After Fallen Timbers

I. Treaty of Greenville

A. Signing the Treaty--After the defeat of the Indian Confederacy at Fallen Timbers, Bluejacket (the senior Shawnee war Chief) negotiated a treaty with the United States in which he agreed that the Shawnee would cede about half of Ohio to the government for white settlement--although he had no authority to do so (peace negotiations were suppose to be the province of civil chiefs).

1. Terms of the Treaty--The Shawnee were limited largely to the northwestern Ohio quadrant, and were also suppose to by paid a stipend of $1000 a year, which was suppose to allow them to buy food and other trade goods, to make up for the restricted area they could now hunt.

B. Keeping the Peace--As had the British government before it, the United States was now responsible for ensuring that white settlers in the region respected the treaty right granted to Native Americans. This proved to be an impossible task, largely because these white settlers refused to recognize that Native Americans had any rights they were obligated to recognize.

2. Unequal justice--Conflict remained rampant along the frontier, as both Native Americans and white settlers continued the practice of seeking revenge when they felt they were being wronged; but while Native Americans sought revenge on the perpretators of a particular act, for white setters any handy native would do. Seeking redress in white courts also proved futile, as the juries there refused to find any white guilty of any crime against a Native American.

II. Native Methods of Coping with the New Reality

A. Accommodationists--With the limited resources most native peoples now had, they had to seek new ways of living within the bounds forced on them by whites.

1. Black Hoof's settlement at Wapakonetta--Black Hoof, a former war chief of the Mekoche clan, sought to remain in Ohio by adopting white methods of agriculture and settlement. Among the terms of the Treaty of Greenville was a promise by the US government to provide native peoples with the implements to farm land, as well as animals and techical know-how. Black Hoof petitioned the government for this assistance in 1802; not until 1806, however, did the US government actually follow through with any action on this matter. William Kirk, a Quaker, taught the natives the European method of planting, helped them begin to construct a sawmill, and made plans to construct a gristmill, as well. Kirk was deficient in bookkeeping skills, however, and despite both native and area white pleas, was dismissed from his position the following year.

B. Separatists--since white contact in the interior of North America, some Shawnee had moved west beyond the Mississippi in an attempt to keep the whites distant from themselves. As hostilities between natives and whites increased, more Shawnee followed this practice, so that by the time of greatest prominence of Tecumseh and the Prophet, more Shawnee lived west of the Mississippi than in their traditional homes in Ohio.

1. Tecumseh's Village--Rather than sign the Greenville Treaty, Tecumseh took his small band of followers and moved west, choosing to establish a village near a group of Lenai Lenape on the White River, near present-day Anderson, Indiana. This moved them approximately 75 miles further west--close enough where Lalawethika could still obtain whisky from white traders.

III. The Emergence of the Shawnee Prophet

A. Lalawethika's Conversion experience--In the spring of 1805, Lalawethika collapsed into a trance so profound that his family though he had died, and began preparing his body for burial. In the midst of these preparations, however, Lalawethika awakens, and after recovering somewhat begins to relate the vision that he had.

B. Lalawethika's Vision--Lalawethika claimed in his vision to have been visited by the Great Spirit, who escorted him to the afterlife to demonstrate for Lalawethika the fate of all native peoples who did not do as the Great Spirit wished.

1. Burning of bodies--those natives who did not repent from their wicked was would descend to a place where their bodies would be burned to ashes several times.

2. Drinking molten lead--next, very wicked natives would would proceed to a second house, where they were forced to drink molten lead until their bowels seized up, causing very serious pain.

3. Redemption--after enduring this torture, these evil native peoples were able to join those that had lived who had lived exemplary lives in  much more pleasant surroundings, where the hunting was easy and the cornfields huge.

C. Lalawethika's Theology--Lalawetika claimed that the Great Spirit had showed him the fate that he and others faced if they did not repent and begin to live their lives in the proper fashion.

1. Return to proper ways of living--According to Lalawethika, the Great Spirit wished for his native peoples to return to their traditional ways of living, and to forsake most of the new materials and methods they had acquired since their contact with whites.

a. Hunting--Native peoples were to give up hunting animals for their pelts, and to instead return to more traditional methods of only killing what they needed to eat. This would also necessitate the proper treatment of animals that had to be killed for this purpose. They were required to give up guns for hunting, and return to the use of the bow and arrow. Natives were also forbidden from selling the food they killed, and also from sharing this food with whites, except under the most dire of circumstances.

b. Clothing--Native peoples were to return to clothing themselves from the hides and furs they acquired hunting for food. This was, of course, part of the radical break native peoples were suppose to make between themselves and the whites.

c. Spiritual life--Native peoples were suppose to pray only to the Great Spirit, give up shamanistic practices (like witchcraft). Native peoples were also informed that the Great Spirit prefer his people to practice monogamy, and to marry only with other native peoples. Those already in a mixed-race situation were suppose to leave those relationships and any children that resulted and move back among their own people.

D. The Witchcraft Crisis Among the Lenai Lenape--Tenskawatawa (as he was now known)--had only been preaching for a short time when he was called upon to find witches among the nearby Lenai Lenape people.

