Arthur St. Clair | |
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 Portrait byCharles Willson Peale,c. 1783 | |
| 1st Governor of the Northwest Territory | |
| In office 15 July 1788 – 22 November 1802 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Charles Willing Byrd |
| 4thSenior Officer of the United States Army | |
| In office 4 March 1791 – 5 March 1792 | |
| President | George Washington |
| Preceded by | Josiah Harmar |
| Succeeded by | Anthony Wayne |
| 9thPresident of the Confederation Congress | |
| In office 2 February 1787 – 4 November 1787 | |
| Preceded by | Nathaniel Gorham |
| Succeeded by | Cyrus Griffin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1737-03-23)23 March 1737 Thurso, Caithness, Scotland, Great Britain |
| Died | 31 August 1818(1818-08-31) (aged 81) Greensburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Resting place | St. Clair Park,Greensburg |
| Political party | Federalist |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh |
| Signature |  |
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Arthur St. Clair (March 23, 1737[1] [O.S. 1736] – 31 August 1818) was a Scottish-born American military officer and politician. Born inThurso, Caithness, he served in theBritish Army during theFrench and Indian War before settling in theProvince of Pennsylvania. During theAmerican Revolutionary War, he rose to the rank ofmajor general in theContinental Army, but lost his command after a controversial retreat fromFort Ticonderoga.
After the war, he served asPresident of the Continental Congress, which during his term passed theNorthwest Ordinance. He was then made governor of theNorthwest Territory in 1788, which was further enlarged by the portion that would becomeOhio in 1800. In 1791, he commanded an American army inSt. Clair's Defeat, which became the greatest victory achieved by Native Americans against the United States. Politically out-of-step with theJefferson administration, he was replaced as governor in 1802 and died in obscurity.
St. Clair was born inThurso, Caithness. Little is known of his early life. Early biographers estimated his year of birth as 1734,[2] but subsequent historians uncovered a birth date of 23 March 1736, which in themodern calendar system means that he was born in 1737. His parents, unknown to early biographers, were probably William Sinclair, a merchant, and Elizabeth Balfour.[1] He reportedly attended theUniversity of Edinburgh before being apprenticed to the renowned physicianWilliam Hunter.[1]
In 1757, St. Clair purchased a commission in theBritish Army'sRoyal American Regiment and came to North America with AdmiralEdward Boscawen's fleet for theFrench and Indian War. He served under GeneralJeffery Amherst during the capture ofLouisburg, Nova Scotia, on 26 July 1758. On 17 April 1759, he was promoted to lieutenant and assigned under the command of GeneralJames Wolfe, under whom he served at theBattle of the Plains of Abraham which resulted in the capture ofQuebec City.[citation needed]
On 16 April 1762, St. Clair resigned his commission, and by 1764 had settled inLigonier Valley, Pennsylvania, where he purchased land and went into business as an operator of flour and grist mills. The fortune he amassed soon made him the largest landowner inWestern Pennsylvania.[citation needed]
In 1770, St. Clair entered politics when he was elected as a justice of both the Court of Quarter Sessions and of Common Pleas. He subsequently served as a member of the proprietary council, a justice, recorder, and clerk of the orphans' court, andprothonotary ofBedford andWestmoreland counties.[citation needed]
In 1774, duringLord Dunmore's War, thecolony of Virginia illegally took claim of the area around present-dayPittsburgh. A militia was quickly raised to drive off the Virginians and St. Clair, in his capacity as a magistrate, issued an order for the arrest of the officer leading the Virginia troops. The boundary dispute between Virginia and Pennsylvania wasn't settled until 1780, when both sides agreed to extend theMason–Dixon line westward from Maryland to 80° 31′ west, the current western border of Pennsylvania. (see:District of West Augusta)
By the mid-1770s, St. Clair considered himself more of an American than a British subject. In January 1776, he accepted a commission in theContinental Army as acolonel of the3rd Pennsylvania Regiment. He first saw service in the final days of the failedQuebec invasion, where he saw action in theBattle of Trois-Rivières. He was appointed abrigadier general in August 1776 and was tasked byGeorge Washington to help train and equip newly arrived recruits fromNew Jersey. He took part inGeorge Washington's crossing of the Delaware River on the night of 25–26 December 1776, before theBattle of Trenton on the morning of 26 December. Many biographers credit St. Clair with the strategy that led to Washington'scapture of Princeton, New Jersey, on 3 January 1777.[3] St. Clair was promoted tomajor general in February 1777.
