11 |
post of Detroit."38 Within a year (1702) a few "Miamis" belonging, probably, to the Crane band, had done so,39 but the majority of the St. Joseph River Indians refused to go to Detroit, fearing starvation because of the large Indian population which the French had brought there.40 By August, 1703, however, Cadillac, then Commandant at Detroit, reported that "Several households [huts] and families of the Miamis have also settled here [Detroit],...and have incorporated themselves with the Hurons" whose village was slightly south of the French post.41
Apparently the Indians at Detroit, including the "Miami," incurred the enmity of the Wea, who were still at Chicago (see below). In November, 1704 Cadillac reported that Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes, French army officer and colonial administrator, had been sent "to put an end to the war begun by the Miamis aonyatanouns [Weas] against the tribes settled at Detroit and the Iroquois." The Weas had attacked the groups at Detroit, killing one Ottawa, two Hurons and one Potawatomi. Due to his influence Cadillac was able to persuade
38. Historical Collections of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, vol.
33, p. 123;
Dft. Ex.
82.
39. Ibid., vol. 33, p. 138; Dft. Ex. 82. Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York, vol. 4, pp. 979, 981, 989; Dft. Ex. 83. For discussion of the identity of the St. Joseph River "Miamis" see below, esp. fn. 44, this Report.
40. Historical Collections of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, vol. 33, p. 123; Dft. Ex. 82.
41. Ibid., vol. 33, pp. 162-163; Dft. Ex. 82. Brackets equal footnote in published text. The Huron village was 1/8 league (ca. .3 mile) from Fort Ponchartrain. Ibid., vol. 33, p. 442; Dft. Ex. 82.
12 |
the Detroit Indians not to retaliate and by threats of reprisals was able to induce the Weas to "make atonement for that insult." Cadillac mentions that the Weas numbered 400 men and that Father Jean Mermet was the missionary to their village, but he does not give the specific location of the Wea village.42 We conclude however that the Wea were still at Chicago, since we know that they moved there from the Mississippi around 1695-1696, and remained there 10 or 12 years.43 Therefore, during the first few years of the eighteenth century there were at least four centers. The Wea were at Chicago; the Atchatchakangouen or Crane band was on the St. Joseph River of Michigan;44 some unspecified "Miamis" (Crane band?) were at Detroit, and others were on the Wabash River. The Detroit contingent was however at this time quite small, the majority of the St. Joseph group having refused to move to Detroit.45
Early in the year 1706 the Detroit Ottawa, hearing that their familes were to be raided, attacked the "Miami" of that place. In the ensuing hostilities at least three "Miami" groups took part: the "Miami" of Detroit, the Wea, and some of the chief La Gr?'s46 Crane band of St. Joseph River of
42. Ibid., vol. 33, pp. 232,
234;
Dft. Ex.
82.
43. See above, pp. 8-9, and Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library, vol. 23, p. 392; Dft. Ex. 67.
44. See fn. 52, this Report. The chief of the St. Joseph River band was named La Gr?, or Crane. Therefore we conclude that the St. Joseph "Miami" belonged to the Atchatchakangouen, or Crane division.
45. See p. 11, this Report, and Historical Collections of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, vol. 33, p. 270; Dft. Ex. 82.
46. See fn. 44, this Report.
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Michigan.47 In September 1706, Cadillac gave presents to the "Miamis, Pepitakokia [Pepicokia] and Onyatonuns [Wea]" to prevent them from going to war against the Ottawas.48 After the hostilities at Detroit the Ottawa there withdrew to Michilimackinac which was "inaccessible to the most powerful of their enemies, the Miamis and Onyatanous [Wea], as they are not boatmen."49
In 1707 Cadillac reported that he had induced
|
|
the Miami Indians, who
number 400 men |
These "Miamis" who settled on the Maumee were probably from the St. Joseph River of Michigan.52 The following year members of the group on the Maumee killed three Frenchmen. According to Wea informants a plot had been formed to kill all the French at Detroit.53 Cadillac therefore led a punitive expedition
47. Ibid., vol. 33, pp. 293,
445;
Dft. Ex.
82.
48. Ibid., vol. 33, pp. 296-297; Dft. Ex. 82.
49. Ibid., vol. 33, p. 445; Dft. Ex. 82.
50. From the distance given from Detroit (12 leagues or ca. 30 miles) this could only refer to the present-day Maumee River.
51. Historical Collections of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, vol. 33, p. 338; Dft. Ex. 82.
52. Ibid., vol. 33, p. 338, 436; Dft. Ex. 82; Charlevoix, History, vol. 5, p. 202; Dft. Ex. 80. La Gr?'s band of Miami formerly had lived on the St. Joseph River. In 1707 a band of "Miami" from "a long way from Detroit" settled on the Maumee. The following year it was this same La Gr?'s band which was hostile and which was to be punished. The location of the village which was invested was on the middle reaches of the Maumee River in northwestern Ohio.
53. Historical Collections of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, vol. 33, p. 436; Dft. Ex. 82.
14 |
composed of both Indians and French against the Maumee village, which was located "some hours" march above the foot of the rapids of the Maumee River. Even though the fort, "a simple square inclosed with crossed stakes [with] no bastions or other works flanking it," was defended by only 60 Indian warriors, Cadillac's force was unable to capture it and peace had to be negotiated.
