Chapter V 

 KANAKUK AND MINOR PROPHETS 



KANAKUK 



My father, the Great Spirit holds all the world in his hands. I pray to him that 

 we may not be removed from onr lands. . . . Take pity on us and let us remain 

 where we are. — Kdnakuk. 



I was singularly struck with the noble efforts of this champion of tin- mere rem- 

 nant of a poisoned race, so strenuously laboring to rescue the remainder of his 

 people from the deadly bane that has been brought amongst theiu by enlightened 

 Christians. — < 'atlin. 



The scene now shifts to the west of the Mississippi. With the death 

 of Tecumtha the confederacy of the northwestern tribes fell to pieces, 

 and on the closin <>f the war of 1812 the government inaugurated 

 a series of treaties resulting, within twenty years, in the removal of 

 almost every tribe beyond the Mississippi and the appropriation of 

 their former country by the whites. Among others the Kickapoo, by 

 the treaty of Edwardsville in 1S19, had ceded the whole of their ancient 

 territory in Illinois, comprising nearly one- half the area of the state, in 

 exchange for a much smaller tract on Osage river in Missouri and $3,000 

 in goods. [Treaties, I.) The government also agreed to furnish two 

 bouts to take them up the river to their new home, where "the United 

 States promise to guarantee to the said tribe the peaceable possession 

 of the tract of land hereby ceded to them, and to restrain and prevent 

 all white persons from hunting, settling, or otherwise intruding upon it." 



For some reason, however, the Kickapoo manifested no overwhelming 

 desire to remove from their villages and cornfields on the broad prai- 

 ries of Illinois to the rugged hills of Missouri. This may have been 

 due to the innate perversity of the savage, or possibly to the fact that 

 the new country guaranteed to them was already occupied by their 

 hereditary enemies, the Osage, who outnumbered the Kickapoo three 

 to one. To be sure, these aboriginal proprietors had agreed to surrender 

 the. territory to the United States, but they were still at home to all 

 visitors, as the immigrant Cherokee had learned to their cost. Be that 

 as it may, several years passed and it began to be suspected that the 

 Kickapoo were not anxious to go west ami grow up with the country 

 Investigation disclosed the fact that, instead of removing to the reser- 

 vation on Osage river, one half of the tribe had gone southward in a 

 body and crossed over to the Spanish side of Red river (now Texas), 

 where they mi gl it reasonably hope to be secure from the further advance 

 of the Americans. Others were preparing to follow, and the govern- 

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