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 6
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In order that a clear understanding may be had of the cause that led up to the forcible removal of Menominee and his band, it may be briefly stated that a treaty held on the Tippecanoe River October 26, 1832, negotiated by Jonathan Jennings, John W. Davis and Marks Crume on the part of the United States, from which a number of small reservations were given to certain chiefs and their bands named therein as follows :
Article 2. From the session aforesaid, the following reservations are made, to-wit : For the band of Au-bee-nau-bee thirty-six sections, to include his village.
For the bands of Me-no-mi-nee, No-taw-kah, Muck-kah-tah-mo-way, and Pee-pin-oh-waw, twenty-two sections (and to several others too numerous to mention).
The object of copying the foregoing is to show how Me-no-mi-nee came into possession of his interest in the twenty-two sections of land in dispute. This record may be found in "A Compilation of all the Treaties between the United States and the Indian Tribes," published by the United States in 1873, at page 680.
GOVERNOR WALLACE DESCRIBES THE POTTAWATOMIE MIGRATION (1838)
On this subject, in his message to the Indiana Legislature, in De- cember, 1838, Governor David Wallace says:
"By the conditions of the late treaty with the Pottawatomie tribe of Indians in Indiana, the time stipulated for their departure to the west of the Mississippi expired on the sixth of August last. As this trying moment approached a strong disposition was manifested by many of the most influential among them to disregard the treaty entirely, and to cling to the homes and graves of their fathers at all hazards. In consequence of such a determination on their part, a collision of the most serious character was like to ensue between them and the surrounding settlers. Apprehensive of such a result, and with a view to prevent it, the citizens of Marshall county, early in the month of August, forwarded to the executive a petition praying that an armed force might be immediately sent to their protection. On receipt of this petition I repaired as speedily as circumstances would permit to the scene of difficulty, in order to satisfy myself by a personal examination whether their fears were justifiable or not.
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"On my return to Logansport a formal requisition awaited me from the Indian agent, Col. A. C. Pepper, for one hundred armed volunteers to be placed under the command of some competent citizen of the state whose duty it should be to preserve the peace and to arrest the growing spirit of hostility displayed by the Indians. The requisi- tion was instantly granted. I appointed the Hon. John Tipton to this command and gave him authority to raise the necessary number of volunteers. He promptly and patriotically accepted the appoint- ment, and although sickness and disease prevailed to an alarming extent throughout northern Indiana, yet such was the spirit and patriotism of the people there that in about forty-eight hours after the requisition was authorized the requisite force was not only mus- tered, but was transported into the midst of the Indians before they were aware of its approach, or before even they could possibly take steps to repel it. The rapidity of the movement, the known decision and energy of General Tipton, backed by his intimate acquaintance and popularity with the Indians whom it was his business to quiet, accomplished everything desired. The refractory became complacent; opposition to removal ceased; and the whole tribe, with a few excep- tions, amounting to between 800 and 900, voluntarily prepared to emigrate. General Tipton and the volunteers accompanied them as far as Danville, Illinois, administering to them on the way whatever comfort and relief humanity required. There they were delivered over to Judge Polke and the United States removing agents. Copies of all the communications and reports made to the executive by General Tipton while in the discharge of this duty I lay before you, from which I feel assured you will discover with myself that much credit and many thanks are due not only to him but to all who assisted him in bringing so delicate an affair to so happy and successful a termination."
LAST OF THE POTTAWATOMIES LEAVE IN 1840
Although most of the Pottawatomies and Miamis of Northern In- diana had moved west of the Mississippi River by the late '30s, stragglers remained for a number of years afterward, not a few of the Monoquet and Musquawbucks bands residing in Kosciusko County in the early '40s. The most of the Indians of the county who remained after the great migration of 1838, however, departed in 1840, when General Brady with a force of troops compelled them to vacate.
The remnants of the once powerful Pottawatomies were taken to their Kansas lands at that time. All went by land on their horses,
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which were well packed for the journey. When they arrived at their crossing on the Mississippi, whence they were to cross to the borders of Kansas, the hearts of some of the chiefs drew eastward instead of westward and Mr. Marantette, who was specially superintending the conduct of the tribe, observed that some of the Pottawatomies were endeavoring to escape. He immediately sent Governor Porter a mes- sage to that effect, adding that the surest way to prevent the Indians from getting away would be to confiscate the horses of the leaders. That plan meeting with the approval of the chief executive, those in charge of the expedition crossed the Indians on barges over to the border of Kansas, and, after they had selected their lands, returned their horses. Finally, however, many of the Pottawatomie lands be- came so valuable that their owners sold them and removed to the Indian Territory.
