Miami - a tribe of Algonquian Indians who roamed the central portion of the United States.  They termed themselves Twightwees, a name which came from the cry of the crane.

The miami joined Pontiac, the great Ottawa chief, in 1763 at the unsuccessful sieges of Detroit and Pittsburgh.  They took part in all regional wars until the end of the War of 1812, and were noted as one of those tribes which offered steady resistance to the westward movement of the white people.  Their greatest chief was Little Turtle.

The Miami worshiped the sun and thunder, lived in cabins covered with rush mats, were slow spoken and polite.  They cut off a woman's nose when she was unfaithful to her husband.

By 1827 the miami had sold all their lands in Indiana and Ohio and drifted to kansas.  To kill the buffalo here they set fire to grass on three sides of a herd, and shot the animals when they rushed out the open side.  later they went to a reservation in Oklahoma.  Their name has been given to three rivers in Ohio, the Great Miami, Little Miami, and Maumee (another way of spelling the name); to counties in Indiana, Kansas, and Ohio; and to places in Ohio, Indiana, California, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Texas; and a creek in Missouri.  The names of Miami, Miami Beach, and Miami Springs, all in Florida, have a different origin.
 

Related Information within this Site
[ Little Turtle ][ Pontiac ]