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Title: The Indians in Wisconsin's History

Author: John M. Douglass

Release date: June 4, 2021 [eBook #65504]

Language: English

Credits: Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INDIANS IN WISCONSIN'S HISTORY ***

    [Illustration: INDIAN YOUTH AT “SCHOOL” (PAINTING BY A. O.
    TIEMANN).]




                              THE INDIANS
                         IN WISCONSIN’S HISTORY


                          BY JOHN M. DOUGLASS

The author, a member of the History Division of the Milwaukee Public
Museum, died January 26, 1951, shortly after completing the manuscript
of this handbook.

    [Illustration: Indian head]

                POPULAR SCIENCE HANDBOOK SERIES    NO. 6

                        DESIGNED AND PRINTED AT
                      THE MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM

                         PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF
                         THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
                                MAY 1954




                              CHAPTER ONE
         WISCONSIN’S INDIANS BEFORE THE COMING OF THE WHITE MAN


    [Illustration: ROACH HEADDRESS (MUSEUM EXHIBIT).]

It is difficult now to realize that Wisconsin, famed as a dairy state
and rich in farm land and thriving communities, was once a great
wilderness. Before the land was cleared for the farmer’s plow and with
its dense forests yet to hear the lumberjack’s axe, the thick timberland
of the north and even the rolling prairies of the central and southern
portions of our state teemed with a great variety of wild life,
including animals no longer occurring in Wisconsin, such as the woodland
caribou, moose, elk, and buffalo or bison, as well as the more familiar
deer, bear, and many smaller varieties.

Before the arrival of the Europeans, this Wisconsin wilderness was the
home of Indians who were wonderfully adapted to a life in the forests.
They depended almost entirely on hunting and the gathering of natural
products for their food, shelter, clothing, tools, and weapons, although
most of them raised some garden crops such as corn, squash, beans, and
possibly tobacco.

Let’s pretend that we can travel backwards in time about 350 years and
visit a typical Indian family of that period. As we arrive on the scene
the tribe is preparing to set up a new camp. The women are busy
unpacking their household gear, including reed mats used to cover the
outer sides of the wigwam. The women themselves have carried the loads
during the journey. This is not done because of any laziness on the part
of the men, a common error of white observers, but simply because the
men need their hands free to ward off a sudden enemy attack, or to kill
any game they might chance upon during the journey.

While the women unpack, the men enter the woods to cut poles for the
framework of the wigwams, and collect birch bark for the roofs. After
the poles are set into the ground to make an oval enclosure, they are
bent and tied together at the top to form a rounded roof. The women then
tie on the reed mats, and roof the hut with the rolls of bark. This is
the typical Wisconsin Indian winter lodge. Although it is the latter
part of March, the weather is still too cold to live comfortably in a
summer lodge.

If we lift the bearskin covering the entrance and step into the lodge,
we may see the simple furnishings and personal possessions of the family
we are going to visit. A hole in the middle of the roof serves to carry
off the smoke from the fire burning in the center of the floor. This
fire serves the double purpose of heating the lodge and cooking the
family meals. We find the hut almost too smoky to endure, accustomed as
we are to our modern homes, but our Indian friends seem quite
comfortable.

Since our Indian family is fairly large, including the father’s parents
as well as the mother, father, two boys, and two girls, the wigwam is
proportionately large in order to accommodate all of them.

We look about the inside of the lodge and see the sleeping mats and
furs. The family’s spare clothing, breechclouts, shirts, leggings, and
moccasins of tanned deerskin for the men, and skirts, blouses, and
moccasins for the women, are in one corner. The garments are beautifully
decorated with designs grandma embroidered on them with dyed porcupine
quills. The work is quite fine and it takes many hours to do a small
portion of the embroidery. Father is especially fond of his headdress, a
roach made of deer and porcupine hair, and an eagle feather which
indicates that he has killed an enemy in battle.

    [Illustration: WIGWAMS, OR WINTER LODGES.]

As we step outside again and look about, we can see why this particular
spot has been chosen as the campsite. A small lake and several springs
are only a short distance away, but the most important reason for
camping here at this season is a large grove of sugar maple trees
immediately to one side of the camp. March is the proper time to tap the
trees for their sap.

The next two or three weeks are spent tapping the trees, and boiling the
sap down until maple syrup, and finally only maple sugar is left. This
sugar keeps indefinitely and provides a very nourishing as well as a
delicious source of food for the entire family. The children are
especially fond of it.

It is not a case of all work and no play during this period, for the
children, Morning Star, White Fawn, Blackbird, and Little Otter, play
games when their tasks are finished, and gambling games are popular with
the men and women. Here we see mother and some neighbor women playing
the cup and pin game. Each player in turn tosses into the air small
cone-shaped cups made of antler tips or bear-toe bones, and tries to
catch one or more on a bone pin. The men are enthusiastic gamblers, too,
using marked sticks which are thrown and scored somewhat like our own
familiar dice games.

When the sugar making is finished, the tribe breaks camp and travels by
birch-bark canoe to a new location. The canoes are wonderfully light
boats and can be paddled very swiftly. Their light weight makes them
relatively easy to carry or portage from one stream to another. Our
canoe has eyes painted on the bow and stern. The father explains that
these eyes enable the canoe to “see where to go.”

    [Illustration: INDIAN CHILDREN AT PLAY (PAINTING BY A. O. TIEMANN).]

    [Illustration: BIRCH-BARK CANOE.]

At the new summer camp we watch our friends build summer lodges. These
are rectangular in shape with inverted-V-shaped roofs much like our own
houses. The entire lodge is covered with strips of elm or other bark.

As is often the case, the new campsite is near a river, and springs
nearby furnish cool, pure drinking water. There are also open clearings
closeby which will be utilized for gardening. The next few weeks,
however, will be used for making necessary utensils and equipment needed
by the tribe.

    [Illustration: SUMMER LODGE.]

    [Illustration: ANCIENT WOODLAND POTTERY VESSEL.]

One day we are interested observers of pottery making. Grandma goes to a
clay bed near the river and selects suitable materials including some
coarse sand for tempering the pottery paste, which is made of both clay
and sand. The paste is worked into long cylinders which are finally
coiled about into the desired shape. After the vessel has assumed final
shape it is paddled with a cord-wrapped tool and allowed to air-dry for
several days, and finally baked in a large outdoor fire. The finished
pot can be used to boil water or cook food, and has the advantage of
being easily replaced in case of breakage.

May soon arrives, and as this is the time to plant corn, our Indian
family selects a suitable clearing for their garden. The men burn out
the underbrush and the women and girls prepare for the planting itself.
Grandma informs us that it is always best to soak the grains in water
several days before seeding. After the seeds have been properly
softened, the women and girls dig holes in the ground, place six or
seven grains of corn in each hole, and then heap up the dirt over the
seeds in a little hillock. Squash and beans are planted in the clearing,
too.

One day we are told that the tribe is going to have a game drive, since
considerable meat is needed by the village. We go along into the forest
and watch the men chop down trees with their stone axes. These are all
felled in one direction, the cut incomplete so that the tree is still
attached to the stump, and in two rows so as to leave a gradually
narrowing corridor more than a mile long. The deer are then driven
towards the corridor where men stationed with bows are able to shoot
them easily as they approach the narrow opening between the barriers.

A number of the animals are killed in this way and taken back to the
village where their flesh can be preserved by being cut into strips and
smoke-dried. We are all too hungry, however, to wait until we return to
the village before eating. The chief says we can have some boiled
venison stew. We are puzzled at this, for no utensils have been brought
along, but we soon learn how resourceful our Indian friends are.

One of the men obtains some edible roots; another cuts the stomachs from
several of the deer. Each one of the stomachs is cleaned and tied to
form a pouch. The venison, roots, and some wild rice which some of the
men brought along, are placed in the prepared deer stomachs, water
added, and the ingenious “kettles” suspended over a slow fire. In a
relatively short time a delicious stew is set before each of us, served
in birch-bark dishes prepared in a few minutes by another of the
hunters.

While we are eating we ask the father of the Indian family we are
visiting how the chief of his tribe obtained his position. We are told
that his ability as a warrior and leader has led to his being chosen war
chief, and his ability as an orator and his power to make people like
him has kept him in authority. He says that in a nearby village the
chief is also a great war leader, but he is not well liked otherwise.
For that reason he sometimes finds it difficult to make his warriors
obey him and he is therefore not nearly as powerful as our leader. We
soon realize that the Indian chiefs depend primarily upon personal
prestige and influence to keep them in power. We are informed, however,
that in some other tribes the chief is always selected from a certain
clan.

    [Illustration: YOUTH FASTING FOR A VISION (PAINTING BY A. O.
    TIEMANN).]

One morning we witness a curious ceremony. Grandfather offers Blackbird,
the older boy, some charcoal as well as his food. The father seems very
proud when his son rejects the food, applies the charcoal to his face,
and leaves the village to enter the forest alone. Grandfather explains
that Blackbird, by accepting the charcoal, automatically agreed to fast
alone in the forest for one day. This one-day fast will be good training
for the day when he will feel ready to go on the long fast of four or
five days. Every man has taken this long fast in the hope of seeing a
vision of a guardian spirit who would then be his lifetime protector.

The girls, too, must fast, but in a somewhat different fashion. Soon
Morning Star, the older girl in our friend’s family, will reach
womanhood and be segregated for a number of days in a secluded lodge,
and during this period no men may approach her.

