WAKE - The Treaty of Paris 1763 was signed between the French king and the English king ending the French and Indian War/Seven Year War in Indiana. The treaty awarded all French territories in North America east of the Mississippi to the Brits. That included Indiana for those of you who are geographically challenged. It was a horrific disaster for Pontiac’s “Indians First” movement. The Indians would no longer be able to pit the French humans against the English humans in North America.
WHAT - Looking in the rear view mirror of the period between 1763 and 1765 indicates the woeful British attempts to go down a negotiating rabbit hole with the Indians for peace. There were flare ups with the Indians led by Chief Pontiac. Many battles ensued with death counts and carnage increasing on both sides. The British couldn’t get their signal of peace to the Indians through the noise of war. The British over and under for success with the Indians was not good during this period.
WHY- That was until 1765 when the Brits hired George Croghan a fur trader and Indian negotiating blue chipper from Pennsylvania. Croghan became the OG Mac Daddy of Indian negotiators for the British. Croghan (an Irish bright) who had been trading with the Indians spoke their language and understood their culture. He brought down the firewall between the British and Indians.
WEAVE - He met with Pontiac and Indian leaders several times once at Fort Ouiatenon (Lafayette, IN) and then Fort Detroit. He convinced Pontiac’s entourage to go to New York to sign a peace treaty with his Indian Affairs boss to end the conflict. Pontiac agreed - went to New York in 1766 and signed the huge sell off “Peace Treaty” and came back to the banks of the Maumee River to what he thought would be an easy retirement. Pontiac’s polling numbers crashed. His fellow Indians were upside down furious with him. The Indians felt he had negotiated against their interest, and was a sellout taking money and gifts for himself from the British. The Indians accused him of selfishly throwing them and their lands under the bus even though he claimed not.
The British called on Pontiac one last time in 1769 to Fort Chartres to settle a local tribal dispute. He was tomahawked upside of the head to death by a Peoria Indian from - Peoria. An explosive coverup theory was the assassin was enlisted by the British to do the fatal deed because Pontiac was becoming a nettlesome issue (Pontiac Derangement Syndrome) with the Indians. The Brits thought Pontiac was harming the new found British/Indian relationship.
WARN - Pontiac was dead! But the genetic code of a conspiracy theory thrived among the Indians. What happened to the infamous George Croghan who had befriended Pontiac? Well, he became filthy rich and famous. The American Revolution for independence from British rule was about to begin after the Boston Massacre of 1770. Indiana readied for American settlers, but remained a hot zone with the Indians inspired by the British. It would continue for decadesThe end of Hoosieroon Podcast #21 thanks for listening. Cp
With the French gone and British in control of the forts a snarky British General named Amherst dropped a bomb on the Indians. He explained “No more free stuff. No free gifts, no powder, no booze. You Indians, your on your own baby.”
The Indians were triggered by the change. It started a cultopolitical (coined) struggle the Indians never had with the French. There would be unintended consequences.
The Ottawa, Chippewa, Huron, and Potawatomi around Detroit were also lit up and began to demonize the foreign devils. The English responded by increasing the price in beaver fur they charged the Indians for blankets, shirts, jewelry, knives, pans, and paint.
Meanwhile down in Ohio, a Delaware fire breathers hair was on fire, known as the Delaware Prophet . He was an Indian populist and nationalist who wanted to throw off the running dogs from England, and reclaim their land. The Ottawa war chief Pontiac listened to the Prophets nationalist preaching and declared “game on.”
It is now March 1736. The Chickasaw Indians who are allied with the English are disrupting the Mississippi River communication route between Quebec and New Orleans around south of what is now Memphis. Bienville ,the governor of Louisiana, devised a two prong North-South attack. He, Bienville, planned to march north from New Orleans and he ordered both Vincennes and the commandant from Fort de Chartres just south of St. Louis to march south rendezvousing near Toupelo Mississippi. Both were marching to a tortured death at the Battle of Ackia It was the beginning of the end of French influence and control in the region. In 1764 the French commandant left Vincennes. France eventually ceded all French lands east of the Mississippi in peace treaty of 1763. It ended the French and Indian War. It also doomed the free roaming way of life for the Indians in North America.
The 16th Century was quiet in Indiana after the Mississippian Indians left in 1500 A.D.. It wasn't until the mid 17th Century that new Indians began to drift into Indiana. French fur traders also appeared at that time. They used the Wabash River as vital connection between French Canada and The Gulf of Mexico up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.
The move from Vincennes to Corydon was supported by political opponents of William Henry Harrison and his political power base in Knox County. They reasoned that by moving the territorial capital southeast it could better serve the ever growing Hoosier population. The capital was moved in 1813. A constitutional convention was held and on December 11, 1816 Indiana became the 19th State in the Union.
Indiana Territory Capital Moves to Corydon
Indiana Consttutional Convention 1816
Indiana Joins the Union as the 19th State
The War of 1812 - 1815 was sparked some by the Battle of Tippecanoe . One of the main battles in Indiana was The Battle of Mississinewa in Grant County / Marion, Indiana.
Harrison attempts to break up the Indian Confederacy - 1811. The Indians attack and The Battle of Tippecanoe sets the clock back 20 years between the Americans and the Indians.
A short history reading from Howard Peckham's book Indiana - A History from Chapter 2 Hoosiers:Fighting Pioneers - and comments.
Topics: Anthony Wayne Takes Command of U.S. Army , Ft. Greene Ville, Ft. Defiance, Battle of Fallen Timbers, Treaty of Greenville, Indiana Territory Established
A short history reading from Howard Peckham's book Indiana - A History - Chapter 2 "Hoosiers Fighting Pioneers.
Little Turtle checks the westward migration of the American's in 1791 around the headwaters of the Wabash north of Ft. Jefferson in Ohio.
A short reading from Howard Peckham's book Indiana - A HistoryChapter 2 " Hoosiers-Fighting Pioneers"
Congress passes The land ordinance of 1787 created the Northwest Territory after the land ordinance of 1785 that surveyed the land.
A short reading from Howard Peckham's book Indiana - A History Chapter 2 "Hoosiers - Fighting Pioneers" . George Rogers Clark's early campaigns in the Northwest and Indiana.
A poem reading: John Finley's The Hoosier's Nest written about 1830 and published January 1, 1833, as the carrier's address (distributed as a New Year's greeting) in the Indianapolis Journal.
A short reading from Howard Peckham's book Indiana - A History Chapter 2 "Hoosiers:Fighting Pioneers". The French seed all Louisiana lands east of the Mississippi to the English - 1763.
A short reading from Howard Peckham's book Indiana-A History Chapter 2 "Hoosiers: Fighting Pioneers. The Indians, French, and English begin the establishment of settlements, towns and forts along Indiana's main rivers.
A short reading from Howard Peckham's book - Indiana A History Chapter 2 "Hoosiers:Fighting Pioneers" -
Archaic Period - Woodland Period - Mississippian Period
A short reading from Howard Peckham's book "Indiana - A History" from the end of Chapter 1.
A short reading from Howard Peckham's book "Indiana - A History" from Chapter 1
A short reading from a book written by Howard Peckham
Indiana -A History Chapter 1 "In the Beginning: the Word"
A short reading from Howard Peckham's Book "Indiana - A History. CXhapter 1 Pages 3 and 4.