Excerpt From The Article

"In spite of their failure to induce the Wyandots to move to the West, officials of the government had managed to chip away some Wyandot holdings in Ohio. Special Indian Agent James B. Gardiner had persuaded the Wyandots of the Big Spring Reserve, in Crawford, Hancock and Seneca counties in northwest Ohio to sell their land to the government. On January 19,1832, the Big Spring Wyandots agreed to sell their 16,000-acre reserve for $1.25 per acre, plus a fair compensation for their improvements. The Big Spring Wyandots moved to the Grand Reserve, but the United States soon even purchased a portion of this tract. On April 23, 1836, the Wyandots ceded to the government a strip of land five miles wide on the eastern boundary of the Grand Reserve and two other tracts outside the Grand Reserve. The United States agreed to sell the ceded land for the Indians, with the proceeds of the land sale to be used for internal improvements on the Grand Reserve. After the deduction of expenses incurred by the government in selling the three tracts, the balance of funds realized from the sale was to be divided among members of the tribe."

By Robert E. Smith

The spring of 1857 saw the Wyandot Indians divided and discouraged. In-cursions by white squatters into the Wyandot Reserve in eastern Kansas, a civil war between pros slavery and free state partisans in Kansas and difficul-ties experienced by members of the tribe in receiving their allotments and annuity funds prompted Chief Matthew Mudeater to suggest that a portion of the tribe move to Indian Territory. Though a few tribal members decided to return to their old homes in Ohio or Canada, a majority of the Wyandots who wished to leave Kansas Territory followed Mudeater's suggestion. During the summer of 1857, Mudeater led a band of about 200 disorganized and demoralized Wyandots, out of a population of 550, south across south-eastern Kansas. He must have wondered how well his bedraggled caravan would be accepted by the Indians of the Neosho Agency in the northeastern portion of Indian Territory, which by 1857 was roughly the boundary of the present state of Oklahoma. Reflecting on the distress of his tribe, Mudeater could only hope that his decision to lead this band of the once proud Wyan-dots to Indian Territory was a wise choice. The exhausted Indians reached the Neosho Agency before the end of August, and at the invitation of their old friends, the Senecas, they settled on Seneca land. 1

The Mudeater expedition of 1857 was not the first time the Wyandots had visited Indian Territory. The westward expansion of white American settlers put unyielding pressure on the Wyandots in Ohio and Michigan. The Grand Reserve near Upper Sandusky, Ohio, was the home of a majority of the tribe after the conclusion of the War of 1812. Situated on prime agricultural land in northwestern Ohio, the Grand Reserve was coveted by white settlers. Although a majority of the Wyandots were unwilling to leave their homes in Ohio and Michigan, government officials pressured them into negotiating for a home in the West. Before they would agree to removal, the Wyandots insisted that they be given the opportunity to examine proposed sites for a new reserve in the West and that only after their approval would negotiations for removal continue. 2

William Walker, a quarter-blood Wyandot, led the first exploring expedi­tion to the West. He and five other Wyandots left Upper Sandusky in early October 1831, and began their journey to a proposed site for a reserve in what is modern northwest Missouri. The Walker party arrived at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in late November. Five members of the delegation spent six days in the Little Platte River Valley where they evaluated the tract desig­nated as the proposed Wyandot Reserve. Unimpressed with northwest Missouri, the Wyandot delegation returned to Ohio and gave a report to the Wyandot Council precluding acceptance of the proposed reserve. 3

A second Wyandot exploring expedition was dispatched to the West in the spring of 1834. Arriving at the Shawnee Indian Agency in present east-ern Kansas in early July, the band of four immediately began examining the surrounding area. When the exploring delegation returned to Ohio, how-ever, their adverse report on the suitability of eastern Kansas for a reserve persuaded the members of the Wyandot Council to refuse to consider removal to the West. 4

