USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > History of Fort Wayne, from the earliest known accounts of this point, to the present period. Embracing an extended view of the aboriginal tribes of the Northwest, including, more especially, the Miamies with a sketch of the life of General Anthony Wyane; including also a lengthy biography of pioneer settlers of Fort Wayne. Also an account of the manufacturing, mercantile, and railroad interests of Fort Wayne and vicinity > Part 16
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"By the best and latest information, it appears that on the Wa- bash and its communications, there are from fifteen hundred to two thousand warriors. An expedition against them, with a view of extirpating them, or destroying their towns, could not be under- taken, with a probability of success, with less than an army of two thousand five hundred men. The regular troops of the United States on the frontiers are less than six hundred :* of that number not more than four hundred could be collected from the posts for the purpose of the expedition. To raise, pay, feed, arm, and equip one thousand nine hundred additional men, with the necessary officers, for six months, and to provide every thing in the hospital and quar- termaster's line, would require the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, a sum far exceeding the ability of the United States to ad- vance, consistently with a due regard to other indispensable objects."
On the 26th of August, 1789, about two hundred mounted vol- unteers, under the command of Colonel John Hardin, marched from the Falls of the Ohio to attack some of the Indian towns on the Wabash. This expedition returned to the Falls on the 28th of September, without the loss of a man-having killed six Indians, plundered and burnt one deserted village, and destroyed a consid- erable quantity of corn.t
In a letter, addressed to President Washington, bearing date "September, 14, 1789," Governor St. Clair said:
"The constant hostilities between the Indians who live upon the river Wabash and the people of Kentucky, must necessarily be attended with such embarrassing circumstances to the government *Detaehments of regular troops were stationed at Fort Pitt, Fort Harmar, Fort Wash- ington, Fort Steuben, (at the Falls of the Ohio,) and at Post Vincennes,-His. Ind. ¿Dillon. (8)
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of the northwestern territory, that I am induced to request you will be pleased to take the matter into consideration, and give me the orders you may think proper. It is not to be expected, sir, that the Kentucky people will or can submit patiently to the cruelties and depredations of those savages. They are in the habit of retali- ation, perhaps without attending precisely to the nations from which the injuries are received. They will continue to retaliate, or they will apply to the governor of the northwestern territory (through which the Indians must pass to attack them) for redress. If he can not redress them, (and in the present circumstances he cannot,) they also will march through that country to redress them- selves, and the government will be laid prostrate. The United State, on the other hand, are at peace with several of the nations, and should the resentment of these people [the Kentuckians] fall upon any of them, which it is likely enough to happen, very bad consequences may follow. For it must appear to them [the Indians] that the United States either pay no regard to their treaties, or that they are unable or unwilling to carry their engagement into effect. * They will unite with the hostile nations, prudently pre- ferring open war to a delusive and uncertain peace."
Being empowered, by an act of Congress of the 29th of Septem- ber, 1789, to call out the militia of the several States for the pro- tection of the frontier settlements, President Washington, on the 6th of Oct., 1789, addressed Governor St. Clair officially as follows :
"It is highly necessary that I should, as soon as possible, possess full information whether the Wabash and Illinois Indians are most inclined for war or peace. If for the former, it is proper that I should be informed of the means which will most probably induce them to peace. If a peace can be established with the said Indians on reasonable terms, the interests of the United States dictate that it should be effected as soon as possible. You will, therefore, in- form the said Indians of the disposition of the general government on this subject, and of their reasonable desire that there should be a cessation of hostilities as a prelude to a treaty.
