Arthur St. Clair

Notable people · Governor · Military

Arthur St. Clair

First governor of the Northwest Territory (1788-1802), who named Cincinnati and led the army routed at St. Clair's Defeat in present-day Mercer County in 1791.

Born March 23, 1737, Thurso, Caithness, Scotland (recorded as 23 March 1736 Old Style)
Died August 31, 1818, Greensburg, Pennsylvania

Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

Born: March 23, 1737, Thurso, Caithness, Scotland (recorded as 23 March 1736 Old Style) source
Died: August 31, 1818, Greensburg, Pennsylvania source
Buried: St. Clair Park (under a Masonic monument), Greensburg source
Also known as: Arthur Saint Clair, General St. Clair
Education: University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland
Known as: Governor, Military

Life story

Arthur St. Clair was born in Thurso, Scotland, in 1737. He studied at the University of Edinburgh and trained under the physician William Hunter before buying a British Army commission in 1757.

He fought at Louisbourg and Quebec, left the Army in 1762, and settled in the Ligonier Valley of Pennsylvania in 1764. In the Revolution he became a Continental general, and in 1787 he was elected president of the Continental Congress.

In 1788 he became first governor of the Northwest Territory. Cincinnati got its name from the Society of the Cincinnati, of which he was a member.

His army was routed by the Native confederacy on the Wabash on November 4, 1791. Jefferson removed him as governor in 1802. He died poor in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, in 1818.

Ohio ties

Marietta (1788)
arrived at Fort Harmar July 9 and was installed as territorial governor July 15 Washington County · source
Cincinnati (1790-1802)
renamed Losantiville as Cincinnati and organized Hamilton County; later relocated his home there Hamilton County · source
Fort Recovery (1791)
site of St. Clair's Defeat Mercer County · source
St. Clairsville (late 1790s)
Newellstown renamed in his honour Belmont County · source

Timeline

1757 Joined the British army after briefly studying medicine at Edinburgh; he served in America in the French and Indian War. source
1777 Evacuated Fort Ticonderoga under British bombardment and was later acquitted at court-martial. source
1787 Elected president of the Confederation Congress on February 2; Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance during his term. source
1788 Reached Fort Harmar on July 9 and, after his commission was read on July 15, addressed the settlers at Marietta as governor. source
1789 Negotiated the Treaty of Fort Harmar, which the western nations rejected. source
1790 Arrived at Losantiville on January 2, organized Hamilton County and had the town renamed Cincinnati. source
1791 Marched from Fort Washington; his army was routed on November 4 near present-day Fort Recovery. source
1792 The House opened its first special committee investigation, into the defeat, and St. Clair was pushed to resign his army command. source
1802 Removed as governor by Jefferson after saying settlers were no more bound by an act of Congress than by an edict of the First Consul of France. source
1818 Died in poverty in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, on August 31. source
1913 The 101-foot Fort Recovery monument over the remains of the battle dead was dedicated on July 1. source

What Arthur is known for

First Governor of the Northwest Territory
Defeat at the Wabash, 1791

Stories

The governor's first speech at Marietta

St. Clair landed at Fort Harmar, across the Muskingum from the new Ohio Company settlement, on July 9, 1788. On July 15 the Northwest Ordinance and the officers' commissions were read to the settlers at Marietta, and he addressed them. He told them the government was temporary, meant only for the territory's infant stage, with judges borrowing laws from the codes of the original states and Congress able to annul anything passed locally. He urged them to keep peace with neighbouring Native nations through kindness and justice. The journal of his proceedings is held by the National Archives in the State Department's territorial papers.

Source

Half of Cincinnati marched with him

When St. Clair's army set out from Fort Washington in 1791, about half the people of the young town of Cincinnati were attached to it in some way. Many of them died in the defeat that November, and Henry Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio records that the town barely grew that year as a result. After he returned, St. Clair handed command of Fort Washington to Major Zeigler and left for Philadelphia; Colonel James Wilkinson soon took over.

