David D. Plain's Blog, page 2

The Fall of Detroit

Tecumseh’s confederacy began to grow. Early successes against the Big Knives bolstered the First Nations around Detroit. Teyoninhokarawenor The Snipe whose English name was John Norton arrived with seventy warriors. He was a Mohawk from the Grand River. His war party consisted of Iroquois from the Grand and some Munsee Delaware he had recruited from the Thames. Miscocomon or Red Knife joined him with a party of Ojibway warriors from the Thames.

The young warriors Kayotang and Yahobance, in English Raccoon, from Bear Creek (Sydenham River) raised a war party and joined with war chief Waupugais and his party from the Sauble. They traveled down the eastern shore of Lake Huron to Aamjiwnaang at the mouth of the St. Clair River. They met Misquahwegezhigk or Red Sky at the mouth of the Black River. He was the war chief of the Black River band of Saulteaux Ojibwa. They were all joined by Quakegman also known as Feather a war chief of the St. Clair band across the river. The whole entourage made its way south down the St. Clair to the lake of the same name. They picked up Petahgegeeshig or Between Day as well as Quaquakebookgk or Revolution with a large group of Ojibwa warriors from the Swan Creek and Salt River bands. The whole group arrived at Amherstburg sometime in early August 1812.

Okemos, who was a nephew of Pontiac, was the chief of the Cedar River band near present day Lansing, Michigan. They were a mixed band of Ojibwa and Ottawa people. He also arrived about the same time as the Saulteaux Ojibwa. Manitocorbay also came leading a large party of Ojibwa from Saginaw. Tecumseh’s coalition grew to about 600 warriors.

On the 9th of August Captain Adam Muir crossed the Detroit with just over 100 Red Coats, most of them regulars and started down the road to Bluejacket’s village of Maguaga. They were joined by Tecumseh with 300 warriors.. Main Poc and Walk-In-The-Water led the Potawatomi and Wyandotte bands.. Just as they arrived some of their scouts came rushing down the road with news. They excitedly told their chiefs that a large party of Big Knives were arriving from Detroit.

Hull had sent out a force to re-take the road that was his supply line from Ohio. This time the size of the force he sent out was much larger and included a healthy contingent of battle hardened regulars. The allied forces picked a place conducive to the ambush style forest warfare. Muir’s men flattened themselves on the ground on each side of the road while Main Poc and Walk-In-The-Water took up position ahead of the British in the woods on one side while Tecumseh covered them from the other side. There they lay, still and silent, awaiting the Americans. They didn’t have to wait long.

The Big Knives appeared marching down the road in two columns one on each side of the road with a column of cavalry in between. They were led by an advance guard of infantrymen under Captain Josiah Snelling while Lieutenant-Colonel James Miller rode at the head of the cavalry. Behind them was their baggage and heavy armament, one six-pounder and one howitzer. These were flanked by a small rear guard of regulars from the 4th U.S. Infantry. The unsuspecting Americans marched right passed the hiding enemy.

The warriors opened up fire upon the advance guard and the main column. The Red Coats joined the fire and the Big Knives broke ranks. However, they were battle tested veterans and among Hull’s finest soldiers. They regrouped under Miller and quickly formed battle lines. They began to advance firing mainly upon the British as the bright red jackets made easier targets than the warriors. Their 6 pounder also joined the fray by spaying the wooded areas with grape-shot.

Then things began to go wrong for the allies. One report said that the American’s forced one of the body of warriors to fall back and Muir’s men mistook them for advancing Blue Coats and so fired upon their own allies. Another report said the Red Coats mistook a command to advance as one to retreat giving up ground to Miller’s troops. Later Proctor would only record that during the battle something went amiss.

The Red Coats retired from the battlefield and retreated back to Malden. The warriors fought on for a time but were overwhelmed by superior numbers and they gave up the road to the Americans. But they didn’t hold control of their supply line for very long.

Inexplicably on August the 12th the “Old Lady”, that’s what Hull’s officers had come to call him, ordered Miller to withdraw back to the safety of Fort Detroit. Tecumseh moved back across the river and took control of the road to Urbana once again.

Tecumseh lost two warriors killed and six wounded in the Battle of Maguaga. He was slightly wounded himself. Muir lost five killed including Lieutenant Charles Sutherland, fourteen wounded and two missing. The Americans fared much worse. Miller suffered eighty-two casualties including eighteen dead. Jim Bluejacket, son of the great Shawnee Chief was also killed scouting for Miller. Although the Canadians lost the battle in the end because of Hull’s trepidation the blockade of Fort Detroit remained intact.

The American’s also had planned an invasion of Upper Canada at Niagara to coincide with Hull’s arrival at Sandwich but it was delayed. This freed up the commander of the British forces Isaac Brock to personally survey the situation on the Detroit frontier. He left Long Point with 350 men skirting the north shore of Lake Erie and up the Detroit. When he arrived at Amherstburg, sometime after the sun had set on August 13th, he was greeted with a volley of gunfire. The rounds were not deadly but fired off into the air as a greeting by the warriors on Bois Blanc Island.

A meeting of the officers was hastily called. Mathew Elliot, the old Indian Agent, quickly left to fetch Tecumseh. When Tecumseh and the General met they immediately hit it off. Both men were bold warriors, decisive in deed and had the military acumen only great generals enjoy. In short they were made of the same mettle.

When Brock heard of the trembling fear General Hull had of Tecumseh’s warriors he wanted to exploit this weakness. He decided to go on the offensive by attacking Fort Detroit. Proctor was against the plan as were most of the officers except for two. Tecumseh on the hand was filled with affirmative excitement. When that meeting broke up the decision had been made to send Hull a letter giving him the chance to surrender the fort. If the offer was refused they would attack. Colonel Proctor had been sent to Amherstburg to replace St. George. Now Brock would replace him as commander of the forces on the Detroit front.

On August 15th the letter containing Brock’s offer was sent across the river to Hull. In it Brock reminded Hull that ”the numerous body of Indians that have attached themselves to my troops will be beyond control the moment the contest commences”. He was preying on Hull’s most paralyzing fear but the bluff didn’t work. Hull refused to surrender. The following day British cannon fire roared across the Detroit from Sandwich. Hull returned the fire The British cannonade proved more deadly than Hull’s. Several shots found their mark landing inside the fort killing several people.

Brock marched his men boldly up the road to within sight of the main gate and its gatehouse. He led 800 men which included 300 regulars and 400 Militia with some dressed in red coats to give the impression he had more regulars than he did. Norton and his seventy Mohawk and Munsee warriors also marched with Brock. When they arrived to within sight of the fort they realized they were about to be met with the deadly fire of two twenty-four-pounders and one 6 pounder load with grape and canister shot. Brock peeled off taking shelter in a small ravine.

Roundhead, Walk-In-The-Water, Main Poc and Splitlog led their warriors through woods in order to attack the fort from the left and rear. Tecumseh led the rest of the coalition and joined them as they faced off against Hull’s militia. One story relates that during the face off Tecumseh had the 530 warriors march out of a small wood lot across an open field and into the main woods, circle around to the starting point. They filed passed the Americans again all the time screeching blood curdling war hoops in full view of the enemy. Three times the warriors showed themselves deceiving the militia and General Hull into actually believing the warriors they feared so much were there in the thousands.

While Brock had his men stationed in the ravine trying to entice Hull out of the fort he received bad news from scouts who had been patrolling the road south of the fort. They reported that a force of 350 militiamen under McArthur and Cass were approaching from the south. They had been sent two days earlier skirting through the forest to meet a supply convoy at the River Raisin. Before they reached their goal they were urgently recalled by Hull when he received Brock’s letter. Now it seemed Hull had Brock and his allies hemmed in.

