Battle of the Embarras River

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. In early 1786, John Filson visited Vincennes and found about 70 American families among the 300 houses, but recorded that the French resented the Americans and their whiskey, that the Americans resented the French and their idleness, and that the Native Americans resented intrusion on their lands.[3] Filson wrote to Clark that March on behalf of Vincennes residents, asking for aid against "imperious savages."[4]

Many small attacks and counter-attacks occurred between Native American tribes and new American settlers.[5] In April, a British trader visiting Vincennes wrote that there had been fighting between the American settlers and the Wabash Indians, which terrorized the French.[3] After a boat was ambushed on the Wabash River, the Vincennes militia under John Small, Moses Henry, and Daniel Sullivan retaliated. On 15 April 1786, the militia attacked a Piankeshaw village on the Embarras River, just a few miles from Vincennes.[6] Several of the militia were killed and wounded.[6]

The Piankeshaw were angered and abandoned their village near Vincennes and consolidated to a larger town near the Vermilion River.[6] On 1 June, Filson departed Vincennes with a petition asking Congress to establish a garrison at Vincennes. His boats were attacked, and he returned to Vincennes, where another letter was written updating Clark on more recent attacks.[4] On 15 July 1786, a party of about 450 Piankeshaw and Wea warriors descended the river in 47 war canoes,[5] determined "to exterminate all the Americans who might be in these lands."[7] French residents met the party north of Vincennes and persuaded them to leave without attacking, but one American was killed and four wounded, and some American farms were destroyed.[5] 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.[7]

General Clark gathered a force of 1,000 militia and departed Clarksville for Vincennes on 9 September 1786.[8] This was cited as "the most formidable force yet collected in the West under American arms," yet just before their departure, Benjamin Logan, Clark's second-in-command, departed with a detachment to attack the Shawnee.[9] Clark's militia spent ten days in Vincennes before marching north along the Wabash. Clark intended to attack Native American villages, 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. At one point, 3 Spanish traders arrived at Vincennes with trade goods, and Clark seized their cargo for the militia based on their lack of passports.[10][11] Vincennes petitioned Congress for help, with one resident heard praying "Lord, please send the Kentuckians home and bring back the Indians!"[12]

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.[13] Colonel Harmar arrived in July 1787 and declined to involve himself in land disputes against American settlers.[14] He visited Kaskaskia and Cahokia and met with Wea and Piankashaw delegations, then left Jean François Hamtramck in command of two companies,[15] which built and occupied Fort Knox at Vincennes, thus stabilizing the situation[6]