Miami

Name

Miami (pronounced my-AM-ee), also called Maumee. The name may come from the Miami-Illinois word Myaamia, meaning “allies.” The Chippewa called the Miami Omaumeg (also Oumami or Oumamik), meaning “people who live on the peninsula.” The tribe is sometimes called Twigh Twees or Twaatwaa after the sound a crane makes.

Location

The Miami originally lived in the area around the Great Lakes in parts of present-day Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio. During the 1800s the majority of them were forced to move first to Missouri, then Kansas, and finally to Oklahoma. Today the main groups of Miami are concentrated in Indiana, Kansas, and Oklahoma.

Population

Prior to European contact there may have been as many as 15,000 Miami. That total fell to about 4,500 soon after the European arrival in the late 1600s. It decreased again over the next few decades to approximately 2,000. Estimating the number of Miami during these early time periods is difficult because only warriors were counted. According to the 1910 U.S. Census 226 Miami lived in the United States; of those, 123 lived in Oklahoma and 90 lived in Indiana. The 2000 census showed that 3,784 people identified themselves as Miami only, while 6,420 claimed to have some Miami heritage. Of the people who claimed to be Miami only, 1,526 resided in Indiana, 352 in Oklahoma, and 334 in Kansas.

Language family

Algonquian.

Origins and group affiliations

In the 1600s the Miami lived with the Mascoutens along the southern end of Lake Michigan. At times they also lived with the Kickapoo. The Miami and the Illinois were often thought of as one tribe. Although both tribes spoke a similar language and were sometimes allies, they considered themselves two distinct groups. Originally the Miami consisted of six bands: Piankashaw, Wea, Atchatchakangouen, Kilatika, Mengakonkia, and Pepicokia. Some of these groups later merged, became separate tribes, or disappeared altogether. The Miami traded with all the tribes in the Great Lakes region except the Chickasaw and the Dakota, who were their enemies. In the late 1700s the Miami led an alliance of other Great Lakes tribes that included the Ojibway, Potawatomi, and Shawnee (see entries).

Some researchers believe the Miami descended from the prehistoric Fisher and Huber tribes who lived in the southern Lake Michigan area. When the Europeans arrived the Miami were living in the Great Lakes region and controlled most of the waterways. Though they had a reputation as fierce fighters and retaliated when attacked, they preferred peace and, as a result, they relocated many times. In the early twenty-first century most Miami lived in two areas of the country—Indiana and Oklahoma, although some remained in Kansas during that migration.

History

Ancient ancestors

Some researchers believe the Miami are related to the Mississippian culture (see Mound Builders entry). Excavations revealed stone spear points dating to 8,000 bce in the territory the Miami once inhabited. Others believe the Miami arrived in this part of the country at a later date. By the time of the first European contact in the mid-1600s the Miami were living in the area of present-day Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Important Dates

mid–1600s: The Miami encounter Europeans and provide scouts to guide Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet to the Mississippi River.

1641–1701: The Miami engage in the Beaver Wars.

1755–63: The Miami ally with France during the French and Indian War. British win, and king forbids American settlers to move west of the Appalachian Mountains.

1790: Led by Little Turtle, the Miami defeat Harmar and his American army.

1791: In the greatest Native American defeat of the U.S. Army, the Miami win at St. Clair.

1794: The Miami lose the Battle of Fallen Timbers and are forced to sign the Treaty of Greenville in 1795.

1846: The Miami divide. One band stays in Indiana; the other goes to Kansas.

1867: The Kansas tribe relocates to Oklahoma.

1897: The U.S. government terminates the tribal status of the Indiana Miami.

1996: The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma adopts a revised constitution.

Trading troubles

During the 1500s and 1600s French explorers set up trading posts in the Great Lakes region. White men’s diseases had preceded their arrival, and many Native American tribes had become ill or died due to epidemics (uncontrolled outbreaks of disease). Those that survived were vying for the French trade by trapping beaver to exchange for guns, blankets, mirrors, tools, glass beads, and alcohol.

