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Indiana Indian Tribes
Representatives of this tribe
appear as parties to the Treaty of Greenville in 1795 and treaties made in 1817
and 1821 by which lands in Indiana were relinquished to the Whites. (See
Minnesota.)
About 1770 the Delaware, most of
whom were then living in Ohio, received permission from the Miami and
Piankashaw to occupy
that part of Indiana between the Ohio and White Rivers, where at one
period they had six villages. In course of time, all moved west of the
Mississippi to Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. (See
New Jersey.)
Erie tribal territory may once
have extended into the northeastern part of the State, but this tribe played but
little part in the known history of the region covered by it. (See Ohio.)
Representatives of this tribe
appear as parties to the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, relinquishing land in
Indiana to the Whites. (See
Illinois.)
The earlier Indian occupants of
Indiana were largely driven out by the Iroquois, particularly by the westernmost
of the Iroquois tribes, the Seneca, yet they seem to have had few settlements in
the State. (See
New York.)
When the Kickapoo were on
Vermilion River, Ill., they undoubtedly occupied some of western Indiana for
brief periods. (See
Wisconsin.)
The name is thought to be derived
from the Chippewa word Omaumeg, signifying "people on the
peninsula," but according to their own traditions, it came from the word
for pigeon. The name used by themselves, as recorded and often used by
early writers, is Twigbtwees, derived from the cry of a crane.
Also
called:
Naked Indians, a common appellation used by the colonists,
from a confusion of twanh, twanh, the cry
of a crane, with tawa, "naked."
Pkíwi-léni,
by the Shawnee, meaning "dust or ashes people."
Sänshkiá-a-rúnû),
by the Wyandot, meaning "people dressing finely, or fantastically."
Tawatawas, meaning "naked." (See Naked Indians above.)
Wa-yä-tä-no'-ke,
cited by Morgan (1851).
Connections. The Miami
belonged to the Algonquian linguistic stock, their nearest immediate
connections being with the Illinois.
Location. For territory
occupied in Indiana, see History. (See also
Illinois,
Kansas,
Michigan, Ohio,
Oklahoma, and
Wisconsin.)
Subdivisions and Villages
French writers divided the Miami into the following five
bands:
Piankashaw,
Wea, Atchatchakangouen, Kilatika,
Mengakonkia, and Pepicokia.
The first two later became recognized as
independent tribes, the last may have been absorbed by the Piankashaw but
this and the other three divisions are no longer recognized.
The following
villages are:
Chicago, on the site of the present city, probably
occupied by Wea.
Chippekawkay (Piankashaw), perhaps containing originally the Pepicokia
band, on the site of Vincennes, Knox County, Ind.
Choppatee's Village, on the west bank of St. Joseph River, a few miles
from Fort Wayne, Allen County, Ind.
Flat Belly's Village (see Papakeecha).
Kekionga, on the east bank of St. Joseph River, in Allen County, Ind.,
opposite
Fort Wayne.
Kenapacomaqua, a Wea village on the west bank of Eel River, near its
mouth, 6 miles above Logansport, Cass County, Ind.
Kokomo, on the site of the present Kokomo, Ind.
Kowasikka or Thorntown, on Sugar Creek near the present Thornton, Boone
County, Ind.
Little Turtle's Village, on Eel River, Ind., about 20 miles northwest of
Fort Wayne.
Meshingomesia, on a reservation on the northeastern side of Mississinewa
River,
in Liberty Township, Wabash County, Ind.
Missinquimeschan, probably Piankashaw, near the site of Washington,
Daviess County, Ind.
Mississinewa, on the east side of Mississinewa River at its junction with
the Wabash in Miami County, Ind.
Osaga, location uncertain.
Papakeecha, named from its chief, east of Turkey Lake at the present
Indian village, Noble County, Ind.
Piankashaw, occupied by Piankashaw, on Wabash River at the junction of the
Vermilion.
Pickawillanee, on Miami River at the site of the present Piqua, Miami
County, Ohio.
Saint Francis Xavier, mission for Miami and Mascouten on Fox River, Wis.,
near De Pere, Brown County.
Seek's Village, on Eel River about 3 miles from Columbia City, in Whitley
County, Ind.
Thornton (see Kowasikka).
White Raccoon's Village, near the present Aboite, Allen County, Ind.
