Early Indiana to 1779
Thousands of years before Christopher Columbus stumbled upon the Americas which led the way to North America for the Europeans, an ancient race of people lived in North America. These people were the ancestors of the Indians. Along with the native peoples that lived around the Great Lakes area large animals roamed. One of these prehistoric animals was the mammoth (sometimes referred to as the Woolly Mammoth) which looked like a modern day elephant. There was also giant bison which were very similar to today’s bison. In addition, there were large wolves, saber-toothed tigers, bears and beavers.
The first people who lived in what would later become Indiana were hunters of these (and other) animals. They cooked their food over open fires and used the skins of animals for clothing and shelter. As time went on hunting and gathering among the Indians changed. They began to hunt smaller animals such as deer and rabbits. To do so they had to change their weapons. Small spearheads were used in place of large spearheads. Eventually the bow and arrow was invented because it was easier to hunt small, quick animals. The Indians used the lakes, rivers and streams of Indiana to fish for food. Sometimes shellfish and mussels were eaten and the Indians threw away the shells. These shells are found by archaeologists even today and provide a glimpse into the everyday life of early Indiana residents. Scientists have also discovered that the Indians ate deer, bear, turtles and water fowl. They also collected berries, apples and nuts from the forest in which they lived. Indians learned that if they placed seeds into the soil these seeds would grow into plants. This is the beginning of farming. They paid very close attention to the seeds that they were planting which would grow to feed their tribe (or group). Indian farmers turned wild plants into foods which we have today: corn, pumpkins, beets, squash and tomatoes. Around this time in Indiana history the Indians learned to create pottery and baskets. And because they were able to grow their own food, they started to live together in small communities or villages. Once you have a stable food supply you do not have to travel around every season. European Exploration and Recent Indian Tribes
French Fur Trading and Forts in Indiana
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Since the search for food was now not an all day, every day event, Indians spent more time becoming skilled at a certain craft. Some Indians became very skilled at making better and sharper arrowheads. Others started to make things from copper. When an Indian (or whole village) became skilled at one craft they sometimes exchanged their craft with products from other villages. This became known at trading. Trading is the selling or exchange of products.
Indians that traded with other Indians would not only gain a specific product, but would share ideas and customs. One idea that was popular among Indians in Indiana was mound building. A mound was a hill that consisted of built up earth and stone. The Indians that learned this custom are referred to as Mound Builders. Mound Builder The first mounds that Indians constructed within Indiana were burial mounds. A mound was built to house the body (or bodies) of the mound building Indians. The bodies were usually decorated with products the Indians had traded from other villages (sometimes as far away as the Rocky Mountains). The mounds’ function evolved from a burial chamber to a flat-topped mound in which a large building was placed on top. This was possibly the home of an important Indian within his tribe.
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The English in Indiana
In the 1600s English settlers along the Atlantic coast began to travel to the western edges of New France (and Louisiana). The English, typically, were not content on trading with the Indians for a career. They began to enter the Ohio Valley in the early 1700s. In response, the French sent the soldier Celoron de Bienville into the Ohio Valley to drive the English out.
Celoron met with the Indian tribes in the Ohio Valley area and told them that they must trade only with the French. Any tribes who traded with the English were subject to attack from the French military. Celoron and his soldiers captured several English fur traders and told them to leave and stay on the east side of the Appalachian Mountains.
In addition, Celoron wrote letters to the governors of Pennsylvania and New York informing the governors to keep their English citizens out of the Ohio Valley. The English ignored the warnings and banishments and continued to travel into the Ohio Valley. The English told the Indians that the valley belong to them and not the French. English traders also told the Indians that they would attack them if they caught them trading with the French. The Indians were caught in a no-win situation.
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The French and Indian War
The conflict between the English and French finally erupted into a war in 1755. Indians fought on both sides of this war even though a large portion of Indians fought on the side of the French. This was is known as the French and Indian War. Even though the French had the help of a larger portion of Indians, they still managed to loose the war. The English colonies along the east coast had more people and more supplies immediately available to soldiers. At this time the population of the English colonies was around 2 million people while the French living in North American only numbered around 60,000 people. The war finally ended in 1763. Both France and England signed a treaty called the Treaty of Paris. In this treaty, France gave England both Canada and the French held lands east of the Mississippi River. This treaty gave the English control of what is now Indiana. As a result of the French and Indian War, the king of England issued a proclamation forbidding any English colonist from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains. The main benefit of this was that the Indians, now pleased that the king was keeping new settlers from trespassing on their lands, began to trade solely with the English. |
Americans in Indiana
American colonists had helped the British defeat the French during the French and Indian War. Now, the American colonists wanted to be free to settle west of the Appalachian Mountains into the Ohio Valley. However, they were forbidden by the king of England to migrate west and this elevated the anger of the colonists. Around the same time the English Parliament began to tax the colonists in America. The anger of the American settlers was now stirred.
