Re: N.A./Black relations befo...
nlclark@aol.com
Thu, 2 Mar 1995 08:52:50 -0500
Greetings. I'm providing some information concerning the Miami Indians and
Blacks. Miami War Chief Little Turtle and his Miami Confederacy made raids
into Kentucky during the 1780s and 1790s. Oral history has it that Little
Turtle didn't like to see people being enslaved and mistreated, so he capture
the blacks and bring them back to his village at Kekeonga (present day Fort
Wayne, Indiana).
There, the blacks lived with the Miami Indians.
Little Turtle died in 1812, and left a will because of all the property he
had acquired through the treaty process. In his will, he bequeathed these
black people to his daughters and son-in-law. No one has been able to do
research to find out exactly what the situation was. Since he captured them
and brought them back to Fort Wayne, the way he handled it in his will may
have just been his way of making certain that his family was going to insure
their continued freedom. There is nothing in the written record to indicate
that they were used as slaves by Little Turtle and there is no written record
of what happened to them after Little Turtle's death. No one has really done
any research on the matter. Some of the documentation is at the Allen
County-Fort Wayne Historical Library, 302 E. Berry St., Fort Wayne, IN 46802
219-426-2882 and more is in the National Archives with all of the Miami-U.
S. Government papers. Good luck with your search. Nick Clark, Minnetrista
Council for Great Lakes Native American Studies, P. O. Box 1527, Muncie, IN
47304 1-800-428-5887.