"If, however, notwithstanding your intimations to them, they should continue their hostilities, or meditate any incursion against the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania, or against any of the troops or posts of the United States, and it should appear to you that the time of execution would be so near as to forbid your trans- mitting the information to me, and receiving my orders thereon, then you are hereby authorized and empowered, in my name, to call on the lieutenants of the nearest counties of Virginia and Penn- sylvania for such detachments of militia as you may judge proper, not exceeding, however, one thousand from Virginia and five hun- dred from Pennsylvania. * * * The said militia to act in con- junction with the Federal troops in such operations, offensive or defensive, as you and the commanding officer of the troops, con- jointly, shall judge necessary for the public service, and the pro-
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WASHINGTON'S INSTRUCTIONS to Gov. ST. CLAIR.
tection of the inhabitants and the posts. The said militia, while in actual service, to be on the continental establishment of pay and rations ; they are to arm and equip themselves, but to be furnished with public ammunition if necessary ; and no charge for the pay of said militia will be valid unless supported by regular musters made by a field or other officer of the Federal troops.
" I would have it observed, forcibly, that a war with the Wabash Indians ought to be avoided by all means consistently with the se- curity of the troops and the national dignity. In the exercise of the present indiscriminate hostilities, it is extremely difficult, if not im- possible, to say that a war without further measures would be just on the part of the United States. But if, after manifesting clearly to the Indians the disposition of the general government for the preservation of peace and the extension of a just protection to the said Indians, they should continue their incursions, the United States will be constrained to punish them with severity.
" You will also proceed, as soon as you can, with safety, to exe- cute the orders of the late Congress, respecting the inhabitants at Post Vincennes, and at the Kaskaskias, and the other villages on the Mississippi. It is a circumstance of some importance, that the said inhabitants should, as soon as possible, possess the lands to which they are entitled, by some known and fixed principles."
The last paragraph of the foregoing instructions was based upon the resolutions of Congress, of the 20th June and 29th August, 1788 .* By these resolutions, provisions were made for confirming in their possessions and titles the French and Canadian inhabitants, and other settlers, about Kaskaskia and post Vincennes, who, on or before the year 1783, liad professed themselves citizens of the United States, or any of them. By the same resolutions, a traet of four hundred acres of land was donated to cach head of a family of this description of settlers.t
About the 1st of January, 1790, Governor St. Clair, with the judges of the supreme court of the territory, descended the river Ohio, from Marietta to Fort Washington, at Losantiville. At this place the governor laid out the county of Hamilton, appointed magistrates and other civil officers for the administration of justice in that county, and induced the proprietors of the little village to change its name from Losantiville to Cincinnati. On the Sth of January, 1790, St. Clair and Winthrop Sargent, secretary of the territory, arrived at Clarksville, whence they proceeded to the Illi- nois country, to organize the government in that quarter, and to carry into effect the resolutions of Congress relative to the lands and settlers about Kaskaskia and Post Vincennes. Before the governor left Clarksville, however, he sent to Major Hamtramck, the commanding officer at Post Vincennes, dispatches containing speeches which were addressed to the Indian tribes on the Wa- bash.
*Old Journals, vol. ir,823, 858.
+Dillon. +Ibid.
