| Treaty with the Wyandots, etc. | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Context | Northwest Indian War (1785-1795) |
| Signed | August 3, 1795 |
| Location | Fort Greenville (Greenville, Ohio) |
| Ratified | December 22, 1795 |
| Parties |  United StatesWyandot Delaware Shawanee Odawa Chippewa Potawatomi Miami Eel Rivers Wea Kickapoo Piankeshaw Kaskaskia |
| Ratifiers | United States Senate |
| Language | English |
| Full text | |
 Treaty of Greenville atWikisource | |
TheTreaty of Greenville, also known to Americans as theTreaty with the Wyandots, etc., but formally titledA treaty of peace between the United States of America, and the tribes of Indians called the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanees, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pattawatimas, Miamis, Eel Rivers, Weas, Kickapoos, Piankeshaws, and Kaskaskias was a 1795 treaty between the United States and indigenous nations of theNorthwest Territory (nowMidwestern United States), including theWyandot andDelaware peoples, that redefined the boundary between indigenous peoples' lands and territory for United States community settlement.
It was signed atFort Greenville,[1] nowGreenville, Ohio, on August 3, 1795, following theNative American loss at theBattle of Fallen Timbers a year earlier in August 1794. It ended theNorthwest Indian War of 1785–1795 in theOhio Country of the oldNorthwest Territory (1787–1803), and limitedIndian country to remaining lands of northwestern Ohio, and began the practice of annual payments of goods, supplies and food, following the land concessions. The parties to the treaty were a coalition of Native American tribes known as theWestern Confederacy, and the United States government represented by newUnited States ArmyGeneralAnthony Wayne (1745–1796), and local frontiersmen.
The treaty became synonymous with the end of theAmerican frontier in theeastern United States, in that part of the old Northwest Territory that would become the new state of Ohio and other adjacent futurefederal territories and future states around theGreat Lakes and further west to theMississippi River.
General"Mad Anthony" Wayne (1745–1796), who had led the newly organizedUnited States Army victory at theBattle of Fallen Timbers and led the American federal government delegation. Other members includedWilliam Wells (c. 1770 – 1812),William Henry Harrison (1773–1841), (future first Governor ofIndiana Territory (1801–1812), U.S. Representative (congressman) and later U.S. Senator fromOhio, and ninthPresident, served March–April 1841),Caleb Swan (1758–1809),William Clark (1770–1838), andMeriwether Lewis (1774–1809) - the last two to become more famous a decade later (and for the subsequent two and quarter centuries), leading theLewis and Clark exploring expedition (Corps of Discovery) of 1804–1806, into the new westernLouisiana Purchase of 1803, up theMissouri River across theGreat Plains, through the passes of theRocky Mountains, to thePacific Northwest region and theWest Coast ofNorth America on thePacific Ocean and returning.
Native Americans leaders who signed the Fort Greenville treaty included leaders of these bands and tribes:Wyandot (chiefsTarhe,Roundhead, andLeatherlips),Delaware (several bands including ChiefBuckongahelas[2]).Shawnee (chiefsBlue Jacket andBlack Hoof[3]),Ottawa (several bands, includingEgushawa),Chippewa,Potawatomi (23 signatories, includingGomo,Siggenauk,Black Partridge,Topinabee, andFive Medals),Miami (includingJean Baptiste Richardville,White Loon, andLittle Turtle),Wea,Kickapoo, andKaskaskia.
