Myaamia
Miami Tribe
Before Removal
The Miami
people are part of the Algonquian linguistic family. They are similar
to the
Delaware, Shawnee and Ottawa tribes.
There were six major bands of the Miami. They are listed here
Atchakangouen,
Kilatika, Mengkonkia, Pepikokia, Piankashaw, and Wea, and they lived in presented day Indiana, Illinois, and
in parts of Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Miami woman farmed corn,
beans and
melons, and controlled the house. They also held positions as peace and
sometimes war chiefs. Miami men hunted buffalo, deer, and other small
mammals.
They were warriors and peace keepers.
The first
European contact was with the French in 1654. Soon after the first
contact
Jesuits, and fur traders poured into the area. The French and Miamis
had a good
trade relationship until the fall of the French empire in the Americas.
The
British soon followed occupying many old French forts and trading with
the
Miami. The Miamis became dependent on the trade goods of the British
and helped
them in the Revolutionary War. With the
American victory, British and French present was limited in the Ohio
Valley.
Americans started pouring into the Ohio Valley and conflict over land
started
taking place.
Tribal
leader Michikinkwa, Little Turtle, led Miami and other Algonquian
tribes to war
with the Americans. Michikinkwa lead the Miami Confederacy to two
victories
over the US Army. The first came in 1790, and it was known as Harmer’s
Defeat.
When Josiah Harmer led two unsuccessful campaigns against the Miami and
retreated to Fort Washington losing 183 men on the way. Hoping to
succeed in
defeating the Miamis, the United States sent Arthur St. Clair in 1791.
St.
Clair’s Defeat was one of the greatest defeats the US army
had at the hands of the Native Americans.
Through out
the early 1790s tension between the settlers and the Miami grew.
Anthony Wayne
was sent to finish what Harmer and St. Clair could not, and that was to
end the
raids by the Indians and remove them from the Ohio Valley. Michikinkwa
led the
confederacy to battle on August 19,
1794, in an area called Fallen Timbers but was surprised when the US
army did
not show up. The US army showed up on August 20, 1794, and found the
Natives
hiding behind the fallen trees. They were hungry and
tired, which made them easy to defeat. By
the end of the attack, many Natives were exhausted and retreated to
Fort Miamis
hoping the British would provide protection. The British refused and
General
Anthony Wayne’s army surrounded them. They had no choice but to
surrender. This
battle was called the Battle of Fallen Timbers because of the location
of the
battle. With the defeat at Fallen Timbers, the tribe had to succede
their lands
in Ohio.
Treaties and Removal
After the
defeat in 1794, the tribes of the Miami Confederacy and the United
States began
talking about a treaty between the two. In January 1795 the parties met
at Fort
Greenville, and in August 1795 they signed the Treaty of Greenville
succeding
their lands in Ohio. They were forced on a piece of land in Indiana but
were
allowed to hunt on their ceded lands. They were also given $20,000 in
goods for
signing the treaty and another $9,500 in goods every year.
Throughout
the early nineteenth century the Miamis were signing treaties that
ceded more
and more land. At the forks of the
Wabash River in 1840 the Miamis signed a treaty succeding all their
land in
Indiana except for some important families, and move west of the
Mississippi River.
October 1846
was the start of the Miami emigration to Kansas. They started in Peru,
Indiana,
and ended on the banks of the Marais des Cygnes River, now the Osage
River, in
northeastern Kansas. About 500 to 1,000 Miamis made it to Kansas and
were suppose
to have 500,000 acres but only got about 325,000 acres. Considered the
dark
period of the Miami tribe, not much is known about the twenty years
they spent
in Kansas. The end of Miamis in Kansas was the result of the
encroachment of
white settlers. In 1854, the Miamis’ Kansas land was shrunk to 70,000
acres and
allotted in 200 acres to each member. By 1867, Kansas had become a
state and
was pressuring the removal of many Indian tribes to Indian country in
Oklahoma.
They signed a treaty and 43 families stayed in Kansas, losing their
tribal
rights, and becoming American citizen. They were given allotments and
were to
forget their tribal ways. In 1867 the remaining Miamis moved to Indian
country
and were given 12,878 acres in Northeastern Oklahoma.
Miamis in Okalahoma: Past
and Present
Little
changed when the Miamis emigrated to Oklahoma. They were given
allotments and
taught how to farm. Children were taken to boarding schools and taught
to
speak, read and write English. Many Miami assimilated into the dominant
culture. During this time the Miami tribe was small. They had little
voice in
politics and became assimilated compared to the Indiana Miami. By 1940
there
were only about 305 Western Miami and only three were full- blood.
Little by
little their land was taken from them. By the 1960s the Miamis in
Oklahoma had
little land and no fluent speakers
At the
thought of losing Miami culture to the dominant culture, a few Miami
men led by
Forrest Olds started holding meetings out of rhe trunk of a car. They
eventually
made a headquarters in Miami, Oklahoma.
Thanks to those men, the tribe is not on the decline but expanding and
gaining
land and culture.
There are
now over 3,000 members of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. Headquartered in
Miami,
Oklahoma, the tribe is reviving their “dying” culture. They have an unique connection with Miami
University in Oxford, Ohio. They are in a joint relationship working on
bringing back the language and culture of the tribe. This project is
called the
Myaamia Project. They have completed the first Miami-Peoria Dictionary,
and
many audio tools to learn the language. They are working on cookbooks,
calendars, a entho-botany project, and traditional narratives.
The Myaamia
Project is just one example of how the Miami are working to regain
their
cultural knowledge. There is also language workshops, and an emersion
camp in
Miami for tribal members only. The Miami community is trying very hard
to bring
back traditional ways of life. They are also purchasing lands in
Oklahoma, Kansas,
Indiana and Ohio to regain their ancestral lands.
The Miami
tribe also runs very successful businesses. This helps stimulate the
Miami
economy. The revenue allows the tribe to grow and to build many
organizations
to help the Miami community. The Miami have businesses in gambling,
farming,
and movie theaters to name a few.
The Myaamia
Project, tribal businesses, and the faithful tribal members will help
the Miami
keep growing and restore their traditions for many years.
Bibliography
Anson, Bert. The Miami
Indians. Norman, Ok: University
of Oklahoma Press, 1970.
"Miami Indians." Ohio
Historical Center.
2007. Ohio Historical Society. 5 Sep 2007
<http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=606>