Door County, Wisconsin - Chapter 4: Historical Traditions of the Indian Tribes of the Door County Peninsula, 1917

La Potherie, a French historian who lived in the latter part of the seventeenth century, thus writes of the conditions of life among the Indians of the Green Bay region:

"The country is a beautiful one, and they have fertile fields planted with Indian corn. Game is abundant at all seasons, and in winter they hunt bears and beavers. They hunt deer at all times, and they even catch wild fowl in nets. In autumn there is a prodigious abundance of ducks, both black and white, of excellent flavor, and the savages stretch nets in certain places when these fowl alight to feed upon the wild rice. Then advancing silently in their canoes, they draw them up alongside of the nets in which the birds have been caught. They also capture pigeons in their nets in the summer. They make in the woods wide paths in which they spread large nets in the shape of a bag and attached at each side to the trees; and they make a little hut of branches in which they hide. When the pigeons in their flight get within this open space, the savages pull a small cord which is drawn through the edge of the nets and thus capture sometime five or six hundred birds in one morning, especially in windy weather. All the year around they fish for sturgeon and for herring in the autumn; and in winter they have fruits. * * * This fishery suffices to maintain large villages. They also gather wild rice and acorns. Accordingly, the peoples of the bay can live in utmost comfort." '

The great abundance of Indians remains, particularly along the shorts of Northern Door County, including scores of well-marked village sites, prove to us that the Indians found this a most congenial place of habitation. In some places, flint flakes and pottery remains cover the ground a foot or more in depth, showing that here for generations the arrow-makers and the housewives had their workshops. Here was an abundance of fish and fowl. Here was corn and honey. Here was deer, and bear, and beaver, yielding the most

Amid such favorable conditions, why 'should not great manhood and noble characters be developed? True, the Indians did not attain many of the arts and accomplishments of the present age, but neither did the people of Homer. Yet, thanks to his matchless pen, we know that among his people there were some who were just as dauntless of spirit, just as noble of mind, just as lovable of soul as are the people of today. Perhaps, if the Indian had had a Homer, an interpreter, we would find that among them, too, were men and women of just as excellent moral fiber as Hector and Andromache, just as sagacious as Ulysses, just as steadfast as patient Penelope, just as pleasing as the peaceful Pheacians. They lived and loved and suffered. They had their domestic and tribal dramas. They had men of great prowess rise in their midst and draw the admiration of far and near, but of this we know little or nothing. And knowing nothing, we simply think of the Indian as an indolent and bloodthirsty brute, without a soul, a cross between an animal and a fiend!

Human nature is much the same in every age and in every community. Given the poet, the true historian, who can rightly interpret the achievements of his people, these would in almost every community attain almost epic grandeur.

There is a side to the Indian character of which we know little. We see it dimly typified through the fog of oblivion in the person of Tomah, the great chief of the Menominees and the overlord of all the Indians of the Green Bay region - the Pontiac of Wisconsin - who could boast that his hands had never been defiled by human blood. It is also typified in the creation of the Hiawatha legend which, according to Schoolcraft, had its birth in the same region. The creation of such characters as the industrious Hiawatha, the wise Nokomis and the gentle Minnehaha, show us that.they were not foreign to the ideals of the people that adopted them.

But the peaceful traditions of this side of the Indian's nature have been overshadowed and forgotten by the more dramatic recollections of the great wars they took part in. The traditions that follow all deal with the great wars, the terrible sieges, the awful pestilences that the Indians of the peninsula suffered in the latter half of the seventeenth century and which make such a profound impression upon their minds. The Green Bay region and particularly the Door County peninsula was for ages the battleground, first between the

Algonquins and the Dahkotas, and then between the Algonquins and the Iroquois. When the various Algonquin tribes - the Ottawas, the Sauks, the Foxes, the Potawatomis, the Menominees, were driven westward by the invincible arm of the Iroquois they found this new country even more pleasant than the lands from which they had been expelled. Here they were content to dwell in a land of plenty, but here too they were opposed by the terrible Winnebagos, who had come up from the southwest and subjugated all the country before them. Between these two nations - the Algonquin tribes from the East and the Winnebagos, a branch of the Dahkotas, from the Southwest - there followed a long period of warfare of varying success which seems to have reached its climax about the time of Nicolet's visit in 1634.

