Six hundred sixty miles is not very far today. You can drive that far in a car in one long day. But in 1838 it took two months to travel from Indiana to Kansas on the forced removal later named the Trail of Death. On the Potawatomi Trail of Death Commemorative Caravan it took six days, Sep 17-22.

We stopped at nearly every camp site of 1838, talked to hundreds of people and did many ceremonies to bless by sprinkling tobacco around most of the 82 historical markers.

Our caravan had 36 people in 17 vehicles. At times there were more people, dropping in to travel with us across their county or to lead us to the next location for a meal or historical marker.

We began at Chief Menominee monument at Twin Lakes south of Plymouth. George Schricker, Plymouth, sang his song “Menominee,” assisted by his wife Michelle who taught the words in sign language. They also sang “Holding the Hoop,” another song George wrote.

We stopped at the Tippecanoe River and Rochester courthouse. Millie Pepion and her uncle and father, Navajos, did a brief song of rememberance. Millie lives in Arizona and is a computer whiz. She made a Facebook page for Potawatomi Trail of Death Association and many posters and news releases for us.

We drove slowly by the Trail of Death marker at Mud Creek, which marks where the first death occurred, a baby. This historical marker was erected in 1976 by my son Allen Willard for his Boy Scout Eagle Award. The boulder was donated by McMahan O’Connor construction company, Rochester.

We ate lunch at Logansport hospital. Vincent Barrett showed us where two Potawatomi babies were buried near the hospital. In 1838 over 300 were sick and a tent hospital was erected on Horney Creek. That is now marked on River Bluff Trail just east of the Logansport hospital today.

Our caravan followed the Trail of Death historic highway signs through Georgetown on the north side of the Wabash River and the historical marker for Chief Winamac’s old village on Tow Path Road, and past Burnett Creek Arch where the Wabash & Erie Canal passed over the creek. We went by Pleasant Run where the Potawatomi camped, and through Pittsburg where the flowing well downtown offers a drink of fresh water.

We stopped at Battle Field Park in Battle Ground which marks the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe. General John Tipton bought the land and donated it for the memorial park in 1836. Many Indiana counties are named for men who fought in the Battle of Tippecanoe, including Tipton, Harrison, Spencer, Bartholomew, Daviess, Owens, Dubois, Parke and others.

The Prophetstown State Park was meant to commemorate the Indians but was “high jacked by white men” who established a living history farm there. A couple of years ago they erected a Circle of Stones which have names of 14 tribes sandblasted onto the boulders: Ojibwe, Delaware, Kickapoo, Miami, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Shawnee, Wea, Wyandot, Winnebago, Fox, Sac, Creek and Menominee. But the stones were a distance from the road so only a few of our caravan walked over to see them.

Supper was provided at Lafayette by the National Center for Great Lakes Native American Culture (NCGLNAC), led by Linda Andrews. It was a great feast consisting entirely of Native American Indian foods: turkey, potatoes, squash, corn, watermelon, strawberries, and other fruits, etc.

We spent the night in Lafayette hotels.

The next day we traveled through Independence and Williamsport. Gopher Hill Cemetery was our last stop in Indiana, being a mile and a half from the Illinois state line. Several people met us there, having met with previous caravans five or ten years ago. The Trail of Death caravan has traveled every five years, beginning in 1988. This was our seventh caravan.