History. Miami were living in the neighborhood
of Green Bay, Wis., when knowledge of the tribe first came to Europeans
shortly after the middle of the seventeenth century. In 1670 they were at
the headwaters of Fox River, but soon afterward they formed new
settlements at the southern end of Lake Michigan and on Kalamazoo River,
Mich. It is quite possible that bands of this tribe had moved from
Wisconsin at a still earlier period and were in northern Indiana. Their
first settlements at the lower end of Lake Michigan were at Chicago and on
St. Joseph River. In 1703 there was a Miami village at Detroit, but the
greater part of the tribe continued to live on St. Joseph River for a
considerable period. By 1711 they had reached the Wabash, and presently
they were forced from St. Joseph River by the Potawatomi, Kickapoo, and
other northern tribes. In consequence they moved farther south and also,
eastward to Miami River, and perhaps as far as the Scioto.
After the peace of 1763, they abandoned these
eastern territories to the Shawnee and retired to Indiana. They took a
prominent part in all subsequent wars in this section, but soon after the
War of 1812 began to dispose of their lands and by 1838 had parted with
most of them, the United States Government agreeing to provide them with
new lands west of the Mississippi. In 1840 all of their remaining
territories were ceded except one tract reserved for a part of the tribe
called Meshingomesia's band, which had chosen to remain in their old
country. In 1867 the rest accompanied the Illinois to Oklahoma, where they
were given a reservation in the northeastern corner of the State. Their
lands now have been allotted in severalty, and they are citizens of the
State of Oklahoma. The lands of Meshingomesia's band in Indiana were
divided among the survivors in 1872 and their descendants are citizens of
Indiana.
Population. Mooney (1928)
estimated 4,500 Miami, including the Wea and Piankashaw, in the year 1650.
An estimate of 1764 gives them 1,750, but a year later another substracts
500 from this figure. In 1825 the Miami, Wea, and Piankashaw, entered as
tribes, were supposed to total about 1,400, of whom 327 were Wea. In 1885
only 57 Miami proper were officially recognized in Indian Territory, while
the Wea and Piankashaw were enumerated with the Illinois, the whole
numbering 149. These last had increased to 191 in 1903. In 1905 the total
number of Miami in Indian Territory was 124. In 1900 the Miami in Indiana,
including many White-Indian mixed-bloods, numbered 243. The census of 1910
returned 226 Miami, of whom 123 were in Oklahoma and 90 in Indiana. The
United States Indian Office Report of 1923 gave 125 Indians in Indiana,
most of whom certainly belonged to this tribe. The census of 1930 returned
284 Miami and Illinois; the 47 reported from Indiana were, of course, all
Miami. In 1937, 287 were reported from Oklahoma.
Connection in which they have become noted.
Historically the Miami were noted as one of those tribes which offered
steady resistance to the westward movement of White population in the
eighteenth century. Their name has been given to three Ohio rivers of some
importance, the Great Miami, Little Miami, and Maumee; counties in Ohio,
Indiana, and Kansas; and to places in California, Indiana, Oklahoma,
Missouri, Ohio, Texas, and Manitoba, Canada; also to a creek in Missouri.
There are places of the name in Gila County, Ariz.; Miami County, Ind.;
Saline County, Mo.; Colfax County, N. Mex.; Ottawa County, Okla.; Roberts
County, Tex.; Kanawha County, W. Va. Miamisburg is in Montgomery County, Miamitown in Hamilton County, and Miamiville in Clermont County, all in
Ohio; and Miami Station is in Carroll County, Mo. The name of Miami, Fla.,
and the derived Miami Beach and Miami Springs, Fla., have a different
origin. The Miami tribe had a famous chief,
Little Turtle,
whose name often appears in historical narratives.
Before this tribe left its former territory
north of the Ohio, it probably extended into the extreme southeastern part
of Indiana. (See Ohio.)
The
Neutral Nation may have extended slightly into the
northeastern portion of this State, though this is
uncertain. (See
New York.)
Representatives of the Ottawa
appear as parties to the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, relinquishing Indiana
land to the Whites, and as parties to similar treaties in 1817 and 1821. (See
Michigan.)
The Potawatomi pushed into the
northern part of Indiana during the eighteenth century and were in occupancy
until they ceded their lands to the United States Government in the first half
of the nineteenth century. (See Michigan.)
See Iroquois
There was an ancient Shawnee town
in Posey County, Ind., at the junction of the Wabash and Ohio. At a later period
the tribe had settlements along the southern and eastern borders, and the soil
of Indiana was the scene of the activities of the Shawnee prophet and his
brother Tecumseh until after Gen. Harrison's victory at Tippecanoe. (See
Tennessee.)
Representatives of this tribe
appear as parties to the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, relinquishing land in
Indiana to the Whites. (See
Wisconsin and
Ohio.)
Additional Resources
Notes About the Book:
Source: The Indian Tribes of North America, by John R. Swanton, 1953, Bureau of
American Ethnology, Bulletin 145, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC.
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing
has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual
output.
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