The Land of the Potawatomi

Wattle of Mu tants

Preface

A B r ief R etrospect

The ?o t a wa t o m i

Shawn e e Proph ets and British Agents Potawatomi Banditti

The R eal Savage

To e n eb e e t he C e p , Last hi f

Paths of t he R ed Man

The Old Chicago Road

A Tav ern of t he Old Days

The Gran d Prairie

Ma sko t ia t he e t he , Plac of Fire

Grov e s and Plains

The Fi r st B ig Cattl e - Man North of t he Wabash

Bibliography

iB rcfa rc

HIS book i s composed in large part from sketches ﬁrst appearing

a a n o r M g zi e f His t o y . We desire to

acknowledge a debt of gratitude to Prof. Logan

s a re E y, of In diana University, for his many words of encouragement , and desire also to ex

n press our apprec iatio of the services of Mr . Ray

Jones , County Recorder of Benton County , who

assisted us in many ways . These articles have been grouped for pres ervation , and for private

circula tion among friends . The data given are

a ll reliable , and the bibliography appe ars on the

last pages .

E . B .

A BRIEF RET ROSPECT

g B rief R etrospect

i t h HE memor es of e early prairies , ﬁlled

with vast stretches o f waving grass es , made beautifu l by an endless p ro f u s ion of wild ﬂowers , a n d dott ed here and there with pleas ant groves , are in effaceable .

- For the boy who , bar efooted and care free , ranged over these plains in search o f a dven ture , they a lways poss ess ed a n inexpress ible charm and attraction . These grassy s avannas have now passed away forever. Gloriou s as they were , a greater mar vel has been wro ught by the u n tiring hand of man . Where the wild flowers bloo med , great fiel ds of grain ripen , and vast gardens o f whea t and cor n , interspers ed with beautiful towns and villages , greet the eye o f the “ n t raveler . The pra iries of Illinois and I diana were born of water and preserved by fire for the m a n d children of civilized men , who have co e ” ta ken pos session of the m .

u ea In the las t half of the eighteenth cent ry , gr t

herds of buffalo grazed here , attracting thither w o the wandering ba nds of the Potawatomi , h a t se came from the lakes of the nort h . Gradu lly he h a rdy wa rriors drove back the M iami to the TH E LAN D O F TH E PO TAWATOM I

s shores of the Waba h , and took posses sion of all s that va t plain , extending east of the Illinois river and north of the Wabash into the present conﬁnes of the sta te of M ichigan . Thei r squaws cultivated some corn but the savage bands l ived

mostly on the fruits of the chase . Thei r hunting trail s extended from grove to grove and from

lake to ri ver . Indian tradition tells us that about the year 179 0 , the herds of bison disappeared . From that time forward the power of the tribes was on the wane . The encroachment of the paleface and the be curtailment of the supply of game , marked the ginning o f the savage decline .

The constant complaint of the tribes to Gen eral W a illiam Henry Harri son , the first milit ry gover nor at Vincennes , was the lack of game and pe lt ries . The Potawatomi hastened their downfall by accepting the leadership an d guidan ce of the B rit Ma iden ish agents at , Canada , who only espou sed thei r cause in order to reap the profits of the fur trade . These agents su ppl ied their savage min ions with rum an d rifles , encouraged the Indian raids on the white settlements for the purpose of plunder and rapine , an d were instrumental in i nducing the Potawatom i to j oin the hopeless con federacy of Tecumseh and the Prophet , who vain ly sought t o unite the s cattered bands and stem the tide of whit e immigration . As a result of this fata l policy the hunters an d r ifle m en from south A BRIEF RETRO SPECT

ern Indian a and Kentucky who followed General

s Harrison to Tippecanoe , were all deadly enemie

n of the Potawatomi . O e of the ghastly sights of that sanguinary struggle , was the scalping by the white men of the Indian slain , an d the division

' o f the scalps among the sol diers after they had

been cut into strips . These bloody trophies were carried back to the settlements along the Ohio and the Wabas h to satisfy the hatred of those who had lost women and ch ildren by fire and tomahawk . With the death of Tecumseh at the battl e of the Thames and the termination of Brit ish influence in the west , the Potawatomi soo n surrendered what little dominion was left them , 1 ceded all their lands away by treaty , and in 838 , were removed to beyon d the Mississippi river . Their final expulsion from the old hunting grounds occurred under the direction of Colonel Abe l C . a Pepper n d General John Tipton , the latter a hero of the battle of Tippecanoe and later appoint ed as Indian. commissioner . At that time the remnants of the scattered band s from north of the Wabas h amounted to only one thousand souls of a es all ages and sexes . The party under milit ry cort pas sed eight or nin e miles west of the cit y of s Lafayette , probably o ver the level land ea t of the present site of Otterbein .

In their day , however , the Potawatomi were the undoubted lords of the plain , following their long trails in s ingle ﬁle over the grea t prairies , and camping with their dogs , women and children 1 0 TH E LAN D O F TH E PO TAWATO M I

in the pleas ant groves and al ong the many streams . They were sa vages , and have left no eu during temple o r lofty fane behin d them , but their n ames still cl ing to many streams , groves and towns , an d a few facts gleaned from their history can not fail to be of interest to us , who in herit their ancient patrimony . TH E POTAWATOM I 1 1

(libs ianta tna tomi

i e e t he W c o m H E grand pra ri s w st of abash , e n n n prising all o i what is now B to cou ty ,

n a n d t he e e a W rr e n I diana, gr at r p rt of a , w e r e r e a lly a pa r t of tho s e vast savan nas of wild

r a - n e r e e -r u g ss land , i t sp rs d with black ush slo ghs ,

- n e r e e a n d e n r e x e willow li d c ks , pl asa t g ov s of mi d

e e x e n e e t he timb r, which t d d as far w st as Illinois

e r a n d u a t he e 1790 e r e Riv , which , p to bout y ar w

r z e e r t h e n ff . g a d by h ds of e Am rica b ison , or bu alo

A n c n n Mr . e e . stra g a cou t is giv by N Matson , as to the ﬁnal disappearance of the buffalo from the o prairies east of the Mississippi , sa id acc unt hav a h ing been rel ted to hi m by the chief , S a u ben a , a prominent P otawatomi of Illinois , who fought with the white s ettlers i n the Black Hawk war . “ h u b n a According to S a e , a big snow , about ﬁve a feet deep , fell , and froz e so hard on the top th t the peo ple walked on it , causing the buffalo to perish of sta rvation . Next spring a few buffalo , poor an d haggard in appearance , were seen going s westward , a n d as they approached the carca ses of dead ones , which were lying here and th ere upon the prairie , they would stop , commence paw 1 2 TH E LA N D O F TH E POTAWATOM I

ing and lowing , and then sta rt off agai n in a lope

. e . for the west Forty years ago ( i . , forty years prior to buffalo bo nes were found in large

r quantities on the prai i es ; in some places , many

ac res were covered with them , showing where a

l arge herd had perished , and thei r trails l eading to and from watering places we re plainly to be

ha e n a seen . S u b further rel ated that all tradi ng 1 i n buffalo robes ceased after the year 790, but that in h is youth he had engaged in many a buf

falo hunt with other members of his tri be . Early settlers of Ind iana and Illinois were familiar with great d epressions and hollows in the prairi es , known as buffalo wallows , and these were the last trace s discernible of the giant h erds .

Notwithstanding the departure of the buffalo , these great plain s still held forth all urement for savage huntsmen . The pleasant groves of the prairies were ofttimes situated on the margin of

sparkling streams , or were blessed with springs of cool wat e r ; wild berries and nuts abounded in the wild woods ; the rich all uvium of sunny sl op es yielded a bountiful harvest of yellow maize ; and

n k the wilder ess of grass , th e ba nks of the cree s and the groves themselves were threaded with numberless paths made by the feet of the timid c a n deer . In fall and spring time great ﬂo ks of C ad ian geese and wil d ducks ﬁlled every pond and

d epression , wild tu rkeys were abundant . and the great ﬂ ights of wild pigeons were at times so th ick as pa rtly to obscure the sun . TH E PO TAWATOM I 1 3

The beauty and grandeur of these great level

stretches of prairie , stu dded with groves , were incomparable . Standing on the hills to the west ’ of Pari sh s grove , in Benton county , one could not only view the whole of the slope that extended for miles to the south and west , but could look over into the plains of the Illinoi s . To the north and east lay H ickory grove , with a small lake to the south of it ; to the north and west the prairies again , and the slopes of Blue Ridge , twelve miles away , so named be cause the dews of the morning made the prairies appear like a sea of blue . In the autumn , a tall j ointed gras s , the giant blue stem , grew so high that horsemen could tie the tops together above their heads , and this gras s

ﬁlled the whole plain a s f ar as the eye could see .

This was the land of the Pota watomi , the Na “ tion of Fire , or The People of the P lace of the ” Fire .

Where did they come from ? The Jesu it R ela t io n says from the western shores of La ke Huron , a n d the Jesuit Fathers knew more about the AI go n qu in tribes of Ca nada an d the west than all a others . All ccounts conﬁrm that they were of the s a me family as the Chippewa and Ottawa . They seem to have be en driven by some terrify in g force up around the head of Lake H uron and Lake M ichigan ; thence to the west si de of Lake 1 670 M ich igan and down to the s outh . In it i s known that a portion of them were on the i slands w in the mouth of Green B a y . They ere then mov 1 4 THE LAND O F TH E PO TAWATOMI

b ing southward , pro ably impelled by the ﬁerce o ro ﬁghting S ioux , whom Colonel R o sevelt so app “ ” p riately na med as th e horse Indians of the west. At the close of the seventee nth centu ry they were on the M ilwaukee river , in the vicinity h of C icago , and on the S t. Joseph river , in south ern M ichigan . They had gone entirely around the western and southern sides of La ke M ichi ga n and ba ck i n the direction of thei r o r i gi n a l habita tion .

a According to H i ram W . B eckwith , the Pot wa t o m i were the most po pulous tribe between

" the lakes and the Ohio , the Wabash an d the M is s is i i - s e s pp . They claim ed a pa rt of south ea t rn

Wisconsin by long occu pation . In the middle of the eighteenth centu ry they entered i nto a con federacy with the K nic ka p o o s an d the S a c s and x r rn in a in Foxes , with the avowed purpose of e t e t g the survivi ng remnan ts of the old Illinois tribe .

Th is done , they divided the conquered doma in be e k twe n the confederates , the K ickapoos ta i ng the te rritory along the Verm illion river an d on the western s ide of the lower Wabash ; the P o ta wa t o mi the lands in easte rn and northern Ill inois and t n no rthwes er Indiana , north of the Wabash R iver , while the Sacs and Foxes went fu rther to the west .

e Aft r the treaty of Greenville , Ohio , in 1795 , between General Wayne and the Indians , the Pot a wa t o m i rapidly absorbed the ancient domain o f

the Miami in n orthern Indiana , swiftly press ing

1 6 TH E LAN D O F TH E POTAWATOM I

’ were the price paid for the sale of others lands , ” rather than their own . 3 h On Septe mber ot , 1809 , General William

Hen ry Harrison , then the milita ry Governor of

Indiana Territo ry , negotiated a trea ty with the

Potawatomi , the M iami , the Delawares an d other be a tri s , at the old frontier fort est blished by Mad

Anthony Wayne , known to u s as Ft . Wayn e , whereby the United States Govern ment acquire d pos session and title to about acres of land on the lower Wabash , thereafter t o be known as the New Pu rchase . Th is land extended from

B ig R acco o n Creek , in Parke County , Indiana , to the south . An d as the consummation of that treaty and the ac quisition of so much valuable land by the gove rn ment , was the principal and i mmediate cause which arou sed the wrath of Te u m c seh, who maintained that all the savage tribes owned the land a s tenants in common , an d that there could be no alienation of any part of it with out the common a s sent o f all , an d was also one of the causes which l ed up to the great c o n t r o ver s y between General Harri son and that Chieftain a n d the stirring events that followed , incl ud ing th e Battle of Tippecan oe , an d as th e ch arge was subsequently made by Tecumseh that the sale of this a rea was brought about by the threats of

Win n em a c a , a famous Pot watom i chief of that m a y d ay , it rightfully be said to be the most im r po tant Indian treaty ever negotiated in th e west . ’ outside of General Wayn e s treaty at G reenville ,

under the admi n istration of George Washin gton .

1 8 TH E LAN D O F TH E PO TAWATOM I

frien d , with whom they had been many years a c a in q u t ed . That he plainly saw that there was something i n their hearts wh ich was not consist ent with the att achment they ought to bear to their great father , an d that he was afraid they had listened to bad birds . That he had come to them for the pu rpose of hearing every cause of U e complaint against the nit d States , and he woul d not leave them until they had laid open everything that oppressed their hearts . He kn ew that they could have no soli d obj ection to the proposed r ﬂ c treaty , for they were all men of sense and e e tion , and all knew that they would be beneﬁted

by it . Calling then , upon the principal chief of the E el river tribe , who ser ved under him in Gen ’ eral Wayne s army , he demanded to know what h i s obj ection s to the treaty were . In reply , the chief drew forth a copy of the treaty of Grouse

land ( a former treaty made by Harrison ) , an d “ a said Father , here a r e your words . I n thi s p per you have promised that you woul d consider the Miamis as the owners of the land on the Wa a bash . Why , then , are you about to purch se it from others ? ” The governor immediately perceived that the M iam i were burning with an intense and bitter

- hatred of the Potawatomi . He was qu i ck witted

and keen enough when dealing with savages , an d

no one ever understood thei r nature be tter . He at “ once assu red them that it was not his inte ntion a to pu rch se the land from the other tri be s . That

he had always said , an d was ready now to confess THE P OTAWATO MI 19

that the land belonged to the Miamis , and to no

“ other tribe . That if the other tribes ha d been ih vi t ed to the treaty , it wa s at thei r particular r e quest (the Miami s ) . The Potawatomis had in deed ta ken higher groun d that either the governor or the Miamis expected . They cl aimed an equal right to the lands in question with the Mi amis , but what of thi s ? Their claiming it ga ve them no right , and it was not the intention of the gov ern er to put anything in the treaty which Wd u ld in the least alt er their claim to their la n ds on the a Wabash , as est blished by the treaty of Grouse land , unless they chose to satisfy the Delawares with respect to thei r clai m to the country watered c by the White river . That even the whole o m p en sation proposed to be given for the lands , woul d be gi ven to the M iamis if they insisted upon it , but that they knew the offense whi ch this woul d give to the other trib es , an d that it was always

’ the go vernor s intenti o n so to draw the treaty that the Potawatomis an d Delawares would be c o n sid ered as participating in the advantages of the treaty as allies of the M iamis , not as having any right to the lands .

’ The governor s resou rcefulness saved the day . There was an instant change of sentiment and a brightening of the dark faces . The claim of the a a s Miamis acknowledged , their sav ge pride a pp e d i e , an d the r title to the lan d veriﬁed , they were m ready for the treaty . P ucan , the chief , infor ed the governor that he might retire to the fort , and that they would shortly wa it upon him with good 2 0 THE LAN D OF THE POTAWATO M I

news . The treaty was immediately drafted , and on the same day si gned and sealed by the heads men an d ch iefs without fu rther dissent . No story could bett er illustrate the hostil ity of these s avages toward one another , and the childish petulancy and j ealousy of the savage mind . SHAWN EE PROPHETS AN D BRITISH AGEN TS 21

ébamnre ﬁrnpbets ant B ritish g grnts

HE characteristics of the Potawatomi , who have left beh in d them so many names in

northern Indiana and eastern Illinois , may be described as fo llows : They seem to have l ived i for the most part in separate , rov ng ban ds , “ wh ich s eparated or divided according to the abun dance or scarcity of game , or the emergencies ” of war . They loved the remoteness a n d seclusion a of the grea t pr iries , from wh ich they emerged ’ at frequent inte rvals in Tecumseh s day to make raids on the white settlements in southern Indiana an d in Illi nois , burning the cabin of the settler , sometimes tomahawking h is family , and steal ing

- hi s stock . They were inveterate horse thieves .

