Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

On June 24, 1775, the House of Burgesses appointed George Washington (who didn't attend), Thomas Walker, Andrew Lewis, James Wood, John Walker and Adam Stephen commissioners to confer with leaders of the Ohio Indians. They were to negotiate the neutrality of the western tribes in the conflict between England and the American colonies and confirm the treaty made between Governor Dunmore and the western tribes in the fall of 1774. By that treaty, the Ohio River was established as a boundary between the colonists and the various tribes. The Continental Congress sent Lewis Morris and James Wilson as commissioners to negotiate with the tribes. Morris and Wilson conducted their negotiations separately from the Virginians. The conference was held at Pittsburg in October, 1775.

Andrew Lewis was the victorious American commander at the Battle of Point Pleasant which was the decisive engagement of Dunmore's War. Lewis ordered the construction of a fort, Fort Blair, at the confluence of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers which was burnt by the Shawnees as the conference was beginning. James Wood, future governor of Virginia, was sent west to invite the leaders of the various Indian tribes to the conference. Thomas Walker was a physician and explorer. He led a team that surveyed and explored Kentucky in 1750 for the Loyal Land Company. Walker served as chair of the Virginia delegation to the conference at Pittsburgh.

Inclosed you will receive the Proceedings of the Treaty held with the
Different Tribes of Indians at this Place, agreeable to the Resolve of the Hon^ble. the Council
and House of Burgesses, and Confirmed by the Convention at Richmond, and by which
you will Percieve that a Party of Shawanese at the very time of holding the Treaty
burnt the Fort at the mouth of the Great Kanhawa, and Several Houses Contiguous
to it. this we are Confident was not Done with the Consent or Approbation of the Chiefs,
but from that want of Subordination which is Incident to Savages, more Especially
Amongst the Shawaneses, and the Detached Part of the Mingoes, who are remote from
the Chiefs of their Nation, are under no Controul, and may be Considered a mere
Banditti; add to this, their Proximity with the Garrisons of Detroit and Niagara,
whose Commanding Officers, we have the most undoubted Authority to say, have used
Every Endeavour to Stimulate the Savages against us, and who we have not the
least Doubt, will Continue to Act, the same Diabolical part: from these Considerations
we beg leave to recommend, that a Garrison of One hundred men be Continued at Fort Pitt,
one hundred at the mouth of the Great Kanhawa, and a Serjeant and Twelve
at the Mouth of Wheeling. untill the Disposition of the Different Tribes are thoroughly
Known: this we are of Opinion may Prevent any Irregularities or Hostilities, being
Committed in this Quarter, by the Inconsiderate and wicked Among the Indians, and
which in all Probability may be the means of Preventing a War with them. the
Commissioners Appointed by the Continental Congress, are now Treating with the
Indians, if they shou'd see the Expediency of Supporting Garrisons at the Places
mentioned, in the same Point of View we do, and shou'd report their Opinion to the
Congress, we have not a Doubt but that the Expence of Supporting them will be
Defrayed by the whole Continent.

To
Edmund Pendleton Esq^r. Chairman
Committee of Safety
Virginia