Clinton County, Indiana - Chapter 3: Indians, 1886

The First Possessors of the Soil. - Histjrt of the Miamis. - A Powerful Tribe. - Indian "Wars. - Treaties. - Purchase of Theik Lands. - The Remnant of the Tribe. - A Dying People.

All that part of Indiana south of the Wabash River was originally possessed by the Miamis. Tiiey doubtless had some land north of the Wabash, for in 1658 they were found as far north as Green Bay and the Fox River. Thus we see that all the land embraced within the borders of Clinton County was at an earlj' day the home of the haughty Miami.

The Miamis were of the Algonquin farailj' - the tribe which welcomed the Pilgrim Fathers. "Tiieir dialect," says Bancroft, " was heard from the B ly of Gaspe to the Yalley of tlie Des Moines ; from Cape Fear, and it may be from the Savannah to the land of the Esquimaux ; from the Cumberland River of Kentucky to the southern banks of tlie Mississippi, and was spoken," continues the same writer, " though not exclusively, in a territory that extends through sixty degrees of longitude and more than twenty degrees of latitude." Thus we see tlie Miamis were the descendants of renowned warriors and chieftains, and their subsequent history shows that they imbibed the spirit of their illustrious ancestors.

A good idea of the territory owned by this tribe after they became a separate and distinct people may be obtained from the speech of their chief, Me-she-kun-nogh-quoh, or Little Turtle, in reply to General Wayne at the treaty of Greenville, Ohio, 1795 : " You have pointed out to us the boundary line between the Indians and the United States; but I now take the liberty to inform you that that line cuts off from the Indians a large portion of country which has been enjoyed by my ancestors from time immemorial without molestation or dispute. The print of my father's houses are everywhere to b3 seen in this portion. It is well known by all my brethren present, that my f.ither kindled the first fire at De- (270) troit; from thence he extended his line to the head waters of the Scioto; from thence to its month and from thence to Chicago on Lake Michigan."

Says Charles B. Lasselle : "When the Miamis were first invited by the French authorities to Chicago in 1670, they were a leading and very powerful Indian nation. A body of them assembled near that place for war against the powerful Iroquois (Six Nations) of the Hudson, and the still more powerful Sioux of the Upper Mississippi. They numbered at least three thousand, and were under the lead of a chief who never sallied forth but with a bodj"^ guard of not less than forty warriors. He could at any time call into the field an army of from three to five thousand men."

Says Bancroft: "The Miamis were the most powerful confederacy in the "West, excelling the Six Nations (Iroqu'iis). Their influence reached to the Mississippi and they received frequent visits from tribes beyond that river."

Thus from the earliest period we find the Miamis have been a leading and influential tribe. The impress of the name on so many of our Western rivers shows its predominance. The two Miamis of Ohio will ever perpetuate it. The Miami of Lake Erie (now Maumee) was likewise named for the trib3. Our own St. Mary's was marked " Miami" River on the rude skeleton map made to represent the Western country at the time of Colonel Bouquet's expedition in 1763.

Ill 1761 we find this tribe designated as the Miami, Eel River and Wea tribe. The Wabash River formed a natural boundary between the Miamis and the Pottawatomies. Other neighboring tribes were the Kickapoos, Piankeshaws and Kaskaskias. From these tribes the Miamis received much honor, and nothing was undertaken by any tribe without first consulting the Miamis.

The first half of the seventeenth century passed without anything occurring of importance, save an occasional brief struggle between some of the Indian nations.

In 1753 disputes arose between the French and English in regard to their possessions in the New World. Being unable to settle peacefully, they resorted to arms - the Indians assisting the French.

Sevei'al important expeditions were planned by the English against the French and Indians. The one led by Braddock against Fort Du Qiiesne was the one directly employing the Miamis.

cade. The ladians, from their places of concealment, poured a destructive volley of musketry, which utterly confounded the English grenadiers, causing dismay and disorder to take possession of their ranks. Oat of eighty-six officers, but twenty-three escaped injury. Of the 1,200 who crossed the Monongahela, 700 were cut down and wounded. The work of death continued for three hours. There was no relief but to retreat and leave the field to the enemy to plunder and scalp.

Until 1758 all the expeditions planned by the English were seemingly unfortunate, and Indian skill and bravery were everywhere triumphant. At that time, however, the English army under Lord Abercrombie, being largely re-enforced, the aspect of affairs began to assume another and different shape. From thenceforward victory crowned the English arms, the climax of which was the complete overthrow of the French and Indians, and the capture of Quebec by the gallant Wolfe, September 18, 1759.

At the close of the struggle, so great had been the havoc among the Indians, that the Miamis could summon to the field no more than one thousand warriors.

The 10th of February, 1763, the treaty of peace was made between the two great powers, France and England, the former surrendering to the latter all claims to the vast regions lying east of the Mississippi. But here let it be remembered, in order that future trouble with the Indians may be understood, that it was the custom of the French to purchase from the Indians but very small tracts of land ; accordingly, at the treaty, France had very little land to cede to England.

