1790-95. Death of Trueman and Hardin. 381 ges of officers for the safe return of the chiefs, and, in case of their compliance, you will take every precaution by the troops for the protection of the said chiefs, which the nature of the case may require. But if, after having used your utmost exertions, the chiefs should #decline the journey to Philadelphia, then you will agree with them on a plan for a general treaty.* We have mentioned the invitation given in February by the Secretary of war to Brant to visit Philadelphia:-Some of his English friends urged the Mohawk by no means to comply with the request, but he had the independence to think and act for himself, and on the 20th of June appeared at the then Federal capital He remained there ten or twelve days, and was treated by all with marked attention: great pains were taken to make him understand the posture of affairs and the wishes of the United States; and in the hope that he would prove a powerful pacificator, on the 27th of June a letter was addressed to him by General Knox, laying before him the wishes of the Government and making him another messenger of peace.‡ The fact that five independent embassies, asking peace, were sent to the inimical tribes; and the tone of the papers from which we have extracted so fully, will demonstrate, we think, the wish of the United States, to do the aborigines entire justice. But the victories they had gained, and the favorable whispers of the British agents closed the ears of the red men; and all propositions for peace were rejected in one form or another. Freeman, who left Fort Washington, April 7th; || Trueman, who left it May 22d for the Maumee, and Colonel Hardin,§ who on the same day started for Sandusky, were all murdered;¶ American State Papers, v. 234. American State Papers, v. 236. + Stone's Brant, ii. 328. | Letter from Wilkinson to Armstrong, quoted by Dillon, (History Indiana, i. 312.) For a sketch of Hardin's life, see Marshall, ii. 44 to 51. ¶ Letter from Wilkinson to Armstrong, in Cist's Miscellany, i. 18. The statements in relation to Trueman afford a curious example of the uncertainty in matters of detail of even our late Western History. Marshall (ii. 42) and Butler (History Kentucky, 219) say that he was sent by Wilkinson, whereas he was sent by the Federal Government; Atwater, (History of Ohio, 145,) says he was sent by Wayne; Judge Burnet, (Ohio Historical Society Transactions, part 2, vol. 1, p. 30, note,) says he was sent by Harmar, soon after his defeat, at least eighteen months before Wayne was appointed to command; but his instructions, above referred to, are dated April 3d, 1792. The most perplexing account, however, is that given by William May, and contained in the American State Papers, v. 243, who states that he, May, left Fort Hamilton, on or about the 13th of April, "to follow on the trail of Trueman, who, with a French baker and another man, were sent as a flag to the Indians:" further on he says, that on the 7th day he "discovered Trueman 382 Result of Putnam's Mission. 1790-95. Trueman, it would seem, however, not by a body of Indians, but by a man and boy whom he met in hunting. Brant, from sickness or caution,† did not attend the western council, as had been expected. Hendricks gave his message into the hands of Colonel McKee, and kept away from the gathering of the united nations;‡ and of the four individual messengers, Trueman, Brant, Hendrick, and Putnam, Putnam alone reached his goal. That gentleman left Marietta, upon the 26th of June, and on the 2d of July was at Fort Washington; here he heard of Indian hostilities at Fort Jef ferson, and of the probability of Trueman's murder. He found also that it would be in vain to ask the chiefs under any circumstances to go to Philadelphia, and that it was extremely doubtful if they could be prevailed on to visit even Fort Washington; under these circumstances, conceiving it desirable that some step should be taken at once, he determined to proceed to Fort Knox, (Post St. Vincent,) and there meet such of the Wabash leaders as could be got together, in the hopes that they might at least be detached from the general league. This determination he carried into effect on the 17th of August, when, with several Indian prisoners to be restored to their friends, and presents for them beside, he left Cincinnati, and reaching Vincennes in due time, upon the 27th of September formed a treaty with the Eel river tribe, the Weas, Illinois, Potawatamies, Musquitoes, Wabash Kickapoos, Piankeshaws, Kaskaskias, and Peorias. This treaty, however, was never ratified by the Senate, and proved practically of little or no use, although sixteen chiefs of the Wabash tribe were prevailed on to go to Philadelphia.