Howard County IN Archives History - Books .....History Of Native Americans 1909
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Book Title: History Of Howard County Indiana

THE MOUND BUILDERS.
   In writing the history of Howard county we must not omit the people who dwelt
in the country of which it is now a part before the coming of the Europeans.

   An ancient race, entirely distinct from the Indians, inhabited all that vast,
fertile valley system extending from western New-York on the east to Nebraska on
the west, and from the great lakes on the north to the Gulf of Mexico on the south.

   These people possessed a modified degree of civilization. They tilled the
soil and grew corn, potatoes, tobacco and other products of this western
hemisphere of that early time. They carried on commerce, both domestic and
foreign, not so extensively perhaps as do the present modern inhabitants. They
had made considerable progress in the arts; their pottery wares especially
displayed skill and finish. Their sculptors reached a high degree of perfection.
Thev were an industrious race. Many of their public works were massive and
required the labor of many men for months or perhaps years to construct. They
were evidently a people of fixed habitation and settled and organized
government, and were given rather to the pursuits of peace than war.

   Who these people were we have no means of knowing; by what name or names they
were known to themselves or their contemporaries we know not. So far as we know
they left no written records. Tradition is absolutely silent concerning them.
Many centuries of past time have entirely extinguished the memory of them. They
are to us a lost race. We know them as Mound Builders, but this term has no real
significance. So far as we know they never built a mound. Time has been the real
Mound Builder, converting the buildings and structures of this ancient people
into the various mounds as we know them today. All that we know of them is
gathered from the monuments that remain of them, consisting of mounds,
inclosures, implements, works of art, etc. These remains have been carefully
examined, and after long and patient investigation the archaeologist has arrived
at certain definite conclusions, and so apparently accurate are they that we may
safely say that we are well acquainted with this lost race.

MOUND REMAINS.

   These remains are very numerous and widely distributed. In Ohio more than
twelve hundred inclosures and ten thousand mounds have been counted. Indiana has
probably as many, and the various implements that have been found are almost
countless. The mound remains of Ohio have been much more thoroughly and
carefully examined than those of any other state, hence they are better known
and more frequent reference made to them. These works are chiefly found in the
river valleys, and are only occasionally met with in the hilly or broken
country, and are there small in size. They are irregularly distributed, being
dense in places and sparse in others, indicating thickly settled localities and
scattered settlements. The fact that their remains are found chiefly in the
river valleys and along the watercourses would suggest that they used the
streams of water as their highways, transporting themselves and their commerce
in canoes or rude boats, fashioned from the giant trees growing then as at the
coming of the white man in the forests of these fertile valleys.

   These ancient works were constructed sometimes of earth alone, at other times
of earth and stone together, and were of two classes—enclosures and mounds
proper. The enclosures were massive walls and sometimes of great dimensions,
ranging from three feet to thirty feet in height and enclosing areas of from one
acre to four hundred acres in extent. Many of them evidently were constructed
for fortifications or defensive purposes and some were admirably chosen as
natural strongholds. Others were sacred enclosures, protecting their altars and
holy places of worship from unhallowed intrusion, and perhaps affording homes
for the priesthood, for it is known that these people had their places of
worship and a regular priesthood. Altars have been found within these
enclosures, presenting positive evidence of sacrifice.

MODES OF WORSHIP.

   In some respects the ceremonials of their worship seem to have been very like
the Jewish as set out in the book of Exodus. The location of bodies of numerous
mounds indicates that the Mound Builders were influenced by the same motives in
selecting sites for their cities and towns which influenced their European
successors. Practically the same natural conditions existed when this numerous
population of bygone times lived and made homes as those that fascinated the
European when he came—an attractive country, broad, alluvial terraces
overlooking flowing rivers and the same capabilities for development.

   It has been said that nearly every town of importance in the valleys of the
Ohio and Missisippi [sic] and their tributaries is founded upon the ruins of
this ancient people. The city of St. Louis was a city of mounds, and is known as
the "Mound City," while on the opposite side of the river more than two hundred
were counted, among which was the great Cahokia, the mammoth mound of the
Mississippi valley. Before the desecrating hand of the white man had despoiled
this magnificent temple it rose in height ninety feet. In shape it was at the
base a parallelogram, the sides at the base measuring seven hundred by five
hundred feet. On the southwest there was a terrace one hundred and sixty feet by
three hundred feet, the top being level and constituting a platform two hundred
feet wide by four hundred feet long, upon which could congregate many thousands
of people at an elevation of nearly one hundred feet above the surrounding country.

VARIOUS KINDS OF MOUNDS.

   Other important mound centers now occupied by towns and cities are Grave
Creek, Marietta, Miami and Vincennes. Of the one at Vincennes Professor Collett
says: "Perhaps the seat of a royal priesthood, their efforts essayed to build a
series of temples which constituted at once capital and 'holy city,' the
Heliopolis of the West. Three sacred mounds thrown upon or against the. sides of
the second terrace or bluff east and southeast of Vincennes are the result and
in size, symmetry and grandeur of aspect rival, if not excel any prehistoric
remains in the United States."

   Another class of mounds were the sepulchral mounds where they buried their
illustrious dead. Skeletons have been unearthed in these mounds and with them
have been found personal ornaments. such as bracelets, perforated plates of
copper and beads of bone, ivory, shell or metal. Few weapons such as spear or
arrow points are found. Stone implements are common. Plates of mica are
frequently met with, and of such size as to almost completely cover the
skeleton. Vases of pottery are occasionally found. These mounds are the
principal depositories of ancient art. The implements and ornaments found in
these mounds are made of minerals, clay, bones, fossils and shells. The first
implements used by them were made of stone. Among the Mound Builders we find
many and various implements of* stone, having a great variety of form and used
for different purposes. Their arrow and spearheads were made of flint,
ninety-five per cent, of them being made of the different varieties of chert.
Many points made of obsidian have been found. Chalcedony occurs, but not in
abundance. Knives and other cutting instruments made of obsidian and flint have
been taken from the mounds. Axes fashioned with great skill out of rare and
beau-'"rul materials, mostly of the granitic series of minerals, are found in
great abundance in the valleys, but rarely in the mounds, many of them with
grooves for the adjustment of handles, and varying in weight from one pound to
sixteen pounds. Their hatchets, designed for use in war as well as domestic use,
weighed from one to two pounds, and had no grooves. Some had holes for the
insertion of handles. These instruments for the most part were polished. Some
were ground and polished with great care. Many stone mauls and chisels have been
found. Quartz pestles and mortars or boulders with platter-shaped depressions
for grinding the grain are found ini great numbers. An interesting feature of
their works of art is the pottery ware, comprising kettles, water jugs, cups,
vases, urns, etc. In this they attained to a considerable degree of perfection,
exhibiting a variety of forms and elegance of finish. They made these wares of
fine clay. Tn the finer specimens they worked the clay pure. In some of the
coarser specimens they intermixed the clay with quartz, in others with
salmon-colored mica in small flakes, giving it a rather brilliant appearance.

SKILLED WORKMEN.

   The surface was ornamented, some with curved lines, others have the images of
birds, quadrupeds and the human form molded upon them. They were all moulded by
hand and there is no evidence that they had any knowledge of the potter's wheel.
None of their vessels were glazed. The stone pipes found in the mounds display
the most elaborate skill.

