USA > Indiana > Cass County > History of Cass County, Indiana > Part 1
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INDIANA UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
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HISTORY
OF
CASS COUNTY,
INDIANA.
BY THOMAS B. HELM.
CHICAGO: KINGMAN BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. 1878.
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OUR INDIAN HISTORY. . BY THOMAS B. HELM.
TT has long been recognized as an accepted fact, by those whose opportu- nities have enabled them to form a just judgment in the premises, that the great Indian family which occupied this territory at the time when the white man first traversed these wilds round about, was that known as the Algonquin, embracing the kindred tribes who inhabited the greater part of the territory east of the Mississippi River. Of these tribes, the principal was the Miamis, who, as early as 1650, exercised a general control over the particular territory in which we are personally interested.
Subsequently permissive, and in many instances aggressive, encroach- ments began to be made by other tribes of the same great family. Among those permitted, at different periods, to enter and occupy portions of the large extent of territory claimed by the Miamis were branches of Pottawato- mie, Shawanoe, Delaware and Kickapoo tribes. So far as appertaing to our present purpose, the Miamis were the occupants, chiefly, of the territory south of the Wabash River, while the Pottawatomies were the acknowledged owners and proprietors of the territory north of the Wabash. Along the borders, however, there was a somewhat promiscuous intermingling in the latter days of their control, of isolated elements of these two tribes and others nearly allied to them, especially along the borders of Eel River.
In a letter, written by B. F. Stickney, an Indian agent in the service of the United States, dated August 27, 1817, and addressed to Thomas L. Mckinney, Superintendent of Indian Affairs the following statements occur : " All the Miamis and Eel River Miamis are under my charge, about one thousand four hundred in number ; and there are something more than two thousand Pottawatomies who come within my agency." " The Miamis and Eel River Miamis reside, principally, on the Wabash, Mississinewa and Eel Rivers. and the head of White River ; the Pottawatomies on the Tippecanoe, Kankakee, Iroquois, Yellow River and St. Joseph of Lake Michigan, the Elkhart, Miami of the Lake, the St. Joseph emptying into it, and the St. Mary's River."
The first general treaty, perhaps, in which the several tribes of the Al- gonquin family in the original Northwestern Territory-embracing those named above-were participants, was that at Greenville, in the Territory of the United States Northwest of the Ohio River, on the 3d day of August, 1795. It was there that the various tribal interests were fully discussed, and the separate rights of each considered with reference to their past and future relations with the white people. Fifteen tribes and branches were represented in that council, the deliberations of which commenced on the 16th day of June and terminated on the 3d day of August, 1795, with the unanimous acceptance, by the several representatives present, of the several provisions of that important treaty in which they were respectively inter- ested. It was during the continuance of this council that Little Turtle, a representative chief of the Miamis, defined the traditionary boundaries of their territory. Addressing Gen. Wayne, he said :
"I hope you will pay attention to what I now say to you. I wish to in- form you where your younger brothers, the Miamis, live, and also the Pot- tawatomies of St. Joseph, together with the Wabash Indians. You have pointed out to us the boundary line between the Indians and the United States, but I now take the liberty to inform you that that line cuts off from the Indians a large portion of country which has been enjoyed by my fore- fathers, time immemorial, without molestation or dispute. The prints of my ancestors' houses are everywhere to be seen in this portion. It is well known by all my brothers present, that my forefathers kindled the first fire at Detroit; from thence he extended his lines to the head waters of the Scioto; from thence, to its mouth ; from thence, down the Ohio to the mouth of the Wabash ; and from thence, to Chicago, on Lake Michigan."
One of the provisions of the treaty, which materially affected the inter- ests of this locality, was that which allowed " to the people of the United States a free passage by land and water, as one and the other shall be found convenient, through their country from Fort Wayne, along the portage aforesaid, which leads to the Wabash, and thence down the Wabash to the Ohio." Allowing, also, to the people of the United States the free use of the harbors and mouths of rivers along the lakes adjoining Indian lands, for sheltering vessels and boats, and liberty to land their cargoes when necessary for their safety.
