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Chapter XII. A History of the Mohican
Claim to Lands in Indiana
Early references to Mohicans or Stockbridge Indians in the Indiana area are sparse. A few Mohicans, however, must have been in the area as early as June 7, 1803, when Hendrick Aupaumut, a White-educated Mohican chief, signed as a witness to a treaty held at Fort Wayne (7 Stat. 74). Some Mohicans could have been in Indiana as early as the 1770's when Delaware Indians, long time friends of the Mohicans, began to live there.1
On May 21, 1805 Apaumut wrote to the Secretary of War from White River, Indiana about the reasons for his being there.
I think it my duty to inform you that I and five of my companions are here with the Delawares ever since last fall- Were sent by our Nation as Deputies to treat with our friends and allies of the different tribes of Indians in the Country- renewing the Ancient Covenant of friendship that was subsisted between our fore Fathers and theirs and to recommend the arts of civilization to them- that I was here five years ago [i.e. 1800] with the same business-2
Aupaumut reported that in the fall of 1804 he had talked with William Wells, the Indian agent at Fort Wayne, about his [Aupaumut's] desire to help the Indian tribes to civilization. Wells promised to write the Secretary of War about the plan
1. See Chapter 7, pp.
260-63, for a discussion of the Delaware claim to lands on White River.
2. Aupaumut to the Secretary of War, White River, May 21, 1805; Dft. Ex. 119.
392 |
and expected a reply by March 1805. Aupaumut had said further
that we [i.e., Aupaumut and his companions] were to commence with the work early this spring- . . . We were to show the Indians how to make fences- plowing- and raising grain- and some other work that would be necessary for them to learn- And one of my companions has been teach[ing] a school [a] number of years in our country who will teach school here-3
Aupaumut wrote that he and his companions had already been planting corn although they had not heard whether the Secretary of War could approve of what they were doing, and that they hoped to hear from him soon.4
In February of 1808 Aupaumut wrote Wells that he, Aupaumut and his band would shortly return to White River from their visit east to Stephentown, New York. At this time the members of the band were not raising crops and were having a hard time supporting themselves by hunting. Aupaumut told Wells that they might need his assistance. He also asked Wells to
Speak to our grand children the Miamies to our favour as you may have an opportunity to see them- because it would be very hard if they should try to with hold the Land from us- which their fore-Fathers have firmly and legally granted to our Ancestors- and my nation have- claimed the same ever since and their bones testify the truth of this to this day. They and we have chosen this tract along this River.- we do not ask any new thing- Just only to have our covenant with them renovated- which on our part was done in the year 1803- legally and openly according to the customs of the Indians.-5
3. Idem.
4. Idem.
5. Aupaumut to Wells, Stephentown or Muhheconnuh, February 26, 1808; Dft. Ex. 158.
393 |
Neither the original grant to Aupaumut's ancestors nor the renovation of the covenant mentioned in this letter have been found.
On December 12, 1808 Hendrick Aupaumut, "chief of the Mohican nation and Tomaqua Beaver, chief warrior of the Delawares," wrote and presented a letter to President Jefferson asking him, on behalf of the "Wapanakeh (to wit: Delaware, Muhheconnuh, and Monsey nation)," to give them a paper certifying their ownership of lands on White River, to protect them against encroachments by White settlers. They reported that they had
settled down on lands along the White river, or Wapekommekoke, a number of years past, where we wish to collect all our scattered friends, to promote each other's welfare, and to maintain peace and unity among our grandchildren- the different tribes about us- over whom we have great influence, who are apt to listen to our counsels.
The land which we now inhabit was granted by the Miamies and Pottawatomies, which they renewed last September, in their general council held at Fort Wayne, in presence of the agent of Indian affairs, Captain Wells, and the commanding officer of that place. They granted to us to occupy and possess said land for the benefit and behoof of our tribes and their posterity, but prohibited the right of selling the same- but took us in as joint-owners of said land or country. Lest this grant should fall into the hands of the white people, they gave us no writing at the time this took place; but, for better security, they have given us wampum, instead of a written deed.6
6. Congressional Documents Series 365, House Document 127, pp. 10-11; Dft. Ex.
133.
394 |
The Indians now thought this was not enough protection of their claim and requested the President for a document affirming it.
A few days later President Thomas Jefferson in a talk to "Capt. Hendrick" (i.e., Hendrick Aupaumut) and the Delawares, Mohicans and Munsee, said that he learned with pleasure that the Miamis and Potawatomis
have given you some of
their lands on the White river to live on, and that you propose to gather there
your scattered tribes and to dwell on it all your days.
. . .