In April 1777, St. Clair was given command ofFort Ticonderoga. His outnumbered garrison could not resist British GeneralJohn Burgoyne's larger force in theSaratoga campaign; thus, St. Clair was forced to retreat at theresulting siege on 5 July 1777. He successfully evacuated his men, but choosing not to stand and fight permanently damaged his sterling reputation. In 1778, he wascourt-martialed for the loss of Ticonderoga.[4] The court exonerated him and approved his return to duty,[4] but he would never hold a command again during the Revolution. He still saw action, however, as anaide-de-camp to Washington, who retained a high opinion of him. St. Clair was atYorktown whenLord Cornwallis surrendered his army. During his military service, St. Clair was elected a member of theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1780.[5]
Following his discharge from the Army, St. Clair was elected to the Pennsylvania Council of Censors in 1783 and served as a delegate to theConfederation Congress, serving from 2 November 1785, until 28 November 1787. Chaos ruled the day in early 1787 withShays's Rebellion in full force and the states refusing to settle their disputes or contribute to the now six-year-old federal government. On 2 February 1787, the delegates finally gathered into a quorum and elected St. Clair to a one-year term asPresident of the Continental Congress. Congress enacted its most important piece of legislation, theNorthwest Ordinance, during his tenure. Time was running out for the Confederation Congress, however; during St. Clair's presidency, thePhiladelphia Convention was drafting a newUnited States Constitution, which would abolish the old Congress. St. Clair is the only foreign-born "president" of the United States.[6]
Under theNorthwest Ordinance of 1787, which created theNorthwest Territory, St. Clair was appointed governor of what is nowOhio,Indiana,Illinois,Michigan,Wisconsin and part ofMinnesota. He namedCincinnati, Ohio, to honor his membership in theSociety of the Cincinnati,[7] and it was there that he decided to relocate his home.
As governor, he formulated "Maxwell's Code" (named after its printer,William Maxwell), the first written laws of the territory. He also worked withJosiah Harmar, Senior Officer of the United States, to resolve the issue of Native American tribes refusing to leave their lands, which the federal government had seized as punishment for their support of the British during the Revolution. In 1789, the two men succeeded in getting several Native American tribal leaders to sign theTreaty of Fort Harmar, but the treaty was never fully implemented and the tribes rejected it outright as illegitimate.
Supported with intelligence, supplies, and weapons funneled to them by British agents, the tribes decided to wage full-scale war against the Americans in what came to be called the "Northwest Indian War" (or "Little Turtle's War"). Harmar was ordered by President Washington's administration to crush the Indians with a force mainly composed of ill-disciplined and inexperienced state militiamen; he suffered ahumiliating defeat in October 1790.
In March 1791, St. Clair succeeded the disgraced Harmar as Senior Officer of the newUnited States Army and was restored to his previous rank ofmajor general. He personally led apunitive expedition, this time with two full Army regiments and a large contingent of militia. St. Clair had far more experience commanding troops than Harmar and his force was properly supplied and organized; unfortunately, like Harmar, St. Clair was also devoid of any practical experience in frontier warfare and generally dismissive of the Indians as fighters. In October 1791, he ordered the construction ofFort Jefferson to serve as the advance post for his campaign. Located in present-dayDarke County in far western Ohio, the fort was built of wood and intended primarily as a supply depot; accordingly, it was originally named "Fort Deposit".
