USA > Indiana > Boone County > History of Boone County, Indiana : With biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families, Volume I > Part 4
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Before proceeding farther in this matter, it will be well to give a brief statenient in regard to the early settlement of Chicago, as it is connected with the early treaties concerning the northern part of our state. Chicago is situated on the southwest shore of Lake Michigan, on the Wild Onion river of the Indians. The first white man to visit this section, of whom we have record, was a Frenchman by the name of Perrot in 1671. In 1803, Fort Dearborn was established. In the war of 1812 it was abandoned and destroyed by the Indians. In 1816 it was rebuilt and ever afterwards main- tained as an outpost. Chicago was laid out in 1833. The Indians were beginning to see in the Americans a force before which their people must re- cede into oblivion. Several council fires were convened. The first one affect- ing lands in the north of Indiana was held October 29, 1821. The Potta- wattomies and Ottawas involving lands on the west shore of Lake Erie mostly in the state of Michigan, but also including a strip in Indiana twelve miles wide, beginning at the Ohio State line thence west until it reaches the
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St. Joseph river; thence down the said river until it passes into the State of Michigan. The most of the lands involved in this treaty are in the State of Michigan, but it is the first treaty that surrenders the right of the Indians to the northern portion of our state. At the time that this was going on in the north the Indians were in the final struggle in the south. The Creeks and General Jackson had met in battle at Ft. Mims and other points which ended their rights in Georgia and Alabama and moved them to the west of the Mississippi.
In the year of 1826 there were three treaties with the Indians. The first was made October 16th at the mouth of the Mississinewa river with the Pottawattomies, and included a narrow strip of land twelve miles wide west of the St. Joseph river extending westward to Lake Michigan. The second treaty was made at the same place on the same day, with the Pottawattomies, including the lands beginning on Tippecanoe river at the mouth of Indian creek, thence with the shadow of the five o'clock sun of that day until you reach Eel river, where Richland now stands, thence up the Eel river to Columbia City in the northeast of Whitley county, thence west to the north bend of the Tippecanoe river, thence down said river to the place of beginning at the mouth of Indian creek. The third treaty was made on the 23rd day of October the same year at the same place with the Pottawattomies and Miamis. The lands ceded by the Miamis lay between the Tippecanoe river, the Wabash and Eel rivers and south of the line that runs from this land to the mouth of Indian creek. The lands of the Pottawattomies lay between the Eel and Wabash rivers and a line that runs northeast from Huntington on the Wa- bash, until it reaches the mouth of St. Joseph river that forms the Maumee at Ft. Wayne and up St. Joseph to near the middle of township I north, range 13 east, thence towards the four o'clock sun of that day until it meets Eel river near Columbia City and down said river until its junction with the Wa- bash. It will be observed that the metes and bounds of these lands are very irregular. Our system of survey was in use at this time and while it was familiar to the white man and the entire state was mapped out in congress- ional townships, yet the Indian knew nothing about it, but preferred to mark out his lands by rivers and the shadow of the sun.
After the war of 1812 the tide of immigration poured into Ohio and Indiana so there was a constant pressure upon the Indians for more land. One treaty was no sooner completed until another was begun. The most
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intense pressure was in the northern portion of the state. All the rivers in the south part and the Wabash and its tributaries were in the possession of the white man and opened for settlement. Negotiations were opened with the Pottawattomies on September the 20th, 1828, at Carey's Mission on the St. Joseph river. It was concluded, and conveyed all the rights of this tribe to all the lands in the northeast part of the state, east and north of a line beginning at or near Columbia City, in Whitley county; thence, with the shadow of the 9:30 A. M. sun of that day to a point near Wilmot, in the southwest corner of Noble county; thence, with the shadow of the 7:30 A. M. st .John Lakeville; thence north to the line established by the treaty of October 16, 1826, to the mouth of Mississinewa. This treaty includes a wide scope of lands in the northeast part of the state, and is fast crowding the Indians into the central part of the state.
