Also spelled Shabonee, Chambly, Chabonne, Shab-ehnay, Sho-bon-ier, etc.
1775-1859 Photo credit: Wikipedia
One translation of Shabbona’s name is “Built like a Bear,” and from all reports the name fits. As the picture above shows, he was a tall man, with broad shoulders—a large, muscular man of commanding appearance. He was an important Potawatomi leader.
The exact date of his birth is not known, but Shabbona himself stated that he was born at the time of the American Revolution, which greatly affected his life. He was the grandnephew of the great Ottawa Chief Pontiac. Even as a young man, he advocated peace and a return to native teachings. He traveled with two Ottawa prophets, promoting the renunciation of European culture and institutions.
When still a young man, he married the daughter of Spotka, a Potawatomi chief. According to custom, he then became Potawatomi and a member of his wife’s tribe. When his father-in-law died, Shabbona took his place as Chief.
Living near the Fox River, Shabbona traded with and became close friends of John Kinzie, as well as other early residents of the area that would become Chicago. In 1807 his daughter (or sister: the exact relationship is unclear) married Jean Baptiste Beaubien, Chicago’s second permanent non-native resident.
When the great Shawnee Chief Tecumseh visited Shabbona’s village (located near today’s Aurora, IL) seeking supporters for his resistance against Americans in 1810, Shabbona joined him. In 1811 he led the Potawatomi against the American troops that had destroyed Tecumseh’s village at Prophetstown. He then followed Tecumseh to fight with the British against the Americans in the War of 1812, serving as a lieutenant in the Battle of the Thames, during which Tecumseh was killed.
Shabbona must have experienced great personal conflict during those battles. His beliefs and sympathies were with Tecumseh, but he was driven to protect his good friends among the whites.
Thus, in spite of his strong anti-American beliefs, he protected the Kinzies during the battle at Fort Dearborn in August, 1812. Some of the captured survivors of the conflict were taken to his village, where he saw to their protection until their release could be negotiated. It was customary that prisoners were exchanged for goods, but this did not always happen when emotions were high.
When the war ended, Shabbona saw the futility of further attacks against the Americans, saying, “…the army of palefaces you will have to encounter will be as numerous as the leaves on those trees.” When Indian-settler hostilities developed, Shabbona turned his efforts toward negotiating the fairest agreement between his people and the Americans.
In June, 1827, a clash developed between miners and Big Foot’s tribe of Winnebago over lead-rich land in Wisconsin. Hostilities threatened to spread to Chicago. Shabbona joined with Potawatomi Chiefs Billy Caldwell, Alexander Robinson, and Shamagaw of Kankakee, to calm Big Foot and his warriors. The plan was for Shabbona to enter the village alone to arouse less suspicion, while the other leaders remained hidden near the village. But, when Shabbona entered the village he was seized and threatened. Using his negotiating skills, he was able throughout a long night to convince his captors to release him, on the promise that he would not report plans to the whites. The Winnebago warriors did not trust this promise and insisted on accompanying him back to his village. As Shabbona passed where the other chiefs were hiding, he complained loudly so they could know the plans. The chiefs then returned to Chicago and reported to the Americans.
In 1830 Shabbona served as a guide for surveyors who mapped the route for the I & M Canal, leading to the growth of Chicago.
During the Black Hawk attacks in 1832, Shabbona refused to support Black Hawk and warned settlers instead. After the conflict ended, he negotiated compensated removal rather than the sanctions that were initially contemplated by the settlers.
During this period, he moved his village about thirty miles west of Aurora, which made it equally accessible to Milwaukee, Chicago, and Peoria.
Shabbona’s name is found on multiple treaties. Without his wisdom, integrity, fair-mindedness and forgiving nature, the agreements that led to relocation of Indian tribes to west of the Mississippi would have taken many more of his people’s lives.
For his efforts on behalf of friendly treaties, Shabbona was given two sections of land in Paw Paw Township (southwest DeKalb County). After the end of the removal period in 1838, Shabbona moved back and forth between his tribe west of the Mississippi and the land he owned in Illinois. After one lengthy visit of two to three years, he returned to Illinois in 1849 to find that squatters had claimed his land and it had been sold. The home he and his family had occupied for forty years was lost to him forever.
It wasn’t until 1857 that friends in Ottawa raised money and bought him twenty acres along the south bank of the Illinois River between Morris and Seneca. He built a simple lodge there.
He remained active until his death in July, 1859. The previous day he had gotten wet and overexerted himself while hunting. He died at his lodge and was buried at Evergreen Cemetery near Morris. His wife, Pokanoka, drowned in the Mazon Creek in November, 1964, and is buried next to him.
The former picnic grove adjacent to Sand Ridge Nature Center was named Shabbona Woods on March 24, 1924. On May 22, 2015, this site reopened as the first of five new overnight camping venues of the Forest Preserves of Cook County as “Camp Shabbona Woods.”
Photo credit: Wikipedia
Fascinating post. Thank you.