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History
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There is some controversy about when the Ottawa entered
Ohio. Some believe around 1650. Others think around 1741.
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Traditionally were traders so both dates were possible.
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Were very influential between 1615 and 1763 because
of fur trading with the French.
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During the Revolutionary War, the Ottawa sided with
the British.
- In the
War of 1812, the Ottawa joined Tecumseh.
Family Life
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Settled in and around present day Toledo, in Putnam
County, Erie County and Paulding County. There are records
they lived on the Cuyahoga River and the Maumee River
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Dressed as other tribes except men had seam down the
center of their leggings instead of on the side. Men
also wore skin turbans.
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Women wore a cloth blouse, a wraparound skirt, and knee-high,
short-length leggings.
- Ceremonial
clothes were highly decorated with ribbon work, bead
work and trade silver.
Famous Chief — Pontiac
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Pontiac led the Ottawa in an attack south of the French
Fort Duquesne (present Pittsburgh) and killed Braddock
in 1775, the year he became chief.
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Pontiac feared the British would flood into Ohio so
he formed a confederacy of Native nations to oppose the
British.
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In 1763 Pontiac addressed the Native nations and they
responded. Pontiac’s confederacy captured eight of the
twelve British forts and a ninth was abandoned.
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Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh), which was still in British
hands, was struck with smallpox. In 1763 Captain Ecuyer,
commander of the fort, gave smallpox blankets to the
Indians surrounding the fort causing an epidemic that
spread to the nations as far away as the southeast.
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By the end of 1763, most of the allies of Pontiac had
signed treaties with the British.
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Pontiac did not sign a treaty until 1765 that promised
he would never fight the British again.
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Pontiac was tomahawked from behind while visiting a
friend in St. Louis in 1769.
- With the death of Pontiac the influence of the Ottawa
people in Ohio was ended.
Removal
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In 1817, the Ottawa signed the Treaty of Fort Meigs
which began the land cessions after the war.
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By 1831 two bands of Ottawa had moved to Kansas.
- By 1833
the remaining Ottawa were removed to the Indian Territory
of Oklahoma.
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Northeastern Educational Television of Ohio, Inc. All rights
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