Shawnee Indians - Kansas Historical Society

Shawnee Indians - Kansas Historical Society

Originally from the southern states of Tennessee and South Carolina, the Shawnee Indians moved often before the first group arrived in the Wyandotte and Johnson County area.

In 1825, the Shawnee living near Cape Girardeau, Missouri, were removed from their homes by the United States government and given a tract of land south of the Kansas River and west of the Missouri River. Relocation began in 1826. The 1.6 million acre reservation extended west for many miles, but the Shawnee chose to occupy only a small portion. Few lived west of Lawrence, and the majority remained in Wyandotte and Johnson counties. Their numbers grew when Shawnee from Ohio began arriving later that year.

Item Number: 208379
Call Number: E99 S35.I Pro *2
Holding Institution: Tenskwatawa, The original painting is housed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

The spiritual leader Tensquatawa, the Shawnee Prophet, was among the Ohio Shawnee, arriving in 1828. In the early 1800s, Tensquatawa, the younger brother of Shawnee leader Tecumseh, had encouraged an alliance of all Indians against the American encroachment and preached that tribal leaders did not have the right to sign away tribal lands. His message caught on with young members of the tribe, and he developed a substantial following. In 1808 he established a village in Indiana called Prophetstown, and it thrived for three years. When Tensquatawa moved to Kansas, he established a new Prophetstown near the present South 26th Street and Woodend Avenue in Kansas City. His high regard with the Shawnee, however, had waned, and Tensquatawa never regained his status; the new town did not prosper. In the early 1830s he moved to a small cabin near a spring in the present Argentine area of Kansas City, where he died in 1837.

In 1854 the U.S. government reduced the Kansas reservation to 160,000 acres and parceled out the rest of the land in 200 acre allotments. Susan White Feather purchased the property near the spring that was formerly occupied by Tensquatawa, and the site became known as White Feather Spring, the final resting place of the Shawnee Prophet.

During and after the Civil War, white settlers antagonized the Shawnee and a great many were ready to move on by the late 1860s. Some remained on the Kansas reservation, but most of the Shawnee relocated to a Cherokee reservation in Oklahoma.

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Entry: Shawnee Indians
Author: Kansas Historical Society
Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.
Date Created: July 2015
Date Modified: December 2015

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The Treaty of Fort Wayne (1809)

The Treaty of Fort Wayne (1809)

Tecumseh's War
The two principal adversaries in the conflict, chief Tecumseh and American politician William Henry Harrison, had both been junior participants in the Battle of Fallen Timbers at the close of the Northwest Indian Wars in 1794. Tecumseh was not among the Native American signers of the Treaty of Greenville, which had ended the war, when the Shawnee and other Native Americans ceded much of their historic territory in present-day Ohio to the United States. However, many Indian leaders in the region accepted the Greenville terms, and for the next ten years pan-tribal resistance to American hegemony faded.

The Treaty of Fort Wayne, sometimes called the Ten O'clock Line Treaty or the Twelve Mile Line Treaty, is an 1809 treaty that obtained 3,000,000 acres (approximately 12,000 km²) of American Indian land for the white settlers of Illinois and Indiana. The tribes involved were the Delaware, Eel River, Miami tribe, and Potawatomi in the initial negotiations; later Kickapoo and the Wea, who were the primary inhabitants of the region being sold. The negotiations did not include the Shawnee who were minor inhabitants of the area purchased and had been asked to leave the area previously by Miami War Chief Little Turtle. Territorial Governor William Henry Harrison negotiated the treaty with the tribes. The treaty led to a war with the United States began by Shawnee leader Tecumseh and other dissenting tribesmen in what came to be called "Tecumseh's War".

Tecumseh was outraged by the Treaty of Fort Wayne, believing that American Indian land was owned in common by all tribes, an idea advocated in previous years by the Shawnee leader Blue Jacket and the Mohawk leader Joseph Brant.^[30] In response, Tecumseh began to expand on the teachings of his brother, known as The Prophet, who called for the tribes to return to their ancestral ways. He began to associate the teachings with the idea of a pan-tribal alliance. Tecumseh traveled widely, urging warriors to abandon the accommodationist chiefs and to join the resistance at Prophetstown.^[30]

Negotiations

The treaty also has two nicknames, the "Ten O'clock Line Treaty of 1809" and the "Twelve Mile Line Treaty". The first nickname comes from tradition that says the Native Americans did not trust the surveyors' equipment, so a spear was thrown down at ten o'clock and the shadow became the treaty line. There are other myths that say it was either a tree or a fence that was used. The Twelve Mile Line was a reference to the Greenville Treaty and the establishment of a new 'line' parallel to it but twelve miles further west.

