USA > Indiana > Wabash County > History of Wabash County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 6
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"I am well aware that certain phases of these statements will be contradieted by persons who have made considerable research, partieu- larly those points touching the exact date of the establishment of these posts; but it is necessary that such contradictions be accompanied by satisfactory proof. A prominent gentleman of this state who has justly earned a wide reputation for historieal information stated, in a conversa-
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tion with the writer only a few weeks ago, that the first military ocenpation of Vincennes took place in 1716. Granting this, we give Post Miami ( Fort Wayne) an antiquity exceeding Vincennes by eleven years, for it is certain that a military post was established at the former point in 1705.
"But in the absence of the records themselves, the date of the first French military settlements in Indiana can best be determined by observ- ing the colonial policy under which they were made, as also the year in which that policy was executed. In many portions of the Northwest, the first French settlements were merely the offshoots of personal ambi- tion, or missionary zeal, as was that at Green Bay, Wisconsin, or that near the mouth of the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan. The former affords us an illustration of personal aggrandizement, presented in the daring and privations of M. Longlade; the latter a grand demonstration of the burning zeal of Fathers Dablon, Allouez and others, early Jesuit mis- sionaries of New France. With regard to these and like settlements, there is ground for dispute as to the date of their origin.
"But the first settlements in Indiana were not made by chance explorers, or roving fur-traders, or pious Jesuits; they were made under a fixed policy of the French Government-a policy framed by the saga- cious La Motte Cadillac, the founder of Detroit. Near the close of the seventeenth century this bold pioneer and statesman of New France returned to his native country on a mission of greater importance to French interests than was, at that time, realized by his countrymen.
FIRST MAP OF THE WABASH VALLEY
"Filled with patriotic zeal, he laid before the colonial minister, Count Ponchartrain, the first map of the Wabash Valley ever made, executed by his own hands. He pointed out the new route that had been discovered by La Salle and his associates through the fertile vales of Indiana, and urged the establishment of a chain of fortifications upon it for the pro- tection of travel. And we fancy Cadillac reasoned in this wise: He pointed out upon his rude map the vast extent and richness of the country adjacent to the route on either side, and indicated the Indian strongholds, suggesting their value as allies in case of future conflicts with rival colonies. Whatever his arguments were, they were convincing, as the colonial minister at once entered upon Cadillac's plans. 'Pont- chartrain,' says a French writer, 'was delighted with his plan, and at once commissioned him to execute it.'
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HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
FIRST MILITARY POSTS
"Cadillac returned to Canada and established Detroit, as we have already said, in 1701. It was under this general policy that the first military settlements were made in Indiana. The missionaries undoubt- edly visited Vincennes, as did they also the site of Post Miami long before military posts were erected in those places, but no permanent missions were stationed until after their occupancy by military power. This took place, according to the French colonial records, in 1705, and as near as can be ascertained there is not more than six month's difference in the dates of the first establishment of Posts Miami, Oniatenon and Vincennes. Certain it is that they were all existing in the spring of 1706. That these posts were often deserted and left withont military garrisons is undoubt- edly true, but we will venture the assertion that the French Colonial archives will show that small garrisons were located at the three points indicated previous to 1706.
RACIAL AMALGAMATION WITHOUT PARALLEL
"The history of these posts from their establishment until they were discontinued furnishes a narrative replete with thrilling incident. It carries the reader through all the interesting scenes of French and Indian intercourse, which presents many romantie, unique phases. In some of these phases we see Frenchmen degraded instead of savages elevated. We see thousands of reckless men throwing off all civilized restraint and plunging deliberately into barbarism. With the rifle and the scalping knife they go forth to wreak vengeance upon the whites, side by side with red men, as if their destinies have become indissoluibly united with those of their new allies. We see a type of amalgamation for which the history of the world furnishes no parallel-Frenchmen descending to the level of Indians in social economy, and, in many instances, dragging the natives down to a pitch of degradation from which a half savage sense of propriety often recoiled with just pride.
