WTT - April 2022
Welcome to the April 2022 Issue of Wabash Township Telegraph!
vol 2022.04.30
In this issue you will find information on the May 3rd primary elections, township updates including rezoning activities, a pancake breakfast fundraiser for WTVFD and we conclude with Part 2 of the history of the Potawatomi and the Trail of Death.
TIME-SENSITIVE:
Primary Voting Takes Place on May 3rd, 2022!
The Indiana primary elections will be held on May 3rd, 2022. Click below to discover voting center locations in Tippecanoe county.
As a reminder, and without any WTT endorsement, those who have declared their candidacy for Tippecanoe County elected office can be found here:
Township Updates
Wabash Township Board
The Wabash Township Board held their April meeting on April 19th where Chief Ward presented his five-year department revitalization plan. The board also passed resolutions approving the settlement with Chief Ward as well as approving a contract with NICHES Land Trust to help preserve the Hill’s Thistle in Sandridge Cemetery.
The next Board Meeting is scheduled for May 31st at 7:00 PM.
You can always find the next meeting here:
Special Announcement - WTFD Fundraiser
The Wabash Township Fire Department will be hosting its annual pancake breakfast fundraiser on May 21st, 2022 from 7:00 AM to 10:00 AM. The fundraiser will be located at Station #1 on Klondike Road. Please come join the firefighters for a fantastic breakfast of all-you-can-eat pancakes, pork sausage links, Tang, and coffee!
West Lafayette Council Meeting Agenda
The West Lafayette City Council regularly meets at 6:30 PM every 1st Monday of the month.
You can always find the next meeting and past minutes here:
Area Plan Commission
New subdivisions are being proposed in Wabash Township. During the April 20th meeting, there were four requests for rezoning approved. You can find more information on the county’s website:
We continue with our historic articles related to the township in many of our future newsletters with a second part on the history of the Potawatomi and the Trail of Death. If you missed the first part, you can read it by clicking the link below.
Bozho Nikanek Kwiwe ‘bye’ wimen
“Hello friends, we’re going to begin.” The Trail of Death, part 2
On September 4, 1883, the march to Kansas began with a dragoon carrying the US flag in the lead, followed by an officer, then the baggage carts, the three chiefs, Menominee of the Yellow Band of the Potawatomi, Makkatahmoway (Black Wolf) and Pepinawa, all on horseback, followed by a line of an estimated 800 men, women and children on foot single file with dragoon’s on each side of the line and brought up by wagons carrying the sick and dying. At the end of the first day walking 21 miles, they made camp at the Chippeway Village on the Tippecanoe River near Rochester, Indiana. Fifty one of the Potawatomi were too ill to continue and were left behind. By the end of day three, September 6, the group reached Logansport, Indiana and camped until September 10, leaving behind another 50 of the elderly and sick, some of whom rejoined the march later on. By September 14th, the forced march had passed through Battleground, Lafayette and then onto Williamsport camping near the Indiana- Illinois state line. By all accounts, there were two or more deaths for each day of the march.
The march reached Danville, Illinois on September 16th, were resupplied, and proceeded on through the once abundant prairies of Illinois. The march then crossed the Mississippi River by a ferry and continued into Missouri. By November 2nd, they crossed the Blue River into Kansas and by November 4 they reached their destination camping along the Osage River near Osawatomie, Kansas. Records, while somewhat sketchy, record of the 859 Potawatomi who began the march, 103 either died or escaped. By 1861, the Potawatomi of the Woods Mission Band were given land and were relocated to Shawnee, Oklahoma, their headquarters today. Those who signed the treaty giving them the land became the Citizen Band Potawatomi with a Prairie Band Potawatomi being located in Mayetta, Kansas. While most became part of either of the two Bands, some stayed in Indiana while other Potawatomi fled to Michigan and Canada.
Historic markers of the Trail of Death can be found on the grounds of the Logansport Memorial hospital, State Road 25, at the north edge of town and near the intersection of County Road 800 West and 700 North northeast of Delphi, and along the north side for County Road 500 North between Morehouse Road and County Road 225 West just west of the former Mt. Zion church. A metal plaque is at the site of LaGrange along the Wabash River near the Tippecanoe-Warren county line, and at Zachariah Cicott Park, near Independence, Indiana then in Williamport at Old Town Park on Main and Old 2nd streets and at Gopher Hill Cemetery in Warren County 2.5 miles southeast of the Indiana-Illinois state line.
References: Indiana Historical Society, Charles J. Mapper, 1904, Treaty with the Potawatomi, Irving McKee, 1939, The Trail of Death.
Please see,
www.usd116.org/ProfDev/AHTC/lessons/Foley/trail/Douglas.html or Google, Jesse C. Douglas’ Journal Entries on the Trail of Death.
Ne Yi Wa - Thank you in Shawnee.
Request for Articles, Township News and Ideas
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Wabash.Telegraph@gmail.com
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