The Potawatomi Indians by Otho Winger

Author:Otho Winger [Winger, Otho]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781839743849
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Barakaldo Books
Published: 2020-04-23T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER VIII—THE PRAIRIE POTAWATOMI IN NORTHERN ILLINOIS AND SOUTHERN WISCONSIN

There has been considerable discussion about the relationship of the names “Potawatomi” and “Mascoutens.” There is no intention here to discuss the matter more than to give some well-known explanations. The usual explanation of the term “Potawatomi” is “People of the Place of Fire.” The most common explanation of the term “Mascoutens” is “People of the Little Prairie.” With due regard to other explanations this one seems best: That the name “Mascoutens” was first applied to a small group of the Potawatomi who left the main tribe of the Potawatomi in Wisconsin and moved south to the prairie country of southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. As others moved southward this term became applied to them also. In time the larger group of the Potawatomi were those in the prairie country and were also called “Mascoutens.” So the name is often applied to the whole tribe of the Potawatomi. But since the Potawatomi of the prairie are so different from the Potawatomi of the northern forests, they came to distinguish them as the Prairie Potawatomi and the Forest Potawatomi. It is with the former that our history mainly deals. The Forest Potawatomi did not come in touch with the Americans as much as the Prairie band.

Just when the Mascoutens came into the prairies is not certain. No doubt their coming was gradual, but they grew rapidly. By 1765 they had become so powerful that by the aid of the Kickapoo and the Miami they were able to challenge the powerful Illinois and practically destroy them. Then in turn they drove the Miamis to the east out of the prairie country. They were more closely related to the Kickapoo and were on friendly terms with them. They lived in great numbers along the north side of the Illinois opposite Starved Rock, between the present cities of LaSalle and Morris. The present village of Utica was the center of their camps and villages.

The upper Illinois and its tributaries, the Fox, the Des Plaines and the Kankakee, were Potawatomi streams. On the prairies north of Morris was the village of Chief Shabbona. He was one of the most admirable of all Potawatomi chiefs. His own village at Shabbona Grove and the nearby village of Assiminekon at Paw Paw Grove were on the western fringe of the Potawatomi settlements. Along the Fox River were a number of small villages, chief of which were the village of Shaytee near the present city of Geneva and that of Waubunsee at Aurora.

There has been some question as to where Waubunsee lived, but the Aurora historians claim that it was where their city now stands. This chief was a combination of some admirable traits with some of the most savage. He was daring and knew no fear. He avenged himself for the death of a friend at the hand of the Osages by boldly entering a village at night and securing a scalp. He was a willing and active supporter of Tecumseh.

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