USA > Indiana > Huntington County > History of Huntington County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 5
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After La Fontaine became principal chief of the Miami Nation, he established his home at the forks of the Wabash, about two miles below Huntington, and a settlement grew around him which was sometimes called a village, but it scarcely attained to that distinction. A similar case is seen in the so-called "Deaf Man's Village," in the western
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part of Wabash County, which consisted of perhaps half a dozen huts in its palmiest days. The Deaf Man (She-po-con-ah) was at one time war chief of the Miami tribe. He married Frances Slocum, the white woman who was stolen from her home in Pennsylvania in childhood by the Indians and passed her entire subsequent life among the red men.
Near the place where the Battle of Tippecanoe was fought, in 1811, the Miami established a village at an early date. It was afterward occupied by the Shawnee Indians, who were driven out by Wilkinson and the village destroyed in 1791, at which time it consisted of 120 houses. Some years later the village was rebuilt by the Pottawatomi, who in 1808 invited Tecumseh and his brother to make it their head- quarters, when the place took the name of Prophet's Town. After its destruction by General Harrison in November, 1811, it was never again rebuilt.
In 1846, after several treaties, the Miami Indians removed to a reservation in Kansas, in which state there is a county named for this once powerful tribe. By the Treaties of 1854 and 1867 they ceded their lands in Kansas and removed to the Indian Territory, where they were confederated with the remnants of the Wea, Peoria, Kaskaskia and Piankeshaw tribes. About the beginning of the present century the chief of this little confederation was Thomas Richardville (Wah-pe- mun-wah), a grandson of John B. Richardville and a native of Hunt- ington County. Through the consolidation and intermarriage of these tribes the identity of the Miami has been almost completely lost.
When the white men began to found settlements in Central Indiana, they found all the country north of the Wabash River inhabited by the Pottawatomi Indians. This tribe was originally one of the strongest numerically of the great Algonquian family. The name "Pottawatomi" signifies "People of the place of fire." According to the Jesuit Rela- tions, the tribe was known about 1670 as the "Nation of fire." In early times the Pottawatomi, Chippewa and Ottawa were closely allied, if indeed they were not one tribe, and they are frequently referred to by early writers as "The Three Fires." Tradition says they lived together about the upper end of Lake Huron. After their separation the principal branches of bands of the Pottawatomi were those living on the St. Joseph and Huron rivers, in Michigan, and the Wabash and Eel rivers, in Indiana.
The Pottawatomi have been described as "the most docile and affec- tionate toward the French of all the savages of the West." They were naturally polite, more kindly disposed toward the early missionaries and the religion they taught than any other western tribe, though some writers state that they were filthy in their habits, low in their nature,
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lazy, and would rather fish and hunt than to till the soil. In their religion they worshipped or paid deference to two spirits-Kitchemondo, the good spirit, and Matchemondo, the evil spirit-though Schoolcraft thinks these spirits were the result of the teaching of the missionaries. This author says that in early times the Pottawatomi worshipped the sun and practiced polygamy. When starting on the warpath the tribe appealed to the two spirits for their aid, asking Kitchemondo to give them the victory and Matchemondo to confuse their enemies.
Morgan divides the Pottawatomi into fifteen gentes, as follows: 1, Moah (wolf) ; 2, Mko (bear); 3, Muk (beaver); 4, Misshawa (elk); 5, Maak (loon) ; 6, Knou (eagle); 7, Nma (sturgeon); 8, Nmapena (carp) ; 9, Mgezewa (bald eagle) ; 10, Chekwa (thunder) ; 11, Wabozo (rabbit) ; 12, Kakagshe (crow); 13, Wakeshi (fox); 14, Penna (turkey) ; 15, Mketashshekakah (hawk).
The first white people to come in contact with the Pottawatomi were the French, with whom the tribe remained on friendly terms for many years prior to the peace of 1763, which closed the French and Indian war. These Indians were with Pontiac in the uprising of 1763 and at the beginning of the Revolution they took sides with the British and against the colonists. At the Treaty of Greenville, August 3, 1795, they notified the Miami Indians that it was the intention of the Pottawatomi chiefs to move their people down upon the Wabash. To this the Miami made objection, claiming all that territory; but their objections were without avail, and the Pottawatomi came into Northern Indiana. About the beginning of the nineteenth century they were in full possession of the country about the head of Lake Michigan, extending from the Mil- waukee River, in Wisconsin, to the Grand River, in Michigan. From Grand River they claimed the country across Michigan to Lake Erie; thence southwest over a large part of Illinois, and all that part of Indiana lying north of the Wabash River. Within this territory they had about fifty villages.
