Battle of Wild Cat Creek The Battle of Wild Cat Creek , was the result of a November 1812 punitive expedition against Native American villages during the War of 1812 . It has been nicknamed " Spur ' s Defeat , " which is thought to refer to the spur s used by the soldiers to drive their horses away from the battle as quickly as possible . The campaign is sometimes referred to as the Second Battle of Tippecanoe . Second Tippecanoe Campaign . Following several defeats and massacres in 1812 , notably the Fort Dearborn Massacre and the Pigeon Roost Massacre , a joint punitive campaign was sent to Illinois Territory under the commands of Major General Samuel Hopkins and Colonel William Russell . Russell , coming from the Siege of Fort Harrison , led a force of Illinois militia and Indiana Rangers , and was successful in destroying a hostile Kickapoo village on Peoria Lake . Russell had to retreat to Cahokia , however , when he could not locate the forces under Hopkins . Hopkins could not get his Kentucky militia to engage , and had been driven back to Vincennes when the Kickapoo started a prairie grass fire . Major General Hopkins was humiliated by his loss , and discharged the Kentucky militia under his command . He then raised a new army , consisting of three regiments of Kentucky Infantry , one company of the 7th Infantry under Major Zachary Taylor , a troop of Indiana Rangers , and a company of scouts . Hopkins left Vincennes on 11 November 1812 and marched north , following the same route William Henry Harrison had taken in 1811 . When the army reached the site of the Battle of Tippecanoe , they found that some of the United States ' dead had been exhumed and scalped . The bodies were reburied before the army proceeded to Prophetstown , which it reached on 19 November . Prophetstown had been destroyed in the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe , but was now partially rebuilt , with an even larger Kickapoo village nearby . All residents and provisions had been evacuated as the army approached . The army burned the villages to the ground . A Winnebago village was found nearby , on Wildcat Creek , and Hopkins decided to attack it . Colonel Miller led 300 men and destroyed the evacuated village . On November 21 , as a scouting party explored the creek , they were fired upon , and the entire force retreated to rejoin the main army , leaving behind the body of a soldier named Dunn . The next day , 22 November , Colonels Miller and Wilcox accompanied Captain Beckes and sixty Indiana Rangers to recover Dunn ' s body . After riding about six miles up Wildcat Creek , they found a dead comrade ' s head stuck on a pole and a Native standing beside the head taunting them . Thirteen Indiana Rangers were outraged by this and chased the rider , but he managed to stay ahead of them , and led them into a narrow canyon . Here , Kickapoo , Winnebago , and Shawnee warriors ambushed the Rangers . Within two minutes , twelve men and several horses were dead or dying . Many of the officers were killed , and the Rangers fled . One man who escaped did so by spurring his horse to gallop faster , hence the naming of the battle " Spur ' s Defeat " . One man , Benoit Besayon , had been a long - time trader with the Indian villages in the area , and was captured alive in the canyon . He was judged to be a traitor , and sentenced to be burned at the stake . As the fire was lit , however , a friend took pity on him and shot him . The American losses on November 21 – 22 were seventeen killed and three wounded . Scouts learned that a large force of Native Americans were gathering to fight Hopkin ' s army , and they prepared to do battle as soon as possible . Bitter cold set in , however , and a snowstorm threatened the expedition . When the Indian camp was reached on 24 November , it was deserted . Hopkins turned back , stopping at Fort Harrison to recover from the weather before proceeding to Vincennes . By the time they reached Fort Knox , two hundred men were suffering from sickness or frostbite . Major General Hopkins became so depressed from his successive losses that he resigned . Modern investigations . The actual site of this little known American defeat is unknown . Local amateur reenactment groups have taken an interest in commemorating the event . Purdue University archaeologists and historians suggests that there is little scholarly interest in the site and the event because of its lack of importance . State archaeologists concur with these conclusions and leave the interpretation to local hobbyists and re - enactors to perform .