ABSTRACT
Simon Pokagon was the youngest son of Chief Leopold, who was chief of the Pokagon band for over forty years. Although the band was primarily located near South Bend, Indiana, its original territory encompassed presentday Chicago. During the late 1830s, they settled near Dowagiac, Michigan. In 1844, Pokagon enrolled at Notre Dame, probably at the university’s manual labor school, where he spent three years. Pokagon subsequently studied for two years at Twinsburg Institute, near Cleveland, Ohio, which prepared students for college (Dickason 1971: 136-39). Although Pokagon’s admirers frequently called him the besteducated Indian in America, he did not attend college, as was often asserted.
