Jean Baptiste de Richardville ( 1761 – 13 August 1841), also known as or in the Miami-Illinois language (meaning 'Wildcat' or 'Lynx') or John Richardville in English, was the last 'civil chief' of the Miami people. He began his career in the 1790s as a fur trader who controlled an important portage connecting the Maumee River to the Little River (the present-day Little Wabash River) in what became the present-day state of Indiana. Richardville emerged a principal chief in 1816 and remained a leader of the Miamis until his death in 1841. He was a signatory to the Treaty of Greenville (1795), as well as several later treaties between the U.S. government and the Miami people, most notably the Treaty of Fort Wayne (1803), the Treaty of Fort Wayne (1809), the Treaty of Saint Mary's (1818), the Treaty of Mississinewas (1826), the treaty signed at the Forks of the Wabash (1838), and the Treaty of the Wabash (1840).
Richardville and other Miami leaders were criticized for personally benefitting from their roles as tribal chiefs and treaty negotiators. However, their efforts successfully delayed for decades the removal of the Miami people to federal lands west of the Mississippi River and gained additional time to negotiate concessions and obtain the best prices available for Miami lands. Treaty provisions that they negotiated also allowed about half of the Miami people, including 43 members of Richardville's family, to remain in Indiana after the remainder of the Miamis moved west in 1846. Richardville also provided displaced Miamis in Indiana with a place to stay on the few hundred remaining acres of his property. Those who remained in Indiana were among the original 148 members of the Miami Nation of Indiana, which began on October 6, 1846. Over the years, some of Richardville's family members migrated to what became the present-day states of Kansas and Oklahoma, but many more of his descendants remained in Indiana.
For his role as a civil chief of the Miamis and a treaty negotiator, the U.S. government granted Richardville a total of of land in Indiana under the terms of various treaties, as well as $31,800 in cash settlements. In addition, construction was completed in 1827 on a two-story brick residence that was partially funded by the U.S. government for Richardville and his family in Fort Wayne, Indiana, under the terms of the Treaty of Mississinewas. (The Greek Revival-style home, known as Richardville House, was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2012.) Some accounts of Richardville's life have claimed that he was once the wealthiest Native American in Indiana. Although Richardville maintained Richardville House as his primary residence and owned another property near the Saint Marys River in Indiana, most of his land eventually went to his associates.
Marriage and family Around 1800 Richardville married Natoequah (or Natoequeah), a Miami woman. The couple had at least six children. Their three sons were Joseph, John Baptist Jr., and Miaqueah. Their three daughters were Maria Louise (called LaBlonde), Catherine (Pocongoquah), and Susan. Catherine Richardville married Francis La Fontaine. After Richardville's death in 1841, La Fontaine succeeded his father-in-law as chief of the Miamis.Gugin and St. Clair, eds., p. 290. Note: This includes
Early life and education Jean Baptiste de Richardville ( or , meaning 'Wildcat' or 'Lynx' in the Miami-Illinois language) was born about 1761 in the Miami (Myaami) village of Kekionga (Miamitown), present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was the métis (half French and half Miami) son of Tacumwah, an influential Miami chieftess of the Atchatchakangouen band and the sister of the Miami chief Pacanne, and Antoine-Joseph Drouet de Richerville, a French-Canadian fur trader at Kekionga from about 1750 to 1770. By the late 1780s, Antoine-Joseph de Richerville had permanently settled at Trois-Rivières (Three Rivers) in Quebec, Canada.Chaput, p. 112. (1971 reprint; Unigraphic) Historian Donald Chaput described the Drouets as "one of the most significant families of officers-traders in the western Great Lakes region."Chaput, p. 104. Through his mother's family, Jean Baptiste de Richardville was also the nephew of two Miami chiefs, Little Turtle and Pacanne.Chaput, p. 113.
Richardville spent part of his childhood with his father in Quebec, where he received a few years of formal education before returning to Kekionga in late 1770s to live among the Miamis with his mother. During his youth, Richardville learned to speak fluent Miami (an Algonquian language), as well as French and English. By the time that Richardville returned to Kekionga, his mother, Tacumwah, had married Charles Beaubein, a French trader in the area. Tacumwah operated her own trading house at Kekionga, where her son learned to become successful a trader. Richardville also joined his mother's tribal community.Chaput, pp. 112–13. Richardville was at Kekionga when it was attacked in the 1790 Harmar campaign, and he was among the warriors who ambushed the United States in the climactic battle on 22 October.
Richardville was initially reluctant to take part in Miami tribal affairs, preferring instead to culturally identify himself as a creole Frenchman, dress in French clothing, and take an interest in European culture. Because his tribe had a matrilineal power system, Richardville gained leadership status in the tribe from his mother's people, meaning he gained authority through his mother's brother, Chief Pacanne. Richardville became more politically active in Miami affairs as an ally of his uncles, Chief Pacanne and Chief Little Turtle.Gugin and St. Clair, eds., pp. 233 and 290. After the War of 1812, Richardville began to culturally identify more with the Miami people, instead of the creole French, and became a "prominent leader of the tribe."Gugin and St. Clair, eds., p. 291. As an adult, Richardville refused to speak English or French languages or wear European-style clothing.
