Piankashaw Locations (ca. 1763 - ca. 1776) Part 3: pp. 80-86
/pg. 80/
In June or July, 1770, Wilkins again reported that the Piankashaw chief "Black fly and party from the Wabash" had arrived and that they had a long talk about Indian affairs. (Wilkins, Dft. Ex. A-344, entry between May 30th and August 8, 1770)
The Calabash, another Piankashaw chief, and "other Chief Men from the rivers" were at the Illinois for seven or eight days beginning August 9th and 10th of1770. Wilkins reported that he
told them freely Of their behavior at Post Vincent &c, and that I knew their distresses after plundering the English Trader & no more French goods being allow'd to pass the Spaniards at New Orleans,
and said if they behaved well in the future he would perhaps be able to persuade a trader to go to Vincennes if they would guarantee his safety. ( Ibid ., Dft. Ex. A-344, August 9 and 10, 1770)
The situation apparently did not improve much, since in May 1771 Wilkins records that
2 Kickapoes came with him [i.e., an Ottawa Indian "with a packett from Philadelphia"] from Post Vincent, one of them the brother of the black fly Chief of the Piancashaws with a Speech from that chief of his distress'd Situation for want of every thing. (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A344, May 17, 1771)
Wilkins sent the Black Fly's brother off on May 27 with some powder and lead. On June 20 he recorded that
/pg. 81/
Arrived an old Chief & party of the Pianquchas recommended to me by Mons:r St Merit [Marie] Commandant at Post Vincent, all wretched in Appearance and demand everything (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-344, June 20, 1771)
Wilkins again gave powder and lead and other presents to alleviate their most pressing needs. In February of 1772 Wilkins, apprehensive that the Indians of the Wabash would decide to attack the English because of their dissatisfaction with English treatment, sent a messenger to invite the chiefs of the "Kickapoes, Muskutains, Piankishas, Wiatanons & Potawatamies," (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-344, February 10, 1772) to meet with him.
In the meantime (October, 1771) Maisonville was given Instructions by Sir William Johnson to hold a meeting with the Indians of the Wabash telling them that the English were still willing to be their friends if they would behave properly. He was also to let Johnson know the "Numbers Connections & Politicks" of these Indians.(Johnson, Dft. Ex. A-64, pp. 930-931)[see Footnote 28] Apparently in response to this part of his instructions Maisonville wrote a brief account of the Indians of the Wabash which reads, in part, as follows:
from Detroit to Mianli 80 Leagues [ca. 200 miles] the Miamies, About 100 [ca. 400 persons?] in Number from Miamies to Wiatenons 60 Leagues [ca 150 miles] the Wiatons & kikapous about 600 Men [ca. 2400 persons] that can carry Arms the Villages are opposite Each Other
/pg. 82/
from the Wiatenons to the River
of the Vermillion twenty Leagues Lca. 50 miles] about Sixty men [ca. 240
persons]
from Vermillion to the post of Vincenne (Where is a fort built this Year on
Acct of an Allarm that the Indians intending to cut them off. 60 Leagues [ca.
150 miles] About 10 men [ca. 40 persons] the rest having removed for fear of
the Cheroquees (Maisonville, Dft. Ex. A64, p. 931)
Although it is not explicitly stated in this text (endorsed October, 1771), it is probable that two entries refer to Piankashaw Indians-- the 60 men at Vermilion River and the 10 men at Vincennes. It is not clear where the ones who had left from fear of the Cherokees had gone. On September 26, 1773 Maisonville wrote Johnson a letter again describing the Wabash Indians and settlements. The letter, though partially destroyed, indicates that the Indians of the Vermilion and Post Vincennes were the same tribe. This time he listed the number of warriors at Vincennes as 110 and at Vermillion as 125. (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-378, pp. 894-896)
Despite the English overtures, the Indians of the Wabash continued to be not overly friendly, and Johnson reports, in November of 1772, that "the Waubash Indians, Kickapous & Piankashaws" had not attended a general conference of western Indians with Six Nation Indians held at Scioto in the summer of that year for what Johnson thought were specious reasons. (Johnson, Dft. Ex. A-91, pp. 314-317) By the fall of 1773, however, it was reported by some Huron Indians that Sir William Johnson's speeches which they had just returned from taking to the Wabash had been "well received by all the Western Indians as far as the Illinois." (Kayashuta, Dft. Ex. A-64, pp. 1044-1046)
/pg. 83/
An undated, unsigned itinerary deposited in the Haldimand Collection of the Public Archives of Canada with papers relating to the year 1774 entitled "The Road from Detroit to the Illinois By way of the Forts Miamie, Ouiattanon and St. Vincent with some remarks" is the next source Of information Of the Piankashaws. Although it is not a definitive listing of all the Indians living along the route, the Indians listed in it presumably did live where noted according to official knowledge of about that date. This document mentions in a note that there was "a Village of Piankashaws of upwards of 150 Men [ca. 600 persons]" a mile up from the mouth of Vermilion River. (Anon., Dft. Ex. A-52, p. 437) This population estimate is more than twice as large as that in Maisonville's account of 1771 (quoted above), and almost certainly is somewhat high, though Maisonville's 1773 listing of 125 warriors at Vermilion is closer.
