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Chapter VII: pp. |
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Drs. Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin
Emily J. Blasingham
Dorothy R. Libby:
An Anthropological Report on the
History of the Miamis, Weas, and
Eel River Indians, Vol. 2.
Chapter 7, pp. 306-315.
306 |
and Miamis as being of the Wabash district.
More definite locations for specific Wabash groups were given by George Croghan in 1765. Croghan located a Piankashaw village at Vincennes and stated that the meadows to the north of it were the Piankashaws hunting grounds. The Piankashaws who had a village at Vermilion River west and north of Royce Area 71, had their hunting grounds in the meadows south of the Vermilion River. Both of these hunting areas may have been, in part at least, in Royce Area 71. However, Croghan did not make clear which side of the Wabash, which forms the western boundary of Area 71, he was on. The grounds north of Vincennes were probably on the east side and hence in Royce Area 71, but he crossed the Wabash somewhere before arriving at the Vermilion River, so the hunting grounds there were probably in Royce Area 73. Croghan did not mention either Kickapoos or Mascoutens as being located anywhere on his route north from Vincennes, until he came within six miles of Ouiatanon, where these two groups had two villages near the fort, across the river from the Weas. Apparently in 1765 the western part of Royce Area 71, if put to any use by Indians, was used only as a hunting area by the Piankashaws.
In 1768 the Piankashaws were said to have transferred to the French lands along the Wabash River from Point Coupee south to the mouth of White River, extending 40 leagues east and 30 leagues west of the Wabash. Point Coupee is the southernmost point on the Wabash of Royce Area 71, the lands transferred were therefore, immediately south of Royce Area 71.
In 1773 some Delawares were "invited" to move to a
Drs. Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin
Emily J. Blasingham
Dorothy R. Libby:
An Anthropological Report on the
History of the Miamis, Weas, and
Eel River Indians, Vol. 2.
Chapter 7, pp. 306-315.
307 |
location below the Falls of the Ohio. Later, the Delawares claimed that the Piankashaws had given them all the lands between the White River and the Ohio River. The White River drains the eastern two-thirds of Royce Area 71. Thus the eastern two-thirds of Area 71 belonged according to the Delawares, first to the Piankashaws and later to them.
In Hay's itinerary prepared in 1774 the Piankashaw village on Vermilion River was located as being about a mile upstream from the mouth of the Vermilion, less than 10 miles north and slightly west of the northwesternmost tip of Royce Area 71.
In 1775 a group of land speculators purchased from the Piankashaws of the Vincennes and Vermilion villages most of southeastern Illinois and southern Indiana. One of the grants was for lands on the Wabash from Wild Cat Creek, near present-day Lafayette, Indiana, to Point Coupee at the southwesternmost point of Royce Area 71. A second grant extended from the mouth of White River to the mouth of the Wabash. Both grants stretched 40 leagues east and 30 leagues west of the Wabash. The land between the two grants was confirmed by the Piankashaws as belonging to the people of Vincennes. Thus we see, in 1775, the Piankashaws claimed all of Royce Area 71 as theirs to dispose of.
A day-and-a-half's trip downriver on the Wabash from Terre Haute, Henry Hamilton found, in 1778, Piankashaws wintering. Hamilton stopped and visited the Piankashaws' winter village, a place called La Soupe. The Piankashaws' wintering ground and winter village were probably in Royce
Drs. Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin
Emily J. Blasingham
Dorothy R. Libby:
An Anthropological Report on the
History of the Miamis, Weas, and
Eel River Indians, Vol. 2.
Chapter 7, pp. 306-315.
308 |
Area 71, a few miles below Terre Haute. Another wintering ground was located at a place called La Carrierre, a short distance south of Royce Area 71, and there was also a Piankashaw village located near the post of Vincennes, ca. 25 miles south of Royce Area 71.
During the winter of 1778-1779 a group of 40 Shawnees were wintering on White River. Some Delawares were also on White River. These groups may have been in the central part of Royce Area 71.
