Transcontinental Railroad Colonization

 

Railroad colonization led to prosperity for the Americans while many Native Americans lost their livelihoods and lives. Military officers viewed the railroad as a method of transporting troops to various locations to take control of or exterminate Native Americans. Railroads gave them the upper hand. The buffalo had to move to avoid railroad construction which interfered in the lives of the Plains Indians. The acquisition of horses made hunting buffalo and other large animals easier. They depended upon the buffalo for food, clothing, trade, shelter, and so much more. Some tribes, such as the Lakota, looked towards buffalo as a way of guiding their lives. Buffalo carcasses lay rotting on the plains when white men decided to kill the honorable beasts for pelts and out of spite to hurt the Native Americans. Federal laws forced the railroad companies to construct the railroad tracks with time constraints no matter who lived on the property. Treaties laid the groundwork for the decimation of tribal lands. Cultural and language barriers also fed the destruction of the lives of Native Americans. Railroad tracks lined the terrain along the eastern coast since the 1830s with further expansion to the west at a later date. President Lincoln strongly supported the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad and put into place the Pacific Railroad Act to ensure its completion. The Transcontinental Railroad encouraged colonization of western territories by facilitating new settlements on Native American lands.

Before the completion of the transcontinental railroad a trek to the western part of the country meant dangerous crossings over rivers, deserts, and mountains or the traveler(s) would venture around Cape Horn, sail to Central America or cross the Isthmus of Panama while they risked deadly diseases such as yellow fever or malaria. The thought of uniting the country by rail held the interest of many since the locomotive was invented.

            By the 1840s the railway networks extended throughout the East, South, and Midwest. The drive to extend the railway to the Pacific gained momentum. The gold rush and the annexation of California after the Mexican/American War led to even more interest in extending the railway westward. Andrew Jackson supported a railway route that would run through Texas and other southern states. He believed there was less harsh terrain in the southern states. Political parties split concerning their beliefs about a southern or northern railway network.

            During the 1850s Congress ordered surveys to be conducted to determine the best route for the transcontinental railroad. Theodore Judah, a civil engineer who helped build the railroad in California, came on board and promoted a route that went through Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California. The Sierra Nevada Mountain Range posed a problem. Daniel Strong, a storekeeper, provided Judah with a better route that only involved a gradual rise, a summit and only one mountain. Next investors were sought and this was when the land which the Native Americans lived and hunted came into question (Linda Hall Library, 2012)

            Greenville Dodge, a railroad engineer and later a Union General, met with Lincoln, an aspiring politician, to discuss the building of a transcontinental railroad. Lincoln queried Dodge about possible routes to the west coast. Dodge suggested the railroad should run from Omaha, along the Platte Valley to the Rocky Mountains, over the mountains to join with the railroad coming east from California. Dodge and Lincoln initiated the ultimate construction project of the 19^th century. Dodge and Lincoln (until his assassination) continued their support and involvement with the building of the Transcontinental Railroad throughout its completion.

Slavery and then the transcontinental railroad served as Lincoln’s driving force for the country.  During a campaign speech for Illinois state legislature he announced “no other improvement… can equal in utility the railroad” (Ambrose, 2000, page 27).

Four wealthy men agreed to finance a portion of the railroad: Collis P. Huntington and his partner Mark Hopkins (dry goods merchants); Charles Croker and Leland Stanford (wholesale grocers and latter soon to be governor). They paid Judah to survey the route for the railroad. Judah provided a presentation to Congress in October of 1861. The southern states were not privy to the venture because of the Civil War was well underway. President Lincoln vehemently supported the construction of the railroads and convinced a leery Congress to come on board. They felt the expensive venture had the potential to fail due to the mountains and other difficult terrain and waterways. Lincoln sought to make the Transcontinental Railroad a reality by implementing the Pacific Railway Act in 1862 (Linda Hall Library, 2012).

            The Act authorized land grants and governmental bonds which in the beginning amounted to $16,000 for flat land, $32,000. per mile for difficult terrain and $48,000 per mile for mountain construction. The government doled out bonds for every 40-mile increment (Cox, 2015). Deadlines were set and broken concerning the amount of track to be laid in a certain amount of time. Two companies, the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad, were involved in the construction of the transcontinental railroad. The federal government set up a portion of the land to be granted to the railroad companies and the rest was allotted to the federal government. The land was divided into townships and the railroad companies were granted the odd number of plots, which resembled a checkerboard. The land granted to the railroads could be sold to white settlers to pay off their debt. Upon sale of said land, the railroads still had mineral rights to the land (Ambrose, 2000). Land that did not belong to them, land that was inhabited by Native Americans. Numerous western tribes faced various hardships such as genocide and depravation because of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad such as the Lakota, Pawnee and Cheyenne.

 

Lakota:

 

            The movement of the buffalo guided the Lakotas’ whereabouts on the Plains. They sought to stay near the buffalo and believed the buffalo taught them how to live life in an honorable and wise way.  The Lakota depended on them for everything from food to clothing. The Lakota lived on the land with a reciprocal relationship formed by the expansiveness of the location itself. It was not like moving from one strange home to another, wherever they were they were at home.

            Over hunting and trapping of beaver led in the drop in value of the beaver pelts and a corresponding switch to the buffalo robe trade. Lakota women supplied furs for the trade. Lakota men rode into buffalo herds and made individual kills. Any claim on a buffalo or something taken from a buffalo occurred through relationships with women. Lakota women’s skills and creative work existed between the Native American expansiveness and the pressures of the global fur trade. White settlers and entrepreneurs killed many buffalo for their skins and left the rest of the buffalo rotting on the Plains. The white settlers killed millions of buffalo for the fur trade.

            The Treaty of Horse Creek established a smaller area on the Plains for the Lakota and the U.S. government granted themselves an area south of the Missouri River, east of the Rockies, and north of New Mexico and Texas. These land allotments gave the federal government the right to construct railroads, military forts and other forms of infrastructure in the above area. As a result of this infringement, the Lakota and American military fought to hold onto their land holdings which went against the Lakota expansiveness techniques of setting up their home wherever the buffalo settled. Angered by the boundaries set regarding their territory they had access to which involved territory at the Platte River, they argued that they needed to hunt as far south as Republican Fork of the Kansas River and the Arkansas River. The federal government ignored their complaints and set up trading posts and military forts throughout the area. The Lakota geared up for battle by moving north and they resupplied their arms by trading with the Red River Metis (Karuka, 2019).

            The land allotted to Native Americans contradicted the land grants to the Union Pacific. “To honor the property claim is to abrogate treaty obligations to honor the treaties would be to dissolve capital claims on territory and resources” (Karuka, 2019, page 67). President Lincoln signed into law the Pacific Railroad Act on July 1, 1862. This act represented a set of property claims that did not reflect reality. U.S. sovereignty served as the basis for the land claims for the railroad. The Union Pacific Railroad Company was financed by 100,000 shares valued at $1,000. The shares reflected Congress’ sovereign claims over lands deemed necessary for the transcontinental railroad which authorized Native American lands as public lands in which the Union Pacific constructed the railroad. The railroad was granted 200 feet on each side of the line for stations and buildings. The law stipulated that the failure of constructing 100 miles of track within two years after the law’s passage with a further requirement of constructing 100 miles each additional year led to the forfeiture of the Union Pacific’s assets.

