GOVERNOR HARRISON AND THE TREATY
--_Purchase of the Miami lands known as the New Purchase which led to
the strengthening of Tecumseh's Confederacy,--the final struggle at
Tippecanoe._
In the year 1800, William Henry Harrison was appointed by President John
Adams as Governor of Indiana Territory, and he arrived at Vincennes on
the tenth day of January, 1801, and immediately entered upon the
discharge of his duties. At that time he was twenty-eight years of age,
but notwithstanding his youth he had seen hard duty as a soldier and
officer on the frontier and as we have seen, had served as aide-de-camp
to General Wayne at the battle of Fallen Timbers. In that struggle he
had distinguished himself for gallant conduct. At a time when a
detachment of the troops were wavering under the murderous fire of the
savages, and hesitating as to whether they would advance or retreat, he
had galloped to the front of the line, and with inspiring words had
cheered the soldiers on to victory. The report of General Wayne says
that he "rendered the most essential services by communicating his
orders in every direction, and by his bravery in exciting the troops to
press for victory."
In personal appearance, Harrison "was commanding, and his manners
prepossessing. He was about six feet high, of rather slender form,
straight, and of a firm, elastic gait, even at the time of his election
to the presidency, though then closely bordering on seventy. He had a
keen, penetrating eye, denoting quickness of apprehension, promptness
and energy."
Though descended from an old and aristocratic family of Virginia, and
having been reared amid surroundings of luxury and elegance, the
youthful soldier never shrank from the most arduous duty and the
severest hardships of camp or field. At the time of his first arrival at
Fort Washington (Cincinnati), after the defeat of St. Clair's army, he
had been placed in command of a company of men who were escorting
packhorses to Fort Hamilton. The forest was full of hostile savages, and
the winter season was setting in with cold rains and snow. The company
was ill provided with tents and Harrison had nothing to shelter him from
the weather but his uniform and army blanket. He not only eluded the
attacks of the Indians and convoyed his charge through in safety, but
made no complaint whatever to his commanding general, and received St.
Clair's "public thanks for the fidelity and good conduct he displayed."
"During the campaign on the Wabash, the troops were put upon a half
pound of bread a day. This quantity only was allowed to officers of
every rank, and rigidly conformed to in the general's own family. The
allowance for dinner was uniformly divided between the company, and not
an atom more was permitted. In the severe winter campaign of 1812-13, he
slept under a thinner tent than any other person, whether officer or
soldier; and it was the general observation of the officers, that his
accommodations might generally be known by their being the worst in the
army. Upon the expedition up the Thames all his baggage was contained in
a valise, while his bedding consisted of a single blanket, over his
saddle, and even this he gave to Colonel Evans, a British officer, who
was wounded. His subsistence was exactly that of a common soldier. On
the night after the action upon the Thames, thirty-five British officers
supped with him upon fresh beef roasted before the fire, without either
salt or bread, and without ardent spirits of any kind. Whether upon the
march, or in the camp, the whole army was regularly under arms at
daybreak. Upon no occasion did he fail to be out himself, however severe
the weather, and was generally the first officer on horseback of the
whole army. Indeed, he made it a point on every occasion, to set an
example of fortitude and patience to the men, and share with them every
hardship, difficulty and danger."
Of his personal courage in the presence of great danger and peril, there
can be no question. Judge Law says: "William Henry Harrison was as brave
a man as ever lived." At Tippecanoe, after the first savage yell, he
mounted on horseback and rode from line to line encouraging his men,
although he knew that he was at all times a conspicuous mark for Indian
bullets. One leaden missile came so close as to pass through the rim of
his hat, and Colonel Abraham Owen, Thomas Randolph and others were
killed at his side. "Upon one occasion, as he was approaching an angle
of the line, against which the Indians were advancing with horrible
yells. Lieutenant Emmerson of the dragoons seized the bridle of his
horse and earnestly entreated that he would not go there; but the
Governor, putting spurs to his horse, pushed on to the point of attack,
where the enemy was received with firmness and driven back."