Once again the peace pipe was called into requisition, for there yet remained in the northwest of our state, a most desirable portion of land bordering on Lake Michigan; rich in prairies and well watered by sparkling lakes and flowing rivers. It was nearing the close of the moon of ripe nuts, October 23, 1832, that the Pottawattomies were assembled around their council fires in sad and solemn conclave, for the Star of Destiny was against them. Immigration came pouring in upon them like an overwhelm- ing tide, and they were helpless to resist it. Nothing remained but for them to follow the trail of the deer and buffalo, so the counsel of the wise Sachem prevailed, and another treaty was signed by the Pottawattomies at the mouth of the Tippecanoe river. It included all the lands in the north- west part of Indiana, drained by the Kankakee and its tributaries, lying north of a line beginning at Columbia City on Eel river; thence, west to the north bend of the Tippecanoe river; thence toward the three P. M. sun or that day until it passes out of the state, near the southwest corner of Benton county. It will be observed that with this treaty the Indians have now parted with all the great rivers of Indiana, and the beautiful large lakes which border it upon the north. The few remaining tribes which remain are hemmed in the center, pressed on all sides by the aggressive pale faces. The entire borders of the state are now in the hands of the white man. No wonder this occasion was a mournful one to the Pottawattomies. Each
(4)
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dreaded yet none dared to refuse the Calumet, as it was passed silently down the line. Deep drawn were the whiffs and melancholy were their reflections, for they realized what it meant to them to give up the burying places of their fathers and pursue a lonely track through the pathless prairie and untrodden wilderness. At last, as White Cloud passed the Calumet to a straight-backed warrior, Twenty-Canoes, he arose and with a deep puff and twenty foot leap plunged into the stream near by, which not only peace- fully bore him onward to his grave, but ever after carried the name Calumet, and gave it to the flourishing city of the same name near Lake Michigan.
RESERVES.
During the progress of the treaties with the Indians, there were many reserves made from time to time, in order to pacify them for giving up their rights to the lands. The first among these was the reserve at Thorn- town of one hundred square miles for the Eel-river Tribe, made at St. Mary's, October 6, 1818, which continued for ten years. The following is the Act, showing its dissolution :
February II, and May 7, 1828.
The Chiefs, Head Men, and Warriors agree to cede and by these pres- ents do cede and relinquish to the United States all their rights, title and claim, to a reservation of land about ten miles square, at the village on Sugar Tree creek (Sa-nah-min-dji), in Indiana, which was reserved to said party by the second article of a treaty between the commissioners of the United States and the Miami Nation of Indians; made and entered into at St. Mary's, in the State of Ohio, on the 6th day of October, 1818. The Indians agreed not to burn any house or fence, and leave them in good con- dition as now; and move to the five-mile reservation on Eel river, that empties into the Wabash, by the 15th day of October, 1828. The United States gave them $2,000 in merchandise and when ratified $8,000 more in merchandise and was to build for them twelve log houses, clear and fence forty acres ; was to furnish one wagon, two yoke of oxen and two hands to
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work three months for two years; $500 worth of provisions, five horses, five saddles and five bridles.
(Signed)
JOHN TIPTON, Commissioner.
and by the following Indians :
Ne-go-ta-kaup-wa, Shaw-po-to-seaw, Na-tah-ko-ke-aw, Aw-waw-no-zaw,
Kaw-koaw-ma-kau-to-aw.
Aw-sown-zou-gow,
Shin-go-ou-zaw, Oh-zou-ke-at-tou, Waw-pow-ko-se-aw, Mack-ken-zaw,
and ten others.
The Wyandottes had a reserve on the Wabash, and there were numbers of reserves along the Wabash, and in the northern part of the state, finally closing up with the last and largest reserve between the Wabash and the Mississinewa, and south of the latter river embracing a large tract of land, which was closed out by the treaties of October 23, 1834; November 6, 1838, and November 28, 1840, all ceded to the United States by the Miami reserves and forever closed the title of the Indians to lands in the state of Indiana and the last of them slowly folded their tents, like the Arabs, and silently went westward beyond the Great River never to return. They left no records, no monuments. All we know of them is in regard to their connection with the white man in their dealings and wars. They had a num- ber of villages and trading points over the state, one of which was located on the banks of Sugar Tree creek (Sa-nah-min-dji), and the name of the village was Ka-we-ah-ke-oon-gi.
THE VILLAGE.
When the white man first came to this country, early in the eighteenth century, he found an Indian village on the banks of Sugar creek at the
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confluence of Prairie creek. As far back as we know, it was the home of the Eel river tribe of the Miami Nation. When the French came it became an Indian trading-point. When the Jesuit Missionaries came it must have been a religious center for this section. This is why the reserve was located here, and it became an Indian historic point; and around it can be woven a lively story of the red man and his tragic end. Here just north of town were the cornfields where the squaw scraped up the little hillocks year after year for the Indian maize. In the east part of town, along Front street, was their burying ground, where they laid away their loved ones. In digging for our water mains and sewers we exhume their remains and the trinkets and treasures that were deposited with them in their last resting place.
