Indiana taking Native American lands

9 Locations | Curated by Alex Haehner

To explorer Christopher Columbus and other Europeans, the lands of North America were rich in resources and perfect for exploitation. Colonies would be set up to take the wealth of this “new” continent and ship it back to Europe. Though to the millions of Native peoples these European peoples were at first a strange curiosity, they would soon prove a significant and growing threat to Indigenous ways of life. Europeans would continue to push further and further west, taking Native lands for their own use through war, threats, bribery, manipulation, and exploitation.

The official process used by Europeans to claim land were treaties, a formal agreement between two sovereign nations. Land treaties exchanged Native lands for payment, goods, an end to the fighting in a war, or even other lands elsewhere.

This tour showcases just some of the many treaty agreements made between the Native nations living in and around what would become the state of Indiana and the U.S. government. Ranging from 1795 to 1836, these treaties serve as examples of what many other treaties in and outside of Indiana looked like. Each stop will focus on not just the individual treaty but also longer-term impacts and how practices shown in one treaty were also used in others too.

The Treaty of Greenville, signed in 1795, was the result of a 10-year war between the United States and a loose alliance of Native American nations living in the Great Lakes region known as the Northwest Confederacy. The Confederacy included the Potawatomi, Shawnee, Miami, Wyandot, Cherokee,…
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The Treaty of Vincennes refers to two separate treaties. The first was signed in 1803 between the U.S. government and the Miami, Wea, and Shawnee nations. The second was in 1804 between the U.S. government and the Delaware and Piankeshaw nations. The first of the two treaties, signed in 1803,…
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The Treaty of Grouseland, signed in 1805, was between the U.S. government and the Miami nation. The treaty sold lands in southern and northeastern Indiana, as well as northwestern Ohio. The U.S. side was led by Indiana Territorial Governor (and later the 9th President) William Henry Harrison while…
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The Treaty of Fort Wayne, also known as the Twelve Mile Line Treaty or the Ten o’clock Line Treaty, was signed in 1809. It was an agreement between primarily the Delaware nation along with the Miami and Potawatomie nations and the U.S. government. Represented by Indiana Territorial Governor William…
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The Treaty of St. Mary’s, signed in 1818, is six separate treaties signed in September and October of that year. These separate treaties were signed with the Native Wyandot, Seneca, Shawnee, Ottawa, Wyandot, Potawatomi, Wea, Delaware, and Miami nations. They sold a large portion of land in the…
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The Treaty of Chicago refers to two treaties of the same name signed in the settlement that became the city of Chicago, Illinois. The agreement was made between the U.S. government and the Council of Three Fires; an alliance of the Ottawa, Chippewa and Potawatomi nations. The first Treaty of…
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The Treaty of the Wabash, also known as the Treaty of Mississinewas, was signed in 1826 between the Miami nation and the U.S. government. It included Michigan Road, one of the earliest roads in Indiana going from Michigan City in the northwest corner of the state through Indianapolis to Madison in…
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The Treaty of Tippecanoe, signed in 1832, was an agreement between the Potawatomi nation and the U.S. government. This treaty concerned Potawatomi lands in the northwestern part of Indiana. The Potawatomi nation was granted $100,000 in goods, payment of over $60,000 in debts, and yearly $20,000…
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The Treaty of Yellow River, signed in 1836 between the U.S. government and members of the Potawatomi nation, sold lands around the Yellow River in northern Indiana. This treaty is especially contentious as there was no unanimous decision amongst the Potawatomi to sign it. A total of 17 Potawatomi…
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