1. Witches--in Native societies, witches could work for both good and evil--although Tenskwatawa preached that all witchcraft was evil. The nearby Lenai Lenape village was in the midst of a power struggle between the traditional elderly leaders of the village in 1808 who were willing to make accommodations to co-exist with the whites, and young warriors, who insisted that the best practice was to end all relationships with them. At the beginning of the crisis, an unnamed woman (possibly a disciple of the Prophet) had been identifying witches, but she suddenly withdrew her services, and Tenskwatawa was asked to fill this void. After identifying several witches, who were subsequently killed, Tenskwatawa continues to identify witches for them, but the further turmoil in the village results from fewer of the identified being slowly tortured to death. It is this incident that brought Tenskwatawa to the attention of Indiana Territory governor William Henry Harrison.

Weekly Assignment 7

Tecumseh and Tenskwatwa represent for many non-Indians the yin and yang of the Native American experience: Tecumseh represented the "noble savage," while Tenskwatawa represented the superstitious, sneaky, dishonest savage brute. Why do you think these stereotypes developed? How have they shaped our understanding of the two men? Do you think these stereotypes have shaped how the sources of information have been interpreted? How? Your answer should take the form of a 2-3 page, machine-produced paper, with 1 inch margins and a conventional 12-point font, due next Thursday, March 1.

Tecumseh's Vision, finis

A second link to Tecumseh's Vision, and some questions to ponder about historical sources and historical interpretation.

As you saw in the video (and as you've probably already surmised, since Ohio isn't part of a Native American confederacy), this political movement does not end well for Tecumseh or Tenskwatawa. Tecumseh is killed at the Battle of the Thames, and Tenskwatawa was forced to live in exile in Canada until the 1820s, when he made a deal with the governor of the Michigan Territory Lewis Cass to try to persuade the remaining contingent of Shawnees at Wapakoneta to move west of the Mississippi River.

The narrative of Tecumseh's Vision follows the standard narrative of events, as well as the narrative of the books you've been reading for the class. That should also come as no surprise, as all three authors--Colin Calloway, R. David Edmonds, and John Sugden, were three of the principal scholars who acted as advisors for the project, and provided much of the narrative that was just viewed. That standard narrative argues that the principal force behind this Native American confederacy was Tecumseh, that Tenskwatwa was an important factor in drawing Native Americans to the cause, but lost influence after Battle of Tippecanoe, and remained a non-factor for the rest of the campaign.

In part this narrative has been shaped by events that occurred after Tecumseh died. William Henry Harrison prevailed in the end, and later his presidential campaign was boosted by the perception of his "victory" at Tippecanoe. That narrative has also been shaped by the sources that historians have used to explain the events. There is, of course, Harrison's first-hand account of the battle, which he initially proclaimed as a great victory to his superiors in Washington, D.C. Another source of information about the brothers was a man named Anthony Shane (nee Antoine Chene), a man of mixed French and Ottawa Indian parentage, who claimed to be well-acquainted with Tecumseh--and who despised Tenskwatawa. A second close witness was a man named Stephen Ruddell, who was captured by a Shawnee war party and adopted by the brother's clan. Ruddell grew into adulthood with them, and only reluctantly left the tribe. While sounding like an ideal source, Ruddell wasn't interviewed until later in life (by a man named Benjamin Drake, who wrote the earliest biography of the brothers), and historians have since concluded that he was being somewhat cagey with Drake, fearing reprisals for some of the actions he took part in--and the expectations of his audience, since by that time Tecumseh's reputation had been growing in mythical proportions. The other source of information is the interview Tenskwatawa did with C.C. Trowbridge, who was Lewis Cass' assistant. Unfortunately for us, Trowbridge was more interested in learning about older Shawnee traditions than ascertaining any information about the relationship between the two brothers. The other sources of information include Moravian missionaries and other whites, who observed from afar, and often with little understanding. As we re-examine this narrative, we will also be re-examining the evidence, and discussing how it can be re-interpreted.

Tecumseh's Vision, finis

A second link to Tecumseh's Vision, and some questions to ponder about historical sources and historical interpretation.

As you saw in the video (and as you've probably already surmised, since Ohio isn't part of a Native American confederacy), this political movement does not end well for Tecumseh or Tenskwatawa. Tecumseh is killed at the Battle of the Thames, and Tenskwatawa was forced to live in exile in Canada until the 1820s, when he made a deal with the governor of the Michigan Territory Lewis Cass to try to persuade the remaining contingent of Shawnees at Wapakoneta to move west of the Mississippi River.

The narrative of Tecumseh's Vision follows the standard narrative of events, as well as the narrative of the books you've been reading for the class. That should also come as no surprise, as all three authors--Colin Calloway, R. David Edmonds, and John Sugden, were three of the principal scholars who acted as advisors for the project, and provided much of the narrative that was just viewed. That standard narrative argues that the principal force behind this Native American confederacy was Tecumseh, that Tenskwatwa was an important factor in drawing Native Americans to the cause, but lost influence after Battle of Tippecanoe, and remained a non-factor for the rest of the campaign.

