This past Saturday the United States remembered the 65th anniversary of the infamous D-Day invasion of Normandy by the Allied Forces in World War II. As every student who took U.S. History knows, the attack was, and still remains, the largest single day amphibious invasion of all time. Nearly 200,000 soldiers took part in the offensive, and of those, nearly 10,000 were killed.
D-Day is but one of a countless score of battles in American history, although arguably one of the most well-known. There's a certain pride that attaches itself to battles like D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Battle of Yorktown. Pride in the willpower, determination and morality that we American citizens believe our country stands upon. And yet, while we (should) solemnly remember the valiant men and women who died in those conflicts, why is it that we remember some battles, but not others? And who chooses what to deem "important" or "insignificant" to our knowledge?
Unbeknownst to most Americans, last week was the anniversary of another American battle, only, unlike D-Day, one that American history has decided to forget. June 1 was the 218th anniversary of the Battle of Ouiatenon. The battle was fought right here in Indiana, and took the lives of 40 people.
Many Ball State students might not know it, but the current state of Indiana was, over 200 years ago, the home for several Native American tribes and sub-tribes who later combined and called themselves the Wea. The Wea Nation settled in small villages all across Indiana, as far east as Lafayette and the Wabash River Valley.
Part of the reason these tribes combined was the rapidly increasing westward colonization of America following the American Revolution. This expansion forced many conflicts between the Wea and United States settlers, many of which involved loss of life for both sides.
To make a long story short, George Washington decided to eliminate the threat to white settlers. So, June 1, 1791, in what today is known as Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States General Charles Scott, 33 officers and over 700 militiamen from Kentucky entered and burned the village of Ouiatenon. At the time of Scott's attack, the warriors of the village were gone, leaving behind mostly women and children. The armed soldiers moved swiftly through the village, setting fire to homes and forcing the Wea to flee for their lives. Scott's forces also attacked and destroyed the nearby village of Keth-tio-e-ca-muck, destroying 300 acres of corn as well.
In the end, nearly 40 Wea were killed, and at least that many were taken prisoner, while only five militiamen were wounded, none fatally. In the chillingly emotionless words of General St. Clair, commander of the American Northwest Territory, "I have destroyed the chief town of the Ouiatenon nation, and have made prisoners of the sons and sisters of the King." These prisoners were later used as bargaining chips to force the Wea to sign a "peace" treaty, a treaty that was later ignored. In the 1830s, several of the Wea Nation were forced to relocate from their homes to Kansas, a move that killed over 150 of their people.
Now, you could argue, what's the point of remembering the Battle of Ouiatenon? Apart from the highway marker near the intersection of State Road 25 and County Road 375 West, Indiana has mostly forgotten that day, the lives lost and the consequences it had for the Wea people. And even those who remember mostly see it as a mild road bump in the necessary "civilization" of the Americas. Battles like these seldom find their way into the U.S. History textbooks, or even the local news. President Obama will never attend a ceremony remembering the Wea dead. There will never be a day on your calendar to remember the Wea Nation.
However, anyone who has read Howard Zinn will tell you, the great voice many Americans believe their country shares is in fact silencing the forgotten defeated. It is important to realize and remember not only the battles and lives our society annually reminds us that were fought and sacrificed, but also those that society at large has forgotten. We all need to do our part as active and responsible citizens to recognize how and to what extremes our country went to in order to become what it is today.
Matt Balk is an English graduate student and writes 'Balk on the Ball' for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper.
Write to Matt at mjbalk@bsu.edu
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