Lithograph from a report of the 1832 "Indian Creek Massacre". Before White Settlement
Northern Illinois remained an impenetrable frontier much later than other parts of southern Illinois and Wisconsin. Although French settlements grew among the major waterways and trading routes throughout the 18th century, the interior prairie remained Indian country. The Potawatomi and Sauk controlled much of this territory, including Chicago and what was to become DeKalb County. All of the reports about Indian settlement in the area prior to 1838 relate to the incidents surround Chief Shabbona himself and the Black Hawk War.
The exact origins of Shabbona the man remain clouded in a repeated history of white fantasy. Born sometime around 1775 in Michigan, Ohio, or somewhere in Canada, Shabbona married into the Potawatomi elite and fought with Tecumsah in the War of 1812. Afterwards, all of the texts agree, Shabbona had a change of heart regarding the incoming white settlers and regarded their settlement inevitable. He is credited with the quote that “the army of pale faces you will have to encounter will be as numerous as the leaves on those trees”.[i] What is clear is that he refused to join Black Hawk and his British Band in 1832. He is also credited with warning white settlers in the area of impending attacks, with some reports of him travelling over 70 miles to Chicago give notice of Black Hawk’s plan. In May of 1832, a band of Potawatomi warriors attacked a settlement about 12 miles south of the future village that was on the same tributary of Indian Creek. Although Shabbona had warned the village of tensions arising from a dammed tributary, his calls had gone unheaded. Fifteen settlers were killed, and two teenage girls were taken hostage. Fears ran high about the “savage” nature of the increased hostility between the settlers and the local peoples. The writing of William Edwards reflects this fear in his rendition of the event. “No language can express the cruelties that were committed; in less than half an hour more than one half of the inhabitants were inhumanly butchered—they horribly mutilated both young and old, male and female, without distinction of age or sex!”[ii]. News of the “Massacre at Indian Creek” spread across Illinois and beyond to warn of Indian hostilities. A lithograph was produced with the story to further sensationalize the event (See photo above).
No one wanted to live in such a place where raving bands of warriors might terrorize white settlers. Northern Illinois and the northern Mississippi watershed remained a dangerous place for white settlers until the conclusion of the fighting in spring of 1833. Shabbona achieved special respect after the outcome of the conflict and as the “Peace Chief” of his band and was allowed to stay in the area. “He effectually aided the whites in the contest [of the Black Hawk War], and in consideration of his services the government reserved a tract of land for his use at Shabbona’s Grove…and gave him a pension of $200.”[iii] Even after the fighting, the first permanent white settlers in the Shabbona Grove area did not arrive until 1836.
[i] From: Robert Mann. 1964. “Shabbona: Friend of the White Men.” Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Nature Bulletin No. 748. http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/natbltn/700-799/nb748.htm. Other versions of the quote exist in other sources. The most common interaction (as documented on Wikipedia) as concerning the quote with Black Hawk: "Join me," Black Hawk told him, "and our warriors will number like the trees in the forests." To which Shabbona replied, "that is true, but the white men number like the leaves on those trees.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabbona. Accessed March 14, 2011.
[ii] Edwards, William P. 1832. Narrative of the Capture and Providential Escape of Misses Frances and Almira Hall, Two Respectable Young Women (Sisters) of the Ages of 16 and 18--Who Were Taken Prisoners By the Savages, at a Frontier Settlement, Near Indian Creek, in May Last, When Fifteen of the Inhabitants Fell Victims to the Bloody Tomahawk and Scalping Knife ; Among Whom Were the Parents of the Unfortunate Females. Likewise is Added, the Interesting Narrative of the Captivity and Sufferings of Philip Brigdon, A Kentuckian, Who Fell Into the Hands of the Merciless Savages on Their Return to Their Settlement, Three Days After the Bloody Massacre . New York. Northern Illinois University Libraries Digitization Projects. http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.47:2.lincoln Accessed March 14, 2011.
[iii] A.E. Strand. 1905. A History of the Norwegians of Illinois: A concise record of the struggles and achievements of the early settlers together with a narrative of what is now being done by the Norwegian-Americans of Illinois in the development of their adopted country. John Anderson Publish Company, Chicago. Page 58.
No comments:
Post a Comment