"Mad Anthony" Wayne Claims Victory at Battle of Fallen Timbers (20 AUG 1794)

Photo By Lori Stewart | Signing of the Treaty of Greenville at Fort Greenville, Ohio, 1795 (Painting by Howard Chandler Christy, 1945)  

UNITED STATES

08.18.2023

Story by Erin Thompson 

U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence

by Erin E. Thompson, USAICoE Staff Historian

20 AUGUST 1794
On 20 August 1794, Maj. Gen. Anthony Wayne led 2,000 men of the Legion of the United States, along with Choctaw and Chickasaw scouts and elements of the Kentucky militia, against the Northwest Confederacy in Ohio. The resultant military victory led to the Treaty of Greenville and American occupation of the Northwest Territory.

The Legion of the United States was a reorganization of the American army following the end of the Revolutionary War and existed from 1792–1796. It was commanded by General Wayne, whose military experience and fierce personality earned him the nickname “Mad Anthony.” General Wayne emphasized training and fortification over swift offensives, and he used scouts to produce intelligence on the British and indigenous tribesmen during the Northwest Indian War. He relied on information from his Chickasaw and Choctaw allies, as well as the Legion’s reconnaissance scouts commanded by Capt. William Wells. [See "This Week in MI History" #54 20 August 1794]

Following the American Revolution, the British were slow to withdraw from the Northwest Territory, which encompassed the Great Lakes and its many trading ports. The region was also home to multiple indigenous nations. In 1783, they fiercely defended the territory against the Americans by forming a pan-tribal organization called the Northwest Confederacy, with prominent leaders from the Miami, Ottawa, Shawnee, and Lenape (Delaware) nations. Over the next decade, this confederacy, supported by the British, met the Legion on the field of battle across the Northwest Territory, with more than a thousand lost on both sides. By 1793, the U.S. government, determined to end the war, ordered General Wayne to finish it. However, the war stalled during the latter part of 1793, as an outbreak of smallpox and influenza overtook the Legion forces.  

After a failed attack against the newly established Fort Recovery in June 1794, the Shawnee retreated to Fort Miami, a British fortification in Maumee, Ohio. Shortly thereafter, a mass gathering of the Northwest Confederacy occurred. Intelligence on this gathering spurred General Wayne to action, knowing the Shawnee’s recent defeat had struck a psychological blow to the confederacy. On 28 July, he left Fort Greenville for the Maumee River with 2,000 Legion troops, accompanied by 1,000 Kentucky militiamen under Maj. Gen. Charles Scott. Joining Wayne’s scouts were the Kentuckian mounted spies under Maj. William Price.

Wayne’s Legion set up camp near the river in early August and consistently scouted the area to determine the best time and place to launch an attack. During a patrol on 18 August, a detachment of Legion spies under Capt. Ephraim Kibby were ambushed by indigenous warriors. The next day, Major Price’s spies were sent to scout the countryside and discovered a line of concealed tribesmen at the Legion’s front. Price reported this sighting to Wayne, who chose to take the offensive and readied his troops to attack at five o’clock the next morning.

On 20 August 1794, General Wayne launched his assault on the 1,500 indigenous warriors along the river. The ensuing battle lasted little more than an hour and was a decisive victory for the American Legion. The remaining tribal nations retreated to Fort Miami but were denied aid by the British. Unable to continue fighting, the confederacy accepted defeat and the alliance broke apart over the following months. The Legion’s victory in the Battle of Fallen Timbers ended the Northwest Indian War in the Ohio territory, and the Treaty of Greenville was signed on 3 August 1795. The war officially ended one year later when the British abandoned the last of their forts in the Great Lakes region.

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• Date Taken: 08.18.2023
• Date Posted: 08.18.2023 16:30
• Story ID: 451696
• Location: US