Hoosiers Quotes

“For Native Americans, the era of military resistance was over. Many retreated westward. Eventually the government forced nearly all of them across the Mississippi. For those few who remained, the bleak future belonged not to warriors but to leaders such as Richardville who could adjust to white ways, live under the annuity payment system, and assent to the ever-shrinking Indian “reservation” lands. Perhaps cruelest of all was the fate of the Miamis, most of whom, even after the deaths of Little Turtle and William Wells, were determined to remain neutral in the conflict between the long knives and the redcoats. There was no middle ground. Not only were many Miami villages destroyed, but in 1818, at the Treaty of St. Mary’s or New Purchase Treaty, the Miamis gave up most of their tribal lands, covering the central third of Indiana.”
― James H. Madison, Hoosiers: A New History of Indiana

“Wells attempted to lead the small, besieged civilian and military garrison from Fort Dearborn to safety at Fort Wayne. A large party of Potawatomis overwhelmed and killed most of the whites. Anticipating the attack, Wells died that day dressed and painted as a Miami warrior – a white Indian at the end. Indian raiding parties struck far into southern Indiana, killing twenty-four men, women, and children in September 1812 at the settlement of Pigeon Roost in present-day Scott County.17 Settlers elsewhere fled to their blockhouses and across the Ohio River. Fort Harrison and Fort Wayne came under attack and siege.”
― James H. Madison, Hoosiers: A New History of Indiana

“Harrison’s steady push of land cession treaties culminated in the Treaty of Fort Wayne in 1809. By working with the most malleable chiefs first, depending on support from Wells and Little Turtle, and breaking open 218 gallons of whiskey, Harrison won 2.5 million acres of land in the Wabash region. The grateful members of the Indiana Territorial Legislature resolved that the young governor should have a fourth term. Tenskwatawa and Tecumseh condemned the treaty as an act of robbery and talked with the British about an alliance. More young warriors congregated at Prophetstown. Old”
― James H. Madison, Hoosiers: A New History of Indiana

“the white man. Women should farm as they always had; men should be hunters and warriors. There must be no mixed marriages. Tenskwatawa’s scorn embraced not only Harrison and Jefferson but also “wicked chiefs” such as Little Turtle, intermediaries such as Wells, and all accommodationists.”
― James H. Madison, Hoosiers: A New History of Indiana

“began to oppose the governor’s expansionist policy, much to Harrison’s regret. Neither whites nor Indians fully trusted Wells, though he was very useful to both.8 Intermediaries such as William Wells could do little to smooth the sharp conflict between white and Indian culture. In the end, whites’ determination to own the land allowed no basis for compromise, no room for a middle ground. Indiana’s white population increased, and federal land sales began at offices in Vincennes in 1807 and Jeffersonville in 1808. The peace that had prevailed since 1795 became increasingly fragile. By 1806 many Indians were preparing for resistance, some for war. The liquor traffic, the relentless force of Harrison’s land cession treaties, and the raising of log cabins were”
― James H. Madison, Hoosiers: A New History of Indiana

“raids on white settlements, participating in the defeat of Arthur St. Clair’s force in 1791, and marrying a daughter of Little Turtle. As the tide turned, Wells decided to join the other side. He became an interpreter and scout for General Anthony Wayne. At Fort Wayne he worked as an Indian agent, distributing annuity payments and promoting civilizing programs. Wells teamed with Little Turtle to ensure that both men did very well by the Americans. Wells attempted a balancing act between his attachment to white civilization and his hope that the Miamis could unite under Little Turtle and retain their land. He had known Harrison since Wayne’s campaign, but as Harrison’s treaties touched ever closer to the Miami heartland, Wells”
― James H. Madison, Hoosiers: A New History of Indiana

“One of the most important intermediaries was William Wells, who became, in the frontier term, a “white Indian.” Wells was born in 1770, and at the age of nine moved with his family to Kentucky. In 1784 a party of Miamis captured him. For the next eight years he lived as a Miami warrior, joining in”
― James H. Madison, Hoosiers: A New History of Indiana

“By the late 1830s, Indianapolis reformers were boasting of sober Fourth of July celebrations, though some of Fort Wayne’s leading citizens, including directors of the branch bank and members of the local temperance society, were carried home drunk on election day in 1836.”
― James H. Madison, Hoosiers: A New History of Indiana

“In the beginning was corn, and all was good.”
― James H. Madison, Hoosiers: A New History of Indiana