Gen.

iar4

C4P The Indian Tribes of the Chicago Region

^ With Special Reference to the Illinois

f 2 ^^^ the Potawatomi

r.Y

WILLIAM DUNCAN STRONG

Dbpartment of Anthroi>ou)gy, Columbia University

Formerly Assistant Curator of North American Etunoixm:y and Archaeology

Anthropology

Leaflet 24
Second Edition

FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

CHICAGO
1938

The Anthropological Leaflets of Field Museum are designed to
give brief, non-technical accounts of some of the more interesting
beliefs, habits and customs of the races whose life is illustrated
in the Museum's exhibits.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL LEAFLETS ISSUED TO DATE

1. The Chinese Gateway {supply exhausted) ... $ —

2. Philippine Forge Group 10

3. Japanese Collections 20

4. New Guinea Masks 15

5. The Thunder Ceremony of the Pawnee 20

6. The Sacrifice to the Morning Star by the Skidi

Pawnee 10

7. Purification of the Sacred Bundles, a Ceremony of

the Pawnee 10

8. Annual Ceremony of the Pawnee Medicine Men . .10

9. The Use of Sago in New Guinea 10

10. Use of Human Skulls and Bones in Tibet ... .10

11. The Japanese New Year's Festival, Games and

Pastimes 15

12. Japanese Costume 20

13. Gods and Heroes of Japan 15

14. Japanese Temples and Houses 15

15. Use of Tobacco among North American Indians . .20

16. Use of Tobacco in Mexico and South America . . .15

17. Use of Tobacco in New Guinea and Neighboring

Regions 10

18. Tobacco and Its Use in Asia 25

19. Introduction of Tobacco into Europe 25

20. The Japanese Sword and Its Decoration 15

21. Ivory in China 60

22. Insect-Musicians and Cricket Champions of China . .40

23. Ostrich Egg-shell Cups of Mesopotamia and the

Ostrich in Ancient and Modern Times ... .30

24. The Indian Tribes of the Chicago Region with

Special Reference to the Illinois and the
Potawatomi 25

25. The Civilization of the Mayas 60

26. The Early History of Man {supply exhausted) . . —

27. The Giraffe in History and Art 60

28. The Field Museum- Oxford University Expedition

to Kish, Mesopotamia, 1923-1929 50

29. Tobacco and Its Use in Africa 25

30. The Races of Mankind 25

31. Prehistoric Man 25

32. Primitive Hunters of Australia . .30

33. Archaeology of South America 75

CLIFFORD C. GREGG, Director

FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
CHICAGO, U.S.A.

Leaflet 24

Plate I

• SIMON KAHQUADOS
Potawatomi Chief, Rat River, Wisconsin

Field Museum of Natural History
Department of Anthropology

CmcAOO. 1938
Lbaplbt NuMBm 24

The Indian Tribes of the Chicago Region

With Special Reference to the Illinois
and the Potawatomi

PREFATORY NOTE

In August, 1926, a new exhibit illustrating the life
and culture of the Potawatomi Indians was placed in
James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Hall. At
the time of the first white settlement this Indian tribe
inhabited the Chicago region. It therefore seemed
desirable to gather and preserve in the Museum as many
relics as possible of the former aborigines of our territory
and to have a worthy representation of them in the
exhibits as an illustration of an interesting chapter in
our local history. An endowment of Julius and Augusta
N. Rosen wald enabled the institution to engage for this
purpose Mr. M. G. Chandler, who by adoption is a
member of the Potawatomi tribe and who has an intimate
knowledge of the Central Algonkian group. During three
months in 1925 he visited the Potawatomi and such related
tribes as the Menominee, Winnebago, Sauk, and Fox,
all widely scattered, and obtained excellent results both
as to collections and data. An account of this expedition
is contained in the Annual Report of the Director for the
Year 1925 (pp. 427-429). There is also a brief description
of the collections (pp. 416-417).

IWU'i'.i

G-h)

3
./3JV

2 Prefatory Note

This leaflet, prepared by Assistant Curator Strong,
is based on the material collected by Mr. Chandler and
on information supplied by him. The author has like-
wise utilized the existing literature and an unpublished
document in manuscript written by De Cannes in 1721.

May this booklet appeal to all those who are in
sympathy with the Indians and eager to learn of the
past of our country, and may it stimulate interest and
research in our local history and archaeology.

Berthold Laufer
Late Curator, Department of Anthropology

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

The region around the southern end of Lake Michi-
gan where the city of Chicago now stands has been the
home of many peoples and the scene of much conflict
in historic and probably in prehistoric times. It is the
purpose of this essay to give in a brief outline the
sequence of those peoples in so far as they are known,
and to depict the background from which emerges the
great commercial city of today. The history of the
region as it pertains to the white man is well known,
but before his advent and during the stirring conflicts
of colonial times the various Indian tribes of the Great
Lakes played a large part, and it is with the Indians
that this article is mainly concerned.

ILLINOIS BEFORE THE BEGINNING
OF HISTORY

Like all the neighboring states, Illinois has long
been noted for the various mounds and earthworks
within her borders, and the nature of these aroused the
curiosity of even the first settlers in the territory. For
many years theories of all sorts were current, attribut-
ing the mounds to a race of "mound-builders" who,
according to the predilections of the different writers,
were supposed to have come direct from Asia, Mexico,
or even more remote places. In the latter part of the last
century the Bureau of American Ethnology undertook
a survey of the mounds in the eastern United States.
The reports which resulted from this work did much
to foster a saner view of the problem and to bring it
from the realms of wild speculation to those of science.
Much intensive work remains to be done in Illinois
before we may hope to trace accurately the cultural
development of the region, but from the work so far
completed the following general facts stand out.

While many of the mounds are doubtless prehis-
toric, some of them, representing practically every type
in the state, have been proved by their contents to be
post-Columbian. A great amount of historical evidence,
moreover, clearly shows that the Indians occupying the
mound region at the time they were visited by the first
explorers, were actually "mound-builders," and raised
both towns and places of worship on these artificial
eminences. The human remains found in the mounds
that have been excavated to date, are all of the Ameri-
can Indian type, and represent only the recent period
of geologic time.

In northern Illinois none of the mounds appears to
have been used for temple or village foundations. Sev-

3

4 Field Museum of Natural History

eral types occur, the most striking being the effigy
mounds, which seem to represent reptiles, birds, or
mammals in shape. In Wisconsin, where the type is
most numerous, they appear to have been the work of
the ancestors of the Winnebago, and near-by peoples
of Siouan stock. The accounts of these peoples speak of
the mounds as representing the totem animals of their
clans. The Illinois effigy mounds may have the same
origin. A few large oval mounds occur, and there are
large numbers of small round burial mounds as well.
Along some of the low hills are found walls two or three
feet high and sometimes 400 yards long. Like the effigy
mounds these earthworks rarely contain burials. Their
use is problematical, and while they are spoken of as
"fortifications," their strategic value is not clear. Stone-
lined graves, or cists, are found containing rather primi-
tive grave gifts. Loskiel described actual burials among
the Delaware Indians made in this manner, and similar
graves known to be Shawnee occur in the south.

