USA > Ohio > The Ohio country between the years 1783 and 1815 : including military operations that twice saved to the United States the country west of the Alleghany Mountains after the revolutionary war > Part 6
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From 1792-1793
them to stop, the invitation was accepted. Gen- eral Lincoln arrived May 25th.
Meantime a letter was received from Colonel McKee, British Indian Agent at Detroit, stating that the tribal councils by the Maumee would probably not end before the latter part of June and that the Commissioners had best remain at Niagara until he notified them that the Aborigines were ready to receive them.
Colonel John Butler, a leader in the Wyoming Massacre in July, 1778, now a British Superin- tendent of Aborigine Affairs, and Captain Joseph Brant of like notoriety, with a picked company of fifty Savages, arrived at Niagara, July 5th. They came from the large collection of tribes then at the British distributing house at the foot of the Maumee Rapids, and requested an explanation of the "unfair and unwarrantable " warlike pre- parations of General Wayne; and they desired to know the authority for the trespassing of the Americans north of the Ohio River, all of which they claimed as territory belonging to the Abo- rigines. The Commissioners in reply cited in ex- planation the several treaties of previous years, and the subsequent maraudings of the Savages, and expressed desire for peace; and an agreement was made to meet in full council at Sandusky.
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The Commissioners were permitted to leave Niagara July roth and, awaiting a favorable wind, the British sloop on which they were passengers sailed from Fort Erie, opposite the present city of Buffalo, on the 14th, and arrived at the mouth of the Detroit River or Strait the 21st. They were received, and entertained during their enforced stay there of nearly four weeks, by Captain Mat- thew Elliott, British Assistant Agent for and to the Aborigines. So had they been with Simcoe, and yet were, in fact, prisoners of the British. They continued frequently to urge an early meet- ing of the council according to agreement, without satisfactory reply.
On July 29th, a deputation of over twenty Abo- rigines, with the notorious Simon Girty as inter- preter, arrived at Captain Elliott's house from the grand council that had been for weeks assembled at the foot of the Maumee Rapids. After a brief preliminary, they presented to the Commissioners a short written communication, ostensibly from the council, the principal sentence of which was that, "If you seriously design to make a firm and lasting peace, you will immediately remove all your peo- ple from our side of that river" (the Ohio). The Commissioners delivered to them in writing a long and carefully prepared reply in which the treaties
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From 1792-1793
of 1768, '84, '85, '86, and '89 were referred to in justification of the advance of Americans into the territory north of the Ohio River, and with reasons why it was impossible at this late date to make this river the boundary; stating that the United States government was willing to make liberal concessions to the Aborigines, as the treaty with Great Britain declared the middle of the Great Lakes and the waters which unite them to be the boundary of the United States; and they closed the reply expressing the desire to meet the general council in treaty soon.
On the 8th and 9th of August, the Commission- ers received verbal and chance reports that all the tribes represented at the Maumee council were for peace, with the exception of the Shawnees, Wyandots, Miamis, and Delawares, and that these were yielding; that many were tired of the long delays and were departing for their respective villages. The Commissioners again expressed strong desire to go directly to the Maumee council, which meeting was well within American territory; but such action the British would not permit. On August 14th the American Commissioners wrote to the chiefs at the council, again urging a meeting for a treaty. They also wrote to Colonel McKee at that place, stating that his aid for such result
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would be gratefully acknowledged. On the 16th, a long and carefully written reply was received at Captain Elliott's house by the Commissioners, which closed with the assertion that, if they would not agree to the Ohio River being the boundary, "a meeting would be altogether unnecessary."
Appended to this paper were written the following names of "Nations " represented, viz .: Wyandots, Seven Nations of Canada, Delawares, Shawnees, Miamis, Ottawas, Chippewas, Senecas of the Glaise [Auglaize River], Pottawotamis, Connoys, Munsees, Nantakokias, Mohicans, Messasagoes, Creeks, Cherokees.
