Harmar’s First Defeat

Since the cease-fire agreement took effect in November of 1782, 10,000s of illegal white settlers had invaded the Kentucky region then the Ohio region. They paid a dear price for their acts of greed. Since the 1750s, 10,000s of illegal white settlers had been killed, wounded, and captured by the Anishinabek and their Indian and black allies. Those white settlers constantly complained to their corrupted leaders who always put greed first before anything else. By 1785, they commenced to seriously negotiate with Anishinabe ogimak (leaders) about ceding their land. They always refused. The whites had no choice but to resume open war with the Anishinabe Nation which had been decimated by constant war including the use of plague warfare by the whites. During the 1780s, problems were arising among the Anishinabe Nation which would eventually lead to them agreeing to end the conflict in 1774. Some Anishinabe people had allowed whites to become leaders among them and that is one event that started to draw the Anishinabe people apart.

To do what they were there for and to protect their citizens, the Americans raised soldiers up, under the command of General Josiah Harmar, numbering around three thousand, of whom, around 1,500 were to participate in the two battles against the Anishinabe soldiers. The Anishinabe soldiers may have had fewer soldiers than their enemy, and in fact, the number of their soldiers was probably no more than 500 to 600 or so, but they proved to the Americans that they were very determined to protect their country. A divison existed among the Anishinabe ARmy at this time. Among the Miami Anishinabek and Shawnee Anishinabek, was an Indian leader named Little Turtle who wanted peace and the white leader Blue Jacket who raised Tecumseh. They worked to dived the already weakened Anishinabe Nation. Harmar marched his 1,500 soldiers into the heart of Indian Ohio, destroying villages and crops, all along the way. The American General split up his soldiers and that did not go unnoticed by the Indians, who had been keeping an eye on the movements of their American enemy from almost the very beginning.

An ambush was very wisely planned, for one of the American detachments consisting of around two hundred soldiers, who were instructed by Harmar, to separate from the larger detachment. Upon seeing their enemy approach the location planned to ambush them, the Anishinabe soldiers, immediately attacked the two hundred American soldiers, which eventually led to panic and confusion among the American soldiers, yet the Americans composed themselves long enough to successfully organize a counteroffensive against their Indian foe, who were certainly, for the moment, compelled to better defend themselves from the onslaught of the Americans. Once the Indians regained control of the fierce battle, it eventually led to the Americans fearing that they would be totally annihilated by the brave Anishinabe soldiers. It led the Americans to retreat from the fierce battle to return to their more numerous comrades who they had separated from earlier. Upon their retreat from the fierce battle against the Anishinabe soldiers, the Americans were smarting but likely anticipating joining up with their more numerous comrades to continue the war. American casualties were anywhere from 100 to 200, of whom, some 70 of their soldiers were killed in that battle. It was the Anishinabe people who lived around Lake Superior who were keeping the Anishinabe Nation together. However, forces were at work which would eventually lead to many of the Anishinabe people choosing their own path.