Battle of Vincennes
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| Battle of Vincennes | |||||||||||||||||
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 The Fall of Fort Sackville | |||||||||||||||||
| Conflict | Revolutionary War | ||||||||||||||||
| Date | February 23-25, 1779 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place | Vincennes, Indiana | ||||||||||||||||
| Result | Patriot victory | ||||||||||||||||
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The Battle of Vincennes took place on February 23-25, 1779 when a small force of men led by George Rogers Clark encircled Fort Sackville at Vincennes, Indiana and continued marching around it until the Indians and British garrisoned there were convinced that there were hundreds of soldiers.
The Indians fled leaving about 150 British soldiers under the command of Lt. Gov. Henry Hamilton. Clark sent a flag of truce asking for Hamilton's surrender. He refused Hamilton's terms however, and had two captured Indians killed in front of the Fort with a tomahawk which caused Hamilton to acquiesce and surrender on Clark's terms.
Clark was able to achieve the advantage of surprise by making an 18 day march from Kaskaskia through flooded and freezing terrain.
The actual number of attackers and defenders varies considerably from source to source. The version presented by the United States National Park Service numbers Clark's contingent at approximately 170 Americans and Frenchmen. Other sources number Clark's forces at 47 men. See [1] (http://www.nps.gov/gero/history.htm)
Hamilton is said to have released his troops for the winter, and his garrison "now consisted of approximately 40 British soldiers and a similar number of French volunteers and militia from Detroit and Vincennes."
With Frenchmen among both the attackers and defenders, the appetite for a battle may have been diminished.
After Hamilton's surrender, he was taken to Virginia where he was imprisoned by Thomas Jefferson. After his release in 1781, Hamiltion served "as the Governor of Quebec and later as Governor of the Island Colonies of Bermuda and Dominica".