St. Clair's Defeat - Aftermath

Aftermath

President Washington was having dinner with guests in Philadelphia when he was summoned from the table and told of the military disaster. Washington returned and finished his dinner, only to unleash his rage when the guests had left. In January 1792, St. Clair arrived in Philadelphia to report on what had happened. Blaming the quartermaster as well as the War Department, the general asked for a court-martial in order to gain exoneration and planned to resign his commission after winning it. Washington, however, denied him the court-martial and forced St. Clair's immediate resignation.

The House of Representatives, meanwhile, began its own investigation into the disaster. This was the first investigation that Congress had ever undertaken, as well as the first investigation of the executive branch and as part of the proceedings, the House committee in charge of the investigation sought certain documents from the War Department. Knox brought this matter to Washington's attention and because of the major separation of powers issues involved, the president summoned a meeting of all of his department heads (Knox, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton and Attorney General Edmund Randolph). This was one of the first meetings of all of these officials together and may be considered the beginning of the United States Cabinet.

At this and subsequent meetings, the president and his advisers established, in theory, the concept that the executive branch should refuse to divulge any papers or materials that the public good required them to keep secret and that at any rate they not provide any originals. This is the earliest appearance of the doctrine of executive privilege, which later became a major separation of powers issue in matters such as Aaron Burr's treason trial, Watergate, the Iran-Contra affair and the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. In the end, though, Washington authorized the release of copies of the materials that the committee sought.

The final committee report sided largely with St. Clair, finding that Knox, Quartermaster General Samuel Hodgdon and other War Department officials had done a poor job of raising, equipping and supplying St. Clair's expedition. However, Congress voted against a motion to consider the Committee's findings and issued no final report. St. Clair expressed disappointment that his reputation was not officially cleared.

In March 1792, Congress voted to raise additional Army regiments. In May, it passed the Militia Acts of 1792, which set national militia standards and empowered the president to call up the militia. President Washington would utilize this authority in the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion. Also in 1794, a new U.S. force, the Legion of the United States under Major General "Mad Anthony" Wayne, built Fort Recovery at the location of St. Clair's Defeat and defended it from an attack. Following the Legion's victory in the August 1794 Battle of Fallen Timbers, the 1795 Treaty of Greenville brought an end to the Northwest Indian War.