would join them; for "the western Indians
were determined to wrestle with Long Knife in the spring." [Footnote:
_Do._, No. 150, vol. i., Major Finley's Statement, Dec. 6, 1785.]

Failure of the Treaties.

Some of the Algonquin chiefs, notably Molunthee the Shawnee, likewise
sincerely endeavored to bring about a peace. But the western tribes as a
whole were bent on war. They were constantly excited and urged on by the
British partisan leaders, such as Simon Girty, Elliot, and Caldwell.
These leaders took part in the great Indian councils, at which even
tribes west of the Mississippi were represented; and though they spoke
without direct authority from the British commanders at the lake posts,
yet their words carried weight when they told the young red warriors
that it was better to run the risk of dying like men than of starving
like dogs. Many of the old men among the Wyandotes and Delawares spoke
against strife; but the young men were for war, and among the Shawnees,
the Wabash Indians, and the Miamis the hostile party was still stronger.
A few Indians would come to one of the forts and make a treaty on behalf
of their tribe, at the very moment that the other members of the same
tribe were murdering and ravaging among the exposed settlements or were
harrying the boats that went down the Ohio. All the tribes that entered
into the treaties of peace were represented among the different parties
of marauders. Over the outlaw bands there was no pretence of control;
and their successes, and the numerous scalps and quantities of plunder
they obtained, made them very dangerous examples to the hot-blooded
young warriors everywhere. Perhaps the most serious of all obstacles to
peace was the fact that the British still kept the lake posts.
[Footnote: _Do._, Letters of H. Knox, No. 150, vol. i., pp. 107, 112,
115, 123, 149, 243, 269, etc.]

The Indians who did come in to treat were sullen, and at first always
insisted on impossible terms. They would finally agree to mutual
concessions, would promise to keep their young men from marauding, and
to allow surveys to be made, provided the settlers were driven off all
lands which the Indians had not yielded; and after receiving many gifts,
would depart. The representatives of the Federal Government would then
at once set about performing their share of the agreement, the most
important part of which was the removal of the settlers who had built
cabins on the Indian lands west of t