In George Washington's first term as President of the United States, the U.S. launched two major campaigns to subdue the Western Confederacy and protect American colonizers from Indian attacks.

[3] Many of the confederation leaders were considering terms of peace to present to the United States, but when they received news of Wilkinson's raid, they readied for war.

Meanwhile, President Washington commissioned Major General "Mad" Anthony Wayne to recruit, and train a more effective, and larger force.

[8] When Wayne received news that a grand council of the confederacy had not reached a peace agreement with U.S. negotiators, he moved his army north into Indian held territory.

[9] The Legion wintered here, but Wayne dispatched a detachment of about 300 men on 23 December to quickly build Fort Recovery on the site of St. Clair's defeat and recover the cannons lost there in 1791.

In January 1794, Wayne reported to Knox that 8 companies and a detachment of artillery under Major Henry Burbeck had claimed St. Clair's battleground and had already built a small fort.

[13] Before departing Fort Recovery, Wayne sent a final offer of peace with two captured prisoners to the leaders of the confederation at Roche de Bout.

[18] Wayne departed Fort Recovery on 17 August and pushed north, buttressed by about 1,000 mounted Kentucky militia under General Charles Scott.

Native American scouts noted that the Legion only marched until early afternoon, then stopped to build a fortified encampment, making attack on camps less practical than in previous US campaigns.

[19] Suspecting that Wayne would march along the Maumee River, Blue Jacket took a defensive position not far from present-day Toledo, Ohio, where a stand of trees (the "fallen timbers") had been blown down by a storm.

[33] The lead scouts were only about 100 yards into the center of the chosen battlefield when the Odawas and Potawatomis under Little Otter and Egushawa[34] fired their first volley, scattering the militia.

Behind the militia were two companies of infantry from the 4th Sub-Legion under Captain John Cook, and he directed their initial volley at the Kentuckians, whom he considered to be fleeing the battle.

[35] The fleeing U.S. forces ran towards the left wing of the Legion's column, where Lieutenant Colonel Jean François Hamtramck commanded the 2nd and 4th sub-legions.

[34] Wayne rushed to the sound of the muskets, and quickly deployed two light infantry companies from the center ahead of each wing, to halt any confederate advances until the lines could be properly formed.

When asked for orders by his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant William Henry Harrison, Wayne responded "Charge the damned rascals with the bayonet!

[39] Wilkinson's dismounted infantry made a slow advance to support the dragoons, and the Odawas and Potawatomis ran and fled back to their positions.

Another Odawa chief, Turkey Foot, stood atop a large rock and urged the warriors to make their stand, but he was shot in the chest and died almost instantly.

[citation needed] Beyond the ravine, the landscape was much more open, allowing the Legion to advance more quickly and giving dragoons a frightening advantage over dismounted warriors.

Major William Campbell, the commander of the fort, had closed the gates when the first warriors arrived and the sounds of musket fire came closer.

[45] The British garrison at Fort Miami debated whether or not to engage the Americans, but in the absence of orders and being already at war with France, Campbell declined to fire the first shot at U.S.

Although the Native Americans did not reform into a large army, small bands continued to harass the Legion's perimeter, scouts, and supply trains.

"[42] Years later, a Native American warrior reflected that Little Turtle had warned that the Great Spirit would hide in a cloud if they did not make peace with Wayne.

Within a month, most Miami had returned to Kekionga, and representatives of the Potawatomi, Ojibwe, Odawa, and Wyandotte had sought out the Legion to "bury the hatchet.

[58] Tecumseh, a young Shawnee veteran of Fallen Timbers who refused to sign the Greenville Treaty, resisted this gradual removal with a new pan-tribal confederation.

Tecumseh, who watched his older brother Sauwauseekau die in battle,[59] would later organize a new confederacy to oppose American Indian removals.

[citation needed] On 14 September 1929, the United States Post Office Department issued a stamp commemorating the 135th anniversary of the Battle of Fallen Timbers.

Dr. G. Michael Pratt, an anthropologist and faculty member at Heidelberg University (Ohio), correctly surmised the battlefield was 1/4 mile above the floodplain after considering documentation that described a ravine.

[60][61] Because of Pratt's archaeological work and advocacy of the Fallen Timbers Preservation Commission, the land was granted National Historic Site status in 1999.

This site features the Battle of Fallen Timbers Monument, honoring both Major General Anthony Wayne and his army and Little Turtle and his warriors.

The main monument has tributes inscribed on each of its four sides honoring in turn, Wayne, the fallen soldiers, Little Turtle, and his Indian warriors.