Friday Reprise: Little Turtle of the Miami

We've already discussed Buckongahelas and I intend to do a more lengthy post on Blue Jacket, but today we're looking more closely at the third member of the Native command team at the Battle of the Wabash.  Michikinikwa (c-1747-1812), was considered to be one of the foremost Native commanders of his day, along with Buckongahelas and Dragging Canoe.  He was born near what is now Whitley County, IN, the most likely place being a village near present-day Chorobusco, IN.  His tribe, the Miamis, had nothing to do with Miami, Florida.  That city was named for another Native tribe in the Southeast, also called the Miamis.  We'll get to Florida's extinct tribes later.  Michikinikwa grew up to be a strong men, well over six feet tall, who disdained alcohol.  Although the most famous portrait of him is the one with no adornment on his head, those who described him said that he loved to wear silver ornamentation, so I've included both images here.

Michikinikwa earned his rank as war chief by defending his people during the Revolutionary War.  In October, 1780 a force of French allied with the Americans and commanded by French adventurer Aguste de la Balme plundered the principal Miami village of Kekionga, near what is now Fort Wayne, IN.  Michikinikwa raided la Balme's camp in retaliation, killing him and several of his men.  He led raids against American settlements in Kentucky, working on behalf of the British.  After the Revolutionary War ended, the Americans began to divide off the land of the Northwest Territories to sell for much needed cash. The Miami banded with the Shawnee, the Lenape/Delaware and several other Indian tribes in what became known as the Western Confederacy to try to enforce the Ohio River as a boundary between White settlement and Native territory.  Michikinikwa soon emerged as a leader of this Confederacy and one of the Native leaders of the Northwest Indian War (1785-1795), which became known at the time as Little Turtle's War. 

As we discussed yesterday, Brig. Gen. Josiah Harmer was the first to feel the weight of the Natives' wrath in two separate defeats.  But the war would get even more personal for Michikinikwa.  In August, 1790, his daughter was captured in a raid by James Wilkinson.  The Natives won a stunning victory at the Battle of the Wabash in November, 1791, the most punishing defeat ever suffered by United States forces at the hands of Natives.  In October, 1792, Michikinikwa planned another raid to mark the Wabash anniversary, which showed the Americans that some of their advance forts in Ohio were indefensible.  But Michikinikwa realized that they'd met their match in General "Mad" Anthony Wayne in 1794, and counseled caution.  He gave up his role in the central command of the Native forces, but still led the Miami contingent at Fallen Timbers, August 20, 1794.  One of the factors inducing him to caution might have been the fact that his White son-in-law, William Wells, whom he'd been genuinely fond of, changed forces and began scouting for the United States.

The ceremonial signing of the treaty of Greenville was tragic in several ways.  Not only was the Natives alliance broken, but Michinikinikwa's wife died the day of the ceremony.  The American forces gave her a military funeral in respect for a powerful enemy.  After the war, Michikinikwa continued to counsel cooperation with the Americans.  He met with George Washington, who presented him with a ceremonial sword.  He also met with Thomas Jefferson and agreed to allow Quaker missionaries onto Miami land to teach the Miami farming.  He suffered a humiliating break with his own people during negotiations with William Henry Harrison, when other Miami leaders refused to sell any more land to the Whites.  Harrison stated that Michikinikwa was no longer considered a Miami.  Michikinikwa retired to a village near what is now Columbus, IN, but in 1809, this village was among those that Harrison ordered destroyed, forcing the old man to uproot again.  He died at the home of his son-in-law, William Wells, in 1812, suffering from gout and rheumatisim.  A statue and a plaque mark his grave.

Treaty: Camp Charlotte, 1774

This Treaty was one of many which had to be made to clear up the ensuing confusion after the British victory in the Seven Years/French and Indian War (1755-1763).  The Ohio River Valley, including what is now Ohio and West Virginia, had been the hunting range of several tribes, including the Iroquois Confederacy, the Cherokee, Lenape, and Shawnee, among others.  In the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, 1768, the Iroquois had given up their rights to the Ohio Valley.  That left other tribes, such as the Delaware and Shawnee, who refused to give up their right to hunt in the area and to challenge settlers who tried to establish farms in the area in violation of the Royal Proclamation of 1763.

It wouldn't be long before matters came to a head.  In 1773, Daniel Boone led a party of settlers into the area.  Boone's group was attacked by a party of Cherokee, Delaware and Shawnee and Daniel's 16-year-old son James was killed.  Boone abandoned the effort and led the settlers back to Virginia.  However, this didn't stop others from trying to found settlements in the area.  In 1774, members of the family of Mingo Chief Logan were killed while staying at the cabin of a settler in what became known as the Yellow Creek Massacre.  Finally, in May, 1774, John Murray, 4th Lord Dunmore and Governor of Virginia, led a punitive expedition against the Shawnee, Mingo and Delaware.

