Battle of Piqua

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Battle of Piqua
Part of the American Revolutionary War

An illustration of the battle
DateAugust 8, 1780
Location
Bethel Township, Clark County
Result American victory
Belligerents
 United States Shawnee
Lenape
Wyandot
Mingo
Commanders and leaders
George Rogers Clark Black Hoof
Strength
970 militia 450 Indians
Casualties and losses
~44 killed
40 wounded		 5-6 killed
3 wounded

The Battle of Piqua, also known as the Battle of Peckowee, Battle of Pekowi, Battle of Peckuwe and the Battle of Pickaway, was a military engagement fought on August 8, 1780 at the Indian village of Piqua along the

Miami
warriors that killed and captured hundreds of white settlers.

Background

National Park Service map of the battle

The battle was part of a campaign in Ohio Country in the Western theater of the American Revolutionary War. Led by General George Rogers Clark, 970 soldiers crossed the Ohio River near present-day Cincinnati in early August 1780 and proceeded up the Little Miami and Mad Rivers. They reached the Shawnee village of Old Chillicothe (north of what is today Xenia, Ohio), which was known then as Chalawgatha to the Shawnee. Clark found it deserted and ordered it burned. He then proceeded a few miles north to the village of Piqua[1] (not to be confused with the modern town of Piqua, Ohio on the Great Miami River) where the Shawnee had retreated. Clark arrived at the village August 8, 1780. The village surrounded a small stockade. Piqua was at that time the capital village of the Shawnee and contained at least 3000 persons.[citation needed]

Battle

After several hours of fighting, both sides suffered significant casualties. The Shawnee were driven off when Clark used artillery to bombard the stockade from river cliffs above the village. Clark's men then spent two days burning as much as 500 acres of corn surrounding the village. Clark reported 27 casualties (14 killed and 13 wounded[2]) to make it seem like a victory, but historians have corrected that number to almost three times that based on eyewitness accounts of survivors. The Shawnee suffered an unknown number dead,[3] but at least five are known killed.[4]

Aftermath

This defeat so decimated the Shawnee that rather than rebuild the village, they moved to the

Wittenberg College on October 9, 1930.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ about 7 miles west of the modern city of Springfield
  2. ^ George Rogers Clark Papers 1771-1779 p.451-454 account of the battle
  3. ^ likely due to the general tribal custom of immediately removing their dead
  4. ^ Chronicles of Border warfare p.308 footnote reports Indian casualties as 6 killed and three wounded; Clark claimed that 12 to 14 of them were killed see-George Rogers Clark Papers 1771-1779 p.451-454 account of the battle
  5. ^ Mercer, James Kazerta. Ohio Legislative History, 1913–1917. Vol. 5. Columbus, Ohio: F.J. Heer Printing Co., 1918. (pg. 487–488)
  6. ^ Torrey, Raymond H. State Parks and Recreational Uses of State Forests in the United States. National Conference on State Parks, 1926. (pg. 213)
  7. ISBN 0-9601356-2-6
  8. ^ Federal Writers' Project. Ohio: The Ohio Guide. Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, 1940. (pg. 502)
  9. ^ Quife, Milo M. "The Ohio Campaigns of 1782." The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. XVII.1 (January 1930): 515.
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