Congress erected the Fort Recovery Monument to honor the soldiers slain in two major conflicts in the North West Territory, Arthur St. Clair's defeat in 1791 and Anthony Wayne's victory in 1794, at the burial place of many of the dead. In September 1791, Major General Arthur St. Clair led fifteen hundred regulars and volunteers from Fort Washington, now Cincinnati, to subdue Indians who, under British influence, had committed many hostilities. At the headwaters of the Wabash River, before daybreak on November 4, 1791, two thousand Indians from the Miami, Delaware, Pawnee, Shawnee, Wyandot, Seneca, and Ottawa tribes under Little Turtle, Blue Jacket, and Joseph Brandt, aided by Simon Girty, William Wells, and Blackstaffe, surprised and attacked the army. The soldiers fought bravely but were forced to retreat, leaving more than nine hundred men dead and wounded, while two hundred and fifty women accompanying the expedition were killed or taken prisoner. After St. Clair, Major General Anthony Wayne became commander in chief and ordered a stockade called Fort Recovery built on December 23, 1793, on the site of St. Clair's Defeat. While defending the fort, Major McMahon and a detachment of troops won a complete American victory over two thousand Indians and British on June 30 and July 1, 1794, with losses of twenty-two officers and one hundred and twenty soldiers. The dead named from St. Clair's Defeat include Major General Richard Butler, Colonel Oldham, numerous other officers, thirteen additional officers, and six hundred and thirty American soldiers; those named from Wayne's Victory include Major McMahon, Captain Hartshorn, Lieutenant Craig, nineteen other officers, and one hundred and twenty American soldiers.