Editor's Note: The names Wyandot and Wyandotte are used throughout the story, each in a different context. Wyandotte refers to the present day tribal nation in Oklahoma, while Wyandot refers to the tribe and its peoples at the time of their settlements in Ohio and Kansas. Wyandot and Wyandotte are both corruptions of the traditional name of the tribe, Waⁿdát – which tribal citizens use internally to identify themselves.
This Indigenous Peoples’ Day, citizens of the Oklahoma-based Wyandotte Nation joined local officials and community members to dedicate two new historic markers along the route Wyandots walked during their forced removal from Ohio.
In 1843, over 600 Wyandots made the arduous passage on foot from Upper Sandusky to Cincinnati to board steamboats heading west.
“However, we survived. We're here. We have lots of Waⁿdát people who are everywhere doing great things today, and that's thanks to our Waⁿdát ancestors’ resistance and their diplomacy,” said Darcy Allred, citizen of and language program coordinator for the Wyandotte Nation.
The markers placed in Cedar City Park in Lebanon and the new William Henry Harrison Riverfront Park in the village of North Bend, just outside of Cincinnati, commemorate some of the final moments their ancestors spent within Ohio’s borders.
Re-inscribing the land
The University of Cincinnati has worked with the federally recognized Wyandotte Nation to document the 150-mile trail the Wyandots traveled after the U.S. government forced them off of their reservation land in the Sandusky River Valley. They refer to the project as the Wyandot Removal Trail.
Throughout the process of verifying information to include on the markers, it felt like much more than just research to Allred. More than a third of their Wyandot ancestors died during the removal.
“You feel anger and heartbreak and all of this in our history. And that's why we're in Oklahoma. That's why we have to do so much work to reconnect. It's because of our removal history,” Allred said.
The project was borne from an email Rebecca Wingo, associate professor of history at UC, sent to the cultural division of the Wyandotte Nation, about six years ago. Initially, the plan was just to replace the marker in Upper Sandusky, which referred to their removal as a “journey” and “departure.”
A new marker in Upper Sandusky, which marks the beginning of removal of Wyandots from Ohio, was dedicated last year.
“The biggest impact I've seen for this project is honestly the enthusiasm and the hunger for knowledge … It's restorative for me to see that level of enthusiasm from both Wyandotte citizens and citizens of the state of Ohio,“ Wingo said. “The fact that people want to learn more. They want to support the project. They want to see their history re-inscribed on the landscape.”
Now the project has expanded, with 15 markers total planned.
Why Lebanon?
In 1843, Wyandots arrived in Lebanon after a week of walking. The marker abuts the same road they traveled. As their passage continued throughout the state, settlers in Ohio made a spectacle of their removal.
“They are poking, they are prodding, they are stealing. And that experience for the Wyandots is unfathomable. So the marker in Lebanon talks about that experience,” Wingo said.
The markers largely rely on the writings of Rev. James Wheeler, a missionary who documented their forced trek through Ohio. It’s the only full account of the Wyandots’ removal from the state.
“He said, in every town that we've been through along the route, the way that the crowds have treated the Wyandots makes them think that whites are very poor hands to teach good manners,” Wingo said.
Wingo refers to this marker as the most difficult one to pitch, because it “points a finger” at the harm Ohioans did.
“When I sent the proposed text to the city of Lebanon, they responded immediately. And they said, ‘Yes, we want this marker. This is an important story to tell, even though it's hard to hear.’”
Lebanon Mayor Mark Messer said it was surprising they weren’t aware about this history.
“I mean, we have the Beedle Cabin, right across the street, which is kind of juxtaposed against this historical marker as that being one of the first settled homesteads in this area,” Messer said.
“It just gives a rich historical context to our city and people are able to interface with it because this history is our history, so it's important to understand and to realize,” he said.
The marker in North Bend is among one of the first signs that will be put up in William Henry Harrison Riverfront Park, which is meant to honor the ninth U.S. president and his connection to the Cincinnati area. The Wyandots viewed Harrison as both a friend and a foe, according to Wingo, so they paid their respects at his tomb before boarding the steam boats.
Heather Miller, the Wyandotte Nation's Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act coordinator, attended the dedication ceremony. She said it feels like a dream come true to play a role in increasing the nation’s history in the state.
“It's a hard history, but I'm glad that we're able to share that hard history in a way that brings people in and provides them an opportunity to learn more,” Miller said.
The next marker they hope to place will be in Bellefontaine next year.