In part this narrative has been shaped by events that occurred after Tecumseh died. William Henry Harrison prevailed in the end, and later his presidential campaign was boosted by the perception of his "victory" at Tippecanoe. That narrative has also been shaped by the sources that historians have used to explain the events. There is, of course, Harrison's first-hand account of the battle, which he initially proclaimed as a great victory to his superiors in Washington, D.C. Another source of information about the brothers was a man named Anthony Shane (nee Antoine Chene), a man of mixed French and Ottawa Indian parentage, who claimed to be well-acquainted with Tecumseh--and who despised Tenskwatawa. A second close witness was a man named Stephen Ruddell, who was captured by a Shawnee war party and adopted by the brother's clan. Ruddell grew into adulthood with them, and only reluctantly left the tribe. While sounding like an ideal source, Ruddell wasn't interviewed until later in life (by a man named Benjamin Drake, who wrote the earliest biography of the brothers), and historians have since concluded that he was being somewhat cagey with Drake, fearing reprisals for some of the actions he took part in--and the expectations of his audience, since by that time Tecumseh's reputation had been growing in mythical proportions. The other source of information is the interview Tenskwatawa did with C.C. Trowbridge, who was Lewis Cass' assistant. Unfortunately for us, Trowbridge was more interested in learning about older Shawnee traditions than ascertaining any information about the relationship between the two brothers. The other sources of information include Moravian missionaries and other whites, who observed from afar, and often with little understanding. As we re-examine this narrative, we will also be re-examining the evidence, and discussing how it can be re-interpreted.

We Shall Remain--Episode 2, "Tecumseh's Vision"

"Tecumseh's Vision" is episode 2 of the PBS American Experience miniseries entitled We Shall Remain. You can follow the above link to watch the entire episode online.

Weekly Assignment 6

This week's lectures focused on the era of the American Revoluion, generally thought of as time when personal freedoms were being expanded. Was this the case in Native American communities that we studied this week? What happened to their freedoms? Cite specific examples from the lectures and from the readings done this week. This should result in a 2-3 page machine-produced paper, with 1 inch margins and a conventional 12-point font, due at the beginning of class on February 23.

Confederacies

 I. The American Confederation

A. Articles of Confederation-The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, on November 15, 1777. However, ratification of the Articles of Confederation by all thirteen states did not occur until March 1, 1781. The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. The need for a stronger Federal government soon became apparent and eventually led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The present United States Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation on March 4, 1789.


1. Taxation--The Confederation Congress had no power to directly tax the American people (a power the Constitution didn't get until 1913, when the 16th Amendment was ratified.


2. Raising Money--The only way government had to raise money was to sell land in the west. But this in turn cost money, either to "purchase" land from native peoples, or to fund military adventures to facilitate taking land from native peoples.


B. Waiting for the American Collapse--although the British had agreed in the Paris Treaty to turn over all forts south of the Great Lakes to the Americans, they remained in most of these forts because it looked like the US government was going to collapse--and the British would be able to resume trade with native peoples.

II. The Native Confederacy


A. Brownstown Council (1786)--Leaders from native villages from throughout the pays d'en haut met at the Huron/Petun village. The leading speaker was Joseph Brant, a Seneca who had been educated in England. Brant called for a cessation of land sales by natives to Americans unless all native groups agreed to the sale. This stand was later undermined by the Huron, who attempted to make a deal with the Americans in order negotiate a settlement with them; the Americans only presented the same deal that had earlier been turned down by the Council, so this attempt in fact only increased tensions.


1. "Eating from the same bowl with a single spoon"--Brant's characterization of the council's conception of native ownership of land conveyed a much closer connection between native peoples than had been the case previously.

2. Shift to Kekionga--a Miami village where the St. Joseph and St. Mary's Rivers form the Maumee, near present-day Fort Wayne. Kekionga became the center of the confederation movement. Both a band of Delaware and the Shawnee had encamped nearby. Kekionga was therefore excellently situated to facilitate communication and trade networks, and far enough removed from much white settlement that, it was hoped, that those peoples living there would be able to permanently remain.


B. White settlements--although the American government feebly attempted to half white migration into the pays d'en haut, they were no more successful at it then the British had been. Settlement in areas that had not already been ceded by the natives caused a great deal of tension and violence, resulting in numerous "raiding parties" where each side attempted to out-atrocity the other in an orgy of gruesome killings.

C. Harmar's Campaign-In 1790, Josiah Harmar, commander of the American army in the Northwest Territory, was stationed at Fort Washington (present-day Cincinnati). Henry Knox, the Secretary of War, ordered Harmar to end the threat of Indian attack in western Ohio. Harmar marched from Fort Washington with 320 regular soldiers and roughly 1,100 militiamen -- primarily from Pennsylvania and Kentucky. The militiamen were poorly trained. Many did not know how to load and fire a musket; several others did not even have a gun. Harmar was determined to destroy the native villages near modern-day Fort Wayne, Indiana. He intended to attack the Miami Indians, the Shawnee Indians, and the Delaware Indians, along with other natives located in western Ohio.

