WAYNE AND THE TREATY OF GREENE VILLE
by DWIGHT L. SMITH*
It has generally been assumed that the
chief architect of the
Treaty of Greene Ville at the end of
the Indian Wars in the Old
Northwest was General "Mad"
Anthony Wayne. The discovery of
hitherto unknown manuscript material,
however, furnishes docu-
mentary evidence that Wayne was
operating under very specific
orders from the war department.
Further, a draft treaty for his
guidance and use predetermined to a
large extent the ultimate
structure and content of the treaty. By
comparing the instructions
and the draft treaty with the final
document drawn up and accepted
at the Greene Ville council in the
summer of 1795, it is possible to
assign Wayne precisely the credit due
him. This is assuming, of
course, that general credit for the
successful negotiation is pri-
marily his.
Following the American Revolution,
repeated attempts to bring
peace between the Indians and the
United States in the Old North-
west had failed. To Wayne was assigned
the task that others had
failed to accomplish. As early as the
autumn of 1792 he began to
organize and drill the Legion of the
United States, as the army was
then designated, in the hope of an
eventual decisive victory. The
legion advanced down the Ohio River to
Fort Washington (Cin-
cinnati) and up the Great Miami Valley
in western Ohio. A chain
of forts, spearheaded by Greene Ville,
pointed into the Indian
stronghold of the
Auglaize-Maumee-Wabash valleys.
From his headquarters at Greene Ville
in mid-January of 1794,
Wayne reported to the secretary of war
that Delaware, Miami, and
Shawnee Indians had sent him "a
flag with overtures of peace."
There was reason to doubt the sincerity
of this gesture and to con-
clude that it was only
"insidiously to gain time." Wayne reasoned
that time would permit the Indians to
reconnoiter his position and
*Dwight L. Smith is an assistant
professor of history at Miami University and the
editor of From Greene Ville to Fallen
Timbers: A Journal of the Wayne Campaign,
July 28-September 14, 1794.
1
2 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
strength, "which they have never
heretofore been able to ascertain,"
to provision themselves for the winter,
and to remove their women
and children to safety. The American
commander wanted some
"convincing & unequivocal
proof" of their sincerity before calling
for a treaty council to be held.1
The secretary of war, cautiously
hopeful of the sincerity of this
move, answered with instructions in
April 1794 for Wayne to hold
a treaty if favorable conditions
developed. He included a draft
"general" form of a treaty the government was interested
in ob-
taining "to which you will adhere
as far as the same may be suitable
to the state of things."2 Realizing
that the exigencies of the con-
ditions on the frontier might create
situations not covered or con-
sidered in these instructions, the
secretary of war virtually granted
plenary powers to Wayne in a dispatch
in July. "Your distance
from the seat of the Government and the
energies which may be
required at the moment," he wrote,
"have induced the measure of
confiding to you every power,
necessarily connected with the situa-
tion . . . and success of the force
under your Command."3
It was more than a year later before
the treaty was negotiated.
Meanwhile "the state of
things" had changed considerably. In late
June 1794 a sizable force of impetuous
Indians tried to deal a blow
to the campaign by an attack and
assault on Fort Recovery at the
battle site of Arthur St. Clair's
defeat in 1791. It was nearly fatal
to the Indian cause. With encouragement
from the British and
strength gained from wishful thinking,
however, the Indians once
more assembled, anticipating what they
hoped would mean the
defeat of Wayne. At Fallen Timbers on
the Maumee River, not far
from the British Fort Miamis, the
Indians were routed and de-
moralized on August 20, 1794. To
consolidate the victory the legion
1 Anthony Wayne to Henry Knox, January
18, 1794. Wayne Manuscripts, Historical
Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
(microfilm, Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society, Columbus).
2 Knox to Wayne, April 4, 1794.
Northwest Territory Collection, William Henry
Smith Memorial Library of the Indiana
Historical Society, Indianapolis. This draft
of the treaty has not been located.
3 Knox to Wayne, July 11, 1794, quoted
in The Rosenbach Company, The History
of America in Documents, Part Two, The Close of the Revolution to the Middle
of
the Nineteenth Century (Philadelphia and New York, 1950), 48.
Wayne and the Treaty of Greene
Ville 3
moved up the Maumee Valley to the
Wabash-Maumee portage and
built Fort Wayne.
As early as November, and all through
the winter of 1794-95,
delegations visited Wayne at Greene
Ville with overtures of peace.
In mid-June of 1795 formal negotiations
were opened. Another blow
was dealt the Indians when the
provisions of Jay's Treaty were
read to them.4 John Jay
secured from Britain a promise of evacua-
tion of all troops and garrisons she
was occupying within territory
given to the United States at the end
of the Revolution. This was
additional proof, as conclusive to the
Indians as the closed gates of
Fort Miamis after Fallen Timbers, that
the British had deserted
them.
Again, as the year before, the
secretary of war sent a detailed
letter for guidance in negotiating with
the Indians. The former
directions were still valid "in
all matters not varied by the present
instructions; the chief of which have
resulted from a change in our
relative situation to the hostile
Indians and to . . . the British."
