Historedia
AmericasEvent

Harmar Campaign

When
1790
Where
Swampy lowland near the Eel River, 13 miles northwest of Kekionga; Fort Washington and the Great Miami River corridor; Kekionga; Withdrawal route toward Fort Washington; western bank of the St. Joseph River area
Episodes
4

The Harmar Campaign was a punitive expedition by the United States Army in autumn 1790 against confederated Native American nations in the Northwest Territory. Led by General Josiah Harmar, the campaign aimed to destroy villages near Kekionga. It ended in a series of overwhelming victories for Native Americans, known as Harmar's Defeat, marking the worst defeat of U.S. forces by Indians up to that time.

Episodes

  1. 7-13 October 1790 · Fort Washington and the Great Miami River corridorCampaign Launch

    General Harmar began the march north from Fort Washington along the Great Miami River in October 1790.

  2. 15-17 October 1790 · KekiongaHardin Detachment

    Colonel Hardin led 600 men to surprise Indians at Kekionga but arrived too late to intercept them.

  3. 19 October 1790 · Swampy lowland near the Eel River, 13 miles northwest of KekiongaHardin's Defeat

    Colonel Hardin's scouting party was led into a swampy lowland by a decoy, resulting in a defeat blamed on Hardin and the militia.

  4. 21 October 1790 · Withdrawal route toward Fort Washington; western bank of the St. Joseph River areaWithdrawal and Odawa Decision

    Harmar ordered withdrawal on 21 October; Native leaders considered a final blow but Odawa departed due to a lunar eclipse.

Background and detail

Background. Violence between American settlers and Shawnee and Miami Indians occurred from 1784 to 1789, resulting in approximately 1,500 settler deaths. In 1789, President Washington asked Governor St. Clair to assess Native intentions. Washington and Knox appointed General Josiah Harmar, a Revolutionary War veteran, to lead a punitive expedition into Shawnee and Miami lands to retaliate for killings and deter further attacks.

Campaign Objectives. The primary objective was the destruction of Native villages near the Miami settlement of Kekionga. St. Clair presented a plan to Washington in August 1790, but a fort at Kekionga was deemed too expensive and lacking military value. The campaign launched from Fort Washington on 7 October 1790, with Harmar marching north along the Great Miami River.

Aftermath. Harmar's defeat led to increased attacks on U.S. settlements in the Northwest Territory, including the Big Bottom massacre and Siege of Dunlap's Station. The Native confederacy moved its capital from Kekionga to the Auglaize River. A court-martial in 1791 cleared Harmar of wrongdoing, though he blamed Colonel Hardin and the militia for the initial defeat.

People involved

Sources

  1. Harmar campaign Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-18

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.