Chapter I: The French and British Period (2)

In strange contrast to the minuet and “dance ronby” were the wild war dances of the Indians across the river in celebration of a victorious raid on the American settlements.[100] From the French village situated on the St. Joseph river where it meets the St. Mary’s, Hay could easily see these spectacles. Behind the traders’ houses, northward to Spy Run Creek, lived the band of Miamis under LeGris, one of the most prominent and intellectual chiefs of his time. Across the river, in the present Lakeside area of Fort Wayne, was the principal village of the Miamis under Pacan, who in his youth had saved Captain Morris.[101] Frequent discussions were held by the traders with Pacan, LeGris, Blue Jacket, and Little Turtle; LeGris and Little Turtle often ate and stayed at Hay’s house. The three Girty brothers, the terrors of the frontier, visited Miamitown on a number of occasions during Hay’s sojourn. James and George Girty lived only three miles from Miamitown, and came more often than their brother, Simon. It is noteworthy that Hay obligingly wrote a letter for George Girty to Alexander McKee, the British Indian agent, informing McKee that the Miamis had upbraided the Delawares by “telling them that the Ground they occupied now is not theirs and that ... the Delawares answered, they were great fools to fight for lands that was not theirs and consequently would not go to war against the Americans any more.”[102] Girty asked McKee to check the Delaware dissatisfaction.

It is clear that the inhabitants of Miamitown were, for the most part, English partisans. Hay could not venture his “carcass” among the “parcel of renegards” [sic] at Vincennes.[103] When Antoine Lasselle did venture southward and was captured by the Indians who thought him to be sympathetic with the Americans, Major Murray intervened and the people of the village certified that Lasselle was “a good loyalist” and “always for supporting his King”.[104] When Lorraine, an inhabitant of Miamitown for forty years, died and was buried, “the young Volunteers of the place gave him three Vollies ... in Honor to his services rendered to the King of Great Britain.”[105] Evidently the time Lorraine had aided Pontiac’s Indians in capturing the British post at Ouiatenon was forgotten at this late date. Not all of the traders at Miamitown were good loyalists, however. James Abbott is described as being “one of our dis-affected subjects.” He refused to obtain the necessary permit for trading and spoke to the Indians of “Major Murray & Capt. McKee in so disrespectfull a manner that they ... determined to send Strings of Wampum into Detroit immediately to informe them of it.”[106]

On the first of April, 1790, Hay departed for Detroit, “much regretted by every one in the village”.[107] Less than seven months later Miamitown lay in ashes, ravaged by an American army which left 183 of its men dead in the vicinity. There is nothing in Hay’s journal to indicate that the French, English, or Indian occupants of the villages anticipated the blow which was to be dealt them by Harmar’s army, although they were fully aware of the movements which preceded the coming of Harmar. “John Thompson [a prisoner] ... informed me their was great talk of raising men to come against the Ind’s”, wrote Hay on March 24, 1790. “However”, he continued, “General St. Clair who is now at the Big Miami [Cincinnati] with two boat loads of goods, means to call the Indians together at a Council at Post Vincennes—But if the Indians do not come to a settlement with them, they mean to fight them.”[107]

This and other councils were held. St. Clair, governor of the newly created Northwest Territory, following Washington’s instructions, offered peace to the Indians. Antoine Gamelin, a merchant from Vincennes favorably known by the Indians, was sent with the Governor’s overtures to the hostile Indians. The tribes along the Wabash would give Gamelin no answer until he conferred with those at Miamitown. Here, the Indians, as well as the traders, assembled to hear Gamelin’s speech. Their reply was evasive and unsatisfactory, while their true attitude was revealed by the burning of an American prisoner only three days after Gamelin’s departure.[108]

War was now inevitable, and during the five years of bloody conflict that followed, Miamitown was the principal goal of the American forces. As early as 1784, Washington had confided in his future Secretary of War, Henry Knox, that the establishment of a strong post at Miamitown was desirable for the welfare of the new nation in the West.[109] The following year, Washington wrote to Richard Henry Lee for the benefit of the Continental Congress, advocating a strong western policy. In his letter Washington said:

