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MARSHALL COUNTY

Marshall County, named for John Marshall, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1801 to 1835, was organized in 1836.

The area had been the home of the Menominee tribe of Potawatomi Indians. (Potawatomi is a translation of the Ojibwe potawatomink meaning “People of the place of fire” or “People of the Sacred Fire,” both of which refer to the role of the Potawatomi as the keepers of the sacred council fires.) Under the conditions of the 1832 Treaty of Tippecanoe River, the government purchased the land and drove the Indians westward on what became known as the Trail of Death.

Plymouth, platted in 1834 and named for Plymouth, Massachusetts, was designated as the county seat. Marshall County was one of the last counties to be inhabited in Indiana. Eventually the swampy county began to attract settlers. Farms replaced bogs, and vacationers eventually took up residence along Marshall County’s beautiful lakes.

Among them are Lake of the Woods, Twin Lakes, and Lake Maxinkuckee, the second largest natural lake in Indiana. The Yellow River flows through the middle of the county toward the southwest, and crossing its southeast corner is the Tippecanoe River, which derives its name from the Potawatomi word Ketapikonnong, or “place of the buffalo fish.”

Paukooshuck’s Ghost

When the light is just right, on nights when the moon is full, travelers on Marshall County’s Road 117 or 110 might glimpse the image or fleeting form of an Indian. It may be the ghost of a Potawatomi chief.

In life he was Paukooshuck, son of Potawatomi Chief Aubbeenaubbee. His story, like many good stories, is perhaps more legend than history.

When the first white settlers entered the area of Marshall County, a number of Potawatomi reservations existed as established by the treaty of 1832. The two largest were those of Chief Aubbeenaubbee and Chief Menominee.

Aubbeenaubbee’s reserve, situated west of Michigan Road, extended southward into what today is northwestern Fulton County. His hunting ground extended into Marshall County.

For some time the settlers and the Indians shared in harmony the bounties of nature. Still unspoiled by the excesses of the white man, the area teemed with deer, turkeys, ducks, geese, pheasants and many fur-bearing animals.

Paukooshuck may have been born in Fulton County and most likely spent much of his boyhood following the ancient hunting trails between Fulton County’s Zinks Lake and Anderson Lake, twenty miles from his father’s reservation.

Leaving his father’s village, he built a log cabin at Long Point, a beautiful and game-rich area on the west side of Lake Maxinkuckee, “Lake of the Boulders” in Potawatomi. He spent his days trapping beaver in the marshes around nearby Hawk or Lost Lake.

Paukooshuck’s father, Aubbeenaubbee, was described as being above medium height, stoutly and compactly built. A prominent negotiator in the treaty-making decisions, his bravery was beyond reproach. He was a manly, dignified Indian, fair and just—but sometimes prone to drink.

During one of his dark and evil periods, perhaps brought on by too much whiskey, he became involved in a fight. Though he was outnumbered two to one, he fought with the ferocity born of his native instincts and learned skills that had made him a strong and admired chief. Wielding his fifteen-inch-long knife with cunning and deadly efficiency, he killed the two Indians who may have been related to him. A council was called to deliberate on his punishment, but before it was decided he compounded his offenses by committing the heinous crime of killing his wife, believing she had done some wrong to him.

The council, following an ancient custom, appointed Paukooshuck to be the avenger—to exact justice. Justice was to kill his father. When this had been done, Paukooshuck would then become chief. The deed need not be done immediately, but within a period of several months designated by the council. If he did not execute the sentence within this period, his father would go free.

When Aubbeenaubbee heard of the council’s decision, he stood before his son and commanded him to execute the sentence of the council, declaring that he was ready and willing to die. Paukooshuck’s respect and love would not allow him to kill his father at that time; later, the county histories report, Paukooshuck carried out the sentence on his drunken father.

It didn’t take long for the white man to convince new Chief Paukooshuck to sign away the Indians’ birthrights. General John Tipton, pressured by settlers who wished the final plots of land the Indians owned, ruthlessly executed a plan to seize the land and send the Indians west.

Although the Indians resisted, the Trail of Death began on September 4, 1838. The Indians were lined up and at gunpoint marched away from their tribal lands. Those who did not appear to be a threat to the soldiers were allowed to walk unrestrained. Among the group were the very old, children and babes in arms. Several were seriously ill; all were forced to march through terrible heat across northwestern Indiana.

Many died from thirst. Others succumbed to sickness. The dead were left in shallow, unprotected graves as the mourning families were forced to continue their march across Illinois.

Paukooshuck attempted to escape at every chance. As they neared the Mississippi River he made a last desperate attempt. One of the soldiers caught him and swiftly cut his throat. He was left for dead. However, the cut hadn’t severed the jugular vein.

Determined to return to his home at Long Point, weak from loss of blood and the ordeal, he slowly made his way through the brush, avoiding settlements and roads for fear of being discovered and returned.

All of his friends were gone, his home on Long Point was gone, and even the wild animals seemed to have abandoned the land. The settlers had laid their claim to the land by cutting trees, plowing and planting and damming the streams. Much of the wild beauty of the area had been destroyed.

One day, drinking and wandering disheartedly, he entered Chief Winamac’s village where he got into the worst fight of all. He was mortally wounded and his body was returned to Long Point.

Why does Paukooshuck’s spirit appear at Long Point as some say? Why can he not break his earthly bonds? If he had been a Catholic, as Menominee was, perhaps the burden of guilt for having carried out the execution of his father keeps him from finding eternal peace.

You’ll Also Want to See:

The spooky House of a Thousand Candles on East Shore Road, written about by Meredith Nicholson in a well-known book of the same name, and the site of Neswaugee’s Camp on 18B on a hill on the north side of the road, where within living memory sixty-four campsites have been seen at spring plowing time and some people say plumes of smoke can be seen on a moonlit night. Near Plymouth Menominee’s Monument stands lonely above the settlers’ cornfields that he despised on Peach Road.