Chapter VI: Part 6

The houses in this part of the country are all built in a similar style to those in Lower Canada; the lands are laid out and cultivated also similarly to those in the lower province; the manners and persons of the inhabitants are the same; French is the predominant language, and the traveller may fancy for a moment, if he pleases, that he has been wafted by enchantment back again into the neighbourhood of Montreal or Three Rivers. All the principal posts throughout the western country, along the lakes, the Ohio, the Illinois, &c. were established by the French; but, except at Detroit and in the neighbourhood, and in the Illinois country, the French settlers have become so blended with the greater number who spoke English, that their language has every where died away.

[Sidenote: DETROIT.]

Detroit contains about three hundred houses, and is the largest town in the western country. It stands contiguous to the river, on the top of the banks, which are here about twenty feet high. At the bottom of them there are very extensive wharfs for the accommodation of the shipping, built of wood, similar to those in the Atlantic sea-ports. The town consists of several streets that run parallel to the river, which are intersected by others at right angles. They are all very narrow, and not being paved, dirty in the extreme whenever it happens to rain: for the accommodation of passengers, however, there are footways in most of them, formed of square logs, laid transversely close to each other. The town is surrounded by a strong stockade, through which there are four gates; two of them open to the wharfs, and the two others to the north and south side of the town respectively. The gates are defended by strong block houses, and on the west side of the town is a small fort in form of a square, with bastions at the angles. At each of the corners of this fort is planted a small field-piece; and these constitute the whole of the ordnance at present in the place. The British kept a considerable train of artillery here, but the place was never capable of holding out for any length of time against a regular force: the fortifications, indeed, were constructed chiefly as a defence against the Indians.

Detroit is at present the head-quarters of the western army of the States; the garrison consists of three hundred men, who are quartered in barracks. Very little attention is paid by the officers to the minutiæ of discipline, so that however well the men may have acquitted themselves in the field, they make but a poor appearance on parade. The belles of the town are quite au desespoir at the late departure of the British troops; though the American officers tell them they have no reason to be so, as they will find them much more sensible agreeable men than the British officers when they know them; a style of conversation, which, strange as it may appear to us, is yet not at all uncommon amongst them. Three months, however, have not altered the first opinion of the ladies. I cannot better give you an idea of the unpolished, coarse, discordant manners of the generality of the officers of the western army of the States, than by telling you, that they cannot agree sufficiently amongst themselves to form a regimental mess; repeated attempts have been made since their arrival at Detroit to establish one, but their frequent quarrels would never suffer it to remain permanent. A duellist and an officer of the western army were nearly synonimous terms, at one period, in the United States, owing to the very great number of duels that took place amongst them when cantoned at Grenville.

[Sidenote: DETROIT.]

About two thirds of the inhabitants of Detroit are of French extraction, and the greater part of the inhabitants of the settlements on the river, both above and below the town, are of the same description. The former are mostly engaged in trade, and they all appear to be much on an equality. Detroit is a place of very considerable trade; there are no less than twelve trading vessels belonging to it, brigs, sloops, and schooners, of from fifty to one hundred tons burthen each. The inland navigation in this quarter is indeed very extensive, Lake Erie, three hundred miles in length, being open to vessels belonging to the port, on the one side; and lakes Michigan and Huron, the first upwards of two hundred miles in length, and sixty in breadth, and the second, no less than one thousand miles in circumference, on the opposite side; not to speak of Lake St. Clair and Detroit River, which connect these former lakes together, or of the many large rivers which fall into them. The stores and shops in the town are well furnished, and you may buy fine cloth, linen, &c. and every article of wearing apparel, as good in their kind, and nearly on as reasonable terms, as you can purchase them at New York or Philadelphia.

The inhabitants are well supplied with provisions of every description; the fish in particular, caught in the river and neighbouring lakes, are of a very superior quality. The fish held in most estimation is a sort of large trout, called the Michillimakinac white fish, from its being caught mostly in the straits of that name. The inhabitants of Detroit and the neighbouring country, however, though they have provisions in plenty, are frequently much distressed for one very necessary concomitant, namely, salt. Until within a short time past they had no salt but what was brought from Europe; but salt springs have been discovered in various parts of the country, from which they are now beginning to manufacture that article for themselves. The best and most profitable of the springs are retained in the hands of government, and the profits arising from the sale of the salt are to be paid into the treasury of the province. Throughout the western country they procure their salt from springs, some of which throw up sufficient water to yield several hundred bushels in the course of one week.

[Sidenote: DETROIT.]

There is a large Roman catholic church in the town of Detroit, and another on the opposite side, called the Huron church, from its having been devoted to the use of the Huron Indians. The streets of Detroit are generally crowded with Indians of one tribe or other, and amongst them you see numberless old squaws leading about their daughters, ever ready to dispose of them, pro tempore, to the highest bidder. At night all the Indians, except such as get admittance into private houses, and remain there quietly, are turned out of the town, and the gates shut upon them.

