USA > Indiana > Miami County > History of Miami County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 4
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In fact, most of the early writers on the subject have supported this
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
hypothesis, and some have gone so far as to arrange the period of human occupancy of the Mississippi valley into four distinct epochs, viz : 1. The Mound Builders ; 2. The Villagers; 3. The Fishermen; 4. The In- dians. This somewhat fanciful theory presupposes four separate races or peoples and is not sustained by any positive evidence. Other writers have contended that the early American aborigines were descendants of the lost tribes of Israel and efforts have been made to substantiate such an assertion. With regard to the Mound Builders, Baldwin, in his "Ancient America," says :
"They were unquestionably American aborigines and not immigrants from another continent. That appears to me the most reasonable sug- gestion which assumes that the Mound Builders came originally from Mexico and Central America. It explains many facts connected with their remains. In the Great Valley their most populous settlements were at the south. Coming from Mexico and Central America, they would begin their settlements on the Gulf Coast, and afterward advance grad- ually up the river to the Ohio Valley. It seems evident that they came by this route, and their remains show that their only connection with the coast was at the south. Their settlements did not reach the coast at any other point."
On the other hand, McLean says: "From time immemorial, there has been immigration into Mexico from the North. One type after another has followed. In some cases different branches of the same family have successively followed one another. Before the Christian era the Nahoa immigration from the North made its appearance. They were the founders of the stone works in Northern Mexico. Certain eminent scientists have held that the Nahoas belonged to the race that made the mounds of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. Following this people came the Toltecs, and with them the light begins to dawn upon ancient Mexican migration. They were cultivated and constituted a branch of the Nahoa family. .. . In the light of modern discovery and scientific investiga- tion, we are able to follow the Mound Builders. We first found them in Ohio, engaged in tilling the soil and developing a civilization peculiar to themselves. Driven from their homes, they sought an asylum in the South, and from there they wandered into Mexico, where we begin to learn something definite concerning them."
Here is a fine illustration of "When doctors disagree." Two more widely diverse theories than those advanced by Baldwin and McLean can hardly be imagined, yet they show the vast amount of speculation indulged in by writers upon the subject. There is not, and never has been, a unity of opinion regarding the Mound Builders. While the early writers classed them as a hypothetical people, supposed to have antedated
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
the Indian tribes by several centuries as inhabitants of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, the Mound Builders are now regarded "as the ances- tors and representatives of the tribes found in the same region by the Spanish, French and English pioneers." Says Brinton :
"The period when the Mound Builders flourished has been differ- ently estimated; but there is a growing tendency to reject the assump- tion of a very great antiquity. There is no good reason for assigning any of the remains in the Ohio valley an age antecedent to the Christian era, and the final destruction of their towns may well have been but a few generations before the discovery of the continent by Columbus. Faint traditions of this event were still retained by the tribes who occu- pied the region at the advent of the whites. Indeed, some plausible attempts have been made to identify their descendants with certain existing tribes."
In the early part of the sixteenth century De Soto and the French explorers found in the southern part of the present United States cer- tain tribes who were mound builders, their structures differing but slightly in character from those for which great antiquity is claimed. The culture of the Mound Builders was distinctly Indian in character and the relics found in many of the so-called ancient mounds differ but little from those of known Indian origin. As these facts have been devel- oped in the course of investigation, archaeologists have generally come to accept the theory that the Mound Builders were nothing more than the ancestors of the Indians, and probably not so very remote as for- merly believed.
Cyrus Thomas, of the United States Bureau of Ethnology, who has made a careful study of the ancient earthworks of the country, divides the mounds of the United States into eight districts :
1. The Wisconsin district, which embraces the southern half of Wis- consin, the northern portion of Illinois and the northeastern part of Iowa. This district is replete with effigy mounds-that is mounds bear- ing a resemblance to some beast or bird. These are believed to have been copied from some bird or animal that served as a totem for the tribe, though they may have been objects of veneration or worship. Effigy mounds are likewise found in some of the other districts, one of the most notable examples of this class being the "Great Serpent" mound, of Adams county, Ohio. This mound is located on a narrow ridge, almost surrounded by three streams of water. It is in the form of a serpent and is 1,348 feet in length. The opened jaws measure sev- enty-five feet across and immediately in front of the mouth is a circular or elliptical inclosure with a heap of stones in the center. The body of the serpent is from thirty to fifty feet wide and about eight feet in Vol. I -2
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
height at the highest part. The state of Ohio recently purchased the tract of ground upon which this ancient work is located and converted it into a park, or reserve, in order to protect the mound from the ravages of the curiosity hunter.
