Sweetser High School - Ti Pa Wa Ni Ca Yearbook (Sweetser, IN)

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CDU Nw O N ldNTQRV Pleasant, the last territory in Indiana to be held by the Indiana, is the oldest township in the county. Grant County was organized in 1831, with two townships--Pleasant and Union. Then in l33h a change was made leaving Pleasant with what is now Van Buren, Washington, Pleasant and Richland Townships. In the general reorganization of the county into townships in 1855, Pleasant township gained a one mile strip from Richland on the east. From that time to the present the boundary lines have remained unchanged. This tdwnship is crossed from southeast to northwest by the Missis- sinewa, sometimes called the NBeautiful.River0W Along its banks the Miami Indians, the first inhabitants of the township, roamed at will through the dense forests in search of game. The members of the tribe built their huts and wigwams along its banks. WAlmost one hundred and fifty years ago there was situated in a small ravine between the Mississinewa river and where the old town of Jalapa now stands, a cluster of Indian huts and wigwams. This place has come down to us through legend and tradition and is known as the Indian Village. The site of this village was later transferred to the east side of the river. Here one lone desolute cabin stood for years. It was opposite this cottage where the Indian Village school of Pleasant township stood. Back of the school stood the Indian Baptist church and the cemetery . It is here where past generations of the Red Men lie mouldering beneath the silent sod. It is where the Miamis met to worship the Great Spirit. It is here where once roamed free as the air the tribes of Me-sin-gha-me-ha. The history cf this township and the Miami tribe would not be complete without reference to this village and the battle that took place nearby, the Indians led by the followers of Secunsha, the whites by Colonel John B. Campbell. The battle was fought opposite the site of Conner's mill in 1812. The Indians were defeated and the village was destroyed. The 'forest primeval' is gone and in its place new blooms fields of grass and grain, while the old trail has given place to the improved country highways. The village also is changed. Instead of being a village of huts and wigwams it is a village of silent graves and o'er these silent graves roam the children of the white man. An Indian Reserve was set up consisting of approximately one million acres of land along the Mississinewa river. The west two-thirds of Pleasant Township lay in this Reservation and remained almpst an unbroken wilderness until as late as 1Bb5. In l8h0 the general government paid the Indians 3S5o,ooo and they relinquished all claims to the land. Ten sections of land were still reserved for Meshingomesia, the last Miami chieftain and the Indian Village Godis Acre where he was buried near the church, at the ripe

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