When the area became overtrapped the Beaver Wars (1641–1701) broke out, and Native Americans fought with each other for control of the trade and for better hunting grounds. In the 1660s, the Miami and the Illinois settled on the western side of the Mississippi River to avoid Iroquois (see entry) raids. A year after the Seneca destroyed Miami villages in 1687, the Miami broke away from the Illinois tribe, with whom they had been fighting, and moved back to northern Indiana.

French–British conflicts

In the early 1700s the French established forts to protect their soldiers and trappers. When the British sent trading parties to the area the French warned them to keep out of the territory. The British ignored them and threatened the Native Americans with attack if they traded with France. In 1732 a group of three hundred Native Americans—Miami, Piankashaw, and Wea—died after drinking brandy. Some said the French had poisoned the alcohol, hoping the Native Americans would distrust the British and trade with them instead.

Increasing hostilities led to the French and Indian War (1755–63; a war fought in North America between England and France involving some Native Americans as allies of the French), and most Miami allied themselves with France. After the British defeated the French, the British turned French trading posts into forts. Many Miami moved to present-day Indiana to avoid further confrontation.

Most Native Americans viewed the British victory as positive because the king refused to allow American colonists to move west of the Appalachian Mountains. The tribes believed their territory was now secure from white invasion.

The American Revolution

The Americans colonists, however, had no intention of following the British king’s orders. When the American Revolution (1775–83; the American colonists’ fight for independence from England) began the commander of the British army, Henry Hamilton (1734–1796), offered the Native Americans rewards for attacking the Americans. Many tribes took Hamilton up on his offer. However, the Miami did not, even though they supported the British.

As the war dragged on the Miami and several other tribes, under the leadership of Chief Little Turtle (1752–1812), aided the British, believing an British victory would prevent American colonists from taking over their land. After the Americans won the war in 1783, whites expanded into the Great Lakes area. The U.S. government divided the land into parcels and gave it the settlers.

Harmar and St. Clair Defeats

The Miami formed a confederation with the Delaware, Shawnee, and Potawatomi (see entries) tribes headed by Little Turtle. Constant skirmishes over frontier land led President George Washington (1732–1799; served 1789–97) to send troops to the area in 1790. The first army of 1,500 soldiers commanded by Brigadier General Josiah Harmar (1753–1813) outnumbered Little Turtle’s small band. But the Miami chief’s tactics defeated the stronger American army.

In 1791 Washington sent a larger army of three thousand troops to the area, led by General Arthur St. Clair (1734–1818). The Miami again emerged triumphant. With more than six hundred dead and almost three hundred wounded, the Americans suffered their worst defeat ever in a battle against the Native Americans.

Battle of Fallen Timbers

After St. Clair’s defeat, Washington appointed General Anthony Wayne (1746–1796) commander of the Northwest army in 1792. When Native Americans attacked a supply train in 1794 Wayne’s army attacked Native American villages and destroyed crops. Little Turtle urged his people to try for peace, but few agreed, so he turned his command over to Shawnee leader Blue Jacket (c. 1745–c. 1810).

Wayne and Blue Jacket met at Fallen Timbers, Ohio. Knowing that Native Americans always fasted before a battle, Wayne waited several days until the tribes were weak with hunger and some had left to find food. Then he attacked. Many Native Americans were killed, and Blue Jacket’s men retreated to Fort Miami, where the British refused to help them. Without British support the Native Americans had to agree to Wayne’s terms. They signed the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, giving the U.S. government most of Ohio and parts of several adjoining states. Not all the tribes agreed with this decision, and bloodshed continued for several decades.

Sale of land

The Americans soon desired more land. In spite of the Greenville treaty, many settlers moved onto Miami land. William Henry Harrison (1773–1841), who later became president of the United States, used Native American debts and the lure of alcohol to acquire more land. Over the next decade Native Americans gave up more than twenty-one million acres.

In 1805 Tenskwatawa, the Shawnee Prophet (1775–1834), convinced many tribes to return to Native traditions and stay away from alcohol. His brother, Tecumseh (1768–1813), also urged Native Americans not to sell any more land to the whites. However, a group of peace chiefs from several tribes including Little Turtle of the Miami, sold land in Indiana and Illinois under the Fort Wayne Treaty.