The American officers here have endeavoured to their utmost to impress upon the minds of the Indians an idea of their own superiority over the British; but as they are very tardy in giving these people any presents, they do not pay much attention to their words. General Wayne, from continually promising them presents, but at the same time always postponing the delivery when they come to ask for them, has significantly been nicknamed by them, General Wabang, that is General To-morrow.

The country around Detroit is very much cleared, and so likewise is that on the British side of the river for a considerable way above the town. The settlements extend nearly as far as Lake Huron; but beyond the River La Trenche, which falls into Lake St. Clair, they are scattered very thinly along the shores. The banks of the River La Trenche, or Thames, as it is now called, are increasing very fast in population, as I before mentioned, owing to the great emigration thither of people from the neighbourhood of Niagara, and of Detroit also since it has been evacuated by the British. We made an excursion, one morning, in our little boat as far as Lake St. Clair, but met with nothing, either amongst the inhabitants, or in the face of the country, particularly deserving of mention. The country round Detroit is uncommonly flat, and in none of the rivers is there a fall sufficient to turn even a grist mill. The current of Detroit River itself is stronger than that of any others, and a floating mill was once invented by a Frenchman, which was chained in the middle of that river, where it was thought the stream would be sufficiently swift to turn the water wheel: the building of it was attended with considerable expence to the inhabitants, but after it was finished it by no means answered their expectations. They grind their corn at present by wind mills, which I do not remember to have seen in any other part of North America.

The soil of the country bordering upon Detroit River is rich though light, and it produces good crops both of Indian corn and wheat. The climate is much more healthy than that of the country in the neighbourhood of Niagara River; intermittent fevers however are by no means uncommon disorders. The summers are intensely hot, Fahrenheit’s thermometer often rising above 100; yet a winter seldom passes over but what snow remains on the ground for two or three months.

[Sidenote: REMARKS.]

Whilst we remained at Detroit, we had to determine upon a point of some moment to us travellers, namely, upon the route by which to return back towards the Atlantic. None of us felt much inclined to cross the lake again to Fort Erie, we at once therefore laid aside all thoughts of returning that way. Two other routes then presented themselves for our consideration; the one was to proceed by land from Detroit, through the north-western territory of the United States, as far as the head waters of some one of the rivers which fall into the Ohio, having reached which, we might afterwards have proceeded upwards or downwards, as we found most expedient: the other was to cross by water to Presqu’ Isle, on the south side of Lake Erie, and thence go down French Creek and the Alleghany River, as far as Pittsburgh on the Ohio, where being arrived we should likewise have had the choice of descending the Ohio and Mississippi, or of going on to Philadelphia, through Pennsylvania, according as we should find circumstances most convenient. The first of these routes was most suited to our inclination, but we soon found that we must give over all thoughts of proceeding by it. The way to have proceeded would have been to set out on horseback, taking with us sufficient provisions to last for a journey through a forest of upwards of two hundred miles in length, and trusting our horses to the food which they could pick up for themselves amongst the bushes. There was no possibility of procuring horses, however, for hire at Detroit or in the neighbourhood, and had we purchased them, which could not have been done but at a most exorbitant price, we should have found it a difficult matter perhaps to have got rid of them when we had ended our land journey, unless indeed we chose to turn them adrift in the woods, which would not have been perfectly suitable to our finances. But independent of this consideration there was another obstacle in our way, and that was the difficulty of procuring guides. The Indians were all preparing to set out on their hunting excursions, and had we even been able to have procured a party of them for an escort, there would have been some risk, we were told, of their deserting us before we reached our journey’s end. If they fell in on their journey with a hunting party that had been very successful; if they came to a place where there was great abundance of game; or, in short, if we did not proceed just according to their fancy, impatient of every restraint, and without caring in the least for the hire we had promised them, they would, perhaps, leave us in the whim of moment to shift for ourselves in the woods, a situation we had no desire to see ourselves reduced to: we determined therefore to proceed by Presqu’ Isle. But now another difficulty arose, namely, how we were to get there: a small vessel, a very unusual circumstance indeed, was just about to sail, but it was so crowded with passengers, that there was not a single birth vacant, and moreover, if there had been, we did not wish to depart so abruptly from this part of the country. One of the principal traders, however, at Detroit, to whom we had carried letters, soon accommodated matters to our satisfaction, by promising to give orders to the master of one of the lake vessels, of which he was in part owner, to land us at that place. The vessel was to sail in a fortnight; we immediately therefore secured a passage in her, and having settled with the master that he should call for us at Malden, we set off once more for that place in our little boat, and in a few hours, from the time we quitted Detroit, arrived there.

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_LETTER _ XXXIV.

