Consolidated Docket No. 317, Defendant Exhibits 61-171
Dft. Ex. 62
From Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico
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· Part 1, pp. |
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Hodge, Frederick, ed.
Handbook of American Indians
North of Mexico
Part 1
|
BULL. 30] |
MENESOUHATOBA-MENITEGOW |
841 |
MS. Baptismal records of Mission Valero, partidas 564, 571, 869). See Meracouman.
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(H. E. B.) |
Menanque.-Baptismal records cited, partida 869. Menanquen.-Ibid., 571. Menaquen.-Ibid., 577. Merguan.-Ibid., 448 (identical?). Merhuan.-Ibid., 455 (identical?)
Menesouhatoba.
A Dakota tribe or division, probably the Mdewakanton.
Menesouhatoba.-Pachot (1722) in
Margry, Déc., VI, 518, 1886. Scioux des Lacs.-Ibid.
Menewa ('great warrior). A half-breed Creek, second chief of the Lower Creek towns on Tallapoosa r., Ala.; born about 1765. He was noted for trickery and daring in early life, when he was known as Hothlepoya ('crazy war hunter') and annually crossed the Cumberland to rob the white settlers in Tennessee of their horses. A murder committed in his neighborhood was charged to his band, and the people of Georgia burned one of their towns in revenge. It was suspected that MacIntosh had instigated the murder for the very purpose of stirring up trouble between the whites and his rival. When Tecumseh came to form a league against the white people, Menewa, foreseeing that MacIntosh with American aid and support would attack him in any event, readily joined in the conspiracy. He began the Creek war and was the war chief of his people, the head chief of the tribe being a medicine-man. Relying on a prophecy of the latter, Menewa made a wrong disposition of his men at the battle of the Horseshoe Bend, Gen. Jackson quickly discerning the vulnerable point in the Indian defenses. Menewa slew the false prophet with his own hand before dashing at the head of his warriors from the breastworks, already breached by the American cannon, into the midst of the Tennesseans, who were advancing to the assault. Of 900 warriors 830 were killed, and all the survivors, save one, were wounded. Menewa, left for dead on the field, revived in the night and, with other survivors, reached the hidden camp in the swamps where the women and children were waiting. The men on their recovery made their submission individually. Menewa's village was destroyed and his wealth in horses and cattle, peltry, and trade goods had disappeared. After his wounds were healed he reassumed authority over the remnant of his band and was in later years the leader of the party in the Creek Nation which opposed further cession of land to the whites and made resistance to their encroachments. MacIntosh counseled acquiescence in the proposal to deport the whole tribe beyond the Mississippi, and when for this he was condemned as a traitor, Menewa was reluctantly persuaded to execute the death sentence. In 1826 he went with a delegation to Washington to protest against the treaty by which MacIntosh and his confederates, representing about one-tenth of the nation, had at Indian Spring, Jan. 8, 1821, presumed to cede to the United States the fertile Creek country. He proposed, in ceding the Creek country to the Government for white settlement, to reserve some of the land to be allotted in severalty to such of the nations as chose to remain on their native soil rather than to emigrate to a strange region. Through his advocacy the Government was induced to parcel some of the land among the Creeks who were desirous and capable of subsisting by agriculture, to be held in fee simple after a probationary term of five years. An arbitrary method of allotment deprived Menewa of his own farm, and, as the one that he drew was undesirable, he sold it and bought other land in Alabama. When some of the Creeks became involved in the Seminole war of 1836, he led his braves against the hostiles. In consideration of his services he obtained permission to remain in his native land, but nevertheless was transported with his people beyond the Mississippi.
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(F. H.) |
Mengakonkia.
A division of the Miami, living in 1682 in central Illinois with the Piankashaw
and others.
Mangakekias.-Shea in Wis. Hist.
Soc. Coll., III, 134, 1857. Mangakekis.-Bacqueville de la Potherie, II,
261, 1753. Mangakokis.-Ibid., 335. MangaKonKia.-Jes. Rel. 1674,
LVIII, 40, 1899. Megancockia.-La Salle (1682) in Margry, Déc., II, 201,
1877.
