thumb|Signature- B Caldwell Capt.
Billy Caldwell (March 17, 1782 – September 28, 1841) was a Captain in the British Indian Department during the War of 1812, a fur trader, and in his later life a chief of the Potawatomi at Council Bluffs. He was also known as Sauganash, a variant spelling of Zhagnash meaning British or Canadian in the Potawatomi language.
Born in a Mohawk refugee camp near Fort Niagara, Billy was the son of William Caldwell, a Scots-Irish British officer during the American Revolutionary War, and a Mohawk woman, the daughter of a chief named 'Rising Sun'. His name was not short for William. His half-brother, the eldest son of William Caldwell by his French Canadian wife, was named William Caldwell Jr, Billy was only ever called Billy. Due to his Mohawk-speaking mother, English-speaking father, French-speaking step-mother, (Suzanne the daughter of Jacques Baby) his later Potawatomi wives, and years of fur trading, he became multilingual. He did, however, lose the use of the Mohawk language, with which he had been raised in his youth, due to nonuse.
At seventeen Caldwell moved to Chicago to work as a clerk for John Kinzie and Thomas Forsyth. He remained with them for a few years before starting his own independent trade. When the War of 1812 broke out, he arrived alongside the Potawatomi to fight for the British.
After the war Caldwell returned to the Chicago area. Having gained the respect of many bands of Potawatomi, together with Alexander Robinson, he acted as a chief councilor on behalf of the prairie bands of the Potawatomi in numerous treaties with the U.S. Federal Government. He was involved in the Second Treaty of Prairie du Chien, the 1833 Treaty of Chicago, and others. For his work, the US granted him life annuities as well as a 1600-acre Half-Breed Tract, known as the Caldwell Reserve, along the North Branch of the Chicago River. These treaties, signed under innumerable pressures, sold their ancestral lands and acquiesced to their removal west of the Mississippi River. In 1835, Caldwell migrated with his people from the Chicago region west to Platte County, Missouri.
As a result of the Platte Purchase in 1836, Caldwell and his band were removed from Missouri to Iowa Territory, to the area of Trader's Point (Pointe aux Poules) on the east bank of the Missouri River. While living at Trader's Point, Caldwell led a band of approximately 2000 Potawatomi. Their settlement became known as Camp Caldwell. In 1841 Caldwell died; scholars believe it may have been because of cholera.
Early life and education
Soon after the American Revolutionary War, Billy Caldwell, was born in 1782 (as documented through two autobiographical letters) near Fort Niagara to a Mohawk woman. His father was William Caldwell, a Scots-Irish immigrant who came to North America in 1773 and served as a Loyalist soldier in the war. Living first in Virginia, in 1774 his father had fought as an officer with Lord Dunmore and was wounded. After recovering, he went to Fort Niagara in New York, where he fought with Butler's Rangers against Patriot colonists in New York and Pennsylvania.
William Caldwell was likely away on an expedition when Billy was born. He was ordered to Detroit then went south to Kentucky culminating in the Battle of Blue Licks. It's not clear how much of a role William played in his son's early life. He resettled as a Loyalist in Upper Canada, where he was granted land by the British Crown. In addition to clearing land for his own farm, he helped develop the town of Amherstburg, in present-day Ontario. Billy was given a basic Anglo-Canadian education and became Catholic. He was called "naturally smart" and was popular as a result.
Career
At the age of 17, Billy Caldwell entered United States territory for the first time, to learn the fur trade business from Thomas Forsyth and John Kinzie. He kept his British loyalties and learned Potawatomi, an Algonquian language, for dealing with the several tribes of that language family near Lake Michigan. According to the traditional account, likely a bit fictionalized in Juliette Magill Kinzie's 'Wau-bun, the Early Day in the Northwest', Caldwell arrived just in time to de-escalate the situation and deter young warriors from attacking the Kinzies.
After the Battle of Fort Dearborn, Caldwell returned to Canada to enlist in the British service; he looked for his father's help to gain a commission. The senior Caldwell by then was a Lieutenant Colonel and had gained commissions for his sons by Suzanne. The regular army did not accept Billy Caldwell, but he was commissioned as a captain in the Indian Department.
In 1814, the Canadians appointed the senior Caldwell as Deputy Superintendent of Indians for the Western District, a position for which the younger Caldwell had competed as well. He was appointed second to his father. In 1815 Amherstburg, Ontario's Commandant, Reginald James, suspended Caldwell Sr. because of problems in supplying the Indians; he appointed Billy Caldwell as Superintendent. The Indian Department quickly found that he could not manage the work and "eased him out" the following year, in 1816. Supposedly Caldwell was beside Tecumseh when he died, but the account has some unrelated inaccuracies and therefore might not be trustworthy. Caldwell stated that he had worked with the British in order to keep his promise to his Anishinaabe friends and establish the long-promised boundary between them and European settlement. The war ended with more land being ceded, however, and Caldwell became disillusioned with the British cause.
Caldwell and his band migrated west in 1835, first settling in Missouri west of the Mississippi River. The treaty provided for a $10,000 payment each to Caldwell and Robinson, and a $400 lifetime annuity for Caldwell, with $300 annually for Robinson. Before the US Senate ratified the treaty in 1835, it reduced the lump-sum payments to the men to $5000 each, but left their annuities intact.
