| Hailed as the last Chief of the
Miami Indians, he was born in 1782 in the Piqua, Ohio area. His grandfather, Osandiah, was
chief at the time of the Battle of the Johnston farm (as it is now called) in 1763. When
the tribe ceded their last Indiana reservation in 1838 to the Government, they gave
Me-Shin-Go-Me-Sia ten sections of land in Grant County, Indiana. In a clipping from the Miami Helmet (publication), a Mr. W.W.V. Buchanan wrote: "In October 1847, we were traveling through Indiana on our way to Michigan City. As we passed through Grant County, we had the pleasure of seeing and conversing with this celebrated Indian Chief. We met him in front of his wigwam in his Indian Village. He was standing outside the hut in the sunshine, warming himself, dressed in a single garment, his hunting shirt. He was a stout hardy son of the forest and after his visit with the ‘Great Father’ in Washington, D.C., he became a warm friend of the pale faces, as he called his white brethren. [Back] [Next] [Up] [New Search] 'Indian' segment written in December, 1997 by David Lodge |