Post by Okwes on Apr 18, 2007 14:09:57 GMT -5
The Last Blackrobe of Indiana and the Potawatomi Trail of
Death
News Release by Shirley Willard, Fulton County Historian
On a moonlit night, with the owl hooting, we heard the
hoofbeats of a horse as he came galloping down the hill. He splashed
through the creek, carrying Father Benjamin Petit, hastening on to
comfort his people. Across Indiana he rode to catch up with the
Mission Band of Potawatomi who were being forcibly removed to
Kansas. At gunpoint they had marched down Rochester's Main Street
and through Logansport and Lafayette.
This is a historical novel, with real people speaking as the author
imagined them to speak. Chief Menominee, Abram Nanweshmah Burnett,
Mas-saw and other Potawatomi discuss the treaties and how they feel
about being bribed with whiskey to sign them. Benjamin Petit argues
with his mother and his brother Paul about his decision to leave
France to join Bishop Brute in the wild American frontier in
Indiana. Governor Wallace and John Tipton exchange details of the
plan to round up the Indians. William Polke and others converse
about the problems they encounter on the emigration now called the
Trail of Death. Day by day Polke must deal with the logistics of
getting food for nearly 900 people, including Indians and wagon
drivers and militia, and food for over 300 horses and oxen. Father
Petit must perform mass and burial ceremonies and help the Indians
face the deaths and daily hardships of the long trail.
Many have read the Trail of Death letters of Father Petit and the
diary kept by Polke's secretary Jesse C. Douglas. But no one has
written a book like this before. The author, John McMullen, is a
high school teacher at Evansville and a professor at Ivy Tech
Community College. He has written other historical novels and he is
a terrific writer. He writes poetically and with fervor. He
describes the people and conditions so that the reader feels he is
actually there. He did his research. As a fellow historian, I could
not find anything wrong. Maybe that is because he allowed me and
Susan Campbell, a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, to
proofread the book last summer. So any errors we found were
corrected. Poetic license is taken but they are such that could have
happened. For instance, there is no record of Father Petit coming
back to Twin Lakes and arguing with General Tipton and Indiana
Governor David Wallace. But if it had happened, this would have been
the way it would have sounded. The spirit is there.
Petit's thoughts are very religious so part of this book reflects on
religion and right and wrong, how the government betrayed the
Indians and condoned slavery. Discussions on merits of liberal
Catholicism vs. conservative, whether to allow the Mass to be said
in Potawatomi or insist on Latin, and things I had never heard of. I
knew that during the French Revolution, priests were beheaded, but I
had not realized that the priests who came to establish missions
here had lived through that period of history.
Rochester and Chippeway, our first white village, are mentioned
several times in the book, also the Manitou Monster. It is a
fascinating read, and parts of it will bring tears to your eyes.
The book has a soft cover with a color picture of Father Petit, an
arrowhead, a rosary and a quill pen. It has 423 pages plus vii pages
introduction. An epilogue was written by Susan Campbell to tell what
happened after the Trail of Death. McMullen, a Catholic, added a
glossary of Catholic terms, an appendix with thumbnail sketches of
several characters in the book, notes and bibliography. I wrote
Appendix C, how the Trail of Death is being commemorated today.
The book sells for $17 plus $6 shipping and handling. It is for sale
at the Fulton County Historical Society, 37 E 375 N, Rochester IN
46975. To save shipping, get a copy at the museum gift shop, which
is open Monday � Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Please tell others who might be interested, forward this to them and
to your local newspaper.
Death
News Release by Shirley Willard, Fulton County Historian
On a moonlit night, with the owl hooting, we heard the
hoofbeats of a horse as he came galloping down the hill. He splashed
through the creek, carrying Father Benjamin Petit, hastening on to
comfort his people. Across Indiana he rode to catch up with the
Mission Band of Potawatomi who were being forcibly removed to
Kansas. At gunpoint they had marched down Rochester's Main Street
and through Logansport and Lafayette.
This is a historical novel, with real people speaking as the author
imagined them to speak. Chief Menominee, Abram Nanweshmah Burnett,
Mas-saw and other Potawatomi discuss the treaties and how they feel
about being bribed with whiskey to sign them. Benjamin Petit argues
with his mother and his brother Paul about his decision to leave
France to join Bishop Brute in the wild American frontier in
Indiana. Governor Wallace and John Tipton exchange details of the
plan to round up the Indians. William Polke and others converse
about the problems they encounter on the emigration now called the
Trail of Death. Day by day Polke must deal with the logistics of
getting food for nearly 900 people, including Indians and wagon
drivers and militia, and food for over 300 horses and oxen. Father
Petit must perform mass and burial ceremonies and help the Indians
face the deaths and daily hardships of the long trail.
Many have read the Trail of Death letters of Father Petit and the
diary kept by Polke's secretary Jesse C. Douglas. But no one has
written a book like this before. The author, John McMullen, is a
high school teacher at Evansville and a professor at Ivy Tech
Community College. He has written other historical novels and he is
a terrific writer. He writes poetically and with fervor. He
describes the people and conditions so that the reader feels he is
actually there. He did his research. As a fellow historian, I could
not find anything wrong. Maybe that is because he allowed me and
Susan Campbell, a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, to
proofread the book last summer. So any errors we found were
corrected. Poetic license is taken but they are such that could have
happened. For instance, there is no record of Father Petit coming
back to Twin Lakes and arguing with General Tipton and Indiana
Governor David Wallace. But if it had happened, this would have been
the way it would have sounded. The spirit is there.
Petit's thoughts are very religious so part of this book reflects on
religion and right and wrong, how the government betrayed the
Indians and condoned slavery. Discussions on merits of liberal
Catholicism vs. conservative, whether to allow the Mass to be said
in Potawatomi or insist on Latin, and things I had never heard of. I
knew that during the French Revolution, priests were beheaded, but I
had not realized that the priests who came to establish missions
here had lived through that period of history.
Rochester and Chippeway, our first white village, are mentioned
several times in the book, also the Manitou Monster. It is a
fascinating read, and parts of it will bring tears to your eyes.
The book has a soft cover with a color picture of Father Petit, an
arrowhead, a rosary and a quill pen. It has 423 pages plus vii pages
introduction. An epilogue was written by Susan Campbell to tell what
happened after the Trail of Death. McMullen, a Catholic, added a
glossary of Catholic terms, an appendix with thumbnail sketches of
several characters in the book, notes and bibliography. I wrote
Appendix C, how the Trail of Death is being commemorated today.
The book sells for $17 plus $6 shipping and handling. It is for sale
at the Fulton County Historical Society, 37 E 375 N, Rochester IN
46975. To save shipping, get a copy at the museum gift shop, which
is open Monday � Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Please tell others who might be interested, forward this to them and
to your local newspaper.