ndian
towns. On the morning of the sixth of November, an army of three hundred
Indians composed of Miamis, Delawares, Shawnees and Potawatomi,
commanded by the Little Turtle, attacked a party of about one hundred
Kentucky militia under the walls of Fort St. Clair, situated on the line
of march from Fort Washington to the Miami villages. They were under the
command of Major John Adair, afterwards governor of the State of
Kentucky. Little Turtle's object was to wipe out a white settlement at
the mouth of the Little Miami, but capturing two men near Fort Hamilton,
he learned that the Kentuckians were escorting a brigade of packhorses
on their way to Fort Jefferson, and he determined to waylay them. The
attack occurred just before daybreak and was opened by a hideous chorus
of Indian yells, but the Kentuckians bravely stood their ground and
repelled the assault. Six men were killed, including Lieutenant Job
Hale, and five men wounded. The camp equipment and about one hundred
and forty horses were lost. The Indians had two killed.

The spring of 1793 came, the time for the proposed council. The British
had promised to give their aid and co-operation in the forming of a
friendly compact. Full credence seems to have been given to their
statements. The President appointed Benjamin Lincoln, of Massachusetts,
Beverly Randolph, of Virginia, and Timothy Pickering, of Pennsylvania,
as commissioners. The basis of their negotiations was to be the treaty
of Fort Harmar, of 1789, which the government considered "as having been
formed on solid grounds--the principle being that of a fair purchase and
sale." They were to ascertain definitely the Indian proprietors
northward of the Ohio and south of the Lakes; to secure a confirmation
of the boundary established at Fort Harmar, and to guarantee to the
tribes the right of the soil in all their remaining lands. Liberal
payment was to be made for all concessions, and annuities granted. The
commissioners were to be accompanied by the Reverend John Heckewelder,
who had gone with Putnam to Vincennes, and who was thoroughly conversant
with the Delaware language. Some Quakers were also in the party.

The commissioners left Philadelphia in April, and arrived at Fort
Niagara on the southern shore of Lake Ontario in the month of May.
Niagara was then in command of Colonel Simcoe, of the British army, who
invited them to take up quarters at Navy Hall. This invitation was
accepted, and the commissioner