USA > Indiana > The history of Indiana > Part 28
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At the October payment, 1836, the Ewing brothers and Capt. G. N. Fitch presented claims for $34,000. As the payment of this would have taken all the money the other traders objected. The agent, Abel Pepper of Rising Sun, was unable to settle this dis- pute. A committee then received all the claims, amounting to over $100,000, and prorated the annuity money. This wrong to the Indians was so plain that a government agent, J. W. Edmunds, was sent to in-
5 Senate Documents. Indian Removals, V, 371 seq. 1834-5.
4
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
vestigate the claims. His report showed beyond a doubt that the Indians had been cheated out of prac- tically all their money.6
§ 61 BLACK HAWK'S WAR
As long as the first pioneers of our State lived they feared and hated the Indians. It was difficult to tell whether they feared or hated them most. During the decade from 1830 to 1840 they gave a good exhi- bition of each. From their own viewpoint they were amply justified in both. As an example of the terror which an Indian uprising caused on the border there is nothing better in Indiana history than Black Hawk's War.
Black Hawk was a popular leader of a band of Sauk Indians who lived on Rock river, in northwestern Illinois. His village was near the mouth of the river, down where it joined the Mississippi. The old war- riors in this band were kindred spirits who had served under Tecumseh in the War of 1812. They were known along the frontier as the "British Band," and their sympathy for the British was notorious. The Hawk had himself "touched the quill," as the Indians called signing a treaty, in 1804 and again in 1816, when his tribe had ceded its land to the government.
But when the government surveyors and the set- tlers came in 1831 to occupy the land the grizzly old warrior's heart failed him. He had watched his women and children cultivate the village fields for half a century, and when, in the spring of 1831, he re- turned from a winter's hunt in Iowa to find the squat- ters had pre-empted his fields and actually plowed up the graves of his ancestors, he could stand it no longer. He warned the intruders and then with his warriors crossed northern Indiana and southern Michigan to
6 Logansport Telegraph, October 15, 1836, and succeeding is- sues.
371
BLACK HAWK'S WAR
see his British friend, the commander of Malden. The British general advised him wrongly and the war fol- lowed.
All the border Indians were restless during that year. Early in the summer of 1831 a Miami hunting party killed a Pottawattomie war chief, as a result of which the Pottawattomies threatened war. They first demanded an indemnity of $50,000 as blood money. If this was not forthcoming the Miamis were assured that the Pottawattomies would be on them in the spring "before the leaves were as big as squirrels' ears." Gen. William Marshall was sent as agent to settle this difficulty; and in a grand council on the St. Joseph succeeded in doing so.
About this time a proclamation of Gov. John Rey- nolds of Illinois reached the Indiana border. The frontier settlements at this time were between the Wabash and the Illinois State line, west and north- west of Lafayette, with advance posts over the line in Illinois twenty to forty miles. When Black Hawk returned from his winter's hunt he warned the squat- ters to leave. The governor of Illinois took this warn- ing for a declaration of war, and at once called out the Illinois State militia and notified the people that the Sauk and Pottawattomies were on the warpath. The governor meant the Prairie Pottawattomies of Illinois, but the Indiana settlers thought he meant the Indiana Pottawattomies, many of whom lived among the settlers west of the Wabash. A courier carried the report to the Indian agent, Marshall, at Logans- port, who at once dispatched his runners in all direc- tions to gather the scattered villages of Pottawatto- mies into Logansport till the war was over. He did this to pacify the settlers and to save the Indians from the militia.
At midnight Sunday, May 21, 1832, Captain New- ell of the Warren county militia, was called out of
372
HISTORY OF INDIANA
bed and told that the Indians were at Iroquois, near the State line, and approaching fast. He was told that all the settlements west of Big Pine creek, in Warren county, had given way and Big Pine would break in the morning, if no aid appeared.
