Ten Russian Orthodox monks come to southwestern Alaska, inaugurating decades of missionary work among the indigenous peoples there. Russian Orthodox priests will help protect them from abusive traders and establish a network of schools where children are instructed in the Russian language and academic subjects.
Indian rebels are defeated at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
Approximately 4,000 regular soldiers and militiamen led by General Anthony Wayne are sent out to the Ohio River valley to put an end to the confederacy of Indians headed by Shawnee leader Blue Jacket. He took over leadership of the confederacy after its Miami founder, Little Turtle (see entries for OCTOBER 1790 and for NOVEMBER 4, 1791), recommended that the rebels sue for peace but was unable to persuade his warriors.
The army destroys the fields at the Indians’ abandoned stronghold at the confluence of the Maumee and Auglaize Rivers. The Americans continue on to a swampy area known as Fallen Timbers, filled with trees ripped from the ground by a tornado the year before. There an advance unit is set upon by a group of Ottawa, whose impulsive attack alerts Wayne’s men to the larger Indian force lying in wait. Without the element of surprise, the Indians are at a loss against the Americans, who outnumber them by more than two to one. The warriors flee the battlefield, many to nearby Fort Miami. They expect their British allies at the fort to protect them, but the Englishmen refuse to open the gates to let them in.
In the Battle of Fallen Timbers, hundreds of warriors are killed, while the Americans suffer only 38 casualties. As the Indians retreat, Wayne’s soldiers set their villages and crops ablaze. The Americans’ decisive victory destroys Little Turtle’s confederacy and ends organized Indian resistance to white settlement north of the Ohio River.
“[T]he Eastern fires [United States] . . . did not take Lowinaki [Canada], but became free of Dolojo [King George]. We went to Wapahani [the White River region of Indiana] to be farther from them; but they followed us everywhere, and we made war on them, till they sent Makh-iakho [General Anthony Wayne], who made strong war. We next made peace and settled limits.” —an account of the Battle of Fallen Timbers from the Lenni Lenape (Delaware) tribal history known as the Walam Olum
Jay’s Treaty allows Indians to move freely over the Canadian-U. S. border.
The United States and Great Britain sign the Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation—popularly known as Jay’s Treaty—in which Britain agrees to abandon its trade and military posts on U. S. land between the Great Lakes and the Ohio River. Britain earlier consented to vacate the posts in the Treaty of Paris (see entry for 1783) but refused to make good on its promise—a situation that had contributed to the growing tension between the two countries.
Jay’s Treaty is a blow to British-allied Indians who were displaced during the American Revolution and flocked to the English posts for aid. Over the long term, the end of British military presence in the Northwest Territory (now Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and portions of Minnesota) will also encourage American settlers to encroach on Indian lands in the region. The treaty, however, does grant Indians the right to travel over the international boundary without interference. This provision will become important to Indian activists in the 20th century as they fight both countries’ attempt to regulate their movement over the border (see entries for 1926 and for NOVEM BER 18, 1968).
The United States promises educational aid in an Indian treaty.
In appreciation of their support during the American Revolution, the United States signs a treaty that provides compensation to the Oneida, Tuscarora, and Stockbridge (a group of Christian Mohegan) for property destroyed during the war. The federal government offers them $5,000 for their lost property and $1,000 for a church that was torched by the British, and it promises to build a gristmill and a sawmill for their use. The treaty also stipulates that the United States will hire teachers to “instruct some young men of these three nations in the arts of the miller and the sawer.” The agreement thereby becomes the first treaty to provide for educational assistance to an Indian tribe. In the 19th century, such provisions will become commonplace as the United States increasingly uses federally employed teachers to aid its efforts to assimilate Indians into white society.
World History
