POKAGON, SIMON: 1830-1899.
Whether Simon Pokagon , last chief of the Pottawattamie Tribe in the midwest, was born in Indiana or Michigan is a matter of only a few rods, one way or the other. His tribe claimed the territory for many miles along the southern shores of Lake Michigan, without regard to territorial lines imposed by the whites, and the village of his father, Chief Leopold Pokagon, as reported by Daniel McDonald in his History of the Removal of the Pottawattamie lndians from Northern lndiana, "was located on the line between Indiana and Michigan , north of South Bend and about one mile west of the St. Joseph River."
The tribe was forced to sell its lands–including the sites of Chicago, Hammond, Gary, Elkhart, South Bend and many other cities–by treaty, payment being made sixty years later. The Pottawattamies were expected to take lands in the West, but those offered were barren and they resisted. Finally they were taken by force, and their removal west of the Mississippi was one of the major scandals of Indian management.
The Pottawattamies in this locality had been educated and instructed in religion for decades by the Catholic fathers and by the Rev. Isaac McCoy's Carey Mission near Niles, Mich. Some of those less amenable to culture were willing to make the western move had decent lands been offered, but many preferred to keep their Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan lands and to continue their farming. In the late Thirties Gen. John Tipton, then Indian agent, enlisted the northern militia companies, herded together all the Pottawattamies that could be caught, and drove them to the Indian territory, page: 258[View Page 258] a large percent of the victims dying on the way, due to a total lack of preparation or arrangement for their care or comfort.
Pokagon's and a few other small bands then residing in Michigan escaped removal and managed to retain a little swamp and dune land upon which they eked out an existence until time brought about either their oblivion or their assimilation.
Simon Pokagon was born at his father's town in 1830, shortly before the general removal. Chief Leopold, his father, a wise leader and a Christian, died in 1840 or 1841. Leopold's wife, Elizabeth, encouraged their son to gain an education.
At fourteen, when he entered the preparatory department of Notre Dame University, he spoke only his native language. He remained at Notre Dame three years, attended Oberlin College for one year, and studied at Twinsburg, O., for two years more.
By 1860 he was back with his people, recognized as chief of the eastern Pottawattamies and a leader in race betterment. He had a knowledge of Greek and Latin, translated at least a thousand sermons into his language, learned to play the organ in order to accompany church services, wrote verse and prose for publication, and, year in and year out, devoted his efforts to securing the payment for his people's lands, which the government, characteristically in such matters, withheld. Finally, in 1897, when the value of the lands involved had risen to perhaps two or three thousand times the price promised the Pottawattamies, the original $150,000 was paid.
During his later years Pokagon lectured widely and contributed to such currently leading periodicals as HARPER'S, THE ARENA, THE CHAUTAUQUAN, REVIEW OF REVIEWS, and THE FORUM. He appeared at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, representing his people as original owners of Chicago lands (then still not paid for) and was enthusiastically received.
Simon Pokagon died at his home in Lee Township, Allegan County, Mich., on Jan. 27, 1899.
Information from Pokagon–O-Gi-Maw-Kwe Mit-I-Gwa-Ki; McDonald–Removal of the Pottawattamies from Northern Indiana; Indiana Historical Society–The Tipton Papers, etc.
- The Red Man's Greeting. (Printed on birchbark.)
Hartford, Mich., 1893.
- O-Gi-Maw-Kwe Mit-I-Gwa-Ki (Queen of the Woods). Also Brief
Sketch of the Algaic Language. Hartford, Mich.,
1899.
