Organizing a loose alliance of Indian tribes, Miami Chief Little Turtle became the greatest threat to American dominance in the Northwest territories.
In the aftermath of the American Revolution, dozens of Indian tribes found themselves forced to relocate to the western regions of the continent in order to compensate for lost lands. Abandoned by their British allies and betrayed by their American friends, tribes that had fought on both sides of the conflict were universally turned out by the liberation of the former colonies. No sooner had America won its independence than it began to expand into territory rent from indigenous control. Much of this territory was taken from those Indian states that had allied with the British, but as was demonstrated by the invasion of the Iroquois, America’s allies also found themselves displaced. Forced to migrate westward into Ohio and Indiana by the ingress of American settlers, many tribes began to take up arms in violent resistance. Between the end of the rebellion in 1783 and 1787, close to 1500 American settlers were killed as a direct result of Indian raids.
In 1787, the American government actively conspired to expand beyond the limited scope of its pre-Revolution borders. To do that, it needed to affirm its national policy towards to acquisition of land from Indian nations. The treaty was the means through which this end would be accomplished, but as history has demonstrated, the negotiations were by and large one-sided. Furthermore, the Confederation Congress compounded the situation in the Western territories by passing the Northwest Ordinance, which outlined the parameters for the establishment of new States. Although the intent of this act of legislation was to encourage a gradual flow of immigration to these newly-acquired territories, the government was unable to control the flow of settlers and they soon expanded into territory occupied by Indian states. Those nations that violently resisted American encroachment assumed that the pre-Revolutionary edict that limited the expansion of the settlers in North America was still in effect. Minor clashes soon developed into the first full-scale Indian war, when, in 1790, the largest native military offensive since before the Revolution took the fragile new Republic by surprise.
In response to the rising threat posed by Indian raids, George Washington, now President of the United States, dispatched General Josiah Harmar to pacify the quarrelsome tribes in the Northwest regions. While Washington was preparing to strike deep into the assumed-to-be unorganized Northwest tribes, Miami Chief Little Turtle (Michikinikwa) was creating an alliance of dispossessed nations for the purpose of taking up arms in defense of their new lands. Born in Indiana (the territory of the Miami) around the year 1752, Little Turtle was a skilled orator who organized a lose confederation of the Miami, Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Lenni Lenape, Shawnee, and Illinois nations. Though much debate currently exists as to the name of this alliance, for the purposes of this argument, the Miami Confederacy seems appropriate as it was initiated by a representative of this nation. Over-confident in the strength of his army, General Harmar marched west from Ft. Washington (present day Cincinnati) and into the waiting arms of Little Turtle’s forces. Putting their own villages to the torch, the Indians withdrew and lured the Americans deeper into their trap. In two decisive engagements in September of 1790, the confederated tribes thrashed the Americans and Harmar was forced to withdraw. Using tactics similar to those employed by the Americans in the early days of the late rebellion, Little Turtle’s forces were able to strike quickly against the unprepared army and inflict 183 casualties. Irate at this failure, Washington prepared an even larger army to pursue his new enemy. The Ohio Indian Wars had begun.
