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of Greenville of August 3, 1795, and the Treaty of June 3, 1803 at which the Vincennes Tract (Royce Area 26) was ceded.45 Among the five Miami signers were Owl, Little Turtle, and Richardville.46 Labossiere47 was one of the three Wea signers.
No Piankashaws were signatories to the Treaty of Grouseland. "The Miami chiefs," Harrison reported to the Secretary of War on August 26, 1805, had been
extremely desirous to have the Piankashaws included in the treaty, but this I would on no account suffer, reserving to the United States the right of purchasing the remaining Piankashaws' lands, at any time that they could agree for them with that tribe.48
Regarding the "admission of the Pattawatamies, as a party to the
treaty" Harrison claimed that this
could not well be avoided, under the circumstances which gave rise to the conference, and I am confident that it will, eventually, be highly advantageous to us. They have given up all right to interfere in any future sales of lands by the Miamies, on the Wabash and its waters.
This, to Harrison, was "a point of much consequence."49
As to his guarantee of the country on the Wabash and its waters above the Vincennes tract "to the three tribes, who call themselves Miamies" Harrison told the Secretary of War that
45. Carter, Territorial Papers, vol. 10, pp. 489-490; Dft. Ex. 69.
7 Stat. 49:51, 74:76.
46. See pp. 48, 57-61, this Report.
47. See p. 139, this Report.
48. American State Papers, Indian Affairs, vol. 1, p. 701; Dft. Ex. 96.
49. Idem.
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such a guarantee
could not be avoided, as they insisted upon it with the most persevering obstinacy. But, I conceive that it will be no difficult matter to get them, in the course of a few years, to make a division of the land that they now hold in common.50
That the Little Turtle played a leading role in the Treaty of Grouseland is
strongly suggested by the final paragraph in Harrison's report to Dearborn:
In pursuance of the President's directions, I have promised the Turtle fifty dollars, per annum, in addition to his pension, and I have also, directed Captain Wells to purchase a negro man for him, in Kentucky, and draw on you for the amount.51
Summary and Conclusions. The immediate historical background of the
Treaty of Grouseland was, briefly, as follows:
Shortly after he had been appointed Governor of Indiana Territory William Henry Harrison was instructed by Henry Dearborn, Secretary of War, to determine the bounds of an undefined tract of land around Vincennes, which had been relinquished to the United States by representatives of 14 groups of Ohio Valley-Great Lakes Indians, in the Treaty of Greenville of August 3, 1795 (7 Stat. 49:51).
In August and September, 1802 Harrison met with the chiefs of the Potawatomis, Kickapoos, Eel Rivers, Weas, Piankashaws and Kaskaskias and persuaded these chiefs to sign an informal agreement setting forth the bounds of the "Vincennes Tract" relinquished in 1795. A formal treaty, it was agreed, was to be held in the future, at which two Miamis and two Potawatomis would
50. Idem.
51. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 702; Dft. Ex. 96.
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represent the Indians concerned.
At this time both Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States, and Secretary of War Dearborn were urging Harrison to acquire as much land as possible from the Indians of Indiana Territory, in view of the influence foreign powers might gain over the natives, which would endanger development of the western frontier.
Early in June, 1803, Harrison finally succeeded against strong opposition from many of the Indians present, in persuading representatives of the Miamis, Potawatomis, Kickapoos, Shawnees and Delawares to bound the "Vincennes Tract" or, as it is now referred to, Royce Area 26. At this Treaty of June 7, 1803, Harrison was "powerfully, though privately aided" by Little Turtle, a Miami leader but not an hereditary chief, and was "boldly seconded in every proposition by the Potawatomis," who were "entirely devoted to the Governor."
Within a few days after the June 7, 1803 Treaty had been signed two bona-fide Miami chiefs, in a Miami-Delaware council, reputedly acknowledged the Delawares' right to the lands in southern Indiana lying between the White River and the Ohio River. These lands, the Delawares claimed, had been given to them over 30 years before by the Piankashaws.
On August 18, 1804 Harrison, in a treaty with the Delawares, recognized the Delawares' rights to the lands lying between White River and the Ohio. He also obtained from the Delawares the cession of a tract of land between the Ohio and the lower Wabash rivers, south of Royce Area 26; this Delaware cession is now referred to as Royce Area 49. For this cession the Delawares received payment and annuities.
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The Delaware cession of Royce Area 49, with its financial provisos, almost immediately touched off a storm of protest from Little Turtle, the Miami leader, and those Potawatomis Little Turtle had influence over. There was even a threat made by a Miami partisan that the Indians might go to war over the cession. The storm center for these protests was Fort Wayne, and Little Turtle, according to Harrison.
