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 .