Removal of the Wyandotte and Beyond
Wyandotte Removal from Ohio
During the Revolutionary War, the Wyandot largely sided with the British. The Wyandot were impacted by the Treaties of Fort McIntosh, Greenville, and Fort Industry. In 1816, the United States came to the Wyandotte Nation and attempted to persuade them to move to Missouri, but they refused and instead signed a treaty that gave up some of their lands along the Sandusky River in 1817.1Yeakley, Long Removal of the Wyandot, 24. Here, Methodist missionaries and a congregation of Wyandotte converts built a mission. Missionaries hoped that this self-sustaining community would make American officials think twice about removing the Wyandotte, but American agents grew impatient as more white settlers demanded land.2 Buss, “The Politics of Indian Removal,” 175-176.
While Wyandotte leaders were divided on the issue of religion, they also used the resources brought by missionaries to remain in Ohio.3 Buss, “The Politics of Indian Removal,” 173; 179. Throughout the 1830s, the relationship between the Wyandotte and the US strained. Leaders like William Walker, who had both European and Wyandotte ancestry, worked to delay removal by hosting negotiations without American agents or would only agree to small removals. 4 Buss, “The Politics of Indian Removal,” 168; Yeakley, Long Removal of the Wyandot, 40. However, American agents also employed questionable tactics. Two federal agents faked signatures on treaties with the Wyandotte to make removal seem more popular to tribal leaders. Then, three prominent members of the Wyandotte Nation were murdered in 1840. Soon after, the Wyandotte began negotiations for removal from Ohio.5Yeakley, Long Removal of the Wyandot, 41-42.
The Wyandotte were not fully forced out of Ohio until 1843, with the Wyandot Treaty, making them the last tribe to be forcefully removed from Ohio to make room for white settlement. Charles Dickens, the famous British author, was in Ohio when the Wyandot agreed to be removed in 1842. He observed in his work American Notes (1850) that they were especially upset about having to leave their buried dead behind. Keep in mind that by 1843, Wooster had been established for 35 years.
“He [John Johnston, an American official] gave me an account of their strong attachment to the familiar scenes of their infancy, and in particular the burial-places of their kindred; and their great reluctance to leave them.”
Charles Dickens, American Notes, page 135.
image: Charles Dickens, by Jeremiah Gurney (1867-1868). Wikimedia images, Public Domain.
Upon their expulsion from Ohio, the Wyandotte had nowhere to go. A century earlier, the Wyandotte helped the Delaware settle in Ohio. The Delaware returned the Wyandotte’s earlier generosity and helped them settle in Kansas.6Weslager, The Delaware Indians, 399. In 1855, the US forced the Wyandot out of Kansas and into Oklahoma to make room for white farmers, and the US disbanded the tribe. In Oklahoma, the remaining Wyandot had to live with groups of the Shawnee and the Seneca. In 1867, the US reinstated the Wyandot as a federally recognized tribe. They organized a tribal constitution in 1937.
The Wyandotte Today
Today, the Wyandotte celebrates their rich culture at the Wyandot Cultural Center in Oklahoma. They offer language classes and also hold special events to preserve their history and ways of life.
For more information about the Wyandotte Nation, see:
Wyandotte Nation
Wyandotte, Oklahoma