130 |
The St. Clair Papers. |
they are frequently set adrift, in order to make room for the arrival of
others. I have contracted for the above number for the moderate price of from
one to two dollars each; thus much for the plank work. All other expenses
(wagon hire, nails, and some glass excepted) are to be charged to the labor of
the troops. The lime we have burned ourselves, and the stone is at hand. Be
pleased to receive the inclosed plan of the fort. The distance between the
Little and Great Miami is twenty-eight measured miles. Near the Little Miami
there is a settlement called Columbia; here (seven miles distant from Columbia)
there is another named Losantiville, but lately changed to Cincinnati, and
Judge Symmes himself resides at the other, about fifteen miles from hence, called
the Miami City, at the north bend of the Ohio River. They are, in general, but
small cabins, and the inhabitants the poorer class of people.
. . . . . . . .
By the latest advices from Major Hamtramck, he writes me that he had manoeuvered
in such a manner as to divide the Weea Indians, and that eighty of their
warriors had come into Post Vincennes, and put themselves under the protection
of the United States. This may be considered as a very favorable circumstance,
provided these yellow gentry adhere to their allegiance.
______
GOVERNOR ST. CLAIR1 TO MAJOR HAMTRAMCK.
|
FORT STEUBEN, January 23, 1790. |
Sir:- I have inclosed a speech to the Indians of the Wabash and those of the Miami village, which I must take the liberty to request you will get forwarded to them, and, as the persons who may be employed for that purpose will probably be Frenchmen, it may be necessary to get it translated into the French language, that, at least, they may be able perfectly to convey the meaning of it to the Indians, which they might be at a loss to do from the English copy. It is much the wish of the general government that peace may be established with those people, and the trial to effect it must be made. Should it fail, there is no doubt but an attempt must
1While en route for Kaskaskia, the Governor stopped at Fort Washington (then being built by Major Doughty, under direction of General Harmar), to organize civil government. In Major Sargent's journal I find this entry: "Losantiville, January 2d, 1790.- The governor arrived here this morning, and will probably be detained by public business until the 4th, when he expects to take his departure for Kaskaskia." A good deal was accomplished
|
Correspondence, Addresses, Etc. |
131 |
be made to chastise them. From the length of time you have been in the Wabash
country, your thoughts must have been sometimes turned to that object, and to
receive any observations you might think proper to communicate would be
esteemed a favor. I am now on my way to Kaskaskia, and after having put things
on some order there, hope to have the pleasure of meeting you at Fort Knox.
It is with great pain that I have heard of the scarcity of corn which reigns in the settlement about the Post. I hope it has been exaggerated, but it is represented to me that, unless a supply to that article can be sent forward, the people must actually starve. Corn can be had here in any quantity, but can the people pay for it? I entreat you to inquire into the matter, and, if you find that they can not do without it, write to the contractor's agent here, to whom I write you orders to send forward such quantity as you may find to be ab-
in
that time, as will be shown from the following extracts, taken from manuscript
Journal of
OFFICIAL RECORDS.1
Appointments were made as follows:
William Goforth, William Wells, and William McMillan, judges of the court of common pleas and justices of the court of general quarter-sessions of the peace. They were also commissioned justices of the peace and quorum in Hamilton county. Jacob Topping, Benjamin Stites, and John Stites Gano, also, as justices of the peace. John Brown, gentleman, as sheriff.
Military.- Captains: Israel Ludlow, James Flinn, John S. Gano, and Gersham Gard. Lieutenants: Francis Kenedy, John Ferris, Luke Foster, Brice Virgin. Ensigns: Scott Traverse, Ephraim Kibbey, Elijah Stites, John Dunlap.
January 5th.- The Governor issued a proclamation, directing that "the justices of the peace hold their courts of general quarter-sessions of the peace at the town of Cincinnati, on the first Tuesdays in February, May, August, and November; and the judges of the court of common pleas hold their courts at the same place on the first Thursdays of May and November."
January 8th.- The Governor arrived at the
rapids of the Ohio, where the following appointments were made: William Clark,
of Clarksville, justice of the peace, and also captain of the militia in the
town and vicinity; John Owens, gentleman, lieutenant.