R id ing for long distances across pl ain and prai rie , they suddenly swooped down o n some isolated frontier cabin , perhaps murderi n g its helpless and defenseless inmates , taking away a chil d or a a young girl , killi ng cattle o r riding aw y the horses and disappear ing agai n in the wilderness a s su d den ly a s they em erged from it . These parties of marauders generally consiste d of from four or 2 2 TH E LAN D O F TH E POTAWATO M I

’ - ﬁve , to twenty . They oft ti mes struck the white e s ttlements as far south as Kentucky , and even penetrated a s far west as the outposts on the M is sou ri river . Their retreat after attack wa s made with the swi ftness of the wind . Pursu it , if n ot

made immediately , was futile . Traveling day and night , the mu rderous bands were lost i n the great

prairies and the wildernesses of the north , and the o P rophet was a sure protect r . The savage ch ief ,

Turkey Foot , for whom two groves were named in Bent on an d Newton counti es , Indian a , st ealing horses i n far away M issou ri , murdered three or four of his pu rsuers and made good hi s e scape to the great plains and swamps between the Wabash and lake M ichigan . He was never taken .

For three or four years prior to the Battle of Tippecanoe the settlers in souther n Indiana an d

r Illinois , were te ribly harassed by these predatory expeditions of the Potawatomi , and the Ki ckapoos to the south . Both tribes see med to be seized by a mad frenzy for plunder and rapine , which often led to the foulest mu rders . Two sinist er inﬂ uences were at work on the savage mind . One proc eeded from the presence of the famous Shawnee broth ’ ers , Tecumseh an d the Prophet , at Prophet s to wn on the Wabash ; the other from the prox m i it y of the B ritish agents and traders at Malden ,

Canada .

as First , to the Sh awnee brothers . It ha s been sai d that whole nations are at times moved wit h a so rt of religious fe r vor or frenzy which ex SHAWN EE PRO PH ET S AN D BRITISH AGENTS 23

d a n d ten s to all ranks stations . During these per io ds , strange mental phenomena are at ti mes a p parent , and the whole complexi on of affairs seems

a to undergo a rapid n d sometimes radical change . S uch a movement occurred among the Indian tribes of Ohio an d those along the Waba s h about 180 the beginning of the yea r 6 . At th i s time a part of the scattered and broken remn ants of the Shawn ee tribe had bee n gatheri ng together under

i . the Prophet and Tecumseh at Greenv lle , Ohio In November of the year before the Prophet had “ assembled a considerable numbe r of Shawn ee s , a Wyandots , Ott was an d Senecas , at Wapakoneta , u la i on the A g ze ri ver , when he unfolded to them the n ew character with which he was clothed , and made h i s ﬁrst publ ic effort i n that caree r o f r e i l gio u s imposition , which in a few years was felt by the remotest trib es of the upper lakes , and on the broad plai ns which stretch beyond the M issis ” s ippi . The appearance of the Prophet was not onl y highly dramati c but extremely well timed . The savage min d was ﬁll ed with gloomy f o r ebo d ” - ings . Th e ravages of fire water , the intermix ture of the races , the trespassing of the white settlers on the Indian domain , an d the rapid dis appearance o f many of the old hunting grounds , all betokened a sad destiny for the red man. Nat a d u r a lly superstitious , he was prepared for the vent o f some di vine agency to help him in his dis o o e tress . No one u nderst d this b tter than the

Prophet . He may have been the dupe of his own f o rm id imposture , but imposters are generally 24 TH E LA N D O F TH E POTAWATOM I

: La u l wa s ika w Ten s k able He was n o longer e , but “ “ watawa , the Open D o o r . He affect ed great sanctity ; d i d not engage i n the s ecular duties of war or hunting ; was seldom in publ ic ; devoted most of his time to fas ting , the i nterpretation of fi dreams , and offering sacri ces to spi ritual pow ers ; pretended to see into futu r ity and to foretell events , and annou nced h imself to be the mouth f ” piec e o God . The first assemblage at Wapakoneta was later e followed by a series of pilgrimages to Gr enville , which s hortly spread alarm among the white set l r t e s . H undreds of savages flocked around the new seer from the lakes an d rivers of the north

west , and even from beyond the Mississippi . In as May of 18 07, great numbers passed an d rep sed i through Fort Wayn e . To al l these gather ngs the

Prophet preached the new propaganda . He de n n o u c ed drunkenness , and sai d th at he had gone u p into the clouds an d had seen the abode of the

devil ; that there he saw all the drunkards , and that ﬂames of ﬁre continually i ssu ed from thei r

mouths , and that all who used l iquor in th is world would suffer etern al torment in the next ; he a d vo c a t t e d a retu rn to pristine h abits and cu s oms , “ counseling the tribes to throw away thei r ﬂ in t s and steels and reso rt to their original mode of o b

taining ﬁre by percu ss ion . H e denounced the woolen stu ffs a s not equal to skin for cl othing ;

he commended the use of the bow and arrow . As

s to intermarriage be tw een the rac es , all this wa

prohibited . The two races were distinct and must

26 TH E LA N D O F TH E POTAWATO MI

n Gove rnor Ha rrison at Vince nes . He immediate ” ly sent a s peech by spec ial me ss enger to the headsmen and chiefs of the Delaware tribe , be s eec hin g them to cas t aside all fallaciou s doc trines , to denounce the Prophet and to drive him “ ” out of their midst . In the course of this speech “ he sai d : Demand of h im some proofs , at least , of h is being the messenger of the Deity . If God ha s really employed h im , He has doubtless author ized him to pe rform miracles that he may be known an d received as a prophet . If he is really a prophet , ask hi m to cause the su n to stand still , the moon to alter its cou rse , the ri vers to cease ” to ﬂow , or the dead to rise from their graves .

The language of the governor proved to be u n 1 1 fortunate . On June 6 , 806 , there was a total eclips e of the sun in northern latitudes for a per iod of about ﬁve minutes at about a half an hou r

- e before mid day , and this event had long b en her alded by the astronomers of that time , and had come to the ears of the Prophet through inter course with some white friends . The crafty sav age was not slow to act . He tol d his followers that on a certai n ﬁxed day , and at a time when the sun was at the height of its po wers , he woul d place the same under h i s feet , and cause dark ness to come on the face of the ea rt h . On the day ann ounced , the Prophet stood among his fearful ban d awaiting the hour . The day was wholly cl ea r and without clouds , but at the appointed time the terriﬁed savages saw a disc of blackness gradually pa s s over the face of the sun ; the birds be ca me agita te d a n d flew to c ove r ; t he sku l kin g dogs dr ew n ea r th eir m a s t ers ; alm ost abs olute da rkn ess fell on a ll about ; t he st a r s of hea ven a p i ea r e in ze n a n d p d th e ith, in the m dst of it a ll , the ' “ Prophet exclaimed Di d I n o t te st ify trul y ? " n h Behold Dark ess a s shr oud ed the su n . The

h u l y account of that day , fait f ly set fort h b J . Fen n im o r e o Co per , then a youth . is ﬁll ed with st r a n ge relations of the un n atural appe aran ce of a ll ea rth ly thin gs ; of the su dden awe and fea r that came in to the min ds of all ; ho w women st oo d n ear their husbands in silence an d chil dr en cl ung to h f w t eir mothers in terror , an d i t h : e ere the i ed v li emotions exp er enc in a ci i zed comm unit y . a m de fully awar e of the comi ng event , what must have be en the impress ss ion pro duc ed on t he super i i h l st t o u s min d of t e savage , wholly un en ighten y e ? t h ed in the wa s of sc ienc From that day , e power of th e savage Prophet wa s s ec ure u ntil the spell of is m agic wa s forever broken by the ’ whi stling bullets of Harrison s regu lars and Yel

low Jac kets at the Batt l e of Tippecanoe .

’ h o The picture of Tecums eh , t e Prophet s br ther , 1 0 in the year 8 6 , i s a remarkable one. At that

- time he was abo ut t h irt y eight yea rs of a ge , a n e ﬁn ished athl ete , a re nown ed hu t r , an d of great o reputa tion a s a bold an d fearless orator . Pr b ably no r ed man ever born had a bett er kn owledge of the vari ous tr eaties that ha d bee n c o n s u m “ s mated be tween the races . For a ll tho e qual i ties which elevate man far above hi s race ; for tal a ent , tact , skill , bravery as a w rri or ; for high 28 TH E LA N D O F TH E POTAWATO MI

e minded , honorabl e and ch ivalrou s b aring as a s m a n ; in ﬁne , for all tho e elements of greatness which place h im a long way above his fellows in

savage l i fe , the name and fame of Tecumseh w ill go down to posterity in the west , as one of the most celebrated of the aborigin es of thi s c onti ” es nent . This may be exaggerated , but it i s the timate of no less an authority than Judge John

Law .

No tr u e portrait of thi s celebrated Indian is in existence . The following graph ic description of

h im , however , is given by Stanley Hatch , who had a p ersonal acquaintance with him in times of “ peace . The gen eral appearance of this rema rk w abl e man was uncommonly ﬁne . H i s height as o ab ut ﬁve feet , nine inches , j udgi ng h i m by my own height when standing close to him , and cor r o bo r a t e Co l d by the late . John Johnston , for many years Indian agent at Piqua . H i s face oval rather than angular ; hi s nose handsome a n d straight ; hi s mouth beautifully formed , like that of Napoleon I , as represented i n hi s por t raits ; his eyes clear , transparent hazel , with a mild , pleas

n ant expression when in repose , or i n co versation ; but when excited i n hi s orations or by the en t hu s ia sm a of confl ict , or when i n anger , they p p ea r ed l ike ball s of fire ; hi s teet h beautifully white , an d hi s complexi on more of a light brown or tan than r ed ; h is whole tribe as well as their t t o wa s kindred the O , had l ight complexions ; h is arms an d han ds were finely formed ; hi s limbs straight ; he always stood very erect and walked SHAWNE E PROPHETS AN D BRITISH AGEN TS 29

a c with a brisk , el sti , vigorous step ; invari ably dressed in Indian tanned bucksk in ; a perfectly well fitting hunting frock descending to the knee , and over hi s underclothes of the same material ; the usual cape and fin ish of yellow fringe about o the neck ; cape , edges of the fr nt opening , and bottom of the frock ; a be lt of th e same material in which were his side arms ( an elegant silver mounted tomahawk an d a knife in a strong , lea ther case ) short pantal o ons connected with neat ly fitting leggins and moccasins , with a mantle of the same material thrown over the left shoulder , used as a blanket in camp and as a protection in storms . S uch was his dress when I last saw him , 1 1 12 on the 7t h of August , 8 , on the streets of De i t r o t , mutually exchanging tokens of recognition with former acquaintances in years of peace , and

passing o n , he , to see that his Indian s had all cross ed to Malden , as commanded , and to counsel with hi s white allies in regard to the n ext move 18 12 ment of the now really commenced War of .

He was then in the prime of life , and presented in h is appearance an d noble bearing one of the ﬁnest ” looking men I have ever seen . The striking circumstances of his birth (he n was one of triplets ) , the asce dency of hi s brother the P rophet ; hi s burn ing hatred of the white

race ; his skill as a hu nte r , an d valor as a warrior ; above all , his won derful eloquence and thorough knowl edge of all the Indi an treaties of the past , gave Tec u m s eh an inﬂuence and authority among the tribes far be yon d th a t of any of the braves 30 THE LAN D O F TH E PO TAWATO MI

m or sachems of that day . If at the ﬁrst h is i a gi nation had not dared to scale the heights of

power , he l ater bo ldly threw aside all disgu ise and by h is powerful advocacy of a communistic own e rs hip of all the Indian lan ds by the tribes in

common , he aimed a blow at the ancient authority

claimed by the Ind ian Chieft ains , an d at the val idity of eve ry treaty ever negotiate d betwee n the

two races of men . Th e sum and substance of Te

’ c u m seh s doctrine i s thu s s u c c in t ly stated by Judge Law “ That the Great Spi rit had given

the Indian s all thei r lands i n com mon . to be held by them as such and not by the variou s tribes

who had settled on portions of it , claiming it as a their own . That they were mere squ atters , h v ‘ ’ - ing no pre emption rights , but holding even that ' on whi ch they lived as mere ‘tenants in comm on

with all the other tribes . That this mere po sses si on gave them n o title to convey the lan d without

the consent of all , that no single tribe had the right to sel l ; that the power to sell wa s not veste d

i n their chief , but must be an act of the warriors

in council assembled of all the tribes , as the lan d belo n ged to all—n o po rtion of it to any single

tribe .

That doctrine carri ed to its legitimate en d , woul d invalidate and render null and void every Indian treaty ever negoti ated between Wayn e or Harri son an d the tribe s ; made every white set tler west of the Allegha n ies a squatter and mere

l icensee , and could only te rminate i n hate and SHA WNEE PR OPH ETS AN D BRITISH AGEN TS 31

bloo dshed and the irrepres si ble conﬂict between the races .

In 1808 n the month of June , , the S haw ee broth ers established thems elves at what has ever since

’ been known a s the Prophet s Town on the Wabash river, about ten miles above the sit e of the pres ent city of Lafayette . Thi s highly strategic po sit io n placed them midway on the main lin e o f communication between Vincennes and the B rit Ma l ish port at den , Canada . To the north and eas t along the Waba sh were the Miami ; the Kick e e ap s were on the Vermilion be low , and to the north , as far as the post of Chicago and lake M ich igan exten ded the realm o f the P otawatomi . Te c u m s eh an d the Prophet were forming a confed er a c y of all the Indian tri bes to resist the further n advance of the white race , and thi s chosen sp ot i e the wilderness was an ideal sel ction , where se cret emba ssies and nego tiations might be carried on without much fear of detection .

The plan pursu ed by these wily savages wa s as follows : To wea n their followers enti rely

de away from the use of whiskey , which wa s fast stroying their military effi ciency ; to teach them ,

if possible , the ways of labor , so that they might raise corn and other products of the earth an d thu s supply thei r ma gaz ines agai nst a time of war ; to dupe the go vernor into the be l ief that thei r mission was one of peace , and undertaken solely for the moral u pl ift an d betterm ent of the

—in s ra c tribes the meantime , by the con tant p 32 TH E LAN D O F TH E POTAWATOMI

tice of rel igious c eremonies and rites , to work

on the su perstition of the warriors , wi n these , i f be t need , from the chief ains , who might counsel

- peace , a n d by a series of war like spo rts an d ex er cises , hol d together the young bucks and train t he them for inevitable conﬂ ict betwee n the races .

By weird i ncantati ons , symbolic ceremonies and practice of the black art , the P rophet had gone far . He was now regarded as invuln erable , and h is person sacred . But that wh ich gave po int i to his oracles , and author ity to h s imposture , was w his Sha nee h atred of the pal eface . To incite their growing j ealousy an d mali ce he tol d hi s dupes tha t the white man had poisoned all their land , an d prevented it from producing such th ings as they found necessary to thei r subsistence . The growing scarcity of game , the disappearance of the deer and buffalo before the wh ite settlements , were indisputable proofs of h is assertions . To drive back these invaders who polluted the soil and desecrated the graves of their fathers—what more was needed to i ncite the sa vage warriors to a cru sade of blood an d extermin a tion ? Abo ut this time it was n oticed that the Potawatomi of

the prairie , who were un der the inﬂuence of the xer Prophet , were frequently holding rel igious e

cises , but that these exercises were al ways con “ - r cluded with war like spo ts , shooting with bows , ” - throwing tomahawks , and wielding the war club .