Despite the uncertainties and difficulties with the Indians in their western areas, the British continued to support army posts there and tried to decide how to develop the country without having it cost them too much. Speculators in trade and in land also were interested in the possibilities of the west. One of the most ambitious of the western land schemes, effected in 1775, involved among other things, a sale of lands along the Wabash River by Piankashaw Indians to Lewis Viviat on behalf of himself, the Earl of Dunmore, who was then Governor of Virginia, and 18 other speculators who formed the Illinois-Wabash Land Company. A deed of sale signed at Vincennes states that public meetings were held with Piankashaw chiefs and sachems "at the Towns & Villages of Post St. Vincent and Vermillion." Piankashaw chiefs or sachems listed in the
/pg. 84/
deed, who were said to represent "all the Several Tribes of the Piankshaw Indians, " were
Tabac or Tobacco, Montour, La Grand Couett, Ouaouaijao, Tobac Junior, La mouche Noir or black Fly, Le Maringouin, or Musquitto, Le Petit Castor or Little Beaver, Kiesquibichias, Grelot Senior, and Grelot Junior. (The Illinois-Wabash Land Company Manuscript, Dft. Ex. A-5)
In addition to the chiefs listed in the text, the deed was signed by Le fie du Catonier, who was also designated as a chief. The area ceded and reserved in this deed was large, and included roughly, the western two-thirds of the present state of Indiana south of a line drawn through the latitude of present-day Lafayette, Indiana, and the southeastern quarter of the present state of Illinois (see map facing this page). [no map is included in this copy] The Piankashaw chiefs stated, in the deed, that the lands belonged to them "and to the Several Tribes of Our Nation whom We Represent." Descriptions of the three tracts of land involved are given below. The reference to the "Several Tribes" ostensibly refers to the two Piankshaw groups at Vincennes and Vermilion River since no other groups are mentioned in the deed, and since only the Piankashaws are mentioned as receiving any payment for those lands.
One Tract or Parcel of Land Situated laying and being on both Sides the Ouabache River Beginning at the Mouth of a Revulet Called Riviere du Chate or Cat River where it emptys itself into the Ouabache River aforesaid being Fifty two Leagues distant from and above Post St Vincent aforesaid thence down the Ouabache by the Several Courses thereof to a place Called point Coupee about Twelve Leagues above Post St .Vincent being Forty Leagues or thereabouts in length on the said River Ouabache from the place of begining with Forty Leagues in width or breadth on the East side and Thirty Leagues in breadth or width on the west side of the Ouabache River aforesaid to be Continued along from the place of begining to Point Coupee aforesaid And also One other Trait or parcel of Land Situated laying and being on both Sides the Ouabach River aforesaid begining from the Mouth of White River where it emptys itself into the Ouabache River (about Twelve Leagues below Post St. Vincent) Thence down the Ouabache River by the several Courses thereof untill it emptys itself into the Ohio River being from said white River to the Ohio Fifty three Leagues in lenth or thereabouts be the same more or less with Forty Leagues in width or breadth on the East side and
/pg. 85/
?/span>Thirty Leagues in width or breadth on the west side of the Ouabache River aforesaid to be Continued along From White River aforesaid to the Ohio River aforesaid/ the intermediate Space of Twenty four Leagues or thereabouts between Point Coupee and the Mouth of the White River aforesaid being reserv'd for the Use of the Inhabitants of Post St. Vincent aforesaid with the same width or Breadth on both sides the Ouabache River as is hereby Granted in the two Other several Tracts of Land above bounded and discribed/ the Aforesaid two Several Tracts of Lands hereby bargained and Sold from the first Place of begining to the Ohio River consisting together of Ninety three Leagues in length on the Ouabache river and on both Sides thereof inclusive Seventy Leagues in Width or breadth and that during its whole Course as aforementioned Exclusive of and besides the reservation of Twenty four Leagues in length and Seventy Leagues in width or breadth for the Inhabitants of Post St. Vincent reserved as aforesaid (Idem.)[see Footnote 29]
This deed was not ratified by either the British Government or by the United States. While the Piankashaws may not have realized how large the area was that they "ceded" and "reserved" (40 leagues or ca. 100
/pg. 86/
miles to the east of the Wabash, 30 leagues or ca. 75 miles to the west of the Wabash, and 117 leagues or ca. 292.5 miles along the Wabash River), the deed at least confirms the fact that an indefinite extent of the lands on both sides of the lower Wabash were considered by both Piankashaw Indians and the Whites in the area in some way to be theirs.
Apparently also sometime during the early 1770's the Piankashaws invited some Delaware Indians to share with them parts of southern Indiana, an invitation which was accepted. (See, e.g., Johnson, Dft. Ex. A-91, p. 396; Heckewelder, Dft. Ex. A-274; Jones, Dft. Ex. A-42, p. 15, Clark, Dft. Ex. A-42, p. 299; Delaware Indians, Dft . Ex. A-118, pp. 320-321; and 7 Stat. 82, 92) This, too, indicates that at this time the Piankashaws felt not only that they had some rights to lands in southern Indiana, but that they had-enough resources there to share with others.
Footnotes:
Footnote 28: See also Dft. Ex. A77?, pp. 256. See Johnson, Dft. Ex. A-64, pp. 945, 946, and 949 for expenses incurred by Johnson at this time on account of the Indians of the Wabash.[return to text]
Footnote 29: the tract reserved to the French of Vincennes is mentioned in 1788 as having been given them in 1768 (Tardiveau, Dft. Ex. A-16, p. 92) No contemporary written or other kind of record of this transaction has been found.[return to text]
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