In the same year (1708) the "Onyatanous" (Wea) were living on the Wabash River. The Potawatomi then settled on the St. Joseph River of Michigan hoped, we learn, to find out from this Wabash band about the hostilities discussed above between the ottawa and French and the "Miami" or Crane band on the Maumee. A French coureur de bois "at Ouabache" sent six canoe loads of furs obtained from the Wea, to Cadillac at Detroit in 1708.56
Summary and Conclusions. During the 50-year period from 1650 to 1710 six named Algonquian groups, three of which disappeared before the end of the eighteenth century and three of which continued to exist after that date, lived at various locations in southeastern Wisconsin, northeastern Illinois,
54. Ibid., vol. 33, pp.
437-438; Dft. Ex. 82.
55. Ibid., vol. 33, pp. 404-405, 438-440; Dft. Ex. 82.
56. Krauskopf, The French in Indiana, p. 32; Dft. Ex. 70. Historical Collections of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, vol. 33, p. 441; Dft. Ex. 82.
15 |
southwestern Michigan, northern Ohio, and finally, western Indiana. These six groups were known, severally, during the seventeenth century as the Atchatchakangouen or Crane band, the Piankashaws, the Weas, the Pepikokias, the Mengakonkias and the Kilaticas. Early writers also applied the name "Miami" to each or to all of the six above-mentioned groups, but by the beginning of the eighteenth century the name Miami also began to be used specifically for the Crane band, and the old name of this group- Atchatchakangouen- was lost.
The three groups that persisted as entitles were the Crane band, the Piankashaws, and the Weas. The Kilaticas, Mengakonkias, and Pepicokeas disappeared during the eighteenth century. A seventh related but distinct group, the Eel Rivers, came into existence during the middle part of the eighteenth century, but since the Eel River group was formed many years after the close of the period 1650-1710, we are not concerned with it here.
We do not know which of the six groups mentioned above were contacted first by Whites, since our earliest reference is to "the Miamis," which could refer to any one, or all of the several groups. This early reference (1665) puts "the Miamis," together with the Mascoutens, Kickapoos, and some of the Illinois Indians in southcentral Wisconsin. Traditionally, "the Miamis" had lived farther east, on the west side of Lake Michigan, but had fled from that location around 1650 (?) because of raids made on them by the Iroquois.
16 |
A decade or so after they were found in southcentral Wisconsin representatives of four of the six related groups moved to the St. Joseph River region in extreme southwestern Michigan and northern Indiana. From there, in 1682, they moved to the upper Illinois River in northern Illinois, where they stayed some six years, until 1688.
Iroquois raids during the last quarter of the seventeenth century were a disturbing factor for all the Central Algonquian-speaking peoples, including the six groups we are particularly interested in. In order to escape these raids, the Piankashaws and Weas moved as far west as the Mississippi River. The French, however, soon drew the Weas back to Chicago, where in 1696 the Jesuits established a Mission for them. By 1698 the Piankashaws were also in northern Illinois, below the junction of Des Plaines and Kankakee rivers. In 1702 there were Weas at Chicago, Piankashaws near the Des Plaines-Kankakee junction; other Piankashaws, with Pepicokias and Mengakonkias on Wisconsin River; unspecified "Miamis" (probably members of the Crane band) on St. Joseph River of Michigan; and other unspecified "Miamis" (Weas?) on the Wabash River in northwestern Indiana. At this date efforts were being made to persuade the Crane band on St. Joseph River of Michigan to remove to Cadillac's newly established post at Detroit. These efforts were only partly successful, but by 1707 Cadillac was able to induce 400 "Miami" warriors, and their families, probably from the Crane band in the St. Joseph River region, to settle on the Maumee in northern Ohio ca. 30 miles southwest of Detroit.
17 |
By 1708 the Wea were definitely on the Wabash River.
At the close of the period ca. 1650-1710 we have, then, part of the Crane band, or Miamis proper, as they were later to be referred to, at Detroit; the majority of the Crane band on the Maumee River in northeastern Ohio, and the Weas in Indiana on the Wabash River. Where the Piankishaws and the other three groups (Kilaticas, Pepicokias and Mengakonkias) were is not clear. When noticed in 1702 some Piankashaws, Pepikokias and Mengakonkias were on Wisconsin River, while other Piankashaws were south of Chicago.
It is worthy of note that during the period 1650-1710 the six groups discussed in this chapter lived, in the main, in separate villages and that each group frequently, and on its own, moved from one location to another. The autonomy of each of the six groups becomes evident as we trace the movements of the groups during this early period. This autonomy receives added emphasis when we learn a) that in 1704 the Wea, then at Chicago, actually attacked the Detroit Indians, including that part of the Crane band which had removed to Detroit, and b) that in 1708, it was the Weas who told the French about the Crane band's plot to destroy the French settlement at Detroit.
Although all six groups spoke mutually intelligable dialects of one language, and were therefore often referred to collectively or singly by early writers as "the Miamis" this latter name had linguistic implications only, not political ones. Linguistically, all six groups did form a single unit, as far as we know from stray observations and fragmentary data,
18 |
but politically each of the six individually named groups constituted an antonomous unit, as far back as we know their history. Sometimes, it is true, the various groups lived near each other for a few years; occasionally members from two or three of the groups would even constitute a mixed village, for a time; once, we know, three of the groups joined against a common enemy, the Ottawas; but these relatively short periods of contact did not, as we have seen, weld the six groups into a single political unit, or "Miami tribe."
Population figures for the period 1650-1710 are unsatisfactory. When four of the six groups were at St. Joseph River in Michigan in 1681, they are said to have amounted to between 1,200 and 1,500 men. The next year the population of these four groups was reported as some 800 or 900 families. Allowing four persons per man, or per family (which may be a low estimate), the total population of four of the six groups in 1681-1682 was between 3,200 and 6,000 souls.
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