136 HISTORY OF OHIO. 



by their representatives in congress, yet he did not yield to 

 them. But he had the good fortune to persuade congress to 

 authorize hira to raise a regiment of regulars, and two thousand 

 volunteers for six months ; to appoint, also, a Major General, 

 and a Brigadier General, to be continued in command so long 

 as necessary. This was in the session of 1791, which ended 

 3d of March in that year. 



Under this act of congress. General Scott of Kentucky, 

 was sent out in May, with a body of troops against the Indian 

 towns on the Wabash. And another expedition was sent to 

 the same towns in September, of that year, under the com- 

 mand of General Wilkinson. Some Indian villages were 

 burnt, their corn destroyed, and some few warriors were kill- 

 ed; some old men, women and children were captivated, but 

 all this rather exasperated, than conquered the hostile spirit 

 of the enemy. 



ST. CLAIR'S CAMPAIGN AND DEFEAT. 



Under the authority of the act of congress of 1791, Arthur 

 St. Clair, Governor of the North Western Territory, had been 

 appointed Major General and Commander-in-chief. He was 

 empowered to treat with the Indian tribes; to be in fact a 

 military, as well as civil Governor of the Territory. Presi* 

 dent Washington did his duty faithfully; he appointed all 

 the officers, for the campaign, but the nation was poor and 

 weak, especially in the west. Every exertion was made to 

 raise an army and provide provisions and arms for it, and to 

 concentrate it as early as possible in the season, but it was 

 September before it was ready to march; nor was it even 

 then completed in any respect as it deserved to be. It assem- 

 bled at Fort Washington. On the 17th day of September, 

 1791, the army left Fort Washington, and cut a road through 

 the wilderness, to where Hamilton now stands. Here a 

 fort was erected, and called Fort Hamilton. It was on the 

 east bank of the Great Miami river, about twenty miles with- 

 in the present limits of this state. Having completed this fort 