Militia under Andrew Lewis met a combined war party of Shawnee and Mingos under Cornstalk, Pukeshinwa (father of Tecumseh) and Blue Jacket.   The Virginians prevailed in the Battle and Cornstalk in particular realized the need to make the best terms possible with the settlers.  Dunmore's larger force in what is now Pickaway County, Ohio.  Cornstalk led the council which negotiated with Dunmore to forfeit their hunting rights in the Ohio Valley.  Logan was invited to the Council but was still too angry and grief-stricken to want to participate.  He sent his remarks via a courier, possibly either James or Simon Girty, though their official participate isn't recorded.  The Shawnee agreed to cease hunting in the Ohio Valley, but the Mingos refused to agreed.  Captain William Crawford attacked several of their villages, forcing them to capitulate.  Crawford would rue this action less than 8 years later, when he became a captive of the Mingo leader Captain Pipe.  The Cherokee, particularly the Chickamauga under Dragging Canoe, also refused to recognize the Treaty and would continue their fight on the frontier in the Cherokee-American Wars (1775-1794).  They would be joined by Shawnee under Pukeshinwa's son, Chiksika, the older brother and mentor of Tecumseh.

A monument stands on the site of Camp Charlotte where the council and treaty parley were held.

Survivors: the Caddo Confederacy

The Caddo were a confederation of tribes of the Southeast, in what is now Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.  As such, their history spans both the period of the early American frontier, and of the American west.  Prior to European contact, the Caddo were among the Mississippian cultures, building some of the more complex mounds in the southeastern region.  The were connected to the Wichita, Pawnee and Kitsai, who also spoke Caddoan languages.  By the time of Hernando de Soto's expedition in 1541, the 18 or so tribes of the Caddo Confederacy had grouped themselves into three main divisions, the Natchitoches in what is now Louisiana, the Haisinai, in what is now Texas, and the Kadohadocho, who lived near the border of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. 

De Soto had apparently not learned his leasson from his encounters with Tuskaloosa and what would become the Choctaw Nation.  His troops clashed with the Tula, a Caddo band near present-day Caddo Gap, Arkansas.  The Caddo won and the town commemorates the incident with a monument.  French explorers in the 18th century had a better outcome, as they were willing to trade furs.  Unfortunately, traders, missionaries and explorers also brought contact with infectious diseases, which took their toll among the Caddo bands as it did with other Native peoples.  They were able to maintain their traditional homelands.  Towns such as Nacogdoches, Texas and Natchitoches, Louisiana reflect early contact with the Natchitoches people.  When the United States took over the Louisiana Purchase in 1804, the Caddo remained neutral in conflicts between the Army and other southeastern tribes, for the most part being left alone, for the time being.

Indian Removal threatened the Caddo as well as other Southeastern tribes.  The Kadohadacho signed a treaty in 1835 with the United States, agreeing to remove to what was then part of Mexico.  In 1836, when the Republic of Texas proclaimed its independence from Mexico, this area became part of East Texas.  The name Texas may be a Haisinai word, taysha, meaning friend.  In 1845, when Texas became a state, the Haisinai and Kadohadacho were relocated to the Brazos Reservation and, by 1859, most had been relocated to Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma.  Their reservation was between the Washita and Canadian Rivers.

In the 19th century, the Caddo became interested in the Ghost Dance religion and later the Native American Peyote religion.  Allotment stripped the Caddo people of much of their initial reservation land and their rights of self-government.  Caddo leaders protested these laws, but their arguments fell on deaf ears.  The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, and the Indian Welfare Act of 1936 allowed the Caddo to reorganize their government.  They are now a federally recognized tribe based in Oklahoma. 

This post also appeared in https://greatwarriorsII.blogspot.com

Friday Reprise: Red Jacket of the Seneca, c 1750-1830

Dispute exists about where in New York Red Jacket was born.  It could have been at Old Seneca Castle near Geneva, NY, near Cayuga Lake, or even Keuke Lake.  His family did spend much time there when he was a boy, and his mother was buried there.  So the Keuke Lake location is the most probable.  As a boy and young man, his name was Otetiani.  He acquired the name Segoyawatha when he became a Sachem.  His more common name, Red Jacket, came from his favorite coat, a braided red jacket given to him by the British during the Revolution.

Like all Iroquois leaders, Segoyawatha was born into his mother's wolf clan and later became one of the 50 Iroquois Sachems in 1791.  As such, he often had to work with Joseph Brant, his counterpart for the Mohawk, during the American Revolution when both the Seneca and Mohawk chose to ally with the British.  They were not friends but could work together in council for the benefit of their people.  After the Revolution, Segoyawatha came into his own as a negotiator on behalf of his people with the United States government.  In 1792, he led a delegation to Philadelphia and met with George Washington.  There, he was presented with the unusually large peace medal which appears in his portraits.  He was also presented with a rifle with a silver-inlaid stock bearing his initials and the wolf clan emblem.  Both of these pieces survive.  The gun is in a private collection and the medal is in the possession of the Buffalo Historical Society.  Along with his cousins Cornplanter and Handsome Lake, he was a signatory of the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua, which imposed punitive land cessions on the Seneca for having sided with the British during the Revolution, but did confirm other tracts of land for them in New York. 


At some point, Segoyawatha began drinking heavily.  He later on adopted the teachings of his cousin, Handsome Lake, and was able to stop consuming alcohol.  Though he had several children, he'd lost most of them to childhood diseases, which he believed was the Great spirit's punishment for his drinking and gave him the impetus to stay sober.  During the War of 1812, he worked to keep the Seneca neutral and out of harm's way, though he had to contend with the influence of Tecumseh and other leaders who wanted to pull his people into the wider conflicts going on around them.  He lived his later years in Buffalo, New York.  He was originally buried in an Indian Cemetery.  Years later, his grandson, General Ely S. Parker and others petitioned for his reburial in Forest Lawn Cemetery, where he rests today.  Like other Native leaders of the time, he sat for his portrait many times.  George Catlin painted him twice.  Other portraits were done by Henry Inman and Robert Weir.