When Nicolet arrived, he found on the Door County peninsula two groups of Indians. One was a small village of mixed Indians at the mouth of the bay, the other was the Winnebagos, strongly intrenched and fortified in a city containing four or five thousand men besides women and children at Red, Banks, twelve miles northeast of the present City of Green Bay.? Of the village at the mouth of the bay we are told that it was "composed of people gathered from various nations (Potawatomis, Sacs and Menominees), who, wishing to commend themselves to their neighbors, have cleared some land there, and affect to entertain all who pass that way. Liberality is a characteristic greatly admired among the savages; and it is the proper thing for the chiefs to lavish all their possessions, if they desire to he esteemed. Accordingly, they have exerted themselves to receive strangers hospitably, who find among them whatever provision are in season. And they like nothing better than to hear that others are praising their generosity." *

This village of kindly-disposed Indians "at the entrance to the hay" was probably on Washington Island, where there are numerous large village sites, showing that it has been very populously inhabited by Indians. It is claimed by archeologists that no tract of equal area in the State of Wisconsin exhibits so many evidences of Indians' occupation as Washington Island.*

The village was probably made up chiefly of Potawatomis, as these islands from early times have been called Potawatomi Islands. Tt is evident that Nicolet stopped among these hospitable and intcl-

2 Jesuit Relations (Cleveland reissue), XXIII, pp. 275-279. 2 La Potherie, page 69. 4 See Geo. R. Fox' article on Indian Remains on Washington Island, in the Wisconsin ligent Indians for some time and from them obtained the information about the Indian tribes of the region which was later recorded in the Jesuit Relations and by La Potherie.

The Winnebagos, to whom he was journeying, were at that time the most formidable people of Wisconsin. According to Jonathan Carver, who spent some time with them in 1766,° they originally came from Mexico and had traditions of battles with the Spaniards, whom they intensely hated. They were the only tribe in Wisconsin that used horses and they were the fiercest of warriors. They were very perfidious, superstitious and insolent, and not only took the scalps of their enemies but devoured their bodies at their feasts. When they came to the Door County peninsula, they found the land occupied by the Potawatomis. The Potawatomis, who are described as being the most affable and generous of the Wisconsin tribes, were willing to divide the land with them, as there was plenty of room for both. But the arrogant Winnebagos would listen to no peace proposals, but made war upon the scattered villages of the Potawatomis at every opportunity. Fleeing before superior numbers, the Potawatomis were finally compelled to leave the peninsula and take refuge among their brethren upon the islands, where here also was a village of Menominees and Sacs. Yet not even here would the insatiable Winnebagos leave them in peace. 'They marched an army to the north end of the peninsula, made canoes, and with many human sacrifices and invocations of the Great Spirit made ready to make an onslaught upon the islanders.

The Potawatomis were early apprised of the coming of their enemies. After hurried deliberation, the chiefs decided that their best course was to send an army across the strait and attack the Winnebagos in the rear at such a time as they might be unprepared for attack. Three spies were therefore sent across with instructions at the right time to build a signal fire upon a certain bluff, by which the Potawatomis would be guided in making a landing on the dangerous and rock-bound shore.

These spies unfortunately fell into the hands of the invaders, who subjected them to frightful tortures. Rather than reveal their mission, two of them perished at the stake. The third, however, was finally bribed to disclose his secret.

With great glee the crafty Winnebagos now prepared to turn this stratagem to the destruction of their enemies. Upon a dark and windy night, the signal fire was built, not upon the bluff selected by the Potawatomis, but upon another nearby, whose precipitous base afforded no landing place. Simultaneously they sent a small detachment of brave warriors in canoes by a circuitous route to fall upon the defenceless camp of the Potawatomis.

