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Appendix 2. The 1816 Kickapoo and Wea Dispute
over the Boundary Line of Royce Area 71
and the Cession of Royce Areas 73 and 74
The cessions of Royce Areas 73 and 74, and the validity of the northern boundary line of Royce Area 71 were challenged by the Kickapoos and Weas early in 1816. This challenge came as a surprise to the American officials of Indiana Territory. As late as November 1, 1815 Benjamin Parke, Indian agent at Vincennes, had reported to Thomas Posey, Governor of Indiana Territory, that the Weas and Vermilion Kickapoos appeared "to be sensible of the benefits resulting from a State of peace, and the interest they have in preserving it,"1 and on November 12, 1815, Governor Posey had informed the Secretary of War "that all the tribes at other Nations as well as Ft. Harrison are very amicably disposed."2
However, early in 1816 a hostile Kickapoo Indian stopped a Government survey party under one William Harris from completing its work of marking the townships on the northwest side of the lower Wabash, and also obliterated identifying marks which had been made by the surveyors. On March 6, 1816 Indian agent Parke reported to Governor Posey that surveyor Harris had returned with his party to Fort Harrison on the Wabash in the vicinity of Terre Haute, and had decided not to complete the survey until he could be assured that it was safe to do so.3
1. Parke to Posey. Vincennes, November 1,
1815; Dft.
Ex. 119.
2. Posey to the Secretary of War. Jeffersonville, November 12, 1815; Dft. Ex. 119.
3. Parke to Posey. Vincennes, March 6, 1816; Dft. Ex. 119.
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Harris himself, in a letter dated March 12, 1816, informed Edward Tiffin of the Surveyor General's Office at Chillicothe, Ohio, that a Kickapoo chief had come to Fort Harrison after Harris had left there for Vincennes, and that Maj. Willoughby Morgan, who was in command at Fort Harrison, had questioned the visiting chief about the Indians having halted the survey. This Kickapoo chief disapproved of the actions of the hostile Indian and "promised that the Surveyors should not again be disturbed by any of his young men." The chief added that
he believed that Some of his young men were under the impression that the lands on the west side of the Wabash belonged to the Kickapoo's that the Surveyors had no right to make Marks there, that they had Cut out many of our marks and he Himself was of the same opinion last Winter, and had forbid the Soldiers Cutting wood on that Side of the river. He was however now of a different opinion he believed that the lands belonged to the U. S. and that no more difficulty would attend the Surveyors.4
To smooth matters over and to ascertain the extent of the Indians' discontent,
Indian agent Parke assembled, in March, 1816 "as many of the Chiefs of the
Weas and Vermillion Kickapoos as could be conveniently collected." Some of
the chiefs were away at distant hunting grounds and were not available for the
council, but a "respectable diputation from the two Bands" met with Agent
Parke at Fort Harrison. Parke asked them to provide a guard so the surveying of
the lands on and near the lower Wabash could be finished. The Indians wanted to
postpone a decision on this proposal until
4. Harris to Tiffin, Vincennes, March 12,
1816; Dft.
Ex. 119.
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"Little Otter4a could be present." Parke, foreseeing an indefinite delay, urged an immediate answer, reminding the Indians of the treaties they had made and the boundaries of the lands acquired in the treaties of October 26, 1809 and December 9, 1809. After some discussion of the treaties the Indians complained that the northern boundary of the tract ceded by the Weas on October 26, 1809 (Royce Area 71) ran much farther to the east than they had thought it would, but they finally acknowledged that this cession had been made. However they claimed
with respect to the land on the North West Side of the Wabash, claimed under the Treaty of December 1809, they had just learned from me, for the first time that it had ever been sold by the Kickapoos-5
Toward the end of the second day's deliberations the Indians stated that
they had lent to the United States a Strip of land on the N.W. side of the river, comprising the river bottom, as a grazing ground for the horses and cattle of the white people; and a Kickapoo was pointed out to me as the only person present who had been at the treaty of Decr 1809, and who knew that nothing further had been asked by the Government, nor relinquished by them-6
4a. See fn. 7, below.
5. Parke to the Secretary of War, Vincennes, March 27, 1816; Dft. Ex. 119. From context, it would seem that the Weas, especially, claimed ignorance of the Kickapoo Treaty of December 30, 1809.
6. Idem.
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The Indians definitely refused to allow the survey to continue. Agent Parke was annoyed by the "prevaricating, impudent conduct of the Indians" and commented that "Some of the young men of the Vermillion Kickapoos are restless and inclined to war." One reason for this, he thought, was that the Vermilion Kickapoos had friends who were with the Shawnee Prophet. They were also intimately connected with the Prairie Kickapoos, the Sacs, and the Winnebagos whom British agents and traders had kept stirred tip against the United States. Another complaint of the "Wabash Indians" was that their annuities had not arrived. The Potawatomis in the area were also hostile to the Americans. Finally, all the Kickapoo chiefs who had signed the Kickapoo Treaty of December 9, 1809 had died, except ''Knoshania, or the Otter"7 who was not present at the council.
