History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Part 96

Author: H. Z. Williams & Brothers
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 559

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McKee, Elliott and Girty were also actively engaged in aiding the natives. All of them were in the interest of the British, a fact clearly proven by the Indians themselves, and by other traders.

St. Clair and General Harmar determined to send an expedition against the Maumee towns, and secure that part of the country. Letters were sent to the militia officers of western Pennsylvania, Virginia and Ken- tucky, calling on them for militia to co-operate with the regular troops in the campaign. According to the plan of the campaign, three hundred militia were to rendez- vous at Fort Steuben (Jeffersonville), march thence to Fort Knox, at Vincennes, and join Major Hamtramck in an expedition up the Wabash; seven hundred were to rendezvous at Fort Washington to join the regular army against the Maumee towns.

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While St. Clair was forming his army and arranging for the campaign, three expeditions were sent out against the Miami towns. One against the Miami villages, not far from the Wabash, was led by General Harmar. He had in his army about fourteen hundred men, regulars and militia. These two parts of the army could not be made to affiliate, and, as a consequence, the expedition did little beyond burning the villages and destroying corn. The militia would not submit to discipline, and would not serve under regular officers. It will be seen what this spirit led to when St. Clair went on his march soon after.

The Indians, emboldened by the meagre success of Harmar's command, continued their depredations against the Ohio settlements, destroying the community at Big Bottom. To hold them in check, and also punish them, an army under Charles Scott went against the Wabash Indians. Little was done here, but destroy towns and the standing corn. In July another army, under Colonel Wilkinson, was sent against the Eel River Indians. Be- coming entangled in extensive morasses on the river, the army became endangered, but was finally extricated, and accomplished no more than either the other armies be- fore it. As it was, however, the three expeditions directed against the Miamis and Shawnees, served only to exas- perate them. The burning of their towns, the destruc- tion of their corn, and the captivity of their women and children, only aroused them to more desperate efforts to defend their country, and to harass their invaders. To accomplish this, the chiefs of the Miamis, Shawnees and the Delawares, Little Turtle, Blue Jacket and Buckongahelas, were engaged in forming a confederacy of all the tribes of the Northwest, strong enough to drive the whites beyond the Ohio. Pontiac had tried that be- fore, even when he had open allies among the French. The Indians now had secret allies among the British, yet in the end, they did not succeed. While they were pre_ paring for the contest, St. Clair was gathering his forces, intending to erect a chain of forts from the Ohio, by way of the Miami and Maumee valleys, to the lakes, and thereby effectually hold the savages in check. Wash- ington warmly seconded this plan, and designated the junction of the St. Mary's and St. Joseph's rivers as an important post. This had been a fortification almost from the time the English held the valley, and only needed little work to make it a formidable fortress. General Knox, the Secretary of War, also favored the plan, and gave instructions concerning it. Under these instructions, St. Clair organized his forces as rapidly as he could, although the numerous drawbacks almost, at times, threatened the defeat of the campaign. Through the summer the arms and accoutrements of the army were put in readiness at Fort Washington. Many were found to be of the poorest quality, and to be badly out of repair. The militia came poorly armed, under the impression they were to be provided with arms. While waiting in camp, habits of idleness engendered them- selves, and drunkenness followed. They continued their accustomed freedom, disdaining to drill, and refused to submit to the regular officers. A bitter spirit broke out

between the regular troops and the militia, which none could heal. The insubordination of the militia and their officers, caused them a defeat afterward, which they in vain attempted to fasten on the busy general, and the regular troops.

