Jean Baptiste Richardville

Jean Baptiste de Richardville ( 1761 – 13 August 1841), also known as or in the Miami-Illinois language (meaning 'Wildcat' or 'Lynx') or John Richardville in English, was the last 'civil chief' of the Miami people. He began his career in the 1790s as a fur trader who controlled an important portage connecting the Maumee River to the Little River (the present-day Little Wabash River) in what became the present-day state of Indiana. Richardville emerged a principal chief in 1816 and remained a leader of the Miamis until his death in 1841. He was a signatory to the Treaty of Greenville (1795), as well as several later treaties between the U.S. government and the Miami people, most notably the Treaty of Fort Wayne (1803), the Treaty of Fort Wayne (1809), the Treaty of Saint Mary's (1818), the Treaty of Mississinewas (1826), the treaty signed at the Forks of the Wabash (1838), and the Treaty of the Wabash (1840).

Richardville and other Miami leaders were criticized for personally benefitting from their roles as tribal chiefs and treaty negotiators. However, their efforts successfully delayed for decades the removal of the Miami people to federal lands west of the Mississippi River and gained additional time to negotiate concessions and obtain the best prices available for Miami lands. Treaty provisions that they negotiated also allowed about half of the Miami people, including 43 members of Richardville's family, to remain in Indiana after the remainder of the Miamis moved west in 1846. Richardville also provided displaced Miamis in Indiana with a place to stay on the few hundred remaining acres of his property. Those who remained in Indiana were among the original 148 members of the Miami Nation of Indiana, which began on October 6, 1846. Over the years, some of Richardville's family members migrated to what became the present-day states of Kansas and Oklahoma, but many more of his descendants remained in Indiana.

For his role as a civil chief of the Miamis and a treaty negotiator, the U.S. government granted Richardville a total of of land in Indiana under the terms of various treaties, as well as $31,800 in cash settlements. In addition, construction was completed in 1827 on a two-story brick residence that was partially funded by the U.S. government for Richardville and his family in Fort Wayne, Indiana, under the terms of the Treaty of Mississinewas. (The Greek Revival-style home, known as Richardville House, was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2012.) Some accounts of Richardville's life have claimed that he was once the wealthiest Native American in Indiana. Although Richardville maintained Richardville House as his primary residence and owned another property near the Saint Marys River in Indiana, most of his land eventually went to his associates.

Marriage and family

Around 1800 Richardville married Natoequah (or Natoequeah), a Miami woman. The couple had at least six children. Their three sons were Joseph, John Baptist Jr., and Miaqueah. Their three daughters were Maria Louise (called LaBlonde), Catherine (Pocongoquah), and Susan. Catherine Richardville married Francis La Fontaine. After Richardville's death in 1841, La Fontaine succeeded his father-in-law as chief of the Miamis.

Early life and education

Jean Baptiste de Richardville ( or , meaning 'Wildcat' or 'Lynx' in the Miami-Illinois language) was born about 1761 in the Miami (Myaami) village of Kekionga (Miamitown), present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was the métis (half French and half Miami) son of Tacumwah, an influential Miami chieftess of the Atchatchakangouen band and the sister of the Miami chief Pacanne, and Antoine-Joseph Drouet de Richerville, a French-Canadian fur trader at Kekionga from about 1750 to 1770. By the late 1780s, Antoine-Joseph de Richerville had permanently settled at Trois-Rivières (Three Rivers) in Quebec, Canada. Historian Donald Chaput described the Drouets as "one of the most significant families of officers-traders in the western Great Lakes region." Through his mother's family, Jean Baptiste de Richardville was also the nephew of two Miami chiefs, Little Turtle and Pacanne.

Richardville spent part of his childhood with his father in Quebec, where he received a few years of formal education before returning to Kekionga in late 1770s to live among the Miamis with his mother. During his youth, Richardville learned to speak fluent Miami (an Algonquian language), as well as French and English. By the time that Richardville returned to Kekionga, his mother, Tacumwah, had married Charles Beaubein, a French trader in the area. Tacumwah operated her own trading house at Kekionga, where her son learned to become successful a trader. Richardville also joined his mother's tribal community. Richardville was at Kekionga when it was attacked in the 1790 Harmar campaign, and he was among the warriors who ambushed the United States in the climactic battle on 22 October.

