Western theater of the American Revolutionary War

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Western theater
Part of the American Revolutionary War
The Fall of Fort Sackville, Frederick C. Yohn, 1923
Date 1775–1782 Location Ohio Valley and Great Lakes region Result Military stalemate; U.S. diplomatic victory Territorial changes Britain cedes region to the United States without consulting American Indians
Combatants
United States	American Indians, Great Britain
Commanders
Western Department commanders, George Rogers Clark, William Crawford †, et al.	Henry Hamilton, Arent DePeyster, Blackfish †, Captain Pipe, et al.
† = killed, = surrendered

In the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), the western theater was the area of conflict west of the Appalachian Mountains, the region which became the Northwest Territory of the United States as well as the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. The western war was fought primarily between American Indians with their British allies in Detroit, and American settlers south and east of the Ohio River.

[edit] Background

When the American Revolutionary War began in 1775, the Ohio River marked a tenuous border between the American colonies and the American Indians of the Ohio Country. This border had its origins in the Proclamation of 1763, which forbade British colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains. The British Crown had issued the Proclamation after the French and Indian War (1754–1763) in order to prevent conflict between Indians and colonists in the vast territory newly acquired from France. Settlers and land speculators in Britain and America objected to this restriction, however, and so British officials negotiated two treaties with American Indians in 1768—the Treaty of Fort Stanwix and the Treaty of Hard Labor—which opened up land for settlement south of the Ohio River. Thereafter, tensions between British officials and colonists over western land policy diminished.^[1]

Most of the Indians who actually lived and hunted in the Ohio Valley—Shawnees, Mingos, Delawares, and Wyandots—had not been consulted in the 1768 treaties. Angry with the Iroquois for selling their lands to the British, Shawnees began to organize a confederacy of western Indians with the intention of preventing the loss of their lands.^[2] British and Iroquois officials worked to diplomatically isolate the Shawnees from other Indian nations, however, and so when Dunmore's War broke out in 1774, Shawnees faced the Virginia militia with few allies. After Virginia's victory in the war, the Shawnees were compelled to accept the Ohio River boundary. Shawnee and Mingo leaders who did not agree with these terms renewed the struggle soon after the American Revolutionary War began in 1775.

[edit] 1775 to 1776 — Neutrality and small raids

Initially, both the British and the Continental Congress sought to keep western American Indians out of the war. At Fort Pitt in October 1775, American and Indian leaders reaffirmed the boundary established by Dunmore's War the previous year. Without British support, Indian leaders such as Chief Blackfish (Shawnee) and Pluggy (Mingo) raided into Kentucky, hoping to drive the settlers out. Governor Patrick Henry of Virginia wanted to retaliate by attacking Pluggy's Town in the Ohio Country, but he canceled the expedition for fear that the militia would be unable to distinguish between neutral and hostile Indians, and thus make enemies of the neutral Delawares and Shawnees. Nevertheless, Shawnees and Delawares became increasingly divided over whether or not to take part in the war. While leaders such as White Eyes (Delaware) and Cornstalk (Shawnee) urged neutrality, Buckongahelas (Delaware) and Blue Jacket (Shawnee) decided to fight against the Americans.

In Kentucky, isolated settlers and hunters became the frequent target of attacks, compelling many to return to the East. By late spring of 1776, fewer than 200 colonists remained in Kentucky, primarily at the fortified settlements of Boonesborough, Harrodsburg, and Logan's Station.^[3] In December 1776, Pluggy was killed in an attack on McClellan's Station,^[4] which was located on the site of present Georgetown, Kentucky.^[5]

[edit] 1777 — Escalation

A modern replica of Fort Randolph, which Americans built along the Ohio River in 1776. Dunquat, the Wyandot "Half King", besieged the fort in May 1778.

In 1777, the British launched a major offensive from Canada. In order to provide a strategic diversion for operations in the Northeast, officials in Detroit began recruiting and arming Indian war parties to raid American settlements.^[6] Unknown numbers of American settlers in present Kentucky, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania were killed in these raids. The intensity of the conflict increased after enraged American militiamen murdered Cornstalk, the leading advocate of Shawnee neutrality, in November 1777. Despite the violence, many Ohio Indians still hoped to stay out of the war. This was a difficult task because they were located directly between the British in Detroit and the Americans along the Ohio River.