FUR TRADERS' BURDEN
"And again, the history of these posts carries the reader through curious accounts of the fur trade, of the manners and enstoms of the Courriers des Bois, or wood rangers-a set of half-breeds, with a language and characteristics peculiar to themselves. In the light canoe they would float carelessly down the streams, basking idly in the summer's sun. or gaily singing some French or Indian song. At night they slept upon the
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HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
river's bank, thoughtless of bed or protection. Returning with loads of furs after a long journey, or from the chase, they were greeted by their tawny wives and hybrid offspring with social enthusiasm, and in their low, uneultivated sphere seemed to enjoy life without many of its cares and burdens. The fur trade had many distinguishing features. Whiskey was one of the chief articles of merchandise, and in the use of this the savage perpetrated his greatest abuse. Oft have the forests around Fort Wayne or Vincennes echoed with the hideous yells of the pow-wow, when barrel after barrel of poisonous liquors were permitted to be distributed among deluded savages. Verily, the fur trader will have an account to give at the day of reckoning in which Indian wrongs will be vindicated.
"And, again, the history of these posts carries us through the pious devoutment of Catholic missionaries, through accounts of Christian zeal, persecution, privations for the Gospel's sake. We see missionary priests mingling with the savages, teaching them, supping with them, pointing them to the cross. In wigwams or rude log huts, these priests gathered anxious, curious pupils, and labored to instruct them in a civilization and Christianity that they could never, never comprehend or appreciate. But the Indians assented and applauded in their silent devotion, and the missionaries labored on, in a hopeless cause, until a war of extermination ended their labors.
INDIAN CONSPIRACIES
"And, again, the history of these posts is filled with thrilling narra- tives that carry the reader through Sandoskit's (Nicholas) conspiracy, Pontiac's conspiracy, Tecumseh's war and the long desultory war that, for years, kept alive a feeling of alarm in the pioneer homes on the borders. We see the war clouds gathering. as the voice of the mighty Pontiac resounds through the forests of the lake regions, and, as they burst in thunderous volleys of musketry, we behold the massacres that characterized the fall of the 'fated nine.' Who shall paint the darkness and gloom that settled over the Western outposts in 1763-4, when the giant of the Ottawas swayed, at his imperial command, all the Indian forces of the Northwest. Who shall tell us of the foul conspiracies plot- ted in forest councils, where this proud Ottawa resided ? What pen shall describe the horrors in the execution of these conspiracies? The mind turns away from the scene at Michilimackinac, awed with its extremes of barbarity; the heart sickens with a contemplation of Vanango; while the fall of Holmes on a supposed errand of merey at Post Miami, and the capture of Jenkins at Quiatenon, present shameful incidents of
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HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
French cowardice and Indian treachery. But no sooner did the storm of Pontiac's vengeance subside than another great Indian statesman rose to defend his race. Tecumseh gathered the scattered forces, and led the last great struggle of the red men, until swallowed up in defeat and death."-Peale.
CHAPTER III
INDIANS OF THE UPPER WABASH
FIRST HISTORIC ACCOUNT OF THE MIAMIS-ON THE DOWN GRADE-CATHI- OLIC MISSIONARY SERVICES -- TRADING IN FURS AND RUM-LA SALLE SAVES THE MIAMI NATION-WAR CUSTOMS OF THE MIAMIS-DOGS SAC- RIFICED-PREPARATIONS FOR THE JOURNEY-LEAVE-TAKING OF THE WARRIORS-OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE WEAPONS-OFFICIAL CANNI- BALS-TRIBAL MANITOUS-BURIAL CUSTOMS-FIRST ALLIANCE WITH THE ENGLISH -- THE MIAMIS' LINGERING DEATH-FRENCH AND INDIAN WAAR-PEACE IN THE WABASH VALLEY-THE MIAMIS IN THE REVOLU- TIONARY WAR-AGAIN ON THE WARPATH-THE POTTAWATOMIES-THE GREAT CHIEF ME-TE-A-THE WEAS ( QUIATENONS).
