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tribes leave his department.29
In 1741 Bienville suggested that the officer in command "at the Weas" should solicit the Kickapoos to move to the site of a proposed new fort for the Illinois which was to be built at the mouth of the Cherokee River (present-day Tennessee River).30
From an unsigned memoir on events in Upper Canada of 1740-1741, we learn that
On
April 26, eight Cabins of Mascoutins arrived,
among the Ouiatanons to settle down with a Chief
who was already there.31
In 1741, also, Francois de Seignor de la Chaussoye, Marquis de Beauharnois,
Governor of Canada, reported to the French Minister that the Shawnee wanted to
move to the Prairie of the Mascouten, about "20 leagues from the
foot" of the Piankashaws. Beauharnois thought it might be better for them
to move there instead of to Detroit. They could help keep the Weas quiet, as
the Kickapoos and Mascoutens whom
29. Indiana Historical Society Publications, vol. 3, no. 4, pp.
311-312; Dft. Ex. 79.
30. Rowland and Sanders, Mississippi Provincial Archives, French Dominion, vol. 3, pp. 748-749; Dft. Ex. 107. The boundary line between Canada and Louisiana at this time passed through Terre Haute. Thomas Hutchins' map published in 1778 shows the Cherokee River (see Tucker, Indian Villages, pl. 29; Dft. Ex. 106).
31. Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, vol. 17, p. 336; Dft. Ex. 64.
247 |
he had gathered together near the Weas did.32
Some Kickapoos, at a council held in Montreal in July of 1742 between Beauharnois and the Weas, Petikokias, Kickapoos, and Mascoutens, asked Beauharnois for permission to leave Ouiatanon and settle in the Meadow of the Mascoutens. Mayomba, a Kickapoo chief, said that the Puants (i.e., Winnebago) were having trouble living with the Fox and had asked him if they might come to settle with the Kickapoos. Mayomba suggested that they could all settle together in the Meadow of the Mascoutens, where the Shawnees had promised to go also. Beauharnois approved this proposed move.33
Piankashaws were referred to as being at the Vermilion River in 1742 when they recaptured an escaped Chickasaw prisoner who had been given to the commandant of the Wea post
32. Historical Collections of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, vol.
34, pp.
207-208; Dft. Ex. 82.
The location of the Prairie or Meadow of the Mascoutens is not certain; it is
possible that different areas were referred to at different times. The
references to this area by the French at this period seem to locate it either
near Ouiatanon or in the vicinity of Terre Haute. Beauharnois refers to it as
20 leagues (ca. 50 miles) from the "foot" of the Piankashaws (idem),
and as "near the Ouyatanons" (Collections of the State Historical
Society of Wisconsin, vol. 17, p. 417; Dft. Ex. 64).
If Beauharnois meant the Vermilion village by "foot" of the
Piankashaws, a distance of 50 miles would locate the meadow either near
Ouiatanon or Terre Haute. If "foot" should read "fort" of
the Piankashaws (located at present day Vincennes, Indiana), this would locate
the meadow in the vicinity of Terre Haute. Vaudreuil, writing in 1745 referred
to the Shawnee having promised 3 years earlier to go to Terre Haute ( see next
page); in the council at Montreal in July, 1742 the location the Shawnee had
promised to settle at was the Meadow of the Mascoutens.
33. Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, vol. 17, pp. 382, 383; Dft. Ex. 64.
248 |
to be presented to Beauharnois by some Wea war chiefs.34 Two years later, in 1744 the trader Michel Gamelin delivered goods to various Indians at the Ouiatanon post, including some on September 25, 1744 to L'Enfant, a Piankashaw chief of the Vermilion, and some on September 27, 1744, to Mainomba (Mayomba?), a Kickapoo chief of Terre Haute.35
In August of 1744 Philippe de Rigault, Marquis de Vaudreuil, Governor of New France, expressed an opinion that the "Miscoutens & Kikapoux, established at the Grand Ouat [Ouiatanon], would come & settle" at a proposed fort 12 leagues from the mouth of the Ouabache (Ohio River).36
In October of 1745 Vaudreuil reported that the Chevalier de Bertel, commandant in Illinois, planned to join the Shawnees with the Kickapoos and Mascoutens at the projected new fort, if the Shawnees were really moving down the Ohio as they had promised 3 years earlier when they said they would establish themselves at "Terre Haute."37 That same year, in October, 1745 Beauharnois also reported that the Shawnees had at last migrated to the "prairie of the Maskoutins."38 A group of Shawnees did move from the Ohio River at this time, but there is no record that they ever actually
34. Krauskopf, The French in Indiana, pp.
227-228, Dft. Ex. 70.
35. Ibid., p. 232; Dft. Ex. 70.
36. Appy, Extracts in English, August 30, 1744; Dft. Ex. 146.
37. Krauskopf, The French in Indiana, pp. 236-237; Dft. Ex. 70.
38. Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, vol. 17, p. 448; Dft. Ex. 64.