   The workmen portrayed the object sought to be represented with great
faithfulness, the more elaborate ones delineating the squirrel, opossum, beaver,
otter, wildcat, bear, elk, wolf, panther, grouse, duck, raven and also the human
head and form. Their highest grade of art is found in their sculptures. They
accurately exhibited the general form and features of the object intended to be
represented. In all of their work there is a remarkable avoidance of obscenity.
Their largest instruments made out of quartz or chert are the spade and hoe.

   The Mound Builders were acquainted with several of the metals. They had
implements and ornaments of copper. Silver is found occasionally in: the form of
ornaments. There is nothing to indicate that it was ever used as money. Galena
is found in considerable quantities, but there is no trace of iron. They made
knives, axes, chisels, awls, spearheads and arrowheads out of copper. These were
hammered out cold for the most part, though some show evidence of having been
molded. Hence the conclusion is warranted that the art of smelting was known to
them in their later times. They made for themselves awls or needles of the bones
of the deer and elk, which they used in the sewing of the hides of animals.

CLOTHING.

   The Mound Builders used for clothing sometimes the skins of wild animals, but
for the most part their clothing was made from a cloth regularly spun with a
uniform thread and woven with warp and woof. In making a railroad grade through
a mound near Middletown, Ohio, among other things found was cloth connected with
tassels and ornaments. The cloth was in thick folds and very much charred. It
appeared to be of some material allied to hemp, and the separation of wood and
fiber was as thorough as at this day by rotting and hackeling. The thread is
coarse, uniform in size and regularly spun. Their process of spinning and
weaving is unknown. The fact that large numbers of copper implements and
ornaments have been found in the mounds, the fact also that the Mound Builders
used galena, obsidian, mica and some silver, suggest that they either engaged in
mining or traded with people who did. Considerable quantities of galena have
been found in the mounds of Ohio. It is of frequent occurrence on the
sacrificial altars. Plumb bobs and net sinkers are found made out of this
material, and yet no original deposits are known in the state of Ohio. Obsidian,
a peculiar glass-like stone of volcanic origin, is obtained from some of the
mounds in the form of arrowheads, spearheads and cutting instruments, yet this
material is not found in its natural state north of Mexico nor east of the Rocky
mountains in the United States. Mica is found in large quantities in and about
the mounds. It was used for mirrors, ornaments and often for the covering of
their dead. There were no mica mines nearer than New Hampshire or North
Carolina. The mines of North Carolina give conclusive evidence of having been
worked in long past times. It is a fair inference that these people of the Ohio
and Mississippi valleys journeyed either as miners or traders to the mines of
Carolina and thus obtained the mica now found. In the copper mines of the Lake
Superior region excavations have been found which appear to be very ancient.

AN INDUSTROUS RACE.

   In these ancient excavations numerous stone hammers are found. Here again the
inference seems fair that the Mound Builders of the Ohio valley journeyed to
these far-away copper mines as miners, going in the springtime, taking a store
of provisions with them, and returning in the autumn to their homes. The cold of
the Lake Superior region was such as to forbid their growing their food there.
The wide distribution of copper implements shows that an extensive business was
carried on in this metal. From the valley of the Ohio it was a journey of a
thousand miles. There is no evidence of settled life at that time in the copper
regions. The people who did this were energetic and enterprising. The same must
be said of a people who journeyed to far-away Mexico for a supply of obsidian.

   It appears to be indisputable that the Mound Builders were an industrious
people, well settled, extensively engaged in mining operations and various
mechanical pursuits, well skilled and far from a state of barbarism. They were
somewhat advanced in the arts and sciences and occupied no mean position in
life. For their times and surroundings they had made great strides towards a
permanent civilization and must be ranked as one of the great people of ancient
times.

   Who were the Mound Builders? Where did they come from? When were they here?
When did they leave here? What was the manner of their going? Who occupied this
country at their going? are questions naturally suggested.

   To the first two questions we must frankly admit that we are in absolute
ignorance.

WHEN THE EUROPEANS CAME.

   When the Europeans first came here they found the Indians without a trace of
a tradition of the people who dwelt here before them. The people themselves left
no written records whose authenticity may be said to be unquestioned. The
darkness of the past has completely enveloped them. What we do know is that
there now remain here the ruins of the works of a prehistoric people whose only
history we can interpret from these ruins.

   The next two questions admit of a somewhat more satisfactory reply. We know
that many centuries have passed since the Mound Builders went out from their
homes here. When the earliest European explorers visited these mounds time had
completed their wrecking. Mounds only remained of great buildings and massive
walls. Forests of giant trees, centuries old, had grown upon the ruins and had
fallen to decay, probably many times repeated.

   The ruins of the new world may be as ancient as those of the old. May we not
safely say that the Mound Builders of America were contemporaneous with the
great peoples of antiquity in the old world? While the Pharaohs of Egypt were
erecting their pyramids and building magnificent temples to their gods and were
engaging in great national enterprises; while Abraham of Ur of the Chaldees, at
the command of the living God, and imbued with the spirit of enterprise of his
age, was going out to found a new home and nation of his own: while Nineveh and
Babylon were growing up to be mighty cities through the enterprise of their
citizens, may not this people have been engaged in the building of their temples
to the Great Spirit and in the construction of other great works whose ruins yet
remain?

   There is no evidence that the nations of the old and new worlds had any
knowledge of each other. They appear, however, to have grown in power and
advanced in civilization very much alike. They had the same kinds of mills for
grinding their grain. May not the spirit of enterprise and civilization that
prevailed in the old world in those centuries before Christ have been world-wide
and found its expression in the Mound Builders of the new?

   What was the manner of their going? The probabilities are that they were
driven out by a barbarous, warlike people. For ages they and their ancestors had
lived in these rich and fertile valleys; they had builded towns and cities and
made homes as dear to them as life itself.

INVADERS.

   Antiquarians who have studied the mounds, which were once the fortifications
of this people, assert that they were placed and arranged to protect the
inhabitants from northern invaders. Signal stations have been traced to the
northward, indicating that they kept sentinels posted in times of danger to warn
them of the approach of foes by signaling from station to station.

   It is further declared that the Mound Builders had their habitations from the
Ohio river southward to later times than on the north. The remains of many of
the mounds indicate that their going had been precipitate; that they had not
been given time to gather up their belongings and move out orderly. It seems
very probable that a savage or barbarous people to the north of them waged war
with them probably at intervals for a long time and finally had overcome them
and had driven them across the Ohio river, which, for a time at least, was the
boundary between them.

   In thus disposing of the Mound Builders we must admit that the evidence is
purely circumstantial; that no eyewitness has been found whose record bears
positive testimony to the facts regarding this people. It is true that there
have been found what was purported to be the writings of prehistoric man. Some
of these have been determined as impositions, others have not been deciphered.
We do not know whether they are false of genuine, and if genuine what their
testimony is.   We can say positively, however, that there was an ancient people
who lived here in Howard county, who made considerable progress in the arts and
sciences in civilization, who had settled homes., who cleared away the forests
and engaged in agriculture in perhaps a crude manner compared with our twentieth
century methods, and who carried on a limited commerce, using Wildcat and its
tributaries as their highway, carrying it in canoes or rude boats made with
their very primitive tools, and that after a long occupancy they were driven out
by a savage people, who, so far as we know, remained in possession of the
country until the coming of the Europeans in recent times.

