Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/88

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��HISTOEY OF OHIO.

��A great council of the Indians was to be held at Auglaize during the autumn of 1792, when the assembled nations were to discuss fully their means of defense, and determine their future line of action. The council met in October, and was the largest Indian gathering of the time. The chiefs of all the tribes of the Northwest were there. The representatives of the seven nations of Canada, were in attendance. Cornplanter and forty-eight chiefs of the New York (Six Nations ) Indians re- paired thither. " Besides these," said Cornplanter, "there were so many nations we cannot tell the names of them. There were three men from the Gora nation ; it took them a whole season to come ; and," continued he, "twenty-seven nations from beyond Canada were there." The question of peace or war was long and earnestly debated. Their future was solemnly discussed, and around the council fire native eloquence and native zeal shone in all their simple strength. One nation after another, through their chiefs, presented their views. The deputies of the Six Nations, who had been at Philadelphia to consult the "Thirteen Fu'es," made their report. The Western bound- ary was the principal question. The natives, with one accord, declared it must be the Ohio River. An address was prepared, and sent to the President, wherein their views were stated, and agreeing to abstain from all hostilities, until they could meet again in the spring at the rapids of the Maumee, and there consult with their white brothers. They desired the President to send agents, "who are men of honesty, not proud land-jobbers, but men who love and desire peace." The good work of Penn was evidenced here, as they desired that the embassadors "be accompanied by some Friend or Quaker."

The armistice they had promised was not, how- ever, faithfully kept. On the 6th of November, a detachment of Kentucky cavalry at Fort St. Clair, about twenty-five miles above Fort Hamil- ton, was attacked. The commander, Maj. Adair, was an excellent officer, well versed in Indian tac- tics, and defeated the savages.

This infraction of their promises did not deter the United States from taking measures to meet the Indians at the rapids of the Maumee " when the leaves were fully out." For that purpose, the President selected as commissioners, Charles Car- roll and Charles Thompson, but, as they declined the nomination, he appointed Benjamin Lincoln, Beverly llandolph and Timothy Pickering, the 1st of March, 1793, to attend the convention, which.

��it was thought best, should be held at the San- dusky outpost. About the last of April, these commissioners left Philadelphia, and, late in May, reached Niagara, where they remained guests of Lieut. Gov. Simcoe, of the British Government. This officer gave them all the aid he could, yet it was soon made plain to them that he would not object to the confederation, nay, even rather fav- ored it. They speak of his kindness to them, in grateful terms. Gov. Simcoe advised the Indians to make peace, but not to give up any of their lands. That was the pith of the whole matter. The British rather claimed land in New York, under the treaty of 1783, alleging the Americans had not fully complied with the terms of that treaty, hence they were not as anxious for peace and a peaceful settlement of the difficult boundary question as they sometimes represented.

By July, "the leaves were fully out," the con- ferences among the tribes were over, and, on the 15th of that month, the commissioners met Brant and some fifty natives. In a strong speech, Brant set forth their wishes, and invited them to accom- })any him to the place of holding the council. The Indians were rather jealous of Wayne's continued preparations for war, hence, just before setting out for the Maumee, the commissioners sent a letter to the Secretary of War, asking that all warlike demonstrations cease until the result of their mis- sion be known.

On 21st of July, the embassy reached the head of the Detroit River, where their advance was checked by the British authorities at Detroit, com- pelling them to take up their abode at the house of Andrew Elliott, the famous renegade, then a British agent under Alexander McKee. McKee was attending the council, and the commissioners addressed him a note, borne by Elliott, to inform him of their arrival, and asking when they could be received. Elliott returned on the 29th, bring- ing with him a deputation of twenty chiefs from the council. The next day, a conference was held, and the chief of the Wyandots, Sa-wagh-da-wunk, presented to the commissioners, in writing, their explicit demand in regard to the boundary, and their purposes and powers. " The Ohio must be the boundary," said he, " or blood will flow."

The commissioners returned an answer to the proposition brought by the chiefs, recapitulating the treaties already made, and denying the Ohio as the boundary line. On the 16th of August, the council sent them, by two Wyandot runners, a final answer, in which they recapitulated their

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