In 1809 Harrison began to push for a treaty to open more land for settlement. The Miami, Wea, and Kickapoo were "vehemently" opposed to selling any more land around the Wabash River.^[1] In order to influence those groups to sell the land, Harrison decided, against the wishes of President James Madison, to first conclude a treaty with the tribes willing to sell and use them to help influence those who held out. In September 1809 he invited the Pottawatomie, Lenape, Eel Rivers, and the Miami to a meeting in Fort Wayne. In the negotiations Harrison promised large subsidies and payments to the tribes if they would cede the lands he was asking for.^[2]

 

Only the Miami opposed the treaty. They presented their copy of the Treaty of Greenville and read the section that guaranteed their possession of the lands around the Wabash River. They then explained the history of the region and how they had invited the Wea and other tribes to settle in their territory as friends. The Miami were concerned the Wea leaders were not present, although they were the primary inhabitants of the land being sold. The Miami also wanted any new land sales to be paid for by the acre, and not by the tract. Harrison agreed to make the treaty's acceptance contingent on approval by the Wea and other tribes in the territory being purchased, but he refused to purchase land by the acre. He countered that it was better for the tribes to sell the land in tracts so as to prevent the Americans from only purchasing their best lands by the acre and leaving them only poor land to live on.^[2]

After two weeks of negotiating, the Pottawatomie leaders convinced the Miami to accept the treaty as reciprocity to the Pottawatomie who had earlier accepted treaties less advantageous to them at the request of the Miami. Finally the Treaty of Fort Wayne was signed on September 29, 1809, selling United States over 3,000,000 acres (approximately 12,000 km²), chiefly along the Wabash River north of Vincennes.^[2] During the winter months, Harrison was able to obtain the acceptance of the Wea by offering them a large subsidy and the help of Miami Chief Pacanne who helped to influence the Wea leaders. The Kickapoo were closely allied with the Shawnee at Prophetstown and Harrison feared they would be difficult to sway. He offered the Wea an increased subsidy if the Kickapoo would also accept the treaty, causing the Wea to pressure the Kickapoo leaders to accept. By the spring of 1810 Harrison had completed negotiations and the treaty was finalized.^[3]

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Shawnee Traditions By C.C. Trowbridge

Shownese Traditions. C. C. TROWBRIDGE, Edited by VERNON KLNIETZ and ERMINIE W. VOEGELIN. (Occasional Contributions from the Museum of Anthropology of the University of Michigan, No. 9, 71 pp. Ann Arbor, 1939.) 

Excerpt:
This volume is the second to be published of the early nineteenth century manuscripts of C. C. Trowbridge on the ethnology of the tribes of the old Northwest.' Trowbridge as the secretary of Governor Lewis Cass, for whom he collected information on the manners and traditions of the natives of the Great Lakes and the Ohio Valley.

The accounts of the Shawnee are two in number, the originals having only recently been found in the possession of Trowbridge's Grandson, Mr Sydney Trowbridge Miller of Detroit. One account was taken down in July 1824 at an interview near Detroit with the notable Shawnee, the Prophet; the other and shorter account being written in 1825 at the Shawnee Reservation at Wapakoneta, Ohio, from the mouth of the aged chief, Black Hoof.

The text is a faithful verbatim copy of the manuscript. This publication contains a wealth of very valuable ethnological information and much historical data of importance. It is excellently edited, here being an appropriate introduction by Dr Erminie Voegelin, and the book is adequately annotated with illuminating footnotes, marked for their ethnological and historical accuracy. The authoritative weight of the book is augmented by the fact the Shawnee informants were among the best obtainable. The Prophet wa? the brother of the famous Shawnee leader, Tecumseh, and himself a shaman with the sanction of supernatural revelations, and the pre-eminent champion and exponent of cultural conservatism among the tribes of the then Northwest. Both belonged to the KiSpoko division of the Shawnee. The other informant, Black Hoof, then in his nineties, was a prominent Shawnee warrior and chief, probably belonging to the Oawikila division.

