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about the cession of the Ohio Valley-Great Lakes region to the United States.121
In early summer of 1783 the Continental Congress sent an American emissary, Ephraim Douglass, to treat with the various western Indian groups. Douglass reported to Benjamin Lincoln, Secretary of War:
On the 6th [of July] I attended the Council [at Detroit] which Colonel De Peyster held with the Indians. . . After delivering his business of calling them together, he published to them your Letter and pressed them to continue in the strictest amity with the Subjects of the United States,- represented to them the folly of continuing hostilities, and assured them that he [De Peyster] could by no means give them any future assistance against the people of America.
At this meeting were the Chiefs of eleven Indian Nations, comprehending all the Tribes as far South as the Wabash. They were Chipewas, Otawas, Wyandots or Hurons, Shawneze [Shawnee], Delawares, Kickaboos, Oweochtanoos [Wea], Miamis, Pootawatamies and Pienkishas [Piankashaw] with a part of the Senecas, most of whom gave evident marks of their Satisfaction at seeing a subject of the United States in that Country.122
After the Treaty of Fort McIntosh was signed on January 21, 1785 (7 Stats. 16)
it was decided by the Continental Congress that it would be necessary to hold a
treaty with "the Potawatomis, Miamis, Piankashaw, and other western
tribes" at Vincennes in order to establish a boundary between these groups
and the United States.123 Due to the lateness
121. Ibid., vol. 11, pp. 370-372; Dft. Ex. 82.
122. Burton, Ephraim Douglass, pp. 269-270; Dft. Ex. 94.
123. Journal of the Continental Congress, vol. 28, pp. 125-126, 180-181; Dft. Ex. 81.
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of the season, the site for holding this treaty was changed from Vincennes to the mouth of the Great Miami River,124 and the Indians on the Wabash River did not meet with a United States treaty commissioner until several years later.
In 1785 United States officials were relatively unfamiliar with the Great Lakes-Ohio Valley region. Among the Papers of the Continental Congress for the year 1785 is a document entitled "A List of the Western Nations of Indians contiguous to the Post at Muskingum" which lists the location of various Indian groups. According to this list, no Indian group lived west of the Wabash and Lake Michigan- territory unknown to most Americans at this date. One hundred "Ouatinons" (Wea) warriors are listed, in a village located "On the Head of the Wabash."125 As we shall see, in 1791 the Wea village was still situated below the mouth of the Tippecanoe River.
In early July, 1786 the French inhabitants of Vincennes were warned of an impending Indian attack on the Americans residing at that place. According to this warning, there were about four hundred and fifty Indians "from various nations and tribes" encamped 15 leagues (ca. 37-40 miles) north of Vincennes. Some of these Indians were Piankashaws and Eel Rivers; the remainder were probably Weas and Kickapoos.126 While the chiefs of this force were in
124. Ibid., vol. 28, pp.
486-487; Dft. Ex. 81.
125. Papers of the Continental Congress, 150, I, folio 156; Dft. Ex. 86.
126. Indiana Historical Society Publications, vol. 19, p. 80; Dft. Ex. 79.
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conference with the French the young warriors were busy killing the cattle and pigs and "breaking into some deserted American houses for the purpose of ransacking them." After listening to many speeches and receiving as many presents as the limited resources of Vincennes allowed, the Indians finally withdrew and temporarily peace reigned again on the Wabash.127
J. M. P. Le Gras, an inhabitant of Vincennes, in writing to George Rogers Clark pointed out two reasons for this Wabash Indian raid. The immediate one was that a war belt or collar had been sent by the Shawnee and Delaware to all the Great Lakes tribes, asking them to join in a general uprising against the Americans.121 The second reason, according to Le Gras, was the inability or unwillingness of most American frontiersmen to distinguish between Indians who were friendly toward the French and Americans, and those who were not. By treating all Indians as enemies, the Americans caused friendly Indians to become actively hostile. As a case in point Le Gras cited an unprovoked attack by American settlers on some friendly Piankashaws from Vincennes and some Miamis from Kekionga. In this attack six Indians had been killed, seven had been wounded, and all had lost the products of their winter's hunt.129
During the latter half of 1786 and the first half of 1787 little was done by the United States in regard to the Wabash
127. Kinnaird, Spain in the Mississippi Valley, pt. 2, pp. 175-181; Dft. Ex. 68.
128. Ibid., pt. 2, p. 178; Dft. Ex. 68.
129. Ibid., pt. 2, pp. 179-180; Dft. Ex. 68. See also Hamtramck to Sargent, Fort Vincennes, July 2d, 1790; Dft. Ex. 75.
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Indians. An expedition against them came to naught,130 as did a treaty which went no farther than the planning stage.131 In December, 1786 the "Wabash Confederates" attended a large Indian council at Detroit at which a message was drafted to the Continental Congress, "the tone of which was pacific- provided the United States made no encroachments upon [the Indians'] lands beyond the Ohio.''132 However, on May 14, 1787, Colonel Josiah Harmar, commanding officer of the United States Army, wrote that:
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Several parties of the
Wabash Indians |
In July, 1787, Harmar marched a detachment of the United States Army from Ohio
to Vincennes.134 This marked the inception of effective control by
the United States over part of the Wabash Valley. When Harmar and the army
returned to Ohio in October of 1787 Major John Francis Hamtramck was left at
Vincennes with a detachment of troops. The correspondence between Hamtramck and
Harmar provides most of the information concerning the Wabash Indian groups
during the years 1787-1790.
