As one of the Illinois treaty signers in 1829 and 1833, Billy Caldwell negotiated the sale of 5,000,000 acres of land in northwest Illinois, resulting in the removal of all Native American tribes in the state. Billy Caldwell Jr., son Rising Sun (Mohawk) and British Army Captain, William Caldwell (born in Co. Fermanagh, Ireland), was a leader in early Chicago. Although he was not a blood relative of the Great Lakes tribes, Caldwell worked to negotiate the safe passage of the United Nations of Chippawa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi out of the state of Illinois and west to Council Bluffs, Iowa. Special guests Citizen Potawatomi Nation member Sharon Hoogstraten and director Susan Kelsey.
