USA > Indiana > Allen County > History of Allen County, Indiana, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 4
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" Dispatched Father Valliant and Sicur de Joncaire to Seneen, and I sent Sieur de Vinsiene to the Miamuis with my annexed order and message to he com- municated to them.
"Sieur de Vinsiene, my lord, has been formerly Commandant at the Miamis (1697), by whom he was much beloved ; this led me to select him in preference to any other to prove to that nation how wrong they were to attack the Iroquois -our allies and theirs-without any cause ; and we -- M. de Beaucharnois and I -- after consultation, permitted said Sieur de Vinsiene to carry some goods and to take with himu six men and two ennoes."
Again, in a communication from Vandrueil to Pontchartrain, dated October 19, 1705, the following further statement occurs: " I did myself the honor to inform you last year that I regarded the continuance of the peace with the Iroquois as the principal affair of this country. and. as I have always labored on that principle, it is that also which obliged me to send Sieur de Joncaire to the Senecas and Sieur de Vinsiene to the Miamis." [N. Y. Col. Doc. IX, 696, 759, 766].
In addition to what bas already been shown in reference to the discovery and use of the line of communication practically by water from the lakes to the Mississippi, the reader is referred to the following testimony :
" It is evident from Father Hennepin and La Salle's travels that the com- munication between Canada and Mississippi is a very late discovery ; and, perhaps, such a one as no nation less industrious than the French would have attempted ; but it must be allowed that they have a great advantage over us in this particular, to which even the nature of their religion and government do greatly contribute, for their missionaries, in blind obedience to their superiors. spend whole years in exploring new countries ; and the encouragement the late French King gave to the discoverers and planters of new tracts of land, doth far exceed any advantage your Majesty's royal predecessors have hitherto given to * * their subjeets in America. * * From this lake ( Erie) to the Missis- sippi they have three different routes. The shortest by water is up the river Miamis or Ouamis, on the southwest of Lake Erie, on which river they sail about one hundred and fifty leagues witbout interruption, when they find themselves stopped by another landing of about three leagues, which they call a carrying- place, because they are generally obliged to carry their canoes overland in those places to the next river, and that where they next embark is a very shallow one, called La Riviere de Portage; henee they row about forty leagnes to the river Ouabach, and from theuce about one hundred and twenty leagues to the river Ohio, into which the Ouahach falls, as the river Ohio does about eighty leagues lower into the Mississippi, which continues its course for about three hundred and fifty leagues directly to the Bay of Mexico."
There are likewise two other passages much longer than this, which are particularly prieked down in Hennepin's map, and may be described in the fol- lowing manner :
" From the northeast of Lake Erie to a fort on Lake St. Clair, called Pont Chartrin, is about eight leagues' sail ; here the French have a settlement, and often 400 traders meet there. Along this lake they proceed to the Straits of Michilli- mackinack, 120 leagues. Here is a garrison of' about thirty French, and a vast concourse of traders, sometimes not less than 1,000, beside Indians, heing a com- mon place of rendezvous. At and near this place the Outarwas, an Indian nation, are settled.
" From the Lake Huron, they pass by the Straight Michillimackinack four leagues, being two in breadth, and of great depth, to the Lake Illinois ; thence 150 leagues on the lake to Fort Miamis, situated on the mouth of the river Chigagoe ; from henee eame those Indians of the same name, viz., Miamis, who are settled on the forementioned river that runs into Erie. Up the river Chigagoe, they sail but three leagues to a passage of one-quarter of a league, then enter a small lake of about a mile, and have another very siuall portage, and again another of two miles to the river Illinois, thence down the stream 130 leagues to the Mississippi.
" The next is from Michillimackinack, on the lake Illinois, to the lake De- pauns 90 leagues, thenee to the river Paans 80 leagues, theuce up the same tu a
HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
portage of about four miles before they come to the river Owiseonsing, thence 40 leagues to Mississippi.
" These distances are as the traders reckon them. but they appear generally to be umeh overdone, which may be owing to those people eoasting along the shores of the lakes, and taking in all the windings of the rivers.
" They have another much shorter passage frou Mount Real to Lake Huron, by the French River, on the north of St. Lawrence, which communicates with the two latter routes, but it abounds with falls, and therefore is not so much used. They have also by this river a much shorter passage to the upper lake, or Lake Superieur." [N. Y. Col. Doe. V, 620-622.]
