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.