Main Poc

Main Poc (c. 1768–1816), also recorded as Main Poche, Main Pogue, Main Poque, Main Pock; supposedly from the French, meaning "Crippled Hand", was a leader of the Yellow River villages of the Potawatomi Native Americans in the United States. Through his entire life, he fought against the growing strength of the United States and tried to stop the flow of settlers into the Old Northwest. He joined with Tecumseh to push the settlers south and east of the Ohio River and followed him to defeat in Canada during the War of 1812.

Early years With the Treaty of Greenville (July 1795) peace returned east of the Mississippi River. In Spanish-controlled St. Louis, however, officials had urged the various Indian groups to wage war upon the Osage in 1793. The Potawatomi had been among those to accept the offer, but though incidents of violence did take place, the Lieutenant-Governor of Spanish Illinois summed up the lackluster efforts of his various allies by stating that they "merely pretend to make effective their promises, while even showing the willingness to make peace, in order to frighten us and to attract immense presents..." By the turn of the century the few notable, trans-Mississippi raids that did take place were attributed to only two particular Potawatomi leaders: Turkey Foot of the Tippecanoe and Main Poc of the Kankakee. White settlers in eastern Missouri and southern Illinois were particularly incensed by these forays as raiding parties often pilfered horses and livestock as well as killed a number of homesteaders and travelers .

By 1805, Main Poc had become the sole documented leader of such forays. In the autumn of that year, the United States brokered a treaty with the Osage, promising to protect them from such incursions. Less than a month later, Main Poc carried out his most audacious raid yet, capturing over sixty Osage prisoners. Responding to Osage pressure, the United States did its best to purchase and recover as many of the captives as possible, most of whom had been sold to the Sauk and Mesquakies along the Mississippi in northwestern Illinois. Following the raid, Main Poc's influence in the region greatly increased. Both village chiefs and U.S. officials alike courted him in an attempt to further their own political ends. Able to support his followers upon their largess, Main Poc refrained from raiding for almost five years.

With Tecumseh When Tecumseh and his brother the Prophet sent messengers among the Potawatomi in 1807, Main Poc readily gave support. While his given name was Wenebeset ( "Crafty One"), he was known as "Main Poc", meaning "Withered Hand" in French. He had a crippled left hand. All the fingers and thumb were missing. He had risen as a shaman and had visions and contact with the spirits. The fall of 1808 found Main Poc visiting the Shawnee Prophet at his village on the Auglaize River in Ohio. He went in November and spent two months among the Shawnees. Main Poc spent the winter at Fort Wayne, where he had been invited by the Indian Agent to winter. While the Americans saw this as a sign of loyalty by the Potawatomi chief, Main Poc continued to declare his independence from American demands. When Main Poc returned to his village on the Kankakee and again prepared for war against the Osage, the American Agents proposed to send Main Poc and a delegation to Washington, D.C. He was in Washington by December and met with President Thomas Jefferson. He returned home in the spring of 1809. With the depletion of the food stocks at Prophetstown, which the prophet had moved to the previous summer, the Potawatomi warriors were returning to their own villages. Main Poc did likewise and spent a quiet spring on the Kankakee.