(AMERICAN INDIANS) [Collins Joseph] Deposition concerning hi

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(AMERICAN INDIANS.) [Collins, Joseph.] Deposition concerning his spy expedition among the Indians of the Old West. 4 pages, 13 x 8 inches, on 2 sheets; worn, separated at folds, with some archival tape repairs. [Legionville, PA, 16 February 1793]

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Captain Joseph Collins was ordered in 1792 to explore the western Indian back-country in what is now Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and New York. Presenting himself as a British merchant, he gathered intelligence about the intentions of the various tribes he met. Upon his return to camp at Legionville, PA, he was interviewed at length by General Anthony Wayne.
Offered here are two non-consecutive leaves from Collins's resulting deposition, containing neither the heading nor the conclusion. The text is in an unidentified early hand. Among other highlights of this dramatic testimony, Collins describes how "a plot had been formed by a number of Eel River Indians . . . to blow up the great blockhouse" at Fort Knox. He describes his near-death at the hands of the Miami Indians, and his deception of British commanders he encountered at Detroit and Niagara.
Collins's mission, and this testimony, are well known to historians. See Gaff, Bayonets in the Wilderness, pages 96-98. Collins was an associate of the infamous General James Wilkinson, and later helped deliver a portion of Wilkinson's secret payments from the Spanish government.