On August 20, 1810, Shawnee military and political leader Tecumseh addressed Territorial Governor William Henry Harrison in Vincennes. Through this address, Tecumseh hoped to persuade Harrison to both relinquish American claim to land acquired in the Treaty of Fort Wayne and to dissuade him from further encroachment upon Native people’s land, saying “If you will not give up the land and do cross the boundary of your present settlement it will be very hard and produce great troubles among us.”
Tecumseh had travelled to Vincennes from Prophetstown, just north of present day Lafayette, with an escort of seventy-five warriors. The Treaty of Fort Wayne, signed in 1809, exasperated tensions between Prophetstown and the territorial government as Prophetstown leadership had not been informed of the proceedings. According to historian Adam Jortner, the August 1810 summit “did not produce any changes in relations, but it did produce some of the most eloquent explanations and defenses of the Prophetstown position on land ownership.”
Learn more about Tecumseh by the National Park Service.
We are excited (and a little bit afraid) for today's eclipse. Eclipses have side benefits. Witness this letter from Thomas Jefferson to astronomer Nathaniel Bowditch about the solar eclipse of September 17, 1811, thanking him for deducing the longitude of Monticello:
"I thank you, Sir, for your highly scientific pamphlet on the motion of the Pendulum, and more particularly for that containing the deductions of longitudes of places in the United States, from the Solar eclipse of 1811. that of Monticello is especially acceptable, having too long lost familiarity with such operations to have undertaken it my self. mr Lambert of Washington had also favored me with his calculation, which varied minutely only from your’s; he having, from the same elements, made the Longitude of Monticello 78°–50′–18.877″ W. from Greenwich. I am happy indeed to find that this most sublime of all sciences is so eminently cultivated by you."
Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838) was born in Salem, Massachusetts and was a self-taught mathematician. After years of serving as a sailor and ship owner, he revised the errors in the 18th century New Practical Navigator by John Hamilton Moore. Bowditch also served as an insurance actuary, was offered the chair of mathematics and physics at Harvard, and published several works on astronomy. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Royal Societies of Edinburgh and London and the Royal Irish Academy. The Boston Public Library holds an extensive collection of Bowditch's books and papers. The National Archives also funded a project at the Phillips Library of the Peabody Essex Museum which holds the Bowditch Family Papers.
Bowditch is perhaps best known as the author of the American Practical Navigator, published in 1802 and still in use through a series of revised editions by the U.S. Navy. The "Bowditch" is a handbook for navigators reflecting his intent "to put down in the book nothing I can't teach the crew."
This chart of the Atlantic Ocean is from the American Practical Navigator, published in 1802, from the U.S. Naval Observatory collection.
1811, November 7 - The Battle of Tippecanoe is waged with forces under William Henry Harrison and Native Americans led by the Prophet.
1811, December 11 - Territorial Assembly petitions Congress to admit Indiana as the 19th state into the Union. See page 6 of The Indiana Historian March 1996.
1811, December 16 - New Madrid earthquake magnitude 7.5, and again January 23, 1812 New Madrid earthquake magnitude 7.3.
Chicago (UPI) The worst earthquake ever to hit North America created a 150-mile-long depression in the earth and changed the course of the Mississippi River in 1811.
That earthquake was centered near New Madrid, Mo., 150 miles south of St. Louis, in the same area that fostered earth tremors which shook at least 20 states yesterday.
HOWEVER, according to Prof. John 0. Osterberg, director of the soil mechanics lab at Northwestern University, the New Madrid quake of 157 years ago registered a reading of 12, highest possible on the Mercalli scale, compared to readings of 4 to 5 on the same scale for yesterday's [1968] tremor.
"Probably the most spectacular thing caused by the 1811 earthquake was the cave-in of a 150-mile area south of New Madrid," Osterberg said.
"Depressions 20 or 30 miles long and 4 or 5 miles wide were formed and some of them flooded. Today, two of these are popular with fish ermen Reelfoot in Tennessee and St. Francis in Arkansas."
THE QUAKE formed a new river bed for the Mississippi and, as the waters rushed In, whole river islands disappeared and new ones popped up.