_____________
(1) 1790, January 2d.- His Excellency arrived at Fort Washington in the purchase of Judge Symmes, and on the 4th was pleased to order and direct that the whole of the lands lying and being within the following boundaries- viz: beginning on the bank of the Ohio River at the confluence of the Little Miami, and down the said Ohio River to the mouth of the Big Miami, and up said Miami to the Standing Stone Forks or branch of said river, and thence with a line to be drawn due east to the Little Miami, and down said Little Miami River to the place of beginning- should be a county by the name and style of the county of Hamilton, and the same was accordingly laid off agreeably to the form which has been transmitted to Congress.
|
Correspondence, Addresses, Etc. |
135 |
MAJOR HAMTRAMCK TO GOVERNOR ST. CLAIR
|
FORT KNOX, POST VINCENNES, April 19, 1790. |
Sir:- . . . I wrote by Lieutenant Armstrong, who had dispatches for you Excellency and left Fort Knox on the 19th of last month on his way to Kaskaskia, by whom I had the honor to inform your Excellency that I had sent a messenger with your speech to the Indians. He went no farther than the Vermilion, where he got insulted by one of the Vermilion Indians, who told him if he went farther he would take his life, which occasioned him to return to this post. Finding that the Indians of the Vermilion had received your speech with pleasure as a nation, and had given their answer, which was friendly, though not a definite one, I concluded that the business could not get aground in consequence of an insult by an individual, as I knew he had a particular resentment against the interpreter that went with the messenger. I, therefore, dispatched another one, who I suppose is by this time near the Miami; he went away the 1st of April. I had made some advances to the first messenger (it being the custom of the place). I should be glad if you will be so good as to inform me whether I shall pay him for the time he was absent or not. . . . This day a boat arrived from the Falls, which brings an account of Major Doughty's being defeated, and himself killed,1 on the Cherokee River. The Indians of the Miami continue their depredations on the Ohio. About four weeks ago they took two boats near the mouth of the Scioto, and, shortly after, they perceived three others coming down together, who, after a chase of fifteen miles in one of the boats they had taken before, obliged the people to abandon two of the three boats to save their lives. In one of them were twenty-six horses and merchandise- supposed to be worth twelve or fifteen hundred pounds- the property of Hart & Rochester, of Hagerstown; besides, several pairs of saddle-bags, some of which contained cash and various other articles not easily ascertained. The 12th of last month, about fifteen miles below the rapids, they took another boat loaded with salt, coming up from Bullett's Lick, and killed the people. On the 13th, they killed a man at Mr. Lanacaghe's Station, which is about two and one-half miles above the garrison, at the Falls. All of these affairs, I am afraid, obstruct the pacific desires of the United States toward the Indians.
1Major Doughty was not killed. See his letter of March 25th, ante.
|
Correspondence, Addresses, Etc. |
227 |
vested in me by the President of the United States, that the militia guard
stationed at the Big-Bone Lick, in the District of Kentucky, be continued at
the expense of the United States, as to pay and rations, agreeably to the
instructions of the Secretary of the War Department to the County Lieutenant,
of the 10th of March last; to continue until the 15th August next,1
provided the said guard shall not exceed the number of forty, non-commissioned
officers included.
_____
GENERAL ST. CLAIR TO GENERAL WILKINSON.
|
[Instructions.] |
July 31st, 1791. |
Sir:- By virtue of the powers vested in me by the President of the United States, I have authorized a second expedition against the Indians of the Wabash, to be made with mounted volunteers from the District of Kentucky. Brigadier-General Scott, the Hon. John Brown, and others, were duly empowered to appoint the officers to command it, and it gives me pleasure that their choice has fallen upon you.
The principal object of the expedition will be the Indian village, sometimes known by the name of Kikiah, situated near the junction of the L'Anguile or Eel River with the Wabash, about three miles up the L'Anguile, which comes in on the north side of the Wabash, about thirty-eight leagues above Ouiatannon. You are to proceed to that town and assault the same and the Indians therein, either by surprise, or otherwise, as the nature of the circumstances may admit, saving all who cease to resist, and capturing as many as possible, particularly women and children.
And, on this point, it is the positive orders of the President of the United States, that all such captives be treated with kindness, and that they be carried and delivered to the commanding officers of some post of the United States upon the Ohio.
Whether the assault upon the said town at L'Anguile should succeed or fail, you will proceed to such other Indian towns or villages upon the Wabash or in the prairies, to the destruction of which you shall judge your force adequate. Of these there are several higher up the river, and none of them considerable. The first is at the Calumet River, about ten or twelve miles distant from Kikiah, and on the south side; after that is the Mississinewa, - miles further
1The directions for discharging the whole of the militia guard on the said district, on the 15th, notwithstanding.- Note by St. Clair.