The army was not ready to move until September 17th. It was then two thousand three hundred strong. It then moved to a point upon the Great Miami, where they erected Fort Hamilton, the first in the proposed chain of fortresses. After its completion, they moved on forty-four miles farther, and, on the twelfth of Octo- ber, began the erection of Fort Jefferson, about six miles south of the present town of Greenville, Darke county. On the twenty-fourth, the army again took up its line of march, through a wilderness, marshy and boggy, and full of savage foes. The army rapidly declined under the hot sun; even the commander was suffering from an in- disposition. The militia deserted, in companies at a time, leaving the bulk of the work to the regular troops. By the third of November, the army reached a stream twelve yards wide, which St. Clair supposed to be a branch of St. Mary's of the Maumee, but which in real- ity was a tributary of the Wabash. Upon the banks of that stream, the army, now about fourteen hundred strong, encamped in two lines. A slight protection was thrown up as a safeguard against the Indians, who were known to be in the neighborhood. The general intended to attack them the next day, but, about half an hour be- fore sunrise, just after the militia had been dismissed from parade, a sudden attack was made upon them. The militia were thrown into confusion, and disregarded the command of the officers. They had not been suffi- ciently drilled, and now was seen, too late and too plainly, the evil effects of their insubordination. Through the morning the battle waged furiously, the men falling by scores. About nine o'clock the retreat began, cov- ered by Major Cook and his troops. The retreat was a disgraceful, precipitate flight, though, after four miles had been passed, the enemy returned to the work of scalping the dead and wounded, and of pillaging their camp. Through the day and the night their dreadful work con- tinued, one squaw afterward declaring "her arm was weary scalping the white men." The army reached Fort Jefferson a little after sunset, having thrown away much of its arms and baggage, though the act was entirely un- necessary. After remaining here a short time, it was decided by the officers to move on toward Fort Hamil- ton, and thence to Fort Washington.

The defeat of St. Clair was the most terrible reverse the Americans ever suffered from the Indians. It was greater than even Braddock's defeat. His army con- sisted of twelve hundred men and eighty-six officers, of whom seven hundred and fourteen men and sixty-three officers were killed or wounded. St. Clair's army con- sisted of fourteen hundred men and eighty-six officers, of whom eight hundred and ninety men and sixteen officers were killed or wounded. The comparative effects of the two engagements very inadequately represent the crushing effect of St. Clair's defeat. An unprotected frontier of more than a thousand miles in extent was

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now thrown open to a foe made merciless, and anx- ious to drive the whites from the north side of the Ohio. Now, settlers were scattered along all the streams, and in all the forests, exposed to the cruel enemy, who stealthily approached the home of the pioneer, to murder him and his family. Loud calls arose from the people to defend and protect them. St. Clair was covered with abuse for his defeat, when he really was not alone to blame for it. The militia would not be controlled. Had Clarke been at their head, or Wayne, who suc- ceeded St. Clair, the result might have been different. As it was, St. Clair resigned; though ever after he enjoyed the confidence of Washington and Congress.

Four days after the defeat of St. Clair, the army, in its straggling condition, reached Fort Washington, and paused to rest. On the ninth St. Clair wrote fully to the Secretary of War. On the twelfth General Knox com- municated the information to Congress, and on the twenty-sixth, he laid before the President two reports, the second containing suggestions concerning future operations. His suggestions urged the establishment of a strong United States army, as it was plain the States could not control the matter. He also urged a thorough drill of the soldiers. No more insubordination could be tolerated. General Wayne was selected by Washington as the commander, and at once proceeded to the task assigned to him. In June, 1792, he went to Pittsburgh to organize the army now gathering, which was to be the ultimate argument with the Indian confederation. Through the summer he was steadily at work. "Train and discipline them for the work they are meant for," wrote Washington, "and do not spare powder and lead, so the men be made good marksmen." In December, the forces, now recruited and trained, gathered at a point twenty-two miles below Pittsburgh, on the Ohio, called Legionville, the army itself being denominated the Le- gion of the United States, divided into four sub-legions, and provided with the proper officers. Meantime, Col- onel Wilkinson succeeded St. Clair as commander at Fort Washington, and sent out a force to examine the field of defeat, and bury the dead. A shocking sight met their view, revealing the deeds of cruelty enacted upon their comrades by the savage enemy.