LITTLE TURTLE'S IDEA.

   It would certainly be a matter of very great satisfaction to be able to give
the origin of the Mound Builders or their successors, the red men, but we are in
complete ignorance, and mere conjecture is idle. The various conjectures found
in our school histories attempting to account for the origin of these people are
certainly unworthy the place they occupy in teaching the young. That they are or
were the descendants of the ten lost tribes of Israel is absurd. That they are
or were the descendants of the Tartars who crossed by the way of Behring strait
and spread out over America was well answered by Little Turtle, who, when it was
suggested to him that the Tartars and Indians resembled each other, that Asia
and America at Behring strait were only a few miles apart and. that the Indians
were probably descendants of the Tartars, replied: "Why should not these Tartars
who resemble us have come from America? Are there any reasons for the contrary?
Or why should we not both have been born in our 'own country?" The other
suggestion that Europeans sailing by way of Iceland and Greenland reached the
mainland of America and settled it, becoming Indians, is no better. The better
explanation seems to be that the Indian is a distinct type of mankind; that the
Mound Builders were the highest examples of this Indian type, and that the
Indians peopled this continent in very ancient times.

THE INDIANS.

   The inference seems fair that the ancestors of the Indians who dwelt here at
the discovery of America by Columbus were the barbarous and warlike people who
drove out the Mound Builders, for when European explorers first became
acquainted with the Indians dwelling in that region, which had formerly been the
country of the Mound Builders, they found two powerful Indian families— the
Algonquin and the Huron-Iroquois.

   At the beginning of the seventeenth century the Algonquins numbered a quarter
of a million people. The tribes of this great family were nomadic in their
habits, roaming from one hunting ground and river to another, according to the
exigencies of the chase and fishing. Agriculture was little esteemed. They were
divided into many subordinate tribes, each having a local name, dialect and
tradition. When the European settlements were planted the Algonquin race was
already declining in numbers and influence. Wasting diseases destroyed whole
tribes. Of all the Indians the Algonquins suffered most from contact with the
white man. Before his aggressive spirit, his fiery rum and his destructive
weapons the warriors were unable to stand. The race has withered to a shadow and
only a few thousands remain to rehearse the story of their ancestors.

   Within the territory occupied by the Algonquins lived the powerful nation of
the Huron-Iroquois. Their domain extended over the country reaching from the
Georgian Bay and Lake Huron to Lakes Erie and Ontario, south of these lakes to
the valley of the upper Ohio, and eastward to the Sorel river. Within this
extensive district was a confederacy of vigorous tribes having a common ancestry
and generally, though not always, acting together in war. This confederacy was
nearly always at war with the Algonquins. At the time of their greatest power
and influence the Huron-Iroquois embraced no less than nine allied nations.
These were the Hurons proper, living north of Lake Erie; the Eries and Andastes,
south of the same water; the Tuscaroras, of Carolina, who ultimately joined
their kinsmen in the north; the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas and
Mohawks, constituting the five nations of New York—the Iroquois people.

THE WARRIORS.

   The warriors of this great confederacy presented the Indian character in its
most favorable aspect. They were brave, patriotic and eloquent, not wholly
averse to useful industry, living in respectable villages, tilling the soil with
considerable success, faithful as friends and terrible as enemies. It has been
said of them that, knowing well the advantages of their position on the great
waterways which led to the interior of the continent, they made themselves
feared by all their race. From Canada to the Carolinas and from Maine to the
Mississippi, Indian women shuddered at the name of the Ho-de-no-san-nee. while
even the bravest warriors of other tribes went far out of their way in the
wintry forests to avoid an encounter with them. Within sixty years from their
first acquaintance with white men the Iroquois had become the bitterest foes of
their nearest kinsmen—the Hurons—and had exterminated them: also the Eries and
Neutrals about Lake Erie and the Andastes of the upper Susquehanna, while they
had forced a humiliating peace upon the Delawares, the most powerful of the
Algonquins, and had driven the Ottawas from their home upon the river which
bears their name. Their government and laws, similar to those of the United
States, guaranteed to the people of the tribes the right to manage their local
affairs in their own way, subject only to the general and foreign polity of the
confederacy. Their union was based upon pure principles of friendship and
voluntary adhesion. One of their chiefs, Canassatego, in 1774 delivered a speech
to the commissioners of Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland, announcing the
basis of their union. He said: "Our wise forefathers established amity and union
between the five nations. This has made us formidable. This has given us great
weight and authority with our neighboring nations. We are a powerful
confederacy, and by observing the sane methods our wise forefathers have taken,
you will acquire fresh strength and power. Therefore I counsel you, whatever
befalls you, never to fall out with one another."

LOCAL HISTORY.

   The local Indian history of Howard county is confined chiefly to the three
Algonquin tribes—the Delawares, Pottawottamies and Miamis. The Miamis held the
territory south of the Wabash river from Ohio to Illinois, also a part of the
territory north of the Wabash from the site of Peru eastward: the Pottawottamies
the northwestern part of the state to the Wabash river, and the Delawares the
territory along the White river: but on terms of friendship each used the
territory of Howard county as hunting and fishing ground. The Delawares were
once the most powerful of the Algonquins and dwelt along the Delaware river.
They claimed that in the past they held an eminent position for antiquity,
wisdom and valor. This claim seems to have been well founded, as the neighboring
Indian tribes were disposed to concede it. In their wars with the Iroquois they
were defeated and reduced to a state of vassalage. In 1744. during the progress
of the treaty negotiations at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the Iroquois denied the
Delawares the right to participate in the privileges incident to the treaty and
refused to recognize them as an independent nation, entitled to the right to
sell and transfer lands. The Iroquois chief upbraided them for attempting to
exercise any other rights than such as belonged to a conquered nation or people.
Arrogantly he bade them to make no reply, but to leave the council in silence.
He ordered them in a peremptory manner to leave the lands where the}' then
resided and go to the Susquehanna. In silence they went out and not long
afterward they left forever their homes and happy hunting grounds on the banks
of the Delaware and sought a new home on the Pennsylvania frontier, humiliated
and very unhappy in the memory of their former high estate and greatness. The
encroaching white man and the hostile Iroquois left them no peace in their new
home and again in 1751 they started for the far West and founded a settlement on
the White river in Indiana. Here a missionary effort was made to introduce
Christianity among them. This was frustrated by the Prophet, a brother of
Tecumseh, who was then very popular among the Indians. In the War of 1812 the
Delawares refused to join Tecumseh in his hostilities against the United States,
but remained faithful to the states. In 1818 eighteen hundred of them, leaving a
small band in Ohio, moved westward again and settled on the White river in
Missouri. Soon they moved again, some going to the Red river, but the larger
number were settled by treaty upon the Kansas and Missouri rivers. They numbered
about one thousand and were brave, enterprising hunters on the plains,
cultivated the soil and were friendly to the whites. The Baptists and Methodists
had mission schools among them and built a church. They suffered much from
lawless whites and hostile Sioux. The Kansas Delawares during the Civil war were
strong Unionists and sent one hundred and seventy out of two hundred and ten
able-bodied men into the Union service and proved efficient soldiers and guides
to the Union army.

