Fort Harrison, Indiana
Fort Harrison was a
Siege of Fort Harrison | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the War of 1812 | |||||||
Captain Zachary Taylor defending Fort Harrison in the War of 1812 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Native Americans | United States | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Joseph Lenar
Stone Eater | Captain Zachary Taylor | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
600 | 20 healthy, 30 sick | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Unknown – believed to be several killed or wounded |
- 2 killed before battle (civilians) |
Background
In 1811, while General
The fort protected the army's supply lines, as well as the capital of the
When the army returned, Harrison left Captain
After the outbreak of the
Siege of Fort Harrison
The siege of Fort Harrison was an engagement that lasted from September 4 to 12, 1812. it was won by an outnumbered United States force garrisoned inside the fort against a combined Native American force near modern Terre Haute, Indiana. It was the first American land victory during the War of 1812.
On September 3, 1812, a band of
Captain Taylor, with his 15 able soldiers and about 5 healthy settlers, made ready for the expected attack. Each of the 20 men was issued sixteen rounds to fire.[7] That day, September 4, a force of 600 Potawatomi (under Chief Pa-koi-shee-can),[8] Wea (under War Chief Stone Eater),[8] Shawnee, Kickapoo and Winnebago warriors approached Fort Harrison. A party of 40 men under command of Kickapoo Chief Namahtoha approached under a flag of truce and asked to parley with Taylor the next morning.[7] Taylor agreed, and the Indian force retreated to camp for the night.
That night, a warrior crawled up and set the blockhouse on fire. When the sentries opened fire on the arsonist, the 600-strong Indian war party attacked the west side of the fort.[7] Taylor ordered the fort's surgeon and a handful of defenders to control the fire. The blockhouse, which was attached to the barracks, had a store of whiskey, which soon ignited, and the fire raged out of control. Taylor admitted in his report that the situation looked hopeless, and two of his healthy men fled the fort.[9] Warning the fort that "Taylor never surrenders!", the captain organized a bucket brigade[10] to fight the fire before it destroyed the fort's picket walls. One woman, Julia Lambert, even lowered herself down into the fort's well to fill buckets more quickly.[8]
The fire did serve one purpose, in that it illuminated the night, revealing the attackers. The fire left a 20-foot-wide (6 m) gap in the outer wall, which the garrison temporarily sealed with a 5-foot-high (1.5 m) breastwork.[10] The remaining few of the garrison returned the fire of the Indians so fiercely that they were able to hold off the attack. All remaining invalids were armed to maintain defense, while healthy men were put to work repairing the hole left in the fort's walls. The fort was repaired by daybreak of September 5.[8] The Indian force withdrew just beyond gun range and butchered area farm animals within sight of the fort. The garrison and settlers inside the fort, meanwhile, had lost most of their food in the fire, had only a few bushels of corn, and faced starvation.[11]
News of the siege arrived in Vincennes as Colonel
Attacks at the Narrows
Following the relief army to Fort Harrison was a party of thirteen soldiers under Lieutenant Fairbanks of the Seventh Infantry escorting a supply wagon loaded with flour and meat. On September 13, 1812, the supply wagon was ambushed by a Potawatomi war party at a section of the trail known as The Narrows, an area near modern Fairbanks, Indiana, which has many ravines that serve as tributaries to Prairie Creek.[13] When the ambush was launched, the draft horses panicked and ran away with the wagon. Only two men – the wagoneer, John Black, and Private Edward Perdue – managed to escape back to Fort Knox alive, although Perdue was discharged due to the severe wounds he received.[14] Luckily for the two survivors, the Potawatomi gave chase to the runaway supply wagon. Eleven soldiers and all the provisions were lost to the United States,[15] and several Potawatomi warriors had been killed or wounded.[16]
A second column of two supply wagons and fifteen soldiers under Lieutenant Richardson set out from Vincennes two days after the first wagon, following the same trail, and unaware of the fate of the first.[16] When the Potawatomi learned that a second supply train was approaching, they set up the same ambush. On September 15, after the initial attack, Richardson realized he was out-manned, and ordered a retreat. The wagons were left behind to be plundered, which may have saved the lives of the retreating soldiers. Even so, seven men had been killed, and another had been badly wounded.[16]
A battalion under Major McGary discovered the bodies a few days later, and proceeded to Fort Harrison to inform Colonel Russell of the attacks and – more importantly to the half-starved survivors at Fort Harrison – the missing supply wagons.[17]
The Potawatomi party left the Narrows, and attacked the house of a settler named Issac Hutson on September 16, in what became known as the Lamotte Prairie Massacre. Hutson was away, but his wife and four children were all killed.[16]
Aftermath
The Battle of Fort Harrison is considered the first land victory of the United States during the War of 1812. The same day, Gen. Harrison's forces relieved Fort Wayne, which eliminated the last Indian threat to Indiana Territory for the remainder of the war.
In retaliation for the attack on Fort Harrison and the
For his services at Fort Harrison, Zachary Taylor received a brevet promotion to major.[1]
The fort was rebuilt in 1815/16 with a blockhouse at each corner, and abandoned in 1818 after peace was established in Indiana territory.
Since both William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor commanded Fort Harrison, Indiana historians later referred to it as "The Fort of Two Presidents." [19]
In 1970, the cemetery of the fort was discovered 200 yards south of where the fort was believed to have been sited.
Many years after the battle, a man found Lieutenant Fairbanks' sword stuck in a log. It was given to the Indiana State Museum.[17]
See also
References
Notes
- ^ a b Allison, 187
- ^ Lossing, Benson (1868). The Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812. Harper & Brothers, Publishers. p. 197.
- ^ Derlath, 178
- ^ a b c McCormick, 17
- ^ Allison, 181
- ^ a b c Allison, 182
- ^ a b c Allison, 183
- ^ a b c d Allison, 185
- ^ Allison, 184, 187. One of the men later returned to the fort with a broken arm. The other was found dead.
- ^ a b Kaufmann, 160
- ^ a b Allison, 186
- ^ Derleth, 182
- ^ Allison, 188
- ^ Allison, 189
- ^ Dunn, 142
- ^ a b c d Allison, 190
- ^ a b Allison, 191
- ^ Library of Congress
- ^ Greninger, Howard (October 30, 2007). "Incumbent eyes growth; challenger targets funds". Tribune Star. Terre Haute: CNHI. Archived from the original on February 5, 2013. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
Sources
- Allison, Harold (1986). The Tragic Saga of the Indiana Indians. Turner Publishing Company, Paducah. ISBN 0-938021-07-9.
- Derleth, August (1968). Vincennes: Portal to the West. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. LCCN 68020537.
- Dunn, Jacob Piatt (1908). True Indian Stories: With Glossary of Indiana Indian Names. Sentinel Printing Company. ISBN 978-0722208212. Retrieved January 9, 2009.
- Kaufmann, J.E.; Kaufmann, H.W. (2004). Fortress America: The Forts that Defended America, 1600 to the Present. Idzikowski, Tomasz (illustrator). Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81294-0.
- McCormick, Mike (2005). Terre Haute: Queen City of the Wabash. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-2406-9. Retrieved January 9, 2009.
- Fort Harrison on the banks of the Wabash, 1812–1912