USA > Indiana > Kosciusko County > A standard history of Kosciusko County, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development. A chronicle of the people with family lineage and memoirs, Volume I > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32
THE PUBLIC LAND SURVEY
The public lands of the general government were all surveyed upon the same general system, which has come down, in all its essen- tials, to the present. To this end, meridian lines running due north from the mouth of some river are first established. These are inter- sected at right angles by base lines, running east and west. The "first principal meridian" is a line running due north from the mouth of the Miami River, and is, in fact, the east line of the State of Indiana. The "second principal meridian" is a line running due north from
26
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
the mouth of Little Blue River, eighty-nine miles west of the former. The only base line running through Indiana crosses it from east to west in latitude 38° 30', leaving the Ohio twenty-five miles above Louisville and striking the Wabash four miles above the mouth of the White River.
From this base line the Congressional townships of six miles square are numbered north and south, and from the second principal meridian all the ranges of townships are numbered east and west, except the counties of Switzerland and Dearborn, and part of Franklin, Union, Wayne, and Randolph. That portion of the state was surveyed in townships from a base line of fifteen miles north of the former, and in ranges west of the first principal meridian. The Clark grant, in Clark County, and the old French lands in Knox County, are also exceptions to the regularity of the general survey of the state.
The townships are divided into thirty-six equal parts, or thirty- six square miles, containing 640 acres each, called sections. These sections are subdivided into halves of 320 acres, and quarters of 160 acres each, which last are again subdivided into halves of eighty acres and quarters of forty acres each. Fractions are parts of sections intersected by streams, or confirmed claims or reservations, and are of various sizes. The sections of a township are designated by numbers, beginning with the northeast corner and following in regular order to the west side, the second tier of sections beginning on the west side of the township and proceeding east. That portion of the state in the southeast corner, which was included in the Ohio survey, was disposed of at the Cincinnati land office. The remainder of the public lands in the state were principally sold at offices established at Jeffersonville, Vincennes, Crawfordsville, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and Winamac.
CREATION OF THE STATE AND ITS COUNTIES
The restoration of peace with Great Britain and pacification of the Indians in 1815, brought a great increase of population to the territory, so that in December of that year the General Assembly adopted a memorial to Congress asking the admission of Indiana into the Union as a state. Under an enabling act of Congress, a conven- tion to form a constitution was elected, and remained in session from the 10th to the 29th of June, 1816, and on the 11th of December fol- lowing, the state was formally admitted to the Union by a joint resolu- tion of Congress.
At that time, Corydon, the seat of government, had a good stone
27
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
court house built by the speaker of the Territorial Legislature, who, it is said, was often called from the hammer and the trowel to the chair. The other buildings there, not exceeding 100 in number, were chiefly log cabins. The sites of New Albany and Madison presented here and there a few comfortable houses, and perhaps 100 cabins. Jeffersonville and Lawrenceburg had been longer settled, but with the exception of the handsome residence of Governor Posey at the former place, there was no good building in either, and Charleston, Salem, Vevay, Rising Sun and Brookville were then discussed as having magnificent prospects for the future.
STATUS OF THE COUNTRY IN 1816
There were very few large farms in the state in 1816. The range of wild grass, the mast and roots were so abundant in the woods, that hogs, cattle and horses required but little other food, and that was, in general, corn. It is probable that a single corn field of from five to twenty acres constituted at least seven-eighths of the farms then cultivated in the state.
Until the close of the territorial government, more than three- fourths of the state was in possession of the Indians, or had been so recently purchased as not to have been surveyed and exposed to sale. The maps of the state, even as late as 1818, represented the Indian boundary as starting from a point in the northern part of Jackson County and running northeast to the Ohio line near Fort Recovery, and thence northwest to the Wabash, a few miles above Terre Haute. Vincennes was then by far the most considerable town in the new state. The Indian trade was then large; there was gen- erally one or more companies of United States troops at Fort Knox, Vincennes; the business at the land office and the bank, and the inclina- tion of the French to settle in a village rather than on a farm, brought together a population of nearly 2,000.
DEPARTURE OF THE REDS
In 1828 the general government purchased the "ten-mile strip" along the northern end of the state, and in 1832 extinguished the remaining claims of the Indians, save the numerous reservations in the northern part. In 1835 the bulk of the natives were moved west of the Mississippi, and by 1840 all save a few had emigrated from the special Indiana reservations. As the state was thus left free for set- tlement, the surveyor pioncered the advancing civilization, and coun-
28
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
ties were rapidly organized in response to the growing demand of the increasing population. The immigration, at first, came princi- pally from the South, and later from the East, the organization of the counties giving a pretty clear indication of the nature of this development.
