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| Maumee, Ohio by � artnsolitude Today I am in Maumee, OH. For the unitiated, this is the location of the Battle of Fallen TImbers, where the British soldiers who were to lend artillery support to the warriors of the combined nations of the Shawnee, the Chippewa, the Ottawa, the Potawatomie, and others, withdrew their support when the warriors were retreating and within sight of Fort Miamis gate. The warriors were to fall back to that position, where the British were to let them in to fight from the walls of the fort. Their betrayal led to the fall of the Native American Confederacy and the subsequent signing of the Greenville Treaty, which called for the 13 area tribes to give up all rights to their lands in Ohio. The Fallen Timbers Monument was announced by a large placard heralding the victories of Gen.Anthony Wayne in the crushing of the Indian resistance. He did so at the behest of George Washington. As I read of his exploits, my mind screamed that this man didn't deserve this honor. That the reason that the Indians were fighting over the encroachment of the white was because the white settlers were stealing land illegally and had broken the treaty to do so. The US government sent mixed messages to the early settlers about treaty encroachment. Though they claim that it was against the will of the government for them to take these lands, by not stopping them, they were in fact condoning it. Sometimes it's not what you do, but what you don't do that causes guilt. My emotions cartwheeled the whole time I was at the Fallen Timbers Monument. I'm not sure how to describe how I felt being in that place. I felt pain, anger, and the humiliation that must have been theirs when they saw the betrayal of the British. I wanted to write on that placard the truth behind the official story, - but restrained myself. I walked down the long lane to the monument courtyard, where there stood three marble monoliths, two small and one large. The first, on the right, was a marker for the indian confederacy for their bravery in battle. It listed the names of the six tribes who fought at Fallen Timbers. In front of that marker was a stone that was said to have been used by Chief Turkeyfoot to rally his warriors at the battle. Indians who have visited the monument have over the years left tobacco to appease the Great Spirit, filling small indentions across the top of the rock. Without tobacco, I burned and left sweetgrass on the stone. The large monument was for all of those who fought in those wars. On top were the bronze figures of General Wayne, some unknown settler, and an unknown native american warrior. On a side panel, it served to honor all of the settlers who were massacred by indians from 1783 to 1794.....Massacred. The third marker was a listing of all of those soldiers killed in that battle. The colonels, captains and lieutenants, as well as a good number of privates and unknowns, buried in an unmarked grave. The indian marker had no list of names. From there I walked the foot path down toward the Maumee River, and stopped to pick up a pocketful of Buckeyes, the secret of which is known to few other than the Shawnee warriors. I left a buckeye on the Turkeyfoot stone as well.I spent some time looking at the land of the Fallen Timbers, trying to see into the past, to see the brave souls who died there, to touch their lives over the bridge of time. I saw warriors without fear, tomahawks thrown, feathers sailing out behind the warrior's heads as they ran to join the battle, soldiers and warriors fall, and saw the looks of bitterness and betrayal on the faces of the indians at the end of it all. I left Fallen Timbers with a feeling of great loss, a feeling of deep sadness and the feeling that I had somehow returned to a point from my past. I was moved to tears as I nearly am merely by writing this. As I drove away, I once again wished to set the story straight, but in another way, at another time. art |