William Wells and the Struggle for the Old Northwest, by William Heath Ph.D.
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William Wells and the Struggle for the Old Northwest, by William Heath Ph.D.
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Born to Anglo-American parents on the Appalachian frontier, captured by the Miami Indians at the age of thirteen, and adopted into the tribe, William Wells (1770–1812) moved between two cultures all his life but was comfortable in neither. Vilified by some historians for his divided loyalties, he remains relatively unknown even though he is worthy of comparison with such famous frontiersmen as Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett. William Heath’s thoroughly researched book is the first biography of this man-in-the-middle. A servant of empire with deep sympathies for the people his country sought to dispossess, Wells married Chief Little Turtle’s daughter and distinguished himself as a Miami warrior, as an American spy, and as an Indian agent whose multilingual skills made him a valuable interpreter. Heath examines pioneer life in the Ohio Valley from both white and Indian perspectives, yielding rich insights into Wells’s career as well as broader events on the post-revolutionary American frontier, where Anglo-Americans pushing westward competed with the Indian nations of the Old Northwest for control of territory. Wells’s unusual career, Heath emphasizes, earned him a great deal of ill will. Because he warned the U.S. government against Tecumseh’s confederacy and the Tenskwatawa’s “religiously mad” followers, he was hated by those who supported the Shawnee leaders. Because he came to question treaties he had helped bring about, and cautioned the Indians about their harmful effects, he was distrusted by Americans. Wells is a complicated hero, and his conflicted position reflects the decline of coexistence and cooperation between two cultures.
William Wells and the Struggle for the Old Northwest, by William Heath Ph.D.- Amazon Sales Rank: #384621 in Books
- Published on: 2015-03-11
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.00" h x 1.30" w x 6.00" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 520 pages
Review “One of the most important but shadowy characters from the story of the Old Northwest is William Wells, the ‘white Indian,’ who lived and died between two worlds in conflict. William Heath brings a novelist’s graceful style and a historian’s impeccable research to this fascinating biography.”—Paul Andrew Hutton, author of Phil Sheridan and His Army“William Heath has given us a thoroughly researched, detailed, and comprehensive account of the life and times of one of the most interesting and enigmatic figures on the early American frontier.”—Colin G. Calloway, author of Pen and Ink Witchcraft: Treaties and Treaty Making in American Indian History“The truth-is-stranger-than-fiction remarkable life of William Wells has found an ideal biographer in novelist-turned-historian William Heath. This deeply researched reconstruction of Wells’s side-shifting odyssey brilliantly illuminates the confusing choices and challenges that confronted Indians and pioneers as they struggled against one another and with themselves on the early American frontier.”—Stephen Aron, author of How the West Was Lost: The Transformation of Kentucky from Daniel Boone to Henry Clay
About the Author William Heath is Professor Emeritus of English at Mount Saint Mary’s College, Emmitsburg, Maryland. He has published numerous essays and poems and is the author of the novels The Children Bob Moses Led, Devil Dancer, and Blacksnake’s Path: The True Adventures of William Wells.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Scholarly Yet a Great Read By P.Andrews This is an extremely well written study of a fascinating (yet little-known) figure in American history. Wells embodies a transitional status. Born into a frontier white settlement yet captured and raised as an Indian, Wells played a central role in the European settlement and conquest of the Old Northwest. He illustrates the agony and complexity involved in Native-American and European-American relations. Heath is extremely well informed about early American political life and history, and his study is unusually good about connecting life on the frontier with decisions made in the Eastern halls of power.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A Superb Biography of a Fascinating Character of the American Frontier By richard w. William Wells was one of the most fascinating characters of the Old Northwest, and the American Frontier. He was born into a prominent frontier family, but captured by the Miami Indians as a young boy, who raised him as one of their own. Wells not only learned the Miami language, he also learned the skills a young Indian man needed to succeed in Miami culture: hunting, trailing, war making among other things.Heath relates, but does not commit to agreeing with, tales that young Wells was one of those white captives who lured rafting/flat boating American pioneers floating west down the Ohio River to come to shore, ostensibly to aid the captive. Once the victims were within ambush range, the Indians would attack, and kill or capture whomever they could, taking what goods they found valuable. At some point Wells married a Miami woman, with whom it appears he had children. She and her children fade from history. Later, Wells married Sweet Breeze, the daughter of the famous Miami war chief Little Turtle, with whom he also had children, and for whom Wells