            A legislative flag was placed on Lakota land on August 17, 1862. Lakota’s eastern relatives rose up against the famine and intrusion in Minnesota and fought to hold onto their land. They surrendered on September 26 and were treated as war criminals. Women, children and elders were held in a concentration camp at Fort Snelling in which approximately 300 people died at this camp. Remaining Lakotas were transported to Davenport, Iowa to be imprisoned. More than a third died while at the prison. Four months later President Lincoln ordered an execution of 38 Lakota men in Mankato, Minnesota which was the largest public execution in the history of the U.S.  Six days after the execution, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. An end to slavery occurred while the U.S. government entertained a corrupt territorial expansion which involved theft, occupation and genocide.

            The federal government with the help of the military sought genocide of the Lakota. Wherever the Lakota went when they followed the buffalo, the U.S. army followed them and attacked. William T. Sherman proved to be an ally to the Union Pacific Railroad. Sherman’s interests consisted of having the railroad as a means of military occupation. The military mapped the sites of the Lakota winter camps, in which the army attacked and killed the Native Americans while they were the most vulnerable. They held a multitude of successful campaigns against the Lakota people during the winter months. They were able to do so because they moved troops in subzero temperatures due to the railroad. (Karuka, 2019).

             Reports indicated Native American resistance and theft. Approximately a thousand warriors led by Red Cloud ran away with railroad stock along the Platte River. Greenville Dodge, a military leader, referred to the Union Pacific as an extension of the army. “At any moment I could call into the field a thousand well officered” (Karuka, 2019, page72). The main goal of the military was not management of labor or competition with the Central Pacific Railroad, but the colonization of the lands occurred where the Union Pacific Railroad was located. Captured Confederate soldiers assisted with defending the Union Pacific construction. Sherman believed the railroad served as a threat and destruction of the Lakota tribe. He hoped to move more troops out west to take care of the “Indian Problem.”  Sherman also believed the destruction of the buffalo would destroy the Lakota people (Karuka, 2019).

Red Cloud had different ideas about what he wanted to see for the country. He voiced his hopes by comparing the past to the present. “...the country was filled with traders instead of military posts” (Karuka, 2019, page 77).  He wanted relationships based on reciprocity instead of domination. Instead more treaties were put into place which gave authority to the U.S. government to take even more of their land and place more military posts on their territory. The treaties also encroached on hunting rights. The 1868 Treaty negotiations involved the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad which went through Lakota lands. Sitting Bull did not take the infringement on their rights to the invasion of their land lightly. His leadership led to the halting of the railroad’s progress. Treaties, Acts and military actions created havoc and ruined the lives of the Lakota. They did not take it laying down. They put up a fight. However, the U.S. military’s mighty fire power, treachery and numbers got the best of the Lakota.

           

Pawnee

 

            The Pawnee resided on amazing and fertile land where farmhouses, barns, and fields filled with wheat, oat, and corn crops existed. The Pawnee managed to maintain their communal relationships based on cooperation in which they extended to the military presence in their territory. Pawnee men served as scouts for the U.S. military and fought against hostile tribes to protect the railroad construction. They also worked on the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad. White settlers also conducted commercialized farming on their land which interfered with their cultural practices. The Pawnee tribe were involved in treaty implementation in which they were promised trade regulation and protection. The Pawnee women, a generous and caring people, kept caches filled with harvested vegetables made available to the village and any neighboring villages if needed which represented the Pawnee mode of relationship. At first, the Pawnee viewed the U.S. army as a powerful ally that could help them fight their long-standing enemies. However, the U.S. government kept taking more and more from them such as land and other resources.         

            The Union Pacific Railroad started laying track from Omaha, Nebraska in 1865. The territory in which Kansas and Nebraska are currently located served as the homeland of the Pawnee people. They numbered at approximately 20,000 when the Transcontinental Railroad was being constructed. Every year the Pawnee traveled up to 500 miles to hunt buffalo on the plains. The Pawnee returned to their villages to harvest their crops and spend the winter. American settlements continued to expand through Pawnee territory and the tribe lost its homeland in Nebraska and were moved to a reservation in Oklahoma (Rex-Atzet, ND).

           

            Grandparents provided vital instruction and guidance to their grandchildren as part of their generational cultural practices. In 1857, in an effort to enhance colonialism, the U.S. government enforced the Pawnee to reside on a reservation through one of the treaties. The Pawnee were subjected to giving up even more of their territory. As part of the treaty negotiations Pawnee children were forced to attend schools. “In order to improve the condition of the Pawnees, and teach them civilized life, the United States agreed to found two manual labor schools, and would potentially open an additional two schools if it found them necessary. The curriculum at these schools would be directed by the U.S. federal government, and would include the various branches of a common-school-education, as well as the arts of agriculture and of their own. All Pawnee children between seven and eighteen years old shall be kept constantly at these school for, at least nine months in each year, and parents or guardians would have their annuities deducted in an amount equal to the value, in time, of the tuition thus lost” (Karuka, 2019, page 111). The federal government stepped in to control the relationship between caregivers and their children. The children, not allowed to participate in the hunting parties or the annual harvest, lost valuable opportunities to learn valuable lessons. The children were forced to live at reservation schools (Karuka, 2019).

            The Pawnee men were given the opportunity to apprentice in blacksmith, tinsmith, and gunsmith shops along with working in grain and lumber mills. The United States government set up the above opportunities along with reservation farms which served the outlying white settler communities. Provisions in the treaty included, “Pawnees agree to prevent the members of their tribe from injuring or destroying the houses, shops, machinery, stock farming utensils, and all other things furnished by the Government, and if any such shall be carried away, injured, or destroyed, by any of the members of their tribe, the value of the same shall be deducted from the tribal annuities” (Karuka, 2019, page 111). Pawnee workers answered to the Pawnee agent, not to their tribal leadership. One of the articles in the treaty provided four Pawnee men with horses and money for an expedition against the Cheyennes in hope of securing more Pawnee scouts (Karuka, 2019). More treaties were put into place that involved further annuities which would make the life of the Pawnee women easier. They were provided brass kettles, hoes, butcher knives and needles. Their lives were changed drastically.