Segoyawatha's most famous speech, "Religion for the White Man and the Red" began as a response to a Protestant missionary in 1805.  While the missionaries argued for one religion and one path to God, He believed that each person should have the right to pursue the religion which suited them best.  He politely, yet firmly, rejected the notion that the Iroquois were required to adopt Christianity.  Later, he was invited to give the speech before the United States Senate, an honor that few except visiting heads of state receive.  As well as discussing religion, Segoyawatha gives an apt summary of the history of the relationship between Natives and Settlers.  This is the text:

Friend and Brother: it was the will of the Great Spirit that we should meet together this day. He orders all things and has given us a fine day for our council. He has taken his garment from before the sun, and caused it to shine with brightness upon us. Our eyes are opened, that we see clearly; our ears are unstopped, that we have been able to hear distinctly the words you have spoken. For all these favors we thank the Great Spirit; and him only.Brother: this council fire was kindled by you. It was at your request that we came together at this time. We have listened with attention to what you have said. You requested us to speak our minds freely. This gives us great joy; for we now consider that we stand upright before you, and can speak what we think. All have heard your voice, and all speak to you now as one man. Our minds are agreed. Brother: you say you want an answer to your talk before you leave this place. It is right you should have one, as you are a great distance from home, and we do not wish to detain you. But we will first look back a little, and tell you what our fathers have told us, and what we have heard from the white people. Brother: listen to what we say. There was a time when our forefathers owned this great island. Their seats extended from the rising to the setting sun. The Great Spirit had made it for the use of Indians. He had created the buffalo, the deer, and other animals for food. He has made the bear and the beaver. Their skins served us for clothing. He had scattered them over the country, and taught us how to take them. He had caused the earth to produce corn for bread. All this He had done for his red children, because He loved them. If we had some disputes about our hunting ground, they were generally settled without the shedding of much blood. But an evil day came upon us. Your forefathers crossed the great water and landed on this island. Their numbers were small. They found friends and not enemies. They told us they had fled from their own country for fear of wicked men, and had come here to enjoy their religion. They asked for a small seat. We took pity on them; granted their request; and they sat down amongst us. We gave them corn and meat; they gave us poison in return. The white people, brother, had now found our country. Tidings were carried back, and more came amongst us. Yet we did not fear them. We took them to be friends. They called us brothers. We believed them, and gave them a larger seat. At length their numbers had greatly increased. They wanted more land; they wanted our country. Our eyes were opened, and our minds became uneasy. Wars took place. Indians were hired to fight against Indians, and many of our people were destroyed. They also brought strong liquor amongst us. It was strong and powerful, and has slain thousands.Brother: our seats were once large, and yours were small. You have now become a great people, and we have scarcely a place left to spread our blankets. You have got our country, but are not satisfied; you want to force your religion upon us. Brother: continue to listen. You say that you are sent to instruct us how to worship the Great Spirit agreeably to his mind, and, if we do not take hold of the religion which you white people teach, we shall be unhappy hereafter. You say that you are right, and we are lost. How do we know this to be true? We understand that your religion is written in a book. If it was intended for us as well as you, why has not the Great Spirit given to us, and not only to us, but why did He not give to our forefathers, the knowledge of that book, with the means of understanding it rightly? We only know what you tell us about it. How shall we know when to believe, being so often deceived by the white people?Brother: you say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all agreed, as you can all read the book? Brother: we do not understand these things. We are told that your religion was given to your forefathers, and has been handed down from father to son. We also have a religion, which was given to our forefathers, and has been handed down to us, their children. We worship in that way. It teaches us to be thankful for all the favors we receive; to love each other, and to be united. We never quarrel about religion. Brother: the Great Spirit has made us all, but He has made a great difference between his white and red children. He has given us different complexions and different customs. To you He has given the arts. To these He has not opened our eyes. We know these things to be true. Since He has made so great a difference between us in other things, why may we not conclude that He has given us a different religion according to our understanding? The Great Spirit does right. He knows what is best for his children; we are satisfied. Brother: we do not wish to destroy your religion, or take it from you. We only want to enjoy our own. Brother: you say you have not come to get our land or our money, but to enlighten our minds. I will now tell you that I have been at your meetings, and saw you collect money from the meeting. I cannot tell what this money was intended for, but suppose that it was for your minister, and if we should conform to your way of thinking, perhaps you may want some from us. Brother: we are told that you have been preaching to the white people in this place. These people are our neighbors. We are acquainted with them. We will wait a little while, and see what effect your preaching has upon them. If we find it does them good, makes them honest, and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will then consider again of what you have said.Brother: you have now heard our answer to your talk, and this is all we have to say at present. As we are going to part, we will come and take you by the hand, and hope the Great Spirit will protect you on your journey, and return you safe to your friends. (from the website Social Justice Net).