Menhaden. A fish of the herring family (Alosa menhaden), known also as bonyfish, mossbunker, hardhead, pauhagen, etc., found in the Atlantic coast waters from Maine to Maryland. The name is derived from the Narraganset dialect of Algonquian. Roger Williams (1643) calls munnawhatteaug a "fish like a herring," the word being really plural and signifying, according to Trumbull (Natick Dict., 69, 1903), 'they manure.' The reference is to the Indian custom of using these fish as manure for cornfields, which practice the aborigines of New England transmitted to the European colonists. Menhaden is thus a corruption of the Narraganset term for this fish, munnawhat, 'the fertilizer.' See Pogy. (A. F. C.)
Meniolagomeka.
A former Delaware or Munsee village on Aquanshicola cr., Carbon co., Pa. In
1754 the inhabitants, or part of them, joined the Moravian converts at New
Gnadenhuetten in the same county. (J. M.)
Meniolagamika.-Heckewelder in Trans. Am. Philos. Soc., n.s., IV, 359,
1834. Meniolagomekah.-Loskiel, Hist. Miss. United Breth., pt. 2, 26,
1794.
Menitegow
(probably for 
'on the
island in the river.'-W. J.). A
Hodge, Frederick, ed.
Handbook of American Indians
North of Mexico
Part 1
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BULL. 30] |
MIAMI |
853 |
in Wisconsin, when the whites first heard of them, formed but a part of the
tribe, and that other bodies were already in N. E. Illinois and N. Indiana. As
the Miami and their allies were found later on the Wabash in Indiana and in N.
W. Ohio, in which latter territory they gave their name to three rivers, it
would seem that they had moved S. E. from the localities where first known
within historic times. Little Turtle, their famous chief, said: "My
fathers kindled the first fire at Detroit; thence they extended their lines to
the headwaters of the Scioto; thence to its mouth; thence down the Ohio to the
mouth of the Wabash, and thence to Chicago over L. Michigan." When
Vincennes was sent by Gov. Vaudreville in 1705 on a mission to the Miami they
were found occupying principally the territory N. W. of the upper Wabash. There
was a Miami village at Detroit in 1703, but their chief settlement was still on
St Joseph r. In 1711 the Miami and the Wea had three villages on the St Joseph,
Maumee, and Wabash. Kekionga, at the head of the Maumee, became the chief seat
of the Miami proper, while Ouiatenon, on the Wabash, was the headquarters of
the Wea branch. By the encroachments of the Potawatomi, Kickapoo, and other
northern tribes the Miami were driven from St Joseph r. and the country N. W.
of the Wabash. They sent out colonies to the E. and formed settlements on Miami
r. in Ohio, and perhaps as far E. as the Scioto. This country they held until
the peace of 1763, when they retired to Indiana, and the abandoned country was
occupied by the Shawnee. They took a prominent part in all the Indian wars in
Ohio valley until the close of the war of 1812. Soon afterward they began to
sell their lands, and by 1827 had disposed of most of their holdings in Indiana
and had agreed to remove to Kansas, whence they went later to Indian Ter.,
where the remnant still resides. In all treaty negotiations they were
considered as original owners of the Wabash country and all of w. Ohio, while
the other tribes in that region were regarded as tenants or intruders on their
lands. A considerable part of the tribe, commonly known as Meshingomesia's
band, continued to reside on a reservation in Wabash co., Ind. until 1872, when
the land was divided among the survivors, then numbering about 300.