What wonder that the savage who regarded s a the white man as an interl oper and a tre p sser ,

34 TH E LAN D O F TH E PO TAWATO MI

struck at night when the fami ly was at repose . The infant might have its brain s d as hed out

against a tree , or a lovely young gi rl might be taken hundreds of miles away to mee t the em

braces o f some drunken chief. S carcely a fam i ly i n those days of te rror but could recount some s appalling tale of ﬁre or ma s acre . Bold as were

the frontiersmen , their blood ran cold an d they shrank back i n horror at the thought of savage

yells at midnight , the cabin on ﬁre , an d the wife or mother fall ing headlong before the blow of

the war hatch et , in the hand of a painted savage . Those who have read of the heroic ﬁght of the

Yellow Jackets at Tippecanoe , and who have won dered at the calm and unﬂ inching val or of Ca p

tain Spier Spencer an d his men , must not forget that long years of terror and savage aggression

made the Indian a militia men of iron , and that they chee rfully made the s a cri ﬁce supreme to se cure peace and safety for thei r wives and ch il

d ren . With S pencer to th is battle marched his

son , E dward , a stripl ing only fourtee n years of “ ” age , but wel l grown and able to car ry a riﬂe . This brave lad wa s afte r wards cared for by Gov e ern r Ha rrison , an d later admitted to West Point on the general ’ s recom mendation of bravery

shown on the battleﬁeld .

No on e viewed with more pleas ure the growing

power of the Prophet and Tecumseh , an d the fear

ful d ismay of the American settlers , than the a n British agent , Matthew Elliott , at M alden , C

ada . Malden , or Fort Malden , was i n the u pper SHAWN EE PROPH ETS AN D BRITISH AGEN T S 35

Am her st bu r h part of the village of g , Canada , near the mouth of the Detroit river. This was the principal depot from which supplies for the

fur trade , an d presents to t he In dian s of the

Northwest territory were di stributed . It was in close commun ication with the Prophet ’ s Town by e a m Wa way of the Maume , or upper Mi i , and the bas h .

Matthew E lliott wa s a renega de and a traitor ’ A ba c h s to the cause of American libe rty . From l An n a ls o he Wes t f t , we learn that he was a trader among the Indian s before the Revolutionary war . H a e was t ken prisoner by the Briti sh , with a car 1 go o f goods , i n 776 , and carried to Detroit . There he wa s releas ed on condition that he woul d ’ j oin the B ritish and receive a captain s co mm is sion in service H is hon or sold , he returned to the town of Pittsburgh as a spy , des erted from Mc K that place with ee and Girty , two n ota ble a British adherents of th t day , and during the Revolution became the leader of hostile Indians “ ﬁghting on the side of Englan d . After the R ev e lution he settl ed an d carried on farming a n d trade with the Indians at the mouth of the De n t r o it river . He at once became the pri ci pal agent of the British to reta in control of the val u able fur trade with the Indians in the Nort hwes t

territory . He had a fruitful ﬁel d to work in . The Indian tribes o f the Wabas h and vicinity had

always bee n adherents of the English . The lea d

ing chiefs of the Potawatom i , the Sacs and Foxes

a n d . . . other tribes , according to Mrs J H Kinzie , 36 TH E LAN D O F TH E POTAWATO M I

went yea rly to Fo rt M alden , i n Canada , to r e c e ive a large amount of present s , with whi ch the

B riti sh government had , for many years , been i n

the habit of pu rch as ing thei r alliance . The pres ents they th u s rec eived were of consi derabl e val u e - , consisting of blankets , broad cloths or stroud

- ings , calicoes , gu ns , kettles , t raps , silver works

- ( compri sing arm bands , bracelets , brooches an d - o ear bobs ) , lo king gl asses , combs and variou s other tri nkets distributed with no niggardly hand . Elliott looked with j ealousy and al arm on the spread of American inﬂuence i n the weste r n country . He foresaw the loss of a valu able trade , the waning power of hi s control over the savage d mi nd , and regarded General Harrison a n the American traders along the Wabash wi th in tense hatred an d malice . He un doubtedly foment ed an d encouraged the In dian ra ids in the Ill inoi s and Indiana country . The growing unrest of the

tri bes , the Indian confederacy of Tecumseh and the P rophet to stem wh ite i mmigration , were ha iled by him with glee . On the eve of the Battle of Tippecanoe , we ﬁn d it reported by General Harrison “ that all the In dians of the Wabash

have been , or now are , on a vi sit to the British ” I agent at Malden , t was reported th at the pres w ents given to one Indian alone , not a chief , ere “ - ﬁve an elegant riﬂe , twenty pounds of powder ,

ﬁfty pounds of lead , three blankets , three strouds ”

. of cloth , ten shirts , and several other articles The savage warriors who fought at Ti ppecanoe were armed with B ritish riﬂes a n d plenty of a m SHAWN EE PROPH E T S AN D BRITISH AGEN TS 37

n mu ition . R iﬂes and amm unition discovered at the Prophet ’ s Town after the battle bore B ritish stamps and marks .

The raids of the Potawatomi and Kickapoo s continued to increase until the people of Indiana te rritory c a lled a mass meeting of the citizens l 1 1 at Vincenn es on the 3 st of July , 18 , addressed P a letter to resident James Madison , asking for the aid of the government, and General Harrison 4 secured the despatch of a part of the t h U . S .

Infantry under Col o n el John P . Boyd . The end

a he s i s known . The m rch of t regular , an d the Indiana and Ke n tucky militia up the Wab a sh ; the furiou s and sanguinary Battle of Tippecanoe on November 7, 18 1 1 , a n d the crushing of the

Indian power in the northwest forever . 38 TH E LA N D O F TH E POTAWATOMI

ﬁc ta mat omi Ea nhitti

EW chron iclers have rea lized the dif f ic u l ties wh ich beset William Henry H arrison

as the ﬁrst mil itary governor a t Vincennes .

s in a frontier capital , removed hundreds wa s of miles from the seat of government . He n i n the mid st of a savage wilder ess , and communi cation with the national capital coul d only be had

by boat and cou rier . The authorities at Was h in gt o n for the most part regarded the plaints an d cries of the western pioneers with a cool in dif ference . Harrison was fa l sely accused in the halls of Congress with having ta ken advantage of the

In dian tribes at the Treaty of Fort Wayn e . He knew that all his actions were being closely scan ned by the spies a n d emissaries of the British

government , who were trying to effect a rupture e between him and the Indian tri b s . Up the Wa ’ bash an d only twenty- four hours j ourn ey from Vincenn es by boat wa s the hostile village of Te c u m s eh and the Prophet , and Vi ncennes wa s i n con stant apprehension during the yea rs of 18 10 1 1 1 and 8 , of atta ck from this quarter . Harbored ’ an d protected at the Prophet s Town , bands of Potawatomi an d Kickapoos made frequent an d r a POTAWATOMI BAN DIT TI 39

ea t ed e p raids on al l outlying s ttlements, an d the governor had to stand between the terriﬁed fron t ier sm en o n on the e hand , and a slow and neg lec t f u l government on the other . To deman d res t it u t io n of stolen goods and horses from the Sha w e nee broth rs was well nigh hopeless . The Prophet secretly encouraged all outrages , and Tecums eh o either could or w uld n o t render full satisfaction .

The truth is , that after all the laudation that Te u m c seh has recei ved , he was a sa vage and enter t a in ed l the utmost ma ice towards the white race . He admitted that the s ight of a white man made a the ﬂesh of hi s f ce creep . To try to conciliate such l eaders as these , to avoi d open hostilities at

- the behest of an over cauti ous government , and at the same time to do hi s duty by the people of this western world , were tasks that few men have m been called upon to perfor . To illustrate one of the many and frequent difficulties that the ha governor d to encounter , we will relate the

o - story of the P tawatomi chief, Turkey Foot, who wa s bold en ough a bandit an d murderer in his day to become a n outlaw in two of the western territories of the United States a n d to engage the attention of two territorial governors .

h 1 West In the issue of August 18t , 18 0, o f the ern S u n o f s a , Vincennes , the olde t newsp per in : the state of Indiana , appears this paragraph “ Extract of a letter from a gentleman at St .

Louis , to his friend in this place , dated August r 1 1 3 d , 8 0. On my return from the garrison up the M issouri , I stai d at Captain Coles , who had 4 0 THE LAN D O F TH E PO TAWATO M I j ust returned from the pursuit of some Indians that ha d st olen horses from the settlement—they

came in view of the Indians on a prairie , an d pu r

o n e sued until night , and encamp d , made ﬁres , d etc . in the woo land , and n ot apprehending a n y danger from the Indian s , lay down to sleep

sometime after midnight , they were ﬁred on by ” the Indians , and four men killed .

What had happened was th is : There is a grove

about three or four miles southwest of Morocco ,

t - in New on county , Indiana , named Tu rkey Foot

grove , and another of the same n ame about forty

miles south of it , and two or three miles south

east o f the town of Earl Park . In this region

- dwelt Turkey Foot , at the head of a lawless band

v is of the prairie Potawatomi . I n a spirit of de el h

mischief and led on by the hope of plunder , the chief an d some of h is followers had ri dden hun dreds of miles across the gran d prai ries of Indi

ana an d Illinois , had forded the Mi ssissippi , and

pierced to the outposts of Loutre island , in the n Missou ri river , below the present tow of Her

. mann , and from ﬁfty to seventy miles west of St

Loui s , had stolen a bunch of horses there , and

made good their escape , af t er committing one of the foulest mu rders recorded in the early histo ry

of that territory . As soon as the theft of the horses was di scover e ed , great excit ment prevailed , as horses were

ve ry valuable to the early pioneers . A rescue C party was organized , composed of S amuel ole

PO TAWATOMI BAN DITTI 4 1

o o and William T . Cole , Temple , Patt n , M urd ck an d Go och , and afte r pu rs u ing the Indians all day , they came in sight of them on a large prairie ,

’ but the hors es of Cole s party were so tired that

s they had to give u p the cha e , a n d encamped in a smal l woodland . Afte r midnight , and when all were in slumber , the stealthy savages return ed , t a surrounded the camp , and on the ﬁ rst at ck kill ed Temple , Patton and Gooch . Mu rdock sought shelter under the bank of a creek near by , but

William T . Cole was attacked by two savages , one

in front and one i n the rear . In the rencount er

C wa s ole stabbe d in the shoulder , but wrenched n a knife from o e of his assailants and killed him .

The other Indian escaped in the darkn ess .

This murder and larceny combined , was brought to the attention of Govern or Harri son by the

then ac ting governor of Lo u isiana territory .

Later h e made a dema nd upon Governor Harri son , accompanied by documentary proo f of the whole

transaction , that the savages be apprehended , as it was alleged that they were som ewh ere within

the territorial l imits of Indi ana . The govern or had small hope of either retrieving the horses or securing any inform ation concerning the sa vage a P assassin s , as he knew th t the rophet would

take all necessary steps to cover up their tracks .

However , he dispatched a messenger , probably ’ n Dubois or Barron , to the Prophet s Tow . In abo ut a month four of the horses were rec overed an d it wa s learned that in the winter following 4 2 TH E LAN D O F THE POTAWATOMI

the tragedy , that the Indians had camped at some

e po int b tween the Waba sh and Lake M ichigan , presumably at one of the groves bearing the

’ chief s name . Tecumseh and the Prophet both den ied any complicity in the affair , and promised to have the remai nder of the horses sent in , but this was never don e . When asked to deliver up

- Turkey Foot and hi s accompl ices , the reply was made that they had gone to reside on the Illinois river , a statement that was undoubtedly fal se . Tec umseh became deﬁant in his attitude an d sai d that he would tolerate no more encroachments

by the white race . The Indians were never taken . The ch ief thu s protected by the Shawnee con s ir t o r ~ p a s , lived long after the B attle of Tippe canoe in the grove i n Newt on county that still

bears his name , an d was seen by some of the ear

liest pioneer settlers . Late i n life he had a fatal quarrel with another Potawatomi chief by the

- name of Bull Foot , in which both were killed .

Joh n Ade , father of George Ade , relates in h is

book on early times in Newton county , that Tur

- - key Foot killed Bull Foot , an d was in turn killed ’ ’ - by Bul l Foot s son . Ade s account of the dis

posal of the bodies lends veracity to the story . He says that the ch ief ’ s followers stood the two bodies upright against two trees standing close

. together , with their faces toward each other Matson gives the manner of Potawatomi burial “ a s follows The Indians bu ry their dead in a

shallow grave , and bu ild a pen over it , con struct l ed o f sma l timbers , to prevent wolves from dig POTAWATOM I BAN DITTI 4 3

ging up and devouring the remains . These pens over graves were foun d here and there through o the c untry long after the Indians had left , and some of them were used for ﬁr e—wood by early settlers . The chiefs were entombed above ground

so they coul d be seen afterwards by thei r frien ds , and frequently visited by the band .

A high knol l or mound i s selected in the thick timber away from the village , where the corpse is placed i n a sitting pos ition , brac ed with stone e a or timb r to keep it upright . A riﬂe , tomah wk , knife , pipe an d toba cco , and everythin g the de ceased i s supposed to want in th e spirit lands , are pl a ced by h is side . Aroun d the tomb are a erected high pal i s des to prevent dogs ( of which , by the way , the P otawatomi al ways had plenty ) , s and wolve , from eati ng the corpse , a n d in this ” way the body is l eft to dec ay . As Mr . Matson got his information from no less an authority ha u ben a w than S , one of the most reno ned of the

Illinoi s Potawatomi , it must be reliable .

Years afterwa rd , the white settlers buried the bones of these two slain chi eftains . They were

Dr afterwards dug up by . Charles E . Triplett , of Moroc co , who discovered that one of the thigh bones had at one time been broken and that it ha d overlapped and grown together .

The above was only one of the many raids in ’ - which Turkey Foot s ba n d took part . They were o c notoriou s enough in those days . On another 4 4 THE LAN D O F TH E POTAWATOMI casion fou r of them had stolen twelve horses n ear

Vincennes and got away with them . There was i small chance of recovery , once the horse s d sa p

p ea red in the wilderness north of the Wabash . THE REAL SAVAGE 4 5

Wi n fisca l éahagr

HERE was no glamour about the P o t a wa t ~

omi . He was a real savage . He was lazy ,

an d made his squaw hoe the corn . He had “ but very little regard for women . Polygamy wa s common among the Potawatomi when they ” l were visited by the ea rly miss ionaries . Like a l h is race , he was a gambler , playing heavily at h is moccasin games and lacrosse . As a general rule , l he was cruel , and a ways had a deadly hatred for the white man . It has been adm itted by Shau bena that most of the depredations on the fron tier settlements in Ill inois during the Black Hawk i war , were committed by the Potawatom . The a Au cowardly and brutal massacre at Chi c go ,

15 1 121 a gust , 8 wa s the work , princip lly of the a Potawatomi , and their several b n ds from the

Illinois an d Kank a kee rivers ; those from the St .