INDIAN SKELETON UNEARTHED.
The Thornton Argus-Enterprise says: "If we may judge from the number of skeletons recently disinterred in the vicinity of north Front street that portion of the town was evidently the burying ground years ago when Thorntown was an Indian center of note. While laying the water main at the junction of Front and Bow streets, workmen partially uncovered the re- mains of another human last Tuesday. As the body was not directly in the line of digging, only the skull was disclosed. Among the several curious trinkets also found were two large Catholic crosses made of very thin silver. One of these bore the word 'Montreal,' and the other 'Detro.' Another curio was an earring of peculiar design bearing the letters 'C. D.' On the bone of the forearm were several silver bracelets but being very thin and much deteriorated they crumbled to pieces. These had been tied together with a piece of whang which was still quite strong. The character of the trinkets and absence of all weapons led the workmen to believe that the re- mains were those of an Indian squaw." (May, 1914).
East of the town, across Prairie creek, is another burying ground, where, according to story fell two chieftains. It is stated that the Miami Indians were very much dissatisfied with their chief, Chap-a-do-sia, for selling this reserve, so much so, that it led to a battle between Chapadosia and another chief named Dixon; they met, and each at the same moment plunged a huge butcher knife into the other's naked bosom, both dying on
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the bloody ground, and with fast glazing eyes glaring with hate and defiance fixed on each other. They were buried in a sitting posture in a pen in the burying ground over Prairie creek about one-half mile east of Thorntown, one at each end of the pen, with their feet nearly touching each other, to- gether with their butcher knives, tomahawks (Pug-ga-wa-guns), rifles and other weapons of offense and defense; also, their hunting dogs and favorite horses were slain at the same time, that their spirits might accompany their masters' souls to that far off happy hunting ground of the faithful braves. The Indians daily carried food to their silent home for thirty days, that their souls might not faint by the way.
These thrilling stories about the Indian could be extended indefinitely, some as facts, others legendary, but we have given a few of the most reliable in order that we may have an insight of a race of people who pre- ceded us and are now nearly extinct. For many years after they had dis- posed of all their lands a remnant of them lived on their lands on the Mississinewa with Chief Godfroy at their head.
After the battle of Tippecanoe, Tecumseh returned to the north and joined his fortunes with the English against the United States. At the very beginning of this struggle, a treaty was made with the Wyandottes at Fort Wayne, September, 1812, that ceded all the lands in the northeast part of our state included between the rivers St. Joseph's and St. Mary's that form the Maumee at Fort Wayne and the lands for a distance around the Fort.
DEATH OF TECUMSEH.
Tecumseh the Brave, called the King of the Woods, who met General Harrison in pow-wow and in battle, was the noblest of all red men that fought for his people upon the soil of Indiana. He was born at the old Shawnee town of Piqua on Mad river, Ohio, in 1768. We can only stop to introduce him here, it will pay you well to search history and find out its record of this great statesman and warrior. In the first treaty named in this history-that of Greenville, Ohio, in 1795-Tecumseh took the position that it was not binding because, an injustice had been done, that, while the Indiana and Illinois Indians had shared equally in the compensation of the terms of the treaty, it was clear that the Shawnees, and other Ohio Indian
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tribes had been shut out entirely, and when the last three treaties of 1809 were made by which three million acres were added to the cessions, Tecum- seh became defiant and said these treaties should not be carried into effect. It was then that he sought a dramatic interview with General Harrison at Vincennes, where it was charged and generally believed by the whites that he contemplated treachery. There is no question but that he warned the governor in private interviews that the surveyors would not be permitted to run the boundary lines under the treaties of 1809 without bloodshed. Tecumseh nursed his wrath and said, "we will have to fight it out," and he became the implacable enemy of the pale-skin Americans. Tecumseh went south to other tribes and, with fiery harangues, urged the Creeks to accept his bundle of red-sticks, which was the emblem of their union for a bloody war; claiming that their cause was righteous-that the Indian lands be- longed to all the Indians in common, and that no one tribe could dispose of any part of it without the consent of all the tribes. This had been done, he now called a halt. In the meantime the effort of the Shawnee chief was seconded by his brother the Prophet who was acquiring great influence among the adjacent nations. He had fixed his headquarters at the mouth of the Tippecanoe, where he had