At Dearborn's suggestion, Harrison arranged for a council at which the Indians could air their several grievances and have matters explained to them. This council was held at Grouseland, Harrison's home near Vincennes, in August, 1805 and was attended by Delawares, Miamis, Potawatomis, Eel Rivers and Weas. Representatives of the above-named groups finally signed a treaty on August 21, 1805, wherein it was agreed that:
1) the Delawares relinquished their claim to the White River-Ohio River country and released the United States from its previous recognition of this claim;
2) the Miamis, Eel Rivers and Weas ceded an area within the White River-Ohio River country (present Royce Area 56);
3) the United States agreed to pay permanent annuities for the cession of Royce Area 56 to the Miamis, Weas, Eel Rivers-- and also a 10-year annuity to the Potawatomis;
4) the United States agreed, with one proviso, to consider the Miamis, Weas and Eel Rivers as joint owners of all the as yet unceded country on the Wabash and its waters above the Vincennes tract;
5) the right of the Delawares to have ceded Royce Area 49 to the United States in 1804 was acknowledged by the Potawatomis, Miamis, Eel Rivers and Weas.
That the Treaty of Grouseland was essentially a compromise,
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effected as a matter of exigency, becomes clear as one reads the documentary record. Back of the Treaty lay the facts that Indians and Whites were at loggerheads with each other in the newly constituted Indiana Territory; that the Indians were beginning to realize the value of land to the Americans and annuities to themselves; and that Jefferson and Dearborn were both strongly urging Harrison to acquire lands on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers from the Indians as speedily as possible.
Early in Harrison's negotiations with the Indians of Indiana Territory Little Turtle, a Miami leader who had played a conspicuous part at the Greenville Treaty of 1795, assumed the role of spokesman for the Miamis, and brought in his train, supporting him, certain St. Joseph Potawatomi chiefs. In Harrison's first formal treaty, of June 7, 1803, in which the Vincennes Tract was bounded Little Turtle and his St. Joseph Potawatomi confreres came to Harrison's aid. That this Miami leader was not entirely disinterested in helping Harrison is indicated by the former's violent reaction, some 18 months later, to Harrison's second formal treaty with Indiana Indians-- namely, with the Delawares. The Delaware Treaty of August 18, 1804, ceding Royce Area 49, made certain financial provisos for the Delawares. Almost immediately, Little Turtle contested, in the name of the Miamis and the Potawatomis (of the St. Joseph River), the validity of this treaty.
During the dispute by the Indians over the Delawares' right to have ceded Royce Area 49 Harrison and Dearborn both indicated in letters that in their opinion neither the Miamis nor the Potawatomis had any just claim to any part of Royce Area 49. But Dearborn was anxious to quiet both groups, and suggested to Harrison that the latter meet with all the Indians who were, or
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who had shown concern over the matter. So a council was held at Grouseland, with both the Miamis (including of course Little Turtle) and the Potawatomis in attendance.
The importance the Miamis and Potawatomis attached to annuities by that time was plainly evinced in certain of their proposals made at the council at Grouseland. Also, when given a chance to obtain annuities as good or better than those the Delawares had received for the cession of Royce Area 49 in 1804, the Miamis lost no time in ceding, at Grouseland, one part (Royce Area 56) of a large region which they had just forced the Delawares to relinquish claim to.
In acquiring Royce Area 56 from the Miamis, Weas and Eel Rivers, and paying these three groups, plus the Potawatomis for this acquisition of Royce Area 56, Harrison allowed himself to be badly misled by the Miamis' then current and vociferous claims to all of the White River-Ohio River country. Such claims, as we have shown in Chapter V of this Report, had no basis in any actual occupancy or use made of Royce Area 56 by the Miamis, Weas, or Eel Rivers from earliest known times up to the Treaty of Grouseland. Throughout this period the Miamis, as shown in Chapter 2 of this Report, lived and hunted in northern Indiana exclusively, never in the central or southern parts of the state. The same statement holds true for the Weas and Eel Rivers for the greater part of the period 1710-1805, as shown in Chapters 3 and 4. When the Weas finally did move southward, starting around 1790, they moved to the western side of Indiana, not to its extreme southeastern quarter, and no records exist of the Weas having utilized the southeastern quarter of Indiana, or Royce Area 56, in any way. When the Eel River Indians moved southward some time after 1790, they moved to a location in
235a |
northcentral Indiana which was a full 90 miles north of the northern boundary of Royce Area 56. Again, there are no records of this latter group's having utilized southeastern Indiana, in any way.
We have remarked previously that the Treaty of Grouseland met exigencies; nowhere is this clearer than in Harrison's own explanation of why he engaged to consider the Miamis, Eel Rivers and Weas as joint owners of all the country on the Wabash and its waters, above the Vincennes tract. Such recognition made impossible any interference by the Potawatomis in future sales of lands in this region. To Harrison in 1805 this was "of great consequence." But as we have shown in Chapters 2, 3, and 4 of this Report, the Miamis, Weas, and Eel Rivers used and occupied certain parts, only, of this large region and not, by any means, the entire region Harrison engaged to consider as theirs in the Treaty of Grouseland of August 21, 1805,
Map 6,
facing p. 236 (beg. Ch. VII): Indian Locations in Royce Area 71
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