Vincennes.' In the evening,
Blue Jacket, chief of the Shawnees, having taken me to supper with him,
told me, in a private manner, that the Shawnee nation was in doubt of
the sincerity of the Big Knives (Americans), so called, having been
already deceived by them. That they had first destroyed their lands, put
out their fire, and sent away their young men, being a hunting, without
a mouthful of meat; also, had taken away their women; wherefore, many of
them would, with great deal of pain, forget the affronts. Moreover, that
some other nations were apprehending that offers of peace would, maybe,
tend to take away, by degrees, their lands; and would serve them as they
did before; a certain proof that they intend to encroach on our lands,
is their new settlement on the Ohio. If they don't keep this side (of
the Ohio) clear, it will never be a proper reconcilement with the
nations Shawnees, Iroquois, Wyandots, and perhaps many others."

On the journey back to Vincennes, every indication along the way was
threatening. At L'Anguille, Gamelin was told that one of the Eel river
chieftains had gone to war with the Americans; that a few days before
his arrival a band of seventy Indians, Chippewas and Ottawas from
Michillimacinac, and some Potawatomi, had passed through the village on
the way to the American frontier. At Ouiatenon, the Weas said that the
English commandant was their father, and that they could do nothing
without his approbation. "On the eighth day of May, Gamelin returned to
Fort Knox, and on the eleventh, some traders arrived from the upper
Wabash, bringing the intelligence that war parties from the north had
joined the Wabash Indians; that the whole force of the savages had gone
to make an attack on the settlements, and that three days after Gamelin
left the Miamis, an American captive had been burned in their village."

[Illustration: Map of the Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne Campaigns.
Drawing by Heaton]

Reluctant as was the government of the United States to engage in war
with the Wabash Indians, no doubt now remained of their warlike
intentions. Every savage town from the Vermilion Piankeshaws to ancient
Kekionga, was under British control. On the first of May, 1790, Governor
Arthur St. Clair transmitted to the war department a part of the report
of Antoine Gamelin, written from Tippecanoe, and observed as follows:
"By this letter, you will perceive that everything seems to be referred
to the Miamis, which do