Building Fort Recovery

As a direct result of the Battle of the Wabash, the Legion of the United States was formed in 1792, with Major General Anthony Wayne appointed commanding general. In 1793, Wayne led a third U.S. military campaign to control the Northwest Territory. On December 22, from his headquarters in Greeneville, he sent Major Henry Burbeck orders to march the next morning with infantry and artillery to the site of St. Clair's defeat, take the most favorable ground on the south side of the Wabash where the battle had been fought, and immediately erect four blockhouses twenty feet square connected by pickets. Burbeck obeyed and arrived at Fort Recovery on Christmas Eve. Before construction began, the men cleared the area of the bones of St. Clair's troops and buried them in a mass grave on the banks of the Wabash. Concerned about further attacks from American Indians, Wayne gave explicit instructions that all the houses be begun at the same time so the detachment could be covered from attack within two hours after the ground was cleared.

Fort Recovery, Ohio · United States