The Potawatomi Indians were the dominant tribe in the region of
Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and southern Michigan during the
seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Active participants in
the fur trade, and close friends with many French fur traders and
government leaders, the Potawatomis remained loyal to New France
throughout the colonial period, resisting the lure of the
inexpensive British trade goods that enticed some of their
neighbors into alliances with the British. During the colonial wars
Potawatomi warriors journeyed far to the south and east to fight
alongside their French allies against Braddock in Pennsylvania and
other British forces in New York.
As French fortunes in the Old Northwest declined, the
Potawatomis reluctantly shifted their allegiance to the British
Crown, fighting against the Americans during the Revolution, during
Tecumseh's uprising, and during the War of 1812.
The advancing tide of white settlement in the Potawatomi lands
after the wars brought many problems for the tribe. Resisting
attempts to convert them into farmers, they took on the life-style
of their old friends, the French traders. Raids into western
territories by more warlike members of the tribe brought strong
military reaction from the United States government and from white
settlers in the new territories. Finally, after great pressure by
government officials, the Potawatomis were forced to cede their
homelands to the United States in exchange for government
annuities. Although many of the treaties were fraudulent,
government agents forced the tribe to move west of the Mississippi,
often with much turmoil and suffering.
This volume, the first scholarly history of the Potawatomis and
their influence in the Old Northwest, is an important contribution
to American Indian history. Many of the tribe's leaders, long
forgotten, such as Main Poc, Siggenauk, Onanghisse, Five Medals,
and Billy Caldwell, played key roles in the development of
Indian-white relations in the Great Lakes region. The Potawatomi
experience also sheds light on the development of later United
States policy toward Indians of many other tribes.
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