More relocations

Other treaties signed between 1818 and 1840 gave up the rest of Miami land. Only one small band had land left, that owned by Chief Meshingomesia. The rest of the Miami moved to Kansas in 1846. Between five hundred and fifteen hundred Miami stayed behind; many had intermarried with whites. By 1872 fewer than three hundred of this group remained, and the U.S. government divided the land among them.

Miami Population: 2000 Census

In 2000 the U.S. Census showed the following breakdowns for the Miami tribes living in the United States. These statistics reflect the number of people affiliated with the particular tribe of that name, not necessarily those who live in that state. (For that information, see “Population.”)

“2000 Census of Population and Housing. Matrix 7: American Indian and Alaskan Native summary file.” Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Data User Services Division, American FactFinder, 2004.

During his lifetime Chief Jean Baptiste Richardville (also called Peshewa, or “Wildcat”; c. 1761–1841), negotiated to prevent the Miami from being relocated. After he died, his son-in-law, Francis Lafontaine (Topeah, or “Frost on the Bushes”), took his place. Although Topeah kept half of the tribe in Indiana he oversaw the forced move to Kansas Territory. He died the following year on his return trip to Indiana.

About 550 Miami relocated to Kansas. Settlers soon followed and, when Kansas became a state in 1862, they asked the government to remove the Native Americans. Five years later the Miami agreed to a treaty giving up their Kansas land. They moved to Oklahoma and, along with several other tribes, purchased 6,000 acres. In 1893 the government divided that land into smaller individual properties, and took the rest. By the 1930s neither Miami tribe had any land left.

Through all those years the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma kept its federal recognition status. But in 1897 the U.S. government terminated the tribal status of the Indiana Miami, claiming that the Miami had lost their tribal heritage by marrying into and fully adapting to white society. Without federal recognition the Indiana Miami do not have the right to govern themselves as a separate nation or receive government funding and other benefits. As of 2007 the Indiana Miami continued to petition for the return of their tribal status.

The Miami in the early twentieth century

During the early part of the 1900s Miami farmers lived in poverty. Many purchased goods on credit, and whites often demanded repayment in land, so the majority ended up landless. Most Miami in Indiana lived like the whites. They spoke British, dressed like white Americans, and sent their children to public schools. Although some retained their culture, many intermarried with whites and adopted their ways.

In spite of their assimilation, or adapting to white culture, many Miami felt the effects of prejudice. Not only did they face insults, but also physical violence. To help the tribe, Chief Camillus Bundy (1854–1935) began holding a yearly Miami reunion (see “Festivals”). He also was instrumental in organizing the tribe as the Miami Nation of Indians of Indiana in 1923. They went against federal policy of that time period and asked the government to honor past treaties. Bundy wrote to then-president Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933; served 1923–29):

Once having been recognized by the Congress and government of this union, no one has the right to dissolve us and destroy us as a race, but they have been doing so, and are doing so, and through it all we have been reduced to a plight which is a reproach on this nation. America owes us an obligation. We appeal to you now as its head.

Though the Miami did not succeed in these requests, they kept trying, and they also worked for federal recognition. One of the difficulties they faced was that many of them had intermarried with whites and tried to live like the rest of society. The government used that as reason for denying their petition for federal recognition. This meant that they were not considered an independent nation, nor could they receive any federal benefits. They also were told that it was too late for them to receive the land they had been promised in treaties years before.

Two of the main Miami activists of the era were Bundy and Victoria Brady. In 1928 and 1929, when the legislation requiring the U.S. government to return land to the Miami tribe did not pass, Brady protested by occupying the offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). When papers related to the Miami claims were lost, she ransacked an office. Meanwhile Bundy and his family, who had lost their farm, camped in tents in their family cemetery. They did not expect the government to take this land, but Bundy was jailed for refusing to leave the land when ordered.

World War II and after

In 1937 the Indiana Miami organized and adopted bylaws. Two years later the Oklahoma Miami adopted a constitution. The two tribes began to work together for their land rights. But when World War II (1939–45; a war in which Great Britain, France, the United States, and their allies defeated Germany, Italy, and Japan) began, the Miami put aside their land claims and supported the war effort. More than twenty-five thousand Native Americans joined the service to fight for the United States during the war.