The Miami men were described in 1718 as "of medium height, well built, heads rather round than oblong, countenances agreeable rather than sedate or morose, swift on foot, and excessively fond of racing." The women were generally well clad in deerskins, while the men used scarcely any covering and were tattooed all over the body. They were hardworking, and raised a species of maize unlike that of the Indians of Detroit, described as "white, of the same size as the other, the skin much finer, and the meal much whiter." According to the early French explorers the Miami were distinguished for polite manners, mild, affable, and sedate character, and their respect for and perfect obedience to their chiefs, who had greater authority than those of other Algonquian and N. W. tribes. They usually spoke slowly. They were land travelers rather than canoemen. According to Hennepin, when they saw a herd of buffalo they gathered in great numbers and set fire to the grass about the animals, leaving open a passage where they posted themselves with their bows and arrows; the buffalo, seeking to escape the fire, were compelled to pass the Indians, who killed large numbers of them. The women spun thread of buffalo hair, with which they made bags to carry the meat, toasted or sometimes dried in the sun. Their cabins were covered with rush mats. According to Perrot, the village which he visited was situated on a hill and surrounded by a palisade. On the other hand, Zenobius says that La Salle, who visited the villages on St Joseph r., taught them how to defend themselves with palisades, and even made them erect a kind of fort with entrenchments. Infidelity of the wife, as among many other Indians, was punished by clipping the nose. According to early explorers, they worshiped the sun and thunder, but did not honor a host of minor deities, like the Huron and the Ottawa. Three forms of burial appear to have been practised by the division of the tribe living about Fort Wayne: (1) The ordinary ground burial in a shallow grave prepared to receive the body in a recumbent position. (2) Surface burial in a hollow log; these have been found in heave forests; sometimes a tree was split and the halves hollowed out to receive the body, when it was either closed with withes or fastened to the ground with crossed stakes; sometimes a hollow tree was used, the ends being closed. (3) Surface burial wherein the body was covered with a small pen of logs, laid as in a log cabin, the courses meeting at the top in a single log.
The French authors commonly divided the Miami into six bands: Piankashaw, Wea, Atchatchakangouen, Kilatika, Mengakonkia, and Pepicokia. Of these the first two have come to be recognized as distinct tribes; the other names are no longer known. The Pepicokia, mentioned in 1796 with the Wea and Piankashaw, may have been absorbed by the latter. Several treaties were made with
Hodge, Frederick, ed.
Handbook of American Indians
North of Mexico
Part 1
854 |
EEL RIVER INDIANS-EKALUIN |
[B. A. E. |
a band known as Eel Rivers, formerly living near Thorntown, Boone co., Ind.,
but they afterward joined the main body on the Wabash.
According to Morgan (Anc. Soc., 168, 1877) the Miami have 10 gentes: (1) Mowhawa (wolf), (2) Mongwa (loon), (3) Kendawa (eagle), (4) Ahpakosea (buzzard), (5) Kanozawa (Kanwasowan, panther), (6) Pilawa (turkey), (7) Ahseponna (raccoon), (8) Monnato (snow), (9) Kulswa (sun), (10) Water. Chauvignerie, in 1737, said that the Miami had two principal totems-the elk and crane- while some of them had the bear. The French writers call the Atchatchakangouen (Crane) the leading division. At a great conference on the Maumee in Ohio in 1793 the Miami signed with the turtle totem. None of these totems occurs in Morgan's list.
It is impossible to give a satisfactory estimate of the numbers of the Miami at any one time, on account of confusion with the Wea and Piankashaw, who probably never exceed 1,500. An estimate in 1764 gives them 1,750; another in the following year places their number at 1,250. In 1825 the population of the Miami, Eel Rivers, and Wea was given as 1,400, of whom 327 were Wea. Since their removal to the W. they have rapidly decreased. Only 57 Miami were officially known in Indian Ter. in 1885, while the Wea and Piankashaw were confederated with the remnant of the Illinois under the name of Peoria, the whole body numbering but 149; these increased to 191 in 1903. The total number of Miami in 1905 in Indian Ter. was 124; in Indiana, in 1900, there were 243; the latter, however, are greatly mixed with white blood. Including individuals scattered among other tribes, the whole number is probably 400.