_Presents delivered to the Indians on the Part of the British
Government.—Mode of distributing them.—Reasons why given.—What is the
best Method of conciliating the good Will of the Indians.—Little pains
taken by the Americans to keep up a good Understanding with the
Indians.—Consequences thereof.—War between the Americans and
Indians.—A brief Account of it.—Peace concluded by General Wayne.—Not
likely to remain permanent.—Why.—Indian Manner of making Peace
described._

Malden, October.

[Sidenote: PRESENTS.]

ADJOINING to our friend’s house at Malden stands an extensive range of storehouses, for the reception of the presents yearly made by government to the Indians in this part of the country, in which several clerks are kept constantly employed. Before we had been long at Malden we had an opportunity of seeing some of the presents delivered out. A number of chiefs of different tribes had previously come to our friend, who is at the head of the department in this quarter, and had given to him, each, a bundle of little bits of cedar wood, about the thickness of a small pocket book pencil, to remind him of the exact number of individuals in each tribe that expected to share the bounty of their great father. The sticks in these bundles were of different lengths, the longed denoted the number of warriors in the tribe, the next in size the number of women, and the smallest the number of children. Our friend on receiving them handed them over to his clerks, who made a memorandum in their books of the contents of each bundle, and of the persons that gave them, in order to prepare the presents accordingly. The day fixed upon for the delivery of the presents was bright and fair, and being in every respect favourable for the purpose, the clerks began to make the necessary arrangements accordingly.

A number of large stakes were first fixed down in different parts of the lawn, to each of which was attached a label, with the name of the tribe, and the number of persons in it, who were to be provided for; then were brought out from the stores several bales of thick blankets, of blue, scarlet, and brown cloth, and of coarse figured cottons, together with large rolls of tobacco, guns, flints, powder, balls, shot, case-knives, ivory and horn combs, looking-glasses, pipe-tomahawks, hatchets, scissars, needles, vermilion in bags, copper and iron pots and kettles, the whole valued at about £. 500 sterling. The bales of goods being opened, the blankets, cloths, and cottons were cut up into small pieces, each sufficient to make for one person a wrapper, a shirt, a pair of leggings, or whatever else it was intended for; and the portions of the different articles intended for each tribe were thrown together in a heap, at the bottom of the stake which bore its name. This business took up several hours, as there were no less than four hundred and twenty Indians to be served. No liquor, nor any silver ornaments, except to favourite chiefs in private, are ever given on the part of government to the Indians, notwithstanding they are so fond of both; and a trader who attempts to give these articles to them in exchange for the presents they have received from government, or, indeed, who takes from them on any conditions, their presents, is liable to a very heavy penalty for every such act, by the laws of the province.

[Sidenote: PRESENTS.]

The presents having been all prepared, the chiefs were ordered to assemble their warriors, who were loitering about the grounds at the outside of the lawn. In a few minutes they all came, and having been drawn up in a large circle, our friend delivered a speech on the occasion, without which ceremony no business, according to Indian custom, is ever transacted. In this they were told, “That their great and good Father, who lived on the opposite side of the big lake (meaning thereby the king) was ever attentive to the happiness of all his faithful people; and that, with his accustomed bounty, he had sent the presents which now lay before them to his good children the Indians; that he had sent the guns, the hatchets, and the ammunition for the young men, and the clothing for the aged, women, and children; that he hoped the young men would have no occasion to employ their weapons in fighting against enemies, but merely in hunting; and that he recommended it to them to be attentive to the old, and to share bountifully with them what they gained by the chace; that he trusted the great spirit would give them bright suns and clear skies, and a favourable season for hunting; and that when another year should pass over, if he still continued to find them good children, he would not fail to renew his bounties, by sending them more presents from across the big lake.”

This speech was delivered in English, but interpreters attended, who repeated it to the different tribes in their respective languages, paragraph by paragraph, at the end of every one of which the Indians signified their satisfaction by a loud coarse exclamation of “Hoah! Hoah!” The speech ended, the chiefs were called forward, and their several heaps were shewn to them, and committed to their care. They received them with thanks; and beckoning to their warriors, a number of young men quickly started from the crowd, and in less than three minutes the presents were conveyed from the lawn, and laden on board the canoes, in waiting to convey them to the island and adjacent villages. The utmost regularity and propriety was manifested on this occasion in the behaviour of every Indian; there was not the smallest wrangling amongst them about their presents; nor was the least spark of jealousy observable in any one tribe about what the other had received; each one took up the heap allotted to it, and departed without speaking a word.

[Sidenote: PRESENTS.]

