USA > Indiana > Pioneer history of Indiana : including stories, incidents, and customs of the early settlers > Part 7
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ax first, calling us women. At the present time they invite our young men to war. As to our old people, they are wishing for peace.' They could not give me an answer before they received advice from the Miamis, their elder brothers.
"On the 18th of April I arrived at the River L'Anguille (Eel river), at a point five or six miles above the place where it flows into the Wabash. The Indian village located there was near or where Logansport, Indiana, now is. The chief of the village and those of war were not present. I explained the speech to some of the tribes. They said they were well pleased, but could not give me an answer, their chief men be- ing absent. They desired me to stop at their village coming back. They sent with me one of their young men to hear the answer of their eldest brethren. On the 23d of April I arrived at the Miami town. The next day I got the Miamis, the Shawnees and the- Delawares all. assembled. I gave to each nation two branches of wampum and began the speeches, before the French and English traders who were invited by the chiefs to be present, I having told them my- self that I should be glad to have them present since I had nothing to say against anybody. After the speeches I showed them the treaty concluded at Muskingum (Ft. Har- mor) between his Excellency, Governor St. Clair, and sundry nations. This displeased them. I told them that the pur- pose at this present time was not to submit them to any con- ditions but to offer them the peace, which made their dis- pleasure disappear. The great chief told me that he was pleased with the speech and that he soon would give me an answer. In a private discourse with him he told me not to mind what the Shawnees would. tell me, they having a bad heart and being the pertubators of all the nations. He said the Miamis had a bad name on account of mischief done on the River Ohio but he told me it was not occasioned by his young men, but by the Shawnees, his young men having only gone for a hunt.
"On the 25th of April, Blue Jacket, chief warrior of the Shawnees, invited me to go to his house and there said to me --- 'My friend, by the name and consent of the Shawnees and
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and Delawares, I will speak to you. We are all sensible of your speech and pleased with it but, after consultation, we cannot give you an answer without hearing from our Father at Detroit and we are determined to give you back the two branches of wampum and to send you to Detroit to see and hear the chief or to stay here twenty nights to receive his answer. From all quarters we receive speeches from the Americans and no two are alike. We suppose that they in- tend to deceive us. Then take back your branches of wampum.'
"The 26th of April five Pottawattomies arrived here with two negro men whom they sold to Engliah traders. The next day I went to the great chief of the Miamis, called Le- Gris, his chief warriers also being present with him. I told him how I had been served by the Shawnees. He answered me that he had heard of it and said that nation behaved contrary to his intention. He desired me not to mind those strangers and that he would soon give me a positive answer.
"The 28th of April the great chief desired me to call at the French traders and receive his answer. 'Don't take bad,' said he, 'of what I am to tell you. You may go back when you please. We cannot give you a positive answer. We must send your speech to all our neighbors and to the lake nations. We cannot give a definite answer without consult- ing the commandant at Detroit.' He desired me to render him the two branches of wampum refused by the Shawnees; also a copy of speeches in writing. He promised me that in thirty nights he would send an answer to Post Vincennes by a young man of each nation. He was well pleased with the speeches and said they were worthy of attention and should be communicated to all their confederates, being resolved among them not to do anything without an unanimous con- sent. I agreed to his request and rendered him the two branches of wampum and a copy of the speech. Afterward he told me that the five nations so called or the Iroquois were training for something; that five of them and three Wyan- dottes were in this village with branches of wampum. He could not tell me presently their purpose but he said I would know of it very soon.
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"The same day Blue Jacket invited me to his house for supper and before the other chiefs told me that, after another deliberation, they thought necessary that I should go my- self to Detroit to see the commandant who would get all his children assembled to hear my speech. I told them I would not answer them in the night --- that I was not ashamed to speak to them before the sun.
