Unfortunately, several families from Kentucky followed the General into Illinois in hopes of settling land that appeared to be open and free, unaware of General Clark’s agreement with the native peoples in the area. In 1779, the Kickapoo shifted allegiance from the British to the Americans under the promise of General George Rogers Clark, who stated that no American colonists would settle within Kickapoo territory (Latorre 1976:6). Settling in lands belonging to other native groups had always been a problem, but during the Revolutionary War the Kickapoo felt pressures begin to build exponentially. This tenuous relationship, experienced first with the French, would be repeated with the English and the Americans.

In 1765, the Kickapoo, Sauk, and Fox made their way into Illinois, where the Kickapoo set up camp near the city of Peoria. The Kickapoos maintained a love-hate relationship with the French, dictated by which tribes were allied against the French, the trade goods the French brought into the area, or the actions of settlers within particular areas. Once the Kickapoo, in common with many American Indians, came into regular contact with Europeans, the actions of the tribe were guided by the will to survive - culturally, spiritually, physically and spatially. By 1654, French explorers identified the Kickapoo, along with the Sauk, Fox and Potawatomi tribes, in southeast Wisconsin, having moved due to the heavy Iroquois influence in the east. Kickapoo roots can be found in the Great Lakes region, and were first mentioned in Lower Michigan in the 1600s. Tribes living in this region also possessed common cultural traits – a quasi-sedentary lifestyle, similarities in their methods of raising war parties, and their hospitable nature towards visitors. This area was bordered on the east and north by the Great Lakes, on the west by the Mississippi, and on the south by the Ohio River. Gibson refers to as the “Algonquian heartland” (1963:3).

The Kickapoo, meaning “those who walk the earth” or “he who moves here and there,” are grouped with other tribes in the Algonquian linguistic lineage, and were situated in what A. Though scholars find language the most efficient way to classify American Indian groups, many tribes would fall under broad language groups.

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