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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
these Waubonsie was the head War Chief. In Thomas L. McKenney's "History of the Indian Tribes of North America," published by the War Department of the United States Government, we have a sketch of his life and a colored portrait of the great chieftain. It says: "He was the principal war chief of the Pottawatomies of the prairie, who sold their lands in Illinois and Indiana to the United States, and accepted other territory west of the Mississippi River, to which they agreed to remove. In 1835 he visited Washington for the purpose, he said, of taking his Great Father by the hand, and the next year he led his people to their new home near Council Bluffs, Iowa, where, in 1838, he is still living."
In 1833 the principal village of this portion of the tribe extended loosely along the west bank of Fox River from the site of the present city of Aurora to Mill Creek; and a smaller village in command of Nic-o-wah was located on the east bank of the river, just below where Dundee now stands, in the sheltered glade known as "Granny Russell's Hollow." The few settlers who lived near these Indians before their removal, say they were lazy, dirty vagabonds, slightly sheltered in comfortless te-pees, destitute of furniture or conveniences of any kind. They were quite respectful, almost subservient, in their intercourse with the whites; not truthful, incorrigible beggars, and inclined to pilfer. A venerable lady, who for months lived near the much superior wigwam (or council house) of the chief, describes him as a large, fine-looking, powerful man, over six feet in height, with a kindly and pleasant bearing. She says he was an intelligent, considerate husband and father, and ruled his people well. She declares that his name was not Waubonsie, but that the Indians pronounced it as spelled Wah-bn-seh- the accent being upon the first and the last syllables, especially upon the last, while the second was a mere buzzing or humming sound.
Captain Charles B. Dodson, late of Geneva, Ill., contracted with the Government to furnish transportation for the tribe to their new reservation; and he is recorded as saying the chief promised him "to be ready with his people on a certain morning to start upon the long journey, but he found on reaching the old chief's wigwam at the time designated, only a portion of the tribe had assembled. Waubonsie, a portion of his warriors and his squaws, were nowhere to be found, and the escort was compelled to start without the head of the tribe. This, however, so troubled Captain Dodson and the United States officers of the escort, that, although several days distant upon the journey, Dodson with only three men returned, and surprised the chief surrounded by the remnant of his people. An entire day was spent in trying to induce him to follow his tribe in accordance with his promise, but only a sullen dissent was the result until just at evening, when, by promises and presents, the Captain succeeded in getting the squaws aboard his wagons and started westward. This was too much for old Waubonsie who could not live without his squaws, and, with a last, sad look over the lovely valley of the Fox, which had been his hunting grounds and where he had marshalled his dusky warriors, he took up the line of march, following his people with a subdued and broken spirit." It is said that his son, the young chief, Neoqua, was a pleasant fellow and a great favorite with the settlers; but, true to his Indian nature, he would not work; he said: "Me hunt the meat, squaw hunt the corn." It is reported that Waubonsie's system and discipline were such that he could assemble five hundred armed warriors in six hours' time; but this is doubtless an exaggeration. It is also reported that, during the great war, Neoqua raised a regiment of his people in Kansas, and served faithfully in the Union Army.
The Indians, the hunters and trappers, and the "voyageurs" and priests of the days where tradition and history dimly merge, had three water routes and portages connecting the great system of northern rivers and the lower lakes with the Illinois and Mississippi, viz: By the St. Joseph to South Bend or "Mishwaukie," with portage to the headwaters of the Kankakee or Theakiki; by the Calumet with portage to the Kankakee; and by the South Chicago and Mud Lake with portage to the Des Plaines, and from these several portages down the rivers named to the Illinois. Along this great highway to the Mississippi many sad and thrilling tragedies of savage life were enacted; and along this route, and the trails connected with it, the first soldiers and settlers found their way into the new land.
The "Illinois" was the collective name of a confederacy of five separate tribes, namely: the Kaskaskias, the Cahokias, the Tamaroas, the Peorias, and the Mitchigamies; and they
