along a range of heights which commanded the right flank of 1790. the centre division. The columns were soon met by a considerable body of Indians, and a severe engagement ensued. The militia retrieved their reputation. Several of the bravest officers fell; among whom was major Fontaine, a gallant young gentle- Major Fonman, who acted as aid to the general. The Indians, after giving taine, a semblance of fighting with the regulars in front, seized the heights of the right of the centre column, and attacked the right flank of the centre with great fury. Major Wyllys was among and major the first who fell; but the battle was still kept up with spirit, and Wyllys with considerable execution on both sides. The remnant of this little band, overpowered at length by numbers, was driven off the ground, leaving 50 of their comrades, beside two valuable Defeat. officers, major Wyllys and lieutenant Frothingham, dead upon the field. The loss sustained by the militia amounted to upwards of 100 men, among whom were ten officers. After this engagement, the detachment joined the main army, and the troops returned to Fort Washington.1 killed. A negotiation for peace, held at the Rock Landing, having Col. Willet been broken off by the Creeks, colonel Willet was sent as an sent to McGillivray agent with a letter of introduction to Alexander M'Gillivray, who to solicit a was at the head of that nation, making suitable representations, treaty. and earnestly exhorting him to repair with the chiefs to the seat of the federal government, in order to effect a solid and satisfactory peace. He acquitted himself so well in this agency, that the chiefs of the nation, with M'Gallivray at their head, were induced to repair to New York, where negotiations were immediately opened, which terminated in a treaty of peace. The treaty was signed and sealed on the 7th of August, by Henry Treaty with Knox, secretary of war, and sole commissioner for treating with the Creek nation of Indians, in behalf of the United States; and by Alexander M'Gillivray and 23 Indian chiefs, in behalf of themselves and the whole Creek nation of Indians. In this treaty, an extensive territory, claimed by Georgia under treaties the validity of which was contested by the Creeks, was entirely, or in a great part, relinquished.2 1 By general Harmar's Return, the loss of federal troops was 75 killed, and of militia 108. "Not less than 100 or 120 warriors were slain, and 300 log houses and wigwams burned." 2 Marshall, v. c. 4. American Museum, viii. Appendix, where the treaty is inserted entire. It was signed by chiefs of the " Cusetahs, Little Tallisee, Big Tallisee, Tuckadatchy, Natchez, Chowetas, of the Broken Arrow, Coosades," an " Alabama chief," and a chief of "Oaksoys." The first signature, on the part of the Indians, was that of "Alex. M'Gillivray." This famous chief, at the age of 10 years, was sent by his father from the Creek nation to Charlestown, South Carolina, and committed to the care of Mr. Farquhar M'Gillivray, a relation of his father, by whom he was placed under the tuition of an eminent English master. He was also taught the Latin language in the free school. the Creeks. 1790. The district of Kentucky, at that time a part of Virginia, had concurred in certain propositions, in consequence of which, with Dec. 8. the requisite sanction of congress, the district was to become a President's distinct member of the Union. The president, in his speech to Speech. congress, said, that since the last session he had received communications by which this appeared; and that application is now Kentucky made for the sanction of congress. "The liberality and harapplies for admission mony," he observed, "with which it has been conducted, will be found to do great honour to both the parties; and the sentiments of warm attachment to the Union, and its present government, expressed by our fellow citizens of Kentucky, cannot fail to add an affectionate concern for their particular welfare, to the great national impressions under which you will decide on the case submitted to you." into the Union. Indian incursions. Adverting to the Indians, the president said, it had been heretofore known to congress, that frequent incursions have been made on our frontier settlements by certain banditti of Indians, from the Northwest side of the Ohio. These, he observed, with some of the tribes dwelling on and near the Wabash, have of late been particularly active in their depredations; and, being emboldened by importunity, and aided by such parts of the neighbouring tribes as could be seduced to join in their hostilities, or afford them a retreat for their prisoners and plunder, they have, instead of listening to the humane invitations and overtures, renewed their violences with fresh alacrity and greater effect. The lives of a number of valuable citizens have thus been sacrificed, and some of them under circumstances peculiar