DISCOURSE.

GENTLEMEN OF THE HISTORICAL SCCIETY:

The first settlement, and early history of Michigan, have already been detailed by one of my predecessors; I shall therefore begin at a later period, and reviewing such events of character and importance as have had an influence on its destiny, and trace them down to the close of the late

war.

The treaty of 1783, which terminated the war of the Revolution, included Michigan within the boundaries of the United States. It continued, however, under the dominion of Great Britain for some years after that date. But, preparatory to taking possession of it, and in order to avoid collision with the Indian tribes which owned the soil, a treaty was held with them by General Clark, at Fort M'Intosh, in 1785, by which they ceded their title to all lands lying within a line drawn from the mouth of the river Raisin, to a point six miles above, and thence running at that distance from the shore of Lake Erie and the river Detroit, until it should strike Lake Lt. Clair. At Fort Hanmar, two years subsequently, the Island of Michilimackinac, with a circumference of twelve miles, was ceded in the same manner.

But the Territory thus secured by a treaty with Great

Britain, and with the Indian tribes of which we had thus established an amicable understanding, was many years sequestered from our possession. The cause, as well as the general consequences, of this international difficulty, are familiar to every reader of history, and do not come within the scope of this address. But the intimate relation which General Wayne's campaign of 1794 had with the formal surrender of the country to its rightful proprietor, makes it an essential part of the history, which it is the object of this society to embody. His operations were beyond the boundary of Michigan, but the results may be said to have determined its subsequent destiny.

Towards the close of the year 1793, General Wayne* re-occupied the ground which had been rendered memorable by the disastrous defeat of St. Clair, three years before, and there built a stockade work, which was significantly called Fort Recovery. While engaged in this labor, he offered a small reward for every human skull which should be found on the battle ground. More than five hundred of these relics of carnage are said to have been collected, and entombed beneath one of the BlockHouses of the work.

Leaving a suitable garrison at Fort Recovery, General Wayne returned to Fort Jefferson, and wintered there with the main body of his army. He had already been admonished that an active, dexterous and powerful enemy was in the wilderness surrounding him; for, while advancing towards Fort Jefferson, his rear guard had been attacked and entirely discomfited. In June 1794, before the army had left its winter quarters, a detachment, which had been to Fort Recovery as an escort of provisions, fell

*For the principal details of General Wayne's campaign, I am mainly indebted to a Manuscript Journal of Brigadier General Brady, of the United States Army, who began his long and serviceable and honorable military career as a Lieutenant, in that campaign.

into an ambush of Indians about a mile from the Fort, and was driven back with great loss; the victors continuing the pursuit to the very gates which they endeavored to enter with the fugitives.

On the 4th of July, 1794, General Wayne began his march from Fort Recovery, and took up the track of the Indians, who had left it obviously marked in their rear, either from the haste with which they made it, or, what is more probable, because they were desirous of luring him still farther into the recesses of the wilderness. At the crossing of the St. Mary's river, Fort Adams was built; and during the halt there, a man belonging to the Contractor's Department, deserted to the Indians, and carried to them the information of the movements of the army. In consequence of this notice, General Wayne, when he arrived at the confluence of the Anglaise with the Maumee, found their villages abandoned. Several days were spent at this place in building Fort Defiance, and awaiting the returr of a small party of spies, which, under the direction of Capt. Wells, had been sent forward to reconnoitre the enemy. This skilful and intrepid warrior of the woods, led his party within so short a distance of the British works, as to ascertain that the Indians were encamped under its protection. He took one or two prisoners, and made a bold though unsuccessful attempt on a camp of warriors in the night, in which he was wounded. Soon after his return, the army moved slowly and cautiously down. the left bank of the Maumee. During the march, General Wayne despatched messengers of peace to the Indians, in the hope that a battle might still be avoided. On the 19th of August, he reached the Rapids, about four miles above the British Post. He there erected a small work for the protection of his baggage and stores, and on the 20th again advanced.

The British Post had been occupied by a garrison sent from Detroit the previous spring. There could be no misapprehension of the motives which led to this occupation, taking place as it did, several years after the treaty by which the country had been ceded to the United States, and at a time too, when the angry and protracted negocia. tion of several years, relating to it, was supposed to be about to terminate in an open rupture. The Indians were all decidedly in favor of the British. With the jealousy nat. ural to weakness, they were always prone to array themselves against the power which most directly pressed upon their destinies, and which they thought most likely to affect them injuriously. The British were fully aware of this feeling, which their agents were zealously active to excite and foster. They saw in it the means of crippling the growth of a young rival, who was stretching out into the west with giant strides, and trampling down the forest on every side. The country had been ceded and secured by a treaty still in force; but new negociations were then going on under the influence of several disastrous defeats, and as the Indians demanded an independent dominion over the country in dispute, the British government might expect that a surrender, so desirable to them, would at last be granted. A proposition of a similar character was made by the same government towards the close of the last war. The entire independence of the Indians occupying a wide belt on our north-western frontiers, was formally and seriously demanded, as one of the conditions of peace.

As long as the formidable coalition of tribes which General Wayne found in arms, should continue united and hostile, it was evident that the British pretensions and hopes would remain. It was therefore, of great moment with Gen❜l Wayne, and with his country, that his present steps should be taken with the utmost prudence. A new defeat, like