   The natives fled their villages as Harmar's army approached. The Americans burned several villages, but the Indians regrouped. On October 20, the natives, led by Little Turtle, of the Miami Indians, attacked a detachment from Harmar's army led by Colonel John Hardin. Hardin's force consisted of several hundred militiamen and a few regular soldiers. Hardin led his men into an ambush. Most of the militiamen fled the battle without even firing a shot. The regular soldiers put up a brief resistance, but the natives killed most of them. Some of the retreating militiamen did not stop until they crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky. Harmar sent out another detachment after Little Turtle's warriors two days later. Once again, the natives inflicted heavy casualties upon the Americans. Harmar immediately retreated to the safety of Fort Washington. He had lost 183 men killed or missing in his campaign. It became known as Harmar's Defeat. In 1791, the United States army convened a court-martial against Harmar. He was accused him of wrongdoing during the campaign, including being drunk on duty. The court-martial exonerated him of all charges, but Harmar retired from the army on January 1, 1792.

   Harmar's actions in western Ohio only heightened tensions between the white settlers and the Indians. Following Harmar's defeat, native attacks against settlers increased. In 1791, Arthur St. Clair led another campaign against the natives in western Ohio, hoping to succeed where Harmar had failed.

D. St. Clair's Campaign (1791)-St. Clair's Defeat was a major confrontation between the armed forces of the United States and the Native Americans of the Northwest Territory. It was the worst defeat of the United States Army at the hands of Native Americans.

   To protect settlers and to force the Indians to abide by the Treaty of Fort Harmar, Arthur St. Clair, the governor of the Northwest Territory, ordered the construction of forts in what is now western Ohio. St. Clair moved against the Indians living near present-day Ft. Wayne Indiana, in September 1791. His men left Fort Washington, near Cincinnati, on September 17. The men marched twenty miles in two days and then built Fort Hamilton. St. Clair's army then advanced forty-five miles northward, where his men built Fort Jefferson. Leading primarily untrained militiamen, St. Clair faced problems with desertion from the beginning of his campaign. Although it was still early fall, his men faced cold temperatures, rain and snowfall. St. Clair also had a difficult time keeping his soldiers supplied with food. His men became demoralized. Despite these problems, St. Clair continued to advance against the Miami Indians. By November 3, his men had arrived on the banks of the Wabash River, near some of the Miami villages.

  Little Turtle led his warriors against the Americans on the morning of November 4. Many of the militiamen under St. Clair immediately fled. St. Clair led the regular soldiers in a bayonet charge. St. Clair had two horses shot out from under him. Several bullets passed through his clothing and one took off a lock of his hair. The Indians surrounded the Americans camp. After three hours of fighting, the remaining American soldiers fought through the Indians and began a lengthy retreat. The survivors reached Fort Jefferson late that afternoon and evening. With limited quantities of food and supplies at Fort Jefferson, St. Clair ordered his forces to Fort Washington. Of the 1,400 men who served under St. Clair, 623 soldiers were killed and another 258 wounded. One of the survivors stated, "The ground was literally covered with the dead." The Indians had soundly defeated St. Clair's army.

   President George Washington demanded that St. Clair resign from the army. St. Clair did so on April 7, 1792, but remained governor of the Northwest Territory. He still faced problems with the natives. In 1794, Washington dispatched General Anthony Wayne to succeed where St. Clair had failed. Wayne defeated the Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in August 1794. In 1795, most natives in modern-day Ohio signed the Treaty of Greeneville, relinquishing all of their land holdings in Ohio except what is now the northwestern corner of the state.

E. Battle of Fallen Timbers-The Battle of Fallen Timbers was a decisive victory by the Legion of the United States led by General ‘Mad’ Anthony Wayne over a confederacy of native Americans led by Miami Chief Little Turtle opened the Northwest Territory for white settlement, later leading to Ohio’s statehood in 1803.

   Wayne was the commander of the legion of the United States at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. He was born in Pennsylvania on January 1, 1745. After growing up in Waynesborough, Pennsylvania Anthony Wayne was commissioned a colonel and assisted General Benedict Arnold in his retreat from Quebec. He held various positions with the Continental Army and even shared the long winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge with General George Washington. Wayne was recalled an s a major general by Washington in 1792 to lead the Legion of the United States against the Native American forces in Ohio and Indiana. Wayne’s troops defeated the Native Americans at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, which led to the Wayne’s Treaty of Greenville in 1795. This opened the Northwest Territory to white settlement. A year later ‘Mad’ Anthony Wayne died on December 15, 1796.

Michikinikwa or Little Turtle was born in 1752 near Fort Wayne in Little Turtle Village. As a young warrior, he participated in defense of his village in 1780. He later led a small confederation of Native American tribes in defeating federal army forces in 1790 and 1791. Michikinikwa urged people to seek peace prior to the 1794 Battle of Fallen Timbers, where his forces were defeated by Anthony Wayne. He later died in Fort Wayne on July 14, 1812. Other partners of Michikinikwa during the Battle of Fallen Timbers were Tecumseh, Chief Blue Jacket and Chief Bukongahelas.

