A Child of the Revolution: William Henry Harrison and His World, 1773–1798

15 Consummation

consummation 143 chapter fifteen Consummation t Midsummer warmth and the steady beat of military drums enveloped the Legion as it began its march, an hour after sunrise. Around Fort Greenville it was the height of summer; the officers’ gardens were flourishing, and on the edge of the clearings blackberries and plums were ripe. But the Legion’s route lay northward, into the level, boggy, brush-choked forest. Two thousand infantrymen, organized by sublegions, led the way, with Wayne and his aides near the head; the 720 Kentucky Volunteers rode behind. Another 800 Kentuckians were said to be coming up behind to overtake the army and unite with it. Heavily loaded baggage wagons labored in the severe heat. Wayne ordered frequent halts, but the men could not really refresh themselves—all the creeks and pools in this swampy country contained muddy, undrinkable water. On the second day, before they reached Fort Recovery, several horses died.1 It was Harrison’s first summer campaign. Sweating freely, he rode with orders up and down the length of the long, unwieldy caravan. At one point on the second day, the baggage train stretched out for four miles behind the troops. Wilkinson, commanding the right wing, fretted as always about Indian attacks. He pointed out to Harrison the length of the line and requested him to mention it to Wayne. Perhaps Harrison did, but it was a waste of effort; Wayne was in one of his driven moods, fixated on moving ahead as fast as possible to engage with the enemy. A compact formation was unimportant. The Army passed Fort Recovery, which saluted them with fifteen cannon shots, and encamped a mile farther 143 Booraem text.indb 143 5/22/12 1:53 PM 144 a child of the revolution on. Two more companies, one under Daingerfield’s command, joined the main army. But impatient as Wayne was, he still proceeded with caution. The men halted at 3 p.m. and dug strong breastworks for the night.2 No road existed beyond Fort Recovery. Early next morning, Wayne detailed a hundred “pioneers,” men with axes, to go ahead of the Legion and clear a track through the forest. In the shade the mosquitoes were “very troublesome, and larger than I ever saw,” noted Lieutenant Henry Bowyer. Thick brambles and winding creeks slowed their progress, and finally, in midafternoon, they came to a patch of ground too swampy for the wagons to cross. The army had to stop and build a bridge over the morass, whose bottom was “perfect mud,” as one officer put it. For the next day soldiers not engaged on the bridge scouted the muddy pools for drinkable water or stayed in camp discussing the questions on everyone’s mind: where was Wayne leading them, and where were their enemies?3 From the scouting expeditions of Wells, Miller, and others, the general had accurate compass bearings to several possible destinations in the Maumee Valley. The rapids, where the British had erected their fort, lay somewhat east of north. Almost directly north was a large collection of Indian towns—Miami, Shawnee, and Delaware—at a place called Grand Glaize, where the Auglaize River flowed into the Maumee. This seemed to be Wayne’s objective. The distance to it was a matter of debate—perhaps a week’s march, perhaps ten days’ march, depending on the kind of ground the soldiers had to traverse and the obstacles they might encounter. As they approached it, they were likely to run into the Indians’ main force. But in the meantime, where were the Indians and what were they doing ? These questions particularly worried the Kentuckians, constituting a semi-detached unit at the rear of the main body who rode and encamped by themselves. The second night of march, believing they heard shots in the woods near them, they fired a few of their own in return, but no attack developed. The next day, when Wilkinson brought up the question, Wayne told him that he had evidence that a small body of Indians was shadowing the army’s left flank. Wilkinson and many of the men, suspecting the presence of a much larger force a few miles deeper into the woods, urged Wayne to send out scouting parties for miles around the line of march. Wayne promised to do so, but Wilkinson remained nervous.4 With the bridge finished, the army marched again on1 August and that afternoon reached the St. Mary’s, a large river forty-five...