P
recommended that the rebels sue for peace but was
unable to persuade his warriors.
The army destroys the fields at the Indians’
abandoned stronghold at the confluence of the
Maumee and Auglaize Rivers. The Americans con-
tinue on to a swampy area known as Fallen Timbers,
filled with trees ripped from the ground by a tor-
nado the year before. There an advance unit is set
upon by a group of Ottawa, whose impulsive attack
alerts Wayne’s men to the larger Indian force lying in
wait. Without the element of surprise, the Indians
are at a loss against the Americans, who outnumber
them by more than two to one. The warriors flee the
battlefield, many to nearby Fort Miami. They expect
their British allies at the fort to protect them, but the
Englishmen refuse to open the gates to let them in.
In the Battle of Fallen Timbers, hundreds of
warriors are killed, while the Americans suffer only
38 casualties. As the Indians retreat, Wayne’s soldiers
set their villages and crops ablaze. The Americans’
decisive victory destroys Little Turtle’s confederacy
and ends organized Indian resistance to white set-
tlement north of the Ohio River.
“[T]he Eastern fires [United
States]... did not take Lowinaki
[Canada], but became free of
Dolojo [King George]. We went
to Wapahani [the White River
region of Indiana] to be farther
from them; but they followed us
everywhere, and we made war
on them, till they sent Makh-
iakho [General Anthony Wayne],
who made strong war. We next
made peace and settled limits.”
—an account of the Battle of
Fallen Timbers from the Lenni
Lenape (Delaware) tribal history
known as the Walam OlumNovember 19Jay’s Treaty allows Indians to move freely
over the Canadian-U.S. border.
The United States and Great Britain sign the Treaty
of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation—popularly
known as Jay’s Treaty—in which Britain agrees to
abandon its trade and military posts on U.S. land
between the Great Lakes and the Ohio River. Britain
earlier consented to vacate the posts in the Treaty of
Paris (see entry for 1783) but refused to make good
on its promise—a situation that had contributed to
the growing tension between the two countries.
Jay’s Treaty is a blow to British-allied Indians
who were displaced during the American Revolu-
tion and flocked to the English posts for aid. Over
the long term, the end of British military presence
in the Northwest Territory (now Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and portions of
Minnesota) will also encourage American settlers to
encroach on Indian lands in the region. The treaty,
however, does grant Indians the right to travel over
the international boundary without interference.
This provision will become important to Indian
activists in the 20th century as they fight both
countries’ attempt to regulate their movement over
the border (see entries for 1926 and for NOVEM-
BER 18, 1968).December 2The United States promises educational aid
in an Indian treaty.
In appreciation of their support during the Ameri-
can Revolution, the United States signs a treaty that
provides compensation to the Oneida, Tuscarora,
and Stockbridge (a group of Christian Mohegan) for
property destroyed during the war. The federal gov-
ernment offers them $5,000 for their lost property
and $1,000 for a church that was torched by the Brit-
ish, and it promises to build a gristmill and a sawmill
for their use. The treaty also stipulates that the United
States will hire teachers to “instruct some young men
of these three nations in the arts of the miller and
the sawer.” The agreement thereby becomes the first