My Children, I will give you a paper declaring your right to hold against all
persons, the lands given you by the Miamies and Poutewatamies, and that you
never can sell them without their consent. but I must tell you that if ever
they and you agree to sell, no paper which I can give can prevent your doing
what you please with you own.7
The paper mentioned in this talk is apparently a letter dated December 21, 1808
in which Jefferson, who by that date had also talked to Little Turtle, a Miami
chief, attested that the Mohican Captain Hendrick declared and the Miami chief
Little Turtle acknowledged
that the said Miamies have granted to the Delawares, Mohiccans, and Munsees, and their descendants, forever, a certain portion of their lands on White river, for the sole use and occupation
7. Letters Sent by the Secretary of War, Indian Affairs, vol. B, pp. 394-397;
Dft. Ex.
100.
395 |
of the said Delawares, Mohiccans, and Munsees, and their descendants, forever but under the express reservation and condition, that neither they, the said Delawares, Mohiccans and Munsees, nor their descendants, shall ever alienate the lands to any other persons or purposes whatsoever, without the consent of the said Miamies.8
In his remarks to Little Turtle in December, 1808, Jefferson made an
observation significant in its bearing on Miami claims to lands on the Wabash
and its waters:
You inform me, my Son, that your nation claims all the land on the Wabash and the Miami of the Lake and their waters: . . . My Son, it is difficult for us to know the exact boundaries which divide the lands of the several Indians tribes: and indeed it appears often that they do not know themselves, or cannot agree about them. . .
I observe moreover that in the late conveyance of lands on the White River branch of the Wabash, to the Delawares, the Poutewatamies join you in the conveyance, which is an acknowledgement that all the lands on the waters of the Wabash do not belong to the Miamis alone.9
An entry in the Letterbook of the Fort Wayne Agency records that on June 14,
1809 Captain Hendrick Aupaumut of the Stockbridge Indians, with 12 of his
people, arrived at Fort Wayne, and that they set out for White River on June
18.10
On June 28, 1809 John Shaw, an Indian sub agent at Fort Wayne, set out for White River to make arrangements for the
9. Letters Sent by the Secretary of War, Indian Affairs, vol. B, pp. 401;
Dft. Ex.
100.
10. Fort Wayne Agency, Letter Book, April 15, 1809-October 1, 1815. June 14, 1809, p. 19; Dft. Ex. 132.
396 |
commencement of Captain Hendrick's "mission" to show the Delawares how to farm.11
In the Treaty of Fort Wayne signed September 30, 1809 the Miamis acknowledged
the equal right of the
Delawares with themselves to the country watered
by the White river. (7 Stat. 113:114)
Mohicans are not mentioned in this treaty except in the provision that
any improvements which
shall be made on the said land [i.e., the country
watered by the White River], by the Delawares, or their friends the Mohicans,
shall be theirs forever. (7 Stat. 113:114)
The Mohicans were not a party to the treaty, although Hendrick Aupaumut was present at it and signed it as a witness. One of the Delaware signers, however, was The Beaver, who, with Aupaumut, had addressed Jefferson on the subject of the Miami and Potawatomi grant to the Delawares and Mohicans in December of 1808.
In November of 1809, John Sergeant, missionary among the Mohicans, wrote the Secretary of War from New Stockbridge, New York, about a disgruntled group of Stockbridge Indians who had sent two representatives "to the seat of government" to complain of the way their annuities were being used. Sergeant requested the secretary not to pay attention to their probable misrepresentation of the facts. He was also worried that these representatives might
11. Ibid., June 28, 1809, p. 22;
Dft. Ex.
132.
397 |
say something infavourable to the character and proceedings of Capt Hendrick one of the Chiefs of the Tribe, who I have good reason to believe is doing much good among the western Indians. If they should cast any reflections on him it will be thro envy, as to his publick proceedings among said Tribes in promoting civilization and a good understanding between said tribes and the United States12
Captain Hendrick is spoken of in January of 1811 as a "sub-agent to the Delaware
Indians on White River Indiana Territory."13
In January of 1812 Aupaumut was still acting as a farmer example in the program to civilize the Delawares on White River by introducing agriculture.14
Following the War of 1812 a Treaty of Peace and Friendship was made by the United States and the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnees, Senecas, and Miamis (7 Stat. 118). Chiefs from these tribes signed the treaty, as well as some Ottawas, Potawatomis, and Kickapoos (7 Stat. 118:119-120). "Muncies &c some other Scattering" groups were also at the council, but did not sign the treaty.15 It is possible that some Mohican Indians attended the council, since in May of 1816 John Johnston, Indian Agent at Piqua, Ohio, complained that
Throughout my Agency are the fragments of many Tribes who once inhabited the
12. Sergeant to Eustis, New Stockbridge, November
20, 1809; Dft. Ex.
119.