Once the war ended the Miami returned fighting for their legal claims. This time both groups filed separately. In 1960s the government agreed to settle two of their many claims, but postponed payment. With the death of the leader of the Indiana group, Ves Godfroy, infighting ensued among the Indiana Miami.

At the same time the government funded construction of a dam in Indiana that would flood 14,000 acres of former tribal land, including several Native American cemeteries. Removal and reburying the remains also caused friction. By the time the claims were paid in 1969, each person received little more than $1,200. By 1982 all the factions had united as the Miami Indians of Indiana.

Even though the Oklahoma Miami were federally recognized, they did not fare much better. The tribe had no land, and money for legal battles came from donations. Settlements to the tribe were meager, and the terms of many treaties have never been fulfilled.

Religion

The Miami’s main gods were the Great Hare as well as the Sun. Lesser deities, called manitous, could include inanimate (non-living) objects as well as living beings. Some manitous included thunder, lightning, tornadoes, and the spirits of animals. The people offered prayers and tobacco to manitous for protection. The Underwater Panther was one of the most feared manitous, because it caused wild waves with the flick of its tail. The people offered it tobacco so they could fish and travel safely.

Various religious societies formed in the tribe. Some revolved around clan war-bundles, packets which contained sacred objects to help warriors win in battle. Other societies included people who had received visions from the same manitou spirit. Warriors, who had performed heroic acts in battle, made up another society; their bravery indicated they had special powers.

During the late 1700s some Miami accepted the teachings of Neolin, the Delaware Prophet, who encouraged Native Americans to return to their Native ways and give up white men’s goods like alcohol and guns. Other Miami, influenced by the Jesuit or Baptist missionaries, converted to Christianity. Adopting Christian beliefs altered Miami society in many ways. One major change occurred in women’s roles. Previously they had been equal to men; now men were considered dominant. By the mid-1800s most of the tribe’s leaders had become Baptists, so tribal councils became predominately male.

Language

The Miami and Illinois were close dialects (varieties) of the Central Algonquian language. The Miami language was considered dead in 1965 when the last of the Native speakers died. However, in 1988 a graduate student, David Costa, began to study the language. He interviewed a few elders who had heard the language as children and recalled some words. With their help and written documents, he reconstructed the basics of the language.

Since 1995 the Miami Nation has continued Costa’s work by searching written records from past centuries to reclaim their language. They also developed programs to teach the language to their children.

Miami words

• aamaawia … “bee”
• alemwa … “dog”
• aya … “hello”
• mihko … “red”
• miiciwa … “eat”
• moohswa … “deer”
• niihka … “friend”
• shikaakwa … “skunk”
• waapanswa … “rabbit”

Government

The main divisions of the Miami tribe were clans (groups of people related by a common ancestor), and each clan elected it’s own chief. In addition the tribe had tribal chiefs, village chiefs, war chiefs, and peace chiefs. Men and women both held these positions. Miami women chiefs had the power to end feuds and wars. Because the society was matrilineal, mothers passed down the position of hereditary chief to their children.

Hereditary chiefs also handled religious duties. Once the Europeans arrived and disease killed many people, however, some of the tribe’s belief in the chief’s power dwindled. In spite of this the Miami had great respect for their chiefs. Generally the head chief did not go to war, but acted as a diplomat. Sometimes women who had visions accompanied a war party.

In the early twenty-first century the Miami Nation of Oklahoma had a chief and a second chief as well as a tribal council. Because they received federal recognition, they operate as an independent nation. Recognition also entitles them to federal funds and benefits. The Miami Tribe of Indiana has been waiting since 1995 for federal recognition. As of 2007 they did not qualify for federal help or for any additional payments for lost lands. The tribe still maintains traditional leadership and holds tribal meetings as they have done throughout their history.

Economy

Early economy

The Miami were hunters and gatherers who lived near the water for most of the year, then migrated to the prairie during the winter to hunt buffalo. They also farmed, raising corn, fruit, and vegetables to supplement their diet.

After the arrival of the Europeans the Miami entered the fur trade. They controlled most of the ports in the Great Lakes region, and shrewd business people like Tacumwah (c. 1720–c. 1790) and her son, Chief Richardville (c. 1761–1841), got rich from the fur trade and from controlling ports along the waterways.

