USA > Indiana > St Joseph County > A history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Volume 1 > Part 18
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Additional causes of trouble resulted from the condition of affairs in France. In 1793,
the French revolution was at its height; Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette had been put to death; the monarchy was overthrown; and the republic had armed nearly a million men in war with all Europe. The sympathy of the American people was to a great extent in favor of the French republic; and it was perhaps only through the wise counsels of Washington that we were preserved from being drawn into the terrific storm which then raged between France and the armies of the world. The French minister to the United States, Mr. Genet, artfully playing upon the people's sentiments of gratitude for aid received from France during our revolu- tion, tried to secure American enlistments and to form an army to attack the Spanish posses- sions in Florida and Louisiana, and also to induce Americans to man privateers to prey upon British commerce. Even George Rogers Clark accepted a Major-General's commission from Genet, with authority to wrest from Spain her dominions beyond the Mississippi. Both England and Spain expected war with the United States; and both English and Spanish emissaries were constantly engaged in stirring up the Indians to continue hostili- ties with the Americans. Early in 1794, Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe, of the Canadian government, was ordered to establish a Brit- isli military post at the foot of the rapids of the Maumee, near the present site of Fort Wayne; and, on April, 1794, he marched three companies of British troops from De- troit to that point, while about the same time a Spanish messenger from St. Louis came to encourage the Indians assembled at that point, promising Spanish assistance from the settlements beyond the Mississippi. It needed the coolness and wisdom of Washington and the military genius of General Anthony Wayne to carry the country safely through this crisis. On the representations of our government, Genet was recalled, and a new minister sent from France who did very much to undo the mischief which Genet had caused. During the same time the United States
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
government took every measure possible to secure the good will of the Indians, and to enter into treaties of peace with them. The commissioners and agents of the government were instructed to assure the Indians, in the "most explieit terms, that the United States renouneed all claim to any Indian land which had not been ceded, by fair treaties, made with the Indian nations." All was apparently to no purpose. The Indians, partly through fear of losing their hunting grounds, and partly through unfriendly representations made by British and Spanish emissaries, re- fused to make any treaties which the Ameri- eans could agree to.
Meanwhile General Wayne went ahead with his preparations for the conflict that finally became inevitable. Having collected at Fort Washington a force sufficiently strong and well disciplined for the purpose, and all hope of the making of any treaties of peace having finally vanished, General Wayne with his army, upon which so much depended, began his eventful expedition October 7, 1793, pro- eeeding by way of Forts Hamilton, St. Clair and Jefferson, following the line taken by St. Clair two years previous, and arriving at a point half way between Fort Jefferson and St. Clair's battle ground on October 13th, where he was compelled to await his supplies. After garrisoning the several forts and leaving the sick to be cared for, there remained an army of twenty-six hundred men in the advance. Having in mind the fate of St. Clair, General Wayne concluded that the winter season was unsuited for a further campaign, and went into winter quarters at a place which he named Fort Greenville, near the site of the present city of Greenville. On October 23rd, he sent forward a detachment to take posses- sion of the ground where St. Clair was de- feated, and there erected a fort to which he gave the appropriate name of Fort Recovery. During the winter some attempt was made by the 'Indians to renew peace negotiations with General Wayne, but nothing came of it. On June 30, 1794, a large body of Indians,
aided by British agents and Canadian volun- teers, made an attack on an American detach- ment in the neighborhood of Fort Recovery. On July 26, 1794, a force of sixteen hundred mounted Kentucky volunteers were added to Wayne's army; and with these fresh troops he felt strong enough to take up the line of march for the Maumee towns. On the 8th of August the army arrived at the confluence of the Maumee and Auglaize rivers, where a fort named Fort Defiance was erected. Here peace was again offered to the Indians, but was again declined. On August 15th, Wayne marched out from Fort Defiance, and on the 20th met and defeated the Indians in a deci- sive battle, almost under the guns of the new British fort. With Little Turtle's army were no less than seventy white men, including a corps of volunteers from Detroit under com- mand of a British officer. On September 17, 1794, the American army reached the deserted Miami village at the junction of the Little St. Joseph's and the St. Mary's rivers; and on October 22nd, a fort was completed at that point and named Fort Wayne. In 1814, a new fort was built on the site of this old fort ; and from this has grown the splendid city of Fort Wayne.
