Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Legends of Chief Cobmoosa & President A. Jackson - 5

     Cobmoosa, was once the sub chief of Noonday's (P) and Wobwindigo's (OT) tribes.  Noonday signed the Treaty of 1821 and Wobwindigo the Treaty of 1836.  Once a chief signed a treaty they could sign no other.  In the absence of the great warrior Noonday it was Cobmoosa who led many hunting and fishing parties into the wilderness areas of the Upper Flat River, the Maple and Thornapple Rivers and bring back food to his people (1790-1830).   Game was getting scarcer.
     When Noonday in the presence of Cobmoosa was in Washington to sign the Treaty of 1821 Cobmoosa was no longer sub-chief since many in Noonday's two Potawatomi villages had to left to reservations.  Noonday had the "rapids" village in Grand Rapids and another village in the Kalamazoo area.  Kalamazoo Avenue was the Indian Trail between his two villages. Slowly the entire tribe dissolved into the Bradley Reservation or Missouri Reservations while Noonday and Cobmoosa continued to help the missionaries establish the mission in Grand Rapids.
     Cobmoosa knew that within a few years Noonday would have to leave as the Treaty of 1821 stipulated.  In his upriver travels he became friends with Boshaw and Chief Hazy Cloud at Ada and was welcome in Chief Keywaycooshcum's and Wobwindigo's Ottawa villages.  Since he didn't wish to leave his native land, he had to remove himself, so he found shallow spots in the Grand River and waded across. He shunned canoe travel his entire life.  He suffered from hydrophobia - fear of water and drowning.  He traveled on foot wherever he went and his wives trailed him.
     Cobmoosa was an expert in how to supply the bands with meat.  He showed the younger men how to make bows and arrows until he bought an old shotgun from Mrs. Sessions east of Ionia.  He was the traveling tribal medicine man or magician within the various tribes to offer comfort to the sick.  He told others about his dreams and used his eloquent speeches to shape the direction of the tribes.  As such he became the greatest peace orator of traditional customs and laws of the Grand and Flat River tribes and was held in high esteem wherever his travels took him.
     Chief John Wabasis adopted foster-father was Cobmoosa and he taught Wabasis how to be the best at everything.  He educated the lad and later in life he was so proud of Wabasis and together they used their intelligence to keep the peace in the Grand River valley.  Despite the renegades blasphemous language to kill incoming settlers these two chiefs kept the river from turning red with much blood.  This is how both of then  reaped greater rewards from Presidents rather than the language for payment in treaties.
     Cobmoosa had his share of mentors, too, like other great orators known as Chief Tecumseh of the Shawnee, the Red Jackets of the Senecas and Pa-ban-ne, the Henry Clay of the Ottawa nations. 
     Chief Noonday was about 11 years older than Cobmoosa.  Cobmoosa being fatherless was taught the ways of his friends and warriors, but Cobmoosa shied away from the unpleasant talk.  He was never impressed nor did he ever participate in savagery of any kind.  Noonday was forever boasting about his wicked savagery during the American Revolutionary War, the Indian Wars and the War of   1812-1818.
     Cobmoosa disliked Noondays torturous conversations and instead taught Wabasis to respect the white mans religion and do without savagery.  Wabasis listened intently and absorbed Cobmoosa's teachings and became an honorable chief of his own clan at Wabasis Lake in 1838 when lazy blackskins labeled him a thief by stealing their annual annuity payments.  Blackskins were slaves caught in time of war.  Their lives were spared, but to survive they had to become Indian.  Some Blackskins near Greenville were convinced Wabasis was responsible for stealing their annuity payments.
     Cobmoosa, Wabasis and Boshaw were those dedicated half-breed Indian men who stayed out of conflicts with Washington.  Not all of Cobmoosa's mentors were educated -  some were ignorant, but like their fathers, the educated half-breeds took Indian wives, too, who helped them keep peace from 1821-1855. (continued)

