Caught up in Conflict: Kiihkayonki, 1800-1815
Oftentimes ignored in older histories of the United States, Native Americans (like the Myaamia) had firm understandings of European style diplomacy and politics. Men like Mihšihkinaahkwa (Little Turtle) had become accustomed to working within the complex world of American politics to secure better deals and goods for their peoples. A key example of this was the Quaker Mission to Fort Wayne. Brought about after a meeting between the Indian Committee of the Baltimore Yearly Meeting and chiefs Mihšihkinaahkwa and Five Medals (of the Potawatomi), the Quakers sent a set of farming implements to the Myaamia in 1803. This was a key piece of then President Thomas Jefferson’s vision of ‘civilizing’ the Native Americans across the nation, so the Myaamia could be assimilated into Jefferson’s ‘yeoman farmer republic’ that he so desired. However, the Myaamia were not keen on adopting farming and requested additional guidance from the Quakers.[1]
George Ellicott, Joel Wright, and Gerard Hopkins traveled across the fledgling nation, arriving to the Fort on March 30th, 1804. The letter introducing the missionaries upon their arrival in 1804 stated that the men were there “for the laudable purpose of affording [the Myaamia] assistance in the introduction of the arts of civilization.”[2] Despite this misguided statement, considering the Myaamia had lived in the area for centuries and had a well developed civilization of their own, it seems the Quakers took the opportunity to at least acknowledge parts of the area’s rich Native American history. William Wells led tours that visited the site of Harmar’s Defeat and the location of the then former village of Kiihkayonki. They also visited with the chiefs who they had met in Baltimore previously, including Five Medals and Mihšihkinaahkwa. The initial meeting held at Wells’ house on April 2nd focused on the journeys to and from the east coast that both groups had done recently, as well as the welfare of acquaintances both Native American and white. The Quakers found Mihšihkinaahkwa seemingly reflective on life as he grew older, as he told them that after seeing “fifty-three winters” and “two of his brothers being dead” had led him to believe “that his time would soon come.”[3]
After a turkey and cranberry sauce dinner, both sides were eager to get to work. The Quakers stated their intentions, wanting to both meet larger parts of the tribes and decide “what could be done further for the benefit of our red brethren.” They also wanted to confirm particulars of where the farming mission would actually take place, as so far talks had been broad in nature.[4] Five Medals and Mihšihkinaahkwa had to clarify the governing process of their tribes before talks could continue any further. For one, it was not the two men’s decision to solely make:
“Your brethren the Indians do business not as the white people do. We convene our chiefs , and things of importance are considered by them. But, brothers, you have come to see the situation of your red brethren. It is our wish that you should see it. You shall not be disappointed.”[5]
The mission’s timing was poor. Most of the Myaamia men were out hunting while the women and children were tending to the sugar harvest. To gather their people, the negotiators took a week recess while the Quakers took some time to further explore the region. On April 10th, the two parties reconvened. The Quakers greeted the Myaamia with a lengthy speech filled with subliminal and direct messages about the supposed superiority of white civilization. Contemporary methods of Native American cultivation and societal organization were compared to Europe centuries earlier, with the virtues of crop cultivation and the sincerest of well wishes from the President all extolled. The Quakers also introduced Philip Dennis. Dennis was the man actually responsible for teaching the Myaamia farming methods of the Europeans. According to his introduction given by his fellow missionaries, Dennis was married with five children, but he still came on the journey “from a sincere desire to be useful to our red brothers.”[6]
The toughest sell for the Quakers was to be the reversal of gender roles that they demanded of their students:
The cultural incompatibility of the Quakers’ approach and the Myaamia’s satisfaction with their original methods meant the project was short lived. Dennis returned home after a year to his family in Maryland and while Wells continued to supply some fence rails to the Myaamia, the project was over by 1805.[8]“The white people, in order to get their land cultivated, find it necessary that their young men should be employed in it, and not their women. Women are less than men. They are not as strong as men. They are not as able to endure fatigue as men. It is the business of our women to be employed in our houses…”[7]
The Myaamia continued to face seemingly unquenchable American demand for their land. Treaty negotiations had been a constant part of life even after the signing of Greenville. William Henry Harrison, territorial governor of Indiana, was frustrated with the lack of any progress. The Myaamia were stoutly refusing any further concessions. Harrison decided to come directly to Kiihkayonki to spur action.
