Chief Metchipurta Accica

KASKASKIA TRIBE

The Kaskaskia, along with the Peoria, were two of the principal tribes in what was known as the Illinois Confederacy. At the time of first European contact, the tribes of this confederacy held sway over the present area of southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois and along the west bank of the Mississippi River as far south as the Des Moines River in Iowa. By 1700, however, most of the tribes of the confederacy resided in northern Illinois, chiefly on the Illinois River. As a result of continuous war with their northern neighbors, in particular the Sac and Fox Tribes, by the time of the Revolutionary War the Confederacy, represented now by the Peoria and Kaskaskia, was reduced to a fraction of its former strength and had been dispossessed of most of its former territories.

The tribes managed to avoid major conflict with the Americans in both the Revolutionary War and the trouble, which culminated in the Battle of Fallen Timbers and the 1794 Treaty of Greenville. By the Treaty of August 13, 1803, 7 Stat. 78, the Kaskaskia ceded all of their remaining lands in Illinois to the United States in return for protection and patronage. During the trouble associated with the War of 1812, most of the Kaskaskia removed west of the Mississippi to Missouri and Arkansas where they maintained their close relationship with the Peoria. On October 27, 1832, the two tribes signed a treaty, 7 Stat. 403, which gave formal recognition to this union and granted them 150 sections on the Osage Reserve in Kansas.

Peoria Tribe

The Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma is a confederation of Kaskaskia, Peoria, Piankeshaw and Wea Indians united into a single tribe in 1854. The tribes which constitute The Confederated Peorias, as they then were called, originated in the lands bordering the Great Lakes and drained by the mighty Mississippi. They are Illinois or Illini Indians, descendants of those who created the great mound civilizations in the central United States two thousand to three thousand years ago.

Forced from their ancestral lands in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Missouri, the Peorias were relocated first in Missouri, then in Kansas and, finally, in northeastern Oklahoma. There, in Miami, Ottawa County, Oklahoma is their tribal headquarters.

The Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma is a federally-recognized sovereign Indian tribe, functioning under the constitution and by-laws approved by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior on August 13, 1997. Under Article VIII, Section 1 of the Peoria Constitution, the Peoria Tribal Business Committee is empowered to research and pursue economic and business development opportunities for the Tribe.

The history of Randolph County, Illinois, including old Kaskaskia Island https://archive.org/stream/thehistoryofrand00mont#mode/2up

Illinois Country From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pais des Ilinois (Illinois Country) in 1717 French map

The Illinois Country (French: Pays des Illinois, lit. "land of the Illinois (plural)", i.e. the Illinois people) — sometimes referred to as Upper Louisiana (French: la Haute-Louisiane; Spanish: Alta Luisiana) — was a vast region of New France in what is now the Midwestern United States. While these names generally referred to the entire Upper Mississippi River watershed, French colonial settlement was concentrated along the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers in what is now the U.S. states of Illinois and Missouri, with outposts in Indiana. Explored in 1673 from Green Bay to the Arkansas River by the Canadien expedition of Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette, the area was claimed by France. It was settled primarily from the Pays d'en Haut in the context of the fur trade. Over time, the fur trade took some French to the far reaches of the Rocky Mountains, especially along the branches of the broad Missouri River valley. The French name, Pays des Illinois, means "Land of the Illinois [plural]" and is a reference to the Illinois Confederation, a group of related Algonquian native peoples.

Up until 1717, the Illinois Country was governed by the French province of Canada, but by order of King Louis XV, the Illinois Country was annexed to the French province of Louisiana, with the northeastern administrative border being somewhat vaguely on or near the upper Illinois River.[1] The territory thus became known as "Upper Louisiana." By the mid-18th century, the major settlements included Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Chartres, Saint Philippe, and Prairie du Rocher, all on the east side of the Mississippi in present-day Illinois; and Ste. Genevieve across the river in Missouri, as well as Fort Vincennes in what is now Indiana.[2]

As a consequence of the French defeat in the Seven Years' War, the Illinois Country east of the Mississippi River was ceded to the British, and the land west of the river to the Spanish. Following the British occupation of the left bank (when heading downstream) of the Mississippi in 1764, some Canadien settlers remained in the area, while others crossed the river, forming new settlements such as St. Louis.

Eventually, the eastern part of the Illinois Country became part of the British Province of Quebec, while the inhabitants chose to side with the Americans during the Revolutionary War. Although the lands west of the Mississippi were sold in 1803 to the United States by France—which had reclaimed possession of Luisiana from the Spanish in the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso—French language and culture continued to exist in the area, with the Missouri French dialect still being spoken into the 20th century.[2]