About the Miami Indian Massacre of Harmar at Present Fort Wayne Indiana
. Josiah Harmar, a Revolutionary veteran, was appointed
Commander-in-Chief of the United States army, September 29, 1789,
and was at once directed to proceed against the Indians. He cen-
tered a force of some fifteen hundred men at Fort Washington
(Cincinnati). His army consisted of some three hundred regulars
and eleven hundred "militia," which really meant indiscriminate
volunteers mostly from Kentucky, aged men and inexperienced boys,
many of whom had never fired a gun. "There were guns without
locks and barrels without stocks, borne by men who did not know
how to oil a lock or fit a flint." With this "outfit" Gen. Harmar
proceeded (September 30, 1790), 'into the heart of the Indian coun-
try, around the headwaters of the Maumee and the Miami. The
Indians, less than two hundred, say the historians, led by the Miami
warrior, Chief Little Turtle, divided the army, defeated and routed
them, and Harmar, chagrined and humiliated, retreated to Fort
Washington after suffering great loss of men. It was a stunning
blow and created dismay and terror among the Miami valley set-
tlers. The Indians were highly elated and emboldened to further
and more aggressive attacks upon their white enemies.
. Josiah Harmar, a Revolutionary veteran, was appointed
Commander-in-Chief of the United States army, September 29, 1789,
and was at once directed to proceed against the Indians. He cen-
tered a force of some fifteen hundred men at Fort Washington
(Cincinnati). His army consisted of some three hundred regulars
and eleven hundred "militia," which really meant indiscriminate
volunteers mostly from Kentucky, aged men and inexperienced boys,
many of whom had never fired a gun. "There were guns without
locks and barrels without stocks, borne by men who did not know
how to oil a lock or fit a flint." With this "outfit" Gen. Harmar
proceeded (September 30, 1790), 'into the heart of the Indian coun-
try, around the headwaters of the Maumee and the Miami. The
Indians, less than two hundred, say the historians, led by the Miami
warrior, Chief Little Turtle, divided the army, defeated and routed
them, and Harmar, chagrined and humiliated, retreated to Fort
Washington after suffering great loss of men. It was a stunning
blow and created dismay and terror among the Miami valley set-
tlers. The Indians were highly elated and emboldened to further
and more aggressive attacks upon their white enemies.