Osterberg said only six deaths were reported from the 1811 earthquake, although it caused major topographic changes over an area of 50,-000 miles and badly shook a total area of 1 million square miles.
Scientists, Osterberg said, are not sure of the cause of the earthquake, although they believe that huge quantities of sand and gravel deposited during the Ice Age and washed down the Mississippi River valley overburdened bedstone rock.
A mere five weeks after the first quake racked America's frontier, the second main shock of the historic New Madrid sequence rang in at a magnitude ~7.3 on Jan. 23, 1812. While settlers were still chronicling the impacts of the Dec. 16, 1811 magnitude ~7.5 event, the Ohio River was also iced over; hence, little river traffic resulted in fewer close-in human observers. Using the first event as a standard and dozens of far-field reports reaching 600–700 miles to the Eastern Seaboard, however, there is a scientific consensus that this earthquake was the smallest of the three main temblors.
“On the 16th of December, the whole nation was suddenly awakened at 2 o'clock in the morning by the shaking of the earth." That's what one Knox County Shaker (no pun intended) wrote after the first New Madrid earthquake of 1811. The earthquake was felt in Tennessee, Kentucky, and the areas that would become Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, and Mississippi. Two more quakes sent aftershocks in the following two months. Together, these earthquakes are referred to as the New Madrid Earthquakes. Learn more about the quakes here:
In 1811, the New Madrid earthquake swept through a seismic zone that included Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Samuel Swan McClelland, a Shaker in Busro, Knox County, wrote, “On the 16th of December, the whole nation was suddenly awakened at 2 o'clock in the morning by the shaking of the earth."
Earthquakes in Missouri? Beginning in December 1811, three powerful earthquakes and more than 2,000 aftershocks rocked New Madrid, Missouri, and the surrounding area. Learn more on our blog:
#OnThisDay in 1811, an earthquake measuring an estimated 7.5 on the Richter scale hit southeast Missouri. The most powerful quake east of the Rocky Mountains in United States history, it caused damage over more than 200,000 square miles, even ringing church bells as far away as Philadelphia and Boston. Aftershocks and subsequent quakes lasted into April 1812, displacing settler and destroying the town of New Madrid.
These seismic events, which came to be known as the New Madrid earthquakes, spurred the country’s first Congressional disaster relief legislation, “An act for the relief of the inhabitants of the late county of New Madrid, in Missouri Territory, who suffered by earthquakes” on Feb. 17, 1815. The act allowed displaced settlers to relocate their lands elsewhere in the territory.
Pictured is one such New Madrid Claim filed by Sarah Ruddell, widow of Nicholas Angur, in 1818.
For more information on these records contact us today at archives@sos.mo.gov. An index and finding aid to the New Madrid Claims can also be found here:
1909...Bloomingdale Bridge and the St Mary's river. ACPL
The Junction of the Rivers in War Times
The illustration is a drawing from a woodcut in Lossing's Pictorial Fieldbook of the War of 1812 showing the wooden bridge across the Maumee directly below the confluence of the St. Mary's and the St. Joseph rivers, which connected the town of Fort Wayne with the present Lakeside, then known as "the old apple orchard." Published in 1909 as Bloomingdale Bridge
In my letter of the 10th ultimo, I inform you that the Indian chief Tecumseh had arrived on the Wabash. I have no to state to you that - - that he has determined to raise all the Indians he can immediately with an intention no doubt to attack our frontiers. He has sent runners to raise the Indians on the Illinois and the upper part of the Mississippi and I am to take his guns himself to Murry and the aid he was promised by the Cherokees and the Creeks.
The Prophet’s orator who is considered the third man in this hostile band passed within 12 mile of this place on the 23 ulto with 8 shawnese 8 winnebagoes and 7 kickapoos in all 24 on their way as they say to ---- ----- where they expected to receive a quantity of powder and lead from their Father the British !
It is believed that they have been told by the messengers from Malden that passed this place in January that ammunition would be sent to that place for them—it is evident that these fellows are determined to make a Bold Stand. But I cannot believe that any number of Indians will be such –as to join then unless we are at war with the British. They will keep up…. People in a clear state of illusion as long as the Prophet is sufficed to live. I do not believe none that the Indians will hurt him and the government had better send 150 to 200 mounted Riflemen and put an end to him.
