Auglaize County, Ohio - Chapter 7: Wayne's Campaign, 1905 (part 2 of 2)

"The general boundary lines between the lands of the United States and the lands of the said Indian tribes, shall begin at the mouth of the Cuyahoga river, and run thence up the same to the portage between that and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum, thence down that branch to the crossing place above Fort Laurence ; thence westwardly, to a fork of that branch of the Great Miami river, running into the Ohio, at or near which fork stood Loramies' store, and where commences the portage between the Miami of the Ohio and St. Mary's river, which is a branch of the Miami which runs into Lake Erie ; thence a westerly course, to Fort Recovery, which stands on a branch of the Wabash ; thence southwesterly, in a direct line to the Ohio, so as to intersect that river opposite the mouth of Kentucky or Cuttawa river.

"And in consideration of the peace now established ; of the goods formerly received from the United States ; of those now to be distributed ; and of the yearly delivery of goods now stipulated to be made hereafter ; and to indemnify the United States for the injuries and expenses they have sustained during the war - the said Indian tribes do hereby cede and relinquish, forever, all their claims to the lands lying eastwardly and southwardly of the general boundary line now described ; and these lands, or any part of them, shall never hereafter be made a cause or pretense, on the part of the said tribes, or any of them, of war or injury to the United States, or any other people thereof.

"And for the same consideration, and as an evidence of the returning friendship 'of the said Indian tribes, of their confidence in the United States, and desire to provide for their accommodation, and for that convenient intercourse which will be beneficial to both parties, the said Indian tribes do also cede to the United States the following pieces of land, to-wit :

One piece, two miles square, on the Wabash river, at the end of the portage from the Miami of the lake, and about eight miles westward from Fort Wayne.

"The post of Detroit, and all the lands to the north, the west and the south of it, of which the Indian title has been extinguished by gift or grants to the French or English governments ; and so much more land to be annexed to the district of Detroit, as shall be comprehended between the river Raisin on the south, and Lake St. Clair on the north, and a line, the general course whereof shall be six miles distant from the west end of Lake Erie and Detroit :river.

"The post of Michilimackinack, and all the land on the island on which that post stands, and the main land adjacent, of which the Indian title lias been established, by gifts or grants to the 'French or English governments, and a piece of land on the main, ito the north of the island, to measure six miles on Lake Huron, or the strait between Lakes Huron and Michigan, and to extend three miles back from the water on the lake or strait ; and also tthe island de Bois Blanc , being an extra and voluntary gift of the Chippewa nation.

"One piece of land, six miles square, at the mouth of Chicago river, emptying into the southwest end of Lake Michigan, where ;a fort formerly stood.

"And whenever the United States shall think proper to survey and mark the boundaries of the lands hereby ceded to them, they shall give timely notice thereof to the said tribes of Indians, that they may appoint some of their wise chiefs to attend and see that true lines are run according to the terms of their treaty.

"And the said Indian tribes will allow to the people of the United States a free passage, by land and by water, as one and the other shall be found to be convenient, through their country, along the chain of posts hereinbefore mentioned; that is to say, from commencement of the portage aforesaid, at or near Loramie's store, thence along said portage to the St. Mary's, and down the same to Fort Wayne, and thence down the Miami to Lake Erie ; again, from the commencement of the portage, at or near Loramie's store, along the portage, from thence to the river Au Glaize, and down the same to its junction with the Miami, at Fort Defiance ; again, from the commencement of the portage aforesaid, to Sandusky river, and down the same to Sandusky bay and Lake Erie, and from Sandusky to the post which shall be taken at or near the foot of the rapids of the Miami of the lake ; and from thence to Detroit. Again, from the mouth of the Chicago to the commencement of the portage between that river and the Illinois, and down the Illinois river to the Mississippi ; also, from Fori Wayne, along the portage aforesaid, and which leads to the Wabash, and then down the Wabash to the Ohio. And the said Indian tribes will also allow to the people of the United States the free use of the harbors and mouths of rivers, along the lake adjoining the Indian lands, for sheltering vessels and boats, and liberty to land their cargoes, where necessary for their safety.

