The Coolidge examiner., 1935-09-20
BY Etno scoTr WATSON

By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
THE number % places which bear
p n his name IN any critericn. then
osceola os the Ssmlnoles was the
IL ~ greatest Indian In American his
III R1I tory. For other red man has
IkSGA thus been honored 40 many times
ii - u seems appropriate enough that
- the state of Florida should have
both an Oxcecla county and a vi.
lage % osceola Tor u was down IN the Ever
Elades country that he wrote his name IN letters
% blood a century ago. Bot why should L other
commonwealths similarly perpeiuate his nafne'
Is Il because the white men. remembering bow
they made the Seminole leader the victim Of one
% the blackcsi acts % treachery on record. have
tried 20 make tardy amends 10 his memory By
dottlnE the map with bis namel or is II more
likely that iis musical syisbles responsible
for there being towns IN Arkansas. Illinois, lnd
ana. Missouri. New York. ohic Pennsylvania
South Dakota and Wisconsin. a county ia Iowa
and both a town and a county In Michigan and
Nebraska al bearing The name % Osceola?
oscccla vas born on the Tailapoosa river in
the Greek country In 1919. Ills paterual grand
father was a Scoichman who married an Indian
woman and this Caucasian strain gave 20 bis
grandson NOT oniy a strikingy light complexion
but also such a Eift for leadership that his
tribesmen accepted him as n head warrior even
though be wis net chief either by descent oF
hy formal clrction. lie first rose 10 prominence
In lss2 When a part % the Seminoles signed the
Treaty - Payues Landing by which they agreed
% cede the remainder % their lands Ia Florida
tthey had given up the most of them ia is23)
aua remove across the Mississippi
Next 10 osceola the Indian whose fame Is thus
perpetuaied most frequently Is the heroine OF
one of our ~ vorite legends Pocahonias Again
q Is a case OF our failure 70 immorialixe the
real name of the person We would thus honor.
For the real name OF Pocahontas was Matoaka
Matowaka. also mlsspelled Matoka and Ma
toakS Bu, Powhatan. chief of a group Of vir-
slna tribes az the time % the settlement OF
jamestown. had pet name for his fayoriie
daughter Pokahantes. ~the playful one" be
called her. 80 the English settlers soon were
fcrring 20 this Indian princess" as Poeahontas.
Although some historians are doubtful II the
romantic episode OF her rescue OF Capt John
Smith from death ever took place that story
seems 10 De an impcrshahle part OF our national
tradition. II indeed II did take place then her
act shines all the more brightly by contrast with
the treachery which she experienced later. For
she lured board the ship Of Captain
Argall IN the Potomac. carried or 10 jamestown
and afierward taken 10 Powhatans village. where
the chief had 20 ransom his dearest daughter"
The next year Pocahcntas. who had been con
yertcd TO Christianity and baptized under the
name of "the Lady Rebccca." was married TO
John Rolfe and accompanied him 10 England
where she died OF smallpox In 1917 Besides
being lmmoriaiized in TWO famous paintings and
a statue near jamestown. her fame Is perpetu-
aied In towns In Alshana Arkansas. Illinois
Tennessee and Virginia. In a county In West
Virginia and in both town and a county In
Iowa.
Another Iowa town and county also preserve
the name of an Indian more intimately connected
with the history OF that state than was either
osceola or Pccahontas Among his own people.
the Sauk and Fox Indians be was known as
Aa Aakaiawimesheka'kaa the big black sparrow
hawk" But the white man remembers him as
another red man who tried TO hold back the
tide of white settlement. as the vanqulshed leader
in the Black Hawk war OF iS}2
Black Hawk was born near the Rock river IN
Illinois in l76T. became war leader against the
tribal enemies OF the Sauk. fought on the side
81 the British in the War OF 1912 and at the
close 81 thar war signed the treaty by which
his people agreed 10 give up their home lands
and move across the Mississippi Then. deelar-
Ing that he had been deceived regarding the
terms Of the treaty. he refused 10 move and
troops were sent to drive him out. After several
battles he suffered a crushing defeat In Wscon-
sin. was captured by Winnebago allies OF the
whites and taken prisoner OF war TO Fortress
Monroe. Va After his release he made his home
In Iowa where he died October 3 1s3S Besides
the town and county in Iowa which bear his
name there are also towns OF Black Hawk In
Illinois. Indiana. South Dakota and Colorado
although the latter perpetuates the name OF
Ute chief by that name rather than that OF the
Sauk leader.
Long before Black Hawk tried to resist the
advance Of the white men, two other chiefs had
also tried and failed One OF them was Pontiac
the ottawa. whose famous conspiracy" against
the English In lT63 came so near being a success
and the other was Tecumseh. the Shawnee Both
sf them were born In Ohc-Pontiac the
shores OF the Maumee river In 1920 and Tecum-
sch on the Mad river in 176S-but there is no
town IL the Buckeye state TO recall the name OF
either. Pontiac was murdered by a Kaskaska
Indian az Cahokia, H. in 1869, and Illinois has