EXILED
Ohio's Indian Removal
TREKS
1832: SHAWNEE EMIGRATIONS
The Shawnee tribe began their journey west on September 18, 1832 with 444 Wapakoneta Shawnees and 250 of the Shawnee and Seneca mixed band. Lack of provisions was one of the greatest difficulties they faced, and it was made worse by the time of year in which they set off. The Wapakoneta Shawnees arrived on the reservation on November 30, 1832, by which time they numbered only 334. The mixed band of Senecas and Shawnees arrived at their destination on December 18, 1832.
"Here Chawways Child died and we witnessed a second misfortune in the same family with the melancholy spectacle of one nation removing another and scarcely giving time for them to bury their dead. They are leaving the land of their nativity with the bones of their fathers and scattering the bones of their children along the way. To see the friends gathering around the cold remains of a mothers Joy and depositing their gifts with the corpse while the silver tears rolled down the female cheeks in silence was a scene over which and angel might weep and not sink in dignity. The little corpse was placed in the earth in great haste."
—Diary of Richard Shelby, emigration conductor, October 12, 1832
Moving an entire people—including the sick, the young, the pregnant, the disabled, and the elderly—is a logistically complex and costly undertaking.
Daniel Dunihue, the conductor of the Lewistown Seneca and Shawnee removal, kept a diary of the journey westward. Entries were typically brief, citing how far the tribe had traveled, delays, births, deaths, supplies, and weather patterns.
1843: WYANDOT EMIGRATION
625 Wyandots left Ohio on July 12, 1843, rst traveling by land to Cincinnati and then by steamboat.They traveled from Cincinnati to Kansas to live on land purchased from the Delaware in October 1843. Of all the Ohio Indian migrations, that of the Wyandot entailed the least death and discomfort, largely because they were given greater discretion to organize it themselves. However, nearly 100 died in the rst few months in Kansas because the federal government had not found lands for them.
Wyandot Relocation by Frank Halbedel, 1888
Image courtesy Ohio History Connection
Shawnee Removal, 1832. Based on a map by Roberta Stockwell.
DANIEL DUNIHUE DIARY, 1832
Daniel Dunihue, the conductor of the Lewistown Seneca and Shawnee removal, kept a diary of the journey westward. Entries were typically brief, citing how far the tribe had traveled, delays, births, deaths, supplies, and weather patterns.
For most of the journey, the travelers walked on foot with their goods accompanying them in wagons. Wagon wheels frequently got stuck in the mud due to rain.
"The road being so very muddy, and no water and pastures sufficient for the
Indians at a distance of four of five miles further, we stopped two miles west of Centreville; making the distance only seven miles from where we staid last night."
—Diary of Daniel Dunihue, emigration conductor,
Monday, October 1, 1832
