Chapter I
Early History of the Atchatchakangouen or Crane (later known as Miami),
Kilatica, Mengakonkia, Pepicokea, Piankashaw
and Wea Bands, ca. 1650-1710.
During the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, six bands or groups of Algonquian-speaking peoples- the Atchatchakangouen, Kilatika, Mengakonkia, Pepicokea, Piankashaw, and Wea - lived in the northern and western parts of the Great Lakes region.
The Atchatchakangouen or "Crane band " became specifically known after ca. 1700 as the Miamis or Twightwees.
References to the Kilatica and Mengakonkia drop out of the literature in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries; we have no knowledge of these groups under other names, after this date. References to the Pepicokea persist until ca. 1790, when this group also disappeared.
Both the Piankashaw and Wea bands continued as distinct entities under these names, or variants thereof, well into the nineteenth century. A seventh group, the origin of which is obscure, appears during the latter half of the eighteenth century. This group became known as the Eel Rivers, and was probably an offshoot from either the Miami, the Wea, or the Piankashaw bands.1 The history of the Eel Rivers is discussed in another section of this Report.
Very little is known about the dialects spoken by the seven groups enumerated above. In the late seventeenth century a French officer noted the close similarity of the language spoken by the Weas, Atchatchakangouens, Pepicokeas, Kilaticas,
1. See below and Hodge, Handbook of the American Indians, pt. 1, pp.
107, 419, 684, 841, 853-854, pt. 2, pp. 228, 240, 925, 1164; Dft. Ex. 62.
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and Piankashaws with that of the several Illinois Indian groups then living at Fort St. Louis on the upper Illinois River.2 A recent classification of Algonquian languages lists Miami, Wea, Piankashaw, Peoria and Illinois as dialects of one language now extinct. All the dialects were very similar.3
In the early sources there are occasional specific references to the Atchatchakangouen, Kilatika, Mengakonkia, Pepicokea, Piankashaw, and Wea bands, but more often these groups are referred to either severally or collectively by early writers as "the Miami" or variants thereof (Oumami, Miamiak). When this name is used, it is often impossible to learn which specific band, or bands is intended. Since the name Miami for one particular band did not come into use until after 1700 all early references to Miami are to be understood as referring to one, or more, of the six bands known severally as the Atchatchakangouen, Kilatika, Mengakonkia, Pepicokea, Piankashaw, and Wea.
Immediately prior to White contact the Indians referred to as "the Miamis" inhabited southeastern Wisconsin and north-eastern Illinois. Father Zenobius Membr? a Recollect priest, stated in ca. 1680 that
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the Miamis used to dwell on
the west |
2. Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library, vol. 23, p. 307;
Dft. Ex.
67. English Translation of Margry, vol, 2, pp. 204,
317-320;
Dft. Ex.
61. Tucker, Indian Villages, P. XI; Dft. Ex.
106.
3. Voegelin and Voegelin, Linguistic Map, Legend; Dft. Ex. 102. Trowbridge, Meearmeear, pp. 2-3; Dft. Ex. 134. Morgan, Systems, pp. 287-288, 293-301; Dft. Ex. 84.
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beyond the River Mississippi
where they |
This flight probably occured ca. 1650-1655, after the Iroquois started
their extensive raids on the Huron and Erie.
In ca. 1665 a party of "the Miamis, the Maskoutechs [Mascoutens], the Kikabous, and fifteen cabins of Islinois" settled in the neighborhood of Fox River in Wisconsin.5 There Father Claude Allouez, a Jesuit priest who visited the "Oumami" and "Maskoutench" in late April 1670, found these two groups on Wisconsin River at the portage between this river and Fox River.6 The following year (1671) they were living in the same general location and their total population was 3000 souls, with 400 fighting men. The two groups, according to Allouez, had united "for common defense against the Iroquois who pursue them even into these remote districts."7
In 1672 Allouez also found, on Fox River,
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twenty cabins of ilinoies
thirty large |
By then the "Miamiak," and possibly the Wea, were no longer living in
the same village with the Mascoutens, but in an
4. English Translation of Margry, vol. 1, p. 545; Dft.
Ex. 61.