This communication, like the others, was under- stood to be fully conceived and written by the British authorities; and it was certainly approved by their censors. This general council, as well as the one the year before by the Maumee River at the mouth of the Auglaize, was the result of British efforts for many years to federate all the Savages, as Simcoe stated that their dictated decision in council, and united action in war, might become irresistible to the Americans. Joseph Brant, leader in the Six Nations and generally a stanch friend of the British, declared that such united action : "caused the defeat of two American armies [Harmar's and St. Clair's]. . . But to our sur-
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prise, when upon the point of entering upon a treaty with the [American] Commissioners, we found that it was opposed by those acting under the British Government."
In reply to the ex-parte council's last communi- cation, the Commissioners regretfully sent to the chiefs and to the British Colonel McKee the state- ment that their efforts for negotiations were at an end; including with the letters copies of the for- mer treaties.
On August 23d the Commissioners, on their return, arrived by British boat opposite Fort Erie, where they dispatched, by different runners, a letter to General Wayne, and another to General Knox, Secretary of War, announcing their failure to secure terms of peace.
A portrayal of grievances and claims against Great Britain was formally presented this year (1793), by the United States authorities to the British Minister, Hammond, and request for re- dress. The main points of this document are abstracted as follows:
"The continued unjustifiable occupancy by the Brit- ish of military posts within United States territory.
"The officers of these posts exercising jurisdiction over the country and inhabitants around these posts.
"The exclusion of citizens of the United States from
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navigating the waters inside the United States line named in the Treaty of Paris.
"The intercepting of commerce with the Aborigines; which commerce should have been of great profit to the United States and her citizens not only on account of its intrinsic worth, but also because of its value as a means of insuring peace with the Aborigines, and of superseding the necessity for expensive warfare with them.
"Also, that upon the withdrawal of the British troops from New York after the Treaty of Paris, in violation of this Treaty a large embarkation of Ne- groes, property of the inhabitants of the United States, had taken place before the Commissioners for inspect- ing and superintending embarkations on the part of the United States had arrived there; and that the British had not rendered any account thereof.
"That nearly three thousand other Negroes were publicly carried away by the avowed order of the British commanding officer, and under the view and against the remonstrances of the Commissioners.
"That a very great number of Negroes were also carried away in private vessels, if not by the ex- press permission of, yet certainly without opposition on the part of, the commanding officer who alone had the means of preventing it, and without admit- ting the inspection of the American Commissioners.
"That, of other species of property carried away, the commanding officer permitted no examination."
In support of these charges, specific documents of proof were attached. Other questions of serious nature also accompanied these charges of viola-
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tion of the Treaty of Paris, and of great defraud- ings of citizens of the United States.
After the lapse of some months, Minister Ham- mond presented to Secretary Jefferson a series of charges that British creditors had been delayed in obtaining payment of their accounts; of alleged "unjust prosecutions, confiscations, and denials of justice in which British merchants and other of his Majesty's subjects [Tories] had suffered irrep- arable injury."
To these charges, Secretary Jefferson soon returned what the British called "a bulky and in- genious document" written in his direct and force- ful style which quite filled them with dismay. It showed the British as by far the first, and greatest, transgressors, and that they should make redress. Hammond sent the document to the British Home Office, and there it rested. A year later Jefferson inquired regarding the matter, and received an indifferent answer. Another inquiry, after a lapse of several months, was met in a rather disdainful way. Hammond professed to get a little sympathy from Alexander Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury. It does not appear why a committee was not chosen to arbitrate the matter. It is evi- dent that the British were satisfied with the ad- vantages they possessed; and that most of the
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Americans in authority were inclined to let the questions rest as they were, rather than to bring about another war with Great Britain.
The animus of the British at this time is des- cribed in the following excerpt from the late writ- ings of one of their loyal subjects, viz .:
"The negotiations between England and the United States were destined to stand still until the former should be able to judge, from the progress of events, the safest course to pursue. Not only the unsettled state of the government in America, but the notorious jealousy and the hardly concealed animosity of sev- eral European nations, manifested in their attitude toward England, made it her business to look strictly and cautiously after her own interests."