These men should be raised as secretly as possible and they should Dash at him instantly. Should upon an act be adopted at this theme by the government I would be glad to have charge of its Execution.
Today in 1812: The “Gerry-Mander” cartoon first appears in the "Boston Gazette." It was quickly reprinted in Federalist newspapers in Boston and beyond. This copy is from the an issue of the "Salem Gazette" on April 2, 1813.
The cartoon expressed opposition to state election districts newly redrawn by Massachusetts’ Jeffersonian Democratic-Republican Party, led by Governor Elbridge Gerry. Fearing that the Federalist Party would gain power in the 1812 election, Gerry consolidated Federalist voting strength in a salamander-shaped voting district. The practice—though not invented by Gerry—became known as a “gerrymandering."
1812, March 31 - Congressional commitee recomends admission when the population of Indiana Territory is 35,000. See page 6 of The Indiana Historian March 1996.
1812, April 30 - Louisiana became the 18th nation's state.
1812: During the War of 1812, the loss of Fort Dearborn in a fierce battle and the fall of Fort Detroit to the British leave Fort Wayne vulnerable to attack by the British and their Native American allies. Fort Wayne is besieged by Indian forces until rescued by the American army under Brig. General William Henry Harrison.
1812, May 10 - the United States calls out militia forces to prepare for war against Canada. War will be declared on June 18. Copied from a May 10, 2019 post by Forces of Lord Selkirk on Facebook.
ON THIS DAY // On July 14, 1812, Little Turtle died near present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana. One of the greatest military leaders in Native American history, Little Turtle was a member of the Miami tribe of Indians.
He lived in a Miami village known as Kekionga located on the banks of the St. Joseph River. Little Turtle's first burst of fame came in 1780, when the French attacked the Miami and other tribes living near the Maumee River. When Little Turtle heard of the invasion, he rallied an army of Miami warriors to pursue the French. Although the Indians were greatly outnumbered, they defeated the French by surrounding their camp and attacking after nightfall.
In 1989, in response to years of considerable violence between the American settlers and Native Americans, President George Washington ordered a general in the Indiana Territory - General Josiah Harmar - to raise a force of men to destroy the Miami village of Kekionga. Harmar's force of 1,453 men reached the village of Kekionga on October 17, 1790.
What resulted was series of battles that were all overwhelming victories for the Native Americans. Little Turtle and his warriors defeated Harmar's forces multiple times in separate battles and skirmishes. It was the worst defeat of U.S. forces by Indians up to that time, and was later surpassed by St. Clair's Defeat and the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Little Turtle's triumph was short-lived, though. A Revolutionary War hero named "Mad" Anthony Wayne analyzed Little Turtle's warfare strategies and then organized a huge force of 5,000 men. What resulted was the famous Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. Wayne and his soldiers forced Little Turtle and his warriors to flee.
After the battle, Little Turtle struck a friendly agreement with the Americans. For the rest of his life, Little Turtle lived at his lodge in northeastern Indiana. He continued to be a respected leader who urged improvements in the quality of life and morals of Native Americans. #IndianaHistory
On this day in 1812, the great Miami Chief Little Turtle began his walk to the Creator. He was one of our greatest Chiefs and arguably one of the greatest Native American military leaders. Among his greatest military victories was The Battle of the Wabash (also know as St. Clair's Defeat or the Battle of a Thousand Slain) at present day Fort Recovery Ohio where the United States Army suffered it's worst defeat at the hands of a Native American Army. He also lead a prosperous village and trading post near present day Columbia City Indiana.
1813, March 3 - Thomas Posey becomes second governor of Indiana Territory. Harrison resigned to pursue a military commission.
1813, March 11 - State Capital Act of 1813 moves the seat of government from Vincennes to Corydon when Indiana only had 10 counties.
1813, May 1 - the capital of the Indiana Territory was moved from Vincennes, Indiana to Corydon, sitting just north of the Ohio River, remaining the state's capital until 1825 when Indianapolis took over that role. See photo posted May 1, 2017 on Indiana Bicentennial Commission on Facebook on Facebook.
