St. Clair and Wayne 77 



whether the deed was the mere wanton outrage of 

 some bloodthirsty young braves, or the result of 

 orders given by one of the Indian councils. At any 

 rate, the Indians never punished the treachery ; and 

 when the chiefs wrote to Washington they men- 

 tioned with cool indifference that "you sent us at 

 different times different speeches, the bearers where- 

 of our foolish young men killed on their way" ; 2 

 not even expressing regret for the occurrence. 



The truculent violence and bad faith of the sav- 

 ages merited severe chastisement; but the United 

 States Government was long-suffering and forbear- 

 ing to a degree. There was no attempt to avenge 

 the murder of the flag-of-truce men. On the con- 

 trary, renewed efforts were made to secure a peace 

 by treaty. In the fall of 1792 Rufus Putnam, on 

 behalf of the United States, succeeded in conclud- 

 ing a treaty with the Wabash and Illinois tribes, 3 

 which at least served to keep many of their young 

 braves out of actual hostilities. In the following 

 spring, three commissioners Benjamin Lincoln, 

 Beverly Randolph, and Timothy Pickering, all men 

 of note, were sent to persuade the Miami tribes 

 and their allies to agree to a peace. In his letter 

 of instructions the Secretary of War impressed 

 upon them the desire of the people of the United 

 States for peace in terms that were almost hu- 

 miliating, and even directed them if necessary to 



2 Canadian Archives, Indian affairs, M. 2, p. 224. The 

 Michigan and Wisconsin Historical Societies have performed 

 a great service by publishing so many of these papers. 



3 American State Papers, IV, 338. 