CHAPTER VIII
RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE MARCHES ON AGAINST GREAT OPPOSITION
Advance of General Wayne's Army-Opposed by the Enemy -Builds Forts Greenville and Recovery-Cause of Brit- ish Aggressiveness yet More Apparent-Other Enemies of the United States-Separation of the Ohio Country from the United States again Suggested-British Build Two Additional Forts within United States Territory- Protests of the United States of no Avail-British and their Savage Allies Attack Fort Recovery and Are Re- pulsed-Further Account of Great Britain's Guiding Hand.
G ENERAL WAYNE believed that further delay would be an undue exposure of the frontier to savage incursions and, October 5, 1793, he reported to the Secretary of War, from near Fort Washington, that his available army remained small from Kentucky disappointments, from fevers among his enlisted men, and from "the influenza [later called in America by the French name La Grippe] which has pervaded the
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whole line in a most alarming and rapid degree. . This is not a pleasant picture, but something . must be done immediately to save the frontiers from impending savage fury. I will therefore advance to-morrow with the force I have in order to gain a strong position about six miles in front [north] of Fort Jefferson, so as to keep the enemy in check."
On October 23d, Wayne reported from this "strong position," which he named Fort Green- ville in honor of his friend in the Revolutionary War, General Nathaniel Greene, that:
"We have recently experienced a little check to one of our convoys which may probably be exag- gerated into something serious by the tongue of fame before this reaches you; the following is, however, the fact, viz .: Lieutenant Lowry of the 2d sub-legion and Ensign Boyd of the Ist with a command consisting of ninety non-commissioned officers and privates, having in charge twenty wagons belonging to the quartermaster general's department loaded with grain and one of the contractor's loaded with stores, were attacked early in the morning of the 17th in- stant about seven miles advanced of Fort St. Clair by a party of Aborigines; those two gallant young gentlemen (who promised at a future day to be orna- ments to their profession), together with thirteen non- commissioned officers and privates, bravely fell after an obstinate resistance against superior numbers, be- ing abandoned by the greater part of the escort upon
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From 1793-1794
the first discharge. The Savages killed or carried off about seventy horses, leaving the wagons and stores standing in the road, which have all been brought to this camp without any other loss or damage except some trifling articles. ... It is reported that the Aborigines at Au Glaize [present Defiance, Ohio] have sent their women and children into some secret recess or recesses from their towns; and that the whole of the warriors are collected or collecting in force. . . . A great number of men as well as officers have been left sick and debilitated at the respective garrisons, from a malady called the influenza; among others General Wilkinson has been dangerously ill; he is now at Fort Jefferson and on the recovery.
" The safety of the Western frontiers, the reputation of the legion, the dignity and interest of the nation, all forbid a retrograde manœuvre, or giving up one inch of ground we now possess, until the enemy are compelled to sue for peace."
Wayne's encampment at Greenville was forti- fied, and part of his army passed the winter there. Major Henry Burbeck, on December 23d, with eight companies of infantry and artillery, was or- dered to proceed to the place of General St. Clair's defeat, and there erect a fortification. This stock- ade enclosure with blockhouses was given the name Fort Recovery; and on the same site its name is perpetuated as that of a thriving village in Mercer County, Ohio.
Observing this steady advance, with fortifica-
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tions, toward their principal retreats, some of the Aborigines made a movement for peace; and pos- sibly a treaty of peace could have been effected with many of them, but for the ever ready adverse influence of the British. Their desires and con- tinued efforts were "to unite the American Indi- ans" for their own better control of them; which policy Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe expressed at Niagara to the American Peace Commissioners as "the principle of the British government." And these efforts were also continued with the Creeks, Cherokees, and other tribes along the American frontiers south of the Ohio River, thus putting the United States to great expense in men and money for protection there, both before and after this date.
These were troublous years to Americans generally, particularly to those resident west of the Allegheny Mountains. These were beset on all sides, by the British and Savages, and also by the machinations of the French and Spanish, both to involve them in complications with Great Britain, and to again incite the inhabitants of the trans-Allegheny region to a separation from the East.