"On the 29th of April I got them all assembled. I told them I was not to go to Detroit; that the speeches were di- rected to the nations of the River Wabash and the Miami and to prove the sincerity of the speeches and the heart of Gover- nor St. Clair I had willingly given a copy of the speeches to be shown to the commandant of Detroit and according to a letter written by the commandant of Detroit to the Miamis, Shawnees and Delawares mentioning to them to be peaceable with the Americans. I would go to the commandant very willingly if it were in my direction being sensible of his sen- timents. I told them I had nothing to say to the command- ant, neither he to me, and that they must immediately resolve if they intended to take me to Detroit or else I would go back as soon as possible. Blue Jacket got up and told me, 'My friend, we are well pleased with what you say. Our intention is not to force you to go to Detroit; it was only a proposal, think- ing it for the best. Our answer is the same as the Miamis. We will send in thirty nights a full and positive answer by a young man of each nation by writing, to Post Vincennes.'
"In the evening Blue Jacket, having taken me to supper with him, told me in a private manner that the Shawnee na- tion was in doubt of the sincerity of the Big Knives, having been already deceived by them. That they had first des- troyed their lands, put out their fires and sent away their young men, being a-hunting, without a mouthful of meat; also had taken away their women, wherefore many of them would, with a great deal of pain, forget these affronts. More- over that some other nations were apprehending that offers of peace would maybe tend to take away, by degrees, their lands and would serve them as they did before. A certain proof that they intended to encroach on their lands was their new
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settlement on the Ohio. If they didn't keep this side of the Ohio clear. it would never be proper reconcilement with the nations, Shawnees, Iroquois, Wyandottes and perhaps many others. Legris, chief of the Miamis, asked me in private dis- course what chief had made treaty with the Americans at Muskingum (Ft. Harmon). I answered him that their names were mentioned in the treaty. He told me he had heard of it some time ago but that they were not chiefs nor delegates who made that treaty; they were only young men who, with- out authority and instructions from their chiefs, had con- cluded that treaty which would not be approved. They had gone to the treaty clandestinely and they intended to make mention of it in the next council to be held.
"The 2nd of May, I came back to the L'Anguille. One of the chief men of the tribe being witness of the council at Miamitown, repeated the whole to them and whereas the first chief was absent, they said they could not for the present time, give answer but that they were willing to join their speech to those of their eldest brethren. 'To give you. proof of an open heart,' they said, 'we let you know that one of our chiefs has gone to war on the Americans but it was before we heard of you for certain they would not have gone hither.' They also told me that a few days after I passed their village, seventy warriors, Chippewas and Ottawas from Michilimaci- nac arrived there. Some of them were Pottawattomies who, meeting on their route the Chippewas and Ottawas, joined them. 'We told them,' they said, 'we heard by you --- that your speech is fair and true. We could not stop them from going to war. The Pottawattomies told us that as the Chippewas and Ottawas were more numerous than they they were forced to follow them.'
"On the 3d of May I got to the Weas. They told me that they were waiting for an answer from their eldest brethren. 'We approve very much our brethren for not to give a definite answer without informing of it all the lake nations. Detroit was the place where the fire was lighted, then it ought first to be put out there. The English commandant is our father since he threw down our French
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father. We could do nothing without his approbation.'
"The 4th of May I arrived ot the village of the Kicka- poos. The chief presenting me two branches of wampum, black and white said --- 'My son, we cannot stop our young men from going to war. Every day some set off clandestinely for that purpose. After such behavior from our young men we are ashamed to say to the great chief of the Illinois and of the Post Vincennes that we are busy about some good af- fairs for the reconcilement, but be persuaded that we will speak to them continually concerning the peace and when our eldest brethren will have sent their answer, we will join ours to it.
"The 5th of May I arrived at Vermillion. I found no- body but two chiefs. All the rest were gone a-hunting. They told me they had nothing else to say." In a despatch from Post Vincennes May 22d, 1790, Major Hamtramck says-"I enclose the proceedings of Mr. Gamelin by which Your Ex- cellency can have no great hopes of bringing the Indians to peace with the United States. Gamelin arrived on the 8th of May and on the 11th some merchants arrived and informed me that as soon as Gamelin had passed their village on his return, all the Indians had gone to war; that a large party of Indians from Michilimacinac and some Pottawattomies had gone to Kentucky and that three days after Gamelin had left the Miami village, Kekionga, an American was brought there, scalped and burned at the stake."