The summer season rapidly nears an end. We have enjoyed ourselves
watching the activities of our friends at work and at play. We have
learned, too, some of the beliefs of our friends. Grandfather has told
us stories about the great white bear with the copper tail who dwells
underground and is the greatest power for evil. He has told the children
how the “Indian Sandman,” a good-natured elf, would put people to sleep
at night by hitting them on the head with a soft war club. We have
learned, too, of the many spirits for good and evil who control the sun,
moon, stars, winds, rain, thunder, and all the other phenomena of
nature. One evening he pointed out the Milky Way and told us that this
was the road over which the dead travelled to the land of the spirits.
He also warned us about entering the woods alone at night because of the
evil, living skeleton which haunts the forest paths seeking unwary men.

    [Illustration: TALES OF THE SPIRIT WORLD (PAINTING BY A. O.
    TIEMANN).]

    [Illustration: THE RICE GATHERER.]

Autumn, the time for harvesting garden crops as well as various wild
vegetable foods, is a season of hard work for all. Corn is the most
important garden crop, and from time to time we have sampled the ripe
grain. The women have served us some roasted on the cob, or the fresh
kernels ground with a wooden mortar and pestle and served as a sort of
porridge. The ripe corn is now gathered and the ears will be allowed to
dry. The dried kernels can then be ground into a meal, as needed, since
the dry corn will remain edible for a long time.

Wild rice is the most important vegetable food provided for the Indians
by nature. One day, in the middle of September, we all go a short
distance up the river in our canoes and enter a small lake. Here the
wild grain grows in great quantities. The men selected by the chief to
determine when the rice is ready to be gathered have already given us
the signal that the grain is ripe. We learn, however, that one more
function is required before we can proceed with the harvesting of the
rice.

The chief medicine man of our village approaches the edge of the water
and blows tobacco smoke towards the heavens as an offering to his
“Grandfather,” the “Master of the Rice.” He then buries a small portion
of tobacco in the ground, and we are ready to proceed.

In each canoe, as the man poles the boat slowly through the rice, the
woman, who sits facing the man, pulls the stalks over the canoe with one
cedar stick, while with another stick she beats the ripe grain into the
boat. When the canoes are full, we head back for camp where the rice is
spread out to dry.

Then the women heat the unhusked kernels in a pot over a slow fire until
all have partially popped open. Next a small pit is dug and a stake set
into the ground beside it. The depression is lined with buckskin and
filled with the parched grain. The father then takes hold of the stake,
steps into the grain-filled pit, and begins treading the grain with his
feet to loosen the husks from the kernels.

The women take the grain from the pit and toss it up and down in bark
winnowing trays. The wind blows away the light chaff as the grain is
tossed into the air, and allows only the kernels to fall back into the
tray.

The time soon arrives for our friends to break camp and seek a winter
campsite where the hunting is known to be good. Hunting and fishing will
be the main source of food during the winter season.

At the new campsite, storage pits lined with birch bark are dug in the
ground to be used for storing the nuts, dried berries, dried corn, and
rice that have been gathered and prepared during the Autumn. If hunting
is poor, or if a severe winter threatens famine to the village, this
stored food may be the sole means of preventing starvation.

It is now time for us to leave our Indian friends, but before we go we
learn that the winter season will be spent not only in the pursuits of
fishing through the ice and hunting, but also, in the telling of
stories, singing, and playing many different games. When the snows are
deep, the tribe will don snowshoes for their hunting trips. We will miss
seeing them play snowsnake. In this game the Indians compete with each
other to see who can hurl the wooden “snake” the greatest distance
across the snow or ice. We are sorry to miss all these things, but the
time has come for us to end our visit.

As we say farewell to our friends from the distant past, we reflect
regretfully that the coming of the white man will change the old ways of
life for these people of the forests, and soon their independence and
freedom will vanish forever. The Indians seem destined to become largely
dependent upon the whites for their livelihood, and even for the few
remnants of land to be left them for their homes.

    [Illustration: THRASHING RICE (MUSEUM EXHIBIT).]




                              CHAPTER TWO
                 WISCONSIN’S INDIANS UNDER FRENCH RULE


    [Illustration: THE FUR TRADERS (MUSEUM MURAL BY A. O. TIEMANN).]

Few of us realize that the early history of Wisconsin is as romantic as
any our eastern seaboard states can boast. The area that is now the
State of Wisconsin became the gateway into the Middlewest and the
meeting place for the French and the Indian tribes of what was then
regarded as the West. This early period of French control was an era in
which Jesuit missionaries carried the doctrine of Christianity from
village to village, often visiting tribes that had never before seen
white men. It was a time when the French traders, lured by the love of
adventure and romance as well as the wealth to be obtained in the fur
trade, pushed through the forests and followed strange rivers until they
reached the villages of unknown Wisconsin Indians. It was in these
villages that such traders, including the “noblest” youth of New France,
lived with the Indians, sat in their councils, took part in their war
dances, accompanied their war parties to battle, and often married their
women.

It was in this early French Regime that Wisconsin’s Indian tribes
underwent great changes in their manner of life due to contacts with the
white man’s civilization, It was a time of warfare and a struggle for
supremacy in North America between the British and the French, and their
Indian allies, with Wisconsin’s tribes espoused to the cause of the
French. It was the heyday of the fur trade with literally millions of
beaver and other skins being taken from Wisconsin to enrich the trader
and obtain white man’s goods for the Indians.

Despite the fact that Wisconsin’s Indians all lived in pretty much the
same manner, most of us are aware that there were different tribes in
our state at various times, and that they spoke different languages in
some instances. If we use a comparison from European languages, we might
better understand the character of these Indian languages. German,
English, and Swedish all originated from the same parent tongue and
belong to the same basic language division. English and Chinese are
unrelated tongues belonging to different basic language stocks. Thus,
while many words are very similar in English and German, in English and
Chinese no apparent similarity exists.

Three basic language divisions, Algonkian, Siouan, and Iroquoian, were
represented by Wisconsin’s Indians. Algonkian was represented by such
tribes as the Menomini, Potawatomi, Chippewa, Mascouten, Sauk, Fox,
Ottawa, and Kickapoo. Relatively late arrivals to Wisconsin (in the
1800’s), also speaking Algonkian tongues, were the Munsee, Brotherton,
and Stockbridge tribes. The Siouan group included the Winnebago, and the
Santee division of the Dakota Sioux. The Huron and the Oneida (the
latter also arriving in the 1800’s) were Wisconsin representatives of
the Iroquoian language stock. The differences become more apparent when
we realize that languages in the Iroquoian division would be as
different from those in the Algonkian stock as English is from Chinese.

The historic period in Wisconsin began when Jean Nicolet, the first
known white man to visit Wisconsin, landed near what is now Green Bay,
in 1634. Nicolet’s mission was to arrange a peace between the powerful
Winnebago tribe, or Puans, as they were known to the French, and the
Ottawa who were then acting as middlemen between the French and the
Indians of the unknown Middlewest.

    [Illustration: THE LANDING OF NICOLET (MUSEUM MURAL BY GEORGE
    PETER).]

Nicolet’s journey into the Wisconsin wilderness, a mere fourteen years
after the landing of our pilgrim forefathers at Plymouth Rock, was the
beginning of the period of French exploration and rule in Wisconsin
which is as romantic and fascinating a story as any in our country’s
history. Imagine Nicolet’s emotion as he approached his destination, a
lone white man with seven Indians for companions, in a country which, as
far as was known, had never before been visited by a white man. He had
no idea as to what sort of reception he would receive from these strange
people he was to visit. Their friendliness or enmity would be determined
upon arrival. Fortunately he was hailed as a great visitor, and feasted
and entertained accordingly.

Only three Indian tribes are definitely known to have been residents of
Wisconsin when Nicolet visited here in 1634. These were the Winnebago;
the Menomini, who resided along the shores of the Menominee River above
Green Bay; and the Santee Sioux, whose villages were scattered along the
upper reaches of the Mississippi River in northwestern Wisconsin and
eastern Minnesota.

Documentary evidence strongly suggests that some other tribes, often
mentioned as early residents, as, for example, the Mascouten, did not
arrive until a generation later. Archaeological findings conclusively
show the prehistoric occupation of Wisconsin by the Santee Sioux and the
Winnebago, and support the probability of prehistoric occupation by the
Menomini. Thus Wisconsin was controlled primarily by Siouan speaking
peoples in 1634. The peaceful Menomini were far outnumbered by their
powerful neighbors, the Winnebago, but this situation was soon to change
radically.

    [Illustration: WINNEBAGO VILLAGE (PAINTING BY A. O. TIEMANN).]

Events occurring far to the East, in what is now New York State and
eastern Canada, were to profoundly affect and change the Indian
population of Wisconsin. When the French began permanent settlement
along the St. Lawrence they found the Huron and the Iroquois Confederacy
engaged in a death struggle for supremacy in the area. The French
espoused the cause of the Hurons who quickly became the middlemen in the
fur trade between the French and the western Indians.

The Iroquois, who were farmers and hence controlled less land than
hunting tribes who were their neighbors, soon depleted their land of fur
bearing animals and began to plan acquisition of land held by nearby
tribes. At about this time the Dutch considerately gave the Iroquois
guns, and by this act unleashed what was probably the most potent Indian
military confederacy in North America upon the Hurons, who were
practically exterminated in an amazingly short time. The Erie, Tobacco
Nation, and Neutrals soon suffered the same fate as the Hurons.

The Algonkian tribes, attacked first by the Neutrals and then by the
victorious Iroquois, fled pell-mell into eastern Michigan and the Sault
area. Eventually most of these tribes either went around the southern or
the northern extremity of Lake Michigan to arrive in the relative
security of wilderness Wisconsin.

