39 |
Duquesne, now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On this raid five Indians were killed and five or six wounded.64 Again in 1756 and also in 1757 Miami war parties were under arms for France.65
Two of the last French memoirs written about the western posts describe Fort Miamis, as well as the posts at Vincennes on the lower Wabash and Ouiatanon on the upper Wabash. One of these memoirs, undated and unsigned, but mentioning Fort Duquesne, and therefore datable between April, 1754 and February, 1758 (the dates of the founding and destruction of this Fort) describes the Miami post as follows:
The Miami, fort of upright poles on the right bank of the river of this name [Maumee]. At this fort begins a portage of three leagues [7.5 miles] which leads to waters falling to the southwest; . . .
The savages who come there to trade are the Miami and the Teppisoineaux [Tippecanoe]. The former can furnish 150 warriors. In an ordinary year from 250 to 300 packages [of furs] leave this post.66
The second memoir, dated 1757 repeats with slight alterations the information contained in the first one. "A few Myamis" traded at St. Joseph River. The "Post of the Miamis" was
64. Indiana Historical Society Publications, vol. 18, p. 220;
Dft. Ex.
79.
65. Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, vol. 18, pp. 157, 163; Dft. Ex. 64.
66. Indiana Historical Society Publications, vol. 18, pp. 220-221; Dft. Ex. 79.
40 |
situated on the right bank of the river of that name with a fort of upright pickets, is the fort which stands at the beginning of the portage to the waters that flow to the southwest . . . the savages who most commonly come to trade are the Miamis and the Tepicomeaux [Tippecanoe]. They can furnish a hundred and fifty warriors. In an ordinary year there issues from this post two hundred and fifty to three hundred packages.67
We conclude that the terms "Teppisoineaux" or "Tepicomeaux" refer to those Miami (i.e., Le Gris' band) who in 1748-1749 were located on the upper reaches of the Tippecanoe River.
A 1757 list also includes mention of the Miamis of St. Joseph.67a
1759-1782. By 1759 French power in the Ohio Valley was definitely waning, and by 1760, with the fall of Montreal, peaceful British occupation of the western posts such as Detroit, Miamis, and Ouitanon was assured. Most of the documents relating to the Miami after 1757 were written by British subjects.
The first such document to be considered is "a list of Indian Nations" dated 1759. The Miami were described in this list as follows:
|
|
The Twightwees a Nation
living on |
67. Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, vol. 18, pp. 175,
184-185;
Dft. Ex.
64.
67a. Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York, vol. 10, p. 630; Dft. Ex. 83.
68. Stevens, et al., The Papers of Col. Henry Bouquet, Series 21655, p. 86; Dft. Ex. 111.
41 |
Since we have no recorded British penetration into the Maumee valley at this date, the above statement was probably based on second hand information. A comparison of population figures for the Miamis, as given in the two French memoirs of ca. 1757, with the British estimate shows that the latter was double that of the French estimates.
In December, 1760 Lt. Butler of the British Rangers set out from Detroit to take possession of the Miami and Ouiatonon posts.69 A year and a half later, in August, 1762 four Miami, Paughawe, Collalinnea, Nenaouseca and Saunaughakey attended a conference at Lancaster, Pennsylvania with the Governor of that province. At the same time Lt. Thomas Hutchins visited the Miami post and met the Miamis in council. The Indians requested
|
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a Smith to mend their Guns
and Tomhawks |
Evidently an epidemic of some sort was widespread at the time; Hutchins found
that many of the Indians in present-day Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan were
suffering from a nameless illness.70
During the winter of 1762-1763 a belt was passed from the Shawnees who declared it originated among the Iroquois, to the Miamis asking the latter to join an anti-British
69. Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 71, p. 395;
Dft. Ex.
110. Stevens, et. al., Papers of Col. Henry Bouquet, series 21645, p. 224;
Dft. Ex.
111. Historical Collections of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society,
vol. 19, p. 47;
Dft. Ex.
82.
70. Stevens, et. al. Papers of Col. Henry Bouquet, series, 21655, pp. 171-174; Dft. Ex. 111. Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, vol. 8, pp. 723-724; Dft. Ex. 118.
42 |
uprising. The Miamis declared they would take no part in any such enterprise.71 However, in the spring of 1763 the Miamis did take part in the Pontiac Uprising, capturing the British garrison at the Miami post, and killing the two ranking officers, an ensign and a sergeant.72
After this the Miamis remained actively hostile to the British for a time. In the late summer of 1764 Capt. Thomas Morris of the British Army was ordered to proceed from Detroit to the Illinois country via the Maumee and Wabash rivers. On the middle reaches of the Maumee, Morris was assured by two Miami chiefs that he need not be hesitant about going to Kekionga. However, on arrival at the Miami village, which was on the opposite side of the Maumee River from the post and White settlement, Morris was taken prisoner and his life threatened. Due to the intervention of Pacane "king of the Miamis nation, and just out of his minority," Morris was freed, but was forced to return to Detroit.73
Active Indian hostility died down, however, by 1765, and in that year George Croghan, deputy Indian Agent, was sent from Fort Pitt or present Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on a mission to the Illinois country.74 Croghan went down the
71. Ibid., series 21634, p. 148;
Dft. Ex. 111.