By eight o'clock Captain Newell was at the head of fifty mounted men, and by eleven o'clock had reached Parish's Grove, eighteen miles on his way. Here he met the throng of refugees from the Sugar Creek settlements. The rabble of refugees completely blocked the way. The settlers of the upper Pine creek had abandoned their clearings. After Captain Newell had calmed the terror-stricken pioneers, he selected twenty-five of his best-mounted men and pressed for- ward that same evening twenty miles farther, to Iro- quois river, in Illinois. He passed scores of settlers fleeing for their lives. From these he heard that the Hickory Creek settlements had all been abandoned and the people were on their way to the Wabash. Sev- eral families were reported murdered on Fox river. The Fox River settlement was seventy-five miles far- ther on, but Captain Newell decided to go ahead and try to reach it by morning. A few miles further he met more refugees from Hickory creek, who as- sured him that not a person was left in the outlying settlement, and that it would be useless to go on. The captain accordingly returned and began to quiet the people.
As soon as Captain Newell received word of the outbreak, on Sunday night, he sent a mounted scout posthaste to Lafayette for aid. Another report reached Lafayette, also, about the same time as the courier, that the Illinois militia, 275 in number, had been routed on Hickory creek, with the loss of over twenty-five men killed; that 200 militiamen were needed; that the settlers had all fled, some to Fort Chicago and others to the Wabash; that the whole
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frontier was abandoned, and that houses were being burned and families murdered.
A small party of militia scouts immediately set out from Lafayette for the scene of the depredation, and Gen. Jacob Walker called out the militia to rendezvous at Sugar Creek Grove in the western part of Benton county.
Meantime the scouts who set out from Lafayette at the first alarm returned and, on June 1, a commit- tee of the best known men of the town sent out a statement to the effect that they had gone as far as Hickory creek, 100 miles northwest of Lafayette, and had found no traces of Indian warfare. No damage had been done on Hickory creek. They reported, how- ever, that Black Hawk, at the head of 500 warriors, was in arms and on the warpath, but was making his way toward the Mississippi.
The militia camp at Sugar Creek Grove was soon broken up. The returning scouts made it certain that Black Hawk had his hands full and that there was no danger from that quarter. Word was received in a few days from the deputy agent, M. G. Grover, at Logansport, that the Miamis, Pottawattomies, Chippe- was, and Ottawas on the St. Joseph were all quiet. When this word came, General Walker disbanded his militia.
The alarm was not confined to Warren and Benton counties. The old Sac, or "Sauk," trail from Illinois to Malden led through LaPorte county. The early settlers of Door Village were accustomed to seeing Sac, or "Sauk," warriors pass and repass on this trail. At times the Indians stole horses and committed other crimes. The settlers along the trail feared them.
In May the Indian agent at Chicago sent a courier to warn the pioneers of the Door Village (LaPorte) that the Sacs were on the warpath. It is said that refugees from Door Village fled as far as Cincinnati.
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375
BLACK HAWK'S WAR
The more resolute gathered in the little village and set to work to build a stout stockade. As soon as this was completed they sent out spies to learn what they could of the Indian advance. In the meantime a good blockhouse was constructed.7 After a few weeks the excitement wore off. There was ample reason for fear along the frontier of the State. Had Black Hawk chosen to lead his warriors along the Sac trail to his old British friends and allies at Malden, there were not enough troops or settlers along the way to have prevented him.
The refugees from the Portage Prairie, Terre Coupee, and other settlements west of South Bend brought the news of the Indian war to that town. Most of the refugees were so alarmed they would not stop in South Bend, but hurried on to the east. As soon as the citizens were aroused they gathered to- gether and, like the friends to the west, at the Door Village and on Portage Prairie, decided that safety lay in a blockhouse. Accordingly they built one and confidently awaited the coming of Black Hawk's war- riors.8
As soon as General Walker received the first re- port of an Indian uprising from Captain Newell he sent a messenger to Indianapolis. The messenger reached the governor, May 29, 1832, and requested him to call out the militia for the Black Hawk War- The militia of Marion, Johnson, and Hendricks coun- ties were accordingly called to meet at Indianapolis. These troops, the pick of the three counties, 150 il number, under Col. A. W. Russell, of the Forty-eighth regiment, reached Lafayette, June 1-3. From Lafay- ette they crossed over into Illinois, marched to Chicago, back around the south end of Lake Michigan,
7 Gen. Jasper Packard, History of LaPorte County, 53.
8 Judge Timothy E. Howard, History of St. Joseph County. (index).
376
HISTORY OF INDIANA
then by way of the St. Joseph country to Indianapolis, without seeing any hostile Indians. When they ar. rived at home they were banqueted as heroes at Washington Hall and the Mansion House hotels. They received the name "The Bloody 300" as a result of their campaign.
