Welcome to the land of the Archaic, Woodland, Mississippian,
Ottawa, Iroquois, Ojibwe, Miami, Wea, Potawatomi, Shawnee, Kickapoo, & New France,
British
Province of Quebec, Virginia, Northwest Territory,
Indiana
Territory, INDIANA.
+ ca. 10, 000 B.C. - ca. 8000 B.C.
+ ca. 1000 B.C. - 900 A.D.
+ ca. 900 A.D. - ca. 1650 A.D.
+
+ The French Arrive + 1671-1717 + 1717-1754
+ 1754-1763: The French
and Indian War +
+ Pontiac's Challenge 1763-1766 +
1767-1773 + 1774-1783: The Revolutionary
War +
+ 1787 - 1800 : The Northwest
Territory + 1800 -
1816 : The Indiana Territory +
+ 1816: Indiana Statehood +
1817 - 1822 + 1822 - 1861: Canal Days +
+ 1861 - 1865: The Civil War
+ 1866 - 1880 + 1880 - 1914 + 1914
- 1918: WWI +
+ 1919-1930: The
Roaring Twenties + 1930-1940 Depression
& Gangsters +
+ 1941-1945: WWII +
ca. 1000 B.C. - 900 A.D.
ca. 900 A.D. - ca. 1650 A.D.
The French Arrive
- Samuel
de Champlain, governor of New France and the founder of Quebec, was
believed to be the first of the French explorers to be connected with the
Maumee region. He is believed to have seen the Maumee in 1614 or 1615.
- Read more: 1608-1759:
New France & Quebec documents
1671-1717
- 1671: Simon Daumont de Saint-Lusson declared the lands
of the western interior for France at Sault Ste. Marie. Louis Jolliet was
one of the signers of this declaration which included the area that later
became Indiana. See also: Louis Jolliet,
Explorer.
René-Robert
Cavelier de La Salle (1643-1687) enters the area that was to become
Indiana. - In 1679, René-Robert
Cavelier de La Salle (1643-1687) & Louis de Baude de Frontenac,
Governor of New France, decided on plans which would enable them to gain
control of the area enabling the Maumee-Wabash trade route (via the portage
of 1670). One part involved relocating the Miami Indians to the headwaters
of the Maumee River to secure the area.
- This Miami village, located at the site of the present city
of Fort Wayne, was known as Kekionga, or Kiskakon, and later became known
as "Miamitown". It was used as a trading post by 1686, and is reported
to be "the oldest continually occupied community in subsequent Indiana
and the general area to the south of the Great Lakes" by John Ankenbruck,
in The Fort Wayne Story, A Pictorial History, (p. 14).1
- French Presence in North America (from 1680s - )
- 1687: January - Memoir
for the Marquis de Seignelay Regarding the Dangers that Threaten Canada
and the Means to Remedy Them. (Document Text)
- 1700 - The
Coureur de Bois - the Fur Trader
- Read more: Virtual Museum of New France
- Colonial warfare between France and England.
1717-1754
- In 1717, French Fort Quiatenon was established,
near the present city of Lafayette, to protect the western frontier.
British Arrive to Challenge French Control of the Area
- In 1732, Post Vincennes was established.
- In 1744, King Nicolas War (known as "King George's War"
in Europe) began. Spilling into America, it's effects were felt in Indiana
when the British influenced Huron chief, King Nicolas, attacking the French
Fort Miami in 1747. A second French fort was built in 1749.
The conflicts in the west were not over. In 1749, Celeron
de Blainville crossed the portages to the Ohio to formally claim possession
of the area following King George's War. Read more: visit Old Fort Niagara
1754-1763: The
French and Indian War
British Gain Control
Indiana becomes a part of the Province of Quebec
- 1755: The
French and Indian War History
- French
and Indian War Links page
- The British dominated a large portion of the Trans-Appalachian
frontier after the French and Indian War. The proclamation of 1763 forbid
the settlement of lands west of the Appalachian Mountains. From their posts
north of the Ohio River the British sent Indian war parties against those
settlers who ignored the proclamation line.
Pontiac's Challenge - English
Forts Captured & Destroyed
- 1763 - 1766 - Pontiac's Uprising
- "...Chief Under the Ottawa chief Pontiac, Native American warriors captured
most of the trans-Allegheny forts..." Capturing British Fort Miami, Fort
St. Joseph's and Fort Quiatonon
(the most distant English post). Read more: Old Fort Niagara:
- History
of the Delaware (Lenape) - The "grandfather tribe of all Algonquin",
obtained permission to settle in the Indiana area from the Miami in 1770.