While Wayne's army was drilling, peace measures were pressed forward by the United States with equal perseverance. The Iroquois were induced to visit Phila- delphia, and partially secured from the general confed- eracy. They were wary, however, and, expecting aid from the British, held aloof. Brant did not come, as was hoped, and it was plain there was intrigue some- where. Five independent embassies were sent among the western tribes, to endeavor to prevent a war, and win over the inimical tribes. But the victories they had won, and the favorable whispers of the British agents, closed the ears of the red men, and all propositions were rejected in some form or other. All the embassa- dors, save Putnam, suffered death. He alone was able to reach his goal-the Wabash Indians - and effect any treaty. On the twenty-seventh of December, in com- pany with Heckewelder, the Moravian missionary, he

reached Vincennes, and met thirty-one chiefs, represent- ing the Weas, Piankeshaws, Kaskaskias, Peorias, Illinois, Pottawatomies, Mascoutins, Kickapoos, and Eel River Indians, and concluded a treaty of peace with them.

The fourth article of this treaty, however, contained a provision guaranteeing to the Indians their lands, and when the treaty was laid before Congress February 12, 1793, that body, after much discussion, refused on that account to ratify it.

A great council of the Indians was to be held at Au- glaize during the autumn of 1792, when the assembled nations were to discuss fully their means of defence, and determine their future line of action. The council met in October, and was the largest Indian gathering of the time. The chiefs of all the tribes of the Northwest were there. The representatives of the seven nations of Canada, were in attendance. Cornplanter and forty- eight chiefs of the New York (Six Nations) Indians re- paired thither. "Besides these," said Cornplanter, "there were so many nations we cannot tell the names of them. There were three men from the Gora nation; it took them a whole season to come; and," continued he, "twenty-seven nations from beyond Canada were there." The question of peace or war was long and earnestly debated. Their future was solemnly discussed, and around the council fire native eloquence and native zeal shone in all their simple strength. One nation after another, through their chiefs, presented their views. The deputies of the Six Nations who had been at Philadel- phia to consult the "Thirteen Fires," made their report. The western boundary was the principal question. The natives, with one accord, declared it must be the Ohio river. An address was prepared, and sent to the Presi- dent, wherein their views were stated, and agreeing to abstain from all hostilities, until they could meet again in the spring at the rapids of the Maumee, and there consult with their white brothers. They desired the President to send agents, "who are men of honesty, not proud land-jobbers, but men who love and desire peace." The good work of Penn was evidenced here, as they de- sired that the embassadors "be accompanied by some Friend or Quaker."

The armistice they had promised was not, however, faithfully kept. On the sixth of November, a detach- ment of Kentucky cavalry at Fort St. Clair, about twenty-five miles above Fort Hamilton, was attacked. The commander, Major Adair, was an excellent officer, well versed in Indian tactics, and defeated the savages.

This infraction of their promises did not deter the United States from taking measures to meet the Indians at the rapids of the Maumee "when the leaves were fully out." For that purpose the President selected as commissioners, Charles Carroll and Charles Thompson, but, as they declined the nomination, he appointed Benjamin Lincoln, Beverly Randolph, and Timothy Pickering, the first of March, 1793, to attend the conven- tion, which, it was thought best, should be held at the Sandusky outpost. About the last of April, these com- missioners left Philadelphia, and, late in May, reached Niagara, where they remained guests of Lieuten-

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ant Governor Simcoe, of the British government. This officer gave them all the aid he could, yet it was soon made plain to them that he would not object to the con- federation, nay, even rather favored it. They speak of his kindness to them in grateful terms. Governor Sim- coe advised the Indians to make peace, but not to give up any of their lands. That was the pith of the whole matter. The British rather claimed land in New York under the treaty of 1783, alleging the Americans had not fully complied with the terms of that treaty, hence they were not as anxious for peace and a peaceful settle- ment of the difficult boundary question as they some- times represented.

By July, "the leaves were fully out," the conferences among the tribes were over, and, on the fifteenth of that month, the commissioners met Brant and some fifty natives. In a strong speech, Brant set forth their wishes, and invited them to accompany him to the place of holding the council. The Indians were rather jealous of Wayne's continued preparations for war, hence, just before setting out for the Maumee, the commissioners sent a letter to the Secretary of War, asking that all war- like demonstrations cease until the result of their mission be known.