To these traits, his fearless courage and willingness to share in the
burdens and hardships of the common soldier, may be attributed his great
and lasting hold on the affections of the old Kentucky and southern
Indiana Indian fighters. To them he was not only a hero, but something
almost approaching a demi-god. It is pleasing to remember that when the
expedition against the Prophet was noised abroad, that Colonel Joseph H.
Daviess, then one of the most eloquent and powerful advocates at the
Kentucky bar, offered in a personal letter to the General, to join the
expedition as a private in the ranks; that Colonel Abraham Owen, one of
the most renowned Indian fighters of that day, joined the army
voluntarily as an aide to its leader, and that Governor Scott, of
Kentucky, sent two companies of mounted volunteer infantry under
Captains Funk and Geiger, to participate in the campaign. It is also
pleasing to remember that the warm affection of the pioneers of that
early day was transmitted to another and younger generation who grew up
long after the Indian wars were over, and who gave a rousing support to
the old general that made him the ninth president of the United States.
On his arrival at Vincennes in 1801, the population of that town was
about seven hundred and fourteen persons. The surrounding country
contained about eight hundred and nineteen more, while fifty-five
fur-traders were scattered along the Wabash, who carried on a traffic
more or less illicit with the Indians. A large part of the inhabitants
of Vincennes belonged to that class of French-Canadians, who produced
the La Plantes, the Barrens, and the Brouillettes of that time, some of
them renowned Indian interpreters and river guides, who figured
prominently in the scenes and contests that followed. The remaining part
of the population consisted of settlers from the states, the more
conspicuous being the Virginians, who were afterwards denominated as the
"aristocrats," but who in reality contributed more to the growth and
prosperity of the frontier posts than any other element. From this class
of Virginians, some of them men of learning and attainment, Harrison
selected his retainers and henchmen. Chief among them was Benjamin
Parke, one of the commanders at Tippecanoe, and the founder of the State
law library in after years; and also Waller Taylor and Thomas Randolph,
two of his aides in the Wabash campaign and of his immediate military
family. These men, together with Harrison, comprised the "inner circle,"
who administered the affairs of Knox County and Vincennes, and at that
time Knox County held the lead and control in public transactions
throughout the Territory. That they favored the suspension of the sixth
article of the Ordinance of 1787, prohibiting slavery in the Northwest
Territory, is now established history. But they also organized the
courts and the representative assemblies of that day; enacted and
enforced the public laws, and set about to establish institutions of
learning. Harrison in particular was a friend of the schools. Besides
that, these men and their followers organized the militia, gave the
woodsmen a training in the manual of arms, and exercised a wide-awake
and eternal vigilance for the safety of the frontier. The military
instinct of the early Virginian was one of the great factors that
determined the conquest and established the permanent peace of the new
land.
Probably no magistrate was ever invested with greater powers in a new
country than was General Harrison in the first years of his
governorship. "Amongst the powers conferred upon him, were those,
jointly with the judges, of the legislative functions of the Territory;
the appointment of all the civil officers within the territory, and all
the military officers of a grade inferior in rank to that of general,
commander in chief of the militia--the absolute and uncontrolled power
of pardoning all offenses--sole commissioner of treaties with the
Indians, with unlimited powers, and the power of confirming, at his
option, all grants of land." That he was left in control of these powers
both under the administrations of President Jefferson and President
Madison is sufficient confirmation of the trust and confidence they
reposed in him. In the years to follow, he was to conduct a great number
of difficult negotiations with the chiefs and head warriors of the
Delawares, Shawnees, Miamis, Potawatomi, Kickapoos and other tribes, but
in all these treaties he was pre-eminently fair with the savages, never
resorting to force or treachery, or stooping to low intrigue or fraud.
