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The Potawatomi (Clifton, James A. (1978). "Potawatomi." In Northeast, ed. Bruce G. Trigger. Vol. 15 of Handbook of North American Indians, ed. William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, pg. 725), also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains, upper Mississippi River, and western Great Lakes region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. They are additionally First Nations in Canada. The Potawatomi call themselves Neshnabé, a cognate of the word Anishinaabe. The Potawatomi are part of a long-term alliance, called the Council of Three Fires, with the Ojibwe and Odawa (Ottawa). In the Council of Three Fires, the Potawatomi are considered the "youngest brother". Their people are referred to in this context as Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and refers to the council fire of three peoples.
In the 19th century, some bands of Potawatomi were pushed to the west by European/American encroachment. In the 1830s the federal government Indian Removal most from their lands east of the Mississippi River to Indian Territory—first in Kansas, Nebraska, and last to Oklahoma. Some bands survived in the Great Lakes region and today are federally recognized as tribes, in addition to the Potawatomi in Oklahoma.
Alternatively, the Potawatomi call themselves Neshnabé (without syncope: Eneshenabé; plural: Neshnabék), a cognate of Ojibwe Anishinaabe(g), meaning "original people".
The story that underlies these teaches the importance of patience and listening. It follows the Water Spider's journey to retrieve fire so that the other animals can survive the cold. As the other animals step forth one after another to proclaim that they shall be the ones to retrieve the fire, the Water Spider sits and waits while listening to her fellows. As they finish and wrestle with their fears, she steps forward and announces that she will be the one to bring fire back. As they laugh and doubt her, she weaves a bowl out of her web, using it to sail across the water to retrieve the fire. She brings back a hot coal out of which the animals make fire, and they celebrate her honor and bravery.
As an important part of Tecumseh's Confederacy, Potawatomi warriors took part in Tecumseh's War and the War of 1812. Their alliances switched repeatedly between United Kingdom and the United States as power relations shifted between the nations, and they calculated effects on their trade and land interests.
At the time of the War of 1812, a band of Potawatomi inhabited the area near Fort Dearborn, where Chicago developed. Led by the chiefs Blackbird and Nuscotomeg (Mad Sturgeon), a force of about 500 warriors attacked the United States evacuation column leaving Fort Dearborn. They killed most of the civilians and 54 of Captain Nathan Heald's force, and wounded many others. George Ronan, the first graduate of West Point to be killed in combat, died in this ambush. The incident is referred to as the Battle of Fort Dearborn. A Potawatomi chief named Mucktypoke (Makdébki, Black Partridge), counseled his fellow warriors against the attack. Later he saved some of the civilian captives who were being ransomed by the Potawatomi.Edmunds, R. David (1988). The Potawatomis: Keepers of the Fire. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press (Civilization of the American Indian Series);
The Potawatomi nation continued to grow and expanded westward from Detroit, most notably in the development of the St. Joseph villages adjacent to the Miami in southwestern Michigan. The Wisconsin communities continued and moved south along the Lake Michigan shoreline.
The chiefs listed below are grouped by geographic area.
The final step followed the Treaty of Chicago, negotiated in 1833 for the tribes by Caldwell and Robinson. In return for land cessions, the US promised new lands, annuities and supplies to enable the peoples to develop new homes. The Illinois Potawatomi were removed to Nebraska and the Indiana Potawatomi to Kansas, both west of the Mississippi River. Often annuities and supplies were reduced, or late in arrival, and the Potawatomi suffered after their relocations. Those in Kansas were later removed to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). The removal of the Indiana Potawatomi was documented by a Catholic priest, Benjamin Petit, who accompanied the Indians on the Potawatomi Trail of Death in 1838. Petit died while returning to Indiana in 1839. His diary was published in 1941, over 100 years after his death, by the Indiana Historical Society.
Many Potawatomi found ways to remain, primarily those in Michigan. Others fled to their Odawa neighbors or to Canada to avoid removal to the west.
The Potawatomi language is most similar to the Odawa language; it also has borrowed a considerable amount of vocabulary from Sauk people. Like the Odawa language, or the Ottawa dialect of the Anishinaabe language, the Potawatomi language exhibits a great amount of vowel syncope.
Many places in the Midwest have names derived from the Potawatomi language, including Waukegan, Muskegon, Oconomowoc, Pottawattamie County, Kalamazoo, and Skokie.
