Shabbona (or
Sha-bon-na), also known as
Shabonee and
Shaubena, (~1775–1859) was an
OttawaThe 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 Ojibwa nation...
tribe member who became a chief within the
PotawatomiThe Potawatomi are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family...
tribe in
IllinoisIllinois , the 21st state admitted to the United States of America, is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern state and the fifth most populous state in the nation...
during the 19th century.
Shabbona (from either the
OttawaOttawa is a dialect of the Ojibwe language, spoken by the Ottawa people in southern Ontario in Canada, and northern Michigan in the United States. Descendants of migrant Ottawa speakers live in Oklahoma and Kansas...
Zhaabne or the
PotawatomiPotawatomi is a Central Algonquian language and is spoken around the Great Lakes in Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as in Kansas in the United States, and in southern Ontario in Canada, by fewer than 50 Potawatomi people, all elderly...
Zhabné meaning "indomitable" or "hardy" in both languages, but was recorded to mean "built strong like a bear" or "built like a bear") was born around 1775 of the
Odawa (Ottawa) tribe either on the
Maumee RiverThe Maumee River is a river in northwestern Ohio and northeastern Indiana in the United States. It is formed at Fort Wayne, Indiana by the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Marys rivers, and meanders northeastwardly for about 130 mi through an agricultural region of glacial moraines before...
in
OhioOhio is a Midwestern state of the United States. The thirty-fourth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the seventh-most populous with nearly 11.5 million residents...
, in
OntarioOntario is a province located in east-central Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area. Ontario is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba to the west and Quebec to the east, and 5 U.S...
or in a Native American village in Illinois.
Shabbona (or
Sha-bon-na), also known as
Shabonee and
Shaubena, (~1775–1859) was an
OttawaThe 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 Ojibwa nation...
tribe member who became a chief within the
PotawatomiThe Potawatomi are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family...
tribe in
IllinoisIllinois , the 21st state admitted to the United States of America, is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern state and the fifth most populous state in the nation...
during the 19th century.
Early life
Shabbona (from either the
OttawaOttawa is a dialect of the Ojibwe language, spoken by the Ottawa people in southern Ontario in Canada, and northern Michigan in the United States. Descendants of migrant Ottawa speakers live in Oklahoma and Kansas...
Zhaabne or the
PotawatomiPotawatomi is a Central Algonquian language and is spoken around the Great Lakes in Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as in Kansas in the United States, and in southern Ontario in Canada, by fewer than 50 Potawatomi people, all elderly...
Zhabné meaning "indomitable" or "hardy" in both languages, but was recorded to mean "built strong like a bear" or "built like a bear") was born around 1775 of the
Odawa (Ottawa) tribe either on the
Maumee RiverThe Maumee River is a river in northwestern Ohio and northeastern Indiana in the United States. It is formed at Fort Wayne, Indiana by the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Marys rivers, and meanders northeastwardly for about 130 mi through an agricultural region of glacial moraines before...
in
OhioOhio is a Midwestern state of the United States. The thirty-fourth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the seventh-most populous with nearly 11.5 million residents...
, in
OntarioOntario is a province located in east-central Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area. Ontario is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba to the west and Quebec to the east, and 5 U.S...
or in a Native American village in Illinois. The Ottawa are an
AlgonquianThe Algonquian languages languages are a subfamily of Native American languages that includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is itself...
-speaking tribe that was driven out of Ontario, Canada by the
IroquoisThe Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an indigenous people of North America. In the 16th century or earlier, the Iroquois came together in an association known as the Iroquois League, or the "League of Peace and Power"...
and moved west into
MichiganMichigan is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. Once in Michigan, the tribe aligned with The
Council of Three FiresThe Council of Three Fires, also known as the People of the Three Fires, the Three Fires Confederacy, the United Nations of Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi Indians, or Niswi-mishkodewin in the Anishinaabe language, is a long-standing Anishinaabe alliance of the Ojibwe , Ottawa , and Potawatomi...
(
OjibwaThe Ojibwe or Chippewa is the largest group of Native Americans-First Nations north of Mexico, including Métis. They are the third-largest in the United States, surpassed only by Cherokee and Navajo. They're equally divided between the United States and Canada...