THE POTTAWATTOMIES.

   From their home in the northwestern part of the state the Pottawattomies kept
pushing out upon the ancient possessions of the Miamis and were familiar objects
to the early settlers of Howard county. Of these Indians we quote: "At the
beginning of the seventeenth century they occupied the lower peninsula of
Michigan apparently in scattered bands, independent of each other, there being
at no period in their history any trace of a general authority or government.
They were hunters and fishers, cultivating a little maize, but warlike and
frequently in collision with neighboring tribes. They were finally driven west
by the tribes, of the Iroquois family and settled on the islands and shores of
Green Bay, and the French established a mission among them. Perrot acquired
great influence with the tribe, who soon took part with the French against the
Iroquois. Owangnice, their chief, was one of the parties to the Montreal treaty
of 1701 and they actively aided the French in the subsequent wars. They
gradually spread over what is now southern Michigan and upper Illinois and
Indiana, a mission on the St. Joseph river being a sort of central point. The
Pottawattomies joined Pontiac and surprised Fort St. Joseph, capturing
Schlosser, the commandant. May 25, 1763. They were hostile to the Americans in
the Revolution and subsequently, but after Wayne's victory joined the treaty of
Greenville, December 22, 1795. The tribes comprising the families or clans of
the Golden Carp Frog, Crab and Tortoise were then composed of the St. Joseph,
Wabash and Huron river bands, with a large scattering population, generally
called the Pottawattomies of the Prairie, who were a mixture of many Algonquin
tribes. From 1803 to 1809 the various bands sold to the government portions of
lands claimed by them, receiving money and annuities. Yet in the War of 1812
they again joined the English, influenced by Tecumseh. A new treaty of peace was
made in 1815, followed rapidly by others, by which their lands were almost
entirely conveyed away. A large tract was assigned to them on the Missouri, and
in 1838 the St. Joseph band was carried off by troops, losing one hundred and
fifty out of eight hundred men on the way by death and desertion. The whole
tribe then numbered about four thousands. The St. Joseph, Wabash and Huron bands
had made progress in civilization and were Catholics, while the Pottawattomies
of the Prairie were still roving and pagan. A part of the tribe was removed with
some Chippewas and Ottawas, but they eventually joined the others or
disappeared. In Kansas the civilized band with the Jesuit mission founded by
DeSmet and Hoecken advanced rapidly with good schools for both sexes. A Baptist
mission and school was more than once undertaken among the less tractable
Prairie band, but was finally abandoned.

   The Kansas trouble brought difficulties for the Indians, made the Prairie
band more restless and the civilized anxious to settle. A treaty proclaimed
April 19, 1862, gave individual Indians a title to their several tracts of land
under certain conditions, and though delayed by the Civil war, this policy was
carried out in the treaty of February 27, 1867. Out of the population of two
thousand one hundred and eighty, fourteen hundred elected to become citizens and
take lands in severalty and seven hundred and eighty to hold lands as a tribe.
Some of the Prairie band were then absent. The experiment met with varied
success. Some did well and improved, others squandered their lands and their
portion of the funds and became paupers. Many of these scattered, one band even
going to Mexico.

THE MIAMIS.

   When the Europeans first became acquainted with the Indians the Miamis were a
leading and powerful branch of the Algonquin family. The tribe has been known by
a variety of names, the first probably having been "Twa Twas," followed by "Twe
Twees," "Twighwess," "Omees," "Omamees," "Aumannees," and finally as the Miamis.
Bancroft says of them: "They were the most powerful confederacy in the West,
excelling the Six Nations (Iroquois). Their influence reached to the Mississippi
and they received frequent visits from tribes beyond the river." Mr. LaSalle
says: "When the Miamis were first invited by the French authorities to Chicago
in 1670 they were a leading and very powerful Indian nation. A body of them
assembled near that place for war against the powerful Iroquois of the Hudson
and the still more powerful Sioux of the upper Mississippi. They numbered at
least three thousand warriors, and were under the lead of a chief who never
sallied forth but with a bodyguard of forty warriors. He could at any time call
into the field an army of three thousand to five thousand men."

   The Miamis were first known to Europeans about the year 1669 in the vicinity
of Green Bay, where they were first visited by the French missionary, Father
Allouez, and later by Father Dalton, From this region they passed south and
eastward around the southern point of Lake Michigan, occupying the regions of
Chicago and later establishing a village on the St. Joseph, another on the Miami
and another on the Wabash. The territory claimed by this confederacy at the
close of the eighteenth century is clearly set forth by their chief. Little
Turtle, in a speech delivered by him at the treaty at Greenville, July 22, 1795,
in which he said: "General Wayne, I hope you will pay attention to what I now
say to you. I wish to inform you where your younger brothers, the Miamis, live,
and also the Pottawottamies of St. Joseph, together with the Wabash Indians. You
have pointed out to us the boundary line between the Indians and the United
States, but now I take the liberty to inform you that that line cuts off from
the Indians a large portion of country which has been enjoyed by my forefathers
from time immemorial without molestation or dispute. The prints of my ancestors'
houses are everywhere to be seen in this portion. I was a little astonished at
hearing you and my brothers who are now present telling each other what business
you had transacted together at Muskingum concerning this country. It is well
known by all my brothers present that my forefather kindled the first fire at
Detroit; from thence he extended his line to the headwaters of the Scioto, from
thence to its mouth, from thence down the Ohio to the mouth of the Wabash river,
and from thence to Chicago on Lake Michigan. At this place I first saw my elder
brothers, the Shawnees. I have now informed you of the boundary line of the
Miami nation, where the Great Spirit placed my forefather a long time ago and
charged him not to sell or part with his lands, but to preserve them for his
posterity. This charge has been handed down to me. I was much surprised to find
that my other brothers differed so much from me on this subject, for their
conduct would lead one to suppose that the Great Spirit and their forefathers
had not given them the same charge that was given to me, but, on the contrary,
had directed them to sell their land to any white man who wore a hat as soon as
he should ask it of them. Now, elder brother, your younger brothers, the Miamis,
have pointed out to you their country, and also our brothers present. When I
hear your remarks and proposals on this subject I will be ready to give you an
answer. I came with an expectation of hearing you say good things, but I have
not heard what I expected."

LITTLE TURTLE.

   Little Turtle was probably the ablest and most illustrious of the Miami
chieftains and has set forth most accurately the claims of the Miamis to
territory and their policy of retaining it. The claim he put forth included all
of Indiana, a part of eastern Illinois, southern Michigan and western Ohio. It
is a noteworthy fact that all the treaties they made in which they sold lands to
the United States government were after they had suffered overwhelming defeats.
In the early Indian wars the Miamis were the enemies of the English and the
friends of the French. Afterwards in the trouble between the king and the
colonies they were generally the allies of the English and the foes of the
States. They looked upon the approach of the white man with the deepest
distrust, fearing degradation, destruction and ultimate extinction. They loved
their native forests, worshiped freedom and hated restraint. They feared the
advance of invaders and abhorred the forms of civilization. It is said the
Miamis were early and earnestly impressed with a fearful foreboding of ultimate
ruin, and therefore seized upon every opportunity to* terrify, destroy and drive
back the invading enemy. Their chiefs, their officers and warriors were found in
the fiercest battles in the most desperate places. They bared their savage forms
to civilized bullets and bayonets and died without a murmur or a groan. In their
treatment of the whites they were as savage as they were brave. They often
murdered the defenseless pioneer without regard to age, sex or condition with
the most shocking- and brutal savagery. Not only men but helpless women and
children wrere burned to death or cut to pieces in the most painful manner while
the warriors and squaws in fiendish ferocity gloated over the misery and
suffering of the victim.

