Indian Treaty of 1826 - Treaty Negotiations
Article by Historian, Carl Leiter
TREATY NEGOTIATIONS IN 1826. -- The Treaty Ground site is preserved in Wabash, Indiana, and has been made a city park. The famous "Treaty Springs" that spouted several feet near the base of a bluff on the north bank of the Wabash River at that site ceased to flow long ago, but a monument has been erected there with a plaque that reviews the significance of this site.
Monument with Plaque in Paradise Springs Park :
Paradise Springs Park is located at the very east end of Market Street in Wabash, at the north-south street named Allen. "Spring Street" also terminates above the site. This area was occupied by the shops of the Big Four railroad for many years, and a Conrail line still winds its way through the area on the north side of the Wabash River. Still, it is today a spacious tract occupied by replicas of Tipton's treaty ground cabins, and Wabash citizens still commemorate the famous 1826 treaty in late July periodically.
Historical Marker:
The men who reigned here as Treaty Commissioners have all three been dead more than a hundred fifty years and they are no longer the household names they were in 1826. Lewis Cass is commemorated most for having places named for him, for he once held high offices in the land, serving as Governor of Michigan from 1813 to 1831. He was the Secretary of War under Andrew Jackson and Secretary of State under James Buchanan. He ran for President of the United States three times, but never won. Eight counties were named for him across the land, as well as lakes, a river and a few towns. He is likely best-remembered locally as Cass County and Lewis Cass High School commemorate his name.
Both John Tipton and James B. Ray died fairly young, in their 50s, before getting major roles in national politics. John Tipton may be best remembered in central Indiana because Tipton County and its county seat were both named for him. Students of history likely remember him as a veteran of Indian wars in the pioneer period of our state, waging war against Tecumseh at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, and he did serve as a U.S. Senator from 1831 until his death in 1839. He was popular with Hoosiers for his ardent stand for better roads and canals as north-central Indiana was just being settled.
James B. Ray was Governor of Indiana from 1825 to 1831 and likewise may be best-known by students of history, for he was a youthful and colorful leader in state politics. He became governor through the resignation of two governors preceding him but was elected in his own right in 1828. Ray was quite boastful in the eyes of many and liked to sign hotel registers as "J. Brown Ray, Governor of Indiana and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof." But, like Tipton, he was an ardent supporter of new roads, canals and navigable waterways in Indiana, and his campaign for an Indian Treaty may have been the deciding factor in the Mississinewa Treaty at Paradise Springs.
Some idea of arrangements can be gathered from a letter Tipton wrote to Gov. Cass in July, 1826. He reported bids had been let for 40,000 lbs. of fresh beef, 10,000 lbs. of fresh pork and for 250 barrels of flour. This beef and pork would be brought to the grounds on the hoof and butchered as needed, complicating the proceedings more than modern conditions likely would. Also, the Sec. of War had been requisitioned for "50 muskets and bayonets Cartouch- boxes &c to be brought to and used, if necessary, at the Treaty..." He also had asked for a couple stands of "colors" and some "fixed ammunition" if they received the muskets asked for.
Tipton told Cass in his letter that he would provide for the Guard, notify the Indians and have all the preliminaries arranged by at least October 1st, 1826, and he took great pains to make the negotiations would be safe and orderly. He personally hired a group of twenty men to act as Treaty Guards. They were asked to sign an agreement to serve the Commissioners throughout the negotiations and promised to abide by the rules laid down, among them that they would not become intoxicated, woult not riot or be guilty of disorderly behavior on the Treaty Grounds. Also, they would stand guard night or day, perform scouts' marches and do any other duties necessary to preserve order during the negotiations, and would accept immediate dismissal without pay if they broke any of the rules, even for time already served.
On their part, Tipton promised the Treaty Guards each a good rifle or musket with powder and lead as well as a tent or a house for shelter when they were in Camp and they would also be fed sufficient rations of good, wholesome "Beef and Bread," or flour with salt and a gill (four ounces) of liquor per day. They would be paid at the close of the negotiations, and they could expect no less than fifty cents or more than a dollar a day. Eight of the Treaty Guards named in the agreement received $35 for their service during the forty days from September 17 through October 26, 1826. It is unclear as to the other twelve Treaty Guards who signed on in the original agreement.
Preparation for the negotiations included providing accommodations for the three commissioners and their employees, including the Treaty Guard. Secretary Ray recalled fifty years later that "A plot of ground was surveyed at the foot of the hill, probably 150 feet square, with a little rivulet from the spring running through the eastern part.
"Three log cabins were built on the north side of the square for the commissioners -- the most easterly one for Governor Ray, the middle one for General Cass, and that on the west for General Tipton himself. These buildings were probably thirty feet apart. One cabin was built on the west line of the square for the accommodation of the soldiers, and three or four on the south line for the storage and trading of goods. The cook house stood near the ravine in the northeast corner and the council house near the middle of the east side of the square. Thus the scenery was set for the treaties of October, 1826."