Would it not be worthy of the wisdom and the attention of congress to
have the western waters well explored, the navigation of them fully
ascertained, and accurately laid down, ... at least as far westerly as
the Miamis running into the Ohio [the Great Miami] and Lake Erie [the
Maumee] ... for I cannot forbear observing that the Miami village
points to an important post for the Union.[110]

St. Clair, while in Philadelphia during 1790, talked to both Secretary of War, Henry Knox and President Washington, and suggested that an American fort be established on the site of Miamitown.[111] Writing to Knox on November 26, 1790, St. Clair again urged that General Harmar in the forthcoming campaign be empowered to carry out this plan, concluding his argument by saying, “we [will] never have peace with the Western Nations until we have a garrison there.”[112] Knox, after conferring with Washington, rejected the idea. In doing so, he wrote to the disappointed St. Clair, the following explanation:

In contemplating the establishment of military posts northwest of the
Ohio, to answer the purposes of awing the Indians residing on the
Wabash, the west end of Lake Erie, St. Joseph’s, and the Illinois ...
and, at the same time, exhibiting a respectable appearance to the
British troops at Detroit and Niagara, the Miami village presents
itself as superior to any other position. This opinion was given to me
by the President in the year 1784, and has several times been held
forth by me to Brigadier Harmar. But at the same time, it must be
acknowledged that the measure would involve a much larger military
establishment than perhaps the value of the object or disposition of
the United States would admit, and that it would be so opposed to the
inclinations of the Indians generally ... as to bring on inevitably an
Indian war of some duration. In addition to which, it is supposed that
the British garrison would find themselves so uneasy with such a force
impending over them as not only to occasion a considerable
reinforcement of their upper posts, but also fomenting ... the
opposition of the Indians.[113]

It would appear that the government did not wish to offend Great Britain, a policy which was not too strong perhaps, but one that kept the young republic at peace at a crucial time in her history. The proposed attack on Miamitown had to be under the guise of punishing the Indians. To do this and retire was permissible, but the establishment of an American fort there would have been considered by the British as a dagger pointed at Detroit. Consequently, when Harmar finally moved from Fort Washington with his army of 1,600 men, he had orders to destroy Miamitown and, if possible, its Indian occupants. Harmar himself promised that, in the event of a successful campaign, he would attend to “the villanous traders”.[114] Interestingly the British officials at Detroit and Canada believed that Harmar fully intended to build a fort at Miamitown although they expressed surprise at the “imprudence” of such action. Their spies, such as the Girties and Alexander McKee, kept them well informed of the strength and movement of Harmar’s army. They even noted Harmar’s tendency to be intoxicated.[115]

Forewarned by the British agents of the impending attack, the Indians adopted a “scorched earth” policy. The traders were forced to give their stores of ammunition to the Indians and were aided in fleeing with what goods they could carry. What was not destroyed by the Indians at Miamitown was burned by the Americans (20,000 bushels of corn, among other things). In two major engagements, the first at Hellar’s Corners, eight miles north of Miamitown, and the second, a three-pronged attack within the heart of the village and on the banks of the Maumee and St. Joseph rivers, the Indian forces, under Little Turtle, were victorious.[116] Although their crops and towns were destroyed and the trade ruined, the Indians were elated over their victories, and their frontier raids continued.