"In consideration of the peace now established and of the cessions and relinquishments of lands made in the preceding article, by the said tribes of Indians, and to manifest the liberality of the Unted States, as the great means of rendering this peace strong and perpetual, the United States relinquishes their claims to all other Indian lands, northward of the river Ohio, eastward of the Mississippi, and westward and southward of the Great Lakes, and the waters uniting them, according to the boundary line agreed on by the United States and the king of Great Britain, in the treaty of peace made between them in the year 1783. But from this relinquishment by the United States, the following-tracts: of, land are explicitly excepted :

"The tract of one hundred and fifty thousand acres, near the rapids of the river Ohio, which has been assigned to General Clark, for the use of himself and his warriors.

"The lands at all other places, in possession of the French people, and other white settlers among them, of which the Indian title has been extinguished, as mentioned heretofore.

"The post of Fort Massac, toward the mouth of the Ohio. To which several parcels of land, so excepted, the said tribes relinquish all the title and claim which they, or any of them, may have.

"And for the same consideration, and with the same views as above mentioned, the United States now deliver to the said Indian tribes a quantity of goods to the value of twenty thousand dollars, the receipt whereof they do hereby acknowledge, ancL henceforth, every year, forever, the United States will deliver, at some convenient place northward of the Ohio river, like useful goods, suited to the circumstances of the Indians, of the value of nine thousand five hundred dollars, reckoning that value at the first cost of the goods, in the city or place in the United States where they shall be procured. The tribes to which those goods are to be annually delivered, and the proportions in which they are to be delivered, are the following: To the Wyandots, the amount of one thousand dollars. To the Shawnees, the amount of one thousand dollars. To the Miamis, the amount of one thousand dollars. To the Ottawas, the amount of one thousand dollars. To the Chippewas, the amount of one thousand dollars. To the Pottawottomies, the amount of one thousand dollars. And to the Kickapoos, Wea, Eel River, Piankeshaw and Kaskaskia tribes, the amount of five hundred dollars each.

"Provided, that if either of the said tribes shall hereafter, at an annual delivery of their share of the goods aforesaid, desire that a part of their annuity should be furnished in domestic animals, implements of husbandry, and other utensils, convenient for them, and in compensation to useful artificers who may reside with or near them, and be employed for their benefit, the same shall, at the subsequent annual deliveries be furnished accordingly.

linquished by the United States, in the fourth article, it is now explicitly declared, that the meaning of that relinquishment is this : the Indian tribes who have a right3 to these lands, are quietly to enjoy them, hunting, planting, and dwelling thereon, so long as they please, without any molestation from the United States ; but when those tribes, or any of them, shall be disposed to sell their lands, or any part of them, they are to be sold only to the United States ; and until such sale, the United States will protect the said Indian tribes, in the quiet enjoyment of their lands, against all citizens of the United States, and against all other white persons who intrude upon the same, and the said Indians again acknowledge themselves to be under the protection of the said United States, and no other power whatever.

"In testimony whereof, the said Anthony Wayne, and the Sachems and War Chiefs of the before-mentioned Nations and Tribes of Indians^ have hereunto set their hands and affixed their seals. Done at Greenville, in the Territory of the United States, northwest of the river Ohio, on the 3d day of August, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five.

"'This great and abiding document was signed by the various nations named in the fourth article, and dated August the 3d, 1795. It was laid before the Senate, December 9th, and ratified December 22cl. So closed the old Indian wars of the West."

In the mean time Jay's treaty, to the surprise of nearly everybody. was signed in 1794 and ratified in 1795. In 1796 General Wayne was commissioned by President Washington to take formal possession of the British posts on the lakes and rivers of the Northwest. as nominally established by the treaty of Versailles, which was the actual line of demarkation between the American and the British possessions.

up to this time, in their long' intrigue with the Indians of the Northwest, was to unite the Indians into a great confederacy, to whom the United States would ultimately be compelled to concede the Ohio river as the boundary line between the Indian territory and the states bordering on that river.

The British were influenced by no philanthropic desire to protect the rights of the savages, in the attempt to secure them against the encroachments of the American settlers; on the contrary, they sought through that policy to establish a British protectorate over the northwestern tribes, and thus, in effect, to remove the line of Canada to the Ohio, and to extend the authority of the British crown over the whole region covered by the ordinance of 1787.

General Wayne did not receive, during his lifetime, the honors due to him for the services he rendered to his country. In addition to the statements made in the first part of this chapter with regard to the envy and jealousy of officers of the Revolutionary War, who aspired to the command that Washington saw fit to give to General Wayne, we add the following taken from Judge Burnet's Notes:

''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 anything of the kind existed. He had just conquered 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 theii

"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 toward General Wayne, and to avail himself of every opportunity to diminish the respect and confidence in him, which military officers ought always to feel toward their Commander-in-chief.

