Locations of Piankashaws (ca. 1708- ca. 1763) PART 2 of 4 (pages 29- 37)
/pg. 29/
These two tribes had since changed their minds about moving there, and Bienville suspected that
some traders from Canada have dissuaded these nations from changing their residence because of the trade that they carry on among them, (idem)
but that the Kickapoos at any rate might still be persuaded to move if the commandants "at the Wea" and the Illinois urged them. (Idem)
Piankashaw Indians were referred to again as being located at Vermilion River in 1743 when the Piankashaws of the Vermilion recaptured a Chickasaw Indian who was to be given to Beauharnois, but who had escaped. They were given presents for having done this. (De St. Vincent and Beauharnois, Dft. Ex. A-282) In September 1744 L'Enfant, a Piankashaw chief of Vermilion River, was given some goods by Michel Gamelin, the trader at the Ouiatenon post. (Gamelin, Dft, Ex. A-283, Cll A85: 284-285) Gamelin again supplied goods to the Vermilion River Piankashaw chief L' Enfant in 1746 and 1747. (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-55, pp. 197, 198, 201, 203) The goods were given for various purposes--to encourage raids on the Chickasaw Indians, to console L'Enfant for the loss of his son, and to encourage L'Enfant and other Piankashaws to go to Montreal for a conference.
In March of 1748 some Shawnees were reported by Vaudreuil to be "settled at the forks of the Wabash." They had been established "on the Wabash" at least by 1747, having moved there about three years before partly in connection with the abortive French plans to build a fort on the Wabash River, and in part because of quarrels with other Indian groups. (Vaudreuil, Dft. Ex. A-47,
/pg. 30/
pp. 13-15; Maurepas, Dft. Ex. A-47, pp. 51-55) Their location "on the Wabash" seems indicated as some place near the juncture of the present-day Wabash and Ohio rivers. Vaudreuil wrote in May of 1748 that despite some hostile acts these Shawnees were not enemies of the French but only of the Illinois and Piankashaw Indians who had burned their village and dug up their dead, while the Shawnees were away from their settlement hunting. Vaudreuil reported that he had been assured by Chartier, the Shawnee chief of this Wabash settlement, that the French had nothing to fear,
but that since the outrage committed upon them by the Illinois and the Piankashaw they have ommitted nothing to avenge themselves. (Vaudreuil, Dft. Ex. A-47, pp. 68-69)
Soon after this these Shawnees went away from this Wabash location, but perhaps Shawnee revenge raids were among the reasons that the Piankashaws temporarily left the vicinity of the post at Vincennes at this time. The Piankashaws were reported to have abandoned the post of St. Ange sometime before the end of 1749, and the French, to keep this fort strong, had tentative plans to establish Missouri Indians there in their place. (Raymond, Dft. Et. A-47, pp. 153-154) The absence of the Piankashaws, however, was temporary, and some Piankashaws must have returned to the vicinity of Vincennes at least by the fall of 1751 (see below, p. 40 and ff. ).
English influence among Indians settled along the Ohio, Wabash, and Illinois rivers was giving the French increasing worries by this time. (See, e.g., Vaudreuil, Dft. Ex. A-263, pp. 662-664; ibid., Dft. Ex. A-47, pp. 67-72, Croghan, Dft. Ex. A-90, pp. 267-271). In January of 1750 Charles de Raymond, French commandant at the Miamis post
/pg. 31/
(near present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana), reported that some Miamis already had gone east to the Great Miami River, and the Miami Chief La Demoiselle was trying to induce other Miamis, Weas, and the Potawatomis of St. Joseph to join him there and to support the English who had brought a large supply of arms and trade goods and who were to build there in the spring. (Raymond, Dft. Ex. A-47, pp. 149-156) The Piankashaw chief, La Mouche Noire, apparently was involved with La Demoiselle's conspiracy, since it was expected that he would carry a wampum belt from those "English" Indians to the Illinois Indians as the signal to carry out an attack on the French. La Demoiselle was then to come to the "rebel" village on the great Miami River with his group of Miamis and some people on "Sonnioto" gathering on his way the Miami, the Wea, and the Piankashaw, indicating that these Indians were not yet with him at the Great Miami River. (Benoist, Dft. Ex. A-47, p. 164) During the winter of 1749-1750, some Piankashaws together with other groups of "French" Indians traded at Great Miami River with the English and may have wintered in that area. (L'Escabiat, Dft. Ex. A-47, pp. 167-168)
