Conclusions on Piankashaw Indian Locations (ca. 1805 - ca. 1832) pp. 257-259
/pg. 257/
A few Piankashaws continued to live and hunt in southeastern Illinois and southwestern Indiana for an indefinite period of time after its cession in August of 1804 (Royce Area 49) and December of 1805 (Royce Area 63), apparently at least up through 1811 or 1812.
They probably left the east side of the Wabash River generally, except for visits to Vincennes and Terre Haute, after about 1807, but /pg. 258/ there are indications that they did not leave the Embarrass, Mill Creek, and Vermilion River areas on the west side of the Wabash Rive until forced to by fear of American rangers during the War of 1812, when part of them joined hostile Indians, headed by the Shawnee Prophet and part went to Peoria. Their village at Peoria, where they had gone, apparently in 1812, was burned in that same year, and they apparently then fled partly to the Sac and Fox Indians, some of whom were hostile to the United States, and partly to the west side of the Mississippi River, where they again settled for a brief period. By 1814 some Piankashaws had taken part in a raid on some Americans established on the Missouri River, and a large body of them was captured near a fort that they had apparently established that year on the south side of Missouri River and removed to the Cape Girardeau region near St. Louis. It may be, too, that during this time some individuals remained with hostile Sac and Fox Indians and some Piankashaws may have remained in scattered bands in unpatrolled areas of Illinois.
After the War of 1812 some Piankashaws wanted to return to their lands on the west side of the Wabash and apparently a number did so; others wanted to remain west of the Mississippi River out of the way of the Americans and apparently the larger number of Piankashaws remained there. Post-war Piankashaw annuities were paid to this western group by agents under William Clark, rather than by the agents under the governors of Illinois or Indiana.
In 1818 one group of Piankashaws which had returned to the west side of the Wabash River sold to the United States their unlocated reserve in Royce Area 63, and nothing specific has been found concerning /pg. 259/ their subsequent moves, though presumably they moved west either to join their compatriots or perhaps other Indian groups. The group living west of the Mississippi protested that they hadn't been consulted about this sale and felt that they should have been. They continued, however, to reside west of the Mississippi, and from time to time agreed to move further west, relinquishing in 1824 and 1832 their claims to any lands in Illinois and Missouri for what was deemed suitable recompense.
Historical materials do not indicate that any large group of Piankashaws lived east of the Mississippi River after 1812, but do indicate that some Piankashaws did live and hunt in Southeastern Illinois at least until 1818, and that the United States felt it had to secure a quit claim from them for lands in eastern Illinois north of Royce Area 63 as late as 1824 and finally, again, in 1832 when the Piankashaws reconfirmed all their previous treaties and agreed also to relinquish their reserve in Missouri and to move farther west.
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