- In 1772, General Gage ordered the French in the Wabash Valley
to leave their settlements, & demanded the title deeds to their lands.
- In 1774, (June 2nd) British Parliament passed the Quebec
Act, permitting the Canadians to retain French laws and customs, and
allowing the Catholic Church to maintain all its rights. "The French
settlements at the West, in our present Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin,
were by the act included in the province of Quebec." (See Alerding's The Diocese of Fort Wayne).
Read more:
1774-1783: The Revolutionary
War
Virginia Claimed
the Land Northwest of the Ohio River as Part of Her Territory.
- 1777: Indians
on the Trans-Appalachian Frontier were encouraged by the British to
attack the frontier Americans.
- 1778: (Summer) An expedition from Virginia, headed by Colonel
George Rogers Clark proceeded
down the Ohio River, then went on to capture the British posts at Kaskaskia
and Cahokia along the Mississippi River, near St. Louis. Although
under British rule after the French and Indian War, these posts were populated
by French settlers that had no great affection for the British. When
Clark appeared before Kaskaskia, the French settlers and their priest, Rev.
Pierre Gibault, received him without opposition, and Clark quickly gained
their support. Father Pierre Gibault and Dr. Jean Laffont volunteered to
travel to Vincennes on behalf of the Americans and soon that settlement also
gave its support to Clark. With Clark's possession of Vincennes, Indiana
became part of Virginia. The people took the oath of allegiance to the
Commonwealth of Virginia, and its
laws were extended over all the territory. The French at Detroit
and other northern posts however, maintained the outward support of the
British.
See Index to The George
Rogers Clark Papers: Illinois Regiment - from The Society of Colonial Wars
in the State of Illinois. - British Gov. Henry Hamilton retook
Fort Sackville in December 1778.
Francis Vigo
(born in Italy in 1747) rendered aid to Clark and the Americans which helped
Clark to gain the surrender of Fort Sackville, at Vincennes, by Lieutenant
Governor Henry Hamilton on 24 Feb 1779.
Franco-American
Diplomacy 1778 - 1843
1779: British Lieutenant-Governor Henry Hamilton surrendered Fort Sackville to American Colonel
George Rogers Clark
1783:
Indiana area given to the United States Territory
- Paris Peace
Treaty - 1783
"Declaration Signed in Paris by the American Commissioners - February 20,
1783 By the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, for
making Peace with Great Britain. A Declaration of the Cessation of Hostilities
as well by Sea as Land, agreed upon between His Majesty, the King of Great
Britain, and the United States of America..."
- The British Province of Quebec lost all the lands below the
Great Lakes with the signing of the 1783 Treaty.
1787 - 1800 : The Northwest Territory
- 1787: the Continental Congress enacted the "Ordinance for the
Government
of the Territory Northwest of the Ohio River." The Ordinance provided
for a Northwest Territory governed by a governor and three judges, with laws
that prohibited slavery, encouraged public education, and guaranteed religious
freedom and civil rights to its people.
See a Map and Read
more about the Northwest Ordinance
and Indiana History - 1791: the trading post of "Keth-tip-pe-can-nunk"
(aka Tippecanoe
village) was destroyed in an attempt to scatter the Indians and open the
area to new settlement.
- The Treaty of Fort Harmer was signed, and a war began in the
summer which would last until 1794.
- Spring 1794: John Jay obtained the signing of a Treaty with
England which provided that British should withdraw troops from posts within
the boundaries of the United States by 1 June 1796.
- Little
Turtle's famed battle humbled U.S. forces. (by Michael Hawfield)
- In August 1794, Tecumseh led the Shawnee Indians in the battle
near the rapids of the Maumee. Anthony Wayne overwhelmed the Indians.
- September 1794: Anthony Wayne establishes a Fort at Kekionga,
and names it "Fort Wayne".
- Chief
Little Turtle (Michikinikwa) - A leader of the Miami Indians, (see
Miami History by Lee
Sultzman) he was born in 1752, and died in Fort Wayne 14 July 1812.
Having defeated both Gen. St. Claire and Gen. Harmar, he urged peace prior
to the 1794 Battle of
Fallen Timbers, and was one of the signers of the 1795 Treaty of Greenville.
