by Chief Ali
The Indigenous victory in the Battle of Wabash on November 4 1791 was one of the most overwhelming military victories by Indigenous nations in their fight against colonialism. It was such a huge win for colonized people, that white power has tried to cover up the event, also known as St. Clair’s Defeat.
Colonized poor and working people may be anxious with the amerikkkan elections, but we can find hope with this victory of indigenous warriors against these colonizers 200 years ago!
Colonizers are mortal, and the colonial empires they build are not invincible – they’re constantly crumbling from the inside with internal contradictions that can never been resolved. With luck to be at the right time and place, and with organization and numbers, empires can die.
The Indigenous warriors in the Western Confederacy prove we can win.
When the amerikkkan revolution ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, Great Britain gave colonial control over the Eastern coast of Turtle Island. The amerikkkan frontier — the border between the settler colonies, and Indigenous lands — was around the Ohio River.
George Washington placed another colonizer, Arthur St. Clair, into two very important positions: the leader of the u.s. Army and also the governor of the “Northwest Territory”, the Indigenous lands to the west of the Ohio River.
A confederacy of colonized Indigenous nations united — Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Wea, Piankashaw, Wyandot, Mississaugas, Menominee, Shawnee, Lenape, Miami, Kickapoo, Kaskaskia, Chickamauga Cherokee, and Upper Muscogee — all in rejection of u.s. claims to the Northwest Territory.
They also knew that through their unity to reclaim the land, victory was guaranteed. So they united their fighting forces into what’s now known as the Western Confederacy.
At the same time, Washington ordered army general St. Clair to remove the anticolonial warriors, and so St. Clair gathered all the colonizers he could to try and go and fight. He first had 2,000 but the colonizers were so lazy that half the cowards left.
When they got to the Wabash River the colonial army set up camp. Nearby, the Western confederacy, led by Little Turtle of the Miamis, Blue Jacket of the Shawnees, and Buckongahelas of the Delawares spied upon the settlers.
Early on the morning of November 4 1791, the warriors launched their strike.
The colonizers crumbled under the organized strength and tactics of the Indigenous warriors. The Western Confederacy had fewer fighters than the colonial army, and it was a massive military victory against colonialism.
After 3 hours of fighting, only 200 colonizers were able to escape with their lives with roughly one thousand dead.
Weak!
This enormous loss for the colonizers shook their confidence while giving hope to Indigenous nations. Washington forced St. Clair to resign, and the next u.s. army leader had to remake the military from scratch.
“The fortunes of this day have been as the cruelest tempest to the interests of the country and this army, and will blacken a full page in the future annals of America”
– one colonizer who fled the Battle of Wabash
Was the amerikkkan victory against Great Britain a fluke? Would the country continue to lose in military battles?
The Western Confederacy continued their anti-colonial resistance, but in the decades after the colonizers gained control over the region and formed the state of Ohio there. The Indigenous nations continued to resist, but they were removed from their homelands.
Ultimately, control over land is the source of power. The Western Confederacy was able to draw blood from the colonizers with their control over their land and their strength of unity. We salute their victory!
Centuries later, the white power colonizer nation is again crumbling with disorganization and corruption. Colonizers and sellouts are deeply divided about which colonizer candidate they want to control the White House.
Meanwhile Colonized people are getting stronger, and more united day by day.
Black Hammer is building Hammer City with Indigenous anticolonial warriors (Land Liberators) to build dictatorship for their rightful land, lives, labor, and resources.
To continue the victorious legacy of the Battle of Wabash, join Black Hammer today and build anti-colonial power!
Land Back!