However, neither Brock nor the war chiefs would entertain retreat. It was a tactic only to be used as a last resort. Brock decided to abandon the ploy to entice the Americans out of the fort to fight in the open. About 10 o’clock in the morning as Brock was preparing his men for a frontal assault the big American guns stopped firing across the Detroit. To Brock’s utter amazement a white flag was hung over the fort’s wall. The militia facing the warriors withdrew.. Not a shot was fired by either side.

Hull had fretted all morning about unrelenting “savages” overrunning the fort and committing unspeakable atrocities on the civilian populace. He especially worried about the safety of his own daughter and grandchildren who were with him. He surrendered the fort, the American army and all armament and supplies with only a few cannonade exchanged across the river. Never before had First Nation warriors so overwhelmingly contributed to such an immense victory over a common enemy.

Hull’s men were utterly dismayed and humiliated at being denied the chance to give account of themselves. They are said to have piled their small arms in heaps along the fort’s palisade with tears in their eyes. Cass and McArthur’s men had stopped to roast an ox they had caught running through the woods and were never a factor in the almost battle.

The American colors were lowered and the Union Jack hoisted above Fort Detroit to the sound of volleys of gunfire shot in the air. They were returned by cannon fire from Sandwich all as a victory celebration. The British flag had been absent from the Territory of Michigan for seventeen years. Now it had returned..The Territory of Michigan would now be annexed into the Province of Upper Canada.

General Hull was taken prisoner along with 582 regulars and 1,606 militia. There was also 350 Michigan Militia taken into the British forces because they were not part of American federal forces. However, half of them had already defected when the engagement commenced. Hull also gave up thirty-nine guns including nine twenty-four pounders, 3,000 rifles, a huge quantity of ammunition and twenty-five days worth of supplies. The spoils also included the Adams, a new American war ship not yet quite finished.

When Hull was returned to the U.S. he faced a court-martial charged with treason, cowardice, neglect of duty and bad conduct. The trial took place in April of 1814 where he was found not guilty of the first two charges but guilty of neglect of duty and bad conduct. He was sentenced to be shot but mercy was recommended because of his age and his exemplary war record during the Revolution. President Madison remitted his sentence and William Hull spent the rest of his life trying to defend himself and explain his conduct. He died in 1825.

NEXT WEEK:  The Warrior’s Offensive Falters

The Invasion Stalls

Hull worried about his supply line from Ohio. He was also convinced he was outnumbered by fierce, unrelenting warriors. Anxious to keep “his friendly Indians” in Michigan Territory neutral he called for an all native conference to renew their pledges of neutrality. Captain Lewis, Logan and The Wolf acted as scouts for Hull when he hacked his way through the bogs of northwestern Ohio and dense forests of Michigan to Detroit. Black Hoof joined them just after their arrival. Hull assigned them the task of calling the friendly chiefs to a council at Walk-In-The-Water’s Wyandotte village near Brownstown. Tecumseh, Roundhead and Main Poc were invited but declined.

On July 15th Black Hoof spoke to the council of nine nations. Chiefs from the Ojibwa, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Wyandotte, Kickapoo, Delaware, Munsee, Sac and Six Nations of the Grand attended. He brought them a message from the great American war chief who was at Detroit explaining that the Americans were obliged to go to War with Great Britianir because they would not permit the them to enjoy their neutral rights. Further, it was not of interest to the First Nations to concern themselves with the two government’s differences. And because the British were too weak to contend with them they were enticing all the nations around to join them in their fight. It was the desire of their Great Father in Washington that they not do so but remain neutral and enjoy their peace.

Lewis and Logan followed with reminders of how the British treated them at the end of the War of Independence and how they were abandoned at Fallen Timbers. They argued that they all should let the Red Coats and the Big Knives fight their own battles and if they did they could be assured their Great Father in Washington wanted no more of their land and he would always care for needs.

The chiefs still believing the British were fighting an unwinnable war professed their continued neutrality and July 20th the conference ended. Black Hoof, Logan, Lewis and The Wolf left immediately for Piqua and the Conference called for on August 1st.

A week later Major James Denny moved down the Canadian shore of the Detroit to just short of the Aux Canard. He was at the head of 120 Ohio Militiamen when they came upon a small party of warriors who were out of range. They traded shots to no avail while the warriors sent for reinforcements. Denny also sent one of his men back up the road to Sandwich and their main camp. Unfortunately, he ran into another small war party of thirteen at Turkey Creek where he was tomahawked. He would be the first American soldier killed in the war.

Tecumseh and Main Poc rushed from Malden with 150 Shawnee, Ottawa and Potawatomi warriors. They skirted the road to a tall grass prairie called Petite Cote just beyond the bridge and set up an ambush. The small war party who killed the militiaman at Turkey Creek appeared and twenty militiamen gave chase down the road and past the ambush. The main body of warriors emerged from the tall sunflowers and wild carrots amid screeching war hoops and gunfire directed at Denny. He saw that he had a disaster on his hands. His troops were scattered so he broke with the main body for a wood lot on his left to set up a defensive line. The line held but the warriors moved to take possession of the road to his right. When they saw their only escape route was about to be cut off and they would be surrounded they panicked. They rushed for the road, every man for himself, with the warriors hot on their flank. They managed to reach the road safely but were in full retreat, running pell-mell back to Sandwich. The warriors hounded them all the way stopping along fence lines, orchards and behind homesteads to take pot shots at the fleeing Americans. They finally broke off the chase at Turkey Creek. Denny lost five killed, two wounded and one taken prisoner. The warriors lost one killed and three wounded.

The American captive was treated very badly because one of his comrades, William McColloch, found time during the skirmish to scalp the dead warrior. He was bound and whipped with ramrods but he did live and was ransomed by British Indian Agent Matthew Elliott.

The warriors now shifted their efforts to the other side of the Detroit. On August 3rd Tecumseh, Roundhead and Captain Adam Muir led a large force of warriors along with 100 Red Coats across the Detroit to Brownstown. They surrounded the towns of Maguaga and Brownstown and rounded up the inhabitants. Maguaga, Blue Jacket’s town, was inhabited by a mix of Shawnee and Wyandotte while Walk-In-The-Water’s town were all Wyandotte. The total population was approximately 300 all remaining neutral in the war.

The whole population was spirited back across the boarder to Bois Blanc Island where a council was held. Tecumseh and Roundhead pleaded for the Confederacy’s cause. Miere or Walk-In-The-Water retorted with his intention of keeping his word to remain neutral. In the end Tecumseh won out convincing the neutral First Nations to capitulate and join his cause. This added about eighty warriors to his force.

Two days later Tecumseh left Amherstburg again. This time he crossed the river with a much smaller force of just twenty-five. Their scouts made them aware of a mail run making its way north from Frenchtown with communications from Ohio. They ambushed the unsuspecting column killing eighteen of the French volunteers and capturing the mail. Of the seven that made it back to Frenchtown two were wounded.

Tecumseh’s scouts returned with more news. They had run across William McColloch, the same man that scalped the dead warrior at Petite Cote, who was with a scouting party of a mail run moving south. After learning that Major Thomas Van Horne was moving down the road from Detroit with 200 militiamen they killed all of the advance party including McColloch. Van Horne was intending to meet with the northbound mail to exchange communications. Tecumseh prepared an ambush at a most suitable spot and waited.