The exact dates for the arrival of these various dispossessed eastern
tribes are not certain. We do know that they probably came to Wisconsin
sometime after Nicolet’s visit in 1634. The Mascouten, Potawatomi,
Kickapoo, Sauk, and Fox were coming into Wisconsin before 1654. Some
Huron and Ottawa settled here temporarily at this time, but by 1678 were
compelled by the Sioux to flee back to the Sault. The Chippewa stayed
around and west of the Straits of Mackinac and actually did not settle
in Wisconsin until about 1670.

    [Illustration: SAUK AND FOX INDIANS (FROM MAXIMILIAN).]

    [Illustration: CHIPPEWA INDIANS (FROM GEO. CATLIN).]

The Winnebago at first defended themselves vigorously against the
invading refugee tribes; however, this constant warfare greatly reduced
their numerical strength. Further decimated by plagues, probably
smallpox introduced by the whites, and by famine, the Winnebago were
compelled to make peace with the invading Algonkians who eventually
settled in great numbers along the Upper and Lower Fox rivers, the lower
reaches of the Wolf River, and in the vicinity of Green Bay.

Fur trade with the western Indians was successfully blocked by the
rampaging Iroquois for twenty odd years after Nicolet’s voyage of
exploration into the Middlewest, but with the establishment of a brief
peace, the Ottawa, who had assumed the position of middlemen in the fur
trade, sent a large canoe fleet to the western Indians and soon returned
with large quantities of furs which had been accumulated by the Indians
during the Iroquois War.

On the return journey two young Frenchmen, Radisson and Groseilliers,
went into Wisconsin with the Ottawa and became the first known white
traders in the area. Other traders quickly followed their example, and
by 1670, the fur trade in Wisconsin was proceeding at a good pace.

The Indians, even before actually being visited by the whites, had
received European implements by trade with other Indians and soon
learned the superiority of iron knives and axes over those of stone. The
arrival of the white traders with their guns, kettles, cloth, brandy,
and many other trade items was eagerly awaited by the Indians of what is
now Wisconsin.

As early as 1668, Perrot and traders with him had brought furs to Green
Bay (La Baye). Great activity in the fur trade was quick to follow with
the French traders using guns and brandy particularly as an inducement
to increase the tempo of fur trapping by the Indian. The Indian was as
anxious to obtain the white man’s goods as the trader was to obtain the
Indian’s furs. This formed the basis for an understanding mutually
agreeable to Indian and trader alike.

The fur trade, during the French Regime, went through many changes due
to changing circumstances, and the issuing of different regulations from
time to time. The discovery of new western lands and tribes spurred
literally hundreds of Canadian youths to seek these virgin territories
and the riches in furs to be had there. At first traders persuaded the
Indians to make the long trip to Montreal with their furs. The presence
of so many traders in the forests, however, soon made these long trips
unnecessary. By the time Perrot began trading in Wisconsin the traders
were carrying their goods to the Indians in their own country.

Regulations required that all traders must be licensed, or buy _Conges_
as they were called. Twenty-five of these were issued each year and
permitted the trader to take a designated load of goods into the
interior to be traded for the Indian’s furs. The presence of great
numbers of unlicensed traders in the woods was responsible for an edict
from the king declaring such illegal traders to be outlaws. The
punishment for such activities was death. These outlaw traders were
known as _coureurs de bois_ and were actually never hampered too much by
the stringent laws passed against them.

During the latter part of the 17th century outposts were built to help
control the trade. Nicolas Perrot built posts at Mt. Trempealeau, at
Lake Pepin, and at the mouth of the Wisconsin River. The Sieur DuLhut
(Duluth) built posts in the Lake Superior region.

Since these terms are often misused, it might be best to briefly
describe the following occupations: A _bourgeois_, was an owner of goods
and a license; the hired men were called _engages_; those hired men who
only carried the goods and paddled the canoe for a stipulated daily hire
were called _voyageurs_. The _coureurs de bois_ and sometimes the
_voyageurs_ were usually the ones who often remained in the forests and
“went native.”

    [Illustration: uncaptioned]

    [Illustration: PIERRE RADDISON (COURTESY OF WISCONSIN STATE
    HISTORICAL SOCIETY).]

The impact of the white man’s civilization was bound to profoundly
change the life and geography of the Indians, and, particularly in the
early French period, this change was extremely rapid. Three groups were
actively working to institute changes in the Indian pattern of life.
These were the fur trader, whose goods revolutionized the material
culture of the natives, the Jesuit missionaries who hoped to convert the
tribes to Christianity, and the French government itself, which
attempted at various times to relocate the tribes, form confederacies,
and even to “civilize” them.

The fur trader was the only one of the three groups who really succeeded
in materially changing the Indian’s way of life, although his success
was unintentional. So completely did the materials of the white man
replace those of the Indian that within a few short generations almost
no one knew how to make stone tools and weapons, pottery vessels, bows
and arrows, and many other aboriginal products which were abandoned as
rapidly as superior goods of the whites were made available.

The change in tools and weapons naturally changed the Indians’ pattern
of life in many ways, but the entire economy of the tribes was affected
greatly by the fur trade. The Indian’s need for the white man’s goods
was great and he became more and more dependent upon the trader. As the
tempo of fur trading increased, the Indian began devoting almost all of
his time to hunting and trapping until, in a sense, he became an
employee in a great “fur-trade factory” with the goods he received from
the trader representing his wages. Much of the Indian’s old life of
freedom gradually disappeared, since failure to obtain guns or powder
and bullets meant starvation for the Indian and his family.

    [Illustration: JESUIT MISSIONARY.]

    [Illustration: uncaptioned]

Perhaps the worst effect of the contact between the Europeans and the
Indians was the introduction of brandy, always an effective persuader in
bargaining, and the introduction of European diseases, particularly
venereal disease and smallpox, the latter in some instances wiping out
entire tribes. The tendency for tribes to congregate around fur-trade
areas at the behest of the traders also had a detrimental effect upon
the Indians. In the Fox River valley and around Green Bay this
overpopulation resulted in famine and the voluntary exodus of some
tribes before 1700, among them the Miami and some of the Kickapoo and
Mascouten.

It should be noted that the adoption of new materials and living habits
was not entirely one-sided. The white man learned how to use the
Indian’s birch-bark canoe, many of his foods, tobacco, moccasins, snow
shoes, and often buckskin clothing.

Both the Jesuits and the French military deliberately aimed at changing
the Indian’s way of life but their aims were in direct opposition to one
another. The Jesuits were not interested in “civilizing” the Indians.
They desired to see these simple people maintained in their original
ignorance except for their belief in the “One True God,” and such simple
improvements in agriculture and other techniques as would improve their
lot as mission Indians. The Jesuits, not without some justification,
regarded contact between their charges and the French traders and
soldiers as having a demoralizing influence.

    [Illustration: MENOMINI INDIAN MEDICINE LODGE CEREMONY (PAINTING BY
    A. O. TIEMANN).]

Despite great heroism and prodigious efforts on the part of the
missionaries, permanent effects on the Indians by the Jesuits was to
prove almost negligible. The Wisconsin Indian was highly war-like and
found it difficult to appreciate the humility preached by the
missionary. The Indian regarded such behavior as effeminate.

    [Illustration: FATHER JACQUES MARQUETTE (COURTESY OF MARQUETTE
    UNIVERSITY).]

Nevertheless, the story of their efforts to Christianize the tribes, and
the valor of these missionaries in exploring unknown territory, makes a
fascinating story in our state’s history. Not the least among such
heroic deeds was the great voyage of exploration by Father Jacques
Marquette and Louis Joliet. Traveling up the Fox River, crossing over on
foot at what is now Portage, Wisconsin, and proceeding down the
Wisconsin River, the two explorers entered the Mississippi River on the
seventeenth of June, 1673. They explored the great river as far south as
the Arkansas River and then returned, by way of the Illinois River. This
great discovery made known a continuous water route from the Atlantic
Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, and opened to the French the interior of a
vast continent.

It was the desire to exploit and unify this vast wilderness empire that
led the French leaders to attempt deliberate changes in the Wisconsin
Indian geography and political structure. This was necessary in order to
strengthen the Wisconsin tribes and keep them fighting the Iroquois who
consistently raided the western Indians and the French settlements along
the St. Lawrence.

LaSalle conceived the idea of a great Indian confederacy which, it was
hoped, would be able to successfully oppose the mighty Iroquois, and so
built forts in the Illinois country to help defend the area. The
Wisconsin Mascouten and Kickapoo left this area, partly because of their
desire to join the confederacy and partly because of population pressure
in the Fox River valley.

The year before the Iroquois invasions of 1680, DuLhut helped to
strengthen the French cause by negotiating peace between the Dakota
Sioux and their enemy of long standing, the Chippewa, and also
reconciling the Dakota Sioux and Assiniboine, who had been warring for
thirty years.

Nicolas Perrot probably was the most influential French officer ever to
have worked with the Wisconsin tribes. It was mainly through his
constant efforts that they were kept from going over to the Iroquois
when the tribes felt that the French had abandoned them. Perrot was
probably the only Frenchman to remain consistently on friendly terms
with the Foxes, who eventually were to engage the French in the
bloodiest Indian war ever to be fought on Wisconsin soil. Perrot
constantly travelled from village to village organizing raids against
the Iroquois, raids which eventually assisted in forcing the Iroquois to
sue for peace. The French, through the efforts of men like LaSalle,
Perrot, and DuLhut, had once again secured a firm hold on the western
tribes, but the Iroquois warfare of the 1680’s had caused a slump in the
fur trade. The trade was, moreover, soon to receive a blow which was to
almost completely kill all official commerce between the Indians and the
French for a number of years. This was the issuance of a royal edict by
the French King, May 21, 1696, revoking all fur trade licenses and
prohibiting all colonials from carrying goods to the western country.