When the first French missionaries and explorers came in contact with the Miami nation of Indians, during the later period of the seven- teenth century, the central districts of their land had shifted from Northern Michigan on the border of the Chippewa country to the valleys of the Ohio and its tributaries. The nation was a strong branch of the great Algonquin family, consisting of such tribes as the Twightwees, Weas, Piankshaws and Shoekeys, and had long since accepted the christening of the pioneer French as M'Amis (my friends). It is not known for how many years they had been banded together against the incursions of the Confederation of the Five Nations, which, with the coming of their French friends, was already pressing them toward the west.
FIRST HISTORIC ACCOUNT OF THE MIAMIS
The first definite account we have of the Miamis is from the pen of Father Allouez, in the Jesuit "Relations," who visited a band of them at Green Bay in 1669. But, even then, the seat of their trembling empire was further south, and the warriors of the nation which once might be numbered by the thousands had then been cut down to the hundreds
25
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HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
through their decimating wars with the implacable Iroquois, whose bravery was not only equal to their own. but who for many years had had the advantage of firearms first placed in the hands of the Five Nations by the Dutch colonists. Various estimates have placed the fighting force of the Miamis in 1670 at about fifteen hundred.
These once powerful, and still proud and defiant, tribes of the Miami nation dwelt in small villages on the banks of the various rivers in Indiana and Ohio, although they were scattered over much of the great country which they dominated many years before. As impressively said by Little Turtle, their great chief, more than a century afterward, and when their ranks had been further thinned : " It is well known by all my brothers present ( Americans at Greenville in 1795) that my fore- father 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 to the mouth of the Wabash; thence to Chicago on Lake Michigan. These are the boundaries within which the prints of my ancestors' houses are everywhere seen."
ON THE DOWN GRADE
When the French explorers, fur traders and missionaries came to the Miamis more than a century before Little Turtle thus spoke before Gen- eral Wayne at the treaty of Greenville, the principal settlements of the Miamis were scattered along the headwaters of the Great Miami, the banks of the Maumee, the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan, the Wabash and its tributaries. The Miamis had already become somewhat demoralized, and their villages are said to have presented a rather untidy appearance, although at the height of their prosperity they were considered as among the most thrifty of red men. Under such circumstances the French were cordially received by the harassed Indians. The zealous Jesuit mission- aries; the adventurous French fur traders with their blue and red cloths, guns, powder, balls, knives, ribbons, beads, tobacco and rum; and the careless rangers, who conducted the canoes of the traders along the lakes and rivers-all made their appearance among the Miamis of the Wabash Valley and plied their callings for a dozen years.
The priests of the church were undoubtedly faithful to their calling and labored with characteristic zeal to make the Miamis both Catholics and good subjects of the king of France. But the unprincipled traders, with their firewater, prevailed over the better influences, and put the finishing touch to the deterioration of a once manly race.
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CATHOLIC MISSIONARY SERVICES
This conflict between good and bad tendencies among the Miamis of the earlier period of French activities is thus pictured: "The Jesuit missionaries were always cordially received by the Miamis. These Indians would listen patiently to the Christian theory of the Saviour and salvation, manifest a willing belief in all they heard, and then, as if to entertain their visitors in return, they would tell them the story of their own simple faith in the Manitons, and stalk off with a groan of dissatis- faction because the missionaries would not accept their theory with equal courtesy.
" Missionary stations were established at an early day in all the prin- cipal villages, and the work of instructing and converting the savages was begun in earnest. The order of religions exercises at the missions established among the Miamis was nearly the same as that among other Indians. Early in the morning the missionaries would assemble the Indians at the church, or the hut used for that purpose, and, after prayers, the savages were taught concerning the Catholic religion. These exercises were always followed by singing, at the conclusion of which the congregation was dismissed, the Christians only remaining to take part at mass. This service was generally followed by prayers. During the forenoon the priests were generally engaged in visiting the siek and consoling those who were laboring under any affliction. After noon another service was held in the church, at which all the Indians were permitted to appear in their finery and where each, without regard to rank or age, answered the questions put by the missionary. This exer- vise was concluded by singing hymns, the words of which had been set to airs familiar to the savage ear. In the evening all assembled again at the church for instruction, to hear prayers and to sing their favorite hymns. The Miamis were always highly pleased with the latter exercise.