A decision was made by a majority of colonists to fight for their independence from England. This conflict was, of course, the American Revolution of 1775. Even though the war began in 1775 it wasn’t until July 4, 1776, when it was formally written in the Declaration of Independence that we were a new, separate nation.
George Rogers Clark
The future state of Indiana’s contribution to the American Revolution revolves around George Rogers Clark. Clark was born in the colony of Virginia in 1752. When he was 19 years old he left Virginia to settle in the Ohio Valley. While he was living in the Ohio Valley he began to survey the land. Surveying was important so that land could be mapped and eventually sold. George Rogers Clark explored and surveyed both sides of the Ohio River. He had settled and became one of the first pioneer settlers of the state of Kentucky. When the American Revolution broke out Clark worried that there would be no way to drive the English out of the Ohio Valley, even though they might have been driven out of the east coast colonies. There was also another, more important reason to attack the English in the Ohio Valley region. The commander of the English army, Henry Hamilton, was paying Indians to kill American settlers. In 1777 George Rogers Clark traveled to Virginia to meet with governor Patrick Henry. Clark asked Governor Henry to let him lead a secret mission to attack Hamilton and English forts throughout the Ohio Valley. Governor Henry agreed and gave Clark financial support for the venture. Clark raised a small army of about 150 pioneer farmers. They had no military uniforms, only the animal skinned clothes they usually wore. The small army of men only had short-handled axes, Kentucky long rifles and knives, normal household equipment for men living on the frontier. After traveling down river on the Ohio, they reached the Falls of the Ohio River. This is where modern-day Jeffersonville, Indiana, is located. At the falls more men met up with Clark’s army. His army now had 200 men. On June 26, 1778, they stopped 50 miles from the Mississippi River and left their boats. They started out on foot towards the town of Kaskaskia, on the Mississippi River. On July 3rd Clark and his men sneaked into the fort at Kaskaskia and captured it without firing a shot. Clark then learned that there were no English occupying the fort at Vincennes. He met with the French settlers around Kaskaskia and they agreed to help Clark if he promised them freedom of religion. In the winter of 1779 Clark and his growing army marched through frozen swamps and marshes to the fort at Vincennes. An American flag was soon raised over the fort at Vincennes (Clark named it Fort Patrick Henry). Meanwhile at Fort Detroit, Henry Hamilton heard about George Rogers Clark’s exploits and decided that he might try to march upon the fort at Detroit. It was necessary, he decided, to fight the American force based at Vincennes. |
Hamilton led his troops from Fort Detroit toward Vincennes. They traveled up river on the Maumee River from Lake Erie and then down river on the Wabash River towards Vincennes. By December of 1778, Hamilton and his English army had captured the fort at Vincennes without firing a shot. Henry Hamilton renamed it Fort Sackville.
Clark wanted that fort back into American hands, but decided that he couldn’t engage in a regular military battle with the English, he just didn’t have enough men to complete that kind of task. So he decided to use a very powerful and decisive maneuver-surprise! In February of 1779, Clark and his 180 men once again began marching eastward from Kaskaskia toward Vincennes. The weather was cold and miserable with most of the land they were crossing flooded or frozen. The men were forced to sleep in the shallowest pools of water they could find. George Rogers Clark did his best at keeping the spirits of his men high. They were only about 20 miles from Vincennes when the water became waist-high. The group couldn’t hunt for food, couldn’t cook and, soon, they became weak from hunger. It wasn’t long before the water became chin-high! Clark’s men started to grumble amongst themselves and wanted to stop. It is supposedly recorded that Clark plunged ahead, shouted to his men to follow him and began singing “Yankee Doodle.” The weary group soon found themselves 2 miles from Vincennes perched upon a small piece of dry land. After huddling around a fire and drying out their clothes, they set out for Vincennes. When Clark’s army reached Vincennes they marched down the streets of the city. As night fell, Clark and his men made their way to Fort Sackville and began to construct ditches and walls for protection. When the sun came up, the English inside Fort Sackville began to fire upon Clark and his men. Being excellent riflemen and hunters, Clark’s men began to pick off the English gunners one by one. Henry Hamilton, knowing it was only a matter of time before he was beaten, decided to surrender to Clark. The capture of Fort Sackville at Vincennes gave the Americans control of the Ohio Valley. When the American Revolution ended in 1783, the United States gained all of the land west of the Appalachian Mountains. You can visit the George Rogers Clark memorial. |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_and_Indian_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Salle_Expeditions
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http://mrnussbaum.com/explorers/robert_sieur_de_la_salle/