Enclosed was a draft form of a treaty
"such as a view of our affairs
in relation to the Western Indians, at
this distance has suggested."5
Early in August the Treaty of Greene
Ville was consummated,
bringing peace with the Indians in the
Old Northwest. The "state
of things" had changed drastically
against the Indians since their
overtures of January 1794. Some measure
of its benefit to the United
States can be ascertained by comparing
the war department draft
and the treaty itself, and at the same
time considering the two
principal letters of instructions that
were sent to Wayne.
A general boundary line was established
by the treaty, south and
east of which claim was relinquished by
the Indians forever. The
line followed the course of the
Cuyahoga River south from its
mouth on Lake Erie, across the portage
to the Tuscarawas River,
downstream to Fort Laurens, and
westward to Fort Loramie at the
southern terminus of the Great
Miami-Maumee portage. From this
4 See entries for July 24 and 27, 1795,
Minutes of the Treaty of Greene Ville, in
American State Papers (38 vols., Washington, 1832-61), Indian Affairs, I,
573, 574.
5 Timothy Pickering to Wayne, April 8
and 14, 1795; draft of the proposed treaty.
Northwest Territory Collection, William Henry Smith
Memorial Library.
4 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
point the instructions suggested that
the line be drawn southward
from
Fort Loramie down the Great Miami to the Ohio River.6
The suggestion was also incorporated in
the draft proposal.7
Wayne was able to do better. To the
Indians in council he de-
scribed this portion of the general
boundary as going from Fort
Loramie westward to Fort Recovery, and
from thence southward
to the point opposite the mouth of the
Kentucky River on the Ohio.
This would push the Great Miami
boundary westward into south-
eastern Indiana. Asserting that such a
boundary would include a
considerable portion of their hunting
grounds, Little Turtle, one
of the chief spokesmen, proposed a
compromise. He suggested that
from Fort Recovery, the line follow the
road to Fort Hamilton,
thence down the Great Miami, with a
guarantee of American rights
to navigation on that stream.8
Wayne countered that this proposal
would be "productive of
unpleasant mistakes and
differences." Since there were a number
of different roads to Fort Hamilton,
the suggestion was not specific
enough, and the line would be very
crooked. A straight line be-
tween two well-known points would be
much more satisfactory.
Besides, another article granted the
Indians the right to hunt on
lands they were ceding to the United
States, so the objection was
not valid.9 There was
general agreement with Wayne and the treaty
included the Fort Loramie-Fort
Recovery-Ohio River line.10 In mak-
ing this change from the draft proposal
Wayne was within his
authority. Should "the disposition
of the Indians and various cir-
cumstances not now known . . . require
. . . alterations," he was
authorized to make them.11
In addition to the general cession,
tracts at trading posts, forts,
portages, and heads of navigable
streams were obtained from the
6 Pickering
to Wayne, April 8 and 14, 1795.
7 Article 3, draft of the proposed
treaty.
8 Entry for July 29, 1795, Minutes of
the Treaty of Greene Ville, in American
State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 576.
9 Entry for July 30, 1795, in ibid., 578.
10 Article 3, Treaty of Greene Ville,
August 3, 1795. Photostatic copy in the Ohio
State Archaeological and Historical
Society. The general boundary line is shown in
Charles C. Royce, comp., Indian Land
Cessions in the United States (Bureau of
American Ethnology, Eighteenth Annual
Report, Part 2, Washington, 1899), plates
CXXVI and CLVI.
11 Pickering to Wayne, April 8 and 14,
1795.
Wayne and the Treaty of Greene
Ville 5
Indians. The draft treaty specified ten
of these locations,12 but they
were not to limit Wayne. "Your
knowledge of the Country will
enable you to decide," his
instructions read, "whether to retain to
reject or substitute others and to add
such as you may deem very
eligible."13 One of the
tracts specified by the draft treaty was de-
scribed ambiguously as being
"towards the Mouth of the Miami of
the lake [Maumee River], at or near the
foot of the rapids." As
Wayne was also instructed to acquire
areas occupied by British
troops and to secure control of the
Maumee River to its mouth,
he was able to clear up the ambiguity
of the draft with the accession
of two tracts: one "at the British
fort [Miamis] . . . at the foot
of the rapids," and the other
"at the mouth of the said River, where
it empties into the Lake."14
Wayne secured an additional tract
"at the head of the navigable
water ... on the St Mary's River, near
Girtys Town" to help com-
plete a chain of communications between
the Great Miami and
Maumee rivers.15 A cession
at Ouiatenon, site of the old French fort
and trading post on the Wabash River,
was secured to maintain
communications between Fort Wayne and
the Ohio River.16 During
the treaty council when Mackinac Island
and its mainland de-
12 (1)
at Loramie's store;
(2) at the head of navigation of the
Auglaize River;
(3) at the confluence of the Auglaize
and Maumee rivers;
(4) at the confluence of the St. Marys
and St. Joseph rivers;
(5) at the Wabash terminus of the
Wabash-Maumee portage;
(6) at the foot of the rapids of the
Maumee River;
(7) at the site of a former fort on
Sandusky Lake;
(8) at the lower rapids of the Sandusky
River;
(9) the post of Detroit and land in its
vicinity;
(10) the post of Michilimackinac, the
island, and its mainland dependencies.