Although this paper bears date September 8, 1721, it must be remembered that the statements are based wholly upon the reports of the travels of La Salle and Hennepin-with the maps delincutive thereof-which were consummated within the period from 1669 and 1685, and that the language is simply deserip- tive of what was ascertained and known by these voyageurs nearly a half-eentury before the paper was written. And it seems, too, exceedingly strange that many historians who have written upon the subjeet should fix the period of the discov- ery of this particular route in 1716, when the very testimony upon which the statement rests says they were so made from the travels of those two noted trav- elers, and not from discoveries made within a short period anterior to 1721. And still further, it must be understood that the account is from English officials, who, necessarily, were not cognizant of the details of recent discoveries made hy another nation not enjoying the most friendly relations with them. And, while the account is, in the main, just and fair, the idea should not go forth that this was the first enuneiation of a new discovery, when, in fact, it was only a recital of faets long before within the knowledge of the nations.
Of like purport with the information from which the foregoing English article was educcd, is the statement of Father Allouez, who, in describing the countries bordering on the Lakes Illinois and Erie, their water-courses and the means of transport to and from the principal marts of trade, items of advan- tage proper to be known in the selections of eligible sites for future settlements, says, "There is at the end of Lake Erie, ten leagues below the strait, a river by which we could greatly shorten the route to the Illinois [country], being navi- gable for eanoes, about two leagues nearer than that way by which they usually go there "-referring to that by the Maumee and Wabash ; but speaks of another route still shorter and better, by way of the Ohio, because of its being navigable for vessels of greater capacity than eanoes, and to this latter there were ohjeetions not attaching to the one just eited. [Margry's Fr. Dise. Am., 2-98.]
That this route was probably traveled at a much earlier date, even, than that usually elainied for it, is at least strongly suggested by a map published as early as 1657. drawn, no doubt, two or three years before, by M. de Sansen, Royal Geographer to the King of France, designed to accurately represent the relative situation of New Franee, with its numerous lakes, rivers and mountains, to the best advantage. By this map, a copy of which has been published in this country, Lake Erie is located with considerable accuracy, " with a river flowing into it from the southwest, for a distance, clearly representing the present course of the Maumee, from the site of Fort Wayne to the Lake. The St. Mary's and St. Joseph's are not delineated, showing that their courses had not yet been explored."
This, with other faets already shown, must establish beyond successful eon- troversy, the very early visitation of this country by white men of careful and painstaking observation and of extensive research.
ABORIGINAL HISTORY.
INTRODUCTORY.
In considering the question who were the original inhabitants of the region of country subsequently known as the valley of the Kekionga, it is, perbaps, of little consequence to the casual reader whether they were white or eopper-colored. civilized or barbarian in their habits and instincts. Yet, in this day of ethnological inquiry, the historian, though his field be a local one, is expected to reflect what- ever light the developments of the age may bave brought forth in that regard. It is not in accord with the spirit of inquiry to ignore the investigation and and dis- pose of the issue without comment. That this country was inhabited by a race of people possessing a higher order of intelligence and inechanical skill than ix generally awarded to the Indians, so ealled, is, perhaps, unquestioned. The evi- dences of this superiority exist in forms, more or less distinet, in every locality. In numerous localities within the territory of Indiana, prehistorie remains are eon- spienous, attracting the attention of archaeologists to an investigation of them as a means of determining the identity of the people cotemporaneous therewith. Of these remains, Allen County has ber share, as the article discussing that topie in another part of this work will sufficiently disclose. With all the developments thus far made, the question who the Mound-Builders were, whenee and when they came, and what was their bistory, is yet unanswered. True, many conjeet- ures, more or less plausible in their method of presentation, have been brought forward in the elaboration of opinions upon that subject. It is not, however, the province of this work to enlarge the field of discussion, proposing, rather, to direct the attention of the interested reader to the cumulative arguments of specialists.