There were really two main causes for the issuance of this edict. One
was a slump in the beaver market caused by the great flood of furs into
France and a decline in beaver hat production, due partly to the
emigration of the Huguenots who were the main hat felters; the other
cause for the edict was the anger of the Jesuits, aroused by the sale of
brandy to the Indians by the traders and soldiers.

It was hoped that the Indian tribes would make the journey to Montreal
themselves to trade their furs, but it was soon discovered that most
tribes either would not or could not make such a journey for purposes of
trade. The result, of course, was severe hardship for the Indians of
Wisconsin. Lack of gunpowder and lead restricted their hunting abilities
and made it more difficult for them to defend themselves against the
Iroquois and other hostile tribes. The Indians were becoming
increasingly dependent upon the French to the extent that they had lost
much of the freedom they had enjoyed as a self-sufficient people.

The rapid abandonment of the western posts followed the fur trade ban.
The commanders of these outposts, for the most part, did not consider it
worthwhile to stay on in that capacity if they could not enrich
themselves by means of the Indian trade.

Peace was finally arranged between the Iroquois and the French and their
Indian allies in 1700. The Iroquois had suffered heavily from the raids
by the western Indians. They claimed to have lost more than half their
warriors. With the fear of Iroquois raids ended, the confederacies of
western tribes quickly fell apart, and the latter turned to fighting
among themselves as they had always done in the past.

The French military now decided on a concentration policy. The western
posts were to be restricted to three main centers. These were to be at
Detroit, New Orleans, and near Tonty’s post in the Illinois country.
Fairly large numbers of troops were stationed at these posts to provide
adequate defense, and the western tribes were to be concentrated in
these areas. This would facilitate the fur trade by permitting the
Indians to trap their furs and bring them directly to the trading
centers. The French government also hoped to “civilize” the Indians,
teaching them to farm the land, learn the French language, and
eventually even participate in the colonial economy.

The concentration policy was foredoomed to failure. The Wisconsin
tribes, of whom many were hereditary enemies, only needed a spark to set
them at one another’s throats. This led to trouble at Detroit which
resulted in the bloody Fox Wars, long, costly fighting for the French
which contributed much towards their final downfall in the New World.




                             CHAPTER THREE
                THE FOX WARS AND THE FALL OF NEW FRANCE


    [Illustration: SAUK AND FOX WARRIORS (FROM MAXIMILIAN).]

Events occurring in Wisconsin during the first half of the Eighteenth
Century were to bode little good for the French, and were to contribute
towards the final downfall of New France at the hands of the British.
For a good share of the years between 1701 and 1738 the French were to
be largely occupied with the attempt to subjugate the Fox Indians and
their allies.

Not only were the expeditions against the Fox to prove costly to the
French, but the enmity of the Fox required shiftings of trade routes. As
an inevitable result, friction between the French and English traders
developed, since the Fox at times blocked both the Fox River in
Wisconsin and the Illinois River to the French traders. The determined
resistance of the Fox also prevented the fruition of French hopes to
dominate the western tribes and influence them to espouse the French
cause. Furthermore, the difficulty experienced by the French military in
conquering a relatively small group of Wisconsin Indians did little to
further French prestige among other western tribes.

The First Fox War was actually the result of the French concentration
policy. Within a few years after the founding of Detroit in 1701 by the
Sieur de Cadillac there were almost 6000 Indians in the vicinity of the
fort. The Fox, meanwhile, determined to prevent the carrying of guns to
their enemy, the Dakota Sioux, were halting French traders attempting to
proceed up the Fox River on their journey to the Sioux country on the
Upper Mississippi. A French fort in the Sioux country was also abandoned
after the loss of several men due to attacks by the Fox.

Cadillac, realizing the need for some measure to bring these warlike
tribesmen under control, in 1710 invited the Fox, along with the other
tribes resident around Green Bay, to come and reside near Detroit. At
this crucial time, when so much depended on the leadership of a
Frenchman experienced in handling the tribes, Cadillac, probably the
most capable Colonial officer of the times, was sent to Louisiana as
governor of that colony. The new commandant at Detroit had none of
Cadillac’s ability with the Indians.

The arrival of the Fox and their allies, the Kickapoo, Sauk, and
Mascouten, was the signal for trouble. These tribesmen were feared as
well as hated by the other Indians about Detroit. After a band of
Mascouten were attacked by the Ottawa near the St. Joseph River, during
the winter of 1711-1712, the Fox, in revenge, immediately attacked the
Ottawa and Huron at the Detroit post.

The Detroit commandant sided with the Ottawa and Huron and permitted
them to seek refuge in the French fort. Shortly after, the Fox erected a
stockade of their own and made preparations for a long fight. The French
and their allies were reinforced by a large band of Illinois, Missouri,
Osage, Potawatomi, and Menomini. This greatly superior force laid siege
to the Fox fort and the latter soon offered to surrender. The French and
their Indian supporters, however, were now determined to completely
exterminate their enemies.

After a siege of nineteen days, the Fox attempted to escape by taking
advantage of cover offered on a dark, rainy night. They were pursued,
overtaken, and the great majority of them were slaughtered. This was a
victory for the French, but a very costly one, for the Fox and their
allies still had a great many warriors in the forests of Wisconsin.
These, in retaliation, began a war of extermination against the allies
of the French who had participated in the Detroit massacre and the
hunted tribesmen soon complained that their people were starving because
they dared not hunt in the forests lest their men be slain by the
vengeful Fox.

The summer of 1716 saw the first white army ever to invade the forests
of Wisconsin. The Sieur de Louvigny, in May of that year, left Montreal
with an army of several hundred French and a force of mission Indians
determined to compel the Fox to sue for peace. He arrived in Wisconsin
with his army augmented by western tribesmen, and _coureurs de bois_ who
had been granted pardons for joining the expedition at their own
expense. With this total force amounting to about 800 men, Louvigny
besieged the fortified Fox village, situated near Little Lake Butte des
Morts. While the French kept up a fire with two small cannon and a
grenade mortar, they sank a trench towards the Fox fort determined to
mine the place and blow it up.

The Fox surrendered after three days of fighting and agreed to accept
terms which Louvigny thought very severe, but which his Indian allies
regarded as overmild. The terms included the requirement that the Fox
pay for the costs of the expedition against them by means of furs yet to
be gathered, to give up prisoners taken from the allies of the French,
to furnish a number of hostages to guarantee their future good behavior,
and to cede their territory to the French King.

The peace temporarily halted the bloody warfare of the four preceding
years and permitted the fur trade to be resumed. The concentration
policy had proven to be a failure, and shortly after the death of Louis
XIV, in 1715, the posts were once more occupied and the licensing system
for the fur trade was restored. A fort was built at La Baye (Green Bay)
in 1717, and a post was occupied at Chequamegon Bay to keep the Chippewa
from attacking the Fox and causing a resumption of war, and also to
regulate the fur trade in that area.

    [Illustration: EARLY FORT AT MICHILLIMACKINAC (MUSEUM MURAL BY
    GEORGE PETER).]

The quite considerable friction between the colonies of Canada and
Louisiana provided the background for the events which led directly to
the Second Fox War. There was considerable argument as to the exact
boundaries of Illinois which now was annexed to Louisiana, although
originally settled by Canadians. The Fox took advantage of these
feelings of hostility by attacking the Illinois in the vicinity of
Kaskaskia, even killing Frenchmen in this area. The Fox claimed the
Illinois would not return Fox prisoners as they had promised according
to treaty. The Canadian governor, Vaudreuil, tended to side with the Fox
in the argument.

After the death of Vaudreuil, his temporary successor, Baron de
Longueuil ordered the Sieur de Lignery, commandant at Mackinac, to
enforce a peace between the Fox, Kickapoo, and Mascouten, and their
enemies, the Illinois. The Fox promised to obey this demand, and in
order to ensure their obedience, a new post was built in the Sioux
country. This was rendered necessary by the fact that the Dakota Sioux
had now become allies of the Fox, and the French intended to make sure
that no aid would be coming to the Fox from that warlike tribe. The
three forts in the northwest, at Chequamegon Bay, La Baye, and on the
upper Mississippi in the Sioux country were to be maintained rather
steadily until near the end of the French regime.

Meanwhile the Fox chief Kiala had succeeded in forming an alliance
against the French between the Fox and their long-time allies the
Kickapoo and Mascouten, and a series of other tribes including, in
addition to the nearby Winnebago, such far distant tribes as the Abnaki
and Seneca in the East, and the Dakota Sioux, Missouri, Iowa, and Oto in
the West. Kiala hoped by this means to form a hostile circle about the
French which would end in their complete defeat, a plan similar to that
later attempted by Pontiac, and Tecumseh.

The Marquis de Beauharnois, appointed governor of Canada to replace
Vaudreuil, was determined that the raids on the Illinois and the French
at Kaskaskia must be stopped. A French army once more was sent against
the Fox. This time, headed by the Sieur de Lignery, the expedition
numbered about four hundred French and approximately one thousand
Indians. Warned by the Potawatomi, the Fox escaped from their villages
and the army arrived at each to find it deserted. At Little Lake Butte
des Morts the soldiers refused to go farther and Lignery had to be
satisfied with the burning of the Fox and Winnebago villages and their
stores of food.

Despite the poor showing of Lignery’s expedition against the Fox,
Kiala’s confederacy began to fall apart. Even their old allies, the
Mascouten and Kickapoo, were persuaded by the French to turn against
them, and the Sioux, closely watched by the French, no longer could give
the Fox refuge in their country. Discouraged by these losses and
defeated by the French under the capable Paul Marin, the Fox decided to
flee to the Iroquois country. The Fox had long been secretly treating
with the English and the Seneca, a member tribe of the Iroquois
Confederacy and hoped to find a friendly reception in their country.

