chief asked if Wayne was willing to hold peace talks. Wayne said he would only negotiate if the Natives recalled their war parties and released all American prisoners within the next thirty days. Back at the Glaize, militant leaders, surprised that talks had been initiated without authorization from the confederacy, debated the proposal. The militants prevailed, and the matter was dropped. In February 1794, Lord Dorchester told an Iroquois delegation in Quebec that Great Britain could be at war with the United States within the year and that Native lands lost to the Americans would be restored. Dorchester ordered Simcoe to build a fort on the Maumee to defend Detroit from the advancing Americans. In April, Simcoe constructed Fort Miami and garrisoned it with 120 soldiers and an artillery detachment. Dorchester's words and actions caused an uproar in the United States; the construction of Fort Miami on what Americans regarded as their territory was considered an act of aggression. In May, Chief Justice John Jay was dispatched to England to negotiate a resolution to the crisis. The Native confederacy, encouraged by British actions, sent out messengers to recruit additional warriors. Battle of Fort Recovery At Fort Greenville, Wayne was delayed by supply problems, but the construction of Fort Miami compelled him to accelerate his schedule. Eager to begin operations, he impatiently awaited the arrival of a reinforcement of Kentucky militiamen. In late June, Wayne was joined by about 100 Chickasaws and Choctaws, who had come from the south to fight against their traditional enemies in the Northwestern Confederacy. On June 27, forty-five Choctaws and ten scouts led by William Wells, Wayne's principal scout, skirmished with a large body of Natives advancing from the Glaize. Wells reported to Wayne that Fort Recovery was in danger of imminent attack. The Native army marching toward Fort Recovery numbered 1,200 warriors, the largest force the confederacy had yet fielded. Unlike the Americans, the Natives did not have an overall commander. Instead, military decisions were made by a council of leading chiefs and warriors. Blue Jacket urged the council to bypass Forts Recovery and Greenville and attack the American supply lines, cutting off Wayne's Legion. Recently arrived Three Fire leaders, whose warriors comprised the majority of the army, favored attacking a convoy near Fort Recovery. They prevailed in the council, and so on June 30 warriors ambushed the convoy then rushed the fort, but they