Knox now felt that, despite possible British disapproval, the only means of checking the Indians was to establish the fort at Miamitown for which St. Clair had asked. To carry this out, the Secretary of War asked Congress to increase the size of the army. The force contemplated for the intended post was 1,000 to 1,200 men. St. Clair argued that a strong fort at Miamitown “would curb the Wabash Indians, as well as the Ottawas and Chippewas, and all other northern tribes”; that it would “more effectually cover the line of frontier along the Ohio, than by a post any other place whatever (excluding Detroit)”; and “would afford more fully security to the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio.”[117] For an economy-minded Congress, he pointed out that “it would assist in the reduction of the national debt, by holding out security to people to purchase and settle the public lands.”[118]

General Knox still feared English hostility to this move, and he instructed St. Clair to “make such intimations as may remove all such disposition.” These intimations, however, were better to follow, than precede, the possession of the post, unless circumstances dictated otherwise, as it was “not the inclination of the United States to enter into a contest with Great Britain.”[119]

St. Clair never reached Miamitown. Badly trained and inexperienced, his army of 1,400 men suffered one of the most terrible defeats ever inflicted on American forces. Five hundred and thirty-two men fell before Little Turtle’s Indians on the site of Fort Recovery, Ohio. The situation was now critical. The Indians now attacked the frontier with impunity and another defeat might mean the complete alienation of the West from the new union. At this crucial point, General Anthony Wayne, hero of Stony Point in the Revolution, was appointed commander-in-chief of the American army. It is not necessary to give in detail the long months of preparation of Wayne’s “Legion” and the swift campaign which was carried out in the Maumee valley. Wayne cut the Indian forces in two by feinting toward Miamitown, then moving between it and the English Fort Miami at the mouth of the Maumee. Before the various tribes could reorganize fully, the “Legion” turned on the Indian forces to the east. At Fallen Timbers, a short distance from Toledo, on August 20, 1794, Wayne’s army met and defeated the red men. The Indian power in the Northwest was for the time being shattered and Wayne moved down the Maumee to complete his task, the construction, near the site of the old Kiskakon, of a new American stronghold in the Northwest—Fort Wayne.

[1]“Kekionga” is said to mean “blackberry bush”, this plant being
considered an emblem of antiquity because it sprang up on the sites
of old villages. This theory rests on the statement of Barron, an
old French trader of the area. However, the word “Kekionga” is more
likely a corruption of Kiskakon. The Kiskakons or “cut tails” were
the principal tribe of the Ottawas who lived on the Maumee at a very
early time, for which reason this river was sometimes called the
“Ottawa”. _Archeological American_, 1,278; “Relation of Sieur de
Lamothe Cadillac, 1718” _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, XVI, p.
353.

[2]From Little Turtle’s speech at the Treaty of Greenville, quoted in H.
S. Knapp’s _History of the Maumee Valley_, p. 357.

[3]Justin Winsor, _Narrative and Critical History_, IV, 224 lists the
following:

a. Green Bay, Lake Winnebago and Fox River to the Wisconsin River and
to the Mississippi.
b. From the upper end of Lake Michigan, the Chicago river, and a short
portage to the Des Plaines, and Illinois rivers.
c. The St. Joseph of Lake Michigan, a portage to the Kankakee and so
to the Illinois river again.
d. The St. Joseph river to the Wabash by a longer portage and then
down to the Ohio and Mississippi.
e. The Miami of Lake Erie, a portage to the Wabash and down as above.

[4]H. S. Knapp, _History of the Maumee Valley_, pp. 9-10; Justin Winsor,
_Cartier to Frontenac_, p. 224; Elbert J. Benton, “The Wabash Trade
Route in the Development of the Old Northwest” _John Hopkins
University Studies in Historical and Political Science_, XXI, 12.

[5]Pierre Margry, _Decouvertes des francais dans L’Amerique
Septentrionale_ II, 98.

[6]Justin Winsor, _Cartier to Frontenac_, p. 256.

[7]Pierre Margry, _op. cit._, II, 296; see also, Beverley Bond,
_Foundations of Ohio_, pp. 70-8. Bond holds that the Maumee-Wabash
route was the original one intended to be used by LaSalle who then
decided to establish his communication by means of the upper Ohio;
due to the Iroquois, however, he fell back upon the Maumee-Wabash
route as the best means of reaching the Mississippi, but was forced
to abandon this also to the Iroquois. Later Cadillac was to adopt
LaSalle’s Lake Erie-Maumee-Wabash route.