provided extensively. These children passed into American society in their own rights, and some achieved some minor fame in their own right.Later, in two successive years when American military forces attempted to punish the confederacy of Indians living in the general vicinity of what is now Ft. Wayne, Indiana, Wells fought with the Indians. The latter of these expeditions resulted in the Battle of the Wabash, a/k/a St. Clair's Defeat, in which the American army suffered the worst defeat inflicted by Indians in its history, suffering casualties over three times those Custer's 7th Cavalry sustained at the Little Big Horn battle. Wells’ father-in-law, Little Turtle, was one of the two major Indian battle leaders. In the Wabash fight, Wells actually distinguished himself, leading Indian sharpshooters who directed their fire against the American artillery, targeting first the officers and then the gunners, resulting in the silencing of the guns.However, after visiting his white relatives in Kentucky, Wells decided to return to white American society. (One well-regarded author asserts this was with the assent and approval of Little Turtle, who sought a reliable contact (or spy?) among the Americans. See The Life and Times of Little Turtle by Harvey Lewis Carter (U. of Ill. 1986).) He then became the lead scout for Gen. Anthony Wayne’s military expedition that led to the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. Heath credits Wells with providing Wayne with critical, battle-winning tactical pointers, including the suggestion to hold in place for a day or so before launching the attack on the Indians’ position, which was in a very defensible spot along the Maumee River where large trees blown over by high winds formed natural breastworks, and where the ground provided the confederated Indians with other advantages. Wells told Wayne that Indians usually don’t eat before going into battle, to avoid internal and fatal poisoning if they are shot in the stomach area. Thus, by waiting, the Indians would grow hungry and leave their positions to seek food, which some did.In some ways what is more fascinating is what followed this decisive battle, which broke the back of the Northwest Indian Confederacy. Wells became a professional go-between, as an official translator (as at the famous treaty of Greeneville) and as the Indian agent at Fort Wayne for the federal government. Some of Wells’ dealings were highly controversial, but Heath points out that much of what brought criticism was merely Wells providing sufficient rations and support for the now-dependent local Indians during a time of governmental austerity. (Yes, the US did have such periods, once.)Wells service as a go-between must surely have raised conflicts for him, though he continued to serve or seek service until the end. Wells’ story brings to light the perspectives of two much different cultures, and his efforts to bring those cultures together deserve study and recognition, even if they failed in the end. His long-term partnership with Little Turtle is also worthy of study, as the two men sought to achieve ways in which Indians could accommodate the newly-dominant culture without losing their own identities as Indians. While Wells and Little Turtle were much-maligned at the time by more militant Indian resistors, the fact was – without putting a value to it – the days of traditional Indian life in the Old Northwest were essentially over, as the new American nation steamrolled its way West.Wells’ own end was as dramatic as was his life. When the War of 1812 broke out, Ft. Dearborn (at Chicago) was ordered to be evacuated. Wells’ niece was living there, married to an American officer. He volunteered to go to Dearborn and to lead the American troops and local citizenry back through Indian Country to the relative safety of Ft. Wayne. However, not far from the fort, and as Wells anticipated, the Americans were attacked by about 500 Pottowattamies, who were aligned with Tecumseh’s new Indian Confederacy. The battle was over quickly, as Wells, who painted his face black in the Indian fashion of those facing death, must have known would be the case. Yet Wells died heroically, trying to protect his charges. In death, the Indians cut out and ate his heart as a ritual of respect for a courageous warrior.Professor Heath’s book is extremely well-written, well-paced, and easy for the lay person to follow, even though it is also the work of a true scholar. Among his original source materials are the many official reports Wells wrote in service to the federal government, as well as the reports and letters of Wells’ contemporaries, including Indiana Governor (and later General) William Henry Harrison, who still later became President (“Tippecanoe and Tyler too!”). Heath thoroughly documents his sources in extensive footnotes, some of which a very interesting in their own right, and which will provide solid guidance for those who wish to take scholarship on the subjects further. All-in-all this book superbly a terrific story of a fascinating Frontier character whose life too little has been written. It also provides excellent insight to the old world of cultures whose heydays have passed, even though their values and stories continue to be maintained by modern descendants.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Excellent Reading! By Ken Braswell Excellent source of information, excellent reading! This will be added to my collection on the subject of the Old Northwest conflicts as a center piece!
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