STORIES OF REVOLUTIONARY WAR SOLDIERS

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Arthur St. Clair

" Arthur St. Clair was a native of Edinburgh, Scotland. He was a Lieutenant under Wolfe and served through the French war. He subsequently located in Pennsylvania, became naturalized and took a deep interest in the prosperity of his adopted country. He was President of the Cincinnati Society of his state. At the commencement of the Revolution he espoused the cause of Freedom and in 1777 was commissioned a Major General. His military laurels increased and rested gracefully upon him during the war with mother Britain. In 1785, he was elected a member of Congress and in 1787, was President of that body. He was the first governor of the North West Territory. In 1790, he was put in command of the memorable expedition against the Miami Indians. On the 4th of November 1791 he met them in mortal combat and was defeated with the loss of many brave officers and soldiers who had braved the fury of the Revolutionary storm unscathed. By many he was censured, and how justly is not a subject to be discussed in this place. That he was a brave and skilful officer when opposed to regular troops he had fully proved. Braddock had done the same. To fight the red man on his own ground is a very different affair. It is reasonable to presume that his disastrous defeat arose from an ignorance of Indian warfare and not from any want of courage or an ignorance of regular military tactics. On his return he resigned his military commission. He was severely pierced by the keen arrows of poverty during his latter years. He died in 1818."

Source: The Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution by L. Carroll Judson