5. Blair, Indian Tribes, vol. 1, p. 321; Dft. Ex. 72.
6. Jesuit Relations, vol. 54, pp. 227-233; Dft. Ex. 63.
7. Ibid., vol. 55, pp. 199-207; Dft. Ex. 63.
8. Brackets by Thwaites, editor.
9. Ibid., vol. 58, p. 23; Dft. Ex. 63. Note here that Allouez does not include the Wea with the "Miamiak." This is our first specific reference to the Wea.
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adjoining settlement.10 The Miamiak and Mascoutens remained on the Fox for at least another year and in the summer of 1673 were visited by Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet, French explorer and trader.
Between 1673 and 1679 Father Allouez "retired to a village composed partly of Miami and partly of Mascouten and Wea" who had "abandoned their old village" on the Fox-Wisconsin portage and had moved southeastward to settle on the St. Joseph River of Michigan, near the St. Joseph-Kankakee portage. According to the French explorer, Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle, and his chaplain, Father Membr? this move was instigated by French Jesuit priests and only "some of [the Miamis]" moved to St. Joseph.12 However later, in 1681, Membr?refers to "the twelve or fifteen hundred men composing the Miami tribe" who were then, by context, on the St. Joseph River of Michigan.12a In spite of being pro-Iroquois, "two huts of the Miamis," probably from St. Joseph River were filled or captured by the Iroquois while hunting near the mouth of the Ohio River during the winter of 1680-1681.13 The next year, due to La Salle's influence and to fear of rumored Iroquois attack, "eight or nine hundred families" of the Wea, the Pepicokea, the Crane hand and the Kilatika moved from St. Joseph River of Michigan to La Salle's
10. Ibid., vol. 58, p. 27;
Dft. Ex.
63.
11. Ibid., vol. 59, pp. 101-107; Dft. Ex. 63.
12. English Translation of Margry, vol. 1,p. 545; Dft. Ex. 61. Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library, vol. 23, p. 11; Dft. Ex. 67.
12a. English Translation of Margry, vol. 1, p. 574; Dft. Ex. 61.
13. Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 568-569; Dft. Ex. 61.
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recently built post, Fort St. Louis, on the upper Illinois River at Starved Rock, Illinois.14 According to the 1688 Franquelin15 map, which was based on pre-1684 data furnished by La Salle, each of the above-mentioned groups lived in a separate village in the vicinity of Fort St. Louis. The Kilatica village is mapped near the Junction of the Des Plaines and Kankakee rivers, the Wea village is on the north bank of the Illinois River directly opposite the Fort, while the Piankashaw and Mengakonkia villages are shown in the prairie region between Bureau Creek and Fox, Illinois, and Rock rivers, north of the Wea village.16 Contemporary documentation substantiates Franquelin's location of the Wea17 who, we learn, occupied 120 cabins and amounted to ca. 1950 souls.18 By 1687 and early 1688, however, there was only one "village of the Miamis" near Fort St. Louis, some 2.5 to 3.75 miles up the Illinois River from the Fort.19
As stated above, not all the "Miami" who were living on Fox River of Wisconsin in the 1670's migrated to St. Joseph
14. Tonty, Relation of 1684, pp.
111-113; Dft. Ex. 73.
English Translation of Margry, vol. 2, pp. 204,
317-320;
Dft. Ex.
61.
15. Jean Baptiste Louis Franquelin, French cartographer and Royal Hydrographer in Canada in 1686 (Tucker, Indian Villages, text for Pl. XI; Dft. Ex. 106).
16. Ibid., Pl. XI A, Dft. Ex. 106.
17. English Translation of Margry, vol. 2, p. 204; Dft. Ex 61.
18. The population figures (in parenthesis) in this chapter are based on the assumption that a cabin contained approximately 16 individuals and that a family consisted of at least four individuals, one warrior and three dependents.
