The Federal authorities,
both military and civil, disliked the intruders as much as they did the
Indians, stigmatizing them as "a banditti who were a disgrace to human
nature." There was no unnecessary harshness exercised by the troops in
removing the trespassers; but the cabins were torn down and the sullen
settlers themselves were driven back across the river, though they
protested and threatened resistance. Again and again this was done; not
alone in the interest of the Indians, but in part also because Congress
wished to reserve the lands for sale, with the purpose of paying off the
public debt. At the same time surveying parties were sent out. But in
each case, no sooner had the Federal Commissioners and their
subordinates begun to perform their part of the agreement, than they
were stopped by tidings of fresh outrages on the part of the very
Indians with whom they had made the treaty; while the surveying parties
were driven in and forced to abandon their work. [Footnote: State Dept.
MSS., No. 30, p. 265; No. 56, p. 327; No. 163, pp. 416, 418, 422, 426.]
Both Sides Bent on War.
The truth was that while the Federal Government sincerely desired peace,
and strove to bring it about, the northwestern tribes were resolutely
bent on war; and the frontiersmen themselves showed nearly as much
inclination for hostilities as the Indians.
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