| During the first half of the 19th century the Potawatomi
Indians lost most of their lands in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and
Wisconsin. For the most part the Indians were either tricked or
threatened into giving up their land by the United States government. In 1830 President Andrew Jackson decided the US government needed to permanently remove all of the Native Americans living east of the Mississippi River. Urged on by the president. the United States Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. This law allowed Jackson to make treaties with Native Americans in the East who traded their lands for new territory in the Great Plains (Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma). In 1836 President Jackson signed a treaty with two Potawatomi brothers (Memat-way and Cha-quaw-ka-ko Toisa). This treaty signed away all of the Potawatomi land in Indiana and Illinois for $8000, minus the repayment of some of the Indian's debts. The US government also agreed to provide transportation, food, and shelter for the Potawatomi during their trip to their new lands in Kansas. No one is sure if these brothers were the actual leaders of the Potawatomi, but President Jackson accepted their signatures anyway. In 1838 the US government got around to removing the Potawatomi from Indiana and Illinois. The man in charge of the removal, General John Tipton, captured several of the leaders of the Potawatomi tribe to ensure there would be no uprising. He then proceeded to round up over 850 Potawatomi Indian people and marched them west at gunpoint from their Indian homeland, through Illinois, and finally into Kansas. Many walked the 660 mile distance, which took two months. The US Government had hired shady businessmen to provide the food, shelter, and water for this trip, and this decision caused a disaster. With rotten food, poor shelter, and a lack of water, many Potawatomi soon began to become ill and die. More than 40 died, mostly children, of typhoid fever and the stress of forced removal. Even their young priest, Rev. Benjamin Petit, became ill on the trail and died at the Jesuit seminary in St. Louis on February 10, 1838. What follows is the story of the Potawatomi Trail of Death told by the men and women who were a part of this tragedy. Click here to see a map of the Trail of Death! |
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created by Mr. Foley - last
update: 7-12-04