Piankashaw Locations (ca. 1763 - ca. 1776) Part 2: pp. 72-79
/pg. 72/
After these councils Croghan set off from Ouiatenon for Detroit, accompanied by several chiefs of these western nations including Miamis, Weas, Piankashaws, Kickapoos, and Mascoutens
which were going to Detroit to meet Colo Bradstreet agreeable to his Invitation to them last Winter by Mr. Maisonville. (Idem)
At the Detroit meetings, held in August 1765 statements and expressions of sentiment were made similar to those already made to Croghan at Ouiatenon. (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-44, pp. 43-48) The Black Fly, a Piankashaw chief of the Vermilion River and the only Piankashaw chief who had-received the belt of invitation to Detroit directly, and ten warriors represented the Piankashaws at this meeting. It was reported that there were 530 men at the meeting at Detroit. Groups present, in addition to the Piankashaws, were the Hurons, Ottawas, Chippewas, Potawatomis, "Saginna" Indians, Miamis, Weas, Kickapoos, Mascoutens, Six Nations, Delawares, Shawnees, and "Indians from Michillimackinac and L'Bay." (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-44, pp. 56-57)
It was arranged that Croghan would return to the Illinois Country to consolidate the British position there in the spring or summer of 1766. (Johnson, Dft. Ex. A-44, p. 156, 194; Gage, Dft. Ex. A-44, pp. 159, 215-217)
/pg. 73/
In May 1766 Croghan noted in the journal he kept at Fort Pitt what the Indian, Huron Andrew, whom he had sent to the Illinois Country from Detroit after his meeting with the Indians of the Illinois and Wabash, told him of his trip. Andrew had found all the Indians on the Wabash (i.e. , the Miamis, Weas, Piankashaws, Kickapoos, and Mascoutens) disposed to keep peace with the English. The Indians of the village at Vincennes and those in the Illinois country were in danger of being prejudiced against the English by the French living in those regions, but still were determined to keep peace with the English and wanted Croghan to come to the Illinois country in the summer of 1766 with chiefs from the Delaware, Shawnee, and Six Nations Indians to confirm a lasting peace between all of them. (Croghan, Dft. Ex. A-174) The Delaware, Shawnee, and Six Nations Indians agreed to go with Croghan to the Illinois Country for this purpose. (Idem) Croghan reported on the progress of his Indian transactions to General Gage from a camp made at the mouth of the Scioto River on July 6, saying, in part,
I have Sent (sic.) of Deputys by Land to the Nations Residing on the Ouabache in order to undecave them [of the misleading council of the French still in the area] & Invite thire Cheefs to Meet Me att the Ilinous & tomorrow I will Send of Deputys to the Confluence of the Ouabache to Inform the Indians Collected there of the busness I am going on (Ibid., Dft. Exc. A-175)
A journal of conference proceedings at Fort Chartres in Illinois Country has not been found, but Croghan summarized the results in a letter to Johnson dated September 10, just after the conference was over.
/pg. 74/
The Conference begun at Fort Chartres the 25th of Augt where was Assembled the Chiefs & principle Warriors of Eight Nations, divided into Twenty two tribes or bands, which made it very deficult to do business with them; however after two days meeting with them we finished the business to the Satisfaction of the Several Nations, who all seemed Convinced that the French had imposed upon them in every thing they had told them, a General Peace & Reconciliation was then declared in Public between his Majesty's Subjects the Northern Nations, & all those Western Nations, except three Tribes which the French had influence enough to keep back from attending the Conference. But those the Chiefs - which attended the Conference brought them to me at Fort Chartres the 5th of this Month, when I settled every thing with them, & Received them into the Covenant Chain of friendship; The spirited Conduct & Steadiness of the Deputys of the Nations that attended me from Fort Pitt was of great service to bring about this General union, as those Nations in this Country stand in great Awe of the Northern Nations. (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-44, pp. 373-374)
According to Croghan more than a thousand Indian men attended the conference in addition to women and children. (Ibld.., Dft. Ex. A-44, pp. 374) This estimate, however, is probably high since he may have been trying to Justify the great expense of his transactions. Croghan reported in this letter that he had not sent Johnson a copy of his transactions because he had been so ill he could not write. Nowhere in the letter did Croghan report that the Indians had said that they had sold lands to the French. (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-44, pp. 373-374) In his summary report on this meeting to General Gage written some months later (January 1767), Croghan wrote that the twelve nations of Indians, whom he called the "Western Confederacy in the Illinois Country,"
/pg. 75/
the King of Great Britain.- But denied, That He had any right to cede any other part of their Country, to his Britannick Majesty.- And to prove, The truth of their Allegations, they referred, to several treaties, between then [sic] and the King of France's Officers since, their first entereing their Country, as then deposited in Fort Chartres. (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-44, p. 490)[see Footnote 23]
Croghan also reported to Gage that the Indians informed him that
they had never refused, to make Room in their Country, for any of the King of France's Subjects to settle on, neither had they any objection, at any time to grant any part of their Country to their Father the King England. Provided they received a proper Consideration for it. (Idem)
These statements are contrary to what was reported by Croghan about the results o! the councils held in 1765 where many of the same Indian groups had denied having sold any lands to the French. (see pp. 72 and 74 above) It is known that at this time Croghan was interested in a land company which hoped for permission to obtain lands in the Illinois country. [see Footnote 24] It seems possible that this interest may have influenced his statements to Gage.