Besides the presents, such as I have described, others of a different nature again, namely, provisions, were dealt out this year amongst certain tribes of the Indians that were encamped on the island of Bois Blanc. These were some of the tribes that had been at war with the people of the United States, whose villages, fields of corn, and stores of provisions had been totally destroyed during the contest by General Wayne, and who having been thereby bereft of every means of support, had come, as soon as peace was concluded, to beg for subsistence from their good friends the British. “Our enemies,” said they, have destroyed our villages and stores of provisions; our women and children are left without food; do you then, who call yourselves our friends, shew us now that you really are so, and give them food to eat till the sun ripens our corn, and the great spirit gives another prosperous season for hunting.” Their request was at once complied with; a large storehouse was erected on the island, and filled with provisions at the expence of government for their use, and regularly twice a week, the clerks in the Indian department went over to distribute them. About three barrels of salted pork or beef, as many of flour, beans or peas, Indian corn, and about two carcases of fresh beef, were generally given out each time. These articles of provision the Indians received, not in the thankful manner in which they did the other presents, but seemingly as if they were due to them of right. One nation they think ought never to hesitate about giving relief to another in distress, provided it was not at enmity with it; and indeed, were their white brethren, the British, to be reduced by any calamity to a similar state of distress, the Indians would with the utmost cheerfulness share with them their provisions to the very last.

The presents delivered to the Indians, together with the salaries of the officers in the Indian department, are computed to cost the crown, as I before mentioned, about £.100,000 sterling, on an average, per annum. When we first gained possession of Canada, the expence of the presents was much greater, as the Indians were then more numerous, and as it was also found necessary to bestow upon them, individually, much larger presents than are now given, in order to overcome the violent prejudices against us which had been instilled into their minds by the French. These prejudices having happily been removed, and the utmost harmony having been established between them and the people on our frontiers, presents of a less value even than what are now distributed amongst them would perhaps be found sufficient to keep up that good understanding which now subsists between us; it could not, however, be deemed a very advisable measure to curtail them, as long as a possibility remained that the loss of their friendship might be incurred thereby: and, indeed, when we consider what a happy and numerous people the Indians were before Europeans intruded themselves into the territories allotted to them by nature; when we consider how many thousands have perished in battle, embroiled in our contests for power and dominion, and how many thousands more have perished by the use of the poisonous beverages which we have introduced amongst them; when we consider how many artificial wants have been raised in the minds of the few nations of them that yet remain, and how sadly the morals of these nations have been corrupted by their intercourse with the whites; when we consider, finally, that in the course of fifty years more no vestige even of these once virtuous and amiable people will probably be found in the whole of that extensive territory which lies between the Mississippi and the Atlantic, and was formerly inhabited solely by them; instead of wishing to lessen the value or the number of the few trifles that we find are acceptable to them in their present state, we ought rather to be desirous of contributing still more largely to their comfort and happiness.

[Sidenote: REMARKS.]

Acceptable presents are generally found very efficacious in conciliating the affections of any uncivilized nation: they have very great influence over the minds of the Indians; but to conciliate their affections to the utmost, presents alone are not sufficient; you must appear to have their interest at heart in every respect; you must associate with them; you must treat them as men that are your equals, and, in some measure, even adopt their native manners. It was by such steps as these that the French, when they had possession of Canada, gained their favour in such a very eminent manner, and acquired so wonderful an ascendency over them. The old Indians still say, that they never were so happy as when the French had possession of the country; and, indeed, it is a very remarkable fact, which I before mentioned, that the Indians, if they are sick, if they are hungry, if they want shelter from a storm, or the like, will always go to the houses of the old French settlers in preference to these of the British inhabitants. The necessity of treating the Indians with respect and attention is strongly inculcated on the minds of the English settlers, and they endeavour to act accordingly; but still they cannot banish wholly from their minds, as the French do, the idea that the Indians are an inferior race of people to them, to which circumstance is to be attributed the predilection of the Indians for the French rather than them; they all live together, however, on very amicable terms, and many of the English on the frontiers have indeed told me, that if they were but half as honest, and half as well conducted towards one another, as the Indians are towards them, the state of society in the country would be truly enviable.

On the frontiers of the United States little pains have hitherto been taken by the government, and no pains by the people, to gain the good will of the Indians; and the latter, indeed, instead of respecting the Indians as an independent neighbouring nation have in too many instances violated their rights as men in the most flagrant manner. The consequence has been, that the people on the frontiers have been involved in all the calamities that they could have suffered from an avengeful and cruel enemy. Nightly murders, robberies, massacres, and conflagrations have been common. They have hardly ventured to stir, at times, beyond the walls of their little habitations; and for whole nights together have they been kept on the watch, in arms, to resist the onset of the Indians. They have never dared to visit their neighbours unarmed, nor to proceed alone, in open day, on a journey of a few miles. The gazettes of the United States have daily teemed with the shocking accounts of the barbarities committed by the Indians, and volumes would scarcely suffice to tell the whole of the dreadful tales.

[Sidenote: REMARKS.]