           

            In 1864, some of the Pawnee men graded four miles of railroad track because the Union Pacific Railroad contractor could not secure workers. The commissioner of Indian Affairs (name unknown) suggested the railroad be renamed the “Pawnee and Pacific Union Railroad” due to the Pawnee assistance with the construction of the railroad through their protection and labor. In June 1864, he requested 100 rifles be given to the Pawnee men because of their land was reduced greatly which impeded their mobility. On a scout campaign in 1864, Pawnee men provided their own horses, their wages were supposed to reflect the care of their horses, which it did not. Pawnee men chose to fight but after hearing rumors about possibly being forced to fight in the Civil War, they took off on a winter hunt instead.

           

Measles and diphtheria ran rampant through the reservation schools which led to many children dying. The administration decided to only accept the healthiest of the children into the schools instead of making the necessary changes to ensure the children’s health needs were met. The school officials found out that the Pawnee parents took their children on a summer hunt and the school officials adamantly stated that the school must have authority over the children and not the parents.

 

In January 1867, John Becker, a Pawnee agent, informed the U.S. government that the Union Pacific Railroad had driven the buffalo from the Pawnee hunting grounds at the Platte River Valley. Part of his report included Pawnee women who continued to farm near their villages. The federal government moved the land they could farm on further away from their homesteads, which went against their cultural tradition of maintaining caches. The work Pawnee women did during the past before U.S. government interference, provided the lifeline for the Pawnee communities. Their importance was being eliminated. Part of the breaking of family cultural practices involved complete isolation of Pawnee children from their families to enforce the learning of the English language. The federal government made an effort to enforce a complete withdrawal from their traditional cultural practices (Karuka, 2019).

 

The Union Pacific workers depended on the Pawnee scouts for protection, however, the Pawnee questioned what type of people they were. To prove their disapproval, they disappeared from their scouting duties because the workers appeared to be pathetic men covered in mud as they buckled under the weight of the heavy rails. The Pawnee provided an example of a suitable camp for the white workers. They constructed a lodge of cut wooden poles and took the covers off the wagons and stretched them over the poles. Grass was placed under the structures and a fire was built to dry out clothing and to warm the workers. Younger men tended the horses. They demonstrated how the various generations worked together.

            In January of 1869 Frank North enlisted a new company of Pawnee scouts. A previous group of scouts, who had been discharged from their duties, had been attacked by U.S. military. The soldiers had been encouraged to attack the Pawnee men by white settlers who lived in the area, near Mulberry Creek. The Pawnee said the men who were attack-ed had traveled to trade with southern nations by old trade routes. Nine Pawnee veterans were murdered. An army surgeon dug up their graves and beheaded them. Their skulls were sent to the Army Medical Museum in which they remained until 1995 (Karuka, 2019).

            Railroad colonialism and manifest destiny led to the demise of a rich Pawnee traditional culture and they lost most of their land and their traditional cultural practices were seriously impacted. They cooperated with the U.S. government and its military which involved the provision of protection against hostile marauders during the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad. They also worked as laborers for the railroad. A people adept at agriculture before the arrival of the Americans were treated as if they were novices. Their children lost the opportunity to learn valuable life lessons by the enforcement of reservation schools. One of their main sources of food was taken from them, the buffalo and the Pawnee culture was thrown off balance.

 

Cheyenne

 

            The Cheyenne left the Great Lakes area and moved to the Tongue River region in Montana and Wyoming and near the Platte River in Wyoming and Nebraska. Eventually they formed two divisions, the Northern and Southern Cheyenne. They expanded to ten bands by the 1800s and were spread all over the Plains. The Cheyenne adopted the use of horses, which became a large part of their culture. They trained the horses to go on buffalo hunts. The Cheyenne adopted the Sun Dance, the tipi, and formed military societies. By the mid-19^th century the Cheyenne’s population totaled approximately 5,000.  The bands split and some stayed near the Black Hills while others remained near the Platte River of central Colorado. The Arapaho and Lako-ta (Sioux) were their allies. By the mid-1800s, they left their agricultural and fishing life along with pottery traditions and switched to a nomadic Plains culture. They used tipis instead of earth lodges and their diets consisted of bison, wild fruits and vegetables. The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851forced them to settle down on their first enforced Cheyenne territory in northern Colorado (Grinnell, 1972). White settlers continued to encroach on their lands.

           

            In August of 1867, a group of Cheyenne men who were returning from Pawnee country crossed the railroad tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad near what is now Cheyenne, Wyoming. They saw a railroad crew and decided to wreck a railroad car by laying logs across the tracks. Some of them ran back to the crew and frightened them into speeding up the handcar. The logs tipped the car off the tracks. Sleeping Rabbit suggested they try to derail a train. They cut a telegraph line, pulled out railroad ties and dislocated the track itself. They waited to see what happened. A Union Pacific train was barreling down the tracks at full speed without knowledge of the broken track. The train derailed horribly and there was a lot of wreckage. They entered the train and gathered food, clothing and whatever else they wanted. They returned the next day and found bread and sweet foods, which they ate for lunch. The U.S. army and Pawnee scouts tried to find them. The derailing of trains occurred on many occasions.

            The Cheyenne communities were perceived as a threat to the white settlers and the Union Pacific Railroad. Industrialization and occupation continued to be more pertinent than the rights of Native Americans when it came to the land they resided on. Greenville Dodge received accolades for his management and engineering skills, however, his experience supervising U.S. military operations carried more notable attributes. With military leaders such as Dodge, the railroad became a militarized economy which consisted of men who did not have any relationship to the location they served or to anyone they found on the path they traveled.

            During the fall of 1866, a group of soldiers traveled from Fort Sanders, Wyoming Territory, to escort a Union Pacific engineering company. Dodge requested an additional 20 soldiers to join them to help prepare the winter camp in the Black Hills. The engineers used lumber that was stored at the army posts. The Union Pacific Railroad depended upon the army to protect them and provide them with necessary supplies, if necessary. The army’s resources were stretched to the limit to accommodate the railroad personnel (Karuka, 2019).

            The Cheyenne Dog Soldiers conducted raids to acquire needed and wanted things. Most of their land had been taken away and the wild game was limited due to over hunting by the white settlers. The Dog Soldiers and their allies knew the land well. The military were forced to react to the presence of Indians on their own lands. “An image from the Dog Soldier ledger book shows Big Crow in an attack on a wagon train, in which the wagons are circled, and the teamsters engaged in defensive fire. Another image shows the capture of an Overland Stage Company coach. Attacks on railroad work and engineering parties, on infantry and cavalry details, on army posts, and on wagon trains, give us glimpses of Dog Soldier herding tactics” (Karuka, 2019, page 139). Some of the Cheyenne stood by their belief that the land belonged to them and the white people were intruders.

            Dodge saw the need to maximize an army presence because the raids happened more readily. Union Pacific subcontractors, who resided near Fort Sedgwick, were raided and they took everything. The workers were terrified and refused to go back to work. An engineering company had a mule taken from them. Cheyenne women relied on mules as pack animals. Groups of railroad workers, who made railroad ties, felt threatened and left the area of the Black Hills, and the raiders destroyed their tools. Another engineering party lost two of its members to raids.  Dodge stressed to Sherman that he needed more soldiers to protect the construction of the railroad and was hopeful that more were provided to him.