Shortly after his arrival at Vincennes Harmar held a council with eight Piankashaw from Terre Haute. He presented
130. Ibid., pt. 2, pp.
190-191; Dft. Ex. 68.
Draper Ms., 9J239-244;
Dft. Ex.
104.
131. Smith, St. Clair Papers, vol. 2, p. 20; Dft. Ex. 95.
132. Stone, Life of Brant, vol. 2, pp. 264-265; Dft. Ex. 89.
133. Smith, St. Clair Papers, vol. 2, p. 21; Dft. Ex. 95.
134. Indiana Historical Society Publications, vol. 19, p. 35; Dft. Ex. 79.
114 |
"13 strings of wampum" to these Piankashaw,
and assured them of the friendly disposition of the United States, & advised them not to listen to what any bad people might say to the contrary. I sent a message by these Indians to all the chiefs of the different tribes on the Wabash, inviting them to assemble here & hear what I had to say to them. These Indians were well pleased, they presented me with a calument. I gave them some small presents, and they set off on the 31st [of August] to deliver my message to the different chiefs.135
In response to Harmar's invitation 100 or 120 Piankashaw and Wea Indians
arrived at Vincennes on September 5, 1787. Two accounts exist of this Indian
visit; one, by Harmar, is contained in a letter to Secretary of War Henry Knox,
while the other is in the diary of Ebenezer Denny, an American Army officer.
According to Denny
One hundred of the Piankeshaws and Wyohtomas [Wea] appeared in great style; all in canoes, but twelve horsemen who guarded the shore. The chiefs' canoes carried white flags. On their approach they gave us three fires [from their guns] . . .136
Harmar wrote Knox that he
was determined to impress upon [the Indians] as much as possible the majesty of the United States, and at the same time that they were informed that it was the wish of Congress to live in peace & friendship with them, likewise to let them know that it they persisted in being hostile that a body
135. Ibid., vol. 19, p. 37;
Dft. Ex.
79.
136. Pennsylvania Historical Society Memoirs, vol. 7, p. 309; Dft. Ex. 105.
115 |
of troops would march to their towns and sweep them off the face of the earth.137
Although Harmar's speech to the Wea and Piankashaw is not available, Denny
included a resum?of it in his diary. On September 7, 1787, according to Denny
Colonel Harmar made a speech to the Indians, the purport of which was, informing them of the peaceable disposition of the United States; that he was directed by the principal chief to take by the hand every tribe of Indians desirous of peace, and authorized to destroy those otherwise inclined. He told them that everything should be done to make them glad; that the road should be kept clear and smooth between them and us, that traders might pass freely and with safety, &c. As a pledge of remembrance of the thirteen great fires (the thirteen United States), he presented each tribe with thirteen strings of white wampum.138
The next day, Harmar wrote, five chiefs
answered by speech, and in strong figurative language expressed their determination to preserve perfect peace and friendship with the United States, as long as the waters flowed, &c. . . .They presented me with a number of calumets & wampum. . .139
Harmar described the rest of the visit as follows:
On the 9th, the young warriors were drinking whiskey and dancing before our tents all the morning, to demonstrate their joy. On the 10th, I made them several presents from the commissioner's goods,
137. Indiana Historical Society Publication, vol. 19, p. 51;
Dft. Ex.
79.
138. Pennsylvania Historical Society Memoirs, vol. 7, pp. 309-310; Dft. Ex. 105.
139. Ibid., vol. 7, p. 310; Dft. Ex. 105. Indiana Historical Society Publications, vol. 19, p. 52; Dft. Ex. 79.
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to no great amount. On the 12th the chief part of them left the post for their different villages up the Wabash. They returned highly satisfied with the treatment they received. Indeed it was a proper tour of fatigue for me. I found it politic to pay the greatest attention to them. They are amazing fond of whiskey, and destroyed a considerable quantity of it. I trust that you [Knox] may find this conference with the Indians attended with very little expense, I question whether the whole, provisions whiskey & presents, will cost the public more than 150 dollars.140
But despite this conference the Wea continued to raid the frontier. Under date
of May 21, 1788, Hamtramck wrote to Harmar that he had
recived a number of intelligence from the Weyah [Wea] villages and my information which I not doubt in the least, is that scalps are dayly brough[t] in supposed to come from Kentucky . . . .About 80 of the Weyas are out at war on the Ohio.141
Hamtramck suggested two measures to use against these Indians. One, the more
pacific of the two, and which he was about to initiate consisted of sending a
message to the Wea that
if after a month after my notification to cease committing depredations, I [Hamtramck] hear they bring in more scalps, or prisoners, I shall prohibit all Weyatenas [Wea] to enter the village [of Vincennes].142
140. Indiana Historical Society Publications, vol. 19, p. 52;
Dft. Ex.
