St. Clair's Defeat

The great objective of St. Clair’s campaign was to establish a military post at the Miami village (the site of the present city of Fort Wayne) at the junction of the St. Mary’s and St. Joseph rivers. Intermediate posts of communication were to be maintained from that place to Fort Washington at Cincinnati. This was felt to be the only way to prevent future hostilities. Acting under instructions, St. Clair proceeded to organize his army.

At the close of April, 1791, he was at Pittsburgh where troops and munitions of war were being collected. On the fifteenth of May he reached Fort Washington. The expedition was expected to start before the first of August, but mismanagement in the quartermaster’s department and other hindrances prevented the departure for many weeks.