Monday, March 30, 2015

Legends of Chief Cobmoosa & Pres. Andrew Jackson - 4

     Standing inside the time machine we close the door and get a shock as "SNAP" we travel from the 1830's to 2014.  Standing on the Pearl Street bridge over the Grand River in Grand Rapids its hard to envision the Grand River running wild and free without coffer dams and the Sixth Street dam after 160 years.  Hey that's what today's whitewater kayaking enthusiasts want the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to do just so they can experience the thrill of fast water recreation.
     Removal of the dams does nothing to improve the experience of fishing.  Faster water means danger and more drownings.  Removal of dams would be detrimental to wading fishermen who will be swept off their feet.  The fish ladder will cease to exist and it'll give the invasive sea lamprey easy access to every tributary stream for spawning throughout the whole upstream watershed.
     Rushing water will increase the noise factor as it echoes off the buildings and around corners.  Right now you are able to talk to each other on the boardwalks along the river.  Increasing noisy water will reverberate off the tall buildings and outdoor eating areas will be vacant.  Today you can carry on a conversation outside, but that'll be a thing of the past on bridges and sidewalks should the kayakers get their wish.  I think the money would be wiser spent stopping the GR waste water systems overflows each time it rains - that system needs fixing - no its easier to pollute the river out into Lake Michigan.  Grand Rapids is the Grand Rivers largest polluter.
    "SNAP" lets time warp to Sunday, March 29, 2015.  Grand Rapids is going to request that the downtown river rapids be included in the Corps' Great Lakes Fishery and Ecosystem Restoration Program for the Grand River.  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is being asked to spend as much as $10 million to demolish the Six Street Dam and require them to build a new barrier to prevent sea lamprey migration upstream.
     Upstream rests 1.5 miles or about 160 years of sediment and pollutant buildup that will be unleashed to load the river below Eastmanville with silt and the potential of forcing floodwaters farther from the river bank.  Nobody talks about dredging the river so boats can operate?  The Grand River until the early 1900's was a dredged river so who all will be impacted by the flood of silt - will the river get so shallow that boats and that steamboat can't operate?  How will it impact boating above Ann Street to North Park?  What will be the damages to homeowners and businesses along the river?
     Lots of questions go unanswered just because a few kayakers want fast water rafting -- fishermen brings lots of money into Grand Rapids, but will the kayakers fill that void?
     Well I've digressed again.  Must be kayakers have more money than all the fishermen?
     "SNAP" we return to the late 1820's.  The incoming missionaries encountered many savage talking Indians and more so when they saw bootleg traders walking among the Indians selling them bottle of whiskey on credit.  Federal government law prohibited selling spirits to Indians, but without law enforcement officers it was open season to fleece the Indians.  Earlier French Traders and Jesuit missionaries tried to be good influences on the Indians mode of living only to be trashed by bootleggers who gained easy wealth off ignorant Indians. (continued).
    
      
 
 

