ME-SHE-KIN-NO-QUAH BIKE HIKE

ME-SHE-KIN-NO-QUAH       

Mountain Bicycle Trail     

8 miles                                                             

(Marked with yellow and brown)

ANTHONY WAYNE RESERVATION               After 35 years of camping at Big Island at Rome City, the property was worn out, and the council had grown to a size that demanded more than the 80 acres. The Camp Development Committee was appointed and over a two year period looked at many pieces of property, ranging from the upper peninsula of Michigan to southern Indiana. The camp development Committee, as appointed by Council President William B. F. Hall, consisted of Cook Lougheed, Chairman; Ted Biberstine, Council Camping Chairman; Dr. Arthur Huffman, Bill Hall, Oral Smith and Bill Copeland. The property was located in the spring of 1967—-four parcels of land belonging to four farmers in Steuben County. The money to purchase the property was raised among business, industry and individuals in Allen county. Money for the development of the property was raised from business, industry and interested individual throughout the nine-county Council area. The camp is valued now property and facilities at more than a half million dollars.

CHIEF LITTLE TURTLE

1751 - JULY 14, 1812

The Indian Tribes of every region of the continental United States have produced great leaders. American history has been enriched by the exploits and achievements of those notable personalities. Dissimilar in culture and civilization to the white leaders who disposed them of their hunting preserves and killed or drove their people into exile, these Native Chiefs were endowed with a high order of intelligence and were skilled in statecraft, and proved worthy foes to their white adversaries.Little Turtle (Michilinikwa or Me-She-Kin-No-Quah) was born at his village on Eel River in 1752. His mother was a Mohican and his father was a MiamiChief, but the Miami custom of tracing descent through the female line,denied him any hereditary advantage from his paternal line. His capabilities were outstanding and were so recognized by his fellows. As a very youngman, he was tall and sour of expression and disposition; he was crafty, both incouncil and on the field of battle.Very early, he fell under British influence: he aided them against the American forces during the Revolution. This was the beginning of a distinguished military career lasting twenty years. Little Turtle participated in the LaBalme Massacre in 1780; he led the victorious forces which inflicted defeat upon the American General Harmer at the Battle of Harmer’s Ford in1790; and he commanded the Indian allies who defeated General Arthur St.Clair in 1791. General Anthony Wayne found Little Turtle a worthy foe; the latter directed Indian attacks and skirmished against Wayne’s forces as they advanced northward from Cincinnati; he led the attack on General Wayne's arm at the second battle of Fort Recovery.Probably the most important military responsibility entrusted to Little Turtle by his people was as commander-in-chief on the occasion of Harmer.After St. Clair’s defeat at Fort Recovery, Little Turtle seems to have had misgivings as to the probability of any future Indian successes. His observance of the superior tactics and prudential course of General Wayne convinced him that the Indian cause was now definitely in jeopardy.An episode in the private life of the Miami Chief now set in motion certain forces which were to weaken his power over his won people. William Wells,a white child, at the age of twelve years, had been kidnapped by the Miami and conveyed from his home in Kentucky to Kekionga. He was formally adopted into the tribe and married the daughter of Little Turtle. He participated in various Indian attacks on Americans, but when Wayne advanced into Indian country, Wells had a revulsion of feeling regarding his association with the Indians against his own race. He now determined to abandon his Indian wife and children and offer his services to Wayne.Bidding farewell to his father-in-law he said: “We have long been friends: we are friends yet. Until the sun stands so high (indicating the place) in the heavens; from that time we are enemies and may kill one another.” Wayne received him gladly and appointed him chief of scouts. The incident was an additional factor in the depression of Little Turtle’s spints.After establishing winter quarters of Fort Recovery, Wayne invited the Indian Chiefs to Fort Greenville for a parley. Little Turtle, Blue Jacket,Bukongehelas and other chiefs met to discuss the invitation and to formu-late policy; they gathered before a campfire at night for their conference.Little Turtle strongly advocated the proposed meeting with Wayne, and gave emphatic expression to his viewpoint. He stood before his associates in front of the council fire with his “foot long earrings” luridly swinging with each motion of his head. As he spoke, the firelight caught the gleam of three huge nose jewels. His imposing physical presence was supported by a reputation of a long series of military successes. He sought to convince his fellow chiefs that their victories over the whites could not always continue and were now likely to be reversed. He said, “We have beaten them twice under separate commanders. We cannot expect the same good fortune always to attend us. The Americans are now led by a chief who never sleeps: night and day are alike to him. Notwithstanding the watchfulness  of our young men, we have never been able to surprise him. ‘Think well of this. This is something that whispers to me, it would be prudent to listen to his offers of peace.” Buckongahelas, mature and seasoned, supported Little Turtle’s counsel.

