page_title: Vincennes, Indiana
section_title: Post-Revolution turmoil
hierarchical_section_title: Vincennes, Indiana / History / Post-Revolution turmoil
caption_attribution_description: English: American Revolutionary War Historic Memorial Plaque in Vincennes, Indiana
context_page_description: Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the lower Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state, nearly halfway between Evansville and Terre Haute. Founded in 1732 by French fur traders, notably François-Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes, for whom the Fort was named, Vincennes is the oldest continually inhabited European settlement in Indiana and one of the oldest settlements west of the Appalachians.
  According to the 2010 census, its population was 18,423, a decrease of 1.5% from 18,701 in 2000. Vincennes is the principal city of the Vincennes, IN Micropolitan Statistical Area, which comprises all of Knox County and had an estimated 2017 population of 38,440.
context_section_description: Although the Americans would remain in control of Vincennes, it took years to establish peace. In 1786, Captain John Hardin led a mounted Kentucky militia across the Ohio River and destroyed a friendly Piankeshaw town near Vincennes.  This led to a series of attacks and counter-attacks between Wabash Indians and American settlers.  Finally, on 15 July 1786, the Wabash landed in forty-seven war canoes at Vincennes to drive the Americans back to Kentucky. The Indians warned the Canadians in advance of their attack and assured them that they would not be harmed, but the Canadians warned the Americans.  They quickly supplied Fort Patrick Henry and waited out the siege.  One American was killed and four wounded, and the war party left after destroying the Americans' farms.
  In response, Virginia Governor Patrick Henry authorized George Rogers Clark to raise the Kentucky militia and mount an expedition against the warring tribes. General Clark gathered a force of 1,000 militia and departed Clarksville 9 September 1786, along the Buffalo Trace.  The militia spent ten days in Vincennes before marching north along the Wabash, but men deserted by the hundreds.  Clark was soon forced to return to Vincennes without any action taken.  Clark left 150 men to help defend Vincennes, but this force soon turned into a lawless mob, and the citizens of Vincennes petitioned Congress for help. Secretary of War Henry Knox sent Colonel Josiah Harmar and the First American Regiment to restore order.  The Kentucky militia fled Vincennes at the approach of U.S. Regulars.
  Colonel Harmar left 100 regulars under Major Jean François Hamtramck and directed them to build a fort, Fort Knox. Vincennes remained an isolated town, difficult to supply due to its position deep within Indian territory.  Secure transport to and from Vincennes meant travelling with a large, armed party, whether over land or via the Wabash River.  On 30 September 1790, Major Hamtramck led 350 men from Vincennes as far north as the Vermillion River, to engage some of the Indian villages which had been at war with Vincennes.  The Kickapoo tracked the party, however, and evacuated every village along the way before the Americans arrived.  Hamtramck destroyed some abandoned villages, but he did not engage any war parties.  Faced with desertions from Kentucky militia, Hamtramck returned to Vincennes.  The expedition had done no serious harm to the enemies of Vincennes, but it distracted some of the Wabash villages while Josiah Harmar, now a General, led a much larger expedition up through Ohio country towards Kekionga.
caption: American Revolutionary War Historic Memorial Plaque in Vincennes
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