His arrival on September 15th, 1809 was accompanied by a large shipment intended to grease the wheels of negotiations. Despite Harrison forbidding any distribution of liquor in a thirty mile zone around the territorial capital of Vincennes, he presented the Myaamia, Delaware, Eel River, and Potawatomi representatives with over two hundred gallons of whiskey over the month of discussions.[9] Myaamia demands initially included a clause that required a payment of two dollars an acre. Had this demand been met, the Myaamia would have held much greater control over precisely what land was being bought and sold. Harrison refused to allow this. His reasoning, which worked in his favor, was the Myaamia would lose money if they stuck to their per acre demand as the American settlers would only buy the best parcels. Recognizing that Harrison was unwilling to compromise, the Myaamia dropped this demand. [10] The subsequent treaty represented a huge loss of land, nearly three million acres:
Regardless, the 1809 Treaty of Fort Wayne did secure several key benefits for the Myaamia. The tribe received $500 in permanent annuity (raised to $700 by a supplementary treaty shortly after). The supplementary treaty also provided a blacksmith who would live at Fort Wayne to repair guns and tools for the tribe. Finally, the tribe received $500 in domestic animals a year until 1812.[12]“The Miami and Eel River tribes, and the Delawares and Putawatimies, as their allies, agree to cede to the United States all that tract of country which shall be included between the boundary line established by the treaty of Fort Wayne, the Wabash, and a line to be.drawn from the mouth of a creek called Racoon Creek, emptying into the Wabash, on the south-east side, about twelve miles below the mouth of the Vermilion river, so as to strike the boundary line established by the treaty of Grouseland, at such a distance from. Its commencement -at the north-east corner of the Vincennes tract, as will. leave the tract now ceded thirty miles wide at the narrowest place. And also all that tract which shall be included between the following boundaries, viz: beginning at Fort Recovery, thence southwardly along the general boundary line, established by the treaty of Greenville, to its intersection with the boundary line established by the treaty of Grouseland; thence along said line to a point from which a line drawn parallel to the first mentioned line will be twelve miles distant from the same, and along the said parallel line to its intersection with a line to be drawn from Fort Recovery, parallel to the line established by the said treaty of Grouseland.”[11]
The last major change for the Myaamia before the War of 1812 was the loss of a leader who had been integral to resisting American incursions for decades. Mihšihkinaahkwa died in June of 1812 after a long struggle with gout. His death was momentous occasion for the region. The garrison at Fort Wayne provided a full military funeral and Mihšihkinaahkwa was interred on the Wells farm.[13]
Following the siege, the Myaamia presence around the Fort was effectively over. The negotiations and fall out from the war will be addressed in the final civilian section.
[1] Gerard T. Hopkins, A Mission to the Indians, from the Indian Committee of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, to Fort Wayne, IN 1804, (Philadelphia: T. Ellwood Zell, 1862), 4-5.
[2] Hopkins, A Mission to the Indians, from the Indian Committee of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, to Fort Wayne, IN 1804, 46-47.
[3] According to the Quakers, Mihšihkinaahkwa said that without the medical intervention of a doctor from the Fort he would have died. The validity of this may be in question as the Quakers were on a ‘civilizing mission’ and could have been exaggerating the truth to convince later readers that the Native Americans appreciated American ‘civilization.’ Hopkins, A Mission to the Indians, from the Indian Committee of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, to Fort Wayne, IN 1804, 53.
[4] Hopkins, A Mission to the Indians, from the Indian Committee of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, to Fort Wayne, IN 1804, 54-57.
[5] Hopkins, A Mission to the Indians, from the Indian Committee of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, to Fort Wayne, IN 1804, 59.
[6] Hopkins, A Mission to the Indians, from the Indian Committee of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, to Fort Wayne, IN 1804, 76.
[7] Hopkins, A Mission to the Indians, from the Indian Committee of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, to Fort Wayne, IN 1804, 77.
[8] Charles Poinsatte, Outpost in the Wilderness: Fort Wayne, 1706-1828 (Fort Wayne: Allen County - Fort Wayne Historical Society, 1976), 46.
[9] Robert M. Owens, Mr. Jefferson’s Hammer: William Henry Harrison and the Origins of American Indian Policy (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007), 200-201.
[10] Owens, Mr. Jefferson’s Hammer: William Henry Harrison and the Origins of American Indian Policy, 203.
[11] “Treaty with the Delawares, Etc, 1809,” September 30, 1809, Indian Affairs Laws and Treaties v. 2, https://americanindian.si.edu/static/nationtonation/pdf/Treaty-of-Fort-Wayne-1809.pdf
[12] This gift clearly reflects continued efforts at a ‘civilizing mission,’ despite the failure of the Quaker’s farm. Owens, Mr. Jefferson’s Hammer: William Henry Harrison and the Origins of American Indian Policy, 203.
[13] Poinsatte, Outpost in the Wilderness: Fort Wayne, 1706-1828, 61.
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