Potawatomi

The Potawatomi (also spelled Pottawatomie and Pottawatomi, among many variations) are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied to them by their Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) cousins. They originally called themselves Neshnabé, a cognate of the word Anishinaabe. The Potawatomi were part of a long term alliance with the Ojibwe and Ottawa, called the Council of Three Fires. In the Council of Three Fires, Potawatomi were considered the "youngest brother."

Name

The English "Potawatomi" is derived from the Ojibwe Boodawaadamii(g) (syncoped in the Ottawa as Boodwadmii(g)), but the Potawatomi's name for themselves is Bodéwadmi (without syncope: Bodéwademi; plural: Bodéwadmik), a cognate of Ojibwe form. Their name means “those who keep/tend the hearth-fire,” which refers to the hearth of the Council of Three Fires. The word itself comes from “to keep/tend the hearth-fire,” which is bodewadm (without syncope: bodewadem) in the Potawatomi language; the Ojibwe and Ottawa forms are boodawaadam and boodwaadam, respectively.

Alternatively, the Potawatomi call themselves Neshnabé (without syncope: Eneshenabé; plural: Neshnabék), a cognate of Ojibwe Anishinaabe(g), meaning “Original People.”

History

The Potawatomi are first mentioned in French records, which suggest that, in the early 17th century, they lived in what is now southwestern Michigan. During the Beaver Wars, they fled to the area around Green Bay to escape attacks by both the Iroquois and the Neutral Nation.

Potawatomi warriors were an important part of Tecumseh's Confederacy and took part in Tecumseh's War, the War of 1812 and the Peoria War, although their allegiance switched repeatedly between the British and the Americans.

At the time of the War of 1812, a band of Potawatomi were present near Fort Dearborn, in the current location of Chicago. This tribe was agitated by chiefs Blackbird and Nuscotomeg (Mad Sturgeon), and a force of about 500 attacked the evacuation column leaving Fort Dearborn; a majority of the civilians and 54 of Captain Nathan Heald's force were killed, along with many wounded. This attack is referred to as the Fort Dearborn massacre. A Potawatomi chief named Mucktypoke (Makdébki, Black Partridge), counseled against the attack and later saved some of the civilians that were being ransomed by the Potawatomi.^[1] There was also Potawatomi land in Crown Point, Indiana.

According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Indians purchased 1,280 acres (5.2 km²) of land near Shabbona, Illinois, in rural DeKalb County.

Leaders

French Period (1615–1763)

The French period of contact began with early explorers who reached the Potawatomi in western Michigan and then found the tribe located along the Door Peninsula of Wisconsin. By the end of the French period, the Potawatomi had begun a move to the Detroit area of Michigan, leaving the large communities in Wisconsin.^[1]

• Madouche during the Fox Wars
• Millouisillyny
• Onanghisse (Wnaneg-gizs "Shimmering Light") at Green Bay
• Otchik at Detroit

English Period (1763–1783)

The British period of contact began with the French removal at the end of the French and Indian War and was punctuated by Pontiac’s Rebellion and the capture of every British frontier garrison but one, at Detroit. The Potawatomi nation continued to grow and expanded westward from Detroit, most notably in the development of the St. Joseph villages adjacent to the Miami in southwestern Michigan. The Wisconsin communities continued and moved south along the Lake Michigan shoreline.^[1]

• Nanaquiba (Water Moccasin) at Detroit
• Ninivois at Detroit
• Peshibon at St. Joseph
• Washee (from Wabzi, "the Swan") at St. Joseph during Pontiac's Rebellion

American Treaty Period (1783–1830)

The American Treaty period of Potawatomi history began with the Treaty of Paris (1783), which ended the American Revolutionary War and established the United States' interest in the lower Great Lakes. It lasted until the treaties for removal were signed. The Potawatomi were recognized as a single tribe and there were often a few tribal leaders that all villages accepted. Still, the Potawatomi had a dispersed organization and belonged to several main divisions based on where they were located: Milwaukee or Wisconsin area, Detroit or Huron River, the St. Joseph River, the Kankakee River, Tippecanoe and Wabash Rivers, the Illinois River and Lake Peoria, and the Des Plaines and Fox Rivers. The Chiefs listed below are grouped by their geographic area.

Milwaukee Potawatomi

• Manamol^[1]
• Siggenauk (Siginak: "Le Tourneau" or "Blackbird")^[1]

Chicago Potawatomi

• Burnett^[2] (1790?–1871) or Abraham Burnett
• Billy Caldwell,^[1] also known as Sauganash (Zhaaganaash: "Englishman") (1780–1841)

Des Plaines and Fox River Potawatomi

• Mukatapenaise (Mkedébnés "Blackbird")^[1]
• Waubansee (He Causes Paleness))^[1]
• Waweachsetoh^[1] along with La Gesse, Gomo or Masemo (Resting Fish)

Illinois River Potawatomi

Shabbona

• Mucktypoke^[1] (Makdébki: "Black Partridge")
• Senachewine^[1] (d. 1831) (Petacho or Znajjewan "Difficult Current") was the brother of Gomo who was chief among the Lake Peoria Potawatomi
• Shabbona^[1] (1775–unk) (Zhabné "Hardy")

Kankakee River (Iroquois and Yellow Rivers) Potawatomi

• Main Poc^[1] , also known as Webebeset ("Crafty One")
• Micsawbee^[2] 1800s
• Notawkah^[1] (Rattlesnake) on the Yellow River
• Nuscotomeg^[1] (Neshkademég, "Mad Sturgeon") on the Iroquois and Kankakee Rivers
• Mesasa (Mezsézed, "Turkey Foot")^[1]