In southern Illinois many of the mounds, such as
the Cahokia group, appear to have been eminences for
temples or habitations. The tribes who built this type
of artificial eminence are not known, though the Chero-
kee of northern Georgia and North Carolina made use
of similar mounds for village and temple sites in early
historic times. It is possible that peoples allied to the
Cherokee at one time occupied the river valleys to
the north and were driven out prior to the advent of the
white man. In this connection it is interesting to note
that recently a type of prehistoric culture similar to
that of the Iroquois has been distinguished in southern
Illinois. It is possible that the latter people may have
been partly responsible for the disappearance of the
older "mound-builders" in southern Illinois, as well as
in Ohio. Such in general is the character of the archae-
ological evidence in the region under consideration,

IixiNOis Before the Beginning of History 6

although it is certain that more intensive archaeological
work will establish a clearer time sequence and settle
many of the problems which exist.

THE ILLINOIS

When the PYench explorers and missionaries first
came into the region about the southern end of Lake
Michigan, it was occupied by a tribe, or confederation
of tribes, who called themselves Iliniwek ("men"),
which seems, and was apparently meant to be, deroga-
tory to their neighbors. The French early changed this
name to Illinois, the name by which the state is known
at present. These people belonged to the great Algon-
kian speech family, and at the time of their discovery
formed a confederacy of the Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Michi-
gamea, Moingwena, Peoria, and Tamaroa tribes. On
the authority of General Harrison it has been stated
that the Miami were a branch tribe of the Illinois.
Bearing on this question, the De Cannes manuscript of
1721 contains the following statements: "I was told
that the languages of the Illinois and of the Miami
were the same, and this is true, there being no differ-
ence except that the accent of the Illinois is very short
and that of the Miami very long .... During four
consecutive years that I remained with the Aouciate-
nons at Chicagoua, which is the most considerable vil-
lage of the Miami, who have been settled there ten or
twelve years, I have found no difference between their
manners and those of the Illinois, nor in their language.
The only difference is that they [the Miami] remain
settled in one place only a very short time." Whatever
political bonds may have existed previously seem to
have been severed before historic times; for, in the
accounts of Father Marquette and La Salle, the Miami
appear as a separate tribe.

Father Hennepin, about 1680, estimates the Illinois
population at 6,500 souls, living in 400 houses. La Salle,
in 1684, states that there were then gathered at Fort
St. Louis 3,680 warriors, about one-third of whom were

2?

o 2

^?
Si

a •§

H B
U 2

The Illinois 7

Illinois. The above estimates seem more exact and
reasonable than that given in the Jesuit Relation for
1660, which represents the Illinois as living southwest of
Green Bay, in 60 villages, with a population of 20,000
men or 70,000 souls. The various bands of the Illinois
were scattered over southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois,
and along the west bank of the Mississippi River as far
south as the Des Moines River, Iowa. They were first
encountered by the whites at La Pointe, Wisconsin, in
1667, where Allouez met a band of Illinois who had come
in to trade. In 1670, the same priest found a number of
them in a Mascouten village on the upper Fox River,
about nine miles from where Portage City now stands,
but this band was then planning to join their tribesmen
on the Mississippi. It appears that the various bands of
the Illinois wandered over quite a large territory south
of the Great Lakes and were in close contact with the
northern Lake tribes who later occupied the territory
when the Iroquois had driven the Illinois west of the
Mississippi.

The Illinois were undoubtedly the first historic inhab-
itants of the region in question, but owing to their
early extinction details of their life and society are scant.
The mode of living of the Illinois, in their cultivation of
maize and use of forest products, suggests the Eastern
Woodland culture area; but their great dependence on
the buffalo, which they hunted every autumn, resembles
that of the Great Plains. The region around the southern
end of Lake Michigan represents geographically an exten-
sion of the Plains into the Woodland area, and the
native culture which existed there shows a close relation-
ship to the environment.

In the present account of the Illinois the scanty
historic references to them have been supplemented by
the manuscript account of De Gannes. While there is

8 Field Museum of Natural History

some doubt as to exactly who he was, and while it is
possible that he merely signed the account, but did not
write it, the manuscript itself bears all evidence of authen-
ticity. It presents one of the most complete accounts of
the Illinois, just after the advent of the French, that have
come down to us.

According to Father Hennepin, the cabins of the more
northerly Illinois were made like long arbors covered
with double mats of reeds, so well sewed that neither
wind nor rain nor snow could penetrate. According to
De Cannes, the reeds for these mats were secured by the
women, who gathered them in canoes and wove them
into mats oftentimes 60 feet long. These they called
apacoya, a generic name for coverings of all sorts. Hen-
nepin states that each house had four or five fires, and
accommodated from eight to ten families. The villages
were not enclosed by palisades, but according to De
Gannes were usually placed in the open, where a good
view of the surrounding country was to be had.

Maize was planted in the spring by the squaws, who
thrust a stick into the ground and dropped the seeds in
rows. Later in the season the old men and captives,
often from the western tribes, did a little cultivating
with hoes made of the shoulder-blades of deer. Accord-
ing to De Gannes, pumpkins were also raised, cut into
disks, and dried. When the maize crop was gathered, it
was hidden in storage cellars, often under the houses. In
such cellars La Salle and his voyageurs found a plentiful
supply of food when they encountered temporarily deserted
Illinois villages on the Mississippi.

After the harvest the tribes would move to the west
on their annual buffalo hunt, traveling along the river
valleys. As a rule, they did not venture far out on the
Plains; for, prior to the acquisition of the horse, that vast,
scantily watered area was a barrier rather than an aid
to travel. The account of De Gannes tells of the Illinois
securing water from the paunches of the dead buffalo

The Illinois 9

while on the Plains. He states that guards for the buffalo
hunt were appointed by the old men, and, prior to the
first big slaughter of the buffalo, any person who strayed
away from camp was punished. After the buffalo were
killed, a large frame called gris was made, and the meat
placed on it to be dried by fires placed under the frame.
The women did most of the drying, and all the meat from
one side of the buffalo would be stripped off in as thin a
layer as possible. This was folded like a portfolio, for
ease in transportation. If the buffalo were thin a strong
man could carry eight of these for a whole day; but in the
autumn, when the buffalo cows were fat, four such meat
parfleches would be a good load. During the hunt, deer,
bear, and young turkeys were killed, and feasts were
frequently given. One day, De Cannes relates, out of
courtesy he was forced to go to ten such feasts, for stran-
gers who happened to be with the tribe were invited.
He adds that Miami, Pontonatamis (Potawatomi), and
Cikapowa (Kickapoo) were often present at such times.

