The first attempt of the government in 1788, to form a treaty ended in disaster. In order to mollify the tribes, it was proposed to hold the negotiations at the falls of the Muskingum river, in what the Indians were pleased to term "their own country" and "beyond the guns of any fort." General Josiah Harrnar was instructed to erect a council house there, and appropriate buildings in which to house the goods to be distributed among the Indians. On the night of July 12th, some Ottawas and Chippewas attacked the sentries and attempted to steal the goods they were guarding. Two soldiers were killed and two wounded. Friendly Delawares who arrived identified an Indian who was slain in the fight, as an Ottawa. It was learned that both the Chippewas and Ottawas were opposed to a treaty, "and in favor of war, unless the whites would agree to the Ohio as a boundary line." Who set on these wild tribes from the north may well be imagined. General St. Clair now determined to hold the treaty at Fort Harmar at the mouth of the Muskingum, and sent a message to the tribes now collecting on the Detroit river, to that effect. The machinations of the British agents at Detroit in the summer and autumn of 1788, while involved in some degree of mystery, seem to have been about as follows: Lord Dorchester was apprehensive that the Americans contemplated the taking of the posts and thereby uprooting the British influence. In order to avoid such action, it might be the safer policy to make certain concessions and advise the Indians to give up a small portion of the territory north of the Ohio, rather than to bring on an armed conflict. But all the tribes must be kept together, if possible, and under the direction of the authorities at Detroit. No single tribe must be allowed to negotiate a separate treaty, for that might result in the cultivation of friendly relations with the United States, and if one tribe could be brought under the American influence, this might ultimately lead to the disintegration of the British power over all. Therefore it was resolved that before any negotiations were entered into with General St. Clair, that another grand council of the northwestern tribes should be held in the valley of the Miami of the Lake, or Maumee, and that to that council should be summoned the principal sachems and warriors of all the tribes. Alexander McKee, the British Indian agent, was to be there, and Joseph Brant, and all action taken was to be under their supervision and control.