St. Joseph and Elkhart Potawatomi

• Chebass^[1] (Zhshibés: "Little Duck") on the St. Joseph River
• Five Medals (Wa-nyano-zhoneya: "Five-coin")^[1] on the Elkhart River
• Onaska^[2] on the Elkhart River
• Topinbee (He who sits Quietly) (??-1826)^[1]

Tippecanoe and Wabash River Potawatomi

• Aubenaubee^[1][2] (1761–1837/8) on the Tippecanoe River
• Askum^[1] (More and More) on the Eel River
• George Cicott^[2] (1800?–1833)
• Keesass on the Wabash River
• Kewanna^[2] (1790?–1840s?) (Prairie Chicken) Eel River
• Kinkash^[1] (see Askum)
• Magaago
• Monoquet^[1][2] (1790s–1830s) on the Tippecanoe River
• Tiosa^[2] on the Tippecanoe River
  

  

  Metea
• Winamac (Winmég, "Catfish")^[2]—allied with the British during the War of 1812
• Winamac (Winmég, "Catfish")^[2]—allied with the Americans during the War of 1812

Fort Wayne Potawatomi

• Metea^[2] (1760?–1827) (Mdewé "Sulks")
• Wabnaneme^[1][2] on the Pigeon River

American Removal Period (1830–1840)

The Removal period of Potawatomi history began with the treaties of the late 1820s when reservations were created, then continually reduced in size. The final step was the removal of the Illinois Potawatomi to Nebraska and then the Indiana Potawatomi to Kansas. The removal of the Indiana Potawatomi was documented by a Catholic priest, Benjamin Petit who accompanied the Indians on the Potawatomi Trail of Death. Petit died while returning to Indiana. His diary was published by the Indiana Historical Society in 1941. Many Potawatomi found ways to remain, primarily those in Michigan, and others fled to their Odawa neighbors or Canada to avoid removal.

• Iowa Wabash River
• Maumksuck (Mangzed, "Big Foot") at Lake Geneva
• Mecosta (Mkozdé, "Having a Bear's Foot")

Leopold Pokagon

• Menominee (1791?–1841) Twin Lakes of Marshall County
• Pamtipee of Nottawasippi
• Mackahtamoah (Mkedémwi, "Black Wolf") of Nottawasippi
• Pashpoho of Yellow River near Rochester, Indiana
• Pepinawah
• Pokagon (c. 1775–1800?)
• Simon Pokagon (1790s–??)
• Alexander Robinson (Chechepinquay (Jchebingwé, "Squinter"^[3])) (??–1872)
• Sauganash removed his band to what would become Council Bluffs, Iowa in 1838, living at Caldwell's Camp.
• Shupshewahno (1800s–1841) or Shipshewana (Vision of a Lion) at Shipshewana Lake.
• Topinbee (The Younger) on the St. Joseph River
• Wabanim (Wabnem, "White Dog") on the Iroquois River
• Michicaba (Snapping Turtle) on the Iroquois River
• Wanatah
• Weesionas (see Ashkum)
• Wewesh

Bands

Rain dance, Kansas, c. 1920

There are several active bands of Potawatomi:
Potawatomi bands in the United States—

• Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Oklahoma
• Forest County Potawatomi Community, Wisconsin
• Hannahville Indian Community, Michigan
• Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi (also known as the Gun Lake tribe), based in Dorr, Michigan in Allegan County, Michigan
• Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi, based in Calhoun County, Michigan
• Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Michigan and Indiana
• Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation, Kansas

Bands with significant Potawatomi population in Canada—

• Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, Bruce Peninsula, Ontario
• Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point, Ontario
• Moose Deer Point First Nation, Ontario
• Walpole Island First Nation on an unceded island between the United States and Canada
• Wasauksing First Nation, Parry Island, Ontario

Population

Clans

Chauvignerie (1736) and Morgan (1877) mentions among the Potawatomi doodems (clans) being:

Location

Trail of Death marker in Warren County, Indiana.

The Potawatomi first lived in lower Michigan, then moved to northern Wisconsin and eventually settled into northern Indiana and central Illinois. In the early 19th century, major portions of Potawatomi lands were seized by the U.S. government. Following the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, most of the Potawatomi people were forcibly removed from the tribe's lands. Many perished en route to new lands in the west through Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma, following what became known as the "Trail of Death".

Language

Potawatomi (also spelled Pottawatomie; in Potawatomi Bodéwadmimwen or Bodéwadmi Zheshmowen or Neshnabémwen) is a Central Algonquian language and is spoken around the Great Lakes in Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as in Kansas and in southern Ontario.^[10] There are fewer than 50 people who speak Potawatomi as a first language, most of them elderly.^[11] There is currently an effort underway to revitalize the language.

Potawatomi language is the most similar to the Odawa language; however, it also has borrowed a considerable amount of vocabulary from Sauk. Like the Odawa language, or the Ottawa dialect of the Anishinaabe language, the Potawatomi language exhibits great amount of vowel syncope.

Many places in the Midwest have names derived from the Potawatomi language, including Allegan, Waukegan, Muskegon, Oconomowoc and Skokie.

See also

• Potawatomi Trail of Death
• Treaty with the Potawatomi

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Potawatomi

•  "Potawatomi Indians". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Potawatomi_Indians. 
• Hannahville Indian Community; Wilson, MI
• Citizen Potawatomi Nation
• First Nations Compact Histories: Potawatomi History
• Forest County Potawatomi
• Kettle & Stony Point First Nation
• Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi (Gun Lake)
• Moose Deer Point First Nation
• Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi
• Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians
• Potawatomi Author Larry Mitchell
• Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation
• The Potawatomi in historical perspective
• Treaties with the Potawatomi
• Father Benjamin Petit