Vivid Account Butler's Death "an Indian ran through the ranks of our men into the Tent & Tomehocked the Genl" St. Clair's Defeat, Fantastic!

"an Indian ran through the ranks of our men into the Tent & Tomehocked the Genl & the Doctr that was dressing him...."

Colonel Baker Johnson wrote this letter to his wife in Frederick. He encloses a list of those killed at the Battle of the Wabash, also known as St. Clair's Defeat, including their friend General Richard Butler. Johnson describes the death by tomahawk of General Butler and the doctor who was attending to him.

Johnson's letter, only a few weeks after the event, reflects both the shock and the immediate attempts to justify the loss. He says that the soldiers were expecting an engagement but most sources suggest they were woefully unprepared and were taken by surprise. He also repeats the widespread and largely correct belief that the British were encouraging Native American attacks on American settlers and armies by arming and supporting them to create a Native American barrier state against American expansion. The British government reversed course a few years later, when war with France made an alliance with the United States more attractive. Those negotiations led to the Jay Treaty of 1794, which included a provision for the removal of British forts from American territory in Michigan and Wisconsin.

[RICHARD BUTLER.] Baker Johnson, Autograph Letter Signed, to Catherine Johnson, December 9, 1791, Hagerstown, Maryland, 2 pp., 8" x 12.75". Cellophane tape repairs to separations on folds of integral leaf, slightly affecting address text; some staining; very good.

Complete Transcript
Wednesday Morn'g
Hagers Town Decr 9th 91
My dearest Kitty/
It was quite knight when we got up the riding was so bad and cold I felt much fateagued, but thank Heaven am better this morning. the time when I shall meet you is quite uncertain—Pray my dear Kitty make Lusey take her medicine and if she continues only unwell get Jamy Cook to hunt Brother John continually make him see her three or four times every day—tell Jamy he must be sure to see that Andr keeps the out Hoggs at Mount Airy supplied with Water, and indeed every thing else. I immagine they may get it by this time out of the Pump and no pains must be spared.
Inclosed is a melancholy List of the dead and wounded, amongst them several of your acquaintances. Genl Butler my sincere friend and old acquaintance was (it is said) first wounded & carried into his Tent to be dressed, that an Indian ran through the ranks of our men into the Tent & Tomehocked the Genl & the Doctr that was dressing him, & that one of our soldiers at that moment killd the Indian with his Baynonet & the three lay dead in the same Tent. It has been a most Bloody Engagement our men were all apprised of the Battle & lay on their arms all the night before and when attacked were ready. there must be the most dreadfull havock for it was in an open ffield that they fought, both Parties and the Indians fought with musquets and Bayonets, which it is said the British supplied them with. The Bell rings for Court God bless you for the present [ache?], kiss my sweet little Babes, give my Love to Sall and believe me unalterably—
Yr affecte Husband
B. Johnson
[Address:]
Mrs. Ca. Johnson
Fredk Town
Mr Jno McGill

Historical Background
The Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolutionary War in 1783 included British recognition of American sovereignty over the land east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes. Native American nations in the area were not parties to the treaty and many refused to recognize American claims to the area. The new American nation hoped to raise much-needed revenue by selling the lands of the Northwest Territory, but doing so required the removal of Native American villages in the area.

In the summer of 1791, President George Washington ordered General Arthur St. Clair, the governor of the Northwest Territory and a major general in the U.S. Army, to mount a vigorous effort to force Native Americans from the area. He led two undersized regiments of the U.S. Army, while Major General Richard Butler led two regiments of militia levies, supplemented by the Kentucky militia under Lieutenant Colonel William Olden. At its peak, the force included a total of around 2,000 men, but desertion soon took a toll and discipline was lax. The force marched from Cincinnati in October and encamped on an elevated meadow on both sides of the Wabash River near the modern border of Ohio and Indiana in early November. The force of approximately 1, did not build defensive works and Butler failed to send a report to St. Clair that a skirmishing party believed an attack was imminent.