1
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Having received the instructions of Gov. St. Clair, after the necessary preparations, Major Hamtramck, then commanding at Post Vincennes, on the 15th of April, despatched Antoine Game- lin from that point with the speeches of St. Clair to the tribes of the Wabash. Reaching the Indian settlements, Mr. Gamelin de- livered the speeches at all the villages bordering this stream, and came as far eastward as the Miami village, opposite the present site of Fort Wayne. The following is the journal of Gamelin, much of which relates to his conference at the Miami village here; and will give the imaginative reader quite a fair view of the spirit of the Miamies at this point at that period. Says the journal of Gam- elin :
" The first village I arrived to, is called Kikapouguoi. The name of the chief of this village is called Les Jambes Croches. Him and his tribe have a good heart, and accepted the speech. The second village is at the river du Vermillion, called Piankeshaws. The first chief and all his warriors, were well pleased with the speeches concerning the peace : but they said they could not give presently a proper answer, before they consult the Miami nation, their eldest brethren. They desired me to proceed to the Miami town, (Ke-ki-ong-gay,) and, by coming back, to let them know what reception I got from them. The said head chief told me that he thought the nations of the lake had a bad heart, and were ill disposed for the Americans: that the speeches would not be re- ceived, particularly by the Shawnees at Miamitown. * The 11th of April, I reached a tribe of Kickapoos. The head chief and all the warriors being assembled, I gave them two branches of · white wampum, with the speeches of his excellency Arthur St. Clair, and those of Major Hamtramck. It must be observed that the speeches have been in another hand before me. The messen- ger could not proceed further than the Vermillion, on account of some private wrangling between the interpreter and some chief men of the tribe. Moreover, something in the speech displeased them very much, which is included in the third article, which says, ' I do now make you the offer of peace : accept it, or reject it, as you please.' These words appeared to displease all the tribes to whom the first messenger was sent. They told me they were men- acing ; and finding that it might have a bad effect, I took upon my- self to exclude them ; and, after making some apology, they an- swered that he and his tribe were pleased with my speech, and that I could go up without danger, but they could not presently give me an answer, having some warriors absent, and without consult- ing the Ouiatenons, being the owners of their lands. They desired · me to stop at Quitepiconnæ, [Tippecanoe,] that they would have the chiefs and warriors of Ouiatenons and those of their nation assembled there, and would receive a proper answer. They said that they expected by me a draught of milk from the great chief, and the commanding officer of the post, for to put the old people
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in good humor ; also some powder and ball for the young men for hunting, and to get some good broth for their women and children : that I should know a bearer of speeches should never be with empty hands. They promised me to keep their young men from stealing, and to send speeches to their nations in the prairies for to do the same.
"The 14th April the Ouiatenons and the Kickapoos were assem- bled. After my speech, one of the head chiefs got up and told me ' You, Gamelin, my friend and son-in-law, we are pleased to see in our village, and to hear by your mouth, the good words of the great chief. We thought to receive a few words from the French people ; but I see the contrary. None but the Big Knife is sending speeches to us. You know that we can terminate nothing without the consent of our brethren the Miamis. I invite you to proceed to their village, and to speak to them. There is one thing in your speech I do not like : I will not tell of it: even was I drunk, I would perceive it : but our elder brethren will certainly take notice of it in your speech. You invite us to stop our young men. It is impos- sible to do it, being constantly encouraged by the British.' An- other chief got up and said-' The Americans are very flattering in their speeches ; many times our nation went to their rendezvous. I was once myself. Some of our chiefs died on the route; and we always came back all naked: and you, Gamelin, you come with speech, with empty hands.' Another chief got up and said to his young men, ' If we are poor, and dressed in deer skins, it is our own fault. Our French traders are leaving us and our villages, because you plunder them every day; and it is time for us to have another conduct.' Another chief got up and said-' Know ye that the village of Ouiatenon is the sepulcher of all our ancestors. The chief of America invites us to go to him if we are for peace. He has not his leg broke, having been able to go as far as the Illinois. He might come here himself; and we should be glad to see him at our village. We confess that we accepted the ax, but it is by the reproach we continually receive from the English and other na- tions, which received the ax first, calling us women : at the present time they invite our young men to war. As to the old people, they are wishing for peace.' They could not give me an answer before they receive advice from the Miamis, their elder brethren.
" The 18th April I arrived at the river a l'Anguille, [Eel river.] The chief of the village,* and those of war were not present. I ex- plained the speeches to some of the tribe. They said they were well pleased ; but they could not give me an answer, their chief men being absent. They desired me to stop at their village com- ing back ; and they sent with me one of their men for to hear the answer of their eldest brethren.
"The 23d April I arrived at the Miami town.t The next day I
*The site of this village is on the north side of Eel river, six miles above the point of the junction of this stream with the Wabash.
+At this point.
