"Do, hereby, once more invite you, the Cherokees, residing on the waters of the Scioto, to come forward, immediately, to this place, and enter into similar articles of peace; for which purpose, I now send Captain Longhair, a principal Cherokee chief, to conduct you to head quarters, where you shall be received in friendship, and treated with kindness and hospitality. Captain Longhair will give you the particulars respecting this treaty, as also those of a treaty of peace lately made between the United States and the Cherokee nation, so that you now stand alone and unprotected, unless you comply with this last invitation.

Given at Head-quarters, Greenville, 3d August, 1795. ANTHONY WAYNE.”

In consequence of the above message, some of this party of Cherokees returned to Greenville, with Captain Longhair, and afterwards accompanied him home, to their nation. The remainder promised to hunt peaceably on the Scioto, until their corn was fit to gather, when they would quit this side of the Ohio forever, and return to their own country.

At a private conference on the 12th August, with the Miamies, Eel River, and Kickapoo Indians, the Little Turtle, in the name of the others, observed, that as they intended soon to depart, and return to their respective homes, he took this opportunity of repeating to the General, that he, himself, and the Indians with him, were perfectly acquainted with every article of the treaty, that no part of it had escaped their serious and anxious deliberation; that, in the early stage of the negotiation, he had not comprehended the moderation and liberality with which he was now convinced, it is dictated; that to this cause, and to a duty which he conceived he owed his country, must be attributed the opposition he exhibited on sundry occasions; that he was persuaded his father would not think unkindly of him for it, for he had heard him with much pleasure, approve of the freedom with which he delivered his sentiments; that he was a man who spoke as he thought, and a man of sin

cerity; and that he embraced this last occasion, to declare, that as he was fully convinced that the treaty was wisely and benevolently calculated to promote the mutual interest and insure the permanent happiness of the Indians, and their father the Americans, so it was his determined resolution, to adhere, religiously, to its stipulations.

He asked for traders to reside at their different villages, and mentioned the names of some, who, from the confidence they had in their integrity, they wished might be licensed and continued by the United States, as traders among them; he hoped, (for the Weas particularly,) that a fort would be immediately established at Ouiatanon, and promised every assistance they could afford, to the establishment; that he, himself, would reside near Fort Wayne, where daily experience should convince his father of his sincere friendship; and that, as he intended to rekindle the Grand Council Fire at that place, by means of which, the different nations might communicate with each other as usual, he requested his father to give orders to the commandant of Fort Wayne, to inform him from time to time, of any measures which the Great Council of the Fifteen Fires might adopt, in which the interest of their children should be concerned; and he asked, that Mr. Wells might be placed there as a resident interpreter, as he possessed their confidence, as fully as he did that of their father.

On the 9th September, a party of Shawanees, consisting of between sixty and seventy warriors, who had hitherto proved refractory and hostile, arrived at Greenville, with four prisoners, three of whom they captured on the 13th July, 1795, in Randolph county, Virginia. On the 11th, the General gave them audience, when Puck-se-kaw (or Jumper,) one of their chiefs, spoke as follows:

My father! I have been in the woods a long time; I was not acquainted with the good works which were transacting at this place, by you and all our great chiefs. "Last spring, when we were hunting peaceably, our camp

on the Scioto was robbed; we are very poor, and the mischief that has since been done, was in retaliation for the injuries we then sustained.

"As soon as I received this belt, which you sent me by Blue Jacket, one of our great chiefs, and as soon as I was informed by him that the good work of peace was finished, I arose to come and see you, and brought with me these four prisoners. I now surrender them up to you, my father, and promise, sincerely, that we will do no more mischief.

"I hope, that for the future, we shall be permitted to live and hunt, in peace and quietness. We were poor ignorant children, astray in the woods, who knew not that our nation, and all the other tribes of Indians, had come in and made peace with you. I thank the Great Spirit for at length opening our eyes.

"Father! We beg you will forgive, and receive your repentant children. These people, whom I now deliver to you, must plead our forgiveness, and vouch for our sincere intention to alter our conduct for the future." [A white string.]

