Conflict: Old Northwest Indian Wars
Combatants: Americans vs. Maumee River Tribes
Location: Ohio (USA)
Outcome: American victory
In the Old Northwest territory, a confederacy of Miami, Shawnee, Potawatomi, and Chippewa tribes opposed and harassed American settlement of the region. Two separate military expeditions in the early 1790s were defeated by the Confederacy under the leadership of Little Turtle (who would shortly after be deposed by his own people).
In 1794, General "Mad" Anthony Wayne led a force of 3,000 American regulars and volunteers into the territory. On August 20th, near the Maumee River, a force of about 1,300 Maumee Indians attempted to halt the American advance. Wayne ordered his infantry to suppress the enemy and outflanked their positions with cavalry. The Maumee warriors routed and suffered hundreds of casualties in the maneuver. The Americans lost 33 killed.
Points of Interest:
The Treaty of Greenville was signed in 1795 leading to seventeen years of relative peace between the US and the tribes of the Old Northwest territory.
The Battle was named Fallen Timbers due to the trees which had been blown over on the battlefield by a recent storm.
The Battle of Fallen Timbers was fought within sight of an active, and per the Treaty of Versailles illegal, British garrison.
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Sources:
Dupuy, Trevor N., Johnson, Curt, & Bongard, David L. (1992). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military Biography. New York: Castle Books (HarperCollins).
Dupuy, R. Ernest & Dupuy, Trevor N. (1993). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military History. New York: HarperCollins.
Eggenberger, David (1985). An Encyclopedia of Battles: Accounts of Over 1,560 Battles from 1479 B.C. to the Present. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.
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