[edit] 1778 to 1779 — American advances

In the early years of the war, the Viginians had attempted to defend their western border with militiamen garrisoning three forts along the Ohio River—Fort Pitt, Fort Henry, and Fort Randolph. Defending such a long border proved to be futile, however, because American Indians simply bypassed the forts during their raids. In 1778, the Americans decided that offensive operations were necessary to secure their western border.

[edit] Problems at Fort Pitt

The first American expedition into the Ohio Country was a debacle. In February 1778, General Edward Hand led 500 Pennsylvania militiamen from Fort Pitt on a surprise winter march towards Mingo towns on the Cuyahoga River, where the British stored military supplies which they distributed to Indian raiding parties. Adverse weather conditions prevented the expedition from reaching its objective, however. On the return march, some of Hand's men attacked peaceful Delaware Indians, killing one man and a few women and children, including relatives of the Delaware chief Captain Pipe. Because only non-combatants had been killed, the expedition became derisively known as the "squaw campaign".^[7]

Besides unruly militia, Loyalist sentiment around Pittsburgh also contributed to Hand's problems. In March 1778, three men with close ties to the British and American Indians left Pittsburgh, defecting to the British and Indian side. They were Simon Girty, an interpreter who had guided the "squaw campaign", Matthew Elliot, a local trader, and Alexander McKee, an agent for the British Indian Department.^[8] All three would prove to be valuable British operatives in the war. Amid much criticism, and facing a congressional investigation for allowing the men to defect, Hand resigned in May 1778.^[9]

[edit] Treaty making and fort building

Following the escalation of the war in 1777, Americans on the western frontier appealed to the Continental Congress for protection. After an investigation, a Congressional commission recommended in early 1778 that two regiments of the Continental Army be stationed in the West. Futhermore, because a defensive line of forts had little effect on Indian raids into the American settlements, the commissioners called for a fort to be built on the Indian side of the Ohio River, the first in a line of forts which would enable the Americans, it was hoped, to mount an expedition against Detroit.

In order to build a fort in the Ohio Country, the Americans sought the approval of the Delaware Indians. In September 1778, Americans negotiated the Treaty of Fort Pitt with the Delawares, which resulted in the building of Fort Laurens along the Tuscarawas River. American plans soon went awry, however. White Eyes, the Delaware leader who had negotiated the treaty, was apparently murdered in 1778 by American militiamen. His rival, Captain Pipe, eventually abandoned the American alliance and moved west to the Sandusky River, where he began receiving support from the British in Detroit.^[10] Futhermore, because of intense warfare in eastern Pennsylvania and upstate New York, Congress was unable to provide the manpower for operations against Detroit. Fort Laurens was abandoned in 1779.

[edit] Clark's Illinois campaign

In late 1778, George Rogers Clark, a young Virginia militia officer, launched a campaign to seize the sparsely garrisoned Illinois Country from the British. With a company of volunteers, Clark captured Kaskaskia, the chief post in the Illinois Country, on 4 July 1778, and later secured the submission of Vincennes. Vincennes was recaptured by General Henry Hamilton, the British commander at Detroit. In February 1779, Clark returned to Vincennes in a surprise winter march and captured Hamilton himself.

To American frontiersmen, Hamilton was known as "the Hair-buyer General" because, they believed, he encouraged Indians to kill and scalp American civilians. For this reason, Governor Thomas Jefferson brought Hamilton to Williamsburg, Virginia, to be tried as a war criminal. After British officials threatened to retaliate against American prisoners of war, Jefferson relented, and Hamilton was exchanged for an American prisoner in 1781.^[11]

[edit] 1780 — Major British and Indian offensive

Over the next several years of the war, both sides launched raids against each other, usually targeting settlements. In 1780, hundreds of Kentucky settlers were killed or captured in a British-Indian expedition into Kentucky.^[12] George Rogers Clark responded by leading an expedition in August 1780 which destroyed two Shawnee towns along the Mad River, but doing little damage to the Indian war effort.^[13]