228 |
The St. Clair Papers. |
up. Formerly it contained a considerable population, but at present it is
believed is much reduced. Some miles further up are the forks of the Wabash. In
going to the Miami village, the north fork is used, and at the junction of
those branches there was formerly and inconsiderable village, but whether it is
now inhabited or not is not known. From thence it is from twenty-four to
thirty-six miles to the Miami carrying place, which is about ten miles over,
and you are at the Miami towns. To the westward and northward of L'Anguile lies
the Kickapoo town, on the prairie, distant about sixty miles.
After having effected by surprise, rapid marches and attacks, all the injury to the Indian enemy to which your force shall be equal, the said mounted volunteers will return by Post St. Vincennes to the Rapids of the Ohio, where the troops of the said expedition will be again mustered by an officer of the regular army, in the same manner as when the troops of the said expedition commenced their march from the Ohio. Without limiting or impeding the effectual operations which may be found practicable, it is presumed that the mounted volunteers may be employed north-west of the Ohio for a period averaging from twenty to thirty days. This interval, however, is to be understood not to prevent the execution of the considerable object, should it require an extension of time.
The corps of mounted volunteers, being left entirely free from any restrictions in the manner of its execution of the objects proposed, its reputation and reputation of all concerned will be involved in its being perfectly conducted, and in its ultimate success.
Should the success attend you at L'Anguile which I wish and hope, you may find yourself equal to the attacking the Kickapoo town, situated in the prairie not far from Sangamon River, which empties itself into the Illinois. By information, that town is not distant from L'Anguile more than three easy days' marches. A visit at that place will be totally unexpected, and most probably attended with decided good consequences; neither will it be hazardous, for the men, at this season, are generally out hunting beyond the line of the Illinois country. Should it seem feasible from circumstances, I recommend the attempt in preference to the towns higher up the Wabash, and success there would be followed by great éclat. The route by which you ought to return, it is not so easy to point out, because it depends upon a knowledge of the country, which I do not possess; but, it appears to me it would be most advisable to return by Ouiatanon, from which the distance is not so
|
Correspondence, Addresses, Etc. |
229 |
great as from L'Anguile. It is pretty certain that the Indians who inhabited
that village have removed to the neighborhood of Fort Knox, and placed
themselves under the protection of the United States, so you would probably
meet no opposition from them. From thence to the Rapids of Ohio the route is
well known. Between L'Anguile and the Kickapoo town you would meet with two or
three branches of the Sangamon, but all of them of no considerable depth; there
are three, certainly, between that place and Ouiatanon.
In a direct line, I reckon the distance from Fort Washington to L'Anguile to be about one hundred miles, and the course nearly north fifty-five west; but, should you take a course pointing directly to the Miami village, which I should think most advisable in order to deceive the enemy with respect to your destination (for your march will most probably be discoverd), and pursue that for sixty or seventy miles, and then turn off in a direction about north toward west, or a little more westerly, it would prevent discovery which would ruin the object, and not increase your march over forty miles; besides, it would probably carry you along the dividing ridges between the Wabash and the waters of those rivers which discharge themselves into the Ohio higher up; but these matters are merely hints for your information, to be made use of as you find them applicable, from a comparison with your own observation and the actual circumstances in which you may find yourself.
To you, sir, I know I have no occasion to recommend clemency, but am under the express command of the President of the United States. The luster that is shed upon success by generosity, and the reputation that accrues to a country from a temperate use of victory, is clearly understood and appreciated by you, to whom nothing could be more contrary to your own natural disposition than an act bordering upon inhumanity. I beg you, sir, to oblige the people under your command to refrain from scalping the dead. It is an act which, though it does no injury to the dead carcass, debases the persons who commit it. Should they be disposed to it, you have a powerful argument to adduce from the example set in the former expedition, and the very general approbation it has met with. Wishing you every possible, success, both from motives of public interest and private friendship, I have the honor, etc.
Continue to
Dft. Ex. 96
Return
to Docket 317 Table of Contents
Return to Ohio Valley -
Great Lakes Ethnohistory Archive Menu
Return to Glenn A. Black
Laboratory of Archaeology List of Publications
Return to Glenn A. Black
Laboratory of Archaeology Home
Last updated: 25
September 2000
Comments: webmaster@www.gbl.indiana.edu
Copyright 1997, Glen Black Laboratory of Archaeology and The Trustees of Indiana University.