At the close of this speech, the Indians retired from Greenville, and returned to their respective homes.

CHAPTER XIII.

Surrender of the North-western posts by the British, in 1796.—Made to General Wayne, appointed for that purpose.-Death of General Wayne.-Sketch of his life.-Detroit.-Its Commerce and Society.-Their hospitality.-Celebration of the king's birth-day at Sandwich.-General invitation to the Americans at Detroit, including the General Court and the Bar.-Note.Gen. Wilkinson's charges against Gen. Wayne.-Unfounded.-Contrast between the two men.-Their controversies.-Their effect on the army.The officers take sides.-Two parties formed.-Note.-Canadian French at and near Detroit.-Their character.-Their habits.-Their objections to free government.-Delays in administering justice.-Judicial decisions of the military commandants-Acceptable to the French inhabitants.--Pawnee Indians bought and sold as slaves.

EARLY in 1796, the British government surrendered the northern posts, including Fort Miami, built in 1794, by Governor Simcoe, at the foot of the Rapids of the Maumee, together with the town of Detroit, and the military works, both there and on the island of Mackinaw, in pursuance of the treaty negotiated by Chief Justice Jay, in 1793

The posts were delivered to General Wayne, who had been authorised to receive them, by the President of the United States. As soon as he had performed that duty, and had made the necessary arrangements to have the works properly garrisoned and supplied, he embarked for Erie, on his way to the seat of government, very late in the season. Unfortunately, he was seized, on the passage,

One of the motives which induced General Wayne to proceed from Detroit, on his way to Philadelphia, after the surrender of the posts, was to meet and refute, a set of charges exhibited against him, by General Wilkinson, a copy of which he had received, from the War Department, though it was not generally known, that any thing of the kind existed. He had just conquered

with a violent attack of gout in the stomach, which terminated his life, before the vessel reached the port of her destination. He was buried at Erie. When the body was disinterred by his son, many years afterwards, for the pur

the Indians compelled them to sue for peace, and receive it on his own terms-and had redeemed the character of the nation, from the reproach cast on it, by the defeat, and almost total annihilation of one army, and by heavy losses, and an unexpected failure, in the anticipated results of another. Thus covered with laurels, and hailed by the nation as a hero and a conqueror, it would seem incredible, that he was going to the seat of government, to answer accusations, implicating his character, and his military fame; yet such was the fact.

It was said, that in conversation with his friends and others, with whom he conversed, he spoke of the charges as being unfounded, and malicious; as they were in the estimation of every person who knew his character, and knew also, that he prized it more highly than he did his life. No attempt was ever made to sustain any one of them-but few persons ever heard of their existence; and, at the War Department, they were entirely disregarded.

General Wilkinson, who was one of the most accomplished men of his day, either in, or out of the army, and had acquired the character of a brave officer, had unfortunately contracted an early prejudice against General Wayne; which commenced during the Revolutionary War, in which they both served with reputation, from its commencement to its close. That state of mind predisposed him to pursue an unfriendly course towards General Wayne, and to avail himself of every opportunity to diminish the respect and confidence in him, which military officers ought always to feel towards their Commander-inchief.

The opportunity General Wilkinson had, of making impressions on the minds of the army, unfriendly to General Wayne, may be learnt from the fact, that he received the appointment of a Brigadier General in the spring of 1792, and being then a Colonel at Fort Washington, immediately assumed the command of the army; and that General Wayne, although appointed Commander-in-chief previous to that time, did not arrive at Cincinnati till September, 1793, the arrangements necessary for the coming campaign, having detained him at Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. In October, 1792, we find him at the latter place, perfecting those arrangements; and also taking testimony to elucidate the facts, connected with the assassination of Colonel Hardin and Major Trueman, who had been sent from Fort Washington, with a flag to the Indians.

In March following, the negotiations for peace with the North-western Indians commenced at Niagara, and were continued till late in August; during which time, the officers of the army were ordered to remain in statu quo, and not to permit any military movement whatever to be made. This order de