#OTD in 1813, the capital of the Indiana Territory moved from Vincennes to Corydon, a more central location. Corydon was the first capital of Indiana when it became a state in 1816 and served as the capital city until 1825, when it was transferred to Indianapolis. Learn more at: https://www.in.gov/history/files/interritory.pdf
The image below is courtesy of the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites.
1813, October 5 - during the War of 1812, Shawnee Indian chief Tecumseh is killed near Canada's Thames River.
1814
1814 burning of the U.S. capital, by the British during the War of 1812, pushed Congress to publish the most important records of our government resulting in millions of volumes in reports, journals, digest, codes, and miscellaneous documents of many Americans in libraries across the country in the Federal Depository Library Directory (FDLD).
1814 - Colonel John Allen, a Kentuckian who fought in defense of Fort Wayne and the Maumee River area after the siege, is killed during the battle of the River Raisin near today's Monroe, Michigan. Allen County would later be named in his memory. From Millennium milestones in Fort Wayne from the archives of
The News-Sentinel newspaper.
1814, August 24 - the British marched into Washington, D. C. and set fire to the Capitol building and White House during the War of 1812.
#OnThisDay, August 24, 1814, British soldiers marched on Washington, DC destroying the U.S. Capitol, The White House and and many other public buildings.
PHOTO CAPTION
Scars from the 1814 #fire appeared 176 years later, in 1990, when multiple layers of white paint were removed from the White House walls during #restoration. (The White House Historical Association / Erik Kvalsik, photographer)
LEARN MORE
See the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) measured drawings and photographs of the White House, when it was documented in the 1990s in preparation for the structure's 200 year anniversary, in the HABS/HAER/HALS Collection in The Library of Congress at https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/dc0402/
On August 24, 1814, British troops marched into Washington and torched the White House. The still uncompleted Capitol building was also set on fire. The "Vermont Watchman and State Journal" published the shocking news.
On this day in 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote our national anthem by the rockets' red glare.
In 1914, the same Star-Spangled Banner was repaired under a squid's steely stare.
Using a temporary workspace in the Smithsonian Castle, Amelia Fowler and a team of seamstresses secured the tattered flag to a backing of unbleached linen. Other exhibition materials had been removed from the room, but a giant squid hanging from the ceiling remained.
#OTD in 1815, Territorial Governor Jonathan Jennings submitted a petition to Congress from the residents of the Indiana Territory requesting statehood. The request was tabled because the region did not yet have the requisite 60,000 people needed to become a state. Over the following months, however, trade continued to increase, new towns sprung up across the territory, and the region’s leaders continued to organize and track population growth.
In November 1815, drawing on statistics from eight counties and estimations in six more, the Lexington Western Eagle reported that the population had reached 68,084. Territorial leaders met that December to draft another petition for statehood, which was presented to the U.S. House later that month and to the Senate in January 1816.
On April 19, 1816, Congress passed the Enabling Act, allowing the Indiana Territory to petition for statehood, having achieved the necessary number of settlers, and Indiana officially became a state on December 11. According to the United States Census Bureau, the population of Indiana today has grown to over six million Hoosiers.
Browse primary documents from Indiana’s road to statehood courtesy of IHB and the Indiana Supreme Court and accessible via IUPUI University Library: Road to Indiana Statehood
Images courtesy of Indiana Memory and the Indiana Historical Bureau.
1815, December 11 - Territorial Assembly again petitions Congress to admit Indiana into the Union. See page 6 of The Indiana Historian March 1996
1815, April - In April 1815, a volcano known as Mount Tambora erupted in a massive explosion on the island of Sumbawa in present-day Indonesia. The eruption was the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history. It obliterated the top of the mountain and produced tsunamis, pyroclastic flows, and ash killing at least 10,000 islanders. The explosion propelled ash, pumice, and sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere and impacted global temperatures. As a result, the year 1816 was known as the Year Without a Summer. Copied from The 1815 Eruption of Mount Tambora and the Year Without a Summer posted July 1, 2022 by Jenny Ashcraft on Newspapers.com
Indiana in 1816; an address by Potterf, Rex M, Publication date 1952, on Archive.org
An address by Rex M. Potterf delivered before the Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society (December 12, 1928), at the Swinney Homestead, Fort Wayne, Indiana, on the anniversary of Indiana's admission to the Union one hundred and twelve years ago.