It has been said by persons of the States, that the Indians were countenanced in committing these enormities by people on the British frontiers, and liberal abuse has been bestowed on the government for having aided, by distributing amongst them guns, tomahawks, and other hostile weapons. That the Indians were incited by presents, and other means, to act against the people of the colonies, during the American war, must be admitted; but that, after peace was concluded, the same line of conduct was pursued towards them, is an aspersion equally false and malicious. To the conduct of the people of the States themselves alone, and to no other cause, is unquestionably to be attributed the continuance of the warfare between them and the Indians, after the definitive treaty of peace was signed. Instead of then taking the opportunity to reconcile the Indians, as they might easily have done by presents, and by treating them with kindness, they still continued hostile towards them; they looked upon them, as indeed they still do, merely as wild beasts, that ought to be banished from the face of the earth; and actuated by that insatiable spirit of avarice, and that restless and dissatisfied turn of mind, which I have so frequently noticed, instead of keeping within their territories, where millions of acres remained unoccupied, but no part, however, of which could be had without being paid for, they crossed their boundary lines, and fixed themselves in the territory of the Indians, without ever previously gaining the consent of these people. The Indians, nice about their boundary line beyond any other nations, perhaps, in the world, that have such extensive dominions in proportion to their numbers, made no scruple to attack, to plunder, and even to murder these intruders, when a fit opportunity offered. The whites endeavoured to repel their attacks, and shot them with as much unconcern as they would either a wolf or a bear. In their expeditions against the white settlers, the Indians frequently were driven back with loss; but their ill success only urged them to return with redoubled fury, and their well-known revengeful disposition leading them on all occasions to seek blood for blood, they were not merely satisfied with murdering the whole families of the settlers who had wounded or killed their chiefs or warriors, but oftentimes, in order to appease the manes of their comrades, they crossed their boundary line in turn, and committed most dreadful depredations amongst the peaceable white inhabitants in the States, who were in no manner implicated in the ill conduct of the men who had encroached upon the Indian territories. Here also, if they happened to be repulsed, or to lose a friend, they returned to seek fresh revenge; and as it seldom happened that they did escape without loss, their excesses and barbarities, instead of diminishing, were becoming greater every year. The attention of the government was at last directed towards the melancholy situation of the settlers on the frontiers, and the result was, that congress determined that an army should be raised, at the expence of the States, to repel the foe.

An army was accordingly raised some time about the year 1790, which was put under the command of General St. Clair. It consisted of about fifteen hundred men; but these were not men that had been accustomed to contend against Indians, nor was the General, although an experienced officer, and well able to conduct an army against a regular force, at all qualified, as many persons had foreseen, and the event proved, to command on an expedition of such a nature as he was now about to be engaged in.

St. Clair advanced with his army into the Indian territory; occasional skirmishes took place, but the Indians still kept retreating before him, as if incapable of making any resistance against such a powerful force. Forgetful of the stratagems of the artful enemy he had to contend with, he boldly followed, till at last, having been drawn far into their territory, and to a spot suitable to their purpose, the Indians attacked him on all sides; his men were thrown into confusion; in vain he attempted to rally them. The Indians, emboldened by the disorder they saw in his ranks, came rushing down with their tomahawks and scalping knives. A dreadful havoc ensued. The greater part of the army was left dead on the fatal field; and of those that escaped the knife, the most were taken prisoners. All the cannon, ammunition, baggage, and horses of St. Clair’s army fell into the hands of the Indians on this occasion.

[Sidenote: INDIAN WARFARE.]

A great many young Canadians, and in particular many that were born of Indian women, fought on the side of the Indians in this action, a circumstance which confirmed the people of the States in the opinion they had previously formed, that the Indians were encouraged and abetted in their attacks upon them by the British. I can safely affirm, however, from having conversed with many of these young men who fought against St. Clair, that it was with the utmost secrecy they left their homes to join the Indians, fearful lest the government should censure their conduct; and that in espousing the quarrel of the Indians, they were actuated by a desire to assist a people whom they conceived to be injured, more than by an unextinguished spirit of resentment against men, whom they had formerly viewed in the light of rebels.

As the revenge of the Indians was completely glutted by this victory over St. Clair, it is not improbable, but that if pains had been taken immediately to negociate a peace with them, it might have been obtained on easy terms; and had the boundary line then determinately agreed upon been faithfully observed afterwards by the people of the States, there is great reason to imagine that the peace would have been a permanent one. As this, however, was a questionable measure, and the general opinion was, that a peace could be made on better terms if preceded by a victory on the part of the States, it was determined to raise another army. Liberal supplies for that purpose were granted by congress, and three thousand men were soon collected together.

