Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2005 Occupation and displacement in the Old Northwest: the role of three technologies Gustavo A. Gutiérrez Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the American Studies Commons, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Gutiérrez, Gustavo A., "Occupation and displacement in the Old Northwest: the role of three technologies" (2005). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 1734. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/1734 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Occupation and displacement in the Old Northwest: The role of three technologies by Gustavo A. Gutierrez A dissertation submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major: History of Technology and Science Program of Study Committee: Amy Bix, Co-major Professor Alan I Marcus, Co-major Professor Hamilton Cravens George A. Jackson Robert Hollinger Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2005 UMI Number: 3200421 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI UMI Microform 3200421 Copyright 2006 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ii Graduate College Iowa State University This is to certify that the doctoral dissertation of Gustavo A. Gutierrez has met the dissertation requirements of Iowa State University Signature was redacted for privacy. Comma Signature was redacted for privacy. Committe Member Signature was redacted for privacy. Committee Member Signature was redacted for privacy. Co-major Professor Signature was redacted for privacy. Co ajor professor Signature was redacted for privacy. For t iii For my beloved wife, Carlota Dubon de Gutierrez iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1 This Dissertation 6 A Chronology of the Occupation and Displacement 10 The Vanishing of Shannopin 10 The French and Indian War 14 The Pontiac's War 16 After the Pontiac's War 18 The Fall of Kekionga 20 Harmar's Expedition 21 St. Clair's Expedition 24 Wayne's Expedition 25 After the Fall of Kekionga 28 The Destruction of Prophetstown 28 The Massacre of Bad Axe 32 PART I. TRADE RELATIONS INTRODUCTION 35 CHAPTER 2. THE RED MIND AND THE FUR TRADE 36 The Fur Trade in the Northwest 36 The Red Mind 46 The Red Mind and the Fur Trade 50 Red Councils 54 CHAPTER 3. THE TECHNOLOGY OF RUM 58 Literature Review 59 The Raw Material 64 Molasses 64 The Molasses Act 68 The Sugar Act 70 Distilleries 72 Fermentation 77 Distillation 84 The Still Pot 85 Quality and Strength 88 V CHAPTER 4. RUM IN THE FUR TRADE 92 Importance of Rum 92 The Drinking of Alcohol 96 Some Explanations 98 Opium Too 100 Rum in the Diaries of the Fur Traders 103 The Villages and Trading Posts 106 The Credit System 109 Hiring Indians 111 Bartering 113 Starvation in the Villages 114 The Trade Chiefs 117 Alcoholism 119 Departure of the Fur Traders 122 PART II. MILITARY RELATIONS INTRODUCTION 126 CHAPTER 5. DID THE REDS MAKE WARS? 127 About War 127 The First War of the United States 129 Red Military Technology 136 Fighting System 138 War Parties 139 Breastworks 143 Yells 144 Scouting 146 Recording Signs 147 Logistic Capabilities 148 Number of Warriors 149 CHAPTER 6. THE MILITARY FORTS TECHNOLOGY 157 Military Forts 157 Literature Review 157 Wooden Technology 161 A Socio-cultural Perspective 164 Forts in the Northwest 165 Number and Types 165 Materials and Locations 167 In Garrison 170 Weapons 171 Engineers 172 vi Architecture 175 CHAPTER 7. BUILDING FORTS 179 Looking for Fort Sites 179 Building Two Forts 189 Fort Ligonier 189 Fort Mackinac 198 CHAPTER 8. THE FATE OF SAUKENUK 209 The Removal 210 Fort Armstrong and the White Settlers 212 The March 219 Commanders' Orders 221 The Massacre 225 Stillman's Run 226 The Army 227 A Map and other Forts 230 The End 237 Epilogue 239 PART III. RELATIONS CONCERNING LANDS INTRODUCTION 242 CHAPTER 9. THE FRONTIER LINE OF 1768 243 The Mohawk Valley 244 The Valley before the White Invasion 245 The Whites Invading the Valley 248 The Cadwallader Colden's Report 250 Fort Hunter and Fort Stanwix 251 The British Proclamation of 1763 254 The Northern Department of Indian Affairs 256 Conferences and the Treaty of 1768 260 A Conference of 1765 261 Conferences in the Spring of 1768 265 Massacres 266 The Conference in the Fall of 1768 269 The Line 271 The Valley after the Line of 1768 274 vii CHAPTER 10. A TECHNOLOGY FOR TOTAL OCCUPATION AND EXCLUSION 