POTAWATAMI INDIANS

POTAWATAMI ARE NATIVES TO UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND THEY SPEAK THE POTAWATAMI LANGUAGE. THEIR SPEECH IS ALGONQUIN. THEY CALL THEMSELVES THE NESHABE, A WORD IN ANISHINABE. THEY ALSO CALLED THEMSELVES BODEWADNI OR KEEPERS OF THE FIRE. THEIR WERE PART OF A LONG TERM ALLIANCE CALLED THE COUNCIL OF THREE TRIBES - INCLUDING OJIBWA AND OTTAWA. THEY WERE CONSIDERED THE YOUNGEST BROTHER.

LONG AGO THEIR POPULATION WAS 10,000 AND THEY HAD 30 MILLION ACRES! A GREAT CHANGE OCCURED IN 1630 WHEN EUROPEANS ARRIVED. THEY ARRIVED ON EUROPEAN TECHNIQUES AND TRADE GOODS AND WERE ATTACHED TO THEIR POLITICAL AND MILITARY ALLIANCES. THEY LIVED IN SOUTHWESTERN MICHIGAN IN THE EARLY 1600'S. DURING THE BEAVER WARS, THEY FLED TO THE AREA AROUND GREEN BAY TO ESCAPE ATTACKS BY BOTH IROQUOIS AND OTHER TRIBES. THEIR WARRIORS WERE PART OF TECUMSEH'S CONFEDERACY AND WERE IN THE TECUMSEH WAR OF 1812.

DURING THE WAR OF 1812, A BAND OF POTAWATAMI WERE PRESENT NEAR FORT DEARBORN. THEIR CHIEFS LED ABOUT 500 WARRIORS. TO ATTACK FORT DEARBORN. THEY KILLED A MAJORITY OF THE SOLDIERS AND 54 OF A GROUP OF SOLDIERS UNDER CAPTAIN HERALD.

ONE POTAWATAMI CHIEF, MAKDEBKI, COUNSELED AGAINST THE ATTACK AND LATER SERVED SOME OF THE CIVILIANS. TODAY THESE FOLKS ARE THRIVING. THEY HAVE HEALTH SERVICES, EDUCATION, A CASINO AND OTHER BUSINESSES. THE TREATY OF PARIS IN 1783 ENDED THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR AND ESTABLISHED THE U S INTEREST IN THE GREAT LAKES. THE TRIBE HAD A DECENTRALIZED SOCIETY.

THERE WAS AN AMERICAN REMOVAL PERIOD IN 1830 TO 1840. DURING THIS TIME THE U.S. GOVERNMENT CREATED RESERVATIONS. THE POTAWATAMI WERE REMOVED TO NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. MANY FOUND WAYS TO TO REMAIN AND OTHERS FLED TO CANADA. THEY HAS 18 CLANS. TODAY ABOUT 1300 SPEAK POTAWATAMI AS A FIRST LANGUANGE.

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