Twentieth-century economy

After the Miami relocated to Kansas and then Oklahoma they struggled to survive. By the 1900s many men in Indiana worked on the railroads or at circuses. Three different circuses had headquarters near Peru, Indiana, and the Miami worked in the food stands, cared for and trained wild animals, and sometimes performed circus acts. Many men also served as cooks, firemen, and engineers on the four railroads in the area.

During the Great Depression (1929–41; the period, following the stock market crash in 1929, of depressed world economies and high unemployment), the circuses closed, putting many Miami out of work. The state welfare office denied them benefits because they were Native Americans. But because the Bureau of Indian Affairs did not acknowledge them as a tribe, they were not eligible for federal funds either. To stay alive, many reverted to hunting and fishing, but were arrested for violating state hunting regulations. In 1933 Elijah Shapp wrote: “We the Miami Indians of Indiana want our land and money that is due us.… My people are starving.”

Present-day economy

In 1990 the Miami Tribe of Indiana purchased a tribal complex in Peru, Indiana, and started Little Turtle Daycare Center. They opened a shelter, arts and crafts workshops, an archive, and a museum that they fund mainly through bingo proceeds.

The Western Miami founded an organization, Miami Tribe of Oklahoma Business Development Authority (MTOBDA), whose mission is to develop and manage business enterprises so the tribe remains self-sufficient. In 1995 these Miami joined with the Modoc to operate The Stables Casino near the Modoc Tribal Complex. Since then the Miami opened another casino, Miami Tribe Entertainment Casino, located at their tribal complex. The tribe also owns the 1,000-acre Tahway Farms, which supports crops, pecan groves and cattle; the Miami Trader Gift Shop, which sells Native arts and crafts; Envira Tech Environmental Testing Lab; and several other businesses. According to 2000 U.S. Census statistics this branch of the Miami Nation has an amazing zero percent unemployment. This means everyone in the tribe who wants to work has a job.

Daily life

Families

In Miami families both men and women hunted, fished, and tanned hides. Usually the men prepared the fields, and women planted and tended the crops. Women also prepared meat, gathered wood, and sewed the bark canoes together. When the tribe migrated from place to place, it was usually the woman’s job to carry the material for the wigwam on her back and to build the house. Men went to war, but sometimes women accompanied them (see “Government”). Both genders did storytelling, artwork, music, and healing.

The equal division of labor also extended to the children. Boys and girls both learned to work at the same jobs as their parents. An early European observer noted that both sexes were treated equally and that illegitimate children were treated the same way as legitimate children. It was acceptable, and not uncommon, for unmarried Miami women to have children.

Mothers carried their babies in cradleboards strapped to their backs. The Miami did not believe in physical punishment so they only scolded their children. Many Indian tribes also used storytelling as a way to help children learn proper behavior.

The family line passed down through the mother’s brother, but children belonged to their father’s clan. No one from the same clan could marry.

Buildings

The Miami had winter and summer villages. During the growing season, they lived near the water. Summer homes were 12 by 20 feet (3.6 by 6 meters) with high gabled roofs and bark-covered exteriors. People spent most of their time outdoors; they usually cooked and ate outside.

In winter they constructed lodges covered with bark or mats made of woven reeds placed over a framework of saplings. Their homes, called wikiami, were oval with a fire pit in the center. They stored their possessions at the back and placed sleeping platforms around the sides.

The Miami sometimes situated their towns on hills and surrounded them by palisades (fences made of logs). Villages had sweat lodges; they also had larger wooden longhouses for ceremonies and councils.

Transportation

Because the Miami lived around lakes and rivers, they knew how to travel by water. Although the men hollowed out large trees to make dugout canoes or built birchbark canoes, they often traveled on land. Before the Spanish brought horses to America, the tribe used dogs as pack animals. Sometimes dogs were loaded down with goods. Other times they harnessed the dogs to frames made from wooden poles called travois (truh-VOY). They lashed their possessions to the travois or to wooden sleds attached to the poles, and the dogs dragged them as they moved from camp to camp. The sleds were important for traveling through snow during the winter.