Great pains were taken to enlist for this new army men from Kentucky, and other parts of the frontiers, who had been accustomed to the Indian mode of fighting; and a sufficient number of rifle-men from the frontier were collected, to form a very large regiment. The command of the new army was given to the late General Wayne. Upon being appointed to it, his first care was to introduce strict discipline amongst his troops; he afterwards kept the army in motion on the frontier, but he did not attempt to penetrate far into the Indian country, nor to take any offensive measures against the enemy for some time. This delay the General conceived would be attended with two great advantages; first, it would serve to banish from the minds of his men all recollection of the defeat of the late army; and secondly, it would afford him an opportunity of training perfectly to the Indian mode of fighting such of his men as were ignorant of it; for he saw no hopes of success but in fighting the Indians in their own way.

[Sidenote: INDIAN WARFARE.]

When the men were sufficiently trained he advanced, but it was with the utmost caution. He seldom proceeded farther than twelve miles in one day; the march was always ended by noon, and the afternoon was regularly employed in throwing up strong intrenchments round the camp, in order to secure the army from any sudden attack; and the spot that had been thus fortified on one day was never totally abandoned until a new encampment had been made on the ensuing one. Moreover, strong posts were established at the distance of forty miles, or thereabouts, from each other, in which guards were left, in order to ensure a safe retreat to the army in case it should not be successful. As he advanced, General Wayne sent detachments of his army to destroy all the Indian villages that were near him, and on these occasions the deepest stratagems were made use of. In some instances his men threw off their clothes, and by painting their bodies, disguised themselves so as to resemble Indians in every respect, then approaching as friends, they committed dreadful havoc. Skirmishes also frequently took place, on the march, with the Indians who hovered round the army. These terminated with various success, but mostly in favour of the Americans; as in their conduct, the knowledge and discipline of regular troops were combined with all the cunning and stratagem of their antagonists.

All this time the Indians kept retreating, as they had done formerly before St. Clair; and without being able to bring on a decisive engagement, General Wayne proceeded even to the Miami of the Lakes, so called in contra-distinction to another River Miami, which empties itself into the Ohio. Here it was that that curious correspondence in respect to Fort Miami took place, the substance of which was related in most of the English and American prints, and by which General Wayne exposed himself to the censure of many of his countrymen, and General, then Colonel Campbell, who commanded in the fort, gained the public thanks of the traders in London.

[Sidenote: INDIAN WARFARE.]

The Miami Fort, situated on the river of the same name, was built by the English in the year 1793, at which time there was some reason to imagine that the disputes existing between Great Britain and the United States would not have been quite so amicably settled, perhaps, as they have been; at least that doubtless must have been the opinion of government, otherwise they would not have given orders for the construction of a fort within the boundary line of the United States, a circumstance which could not fail to excite the indignation of the people thereof. General Wayne, it would appear, had received no positive orders from his government to make himself master of it: could he have gained possession of it, however, by a coup-de-main, without incurring any loss, he thought that it could not but have been deemed an acceptable piece of service by the public, from whom he should have received unbounded applause. Vanity was his ruling passion, and actuated by it on this occasion, he resolved to try what he could do to obtain possession of the fort. Colonel Campbell, however, by his spirited and manly answer to the summons that was sent him, to surrender the fort on account of its being situated within the boundary line of the States, soon convinced the American general that he was not to be shaken by his remonstrances or intimidated by his menaces, and that his two hundred men, who composed the garrison, had sufficient resolution to resist the attacks of his army of three thousand, whenever he thought proper to march against the fort. The main division of the American army, at this time, lay at the distance of about four miles from the fort; a small detachment from it, however, was concealed in the woods at a very little distance from the fort, to be ready at the call of General Wayne, who, strange to tell, when he found he was not likely to get possession of it in consequence of the summons he sent, was so imprudent, and departed so much from the dignity of the general and the character of the soldier, as to ride up to the fort, and to use the most gross and illiberal language to the British soldiers on duty in it. His object in doing so was, I should suppose, to provoke the garrison to fire upon him, in which case he would have had a pretext for storming the fort.

Owing to the great prudence, however, of Colonel Campbell, who had issued the strictest orders to his men and officers to remain silent, notwithistanding any insults that were offered to them, and not to attempt to fire, unless indeed an actual attack were made on the place, Wayne’s plan was frustrated, much bloodshed certainly saved, and a second war between Great Britain and America perhaps averted.

General Wayne gained no great personal honour by his conduct on this occasion; but the circumstance of his having appeared before the British fort in the manner he did operated strongly in his favour in respect to his proceedings against the Indians. These people had been taught to believe by the young Canadians that were amongst them, that if any part of the American army appeared before the fort, it would certainly be fired upon; for they had no idea that the Americans would have come in sight of it without taking offensive measures, in which case resistance would certainly have been made. When, therefore, it was heard that General Wayne had not been fired upon, the Indians complained grievously of their having been deceived, and were greatly disheartened on finding that they were to receive no assistance from the British. Their native courage, however, did not altogether forsake them; they resolved speedily to make a stand, and accordingly having chosen their ground, awaited the arrival of General Wayne, who followed them closely.

[Sidenote: PREPARATORY FAST.]