By a subsequent treaty, to which the Wyandots, Delawares, Senecas, Shawanoes, Miamis, Chippewas, Ottawas and Pottawatomies were parties, on the 8th day of September, 1815, the provisions of the treaty of Greenville, above referred to, and all other treaties to which the several tribes were par- ties, respectively, were agreed to anew, and again ratified and confirmed.
While the provisions of those several treaties only affected the interests of this locality generally, their relevancy is pertinent to the means whereby
we acquired the rights and privileges we now enjoy. The rights which have been thus ceded to the United States were, at & period antecedent to the dates of these treaties, held in common by the various tribes who volun- tarily, by their joint act, transferred those rights to their white brethren.
THE MIAMIS.
It has been correctly said that the Miamis were of the Algonquin family. whose dominions extended from the most eastern extremity of New England westward to the waters of the Mississippi, embracing the territory north from the Gulf of Mexico to the land of the Esquimaux Everywhere throughout this vast expanse, branches of their primitive family were to be found, tracing their lineage back to the parent stock. But, while it is true that they were descendants in direct line " of those who greeted the colo- nists of Raleigh at Roanoke, of those who welcomed the Pilgrims at Plymouth," they only sustain that relation in common with numerous other kindred tribes, and are only entitled to special consideration because of their enjoyment, by inheritance, of more of the elements in affivity with the parent stem than their less consanguineous neighbors, being, also, more powerful in competition with them. Bancroft says, too : "The Minmis were more stable, and their own traditions preserve the memory of their ancient limits," illustrated by the regular tracing of Little Turtle. at the treaty of Greenville, elsewhere noted. The same reputable historian says further : "The forests beyond Detroit were at first found unoccupied, or, it may be, roamed over by bands too feeble to attract a trader or win a mis. sionary ; the Ottawas, Algonquin fugitives from the basin of the magnificent river whose name commemorates them, fled to the Bay of Saginaw and took possession of the whole north of the peninsula as of a derelict country ; yet the Miamis occupied its southern moiety, and their principal mission was founded by Allouez, on the banks of the St. Joseph, in the limits of the present State of Michigan."
In 1670, the Miamis were the most powerful confederacy in the West, when, it is said, an army of five thousand men could be called into the field. It is also stated that, " in the early part of the eighteenth century, the Pot- tawatomies had crowded the Miamis from their dwellings, at Chicago. The intruders came from the islands near the entrance of Green Bay, and were a branch of the great nation of the Chippewas. That nation, or, as some write, the Ojibwas, *
* * held the country from the mouth of Green Bay to the head waters of Lake Superior. and were early visited by the French at Sault St. Mary and Chegoimegon."
Notwithstanding the fact that they met with occasional reverses. they continued to be a leading and influential tribe, leaving the impress of their name on many of our Western rivers.
`Again, speaking of the Miamis, it is said they possessed a quiet, perse- vering, but determined nature. To illustrate: "If the death of a brother was to be avenged, they proceeded quietly about the work. Patience, at such a time, was called actively into play; and, if needs be, months might roll away before a blow was struck." While this is generally true of most Indian tribes, it was especially true of the Miamis. A case in point is re- membered by many of the earlier residents of Cass County. Many years before, from some cause, whether imaginary or real, an offense was commit- ted by one Thorntown Miami against another, which was kept in remem- brance until the favored opportunity presented itself. On the occasion re- ferred to-the event having transpired on the evening of February 24, 1835 -No-ka-me-na, better known as Capt. Flower, a principal chief of the Miamis, was stealthily murdered by a drunken Indian called " Lame Man," on the south side of the Wabash, opposite Logansport. It seems that Lame Man had long and silently nursed his wrath, and only waited the arrival of the opportune moment. During the day and early evening preceding, he had been lying around one of the trading houses, considerably intoxicated, watching his victim. Later in the evening, he disappeared, and was not again heard or noticed until, on the following morning, it was announced that Capt. Flower had been killed the night previous, to compensate for an old grudge. An editorial notice in the Telegraph of February 28, 1835, thus referred to him: "Capt, Flower was one of the finest looking Indians be- longing to the Miami nation, and his death is regretted by a large number of friends and acquaintances." This was but one notable instance of the many that took place in this locality, exemplifying a peculiarity of the Miami nation as strikingly characteristic, perhaps, as any belonging to other nations.