Warned by the Mascouten and Kickapoo regarding the plans of the Fox,
French officers from nearby posts hastily gathered together Indian
allies and prepared to attack their fleeing enemies. The Fox, warned by
their scouts of the force advancing against them, hastily erected a
stockade and prepared to fight for their lives. They managed to fight
off the besiegers for twenty-three days. Then on a stormy night they
attempted flight but were quickly overtaken. Almost all of the band were
either slaughtered or taken as slaves.

After the few survivors of this disaster, seeking refuge in their
village near the mouth of the Wisconsin River, were attacked by Detroit
Indians, Kiala and three other chiefs offered to give themselves up,
asking mercy for themselves and the fifty surviving warriors, supposedly
all that were left of the entire tribe. De Villiers accepted the
surrender and hastened to Montreal with his prisoners. De Villiers was
ordered to return and kill off the rest of the Fox, taking only the
women and children as prisoners. These were to be sold into slavery,
like Kiala, who was fated to end his days as a slave in the West Indies.

De Villiers returned to the Sauk village at Green Bay and demanded that
the Sauk release the remnant of Fox survivors. The Sauk declined to
release warriors with whom they had strong blood ties, and in an attempt
to force an entrance, one of de Villiers’ sons was killed. The French
quickly retaliated and in the exchange of fire de Villiers himself was
killed by a twelve year old boy, who later became renowned as the Sauk
Chief Blackbird. In the battle that followed, the Sieur Duplessis, the
Sieur de Repentigny, and six other Frenchmen quickly met the same fate.
The Sauk and Fox, too, lost heavily and fled to the vicinity of the
present-day city of Menasha. The bloody battle that ensued there, it is
said, accounts for the name Butte des Morts, or Hill of the Dead.

As a result of this battle, the remainder of the Fox and the Sauk
amalgamated and for all practical purposes became one tribe. They fled
into Iowa where they erected a new fort, and gradually their ranks were
swelled by Fox released from captivity by tribes now secretly in
sympathy with the Sauk and Fox. One more expedition was sent against
them, led by the Sieur de Noyelles, but although he followed the Sauk
and Fox to the vicinity of the Des Moines River, they were so well
entrenched that it was impossible to dislodge them and the expedition
returned home without success. Eventually the Fox Wars were brought to
an end through a policy of conciliation inaugurated in 1740 by Paul
Marin, the new commandant at La Baye. Force had, in the long run, proven
a failure in the campaign to completely subjugate the Fox.

    [Illustration: SAUK AND FOX CHIEF (FROM GEO. CATLIN).]

Throughout the first half of the Eighteenth Century the French, as we
have seen, had been occupied with more or less constant warfare with the
Fox. This warfare was the dominant note in the history of Wisconsin for
this period, and in general, the role of other Wisconsin tribes during
this era was that of serving as allies either of the French or of the
Fox.

The failure of Noyelles’ expedition against the Fox had helped to lower
French prestige among the western tribes, and in 1736 the Sioux, angered
by French friendship for the Chippewa and Cree, murdered a French
officer, a priest, and a party of nineteen _voyageurs_. From this time
on the Sioux could no longer be numbered among the allies of the French.
By 1739, the Sioux-Chippewa War flamed into action and the Sioux were
driven westward from the areas in Wisconsin now held by the Chippewa.

Warfare between the English and the French in America again was to
seriously affect the western tribes. This conflict, lasting from 1744 to
1748, saw the fur trade with the western tribes reach extremely low
proportions. Goods were very scarce due to the loss of French ships at
the hands of British fighting vessels, and this failure to produce
sufficient goods for the Indians, in addition to the already declining
prestige of the French, encouraged some of the western tribes to seek
more favorable relations with the British. Most of the Huron, under
Chief Nicolas, began trading with the British, and many other western
tribes exhibited the same inclination.

The end of the current conflict with the English enabled the French to
regain control of these tribes, but the Miami had moved into Ohio and
established a large village called Pickawillany which became a fairly
permanent camp for a number of English traders. Several expeditions
against this village by the French failed. In 1752, however, Charles de
Langlade, later famed as one of Wisconsin’s pioneer French settlers at
Green Bay, who was part French and part Ottawa and who thus had
tremendous influence among the Indians, led an expedition against
Pickawillany which enjoyed remarkable success. The village was
destroyed, the English traders captured, and the Miami returned to
French allegiance.

For a while France again enjoyed supremacy in the West. In 1755,
Langlade and his contingent of Wisconsin and Mackinac braves
participated in the famous battle culminating in “Braddock’s Defeat”.
Chippewa, Menomini, Potawatomi, and Winnebago were said to be present at
this engagement, and for many years thereafter trophies of this battle
were to be found in Wisconsin Indian lodges. Despite this severe defeat
of the British and American Colonials, the fortunes of the French were
destined to take a turn for the worse. By 1761, Wisconsin was under
British control, and in 1763, France formally surrendered the rest of
her American possessions to England. She had ceded Louisiana to Spain
the year before.

Much had happened to Wisconsin’s Indians during this period, roughly
from 1700 to 1760. The long and bloody Fox Wars had wrought hardship on
the other tribes as well as on the Fox. The Sioux-Chippewa war had
resulted in the Sioux being forced to relinquish most of their Wisconsin
territory to the Chippewa. The Potawatomi Indians, who had fought under
Langlade and participated in the killing of the unarmed English and
Americans at Fort William Henry, were visited by a grim vengeance in the
form of smallpox, contracted from the English soldiers and brought back
by the tribes to their own country where it raged virtually unchecked.
Great numbers of Indians lost their lives as a result.

Other tribes left Wisconsin, some never to return. The Kickapoo and
Mascouten were now in Illinois and Indiana. The Potawatomi were below
Lake Michigan at St. Joseph. Thus many of the tribes here when the
French traders and missionaries first arrived, no longer were in the
Wisconsin scene. The tribes remaining here were destined to know new
masters, the British, who were to control the fur trade in Wisconsin
until the end of the War of 1812.

    [Illustration: uncaptioned]

    [Illustration: uncaptioned]




                              CHAPTER FOUR
                     THE PERIOD OF BRITISH CONTROL


    [Illustration: PONTIAC.]

British military control of Wisconsin was ushered in with the arrival of
Ensign James Gorrell at Green Bay on the twelfth of October, 1761. With
the aid of his two non-commissioned officers and fifteen privates,
Gorrell set about to restore the old French fort which he renamed Fort
Edward Augustus, in honor of the Duke of York. His next task was to win
over the French _habitants_ about the fort and to gain the sympathy of
the Indians in the area for the British cause. Apparently Gorrell was
quite successful in both tasks.

The French _habitants_ about the posts taken over by the British found
it rather easy, for the most part, to transfer their allegiance to the
British Crown since they were given the same privileges they enjoyed
under French authority. Moreover, the British traders found it more
advantageous to form partnerships with the more experienced French
traders than to attempt to supersede them.

British success with the Indians varied according to local conditions at
the different forts. The British were not inclined to give presents as
liberally as the French had done, and it was not British policy to
fraternize or intermarry with their savage allies. The feeling of
inferiority prompted by this treatment caused resentment among many
tribes.

    [Illustration: TRADERS PORTAGING (PAINTING BY T. LINDBERG).]

In central Wisconsin, however, Gorrell’s diplomatic treatment of the
Indians, added to the fact that the Sauk, Fox, Winnebago, and Menomini
held a certain amount of resentment towards the French, swung these
tribes over to the British. The promises of medals and commissions to
the Indian chiefs, and the fact that the British trade goods were
cheaper by far than those offered by the French, also tended to offset
the more arrogant treatment of the tribes by the British.

Gorrell’s success with the Indians of central Wisconsin was very
important to Wisconsin history, for in 1763 the British were compelled
to deal with a widespread Indian uprising largely led by Pontiac, chief
of an Ottawa tribe from around the Straits of Mackinac, and one of the
most able Indian leaders who ever lived. It was Pontiac’s plan to drive
all the British and Colonials into the sea by means of an alliance of
Indian tribes from the Alleghenies to the Mississippi River, and from
the Ohio River to the Great Lakes. Pontiac’s chief claim to greatness
lies in his remarkable feat of keeping a number of tribes together for a
seven-month siege of Detroit, a unique event in Indian warfare.

In addition to the attack on Detroit, concerted attacks were made on
other British posts, of which a number fell, including the one at
Mackinac. The failure of the Indians to take Forts Detroit, Pitt, and
Niagara assured defeat for Pontiac’s campaign.

On June 2, 1763, the Chippewa Indians took Fort Mackinac by a clever
subterfuge. They faked a game of LaCrosse in front of the stockade and
pretended accidentally to knock the ball into the fort. As the players
rushed after the ball they seized guns from the watching Indian women
who had concealed the weapons under their blankets. Most of the garrison
was massacred before they had a chance to defend themselves.

The loyalty to the British of Wisconsin’s Sauk, Fox, Winnebago, and
Menomini Indians, and the timely arrival of a delegation of Sioux, sworn
enemies of the Chippewa, probably saved Green Bay from a similar fate.

Etherington hastily summoned Gorrell to his assistance. Gorrell
abandoned Fort Edward Augustus at Green Bay and with the aid of 90 men
of the Sauk, Fox, Menomini, and Winnebago tribes succeeded in obtaining
the prisoners’ release from the Indians. The party then proceeded on to
Montreal. British military occupation of Wisconsin was not resumed until
the War of 1812.