Joseph of the lake , and the St . Joseph of the Mau

mee , and those of the Wabash and its tributaries ” were all represented in the despicable act . I n that ma ss a cre , Captain Willi am Wells , the bro

- - ther ih l a w of Little Turtle , the famous M iami

chi ef , was killed when he was trying to protect a f the soldiers and refugees . He was discovered 4 6 TH E LAN D O F TH E PO TAWATOM I

rwa rds t e , terribly mutilated . H is b o dy l ay in

one place , h i s head in an other , while h is a rms and legs were scattered about over th e prai r i e . The terri ble warriors of this tri be , stripped to th e

- skin , except breech cloth an d moccasins , and with bodies painted with horrible stripes of red , went into battle with the rage of madmen and demons and committed every exc ess known to h uman c ru elty . In general appearance the Potawatomi di d n ot compare favorably with the Kickapoos of the

a Vermilion river . The Kick po o warri ors were P a generally tall an d sin ewy , while the ot watomi l were shorter and more thick y set , very dark and K ic ka squalid . Numbers of the women of the “ poo s are described a s be ing l ithe and many of ” P o t them by no mean s lacking in beauty . The a wa t o m i women were inclined to greas iness an d

- C obesity . The French anadians applied the very “ ” s igniﬁcant name to the tribe of Les Poux , or in those who have lice , from which it may be ferred that they were not generally of cleanly habits . In latter days , however , many of the French - Canadians intermarried with women of 1 2 ~ thi s tribe , an d the Treaty of 83 with the Pota a w t o m i contains many French names , such as

u a r m Francis De Jean , Cicott , Nedeau , D c h , Ber w . a trand , and others It s formerly frequ ently noticed t hat in m any of the Kickapoo an d Pot a wa t o m i atta cks on the fronti er that the French settlers escaped , owing to the partiality that all the Algonqui n tribes d isplayed toward that race .

4 8 TH E LAN D O F TH E POTAWATO M I

carou sals and orgies took place when the Indians “ we r e under the i nﬂuence of ﬁr e-water Fights

an d mu rders were frequent . At the l ast , whiskey destroyed the last vestige of vi rtue i n thei r wo men , and valor i n thei r wa rr i ors .

t 18 1 1 Af er the crushing of the Prophet in , and the destru cti on of B ritish i nﬂuence i n the no rth 1 west , consequent upon the War of 8 12 , the de a cl ine of the Potaw tomi was swift and appall ing . “ ” The terrible ravages of ﬁr e- water played no f i ‘ i ncons iderable pa rt . Many of t he r princi pal chieftains became notorious d runkards , reel ing along the streets of frontier posts and towns an d boasting of thei r former prowess . E ven the r e w To en bee no n ed p e , the last principal chief of the

e . tri b of the river St . Joseph , was no exception R eproached by General Lewi s Cass because he

hi di d not rem a i n sober an d care for s people , h e “ an swered , Fath er , we do n ot care for the land ,

nor the money , nor the goods ; what we want is ” whiskey ; give us wh iskey " The example set by the chiefs was not neglected by thei r followers .

Nothi ng can better illustrate the shocking sav agry an d depravity of some of these las t chief ta ins , after the tribe had been contaminated by Wa the effect of strong l iquors , than the story of

u n - b see , principal war chief of the Prai rie ban d of Potawatomi resi ding on the Kankakee river i n

Ill inois , and in his early days one of the renowned and d arin g warriors of hi s tribe . When General Harrison m a rched with hi s regu lars an d Indiana THE REAL SAVAGE 4 9

and Kentucky militia , on the way to the battle

ﬁeld of Tippecanoe , he ascended the Wabas h river , erecting Fort Ha rrison near the present site of

Terre Haute , and chri sten ing it on S unday , the 2 7th 18 1 1 of October , . From here , the ar my a marched up the e st bank of the river, cros sing the deep water n ear the present site of Monte

‘ zuma , Indiana , and erecting a block house on the west bank , about three miles below the mouth of the Vermilion ri ver , for a base of suppl ies . Corn and provisions for the army were ta ken in boats

and pirogues from Fort Harrison up the river , and landed at this block house . On Saturday , the 2 n d day of November , John Tipton recorded in h is diary that “thi s evening a man come from the Garrison ( Ft . Harrison ) sai d last night his boat was ﬁred o n —one m a n that was asleep kill ” - ed dead . Beckwith records that the dare devil “ Wa bu n see o - , the L oking Glass , principal war chief of the Prairie ban d of Pottawato mies , resi d ing on the Kankakee river , in Ill inois , distin i h 18 1 1 gu s ed hi mself , the last of October , , by ’ leaping aboard of one of Gov . H arrison s supply boats , loaded with corn , as it was ascending the

Wabash , ﬁve miles above Terre Haute , an d killing s in a man , and making his escape a hore w ithout ” j ury . Allowing for a slight discrepancy in a dates , this is probably the s me incident referred

to by John Tipton , and taking into con sideration that the bo a ts probably were guarded by armed men , this was certainly a daring and adventurous feat. 50 TH E LAN D O F TH E PO TAWATOMI

c Yet it is re orded of this ch ief , that he always c a rried about with him two scalps i n a bucks ki n “ po uch taken from the head s of soldiers in the 18 12 War of , and when un der the inﬂuence of li x quor, he woul d e hibit them , going through the motions of obtain ing these trophies . S chool craft , whose attention was especially d rawn to wards th is chieftain o n ac count of his dru nken ferocity , and who pai nts h i m as one of the worst “ of the many bad s avages of his day , says : He ofte n free ly indulged in liquor ; and when excited , exhibited the ﬂushed visage of a demon . On one occas ion , two of hi s wives , or rather female slaves , ha d a dispute . One of them went , i n her e Wa u bu n see excited state of fe ling , to , and told

- o r h im that the other ill treated his children . He dered the accu se d to come before him . He told her to lie down on her back on the ground . He then directed the o ther ( her accuser) to take a tomahawk an d d ispatch her . She instantly spl it “ ” “ open her skull . There , sai d the savage , let the w a f c r e s . eat her He left her unburied , but was t e rwa r ds persuaded to direct the mu rderess t o bu ry her . S he dug the grave so shallow , that the wolves pulled out her bo dy that night , and pa rtly ” devoured it .

Looking at the Potawatomi in the true l ight ; m regarding h im as he really wa s , a wild an d u c tamed savage , and made worse by hi s conta t w ith the Indian traders and whiskey vendors of frontier days , is it any wonder that the children ‘ e n of that time , as Judge James Hall relat s , l ear THE RE AL SAVAGE 51

ed to hate the Indian and to spe ak of him a s an enemy ? From the cradl e they listen ed continu a l ly to horrid tales of savage violence , and became familiar with narratives of aboriginal cunning ’ and ferocity . Is it any wo nder that when General Harrison crossed the Wabas h at Montezuma and gave orders to the advance guard to shoot every t In dian at sight , hat the rough frontiersman , “ ” s " John Tipton , ente red in his diary, Fine New 52 TH E LAN D O F TH E POTAWATOM I

mopt nebcc , Git e l ast t hief

OR n early half a century To p en ebe e , whose

n ame , according to Jacob P iatt D unn , sig “ n iﬁ es A Quiet S itting Bea r , was the head and princi pal chief of the Potawatomi na

tion . He was probably bo rn n ear Niles , Michi “ gan , for here was loc a ted the great Pottawatomie

A i u iba village , ruled over by n q , the great chief P t a wa m of the o t o ies , who was the father of To e n eb To en be p ee . p e e was thus of the royal bloo d ,

and the ruling clan of hi s tribe . H i s sister , Kau

keama , married William B urn ett , a famou s

French fu r trader , who thereafter became very

inﬂ uential and powerful among the tribesmen . i H is sons , by thi s Indian princess , were unfr endl y

to the advancing white settlements of the west , a n d Abraham B u rnett , i n comman d of a mixed

band of Potawatomi and Kickapoos , is sai d to have laid a plan to ambush and surp rise H arri ’ a a son s army ne r Perryville , Indi na , on its march

- to the battle groun d at Ti ppecanoe . This plot ,

’

however , failed . B urnett s creek , on the western

- ed ge of the battle ground , is named for a mem

be r of thi s family .

t he Te en ebe e e From ﬁrst , p s ems to have been TOPEN E B E E , TH E LAST CHI EF 53

U e hostile to the nit d States . He wa s no doubt in ' m the battle of Fallen Ti bers , fought with An t ho n 1794 y Wayne , in , for he appe ars as a signer

of the Treaty of Greenville , Ohio , of August 3 “ 1795 - - — , signing that document as Thu Pe Ne Eu , an d the fact that he signed as the ﬁrst o f the P u t a wa t a m es h of the river St . Josep , shows that at that early date he was their chief and

. n principal sachem At an early date , To pe ebee h embraced t e teachings of the Prop het , and he came an ally of the Shawnee brothers and the

British . When Tecumseh an d the Prophet came 1808 to the Wabash in the year , for the purpo se of organizing their c o nfederacy of the India n tribes to oppose t he fu rt her advance of the new republic , they settled at the mouth of the Tippe canoe o n certain lan ds granted them by the Po ta o k wa s wa t m i a n d Kic apoos , al though their grant t o c Opposed by the Miami , who were the righ ful n n o t ia c u p a t s and owners of the soil . In the eg o n tion s leading up to this trans ac tion , T p e ebee took a n active p a rt . Local tradition at Attica , “ l a m Indian a , preserves the ta e th t some ti e in the fall of the ye a r 1807 To p en ebee and the K ick ape e s an d Pota watomi s , M iamis and Winnebagos , met Tecumseh a n d hi s prophet beneath the spreading branches of a splendid oak that sto od a withi n the corporate limits of the c ity of Attic . In th is council it wa s agree d that the S ha wnee T n o P r o tribe , under ecums eh a d his br ther , the

phet , might have as their hunting grou nd the ter a r it o ry drained by Sh wnee creek , and then a line 54 TH E LAN D O F TH E POTAWATO MI

drawn from there to the watersh ed of the Tip c a n o pe e river , and up the Tippecanoe river about ” twenty miles .

The Potawatom i chief was thus largely in st r u mental in bringing the impending co nﬂict closer to the Vincennes settlement , an d i n has te ni ng , o wn inci dentally , the downfall of his peo ple . Nei ther i s there any doubt that during the trouble some period preceding the batt le of Ti ppe ca noe 12 To n and until a fter the War of 18 , that pe ebee and all t he leading chiefs of his tribe were in close commun icati on with the B ritish agent , Mat thew Elliott , a t Malden , Canada .

The facts concerning the yearly pilgrima ge of

the tri bes of the northwest to this pl ace , and the presents they received from the English govern ment , have alrea dy bee n relate d . These presents and a vast quantity of wh iskey , won them away from General Harrison and made them all ies of 2 the B ritish in the War of 18 1 .

o n l t T pe ebee , if he did not actu a ly ake part in laying the plot , was fully aware of the impending s r hi massacre of the troop at Fo t Dearbo rn , or C 8 12 ca go , on August 1 5 , 1 . This was shown by the “ fact that , E arly in the morning , M r . Kinzie (the trader located at the old post) , received a mes

- - - sage from To pen nee bee , a chief of the St . Jos ’ h s in e p ban d , informing him that mischief was t ended by the Potawatomis , who had engaged to esco rt the detachment ; and u rging hi m to r elin qu ish his design of accompanying the troops by

56 TH E LAN D O F TH E POTAWATO MI

settlers were ente ring the northern half of the ” state .

2 Already , on Oct ober , 18 18 , there had been

’ consummated at St . Mary s Ohio , a treaty between the Potawatomi nation and Jon athan Jennings ,

Lewis Ca s s and Benj a mi n Parke , whereby sai d “ n ation ceded to the United States , a large tract of country lying in central - western Indiana an d

eastern Ill inois , fronting on the Wabash from the mouth of the Ti ppecanoe to the mouth of the

Vermilion , and ext en ding w estward t o a l ine drawn as nearly parallel with the Wabash a s

practicable , so as to strike the two l atter streams twent y-ﬁve m iles from thei r respec tive c o n ﬂ u ence with the Wabas h ; and now embraced in h pa rts of Ti ppecanoe , W ite , Benton , all of War

ren , the north half of Vermilion counties , In di

ana , and the greater pa rt of Vermilion county , in

Illinois . A few years later thi s cession was to

be occupied by herdsmen , an d grea t droves of

cattle , and the famous Ch icago road was to run through the northern stretches of thi s area from the towns on t he Wabash to the growin g t own

around ol d Fort Dearborn .

This was but the be ginni ng of the retirement . 16 182 6 On October , , there was concluded at the

Mis s is s in ewa P o t a wa t mouth of the , between the s omi and Lewis Ca s , James B . Ray and John Tip

ton , a treat y whereby the tribe released all claim to valuable tracts of land no rth and west of the

Tipp ec anoe , along Eel ri ver , and about Fort TOP E N E B E E , TH E LAST CHI EF 57

Wayne . This was followed by the treaty of S ep e 2 0 1826 temb r , , granting a great tract i n north eastern Indiana , and the ﬁnal treaty on the Tip ec a n p o e river, on October 2 7, 1832 , concluded be tween the Potawatomi and Jonath a n Jennings , n d a . a m John W Davi s M rks Crume , co missioners , wherein “the Chiefs an d warriors aforesai d cede s h to the United S tate , t ei r title and interest to a f lands in the St tes o Ind iana and Illinois , an d the territory of M ichi gan , south of Grand river .

1 1 1832 Thu s , from the year 8 8 to the year , a w t short space of only fourteen years , the Po t a a omi nation had lost practi c a lly all of its val uable holdings a n d c l a ims in n orthern Indi a na a n d e southern Michigan , an d the trib had sunk into a terrible decadence from which it was never to r recove .

T en b In all these treaties , o p e ee had signed as 2 chief s a chem of his tribe , but in 183 , ol d , drun his es ken and decrepit , he ha d fallen fro m h igh o tate as the associate of Tecumse h , and the l rdly commander who had led all the bands north of r o u t the Wabas h , until there was rese ved for him of all the vast prai ries and woodlan ds of norther n — l a n Indiana , but one section of land the exact “ guage of the treaty of 1832 was : To To -pen -me o bee , principal chief , one secti n . Thi s section was to be selected under the di rection of the Pres a i dent of the Un ited St tes .