Legends of Chief Cobmoosa & Pres. Andrew Jackson - 3

     Oh, what a tangled mess of treaty litigation when Washington Congressmen tried to deceive the Indians in 1836.  It took another 150 years into the future for President Ronald Reagan to rectify the situation made by the 24th and 25th Congresses of the United States of America.  Because of lack of fairness to the Indians concerning the natural resources of Michigan the Ottawas, Potawatomi and Ojibway tribes were allowed to start building casino's and gaming resorts as a trade off to settle the unfairness. 
     Indian descendants make a decent living from those who like to gamble away their money for fun or profit.  Like the firewater peddled to the Indians so, too, gambling in excess becomes addictive, too.  Once hooked it can be disastrous to families and so the table turns against non-Indians.  Some believe casinos settle the unfairness shown towards the Indians.
     During Jackson's presidency he despised how the Indians wherever he found them were treated.  Poorly I might add.  All because greedy traders and settlers began dealing in credit for goods from the Indians 1821-1836.  They often swindled illiterate Indians because many Indians were uneducated and didn't know the true value of Washington's paper currency. 
     Jackson was destined and determined he'd change the monetary currency standards paid to all Indians before 1836.  He believed what the missionaries were telling him that Indian payments were inferior.  With the missionaries help he had to invest the Indians in other pursuits; agriculture and farming as opposed to trading in furs, liquor and guns.  Along the Grand River game was already getting scarce before 1834.
     Andew Jackson was received letters from missionaries through Henry Schoolcraft several times each years stating the conditions under which they found the Indians living (heathen, savage warriors and pagan.  Some feared for their lives when renegades began boasting it was time to kill or drive out incoming settlers.  Many traveling missionaries like Rev. Algoma (circuit rider) left when the war drums started getting louder each night and saw the night dark skies illuminated by the glow of bonfires.  All the missionaries who walked among the Indians from 1760-1830 failed to convert the savage Indians to Christianity.
     "Snap" it is Grand Rapids in the mid 1880's.  We materialize along Monroe Avenue to the sounds of civilized progress where once the "rapids" village called Bochtenong or Cobmoosa's village existed.  Downtown streets are lined with tall piles of dirt and stones.  Workmen are installing sanitary sewers along Monroe between Leonard and Fulton Street until diggers unearthed sterling silver crosses, jewelry and other trinkets from a previous civilization of Indians.  Prospectors and the get rich quick crowd with lanterns and shovels at night sifted the soil hoping to find a treasured artifact.  By morning light most of the trenches were filled in.
     The 49 Norton Indian Mounds were being desecrated and destroyed, too, by those who thought the mounds contained Indian treasures and Christianity jewelry, but for all the work they did to excavate they found little more than a few skeletons sitting in upright positions or cremated remains of Archaic or Hopewells that lived 7,000 to 10,000 years B.C. ago. 
     "Snap" we return to pre-1827 at the rapids village.  Looking out over the Owashtenong River (Grand) we see the boiling waters and hear the noise as it rushes past, the noisy water is so loud one can hardly talk to another standing right beside you.  Any wonder when you consider the original river dropped 21 feet from Leonard to Fulton (one mile).  The currents were strong and noisy.      Wading across was difficult and treacherous and if I was a betting man I'd venture a guess that perhaps Cobmoosa nearly drowned off the village and that's why he became the "Great Grand Walker."  History does not say why Cobmoosa was hydrophobic.  Imagine the ferocity and violence of the churning water during floods.  (Continued)
    