In 1784 it was reported that the Piankashaws lived about 160 miles up Wabash River, and the Vermilion Indians 60 miles farther up. This would locate the Piankashaws in Royce Area 71, some 25-30 miles below Terre Haute.
Hamtramck in 1787 had Piankashaw visitors from Terre Haute, and in 1788 noted that there were 30 Indian warriors at the Terre Haute village in Royce Area 71 and 200 at the Vermilion village a few miles north of Royce Area 71. In the fall of 1788 most of the Piankashaws from the Vincennes village had departed to settle near Kaskaskia, but some were still at Vincennes in 1789.
St. Clair, probably on the basis of information from Hamtramck in 1788, stated that the Piankashaws were at Terre Haute, as far above Vincennes as the Kickapoo settlements were above Terre Haute. This puts the Piankashaws in Royce Area 71 at this time, and the Kickapoo considerably north of Royce Area 71, near Ouiatanon.
When Gamelin carried St. Clair's message of peace to the Wabash tribes in April 1790, the first village he came to was
Drs. Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin
Emily J. Blasingham
Dorothy R. Libby:
An Anthropological Report on the
History of the Miamis, Weas, and
Eel River Indians, Vol. 2.
Chapter 7, pp. 306-315.
309 |
that of the Wea chief Kikapouguoi or Les Jambes Croches (Crooked Legs). This was a Wea village and was probably the village of the 80 or so Wea warriors who had come under United States protection in November of 1789. Whether it was in Area 71 or not is not clear. No settlement was mentioned by Gamelin as being at Terre Haute. The second Indian village Gamelin came to, up the Wabash from Vincennes, was at Vermilion River, north of Royce Area 71, and was called Piankashaw; farther upstream were the Kickapoos and the Weas.
In 1790 Hamtramck gave current locations and estimates of warriors on the Wabash. The Vermilion Indians had 200 warriors, the Weas 330, and the Kickapoos, who lived opposite the Weas, had 100 men. In this list there is no mention of Terre Haute, nor of Crooked Legs' village. In the fall of 1790, however, Crooked Legs' band was permitted to winter near Vincennes, south of Area 71.
In Putnam's treaty proceedings of 1792 the Piankashaws confirmed their transfer of lands on both sides of the Wabash from Point Coupee to White River, immediately south of Area 71, to the inhabitants of Vincennes, but denied the validity of their sale of lands, including Royce Area 71, in 1775 to Louis Viviatte and other land speculators.
The Treaty of Greenville in 1795 did not locate specifically Indian groups west of the line established by the Treaty of Greenville. In the Treaty proceedings Little Turtle claimed for the Miamis, the Potawatomis of St. Joseph, and the Wabash Indians a very large area, which included Royce Area 71 in its entirety. Little Beaver, a Wea chief
Drs. Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin
Emily J. Blasingham
Dorothy R. Libby:
An Anthropological Report on the
History of the Miamis, Weas, and
Eel River Indians, Vol. 2.
Chapter 7, pp. 306-315.
310 |
present at Greenville, was the authority for the statement that his "forefathers" had permitted the French to settle at Vincennes (south of Royce Area 71), and had allowed the French to use some lands east of the Wabash, but none west of it. No Piankashaws attended the Treaty of Greenville.
The Sun, a Potawatomi chief present at Greenville, stated that his village was a day's walk below the Wea towns on the Wabash. The Sun's band of Potawatomis may, therefore, have been using the northernmost part of Royce Area 71 ln 1795 to hunt in, but their location on the Wabash below the Wea towns dated only from 1790 at the earliest. Occupancy of the Wabash River region of Royce Area 71 above Point Coupee by the Weas after 1789-1790 is also a possibility, but no strictly contemporary sources make it more than such.
Our conclusions as to use and occupancy of Royce Area 71 are therefore as follows. For 30 years, from 1760 to 1790 the Piankashaws used and occupied the western third of Royce Area 71, exclusively. Up to ca. 1784 they used this region for hunting only; after ca. 1784 they had a village in westernmost Area 71.
