Yellow Jackets ( Indiana ) The Yellow Jackets were a mounted militia company from Harrison County in the Indiana Territory . The company numbered sixty men and officers and saw action as part of the expeditionary force dispatched to put down the American Indian uprising during Tecumseh ' s War . The company saw additional service as part of a larger militia force that operated during the War of 1812 . Formation . In September 1811 John Gibson , secretary of the Indiana Territory , called out the militia in response to rising tensions with Native American tribes in the region . The Yellow Jackets were one such company to respond to the call . The company gained its name from the uniforms provided by the county for the men . The cuffs and fringes of their buckskins and wool coats were dyed a bright yellow . The militia of Harrison County was organized into a company of sixty men commanded by Captain Spier Spencer , the county sheriff . Spencer was a veteran of at least forty prior engagements with Native Americans . The second in command was 1st Lieutenant Richard McMahan , a new settler living near Corydon . The company had four sergeant s and four corporal s , one of each from each township in the county . Among them was Pearse Chamberlain , Henry Batman , and William Pennington , the younger brother of Dennis Pennington the speaker of the territorial legislature . Dennis Pennington was also a member of the company , but was unable to make the expedition because he was overseeing the construction of the new county courthouse and had to attend a meeting of the legislature who were called into an emergency session . The company had eight ensigns including future U . S . Senator John Tipton . Tipton kept a detailed journal of the company ' s activities and it is from that source that most knowledge of the company is known . The company contained two musicians , Daniel Cline serving as a drummer and Isham Stroud as a fifer . Both boys were fifteen years old , the youngest men in the company . There were forty - three privates enlisted , including many of the prominent men in the county . The privates were paid between $ 8 and $ 6 . 66 for the duration of their four - month enlistment . The officers were paid between $ 50 and $ 26 . All the men were required to supply their own horses and were paid forty cents a day for their horses ' fodder . The company first met at Harrison Mill on the western edge of the county . After camping there a night waiting for the entire force to come together the company set out to join the primary camp of the territorial militia . Tippecanoe expedition . On September 8 the company set out down the Buffalo Trace towards the capital in Vincennes . Traveling along the road they met up with other companies of infantry militia traveling by wagon who they accompanied the remainder of the journey . By the 16th they crossed the White River and met up with the main army commanded by Governor William Henry Harrison on the 18th . For the next twelve days the company remained in camp just north of Vincennes . On September 30 they received orders to march to Maria Creek with the rest of militia gathered in the camp to meet the army regulars already stationed near Maria Creek . Upon reaching their destination the Yellow Jackets were removed from the normal chain of command and moved to only answer to Harrison . Harrison intended to use the company as scouts and foragers . He put them in a wide formation around the main body of the army where they kept watch for enemies and gathered wild game to bring back to the main army . The company was successful and was even able to find beehives and bring back ten gallons of honey . On October 3 the army reached the site of modern Terre Haute , a strategic location on the Wabash River . The company continued to scout the countryside and forage while the rest of the army constructed Fort Harrison . A small detachment of mounted men under the command of Lieutenant Thomas Berry was added the Yellow Jackets . On October 10 a small group of Indians ambushed sentries at the fort , wounding a man . The Yellow Jackets quickly drew up around the fort preparing to drive off an attack , but it never materialized . On October 22 the company held elections for additional officers , and Tipon was promoted to Lieutenant . The army soon resumed its advance , and by the end of the month they had arrived in modern Vermillion County . On November 2 Harrison ordered the entire army to parade so he could inspect them . The entire force did so , except the Yellow Jackets , who were off foraging . Harrison threatened to demote all of their officers , but never carried through on the threat for fear they would desert . On November 3 the army moved out again and the Yellow Jackets along with the dragoons were put out in a skirmishing formation in front of the army to clear any possible enemies . By November 6 , they reached the village of Prophetstown , the center of the native resistance . That night the army camped on a hill near the edge of the settlement . The army was camped in a battle formation and the Yellow Jackets were placed on the far right flank . Early on the morning of November 7 , the Indians in Prophetstown launched a preemptive strike on the army . The attack took the army by surprise and the brunt of the attack came down on the right flank . Captain Spencer was among the first to be killed , being shot in each thigh . Governor Harrison later recorded his death in a dispatch to Washington . Of Spencer he said , " . . . Spencer was wounded in the head . He exhorted his men to fight valiantly . He was shot through both thighs and fell ; still continuing to encourage them , he was raised up , and received a ball through his body , which put an immediate end to his existence . . . " Lieutenants McMahan and Berry were also soon wounded and killed . As the Yellow Jackets were quickly overwhelmed a reserve company of regulars came to reinforce their line and turned the tide . The battle lasted three hours before the Native forces withdrew . The Yellow Jackets suffered the highest casualties of the army , over 30 % . Eleven were killed in the battle or died from wounds and thirteen wounded . The dead were buried in a mass grave on their campsite , but after the army withdrew , the Indians returned , dug up the graves and scattered their remains . A few days after the battle , and successful conclusion of the campaign , the militia was released from duty and returned to their homes . The militia reached Corydon on November 27 and disbanded after seventy - four days campaigning . The town later constructed a memorial on the town square for the fallen soldiers in the battle .