Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/89

 HISTORY OF OHIO.

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��former assertions, and exhibited great powers of reasoning and clear logic in defense of their po- sition. The commissioners reply that it is impos- ble to accept the Ohio as the boundary, and declare the negotiation at an end.

This closed the efforts of the Government to ne- gotiate with the Indians, and there remained of necessity no other mode of settling the dispute but war. Liberal terms had been offered them, but nothing but the boundary of the Ohio River would suffice. It was the only condition upon which the confederation would lay down its arms. " Among the rude statesmen of the wilderness, there was exhibited as pure patriotism and as lofty devotion to' the good of their race, as ever won ap- plause among civilized men. The white man had, ever since he came into the country, been encroach- ing on their lands. He had long occupied the regions beyond the mountains. He had crushed the conspiracy formed by Pontiac, thirty years be- fore. He had taken possession of the common hunting-ground of all the tribes, on the faith of treaties they did not acknowledge. He was now laying out settlements and building forts in the heart of the country to which all the tribes had been driven, and which now was all they could call their own. And now they asked that it should be guaranteed to them, that the boundary which they had so long asked for should be drawn, and a final end be made to the continual aggressions of the whites ; or, if not, they solemnly determined to stake their all, against fearful odds, in defense of their homes, their country and the inheritance of their children. Nothing could be more patriotic than the position they occupied, and nothing could be more noble than the declarations of their council."*

They did not know the strength of the whites, and based their success on the victories already gained. They hoped, nay, were promised, aid from the British, and even the Spanish had held out to them assurances of help when the hour of conflict came.

The Americans were not disposed to yield even to the confederacy of the tribes backed by the two rival nations, forming, as Wayne characterized it, a " hydra of British, Spanish and Indian hostility."' On the 16th of August, the commissioners re- ceived the final answer of the council. The 17th, they left the mouth of the Detroit River, and the 23d, arrived at Fort Erie, where they immediately


 * Annals of the West.

��dispatched messengers to Gen. Wayne to inform him of the issue of the negotiation. Wayne had spent the winter of 1792-93, at Legionville, in col- lecting and organizing his army. April 30, 1793, the army moved down the river and encamped at a point, called by the soldiers " Hobson's choice," because from the extreme height of the river they were prevented from landing elsewhere. Here Wayne was engaged, during the negotiations for peace, in drilling his soldiers, in cutting roads, and collecting supplies for the army. He was ready for an immediate campaign in case the council failed in its object.

While here, he sent a letter to the Secretary of War, detailing the circumstances, and suggesting the probable course he should follow. He re- mained here during the summer, and, when apprised of the issue, saw it was too late to attempt the campaign then. He sent the Kentucky militia home, and, with his regular soldiers, went into winter quarters at a fort he built on a tributary of the Great Miami. He called the fort Green- ville. The present town of Greenville is near the site of the fort. During the winter, he sent a de- tachment to visit the scene of St. Clair's defeat. They found more than six hundred skulls, and were obliged to "scrape the bones together and carry them out to get a place to make their beds." They buried all they could find. Wayne was steadily preparing his forces, so as to have every- thing ready for a sure blow when the time came. All his information showed the faith in the British which still animated the doomed red men, and gave them a hope that could end only in defeat.

The conduct of the Indians fvilly corroborated the statements received by Gen. Wayne. On the 30th of June, an escort of ninety riflemen and fifty dragoons, under command of Maj. McMahon, was attacked under the walls of Fort Recovery by a force of more than one thousand Indians under charge of Little Turtle. They were repulsed and badly defeated, and, the next day, driven away. Their mode of action, their arms and ammunition, all told plainly of British aid. They also ex- pected to find the cannon lost by St. Clair Novem- ber 4, 1791, but which the Americans had secured. The 26th of July, Gen. Scott, with 1,600 mounted men from Kentucky, joined Gen. Wayne at Fort Greenville, and, two days after, the legion moved forward. The 8th of August, the. army reached the junction of the Auglaize and Mau- mee, and at once proceeded to erect Fort Defiance, where the waters meet. The Indians had abandoned

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