Miami at Forks of the Wabash, Indiana (1838)

What happened

On November 6, 1838, Abel C. Pepper, commissioner for the United States, signed a treaty with the Miami tribe at the Forks of the Wabash in Indiana. In Article 1 the Miami ceded all the land south of the Wabash River within stated bounds, near the mouth of Pipe Creek and the Mississinewa River. They also ceded three reservations from the 1818 treaty of St. Mary's and one at Seek's village on Eel River from the 1826 treaty. In Article 2 they kept a tract "supposed to contain ten square miles" for the band of Me-to-sin-ia.

In Article 3 the United States agreed to pay $335,680, with $60,000 right after ratification. The rest, after claims were paid, would come in ten yearly installments of $12,568. Articles 4 to 6 set aside $150,000 to pay certain claims, including those of John B. Richardville and Francis Godfroy, and set up a commissioner to investigate other claims against the tribe, at the tribe's request. Article 7 promised appraisal of buildings and equal-value improvements elsewhere. The treaty was proclaimed on February 8, 1839.

The Miami Nation's Myaamia Center blog says the Miami National Council had been adamantly opposed to Removal, but that its stance began to shift with the 1838 treaty and "by 1840, they proposed and signed a Removal treaty." It quotes Pepper writing on November 6, 1838 that the Miami's situation presented "the alternative of speedy extinction or removal."

Good to know. The account of rising pressure is the Myaamia Center's, a Miami community source. The 1838 treaty itself does not require removal.

Summarized with AI assistance from 5 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error