Darke participated in some of the strongest.
His men drove warriors back.
One charge regained artillery that had been overrun.
For brief periods, the Americans created room.
These actions demonstrated that the soldiers were not simply passive victims.
Individual units fought hard.
Officers repeatedly attempted counterattacks.
The problem was sustainability.
A bayonet charge worked best when disciplined troops could remain together after reaching their objective.
St. Clair's men were already mixed, wounded, crowded, and exhausted.
When a charging unit returned toward camp, it often merged with disorganized soldiers rather than reforming cleanly.
The Native fighters could retreat from the charge and then return.
They did not need to hold one exact line.
The Americans did.
By midmorning, staying meant destruction
The fight lasted roughly two to three hours depending on how its phases are counted.
By the final stage, the American artillery had largely fallen silent.
Ammunition and weapons still existed, but the organization required to use them effectively was collapsing.
Hundreds of men were dead or wounded.
The camp was crowded with casualties.
Native warriors still held the woods around the position.
St. Clair eventually concluded that remaining in place would lead to the destruction of everyone still capable of moving.
The only remaining option was retreat.
Retreat required one more attack.
A body of soldiers had to charge hard enough to open a path through the surrounding force.
Then the survivors would have to run.
Darke remembered gathering men who had continued fighting effectively and leading them forward with bayonets.
The movement created an opening.
The army began leaving through it.
Once retreat started, order disappeared quickly.
Darke's surviving letter described the confusion as beyond description.
Men threw away muskets because carrying them slowed escape.
Equipment covered the road.
The wounded who could not move faced a terrible fate.
The survivors headed south toward Fort Jefferson.
The road became a stream of fugitives
A military retreat can remain organized when units move in sequence and rear guards protect them.
This retreat did not.
Men ran.
Some officers tried to stop them and create defensive groups.
Most attempts failed.
The same soldiers who had marched north for weeks now covered the return distance in desperate speed.
Weapons that the federal government had struggled to purchase and transport were abandoned beside the route.
Darke estimated that perhaps 1,000 firearms, counting militia weapons, might have been lost. His figure was rough, but it shows the scale of the collapse.
The expedition also abandoned cannon, ammunition, medicine, tools, baggage, pack animals, and supplies.
The victory therefore gave the Native coalition more than symbolic success.
Useful military material remained on the battlefield.
The physical remains of the army became evidence of defeat.
The first safe point was Fort Jefferson.
Even there, danger did not disappear.
The fort had limited supplies.
Rumors spread that the Native force might continue south and attack the weakened American posts.
St. Clair eventually continued toward Fort Washington.
The army that had been sent north to impose federal power returned broken.
The casualty numbers were difficult to believe even in 1791
The U.S. Army's standard historical count gives 637 killed and 263 wounded among approximately 1,400 men engaged.
Other historical summaries use slightly different totals.
The reasons are understandable.
Men were missing.
Some wounded died later.
Militia records could be incomplete.
Camp followers were not always counted with soldiers.
Different reports separated officers and enlisted men differently.
The exact total therefore changes slightly depending on the source.
The scale does not.
More than half of the American fighting force became casualties.
Army historical material places dead and missing alone at roughly 630 men.
Camp followers also suffered.
Women accompanied eighteenth-century armies for many reasons. Some were soldiers' wives. Some cooked, washed clothing, cared for sick men, or performed other essential work.
They were inside or near the camp when the attack began.
The retreat could not carry everyone.