built a town for his followers. So alarm- ing were the accounts of Tecumseh's movements-for border warfare had begun in the south-that the government finally instructed General Harrison to march against this Prophet's town and destroy it, unless a satisfactory treaty was formed. In hazarding a battle during Tecumseh's absence, the Prophet disobeyed his direct commands and was defeated; and the Prophet's town was destroyed. The loss of Tippecanoe was a severe blow to Tecum- seh. He turned his steps northward, called his warriors to the field, and joined the British army, where he was made a general in the war of 1812. At Fort Meigs on the Maumee, he again confronted General Harrison, and the words of his prophecy uttered at Vincennes-"You and I will have to fight it out"-came true; for, here on the first of May, 1813, Proctor, with his British and Tecumseh with 600 warriors from the Wabash, appeared before the Fort. The Indians fired into the Fort from trees which they climbed for that purpose; and harassed in every possible way, but General Clay of Kentucky re-enforced Harrison and the siege was raised. One can easily imagine the chagrin with which this intrepid warrior saw the British driven back by the Americans, but he held on to his life-long dream as he
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begged Proctor to turn his arms and ammunition over to the Indians, and let them stay and fight it out. The last struggle is as fine a bit of American history as books can record. On the 5th of October, 1813, our hero entered his last battle, on the banks of the Thames in Canada. He must have felt it was his last, he said, "My body will remain on the battle-field," handing his sword to a comrade: "Give it to the son of Tecumseh." In the heat of the conflict Tecumseh was struck in the breast by a bullet, supposed to have been fired by Colonel Johnson, at the time he also was wounded. Shouting his last word of command, this intrepid statesman and warrior calmly stepped forward, sunk at the foot of an oak and expired. A sudden terror seized the red men, who fled through the wilderness; and thus was established, with blood and steel, the white man's theory versus the Indian's contention, for the soil of Indiana. Had Mad Anthony at Fort Wayne treated the Ohio Indians justly no disturbance would have been raised. Under that treaty a number of tribes were made absolutely homeless except as they might be tolerated by other tribes. In looking back and contemplating such a life as Tecumseh's we are led to say, neither Greece, Switzerland, Germany, France, England nor Scotland can show a prouder record. Tecumseh was a match- less leader of a race that stood, fought and died for home and principle rather than surrender, though the whole world was poured in upon them. The name of Tecumseh is inseparably linked with Indiana.
The first pow-pow after the war was held at St. Mary's near the Ohio state line October 2, 1812. The Miamis, Pottawattomies and Weas surren- dered all their rights to the lands bordering on the Wabash river in the west part of the state. It includes all the lands on the west and north of the river up to the mouth of the Tippecanoe river; thence up the said river to the northeastern part of Pulaski county, thence toward the three o'clock sun of that day until it passes into Illinois. It includes all the lands on the south and east of the Wabash river indefinitely defined from the mouth of the Tippe- canoe river until you reach the mouth of Big Turtle creek named in the treaty of the Kickapoos in 1809.
TREATY AT ST. MARY'S.
The treaty made and concluded with the Indians at St. Mary's in the state of Ohio, October 6, 1818, between Jonathan Jennings, Lewis Cass and
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Benjamin Parke, commissioners of the United States, and the Miami na- tion of Indians. Begin at the boundary line of the state of Indiana on the Wabash river, at the mouth of Raccoon creek; thence, up the river to the reserve at its head near Ft. Wayne; thence to the reserve at Ft. Wayne; thence with the line thereof to St. Mary's river; thence up the St. Mary's to the reservation at the Portage; thence with the cession made by the Wyan- dottes to the United States, at the foot of the rapids of the Maumee of Lake Erie, September 29, 1817; thence to Ft. Recovery; thence west to the place of beginning at the mouth of Raccoon creek. Several reservations were made along the Wabash river, and among these was the reservation of ten miles square at the Indian village Ka-we-ah-ke-un-gi, on Sugar Tree creek (Sa-nah-min-dji). Numerous cessions were made to chiefs and families, and the United States agreed to pay a perpetual annuity of $15,000 in silver. The United States also agreed to build one sawmill, one grist-mill, one blacksmith-shop and one gunsmith-shop and to furnish 160 bushels of salt.
This is one of the most important treaties ever made in regard to lands within the bounds of Indiana, and one that had more to do with the history of Boone county than all others. This treaty embraced all the land on the south side of the Wabash river in Indiana, not heretofore ceded by the In- dians to the United States. The Thorntown Reserve was the only exception south and east of the Wabash river.