The great treaty entered into by the Miamis and the Commissioners on the part of the United States, under the provisions of which the first im- portant cession of territory in this part of Indiana was made, was concluded
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.
on the 6th of October, 1818, at St. Mary's, Ohio. The boundaries of the territory embraced in this cession were substantially the following: "Commencing near the town of La Gro, on the Wabash, where the Salamonie unites with the Wabash River; running thence through Wabash and Grant Counties into Madison County, its southeast corner was about four miles southeast of Independence, at the center of Section 17; thence running south of west, with the general course of the Wabash River, across Tipton County, close to the town of Tipton, just north thereof, to where it intersects a line running north and south from Logansport, which is the western boundary of Howard County, one mile west of Range line No. 1, east ; thenoe north to Logansport ; thence up the Wabash to the mouth of the Salamonie, the place of beginning. There was contained within these boundaries 930,000 acres. The greater part of this reservation re- mained in the hands of the Indians until November, 1840, when it was relinquished, being the last of their claims in Indiana."
By the treaty of October 23, 1826, held at Paradise Springs, known as the old "Treaty Grounds," the chiefs and warriors of the Miamis, in coun- cil with Lewis Cass, James B. Ray and John Tipton, Commissioners repre- senting the United States, ceded to the latter power "all their claim to lands in the State of Indiana, north and west of the Wabash and Miami Rivers, and of the cession made by the said tribe to the United States, by the treaty concluded at St. Mary's, October 6, 1818." By further provision of the same treaty, the State of Indiana was authorized to lay out a canal or road through any of the reservations, and for the use of a canal, six chains along the same were appropriated.
In payment for this, they received $31,040.58 in goods, $31,040,53 in cash. The following year, 1827, they received $61,259.47 in addition ; of which $35,000 was annuities, and in 1828, $30,000. After that date, they were to receive a permanent annuity of $25,000.
Again, in 1834, the Government purchased of them 177,000 acres, in- cluding the strip seven miles wide, off the west side of the reserve, in what is now Cass, Howard and Clinton Counties, which was transferred to the State of Indiana, to be used for the completion of the Wabash & Erie Canal from the mouth of the Tippecanoe River. A strip five miles wide, along the Wabash, had been previously appropriated to the construction of the canal to the mouth of the Tippecanoe. The consideration paid for this was $385,680.
By treaty of November 6, 1838, they made a further cession to the United States of certain lands reserved by former treaties. Finally, on the 28th of November, 1840, they relinquished their right to all the remaining lands in Indiana, except certain specific reservations, for which they re- ceived the sum of $550,000, and agreed to vacate these lands within five years. They did not move, however, until 1847.
POTTAWATOMIES.
This tribe is also of the Algonquin family, being a branch of the great Chippewa or, as some write, Ojibway, nation, which, at the time of our first account of them, about the middle of the seventeenth century, occupied and held the country from the mouth of Green Bay to the head waters of Lake Superior. This nation was visited at an early date by the French at Sault St. Mary and Chegoimegon.
At a later day, they appear to have migrated southward, formidable bands of them having gained a footing on the territory of the Miamis near the southern extremity of Lake Michigan, partly by permission and partly by force. Since that time, they have been recognized as occupying the ter- ritory to the southward of Lake Michigan, on the Tippecanoe River, thence to the borders of the Wabash on the north.
Considering the etymology of their language, there seems to be a marked significance attaching to their name. Pottawatomie is a compound of the word Put-ta-wa, signifying a blowing out or expansion of the cheeks, as in the act of blowing a fire, and me, a nation, the name, therefore, being inter- preted, means a nation of fire blowers. It has been stated, on apparently good authority, that the application of their name is derived from the facility with which they kindled and set to burning the ancient council fires of their forefathers.
On the 18th of July, 1815, the Pottawatomies, desiring to enter into re- lations of friendship with the United States and place themselves in a proper position before the world, concluded a treaty, the first separate one made by them, the chief element of which is set forth in Section 2, in the following words :
"There shall be perpetual peace and friendship between all the people of the United States of America and all the individuals composing the said Pottawatomie Tribe or Nation."