Friday, March 27, 2015

Cobmoosa's and Jackson's Early Years

     Time traveling is necessary so that you can see the importance of both men.  This story does hop around.  I found it difficult to write, but through the eyes of both men you get a sense of what was happening in Michigan and the challenges and difficulties each faced.  Does this series contain  any lost treasures associated with Cobmoosa?  It does. 
     Cobmoosa taught Wabasis, his foster son how to bury treasure in rawhide pokes and iron kettles, but you won't find that information unless you continue reading this blog.  I want you to treasure hunt and learn about Michigan history.  I buried Cobmoosa's lost treasure somewhere in the storyline.  Yes, Cobmoosa was quite wealthy in his own right and earned the respect of all he met.  He stayed Indian almost his entire life.
     Our story begins today when Cobmoosa was 53 years old (1821).  Cobmoosa had met the Rev. Isaac McCoy and Rev. Leonard Slater on the banks of Grand River near the rapids.  He helped both build their missions and he quickly found favor in the eyes of Rev. McCoy and Rev. Slater.  They struck up a friendship that lasted for many years.  They came to know Cobmoosa as the "Great Grand Walker."
     These missionaries in black clothing and white collars were carrying Sterling Silver crosses that hung from a necklace.  They looked authentic, but lacked the jewels they'd seen on Jesuit missionaries that had visited the area around 1765.  These missionaries were the spies among the Indian tribes and they reported their findings annually to Presidents James Monroe, John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson.
     They lived under savage living conditions, but kept the Presidents informed on who were the good (friendly) and bad (savage) Indians who were attempting to wage war with Washington.  Missionaries kept records of the educated Indians that were most likely to help Washington keep  the peace in the Grand River Valley and Cobmoosa was the most trusted.  No threats of any kind were ever heard coming from his mouth, but the renegades gave them pause to wonder how long peace would last.
     Jackson's presidency and the Treaty of 1836 were keys to northward settlement expansion north of the Grand River in Michigan.  Jackson knew from his own farm experiences that if the Indians were converted to religion it might more advantageous to introduce them to agricultural pursuits.  He envisioned that within 20 years annuity payments would cease leaving them destitute without means to support the tribes.
     President Jackson wasn't fond of relocating Michigan Indians to reservations west of the Mississippi.  He had seen the death and destruction caused by the forced march of Indians to Missouri.  It now was his responsibility to serve all the people, which included Indians. 
     The purchase price for Indian territory under the Treaty of 1836 had to be fair, but President and Congress blundered an failed to address where and when the Indians had to leave the Grand River Valley.  It took 150 years into the future before President Ronald Reagan and the Supreme Court to solve questions about who owned the natural resources of the state.  The treaty didn't purchase the natural resources and hunting a fishing rights.
     And so the Treaty of 1836 under Jackson and Congress wasn't fair to either side (Indian or American), but under Jackson it was the best deal available for the time period.  Although President Jackson authorized payment for the Michigan territory north of the Grand River they made no plans to purchase its Natural Resources.  Michigan's natural resources are under five different law enforcement agencies and those being federal, state, county, local and Tribal Indian Law.
      Michigan's Indians retained ownership of the state's natural resources.  Descendants of settlers managed it, too, and President Reagan spelled out the guidelines for cooperation amongst them.  Great Lakes and territorial water are managed under Indian laws in certain areas, but there is conformity under state and Indian regulations. (continued)

Legends of Chief Cobmoosa & Pres. Andrew Jackson -2

Cobmoosa's and Jackson's Early Years

     Time traveling is necessary so that you can see the importance of both men.  This story does hop around.  I found it difficult to write, but through the eyes of both men you get a sense of what was happening in Michigan and the challenges and difficulties each faced.  Does this series contain  any lost treasures associated with Cobmoosa?  It does. 
     Cobmoosa taught Wabasis, his foster son how to bury treasure in rawhide pokes and iron kettles, but you won't find that information unless you continue reading this blog.  I want you to treasure hunt and learn about Michigan history.  I buried Cobmoosa's lost treasure somewhere in the storyline.  Yes, Cobmoosa was quite wealthy in his own right and earned the respect of all he met.  He stayed Indian almost his entire life.
     Our story begins today when Cobmoosa was 53 years old (1821).  Cobmoosa had met the Rev. Isaac McCoy and Rev. Leonard Slater on the banks of Grand River near the rapids.  He helped both build their missions and he quickly found favor in the eyes of Rev. McCoy and Rev. Slater.  They struck up a friendship that lasted for many years.  They came to know Cobmoosa as the "Great Grand Walker."
     These missionaries in black clothing and white collars were carrying Sterling Silver crosses that hung from a necklace.  They looked authentic, but lacked the jewels they'd seen on Jesuit missionaries that had visited the area around 1765.  These missionaries were the spies among the Indian tribes and they reported their findings annually to Presidents James Monroe, John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson.
     They lived under savage living conditions, but kept the Presidents informed on who were the good (friendly) and bad (savage) Indians who were attempting to wage war with Washington.  Missionaries kept records of the educated Indians that were most likely to help Washington keep  the peace in the Grand River Valley and Cobmoosa was the most trusted.  No threats of any kind were ever heard coming from his mouth, but the renegades gave them pause to wonder how long peace would last.
     Jackson's presidency and the Treaty of 1836 were keys to northward settlement expansion north of the Grand River in Michigan.  Jackson knew from his own farm experiences that if the Indians were converted to religion it might more advantageous to introduce them to agricultural pursuits.  He envisioned that within 20 years annuity payments would cease leaving them destitute without means to support the tribes.
     President Jackson wasn't fond of relocating Michigan Indians to reservations west of the Mississippi.  He had seen the death and destruction caused by the forced march of Indians to Missouri.  It now was his responsibility to serve all the people, which included Indians. 
     The purchase price for Indian territory under the Treaty of 1836 had to be fair, but President and Congress blundered an failed to address where and when the Indians had to leave the Grand River Valley.  It took 150 years into the future before President Ronald Reagan and the Supreme Court to solve questions about who owned the natural resources of the state.  The treaty didn't purchase the natural resources and hunting a fishing rights.
     And so the Treaty of 1836 under Jackson and Congress wasn't fair to either side (Indian or American), but under Jackson it was the best deal available for the time period.  Although President Jackson authorized payment for the Michigan territory north of the Grand River they made no plans to purchase its Natural Resources.  Michigan's natural resources are under five different law enforcement agencies and those being federal, state, county, local and Tribal Indian Law.
      Michigan's Indians retained ownership of the state's natural resources.  Descendants of settlers managed it, too, and President Reagan spelled out the guidelines for cooperation amongst them.  Great Lakes and territorial water are managed under Indian laws in certain areas, but there is conformity under state and Indian regulations. (continued)

