48 The Winning of the West 



for the special benefit of the very towns which were 

 most hostile to the Americans, and which had been 

 partially destroyed by Harmar the preceding fall. 

 The Indian war was at its height, and the murder- 

 ous forays never ceased throughout the spring and 

 summer. McKee came to Miami in April, and was 

 forced to wait nearly three months, because of the 

 absence of the Indian war parties, before the prin- 

 cipal chiefs and headmen gathered to meet him. 

 At last, on July ist, they were all assembled; not 

 only the Shawnees, Delawares, Wyandots, Ottawas, 

 Pottawatomies and others who had openly taken the 

 hatchet against the Americans, but also representa- 

 tives of the Six Nations, and tribes of savages from 

 lands so remote that they carried no guns; but 

 warred with bows, spears, and tomahawks, and were 

 clad in buffalo-robes instead of blankets. McKee 

 in his speech to them did not incite them to war. 

 On the contrary, he advised them, in guarded lan- 

 guage, to make peace with the United States ; but 

 only upon terms consistent with their "honor and 

 interest." He assured them that, whatever they 

 did, he wished to know what they desired ; and that 

 the sole purpose of the British was to promote the 

 welfare of the confederated Indians. Such very 

 cautious advice was not of a kind to promote peace; 

 and the goods furnished the savages at the council 

 included not only cattle, corn, and tobacco, but also 

 quantities of powder and balls. 19 



19 Canadian Archives, McKee's speech to the Indians, July 

 i, 1791; and Francis Lafontaine's account of sundries to 

 Indians. 



