St. Clair, Arthur

ST. CLAIR, ARTHUR. (1737–1818). Continental general. Scotland-Massachusetts-Pennsylvania. Born in Thurso, Scotland, on 23 March 1737, St. Clair gave up his medical education to buy an ensign's commission in the Sixtieth Foot (Royal Americans) on 13 May 1757. He took part in Amherst's capture of Louisburg and Wolfe's attack on Quebec, was promoted to lieutenant on 17 April 1759, resigned on 16 April 1762, and settled in Boston. After his Massachusetts wife inherited fourteen thousand pounds, he moved to the Pennsylvania frontier, where he used this money and his own military service claims to buy some four thousand acres in the Ligonier Valley. This made him the largest resident landowner "beyond the mountains," and he soon attained considerable influence. He was involved in the ugly land disputes between Pennsylvania and Virginia, but the latter province had gained the upper hand and St. Clair, an advocate of Pennsylvania's rights, accomplished little.

The Revolution made that dispute moot. In July 1775 he became colonel of a militia regiment, and in the fall he played a minor role in negotiations with Indians at Fort Pitt. On 3 January 1776 he became colonel of the Second Pennsylvania Battalion, led it north, and took part in the disaster at Trois Rivières in Canada on 8 June. On 9 August he was appointed brigadier general and in November he joined Washington's army. Authorized by the commander in chief to raise the New Jersey militia, he was at Trenton and Princeton. On 19 February 1777 he was promoted to major general and returned to the Northern Department to succeed Gates as commander on Lake Champlain.

His abandonment of Ticonderoga on 2-5 July 1777 climaxed his career as a field commander. St. Clair used sound military judgment in not risking his command in the defense of this untenable position and showed rare moral courage in ordering the withdrawal. Furthermore, his plans for this difficult operation were excellent, though ruined by incompetent subordinates. A court-martial in 1778 cleared him, but in their search for a scapegoat, many people suspected St. Clair of disloyalty. His foreign birth made this suspicion plausible, and when Arnold's treason in 1780 brought rumors that another high-ranking American officer was involved in dealings with the enemy, St. Clair's name was again mentioned.

The discredited general served Washington as a volunteer aide-de-camp at Brandywine, assisted Sullivan in mounting his expedition against the Indians, was a commissioner to arrange a cartel with the British at Amboy on 9 March 1780, served on the board that investigated André's conduct, and commanded West Point in October 1780. He had a minor part in settling the mutiny of the Pennsylvania Line, helped raise troops for the Yorktown campaign, and joined Washington a few days before Cornwallis surrendered. Soon thereafter he led two thousand regulars south to reinforce Greene, joining him near Charleston on 4 January 1782. On 3 November 1783 he retired from the Continental army.

St. Clair was in Congress from 2 November 1785 to 28 November 1787, and ended as president of that body. He became the first governor of the Northwest Territory, serving in 1789–1802. On 4 March 1791 he was named major general and commander of the U.S. Army. Badly defeated by the Miami Indians under Little Turtle on 4 November, he was refused a court of inquiry and on 5 March 1792 resigned his military commission. A congressional investigation cleared him of responsibility for the disaster. Jefferson removed him as governor in 1802 because St. Clair opposed statehood for Ohio. Unable to gain remuneration from Congress for his many financial losses, St. Clair retired to a simple log cabin in Chestnut Ridge, Pennsylvania, where he died in a carriage accident on 31 August 1818.

SEE ALSO Champe, John; Ticonderoga, New York, British Capture of; Trenton, New Jersey; Trois Rivières.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cayton, Andrew R. L. Frontier Republic: Ideology and Politics in the Ohio Country, 1780–1825. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1986.

Smith, William Henry, ed. The St. Clair Papers: The Life and Public Services of Arthur St. Clair. 2 vols. Cincinnati: R. Clarke, 1882.

Wilson, Frazer Ells. Arthur St. Clair, Rugged Ruler of the Old Northwest: An Epic of the American Frontier. Richmond, Va.: Garrett and Massie, 1944.

                              revised by Michael Bellesiles