Kekionga

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kekionga,[1] also known as Kiskakon[2] or Pacan's Village,[3] was the capital of the Miami tribe at the confluence of the Saint Joseph, Saint Marys and Maumee rivers on the western edge of the Great Black Swamp. It became the site of several French, British and American forts and trading posts.

The Miami at first benefited from trade with the Europeans. The French under Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes established a trading post and fort, first at the St. Joseph River, and later at Kekionga. Vincennes and the Miami developed a strong and enduring friendship,[4]

Kekionga remained a focal-point for the Miami for several decades, compared to other Miami villages which were more temporary. Kekionga also had a large meeting house, where official councils were held.[5] In 1733, Kekionga was struck by a smallpox epidemic and was evacuated for one year.

British merchants, seeking to expand their economic base, convinced some Miami to travel East for trade, in apparent violation of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. In 1749, the pro-British La Demoiselle left Kekionga to establish the English trading village of Pickawillany, which grew rapidly. Fighting between pro-French and pro-British villages broke out in 1751. French officials tried to persuade Miami to return to Kekionga, which was near the stronghold of Detroit and harder for the British to reach. Lieutenant Louis Coulon de Villiers was sent to the dilapidated Fort Miamis and given authority to commandeer French voyageurs to construct a new fort, which was finished in 1752.[6] In the same year, the French-allied Three Fires Confederacy destroyed Pickawillany. Most of the surviving Miami of Pickawillany returned to Kekionga, which may have undermined the village's loyalty to the French Empire.[7]

After the French and Indian War, New France was ceded to the British Empire. Kekionga became involved in Pontiac's Rebellion in Spring of 1763, capturing the British garrison there and killing the two ranking officers. The following year, Pacanne emerged as village chief when he spared the life of captive Captain Thomas Morris and returned him to Detroit. By 1765, Kekionga had accepted the British, and deputy commissioner George Croghan recorded a description of Kekionga:[8]

The Twightwee Village is situated on both Sides of a River called St. Josephs ... The Indian Village Consists of about 40 or 50 Cabins besides nine or ten French Houses.

In 1780, Kekionga was sacked by a force of French Americans led by Colonel Augustin de la Balme, who planned to ultimately take Detroit from the British. This force was utterly destroyed by a Miami force led by Chief Little Turtle. In 1790, General Josiah Harmar led a planned invasion that was defeated by a tribal coalition led by Little Turtle in Harmar's Defeat.

Following the defeat at the Battle of Fallen Timbers to American General Anthony Wayne, Kekionga's prominence began to diminish. The Miami maintained sovereignty until the Treaty of Ghent in 1814.[9] The site became the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ According to J. Dunn, Jr., the name "usually said to mean "blackberry patch," or "blackberry bush," this plant being considered an emblem of antiquity because it sprang up on the sites of old villages. This theory rests on the testement of Barron, an old French trader on the Wabash. It is more probable that Kekioqa is a corruption or dialect form of Kiskakon, or Kikakon, which was the original name of the place." J. P. Dunn, INDIANA: A REDEMPTION FBOM SLAVERY (New York: HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY, 1888, 48, Note 1.
  2. ^ Charles R. Poinsatte, Fort Wayne During the Canal Era 1828-1855 ([Indianapolis:] Indiana Historical Bureau, 1969), 1.
  3. ^ Andrew R. L. Cayton, Frontier Indiana (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996; ISBN 0-253-33048-3), 86.
  4. ^ "Vincennes, Sieur de (Jean Baptiste Bissot)". The Encyclopedia Americana (Danbury, CT: Grolier, 1990), 28:130.
  5. ^ Carter, 66
  6. ^ Barnhart, 100-111
  7. ^ Wheeler-Voegelin, Pg 73.
  8. ^ Rafert, 41
  9. ^ Birzer

[edit] References

  • Barnhart, John D. and Riker, Dorothy L. Indiana to 1816. The Colonial Period. ©1971, Indiana Historical Society. ISBN 0-87195-109-6
  • Carter, Harvey Lewis. The Life and Times of Little Turtle: First Sagamore of the Wabash. ©1987, Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-01318-2.
  • Cayton, Andrew R. L. Frontier Indiana. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-253-33048-3.
  • Edel, Wilbur Kekionga!: the worst defeat in the history of the U. S. Army, 1997. ISBN 0-275-95821-3
  • Rafert, Stewart The Miami Indians of Indiana: A Persistent People. 1654-1994. ©1996, Indiana Historical Society. ISBN 0-87195-111-8
  • Wheeler-Voegelin Dr. Erminie; Blasingham, Dr. Emily J.; and Libby, Dr. Dorothy R. An Anthropological Report on the History of the Miamis, Weas, and Eel River Indians, Vol 1. ©1997. Available online at the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology website.