Chief Wabaunsee
Encyclopedia
Potawatomi
The Potawatomi are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied...
Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
people. His name has been spelled in a variety of ways, including Wabaunsee, Wah-bahn-se, Waubonsee, Waabaansii in the contemporary Ojibwe language
Ojibwe language
Ojibwe , also called Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of the Algonquian language family. Ojibwe is characterized by a series of dialects that have local names and frequently local writing systems...
, and Wabansi in the contemporary Potawatomi language
Potawatomi language
Potawatomi is a Central Algonquian language and is spoken around the Great Lakes in Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as in Kansas in the United States, and in southern Ontario in Canada, 1300 Potawatomi people, all elderly...
.
Biography
The documentary record of Waubonsie's life is sparse. His birth name, parentage, and place of birth are unknown. The year of his birth has been estimated from 1756 to 1765. His brother Mucadapuckee ("Black Partridge") was also a chief. According to tradition, Waubonsie acquired his name (which means "Break of Day" or "He Causes Paleness") after sneaking into a place where some enemy OsagesOsage Nation
The Osage Nation is a Native American Siouan-language tribe in the United States that originated in the Ohio River valley in present-day Kentucky. After years of war with invading Iroquois, the Osage migrated west of the Mississippi River to their historic lands in present-day Arkansas, Missouri,...
were located, killing and scalping one or more of them, and escaping at daybreak.
During Tecumseh's War
Tecumseh's War
Tecumseh's War or Tecumseh's Rebellion are terms sometimes used to describe a conflict in the Old Northwest between the United States and an American Indian confederacy led by the Shawnee leader Tecumseh...
and the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
, Waubonsie supported Tecumseh
Tecumseh
Tecumseh was a Native American leader of the Shawnee and a large tribal confederacy which opposed the United States during Tecumseh's War and the War of 1812...
and the British against American expansion. In September 1811, Waubonsie led an attack on one of William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison was the ninth President of the United States , an American military officer and politician, and the first president to die in office. He was 68 years, 23 days old when elected, the oldest president elected until Ronald Reagan in 1980, and last President to be born before the...
's supply boats as it ascended the Wabash River
Wabash River
The Wabash River is a river in the Midwestern United States that flows southwest from northwest Ohio near Fort Recovery across northern Indiana to southern Illinois, where it forms the Illinois-Indiana border before draining into the Ohio River, of which it is the largest northern tributary...
in Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
. Waubonsie jumped on the boat, killed the lone American on board, and lept off before the Americans on the far shore could respond. Waubonsie, Shabonna, and Winamac
Winamac
Winamac was the name of a number of Potawatomi leaders and warriors beginning in the late 17th century. The name derives from a man named Wilamet, a Native American from an eastern tribe who in 1681 was appointed to serve as a laison between New France and the natives of the Lake Michigan region...
led Potawatomi warriors against Harrison's troops at the Battle of Tippecanoe
Battle of Tippecanoe
The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought on November 7, 1811, between United States forces led by Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory and Native American warriors associated with the Shawnee leader Tecumseh. Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa were leaders of a confederacy of...
on November 7, 1811.
Waubonsie opposed the attack on Fort Dearborn in 1812, and protected the family of John Kinzie
John Kinzie
John Kinzie was one of Chicago's first permanent European settlers. Kinzie Street in Chicago is named after him.-Early life:...
during the massacre that followed. After the war, he signed treaties with the United States, and thereafter worked to avoid confrontation with the Americans. With other Potawatomi leaders, in 1827 he refused to join the Winnebago War
Winnebago War
The Winnebago War was a brief conflict that took place in 1827 in the Upper Mississippi River region of the United States, primarily in what is now the state of Wisconsin. Not quite a war, the hostilities were limited to a few attacks on American civilians by a portion of the Winnebago Native...
against the Americans.
When the Black Hawk War
Black Hawk War
The Black Hawk War was a brief conflict fought in 1832 between the United States and Native Americans headed by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted soon after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis, and Kickapoos known as the "British Band" crossed the Mississippi River into the U.S....
erupted in 1832, Waubonsie and other Potawatomi leaders worked to keep their people out of the conflict, but found it difficult to do so. Many white settlers, recalling the Fort Dearborn massacre, distrusted the Potawatomis and assumed that they would join Sauk leader Black Hawk's uprising. Potawatomi leaders worried that the tribe as a whole would be punished if any Potawatomis supported Black Hawk. Waubonsie and Potawatomi chief Shabbona
Shabbona
Shabbona , also known as Shabonee and Shaubena, was an Ottawa tribe member who became a chief within the Potawatomi tribe in Illinois during the 19th century.-Early life:...
and told Black Hawk that they would not come to his aid. Hoping to demonstrate their good intentions to the Americans, the Potawatomis offered military assistance, fielding a force under Billy Caldwell and Waubonsie. They were less than enthusiastic allies, but managed to demonstrate support for the Americans while avoiding battle.
After the war, Waubonsie visited Washington D.C. on two occasions, and met once with President Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
. He signed treaties that sold Potawatomi land in Indiana and Illinois to the United States, and moved westward to Iowa. The U.S. government built Waubonsie a house near Tabor, Iowa
Tabor, Iowa
Tabor is a city in Fremont and Mills counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 993 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Tabor is located at ....
, where he died in 1848 or 1849.
Toponyms
- Waubonsie State ParkWaubonsie State ParkWaubonsie State Park is a state park of Iowa, USA, located in the Loess Hills region. It is named for Chief Wabaunsee of Potawatomi tribe.Waubonsie State Park is located in the unique Loess Hills, a landform found only along the Missouri River in Iowa and Missouri, and in China...
, Iowa - Wabaunsee County, KansasWabaunsee County, KansasWabaunsee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 7,053. Its county seat is Alma. It is part of the Topeka, Kansas Metropolitan Statistical Area...
- Wabaunsee Township, Kansas
- Wabaunsee Creek, Kansas
- Lake Wabaunsee, Kansas
- Waubonsie Valley High SchoolWaubonsie Valley High SchoolWaubonsie Valley High School, or WVHS, is a public four-year high school located at the corner of Ogden Avenue and Eola Road in Aurora, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States...
, Aurora, Illinois - Waubonsee Community CollegeWaubonsee Community CollegeWaubonsee Community College is a two-year community college, founded in 1966, located in the western suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. Its four campuses are located in Sugar Grove, Aurora, and Plano....
, Sugar Grove, Illinois
USS Waubansee (YTM-366), a United States Navy harbor tug placed in service in 1944 and stricken in 1983, was also named for him.