The Pontiac rebellion also served to bring the problems relating to the
Indians home to the British Government and probably helped as an
incentive to the issuance of the Proclamation of 1763. British subjects
were now forbidden to purchase lands west of the Appalachian mountains
without special license. It was hoped that this would prevent further
encroachments by white settlers upon Indian lands. Trade with the
Indians was to be permitted where licenses with the various colonial
governments had been procured. Moreover, since Wisconsin was not
included in the limits of any of the colonies, Wisconsin was left
without any government other than that exercised by the military at
Mackinac. This matter was not rectified until 1774 when the Quebec Act
placed Wisconsin under the authority of the Governor of Canada.

Mackinac became the seat of Wisconsin’s fur trade when the fort was
rebuilt there in 1764. It was the only fort northwest of Detroit with
government officers and Indian agents. By 1767, large numbers of traders
were coming into the Wisconsin area. The Indians by this time were so
dependent on the white trader that any interruption in the supply of
goods flowing to the Indians worked severe hardships upon them.

Wisconsin’s fur trade was still largely controlled by Montreal
investors, mostly British. The actual traders, however, who contacted
the Indians were still primarily Frenchmen, and this was to remain so
throughout Wisconsin’s fur-trade period. Some competition in Wisconsin
was given to the British by Spanish and French traders from Louisiana,
which had become Spanish territory by the peace treaty in 1763. But the
British managed to retain the bulk of the northwest fur trade with the
Indians.

Wisconsin’s Indians did not participate strongly in the American
Revolution, but they did take part in some action. Charles de Langlade,
half French, half Ottawa Indian leader who helped the French so
efficiently during the French and Indian War, now espoused the British
cause as ardently as he had the French. Langlade’s tremendous influence
over the Indians was well known, and the British hoped to persuade him
to obtain Wisconsin Indian help in fighting the Colonists. Langlade did
succeed in leading Chippewa and Ottawa east to help Burgoyne in 1777,
and in 1778 Wisconsin Indians went to Detroit to help General Hamilton.
On the whole, however, Wisconsin’s Indians were too disinterested in the
white man’s war to be enthusiastic about long trips east to aid the
British.

    [Illustration: MICHILLIMACKINAC, RESTORATION OF LAST FORT.]

The American Revolutionary War hero, Major George Rogers Clark, whose
capture of Vincennes and Kaskaskia, and the French villages of the
Illinois country, provided the basis for United States claims to the
Northwest Territory during the peace negotiations between the British
and the United States, called together a great assembly of Indians at
Cahokia, Illinois, in 1778, and succeeded in obtaining their pledges of
allegiance to the United States. Many Wisconsin Indians attended the
meeting, including the noted Blackbird, chief of a Milwaukee village
composed of Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi. Blackbird apparently
remained loyal to the American cause. Major Clark’s influence with the
Wisconsin Indians tended to nullify the efforts of Charles Langlade, and
other French officers in the service of England, to mobilize the
Wisconsin Indians against the United States.

In 1780, England utilized some Wisconsin Indians in an attack on the
Spanish with whom she was then at war. Twelve hundred warriors were
assembled at Prairie du Chien, and marched on St. Louis. Aided by the
fact that they had advance knowledge of the enemy movements, that some
of the tribesmen were more or less sympathetic with the American cause,
and that the Indians showed no enthusiasm for attacking in the face of
cannon fire, the Spanish and Americans succeeded in routing the
attackers. After this action Wisconsin’s Indians were not involved in
any important campaigns during the remaining years of the American
Revolution.

    [Illustration: CHIEF OSHKOSH (PORTRAIT BY S. M. BROOKS, COURTESY OF
    THE WISCONSIN STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY).]

British control of Wisconsin’s Indians did not cease with the end of the
Revolutionary War. Despite the British agreement in the Treaty of Paris,
in 1783, to turn over their posts at Niagara, Detroit, and
Michillimackinac, they continued to hold these forts until after the Jay
Treaty of 1794. It was not until October, 1796, that Mackinac, the last
post to be turned over by the British, was officially occupied by
American troops. The British, however, still maintained their control
over Wisconsin’s Indians through the fur trade now operating from posts
just across the Canadian border.

Within a month after the declaration of war against England by the
American Congress in 1812, Mackinac was retaken by the British and
Menomini and Winnebago Indians from Wisconsin. Among the Menomini were
chiefs Tomah and Oshkosh, the latter destined to become a famous
Menomini leader and friend of the Americans. Within another month Fort
Dearborn (at Chicago) was attacked by Indians and most of its civilian
and military inhabitants massacred. Menomini, Potawatomi, and Winnebago
Indians from Wisconsin took part in this attack.

    [Illustration: MENOMINI WARRIOR (FROM INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTH
    AMERICA).]

The Americans were well aware of the strategic importance of Prairie du
Chien in any attempt to control Wisconsin’s Indians. In June, 1814, Fort
Shelby, probably the first building over which an American flag ever
flew in Wisconsin, was erected at this strategic location. Lt. Perkins
and sixty men were left in charge at the fort.

The British quickly determined to drive out the Americans and succeeded
in forcing Perkins to surrender the fort on July 19, 1814. About 500
Indians, mostly Menomini, Chippewa, Winnebago, and Sioux, took part in
the assault on the American post.

The British renamed the post Fort McKay and managed to hold it against
the Americans until, in agreement with the Treaty of Ghent, they finally
abandoned the fort in May, 1815, and British control of Wisconsin’s
Indians was finally at an end. The fate of Wisconsin’s Indians was now
in the hands of the United States Government.




                              CHAPTER FIVE
                   THE PERIOD OF AMERICAN SETTLEMENT


    [Illustration: uncaptioned]

Wisconsin’s Indians, under the French and British had become
increasingly dependent upon the white man. Without the invaders’ tools,
weapons, utensils, and various other things which the Indian had come to
depend upon, he found himself unable to supply himself with the
necessities of life. The French and British traders, of course, were
interested almost exclusively in procuring furs from the Indians, and as
long as the aborigines could obtain furs for them, the traders would
supply their needs.

The Americans, however, were primarily interested in exploiting and
settling the Indians’ land; fur trading was secondary. As they pushed
into the new territory in ever increasing numbers, first to exploit the
lead mines of southwestern Wisconsin, and then to farm the fertile soil,
the Indian was doomed to be relentlessly pushed aside. He had lost his
independence. Now he was to lose his land and the very means of his
livelihood.

The arrival of the Americans upon the Wisconsin scene pleased neither
the Indians nor the French traders. Both relied to a great extent on the
fur trade, and they knew that the clearing of land by the settlers would
hasten the end of this activity. Many of the French, too, had Indian
blood and considered their cause as one with the Indians. The United
States government first showed poor judgment in its attempt to make
these people conform to American standards. For example, the French and
Indians were warned that common-law marriages between the two races
would no longer be tolerated, but must be legalized by either a civil or
church ceremony, and violators would face punishment. Both the French
and Indians bitterly fought what seemed to them oppression, and
eventually later decisions recognized the legality of common-law unions
of earlier regimes.

Wisconsin’s Indian agents were for a time under the authority of two
superintendents of Indian affairs. Lewis Cass, Governor of Michigan
Territory, of which Wisconsin was a part from 1818 to 1836, was in
charge of the Indian agent at Green Bay. The agent at Prairie du Chien
worked under the direction of William Clark who, as Superintendent of
St. Louis from 1807 to 1838, had authority to the source of the
Mississippi River. These agents distributed annuities and payments due
the Indians and attempted to keep white settlers from squatting on
Indian land. The settlers, however, rudely took over Indian land and, in
the inevitable conflict that followed, the militia and army would be
called out to protect the whites. In the ensuing “peace treaty” the
Indians would be forced to cede their lands and move westward.

    [Illustration: INVADING SETTLERS (PAINTING BY A. O. TIEMANN).]

Wisconsin’s early territorial period was also the era of the frontier
fort manned by the regular U. S. Army. Since the pay for the ordinary
soldier was very small, the army attracted men who could not succeed
elsewhere, or immigrants who wished to desert at the first opportunity
and travel westward. The officers, however, were of different character
entirely. Educated at West Point, they were by far the most educated and
cultured men in the frontier settlements. With their wives, they
represented the cream of Wisconsin society of this period.

    [Illustration: THE ENFORCING OF LEGAL MARRIAGE (PAINTING BY A. O.
    TIEMANN).]

Wisconsin had three main forts along the Fox-Wisconsin waterway. Fort
Howard was erected at Green Bay in 1816, the same year that Fort
Crawford was established at Prairie du Chien. Fort Winnebago was built
at what is now Portage in 1828, shortly after the Red Bird rebellion.
The United States army did its best to maintain peace between the
Indians and whites, and to protect the Indians from unlicensed traders,
and sometimes legitimate ones, who illegally sold whiskey to them. In
their efforts in this direction they often found themselves in conflict
with civil authorities who sometimes protected the traders apprehended
in such violations.

The fur trade continued in Wisconsin while the population was primarily
Indian, but by 1835 it was no longer of any significance in this area.
Following the War of 1812, the United States Government set up fur trade
“factories” at Prairie du Chien and Green Bay, hoping by this means to
control some of the evils, one of the most vicious of which was the
peddling of whiskey to the Indians. The whiskey was usually diluted with
water, and adulterants such as turpentine, or even corrosive acids,
added to restore the “bite.”