The only Pottawatomi village of any importance near Huntington County was that of Metea, which was situated on the St. Joseph River, at the mouth of Cedar Creek, near the present Village of Cedarville, in Allen County. Metea was a chief who was noted for his oratory in council and his bravery in battle. He was one of the leaders of the Indian war party which massacred the families of the garrison and settlers about old Fort Dearborn (now Chicago) as they were retreating to Detroit for refuge at the beginning of the War of 1812. His band of warriors also harrassed the troops that were marching to the relief of Fort Wayne in the fall of 1812, and in one of the engagements he was shot in the arm by General Harrison. At the council held at the
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mouth of the Mississinewa River in October, 1826, Metea was one of the Pottawatomi chiefs who impressed all present with his passionate eloquence in behalf of his tribe, but the next year he died in a drunken debauch at Fort Wayne. His village, the Indian name of which was Muskwawasepeotan, was sold in 1828.
The Pottawatomi took part in more than forty treaties with the United States. The last important treaty was that of February 27, 1837, when they ceded the last of their lands in Indiana to the United States and soon afterward removed to a new reservation in Kansas. Although the tribe has been regarded as one of the strongest of Algonquian family in numbers, it is probable that the Pottawatomi never could muster more than three thousand or four thousand warriors. In 1908 it had dwindled until the number in the United States was 2,522, including
INDIAN VILLAGE
women and children. Of these 1,768 lived in Oklahoma, 676 of what was known as the "Prairie band" lived in Kansas, and 78 of the same band lived in Michigan.
There is a pathos in the manner in which the Indian tribes of North America were dispossessed of the lands where they had roamed at will for generations before the coming of the white man. Untutored chil- dren of the forest, as they were, they were unable to cope with the superior race, skilled in the arts of diplomacy and warfare. It may be worth while to note the policies pursued by the European nations to get possession of the Indian domain. As early as 1529 the Spanish government directed Cortez, then captain-general of New Spain, to "give his especial care to the conversion of the natives, allowing none of them to be given to the Spaniards as slaves or servants."
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Bishop Ramirez, acting governor under Cortez, conscientiously tried to carry out this command, as well as the instructions of his church; but his efforts were futile. Indians were enslaved, made to work in the mines, treated with great cruelty and their lands were taken from them without even promise of compensation. This was particularly true of the course pursued in Mexico and Central America, and a similar policy prevailed in the Spanish settlements in the southern part of the United States.
It seems that the French had no settled policy in their dealings with the natives. The Jesuit missionaries were interested in the conversion of the Indians to the Catholic faith and the other early French immi- grants were chiefly interested in the fur trade. Little or no effort was. made by either the missionary or the fur trader to cultivate the land or to dispossess the Indians. The two races lived together as neighbors, the Indians peaceably permitting the French to dwell among them and allowing them enough land to answer their needs without any formal treaty of cession, and the French always recognized the rights of the natives as the original and actual owners of the soil.
England adopted a different system. In the British policy the In- dian was not entirely forgotten, as may be seen in some of the early charters; but no provision was made for the conversion, education or support of the Red Men. Charters granted by the English crown usually authorized the colonists, "if God shall grant it, to vanquish and capti- vate them; and the captives to put to death, or, according to their dis- cretion, to save." (See Lord Baltimore's charter to Maryland.)
Concerning this policy, Cyrus Thomas, of the United States Bureau of Ethnology, says: "Frequent and bloody wars, in which the whites. were not always the aggressors, unavoidably ensued. European policy, numbers and skill prevailed. As the white population advanced, that of the Indians receded. The country in the immediate neighborhood of the agriculturalists became unfit for them. The game fled to thicker. and more unbroken forests and the Indians followed. ** That. law which regulates, and ought to regulate in general, the relations be- tween the conqueror and the conquered, was inapplicable to a people under such circumstances."