Van Horne approached with his mail pouches protected in the center of his column. It was preceded and flanked first by infantry then mounted militiamen. As they passed the point of ambush the trap was sprung. Mounted men and officers fell first. The militia panicked and fled. Over the next two days they straggled into Fort Detroit in a state of shock. They had lost twenty-five killed and twelve wounded. Tecumseh lost one dead and two wounded but captured both north and southbound communications. One letter from Hull to Eustis pleading for reinforcements revealed his belief that there were 2,000 unrepentant warriors about to descend on Detroit from the north country. A most valuable piece of information indeed.

Hull was fraught with anxiety. His most vulnerable asset was now breached. His supplies were cut off. He failed to take the bridge on the Aux Canard or Fort Malden. He seemed to see Tecumseh’s warriors everywhere. He withdrew his small advance stationed at Sandwich back to the fort and he sent a dispatch to Fort Dearborn to abandon their post and retreat either to Fort Wayne, Detroit or Michilimackinac. Now Hull gave up any notion of advancing and he assumed a defensive position inside the fort. The American invasion was over!

NEXT WEEK:  The Fall of Detroit

Hull Invades Canada!

General Hull finally arrived at Detroit on July 6, 1812. He was in overall command of his forces while Lieutenant-Colonel James Miller commanded the veterans of Tippecanoe, the 4th Regiment of United States Infantry. Also with  him was the 1,200 strong Ohio Militia under Lewis Cass, Duncan McArthur and James Findlay. The Michigan Militia joined him there raising his total force to over 2,000 fighting men.

This impressive show of American strength had the Canadian side of the Detroit in a panic.Canadian militiamen began deserting in droves. Their rolls quickly dropped from 600 to less than 400. Townspeople began to flee inland taking what they could with them. Some communities such as Delaware sent overtures to Hull on their own. Canadian civilians were not the only citizens to be apprehensive about the prospects of war in their own environs. Six months earlier the settlers of Michigan Territory sent a memorial to Congress pleading for protection from perceived threats from the surrounding First Nations. In it they claimed it was not the British army they feared, however they did not trust them for protection against attacks by “the savages”.

The invasion came on July 12th. American troops crossed the Detroit and occupied Sandwich. The few British regulars and what was left of the Essex Militia defending the border quickly scrambled back to Fort Malden. On the 13th Hull crossed over to make his proclamation to the Canadians. He entered Canada presenting himself as a glorious liberator. All citizens who remained neutral would be treated kindly and their property respected. However, anyone found to be fighting beside and “Indian” would receive no quarter but “instant destruction would be his lot”.

In an area of wetlands and tall grass prairie lay the only defensible position between Amherstburg and Sandwich. About five miles north of Fort Malden a fairly wide, slow moving stream meandered toward the Detroit. There was a single bridge which crossed the Aux Canard connecting the only road between the two villages. On July 16th it was protected by a few regulars with two pieces of artillery and about fifty warriors.

Suddenly, Lewis Cass and his Militia along with a few American regulars appeared at the bridge. Cass positioned a few marksmen on the north side of the river while he took the rest of his 280 men upstream to find a ford to cross over. Meanwhile, his riflemen picked off two British soldiers killing one. When he arrived back at the bridge on the south side of the Aux Canard he overwhelmed the warriors and their British counterparts. Shots were fired by both sides but there were few casualties. The warriors and their contingent of British regulars wheeled their artillery away and retreated back to Malden.

The Americans had tasted their first real military success at the Aux Canard as Sandwich was given up without a fight. But this victory was short lived. That night the warriors preformed a loud, boisterous war dance on Amherstburg’s wharf to prepare for the expected upcoming battle. The next day Roundhead led his Wyandotte warriors north up the road to the bridge. Main Poc followed with his Potawatomi while the rest placed themselves under Tecumseh’s command. To their utter amazement the Americans had abandoned the bridge and were retreating back up the road to Sandwich. They retook the bridge and moved the Queen Charlotte upstream to the mouth of the Aux Canard to provide cannon cover. While the soldiers ripped up the bridge except for a few planks and built a rampart on the south side of the stream the warriors hounded the Americans with wasp like sorties until they withdrew from Canada to the safety of Fort Detroit.

General Hull was a much older soldier that he had been in the American Revolution Then he had been daring and far more decisive. He had grown much more cautious and vacillating in his old age. Not only was he indecisive but he had developed an extraordinary fear of native warfare. In fact the warriors terrified him. It was him that ordered Cass to retreat much to the chagrin of his men. Now he sat day after day in war council trying to determine what to do next. But nothing was ever decided. He fretted about the security of his supply line from Ohio and he imagined far more warriors surrounding him than the few that were at Amherstburg. His men, including his officers, began to complain bitterly behind his back.

On the day after the American Invasion while Lewis Cass retreat to Detroit the small American post, Fort Michilimackinac,  at head of Lake Huron fell. It had come under attack by the British Captain Charles Roberts who had 393 warriors with him. They included 280 Ojibwa and Ottawa  warriors from Superior country as well as 113 Sioux, Menominee and Winnebago braves recruited by Robert Dickson from those who had been loyal to Tecumseh and Main Poc. That most northerly fort was lightly garrisoned and ill equipped so it capitulated with a shot being fired. The warriors were on their best behavior that day attested to by Mr. Askin Jr. who wrote, “I never saw a so determined people as the Chippewas and Ottawas were. Since the capitulation they have not drunk a single drop of Liquor, nor even Killed a Fowl belonging to any person (a thing never Known before) for they generally destroy everything they meet with”.

When Hull received word of the fall of Michilimackinac it only added to his anxiety. He envisioned hordes of “savages” descending on Detroit from the north. He sent dispatches back to Eustis begging for more reinforcements to be send to provide protection from the 2,000 war-whooping, painted, feathered warriors he imagined approaching from the north.

While Hull fretted and vacillated back and forth Duncan McArthur moved his men back down the dusty road to the Aux Canard. As he advanced he kept encountering pesky bands of warriors. The warriors were so determined that they forced the Americans back. In one skirmish Main Poc was shot in the neck and had to be helped from the field. He later recovered. In another skirmish McArthur who was retreating had his men turn and fire upon the pursuing warriors. A story later sprang up that when the volley was fired the warriors all hit the ground face first except one who remained defiantly on his feet. That one was reportedly Tecumseh!

NEXT WEEK:  The Fall of Detroit

The War of 1812: The Detroit Theater

Tecumseh arrived at Fort Wayne on June 17, 1812. He met with the new Indian Agent  Benjamin Stickney and stayed three days discussing their relations with the Americans. He laid the blame for all the unrest in the spring at the feet of the Potawatomi and informed Stickney he would travel north to Amherstburg to preach peace to the Wyandotte, Ottawa, Potawatomi there as well as the Ojibwa of Michigan. Stickney was new but no fool. He did not believe him so he told Tecumseh that a visit to Amherstburg could only be considered an act of war considering the two colonizers were so close to going to war themselves. Tecumseh left Fort Wayne on June 21st not knowing that the United States of America had declared war on Great Britain on June 18, 1812.

Earlier that spring General Hull assembled an army in Cincinnati. In May he marched them to Dayton where he added to his forces before continuing on to Urbana. Meanwhile, Governor Meigs also called for a conference at Urbana with chiefs friendly to the U.S. The purpose was to secure permission for Hull to hack a road through First Nations’ land to Fort Detroit. This new road would also serve as a supply line for the American invasion force.

Tarhe spoke for the Wyandotte and Black Hoof for the Ohio Shawnee. Their speeches were followed by harangues by other chiefs including the Seneca chief Mathame and the Shawnee Captain Lewis. Captain Lewis had just returned from Washington and like the others declared their undying fidelity to Americans. They not only gained permission for the road but permission also to build blockhouses at strategic places along the way. Captain Lewis and Logan also agreed to act as interpreters and scouts for General Hull. The long and arduous trek to Michigan began.

