“In 1838, the state and federal governments forced the Potawatomi (pot-uh-wot-uh-mee) people to leave their Indiana homelands to make way for European settlers who wanted Potawatomi lands. From September 4 to November 4, 1838, the United States forcibly removed a band of 859 Potawatomi and marched them from northern Indiana to present-day Kansas.” The Potawatomi made the 660-mile trek in harsh weather and without adequate footwear, food, or water.

On September 4, General John Tipton’s volunteer militia tied up Potawatomi leader Menominee and set fire to Potawatomi homes. The militia then shackled Menominee and two other chiefs, Black Wolf and Pepinawa, and restrained them in the back of a wagon. They forced the Potawatomi to march west on foot and horseback.

Twelve days later, the caravan crossed from Indiana into Illinois, where they camped in Danville. “A Catholic missionary, Father Benjamin Petit, accompanied the Potawatomi on the forced removal.” Petit was able to get the three captives released from the wagon after giving his word that they would not escape.

In Danville, the Potawatomi were allowed to go hunting for food. It was extremely hot and the roads they’d been traveling on were “choked with dust.” A probable typhoid epidemic in the area caused illness and death among the Potawatomi.

The caravan moved further west across the drought-stricken Illinois prairie. On September 23, they crossed the Sangamon River. In Monticello, known then as Pyatt’s Point, Judge Polke replaced Tipton and led the rest of the way.

In Decatur, Potawatomi health seemed to improve. Polke promised the Potawatomi tobacco if they ‘presented well’ in Springfield. He and Chief I-o-weh “encouraged the tribe to exhibit pride, so they put on their best clothes, arranged themselves into line, and marched through the streets of Springfield.”

On October 1, the caravan arrived in Jacksonville, where a girl from Chief Metteah’s family “fell under the wheels of a wagon and was crushed to death.” The camp was serenaded by the Jacksonville Band that night.

The caravan camped near Quincy from October 8 through October 10. The Potawatomi, including a girl named Equa-Ke-Sec (Wa-Sech-Ki-Mo-Kwe), attended mass at St. Boniface Church. The girl was “one of the few children to survive the treacherous journey.”
“The trial ended on November 4 at Osawatomie, Kansas. The 756 remaining Potawatomi—over 40 had died on the trail, others had run away—had been promised houses as part of the resettlement. They found empty land and a landscape settling into the pre-winter cold.”

On the Illinois portion of the Trail of Death today, commemorative markers honor the Potawatomi and those who died along the way. Every five years, an organized caravan of Potawatomi retraces the original route their ancestors took in 1838.

For more stories from the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area, visit lookingforlincoln.org.