The great reason that the French and afterwards the English, were so successful in dealing with the Indians and attaching them so firmly as their allies, was that they dealt with them as a parent would with a child, giving them many presents and humoring their whims. This was pleasing to the Indians but after a time it became very expensive. As a French writer puts it-"These importunities of gifts for everything that they saw or could think of, grew on the Ind- ians and it became so expensive that it was a question whether their friendship was worth the great trouble and expense."
The free sons of fair America, who were the best blood of many foreign nations, knew no way to transact business
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with the aborigines but by the rules of business that would goveru the transaction of one people with another, con- sequently they were not successful in their attempts to treat with the Indians who had been pampered and spoiled by the French and English nations to hold their friendship. In every attempt that the American made to treat with the In- dians for friendship or concessions of territory they were met with the taunt that they were not like the French and Eng- lish, who always commenced such proceedings with a large gift of many articles useful to the Indians; that this made their hearts glad and that the American always came with empty hands.
Major Gladwin, the British commandant at Detroit, had an experience with Pontiac and his confederated bands which is described by him in a private letter to a friend --
"The Indians under Pontiac have been so domi- neering over the French and have become so exacting that when my commissioner made overtures for an alliance of peace and friendship, he was rejected. They gave as a reason for not making the treaty that when their great Father. the French King, wanted any special favor he gave his red brethren a ship load of goods of all kinds for the Indians' com- fort; that the English now wanted them io forsake their allegiance to their great Father, the King of France, and give it to them; for this they should at least offer them three ship-loads of guns, powder, lead, blankets, clothing of all kinds and many ar- ticles for decorating their body to expect them to grant such a great favor."
Governor St. Clair was at Kaskaskia when he received Gamelin's report which satisfied him that there was no prospect of peace with the Wabash Indians. He sent the secretary of the Northwest Territory, Winthrop Sargent, to Vincennes and directed him to lay out Knox county and establish the mil- itia and appoint necessary civil and military officers. Mr. Sargent proceeded to Vincennes where he organized the camp of Knox, appointed the necessary civil and military officers and gave notice to the inhabitants to present their claims to
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titles of land which was found to be a very difficult proposi- tion. In his report to the president he said-
"The lands and lots which were awarded appear from the evidence, to belong to those persons to whom they were awarded, either by grants, purchase or inheritance, but there are very few titles which are complete owing to the very loose way that pub- lic business has been carried on. The concessions by the French and British commandants are made on small scraps of paper which are loosely kept in the Notary's office; but the fewest number of these concessions are in a book of record."
The most important land transactions were often found scrawled down on a loose sheet of paper in very bad French and worse English. Three-fourths of the names were made with marks without being attested by a notary or any one else. Many of these claimants at the post of Vincennes had been occupying the land on which their houses were built for generations and the only evidence of their having any claim to it would all be recorded on a piece of paper not any too large for a target in a shooting match. Mr. Sargent said that there were about one hundred and fifty families in Vin- cennes in 1790. The heads of these families had at some time had a title to a portion of the soil which title he had spent weeks in trying to straighten out. While he was busy with these claims he received a petition signed by eighty Americans asking for confirmation of the grants of land ceded by the court which had been organized by Col. John Todd under the authority of Virginia.
Congress of the 3rd of March, 1791, authorized the gov- ernor of the territory in all cases where the improvements had been made, under a supposed title for the same. to confirm the persons who made such improvements on the land sup- posed to have been granted, not to exceed in quantity four hundred acres to one person. In 1790 a session of court was held in Vincennes at which Wihthrop Sargent, Acting Gov- ernor, presided and the following laws were adopted.