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got the Miami nation, the Shawanees, and Delawares all assembled. I gave to each nation two branches of wampum, and began the speeches, before the French and English traders, being invited by the chiefs to be present, having told them myself I would be glad to have them present, having nothing to say against any body. Af- ter the speech, I showed them the treaty concluded at Muskingum, [Fort Harmar,] between his excellency, Governor St. Clair, and sundry nations, which displeased them. I told them that the pur- pose of this present time was not to submit them to any condition, but to offer them the peace, which made disappear their displeas- ure. The great chief told me that he was pleased with the speech ; that he would soon give me an answer. In a private discourse with the great chief, he told me not to mind what the Shawanees would tell me, having a bad heart, and being the pertubators of all the na- tions. He said the Miamis had a bad name, on account of the mis- chief done on the river Ohio ; but he told me, it was not occasioned by his young men, but by the Shawanees; his young men going out only for to hunt.
" The 25th of April, Blue Jacket, chief warrior of the Shawanees, invited me to go to his house, and told me-' My friend, by the name and consent of the Shawanees and Delawares, I will speak to you. We are all sensible of your speech, and pleased with it: but, after consultation, we can not give an answer without hearing from our father at Detroit ; and we are determined to give you back the two branches of wampum, and to send you to Detroit to see and hear the chief, or to stay here twenty nights for to receive his an- swer. From all quarters we receive speeches from the Americans, and not one is alike. We suppose that they intend to deceive us. Then take back your branches of wampum.'
" The 26th, five Pottawattamies arrived here with two negro men, which they sold to English traders. The next day I went to the great chief of the Miamis, called Le Gris. His chief warrior was present. I told him how I had been served by the Shawan- ees. He answered me that he had heard of it : that the said nations behaved contrary to his intentions. He desired me not to mind those strangers, and that he would soon give me a positive answer.
"The 28th of April, the great chief desired me to call at the French trader's and receive his answer. 'Don't take bad,' said he, ' of what I am to tell you. You may go back when you please. We can not give you a positive answer. We must send your speeches to all our neighbors, and to the lake nations. We can not give a defi- nitive answer without consulting the commandant at Detroit.' And he desired me to render him the two branches of wampum refused by the Shawanees ; also a copy of speeches in writing. He prom- ised me that, in thirty nights, he would send an answer to Post Vin- cennes by a young man of each nation. He was well pleased with the speeches, and said to be worthy of attention, and should be communicated to all their confederates, having resolved among
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them not do anything without a unanimous consent. I agreed to his requisitions, and rendered him the two branches of wampum and a copy of the speech. Afterward he told me that the Five Na- tions, so called, or Iroquois, were training something; that five of them, and three Wyandotts, were in this village with branches of wampum. He could not tell me presently their purpose, but he said I would know of it very soon.
" The same day Blue Jacket, chief of the Shawanees, invited me to his house for supper ; and, before the other chiefs, told me that, after another deliberation, they thought necessary that I should go myself to Detroit for to see the commandant, who would get all his children assembled to hear my speech. I told them I would not answer them in the night; that I was not ashamed to speak before the sun.