, Odawa and Potawatomi) and moved further south across Ohio,
IndianaIndiana is a U.S. state, the 19
th admitted to the Union. It is located in the Great Lakes region, and with approximately 6.3 million residents, is ranked 16
th in population and 17
th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38
th in land area, and is the...
and Illinois. The Odawa became very closely intermixed with the Potawatomi at this time. Shabbona was the grandnephew of
PontiacPontiac or Obwandiyag , was the Ottawa tribe leader who became famous for his role in Pontiac's Rebellion , an American Indian struggle against the British military occupation of the Great Lakes region following the British and Iroquois victory in the French and Indian War...
, considered the greatest chief of the Ottawa tribe. Shabbona was granted his chief status at a very young age.
The son of an Ottawa warrior who had fought with Pontiac during
Pontiac's RebellionPontiac's Rebellion was a war launched in 1763 by a loose confederation of elements of Native American tribes primarily from the Great Lakes region, the Illinois Country, and Ohio Country who were dissatisfied with British policies in the Great Lakes region after the British victory in the French...
, Shabbona himself would become a lieutenant under Shawnee chieftain
TecumsehTecumseh also Tecumtha or Tekamthi, was a Native American leader of the Shawnee and a large tribal confederacy that opposed the United States during Tecumseh's War and the War of 1812...
and, during the
War of 1812The War of 1812, between the United States of America and the British Empire , lasted from 1812 to 1815. It was fought chiefly on the Atlantic Ocean and on the land, coasts and waterways of North America.There were several immediate stated causes for the U.S...
, later participated in the
Battle of the ThamesThe Battle of the Thames, also known as the Battle of Moraviantown, was a decisive American victory in the War of 1812. It took place on October 5, 1813, near present-day Chatham, Ontario in Upper Canada...
where Tecumseh was killed.
War of 1812
Shabbona was an accomplished warrior who fought alongside Tecumseh during the War of 1812 while aligned against the United States. Shabbona helped persuade many Native Americans in the
Northwest TerritoryThe Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Northwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 13, 1787, until March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of...
to oppose the white settlers and side with Tecumseh and the British in an all-out war. Following Tecumseh's death, Shabbona abandoned his stance against the United States and allied himself with them permanently, feeling that fighting was in vain.
In 1810, Tecumseh visited Shabbona’s village west of Chicago. He readily agreed with Tecumseh and joined his recruiting party to visit the Potawatomi, Sac, Fox, Winnebago, and Menominee of Northern Illinois and Wisconsin. Their journey returned them home via Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, down the Mississippi to Rock Island and then east to Chicago. When Gov. Harrison marched north to Prophetstown on the Tippecanoe in November of 1811, Shabbona was there with Waubansee and Winamac to lead the Potawatomi warriors against the Americans. The defeat of the Indian confederacy scattered the tribes to their home villages. Then in 1812, Shabbona joined with Main Poc in a move to Canada to join the British during the War of 1812. In September of 1813, when Captain Perry defeated the British fleet on Lake Erie, the British began their evacuation of Detroit. Shabbona, Mad Sturgeon, and Bill Caldwell accompanied Tecumseh and the British into Canada. On September 27, at the Battle of the Thames, the American overtook the retreating British and Indian forces. As the pitch of battle swirled around Tecumseh, the British troops were the first to quit the battle. When Tecumseh fell, the warriors dispersed through the forest and made their way back to their villages in Indiana and Illinois.
Red Bird Uprising
In 1815, with the treaty ending the war, Shabbona and Senachewine were supported by the Indian Agent at Peoria as the tribal leaders against the Fort Wayne Agents selection of Five Medals and Metea and the Chicago Indian Agents support of Topinbee and Chebass. The confusion caused by these separate designations of tribal leaders began confusion among the Americans who sought to designate a single chief. During the Winnebago Red Bird uprising of 1825 north of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, Shabbona volunteered with Caldwell, Robinson, and Shamagaw (from Kankakee) to go to Big Foot’s village on Lake Geneva to determine if any of the Potawatomi nation were involved. They discovered that the chiefs were all at the Winnebago village on Lake Koshkonong. Here, he entered the village alone in the hope that his lone presence would not upset the village. He was immediately confined as a spy for the Americans. They agreed to release Shabbona if he would return directly to his village and not report to the Americans in Chicago. Not trusting him, the Winnebago provided an escort. As this group passed the hiding place of Caldwell, Robinson, and Shamagaw, he loudly complained of the incident. This way, he was escorted to his own village, while Caldwell, Robinson, and Shamagaw returned quietly to Chicago and reported to the Americans. At the Treaty of Prairie du Chien (June 1829), Shabbona received a grant of land for his service during the Red Bird uprising.