Fur trader and entrepreneur Richardville began his career as a trader and operated a successful trading post at Kekionga (Miamitown) near Fort Miami, present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana, while his mother ran a trading post at the Forks of the Wabash. These two outposts along the Maumee River and Wabash Rivers dominated trade between the two waterways, which connected the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River Valley. Richardville and his mother made most of their income from the fur trade, but they also established a profitable business charging fees to transport goods over and control of a portage connecting the Maumee River to the Little River (known in the present-day as the Little Wabash River).
Under the terms of Article 4 of the Northwest Ordinance (1787), the U.S. Congress declared that all navigable waters and portages between the Mississippi and the Saint Lawrence Rivers were free for all to use. Although the Miamis lost control of the portage in the Treaty of Greenville (1795), Richardville acquired a trade license in 1815 that gave him a monopoly on carry-over services at the portage, which earned him considerable profits from the trading traffic.The Treaty of Greenville (1795) also ended the Northwest Indian Wars in which a coalition of Native Americans had tried to repulse European Americans from the region west of the Appalachian Mountains and north of the Ohio River. See In 1824 Richardville had gained sufficient wealth to be among the first to purchase a lot in Fort Wayne, Indiana, that would serve as a site for his home and trading post.Poinsatte, pp. 97–98. By 1831 he had relocated the Miami tribal headquarters and his trading post in Fort Wayne to a site at the Forks of the Wabash, which was closer to the Miami villages and tribal reserve lands.Headings and Leonard, "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: de Richardville, Chief Jean-Baptiste, House," p. 24 (Section 8).
Tribal leader and landowner Beginning in the late 1790s, Richardville took an increasingly active interest in Miami affairs and remained an influential leader of the Miami people until his death in 1841. Richardville was involved in treaty negotiations with the U.S. government, as well as the decisions on disbursement of federal funds and annuity goods given to the Miamis. Historians R. David Edmunds, Elizabeth Glenn, and Stewart Rafert have pointed out that Richardville and other Miami leaders such as Francis Godfroy personally profited from their roles as tribal chiefs and treaty negotiators, but the leaders also slowed progress in discussions regarding land cessions and removal of the Miamis from Indiana, especially between 1818 and 1840. These delays gave Richardson and the other tribal leaders additional time to negotiate concessions and delay the eventual removal of the Miami people to lands west of the Mississippi River.
Treaty of Greenville, 1795
After the Native American defeat at the Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794), Richardville favored a negotiated peace agreement. He was one of three Miami signatories at the Treaty of Greenville (1795). This treaty established the boundaries of American Indian lands in the Northwest Territory and recognized Indian rights to land they occupied. It also set aside land for forts and trading posts, as well as specifying that the U.S. government was the only authorized party who could purchase American Indian lands.Rafert, p. 60.
Treaty of Fort Wayne, 1803 and 1809
In the early 1800s, Richardville's political influence increased due to his close association with his uncle, Chief Little Turtle. In an effort to protect the Miami people's interests by cooperating with the U.S. government, Richardville signed treaties with federal officials in 1802 and 1803. The Treaty of Fort Wayne (1803) was the first of four treaties negotiated with the Miamis between 1803 and 1809. It ceded to the U.S. government a large parcel of land in what became southwest Indiana and parts of Illinois. Most of the Miamis supported the terms of the treaty because very few of them lived on these ceded lands.Rafert, p. 69.
Richardville was also one of the leaders of the Mississinewa Miami at treaty negotiations in Fort Wayne in 1809, when Little Turtle was effectively retired from negotiations for the Miamis and the Mississinewa council took charge of the Miami interests.Rafert, p. 72. Although Richardville initially resisted further cession of Miami lands, the Treaty of Fort Wayne (1809) ceded Miami land along the Wabash River to the federal government in exchange for strengthening Miami control in areas of present-day northern Indiana.
Emerging leader After the death of his uncle, Chief Pacanne, in 1815, fifty-five-year-old Richardville emerged as principal chief of the Miamis. Francis Godfroy also joined Richardville as an influential leader of the Miamis. Due to the two métis (mixed blood) men's previous relationships with federal officials, they became treaty-signing chiefs for the Miamis, interpreters at treaty negotiations, and brokers of tribal business affairs. Richardville and Godfroy recognized the value of land and the potential trade profits in an American capitalist society. Together, they worked as intermediaries to protect the Miami tribal interests, as well as their own.Rafert, pp. 83–85.
The value of the Miami lands and the arrival of pioneer settlers in what became central Indiana in the early 1800s gave Richardville and the other Miami leaders additional leverage in negotiating sales of their lands. Richardville proved to be a shrewd negotiator on behalf of the Miami people, in addition to increasing his own personal wealth and landholdings in the process. Richardville and the other Miami leaders also delayed treaties calling for the removal of the Miamis from Indiana.Rafert, pp. 88–89, 96.
Treaty of St. Marys, 1818