Indian groups present at the 1766 meeting at Fort Chartres were reported to Gage by Croghan to be four Illinois groups (Kaskaskias, Peorias, Mitchigamias, and Cohokias), the Wabash Indians (Piankashawss Weas, Kickapoos, Mascoutens, and Miamis), and some Potawatomis, Sacks, and Foxes in addition to the
/pg. 76/
Deputies, of the Six Nations--Delawares, Shawanese and Hurons which Accompanied me from Fort Pitt & Sciota. (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-44, p. 494)
While Croghan was at Fort Pitt in May and June of 1767 he received a letter from Maisonville, a Frenchman living then at Ouiatenon, stating that
the Indians at the Illinois, and on the Wabache were peacably disposed and had begun to trade with the English, (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-95, p. 18)
This peaceful disposition of the western Indians did not last long. The same Frenchman arrived at Fort Pitt in October and informed Croghan that the Wabash Indians were dissatisfied with the lack of promised trade goods which were to have been brought by the English and had gone to Fort Chartres and to Detroit to complain about it. They threatened to plunder both the French and English if the situation did not improve. (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-95, pp. 32-33; Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-45, p. 88)
Andrew, the Huron whom Croghan met in Detroit on November 15 an who had gone the previous summer to the Illinois, Wabash, and St. Joseph Indians, confirmed this angry disposition of the Wabash tribes which contrasted with the general satisfaction of the groups of the Illinois country. (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-95, pp. 37-38) As an instance the dissatisfaction of the Wabash Indians Andrew told Croghan that when he reached the Miamis (located near present day Fort Wayne, Indiana)
he heard that a party of the Warriors from Post Vincent [i.e., probably Piankashaws] had met a hunting boat from Fort Chartres with Eight English & French men on Board, who were hunting for Buffaloe meat above the Confluence of the Ohio with the Mississippi, and made the Eight Men Prisoners & plundered them of everything they had.
/pg. 77/
That after carrying them Prisoners to their Country, they killed two of them and set the other Six at Liberty at the request of their Cheifs. (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-95, p. 38)
This attack probably took place along the western boundary of Royce Area 48.