We have a statement from his own pen as to his manner of conducting an
Indian treaty. In a letter from Vincennes on the third day of March,
1803, to Secretary of War Henry Dearborn, we have the following: "I
should have passed over without an observation, if he had not hinted at
the use of unfair means in procuring the consent of the Indians to the
treaties I have made with them, and as I have never before, that I
recollect, informed you of my mode of proceeding on these occasions I
have thought it proper to do so at the present moment. Whenever the
Indians have assembled for any public purpose the use of ardent spirits
has been strictly interdicted until the object for which they were
convened was accomplished, and if in spite of my vigilance it had been
procured, a stop was immediately put to all business until it was
consumed and its effects completely over. Every conference with the
Indians has been in public. All persons who chose to attend were
admitted, and the most intelligent and respectable characters in the
neighborhood specially invited to witness the fairness of the
transaction. No treaty has ever been signed until each article was
particularly and repeatedly explained by the most capable and
confidential interpreters. Sketches of the tract of country about to be
ceded have always been submitted to the Indians, and their own rough
delineations made on the floor with a bit of charcoal have proved their
perfect comprehension of its situation and extent." Copies of the old
Western Sun, amply testify to the fact that prior to the important
treaties of 1809, at Fort Wayne and Vincennes, he issued a public
proclamation at the latter place, prohibiting any traffic in liquor with
the Indians, so that their judgment might not be perverted; that he
constantly inveighed against this illegal commerce with the tribes, and
that he at various times attempted to restrain the violence of the
squatters and settlers who sought to appropriate the lands of their red
neighbors. The language of his first message to the territorial
legislature reads thus: "The humane and benevolent intentions of the
government, however, will forever be defeated, unless effectual measures
be devised to prevent the sale of ardent spirits to those unfortunate
people. The law which has been passed by Congress for that purpose has
been found entirely ineffectual, because its operation has been
construed to relate to the Indian country exclusively. In calling your
attention to this subject, gentlemen, I am persuaded that it is
unnecessary to remind you that the article of compact makes it your duty
to attend to it. The interests of your constituents, the interests of
the miserable Indians, and your own feelings, will urge you to take it
into your most serious consideration and provide the remedy which is to
save thousands of our fellow creatures. So destructive has been the
progress of intemperance, that whole villages have been swept away. A
miserable remnant is all that remains to mark the homes and situation of
many numerous and warlike tribes."
Again, at Fort Wayne, on the seventeenth of September, 1809, preliminary
to the famous treaty of that year, this entry appears in the journal of
the official proceedings: "The Potawatomis waited on the Governor and
requested a little liquor, which was refused. The Governor observed that
he was determined to shut up the liquor casks until all the business
was finished." This is the conduct throughout of a wise and humane man
dealing with an inferior race, but determined to take no advantage of
their folly.
It was the steady and uniform policy of the United States government to
extinguish the Indian titles to the lands along the Wabash and
elsewhere, so that they might be opened up to the increasing tide of
white settlers. Contrary to the practices of most governments, however,
in their dealings with aborigines, the United States had established the
precedent of recognizing the right of the red men to the occupancy of
the soil and of entering into treaties of purchase with the various
tribes, paying them in goods and money for their land, while allowing
them the privilege of taking wild game in the territory ceded. President
Jefferson had always insisted on the payment of annuities in these
purchases, instead of a lump sum, so that a fund might be created for
the continual support of the tribes from year to year, and so that they
might be enabled to purchase horses, cattle, hogs and the instruments of
husbandry and thus gradually enter upon the ways of civilization. That
the dream of Jefferson was never realized; that the North American
savages never adopted the manners and pursuits of their white brethren,
does not bespeak any the less for the humane instincts of his heart.
In the negotiation of these treaties in the northwest, Governor Harrison
acted as the minister plenipotentiary of the government, and the
numerous Indian treaties of that day were conducted under express
authority and command from the City of Washington. The series of
negotiations finally terminated in the Treaty of Fort Wayne on September
30, 1809, by which the United States acquired the title to about
2,900,000 acres, the greater part of which lay above the old Vincennes
tract ceded by the Treaty of Grouseland, and below the mouth of Big
Raccoon Creek in Parke County. "At that period, 1809," says Dillon, "the
total quantity of land ceded to the United States, under treaties which
were concluded between Governor Harrison and various Indian tribes,
amounted to about 29,719,530 acres."
As the consummation of that treaty was the principal and immediate cause
which led up to the great controversy with Tecumseh, and the stirring
events that followed, including the Battle of Tippecanoe, and as the
charge was subsequently made by Tecumseh that it was brought about
through the threats of Winamac, the Potawatomi chief, it may rightfully
be said to be the most important Indian treaty ever negotiated in the
west, outside of General Wayne's Treaty of Greenville, in 1795. We will
now enter into the details of that transaction.
