Kaskaskia Indians

When Europeans began to settle in North America, the Kaskaskia Indians lived mainly in Illinois and eastern Missouri. They were closely related to the Miami Indians. During the Beaver Wars (1640 – 1700), the Kaskaskias fought against the Iroquois Indians. After the Iroquois threat ended, some Kaskaskia Indians moved into the Ohio Country to live among the Miami Indians. During the French and Indian War, the Kaskaskias allied themselves with the French. During the American Revolution, they supported the British against the Americans. George Rogers Clark led an American army against the Kaskaskias during the war. Although the Kaskaskia Indians did not live in great numbers in Ohio, they were signers of the Treaty of Greeneville in 1795, the Treaty of Fort Wayne in 1803, the Treaty at Vincennes, Indiana also in 1803, and a treaty at Castor Hill, Missouri in 1832. This final treaty resulted in the Kaskaskias relinquishing all of their lands east of the Mississippi except for one small tract. In the 1832 treaty, the Kaskaskias agreed to move west of the Mississippi River and to leave their traditional homeland in Illinois. They merged with various tribes of the Illinois confederacy, including the Wea, the Peoria, the Piakashaw, and several others. The Kaskaskias' descendants now primarily reside in Oklahoma.