|| and the two other men lying dead, scalped and stripped." He afterwards gives a particular account of Trueman's death, which account he received from an Indian. This statement appears suspicious, from the fact that General Knox wrote Trueman as late as the 22d of May, (American State Papers, v. 234,) and also from the fact that news of his death first reached Vincennes, June 28th (American State Papers, v. 238;) as well as from the circumstance that May left in pursuit of Trueman oniy ten days after the date of his (Trueman's) instructions at Philadelphia. The whole mystery, however, is cleared up by reading in May's affidavit, " Freeman" for "Trueman; " Freeman left Fort Washington, April 7th; April 10th, Wilkinson wrote Armstrong to order May to desert, so as to acquire information from the Indians; (Dillon's History of Indiana, i. 312;") and on or about the 13th he did so, and on Harmar's trace, which Freeman had been instructed to follow, found his body. * *May's deposition. Brant's Letters, (American State Papers, v. 243. 245;) also, McKee's account sent Brant, (Stone's Brant, ii. 333.) + Stone, ii. 334. May's deposition. American State Papers, v. 322. The council probably broke up about the 10 or 12th of October, [do. do.] American State Papers, v. 238. 239. 240. 319. 338. 1790-95. Adair Attacked. 383 Neither did the efforts of the Six nations in the north-west council * prove more efficacious. On the 16th of November the emissaries of the Iroquois gave an account of their doings to the agent for the United States and others at Buffalo creek, and the mode in which the information is communicated is so peculiar that we should transcribe the speech entire if our limits would permit.† By this council, it appeared, every thing was referred to another council to be held in the spring, but with the clear intimation that the Ohio must be the boundary of the American lands, and that the treaties of Fort McIntosh and Fort Harmar, must be regarded as null. Soon after this council broke up, on the 6th of November, Major Adair, commander of the mounted Kentucky infantry was attacked by a body of savages in the neighborhood of Fort St. Clair, twenty miles north of Fort Hamilton. The attack was sudden and violent and with difficulty repelled. The officer in charge of the station took no part in the conflict as he had been strictly ordered by General Wilkinson to act only on the defensive, but Adair's men received ammunition from the fortress, and returned thither with their wounded. This action, however, together with other evidences of continued hostilities || did not prevent the United States from taking measures to meet the hostile tribes "at the Rapids of the Miami (Maumee) when the leaves were fully out." For this purpose the President at first selected Charles Carroll and Charles Thompson, but as they declined the nomination, Benjamin Lincoln, Beverly Randolph, and Timothy Pickering were, on the 1st of March§ 1793, appointed to attend the proposed meeting which it was concluded should be held at This council was held at the mouth of the Au Glaize, and was one of the largest ever held; beside the Western, New York, and Canadian Indians, there were present twentyseven other nations; among them the Goras, who had been a whole season reaching the point designated. See Cornplanter's speech to General Wayne, December 8, 1792. (American State Papers, v. 337.) +American State Papers, v. 323. + Adair's letter, American State Papers, v. 335.-MS. letter of Judge Collins who was in the action. From the latter we learn that the Indians were commanded by Little Turtle, that they were bound for Columbia, at the mouth of the lower Miami, which they meant to destroy, and attacked Adair for his horses, most of which they got. July 7th, 1792, the Indians fired on a boat a mile and a half above Fort Washington, and took captive Oliver M. Spencer.-See his Narrative, and Cist's Cincinnati Miscellany, i. 46 and 261. § Sparks' Washington, x. 313, 314. 384 Letter to Governor Simcoe. 1790-95. Sandusky.* On the 26th of April, the Commissioners received their instructions; on the 27th General Lincoln left Philadelphia for Niagara by the way of New York; and on the 30th the other two started by the route through Pennsylvania, which led up the vallies of the Scuylkill, Susquehannah, Lycoming, and Conhocton and across to the Genesee. These, travelling more rapidly, for Lincoln had the stores and baggage,- reached Niagara on the 17th of May, and were at once invited by Lieutenant General Simcoe to take up their residence at his seat, Navy Hall; with this invitation they complied and remained there until the 28th of June. The cause of this delay was the belief expressed by McKee and others that the Indians would not be ready to meet the Commissioners before the last of June, as private councils had first to be held among the various tribes.