13. Sergeant to Eustis, New Stockbridge, New York, January 5, 1811; Dft. Ex. 119.
14. Aupaumut to Thomas, White River, January 9, 1812; Dft. Ex. 119.
15. Johnston to Harrison, Greenville, June 26, 1814; Dft. Ex. 119.
398 |
country east of the Mountains, these are of the Muncies, Mingoes Nanticokes, Mohegans, Senecos, Tuscarawas &c the whole constitutes a considerable portion of my Agency. they are entitled by law to no Annuity it is the most difficult part of my duty to manage these people. The other Indians do not consider them entitled to participate in their annuities. the consequence is that whenever a distribution takes place much clamouring and discontent ensues. These wretched beings the descendants of the primitive inhabitants of the Atlantic States are entitled to the commiseration of the Government. Some provision should be made for them [illeg.] it would not take less than $1500 worth of goods to clothe them annually.16
How far these fragmentary groups ranged is not known. It is possible that some lived in Indiana. Despite their long period of interest and sporadic settlements, however, Mohicans did not settle in large numbers along White River. It was claimed by the Mohicans in later years that during the War of 1812 the Mohicans in Indiana had, for safety, been forced to join their kinsmen at New Stockbridge, New York. After peace had again been made they had decided finally in 1818 to move to White River in a body. However, on October 3, 1818 the Delawares ceded to the United States all claim to lands in the State of Indiana and the United States agreed to provide the Delawares a country to live in west of the Mississippi (7 Stat. 189). Shortly after the signing of this Treaty a party of about 50-60 Mohicans arrived from New Stockbridge to take up residence on White River. They were told they would
16. Johnston to McKenney, Piqua, May 7,
1816; Dft.
Ex. 119.
399 |
have to leave within three years, as would the Delawares who had just sold their lands in Indiana and were moving west.
The Mohicans protested to the President and Congress about this disregard of their rights to lands on White River, Indiana in the following words:
BRETHREN: We wish you now to listen to what we have to say. A great many years ago, the Miami or Maumee nation, and several other tribes, granted to our fathers, the Muhheconnuks, to the Delawares and Munsees, a large tract of country on the White River far west of the River Ohio. This grant was confirmed by a belt of wampum, which our white brethren know is among us a pledge of faith. In many councils has this grant been confirmed and acknowledged; and, in the year of our Lord 1808, it was put into writing, on parchment, at the City of Washington, according to the customs of our white brethren, and was sealed with the seal of your nation, and subscribed and witnessed by our father, Thomas Jefferson, and Henry Dearborn, one of your chief counsellors.
This deed we now show to you. A part of our nation, as we have told you, removed to these lands, and possessed them, with the Delawares and Munsees, and made large improvements on them, at great expense to our nation, to prepare them for us. We were about preparing, last year, to remove to them with our families and instructors, but we heard, with great grief and disappointment, that, during the last year, your nation, by its chiefs and counsellors, have made a treaty with the Delawares, alone, for these lands, at which our chiefs were not present, nor our nation consulted; and our brethren who are on these lands are directed to leave them in a short time; our right to them is denied; our hopes are thus blasted; and we suffer under the wrong, which grieves us greatly.17
17. Congressional Documents Series 40, House Document 70, pp. 4-5; Dft. Ex.
133.
400 |
They protested further that they had been told to "look to the Delawares about this matter [i.e., compensation for their share of the lands]," even though the Delawares had no right to sell Mohican lands.18 The Mohicans hoped that the United States would
consider
our just rights, and set off to our nation such a location
of these lands, as we are justly entitled to.19
John C. Calhoun, then Secretary of War, requested information on the background
of the Mohican claim to lands on White River from John Johnston who had long
been associated with the Indians as an agent and trader, first at Fort Wayne,
Indiana, and after the War of 1812 at Piqua, Ohio. On January 5, 1820 Johnston
sent Calhoun a statement "in obedience" to Calhoun's "orders of
this morning" from memory and in a hurry such a state of the case of the
Moheccans as has occurred to my mind." Johnston quoted the first and
fourth articles of the Treaty of Grouseland (August 21, 1805; 7 Stat. 91) in
which the Delawares agreed to relinquish their claims to lands along White
River and in which the Miamis, Eel Rivers, and Weas were to be considered joint
owners of the country along the Wabash above the Vincennes Tract (Royce Area
26). He also quoted the second article of the Treaty of Fort Wayne (September
30, 1809; 7 Stat. 113) in which the Miamis acknowledged the equal right of the
Delawares to lands watered by
18. Ibid., p. 5; Dft. Ex. 133.
19. Ibid., p. 6; Dft. Ex. 133.
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Continuation of Chapter XII
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Appendix 1
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