PROGRESSIVE CREATION OF COUNTIES
At the organization of the state government, fifteen counties had been formed, and others were organized, as follows: 1817, Daviess, Pike, Jennings, Sullivan ; 1818, Crawford, Dubois, Lawrence, Monroe, Randolph, Ripley, Spencer, Vanderburg, Vigo; 1819, Fayette, Floyd, Owen; 1820, Scott, Martin; 1821, Bartholomew, Greene, Henry, Parke, Union; 1822, Decatur, Marion, Morgan, Putnam, Rush, Shelby ; 1823, Hamilton, Johnson, Madison, Montgomery; 1824, Allen, Hendricks, Vermilion ; 1825, Clay ; 1826, Delaware, Fountain, Tippecanoe; 1828, Carroll, Hancock, Warren ; 1829, Cass ; 1830, Boone, Clinton, Elkhart, St. Joseph ; 1831, Grant ; 1832, LaGrange, LaPorte ; 1834, Huntington, White; 1835, Miami, Wabash ; 1836, Adams, Brown, DeKalb, Fulton, Kosciusko, Marshall, Noble, Porter; 1837, Blackford, Lake, Steuben, Wells, Jay; 1838, Jasper; 1840, Benton ; 1842, Whitley ; 1844, How- ard, Ohio, Tipton ; 1850, Newton.
CHAPTER III STORY OF INDIAN DISPOSSESSION
INDIANA TRIBES USUALLY OF THE ALGONQUIN FAMILY-MIAMI CON- FEDERATION IN INDIANA-THE POTTAWATOMIES-GREAT WESTERN NATION OF THE MIAMIS- JESUIT MISSIONARIES AMONG THE INDIANA MIAMIS - FUR TRADERS AMONG THE MIAMIS - MIAMIS AND POTTAWATOMIES (1765) - TREATY MAKING AND CAMPAIGN- ING - GREENVILLE TREATY OF NORTHWESTERN TRIBES - WAYNE DEFINES THE PURPOSES OF INDIAN RESERVATIONS - REPLIES OF THE CHIEFS - THE FINAL ADOPTION OF THE TREATY - IN- DIANS DIVIDED BY WAR OF 1812-HARRISON, GREAT INDIAN TREATY MAKER-THE POTTAWATOMIES OF NORTHERN INDIANA-FIRST MIGRATION OF THE POTTAWATOMIES-GRAND COUNCIL OF AUGUST, 1838-MENOMINEE'S ELOQUENT DEFI-GOVERNOR WALLACE DE- SCRIBES THE POTTAWATOMIE MIGRATION (1838)-LAST OF THE POT- TAWATOMIES LEAVE IN 1840-INDIAN VILLAGES IN KOSCIUSKO COUNTY-THE MIAMI CHIEFS, FLATBELLY AND WAWWAESSE-POT- TAWATOMIE CHIEFS AND THEIR VILLAGES-ACCOUNTING FOR "BONE" PRAIRIE-MONOQUET'S END AND SUCCESSOR-BENACK AND HIS HUNDREDTH TONGUE-WARNER OUTWITTED BY CHECOSE-THE EEL RIVER INDIANS IN 1835-SAMPLE OF INDIAN FUN-GRAVES DESCRIBES NOTED CHIEFS-ESTIMATED INDIAN POPULATION.
The story tracing the various steps by which the Indians of North- ern Indiana and Kosciusko County were dispossessed of their lands is one of general treatment, and embraces one wholesale departure and a gradual fading away to their western reservations. Although the names of the reservations allotted to the local Pottawatomies and Miamis are still retained in all the maps in current use, thus preserv- ing with special distinctness a record of the ante-white period, repeated inquiry fails to discover a single direct descendant of any of the noted chiefs or members of the tribes, who resided in the region of what is now Kosciusko County when its first settlers came over the Elk- hart line into the wilds of Turkey Creek and the Tippecanoe River.
INDIANA TRIBES USUALLY OF THE ALGONQUIN FAMILY
At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Algonquin family of Indians occupied a vast region in North America, from the Atlantic
29
30
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
Ocean to the Mississippi River between 37° and 53' north latitude. Their territory was bounded on the northeast by the Esquimaux, on the northwest by the Athabascan tribes, on the west by the Dacotahs and on the south by the Cherokees and Natchez Indians. This family was composed of numerous tribes, resembling each other in manners, customs and dialects. Within the territory named dwelt other tribes, differing essentially from the Algonquins. The strongest of these were the Iroquois, their hereditary enemies. Nearly all the tribes found in Indiana were of the Algonquin family.
