Treaty of Greeneville (1795)

Boundary lines that show the new separation of Native American and United States lands in the Ohio Territory as a result of the Treaty of Greenville.

On August 20, 1794, an American army commanded by General Anthony Wayne defeated an American Indian force led by Blue Jacket of the Shawnee at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. This victory, and the failure of the commandant of the British fort at modern-day Maumee, convinced American Indians living along the Maumee River to sue for peace. In January 1795, representatives from the various tribes began meeting with Wayne at Greene Ville. The Anglo-American settlers and American Indians spent the next eight months negotiating a treaty that became known as the Treaty of Greeneville.

On August 3, 1795, leaders of the Wyandot, Delaware, Shawnee, Ottawa, Miami, Eel River, Wea, Chippewa, Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Piankashaw, and Kaskaskia nations formally signed the treaty. The American Indians who became signatories agreed to relinquish all claims to land south and east of a boundary that began roughly at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. It ran southward to Fort Laurens and then turned westward to Fort Loramie and Fort Recovery. It then turned southward to the Ohio River. The Indians, however, could still hunt on the land that they ceded. The whites agreed to relinquish their claims to land north and west of the line, although the American Indians permitted the Americans to establish several trading posts in their territory. The United States also provided the Indians with $20,000 worth of goods for signing the treaty. The American government also agreed to give Ohio's American Indian signatories $9,500 every year in goods. The American Indians were to decide how the goods would be divided among them.

Some American Indians refused to honor the agreement. White settlers continued to move onto the contested land. Violence continued between these two peoples. American Indian leaders like Tecumseh and the Prophet would emerge in the early 1800s to carry on the American Indian struggle to regain their lost land.

See Also

• Weyapiersenwah
• Tenskwatawa
• Tecumseh
• Anthony Wayne
• Chippewa Indians
• Delaware Indians
• Eel River Indians
• Kaskaskia Indians
• Miami Indians
• Ottawa Indians
• Piankashaw Indians
• Potawatomi Indians
• Shawnee Indians
• Wea Indians
• Wyandot Indians
• Ohio
• Ohio River
• Fort Loramie
• Fort Laurens
• Siege of Fort Recovery
• Fort Greene Ville
• Greenville, Ohio
• Fort Recovery
• Treaty of Greeneville (1795) (Transcript)

References

1. Boyd, Thomas. Mad Anthony Wayne. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1929.
2. Hurt, R. Douglas. The Ohio Frontier: Crucible of the Old Northwest, 1720-1830. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1996.
3. Preston, John Hyde. A Gentleman Rebel: Mad Anthony Wayne. Garden City, NY: Garden City Publishing Co., Inc., 1930. 
4. Stockwell, Mary. Unlikely General: “Mad” Anthony Wayne and the Battle for America. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018.