indiansgiveupIndiana

Indians Give Up Central Indiana; Capital Moves To Indianapolis

Under the terms of the enabling act, four sections of land were given to the state by the U.S. government for a permanent state capital site. The capital could not be located in the central and northern part of the state because it was owned and controlled by the Indians. However, in 1818 a treaty was signed by the Indians relinquishing their claim on central Indiana, and the area was opened. An unprecedented migration of white settlers followed.

An act signed by Gov. Jennings on Jan. 11, 1820 commissioned 10 men to select a site for the permanent capital. John Tipton of Corydon was one of the commissioners. On June 7, after working two weeks, the party selected a spot at the junction of Fall Creek and White River. Their selection was ratified by the state legislature Jan. 6, 1821.

Alexander Ralson and Elias Fordham were employed to survey the land. Ralson, who had helped lay out Washington City, designed the plan for Indianapolis, and when finished, he asserted: “It would make a beautiful city, if it were ever built.” In considering a name for the permanent state capital, the name Tecumseh was suggested in honor of the Indian chief.

However, Jeremiah Sullivan of Madison had coined the name Indianapolis. This sounded strange at first, but when the public became accustomed to it, they liked the new name.

A removal act was approved Jan. 20, 1824 by the state legislature. It provided that the permanent seat of government should be located in Indianapolis on Jan. 10, 1825, and thereafter. What especially grieved the Corydon people was that the date for the convening of the legislature was changed from the first Monday in December 1824 to the second Monday in January 1825. If this change had not occurred, the capital would have remained at Corydon for another year.

State treasurer Samuel Merrill was engaged by the legislature to move the state’s records and money to Indiana-polis. He made an advance two-week trip to Indianapolis to become acquaint¬ed with the roads and fording places. When he returned to Corydon, he sold the furniture that could not be moved and packed the books and records in boxes.

The following excerpts from Merrill’s account of the trip were taken from the September 1931 issue of the Indiana Magazine of History:

“The journey of about one hundred and sixty miles occupied two weeks. The best day’s travel was eleven miles. One day the wagons accomplished but two miles, passage through the woods having to be cut on account of the impassable character of the roads. Four four-horse wagons and one or two saddle-horses formed the means of conveyance for the two families, consisting of about a dozen persons, and for a printing press and the state treasury of silver in strong wooden boxes. The gentlemen slept in the wagons or on the ground to protect the silver, the families found shelter at night in log cabins which stood along the road at rare though not inconvenient intervals. The country people were, many of them, as rude as their dwellings, which usually consisted of but one room, serving for all purposes of domestic life, cooking, eating, sleeping, spinning and weaving, and the entertainment of company. At one place a young man, who perhaps had come miles to visit his sweetheart, sat up with her all night on the only vacant space in the room, the hearth of the big fireplace. He kept on his cap, which was of coonskin, the tail hanging down behind, and gave the children the impression that he was a bear.”

The following notes are from a more detailed account of the trip written by Mary Catherine Anderson, sister-in-law of Samuel Merrill, that also appeared in the magazine:

“It was a bright and lovely day in October, 1824, that we left Corydon for the seat of government. The party consisted of six of the Merrill family, Mr. Merrill, my sister, and their three children, my brother William and this scribbler. My sister had heard that the road most of the way was impassable; she insisted that Mr. Siebert, a large man with a team of horses, none stronger in Indiana, should take us. Four of the horses were white, the fifth gray, called the lead horse. Mr. Siebert was proud of his horses, well he might be. I have, I think, never seen as grand a team. Yet I could not ride in the wagon, as it was covered, and made me sick; but my sister and her children rode all the way to Indianapolis. I walked the eleven miles of our first day’s journey.

“We were, I think, ten days on our way. The treasury box was large and strong. Whether there was much money in it, I cannot say; but I think not much. This box had to have a place in this large wagon, indeed wherever we or the Merrill family went, this box was sure to go. I do not remember about stopping at night after the first night. I presume we did. I know my sister looked very tired. She had the care of the children in the wagon. The youngest one, Catharine, whenever she would see me, would put out her hands for me to take her. I would carry her awhile. She did not like the jolting, and she may have been sick. I was too sick when riding to take any care of the children; but they were as good as could be. They did not cry.

“The road was laid with rails or logs for miles, then covered with water that seemed bottomless. When the horses and wagon would go down, it seemed they might have reached China. At such times, my sister would scream with fright. One day we traveled two miles and a half only. The water lay in the road too deep to venture in and trees had to be felled to make a road around. Once, Mr. Douglass’s wagon stuck fast, and had to be pried out. The next morning after traveling that short distance, Mr. Merrill said when we were ready to start: looking back to where we had started the day before:‘Suppose we go back and take a fresh start'. However, we journeyed forward...

“Mr. Siebert had a fashion of putting bells on his horses whenever we came near a town. We begged him to leave them off when he drove into Indianapolis; but he wouldn’t consent. So we went into the seat of government with fine, large, strong horses strung with bells, all ringing. The sound brought the good people out to stare at us. I was glad to be in a covered wagon at that time. ."

The following bill was presented to the state legislature by Merrill for moving the records:

To Messrs. Posey and Wilson for boxes	$ 7.56
To Mr. Lefler for one box	.50
To Seybert & Likens for transportation of 3,945 lbs. at $1.90 per hundred	$ 74.95
To Jacob & Samuel Kenoyer for transportation of one load	$ 35.06
Total	$118.07
Deduct proceeds of sale of furniture at Corydon, November 22nd, 1824	$ 52.52
	$ 65.55

An additional $9.50 was also granted to Merrill for the transportation of the state library. Merrill was paid $100 for personal trouble and expenditure in packing and moving the property of the

Although the state officers and their families moved to the new capital in the fall of 1824, few of Corydon’s citizens moved with them. The Corydon left behind consisted of cultured and loyal citizens, and although it was no longer a center of state interest, the village $118.07 continued to grow.

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