The year following, 1775, was commenced the great struggle for independence. In this the Miamis lent their influence to the British, being willing to assist any party that was warring against the inhabitants of their territory.

At the close of the Kevolution, in 1783, when Great Britain transferred her western claims to the United States, she conveyed nothing but what she had previously obtained from France, which we have seen was very small, with the exception of some diminutive tracts of land purchased from the Iroquois and Southern tribes. None of the land whatever belonging to the Miamis and the neigh-

But a different view was taken of the matter by Congress at this period. They concluded that the treaty granted to the United States the full right to all territory east of the Mississippi, and, considering that the Indians had forfeited all right to the land by acts of warfare against the Colonial Government during the struggle for independence, made no movement toward the purchase of the land, but began to form treaties of peace and to suggest its own boundary lines. It had been agreed among the various Indian nations that no treaty should be made with the Government without the consent of all the tribes, assembled in general council. The Commissioners appointed by the Government to superintend these affairs refused to give any attention to the subject of a general council; but, visiting each tribe separately, induced some of them by intimidation, as was afterward shown, to make cessions of land.

The Miamis, believing that injustice was being done them, positively refused to enter into a treaty of any kind. Ti-ouble soon arose which resulted in the expedition against the Miami?, in 1790, under the command of General Josiah Harmar. The Indians under their brave Chief, Little Turtle, defeated the forces of Harmar on several battle-fields, with heavy loss.

The following year (1791) another expedition was planned against them, under the command of General Arthur St. Clair. On the 4th of November, near the head waters of the Wabash, about fifteen miles from the Miami village - now present site of Fort Wayne - a severe battle took place between the forces of St. Clair and the Indians, which resulted in a complete victory for the latter - the whites being driven from the field, panic stricken. This was the most severe defeat ever inflicted by the Indians upon the United States, the latter losing in the battle thirty-nine officers killed, and 593 men killed and missing ; twenty-two officers and 242 men wounded, with a loss in stores and other valuable property to the amount of $32,810.75.

The command of the United States troops was next given to General Anthony Wayne. Having perfected his organization August, 1794, found him cautiously approaching the Miami village. The Indians tried, as on former occasions, to surprise him ; but the thoughtful Wayne was not to be surprised. The Indians attacking him early on the morning of August 28, 1794, a severe battle ensued, which resulted in a complete victory for Wayne.

The haughty spirit of the Miami was broken. He was now readyto listen to terms of peace. Accordingly, in June, 1795, deputations from the Miarais and from the different tribes of the Northwest began to assemble, in accordance with a request from General Wayne, to make a treaty uf peace. They were in council several days, when, finally, August 3, 1795, the famous treaty of Greenville, Ohio, was completed. By this treaty the Miamis made their first cession of laud to the United States, being various small tracts in Southern and Central Indiana. This was ceded to the Government partly to satisfy it for the heavy expense it had sustained in prosecuting the war against the Indians. However, the Miamis received as a remuneration $3,000, with $1,000 to be paid annually forever.

On the 2l3t of August, 1805, on the 30th of September, 1809, and on the 26th of October, 1809, cessions of land were made by the Miamis, for which they were liberally and satisfactorily rewarded by the Government, in goods and money.

In 1810 arose the famous Shawnee Prophet, Ells-kwata-wa, brother of the celebrated warrior, Tecumseh. These men, through a singular and somewhat powerful influence, began to exert a wide control over the tribes of the North, and being encouraged by the English Government, the country was soon deluged in the war of 1812. The Miamis were earnestly and eloquently sought to render assistance. Although many of the tribe were in favor of war, their brave but honest chief. Little Turtle, remained true to his obligations made at the treaty of Greenville. However, on the 14th of July, 1812, Little Turtle died. He was succeeded byPe-oon, who listened more favorably to the words of Tecumseh.

Soon warlike preparations were observed in the Miami villages along the Mississinewa of Grant County. General Harrison at once planned an expedition against them. The detachment consisted of about 600 mounted men, Kentucky volunteers, who were armed with rifles and under the command of Lieutenant- Colonel John B. Campbell. They left Franklintown on the 25th of November, 1812, by way of Dayton and Greenville, and reached the north bank of the Mississinewa^ near the mouth of the Metocin-yah Creek, December 17, 1812. In a rapid charge upon the first Indian village, eight warriors were killed and fortj'-two taken prisoners, consisting of men, women and children. The troops then destroyed three other villages further west on the river, and returning, encamped for the night in a level strip of woods just across tlie river from Jalapa, Grant County. About half an hour before day on the following morning, December 18th, they were suddenly attacked by the Indians, under the command of John Godfrey and Joseph Richardville, the latter a son of John Richardviile, who so long and wisely ruled the Miatnis. The battle was short but sharp. The Indians, being unable to resist the welldirected fire of Campbell's men, soon fled in dismay, leaving some fifteen of tlieir men dead and forty-eight wounded. The whites lost eight killed and thirty wounded. To the severity of this contest, though of short duration, many of the early settlers of Grant can testify, as the trees bore the impress of tlie bullets for many years.