Besides these products of the field and the chase, the
Illinois gathered many edible roots, blackberries, and chest-
nuts, and obtained an abundance of wild fowl from the
vast migrating hordes of geese, ducks, and swans. Fish
of many kinds were speared in the lakes and rivers.
After a successful autumn the people would settle down
in their winter quarters, to loaf, play games, and feast
until their supply of food was exhausted. A favorite
game of the Illinois, according to De Cannes, was lacrosse.
As played by them, it was a brutal sport, and many
people were seriously crippled by being hit over the legs
with the heavy rackets or by the solid wooden ball. Village
played against village, and large numbers took part.
During their hours of leisure, which included most of the
time save when they were hunting or fighting, the men
gambled, playing a game in which about 200 small
sticks were employed. The player divided the sticks,
and as the count by sixes came out odd or even, he scored

10 Field Museum of Natural History

or lost counters. Reduced to desperate straits, the men
even gambled away their female relatives in the excite-
ment of the game.

Of the clans and other features of their social organ-
ization we know very little, except that the Illinois, as a
whole, had the crane, bear, white deer, fork, and tortoise
totems. The account of De Cannes adds the buffalo,
cat (wildcat), and lynx as "manitous" of the Illinois, but
it is not altogether clear whether he speaks of clan or
personal totems.

The following details of Illinois social organization
are all from De Cannes' account. All persons in each
village called one another by kinship terms, and the
men had several wives, usually relatives. The sisters,
aunts, and nieces of a man's wife were called nirimoua;
if a man was a successful hunter, he could marry all
women who were thus related to him. The term nirimoua
was reciprocal; that is, all such women called the man
also by that term. Before he could marry, a boy must
be over twenty-five years of age, and have been on
several war expeditions. The marriage was arranged by
the man's parents, and presents, including slaves, were
exchanged. When a man died, his wife was forbidden
to marry for a year, during which time she must mourn
her dead husband. Should she break the taboo, she was
killed, which was also the penalty of unfaithfulness, and
her scalp was raised on a pole over the house of the hus-
band's family.

During periodic sickness and at childbirth, women
lived in special huts, and before a woman and child could
return to their home, it had to be thoroughly cleaned,
and a new fire lighted. Berdaches, that is, men who lived
and dressed like women, were numerous. These men
imitated the ways of women in all things.

There were a large number of medicine-men or sha-
mans, who attempted to cure ailments by sucking as well
as by chants and ceremonies which they learned through

LMlk)tZ4

PUtelll

BEADED GARTERS
PoUwatomi

The Illinois U

visions. Once a year all the shamans had a ceremony at
which they exhibited their powers, supposedly killing
and curing one another. To impress the uninitiated, they
danced with rattlesnakes whose fangs had been removed,
and performed other acts of chicanery. On the other
hand, these shamans were often successful in curing
wounds by cleaning them out, washing them with decoc-
tions of herbs, and bandaging them. Sprains and broken
bones they likewise treated successfully.

There were several chiefs in a village. Each con-
trolled from thirty to fifty young men. When it was
decided that the tribe should go on the war-path, often as
a result of visions received by the leaders, the fetishes of
the chiefs were invoked. These fetishes were in the form
of reed mats in which were placed feathers of various
birds. On the war-path the leader carried his sacred
tnat, enclosing feathers from the fetishes of his followers
as well ; their success was believed to depend on the power
of this "medicine." Usually small parties went on raids
into enemy country, the young men inexperienced in war
tending to all the wants of the others. These young
warriors were not allowed to remove their packs from
their backs until the return trip. None of the war party
was allowed to use knives in eating, as they believed
that by observing this taboo they would be irresistible, in
which, De Cannes adds, they were often mistaken. When
the enemy was encountered, the warriors endeavored to be
first to touch a dead enemy or a prisoner, for only thus
could they claim the victim. Should members of his
party be killed, the leader was forced to pay their f?imilies
for them.

Usually the women and children captured were spared
as slaves, while the men were tortured by fire. After an
hour or so of torture the body was cut open, the heart
eaten raw, and mothers hastened to dip the feet of male
children in the blood of the thoracic cavity. Certain

12 Field Museum of Natural History

individuals among the Illinois were known as cannibals,
because they always ate portions of the slain captives.

The Illinois, according to De Cannes, buried their
dead in shallow trenches, with a forked post at each end.
The grave was lined with planks, usually from old canoes,
and the grave covered over at top and ends by stakes.
Grave gifts consisted of a kettle or earthen pot, bow and
arrows (in the case of men), and a handful of corn and
tobacco. Often a calumet pipe was put in the grave. In
the case of a renowned chief, De Cannes adds, a tree
forty or fifty feet high was stripped of its bark and set up
by the grave. This was painted red and black, and a
portrait of the dead chief painted on it. Two bundles of
small logs indicating the number of men that the deceased
had slain and captured, were attached to the tree. Other
accounts of early FVench explorers speak of the Illinois
placing their dead in trees, and from the types of skeletons
found in various mounds in their country, it seems clear
that the dried bones of such burials were sometimes
gathered up and buried in rude stone graves.

The Illinois are described as physically well built,
especially the men. According to De Cannes, they
tattooed the entire back, and often the stomach. They
were friendly and talkative, but easily discouraged,
treacherous, and cowardly. In war they were excel-
lent archers, and also used the war club and a kind of
lance. But the proud title of "men" which they gave
themselves seems to have been undeserved, for in the
successive wars with the Iroquois, Siouan, and north-
ern Lake tribes they were almost invariably defeated.
The events which led to the displacement and practical
extinction of the Illinois will be dealt with in the latter
part of this leaflet.

A small remnant of about 150 Illinois half-breeds
were living at the Quapaw agency, Oklahoma, in 1928.
All of them have abandoned their own customs and only
a few retain any knowledge of their language.

THE MIAMI

The Illinois were driven from the Chicago region by
the Iroquois, for in 1671 Dablon states that they were
then living across the Mississippi, where they had been
driven by the former i)eople. Their place seems to have
been taken by the Miami, another Algonkian tribe, who
appear to have been formerly associated with the Illinois,
as well as the northern Lake tribes. These people were
first met by the French near Green Bay, Wisconsin, where
Perrot visited them on the headwaters of the Fox River
in 1666 and 1670. In 1671, part of the tribe at least were
living with the Mascoutens in a palisaded village in the
same locality. Considering the extent of territory occu-
pied by the tribe a few years later, it seems probable that
when the Miami were first encountered by the French in
Wisconsin, a large portion of their tribe was already
living in northeastern Illinois and northern Indiana.
Shortly after Perrot's visit the Miami separated from
the Mascoutens and their neighbors, moving to the
southern end of Lake Michigan.

Writing in 1721, Father Charlevoix says: "Fifty years
ago, the Miamis (Wea band] were settled on the southern
extremity of Lake Michigan, in a place called Chicago,
from the name of a small river which runs into the lake,
the source of which is not far distant from that of the
river of the Illinois (the Des Plaines]. They are at present
divided into three villages, one of which stands on the
River St. Joseph, the second on another river [the Maumee]
which bears their name and runs into Lake Erie, and a
third upon the River Quabache, which empties its waters
into the Mississippi. The last are better known by the
appellation of Quyatanons." In 1674, Father Marquette
mentions Chicago as a Wea (Miami) village; but in 1705,
when Vincennes was sent on a mission to the Miamis, he
found them occupying the territory northwest of the

18

14 Field Museum of Natural History

upper Wabash 'River. Attacks by the Sioux seemed to
have caused this movement, which was later accelerated
by the southern movement of the Potawatomi and Kicka-
poo tribes.