Replicas of the Treaty Ground cabins now located at Treaty Grounds original site:
The Indians, mostly Miamis from south of the Wabash and Pottawatomies from northern Indiana, camped on both sides of the river near the Treaty Grounds. According to the commissioners' secretary, "The Pottawatomies were present in numbers of several hundred from the north part of the state toward Lake Michigan, while the Miamis living along and beyond the Wabash under their chief, Richardville, were more limited in numbers, although much more familiar with the progress of the whites than the former tribe, who manifested much more of the wild and savage Indian temper.
He relates in his reminiscences how the Pottawatomies knew Cass and Tipton well, and had Indian names for them, but they didn't know Gov. Ray, and wanted to be introduced to him in a preliminary meeting. They were gathered around the council fire at the time, and when they were given the name "Ray" they shook their heads as though that name had no meaning for them. But William Conner of Conner Prairie was serving as an interpreter and he explained to the Indians that the Hoosier governor was named for the rays of light that come with the dawn, and they understood this. So they conferred among themselves a short while, then announced that Gov. Ray would be given the name "Wau-sa- augh" hereafter, and they then filled and lit a pipe of peace and passed it around for each one present to have a puff. This was one of the saner moments in council.
The commissioners had invited many Wea and Ottawa Indians along with the Miamis and Pottawatomies, for it was open to any who felt they had claim to any part of the region. The proceedings began September 15, 1826, and continued forty-two days, ending October 26th with the signing of the treaty. Droves of hogs and cattle were driven in and butchers were supplied in number. Dozens of supply wagons loaded with barrels of whiskey, flour and various staples as well as trade goods arrived in early September and vendors licensed to trade on the grounds beforehand set up their wares. The entire campround was alive day and night with a carnival-like atmosphere, feasting and drinking continuing by Indians and whites alike, all provided free of charge by the government. In all respects, it was a typical Indian treaty.
The treaty secretary recalled one particular night when things nearly got out of hand. He recalled, "On one night, not satisfied with their daily portion of liquor, several Indians tore off the stick chimney of the commissary cabin and, reaching the whiskey barrels, soon became in their phrase 'heap drunk,' after which liquor passed freely through the tribes...." Before morning drunken Indians armed with clubs and tomahawks were ranging freely through the camp, yelling and shouting for liquor, and they singled out Governor Ray's cabin door in particular, shouting 'Wau-sa-augh, whisk, whisk!' The interpreters and Treaty Guards, well armed, passed quietly through the camp, but took no action that might antagonize these Indians they were 'softening up' for a treaty.
But the next morning Gov. Cass, experienced in Indian treaties, convinced his fellow commissioners matters would get worse if this were permitted, so, as the treaty secretary recalled, they "...ordered the remaining barrels of whiskey to be rolled on the edge of the hillside, and the heads were broken in with an ax, while the Indians, in their thirst, running ahead and making dams with their hands to hold the liquor, scooped up the stream for a morning dram." But he said they ever afterward kept an eye on that soldier who "wielded the ax so effectively."
The Wabash River curves northward at the site of the treaty grounds, and the Indians entertained the commissioners with a few dances across the river, on the east side where they had cleared a "park" and prepared a "circular path for dancing" by stewing soft leaves for more comfort in their moccasins. Since it was at night and too dark to see well, the limbs of nearby trees had candles which the commissioners furnished placed and lit for light. Painted braves began dancing around the path, keeping time to a "rough drum" he was beating, and several Indian girls, also brightly painted, fell in behind him, doing the same.
Other dances included "war dances" and the braves would boast of the many scalps he had taken and would close his dance by hurling their tomahawks into the trunk of a tree. Secretary Ray noted that the Indian audience either clapped and cheered for some, but jeered at others who performed. The whites were shocked at the closing dance, called a "beggar dance," when an Indian brave burst into the circle, stark naked but covered from head to toe with thick mud which he managed from burying himself in the river muck close by. Even his eyelids seemed to be clotted by the thick mud. The white guests applauded these native shenanigans to show appreciation, strange as it may have seemed to them.
Negotiations were going on all the while, but never in full view between the commissioners on one hand and a full tribe on the other. Most decisions were made in small groups in the Council Hut which was located at the east side of the Treaty Square, or in the Indian camps, with only tribal representatives in on the discussions. Later they reported back to the major chiefs who passed judgment on each decision. It was noted that J.B. Richardville, the principal chief of the Miamis, never once appeared in discussions with the commissioners, but rendered his weighty opinion later in the company of his tribal headmen. This seemed most unusual to the Treaty Secretary.