1816, April 19 - President James Madison signs the Enabling Act allowing for the Indiana Constitutional Convention to form a government and join the Union.
ON THIS DAY // On April 19, 1816, President James Madison signed into law the Enabling Act, which served as official approval from Congress for Indiana to formally begin the process of becoming a state.
The Act authorized inhabitants of the territory "to form for themselves a constitution and state government, and to assume such name as they shall deem proper" and that "said state, when formed, shall be admitted into the union upon the same footing with the original states, in all respects whatever."
#OTD in 1816, President James Madison signed into law the Enabling Act, which served as official approval from Congress for the Indiana Territory to formally begin the process of becoming a state. The act authorized inhabitants of the territory "to form for themselves a constitution and state government, and to assume such name as they shall deem proper" and that "said state, when formed, shall be admitted into the union upon the same footing with the original states, in all respects whatever."
Read the text of the act as it was printed in 1816 in the Western Sun on Hoosier State Chronicles: https://bit.ly/3YvvUpd.
The image below is courtesy of Hoosier State Chronicles.
1816, April 29 Indiana becomes the 19th state. All of northern Indiana is included in Knox County, with Vincennes as the county seat. Talk immediately begins about building the Wabash-Erie Canal through Fort Wayne. The state constitution forbids slavery, but slavery continues until the Civil War.
1816, June 10 - the first state constitutional convention assembled at Corydon.
“We the Representatives of the people of the Territory of Indiana, in Convention met, at Corydon, on Monday the tenth day of June in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixteen, and of the Independence of the United States, the fortieth, having the right of admission into the General Government, as a member of the union, consistent with the constitution of the United States, the ordinance of Congress of one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven, and the law of Congress, entitle 'An act to enable the people of the Indiana Territory to form a Constitution and State Government, and for the admission of such state into the union, on an equal footing with the original States' in order to establish Justice, promote the welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity; do ordain and establish the following constitution or form of Government, and do mutually agree with each other to form ourselves into a free and Independent state, by the name of the State of Indiana.” (Preamble to the Constitution of Indiana, which entered the Union as the 19th state on December 11, 1816)
On this day in 1816 the first state constitutional convention assembled at Corydon. Forty-three delegates, representing the thirteen counties then in existence, gathered to write the state’s governing document borrowing some concepts from those established in other states. Indiana became a state on December 11, 1816. The collections at IHS have one of the two handwritten copies of the state's first constitution.
#OTD in 1816, delegates chosen to form Indiana's first state constitution assembled at Corydon. The delegates elected Jonathan Jennings as president and William Hendricks as secretary of the convention. By a vote of 33 to 8, the delegates asserted that it was expedient to form a constitution. In describing the quality of the assembly, Knox County delegate John Badollet wrote, “It is unfortunate that, when called upon to form a constitution a territory is in the most unpropitious circumstances to success for the want of men of intellect and political knowledge . . . . This was woefully verified in our case, for though our convention contained several thinking men, the majority was composed of empty bablers, democratic to madness, having incessantly the people in their mouths and their dear selves in their eyes.” Learn more with the convention journals: Journal of the convention of the Indiana territory, 1816
The image below is of the first Indiana state constitution, courtesy of the Indiana Archives and Records Administration.
Indiana Constitution, 1816About this collection The Indiana Constitution of 1816 was written in Corydon at the Constitutional Convention. This marked the end of the Indiana Territory and the beginning of the statehood of Indiana. This copy of the Indiana Constitution of 1816 is one of two copies written. At We Do History online digital collection by the Indiana Historical Society.
Major Francis Smith Belton (1791 - 1861) was a U.S. Army officer who served in a number of campaigns starting with the War of 1812. He had a fiery temperament and was twice convicted by court-martial. At least one case involved a dispute with a fellow officer. Both times he was reinstated to service.