The Miami were a people of medium stature, agree-
able countenance, and, according to early French accounts,
were distinguished for their affability. The women, as a
rule, were dressed in buckskin, but the men wore few
clothes, and were tattooed all over the body. Like the
Illinois, the Miami were land travelers rather than canoe-
men. Hennepin describes their buffalo hunts, in which
they surrounded the herd with grass fires, leaving only
a small opening where the buffalo were shot as they
stampeded from the fire. Bags of buffalo hair were
woven by the women and used as containers for the dried
buffalo-meat.

Perrot states that the Miami village which he visited
was situated on a hill and surrounded by a palisade, and
that the houses were covered with rush mats. It has
been claimed that the Miami were taught to build palisades
around their villages by La Salle. This may be true, but
it is not necessary as an explanation, for palisaded villages
occurred both to the north and east of the Miami. Early
explorers state that they worshipped the sun and the
thunder; but it is highly probable that they worshipped
various manitou, as the Algonkian people termed the
many forces of nature, which they believed inhabited both
animate and inanimate objects. Among the Miami who
lived about Fort Wayne three forms of burial have been
noted: ordinary ground burial in a shallow grave; surface
burial in a hollow log, often one especially hollowed out;
and surface burial in which the body is covered with a
small pen of logs which meet at the top.

According to Lewis H. Morgan, the Miami had 10
clans; but Chauvignerie, in 1737, states that they have
two principal totems, the elk and crane, while some have
the bear. Other authorities mention the crane and turtle

LMflet24

Plate IV

POTAWATOMI YARN BAGS

Upper left, (or ceremonial artidea, decorated with homed water-panther deaign

Upper right for ceremonial artidea

The one below waa uaed for peraonal poaaeaaiona

The Miami 15

totems. As none of these totems are recorded in Morgan's
list, the exact situation is not clear. Estimates in regard
to the former numbers of the tribe are likewise only
tentative; De Cannes, in 1687, states that they were as
numerous as the Illinois, and at that time occupied six
villages. An estimate made in 1764 gives them a popu-
lation of 1,500. Though the Miami were forced to leave
the Chicago region, nevertheless they appear to have
been a strong people and brave in battle. For, as Beck-
with points out, they caused even the Iroquois to seek
aid from the American colonies, and they fought the
French, English, and Americans in turn as their policy
demanded.

In 1928, a small group of 60 Miami half-breeds were
living at the Quapaw agency, Oklahoma, and about 200
of them near Peru, Indiana. Both of these groups have
abandoned their ancient customs and traditions.

THE POTAWATOMI

The tribe that held the Chicago region from about
the close of the seventeenth century until 1833 was the
Potawatomi. They are discussed here at some length,
as they played an important role throughout the early
American period, and we are fortunate in possessing quite
detailed accounts of their mode of life. According to a
tradition possessed by all three tribes, the Potawatomi,
Chippewa, and Ottawa were once one people, and appear
in history more or less simultaneously in the territory
about the upper end of Lake Huron.

The name Potawatomi means "People of the Place
of Fire," as did the Huron name Asistagueroiion, which
Champlain used in referring to the western enemies of
the Huron. The term "Fire Nation" was at first used
rather generally in referring to the Potawatomi, Sauk,
Fox, and other tribes whose territories in early times met
near Green Bay, Wisconsin. Later, one band of the
Potawatomi, those dwelling to the south on the prairie,
became known as the Mascoutens, or "Little Prairie-
people," while the other division living in northern Wis-
consin became known as the Forest Potawatomi. There
seems to have been another Algonkian tribe in the same
region which was also known as the Mascoutens, that
later merged with the Sauk; hence the unrestricted use
of such terms as "Fire People" or "Mascoutens" by
early priests and explorers often leaves some doubt as to
the exact people referred to. However, as Skinner points
out, the term "Mascouten" generally implies a branch of
the Potawatomi. Many early accounts mention the
Potawatomi, and the impression one receives from these
varies with the personal experiences of the writers. As
a general rule the French accounts are favorable, and the
English accounts are not; for the friendship between the
pioneers of France and the Potawatomi was early formed

16

The PoTAWATOMi 17

and lasting. In 1666, Father Allouez describes the Pota-
watomi as "a people whose country is about the lake of
Ill-i-mouek, a great lake that has not come to our knowl-
edge, adjoining the lake of the Hurons and that of the
Puants (Winnebago at Green Bay) between the east and
the south. They are a warlike people, hunters and fishers.
Their country is good for Indian com of which they plant
fields, and to which they repair to avoid the famines that
are too frequent in these quarters. They are in the
highest degree idolaters, attached to ridiculous fables and
devoted to polygamy .... Of all the people that I have
associated with in these countries, they are the most
docile and affectionate toward the French. Their wives
and daughters are more reserved than those of other
nations. They have a kind of civility among them, and
make it quite apparent to strangers, which is rare among
our barbarians."

In 1718, an official "Memoir on the Indians between
Lake Erie and the Mississippi," gives the following
account of the Potawatomi village near Detroit:

"The port of Detroit is south west of the river. The
village of the Potawatomies adjoins the fort; they lodge
partly under apaquois [an Ojibwa term for reed mats]
which are made of mat grass.

"The women do all the work. The men belonging to
the nation are well clothed, like our domiciliated Indians
at Montreal. Their entire occupation is hunting and
dress. They make use of a great deal of vermilion and in
winter wear buffalo robes richly painted, and in summer
either red or blue cloth. They play a good deal at La
Crosse in summer, twenty or more on a side. Their bat
is a sort of a little racket, and the ball with which they
play is made of very heavy wood, somewhat larger than
the balls used at tennis. They are entirely naked except
breech cloth and moccasins on their feet. Their bodies
are completely painted with all sorts of colors. Some,
with white clay, trace white lace on their bodies, as if on

18 Field Museum of Natural History

all the seams of a coat, and at a distance, it would be taken
for silver lace. They play very deep and often the bets
sometimes amounting to more than eight hundred livres.
They set up two poles, and commence the game from the
centre; one party propels the ball from one side, and the
others from the opposite, and whichever reaches the goal
wins. It is a fine recreation well worth seeing. They
often play village against village, the Poux ["Lice," a
nickname for the Potawatomi] against the Ottawas, or
Hurons, and at heavy stakes. Sometimes the French
join in the game with them.

"The women cultivate Indian-corn, beans, squashes
and melons, which come up very fine. The women and
girls dance at night. They adorn themselves considerably;
grease their hair, paint their faces with vermilion, put on
a white chemise, wear whatever wampum they possess,
and are very tidy in their way. They dance to the sound
of the drum and si-si-quoi [pronounced shi-shi-gwan]
which is a sort of gourd containing some grains of shot.
Four or five young men sing and beat time with the drum
and rattle, and the women keep time, and do not lose a
step. It is very interesting, and lasts almost the entire
night.

