Hoosier Dusty Files - October 03, 1818 - October 3, 1818 Delaware Indians Sign the Treaty of St. Mary’s

A Year of Indiana History - 2016
A Year of Indiana History - 2016

October 03, 1818 - October 3, 1818 Delaware Indians Sign the Treaty of St. Mary’s
On October 3, 1818, the Chief William Anderson of the Delaware tribe signed a treaty with the United States at Saint Mary's, Ohio, agreeing to move the tribe out of the state of Indiana.
Chief William Anderson (Mid 1750's - October 1831)
The son of a Swedish ferry operator John Anderson and the daughter of Delaware Chief Netewatwees, William was native to the area around Anderson's Ferry, Pennsylvania along the Susquehanna River. His parents named the boy Kikthawenund, "Creaking boughs," in Delaware. His father gave him the English name William. His mother's name is lost to history.
The Delaware
During these years, the Delaware had three clans, each with its own dialect of the language. These clans were the Unami (Turtle), Unalachtgo (Turkey) and Minsi (Wolf). The animal names represented the protective totem for the tribe. Anderson's mother was a member of the Unalachtgo tribe and passed this heritage to her son, William. The various Indian wars gradually drove the Delaware from their homes in Pennsylvania to Ohio. The Northwest Indian Wars forced them from Ohio, and by terms of the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, of which Anderson was a signatory, the tribe moved into east central Indiana. They occupied the area that is now Anderson, Indiana around 1798. Anderson married twice; his first wife birthed at least two sons before she died. History has not recorded her name. Anderson later married a Delaware girl named  Ahkechlungunaqua. The couple would have three children, two sons Sarcoxie and Sosecum and a daughter, Mekingees. Mekingees would marry early central Indiana resident John Connor. He would become chief of the Unalachtgo Delaware in 1806.
Continued Conflict
The Indiana Territory was no haven for the tribe. The Shawnee chief Tecumseh began his movement during the early years of the Nineteenth Century. He visited tribes all over Indiana and into the American Southeast in his drive to form a great confederacy to drive the whites away. Anderson refused to bring the Delaware into this confederacy. William Henry Harrison defeated the forces of Tecumseh at the Battle of Tippecanoe on November 7, 1811, crippleing the confederacy. The collapse wrought disaster on the remaining tribes. The Delaware vacated their town on the White River in 1811 for Piqua, Ohio.. Americans burned Anderson's village along the White River in 1813. The tribe returned in 1813 to rebuild the burned town. However, the whites encroached on the area, bringing alcohol with them. The Delaware, with no hunting or farming lands to acquire food, lived in abject poverty and starvation. Alcohol became a major affliction.
Expelling the Tribes
James Monroe became president in 1817 and initiated a policy of moving the Indian tribes out of the East and relocating them west of the Mississippi River. To complete this policy, several treaties would have to be signed between the various tribes. Negotiations began between the Pottawattamie, Delaware, Miami, Wea and other tribes. Jonathan Jennings, Lewis Cass, and Benjamin Parke acting as representatives of the United States signed a treaty with the Delaware nation on October 3, 1818. Chief William Anderson, representing the Delaware, signed the treaty on October 3, agreeing to move the tribe out of Indiana to lands west of the Mississippi River within three years. The United States Government agreed to give the Delaware the horses and boats to move out of the state. The treaty also granted the tribe a flat payment of $13,312.20 as well as annual payments of $4000 in silver. The Delaware thus ceded almost six million acres of land.
Refuge
The move brought the tribe to southwest Missouri.  Anderson hoped to find a peaceful refuge for his tribe. He failed to find it. The tribe moved several times during the remainder of his life. He would die near Bonner Springs, Wyandotte County, Kansas.

It is fun to experience Indiana's rich history. The easy to read “this day in history format” of the Hoosier Dusty Files makes it easy for readers to learn the history of the Hoosier state The author has excerpted articles his "A Year in Indiana History" book. . Visitors may read the articles as they appear or purchase the book:
A Year of Indiana History - 2016
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