Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico

Hodge, Frederick Webb, Compiler. The Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Bureau of American Ethnology, Government Printing Office. 1906.

Miami Tribe

Miami Indians (Chippewa: Omaumeg, ‘people who live on the peninsula’). An Algonquian tribe, usually designated by early English writers as Twightwees (twanhtwanh, the cry of a crane. Hewitt), from their own name, the earliest recorded notice of which is from information furnished in 1658 by Gabriel Druillettes who called them the Oumamik, then living 60 leagues froth St. Michel, the first village of the Pottawatomi mentioned by him; it, was therefore at or about the mouth of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Tailhan (Perrot, Mémoire) says that they withdrew into the Mississippi valley, 60 leagues from the bay, and were established there … Read more

Miami Indian Villages and Towns

Among the Miami villages were: Chicago Chippekawkay Choppatee’s village Kekionga Kenapaconiaqua Kokomo Kowasikka Little Turtle’s Village Meshingomesia Missinquinieschan (Piankashaw) Mississinewa Osaga Pahedketcha Piankashaw (Piankashaw) Pickawillanee Raccoon’s village Seek’s village St Francis Xavier (mission, with others) Thorntown (Eel River Miami) Osage. A former Miami village on Wabash river, just west, of the Mississinewa, in Miami county, Ind. It was so called from its being the residence of an Osage Indian domiciliated among the Miami, and whose name appears in treaties as Osage and Osage the Neutral (J. P. Dunn, inf’n, 1907). In 1838 the site was included in an individual reserve … Read more

Miami Indian Treaties

The Miami joined in or made treaties with the United States as follows: (1) Greenville, O., with Gen. Anthony Wayne, Aug. 3, 1795, defining the boundary between the United States and tribes west of Ohio river and ceding certain tracts of land; (2) Ft Wayne, Ind., June 7, 1803, with various tribes, defining boundaries and ceding certain lands; (3) Grouseland, Ind., Aug., 21, 1805, ceding certain lands in Indiana and defining boundaries; (4) Ft Wayne, Ind., Sept. 30, 1809, in which the Miami, Eel River tribes, and 1)elawares ceded certain lands in Indiana, and the relations between the Delawares and … Read more

Miami Indian Chiefs and Leaders

Little Turtle

Little Turtle Little Turtle (Michikinikwca). A chief of the Miami tribe. Born at his village on Eel River, Ind., in 1752. His father was a Miami chief and his mother a Mahican; hence, according to the Indian rule, he was a Mahican and received no advantage from his father’s rank, that is, he was not chief by descent. However, his talents having attracted the notice of his countrymen, he was made chief of the Miami while a  comparatively young man. Little Turtle was the principal leader of the Indian forces that defeated Gen. Harmaron on the Miami River in Oct. 1790, … Read more

Miami Indian Bands and Gentes

The French authors commonly divided the Miami into six bands: Piankashaw, Wea, Atchatchakangouen, Kilatika, Mengakonkia Pepicokia. Of these the first two have come to be recognized, as distinct tribes; the other names are no longer known. The Pepicokia, mentioned in 1796 with the Wea and Piankashaw, may have been absorbed by the a band known as Eel Rivers, formerly living near Thorntown, Boone county, Ind., but they afterward joined the main body on the Wabash. According to Morgan the Miami have 10 gentes: Mowhawa(wolf), Mongwa (loon), Kendawa (eagle), Alipakosea (buzzard), Hanozawa (Kanwasowau, panther), I’ilawa (turkey), Ahseponna (raccoon), Monnato (snow), Kulswa … Read more

Metoac Tribe

Metoac Indians (contraction of Meht-anaw-ack, ‘land of the ear-shell or periwinkle. Tooker). A collective term embracing the Indians of Long Island, New York, who seem to have been divided into the following tribes, subtribes, or bands: Canarsee, Corchaug, Manhasset, Massapequa, Matinecoc, Merric, Montauk, Nesaquake, Patchoag, Rockaway, Secatoag, Setauket, and Shinnecock. There were besides these some minor bands or villages which have received special designations. They were closely connected linguistically and politically, and were probably derived from the same immediate ethnic stein. Ruttenber classes them as branches of the Mahican. The Montauk, who formed the leading tribe in the eastern part … Read more

Metis Nation

Métis Indians, Metis First Nation, Metis People (‘mixed,’ from French métis, a derivative of Latin mescere, ‘to mix’) A term used by the French speaking population of the northwest to designate persons of mixed white and Indian blood.  Among the Spanish speaking population of the southwest the word mestizo, of the same derivation, is used, but is applied more especially to those of half white and half Indian blood. The term mustee, a corruption of mestizo, was formerly in use in the Gulf states.  In the west the term “half-breed” is loosely applied to all persons of mixed white and … Read more

Methow Tribe

Methow Indians. A Salishan tribe of eastern Washington, formerly living about Methow river and Chelan lake, now chiefly gathered on the Colville reservation.  Their number is not officially reported.