19. Ibid., vol. 3, pp. 469, 473; Dft. Ex. 61.
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River of Michigan. In 1683 a group of "Miamis" requested permission to settle near the French trader, Nicolas Perrot, at his new fort on the Mississippi River at the mouth of the Wisconsin River.20 We conclude that they did so, because in ca. 1686 Perrot visited them on the Mississippi and persuaded them to participate in a French-led, French-instigated pan-Indian raid against the Iroquois, conducted in 1687.21
In 1688 all those "Miami" who were in the Illinois River valley abandoned this location. Some went to St. Joseph River of Michigan and settled 30 leagues (75 miles) from the mouth of the Kankakee River; others went to the mouth of Root River in eastern Wisconsin, and a third group went to the 22 upper reaches of the Mississippi River. As a result, in ca. 1690 there were at least four distinct villages. Three of these stemmed from the Illinois River Valley group and were at the mouth of Root River, on St. Joseph River of Michigan, and on the upper Mississippi River while one group was located near Perrot's fort on the Mississippi below the mouth of Wisconsin River.
The so-called "Miami" group which went to the upper Mississippi was, we conclude, the Piankashaw. We know that this group formerly resided on Illinois River, and in the writings of Jean Fran?is Buisson de St. Cosme, a Seminary priest, it was stated in 1699 that the Piankashaw had "formerly dwelt at
20. Blair, Indian Tribes, vol. 1, p. 365;
Dft. Ex.
72. Tucker, Indian Villages, pl. 11; Dft.
Ex. 106.
21. Blair, Indian Tribes, vol. 2, pp. 16-17, Dft. Ex. 72.
22. Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library, vol. 23, pp. 392-393, Dft. Ex. 67.
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the falls" of the Mississippi.23 St. Cosme probably meant the rapids near the mouth of Rock River; the Falls of St. Anthony at present St. Paul, Minnesota, were too far north for any "Miami" group during this historic period.
The "Miami" group that lived on the west bank of the Mississippi River and was mentioned by Perrot in ca. 1690-1695 was also this same Piankashaw group. This group, according to Perrot, had promised to remove to Marameg, in order to provide more adequate support of the French in the latter's conflict with the Iroquois. Prior to making this promise the Piankashaw had been invited to settle on the St. Joseph River of Michigan where another group of "Miami" lived, but they had refused to do so because the French commander of the St. Joseph River post had refused their request for powder and lead.24 Whether these Piankashaw went to Marameg or not is unknown.
By combining various statements made by Perrot with comments of St. Cosme, we learn that there were two distinct groups of Piankashaws in Wisconsin during the last decade of the 17th century. One, as we have seen, lived at the falls of the Mississippi, probably on the west bank of the river; another village of Piankashaws, Pepicokeas and Mengakonkias was located at the portage of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers.25
23. Kellogg, Early Narratives, p. 349;
Dft. Ex.
65.
24. Blair, Indian Tribes, vol. 2, pp. 102-103; Dft. Ex. 72.
25. Ibid., vol. 2, p. 119; Dft. Ex. 72.
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In 1702, there still was a "Miami" village "at Wisconsin [River] on the Mississippi."26
In 1695 it became part of official French policy to draw the "Miami" (Wea) then living in the west, farther eastward, to serve as a bulwark against possible Iroquois raids.27 Within a year this removal of the Wea seemingly was effected, for in 1695 Father Francois Pinet, a Jesuit Missionary, established the Mission of the Guardian Angel at Chicago.28 The "Miami" who lived in the immediate vicinity of this Mission had formerly come from the Mississippi29 and were Wea.30
The Wea continued in the vicinity of Chicago. In the fall of 1698 St. Cosme visited the Mission of the Guardian Angel and saw two Wea villages. One, containing over 150 cabins (ca. 2400 souls) was near the Mission; the other, almost as large as the first, was a league (ca. 2.5 miles) up the Chicago River. A third village,of Piankashaws,was at that time on the Illinois River, a short distance below the Junction of the Des Plaines and Kankakee. None of the villages were occupied in the fall of 1698, all the Indians being away
26. English Translation of Margry, vol, 4, p. 661;
Dft. Ex.
