As a result of the Patriot victory in the Revolutionary War, the land north of the Ohio River, west of
Pennsylvania, and east of the Mississippi River became part of the United States. Americans called
the area the Northwest Territory.
Although the British ceded the area to the United States, Native Americans already lived there. In the
late 1780s, violence broke out in the Ohio country as American settlers moved into areas promised to
Native Americans by treaty. Often the settlers were illegal squatters, who simply claimed land without
having any legal right to do so.
The Treaties
Arthur St. Clair, the governor of the Northwest Territory, tried to protect American settlers and establish
a peaceful relationship with the Native Americans. He proposed a series treaties aimed at convincing
Native Americans to give up their claims to much of the land. The Treaty of Fort McIntosh in 1785, for
example, set a boundary line between the United States and the Wyandot and Delaware nations. Many
Native Americans of the region rejected the treaty, in part because they felt the Native Americans who
signed it did not have the authority to do so. The Treaty of Fort Harmar in 1789 restated the terms of
the Treaty of Fort McIntosh.
The Forts
From 1778 to 1794, St. Clair established forts in the Northwest Territory, mostly in what is present-day
Ohio. These forts served multiple purposes. They were meant to control and to protect the settlers, as
well as to provide staging areas for military attacks against the Native Americans. Staging areas are
places where soldiers and military equipment are gathered before being sent out on military
