Shick Shack
 |
Shick Shack | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1727 near the Illinois River |
| Died | c. 1835 |
| Nationality | Potawatomi |
| Occupation | Potawatomi chieftain |
| Known for | Chieftain of the Illinois River Potawatomi during the Black Hawk War; one of the head chieftains residing at Indiantown. |
| Children | 2 children |
Shick Shack (c. 1727 – c. 1835) was a 19th-century
Starved Rock in 1769. One of the highest hills in Illinois, Shick Shack Hill (or Shick-Shack's Nob) in Cass County, Illinois bears his name as does Shick Shack Sand Pond Nature Preserve Cass County, Illinois
.
Biography
As a chieftain living on the
He and his band, numbering forty men not including women and children, moved north in 1827 using the Indian Trail Farm of Wethersfield Township to travel to Prophetstown and then to the Wisconsin hill country; this is the last recorded use of Native Americans to use the old Indian trial.[3]
During the previous winter of 1830–31, he and his tribe were camped at an old hunting ground near
Among the major battles fought along the Illinois River, he recounted a battle fought at
Miami, placed in what is now Shades State Park during September 1775, and was one of the survivors.[7] Author and historian Nehemiah Matson, claimed that the battle was thought to be the same conflict of the Biblical hosts Abner and Joab which occurred at the Pool of Gibeon and the numbers of the combatants increased from twelve to three hundred to correspond with the legend.[8]
In February 1832, he and Senachwine attended a war council held between the Potawatomi,
Black Hawk following his defeat at the Battle of Bad Axe. In 1832, he was sighted at Dixon's Ferry where he was friendly with the local residents and visited some of his old friends who had been stationed at the post.[11] He reportedly died some years later and buried near Chandlerville, Illinois,[12] one of them few Potawatomi chieftains to be buried near their native villages.[13]
On September 16, 1873, local towns in
Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette, as well as Shick Shack whose story to Daniel Dimmick was retold in a speech entitled "A Legend of Starved Rock" by Perry Armstrong, a noted author of the Black Hawk War and to whom the story was told to him by Shick Shack when he was 9 years old. Armstrong's speech received extensive press coverage and achieved some minor notoriety in its time.[14][15]
References
- ^ Matson, Nehemiah. Pioneers of Illinois: Containing a Series of Sketches Relating to Events that Occurred Previous to 1813. Chicago: Knight & Leonard Printers, 1882. (pg. 291)
- ^ Matson, Nehemiah, Matson. French and Indians of Illinois River. Princeton, Illinois: Republican Job Printing Establishment, 1874. (pg. 248)
- ^ Craig, Frank H. Genealogy of the Fellows-Craig and Allied Families from 1619 to 1919. Kewanee, Illinois: Kewanee Printing & Publishing Co., 1919. (pg. 54)
- ^ Matson, Nehemiah, Matson. French and Indians of Illinois River. Princeton, Illinois: Republican Job Printing Establishment, 1874. (pg. 148)
- ^ Matson, Nehemiah. Pioneers of Illinois: Containing a Series of Sketches Relating to Events that Occurred Previous to 1813. Chicago: Knight & Leonard Printers, 1882. (pg. 146)
- ^ Osman, Eaton Goodell. The Last of a Great Indian Tribe: A Chapter of Colonial History. Chicago: A Flanagan, 1923. (pg. 190)
- ISBN 0-7385-2417-4
- ^ Matson, Nehemiah, Matson. French and Indians of Illinois River. Princeton, Illinois: Republican Job Printing Establishment, 1874. (pg. 157-158)
- ^ Wood, Norman B. Lives of Famous Indian Chiefs, from Cofachiqui, the Indian Princess, and Powhatan; Down To and Including Chief Joseph and Geronimo. Aurora, Illinois: American Indian Historical Publishing Company, 1906. (pg. 146)
- ^ Matson, Nehemiah. Memories of Shaubena: With Incidents Relating to the Early Settlement of the West. Chicago: D.B. Cooke & Co., 1878. (pg. 92)
- ^ Hodge, Frederick Webb, ed. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. St. Clair Shores, Michigan: Scholarly Press, 1968. (pg. 546)
- ^ Masters, Edgar Lee. Illinois Poems. Prairie City, Illinois: James A. Decker, 1941. (pg. 31-32)
- ^ Watson, Nehemiah, Watson. French and Indians of Illinois River. Princeton, Illinois: Republican Job Printing Establishment, 1874. (pg. 261)
- ISBN 1-893121-04-6
- ^ "Pioneers of Illinois, containing a series of sketches relating to events that occurred previous to 1813; also narratives of many thrilling incidents connected with the early settlement of the West, drawn from history, traditions and personal reminiscences". Chicago, Knight & Leonard, printers. 1882.