UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE TWO TOWNS, MULTIPLE PLACES: RACE AND IDENTITY ON THE EARLY REPUBLIC’S FRONTIER A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By PATRICK GARY BOTTIGER Norman, Oklahoma 2009 TWO TOWNS, MULTIPLE PLACES: RACE AND IDENTITY ON THE EARLY REPUBLIC’S FRONTIER A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY BY _____________________________________ Professor Joshua Piker, Chair _____________________________________ Professor Paul Gilje _____________________________________ Professor Terry Rugeley _____________________________________ Professor Fay Yarbrough _____________________________________ Professor Karl Offen © Copyright by PATRICK GARY BOTTIGER 2009 All Rights Reserved. To Minnesota, my home Acknowledgements Although there is only one author attached to this dissertation, many people played an important part in its creation. I will never forget my sophomore year history course at St. John’s University where my professor, Sr. Carol Berg, assigned R. David Edmunds’s biography on Tecumseh. That book reframed my understanding of American history and challenged me to gain a greater perspective on the past. The staff and faculty of the History Department at the University of Oklahoma continued this challenge. It is with a deep sense of gratitude that I thank my dissertation advisor, Dr. Joshua Piker, for his invaluable guidance and support. It is one thing to work with such a gifted historian, but something special to meet such a great person. Professors Paul Gilje and Terry Rugeley also paved a demanding, but rewarding, path for me at the University of Oklahoma. Their direction and professionalism helped me understand American Indian history more completely while also teaching me to be an ambassador to the profession. Professors Robert Griswold, Fay Yarbrough, and Karl Offen have also played instrumental roles in my development as an historian. Rhonda George and Barbara Million, the Department’s office administrators have been there through it all, simplifying the paperwork and making sure that I adhered to the deadlines that busy graduate students struggle to meet. The numerous grants and fellowships from the Department and the University of Oklahoma permitted me to research across the Ohio Valley. These included several Bea Mantooth Travel Grants and the A.K. & Ethel T. Christian Scholarship for Research Travel. The OU Graduate College’s Robberson Research Travel Grant, as well as the College of Arts and Sciences’s Research Grant iv aided my work. The University also supported my efforts with generous funding in the form of the Hoving Fellowship. I traveled throughout Indiana, Michigan, and Kentucky to complete my dissertation research. Betsy Caldwell at the Indiana Historical Society showed me around the archives and helped me uncover documents hidden in the card catalog. The Lilly Library at Indian University provided support in the form of the Helm Fellowship, while the University of Michigan funded my research at the Bentley Library as a Bordin- Gillette Fellow. My research in Louisville, Kentucky and throughout Indiana was funded by generous grants from the Filson Society and the Center for French Colonial Studies. Several of my colleagues at the University of Oklahoma proved to be invaluable. Catharine Franklin and Tash Smith read several chapters of this dissertation and offered suggestions for its improvement, while Dan Flaherty’s technical advice prevented several formatting headaches. Bogged down in the details, Catharine, Tash, and Dan helped me see the forest for the trees. I would also like to thank my good friend Sunu Kodumthara who provided humor and advice every step of the way. It is rare to meet such a generous person. None of the research and writing would have happened had it not been for my family back home in Minnesota (with one exception in upstate New York). My parents paid for my tuition from kindergarten through my undergraduate degree at St. John’s University. Education was their top priority when it came to myself and my siblings. My dissertation is as much a reflection of their sacrifice as it is my diligent efforts in graduate school. I have driven the eight hundred miles from Norman, Oklahoma to Minneapolis, Minnesota on countless occasions, so much so that the twelve-hour drive seems quite v short these days. My family including Jim and my siblings, Julie, Dan, Katryn, Kevin, Molly, Dave, and Noah are more important to me than they could ever realize. They did not read a word of my dissertation and yet they were central to the process. The perspective I gained from hiking through mountain passes with Dave and from laughing at Molly’s jokes has helped me answer some very difficult historical questions. Initially, leaving home was incredibly challenging but now I realize that it was essential. vi Table of Contents Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………...iv List of Figures ................................................................................................................viii Abstract……………………………………………………………………………...