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Photo credit: Mike Kenny, The Sentinel
| The Trail of Courage
Living History Festival |
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ROCHESTER, IN - The "Trail of Courage-Living History Festival" is
in its 25th year. It all began in 1976. Shirley Willard's son was
looking for a project to earn his Eagle badge in Boy Scouts. He asked
his mother if there were any old Indian trails in the area.
They started to do their research and discovered that Chief Menominee, a Potawatomi, had refused to sign the treaties and sell his land. He and his band and all Potawatomi within about a 30-mile radius of his village at Twin Lakes south of Plymouth were rounded up and marched at gunpoint down Rochester's Main Street on September 5, 1838. Further research showed that on September 27, 1838, a band of 850 Potawatomi Indians camped near Niantic at Long Point. They were on what was to be called the "Trail of Death", forced removal at gunpoint from their homeland in northern Indiana to Kansas. Many of the Potawatomi walked the 650 miles to present day Osawatomie, KS. It took two months. More than 40 died, mostly children of typhoid fever and the stress of the forced removal according to the official journal kept by a government agent. It started with a project to earn an Eagle badge, to find the "old indian trail" and erect a marker to commemorate the Potawatomi who traveled that forced removal. Since that time 53 trail markers have been erected by communities and boy scouts through Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas. Mrs. Shirley Willard, a former history teacher who is now the president of the Fulton County Historical Society (FCHS), requested the assistance of the Indiana Historical Society and had the Trail of Death route declared a regional historical trail by the Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas state legislatures in 1994-96. The more research that was done, the more they (Fulton County Historical Society) began to wonder about the descendants of the people of the "Trail of Death." They began looking at treaties for the names of the chiefs that signed and finding the descendants, and then contacting them asking them to come and be honored at the "Trail of Courage-Living History Festival." Each year the "Trail of Courage Living History Festival" honors a different Potawatomi family with roots in Indiana's frontier history. This year it was the descendants of Chief Menominee. 
For more than 20 years they have searched for the descendants of Chief Menominee, looking among the Citizen and Prairie Band Potawatomi and finally finding them in the Forest County Band. The families of Jim Thunder, Menomin (Virginia Jacobson, Ruth Weso) and Perote, all distantly related and descendants of Chief Menominee were asked to attend the Festival this year. On September 16-17, 2000, Jim and Virginia along with their families attended. The opening ceremony for this event was held at 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning. Shirley Willard, Pres. FCHS spoke briefly, telling how the festival got started and their determination to bring back the descendants so they could be honored, and what a problem they had looking for Chief Menominee's family. Jim Thunder was introduced and he spoke on the removal of his ancestors and their travels which took them not only to Kansas but on down into Mexico and back to the northern part of Wisconsin where they had resided for many years. 
Just south of Plymouth, IN, near the mid lakes area is where Chief Menominee had his village. A statue of the chief was erected in 1909 on a site donated by A. McFarlin approved by the Governor of Indiana, J. Hanly. As I entered the "Trail of Courage - Living History Festival" grounds the first thing I noticed was that everyone who participated in this event dressed in early 1800s clothing. Men walking around in buckskin clothing or cloth britches, blouse type shirts with wide sleeves gathered at the wrist, vests and high boots, or period uniforms. Women wore long dresses, crocheted or wool shawls over their shoulders and caps on their head. Some of the ladies had buckskin dresses on. They wore some type of leather shoes, moccasins, or went barefoot. No Nikes sticking out under those skirts! The grounds were set up like an encampment, canvas tents, lean-to's and some plains Indian type of teepees lined both sides of the dirt road. Homemade 1800 period crafts and foods were being sold. The people were cooking over open fires, sitting on stools made from a couple of boards that could be taken apart and stored. Small children were being pulled around by older siblings in home made wagons with spoke sides and wooden wheels. For the weekend these people lived here as their ancestors did in the 1800s, -no electricity, no gas grills or stoves, no coleman burners. The only concession I saw made was the rows of porta-potties. In the evenings the torches or lanterns were lit, or the light from their cooking fires were used for illumination. We watched the Scottish band march by in their red uniform jackets, plaid kilts, red sash, knee socks, and black tams blowing lustily into their bagpipes. Young people dressed in green pants, white shirts and brown, felt hats marched very smartly in time to fifes (flutes) and drums rat-a-tat-tatting. We watched a blacksmith making grills and kettle hangers for open fires, a broom maker tying and trimming his brooms, pioneer caramel popcorn being popped in a large cast iron kettle over an open fire, bought some homemade root beer (flat, no zip!), sat and enjoyed the snack. 
One of the encampments was the trading post along the Tippecanoe river. There they had trading demonstrations with furs and blankets; they also had canoe rides. We watched children playing a game. There were two wooden boxes about 10 feet apart with a long rope thrown in the center. Each child had an end of the rope and would pull in the rope on their end until it was taut and one of them eventually pulled the other off the box. Some of the children engaged in a hatchet throwing contest. 
All of the food vendors were set up along well-worn paths in a wooded area. As we walked along the path, smoke from the fires drifted upward and we could smell the aroma of the different foods cooking. They had homemade potato chips, fish and chips, chicken soup with homemade noodles, roasted turkey drumsticks, apple dumplings, apple butter, venison chili, bean soup with corn bread, buffalo burgers, venison sandwiches, grilled potato brats and apple sausage sandwiches, roasted corn, fry bread, Indian tacos (in the 1800s ?!?), steak or pork sandwiches all cooked over open fires using big copper or cast iron kettles or grilled. I never saw so many large cast iron kettles in one spot in all of my life. Drinks consisted of coffee boiled in big enamel coffee pots sitting next to the red hot coals to keep it hot, sassafras tea, root beer, hot apple cider, and lemonade. Rough planks set on short lengths of logs, anchored sturdily into the ground provided the picnic tables and benches next to some of the eateries. 
We watched the men packing gun powder and tamping it down the barrels of their muzzle loaders then target practicing. We could see the fire spit and the smoke rising from the end of their barrels after they shot. I wondered if I could get a picture of that. I rested my elbows on the fence, held my camera in place steadily, fully anticipating and expecting the shot. But as soon as the man pulled the trigger I jumped and got a nice big blur for my photo. I guess I need steadier nerves. 
There was a lot to see and experience - a Cherokee story teller, fifes and drums, Appalachian dulcimer music, buck dancing and clogging, French/Indian war camp life, war of 1812 camp life, candle dipping, Voyageur Canoe landing & fur trade skit, and a tomahawk throwing contest and much more. The White Thunder singers from the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi provided the drumming for the pow-wow. Again, Jim Thunder and Virginia Jacobson were introduced to the spectators and Jim gave the opening prayer and short oral history. I enjoyed the visit to the "Trail of Courage-Living History Festival." It was educational and fun, showing frontier history re-enacted by people that are very serious about their history and get enjoyment from living it, even if it's just for the weekend. |
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