After 1790 and through 1795 the Piankashaws continued using and occupying the western third of Royce Area 71, but there is some question whether during those five years their use and occupancy was exclusive. Potawatomis may have hunted in the northernmost part of western Royce Area 71 after 1790; Weas may have settled on the Wabash above Point Coupee in western Area 71 after 1789-1790.
The eastern two-thirds of Royce Area 71 may have had a
Drs. Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin
Emily J. Blasingham
Dorothy R. Libby:
An Anthropological Report on the
History of the Miamis, Weas, and
Eel River Indians, Vol. 2.
Chapter 7, pp. 306-315.
311 |
Shawnee and also a Delaware village in it on White River, in about 1778, but here again we cannot be certain. As far as claims to the eastern two-thirds of Area 71 went, the Piankashaws, through various eighteenth-century sales and donations of lands in Area 71, implicitly claimed all of Royce Area 71. However the Delawares also considered that after 1773 they had rights, derived from the Piankashaws it should be noted, to the eastern two-thirds of Royce Area 71. The conflicting claims of various Indian groups to the same region, which are often encountered, makes us hesitant to use claims as a criterion in efforts to determine native use and occupancy of a region. Weighing all factors, we conclude that for all, or the greatest part of the period 1760-1795, the eastern two-thirds of Royce Area 71 was unused and unoccupied by any native groups.
No Miamis and no Kickapoos used or occupied any part of Royce Area 71 during the period 1760 through 1795. A Miami speaker's claim, voiced in 1795, to Royce Area 71 as part of a much greater area, was made as an undifferentiated claim of the Miamis, St. Joseph Potawatomis and Wabash Indians. This claim had little or no relevance to actual use and occupancy of Royce Area 71 by specific groups during the period 1760-1795.
Native Locations in Royce Area 71 from 1795-1805. Little precise information on specific locations of Indians in Royce Area 71 has been found for the years 1795 to 1805. William Henry Harrison, Governor of Indiana Territory, in 1801,
Drs. Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin
Emily J. Blasingham
Dorothy R. Libby:
An Anthropological Report on the
History of the Miamis, Weas, and
Eel River Indians, Vol. 2.
Chapter 7, pp. 306-315.
312 |
had much difficulty with the small tribes in this immediate Neighbour-
hood [Vincennes]- viz.- the Peankashaws Weas & Eel river Indians.207
He estimated that there were no more than 600 warriors along the Wabash, and that because of a great amount of drinking many murders had been committed by the Indians, diminishing their population.
This has been so much the case with the three Tribes nearest us- the Pean-
kashaws, Weas, & Eel River Miamis that there is scarcely a Chief to be
found amongst them.208
These statements suggest that the Delaware Indians whom Harrison mentions later in his letter as occupied forming settlements at this time on White River, Indiana,
under the conduct of two Missionaries of the Society of 'The United Brethren
for propogating the gospel amongst the Heathens' otherwise Meravians,
and who wanted half of their annuities in domestic animals and agricultural implements,209 were located in the upper branches of White River rather than close to Vincennes. Harrison was probably referring in his letter to the Delaware mission led by the Moravians Abraham Luckenback and John Peter Kluge, who established a village in the vicinity of the Delaware town of Woapicamikunk near present day Muncie, Indiana (see Chapter 8 of this Report).
207. Laselle Collection, Indiana State Library. William Henry Harrison to the Secretary of War. July 15, 1801 (Contemporary copy); Dft. Ex. 150.
208. Idem.
209. Idem.
Drs. Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin
Emily J. Blasingham
Dorothy R. Libby:
An Anthropological Report on the
History of the Miamis, Weas, and
Eel River Indians, Vol. 2.
Chapter 7, pp. 306-315.