In December 1816, while serving in NYC as a staff brevet major in the Dragoons, he was assigned as assistant inspector general to the post in Detroit. He arrived at Detroit on January 18, 1817 and spent the year based there but traveling to inspect the various Army posts reporting to Detroit. This picture is one of a series of five sketches he apparently made during this journey. The Fort Wayne view bears the date of 1816 and may either be an error or from an earlier unrecorded journey.
1816, June 29 - delegates at the constitutional convention in Corydon adopted the first Indiana State Constitution. See photo posted June 29, 2018 by Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook.
#OTD in 1816, the first session of the General Assembly convened, and was in session until January 3, 1817. The Constitutional Convention, which took place in Corydon in the summer of 1816, produced a constitution that created the General Assembly as the state legislature.
This lawmaking body was comprised of a House of Representatives and a Senate, with members serving one and three years, respectively. During its first ten years, the General Assembly faced many challenges, including the issues of revenue and infrastructure, and selecting a new state capital.
Learn more about the early sessions of the Indiana General Assembly through Untold Indiana:
Hello and welcome to a new episode of Hands on Archives! Today, we’re looking at Indiana’s first state constitution, written in the summer of 1816 in Corydon and officially enacted when Indiana became a state on December 11th, 1816.
Watch the video to learn more about the content and the physical qualities of the original Indiana Constitution. What does the constitution have in common with elementary school composition papers? Why does it have acid burns? Learn the answers to these questions and more!
For the full text of both Constitutions and more, check out our Constitution and Legislation Subject Guide: https://www.in.gov/iara/services-for-...
Want to see the original 1816 Indiana Constitution? You might be surprised at the number of ink splats, mistakes, cross-outs, and other imperfections -- fascinating evidence of the constitutional delegates at work drafting this founding document. In this new episode of Hands on Archives an IARA archivist will unbox and examine our first constitution. In just five minutes, you’ll see that the sheet often represented as the first page of the constitution is actually the Ordinance accepting the Congressional Enabling Act (allowing the delegates to draft a state constitution). You’ll learn about the document’s political flaws and why it was eventually replaced by the 1851 Constitution. And you’ll learn about the 1992 restoration of the manuscript and the paper-eating acidic ink! Watch now: https://youtu.be/PWhPurvgQ6k You can also join us for Statehood Day next Wednesday, December 11, 2024 at the Indiana Statehouse if you’d like to see the document in person. It will be displayed throughout the legislative session. #StatehoodDay #IndianaArchives #IndianaStateArchives #IARA #HandsOnArchives #IndianaHistory
Want to see the original 1816 Indiana Constitution? You might be surprised at the number of ink splats, mistakes, cross-outs, and other imperfections -- fascinating evidence of the constitutional delegates at work drafting this founding document.
In this new episode of Hands on Archives an IARA archivist will unbox and examine our first constitution. In just five minutes, you’ll see that the sheet often represented as the first page of the constitution is actually the Ordinance accepting the Congressional Enabling Act (allowing the delegates to draft a state constitution). You’ll learn about the document’s political flaws and why it was eventually replaced by the 1851 Constitution. And you’ll learn about the 1992 restoration of the manuscript and the paper-eating acidic ink!
Have you been wondering about the Indiana bicentennial flag? This video with Highland Clerk-Treasurer Michael Griffin explains why Indiana is the 19th star. Thanks NWI History for sharing!
Bicentennial flag September 19, 2015
Doug Ross on YouTube
Michael Griffin tells about the first US flag to reflect Indiana's admission to the Union.
ON THIS DAY // On December 11, 1816, President James Madison signed an Act of Congress admitting Indiana to the Union as the 19th state. Indiana was the second state, after Ohio, to be created out of what was the Northwest Territory.
On December 11, 1816, President James Madison signed an Act of Congress admitting Indiana to the Union as the 19th state. Indiana was the second state, after Ohio, to be created out of what was the Northwest Territory.
Happy Statehood Day! On December 11, 1816, President James Madison signed an Act of Congress admitting Indiana to the Union as the 19th state. Indiana was the second state, after Ohio, to be created out of what was the Northwest Territory.
Happy Statehood Day! On December 11, 1816, President James Madison signed an Act of Congress admitting Indiana to the Union as the 19th state. Indiana was the second state, after Ohio, to be created out of what was the Northwest Territory.
