Mad Anthony Wayne (1745-1796) was born in Easttown Township in what is now Chester County, Pennsylvania. A tanner and surveyor by trade, he became a soldier during the American Revolutionary War when, in 1775, he raised a regiment of militia that became the 4th Pennsylvania Regiment. A quick learner with a natural knack for all things military, he was a stern disciplinarian, a hard marcher who didn't back down to anybody in battle. Hence his well-known nom de guerre of mad. After the Revolution, he retired a wealthy man and married the widow of Nathanael Greene. He tried politics but when the Northwest Indian War broke out Washington knew who to call back into service. Wayne was named commander of the Legion of the United States, as the reorganized Army was then known.
During the Northwest Indian War, Native leaders had scored impressive victories against American commanders who were less than skilled in fighting on the frontier. Men like Arthur St. Clair, Josiah Harmer and James Wilkinson, all trained officers with impressive Revolutionary service, lost careers and reputations fighting in against men who could and did run circles around them every time they met up. The frontier was the place where reputations went to die. They would discover a different opponent in Mad Anthony (great-grandfather of Bruce Wayne, aka Batman if you're into superheroes). Rather than lunge at the Natives, Wayne spent two years drilling his force of militia into an army. These men may have heard of a mutiny on the Pennsylvania Line during the final months of the Revolution where Mad Anthony had not been afraid to shoot men of his own county for insubordination.
When he felt he was ready, Wayne marched his force from Fort Washington in what is now Cincinnati, with 2,000 men. Choctaw and Chickasaw auxiliaries served as scouts and forward skirmishers. Blue Jacket selected his ground on the Maumee River near present-day Toledo. A recent storm had blown down a stand of trees that would serve as a defense position, hence the name of this battle, Fallen Timbers. The Native command team consisted of he most feared triumvirate on the frontier, Blue Jacket, Little Turtle, and Buckongahelas composed of Shawnee, Miami, Delaware, Wyandot, Potawatomi, Mingos and many others. They were supported by a band of Canadian militia led by Captain Alexander McKillip.
On August 20, 1794, Mad Anthony opened the battle quickly enough. He ordered his cavalry to flank the Native positions and attack from the rear, while his infantry conducted a bayonet charge straight at the improvised breastworks. The Natives finally broken and headed for the safety of a nearby British fort, Fort Campbell, where the British commander decided he waned nothing to do with Anthony Wayne and closed the gates against them. Wayne finished his decimation of the Native force within sight of the British fort. Casualties for the Americans included 33 killed and 100 wounded, the Natives lost 25-40 killed and unknown numbers of wounded.
The American victory prompted the British to speed up their evacuation of the Ohio River Valley, depriving the Natives of a crucial ally. With a new general in the field who could match them in skill and ability, many native leaders saw the wisdom of signing the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, ceding most Native land in Ohio to the United States. Among the few Natives who refused to sign the Treaty of Greenville was a young Shawnee named Tecumseh whose brother Cheeseekau had been killed in other fighting in 1794. He would be back to fight another day. Mad Anthony decided after this battle to hang up his gear again and return, this time to Pennsylvania where he died he following year. The site of the Battle is now a National Historic Site with federal and state monuments to Wayne, his men, the Native commanders and their men. Fort Wayne, once a military garrison and now the city in Indiana, is named for Mad Anthony.
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