Survivors: the Apalachee of Florida

Pre-contact Florida was home to several Native tribes, among them the Muskogean-speaking Apalachee, who were part of the Mississippian Culture and inhabited a place known as Velda Mound.  Although they had abandoned the mound by the time the Spanish appeared in Florida, their wealth and reputation was such that members of the Narvaez Expedition of 1528 believed that the riches they sought might lie with the Apalachee.  The Narvaez Expedition identified an Apalachee village with the name, Apalachen, which became Anglicized as Appalachian in later centuries, and eventually applied to the entire mountain chain along the eastern United States.  The Apalachee were among the tribes encountered by Hernando de Soto during his expedition to Florida in 1539-40, living around what is now Apalachee Bay.  The arrival of the Spanish in Florida brought disease and complete social upheaval to the tribes in the region.  The Spanish were quick to exploit any rivalry among Native tribes as they settled and began building outposts and missions.

The Apalachee distrusted and feared the Spanish because of the mistreatment they had endured from Narvaez and later de Soto.  It wouldn't be until 1600 that Franciscan priests were able to establish missions among the Apalachee, including Mission San Antonio de Bacuqua in what is now Leon County.  Harsh treatment caused the Apalachee to revolt in 1647.  The Spanish enacted brutal reprisals, forcing Apalachee men to work on roads and other projects as far away as St. Augustine.  In the 1670's, Creeks, Chickasaws and other tribes began raiding the Spanish missions, stealing Apalachee people to sell as slaves to the English.  In 1701, a raid by settlers in Carolina on Mission San Luis nearly destroyed the entire Apalachee population.  By 1704, raids on Spanish Florida had forced the Spanish to abandon their province.  The remaining Apalachee, about 300 fled to Pensacola, eventually to Mobile and into Louisiana. 

These Apalachee settled along the Red River in Louisiana.  Others returned to Florida, eventually joining and going west with the Creek tribe during Indian Removal.  The few remaining in Florida in 1763 were evacuated to Vera Cruz, Mexico and later to Cuba.  Descendants of the Apalachee wo had fled to Louisiana remained in Rapides Parish.  Despite encroachment by settlers and discrimination as a non-white minority following the Civil War, the Louisiana Apalachee managed to hold on to their land.  They began seeking federal recognition in 1997. 

Places: Fort Mitchell, Russell County, Alabama

Five Southeastern Tribes experienced the deportation of the Trail of Tears during the period of Indian Removal during the 1830's.  Among them were the Muscogee/Creek, who had once held vast hunting ranges in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.  In 1836, faced with giving up their last portions of their ancient homelands many Creeks had enough and rose in revolt, echoing the Red Stick uprisings of the earlier Creek War in 1813-14.  Like that earlier conflict, this unrest was quickly put down and the government decided that the Creeks were moving to Oklahoma, like it or not.

As resistance by their distant cousins the Seminoles flared in Florida, the government instituted forcible removals of Creek families, going from home to home and ordering them out with whatever possessions they could snatch up at the last minute.  Where to put these people until they could begin the trek to Oklahoma?  Fort Mitchell in Russell County, Alabama had been built in 1813 as a response to the Creek War.  Beginning in 1817, the fort was also a trading post where the Creek could trade deer and other hides for supplies.  However, the fort soon became a haven for off-the-record smuggling and sales of black slaves.  Unscrupulous traders also sold whiskey to the soldiers and the Creek, though such was strictly forbidden to the latter.  The fort was a wooden palisade, with blockhouses on each corner and barracks, a hospital and storage rooms.

The palisade also made a convenient stockade into which hundreds of men, women and children were crowded to make camp as best they could until the trek to Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, could begin.  Overcrowding, exposure, poor sanitation and insufficient rations led to disease and eventually death.  The tears of bereaved and dispossessed people began at Fort Mitchell even before they started their journey west.  The original wooden fort has long since disappeared and been replaced with a reconstruction.  It's on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark.  An informational plaque mentions the internment of the Creek here on their Trail of Tears.

Friday Reprise: Pushmataha of the Choctaw, c1760-1824

The above is just one suggestion for the etymology of Pushmataha (c 1760-1824), called the greatest of all Choctaw chiefs.  Other etymologies indicate "one whose weapon is alike fatal in war or hunting", "the sapling is ready, finished for him", or "the warrior's seat is finished".  Each carries a connotation of finality, which is appropriate given the fact that this Native American leader won the admiration of both his people and the Americans for his skills in war and diplomacy.  When he undertook a project, it was done, finished to his satisfaction. 

There are numerous legends surrounding this warrior and they start with his birth.  His parents died young, possibly killed by a raid in from a neighboring tribe.  For this reason, later tradition held that Pushmataha came to be in the midst of the storm, when a lightening bolt struck a tree and up sprang a full-grown warrior.  More likely, he was born near present-day Macon, Mississippi and went through a regular childhood, learning the skills needed to become the leader he would one day be.  He went on his first war party against the Creek at age 13, which was young even in those days.  He also participated in campaigns against the Caddo and Osage tribes west of the Mississippi, between 1784-89.  Choctaw population and the resultant need for more hunting range had increased by the first decade of the nineteenth century.  So, too, had White expansion, something he was opposed to.  He spent much of that decade keeping squatters off Choctaw land.  His raids extended into Arkansas and Oklahoma, and his knowledge of those areas would prove valuable to his people and, later to the United States government. 