79.
141. Ibid., vol. 19, pp. 76-77, Dft. Ex. 79. Brackets supplied by editor.
142. Ibid., vol. 19, p. 77; Dft. Ex. 79.
117 |
Such a measure would have deprived the Wea of one of their principal sources of trade goods, and would have meant that they could only obtain goods from other Indians, or at Detroit.
The alternative measure suggested by Hamtramck was to destroy the Wea villages. In his opinion, he wrote,
|
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we will have goodill [sic]
of trouble |
In June, 1788, despite Hamtramck's warning a few Wea, as well as some
Piankashaw, were still "out at war in Kentucky,"144 and in
October, 1788 Hamtramck reported that 300 warriors from the Wabash Indian
groups were also in Kentucky.145
After spending 10 months at Vincennes Hamtramck made a list of the various Indian villages in the region and the number of warriors in each village. In this May, 1788 list the location of the Wea village is given as approximately 240 miles up the Wabash from Vincennes; it had 300 "fiting men." The Kickapoo village, with 100 warriors, was across the river from the Wea village. Even though the figure for
143. Idem. Brackets supplied by editor.
144. Ibid., vol. 19, p. 89; Dft. Ex. 79.
145. Ibid., vol. 19, p. 124; Dft. Ex. 79.
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the Wea is three times as large as that given in a 1785 list,146 Hamtramck believed "the computation not to be an extravagant one."147
In the summer of 1788 the Wea chiefs were invited by Alexander McKee, British Indian agent, to attend a conference at La Roche de Bout, on the lower Maumee River. According to Jean Baptiste Constant, a half-breed Frenchman married to a Wea woman, the Wea chiefs had accepted the invitation and had gone to the conference.148 McKee probably incited the Indians against the Americans, for in April, 1789, Hamtramck reported that "all the Wabash Indians (except those that are out hunting) have gone to war in Kentucky."149 In May, 1789 Hamtramck reported two Indian raids near Vincennes. The first raid was made by the Eel Rivers, and the second one by the Wea, according to Hamtramck.150 However, according to Antoine Gamelin, a long-time resident of Vincennes, the second raid was made by the Kickapoo151. Since both the Wea
146. See p. 111, this Report.
147. Indiana Historical Society Publications, vol. 19, p. 80; Dft. Ex. 79. Two years later Hamtramck included the same list in a letter to Winthrop Sargent, Secretary of the Northwest Territory (Hamtramck to Sargent, July 2d, 1790; Dft. Ex. 75).
148. Indiana Historical Society Publications, vol. 19, p. 108; Dft. Ex. 79. Hamtramck to Sargent, July 2d, 1790; Dft. Ex. 75.
149. Indiana Historical Society Publications, vol. 19, p. 166; Dft. Ex. 79.
150. Ibid., vol. 19, pp. 169-170; Dft. Ex. 79.
151. Quaife, ed., John Askin Papers, vol. 1, pp. 319-320; Dft. Ex. 91.
119 |
and Kickapoo villages were located at Ouiatanon, on opposite sides of the Wabash, this confusion is easily explained; in all probability Gamelin was right, since he had had a long and extensive acquaintance with the Wabash Indians.
Late in 1789 Hamtramck succeeded in dividing the Wea into two factions, one of which was pro-American. In a November, 1789 report to Harmar, Hamtramck stated that
about eighty [Wea] warriors have come under the protection of the United States and delivered me two white prisoners taken some time ago in Kentucky. How long this alliance will last, I know not, as I have nothing to encourage them with and they expect it.152
In October, 1789 Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the Northwest Territory was
instructed by the Secretary of War to ascertain the attitude of the Wabash
Indians toward the United States.153 In January, 1790 St. Clair
wrote to Hamtramck, asking him to have a speech by St. Clair delivered to the
Wabash Indians and to the Miami. In this speech St. Clair demanded positive
proof from these groups, of their peace and friendship to the United States.154
Hamtramck sent this speech out in March, 1790; he delayed sending it until
152. Indiana Historical Society Publications, vol. 19, p. 205;
Dft. Ex.
79.
153. Smith, St. Clair Papers, vol. 2, pp. 125-126; Dft. Ex. 95.
154. Ibid., vol. 2, p. 131; Dft. Ex. 95.
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