Clothing and adornment

Because the men wore so little clothing, Europeans nicknamed the Miami the “naked” or “tattooed men.” Men wore breechcloths (fabric secured at the waist that passes between the legs) and tattooed most of their body. In winter they wore leather shirts and leggings.

Women dressed in deerskin skirts and leggings. They often painted their skirts and breechcloths with red dyes. Females tattooed their cheeks, arms, and chests. The people preferred going barefoot, but wore moccasins in winter.

Miami headdresses were simple, usually a beaded headband with a few red feathers. Women had long hair, which could be braided or rolled into a bun. Men adopted the Mohawk hairdo, and often added a porcupine roach for decoration. These roaches were made of porcupine hair dyed bright colors. Both men and women painted their faces and had permanent tattoos.

After the Europeans arrived some Miami dressed similarly to the newcomers. Women wore short calico (printed cotton) dresses with red leggings underneath and buckskin moccasins. They draped a long length of cotton over their shoulders as a shawl. Others wore full, ankle-length skirts with brightly colored blouses and decorated shawls or blankets around their shoulders. Leggings, skirts, shawls, and moccasins were often adorned with silk-ribbon appliqué and glass beads.

Men wore frock coats with ruffled shirts underneath, but kept their breechcloths, leggings, and moccasins. They wrapped cloth around their heads like turbans.

Food

Although the people hunted and gathered, they also farmed. Crops included beans, melons, squash, pumpkins, tobacco, and corn. The tribe was known for its maize (corn), which had tender, white kernels. This variety of corn is called “Silver Queen” today. Corn was eaten in many ways and was also dried and ground into flour. Women also collected roots, nuts, berries, and fruits.

In the late fall the men spent several weeks hunting buffalo. When they found a herd they set a circular fire in the grass around the animals, leaving one opening. As the buffalo rushed away from the blaze, the tribe stationed themselves near the opening and shot them with bows and arrows. The women jerked the meat (cut it into long thin slices and dried it in the sun) or broiled it. They also spun thread of buffalo hair to make bags to carry the meat. The fur made robes and blankets for winter.

In addition to bison and deer the tribe hunted other large game, such as elk, wildcat, lynx, and bear. The hunters divided the meat among all the people. As large game grew scarce, the men hunted muskrat, opossum, porcupine, raccoon, turtle, and woodchuck. They also ate a variety of small birds as well as ducks, geese, and turkey. Toward the end of winter the Miami tapped trees for sap and boiled it in birchbark containers to make maple syrup.

Education

Children learned by watching their elders. Older Miami were expected to serve as examples of proper behavior, and youngsters looked up to them.

By the early 1900s most Miami in Indiana went to school with whites. Many boys preferred learning traditional skills like hunting and trapping to sitting indoors in one-room schoolhouses. Once the Miami lost most of their land, few children could attend high school. They had to find jobs in order to help support their families. Not until after 1945 did many Miami get a higher education.

Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, developed the Myaamia Project to preserve Miami Nation history, culture, and language. They also have an art museum to showcase Miami arts and crafts. Students from the Miami tribe are offered scholarships to attend the university.

Healing practices

In late summer the tribe gathered bark, fruits, roots, leaves, and berries for medicine. They used wild ginger for colds, wahoo bark for fevers, wild cherry teas for hiccoughs, black willow for skin problems, prickly ash for toothaches, chestnuts for coughs, and milkweed for warts. For an earache they blew tobacco smoke into the ear.

The Miami had Midewiwin (Spirit Doings). Mide priests held rituals for illness and encouraged people to behave properly. Although these priests had a high rank, they were not as important as healers.

Arts

The area where the Miami lived was rich in clay, which they used in making pottery. Rivers and lakes provided many reeds, which the tribe used for matting and to construct the walls of their homes.

The Miami were known for their quillwork, beadwork, and embroidery. They decorated their clothing and moccasins with appliquéd designs. Silk ribbonwork adorned leggings and moccasins. After they adopted European dress, women used traditional needlework on their shawls and skirts.

In the early and mid-1900s many people believed the Miami and their traditions would die out. Few engaged in traditional crafts; and little was done to pass on these arts. But during the 1960s, the Miami began holding classes to teach the skills to younger generations.