On the twenty-first of July the embassy reached the head of the Detroit river, where their advance was checked by the British authorities at Detroit, compelling them to take up their abode at the house of Andrew Elliott, the famous renegade, then a British agent under Alexander McKee. McKee was attending the council, and the commissioners addressed him a note, borne by Elliott, to inform him of their arrival, and asking when they could be received. Elliott returned on the twenty- ninth, bringing with him a deputation of twenty chiefs from the council. The next day a conference was held, and the chief of the Wyandots, Sa-wagh-da-wunk, pre- sented to the commissioners, in writing, their explicit demand in regard to the boundary, and their purposes and powers. "The Ohio must be the boundary," said he, "or blood will flow."

The commissioners returned an answer to the propo- sition brought by the chiefs, recapitulating the treaties already made, and denying the Ohio as the boundary line. On the sixteenth of August the council sent them, by two Wyandot runners, a final answer, in which they recapitulated their former assertions, and exhibited great powers of reasoning and clear logic in defense of their position. The commissioners reply that it is im- possible to accept the Ohio as the boundary, and declare the negotiation at an end.

This closed the efforts of the Government to negotiate with the Indians, and there remained of necessity no other mode of settling the dispute but war. Liberal terms had been offered them, but nothing but the bound- ary of the Ohio river would suffice. It was the only con- dition upon which the confederation would lay down its arms. "Among the rude statesmen of the wilderness, there was exhibited as pure patriotism and as lofty devo- tion to the good of their race, as ever won applause among civilized men. The white man, had ever since he

came into the country, been encroaching on their lands. He had long occupied the regions beyond the mountains. He had crushed the conspiracy formed by Pontiac, thirty years before. He had taken possession of the common hunting-ground of all the tribes, on the faith of treaties they did not acknowledge. He was now laying out settlements and building forts in the heart of the country to which all the tribes had been driven, and which now was all they could call their own. And now they asked that it should be guaranteed to them, that the boundary which they had so long asked for should be drawn, and a final end be made to the continual ag- gressions of the whites; or, if not, they solemnly deter- mined to stake their all, against fearful odds, in defence of their homes, their country and the inheritance of their children. Nothing could be more patriotic than the position they occupied, and nothing could be more noble than the declarations of their council." *

They did not know the strength of the whites, and based their success on the victories already gained. They hoped, nay, were promised, aid from the British, and even the Spanish had held out to them assurances of help when the hour of conflict came.

The Americans were not disposed to yield even to the confederacy of the tribes backed by the two rival nations, forming, as Wayne characterized it, a "hydra of British, Spanish and Indian hostility." On the sixteenth of August, the commissioners received the final answer of the council. The seventeenth, they left the mouth of the Detroit river, and the twenty-third, arrived at Fort Erie, where they immediately dispatched messengers to General Wayne to inform him of the issue of the negotia- tion. Wayne had spent the winter of 1792-93, at Legionville, in collecting and organizing his army. April 30, 1793, the army moved down the river, and en- camped at a point, called by the soldiers "Hobson's choice," because from the extreme height of the river they were prevented from landing elsewhere. Here Wayne was engaged, during the negotiations for peace, in drilling his soldiers, in cutting roads, and collecting supplies for the army. He was ready for an immediate campaign in case the council failed in its object.

While here he sent a letter to the Secretary of War, detailing the circumstances, and suggesting the probable course he should follow. He remained here during the summer, and, when apprised of the issue, saw it was too late to attempt the campaign then. He sent the Ken- tucky militia home, and, with his regular soldiers, went into winter quarters at a fort he built on a tributary of the Great Miami. He called the fort Greenville. The present town of Greenville is near the site of the fort. During the winter, he sent a detachment to visit the scene of St. Clair's defeat. They found more than six hundred skulls, and were obliged to "scrape the bones together and carry them out to get a place to make their beds." They buried all they could find. Wayne was steadily preparing his forces, so as to have everything ready for a sure blow when the time came. All his in-

* Annals of the West.

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formation showed the faith in the British which still animated the doomed red men, and gave them a hope that could only end in defeat.