            Dodge mentioned two threats the Dog Soldiers posed for the railroad: The first one was sabotage and the second was the terror faced by the railroad workers. He feared without military protection the building of the railroad would come to a complete halt. He referred to the area they were working in as the worse and most dangerous Indian country. The military operation also became dependent on the railroad. Dodge sent a telegram in July 1867 to request more soldiers to assist with the completion of the North Platte crossing. Augar, Dodge’s superior, ordered Dodge to divide the cavalry between protecting the workers who were constructing the railroad tracks and at the same time provide protection for the surveyors. Augar ordered the movement of troops from the area to be canceled. And if Dodge could not sufficiently provide protection for the railroad, he was to contact Augar immediately and he would report to Sherman. The railroad served as the first priority for the army.

            Disease ran rampant between the railroad personnel and military. Cholera struck many at Fort Lyons, Ellsworth and Harker. Travelers continued to spread the disease westward (Karuka, 2019).

            In October 1867, southern Cheyenne and Arapaho leaders begrudgingly negotiated the Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek which shrunk territorial Indian land boundaries by half. The treaty served as a huge risk because attempts at peace in the past only led to massacres, encroachments and other maladies due to the occupation of the Americans. They were hopeful that the annuities promised them would guarantee community survival.

            “…tribes party to the agreement… withdraw all pretense of opposition to the construction of the railroad now being built along the Platte River, and westward to the Pacific Ocean; and they will not in future object to the construction of railroads, wagon-roads, mail-stations, or other works of utility or necessity, which may be ordered or permitted by the laws of the United States” (Karuka, 2019, page,143).

            Dodge sent a request to Augar in January 1868 to provide military escorts for railroad parties who worked between Fort Sanders and Green River. He further requested that the Union Pacific construction crews, who worked from Little Laramie to Bitter Creek, needed protection for a distance of approximately 200 miles. The army established nine additional posts throughout the region. Rapid infusion of military presence was implemented. Railroad workers were ordered to carry weapons. The abilities of the Dog Soldiers were put to the test. The U.S. military managed to push the Dog Soldiers out of the Plains and they were forced to relocate to the foothills of the Rockies. The Trans-continental Railroad neared completion. The Cheyenne lost most of their horse herds and wealth which forced them to rely on an annuity economy. They were reduced from a powerful independent tribe to a tribe who was reliant of the U.S. government to address their needs.

 

            The Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869. The Americans viewed the railroad as economic progress while Native Americans saw the Transcontinental Railroad as a threat that destroyed their communities and their cultures. Railroad companies gained millions of acres of land from the U.S. Congress which was aided by a variety of treaties negotiated between the tribes and the U.S. government. President Lincoln coined all land, even land granted to tribes through treaties, as public land, to ensure the railroads had access to land they deemed necessary for the completion of the railroad.  He implemented the Pacific Railway Act in 1862 to ensure the completion of the railroad. Native American resistance to railroad construction was not illegal or savage. The Native American resistance posed risks for railroad investors and railroad contractors. Military presence enforced the progress of the construction of the railroad. Some of the tribes fought diligently to protect their land from the encroachment on their land of the military, railroad companies and white settlers. Others, such as the Pawnee, decided to work with the railroad and military to aid in the construction. In the end, the Transcontinental Railroad finished completion, the tribes lost most of their land and many lost their lives as a result of the American takeover of their land, which resulted in the genocide of many Native Americans as colonialism and imperialism reared its ugly head.

 

Trail of Death

 

“When we quitted this camp later, we left behind six graves in the shadow of the cross. We soon found ourselves on the grand prairies of Illinois, under a burning sun and without shade from one camp to another. They are as vast as the ocean, and the eye seeks in vain for a tree. Not a drop of water can be found there – it was a veritable torture for our poor sick, some of whom died each day from weakness and fatigue.” -Father Benjamin Petit

 

In September of 1838, 859 Potawatomi Indians, forced from their homeland near Plymouth, Indiana, marched at gunpoint 660 miles to present-day Osawatomie, Kansas. During the arduous journey, their tribe lost 42 of its members, mostly children, of typhoid fever coupled with the stress of the removal. Approximately the same amount escaped during the journey. When they arrived at their final destination, only 756 remained. The removal resulted from the Indian Removal Act passed by U.S. Congress and signed by Andrew Jackson in 1830. The Five Civilized Tribes, who resided in the Southeast part of the country, were the original targets for removal.

Some of the Potawatomi tribes moved earlier without being forced. The Pokagon Potawatomi managed to stay at their homeland in southern Michigan due to the efforts of their leader Leopold Pokagon, and partially because of their participation in Catholicism. Menominee’s tribe did not want to leave their homeland in Indiana. The Potawatomi consisted of nine distinct groups, seven residing in the United States and two ended up residing in Mexico and Canada to escape removal to the western portion of the country. Many tribal groups signed treaties which enforced their removal from their homelands. The Potawatomi bands signed more treaties than any other tribes, 40 in all, which added a lot of confusion about where they were supposed to live.

 

We are like birds in a windstorm. The tree boughs keep

moving, and we don’t know which one to land on.

-Quito, a Potawatomi Elder

 

            All tribal nations have had their own creation story. Some Potawatomi stories portray how they have always been in existence. Other stories tell about a migration from the Eastern coast with the Ojibwe and Odawa nations. The three tribes formed the Three Fires Confederacy, with each nation having served a vital role. The Ojibwe were keepers of Tradition; the Odawa were keepers of the Trade; and the Potawatomi served as keepers of the Fire. Originally, the Potawatomi migrated north of Lakes Huron and Superior, to Wisconsin, southern Michigan, northern Indiana, and northern Illinois (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, ND).

            Potawatomi warriors participated in the siege of Fort Dearborn (Chicago) and Fort Wayne in 1812. Over 20 years after the battles, they resided peacefully in northern Indiana and southern Michigan. They made an attempt to be farmers and live amongst the white men. Many were baptized by the Catholic and Baptist missionaries. Some of the old warriors from the aforementioned battles were part of the removal in the 1830s (Willard and Campbell., 2003).

 

The first Potawatomi band, who were removed from their homeland, lived near the Iroquois River by the Illinois-Indiana border. Thousands were removed from northeastern Illinois in 1835. Large and smaller groups traveled together. The 1833 Treaty of Chicago enforced the conditions for the removal of the Potawatomi from the Great Lakes Area when Michigan became a state in 1837. The journey involved approximately 500 Potawatomi and it was a hazardous trip in which one in every ten people died during the excursion. News traveled fast and as a result small groups of families fled to northern Michigan and Canada to avoid removal to the western part of the country (Weiser, 2017). 