Under this policy the Indians were treated by the English colonists. as mere occupants, or tenants, to be dispossessed or evicted at will. Although in times of peace the Indians were protected, to some extent at least, in the possession of their lands, they were not regarded as. capable of transferring their title to others-the colonists depended upon the crown grants for title to the lands-and in times of war the natives.
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were expelled, when their lands were taken by conquest, without remu- neration or recourse.
The United States inherited, or copied, in some degree, the English policy in dealing with the Indians. Article IX of the Articles of Con- federation gave Congress the exclusive right to deal with the Indians and control of all Indian affairs, under certain restrictions. After the adoption of the Federal Constitution, an act was passed by Congress and approved by President Washington on March 1, 1793, in which it was provided :
"That no purchase or grant of lands, or any title or claim thereto, from any Indians, or nation or tribe of Indians, within the bounds of the United States, shall be of any validity, in law or equity, unless the same be made by treaty or convention entered into pursuant to the Constitution."
Under this policy treaty followed treaty and the Indian was grad- ually crowded farther and farther toward the setting sun. After the treaties with the Pottawatomi and Miami tribes, a full account of which is given in the next chapter, these Indians left their cabins and favorite hunting grounds for a home beyond the Mississippi and bade adieu forever to the scenes of their childhood. About all they have left behind them are the names of some of the streams and towns such as Missis- sinewa, Tippecanoe, Winamac and Kankakee, which the white man has adopted, and
"The pale-face rears his wigwam where the Indian hunters roved; His hatchet fells the forest fair the Indian maidens loved."
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CHAPTER III
INDIAN CHIEFS AND TREATIES
EARLY MIAMI CHIEFS-LITTLE TURTLE-RICHARDVILLE-HOW HE BE- CAME CHIEF-HIS CHARACTER AND APPEARANCE-LA FONTAINE-HIS DAUGHTER-SOCIAL AND POLITICAL STRUCTURE OF THE INDIAN TRIBE- MESHINGOMESIA-WAR CHIEFS-SHEPOCONAH-FRANCIS GODFROY- MINOR CHIEFS-TREATIES OF CESSION-HOW HUNTINGTON COUNTY BECAME THE PROPERTY OF THE UNITED STATES-RESERVATIONS IN THE COUNTY-REMOVAL OF THE INDIANS-KILSOQUAH-PAYMENT OF AN- NUITIES-CHANGES OF A CENTURY.
The early history of the Miami Indians is veiled in tradition and obscurity and little is known of the chiefs or head men prior to July 3, 1748. On that date a treaty of peace and friendship was concluded at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, between commissioners appointed by the English colonial authorities and the chiefs of several tribes in the in- terior. In that treaty the name of A-gue-nack-gue appears as "principal chief of the Miamis," and it is said that he then lived at Turtle Village, a few miles northeast of the present City of Fort Wayne. Two other Miami chiefs from the Wabash country also signed that treaty, which lasted until after the Government of the United States was established.
Aguenackgue married a Mohican woman, according to the Indian custom, and one of their sons was Me-she-ke-no-quah, or Little Turtle, who became principal chief of the Miami Nation upon the death of his father. Little Turtle was born at Turtle Village about 1747 and at the time he succeeded to the chieftainship his tribe was regarded as the leading one of the West. The Miami were brave and fearless, lived in better habitations, possessed a greater degree of self-respect, were more careful in their dress and habits, and were considered intellectually superior to any of the neighboring tribes. To be the head chief of this great people one must have both physical and mental powers of high order.
Little Turtle was not lacking in any of the essential qualifications. He has been described as "short in stature, well built, with symmetrical form, prominent forehead, heavy eyebrows, keen, black eyes and a large chin." From his mother he inherited many of the finer qualities of
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the Mohicans. Agile and athletic, his physical ability was not to be questioned for a moment. As a youth his influence was made manifest on more than one occasion, even the older warriors listening with re- spect when he presented his views in council. After he became chief, not only of his own tribe, but also other tribes of the Miami Confederacy, he was acknowledged by all as their great leader and they followed him without the slightest envy or jealousy. Wise in council, he was equally brave in battle. No military academy taught him the art of war, yet in the management of an army he showed the skill and strategy of a Napoleon. His prowess as a commander is seen in the masterly manner in which he handled his warriors in the defeat of General St. Clair, November 4, 1791. Not until he met Gen. Anthony Wayne, whom he designated as "the man who never sleeps," did Little Turtle acknowl- edge defeat.
