Northern origins Kickapoo comes from their word
Kiwigapawa, which roughly translates into "he moves from here to there." The tribe is part of the central Algonquian group, and has close ethnic and linguistic connections with the Sac and Meskwaki. The Kickapoo were first recorded by Europeans in about 1667-70 as residing at the
portage between the
Fox and
Wisconsin Rivers. Under pressure from the
Menominee, the Kickapoo and their allies moved south and west into southern Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, and northern Iowa. A treaty dated 7 June 1803 between the U.S. government and the
Delaware,
Shawnee,
Potawatomi,
Miami,
Eel River,
Wea, Kickapoo,
Piankeshaw, and
Kaskaskia tribes occupying the country watered by the
Ohio,
Wabash, and
Miami Rivers ceded lands previously granted in the
Treaty of Greenville in 1795 by General
Anthony Wayne, and Fort Wayne and
Vincennes, Indiana. 1815, 1816, 1819, and 1820 the tribe ceded all their lands on the Wabash, White and Vermilion rivers and moved into
Missouri along the
Osage River. At the conclusion of the Texas Revolution, these groups moved south into Mexico. In 1854, the tribe ceded the eastern portion of the Kansas lands to the United States, leaving the Kickapoo the western 150,000 acres. Using these two clauses as a basis, the local Indian agent, William Badger, convinced the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs Charles E. Mix that the Kickapoo wanted to have their communal lands allotted to individual households. Considering that the tribe had always held their lands in common, it is unlikely that the tribe wanted such allotment. However, in light of Badger's persuasiveness, Mix directed that allotment proceed if the Indians paid for the costs of surveying and allotting the land, 80 acres was allotted to each head of household, and any lands remaining after allotment of the Kansas Kickapoo be reserved for resettlement of the Mexican Kickapoo. Holding the lands not allotted for the Southern Kickapoo was not in the interests of the railroad, and Badger began pressuring tribal members for allotment. Though they complained, a change in presidential administrations due to a national election resulted in Badger being replaced in office in 1861 by his brother-in-law, Charles B. Keith. Keith was a political ally of Senator
Samuel C. Pomeroy, who was the president of the Atchison and Pike's Peak Railroad. This was the central section of the
transcontinental railroad, which had been formed in 1859. The railroad wanted to gain the right-of-way across the Kickapoo Reservation and title to any surplus lands when the reservation was allotted. When news broke that the treaty was approved, protest erupted. The Kickapoo said that they were unaware that the agreement had been reached and thought that they were still negotiating terms. The
Kansas Attorney General, Warren William Guthrie, launched a grand-jury hearing. The charges were considered serious enough that allotment was suspended and the new Commissioner of Indian Affairs,
William P. Dole, appointed in 1863, traveled to Kansas to investigate. In the hearings that followed, allegations were made that Guthrie's real interest in the matter stemmed from his involvement with a rival railroad, the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad Corporation. Dole returned to
Washington, DC, and submitted his report to President
Lincoln on 4 April 1864. Some of the frustrated Kickapoo decided to leave Kansas, and a group of about 700 headed for Mexico in September 1864 to join kinsmen there. In January, 1865 a delegation of Kickapoo travelled to Mexico City to meet with the government of the newly established
Second Mexican Empire to seek land rights as well as protection from attacks by American soldiers and rival tribes against their territory near the
Rio Grande. In 1865 pressure from Pomeroy finally gained the approval to continue with the Kickapoo allotment, though the tribe resisted. By 1869, only 93 Kansas Kickapoo had accepted fee-simple allotment, the remainder preferring to continue holding their lands in common. A small band, about 50 tribesmen, returned from Mexico to the Kansas Reservation before the forfeit period lapsed. They settled on the common lands briefly, but left before claiming their allotments. They later joined the Kickapoo in Indian Territory in 1874. In 1875, a group of 114 of the Mexican Kickapoo were returned to the Kansas Reservation. At the peak of their strength, the southern Kickapoo, numbered about 1500, and by 1860 were living in a swath from the Canadian and Washita Rivers in Indian Territory to the
Sabine and
Brazos Rivers in Texas to the Remolino River in northern Mexico. In 1864, about 700 Kickapoo, frustrated with the duplicitous actions of agents and their railroad colleagues in Kansas, left to join their kinsmen in Mexico. The Kickapoo who left Kansas in the fall of 1864 were led by chiefs Pecan, Papicua, and Nokohat.
Confederate scouts picked up their trail and reported their findings to Captain Henry Fossett and Captain S. S. Totten, leader of a group of Texas militiamen. On 8 January 1865, the Texans charged the Kickapoo at
Dove Creek, were engaged in battle for a brief half-hour, and then retreated. The Kickapoo had lost about 15 warriors and the Texans twice as many men. It said that the Mexican Kickapoo were responsible for raids in the western part of Texas. In an effort to pacify the Texas residents and ward off difficulties with Mexico, the U.S. determined to retrieve the Kickapoo. In 1873, after complaints were received that Mexican authorities were using the Kickapoo to hide the theft of Texas cattle by Mexicans, the US made another attempt to bring the Kickapoo to Indian Territory. Special Agents H. M. Atkinson and Col. T. G. Williams went to
Saltillo, to negotiate directly with Governor
Victoriano Cepeda Camacho. Though citizens and the Legislature of
Coahuila did not support the action, Cepeda appointed an officer to assist the agents and gave him a proclamation that they were to be assisted by the officials and citizenry. While the delegation was en route to Santa Rosa, a party of Americans under the command of General MacKenzie attacked the Kickapoo, thinking that they were a group of raiding
Lipan. The Kickapoo were not interested in hearing from the US agents. In the autumn of 1874, Atkinson and Williams finally persuaded a group of about 300 Kickapoo to resettle in Indian Territory. They were right to be resistant, as it resulted in their losing large blocks of land. ==Notable citizens==