The government entry into the fur trade was unsuccessful. The factors,
as the proprietors of the trade “factories” were called, lacked
experience in dealing with the Indians. They did not give credit
advancements to them as did the other traders, and the American Fur
Company applied pressure on Congress to end this system. Gradually this
Company acquired the fur trade monopoly in this area; Solomon Juneau,
Milwaukee’s famous founder, was one of the American Fur Company’s agents
in what is now the State of Wisconsin. The gradual decadence of the fur
trade, of course, increased the hardships of Wisconsin tribes.

    [Illustration: OLD FORT WINNEBAGO (COURTESY OF THE WISCONSIN STATE
    HISTORICAL SOCIETY).]

    [Illustration: THE SECOND OR STONE FORT CRAWFORD (COURTESY OF THE
    WISCONSIN STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY).]

    [Illustration: THE FIRST OR LOG FORT CRAWFORD (COURTESY OF THE
    WISCONSIN STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY).]

As settlers began encroaching on the Indians’ land, conflicts were
inevitable. John C. Calhoun, the Secretary of War in 1825, sponsored a
plan for the removal of eastern tribes across the Mississippi to the
western plains. It was believed that by furnishing them with equipment
for hunting and farming they could survive readily and would be safe
from further pressure by white homesteaders. No one realized at this
time how soon these western lands would be overrun by the relentless
pressure of the American pioneer. The land purchased from the Indians
was to be made available to American settlers. The lands of certain
tribes of Wisconsin Indians were to be included in this overall plan.

    [Illustration: SOLOMON JUNEAU, AGED 60.]

Unfortunately for the smooth functioning of this operation, the Indians
did not care to leave the land on which they and their ancestors had
hunted for so long a time, and travel to new hunting grounds. In many
instances they were not removed without a show of force, sometimes with
considerable blood being shed by both whites and Indians.

In 1825, Lewis Cass and William Clark held a conference of Wisconsin
tribes at Prairie du Chien. They hoped to establish definite boundaries
for the holdings of the different tribes in order to eliminate friction
between them. This would also facilitate future land purchases from the
Indians. Roughly these boundaries were recognized: the southwest and
southeast corners of Wisconsin were allotted to the southern Chippewa,
Ottawa, and Potawatomi; the Winnebago held the remainder of southern
Wisconsin; the Menomini kept the northeast part of the state from the
Milwaukee River up; and the Chippewa held all of northern Wisconsin west
of the Menomini. These Indian territories were not to be respected for
very long by white squatters, however, and the Winnebago were to be
among the first to encounter trouble from this source.

The fact that southwestern Wisconsin was very rich in lead was
discovered quite early in the French regime, and it is probable that the
French taught the Indians how to mine and smelt the ore. By 1811, the
Sauk and Fox are reported to have devoted almost all their attention to
lead mining, only hunting to supply themselves with meat. They exchanged
the metal with Canadian traders for the goods they needed. Some early
American traders who attempted to get in on this trade were killed by
the Indians, who feared that once the Americans learned of the value of
the lead deposits their cupidity would be aroused and the Indians would
lose their land. Later events were to prove the excellence of this
reasoning.

Aroused by the rich deposits, Cornish miners, particularly, began to
arrive in force by 1827. The Indians were rudely expelled from their
diggings and their mines appropriated by armed whites. In the same year,
Red Bird, a young Winnebago chief, killed two settlers and scalped a
baby who, interestingly enough, survived to become the mother of a large
family and live to a ripe old age. Following this attack Red Bird and
his warriors, about forty in number, celebrated the scalp taking with a
drunken carousal at the mouth of the Bad Axe River, about forty miles
north of Prairie du Chien. Two keelboats on their way from Fort Snelling
to St. Louis were fired upon by the drunken Winnebago braves, and after
a battle of about three hours, the keelboats escaped with a loss of four
men dead and several wounded. The Indians were reported to have suffered
losses of seven dead and fourteen wounded.

    [Illustration: JUNEAU’S TRADING POST, MILWAUKEE (PAINTING BY A. O.
    TIEMANN).]

    [Illustration: MENOMINI INDIANS OF THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY (PORTRAIT
    BY S. M. BROOKS).]

    [Illustration: THE PIONEERS (PAINTING BY A. O. TIEMANN).]

United States troops rapidly arrived at the scene, and after fleeing up
the Wisconsin River, Red Bird found himself and his tribe surrounded.
The Americans agreed to forget the matter of the keelboats providing the
murderers of the settlers would give themselves up for trial. On Sept.
3, 1827, Red Bird, rather than engage his people in a hopeless war
against the whites, voluntarily surrendered to Major Whistler at
Portage. Arrangements were made for the Americans to use the lead mines
until a treaty could be arranged, and in July, 1829, another Grand
Council was held at Prairie du Chien. The Winnebago, southern
Potawatomi, Chippewa, and Ottawa agreed to cede their land. The United
States Government now owned the rich lead mining country of southwestern
Wisconsin.

    [Illustration: WINNEBAGO CHIEF (PORTRAIT BY S. M. BROOKS).]

During this period of American settlement, beginning as early as 1821
and lasting through 1834, a migration of Indians from New York occurred
which was to add some permanent residents to Wisconsin’s Indian
population. The Oneida and Munsee settled near Green Bay, and the
Stockbridge and Brotherton Indians settled along the eastern shore of
Lake Winnebago. The Menomini ceded 500,000 acres of their land to these
tribes in 1831.

Meanwhile the stage had been set for what was to become the most famous,
and also, perhaps, the most infamous Indian and white conflict in the
Wisconsin area. This was the so-called Black Hawk War, although it was
more of a systematic extermination of Indians by whites, hardly
deserving the term “war.”

Black Hawk was leader of the “British band” of the Sauk with a large
village, said to number about 500 families, situated near the mouth of
the Rock River in Illinois. His people were known as the “British band”
because of their known sympathies with the English, and also since Black
Hawk and his warriors had fought with Tecumseh and the British against
the Americans in the War of 1812.

White settlers began squatting on Black Hawk’s land as early as 1823,
despite the fact that according to treaty the Indians were not required
to give up their land until land offices had been set up, an event which
had not occurred. The Indians’ cornfields were fenced in, wigwams were
burned, and the women mistreated. Black Hawk went to the British agent
in Canada, near Detroit. He was advised that the treaties of 1804 and
1816 were being violated and that he rightfully could resist the
settlers and expect the backing of the United States Government. Black
Hawk returned and warned the settlers that they would be attacked unless
they left at once.

    [Illustration: I-TWA-KU-AM, MOHICAN LEADER (PORTRAIT BY HAMLIN).]

The alarmed settlers sought help from the Illinois militia which was
rapidly called to arms in 1831. This show of force compelled Black Hawk
to retire to the west side of the Mississippi River with his people, and
promise not to return without government permission. Chief Keokuk, head
of the combined Sauk and Fox tribes, had already taken all of his
people, except the rebellious Black Hawk and his band, into what is now
Iowa in 1830, realizing the futility of fighting the tremendously
superior white forces.

    [Illustration: BLACK HAWK (FROM INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTH AMERICA).]

On April 6, 1832, Black Hawk crossed back into Illinois with
approximately 1000 of his people, about 400 of whom were warriors. He
had been promised aid by emissaries of the Potawatomi, Winnebago,
Ottawa, and Chippewa, but before a month had passed Black Hawk realized
he would get little aid either from these tribes or from the British in
a war against the settlers. The militia had been called out again in the
meantime, and Black Hawk now only desired to make peace and get his
people back to Iowa. He sent messengers under a white flag to Major
Stillman who was encamped nearby with about 400 volunteers. The white
flag was ignored, and three of the Indians were killed. Black Hawk had
only forty warriors with him at the time, but angered by this treachery,
he attacked Stillman’s men in what he himself called a “suicide charge.”

The tremendously superior force of volunteers, upon seeing Black Hawk’s
charging braves, fled frantically with the first volley fired by the
Indians. As they fled they spread the alarm over most of northern
Illinois, and maintained that Black Hawk had ambushed them with 2000
warriors. Following this event Black Hawk removed his women and children
to the Lake Koshkonong area in Wisconsin, so that they could forage for
desperately needed food and be relatively safe from attack. Black Hawk
and his warriors spent the following two months attacking settlements
along the Wisconsin-Illinois frontier. Two hundred whites and possibly
as many Indians were killed in these border skirmishes.

Black Hawk soon found himself pursued by a greatly superior force of
militia and regular U. S. Army troops. He and his band fled through the
Madison, Wisconsin, area and were overtaken attempting to cross the
Wisconsin River, where the Battle of Wisconsin Heights took place on
July 21, 1832. Black Hawk’s braves succeeded in holding back the
Americans while the tribe crossed the river, and the following morning
one of his men made a surrender speech in the Winnebago language. No one
in the American camp understood the plea for surrender terms, since the
Winnebago followers of the Americans were not in their camp at the time.
The Indians were again compelled to flee.

Black Hawk then divided his people into two groups, one of which
obtained rafts and canoes from friendly Winnebago, and proceeded down
the Wisconsin River, hoping to reach the Mississippi River and cross
back to Iowa. Soldiers from Prairie du Chien captured or shot most of
them. Some others were hunted down in the woods by Menomini Indians led
by white officers. As the rest of Black Hawk’s band fled overland toward
the Mississippi River, they were pursued by the combined forces of
General Atkinson, General Henry, and Major Dodd, a total force of some
four thousand men.

When Black Hawk’s band arrived at the Mississippi River, they were met
by the steamboat “Warrior.” Black Hawk again attempted to surrender, but
the “Warrior’s” captain preferred to believe this a trick and opened
fire on the Indians. The infantry then arrived and attacked the Indians
from the rear. Men, women, and children were forced into the river at
bayonet point. Many were drowned as they attempted to swim the river,
and others were picked off by American sharpshooters from the shore.
This was the massacre of the Bad Axe River, which lasted three hours,
and in which 150 Indians were killed and as many more drowned. A band of
Sioux, brought there for the purpose by General Atkinson, set upon the
300 Indians who reached the other bank and killed about half of them.

