Wily Decoys, Native Power, and Anglo-American Memory in the Post-Revolutionary Ohio River Valley

Native Americans in the Ohio River Valley used captured white men to lure immigrant boats on the Ohio River in the decade after the American Revolution. As they entered this zone of conflict, the throngs of migrants from eastern states to Kentucky via the Ohio River saw themselves as victims of powerful Native polities. Decoys allowed Native communities to seize the material wealth floating downriver and destined for a country most agreed they had not ceded to the immigrants. The decoys, and their violent effects, created white fear of Native American power and exposed U.S. weakness on its western frontier. In turn, public narratives about Native power contributed to a pessimistic vision of U.S. expansion. Yet after a successful military campaign, a series of treaties, and the consolidation of Anglo-American power in the region, American writers celebrated their pioneer history and included white decoys. In the nineteenth century, Americans reenvisioned river decoys as an obstacle that westward migrants had overcome to bring their version of civilization to the region.