While Hull slowly trudged through the dense forests of Ohio and Michigan the other governors of the Northwest Territories arranged for another conference at Piqua with friendly First Nations. I was planned for August 1st and included groups of Miami, Potawatomi, Ottawa and Wyandotte. The Americans assumed a demographic like the Shawnee and that when war broke out a few groups might flee to Canada and join Tecumseh’s forces but the majority would remain neutral. They were expecting 3,000 First Nations people. The conference was designed to keep them neutral with the combination of presents and supplies along with an expectation that the size of Hull’s forces and its reinforcement of Detroit would overawe them. But, Hull’s over-extended journey left supplies short and the presents failed to arrive on schedule so the conference was postponed to August 15th. Meanwhile British agents spread the rumor that the conference was a ploy designed to get the warriors away from their villages where American militia would fall upon them killing their women and children.

Tecumseh took ten of his warriors and left for Amherstburg on June 21st. He planned to join the warriors already sent on ahead. They skirted Hull’s lumbering army arriving at Fort Malden at the end of the month.

Amherstburg was a small village some seventeen miles south of the village of Sandwich on the Canadian side of the Detroit River. Located at the north end of the village was a small, dilapidated outpost called Fort Malden. It was poorly maintained and under garrisoned. Although over the previous two months it had been tripled it still only amounted to 300 regulars from the 41st Regiment of Foot and one detachment of Royal Artillery. There were also 600 Essex Militia available but they were insufficiently armed and most were without uniforms. They were mostly farm boys from the surrounding homesteads who had no real interest in fighting but only joined the militia for a Saturday night out.

The infantry was commanded by the able Scot Captain Adam Muir. Lieutenant Felix Troughton had command of the artillery. Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Bligh St. George, who had overall command, stationed 460 militiamen along with a few regulars directly across the river from Detroit to protect the border. They settled in at the village of Sandwich to meet the invasion.

Directly in front of Amherstburg was a large heavily wooded island called Bois Blanc. There had been Wyandotte and Ottawa villages there since the founding of Detroit over 100 years earlier. The Island provided a place for the numerous encampments of other warriors who had began to gather in the area. A large main council lodge was erected opposite the island on the mainland near the village’s small dock yard. The dockyard provided slips for the three British ships that commanded Lake Erie; the brig Queen Charlotte, the schooner Lady Prevost and the small ship General Hunter.

When Tecumseh arrived he found his warriors joining in war dances with the others. Near the council lodge warriors would give long harangues detailing their exploits in previous battles striking the war post with their war clubs and working themselves into a frenzy. The drums would begin their loud rhythmic pounding and the dancing warriors would circle their sacred fire all the while yelling their blood curdling war whoops. The garrison would respond with cannon salutes. Soldiers would shout out cheers while they fired their rifles into the air from the rigging of the three ships.

Although the din of the warrior’s preparation for war was impressive their numbers were not. They were mostly Wyandotte from the Canadian side under Roundhead, his brother Splitlog and Warrow. Tecumseh was present with his thirty Shawnee. War Chief Main Poc was there with a war party of Potawatomi. The contingent of warriors also included thirty Menominee, a few Winnebago and Sioux, sent by the red headed Scottish trader Robert Dickson from Green Bay. The Munsee Philip Ignatius was also present with a few from the Goshen mission at Sandusky. The number was rounded out by a sprinkling of Ottawa, Ojibwa and Kickapoo. On July 4th a large war party of Sac arrived to bring the total warrior contingent to 350.

Canada was looking decidedly the underdog. Only 300 British regulars, 600 ill equipped militia and 350 First Nation warriors protected the Detroit frontier. Hull was approaching with an army of 2,000 and the Americans were raising another large invasion force in the east to attack at Niagara. And there would be no help arriving from England because of the war in Europe.

The general population of Upper Canada was a mere 77,000 with many of them recent American immigrants. Their loyalty was questionable. The population of the U.S. Northwest Territories was 677,000. The American Congress had approved a total allotment of over 180,000 fighting men. General Brock was looking at a war on two fronts with only 1,600 regulars and 11,000 militia at his disposal. Tecumseh had sent out many war belts as a call to arms but the large and powerful Three Fires Confederacy’s feelings were that they should remain neutral. They saw no reason to get involved in a war with the Americans that did not look winnable  Only a few young hotheads such as Ojibwa warriors Wawanosh, Waboose or The Rabbit, Old Salt and Black Duck from the St. Clair had joined Tecumseh at Amherstburg. Canada’s prospects were looking very grim!

NEXT WEEK:  Hull Invades Canada!

 

War Clouds on the Horizon

When the Prophetstown warriors retreated from the battlefield they carried some of their fallen with them. They quickly buried them at their town and withdrew to see what Harrison would do next.

Although the American held their ground during the surprise attack they were bruised and stunned. Harrison ordered them to stand at the ready expecting the warriors to mount another frontal assault. He waited all through November 7th and part way through the 8th. That attack never came. Little did he know the warriors had withdrew due to lack of ammunition.

When the warriors failed to materialize he marched on Prophetstown burning it to the ground destroying everything that was there. The warriors watched from afar. They could see the large billows of black smoke rising from the valley. The next day their scouts informed them the Big Knives had left so they returned to see what the enemy had done. They were horrified at the sight that greeted them. Debased American soldiers had dug up the fresh graves of their brave fallen warriors and left the bodies strewn about to rot in the sun. They were livid. The re-interned their dead and left for their hunting grounds short of enough ammunition to get them through the winter.

Tecumseh’s confederacy had been dealt a serious setback. Warriors from the several nations that had been at Prophetstown left viewing the Prophet with disdain  They declared him to be a false prophet because of the outcome of the battle. Tenskwatawa claimed the spirits deserted them because his menstruating wife had defiled the holy ground that he was drumming and chanting on during the battle. Often a reason such as this would be accepted for a failed prophecy. But not this time. The nations from the western Great Lakes that supported Tecumseh and his vision now rejected the Prophet which left them disenchanted with Tecumseh’s vision as well. He had a lot of work ahead of him rebuilding the confederacy.

Harrison was basking in the glory of self-proclaimed total victory. He confidently claimed the Indians had been dispersed in total humiliation and this would put an end to their depredations upon white settlers up and down the frontier. The American press lionized him and President Madison endorsed the message in an address to  congress on the 18th of December. The “Indian problem” had bee dealt with or so they thought.

That congress was bristling with war hawks enraged at Great Britain mostly for impressing American merchant sailors at sea into British service in their war with France. They thought that a declaration of war on Great Britain and an attack on its colony of Upper Canada would give them an easy victory and the whole of the continent as a prize. Upper Canada was weakly defended and Great Britain’s military might was stretched thin as all its resources were being used in Europe.

In 1808 Congress tripled the number of authorized enlisted men from 3,068 to 9,311. In 1811 Secretary of War, William Eustis, asked for 10,000 more regulars. Virginia Democratic Senator William Branch Giles proposed 25,000 new men. Democrats for the most part held anti-war sentiments. It was thought he upped the ante to embarrass the administration because it was generally thought that 25,000 could not be raised. However, Federalists William Henry Clay from Kentucky and Peter B. Porter of New York pushed through a bill enacting Giles’ augmentation into law on the 11th of January 1812. By late spring authorized military forces had been further pushed to overwhelming numbers: 35,925 regulars, 50,000 volunteers and 100,000 militia.