INDIAN VILLAGES IN KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
In the '30s, besides the Pottawatomies, there were within the present limits of Kosciusko County two or three tribes of the Miami nation, the western borders of whose territory extended to the Turkey Creek prairies.
The villages of the Pottawatomies lay along the Tippecanoe River in the central part of the county, their best known chiefs in this locality being Mus-quaw-buck, Mo-no-quet, Che-cose and Mo-ta.
Musquawbuck's village was located upon the south bank of the Tip- pecanoe, upon the site of the present Village of Oswego. Mono- quet's village, where the village by that name is located, was the largest Indian settlement of that period. Checose's village was on the river just below Warsaw, and Mota's village still further south toward Atwood. More than half the Indian population in 1835, not including the Miamis, were included in the villages of Monoquet and Musquawbuck.
THE MIAMI CHIEFS, FLATBELLY AND WAW-WA-ESSE
The principal Miami chiefs were Flatbelly and Waw-wa-esse, often contracted into Wawbee. The name of the latter chief was afterward given to the old-time Nine Mile Lake and was transformed into the more euphonious Wawasee. Wawbee's village, in the middle '30s, was situated near the southeast corner of the lake, about 21/2 miles south- east of Milford. Flatbelly's village was northeast of Leesburg, just over the line in Noble County, but his reservation, as at present, Vol. 1-4
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extended well into Kosciusko County. Both of these chiefs were well known to the first settlers of the county.
Flatbelly had thirty-six sections of land reserved to him in the counties of Kosciusko and Noble by the treaty of 1826. Nineteen of these sections were in Turkey Creek and Tippecanoe townships, this county. At the treaty concluded at the forks of the Wabash. in Octo- ber, 1834, the Miami Indians, of whom he was the head, ceded several large tracts of land to the Government lying along the Wabash, Eel and Salamonie rivers. This session included Flatbelly's thirty-six sections. Seventy-two chiefs signed the articles of agreement; and Flatbelly's name led all the rest. Wabee was the fourth signatory and the seventy-second was John B. Richardson of the St. Mary's River.
POTTAWATOMIE CHIEFS AND THEIR VILLAGES
In the treaty concluded with the Pottawatomies on the Tippecanoe River, October 26, 1832, the chiefs Musquawbuck, Monoquet, Macose, Benack and Mota were all signatories. Edward McCartney, a white, who afterward became a citizen of the county, was one of the inter- preters.
In a treaty between the United States and the united nation of Chippewas. Ottawas and Pottawatomies, concluded at Chicago, on October 1, 1834, whereby certain territory along the west shore of Lake Michigan was ceded to the United States, Chief Monoquet was one of the parties to the contract.
But the most important treaty in its relation to the early settle- ment of Kosciusko County was that which was signed by the United States commissioners and the chiefs of the Pottawatomies of Indiana and Michigan, on the Tippecanoe River, October 27, 1832, and rati- fied by the president and the Senate of the United States in January, 1833. The news of the ratification of the treaty which reached North- ern Indiana about the last of the following February, was the signal for a large influx of white settlers to Kosciusko County.
By that treaty was reserved four sections of land to Musquawbuck. which included his village and Bone Prairie.
To Monoquet, four sections, including his village and extending south to Warsaw.
To Mota, four sections on the river near Atwood.
To Benack, eight sections in Kosciusko and Marshall counties.
To Mary Ann Benack, three sections in Big Prairie.
To Checose, four sections just below Warsaw.
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
ACCOUNTING FOR "BONE" PRAIRIE
Bone Prairie, owned by Musquawbuck, was so called by the white settlers from the fact that when they first saw it the ground was literally covered with human bones. For many years afterward, they not only littered the surface, but were plowed up in large num- bers as the soil was turned by the pioneer husbandmen. According to the legend narrated to the early settlers by Granny Benack, the centennarian squaw, in the long-ago, when the Miamis and the Pot- tawatomies were the mighty peoples of the upper Mississippi valley and the northern lakes, a young Pottawatomie on a visit to a Miami village killed a prominent member of the latter tribe. He escaped to his home in the vicinity of what is now Bone Prairie, and soon afterward delegates from the outraged Miamis arrived there, demand- ing that the offender be punished according to their laws. The Potta- watomies went into council and rejected the demands, the result of which was an invasion of the country in force by the Miamis. The hostile warriors met on Bone Prairie, and a fierce battle ensued in which the advantage is said to have rested with the Pottawatomies, notwithstanding that the legend was filtered through the personality of Granny Benack, the ancient Miami.
