The silenced Miami: Archaeological and ethnohistorical evidence for Miami-British relations, 1795-1812

The concept of historical silences as presented in Michel-Rolph Trouillot's 1995 book Silencing the Past offers a theoretically powerful tool for addr essing lacunae in any particular historical narrative. The case presented i n this article examines the material and ideological rift over issues of id entity that developed between progressive, pro-American, and conservative f actions of the Miami Indians living in the upper Wabash River Valley during the early years of the nineteenth century. The essay then moves to the iss ue of Miami relations with the British between 1795 and 1812. Because these relations were illicit from the American point of view, revealing their ex istence, through a critical evaluation of the documentary and archaeologica l records, will be a first step toward verifying that the Miami at the Ehle r site belonged to the conservative faction and toward providing a voice to a previously silenced segment of the Miami.