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!
Kickapoo (from Kiwǐgapawa,
'he stands about,' Or 'he moves about, standing now here, now there'). A
tribe of the central Algonquian group, forming a division with the
Sauk and
Foxes, with whom they have close ethnic and linguistic connection. The
relation of this division is rather with the
Miami,
Shawnee,
Menominee, and
Peoria
than with the Chippewa,
Potawatomi, and
Ottawa.
History. The people of
this tribe, unless they are hidden under a name not yet known to be
synonymous, first appear in history about 1667-70. At this time they were
found by Allouez near the portage between Fox and Wisconsin rivers.
Verwyst (Missionary Labors, 1886) suggests Alloa, Columbia county, Wis.,
as the probable locality, about 12 miles south of the mixed village of the
Mascouten, Miami, and Wea. No tradition
of their former home or previous wanderings has been recorded; but if the
name Outitchakouk mentioned by Druillettes (Jes. Rel. 1658, 21, 1858)
refers to the Kickapoo, which seems probable, the first mention of them is
carried back a few years, but they were then in the same locality. Le
Sueur (1699) mentions, in his voyage up the Mississippi, the river of the
Quincapous (Kickapoo), above the month of the Wisconsin, which he says was
"so called from the name of a nation which formerly dwelt on its banks."
This probably refers to Kickapoo river, Crawford county, Wis., though it
empties into the Wisconsin, and not into the Mississippi. Rock river,
Ill., was for a time denominated the "River of the Kickapoos," but this is
much too far south to agree with the stream mentioned by Le Sueur. A few
years later a part at least of the tribe appears to have moved south and
settled somewhere about Milwaukee river. They entered into the plot of the
Foxes in 1712 to burn the fort at Detroit. On the destruction of the
Illinois confederacy, about 1765, by the combined forces of the tribes
north of them, the conquered country was 'partitioned among the victors,
the Sauk and Foxes moving down to the Rock river country, while the
Kickapoo went farther south, fixing their headquarters for a time at
Peoria. They appear to have gradually extended their range, a portion
centering about Sangamon river, while another part pressed toward the
east, establishing themselves on the waters of the Wabash, despite the
opposition of the Miami and Piankashaw. The western band became known as
the Prairie band, while the others were denominated the Vermilion band,
from their residence on Vermilion river, a branch of the Wabash. They
played a prominent part in the history of this region up to the close of
the War of 1812, aiding
Tecumseh in his efforts against the United States, while many Kickapoo
fought with Black Hawk in 1832. In 1837 Kickapoo warriors to the number of
100 were engaged by the United States to go, in connection with other
western Indians, to fight the Seminole of Florida. In 1809 they ceded to
the United States their lands on Wabash and Vermilion rivers, and in 1819
all their claims to the central portion of Illinois. Of this land, as
stated in the treaty, they "claim a large portion by descent from their
ancestors, and the balance by conquest from the Illinois nation, and
uninterrupted possession for more than half a century." They afterward
removed to Missouri and thence to Kansas. About the year 1852 a large
party left the main body, together with some Potawatomi, and went to Texas
and thence to Mexico, where they became known as "Mexican Kickapoo." In
1863 they were joined by another dissatisfied party from the tribe. The
Mexican band proved a constant source of annoyance to the border
settlements, and efforts were made to induce them to return, which were so
far successful that in 1873 a number were brought back and settled in
Indian Territory. Others have come in since, but the remainder,
constituting at present nearly half the tribe, are now settled on a
reservation, granted them by the Mexican government, in the Santa Rosa
mountains of east Chihuahua.
