From Tippacanoe to Mississinewa

From the battle of Tippecanoe in 1811 to the battle of Mississinewa in 1812 many things had been happening. Tensions continued to rise between the United States and the United Kingdom. The British had generally been sympathetic/supportive to Tecumseh and the Indians tribes hostile to the Americans, hoping for an Indian buffer between Canada and the U.S. The British also continued to impress American sailors into their navy and otherwise tread on American sovereignty. Great Britain had been battling with France off and on for fifteen years or so, and the U.S. had tried to maintain neutrality and "isolationist" policies such as Washington had promoted. But the struggle to resist being pulled into the European conflict was difficult, as England and France both wanted the U.S. on their side. The U.S. had almost been brought to war with France, and from 1798-1800 a "quasi-war" had been maintained between France and the US. But by 1812 Great Britain had become the larger problem. (As a side note, America was not the only country to try to be neutral but end up fighting Britain because of Britain's bully-like method of treating neutral countries. Denmark-Norway is another example.)

Finally on June 18th, 1812 Congress officially declared "That war be and the same is hereby declared to exist between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the dependencies thereof, and the United States of America and their territories." Although Canada should have been fairly easily taken as the UK was currently busy fighting Napoleon, American troops failed in their attacks during this first year. American Fort Mackinac in northern Michigan was taken by the British. In August, Detroit, with 2,500 American troops, was surrendered to the British by a confused General William Hull to a British/Indian force about half his size. At the same time Fort Dearborn (modern-day Chicago) was abandoned by the US on the condition of safe conduct, but as the American soldiers, civilians, and Miami allies (about 125 total) were leaving the fort (with the fifes and drums playing a funeral march), five-hundred Potawatomi/Winnebago massacred most of them, and took others to torture to death (commanding officer Captain Heald was shot through the hips and Mrs. Heald was shot several times and possibly scalped, but they survived and escaped in a canoe and later settled in St. Charles County, MO).

On October 13th, on the Canadian side of the Niagara River, the battle of Queenston Heights took place. The 1,200 American regulars and militia at first were successful in driving back the Canadians from the heights, especially due to Captain John E. Wool's leadership in taking his men up a narrow path that the British had though unusable. The Canadian hero General Isaac Brock (who had taken Detroit) valiantly led his men to retake the heights, but was killed. Eventually, though, the British and some Mohawks were able to trap the American soldiers, and the American soldiers on the other side of the river did not reenforce them. Thus, this almost-victory turned into a defeat in which the Americans lost 120 dead, 120 wounded, and the rest captured. The British and Mohawks lost about 25 dead, and 85 wounded.

There were a few bright spots amid these disappointments. On the ocean, the USS Constitution, under command of William Hull's nephew, Isaac Hull, had defeated the British frigate HMS Guerriere. On the frontier a few small victories were won. Captain Zachary Taylor successfully defended Fort Harrison with 50 7th Infantry regulars against a much larger Indian force. Soldiers from the 1st Infantry Regiment also successfully defended Fort Madison (Missouri Territory, now Iowa) and Fort Wayne (Indiana Territory) from Indian attacks. In Illinois, Territorial Rangers and Militia defeated some hostile Kickapoos near modern day Peoria, IL.

General William Henry Harrison had successfully led the American army at the battle of Tippecanoe and would later go on to become President of the Unites States. At this point he had been promoted to Brigadier General in command of the U.S. Army of the Northwest (which was mostly in Ohio and Indiana at that time) and was given the task to stop the Indian raids, retake Detroit, and invade Canada. He had launched a three pronged attack in November to retake Detroit and take out a few Indian strongholds on the way. But one prong was ambushed by Shawnees near modern-day Lafayette, IN, another was pinned down at Fort Winchester (north-western Ohio) from lack of supplies because of Miami raids on supply lines, and the other turned back because of the lack of support from the other two. General Harrison realized that to advance on Detroit he would have to do something about the hostile Indian tribes that would cut off his supply line if he moved north.

Thus he sent out Lt. Colonel J.B. Campbell with 600 dragoons and mounted infantry, regulars and volunteers, to take out the hostile Miami villages located near the junction of the Mississenawa and Wabash rivers and destroy some of their food supplies. They left Fort Greenville (north of Dayton, OH) on December 14th and reached some of the villages by the morning of December 17th (near modern-day Marion, IN). Regrettably they had been discovered, and after a brief skirmish they gained possession of a few villages with some women, children, and old men. They destroyed the villages and and set up an encampment. There they spent the night with sentries posted wondering what the morning light would bring. The weather was very cold and some of the men were getting frostbite. At 4:00am in the morning darkness Lt. Col. Campbell, fearing attack, had revile played and had the officers meet to discuss what they would do next.

To be continued...

-Peter Bringe
 Memor!

P.S. In case you are confused, the actual battle of Mississinewa happened in December, the reenactment happens October 12-14.