MIAMI CONFEDERACY IN INDIANA
When the first white men came to Indiana they found there sev- eral tribes, sometimes living at peace with each other, but more often at war. Indiana was then the seat of government of the great Miami . Confederacy, which had been formed against the Iroquois, or Five Nations. When the Iroquois had reached the Atlantic, found that they could go no farther east, and felt the western tribes still push- ing them, they formed a confederacy of five of the largest tribes as a means of self-protection and invasion. Individual tribes had sought to gain a foothold on the eastern side of the mountains, but had been invariably repulsed by the Iroquois Confederacy, and they, too, in turn, formed a union.
Among the principal tribes which formed the Miami Confederacy in what is now Indiana were the Twightwees, Weas, Piankeshaws and Shockeyes. They had fought many and bloody battles with the Iro- quois, had been worsted in the contest, and had been greatly reduced in numbers by the time the white man first invaded their territory. They dwelt in small villages along the various water courses, from the lakes to the Ohio River. The Piankeshaws occupied the territory east of the Wabash and north of the Ohio, as far east as Lawrence County and as far north as Vigo. The Wyandots had a little section compris- ing what is now Harrison, Crawford, Spencer, Perry, Dubois and Orange counties; the Shawnees occupied the land east of the Wyan- dots into the present State of Ohio, and as far north as Rush and Fayette counties; the Weas had their possessions along the Wabash, with their principal villages near the present site of Lafayette; the Twightwees were principally located along the St. Joseph and St. Mary's rivers; the Pottawatomics held the whole northern portion of the state, and the Delawares the central-eastern part. One branch of the Shawnees had villages in the country to the south and east of that occupied by the Weas.
31
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
The Delawares, the Wyandots, the Shawnees and the Pottawat- omies were the strongest of these tribes.
THE POTTAWATOMIES
The Pottawatomies were at one time a very powerful and warlike tribe. When any of the tribes made war on the Americans, they were sure to be found among the fiercest of the warriors. They united with the French as against the British; with other tribes to fight the British, and with the British as against the Americans. They were at Harmar's defeat, at the overthrow of St. Clair, and were among the fiercest of those who fought Mad Anthony Wayne. Some of them took part in the defeat of Colonel Crawford, and danced around his burning body. They joined Pontiac in his conspiracy, and Black Hawk when he precipitated his war east of the Mississippi. They were always among the first to make peace with the whites, and also among the first to take the tomahawk. Some of them fought at Tip- pecanoe and others at the battle of the Thames. They claimed all Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan. A few of the tribe still linger in Michigan.
GREAT WESTERN NATION OF THE MIAMIS
The Miamis were the most powerful nation or confederation, in the West. They had been gradually migrating toward the east, when they were forced into battle with the Iroquois, who were driven westward by the whites. The Miamis settled in what is now the State of Ohio, and as they thus occupied the natural highway to the Mis- sissippi valley from the East, the Iroquois made many determined efforts to drive them away. The wars between the two nations were frequent and bloody, and as the Iroquois were the first to receive firearms from the whites they usually were the victors.
It is said that the name Pottawatomie is a compound of Put-a-wa, signifying a blowing out, or expansion of the cheeks, as in blowing a fire, and "me," a nation ; which, being interpreted, means a nation of "fire-blowers." The application seems to have originated in the facility with which they produced flame, and set burning the ancient council fires of their forefathers. If that is the significance of the name, it seems to have been appropriate to the character of the tribe, or nation, which, throughout the history of the pioneer development
32
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
of the Northwest, was a firebrand in the midst of all efforts to main- tain peace between the white and red races of that section of North America.
The Miamis had a varied migratory experience. They were among the finest of all the race of Indians, and proudly called themselves Men. In fact, that is the significance of their name. They were a nation of great warriors and statesmen; men above all other tribes. The Miamis were met everywhere in the West; around Superior, the Upper Mississippi, and in Ohio and Indiana. They had long and sanguinary contests with the Sioux, and Sacs and Foxes, until they were greatly reduced in numbers and fighting strength.
