The Penn's Grove record., 1894-07-06
LAST OF A GREAT RACE,
Reduced to a Remnant OF $50 Souls
Tine Government Grants Them q
Claim of $156,OOO.

4 hNAAAACfu W - VI SoA
the Government Grants Them q
Claim of $156,ooO.
TTHAT popular Western maxim,
"There is no good Indian but
q dead one, will hardly apply
q tr~uthfully to the remnant OF
the Pottawatomie tribe of Indians who
are now domiciled on their early hunt
ing grounds in southwestern Michigan.
They are the descendants of the band
that drove the eighty Illinois Indians
| on 'tStnrved Rock" sat down aboutits
base and calmly waited untilthe last of
| their victims had persisted. They are
pretty good Indians now from force OF
circumstances. They work as much'as
they must, wear the clothes of civiliza-
ton, drink firewater, cling to'their old
language and confess their sins to tho
good priests, for the Pottawatomie5
have been within the foldof the church
since Father Marquette established o
mission among them. For the rest,
they preserve the purity of their rnce,
and have q soeiable habit of not under
standing English when it suits them.
Just now these erstwhile children oil
the forest are in high glee over the fact
that their long-pending claim against
the Government has been allowed, and
that the sum of 5156, 900 will Don be
distributed among the tribe.
The remnants OF this once powerful
end warlike tribe, who for over q CEN
fury dominated southwestern Michigan
and around whose campfres thousands
Of braves clustered, now aggregate
about 80 souls. This number is yearly
growing less, so rapidly in fact that a
few year viii witness their entire ex-
tinction.
Chief PoIagon is the last OF the
Pottawatomie chiefs. When he goes
to the happy hunting grounds, whittier
have countless numbers of his ances-
try, there ends all that is left of old
tribal customs, chiefs, warriors and
their succession of authority. The mi
L,Itiwestern to the southeastern shore
Of Lake Michigan took place during
the first decade of the Eighteenth Cen
tury. Twenty years later the Potta-
watomies were found to have dispos-
sesEed the Mamis and spread them
selves over q vast area of additional
territory, reaching from the vicinity of
Chicago around the lake northward to
the Grand River and eastward to in
clude the valleys of that stream and the
Kalamazoo. This region they held in
undisputed possession for n century
and n quarter, getting themselves
mixed up in all the trouble that was
brewing. They were the implacable
enemies of the English and the loyal
lovers of the French. In the French
and Indian war they fought bravely for
the French and were not disposed to
give their territory over to English
rule after peace was declared. Their
hatred of the English domination made
them willing and eager TO enter the
conspiracy originated by Pontiac, and
the final details OF the plot were ar
ranged in a camp of this tribe. The
slaughter of the garrison at st. Joseph,
which they performed in the most thor
ough and savage manner, was the prin-
cipal exploit of the Pottawatomies in
this series of hostilities. In 1884
this tribe was represented among
the Indian hordes who opposed mad
Anthony" Wayne, but returned from
the battle on the Maumee humbled and
crestfallen. About the commencement
of the present century the United
States Government sought to negotiate
with the Indians Tor land at the mouth
of the st. Joseph River to establish q
fort, but the red proprietors refused,
and the location of Chicago was select
ed, upon which Fort Dearborn was
erected in 1904. They united with the
tribes under Tecumseh, and a detach-
ment of warriors participated in the
of the garrison at Fort Dear
born which was marching eastward
after evacuating the fort. In several
other engagements during the war of
1912 the warriors from this tribe took
an active part, of which the principal
and last was the battle of the Thames.
This was the last battle ground of the
Pottawatomies. They sued for peace, |
retired to their villages and never
raised the to:nahawk again. The spirit
of warfare in them was broken forever,
and they had only the strength to re-
sist an attempt to remove them beyond
the Mississippi in 1888. These Indians
were induced, as they claim, fraudu-
to sell their reserves on Lake
which were good hunting
grounds and convenient to missions.
The tribe then settled in Van Buren,
and Cass Counties, where they are now,
some of them buying small farms and
others building cabins away from the
roads.
While some individual members are
considerably advanced in civilization,
the most of them cannot speak Eng
fish intelligibly, and in no household
is that the common tongue. The
blanket has entirely disappeared dur
ing the past few years, but some fami-
lien may be seen preparing their homi-
ny by means of the wooden mortar
and pestle. Chief Pockagon is about
years old and was born in the
.ass County settlement. With him
and q family of chiefs and he bemoans
the intense ignorance and laziness of
MS remaining people. SIT isn't natu-
raj for them to work and be as other
people," he says sadly. Civilization
kills them OFF. They live in huts that
they keep red hot, then go out on hunt
ing trips for o week and sleep with no
Consumption takes them and
are other diseases hat rage !,
among them. They used to have
wagons and property, but most of
hem drank them up. They can earn
to fifty cents q day cutting
The deaths annually outnum-
Der the births and an Indian of fifty
Tears is a rarity. Bits of legend will
loon only remain to tell the tale of