That part of the lands acquired by the United States Government by the
Treaty of Fort Wayne, and being situated in the valley of the Wabash and
its tributaries may be thus described: It lay south of a line drawn from
the mouth of the Big Raccoon Creek, in what is now Parke county, and
extending southeast to a point on the east fork of White River above
Brownstown. This line was commonly called The Ten O'clock Line, because
the direction was explained to the Indians as toward the point where
the sun was at ten o'clock. The whole territory acquired in the Wabash
valley and elsewhere embraced about 2,900,000 acres and in the Wabash
region was to be not less than thirty miles in width at its narrowest
point. It will thus be seen that the tract lay directly north of, and
adjoining the white settlements in and about Vincennes. It was
afterwards known as the New Purchase.
There had been frequent and bitter clashes between the settlers and the
Wea and Potawatomi Indians of this part of the territory for years.
Justice and right was not always on the side of the white man. An
accurate commentator, speaking of the early frontiersmen, says: "They
eagerly craved the Indian lands; they would not be denied entrance to
the thinly-peopled territory wherein they intended to make homes for
themselves and their children. Rough, masterful, lawless, they were
neither daunted by the powers of the red warriors whose wrath they
braved, nor awed by the displeasure of the government whose solemn
engagements they violated."
The Treaty of Greenville had given the undisputed possession and
occupancy of all the lands above Vincennes and vicinity, and embraced
within the limits of the territory ceded by the Treaty of Fort Wayne, to
the Indians. They were given the authority by that pact to drive off a
squatter or "punish him in such manner as they might think fit,"
indulging, however, in no act of "private revenge or retaliation." No
trader was even allowed to enter this domain unless he was licensed by
the government.
It is needless to say that no fine sense of right and justice existed
either in the mind of the white land-grabber or in that of his red
antagonist. Many unlawful invasions of the Indian lands were made.
Moreover, many of the fur traders along the Wabash were of the lowest
type of humanity. They employed any and all means to cheat and defraud
the Indians by the barter and sale of cheap trinkets and bad whiskey and
often violated every principle of honesty and fair-dealing. This kind of
conduct on the part of settlers and traders furnished ample
justification in the minds of the ignorant savages for the making of
reprisals. Many horses were stolen by them, and often foul murders were
committed by the more lawless element. This horse-stealing and
assassination led in turn to counter-attacks on the part of the whites.
In time, these acts of violence on the part of the vicious element in
both races spread hate and enmity in every direction. This kind of
history was made. "A Muskoe Indian was killed in Vincennes by an Italian
inn-keeper without any just cause. The governor ordered that the
murderer should be apprehended, but so great was the antagonism to the
Indians among all classes, that on his trial the jury acquitted the
homicide almost without any deliberation. About the same time, two Wea
Indians were badly wounded near Vincennes by some whites without the
slightest provocation. Such facts exasperated the Indians, and led to
their refusal to deliver up Indians who had committed like offenses
against the white man." These things occurred shortly prior to the
Tippecanoe campaign, but a condition similar to this had existed for
some time before the Treaty of Fort Wayne. The Governor was not
insensible to the true state of affairs. He once said: "I wish I
could say the Indians were treated with justice and propriety on all
occasions by our citizens, but it is far otherwise. They are often
abused and maltreated, and it is rare that they obtain any satisfaction
for the most unprovoked wrongs." But he also recognized the fact, that
the two races, so incompatible in habits, manners, customs and tastes,
could not dwell in peace together; that the progress of the white
settlements ought not to and could not on that account be stayed; that
it was up to him as the chief magistrate of the western country and as
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, to solve if he could, the troublous
problem before him, and he accordingly instructed Mr. John Johnston, the
Agent of Indian Affairs, to assemble the tribes at Fort Wayne for the
purpose of making a new treaty.
