HISTORY OF THE NEW YORK IROQUOIS 377 



Governor Simcoe kept hostile feelings alive, and in April 1794 

 he went from Detroit to the foot of the Maumee rapids and began 

 building a fort on American territory. The western Indians 

 said he supplied them with all things red, and would aid them 

 with 1500 men, A Spanish agent also came to stir them up and 

 offer aid. The Americans prepared for war, and some things 

 happened to alienate the Six Nations from them. Cornplanter 

 and others had sold Presque Isle to Pennsylvania, and it prepared 

 to take possession contrary to their wish, as they claimed that 

 the sale was irregular. General Gibson wrote to Governor Mif- 

 flin June II, 1794, " From every account, I have every reason to 

 believe the Six Nations mean to be hostile." Cornplanter thought 

 war certain, and bragged of what he would do against the Ameri- 

 cans, but Washington wished to avoid trouble and proposed a 

 council. June 27 General Wilkins said of the Six Nations : 



Our peace or war with them depends on our being in peace or 

 war with the English. The Senecas, who are the best dispQsed 

 of any of the Six Nation tribes, say that the English have bought 

 over all the other tribes, but that they are determined to be 

 neutral ; but if there is an English war, their neutrality is not 

 to be depended on. 



Wayne's victory turned the scale, and Washington's prudent 

 measures averted local trouble. In Wayne the Indians found a 

 sleepless foe, wise and watchful. Their attempt to capture one 

 of his trains, June 30, was defeated, and he marched on. July 

 |20, 1794, he completely routed them at Maumee rapids, pursuing 

 jthe enemy and destroying everything of theirs under the walls 

 :0f the British fort. It was at this time that the Indians revived 

 the name of Long Knives for the Americans. In contemporane- 

 ous accounts these rapids are always called those of the Miami. 



Brant was not there, but he and many Mohawks went west- 

 tward in September. He then " said he went to the war unwill- 

 ingly, but he was compelled, and must go, for war was contrived 

 merely for this, to exterminate the Indians." Some Senecas and 

 Onondagas were there. Oheknugh, an Onondaga chief, was 

 fslain, but Oundiaga and some of his warriors escaped. 