The s ection of lan d thus reserved for To p en ebee pro ved to be of no beneﬁt , either to himself or his 58 TH E LAN D O F TH E PO TAWATOM I

s . U descendent nder authority of the president , s one J . T . Dougla s , on Janua ry 2 0, 1836 , reporte d 1 to the government that he had sel ected se ction 3 , w 2 in to nship 6 north , range 9 west , as Tope ne ’ e r b e s l a nd . This selec tion was conﬁ med by Presi dent Martin Van Buren , on March 2 9 , 1837. The se ction thus sel ec ted was idea lly loca ted to suit a prai rie Indi an . From a memorandum attached , to an ol d deed discovered in the arch ives of the

Benton circuit court , th is section , or Indian Float , was described as be ing at S ugar grove , in Benton ’ county , seven miles north of Pari sh s grove , and i thirteen m les south of I roq uois , or B unkum , on c o the Chi ago road from Williamsp rt , Wa rren county , to Chicago . The west side of the s ection w a s i n the eastern verge of S ugar grove , and the

- entire eastern side was a prairie of blue stem , watered on the n orthern side by Sugar creek , which extended on west through the grove into w the state of Ill inois . From the vie point of the early cattle men , it was j ust the location adapted for an i deal ranch . The timber afforded fuel . an d also protected the herds in w inter ; the creek afforded an abundant su pply of fresh water , an d the surrounding prairi e was an ideal gr azing r t g ound . E dward C . Sumner , the greatest cat le a man north of the Wab s h river , ri ding over the 1834 old Chicago road , about , immediately per c e ive d its a dvantages an d afterwards built a ranch on its western S i de an d a long the banks of the creek . Long before the sec tion was located by Douglas s , however , To pen ebee had parted TOP E N E B E E H , THE LAST C IEF 59

l i with all his tit e to Alexis Co qu lla r d . The treaty n was made , as ha s been show , on the 2 7t h day of 2 183 . On 2 October , November 7 of the same year To n ebee pe , by a deed executed in St . Joseph coun t y, Indiana , did grant , bargain , sell , convey and confirm unto the sai d Alexis Co q u illa r d and Davi d l ri k H . Co e c , an d their heirs and as signs forever, a all that sec tion of lan d , called a flo ting reserve , made to the said To pen ebe e at the treaty of Tip c a n o pe e , made and concl uded by and between the a chiefs of the Po t watomi Nation , and Jennings , ” Crume an d Davis . The consideration named in the deed was eight hundred dollars , or one dol - v n d lar and twenty fi e cents per acre , a thi s deed was placed on record i n Benton county on July ’ 1 1 4 6 His 7 8 . . , In Judge Timothy E Howard s t or o o u n t u illa r d y o f S t . J s ep h C y , Alexis Co q is named as the founder of South Bend . He was of

French desc e nt and had served in the War of 18 12

in the American a rmy under General Harri son ,

although but sevent een years of age . He later

became a trader on the St . Jos eph river and wielded such an inﬂuence on t he Potawatomi tribe that they woul d h ave m ade hi m their chief

if he had n ot prevented it . He i s mentioned by Logan E sa rey as one of the traders who was present at the payment of annu ities to the In

dians , and at the various treaties made with the w tribes . He a s undoubtedly present at the treaty 1 2 m s a in of Octobe r 2 7, 83 , for by the ter of th t

strument , he was paid ﬁve thousand one hundred l do l ars , due him for debts incu rred by the In dian 60 TH E LAN D O F TH E POTAWATO MI

tri be s . Let u s hope that he took no advanta ge of the aged and besotted chieftai n of the Potawatomi

4 il a . 7 18 6 o u l r tribe On October , , Alexis C q d and his wife , Frances , conveyed this section to E d w ward C . S umner , for the consideration of t elve l h un dred dol ars .

Thus passed away the last dominion that Tope nebee ever exercised over the prai ries , wh ich , in

his youth , he had been so famil iar with . S ix 1 2 years afte r the treaty of 83 , hi s tribe passed beyon d the M ississi ppi , and old , feebl e and broken , n Au he retired to souther Michigan , where , i n

4 . gu st , 18 0, to use the melodiou s language of J “ in Wesley Whicker , he passed from among the habitants of earth an d took h is trackless way ” alone to the Happy Hunting Ground . PATH S O F THE RED MAN 61

B a ths of the Man

O the Potawatomi , the grand prai rie, not t withs anding its vast stretches , was as an

open book . He traveled without compass , but that instinct which guides the animal through d the forest , and the fowl through the air, guide the wary savage to far away hunting gro unds , or to the Wigwam of hi s enemy , with unerring foot step .

Mrs J . H . Kinzie , a historian of the Northwest , ’ s ays Their (the Indi a ns ) knowledge of the geography of their country is wonderfully exact .

I have seen an Indian sit in his lodge , and draw a map in the ashes , of the Northwestern states , a not of its st tistical , but its geographical features , a a o lakes , rivers an d mount ins , with the greatest b ’ curacy , giving their relative distances , y days j ourneys , without hesit ancy and even extending his drawings and explanati ons as far as Ken ” tucky and Tennessee .

t Notwi hstanding this intimate knowledge , how ever , the wilderness of the ea rly d a ys was marked a by m ny Indian trails , caused by different parties of Indians traveling frequently over the same 62 TH E LAN D O F TH E POTAWA TO MI

route , to hunt or tra de . Th ese trails usually fol lowed the path of lea st res istance , avoiding the swamps , bogs and stony pl aces , and choosing the high and dry ground . S ometimes they followed the tra ces made by the buffa l o or the d eer in go ing t o wat ering places or salt licks . It is certai n a th t a route woul d always be adopted , at leas t in

times of peac e , where wate r and ﬁre would be available , and where the hunting parties would be o u i afforded an a p p rt n t y , if poss ible , to camp and

s . rest in the grove and woodl ands . M rs . J. H Ki nzie mentions a great trail made across the

prairies of Illinois , by the Sauk Indian s , in going r to Fo t Malden and Detroit , to hold council s and a s trade with the B ritish agent . S he describe s it “ a narrow path , deeply indented by the hoofs of the horses on which the Indi an s traveled in single

ﬁl e . So deeply is it sunk in the sod which covers

the prairie , that it is difficult , sometimes , to dis t i ” in gu sh it at a distance of a few rod s . This grea t Sauk trail pas sed through Lake an d Porter

counties , in Indiana , ru nning by Cedar lake ,

where ﬁs h an d game were abundant . It must not be understood that these trails

were a lways plainly marked . In places they were

lost in t he expanse of the pl ain , or disappeared

i n marshes and lowlan ds . However , the gen eral

outl in es of the larger trails were fairly wel l ﬁxed . There might be two or th ree paths in some places

but these woul d later converge and run together .

In places the track might be enti rely obl iterated ,

but would later appear again .

64 TH E LA N D 01" TH E POTAWATO M I

a d Lafayette ro . Th is si de trail would exten d in the general direction of the present town s of C x

ford , Otterbein and Montmorenci .

The lin e of the main Potawatomi trail , as it ss e p a ed thr ough Wa rr n and Benton counties , was a r 2 4 well m ked as early as 18 . It is rec orded that in the fall of that year , Berry Wh icker , Henry Ca mpbe ll and other Oh io lan d hunters j oined a party of Potawatomi who were going to B ea ver

- - o lake on a big h unt . They star t ed at Kick a p o a W and followed a well deﬁned Indian p th . hen they got into the big prairies of Benton county , the blu e- stem gra s s grew so high that one of the party rode out a few fee t into the blue - stem from the party in the Indian trail , an d the rest of the party passed without seeing him . Now the only Indian trail exte nd in g across Benton county in the general direction of Beaver lake , of which s th ere i s any tradition , is the one that pa sed ’ through Parish s grove . John Pugh , an old and reliable pioneer of Warren county , now dead , r e l ated th at when he was a boy of fou rteen , that he traveled with his fath er over what he den o m i “ ” n a t ed as The Chicago Trail , to Chi ca go , passing P ’ through ari sh s grove , and thence on by way of

Bunkum and Momence , Ill inoi s . This shows that P o t a wa t the very earliest settlers , who knew the “ ” omi well , always spoke of a trail inst ead of a road .

An ol d map of Indian a , published by Colton , in 183 ‘ 8 , shows a road extending northwes t from

PATH S OF THE RE D MAN 65

’ - - a Kick a poo to R i nsville , and then on to Parish s gr ove . There is no reco rd that a state road was ever located over this route , although there i s an a c t of the state legislatu re for the year 1829 , es ta blishin g a state road north from Williamsport ’ to Parish s grove and the state line . The trace ’ from Kick -a -po o to Parish s grove on the Colton map i s undoubtedly the line of the old Indian trail .

The exact loc ation of the main trail as it pa s sed through the groves and plains of eastern I llinois , was probably never deﬁnitely ﬁxed . As be fore

shown , the line of these trails was sometimes

dimly marked . The history of Kanka kee county ,

Illinois , ﬁxes the establishment of an Indian trad

ing post at Bunku m , on the Iroquois , as early as 1 82 2 , kept by Gurdon S . Hubbard and Noe l Le

Vasseur , and the establishment of what was “ ’ ” known as Hubbard s Trail to and from For t

Dearborn , which in a general way ran almost ” parallel with the Indian trails . Thi s way led Va s by Donovan , Momence and Blue Island . Le seu r a n d Hubbard were in the employ of the great

f u r companies , and it is n ot l ikely that any of those who bartered whiskey and bea ds for furs and peltries would be found anywhere else than a on the lines of Indian com mun ic tion . Hubbard in his autobiography speaks of S ugar grove and tells of camping with some Kick-a -poos on Big -a Pine creek . He sa ys that he accused the Kick l poos of deceiving Genera Harrison , at the B attle

of Tippe c ano e , by pointing out an unfavorable lo 66 TH E LAN D OF TH E PO TAWATOMI

sa s ca tion for a camping ground . He y th at the Kick-wpo o s laughed at this an d told him that the ol d general ha d selec t ed the be st site i n the locality for a ground of defen se , and H ubba rd to verify this sta tement made a tri p to the battle ground and sai d he was con vi nc ed that the Kick-a -poo ’ sta tement was true . He mentions B u rnett s creek on the wes t side of Battle Grou nd .

The reasons for the existence of this gr ea t trail are at once apparent . The Pota watom i control extended from lake M ichigan t o the north bank a a of the Wab sh , re ching down that stream as far a s the outlet of Big Pine cree k . M r . H iram Beck I S o with , once president of the llinois Histo rical c ie t y, is authority for the statement that the groves in the prairies west of Lafayette c onta ined

- - mixed villages of Ki ck a poos and Potawatomi . Parish ’ s grove had an Indi an burying ground on the west side of it , which wa s visited by ban ds of Potawatomi as late as the All the groves and prairi es of Indiana an d Illinois and along the line of this Potawat omi trail have In T dian traditions connec ted with them . o p en ebe e , a l a c the gre t chief of the Potawatomi , was we l a i qu n t ed with all th i s ground . Now this great trail , running the whole length of the Potawatomi

domain from l ake M ichigan to the W abash , se rv

ed to unite al l the In dian villages in these groves , led di rectly to the great ﬁshing groun ds of the I roquois and the trapping and hunting grounds of a Beaver lake an d the Ka n k kee , an d connected the different ban ds of this tri be with the trading po st PATH S OF THE RED MAN 67

under the guns of Fort Dearborn at the north , an d with the anci ent post of Ou ia t en o n , the French s traders of the Waba h , and the post of Vincennes ’ o n the south . In General Harri son s day , and later , it was no uncommon sight to see drunken Potawatom i and Kick-a -poos in the streets of Vin

c en n es . n Samuel R . Brow , who visited Vincennes 1 1 “ about 8 7, s ays : There was several Indian — traders great nu mbe rs of Indi a ns resort hither to sell their peltries . The tribe s who frequ ent this place and reside on the Wabash are the Kick a - P u t a wa t o m ies ha wn es e Wea ws poos , Miamis , , S , , an d Delawares . Morris B irbe ck , another learn “ ed traveler says : The Indians are encamped in considerable numbe rs round the town , and are continually riding in to the stores and the whiskey ” shops .

The early accounts of the Iroquois , the Kanka kee and the Beaver lake , all agree that at one time they constituted the great hunting and trapping grounds of the Pota watomi in northern Indiana . Beaver l a ke an d its contiguou s swamps abounded at one time with fur be aring anima ls , such a s the “

e . I e muskrat , the mink and the b aver t was locat d almost wholly within the limits of Mc Clella n ” “ township , in Newton county , Indiana , and , as shown by the meander l ines of the government survey , an d a s the lake existed before being ma r ia l s t e l y reduced by drainage , it was the large t body of water in the state of Indian a . Its great est width from north to south was about four and

- one hal f miles , and its greatest length from east 68 THE LAN D O F TH E PO TAWATOM I

n - t o west was about seven and o e fou rth miles . It

- covered an are a of about twenty five sq uare miles . or about sixteen thousand acres of land . In ear l ier times the water of the main body of the lake was perhaps six to te n feet d ee p , an d abounded in fish of all va rieties usually found in streams r and lakes in this locality , and was espec ially e markable for the number of buffalo fish that ” abounded in i ts wate rs . The party of land hunt

ers , heretofore mentioned , who accompanied the 1 24 Potawatomi to this lake in 8 , described it as “ a beautiful bo dy of water , very clear and rather shallow , a delightful place for the Indi an s to h unt , ﬁs h an d bathe . It was one of the principal camp

ing groun ds of the Potawatomi Indians , an d with the exc e ption of the visit with their friends along the Wabash , the white men who were with the

party , enj oyed the stay at Beaver l a ke bette r th an ”

all the rest of the trip . Is it any wonder , then ,

that we ﬁnd a main l ine of travel , extending from

th e groves of the prairies , an d from the trading

po sts , to a n d from these rivers and lakes where

the savage went to supply his wants , a n d to se cure those val uabl e furs which he found so useful i n exchange ? It is plai n to be see n that Le Vas seu r and Hubbard exercised some degree of intel ligen c e in establishing the early post of Bunkum on one of th e mai n trails leading to these id eal

trapping grounds . The travel over the southern part of th is great Ou ia t e trail , to and from the ancient village of

non , must have been extensive . No doubt a large

70 TH E LAN D O F TH E P O TA VVAT O MI

against the fu r ther progress of the white man . He rode hun dreds of miles across the forest and prai rie , accompanied by three princi pal chiefs , and all were mounted on spirite d black ponies . ’ Their n earest route to Sha u be n a s village would be by the side trail lead ing from the s ite of the present city of Lafayette , west acro ss the pra iries ’ to Pari sh s grove . There was a persist ent tradi tion among the early settlers of Benton county that Tecumseh h ad at one time camped there .

a u n This was probably the occasion . S h be a after wards related that Tecumseh arrived a t h is vi l lage o n the Illinois river on a warm day i n the early part of In dian summer . The trip across the va st expan se of prai rie at this delightful sea son must have been entrancing . The arrival of so di stinguished a person as Tecumseh wa s no “ common event . On the following day a favorite dog was killed , a feast made for the distingu ished visitors , and the night spent with songs and ” n dances . Sha u be n a accompanied Tecumseh o o this ccasion , on his visit to the Winnebagos of

W iscon sin , and the success of that venture was after wards shown by the presen c e of so many r e n o wn ed Winneb ago wa rri ors at the battle of Tip ec a n p o e , dressed in their gorgeou s headdre ss of l eagle feathers , and mentioned by Gen era Harri so n as displaying the most conspicuous brave ry .

Along this famous trail undou btedly p as se d ma ny of those Pot awat omi who took part in the te rrible mas s acre of the garrison of Fort Dear b 1 18 1 o rn , on August 5th , 2 . M rs . J . H . Kinzie PATH S O F TH E RED MAN 71

in her vivi d account of this affair , spea ks of a . party of Indians arriving from the Wabas h . “ a These were , her n rrative continues , the most hostile and implacable of a ll the tribes of the Pot ” a wa im ies t t t .

S ays Copley , they brained in nocent children , ’ clinging to th ei r mothers knees , and then stru ck down the mothers , an d with hands reeking with blood , tore their scalps from thei r heads even be ” fore death had put an end to their sufferings . S uch was the horrible fate th a t innocents oft en met , at the hands of these cru el an d relentless savages . 72 TH E L AN D O F TH E PO TAWATO MI

mm (1811) Qbit ago B osh

VER the trail of the savage pass es the foot

of the white man , an d civilization dawns . A road is an a rte ry along which ﬂows the new blood that imparts l ife an d vigor to a new country . It was the bu ilding of roads that enab led Rome to extend her laws an d esta blish her em pire i n the old world ; it was by way of the Na" t io n a l highway of the early days of the Republic that the west was ﬁnally conquered an d perma n n e t ly settled .

