Indians in return. [Footnote:
Va. State Papers, iv., 357.] All the Indians were not yet at war,
however; and curious agreements were entered into by individuals on both
sides. In the absence on either side of any government with full
authority and power, the leaders would often negotiate some special or
temporary truce, referring only to certain limited localities, or to
certain people; and would agree between themselves for the interchange
or ransom of prisoners. There is a letter of Boone's extant in which he
notifies a leading Kentucky colonel that a certain captive woman must be
given up, in accordance with an agreement he has made with one of the
noted Indian chiefs; and he insists upon the immediate surrender of the
woman, to clear his "promise and obligation." [Footnote: Draper MSS.,
Boone Papers. Boone to Robert Patterson, March 16,1787.]

The Indians Harry the Boats on the Ohio.

The Indians watched the Ohio with especial care, and took their toll
from the immense numbers of immigrants who went down it. After passing
the Muskingum no boat was safe. If the war parties, lurking along the
banks, came on a boat moored to the shore, or swept thither by wind or
current, the crew was at their mercy; and grown bold by success, they
sometimes launched small flotillas of canoes and attacked the scows on
the water. In such attacks they were often successful, for they always
made the assault with the odds in their favor; though they were
sometimes beaten back with heavy loss.

When the war was at its height the boats going down the Ohio preferred
to move in brigades. An army officer has left a description [Footnote:
Denny's Military Journal, April 19, 1790.] of one such flotilla, over
which he had assumed command. It contained sixteen flat-boats, then
usually called "Kentuck boats," and two keels. The flat-boats were
lashed three together and kept in one line. The women, children, and
cattle were put in the middle scows, while the outside were manned and
worked by the men. The keel boats kept on either flank. This particular
flotilla was unmolested by the Indians, but was almost wrecked in a
furious storm of wind and rain.

Vain Efforts to Conclude Treaties of Peace.

The Federal authorities were still hopelessly endeavoring to come to
some understanding with the Indians; they were holding treaties with
some of the tribes, sending addresses and making speeches to others, and
keeping envoys in the neighborhood