In spite of their failure to induce the Wyandots to move to the West, officials of the government had managed to chip away some Wyandot holdings in Ohio. Special Indian Agent James B. Gardiner had persuaded the Wyandots of the Big Spring Reserve, in Crawford, Hancock and Seneca counties in northwest Ohio to sell their land to the government. On January 19,1832, the Big Spring Wyandots agreed to sell their 16,000-acre reserve for $1.25 per acre, plus a fair compensation for their improvements. The Big Spring Wyandots moved to the Grand Reserve, but the United States soon even purchased a portion of this tract. On April 23, 1836, the Wyandots ceded to the government a strip of land five miles wide on the eastern boundary of the Grand Reserve and two other tracts outside the Grand Reserve. The United States agreed to sell the ceded land for the Indians, with the proceeds of the land sale to be used for internal improvements on the Grand Reserve. After the deduction of expenses incurred by the government in selling the three tracts, the balance of funds realized from the sale was to be divided among members of the tribe. 5

Money obtained from the sale of land enabled the Wyandot leaders to improve the condition of the tribe and postpone for a few years their in-evitable departure to the West. However, the Grand Reserve, a fertile tract of 109,144 acres, was tempting bait to white settlers. Whites were settling on land adjacent to the Grand Reserve and exerted strong pressure on the government to obtain this land and put it on the auction block. The proximity of the Grand Reserve to white settlers brought additional difficulties to the Wyandots. In spite of strenuous efforts by Methodist preachers to stop the sale of whiskey and curb its consumption by the Wyandots, alcoholism was a serious problem within the tribe. 6

The so-called “Pagan Party” represented those Wyandots who were willing to sell the Grand Reserve and tribal holdings in Michigan to the Federal government and move to the trans-Mississippi West. The principal opposition to these views came from the more numerous "Christian Party." Officials of the government concentrated their efforts on convincing members of the "Christian Party" that removal was in the best interests of the tribe. In July, 18311, United States Congressman William H. Hunter and N. H. Swayne were appointed commissioners and instructed to renew the heretofore unsuccessful governmental efforts to secure a treaty of removal with the Wyandots. Hunter, an Ohio Democrat, became the principal spokesman for the government in the ensuing months, but his initial efforts toward reconciliation between the two Indian factions were unsuccessful. 7

Three members of the “Pagan Party” - Warpole, Washington and Porcupine complicated matters when during the latter part of August, 1838, they left Ohio for Washington, D.C. The purpose of their mission was to conclude a separate treaty of removal between the "Pagan Party" members and the United States. Their efforts were to no avail, but, when they returned to Upper Sandusky in September, they reported the results of their discus-sion with government officials to the Wyandot Council. At the conclusion of the report, a discussion took place between Warpole and his party and the Wyandot chief. Warpole became agitated during the heated debate, drew a knife and defied the nation. The Council ordered that Warpole and his colleagues be arrested and imprisoned in the Wyandot jail. 8

Warpole, Washington and Porcupine were soon released, but their incarceration had not dampened their spirits. In October Warpole and ten members of his faction proposed a separate treaty of removal, and in Novem­ber, they asked permission to go to Washington to negotiate with the government. By this time Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs Daniel Kurtz indicated to Commissioner Swayne that possibly the Wyandots would be interested in a reserve in present-day Oklahoma. Kurtz designated a tract between the Verdigris and Neosho rivers and proposed that each Indian be given 320 acres of land. 9

Efforts to conclude a treaty with the Wyandots continued sporadically during the winter of 1838-1839. Hunter was not reelected to his congres­sional seat in 1838, but in April 1839, he was reappointed as special Indian commissioner, charged with the responsibility of concluding a treaty with the Wyandots. Swayne was not reappointed commissioner, so the success or failure of the venture fell completely on Hunter. 10

Hunter left his home in Sandusky, Ohio, and went to the Grand Reserve. On May 6,1839, the persistent former Congressman met with the Wyandot people in general council, where he presented the proposals of the govern­ment before returning home. Two weeks later he returned to Upper Sandusky where he met with the Wyandot Council for five days. Members of both Indian parties suggested that they be allowed to send an exploring party, composed of three members of each faction, to the proposed reserve site in Indian Territory. Hunter was amiable to their wishes, and the Wyandot chiefs made an agreement whereby $1,100 from $20,000 in govern­ment funds set apart according to the fifth article of the Wyandot Treaty of April 23, 1836, would be used to defray expenses of the explorers. 11

