Extinct Tribe: The Kaskaskia

Just because a Native tribe or its language have become extinct doesn't mean there aren't descendants today who  keep the heritage alive as best they can.  The Kaskaskia were a Northeastern Woodlands tribe who lived on the Great Lakes near what is now Green Bay Wisconsin when French missionaries first encountered them in 1687.  They were part of the Illini or Illinois Confederation, a network of more than a dozen tribes around the Great Lakes and upper Mississippi River. 

The first Europeans to have contacted the Kaskaskia were Jesuit missionary Jacques Marquette and French explorer Louis Jolliet, who were the first Europeans to sail down the Mississippi River in 1673.  They met the Kaskaskia, along with other tribes from the Illini Confederacy near what is now Utica, Illinois.  By 1703, the French had established a trading post at what is now Kaskaskia, Illinois, along with a mission station.  Like most of the other Illini tribes, the Kaskaskia were firm French allies, putting them into constant conflict with the Iroquois, who were allies of the British.  Because of the fur trade, many French men intermarried into the Kaskaskia and other Illinois tribes, further cementing the bonds between the two groups. 

The French and Indian War (1755-1762) proved a severe test of loyalty to the Illini tribes and the mixed race or Metis communities which had grown up along the Mississippi.  Constant warfare and strife with British-allied tribes along with communicable diseases wreaked havoc on the Illini peoples, including the Kaskaskia.  Today, the descendants of the Kaskaskia are enrolled in the Peoria Tribe of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe.

The Separate People: the Piankeshaw

Members of this tribe were present at many historical events.  They were among the signatories to the Great Peace of Montreal of 1702, and in 1799, during the Siege of Fort Sackville (Vincennes), a Piankeshaw leader named Young Tobacco offered to fight with his men alongside George Rogers Clarke.  Clarke politely turned him down, saying that he didn't want the Piankeshaw to be mistaken for British auxiliaries and killed during the battle.  Perhaps this was a good thing, considering the allegations against Clark regarding his treatment of Native captives, but we'll get to that later.

The word Payangitchaki comes from a Miami word meaning "those who are separate".  Modern ethnographers have tried to find a connection between the Piankeshaw and the Miami, but Piankeshaw oral tradition indicates no such connection.  When the French first encountered them in the early 17th century they were located near the Vermillion and Wabash Rivers in present-day Indiana.  Earlier tradition places them on the Kankakee River and even earlier, the Mississippi.  Likely they were one of those tribes frequently displaced during the Beaver Wars.  Incessant war had driven them from river to river until they finally found a home in what is now Illinois, and from there Indiana.  There, they allied with the Miami, the Wea and other tribes and were close partners to the French in the fur trade.  

The Natchez and Chickasaw Wars took their toll on the Piankashaw people, who maintained their alliance with the French.  Disease was another factor in reducing their population.  In 1770, they allowed the Delaware to use part of their land.  1775, they ceded a large tract of land on either side of the Wabash River in what is now Indiana and Illinois to the Wabash Land Company for a supply of trade goods.   By 1854, they had removed to Kansas and consolidated with other Illini tribes such as the Peoria.  By 1857, they ceded their last remaining lands in Kansas and removed to Oklahoma.  Today, they are represented by the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma.