Background
In the Treaty of Paris (1783), Great Britain nominally ceded control of the Northwest Territory (which was primarily occupied by various American Indian tribes) to the United States. In reality, however, the British kept forts and enacted policies there that supported the American Indians living in those territories until Jay's Treaty in 1794. During his presidency, George Washington directed the U.S. army to subdue ongoing hostilities between American Indian tribes and European American settlers.
Conflict in the Old Northwest
The Ohio territory became subject to overlapping and conflicting claims by the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and Virginia, which had little regard for the numerous American Indian tribes who already inhabited the land. While the British had suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Yorktown (1781), the American Indian tribes in the Old Northwest were not parties to the Treaty of Paris, and many leaders, especially Little Turtle and Blue Jacket, refused to recognize the United States' claims to the area northwest of the Ohio River. The British remained in possession of their Great Lakes forts, through which they continued to supply American Indian allies with trade items and weapons in exchange for furs.
The Western Confederacy, an alliance among the American Indian nations dating back to the French colonial era, was renewed during the American Revolutionary War. The Western Confederacy came together in the autumn of 1785 at Fort Detroit, proclaiming that the parties to the Confederacy would deal jointly with the United States, rather than individually. The Confederacy was renewed in 1786 when member tribes declared the Ohio River as the boundary between their lands and those of European American invaders.
The Northwest Indian War
The Northwest Indian War, or Little Turtle's War, resulted from conflict between the United States and the Western Confederacy over occupation of the Northwest Territory. During the 1780s and 1790s, British agents in the region continued to sell weapons and ammunition to the American Indians, encouraging attacks on European American invaders. Invaders retaliated with equally violent attacks on American Indians. In response to this escalation, President Washington and Secretary of War Henry Knox ordered General Josiah Harmar to launch a major western offensive into Shawnee and Miami country, beginning in October of 1790. After initial losses under Colonel Hardin and Major General St. Clair, Washington ordered General Anthony Wayne to form a well-trained force and subdue the American Indian forces. After extensive training, Wayne's troops advanced into the territory and built Fort Recovery at the site of St. Clair's defeat. Wayne's legion continued to advance deeper into the territory of the Wabash Confederacy, and defeated the last of the American Indian forces at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in August 1794.
The Treaty of Greenville
Following the battle, the Western Confederacy and the United States signed the Treaty of Greenville on August 3, 1795, to end the Northwest Indian War. In exchange for goods valued at $20,000, the American Indian tribes were forced to cede most of the areas of Ohio and Indiana and to formally recognize the United States as the ruling power in the Old Northwest. The treaty also established what became known as the "Greenville Treaty Line," which was for several years a boundary between American Indian territory and lands open to European American invaders; however, the latter frequently disregarded the treaty line as they continued to encroach on native lands west of the boundary.
Treaty of Greenville
This depiction of the treaty negotiations may have be painted by one of Anthony Wayne's officers, circa 1785.
Although the Northwest Indian War, known in the U.S. Army records as the "Miami Campaign," was the first major military endeavor of the post-revolutionary United States, historians have sometimes overlooked it. However, the war was a key part of a long offensive in the Ohio Country, which included the Beaver Wars (1650s), the Seven Years' War (1754–1763), Pontiac's Rebellion (1763–1764), Lord Dunmore's War (1774), and the American Revolution (1775–1783).