Preparatory to the day on which they expected a general engagement, the Indians, contrary to the usages of most nations, observe a strict fast; nor does this abstinence from all sorts of food diminish their exertions in the field, as from their early infancy they accustom themselves to fasting for long periods together. The day before General Wayne was expected, this ceremony was strictly attended to, and afterwards, having placed themselves in ambush in the woods, they waited for his arrival. He did not, however, come to the ground on the day that they had imagined, from the reports given them by their scouts of his motions, he would have done; but having reason to think he would come on the subsequent day, they did not move from their ambush. The second day passed over without his drawing nearer to them; but fully persuaded that he would come up with them on the next, they still lay concealed in the same place. The third day proved to be extremely rainy and tempestuous; and the scouts having brought word, that from the movements General Wayne had made there was no likelihood of his marching towards them that day, the Indians, now hungry after having fasted for three entire days, determined to rise from their ambush in order to take some refreshment. They accordingly did so, and having no suspicion of an attack, began to eat their food in security.

Before they began to eat, the Indians had divided themselves, I must observe, into three divisions, in order to march to another quarter, where they hoped to surprise the army of the States. In this situation, however, they were themselves surprised by General Wayne. He had received intelligence from his scouts, now equally cunning with those of the Indians, of their proceedings, and having made some motions as if he intended to move to another part of the country, in order to put them off their guard, he suddenly turned, and sent his light horse pouring down on them when they least expected it. The Indians were thrown into confusion, a circumstance which with them never fails to occasion a defeat; they made but a faint resistance, and then fled with precipitancy.

[Sidenote: AMERICAN GENERAL.]

On his arrival at Philadelphia, in the beginning of the year 1796, I was introduced to General Wayne, and I had then an opportunity of seeing the plan of all his Indian campaigns. A most pompous account was given of this victory, and the plan of it excited, as indeed it well might, the wonder and admiration of all the old officers who saw it. The Indians were represented as drawn up in three lines, one behind the other, and after receiving with firmness the charge of the American army, as endeavouring with great skill and adroitness to turn its flanks, when, by the hidden appearance of the Kentucky riflemen and the light cavalry, they were put to flight. From the regularity with which the Indians fought on this occasion, it was argued that they must doubtless have been conducted by British officers of skill and experience. How absurd this whole plan was, however, was plainly to be deduced from the following circumstance, allowed both by the general and his aides de camp, namely, that during the whole action the American army did not see fifty Indians; and indeed every person who has read an account of the Indians must know that they never come into the field in such regular array, but always fight under covert, behind trees or bushes, in the most irregular manner. Notwithstanding the great pains that were taken formerly, both by the French and English, they never could be brought to fight in any other manner. It was in this manner, and no other, as I heard from several men who were in the action with them, that they fought against General Wayne; each one, as soon as the American troops were descried, instantly sheltered himself, and in retreating they still kept under covert. It was by fighting them also in their own way, and by sending parties of his light troops and cavalry to rout them from their lurking places, that General Wayne defeated them; had he attempted to have drawn up his army in the regular order described in the plan, he could not but have met with the same fate as St. Clair, and general Braddock did on a former occasion.

Between thirty and forty Indians, who had been shot or bayoneted as they attempted to run from one tree to another, were found dead on the field by the American army. It is supposed that many more were killed, but the fact of the matter could never be ascertained by them: a profound silence was observed on the subject by the Indians, so that I never could learn accurately how many of them had fallen; that however is an immaterial circumstance; suffice it to say that the engagement soon induced the Indians to sue for a peace. Commissioners were deputed by the government of the United States to meet their chiefs; the preliminaries were soon arranged, and a treaty was concluded, by which the Indians relinquished a very considerable part of their territory, bordering upon that of the United States.

[Sidenote: INDIAN PEACE.]