Commissioner of Indian Affairs T. Hartley Crawford acceded to the wishes of the Wyandots when on June 8 he authorized the trip. He explained that the funds necessary to defray the expenses of the travelers would either be taken from the $20,000 set apart under the fifth article of the Wyandot Treaty of 1836 or deducted from money received from Wyandot land sales. Crawford further indicated to the former congressman, that it was desirable that Hunter accompany the six Wyandots on the journey west. 12

At the last minute, however, only five Indians were chosen to make the trip. Henry Jacques, along with Matthew R. Walker, John Sarahass Senior, Tall Charles and Summundoowot made up the Wyandot expedition. Anticipating that the government would approve of their venture, the Jacques party left Upper Sandusky on June 10, 1839, proceeding overland by horse and wagon to Cincinnati, Ohio. There the five Indians took passage on a steamboat bound for New Orleans, Louisiana, and sailed down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers until the plodding vessel reached the junction of the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers. There the Wyandots landed and waited for a steamboat which would take them up the Arkansas River into Indian Territory. 13

Hunter did not leave with the Wyandots because he did not receive authorization in time. He indicated in mid-June that he would proceed from Upper Sandusky at once in an effort to overtake the Indians. The dauntless commissioner decided he would make Fort Gibson, Indian Terri­tory, his destination and indicated that all correspondence could reach him at that army post. He drew on the government for $250 to cover expenses and was soon on his way to overtake the Indians. 14

When the John Jay reached Little Rock, the Indians were delighted that most of the other passengers disembarked along with the travelers bound for Hot Springs. Now that there would be ample space on the vessel, the remainder of the journey would be more pleasant. In addition, the two-day delay, while the John Jay was loaded with supplies destined for Indian Terri-tory, gave the Indians time to sightsee in the capital of the new state of Arkansas. The explorers visited the buildings which housed the state legislature. Summundoowot and his fellow Wyandots were appalled by a bloodstained seat where a legislator had been murdered by a fellow solon during the previous session of the Arkansas state legislature. Ironi-cally, in just eighteen months Summundoowot, his brother-in-law and his brother-in-law's wife were murdered in Henry County, Ohio. The Wyandot Chief and his two hunting companions were encamped on their old hunting grounds that cold December evening in 1840. Three white men approached their campsite and the Indians invited the strangers to share the warmth of their campfire. Encamping with the Indians, the whites accepted their hospitality. However, as soon as the Indians were asleep, the white men fell upon them with axes and hacked them to pieces. The mutilated bodies of members of the Summundoowot hunting party were dragged away from the campfire and piled near a log. All property belonging to the Indians was stolen and the murderers escaped. Three days later a young Wyandot brave stumbled onto the grisly scene. 16

The Wyandot explorers returned to the steamboat and soon they were under way. After three days of hard steaming against the rapid current of the Arkansas River, the John Jay reached Fort Smith, Arkansas. There the Wyandots learned that there was much animosity between opposing factions of the Cherokee tribe. One day's voyage west of Fort Smith the John Jay stopped long enough for John Brown, one of the Cherokee Chiefs represent­ing the old settlers or "Ridge Party," to board and request passage to Fort Gibson. When the John Jay reached Fort Gibson, the Wyandots learned that both Cherokee factions were in an ugly mood. The intrepid explorers decided it was useless to negotiate with the Cherokees for the sale of Chero­kee neutral lands for a possible Wyandot Reserve in Indian Territory. Nevertheless, the five Wyandots believed they should follow the instructions given them by the Wyandot Council and examine the Cherokee neutral lands. After having accomplished this task, the Wyandots decided that then they would press on to the Seneca Reserve in modern northeastern Oklahoma. 17

Tall Charles and his four Wyandot companions were advised by military personnel at Fort Gibson to stay off the roads which the Army officials believed were too dangerous. As strangers, the Wyandots thought that they would be prey for militants in both factions of the Cherokee tribe. The exploring party soon left Fort Gibson and moved north to examine the Cherokee neutral lands. Jacques and the other Wyandots were unimpressed with the land; also they found the Indian Territory in July to be "not quite as comfortable as we were accustomed to sitting in a cool room at home in a more northern latitude." Sarahass and his comrades found that the land was “not such rich country as we wanted. Much less to exchange for our country at home.” 18

