we have been driven to this spot. We can retreat no farther, because the country behind us barely affords food for its inhabitants; and we have, therefore, resolved to leave our bones in this small space to which we are now confined.

"Brothers: We shall be persuaded that you mean to do us justice, if you agree that the Ohio shall remain the boundary line between us. If you will not consent thereto, our meeting will be altogether unnecessary. This is the great point, which we hoped would have been explained before you left your homes, as our message, last fall, was principally directed to obtain that information. Done in general council, at the foot of the Maumee rapids, the 13th day of August, 1793."

This document was signed by the deputies of the nations. who were in the general council that adopted it. They were the Wyandots, Miamis, Monhicans, Seven Nations of Canada, Ottawas, Connoys, Pottawatomies, Messagoes, Delawares, Senecas of the Glaize, Chippewas, Nantakokies, Shawanoes, Munsees, Creeks, and Cherokees. To it, the United States commissioners made no reply. Indeed, they could not, since the most telling points in it could not be controverted. The government was extremely anxious to compose existing difficulties, and was disposed to be liberal in the terms of accommodation, provided the promises its commissioners were prepared to make should, in the event of a treaty, be carried out. The Indians, however, smarting under the wrongs they had suffered, and, no doubt, prompted by the enemies of the United States, and believing, as they did, that such a natural boundary line as the Ohio river was absolutely necessary to be established between their lands and those of the whites, made it the sine qua non to any treaty arrangements, and thus staked their very existence upon a contest which must inevitably follow; for, in the condition of affairs as they then were, the settlements already made by the whites northwest of the Ohio rendered it impossible to conclude a treaty with that river as the boundary line, and hence there seemed to be no alternative but a resort to arms, to settle the pending dif ficulty. Anterior to the first expedition, under Harmer, doubts were expressed by Washington as to the justice as well as the policy of offensive operations against the Indian tribes in

the Northwest Territory. If, at an earlier day, and before any settlements were made in the Western Territory, the government had operated through commissioners of high character, proper arrangements might probably have been made with the Indian nations for the occupation of a portion of the country by the white people, and thus much of the suffering, and many of the terrible events which make such sad chapters in our early annals, might have been averted. In contemplating these events, it is only natural that our sympathies become deeply enlisted in behalf of those of our own race who struggled and suffered, and even met death, in the couflict to open up the wilderness and found new states; but we should not forget that the red man, whom our fathers found here, had his sufferings and trials also. He had not the means to write and publish them as they occurred, but sufficient is known to command for the Indian race our sincere sympathy.

It can not be denied that the invasion and occupation of the territory northwest of the Ohio river was made anterior to any arrangement with the natives for that purpose. Had the Indian nations been civilized communities of our own race, but subjects or citizens of a foreign state, mankind would have admitted the justice of their cause, and such an address from them as the one sent by the confederate tribes to the United States commissioners, on the 13th of August, 1793, would have taken rank with the Declaration of Independence. Being "savages," the arguments and facts presented by them to our commissioners were not answered and refuted, but, by military power, the Indians were confronted, and, being unable to make successful resistance, the red men were compelled to yield the boundary they had contended for, and submit to irresistible force.

CHAPTER V.

ST. CLAIR'S DEFEAT COMMUNICATED TO CONGRESS.-ANOTHER CAMPAIGN PROJECTED. GEN. WAYNE ASSIGNED TO COMMAND IT. THE INDIANS DEFEATED. -TREATY OF GREENVILLE.-A BOUNDARY OR DIVISION LINE ADOPTED.— MORE TERRITORY DEMANDED FROM THE INDIANS.--SUBSEQUENT TREATIES AND THEIR EFFECT.-RUPTURE BETWEEN TECUMSEH AND GEN. HARRISON.-BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE.-TECUMSEH JOINS THE BRITISH, AND IS KILLED AT THE BATTLE OF THE THAMES, ETC.

