William Wilson Sent on Important Mission
to Ohio Indians After Fort Pitt Treaty,
October 27, 1775
Early in the Revolution the Continental Congress opened negotiations for peace with the Indians. The frontier was divided into three Indian departments, of which the middle department included the tribes west of Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Congress named a committee, consisting of Benjamin Franklin and James Wilson, of Pennsylvania, and Patrick Henry, of Virginia, to hold a treaty with the Indians at Fort Pitt.
This treaty was assembled October 27, 1775, with the Seneca, Delaware, Shawnee and Wyandot tribes, represented by their leading chiefs. Guyasuta, the principal Seneca, also represented the Iroquois, and he presumed to speak also for the Western tribes, which so aroused the ire of White Eyes, the Delaware orator, that his tribe declared their absolute independence.
The council was neither harmonious nor entirely successful, and the English soon bribed the Indians to take up the hatchet against the Colonists. This they were easily able to accomplish, as they made tempting offers and made a greater display of military prowess.
During the treaty at Fort Pitt the commission selected John Gibson as Indian agent for the Ohio tribes, but he was soon succeeded by Richard Butler.
Early in 1776 Congress assumed direct control of the Indian agencies and placed George Morgan in charge of the most important post at Fort Pitt.
Morgan was a man of education, high family connections and considerable wealth. His home was in Princeton, N. J., but he owned a mercantile establishment in Philadelphia, and as agent of his own trading house he had traveled extensively in the Indian country, from the Allegheny to Illinois.