Clair's Defeat, the Americans still gained more than they lost materialistically when they overtook the Ohio land in …show more content…
Clair and his inexperienced soldiers were severely outmatched. However, the United States did eventually conquer the Indian Confederacy and claim the Ohio land. Several factors played key parts in the Americans' eventual success - some even comment on the fact that the Native Americans seemed to beat themselves. Even before the Battle of the Wabash, the Native American population was severely declining due to one factor from their European-Native neighbors: disease. Along with sickness, the massive amounts of Indians in the Ohio land shortened the food supply and the flooding of rivers devastated surrounding crops. The Native Americans turned to hunting game, but the harsh winter served as another barrier. Desperate and hungry, the Native Americans turned to the British for food. Stress over fulfilling basic needs eventually worked its way into the Indian Confederacy and sensing the tension, the United States worked manipulate these divisions. American representatives set off to sway the Indians from thinking that the United States wanted to steal their land but instead they wanted to teach them about farming, education, and tame their animals. In fact, "Transforming Indian men from hunters to farmers became part of the American strategy of separating Indians from lands they would then no longer need in such quantity" (Calloway, 2016, p. 141). After rebuilding and reorganizing the Army and the