Pacanne
Encyclopedia
Tacumwah
Tacumwah , alternate spelling "Taucumwah", aka Marie-Louise Pacanne Richerville , was a businesswoman and prominent chieftess of the Miami tribe. She was the sister of Pacanne, a leading Miami chief, and the mother of Chief Jean Baptiste Richardville...
, who was the mother of Chief Jean Baptiste Richardville. Their family owned and controlled the Long Portage, an 8 mile strip of land between the Maumee
Maumee River
The Maumee River is a river in northwestern Ohio and northeastern Indiana in the United States. It is formed at Fort Wayne, Indiana by the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Marys rivers, and meanders northeastwardly for through an agricultural region of glacial moraines before flowing into the...
and Wabash
Wabash River
The Wabash River is a river in the Midwestern United States that flows southwest from northwest Ohio near Fort Recovery across northern Indiana to southern Illinois, where it forms the Illinois-Indiana border before draining into the Ohio River, of which it is the largest northern tributary...
Rivers used by traders travelling between Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and Louisiana
French Louisiana
The term French Louisiana refers to two distinct regions:* first, to colonial French Louisiana, comprising the massive, middle section of North America claimed by France; and,...
. As such, they were one of the most influential families of Kekionga
Kekionga
Kekionga, also known as Kiskakon or Pacan's Village, was the capital of the Miami tribe at the confluence of the Saint Joseph, Saint Marys and Maumee rivers on the western edge of the Great Black Swamp...
.
Pacanne (P'Koum-Kwa) was probably the nephew of Cold Foot
Cold Foot (Miami)
Cold Foot was a Miami chief in the 18th century. An inhabitant of Kekionga, Cold Foot lived during a time when the Miami were torn between their traditional trading partners of New France and new, more lucrative traders from the British colonies...
, the Miami Chief of Kekionga until a smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
epidemic took his life in 1752. One of the earliest references to Pacanne comes from Captain Thomas Morris, who had been sent by the British to secure Kekionga, Ouiatenon
Ouiatenon
Ouiatenon is a name that refers to a dwelling place of members of the Wea tribe of Native Americans. The name Ouiatenon, also variously given as Ouiatanon, Oujatanon, Ouiatano or other similar forms, is a French rendering of a term from the Wea dialect of the Miami-Illinois language which means...
, Vincennes
Vincennes, Indiana
Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 18,701 at the 2000 census...
, and Kaskaskia
Kaskaskia
The Kaskaskia were one of about a dozen cognate tribes that made up the Illiniwek Confederation or Illinois Confederation. Their longstanding homeland was in the Great Lakes region...
following Pontiac's Rebellion
Pontiac's Rebellion
Pontiac's War, Pontiac's Conspiracy, or Pontiac's Rebellion was a war that was launched in 1763 by a loose confederation of elements of Native American tribes primarily from the Great Lakes region, the Illinois Country, and Ohio Country who were dissatisfied with British postwar policies in the...
. At Fort Miamis
Forts of Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne in modern Fort Wayne, Indiana, was established by Captain Jean François Hamtramck under orders from General "Mad" Anthony Wayne as part of the campaign against the Indians of the area. It was named after General Wayne, who was victorious at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Wayne may have...
, near Kekionga, two Miami warriors dragged him to the village and tied him to a pole with the intent of executing him. According to his report, Pacanne, still a minor, rode up and released him. This may have been a staged event, signalling Pacanne's assumption of leadership.
As a chief and businessman, Pacanne travelled extensively, visiting villages as distant as Vincennes
Vincennes, Indiana
Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 18,701 at the 2000 census...
, Fort Detroit
Fort Detroit
Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit or Fort Détroit was a fort established by the French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac in 1701. The location of the former fort is now in the city of Detroit in the U.S...
, Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
, and Fort Niagara
Fort Niagara
Fort Niagara is a fortification originally built to protect the interests of New France in North America. It is located near Youngstown, New York, on the eastern bank of the Niagara River at its mouth, on Lake Ontario.-Origin:...
