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Miami Indian Tribe History
Miami (?Chippewa: Omaumeg,
'people who live on the peninsula'). An Algonquian tribe, usually
designated by early English writers as Twightwees (twanhtwanh,
the cry of a crane. Hewitt), from their own name, the earliest recorded
notice of which is from information furnished in 1658 by Gabriel
Druillettes (Jes. Rel.1658, 21, 1858), who called them the Oumamik, then
living 60 leagues froth St. Michel, the first village of the Potawatonti
mentioned by him; it, was therefore at or about the mouth of Green Bay,
Wis. Tailhan (Perrot, Mémoire) says
that they withdrew into the Mississippi valley, 60 leagues from the bay,
and were established there from 1657 to 1676, although Bacqueville de )a
Potherie asserts that, with the Mascoutens, the Kickapoo, and part of the
Illinois, they came to settle at that place about 1667. The first time the
French calve into actual contact with the Miami was when Perrot visited
them about 1668. His second visit was in 1670, when they were living at
the headwaters of Fox river, Wis.
In 1671 a part at least of the tribe were living with
the Mascoutens in a palisaded
village in this locality (Jes. Rel 1671, 45, 1858). Soon after this the
Miami part from the Mascoutens and formed news settlements at the south
end of Lake Michigan a on Kalamazoo river, Mich. The settlement at the
south end of the lake were at Chicago and on St Joseph river, where
missions, were established late in the 17th century although the former is
mentioned as Wea village at the time of Marquette visit, and Wea were
found there 1701 by De Courtentarche. It is like that these Wea were the
Miami mentioned by Allouez and others as being united with the Mascoutens
in Wisconsin. The chief village of the Miami on Joseph river was,
according to Zenobius (Le Clercq, II, 133), about 15 leagues inland, in
lat. 41°. The extent of territory occupied by this tribe a few years later
compels the conclusion that the Miami in Wisconsin, when the whites first
heard of them, formed but a part, of the tribe, and that other bodies were
already in northeast Illinois and north Indiana. As the Miami and their
allies were found later on the Wabash in Indiana and in northwest Ohio, in
which latter territory they gave their name to three rivers, it would seem
that they had moved southeast from the localities where first known within
historic times. Little Turtle,
their famous chief, said: "My fathers kindled the first fire at Detroit;
thence they extended their lines to the headwaters of the Scioto; thence
to its month; thence down the Ohio to the mouth of the Wabash, and thence
to Chicago over Lake Michigan."
When Vincennes was sent by Gov. Vaudreville in 1705 on
a mission to the Miami they were found occupying principally the territory
northwest of the upper Wabash. There was a Miami village at Detroit in
1703, but their chief settlement was still on St Joseph river. In 1711 the
Miami and the Wea had three villages on the St Joseph, Maumee, and Wabash.
Kekionga, at the head of the Maumee, became the chief seat of the Miami
proper, while Ouiatenon on the Wabash was the headquarters of the Wea
branch. By the encroachments of the Potawatomi, Kickapoo, and other
northern tribes the Miami were driven from St Joseph river and the country
northwest of the Wabash. They sent out colonies to the east and formed
settlements on Miami river in Ohio, and perhaps as far east as the Scioto.
This country they held until the peace of 1763, when they retired to
Indiana, and the abandoned country was occupied by the Shawnee. They took
a prominent part in all the Indian wars in Ohio valley until the close of
the war of 1812. Soon afterward they began to sell their lands, and by
1827 had disposed of most of their holdings in Indiana and had agreed to
remove to Kansa whence they went later to Indian Territory, where the
remnant still resides In all treaty negotiations they were considered as
original owners of the Wabash country and all of west Ohio, while the
other tribes in that region were regarded as tenants or intruders on their
lands. A considerable part of the tribe, commonly known as Meshingomesia's
band, continued to reside on a reservation in Wabash county, Ind., until
1872, when the land was divided among the survivors, then numbering about
300.
The Miami men were described in 1718 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 women were generally well clad in deerskins, while the men
used scarcely any covering and were tattooed all over the body. They
were hardworking, and raised a species of maize unlike that of the Indians
of Detroit, described as "white, of the same size as the other, the skin
much finer, and the meal much whiter." According to the early French
explorers the Miami were distinguished for polite manners, mild, affable,
and sedate character, and their respect for and perfect obedience to their
chiefs, who had greater authority than those of other Algonquian and
northwest tribes. They usually spoke slowly. They were land travelers
rather than canoe men. According to Hennepin, when they saw a herd of
buffalo they gathered in great numbers and set fire to the grass about the
animals, leaving open a passage where they posted themselves with their
bows and arrows; the buffalo, seeking to escape the fire, were compelled
to pass the Indians, who killed large numbers of them. The women spun
thread of buffalo hair, with which they made bags to carry the meat,
toasted or sometimes dried in the sun. Their cabins were covered with rush
mats. According to Perrot, the village which he visited was situated on a
hill and surrounded by a palisade. On the other hand, Zenobius says that
La Salle, who visited the villages on St Joseph river, taught them how to
defend themselves with palisades, and even made them erect a kind of fort
with intrenchments. Infidelity of the wife, as among many other Indians,
was punished by clipping the nose. According to early explorers, they
worshiped the sun and thunder, but did not honor a host of minor deities,
like the Huron and the Ottawa.
Three forms of burial appear to have been practiced by
the division of the tribe living about Ft Wayne:
(1) The ordinary ground burial in a shallow grave prepared to receive the
body in a recumbent position.
(2) Surface burial in as hollow log these have been found in heavy
forests; sometimes a tree was split and the halves hollowed out to receive
the body, when it was either closed with withes or fastened to the ground
with crossed stakes; sometimes a hollow tree was used, the ends being
closed.
(3) Surface burial wherein the body was covered with a small pen of logs,
laid as in a log cabin, the courses meeting at the top in a single log.
It is impossible to give a satisfactory estimate of the
numbers of the Miami at any one time, on account of confusion with the Wea
and Piankashaw, who probably never exceeded 1,500. An estimate in 1764
gives them 1,750; another in the following year places their number it
1,250. In 1825 the population of the Miami, Eel , Rivers, and Wea was
given as 1,400, of whom 827 were Wea. Since their removal to the west they
have rapidly decreased. Only 57 Miami were officially known in Indian
Territory in 1885, while the Wea and Piankashaw were confederated with the
remnant of the Illinois under the name of Peoria, the whole body numbering
but 149; these increased to 191 in 1903. The total number of Miami in 1905
in Indian Territory was 124; in Indiana, in 1900, there were 243; the
latter, however, are greatly mixed with white blood. Including individuals
scattered among other tribes, the whole number is probably 400.
The books presented are for their
historical value only and are not the
opinions of the Webmasters of the site.
Handbook
of American Indians, 1906
Index of Tribes or Nations
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