Sauganash
Sauganash, born around 1780 near Fort Niagara, was the son of a British soldier and a Mohawk mother. Raised in a bicultural environment, he initially lived with his mother's people before moving in with his father's family. His early career involved working in the fur trade, and he served as a captain in the War of 1812, where he was wounded in battle. After the war, he briefly held a position as a superintendent in Canada but later returned to Chicago, where he was recognized by the American government as a Potawatomi chief in 1829. Throughout his life, Sauganash was involved in negotiations with the US government concerning the land rights of the Potawatomi people, leading to significant forced relocations in the 1830s. He is noted for his personal connections, having had four wives and possibly fathering ten children. Sauganash passed away from cholera in 1841 in Caldwell's Camp, Iowa, where he spent his final years living among the Potawatomi tribe.
Subject Terms
Sauganash
Potawatomi chief
- Born: ca. 1780
- Birthplace: Fort Niagara, Canada
- Died: September 27, 1841
- Place of death: Caldwell’s Camp, Iowa
Contribution: Billy Caldwell, also known as Sauganash (Potawatomi for “English-speaking” or “Englishman”), was a nineteenth-century Canadian American merchant, Potawatomi chief, and official of the Indian Department of Great Britain. He is remembered for acting as chief of the Potawatomi Nation near Chicago, Illinois, and for establishing a land settlement for the Potawatomis near Iowa.
Early Life and Education
Sauganash was born around 1780 near Fort Niagara to the British soldier William Caldwell and a Mohawk mother. Sauganash’s parents were unmarried, and he was raised first by his mother and her people. When his father married Suzanne Baby around 1789, Sauganash was sent to live with them.
Sauganash initially worked in the fur trade as an apprentice in what is now Michigan and then as a clerk at a trading post near Fort Dearborn in Chicago. He fought in the War of 1812 as a captain in Britain’s Indian Department, serving as a liaison between the British and the aboriginal forces. He was seriously wounded in 1813 in the Battle of the Raisin River (also known as the Battle of Frenchtown).
Career as Chief
Following the war, Sauganash lived in Canada, where he briefly served as the Indian Department’s superintendent for the Western District, but he was soon removed from duty. He proved to be equally unsuccessful in his business pursuits and returned to Chicago in 1820.
Sauganash was recognized as a Potawatomi chief by the American government in 1829, probably to facilitate land negotiations. A number of legends concerning his role as chief, including his connections with the legendary Shawnee leader Tecumseh and his heroic rescue of American prisoners in the Fort Dearborn Massacre of 1812, have been discredited by modern historians. These stories may have been circulated either by his employers or by Sauganash himself in order to bolster his role as a leader in aboriginal-American relations.
He is most remembered for his role in negotiations with the US government in the 1830s, which forced about two thousand Potawatomis west to Iowa, eventually settling at Caldwell’s Camp near present-day Council Bluffs, Iowa. (The land, about sixteen hundred acres, had previously been given to Sauganash for his services to the US government.) In the final years of his life, Sauganash dedicated himself to living and working among his adopted tribe, the Potawatomis.
Personal Life
Sauganash had four wives. The names of his first wife, La Nanette, and his fourth wife, Sauqua LeGrand, are known, but those of his second and third wives, both of whom were Métis, are not recorded. He is thought to have fathered as many as ten children. Sauganash died of cholera on September 27, 1841, in Caldwell’s Camp, Iowa.
Bibliography
Barkwell, Lawrence. “Captain Billy Caldwell a.k.a. Chief Sauganash.” Biographies. Winnipeg: Louis Riel Institute, 2010. Virtual Museum of Métis History and Culture. Web. 1 Aug. 2013.
Clifton, James A. “Caldwell, Billy.” Dictionary of Canadian Biography. U of Toronto/Université Laval, 2013. Web. 31 July 2013.
Clifton, James A. “Caldwell, Captain Billy.” American National Biography. New York: Oxford UP, 2000. Print.
Gayford, Peter T. Chief Billy Caldwell, His Chicago Reserve, and Bloodline: A 21st Century Biography. Lake Forest: Iron Gate, 2012. Print.
Maggio, Alice. “They Called Him Sauganash.” GapersBlock.com. Gapers Block, June 9, 2005. Web. 31 July 2013.
Nadig, Brian. “Facts Hard to Find on Life of Billy Caldwell.” Nadig Newspapers. Nadig Newspapers, Mar. 2009. Web. 31 July 2013.
Parins, James W. “Caldwell, Billy (Sauganash) (1780–1841).” Encyclopedia of American Indian Removal. Vol.1. Ed. Daniel F. Littlefield Jr. and James W. Parins. Santa Barbara: Greenwood, 2011. 30–31. Print.