Indymonks Trail of Tears - Wea Indians
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Do not try to access this cache from the interstate. Number three of twelve caches on Indymonks Trail of Tears. Indiana the state name means Land of Indians, and it was at one time. These caches are to celebrate their rich heritage, and our great loss. Indiana was a paradise that provided for all the needs of its tribal inhabitants. There were only about 20,000 people living in the area around the year 1600.
When the Wea had increased considerably in numbers at their village of Ouiatenon, near present day Lafayette, Indiana, one of them separated himself from the village and offered to move and take part of the people with him further down the river and start a new village, which Piankeshaw established near the mouth of the Vermilion River. This man who took the people to the new village had no holes or slits in his ears, as was customary at that day, and he was on that account called Piankeshaw ("the Torn-Ears People"). The Piankeshaw were the Deer Clan of the Weas.
The 19th century reflected only the Miami proper (Crane band), Wea, Eel River and Piankashaw remaining in Indiana. These tribes all signed treaties separately and were considered politically separate from each other.
The Wea had villages in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Their main homeland in the 18th century was in Indiana, as well as a few villages in Illinois and Ohio. The three largest villages of the Wea were Fort Ouiatenon, west of what is now Lafayette, Indiana. There clustered together on the South side of the Wabash across from Fort Ouiatenon were 5 Villages. Four of those were the Wea, Piankeshaw, Pepicokia, and Gros all clans of the main body of Weas. Toward the west near Granville were the Kickapoo villages. The second largest village was where Terre Haute, Indiana is now, and the Wea had their third largest village in Vincennes that was called Chipicokia where they lived with their clan the Piankashaw.
With increased Euro-American settlement and Indian removals, many treaties were made, which in the 1854 lead to the Treaty that confederated the Weas who went west, the Kaskaskias, Peorias, and Piankeshaws into the Confederated Peoria Tribe of Kansas and later they became the Peoria Tribe of Oklahoma.
There were many of the Wea Tribe that did not go west in the removals and instead remained in Indiana. They were referred to in treaties as the Wea on the Wabash, the Wabash Wea, and in history as the Wabash Confederacy or the Wabash Indians.
It was custom back in those days for the Weas to have slits or holes in their ears. The man who created the new village was called Piankashaw which translated to "The Torn Ears People".
There were no horses in Indiana when the white man first came here and they had not yet invented the wheel; the natives traveled by foot and canoe.
Indiana's waterways gave them the ability to travel from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River and beyond. Without roads for horse drawn wagons, the Indians had no practical use for the wheel.
The Native American Hoosiers created paths called portages between the lakes, streams, and rivers. They built light weight canoes and carried them from waterway to waterway. This is one of the reasons the tribes built villages near rivers and creeks.
The Indians also followed animal trails, the most famous in Indiana being the Buffalo Trace. It ran from the grassy plains of Illinois, crossing the Wabash River at Vincennes, going across Indiana to Clarksville Indiana across the Ohio River into Kentucky. US 150 in Indiana is based on the Buffalo Trace.
The Buffalo Trace was dangerous to travel. Cougars often attacked travelers and Indians and thieves also set up ambushes along the trail. When a family was attacked in 1807 by Indians, US soldiers began to patrol the Buffalo Trace. During the War of 1812 William Henry Harrison sent 150 men to protect the travelers. Washington County resident Major George Beck's letter to William Henry Harrison, (the governor of the Indiana Territory who later became Indiana's only US President) requested more patrol of the area after the Pigeon Roost Massacre.
The Delaware and the Shawnee Indians are not indigenous to Indiana but had moved to Indiana from Ohio as the settlers moved West into their tribal grounds. They were allowed to settle there by the Miami Tribe. Indiana was under the rule of Miami Chief Little Turtle, who had many tribes under his rule. It is difficult to accurately depict the area each tribe occupied. They weren't at war and made their villages near each other in a spotty fashion.
The Indians had their own commerce system and transportation system with connected communities throughout Indiana. The tribes traded goods with each other and Indian businessmen were plenty. Although they didn't use money, the Indian Trader was a profit seeking businessman who didn't hunt or farm to make a living.
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