ON the 9th of November, 1791, General St. Clair made report to the secretary of war, communicating the sad disaster that befell his army on the 4th of the month. On the 12th of December of the same year, the information was communicated to Congress, and on the 26th of December, the secretary submitted to the president a communication, in which suggestions and recommendations were made as to future operations. After discussing the policy of the government toward the Indians, the futility, in his opinion, of all attempts to preserve peace, and the justice of the claim of the United States, he says: "Hence it would appear the principles of justice as well as policy, and it may be added the principles of economy, all combine to dictate that an adequate military force should be raised as soon as possible, placed upon the frontiers, and disciplined according to the nature of the service, and, in order to meet with the prospect of success, the greatest possible combination of the Indian enemy." The secretary recommended while this army was being organized the temporary employment of mounted volunteers, such as had in the border wars given fame to Kentucky, to operate in a desultory way against the Indians, thus occupying them in the protection of their own families and preventing "them from spreading terror and destruction along the frontiers." He further suggested "the expediency of employing the Indians in alliance with us against the hostile Indians. The justice of engaging them (he said) will depend upon the justice of the war. If the war be just upon our part, it will

certainly bear the test of examination to use the same sort of means in our defense as are used against us." In his official report of St. Clair's defeat to Congress, the secretary said that "the great object of the campaign was to establish a strong military post at the Miami village, which was to be connected by posts to Fort Washington and the Ohio." The reply of the confederate Indian nations from their general council at the foot of the rapids of the Maumee, to our commissioners, was: "Restore to us our country, and we shall be enemies no longer." However imperative the necessity for some military operations for the protection of the settlers in the Western Territory, at the time, it is difficult to see how the war could be called a just war. However, after the defeat of St. Clair, another and more formidable military expedition was a foregone conclusion. St. Clair resigned, and his place was supplied by the appointment of Anthony Wayne, who, in June, 1792, moved westward, making Pittsburgh, for a time, his headquarters, where he commenced organizing an army which, it was said, "was to be the ultimate argument of the Americans with the Indian Confederation." While Wayne was organizing and drilling his troops, which he denominated the Legion of the United States, Gen. Washington had instructed peacetalks to be sent among the Indian nations. In the spring of 1793, Wayne's army arrived at Fort Washington (near Cincinnati), and remained there until after the rejection by the Indian Confederation of the propositions made by our commissioners for a treaty. Early in October, 1793, he moved from Cincinnati; and on the 25th of the month a portion of his army occupied the field of St. Clair's defeat. Here he immediately erected a fort, called Recovery, which was garrisoned and placed under a proper commander. On this field were found about six hundred human skulls, which were gathered up and buried. One of the officers wrote: "When we went to lay down in our tents at night, we had to scrape the bones together and carry them out." These were the sad memorials of the conflict between St. Clair's troops and the Indians. At this period the British were stimulating the Indians, and promising them assistance. Some Pottawatomie Indians told Waynethat Governor Simcoe was stimulating and urging the In

dians to war; that the speeches they "received from him were as red as blood; all the wampum and feathers were painted red, and even the tobacco was painted red." Wayne himself remained at Greenville during the winter and spring. On the 30th of June, 1794, Fort Recovery was attacked by a large Indian force under the chief Little Turtle, who was the successful commander in the battle with St. Clair's troops. It was supposed that when he attacked Wayne's troops that he had from ten to fifteen hundred men, not all, however, Indians. He was repulsed. On the 26th of July, Wayne was joined by about sixteen hundred mounted volunteers from Kentucky. On the 8th of August, his army was at Grand Glaize, and proceeded to build Fort Defiance. The Indians, on hearing of Wayne's movements, abandoned their towns before he reached the Glaize. While engaged on Fort Defiance, Wayne received full information as to the strength of the Indians, the probable aid they would get from Detroit, and all circumstances necessary to be known, and decided to march forward without delay. Before doing this, however, he sent out a message to the Indians for compromise and peace, by a man named Miller, who had lived among the Shawanoes, and who had but recently been taken prisoner by one of Wayne's spies. He addressed this message: "To the Delawares, Shawanoes, Miamis, and Wyandots, and to each and every of them, and to all other Indian nations, northwest of the Ohio, whom it may concern. As commander-in-chief of the army and commissioner plenipotentiary of the United States of America, for settling the terms upon which a permanent and lasting peace shall be made with each and every of the hostile Indians northwest of the Ohio," he assured them that he was actuated by the purest principles of humanity, and urged by pity for the errors into which bad and designing men had led them, he once more from the head of his army extended the friendly hand of peace toward them, and invited them to appoint deputies to meet him without delay, on his march, to settle the preliminaries of a lasting peace, which would eventually and soon restore to them, "the Delawares, Miamis, Shawanoes, and all other tribes and nations lately settled on the margins of the Miami of the Lake and Auglaize rivers, your