1. An act prohibiting the giving or selling of intoxicat- ihg liquors to Indians residing in or coming into the territory
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of the United States northwest of the River Ohio and for pre- venting foreigners from trading with the Indians.
2. An act prohibiting the sale of spirituous or other in- toxicating liquors to soldiers in the service of the United States, being within ten miles of any military post within the territory of the United States northwest of the River Ohio and to prevent the selling or pawning of arms, ammuni- tion, clothing and accoutrements.
3. An act for suppressing and prohibiting every species of gaming for money or other property and for making void contracts and payments made in consequence thereof; and for restraining the disorderly practice of discharging arms at certain hours and places.
"POST VINCENNES, JULY 3, 1790.
"To the Honorable Winthrop Sargent, Esq., Secre- tary in and for the territory of the United States northwest the River Ohio and vested with all the powers of governor and commander-in-chief:
"Sir :-
As you have given verbal orders to the magis- trates who formerly composed the court of the dis- trict of Post Vincennes under the jurisdiction of the state of Virginia, to give you their reasons for hav- ing taken upon them to grant concessions for the lands within the district, in obedience thereto, we beg leave to inform you that their principal reason is that, since the establishment of this country, the. commandants have always appeared to be vested with the power to give lands. Their founder, Mr. Vin- cennes, began to give concessions and all his succes- sors have given lands and lots. Mr. Legras was ap- pointed commandant of Post Vincennes by the lieu- tenant of the connty-John Todd who was, in the year 1779, sent by the state of Virginia to regulate the government of the country and who substituted Mr. Legras with his power. In his absence Mr. Le- gras. who was then commandant, assumed that he had in quality of commandant authority to give lands according to the ancient usages of other com- mandants; and he verbally informed the court of Post Vincennes that when they would judge it proper to give lands or lots to those who should come into the Territory to settle, or otherwise, they might do it; and that he gave them permission to do so.
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"These are the reasons that we acted upon and if we have done more than we ought, it was on account of the little knowledge we had of public affairs."
.F. BOSSERON
PIERRE GAMELIN
L. EDELINE
mark his PIERRE (X) QUEREZ
While in Vincennes in 1790 Mr. Sargent received an ad- dress from the leading citizens as follows:
"The citizens of the town of Vincennes approach you, Sir, to express as well their personal respects for your honor as a full approbation of the measures you have been pleased to pursue in regard to their government and the adjustment of their claims as in- habitants of the territory over which you at present preside. While we deem it a singular blessing to behold the principles of free government unfolding before us, we cherish the pleasing reflection that our posterity will also have cause to rejoice at the polit- ical. change now originating. A free and efficient government wisely administered and fostered under the protecting wings of an august union of states, cannot fail to render the citizens of this wide, ex- tended territory securely happy in the possession of every public blessing.
'We cannot take leave, Sir, without offering to your notice a tribute of gratitude and esteem which every citizen of Vincennes conceives he owes to the merits of an officer (Major Hamtramck) who has long commanded at this post. The unsettled situation of things for a series of years previous to this gentle- man's arrival tended in many instances to derange and in others to suspend, the operations of these mu- nicipal customs by which the citizens of this town were used to be governed. They were in the habit of submitting the superintendence of their civil regu- lations to the officer who happened to command the troops posted among them; hence, in the course of the late war and from the frequent change of mas- ters, they labored under heavy and various griev- ances but the judicious and humane attention paid by Major Hamtramck during his whole command, to the rights and feelings of every individual, craving his
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interpositions, demands and will always receive our warmest acknowledgment.
"We beg you, Sir, to assure the supreme authority of the United States of our fidelity and attachment and our greatest ambition is to deserve its fostering care by acting the part of good citizens.
"By order and on behalf of the citizens of Vin- cennes.
ANTOINE GAMELIN, Magistrate.
PIERRE GAMELIN.
PAUL GAMELIN 66
JAMES JOHNSON,
LOUIS EDELINE,
LUKE DECKER,
FRANCIS BOSSERON,
FRANCIS VIGO, Major Commandant Militia.