The Wyandots passed through land reserved for the New York Indians on their journey to the Seneca Reserve on the Cowskin River. They found that the New York Indian land was divided between prairie and timber. Matthew R. Walker and the others decided that with its clear running water the New York Indian land was more suitable for the purpose of the Wyan­dots than the Cherokee neutral lands. The footsore travelers finally reached the Seneca Reserve where their old friends received them with open arms. 19

Old acquaintances were renewed in accordance with ancient customs. In a symbolic gesture, the Senecas threw white cloth in the path of the Wyandots to make their route easier to travel. Clean white cloths were given to the visitors to allow them to wipe the perspiration from their brows. In council the Wyandot emissaries presented the Seneca chiefs wampum to express the friendship between the two tribes. All those present were im­pressed by the ceremonies which resurrected the ancient glory of the two once-proud tribes for a few short hours. After the rites of friendship were concluded, the Wyandots attended a Seneca dance, and the entire company participated in a ballgame. 20

The five Wyandots proceeded from the Seneca Reserve to Westport, Missouri, where they arrived on July 25, 1839. From there Jacques and his companions examined portions of the Delaware and Shawnee reserves in modern Kansas. They were impressed by what they observed. When the explorers returned to Upper Sandusky, they indicated that they were inter­ested in the Kansas sites for a possible Wyandot Reserve. Here they rejoined Hunter who had never overtaken them on their trip to Indian Territory. 21

The Wyandot Council was so impressed with the report of the exploring party that another exploring expedition was dispatched to the West. Seven Indians under the leadership of Principal Chief Francis A. Hicks arrived at Westport, Missouri, on November 7, 1839. Determined not to be left out of any important negotiations, Commissioner Hunter accompanied by Joel Walker, a Wyandot, followed the Hicks party to Kansas. There on December 18, 1839, Hunter concluded a draft treaty with the Shawnee tribe for the purchase of a portion of their reserve by the Wyandots. The agreement was contingent on the approval of the Wyandots of Upper San­dusky and the United States Senate before it went into effect. 22

Hunter and the eight Wyandots returned to Upper Sandusky on January 14, 1840. In the ensuing months Hunter and his successor in the United States House of Representatives, George Sweeny, worked hard for Senate approval of the draft treaty which was approved by the Wyandots. Never­theless, on June 8, 1840, the United States Senate rejected the proposed Wyandot treaty. 23

His attempts to effect a Wyandot removal in shambles, Hunter retired from active negotiations with the Indians of Ohio. Two years later the former Congressman died under mysterious circumstances near Sandusky, Ohio, The failure of the proposed Wyandot-Shawnee treaty did not deter government officials from continuing to exert pressure on the Wyandots. When the next attempt began, the United States was represented by John Johnston. No longer willing to entrust the delicate negotiations to amateurs, the government appointed a retired Indian agent who had over twenty years' experience working with the Indians of the Old Northwest. Although all his predecessors had failed, on March 17, 1842, the dauntless Johnston con­cluded a treaty of removal with the Wyandots. 24

No specific reserve in the West was designated for the Wyandots in the Treaty of 1842. The tribe arrived at the site of present Kansas City, Kansas, in July 1843, where five months later the Wyandots were able to purchase a reserve from the Delawares. It took five years before Congress would sanc-tion the Wyandot-Delaware agreement of 1843. The nine years between' the summer of 1848 and the summer of 1857 saw the Wyandots conclude two additional treaties with the government. During the same period they signed away most of their rights as a tribe. 25

Many Wyandots followed the trial blazed by Chief Mudeater and his band in August 1857. Mudeater and his colleagues tried to legitimize their residence in the Indian Territory by signing an agreement with the Senecas in 1859, but this document was never sanctioned by the Federal government before the Civil War. The Wyandots of Indian Territory were forced to flee before advancing Confederate military units in June 1862. When the Confederate Army invaded the Seneca Reserve, the pro-Union Wyandots were forced to return to Kansas. 26

The new Wyandot Reserve was situated on Seneca land visited by the Wyandot explorers of the expedition of 1839. None of the members of the expedition of 1839 returned to live in Indian Territory. Although the murdered Summondoowot did not return to the trans-Mississippi West, his four companions accompanied the Wyandots to Kansas. There they died before the final removal of the Wyandots to Indian Territory. Henry Jacques served his tribe as Principal Chief, while John Sarahass Senior was active in the affairs of the Wyandot Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Tall Charles became the Captain of the Wyandotte Ferry which operated across the Kansas River at the present site of Kansas City, Kansas. Matthew R. Walker, a member of one of the most prominent families in the tribe, made many significant contributions to the welfare of his people.

