Great Indian Chief of the West | Page 7

resided on the Wabash, sixty miles above Vincennes; and another under
the Turtle, on Eel river, a branch of the Wabash, twenty miles north
west of Fort Wayne. By an artifice of the Little Turtle, these three
bands were passed on General Wayne as distinct tribes, and an annuity
was granted to each. The Eel river and Weas however to this day call
themselves Miamies, and are recognized as such by the Mississineway
band. The Miamies, Maumees, or Tewicktovies are the undoubted
proprietors of all that beautiful country which is watered by the Wabash
and its branches; and there is as little doubt, that their claim extended as
far east as the Sciota. They have no tradition of removing from any
other quarter of the country; whereas all the neighboring tribes, the
Piankeshaws excepted, who are a branch of the Miamies, are either

intruders upon them, or have been permitted to settle in their country.
The Wyandots emigrated first from Lake Ontario and subsequently
from lake Huron, the Delawares from Pennsylvania and Maryland, the
Shawanies from Georgia, the Kickapoos and Pottawatamies from the
country between lake Michigan and the Mississippi, and the Ottawas
and Chippeways, from the peninsula formed by lakes Michigan, Huron
and St. Clair, and the strait connecting the latter with Erie. The claims
of the Miamies were bounded on the north and west by those of the
Illinois confederacy, consisting originally of five tribes, called
Kaskaskias, Cahokias, Peorians, Michiganians, and Temorias speaking
the Miami language, and no doubt branches of that nation.
"When I was first appointed governor of Indiana Territory, these once
powerful tribes were reduced to about thirty warriors, of whom twenty
five were Kaskaskias, four Peorians, and a single Michiganian. There
was an individual lately alive at St. Louis, who saw the enumeration of
them made by the Jesuits in 1745, making the number of their warriors
four thousand. A furious war between them and the Sacs and
Kickapoos reduced them to that miserable remnant, which had taken
refuge amongst the white people of Kaskaskia and St. Genevieve. The
Kickapoos had fixed their principal village at Peoria, upon the south
bank of the Illinois river, whilst the Sacks remained masters of the
country to the north."
These historical facts are interesting, as showing the manner in which
the Sauks and Foxes obtained possession of the fertile plains of Illinois;
and, as adding another to the many instances on record, in which
hordes of northern invaders have overrun and subjugated the people of
more southern regions. The causes are obvious for this descent of the
Sauks and Foxes, upon their southern neighbors. They reached a more
genial climate, a country where game was more abundant than in the
region they left behind, and in which they could, with greater facility,
raise their corn, beans and pumpkins. Other causes than these might
have had their influence. The Illini confederacy may have provoked the
descent of the northern tribes upon them. On this point, Lieutenant Pike
in his travels to the sources of the Mississippi, has the following
remark.

"By killing the celebrated Sauk chief, Pontiac, the Illinois, Cahokias,
Kaskaskias and Peorias, kindled a war with the allied nations of the
Sauks and Reynards, which has been the cause of the almost entire
destruction of the former nations."
The death of Pontiac may have been the immediate exciting cause of
the war, but it is more than probable that the love of conquest and the
hope of obtaining a more fruitful and genial country, than is to be found
upon the shore of the lakes, were the principal reasons which impelled
the northern confederacy to the subjugation of the Illini.
The principal village of the Sacs and Foxes, for a long period of time,
was on the north side of Rock river, near its junction with the
Mississippi. It contained at one time upwards of sixty lodges, and was
among the largest and most populous Indian villages on the continent.
The country around it is fertile and picturesque, finely watered, and
studded with groves and prairies. It is described in the following
graphic manner, by a gentleman[3] who travelled over it in 1829.
"The Mississippi, which below its junction with the Missouri, is a
troubled stream, meandering through low grounds, and margined by
muddy banks, is here a clear and rapid river, flowing over beds of rock
and gravel, and bordered by the most lovely shores. Nothing of the kind
can be more attractive, than the scenery at the upper rapids. On the
western shore, a series of slopes are seen, commencing at the gravelly
margin of the water, and rising one above another, with a barely
perceptible acclivity, for a considerable distance, until the back ground
is terminated by a chain of beautifully rounded hills, over which trees