Arthur St. Clair

For the murdered community leader from Brooksville, Florida, see Arthur St. Clair (minister).

Arthur St. Clair
Portrait by Charles Willson Peale, c. 1783
1st Governor of the Northwest Territory
In office July 15, 1788 – November 22, 1802
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Charles Willing Byrd
4th Senior Officer of the United States Army
In office March 4, 1791 – March 5, 1792
President	George Washington
Preceded by	Josiah Harmar
Succeeded by	Anthony Wayne
7th President of the Confederation Congress
In office February 2, 1787 – November 4, 1787
Preceded by	Nathaniel Gorham
Succeeded by	Cyrus Griffin
Personal details
Born	(1737-03-23)March 23, 1737 Thurso, Caithness
Died	August 31, 1818(1818-08-31) (aged 81) Greensburg, Pennsylvania
Resting place	St. Clair Park, Greensburg
Political party	Federalist
Alma mater	University of Edinburgh
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Kingdom of Great Britain United States
Branch/service	British Army (1757–1762) Continental Army (1775–1783) United States Army (1791–1792)
Rank	Lieutenant (Britain) Major General (U.S.)
Battles/wars	French and Indian War Siege of Louisbourg Battle of the Plains of Abraham Lord Dunmore's War American Revolutionary War Invasion of Quebec Battle of Trois-Rivières Battle of Trenton Battle of Princeton Siege of Fort Ticonderoga Siege of Yorktown Northwest Indian War Battle of the Wabash

Major-General Arthur St. Clair (March 23, 1737 [O.S. 1736] – August 31, 1818) was a Scottish-born American military officer and politician. Born in Thurso, Caithness, he served in the British Army during the French and Indian War before settling in the Province of Pennsylvania. During the American Revolutionary War, he rose to the rank of major general in the Continental Army, but lost his command after a controversial retreat from Fort Ticonderoga.

After the war, he served as President of the Continental Congress, which during his term passed the Northwest Ordinance. He was then made governor of the Northwest Territory in 1788, which was further enlarged by the portion that would become Ohio in 1800. In 1791, he commanded an American army in St. Clair's Defeat, which became the greatest victory achieved by Native Americans against the United States. Politically out-of-step with the Jefferson administration, he was replaced as governor in 1802 and died in obscurity.

Early life and career

St. Clair was born in Thurso, Caithness. Little is known of his early life. Early biographers estimated his year of birth as 1734, but subsequent historians uncovered a birth date of March 23, 1736, which in the modern calendar system means that he was born in 1737. His parents, unknown to early biographers, were probably William Sinclair, a merchant, and Elizabeth Balfour. He reportedly attended the University of Edinburgh before being apprenticed to the renowned physician William Hunter.

In 1757, St. Clair purchased a commission in the British Army's Royal American Regiment and came to North America with Admiral Edward Boscawen's fleet for the French and Indian War. He served under General Jeffery Amherst during the capture of Louisburg, Nova Scotia, on July 26, 1758. On April 17, 1759, he was promoted to lieutenant and assigned under the command of General James Wolfe, under whom he served at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham which resulted in the capture of Quebec City.

Settler in America

On April 16, 1762, he resigned his commission, and by 1764 had settled in Ligonier 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 in Western Pennsylvania.

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, and prothonotary of Bedford and Westmoreland counties.

In 1774, during Lord Dunmore's War, the colony of Virginia illegally took claim of the area around present-day Pittsburgh. 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 the Mason-Dixon Line westward from Maryland to 80° 31′ west, the current western border of Pennsylvania. (see: District of West Augusta)

Revolutionary War

By the mid-1770s, St. Clair considered himself more of an American than a British subject. In January 1776, he accepted a commission in the Continental Army as a colonel of the 3rd Pennsylvania Regiment. He first saw service in the final days of the failed Quebec invasion, where he saw action in the Battle of Trois-Rivières. He was appointed a brigadier general in August 1776 and was tasked by George Washington to help train and equip newly arrived recruits from New Jersey. He took part in George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River on the night of December 25–26, 1776, before the Battle of Trenton on the morning of December 26. Many biographers credit St. Clair with the strategy that led to Washington's capture of Princeton, New Jersey, on January 3, 1777. St. Clair was promoted to major general in February 1777.

In April 1777, St. Clair was given command of Fort Ticonderoga. His outnumbered garrison could not resist British General John Burgoyne's larger force in the Saratoga campaign; thus, St. Clair was forced to retreat at the resulting siege on July 5, 1777. He successfully evacuated his men, but choosing not to stand and fight permanently damaged his sterling reputation. In 1778, he was court-martialed for the loss of Ticonderoga. The court exonerated him and approved his return to duty, but he would never hold a command again during the Revolution. He still saw action, however, as an aide-de-camp to Washington, who retained a high opinion of him. St. Clair was at Yorktown when Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army. During his military service, St. Clair was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1780.