Learn more about the road to Indiana’s statehood here: Indiana Statehood
The image below showing the 1816 Resolution of Admission, signed December 11, is courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, accessed via Indiana Memory.
Happy Statehood Day! Indiana is officially 207 years old, having become a state #OTD in 1816. In the summer of that year, delegates met in Corydon to draft and sign the first Indiana State Constitution which created the Indiana General Assembly and laid out the basic structure of the Indiana government. Pressing matters for the nascent legislative body included state funding, infrastructure, and selecting an official state capital.
On this day in 1816, Indiana became a state! President James Madison signed the congressional resolution admitting Indiana to the Union. To celebrate, here is a colored lithograph featuring the Old State House at Corydon (bottom, right) and the First State House at Indianapolis dated 1876. Happy birthday, Indiana!
Statehood Day 2018 posted December 17, 2018 by the Indiana Archives and Records Administration on YouTube Every year on the anniversary of Indiana’s statehood (December 11), the Indiana State Archives participates in a big celebration at the State Capitol, which culminates in the installation of Indiana’s 1816 and 1851 Constitutions in the rotunda for the duration of the legislative session. This video chronicles the journey of both Constitutions from the Archives to the State Capitol.
See Search for a new capital on page 6 of The Indiana Historian March 1996. Corydon in Harrison County was the state capital since 1813 seat of government. Mountain lions still roamed the state, elk grazed the prairies and bison still roamed the western edges of Indiana. The state population was 65,000, about equal modern Terre Haute with the capital in Corydon moved from Vincennes in 1813 from Celebrating Indiana's rich history by Lee Hamilton and Becky Skillman published September 13, 2015 on the BrazilTimes.com.
Among framers of 1816 constitution who met under the Constitution Elm was John Boone of Harrison County, Daniel Boone’s brother from Indiana at 200 (19): Framers Met Under an Elmby Andrea Neal published February 24, 2014.
In late 1816, just as Indiana became a state, when Thomas and Nancy Lincoln moved with their son and daughter from Kentucky to Spencer County, which was still a forested wilderness from Indiana at 200 (18): Years Here Shaped Abe Lincoln by Andrea Neal published February 10, 2014 all on Indiana Policy.org.
Indiana had black laws with prohibitions against blacks testifying in court against whites, marrying whites, voting, serving in the militia and even migrating into the state, read more in How Hoosier roots helped shape Lincoln published November 26, 2016 in The Journal Gazette newspaper.
On December 13, 1816, the year Indiana became a state, the Indiana General Assembly approved an Act providing for a "Public Seal and Press." The State of Indiana did not officially adopt the seal until 1963. The emblem depicted a fleeing buffalo and a woodsman chopping down a tree. Debate regarding the placement of the sun—namely its rising or setting—has endured since the early 19th century.
#OTD in 1816, the year Indiana became a state, the Indiana General Assembly approved an act providing for a "Public Seal and Press." The act described the future seal as having “a forest and a woodman felling a tree, a Buffaloe leaving the forest and fleeing through a plain to a distant forest and the Sun sitting [sic] in the west with the word Indiana.”
While the act provided for a seal, it wasn't until 1963 that the legislature officially adopted the State Seal of Indiana. Debate regarding the placement of the sun-namely its rising or setting-has endured since the early 19th century. Officially, the sun is described as setting, despite several bills being proposed to change the description to a rising sun.
The design of Indiana’s state seal was given legal sanction by the Indiana General Assembly in 1963, per sitting Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb’s Office.
On this day in 1816, the Indiana General Assembly passed a bill that provided for a “public seal and press.” The seal was not officially adopted until 1963.
1817, May 5 - the Indiana Supreme Court held its first session in Corydon, Indiana. The three judges were appointed by Governor Jennings to serve seven-year terms. See photos and more on May 5, 2016 Facebook post by Indiana Bicentennial Commission on Facebook.
1818
1818, January 28 - the Indiana General Assembly passed an "Act to license and regulate taverns," requiring anyone operating a tavern to obtain a license from the county commissioners and pay a $500 bond. They were also required to submit twelve certificates from “respectable house-holders” which attested to their “good moral character.” Posted January 28, 2018 by Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook.