Chief Blue Jacket, much younger and little experienced in war, rash incouncil, and unimpressed by the cautious counsel of his elders, turned truculently upon Little Turtle. He changed the elder chief with cowardice,treachery, and self interest, and denounced him to the others. The young warrior referred to the fact that William Wells, an adopted white man, and son-in-law of Little Turtle, had become chief of Wayne’s scouts. Blue Jacket said: “Wayne’s money had bought Little Turtle’s heart.” The charge effectively silenced Little Turtle, and the view of Chief Blue Jacket prevailed among the other chiefs. Accordingly, Wayne’s olive branch was refused.The pacific advice of Little Turtle seems to have undermined his influence with his own people. Henceforth, more and more they regarded him as an appeaser and a friend of the whites; nevertheless, he lived among the Miami until the end of his life. After the attack on Wayne’s forces at Fort Recovery in 1794, Little Turtle patriotically attempted to dissuade the Indian allies from distant points from abandoning the war with Wayne, but was unsuccessful. They returned to their far off homes,and thereafter the Indian forces which faced General Wayne were chiefly drawn from the immediate locality. At the Battle of Fallen Timbers, Little Turtle was in command of Indian sharpshooters, but he was not commander-in-chief of Indian forces another evidence of the suspicion and distrust of his own tribe.In conference between Wayne and the Indian Chiefs following the Battle of Fallen Timbers, Little Turtle seemed to have regained some of his former importance. He served his people well with those talents for which he was recognized eloquent oratory and crafty diplomacy. Little Turtle hoped to salvage something from the defeat at the Battle of Fallen Timbers and he was unprepared for the stiff terms demanded of the Indians.The demands of Wayne were inexorable. Among other stipulations, he proposed a new boundary between the whites and the Indians by drawing a straight line from Fort Recovery to the confluence of the Kentucky and Ohio Rivers. Little Turtle, at first, demurred because it would deprive the Indians of their prized hunting grounds in the White Water Valley. Wayne,on his part, probably realized that this was a fertile area and of great future agricultural value; he therefore, insisted on settlement on his own terms.Little Turtle, a realist, wisely acquiesced in the end. He knew that Wayne’s diplomacy stemmed from the strength inherent in his recent military success as well as from his present military strength.The Battle of Fallen Timbers had given Wayne the upper hand, and should the war be renewed, Little Turtle’s signature is on the Treaty of Greenville and several other successive treaties.

Wayne recognized in Little Turtle a contentious and intelligent personality, albeit one with great potentialities for mischief. He shrewdly ordered that a mansion be constructed for Little Turtle, well within range of the guns of Fort Wayne. In common with Pontiac, Tecumseh, and Blue Jacket, Little Turtle vigorously opposed the introduction of the white man’s civilization with its arts,customs and foreign values into the life of the Indians. He believed, he argued that the white man would result in additional creature wants which could only be satisfied by making the Indians dependent upon the whites.The savage freedom of his people, he thought, was greater treasure than any material comforts secured from the whites.Nevertheless, Little Turtle was granted an annuity by the American government for services rendered to General William Henry Harrison in his negotiations with the Indians of the area after 1800. While General Harrison was not satisfied with these services, the record shows that Little Turtle’s annuity was increased in 1805 by $50 plus the gift of a Negro slave. Incidentally, this is the only known record of Negro slavery in Allen County, Indiana.During the last decade of his life, Little Turtle lost more of his power and influence with his people. But in this same period, his fame among Americans became legendary, and he was acclaimed a popular Indian hero. On an expense account provided by the federal government, he visited a number of eastern cities of the young republic. As early as 1797 he visited President Washington at Philadelphia, and was presented with an ornate sword.In interviews with the French philosopher, Volney, Little Turtle explained the practices of the Indians; he also aided Volney in the compilation of vocabulary of Indian words. General Kosciusko, the great Polish patriot and leader of the American Revolution, presented him with a pair of elegantly mounted pistols. When Tecumseh’s Conspiracy became a menace to American power in the Fort Wayne area, Little Turtle succeeded in dissuading the Miami from participating, and thus prevented much further bloodshed. After a residence near Fort Wayne, Little Turtle returned to his native village some twenty miles from the city on the Eel River where the United States government built a home for him. He visited Fort Wayne frequently and received medical aid from the American army surgeon at the Fort. His last years were burdened by frequent attacks of gout, and he passed on to the happy hunting grounds in 1812. His native village was still inexistence at that time.One of Little Turtle’s greatest contributions toward the civilization of his people was that of inducing the Miami Indians to abandon nites and the practice of human sacrifice. In recent years his grave was opened; all the artifacts interred with him were removed and placed on exhibit at the local museum of the Allen County - Fort Wayne Historical Society. Among these precious relics is the sword given to Little Turtle by President Washington.It is with admiration, respect, pride and a sense of history that we drop this petal of memory upon the graves of Pontiac, the Prophet, Little Turtle,Bukongehelas, Blue Jacket, and Tecumseh. They are regarded by their race as an aristocracy of intelligence at least as important as that of Harmer, St.Clair, Wayne, and Harrison by the white race.

Start of the Trail 

The trail starts and ends at the Camp Little Turtle office (see map). Units coming to camp for the day to ride the trail should park in the parking lot across form the office

Anthony Wayne Area Council, Boy Scouts of America   

8315 W. Jefferson Blvd., Fort Wayne, IN 46804-8302                         (260) 432-9593    Toll free 800-272-2922    Fax 260-436-1824