When Tecumseh had visited Amherstburg in 1810 he made the British authorities there aware just how close the First Nations were to rebellion. Upon realizing this they adjusted their Indian Policy. Because of their weakened position they did not want to be drawn into a war the the Americans. So they informed their First Nation allies that the new policy stated that they would receive no help from the British if they attacked the United States. If they were attacked by the U.S. they should withdraw and not retaliate. Indian Agents were ordered to maintain friendly relations with First Nations and supply them with necessities but if hostilities arose then they were to do all in their power to dissuade them from war. This policy was continued by the new administrators of Upper Canada. Sir James Craig was replaced as governor-general by Sir George Prevost and Francis Gore with Isaac Brock as lieutenant-governor.

However, all the admonition to encourage peace by the British and Harrison’s claim that peace on the frontier had already been achieved by his victory at Tippecanoe was for nought. The British lacked the necessary influence with the war chiefs and Harrison’s proclamation was a myth. The Kickapoo and Winnebago suffered through a particularly hard winter. The snow had been unusually deep and game was scarce. The Shawnee suffered even more due to the destruction of their granary. They were forced to survive by the good charity of their Wyandotte brothers at Sandusky.

When spring arrived they were still seething at the desecration of their graves at Prophetstown. Tecumseh was travelling throughout the northwest rebuilding his confederacy. Although he preached a pan-Indian confederacy to stop American aggression his message was tempered with a plea to hold back until the time was right. But the war chiefs had trouble holding back some of their young warriors.

The melting snows turned into the worst outbreak of violence the frontier had seen in fifteen years. Thanks to governor Harrison First Nation warriors were no longer congregated in one place. Now they were spread out in a wide arc from Fort Dearborn (Chicago) to Lake Erie. They were striking everywhere at once. In January the Winnebago attacked the Mississippi lead mines. In February and March they assaulted Fort Madison killing five and blockading it for a time. In April they killed two homesteaders working their fields north of Fort Dearborn. That same month five more settlers were killed along the Maumee and Sandusky Rivers with one more on Greenville Creek in what is now Darke County.

The Kickapoo were just as busy. On the 10th of February a family by the name of O’Neil were slain at St. Charles (Missouri). Settlers in Louisiana Territory were in a state of panic. Potawatomi warriors joined in. April saw several attacks in Ohio and Indiana Territory. Near Fort Defiance three traders were tomahawked to death while they slept in their beds while other raids were made on the White River and Driftwood Creek.

On the 11th of April two young warriors named Kichekemit and Mad Sturgeon led a war party south burning a house just north of Vincennes. Six members of a family named Hutson along with their hired hand were killed.   Eleven days later it is believed that the same Potawatomi party raided a homesteader’s farm on the Embarras River west of Vincennes. All of the Harryman family including five children lost their lives.

The frontier was ablaze with retribution for Prophetstown and settlers were leaving the territories in droves. Governor Edwards complained that by June men available for his militia had fallen from 2,000 to 1,700. A militia was raised by each of the Northwest Territories for protection. At times American First Nation allies were caught in the middle. Two friendly Potawatomi hunters were killed near Greenville and their horses confiscated. Both Governors Edwards and Louisiana Governor Benjamin Howard called for a new campaign against their antagonizers  But the Secretary of War was occupied with the clamoring for war with Great Britain and its accompanying invasion of Upper Canada.

The raids on settlers stopped as quickly as they started. By May the warriors committing the atrocities declared their anger over grave degradation at Prophetstown spent. Tecumseh’s coalition had gelled in the Northwest. In the south the Red Sticks had taken ownership of his vision and had become extremists acting on their own and not really part of his confederacy. The stage was now set for a major war. In June of 1812, while General Hull and his army of 2,000 hacked their way through the wilderness to Detroit Tecumseh sent a small party of his followers, mostly Shawnee, to Amherstburg while he traveled south to visit Vincennes.

NEXT WEEK:  The War of 1812: The Detroit Theater

Disaster at Prophetstown

Tecumseh arrived back at Prophetstown in late January 1812 but there was no warm welcome awaiting him. To his bitter amazement the Shawnee town at the junction of the Tippecanoe and Wabash Rivers lay in ruins. When told the details of the disaster he was furious. He had left specific orders with his brother not to engage the Big Knives but to appease them at all cost. He had told Tenskwatawa, the Prophet, that time would come, but not now. It was too early. It is reported that he was so enraged that he grabbed his brother by the hair, shook him and threatened to kill him.

The summer of 1811 was one of fear and apprehension all along the frontier. The summer of unrest was caused by a few young warriors loyal to Prophetstown but nevertheless hotheads acting on their own. They had been raiding settlers farms, stealing their horses and a few had been killed.

William Henry Harrison, the governor of Indiana, met with Tecumseh at Vincennes in July. Tecumseh tried to convince him that the confederacy he was building was not for war but for peace. He was not successful. They had met in council before and although they had respect for each other they disagreed strenuously. The year before their council almost ended violently.

Winamek, a Potawatomi chief loyal to the Big Knives suggested the warriors at Vincennes raise a large war party and attack Prophetstown but Black Hoof convinced him otherwise. Black Hoof and The Wolf two Shawnee chiefs loyal to the Americans attended several councils with settlers in Ohio convincing them that they and their three hundred warriors were peaceful. Black Hoof took this opportunity to set all the blame for all the troubles at the foot of Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa.

Meanwhile, in June some of Tecumseh’s entourage were busy recruiting followers from the Wyandotte of Sandusky. They encountered some resistance so they handled it by preying on the Wyandotte’s fear of witchcraft. They accused their opposition of it and three were burned alive as sorcerers including the old village chief Leather Lips. American officials called for conferences with their First Nation allies at Fort Wayne and Brownstown on the Detroit River. They came from eastern Michigan, Ohio and Indiana and all denounced the Shawnee brothers. The  Shawnee delegation to Brownstown was led by George Bluejacket and Tachnedorus or Captain Logan the Mingo chief. Although the affirmed their loyalty to the Big Knives they took the opportunity to visit British Agents across the river at Amherstburg.

Harrison was convinced that all the turmoil on the frontier emanated from Prophetstown. There was more trouble perpetrated by the young hot head warriors. Three of these warriors believed to be Potawatomi had stolen horses on the White and Wabash Rivers terrorizing the settlers there. While Tecumseh was on his three thousand mile sojourn building the confederacy Harrison began to assemble a large army at Vincennes. He was determined to disperse the First Nations who had congregated at Prophetstown.

Harrison made his plans public telling Black Hoof to keep his Shawnee followers in Ohio so they would not be connected to the coming conflict. He also gave the same advice to the Miami and Eel River Wea but his words did not sit well with some of the Miami. Prophetstown was situated across the boundary in Miami territory and they did not appreciate having their sovereignty impinged upon. Word of the military buildup quickly traveled up the Wabash to Prophetstown.

Tenskwatawa hurriedly call a council to decide what to do. The decision was made to send a Kickapoo delegation to Vincennes. Probably led by Pamawatam the war chief of the Illinois River Kickapoo the delegation was not successful. They had tried to negotiate that a settlement of the troubles with the settlers be sorted out in the spring.

The news they returned with was not good. Harrison had assemble an army of one thousand soldiers and they were about to march up the Wabash. The only thing that would deter them was the return of stolen horses and for those who had committed murders along the frontier be handed over for punishment. Harrison also demanded the dispersal of Prophetstown.

