Page 202 - American Stories, A History of the United States

Pushing the Native Americans Aside
Before Britain finally withdrew its troops from the Great Lakes and Northwest Territory, 7.1
British officers encouraged local Indian groups—the Shawnee, Chippewa, and Miami—
to attack American settlers and traders. The Indians, who even without British
encouragement knew that the newcomers intended to seize their land, won several 7.2
impressive victories over federal troops in the area that would become western Ohio and
Indiana. In 1790, General Josiah Harmar led his soldiers into an ambush. The following
year, an army under General Arthur St. Clair suffered more than 900 casualties near 7.3
the Wabash River. But the Indians were militarily more vulnerable than they realized.
When confronted with a U.S. army under General Anthony Wayne, they received no
support from the British. At the Battle of Fallen Timbers (August 20, 1794), Wayne’s 7.4
forces crushed Indian resistance in the Northwest Territory. The native peoples were
compelled to sign the Treaty of Greenville, formally ceding to the U.S. government
the land that became Ohio. In 1796, the last British soldiers departed for Canada. 7.5
Shrewd negotiations mixed with pure luck helped secure the nation’s southwest-
ern frontier with Spain. For complex reasons involving European diplomacy, Spanish
officials in 1795 encouraged the U.S. representative in Madrid, Thomas Pinckney, to
discuss the navigation of the Mississippi River. Before this initiative, the Spanish gov-
ernment not only had closed the river to American commerce but had incited the
Indians to harass American settlers. Relations between the two countries probably
would have deteriorated further had the United States not signed Jay’s Treaty. The
Spanish assumed—erroneously—that Britain and the United States had formed an
alliance to strip Spain of its North American possessions.

LOWER CANADA MAINE
St. Lawrence R.

(part of
Mass.)
Pointe-au-Fer Dutchman's
Ft. Michilimackinac VT.
Point
Great Lakes Oswegatchie
UPPER CANADA Ft. Oswego MASS.
N.H.
N.Y.
Ft. Detroit Ft. Niagara R.I.
Ft. Miami CONN.
(built 1794) PA.
N.J.
Mississippi R.
MD. DEL.
NORTHWEST TERRITORY
Ohio R. VA. UPPER
SPANISH KY. Lake CANADA
LOUISIANA N.C. Michigan Ft. Detroit N.Y.
Mississippi R. Statehood 1796 S.C. ATLANTIC Ft. Miami Lake Erie
TENN.
OCEAN
(Br.)
Tennessee R.
Yazoo R. GA. Fallen Timbers
Aug. 20, 1794
Arkansas R.
Latitude
Spanish claim Chattahoochee R. 31° North Harmar's Defeat Maumee R. PA.
Oct. 22, 1790
line, 1785 Flint R. T reaty of Greenville
Apalachicola R. St. Clair's Defeat Line, 1795 Pittsburgh
0 100 200 miles Nov. 4, 1791
SPANISH FLORIDA Ohio R.
0100 200 kilometers NORTHWEST TERRITORY
Gulf of Mexico Wabash R.
Maximum Spanish Line of Cincinnati VA.
claim, 1784 Pinckney's Treaty, 1795 0 50 100 miles
Major Indian Battles
Spanish-held British-held 0 50100 kilometers Major Indian
forts forts KY. battles
MAP 7.1 ConqUeST of The WeST Withdrawal of the british, defeat of Native Americans, and
negotiations with Spain secured the nation's frontiers.
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