The battle of Tippe canoe over ; the English in ﬂ u en c e over the In dian tribe s of the n orthwest forever removed ; the settlement an d development “ of the great west went on apace . S oon the prai ” ri e schoo ner ap pe ared , drawn by oxen , and bear ing fami lies an d a l l their possessions over the

roads of the wilderness . From the time of the opening of th e Un ited Sta te s lan d office at Craw 1 2 fordsville , prior to 8 8 , the development of the country in the northern par t of Indiana was ex “ a c eedin gly rapid . Crawfordsville , s ys Logan E s r a ey , became the convergi ng point for all

settlers northwest of the Capital . The ﬁrst set wa t le r s of La fayette and Delphi , and what s then TH E OLD CH ICAGO R OAD 73

called the Upper Wabash country , made their way from the upper White-wate r va lley across by An dersontown , thence down White river to

Strawtown , near No blesville . There they too k C w the wilderness road , by Thorntown , to ra fords F ville . rom White river to Crawfordsville , there ’ was not a white man s hou se alon g the trace i n

With the rough pioneer roads extending to C w te e ra fordsville , and la r on to Lafayett , there came a dem a nd for the opening up o f highways ’ s north of the Waba h river . General Harrison s soldiers on their h istoric march to the battleﬁeld

- s of the Tippecanoe , had discovered blue gra s in the prairies of Ve rmilion and Warren counties , and they had be en wonderfully impressed with the vast areas of open plain containing rich and productive soil . General Tipton had recorded in his rather rough and illiterate diary , that the troops of Harrison , on the morni ng after the bat r it tle of Tippecanoe , had discovered a g a Deal ” ’ of co rn at Prophet s Town ; tha t after loading s ix wagons with corn , the troops had destro yed the w t o . balance , estimated at thousan d bushels These facts became generally known with the return of the troops to southern Indiana and Kentucky .

Great reports had be en made of a vi rgin land , w ﬁlled with plea s ant groves . Deer were kno n to a l r abound , an d l kinds of wild game . Di sce n ing o men , even at that day , saw great p ssibilities a he ad for the grazing of herds . S o me of the prai r ie groves contained springs ; others were loc ated 74 TH E LAN D O F TH E POTAWATOM I

w t on the banks of r u nning streams . Here a s wa er an d fuel , an d refuge from the storms of the prai W rie . ith t he development of markets , their

e . great r accessibility , all things were possible “ 4 0’ ” Long before the s had arrived , men were pre dicting the coming greatness of the ol d Post of w Chicago . There was the old line of the Po t a a t o

- - mi trail from K ick a poo to Post Chicago , and another ill deﬁned trail lea ding into th is from the

vicinity of Lafayette , but no road s .

Accordingly , we ﬁn d the l egislature of 182 9 a p p r o p ria t in g the su m of seven hundred and ﬁfty “ dollars to exten d the location of the sta te road f from Indianapolis to Craw ordsville , so that it shall ru n to Williamsport , in the county of War ren , from thence to the state l ine in a direction to ” i C hi c ago . Thi s was the establ shment of what has since that ti me been known as “ The Chicago ” R oad . From Will iamsport it passed in a general no rthwesterly direction past the site of the pres ’ ent town of Boswell , to Parish s grove , which it ente red at the southeast corn er ; from thence it pa ssed over the prai ries for a distance of eight miles to Sugar grove ; from thence it passed

R . no rthwest to the state l ine , n ear aub An exten sion of this road into the sta te of Illinois passed on to B unkum , on the Iroquo is river , intersect ing at that point what was called “ H ubbard ’ s ” Trail to Ch icago . To the settlers who later hau l ed produce an d d rove cattle from Crawfordsville a a n d Willi mspo rt to Chicago , the whole road from Crawfordsville to Ch icago was known as The

76 TH E LAN D O F TH E PO TAWATOMI

e that s ttled Warren and Benton counties , and

many pas se d on into Newton , Lake and Porter . “ ’ ” From the early 4 o s a stea dy stre a m of emi grant wagons from the south began to roll over the prai I W ries toward llinois , Iowa , M i chigan and iscon s in . There were whole months , when , at any time “ i ” on any day , a prair e schooner might be seen

’ travel ing across the plains from Parish s grove t o h the nort west . The old trail suddenly assumed a national impo rtance . From Oh io , Kentucky an d a e all Ind ian south of the Wabash , a tide roll d on that ultimately ﬁlled all the groves and prairies w north of the Wabash , an d o verﬂ o e d i nto other and newer territori es to the north and west .

The amount of travel along this ol d trail in the ’ ” 4 o s , and later, was greatly augmented by the constantly increasing n umber of wagon s com ing Mo o m from Tippecanoe , Warren , Founta in , n t g ery an d other counties , laden with prod uce for the C growing market of hicago , which had an outlet to th e east by way of the G reat Lakes . A promi nent citizen of the ea rly days of Ch icago , speaks of the “ Hoosiers ” supplying a large share of the fo o d S upply consumed and shipped from tha t

a s point , such hogs , cattle , wheat , rye , ﬂax and “ o l i c ther a t c les of consu mption . The Ch i ago Road bec ame a great feeder to th i s growing lak e 18 53 port . Prior to the year , says John Ade , at which time the railroa d between Indianapolis and Lafayette was completed , an d the Illinoi s Central bega n to run trains between Chicago and l Kankakee , there woul d be in the fa l of each year THE OLD CH ICAGO ROAD 77

an immen se amount of travel on the roads be

’ tween Lafayette a n d Chicago , mostly farmers e t ams hauling wheat to Chicago , or coming back loaded with salt and groceries of all kin ds . either for their o wn use or for the mercha nts who had purchased stocks of goods east and shipped the C same to hicago by way of the lakes . To aecom odate this travel , camping places , an d in several “ ”

instances , taverns , as they were then called , had been established a few miles apart , all the way between Lafayette an d Chicago .

To thi s must be added a large volume of travel coming from poi nts farther south along the Wa

bash and from Warren , Fountain and even Mont

gomery counties . The l ist of “taverns and camping places along this route for the a c c o m o da t io n of travelers is “ f thus most inte restingly told by M r . Ade . A ter

leaving Lafayette , the ﬁrst would be Oxford , at t h t hat time e county seat of Benton county . Par ’ ish grove was the next point ; then S umn er s ( S u r gar) g ove , between Mu d Pine and Sugar creek ;

then Bunkum , at which point there were two tav

erns , one on each side of the Iroquoi s river . The

next was the Buck Hor n Tavern , located near

where the present town of Donovan , Illinois , o f sta n ds . The next tavern was at the crossing w Beaver Creek , and the next was kno n as the B ig S pring about ha lf way between Beaver Creek and

Momence . Then on to Momence , at the crossing

of the Ka nkakee R iver . The next general stop

ping place was called Yellow Head Point, sai d to 78 TH E LAN D O F TH E POTAWATO MI

be named after an Indian who lived there , by the name of Yellow Head . The next point on the road t was Blue Islan d , and then came Chica go , a dis ance of about one hun d red an d thi r ty miles from o Lafayette , and taking s ix to eight days t make ” the tri p .

It might be added that thi s Indian whom Mr .

Ade speaks of as being n amed Yellow Head , was a dru nk en and quarrelsome savage who once caus ed M r . Gu rdon S . Hubbard a great deal of trouble at Bunkum after imb ibing a little t o o much ﬁre water .

John Pugh , a late respected citizen of Warren bo county , when a y fourteen years of age , made a trip over this road , which he persisted in call ing “ ” 1 4 The Chicago Trail , i n the year 8 1 . The party consisted of several men , horses an d wagons .

Peter Schoonover , grandfather of Judge Isaac

Schoonover , at one time j udge of the Fountain circu it court , accompanied the party an d drove two yoke of oxen . It was the custom of those days to make the tri p to Chi cago in compan ies , in order to gua r d against the hazards of the j ourney , and to provide mean s of “ pull ing out ” the other “ ” fellow in case he got stuck in the mud . To the i eager boy o f fou rteen , this pilgr mage of t e n or twelve days th rough the wilderness , crossing e plains and rivers , sle ping at frontier taverns , and at last reaching the great lake an d the Post of

Chicago , was an experience that he remembered as long as he lived .

The way was long and the j ou rney difficult , as THE OLD C HICAGO ROAD 79

the ground was extremely soft a n d wet , and this

made hard pulling for the team s . The elder Pugh

- had a load of abou t twenty ﬁve bushels of grain ,

consisting of wheat an d ﬂ a x , the latter grain being m u ch gro wn in the early days to subdu e an d rot

the sod of the prairies . The market price of wheat in Chicago at that time was thi rty-se ven and one

-ﬁv half cents per bushel , and ﬂax was seventy e

cents per bushel .

Coming out of Warren county the wagon struck the main trail in the vicin ity of where the town a of Boswell now st nds , and the bo y remembered

seeing a man come across the prai ri es in a wagon . The hoofs of a d ee r were sticking up above the top

of the bo x . Deer were then very abundant . The ﬁrst camping ground was on the northwes t slope ’ n of Parish s grove , near the renow ed tavern of o Robert Alexander . The horses an d xen were a watered at the ﬁn e spring of pure w ter , at the a foot of the slope , wh ich had made this a f vorite

camping ground of the Indians .

Morning on the prairie was glorious . An early

start was made , and the party arrived at B unkum on the second even ing a n d at B ea ver Lake creek

on the thi rd . At Beaver l ake creek the wagon s o o mi red i n the bog , and were pulled out by S ch n ’ over s oxen . On the arrival of the company at re Chicago , which was then a small place , Pugh membered of wa tering the horses at the lake

front . The waves were very high , an d at one

moment the horses were spl a shing kn ee dee p , and 80 TH E LAN D O F TH E POTAWATOM I

at the next they would be standing on the naked sands .

Afte r dispo sal of their loads and doi ng some

trad ing , the party retu rned over the same route . Pugh recalled the ba r teri ng of seventy -ﬁve coo n ’ skins , the product of many a good night s hunt , an d of his father buying a stove , which was then a curi osity , and some a rticles of weari ng apparel .

The whole party of travelers , however , were clad in homespun , the product of th e pioneer loo ms of those days .

The whole country from Warren county to the

‘ lake wa s then in a state of natu re . Bogs and a marshes were frequent , but in pl ces the level prairie extended in unbroken grandeu r for many i a league . Wild game was extremely plent ful in In the fall of the year . the n ight time , when the

wagons rolled along , the great ﬂocks of geese and brants , aroused by the approaching teams , and a rising from the pon ds and low places , made a great noise and clamor . A TAVERN OF TH E OLD DA" S 81

g T avern at the QB lhE sps

ONE forever are the ol d time ta verns , and

the ol d time roads , but the hi story of one of the most famous road houses of that day , north of the Wabash river, will serve to brin g to light some most interesting events con n ec t e d with early travel , and the pursu it of wild ga me by hundreds of sport smen who formerly ﬂocked from every direction to the prai ries of the north .

Nothing wa s more natu ra l than that a ta vern should be esta blished at the point of convergence of the three roads that formerly entered Parish ’ s grove . Thou sa nds of cattle an d horses were m driven over them t o Chicago . E igrant wagons were con stantly to be seen lumbering over the prairies , drawn by gaunt horses or oxen , and gen r a ll m e y with a dog trailing along beh ind . Co pan i c s of farmers passed through with produce , or were wendin g their way homeward from the city on the lake with their pu rchases . H unters came here with ﬁeet foo t ed horses an d packs of well trained hounds to pu rsue dee r and wolves . Robert Alexander was formerly the keepe r of ’ a ferry at Lafayette . He c ame to Parish s grove 82 TH E LAN D O F TH E PO TAWATOMJ about 1836 and establish ed his tavern on the west

ern s ide , on high ground , command ing a view of the prai ries and the Chica go road to the north c west . West o f this tavern a sho rt dist an e was a spring of go o d wate r , at whi ch travelers watered thei r horses , and procu red a fresh supply for the j ourney . The tavern its elf was un pretentious , but meat an d provisions could be secured there , an d a r pa t of the travelers , if they were not too numer c o m a ous , coul d be a c o d t ed with lodgings . There were two or three bedroo ms , and plenty of blan kets . Someti mes cots were made on the ﬂoo r . To add to the good cheer of the place , there were two large open ﬁreplaces , a n d he who had ridden i n the chill autumn air of the prairies , might l ight hi s pipe and watch the great logs bu rn . There “ ” a w s a bar roo m , and Alexan der kept plenty of “4 ’ ” go o d whiskey . E arly in the o s the Washing ton Temperance Societies were rampant and Alex ander ha d six indictment s returned against him in 184 1 , i n the newly establ ished court at Oxford , In

diana , for selling certai n gills of whiskey to cer ta in named persons ; but good cheer c ontinued

long afte r that . Alexander was ﬂori d of count a e n n c e , tol d a sto ry well , and occa sionally rounded

’ out hi s sentences with a ferryman s oath .

H is business ﬂourished . One who ent ered the wa s grove at night fall , whil e the season of travel

on , saw horses and wagons , men , women , children ,

an d even dogs , in great numbers . The camps of the emigrants were generally esta blish ed close to

the tavern and the spring . At times the whole

8 4 TH E LAN D O F TH E POTAWATOMI

ful note , something l ike the cooing of the dove , but resembling still more the sound produced by p assing a rough ﬁnger bo ldly over the su rfac e of i the tambour ne . The num ber of these fowl s is aston ish ing . The plain i s covered with them ; and when they have been d ri ven from the ground by

—o r deep snow , I h ave seen thousan ds more , prob ably tens of thousan ds— thickly clustered in the ” ee tops of the tr s su rrounding the prai ri es .

The scene a bove descri bed , in its entirety , was particularly appl icable to the grand prai ri e north ’ of the Wabash until a s l ate as the early 70s . No one in this age may even conceive of the vast num be r of prairi e chickens , or pinnated grou se , that covered the plain s . It was possibl e to sh oot them i n n umbers from the be d of a wagon dri ven

through the prairie . Th ey got u p almost at the ’ horses feet . The sport of shooting these birds

was keenly relished , but thousands of them were slai n uselessly , and those who mu rdered the young birds before they had a rrived at a proper age , were poor spo rtsmen . “ The story of the pinnated grou se , says Van “ Dyke , is the story of the prai rie , interwoven with ’ that of the buffalo , the Indian , the wh ite man s u n g and the plow of civil ization . The buffalos , wh ich for countless yea rs held undisputed sway over the broadest country out of doors , were ﬁrst to go . Only a few scatteri ng ﬂocks of these bi rds now remain north of the Wabash . With the coming of a denser population , and the a e bre king u p of the prai ries , they gradually b gan A TAVER N OF THE OLD DA" S 85

to disappear, moving farther west and following ’ the frontier , but in the days of Alexan der s t a v e rn , and much later , the hunting of the prairie chicken was one of the principal sports of the fall season , and brought men , dogs and guns from far an d nea r . R John eynolds , governor of Illinois , during the

Blackhawk war , i n s peaking of the prevalence of wild game on the early prairies of Illinois , s ays “ Wi ld fowls in pioneer times were very numerous .