2. The Upper Mississippi district, which includes northern and cen- tral Illinois, southeastern Iowa and northeastern Missouri. In this dis- trict the mounds are generally conical tumuli, located on the ridges of the uplands and possess very little that is of interest to the archaeologist.
3. The Ohio district, which covers the state of Ohio, the eastern part of the state of Indiana and the western part of West Virginia. Forti- fications and altar mounds constitute the distinguishing features of this district, though the ordinary conical tumuli are by no means absent. One of the largest known mounds of this character is the famous mound on Grave creek, West Virginia, which is about three hundred feet in diame- ter at the base and seventy feet high. In the state of Ohio alone about thirteen thousand mounds have been found and many of them explored.
4. The New York district, embracing western New York, the central lake region, and a small section of Pennsylvania. In western New York there are a number of inclosing walls or fortifications.
5. The Appalachian district, which includes western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia and southeastern Kentucky. In the mounds through this district have been found a large number of human skeletons, stone pipes, copper bracelets, mica plates and other relics unlike any found in the other districts.
6. This district includes the middle portion of Mississippi, south- eastern Missouri, northern Arkansas, western Tennessee, western Ken- tucky, southern Illinois and the Wabash valley in Indiana. The distin- guishing feature of this district is the truncated and terraced pyramid mounds, which are found here in larger numbers than in any other part of the country. There are also some inclosures resembling fortifications, ditches or canals, and pottery and stone coffins have been found in several of the mounds that have been explored. Near Cahokia, Illinois, is a truncated pyramid five hundred by seven hundred feet at the base and ninety-seven feet in height.
7. The lower Mississippi district, which includes the southern half of Arkansas, the greater part of Louisiana and the southern portion of Mississippi. It was in this district that De Soto and the French explorers above mentioned found, upon their early visits to the region, certain Indian tribes who were mound builders. The mounds here are chiefly of the simple, conical type and show no special characteristics.
8. The Gulf States district, which embraces the southeastern part of the United States. In this section the large, flat-topped pyramidal
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
mounds and inclosures or fortifications are abundant. There are also a number of effigy mounds, the great eagle mound of Georgia being one of the finest examples of this class in the country.
Concerning the structure and purpose of the mounds, Brinton says : "The mounds or tumuli are of earth, or earth mingled with stones, and are of two general classes, the one with a circular base and conical in shape, the other with a rectangular base and a superstructure in the form of a truncated pyramid. The former are generally found to con- tain human remains and are, therefore, held to have been barrows or sepulchral monuments raised over the distinguished dead, or, in some instances, serving as the communal place of interment for a gens or clan. The truncated pyramids, with their flat surfaces, were evidently the sites for buildings, such as temples or council houses, which, being con- structed of perishable material, have disappeared."
While much of the foregoing is not directly applicable to Miami county, it shows the various theories concerning the aborigines who dwelt or roved about in this country long before the white man even knew of the existence of the continent. At various places in the Wabash valley and the valleys of its tributaries-the Sixth district in Thomas' division -there are numerous relics of Mound Builders, even though Miami county is lacking in works of interest to the archaeological student. With regard to the archaeological remains in Miami county, State Geologist Thompson, in his report for 1888 (page 188), says :
"The aborigines of Miami county left but few monuments to per- petuate their memory. Occasional mounds are about the only earth- works, and these, or the greater part of them, are in the southern part of the county. As a rule the mounds observed are merely small, conical hillocks, varying in height from two to five feet, and in diameter from twenty to fifty feet.
