Governor Harrison, on assuming his office, proceeded promptly to enter into treaty agreements with the Indians for the purchase of their large tracts of land in what are now the states of Indiana and Illinois. This was in accordance with President Jefferson’s objective, the acquisition from the Indians of the whole territory east of the Mississippi. Harrison sent word to the Indians to meet him at Fort Wayne in the summer of 1803 for the first of his important treaty councils. By June 7 of that year, he completed his task, having secured from the Eel River Miamis, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Piankashaw, and Wea tribes a large tract of land around Vincennes, as well as the valuable salt spring on the Saline Creek. This treaty had been brought to a successful conclusion for the United States through a combination of Harrison’s shrewdness and stubbornness in bargaining, the financial backing of the factory at Fort Wayne, and the influence of Capt. Wells over Little Turtle. Although Harrison and Johnston obtained the cooperation of Wells in gaining the consent of the Indians, the agent, for the most part, strove against any cession of lands by the Indians. Wells went so far as to instigate the Indians to protest to the national government against a treaty Harrison concluded with the Delawares and Piankashaws the following year.[51] Between Colonel Johnston, the factor, and Wells, the agent, there was no coordination of purpose or even good will. Outside of the fact that the conflicting duties of their respective positions involved them in quarrels, Wells and Johnston seemed to have been mutually antagonistic, and each put the worst interpretation on the other’s actions when writing to their superiors. Wells felt that Johnston’s policy of trying to win an active alliance with the Indians for the United States in the event of war with Great Britain was in effect evidence of Johnston’s gullibility in dealing with the red men. Even after the battle of Tippecanoe, Johnston gave arms and ammunition to the Indians who had participated in the affair. Wells knew the Indians well, and realized that in the event of war the best that could be expected would be that they would remain neutral. On the other hand, Johnston felt that Wells was completely unprincipled and could not be trusted.