In 1789, a conference was held at the mouth of the Muskingum, with most of the northwestern tribes, the result of which was the conclusion of another treaty.  The Shawanese were not included in this pacification.  This tribe was the most constant in its enmity to the whites, of all the Western Indians.  There was but little use in making peace with the Indians unless all were included; for as long as one tribe was at war, restless spirits among the others were found to take part with them, and the whites, on the other hand, were not particular to distinguish between hostile and friendly Indians.

Though the depredations continued this year, no affair of unusual interest occurred; small parties of the Indians infested the settlements, murdering and plundering the inhabitants.  They were generally pursued, but mostly without success.  Major McMillan was attacked by six or seven Indians, but escaped unhurt after killing two of his assailants.

A boat upon the Ohio was fired upon, five men killed, and a woman made prisoner.  In their attacks upon boats, the Indians employed the stratagem of which the whites had been warned by Girty.  White men would appear upon the shore, begging the crew to rescue them from the Indians, who were pursuing them.  Some of these were renegades, and others prisoners compelled to act this part, under threats of death in its most dreadful form if they refused.

The warning of Girty is supposed to have saved many persons from this artifice; but too often unable to resist the many appeals, emigrants became victims to the finest feelings of our nature.

Thus in March, 1790, a boat descending the river was decoyed ashore, and no sooner had it reached the bank than it was captured by fifty Indians, who killed a man and a woman, and made the rest prisoners.  An expedition was made against the Indians on the Sciota by General Harmer, of the United States army, and General Scott, of the Kentucky militia, but nothing of consequence was achieved.  In May a number of people returning from Divine service, on Bear Grass Creek, were attacked, and one man killed, and a woman made prisoner, who was afterward tomahawked.  Three days after, a boat containing six men and several families was captured by sixteen Indians without loss.  The whites were all carried off by the Indians, who intended, it is said, to make them slaves; one of the men escaped and brought the news to the settlements.

In the fall Harmer made a second expedition, which was attended with great disasters.  Several marauding attacks of the Indians ensued; nor was peace finally restored until after the treaty of Greenville, which followed the subjugation of the Indians by General Wayne in 1794.

[Footnote 53:  McClung.]

[Footnote 54:  “Western Annals.”]

CHAPTER XXI.

Colonel Boone meets with the loss of all his land in Kentucky, and emigrates to Virginia—­Resides on the Kenhawas, near Point Pleasant—­Hears of the fertility of Missouri, and the abundance of game there—­Emigrates to Missouri—­Is appointed commandant of a district under the Spanish Government—­Mr. Audubon’s narrative of a night passed with Boone, and the narratives made by him during the night—­Extraordinary power of his memory.