Mescalero Apache Tribe

Mescaleros Apache Indians (Spanish: `mescal people,’ from their custom of eating mescal). An Apache tribe which formed a part of the Faraones and Vaqueros of different periods of the Spanish history of the southwest. Their principal range was between the Rio Grande and the Pecos in New Mexico, but it extended also into the Staked plains and southward into Coahuila, Mexico. They were never regarded as so warlike as the Apache of Arizona, otherwise they were generally similar. Mooney records the following divisions: Nataina Tuetinini Tsihlinainde Guhlkainde Tahuunde These bands intermarry, and each had its chief and suhchief. The Guhlkainde … Read more

Menominee Tribe

Amiskquew

Menominee Indians (meno, by change from mino, ‘good’, ‘beneficent’; min, a ‘grain’, ‘seed’, the Chippewa name of the wild rice. Hewitt. Full name Menominiwok ininiwok, the latter term signifying ‘they are men’). An Algonquian tribe, the members of which, according to Dr William Jones, claim to understand Sauk, Fox, and Kickapoo far more easily than they do Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi, hence it is possible that their linguistic relation is near to the former group of Algonquians. Grignon peaks of the Noquet as a part of the Menominee, and states that “the earliest locality of the Menominee, at the first … Read more

Menominee Indian Treaties

The Menominee have entered into the following treaties with the United States: (1) Treaty of peace at St Louis, Mo., Mar. 30, 1817; (2) Treaty of Prairie du Chien, Wis., Aug. 19, 1825, with the Menominee and other Indians, fixing boundary lines between the several tribes; (3) Treaty of Butte des Morts, Wis., Aug. 11, 1827, defining boundary lines between the Menominee, Chippewa, and Winnebago; (4) Treaty of Washington, Feb. 8, 1831, defining boundary lines and ceding lands to the United States, a portion of the latter to be for the use of certain New York Indians; (5) Treaty of … Read more

Menominee Indian Totems

Chauvignerie gives their principal totems as the Large-tailed Bear Stag Kilou (a sort of eagle). Neill (Hist. Minn., 1858) classes the Menominee, evidently on French authority, as Folles Avoines of the Chat and Orignal or Wild Moose and Elk. Hoffman gives the modern totems as follows: The Owa’sse wi’dishi’anun, or Bear phratry, consisting of the following totems and sub-phratries: Owa’sse (Bear), Miqkä’no (Mud-turtle), Kitä’mi (Porcupine), with the Namä’nu (Beaver) and O’sass (Muskrat) and sub-phratries. The Kině’uv wi’dishi’anun, or Eagle phratry, consisting of the following totems: Pinäsh’iu (Bald Eagle), Kaka’k (Crow), Inä’qtěk (Raven), Ma’qkuana’ni (Red-tail Hawk), Hinanä’shiuv (Golden Eagle), Pe’niki’konau (Fish-hawk). … Read more

Meherrin Tribe

Meherrin Indians.  An Iroquoian tribe formerly residing on the river of the same name on the Virginia-North Carolina border.  Jefferson confounded them with the Tutelo.  according to the official colonial documents they were a remnant of the Conestoga or Susquehanna of upper Maryland, dispersed by the Iroquois about 1675, but this also is incorrect, as they are found noted under the name “Menheyricks” in the census of Virginia Indians in 1669, at which time they numbered 50 bowmen, or approximately 180 souls . It is possible that the influx of refugee Conestoga a few years later may have so overwhelmed … Read more

Mattole Tribe

Mattole Indians (Wishosk name) An Athapascan tribe whose principal settlements were along Bear and Mattole Rivers, California.  They resisted the white race more vigorously than the natives of this region generally did and suffered practical extermination in return.  They were gathered on a reservation near Creek Mendocino for a time and some of them were afterward taken to Hupa Valley Reservation.  A few still live in their old territory.  They differ somewhat from their Athapascan neighbors in language and culture; they burn the dead; the men tattoo a distinctive mark on the forehead, but in other respects they are similar … Read more

Mattabesec Tribe

Mattabesec Indians (from massa-sepuēs-et, ‘at a [relatively] great rivulet or brook. Trumbull). An important Algonquian tribe of Connecticut, formerly occupying both banks of Connecticut river from Wethersfield to Middletown or to the coast and extending westward indefinitely. The Wongunk, Pyquaug, and Montowese Indians were apart of this tribe. According to Ruttenber they were a part of the Wappinger, and perhaps occupied the original territory from which colonies went out to overrun the country as far as Hudson river. The same author says their jurisdiction extended over all south west Connecticut, including the Mahackeno, Uncowa, Paugusset, Wepawaug, Quinnipiac, Montowese, Sukiang, and … Read more

Matinecoc Tribe

Matinecoc Indians. An Algonquian tribe which formerly inhabited the northwest coast of Long Island, New York, from Newtown, Queens county, to Smithtown, Suffolk county. They had villages at Flushing, Glen Cove, Cold Spring, Huntington, and Cow Harbor, but even before the intrusion of the whites they had become greatly reduced, probably through wars with the Iroquois, to whom they paid tribute. In 1650 Secretary Van Tienhoven reported but 50 families left of this once important tribe. Ruttenber includes them in his Montauk group, which is about equivalent to Metoac; but the interrelationship of the tribes in the western part of … Read more

Matchotic Tribe

Matchotic (‘bad inlet.’-Hewitt). A group of tribes of the Powhatan confederacy occupying. the country between Potomac and Rappahannock rivers down to about the middle of Richmond county, Virginia, comprising the Tauxenent, Potomac, Cuttatawomen, Pissasec, and Onawmanient. They numbered perhaps 400 warriors in 1608, but 60 years later, according to Jefferson, had become reduced to 60 warriors. For Further Study Appomattoc Tribe  

Massachuset Tribe

An important Algonquian tribe that occupied the country about Massachusetts Bay in eastern Massachusetts, the territory claimed extending along the coast from Plymouth northward to Salem and possibly to the Merrimac, including the entire basin of Neponset and Charles Rivers.