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The Kickapoo tribe of Indians, now living in Northern Mexico and along the border near Eagle Pass, Texas, are descendants of the Algonquinspeaking people. They were part of a group that inhabited the Great Lakes region of the United Stated as late as 1640. But in the next few years, the Iroquois drove them from this rich fur-bearing region. At that time, the Kickapoo were self-sufficient people who lived part of the year in their villages where they farmed. The rest of the time, they hunted game and wild food while living in smaller bands.
The pressures of white expansion drove this tribe of Indians westward. The Mexican officials in Texas wanted the Kickapoo to settle in Texas so they would be a buffer against the incoming white settlers. But the possibility of the War for Texas Independence brought more pressure against the Kickapoo. They then aligned themselves with Cherokee chief Bowl's alliance. This group lived awhile in northeastern Texas. After the Texas Revolution, Sam Houston tried to bring peace by giving land grants to the Indian tribes.
But he never got his treaty with the Indians ratified, so violence between Indians and settlers erupted Oct. 8, 1838, in the Battle Creek Fight. The warriors attacked a surveying party. This war party of Kickapoo, Cherokee, and Delaware Indians killed 18 members of the group. Then some Kickapoo warriors rode with Mexican guerrillas to attack the settlement of Killough. For stirring up so much trouble, the next governor of Texas, Mirabeau B. Lamar, forced Indians to leave Texas. Many Kickapoo turned their ponies toward Mexico.
By the 1850s the Kickapoo divided themselves into three bands: the Kansas Kickapoos, the Oklahoma...