   As against Anglo-Saxon armies no tribe did more to stay the tide of
civilization or the flow of emigration into their venerated forests and none
record so many victories with so few defeats. Their love for the land of their
fathers, for their forest homes burned in their barbarous bosoms with an
intensity that pleads some extenuation for their savage cruelty. They were a
leading power in defeating General Braddock in 1755, and from that time forward
the blood of the Miamis moistened nearly every battlefield.

   The following sketches are taken from Drake's "Indians of North America:" We
now pass to a chief far more prominent in Indian history than many who have
received greater notice from historians. This was Mishikinakwa (by no means
settled in orthography), which, interpreted, is said to mean Little Turtle.

   "Little Turtle was chief of the Miamis, and the scenes of his warlike
achievements were in the country- of his birth. He had in conjunction with the
tribes of that region successfully fought the armies of Harmar1 and St. Clair,
and in the fight with the latter is said to have had the chief command, hence a
detailed account of the affair belongs to his life.

THE WESTERN INDIANS.

   "The western Indians were only emboldened by the battles between them and
detachments of General Harmar s army in 179c, and under such a leader as
Mishikinakwa they entertained sanguine hopes of bringing the Americans to their
own terms. One murder followed another in rapid succession, attended by all the
horrors peculiar to their warfare, which caused President Washington to take the
earliest opportunity of recommending congress to adopt efficient measures for
checking- these calamities, and two thousand men were immediately raised and put
under the command of General St. Clair, then governor of the Northwest
Territory. He received his appointment on the 4th of March, 1791, and proceeded
to Fort Washington by way of Kentucky with all dispatch, where he arrived on the
15th of May. There was much time lost in get-ting the troops collected at this
place, General Butler with the residue not arriving until the middle of
September. There were various circumstances to account for the delays which it
is not necessary to recount here. Colonel Drake proceeded immediately on his
arrival, which was about the end of August, and built Fort Hamilton on the
Miami, in the country of Little Turtle, and soon after Fort Jefferson was built
forty miles farther onward. These two forts being left manned, about the end of
October the army advanced, being about two thousand strong, militia included,
whose numbers were not inconsiderable, as will appear by the miserable manner in
which they not only confused themselves but the regular soldiers also.

GENERAL ST. CLAIRES ARMY.

   "General St. Clair had advanced about six miles in front of Fort Jefferson
when sixty of his militia, from pretended disaffection, commenced to retreat,
and it was discovered that the evil had spread considerably among the rest of
the army. Being fearful that they would seize upon the convoy of provisions the
general ordered Colonel Hamtranack to pursue them with his regiment and force
them to return. The army now consisted of fourteen hundred effective men, and
this was the number attacked by Little Turtle and his warriors fifteen miles
from the Miami villages. Colonel Butler commanded the right wing and Colonel
Drake the left. The militia were posted a quarter of a mile in advance and were
encamped in two lines. The troops had not finished securing their baggage when
they were attacked in their camp. It was their intention to march immediately
upon the Miami villages and destroy them. The savages being apprised of this
acted with great wisdom and firmness. They fell upon the militia before sunrise
November 4th. The latter at once fled into the main camp in the most disorderly
manner, many of them having thrown away their guns were pursued and slaughtered.

   "At the main camp the first was sustained some time by the great exertion of
the officers, but with great inequality, the Indians under Little Turtle
amounting to fifteen hundred warriors. Colonels Drake, Butler and Major Clarke
made several successful charges, which enabled them to save some of their number
by checking the enemy until flight was more practicable. Of the Americans five
hundred and ninety-three were killed and missing, besides thirty-eight officers,
two hundred and forty-two soldiers and twenty-one officers were wounded, many of
whom died. Colonel Butler was among the slain. The account of his fall is
shocking. He was severely wounded and left on the field. The well known and
infamous Simon Girty came up to him and observed him writhing under the severe
pains from his wounds. Girty knew and spoke to him. Knowing that he could not
live, the colonel begged of him to put an end to his misery. This Girty refused
to do, but turned to an Indian and told him that the officer was the commander
of the army, upon which the Indian drove his tomahawk into the colonel's head. A
number of others came around, and after taking off his scalp they took out his
heart and cut it into as many pieces as there were tribes in the action and
divided it among them. All manner of brutal acts were committed on the bodies of
the slain. It need not be mentioned, for the observers of Indian affairs know
that land was the main cause of this as well as all other wars between the
Indians and the whites, and hence it was easy to account for the Indians filling
the mouths of the slain with earth after this battle. It was actually the case,
as reported by those who visited the scene of action and buried the dead.

ACCOUNT OF THE DEFEAT.

   "General St. Clair was called to account for this disastrous campaign and was
honorably acquitted. He published a narrative in vindation of his conduct, which
at this day few will think required. What he says of his retreat we will give in
his own words: 'The retreat, you may be sure, was a precipitate one. It was, in
fact, a flight. The camp and the artillery were abandoned, but that was
unavoidable, for not a horse was left to draw it off had it otherwise been
practicable. But the most disgraceful part of the business is that the greatest
part of the men threw away their arms and accoutrements even after the pursuit,
which continued about four miles, had ceased. I found the road strewn with them
for many miles, but was unable to remedy it, for, having had all my horses
killed and being mounted upon one that could not be pricked out of a walk, I
could not get forward myself, and the orders I sent forward either to halt the
front or prevent the men from parting with their arms were unattended to. The
remnant of the army arrived at Fort Jefferson the same clay just before sunset,
the place from whence they fled being twenty-nine miles distant/ General St.
Clair did everything that a brave general could do. He exposed himself to every
danger, having during the action eight bullets shot through his clothes. In no
attack on record did the Indians discover greater bravery or determination.
After giving the first fire they rushed forward with towahawk in hand. Their
loss was inconsiderable, but the traders afterwards learned among them that
Little Turtle had one hundred and fifty killed and many wounded. They rushed on
the artillery, heedless of their fire, and took two pieces in an instant. They
were again retaken by the troops, and whenever the army charged them they were
seen to give way, and advanced again as soon as they began to retreat. Six or
eight pieces of artillery fell into their hands, with about four hundred horses,
all the baggage, ammunition and provisions.

GOVERNMENT DISAPPOINTED.