Leopold Pokagon’s village was located at what is now Niles, Michigan. In 1838, Leopold and a small group of Potawatomi visited the Odawa at L’Arbre Croche (Petoskey, Michigan area) to find out if they could relocate to their area. The 1833 Treaty allowed them to remain in Michigan. Their future plan involved moving near the Odawa within five years. The 1836 Treaty of Washington signed between the Odawa, Chippewa and the U.S. government ceded most of their land. There was no room for the Potawatomi to reside on the Odawa land.

Leopold purchased land at Silver Creek Township by utilizing the tribe’s annuity monies accumulated from pre-vious treaty negotiations. The Pokagon band and other groups moved to the Silver Creek area which is currently Dowagiac, Michigan. The Pokagon band built a log cabin Catholic Church at the Silver Creek area and donated $2,000. to the Catholic diocese. Leopold Pokagon was adopted by the Potawatomi and the Catholics provided him with an education when he was a child. His plans were to remain in Michigan with his tribe.

Brigadier General Hugh Brady made an attempt to force Pokagon’s Band out of Michigan. Pokagon, an elder man in bad health, traveled to Detroit to obtain a written judgment from Epaphroditus Ransom of the Michigan Supreme Court. He was granted the judgment and as a result the Pokagon group could remain on their land. Other Potawatomi groups were not so lucky.

 

“Unknown to the Potawatomi, white leaders in the Michigan Territory were anxious to lure settlers into the area, which would reduce the Indian domain and change their life styles forever. Land ownership would become the tax basis by which the new government was financed. The desire for statehood required settlement and an increased population which would reduce hunting grounds. Plans for development demanded votes, willing workers, and an infrastructure that was foreign to the Indians. The Potawatomi of Southwestern Michigan, without understanding the consequences, were facing an influx of Easter Americans and European Immigrants seeking the wealth of rich land. Eastern loggers envied the timber of Michigan’s mighty virgin forests, and would reduce natural woodland habitats to farm lands. The abundant water supply was a great temptation, that would lead to conflict over water rights. Rivers and sylvan thickets teaming with wild life beckoned white hunters and settlers, that would force competition for food sources” (Watson, 2001, para. 5).

 

By August 1838 most of the Potawatomi bands migrated from their homelands in Indiana and Michigan to Kansas. Menominee and his band refused to sign treaties and relocate to Kansas. Hundreds who did not want to move out west, joined Menominee’s band. The band grew from 4 wigwams in 1821 to 100 wigwams by 1838. Indiana Governor David Wallace was infuriated and ordered General John Tipton to remove the tribe.

On August 30^th, General Tipton, along with 100 troops, burned crops and the homes of the Potawatomi to discourage them from returning to the area. They ordered at gunpoint 859 Indians to begin their march on September 4^th. Chief Menominee and two other chiefs, No-taw-kah and Pee-pin-oh-waw were transported in a horse-drawn jail wagon. The rest of the band traveled by foot or rode horseback behind the jail wagon. The group made the trek each day which started at 8:00a.m. each morning until 4:00p.m., when they received their first meal of the day.

Father Benjamin M. Petit accompanied the group of travelers and provided ministry to the tribe to aid them spiritually, emotionally, and physically. He took care of the sick. During that fall a drought occurred and there was little water available for the travelers, what they found was stagnant. Many became sick with probably thyroid disease. More and more died along the way and Father Petit became sick. While sick he conducted ministry to the sick. On November 13, 1838, he sent a letter to Bishop Simon Brute in Vincennes, Indiana, to describe the march (Wiemer, 2017).

“The order of march was as follows: the United States flag, carried by a dragoon; then one of the principal officers, next the staff baggage carts, then the carriage, which during the whole trip was kept for the use of the Indian chiefs, then one or two chiefs on horseback led a line of 250 to 300 horses ridden by men, women, children in single file, after the manner of savages.

On the flanks of the line at equal distance from each other were the dragoons and volunteers, hastening the stragglers, often with severe gestures and bitter words. After this cavalry came a file of forty baggage wagons filled with luggage and Indians. The sick were lying in them, rudely jolted, under a canvas which, far from protecting them from the dust and heat, only deprived them of air, for they were as if buried under this burning canopy – several died” (Wiemer, 2017, paras. 8 and 9).

They marched across the prairies of Illinois and crossed the Mississippi River at Quincy, Missouri and continued until they reached the Kansas territory and Osawatomie, Kansas, the final destination. The tired group reached their final destination on November 4, 1838. Forty-three Potawatomi people died, twenty-eight were children (Bowes, 2016). Winter was quickly approaching and there were no houses for the Native Americans which the government promised would be available to them upon their arrival. The Potawatomi and a very sick Father Petit stayed at a mission in Quincy for a few weeks until Jesuit Father Christian Hoecken agreed to provide them with a place to stay at the St. Mary’s Sugar Creek Mission, 20 miles away from Osawatomie.

Father Petit traveled back to Indiana accompanied by Nan-wesh-mah Burnett. He had to be held on the horse and had sores all over his body. He ended up traveling by wagon because he was so sick. He died at the seminary in St. Louis, Missouri on February 10, 1839 at the age of 27. The Potawa-tomi thought he was a saint.

Three years after their arrival, Mother Rose Phillippine Duchesne arrived at the mission in 1841. She taught school to the Potawatomi children and was known to have established the first Indian school for girls west of the Mississippi River. When she turned 72, her health was failing so she dedicated her life to prayer and prayed day and night. The Indians called her Quah-kah-ka-num-ad (woman who prays always).

The Potawatomi remained at the mission for ten years. In 1848 they moved further west to reside close to the Prairie Band Potawatomi Reservation at Mayetta, Kansas. While at the first mission, 600 of the Potawatomi died, many shortly after their arrival. Chief Menominee died on April 15, 1841 when he was 50. All of the dead Potawatomi were buried at the site (Weiser, 2017).

Today, seven distinct Potawatomi bands reside in the United States: Citizen Potawatomi, Forest County Potawatomi, Hannahville Indian Community, Match-e-he-nash-whi-wish Potawatomi, Nottawaseppi Huron Potawatomi, Pokagon Potawatomi and Prairie Band Potawatomi. The Coahuila Potawatomi reside in Mexico and the Walpole Island First Nation people live in Canada. The group that resides in Mexico, fled to Mexico to avoid the “white man’s war” (the Civil War) in December 1864 (Godfrey, 2015).

The Potawatomi have had history of fighting in battles during the 1700 and 1800s. They decided to settle down to a life of farming and tried to live in harmony next to the white settlers. Leopold Pokagon managed to remain in Michigan because of the band’s willingness to embrace Catholicism and Pokagon’s ability to negotiate with a member of the supreme court. Some traveled west to settle in Kansas voluntarily. Michigan became a state in 1837 and the fertile land was needed for the onslaught of white settlers. Many died during the march westward and shortly after they arrived at their final destination. Various groups of Native Americans ended up leaving their homelands and moving west of the Mississippi. Self-sufficient tribal people reduced to relying on the federal government. The overall plan to convert a powerful group of people to people living in abject poverty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Louisiana Purchase

"Let the Land rejoice, for you have bought Louisiana for a Song."