TRADING IN FURS AND RUM
"Aside from the character of the religious services which constituted a chief attraction in the Miami villages of Indiana while the early French missionaries were among them, the traveler's attention would first be engaged with the peculiarities of the fur trade, which, during the first quarter of the seventeenth century, was monopolized by the French. This trade was carried on by means of the carriers, or rangers, who were engaged to conduet canoes on the lakes and rivers, and to carry burdens of merchandise from Detroit to the principal Miami villages, where the traders exchanged their wares for valuable furs, which they transported
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IHISTORY OF WABASHI COUNTY
to the nearest trading post affording them the most available market. This traffic was not, however, confined to those whose wealth enabled them to engage vessels, canoes and carriers, for there were hundreds scattered through the various villages of Indiana, at almost any time during the first half of the eighteenth century, who carried their packs of merchan- dise and furs by means of leather straps suspended from their shoulders, or with the straps resting against their foreheads.
"Rum and brandy were freely introduced by these traders and always found a ready sale among the Miami Indians. A Frenchman, writing of the evils which resulted from the introduction of spirituous liquors among these savages remarked: 'The distribution of it is made in the usual way; that is to say, a certain number of persons have delivered to each of them a quantity sufficient to get drunk with, so that the whole have been drunk over eight days. They begin to drink in the villages as soon as the sun is down and every night the fields echo with the most hideous howling.' '
In those early days the Miami villages of the Maumee, those of the Weas about Oniatenon on the Wabash, and those of the Piankeshaws around Vincennes, were the central points of the fur trade in Indiana. Trading posts were established at these places and at Fort Wayne in 1719, although for twenty years previous the French traders and mis- sionaries had frequently visited them. A permanent mission or church was established at the Piankeshaw village near Vincennes in 1749 by Father Meurin, and in the following year a small fort was erected near the mouth of the Wabash River. These posts soon drew a large number of French traders around them, and in 1756 they had become quite important settlements, with a mixed population of French and Indian.
LA SALLE SAVES THE MIAMI NATION
ยท The discovery and exploration of the Mississippi by La Salle, in 1682, strengthened the policy of the French Government to connect its posses- sions in North America by a chain of forts, trading posts and missions extending from the mouth of the mighty stream to the City of Quebee. It also drew the attention of the allied English and Iroquois to this greater Interior America which threatened to be monopolized by the French and the Indian tribes which had joined their fortunes.
It was during that year (1682) that the Iroquois declared war against the Miamis, as they had, two years previous, against the Illinois. In view of his growing influence among the Western Indians, this was La Salle's opportunity, and he took advantage of it by organizing the Miamis, Weas, Piankeshaws, Shawnees and Illinois into a confederation whose
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HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
headquarters was the French Fort Saint Louis, which he had erected on the Illinois River. For this purpose he drew the Miami nation from the danger zone of the Wabash and Maumee valleys and, as we have before noted, its tribes did not again appear in their old homes until the chagrined and defeated Iroquois had returned to their eastern territory forever.
WAAR CUSTOMS OF THE MIAMIS
After their return in 1712 the Miamis lived chiefly in the Wabash and Maumee valleys until they finally yielded their lands to the whites. About ten years after their home-coming the noted Charlevoix in his journal of " Travels through North America, " thus speaks of their war customs: "After a solemn feast they placed on a kind of altar some pagodas made with bear skins, the heads of which were painted green. All the savages passed this altar bowing their knees, and the jugglers led the van, holding in their hands a sack which contained all the things which they use in their conjurations. They all strive to excel each other in their contortions, and if any one distinguished himself in this way they would applaud him with great shouts. When they had thus paid their first homage to the Idol all the people danced in much confusion to the sound of a drum and a Chichicone; and during this time the jug- glers made a show of bewitching some of the savages who seemed ready to expire ; then, putting a certain powder upon their lips they made them recover. When this farce had lasted some time he who presided at the feast had two men and two women run through all the cabins to give the savages notice that the sacrifices were going to begin. When he met any one in his way he put both his hands on his head and the person met embraced his knees.
