At Fort Pitt, the United States signs its first treaty with an Indian nation

In the fall of 1778, the Continental Army wanted to strike the British at Detroit, but the only route ran straight through Lenape land in the Ohio Valley. On September 17, at Fort Pitt, where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meet, American commissioners and Lenape leaders signed a treaty granting the United States free passage and a promise of Lenape warriors against Great Britain. In return, Congress promised clothing, supplies, and a fort to shelter Lenape families. It marked the first formal treaty the United States ever signed with a Native American tribe…