"The old men dance the medicine [dance]. They
resemble a set of demons; and all this takes place during
the night. The young men often dance in a circle and
strike posts. It is then they recount their achievements,
and dance, at the same time, the war dance; and when-
ever they act thus they are highly ornamented. It is
altogether very curious. They often perform these things
for tobacco. When they go hunting, which is every fall,
they carry their apaquois with them, to hut under at
night. Everybody follows — men, women and children.
They winter in the forest and return in the spring."

Very different in tone are the various early accounts
of the Potawatomi given by the English explorers and
traders. John Long ("Voyages and Travels in the Years

The Potawatomi 19

1768-88") characterizes the Poes (Potawatomi) as "a
very wild, savage people, who have an aversion to English-
men and generally give them as much trouble as possible
in passing or repassing the Fort of St. Joseph's, where
some French traders are settled by their permission."
Somewhat similar are the complaints of Sir William
Johnston in 1772, in regard to murders and robberies
committed by the Potawatomi, instigated by the jealousy
of French traders. The Potawatomi were evidently good
friends and bad enemies, and seem to have long main-
tained their individuality and pride even under adverse
circumstances. Writing in 1838, in regard to the Pota-
watomi who had been removed to Council Bluffs, Iowa,
Father De Smet says: "We arrived among the Pota-
watomis on the afternoon of the 31st of May. Nearly
2,000 savages in their finest rigs and carefully painted in
all sorts of patterns, were awaiting the boat at the landing.
I had not seen so imposing a sight nor such fine-looking
Indians in America: the lowas, the Sauks, and the Otoes
are beggars compared to these." Simon Kahquados, a
recent chief of the Potawatomi in Wisconsin, whose por-
trait is given here (Plate I), illustrates Father De Smet's
description of the imposing appearance of the Potawatomi.

Recent studies of the Prairie Potawatomi have been
made, and more is known of their daily and ceremonial
life than is the case with the Illinois or Miami. The
Potawatomi have for a long time been separated into two
divisions: the Forest and Prairie groups. The former
group appears to have kept most of the old culture traits
characteristic of the Algonkian peoples in general, while
the Prairie bands have been influenced first by the Miami
and Illinois tribes, and later by the Sauk and Fox, so that
their customs which prevailed some 50 years ago seem
somewhat mixed. There were about 10 bands of the
Prairie Potawatomi, the largest of which called them-
selves "Muskodens," and formerly dwelt about the
southern end of Lake Michigan with their main town at

20 Field Museum of Natural History

the site of modern Chicago. Prairie Potawatomi society
was composed of some 23 clans, which reckoned descent
in the father's line. They were named after natural
phenomena such as the raven, bear, buffalo, man, etc.,
and these were grouped according to type of name; for
example, the sea and fish clans would belong to the
water division or phratry. In addition to these groupings
there were two large divisions of society characterized
by the use of black or white paint, the oldest child always
joining the former division, the second child the other,
and so on in succession. A similar division of all the
tribe between the upper and lower worlds, according to
whether the clan totem was a bird or a mammal, also
existed.

Each clan had a sacred bundle containing various
objects believed to be sacred. It was the possession of
such bundles that gave power and success to the clans
in their activities, according to the belief of the Indians.
Many of the bundles were supposedly given the clans by
the great culture-hero Wi'saka, but others were acquired
or made as the result of dreams, or visions of the people
who originated the clan. Thus each bundle came to have
a special legend attached to it, accounting for its origin.

The chieftainship of the Prairie Potawatomi was
usually hereditary in the fish clan, and the chief was
largely a civil and military authority. He appointed
each year a ceremonial chief who conducted all the
ceremonies and activities of the people. Should a man
commit murder, the tribal chief would send for the
keeper of the tribal peace-pipe (Plate VIII), and a council
would be held to discuss the case. If the chief thought
the man guilty, he would smoke the pipe, and the murderer
would be executed. If the man appeared not to be guilty,
the pipe bearer with flint and steel would attempt to
light his pipe; if he succeeded in four strokes of the steel,
the man went free; but if he failed, the man was executed.
It was possible for an influential man to escape the con-

The Potawatomi 21

sequences of three murders; but if he should kill four
people, nothing could save him.

Special names in honor of their exploits were given
to warriors who were brave in battle, and war honors
were awarded to the first four men who touched a dead
foe, in order of precedence. This was a much more note-
worthy feat in the eyes of the Potawatomi than merely
killing an enemy. A single tuft of hair from the crown
of the head was taken as a scalp; prisoners were often
tortured and scalped by the boys and young men. Before
war parties the aid of the clan bundles was invoked, and
special war bundles were carried by the leaders on cam-
paigns, in front of them on the out trip and behind them
on the return, so that the bundle would always be between
them and the enemy.

Young children were given names at a ceremony for
the clan bundles, and these names usually referred to the
name of their clan. In former times when children reached
the age of about ten years, the parents would urge them
to fast all day and seek a vision. By the time children
were fifteen or sixteen years of age, they were made to
go from f^ur to eight days without eating or drinking.
All this w^ to enable the children to have a vision which
would give them a guardian spirit through life, and would
bring them success. Only when he had obtained such a
dream was a boy considered to be a man.

Marriages were usually arranged between the parents
of a boy and girl, but the boy's and girl's consent was
usually obtained. If all parties agreed, then the boy
came to his bride's lodge that night, and the marriage
was concluded. Sometimes a youth would pick out the
girl he wanted for himself and tell her his desire. If she
was agreeable, she had her family invite all his relatives
to a feast. Then, well mounted, the groom rode to the
bride's house and dismounted, going into the wigwam
where the girl sat beside the rawhide trunks that held all
her possessions. Standing there, the boy took off all his

22 Field Museum of Natural History

clothes and presented them to her; and she, opening her
trunks, gave him an entire new outfit of clothing which
he donned immediately. Then the feast began, the two
families exchanging food. At the close of the feast an
old man lectured the young couple on their mutual duties,
and other relatives of both of them followed, in turn.
The horse was brought out, and the girl rode over to the
boy's lodge; here his relatives dressed her in new clothes,
and she returned, bringing all the groom's possessions.
Thus the marriage was concluded.

The houses of the Potawatomi were similar to those
of their neighbors; the round birch bark and mat house
was used in winter, and the larger, rectangular, mat-
covered house in summer. Occasionally buffalo-hide tipis
were used. When a new lodge was made in the autumn,
a feast of dog meat, elaborately prepared, was eaten, and
offerings of tobacco and cedar smoke were made before
the house could be occupied. In such rites the chief's
wife was always first, and the others followed. A similar
ceremony occurred in the spring, when they moved into
the square mat-houses.

The leaders of the annual buffalo hunt were chosen
from among the principal men of the buffalo clan, and
usually the keeper of the clan bundle was chosen. A
feast was then held, and imitative ceremonies supposed
to attract the buffalo were held. At the close of the
feast, representatives of the two tribal divisions (moieties)
held an eating race; the winners in consuming the hot
food were appointed to carry the sacred buffalo clan
bundle on the hunt. Sixteen braves were appointed by
the leader as guards or police, and these carried elkhorn-
handled whips with which they enforced the rules of the
hunt. As they travelled west toward the buffalo ranges,
no hunting was allowed, for it might frighten the herds.