Brief mention should be made of some of the more salient features of the volume. Elderly matrons or “peace women” could appeal to the war chiefs to stop warfare and prevent the unnecessary effusion of blood (p. 12), a trait also found in more or less modified form among the Delaware, Iroquois and Penobscot. There is a most impressive complete list of the thirty-four patrilineal sibs or gentes of the Shawnee tribe (pp. 16-17), many of which were at that time extinct (1824). Nine of these are to be found in Lewis H. Morgan’s list of Shawnee gentes collected in 1860 in Kansas. The Shawnee can be viewed as an enclave of Central Algonkian patrilineal descent persisting in an area dominated by mother-right in the form of the southern and eastern tribes among whom they wandered and lived so long. Some specific functions of the gentes are mentioned. The war chief was always a member of the Panther gens; and warriors of the Panther gens always followed at the rear of the party in returning from the warpath, while warriors of the Wolf gens led at the head (p. 19). The guardians of the sacred fire were two men, one of the Panther gens and one of the Turtle gens, one belonging to the CalakaaOa (Chillicothe) and one to the Mekore division (p.56). The sacred fire complex is a Characteristic Southeastern cultural trait which the Shawnee probably adopted during their long period of southern residence. Pyrolatry reached its fullest development among the Creek, Natchez and Taensa, but undoubtedly extended to other groups in more or less attenuated form. A Shawnee version of the primeval deluge or Earth-diver tale is given (p. 60) in which the crawfish is the animal agent, which is in agreement with the Southeastern and Gulf tribes (Creek, Yuchi, etc.), in contrast to most Central Algonkian tribes who have the muskrat as the animal helper. Of considerable interest is the cannibal or anthropophagic society of the Shawnee which is found also among the Miami and Kickapoo. Male and female members of the society were admitted by hereditary descent, and all belonged to the Pekowi (Piqua) division of Shawnee. The heads of the society were four women who claimed all the prisoners of war they could seize, the unfortunates subsequently being burned alive and eaten by the society (pp. 53-4, p. 64). The Shawnee make offerings of tobacco to their grandfathers, the snakes, upon their appearance every spring (pp. 42,48) in contradistinction to the practice of other Algonkian tribes. The Penobscot, Delaware, Sauk and Fox, all make offerings to their grandfathers, the Thunderers, when a storm approaches by casting tobacco in the fire, the Thunderers being the traditional enemies of all serpents and water monsters.However, the Fox are on record for making offerings of tobacco to both serpents and Thunderers.

It is a matter of note that in tabulating the cultural elements of a society, negative findings are equally important. Some specific denials for the Shawnee are found in the absence of wampum commemorative and record belts (p. 9), the lack of an organized medicine society such as occurred among the Ojibwa and Iroquois (p. 38), and the absence of transvestism (p.65), which is reported to have been present among the Delaware, Miami, and Potawatomi, and is known in the Southwest among the Navaho, Zuni, etc. No doubt this book will serve to fill many lacunae when the final detailed portrayal of Shawnee ethnology is presented by Drs Charles and Erminie Voegelin. Criticism is uncalled for, beyond stating that an index would have enhanced the usefulness of the volume.

MERION, PENNSYLVANIA FRANK T, SIEBERT, JR

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Shawnee Ceremonial Dance: Fall Bread Dance

Shawnee Ceremonial Dance: Fall Bread Dance

 

As with other Indian Nations, Shawnee ritual was expressed most publicly in their dances.  The Shawnee ritual year opened with the Spring Bread Dance and closed with the Fall Bread Dance.  Some Shawnee groups had a Green Corn Dance, but it was not the beginning of the ritual year as in other northeastern or southeastern woodland groups. It was rather related to the first ripening of the corn in early summer.  In keeping with its basic subsistence pattern of hunting and gathering, the Shawnee moons were related to this aspect of their annual cycle rather than to planting, weeding and harvesting of the maize crop.

Sources:

Erminie-Wheeler Voegelin with a cover letter letter to Frank Speck, signed by Carl and Erminie Voegelin.  572.97 Sp3 in the Frank G. Speck Papers, APS III. Northeast, E.  Miscellaneous Tribes, 2. Shawnee, c. Shawnee Dances (Freeman Guide, 3649).  CFV undoubtedly did the eliciting of the terms and EWV the ethnological descriptions.  The cover letter is dated July 15, 1934 at 332 Kickapoo St., Shawnee, Oklahoma. 

Invaluable as well are dances listed by Lewis Henry Morgon during his fieldwork in Kansas 

among the Shawnee in 1859-60.  His source was Blue Jacket. The Shawnee Prophet, in 

Shawnee Traditions by Trowbridge (1824) lists some dances as well. In the discussion of

Shawnee ritual, James H. Howard's contributions to Shawnee Ceremonies, in Shawnee!, 

will be fully utilized.

Fall Bread Dance:

Tak'wanekaawe

Prophet: Tuhkoakaawaa "is a dance performed by women. It is danced for amusement only.  This peculiarity and the custom of the women to  join the man in singing are its only characteristics. The dancers form a line, fronting the man who sings, and they join him in singing a kind of prelude, which continues some minutes, when they commence, the man singing alone, and dance around in a circular manner."

Erminie-Wheeler Voegelin "Season for all dances closes with this, a night dance of amusement following the same evening of the Bread Dance and being the last such until the next spring. A night dance follows immediately after dark on the same day that the Bread Dance is danced; this closes the season for night dances of amusement.  No dances given after that until the Spring Bread Dance."

Learn more and view the full collection of Frank Gouldsmith Speck Papers and Background:

http://amphilsoc.org/collections/view?docId=ead/Mss.Ms.Coll.126-ead.xml 

http://amphilsoc.org/collections/view?docId=ead/Mss.Ms.Coll.126-ead.xml#d66274198e10681583665152 

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