Only about 150 survivors remained of the thousand Indians who had
crossed with Black Hawk into Illinois in April only four months before.

Black Hawk fled to the Winnebago, who later surrendered him to the
Americans. He was then taken on a tour through the eastern states to
impress him with the power of the American Government, and released in
June, 1833. His tribe was given a small reservation in Iowa on the Des
Moines River, where he died October 3, 1838. The treatment of Black Hawk
and his people in the so-called “Black Hawk War” will always remain a
blot on American history and a discredit to the Government.

From the time of the “Black Hawk War” on, Wisconsin Indians were rapidly
deprived of their land. In September, 1832, the Winnebago ceded the rest
of their holdings south and east of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. Upon
promise of payment of about one million dollars to the Indians and their
creditors, the southern Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi, in a treaty at
Chicago, Illinois, turned over their holdings in southern Wisconsin in
1833. The Menomini ceded almost four million acres between Green Bay and
the Wolf River to the United States Government in 1836. In 1838, the
Oneida ceded most of their land in this same area to the United States.
The Chippewa, Sioux, and Winnebago, in three separate treaties, ceded
the western half of Wisconsin, above the Wisconsin River, in 1837. With
the final cession of some small holdings of the Menomini in the east
central part of the state, in 1848, the United States Government now had
possession of all Indian land in Wisconsin.

The Indians, in most cases, had western lands assigned to them. The
United States army forcibly removed many Winnebago to Nebraska, some of
whom remain there today. Other Winnebago, homesick for Wisconsin and
afraid of the Sioux, gradually wandered back to Wisconsin where they
still are. In 1854 the Menomini were placed on a reservation on the
Upper Wolf River. Shortly after this, they sold two townships to the
Stockbridge Indians. In 1854, also, three large reservations: Lac Court
Oreilles, Lac du Flambeau, and Bad River, were assigned to the Chippewa.

    [Illustration: SURRENDER OF BLACK HAWK (MURAL BY CAL PETERS, VILLA
    LOUIS, COURTESY OF THE WISCONSIN STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY).]




                              CHAPTER SIX
                       WISCONSIN’S INDIANS TODAY


    [Illustration: MIXED COSTUME IN FOX CEREMONIAL DANCE.]

In considering the story of those Indians who were important in the
history of our state, we have seen that from time to time some tribes
have left the Wisconsin scene. We might well wonder what has been their
final fate and where they may be found today. As we remember the United
States Government removal plan, we are not too surprised to find many of
them located at reservations and agencies in our western United States.

The Sauk and Fox are at agencies in Iowa, Kansas, and Oklahoma. The Sauk
and Fox reservation in Iowa has an Indian population of 473, and there
are 129 Sauk and Fox at the Kansas reservation and an additional 910 at
the Sauk and Fox reservation at the Shawnee agency in Oklahoma.

The Kickapoo have small reservations in Oklahoma and Kansas. The Indian
population at the Kickapoo reservation in Oklahoma numbers 269; and at
the Kickapoo reservation in Kansas, 343. In addition, there are some 350
Kickapoo living in the state of Coahuila, Mexico, having split off from
the Oklahoma band in 1852. Population figures given here for the Sauk,
Fox, and Kickapoo are from the estimates of the Office of Indian Affairs
of the United States Department of the Interior for the year 1940.

The present whereabouts of the Mascoutens presents somewhat of a
mystery. Most students of the subject at present believe that members of
the Prairie Band of the Potawatomi, who also call themselves the
Mascoutens, are the descendents of that tribe, which is so often
referred to in early Wisconsin history. The early Mascoutens were
closely related to the Sauk, Fox, and Kickapoo, according to early
reports, in language and culture, and usually were the political allies
of these tribes as well. Some bands of the Prairie Potawatomi are found
associated with the Kickapoo in Oklahoma and Kansas, and also in Mexico.

As for the Santee Sioux, who were in northern Wisconsin even before the
arrival of the white man, it is again difficult to give accurate present
population figures. The term Santee originally designated one band of
Indians, but eventually came to mean all of the forest bands of the
Sioux, of whom, in all probability, many never resided in Wisconsin.
There are, according to the 1940 estimate, 1,197 Sioux living on the
Santee reservation in Nebraska, and there are 585 Sioux in Minnesota who
would be included in the Santee division. If we were to include all
tribes generally classed as Santee Sioux today, expressed in round
numbers, 5,000 would probably be a conservative estimate. However, many
of these are not derived from those bands formerly living in Wisconsin.

Returning to the Wisconsin scene today, we learn from the 1940 estimates
of the Office of Indian Affairs that the present Indian population in
Wisconsin is 13,678. Of this total, 5,605 are Chippewa, residing at the
Bad River, Lac Court Oreilles, Lac du Flambeau, and Red Cliff
reservations. Also included in this figure are the Mole Lake Chippewa
and the St. Croix band.

    [Illustration: FOX INDIAN, IOWA.]

    [Illustration: THE CHIPPEWA STILL PREPARE BUCK-SKIN.]

Included in Wisconsin’s present Indian population are also 2,454
Menomini, located at their reservation in Shawano County; 460
Stockbridge and Munses, on their reservation adjoining that of the
Menomini; 1,700 Oneida, scattered around the village of Oneida, 10 miles
southwest of Green Bay; 1,498 Winnebago, on public domain land
allotments, primarily in Jackson, Wood, and Shawano counties; and 310
Potawatomi, in Forest County. While only a small number of Potawatomi
have returned to this state since their removal, over half of the
Winnebago are now back in their Wisconsin homeland. In addition to the
Winnebago who returned to Wisconsin after their removal by the United
States Army, 1,268 remained at their reservation in Nebraska. Thus of
this reportedly numerous and powerful tribe first encountered by the
French when Nicolet landed near Green Bay, in 1634, about 2,766 still
survive.

    [Illustration: A CHARACTERISTIC WISCONSIN ONEIDA.]

    [Illustration: ELDERLY ONEIDA WOMAN.]

    [Illustration: DECORAH HENRY THUNDER, WISCONSIN WINNEBAGO.]

    [Illustration: THE CRADLE-BOARD BARELY SURVIVED AMONG THE WISCONSIN
    CHIPPEWA.]

    [Illustration: YOUNG POTAWATOMI FACES A DIFFICULT WORLD.]

The future status of Wisconsin’s Indians presents a considerable problem
to the United States Government. Their life on reservations is hardly an
easy one for the majority. Even among the Menomini, whose tribal
lumbering industry makes them economically the most prosperous in the
state, the standard of living is not high. Finding a means whereby they
can earn a decent living is probably the greatest difficulty. For the
most part they suffer for lack of adequate clothing and food,
particularly during the winter season. To alleviate the situation, a
considerable number have migrated to the cities to obtain employment,
and there are an estimated one thousand Indians living in Milwaukee, for
example, of which the largest group is Oneida.

So far no satisfactory solution to the problem has been reached,
although some sincere attempts have been made in that direction. The
hope, of course, is that eventually the Indians will be assimilated by
the rest of our population and be able to live normal lives as United
States citizens. Without intelligently directed help this process will
take a long time, and during that period the Indians will continue to
suffer.

The Wisconsin Indians of today are acculturated to a greater or lesser
degree: among the Chippewa, Potawatomi, Menomini, and Winnebago a
considerable amount of the traditional culture survives; among the
Stockbridge and Oneida nearly all of the old culture is lost. It is to
be hoped that all of the colorful pattern of Indian culture and
tradition is not lost in the process of assimilation.

One thing is certain, the Indians of Wisconsin, along with most of those
of the entire United States, have suffered much at the hands of the
white man. They deserve constructive help now toward accomplishing the
ultimate adjustment to the final demands made on them by the white man’s
civilization.

    [Illustration: MODERN POTAWATOMI.]

    [Illustration: YOUNG FOLKS IN ANCIENT DRESS.]

    [Illustration: POTAWATOMI TAR-PAPERED SHACK.]

    [Illustration: uncaptioned]

    [Illustration: CABIN TYPE OF ONEIDA HOUSE.]

    [Illustration: BETTER TYPE OF ONEIDA HOUSE.]

    [Illustration: MENOMINI SAWMILL AT NEOPIT.]


LOCATION OF INDIAN TRIBES

    [Illustration: 1634]

  SANTEE SIOUX
  MENOMINI
  WINNEBAGO

    [Illustration: 1634-1673]

  OTTOWA
  CHIPPEWA
  SANTEE SIOUX
  HURON
  MENOMINI
  SAUK
  FOX
  WINNEBAGO
  POTAWATOMI
  MASCOUTEN
  MIAMI
  KICKAPOO
  ILLINOIS

    [Illustration: 1700-1760]

  CHIPPEWA
  SANTEE SIOUX
  MENOMINI
  SAUK
  FOX
  WINNEBAGO
  POTAWATOMI
  KICKAPOO

    [Illustration: TODAY]

    RED CLIFF RES.
    LA POINTE RES.
  CHIPPEWA
    LAC DU FLAMBEAU RES.
  POTAWATOMI
  ST. CROIX BAND
    LAC COURT OREILLES RES.
  MENOMINI
    STOCKBRIDGE
  WINNEBAGO
    ONEIDA


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                          Transcriber’s Notes


—Silently corrected a few typos.

—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
  is public-domain in the country of publication.

—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
  _underscores_.





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