The civilization of the white man now sweeps by the last resting place of the red warrior of the Mohawk Valley. His tribe has vanished; his reputation belongs to the ages.
LITTLE TURTLE, OR MICHIKINIQUA: THE MIAMI CONQUEROR OF HARMAR AND ST. CLAIR
Very few Indian warriors have ever defeated the forces of whites sent against them more than once. Nor have many of them exhibited the same talent for warfare that the English have shown. The red man has never cared for discipline or tactics, and has usually fought his battles in a haphazard manner. But there has been one chieftain who has the distinction of having defeated two separate armies of Colonists, with numbers about equal to his own braves. Judged from these successes in battle, and from his sagacity in the council chamber, Little Turtle, a Miami warrior, deserves a position of particular prominence among the American red men of distinction.
When the American Revolution came to an end, the Mississippi River was the western boundary of the United States. Long after the conclusion of peace, the British retained possession of several posts within the limits of the property ceded to the Colonists in the northern portion of the State of New York, and in Ohio and Illinois. These log fortresses became rallying points for the Indians who disliked the Americans, and who, as the tide of emigration swept westward, determined to check it. Although the British no longer fought against the Colonists, they sometimes supplied the hungry savages with rations, and sustained by these the Indians were aggressive, insolent, and sullen. The newly formed Government of the United States made strenuous attempts to pacify the wild tribes, and, for the most part, was successful. But the Miami and Wabash braves, under the leadership of Little Turtle, Blue Jacket and Buckongahelas, formed a strong confederation of Wyandots, Pottawattamies, Chippewas, Ottawas, Shawnees, Delawares and Miamis, who resolved to stop all white men from coming into their territory. Thirty years before, these same tribes had united under the leadership of Pontiac, and, although having a temporary success against the whites, had finally been defeated, as we have seen.
Exposed cabins and small settlements of the whites were continually burned by the red men, and the adventurous pioneers were slain whenever there was no assistance near by. Flatboats upon the Ohio River were never safe from Indian attacks, and had to run by hidden redskins on the banks. Frequently they were sunk by the enemy, although they had bullet-proof sides.... Attempts to conciliate the savages were met with insults, and, so in September, 1791, the President of the United States directed an army to march into the country of the Indians and defeat them.
In command of the American troops was General Harmar, an able leader and an aggressive campaigner. At Fort Washington, where Cincinnati now stands, he gathered a force of three hundred and twenty regulars and about twelve hundred militiamen, mostly untrained woodsmen with little experience in border warfare. Little Turtle was the most active leader among those who opposed the invasion of the Ohio territory. He won his position of chief at an early age by his skill and bravery, for he possessed both in a marked degree. His intelligence was very similar to that of his white adversaries. His knowledge of the proper way to fight in the tangled underbrush of the Ohio woodland was supreme. His portrait exhibits a face in which quickness and keenness of intellect are strongly marked. His piercing black eyes look defiantly at the spectator and burn with the fire of ambition and resolution. He possessed every qualification for a leader of the wild denizens of the Ohio country, and indulging in the gloomy apprehension that the whites would overtop and finally uproot his race, he was strong in his denunciation of the Americans, and in his desire to annihilate them.
On September 13, 1791, the troops under General Harmar pushed into the Indian country, and soon reached the villages of the Miamis. These were deserted, so they were burned, the cornfields were cut down, and the army camped upon the ground. On the next day an Indian trail was discovered, so Harmar ordered one hundred and fifty militiamen and thirty regulars, with their officers, to push on ahead and defeat the hostiles.