In the fall and spring , great numbe rs ﬂ ew over w l us north and south , an d at times the ai r a s a most darkened with them . The fowl s generally

ﬂew in order , an d as sumed the form something “ ” like the letter V , point foremost . One alone

is generally in front , and the two lines are ex tended back from the foremost patriarch of the ” ﬂock . He who has not s een these great ﬂying

squadron s of geese and brant s , literally ﬁlling the ir whole a , and emitting their sharp cries until the whole sky was ﬁlled with their clamor ; who has not heard their wild honking on dark and stormy nights when they seemed to have lost their bear

ings , an d were wearily seeking a haven of rest ; a or who , as a boy , ha s not l a i n awake long fter

thei r cries had pas sed on i nto the darkness , and

wondered where they were going , and whether

the old gander who was always at the head , would

pilot them safely out of danger , has missed pleas

ing sights an d recollections . The great marshes of the Kankakee and Beaver lake swarmed with

m illions of geese , ducks and brants . In the early 86 TH E LAN D O F THE POTAWATO MI

' ’ 7o 80 a s and s , when the grain fields began to p pear o n the prai ries to the south , and fields of corn would often -times remain u nhusked over the win ter an d until the following spring , the gees e woul d make daily pilgrimages to the south to feed , appearing in the n o rthe rn horizon early i n the morn ing , and flyi ng to the north again lat e in the evening . To estimate the numbers would be impossibl e . There were t housands u pon thou “ ” sands of them , all i n V fo rmation , an d with the great ganders in the lead . If the wind was high and the fl ocks were beating against it , they ta cked

l ike a sailing vessel at sea , sometimes ﬂying so T low that you could almost see their eyes . hou sands of them were slai n by the guns of hunters , but with the growth of the country the great ﬂocks disappeared and one of the most p ic t u r esque features of the early prairies was forever gone .

Many strange and cu riou s tales greete d the ears of the hunters who made their ren dezvou s here in the early times ; tal es told by the landlord to h i s guests as they sat smoking an d d rinking before the cheerful blaze of the logs . There were great ﬁres on the prai rie that ran through the d ry grass with the spe ed of a horse , carrying death and destruction to many forms of animal l ife ; there were terrible blizzards that swept a i across the open pl ns in the winter . The velocity of the wi nds during these storms , with nothing on the open plains to o bstruct or retard their fury ; the blinding drive of the ﬁne snow , obscuring A TAVERN OF TH E OLD DA" S 87

everything , and penetrating the heaviest gar ments , the bitter cold benumbing the limbs meant speedy death to him who los t his way . A lone horseman had start ed late one day for S ugar grove . The blizzard came on and he lost hi s way . Weeks af terward his body wa s found buried in the entrails of his horse. He had slain the animal and burrowed in t o escape the cold , but had miser ably perished . Alexander did not exaggerate in h t is instance . A pioneer relates that in later days l ’ and after A exander s time , a blizzard occurred a th t piled up the snow on the prairie so deep , that ’ he was forced to remain at Parish s grove for a period of ten days . Another instance of los t tra velers killing their horses an d attempting to save themselves by burrowing into the carcass , is r e corded in the history o f Lake county . But the more interesting na r ratives were those r h elati ng to the In dians . They had regarded t is grove as a great camping groun d and had aban do n e d it with relucta nce . The abundance of game on every hand , the plentiful supply of wood , and the running streams of wate r had made it an ideal location . Flint arrowheads in great abundance , and stone hatchets , had been disc overed here ; to the west of the spring was an old burial ground , and straggling bands of Indian s still came there to dance about the graves .

a The Indians that came , however , were s dly lacking in that bo ldness an d sagacity that had marked their anc estors . With the breaking up of the great confederacy of Tecum seh , the warriors 88 TH E LAN D O F TH E POTAWATO MI

r ha d los t both leadershi p an d spi rit , and the f ight ful ravages of ﬁr e- wate r had made them degener ate . They were now but a handful of d es pised w an d miserable outcas ts in thei r o n land , fast passing into oblivion and forgetfuln ess .

Among the members of one of the degene rate

bands was a n ol d Kickapoo by the name of Pa ri sh .

E ither to escape his crimes , or to h ide hi s fac e had forever from hi s fellow men , he ﬂed to this

grove . In the top of an enormous walnut tree

on the summit of a h igh crest , he h ad erec ted a

scaffolding , some say to protect hims elf from the w . r mosquitoes He a s a d unkard , and tradition

sai d that one day , while in a dru nken stu p or , he

fel l from his lofty perch , and that his l ife was

dashed out on the groun d below . Besotted as he

was , the grove was gi ven h is name . The tree that

he fel l from , an d the markings of h is bu rial pl ace ,

were long afterwards pointed out to the cu ri ous . The tree from which Parish fell wa s of eno rmous m proportion s , be ing six feet i n dia eter , an d twen

- t y one feet i n circumference . A man from Kent

land bought a piece of it , thi r ty feet i n length , and

two inches th ick , to be u sed as a counter in a store .

Other tales were told of great ﬂ oc ks of wild

pigeons which were so thick as to obscure the sun . Wil d turkeys were also foun d in this grove in the i days of Alexander , and later . A ﬂock of w ld tu r keys was driven by the farmers of Warren county r ac oss the prai ries a n d into th is grove , and many

of them were slain there . THE GRAN D PR AIRIE 89

Glit z ﬁ rau hlarait ic

3rd 18 1 1 N S unday , the day of November , , ’ m General Harrison s ar y , with scouts in

front , and wagons lumbering along b e tween the ﬂanks , crossed the Big Vermillion river , traversed Sand Prairie an d the woods to the nort h of it , and in the afternoon of the same day caught “ ” their ﬁrst glimpse of The Gran d Prairie , i n

Warren county , then wet with the co l d Novembe r

rains . That n ight they camped in Round grove , near the present to wn of Sl o an , marched eighteen miles across the prai ri e the next day , and camped on the east bank of Pine creek , j ust north of the ’ ol d site of Brier s M ills . To the most of them at l east , the s ight must have been both novel and grand ; if they could h a ve known then that the vast un dulating plain before them stretched wes t ward in unbroken grandeur , a d istance of two hundred and ﬁfty miles to the Ml S S l S S l p 'p l ri ver at Qu incy ; that these vast po ssessions in a few short years woul d pass from the control of the savage tribes that roamed over them , and would become the future great granaries of the world , producing enough cereals to feed an empi re , what must ha ve been their thoughts " 90 TH E LAN D O F TH E POTAWATOM I

n The mag itude of this great plain , now teem

r ing with thousands of homes and fa ms , i s sel dom real ized . D raw a line straight west from

ol d Fort Vincennes to the M iss issippi , an d prae l tically a l north of it, to the Wisconsi n line is The ” “ G rand Prairie . Westward of the Wabash , ex cept occ a sional tracts of timbe red lands in north ern Ind iana , and fringes of forest growth along the interven ing watercou rses , the prairies stretch westward continuously across Indiana , and the whole of Illinoi s to the M ississi ppi . Taking the line of the Wabash railway , which crosses Illinois i n n n its greatest breadth , and begi ing i n In diana , where the railway leaves the timber , west of the M r shfi l Wabash near a e d ( in Warren county ) , the prairi e extends to Qu incy , a dista n ce of more than two hun dred and fifty miles , and its contin u ity the entire way is only broken by fou r strips of timber along four streams running at r ight angles with the route of t he railway , namely , the timber on the Vermillion river , between D anville and the Indiana state l ine ; the Sangamon , seventy miles west of Danville , near Decatur ; the S anga mon again a few miles east of S pringfield , and the

Illinoi s river at Meredosia . An d all t he timbe r at the crossing of these several streams , if put to gether, would not aggregate ﬁfteen miles against the t wo hundred an d ﬁfty miles of prairie . Tak ing a north and south direction and pa rallel with i a the drainage of the r vers , one coul d st rt near a Ashley , on the Illinois Central railw y , i n Wash in gt o n county , and going northward , nearly on an

92 TH E LAN D O F TH E POTAWATO MI

m scattered , se rved as land arks to the early tra l v e e r . Those who early observed and explored th e

grassy savannas of Indiana and Ill inois , always maintained that they were kept denuded of trees

e an d forest s by the action of the great prairie ﬁr s . Among those who have su pported this theory are

The es t . W the Hon James Hall , author of , publish i 1 84 n ed i n C ncinnati in 8 ; the Hon . John Rey olds , fo rm er governor of the sta te of Illinois , an d the

Hon . John D . Caton , a late j u dge of the supreme ’ cou rt of Ill inoi s . Caton s observations on this subj ect are so interesting and ingenious that we cannot refrain from mak ing the followi ng quo ta ti e n “ The cause of the absence of trees on the upland prairies i s the problem most important to the agri

cultu ral interests of ou r sta te , and it i s the inqu i ry re which alone I propose to consider , but cannot sist the rem a rk that wherever we do ﬁnd timber throughout the broad ﬁeld of prairie , it i s always

i n or near the hu mid portions of it , as along the margin s of streams , or u pon or near the sprin gy u plands . Many most luxu riant growths are found on the h ighest po rtion s of the uplan ds , but always i n the neighborhood of water . For a remarkable example , I may refer to the great chain of groves extending from and including the Au Sable Grove

’ Ho lde r m a n s on the east and Grove on the west , in

Kendal l county , occupying the high divide between e the wat rs of the Illinois an d the Fox rivers . In

r and a ound al l the groves ﬂowing springs abound , THE GRAN D PRAIRIE 93

e and some of them are separat d by marshes , to the borders of which the great trees approach , as if th e forest was ready to seize upon each yard of

ground as soon as it is elevated abo ve the swamps .

Indeed , all ou r groves seem to be located where water i s so disposed as to protect them , to a greater or less extent , from the prairie ﬁre , a l though not so situated as to irrigate them . If the head waters of the streams on the prairies are a a t most frequently timber , s soon as they have t a in ed sufficient volume to imp ede the progress of

the fires , with very few exceptions , we fin d for s e ts on thei r borders , becoming broader and more vigorous as the magnitude of the streams in I crease . t i s man ifest that the lan d located on the borders of streams which the fire cannot pass , are only exposed to one-half the fires to wh ich they woul d be exposed but for such protection . This

- tends to show , at least , that if but one half the

fires that have occurred had been kindled , the ar bo r a c eo u s growt h coul d have withstood their de structive influences , an d the whole surface of what is now prairie would be forest . Another confirma tory fact , patent to all observers , is , that the prevailing winds u pon the prairies , especially in the autumn , are from the west , an d these give direction to the prairie fires . Consequently , the lands on the westerly si des of the streams are the most exposed to the fires , and , as might be ex c p e t ed , we find much the most timber on the east ” erly sides of the streams .

Lo cal obs ervation would seem to conﬁrm the 9 4 TH E LAN D O F TH E PO TAWATOMI

’ o j u dge s views . Parish gr v e , on the old Chica go w road , i n Benton county , a s ﬁlled with spri ngs , a n d a rather large spring on the west side of the grove , supplied water for the horses of the emi grants and travelers who took th is route to the

’ r 4 o no thwest in the early s . Besides this , the

grove was situated on rather h igh upland , where the growth of grass would be mu ch shorter than

on the adj oi ning plains . It i s probable that thi s

spring on the west side , and the springy nature

of the highlands back of it , kept the ground moist a an d the veget tion green , and these facts , coupled with the fact that the grass as it approach ed the

u plands would grow shorter , probably retarded

and checked the prai rie ﬁres from the southwest , and gave rise to the wonderfully diversiﬁed and luxu riant growt h of trees that was the wonder

of the early settlers . Sugar grove , seven miles

to the northwest of Parish grove , an d stopping

place on the old Chicago road , lay mostly withi n the point or headland caused by the j unction of S ugar creek from the no rtheast and M ud creek

from the southeast . Scarcely a tree is on the south

western bank o f Mud creek , but where it widens

o n the south side of the grove , it protected the

growth of the forest on the no rthern si de . Tur

key Foot grove . east an d south of Earl Park , for merly had a lake and depression both on the south r and west side s of it . Hi cko y Grove , j ust west of

Fowler , in the early days , had a lake or pond on e the south and west . The timb r that ski rted the

banks of Pine creek , was heaviest on the ea stern

side .

96 TH E LAN D O F TH E POTAWATOMI

view . Now let t he drought of Au gu st and the e frosts of Sept mbe r come , an d all the plain be turned to a russet and brown of d ry , waving r grass , an d let some pa ty of Indians set the prai r ri e on ﬁre to sta t up the game , or some unwary traveler let a c a mp ﬁre start a blaze when a heavy

wind i s on , and almost i n a moment a maelstrom i of destruction i s sweeping over the plain , lick ng up an d destroying everything in its path .

The rushing noi se of the hurricane , the shoot ing flames leaping fifteen or twenty feet in the air , the vast billows of smoke roll ing u p into the hea vens , made these prairie fires a terrible sight to the early squatter , who , unless he had taken the prec aution to plow some furrows about his prem i se a , and had burnt out the inside of the circle , or had adopt ed some other expedient known to the early settler , was likely to see the work of his wh ole season , ricks of hay , stacks of grain , fields

of corn , an d all else , destroyed l ike a ﬂash . At night time , if one was at a poi nt of s afety , the specta cle was one long to be remembered . An advancing ﬁre i n the night time i s thus described : “

When a ﬁre starts under favorable condition s , the hori zon gleams brighte r an d brighter until a ﬁery redness ri se s above its dark outl ine , while

- heavy , slow moving masses of dark clouds cu rve u pward above it . In another moment the blaze i t self shoots up , ﬁrst at one spot , then at another , advancing until the whole horizon extending w acro ss a wide prai rie , is clothed ith ﬂames that roll and cu r ve an d dash onward and upward like

98 TH E LAN D O F TH E POTAWATOM I

The early settlers on the prai rie develope d great sagacity i n coping with these fires , but sometimes the wind wa s so strong an d the velo c ity of the fire so great that it seem ed to leap al l obstacles and forge ahead to the inevitable de ’ h struction of the settle r s property . The fire fig t ers were generally able t o determ ine where the

head of the ﬁre was coming , by the volume of

smoke an d a shes ﬂying , and the general outline of the ﬂ ames . Sta rting at a plowed furrow , which

- was hastily run with a plow , or a cow path , or

roadway , or some other base of operations , a “ backﬁre was set that ran counter to the wind

and met the advancing head , which then suddenly

died out for the want of material . The ﬁghters would then pass to the right an d left and battle ll with the si de ﬁres as they came u p , until a dan

ger was past .

Great care had to be exercised , however , in “ i ” start ing the backf re , for general ly the cu rrents of ai r in front of an oncomi ng prai rie ﬁre were

very strong , and the backﬁre was likely to leap

the furrow or cowpath used as a base , and go with

the wind , and then the ﬁghters had to hastily plow another furrow or go back to another point of “ ” vantage , if possible . Sometimes the backﬁre was not sta rted i n time to burn out a wi de a rea

in front of the advancing head ﬁre , and then the madly ru shing ﬂames would leap the gap and rush ’ on to the destruction of the settler s property .

