Description: Close-up view of Shawnee chief Weyapiersenwah (Blue Jacket) from the painting "The Signing of the Treaty of Greene Ville, 1795," as depicted by Howard Chandler Christy. The painting was created in 1945 and is hanging in the rotunda of the Ohio Statehouse. During the early 1790s, Weyapiersenwah of the Shawnee and Mishikinakwa (Little Turtle), chief of the Miami, were the major leaders of the American Indians in the Ohio Country. They led their people against American settlers in western Ohio as the whites moved into the area. A large alliance of American Indians, led by Weyapiersenwah and Mishikinakwa defeated an army led by General Josiah Harmar in 1790 and another one led by Arthur St. Clair in 1791. Following St. Clair's Defeat, Little Turtle called for negotiations between the Indians and the Americans. Blue Jacket then assumed control over native attempts to stop the influx of settlers. In 1794, he led the American Indians against an army led by General Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Wayne emerged from the battle victorious while Blue Jacket's men fell back to Fort Miamis, a British stronghold. The British refused to assist the American Indians, at which point Blue Jacket and his followers agreed to negotiate with the Americans in what was known as the Treaty of Greeneville (1795). View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02712
Subjects: Greenville, Treaty of, 1795; American Indian history and society; Ohio History--Settlement and Early Statehood; Christy, Howard Chandler, 1873-1952
Places: Ohio History Connection