[8]Logan Esarey, _History of Indiana_, p. 12.

[9]Elbert J. Benton, _op. cit._, p. 17.

[10]Otho Winger, _The Last of the Miamis_, p. 3.

[11]Pierre Margry, _op cit._, V, 359-62.

[12]Beverley Bond, _op. cit._, p. 76.

[13]Cadillac Papers, _Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collection,
XXXIII_, 338.

[14]Charles Slocum, _History of the Maumee River Basin_, I, 86; H. S.
Knapp, _op. cit._, p. 9; “Forts Miami and Fort Industry”, _Ohio
Archaeological and Historical Society Publications_, XII, 120.

[15]_New York Colonial Documents_, IX, p. 676. This French officer was
the elder Vincennes, the uncle of Francois Margane, Sieur de
Vincennes. The younger Vincennes was the founder of the town of
Vincennes on the lower Wabash.

[16]_Archives des Colonies_, c 11 117, 118, (Paris) Pierre Margry, _op.
cit._, V, 178, 218, 225-8; 239-43; 256-8, 262-7; 271-3; 278;
280-283.

[17]_New York Colonial Documents, Paris Documents_, IX, 891.

[18]Archives de la Province Quebec, Vaudreuil to Council of Marine, Oct.
24, 1722.

[19]_New York Colonial Documents_, IX, 894.

[20]“Céloron Journal” _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, XVIII, 51.

[21]Archives de la Province Quebec, de Vaudreuil to Council of Marine,
Oct. 24, 1722.

[22]_The Jesuits Relations_, ed. by Reuben G. Thwaites, LXIX, p. 189.

[23]Archives de la Province Quebec, de Vaudreuil to Council of Marine,
Oct. 24, 1722.

[24]_Archives des Colonies_, c 11 117, 118.

[25]_Letters of Governor Spotswood_, II, 296.

[26]Norman Cadwell, _The French in the Mississippi Valley_, 1740-1750,
p. 95.

[27]_New York Colonial Documents, Paris Documents_, IX, 894.

[28]_Wisconsin Historical Collections_, XVII, 211. Sieur Darnaud was in
all likelihood Nicolas-Marie Renoud Davenne, born 1696, died 1743.

[29]_Indiana Historical Society Publications_, VII, 72. This post was a
new settlement of the English from Carolina apparently on the upper
Ohio River.

[30]_Ibid._, p. 72.

[31]_Archives des Colonies_, C 11 117, 118.

[32]_Archives de Colonies_, C 11 117, 118.

[33]_Ibid._

[34]_Wisconsin Historical Collections_, XVIII, 175.

[34a]_Archives des Colonies_, C 11 118.

[35]Norman Caldwell, _op. cit._, p. 41.

[36]_Ibid._, p. 31.

[37]_Ibid._, p. 41.

[38]_New York Colonial Documents, Paris Documents_, X, 140.

[39]_Wisconsin Historical Collections, XVII_, 486-7.

[40]_New York Colonial Documents, Paris Documents_, X, 150.

[41]_The Jesuit Relations_, ed. by Reuben G. Thwaites, LXIX, 189.

[42]Norman Caldwell, _op. cit._, p. 95.

[43]_Ibid._, p. 95.

[44]The journal kept by Celoron on this expedition may be found in
Margry, _op. cit._, VI, 666 ff.

[45]_Jesuit Relations_, ed. by R. Thwaites, LXIX, 189.

[46]_Ibid._, p. 189.

[47]_Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society Publications_, XII, 120.

[48]_Mississippi Valley Historical Review_, IX, 315.

[49]Francis Parkman, _Montcalm and Wolfe_, I, 87.

[50]Charles Slocum, _op. cit._, p. 99.

[51]Charles Lasselle, “Indian Traders of Indiana”, _Indiana Magazine of
History_, II, Number 1, 4.

