Tom Benjey's Weblog

Last week the wife of one of my grad school professors called to tell me that he had died. I won’t dwell here on the tremendous loss his demise is to me but will explore something new I learned. This Indiana University professor was a leader in his field for decades and received many honors, one of which may sound unusual. He was made a Sagamore of the Wabash, the state’s highest civilian honor, by the Governor of Indiana. Unfamiliar with this name, I looked up its meaning. As defined by Merriam-Webster, a sagamore is a subordinate Algonquin chief or sachem. In practice, a sagamore was a person the head chief relied on for advice due to his experience and wisdom. My old professor definitely was a source of wisdom and he didn’t hold a high political office. The Wabash part is self-explanatory to anyone familiar with the geography of Indiana or is aware of songs about that river, including the popular song recorded by The Mills Brothers among others, “On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away,” which was established as the Indiana State Song by the Indiana Code in 1913. But how did this honorific come into being?

Indiana Governor Ralph Gates (1945-1949) was about to attend a tri-state conference with officials of Ohio and Kentucky in Cincinnati when he was informed that the governor of Kentucky was planning on naming him a Kentucky Colonel, the Bluegrass State’s highest honor. Something had to be done because Indiana had no such honor. The Life and Times of Little Turtle, First Sagamore of the Wabash provided more details on the honorific’s conception: “In 1946 Indiana governor Ralph F. Gates created the Council of the Sagamores of the Wabash in response to a suggestion made by Samuel R. Harrell, who had been named a Kentucky Colonel and felt that Indiana needed a similar reciprocal honorary organization. Kurt Pantzer joined with Harrell in devising the details.”  Business executive (and World War I pilot) Samuel R. Harrell and attorney Kurt Pantzer were both good Hoosiers, Wabash College alums, and friends of Governor Gates. Harrell suggested “Honorary Citizen of Indiana” for the name of the award. Attorney General James Emmert proposed “Hoosier Schoolmaster.” Patzer’s idea “‘Sagamore of the Wabash’ was deemed to be more deeply steeped in the history of Indiana.”

Governor Gates made Simeon S. Willis, Governor of Kentucky, the first Sagamore of the Wabash and Ohio Senator Robert Taft the second. Kentucky wags suggested that Willis’s naming the Indiana governor a “Kentucky Colonel” as “a long step forward toward getting Indiana cooks to stop putting sugar in cornbread.”

After reading up on this topic I recalled that Jean Craighead George had been named a “Kentucky Colonel.” More on that next time.