While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
The history
of the Pottawatomie, even after they were in communication with the
Europeans, is difficult and often obscure. Their name signifies People of
the place of the fire. They came to be generally known as the “Fire
Nation.” There is reason to believe that the Pottawatomie, the Chippewa,
and the Ottawa originally formed one tribe. As one people they lived in
that country about the upper shores of Lake Huron. The separation into
three parts probably occurred there, and the Jesuits found them at Sault
St. Marie in 1640. In 1670 the tribe or some portion of it, was living on
the islands at the mouth of Green Bay. They were gathered about the
Mission of St. Francis Xavier. The movement of the tribe was to the
southward, and by the year 1700, or about that time, they were seated
around the south end of Lake Michigan. Some of them lived far down in what
is now the State of Indiana. They were active in the interest of the
French to and through the French and Indian War. In the Revolution they
were on the side of the British, and they were against the United States
until after close of the War of 1812. They lacked unity of action always,
and when settlers crowded in upon them they scattered in various
directions. They sold their lands in small lots and realized little from
them. They are yet scattered abroad. By the year 1840 most of them were
west of the Mississippi. That portion of the tribe which settled in Iowa
became known as the Prairie band, while those in Kansas
were known as the Pottawatomie of the Woods. The Prairie band first moved
to the Platte Purchase, in Western Missouri, and their agency was near the
present City of St. Joseph. From that point they were removed to what is
now Pottawatomie County, Iowa, their chief settlement being at and about
Council Bluffs.
Their Kansas reservation resulted from the treaty of
1837, by
which they ceded their lands in Indiana. For these
they were to have a tract on the Osage River, just west of Missouri,
“sufficient in extent and adapted to their habits and wants.”
Pursuant to the terms of this treaty a tract of land about
thirty-six by forty-two miles in extent was surveyed for the Pottawatomie. It was located some eighteen miles west of the
Missouri line. Its south line was the north line of the lands
assigned to the New York Indians, and passed about nine miles north
of the present town of Iola. The north line of the tract ran about
six miles south of Ottawa. The reservation contained about fifteen
hundred square miles. Some of the tribe moved to this tract of land,
settling along the Osage, and on what came to be known as Big and
Little Osage Creeks. Also on Sugar Creek and on Pottawatomie Creek,
in Miami County. The Iowa band had not disposed of the lands held
about Council Bluffs. It was clear that there never could be a
united nation under those conditions.
In
June, 1846, a treaty was held with the two
divisions of the tribe. It was concluded at the Pottawatomie Agency,
near Council Bluffs, on the 5th day of June with the Iowa or Prairie
band; and on the 17th of June with the Kansas band, on Pottawatomie
Creek. In this treaty there was an attempt to bring together the
tribes
formed
by the ancient division of the Pottawatomie. It
provided that the various bands of the Pottawatomie Indians, known
as the Chippewa, Ottawa, and Pottawatomie, the Pottawatomie of
the Prairie, the Pottawatomie of the Wabash, and the Pottawatomie
of Indiana, being the same people by kindred, by feeling, and by
language, should unite and be consolidated into one people to be
known as the Pottawatomie Nation. Their Kansas and Iowa lands were
ceded to the United States. In lieu of these lands they were
assigned a new reservation in Kansas, described as follows:
“A tract or parcel of land containing five hundred and seventy-six
thousand acres, being thirty miles square, and being the eastern
part of lands ceded to the United States by the Kansas tribe of
Indians, lying adjoining the Shawnees on the south, and the
Delaware and Shawnees on the east, on both sides of the Kansas
River.”
This tract was the east thirty miles of the old Kansas Indian
reservation. It lay immediately west of Topeka, and it comprises one
of the most fertile tracts in Kansas. The Pottawatomie Nation was to
move to this new reservation within two years, and certain annuities
were to be paid the individuals of the Nation one year after they
had settled there. The Kansas band began to move almost immediately,
but it was the full two years before the Nation had assembled on the
Kansas River. Some of the Kansas band settled west and southwest of
Topeka. There the Baptists established a Mission, some of the
buildings of which still stand.
Jonas Lykins established the Baptist Mission on the
reservation of the Pottawatomie. He was the brother of Dr.