The American Revolution in Indian Country

I.               Pre-Revolutionary Conflicts

A.   Dunmore’s War (1774)-- was a war in 1774 between the Colony of Virginia and the Shawnee and Mingo American Indian nations. Lord Dunmore, the Governor of Virginia, asked the House of Burgesses to declare a state of war with the hostile Indian nations and order up an elite volunteer militia force for the campaign. The conflict resulted from escalating violence between British colonists, who in accordance with previous treaties were exploring and moving into land south of the Ohio River (modern West Virginia and Kentucky), and American Indians, who held treaty rights to hunt there. Of the upper Ohio Valley, assessing the Allegheny, George Washington writes in his journal Sat. Nov. 17, 1770, "The Indians who are very dexterous, even their women, in the Management of Canoes, have there Hunting Camps & Cabins all along the River for the convenience of Transporting their Skins by Water to Market." As a result of successive attacks by Indian hunting and war bands upon the settlers, war was declared "to pacify the hostile Indian war bands". The war ended soon after Virginia's victory in the Battle of Point Pleasant on October 10, 1774. As a result of this victory, the Indians lost the right to hunt in the area and agreed to recognize the Ohio River as the boundary between Indian lands and the British colonies. Although the Indian national chieftains signed the treaty, conflict within the Indian nations soon broke out. Some tribesmen felt the treaty sold out their claims and opposed it, and others believed that another war would mean only further losses of territory to the more powerful British colonists. When war broke out between the colonists and the British government, the war parties of the Indian nations quickly gained power. They mobilized the various Indian nations to attack the colonists during the Revolutionary War.

1.     The Treaty of Fort Stanwix was an important treaty between North American Indians and the British Empire. It was signed in 1768 at Fort Stanwix, located in present-day Rome, New York. It was negotiated between Sir William Johnson and representatives of the Six Nations (the Iroquois). The purpose of the conference was to adjust the boundary line between Indian lands and British colonial settlements set forth in the Royal Proclamation of 1763. The British government hoped a new boundary line might bring an end to the rampant frontier violence which had become costly and troublesome. Indians hoped a new, permanent line might hold back British colonial expansion. The final treaty was signed on November 5 with one signatory for each of the Six Nations and in the presence of representatives from New Jersey, Virginia and Pennsylvania as well as Johnson. The Native American nations present received gifts and cash totaling £10,460 7s. 3d. sterling, the highest payment ever made from colonists to American Indians. The treaty established a Line of Property which extended the earlier proclamation line of the Alleghenies (the divide between the Ohio and coastal watersheds), much farther to the west. The line ran near Fort Pitt and followed the Ohio River as far as the Tennessee River, effectively ceding the Kentucky portion of the Colony of Virginia to the British, as well as most of what is now West Virginia.^[1]Although the Six Nations of New York had previously recognized English rights southeast of the Ohio River at the 1752 Treaty of Logstown, they continued to claim ownership (by conquest) over all land as far south as the Tennessee River — which they still considered their boundary with the Cherokee and other "Southern" tribes. Although representatives of the Indian nations who actually occupied these lands, primarily the Shawnee and Lenape, were present at the negotiations in 1768, they were not signatories and had no real role in the Iroquois' sale of their homeland. Rather than secure peace, the Fort Stanwix treaty helped set the stage for the next round of hostilities along the Ohio River, which would culminate in Dunmore's War. The treaty also settled land claims between the Six Nations and the Penn family, the proprietors of Pennsylvania, where the lands acquired in 1768 were called the "New Purchase." Due to disputes about the physical boundaries of the settlement, however, the final treaty line would not be fully agreed upon for another five years. The final portion of the Line of Property in Pennsylvania, called the Purchase line in that State, was fixed in 1773 by representatives from the Six Nations and Pennsylvania who met at a spot called Canoe Place at the confluence of West Branch of the Susquehanna River and Cush Cushion Creek in what is now Cherry Tree, Pennsylvania.The reason for the Treaty of Fort Stanwix was that the press of population growth and economic development turned the attention of investors and land speculators to the area west of the Appalachians. In response to demands by settlers and speculators, British authorities were soon pressing the Iroquois and Cherokees for cessions of land in Indian country. The Treaty of Lochaber with the Cherokee followed in 1770, whereby the Cherokee withdrew their claim to part of the same country, encompassing the south part of present-day West Virginia. No longer able to play off rival colonial powers following the British victory in the French and Indian War, Indians were reduced to a choice between compliance and resistance. Weakened by the recent war, they negotiated away parcels of land in exchange for promises of protection from further encroachments. So in 1768, the Iroquois gave up their claim south of the Ohio, hoping thereby to deflect English settlement away from their own homeland.