By 1800, Pushmataha was made Mingo or chief of the Six Towns District, one of three political divisions of the tribe.  His territory was based primarily in Mississippi.  He was known for his keen mind, his wit, and his eloquence in speaking.  He first met with United States envoys in 1802, and negotiated the Treaty of Mount Dexter in 1805, meeting with PresidentThomas Jefferson.  During the War of 1812, he also met with Tecumseh, but rejected the Shawnee leader's plan to rise against the Americans.  Pushmataha pointed out that the Choctaws and Chickasaws had lived in peace with European settlers, learning valuable technologies from them.  He warned Tecumseh that he would fight anyone who fought the United States.  With the outbreak of the War of 1812, Pushmataha allied the Choctaw with the United States, and urged the Creeks against an alliance with Great Britain.  He also offered to raise a troop of warriors to fight for the United States.  The General in charge of the district initially rebuffed that offer, but realized in time that his decision was unwise and graciously accepted.  Pushmataha led his men in several battles, ultimately being placed under Andrew Jackson's command, where he participated in the Battle of New Orleans and the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.  American military leaders came to appreciate his skill in leading his men.  He was known as a strict leader who kept his warriors under control.

On his return from the War of 1812, Pushmataha was elected Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation.  While he appreciated the White man's technological inventions, he was not keen on the missionaries who infiltrated Choctaw land and tried to prevent their work.  He introduced the cotton gin to Choctaw territory.  He also promoted education and had his five children educated.  He negotiated other treaties with the United States, including the Treaty of Doak's Stand in 1820.  This was a controversial land cession because the territory involved were core lands of the Choctaw people.  Pushmataha stood his ground to his old commander Jackson, who offered him equivalent lands in Oklahoma and Arkansas.  Pushmataha knew that those lands were less fertile and that squatters had already infiltrated those territories.  Matters came to a head during the talks.  According to the stories told, which I still need to verify, Jackson became angry and stood up, snapping, "Sir, I'll have you to understand that I'm Andrew Jackson and, by the Eternal, you'll sign that treaty!"  Pushmataha also stood and retorted, "I'll have you know that I'm Pushmataha, and by the Eternal, I shall not sign this treaty!"  Pushmataha signed only after the United States offered assurance that they would evict squatters from the lands.

In 1824, Pushmataha was growing more concerned

about squatters entering Choctaw land and the United States government's violation of it's promises to uphold Native land rights.  He took his case to Washington, D.C.  There, he met with President James Monroe and Secretary of War John C. Calhoun.  He told Calhoun, "I can say and tell the truth that no Choctaw ever drew his bow against the United States.  My nation has given of their country until it is very small.  We are in trouble."  While in Washington waiting for a response from the government, Pushmataha sat for his portrait in his army uniform.  The portraitist was Charles Bird King and the portrait hung in the Smithsonian until it was destroyed by fire and replaced with a replica.  In 1824, he developed a viral lung infection, known as croup at the time and became seriously ill.  In a rare show of respect, Andrew Jackson visited him on his deathbed.  To his fellow Choctaw who had traveled with him, Pushmataha reportedly said, " I am about to die, but you will return to our country.  As you go along the paths, you will see the flowers and hear the birds sing, but Pushmataha will see and hear them no more.  When you reach home they will ask you, 'where is Pushmataha?'  And you will say to them, 'he is no more.' They will hear your words as they do the fall of the great oak in the stillness of the midnight woods."

He was buried in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC.  Just six years later, his people would have need of his leadership as they signed the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek (1830) and began the long trek that would be known as the Trail of Tears (1831). 

Natives versus Settlers: the Battle of Wildcat Creek, November 22, 1812

This battle is also known as the second Battle of Tippecanoe, since part of the windup to the battle took place on the Tippecanoe battlefield.  It's also known as Spur's Run, since after their encounter with a combined Native force Kickapoo, Winnebago and Shawnee commanded possibly by Tecumseh's brother, the detachments of the US Army and Kentucky and Indiana militia were content to do just that-spur their horses as far away from the area as they could.

By winter of 1812 tempers on both sides of the conflict were high.  The battle of Tippecanoe on November 7, 1811 had broken the back of Tecumseh's Confederacy.  He was still alive, but dependent on the British in Canada.  Hundreds of his followers had fled, but others had stayed in the area.  The Battle of Fort Dearborn in August, 1812 and Pigeon's Roost Massacre of September, 1812, had local inhabitants demanding punishment of the remaining tribes.  It was only a matter of time before the two collided and things got very ugly.  A force consisting largely of Indiana and Kentucky militia under Samuel Hopkins and William Russell was dispatched on a punitive raid in the Tippecanoe area, taking the same route that Harrison had before the battle.  Russell destroyed a Kickapoo village but had to retreat to Cahokia, Illinois.  Hopkins and his Kentucky militia were driven back to Vincennes, and nearly became the victims of a prairie fire started by the Kickapoo.

Furious, Hopkins dismissed most of the Kentucky militia with him and turned to the regular Army.  Major Zachary Taylor (future POTUS) and the 7th Infantry, along with the few units of Kentucky and Indiana militia who had been spared Hopkins wrath traveled to the Tippecanoe battleground.  There, they found that the White dead from the original battle had been dug up and the corpses scalped or dismembered.  Natives believed that a person went to the afterlife with the same injuries he'd suffered in this life.  A dismembered enemy couldn't be a threat in the afterlife.  That explanation wouldn't have satisfied Hopkins and Taylor, whose men buried the dead and reached the remnants of Prophetstown.  The village once run by Tecumseh's brother Tenskwatawa had been partially rebuilt, with a large Kickapoo encampment nearby.  Both were deserted.  The army burnt the camp and the remains of Prophetstown and kept looking for their enemy.