See. 11 .- THE TREATY OF GREENVILLE .- General Wayne returned with his army to Greenville, and sent invitations to all the tribes to send representatives to him at that place to renew negotiations for peace. On November 19, 1794, the United States and Great Britain coneluded "a treaty of amity. commerce and navigation"; so that the Indians no longer could hope for British aid against the Americans. They therefore began to listen to Wayne's renewed invitations : and in June, 1795, strong deputations from vari- ous tribes arrived at Greenville. After long continued deliberations. and many eloquent speeches, according to the Indian custom, peace was finally concluded, and the famous treaty of Greenville was signed August 3, 1795, giving peace and security again to the northwest.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
Sec. 12 .- INDIAN LAND TITLES .- By the treaty of Greenville the Indians for the first time formally relinquished title to parts of lands in the northwest theretofore in dispute between them and the whites. Before that treaty the Indians had never acknowledged the right of the whites to any lands, even those claimed by the latter from their first occupancy of the county, such as the lands of Clark's Grant and the lands in and around Vincennes. Including the treaty of Green- ville, August 3, 1795, there were no less than forty-six separate treaties with various tribes of Indians, covering all the lands within the present state of Indiana, the last of those treaties being made with the Miamis, Novem- ber 28, 1840. "It will thus be seen," says Mr. W. H. Smith, in his history of Indiana, "that the process of extinguishing the Indian titles was a slow one, and that the Indians were not finally dispossessed until after Indi- ana had been a member of the Union for nearly a quarter of a century. In most of these final treaties certain tracts were reserved by the Indians for favorite members of the tribes, and are yet known as 'reservations,' although about all the lands have passed to other persons than the descendants of the original beneficiaries. A few descendants of the Miamis still live in Wabash and Miami counties. [A few persons of Pottawatomie descent are also found in St. Joseph county.] In its various purchases from the Indians, the United States frequently had to accept from two. sometimes three, different tribes separate relinquishments of their respective rights, titles. and claims to the same section of coun- try."«
Sec. 13 .- LEWIS CASS AND THE INDIAN TREATIES.D-Most readers of Indiana history know that Cass county, Indiana, was named after Lewis Cass, the Michigan general and governor of that name, who afterwards came very near being president of the United a. William Henry Smith, Hist. Indiana, Vol. 1, pp. 228-239.
b. From the Indianapolis News of May 25, 1907.
States; but many do not know how much he had to do with extinguishing the Indian titles to land in this state and opening the lands to white settlement.
Of the treaties by which the Indians at dif- ferent times made cessions of land in Indiana, General Cass assisted in negotiating nine. These were with several different tribes and covered a period of about ten years, from 1818 to 1828. One of them was negotiated and signed at Mamnee Rapids, O .. in 1817; four at St. Mary's, O., in 1818; one at Chi- cago, in 1821; two near the mouth of the Mississinewa, in 1826. and one at Mission, on the St. Joseph, in the same year.
The process of extinguishing the Indian titles to lands in Indiana occupied nearly fifty years, beginning with the treaty at Green- ville, negotiated by General Wayne, in 1795, and ending with that of Forks of the Wabash, negotiated by Samuel Milroy and Allen Ham- ilton, in 1840.
The policy of making treaties with the In- dians as independent tribes for the possession of their lands began immediately after the adoption of the constitution and continued till 1871. To this extent, therefore, the Govern- ment recognized the Indian tribes as foreign nations, making treaties with them which were ratified by the Senate, the same as treaties with foreign governments. No doubt this was better than seizing the lands by force and appropriating them without any pretense of negotiation, though the whole proceeding was really one of foree.
As the Indians were practically subjugated from the beginning and destined to extermi- nation or removal to reservations, making treaties with them was rather a farcical pro- cedure, yet no doubt, it was the best method of extinguishing their title to lands. As the tribes, north and south, were numerous, it required a great many treaties to complete the process of extinguishing title.
From the foundation of the Government to 1837, the Government concluded 349 trea- ties with fifty-four different tribes, and many
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPHI COUNTY.
after that. Of the Indians who originally occupied portions of Indiana eleven different treaties were negotiated at different times with the Kickapoos, eight with the Weas, six- teen with the Delawares, ten with the Miamis and thirty-eight with the Pottawatomies.