Passing, then, to an examination of the traditional and historical evidences at command pertinent to the Indian race, a wider field opens up, inviting atten- lion. At the time when the existence of the American continent was made manifest to the civilized world, it was peopled by a raee who, in the absence of a more appropriate name, were ealled Indians, because of their fancied resemblance to the inhabitants of the Eastern Indies, and, perhaps, for the more significant reason that they were found in the course of travel ineident to the discovery of a more direct route to the Indies and China, which seems to have been the impel- ling motive of the early voyageurs from the Old World. Assuming that Columbus and his successors were the first discoverers of the continent, our knowledge of these aboriginal inhabitants will date from that period ; hence, what may have occurred, and to which attention may occasionally be directed, anterior to that date, should be considered only in the light of tradition, as, indeed, many other incidents must be which come, sometimes, in the character of deductions from well-established facts.
Upon the first introduction of Europeans among the primitive inhabitants of this country, it was the prevailing opinion of the former that this vast domain was peopled by one common family, of like habits and speaking one language. Observation, however, soon discovered the error, at the same time establishing the fact of a great diversity in their leading characteristics, physiological development
and language, this diversity somethues arising from one cause and sometimes from another, and has, within the past century especially, been the subject of extensive etlinologieal investigations and speeulations. These investigations, in many instances, have elicited facts of vast moment in considering conditions from causes before unknown to science.
In a brief review of this subject, the reader's attention will he directed to an examination of such of the features of the investigation as pertain to the tribes and families of the Indian race, who have, in times past, inhabited the immediate territory of Allen County, or whose history becomes incidentally connected there- with. Before approaching this, however, it would he well to note some of the radical divisions into which the race has been separated by common consent. The principal of these divisions is now known as the Algonquin, or Algonkin, which embraces, among others, the Miamis, claimued to be one of the most perfeet types, and, indeed, one of the most numerous in past ages. Next to the Miamis, if not entitled to rank first. is the Delawares, or Leuni Lenapees, and the Shawanoes. The Miamis were sometimes known as the Omes, Omamees and Twatwas. Next to these were the Peorias, Kaskaskias, Weas and Piankeshaws, who collectively were known as the Illinese or Illinois Indians. Then the Ottawas, the Chippe- was and Mississauger were interchangebly known as the Nepersinians, Nipissings, Ojibwas, Santaux and Chibwas. After these were the Kickapoos or Misseoutins ; the Pottawatomies or Poux, and the Saes and Foxes. The Munsees was another name for the Delawares. This is the classification given by Schoolcraft, and is probably the most accurate.
Another division, the Hurons, Huron- Iroquois or Wyandots, embraced nearly all the remaining tribes, with whom we are interested at this time. Of this division the Hurons, better known now as the Wyandots, enter more especially into the history of this locality. The other divisions occupied territory so remote, that a reference to them separately would be unnecessary, further than by occasional ineidents connecting them with those already noted.
THE ALGONQUINS,
as a family, have been migratory in character, for, says Scbooleraft, " we find some traces of this language in ancient Florida. It first assumes importance in the sub-genus of the Powhattauese circle in Virginia. It is afterward found in the Nanticokes; assumes a very decided type in the Lenni Lenapees, or Delawares ; and is afterward traced, in various dialeets, in the valleys of the Hudson and Con- neetieut, and throughout the whole geographical area of New England, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia."
" The terni [Algonquin] appears to have been first employed as a generic word by the French, for the old Nipcreinians, Ottawas, Montagnics and their conquerors, in the valley of the St. Lawrence. It is applied to the Salteurs, of St. Mary, the Maskigoes of Canada, and, as shown by a recent vocabulary, the
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HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY. INDIANA.
Blackfeet of the Upper Missouri, the Saskatchawans, the Pillagers of the Upper Mississippi and the Crees or Kinistenoes of Hudson's Bay. Returning from these remote points, where this hroad migratory column was met hy the Atha- pasea group, the terin includes the Miamis, Weas, Piankeshaws, Shawanoes, Pot- tawatomics, Sacs and Foxes, Kickapoos and Illinois, and their varieties, the Kaskaskias, etc., to the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi." From this it will he seen that branches of this original family have extended to a large proportion of the territory now occupied hy the United States and British America
Intellectually considerel, the Algonquins occupy a position far ahove medi- ocrity, surpassed only by the Dakotas and Iroquois, the latter standing in the first rank, the cranial measurement showing an average interral capacity of' eiglity-eight and a half cubic inches, the Dikotas eighty-five and the Algonquins eiglity-tluce and three-fourths inches, with a facial angle of' seventy-seven degrees, while that of the Iroquois is only seventy-five and the Dakotas seventy- seven degrees. The Miamis, as a distinct brunch of the Algonquin family, has an average facial measurement of seventy-six degrees and an internal cranial capacity of ciglity-nine enbie inches. In point of intellectual activity, also, the Miamis will compare favorably with the highest types of the Algonquin or other families, as a comparison of individualities will sufficiently estahlislı.