276 The First Land Survey of the U.S. 276 Exclusion of the Red People 276 Taking the Lands from the Reds 281 Wrong Expectations among Whites 287 The Technological Innovation 290 What and How to Survey 291 The Surveyors 295 Administration of the Lands 296 The Results 297 Red Response 298 Henry Knox's Complaint 300 Hutchins' Report of 1785 301 A General Assessment 303 CHAPTER 11. SUMMARY 307 BIBLIOGRAPHY 314 1 CHAPTER 1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION Until the arrival of Europeans, the Old Northwest,1 like the whole American continent, was exclusively inhabited by the aboriginal people of this continent. The Northwest was located, in what is known today as the United States, between the Allegheny Mountains, Great Lakes, and the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The area of the Northwest was about three hundred and twenty-five thousand square miles (about one million square kilometers) and by the 1760s according to a British report, the home of forty-three red tribes.2 Also living there were a few scattered white settlements which were remnants of the French occupation of that region. Living in permanent villages, usually built along the river valleys and lake shores, each red tribe occupied a specific territory. The British colonial official, Cadwallader Colden, emphasizing the village physical structures, refers to them as castles,3 while fur traders concerned with its demographic composition of the villages usually called them band. The number of villages per tribe could vary from one to eight and each village had a population between a few hundred to eight hundred inhabitants. There were also iAs the United States advanced in its westward territorial expansion, the Northwest here considered came to be called the Old Northwest. 2July 1764, annex A to "Plan for the Future Management of Indian Affairs," in Clarence W. Alvord and Clarence E. Carter, editors, Collection of the Illinois State Historical Library, Vol. X, The Critical Period, 1763-1765, British Series (Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Historical Library), 1:281. ^Cadwallader Colden, The History of the Five Nations of Canada, (New York: Allerton Book Co., 1973. Reprinting of 1922 [1727]), l:xxvii. 2 villages with larger populations such as the Tamaroa village of the Illini tribe at Kahokia. At the beginning of the eighteenth century they had a population of 2,200 habitants.4 The villages among the Iroquois were built on level hilltops where their dwellers enjoyed panoramic view of the surrounding.5 During war times the villages were surrounded with palisades having no bastions, but in time of peace the villages lay open.6 Connecting those red villages there was an extended network of trails. There were trails interconnecting the villages of each tribe, and trails linking villages of different tribes. For instance, a central trail of the Iroquois connecting the Hudson River at the height of Albany to the Lake Erie at Buffalo linked several villages of the Mohawk, Oneida and Seneca tribes.7 It is probable that the constant use prevented the trails being over grounded. With that spatial composition of village sites, hunting grounds fishing waters, and the network of trails, the red tribes had turned the entire Northwest into their living space. The Iroquois occupied the northwestern region of the Appalachian Mountains; the Delaware s, Shawnees, Miamis, Illinois and Kickapoocks lived along the Ohio River and its northern tributaries; Ottawas, Wyandots, Chipewas, Sauks, Fox, Menominees, 4Wayne C. Temple, Indian Villages of the Illinois Country, Illinois State Museum, Scientific Papers, 2, part 2 (1958), 36. 5Peter Nabokov and Robert Easton, Native American Architecture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), 76. A well documented discussion on technical aspect of the housing of the Iroquois and tribes of the Great Lakes is in the first chapter of that book, "Wigwam and Longhouse: Northeast and Great Lakes." 6Colden, History of the Five Nations, l-.xxvii. 3 Pottawatomis and Winebagoes lived in the central and western part of the Northwest; and the Sioux occupied a portion of the northeastern side of the Mississippi River.8 But the red Northwest was invaded by Western powers. The first to invade, France, remained in the region for one hundred and fifty years and was defeated by Great Britain in 1760.