As a statesman, Little Turtle was a conspicuous figure in the nego- tiation of several of the early treaties with the United States. Having once affixed his signature to a treaty, his honor would not permit him to violate any of its provisions, and in this way he won the confidence and esteem of the whites, though he incurred the displeasure of many of his tribe, who referred to him as "an Indian with a white man's heart." Gen. George Washington, while president of the United States, presented him with a medal and a handsome sword as tokens of regard. His last years were spent at Little Turtle Village. A few months before his death, afflicted with the gout, he went to Fort Wayne to consult a surgeon and died at his lodge in the "old orchard," not far from the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's rivers on July 14, 1812. Brice, in his "History of Fort Wayne," says :
"His body was borne to the grave with the highest honors by his great enemy, the white man. The muffled drum, the solemn march, the funeral salute, announced that a great soldier had fallen, and that even his enemies paid tribute to his memory."
Deposited in the grave with him were the sword and medal pre- sented to him by Washington, together with the Indian ornaments and implements of war, according to the custom of his tribe. A monument was afterward erected over his last resting place, and it has been said of him that "He never offered nor received a bribe."
Jean Baptiste Richardville, commonly called John B. Richardville (pronounced Roosheville), became principal chief of the Miami tribe after the death of Little Turtle, though he was not a full-blooded Indian. His father, Joseph Drouet de Richardville, was a French trader, a scion of a noble French family, and there is a tradition that he was an officer in the French service in Canada before he became interested Vol. I-3
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in the fur trade. After embarking in the fur trade he married Tah- kum-wah, daughter of the old Chief Aguenackgue and a sister of Little Turtle. - John B. Richardville, a child of this union, was born at the Miami Village of Kekionga (Fort Wayne), about 1761. His Indian name of Pe-she-wa (the lynx) was indicative of his character-always alert and watchful for his own interests and the welfare of his tribe.
His election to the chieftainship of the Miami Nation was the result of a daring feat, which for bravery is entitled to rank with the famous charge of the light brigade at Balaklava or the defense of the pass at Thermopylæ. It appears that a white man had been captured by a war party of Miami braves and brought into the Indian camp on the Maumee River. No successor to Little Turtle had as yet been chosen and the head men of the tribe, after the usual consultation, sentenced the unfortunate prisoner to be burned at the stake. Among the members of the tribe were some who were opposed to the continuance of this barbarous custom, and one of these was Tahkumwah, the mother of Richardville. Standing apart with her son, she and the coming chief watched the preparations for the sacrifice of the captive, who, knowing that protestations were useless, resigned himself to his fate. The stake was planted, the prisoner bound to it securely, the fagots piled around him, the bloodthirsty savages around him meanwhile reveling in fiendish anticipation. When the preparations were completed the torch was applied and the Indians began "their awful dance of death." Then Tahkumwah thrust a knife into the hands of her son and bade him assert his claims to the chieftainship. Richardville quickly sprang through the circle of frenzied dancers, severed the cords that bound the prisoner to the stake and conducted him away from the scene. If the captive was surprised at his almost miraculous liberation, his surprise was no less than that of the Indians, whose barbaric ceremony was so rudely interrupted. Meginnis says they were "by no means pleased at the loss of their prize, yet the young man, their favorite, for his daring conduct, was at once esteemed as a god by the crowd, and then became a chief of the first distinction and honor in the tribe."
It is said that after the man was rescued from his perilous situation, Richardville's mother took charge of him and sent him down the Maumee River in a canoe, covered with peltries that he might escape discovery, and placed him in the hands of some friendly Indians. Some years later, while on his way to Washington, Richardville stopped for a few hours in a town in Ohio, and while there was given a cordial greeting by a white man, who declared himself to be the liberated prisoner.