Black Hawk War
On April 5, 1832 Sauk Chief
Black HawkBlack Hawk or Black Sparrow Hawk was a leader and warrior of the Sauk American Indian tribe in what is now the United States...
crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois, the move triggered a war in Illinois and present-day southern Wisconsin. During the first phase of the
Black Hawk WarThe Black Hawk War was fought in 1832 in the Midwestern United States. The war was named for Black Hawk, a war chief of the Sauk, Fox, and Kickapoo Native Americans, whose British Band fought against the United States Army and militia from Illinois and the Michigan Territory for possession of...
Shabbona met with Black Hawk at Saukenuk, a Sauk village, where he warned Black Hawk not to resist white settlement. "Join me," Black Hawk told him, "and our warriors will number like the trees in the forests." To which Shabbona replied, "that is true, but the white men number like the leaves on those trees." On May 16, 1832 Shabbona, knowing he could not control all Potawatomi, rode across northern Illinois to warn the settlers of impending danger. It is recorded that during this ride Shabbona warned settler William Davis and the others at his settlement of the danger. Davis and the other settlers would become the victims of the
Indian Creek massacreThe Indian Creek massacre occurred on May 21, 1832 when a group of settlers living north of Ottawa, Illinois, United States, along Indian Creek, were attacked by a party of Native Americans. The massacre likely resulted from a local settler's refusal to remove a dam which jeopardized a key food...
on May 21, 1832. During the short war he also acted as a guide for the white militia in its many marches across Illinois.
Shabonee would warn settlers on several occasions of hostile tribes, including one incident where he rode from
PrincetonPrinceton is a city in Bureau County, Illinois, United States. The population was 7,501 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Bureau County.Princeton is part of the Ottawa–Streator Micropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
to Chicago, Illinois in one night to warn residents of an impending attack.
Late life
September of 1836 saw the removal of the Potawatomi from northern Illinois. The trek west was plagued by rain. At Quincy, Illinois, Shabbona and Waubansee’s party joined with the main group moving west and they traveled together to join Billy Caldwell’s people in the Platte country of Nebraska. The story is told around Peru, Illinois on the Illinois River that Shabbona returned from the west and died in that area. In Peru is Shabbona’s rock, where he is said to have spent his days watching the seasons change. He is known in that area as a firm friend of the whites, counseling peace, and cooperation.
Shabonna died in
Morris, IllinoisMorris is a city in Grundy County, Illinois, United States. The population was 11,928 at the 2000 census, and estimated to be 12,939 in 2005. It is the county seat of Grundy County....
on July 17, 1859, at the age of 84 and, in 1903, a large granite boulder was erected as a monument on his gravesite in
Evergreen CemeteryEvergreen Cemetery may refer to:* Evergreen Cemetery * Evergreen Cemetery * Evergreen Cemetery, Los Angeles, California* Evergreen Cemetery * Evergreen Cemetery...
. Shabbona's wife, whom he married around 1800, was Coconako (or Pokanoka, Pokenoquay), daughter of Chief Spotka. She is also buried at
Morris, IllinoisMorris is a city in Grundy County, Illinois, United States. The population was 11,928 at the 2000 census, and estimated to be 12,939 in 2005. It is the county seat of Grundy County....
, having died in 1864, five years after her husband.
Chief Shabbona Historical Trail
The
Shabbona TrailThe Chief Shabbona Trail is a hiking, bicycling and canoeing trail, located between Joliet and Morris, Illinois. The Shabbona Trail is a part of the long National Park Service Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor....
was established in the 1950s by Troop 25, featuring a variety of woodland habitats. The trail is Nationally Approved by the Boy Scouts of America and follows the paths that Shabbona was known to have walked. The trail is 20 miles in length extending from Joliet, Illinois to Morris, Illinois. Chief Shabbona Trail Flyer is a printable trail Map.