>> campaign 2020. watch our live coverage of the presidential candidates on the camp eternal and make up your mind. c-span's campaign 2020, your unfiltered view of politics. >> continuing our special look at toledo, we visit the fallen timbers battlefield. the 1794 battle marched a turning point in the indian war's. >> the battle of fallen timbers takes place on august 20, 1794.

it is a convergence of the legion of the united states of america and the western confederacy of native americans protecting their tribal homelands. the battle of fallen timbers was the last battle in president washington's indian wars. this stopped the settlers confrontations in the northwest territory, opening the area for settlements. after the american revolution and the signing of the treaty of paris in 1783, the u.s. gained his from great britain. what we are standing in now was the northwest territory or the maumee river valley. this is what the americans gained from the treaty of paris. the native americans who were living in this land were not in the negotiations that had been here farming, hunting and fishing for hundreds of years. when you have people moving into what you believe is your land, you are bound to have problems

with what you see as invaders into your homeland. at this point in time, we have treaties taking place through the ohio river and coming toward worry are standing right now. these treaties were never properly enforced, nor were they properly negotiated. you are going to start also have native americans who are not viewing the americans as just, or really bargaining appropriately. major general anthony wayne was a revolutionary war hero. after some debate, he is chosen to lead the legion of united states of america. we have trade routes established. you follow the ohio river and then come up to get to the maumee river, this land that is a suitable homeland for folks to start moving into. it is important for anthony wayne to start to come up and provide the safety of the settlers living around these areas.

as he pushes farther into the northwest territory, or the maumee river valley. anthony wayne begins his travels 18 months after he was commissioned as the new major general of the u.s. legion. as he marches up, it takes him one year from 1793 to 7094 to travel the length. turtle is watching. as he does so, they attack anthony wayne's legion. he realizes this army is different than the other two armies he had previously faced. he goes back to the ground counsel and says this army is different. he says i am not sure the british are actually going to involve themselves in our fight. we might need to consider negotiations. at this point in time, the council votes and they decided they want to continue with

military action. when they do decide that, little reign tonds over the blue jacket and he is warrior minded and he is ready to take this fight to the united states legion. native americans have built their village right behind the fort, which is a fully constructed for, garrisoned with the british at this point with general campbell. anthony wayne on august 17 has made it. as he comes a little bit outside of the battlefield, he is going to stage their and build camp deposit. as he does that, he sends of volunteers out and these volunteers come to about this area where we are at now, the fallen timbers battlefield. they are captured. they bring them back to their village and find out what anthony wayne's battle plans

are. anthony wayne is marching with a line that is about two to four miles long. he is actually going to come to this area of the fallen timbers. he is going to start to meet native american resistance. he will send out an advanced guard, they will start to engage in the firefight that will eventually lead to the larger battle. as it starts to take place, the native americans are engaging and advanced scout group, giving an f time to the main body of the legion of united states to deploy, allowing them to set up sustained firepower, which will eventually outmatched the native americans, which will force them to retreat. sure, aboutn't be two years before the battle of fallen timbers, there were records from settlers who spoke about swirling winds coming through the town, uprooting trees. ton anthony wayne right some

the secretary of war, henry knox, he said we fought the native americans at the location of the fallen timbers. marching toayne is the fort, the native americans have reached it first. they expect to be able to go into the fort or have reinforcements sent out from the fort. campbell has been given specific instructions that he is not to intervene militarily. basically what that would be doing is declaring war on the united states of america. at this time great britain had no intention of declaring war unless they could win and really win big and they were not going to make the decision at the fort to do that. what ends up happening is the native americans now see the british were not going to fight with them. they leave very disheartened and very betrayed. forced the has

native americans to reevaluate their alliances with the british and how they are going to withstand the onslaught of the settlers who are going to continue to push into their land. the battle of fallen timbers lasted two hours with the heaviest losses taking place at about 45 minutes. 30are seeing that between and 50 were lost on each side. although losses were lower than what we would expect to see would we say the americans definitively won the battle of fallen timbers, but we are seeing happened is disillusionment taking place with the native americans with the british. they're starting to see the british are not going to step in and help them keep their homeland. as they have now seen, the united states can fight. the army is different. it is run by a different general and there are different people fighting. it is starting to look like the

native americans only have one option left and that option is to negotiate as their own tribe with the united states government. 1795, the added states of america sends delegates to meet with the representatives of every tribe held land in the valley andnmee river they signed the first treaty that deals with native americans who lived on the land. every tribe has a representative and the appropriate representative to sign. is ithis ends up doing opens up for those indian removal acts that removes native americans out west, which opens up the united states for manifest destiny and pushed further west than the original tree line. >> our staff travel to toledo

ohio to learn about its rich history. to watch more video from toledo and other stops on our tour, visit c-span.org. you are watching american history tv, all weekend every weekend on c-span3. >> professor jordan smith talks about the invention of rum. and it's impact on the atlantic world during the 17th and 18th centuries. we recorded the interview at the organization of american historians annual meeting in philadelphia. >> jordan smith, you are here at of historianson of annual meeting talking about rum. why? >> i'm working on a book project that examines the production of rum in the 17th and 18th century atlantic world. at the heart of the project is an attempt to ask how rum was