Rabbit and Possum

Many Native American tribes tell tales to explain how different animals acquired their physical features. This Miami story describes why the rabbit’s upper lip is divided into two parts.

The Possum and the Rabbit gambled together to see if it should be dark all the time or light all the time. Possum kept singing a song that it should be dark, and he sang this over and over. Rabbit kept singing his song that it should be daylight. Along toward morning, Rabbit began to get a little bit tired. Possum said, “You might as well give it up, Rabbit. It’s going to be night all the time.” Well, they argued about this. Then Possum said to Rabbit, “Suppose you did win and daylight came to stay. Why, children would abuse you. They would chase you into a hollow log and take a stick and twist the fur off of you.” Rabbit said, “I don’t care. They’ll have lots of fun playing with me anyway.” Now, while they were arguing, Rabbit kept singing, “Daylight, daylight, daylight!” And when Possum looked around, there he saw the daylight was coming. He grabbed Rabbit’s mouth to make him shut up, and split his upper lip. That’s why Rabbit has a split lip.

Stand, Nancy, as told to Truman Michelson, 1916. Available online at (accessed on July 7, 2007).

Customs

Birth and naming

A woman giving birth stayed in a hut opposite her husband’s. If the delivery took too long, large groups of men would rush toward the hut firing guns, believing that frightening her would help.

Before the mother and baby returned to the family home, the mother bathed. Her husband cleaned the hut by shaking out all the skins and removing all the ashes from the fire. Then he lit a new fire and invited her into the hut.

Children were given names that represented natural objects or a quality the parents hoped their child would acquire. Others were named for respected ancestors.

Puberty

Both boys and girls trained for vision quests when they were very young. To do this, they fasted. At puberty, boys used black paint or charcoal on their faces; girls used dirt. The teens fasted for long periods of time until they saw an animal spirit.

Marriage and divorce

A man and woman might decide to marry, or their families could make the decision for them. Sometimes the chief in a village would choose a wife for a man. Once the selection had been made, the man’s father sent female relatives to the woman’s house with cloth, kettles, guns, skins, and meat. If the woman took these presents, she sent gifts in return. This meant they were married. Then the groom gave his bride an expensive gift like a horse.

To mark the marriage, families exchanged gifts. The woman’s eldest brother gave her the best meat from his hunting season. She in turn gave it to her husband’s mother, who divided it among her family. Then the mother-in-law gave vegetables to the bride’s family.

Both husbands and wives had the right to leave the marriage. To divorce a spouse, all a person had to do was walk away. If a husband abused his wife, she could kill him without being punished. Spouses who stayed married were expected to be faithful. If a Miami wife cheated on her husband, they clipped her nose. A man could marry more than one wife if he could afford it.

Festivals

The Miami marked several occasions with dances and ceremonies. When warriors returned victorious, the tribe held the bison dance. Harvesting corn called for the Green Corn Ceremony.

Every year since 1903 the Miami Indians of Indiana have held a reunion. Started by Camillus Bundy, the get-together occurred near former villages. After a council meeting the men ate first, then the women and children. People dressed in ceremonial costumes and participated in games, dancing, and music. Today families still gather in Wabash, Indiana, once a year to engage in these traditional activities.

War etiquette

Miami warriors used bows and arrows, tomahawks, spears, and buffalo hide shields. They often ate their prisoners of war. One family was trained to roast the prisoner; then the body was eaten. The tribe had religious rituals that were part of the ceremony. In later years, Little Turtle tried to stop this practice.

Death rituals

When a person died the Miami dressed the body in good clothes and laid it out in the lodge. After a short wake, four non-family members carried the corpse to the grave. They placed food and water in the grave, and an elder begged the dead not to take any of the living along on its journey. They uncovered the body’s chest, and relatives walked around the grave and laid a hand on it. Then they covered the body.

A body might be buried in different ways. Sometimes the Miami laid it flat in a shallow grave lined with bark or planks. They also buried corpses in sitting positions. Other times they split a tree and hollowed it out. They enclosed the body and fastened the tree to the ground with stakes. If they buried the body on the surface, they made a small log enclosure around it, tilting the logs in to meet on top. Some bodies were laid on a scaffold high in the air until only the bones were left.