Johnston Lykins, of considerable note in the very early
history of Kansas. Jonas Lykins had lived with the Pottawatomie
on their reservation on the Osage. The activities of the
Baptists there
were near the present town of
Osawatomie. From that point Jonas Lykins came to the new
location, arriving on the 15th of November, 1847. He settled
on the northeast quarter of section seventeen (17), township
twelve (12), range fifteen (15), in what is now Shawnee
County. In the Spring of 1848 he built a large double loghouse
on the northwest quarter of section thirty-two (32), township
eleven (11), range fifteen (15). In 1849 he built a two-story
stone house, forty by eighty feet in dimensions, which is
still standing. In 1848 the Rev. Robert Simmerwell, his
daughter Sarah, and Miss Elizabeth McCoy, arrived at the
Baptist mission. They organized and taught a school for the
Pottawatomie children. Mr. Simmerwell was a blacksmith, and in
1848 set up a shop to follow his trade. After Lykins, the
superintendents of the mission were Mr. Saunders, Mr.
Alexander, Rev. John Jackson, and Rev. John Jones.
The Catholics also founded a mission among them. This
mission was at the junction of the three forks of the
Wakarusa. It had been commenced on Sugar Creek, on the old
first Kansas reservation, in 1837, by Father Christian Hoecken.
He came north with one of the first parties, and in 1847 began
the erection of mission buildings at the forks of the
Wakarusa, in 1847. Some twenty log cabins were erected at that
point. It was soon discovered that the mission was south of
the reservation line, and on the Shawnee land. As the
Pottawatomie could not collect their annuities until they had
moved on to their own land, they abandoned their houses and
moved north of the Kansas River. The Catholic Fathers
established themselves at a beautiful site, now the town of
St. Mary's. The mission has grown into one of the principal
Catholic institutions of the West.
While the Pawnee had agreed to retire beyond the Platte as
early as 1834, they seem to have been possessed of a
determination to hold the valley of the Kansas River. No
sooner had the Pottawatomie settled themselves about the
mission at St. Mary's than the Pawnees began attacks upon
them, intending to expel them, or at least hoping to make the
new home so uncomfortable the Pottawatomie would abandon it.
But the old Algonquian stock was ever courageous. The
Pottawatomie accepted the challenge. They declared war on the
Pawnees, and dug up the tomahawk. The Pawnee force was camped
along the Big Blue, down which stream they always came to make
war on the enemies in the valley of the Kansas. The
Pottawatomie attacked at the Rocky Ford, in what is now
Pottawatomie County. A fierce skirmish ensued, in which the
superior firearms of the Pottawatomie gave them the
advantage. While the Pawnees were not defeated, they did
retreat from the field, passing westward to Chapman's Creek,
where they made a stand. There they had a better country for
the free movements of their horses, in their peculiar tactics.
The Pottawatomie pursued, and when they came up with their
foes a considerable battle ensued. The Pawnees had only
horsemen, and at the Rocky Ford only mounted Pottawatomie had
engaged them. The Pottawatomie had determined to settle once
for all whether they could live on the Kansas, and had
mustered their full strength, many on foot. These latter were
stationed in some short bushy ravines under a high steep bank.
The Pottawatomie horsemen so maneuvered that the Pawnees were
drawn down the prairie along these gullies, when the
Pottawatomie footmen lying in ambush there opened fire. The
Pawnees were taken by complete surprise. Several of their
foremost warriors were slain, but they did not give up the
battle, which was fiercely contested with the mounted
Pottawatomie, who were now much encouraged. They charged the
Pawnees repeatedly, finally putting them to flight. The
Pawnees disappeared northward over the prairies, and never
more made a foray below the Big Blue. The Pottawatomie were
never more molested by them. They lost some forty warriors in
this effort to drive out the Pottawatomie. For many years a
Pottawatomie chieftain who had distinguished himself in this
campaign would decorate himself in true warrior style on the
anniversary of the battle and ride to the western and
northern boundary lines of the reserve to celebrate the
victory and satisfy himself that their frontiers were clear.
The Pottawatomie have the social organization found in the
tribes of the Algonquian family. The clans or gentes of the
tribes are as follows:
1. Wolf
2. Bear
3. Beaver
4. Elk
5. Loon
6. Eagle
7. Sturgeon
8. Carp. (Golden Carp.)
9. Bald Eagle
10. Thunder
11. Rabbit
12. Crow
13. Fox
14. Turkey
15. Black Hawk
The Pottawatomie made a treaty in 1862 under which the
greater portion of their reservation was disposed of. There
was a disagreement in the tribe on the subject of land. The
Prairie band refused to accept their land in severalty, and
severed their relations with the other bands. They were given
a reservation in common eleven miles square in Jackson County,
Kansas, a part of the old home tract, and now reside upon it.
It was provided that the other bands should or might become
citizens of the United States and have their lands allotted to
them. There was a surplus after the allotment, and this went
through the usual process of graft in the final extinction of
the Indian title. In 1868
the Citizen Pottawatomie secured a reservation in what is now
Oklahoma, to which they moved, and where they now live.