On Wildcat Creek, a Winnebago village was found abandoned, the Natives having left in the face of the advancing White force.  Hopkins sent a detachment of men to burn that, as well.  On November 21, a Native fired on an advance scouting party, that hurried back to the main force, leaving a dead soldier behind.  On November 22, a detachment rode out to recover the body and found the severed head stuck on a pole, with a lone Native warrior standing beside it.  Incensed, some of the Indiana militia charged at the lone warrior who fled, leading them right into an ambush.  Shawnee, Winnebago and Kickapoo warriors, perhaps under the command of Kumakskau, Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa's brother, open fire, killing twelve men.  The remainder put their spurs to their horses and fled back where they'd come.  Eventual losses were 17 killed and 3 wounded.

Scouts of the American force later learned that a larger party of Native warriors was heading toward Hopkins' main position.  A snowstorm deterred the attack.  On November 24, 1812, when the American forced reached the larger Native camp, it was abandoned.  The men turned back to Vincennes, several of them suffering from frostbite.  Samuel Hopkins was so worn out and depressed from his losses that he resigned his command.  He was brought before a court-martial and whitewashed, later becoming a Senator.

The exact location of the battle remains a mystery.  Each year, local reenactors commemorate this battle, one of the westernmost of the War of 1812.

Natives versus Settlers: Battle of Holy Ground (Econochaca), December 13, 1813

Tecumseh's movement, particularly the repudiation of White people, their ways and goods and a return to traditional practices and values, spread far beyond Ohio and Indiana Territory.  Not only did Tecumseh journey to other tribes to spread his message and seek allies for his confederacy, Native leaders journeyed to Prophetstown on the banks of the Wabash in what is now Indiana to seek further direction from him and his brother Tenskwatawa.  One of those leaders was Josiah Francis, himself a mixed race Muscogee, who had turned his back on the European side of his heritage.

When Josiah Francis returned to Alabama, he quickly gained fame as a prophet, spreading Tenskwatawa's teachings.  He built a palisaded village on the banks of Alabama River in what is now Lowndes County and many Creek warriors flocked their with their families.  As the Muscogee people divided themselves into White Sticks, who continued to seek alliances with the United States and accommodate Settlers, and Red Sticks, who sought a return to traditional ways of life.  The sticks referred to clubs or wands decorated in the traditional colors of war (red) and peace (white).  Red Stick leaders including Peter McQueen, William Weatheford and Josiah Francis also sought alliance with Great Britain and Spain in the windup to the War of 1812. 

McQueen was ambushed in June, 1813, while retrieving an allotment of weapons and ammunition provided by Spanish agents in Florida, at the Battle of Burnt Corn.  Francis and Weatherford had led warriors against Fort Mims in August, 1813, killing Whites and mixed race people, but leaving Black slaves alone.  The states of Tennessee and Georgia, and the territorial authorities in what is now Alabama and Mississippi hurriedly scraped together militias to deal with this threat.  And, they had allies.  Pushmataha of the Choctaw had personally debated Tecumseh.  He had little patience for the Shawnee's ideas.  He offered to lead his warriors against the Red Sticks, believing that their revolt would do more harm than good to Natives in the region.

In December, 1813, General Ferdinand Claiborne led 1,000 Mississippi militia against Francis' encampment on the Alabama River.  Called Econochaca, meaning either Beloved Ground or Sacred Ground, it was known to Whites as Holy Ground.  Pushmataha was in command of 150 Choctaws.  As this force approached the village, Weatherford quickly evacuated women, children and other non-combatants, knowing that his 230 men couldn't protect everyone.  His men held off the militia long enough to allow these people to escape before retreating.  Weatherford became a legend among Whites and Natives alike for jumping his horse, Arrow, off a bluff into the Alabama River to escape and fight another day.  When the militia entered the village, they found it empty.  They burnt the village and destroyed the Creek food supplies.  It would take more battles to settle this war.

Friday Reprise: William Weatherford of the Creek

We've covered the Creek War of 1814 in an earlier post, including the courage of Creek Leader William Weatherford (1781-1824) in surrendering to Andrew Jackson by walking unarmed and alone into his camp.  Now, we'll focus more closely on this extraordinary man who is still an Alabama legend.

William Weatherford was born into the complicated network of the Wind Clan's Sehoy dynasty.  His mother was Sehoy III, the daughter of Sehoy Marchand and a subsequent husband Charles Weatherford, a well-to-do Scottish trader.  Among his cousins were Creek leaders Alexander McGillivray and William McIntosh.  His nephew, David Moniac, whom we've also run across, would become the first Native cadet to graduate West Point.  William Weatherford was connected both in White society and in Creek, but his heart rested with his mother's people.  He excelled at the qualities expected of a young Creek man of high status, including stick ball, riding, weapons, hunting and leadership.  According to the Encyclopedia of Alabama, his Native names were either Hoponika Fulsahi (Truth Maker) or Billy Larney (Yellow Billy).  The name Red Eagle (Lamochattee) was a later intervention.  However, several websites of Weaterford and Sehoy descendants refer to him as Red Eagle.  As it may be that he was given several names at different stages of life, Red Eagle might have been one.  His family would know best. 