Another story is also told to account for the large bone supply of the prairie. It is said that when the Musquawbuck tribe was quite large smallpox broke out among its members, and soon became a sweeping and fatal epidemic. To add to its mortality, the victims frenzied by the intense fever which accompanied the malady, would plunge into Tippecanoe Lake and river. The few who escaped the pestilence fled in horror, leaving the stricken to die and the dead to waste away to skeletons.
Undoubtedly, there must have been some such unusual fatalities as these to account for the presence of Bone Prairie.
MONOQUET'S END AND SUCCESSOR
It is said that Monoquet died of lung fever as the result of a pro- longed debauch. At the time a handsome young squaw from some tribe in Michigan was on a visit to his village, and, on account of the sudden death of the chief the woman, to whom it is believed he had been attentive, was suspected by certain members of the tribe to have poisoned him. The rumor, reaching her ears, threw her into a panic of fear and she started on foot alone for her Michigan home. Her flight but confirmed the suspicions of the tribe and two young braves
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were sent in pursuit of the fugitive. One of the warriors overtook her at the crossroads south of Leesburg and brained her with his tomahawk. Two early settlers who were coming down the road, Joseph Harper and Harrison Pool, witnessed the cowardly murder, and approached the two Indian braves.
One of the Indians flourished his tomahawk and exclaimed exult- antly "Waugh ! Big Indian me."
Mr. Harper, the plain white man, replied : "Yes, big Indian you, to run down and brain a defenseless squaw!" Then raising his gun, he added : "For a fip I'd put a bullet through your cowardly heart."
But the Indians sneaked off to seek a more appreciative audience.
Says a local historian: "After the performance of the usual ceremonies over the dead chief, his remains were taken half a mile south of the village and about forty rods southwest of the residence of Mr. John Hall, where the Indians built a pen of poles six feet long, four feet wide and four feet high. In one end of the pen they placed the dead chief in a sitting position, face toward the south, with his blanket thrown across his shoulders. Two poles were used to hold his body in position. One of them was placed under his chin to hold his head in place, and one lower down to keep his hands and body in the desired position, the ends of the poles being fastened between the poles of the pen on either side. For some time, succotash and other edibles were brought for the dead chief, upon which to subsist as he traveled to the happy hunting grounds.
"But soon the dead chief was forgotten and his last resting place neglected, but for months afterward the ghastly form could be seen as it grinned at the person who might venture into its presence. After the funeral rites were over, his son, a young man of fine physical appearance, Jim Monoquet, was hailed as the new chief amid great rejoicing, the ceremonies lasting seven days."
BENACK AND HIS HUNDREDTH TONGUE
According to James W. Armstrong and his History of Plain Town- ship: "The Benacks lived in a log house about forty rods west of the brick house on the T. G. Berst farm, now occupied by Arthur Stookey. Benack had a record as an Indian warrior and was possessed of an undying enmity for the whites. The story had become current, at least with the juniors, that he had the tongues of ninety-nine whites, and that he had vowed to have an even hundred.
"As a lad we were sometimes sent on errands to the home of Conrad Berst, Colyer and others on the prairie, following the old
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Indian trail from Monoquet, winding through the woods, past the huckleberry marsh and past the Benack cabins; which we did very quietly, continually fearing that from behind some log or stump the ex-Indian warrior would seize us and, with a blood-curdling war whoop, wrench our tongue out by the roots. But happily no such disaster ever befell us, and we are yet in possession of that unruly member.
"In the early '50s Benack died and his daughter, Mary Ann Benack, came into possession of three or four sections on the south side of the big prairie. When quite young she was married to a trapper named McCarter. But they could not agree and she gave him a section of land to leave her, which he did. She afterward married an Indian who had been raised by her father, known by the name of Pe-ash-wa ; a fine, manly appearing fellow, as some who are now living in Leesburg can testify.
"The Benack lands were finally sold to T. G. Berst and others, and the Peashwas moved to a reservation they had near South Bend; and the last Indian bade farewell to Plain Township, leaving their white rivals in undisputed possession of the land."
