(pg. 38-40)
Mississinewa River on the Wabash ceded a narrow strip of land largely north of the Wabash and extending from the Tippecanoe River on the west to the eastern boundary of Indiana. The treaty was first negotiated with the Potawatomi alone and not in conjunction with other tribes. In defining the borders of the cession, three Indian villages were used as points of reference: (1) Metea's village; (2) Pierish's village, and (3) Seek's village. Metea's village is a Potawatomi village but since it actually lies to the north of the St. Joseph's Branch of the Maumee river, it is located in land of a later cession (Royce #146). The second village is also Potawatomi, but similarly lies to the north of Eel River and therefore is contained within a later tract (Royce #181). Seek's village, of Miami affiliation, also lies to the north of the land cession proper.
One week later, on October 23, 1826, a treaty was concluded with the Miami in which they ceded all their claim to land in the state of Indiana, north and west of the Wabash and Miami rivers. Essentially, then, they were ceding their rights, among others, to the same strip of land involved in the Potawatomi cession described in the previous paragraph. However, in the ratification or cession of this land by the Miami a series of areas were withheld from the cession to take care of the major Miami villages which existed in the region. These included: (1) fourteen sections of land at Seek's village; (2) thirty-six sections of land at Flat Belly's village; (3) ten sections of land at White Raccoon's village; (4) ten sections at Mud Creek on Eel river; (5) ten sections at the forks of the Wabash; and (6) a reservation at the mouth of the Mississinewa. These areas, containing Miami towns, were subsequently in 1834 and 1838 ceded to the United States, except for ten sections at the Forks of the Wabash which was issued in fee simple to John B. Richardville, principal chief of the Miami tribe. The tracts at Mud Creek and Flat Belly's village were within the later Potawatomi cession of October 27, 1832.
Stress has been placed on these smaller reservations retained by the Miami since they are indicative of the fact that this area was primarily Miami country. At an earlier period smaller sections had been obtained from the Miami. The treaty of August 3, 1795 granted to the United States an area six miles square at the confluence of Saint Mary's and Saint Joseph's Rivers. This region included Fort Wayne but it also included the site of Kekionga, the principal village of the Miami sometimes designated as "Miami town" or the "Great Miami village." Little Turtle's village, the home of the celebrated Miami chief of that name. Located on Eel river about 15 miles northwest of Kekionga would also be located within the tract. This or a related village existed in the area as late as 1823 for a letter from John Hays, Indian Agent at Fort Wayne, to John C. Calhoun dated February 24, 1823 states: "At the village of Turtle Town on Eel River fifteen miles from Fort Wayne, there has been made Ten log Houses and two considerable Fields, enclosed (Ind. Hist. Coll., XXIV, 296, 1942)."
Choppatee's village, indicated on Royce's map as being a few miles to the north of the tract surrounding Fort Wayne, is also of Miami affiliation. In earlier times, Kenapacamaqua, (or L'Ansuille) the principal village of the Wea, was to be found on the west bank of Eel river near its mouth. This town, however, was destroyed by General Wilkinson in 1791.
Potawatomi villages existed on the north bank of Eel river and without question their hunting and trapping would have extended south of the river into area for which we have documented Miami villages. However, the Miami would appear to have been the principal occupants of the section.