[Illustration: Governor William Henry Harrison]
There were many false sentimentalists of that day, who not unlike their
modern brethren, wept many crocodile tears over the fate of the "poor
Indian." They charged that the Governor, in the ensuing negotiations,
resorted to trickery, and that he availed himself of the threats and
violence of Winamac, the Potawatomi chief, in order to bring the
hesitating tribes to the terms of the purchase. In the face of the
revealed and undisputed facts of history, these facts were and are
entirely false, and were evidently put in motion by the disgruntled
office seekers at Vincennes as food for the foolish.
The position of Governor Harrison during the whole course of his
administration seems to have been this: he sought to ameliorate the
miserable condition of the savages at all times; sought by all means
within his power to bring to punishment those who committed outrages
against them; constantly demanded that the illegal traffic in liquor be
stopped. However, neither Governor Harrison nor any other man, however
powerful, could stop the hand of fate, or abrogate the eternal law of
the survival of the fittest. After every endeavor to put a stop to
abuses, and to quiet the impending storm on the frontier, he resorted to
the next, and seemingly only available means of putting an end to the
difficulty. That is, he provided for the separation of the two races as
far as possible so as to prevent the conflicts between them; he provided
for the payment of annuities for their support and so that they might
purchase horses and cattle and implements of husbandry, and thus enter
gradually upon the pursuits of peace. That the plan was not feasible
does not detract from the fairness and benevolence of the proposer. He
was but following the uniform custom which the government had at that
time adopted and which the best minds of that age endorsed. He could not
foresee, in the light of that day, that the red men of the forest would
not accept the ways of civilization, and that all attempts of the
government, however charitable, would be wasted and in vain.
The Governor set out for the council house at old Fort Wayne on the
first day of September, 1809, on horseback, and accompanied only by
Peter Jones, his secretary; a personal servant; Joseph Barron, a famous
Indian interpreter; a Frenchman for a guide, and two Indians, probably
Delawares of the friendly White River tribes. He travelled eastwardly
toward the western borders of Dearborn county, and thence north to the
Post. Joseph Barron, the interpreter, is thus spoken of by Judge Law:
"He knew the Indian character well; he had lived among them many years;
spoke fluently the language of every tribe which dwelt on the upper
Wabash, understood their customs, habits, manners and charlatanry well,
and although but imperfectly educated, was one of the most remarkable
men I ever knew."
The Governor arrived at the Post on the fifteenth of the month, at the
same time with the Delawares and their interpreter, John Conner.
To appreciate properly the hazard of this journey of two weeks through
an untamed wilderness, across rivers and through dense forests, camping
at night in the solitude of the woods, and exposed at all time to the
attacks of the savages, one must take into consideration that already
Tecumseh and the Prophet were forming their confederacy and preaching a
new crusade at Tippecanoe; that they were fast filling the minds of
their savage hearers with that fierce malice and hatred which was to
break forth in the flame of revolt in a little over two years hence;
that the British agents at Maiden were loading the Indians with presents
and filling their ears with falsification as to the intentions of
Harrison; that they were already arming them with guns, bullets, knives
and tomahawks, and that there were those among them who would not
hesitate at assassination, if they might hope to reap a British reward.
Notwithstanding these facts, Harrison did not hesitate.
The scene about to be enacted was a memorable one. On the one hand were
arrayed the Governor, with his servant and secretary, four Indian
interpreters and a few officers of the Post; on the other, the painted
and feather-bedecked warriors and sachems of the Miamis, the Potawatomi,
the Delawares and the Weas. On the third day of the council, eight
hundred and ninety-two warriors were present; on the day of the actual
signing of the treaty, thirteen hundred and ninety. No such body of red
men had been assembled to meet a commissioner of the United States since
the treaty with Anthony Wayne in 1795. Even at that assemblage there
were present only eleven hundred and thirty.
