St. Clair and Wayne 389 



hostilities. 17 The councils accomplished nothing to 

 ward averting a war; on the contrary, they tended 

 to band all the Northwestern Indians together in a 

 loose confederacy, so that active hostilities against 

 some were sure in the end to involve all. 



While the councils were sitting and while the 

 Americans were preparing for the treaties, outrages 

 of the most flagrant kind occurred. One, out of 

 many, was noteworthy as showing both the treach 

 ery of the Indians, and the further fact that some 

 tribes went to war, not because they had been in any 

 way maltreated, but from mere lust of blood and 

 plunder. In July of this year, 1788, Governor St. 

 Clair was making ready for a treaty to which he had 

 invited some of the tribes. It was to be held on the 

 Muskingum, and he sent to the appointed place pro 

 visions for the Indians with a 'guard of men. One 

 day" a party of Indians, whose tribe was then un 

 known, though later they turned out to be Chippe- 

 was from the Upper Lakes, suddenly fell on the 

 guard. They charged home with great spirit, using 

 their sharp spears well, and killed, wounded, or cap 

 tured several soldiers; but they were repulsed, and 

 retreated, carrying with them their dead, save one 

 warrior. 18 A few days afterward they imprudently 

 ventured back, pretending innocence, and six were 

 seized, and sent to one of the forts as prisoners. 

 Their act of treacherous violence had, of course, 



11 Do., James Rinkin to Richard Butler, July 20, 1788. 

 18 St. Clair Papers, II, 50. 



