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~x-S1av๘ Stories District 5 vamderburgh County Lauazla Creel




INDIANS MADE SLAY~S AMONG THE NEGROES

Interviews with	George Fortnmn. Cor • ~e1lemeade Ave • and Gar~rin st., Evansville, Indiana, and other interested citizens.



	ttThe story of my life, I will tel]. to you with sincerest respect to ai]. and love to many, although reviewing the dark trail of my childhood ai~1 early youth causes me great pain.“ So spoke George Fortn~.n, an aged man and fortner slave, although the history of his life reveals that no Negro blood runs through his veins.

	“My story necessarily begins by relating events ‘which occurred in 1838, when hundreds of Indians were rounded up like cattle aixi driven away from the valley of the Wabash. It is a well known fact recorded in the histories of Indiana that the long journey from the beautiful Wabash Valley was a horrible experience for the fleeing Indians, but I have the tradition as relating to my awn family, and froen this enforced flight ensued the tragedy of my birth.“

	The aged ex-slave reviews tradit ion. “MY two ancestors ‚ John Hawk,

a l3laokhawk Indian brave, and Racheal, a Chaokatau ~naiden had made themselves

a home such as only Indians know, understand and enj oy. He was a hunter ax~d

a fighter but had professed faith in Christ through the influence of the

missionaries • My great~randmother passed the facts on to her children and

they have been handed dawn for four generations • I ‚ in turn, have given the

traditions to my children and grandchildren.

	“No more peaceful home had ever offered itself to the red man than the bea~xtjful valley of the Wabash river. Giant elms, syoamoros~ and maple trees bordered the stream while the fertile valley was traversed with creeks and nus, furnishing water in abundance for use of the Indian campers.