[edit] 1781

In late 1780, Clark traveled east to consult with Thomas Jefferson, the governor of Virginia, about an expedition in 1781. Jefferson devised a plan which called for Clark to lead 2,000 men against Detroit. Recruiting enough men was a problem, however. In time of war, most militiamen prefered to stay close to their homes rather than go on extended campaigns. Futhermore, Colonel Daniel Brodhead refused to detach the men because he was staging his own expedition against the Delawares, who had recently entered the war against the Americans.^[14] Brodhead marched into the Ohio Country and destroyed the Delaware Indian capital of Coshocton in April 1781, but this only made the Delawares more determined enemies and deprived Clark of badly needed men and supplies for the Detroit campaign.^[15] Most of the Delawares fled to the militant towns on the Sandusky River.^[16]

When Clark finally left Fort Pitt in August 1781, he was accompanied by only 400 men. On 24 August 1781, a detachment of one hundred of his men was ambushed near the Ohio River by Indians led by Joseph Brant, a Mohawk leader temporarily in the west. Brant's victory ended Clark's efforts to move against Detroit.

Between the combatants on the Sandusky River and the Americans at Fort Pitt were several villages of Christian Delawares. The villages were administered by the Moravian missionaries David Zeisberger and John Heckewelder. Although non-combatants, the missionaries favored the American cause and kept American officials at Fort Pitt informed about hostile British and Indian activity. In response, in September 1781, Wyandots and Delawares from Sandusky forcibly removed the Christian Delawares and the missionaries to a new village (Captive Town) on the Sandusky River.^[17]

[edit] 1782 — "The Year of Blood"

In March 1782, 160 Pennsylvania militiamen under Lieutenant Colonel David Williamson rode into the Ohio Country, hoping to find the Indian warriors who were responsible for ongoing raids against Pennsylvania settlers. Enraged by the gruesome murder by Indians of a white woman and her baby,^[18] Williamson's men detained about 100 Christian Delawares at the village of Gnadenhütten. The Christian Delawares had returned to Gnadenhütten from Captive Town in order to harvest the crops that they had been forced to leave behind. Accusing the Christian Indians of having aided Indian raiding parties, the Pennsylvanians killed the 100 Christian Indians—mostly women and children—with hammer blows to the head.^[19]

Crawford led 480 volunteer militiamen, mostly from Pennsylvania, deep into American Indian territory, with the intention of surprising the Indians. The Indians and their British allies from Detroit had learned about the expedition in advance, however, and brought about 440 men to the Sandusky to oppose the Americans. After a day of indecisive fighting, the Americans found themselves surrounded and attempted to retreat. The retreat turned into a route, but most of the Americans managed to find their way back to Pennsylvania. About 70 Americans were killed; Indian and British losses were minimal.

During the retreat, Colonel Crawford and an unknown number of his men were captured. The Indians executed many of these captives in retaliation for the Gnadenhütten massacre earlier in the year, in which about 100 Indian civilians were murdered by Pennsylvania militiamen. Crawford's execution was particularly brutal: he was tortured for at least two hours before being burned at the stake.

The failure of the Crawford expedition caused alarm along the American frontier, as many Americans feared that the Indians would be emboldened by their victory and launch a new series of raids.^[20] Even more defeats for the Americans were yet to come, and so for Americans west of the Appalachian Mountains, 1782 became known as the "Bloody Year".^[21] On 13 July 1782, the Mingo leader Guyasuta led about 100 Indians and several British volunteers into Pennsylvania, destroying Hannastown and killing nine and capturing twelve settlers.^[22] It was the hardest blow dealt by Indians in Western Pennsylvania during the war.^[23]

In Kentucky, the Americans went on the defensive while Caldwell, Elliott, and McKee with their Indian allies prepared a major offensive. In July 1782, more than 1,000 Indians gathered at Wapatomica, but the expedition was called off after scouts reported that George Rogers Clark was preparing to invade the Ohio Country from Kentucky. The reports turned out to be false, but Caldwell still managed to lead 300 Indians into Kentucky and deliver a devastating blow at the Battle of Blue Licks in August. With peace negotiations between the United States and Great Britain making progress, Caldwell was ordered to cease further operations.^[24] Similarly, General Irvine had gotten permission for a Continental Army expedition into the Ohio Country, but this was cancelled. In November, George Rogers Clark delivered the final blow in the Ohio Country, destroying several Shawnee towns, but inflicting little damage on the inhabitants.^[25]

