such criminal proceedings should be suppressed, the offenders brought to justice, and all good citizens cautioned against measures likely to prove so pernicious to their country and themselves, should they be seduced into similar infractions of the laws. I have, therefore, thought proper to issue this proclamation, hereby solemnly warning every person not authorized by the laws, against enlisting any citizen or citizens of the United States, or levying troops, or assembling any persons within the United States for the purposes aforesaid, or proceeding in any manner to the execution thereof, as they will answer the same at their peril: And I do, also, admonish and require all citizens to refrain from enlisting, enrolling, or assembling themselves for such unlawful purposes; and from being in any way concerned, aiding or abetting therein, as they tender their own welfare; inasmuch as all lawful means will be strictly put in execution. for securing obedience to the laws, and for punishing such daring and dangerous violations. And I do, more over, charge and require all courts, magistrates, and other offcers whom it may concern, according to their respective duties, to exert the powers in them severally vested, to prevent and suppress all such unlawful assemblages and proceedings, and to bring to condign punishment those who may have been guilty thereof, as they regard the due authority of government and the peace and welfare of the United States. In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same with my hand. Done at Philadelphia, the 24th day of March, 1794, and of the independence of the United States of America, the eighteenth. GEO. WASHINGTON.”

On the 31st of March, seven days after the publication of the foregoing proclamation, Washington dispatched orders and instructions to General Wayne, requiring that officer to send a "detachment to take post at Fort Massac;* and to erect a strong redoubt and blockhouse, with some suitable cannon

*Fort Massac, or "the old Cherokee fort," stood on the northern bank of the Ohio, about eight miles below the mouth of the Tennessee river. It is said that the name of this place had its origin in the massacre of a small number of Frenchmen who made an attempt, in the early part of the 18th century, to establish a trading-post at this point.

from Fort Washington." In obedience to this requisition, General Wayne ordered Major Thomas Doyle, with a small detachment consisting of infantry and artillery, to move from Fort Washington down the river Ohio, and fortify the site of old Fort Massac. Major Doyle was furnished with the following instructions, which were marked "secret and confidential:"

"It has not been unknown to you, that a number of lawless people, residing on the waters of the Ohio, in defiance of the national authority, have entertained the daring design of invading the territories of Spain. The atrocity of this measure, and its probable effects, are pointed out in the proclamation of the President of the United States, herewith delivered to you. If this design should be persisted in, or hereafter revived, and any such parties should make their appearance in the neighborhood of your garrison, and you should be well informed that they are armed and equipped for war, and entertain the criminal intention described in the President's proclamation, you are to send to them some person in whose veracity you could confide, and if such person should be a peace officer he would be the most proper messenger, and warn them of their evil proceedings, and forbid their attempting to pass the fort at their peril. But if, notwithstanding every peaceable effort to persuade them to abandon their criminal design, they should still persist in their attempts to pass down the Ohio, you are to use every military means in your power for preventing them, and for which this shall be your sufficient justification, provided you have taken all the pacific steps before directed."

The discouraging conduct of the new French minister, the proclamation of the President, the passage, by Congress, of a law "providing for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States," and the erection of a military post at Fort Massac, finally forced the friends of the French republic to abandon, reluctantly, an expedition which was planned and almost prepared, "for the reduction of the Spanish forts on the Mississippi, for opening the trade of that river, and giving freedom to its inhabitants."

*Laws of the United States, ii, 425.

ON the morning of the 30th day of June, 1794, an escort, consisting of ninety riflemen and fifty dragoons, commanded by Major McMahon, was attacked by "a numerous body of Indians, under the walls of Fort Recovery." The Indians, who were probably assisted by a small number of British agents and French Canadian volunteers, made several attacks on the fort within the space of about twenty-four hours, when they retired. In these attacks, the Americans lost twenty-two men killed, thirty wounded, and three missing. They also lost two hundred and twenty-one horses, killed, wounded, and missing. Among the officers killed, were Major McMahon, Captain Hartshorne, Lieutenant Craig, and Cornet Torry. Captain Alexander Gibson, (who was the commandant at Fort Recovery,) Captain Taylor, of the dragoons, and Lieutenant Drake, of the infantry, were distinguished for their gallant conduct. The Indians left eight or ten warriors dead on the field; although they were employed during the night, which was dark and foggy, in carrying off their dead [and wounded] by torchlight."†

On the 26th of July, 1794, Major-general Scott, with about sixteen hundred mounted volunteers from Kentucky, arrived at Fort Greenville, and joined the regular troops under the command of Wayne; and on the 28th of July the united forces commenced their march for the Indian towns on the Maumee river. On the banks of St. Mary's river, at a point about twenty-four miles northward of Fort Recovery, Wayne erected and garrisoned a small post which he named Ft. Adams. The army moved from this position on the 4th of August, and

*Am. State Papers-Indian Affairs, i, 487.—The number of Indians who were engaged in this attack on Fort Recovery, has been variously estimated at from seven hundred to fifteen hundred men.

