Wyandotte Indians

The Wyandotte Nation is a rarity in Native North American history in that there was a specific date to their creation. Originally, there were the Tionontati Nation and the Attignawantan Indian Nations that lived in southern Ontario and upper Michigan. Although these were 2 distinct Nations, they spoke similar languages and had similar cultures. They also were hated by the Iroquois Confederacy (the confederacy was made up of Mohawk, Onondaga, Seneca, Oneida and the Cayuga). This Iroquois Confederacy made war with the two independent Nations, driving them from their land during a conflict called The Beaver Wars.

Facing extinction at the hands of the Iroquois and through disease, the two Nations came together as one in 1650, calling themselves the Wendat. They were also called Hurons by the French which in French meant head of the wild boar, referring to the roached hair of the warriors that resembled the bristles on a boar's head. The Wyandottes never accepted that term. They called themselves "Wendat" which meant islanders or dwellers on a peninsula. In time Wendat became Wyandot or more properly Wyandotte.

Still hunted by the Iroquois, the Wyandotte sought a peace with them and in 1700 this was achieved. In 1701 the Wyandotte were invited to help protect Fort Detroit by a Frenchman name Antoine Cadillac. The Wyandottes settled in around the Detroit area and eventually migrated into the Ohio territory, and Upper Sandusky area became their center with villages running through what is now Wyandot, Marion, and Crawford Counties, but they lived generally across northern Ohio, and as far southeast as Ross County.

During the American Revolution, the Wyandottes sided, or more correctly were being paid by the British, as did many of the other Indian nations in northwestern Ohio, to fight against the Americans.

Towards the end of the Revolution, an American expedition, led by Colonel William Crawford came up from around Cincinnati to seek out and destroy the Wyandotte and Delaware Indians living around the Sandusky River area. During the battle, which went on for several days, the American forces held their own, although they were running short on supplies. When the Americans decided that they could not prevail against the Native Americans, they decided to fall back. At the same time, the Indians were reinforced by British rangers and Crawford's men were promptly surrounded and some of the troops were captured including Crawford. Crawford was ultimately tortured and finally executed by being burned alive at the stake.

In 1795 after the Battle of Fallen Timbers, in which all but one of the Wyandotte Chiefs were killed by American forces under General Anthony Wayne. Tarhe survived the battle and though severely wounded, he signed the Treaty of Greenville. After the signing of the treaty the Wyandotte never again went to war against the United States and remained strong allies, upholding their terms of treaty, until their removal by the United States Government from Ohio in 1842.

In 1842, the Wyandottes were forced to give up their claim to their set aside lands at Upper Sandusky and falsely promised better lands further west. In 1843 the United States government sent the Indians off to a reservation in Kansas. They were the last Indian Nation to leave Ohio.