The French received reports that La Tortue, a member of La Demoiselle's band had been sent by that Miami chief to Ouiatenon to hold a secret conference with the Weas, Mascoutens, Piankashaws, and Kickapoos to get them to unite in the revolt against the French and to go to the Great Miami River to La Demoiselle for another council with Shawnees, Ottawas, Chippewas, Potatatomis, some Iroquois, and the tribes of Detroit and the Saginaw area, where the method of carrying out
/pg. 32/
the revolt could be planned and decided on. (Roy, Dft. Ex. A-47, pp. 169-171)
It was also reported that the Mascoutens, Weas, Piankashaws and Kickapoos had promised the English that they would leave the French and support the English. (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-47, pp. 172-173) L'Enfant, one of the chiefs of the Vermilion Piankashaws was said to be complaining bitterly over his reception at Quebec by the French the previous summer and claimed that that was the reason he rejected the French. (Ibid, Dft. Ex. A-47, p. 173)
Information came from Ouiatenon, too, that the Indians who traded at that post were very dissatisfied with the French. The Piankashaws thought that it was "the bad medicine which the French had thrown them" (Nephew of the commandant at Ouiatenon, Dft. Ex. A-47, pp. 174-175) which caused so many of them to die during the winter of 1749 -1750; they had set fire to their village "to drive away the bad air." (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-47, p. 175) It was almost certainly the Piankashaw village on the Vermilion River that was burned, since the Piankashaws at the Vincennes Post were gone from their village at this time. (See p. 33 above)
In April, 1750, the Piankashaw chief, La Mouche Noire was said actually to be carrying to the Illinois the wampum belt La Tortue had brought to bid them come to the Great Miami River. (Le Porc Epic, Dft. Ex. A-47, pp. 176-177)
By May of 1750 Raymond reported that 90 Piankashaws were with the Weas at the council at Great Miami River, and the rumour that at the end of the council they were
to bring the English to the Vermilion and to the Falls of the Ohio River to settle there. (Raymond, Dft. Ex. A-47, p. 190)
/pg. 33/
Jean Chaperon, a militia man at the Miamis post, reported on what he had seen at this council at the Great Miami River; the English there had told him that the Weas and Piankashaws were to settle with them this year. (Chaperon, Dft. Ex. A-47, p. 194)
In May Raymond also learned from Les Grands Ongles, a Wea chief, that the Piankashaws (150 men) under La Mouche Noire, had ;
all gone to Great Miami River with ill designs. They are to remain there. They have gone only to seek the English and to settle them with themselves at the Falls of the Ohio. (Les Grand Ongles, Dft. Ex. A-47, p. 209)
Les Grands Ongles also reported that during the winter the Piankashaws had held a council to kill the blacksmith and another Frenchman, at the Miami post, but had been dissuaded by a Kickapoo and one Piankashaw. (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-47, p. 210) Raymond then had a private interview with Les Grands Ongles in which the Indian confirmed his earlier statements that the Piankashaws would do whatever "the English and La Demoiselle" wanted them to, and that the Piankashaws and Le Comte's band of Weas wanted "to settle the English at the Falls of the Ohio River." (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-47, p 212) He confirmed the report also that the Piankashaw chief La Mouche Noire had been given the wampum to carry back to the Great Miami River. (Idem) Les Grands Ongles warned Raymond that if he didn't want the tribes to abandon the French, the French would have to offer them trade at a reasonable rate as the English did. (Ibid. Dft. Ex. A-47, pp. 213-215)
/pg. 34/
In November of 1750, by order of the Governor of Pennsylvania, George Croghan, British Indian Agent "went to the country of the Twightwees [Miamis]...to renew the chain of friendship with those Indians." (Croghan, Dft. Ex. A-90, p, 268) While he was there,
there came several of the Chiefs of the Wawioughtanes [Weas and Pianguisha [Piankashaw] Nations, living on Wabash, and requested to be admitted into the chain of friendship between the English and the Six Nations and their allies (Idem). Croghan granted their request and "exchanged deeds of friendship with them, with a view of extending His Majesty's Indian interest.[see Footnote 11]
This treaty was signed on February 22, 1751, by George Croghan, a Delaware, a Shawnee, and 5 other White witnesses, and two Wea and Piankashaw chiefs, Takintoa Molsinoughko and Nynickonowca, acting for themselves and their nations. The treaty stated that twenty men of the Weas and Piankashaws were present. (Gist, Dft. Ex. A-88, pp. 138-139; Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-55, pp. 216-217) This treaty had not been authorized by the government of Pennsylvania and was rejected by them.