At the same time when Governor Noah Noble called out the Marion, Johnson, and Hendricks county militia, he ordered a company of mounted volunteers from Putnam county to patrol the State line and watch for straggling bands of Indians that might at- tempt inroads on the settlements. General Orr, ac- cordingly, enrolled eighty-two men, armed with rifles, tomahawks and butcher-knives. The company estab- lished headquarters at Attica and stationed guards along the State line. Patrols passed from one station to another every day and also reported daily to Attica. This was continued until August 10.
As soon as Senator John Tipton, who then repre- sented Indiana in the United States Senate, heard that Black Hawk was on the warpath, he proposed to call out 600 rangers to patrol the frontier till the war was ended. Congress quickly passed the measure. Two of the companies were to be furnished by Indi- ana. One was raised by Major B. V. Beckes of Vin- cennes, the other by Col. Lemuel Ford, of Charles- town. Colonel Ford's rangers reached Indianapolis, July 28, 1832. At this place they were joined by a party from Rush county under Lieutenant Bissell. All were mounted and well drilled. Nearly all the people of the town turned out to see them march away next morning over the Michigan road toward Logansport and Chicago, where they were to report to General Scott. They were enrolled for a year or less, fur- nished their own horses and weapons, and received $1.00 per day.
Captain Beckes also hastened to the frontier with
377
REMOVAL OF POTTAWATTOMIES
his company, but Black Hawk's band was annihilated at Bad Axe, August 2, and all the troops were soon discharged. One thousand Sauk Indians had entered Illinois in April, but by the 3d of August not more than 150 were left alive. None had come nearer to Indiana than seventy-five miles. The scare had come from three sources. First, the Sauks had defeated a large army of militia-2,500-under Stillman, on Rock river, and the agent at Chicago had sent the news to the settlements, with the added information that the warriors would devastate the settlements. Second, the pioneers knew the Pottawattomies were closely related to Sauks. Third, a large body of Sauk warriors had crossed northern Indiana just at the beginning of the war.9
§ 62 THE REMOVAL OF THE MIAMIS AND POTTAWATTOMIES
THE excitement caused by the Black Hawk War was the doom of the Indian population in Indiana. Although these Indians were perfectly quiet and had nothing to do with causing the scare, the settlers seemed unable to accustom themselves to their pres- ence in the neighborhood.
As early as 1819 Congress had discussed plans for civilizing the Indians.10 A law of that year gave the President power to use $10,000 to pay the tuition of
9 Judge Thomas S. Stansfield, in History of St. Joseph County, 449. Timothy Howard, St. Joseph County, I. 298. An excellent account of this whole "War" is given by Sanford C. Cox, Old Settlers, 86-98. For a complete contemporary history see Wake- field's History of the Black Hawk War. The mounted ranger service was authorized by Act of June 15, 1832. This authorized the president to enroll six companies of 100 men each. Statutes at Large, 1832, ch. CXXXI. All the details are given in the In- diana Democrat and the Indiana Journal under the dates cor- responding to the above. The above account is based largely upon the Journal's reports which contain the official documents.
10 United States Statutes at Large, 1819, ch. LXXXV.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
Indian children in mission schools. Several mission schools had been established in the State and were said to have done good work.11 However, there was no well organized support back of the law and noth- ing on a considerable scale was accomplished.
In 1822 the system of government traders was abolished and a horde of irresponsible, depraved trad- ers were turned into the Indian country.12 These petty traders carried whisky to the Indian villages and traded it for furs. They were, in fact, poorly dis- guised robbers.