WARNER OUTWITTED BY CHECOSE
From accounts which come down through the pioneers, Checose was a shrewd land dealer and got the better of at least one of the early white settlers upon his possessions. Peter Warner was the first white to wander south of the northeastern prairies of Kosciusko County in his search for a home, and unwittingly built his cabin on Checose's reservation. Discovering his mistake and wishing to make his title clear, according to his ideas of legality, Warner paid the chief $600 for the quarter section upon which he had settled, although Checose had no right to deal with him except through the United States Government. Afterward, finding that the Indian's "deed of conveyance" was a worthless scrap of paper, Warner applied to Con- gress for relief, and that body granted it to him through a special act, passed in 1840, by which he was enabled to enter his land at the homestead price of $1.25 per acre.
THE EEL RIVER INDIANS IN 1835
Stedman Chaplin, a young New Yorker who had gone down into Tennessee to marry Sarah McQuigg, an old family acquaintance, and after a short residence in Whitley County had located on the Turkey
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
Creek prairies, twenty miles northwest, ventured into Kosciusko County in 1835. His sister Nancy had married G. W. A. Royce and that young couple were also settled in the neighborhood.
Before long Mr. Chaplin had erected a cabin on the land which he entered, and from him Mrs. Roxana Wince drew many interesting facts as to the habits and dispositions of the Indians living in that section of the county in 1835-36. "Just below Mr. Chaplin's cabin at the distance of a few rods," she writes, "there was a high bank on the river that had once been a camping ground with the Indians, and on this spot one of the red men still lived with his wife and child, a boy of ten or twelve years of age. His name was Pet-co-niah. Poor Pet-co-niah! He lost his life some time afterward in one of the northeastern counties of Indiana, slain by a brutal white man who accused him of killing a hog that was running wild in the woods.
"The Indians were not troublesome. One evening five or six braves came in and asked, by signs, to stay over night. They were permitted to do so and slept on the floor by the fire. Getting up in the morning they painted their faces in red and black colors until they looked horrid, and went away without a word. Why they did this, Mr. Chaplin could never tell. It was not the custom of the Indians to paint themselves unless they were about to take the warpath, and had these braves appeared unexpectedly at any set- tler's cabin the inmates would have had no other thought than that they had come bent on murder.
"But the Indians of the Eel River Valley were friendly, and gar- dens and fields were safer from pilfering then than they are now. Game was plentiful, and both Indians and whites could have meat whenever they chose. The whites trapped the wild turkey and shot the deer for their tables. The Indians along the river had a singular way of hunting the latter. It was called 'fire hunting.' The deer to escape from the torturing bites of the mosquitoes would wade into the rivers as soon as it became dark and stand there for hours. The Indians would then fix a light at the bow of the canoe and seat himself there with his rifle. Another hunter would seat himself in the stern and paddle noiselessly down stream. The amazed deer would stand and gaze until shot down.
"Fish were abundant and of the finest quality; so the 'company dinners' were no mean affairs; and even the every-day fare was nothing to be despised. The great lack was fruit. There were only wild gooseberries and wild plums, with now and then a crab apple tree. The crabs were cooked, the cores punched out with a quill, and they were then preserved.
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
"There were chickens ; and one night an owl, or perhaps a weasel, caught one of my grandmother's hens, and there was, of course, a desperate squalling. Grandmother was telling the incident the next morning in the presence of an Indian, and to emphasize the matter she said the hen 'squalled, and squalled, and squalled.' It tickled the Indian so that he laughed outright, and repeated the words after her in a most amusing manner, 'squalled, squalled, squalled.'
SAMPLE OF INDIAN FUN
"The Indians liked fun as well as their white brothers. One day a white man and an Indian were hunting together, when the Indian asked his companion if he would like to see some fun. He said 'Yes.' A ledge of rocks, the den of scores of rattlesnakes was just before them. On top, sunning himself, was a large rattler, quite dormant. The Indian cut a forked stick, sharpened the points and, slipping up silently, caught the snake in the fork just back of the neck. He then pressed the stick into the ground and bade the white man to hold it fast, while he proceeded to tie a small bag of powder to the snake's tail, and, after attaching a match to it, let it go. The frightened snake ran into the den and the powder exploded, and the poor denizens of the ledge, involved in flames, hurried out, scorched and blistered, making the most ridiculous contortions. The white man bent nearly double with laughter, but though the Indian looked on, well pleased at having taken so successfully the fort of his enemies, did not laugh so heartily.
