Treaty: Fort Pitt, September 17, 1778

This treaty was the first formal, written treaty between the new United States Government, as represented by the Continental Congress and an Indian tribe.  It is sometimes known as the Delaware Treaty, or even the Fourth Treaty of Pittsburgh, commemorating both the people with whom it was conducted, the Lenape/Delaware, and the place, Fort Pitt where modern-day Pittsburgh now stands.

Prior to this treaty, various states had conducted diplomacy with Native tribes and there had been informal agreements but nothing formal on the federal level.  With the Revolutionary War on the frontier theatre heating up, the Continental Congress knew they needed allies among the Native tribes.  They would need the help if an attack on Fort Detroit was to become reality.  White Eyes of the Delaware, whom we've already covered, was one of those leaders who believed peaceful co-existence with the Americans was the only way for his people to preserve some of their land and hunting range for themselves.  He had been chosen as Principal Chief of the Delaware and spearheaded negotiations for their side. 

The United States requested permission for troops to travel through Delaware territory and called for the Delaware to actively aid them as allies against the British, including furnishing warriors to fight against the Redcoats or their Native auxiliaries.  The United States promised trade goods including cloth, such as Calico, ammunition and arms.  It represented to the Delaware that it would build a fort to help protect the Delaware against either the British or trespassers on their land.  In reality, the fort would be there to protect American settlers as they made their way into the Ohio Valley.  And here the understanding on both sides diverged.  As with many Native treaties, the Natives believed they were granting free passage or use of their land.  They didn't know or weren't told, that this treaty would be a prelude to White settlement.  White Eyes also pressed for, or was led to believe, that the treaty created a Native buffer state out of the Ohio to allow the Natives to live in peace in a no-man's-land between British-held territory and American territory.  Sources differ on whether White Eyes requested it, or the American representatives offered it as an incentive to sign the treaty.  In reality, a treaty with such a clause in it would likely never see the light of day.

The Treaty was signed at Fort Pitt on September 17, 1778.  The Delaware delegation included White Eyes, Captain Pipe/Hopocan, whom we've also met, and John Kill Buck/Gelelemend for the Lenape/Delaware.  Brothers Andrew Lewis and Thomas Lewis, veterans of several frontier skirmishes, led the American delegation.  The treaty signing was witnessed by Col. Daniel Brodhead, more on him later, and Col. William Crawford, whom we've already run across in a previous post.  The Treaty was returned to Philadelphia to be ratified by the Congress and was submarined in committee, never being ratified into effect.  Settlers continued to pour into the Ohio Valley.  The Delaware sent delegations to the Congress to alert them that the treaty terms weren't being carried out, to no avail.  Peaceful relations between the Delaware and Settlers collapsed again.  White Eyes, who'd worked so hard to bring the treaty forward, died during one such visit in November, 1778, barely two months after it was signed.  The story was that he'd died of smallpox or fever, depending on the source.  Only years later did relatives find out that he'd been killed by one of his militia escorts.  The Delaware soon joined other Ohio tribes on the side of the British and the war in the frontier kept on.