Various missionaries and other friends of the In- dians soon began to plead for help. Most of them agreed that it would be better to get the Indians be- yond the frontier. It was a policy of the Jacksonian Democrats to get them out of the way of the white settlers. The law of May 28, 1830, permitted any In- dian tribe that cared to, to trade its land along the border for lands beyond the Mississippi.13 The law of July 9, 1832, which provided for a complete reor- ganization of the Indian service, also appropriated $20,000 to hold councils among the Indiana Indians in order to induce them to migrate beyond the Mis- . sissippi.14
During the summer of 1833, and later, agents were busy along the upper Wabash and on Eel river gather- ing up parties of Indians and transporting them to
11 Isaac McCoy, History of the Baptist Indian Missions; J. B. Finley, Life Among the Indians; Jacob Piatt Dunn, True Indian Stories.
12 American State Papers, Indian Affairs, II, 326.
13 President Monroe also had recommended this policy; see American State Papers, Indian Affairs, II, 541, seq. Many In- dians preferred to go; see Indiana Democrat, October 9, 1830. The Kickapoos had been transferred by treaty in 1820; see Ameri- can State Papers, Indian Affairs, II, 223. The Delawares went. beyond the Mississippi in 1820; see Vincennes Centinel, Novem- ber 4, 1820.
14 United States Statutes at Large, 1832, ch. CLXXIV; CLXXV; also for 1834, ch. CLXII.
379
REMOVAL OF POTTAWATTOMIES
the West. A favorite plan was to give horses to a number of chiefs and pay their way out to the new country on a tour of inspection. If necessary, these were then bribed to give a glowing report of the coun- try they had seen. The Indians were by that means persuaded to emigrate.15
The best illustration of the hatred which the In- diana settlers bore toward the Indians is their treat- ment of the Pottawattomies, whom they forcibly ex- pelled from the State in the summer of 1838. 'The Pottawattomies originally hunted over the region south of Lake Michigan, north of the Wabash, and west of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's rivers.
They were usually hostile to the Americans when war was on. They led in the Indian massacre at Fort Dearborn, and in the attacks on Fort Wayne and Fort Harrison. Most of the warriors under the Prophet at Tippecanoe, as well as those who perpetrated the Pigeon Roost murders and harassed the White river border from Vallonia to the Wabash above Vincennes during the following years, were thought to be Potta- wattomies. On the other hand, they had given the settlers the land for the Michigan road-a body of land equal to a strip a mile wide from the Ohio to the lake.
Few settlers penetrated their lake-region hunting grounds before 1830. Beginning as early as 1817, in a treaty at Fort Meigs, the government adopted the unfortunate policy of making special reservations for Indian chiefs who refused to join the tribe in selling land. As a result of this policy several bands of Potta- wattomies had special reservations in Marshall and adjoining counties. The treaty of 1832 took from the
15 This work extended over several years. The cost astonished even the liberal Congress of 1833. The Senate called for an in- vestigation. The result of this was Senate Document 512, pub- lished in five volumes in 1834, entitled Indian Removals. Abel Pepper was the most active agent in this state.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
tribes its tribal lands, leaving Chief Menominee a res- ervation around Twin lakes and extending up to the present city of Plymouth. Down around Maxinkuckee, Chief Aubbeenaubee had a large reservation. Chief Benack and his village lived on a reservation in Tip- pecanoe township. In fact, Indians claimed and occu- pied the whole county except the strip of land given for the Michigan road, a mile wide, stretching across the county north and south through Plymouth.
In 1834 a commission tried to buy the Indian land and succeeded in making a contract for most of it at fifty cents an acre. But on account of some individual reservations made in the treaty the government re- fused to ratify the purchase.
Col. Abel C. Pepper, of Lawrenceburg, then Indian agent, succeeded, in 1836, in buying the Indians out at $1 per acre, giving the Indians the privilege of re- maining two years on the lands. The Indians asserted that this cession was obtained by unfair means, but it seemed to have been accomplished as most others had been.
Anticipating the land sale which was to take place when the Indian lease expired, August 5, 1838, squat- ters began to enter the country and settle on the In- dian land. They expected to hold their land later by the right of pre-emption. The Indians began to show their resentment as the time for their forced migra- tion approached. They contended that the chiefs had no right to sell the lands, and went so far as to mur- der one of the chiefs who had "touched the quill."
