Giwani was a headman and warrior of the Wabash Potawatomi. He was one of many Potawatomi who resisted William Henry Harrison’s encroachment on Native lands at the Battle of Tippecanoe and War of 1812. Present-day Lake Bruce, Indiana was the site of his village and important removal negotiations during the 1830s. Giwani’s name can be found among the treaties drafted …
The final moon of dgwaget was Giwségises. Taught at an early age, men were instructed by their fathers and uncles how to use the bow, spear and snare to hunt game large and small. Potawatomi used the village orchards that provided beechnuts, acorns and chestnuts in early fall as hunting and trapping grounds for foraging deer, turkey and fox. Gifts …
The Grand Kankakee Marsh is and was an important place for the Potawatomi people who live in around the Calumet region of Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. This was once one of the largest continuous wetlands in North America in the Kankakee River Watershed, covering 1,500 square miles or approximately 1 million acres. Its western extent was near the present-day city …
The first Tribal Seal was created in the 1970s by Secretary/Treasurer Beverly Hughes. It was a black circle with “Great Seal of the Citizen Band of Potawatomi Indians of Oklahoma” inside the edge and featured a crossed Cherokee-style pipe and tomahawk over a fire with three logs. When the Tribe changed its name in 1996 to the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, …
Aside from being skilled hunters, fishermen and food gatherers, Potawatomi were successful agriculturalists. Villages used an ancient technique known as slash and burn to clear and convert forests into enriched agricultural fields. The size and pattern of fields utilized the land’s natural shape. Tools made of bone, stone and wood were used to cultivate a variety of crops. Foods planted …
Played throughout the year is a popular game reserved primarily for women called gwzegé’wen [bowl and dice]. Considered a great honor, only certain women are allowed to host games and possess equipment, a right conferred through a dream. Traditionally, women were responsible for hosting annual dodem [clan] feasts in honor of their bowl and dice set. Gaming equipment includes: (1) …
An important victory for the Native alliance during the Northwest Indian War, Harmar’s Campaign attempted to suppress Native attacks on settlers and garrisons in the Ohio Territory. United States General Josiah Harmar engaged in numerous ineffective retaliatory assaults on major tribal villages that amassed overwhelming casualties and defeat.
In the years after the defeat of the British and their Indian allies in the War of 1812, the nature of the U.S. government’s Indian policy and the goal of treaty-making became increasingly hostile toward Native Americans, opening the door for the removals of the 1830s. The federal government was no longer interested in negotiating treaties that just arranged for …
A plant used to refer to the environmental conditions of a certain place. An example of an indicator plant would be Menomen or wild rice (Zizania spp.). Menomen is one of the most well-known indicator plants for the Neshnabek. Menomen is arguably the most significant cultural plant and it requires very clean, clear water that flows gently and does not …
Culture, warfare and assimilation all play significant parts in the history of Native Americans and infectious disease, spanning from the 1600s to present day. Scarce medical records among Native Americans prior to Europeans’ arrival make it difficult to know the severity of communicable illnesses before contact. Indigenous peoples’ settlement patterns that included dispersed communities and significant travel time between locations …