During these years before railroads, in addition to the remissness of sympathy and protection by
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From 1793-1794
Congress, the natural outlet for the products of the Ohio Basin down the Mississippi River had much to do with the disaffection of the settlers from the East. The statesmen of the East were largely re- sponsible for the beginning of this disaffection of the western settlers, from the want of sympathy in their sufferings, and the expressions and actions that this region was too far distant to be governed by the Atlantic States; also from the opinions that the East could not profit by their trade.
Nor were the States in full accord between them- selves. Also the fear of another war with Great Britain was manifest in other ways than the dread of offending this nation by active measures to dis- possess it of the vantage possessed in the forts on American soil and in the alliance with the Aborig- ines. About this time Th. Dwight wrote to Wol- cott that: "A war with Great Britain, we, at least in New England, will not enter into. Sooner would ninety-nine out of every hundred of our inhabitants separate from the Union than plunge themselves into an abyss of misery."
The Spanish, French, and British emissaries took advantage of every complication, and cir- culated their schemes among the settlers from Detroit to Kentucky and the Illinois country. General Wayne well styled this complexity an
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hydra. At this conjuncture, however, the gov- ernmental authorities became vigilant, with good success in several particulars. 1
The Aborigine chiefs kept in close communica- tion with the British officials, not only with agents Elliott and McKee, but with Detroit and Lieu- tenant-Governor Simcoe of Niagara; and they even visited Governor-General Lord Dorchester. In an address of welcome to the chiefs February IO, 1794, Lord Dorchester spoke in part as follows:
"Children, since my return I find no appearance of a line [boundary] remains; and from the manner in which the people of the United States push on and act [evidently referring to the Aborigine treaties, and the advance of General Wayne's army] and talk . . . I shall not be surprised if we are at war with them in the course of the present year; and if so a line must be drawn by the warriors. . . We have acted in the most peaceable manner [sic], and borne the lan- guage and conduct of the people of the United States with patience; but I believe our patience is almost exhausted."
1 See President Washington's proclamation of neutrality; Secretary Jefferson's remonstrance regarding the overtures of the Spanish of the Mississippi to the Kentuckians; and against the incitings of the French Minister, Edmond Genest (often written Genêt) to beget sympathy for the French revolution- ists against the British and Spanish. Also the American order to reoccupy Fort Massac on the north bank of the Ohio eight miles below the mouth of the Tennessee River, to inter- cept all illegal transit.
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From 1793-1794
This mention of impending war was, evidently, no meaningless talk. Lieutenant-Governor Sim- coe was immediately sent to Detroit, he being there February 18th; and a letter from Detroit dated April 17th, reads in part that:
"We have lately had a visit from Governor Simcoe; he came from Niagara through the woods. . .. He has gone to the foot of the [Maumee] Rapids, and three companies of Colonel [Richard] England's regi- ment have followed him to assist in building a fort there."
This fort, Fort Miami, was a veritable strong- hold. It was built on the left bank of the Maumee River (the "Miami of Lake Erie"), near the lower limits of the present village of Maumee, Lucas County, Ohio, which site was then, as now, a great advance into United States territory. Super- intendent McKee's British Agency and supply house was about one mile-and-a-half above this fort, and near the lowest rapids of the Maumee- an encroachment of nearly forty miles upon the American soil.
The British also built another fort twelve to fif- teen miles within American territory, situated on Turtle Island, just outside of Maumee Bay, twenty miles or more northeast from their Fort Miami. The reinforcements of Wayne's command by Ken-
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tucky troops, and all the movements of the army, were regularly reported at this Fort Miami and at Fort Lernoult, Detroit; and, at the advance of General Wayne, Fort Miami was strengthened and further garrisoned, and Major William Camp- bell of the British Army was sent to replace Captain Caldwell, its first commandant.
President Washington, through Edmund Ran- dolph, Secretary of State, complained to the British Government of Lord Dorchester's address to the Savages, which had been widely circulated among them and the Americans; and he also protested against the building of Fort Miami on American territory. The replies showed that the London Government instigated the aggressions, and offered no relief.