After the burial an elder of the same sex stayed at the grave four nights. The Miami believed it took four days before the spirit started on its journey. The Milky Way was the path it took, but it could be tempted back by evil spirits and never arrive in the spirit land.

Soon after the funeral the tribe engaged in the dead person’s favorite dance or activity. When the first corn (mimjipi, meaning “corn spirit”) was harvested, it was fed to spirits of dead relatives. One year after the death children of the deceased adopted a new parent. Then the dance or activity was performed again to mark the end of the mourning period.

Current tribal issues

In 2004 Stan Calvert, a childhood friend of Chief Brian Buchanan, gave the Miami Indians of Indiana a gift of 150 acres of land because he believed the tribe would preserve it. They plan to use the land for hunting and camping as well as to create a living village and museum. The tribe is still fighting for federal recognition, even though they have proof that they existed as a tribe since the 1600s. Without federal recognition the tribe is not eligible for federal benefits or funding. They also have no status as an independent nation.

Notable people

As the son of a Mahican mother and Miami war chief Little Turtle (Mihsihkinaahkwa; 1752–1812) could not inherit his father’s position, however, he proved to be a mastermind of war strategies and earned the honor of leading the Miami. He was known for his routs of American forces at Harmer’s Defeat (1790) and St. Clair’s Defeat (1791). After the Native American defeat by General Wayne (1794), Little Turtle agreed to peace terms and signed the Greenville Treaty, ceding most of the state of Ohio and parts of Indiana to the Americans. When he signed the treaty he said, “I am the last to sign it, and I will be the last to break it.” Afterwards he promoted peace. He also helped his tribe by encouraging vaccinations and discouraging the use of alcohol.

Although most of the Miami supported the French, Memeskia (d. 1752), nicknamed “Old Briton,” allied himself and his band of Piankashaw with the British during the early 1700s. He established the village of Pickawillany, which grew into a large trading center. Memeskia outwitted French attacks several times, but when he executed some French soldiers, the French along with several other tribes—Ottawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi—retaliated. The Native American warriors cut out Old Briton’s heart, then cooked and ate his body in front of the tribe.

Tacumwah (c. 1720–c. 1790; “Parakeet”), sister of Little Turtle, also called Marie-Louise Pacanne Richardville, served as chief. One European, Henry Hay, not realizing women could hold positions of power, wrote in 1789 that Richardville “is so very bashful that he never speaks in council, his mother who is very clever is obliged to do it for him.” A successful businesswoman, Tacumwah controlled the fur trade in the Wabash Valley area of present–day Indiana. Her son, Chief Richardville (c. 1761–1841), inherited his mother’s wealth and became a millionaire. While he was alive he kept the tribe together in their Indiana homelands. He served as chief from 1816 to 1841, and his skilled negotiations won important concessions for the tribe from the U.S. government.

Anson, Bert. The Miami Indians. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2000.

Baxter, Nancy Niblack. The Miami! Indianapolis: Guild Press of Indiana, 1987.

Edel, Wilbur. Kekionga!: The Worst Defeat in the History of the U.S. Army. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1997.

Rafert, Stewart. The Miami Indians of Indiana: A Persistent People, 1654-1994. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1999.

Wilson, Frazer Ells. The Peace of Mad Anthony: An Account of the Subjugation of the Northwestern Indian Tribes and the Treaty of Greeneville. Kila, MN: Kessinger Publishing, 2005.

“Indian History: The Miami Indians Today.” City of Peru. (accessed on July 7, 2007).

“Miami Culture and History Links.” Native American Language Net: Preserving and Promoting Indigenous American Indian Languages. (accessed on July 7, 2007).

“Miami Indian Tribe.” Native American Nations. (accessed on July 7, 2007).

Miami Nation of Oklahoma. (accessed on July 7, 2007).

The Myaamia Project at Miami University. (accessed on July 7, 2007).

“Official Site of the Miami Nation of Indians of the State of Indiana.” Miami Nation of Indians. (accessed on July 7, 2007).

Ohio History Central. (accessed on July 7, 2007).

George Cornell, Ph.D.; Associate Professor, History and American Studies, Michigan State University; Director, Native American Institute

Laurie Edwards