shocking; whilst others have been carried into a deplorable captivity. These aggravated provocations, said the president, render it essential to the safety of the western settlements, that the aggressors should be made sensible that the government of the Union is not less capable of punishing their crimes, than it is disposed to respect their rights, and reward their attachments. As this object could not be effected by defensive measures, it At the age of 17, he was sent to Savannah, and placed in the counting house of general Elbert. During his apprenticeship, he devoted much more of his time to reading history, than to the acquisition of mercantile knowledge. On this representation being made to his father, he was sent for to the Creek nation. The Creeks afterward chose him their king; and, it was said, his Catholic majesty promoted him to the rank of a brigadier general in his service.-While in Georgia, during the war between the Creeks and the United States prior to this treaty, I heard much of M'Gillivray. A respected friend and parishioner at Midway, who had formerly resided in the interior of Georgia, had seen him at his own house in the Creek nation. If I rightly remember, he told me that the father of M'Gillivray was a Scotsman, and his mother an Indian woman. Alex. McGillivray married a Creek woman, and they had several children. Their father, (he said), desirous that they should learn the English language, always talked with them in English; but their mother, jealous for her native tongue, never would talk to them in English, but always in Indian. became necessary to put in force the act, which authorizes the 1790. President to call out the militia for the protection of the frontiers. He had accordingly authorized an expedition, in which the regular troops in that quarter are combined with such draughts of militia as were deemed sufficient.1 An act was was passed by congress to accept the cession of Acts of conthe claims of the state of North Carolina to a certain district gress. of Western territory; and on the 20th of May, an act to provide for its government, under the title of The Territory of the United States south of the river Ohio. An act was also passed for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to their authors and proprietors. The District of Columbia was ceded by Virginia and Mary- District of land to the United States. Columbia. The state of Rhode Island, represented in a convention at R. Island. Newport, adopted and ratified the Constitution of the United States. A convention of South Carolina formed a constitution for the S. Carolina. state in conformity to that of the United States. An ordinance was passed by the legislature of South Carolina for the erection and establishment of an orphan house in Charleston. Kentucky was detached by common consent from Virginia, Kentucky. and on the 6th of December erected into an independent state. Galliopolis, on Ohio river, was settled by a French colony. Galliopolis. The earliest settlement in the territory now the county of Munroe, in the state of New York, was made this year. Geneseo, Geneseo. in the same state, was settled by William and James Wadsworth from Connecticut, who were the principal proprietors. The Connecticut Society for the abolition of slavery was Societies. formed; and the Middlesex Medical Society in Massachusetts. Maine. The counties of Hancock and Washington, in the District of Counties in Maine, were formed. They comprised an extent of more than 100 miles square, from Penobscot river to Passamaquoddy, and contained 21 incorporated towns, and 8 handsome plantations. In all these towns and plantations there were but three ordained ministers. The Universal churches in the United States agreed on their articles of faith at Philadelphia. By the census taken this year, the number of inhabitants in the Census. United States was 3,929,326; of which number 695,655 were slaves. 1 American State Papers, i. 16. 2 The inhabitants of Geneseo are emigrants from the Eastern states. In 1810, the household manufactures produced 11,273 yards of cloth. Spafford. VOL. II. 49 1790. Deaths. Vermont admitted into the Union. Act for de frontiers. Benjamin Franklin died, aged 85 years; William Livingston, governor of New Jersey, aged 64; James Bowdoin, late governor of Massachusetts, aged 64; Israel Putnam, major general in the revolutionary war, aged 72; and Thomas Bradbury Chandler, minister in the episcopal church at Elizabethtown, aged 65 years.1 1791. THE Controversy between Vermont and New York having been amicably settled, the assembly of Vermont proceeded to call a convention of the people to take into consideration the expediency of joining the federal union. The convention met at Bennington on the 6th of January. After a debate of three days, the question was carried almost unanimously in the affirmative. The general assembly, on the 18th of the same month, made