The language of the Algonquins is cuphonious and expressive, having a great variety of vowel sounds capable of numerous and extremely nice and regu- lar modifications. In proof of this. it is said that "each of the seventeen primary syllables may be changed fifteen times, showing the possible nuinher of elementary syllables which are employed to be 255, a fact significant of the capacity of the language." It is said, too, to be in a peculiar sense a language of pronouns. Originally there were hut three ternis answering to the three per- sons-I, thou or yon, and he or she. While these terms distinguish the first person with sufficient clearness, yet they convey no idea of sex. To obviate this difficulty, another class of pronouns is brought into requisition which should be suffixed to verhs ; but, since the language is without auxiliary verbs, their place is supplied by tensal syllables, which extend the original monosyllables into tri- syllables. By this and similar means, the primary defects in the structure of the language are amply supplied, and. hence, may be said to be prolific in formis of expression, hut frequently indirect and circuitous.
Aside from the distinctive individualitics just noticed, there are few physi- cal peculiarities which characterize the Algonquin from the other Indian families of North America. "All possess, though in various degrees, the long, lank, black hair, the heavy hrow, the dull and sleepy eye, the full and compressed lips and the salicot but dilated nose."
" A similar conformity of organization is not less obvious in the cranial structure of these people. The Indian skull is of a decidedly rounded forum. The occipital portion is flattened in the upward direction ; and the transverse diam- eter, as measured between the parietal hones, is remarkably wide, and often exceed the longitudinal line." The forehead is low and receding, and rarely arebed as in the other races-a feature that is regarded hy Humboldt, Lund and other naturalists as characteristic of the American race, and serving to distinguish it even from the Mongolian The cheek-bones are high, but not much expanded ; the whole maxillary regiou is salient and ponderous, with teeth of a correspond- ing size and singularly free from decay."
IROQUOIS.
The grand Indinu confederacy known hy the name of Iroquois, is said tie have heen composed of five of the leading nations inhahiting territory on th . south of the St. Lawrence, or more recently, perhaps, south of the line of lake- lying between the territorial limits of the United States and British America. " The immediate dominion of the Iroquois-" says Bancroft, " where the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas were first visited hy the trader, the missionary, or the war parties of the French-stretched, as we have scen, front the borders ol' Vermont to Western New York, from the lakes to the head- waters of the Ohio, the Susquehanna and the Delaware. The number of their warriors was declared by the French, in 1660, to have been two thousand two hundred, and, in 1677, an English agent, sent on purpose to ascertain their strength, confirmed the precisi n of the statement. This geographical position made thewu umpires in the contest of the French for dominion in the West. Besides, their political importance was increased hy their conquests. Not only did they claim some supremacy in Northern New England as far as the Kenne- bec, and to the south as far as New Haven, and were acknowledged as absolute lords over the conquered Lenape-the peninsula of Upper Canada was their hunting held by the right of war; they had exterminated or reduced the Eries and the Conestogas, both tribes of their own family, the one dwelling to the south of Lake Erie, the other on the banks of the Susquehanna; they had tri- muphantly invaded the tribes of the West as far as Illinois; their warriors had reached the soil of Kentucky and Western Virginia ; and England, to whose alliance they steadily inclined, availed itself of their treaties for the cession of territories, to encroach even on the empire of France in America.
" The Mohawks, sometimes called Wabingi, are said to have been the oldest uf the confederacy, and that the ' Onayauts' ( Oncidas) were the first that joined them by putting themselves under their protection. The Onondagas were the next, then the ' Teuontowanos' or 'Sinikers' ( Senecas), theu the 'Cuikguos' ( Cayugas). The Tuscaroras, from Carolina, joined them about 1712, but were not formally admitted into the confederacy until ahout ten years after that. The addition of this new tribe gained them the name of the Six Nations, according to most writers. but it will appear that they were called the Six Nations long hefore the last-named period."
