The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-02-05
THE WABASH TERRITORY
4 BIT OF THE EARLY HISTORY or
WHAT WAS A DEBATABLE LAND.
Indians, French, English and Spanish
Were Cleared Away 10 Make Ready
for Actors in a New Drama.

1
i" oovery by La Sale in 1871, at which time
it became part Of New France, down 10
the period Of its first settlement by the adj
vance guard of hardy American pioneers.
was regarded as debatabe ground and for
nearly two centuries was subjected to all
the vicissitudes incident to struggle OF
| four successive as well as determined con-
testants and whose final destiny was De-
termined by the arbitrary decree of that in
exorable law Of ''the survival of the fttest."
While the early history of Indiana, in so
far as it concerns the white man, centers
largely about the portions bordering Oh the
Wabash and Ohio rivers. it is with that
region lying along the former stream we
have most to do at present.
The entire region traversed by the Wabash
from its source to its junction with the Ohio
| embraces an area of 31,500 square miles, and
is one of marvellous fertility. Sir Charles
Lyell. in his Second Visit to the United
States" says concerning Indiana: "The
northern part of the State is deeply COW
cred with drift. The greater part Of the
State was covered with drift during the
glacial period but small area in the south
west and west bounded by a line extending
fran Charlestown, Clark county, northwest
and west. around Martinsville, Morgan
mony Posey county, was not visited by
| ice" DR.. David Dale Owen, in his geologi-
cal report for 1887, also says: Indiana is
situated near the great valley of Northwest
| America and far distant from the primitive
range Of mountains; her soil is accordingly
| formed for the destruction of the vast va
| riety of rocks, both crystalline and sedi-
mentary, which have been divided and in
timately blended together by the action Of
| air and water. 1t has all the elements, there
fore, Of extraordinary fertility"
AS to the primitive man and his doings
| upon Indiana soil before the advent of the
white man, we ere left largely to conjecture
and speculation but we do know that the
red mans ideas of right were frequently
based on might, and that there was a pretty
| general shifting about of tribes from first
to last. The stronger tribes conquered the
weaker, and disposed of them as they saw
fit Thus the Five Nations, after conquering
the Lenni Lenapes, dubbed them "won-
en-" which, of course, put them on a peace
footing, and through this "open door, Will
lam Penn entered and purchased lands Of,
and made treaties with, a people who
seemed very dociIe as well as friendly.
Remnants of tribes were often incorporated
with their conquerors or driven westward
and passed from tribe to tribe like prisoners
| passing to the during a great battle
| until they were forced by stern necessity to
settle in some arid region and to keep off
the grass which their more powerful neigh
bors claimed.
But when the noble red man. finally
came in contact with the white mans civili-
cation, he could not bring himself to adopt
it. To him that civilization was light too
glazing and he withered before it and so
there was nothing he could do but move
on and make room for filter as we'll as
| superior race.
When our forefathers first heard of In-
diana Territory. the AIiamis claimed juris-
diction over it, but they generously allowed
their knsmen, the Piakishaws and soma
other minor tribes and remnants of tribes,
such the Pottawatomies. Delawares.
Weas, Shawnees, Kickapoos and some
others to occupy certain portions. but they
| were exceedingly suspicious of Americans
! whose genius for territorial expansion seems
| to have been in blossom about that time.
| AS to the Frenchman, his plant and plastic
temper rendered him a very different sort
of being from the stubborn Englshman or
| the pushing, energetic American, so that he
| cannot be regarded as a very positive ele-
ment in the settlement and development OF
| the country.
AN INDIAN RELIC.
Doubtless the Mamis had only tenta-
tive hold upon the territory since they were
conquered in 1857 by that scourge and terror
Of all the tribes Of the central West-ths
Iroquois These Indians had conquered the
Hurons and Ottawas and at last came to
regard themselves as tnvincible. But they
were not always destined to reap an easy
victory and occasionally met "foemen
worthy Of their STEEL At Bone Bank, on
the lower Wabash, in Posey county, there
are remains of a large Indian burial ground
Mr.. Henry r. Schoolcraft, the noted ethno-
ogist, visited the bank in 1921 and found
a great deal to call forth speculative in
quiries. He finally concluded there must
have been at that spot perhaps century
or so ago. a last desperate struggle between
the savage inhabitant of the lower Wa
bash and the five nations of New York and
that the former were virtually extermin-
ated, but with great loss to their assailants.
AS early as 1888. when the present North
west Territory was ceded to the English,
Indian hatred towards the frontier settlers
or 'long knives. was very marked. The
first formidable conspiracy against the
whites was matured by Pontiac and was
far-reaching and for a time threatened the
utter ruin of the few settlers scattered along
broke out which tended TO unsettle every
thing. General Wilkinson's attack upon the
Indians at the mouth of the Tippecanoa
stilled the rising tempest for a time, but it
was reserved to Mad" Anthony Wayne,
in 1893. to punish the arrogance Of the IN
dams of the Northwest and bring them into
submission to the authority of the United
States government For several years after
this chastisement there was comparative
quiet on the border. But when certain tribes
began to eede their lands to the whites the
smoldering embers of discomfort were
famed into flame and the Indians began
to- make forays upon the frontier settle
ments and soon the contest developed into a
life and death struggle. In one Of the in-
cursions which the Kentuckians made north
of the Ohio river they came across a little
band of Indians and perhaps thinking thai
all the good Indians were dead made a spsr-
tied attack upon them. The Indians. who
were Piankishaws. were greatly grieved at
this wanton attack. since they always prided
themselves upon their loyalty TO the goV-
eminent of the United States.
Thus matters went from bad to worse.