A mission to the Indians, from the Indian committee of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, to Fort Wayne, in 18O4

the long version

Quakers George Ellicott, Gerard T. Hopkins, and Philip Denis, representing a Quaker group in Baltimore, traveled to Fort Wayne in 1804 to establish a program of Quaker assistance to Indian nations in the region. This is a journal of that expedition, written by Gerard Hopkins. The first 45 pages describe the long journey by horseback of the author and colleagues across frontier country from Virginia to Fort Wayne. Once at the Fort the author narrates in detail their meetings with Little Turtle and Five Medals, chiefs of the Pottawatomie and Miami nations, and follow-up meetings with other chiefs. It was the goal of the Quakers to persuade the Indians to farm, and adopt some other practices of the white settlers. The remainder of Hopkins’ 120-page journal covers time spent with Indians at their villages, and more meetings and discussions. The remaining 75 pages of the volume consists of an appendix which is a collection of other journal entries and documents that Hopkins considered to be of interest to his audience because they were related to the Quakers’ goals of assisting Indians in Indiana country.