Following their defeat at theBattle of Fallen Timbers in August 1794, and subsequentscorched earth tactics, General Wayne had courted the favor of several key leaders within theWestern Confederacy. Wayne brought food supplies, and material for crops and promised to continue delivering new supplies.[4]Blue Jacket, the Shawnee war chief who had led the Native American force at Fallen Timbers, encouraged others to accept Wayne's offered terms for peace. Tarhe declared that the victory atFallen Timbers was evidence that theGreat Spirit favored the newly arrived white men from across the mountains to the east and ocean, called Americans. Opposition to the United States was led byLittle Turtle who, ironically, had advised against engaging Wayne at Fallen Timbers. For a week, Wayne urged the native tribes to accept peace based on previous terms given at the earlier agreements of theTreaty of Fort McIntosh,Treaty of Fort Finney, andTreaty of Fort Harmar, but Little Turtle countered that theMiami Tribe were not party to these treaties and would not recognize them, and that they were invalid because they were made with people who had no original right to the lands that they had sold.[4]
General Wayne revealed to the chiefs that theU.S. Senate inWashington had recently ratified theJay Treaty, between the Americans and the British, and what that would mean on the western frontier, ensuring thatGreat Britain in northernCanada (Quebec andOntario), would no longer be providing additional aid, supplies, firearms and ammunition to the Native Americans.[5] Tarhe confirmed that previous treaties had been signed by chiefs who were at Greenville and warned his fellow Indigenous tribal leaders that Wayne had the military power to take all of their lands if they did not negotiate.[4] Little Turtle and the Miami remained the lone dissent in the natives' confederacy. At a private council between Wayne and Little Turtle on August 12, Wayne argued that the Miami chief was standing against the will of the confederacy majority. Little Turtle reluctantly signed, stating that he was the last to sign, and would therefore be the last to break the treaty, even though he disagreed with the terms.[6]
The day after the Treaty of Greenville was signed, Little Turtle's wife died in camp. She was carried to a grave by U.S. Army soldiers and given a three-gun salute of typical American military ceremonies.[7]
The treaty was signed back in the temporary United States federal nationalcapital city ofPhiladelphia, by first PresidentGeorge Washington and submitted and later ratified by theUnited States Senate on December 22, 1795.[8]
The treaty consisted of ten articles.
The treaty established what became known as theGreenville Treaty Line, as delineated below. For several years, it distinguished Native American territory from lands open to European-American settlers, who, however, continued to encroach. In exchange for goods to the value of $20,000 (such as blankets, utensils, and domestic animals), the Native American tribes ceded to the United States large parts of modern-dayOhio.
The treaty also established the "annuity" system of payment in return for Native American cessions of land east of the treaty line. Yearly grants offederal money and supplies ofcalico cloth to Native American tribes. That institutionalized continuing government influence in tribal affairs and gave outsiders considerable control over Native American life.[9][better source needed]
The treaty redefined with slight modifications the boundaries in Ohio established previously by theTreaty of Fort McIntosh in 1785 and reasserted in theTreaty of Fort Harmar in 1789. In particular, the western boundary, which formerly ran northwesterly to theMaumee River, now ran southerly to theOhio River.[10][11][12]
Ohio had developed settlements and defined tracts of land prior to 1795, including theWestern Reserve, theSeven Ranges survey area, theVirginia Military District,Symmes Purchase, and twoOhio Company purchases, all in eastern and southern Ohio, as well as the line of western forts built by Wayne through Fort Recovery along theGreat Miami River valley.[13][14][15] The boundary line would need to encompass all those territories, covering about two thirds of Ohio Country.