United States treaty period (1783–1830)
The United States treaty period of Potawatomi history began with the Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolutionary War and established the United States' interest in the lower Great Lakes. It lasted until the treaties for Indian removal were signed. The US recognized the Potawatomi as a single tribe. They often had a few tribal leaders whom all villages accepted. The Potawatomi had a decentralized society, with several main divisions based on geographic locations: Milwaukee or Wisconsin area, Detroit or Huron River, the St. Joseph River, the Kankakee River, Tippecanoe River and , the Illinois River and Lake Peoria, and the Des Plaines and Fox Rivers.
Milwaukee Potawatomi
Chicago Potawatomi
Des Plaines and Fox River Potawatomi
Illinois River Potawatomi
Kankakee River (Iroquois and Yellow Rivers) Potawatomi
St. Joseph and Elkhart Potawatomi
Tippecanoe and Wabash River Potawatomi
Fort Wayne Potawatomi
American removal period (1830–1840)
The removal period of Potawatomi history began with the treaties of the late 1820s, when the United States created reservations. Billy Caldwell and Alexander Robinson negotiated for the United Nations of Chippewa, Ottawa and Potowatomi in the Second Treaty of Prairie du Chien (1829), by which they ceded most of their lands in Wisconsin and Michigan. Some Potawatomi became religious followers of the "Kickapoo Prophet", Kennekuk. Over the years, the US reduced the size of the reservations under pressure for land by incoming European Americans.
Bands
There are several active bands of Potawatomi.
United States
Federally recognized Potawatomi tribes in the United States:
Canada – First Nations with Potawatomi people
Population
400 166 220 180 4,000 2,400 4,500 6,700
Clans
La Chauvignerie (1736) and Morgan (1877) mention among the Potawatomi (clans) being:
Ethnobotany
They regard Epigaea repens as their tribal flower and consider it to have come directly from their divinity.Smith, p. 118 Allium tricoccum is consumed in traditional Potawatomi cuisine.Smith, p. 104 They mix an infusion of the root of Uvularia grandiflora with lard and use it as salve to massage sore muscles and tendons.Smith, pp. 56, 57 64 They use Symphyotrichum novae-angliae as a fumigating reviver.Smith, p. 50. Vaccinium myrtilloides is part of their traditional cuisine, and is eaten fresh, dried, and canned.Smith, p. 99 They also use the root bark of the plant for an unspecified ailment.Smith, p. 57
Location
The Potawatomi first lived in Lower Michigan, then moved to northern Wisconsin and eventually settled into northern Indiana and central Illinois. In the early 19th century, major portions of Potawatomi lands were seized by the US government. Following the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, by which the tribe ceded its lands in Illinois, most of the Potawatomi people were removed to Indian Territory, west of the Mississippi River. Many perished en route to new lands in the west on their journey through Iowa, Kansas, and Indian Territory, following what became known as the "Trail of Death".
1615 East of Michilimackinac, MI Islands of Door Peninsula, WI (1st Fr) 1640 (until) with Hochunk (Winnebago) west of Green Bay, WI 1641 Sault Ste. Marie, MI 1670 Mouth of Green Bay, WI/MI 17th century Milwaukee River, WI 1780s on St. Joseph River, MI/IN
Language
Potawatomi (also spelled Pottawatomie; in Potawatomi Bodéwadmimwen or Bodéwadmi Zheshmowen or Neshnabémwen) is a Central Algonquian language and is spoken around the Great Lakes in Michigan and Wisconsin. It is also spoken by Potawatomi in Kansas, Oklahoma, and in southern Ontario.Moseley, Christopher (2007). Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages, p. 74. Routledge. . As of 2001, fewer than 1,300 people spoke Potawatomi as a first language, most of them elderly.Hinton, Leanne and Hale, Kenneth (2001). The Green Book of Language Revitalization in Practice, p. 342. Emerald Group Publishing. . The people are working to language revival, as evidenced by recent efforts such as the online Potawatomi language Dictionary created by the Citizen Potawatomi Nation or the various resources available through the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians.
Potawatomi people
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Categories: Algonquian Ethnonyms, Algonquian Peoples, Anishinaabe Groups, First Nations In Ontario, Great Lakes Tribes, Native American Tribes In Illinois, Native American Tribes In Indiana, Native American Tribes In Kansas, Native American Tribes In Michigan, Native American Tribes In Nebraska, Native American Tribes In Oklahoma, Native American Tribes In Wisconsin
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