In November 1791, near modern-dayFort Recovery, St. Clair advanced on the main Indian settlements at the head of theWabash River. On 4 November, they were routed in battle by a tribal confederation led byMiami chiefLittle Turtle and Shawnee chiefBlue Jacket with the support of British agentsAlexander McKee andSimon Girty. More than 600 American soldiers and scores of camp followers were killed in the battle, which came to be known as "St. Clair's Defeat"; other names include the "Battle of the Wabash", the "Columbia Massacre," or the "Battle of a Thousand Slain". It remains the greatest defeat of a U.S. army by Native Americans in history, with a total of 623 fallen Americans compared to just 50 fallen Native Americans. The wounded were many, including St. Clair and Capt.Robert Benham.[8][9][10]
Although an investigation exonerated him, St. Clair surrendered his commission in March 1792 at the request of President Washington before resuming his previous office as territorial governor.
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AFederalist, St. Clair refocused his energies on carving up the Northwest Territory into two states that would strength Federalist control ofCongress. However, he was opposed by Ohio Democrat-Republicans for what they perceived as his shameless partisanship, high-handedness, and arrogance in office. In 1802, he declared that his constituents "are no more bound by an act of Congress than we would be bound by an edict of the first consul of France." This, coupled with the gradual collapse of Federalist influence in Washington D.C., led PresidentThomas Jefferson to remove him as governor.[11] He thus played no part in the organizing of the state of Ohio in 1803.
The firstOhio Constitution provided for a weak governor and a stronglegislature, largely as a reaction to St. Clair's method of governance.
St. Clair met Phoebe Bayard, a member of one of the most prominent families in Boston, and they were married in 1760. Miss Bayard's mother's maiden name was Bowdoin, and she was the sister ofJames Bowdoin, a colonial governor of Massachusetts.His eldest daughter was Louisa St. Clair Robb, a mounted messenger and scout, and known as a beautiful huntress.
Like many of his Revolutionary-era peers, St. Clair suffered fromgout due to poor diet, as noted in his correspondence withJohn Adams.[12]
In retirement, St. Clair lived with his daughter, Louisa St. Clair Robb, and her family on the ridge between Ligonier and Greensburg.
Arthur St. Clair died in poverty inGreensburg, Pennsylvania, on 31 August 1818, at the age of 81. His remains are buried under a Masonic monument in St. Clair Park in downtown Greensburg.[13] St. Clair had been a petitioner for a Charter for Nova CaesareaLodge #10 in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1791.[14] This Lodge exists today, as Nova Caesarea Harmony #2.[15] His wife Phoebe died shortly after and is buried beside him.
A portion of the Hermitage, St. Clair's home in Oak Grove, Pennsylvania (north of Ligonier), was later moved toLigonier, Pennsylvania, where it is now preserved, along with St. Clair artifacts and memorabilia at theFort Ligonier Museum.
AnAmerican Civil War steamer was namedUSSSt. Clair.
Lydia Sigourney included a poem in his honor,
General St. Clair. in her first poetry collection of 1815.
The site of Clair's inauguration as Governor of the Northwest Territory is now occupied by theNational Start Westward Memorial of The United States, commemorating the settlement of the territory.[16]
Places named in honor of Arthur St. Clair include:
InPennsylvania:
InOhio:
Other States:
InScotland:
Notes
Books
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| First | Federalist nominee forGovernor of Pennsylvania 1790 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | President of the Continental Congress 2 February 1787 – 4 November 1787 | Succeeded by |
| New office | Governor of theNorthwest Territory 15 July 1788 – 22 November 1802 | Succeeded by |
| Military offices | ||
| Preceded by | Adjutant Generals of the U. S. Army 22 January 1777 – 20 February 1777 (acting) | Succeeded by George Weedon (acting) |
| Preceded by | Senior Officer of the United States Army 1791–1792 | Succeeded by |