When buffalo were sighted, the hunters were divided
into two groups to surround the herd if possible, and
the hunt was carried on under the control of the 16 police.

Leaflet 24

PUtcV

POTAWATOMI UAirS COOTUICS

The Potawatomi 28

When the first hunt terminated, each person brought a
piece of meat to the leader as an oflFering, and a ceremonial
feast was held. After this the hunt was resumed, but all
were now allowed to hunt separately and as they pleased.
When the hunt was over a feast was held, dried meat,
robes, and tallow were packed, and the people started for
home. On the return trip the four men beaten in the
eating contest carried the buffalo clan bundle. At night
the hunters fired the prairie, so that those remaining at
home might see the smoke and prepare the camp for their
reception. When they reached camp, all repaired to their
own houses; the next day a feast was held by the buffalo
clan to name all children bom while the hunt was on.
After this ceremony was over, all the other clans had
naming ceremonies and feasts. Then followed a time of
games and feasting.

The Potawatomi likewise sent out quite large parties
to secure deer, and black bears were hunted in winter
when they were sleeping in caves. Beaver, otter, mink,
and muskrat were trapped and snared for fur and for
food. Gill nets of bark or fiber twine were made and set
in lakes and streams; in the winter time fish were speared
through the ice, or were caught in seines. In spring,
quantities of ducks and geese were killed and preserved
in brine. In addition to all these products of the chase,
they cultivated maize, squash, beans, and tobacco, while
the forests and lakes furnished quantities of berries and
wild rice. As the account of AUouez indicates, famines
occurred when one or more staples failed them, but
ordinarily the people of the Great Lakes must have had
a large and varied food supply.

The Potawatomi of the lakes had both birch bark
canoes and dugouts, which are typical of the Lake tribes;
but the Prairie Potawatomi while on the Plains used the
bull-boat, a raw buffalo hide stretched over a wooden
frame, to transport their goods across rivers. Similarly,
after the introduction of the horse, they used the travois,

24 Field Museum of Natural History

two poles dragged on each side of a horse, with their
possessions lashed on behind. The war club, the lance,
the bow and arrow, and the knife constituted the weapons
of the Potawatomi. Like the travois and the bull-boat,
the Prairie Potawatomi made use of a round shield of
buffalo hide. These three things are more typical of the
Plains tribes than of the Eastern Woodland peoples to
whom in most other characteristics the Potawatomi
belonged.

The art of the Potawatomi as manifested in porcupine
quill and bead work seems more characteristic of the
Central Algonkians than the Plains tribes. This design
work appears most commonly on their medicine bags,
clothing, and mats (Plates III-VII), and is characterized
by either flamboyant scroll work or by isolated graceful
designs. Diamond-shaped central figures, with leaf or
scroll corner designs, rectangular diamond shapes with
different colors in them, and spider-web designs are all
typical Potawatomi motifs, according to Mr. M. G.
Chandler, who is well acquainted with their art.

The clothing of the Potawatomi which is still obtainable
largely represents colonial styles of the early settlers,
readapted by the Indians (Plates I, V, VI). The decorative
designs on this clothing are largely native, whether in
bead or ribbon appliqu^ work, but the material, and in
some cases the cut, is derived from the whites. The col-
lection of Potawatomi clothing and decorative bead and
quill work gathered for the Museum by Mr. Chandler, and
now on exhibition, clearly demonstrates the above points.

The religion of the Potawatomi, like that of most of
the Central Algonkian people, is hard to reduce to a
formula, largely because it does not seem to have been
formally conceptualized in the minds of the Indians.
Schoolcraft states that the Potawatomi believed in a
good spirit and a bad spirit who governed the world
between them, but this is a reflection of the Christian
doctrine. They did, however, conceive of a "Great Spirit"

The Potawatomi 26

which originally may have been the sun; and besides this
vaguely personified deity, their pantheon contained the
archaic deities of fire, sun, and the sea, as well as gods of
the four directions. The evil p)ower in the water was the
great horned water-panther (Plate IV, upper left), who
was at constant war with the Thunderbirds. The wor-
ship of the manitou, or power believed to be in other
natural objects such as plants or animals, was also a vital
part of their religious belief. They believed that the
human body had but one soul or spirit, and that this
spirit eventually followed a trail over the Milky Way
into the western heavens to a land ruled over by Tcibia'bos,
the brother of Wi'saka, the great culture hero. The power
of the various manitou or spirits was often visualized by
the sacred clan bundles, and around these most of their
ceremonials radiated. At such feasts specially reared
dogs were eaten, and no ceremonial was complete with-
out dog meat. Dogs used for this purpose were carefully
raised, kept from the polluting association of other
dogs, and only killed after many formalities had been
observed.

Besides the clan bundle ceremonials there are those
of the medicine lodge, which may be joined by men and
women. The purposes of the society are to prolong life
and cure sickness, and in their keeping are various sacred
myths of the Potawatomi. In the medicine lodge cere-
monies decorated animal skins are carried (Plate VII).
The ritual and initiation ceremonies are complex and
known only to the initiated. There are various other
societies, such as the Waubano society or cult, composed
of those men who in their visions saw phenomena con-
nected with the dawn. The drum of a member of the
Waubano society which depicts his vision is shown in
Plate VIII. Other cults existed based on other dream
experiences, such as the Dream or Religion dance, of
rather late origin, and in addition to these are the
Warrior's, Begging, and purely social dances.

26 Field Museum of Natural History

The Potawatomi claim to have received from the
Comanche the series of ceremonies called the Peyote cult.
These ceremonies center around a small cactus which
grows in Mexico and the southwestern United States,
that produces a sort of spiritual exaltation when eaten.
The spread of the Peyote cult in historic times has been
remarkable, and today it is one of the strongest cults
existing among the Indians of the United States and
Mexico.

For three nights after a death the clan members of
the deceased sing, pray, and go through ceremonies to
propitiate and scare away the ghost. A coffin is then
made from a hollow tree, members of another dan dig
the grave, and the body is buried in the cemetery of the
clan to which the person formerly belonged. It is inter-
esting to note that dead members of the man, or human
clan, were interred sitting up against a back rest, with a
framework of logs around them. With the dead are placed
a few weapons or utensils, and formerly a favorite horse
was sacrificed at the man's grave to serve his master in
the journey to the other world. Various mounds have
been found in the vicinity of Potawatomi burials, but
there seems to be no correlation between any type of
mound and the burials of the tribe.

The Potawatomi Indians still retain some of their
old religious beliefs and customs, and are rated as more
conservative than any of the other existing Chicago-land
tribes.

At the present time they are scattered over several
states. The following groups were observed in 1930:

Pokagon's Band, near Hartford, Michigan; 60 to 75
individuals; mixed bloods.

Citizen Potawatomi, central Oklahoma; about 1,500
mixed bloods; now farmers and stock raisers.

Kansas Potawatomi, eastern Kansas; about 600 mixed
bloods; mostly farmers; some borrowing of Plains Indian
customs.

