Trail of Tears, arrival, November 4, 1838

They arrived at Pottawattomie Creek in Osawatomie, Kansas, on November 4, 1838. Per the treaty, houses were supposed to be built and ready but when they arrived, there were no houses.

Potawatomi Trail of Death - Diary of William Polke, 4 Nov. 1838:

“The day was consumed in making settlements with the officers. During the afternoon a considerable number of the Indians assembled at headquarters and expressed a desire to be heard in a speech.”

“Pe-pish-kay rose and in substance said – ‘That they had now arrived at their journey’s end—that the government must now be satisfied. They had been taken from homes affording them plenty, and brought to a desert—a wilderness—and were now to be scattered and left as the husbandman scatters his seed."

The Agent, Mr. Davis, they knew not, and his absence would not afford them an opportunity of deciding what they might expect from him. The Indians did not think such treatment of a character with that promised them in their treaties. They hoped Judge Polke, their friend, would remain with them and see that justice should be rendered. I promised to give it some thought.”


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