[52]_A Narrative of Life on the Frontier, Henry Hay’s Journal_, ed. by
Milo Quaife, p. 261.

[53]_See below_, pp. [p 79-80.]

[54]Marquis de la Jonquiere to Governor Clinton, Aug. 10, 1751, _New
York Colonial Documents_, VI, pp. 731-34.

[55]Mitchell’s map was the best known of contemporary maps of North
America. A reproduction of this map may be found in the _Michigan
Pioneer and Historical Collection_, XXXVI, 52-3.

[56]Beverley Bond, _op. cit._, pp. 153-154.

[57]For an interesting discussion of the French attempt during the peace
negotiations at the end of the war to establish the Maumee and
Wabash rivers as the new boundary between the two colonial empires,
see Theodore Pease’s article, “Indiana in Contention between France
and England” in the _Indiana Historical Bulletin_, XII.

[58]“Croghan’s Journal”, _Early Western Travels_, ed. by R. G. Thwaites,
I, 122-23.

[59]_Jesuit Relations_, LXIX, 189.

[60]_Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections_, XIX, 47.

[61]_Ibid._, p. 47.

[62]Francis Parkman, _Conspiracy of Pontiac_, I, 189.

[63]The Journal of Captain Morris as quoted in his _Miscellanies in
Prose and Verse_ has been reprinted in _Early Western Travels_, I,
301-ff.

[64]Captain Thomas Morris, _op. cit._, p. 312. This prohibition of the
sale of liquor to the Indiana was not always as successful as Capt.
Morris thought.

[65]“Croghan’s Journal”, _Western Travels_, I, 149-150.

[66]For the French philosopher Volney’s description of these French
Creoles _See Below_, [p. 34.]

[67]After LaBalme’s raid, a British force was stationed at Fort Miami
for four months, _See Below_, [p. 16.]

[68]_Illinois Historical_ XVI, 60.

[69]_Indiana Historical Society Publications_, II, 435.

[70]_Ibid._, p. 439-40. The following names are listed: Capuchin,
Baptiste Campau, Nicholas Perct, Pierre Barthe, Bergerson,
Berthelemy, Dorien, Francois Maisonville, Laurain.

[71]As it turned out the people of Vincennes suffered a great deal for
their friendship with the American cause.

[72]Charles Lasselle, _loc. cit._, p. 4.

[73]Wallace A. Brice, _History of Fort Wayne_, p. 102.

[74]Charles Lasselle, _loc. cit._, p. 4.

[75]DePeyster to Haldimand, Nov. 16, 1780, and Haldimand to DePeyster,
June 6, 1781, Haldimand Papers relating to Detroit, 1772-84, II,
British Museum. After his release from captivity by the Americans,
Colonel Hamilton accused Beaubien of treachery for not following
Hamilton’s orders during the campaign, cf. Hamilton’s account of the
ill fated expedition against Vincennes, Hamilton to Haldimand, July
6, 1781, Haldimand Papers, II, British Museum.

[76]Hamilton to Haldimand, Sept. 26, 1778. _Michigan Pioneer
Collections_, X, 449.

[77]Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781, Haldimand Papers, II, British
Museum.

[78]_Michigan Pioneer Collections_, XIX, 699. For LaBalme’s dramatic
speeches to the French, see the _Illinois Historical Collections_,
II, p. xci. For other information concerning LaBalme, see the
_Virginia State Papers_, I, p. 380. The complete papers of LaBalme
were forwarded to the war ministry in London and together with the
map carried by LaBalme at the time of his death are available in the
Haldimand Papers, II, 13, British Museum (London).

[79]“LaBalme Papers”, _Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections_,
XIX, 578-8.

[80]“Haldimand Papers”, _Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections_,
XIX, 582.

[81]Capt. A. Thompson to DePeyster, Mar. 14, 1781, _Michigan Pioneer and
Historical Collections_, XIX, 589-600.

[82]DePeyster to Haldimand, Apr. 22, 1782, Haldimand Papers, II, British
Museum.

