Kickapoo People - History

History

The earliest European contact with the Kickapoo tribe occurred during the La Salle Expeditions into the Illinois Country in the late 17th century, as the French set up remote fur trading posts throughout the region, including on Wabash River. The Kickapoo at that time inhabited a large territory along the Wabash in the area of modern Terre Haute, Indiana. They were confederated with the larger Wabash Confederacy, that included the Piankeshaw to their south, the Wea to their north, and the powerful Miami Tribe, to their east. A subgroup occupied the Upper Iowa River region in northeast Iowa and the Root River region in southeast Minnesota in the late 1600s and early 1700s; this group was probably known by the clan name "Mahouea", derived from the Illinoian word for wolf, m'hwea.

As white settlers moved into the region beginning in the early 19th century, the Kickapoo participated in several treaties, including the Treaty of Vincennes, the Treaty of Grouseland, and the Treaty of Fort Wayne. They sold most of their lands to the United States and moved north to settle among the Wea. Rising tensions between the regional tribes and the United States led to Tecumseh's War in 1811. The Kickapoo were one of Tecumseh's closest allies. Many Kickapoo warriors participated in the Battle of Tippecanoe and the subsequent War of 1812. A prominent, nonviolent spiritual leader among the Kickapoo was Kennekuk, who led his followers to their current tribal lands in Kansas, where he died in 1852.

The close of the war led to a change of Indian policy in the Indiana Territory, and later the state of Indiana. American leaders began to advocate the removal of the tribes to land west of the Mississippi River. The Kickapoo were among the first tribes to leave Indiana. They accepted land in Kansas and an annual subsidy in exchange for leaving the state.