Instructions to Brig. Gen. Rufus Putnam
Document 1792The Secretary at War instructs General Rufus Putnam as follows: "Your first great object upon meeting the Indians will be to convince them that the United States requires none of their lands." Knox authorizes Putnam to allow the Indians to keep U.S. Army officers as hostages in order to secure the agreement of the Chiefs to travel to Philadelphia.
“An Indian war is destructive to the interests of humanity and an event from which neither dignity or profit can be reaped.”
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Type
Letterbook
Description
The Secretary at War instructs General Rufus Putnam as follows: "Your first great object upon meeting the Indians will be to convince them that the United States requires none of their lands." Knox authorizes Putnam to allow the Indians to keep U.S. Army officers as hostages in order to secure the agreement of the Chiefs to travel to Philadelphia.
Date
05/22/1792
Author
Recipient
Repository
Collection
Document number
1792052200001
Page start
1
Notable persons
Henry Knox
John Heckewelder
Hendrick Aupaumut
Stockbridge Indians
Moravians
Wyandots
Delawares
Major Hamtramck
Wabash Indians
General Wilkinson
General Wayne
chiefs of the Five Nations of Indians
general council of hostile Indians
committee of Congress
Wabash Indians
General Washington
lawless violent white people
enemies of the General Government
Creeks
Cherokees
Choctaws
Chickasaws
Senecas
Cayugas
Oneidas
Stockbridge tribe
Onondagas
Tuscaroras
Colonel Proctor
Capt. Hendricks
Brigadier General Wilkinson
Major Hamtramck
Notable locations
Miami River of Lake Erie
Fort Harmar
fort at Detroit
Connecticut
frontiers
Fort Washington
Notable items
truce
peace
treaty of Fort Stanwix
treaty of Fort McIntosh
treaty with the Shawanese
treaty with the Six Nations
boundaries claimed by the United States
map
Indian lands
reservations
ten new states
causes of war
treaty of Fort Harmar
compensation
peaceable demeanor
horses
association of several separate States
General Government
annual allowance
bread and meat