Shawnee Chief leaves impression, bronze sculpture in National Forest.

The Shawnee National Forest takes its name from the Shawnee Indians. Purchased as two separate units of land in the early 1930s. It was declared a natural conservation area by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in September 1939. The Shawnee tribe had a long history in Southern Illinois.

The Shawnee lived in ‘Shawnee towns’, which could be found anywhere from Northern Ohio to the convergence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers at the bottom of Illinois.

Photo by Jake Lockard

With his defeat an era in Indian history -the period during which the tribes had helped decide the fate of great international powers struggling to posses North America– came to an end. Yet such was the impression Tecumseh made, upon grateful friends, beaten allies, and victorious enemies alike, that he lived on in folklore, story, and rhyme, at home and overseas, and became one of the most legendary figures of the American past,” Sugden wrote.

Tecumseh’s goal was to unite the Indians of North America from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. He believed that all Indians were in danger of losing their lands and cultures to the encroaching white settlers, and therefore should unite to fight them off.

Planning an Indian confederation was no easy task because Indians were divided by culture and language, and were politically decentralized.

On his quest for unity, Tecumseh used a bundle of green sticks to represent the strength of his proposed Indian confederation. He used them sticks as a visual aide, showing that you can break one stick but you cannot break the bundle.

Photo by Jake Lockard

Tecumseh is recognized by many Native Americans as the most outgoing of the handful of Indian Chiefs who dreamt of an Indian Confederation capable of resisting white expansion. Tecumseh wished to set aside intertribal indifference and unite the Indians of North America.

He was a teacher, provider, warrior, and orator for not only his tribe, but for all Indians.

Today, a life-size, full bronze statue of Tecumseh stands tall in the Shawnee Forest largely because of the efforts of local historian and conservationist John O’Dell.

“The Shawnee had a long history in Southern Illinois,” O’Dell said. “We wanted to do something to commemorate the Shawnee and to get people interested. It’s one of those things where you can say Indian and people start listening, it’s an interest area.”

O’Dell said he originally wanted to do something in the forest to teach people about the Shawnee, but when he looked closer, Tecumseh had the best story.
“When we started reading about it, Tecumseh had an untold story,” O’Dell said. “It’s under-emphasized in this area.”

The sculpture, in the Saline County Conservation Area, is the only bronze monument ever made of the historic Chief.  

A lot of planning went into the sculpture. O’Dell said he was in contact with Don Greenfeather, a descendent of the Shawnee, for advice as the sculpture was being crafted.

“I would call Don Greenfeather and say, ‘I want you to take a look at this statue and tell us if there’s something wrong,’” O’Dell said. “He said the most important thing is don’t have Plains Indian moccasins, have center-seam moccasins.”

Photo by Jake Lockard

O’Dell worked with artist Tom Allen to make sure that the sculpture was as historically accurate as possible.

“We told the artist that we wanted him posed like a statesman,” O’Dell said. “That’s why he has the blanket on him, that’s the posture of a diplomat.”

The sculpture was also given the possessions of a hunter including a tomahawk and hunting knife.

“The tomahawk is a peace pipe that you could smoke as well,” O’Dell said. “If you wanted to declare peace you take your tomahawk and stick it I the ground and then you smoke it. That was burying the hatchet.”

In the sculpture, Tecumseh is holding a bundle of sticks,  his visual aide to show the strength of unity.
When completed in 2002, O’Dell arranged a dedication ceremony at the sculpture. Many came to the event, including the Loyal Band of the Shawnee–descendants of the Shawnee Indians.

Photo by Jake Lockard

“We had a pow-wow and invited a bunch of dignitaries,” O’Dell said. “We invited the Loyal Band of the Shawnee to come in and as it turned out there were probably about 25 of them, and most of them said they were descendants of Tecumseh. “When we came up here that day in the bus, everybody just about ran to the statue. They spent literally a half an hour walking around it.”