By the provisions of a treaty, made and concluded at St. Mary's, on the 2d day of October, 1818, they ceded to the United States all the country comprehended within the following limits : "Beginning at the mouth of the Tippecanoe River, and running up the same to a point twenty-five miles in a direct line from the Wabash River ; thence, on a line as nearly parallel to the general course of the Wabash River as practicable, to a point on the Vermilion River, twenty-five miles from the Wabash River; thence down the Vermilion River to its mouth, and thence up the Wabash River to the place of beginning. The Pottawatomies also cede to the United States all their claim to the country south of the Wabash River."
The treaty of most importance to the people of this locality, made by this tribe with the United States, was at Paradise Springs, near the mouth of the Mississinewa, upon the Wabash, on the 16th day of October, 1826, by the provisions of which the United States acquired the right to all the land within the following limits : "Beginning on the Tippecanoe River, where the northern boundary of the tract ceded by the Pottawatomies to the United States, by the Treaty of St. Mary's, in the year 1818, intersects the san e, thence, in a direct line, to a point on Eel River, half way between the mouth
of the said river and Pierish's village ; thence up Eel River to Seek's village, near the head thereof; thence, in a direct line, to the mouth of a creek empty- ing into the St. Joseph's of the Miami, near Metea's village; thence, up the St. Joseph's, to the boundary line between the States of Indiana and Ohio; thence, south to the Miami; thence, up the same, to the reservation at Fort Wayne; thence, with the lines of the said reservation, to the boundary established by the treaty with the Miamis in 1818; thence, with the said line, to the Wabash River; thence, with the same river, to the mouth of the Tippecanoe River, and thence, with the said Tippecanoe River, to the place of beginning. And the said tribe also cede to the United States all their right to land within the following limits : Beginning at a point on Lake Michi- gan, ten miles due north of the southern extreme thereof, running thence due east to the land ceded by the Indians to the United States, by the Treaty of Chicago; thence south, with the boundary thereof, ten miles; thence west, to the southern extreme of Lake Michigan ; thence, with the shore thereof, to the place of beginning "
By a further provision of the same treaty, for the purpose of building the Michigan road, they made an additional cession " of a strip of land, com- mencing at Lake Michigan, and running thence to the Wabash River, one hundred feet wide, for a road, and, also, one section of good land contiguous to the said road for each mile of the same, and also for each mile of a road from the termination thereof, through Indianapolis to the Ohio River, for the purpose of making a road," connecting those extreme and intermediate points.
In addition to the treaties already referred to, the Pottawatomies con- cluded nineteen other treaties with the United States, ceding certain reserved interests, from time to time withheld, until, by the provisions of the final treaty concluded by them on the 11th of February, 1837, with John T. Douglass, & Commissioner on the part of the United States, at the City of Washington, they ceded all their remaining interest in the lands in the State of Indiana, and agreed to remove to a country provided for them by the President of the United States, southwest of the Missouri River, within two years from the ratification of said treaty. The treaty was ratified at the end of one week from its consummation, and they were removed west- ward in the Fall of1838 and 1839 following.
A LOST BOY. V
A short time subsequent to the conclusion of this last treaty, on the 24th day of March, 1837, Joseph, a son of Thomas Black, then residing on the northeast quarter of Section 27 north, Range 3 east, in this county-at that time about two years old-wasamusing himself in the yard near his father's cabin, when last seen by his mother. Missing her child soon after, the mother, terror stricken at not finding him, gave the alarm to the neighbors residing near by, who immediately made search for the lost little one. As the cry, . " Lost child," spread abroad, the people from far and near turned out to aid in the search, which was continued for days and weeks without finding him or ascertaining his fate-he was lost, perhaps irretrievably. The received opinion was that he had been taken by a small band of Pottawatomies, who were passing that way, en route for the Pottawatomie mills, adjacent to the treaty ground on the Tippecanoe River. Whether this theory is true or not, it bears the marks of plausibility, since it is known that such Indians had been seen in that locality, and that not long after they were removed westward beyond the Missouri River. Some circumstances that have transpired since seem to give color to the idea of its general correctness, versions to that effect having been given by persons cognizant of a transaction of this kind, but bound to secrecy, under a severe penalty, if divulged in the lifetime of the perpetrators.