Jehu Hay, the Commissary of Indian Affairs at Detroit, in replying to a petition of the traders in the area in September 1767 also mentioned the dissatisfaction of "the Miamies and the people on the Wabash" with the British. (Hay, Dft. Ex. A-45, pp. 6-7)
There are a number of reports of the bad disposition of the Indians of the Wabash, including Piankashaws, towards the British, during the 1760's and 1770's. (See, e.g., Morgan, Dft. Ex. A-45, pp. 225-226, 232-233, 240-241, 363; Wilkins, Dft. Ex. A-45, p. 376; Johnson, Dft. Ex. A-64, pp. 689-690, 813; Shawnee Indians, Dft. Ex. A-64, p. 9l7) The English were troubled, too, about the Spanish and French influence; on these Indians--the French by virtue of their long residence and acquaintance with them and the Spanish by giving presents to Indians from time to time. Among Indian groups listed as accustomed to receiving presents from the Spanish in 1769, for example, are five from the "district of the Ouabach"-- Piankashaws, Weas, Kickapoos, Mascoutens, and Miamis. (St. Ange, Dft. Ex. A-37, p44)
The necessity of establishing military and trading posts at Vincennes and other western centers was discussed by the English from the time of the cession of the western lands by the French government. (See, e.g., Cole, Dft. Ex. A-45, p. 148, 255; Morgan, Dft. Ex. A-45, p. 229; Forbes, Dft. Ex. A-45, p.382; Wilkins, Dft. Ex. A-45, p.389: Gage, Dft. Ex.. A-45, pp. 485, 509-510; Butricke, Dft. Ex. A-45, p. 498) George Morgan, a member of
/pg. 78/
one of the trading companies which were exploring the possibilities of developing trade in the Illinois and Wabash areas wrote to his partners from Kaskaskia in July of 1768 about an attack on a trading boat the firm had sent up the Shawnee River (present-day Cumberland River) that
The Post St Vincent Indians were those who have injured us. They are a mixture of Potawatamies Piankishaws Wiotonans Kickapous Miamis & Virmillion Tribes- (Morgan, Det. Ex. A-45,pp. 363)[see Footnote 25]
but he did not know if all these "Nations" had taken part in the attack. This composition for the Indian population of Post Vincennes is somewhat surprising, and may perhaps be explained as a misunderstanding by Morgan based on the fact that various Indian groups traveling up and down the Wabash did stop at Vincennes and did mingle there for trade and on their way south on war parties. Edward Cole, commissary of the Indian Department at Fort Chartres in the Illinois country, for example, wrote Sir William Johnson that he thought
there is an absolute necessity of Establishing a Post, at Post Vincennt, and to have Some one there, in the Indian Department it being the great path throw which all the northward Indians pass, and a Great place of Trade. (Cole, D M . Ex. A-45, p. 255)
From the other information of this time it is clear that the Indians who lived at Vincennes were chiefly Piankashaws.[see Footnote 26]
/pg. 79/
The Commissary for Indians in the Illinois country continued to try to preserve peace with the Indians of the Wabash and the English as well as those who lived along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. One of the accounts of expenditures of the trading firm of Baynton, Wharton, and Morgan, dated September 13, 1768, which is certified by the Commissary of this department, for example, cites among other entries the following:
First. To two Parties of the Vermillion and Kaskaskia Indians who came [ms. burned] the Black Fly, in Consequence of a Message sent to them by me to [inquire] into the Truth of a report which was spread abroad that they had rec[eived] a Belt to Strike their Father the English(Cole and Eorbes, Dft. Ex. A-45, p. 405). [see Footnote 27]
The Black Fly who received this message was a chief of the Vermilion Piankashaws. John Wilkins continued a conciliatory policy towards the Indians when he took over duties in the Indian department of the Illinois country. In his journal of transactions and presents given the Indians for this period are occasional entries for Wabash Indians. On May 15, 1769, for example, evidently referring to the attacks on Shawnee and Green rivers mentioned above (see p. 81 and fn. 25) he recorded the following:
Came two Cheif men from St Vincents Agreeable to my Speech to those nations that had Struck the English they seem'd well inclined at least it was prudent to make them believe I thought so, gave them a belt to Speak to those Nations & 2 blanketts, 41b of vermillion, 2 Shirts, 2 Carrots of
/pg. 80/
Tobacco & a pipe of peace & 4 Gallons of rum to Drink with their Brothers (Wilkins, Dft. Ex. A-344, May 15, 1769)
Footnotes
Footnote 23: Bracketed comments are in the printed document.[return to text]
Footnote 24: See, e.g., Franklin Dft. Ex. A-44, p. 221; Johnson Dft. Ex. A-44, pp. 224-226. See also, Wainwright, Dft. Ex. A-109, pp. 225-230 for an excellent discussion of Croghan's activites and land interests in the Illinois and other areas at this time. Additional specific citations on this point from Wainwright's volume are too numerous and scattered to be given here.[return to text]
Footnote 25: See Morgan, Dft. Ex. A-45, pp. 354-355; Forbes, Dft. Ex. A-45, p. 367 for details of the attack. The same party of Indians later attacked a party of Virginians hunting on Green River on the Virginia side of the Ohio before returning to Post Vincennes. [return to text]
Footnote 26: One example only among numerous others is the statement of Father Sebastian Louis Meurin, a missionary priest writing from Kaskaskia and discussing church problems in the Illinois country who mentions, in March of 1767, that "Post Vincennes on the Wabash, among the Miami Piankashaw, is as large as our best villages here [i.e., Illinois] and has still greater need of a missionary." (Meurin, Dft. Ex. A-44, p. 526)[return to text]
Footnote 27: Bracketed insertions are in the printed text.[return to text]
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