THE CLOSE OF THE RESERVE.
In an act of Congress, February II, 1828, the chiefs, headmen and warriors of the Eel river tribe of the Miami nation of Indians, agree to cede, and by these presents do cede and relinquish to the United States, all their right, title and claim to a reservation of lands about ten miles square at the village on Sugar creek in Indiana, which was reserved to said party by the second article of a treaty, between the Commissioners of the United States and the Miami nation of Indians, made and entered into at St. Mary's in the state of Ohio on the 6th day of October, 1818. The Indians hereby agree not to burn any house or any of the fences; and to leave the premises in as good condition as at present, and to remove to the reserve on Eel river by the 15th day of October, 1828. The United States agrees to pay down
UPPER PART: TYPES OF BLACK FLINT ARROW POINTS AND KNIVES. LOWER PART: FANCY
JASPER AND CALCEDONY ARTEFACTS. ABOUT ONE-HALF NATURAL SIZE.
COLLECTION OF BLACK CEREMONIAL STONES, BEVELED AND SERRATED KNIVES, GROOVED AXES AND INDIAN ORNAMENTS.
INDIAN RELICS FOUND IN GRAVE THREE FEET UNDERGROUND AT THORNTOWN -- COLLECTION OF JOHN HEWITT.
TYPES OF GROOVED AXES FOUND IN BOONE COUNTY. ONE-SIXTH NATURAL SIZE.
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two thousand dollars in merchandise and when the treaty is ratified by next summer, pay the balance, eight thousand dollars, in merchandise. Also the United States agrees to build twelve log houses, clear forty acres of land, and furnish one wagon, two yoke of oxen, two hands to work three months for two years; and to give five hundred dollars in provisions, five horses, five saddles and five bridles.
Signed by John Tipton, Commissioner of the United States, and by the following Indian chiefs: Ne-go-ta-kaup-wa, Shaw-po-to-seaw, Na-tah-ko- he-aw, Aw-waw-no-zaw, Kaw-koaw-ma-hau-to-aw, Aw-sown-zou-gaw, Shin- go-aw-zaw, Ah-zou-ke-at-tau, Waw-paw-ko-se-aw, Mack-kan-zaw, and ten others. This treaty ended the right of the Indians to all the lands in Boone county, and they quietly folded their tents and departed forever. They left their hunting grounds, their homes where they had resided for generations and their burying grounds. It was the blotting out of a race. A few of them lingered for a few years, clinging to the affections of the heart, and some at later dates made visits to the resting place of their loved ones. Eighty- four years have rolled away, a new generation has come that knew nothing of those that have passed away, and will know nothing except from the his- tory of the past.
THE INDIAN CONTROVERSY.
The great controversy of the natives of this country was over the land. It was not over the price of the land, although they received but a trifle for it, and that in goods of various descriptions and at a high price. The first deal within the boundary of Indiana was by a land company in 1775 for three million acres along the Wabash river. They paid for this land at the rate of one and one-half cents per acre in trade, blankets, beads, ribbons, powder, lead, guns, earrings, bracelets and crosses. The Indian would know nothing about the market value of these articles, but he never complained of this but stuck to his bargain.
The great Miami Nation that owned all this country before the intru- sion of the white man, was composed of many different tribes and families. Some of these tribes without the knowledge of others would make a land deal with the whites and bargain away a portion of the land. The uncon- sulted tribes would contend for their right in the land as common owners.
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They knew nothing about the idea of conveying land in fee simple, but would acknowledge the principle of quit-claim. This trouble arose in Georgia early in the last century, and the government had much trouble with the Creek Indians ; finally had to buy them out and move them to the west side of the Mississippi. Tecumseh raised the same question in Indiana and stirred up the different tribes to insist upon their rights to the lands that had been con- veyed to the whites without their knowledge or consent. This was the con- tention between Tecumseh and Harrison in all their pow-wows for settle- ment. Harrison would not acknowledge the right and the brave chief re- plied that "we will have to fight it out," and fight it out they did until the chief went down in the battle. All the trouble over Indian lands were brought about over this question. The Indians were in the right but the white man had the might, and we got the land. From the days of King Philip, the government has had trouble with the Indians because the latter would not acknowledge that another could sell his inherent right. The Indian was right in the matter and his claim was just.
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