HISTORY

Second Battle of Tippecanoe, November 21, 1812

The Second Battle of Tippecanoe, also known as the battle of Wild Cat Creek, also know as Spur's Defeat, was a punitive campaign following the Pigeon Roost Massacre under the commands of Major General Samuel Hopkins and Colonel William Russell. The force was mostly militia from Kentucky except for one company of the 7th Infantry under Major Zachary Taylor.

They burned a few villages, but had trouble locating the occupants. When they reached the site of the Battle of Tippecanoe, they found that some of the United States' dead had been exhumed and scalped. While exploring a creek, they were fired upon, and the entire American force retreated. The next day thirteen troopers found a mutilated body of one of their comrades and chased the suspected killer, but he managed to stay ahead of them, and led them into a narrow canyon to be ambushed. Within two minutes, twelve men were dead or dying. One soldier fled and did so by spurring his horse to gallop faster, hence some naming the battle "Spur's Defeat".

By the time the expedition returned to camp, two hundred men were suffering from sickness or frostbite. Major General Hopkins became so depressed from his lack of success that he resigned.