DOGS SACRIFICED
"The victims were to be dogs, and one heard on every side the cries of these animals whose throats they cut ; and the savages who howled with all their strength seemed to imitate their eries. As soon as the flesh was dressed they offered it to the idols; and they ate it and burned the bones. All this, while the jugglers never ceased raising the pretended dead, and the whole ended by the distribution that was made to these quacks of whatever was found most to their liking in all the village.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE JOURNEY
"From the time that the resolution is taken to make war till the departure of the warriors they sing their war songs every night. The
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IHISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
days are passed in making preparations. They depute some warriors to go to sing the war songs amongst their neighbors and allies whom they engage beforehand to secret negotiations. If they are to go by water they build or repair their canoes. If it is winter they furnish themselves with showshoes and sledges. The raquettes which they must have to walk upon the snow are about three feet long and about fifteen or eighteen inches in their greatest breadth. Their shape is oval, excepting the end behind, which terminates in a point ; little sticks placed aeross at five or six inches from each end serve to strengthen them; and the piece which is before in the shape of a bow (where the foot is fixed) is tied with leather thongs.
"To walk well with these raquettes they must turn their knees inward and keep their legs wide asunder. It is some trouble to accustom one's self to it, but when one is used to it, one walks with as much ease and as little fatigue as if one had nothing on one's feet. It is not possible to use the raquettes with our common shoes; we must take those of the sav- ages, which are a kind of socks made of skins dried in the smoke, folded over at the end of the foot and tied with strings.
"The sledges which serve to carry the baggage and, in case of need, the sick and wounded, are two little boards, very thin, each board about half a foot broad and six or seven feet long. The forepart is a little bent upward, and the sides are bordered by little bands to which they fasten straps to bind what is on the sledge. However loaded these carriages may be, a savage can draw them with ease by the help of a long band of leather, which he puts over his breast and which they call collars. They draw burdens this way, and the mothers use them to carry children with their cradles, but then it is over their forehead that the band is fixed.
LEAVE-TAKING OF THE WARRIORS
. "All things being ready and the day of departure being come, they take their leave with great demonstrations of real tenderness. Everybody desires something that has been used by the warriors, and in return give them some pledges of their friendship and assurances of perpetual remem- brance. They scarcely enter any cabin, but they take away their robe to give them a better-at least one as good. Lastly, they all meet at the cabin of the chief; they find him armed as he was the first day he spoke to them, and as he always appeared in publie from that day. They then paint their faces, every one according to his own fancy, and all of them in a very frightful manner. The chief makes them a short speech ; then he comes out of his cabin singing his song of death. They all follow him in a line, keeping profound silence, and they do the same thing every
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morning when they renew their march. Here the women go before with provisions, and when the warriors come up with them they give them their clothes and remain almost naked-at least as the season will permit.
OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE WEAPONS
"Formerly the arms of this people were bows and arrows and a kind of javelin, which, as well as their arrows, were armed with a point of bone wrought in different shapes. Besides this they had what they call the head-breaker. This is a little elub of very hard wood, the head of which is round and has on one side an edge to ent. The greater part have no defensive arms, but when they attack an intrenchment they cover their whole body with light boards. Some have a sort of euirass made of rushes, or small, pliable sticks, pretty well wrought. They also had defences for their arms and thighs of the same matter. But as this armor was not found to be proof against firearms they have left it off, and use nothing in its stead. The Western savages always made use of buck- lers of bull hides, which are very light and which a musket ball will not pierce. It is something surprising that other nations do not use them.
" When they make use of our swords, which is very seldom, they use them like spontoons; but when they get guns and powder and ball, they lay aside their bows and arrows and shoot very well. We have often had reason to repent of letting them have firearms; but it was not we who first did it. The Iroquois, having got some of the Dutch, then in posses- sion of New York, we were under the necessity of giving them to our allies.
"These savages have a kind of ensign to know one another and to rally by. These are little pieces of bark, eut round, which they put on the top of a pole and on which they have traced the mark of their nation and of their village. If the party is numerous, each family or tribe has its ensign with its distinguishing mark. Their arms are also distinguished with different figures, and sometimes with a particular mark of the chief."
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