St. Clair and Wayne 47 



nounced the deed, and threatened the offenders; 

 but the frontiersmen stood by them. 16 Soon after- 

 ward a delegation of chiefs from the Seneca tribe 

 of the Iroquois arrived at Fort Pitt, and sent a mes- 

 sage to the President, complaining of the murder 

 of these alleged friendly Indians. 17 On the very 

 day these Seneca chiefs started on their journey 

 home another Delaware war party killed nine set- 

 tlers, men, women, and children, within twenty 

 miles of Fort Pitt; which so enraged the people of 

 the neighborhood that the lives of the Senecas were 

 jeopardized. The United States authorities were 

 particularly anxious to keep at peace with the Six 

 Nations, and made repeated efforts to treat with 

 them ; but the Six Nations stood sullenly aloof, afraid 

 to enter openly into the struggle, and yet reluctant 

 to make a firm peace or cede any of their lands. 18 

 The intimate relations between the Indians and 

 the British at the Lake Posts continued to perplex 

 and anger the Americans. While the frontiers were 

 being mercilessly ravaged, the same Indians who 

 were committing the ravages met in council with the 

 British agent, Alexander McKee, at the Miami 

 Rapids ; the council being held in this neighborhood 



16 State Department MSS., Washington Papers, Ex. C., p. 

 ii, etc. Presly Neville to Richard Butler, March 19, 1791; 

 Isaac Craig to Secretary of War, March 16, 1791 ; Secretary 

 of War to President, March 31, 1791. 



" American State Papers, IV, 145, Cornplanter and others 

 to the President, March 17, 1791. 



18 State Department MSS., Washington Papers, Knox to 

 the President, April 10, 1791: American State Papers, IV, 

 pp. 139-170, 225-233, 477-482, etc. 



