Treaty: Fort Finney, January 31, 1786

If there was one American leader that most Natives feared and preferred not to mess with if possible, it was George Rogers Clark.  At the height of his fame during the American Revolution, 1775-1783, just that thought that Clark was on the move was enough to bring reluctant Natives to parley and hopefully agree a treaty.

The Treaty of Fort McIntosh, also called Treaty of the Mouth of the Great Miami, was signed on January 31, 1786.  It followed another Treaty, the Treaty of Fort McIntosh, in which representatives of the Chippewa, Wyandot, Delaware and Ottawa gave up claims to Ohio east of the Muskingum and Cuyahoga Rivers, and to the area that is now Detroit, Michigan.  Once again, the Shawnee were neither invited nor informed and they soon gave notice that they were prepared to fight.  Clark, along with Richard Butler and Samuel Holden Parsons, invited Blue Jacket and other Shawnee leaders to a parley at the mouth of the Great Miami River. 

The Shawnee arrived and made their intent clear with a belt of black wampum, signifying war if things did not go as they expected.  After tense negotiations, Clark played the one card both sides knew he still had.  He, too, would go to war and he would be bringing his militia with them.  Though Clark's career was on the downhill slide at this time, the Natives did not know it.  They knew that he was capable of meeting them in battle.  Although Blue Jacket and some other Shawnee leaders saw no choice but to sign.  Other signatories included Captain Pipe/Hopocan of the Delaware, Buckongahelas, and Pierre Drouillard, father of George Drouillard.  This treaty, like many others, wasn't worth the paper it was written on.  The Northwest War (1785-1786) was already beginning and with Clark soon sidelined with alcohol and other issues, the frontier was inflamed once more.