Indymonks Trail of Tears - Piankeshaw Indians Traditional Cache
Hoosier_Reviewer: Since there has been no response to my previous note, I am archiving the cache.
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Indymonks Trail of Tears - Piankeshaw Indians
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Number four 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.
The Piankeshaw (or Piankashaw) Indians were Native Americans, and members of the Miami Indians who lived apart from the rest of the Miami nation. They lived in an area that now includes western Indiana and Ohio, and were closely allied with the Wea Indians. Piankeshaw villages have been reported along the White River in central Indiana, and along the Vermilion River in Illinois, near Ouiatenon. The Piankashaw were living along the Vermilion river in 1743.
The Piankeshaw are usually regarded as being "friendly" towards European settlers. They intermarried with French traders and were treated as equals by residents of New France in the Illinois Country. A principal Piankeshaw village was established on the Wabash River near what became Vincennes. Like their French neighbors, the Piankeshaw generally sided with the Americans during the American Revolution.
They took no part in the Northwest Indian Wars that followed. The Piankeshaw suffered retaliation from Americans for attacks made by other native tribes, however. President George Washington issued a proclamation forbidding harm to the Piankeshaw.
During the late 18th century, the Piankeshaw population began to decline. Many of the Piankeshaw simply left and joined other Miami tribes. After the Americans and French suffered setbacks in the Revolution, notably the disastrous LaBalme expedition, some Piankeshaw joined tribes aligned with the British. At the time, in the West, the British looked as if they would be the victors.
Others left during the economic depression caused by a depreciated United States currency and stagnated fur trade (due to unrest in the Northwest Indian Wars). The Piankeshaw suffered especially when 1781 brought a severe winter followed by a summer drought.
Despite overall good relations with the new United States, some Piankeshaw resented the new settlers encroaching on their territory. They joined with other tribes in attacking American settlers. This led to increasing tension at Vincennes, which peaked after an attack on the Embarras River by Kentucky resident Patrick Brown in August 1788.
A large exodus of Piankeshaw left Vincennes and moved to Terre Haute, where they joined the Wea, or moved to Kaskaskia, Illinois. By 1818, the Piankeshaw chief, Chekommia, had signed a treaty selling rights to much of their land to the United States. There were not enough tribal members remaining to use it.
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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