Logansport now has two Trail of Death historical markers. The new sign is located on the River Bluff Trail, a fitness trail beside the Eel River across the street and south of the hospital. The sign has a picture by frontier artist George Winter of the Potawatomi Indians on horseback leaving Logansport on the Trail of Death.

This new marker makes 76 historical markers on the Trail of Death Regional Historic Trail from north central Indiana to eastern Kansas. Indiana now has 21 markers, including the new one in the River Bluffs hiking trail. Illinois has 24, Missouri has 23, and Kansas has 8.

The new sign was blessed July 26 by Susan Campbell and Tom Hamilton, members of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, with headquarters at Shawnee, Oklahoma. There were 14 people present for the impromptu ceremony of blessing with tobacco, which is sacred to American Indians as it signifies carrying prayers to the Great Spirit.

A Trail of Death marker is by the hospital, a cement slab with words, set into the hillside on the corner of Indiana 25 (Michigan Ave.) and Fulton Street. This marker was erected by Cass County Historical Society in 1988. This is where they camped for four days Sept. 6-9, 1838. So many Potawatomi were sick, they set up a temporary hospital. Dr. Jerolaman reported there were over 300 sick and four children died. Dr. Jerolaman's house is now the Cass County Museum.

Susan Campbell, Kalaheo, Hawaii; Shirley Willard, Rochester; and Tom Hamilton, Warsaw, blessed the historic sign at River Bluff Trail's Horney Ceek Bridge on July 26. It is the site of the Potawatomi camp on the Trail of Death in 1838. Campbell and Hamilton are members of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Shawnee, Ok. (Photo by Elaine Hall, Logansport Memorial Hospital)

Their last Mass in Indiana was there: Bishop Brute and Father Petit came to conduct Mass. Actually the camps probably stretched along the Michigan Road for a mile or more. With over 850 people, there would have been 300 or more campfires, perhaps a mile long. The Trail of Death diary written by Jesse C. Douglas, who traveled with the emigration as William Polke's scribe (secretary), records the camp as being on Horney's Creek, which is now part of the River Bluff Trail. Douglas was later editor of the Logansport Telegraph (newspaper).

William Polke was from Rochester and was appointed the conductor by General John Tipton, the Indian Agent, who was in charge of rounding up the Potawatomi and getting them started on their way to new homes in Kansas. (Tipton lived in Logansport and was a US Senator.) So many died along the way, it is known as the Trail of Death. This was the same time as the Cherokee Trail of Tears but many more Cherokees were removed and many more died. There were 15,000 Cherokees on the Trail of Tears from the Smoky Mountains to Oklahoma, and 4,000 died. There were 859 Potawatomi on the Trail of Death from Indiana to Kansas and 40 died.

On Sept. 10, 1838, they left Logansport, following the north side of the Wabash River. They did not cross the river. To follow the Trail of Death today you turn right at the first street by the railroad unto Miami Ave., and follow Miami Ave. about 4 blocks to Third Street, where you turn left and go one block to East Linden Ave. Go about half a block more and turn right on Wheatland Ave., which you follow for about 2 blocks. Front Street veers to the left and follows the river. Continue on Front Street until it turns west and becomes W. Wabash Ave. This takes you out of town and under the 35 Bypass. (I am guessing as to the exact footsteps they took across the area but this seems the most likely route to both me and Richard Copeland, Cass County Historian.) Continue to follow the river as you cross the Railroad. Turn left unto Indiana 24, going west. Go about 2 miles west and then turn left at the underpass going to Georgetown. Follow the river and go through Georgetown. The road becomes Towpath Road. You will find a Trail of Death marker for the next camp at Winnemac's Old Village on the Towpath Road.

Susan Campbell was born in Kansas. She and her family moved to Seattle when she was 13 years old. She married Eric Campbell and has three children. She was a Regional Representative for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation for several years. When Eric retired from Boeing Aircraft in 1999, they moved to Hawaii. They come back to visit relatives and friends and to attend the annual Potawatomi Gathering every yrar. This is sponsored by a different Potawatomi Band each year. In 2005 it was held July 28-30 at Fulton, Michigan, sponsored by the Huron Band of Potawatomi. The Campbells were house guests of Shirley Willard, Fulton County Historian, who arranged for the Blessing Ceremony with Becky Lowry of the Logansport Memorial Hospital. Susan's 4th great grandfather was Chesawgen, who is mentioned in the Trail of Death diary as joining the emigrating group at Logansport.

Tom Hamilton, born in Oklahoma, lives at Lake Eufala, Ok., in winter and comes back to Warsaw to his lake home for summers. He is a descendant of Abram Burnett, who was a full blood Potawatomi and was interpreter on the Trail of Death. Burnett accompanied Father Petit back to Indiana, sometimes having to hold the ailing priest on his horse. When they got to St. Louis, Father Petit died in the priest's quarters there. Burnett came on back to Indiana and found that his trading post at Rochester had been robbed, so he filed in the Fulton County Court to recover damages. He accompanied the 1840 removal to Kansas and spent the rest of his life in Kansas. After working in agricultural journalism in Chicago for years, Tom Hamilton came to work as vice president for Chore Time at Milford, Indiana, and found himself back where his ancestors had lived. He and his wife Pat have been married over 50 years and have four children, some living at Warsaw and some in Oklahoma. He has taken an active interest in preserving the history of the Trail of Death, working with Shirley Willard and Fulton County Historical Society since 1982.

All three people have worked together on the Trail of Death Commemoriatve Committee and traveled the caravans, dedicating historical markers at all 25 counties. All the Trail of Death markers were paid for by donations, at no expense to taxpayers. It was made a Regional Historic Trail by resolutions passed by the state legislatures of the four states in 1994. The committee is now creating a Potawatomi Trail of Death Association. For more information, contact Shirley Willard at 574-223-2352 or wwillard@rtcol.com.