. While gone, Kekionga was managed by Tacumwah and her son, as well as by nearby chiefs Little Turtle and Le Gris
Le Gris
Le Gris, was a chief of the Pepikokia band of the Miami tribe in the 18th century. Also known as The Gray, he was one of three important Miami leaders during the Northwest Indian War, along with Pacanne and Little Turtle....
. Pacanne's frequent absence led to some misunderstandings that Le Gris was his superior.
In Autumn of 1778, during the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, Pacanne accompanied British Lt-Governor Henry Hamilton down the Wabash River to recapture Vincennes
Vincennes, Indiana
Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 18,701 at the 2000 census...
. There, he told Piankeshaw
Piankeshaw
The Piankeshaw Indians were Native Americans, and members of the Miami Indians who lived apart from the rest of the Miami nation. They lived in an area that now includes western Indiana and Ohio, and were closely allied with the Wea Indians...
chiefs Young Tobacco
Young Tobacco
Young Tobacco was the English name given to a Piankeshaw chief who lived near Post Vincennes during the American Revolution. His influence seems to have extended beyond his own village to all those along the Wabash River....
and Old Tobacco
Old Tobacco
Old Tobacco was the English name given to a Piankeshaw chief who lived near Post Vincennes during the American Revolution.Old Tobacco may have been the father of an influential chief known as Young Tobacco....
- who had supported the rebelling Americans- to pay attention to Hamilton.
Following a November 1780 raid on Kekionga
Kekionga
Kekionga, also known as Kiskakon or Pacan's Village, was the capital of the Miami tribe at the confluence of the Saint Joseph, Saint Marys and Maumee rivers on the western edge of the Great Black Swamp...
by a French militia under Augustin de La Balme
Augustin de La Balme
Augustin Mottin de la Balme was a French cavalry officer who served in Europe during the Seven Years War and in the United States during the American Revolution...
, he openly declared for the British. Referring to the French, he said, "You see our village stained with blood, you can think that we are not going to extend the hand to your friends who are our enemies. You can understand that if we find you with them that we will not make any distinction." Following up on this threat, the Miami of Kekionga requested aid in attacking Vincennes
Vincennes, Indiana
Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 18,701 at the 2000 census...
; the attack never occurred because the British aid never came. British commander Arent DePeyster
Arent DePeyster
Arent Schuyler DePeyster was a British military officer best known for his term as commandant of the British controlled Fort Michilimackinac and Fort Detroit during the American Revolution...
singled out Pacanne's loyalty, saying they shared the same mind regarding the war.
After the American Revolution, Pacanne worked as an emissary between the new United States and the Miami Confederacy. He was a guide for Colonel Josiah Harmar
Josiah Harmar
Josiah Harmar was an officer in the United States Army during the American Revolution and the Northwest Indian War. He was the senior officer in the Army for seven years....
and worked with Major Jean François Hamtramck
Jean François Hamtramck
Jean-François Hamtramck was a French-Canadian from Quebec who joined the Continental Army and became a decorated officer in the American Revolutionary War....
. In August 1788, however, a band of Kentucky men led by Patrick Brown attacked a Piankeshaw village near Vincennes and escaped. Although Major Hamtramck promised to punish the invaders, he was powerless to actually do so. When Pacanne returned to Vincennes and learned of the attack, he broke off communications with Hamtramck and returned to Kekionga.
The next several years saw many major battles between the United States Army and the native nations in what has become known as the Northwest Indian War
Northwest Indian War
The Northwest Indian War , also known as Little Turtle's War and by various other names, was a war fought between the United States and a confederation of numerous American Indian tribes for control of the Northwest Territory...