Strange to say , it i s not recorded that any ’ settlers l ives were lost i n these great ﬁres . The K - ‘ MAS OTIA , THE PLACE OF THE FIRE 99 trampling of men and an imals aroun d the set ’ l r t e s house and stable , a n d for so me distance o u t from the same , and the fact that live stock generally kept the grass cropped down around the

premises , and ﬁel ds were plowed there , served to ’ protect the settler s home , but the ﬁres often de stroyed lon g lines of his rail fences , great quanti a ties of st cked hay and grain , for in those days w the grain a s stacked , and leaped into the corn

fiel ds and stubble ground . It was to save thes e precious possessions that the fir e fighters wo rked w ith both men an d teams for long hours at a time , and until men and horses were both utterly ex h u a st ed . One of the strange sights on the early prairies “ ” - - was the great number of s e called tumble weeds , seen rol ling across the plains by tens of thousands after the frosts an d in the early days of the fall , when the first heavy winds bl ew . They grew on the early sod lan ds , were globular i n form , an d

after the frosts , be came brittle at the base an d were easily detach ed and started rolling by the fall wi nds . These great weeds woul d roll u p

agai n st the long lines of rail fences , an d form a

huge bank there , and the others woul d roll over , sometimes bouncing several feet in the air when s driven by a heavy gale . This ma s of tumble

weeds against the rail fences , however , was a m perfect ﬁre trap , an d any a mile of fence has

been utterly destroyed by reason of them . One of the spectacular sights of the ear ly days was the long lines of side ﬁres bu rning out in the 100 TH E LAN D O F TH E POTAWATOM I

t prai ries la e i n the night . It was very difficult to dete rmine the distance they were away . They might be one mile or ten . But the long lines of a d shooting ﬂames made you think , somehow , of va n c in g armies , an d li nes of men . These were the armies of ﬂame . b An early traveler , M r . John B radbury , ha s o “ : se rved That in a state of nature , these prai ries were covered with a luxuriant growth of grass and herbaceous plants , affording a most abundant supply of food for the stock of the new a settler ; and it i s worthy of notice , th t any part of these prairies , when constantly fed on by cat tle , becomes covered with white clover and the much esteemed bluegra ss ( Poa Compressa ) , as frequent pasturing seems to give these plants a predominance over all others .

Following the early squatter on the prairies ,

came the large stock men , with their herds . The herds kept the long gras ses down an d blue -gra s s r eva seized h old of the soil everywhere . The p

- lence of large pastures of blue grass , and the growing acres of cultivated ﬁel ds , gradually les sened and ﬁnally did away with the danger from

ﬁres .

1 02 THE LAN D O F THE POTAWATO M I

and there on the bosom of the prairie , that on a

bright spring morni ng , resembled islands of blue

in a sea of green . To enter these groves , ﬁlled with the songs of the th rush and gay with the blossoms of the crab - apple and the wild pl um ; to swing on the vine of the grape that entwin ed its ends about the tallest l imbs ; to l isten to the chat ter of numberless birds and the caw of the great black crows that nested and raised thei r young there ; to cl imb i nto the tallest hickory or walnut and catch glimpses of the prairie through the vi s tas of the woods , was to real ize the pure j oy of l ivi ng . The groves of the prairies were generally located on the side of a pond , or had springs of water in them ; sometimes a pleasant stream of water ran through them . The famous spring to ’ the west of Parish s grove fu rn i shed an a bu n d

ance of pure , fresh water to the emigrants and

travelers on the old Chicago road . One entering thi s famous grove i n 1 84 0 would h ave observed trees of maj estic height and proportions . Here

- appeared the burr oak , elm , h ickory and sugar trees , above all the massive and towering trunks

of the black walnut . As you penetrated farther , m a sses of underbrush and tan gled vines barred the way . You were entering the favorite haunts w of the ild tu rkey and the partridge , wh ich i n the old Indian days had been numerous . In places you would have observed the u nderbrush a n d vines trampled down by the foot of the deer . The most surprising fact , however , was the sudden change in the contour of the ground . The sur GROVES AN D PLAIN S 1 03 face was no longer regular l ike the surrounding prairie , but broken in places by sharp u n du la tions and deep ravin es . Nature stood forth here as wild and grand a s from the beginning , present o n e a s ing on the h nd , woody glen s and grottoe , scarcely touched at noon day by the rays of the

sun , an d on the other , ascending slopes , crowned o f with the tall colonnades sylvan giants , from whose tops the whole panorama of the prairie ex tended in the perspective .

To many who l ived on the prairies , however , the most beautiful time of the year , was the period known as Indi an summer , when the Indian corn was ripening ; when cob -webs floated through the ai r and hung from the tall j oints of the bl ue - stem like threa ds of silver ; when an indesc ribable haze permeated the lan dscape and made the misty groves look far away and low on the horizon ; when heat waves seemed to be dancing in the air far over the plains , and the sunsets were red and golden . The fai ry groves were now changed to red an d russet a n d brown ; all the prairie wa s n o w r fil led with d y , rustling grasses , an d after these dreamy days were over, the great fires came and robed the prairie in black , for the coming death of winter . 1 04 THE LAN D O F TH E PO TAWATO MI

Tith e f irst a n; t a ttle ﬁl an ﬁ orthof the s ame)

HE ﬁrst to u tilize the open prairies north - of the Wabash were the cattle men . In

cl osing this b rief work , a sketch of Ed ward C . S umner , who bought the section of land n awarded to To p e ebe e at Sugar grove , and who i n his day was without question the largest pro r iet o r p of herds north of the Wabash , may not be without inte rest .

To the right of the h ighway leading south from

the village of Earl Park , Indiana , an d on the sum

mit of a crest that commands the valley beyond ,

stands the figure of a man carved in stone . On approach ing we find that the face of this figu re seems to regard the whole plai n to the south and

west . The landscape is remarkable . Far to the southeast is the grove of the Indian Parish—in the summer an i sland of bl ue in a s ea of yellow grain ; to the west of this the headlands of Prai rie

Green extending to the plains of Illinoi s . To the

extreme right l ies S ugar grove , at the foot of the — Blue R idge an d everywhere the ﬁel ds of tassel v ing corn , the ri pe har est , and the wondrous

106 THE LAN D O F TH E POTAWATOM I

are as interestin g a s hi s career . S umner was a heavy man , nearly s ix feet in height , and of com

manding presence . H is eyes were clear and gray his complexion ﬂori d . H i s hai r was wavy and of a yellowish tinge , changing i n later years to a r silve y gray . H is forehead was lofty , and h is

head large . I n conversation , he frequently dis played a nervous habit of slapping h is knee with h is hand , and then you saw the pent u p force of 1 the man . From 8 76 to the time of hi s death in 1 8 2 8 , he rode about mostly i n an old buggy . He drove two black horses and had fou r or ﬁve hounds following in the rear . He never loitered

anywhere about h is estate , but gave his orders d irectly , and drove on .

In dress , Sumner was always scrupulously

e cl an . He constantly wore a wh ite shirt and cra vat . In early days on hi s trips to B uffal o and

New York with cattle he wore a silk plug hat , an d this , together with hi s ﬁne general appearance , i attracted considerable a ttention . H s favorite

color was black . He u sed tobacco sparingly , and once told his men that he never touched a drop of l iquor until h e was forty years of age . Th is was c a t remarkabl e i n an age of drinking , and among

- tl e men .

His habits were regular . He retired early and ’ arose promptly at four o cloc k in the morning . He moved about the room s with a candle , an d always ’ c al led h is men . H e gave orders in the men s roo m ’ at about o clock i n the morning , and outlined

’ the day s work . No man ever received a charge m ’ S u n er s m on u m ent . Th e ﬁg u re i n ston e fa c es what wa s on c e a bl u e - g ra ss p rairi e of twenty - ﬁv e c b th ou san d a res , watered y Su g ar Creek an d

i t s tributari e s . Ph oto by Al e x i s Freeh F ette , of owl er , I n d i an a .

1 08 THE LAN D O F TH E POTAWATOMI

a carriage for three hundred ﬁfty dollars . It was the ﬁnest equipage on the prairies , and wa s hand made in Attica . Sumner considered thi s as ex r va a t a g n c e , and was highly ind i gnant . Still , he said noth ing to his wife , as he always had the pro foundest respect for her . H i s own tastes were

simple , an d th is was the ﬁxed habit of a l ife of

industry .

An ol d man inti mately acquaint ed with Sumner , relates that he had a wonderful m in d and mem

ory . He sai d that he remembered of reading to 1 ’ I Sumner in the spring of 186 , Lincoln s First n

au gu ra l address . He was amazed to ﬁnd that S um

n er could repe at it almost word for word . With

out culture , he was keen an d discern ing , had a a n ﬁne knowledge of men and human nature , d pursued the matter in hand with relentless ten c i a ty.

Although bo rn i n the state of Vermont , S umner

had in hi s veins a strain of the Irish blood . He had a ﬁne sense of humor and l ike many men of

his time , loved a rough j oke . He also loved a w ﬁght . In the early days there ere many con

tentions and many lawsuits , an d Sumner had his

. t share Dan iel Mace , of Lafayet e , was h is law yer for fourteen years in the legal struggle over To en the lan ds of the Potawatomi ch ief p eebe e ,

r - n in section thi ty one , know as The In d ian ”

Float . He told a compan ion in after years that a lawsuit to him was a recreation ; s o m ething that drew his mind away from the strain of his a f II fai rs . e enj oyed the wrangles of the attorneys , FIRST BIG CATTLE -MAN N ORTH OF WABASH 1 09

and the clash of the forum . He often in vite d men to go and hear the lawyers “ tear up the other ” side .

In t he early days men often traveled in the

- n ight to avoi d the swarms of green head ﬂ ies .

One night Will iam Reynolds , the banker , and a r in r i friend by the name of B a b dge , arrived at

S u gar grove a t about 1 1 p . m . In those days ’ many travelers put up at S umner s grove , as it was a station o n the old Chicago trail , an d was the only resting place between Parish grove and Bun kum . Reynol ds wanted to stop , but S umner tol d him the house was full , an d that he did not kn o w what he would do . All at once , Sumner told them to wait a m inute and he would see . He said he had a man in one of his beds who was going to Bunkum and who wanted to be awakened at fou r ’ o clock i n the morn ing . He went in and turned

the clock up , aroused the man , politely helped him to saddle , and sent him on his way . He said to Reynolds after the man had left : That fellow ” will think it i s a hell o f a l ong time till sun rise .

Reynolds alw a ys told this story with much zest . r wa s To the last , and when an ol d man , Sumne H tireless in hi s energy . e loved the great herds

of cattle and salted them all with his own hand .

From 1877 on to the time of his death , he kept

twelve yoke of o xen for d itching purposes . Ditches

were cut mostly in the pastures , and from

eighteen to twenty inches in depth , and about ﬁve

feet wi de . It was the primitive start of an open system of drainage and greatly ben eﬁt te d the 1 1 0 TH E LAND O F TH E POTAWATOMI

a s gr s lands . He often rode in front of the oxen on horseback to di rect the way .

In h is youth he had bee n po ssessed of great physical strength and endurance . He rode i n

- the winter time bare handed and witho ut gloves , and could stand more col d and hardshi p than any of h is men .

In an age of swearing , S umner was profane .

However , thi s was lost s ight of in the face of hi s great industry , hi s regu lar an d temperate habits , ’ h i s indefatigable pursu it of a great life s work .

Many harsh things were sai d of h im , but it was

e . a harsh age , and men oft n j udged too hastily That he accompl ished a great task an d bu ilt up a

r e great industry in the midst of a wildernes s , mains unshaken . H e was a mighty factor in the development of the great prairies north of the

Wabash river . S umner ’ s operations in the cattle business from the year 18 70 to the ti me of his death are not fully appreciated by the present generation . I n 18 76 he had four great herds around Sugar grove an d on the Illinoi s si de . He was a famil iar ﬁgu re

now , not only at the Stockyards at Chicago , but among the cattle brokers and exporters in the

B u ﬂ a lo cities of an d New York . B uyers came here

frequently to inspect the herds , and su ch men as “ ” Billy Monroe , one of the famou s cattle buyers

’ of that day , were often entertained at Sumner s house . Gradually , all h is business had been sys t e m a t ized , an d with the opening u p of the rail road

1 12 TH E LAN D O F TH E POTAWAT OM I

to that date . All of these cattle were corralled in

a pen of some ﬁve or six acres in the grove , were r weighed over the scales there , an d d i ven u p the old tra il along Sugar c reek , past the site of the

Two present monument . consignments were made , a nd one of these con signments made u p a whole train .

It follows naturally , that the bu ilding up of this i mmense business ﬁn ally attr a cted the a t tention of the outside world . The great cattle men of that day collected about them a group of small grain farmers who furn ished the winter’ s

n feed . These farmers i n tur , devel oped the won f der u l soil , learned its great value i n the produc tion of cereal s , drained it , and ﬁnally tu rned the prairie into the paradi se of farms of the pres ent day . B IB LIOGRAPH" 113

B ibliogra phy

An na ls t he Wes t . R A 1 5 8 7. of James . lbach , n ( India a Sta te Library . ) e o r t o Addres s of Thomas J . Wilson. in R p f Ti ec a n o Mo n u m o m s pp e en t C m is io n , 19 05 .

Ar c hives o Abo r i in a K n o wled e f g l g H . R . Schoolcraft

A Cha t er o he His t o r t h W r p f t y o f e a o f 18 12 .

Wm . Stanley Hatch. ( In diana State Li br a ry . ) Ac t In dia n a s o f , 182 9 . ’ His t o r o u i u n t In Beckwith s y o f F n t a n Co y, dia n a 1 8 1 a , Chicago , 8 . ( Chic go Public Li bra ry . ) h o n b k B u r ea u o f Am er ic a n E t n o l gy . Ha d o o A r i n d a s o f m e c a n I i n , Part s I an d II . l i c a o e B a t t e o f T pp e n . Alfred P irt le ( Indi ana State Library . ) ” Diary of General John Tipton in In dia n a i i t o a ~ Ma ga z n e o f H s r y . ( In diana St te Li ra b ry . ) ’ i o Te m s eh Drake s L fe f c u . ’ Dawson s Ha r ris on . ( Indiana State Li br a ry. )

1 . Deed R ecord No . , Benton County , In diana - 2 Pages 2 14 3 3 . ’ h Eggleston s Tec um s e . 1 1 4 TH E LAN D OF TH E POTAV‘VATOMI

F er u s His t o r ic a l S er ie s 4 g , Vol . , Nos . 2 6 and 2 7. ( Indiana S t ate Library . ) l C . 1 Fi na ou rt Record , No . Page 2 84 . ’

C . lerk s Office , Fowler , Ind

Hi n d s t o r o I ia n a . y f Logan Esary . Vol . I .

His t o r o n dit io a n P r o s e y , C n d p c ts o f t he In dia Tr ibe o he i t t es n s t Un t e a . f d S H . R . 184 7 P Schoolcraft , . art V . ( Ind iana State

Library . )

His t o r Jo n n dia na o S t s e h o u t I . y f . p C y , 1 0 Judge Timothy E . Howard . 9 7.

’ l t o r Hubbard s R e c o lec tio n s a n d Au bio g a p hy .

( Indiana State Library . )

His t o r a k k u i o is K a ee o t I l n . 1 o n C n l 9 06 . y f y ,

( Kankakee Public Library . ) H s n ia n a i t r I d . o . y o f Jacob P . Dunn ( In di a ana State Libr ry . ) i w s Vin c en n . H t o r y o f es John La . ( Indiana

State Library . ) a r 2 I zin His t o . 1 1 1 i na Ma e o . n d a g f y Vols , , 1 14 3 and . v l In dia n a a s s een by E a r ly Tr a e er s . Harlow 1 9 . Li ndley . 1 6

In dia a . 1 16 a s N wt o n es n 9 . J p er a n d e o n C u ti , “ ” Article on P rai rie Fires by Louis H . Ham

ilton .

’ u r o Ha r r is o n Tr ea t o 18 09 In Jo n a l f s y f . (

diana Sta te Library . ) i a s e N ewt o o u n t ies In d a n a . J p r a n d n C , Ar 9 16 t ic l 1 . es by Judge Will iam Darroch , Judge Isaac Naylor ’ s Description of the Bat tle of Tippec anoe i n R ep o rt o f Tip p ec a n o e Mo n u m en t o m m is s io n 19 05 C , . h t . Legen d s o f t e Wes James H al l . ( Ind iana

State Library . )