The last and principal ceremony observed by the Indians in concluding a peace, is that of burying the hatchet. When this ceremony came to be performed, one of the chiefs arose, and lamenting that the last peace concluded between them and the people of the States had remained unbroken for so short a time, and expressing his desire that this one should be more lasting, he proposed the tearing up of a large oak that grew before them, and the burying of the hatchet under it, where it would for ever remain at rest. Another chief said, that trees were liable to be levelled by the storms; that at any rate they would decay; and that as they were desirous that a perpetual peace should be established between them and their late enemies, he conceived it would be better to bury the hatchet under the tall mountain which arose behind the wood. A third chief in turn addressed the assembly: “As for me,” said he, “I am but a man, and I have not the strength of the great spirit to tear up the trees of the forest by the roots, or to remove mountains, under which to bury the hatchet; but I propose that the hatchet may be thrown into the deep lake, where no mortal can ever find it, and where it will remain buried for ever.” This proposal was joyfully accepted by the assembly, and the hatchet was in consequence cast with great solemnity into the water. The Indians now tell you, in their figurative language, that there must be peace for ever. “On former times,” say they, “when the hatchet was buried, it was only slightly covered with a little earth and a few leaves, and being always a very troublesome restless creature, it soon contrived to find its way aboveground, where it never failed to occasion great confusion between us and our white brethren, and to knock a great many good people on the head; but now that it has been thrown into the deep lake, it can never do any more mischief amongst us; for it cannot rise of itself to the surface of the lake, and no one can go to the bottom to look for it.” And that there would be a permanent peace between them I have no doubt, provided that the people of the States would observe the articles of the treaty as punctually as the Indians; but it requires little sagacity to predict that this will not be the case, and that ere long the hatchet will be again resumed. Indeed, a little time before we reached Malden, messengers from the southern Indians had arrived to sound the disposition of those who lived near the lake, and try if they were ready and willing to enter into a fresh war. Nor is this eagerness for war to be wondered at, when from the report of the commissioners, who were sent down by the federal government to the new state of Tenassee, in order to put the treaty into effect, and to mark out the boundaries of that state in particular, it appeared that upwards of five thousand people, contrary to the stipulation of the treaty lately entered into with the Indians, had encroached upon, and settled themselves down in Indian territory, which people, the commissioners said, could not be persuaded to return, and in their opinion could not be forced back again into the States without very great difficulty[15].

Footnote 15:

The substance of this report appeared in an extract of a letter from
Lexington, in Kentucky, which I myself saw, and which was published in
many of the newspapers in the United States.

[Sidenote: REMARKS.]

A large portion of the back settlers, living upon the Indian frontiers, are, according to the best of my information, far greater savages than the Indians themselves. It is nothing uncommon, I am told, to see hung up in their chimney corners, or nailed against the door of their habitations, similarly to the ears or brush of a fox, the scalps which they have themselves torn from the heads of the Indians whom they have shot; and in numberless publications in the United States I have read accounts of their having flayed the Indians, and employed their skins as they would have done those of a wild beast, for whatever purpose they could be applied to. An Indian is considered by them as nothing better than a destructive ravenous wild beast, without reason, without a soul, that ought to be hunted down like a wolf wherever it makes its appearance; and indeed, even amongst the bettermost sort of the inhabitants of the western country, the most illiberal notions are entertained respecting these unfortunate people, and arguments for their banishment, or rather extirpation, are adopted, equally contrary to justice and to humanity. “The Indian,” say they, “who has no idea, or at least is unwilling to apply himself to agriculture, requires a thousand acres of land for the support of his family; an hundred acres will be enough for one of us and our children; why then should these heathens, who have no notion of arts and manufactures, who never have made any improvement in science, and have never been the inventors of any thing new or useful to the human species, be suffered to encumber the soil?” “The settlements making in the upper parts of Georgia, upon the fine lands of the Oconec and Okemulgee rivers, will,” says Mr. Imlay, speaking of the probable destination of the Indians of the south western territory, “bid defiance to them in that quarter. The settlements of French Broad, aided by Holston, have nothing to fear from them; and the Cumberland is too puissant to apprehend any danger. The Spaniards are in possession of the Floridas (how long they will remain so must depend upon their moderation and good manners) and of the settlements at the Natchez and above, which will soon extend to the southern boundaries of Cumberland, so that they (the Indians) will be completely enveloped in a few years. Our people (alluding to those of the United States) will continue to _encroach_ upon them on three sides, and _compel_ them to live more domestic lives, and assimilate them to our mode of living, or cross to the western side of the Mississippi.”

[Sidenote: REMARKS.]

O Americans! shall we praise your justice and your love of liberty, when thus you talk of encroachments and compulsion? Shall we commend your moderation, when we see ye eager to gain fresh possessions, whilst ye have yet millions of acres within your own territories unoccupied? Shall we reverence your regard for the rights of human nature, when we see ye bent upon banishing the poor Indian from the land where rest the bones of his ancestors, to him more precious than your cold hearts can imagine, and when we see ye tyrannizing over the hapless African, because nature has stamped upon him a complexion different from your own?

The conduct of the people of the States towards the Indians appears the more unreasonable and the more iniquitous, when it is considered that they are dwindling fast away of themselves; and that in the natural order of things there will not probably be a single tribe of them found in existence in the western territory by the time that the numbers of the white inhabitants of the country become so numerous as to render land one half as valuable there as it is at present within ten miles of Philadelphia or New York. Even in Canada, where the Indians are treated with so much kindness, they are disappearing faster, perhaps, than any people were ever known to do before them, and are making room every year for the whites; and it is by no means improbable, but that at the end of fifty years there will not be a single Indian to be met with between Quebec and Detroit, except the few perhaps that may be induced to lead quiet domestic lives, as a small number now does in the village of Lorette near Quebec, and at some other places in the lower province.

[Sidenote: REMARKS.]