The Pottawattamie and the County.

In 1830, President Andrew Jackson pushed his Indian Relocation Act through Congress. The purpose was to remove Native Americans from locations in order to open it for American settlement. Subsequently, the Potawatomi, a conglomeration of 3 tribes, were forced to sell their land in today’s Wisconsin.

The natives were split up and sent to Kansas and Missouri. The group, sent near St. Jo, Missouri, led by Billy Caldwell/Sauganash under military escort, were then sent to land in the vicinity of the future Council Bluffs in 1837.This was one of the very first native reservations. Caldwell’s Camp was constructed somewhere near today’s East Kanesville and Frank Street and became the de facto political capital of the reservation.  A military blockhouse  was erected in 1837 at today’s 1st and Pierce street to house the dragoon of soldiers tasked with protecting the Potawatami from marauding bands of Lakota. It was a troublesome stay with the government and unscrupulous traders sending whiskey to inundate the Potawatomi with.

Father Jean De Smet was a  renowned Jesuit Priest born in 1801 in Termonde, Belgium. De Smet journeyed to America in 1821 to join the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, an order of Catholic men with a special interest in missions and education. Following more than a decade of religious formation, De Smet began his missionary career in 1838 when he established Saint Joseph's Mission for members of the Potawatomi tribe at Council Bluf.

De Smet wrote often of his experiences among the natives throughout his career. He wrote of his journey via steamboat up the Missouri from St. Louis when members of a tribe “saluted” him “in an affectionate manner” as the steamer passed by. He was told that he would be greeted by up to two thousand natives hungry for the Missionary and his Sacrament. The truth, he wrote, was that there were perhaps two thousand natives at the steamboat landing to greet him but they were not there for him. They were there to partake in the whiskey sent by the US government as part of their treaty provisions.

De Smet set about his task of Christianizing the natives. He was given the military blockhouse by the US military when the dragoon was sent elsewhere. He and his assistants converted the blockhouse to St. Francis Mission. The building was poorly built and in need of repairs almost immediately. The Jesuit often went without basic necessities in harsh weather conditions.

The priest wrote in his journals of how beautiful the Potawatomi were as human beings,,,when they were sober. He wrote in length about what he believed was the evil being perpetrated upon the natives: the tremendous amount of alcohol being sent to the reservation by the fur traders via the government treaty provisions. He documented the countless acts of violence amongst the Potawatomi as a result of the incessant drinking. De Smet contacted his government friends, petitioned the government itself, and did his best to convince his congregants to stop. He failed.

De Smet made the first map of the local area and then took the first missionary job available upriver starting in 1839. He went on to become the most famous and respected missionary living a life of irony. There is irony in Father De Smet’s stellar career. There is every indication that he deeply cared for the Potawatomi and all the other tribes that he visited. Yet, his actions helped eradicate the native cultures that existed prior.He loved his charges so much that he convinced them to give up their native lives and convert to Christianity.

De Smet later helped broker and be a liaison between the federal government and the native tribes. He died in1873 in St. Louis , Missouri where he is interred. He was 72 years old.

By Troy Stolp.  Mr. Stolp is a graduate of Lewis Central High School in Council Bluffs and holds degrees in Anthropology and Religious Studies from Iowa State University (BA) and History from Buena Vista University (BA) and University of Nebraska at Omaha (MA).  Mr. Stolp serves on the board of directors of Preserve Council Bluffs and teaches at Lewis Central.