Asa Hartshorne facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Asa Hartshorne
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| Born | Connecticut |
| Died | 30 June 1794 Fort Recovery, Ohio |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Army | |
| Years of service | 1787 - 1794 |
| Rank |  Captain |
| Unit | First American Regiment, Legion of the United States |
| Battles/wars | Hartshorne's Defeat, Hardin's Defeat, Siege of Fort Recovery † |
| Signature |  |
Asa Hartshorne was a United States Army officer who died in 1794 during the Northwest Indian War. He is the namesake of a 1790 attack on a United States settlement in Kentucky.
Hartshorne was from Connecticut and joined the Army in 1787. As an ensign in the First American Regiment, he signed the 1789 Treaty of Fort Harmar He traveled west from Fort Harmar that August, along with his fellow junior officer Jacob Kingsbury, under the command of Captain David Strong. On 30 May 1790, Hartshorne commanded a party near Limestone, Kentucky, that was attacked in retaliation for an attack on the Shawnee village of Chalawgatha by Charles Scott a month earlier. He reported 8 people missing after the attack and 5 killed, including 3 children. This attack is known as "Hartshorne's defeat." Later that same year, Hartshorne participated in the Harmar campaign, an assault on Native American villages deep in Ohio Territory. He and Captain John Armstrong were the only two active duty Army officers to survive when a force under Kentucky colonel John Hardin approached the Miami village of Little Turtle on 19 October 1790.
Hartshorne was promoted to lieutenant on 4 March 1791 and returned to Connecticut to recruit for the newly-formed Second American Regiment. He was promoted to captain in the 1st Sub-Legion on 1 September 1792. In January 1794, shortly after the construction of Fort Recovery, Hartshorne was tasked with building a road north to the village of Simon Girty. He was killed on 30 June 1794 during the Siege of Fort Recovery, when he refused to surrender to Thomas McKee.