Parke felt that at the bottom of this disturbance among the Kickapoos lay the fact that "an extensive confederacy" of Indians was being formed to oppose the United States.8
In order however not to break off friendly relations with the Indians concerned, Parke announced at this first council in early March, 1816, his decision to hold a
Grand Council of the Miamies, Kickapoos and Delawares, to be assembled at Fort Harrison on the 23 May under a belief that when they [the dissident Indians]
7. Parke identified the Otter as a Prairie Kickapoo, "a
particular friend of the Vermillion band" who "frequently transacted
business with them, & with their own chiefs signed their Treaties"
(Parke to Posey, Vincennes, April 10,
1816; Dft.
Ex. 119).
8. Parke to the Secretary of War, Vincennes, April 3, 1816; Dft. Ex. 119.
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came to consult with their friends they would be convinced of their error, and cheerfully acquiesse in the justice of our claim-9
By April 7, 1816 Maj. Morgan of Fort Harrison had spoken to "one or
two" Indian chiefs and was fairly optimistic about the preservation of
peace between the Indians and the United States. He felt that if the Kickapoos
were satisfied that the Kickapoo chiefs had signed the Treaty of cession of
December 8, 1809 "knowing its contents" they would be willing to
recognize its validity. The Miamis, however, according to Morgan, took
a different ground. They alledge that the land did not belong to the Kickapoos- that it belonged to them, and that therefore the Kickapoos had no right to sell it. If the Kickapoos acquiesce I can scarcely believe that the Miamis will persist on this objective.10
We conclude from a distinction Parke made between the Miamis of the upper Wabash and the Weas two months later,11 that when he planned to invite "the Miamies, Kickapoos and Delawares" to his Grand Council he had in mind the Miamis of the upper Wabash, or Miamis proper. Whether it was the Miamis proper, also, whom Maj. Morgan mentioned as claiming the lands under dispute, is not co certain. However, since Morgan mentioned these "Miamis" in a letter of April 7, 1816-
9. Parke to the Secretary of War, Vincennes, March 27,
1816; Dft.
Ex. 119.
10. Morgan to the Secretary of War, Fort Harrison, April 7, 1816; Dft. Ex. 119.
11. See p. 19 and also fn. 22, this Appendix.
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after Parke had announced his Grand Council early in March- we conclude that Morgan's reference is also to the Miamis proper, rather than to the Weas. It this is so, the Miamis were in 1816 expressing themselves contra to what they had said during the negotiation of the Treaty of Fort Wayne of September 30, 1809, when they had refused point blank to cede Royce Area 74 "because it would include a Kickapoo village."12 They were also ignoring the fact that the Miami-Eel River cession of Royce Area 73 made in the Treaty of Fort Wayne of September 30, 1809 (7 Stat. 113:115) carried a proviso that the Kickapoos had to agree to this cession before it could go into effect.
By April 10, 1816 Parke felt somewhat reassured of the peaceful intentions of the Indians, but added that "they were still indisposed to yield with respect to the disputed boundary" between the Indians and the Whites. The Weas and Vermilion Kickapoos also reminded Parke that they expected salt as part of their annuities.13 And La Frambois, a Wea chief, suggested to Maj. Morgan that perhaps some of the Indians who were at the Treaty of December 9, 1809 between the United States and the Kickapoos did not understand what was being done, and that "it would be hard were the Indians to be defrauded of all their lands."14
12. See p.
366, this Report.
13. Parke to Posey, Vincennes, April 10, 1816; Dft. Ex. 119.
14. Speech of La Frambois to Morgan; Dft. Ex. 119.
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On April 25, 1816 Agent Parke reported that Little Eyes, a reputable Wea chief in whom he had much confidence, had informed him that
the British had a[d]vised the Indians not to permit the surveying & settlement of their lands purchased from them untill they rec'd their annuities from the United States- that a talk to that effect had been dispatchd to all the Indians of the Indiana & Illinois & to the Mahas, Richards, &c of the Missouri- & further, that in the course of this year, a great Council would be held at Portage De Soux, & that an agent of the British would attend it to see that the Indians had justice done them, by the U.S. in what ever regarded their lands- He added that the exceptionable conduct of the Weaus & Vermillion Kickapoos at Ft Harrison was justly to be attributed to the British-15
Parke expressed his regret that Little Eyes had been at a distant hunting ground when the March, 1816 council had been held. Parke reported further that
Little Eyes observed the conduct of the Weas & Vermillion Kickapoos had been disingenuous & flagrantly unjust- That they all knew the land had been sold & the boundary fairly established, & that instead of caviling or pretending they knew nothing of the sale, they ought frankly to have acknowledged the cause of their objection to the surveying of the land- That his friendship for the U. States induced him to offer me his advice- That when the Indians assembled at Ft Harrison, I should deliver them their annuities, which would instantly remove all obstacles to the quiet occupation of the land- Otherwise, he apprehended, they would persist in their opposition-16
15. Parke to Posey, Vincennes, April 25,
1816; Dft.
Ex. 119.
16. Idem.
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Continuation of Appendix 2
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