Source

Bones under the monument

The Legion of the United States built Fort Recovery on the battlefield in 1793, and its soldiers had to move bones to make room for their beds. Later townspeople gathered remains from the field for reburial. In 1908 President Taft signed the bill for a monument, and the granite shaft at Ohio 49 and Ohio 119 was dedicated on July 1, 1913. The remains lie beneath its base, and thirty-two medallions around it carry the names of officers killed in the battles under St. Clair and Anthony Wayne.

Source

Honors and things named for them

Cincinnati, OH named for the Society of the Cincinnati
St. Clair townships and counties in several states
USS St. Clair

Named for Arthur St. Clair

St. Clairsville (St. Clairsville, Belmont County) source
St. Clair Township source

Family

wife: Phoebe Bayard St. Clair
daughter: Louisa St. Clair

Sites to know

Homes, graves, markers, museums and monuments; the numbered ones are on the map.

1 Fort Recovery State Museum and Memorial (battlefield)
Fort Recovery Mercer County · source
Fort Recovery Monument, Monument Park
Fort Recovery Mercer County · source
St. Clair grave, St. Clair Park
Greensburg, Pennsylvania source

Ohio places

Where Arthur St. Clair was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Lived: Cincinnati, Hamilton County (Territorial seat after 1790) ZIP 45202 · Cincinnati · Hamilton County

Myths and corrections

Things often said about Arthur St. Clair, and what the record shows.

Often said St. Clair was the only foreign-born President of the United States.

The record He was president of the Confederation Congress in 1787, a presiding officer of the legislature. Historians describe the office as largely ceremonial, with no power to set the agenda or appoint committees, and Edmund Burnett called its holders almost solely presiding officers. It was not the executive presidency created by the Constitution in 1789. Wikipedia repeats the claim in quotation marks for that reason. source

Often said St. Clair helped found the state of Ohio.

The record He opposed the statehood drive led by the Chillicothe Republicans and was removed as governor by Jefferson in 1802. Wikipedia states he played no part in organizing the state in 1803. source

Cincinnati is sometimes said to be named for the Roman Cincinnatus directly; sources say it was named for the Society of the Cincinnati.

Pictures

Free to use with the credit shown. Select a picture for the original and its license.

Title: "Poplar Grove," Arthur Saint Clair Butler house, Williams, Mathews County, Virginia. Tide mill Abstract...
Public domain
Title: "Poplar Grove," Arthur Saint Clair Butler house, Williams, Mathews County, Virginia. Tide mill Abstract...
Public domain
From A History of the United States page 175 by Alma Holman Burton copyright 1899
Public domain
* Printmakers include William Birch, R.W. Dodson, H.B. Hall, J.B. Longacre, Albert Rosenthal, Max Rosenthal an...
Public domain
* Printmakers include William Birch, R.W. Dodson, H.B. Hall, J.B. Longacre, Albert Rosenthal, Max Rosenthal an...
Public domain
Fields at the site of Fort St. Clair, located on the western edge of Eaton, Ohio, United States. Built in 1792...
Public domain
* Printmakers include William Birch, R.W. Dodson, H.B. Hall, J.B. Longacre, Albert Rosenthal, Max Rosenthal an...
Public domain
* Printmakers include William Birch, R.W. Dodson, H.B. Hall, J.B. Longacre, Albert Rosenthal, Max Rosenthal an...
Public domain
Drawing; Drawings
CC0
Drawing; Drawings
CC0
Title: Grave of Gen. Arthur St. Clair, Greensburg, Pa. Abstract/medium: 1 negative : glass ; 4 x 5 in. or smal...
Public domain
Title: Grave of Gen. Arthur St. Clair, Greensburg, Pa. Abstract/medium: 1 negative : glass ; 4 x 5 in. or smal...
Public domain