General Wayne reported on July 7, 1794, from his headquarters at Fort Greenville, that:
"At seven o'clock in the morning of the 30th ultimo one of our escorts, consisting of ninety riflemen and fifty dragoons commanded by Major McMahon, was attacked by numerous body of Aborigines under the walls of Fort Recovery, followed by a general assault upon that post and garrison [of about two hundred men] in every direction. The enemy were soon repulsed with great slaughter, but they im- mediately rallied and reiterated the attack, keeping up a very heavy and constant fire at a more respect-
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From 1793-1794
able distance for the remainder of the day, which was answered with spirit and effect by the garrison and a part of Major McMahon's command that had regained the post. The Savages were employed during the night [which was foggy and dark] in carry- ing off their dead by torch light which occasionally drew a fire from the garrison. They, nevertheless, succeeded so well that there were but eight or ten bodies left upon the field, and those close under the range of the guns of the fort.
" The enemy again renewed the attack on the morn- ing of the Ist instant, but were ultimately compelled to retreat with loss and disgrace from that very field where they had upon a former occasion been proudly victorious."
It was apparent that "there were a considerable number of the British and the militia of Detroit mixed with the Savages in the assault," and they expected to find the cannon lost by General St. Clair; but these had been found by the Ameri- cans who used them against the assailants. The American loss in the Battle of Fort Recovery was twenty-two killed, thirty wounded, and three miss- ing. Of the horses, fifty-nine were killed, twenty- two wounded, and two hundred and twenty-one were missing; but the General reported that their loss would not in the least retard the advance of the legion after the arrival of the expected mounted volunteers from Kentucky.
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The British had again been having communi- cation with the Spanish of the Mississippi, who promised to help them against the Americans.
McKee continued supplying the Savages with the best of firearms (rifles) and other articles of war. Such were used in the attack on Fort Re- covery. A party of Delawares and Shawnees after- ward showed six American scalps before McKee and addressed him in part as follows:
"We had two actions with Wayne's troops in which a great many of our enemies were killed. Part of their flesh we have brought here with us to convince our friend of the truth of their being now in great force on their march against us; therefore, Father, we desire you to be strong and bid your chil- dren make haste to our assistance as was promised."
In further confirmation of the aggressive action of the British, and of their apprehension that the Americans would retaliate to their harm, the fol- lowing letters from Colonel Alexander McKee, British Agent to the Aborigines, written to Colonel Richard England, Commandant at Detroit, are given, they being endorsed, "On His Majesty's Service," viz .:
" [FOOT OF THE MAUMEE] RAPIDS,
" July 5, 1794.
"SIR: I send this by a party of Saganas [Saginaw Aborigines] who returned yesterday from Fort
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From 1793-1794
Recovery where the whole body of Indians, except the Delawares who had gone another route, impru- dently attacked the fort on Monday the 30th of last month, and lost 16 or 17 men besides a good many wounded.
" Everything had been settled prior to their leaving the fallen timber [about four miles above foot of the rapids] and it had been agreed upon to confine them- selves to taking convoys and attacking at a distance from the forts, if they should have the address to entice the enemy [Americans] out; but the impetuos- ity of the Mackinac Indians and their eagerness to begin the nearest, prevailed with the others to alter their system, the consequences of which from the present appearance of things may most materially injure the interests of these people. Both the Mackinac and Lake Indians seemed resolved on going home again, having completed the belts they carried with scalps and prisoners, and having no provisions there at the Glaize [the present Defiance, Ohio] to subsist upon, so that his Majesty's posts will derive no se- curity from the late great influx of Indians into this part of the country, should they persist in their resolution of returning so soon.
"The immediate object of the attack was three hundred packhorses going from this fort [Recovery] to Fort Greenville, in which the Indians completely succeeded, taking and killing all of them. But the commanding officer, Captain Gibson, sending out a troop of cavalry, and bringing his infantry out in front of his post, the Indians attacked him and killed about fifty, among whom is Captain Gibson and two other officers. On the near approach of the Indians to the fort, the remains of his garrison
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