LMiflet24

PUte VI

POTAWATOMI WOMAN'S COSTUME

I

The PoTAWATOMi 27

Wisconsin Potawatomi, northeastern Wisconsin; prob-
ably 500 or 600, none of whom appear to be of pure
Indian blood. Because this region is wild and unsuited
to farming, these Potawatomi have adhered to their
language and to many of their old customs and beliefs.
Hunting, fishing, gathering wild rice and other native
foods are still carried on. The medicine lodge is still
in existence and many of the old ceremonies are flourishing.

HISTORY OF THE TRIBES

Such were the three tribes that we know once occupied
the territory where the city of Chicago now stands, but
in order to understand their coming and going, the history
of this part of the Great Lakes region must be briefly
considered.

When the accounts of the great French explorers and
priests such as Champlain, La Salle, and Marquette first
describe the state of the tribes, we find the Iroquois Con-
federacy, located in what is now the State of New York,
to be the dominant military power. Archaeologists are
inclined to believe that the Iroquois came to New York
from the south, driving out the Algonkians, who once
occupied the territory, and causing them to settle around
the Great Lakes. The French found a branch of the
Iroquois north of Lake Erie, whom they called the Neu-
trals. In 1606 Champlain found them allied with the
Ottawa in fighting the Mascoutens to the west. In 1643
the Neutrals sent an expedition of some two thousand
men against the "Nation du Feu," which attacked and
destroyed a palisaded village and most of its inhabitants.
The latter people may have been representatives of the
Potawatomi, Mascoutens, Miami, or even some Illinois
tribes. In 1648-49 the Huron tribes were destroyed
by the Iroquois, and a few years later the Neutrals were
likewise conquered by them, the remnant of the tribe
being assimilated by the Seneca branch of the Iroquois.
Thus as early as history records we find the Great Lakes
region to be the scene of war and conquest. At that
time the Chicago region was apparently occupied by tribes
of the Illinois, and only the archaeological record can tell
us who preceded them.

In 1634, Jean Nicollet met the Menominee, Winnebago,
and probably the Potawatomi at Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Another western war was then in progress between the

• 28

History of the Tribes 29

former people and their allies, the Sioux, against the
Chippewa. The Lake tribes very eariy allied themselves
with the French, who were the enemies of the Iroquois.
In 1641, Verwyst states, the Potawatomi were living near
the Winnebago. The Jesuit Relation of 1642 mentions
them near Sault Ste. Marie, where they had fled to escape
a hostile nation which was continually harassing them.
There seems some reason to believe that the Potawatomi
and the Sauk formerly lived in Michigan, and had been
driven across the Straits of Mackinac by the Neutrals,
who seem to be the nation referred to in the Relation.
In 1667, Father Allouez met 300 warriors of the Potawa-
tomi at Chaquamogon Bay. In 1670, a portion of them
were living on the islands in the mouth of Green Bay.
From the accounts of these early French missionaries, the
Menominee, Sauk, Potawatomi, Miami, Winnebago, and
Mascoutens seem to have taken refuge in various villages
around Green Bay, having been driven there from the
southeast. Tribal boundaries do not seem at all clearly
defined, and earlier wars appear to have disrupted all the
tribes of the region. Only the Winnebago are referred
to by Father Dablon as original owners of the territory.
The collective term "Nation du Feu," then, appears to
refer not to one specific tribe, but to all those peoples
that in the seventeenth century were congregated in the
vicinity of Sault Ste. Marie and Green Bay.

During the years 1671 and 1672, the expatriated
Hurons united many of the Ottawa, Sauk, Fox, and
Potawatomi in a raid against the Sioux with whom they
were then at peace, but the allies were severely defeated.
At that time some of the Miami were living with the
Mascoutens near Green Bay, but shortly afterward they
moved south to where in all probability the remainder of
the Miami were living around the southern end of Lake
Michigan. There seem to be no records of the displace-
ment of the Illinois proper by the Miami, but Charlevoix
mentions a Miami village on the site of Chicago in about

80 Field Museum of Natural History

1671. Harassed by their Iroquois neighbors, the Illinois
tribes seem to have congregated on the Illinois River, near
Fort St. Louis, where they are mentioned by La Salle in
1684. Meanwhile the Fox, as well as the Potawatomi,
were moving south along the west shore of Lake Michigan.
The former, allied with the Sauk, came into violent con-
tact with the French, and were finally crushed by Sieur
De Villiers at Little Butte des Morts in 1728.

The Potawatomi, however, continued their southward
movement. By the close of the seventeenth century they
had displaced the Miami, and held all the territory
around the southern end of Lake Michigan, one band
living on the present site of Chicago.

The exact origin of the name "Chicago" is not certain.
In 1721, Father Charlevoix, as has been stated, derived
the name from that of the river, and it is known that about
1725 there was an Illinois chief of this name — facts that
seem to point to the Illinois as the name-givers. In the
Sauk, Fox, and Kickapoo dialects, however, it is trans-
lated as "place of the skunk," and the Menominee and
Ojibwa have legends referring to that animal in connection
with the site. In 1923, a well-informed Potawatomi,
"White Pigeon," seventy years of age, stated that the
word "Chicago" was derived from a Potawatomi word
which referred to the "place of the wild onion," which
grew so plentifully in the swamps in and around Chicago.
The name is mentioned in connection with a Miami vil-
lage in the period of the earliest explorations, between
1670 and 1700, but one is tempted to attribute the name
to the Illinois who seem to have been the first historic
people to live near the site. At this late date the question
is probably unanswerable.

Following this period of aboriginal warfare, of which
we are only able to catch glimpses, came another long
period of fighting in which the French, British, and
Americans fought for a continent, and again the region
here discussed was the scene of a large part of the struggle.

hmH^tU

Ptauvn

POTAWATOMI MEDICINE BAGS

The one on the left made of mink tkin with bead decormtioni

The one on th« right made of otter akin with porcupine quill deoorationa

History of the Tribes 81

Champlain's early battle against the Iroquois had given
the latter to Great Britain as powerful allies. In turn,
the majority of the Lake tribes, who feared the Iroquois,
espoused the cause of France. As early as 1690 a British
envoy came to Wisconsin to obtain aid from the Indians,
but was unable to conclude alliances. During the French
and Indian wars the Lake tribes united with the French,
and under Sieur Charles de Langlade, in 1755, were respon-
sible for the crushing defeat of the British forces under
General Braddock. Toward the close of the war, as the
power of France was waning, Pontiac, a great chief of the
Ottawa, organized a conspiracy of all the tribes against
the British. All the forts save Detroit and Fort Pitt were
captured, and their garrisons massacred; but the French
were already defeated, and the great scheme of Pontiac
was doomed to failure. Failing to stir up the tribes along
the Mississippi, he finally made peace at Detroit in 1765.
Later, while attending a drinking carousal at Cahokia,
Illinois, he was murdered by an Indian of the Kaskaskia
branch of the Illinois tribe.

