Trail of Tears September 12 & 13, 1838

Potawatomi Trail of Death - Diary of William Polke, 12 Sept. 1838: “At half past 8 o’clock we struck our tents and started on the march. At 11 we reached and forded the Tippecanoe River. A little after 12 we passed the Battle Ground and at one arrived at our present encampment (Battle Ground).”

“Distance from the encampment of yesterday fifteen miles. Immediately after our arrival the Indians were collected, and dry goods consisting of cloths, blankets, calicoes, etc., to the amount of $5469.81 were distributed among them.”

“Nothing of importance occurred during the remainder of the day. The Indians appeared to be well satisfied with the distribution of the goods. A very old woman—the mother of the chief We-wiss-sa—said to be upwards of an hundred years old, died since coming into camp.” Painting of Chat-O-Nis-See by James Otto Lewis, 1836.


Father Petit wrote: “The order of the march was as follows: the United States flag, carried by a dragoon (soldier); 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 or 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 40 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 thus.”

Potawatomi Trail of Death - Diary of William Polke, 13 Sept. 1838: 

“We commenced our journey this morning about nine o’clock, and after traveling until four this afternoon, reached the encampment near Lagrange—some 18 miles from the camp of yesterday. With the exception of the sultry heat of noon-day and the excessive dust of the roads, our marches are very pleasant. 

This evening two neighboring physicians, Drs. Ritchie & Son were called into camp (the situation of the sick demanding it) and have visited and prescribed for most of those indisposed. They report 106 cases of sickness.”  

Picture of Pach-E-Po, a young Potawatomi chief. He became chief after his father, Me-O-Ne-Me, who served with General Harrison, was killed at the River Thames.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sacred - a definition - and the Eagle (Kno)

Image
I  want to clarify what I see with the word ‘sacred,’ as used in our stories.  Some people mistakenly think that we worship all things labeled sacred, and that there are multiple gods - not true.  My little granddaughter even asked me, “What about the rain god?”  I don’t know where she got that idea, but I told her we only have Creator, with lots of different words for that concept, like Mnedo (spirit), Shemendo (great spirit), Mamogosnan (father of us all), God.  Sacred, whether Eagle, the four medicines, or others are due the highest respect. We give thanks to them, but we don’t ‘worship’ them, if that distinction makes sense. For example, the drum is sacred; it is blessed with tobacco before being played to welcome the voice and heartbeat of our ancestors. With that in mind, a story about the importance of Eagle (directly from potawatomi.org) Long ago Creator, Mamogosnan (our great father), became angry with mankind because they  did not live i...
Read more

Sweat Lodge

Yes, I have done sweat lodge.  Once.  And I plan to attend again. And I recommend it. When I was invited, the message was very respectful, “I want you to know that this is a very protected space, no creepy folks, no nakedness, I know everyone attending and I can vouch for each one.” The space is on Cowlitz tribal land and there is much symbolism in the layout. The structure is a dome wigwam; the number of ribs (five) is symbolic; heavy blankets make the walls; the opening is to the east (the direction of sunrise; the direction of new beginnings); there is an ‘umbilical’ line to the east of the opening that you should not cross because it leads to the fire where the stones — and the stones are the ancestors — are being heated. Since I’ve only been once, I can only describe how this program was run.  I have been told that another type, a “warrior sweat” is a crazy situation where they bring in a ton of stones (like 40) at a time and pour a whole bucket of water on... ...
Read more

Naming ceremony

I hope to have a naming ceremony sometime before October 1 to receive my Native name. Everyone is welcome to attend (at my home) and I will publicize the date as soon as I know. What happens in the ceremony?  I haven’t seen one, but this is directly from our CPN web site: An aspect of traditional Potawatomi culture, the naming ceremony, has reemerged in recent years. Traditionally, Potawatomi believe that when a child is born, the Creator cannot see their face. In order to show the child to the Creator, the tribe would have a ceremony and the child was given a name. Centuries of forced removals and interactions with missionaries curbed the practice, but in an effort to strengthen our tribal bonds, members of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation have conducted several ceremonies in recent years. Before a naming ceremony takes place, an individual seeking to be named must find two sponsors, a man and a woman, who will go through the ceremony with them. The sponsors are like godpare...
Read more