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Spur's Defeat November 22, 1812
In 1812 Indians repeatedly attacked
settlements.
General Samuel Hopkins' Expedition
of
1250 men
struck back burning Indian villages in the
area.
60 mounted militia were
ambushed in a nearby
ravine while searching for Indians who had
beheaded a comrade.
18 soldiers were killed.
Escape was gained
by use of spurs to horses.
Erected by Tippecanoe County Historical
Association
1982
Located at the junction of county road 350
N. and
the Carroll Co. line in Perry Township.
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The year
succeeding
the Battle of Tippecanoe, an expedition was sent out to complete the
destruction
of the Indian towns on the Wabash, Tippecanoe and Eel Rivers, and thus
utilize the successes of the preceding campaigns by following them up
and
establishing their permanency. This expedition was under the
command
of General
Hopkins, an officer of much experience in Indian warfare.
Reaching
the Prophet's town November 19, 1812, by the route which General
Harrison
had marked out, a detachment of 300 men, under the command of General
Butler,
was sent out to surprise the Winnebago town on Wildcat Creek, a mile
from
the Wabash. The place, which consisted of some forty houses and a
number of temporary huts, they found completely evacuated. The
Prophet's
town, rebuilt and about the same size, and the corn crops in the
vicinity,
were then destroyed by our troops.
November
22, Lieutenant
Colonels Miller and Wilcox, with about sixty horsemen, were led into an
ambush on Wildcat Creek, about seven miles east of the Winnebago town,
and were compelled to retreat in the most hasty manner. This has
been known as "Spur's Defeat," probably alluding to the spurs which the
men used so vigorously upon their horses.
Source: Biographical
Record and
Portrait
Album of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, 1888, pp. 217-218.
THE SECOND BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE So much has
been written
of the Battle of Tippecanoe and its importance because it disrupted the
confederacy which Tecumseh was forming among the Indians for the
purpose
of retaining their lands, that there are few persons, even in this
vicinity,
who are aware that there was a second battle near Tippecanoe or The
Prophet's
Town in which the Indians were really the victors. Like the first
battle it marked the climax of an expedition sent up the Wabash which
included
more men than accompanied General Harrison the year before. The
expedition
was like the first one too in that it included a man who afterwards
became
president of the United States. About the
first of November
1812, General Samuel Hopkins began to organize a military force
composed
mainly of infantry for the purpose of penetrating the Indian country as
far as The Prophet's Town, marching from Vincennes to Fort Harrison
(Terre
Haute), then up the river to The Prophet's Town, destroying the Indian
villages along the river and any villages that they might find at or
near
The Prophet's Town. The troops which were employed in this
exploration
by General Hopkins consisted of three regiments of Kentucky militia,
commanded
by Colonels Barbour, Miller and Wilcox, a small company of regulars
commanded
by Captain Zachary Taylor (afterwards President of the United States),
and a company of scouts or spies under command of Captain
Washburn.
Among the spies of Captain Washburn was Peter Weaver, who afterwards
became
one of the first settlers of Fountain County and the first
settler
of Tippecanoe County.
This army
started at once
from Vincennes, arrived at Fort Harrison on the 5th day of November,
and
on the 11th of November left Fort Harrison following the road made by
Governor
Harrison's army the year previous. They reached the mouth
of
Sugar Creek on the 14th day of November. From there they moved
slowly
and reached The Prophet's Town on the 19th of November 1812. On
the
morning of the 19th three hundred men, under the command of General
Butler,
surrounded a Winnebago town about daybreak, but found it
deserted.
They found about 40 shacks and many temporary huts in the surrounding
prairie.
On the 20th, 21st, and 22d, this army completely destroyed The
Prophet's
Town, which had about 40 cabins and huts. Below it was a large
Kickapoo
village, on the west side of the river, consisting of about 100 cabins
and huts. They also destroyed this town.
Seven
miles east of The
Prophet's Town on Wild Cat Creek, a party of Indians fired on a
detachment
of this army, on the 21st day of November and killed a man by the name
of Dunn. On the 22d of November about sixty men, under the
command
of Lieutenant Colonels Miller and Wilcox started on horseback to bury
Dunn
and get a more complete knowledge of the ground. They marched to
a point near the Indian encampment, fell to an ambuscade and 19 of the
party were reported killed, wounded and missing. Captain Little
says,
in speaking of this battle, "We rode on rapidly about a mile and a
quarter
when we found ourselves among and surrounded by Indians in hundreds,
they
fired on us in all directions as thick as hail. We immediately found
that
we were not able to fight them. I was shot in the body near the
hip
bone. We retreated in every kind of disorder the best way we
could.
I was still able to ride and got out to camp where we found that we had
lost sixteen killed and three wounded."
On the
return of the party
it was learned that a large assemblage of Indians, encouraged by their
camp and this victory were waiting the approach of Hopkin's army, and
this
army at once made every preparation for an early march to engage the
enemy
in battle at any risk. There arose a violent storm with a heavy
fall
of snow and the coldest weather the these soldiers from the South had
ever
seen or felt at that season of the year. This delayed any further
action until the 24th of November.
When Hopkin's army reached
the Indian camp they found it deserted, the Indians having crossed Wild
Cat Creek. Mr.
Hopkins says in his
report, "I have no doubt that the ground the Indians have taken was
the strongest I have ever seen. The deep, rapid creek was in
their
rear, running in a semi-circle and fronted by a bluff one hundred feet
high, almost perpendicular, and could only be penetrated by three steep
ravines. After reconnoitering sufficiently we returned to camp
and
found the ice so accumulated as to alarm us for the return of the
boats.
I had fully intended to have spent one more week in endeavoring to find
the Indian camp but the shoeless, shirtless state of the troops now
clad
in the remnants of their summer dress, a river full of ice, the hills
covered
with snow, a rigid climate, and no certain point to which we could
further
direct our operations, under the influence and advice of every staff
and
field officer, orders were given and measures pursued for our return on
the 25th."
On the
18th day
of
December, 1812, General Samuel Hopkins announced, in general orders
issued
at Vincennes, his determination to retire from military life, and,
while
in his reports he commends all the officers, including Zachary Taylor,
his resignation upon the return of the army to Vincennes is evidence
that
he did not consider it an expedition that had added any great amount of
honor to the American arms. And this was the last of the battles
that the fading red men of the forest had with the white men in the
Wabash
Valley.
Source: Historical Sketches of the Wabash Valley by J. Wesley Whicker, 1916. |