The American general Arthur St. Clair, b. Mar. 23, 1736, d. Aug. 31, 1818, the first governor of the Northwest Territory, led a disastrous expedition against the Indians in 1791. He was born in Scotland and settled (1762) in western Pennsylvania after several years in the British army. He served as an officer on the side of the rebels during the American Revolution and was prominent in Pennsylvania politics before becoming territorial governor in 1787. Settlers in the territory felt increasingly threatened by the Indians there and conducted a series of raids against them. In 1791, St. Clair led American troops northward from Cincinnati's Fort Washington toward the Maumee River, but his force was ambushed and overwhelmed on November 4, while approaching the Miami Indian villages on the site of what is now Fort Wayne, Ind. Approximately 600 Americans were killed. Officially freed of blame for the debacle, St. Clair continued as territorial governor, but his unpopular stances--he was opposed to the admission of Ohio to the Union--led to his dismissal by President Thomas Jefferson in 1802. St. Clair spent the last years of his life defending his leadership of the ill-fated 1791 expedition. He died in poverty.