Some twelve years ago, an incident occurred, which, if reliable, not only corroborates the conjectures alluded to, but relieves the transaction of much of its mystery. About the 1st of April, 1866, a young man, having the appearance and manner of an Indian, made his appearance at Peru, where, it is said, he was recognized. At any rate, he sought the residence of Mr. Black, apparently for the purposes of inquiry. He had not been long there when he asked to see the family Bible, and turning to the registry of births, he gazed silently on the written page, and tears came into his eyes as he read there the record of the lost child's birth, for the age corresponded with his own as he remembered it. Without saying a word, he closed the book and went back from the fire place, and seating himself on a bed, began to chant a most mournful dirge, such as might be expected from one suddenly recall- ing the memories of years gone by, and encountering therein the traditions of his own career. The recital was in a language to the family unknown, but the incident, with its surroundings, and the striking resemblance in his features to a brother of the lost child of thirty years before, induced a sensa- tion of belief that this stranger was none other than the long lost son of that stricken family.
In relating the circumstances of his capture, he said he remembered crossing a stream of water corresponding with that of Eel River, shortly after the Indians had taken him, and that he was in great fear of falling in. The next night afterward, they kept him in an old hollow tree, and brought milk for him to drink. When the Indians got ready, they left, taking him with them to Canada, then to New York, where he remained a year or more ; afterward he was taken west with the Pottawatomies, who were removed beyond the Missouri about that time. From thence he was taken to the city of Mexico, and there educated by an Indian missionary, and subsequently became a medicine man in high repute among his Indian friends.
He remained here for more than a year, spending a portion of his time in the family of Mr. Black, who had little doubt, as he informed the writer of this at the time, of the identity of this person as his lost son, from his near resemblance to his other children, and from other circumstances not now remembered. The Indian name by which he was recognized was Mik-ah- wah, which is said to mean Black, the family name to which he belonged.
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.
HOW A TREATY WAS- MADE.
The following incident, related by one of the parties connected with it, well illustrates the method by which many of the Indian treaties of the last half century have been and are made. Says our informant, speaking of the treaty with the Pottawatomies, made October 26, 1832, on the banks of the Tippecanoe River, near Rochester, Indiana : '. The Commissioners, Jonathan Jennings, John W. Davis and Marks Crume, on the one hand, and the vari- ous Indian chiefs and principal men of the tribe represented, on the other, had been several days consulting, planning and proposing, endeavoring thus to arrive at some definite plan of operations that would be mutually satisfac- tory and conclusive, but up to the time referred to wholly unsuccessful. To work up an agreement with the Indians to treat upon terms satisfactory to all the parties thereto was the thing most desired.
There were a large number of influential chiefs present, among whom were Wah she-o- nas, Wah-ban-see, Aub-bee-naub-bee and others, with Capt. Bourie. The Indians generally were not satisfied with the outlook, and hence were unwilling to enter into the proposed negotiations with the inter- est necessary to insure an early agreement. It seems there was personal ill- feeling between many of the Indians and Mr. Barron, the interpreter, which . had a tendency to delay proceedings. As a consequence, these malcontents refused to listen to any proposition made by the Commissioners through his interpretations.
The delay was growing tedious, and the success of the negotiations exceedingly doubtful. Finally it was determined that Mr. Barron should act as the interpreter. The speech on behalf of the Commissioners that day was to be made by Gov. Jennings, who, as was his wont, had imbibed quite freely of " fire water," and was therefore very wordy. He commenced by saying: " I am most happy to meet you, my red brothers, under this clear blue sky so auspiciously expanded ab ,ve us, beside the crystal waters of your own beautiful Tippecanoe on this green sward beneath our feet. In the midst of these cheerful surroundings, with nature's imagery nodding assent to the purposes of our mission, I feel but too happy in the consciousness that the prospect is most propitious, in that our anticipation of a speedy conclusion of our labors will be shortly realized." Having uttered two or three sen- tences of his wordy introductory, Mr Barron was proceeding to interpret it, but failed to develop any point or fitness in the discourse.
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