General Morgan and Colonel Pepper were busy among them, trying to persuade them that in the west was a much better place for them. Councils were held at Plymouth and at Dixie lake, but the red men were obdurate. Then Col. Edward A. Hannegan, later a United States senator from Indiana, came from the
381
REMOVAL OF POTTAWATTOMIES
post with a company of militia to see what effect that would have. It had none.
Pioneers had already squatted on the Indian lands. On August 5 these squatters demanded possession of the Indian huts and fields. Many of the Indians had been induced to plant corn. They were told that the government would not sell their land till it was sur- veyed, and that could not be done during the summer of 1838.
The Indians refused to give possession and both parties resorted to violence. The fur traders in the region sided with the Indians and advised them to resist the squatters. The Catholic priest located at the Twin Lake Mission also advised them that the squatters had no right to demand their land, especially the crop of corn which was now raised.
A squatter named Waters, it seems, was especially persistent in demanding that the Indians give him pos- session of a quarter section of land he had laid claim to. About the middle of August some Indians bat- tered down his cabin door with an ax. In return the squatters joined together and burned eight or ten wig- wams.
The pioneers along the frontier were expecting trouble. It had been only a few years since the scare of the Black Hawk War. The Miamis had been sullen all the season. Stragglers from the transported tribes were returning from the west and telling how their fellows had suffered from cold and hunger out on the plains. So when word was received that the Indians were committing acts of violence the government acted swiftly.
Colonel Pepper called all the warriors together in council at Twin lakes, August 29. He could do noth- ing with them, however. The old men had lost con- trol of the young bucks. All flatly refused to leave, saying that both they and the President had been de-
382
HISTORY OF INDIANA
ceived. While they were sitting in council John Tip- ton with the militia arrived. The government's agents had been preparing all summer for the removal of the tribe, but perhaps would not have done it till the cool weather of the autumn.
As soon as Colonel Pepper of Logansport had heard of the first Indian depredation-and he heard as soon as a courier from the squatters could reach him, August 26-he at once sent a dispatch by mounted courier to Governor David Wallace asking for a good general and at least one hundred soldiers. He re- ported that the Pottawattomies on Yellow river were in arms and an outbreak was expected at any moment. This message reached Governor Wallace on the next day. The same day he received word the governor sent an order by courier to John Tipton of Logans- port, ordering him to muster the Cass and Miami county militia and proceed with all haste to the scene of trouble.
Tipton lost no time in enrolling the militia. They left Logansport at one p. m. August 29. At ten o'clock that night they went into camp at Chippewa. Break- ing camp at three a. m., they reached Twin lakes as above noted and found Colonel Pepper and the Indians in council. Tipton at once stated his business, scold- ing the chiefs for the depredations. The Indians made no excuses for the outbreaks and again refused to leave their homes. From the report it seems clear the whites were the aggressors and had done nearly all the damage. Tipton wasted no words, but established a camp on an island in the lake and detained all the Indians present, about 200. As all the leaders were present it was easy to control the rest. All were dis- armed as soon as found.
Squads of soldiers patrolled the country in ait di- rections looking for the Indians and driving them in. Many, fearing harm to those at council, came in to see
383
"THE TRAIL OF DEATH"
what was wrong. By September 1 more than 700 were rounded up. All the Indian wigwams and cabins were destroyed. Their ponies and all their other property were brought into camp.
Early on the morning of September 4 Tipton com- menced to load the thirteen army wagons in which their goods were to be moved. About 400 horses were found and kept on the island till ready to start.
The procession left the Twin lakes, September 4, and dragged its mournful way south over the Michi- gan road through Chippewa, twenty-one miles distant, going into camp at sunset. Father Pettit, the mission- ary whom Bishop Bruté had stationed there, had been allowed to gather the Indians into the little chapel and say a farewell mass before they started. The first day's march was excessively tiresome. No water could be found for drinking and the road was dusty. They traveled from 9 a. m. to sunset, the mounted guards prodding on the laggards.
Next day forty-one persons were unable to move. Others had to wait on the sick. Beef, flour and bacon had been ordered from Logansport, forty-six miles distant, but only a little reached them.
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