was named after the part of Rome of the same name. This site, including the Rufus Putnam House, is now part of the Campus Martius Museum in Marietta, Ohio.
Seal of the Northwest Territory over a time capsule outside the Campus Martius Museum. The Latin phrase, "He has planted one better than the one fallen," signifies the replacement of wilderness by civilization.