choice of Nathaniel Chipman and Lewis R. Morris as their commissioners to attend congress, and negotiate the admission of the state into the union of the confederated states. The commissioners repaired to Philadelphia, and laid the acts of the convention and legislature of Vermont before the president of the United States; and on the 18th of February Vermont was admitted by an act of congress into the Union. By this act the federal union was completed in every part of the United States. An act, passed by congress at the last session for the defence fence of the of the frontiers, in addition to its other provisions, gave the president an unlimited power to call mounted militia into the field. Under this authority, two expeditions had been conducted against the villages on the Wabash, in which a few Indian warriors were killed, some of their old men, women, and children made prisoners, and several of their towns, with extensive corn fields, destroyed. The first expedition was led by general Scott, in May; the second, by general Wilkinson, in September; but these desultory incursions had not much influence on the war. At the close of them, the generals left a talk for the head men of the nation, in which pacific overtures were repeated, but without effect. A. St. Clair Congress having put more ample means in the hands of the exappointed ecutive for the protection of the frontiers, the attention of the presi commander 1 For their characters, see Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin, LL.D. F. R. s. Allen's Biog. and Hist. Dictionary, Art. William Livingston, LL.D. Lowell's Eulogy on the Hon. James Bowdoin, Esq. LL.D. late President of the American Academy of Arts and Science, in vol. 2. of the Memoirs of the Academy; Humphreys' Essay on the Life of General Putnam; and Allen, Art. Chandler, Miller, ii. 356.-A handsome obelisk, in memory of Dr. Franklin, was erected in the grave yard near Park street church in Boston, in 1827, near the tomb of his father, who died in 1744. 2 Williams, Vermont, ii. c. 6. dent was immediately directed to this object. On his nomination, major general Arthur St. Clair, governor of the territory northwest of the Ohio, was appointed commander in chief of the forces to in chief of be employed in a meditated expedition; the immediate objects of an expedi tion against which were, to destroy the Indian villages on the Miamis, to the Miamis. expel the savages from that country, and to connect it with the Ohio by a chain of posts, which would prevent their return during the war. The troops could not be raised and assembled in the neighbourhood of Fort Washington until the month of September. On the 7th of that month, the regulars, marching thence directly Troops north towards the object of their destination, established two march. intermediate posts, Forts Hamilton and Jefferson, about 40 miles distant from each other, as places of deposit and security. After garrisons had been placed in these forts, the effective number of the army, including militia, amounted to nearly 2000 men. With this force the general continued his march, which was necessarily slow and laborious. After some unimportant skirmishes, as the army approached the country in which they might expect to meet an enemy, about 60 of the militia deserted in a body; in pursuit of whom the general detached major Hamtranck with the first regiment. The army, consisting of about 1400 effective rank and file, continued its march, and, on the 3d of November, encamped on a commanding ground, about 15 miles south of the Miami villages. The militia, crossing a creek, and advancing about a quarter of a mile in front, encamped in two lines; and on their approach, a few Indians, who had showed themselves on the opposite side of the creek, fled with precipitation. It was the general's determination to throw up a slight work at this place, for the security of the baggage; and, after being rejoined by major Hamtranck, to march unincumbered, and expeditiously, to the Indian villages. In both these designs, however, he was frustrated. the Indians. The next morning, about half an hour before sunrise, an un- Nov. 4. expected attack was made upon the militia, who fled in the Battle with utmost confusion, and rushing into the camp through the first line of continental troops, threw them into disorder. The exertions of the officers to restore order were not entirely successful. The Indians pressed closely upon the flying militia, and intrepidly engaged general Butler. The action instantly became severe. The fire of the assailants, passing round both flanks of the first line, was in a few minutes poured furiously on the rear division of the American army. Directed most intensely against the centre of each wing, where the artillery was posted, it made great destruction among the artillerists. The Indians, firing from the ground, and from the shelter of the woods, were scarce |