The government ol' the Iroquois was of the republican form, a confederation of hold trihes, guaranteeing to each trihe cantonial independence or sovereignty. while coneeding general power, and at the same time awarding to each man and warrior his equal and individual rights, only subject to modification for the eom- mon good. This model, it is said, furnished the elementary hasis for the con- struction of the American Government, the copy, perhaps, heing no more perfect, so far as equal rights and a jealousy of and verhal stipulations against hereditary immunities are concerned. So well assured were they of the permanent and practical value of their form of government, that it is stated to he " a memorable fact that the Iroquois were so strongly impressed with the wisdom of the working of their system of confederation, that they publicly recommended a similar union to thic British colonies. In the important conferenee at Lancaster in 1774, Can- assatego, a respected sachem, expressed this view to the Commissioners of Penn- sylvania, Virginia and Maryland. 'Our wise forefathers,' he said, 'established union and amity between the Five Nations. This has made us formidable. This has given us great weight and authority with our neighboring nations. We are a powerful confederacy, and, by ohserving the same methods our wise forefathers have taken, you will acquire fresh strength and power. Therefore I counsel you. whatever hefalls you, never fall out with one another.'"
In his history of the Five Nations, Colden says they " consist of so many tribes or nations, joined together hy a league or confederacy, like the United Provinces, and without any superiority of the one over another. This union has continued so long that the Christians know nothing of the original of it. The people in it are known to the English under the names of Mohawks, Oneydoes, Onondagas, Cayugas and Sennekas.
" Each of these nations is again divided into three tribes or families, who distinguished themselves by three different arms or ensigns-the tortoise, the bear and the wolf; and the sachems or old men of these families put this ensign, or mark of their family, to every public paper when they sign it.
" Each of these nations is an absolute repuhhe by itself, and every castle in each uation makes an independent republic, and is governed, in all public affairs, by its own sachems or old men. The authority of these rulers is gained by, and consists wholly in. the opinion the rest of the nation has of their wisdom and integrity. They uever execute their resolutions by force upon any of their people. Honor and esteem are their principal rewards, as shame and heing despised their punishments."
In short, all their actions are : reflex of the expressed will of the governed. Hence, in their warlike expeditions, the leaders moved as the sovereigns directed. Warlike expeditions were not commenced until the inatter, after mature delibera- tion, had been fully determined upon. Then the whole nation, or confederacy. moved as hy a common impulse, which accounts, no doubt, for their numerous successes. Their expeditions were directed, sometimes, against members of their own linguistic family, as in the case of the Eries and Wyandots, which were prosecuted with unrelaxing vigor.
AGAINST THE ERIES.
The difficulties between the confederate Iroquois and the Eries grew out of' the disposition to neutrality between fierce and powerful contending nations, and came ahout in this wise. In the year 1626, after the French had made rapid progress in their settlements north of the St. Lawrence, a great effort was made to civilize and Christianize the Indians of that region. At that time, the Eries were visited with this object in view, when their national peculiarity was first hrought to notice. This characteristic caused them to be designated hy the French as the Neutral Nation. When the neutrality spoken of was established, the Wyandots, otherwise known as the Hurons and the Iroquois, were at war. The settlement of Canada by the French, was the occasion of disagreement hetween these two fraternal branches of the great Indian family, and resulted in an open rupture of their former alliance-the Wyandots adhering to the French, and the Iroquois to the Dutch. "In this feud of the Iroquois, the Algonquin tribes (Adirondacks), who were at war with them aforetime, were glad to make allies of the French and Wyandots. Between, the Eries occupied a geographical position on the hanks of the Niagara. They had already, from propinquity and hahits. formed a close alliance with an Algonquin trihe on the west and north of Lake Ontario, called Mississaugies. They were nearly related to the Wyandots and Five Nations. Neutrality was their only salvation. It was a delicate position. and required great wisdom to preserve it. Neuter nations, when the period for action arrives, are apt to offend hoth sides. It was certainly so with the Eries. They finally offended both the Wyandots and Iroquois ; but it was the latter who turned upon them with great fury and power, and. in a short and sanguinary war. extinguished their nationality." At first, however, the Eries were successful, by dint of superior hravery and management, hut they were eventually overpowered. and defeated in the year 1653; at which time they ceased to be known as a dis- tinet nation. The eventual success of the Iroquois, in their fratricidal war with the Erics, Colden, in his history of the Five Nations, declares first inspired the confederates with courage to successfully attack the Adirondacks ( Algonquins). the allies of the Wyandots.
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