"Mr. Chaplin once came upon the last wigwam of a dead Indian. He had not been dead long, and was sitting bolt upright, with his hatchet, bow and arrow by his side. The wigwam was built in the form of a pen. Other Indians said, when questioned, that he was a bad Indian, and some of their number had killed him in self-defense. Sometimes the Indians buried their dead in shallow graves and sometimes in a cavity cut in some sound fallen tree. Stakes were driven on each side of the tree to hold up the pieces of timber that were then piled on the body. Often a slab was split out of the log, a hollow made, the corpse laid in and the slab put back. Mr. Chap- lin stepped over such a log grave just back of his cabin many a time without knowing it. The skeleton was found in the log after he had moved away.
"Eel River valley was a paradise of beauty in those early times.
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
Its flower beds contained thousands of acres, with blossoms of every hue blending as never man can blend them."
GRAVES DESCRIBES NOTED CHIEFS
William C. Graves, a young Virginian who settled at Leesburg, taught the first school there and in the county, and became promi- nent in after years, came to that locality in 1835, before the noted Indian chiefs of Kosciusko County had departed, and has left on record a description of them and their lands at that time.
"All the Indian chiefs whom we have named as residents of this county," he writes, "were, in 1835, men well advanced in years, ranging from 55 to 70 years of age, and were undoubtedly more or less prominently connected with the stirring events in border war- fare before and during the War of 1812. The chief (Monoquet) informed Mr. Graves in January, 1835, that he was in the Tippe- canoe battleground engagements of 1811. Mr. Graves learned through others that Musquawbuck was also in that battle. It is known that all the Indian warriors of this region living at that day were under the general command of Tecumseh and the Prophet, and were en- camped at or near the Prophet's town at the time of that battle. As all the chiefs to whom we have alluded were in the prime of manh wod in 18\1, it is reasonable to believe that they were all either upon or near the Prophet's Town battlefield upon that eventful 7t. of Nov mbe. , 1811.
"In 1836 Chief Monoquet was about sixty years of age, a rather spare man above the medium height, of a dark color, high forehead, small bright eyes, aqualine nose and stern countenance, and looking as though he inherited all the antipathy of his race to the whites. He died at his village in the spring of 1836 and, according to the Indian custom in the interment of chiefs, was buried in a sitting posture with his pony and implements of war, about half a mile from his village on the south side of the river. His grave, surrounded by poles, was to be seen for several years afterward. His son, a young man of fine appearance, whose Indian name is not recollected, but was usually known as Jim Monoquet by the whites, was crowned by his warriors as chief with great rejoicing, the ceremonies last- ing about seven days.
"In spelling the nan . of this chief, we have adhered to the universal custom adopted by the whites at that period. In the different treaties where he has borne a part, the spellings have been given as Menucquett, Menoriet, Menukquet and Manoquett, as well
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
as the generally adopted spelling, Monoquet. Of course, where a party never spells his own name, he is at the mercy of those who do. In the pronunciation of his name, the whites always accent the second syllable ; the Indians the third.
"The old chief, Musquawbuck, was about sixty-five years of age. His name is variously spelt in the different treaties-sometimes Mus-squaw-buck, which we think best agrees with the Indian pro- nunciation ; at other times, Mes-qua-buck; but we write it according to the general custom among the settlers. Musqnawbuck died about the same date as Monoquet. His family was not of the dark copper color usual to the Indian tribes, but bore a greater resemblance to the light mulattoes of the South. Of all the Indians in the county, this old chief presented the finest specimen of physical manhood. Large, erect, square built, and in every respect well proportioned, his contour was almost perfect. His fine head, and high and majestic forehead, strongly reminded one of Daniel Webster. Nature had evidently bestowed upon him all the elements of greatness. Oppor- tunity and cultivation alone were lacking. His weight was about 180 pounds. He had several sons, who, though resembling him in color and general bearing, were none of them his equal in the eyes of a stranger. Two of his sons-Macose and Mazette-were twins. A third, called John, was killed in a quarrel. A fourth, called Bill by the whites, was the youngest and a decided pet withal. He was about twenty-five years old, extremely fond of white company, spoke fair English, was a great favorite and extremely popular among the whites. When the Indians were moved to the West, Bill left with great reluctance, having to part with white friends, in addition to the natural regret of leaving his native land and home.
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