Leopold Pokagon
Encyclopedia
Leopold Pokagon was a Potawatomi
Potawatomi
The Potawatomi are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied...
Wkema (leader). Taking over from Topinbee, who died in 1826, Pokagon became the head of the Potawatomi of the Saint Joseph River
St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan)
The St. Joseph River is a river, approximately long, in southern Michigan and northern Indiana in the United States. It drains a primarily rural farming area in the watershed of Lake Michigan...
Valley in Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, a band that later took his name
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians are Algonquian-speaking Potawatomi-people located in southwestern Michigan and northeastern Indiana. Tribal government functions are located in Dowagiac, Michigan. The tribal membership has grown to approximately 4,563 members as of 2009. Pokagons originated as a...
.
Early life and education
Pokagon's early life is surrounded by legend, and many details are known only in the oral histories of the tribe. Stories suggest that he was born an OdawaOdawa people
The Odawa or Ottawa, said to mean "traders," are a Native American and First Nations people. They are one of the Anishinaabeg, related to but distinct from the Ojibwe nation. Their original homelands are located on Manitoulin Island, near the northern shores of Lake Huron, on the Bruce Peninsula in...
or Ojibwe, but was raised from a young age by the Potawatomi. His name, Pokagon, poké-igan, means "the rib," but literally means "something used to shield". As the ribs shield the heart, so too did Pokagon shield his people.
Career
Pokagon emerged as a very successful tribal leader after 1825. In the last decade of his life, Pokagon sought to protect and promote the unique position of the Potawatomi communities living in the St. Joseph River Valley. He traveled to Detroit in July 1830, where he visited Father Gabriel Richard to request the services of a "black robe" (makatékonéya, literally "dressed in black," referring to the black robe (cassock) traditionally worn by priests). He believed that affiliation with the Catholic Church represented an important political alliance in the struggle to avoid removal. That same year, Pokagon and his wife Elizabeth were baptized by Father Frederick Rese, the vicar general of the Detroit Diocese, along with numerous fellow band members. In August 1830, Father Stephen Badin arrived to establish a mission to serve the Pokagon Potawatomi. By converting to Catholicism, the Potawatomi of the St. Joseph River Valley affirmed a new identity as the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi.In 1833, Pokagon negotiated an amendment to the Treaty of Chicago
Treaty of Chicago
The Treaty of Chicago may refer to either of two treaties made and signed in Chicago, Illinois between the United States and the Ottawa, Ojibwe , and Potawatomi Native American peoples.-1821 Treaty of Chicago:...
(1833) that allowed Pokagon's Band to remain on the land of their ancestors in Michigan. Nearly all the rest of the Potawatomi were to be moved west of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
by the federal government following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. By abstaining from alcohol at the treaty negotiations held in Chicago in 1833, and emphasizing his and his followers' conversion to Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
, Pokagon secured a special provision in the 1833 Treaty. Later the Pokagon Band removed to L'arbre Croche
Harbor Springs, Michigan
Harbor Springs is a city and resort community in Emmet County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,567 at the 2000 census.Harbor Springs is in a sheltered bay on the north shore of the Little Traverse Bay on Lake Michigan. The Little Traverse Lighthouse is a historic lighthouse on...
(Waaganaakising, land of the crooked tree, literally where the crooked tree is). Pokagon ultimately used the monies paid pursuant to the Treaty to purchase lands for his people in Silver Creek Township
Silver Creek Township, Michigan
Silver Creek Township is a civil township of Cass County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,491 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
, near Dowagiac, Michigan
Dowagiac, Michigan
Dowagiac is a city in Cass County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 6,147 at the 2000 census. It is part of the South Bend–Mishawaka, IN-MI, Metropolitan Statistical Area....
. He patented the land in his name and becoming a private land owner same as the surrounding settlers.
The Catholic Potawatomi throughout southwest Michigan and northwest Indiana acknowledged Pokagon as their leader. Ever since, the Indian villages from Hartford
Hartford, Michigan
Hartford is a city in Van Buren County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,476 at the 2000 census. The city is located within Hartford Township, but is politically independent.-Geography:...
, Rush Lake, Dowagiac
Dowagiac, Michigan
Dowagiac is a city in Cass County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 6,147 at the 2000 census. It is part of the South Bend–Mishawaka, IN-MI, Metropolitan Statistical Area....
, Niles
Niles, Michigan
Niles is a city in Berrien and Cass counties in the U.S. state of Michigan, near South Bend, Indiana. The population was 11,600 at the 2010 census. It is the greater populated of two principal cities of and included in the Niles-Benton Harbor, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a...
, Buchanan
Buchanan, Michigan
Buchanan is a city in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,681 at the 2000 census. The city is located at the southeast corner of Buchanan Township, about 5 miles west of Niles. It was named after James Buchanan, the 15th President of the United States...
in Michigan and South Bend
South Bend, Indiana
The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663...
in Indiana have been united under a common identity, Pokégan Bodéwadmik débéndagozwad (Pokagon Potawatomies they belong to).
In 1841, Pokagon obtained the assistance of Associate Michigan Supreme Court Justice Epaphroditus Ransom
Epaphroditus Ransom
Epaphroditus Ransom was the seventh Governor of Michigan and Michigan Supreme Court justice from the U.S. state of Michigan.-Early life in Massachusetts and Vermont:...
to halt US military attempts to remove the Catholic Potawatomi in violation of the 1833 Treaty. After Pokagon’s death on July 8, 1841, disputes between his heirs, the Potowatomi, and the Catholic Church over ownership of the Silver Creek lands resulted in legal battles that painfully disrupted the community. A majority of the residents living at Silver Creek moved to Brush Creek, Rush Lake and elsewhere in southwest Michigan and northwest Indiana. The Potowatomi worked to secure the annuities and other promises owed them under the terms of the many treaties they had signed with the United States.
Today, the tribe continues as the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians are Algonquian-speaking Potawatomi-people located in southwestern Michigan and northeastern Indiana. Tribal government functions are located in Dowagiac, Michigan. The tribal membership has grown to approximately 4,563 members as of 2009. Pokagons originated as a...
, a federally recognized Indian Nation, with an excess of 4300 citizens and a ten-county service area in northwest Indiana and southwest Michigan. Tribal headquarters are located in Dowagiac, Michigan, with a satellite office in South Bend, Indiana. The Tribal Police force operates a substation in New Buffalo, Michigan
New Buffalo, Michigan
New Buffalo is a city in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,200 at the 2000 census. This city is within New Buffalo Township, but is politically autonomous.-Geography:...
to cover the tribal-owned casino, Four Winds Casino Resort.