Most of these treaties included a cession of more or less land, so it will be seen the pro- cess of extinguishing Indian titles was a kind of paring off and whittling down process. On the whole, however, it was accomplished, as far as Indiana is concerned with very little bloodshed, compared with what might have been in a struggle for the possession of so vast and valuable a territory had the Indians been united and determined.
The treaties by which they relinquished their rights and ceded their lands usually con- tained provisions for the payment of a lump sum of money to the tribe, for the payment of annuities to the chiefs and the promise of various articles, such as rifles, hoes, kettles, blankets and tobacco to each Indian who should move to the new reservation. Provi- sion was also generally made for their trans- portation. The consideration named in some of the treaties for their cessions of land, what might be called the purchase money, was ridiculously small compared with its real value.
The treaties were generally preceded by smooth and specious talks by the white com- missioners representing the urgent needs of the whites, the advantages to the Indians of a change, etc. General Cass's address to the Miami and Pottawatomie Indians at Missis- sinewa is preserved and is a sample. This treaty was made October 16. 1826, the other two commissioners besides Cass being James B. Ray and John Tipton.
General Cass began by thanking the Great Spirit for having granted them good weather and brought them all to the council-house in safety. He continued : "When the Great Spirit placed you upon this island [the In- dians called this continent an island], he gave you plenty of game for food and clothing
and bows and arrows with which to kill it. After some time it became difficult to kill the game, and the Great Spirit sent the white men here, who supplied you with powder and ball and with blankets and clothes. We were then a very small people, but we have greatly increased and we are now over the whole face of the country. You have decreased and your numbers are now much reduced. You have but little game, and it is difficult for you to support your women and children by hunting. Your Great Father, whose eyes survey the whole country, sees that you have a large tract of land here which is of no service to you; you do not cultivate it, and there is but little game upon it. The buffalo has long since left it, and the deer are going. There are no beaver and there will soon be no other animals worth hunting upon it.
"There are a great many of the white children of your Great Father who would be glad to live on this land. They would build houses and raise corn and cattle and hogs. You know when a family grows up and be- comes large, they must leave their father's house and look for a place for themselves. So it is with your white brethren; their family is increasing and they must find some new place to move to. Your Great Father is will- ing to give for this land much more than it is worth to you. He is willing to give more than all the game upon it would sell for. You know well that all he promises he will perform."
The speaker then pointed out how much happier the Indians would be far away from the whites, where there would be no danger of collisions, and especially where it would not be so easy for their young men to obtain whisky. He continued : "Your Great Father owns a large country west of the Mississippi river. He is anxious that all his red children should remove there and settle down in peace together; then they can hunt and provide well for their women and children and once more become a happy people. We are authorized to offer you a residence there,
.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
equal in extent to your lands here, and to pay you an annuity which will make you 'com- fortable, and to provide the means of your re- moval. You will then have a country abound- ing with game, and you will also have the value of the country you leave, and you will be beyond the reach of whisky. for it can not reach you there. Your Great Father will not suffer his white children to reside there. for it is reserved for the red people; it will be yours as long as the sun shines and the rain falls. You must go before long: you can not remain here, you must remove or perish.
"Now is the time to make a good bargain for yourselves which will make you rich and comfortable. Come forward, then, like wise men and accept the terms we offer." The Indians were not fools and they must have been rather disgusted by the pretended anx- iety of their Great Father at Washington for their welfare. However. they signed the treaty. Under it they were removed first to a reservation in Kansas which General Cass had assured them "will be yours as long as the sun shines and the rain falls." But their Great Father changed his mind, and later they were removed to the Indian Territory.
Between 1817 and 1831, General Cass had assisted in concluding treaties with different tribes of Indians by which cessions of land were acquired in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, to an amount equal to nearly one-fourth of the entire area of those states. There is a Cass county in Michi- gan, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska and North Dakota, besides that in our own state. Gen- eral Cass's public services as superintendent of Indian Affairs, United States Senator. Secretary of War. Secretary of State. and other important offices made him very popu- lar, and in 1844 he came very near being nominated for President. On the first day of the convention he ran up from eighty-three on the first ballot to 114 on the eighth, and if another ballot had been taken on that day he would have been nominated. The next morn- ing James K. Polk was sprung as a "dark
horse" candidate and nominated on the first ballot. In 1848, General Cass was nominated, but was defeated by General Taylor. The Democracy of Indiana were for him from the beginning and in 1848 he received the elec- toral vote of the state.
