General "Mad" Anthony Wayne's Men

Anthony Wayne was the son of a Pennsylvania frontiersmen.  In his early life he was a surveyor, learning Indian fighting as a side.  During the Revolution he won distinction as a dashing commander of Pennsylvania troops at Ticonderoga, Brandywine, Germantown and Stony Point.  He finally earned Major-General status in Georgia where he settled at the end of the war as a planter.

Anthony was known as a vain man - his love of fine clothes brought him a great deal of criticism.  Washington said of Wayne - "brave and nothing else."  Wayne was also alert, decisive, and loved hard fighting, characteristics that were in high demand.

Given the task of securing the new western territory in lieu of St, Clair's defeat, he first needed an army.  Most of the 3000-4000 men needed came from beggars, criminals and other cast-offs of the eastern cities.  Few of them knew warfare, even deserting their posts when reports came of Indians in the vicinity.  Anthony enforced rigid discipline, drilling the regiments for eight to ten hours a day.

By the spring of 1792, the troops formed a respectable body.  Wayne insisted that any campaign would begin only after the troops were thoroughly prepared.  Going beyond the ordinary, he taught the men to load their rifles while running at full speed, and yelling at the top of their voices while making a bayonet attack.

In 1793, Major-General Wayne advanced with 2600 men into Indian country, getting ready for a spring offensive.  The men built Fort Greenville, 80 miles north of Cincinnati and spent the winter there, still drilling and preparing for battle.  They also built Fort Recovery near St. Clair's fatal battle field.

In June 1794, another 1500 mounted militia arrived from Kentucky and Wayne found himself at the head of the largest and best-trained force that ever had been turned against the Indians west of the Alleghenies.  It was time to move at last!

Next time...Ready for Battle!
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On March 18, 1852, two businessmen in New York, Henry Wells and William Fargo,  establish Wells, Fargo and Company, destined to become the leading freight and banking company in the West.