The Miami joined in or made treaties with the United States as follows: (1) Greenville, O., with Gen. Anthony Wayne, Aug. 3, 1795, defining the boundary between the United States and tribes w. of Ohio r. and ceding certain tracts of land; (2) Ft. Wayne, Ind., June 7, 1803, with various tribes, defining boundaries and ceding certain lands; (3) Grouseland, Ind., Aug., 21, 1805, ceding certain lands in Indiana and defining boundaries; (4) Ft Wayne, Ind., Sept. 30, 1809, in which the Miami, Eel River tribes, and Delawares ceded certain lands in Indiana, and the relations between the Delawares and Miami regarding certain territory are defined; (5) Treaty of peace at Greenville, O., July 22, 1814, between the United States, the Wyandot, Delawares, Shawnee, Seneca, and the Miami, including the Eel River and Wea tribes; (6) Peace treaty of Spring Wells, Mich., Sept. 8, 1815, by the Miami and other tribes; (7) St. Mary's, O., Oct. 6, 1818, by which the Miami ceded certain lands in Indiana; (8) Treaty of the Wabash, Ind., Oct. 23, 1826, by which the Miami ceded all their lands in Indiana, N. and W. of Wabash and Miami rs.; (9) Wyandot village, Ind., Feb. 11, 1828, by which the Eel River Miami ceded all claim to the reservation at their village on Sugar Tree cr., Ind.; (10) Forks of Wabash, Ind., Oct. 23, 1834, by which the Miami ceded several tracts in Indiana; (11) Forks of the Wabash, Ind., Nov. 6, 1838, by which the Miami ceded most of their remaining lands in Indiana, and the United States agreed to furnish them a reservation w. of the Mississippi; (12) Forks of the Wabash, Ind., Nov. 28, 1840, by which the Miami ceded their remaining lands in Indiana and agreed to remove to the country assigned them w. of the Mississippi; (13) Washington, June 5, 1854, by which they ceded a tract assigned by amended treaty of Nov. 28, 1840, excepting 70,000 a. retained as a reserve; (14) Washington, Feb. 23, 1867, with Seneca and others, in which it is stipulated that the Miami may become confederated with the Peoria and others if they so desire.
Among the Miami villages were Chicago, Chippekawkay, Choppatee's village, Kekionga, Kenapacomaqua, Kokomo, Kowasikka, Little Turtle's village, Meshingomesia, Missinquimeschan (Piankashaw), Mississinewa, Osaga, Pahedkeawillanee, Raccoon's village, Seek's village, St Francis Xavier (mission, with others), Thorntown (Eel River Miami).
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(J. M. C. T.) |
Allianies.-Beckwith in Indiana
Geol. Rep., 43, 1883 (misprint). Maima.-Janson, Stranger in Am., 192,
1807. M'amiwis.-Rafinesque, Am. Nations, I, 157, 1836. Maumee.-Washington
(1790) in Am. St. Papers, Ind. Aff., I, 143, 1832. Maumes.-Schoolcraft,
Ind. Tribes, v, 39, 1855. Maumies.-Warren (1852) in Minn. Hist. Soc.
Coll., v, 33, 1885. Mawmee.-Imlay, West Ter., 364, 1797. Me-ä-me-ä-ga.-Morgan,
Consang. and Affin., 287, 1871. Meames.-La Barre (1683) in N. Y. Doc.
Col. Hist., IX, 202, 1855. Meamis.-Ibid. Memilounioue.-Jes. Rel.
1672, LVIII, 40, 1899. Memis.-Le Barre (1683), op. cit., 208. Mencamis.-Boudinot,
Star in the West, 127, 1816 (misprint). Metousceprinioueks.- Bacqueville
de la Potherie, Hist. Am., II, 103, 1753 ('Walkers', 'well on their feet'; so
called because they traveled much on foot, and not in canoes). Miamee.-Jones,
Ojebway Inds., 178, 1861. Miames.-Lewis and Clark, Travels, 12, 1806. Miami.-Gatschet,
Potawatomi MS., B. A. E., 1878 (Potawatomi name; plural, Miamik). Miamiha.-Coxe,
Carolana, 49, 1741. Miamioüek.-Jes. Rel. 1670, 90, 1858. Miamis.-Du
Chesneau (1681) in N. Y. Doc. Col. Hist., IX, 153, 1855. Mineamies-
Trader of 1778 in Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, III, 561, 1853. Miramis.-De
Bougainville (1757) in N. Y. Doc. Col. Hist., III, 489, 1853. Myamis.-Membré
(ca. 1680) in Shea, Miss. Val., 152, 1852. Naked Indians.-Doc. of
1728 in Min. of Prov. Coun. of Pa., III, 312, 1840. Nation . . . de la Gruë.-Bacqueville
de la Potherie, Hist. Am., IV, 55, 1753. Omameeg.-Warren (1852) in
Schoolcraft,
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