The conduct of the Indians fully corroborated the statements received by General Wayne. On the thir- tieth of June, an escort of ninety riflemen and fifty dragoons, under command of .Major McMahon, was at- tacked under the walls of Fort Recovery by a force of more than one thousand Indians under charge of Little Turtle. They were repulsed and badly defeated, and, the next day driven away. Their mode of action, their arms and ammunition, all told plainly of British aid. They also expected to find the cannon lost by St. Clair November 4, 1791, but which the Americans had se- cured. The twenty-sixth of July, General Scott, with one thousand six hundred mounted men from Kentucky, joined General Wayne at Fort Greenville, and, two days after, the legion moved forward. The eighth of August, the army reached the junction of the Auglaize and Maumee, and at once proceeded to erect Fort Defiance, where the waters meet. The Indians had abandoned their towns on the approach of the army, and were con- gregating further northward.

While engaged on Fort Defiance, Wayne received con- tinual and full reports of the Indians-of their aid from Detroit and elsewhere; of the nature of the ground, and the circumstances, favorable or unfavorable. From all he could learn, and considering the spirits of his army, now thoroughly disciplined, he determined to march for- ward and settle matters at once. Yet, true to his own instincts, and to the measures of peace so forcibly taught by Washington, he sent Christopher Miller, who had been naturalized among the Shawnees, and taken pris- oner by Wayne's spies, as a messenger of peace, offering terms of friendship.

Unwilling to waste time, the troops began to move forward the fifteenth of August, and the next day met Miller with the message that if the Americans would wait ten days at Auglaize the Indians would decide for peace or war. Wayne knew too well the Indian character, and answered the message by simply march- ing on. The eighteenth, the legion had advanced forty-one miles from Auglaize, and, being near the long- looked-for foe, began to take some measures for protec- tion, should they be attacked. A slight breastwork, called Fort Deposit, was erected, wherein most of their heavy baggage was placed. They remained here, build- ing their works, until the twentieth, when, storing their baggage, the army began again its march. After ad- vancing about five miles, they met a large force of the enemy, two thousand strong, who fiercely attacked them. Wayne was, however, prepared, and in the short battle that ensued they were routed, and large numbers slain. The American loss was very slight. The horde of sav- ages were put to flight, leaving the Americans victorious almost under the walls of the British garrison, under Major Campbell. This officer sent a letter to General Wayne, asking an explanation of his conduct in fighting so near, and in such evident hostility to the British. Wayne replied, telling him he was in a country that did

not belong to him, and one he was not authorized to hold, and also charging him with aiding the Indians. A spirited correspondence followed, which ended in the American commander marching on, and devastating the Indian country, even burning McKee's house and stores under the muzzles of the English guns.

The fourteenth of September, the army marched from Fort Defiance for the Miami village at the junction of the St. Mary's and St. Joseph rivers. It reached there on the seventeenth, and the next day General Wayne se- lected a site for a fort. The twenty-second of October, the fort was completed, and garrisoned by a detachment under Major Hamtramck, who gave to it the name of Fort Wayne. The fourteenth of October, the mounted Kentucky volunteers, who had become dissatisfied and mutinous, were started to Fort Washington, where they were immediately mustered out of service and dis- charged. The twenty-eighth of October the legion marched from Fort Wayne to Fort Greenville, where General Wayne at once established his headquarters.

The campaign had been decisive and short, and had taught the Indians a severe lesson. The British, too, had failed them in their hour of need, and now they began to see they had a foe to contend with whose resources were exhaustless. Under these circumstances, losing faith in the English, and at last impressed with a respect for the American power, after the defeat experienced at the hands of the "Black Snake," the various tribes made up their minds, by degrees, to ask for peace. During the winter and spring, they exchanged prisoners, and made ready to meet General Wayne at Greenville, in June, for the purpose of forming a definite treaty, as it had been agreed should be done by the preliminaries of January 24th.

During the month of June, 1795, representatives of the northwestern tribes began to gather at Greenville, and, the sixteenth of the month, General Wayne met in council the Delawares, Ottawas, Pottawatomies and Eel river Indians, and the conferences, which lasted until August 10th, began. The twenty first of June Buckon- gahelas arrived; the twenty-third, Little Turtle and other Miamis; the thirteenth of July, Tarhe and other Wyan- dot chiefs; and the eighteenth, Blue Jacket and thirteen Shawnees and Massas with twenty Chippewas.

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History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Part 96

Author: H. Z. Williams & Brothers Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages: 559

Author: H. Z. Williams & Brothers
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 559