There were chiefs of the Mississinewa, loud and defiant, who openly
declared their connection with the British. There was Winamac, the
Potawatomi, who afterwards slaughtered the surrendered garrison at Fort
Dearborn, and boasted of his murder. There were Silver Heels and Pecan,
Five Medals and The Owl. But above them all stood Little Turtle, the
Miami. He had been present at the defeat of Harmar and the slaughter of
St. Clair's army. He had fought against Wayne at Fallen Timbers. In 1797
he had visited the great white father at Philadelphia, President
Washington, and had been presented with a brace of elegantly mounted
pistols by the Baron Kosciusko. There were braves present whose hands
had been besmeared with the blood of innocent women and children--who
had raised the savage yell of terror while setting firebrands to the
cabin and tomahawking its inmates.
During the days that were to follow there were many loud and violent
harangues; parties of warriors arrived with presents of the British
emissaries in their hands, and saying that they had been advised never
to yield another foot of territory; at one time, on September
twenty-sixth, the Potawatomi, in open assembly, raised a shout of
defiance against the Miamis, poured out torrents of abuse on the heads
of their chieftains and withdrew from the council declaring that the
tomahawk was raised. Amid all this loud jangling and savage quarreling
the Governor remained unperturbed and steady to his purpose.
Notwithstanding frequent demands, he constantly refused to deal out any
liquor except in the most meager quantities--he restrained the
Potawatomi and made them smoke the pipe of peace with their offended
allies--he met and answered all the arguments suggested by the British
agents--and after fifteen days of constant and unremitting effort won
over the chiefs of the Mississinewa and gained the day.
The official account of the proceedings as made by Peter Jones,
secretary to the Governor, and now reposing in the archives of the
United States government, shows that instead of attempting to make any
purchase of Indian lands when only a small number of representatives of
the tribes were present, that the Governor on the eighteenth of
September, dispatched messengers to Detroit to summon certain Delawares
and Potawatomi who were absent; that on the same day he also directed
Joseph Barron to go to the Miami villages along the Wabash to call in
Richardville, one of the principal chiefs of that tribe. The records
also show that while the Governor had some private conferences with some
of the principal chiefs for the purpose of urging their support to his
plans, that he addressed all his principal remarks to the tribes in open
council of all the warriors, and at a time when four interpreters were
present, to-wit: William Wells, Joseph Barron, John Conner and Abraham
Ash, to translate his observations.
The first of these great councils was on September 22. The arguments of
the Governor, so interesting at this day, are set forth: "He urged the
vast benefit which they (the Indians) derived from their annuities,
without which they would not be able to clothe their women and children.
The great advance in the price of goods and the depression in the value
of their peltries from the trouble in Europe, to which there was no
probability of a speedy determination. The little game which remained in
their country, particularly that part of it which he proposed to
purchase. The usurpation of it by a banditti of Muscoes and other
tribes; that the sale of it would not prevent their hunting upon it as
long as any game remained. But that it was absolutely necessary that
they should adopt some other plan for their support. That the raising of
cattle and hogs required little labor, and would be the surest resources
as a substitute for the wild animals which they had so unfortunately
destroyed for the sake of their skins. Their fondness for hunting might
still be gratified if they would prevent their young men from hunting at
improper seasons of the year. But to do this effectually, it would be
necessary that they should find a certain support in their villages in
the summer season. That the proposed addition to their annuities would
enable them to purchase the domestic animals necessary to commence
raising them on a large scale. He observed also that they were too apt
to impute their poverty and the scarcity of game to the encroachments of
the white settlers. But this is not the true cause. It is owing to their
own improvidence and to the advice of the British traders by whom they
were stimulated to kill the wild animals for their skins alone, when the
flesh was not wanted. That this was the cause of their scarcity is
evident from their being found in much greater quantity on the south
than on the north shore of the Wabash, where no white men but traders
were ever seen. The remnant of the Weas who inhabit the tract of country
which was wanted, were from their vicinity to the whites, poor and
miserable; all the proceeds of their hunts and the great part of their
annuities expended in whiskey. The Miami Nation would be more
respectable and formidable if its scattered members were assembled in
the center of their country."
