Fort Recovery

In late 1791, a confederacy of Indian warriors led by Little Turtle and Blue Jacket surprised and overwhelmed an American army of about 1,600 men under Major General Arthur St. Clair at this site along the Wabash River. Well over half of St. Clair's troops were killed or wounded in this greatest of all Indian victories over American military forces. In December 1793, Major General Anthony Wayne sent a detachment to the site to begin a four-sided picketed post with a projecting blockhouse at each corner. Completed the following March, it was christened Fort Recovery to signify it was no longer under Indian control. On June 30, 1794, what is believed to be the largest-ever assemblage of Indian warriors east of the Mississippi River attacked the fort but were driven away by the American defenders. The confederacy never recovered from this set back, setting the stage for Wayne's final triumph at Fallen Timbers later that summer on August 20. Today the Fort Recovery State Memorial offers visitors a glimpse of the 1790s with two reconstructed blockhouses and connecting stockade wall, an obelisk monument, and newly renovated museum exhibits.