News from the Niagara Frontier brings more gloom, another army defeated! A third bogged down.
General Harrison decides to strike the Miami villages along the Mississinewa, a tributary of the Wabash Indiana Territory.
The settlements along the Mississinewa were the safest part of the Miami's territory left to them and probaly contained the bulk of their winter food. This was also a good place to attack American supply convoys supporting any future U.S. campaigns in the area.
Lieutenant - Colonel John Campbell was in charge of six hundred infantry and cavalry ordered to attack the native villages, on November 25th they set out to do the job. After destroying the villages, Campbell could then proceed north and attack the Potawatomi. Although the American force did manage to burn some Indian villages, the villages burned were of no threat to Harrison's army.
Campbell made every effort to keep this next mission secret, the Americans marched all night in order to get to the Indian town by daylight and take it by surprise. The night had been very cold and many of the men were frostbitten, and all were extremely fatigued.
The Indians had learned about the attack and left their village, they waited and launched a night attack on the exhausted Americans.
The Americans had eight killed, forty-eight wounded, they also lost a hundered horses.
Lieutenant - Colonel Campbell hears that Tecumseh is on his way with a large force and although this rumour turns out to be false he orders a retreat to Greenville. They bury their dead and depart for Greenville late in the afternoon.
The wounded men are dying from their wounds and the rest suffer from frostbite, provisions are almost gone. A relief party finally gets them to Greenville. Out of the six hundred man force, Campbell has lost half, three hundred men are disabled. One mounted regiment has to be disbanded. In spite of this General Harrison announces that the expedition is a complete success.
Native losses are difficult to estimate.