This murder greatly outraged the Lake tribes, and a
war of extermination was waged against the Illinois, reduc-
ing them to a pitiful handful that took refuge with the
French settlers at Kaskaskia. The murder of Pontiac
occurred in 1769, and by 1800 there were only a hundred
and fifty Illinois alive; thus as a distinct people they fade
out of history. The lands of the Illinois were taken over
by the Kickapoo and Potawatomi. On the opening of
the Revolutionary War the Potawatomi sided with the
British, and were active from time to time against the
United States, until "Mad Anthony" Wayne's victory at
Fallen Timbers and the ensuing Treaty of Greenville in
1795. The British, however, by generous trading and
bribery kept the allegiance of the Lake tribes for almost
half a century after the Northwest Territory passed out
of their hands. At the time of the Treaty of Greenville
the Potawatomi ceded to the United States an area six miles

32 Field Museum of Natural History

square, located at the southern end of Lake Michigan.
There in 1804-1805, Fort Dearborn was erected. Imme-
diately following this treaty the Potawatomi notified
the Miami that they intended moving down upon the
Wabash River, and shortly afterward did so, driving the
Miami to the northwest of that river. Thus the Pota-
watomi, occupying about fifty villages, were dominant in
a large territory that included northern Illinois, Indiana,
and part of Michigan.

Just prior to the War of 1812, Tecumseh and his
brother, the Shawnee Prophet, organized a great revolt
among the Mississippi tribes, but, influenced by John
Kinsey and the American officers at Fort Dearborn, the
Lake tribes were, on the whole, inactive. General Har-
rison's victory over the Prophet at Tippecanoe ended
the revolt, but it was closely followed by the second war
between the British and Americans. Incited by the
British agents at Maiden and near-by posts, the Lake
tribes created havoc along the American frontier. Threat-
ened by superior forces. Captain Heald, commanding
Fort Dearborn, on the site of Chicago, abandoned the
fort against the advice of Winnimeg, a friendly Pota-
watomi chief. The ensuing massacre of a large part of
the garrison followed. The Potawatomi were the tribe
concerned in this well-known affair, certain of the Indians
distinguishing themselves by their cruelty, and others,
like Black Partridge and Waubansee, by their mercy and
aid to the survivors. Captain Heald, John Kinsey, about
twenty-five soldiers, and the majority of the women were
protected by friendly Indians, and eventually reached
safety.

The Potawatomi burned the fort, but at the termination
of the war in 1816, it was rebuilt. A sketch of Chicago as
it appeared in 1820, four years later, is reproduced in
Plate II. A garrison was maintained here, off and on,,
until December 29, 1836, one year before the incorpora-
tion of the City of Chicago.

History of the Tribes 33

The close of the War of 1812 practically marked the
end of the Indians' day in the Northwest Territory, for,
with peace, the rich lands of the region began to draw
settlers in ever-increasing numbers. With the settlers
came the military forces of the United States, now free
from the threat of European interference. The Lake
tribes who had formerly roamed at will now began to be
driven to the west. The Blackhawk War of 1832 was the
last feeble flare of opposition to the American advance,
but the recalcitrant Sauk and Fox were soon crushed by
overwhelmingly superior forces. In the same year the
Winnebago ceded to the United States all their territory
southeast of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers. In 1833, a
grand council of chiefs and headmen met at Chicago and
ceded all their lands east of the Winnebago territory.
The three tribes — Potawatomi, Ottawa, and Chippewa —
who claimed to have once been a single people, were
represented at this council, wherein they gave up all their
best lands, and were assigned to various reservations.
Two years later, the Potawatomi came to Chicago to
receive their annuities before leaving for their western
reserv'ation. About 5,000 of the tribe were present, and
farewell ceremonies were held on leaving this rich territory
which they had previously conquered by force of arms.
Most of the tribe were moved to a reservation at Council
Bluffs, Iowa, where we have the description of them given
by Father De Smet; others fled to Canada and to their
old territory in northern Wisconsin, for they feared the
Sioux, who were to the west of the new reservation.

The tide of settlers soon reached the five-million-acre
reservation assigned to the Potawatomi in Iowa. In 1846,
all those who had not fled to Canada or Wisconsin were
moved to a new reservation in western Kansas. There
they remained until 1868, when they were again moved
into the "Indian Territory" of Oklahoma. As a result,
the Potawatomi are scattered from Ontario and northern
Wisconsin, through Iowa and Kansas, into Oklahoma.

34 Field Museum of Natural History

In the former areas they maintained some of their old
life, but in the other regions they have taken over the
ways of their white conquerors, and many of them have
become prosperous citizens.

It has been estimated that in 1918 there were 3,731
Potawatomi in the United States and 3,000 in Canada,
making a total of 6,731 in all. The Department of Com-
merce report, in 1910, gives the total number of pure
blood Potawatomi in the United States as 960, and both
mixed and full bloods as 2,440. If the figures given for
1918 may be trusted, the tribe would seem to be increasing,
although the 1910 report shows that a great deal of racial
intermixture has taken place. In 1905, according to the
Handbook of the American Indian, there were only 195
persons, mostly of mixed blood, representing the Illinois
tribes. The report of 1910 does not mention the Illinois,
and gives the total population of the Miami as only 226,
with merely 59 persons of full blood. Clearly, of the tribes
who once lived in this region, the Potawatomi alone have
survived in anything like their old numbers, while the
Illinois and Miami have come almost to the verge of
extinction. Such were the peoples that within the brief
space of written history fought and lived on the site where
the City of Chicago now stands. Behind this realm of
history there stretches a vast period of which we may only
learn as the work of American archaeology proceeds.

William Duncan Strong

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Beckwith, H.
1884. The Illinois and Indiana Indians. Fergus Historical Series,
No. 27, Chicago.
Copy in Library of Chicago Historical Society. <*^^^»i ^ H,

De Cannes

1721. Memoire concemant le pays Illinois, pp. 264-362. Con-
tained in a manuscript entitled Memoires de TAmerique, and
opinion de I'origine de ses habitants, a la substitution du Valdec
proche Solevre en Suisse, 1727.
In the Edward E. Ayer collection, Newberry Library, Chicago.

Hodge, F.

1907. Handbook of American Indians, Bureau of American Eth-
nology, Bulletin No. 30.
Articles: Algonquian, Illinois, Miami, Potawatomi, and Sauk.

Lawson, p.
1920. The Potawatomi. The Wisconsin Archaeologist, vol. 19,
No. 2, pp. 41-116.

Linton, R.

1916. The Indian History of Ilhnois. Illinois State Historical
Library Publication No. 22, pp. 51-57.
Copy in Library of Chicago Historical Society.

Skinner, A.

1924. The Mascoutens or Prairie Potawatomi. Public Museum
of the City of Milwaukee, Bulletin, vol. 6. Social Life and
Ceremonies, No. 1.
1926. Ibid. Notes on Material Culture, No. 2.

86

Leaflet 24

Plate VIII

ai

CEREMONIAL OBJECTS OF THE POTAWATOMI

Above, drum of the Waubano Society, with desisn symbolirinK the dawn

Below, two ceremonial pipe*

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