The treaty line began at the mouth of theCuyahoga River in present-dayCleveland and ran south along the river to theportage between the Cuyahoga andTuscarawas Rivers in what is nowAkron, then through thePortage Lakes area between Akron andCanton. The line continued down the Tuscarawas toFort Laurens, near present-dayBolivar. From there, the line ran west-southwest to near present-dayFort Loramie on a branch of theGreat Miami River. From there, the line ran west-northwest toFort Recovery on theWabash River near the present-day boundary betweenOhio andIndiana. From Fort Recovery, the line ran south-southwest to theOhio River at a point opposite the mouth of theKentucky River in present-dayCarrollton, Kentucky.Rufus Putnam, who had been appointed byGeorge Washington as surveyor general of the United States, surveyed and marked the Treaty Line.[16][12]
There were also other forts along the Great Lakes, such asFort Miamis and other forts in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio that the British had agreed to cede to the United States in the1783 Treaty of Paris but had yet to evacuate. In Indiana, there was theVincennes Tract,Clark's Grant, and the settlement at Ouiatenon to protect.[17]
The treaty also permitted established US Army posts and allocated strategic reserved tracts to the federal government within the Indian Country to the north and the west of the ceded lands, the most important of which was the future site ofFort Dearborn (now DowntownChicago) onLake Michigan.[nb 1][19] Other American lands within Indian Country includedFort Detroit,Ouiatenon,Fort Wayne,[20]Fort Miami,[21] andFort Sandusky.[22]
The treaty exempted established settlements at St. Vincennes, General Clark's grant, variousFrench settlements, andFort Massac from relinquishment.[12]
The United States renounced all claims to indigenous peoples' lands not within the treaty line in Ohio or parcels exempted. The indigenous groups were obliged to recognize the United States as the sole sovereign power in the entire territory, but the local peoples would otherwise have free use of their own lands as long as they were kindly disposed to American settlers. The treaty also arranged for an exchange of prisoners and specified the parties that would be responsible for enforcing the boundary and punishing transgressions.[12]
After the signing of the treaty, the so-called "peace chiefs"—such asLittle Turtle—who advocated for cooperation with the United States, were roundly criticized by Shawnee chiefTecumseh, who stated that the peace chiefs had given away land that they did not own. Tecumseh fought against the Americans during theWar of 1812 and was killed in battle in 1813.[23][24]
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The negotiated peace was only temporary. Anthony Wayne who promised to protect the treaty would die a year later. A Spanish spyJames Wilkinson would take command of his army. Continuing encroachments by settlers on Indian Country north and west of the treaty line (and of future treaty lines established by theTreaty of Vincennes,Treaty of Grouseland, andTreaty of Fort Wayne of 1809), especially in Indiana, would lead a disgruntled Tecumseh, who had not signed the Treaty of Greenville, to reform the Confederacy atProphetstown over the following decade.[25] Unrest among the tribes culminated in theBattle of Tippecanoe in 1811, a major defeat for indigenous nations that may have contributed to their siding with the British in theWar of 1812.[26][27]
The Treaty of Greenville closed the frontier in theNorthwest Territory. Thereafter began a series of purchases of indigenous peoples' lands by treaty and Indigenous tribe removals by law throughout the territory and its successors, interrupted briefly by the War of 1812. Indians were moved west of the Mississippi River toIndian Country reservations in what later became the state of Oklahoma in a process that culminated with the dismantling of the Great Miami Reserve in Indiana by treaties in the 1830s. By 1840, the Old Northwest was essentially clear of indigenous peoples. Future conflicts would all be west of the Mississippi.[28]
The treaty line would become the southwestern boundary of the Northwest Territory at its division in 1800. Upon Ohio statehood in 1803, the western boundary of Ohio ran due north from a place on the Ohio River somewhat east of the south-southwesterly treaty line, leaving a sliver of land called "The Gore" in what is today southeastern Indiana remaining as part of the Northwest Territory. "The Gore" was ceded to Indiana Territory at that time, and becameDearborn County in March 1803.[29]
Meriwether Lewis andWilliam Henry Harrison were both present at the treaty signing. The former would go on to launch theLewis and Clark Expedition withWilliam Clark in 1804, and the latter would later become the 9th President of the United States in 1841.[30]
Fort Greenville was abandoned in 1796; it would be another 12 years before the settlement ofGreenville, Ohio, was founded on the site.[31][32]
It was the last treaty signed by Gen. Wayne, who died just over a year later, in December 1796.[33]
A painting commemorating the treaty hangs in theOhio Statehouse. It was completed by Ohio artistHoward Chandler Christy. At 23 feet (7.0 m) wide, it is the largest painting in the Ohio Statehouse.[34]
40°06′28″N84°37′54″W / 40.1078°N 84.6316°W /40.1078; -84.6316