Sec. 14 .- INDIAN TITLES TO ST. JOSEPHI COUNTY LANDS .- The Indian title to the lands of St. Joseph county was extinguished in four of the forty-six treaties above referred to, as follows :
1. The lands in the northeastern section of the county, embracing Harris and Clay town- ships. the north part of Penn, the east part of German, the east part of Portage and the north part of Center, are included in the lands ceded to the United States by the treaty made at Chicago with the Ottawas. Chippewas and Pottawatomies, August 29, 1821. The sites of our two cities, South Bend and Mishawaka, as well as those of the village of Osceola. the University of Notre Dame and St. Mary's Academy. are all within this cession. Only a small part of the lands ceded by this treaty are within the bounds of the state of Indiana. the greater part being in Michigan. Indeed. it would seem as if the lands were looked upon as all in Michigan. The Ottawas and Chippe- was were Michigan Indians. as were. in part. the Pottawatomies also; and it is to be noted that the southern boundary of the lands ceded by this treaty is the old Michigan boundary line, the line recognized by the Ordinance of 1787, running east and west through the southerly bend of Lake Michigan. Indeed this old Michigan boundary line is frequently referred to as the old Indian boundary line.
2. The lands in the northwestern section of the county, embracing Warren township. the north part of Olive. the west part of Ger- man, the west part of Portage and the north part of Greene, are included in the lands ceded to the United States by the treaty made with the Pottawatomies. October 16. 1826. The southern boundary of the lands ceded by this treaty is also the old Michigan boundary line, the line recognized in the Ordinance of
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
1787. The site of the town of New Carlisle, and also the beautiful Terre Coupee prairie as well as the villages of Lindley and Crum's Point. are within this cession.
3. The lands in the southeastern section of the county, embracing the township of Madison, the south part of Penn, the south part of Center and the east part of Union, are included in the lands ceded to the United States by the treaty made with the Potta- watomies, September 20, 1828. The lands so ceded reach north to the old Michigan bound- ary line. Woodland and Lakeville are within the limits of this cession.
4. The lands in the southwestern section of the county, embracing the townships of Liberty and Lincoln, the south part of Greene and the west part of Union, are in- eluded in the lands ceded to the United States by the treaty made with the Pottawatomies, October 26, 1832. The lands here ceded also reach north to the old Michigan boundary line. Walkerton and North Liberty are with- in this territory.
It appears, then, that all the lands of St. Joseph county were claimed and ceded by the Pottawatomies; except those in the northeast- ern section, which were ceded jointly by the Ottawas, Chippewas and Pottawatomies. This former home of the Miamis had become essentially a Pottawatomie country. And, although, when the first treaty of cession of the lands of this county was made. August 29. 1821, the state of Indiana had already been five years in the Union, with its northern boundary ten miles north of the line fixed by the Ordinance of 1787; yet, in the four treaties by which the lands of this county were ceded by the Indians to the United States, the old Michigan boundary line was recog- nized. It is remarkable, too, that as this county of St. Joseph had been the center of geological forces, resulting in the present con- figuration of the St. Joseph and Kankakee val- leys and the adjacent hills and prairies; and as the portage between the two rivers formed the central road of commerce for untold ages
between the lakes and the Mississippi ; so now, when the Indian eame to yield, reluctantly, stubbornly, these fair lands of his forefathers, he stood, as it were, with his foot on the cen- ter of the county, and, by treaty after treaty. ceded one fourth of the county at a time, from 1821 until 1832. when all was gone. It was, indeed, a land to hold fast to, and to be finally yielded to the white man only when the superior race could be resisted no longer.
