Battle of the Embarras River

Battle of the Embarras River
Part of Northwest Indian War
Date 15 April 1786 Location Vincennes, Indiana Result Native American/British victory
Belligerents
Vincennes Militia	Piankeshaw
Commanders and leaders
John Small, Moses Henry, Daniel Sullivan	unknown
Strength
	unknown
Casualties and losses
7 killed, more wounded	unknown

The Battle of the Embarras River was a 15 April 1786 punitive military action taken by the Vincennes militia against a Piankeshaw village near the Embarras River

Background

Prior to 1779, the Piankeshaw had relatively good relations with the French residents of Vincennes, living in and near the outpost town. When George Rogers Clark marched to Vincennes in 1779, a Piankeshaw chief, Young Tobacco, offered to assist in the siege against the British in Fort Sackville.^[1] After the United States assumed control of the area, however, it became a destination for illegal settlers,^[2] and relations with the Piankeshaw deteriorated.

Many small attacks and counter-attacks occurred between Native American tribes and new American settlers.^[3] After a boat was ambushed on the Wabash River, the Vincennes militia under John Small, Moses Henry, and Daniel Sullivan retaliated against one of these ambushes on 15 April 1786, a few miles east of Vincennes.^[4] The militia had several killed and some wounded.

Aftermath

The Piankeshaw abandoned their village near Vincennes and consolidated to a village near the Vermilion River.^[4] On 15 July 1786, they returned with 47 war canoes^[3] and about 450 Piankeshaw and Wea warriors, determined "to exterminate all the Americans who might be in these lands." ^[5] French residents at Vincennes persuaded the Piankeshaw to leave, but one American was killed and four wounded, and some American farms were destroyed.^[3] The French magistrate expressed concerns about the number of "outlaws" who remained at Vincennes and caused trouble with the American Indians, and he appealed to George Rogers Clark in Kentucky for help.^[5]

General Clark gathered a force of 1,000 militia and departed Clarksville for Vincennes on 9 September 1786.^[6] The militia spent ten days in Vincennes before marching north along the Wabash, but men deserted by the hundreds, and Clark returned to Vincennes without any action taken. Clark left 150 men to help defend Vincennes, but this force soon turned into a lawless mob. Vincennes petitioned Congress for help, with one resident heard praying "Lord, please send the Kentuckians home and bring back the Indians!" ^[6]

Secretary of War Henry Knox sent Colonel Josiah Harmar and the First American Regiment to restore order. The Kentucky militia fled Vincennes at the approach of U.S. Regulars.^[7] The regulars built and occupied Fort Knox at Vincennes, thus stabilizing the situation^[4]

Notes

1. Alton, 143
2. Sword, 57
3. Allison, 57
4. Day, Richard. "Daniel Sullivan, Frontiersman and Adventurer". National Park Service. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
5. Sword, 35
6. Allison, 58
7. Allison, 61.

References

• Allison, Harold (1986). The Tragic Saga of the Indiana Indians. Paducah: Turner Publishing Company. ISBN 0-938021-07-9.
• James, James Alton (1928). The Life of George Rogers Clark. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 1-4286-1023-5.
• Day, Richard. "Daniel Sullivan, Frontiersman and Adventurer". National Park Service. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
• Sword, Wiley (1985). President Washington's Indian War. The Struggle for the Old Northwest, 1790-1795. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-2488-1.