Gen. Horatio Gates to President Thomas Jefferson, July 18, 1803

“Robert Livingston and James Monroe closed on the sweetest real estate deal of the millennium when they signed the Louisiana Purchase Treaty in Paris on April 30, 1803. They were authorized to pay France up to $10 million for the port of New Orleans and the Floridas. When offered the entire territory of Louisiana–an area larger than Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal combined–the American negotiators swiftly agreed to a price of $15 million.

Although President Thomas Jefferson was a strict interpreter of the Constitution who wondered if the U.S. Government was authorized to acquire new territory, he was also a visionary who dreamed of an "empire for liberty" that would stretch across the entire continent. As Napoleon threatened to take back the offer, Jefferson squelched whatever doubts he had, submitted the treaty to Congress, and prepared to occupy a land of unimaginable riches.

The Louisiana Purchase added 828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River to the United States. For roughly 4 cents an acre, the United States had purchased a territory whose natural resources amounted to a richness beyond anyone's wildest calculations” (Miller, 1931, para. 1 - 3).

France claimed a large chunk of land that ran from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Land in which many indigenous people resided. The land exchanged hands between Spain and France and ended up in France’s possession much to the surprise of President Jefferson. At the same time, tension rose between France and Britain. The Island of Saint Dominique lost appeal for Napolean Bonapart after slave rebellions and British interference. After negotiations, France sold a young United States the Louisiana territory. End results of the sale was the migration of many white settlers, battles between Native Americans and pioneers, the ravages of disease and a huge loss of land and its valuable resources for the indigenous people. The Louisiana Purchase was the largest land takeover in the history of this country without the act of war playing a part.

            In April of 1682, Robert Cavelier, Sieur (Lord) de La Salle, a French Explorer, made claim to land near the mouth of the Mississippi River when he read a declaration before a group of confused Indian people. He pronounced his claim, for his country, the entire Mississippi basin. Cavelier named the area for Prince Louis the Great. Hence the name Louisiana which was in honor of Louis XIV.

            The French explorer Jean-Baptise le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville later founded a settlement near the site of La Salle’s claim named it Nouvelle Orleans for Philippe, Duke of Orleans and Regent of France. By the time of the Louisiana Purchase, the population of whites, slaves of African American descent and Native Americans numbered approximately 8,000 within the Louisiana Territory (Harris, 2003).

           

            Ownership of Louisiana went back and forth between France and Spain. Spain took over and had control of the territory of Louisiana in October 1800 when Napolean made a secret deal to take back New Orleans and Louisiana from Spain. He wished to amass and send an army to protect his land holdings. Jefferson did not learn until 1801 that Napolean had reclaimed Louisiana. Faced with trepidation about how powerful France became, he did not want France to have control of the United State’s trade routes. Jefferson made plans about how he was going to purchase Louisiana from France. He equated France’s ownership of Louisiana as big of threat as the Revolutionary War (Cerami, 2003).

            Napolean pondered his hold of the island of Saint Domingue which could provide France and other countries with a vast amount of sugar, cotton, cocoa and coffee. France could use the port of New Orleans to ship the crops to Europe. The residents of Saint Domingue believed the French were going to reinstate slavery like what happened on Guadeloupe. Slavery was reinstated. The slave population suffered from food shortages and brutally forced hard labor. The slaves revolted which forced Napolean to sends more troops. More than half of the French army died from diseases, mostly Yellow Fever while at Saint Domingue. Napolean’s interest in the island diminished severely (Cerami, 2003).

Napolean feared a war with Britain may ensue and he did not have the funds to pay for such a war. He thought Britain may attack Louisiana from Canada and he would rather fight Britain from France and not Canada.

            The treaty which permitted the U.S. to use Spanish territory on the Mississippi had expired. American ship-ments could not be stored in New Orleans warehouses. Merchandise and produce had to be left on open wharfs while awaiting shipment to the other locations which risked exposure to weather and theft. The U.S. economy was in jeopardy.

            Senator James Ross of Pennsylvania drafted a resolution which requested Jefferson to form a 50,000 man army to take over the city of New Orleans. France and the U.S. definitely had a stake in the outcome of the ownership of Louisiana.

            French Minister, Francois de Barbe-Marbois, Robert Livingston, a New Yorker and the American Minster of France and James Monroe, former member of Congress and former governor of Virginia met in Paris on April 12^th to discuss the sale of Louisiana. Much to their surprise Napolean, was more than ready to sell and confirmed and stated his asking price of $22,500,000. Livingston told him the price needed to be lowered considerably.

            Barbe-Marbois stalled pretending that Napolean lost interest in the sale. By April 27^th he told Americans that Napolean firmly agreed to a selling price of $15,000,000. The treaty was signed by the three men on May 2 but was backdated to April 30. Livingston did not have permission to carry out the land deal but they needed to act fast. Nearly doubling the size of America could help make it a world power in the future.

Jefferson approved the purchase and requested the Senate to ratify the Louisiana Purchase Treaty in which they voted 24 to 7 on October 20, 1803. Congress approved the treaty. Money needed to be borrowed in the form of bonds from European countries which had to be paid back in 15 years. Business took time to be carried out because trans-atlantic mail took weeks and sometimes months. Finally, Louisiana belonged to the United States (Harris, 2003).

Fifteen states joined the union as the result of the Louisiana Purchase: Louisiana; Missouri; Arkansas; Texas; Iowa; Minnesota; Kansas; Nebraska; Colorado; North Dakota; South Dakota; Montana; Wyoming; Oklahoma; and New Mexico. Some of the aforementioned states were entirely within the boundaries of the Louisiana Purchase and others were also a part of the deal struck with Mexico after the Mexican/American War (Raum, 2014). States developed statehood as a result of the 1787 Northwest Ordinance in which land was considered a territory that had a population of at least five thousand and full-fledged statehood would occur when the population reached 60,000. Self-governance applied for territories and states according to the ordinance (Cerami, 2003).

The Louisiana Purchased with an accumulated land mass of approximately 828,000 square miles led to a great westward migration. White settlers believed they had a right to move  to the uncharted territories. The Indian population did not fare well after the purchase. Much of the game, land and other valuable resources were taken over by white settlers. They faced starvation and died from diseases such as small pox. Many Native Americans lost their lives when they fought against white settlers or American armies while they tried to hold onto their land. The Louisiana Purchase represented land purchased from a country by a country who were not the original inhabitants.

Tecumseh and Harrison

 

“No tribe has the right to sell, even to each other, much

less to strangers… Sell a country? Why not sell the air,

the great sea, as well as the earth? Didn’t the Great

Spirit make them all for the use of his children?