   "This terrible defeat disappointed the expectations of the general
government, alarmed the frontier inhabitants, checked the tide of emigration
from the eastern and middle states and many fearful, frightful and horrible
murders were committed upon white settlers. St. Clair resigned the office of
major general and Anthony Wayne, a distinguished officer of the Revolutionary
war. was appointed in his place. In the month of June, 1792, he arrived at
Pittsburg, the appointed place of rendezvous. On the 28th of November, 1792, the
army left Pittsburg and moved down the Ohio about twenty miles to a point called
Legionville, where they remained until April 30, 1793, and then moved down the
river to Fort Washington (Cincinnati) and encamped near the fort at a place
called Hobson's Choice. They were kept here until the 7th of October, and on the
23d of the same month they arrived at Fort Jefferson with an effective force of
three thousand six hundred and thirty men, together with a small number of
friendly Indians from the South. On the 8th of August, 1794, they arrived at the
confluence of the rivers Auglaize and Maumee, where they built Fort Defiance. It
was the general's design to have met the enemy unprepared in this move, but a
fellow deserted his camp and notified the Indians. He now tried again to bring
them to a reconciliation, and so artful were the replies he received from them
it was some time revolved in his mind whether they were for peace or war. At
length, being fully satisfied, he marched down the Maumee and arrived at the
rapids on the 18th of August, two days before the battle. His army consisted of
three thousand men, two thousand of whom were regulars. Fort Deposit was erected
at this place for the security of the supplies. They now set out to meet the
enemy, who had chosen their position on the banks of the river with much
judgment. The troops had a breastwork of fallen trees in front and the high,
rocky shore gave them much security, as also did the thick woods of Presque
Isle. The force was divided and disposed at supporting distances for about two
miles. When the Americans had arrived at a proper distance a body was sent out
to begin the attack with orders to rouse the enemy from the covert at the point
of the bayonet, and when up to deliver a close fire upon their backs and press
them so hard as not to give them time to reload. This order was so well
executed, and the battle at the point of attack so short, that only about nine
hundred Americans participated in it. But they pursued the Indians with great
slaughter through the woods to Fort Maumee, where the carnage ended. The Indians
were so unexpectedly driven from their stronghold that their numbers only
increased their distress and confusion, and the cavalry made horrible havoc
among them with their long sabers. Of the Americans there were killed and
wounded about one hundred and thirty. The loss of the Indians could not be
ascertained, but must have been very severe. The American loss was chiefly at
the commencement of the action as they advanced upon the mouths of the Indian
rifles. They maintained their coverts but a short time, being forced in every
direction by the bayonets. But until that was effected the Americans fell fast
and we only wonder that men could be found to thus advance in the face of
certain death.    It has been generally said that had the advice of Little
Turtle been regarded the disastrous fight with General Wayne would not have
occurred. He was not for fighting General Wayne at Presque Isle, and rather
inclined to peace than fighting him at ail. In a council held the night before
the battle he argued: 'We have beaten the enemy twice under separate commanders.
We cannot expect the same good fortune to always attend us. The Americans are
now led by a chief who never sleeps; the night and the day are alike to him, and
during all the time he has been marching on our villages, notwithstanding the
watchfulness of our young men, they have never been able to surprise him. Think
well of it. There is something whispers to me it would be well to listen to his
offer of peace.' For using such language he was reproached by another chief with
cowardice, which put an end to further discourse. Nothing wounds the feelings of
a warrior like the reproach of cowardice, but Little Turtle stifled his
resentment, did his duty in battle, and its issue proved him a truer prophet
than his accuser believed."

WAYNE'S VICTORY.

   General Wayne's victory broke the power of the Miamis, but they were not
conquered, and were yet hostile to the invading whites. The government adopted a
policy of conciliation, hoping to win them to friendship and peace. The
government built Little Turtle a house upon Eel river, twenty miles from Fort
Wayne, to induce the other Miamis to a like mode of life by their own exertions,
but because they had to work for their homes and he had been given his they
became envious and thus prejudiced the cause sought to be advanced and
engendered hatred of Little Turtle by the other Indians. He was not a chief by
birth, but had been raised to that position by his superior talents. This was a
cause of much jealousy and envy at this time, as also a neglect of his counsel
heretofore. Drake says that Little Turtle was the son of a Miami chief by a
Mohegan woman. As the Indian maxim with regard to descents is precisely that of
the civil law in relation to slaves, that the condition of the woman adheres to
the offspring, he was not a chief by birth. Little Turtle died in the summer of
1812 at his home but a short time after the declaration of war against England
by the United States. His portrait by Stewart graces the walls of the war office
of our nation. The following notice appeared in public prints at the time of his
death at Fort Wayne in July, 1812: "On the 14th inst. the celebrated Miami
chief, Little Turtle, died at this place at the age of sixty-five years. Perhaps
there is not left on this continent one so distinguished in councils and war.
His disorder was the gout. He died in camp because he chose to be in the open
air. He met death with great firmness. The agent for Indian affairs had him
buried with the honors of war and other marks of distinction suitable to his
character. He was generally in his time styled the Messissago Chief, and a
gentleman who saw him soon after St. Clair's defeat says he was six feet high,
about forty-five years of age, of a very sour and morose countenance and
apparently very crafty and subtle. He was alike courageous and humane,
possessing great wisdom." The author before quoted says: "There have been few
individuals among aborigines who have done so much to abolish the rites of human
sacrifice. The grave of this noted warrior is shown to the visitor near Fort
Wayne. It is frequently visited by the Indians in that part of the country, by
whom his memory is cherished with the greatest respect and veneration."

TREATY OF GREENVILLE.

   Soon after General Wayne's victory the treaty of Greenville in 1795 followed.
In that and subsequent treaties the government obtained large bodies of their
lands. The Indian policy of the government was to purchase their lands,
excepting what they themselves would cultivate, to lead them to agriculture
instead of war and hunting, and to remove them west of the Mississippi as soon
as it could be peacefully and. justly done.

   In the War of 1812 they again fought the United States and were whipped by
the forces under Lieutenant Colonel Campbell on the 18th day of December, 1812,
in the southern part of what is now Wabash county, being the last battle of any
note with the Miamis in this reg'ion. The expedition against them was resolved
upon by General Harrison in November. 1812. Six hundred mounted men and a small
company of scouts and spies were accordingly sent out from Greenville, Ohio, in
December under Lieutenant Colonel John B. Campbell, who reached the north bank
of the Mississinewa, near the mouth of Josina creek, December 17, 1812, and
surprised an Indian village there, destroying it, killing eight warriors and
taking forty-two prisoners. The troops then destroyed three other villages
farther west on the river and encamped for the night. While holding a council of
war on the morning of the 18th they were attacked by the Indians under Little
Thunder in considerable force. The fight lasted about an hour, and the Indians
were defeated, leaving fifteen dead upon the field and carrying- many away in
their retreat.

   A portion of the tribe were then friendly to the United States, but they
could not control the hostile portion. In 1818 a treaty ~was made with them, and
again another on the north side of the Wabash river, just east of the city of
Wabash, on the 26th day of October, 1826, by General John Tipton, then Indian
agent, assisted by General Cass and James B. Ray. The place was called "Paradise
Springs."

INDIANS GIVE UP LAND.

