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[[File: ST_Clairs_Defeat_1791.jpg|250px300px|thumbnail|left|Historical Marker at the Location of St. Clair’s Defeat in Ohio]]__NOTOC__
On November 4, 1791, on the banks of the Wabash River in what is now western Ohio, the United States Army suffered its worst defeat of the entire U.S.-Indian Wars. The battle, alternatively known as St. Clair's Defeat, the Battle of the Wabash, the Battle of the Wabash River or the Battle of the Thousand Slain, remains little known among most Americans and has been somewhat ignored by academia. Although three times more Americans lost their lives in this [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000SHPTG0/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000SHPTG0&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=709579ee412a47132bf55a75a34753ac battle than at Little Bighorn], it is typically referred to as [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0190614455/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0190614455&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=b6750a7411c6c9cef6bc3091b217137a “St. Clair’s Defeat”].
====The Western Indian Confederacy====
[[File: Little_Turtle.jpg|250px300px|thumbnail|left|Little Turtle (ca. 1747-1812), Chief of the Miami]]
Many of the eastern Indian tribes supported the British during the American Revolution because they were told the British would stop or severely limit white migration and settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains and south of the Great Lakes. Whether that would have actually happened is irrelevant because the Americans won and the British allied tribes were forced to move farther west. The Miami, Shawnee, and Delaware tribes ended up in what are now the states of Ohio and Indiana, but was in the late eighteenth century the Northwest Territory.
====American Weaknesses====
[[File: Map_of_St._Clair’s_Encampment.jpg|250px300px|thumbnail|left|Map of the Position of the Americans Forces at St. Clair’s Defeat]][[File: ArthurStClair.jpg|300px|thumbnail|right|Arthur St. Clair (1737-1818)]]
A good commander will do everything in his power to win a battle before a shot is even fired. This is accomplished through proper intelligence of the enemy, planning, and ensuring proper logistics. General St. Clair failed on all of these counts. The lack of intelligence that St. Clair’s forces gathered about their enemy and the terrain they were in was woefully inadequate and totally lacking in some respects. They were not sure which chief was in charge of the Indian army they faced and even worse, they did not have any idea of their enemy’s numbers and St. Clair was not even sure about the name of the river. <ref> Eid, Leroy V. “American Indian Military Leadership: St. Clair’s 1791 Defeat.” <i>Journal of Military History</i> 57 (1993) pgs. 76-77</ref>