72, Ibid., series 21649, pt. 1, p. 224; Dft. Ex. 111.
73. Thwaites, Early Western Travels, vol. 1, pp. 308, 313-318; Dft. Ex. 103.
74. Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library, vol. 10, pp. 263, 394, 397; Dft. Ex. 67.
43 |
Ohio River, and near the mouth of the Wabash he and his party were attacked by Kickapoo and Mascouten Indians. The attackers forced Croghan and his party to march overland to Vincennes and Ouiatanon.75 At Ouiatanon Croghan and his group were freed, and went from there up the Wabash to the Maumee, eventually arriving at Detroit.76
On the Wabash Croghan passed the mouth of Eel River, and noted that a "Small Village of the Twightwees" was located six miles up Eel River.77 When he arrived at the Miami village of Kekionga at present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana he noted that:
The Twightwee [Miami] Village is situated on both Sides of a River called St. Josephs.78 this River where it falls inton [sic] the Maime [Maumee] about a /4 of a Mile from this Place is one hundred Yards wide on the East Side of which Stands a Stuckados Fort somewhat ruinous The Indian Village Consists of about 40 or 50 Cabins [ca. 640 to 800 souls] besides nine or ten French Houses . . . . After several Conferences with these Indians and their delivering up all the English Prisoners they had on the 6th of August we set out for De Troit down the Miames [Maumee] River in a Cannoe.79
75. Ibid., vol. 11, pp. 30-33,
39-41;
Dft. Ex.
67.
76. Ibid., vol. 11, pp. 34-38; Dft. Ex. 67.
77. Ibid., vol. 11, p. 35; Dft. Ex. 67.
78. The "St. Josephs" River of Indiana, mentioned by Croghan, is one of the two main sources of the Maumee River. It is not to be confused with the St. Joseph River of Michigan, which flows into Lake Michigan.
79. Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library, vol. 11, p. 36; Dft. Ex. 67.
44 |
The year after Croghan made this trip the Miami took part in a council held at Ft. Chartres, on the Mississippi in southern Illinois. The council was held to resolve matters between the "Western Indians" or "Western Confederacy"80 and the "Eastern Indians" such as the Shawnees, Delawares, Iroquois, etc., and also to counteract possible French influence.81
Despite the efforts of Sir William Johnson, British Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Northern District, and his agents, the British were not entirely successful in controlling Indian trade and preventing the Indians from making other contacts. In 1769 the Miami, and also the Wea, Piankashaw, Kickapoo, and Mascouten, "All of the district of Ouabach," received, as was their custom, annual presents from the Spanish at St. Louis.82 However it is relevant that eight years later, in 1777, neither the Miami, Piankashaw nor Wea appear on a list of Indian groups "which generally come from the English district to receive presents" from the Spanish at St. Louis.83
In a document titled "The Road from Detroit to the Illinois . . ." probably written in 1774, the only Miami village mentioned is one located on the opposite side of the
80. For a discussion concerning the reality and validity of the "Western
Confederacy" see pp. 95,
96, this Report.
81. Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library, vol. 11, pp. 373, 488, 490, 494-495; Dft. Ex. 67.
82. Houck, Spanish Regime, vol. 1, p. 44; Dft. Ex. 88.
83. Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 145-148; Dft. Ex. 88.
45 |
river (Maumee) from Fort Miami where eight or ten French families were living. There were about 250 Miami "men able to bear arms [ca. 1000 souls]" in this 1774 village, which was three miles east of the one Le Pied Froid or Coldfoot had occupied in the 1740's and 1750's.84 No Indian villages are mentioned in this document as existing between Le Pied Froid's old site and the Wea village at Ouiatanon.
Prior to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War the Miami attacked the Shawnee.85 During the Revolution the Miami at first refused to attack the Americans, but in August, 1778 three anti-American Miami war parties set out toward the Ohio River and Vincennes.
A detailed and, from its title, what appears to be an official British list dated 1778, for all Indians "in the Northern District of North America" gives the "Twightwees [Miamis]" as 250 warriors (total population 1,000 souls) living at "Miami, near Fort Miami' and having "Their Hunting Grounds . . . On the ground where they reside."87
84. Haldimand Papers, B27, pp.
295-296; Dft. Ex. 121.