Richardville was initially reluctant to take part in Miami tribal affairs, preferring instead to culturally identify himself as a creole Frenchman, dress in French clothing, and take an interest in European culture. Because his tribe had a matrilineal power system, Richardville gained leadership status in the tribe from his mother's people, meaning he gained authority through his mother's brother, Chief Pacanne. Richardville became more politically active in Miami affairs as an ally of his uncles, Chief Pacanne and Chief Little Turtle. After the War of 1812, Richardville began to culturally identify more with the Miami people, instead of the creole French, and became a "prominent leader of the tribe." As an adult, Richardville refused to speak English or French languages or wear European-style clothing. In 1824 Richardville had gained sufficient wealth to be among the first to purchase a lot in Fort Wayne, Indiana, that would serve as a site for his home and trading post. By 1831 he had relocated the Miami tribal headquarters and his trading post in Fort Wayne to a site at the Forks of the Wabash, which was closer to the Miami villages and tribal reserve lands.

Tribal leader and landowner

Beginning in the late 1790s, Richardville took an increasingly active interest in Miami affairs and remained an influential leader of the Miami people until his death in 1841. Richardville was involved in treaty negotiations with the U.S. government, as well as the decisions on disbursement of federal funds and annuity goods given to the Miamis. Historians R. David Edmunds, Elizabeth Glenn, and Stewart Rafert have pointed out that Richardville and other Miami leaders such as Francis Godfroy personally profited from their roles as tribal chiefs and treaty negotiators, but the leaders also slowed progress in discussions regarding land cessions and removal of the Miamis from Indiana, especially between 1818 and 1840. These delays gave Richardson and the other tribal leaders additional time to negotiate concessions and delay the eventual removal of the Miami people to lands west of the Mississippi River.

Treaty of Greenville, 1795

After the Native American defeat at the Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794), Richardville favored a negotiated peace agreement. He was one of three Miami signatories at the Treaty of Greenville (1795).

Treaty of Fort Wayne, 1803 and 1809

In the early 1800s, Richardville's political influence increased due to his close association with his uncle, Chief Little Turtle. In an effort to protect the Miami people's interests by cooperating with the U.S. government, Richardville signed treaties with federal officials in 1802 and 1803. The Treaty of Fort Wayne (1803) was the first of four treaties negotiated with the Miamis between 1803 and 1809. It ceded to the U.S. government a large parcel of land in what became southwest Indiana and parts of Illinois. Most of the Miamis supported the terms of the treaty because very few of them lived on these ceded lands. Although Richardville initially resisted further cession of Miami lands, the Treaty of Fort Wayne (1809) ceded Miami land along the Wabash River to the federal government in exchange for strengthening Miami control in areas of present-day northern Indiana.

The value of the Miami lands and the arrival of pioneer settlers in what became central Indiana in the early 1800s gave Richardville and the other Miami leaders additional leverage in negotiating sales of their lands. Richardville proved to be a shrewd negotiator on behalf of the Miami people, in addition to increasing his own personal wealth and landholdings in the process. Richardville and the other Miami leaders also delayed treaties calling for the removal of the Miamis from Indiana.

Treaty of St. Marys, 1818

Richardville signed the Treaty of St. Mary's (1818), which ceded most of the Miami lands south of the Wabash River in central Indiana to the U.S. government. The treaty's harsh terms were punishment for the Miami people's lack of support to the United States during its War of 1812. Although these individual grants were legal, they also could be interpreted as incentives to secure the tribal leaders' cooperation and support of the negotiated treaty.

Treaty of Mississinewas (1826)

The Treaty of Mississinewas was concluded near the mouth of Mississinewa River in Indiana on October 23, 1826, with 37 representatives of the Miami people, including Richardville, and three representatives of the federal government, Lewis Cass, James B. Ray, and John Tipton. Under the treaty's terms, the Miamis ceded their claims to land north and west of the Wabash and Miami Rivers, as well as the land cessions made by the tribe under the terms of the Treaty of Saint Marys (1818), with the exception of reserved land at six village sites, reserve lands on the Eel River at the mouth of Mud Creek and at the forks of the Wabash, and tribal reservation lands along the Wabash River.