The reasoning of the Governor was cogent. The motive that had prompted
the British to hold the frontier posts for so many years after the
revolution, was to secure a monopoly of the fur trade. Their traders
constantly urged the tribes to bring in peltries, and this led to a
merciless slaughter of animals for their hides alone. These measures
involved the ultimate destruction of the food supply of the tribes. It
was also true that the tribes along the Wabash were exhausting the
supply of wild game. The plan of inducing them to accept annuities and
to purchase cattle, hogs and other domestic animals for the purpose of
replenishing their food supply, seemed highly plausible to the minds of
that day. That the Weas on the lower Wabash would be better off if
removed from the immediate neighborhood of the white settlements where
they could purchase fire-water and indulge their vices, did not admit of
doubt. It was possibly the only plan of bringing relief from the
troubles which were daily augmenting between the two races of men.
From the first, however, the appeal of the Governor met with a cold
reception at the hands of the Mississinewa chiefs. That their feelings
in the matter were prompted by their jealousy of the other tribes
present, and their claim to the sole disposal of any of the lands along
the Wabash, there can be no doubt. Little Turtle was soon won over, but
the younger and more aggressive chiefs of the Miami villages were
hostile to him and openly expressed their disapproval of his conduct.
The Mississinewa chiefs were also violently opposed to the pretensions
of Winamac and the Potawatomi. They claimed that the Potawatomi were new
comers and usurpers and had no right to a voice in the sale of lands in
the Wabash valley. The Mississinewa chiefs prevailed. On the
twenty-fourth the Miamis, "declared their determination not to sell a
foot of land, observing that it was time to put a stop to the
encroachments of the whites who were eternally purchasing their lands
for less than the real value of them. That they had also heard that the
governor had no instructions to make any purchase, but was making it
upon his own authority to please the white people whom he governed." On
the twenty-fifth, the Governor, to overcome their opposition, made
another long appeal in open council, declaring that the British alone
were responsible for the feeling between the races. On that occasion he
gave expression to certain ideas that Tecumseh afterwards eagerly seized
upon as an argument in favor of the communistic ownership of all the
Indian lands, and as an argument against the sale of 1809. The governor
said: "Potawatomis and Miamis, look upon each other as brothers, and at
the same time look upon your grandfathers, the Delawares. I love to see
you all united. I wish to hear you speak with one voice the dictates of
one heart. All must go together. The consent of all is necessary.
Delawares and Potawatomis, I told you that I could do nothing with the
Miamis without your consent. Miamis, I now tell you that nothing can be
done without your consent. The consent of the whole is necessary."
This second appeal met with the same reception as the first. On the
twenty-sixth, the Miamis, again declared that they would never consent
to the sale of any more of their lands. "That they had been advised by
their Father, the British, never to sell another foot." At this moment
it was that the Potawatomi started a violent altercation, setting up a
shout of open defiance in the council house and threatening to resort to
force. On repairing to the Governor's headquarters, however, and
reporting their conduct, Harrison, "blamed them for their rashness and
made them promise not to offer the Miamis any further insults."
On the evening of the same day, the Governor held another extended
conference with the Miami chiefs, and explained to them that the British
were to blame for all their troubles. His remarks were prophetic. He
said: "In case of a war with the latter (the Americans), the English
knew that they were unable to defend Canada with their own force; they
were therefore desirous of interposing the Indians between them and
danger." The death of Tecumseh in the British ranks was part of the
fulfillment of this prediction.
All the conferences proved in vain. On the twenty-seventh, Silver Heels,
a Miami chief, was won over and spoke in favor of the treaty, and
Harrison succeeded on the twenty-eighth in reconciling the Miamis and
Potawatomi, but in full council on the twenty-ninth, The Owl, a Miami
chief, flatly refused to sell an acre; made a bitter and sarcastic
speech, and among other things said; "You remember the time when we
first took each other by the hand at Greenville. You there told us where
the line would be between us. You told us to love our women and children
and to take care of our lands. You told us that the Spanish had a great
deal of money, the English, and some of your people likewise, but that
we should not sell our lands to any of them. In consequence of which
last fall we put our hands upon our hearts and determined not to sell
our lands." Harrison answered in a speech of two hours length, and ended
by saying, "that he was tired of waiting and that on the next day he
would submit to them the form of a treaty which he wished them to sign
and if they would not agree to it he would extinguish the council
fire."
