History.htm

SOLDIERS OF THE LEGION

Left to Right

Lieutenant Andrew Michaels, Artillery and Private John Snow, 1^st Sub Legion

Fallen Timbers National Battlefield Monument

210^th anniversary of the Battle of Fallen Timbers

20 August 2004

SAFEGUARDING "MAD" ANTHONY'S LEGACY

Historical summary taken from an article by Judith Oliver in the

November 28, 1993, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

HISTORY OF LEGION VILLE

It was 201 years ago (Nov.28, 1792) when Maj. Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne and the Legion of the United States landed near present- day Ambridge, Pennsylvania after floating four hours on 50 barges down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh. There, on a bluff overlooking the Ohio River, between 2,000 and 2,500 enlisted men, mostly raw recruits, built Legion Ville, a camp of 500 structures where Wayne began the creation of what would become the United States Army.

Today almost half of the 50- acre site listed on the National Register of Historic Places is in danger of being developed. Paul Mouradian, an accountant from Ambridge, purchased 22 acres of the site from General Tire Corp. of Akron, Ohio in 1994, and plans to build a strip mall. He has subsequently subdivided 5.86 acres of the original 22 acres and sold that portion to Leroy Friend of Northwest Chevrolet/Geo in Ambridge, Pa. Mr. Friend had the land removed from the National Register in 1995. He plans to build a car General Motors dealership on the historic property. The Legion Ville Historical Society, Inc., is dedicated to the preservation of the entire 50 acre parcel that was once Wayne's cantonment.

In 1792, President George Washington commissioned Wayne a major- general and Commander- in- Chief of the newly legislated Legion of the United States, and ordered him to create a disciplined fighting force capable of subduing the Indians on what was then the northwestern frontier. It was a formidable task. The young country's army had been demoralized and literally cut in half the year before when 657 of Maj. Gen. Arthur St. Clair's soldiers were killed in a bloody battle with American Indians led by the Miami Chief Little Turtle near Fort Wayne, Ind. George Armstrong Custer's more famous loss of about 270 pales in comparison. In the late 1700's, conditions on the frontier were extremely volatile and politically complex. Treaties made with Indians had been misinterpreted, broken and ignored, including the Fort Stanwix Treaty of 1768 that established the Ohio River as the boundary for western expansion by the whites. Pioneers, fur traders, land speculators and others lured by the riches in the area flooded west. At the same time, the British, who had not yet given up all their forts on the frontier, manipulated the Indians by fanning the flames of their anger against the settlers.

At Legion Ville, Anthony Wayne drilled his troops unmercifully and insisted on strict discipline; flogging and court- martialing offenders. He also instilled pride and espirit de corps, however, by distributing frequent rewards and designing elegant uniforms with distinctive colors for the various units. Several famous Americans trained under Wayne at Legion Ville, including the father of Zebulon Pike, the explorer; William Clark, who with Meriwether Lewis commanded the famous western expedition in 1803-1806; William Eaton, who led the United States Marines ashore in Tripoli in 1806; Henry Burbek, first commander of the Corps of Engineers, and William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States, who served as Aide- de- camp. Wayne's tactics worked. He took his troops to Cincinnati in April 1793 and engaged his enemy shortly thereafter. The Delaware called him Blacksnake. To the Miami he was the Big Wind or Tornado. And Chief Little Turtle referred to him as the "chief who never sleeps." In 1794 Wayne defeated an alliance of Indians under the command of Shawnee War Chief Blue Jacket at the famous Battle of Fallen Timbers. The resultant Treaty of Greenville in 1795 opened up two thirds of Ohio and a portion of Indiana to white settlement, and in 1796 Wayne formally accepted the surrender of all seven of the British garrisons along the Great Lakes.

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