85. Colonel Richard Butler's Journal, p. 23; Dft. Ex. 77.
86. Historical Collections of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, vol. 9, pp. 435, 475, Dft. Ex. 82.
87. Anonymous. A List . . .1778, Parkman Papers, vol. 27, pp. 454-455; Dft. Ex. 142.
46 |
In mid-summer of 1778 George Rogers Clark, with a detachment of Virginia militia, gained control of the British settlements on the Mississippi River,88 and by September of the same year he had also occupied Vincennes.89 After the occupation of the Mississippi Valley settlements Clark and his lieutenants treated with a large number of Indian groups- Miami, Winnebago, Sac, Fox, Potawatomi, Ottawa- "and a number of other Nations all living east of the Messicippa, and many of them at War" against the Americans.90
Hamilton considered it necessary to retake the British villages Clark had taken, in order to prevent further American expansion in the Great Lakes region.91 Therefore early in October, 1778 Hamilton, with a large party of British regulars, Detroit militiamen, volunteers, and Indians, set out from Detroit for Vincennes. His route was to be the usual one via the Maumee and Wabash rivers.92 On October 24, Hamilton and his force arrived at the Miami settlement at the head of the Maumee River, "where the young men of that nation saluted as usual with several discharges of small arms."93 There were two distinct Miami villages in existence at the junction of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's rivers at this time. One was
88. Historical Collections of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, vol.
9, pp.
459-460, 465, 475,
Dft. Ex.
82.
89. Ibid., vol. 9, p. 459, Dft. Ex. 82.
90. Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library vol. 8, pp. 72, 125; Dft. Ex. 67.
91. Barnhart, Hamilton and Clark in the Revolution, pp. 37-40; Dft. Ex. 66.
92. Ibid., pp. 103-105; Dft. Ex. 66.
93. Ibid., p. 114; Dft. Ex. 66.
47 |
Kekionga or the chief Pacane's village, on the eastern bank of the St. Joseph River of Indiana. The other was Le Petit Gris' village on the western bank of the same river. Although French traders lived in both villages, the majority were at Kekionga.94 While Hamilton was there he raised a war party of Miami to accompany him against Clark's forces.95
Leaving the head of the Maumee River Hamilton led his force of English, French Canadians, and Indians across the portage from the Maumee to the Little Wabash, down the latter river to its junction with the Wabash and down the Wabash. At the mouth of Eel River, which flows into the upper Wabash at present Logansport, Indiana, Hamilton stopped at the village of "the Miamis of Riviere ?l'anguille [Eel River.]" These Indians he elsewhere refers to as "the Savages of Eel River."96
The Eel River village was located a short distance from the mouth of the river, and was known as "Kinebec a maingong." It was comparatively small. According to Hamilton, "Kinebec a maingong" meant "Snake River, the Indians calling an Eeal Kineb? as they do a snake likewise."97
94. Ibid., p. 45;
Dft. Ex.
66. Pacane and Le Petit Gris functioned as chiefs prior to 1778, Pacane as
early as 1764 and Le Petit Gris by 1773. See above and Historical Collections
of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, vol. 19, pp.
308-310; Dft. Ex. 82.
95. Barnhart, Hamilton and Clark in the Revolution, pp. 115, 120-121; Dft. Ex. 66.
96. Ibid., pp. 115 - 128; Dft. Ex. 66. Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society, vol. 12, pp. 16-20; Dft. Ex. 71.
97. Barnhart, Hamilton and Clark in the Revolution, pp. 124-125, 128; Dft. Ex. 66.
48 |
It is apparent from Hamilton's account that some of the Miami who accompanied him were unfamiliar with the lower Wabash valley. Hamilton noted a few days before his arrival at Vincennes that
|
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Three old Miamis Indians,
who had |
Throughout his two journals, Hamilton mentioned the names of various chiefs of
the different Indian groups which lived in the Maumee-Wabash valley. Four of
these chiefs were Miamis- Le Gros Loup, Pacane (the nut), Hibon (sic.;
elsewhere given as Hibou, Owl), and Le petit gris (The dappled fawn,
Necaquongai or Waspikinqua).99 The villages of Pacane and Le petit
gris were located at the mouth of the St. Joseph River of Indiana. We conclude
that Le Gros Loup was a chief in Le petit gris' village, since on October 25,
1778 Hamilton noted that he
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visited the Chiefs of the
Miamis in |
It is possible that Hibou was from Kekionga. About 10 years later both he and
Pacane were living in Spanish territory, west of the Mississippi (see below).
98. Ibid., p. 145;
Dft. Ex.
66.
99. Ibid., pp. 111, 113, 115-116, 119, 121, 128, 141, 152-153, 165, 171-172; Dft. Ex. 66.
100. Ibid., pp. 114-115; Dft. Ex. 66.
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