[83]Wayne Steven, “The Northwest Fur Trade” _University of Illinois
Studies in Social Sciences_, XIV, p. 513.

[84]Milo Quaife, _op. cit._, p. 209.

[85]Major Smith to Dorchester, Oct. 16, 1790, Public Records Office,
(Colonial Series) CO-42 73, London.

[86]Dorchester to Grenville, October 17, 1790, Public Records Office,
(Colonial Series) CO-42 73.

[87]Dorchester to Grenville, May 31, 1790, Public Records Office,
(Colonial Series) CO-42 73.

[88]Leonard Helderman, “Danger on the Wabash, Vincennes letters of
1786-87” _Indiana Magazine of History_, XXXIV, 459.

[89]Logan Esarey, _op. cit._, I, 102.

[90]George Sharp to Paul Camelin, June 23, 1786, “Letters from
Eighteenth Century Indiana Merchants” (the Lasselle Papers) ed. C.B.
Coleman and published in the _Indiana Magazine of History_, V,
145-146.

[91]George Leith to Gray, Apr. 3, 1786, _loc. cit._, V, 144-145.

[92]John MacPherson to Gray, March, 1785, _loc. cit._, V, 142-143.

[93]Ironside to Gray, Apr. 15, 1787, _loc. cit._, V, 151-152.

[94]Ironside to Gray, Mar. 15, 1787, _loc. cit._, V, 150.

[95]Ironside to Gray, Feb. 16, 1787, _loc. cit._, V, 149. George
Ironside was a leading trader in the Maumee valley. He was born in
1760 and died in 1830, at Amherstburg. For many years he was in the
British Indian service. He was an M. A. of King’s College, Aberdeen
and was known, even to the Americans, for his humanity and
hospitality.

[96]_A Narrative of Life on the Old Frontier, Henry Hay’s Journal from
Detroit to the Mississippi River_, edited by M. M. Quaife, p. 224.

[97]_Ibid._, p. 221.

[98]_Ibid._, p. 241.

[99]_Ibid._, p. 240.

[100]_Ibid._, p. 260. Hay gives an interesting description of the
“Natt”, the Indian symbol of war, carried about much like the
Ancient Roman standards.

[101]_above_, [p. 23.]

[102]Quaife, _op. cit._, p. 226.

[103]_Ibid._, p. 245.

[104]_Ibid._, p. 237.

[105]_Ibid._, p. 258.

[106]_Ibid._, p. 245.

[107]_Ibid._, p. 261.

[108]_Indiana Historical Society Publications_, VII, 360.

^[109]“Gamelin’s Journal”, St. Clair Papers, II, pp. 155-160; _American
State Papers_, Indian Affairs, I, P. 37.

[109]_St. Clair Papers_, ed. Wm. Smith, II, 181.

[110]_The Writings of George Washington_, ed. Jared Sparks, IX, 80-81.

[111]_St. Clair Papers_, II, 181.

[112]_Ibid._, 193.

[113]Knox to St. Clair, Sept. 14, 1790, _St. Clair Papers_, II, p. 181.

[114]_American State Papers, Indian Affairs_, I, p. 104-5.

[115]Dorchester to Grenville, Nov. 10, 1790, including dispatches from
A. McKee and others, Public Record Office (Colonial Series) CO-42;
73, London.

[116]For the accounts of the battles see Harmar’s report in _ASP, Indian
Affairs_, I, pp. 104; also the “Military Journal of Major Ebenezer
Denny” in _Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania_, VII,
343-353. The heaviest action took place at Harmar’s ford at the end
of Harmar Street. Here the regulars suffered severely while
attempting to cross the Maumee in the face of the Indians’ fire.

[117]_ASP, Indian Affairs_, I, 112.

[118]_Ibid._, p. 112.

[119]“Knox’s Instructions to St. Clair”, _Michigan Pioneer and
Historical Collections_, XXIV, 197-8.