Ex-Slave Stories
District 5
Vanderburgh County
Lauana Creel

INDIANS MADE SLAVES AMONG THE NEGROES.
INTERVIEWS WITH GEORGE FORTMAN
Cor. Bellemeade Ave. and Garvin St.
Evansville, Indiana, and other interested citizens

"The story of my life, I will tell to you with sincerest respect to all
and love to many, although reviewing the dark trail of my childhood and
early youth causes me great pain." So spoke George Fortman, an aged man
and former 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 and 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 own family, and from this enforced flight
ensued the tragedy of my birth."

The aged ex-slave reviews tradition. "My two ancestors, John Hawk, a
Blackhawk Indian brave, and Racheal, a Chackatau maiden had made
themselves a home such as only Indians know, understand and enjoy. He
was a hunter and a fighter but had professed faith in Christ through the
influence of the missionaries. My greatgrandmother passed the facts on
to her children and they have been handed down 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
beautiful valley of the Wabash river. Giant elms, sycamores and maple
trees bordered the stream while the fertile valley was traversed with
creeks and rills, furnishing water in abundance for use of the Indian
campers.

"The Indians and the white settlers in the valley transacted business
with each other and were friendly towards each other, as I have been
told by my mother, Eliza, and my grandmother, Courtney Hawk.

"The missionaries often called the Indian families together for the
purpose of teaching them and the Indians had been invited, prior to
being driven from the valley, to a sort of festival in the woods. They
had prepared much food for the occasion. The braves had gone on a long
hunt to provide meat and the squaws had prepared much corn and other
grain to be used at the feast. All the tribes had been invited to a
council and the poor people were happy, not knowing the