Delaware Indians (Algonquin)

• The Delaware Indians were named after the Delaware River in New Jersey where they originated. They migrated to eastern Ohio and settled along the Muskingum River and the Auglaize River in northwestern Ohio when they fled from British colonists and Iroquois enemies. The Delaware were among the oldest groups in the Algonquin nation, who were revered as the "Grandfathers." They held a dominant presence in Ohio until the surrender of all their land by 1829 and were forced to move west of the Mississippi River.
  
  

Miami (Algonquin)

• The Miami Indians migrated to the Ohio Maumee valley in 1700 following the European colonization in Indiana, Illinois, and southern Michigan, where they originally lived. The Miami became the most powerful tribe in Ohio and defeated two American armies in 1790 and 1791 under the leadership of their Miami chief, "Little Turtle." However, in 1818, they gave up their last reservation and moved to Indiana where some of the Miami remained and others were relocated to Kansas during the 1850s.
  
  

Ottawa (Algonquin)

• The Ottawa Indians migrated from the Ottawa River in eastern Ontario, western Quebec and were present in these regions when the Europeans arrived in the 1600s. They migrated to northern Ohio circa 1740. In 1763, the Ottawa were led by their powerful leader Pontiac who destroyed nine of the 11 British forts in the Great Lakes. His attempt to force the British out of the area failed when he could not defeat Fort Detroit (Detroit) and Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh). The Ottawa Indians gave up the last of their lands in 1833 and were relocated to a reservation in Kansas.
  
  

Shawnee (Algonquin)

• The Shawnee lived in Ohio during the 1600s but were driven away by the Iroquois who refused to share their hunting grounds. The Shawnee later returned from Georgia, Illinois, Maryland and Pennsylvania, when the Iroquois' power weakened, to settle in the Scioto River Valley. The Shawnee were fierce and respected warriors organized in clans with a principal leader from one clan. The principal chief's village was called Chillicothe, which was the name of Ohio's first capital. The Shawnee were sent to reservations in Oklahoma and Kansas when they were forced to give up their land between 1831 and 1833.
  
  

Wyandot (Iroquois)

• The Wyandot Indians were originally from southern Ontario. Although they were related to the Iroquois, the Wyandot were forced from Ontario by the Iroquois Confederacy. Some of the Wyandot settled in Wyandot, Marion, Crawford Counties, northern Ohio and Ross County in the South. They were fierce warriors who had a special relationship with the Shawnee who they called their "nephew" or "younger brother." The Wyandot were sent to a reservation in Kansas in 1843 after they lost their reservation in Upper Sandusky in 1842 and were the last Indian tribe to leave Ohio.