Letter from Wayne to the Secretary of War, dated "Greenville, 7th July, 1794.”

arrived, on the 8th of the same month, at the confluence of the Maumee and Auglaize rivers. In a letter, dated at this place on the 14th of August, 1794, and addressed to the secretary of war, General Wayne said: "I have the honor to inform you that the army under my command took possession of this very important post on the morning of the 8th instant-the enemy, on the preceding evening, having abandoned all their settlements, towns, and villages, with such apparent marks of surprise and precipitation, as to amount to a positive proof that our approach was not discovered by them until the arrival of a Mr. Newman, of the quartermaster-general's department, who deserted from the army near the St. Mary's. * * * I had made such demonstrations, for a length of time previously to taking up our line of march, as to induce the savages to expect our advance by the route of the Miami villages, to the left, or toward Roche de Bout, by the right-which feints appear to have produced the desired effect, by drawing the attention of the enemy to those points, and gave an opening for the army to approach undiscovered by a devious, i. c., in a central direction. Thus, sir, we have gained possession of the grand emporium of the hostile Indians of the west, without loss of blood. The very extensive and highly-cultivated fields and gardens, show the work of many hands. The margin of those beautiful rivers, the Miamis of the lake [or Maumee] and Auglaize, appear like one continued village for a number of miles, both above and below this place; nor have I ever before beheld such immense fields of corn, in any part of America, from Canada to Florida. We are now employed in completing a strong stockade-fort, with four good blockhouses, by way of bastions, at the confluence of Auglaize and the [Maumee], which I have called Defiance. ** Every thing is now prepared for a forward move to-morrow morning toward Roche de Bout, or foot of the rapids. ** Yet I have thought proper to offer the enemy a last overture of peace; and as they have every thing that is dear and interesting now at stake, 1 have reason to expect that they will listen to the proposition mentioned in the inclosed copy of an address,* dispatched yes

*This letter was addressed, "To the Delawares, Shawances, Miamis, and Wyandots, and to each and every of them; and to all other nations of In

terday by a special flag [Christopher Miller], who I sent under circumstances that will insure his safe return, and which may eventually spare the effusion of much human blood. But should war be their choice, that blood be upon their own heads. America shall no longer be insulted with impunity. To an all-powerful and just God I therefore commit myself and gallant army."

General Wayne moved with his forces from Fort Defiance, on the 15th of August, 1794, and directed his march toward the British fort at the foot of the rapids of the river Maumee. On the 20th of August he gained a decisive victory over the army of the Indians. The battle was fought on the left bank of the Maumee, almost within the reach of the guns of the British fort. The following account of this engagement was transmitted, by General Wayne, to the secretary of war:

"HEADQUARTERS, [Fort Defiance,]

"Grand Glaize, 28th August, 1794.

"SIR: It is with infinite pleasure that I now announce to you the brilliant success of the Federal army under my command, in a general action with the combined force of the hostile Indians, and a considerable number of the volunteers and militia of Detroit, on the 20th instant, on the banks of the Maumee, in the vicinity of the British post and garrison, at

dians northwest of the Ohio, whom it may concern." It contained the following passage: "BROTHERS-Be no longer deceived or led astray by the false promises and language of the bad white men at the foot of the rapids: they have neither the power nor inclination to protect you. No longer shut your eyes to your true interest and happiness, nor your ears to this last overture of peace. But, in pity to your innocent women and children, come and prevent the further effusion of your blood. Let them experience the kindness and friendship of the United States of America, and the invaluable blessings of peace and tranquillity." The letter, also, invited "each and every hostile tribe of Indians to appoint deputies" to meet Wayne, without delay, between the mouth of Auglaize and the foot of the rapids of the Maumee, “in order to settle the preliminaries of a lasting peace." Miller, the bearer of the letter, left Fort Defiance at four o'clock, P. M., on the 13th of August. On the 16th, he brought an answer from some of the hostile Indians to General Wayne, in which they said, "that if he waited where he was ten days, and then sent Miller for them, they would treat with him; but that if he advanced, they would give him battle."