1818, April 4 - Congress decided the U.S. flag would consist of 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars, with a new star to be added for every new state.
1818, May 10 - Paul Revere, American patriot and midnight rider dies in Boston.
1818, October 2-6 - United States Treaty Commissioners Jonathan Jennings, Lewis Cass, and Benjamin Parke met in St. Mary's Ohio with leaders of Delaware and Miami tribes located in Indiana. Treaties brought the middle third of the state called the New Purchase under United States ownership. Most settlements at statehood were located in the southern part of the state. See page 6 of The Indiana Historian March 1996.
1818, October 5 - Nancy Hanks Lincoln, mother of 9 year old future president Abraham Lincoln, died of milk sickness. Milk sickness was a common illness caused from consuming milk and meat from cows feeding on white snakeroot, Ageratina altissima, a shade loving plant found throughout Indiana with white flowers that bloom in late summer and early fall. See our Milk sickness page.
1819, 1822, 1823, and 1834 - an invasion of squirrels destroying Indiana pioneer corn crops from Along the Heritage Trail The Squirrel Invasion This tale may actually be true by
Tom Castaldi, local historianpublished July 23, 2013 on Fort Wayne Monthly. "Three times during the first half of the 19th century, crops were destroyed by these bushy-tailed varmints," Allen County historian Tom Castaldi wrote in a column for Fort Wayne Monthly magazine. Tom, one of our state's most popular county historians and an expert on canals, Italian immigration and other aspects of our heritage, will join Nelson in studio as we explore the squirrel invasions. In his column, Tom noted that early Indianapolis civic leader, attorney and landowner Calvin Fletcher described the massive number of squirrels in the 1820s - and wrote about the devastation they wrought - in his diaries. Copied from Squirrel invasion of 1800s and other quirky episodes posted Jan. 4, 2014 on Archives of Hoosier History Live podcast on Saturdays, noon to 1 p.m. ET on WICR 88.7 FM. Squirrel on We Do History blog at Indiana Historical Society.City’s very earliest residents faced a unique challenge by Connie Zeigler posted November 2008 in Urban Times Archives. Squirrels know when it's time to move by the Editorial Board published March 26, 2022 in The Journal Gazette newspaper mentions the Great Squirrel Stampede of 1822 which decimated Hamilton County cornfields like a locust swarm, the last event in 1985. “There were thousands, millions in some of them,” Historian David Heighway told the IndyStar for the Hamilton County Bicentennial event. The article stated: Squirrel migrations across the upper Midwest, New England and the Carolinas were observed in 1809, 1819, 1842, 1852 and 1856, reported freelance writer Wayne Capooth for Farm Progress magazine in 2006. In southeastern Wisconsin, a gray squirrel migration in 1842 lasted four weeks, was 130 miles wide and 150 miles long, and involved nearly a half-billion squirrels. One of the earliest referenced migrations occurred in 1749 in Pennsylvania. Records show the state spending 3 cents for each squirrel killed. Capooth learned that 640,000 were turned in for bounty.Call it nutty but Hamilton County will celebrate the Great Squirrel Stampede by John Tuohy published March 23, 2022 in the Indianapolis Star. The Great Squirrel Stampede by David Heighway, Hamilton County Historian on the Hamilton East Public Library website. Indianapolis Squirrel Wars updated: Feb 25, 2019 on class900indy.com.
Squirrel Stampede English Nut Brown Ale posted July 14, 2018 by Grand Junction Brewing Co. on their Facebook page:
Have you ever heard of the great Squirrel Stampede? According to Hamilton County historians, stampedes of migratory squirrels destroyed cornfields across the State of Indiana in 1822 and 1845, with Hamilton County crops taking a big hit from their wrath. The story sounds completely nuts to us, but we felt it an appropriate beer name.
We are thrilled to announce that 4-packs of the extremely popular Squirrel Stampede English Nut Brown Ale are now available for purchase at both the brew pub and taproom locations and available now at multiple Crown Liquors and Big Red Liquors stores around town! Cheers
scorch