Fort Recovery Fort Recovery was a United States Army fort begun in late 1793 and completed in March 1794 under orders by General " Mad " Anthony Wayne . It was located on the site of the present - day village of Fort Recovery , Ohio , United States , on the Wabash River within two miles of the boundary with Indiana . Wayne purposely chose as the location for his new fort the spot where Arthur St . Clair had been defeated in 1791 by a Native American confederacy under Miami Chief Michikinikwa ( Little Turtle ) and Shawnee Chief Weyapiersenwah ( Blue Jacket ) . That battle , called St . Clair ' s Defeat , ended St Clair ' s military career and prompted the United States Congress to undertake a full investigation of the loss . Wayne hoped to demonstrate that the United States Army could recover from this crushing defeat and emerge victorious in what is now termed the Northwest Indian War or " Little Turtle ' s War . " Attack on Fort Recovery . On June 30 , 1794 , a supply column left Fort Recovery for Fort Greenville , under the command of Major William McMahon and escorted by ninety riflemen under Captain Asa Hartshome and fifty dragoons under Lieutenant Edmund Taylor . It had only gone about a quarter mile when it was attacked by a Native American force , commanded by Blue Jacket and including a young Tecumseh . The dragoons cut a retreat back to the fort , but thirty - two men were killed , including Captain Hartshome and Cornet Daniel Torrey . Thirty more men were wounded . An unknown number of Native Americans were killed . During the night , a scouting company under Captain William Wells reported that there were British officers behind the American Indian lines , and that they had brought powder and cannonballs , but no cannons . The Native Americans were looking for U . S . cannons that had been buried after St . Clair ' s Defeat , not knowing that they had already been recovered by the Legion of the United States . The next day , July 1 , 1794 , the Native American forces attacked the fort again , but began to withdraw by noon and were gone by nightfall . Fort Recovery was a reference point used to define the boundary line established in the Treaty of Greenville in 1795 , following Wayne ' s victory in the Battle of Fallen Timbers . In 1800 , it was used as a reference point in defining the initial boundaries of the Indiana Territory when that was first set off from the original Northwest Territory . When Ohio was admitted as a state in 1803 , the boundaries had been adjusted and Fort Recovery was not mentioned as a reference point for the boundaries of the state . Fort Recovery Memorial . In 1891 , the battlesites were excavated , and the remains of some 1200 people were buried in a memorial park downtown . In 1908 , President William Howard Taft signed a bill that allowed for the building of a monument for those killed under the command of Arthur St . Clair and Anthony Wayne in Fort Recovery . In 1910 , he gave Fort Recovery $ 25 , 000 to build the monument . The monument , in the form of an obelisk , was built in 1912 and dedicated on July 1 , 1913 . The obelisk stands at 101 ' , 4 " tall . It weighs approximately 800 tons and cost $ 23 , 700 to build . Today that monument is part of a historical landmark known as Fort Recovery State Memorial that is maintained by the Ohio Historical Society . Visitors can enjoy touring a replica of Wayne ' s fort with two reconstructed blockhouse s with a connecting stockade . The replica is not in the same location where the original forts were , but they are finding where they once were . The Fort Recovery State Museum , opened in 1938 , features life - size diorama s of fort soldiers and a typical Native American from the 1790s . Exhibits explain Wayne ' s campaign and include military and Native American artifacts , uniforms , weapons , paintings and maps . The museum features a gift shop and offers programs for school groups .