Page:Messages and Letters of William Henry Harrison Vol. 1.djvu/80

42. Although our title to the land is thus clearly ascertained, I think it would be extremely impolitic to insist on taking the whole of it. I am not certain that the Indians would agree to it. At present I believe they have no idea of a claim being set up to that extent, and it is said that general Putnam gave them assurance when he assembled the Wabash chiefs at this place in 1793, that our claim would not be very extensive. The right to the whole tract may be declared, but the lines which are to run from the two points on the Wabash above mentioned, may be extended no further than 10 or 12 leagues, on each side the river. This would readily be acceded to by the Indians and would make the settlements here sufficiently large. None of the Piankishaw chiefs (by which tribe all the former sales in this country were made) attended the treaty of Greenville, and the Wea chiefs, who are said to have represented them, are all dead. At a council which was held here last summer, the subject of the boundary line was mentioned by the Piankishaw chiefs, and they expressed great uneasiness that the boundary line had not been ascertained, and at the reports which had been circulated amongst them, that the Americans meant to take from them all their country. They also said, that the settlements which had been formed on the south side of White river, were an encroachment upon them. I took this opportunity to explain to them that part of the treaty of Greenville which relates to this place, and assured them that an investigation would take place, in order to ascertain the extent of country which had been actually conceded to the French. That from what I can learn, our claim on the Wabash was contained between Point Coupee and White river, but I could not determine how far it might extend on each side the river,—nor in what direction the lines would run from these two points; but if it should appear on investigation, that it was the intention of their forefathers,