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Rh given to General Putnam. Thus six men had preceded Putnam to the Maumee, and only two of them went merely as spies—May and Reynolds. The fate of four of these men dampened the ardor of the frontier people for peaceful efforts. Freeman, Gerrard, Trueman, and Hardin were all murdered before reaching the Maumee. Reynolds and May returned in safety later in the year.

General Putnam learned at Fort Washington of the fate of his predecessors and determined not to throw life away uselessly. Favorable messages having been received from the upper Wabash, he turned all his efforts toward securing a meeting with the Wabash Indians in the fall of the year at Vincennes, Indiana. No more attempts were made to reach the Maumee over the "Bloody Way," as the Indians termed the route north from Fort Washington. "The President of the United States must know well why the blood is so deep in our paths," exclaimed a Shawanese chieftain, " he has sent messengers of peace on these bloody roads, who fell on the way." A messenger was even now pre-