In addition to other concessions such as goods and equipment, livestock, annual annuity payments in cash and goods, part-time laborers, and payment of some of the Miamis' debts as outlined in the treaty, the federal government agreed to pay $600 each to nine individuals, including Richardville, to subsidize construction of homes for themselves and their families. Richardville was also among those who received individual grants of land, although these lands could not be sold without prior approval from the U.S. president.

Treaties of 1834, 1838, and 1840

Richardville opposed Miami removal from Indiana, but after recognizing that the time had come to secure the best terms for their land and eventual removal, he signed treaties in 1834, 1838, and a final one in 1840 that ceded most of the Miami National Reserve land to the U.S. government. In the treaty signed at the Forks of the Wabash on October 23, 1834, the Miamis ceded tribal lands in Indiana that had been reserved for them under the terms of previous treaties in exchange for cash annuities, payment of tribal debts, and other concessions. Additional land grants were made to individuals, including Richardville, who received three and one-quarter sections of land, about . The terms of the treaty also provided Richardville and five other chiefs with fee simple titles to their land allotments, including that land that Richardville had been granted under the terms of earlier treaties. The fee simple titles allowed Richardville and the others who received them the authority to dispose of their property without obtaining prior approval from the federal government.

Among the terms of a treaty made in 1838 at the Forks of the Wabash, a total of 48 land grants were made to individuals, all of them official members of the Miami tribe, in exchange for cessions of additional Miami lands. Richardville received an additional of land, Francis Godfroy received , and additional reserve lands were allotted to other Miami tribal members. In the Treaty of the Wabash (1840) signed on November 28, 1840, the Miami people finally agreed to cede their remaining tribal lands of of the Miami National Reserve in Indiana in exchange for in what became present-day Kansas and agreed to their removal from Indiana within five years, among other terms. Under the treaty of 1840, Richardville was granted an additional seven sections of land, about , and $25,000 in cash. Richardville's son-in-law, Francis La Fontaine, was granted one section of land, , and Francis Godfroy's estate was granted $15,000. The treaty also granted Richardville and others who had received individual land grants exemption from removal from the state, meaning that about half of the Miami people would be allowed to remain in Indiana.

Later years

According to historian Donald Chaput in "The Family of Drouet de Richeville: Merchants, Soldiers, and Chiefs of Indiana," Richardville became "one of the richest men in the United States." According to Chaput, who used Schoolcraft's book as his source, Richardville had about $200,000 in cash at the time of his death in 1841 and owned thousands of acres of land in Indiana, as well as his stately brick home in Fort Wayne. In addition to his landholdings and other property, Richardville allegedly left about $200,000 in cash. Under the terms of his will, Richardville bequeathed his property to his surviving children and other relatives.

Richardville's life experiences are an example of many métis leaders in the Midwest after the War of 1812. Well educated as a youth, he learned to speak three languages and became a prominent trader. As Richardville gained influence among the Miami people, he succeeded in becoming the principal chief. As a negotiator and signatory on treaties made on behalf of the Miamis, he tried to protect their interests at a time when the political power of American Indians was in decline. While he personally benefitted from his role as a tribal chief and treaty negotiator, Richardville also tried to obtain favorable terms for the Miami people and the best prices available for their lands. In addition, he and other Miami leaders successfully delayed removal of the Miami people from Indiana until the signing of the Treaty of the Wabash (1840), a year before Richardville's death. In his later years Richardville also provided displaced Miamis with a place to stay on his Indiana land. In Wallace Brice's History of Fort Wayne (1868), Richardville is described as "beloved and esteemed" and "prudent and deliberate." However, in Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River (1824), author William H. Keating called the Miami chief "one of the most artful and deceitful of his nation."

The house served as Richardville's primary residence until his death in 1841 and remained in the family until 1894,

Honors and tributes

Richardville County, Indiana, was named in honor of Chief Richardville and was later renamed Howard County.
Wildcat Creek (Indiana), whose watershed encompasses Howard and another Indiana county, was named for Richardville.
The Indiana Sesquicentennial Commission erected a state historical marker in honor of Richardville at the Forks of the Wabash Historic Park in Huntington in 1966.
The Indiana Historical Bureau erected a state historical marker honoring Richardville at a site east of Peru in Miami County, Indiana, in 1992.