The Fort Recovery Museum in Mercer County is located near the site of St. Clair’s Defeat, where a confederation of nine Native American tribes resoundingly defeated the United States army in 1791.
Over the weekend, educators from federally recognized tribes spoke at the museum.
But the weekend’s event wasn’t about a violent day two hundred and thirty years ago.
Instead, the educators taught the people there about their culture, government, and the initiatives their tribes are working on in the region.
Citizens of the Eastern Shawnee, Miami, Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma, and Wyandotte nations showed off their artwork, made music, played lacrosse, and spoke about the elaborate earthworks their ancestors built in the Ohio River Valley.
All four of those nations are now headquartered in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, after they were forced to relocate west from their Ohio homelands by the U.S. government in the 1830s and 1840s.
Tribes growing Ohio relationships
Today, Ohio has no federally recognized tribes headquartered within its borders.
Still, dozens of American Indian nations whose homelands are in the state have developed and maintained relationships with agencies here (Great Council State Park was created in concert with the three federally recognized Shawnee governments), religious institutions (the United Methodist Church and the Wyandotte Nation), and universities (the Myaamia Center at Miami University).
Many people in removal states like Ohio might not realize that American Indian communities like hers are alive, thriving, and growing, said Rhonda Hayworth, a citizen of and longtime Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma.
“We're just normal people." Hayworth said at the event. "But we do still have our traditions. We still do have our culture. Removal was rough for us because we lost a lot of that. But we're getting it back.”
Hayworth was featured in a video titled "St. Clair’s Defeat Revisited: A New View of the Conflict," produced by Ball State University's Applied Anthropology Labs last year.
She attended the event with the leader of her tribe, Chief Kalisha Dixon. Dixon said it was her first time in this part of her tribe's homelands.
“200 years ago, my ancestors were here, living here, functioning here, and then also coming up with these strategic battle patterns that people thought indigenous individuals were not capable of doing," Dixon said.
Organizers estimate that nearly 450 people attended the weekend’s events.
Some tribal leaders in attendance said they were staying in the state for this week’s Tribal Nations Conference, which the Ohio History Connection is putting on in Columbus.