Legends of Chief Cobmoosa and Pres. Andrew Jackson - 1

Introduction:
 
     This new series is primarily about the life and legends of two equally educated, but important men in Michigan and American history; namely Chief Cobmoosa of the Ottawa Indians, the people of two fires, the Ottawa and Potawatomi of Michigan's Grand River Valley.  Along with Cobmoosa is the 7th President of the United States - Andrew Jackson.  Both of these men dedicated their lives to the preservation of life for their respective nations.
     Other important legendary names  in Michigan history will from time to time surface briefly such as Luther Lincoln, Chief John Wabasis, Chief Wobwindigo (Odawa), Chief Noonday (Potawatomi) and Chief Hazy Cloud.  These men were all essential mentors, partners, friends and relatives of Cobmoosa.

     Chief Cobmoosa was known as the "Great Grand Walker."  He was the last Ottawa Indian Chief to leave the Grand River Valley and Flat River Country in Michigan after signing the Treaty of 1855, the only treaty he signed after being made chief upon the death of his father-in-law Chief Wobwindigo in 1837. 
     The Treaty of 1836 contained no stipulation when the Indians were to uproot themselves and  leave for unknown reservations.  The Treaty of 1855 made sure they left before 1860 and gave them three options: the reservations at Pentwater, Mt. Pleasant and Traverse City area.
     Cobmoosa left in the fall of 1860 at age 92 to begin hopefully his last winter journey via Grand Rapids, his ancestral home territory on his way to Grand Haven.  He didn't arrive until 1861.  He was an aged man who was terrified of water travel - he walked and government Indian Agents didn't push him to walk faster.  Townspeople in Grand Rapids at first didn't recognize him as he walked down the street in ragged white man clothing, his feet wrapped with old cloth around his moccasins. 
     Time had neglected to take him to his happy hunting ground.  His walk was labored, but he shuffled along destined to arrive in Grand Haven and rested trying for several months to get up the nerve to arrange steamer passage, but not until 1862.  Could you could walk a hundred miles or more on wagon rutted trails or through the bush at 92 years of age?
     Cobmoosa arrived in Pentwater in 1862.  History doesn't say exactly when.  From Pentwater he put his possessions on his back and walked 15 miles or so southeast to his chosen property the government had deeded to him on the reservation.  It was approximately 8 miles east of Hart, Michigan (Oceana County) and arrived at his newly erected log home in Elbridge Township by the Federal government in 1862. 
     He was 94 years of age and died at age 98 (1866) on the reservation.  He had outlived everybody he ever knew.  Living on the reservation broke his spirit.  He longed for the days of his youth in the "rapids" village at Grand Rapids and in adulthood the beautiful sight and sounds of the Flat River basin and Grand River Valley.  Old age, depression and alcohol consumed his remaining days.  When younger he swore himself to never dress as a white man nor drink his intoxicating firewater that had robbed many men of their sanity and ruined their life. (continued)