Article 3, draft of the proposed treaty.
13 Pickering to Wayne, April 8 and 14,
1795.
14 Article 3, draft of the proposed
treaty; Pickering to Wayne, April 8 and 14,
1795; Article 3, Treaty of Greene Ville.
At the council, a Chippewa chief expressed
Indian acquiescence in cession of the
tract at the foot of the rapids. Entry for July 30,
1795, in Minutes of the Treaty of Greene
Ville, in American State Papers, Indian
Affairs, I,
577. The approximate locations of these cessions are shown in Royce,
Indian Land Cessions, plates CLVI and CLVII.
15 Article 3, Treaty of Greene Ville;
Pickering to Wayne, April 8 and 14, 1795.
The approximate location of this cession
is shown in Royce, Indian Land Cessions,
plates CLVI and CLVII.
16 Article 3, Treaty of Greene Ville; Knox to Wayne, April 4, 1794; Pickering
to
Wayne, April 8 and 14, 1795. Little
Turtle expressed Indian acquiescence in this
cession. Entry for July 30, 1795, in
Minutes of the Treaty of Greene Ville, in
American State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 577. The approximate location of this
cession is shown in Royce, Indian
Land Cessions, plate CXXVI.
6 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
pendencies were being considered, the
Chippewa, "as an instance of
our sincere disposition to serve and
accommodate you," made a
voluntary gift of the Isle de Bois
Blanc to the Americans.17 American
influence and control were further
extended beyond the instructions
and draft treaty expectations when
Wayne was able to secure the
right of passage through Indian country
along the entire course
of the Chicago-Illinois river system
which connected the Great
Lakes and Mississippi River and the
cession of tracts at its terminal
points on Lake Michigan and the
Mississippi, as well as at Peoria.18
Land considerations were not the only
additions made to the draft
treaty during the council at Greene Ville.
Of considerable sig-
nificance to the whole situation in the
Old Northwest, the Indians
pledged themselves under the protection
of the United States, and
"no other power whatever."19
A rather important reciprocal agree-
ment was made between the Indians and
the United States. Each
would report to the other and attempt
to allay hostile intentions of
other tribes against either of them.20
A considerable portion of the contents
and form of the Treaty of
Greene Ville must be credited to the
war department, the source
of the draft of the proposed treaty.
Beyond this, as has been noted,
Wayne was able to secure added
features. The general boundary line
from Fort Loramie down the Great Miami
to the Ohio, as suggested
by the war department, was moved
westward, instead, to Fort
Recovery and thence in a southwesterly
direction to the Ohio. Thus
17 Entry for July 30, 1795, in
Minutes of the Treaty of Greene Ville, in American
State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 577. Wayne accepted the gift very gracefully. Ibid.,
578. Article 3, Treaty of Greene Ville.
The location of this cession is shown in Royce,
Indian Land Cessions, plates CXXXVI, CXXXVII, and CXXXIX.
18 Article 3, draft of the proposed
treaty; Article 3, Treaty of Greene Ville. The
approximate locations of these cessions
are shown in Royce, Indian Land Cessions,
plates CXXIV and CXXV.
19 "You will . . . carefully guard the general rights of preemption of
the United
States to the Indian Country against all
other nations and Individuals." Knox to
Wayne, April 4, 1794. Article 5, draft
of the proposed treaty; Article 5, Treaty of
Greene Ville.
20 Article 9, draft of the proposed
treaty; Article 9, Treaty of Greene Ville. The
draft treaty also indicated that annuity
delivery of goods should be made to the
Delaware, Miami, Shawnee, and Wyandot.
Wayne was to determine the amounts and
also to add other tribes if
circumstances recommended it. The treaty adds the Chippewa,
Eel River, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Ottawa,
Piankeshaw, Potawatomi, and Wea, and
awards amounts of five hundred or one
thousand dollars for each tribe.
Wayne and the Treaty of Greene
Ville 7
the Great Miami Valley of western Ohio
and a sizable triangular-
shaped portion of southeastern Indiana
were gained. Tracts were
secured at the British Fort Miamis near
Fallen Timbers, at the mouth
of the Maumee River, at the head of
navigation of the St. Marys
River, and at Ouiatenon; Isle de Bois
Blanc near Mackinac Island
was acquired; and use of the
Chicago-Illinois river system connecting
the Mississippi and the Great Lakes
with tracts at its terminal points
and at Peoria was gained. The Indian
pledge to put themselves
solely under the protection of the
United States, and the reciprocal
promise of the United States and the
Indians to report intelligence
of impending hostility against either
were added features of im-
portance. Also, credit for the
successful negotiation and obtaining
of Indian signatures to the document
belongs to the American
negotiators. Treaty-making with the
Indians was a very deliberate
and time-consuming process. Wayne
succeeded in executing his in-
structions very well and in obtaining
even more than they had
required of him.