We now come to a circumstance which refutes much that Tecumseh
afterwards claimed. In his famous meeting with the Governor at Vincennes
in August, 1810, and speaking of the treaty of 1809, he said: "Brother,
this land that was sold, and the goods that were given for it were only
done by a few. The treaty was afterwards brought here, and the Weas were
induced to give their consent because of their small numbers. The treaty
at Fort Wayne was made through the threats of Winnemac; but in the
future we are prepared to punish those chiefs who may come forward to
propose to sell the land." The record of the official proceedings, made
at the time, show, however, that immediately upon the close of
Harrison's last speech of September twenty-ninth, that Winamac arose to
reply, but upon noting that fact all the Mississinewa Miamis left the
council house in contempt. Not only was the treaty of 1809 concluded by
a larger number of Indians than were present at Greenville, Ohio, in
1795, but the influence of Winamac with the Miamis seems to have been of
a very negligible quantity.
The truth is that the final consummation of the pact of 1809 was brought
about by the ready tact and hard common sense of Harrison himself. On
the morning of the thirtieth of September, the very day the treaty was
signed, it was thought by all the officers and gentlemen present that
the mission of the Governor was fruitless. No solution of the obstinacy
of the Mississinewa chiefs had been discovered. Nothing daunted,
Harrison resolved to make one more attempt. He took with him his
interpreter, Joseph Barron, a man in whom he had the utmost confidence,
and visited the camps of the Miamis. He was received well and told them
that he came, not as a representative of the President, but as an old
friend with whom they had been many years acquainted. "That he plainly
saw that there was something in their hearts which was not consistent
with the attachment they ought to bear to their great father, and that
he was afraid that they had listened to bad birds. That he had come to
them for the purpose of hearing every cause of complaint against the
United States, and that he would not leave them until they laid open
everything that oppressed their hearts. He knew that they could have no
solid objection to the proposed treaty, for they were all men of sense
and reflection, and all knew that they would be greatly benefited by
it." Calling then, upon the principal chief of the Eel River tribe, who
had served under him in General Wayne's army, he demanded to know what
his objections to the treaty were. In reply, the chief drew forth a copy
of the Treaty of Grouseland and said: "Father, here are your own words.
In this paper you have promised that you would consider the Miamis as
the owners of the land on the Wabash. Why then, are you about to
purchase it from others?"
"The Governor assured them that it was not his intention to purchase the
land from the other tribes. That he had always said, and was ready now
to confess that the land belonged to the Miamis and to no other tribe.
That if the other tribes had been invited to the treaty, it was at their
particular request (the Miamis). The Potawatomi had indeed taken higher
ground than either the Governor or the Miamis expected. They claimed an
equal right to the land in question with the Miamis, but what of this?
Their claiming it gave them no right, and it was not the intention of
the Governor to put anything in the treaty which would in the least
alter their claim to their lands on the Wabash, as established by the
Treaty of Grouseland, unless they chose to satisfy the Delawares with
respect to their claim to the country watered by the White river. That
even the whole compensation proposed to be given for the lands would be
given to the Miamis if they insisted upon it, but that they knew the
offense which this would give to the other tribes, and that it was
always the Governor's intention so to draw the treaty that the
Potawatomi and Delawares would be considered as participating in the
advantages of the treaty as allies of the Miamis; not as having any
rights to the land."
The Governor's resourcefulness saved the day. There was an instant
change of sentiment and a brightening of the dark faces. The claim of
the Miamis acknowledged; their savage pride appeased, and their title to
the land verified, they were ready for the treaty. Pecan, the chief,
informed the Governor that he might retire to the fort and that they
would shortly wait upon him with good news. The treaty was immediately
drafted, and on the same day signed and sealed by the headmen and chiefs
without further dissent.
Thus was concluded the Treaty of Fort Wayne of September 30, 1809. The
articles were fully considered and signed only after due deliberation of
at least a fortnight. The terms were threshed out in open council,
before the largest assembly of red men ever engaged in a treaty in the
western country up to that time. No undue influence, fraud or coercion
were brought to bear--every attempt at violence was promptly checked by
the Governor--no resort was had to the evil influence of bribes or
intoxicants. When agreed upon, it was executed without question.