313 |
Harrison, when considering the boundary line to be established at Vincennes, felt in February of 1802 that the Indians would not at that time cede the entire area that had been set aside in the Treaty of Greenville for the Vincennes Tract (see p. 300, this Report). Harrison stated that it was said that Putnam, in his negotiations with the Indians at Vincennes in 1792, had assured the Indians that the United States would not claim much land in the region of Vincennes.210 It was not possible for Harrison to check the extent of the cession agreed on at Greenville, since none of the Piankashaw chiefs had attended that treaty, and the Wea chiefs who had represented the Piankashaw at Greenville had all died.211
To settle this boundary problem and to lay the groundwork for the future solution of other boundary problems, Harrison suggested that a general meeting of
the neighboring tribes, viz: the Delawares, Potawatamies, Miamis, Eel
river Indians, Weas, Kickapoos, Sacks, and Kaskaskias212
should be held. This did not mean that the different Indian groups were equally interested in the Vincennes boundary problem. General questions were also to be settled at the meeting, such as guarantees of protection by the Indians to the traders in all of Indiana Territory, and the acquiring of permission to
210. Dawson, A Historical Narrative, p. 16; Dft. Ex. 125.
211. Idem.
212. Ibid., p. 18; Dft. Ex. 125.
Drs. Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin
Emily J. Blasingham
Dorothy R. Libby:
An Anthropological Report on the
History of the Miamis, Weas, and
Eel River Indians, Vol. 2.
Chapter 7, pp. 306-315.
314 |
make roads connecting American settlements and to build rest houses on these roads.213 Another reason for holding a general meeting was that the Piankashaws who were the most interested party to the cession of lands in the Vincennes area had by 1802 become greatly reduced in numbers. According to Harrison, there were only about 25-30 Piankashaw warriors left.214 A general meeting was Harrison's way of learning what the Indian opinion was regarding land cessions in his territory.
In 1803 some Kickapoos were specifically mentioned as being situated on Vermilion River, just north of Royce Area 71.215 Some Potawatomis also were mentioned as living on the Wabash River.216 These two groups were described as "well-affected" toward the United States.217 On July 10, 1804 a trading license was issued to Michael Brouillet to trade with the Kickapoo at their towns on the Vermilion River.218
In the treaty of August 18, 1804 (7 Stat. 81), held at Vincennes, the Delawares were recognized by the United States as being rightful claimants to the lands lying between the Ohio and White Rivers, having acquired their claim originally
213. Ibid., pp. 17-18; Dft. Ex. 125.
214. Ibid., p. 19; Dft. Ex. 125.
215. Ibid., p. 40; Dft. Ex. 125.
216. Idem.
217. Idem.
218. Indiana Historical Collections, vol. 7, pp. 102-103; Dft. Ex. 97.
Drs. Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin
Emily J. Blasingham
Dorothy R. Libby:
An Anthropological Report on the
History of the Miamis, Weas, and
Eel River Indians, Vol. 2.
Chapter 7, pp. 306-315.
315 |
from the Piankashaws (see above, pp. , this Report) about 1768, and having had their claim to the upper part of the area acknowledged by the Miami at Fort Wayne in 1803 (7 Stat. 81). The treaty of August 18, 1804 was an acknowledgment by the United States of Delaware claims to the lands in the eastern two-thirds of Royce Area 71. In this treaty the Delawares also ceded Royce Area 49, south of the Vincennes tract, to the United States.219 The Piankashaws ceded the same area in a treaty held at Vincennes August 27, 1804 (7 Stat. 83).
On August 21, 1805 a treaty was held at Grouseland (7 Stat. 91. See Chapter 6, this Report) because of the dissatisfaction of the Delawares with their compensation for Royce Area 49 and because of the unwillingness of the Miamis to recognize their gift of the upper White River region to the Delawares. The Miamis claimed the Delawares were tenants, only, of that region, but Harrison later wrote that he was convinced, from the council hearings, that the Delawares' claim to the region was as strong as they had stated.220 Because of Miami opposition to their claim, the Delawares released the United States from its recognition of the Delawares' claim to the White River (7 Stat. 91).
In the Treaty of Grouseland, also, the United States engaged "to consider" the Miamis, Eel Rivers, and Weas
219. Royce, Indian Land Cessions, pp. 664-665 and map 19, Indiana.
220. American State Papers, Indian Affairs, vol. 1, pp. 701-702; Dft. Ex. 96.
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