   The tribe which under Little Turtle had sent fifteen hundred warriors to the
field had dwindled down in 1822 to between two thousand and three thousand
people all told. They had acquired a burning desire for liquor, and drunkenness
led to innumerable fights among the members of the tribe, and it is estimated
that as many as five hundred were killed in eighteen years in these broils. In
the treaty of October, 1826, the Indians gave up large quantities of land, but
reserved some valuable tracts, among which was a reservation beginning two and a
half miles below the mouth of the Mississinewa, extending five miles up and
along the Wabash, and north to the Eel river, including the present site of
Peru, Indiana. In payment for this they received thirty-one thousand dollars in
goods and thirty thousand dollars in cash immediately and twenty-six thousand
dollars in goods and thirty-five thousand dollars in cash in 1827, thirty
thousand dollars in 1828 and twenty-five thousand dollars annually thereafter.
In 1838 the Miamis numbered but eleven hundred, and in this year they sold to
the government one hundred and seventy-seven thousand acres of land in Indiana
for three hundred and thirty-five thousand six hundred and eighty dollars, among
which was a seven-mile tract off of the west side of the ""Reserve" in what is
now Cass, Howard and Clinton counties, which was transferred by the United
States to the state of Indiana and by it the proceeds were used for the
completion of the Wabash and Erie canal from the mouth of the Tippecanoe river
down. Previous to this a five-mile strip off of the north side of the "Reserve"
and on the south side of the Wabash river had been used in the same way to build
the same canal down to the mouth of the Tippecanoe river. William Marshall, of
Jackson county, Indiana, helped negotiate with the Miamis the treaty of November
28, 1840, at the "forks of the Wabash," in which they finally relinquished the
tract known as the "Miami Reserve," being all of their remaining land in
Indiana, to the United States for the consideration of five hundred and fifty
thousand dollars and several smaller items, such as reservations, houses for
their chiefs, etc. Three of these reservations lie in Howard county. Previous to
this, in 1834-1845, the Wea and Piankeshaw bands, three hundred and eighty-four
in number, had moved to the south side of the Kansas river. By the treaty of
1840 the remainder agreed to remove at the expense of the United States in five
years, but their departure was delayed until 1847, m which year they were
removed to the Marais des Cygnes, in the Fort Leavenworth agency. They were
gathered to Peru for removal, and from there they were taken to Cincinnati and
thence to their new home in the West beyond the Mississippi. Not all of the
Mi-amis went. Many of them had renounced their tribal relations and elected to
remain with their white brothers and to receive their interest on money held for
them by the government through the special Indian agency at Peru. In 1875 there
was disbursed at Peru twelve thousand dollars interest money. Some of these
Indians own large farms, well improved and with fine residences. Richardville
was the successor of Little Turtle as the Miami chief. His other name was
Pee-jee-wah. He signed by his mark (X) the treaty of Greenville in August, 1795.
From him Howard county was originally named Richardville county.

   From the treaty at Greenville in 1795 the Miamis had continued to yield by
purchase portions of their territory until 1838 only a part of the Miami reserve
remained to them of that princely domain they once claimed as theirs. The Miami
Indian reserve was originally thirty-six miles square, commencing near the town
of La Gro, on the Wabash, where the Salamonie; unites with the Wabash, running
thence through Wabash and Grant counties into Madison county; its southeast
corner was about four miles southeast of Independence at the center of section
27, thence running south of west parallel with the general course of the Wabash
river across Tipton county and through the town of Tipton and crossing the west
line of Tipton county about three miles from its southwest corner to where it
intersects a line running north and south from Logansport, which is the western
boundary of Howard county, one mile west of range line No. 1 east; thence north
to Logansport; thence up the Wabash to the mouth of the Salamonie, then
embracing parts of Wabash, Grant, Madison, Tipton, Clinton, Cass and Miami
counties, and all of Richardville (now Howard) county, and containing about
eight hundred and thirty thousand acres.

MIAMIS IN HOWARD.

   The Miami Indian population of Howard county in 1840 was about two hundred.
The most important point of this population was the Indian village, Kokomo, on
the south side of Wildcat, where South Kokomo is located. Their were Indian
villages south of Cassville and Greentown. There were "traces" or Indian paths
from Kokomo down Wildcat and across to Frankfort and Thorn-tcwn; from Kokomo to
Peru by way of the village of Cassville, and from Kokomo to Meshingomesia by way
of a village south of Green-town. These paths were much used and well worn. It
is said that Chief Pee-jee-wah, or Richardville, had four sons—Kokomoko,
shortened to Kokomo (Black Walnut), Shock-o-mo (Poplar), Me-shin-go-me-sia (Burr
Oak), Shap-pan-do-sia (Sugar Tree).

   Kokomoko, from whom the city of Kokomo was named, is said to have been born
about 1775, and according to the most authentic reports he died in 1838. He was
a strong and silent man, who left to the women and his three brothers the
trading so common to the Miamis. He died in loneliness and was buried according
to the customs of his people, although directed by white men. His remains now
lie buried in the old cemetery at Kokomo.

   With the deportation of the Miamis in 1847 Indian life may be said to have
closed in this country, for while many Indians of that tribe remained, they
adopted the manners, customs and style of living of the whites. It is proper and
fitting to close this chapter with a brief account of their government, customs
and laws, as of a people whose work is done and whose history is of the past.

THIS GOVERNMENT.

   They were emphatically a free people. Their government was democratic. Having
no written language, they had no written laws defining their rights and duties,
but they had usages and customs consented to and acquiesced in by the members of
the tribe. No man's property or consent could be commanded except by his
consent. War could not be declared nor peace concluded only through their
councils, in which women participated as well as men. They had no organized form
of government. They had no officers chosen to enforce their unwritten laws. They
had no courts of justice to right the wrongs done to each other or to mete out
justice to the offender. There were certain customs and usages consented to and
acquiesced in, granting to the party injured or his relatives redress for the
wrong, but that redress was not afforded by governmental aid. If one stole from
another the party aggrieved might by force or otherwise take twofold from the
thief. Bancroft says: "Unconscious of political principles, they remained under
the influence of instincts. Their forms of government grew out of their passions
and wants and were therefore nearly the same. Without a code of laws, without a
distinct recognition of succession in the magistracy by inheritance or election,
government .was conducted harmoniously by the influence of native genius, virtue
and experience. Prohibitory laws were hardly sanctioned by savage opinion. The
wild man hates restraint and loves to do what is right in his own eyes."

   "The Illinois," writes Marest, "are absolute masters of themselves, subject
to no law." The Delawares, it was said, "are, in general, wholly unacquainted
with civil laws and proceedings, nor have any kind of notion of civil
judicatures, of persons being arraigned and tried, condemned or acquitted." As
there was no commerce, no coin, no promissory notes, no employment of others for
hire, there were no contracts. Exchanges were but a reciprocity of presents, and
mutual gifts were the only traffic. Arrests and prisoners, lawyers and sheriffs
were unknown. Each man was his own protector, and, as there was no public
justice, each man issued to himself his letters of reprisal and became his own
avenger. In case of death by violence the departed shade could not rest till
appeased by a retaliation. "His kindred would go a thousand miles for the
purpose of revenge, over hills and mountains, through large swamps full of
grapevines and briars, over broad lakes, rapid rivers and deep creeks, and all
the way in danger of poisonous snakes, exposed to the extremes of heat and cold,
to hunger and thirst. And blood being once shed, the reciprocity of attacks
involved family in mortal strife against family, tribe against tribe, often
continuing from generation to generation. Yet mercy could make itself heard,
even among barbarians, and peace was restored by atoning presents, if they were
enough to cover up the graves of the dead."