"Implements of stone are not rare, but they are by no means so plentiful as they are in some other parts of the state. Stone axes of the grooved pattern are sometimes plowed up in the fields, or picked up in other places, and the smooth form of axe, or scraper, peeler or flesher, as it is sometimes termed, are frequently found. Flint arrow and spear heads of various patterns, including the barbed, stemmed, rotary, ser- rated, triangular and leaf-shaped forms, are common, though not plen- tiful.
"Pottery has only been found in fragments, and pipes are very rarely found. Perforated and polished pieces are rare. The Indian or Mound Builder of Miami county was an economical kind of citizen, and did not throw his implements of war or the chase away recklessly."
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
THE INDIANS
At the time the Western Hemisphere was first visited by Europeans, the continent of North America was peopled by several groups or fam- ilies of Indians, each of which was distinguished by certain physical and linguistic characteristics and occupied a well defined territory. In the north were the Eskimo, a people who has never played any important part in history. South of them and west of the Hudson bay were the Athapascan tribes, which were scattered over a wide expanse of terri- tory. Next came the Algonquian group, which occupied a great triangle, roughly bounded by the Atlantic coast on the east, a line drawn from the northernmost point of Labrador in a southwesterly direction to the Rocky mountains, and a line from the Rocky mountains to the Pamlico sound, on the coast of North Carolina. South of the Algonquian and east of the Mississippi river was the Muskhogean family, which included the Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and some other tribes. Directly west of this group, on the west side of the Mississippi, were the Caddoan tribes. The restless, hardy and warlike Siouan tribes occupied the upper Missouri valley, and in the western part of what is now the United States was the Shoshonean family. Along the St. Lawrence river and the shores of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, in the very heart of the Algon- quian country, were the brave, warlike Iroquoian tribes, who were doubt- less the most intellectual of all the North American Indians.
Most of the Indian history of the nation centers about the Algonquian family, which was not only the most numerous, but also inhabited the largest scope of territory, and was so located that its tribes were the first to come in contact with the white men. This great family consisted of several hundred tribes, the most prominent of which were the Miami, Pottawatomi, Delaware, Shawnee, Chippewa and Ottawa. Among the Iroquois the principal tribes were the Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, Mohawk and Cayuga. The Algonquin invasion of Iroquois territory at an early date led to a confederacy being formed by these tribes, which became known as the "Five Nations," and which was a powerful factor in most of the early treaties made between the Indians and the whites. Subsequently the Tuscarora, another Iroquois tribe, was taken into the confederacy, which then took the name of the "Six Nations."
The tribes that played the most conspicuous part in the region includ- ing Miami county were the Miami and Pottawatomi, both belonging to the great Algonquian family. Of all the tribes that inhabited the central part of the United States, the Miami was the most powerful and influen- tial. The tribal name is said to mean "People of the peninsula," and is probably of Chippewa origin, as in early times that tribe and the Miami
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
were closely related. As a tribe they have been variously designated as the Omes, Omamees and Aumiamis by the French, and the Twightwees, Tweetwees or Twa Twas, by the English, though the name "Miami" finally came into general use. In the Jesuit Relations for 1658 Gabriel Druillettes refers to these Indians as the "Omamik," and says they then inhabited the country about the mouth of the Green bay, in Wisconsin. Ten years later Perrot found at least part of the tribe "living in a fortified village on the headwaters of the Fox river, with some of the Mascoutens," and Bacqueville de la Potherie says that in 1667 "this tribe, with the Mascoutens, Kickapoo and part of the Illinois, settled in the Mississippi valley, sixty leagues from their former habitation," but he neglects to inform his readers where that former habitation was.
The fact that a few years later the Miami Indians were known to be scattered over a large territory compels the belief that the Indians mentioned by these early French writers were merely subordinate tribes and did not include the main body. The French divided the tribe into six bands, viz: the Piankeshaw, the Wea, the Atchatchakangouen, the Kelatika, the Mengakonkia and the Pepicokia. The last four have disappeared, or have been absorbed by other tribes, and the Piankeshaw and Wea came to be recognized as separate and independent tribes. The Eel Rivers, an off-shoot of the Miami, lived for some time on a reservation near Thorntown, Boone county, but subsequently joined the main body of the Miamis on the Wabash river.