Pierre Joseph Celeron de Blainville, who had led an expedition into the Ohio area in 1749 to strengthen the French position there and who had since been appointed commandant at Detroit, reported to Vaudreuil in August of 1751 that the Indians of La Demoiselle's establishment had not kept their word to return to their quarters in
/pg. 35/
the spring of that year despite his best endeavors. (Celeron, Dft. Ex. A-470 pp. 283-289) The French did not, however, concede the loss of the Illinois and Wabash Indians to the British. In August 1751, for example, the French commandant in the Illinois area, Macarty Mactigue, was ordered to try to induce the "the Illinois, Piankashaw, Wea, and to war against the Chickasaws, and to make an effort to deter the tribes of the Wabash and Illinois from going to trade at the Great Miami River." (Vaudreuil, Dft. Ex. A-47, p. 309; see also ibid., Dft. Ex. A-47, pp. 310, 311)
With respect to the locations of the Piankashaws at this time, further information is contained in the report of the governor of New France, Pierre Jacques de Taffand, Marquis de La Jonquiere to the French minister of September 1751, which states that forty Piankashaws were at the Vincennes post when it was attacked by a party of Shawnees. The Piankashaws set out to follow them and were reported to think that the Shawnees had come either from Sonioto River or the "riviere a la Roche [Great Miami River]". (La Jonquiere, Dft. Ex. A-47, pp. 361-362) La Jonquiere's report also mentioned a Piankashaw, "of the post of the Piankashaws [Vincennes]," who was attacked by some Shawnees while in his winter quarters, and of a second Piankashaw who was attacked by Shawnees "within sight of the post." (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-47, p. 365)
La Jonquiere also recounted all the rumours bearing on English intrigues with the Indians. Among other items he reported that La Maringouin, a Piankashaw chief of the "village on the Vermilion," was said to have rejected the English inducements to abandon the French. (Idem)
/pg. 36/
On the other hand, La Mouche Noire (a Piankashaw chief whom La Jonquiere incorrectly called a Wea chief) was reported to be very active in working for English interests, and to be trying to induce other Wabash and Illinois Indians to support the English. He had two brothers who were "chiefs of the domiciled Kaskaskia of Fort de Chartres," and had succeeded in persuading one of them to go to the Great Miami River to return three captives to the English. La Mouche Noire was also reported to intend to bring the English to his village. (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-47, pp. 366-367)
Vaudreuil wrote Macarty in September of 1751, that he had been informed by the Sieur de Villiers, commandant at Miamis, that the English, in addition to their efforts on the Great Miami River, were
also establishing a fort on White River, which is said to be forty leagues [ca. 100 miles] from Miamis. (Vaudreuil, Dft. Ex. A-47, p. 332)
English wish to carry on in the spring in order to be more convenient to the Wabash tribes and those of the Illinois. (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-47, p. 340)[see Footnote 12]
Macarty was to investigate if this establishment had been made, and if so, to take measures to destroy it. (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-47, pp. 332-333) Vaudreuil also had been informed that
the Piankashaw, Kickapoo, Mascoutens and a village of Miami (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-47, p. 333)
/pg. 37/
had not yet gone to the English at Great Miami River, and instructed Macarty to make sure of these tribes and to try to secure for the French the "Vermilion Indians where there may be a party in our interests." (Idem)
By October 1, 1751 le Pied Froid, a Miami chief who had been considered safely pro-French, and his band went off to the White River where a second English trading center was beginning. (La Jonquiere, Dft. Ex. A-47, p. 392)
The French also learned about a plan of the "Illinois, Wea, Piankashaw, Miami, Delaware, Shawnee, and the Iroquois Five Nations" to hold a council at La Demoiselle's on the Great Miami River sometime in 1752. (Ibid., Dft. Ex. A-47, pp. 389-390)
In October, 1751, Francois-Marie le Marchand De Ligneris, in command at Ouiatenon from 1751-1753, reported the Piankashaws and Weas "for the most part very ill-intentioned," and that the Piankashaws who were "at the Vermilion River" appeared entirely won over to the English. The young men at the Vermilion River village pillaged his boat when he stopped there. The chiefs to whom he complained replied that the young men had done it without their knowledge and at the instigation of the Weas; and returned to De Ligneris most of the goods that had been taken. (De Ligneris, Dft. Ex. A-47, pp. 415-416)
Footnote 11: Idem, see also ibid., dft. ex. A-55, pp. 215-217.[return to text]
Footnote 12: see also Vadreuil, Df. Ex. A-47, pp. 404-405, 412.[return to text]
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