St. Clair, Arthur:

$1,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

A NARRATIVE OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE INDIANS...WAS CONDUCTED...TOGETHER WITH HIS OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATEMENTS OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR, AND THE QUARTER MASTER GENERAL...AND ... The first edition of General St. Clair's decades-later defense of his staggering defeat on the American frontier in 1791, as well as his response to the extended congressional investigation that followed it. In the summer and fall of that year, St. Clair and his admittedly under-prepared force of nearly two thousand men were ground down to barely over a thousand, which walked straight into an ambush on the Wabash River. St. Clair's losses at the hands of the Western Confederacy of native tribes were almost complete, with seventy percent of the force killed and only twenty-four of the survivors unwounded. It was at the time the most decisive defeat suffered by the American military, and remained the greatest military failure suffered on the frontier. Upon hearing the news, Washington immediately demanded St. Clair's resignation, and the first ever congressional inquiry was opened to investigate the disaster."All of St. Clair's voluminous defense is rendered nugatory and futile by the passionate ejaculations of Washington, when Major Denny called him from a dinner-party, to announce the defeat. Overcome with surprise and indignation, Washington cursed the beaten general with exceeding fervor, adding, 'Did not my last words warn him against a surprise'" - Field. The work was printe

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.