The History of Vincennes, Indiana

In Spring, 2005 a group of local historians decided to share their knowledge of the origins and legacy of Vincennes, Indiana. The result was a class with about 20 participants who learned a great deal about the history of this town of about 20,000 located on the Wabash River between Terre Haute and Evansville on the Illinois border. This blog is an attempt to relate the information I learned in the class (sponsored in part by the Vincennes Catholic Schools Corp.). Any errors are my own.

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Location: Vincennes, Indiana, United States

Vincennes University libraries have three locations: Jasper, Indianapolis, and Vincennes. In addition, VU students, faculty and staff located anywhere have access through MyVU to a multitude of the libraries' online electronic resources that are not available to the general public.

Friday, April 15, 2005

4th Class: Historic Indians, cont.

More notes, pretty fragmented, I'm afraid...

55-60 Miami/Piankeshaw Indians in Vincennes; Multiple times 4=maybe 240 Indians here.

Bad feelings in 1756 due to cheaper goods from England; attempts to trade with English are discouraged.

1819 – McIntosh vs. Johnson: Fed. Ruling that only government can negotiate land purchases from Indians, not private individuals.

Indian Beliefs

Manitou – Spirit power
Gitchi Manitou: “Great Spirit, Master of Life,” possibly a later Christian idea picked up from missionaries.

Dreams were very important.

Spirit world would speak to you via dreams and trances.

When aged 7 or 8, a boy would go on a Dream Quest. Would go into the woods for a week of no sleeping/eating. Personal spirit (totem) would appear to him.

There was no priesthood as such, but rather a view of life told through stories.

Lenipenja: Water Monster Panther
Chingria: Thunderbird

Nattes: Sacred Bundles, deer skin bundles in front of canoes (sacred rock, feather, etc., that had sacred power).

Calumet: means Peace Pipe, very important.

posted by Vincennes University Libraries | Friday, April 15, 2005

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