249 |
settled at the Prairie of the Mascoutens.39
Goods were supplied by Michel Gamelin, trader at Ouiatanon, on the order of the commandant at the Ouiatanon post, La P?ade, fils, in 1746 and 1747 to various Indians and Whites, including L'Enfant, Piankashaw chief of the Vermilion; Mainobas (Mayomba?), a Kickapoo, and Le Brave, a Mascouten chief at Terre Haute.40
In 1749 the Piankashaws temporarily left St. Ange's post at Vincennes.41 By this time the English, now established near the Miamis and along the Ohio River, had made large inroads on the loyalties of the Indians to the French. The English attracted the Indians by their large supplies of trade goods and the lower prices they charged for them. The success of the English in weaning La Demoiselle, a Miami chief, from the French shook French confidence; thereafter the French kept constant watch on their Indian allies, viewing their movements with suspicion. The Kickapoos and Mascoutens, alone of the Wabash tribes, seemed to have resisted English blandishments.42
In 1750 it was reported by a Wea that many Piankashaws had died during the winter, and that the Piankashaws had
39. Krauskopf, The French in Indiana, pp.
236-237; Dft. Ex. 70.
40. Indiana Historical Society Publications, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 195, 197, 198, 205; Dft. Ex. 79.
41. Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library, vol. 29, pp. 153-154; Dft. Ex. 67.
42. E.g., ibid. vol. 29, pp. 149-150, 154, 155-156, 163-165, 166-174, 196; Dft. Ex. 67. See also ibid., vol. 29, pp. 375-377, 572-576; Dft. Ex. 67.
250 |
burned their village to drive away the bad air.43 This village was probably that at the Vermilion River, since the Piankashaw had left the Vincennes area in 1749. By 1750, also, at least one group of Piankashaws with 150 men under the chief La Mouche Noire (Black Fly) had gone to the Great Miami River to be closer to the English.44
Some Piankashaws had returned to the Vincennes area by 1751, for when some Shawnees came to attack the Piankashaw post (Vincennes), forty Piankashaws pursued them to find out where they had come from.45 This was one of several attacks committed by Shawnees that year on Piankashaws of the Vincennes area.46
During the same year Pierre Jacques de Taffanel, Marquis de La Jonquiere, Governor of Canada, rejected the proposed removal of the Kickapoos and Mascoutens from their village near the Weas to go to the Piankashaw post, since they were still firmly attached to French interests.47
A Piankashaw chief of the Vermilion River village, Maringouin, rejected a message of friendship from the English in 1751.48 However, by the end of 1751 most of the Piankashaws of the Vermilion area and from the vicinity of Vincennes seemed
43. Ibid., vol. 29, pp.
174-175; Dft. Ex. 67.
44. Ibid., vol. 29, p. 209; Dft. Ex. 67.
45. Ibid., vol. 29, pp. 361-362; Dft. Ex. 67.
46. Ibid., vol. 29, p. 365; Dft. Ex. 67.
47. Ibid., vol. 29, pp. 376-377; Dft. Ex. 67.
48. Ibid., vol. 29, p. 365; Dft. Ex. 67.
251 |
won over to the interests of the English.49 When the French officer, Francois-Marie le Marchand de Ligneris protested against their taking his goods when he stopped at the Vermilion River village of Piankashaws in September of 1751, the chiefs of the village replied that their young men had done it at the prompting of the Weas, who wished to keep him from going to Terre Haute to visit the Kickapoos.50
In the fall of 1751 a party of 33 Indians from the village of the Piankashaw end the Vermilion "came to see Benoist de St. Clair, commandant in Illinois, under the pretense of being on their way to raid the Chickasaws. The Indians were given ammunition, but attacked the French, who then sent out parties to pursue the Indians. It was discovered later that all the Wabash groups except the Kickapoos and Mascoutens had taken part in this plot against the French.51
St. Ange, whose post at Vincennes the Indians had left, hoped he could persuade the Kickapoos of Terre Haute to come to settle around his post, but de Ligneris, the Ouiatanon commandant, had already persuaded them to move their village near Ouiatanon. The Piankashaws who had formerly lived near the post at Vincennes and who were now enemies of the French, had joined the Piankashaws of the Vermilion. In the early part of 1752 the Vermilion Piankashaws were said to be in the prairies between the Wabash and the Illinois, i.e., on the western side of the Wabash River, but St. Ange did not think
49 Ibid., vol. 29, pp.
415-416, 484-487; Dft. Ex. 67.
50. Ibid., vol. 29, pp. 415-416; Dft. Ex. 67.
51. Ibid., vol. 29, pp. 572-575; Dft. Ex. 67.
252 |
they planned to remain there.52
In March of 1752 the Piankashaw chiefs La Mouche Noir, L'Enfant, and Le Maringouin, who did not want to follow the party of English sympathizers under Le Gros Bled, were reported by St. Ange to have retired with their band to the Little Wabash River,53 and to be still loyal to the French. The Kickapoos of Terre Haute were not disposed to help the French side actively in the struggle against the English. In July Le Gros Bled, chief of the rebel Piankashaws, located on the White River about 2 days' journey from de Ligneris' post at Ouiatanon, sent a message to St. Ange at Vincennes asking for pardon.54
The Governor of Louisiana, Vaudreuil, wanted to destroy the Piankashaw settlement on the "Riviere Blanche," (White River) formed by the rebels in the early 1750's, because of its proximity to the post of the Piankashaws (i.e., Vincennes), which was only about 15 leagues from this river.55 A group of Weas had also gone to the Piankashaw settlement on White River, but were lured back to Ouiatanon during early September, 1752.56
52. Ibid., vol. 29, pp. 483-487; Dft. Ex. 67.
53. Little Wabash River flows into the Wabash River from the west a few miles above the juncture of the Wabash and Ohio Rivers.
54. Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library, vol. 29, pp. 537-540, 674-675, 760-762; Dft. Ex. 67.
55. Ibid., vol. 29, pp. 727-728; Dft. Ex. 67. Riviere Blanche here is White River, Indiana. Le Gros Bled's settlement was about 2 days' journey from both Ouiatanon and Vincennes, on White River (ibid., vol. 29, pp. 675, 727-728, 761; Dft. Ex. 67.), in Royce Area 71 (?).
56. Ibid., vol. 29, p. 731; Dft. Ex. 67.
253 |
In 1753 the Piankashaws led by Le Gros Bled sent a collar to the Weas asking them to intercede with de Ligneris for them.57
During the shifting struggle for control between the French and English, no precise locations for Indian groups on the lower and middle Wabash River have been found. The memoir on New France, written in 1757 by the French officer Louis Antoine Bougainville, described, among other things, the posts along the Wabash. The post at Ouiatanon produced 400-450 packages of fur a year. The Indians trading there were the Weas, Kickapoos, Mascoutens, and Piankashaws, who could supply 360 warriors. At Vincennes, the usual Indians who came in to trade were the Piankashaws. They produced about 80 packages of fur a year.58
In 1758 the Governor of Louisiana in a memoir on Louisiana & its inhabitants described the post established at Vincennes as having 80 Piankashaw warriors in the vicinity. About 40 leagues further up the Wabash were the Weas, with 150 warriors.59
Summary of Native Locations in Royce Area 71 during French Sovereignty (up to 1760). From the early part of the eighteenth century the Weas lived on the middle Wabash close to the post of Ouiatanon and north of Royce Area 71. They continued in this location throughout the period of French
57. Ibid., vol. 29, pp.
847-848; Dft. Ex. 67.
58. Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, vol. 18, pp. 175-176; Dft. Ex. 64.
59. Krauskopf, The French in Indiana, p. 375; Dft. Ex. 70.
254 |
occupation.
By 1725 the Piankashaws had established a village, Mercata, which was possibly located at Vermilion River, about 16 miles to the north of Royce Area 71.
Nothing is known about the natives on the lower Wabash south of Mercata, until about 1730-1731, when Sieur de Vincennes the younger established his post at present Vincennes, Indiana, on the lower Wabash below Royce Area 71. For 30 years, from the time of the establishment of the post of Vincennes until the end of the period of French sovereignty in 1760, the Piankashaws lived along the lower Wabash and hunted along it. Although they left the post of Vincennes itself in 1750, they remained in the lower Wabash area. During the first years of the founding of this post the Piankashaw had wanted to invite other Piankashaw who lived about 60 leagues upstream (in the Vermilion River area), to join them. In those years they probably used at least the prairies and other areas along the Wabash River for hunting.
By 1732 the Piankashaws were definitely located as being at Vermilion River, by the commandant at Ouiatanon.
In 1735 Kickapoo were found 6 leagues away from Ouiatanon.
In 1736, after Vincennes' death, all but 15-25 Piankashaw men removed to the Piankashaw village upstream at Vermilion River.
In 1737 some Kickapoos and Mascoutens who had joined the Miamis 2 years earlier, after the Fox Indian wars, were reported dissatisfied with the Miamis, and in 1741 several
255 |
cabins of Mascoutens were living at Ouiatanon, where they were joined by some Kickapoos. In 1742 Kickapoos asked permission of the French to move to the Prairie of the Mascouten, which was either at Terre Haute, within Royce Area 71 or about 10 miles from Ouiatanon. Kickapoos were located specifically at Terre Haute in 1744 and 1752. Mascoutins were located at Terre Haute in 1746.
The Piankashaws were, we know, located at the Vermilion River in 1737, 1742, 1744, 1746, and 1751. In 1751, as a result of the conflict between the French and English, some Vermilion River Piankashaws moved to the prairie areas west of the Wabash. In 1752 another village was mentioned for the Piankashaw Indians; this was called Piankashaw, but its location is not known. In 1752, also, a group of anti-French or "rebel" Piankashaws were settled on White River, about 2 days' walk from Ouiatanon, in Royce Area 71.
It is clear, from the above recapitulation of the historical material that from about 1725 to 1760 the Piankashaws were established in villages at 2 areas on the Wabash- at Vermilion River, and at Vincennes, to the north and south, respectively, of Royce Area 71. It is highly probable that they hunted along the Wabash River between these two points, and used at least the western lands of Royce Area 71 for this purpose.
Some Mascoutens and Kickapoos were also established within Royce Area 71 at Terre Haute, by permission of the French, for a short period from about 1744 to 1752.
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