Eel River people
The Eel River were a historic Native American tribe from Indiana.
At the time of European contact in the mid-18th century, the tribe lived the northern Eel River, a tributary of the Wabash River in what is now Cass County, Indiana.
They were a sub-tribe of the Miami people and spoke an Algonquian language.
History
18th century
In 1765, the Eel River tribe lived in a village north of where the Eel entered the Wabash River. The Kentucky militia attacked and destroyed their village, so survivors founded a new village near Sugar Creek in what is now Boone County, Indiana. The village was named Kawiakiungi or "Place of Thorns." A historical marker commemorates their cemetery, near Thorntown, Indiana.After fighting the Americans in the 1794 Battle of Fallen Timbers, they signed the 1795 Treaty of Greenville. Through this and subsequent treaties, they ceded their land in Boone County for land in what is now Miami County, Indiana.
19th century
In the 1814 treaty, the Eel River Indians, along with the Wea, were named part of the "Miami Nation of Indians"; however, the U.S. acknowledged them as a distinct tribe in 1847 and they were allowed to remain in Indiana when the Miami were forcibly removed to Kansas and later Indian Territory.By 1851, of the only 19 Eel River Indians, 16 stayed in Indiana, while three moved with the Miami to Kansas and later Indian Territory in 1873. In 1889, they enrolled as part of the Miami.