-Tecumseh

Shawnee

 

Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison, ambitious and intelligent men, experienced conflicting aspirations which led to severe repercussions for Native Americans. Both had a strong interest in land and who should reside on it. They served as mighty warriors for their people.  Tecumseh strived to unite Native Americans from all over the country to stop the invasion of white settlers and was noted as a great orator. Harrison sought to satisfy the whims of a steadily growing white population and convert territories to statehood with self-sufficient governance.  That meant the increase of population of Euro-Americans in scarcely populated territories. Both men bucked horns when they discussed their differences in which Harrison ended up the victor and the Native American people lost large portions of land, their livelihood and their means of self-preservation.

            Tecumseh was born in 1768. Early in his life, he discovered that he despised the Americans because of the atrocities they inflicted on the Shawnee people. He also did not like some of the things he witnessed Indians doing to white men. Trained to be a warrior by his older brother Cheeseekau, he proceeded with any type of altercation with as little violence as possible. Tecumseh did not believe in torture. He believed a quick kill was best and the most humane.

            During the late 1780s, Tecumseh went on many raids against white settlers. He joined his brother Cheeseekau and a small band of Shawnee warriors in Tennessee, where they met a group of Cherokee Chickamauga, to continue with raiding activities. Cheeseekau died in one of the skirmishes so Tecumseh became the leader of the Shawnee band. Bluejacket and Tecumseh led a scouting party to help defeat General St. Clair’s army at the bloody Battle of Wabash River. Tecumseh fought at the Battle of Fallen Timbers on the Mauma River and lost to General Anthony Wayne and his army. Both sides signed the Treaty of Greenville except Tecumseh. He would not sign any treaty and willingly give up land that he thought belonged to the Indian people (History.com Editors, 2019).

 

            During the early 1800s, Tecumseh settled in Ohio and served as a respected leader, war chief and orator. In 1805, his younger brother Lalawethika declared after an alcohol induced vision, that it was his intention to reclaim their lands and culture. He changed his name to Tenskwatawa and shortly afterwards he was referred to as the “Prophet.” After he predicted the solar eclipse in 1806, a massive number of Indian people came from various locations to become followers of the Prophet. In 1808, Tecumseh and the Prophet moved their ever-growing alliance to Prophetstown which was near the Wabash and Tippecanoe Rivers in present-day Indiana (History.com Editors, 2019).

 

            Harrison was born in Virginia on February 9, 1773.  His father, Benjamin Harrison (1726 – 91) signed the Declaration of Independence and served as the governor of Virginia. In 1791, he dropped his studies in medicine to pursue a career of becoming a soldier. Known as an “Indian fighter,” he either negotiated through treaties or fought battles to gain access to land once inhabited by Native Americans. Harrison was cited for bravery in the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 (Matuz, 2012). The Americans won this battle which opened up much of Ohio to white settlement. Harrison, promoted to captain as a result of this win, became the commander of Ohio’s Fort Washington which was near present-day Cincinnati. As a result of treaties negotiated by Harrison with Indian people, he gained access to millions of acres of land (History.com Editors, 2009).

He was given instruction to have the Indian people sign as many treaties as possible to give up their land. Harrison was successful at acquiring land from the Native Americans and not always by act of treaties, also through the act of war against the indigenous people. The Treaty of Fort Wayne afforded the federal government additional land. Several of the tribes gave up three million acres of land in exchange for annual payments ranging from $200. to $5,000. Harrison did not experience success with Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa concerning the signing of treaties.

Tecumseh feared that many Shawnee and other Ohio Valley Indians had become dependent on trading with the Americans for guns, cloth, and metal goods and he was adamantly against such dependence. Tecumseh wanted all Indian people to return to their traditional ways. White settlers readily encroached on their government-recognized tribal land holdings (History.com Editors, 2019). The American government did not want to ruffle the feathers of the settlers. Also, it was the wish of Harrison to populate the Northwest territory and convert territorial land into states. Harrison viewed Tecumseh as a threat to that happening. “He was heartily tired of living in a Territory, one of the fairest of the globe condemned to be a state of nature, the haunt of a few wretched savages” (Sugden, 1997, pg. 215).

            In 1809, Tecumseh focused heavily on building a confederacy to fight against white settler encroachment which consisted of Native Americans who resided in various locations. He managed to persuade Indians from the Old Northwest and the deep South to unite and resist. They accumulated enough strength to stop the whites from taking more land. Hope rose abundant while Indians from Canada, Minnesota and as far south as Florida joined forces to prevent whites from taking their precious land. By 1810, he managed to establish the Ohio Valley Confederacy and the following nations were part of the confederacy: Shawnee, Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Winnebago, Menominee, Ottawa, and Wyandot (History.com Editors, 2019). Tecumseh traveled great distances to promote his pan-Indian alliance. He persuaded many Native American people to join him through powerful speeches which involved their need to overcome the invaders’ takeover of their land. They needed to unite and resist the American way of life, the American government and assimilation. Native Americans needed to hold onto their Indian culture.

A large number of Native Americans lived at Prophetstown, the capital of the confederacy, and there were so many the white settlers asked the government to protect them. Prophetstown was established in recognition of Tecumseh’s brother, the prophet and was located near the Tippecanoe River in the Indiana Territory.

 

            A legendary meeting between Tecumseh and Harrison was held in Vincennes on August 15, 1810. Tecumseh wanted the meeting held at his headquarters and the capital of his Indian Confederacy, Prophetstown. Harrison refused so Tecumseh gave in to the governor’s demands. Tecumseh feared this was the man he was fighting for the northwest. Tecumseh led his associates into Vincennes and they camped near a clearing in a small grove of trees close to Grouseland where Harrison’s large two-story home with tall chimneys was located. Harrison and his followers, seated on a platform, motioned Tecumseh to take a seat. Tecumseh refused and said “was the most proper place for the Indians as they liked to repose upon the bosom of their mother” (Sugden, 1997, page 198). Tecumseh sat with his entourage on the grass in front of the platform.

In attendance at the conference were the territorial supreme court, the secretary of the territory, several army officers and unarmed citizens. Thirteen soldiers from Fort Knox stood guard. Tecumseh and several other Indians were in attendance along with the chief of the Weas who approved the treaty of Fort Wayne. The Potawatomi chief Winamek, a hated adversary, who lived under the threat of being killed for his indiscretions, also supported the aforementioned treaty. He remained silent while he sat next to Harrison on the grass armed, holding pistols.

The two men faced each other, Tecumseh was more passionate about why he was at the meeting while Harrison sat mildly alert. Tecumseh spent several days trying to convince Harrison to no avail about his point of view. Harrison listened to what Tecumseh had to say and would not give into Tecumseh’s requests. A short break occurred and when the conference resumed on August 20^th both sides were at a stalemate and immense tension existed between the two parties.