[edit] Peace and legacy

News of the pending peace treaty arrived late in 1782. In the final treaty, the Ohio Country, the land that the British and Indians had successfully defended, had been signed away by Great Britain to the United States. Great Britain had not consulted the Indians in the peace process, and the Indians were nowhere mentioned in treaty's terms.^[26] For the Indians, the struggle would soon resume in the Northwest Indian War, though this time without their British allies.^[27]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

Published primary sources

• James, James Alton. George Rogers Clark papers. 2 vols.
• Kellogg, Louise P., ed. Frontier Advance on the Upper Ohio, 1778–1779. Madison: State Society of Wisconsin, 1916.
• ———. Frontier Retreat on the Upper Ohio, 1779–1781. Originally published Madison, Wisconsin, 1917. Reprinted Baltimore: Clearfield, 2003. ISBN 0-8063-5191-8.
• Thwaites, Reuben G. and Louise P. Kellogg, eds. Frontier Defense on the Upper Ohio 1777–1778. Orig pub. 1912, Kraus reprint, Millwood, NY 1977.
• ———. The Revolution on the Upper Ohio, 1775–1777. Originally published 1908, Kennikat reprint, Port Washington, NY 1970.

Articles

• Belue, Ted Franklin. "Crawford's Sandusky Expedition". The American Revolution, 1775–1783: An Encyclopedia 1: 416–420. Ed. Richard L. Blanco. New York: Garland, 1993. ISBN 082405623X.
• Calloway, Colin G. "Captain Pipe." American National Biography. 4: 368–69. Ed. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN 0195127838.
• Clifton, James A. "Dunquat." American National Biography. 7: 105–07. Ed. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN 0195127862.
• Quaife, Milo Milton. "The Ohio Campaigns of 1782". Mississippi Valley Historical Review 17, no. 4 (March 1931): 515–529.

Books

• Bakeless, John. Background to Glory: The Life of George Rogers Clark. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1957. Bison Book printing, 1992; ISBN 0-8032-6105-5. Popular history which portrays Clark as a military genius who conquered the Old Northwest. The 1992 introduction by historian James P. Ronda reflects later doubts about this traditional view of Clark.
• Calloway, Colin G. The American Revolution in Indian Country: Crisis and Diversity in Native American Communities. Cambridge University Press, 1995. ISBN 0521471494 (hardback).
• Dowd, Gregory Evans. A Spirited Resistance: The North American Indian Struggle for Unity, 1745–1815. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992. ISBN 0-8018-4609-9.
• Downes, Randolph C. Council Fires on the Upper Ohio: A Narrative of Indian Affairs in the Upper Ohio Valley until 1795. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1940. ISBN 0-8229-5201-7 (1989 reprint).
• Grenier, John. The First Way of War: American War Making on the Frontier, 1607–1814. Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-521-84566-1.
• Hurt, R. Douglas. The Ohio Frontier: Crucible of the Old Northwest, 1720–1830. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-253-33210-9 (hardcover); ISBN 0-253-21212-X (1998 paperback).
• Kenton, Edna. Simon Kenton: His Life and Period, 1755–1836. Originally published 1930; reprinted Salem, NH: Ayer, 1993.
• Nelson, Larry L. A Man of Distinction among Them: Alexander McKee and the Ohio Country Frontier, 1754–1799. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1999. ISBN 0873386205 (hardcover).
• Nester, William. The Frontier War for American Independence. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2004. ISBN 0811700771.
• Smith, Thomas H., ed. Ohio in the American Revolution: A Conference to Commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the Ft. Gower Resolves. Columbus: Ohio Historical Society, 1976.
• Sosin, Jack M. The Revolutionary Frontier, 1763–1783. New York: Holt, 1967.
• Van Every, Dale. A Company of Heroes: The American Frontier, 1775–1783. New York: Morrow, 1962. Popular history with emphasis on George Rogers Clark and Joseph Brant.