This battle closes the war record of the Miamis. They ever afterward remained friendly toward the United States. It is true, an occasional brief struggle took place between the Miamis and some of the neighboring tribes. These, however, were generally of minor importance, as the following will illustrate : About 1830 the Pottawatomies, having crossed the Wabash River, the boundary line, were proceeding through the confines of the Miamis. The latter, deeming this an encroachment upon their hunting grounds, met the Pottawatomies near Jeflferson, on the farm owned by Mr. Hill, and forbade them proceeding further. Disputes arising, a battle ensued, fought with knives and clubs, in which a number were severely cut and bruised, but no one seriously injured. The Pottawatomies retired to their own territory.

October 6, 1818, was made the famous treaty of St. Mary, in which the Miamis ceded to the United States large quantities of land. However, at this time some valuable tracts of land were reserved by the Indians, among which was that known then and at the present as the '- Big or Miami Reservation." As the eastern part of Clinton County was included in this, we give its boundaries : Commencing near the town of La Gro, on the Wabash, where the Salamonia unites with the Wabash River, running thence through Wabash and Grant counties into Madison Count}' ; its southeast corner was about four miles southeast of Independence, at the center of section 17 ; thence running south of west, parallel with the general course of the Wabasli River, across Tipton County, close to the town of Tipton, just north thereof to where it intersects a line running north and south from Logansport, which is the western boundary of Howard County, one mile west of range line No. 1 east ; thence north to Logansport ; thence up the Wabash to

On the 23d of October, 1826, the Chiefs of the Miamis assembled at a place called ''Paradise Springs," where, in council with General John Tipton, Indian Agent, assisted b}' General Cass and John B. Eay, the greater part of the land belonging to the Indians was ceded to the United States. In payment for this they received $31,040.53 in goods, $31,040.53 in money. The following year, 1827, they received $61,259.47, after which an indemnity of $25,- 000 was paid to them as long as they existed as a tribe.

In 1834 the Miamis sold to the Government 177,000 acres of land for $335,680. This included a strip seven miles wide along the west side of the "Reserve," in what is now Clinton, Howard and Cass counties. This was transferred by the United States to the State of Indiana, to be used for the completion of the "Wabash & Erie Canal from the Tippecanoe River down. A. strip five miles along the Wabash had been used in the same way, to construct said canal to the mouth of the Tippecanoe River. Again, on the 6th of November, 1838, the Miamis ceded to the United States portions of land which had been reserved by them in former treaties. One important reservation of ten sections was made at this time for the band of Meto-cin-yah, father of the Chief Me-shin-go-me-sia.

On the 28th of November, 1840, the Miamis relinquished, for the sum of $550,000, all their remaining land in Indiana, except that reserved for Meto-cin-yah, which the Government conveyed by patent to Me-shin-go-me-sia and his band. The Indians also agreed to leave in five years at the expense of the United States. Their departure was delayed, however, until 1847, svhen they were removed to the Marais des Cygnes, in the Fort Leavenworth Agency.

The Kansas Miamis, at the time of their removal, numbered 250 souls, each individual receiving an annuity of about $125. They were removed to the Quawpaw Reservation in 1873, and now number about 150.

The Miami Indians at present are scattered over the country from Grant County on the south to Grand Rapids on the north, and from Napoleon River to the Indian Territory on the west. A large part of these are known as the "Miamis of Indiana," numbering abont 335. They received each $32.73 as their individual share on the interest of their money held by the United States. The total sum disbursed yearly to the Indians at Peru is $1,200.

The ten sections of the Me-shin-go-me-sia Keservation was held in common until 1873. In May of that year a partition was made by the Government, in which all the band participated, each receiving, both young and old, eighty acres of land. Men who had large families now control large farms of from four to six hundred acres. The land on an average is as good as can be found in this section of country.

As man has ever assimilated to a greater or less extent in all ages, the Indians have generally adopted the dress, language and habits of the whites. Although never becoming truly Anglo-Saxon in so far as the inventive and higher sense of civilization is manifest - although never losing their tawny skins, save in the sense of amalgamation, nor ceased entirely to entertain an affection for the forest and its wildest haunts, the stream and the bark canoe, the spear, the bow and arrow or the trusty rifle - yet some of the Indians in Miami and Grant counties are a living evidence of the power and influence of civilization. A rude, uncultivated child of the forests of nature and the primitive wilds, being readily and naturally imitative, he has received from the white man a knowledge of agriculture that enables him to till the soil in a very creditable manner.

From the first trouble with the settlements at Plymouth and Jamestown to those of a later period springing up at other points, both east and west, the tribes seemed ever imbued with the belief that the white man would, eventually, overrun their hunting grounds and drive the red man far westward. How truly thought and said the Indian is now most clearly seen. Such is the force of civilization ; such the destiny of the unadvancing, unprogressive, uncivilized of the earth, even to the lowest kingdoms ot animal life.

Their births are less frequent than their deaths, and so, as a race, they are withering from the land. Soon tliey will live only in the songs of their exterminators. Let us be faithful to their rude virtues as men, and pay due tribute to their unhappy fate as a people.