The Prophet had to decide whether to comply or fight. They were not in good shape for a major battle. The little lead and powder they had they needed to get them through the upcoming winter. They were outnumbered. The congregation at Prophetstown consisted of mostly Kickapoo and Winnebago warriors that had camped there to hear Tenskwatawa preach along with a sprinkling of Potawatomi, Ottawa, Ojibwa, Piankeshaw, Wyandotte and Iroquois. There were also a small number of Shawnee followers that lived there permanently. In total they could only muster four to five hundred warriors. Tecumseh was right. The time for a fight with the Big Knives had not yet arrived.

Harrison started the long, lumbering 180 mile journey up the Wabash on the 29th of October. One third of the army he commanded were regulars from the 4th Regiment of the U.S. Infantry. The rest was made up by 400 Indiana Militia, 120 mounted Kentucky volunteers and 80 mounted Indiana riflemen. Harrison had hoped that his show of American military might would force Prophetstown to capitulate but he underestimated First Nations tenacity. The Prophet decided to disregard Tecumseh’s orders and stand and fight.

Prophetstown scouts monitored Harrison’s progress up the eastern side of the Wabash while the warriors prepared spiritually for the upcoming battle. Tenskwatawa pronounce the Master of Life was with them and the spirits would assist in the battle by making them invisible. He prophesied that he had the power to turn the American’s powder to sand and their bullets to mud.

When Harrison’s army arrived the warriors had worked themselves into a frenzy. The Americans made camp about a mile north of Prophetstown on a patch of high ground at Burnett’s Creek. They sent a delegation to give The Prophet one last chance to sue for peace but the three chiefs they met with refused the offer. Harrison planned to attack the next day.

The Prophet and his council of war chiefs determined that being outnumbered 2 to 1 and low on ammunition the only real chance for success was to take the fight to Harrison that night. Before dawn about 4 a.m. on the 7th of November 1811 the warriors surrounded the American encampment. They could see the silhouettes of the sentries outlined by their campfires. Harrison and his officers were just being aroused for morning muster. The surprise attack began.

The Winnebago led by Waweapakoosa would attack from one side while Mengoatowa and his Kickapoo would strike from the other. The warriors crept stealthily into position and just as they were about to commence the assault an American sentry saw movement in the underbrush that surrounded the encampment. He raised his rifle and fired and the battle was on!

Blood curdling shrieks and war whoops filled the air accompanied by volleys of gunfire from the darkness all around. The warriors rushed forward and the American line buckled. Others scrambled to form battle lines. The volleys of musketry from the warriors was intense and some of the new recruits as well as the riflemen protecting the far left flank broke for the center. However, the main line of regulars held and the warriors were unable to break through.  The right flank now came under a tremendous assault of gunfire from a grove nearby. Officer after officer, soldier after soldier was felled. The line was about to collapse when a company of mounted riflemen reinforced it.

The warrior’s surprise attack was now in trouble. The American army was badly mauled but managed to hold. Ammunition was running low and daylight was breaking. The war party that had been so successful from the grove were now uprooted by a company of riflemen and were in retreat. Harrison turned from defense to offense routing the warriors who were out of ammunition. They began a full retreat back to an empty Prophetstown. When they arrived there with ammunition spent they decided to disperse.

Harrison spent the rest of the 7th and some of the 8th of November waiting for the warriors to commence a second assault. When they didn’t he marched to Prophetstown  only to find the towns inhabitants consisted of one wounded man and one old woman who had been left behind. They were taken prisoner but treated well. Harrison burned Prophetstown to the ground including the granary. It was going to be a long, hard winter.

Harrison and his army limped back to Vincennes where he would claim a great victory. But his badly mauled forces told another story. American casualties amounted to 188 including 68 killed. First Nation estimates range from 25 to 40 killed. The warriors had given a good account of themselves having assailed a superior force on its chosen ground and inflicting higher casualties on them.

NEXT WEEK:  War Clouds on the Horizon

 

Supernatural Support for Tecumseh

Tecumseh left the less than enthusiastic Choctaw with his Shawnee, Kickapoo and Winnebago delegation and crossed the Tombigbee River into Creek country. Here his message would find a much friendlier reception. The two nations were tied by intermarriage. Tecumseh even had relatives of his own living in Creek towns and villages.

Big Warrior, the leading civil chief of the Upper Creek nation, was attending a major conference at the Creek town of Tuckabatchee when Tecumseh arrived. There were delegates already there from the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee and Seminole nations.  Many were already familiar with The Prophet’s message of return to traditionalism having traveled north to Prophetstown to hear it. This along with a ready-made audience of various nations in a country so closely related to the Shawnee afforded Tecumseh the perfect forum to deliver his own message of a pan Indian confederacy.

Something else heralded Tecumseh’s coming that September. A comet appeared in the night sky. It was understood to be a sign from the spirit world pointing to the greatness of Tecumseh. After all, Tecumseh’s name meant Shooting Star.

There was also another delegation at the conference. It consisted of Americans led by the Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins. He was there to proposition the Creek with the government’s intention to build another road through their territory. Big Warrior was no friend of Hawkins and the Creek were still seething about a federal road being imposed upon them six years earlier. Hopoithle Mico or Tame King, the leading chief from the Upper Creek town of Tallassee, had sent a message of protest to President Madison and received the reply that his protest was unreasonable. They cut the road anyway.

Now Hawkins was here regarding a second road. The Creek resisted. Negotiations went nowhere for three weeks until finally Hawkins laid out in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t there to ask them for permission but to inform them that the cutting had already begun. He laid out the terms of payment and left.

Tecumseh let Hawkins make his presentation while remaining silent about his own mission to the Creek nation. He needed a good example of American arrogance and Hawkins provided it. Now it was his turn to address the council.

The delegation from the north mesmerized the conference first with their elaborate war dance followed by Tecumseh’s charismatic oratory. Many eagerly received his vision. This vision of a warrior confederacy and the Prophet’s vision of a total return to traditionalism gave rise to the Red Sticks. They were a warrior society that would go on to lead the most desperate First Nation rebellion the United States would ever see.

Tecumseh left Creek territory bolstered by his success. However, there was yet to be another even more dramatic supernatural sign of his stature and his power. Shortly after his departure a series of major earth tremors occurred. Labelled the New Madrid earthquakes they would be among the severest ever felt on the North American continent. The first arrived on the night of December 16, 1811. The epicenter was in Arkansas south of the town of New Madrid, Missouri. The town was destroyed.  The vibrations made steeple bells ring out in Charleston, South Carolina. They lasted until February of 1812 and for a time the Mississippi reversed course and ran backwards!

The First Nations of the south-east were terrified. A legend grew up that Tecumseh had predicted the collapse of the middle world and its recreation. Word spread that Tecumseh had prophesied that when he returned to Detroit he would stomp his foot and make the earth tremble. These great events fed warrior societies like the Red Sticks and they took ownership of the visions of Tecumseh and his brother The Prophet.

Tecumseh crossed the Mississippi in December and was in Osage country when the tremors began. The Osage were not so anti-American as some of the south-eastern First Nations. Therefore, they were not so quick to ascribe American aggression as the root cause of the quakes. Instead they believed the cause was their general falling away from traditionalism to accept American culture. It was the Prophet who would get credit for the proper interpretation of events.

Tecumseh moved on to spread his message among his own people the Missouri Shawnee as well as the Delaware but ran into the same roadblocks as he did with the Osage. When he returned to the Mississippi he headed north through Fox country to the territory of the Santee Dakota Sioux all the time sharing his vision of a pan Indian confederation to stop American aggression. He even hinted at military aid from the British. The Dakota sent red wampum to the Sauk and Winnebago indicating their approval of Tecumseh’s message and their willingness to go to war.