Perhaps in the long run the Wyandots would have been more fortunate if they had selected a portion of the Seneca Reserve in Indian Territory as their permanent home in 1839. The Seneca Reserve was situated in an area which was not directly in the path of white expansion. No great city was built on the Seneca Reserve, but eventually the land of the Wyandot Reserve in Kansas became the downtown area of the second largest city in the state. Ironically, the reserve in Kansas was chosen by Wyandot leaders because they believed it offered greater opportunities for the advancement of the tribe. Unfortunately, its location at the junction of the Kansas and Missouri rivers was partially responsible for some of the most tragic events in the history of the tribe. There is every reason to believe the pro-Union Wyandots would have been driven north during the Civil War in any event, but at least they would have been spared the agony of an additional removal. Today the land in northeast Oklahoma visited by the Wyandot explorers in 1839 is the focus of the Wyandot people throughout the United States and Canada.

Footnotes

2 Randall L. Buchman. “The History of the Wyandot Indians in Ohio,” Master of Arts Thesis. Ohio State University. Columbus. Ohio. 1958, pp. 79-80. 

4 Dwight L. Smith, ed., "An Unsuccessful Negotiation for Removal of the Wyandot Indians from Ohio, 1834, "Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly, Vol. LVIII, No. 3 (July, 1949), pp. 305-331. 

5 Charles J. Kappler, comp. and ed., Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, United Stale Senate, 58th Congress, 2nd Session, Executive Document Number 319 (5 vols. Washington Govern­ment Printing Office, 1904), Vol. II, pp. 339-341. 460--461; Car1 G. Klopfenstein, "The Re­moval of the Wyandots from Ohio," The Ohio Historical Quarterly, Vol. LXVI, No.2 (April, 1957), pp. 122-123.

7 Cary A. Harris to William H. Hunter and N. H. Swayne, July 24, 1838, Letters Sent, Office of Indian Affairs, National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Hunter to Harris, September '0, 1838, Letters Received, Ohio Agency, Office of Indian Affairs, National Archives.

10 Joel R. Poinsett to Hunter, April 3, ,839, Letters Sent, Office of Indian Affairs: Hunter to Poinsett, April 19, 1839. Letters Received, Ohio Agency.

12 Crawford to Hunter, June 8, 1839, Letters Sent, Office of Indian Affairs.

13 Matthew R. Walker, "Journal Giving a Sympathetic Account of some History and Customs, and Containing a Narrative of a Trip Thru Arkansas, Indian Territory and Kansas, 1839," manuscript, Kansas Collection, Kansas Public Library, Kansas City, Kansas, hereafter cited as “Journal of Trip in 1839.”

14 Hunter to Crawford (no date), Letters Received, Ohio Agency; Crawford to Hunter, June 25, 1839, Letters Sent, Office of Indian Affairs.

I5 Walker, "Journal of Trip in 1839."

17 Walker, "Journal of a Trip in 1839."

18 ibid.

20 ibid.  

21 Louise Barry, ed., The Beginning of the West: Annals of the Kansas Gateway to the American West, 1540-1854 (Topeka, Kansas: The Kansas Slate Historical Society, 1972), p. 377: Crawford to Hunter, August 1, 1839, Letters Sent, Office of Indian Affairs.

23 Hunter to Crawford, January 14, and March 5, 1840, Resolution of the Senate, June 8, 1840, Letters Received, Ohio Agency: Crawford to Hunter, January 20, and 25, 1840, tellers Sent, Office of Indian Affairs.

25 ibid., pp. 534-537, 587, 677-681, 1048. 

26 Robert E. Smith, "The Final Removal of the Wyandot Indians," The Westport Historical Quarterly, Vol. VIII, No.1 (June, 1972), pp. 3-18. 

27 ibid.

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