            Tecumseh continued to patiently try to make his point of stopping the invasion onto their  territory. He spoke about how the Americans identified individual tribes as owners of tracts of land for the purpose of future purchases. He was against the chiefs who had agreed to the land deals. Unsure if the treaties were approved by the American president, he spoke of them as being invalid and unfairly negotiated due to the ignorance of the Indian people who signed them. A meeting at Brownstown would be held in the near future to discuss the chiefs who signed the treaties and these individuals were to be punished, the deaths of these individuals rest with the United States. The Americans need to stop future treaties from being established. Harrison spent many years speaking with tribal leaders but he never met one like Tecumseh. Tecumseh spoke confidently for all tribes on the continent. Tecumseh did not support the use of war to solve land disagreements but felt future wars were unavoidable due to American policies. He pleaded for justice and avowed that his people were being oppressed. He stood firm and said they did not want annuities, they wanted their land (Sugden, 1997).

            “Brothers they want to save that piece of land. We do not wish you to take it. It is small enough for our purposes. If you do take it you must blame yourself as the cause of trouble between us and the tribes who sold it to you. I want to present boundary line to continue. Should you cross it, I assure you it will be productive of bad consequences” (Sugden, 1997, page 202).

            The Wyandot, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, and Winnebago speakers relayed the same message and stated that Tecumseh was their leader. Harrison and Tecumseh would not yield to  each other. Harrison said the lands were appropriately purchased. Both men saw no end to the conflict. The Governor told Tecumseh that he would send his concerns to the President.

            …”as the Great Chief is to determine the matter; I hope the Great Spirit will put some sense into his head to induce him to direct you to give up this land. It is true, he is so far off. He will not be injured by the war. He may still sit in his town, and drink his wine, whilst you and I will have to fight it out” (Sugden, 1997, page 202).

            The meeting ended without a satisfactory conclusion for either party. However, Tecumseh made the mistake of letting Harrison know that he planned to travel south to continue his recruitment of Indian people to join the confederacy. The unfortunate announcement served as the detriment to the confederacy and the future of the Native Americans.

           

            Tecumseh’s organized resistance led Harrison to travel to Prophetstown. He arrived during the evening of November 6, 1811. Soon after he arrived, he was met with a white flag requesting a cease fire until Tecumseh and Harrison could conduct a parley before any action was taken since Tecumseh was away recruiting warriors from the “Five Civilized Tribes.” The request represented a delay. Harrison was tired so he agreed to Tenskwatawa’s terms.

His military force settled on a hill approximately a mile from Prophetstown on the banks of Burnett Creek. He did not trust Tenskwatawa’s cease fire request. The troops were ordered to form a rectangular defensive position for the evening. The front line was armed with militia and 300 regulars in reserve in case reinforcement was necessary. The southern section fell under the command of Captain Spier Spencer of the Indiana Yellow Jackets named for the yellow overcoats they wore into battle.

Harrison’s fears were realized when Tenskwatawa (the Prophet) wanted to break the cease fire. Tecumseh warned his brother to not incite war until the Confederacy was strengthened. The Prophet stood on a rock ledge above Prophetstown which was called Prophet’s Rock and enraged his followers into battle by chanting and singing war songs. He promised his rantings would protect the warriors from bullets.

At 4:00 in the morning Harrison’s men were completely surrounded by the Prophet’s warriors. The warriors attacked the northern end of the American military rectangle and fired the first shots of the battle. The rest of the sleeping soldiers, awakened by the ruckus, joined the rest of the soldiers. A fierce attack occurred on the southern section of the American rectangle which caused Captain Spencer’s yellow jackets to retreat. Two commanding lieutenants lost their lives to the swarming warriors.

Harrison transferred Captain David Robb from the northern section to provide aid to the southern section of the rectangle. The warriors were forced to withdraw since Harrison augmented their defenses. A second wave of warrior attacks on the northern and southern flanks occurred. The Americans held their own against the fierceness of the attacks. The battle was being fought with equal force from both sides.

The fighting continued for approximately two hours until Harrison’s superior numbers and firepower forced the warriors to retreat. The braves returned to Prophetstown fed up with the Prophet’s failed promises to protect them. They abandoned Prophetstown, leaving it vulnerable to Harrison’s raid.

On November 8, 1811, Harrison rode into Prophetstown and torched the entire town. Tecumseh return-ed three months after the battle between Harrison and the Prophet’s warriors to find the town in complete ruins and no one around. Disheartened because the ruined headquarters of the Confederacy and the missing warriors meant the end of a dream which led to an end of much of the Indian resistance. All of Tecumseh’s hard work went down the drain. They more or less became sitting ducks in the face of a takeover of much of their land (Sugden, 1997).

            Tecumseh traveled to various parts of the country to recruit other tribes to participate in his effort to thwart the Euro-Americans take over of their land. He joined the British with his remaining followers during the War of 1812 in Michigan. He played a major role in defeating the American forces at the Siege of Detroit. After the defeat of Detroit, he joined British Major-General Henry Proctor’s regiment during the invasion of Ohio and again fought against Harrison and his troops. Harrison invaded Canada and the British were forced to flee. Harrison did not give up his grudge against Tecumseh. Harrison pursued Tecumseh and his warriors to the Thames River where Tecumseh was killed on October 5, 1813 (History.com Editors, 2019).

            Some historians in Canada refer to Tecumseh as the Father of Canada. He fought hard to conquer the Americans in Canada. He was relentless. His loyalty was never to Canada or to the British in Canada. His dream involved his pan-Indian movement that would secure land for his people, the land that was necessary for the Indian people to carry out their traditional way of life (Goltz, 1983).

            The destruction of Prophetstown led to the end of the confederacy Tecumseh brought together at Prophetstown. Harrison saw Tecumseh as a threat regarding his goal of populating the Northwest Territory with white settlers in his effort to convert territories into self-sufficient states. More and more land was needed to accommodate the onslaught of white settlers. A minimum 60,000 white people were needed to convert a territory into a state. Native Americans became more susceptible to Euro-American takeover of most of their land.

           

The Prophet’s Curse (Tecumseh’s brother Tenskwa-tawa)

“When Harrison was nominated as one of the stable of Whig candidates in 1836, the Shawnee Prophet, whom he had defeated in the Battle of Tippecanoe, emerged again to put a curse on him. ‘Harrison will not win this year to be the Great Chief,’ he predicted, ‘but he may win next time. If he does… he will not finish his term. He will die in office. […] And when he does, you will remember my brother Tecumseh’s death. You think that I have lost my powers. I who caused the sun to darken and red men to give up firewater. But I tell, Harrison will, and after him every Great Chief chosen every twenty years thereafter shall also die. When each one dies, let everyone remember the death of my people.’ An idle threat? Who knows? But the fact is, The twenty-year cycle of death played itself out with Harrison (1840), Lincoln (1860), Garfield (1880), McKinley (1900), Harding (1920), Franklin D. Roosevelt (1940), and Kennedy (1960). Only Ronald Reagan, elected in 1980, escaped the curse, though he was shot in an assassination attempt” (Matuz, 2012, page 161).