"The opportunity General Wilkinson had, of making impressions on the minds of the army, unfriendly to General Wayne, may be learned 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 Philodalphia 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 Truman, who had been sent from Fort Washington, with a flag to the Indians."

I11 March following, the negotiations for peace with the Northwestern Indians commenced at Niagara, and were continued till late in August ; during that time, the officers of the army were ordered to remain in statu quo, and not permit any military movement whatever to be made. This order detained the General at Pittsburgh, and at Legionville, till the close of the summer of 1 793, when he repaired to Cincinnati. During this interval, General Wilkinson had the chief command at Fort Washington, and at all the outposts of that region, where his talents were successfully employed in winning over and concentrating ou himself, the confidence and esteem of the officers, and others connected with the army - an undertaking for which no person could be better qualified than himself. His deportment was easy and graceful; and in his general intercourse, he manifested great suavity of manners.

In these respects, he differed, very much, from the Commander-inchief, who, though an accomplished, well-educated gentleman, possessed a firmness, decision, and bluntness of character, which, at times, had the appearance of roughness, if not rudeness, and occasionally gave offense.

Most men, whose achievements have distinguished them above their fellows, have had some striking peculiarity, not common to others. This was the case with General Wayne, and must have induced the Indians, who were very acute in discriminating and drawing comparisons, to select for him the name of the "Big Wind," meaning the tornado; there being no single word in their language to express that idea. The fitness of the name they selected, will readily occur to those, who have a knowledge of his character ; and of the promptness, energy and unflinching boldness of his movements. His official letter to General Washington, communicating the successful result of his desperate assault on Stony Point, has been referred to, as being somewhat peculiar and as affording some indication of his cast of mind, and general deportment. It is in these words :

"The contrast between the two men was very striking ; and the efforts which had been made by General Wilkinson, and those who were most warmly attached to his person, had induced a very large majority of the officers to arrange themselves under the banner of one or the other of those distinguished men. This unpleasant state of feeling prevailed during the whole of the eventful campaigns of 1793-4; and until the lamented death of General Wayne. There were a few who kept aloof from the quarrel, and exhibited no appearance of bad feeling towards either of the parties. Their number, however, was small; and it speaks well for the Commander-in-chief, that the officers most intimately connected with him, were of that number."

The writer of this note, though wholly unconnected with the .army, was an admirer of the Commander-in-chief ; and was also -on terms of the most friendly intercourse with General Wilkinson and his staff, which afforded an opportunity of ascertaining their feelings toward General Wayne.

After the decisive battle of August, 1794, the personal friends of General VVilkinson, particularly the officers attached to his family, resorted to every expedient in their power, to undervalue the results of the victory, and to ascribe it to accident, or to anything, other than the talents and skill of the commanding General. It was alleged, that the fate of the day was to be attributed, in a great measure, ta the want of concert among the chiefs, of the tribes, engaged in the battle - that the attack made on the American troops was premature ; that not more than half of the Indians had arrived on the ground, when the firing commenced ; that Blue Jacket, the Shawnee, who had ben chosen Commander-in-chief of the Indians, rejected the plan of attack recommended by Little Turtle, who afterwards became the confidential friend of General Wilkinson, and was one of the most talented of the Indian chiefs. It was also said, in the circle of the General's friends, that if the counsel of Little Turtle had prevailed, there would have been a -simultanous attack, of the entire Indian force ; in which case, the American troops could not have outflanked them, as they did ; which maneuver alone, it was affirmed, settled the fate of the day.

That General Wayne was a man of splendid talents, both natural and acquired, no one can doubt for a moment who reads his history. Every action of his life, from youth to age, shows this fact ; and no panegyric of the historian can render it plainer or make his character shine brighter. Political demagogues may treat him with contumely and base ingratitude, but they cannot -obliterate a single syllable which records his brilliant actions.

At the close of the year 1796, whilst on his way to Philadelphia, General Wayne was taken sick at Presque Isle, on the shore of Lake Erie, now Erie, Pennsylvania. At that time it was a little hamlet in the wilderness.

Here, after a short illness, he died, and at his request was buried under the flag-staff of the fort. Subsequently his son removed his remains to Radnor Churchyard, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.