Sec. 15 .- THE FIRST LEGISLATURE OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY .- The free male in- habitants of the territory northwest of the river Ohio having reached the number of five thousand, Governor St. Clair. on October 29. 1798, as required by the provisions of the Ordinanee of 1787, issued his proclamation for an election to be held on the third Monday of December following, for the election of members of the first general assembly : which was called to convene at Cincinnati, January 22, 1799. The legislature met accordingly. and nominated ten persons from whom the president should select a legislative council of five, to constitute an upper house, or ter- ritorial senate, as provided in the ordinance of 1787. After making their nominations to the president for the appointment of a legis- lative council, the legislature was adjourned by the governor to meet again. September 16, 1799. The two houses were not properly or- ganized until the 24th of that month. The members of the legislative council, as selected by President Adams, were Jacob Burnet, James Findlay, Henry Vanderburgh, Robert Oliver and David Vanee. This was the first senate of the northwest territory. Henry Van- derburgh was elected president ; William C. Schenk, secretary; George Howard, door- keeper; and Abner Cary, sergeant-at-arms. Seven counties were represented; and the house of representatives consisted of nineteen members. The counties were mostly in the territory constituting the present state of Ohio, showing that the emigration was chiefly to that section. Knox county, of which Vin- cennes was the county seat, was the only
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IIISTORY OF ST. JOSEPHI COUNTY.
county in what is now the state of Indiana; and it was represented in the general assem- bly by Shadrach Bond. The house organized by electing Edward Tiffin, speaker; John Reilly, clerk; Joshua Rowland, doorkeeper; and Abraham Cary, sergeant-at-arms. On October 3, 1799, the legislature elected Wil- liam Henry Harrison, afterwards president of the United States, as the first delegate of the territory in congress. On the 26th of the pre- vious June, Harrison had been appointed by the president as secretary of the territory, in the place of Winthrop Sargent, who was ap- pointed first governor of the new territory of Mississippi.
This first general assembly of the territory northwest of the Ohio river continued in ses- sion until December 19, 1799; during which time forty-eight acts were passed, thirty-seven of which were approved by Governor St. Clair and became laws. These first laws enacted by the representatives of the people were, in general, such as were necessary for the administration of justice and the conduct of public affairs. Many of them, however, were peculiar to the time and to the condi- tions of the people. One was for the regula- tion of ferries, made necessary by the absence of bridges over the large rivers. Another was designed to prevent Sabbath breaking, pro- fane swearing, drunkenness, duelling, cock- fighting, running horses on public highways, gambling at billiards, cards, dice, etc. An act for the taxation of land provided that every hundred acres of first rate land should be taxed eighty-five cents; every hundred acres of second rate land, sixty cents; every hun- dred acres of third rate, twenty-five cents ; larger or smaller tracts to be assessed in pro- portion. An act for the compensation of members of the legislative council and mem- bers of the house of representatives, provided that each member should receive three dollars for each day's attendance, and also three dol- lars at the beginning and end of each session for each fifteen miles traveled.
Under the provisions of the Ordinance of
1787, the governor and judges of the general court had adopted many laws for the govern- ment of the northwest territory, which were to remain valid until altered by the general assembly. The territory was therefore sup- plied with a code of laws before the'convening of the first general assembly. Among the laws so adopted was one, published August 30, 1788, providing that the general, or supreme, court should hold one session at the county seat in each county during each year. One session of this high court was therefore held at Vincennes, Knox county, in what is now the state of Indiana, every year. Another act, published September 6, 1788, provided that treason, murder and house burning (where death resulted) were punishable by death; burglary and robbery, by whipping, not exceeding thirty-nine stripes, fine and im- prisonment, not exceeding forty years; per- jury, by a fine not exceeding sixty dollars, or by whipping, not exceeding thirty-nine lashes, and disfranchisement, and standing on the pillory, not exceeding two hours; larceny, by fine or whipping, at the discretion of the court. If the convict could not pay the fine, it was lawful for the sheriff, under direction of the court, to bind him for a term of serv- ice, not exceeding seven years to any one who would pay the finc. Forgery was punish- able by fine, disfranchisement and standing on the pillory, not exceeding three hours. Drunkenness, for the first offense, was pun- ishable by a fine of five dimes; and for every succeeding offense, by a fine of one dollar. In either case, if the fine were not paid, the drunkard was placed in the stocks for one hour. Persons intending to marry were re- quired to give fifteen days' notice, by publica- tion in church, or by a writing, under the hand and seal of a judge or a justice of the peace, posted in some conspicuous place; or, in lieu of such publication, a license might be obtained from the governor. By an act pub- lished November 6, 1790, the governor was authorized to appoint not less than three nor more than seven judges of common pleas, and
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