[FN-1] The names of these men will be of frequent recurrence in the subsequent volume of this work, in connexion with the Indian wars of 1789—1794.
[FN-2] Drake's Book of the Indians.
The counsel of White-Eyes, supported by a conciliatory message, which was received just in good time, from the Americans, prevailed for the moment, and the Delawares came to the unanimous determination to follow his advice, and his alone. Availing himself of the hour of success, White-Eyes forthwith despatched the following energetic letter to the Shawanese of the Scioto, who had also been visited by McKee, Elliot, and Girty.
"Grand-children, ye Shawanese: Some days ago a flock of birds, that had come on from the East, lit at Goschochking, imposing a song of theirs upon us, which song had nigh proved our ruin. Should these birds, which, on leaving us, took their flight toward Scioto, endeavor to impose a song on you likewise, do not listen to them, for they lie."
But the hostile action of these people was only suspended for a short time, and it became necessary for more extended and efficient operations against nearly the whole race. [FN-1] In the project of Congress already adverted to, it was intended that one expedition should move upon Detroit, while General Gates was instructed by resolution to co-operate with that expedition by carrying the war into the Seneca country, and also to dispossess the enemy of Oswego, should he be found in the occupancy of that post. It appears, that at the very moment of the invasion of Wyoming, there was a delegation of Seneca chiefs at Philadelphia; but having taken their departure without communicating with the government, a resolution was passed by Congress, immediately upon the receipt of Colonel Z. Butler's despatches, instructing the Board of War to send after the chiefs, and ascertain from them in what character, and for what purposes, they had made the said visit; and also to inquire whether the Seneca warriors had not been engaged in hostilities against the United States. On the 16th of July information was received that the chiefs refused to return, and instructions to General Schuyler were proposed, directing him to intercept and detain them at Albany. The motion was negatived; but on the 25th of July, Congress having ascertained that the Senecas were actually engaged in the invasion of Wyoming, "aided by Tories and other banditti from the frontiers of New-York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania," it was resolved that the expedition against the hostiles of the Six Nations should be forwarded with all possible despatch. In the mean time, however, from the expensiveness of the undertaking, the expedition against Detroit was reluctantly abandoned; but in lieu thereof, General McIntosh, commanding the Western department, was ordered to proceed from Pittsburgh against those of the Indian towns the destruction of which, in his opinion, would tend most effectually to intimidate and chastise them. [FN-2] McIntosh had been stationed at Pittsburgh early in the Spring, and with a small party of regulars and militia, had descended the Ohio about thirty miles, and erected a fort, which was called by his own name, at Beavertown. It was a small work, built of strong stockades, and furnished with bastions mounting one six pounder each. The situation was well chosen, as a point affording the best facilities for intercepting the war parties of the western Indians, in their frequent hostile incursions the present year.
[FN-1] Indeed, the Shawanese had not been remarkably quiet antecedent to the visitation of McKee, Elliot, and Girty, since they had for several years been engaged in a system of predatory warfare against the celebrated Colonel Daniel Boon and his adventurous companions, almost from the day they made their appearance upon the banks of the Ohio, with their families, in 1773, when the settlement of the present Slate of Kentucky was commenced. Boon had been engaged with Lord Dunmore in his war against the Shawanese in 1774. In the following year he was attacked in Boonsborough, his principal settlement; and through the entire years of 1776 and 1777, hostilities were actively prosecuted by the savages against the advancing Colonists. In one of the earlier battles Boon had lost a son. A second son fell afterward, and his daughter was taken a captive, but bravely rescued by the chivalrous father. In April, 1777, the Indians so divided their forces as to fall upon all the infant settlements at once, and their little forts only saved the people from destruction. On the 15th of April, Boonsborough was attacked by one hundred Indians, at which time the inhabitants suffered severely. On the 19th, Colonel Logan's fort was attacked by a force of two hundred Indians, but they were repulsed by the garrison, consisting of only thirteen men—two of whom were killed. Reinforcements arriving from Virginia, the skirmishes became almost daily. In February of the present year, (1778) Boonsborough was again attacked, and the gallant Colonel himself taken prisoner. He was taken first to Chilicothe, and thence to Detroit, where he was treated with humanity by Colonel Hamilton, the Governor, who offered the Indians 100 pounds if they would surrender him into his hands, that he might liberate him on his parole. But having imbibed a strong affection for their most subtle and successful enemy, the Indians declined the offer. Taking him back to Chilicothe, the Colonel was duly adopted into one of the Shawanese families as a son, to whom his new parents became strongly attached. He soon acquired their confidence to such an extent, that they allowed him to wander off, and hunt by himself. Ascertaining, however, that they were meditating another descent upon Boonsborough, he absconded, and, eluding pursuit, reached his home on the 20th of June.
[FN-2] Journals of Congress, vol. iv. pages, 343, 398, 415, 427.
This expedition was doubtless judged the more important from the increasing audacity of the Indians on the Ohio border of Virginia, now forming the State of Kentucky. In August, Colonel Boon had led a small band of nineteen men against one of the Indian towns on the Scioto, before reaching which he fell in with and dispersed a party of forty Indians then on their way to Boonsborough. The Colonel found the town at Point Creek deserted; and learned that their whole force had gone against his own settlement, to the defence of which he was consequently compelled to hasten back. Fortunately he anticipated their arrival by a few hours, and was enabled to prepare his little garrison for defence. On the 8th of August the Indians, to the number of about four hundred and fifty, arrived before the fort, led, in addition to their own chiefs, by Captain Duquesne, and eleven other Canadian Frenchmen, The garrison was formally summoned to surrender, which summons was peremptorily refused. A treaty was then proposed by the besiegers, and acceded to; the Indians requiring that nine men should be sent out to them as negotiators. But this movement proved to be an artifice, by means of which they hoped to gain access to the fort. An attempt to grapple with and carry off the nine negotiators, though happily unsuccessful, disclosed their treacherous design. The besiegers then attempted a regular approach from the river's brink by mining; but finding that the garrison had discovered their purpose, and were engaged in countermining them, the siege was abandoned on the 20th of August. The loss of the enemy was thirty-seven killed and a much larger number wounded. The loss of the garrison was only two men killed and four wounded.
But, as we have seen, the expedition of General McIntosh, as authorized by the vote of Congress recently cited, was specially destined against the Sandusky towns. It was commanded by the General himself, and consisted of one thousand men; but such were the delays in getting it on foot, that the officers, on arriving at Tuscarawa, judged it imprudent to proceed farther at such an advanced season of the year. They therefore halted at that place, and built Fort Laurens, in which McIntosh left a garrison of one hundred and fifty men under the command of Colonel John Gibson, and returned himself to Fort Pitt for the winter. [FN]