61. See below.
27. Ibid., vol. 5, p. 261; Dft. Ex. 61.
28. Jesuit Relations, vol. 64, p. 278, vol. 65, pp. 53, 61; Dft. Ex. 63. This Mission was closed by government order the following year, but was reopened in 1698 and continued to exist until 1700.
29. English Translation of Margry, vol. 4, p. 661; Dft. Ex. 61.
30. Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library, vol. 23, pp. 392-393; Dft. Ex. 67.
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on their winter hunt.31 Where they were hunting is not stated, but we learn that two years later a party of Weas passed the winter of 1700-1701 in the vicinity of Chicago.32
According to a memorandum dated June 20, 1702 and written by Pierre Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville, Governor of Louisiana, there were at that time five distinct locations for "the Miamis:" Chicago, St. Joseph River of Michigan, forks of the Illinois River, "at Wisconsin on the Mississippi," and "Atihipe-Catouy [?]."33 From previous information it is possible to identify the groups at two of these locations. The Weas we know were at Chicago, and the Piankashaws at the junction of the Des Plaines and Kankakee rivers. We also conclude that some Piankashaws, Pepicokias and Mengakonkias were then "at Wisconsin on the Mississippi.'' This identification is borne out by the fact that prior to 1702 the Piankashaws had been raided by the Sioux and Iowa Indians and in 1700, in conjunction with other Central Algonquian groups, the Piankashaws set out to wreak their vengeance upon the Iowa or Osage.34 However, it is apparent that this Piankashaw, Pepicokia, Mengakonkia village was not located on the banks of the Mississippi River. A Louisiana trader, Pierre Charles Le Sueur, did not mention any sign of an Indian village on the Mississippi near the mouth of the Wisconsin when he went up
31. Kellogg, Early Narratives, pp.
346-347, 349; Dft. Ex. 65.
32. Charlevoix, History, vol. 5, p. 142; Dft. Ex. 80.
33. English Translation of Margry, vol. 4, pp. 661-662, Dft. Ex. 61.
34. Ibid., vol. 6, pp. 93-94; Dft. Ex. 61.
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the Mississippi in 1700.35 It is possible that the Piankashaw-Pepicokia-Mengakonkia village was up the Wisconsin River, near the Fox-Wisconsin portage.
Although the exact location of "Atihipe-Catouy" is unknown, we conclude that it was probably on or near the Wabash River in Indiana, since we know that some "Miami" had lived "on the banks of the Wabash" since shortly before 1700.36
This mention of "Miami" on the Wabash is the first historic documentation of "Miami" use or occupancy of the Wabash-Maumee drainage region. Not until almost another decade had passed did the majority of the "Miami" reside in this locale, however. But even though the majority did not live in the Wabash Valley during the first decade of the eighteenth century, the region was considered by the French as "Miami hunting ground."37
With the establishment of the French post at Detroit in 1701, we see the beginning of a new center for French control of the Indians of the Great Lakes region. Detroit, supposedly the bulwark against any possible Iroquois- English encroachment on the Indian trade, was envisaged by its founder, Antoine de La Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac, as the center for a concentrated Indian population. In the summer of 1701 the Governor of Canada invited the "savages including the Miamis" living on the St. Joseph River to "come and settle near the French at the
35. Ibid., vol. 6, pp. 94-95;
Dft. Ex.
61.
36. Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library, vol. 23, pp. 392-393; Dft. Ex. 67.
37. Krauskopf, The French in Indiana, p. 24; Dft. Ex. 70.
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