Early writers describe the Miami men as "of medium height, well built, heads rather round than oblong, countenances agreeable rather than sedate or morose, swift on foot and excessively fond of racing." The dress of the men consisted chiefly of the loin cloth, but the women wore gowns made of dressed deerskins. The French explorers found the women to be "distinguished for their polite manners, mild, affable and sedate character, and their respect for and obedience to their chiefs, who had greater authority than those of any other Algonquian tribe."
While they depended largely upon the chase for their food supply, they also raised maize, or Indian corn, and some other vegetables. The women spun thread of buffalo hair and this thread was used to make bags in which to carry their supply of dried meat. The principal form of dwelling was the wigwam, composed of skins stretched over a frame- work of poles, though many lived in huts roofed with rush mats. They worshiped the sun and thunder, but they did not have a multitude of minor deities as did the Huron, Ottawa and some other tribes. Usually the dead were buried in hollow logs. Occasionally, as in the case of some warrior of distinction, a solid log was split in halves and hollowed out for a coffin, and sometimes bodies were buried in the ground in a recumbent position, without a coffin of any kind.
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
Morgan divides the tribe into ten gentes, viz .: 1. Mowhawa (wolf), 2. Mongwa (loon), 3. Kendawa (eagle), 4. Ahpakośca (buzzard), 5. Kanozawa (panther), 6. Pilawa (turkey), 7. Ahseponna (raccoon), 8. Monnato (snow), 9. Kulswa (the sun), 10. Nape (water). Chauvig- nerie, writing in 1737, says the principal totems were the elk and the crane, and toward the close of the eighteenth century the chief totem was the turtle. It was used in signing at the great conference in 1793 and also at the treaty of Greenville. None of these totems are mentioned by Morgan in his list.
About 1671 or 1672 the Miamis separated from the Mascoutens and settled about the south end of Lake Michigan, establishing their princi- pal villages at Chicago, on the St. Joseph river and where the city of Kalamazoo, Michigan, now stands. Missions were established in these Indian settlements by Father Allouez before the year 1700. Early in the eighteenth century a Miami village was established at Detroit, but the village of Ke-ki-on-ga, at the head of the Maumee river, where the city of Fort Wayne is now located, continued to be the headquarters of the tribe. Other villages were Chi-ca-gou, Ko-ko-mo and Little Turtle's village on the Mississinewa river. Not long after the village was estab- lished at Detroit, a Wea village-called by the French Ouiatenon-was founded by that tribe on the Wabash river, not far from the present city of Lafayette.
Margry says Cadillac reported from Detroit that about 1695, or perhaps a little earlier, the Sioux made a treacherous attack upon the Miamis and killed about three thousand of them, men, women and chil- dren being slaughtered without discrimination. A few years later came the Kickapoo, Pottawatomi and other northern tribes and forced the Mi- ami back to the Wabash river. The tribe then made new settlements on the Miami river, in Ohio, extending as far east as the Scioto river, and they held this country until after the treaty of 1763, when they removed back to Indiana. Miami traditions tell of a confederacy that claimed dominion over the territory now comprising the western part of Ohio, all of Indiana, a large part of Illinois, the southern part of Michigan and part of the state of Wisconsin. It is believed by most historians that the alliance of the Miami with some of the other tribes inhabiting the Ohio valley was formed about the time of the invasion by the northern tribes, and the "Great Miami Confederacy" became to the Indians of the West what the "Six Nations" were to the East-a power that was not easily overcome and a potent factor in dictating the terms of treaties. For many years the headquarters of this confederacy were at Ke-ki-on-ga (Fort Wayne), whither all the subordinate chiefs came to present their grievances and receive their instructions. When
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
one is familiar with the various changes made by the Miami Indians in their place of residence, the speech of Little Turtle (Me-she-ke-no- quah), the great Miami chief, at the council of Greenville, in 1795, is better understood. At that council General Wayne proposed that the Indians relinquish all claim to the lands east of a line running from the mouth of the Kentucky river northward through Fort Recovery, Ohio. To this proposal Little Turtle replied for his people as follows :
"I hope you will listen to what I now say to you. You have pointed out to us the boundary line between the Indians and the United States. I now take the liberty to inform you that the line, as you would have it, cuts off from us a large section of country which we have occupied and enjoyed from a time the oldest of us cannot remember, and no one -- white man or Indian-has ever disputed our rights to these lands, or offered to disturb us in our possession. It is well known by all my brothers present that my forefather kindled the first fire at Detroit; thence he extended his lines to the headwaters of the Scioto; thence to its mouth ; thence down the Ohio river to the mouth of the Wabash, and from there to Chicago and over Lake Michigan. These are the bound- aries within which the prints of my ancestors' houses are everywhere to be seen."
