20 to 26 August 1794
Fallen Timbers: the gates of Fort Miami
Beyond the ravine the ground opens and the dragoons ride down the fleeing warriors. The battle lasts an hour and ten minutes. Wayne loses 33 killed and about 100 wounded. Alexander McKee of the British Indian Department reports 19 warriors killed, with six white men fighting on their side.
The earthworks of Fort Miami on the Maumee at Maumee, Ohio, todayWikimedia Commons, Nyttend, Public domain (Fort Miamis earthworks.jpg)
The warriors run for Fort Miami, the British post on the Maumee, and find the gates shut. Its commander, Major William Campbell, refuses to open them, unwilling to start a war with the United States. The survivors go on north to Swan Creek, where their families are camped, and refuse to fight again.
Wayne camps in sight of the fort for three days and rides alone along its walls. His men burn villages, crops and McKee’s trading post, and the garrison holds its fire. On 26 August the Legion marches back towards Fort Recovery.
Sources
- Alan D. Gaff, Bayonets in the Wilderness: Anthony Wayne’s Legion in the Old Northwest (2004).
- John Sugden, Blue Jacket: Warrior of the Shawnees (2000).
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