2.     Daniel Boone--On May 1, 1769, Boone began a two-year hunting expedition in Kentucky. On December 22, 1769, he and a fellow hunter were captured by a party of Shawnees, who confiscated all of their skins and told them to leave and never return. The Shawnees had not signed the Stanwix treaty, and since they regarded Kentucky as their hunting ground, they considered white hunters there to be poachers. Boone, however, continued hunting and exploring Kentucky until his return to North Carolina in 1771, and returned to hunt there again in the autumn of 1772. On September 25, 1773, Boone packed up his family and, with a group of about 50 emigrants, began the first attempt by British colonists to establish a settlement in Kentucky. Boone was still an obscure hunter and trapper at the time; the most prominent member of the expedition was William Russell, a well-known Virginian and future brother-in-law of Patrick Henry. On October 9, Boone's eldest son James and a small group of men and boys who had left the main party to retrieve supplies were attacked by a band of Delawares, Shawnees, and Cherokees. Following the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, American Indians in the region had been debating what to do about the influx of settlers. This group had decided, in the words of historian John Mack Faragher, "to send a message of their opposition to settlement…." James Boone and William Russell's son Henry were captured and gruesomely tortured to death. The brutality of the killings sent shock waves along the frontier, and Boone's party abandoned its expedition.^[16]The massacre was one of the first events in what became known as Dunmore's War, a struggle between Virginia and, primarily, Shawnees of the Ohio Country for control of what is now West Virginia and Kentucky. In the summer of 1774, Boone volunteered to travel with a companion to Kentucky to notify surveyors there about the outbreak of war. The two men journeyed more than 800 miles (1,300 km) in two months to warn those who had not already fled the region. Upon his return to Virginia, Boone helped defend colonial settlements along the Clinch River, earning a promotion to captain in the militia as well as acclaim from fellow citizens. After the brief war, which ended soon after Virginia's victory in the Battle of Point Pleasant in October 1774, Shawnees relinquished their claims to Kentucky.^[17]

3.      Logan’s Revenge--Logan was a leader of the Mingo Indians. He was a war leader but often urged his fellow natives not to attack whites settling in the Ohio Country. His attitude changed on May 3, 1774, when a group of Virginia settlers murdered approximately one dozen Mingos. Among them were Logan's mother and sister. Logan demanded that the Mingos and their allies, principally the Shawnee Indians, take revenge for the deaths of his loved ones. Cornstalk, one of the important leaders of the Shawnees, still called for peace, but Logan ignored him. He conducted raids in western Pennsylvania, killing thirteen whites in retaliation for the Mingos' deaths. His attacks resulted in Lord Dunmore's War. The English eventually defeated the natives, and the two sides met near Chillicothe to determine peace terms. Logan refused to attend but did send a speech known as "Logan's Lament." Simon Girty, an Englishman kidnapped by the natives and then raised as one of their own, may have read it at the conference. It became one of the most famous speeches by a Native American in American history. Logan spent the remainder of his life trying to prevent white settlers from moving into the Ohio Country. During the American Revolution, he continued to raid white settlements in Pennsylvania. Most accounts describe Logan as becoming despondent and turning to alcohol after his family's murder. He probably died around 1780.

a.    " I appeal to any white man to say, if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat; if ever he came cold and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed as they passed, and said, Logan is the friend of white men. I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man. Col. Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood, and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not sparing even my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it: I have killed many: I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbour a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one."

1.     The Battle of Point Pleasant, known as the Battle of Kanawha in some older accounts, was the only major battle of Dunmore's War. It was fought on October 10, 1774, primarily between Virginia militia and American Indians from the Shawnee and Mingo tribes. Along the Ohio River near modern Point Pleasant, West Virginia, American Indians under the Shawnee Chief Cornstalk attacked Virginia militia under Andrew Lewis, hoping to halt Lewis's advance into the Ohio Country. After a long and furious battle, Cornstalk retreated. After the battle, the Virginians, along with a second force led by Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, marched into the Ohio Country and compelled Cornstalk to agree to a treaty, ending the war. Colonel Andrew Lewis, in command of about 1,000 men, was part of a planned two-pronged Virginian invasion of the Ohio Country. He anticipated linking up with another force commanded by Lord Dunmore, who was marching west from Fort Pitt, then known as Fort Dunmore. Dunmore's plan was to march into the Ohio Country and force the Indians to accept Ohio River boundary which had been negotiated with the Iroquois in the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix. The Shawnees, however, had not been consulted in the treaty and many were not willing to surrender their lands south of the Ohio River without a fight. Officials of the British Indian Department, led by Sir William Johnson until his death in July 1774, worked to diplomatically isolate the Shawnees from other American Indians. As a result, when the war began, the Shawnees had few allies other than some Mingos. Cornstalk, the Shawnee leader, moved to intercept Lewis's army, hoping to prevent the Virginians from joining forces. Estimates of the size of Cornstalk's force have varied, but scholars now believe Cornstalk was probably outnumbered at least 2 to 1, having between 300 and 500 warriors. Future Shawnee leader Blue Jacket probably took part in this battle. Cornstalk's forces attacked Lewis's camp where the Kanawha River joins the Ohio River, hoping to trap him along a bluff. The battle lasted for hours and the fighting eventually became hand-to-hand. Cornstalk's voice was reportedly heard over the din of the battle, urging his warriors to "be strong." Lewis sent several companies along the Kanawha and up a nearby creek to attack the Indians from the rear, which reduced the intensity of the Shawnee offensive. At nightfall, the Shawnees quietly withdrew back across the Ohio. The Virginians had held their ground, and thus are considered to have won. The Virginians lost about 75 killed and 140 wounded.^[2] The Shawnees' losses could not be determined, since they carried away their wounded and threw many of the dead into the river.^[3] The next morning, Colonel Christian, who had arrived shortly after the battle, marched his men over the battlefield. They found twenty-one Indian bodies in the open, and twelve more were found hastily covered with brush and old logs. Among those killed was Pucksinwah, the father of Tecumseh.The Battle of Point Pleasant forced Cornstalk to make peace in the Treaty of Camp Charlotte, ceding to Virginia Shawnee claims to all lands south of the Ohio River (today's states of Kentucky and West Virginia).

