The Kansas herald of freedom., 1857-01-24


close of this war the United States
employed agents to visit the various
Indian tribes residing on the frontier
and form with them treaties of peace
and friendship.
The Indians, after disastrous war,
were generally quite willing to make
treaty; but after a short time Of
quiet they usually became uneasy;
their lands were in the hands of the
white man, and they were being hem
med in on every side and were gradu-
ally melting away before his rising
greatness. These reflections embit-
tered his soul and filled his mind with
rage against the exterminators of his
race, the plunderers of his soil and
the robbers of his home. They were
willing to join any power in driving
back their common enemy and clear
ing the country of the white invaders.
When it was theFrench against the col
onies, they were with them; when it
was the English against the colonies,
they were with them. So long as
there was any hope of success or any
prospect of revenge, they battled
bravely against the settlements, single
handed and alone. Civilization was
their death. Every step of its adj
vancement, from Plymouth Rock to
the Pacific Ocean, has been moistened
with the blood of the Aborigines.-
We cannot reasonably attach blame
to their resolute resistance. They
fought for self-preservation; and they
fought long and well. They were de-
feated, and the remnants of their once
powerful tribe are now mostly found
in Kansas.
After the United States had become
nation, and the French and English
had ceased their wars upon the colo
nies, the Indians commenced, single
handed and alone, to drive back the
frontier settlements.
Ohio, Kentucky and Michigan were
visited .y their bloody vengeance.
On the 18th of August, 1874, General
Wayne, who had the command of the
Northwestern Army, wrote a letter to
the Delawares, the Shawnees and Wy
andotts, urging them to come in and
make peace with the United States
They rejected the offer, collected theil
warriors and met him in battle al
Fort Wayne, in Indiana, and were
disastrously defeated. After this they
came in, with the neighborins tribes.
and made a treaty with General
Wayne on the Sd of August, 1875, al
Greenville, Ohio. The tribes who
signed this treaty will be recognized
as those now residing in Kansas
They were the Shawnees, Delawares
Wyandotts. Ottowas, Chippeways
Eel Rivers, Weas, Kiekapoos and
Kaskaskias.
! In 1874 part of the Shawnees ant
Delawares settled in the Louisiana
Territory, on the Mississippi river
below st. Louis, on grant of lanG
made to them while this country be-
longed to Spain, by the Baron d.
Carondelst, a Spanish nobleman. Il
was twenty-five miles square, lying OF
the Mississippi river, extending from
the river st. Cerul to Cape Girardeau
and westward to the White Water
river. The Delawares soon left this
Territory, and the entire right was
vested in the Shawnees. The re.
naming part of the Shawnee tribe re-
sided at Wapaughkonnetta, in Ohio
on the river Auglaise. The Society
of Friends, who had always shown {
remarkable sympathy for this waning
tribe, followed them in their misfor.
tunes and aided them in every way
consistent with their peaceful princi
Piles. They kept a school for them,
taught them agriculture. erected saw
and grist mill at their own expense
attended their counsels and gave them
such advice as might be needful fol
them in their intercourse with the
whites.
In 1926, the Shawnees of Missouri
exchanged their land on the Missis.
sippi river for a tract fifty miles square,
lying west of Missouri, on the Kansas
river: and received in addition, four.
teen thousand dollars for their i'm.
provements. 1t was also provided
that that part of the tribe remaining
in Ohio, were to be equal owners Of
the new country. These sold out In
1881. (the government paying them
s43. 900, and afterwards s66, ,OOO
more. and removed to Kansas soon
after; arriving in the middle of the
winter of 1928. 1t viii be seen at
once.t that a large body of people going
into new country without previous
preparation, must of necessity suffer
from want. This proved to be the
case with the Shawnees.
Soon after they arrived in their new
homss.. the Friends came again to