Little Turtle, William Wells and "Mad" Anthony Wayne

William Wells

 

The Miami chief Little Turtle was introduced in an earlier post. I wrote about him as a statesmanlike figure who advocated peace and befriended white leaders like President George Washington. Prior to that, Little Turtle was a war chief who made a name for himself as a brilliant military tactician. He was the biggest hero of La Balme's Massacre in 1780.

Not only did Little Turtle and his warriors beat the French under La Balme, but they beat the Americans too. If we can simplify the outcome of battles down to personalities, Little Turtle deserves credit for defeating General Harmar in 1790 and General Arthur St. Clair in 1791.

William Wells was what might be called a "white" Indian. Born in present-day Kentucky shortly before the Revolutionary War, Wells was orphaned and lived with his extended family as they headed west. One day William and a few other boys were out in the woods hunting and managed to get a bear. Precisely at that time they were captured by Indians, probably Delawares. Sometimes captured whites were killed, but, especially if they were young, many of them had the opportunity to become part of a Native community. William Wells was adopted by a Miami chief whose name in English translates to Porcupine. He took on Native ways and generally forgot his upbringing.

At some point Little Turtle was impressed by William Wells' toughness and skills and they became close allies, to say the least. William Wells even married Little Turtle's daughter, whose name translates to "Sweet Breeze." [Unfortunately, I have read somewhere that historians know "nothing about her, aside from her lovely name."] Anyway, in The Life and Times of Little Turtle: First Sagamore of the Wabash, the author, Henry Lewis Carter, often refers to something he calls the legend of the family pact.

Some background is needed to understand the so-called family pact. What was happening is that - after Little Turtle and William Wells defeated Harmar and St. Clair together -  Wells decided to try to make a go of it in the white man's world. Sweet Breeze might already have died by that time, but could Wells just put aside his relationship to Little Turtle?

The legend of the family pact (as recorded in a pamphlet prepared by the staff of the Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County, Indiana in August of 1952) has Wells saying to Little Turtle:

We have long been friends; we are friends yet, until the sun stands so high (indicating the place) in the heavens; from that time we are enemies and may kill one another.

Maybe those exact words weren't spoken, but it stands to reason that Wells said something to the Turtle before he left. They may well have had some kind of a "no kill" agreement. Wells' next stop was to enlist under General "Mad" Anthony Wayne.
 


General "Mad" Anthony Wayne

Back in Indian country, a number of tribes had gotten together to prepare for General Wayne and his forces. Little Turtle received a scouting report on Wayne's forces from a promising young Shawnee warrior, Tecumseh.

I need to emphasize that much of the lives of people like Little Turtle and William Wells - especially what they said in the Miami language - may be more the stuff of legend or oral history than it is known fact. Nevertheless, the "legend" that we do have is consistent with everything else that we know.

According to the oral history that was later recorded in the Fort Wayne Public Library's pamphlet, Little Turtle made the following statement in council:

We have beaten them [the white Americans] twice under separate commanders. We cannot expect the same good fortune always to attend us. The Americans are now led by a Chief who never sleeps; night and day are alike to him. Notwithstanding the watchfulness of our young men, we have never been able to surprise him. Think well of this; there is something that whispers to me, it would be prudent to listen to his [General Wayne's] offers of peace.

Little Turtle was accused of "cowardice, treachery, and self-interest," by some of the other chiefs. Some of them thought that William Wells had something to do with Little Turtle's viewpoint.

History proved Little Turtle correct. The Battle of Fallen Timbers was a decisive victory for General Wayne and his forces. It led to the Treaty of Fort Greenville, which put most of present-day Ohio, and a lot of present-day Indiana, into white hands.

After Little Turtle signed the Greenville treaty, he kept his vow of peace with the United States. and was re-united with his old friend and son-in-law, William Wells.