A Native American force of approximately 1,400 warriors from Miami, Shawnee, Lenape, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, Wyandot, Mingo, and Cherokee nations formed a large crescent around the American camp. On the morning of November 4, the Native Americans attacked the camp, overrunning the militia who fled without their weapons. The regular army soldiers formed battle lines but within thirty minutes were completely encircled. Native marksmen killed several in the gun crews, forcing the survivors to spike the artillery. Repeated bayonet charges failed to dislodge the Native lines but cost many American casualties as the Native warriors gave way only to encircle the attackers and annihilate them. After three hours of fighting, St. Clair, who had had three horses shot from under him in a futile attempt to rally his men, decided to attempt a final bayonet charge to get through the line and escape, leaving supplies and the wounded in the camp.

When the Native forces gave way, the soldiers ran for Fort Jefferson, 30 miles away to the southeast. "It was, in fact, a flight," St. Clair later explained in a letter to Secretary of War Henry Knox. Native American warriors pursued them for four miles, killing any who fell behind, before returning to the battlefield to seize supplies and kill the wounded.

The casualty rate was the highest percentage ever suffered by a United States Army unit. Of 52 officers engaged, 39 were killed and 7 were wounded. The casualty rate among the soldiers was 97 percent, with 632 killed and 264 wounded. Nearly all of the camp followers—wives and children of soldiers, laundresses, and prostitutes—were slaughtered, adding another 200 to the Americans killed. Native American casualties were approximately 21 killed and 40 wounded.

Baker Johnson (1747-1811) was born in Calvert County, Maryland. He studied law in the office of his brother Thomas Johnson (1732-1819), who later served as governor of Maryland from 1777 to 1779. Baker Johnson settled in Frederick to practice law in 1776. During the Revolutionary War, he was a member of the Maryland Conventions from 1774 to 1776 and commanded a battalion as a colonel in the Continental Army. In 1784, he married Catherine Griffith Worthington at her parent's estate near Annapolis, and they had at least ten children. He was the co-owner of the iron-manufacturing Catoctin Furnace in Frederick with three of his brothers. He died in Frederick after a painful illness of fifteen months.

Catherine "Kitty" Griffith Worthington Johnson (1761-1814) was born at Summer Hill near Annapolis, Maryland, to Col. Nicholas G. Worthington and his wife Catherine. In 1784, she married Col. Baker Johnson at her parents' estate. They had at least ten children between 1785 and 1805, and their manor house was called "Auburn." She died in Frederick, Maryland.

Richard Butler (1743-1791) was born in Ireland, the oldest son of an Irish aristocrat who served in the British Army and his wife and moved with his family to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1748, where his father opened a gun shop. Butler learned to make the Pennsylvania long rifles used in the French and Indian War. In 1760, the family moved to Carlisle, Pennsylvania. By the 1770s, Richard Butler was a trader at Fort Pitt in Pennsylvania and in Ohio. In 1775, the Continental Congress appointed him as a commissioner to seek the alliance or at least neutrality of the Delaware, Shawnee, and other Native American nations. He served as a major and lieutenant colonel of the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment (1776-1777) colonel of the 9th Pennsylvania Regiment (1777-1781), and colonel of the 5th Pennsylvania (1781-1783). After the Battle of Yorktown, General George Washington selected Butler to receive Cornwallis's sword, but Baron von Steuben demanded the honor for himself, almost precipitating a duel between Butler and Von Steuben. After the war, the Confederation Congress placed Butler in charge of Native Americans in the Northwest Territory. He negotiated the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1784 with the Iroquois and participated in the Treaty of Fort McIntosh with the Wyandotte, Delaware, Chippewa, and Ottawa in 1785. He commanded the militiamen conscripted into federal service in 1791 and was killed in St. Clair's Defeat on November 4, 1791.

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