† While resting in his Majesty's dominion, the ambassadors were nowise idle, and among other interesting documents, on the 7th of June presented the fol lowing note to Governor Simcoe: The commissioners of the United States for making peace with the western Indians beg leave to suggest to Governor Simcoe: that the very high importance of the negotiation committed to their management, makes them desirous of using every proper means that may contribute to its success. That they have observed with pleasure the disposition manifested by the Governor to afford every requisite assistance in the preparatory arrangements for holding the treaty with the hostile Indians. But, all the facilities thus afforded, and all the expenses incurred by the British government on this occasion, will perhaps be fruitless, unless some means are used to counteract the deep rooted prejudices, and unfounded reports among the Indian tribes: for, the acts of a few bad men dwelling among them, or having a familiar intercourse with them, by cherishing those prejudices, or raising and spreading those reports, may be sufficient to defeat every attempt to accomplish a peace. As an instance of such unfounded reports, the commissioners have noticed the declaration of a Mohawk, from Grand River, that Governor Simcot advised the Indians to make peace, but not to give up any of their lands. The commissioners further observe that if any transactions at * American State Papers, v. 343. Washington's answer to the Western Indians in the previous autumn had caused doubts among them, because it said nothing of the British attending the treaty.-American State Papers, v. 342. + American State Papers, v. 343, where the Journal of the Commissioners is given; also Massachusetts Historical Collections, third series, vol. v. 190-196, where General Lincoln's Journal is given, together with a drawing of the conference at Niagara, July 7th made by Colonel Pilkington of the British army: this is also given in Stone's Brant, ü. 1790-95. Governor Simcoe's reply. 385 former treaties were exceptionable, the principles of the present treaty are calculated to remove the causes of complaint; for the views of government are perfectly fair. And, although it is impossible to retrace all the steps then taken, the United States are disposed to recede, as far as shall be indispensable, and the existing state of things will admit; and, for the lands retained, to make ample compensation. The views of the United States being thus fair and liberal, the commissioners wish to embrace every means to make them appear so to the Indians, against any contrary suggestions. Among these means, the commissioners consider the presence of some gentlemen of the army to be of consequence: for, although the Indians naturally look up to their superintendents as their patrons, yet the presence of some officers of the army will probably induce them to negotiate with greater confidence on the terms of peace. Independently of these considerations, the commissioners, for their own sakes, request the pleasure of their company. The commissioners, feeling the greatest solicitude to accomplish the object of their mission, will be happy to receive from the Governor every information relating to it, which his situation enables him to communicate. He must be aware that the sales and settlements of the lands over the Ohio, founded on the treaties of Forts McIntosh and Harmar, rendered it impossible now to make that river the boundary. The expression of his opinion on this point in particular will give them great satisfaction.* To this note the following answer was sent: Colonel Simcoe, commanding the King's forces in Upper Canada, has the honor, in answer to the paper delivered to him this morning by the commissioners of the United States for making peace with the western Indians, to state to those gentlemen, that he is duly impressed with the serious importance of the negotiation committed to their charge, and shall be happy to contribute by every proper means that may tend to its success. He is much obliged to them for the polite manner in which they have expressed their sense of his readiness to afford them such facilities as may have been in his power, to assist in the preparatory arrangements for holding the treaty. He is perfectly aware that unfounded reports and deep rooted prejudices, have arisen among the Indian tribes: but whether from the acts of a few bad men living among them, he cannot pretend to say. But, he must observe, upon the instance given by the commissioners, of one of "those unfounded reports, that a Mohawk from the Grand River should say, that Governor Simcoe advised the Indians to make peace, but not to give up their lands," it is of that nature that cannot be true; the Indians, as yet, not having applied for his advice on the subject: and it being a American State Papers, v. 347. |