Red Eagle's first exploit was as a member of the Creek War party who captured William Augustus Bowles, in 1801.  Both Alexander McGillivray and Benjamin Hawkins, the United States Indian Agent, believed that Bowles' antics in trying to create an independent Stat of Muscogee were doing more harm than good.  In addition to his qualities as a warrior, Weatherford was a successful businessman, planter and horse breeder.  These activities and his family connections would seem to put him in the White Stick Creek faction, Lower Creek families who had significant connections in the White world and believed that assimilation was the key to peaceful co-existence.  As the War of 1812 loomed and tensions within the Creek tribe increased about whether to stay neutral or support either the British or Americans, Weatherford was in favor of neutrality.  That changed when United States forces attacked an Upper
 Creek party smuggling guns from Spanish agents in Florida at the Battle of Burnt Corn Creek in July, 1813. 

Weatherford joined a growing party of Red Stick Creek leaders who carried out the assault on Fort Mims on August 30, 1813, and here is where controversy starts.  Over 500 people were slaughtered by the Red Stick forces at Fort Mims.  While some of these were soldiers under arms, many were White Settlers, mixed race Creeks of the White Stick faction, and slaves, either of the families or free people of color.  Some sources and family history claim that Weatherford tried to stop the slaughter.  Other sources indicate that he joined in with a vengeance.  This incident would be thrown in his face for the rest of his life.  Weatherford was now committed to the fight and his followers fortified the village of Econochaca, or Holy Ground.  In late December 1813, forces under General Ferdinand Claiborne assaulted the town.  Weatherford oversaw the evacuation of the women and children, then led a fighting retreat against the American forces.  At the last available moment, he jumped his horse over a bluff into the Alabama River and escaped in a hail of gunfire.

More warriors flocked to the Red Stick cause, until he commanded nearly 1,300 men, facing a force of roughly that same size along the Tallapoosa River near Calabee Creek.  The two sides fought to a draw before the Red Sticks retreated.  Sources differ as to whether Weatheford was at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, March 27, 1814, with some indicating that Weatherford again fought a rear guard action to protect the fleeing Creeks after their defeat at the hands of Andrew Jackson, and others questioning whether he was present at all.  After this disaster, many Creeks decided to flee and join the Seminoles in Florida. Weatherford with about 200 warriors decided to stay in Alabama.  Knowing that the war was over for his people, Weatherford turned himself in at Fort Toulouse, now renamed Fort Jackson.  According to family tradition, his words to Jackson were, "My warriors no longer hear my voice.  Their bones are at Talladega, Tallusahatchee and Tohopeka.  I ask for peace for my nation and for myself."  Jackson was impressed with Weatherford's bravery and his family's prominence in the area and let him go.

But there were plenty of other voices calling for his arrest an execution for the disaster at Fort Mims.  And, Jackson had his own price to exact.  Weatherford used his influence with other Red Stick holdouts to persuade them to lay down their arms, and took the field against them when they did not.  Due to his family's influence with White officials in the territory, and his cooperation with Jackson, he was not arrested, but he was effectively out of public life.  Weatherford retired to his plantation, cared for his family and business interests, but no longer took an active part in Creek affairs. 

Places: Credit Island, Davenport, Iowa

Trading posts on the frontier worked on a system of credit.  Natives who routinely visited the trading post to trade hides could purchase needed supplies on credit, working off their expenses by bringing in more hides, similar to paying a modern grocery bill on a running tab.  One such trading post was located on an Island in the Mississippi River in the midst of what are now the Quad Cities.  Credit Island has gone by a number of names over the years, such as Suburban Island or Offerman's Island, but the one that seemed to stick and become the official name was Credit.

It was at Credit Island that a young army officer and future POTUS named Zachary Taylor got one of two tastes of defeat at the hands of Natives.  A war party of Sac met up with a small detachment under then-Major Taylor on September 4-5, 1814 in one of the westernmost battles of the War of 1812.  The Sac won and Taylor's men had to beat a hasty retreat back to more welcoming territory. Taylor wasn't the only future celebrity on the field.  A young warrior named Black Hawk likely commanded the war party.  The British provided at least three small cannon, which still delivered a blistering smack-down to Taylor's pride.  It wouldn't be the first time he'd be handed his desserts by a Native war party. 

Opposition: Zachary Taylor, 1784-1850

Most people remember the 12 President for his short term in office, barely 15 months from March, 1849-July, 1850.  Others remember his service in the Mexican War.  However, long before either, Zachary Taylor was prominent in two battles against Native Americans, the Black Hawk War and 2nd Seminole War. 

Like his colleague William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, 1784-1850, came from a landed Virginia family.  Despite their social position, they left Virginia when Zachary was still a child and settled in Louisville, Kentucky.  His father became wealthy in real estate.  Kentucky was still frontier and there was little opportunity for formal schooling.  Whenever he could go to school, Zachary was a quick learner.  He grew to manhood and enlisted in the Army in 1808.  Despite the family's wealth in land, he would need a day job and the army promised steady pay and relatively light duty while he quietly invested in land, slaves, and bank stocks.  In 1810, he married Margaret Mackall, also a settler in Kentucky, but from a prominent Maryland family.  The couple would have six children.

In the windup to the War of 1812, he was called to Indiana to take over command of what was then called Fort Knox, now Vincennes, Indiana (not the Fort Knox we know today).  He restored ordered to an unruly garrison and won the praise of Indiana Governor William Henry Harrison.  At that time, James Wilkinson, the commander of the American Army, ended up under court martial and Taylor was called to Washington to testify, missing the Battle of Tippecanoe and Tecumseh's Rebellion in the process.  He was soon back in Indiana, defending Fort Harrison and taking part in an expedition to what is now Illinois.  His first serious encounter with Native warriors, in the Battle of Wildcat Creek on November 22, 1812, ended up in a retreat.  He later won a colorfully named battle at Credit Island.  He was only a captain when the War ended.  He resigned his commission in 1815, and reenlisted a year later as a major.