Tecumseh’s journey was coming to an end. He retraced his footsteps  down the Mississippi then turned east heading for home. He traveled through Illinois territory also speaking at Kickapoo, Ojibwa, Potawatomi, and Ottawa villages. Some chiefs were unwilling to receive his vision but many others joined the Confederacy. All in all the sojourn to gain adherents was a success. However, what would confront him when he arrived home at Prophetstown in late January turned satisfaction at his success to feelings of utter despair.

NEXT WEEK:  Disaster at Prophetstown

 

Another Round of Land Cessions – Part 3

On November 17, 1807 another cession treaty was signed between the United States and several First Nations at Detroit. It involved a huge tract of land mostly contained in the Territory of Michigan but dipping slightly into Ohio Territory. The Treaty of Detroit was negotiated by the Governor of Michigan Territory, William Hull, and the chiefs of the Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatomi and Wyandotte nations including Little Thunder and Walk In the Water.

The tract of land ceded included all of the south-eastern part of the lower peninsula of Michigan. Reserved out of this tract were some eight reservations scattered between the Miami River of Ohio to just north of the Huron River above Detroit. It also included six tracts of one square mile each to be located at places chosen by the “said Indians…and subject to the approbation of the President of the United States”.

Although Hull managed to acquire a huge chunk of Michigan Territory he wasn’t very visionary. The reservations laid out which, by the way coincided with First Nation villages, prevented a straight road being built between the American communities of Ohio and Detroit. So he was back the following year to negotiate right-of-ways through the reservations that blocked the soon to be built road. He managed to negotiate the Treaty of Brownstown on November 25, 1808. This treaty also included the signature of Black Hoof for the  Shawnee.

However, William Hull was not as successful in dealing with the Chippewa of Saginaw. The chiefs from there had been attending conferences at Greenville with chiefs from the other nations and they formed the consensus that there should be no more land cessions. When he approached the Saginaw chiefs with a proposal they flatly refused and when he tried to insist they insisted he leave and never return.

The First Nations were becoming obstinate aggravated by the Americans gobbling up their hunting territories. Not only were they feeling cheated and abused they were angry that annuities promised from the 1805 treaty were over two years late. Of course there were still some that had always been adamant that the original boundary negotiated in 1768 between the United States and “Indian Country” should be adhered to. The premier chief of this group was of course Tecumseh. His brother Tenskwatawa was a leading holy man and strongest ally.

Tenskwatawa as a young man had become a drunk but after just a few years received a life-altering vision from the Master of Life. He abandoned his wanton ways and was received among his nation as a master shaman. He was a good orator and made a striking figure with the eye patch which he had worn since an accident had cause the loss of his right eye in his childhood. 

The Potawatomi War Chief and shaman Main Poc allied himself with Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa. Both Main Poc, who was noted for his spiritual powers and Tenskwatawa who was also called The Prophet were holy men. In late 1807 Main Poc suggested that The Prophet move his followers to Potawatomi territory. The following spring Tenskwatawa settled about one hundred of them near the junction of the Wabash and Tippecanoe Rivers.

Both Tenskwatawa and Tecumseh began to grow in stature. Between 1808 and 1811 The Prophet’s modest village grew to over one thousand followers and the American’s were calling it Prophetstown. The Prophet’s vision was one of a common lifestyle where all First Nations would reject the European ways and return to their traditional way of life. This applied especially to the abstinence of alcohol. To this end he would send out his disciples to preach his message. One such disciple was Trout who was recorded at Michilimacinac preaching a return to the Indian ways and teaching that the Americans, but not other whites, were the offspring of The Evil One.

Tecumseh’s vision was not as spiritual as his brother’s. He envisioned a pan Indian Confederacy from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Superior as the only way to stop American expansion. He worked tirelessly toward this goal building a coalition of warriors from various First Nations using Prophetstown as his base. Most of his warriors were from nations other than the Shawnee as most of them followed Black Hoof and his policy of assimilation acceptance.

Since 1798 the Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek and Chickasaw nations had held councils to discuss a united effort to protect their lands. They held one in 1810 and Tecumseh knew about it. There was another to be held at Tuckabatchee on the Tallapoosa River the following year. Tecumseh planned on attending to sell his vision of a pan Indian confederacy stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Superior. He headed south that summer well in advance of the scheduled conference at Tuckabatchee. Tecumseh wanted to visit chiefs throughout the south and the Choctaw were his first to receive him.

The Choctaw nation had three territories each with a principal chief. The first chief he visited was Moshulatubbee head chief of the northeast. Moshulatubbee listened to Tecumseh but showed no indication of his feelings on Tecumseh’s message. Instead he sent runners throughout Choctaw territory calling them to a grand council at he’s village of Moshulaville. While the runners were out calling the chiefs to convene Tecumseh visited many surrounding towns spreading his message.

Tecumseh’s final oratory was given at the grand council called by Moshulatubbee. Many attended including the principal chief of the southern territory Pushmataha. In fact all three principal chiefs attended the August grand council but it would be Pushmataha that would be Tecumseh’s nemisis.

Tecumseh passionately laid out his vision. On the second day Pushmataha spoke just as passionately against it. All three chiefs were receiving U.S. pensions and Pushmataha had recieved five hundred dollars for supporting the ceding of Choctaw lands in 1805. In the end Pushmataha’s message of peace and friendship with the United States won out. Tecumseh’s trip to Choctaw country had failed but he remained resolved to carry on. Leaving the land of the Choctaw he crossed the Tombigbee River into the country of the Creek Nation.

Next Week: Supernatural Support for Tecumseh

Another Round of Land Cessions – Part 2

The American ‘Northwest Territories’ began filling up with white settlers. The new republic clamoured for more and more land. Land speculators were greedy for profits. Legislation was being influenced by desires for statehood and statehood was dependent upon population requirements. Increases of American settlers degraded traditional hunting grounds thereby impoverishing its First Nation inhabitants. This poverty set off  a spiral of more land cessions and more poverty.

Between 1802 and 1805 the New Governor of Indiana Territory concluded no less than seven treaties by which the Delaware, Miami, Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Shawnee, Sac and Fox ceded their rights to the southern part of Indiana, portions of Wisconsin and Missouri as well as most of Illinois. Huge tracts of land were dealt away for the paltry price of two cents or less per acre.

Not only was the land undervalued but it was secured by entirely fraudulent means. The Americans used such tactics as bribery, the supplying of huge amounts of liquor or the threat to withhold payments of annuities already agreed to. Treaties were negotiated with any First Nation individual that was willing to sign with no regard for his authority to speak for his people.

Thomas Jefferson was president of the United States at this time. He was a conflicted man as can be found in his writings on human rights versus his record of slavery. He admired the quality of character of the American Indian and of their culture but considered them inferior. He was of the belief that they could, however, be rehabilitated and ‘civilized’. However, during the revolution he relished the thought of displacing the Cherokee and taking their lands and during the Indian War for the Ohio he advocated the destruction of the Shawnee. During Harrison’s treaty negotiating spree Jefferson had written to him in private advising him to encourage the Indians to run up debts at the trading posts and then compel them to settle the debt by selling tribal lands. Although Jefferson tried to give the impression that America held no place for the Indian as Indian and he publicly advocated assimilation one wonders it privately he saw an America with no Indians at all. 

There was a population tsunami that was happening and it continuously overwhelmed First Nation territories.  In 1796 Ohio had a white population of 5,000. By 1810 it had jumped to more than 230,000. This overpowering agrarian culture would only make its way ever westward transforming pristine forests to barren farmlands. It appears the Shawnee warrior Chiksika was right, our land was being eaten up by a windigo!