President of the United States in Congress Assembled

Following his discharge from the Army, St. Clair was elected to the Pennsylvania Council of Censors in 1783 and served as a delegate to the Confederation Congress, serving from November 2, 1785, until November 28, 1787. Chaos ruled the day in early 1787 with Shays's Rebellion in full force and the states refusing to settle their disputes or contribute to the now six-year-old federal government. On February 2, 1787, the delegates finally gathered into a quorum and elected St. Clair to a one-year term as President of the Continental Congress. Congress enacted its most important piece of legislation, the Northwest Ordinance, during his tenure. Time was running out for the Confederation Congress, however; during St. Clair's presidency, the Philadelphia Convention was drafting a new United States Constitution, which would abolish the old Congress.

Northwest Territory

Main article: Northwest Territory

A Narrative printed by Jane Aitken

Under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which created the Northwest Territory, St. Clair was appointed governor of what is now Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota. He named Cincinnati, Ohio, to honor his membership in the Society of the Cincinnati, 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 with Josiah 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 the Treaty 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 comprised mainly of ill-disciplined and inexperienced state militiamen; he suffered a humiliating defeat in October 1790.

Army commander

In March 1791, St. Clair succeeded the disgraced Harmar as Senior Officer of the new United States Army and was restored to his previous rank of major general. He personally led a punitive expedition, this time with two full Army regiments and a large contingent of militia. Unlike Harmar, St. Clair had a far better organized and supplied force; 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 of Fort Jefferson to serve as the advance post for his campaign. Located in present-day Darke 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.

St. Clair's defeat

Main article: St. Clair's Defeat

In November 1791, near modern-day Fort Recovery, St. Clair advanced on the main Indian settlements at the head of the Wabash River. On November 4, they were routed in battle by a tribal confederation led by Miami chief Little Turtle and Shawnee chief Blue Jacket with the support of British agents Alexander McKee and Simon 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.

Continued as Governor 1788-1802

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.

St. Clair signed check while Governor of Northwest Territory (1796)

A Federalist, St. Clair refocused his energies on carving up the Northwest Territory into two states that would strength Federalist control of Congress. 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 President Thomas Jefferson to remove him as governor. He thus played no part in the organizing of the state of Ohio in 1803.

The first Ohio Constitution provided for a weak governor and a strong legislature, largely as a reaction to St. Clair's method of governance.

Family life

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 of James 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 from gout due to poor diet, as noted in his correspondence with John Adams.

Death

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 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, on August 31, 1818, at the age of 81. His remains are buried under a Masonic monument in St. Clair Park in downtown Greensburg. St. Clair had been a petitioner for a Charter for Nova Caesarea Lodge #10 in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1791. This Lodge exists today, as Nova Caesarea Harmony #2. His wife Phoebe died shortly after and is buried beside him.

Legacy

A portion of the Hermitage, St. Clair's home in Oak Grove, Pennsylvania (north of Ligonier), was later moved to Ligonier, Pennsylvania, where it is now preserved, along with St. Clair artifacts and memorabilia at the Fort Ligonier Museum.

An American Civil War steamer was named USS St. 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 the National Start Westward Memorial of The United States, commemorating the settlement of the territory.

Places named in honor of Arthur St. Clair include:

In Pennsylvania:

• Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania
• St. Clairsville, Pennsylvania
• St. Clair Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
• St. Clair Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
• East St. Clair Township, Bedford County, Pennsylvania
• West St. Clair Township, Bedford County, Pennsylvania
• The St. Clair neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• St. Clair Hospital, Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania

In Ohio:

• St. Clair Township in Butler County, Ohio
• St. Clair Township in Columbiana County, Ohio,
• St. Clairsville, Ohio
• St. Clair Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio
• St. Clair Street in Dayton, Ohio
• St. Clair Street in Toledo, Ohio
• St. Clair Street in Marietta, Ohio
• Fort St. Clair in Eaton, Ohio

Other States:

• St. Clair County, Illinois
• St. Clair Street in Indianapolis, Indiana
• St. Clair County, Missouri
• St. Clair County, Alabama
• St. Clair Street in Frankfort, Kentucky, was named for the St. Clair by Gen. James Wilkinson, who laid out the town that became the state capital. The street's north end is at the Old Capitol, and near its south end is the Franklin County Court House; both were designed by Gideon Shryock.

In Scotland:

• The three-star St Clair Hotel in Sinclair St, Thurso, Caithness, is named after him.

References

Notes

Books

• Kopper, Kevin Patrick. "Arthur St. Clair and the Struggle For Power in the Old Northwest, 1763–1803" (Dissertation. Kent State University, 2005) online Archived 2018-10-04 at the Wayback Machine
• Smith, William Henry, ed. (1882). The Life and Public Services of Arthur St. Clair. Vol. 1. Robert Clarke & Company. ISBN 978-0-598-28691-8.
• Smith, William Henry, ed. (1882). The Life and Public Services of Arthur St. Clair. Vol. 2. Robert Clarke & Company. ISBN 9780598286918.

External links

• Ohio Memory
• Ohio History Central
• The Hermitage – home of Arthur St. Clair