Washington had invested all his enormous prestige in a just resolution of the Native American dilemma, making it the highest priority during his first term as president, but he had failed completely, and he knew it. For a man accustomed to winning all the big battles, often against the odds, this defeat haunted him to his dying days. And he was convinced that the Indian side of this American tragedy would never make it into the history books: “They, poor wretches, have no Press thro’ which their grievances are related; and it is well known that when one side only of a story is heard, and often
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