Thomas Forsyth (Indian agent)
Thomas Forsyth | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 5, 1771 Fox |
| Term | 1818-1830 |
| Successor | Felix St. Vrain |
| Spouse |
Keziah Malotte (m. 1804–1833) |
| Partner(s) | John Kinzie, Robert Forsyth (son) |
| Children | 4 |
| Parent | William Forsyth |
Major Thomas Forsyth (December 5, 1771 – October 29, 1833) was a 19th-century American frontiersman and trader who served as a U.S.
Fox during the 1820s and was replaced by Felix St. Vrain, prior to the Black Hawk War. His writings, both prior to and while an Indian agent, provided an invaluable source of the early Native American history in the Northwest Territory. His son, Robert Forsyth, was a colonel in the United States Army and an early settler of Chicago, Illinois
.
Early life and family
Thomas Forsyth was born in
Ottawas on Saginaw Bay. As early as 1798, he spent the winter on an island in the Mississippi a short distance downstream from present-day Quincy, Illinois
.
Indian trader, spy, and United States Indian agent
Thomas Forsyth later became partners with his half-brother, John Kinzie, and his son, Robert Forsyth. The two established a trading post in 1802 at the site of what is present-day
Pottawatomie to remain neutral during the War of 1812. In December of that year, he and a number of others at the agency were arrested by the Illinois Rangers under Captain Thomas E. Craig, who later ordered Peoria to be burned. Forsyth was bitterly resentful of Craig's actions, but Craig defended himself by claiming neither he nor anyone else outside of Washington, D.C.
knew of his status as an Indian agent. "It was supposed by the President that Mr. Forsyth would be more serviceable, to both sides, if his friends, the Indians, did not know this situation."
Thomas Forsyth and the others were eventually released by Craig, who dropped them off on the riverbank below
Fort Dearborn massacre
, among whom included Lieutenant Lenai T. Helm, the son-in-law of John Kinzie.
Officially appointed a U.S. Indian subagent for the Sauk and Fox at
Lyman Copeland Draper
that his removal from the position as Indian agent to the Sauk and Fox could have prevented the Black Hawk War.
Death
Forsyth retired to
St. Louis, Missouri where he died on October 29, 1833. He was survived by his wife, who died only four years later, and his four children.[1]
References
- ISBN 0-8032-9418-2
Further reading
- Forsyth, Thomas and Lyman Copeland Draper, ed. "Journal of a Voyage from St. Louis to the Falls of St. Anthony, in 1819". Wisconsin State Historical Society Collections. Vol. VI. Madison: Wisconsin State Historical Society, 1872.
- Transcripts of the Illinois State Historical Society. Pub. 9 (1904). Springfield, Illinois: Philips Brothers, 1904. (pg. 138–142)
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