Read more about Little Turtle:
- Blue
Jacket (Weyapiersenwah) was a Shawnee leader of the Native American
Confederation, he signed the 1795 Treaty of Greenville
after being defeated by Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
- Shooting
Star (Tecumseh) a skilled and courageous Shawnee fighter, was known
for his opposition to unnecessary, arbitrary killing. He and his brother,
Tenskwatawa (The Shawnee Prophet), established a northern Indiana village
called Prophet's
Town, (near Lafayette, IN) which was later destroyed in 1811.
See: The History of
Tecumseh and the battle at Tippecanoe Creek. He refused to sign
the Treaty of Greenville.
He believed the Northwest Territory belonged to a single Indian Nation,
and did not believe it valid for individual tribes to have borders.
Tecumseh died at the Battle of the Thames on Oct. 5, 1813.
- Read more about Tecumseh a Shawnee Warrior
& Tecumseh's
Teachings
- Indians made concessions of all of Ohio east of Cuyahoga River.
Treaty
of Greenville: August 3, 1795 was "A treaty
of peace between the United States of America, and the tribes of Indians
called the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnees, Ottawas, Chipewas, Pattawatimas,
Miamis, Eel Rivers, Weas, Kickapoos,
Piankeshaws, and Kaskaskias."
- Though Americans obtained Ohio in 1795, the entire Ohio Valley
was desired. In 1800, William Henry Harrison, the new governor of the Northwest
Territory, was given instructions to end native title to these lands through
treaty. The Miami, "...Potawatomi and others signed treaties at Fort Wayne
(1803), Fort Industry (1805), and Grouseland
(1805), ceding portions of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois..." See
Lee Sultzman's Potawatomi
history. See Miami Treaties
1800 - 1816 :
The Indiana Territory
- See a map of the Indiana
and Illinois Territory (1800 - 1818)
- 1800: Indiana Territory was established from the Northwest
Territory with William Henry
Harrison (1773-1841) as the first Governor and Vincennes the capital.
- 1803: The Delaware
ceded part of their land in southern Indiana in 1803.
- 26 Oct 1803: William Clark and Meriwether Lewis left from
Clarksville. (see the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial
Commission site and Lewis
and Clark Bicentennial Events)
- 1803: Ohio admitted as the 17th state.
- June 7, 1803: Treaty with the Delaware, Shawanoe,
Pottawatamie, Miami, Eel River, Wea, Kickapoo, Piankashaw, and Kaskaskia
(Indiana Territory).
- August 7, 1803: Treaty with the Eel River,
Wyandot, Piankashaw, Kaskaskia, and Kickapoo (Indiana Territory).
- August 13, 1803: Treaty with the Kaskaskia (Indiana
Territory).
- August 31, 1803: Treaty with the Choctaw.
- 1804:
Vincennes, the capital of the Indiana Territory, also served as the
capital of the Louisiana Purchase for nine months in 1804.
1804: Elihu Stout printed the laws
of the Territory, and the "Indiana Gazette". - 1805: Michigan
Territory separated from the Indiana Territory.
- 1808: Prophet's Town was established, in the Wabash valley,
in or near the old Tippecanoe village, "Keth-tip-pe-can-nunk," by
two Shawnee brothers, Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa (the Prophet). Read
more about Tippecanoe
and Prophet's Town.
- 1809: Illinois Territory separated from the Indiana Territory.
- 1811: Battle of Tippecanoe.
- 1811-1812: Earthquakes
in the midwest
- 1813: Territorial Capital moved to Corydon.
- Michikinikwa (Chief Little Turtle)
died in Fort Wayne July 14, 1812.
- The
War of 1812 - read more about continuation of the American Revolution:
the War of
1812 which ended 24 December 1814 with signing of the Treaty of Ghent
- 1813: Tecumseh played a key role in the War of 1812,
being active in the fall of Detroit, but he was killed at the Battle of
the Thames on October 5, 1813, at the age of forty-five.
- July
22, 1814: "A treaty of peace and friendship between the United States
of America, and the tribes of Indians called the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanoese,
Senecas, and Miamies..."
- September
8, 1815: Treaty between the United States of America and the Wyandot,
Delaware, Seneca, Shawanoe, Miami, Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatimie, Tribes
of Indians, residing within the limits of the State of Ohio, and the Territories
of Indiana and Michigan
- 1812 - 1814, War of 1812.
1816: Indiana Statehood
- In October 1818, the Delaware, with the signing
of the St. Mary's Treaty, ceded their Indiana lands and agreed to move
west of the Mississippi. By 1822, the Delaware had moved to the James
Fork of the White River in southwest Missouri.
1822 - 1861: Canal Days
- In 1825, the capitol of Indiana was changed to Indianapolis.
