Papers by John William Nelson
William and Mary Quarterly , 2021
Sigenauk’s War of Independence: Anishinaabe Resurgence and the Making of Indigenous
Authority in ... more Sigenauk’s War of Independence: Anishinaabe Resurgence and the Making of Indigenous
Authority in the Borderlands of Revolution
By John William Nelson
During the upheaval of the American Revolution, Indigenous peoples in the Great Lakes harnessed the uncertain geopolitics of the era to advance their own objectives in the region. Sigenauk, a leader from the Anishinaabe towns southwest of Lake Michigan, navigated these
changing dynamics to defend and expand his faction’s autonomy while simultaneously enhancing his individual influence in the wider borderland. Tracing Sigenauk’s rise to prominence highlights how such headmen blended traditional elements of Native leadership with
novel innovations to address the new opportunities and challenges posed by the conflict. Sigenauk’s machinations during the war culminated in leading a joint expedition with the Spanish against the British at Saint Joseph. Sigenauk’s successful navigation of internal
dynamics within Anishinaabewaki and the wider turmoil of the revolutionary borderlands strengthened his southwestern faction’s bid to reconstitute power in the region. Following the war, the southwestern Anishinaabeg under Sigenauk continued to flourish as a separate and
sovereign force in their homeland. The ascension of Sigenauk and the southwestern Anishinaabeg at this moment challenges common assumptions that the American Revolution ushered in an era of decline for Native peoples.
Michigan Historical Review, 2019
Book Reviews by John William Nelson
Western Historical Quarterly, 2018
Books by John William Nelson
University of North Carolina Press, 2023
In early North America, carrying watercraft—usually canoes—and supplies across paths connecting o... more In early North America, carrying watercraft—usually canoes—and supplies across paths connecting one body of water to another was essential in the establishment of both Indigenous and European mobility in the continent’s interior. The Chicago portage, a network of overland canoe routes that connected the Great Lakes and Mississippi watersheds, grew into a crossroads of interaction as Indigenous and European people vied for its control during early contact and colonization. John William Nelson charts the many peoples that traversed and sought power along Chicago’s portage paths from the seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries, including Indigenous Illinois traders, French explorers, Jesuit missionaries, Meskwaki warriors, British officers, Anishinaabe headmen, and American settlers. Nelson compellingly demonstrates that even deep within the interior, power relations fluctuated based on the control of waterways and local environmental knowledge.
Pushing beyond political and cultural explanations for Indigenous-European relations in the borderlands of North America, Nelson places environmental and geographic realities at the center of the history of Indigenous Chicago, offering a new explanation for how the United States gained control of the North American interior through a two-pronged subjugation of both the landscapes and peoples of the continent.
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Papers by John William Nelson
Authority in the Borderlands of Revolution
By John William Nelson
During the upheaval of the American Revolution, Indigenous peoples in the Great Lakes harnessed the uncertain geopolitics of the era to advance their own objectives in the region. Sigenauk, a leader from the Anishinaabe towns southwest of Lake Michigan, navigated these
changing dynamics to defend and expand his faction’s autonomy while simultaneously enhancing his individual influence in the wider borderland. Tracing Sigenauk’s rise to prominence highlights how such headmen blended traditional elements of Native leadership with
novel innovations to address the new opportunities and challenges posed by the conflict. Sigenauk’s machinations during the war culminated in leading a joint expedition with the Spanish against the British at Saint Joseph. Sigenauk’s successful navigation of internal
dynamics within Anishinaabewaki and the wider turmoil of the revolutionary borderlands strengthened his southwestern faction’s bid to reconstitute power in the region. Following the war, the southwestern Anishinaabeg under Sigenauk continued to flourish as a separate and
sovereign force in their homeland. The ascension of Sigenauk and the southwestern Anishinaabeg at this moment challenges common assumptions that the American Revolution ushered in an era of decline for Native peoples.
Book Reviews by John William Nelson
Books by John William Nelson
Pushing beyond political and cultural explanations for Indigenous-European relations in the borderlands of North America, Nelson places environmental and geographic realities at the center of the history of Indigenous Chicago, offering a new explanation for how the United States gained control of the North American interior through a two-pronged subjugation of both the landscapes and peoples of the continent.
Authority in the Borderlands of Revolution
By John William Nelson
During the upheaval of the American Revolution, Indigenous peoples in the Great Lakes harnessed the uncertain geopolitics of the era to advance their own objectives in the region. Sigenauk, a leader from the Anishinaabe towns southwest of Lake Michigan, navigated these
changing dynamics to defend and expand his faction’s autonomy while simultaneously enhancing his individual influence in the wider borderland. Tracing Sigenauk’s rise to prominence highlights how such headmen blended traditional elements of Native leadership with
novel innovations to address the new opportunities and challenges posed by the conflict. Sigenauk’s machinations during the war culminated in leading a joint expedition with the Spanish against the British at Saint Joseph. Sigenauk’s successful navigation of internal
dynamics within Anishinaabewaki and the wider turmoil of the revolutionary borderlands strengthened his southwestern faction’s bid to reconstitute power in the region. Following the war, the southwestern Anishinaabeg under Sigenauk continued to flourish as a separate and
sovereign force in their homeland. The ascension of Sigenauk and the southwestern Anishinaabeg at this moment challenges common assumptions that the American Revolution ushered in an era of decline for Native peoples.
Pushing beyond political and cultural explanations for Indigenous-European relations in the borderlands of North America, Nelson places environmental and geographic realities at the center of the history of Indigenous Chicago, offering a new explanation for how the United States gained control of the North American interior through a two-pronged subjugation of both the landscapes and peoples of the continent.