B.   B.  Death—and Abandonment—The Battle of Point Pleasant killed Pucksinwah, father of Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa. Tenskwatawa was also born at the same time as his two brothers (triplets—a 1 in 8,100 chance naturally occurring); only Tenskwatawa and Kumskaukau lived past infancy, however. About a year after giving birth, Tenskwatawa’s mother abandoned her family—whether from fear of white depredations, or depression over her husband’s death, we are not sure—and either fled south (she was thought to possibly have been a Creek Indian), or west beyond the Mississippi River, we are not sure.

1.     Treaty of Fort MacIntosh—In 1785, the Confederation Congress sent George Rogers Clark, Arthur Lee, and Richard Butler to the Ohio Country to negotiate a treaty with the Delaware Indians, the Wyandot Indians, the Ottawa Indians, and the Chippewa Indians. The treaty negotiations took place at Fort McIntosh. Most of the Indian representatives were younger leaders who did not have the authority to negotiate a treaty. Despite this, the American commissioners pressed for a treaty. After several weeks of negotiations and after some of the Indians had become drunk on alcohol provided by the Americans, the natives signed the Treaty of Fort McIntosh on January 21, 1785. The tribal leaders agreed that they lived under the American government and could not form alliances with any other powers. The Indians were to relinquish their lands in southern and eastern Ohio. They were confined to the western corner of modern-day Ohio with a border consisting roughly of the Cuyahoga River on the east. A southern border extended from modern-day Akron westward to the Tuscarawas River, southward to Fort Laurens, then westward to Pickawillany on the Miami River. A western border ran north from Pickawillany to the St. Mary's River, and then to what is now Ft. Wayne, Indiana. A northern border from Fort Wayne to Lake Erie followed the shore of the lake east to the Cuyahoga River. The Americans promised that they would prevent squatters from settling on the Indian reservation. Most Native Americans in the Ohio Country rejected the treaty, especially the Shawnee Indians, because they lost their claim to all of their lands in southwestern Ohio. The Indians also protested that the people who signed the treaty did not have permission from their respective tribes to do so. While the Americans claimed that they would prevent white settlement of the Indians' land, government officials failed to do so. The Treaty of Fort McIntosh only increased tensions between the Ohio Country natives and the Americans.

2.     Treaty of Fort Finney--In 1785, the Confederation Congress dispatched Richard Butler and Samuel Holden Parsons to negotiate a treaty with the Shawnee Indians. The Shawnees refused to accept the terms of the Treaty of Fort McIntosh, and the American government hoped that war could be avoided with the Indians. The negotiations took place at Fort Finney, near modern day Cincinnati, Ohio. The Shawnees refused to accept the land set aside for them in the Treaty of Fort McIntosh. They gave the American negotiators a belt of black wampum, a sign of war. Butler and Parsons threatened the Shawnees with attack if they refused to the Americans' demands. Shawnee leaders, fearing the power of the American military, agreed to the Treaty of Fort Finney, also known as the Treaty at the Mouth of the Great Miami, on January 31, 1786. The Shawnee leaders in attendance agreed to relinquish all claims to their land in southwestern Ohio and southern Indiana. They promised to move to the land set aside for them in the Treaty of Fort McIntosh. The Americans also promised to keep white squatters from settling on land reserved exclusively for the Indians. Although some of the Shawnee Indians signed the treaty, many of them refused to abide by it. Most still claimed all of the land north of the Ohio River. White settlers now viewed that land as theirs and began to move into the region. Violence continued between the Americans and Indians in the Ohio Country.

Pontiac's Rebellion

I.               British Imperialism

A.   A.   British society—British society was very hierarchically arranged, and those people who belonged to the “better sort” expected to be deferred to by those that they considered to be of the “lower sort”—which in the aristocratic British mind, meant all “savages.”

B.     British army—the British army was staffed with two sorts of people, mainly: an officer corps made up of untrained (or self-trained) sons of the landed aristocracy, who had no other means to support themselves, and poor conscripts.