The American success in their revolution put a tremendous strain for land resources on what was left of British North America. Approximately 4% of the population of the thirteen colonies were British Empire Loyalists and left America for other British territories. Some 5,000, which was the smallest of these groups of loyalists, came to Upper Canada. Governor Haldimand also had to deal with a large influx of Iroquois refuges who had been loyal to the Crown during the revolution.

During that war the Iroquois Six Nation Confederacy’s loyalties split the league. Many of the Oneida and Tuscarora backed the rebels while the Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca backed the British. Chief John Deserontyon and 200 Mohawks sought refuse near Lachine in Lower Canada while Chief Joseph Brant crossed over at Niagara. The population of these Iroquois and their allies fluctuated between 2,000 and 5,000.

In the Treaty of Paris, which ended the war, no mention was made of Iroquois lands in upstate New York. This angered the Iroquois who were now refugees from their homeland. Haldimand fearing they might take their frustrations out on the loyalist refugees ordered the Indian Agents to be extra generous in handing out supplies and presents to them. 

In 1783 the Mississauga ceded two large tracts of land to the British. One ran from  the Trent River to the Gananoque River. The other from the Gananoque to the Toniato River or present day Jones Creek near Brockville. Each tract was “as far as a man could walk in one day” deep. Out of these the British later  surveyed a township called Tyendiaga on the Bay of Quinte for Chief Deserontyon and his followers.

Chief Joseph Brant preferred the Grand River area of southwestern Ontario. The Mississauga also ceded to the British the whole of the Grand River valley from its headwaters to its mouth to a depth of six miles on each side. This tract was later transferred to Brant and his followers. At the same time the Mississauga ceded a large tract at the western end of Lake Ontario including the Niagara peninsula as well as a tract of land to the west of the Grand River as far as Catfish Creek. The aggregate acreage of these land surrenders came to over 1,000,000 hectares and the total cost to the British a mere 1,180 pounds sterling worth of trade goods.  

In 1790 the First Nations commonly known as the ‘Detroit Indians’, the Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatomi and Wyandotte also ceded a large tract of land from the foot of the St. Clair River to Lake Erie, east along the north shore to Catfish Creek. Reserved out of this huge tract were two small tracts on the Detroit River for the Wyandotte. The balance included all the land between the Thames River and Lake Erie and was ceded for a mere  1,200 pounds sterling.

The British also expected an influx of First Nation refugees who were displaced from Ohio by the Treaty of Greenville. In 1796 the Chippewa ceded a tract of land on the St. Clair River to be used by the Chippewa as well as any American Indians. This tract is present day Sombra Township. At the same time they ceded a tract of land over 3,000 hectares at the forks on the Thames River and called it London. The British said they needed it to establish a new capital of Upper Canada replacing York as it would be easier to defend. Both tracts of land were not used for the purposes stated but nevertheless the Chippewa still lost the land.

NEXT WEEK: Another Round of Land Cessions – Part 3

A New Round of Land Cessions – Part 1

First let me apologize again for being MIA. The month of August was extremely busy for me. I did a series of literary arts workshops that took most of my time up. In the month of September I was busy putting the finishing touches on my new novel 1300 Moons. It is now in the production phase and will be available in the next couple of weeks, but more on this later. To make things even more hectic I had to deal with three different medical emergencies in the family. Things have settled now and I can get back to posting to this blog regularly. Thanks for all your patience.

Well it’s now “later”. 1300 Moons has been released and last Friday I had a successful launch. I’m also involved in a 200th anniversary War of 1812 project as a consultant. It’s a graphic novel aimed at the education sector. It will also be on-line and available on DVD with hypertext links to video of various ‘experts’ of which I am one. The videographers are coming in a couple of weeks to Aamjiwnaang for taping. So it looks like my hectic life is to continue! However, I am determined to do a couple of posts a week if I can.

We left off with the First Nations Confederacy under Blue Jacket being defeated by General Anthony Wayne at Fallen Timbers in 1794. The following year chiefs of the various First Nations began arriving at Greenville, Ohio to negotiate a peace treaty with the United States. That summer over 1,000 First Nations people gathered around Fort Greenville. These included chiefs from the Wyandotte, Delaware, Shawnee, Ottawa, Chippewa, Potawatomi, Miami and Kickapoo.

This treaty was primarily a peace treaty between George Washington, President of the United States, and chiefs representing the above mentioned First Nations. My great-great grandfather signed as one of the seven War Chiefs of the Chippewa. But not all former combatants were represented. Among those missing and vehemently against the peace were Shawnee chiefs Tecumseh and Kekewepellethe. Rather than deal the Americans Tecumseh with his followers migrated first to Deer Creek, then to the upper Miami valley and then to eastern Indiana.

Land cessation were also included as part of the terms for peace. Article 3 dealt with a new boundary line ‘between the lands of the United States and the lands of the said Indian tribes’. This effectively ceded all of eastern and southern present day Ohio and set the stage for future land grabs. Included in the United States’ ‘relinquishment’ of all ‘Indian lands northward of the River Ohio, eastward of the Mississippi, and westward and southward of the Great Lakes’ were cessations of sixteen other tracks of land, several miles square, located either were U.S. forts were already established or where they wished to build towns. However, the term ‘lands of the said Indian tribes’ had vastly different meanings to the two sides.

The First Nations wanted their own sovereign country but the United States dispelled any thought along these lines with Article 5. It defined relinquishment as meaning ‘The Indian tribes that have a right to those lands, are to enjoy them quietly…but when those tribes…shall be disposed to sell their lands…they are to be sold only to the United States’. In other words we had no sovereign country but only the right to use lands already belonging to the United States of America!

The Chippewa and Ottawa also ceded from their territories a strip of land along the Detroit River from the River Raisin to Lake St. Clair. It was six miles deep and included Fort Detroit. The Chippewa also ceded a strip of land on the north shore of the Straits of Mackinaw including the two islands of Mackinaw and De Bois Blanc. The stage was now set for further U.S. expansion.

As a footnote the metaphorical language changed at the conclusion of the peace agreement. First Nations had always used familial terms when referring to First Nations and European relationships. First the French and then the British were always referred to as father. The Americans, since their beginning, were referred to as brother. This continued through the negotiations at Greenville until its conclusion at which time the reference to Americans in the person of Washington changed from bother to father.

Unfortunately because of a clash of cultures this patriarchal term held different meanings to each side. To the First Nations a father was both a friend and a provider. The Wyandotte chief Tarhe spoke for all the assembly because the Wyandotte were considered an uncle to both the Delaware and Shawnee and he was the keeper of the council fire at Brownstown. He told his ‘brother Indians’ that they now acknowledge ‘the fifteen United States of America to now be our father and…you must call them brothers no more’. As children they were to be ‘obedient to our father; ever listen to him when he speaks to you, and follow his advice’. The Potawatomi chief New Corn spoke after Tarhe and addressed the Americans as both father and friend. Other chiefs spoke commending themselves to their father’s protection and asked him for aid. The Chippewa chief Massas admonished the assembly to ‘rejoice in acquiring a new, and so good, a father’.

Tarhe eloquently defined a father for the American emissaries: ‘Take care of your little ones and do not suffer them to be imposed upon. Don’t show favor to one to the injury of any. An impartial father equally regards all his children an impartial father equally regards all his children, as well as those who are ordinary as those who may be more handsome; therefore, should any of your children come to you crying and in distress, have pity on them, and relieve their wants.’

Of course American arrogance stopped up their ears and they could not hear Tarhe’s sage advice. Until this present day they continue to live out their understanding of the term father as a stern patriarch; one either to be obeyed or disciplined.

NEXT WEEK:  A New Round of Land Cessions – Part 2