Clair with an army of eighteen
hundred men marched against them. He did not know the country, and
he had no guide. Late one evening in November he encamped in the
woods. At dawn the next day he was awakened by the blood-curdling
cry of the Indians. The men sprang to arms, but in the night the
Indians had completely surrounded them, and the fight was hopeless.
For four hours the slaughter lasted; then the white men fled,
leaving half their number dead upon the field.
It was one of the worst defeats white men ever suffered at the hands
of the Indians. The whole countryside was filled with the horror
and the Redmen exulted in their victory. The President tried to
reason with them, but they would not listen. The only thing that
would satisfy them was that the white men should withdraw beyond
the Ohio.
This the white men refused to do, and they sent another large force
against the Indians. This time the force was under the command of
General Wayne. In a great battle he utterly defeated the Indians.
Afterwards he held a grand council with them. And they, knowing
themselves defeated, swore peace forevermore with the white men,
and acknowledged their right to the land beyond the Ohio.
This was the first great council that the Indians had ever held with
the "thirteen fires" of the United States. They kept their treaty
faithfully, and not one of the chiefs who swore peace to General
Wayne ever again lifted the war hatchet against the Pale-faces.
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