" The 29th of April I got them all assembled. I told them that I was not to go to Detroit; that the speeches were directed to the na- tions of the river Wabash and the Miami ; and that, for to prove the sincerity of the speech, and the heart of Governor St. Clair, I have willingly given a copy of the speeches to be shown to the com- mandant of Detroit ; and, according to a letter wrote by the com- mandant of Detroit to the Miamis, Shawanees, and Delawares, men- tioning to you to be peaceable with the Americans, I would go to him very willingly, if it was in my directions, being sensible of his sentiments. I told them I had nothing to say to the commandant ; neither him to me. You must immediately resolve, if you intend to take me to Detroit, or else I am to go back as soon as possible. Blue Jacket got up and told me, ' My friend, we are well pleased with what you say. Our intention is not to force you to go to De- troit. It is only a proposal, thinking it for the best. Our answer is the same as the Miamis. We will send, in thirty nights, a full and positive answer by a young man of each nation by writing to Post Vincennes.' In the evening, Blue Jacket, chief of the Shaw- ances, having taken me to supper with him, told me, in a private manner, that the Shawanee nation was in doubt of the sincerity of the Big Knives, so called, having been already deceived by them. That they had first destroyed their lands, put out their fire, and sent away their young men, being a hunting, without a mouthful of meat; also had taken away their women-wherefore, many of theni would, with a great deal of pain, forget these affronts. More- ever, that some other nations were apprehending that offers of peace would, may be, tend to take away, by degrees, their lands, and would serve them as they did before : a certain proof that they intend to encroach on our lands, is their new settlement on the Ohio. If they don't keep this side [of the Ohio] clear, it will never be a proper reconcilement with the nations Shawanees, Iroquois, Wy- andotts, and perhaps many others. Le Gris, chief of the Miamis, asked me, in a private discourse, what chiefs had made a treaty with the Americans at Muskingdum [Fort Harmar]? I answered
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him that their names were mentioned in the treaty. He told me he had heard of it some time ago ; but they are not chiefs, neither delegates, who made that treaty-they are only young men who, without authority and instructions from their chiefs, have con- cluded that treaty, which will not be approved. They went to the treaty clandestinely, and they intend to make mention of it in the next council to be held.
" The 2d of May I came back to the river a l'Anguille. One of the chief men of the tribe being witness of the council at Miami town, repeated the whole to them ; and whereas, the first chief was absent, they said they could not for the present time give answer, but they were willing to join their speech to those of their eldest brethren. 'To give you proof of an open heart, we let you know that one of our chiefs is gone to war on the Americans; but it was before we heard of you, for certain they would not have been gone thither.' They also told me that a few days after I passed their vil- lage seventy warriors, Chippewas and Ottawas, from Michilimaci- nac, arrived there. Some of them were Pottawattamies, who, meet- ing in their route the Chippewas and Ottawas, joined them. 'We told them what we heard by you ; that your speech is fair and truc. We could not stop them from going to war. The Pottawattamies told us that, as the Chippewas and Ottawas were more numerous than them, they were forced to follow them.'
" The 3d of May I got to the Weas. They told me that they were waiting for an answer from their eldest brethren. 'We ap- prove very much our brethren for not to give a definitive answer, without informing of it all the lake Nations; that Detroit was the place where the fire was lighted ; then it ought first to be put out there ; that the English commandant is their father, since he threw down our French father They could do nothing without his ap- probation.'
"The 4th of May I arrived at the village of the Kickapoos. The chief, presenting me two branches of wampum, black and white, said : ' My son, we can not stop our young men from going to war. Every day some set off clandestinely for that purpose. After such behavior from our young men, we are ashamed to say to the great chief at the Illinois and of the Post Vincennnes, that we are busy about some good affairs for the reconcilement; but be persuaded that we will speak to them continually concerning the peace ; and that, when our eldest brethren will have sent their answer, we will join ours to it.'
"The 5th of May I arrived at Vermillion. I found nobody but two chiefs ; all the rest were gone a hunting. They told me they had nothing else to say but what I was told going up."
Gov. St. Clair being at Kaskaskia, in the fore part of the month of June of this year, (1790) received from Major Hamtramck the following, bearing date, " Post Vincennes, May 22d, 1790:" "I now inclose the proceedings of Mr. Gamelin, by which your excel-
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THE MAN-EATING SOCIETY-FORSYTH'S ACCOUNT.