In 1669 they were mostly found around Green Bay, Wisconsin. Thence most of them soon moved to the Chicago country; then to St. Joseph of the Lake and to the head of the Maumee, where their prin- cipal villages were located toward the last years of the seventeenth century. In 1680 the Iroquois declared war against the Illinois, who had been the friends and allies of the Miamis, and the wily eastern nation for a while disarmed the suspicions of their old-time enemies. Two years later war was again declared. By this time La Salle was the leading white spirit among the Indians of the first Northwest, and by his influence the Miamis, Shawnees, Weas, Illinois and Piankeshaws were gathered around his fort on the Illinois River. The Iroquois vainly endeavored to overthrow this formidable confederation, first led by a white man. By this effort of La Salle, all the Indians had been drawn from Indiana, and the Miamis did not return until 1712.
Around the Maumee and the Wabash they thereafter lived, until finally they yielded their lands to the whites. A few of their descend- ants still remain in Indiana. The Miamis were not as lazy as most of the tribes, and raised corn, small fruits and vegetables. They also had one institution, custom, official, or whatever else one may designate it, which even more distinguished them from the other Indian tribes. Some civilized natious have had their public execu- tioners, whose duty it was to execute all criminals, and this office was a sort of hereditary one. So it was with the Miamis. They fre- quently condemned their captives to be eaten. This eating was done by one family, trained for that purpose, and the office remained in the same family generation after generation. The eating was always done in public, and was accompanied by certain religious rites. The last victim known to have been killed and eaten was a young Ken- tuckian, who was thus disposed of at the Miami village near the present site of Fort Wayne.
33
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
JESUIT MISSIONARIES AMONG THE INDIANA MIAMIS
Almost immediately following the discovery and exploration of the Mississippi by La Salle in 1682, and a few years later by Mar- quette, the government of France began to encourage the policy of connecting its possessions in North America by a chain of fortifica- tions, trading posts and missionary stations, extending from New Orleans on the southwest to Quebec on the northeast. This under- taking was inaugurated by La Motte Cadillac, who established Fort Pontchartrain, on the Detroit River in 1701.
At this period, the zealous Jesuit missionaries; the adventurous French fur traders, with their coarse blue and red clothes, fine scarlet, guns, powder, balls, knives, ribbons, beads. vermillion, tobacco, and rum ; and the careless rangers, or coureurs des bois, whose chief voca- tion was conducting the canoes of the traders along the lakes and rivers, made their appearance among the Indians of Indiana. The pious Jesuits held up the cross of Christ and unfolded the mysteries of the Catholic religion in broken Indian dialect to the astonished savages, while the speculating traders offered them fire water and other articles of merchandise in exchange for their peltries, and the rangers, loosing every tie of blood and kindred, identified themselves with the savages and sunk into utter barbarism.
The Jesuit missionaries were always cordially received by the Miami tribes. The Indians would listen patiently to their theory of the Savior and salvation, manifest a willing belief in all they heard, and then, as if to entertain their visitors, would tell them the story of their own simple faith in the Manatous, and stalk off with a groan of dissatisfaction because the missionaries would not accept their theory with equal courtesy. Missionary stations were established at an early day in all the principal villages, and the work of instruct- ing and converting the savages was begun in earnest.
The order of religious exercises established at the missions founded among the Miamis was nearly the same as that among other Indians. Early in the morning, the missionaries would assemble the Indians at the church, or the hut used for that purpose, and, after prayers, the savages were taught concerning the Catholic religion. These exercises were always followed by singing, at the conclusion of which the congregation was dismissed, the Christians only remaining to take part at Mass. This service was usually followed by prayers. During the forenoon the priests were generally engaged in visiting the sick, and consoling those who were laboring under any affliction. After noon another service was held in the church, at which all the Vol. 1-3
34
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
Indians were permitted to appear in their finery, and where each, without regard to rank or age, answered the questions put by the missionary. This exercise was concluded by singing hymns, the words of which had been set to airs familiar to the savage ear. In the even- ing all assembled again at the church for instruction, to hear prayers, and to sing their favorite hymns. The Miamis were always highly pleased with the latter exercise.
FUR TRADERS AMONG THE MIAMIS
Aside from the character of the religious services which consti- tuted a chief attraction in the Miami villages of Indiana while the early French missionaries were among them, the traveler's attention would first be engaged with the peculiarities of the fur trade, which, during the first quarter of the eighteenth century, was monopolized by the French. This trade was conducted by the rangers who were engaged to navigate the canoes, and transport the merchandise from Detroit to the principal Miami villages. The traders exchanged their wares for valuable furs, which were carried to the nearest trading post affording the best market. This traffic was not confined to those whose means enabled them to engage vessels, canoes and carriers; for there were hundreds scattered through the various Indian villages of Indiana, at almost any time during the first half of the eighteenth century, who carried their packs of merchandise and furs by means of leather straps suspended from their shoulders, or drawn against their foreheads.