   A tribe of Indians is a body of kindred, subdivided into the clan, the gens
and the family. The gens constituted an organized band of relatives, the family
the household. The name of the mother follows the children and fixes the line of
kinship. If her father was a chief her son inherits the honor. In their domestic
relations she is the head of the family and through her blood all property,
political and personal rights, must descend. If she was a "Turtle" the name of
all her children is "Turtle," and they are known as the Turtle gens, clan or
family. An Indian man or woman may marry a cousin on the father's side, but not
on the mother's. The father, though a chief and crowned with a hundred
victories, though he has lined his wigwam, with the scalps of enemies, cannot
cast upon his kin his property, his fame or name, and though he be Wolf, Beaver,
Bear or Hare, the children are all "Turtle." Big, Black or Little "Turtle," as
fancy may direct. It is not the province of the historian to say that the Indian
rule as here set out is wrong and that the civilized rule is right. The Indian
rule is certainly very close to nature.

COURTSHIP.

   A man seeking a wife usually consults her mother, sometimes by himself,
sometimes through his mother. When agreed upon the parties usually comply,
making promises of faithfulness to the parents of both. Polygamy was permitted
but was practiced very little. Wife No. 1 remained at the head of the family,
while wife No. 2 became the sen-ant. Divorces are permitted but do not often
occur. The Indian's idea of marriage and divorce is well illustrated by this
anecdote: "An aged Indian, who for many years had spent much time in
Pennsylvania and New Jersey, one day, about the year 1770, observed that the
Indians had a much easier way of getting a wife than the whites, but also a more
certain way of getting a good one. 'For,' said he, 'white man court—court maybe
one whole year, maybe two years before he marry. Well—maybe then he get a very
good wife, but maybe not: maybe very cross. Well, now, suppose cross. Scold so
soon as get awake in the morning. Scold all day. Scold until sleep. All one—he
must keep him. White people have laws forbidding throw wife away, he be ever so
cross—must keep him always. Well, how does Indian do? Indian, when he sees
industrious squaw, he go to him, place his two forefingers close aside each
other, make two like one—then look squaw in the face. See him smile; this is all
one. He say yes. So take him home—no danger he be cross. No, no; squaw know-too
well what Indian do if he cross. Throw him away and take another. Squaw love to
eat meat; no husband no meat. Squaw do everything to please husband, he do
everything to please squaw— live happy.' "

DOMESTIC LIFE.

   The council of the tribe assigns to the gens a particular tract of land for
cultivation. The woman council carefully divides and distributes that tract of
land among the heads of the families, who are responsible for its cultivation.
The crops are planted, cultivated and gathered by the squaws. The wigwam and all
articles of the household belong to the woman and at her death descend to her
eldest daughter or nearest of female kin. In their criminal code adultery is
punished in the first offense by cropping the hair, repeated offenses by cutting
the left ear. If the mother fails to inflict the penalty it is done by the
council of women of the gens. Theft is punished by twofold restitution. It is
tried by the council of gens, from which there is no appeal. Maiming is
compounded and tried in the same way. Murder is triable by the gens, but an
appeal lies to the council of the tribes; technical errors in the prosecution
are proofs positive of defendant's innocence; if found guilty the friends of the
accused must pay for the dead man, and on failure tb do so the friends of the
c\en.d man may kill the murderer at pleasure. Witchcraft is punishable by death,
by tomahawking, stabbing or burning; an appeal lies from the grand council of
the tribe to the holy ordeal by fire. A circular fire is built, and if the
accused can run through it from east to west and from north to south without
injury he is adjudged innocent. Treason is punished with death and consists in
first giving aid or comfort to enemies of the tribe, secondly in revealing the
secrets of the medicine men.

   Each tribe had a sachem or chief counselor in matters of peace, whose place
was filled on his death by the election of another member of his family, usually
his brother or his sister's son. Women as well as men voted at these elections.
In times of war or other emergencies chiefs were chosen, who continued in office
as long as they lived. Being chosen for personal qualities, such as wisdom,
eloquence or bravery, these chiefs were often very able men.

   The sorcerers, called powwows or medicine men, had still greater power, owing
to the superstition of the people. They really had some skill in healing sick
persons by vapor baths and decoctions of roots and herbs, but to these rational
remedies they added howlings and incantations, which were supposed to frighten
away the evil spirits that occasioned disease.

RELIGION.

   According to the dark notions of barbarians the Indians were a very religious
people. They believed in a Great Spirit, the Master of Life, who had made the
world, and whose bounty they celebrated by six annual thangsgivings [sic] —at
the first flowing of maple sap, at planting-, at the ripening of berries, when
their green corn was ready for eating, at harvest and at New Year. They believed
also in an evil spirit, who might bring upon them famine, pestilence or defeat
in war, and whom they sought to appease by fastings and sacrifice. They expected
another life after death, and desired to have their weapons, and sometimes a
favorite dog, buried with them for use in the "happy hunting grounds." No matter
how great the famine in the land, they provided the departed spirit with plenty
of food to last it until its arrival at that bourne. Their heaven was limitless
plains and boundless forests abounding in game of all sorts and flowing rivers
stocked with all manner of fish—a place where the imperfect conditions of this
life for happiness would be perfect. They had no priesthood nor ceremonials of
worship. As illustrating their religious ideas it is related that "In the year
1791 two Creek chiefs accompanied an American to England, where, as usual, they
attracted great attention and many flocked around them, as well to ascertain
their ideas of certain things as to behold the savages. Being asked their
opinion of religion or of what religion they were, one made answer that they had
no priest in their country," nor established religion, for they thought that
upon a subject where there was no possibility of people agreeing in opinion, and
as it was altogether a matter of opinion, it was best that every one should
paddle his canoe in his own way." Dancing and singing were important parts of
every religious observance. No sick person could be cured, no war planned and no
treaty made without a dance, which often continued several days. Their musical
instruments were drums, rattles and a rude kind of flute. The war dance was
common to all tribes, but each clan had peculiar dances of its own, sometimes
numbering thirty or more.

PICTURE WRITING.

   Though they had neither books nor writing, some Indian tribes practiced
picture writing, which answered all their purposes. They had even a sort of
musical notation, by which a leader could read off his song from a piece of
birch bark marked with a stick. Beads made of shells or stone served them as
money. Communion was the social law of the Indian race. In some of the "long
houses" of the Iroquois twenty families were fed daily from the common kettle of
boiled corn and beans. Hunters left their game to be carried home by other
members of their clan while they pushed on for fresh supplies.

   The Indians were of an almost uniform dark brown color, with straight shining
black hair and high cheek bones. With but few exceptions they were treacherous,
cruel and revengeful. Often hospitable and friendly while at peace, they were
merciless and brutal in war. Prisoners were tortured with fiendish barbarity. It
was thought an ill omen for the conquerors if they failed to make their victims
cry out with pain; therefore, though they tore out bits of flesh with teeth or
pincers night after night and at last roasted him in a slow fire, he continued
to sing his death song with a calm, unwavering voice until his last breath
released him from their torments.


Additional Comments:
From:

HISTORY OF HOWARD COUNTY INDIANA
BY
JACKSON MORROW, B. A.
ILLUSTRATED
VOL. I
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

(circa 1909)

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/howard/history/1909/historyo/historyo9ms.txt

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