lency can have no great hopes of bringing the Indians to a peace with the United States. The 8th of May, Gamelin arrived, and on the 11th some merchants arrived and informed me that, as soon as Gamelin had passed their villages on his return, all the Indians had gone to war; that a large party of Indians from Michilemac- inac, and some Pottawattamies, had gone to Kentucky; and that three days after Gamelin had left the Miami (village-here) an American was brought there and burnt."*
* According to the statement of chief Richardville, Mr. Peltier, and others, says Mr. J. L. Williams, in his researches, page 11, " Historical Sketch of the First Presbyterian Church of Fort Wayne," " the extreme point of land just below the mouth of the St. Joseph, now so attractive in rural peaceful beauty, is said to have been the accustomed place for burning prisoners." Some years ago, chief Richardville also pointed out a spot, to an old citizen of Fort Wayne, lying near Mr. J. S. Mason's line, a few rods from a grave yard on the west side of the Bluffton Plank Road, where he said a Kentnekian had been burned by the Indians sometime during 1812. This, as the reader is already aware, being long a familiar and beloved spot, not only with the Miamies, but many other friendly tribes, to hold and maintain it, they seem to have early devised many plans and means of security, both against their enemies of other savage tribes and the whites, at different periods. At a very early time, the Miamies were called and familiarly known among the tribes of the country as " LINNEWAYS, " or " MINNEWAYS," which, as with the name MENOMENIES, signified MEN. As a means of terror to their enemies, the Minneways or Miamies had early formed here what was commonly known as a " man-eating society," which, to make it the more fearful to their oppo- nents, was firmly established on a hereditary basis, confined to one family alone, whose descendants continued to exercise, by right of descent, the savage rites and duties of the man-eating family. One Major Thomas Forsyth, who lived for a period of more than twenty years among the Sauks and Fox Indians, in a written narration of these two tribes, first published in Drake's "Life of Black Hawk," as early as 1838, said : " More than a century ago, all the country, commeneing above Rock river, and run- ning down the Mississippi to the mouth of the Ohio, up that river to the month of the Wabash, thence up that river to Fort Wayne, thence down the Miami of the Lake some distance, thence north to the St. Joseph's and Chicago ; also the country lying south of the Des Moines, down perhaps, to the Mississippi, was inhabited by a numer- ons nation of Indians, who called themselves Linneway, and were called by others, Minneway, signifying " men." This great nation was divided into several bands, and inhabited different parts of this extensive region, as follows : The Michigamies, the country south of the Des Moines ; the Cahokias that east of the present village of Ca- hokia in Illinois ; the Kaskaskias that east of the town of that name ; the l'amarois had their village nearly central between Cahokia and Kaskaskia ; the Piankeshaws near Vincennes ; the Weas up the Wabash ; the Miamies on the head waters of the Miami of the Lakes, on St. Joseph's river and at Chicago. The Piankeshaws, Weas and Mi- amies, must at this time have hunted south towards and on the Ohio. The Peorias, another band of the same nation, lived and hunted on the Illinois river : The Mascos, or Mascontins, called by the French GENS DES PRARIES, lived and hunted on the great prairies, between the Wabash and Illinois rivers. All these different bands of the Minneway nation, spoke the language of the present Miamies, and the whole consid- ered themselves as one and the same people ; yet from their local situation, and having no standard to go by, their language became broken up into different dialects. These Indians, the Minneways, were attacked by a general confederaey of other nations, such as the Sauks and Foxes, resident at Green Bay and on the Quisconsin ; the Sioux, whose frontiers extended south to the river des Moines : the Chippeways, Ottoways, and Potawatimies from the lakes, and also the Cherokees and Choctaws from the south. The war continued for a great many years and until that great nation the Minneways were destroyed, except a few Miamies and Weas on the Wabash, and a few who are scattered among strangers. Of the Kaskaskias, owing to their wars and their fondness for spirituous liquors, there now (1826) remain but thirty or forty souls :- of the Peo- rias near St. Genevieve ten or fifteen ; of the Piankeshaws forty or fifty. The Miam- ies are the most numerous ; a few years ago they consisted of about four hundred souls. There do not exist at the present day (1826) more than five hundred souls of the onee great and powerful Minneway or Illini nation. These Indians, the Minneways, are said to have been very cruel to their prisoners, not unfrequently burning them. I have
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