HENRY VANDERBURGH, Major of Militia."
To this complimentary testimonial, Winthrop Sargent made a brief but appropriate reply as follows:
"VINCENNES, July 25, 1790. GENTLEMEN :-
Next to that happiness which I derive from a consciousness of endeavoring to merit the approba- tion of the sovereign authority of the United States by the faithful discharge of the important trust com- mitted to me, is the grateful plaudits of the respec- able citizens of this territory and be assured, gentle- men. that I receive it from the town of Vincennes upon this occasion with singular satisfaction.
"In an event so interesting and important to every individual as the organization of civil government, I regret exceedingly that you have been deprived of the wisdom of our worthy governor. His extensive. abilities and long experience in the honorable . walks of public life might have more perfectly established that system which promises to you and posterity such political blessings. It is certain, gen- tlemen, that the government of the United States is most congenial to the dignity of human nature and the best possible palladium for the lives and property of mankind. The services of Major Hamtramck to the public and his humane attention to the citizens
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while in command here, have been highly meritor- ious and it is with great pleasure that I have offici- cially expressed to him my full approbation thereof.
'Your dutiful sentiments of fidelity and attach- ment to the general government of the United States, shall be faithfully transmitted to their august pres- ident.
"With the warmest wishes for the prosperity and welfare of Vincennes, I have the honor to be, gen- tlemen, Your obedient, humble servant,
WINTHROP SARGENT."
During most of the years 1790 and 1791, Governer St. Clair was very busy with the military affairs of the territory. The civil affairs were turned over to Winthrop Sargent and he was given authority of acting governor. St. Clair then determined to return to Ft. Washington where General Har- mor was stationed and consult with him as to the expediency of sending expeditions against the hostile Indians. When he arrived at Ft. Washington from Kaskaskia, after a consulta- tian with his military leaders, they determined to send a strong detachment against the Indians located on the head waters of the Wabash. At that time the United States troops in the northwest were but little over four hundred ef- fective men. A part of the milita designed to act with the troops on these expeditions there was about three hundred from Virginia, that rendezvoused at Fort Steuben and with the garrison of that station marched to Vincennes and were joined to the forces of Major Hamtramck who was authorized to enlist what milita he could at Post Vincennes. With this force he marched up the Wabash river. having orders to at- tack any Indians that he might find with which his force was strong enough to engage. The governor had the authority of the president to call on the state of Virginia for one thous- and troops and Pennsylvania for five hundred. These troops, less the three hundred Virginians that went with Hamtramck, assembled at Ft. Washington add were joined to the regular troops at that station.
On the last of September Governor St. Clair, in obedi- ence to instructions from the president of the United States,
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sent the following letter to the British Commandant at Detroit:
"MARIETTA, September 19, 1790. Sir :-
As it is not improbable on account of the military preparations going forward in this quarter of the country may reach you and give you some uneasiness, while the object to which they are directed in not perfectly known, I am commanded by the president of the United States to give you the full assurance thai pacific dispositions are entertained toward Great Britain and all her possessions; and to inform you explicitly that the expedition about to be undertaken is not intended against the Post you have the honor to command nor any other place at present in the possession of the British troops of his Majesty; but is on foot with the sole design of humbling and chastising some of the savage tribes whose depreda- tions are becoming intolerable and whose cruelties have, of late, become an outrage, not on the people of America only, but on humanity; which I now do in the most unequivocal manner.
"After this candid explanation, Sir, there is every reason to expect both from your own personal char- acter and from the regard you have for that of your nation that those tribes will meet with neither count- enance nor assistance from any under your command; and that you will do what in your power lies to res- train the trading people from those instigations, from which there is good reason to believe much of the injuries committed by the savage has proceeded. "I have forwarded this letter by a private gentle- man in preference to an officer by whom you might have expected a communication of this kind, that every suspicion of the purity of the views of the United States, might be obviated."
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