…...ix Two Towns, Multiple Places: Race and Identity on the Early Republic’s Frontier: An Introduction ……………………………………………………………………..…...1 Chapter One: Factionalism in the Wabash-Maumee Valley …………………….….17 The Wabash-Maumee Valley……………………………..……………………………..20 Factionalism Persists…………………………………………………………………..…32 American Intervention…………………………………………………………………...40 Chapter Two: Evolving Relationships Between Vincennes and Prophetstown…………………………………………………………………………....62 Vincennes………………………………………………………………………...………67 Greenville………………………………………………………………………………...92 Prophetstown……………………………………………………………………...……...99 Chapter Three: A Town Divided: Vincennes Fights the Prophet……………….....110 The Americans Replace the French…………………………...…..………………...….113 Slavery and Indians…………………………………………..…………………...…….122 The Printer………………………………………………………………………..…….156 Chapter Four: The Prophet, His Town, and its Image……………………………..170 The Prophet and His Town…………………………………………………...……...…175 The Prophet’s Challenges…………………………………………………...………….190 Harrison Polarizes the Valley…………………………………...……………...………208 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………...…………216 Chapter 5: The Battle of Tippecanoe and its Contested Meaning…………………219 The Battle…………………………………………………………………………...…..223 The Battle of Tippecanoe Comes to Vincennes…………………………………...……234 The French………………………………………………………………………...…....239 Prophetstown……………………………………………………………………..…….241 The National Trinity…………………………………………..…………………..……250 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………….263 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………...……280 vii List of Figures Figure 1.1 Geographic Layout of Towns along the Wabash River ………………. 22 Figure 1.2 Treaty Boundaries for Indiana Territory …………….……………….. 56 Figure 2.1 Treaty Boundaries for Indiana Territory …………….……………….. 78 Figure 4.1 The Treaty of Fort Wayne …………………………………………….. 198 Figure 5.1 Harrison’s March to Prophetstown …………………………………... 226 viii Abstract In order for us to understand and reconceptualize race in the early republic, we ought to examine the symbiotic relationship between Prophetstown and Vincennes during the first two decades of the nineteenth century. The relationship between these two communities in Indiana Territory was not one defined primarily by racial ideologies. Though historians have often characterized both settlements as diametrically opposed, the settlements were in fact faction-ridden, making the relationship between the two more a relationship of factions rather than races. Vincennes and Prophetstown serve as an excellent example in understanding the regional, and even local, variations within racial constructs. Though racial ideologies imply a hierarchy on a global scale, racial relationships are often not constant and differ by time and place. Local and regional variables are as important to the construction and use of race as are ideologies. Race relations were not the primary reason for armed conflict between Prophetstown and Vincennes at Tippecanoe in November of 1811. Divided by internal factionalism, each town looked toward the other as a means to vocalize and address its own internal debates. Contrary to the usual arguments, neither town united behind a racial identity nor attacked the other in order to protect their community. When analyzed closely, it becomes apparent that the Shawnee Prophet (Tenskwatawa) and the governor of Indiana Territory (William Henry Harrison) used racial rhetoric to unite their factionalized towns. This rhetoric has overshadowed the multiplicity of peculiar connections (debates over unfree labor, biased Indian agents, Indian manipulating the Americans) and interests that pushed the towns toward conflict. The bloodshed that erupted between the two communities at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811 was a product of various issues complicated by the ix interests of Indian and European American cultures. The inhabitants of both communities found themselves in opposition because of the peculiar and often highly complicated methods through which they dealt with the factionalism in their towns. Most historians have adopted a racial perspective when analyzing the relationship between Prophetstown and Vincennes because they have focused so heavily on Tenskwatawa rather than his town. 1 They concentrate on the Prophet’s distaste for European Americans rather than delve deeply into his religious beliefs and the relationships he fostered within his town.