. Kekionga was the base of many raids against American settlers. Consequently, it was the target of American expeditions, leading to Hardin's Defeat, Harmar's Defeat, and St. Clair's Defeat
St. Clair's Defeat
St. Clair's Defeat also known as the Battle of the Wabash, the Battle of Wabash River or the Battle of a Thousand Slain, was fought on November 4, 1791 in the Northwest Territory between the United States and the Western Confederacy of American Indians, as part of the Northwest Indian War...
. These conflicts ended with the Battle of Fallen Timbers
Battle of Fallen Timbers
The Battle of Fallen Timbers was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between American Indian tribes affiliated with the Western Confederacy and the United States for control of the Northwest Territory...
and the Treaty of Greenville
Treaty of Greenville
The Treaty of Greenville was signed at Fort Greenville , on August 3, 1795, between a coalition of Native Americans & Frontiers men, known as the Western Confederacy, and the United States following the Native American loss at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. It put an end to the Northwest Indian War...
in 1795. Miami war chief Little Turtle attended and signed the treaty on behalf of the Miami, but Pacanne did not attend, instead sending his nephew, Chief Richardville. When approached later, Pacane still refused to sign. Even so, the chiefs encouraged compliance with the treaty, and opposed younger leaders- specifically Tecumseh
Tecumseh
Tecumseh was a Native American leader of the Shawnee and a large tribal confederacy which opposed the United States during Tecumseh's War and the War of 1812...
- who continued to lead resistance against the Americans. Pacanne moved to a village near the mouth of the Mississinewa River
Mississinewa River
The Mississinewa River is a tributary of the Wabash River in eastern Indiana and a small portion of western Ohio in the United States. It is long. Via the Wabash and Ohio rivers, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed. During the War of 1812, the river was the site of the Battle of the...
, near present-day Peru, Indiana
Peru, Indiana
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 12,994 people, 5,410 households, and 3,397 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,815.5 people per square mile . There were 5,943 housing units at an average density of 1,287.7 per square mile...
.
He actively sought better relations with the new United States, and remained neutral at the onset of the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
. But after American retaliation for the Fort Dearborn Massacre, Pacanne again allied with the British.
Pacanne died in 1816 and was succeeded by his nephew, Jean Baptiste Richardville.
Sources
- Anson, Bert. The Miami Indians. ©2000. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-806-13197-7.
- Barr, Daniel P., editor The Boundaries between Us: Natives and Newcomers along the Frontiers of the Old Northwest Territory, 1750–1850. ©2006, Kent State University Press. ISBN 0-873-38844-5.
- Birzer, Bradley J. French Imperial remnants on the middle ground: The strange case of August de la Balme and Charles Beaubien. Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Summer 2000.
- Carter, Harvey Lewis. The Life and Times of Little Turtle: First Sagamore of the Wabash. ©1987, Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-01318-2.
- "Henry Hamilton's Journal, 1778–1779", from the Indiana Historical Bureau
- Libby, Dr. Dorothy. An Anthropological Report on the Piankashaw Indians, Dockett 99 (a part of Consolidated Docket No. 315) ©1996, Glenn Black Laboratory of Archaeology and The Trustees of Indiana University.
- Morris, Captain Thomas (of His Majesty's XVII Regiment of Infantry) in: Thwaites, Early Western Travels, vol. I, pp. 301-328. Available online at the Glenn A. BlackGlenn Albert BlackGlenn Albert Black was an influential archaeologist of the United States who was the first professional to study Indiana prehistoric sites. He was born 18 August 1900 in Indianapolis, Indiana and died 2 September 1964....
Laboratory of Archaeology website. - Wheeler-Voegelin Dr. Erminie; Blasingham, Dr. Emily J.; and Libby, Dr. Dorothy R. An Anthropological Report on the History of the Miamis, Weas, and Eel River Indians, Vol 1. ©1997. Available online at the Glenn A. BlackGlenn Albert BlackGlenn Albert Black was an influential archaeologist of the United States who was the first professional to study Indiana prehistoric sites. He was born 18 August 1900 in Indianapolis, Indiana and died 2 September 1964....
Laboratory of Archaeology website.