The story of this dramatic incident was related by Richardville to Allen Hamilton, the Indian agent at Fort Wayne. It has since been
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repeated by several writers, who describe the chief as a young man at the time he performed the daring feat. The same authorities agree that he did not become chief until after the death of Little Turtle. The story of the rescue is no doubt true, but if Richardville was born as early as 1761 and did not become chief until after Little Turtle's death, in the summer of 1812, he was past fifty years of age when he was elected principal chief, civil ruler and great lawgiver of the Miami Nation.
For many years prior to that time, however, he had been a promi- nent figure among the leading men of his tribe. Although more of a diplomat than a warrior, he took part in the engagement that resulted in the defeat of General Harmar's army in October, 1790. He was one of the Miami representatives in the council at Greenville, Ohio, which ended in the treaty of August 3, 1795; was one of the signers of the . treaty of Fort Wayne, June 7, 1803, and the treaty of Grouseland, August 21, 1805. The treaties of 1818, 1826 and 1838 he signed as principal chief.
Richardville was one of the chiefs who received $500 from the Gov- ernment, after the conclusion of the treaty of 1826, with which to build a house. To the appropriation he added a considerable sum of his own money and built a rather pretentious dwelling on one of his reserva- tions. The "Handbook" of the United States Bureau of Ethnology says: "His house on the bank of the St. Mary's, about four miles from Fort Wayne, was for many years known as the abode of hospitality." For a number of years he conducted a large trading establishment at Fort Wayne, where he spent most of his time, but about 1836 he removed his trading post to Wabash and continued in business there for some time, his wife and the younger members of his family remaining at the home on the St. Mary's. He also built a house in Huntington, which was taken care of by a French woman, Margaret Lafalia, about whom there was considerable mystery, and who is mentioned in another chapter. The following description of this great Miami chief is from the pen of Judge Horace P. Biddle, who knew him personally :
"In stature Richardville was about five feet ten inches, with broad shoulders, and weighed 180 pounds. His personal appearance was attractive and he was graceful in carriage and manner. Exempt from any expression of levity, he is said to have 'preserved his dignity under all circumstances.' His nose was Roman, his eyes were of a lightish blue and slightly protruding, his upper lip pressed firmly upon his teeth, and the under one slightly projecting. That he was an Indian half-breed there can be no doubt. His own statements and unvarying traditions conclusively prove that he inherited his position through his
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mother, by the laws of Indian descent, and contradict the theory that he was a Frenchman, who obtained the chieftainship by trickery or purchase."
Richardville died at his home on the St. Mary's River on August 13, 1841. The next day he was buried by the Catholic Church, first where the cathedral in Fort Wayne was afterward erected, but when work on that building was commenced his remains were removed to the Catholic Cemetery south of the city. His grave is marked by a marble monument, on the side of which is the inscription: "Here rest the remains of Chief Richardville, principal chief of the Miami tribe of Indians. He was born at Fort Wayne, about the year 1760. Died August 13, 1841." The inscription on the west side reads: "This monument has been erected by La Blonde, Sarah and Catherine, daughters of the deceased."
Catherine Richardville, whose Indian name was Po-con-go-qua, be- came the wife of Francis La Fontaine (To-pe-ah), who was the last principal chief of the Miami Nation. After Richardville's death a council was called at Black Loon's Village, where Andrews now stands, to select a successor to the departed chief. Three candidates presented themselves-La Fontaine, Brouillette and Meshingomesia. There is a tradition that some of Brouillette's followers formed a conspiracy to kill La Fontaine, but when the council met William Chapine, an Indian of Black Loon's band, arose in the council and, menacingly placing his hand upon the hilt of his knife, said: "I say To-pe-ah shall be chief; who says no?" Then, looking around upon the assembled warriors, as if seeking some one to offer opposition, he slowly resumed his seat. There was no dissenting voice and La Fontaine became chief.
La Fontaine was born about 1810. His father was a French trader and his mother a Miami woman. His marriage to Richardville's daugh- ter occurred a short time before the old chief's death. At that time he lived east of Huntington, but after becoming chief he removed to the forks of the Wabash and established a store there, which he placed under the management of John Roche. His principal object in embarking in the mercantile business was to protect his Indian friends from the rapacity of the white traders, who were not always scrupulous in their dealings with the natives.
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