OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Ohio's Huron and Wyandot Indians [5]
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Darlene E. Kelley
http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374
April 30, 2000
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Historical Collections of Ohio
Diaries of S. J. Kelly
Plains Dealer
Know Your Ohio
by Darlene E. Kelley
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Ohio's Huron and Wyandot Indians -- Part 5

There were 12,000 white settlers north of the Ohio in 1785, and General
Josiah Harmar. the American Military Commander, could neither keep them
from encroaching on native lands or remove them once they were there.
Fighting resumed in 1786. When the Alliance met in council that fall, it
was decided to demand the Ohio River as the frontier. A truce was called
to give the Americans time to respond, but by the time the message
reached Congress in July, the fighting had already resumed. The
Americans made final attempt to avoid war and resolve the dispute
through treaty. In December, 1787, Arthur St.Clair asked for a meeting
at Fort Harmar at the falls of Ohio's Muskingum River. The alliance
agreed and decided to settle for the Muskingum as the boundary. However,
there was considerable disagreement, and the American soldiers building
the council house for the meeting were attacked by the Ottawa and Ojibwe
warriors in July, 1788. Joseph Brant returned to the alliance council
demanding they repudiate all treaties ceding any part of Ohio. The
Shawnee and Miami agreed, but Tarhu, a Wyandot chief, decided to
negotiate and was able to convince the Delaware, Ottawa, Potawatomi, and
Ojibwe to join him.---

Tarhe was the first chief to sign the Treaty at Greenville as Chief of
the Tribe, Grand Sachem of the Wyadot Nation and headed the Northwest
Confederacy. As keepers of the Camulet, the Wyandots were entrusted with
the Indian copy of the Treaty.  This was his address;

" Elder brother! Now listen to us. The great spirit above has appointed
you this day for us to meet together. I shall now deliver my sentiments
to you, the fifteen fires. I view you, lying in a gore of blood. It is
me, an Indian who caused it. Our tomahawk yet remains in your head-- the
English gave it to me to place there."

"Elder brother! I now take the tomahawk out of your head; but with so
much care you shall not feel pain or injury. I will now tear a big tree
up by the roots and throw the hatchet into the cavity which they occupy;
where the waters will wash it away to where it can never be found. Now,I
have buried the hatchet, and I expect that none of my color will ever
again find it out. I now tell you that none in particular can justly
claim this ground-- it belongs in common to all. No earthly being has an
exclusive right to it.  (spoken on a blue belt)."

" Bothers, fifteen fires, listen! You now see that we have burned the
hatchet. We see blood around, and in order to clear away al grief, we
now wipe away the blood from around you, which together with the dirt
that comes away from it, we bury the hatchet in the hole we have made
for them, and replace the giant tree, as it stood before, so that
neither our children, nor our children's children can ever again
discover it." ( spoken on a blue string attached and both delivered.)

" Brothers, listen! I now wipe your body cean from all the blood with
this white, soft linen ( a white wampum) and I do it with as much
tenderness as I am capable of. You have appointed this house for the
chiefs of the different tribes to sit with you, and none but good words
ought to be spoken in it. I have swept it clean-- nothing impure remains
in it.

" Brothers, listen! We are both placed on the ground. I now wipe the
tears from your eyes and open your ears. I see your throat is so stopped
that you are nearly suffocated-- I now open your throat and make it
quite clean, that whatever the Great Spirit may think it proper for you
to swallow may go down without any obstruction. I see also that your
heart is not in its true situation-- I now place it in its proper
position, that anything you may hear from us, your brothers, may descend
directly to it, and what you shall say may come with truth and ease from
it."

" Brother, I clear away the hovering cluds that we may enjoy a clear,
bright day; and easily see the sun which the Great Spirit has bestowed
on us, to rise and set continually." ( A white string.)

"Brother, Listen to us Indians, who now speak to you. The bones which
lie scattered of your ancient warriors who fell in defense of the
present cause, we gather all together, and bury them now, and place this
white board over them, that they never again be seen by our posterity."
( A white belt and string .)

" Brother warrior! listen to us. The great chiefs are about to speak to
you. Your chiefs and warriors present, listen also.

" Brother! We speak not from our lips, but fro our hearts, when we are
resolved upon good works. I always told you that I never intended to
deceive you, when we entered upon this business. It was never the
intention of us Indians to do so. I speak from my heart what I say to
you. The Great Spirit is now veiwing us now, and did he dicover any
baseness or treachery, it would excite his just anger against us.

" Brother, listen to me! We are all of one mind, who here assembled.
This is a business not to be trifled with-- it is a matter of the utmost
concern to us. We happily so far agree in handling our ancestor's
records, who always worked for peace.

" Brother! You have proposed to us to build our good work on the treaty
of Muskingum. That treaty I have always considered as formed on the
fairest principles. You took pity on us Indians--You did not do as our
fathers, the British, agreed you should. You might by that agreement,
have take all our lands; but you pitied us , and let us hold part. I
always looked upon that treaty to be binding upon the United States and
us Indians.

" Brother! Listen to us Indians-- I told you jst now that we were upon
business of the greatest moment. I now conclude the great work we have
been employed in, and with this, I cover the whole earth, that it may
appear white, and shine all over the world. I hope the Great Spirit will
have pity on us, and make this work lasting. 
( Four large mixed belts presented.)

" Brother! I am going to relate to you the treaty made at Muskingum in a
few words. I have not forgotten that treaty; neither have you. At that
time we settled a peace between the Delawares, Six Nations, Ottawas,
Chippeways, Potawattamies, and us Wyandots. It is very true there were
not so many different nations then assembled as are now present. We now
establish a general, permanent, and lasting peace, forever.

" Brother! We are all sensible that when you struck the boundary, at the
time, it ran from Tuscarawas to a little way below Loramie, where the
fort stood, which was destroyed in 1752. I understand the line has since
been moved a little toward us. Be strong, brothers, and fulfill your
engagements.

" Brothers, Listen! I have told you, that I speak from my heart-- You
see the speeches I have delivered. Peruse them and see whether or not I
have spoken with sincerity. This is all your brothers of the different
nations present have this day to say to you." 

The treaty of Fort Harmer was signed in January 1789 agreeing t the
Muskinggum as the boundary of settlement, but the Wyandot and other
moderates within the allience had lost control. By summer the Shawne and
Miami, with British support, had built a consensus and afterwards
dominated the allience. In the fall, the Shawnee asked the Iroquois to
join them in the fight for Ohio. The Iroquois already ha enough trouble
defending their homeland from settlement and declined. They would have
no furthur influence among the Ohio tribes after this. Meanwhile, as
American settlers continued to encroach, the United States had ratified
the Constitution creating a new form of government. It's first President
was a war hero and Virginia farmer who had just happened to have his
personal fortune invested in land along the Ohio River-- George
Washington.
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To be continued in part 6.