After the return of the tribe to Indiana, following the treaty of 1763, the Miamis established several new villages, the most important of which was the Osage village, situated on the west bank of the Missis- sinewa river about a mile above its mouth. This village was so called from an Osage Indian, whose name appears in treaties as "Osage the Neutral." The site of this village was included in the reservation granted to John B. Richardville in 1838.
Across the river from this village and extending back perhaps a mile from the stream was another village, the name of which appears to have been lost. Possibly it was merely a straggling extension of the Osage village. The site is now occupied by what is known as the "Goodenough ' Farm."
Seek's village, the Indian name of which was Maconsaw, was situated on the Eel river, about three miles from where Columbia City, Whitley county, now stands, and was named after a Miami Chief. The village and its accompanying reservation were ceded to the United States in 1838.
Choppatee's village, named for the chief who inhabited it, was on the west bank of the St. Joseph river, a few miles from Fort Wayne, and Meshingomesia's village was on the northwest side of the Mississinewa river, in what is now Liberty township, Wabash county. A reservation
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
was established here for Metosina in 1840 and in 1872 the land was divided among the surviving heirs of the old chief.
Niconzah's village, also called Squirrel village, was on Big Pipe creek, not far from the present town of Bunker Hill. Other village chiefs were Chapine and White Loon, near the present town of Roanoke, Huntington county; Black Loon and Big Majenica, near Andrews; La Gros, near the town of Lagro, which bears his name; Allolah, south of the present city of Wabash; Joe Russiaville and Mississinewa, west of La Fontaine; and Shepoconah, or the Deaf Man, near the line that now separates Miami and Wabash counties, in Wabash county.
Near the site where the battle of Tippecanoe was fought in 1811, the Miamis established a village at an early date. Afterward this village was occupied by the Shawnees. While the latter were there the village was attacked and destroyed by Wilkinson in 1791, at which time it con- sisted of 120 houses. Some years later the village was rebuilt by the Pottawatomi Indians, who in 1808 invited Tecumseh and his brother to make it their headquarters, 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 majority of the Miamis in Indiana removed to a reservation in Kansas, in which state there is also a Miami county named for this once powerful tribe. By the treaties of 1854 and 1867 their lands in Kansas were taken from them and they were con- federated with the remnants of the Piankeshaw, Wea, Peoria and Kaskaskia tribes in the Indian Territory. By the consolidation and intermarriage of these tribes the identity of the Miami has been almost completely lost.
When the white men began to establish settlements in central Indiana they found all the region north of the Wabash river inhabited by the Pottawatomi Indians. Originally this tribe was one of the most numer-
. ous of the Algonquian family. The name "Pottawatomi" signifies "People of the place of fire," and the Jesuit Relations state that until about 1670 the tribe was known as the "Nation of fire." In early times the Pottawatomi, Chippewa and Ottawa were closely allied, if they were not in fact one tribe, and they were known as the "Three fires." Their tribal traditions say they lived together about the upper end of Lake Huron. After their separation the principal branches of the Pottawa- tomi were those on the St. Joseph and Huron rivers, in Michigan, and on the Wabash river in Indiana.
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