1.     1. British officers—officers were appointed because of their political connections, rather than on their training or competence. Some officers were able to learn military tactics, and pick up enough knowledge to become competent in their position; others were not. Officers came almost exclusively from the aristocracy, and expected not only immediate obedience to their orders, but also to treat those they considered beneath them with contempt.

2.     2. British soldiers—were largely poor conscripts; if the war was expected to need more soldiers, the government would go out and hire mercenaries. Because few of these soldiers found their way into uniform willingly, morale was exceedingly low (as was the pay), and discipline exceedingly harsh; miscreants could be sentenced to whippings of 50, 100, 200—up to 1000 lashes upon the bare back (the latter number undoubtedly would have meant an excruciating death). These floggings were public events—meant to deter others from following in their footsteps—and witnessed by many Native Americans, who undoubtedly questioned how the British would treat them in light of how they treated their compatriots.

3.     3. The British “victory’”—the British assumed that Native Americans had been subservient to the French, and were determined that they should continue to be subservient to them. By order of the commander of British forces in North America, the ritual of gift-giving to the various Native American groups would cease, and the prices charged to these groups for goods was to rise, as well.

C.     Native American reaction—not surprisingly, Native Americans did not like this treatment, especially when it came wrapped in invectives like “dogs” and “hogs.” The British viewed they Native American demands for gifts as proof of their utter dependency on themselves, and therefore began talking among themselves about getting rid of the new boss.

1. C. Native American reaction—not surprisingly, Native Americans did not like this treatment, especially when it came wrapped in invectives like “dogs” and “hogs.” The British viewed they Native American demands for gifts as proof of their utter dependency on themselves, and therefore began talking among themselves about getting rid of the new boss.

   1. Polyglot societies—with the disruption of the pays d’en haut, Native peoples began living with people from other tribes and nations. These polyglot villages became important trade centers. They also helped Natives to develop the concept that they were all a related, independent people—to develop an “Indian” identity. Pontiac himself was probably the offspring of just such a liason; while his father was Ottawa, and he himself was raised in the Ottawa tradition, his mother was Ojibwe, which undoubtedly increase his awareness of these other Native cultures.

2.     2. Resentment about “ill-treatment”—Natives compared their treatment by the British unfavorably with their treatment by the French, and attempted to persuade the remaining French that they would all be better off if the French were in “control” again.

II.             The Rebellion

A.     A. Pontiac’s “Conspiracy”—Pontiac probably received greater credit than was his due over the influence of events at Detroit. In part this is the work of the historian Francis Parkman, who wrote what for many years was the defining work on the subject, called The Conspiracy of Pontiac.  Pontiac was one of several Native American leaders to speak in favor of a quick strike against the British, in an effort to get rid of them. In this effort, they expected help from the French, which would not be forthcoming, in any event.

B.     B. Pontiac and prophecy—Pontiac considered himself a true believer of Neolin’s prophecy. He has been accused of simply using the teachings of Neolin to further his own ends, but it seems more likely that Pontiac, like many other Native American people, was using this new identity as an Indian people to attempt to make common purpose with others, and to reclaim their land from the British and especially from the British colonists (who shortly would themselves develop a new identity—that of Americans).

C.     The Attack on Fort Detroit—Fort Detroit was a massive structure (although not as massive as the new British fort at the headwaters of the Ohio River, Fort Pitt). After several reconnaissance missions, an abortive assault on the fort was launched in April 1763. Pontiac did not have enough warriors to overrun the fort, however, and settled in on a siege that lasted most of the summer.

1.     Lack of Native unity—part of the reason for the failure of the assault was that not all Native people supported ridding the country of the British, and in fact warned them that such an attack was in the works.

2.     The Spreading of the Operation—as word of Pontiac’s assault spread, other Native American people were inspired to undertake their own assaults on British forts, and seven smaller forts were actually taken. The first to fall was Fort Sandusky, and the largest fort Native American was able to capture was Fort Michilamackinac. The swiftness of these assaults led historians to believe for many years that the attacks had to be coordinated somehow, but it is now believed that it was simply the good communications Natives enjoyed, and their enthusiasm for just this kind of operation.

3.     The Negotiated Peace—the failure to capture none of the largest forts (Fort Pitt, Fort Detroit, or Fort Niagara) allowed British forces to hold out, and the success the British had in re-supplying Fort Niagara doomed the operation. Pontiac withdrew from Detroit to the Illinois Country (where the British enjoyed even less control), and kept up a low-grade resistance for a time, but eventually he settled for a negotiated peace, so he could return to his family on the Maumee.

4.     Pontiac’s prominence—Pontiac received the lion’s share of attention during his lifetime for this operation, as well, and the attention the British lavished on him after this operation made other Native Americans jealous; as a result, on Illinois Native American murdered him in Cahokia (near present-day St. Louis) in 1769.

Conclusion—traditionally, this uprising has been portrayed as a defeat for Native Americans; after all, British colonist ignored the Proclamation Line of 1763, and continued to pour over the mountains to attempt to populate the pays d’en haut. But these assaults actually were a partial victory for a time, and provided part of the inspiration for a later, more massive attempt at resistance.