The next few years saw Taylor in command of various outposts, rising from major to lieutenant-Colonel.  He was promoted to colonel in time for the Black Hawk War of 1832.  However, aside from a few skirmishes, the war soon fizzled and it was back to garrison duty.  However in 1837, he was dispatched to Florida and met the Seminoles at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee on December 25, 1837.  There, he faced a Native command team consisting of Billy Bowlegs, Abiaka, and Coacoochee, among others, none of them happy that, just weeks before, Osceola and Coacoochee had been taken prisoners under a flag of truce.  Technically, the battle was a draw, with the Seminoles inflicting casualties on already rattled U.S. troops and Taylor's men depleting cattle and other food sources the Seminoles couldn't afford to lose.  However, the U.S. government needed a diversion from the dying hero at Fort Moultrie who'd captured the public's imagination and billed Okeechobee as a victory, promoting Taylor to Brigadier-General. 

At about this time in his life, Taylor began to think about politics, using his new military fame to transition to a peacetime career.  The Mexican War intervened in 1846-1848, but after the war was over, it was Taylor's turn to run for President.  He was inaugurated in March, 1849, and served for little over a year.  On July 4, 1850, he attended a picnic in Washington, D.C. and ate cherries washed down with milk on a hot day.  Within a few hours, he was complaining of stomach troubles.  Days later he was dead of cholera, most likely food poisoning from whatever he'd eaten on July 4th, compounded with the crude medical tactics of the day such as purging and bleeding.  A 20th century autopsy on his remains found no evidence of poisoning or other foul play. 

Years later, after having agreed to remove to Oklahoma, Billy Bowlegs would come Washington D.C. on a delegation.  Touring the U.S. Capitol, he saw a picture of Taylor and smiled.  He pointed to himself and said, "me whip!"  I beat him! 

Friday Reprise: Wild Cat of the Seminole

Coacoochee (c 1807-1857) was born somewhere in Florida.  Several sites are named as a potential birthplace, with none being able to prove the claim.  His heritage, though, was certain.  His father, called King Philip by their White opponents, was a chief, married to the sister of Micanopy, another chief.  Thus, unlike his colleague Osceola, Coacochee had chiefs on both sides of his family and could hope to succeed his father or uncle some day.  In another lucky sign, he was born a twin, though the other child died at birth.  As the surviving twin, he would have been considered by the Seminoles to have been born under auspicious signs.  While young, he quickly emerged as a capable warrior, leading bands of Seminoles fending off White encroachment into their territory. 

When the Second Seminole War broke out in 1835, Coacochee was eclipsed by Osceola, who was older and a more established war leader.  Whether this led to strained relations between them, no one knows.  In October, 1837, after his father was captured in another raid and imprisoned at Fort Marion (Castillo de San Marco), St. Augustine, Coacoochee contacted Col. Thomas S. Jessup, the latest commander in Florida, and claimed to be an emissary of Osceola.  He requested peace talks.  Whether this was done with Osceola's say-so, no one knows for sure.  However, at that time, Osceola, ailing and realizing that his people could not hold out much longer, may have been exploring some kind of resolution.  Neither he nor Coacochee got that chance.  Jessup captured both of them under a flag of truce and clapped them into Fort Marion. 

While there, Coacochee, John Horse and some other leading warriors concocted an escape plan.  Coacochee later said that they starved themselves for several days while prying one of the bars loose with a file and other tools smuggled in to them before wriggling through the window of their cell, dropping several feet to the ground and disappearing into the night.  While Osceola was left to his eventual fate, Wild Cat gathered another band of warriors and carried on the fight.  He faced Col. Zachary Taylor in the indecisive Battle of Lake Okeechobee on December 27, 1837, and retreated into the Everglades.  King Philip, meanwhile, died on the journey to Oklahoma, something which deeply distressed Coacoochee.  Finally, in 1841, Coacoochee agreed to meet with Lt. William T. Sherman (yes, that Sherman) to arrange transport to Oklahoma.  He told Sherman, "I was in hopes I would be killed in battle but a bullet never reached me."

Once in Oklahoma, the conditions Seminole leaders had feared all along for their people became reality.  Rations were scarce.  Coacochee accompanied Alligator (another relative) and other leaders in a delegation to Washington to remedy the situation, but to no avail.  Meantime, Creek raiders began capturing Black Seminoles and mixed-race Natives to sell to Southern slave catchers who prowled Indian Territory, looking for escapees.  In 1849, Wild Cat left Oklahoma with a band of 100 followers, bound for Texas and then Mexico, where they settled with the displaced Kickapoo.  He offered his services to the Mexican government in battling Comanche and Apache raiders and received a Colonel's rank in the Mexican Army.  He died in Alto, Mexico and his son, Chiquito Gato (Young Wild Cat), took his place as leader of the band.

In 2012, the US Bureau of Geographic Names received an application to name an unoccupied barrier island chain off the Florida coast after Coacoochee.  The request has not been acted upon. 

(This post first appeared in June, 2016).