Shabbona's Plight After Forced Potawatomi Relocation

A discovery was made recently in the archives of the DuPage County History Museum of a note belonging to early settlers of the county who arrived in the area around 1835.* The Torode family established a farm in Brush Hill, west of Chicago along Salt Creek, where the family also built a dam across the creek to power a sawmill. One of the sons of the original Torode family members wrote about his recollection of "Chief Shabony and Family," who "used to pass by our house in the fortys as they went to Chicago ro rec their anuties (sic) from the Government." On the back of this note was written, "Keep this," "High School," and "Grandpa's address to the Downers Grove Ill. school children in the South side school Public." The years 1921 and 1932 were also written on the back of the note, which was part of a large collection of documents and memorabilia that were donated to the museum by the descendants of the original Torode family who settled in Fullersburg. (See below; Torode notes courtesy of DuPage History Museum.)

Potawatomi Chief Shabbona, whose name is spelled in numerous variations, was known as the "white man's friend" after his refusal to support Sauk war leader Black Hawk in his war against white settlers in 1832. Shabbona warned the settlers about Black Hawk's intentions to forcefully drive them from the area. After doing so, he was considered a friend of the white man, but an enemy of Black Hawk and his allies. Shabbona subsequently assisted the Illinois militia and U.S. government during this conflict, which resulted in Black Hawk's defeat and the 1833 Treaty of Chicago. The treaty required most Native Americans who remained east of the Mississippi River to relocate to reservations that were west of the Mississippi River within a few years of its ratification.

Nehemiah Matson writes in his book Memories of Shaubena that Shabbona received an annuity of $200 for his military service in the Black Hawk War, which was undoubtedly the

annuity that was written about in the Torode notes mentioned above. The question can logically be asked if Shabbona was truly a friend of the white settlers. Does the fact that Shabbona was paid for his assistance in this conflict cast doubt on his identification as being a friend of the white settlers, as his actions could have been financially motivated? Numerous anecdotes recorded by both Matson and historian James Patrick Dowd in his book about Shabbona Built Like a Bear (the translation of the chief's name) indicate that this is not the case. Not only did the Chief of the Three Fires Confederacy (Ottawa, Chippewa, and Pottawatomi) befriend numerous white settlers whom he visited regularly, he knew that the U.S. Government would "raise an army whose numbers are like the leaves on the trees" that could defeat Native American warriors, and advised Black Hawk of this reality.

The animosity felt toward Shabbona by Black Hawk and his allies was proven fact, however.

After Shabbona moved with his band to his assigned reservation in western Kansas in 1836, the Sauk band associated with Black Hawk were relocated to a village approximately fifty miles from Shabbona's new homesite. Subsequently, in the fall of 1837, Shabbona went buffalo hunting with his two sons, a nephew, and several others. Black Hawk's ally Neopope followed him with a war party and attacked Shabbona's group while they slept. Shabbona's son Pypagee and his Nephew Pyps, were slain by the Sauk war party as well as another Potawatomi with them due to retribution, as they had failed to support Black Hawk in his war against the settlers. Shabbona barely escaped with his life, and determined that he had to return to Illinois with his family, where land had been set aside for him according to the terms of several treaties signed by the U.S. Government and the Ottawa, Chippewa, and Pottawatomi.

In 1849, when his life was no longer in imminent danger, Shabbona returned to Kansas to visit friends. (Evidently, when Shabbona passed by the Torode house in the 1840's with his family on the way to Chicago, it was after the assassination attempt in Kansas in 1837, but before he returned there in 1849.) Unfortunately, unfair legislation and unethical transactions occurred, and Shabbona lost the land in Illinois that had been granted him through treaties by the time of his return in 1851, leaving him without a home. Although charity was shown to him by the people of Ottawa, Illinois, who purchased land and a house for him, the chief's later years were reportedly unhappy due to the unfair loss and sale of his land.

Shabbona's legacy endures, however, as shown by the curiosity of the schoolchildren in Downers Grove in the early twentieth century who became at least somewhat acquainted with his historically significance to DuPage County and northern Illinois. In Ottawa, there is also a monument at his gravesite that signifies his important historical contributions. Even more importantly, after an active public campaign initiated by the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, land that was originally granted to Shabbona was federally recognized as land belonging to the Potawatomi Nation in 2024. Subsequent legislation in 2025 allowed for the transfer of ownership of Shabbona Lake State Park, which largely overlapped land that was originally granted to Shabbona, to the Nation. This land, which is the first "reservation" of its kind in the state of Illinois, is not intended for development, and will remain open for public recreation and education about the inhabitants of this region before white settlement during the Settlement Era.

Sue Devick, M.A.

*Above documents discovered by historian S. Devick on 10/28/25 at DuPage History Museum in archives of the Torode family and credited to the Museum.