- Wabash
and Erie Canal: In 1822, Indiana and Illinois joined together in a
plan to connect the Maumee and Wabash Rivers, and in 1826, the canal became
a reality, with the first section, linking Fort Wayne with Huntington, completed
in 1835. See the reports of events on "Opening Day".
The canal grew to 468 miles by the time of it's completion in 1853,
but the coming of the railroad numbered it's days, and by 1876, it was no
longer in use. - For more about the Wabash and Erie Canal (particularly
through Huntington County) visit Terry Pepper's site for a detailed
review of the canal, the boats, the people, and more. Learn more
about the canal laborers
who were predominantly Irish.
- November 28, 1840 : Articles
of a treaty made and concluded at the Forks of the Wabash, in the State
of Indiana, this twenty-eight day of November in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and forty, between Samuel Milroy and allen Hamilton,
acting (unofficially) as commissioners on the part of the United States, and
the chiefs, warriors and headmen of the Miami tribe of Indians.
By 1846, many of the Miami Tribe left Indiana
for Kansas Territory by 1846.
- Read about
the Mexican-American War
- In 1851, Indiana
adopted a state constitution that included a measure protecting the
property rights of married women. Robert Dale Owen was the chief architect
of this provision and the women of Indiana honored
him with a silver pitcher.
- The Making of America
(search the digital library of primary sources in American social history
from Reconstruction to the Rebellion)
1861 - 1865: The Civil
War
1866 - 1880
- Reconstruction and recovery following the Civil War
ca. 1880-1910
1914 - 1918: World War I
1919-1930: The Roaring
Twenties
1930-1940 and the Great Depression
- 1929 -to 1939: The Stock Crash and The Great Depression...The
unemployment
rate went climbed to 25%, leaving about 15 million people jobless.
- For thirteen violent months back in the 1930's John Dillinger
, "the Indiana farmboy who became the FBI's first Public Enemy Number One",
and his gang swept through the Middle West - See a Summary of events leading up to
the death of John Dillinger on July 22, 1934, when he grabbed for his
gun and was shot by FBI Special Agents as he left the Biograph Theater in
Chicago, Illinois, and other "Gangster
Era Files" and "Historical
Interest Listings", from the FBI Freedom of Information Act site.
- Brief 1930s
headlines from a Nebraska Social Sciences research site.
- The Miami Nation of Indians of the State of Indiana organized
in 1937, with tribal offices
in Peru, IN, and members primarily in the Indiana counties of Allen,
Huntington and Miami. The official Miami Tribe is located at Miami
in OK
1941 - 1945
- World War II (1939 - 1945), United States entered WWII (1941
- 1945)
Some Printed Sources
for Indiana History
- Alerding, Herman J. A History of the Catholic
Church in the Diocese of Vincennes. Indianapolis: Carlon
and Hollenbeck. 1883.
- Alerding, Rt.
Rev. H. J. The Diocese of Fort Wayne, 1857-September 22-1907:
A book of Historical Reference 1669-1907. Fort Wayne: The
Archer Printing Co. 1907.
- 1Ankenbruck, John. The
Fort Wayne Story, A Pictorial History. Woodland Hills : Windsor
Publications, 1980.
- 2Griswold, Bert J. The
Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, Indiana: A Review of Two Centuries of
Occupation of the Region about the Head of the Maumee River. 2 vols.
Chicago: Robert O. Law Co., 1917. Volume 2: Biographies Index Online
- 3History of Allen County, Indiana,
with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of some of its Prominent Men
and Pioneers, to Which is Appended maps of its Several Townships and Villages.
Chicago: Kingman Brothers, 1880.
- 4Valley of the Upper Maumee
River: With Historical Account of Allen County and the City of Fort Wayne,
Indiana. The Story of its Progress from Savagery to Civilization. Madison,
Wisconsin: Brant and Fuller, 1889.
- Poinsatte, Charles. Fort Wayne during the Canal Era,
1828-1855. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1969.
- Madison, James H. The Indiana Way: A State History.
Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. 1986.
- Clayton, Lawrence A., Vernon James Knight, Jr., Edward C. Moore
(Editors). The De Soto Chronicles The Expedition of Hernando De Soto
to North America in 1539-1543. University of Alabama Press
[c1993] 2 v.; ill., maps
- Szucs, Loretto Dennis and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking.
(Editors). The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy (revised
edition) Online. 1997.
- Eichholz, Alice, Ph.D., C.G. (Editor). Ancestry's
Red Book, American State, County & Town Sources. Salt Lake
City : Ancestry. 1992.