St. Clair and Wayne 387 



were there, and tried to influence the great gather 

 ings of different tribes who came together at San- 

 dusky to consult as to the white advance. 13 



These efforts to negotiate were as disheartening 

 as was usually the case under such circumstances. 

 There were many different tribes, and some were for 

 peace, while others were for war; and even the 

 peaceful ones could not restrain their turbulent 

 young men. Far off nations of Indians who had 

 never been harmed by the whites, and were in no 

 danger from them, sent war parties to the Ohio; 

 and the friendly tribes let them pass without inter 

 ference. The Iroquois were eagerly consulted by the 

 Western Indians, and in the summer of 1788 a 

 great party of them came to Sandusky to meet in 

 council all the tribes of the Lakes and the Ohio 

 Valley, and even some from the upper Mississippi. 

 With the Iroquois came the famous chief Joseph 

 Brant, a mighty warrior, and a man of education, 

 who in his letters to the United States officials 

 showed much polished diplomacy. 14 



The tribes who gathered at this great council met 

 on the soil which, by treaty with England, had been 

 declared American, and came from regions which 

 the same treaty had defined as lying within the 

 boundaries of the United States. But these pro 

 visions of the treaty had never been executed, ow 

 ing largely to a failure on the part of the Americans 



13 State Department MSS., No. 150, Vol. Ill, Harmar's 

 speech to the Indians at Vincennes, September 17, 1787. 

 Richard Butler to the Secretary of. War, May 4, 1788, etc. 



14 Do., pp. 47 and 51. 



