Siege of Fort Harrison The Siege of Fort Harrison was an engagement that lasted from 4 September to 15 September 1812 . The first American land victory during the War of 1812 , it was won by an outnumbered United States force garrisoned inside the fort against a combined Native American force near modern Terre Haute , Indiana . Background – Fort Harrison . In 1811 , while General William Henry Harrison marched his army north to meet the Indians at the Battle of Tippecanoe , the army encamped on the high grounds of Terre Haute and constructed a fort overlooking the Wabash River . Harrison had long advocated building a fort in the strategic location . The fort protected the army ' s supply lines , as well as the capital of the Indiana Territory downstream in Vincennes . The site , located in present - day Vigo County , Indiana , at the northern edge of Terre Haute , was only two miles from the Wea village of Weauteno . It was said to be the location of a historic battle involving the Illiniwek , and was initially called " Camp Bataille des Illinois " . Major Joseph Hamilton Daviess proposed that the stockade be named Fort Harrison in General Harrison ' s honor . The fort was finished 28 October 1811 , and had a stockade encircling the post . Leaving the fort and a small garrison under Colonel James Miller , Harrison led his army to the Tippecanoe battleground , where it confronted an army led by the Shawnee prophet , Tenskwatawa . When the army returned , Harrison left Captain Josiah Snelling in command of Fort Harrison , in reward for his performance at Tippecanoe . Snelling served as commandant of the fort from 11 November 1811 until . During that winter , the fort was shaken by the 1812 New Madrid earthquake . Snelling was later transferred to Fort Detroit . After the outbreak of the War of 1812 , Captain Zachary Taylor , future President of the United States , was ordered by Harrison to leave Fort Knox and assume command of Fort Harrison . The United States had suffered a series of defeats immediately after war was declared , at the hands of the British , Canadians and Indians . These victories helped motivate other native tribes to take up campaigns against remote American outposts . Battle of Fort Harrison . On 3 September 1812 , a band of Miami arrived and warned Captain Taylor that they would soon be attacked by a large force of Native Americans . That evening , shots were heard , but Taylor was hesitant to send a scout party . He only had 50 men in his garrison , and sickness had reduced the number of effective soldiers to only 15 . In the morning , a party was dispatched and discovered the bodies of two white settlers , the Doyle brothers . The brothers were buried , and the party reported back to Fort Harrison . Captain Taylor , with his 15 able soldiers and about 5 healthy settlers , made ready for the expected attack . Each of the 20 men was issued sixteen rounds to fire . That day , 4 September , a force of 600 Potawatomi ( under Chief Pa - koi - shee - can ) , Wea ( under War Chief Stone Eater ) , Shawnee , Kickapoo and Winnebago warriors approached Fort Harrison . A party of 40 men under command of Kickapoo Chief Namahtoha approached under a flag of truce and asked to parley with Taylor the next morning . Taylor agreed , and the Indian force retreated to camp for the night . That night , a warrior crawled up and set the blockhouse on fire . When the sentries opened fire on the arsonist , the 600 - strong Indian war party attacked the west side of the fort . Taylor ordered the fort ' s surgeon and a handful of defenders to control the fire . The blockhouse , which was attached to the barracks , had a store of whiskey , which soon ignited , and the fire raged out of control . Taylor admitted in his report that the situation looked hopeless , and two of his healthy men fled the fort . Warning the fort that " Taylor never surrenders ! " , the captain organized a bucket brigade to fight the fire before it destroyed the fort ' s picket walls . One woman , Julia Lambert , even lowered herself down into the fort ' s well to fill buckets more quickly . The fire did serve one purpose , in that it illuminated the night , revealing the attackers . The fire left a gap in the outer wall , which the garrison temporarily sealed with a breastwork . The remaining few of the garrison returned the fire of the Indians so fiercely that they were able to hold off the attack . All remaining invalids were armed to maintain defense , while healthy men were put to work repairing a hole left in the fort ' s walls . The fort was repaired by daybreak of 5 September . The Indian force withdrew just beyond gun range and butchered area farm animals within sight of the fort . The garrison and settlers inside the fort , meanwhile , had lost most of their food in the fire , and had only a few bushel s of corn , and faced starvation . News of the siege arrived in Vincennes as Colonel William Russell was passing through with a company of regular infantry and a company of rangers , on their way to join Ninian Edwards , governor of Illinois Territory . Colonel Russell ' s companies joined with the local militia and 7th Infantry Regiment and marched to the relief of Fort Harrison . Over 1000 men arrived from Vincennes on 12 September , and the Indian force departed . The next day , however , a supply train following Colonel Russell was attacked in what became known as the " Attack at the Narrows " in modern Sullivan County , Indiana . Attacks at the Narrows . Following the relief army to Fort Harrison was a party of thirteen soldiers under Lieutenant Fairbanks of the Seventh Infantry escorting a supply wagon loaded with flour and meat . On 13 September 1812 , the supply wagon was ambushed by a Potawatomi war party at a part of the trail known as The Narrows , an area near modern Fairbanks , Indiana , which has many ravines that serve as tributaries to Prairie Creek . When the ambush was launched , the draft horses panicked and ran away with the wagon . Only two men – the wagoneer , John Black , and Private Edward Perdue – managed to escape back to Fort Knox alive , although Perdue was discharged due to the severe wounds he received . Luckily for the two survivors , the Potawatomi gave chase to the runaway supply wagon . Eleven soldiers and all the provisions were lost to the United States , and several Potawatomi warriors had been killed or wounded . A second column of two supply wagons and fifteen soldiers under Lieutenant Richardson set out from Vincennes two days after the first wagon , following the same trail , and unaware of the fate of the first . When the Potawatomi learned that a second supply wagon was approaching , they set up the same ambush . On 15 September , after the initial attack , Richardson realized he was outmanned , and ordered a retreat . The wagons were left behind to be plundered , which may have saved the lives of the retreating soldiers . Even so , seven men had been killed , and another had been badly wounded . A battalion under Major McGary discovered the bodies a few days later , and proceeded to Fort Harrison to inform Colonel Russell of the attacks and – more importantly to the half - starved survivors at Fort Harrison – the missing supply wagons . The Potawatomi party left the Narrows , and attacked the house of a settler named Issac Hutson on 16 September , in what became known as the " Lamotte Prairie Massacre " . Hutson was away , but his wife and four children were all killed . Aftermath . The Battle of Fort Harrison is considered the first land victory of the United States during the War of 1812 . Shortly afterwards , U . S . forces relieved Fort Wayne , which eliminated the last Indian threat to Indiana Territory for the remainder of the war . In retaliation for the attack on Fort Harrison and the Pigeon Roost Massacre , Colonel Russell continued on to Illinois with the Indiana Rangers and led an expedition against the Kickapoo on Peoria Lake . For his services at Fort Harrison , Zachary Taylor received a brevet promotion to major . Since both William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor commanded Fort Harrison , Indiana historians later referred to it as " The Fort of Two Presidents . " Many years after the battle , a man found Lieutenant Fairbanks ' sword stuck in a log . It was given to the Indiana State Museum . In 1908 , the Indiana Society of the Sons of the American Revolution attempted to make the site of Fort Harrison a National Historical Park . Two active infantry battalions of the Regular Army ( 1 - 1 Inf and 2 - 1 Inf ) perpetuate the lineages of detachments the old 7th Infantry that were at the Siege of Fort Harrison .