Rum and brandy were freely introduced by these traders, and always found a ready sale among the Miamis. A Frenchman, writ- ing of the evils which resulted from the introduction of spirituous liquors among these savages, remarked: "The distribution of it is made in the usual way; this is to say, a certain number of persons have delivered to each of them a quantity sufficient to get drunk with, so that the whole have been drunk over eight days. They begin to drink in the village as soon as the sun is down, and every night the fields echo with the most hideous howling."
In those early days the Miami villages of the Maumee, those of the Weas about Ouiatenon on the Wabash, and those of the Piankeshaws around Vincennes, were the centers of the fur trade in Indiana. Traders and missionaries had frequently visited them. A permanent mission, or church, was established near the Piankeshaw village, near Vincennes, in 1749, by Father Meurin, and in the following year a small fort was erected there by order of the French government. It
35
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
was in that year that a small fort was erected near the mouth of the Wabash River. These posts soon drew a large number of French traders around them, and in 1756 they had become quite important settlements, with a mixed population of French and Indian.
The siege of Detroit was conducted by Pontiac himself; but this post, as also Fort Pitt, withstood the storm of Indian vengeance until the forces of Colonel Bradstreet on the one hand, and Colonel Bouquet on the other hand, brought relief to the tired garrisons. The British army penetrated the Indian country, and forced the savages to a treaty of peace, and on the fifth of December, 1764, a cessation of hostilities was proclaimed.
1320398
MIAMIS AND POTTAWATOMIES (1765)
In 1765, just after the territory northwest of the Ohio River was ceded to the British by France, Col. George Croghan, an Indian agent of the Province of Pennsylvania, visited the various tribes and made the following statement as to their strength and habitat :
Twightwees (Miamis), 250 fighting men; reside on the Miami (Maumee) River, near Fort Miamis; hunting grounds where they reside.
Putawatimes, 150 fighting men; Ottawas, 150 fighting men ; reside near St. Joseph's ; hunting grounds thereabouts.
TREATY MAKING AND CAMPAIGNING
When the Ordinance of 1787 was figuratively extended over the Northwest Territory the Miamis claimed Northern Indiana by right of discovery and occupancy. They permitted the Pottawatomies, a tribe of the nation which had taken the name of the predominating band, to occupy the lands and hunting grounds north of the Wabash River and south of Lake Michigan, and at the commencement of the period of white sovereignty the latter were in firm possession. Then hegan the era of treaty making, emphasized and strongly punctuated hy vigorous military campaigns against the redskins.
Finally in 1792, the Six Nations of the East appeared upon the scene as peace makers in the councils of the Northwestern tribes. In striking contrast to their attitude of a century previous, when the fierce Iroquois headed all the invasions against the Illinois and other tribes of the Northwest, the representatives of the Six Nations now appeared at the Rapids of the Maumee, as delegates of the American secretary of war, to bring over to the ways of peace, the Miamis,
36
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
Pottawatomies, Delawares, Shawnees, Chippewas, Ottawas and Wyan- dots. But this grand council of the Northwestern tribes dissolved in October, 1792, united in their determination to make no treaty by which the Americans could claim the territory conquered from the British.
GREENVILLE TREATY OF NORTHWESTERN TRIBES
After three years of consideration and reconsideration, however, doubtless accompanied by persistent pressure from the Great Father at Washington, from Gen. Anthony Wayne and from other white chiefs whom the Indians learned to respect, the viewpoint of the Northwestern tribes underwent a radical change. The grand council of July and August, 1795, held at Greenville, Ohio, represented par- ticularly by the Ottawas, Chippewas and Pottawatomies, adopted a treaty which laid the basis for a permanent peace, and insured the Northwest to the American whites.
In that historic conference, the outcome of which was so vital to the security of the great Northwest, the center of the stage was held by the chiefs of the Miami nation (including the Pottawattomies) and Gen. Anthony Wayne, the commander-in-chief of the American army. Sharing the honors with the general was Little Turtle, the able and eloquent head of the Miamis. The speeches of these principles are so illustrative of the Indian temperament, and, with those of General Wayne, contain so much information germane to the subject and the period, that several of them are reproduced.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.