It has been claimed that Caldwell and Alexander Robinson were appointed as chiefs by the U.S. Federal government in order to vote for land cessions, or even bribed to do so. The notes of the treaties, however, make it clear that the Government did not consider Caldwell and Robinson to be chiefs. It is made clear that they were councilors, freely consulted with, but were not parties to the treaty. It is unclear exactly when Billy Caldwell became a chief. He was not a hereditary chief of the Potawatomi, but commanded great respect and led a band. After his death, in the 1846 proceedings of Treaty No. 247, he was called, "our great chief Mr. Caldwell."
Caldwell Reserve
The U.S. awarded Caldwell a Half-Breed Tract, a 1,600 acre reserve on the North Branch of the Chicago River, as part of the 1829 Treaty of Prairie du Chien. In 1833, in preparation for his removal beyond the Mississippi River, Caldwell began selling off his land via the New York attorney Arthur Bronson. According to his land patent, to be legally binding, each deed had to be personally approved by the president.
In all, six land sales took place from Caldwell's Reserve. These land transactions included: 80 acres to George W. Dole and Richard Hamilton in June 1833 for $100; 160 acres to Richard Nicolas, Sarah Amantus, Eleanor Hamilton, and infant heirs of Richard Jo and Diana W. Hamilton in July 1833 for $200; 160 acres to Philo Carpenter in July 1833 for $200; 720 acres to Arthur Bronson in 1833 for $900; 160 acres to Captain Seth Johnson in November 1833 for $200; 80 and 160 acres, respectively, to Julius B. Kingsbury in November 1834 for $300. This accounted for 1,440 acres of the original 1,600. The first deed to be approved by the president was the 720 acres to Arthur Bronson, with the others eventually being approved as well. Except, that is, for the northernmost 160 acres of the reserve. Deeds for this land have never been approved by a sitting president, and no original deeds from Caldwell exist to be approved. In theory this land, valued at about 500 million dollars is the property of unknown descendants of Caldwell, if they exist.
Marriage and family
Caldwell's marriage and issue is unclear, and numerous contradictory accounts exist. He is traditionally said to have married three times. The first time to a Potawatomi woman, the daughter or niece of Chief Neescotnemeg, the second time to a daughter of Robert Forsythe, and the third time to a Métis woman in Chicago.
When Father Stephen Badin visited Chicago he baptized three daughters by Caldwell and 'Nannette': Helene, Suzanne, and Elizabeth. Caldwell himself spoke of three daughters and a son, Alexander. He said his favorite daughter, Elizabeth, was on the verge of death in March 1834. In November of the same year he married Saqua LeGrande in Chicago. She had a son from a previous marriage by the name of Pewymo. According to him, Caldwell and Saqua had three daughters in Chicago who all died before adulthood. This creates the possibility that Nannette and Saqua were the same person, and they had been together prior to having their marriage endorsed by Father Badin.
One of Caldwell's wives was the niece or daughter of the powerful Potawatomi chief, Mad Sturgeon, Juliette Magill Kinzie in her book Wau-bun refers to the wife of Caldwell as the daughter of Chief Neescotnemeg, referring to Mad Sturgeon. Alexander Robinson wrote that it was his last wife who was the niece of Mad Sturgeon. Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard said the same.
It is claimed that his son Alexander died in 1832 from alcoholism, The strife could very well have been caused by Alexander's overuse of alcohol.
All of Caldwell's children predeceased him. His stepson Pewymo attempted to sell the remaining portion of Caldwell's reserve in the latter half of the 19th century but the Attorney General halted the proceedings on the recommendation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Caldwell had at least four children, though their mothers are unclear:
- Alexander
- Helene
- Suzanne
- Elizabeth
Indian removal and later years
thumb|[[Pierre-Jean De Smet's map of the Council Bluffs, Iowa area, 1839. The area labeled 'Caldwell's Camp' was a Potawatomi village led by Sauganash. The later town of Kanesville, the precursor of Council Bluffs, grew up in that place.]]
In 1835, Caldwell and his band of Potawatomi left the State of Illinois and relocated to Platte County, Missouri.
In 1836, as a result of the Platte Purchase, Caldwell and his band were removed from this reservation to Trader's Point on the east bank of the Missouri River in the Iowa Territory. The Potawatomi band of an estimated 2000 individuals settled in a main village called "Caldwell's Camp", located where the later city of Council Bluffs, Iowa developed. (This was on the eastern bank of the river, opposite the present-day city of Omaha, Nebraska.)
From 1838 to 1839, Caldwell and his people were ministered to by the notable Belgian Jesuit missionary Pierre-Jean De Smet, based in St. Louis, Missouri. The Jesuit priest was appalled at the violence and desperation that overtook the Potawatomi in their new home, in large part due to the whiskey trade. After De Smet returned to St. Louis, the Catholic mission was abandoned by 1841.
Caldwell died on September 28, 1841; it may have been from cholera. His wife Masaqua died in the winter of 1843.
Legacy and honors
- The Sauganash Hotel, completed in Chicago in 1831 was named in honor of Caldwell.
- There is a Sauganash Golf Club in Three Rivers, MI., as well as another on his former reserve, both named in his honor.
- He is the subject of two documentary films: Holy Ground which was limitedly released in theatres in December 2023, and The Negotiator: Billy Caldwell, which sold out its June 20, 2024 screening at the Illinois Holocaust Museum.