Encamped upon Detroit Island, their canoes ready, the Potawatomis saw the appointed signal fire leap into the air. Several hundred strong they immediately pushed off, regardless of the wind which was not @gfavorable for crossing. During the passage the wind increased and blew with great violence, so that they could not return if they had wanted to. However, they made the crossing in safety, but instead of finding a beach favorable for landing, they found their frail canoes thrown against precipitous rocks against which they were crushed like eggshells. Some attempted to turn back, but their canoes were quickly swamped in the breakers. Others clung to the crags and roots of trees, but were quickly tomahawked by the exultant Winnebagos.

A shelf of rock jutted out at the base of the cliff just out of reach of the waves. Here about thirty of the Potawatomis managed to clamber up with their tomahawks in their belts. Standing here between the roaring sea and the fierce Winnebagos above them, they chanted their death song, defying the Winnebagos to come and get their scalps. With teeth gritting like dogs, with a thirst for blood like wolves, the younger men among the Winnebagos could no longer contain themselves, but leaped down upon their prey. Here they were met by the Potawatomis who cleaved them with their tomahawks as they fell. Again the eager Winnebagos could not contain themselves but leaped down in greater numbers than before. Each seized his enemy and a desperate struggle ensued, when suddenly a great wave came out of the stormy deep and sucked the fighting savages off the shelf into the sea where they all perished.

The canoe party of the Winnebagos fared no better. Soon they found themselves wallowing in a terrible sea out of sight of land. Unused to navigating the rough waters of this channel, their canoes one by one were swamped and they all perished.

For a whole day the Winnebagos stood upon the cliffs watching for the return of their victorious canoe party. None, however, returned. Then as they saw the wreckage of their canoes drift in on the shores, they understood that their brethren had perished in the storm. They took this as an omen that they must never attempt to cross that "Door of Death" which it afterward was called.

6 This tradition was received by the early fishermen who settled on the islands about 1840 from the Indians who lived there. Tt is also mentioned by several early travelers.

The ill-fated Potawatomis now lived in enforced quietness upon the islands at the mouth of the bay. They endeavored by the greatest hospitality and affability to ingratiate themselves with the Indians of other tribes, who passed that way with the hope of gaining their alliance at a time when they would again be able to take the offensive against the Winnebagos and retake the land of their fathers. These arrogant conquerors, however, now believed themselves the most powerful people on earth. Their villages were scattered all the way down the peninsula,' and from here they meditated expeditions of conquest against more distant nations.

The tradition next recorded deals with a great siege which took place around a palisaded village which probably was built on both sides of the creek that empties out of Kangaroo Lake.

At the time of these events (about 1650), a great war had been waged between the Iroquois and the Ottawas in the country southeast of Lake Huron. The latter being overcome finally fled westward, a large body of them, together with some Hurons, settling on Washington Island at the mouth of Green Bay.' Still fearing attacks from their enemies, they kept a scouting party of picked men on foot in their old country near the present City of Detroit, to give them notice of the approach of the enemy.

(See Storrow and Stambaugh.) Captain Brink, one of the Government engineers who surveyed this part of Door County in 1834 mentions this tradition as follows: ''The Indians say that a whole tribe of Infians, 300 in number, lost their lives one night near the big bluff that. is called 'Death's Door,' and that is why the spot was given such a dismal name. As the story goes the tribe was to land in canoes near the spot where they are said to have lost their lives and surprise their enemies, who were encamped near by. They were betrayed, howeyer, by one of their number who was to notify them by a fire on the beach as to the best place to make the landing. Instead of building the fire on a hill about a quarter of a mile further up the lake, the signal was placed on the bluff, and when the 300 Injuns attempted to make the land ing at 'Death's Door' they were dashed against rocks and perished. That is how the spot is said to have obtained its name.'' The French early adopted the Indian name of the channel and translated it into Porte des Morts - Death's Door. This was later abbreviated to 'the Door.'' As the first settlers of Door County at the time of its organization lived down nt ''the Door,'' this was taken as the name of the county.

7 Spoon Decorah's recital of the traditions of his people in W. H. S. Col. XIII, page 457, says that before the Winnebagos moved to Red Banks, they lived below (North of) Red Banks, ''There was a high bluff there which enclosed a lake.'' This is, no doubt, a reminiscence of the precipitous shore of Northern Door County, from which Green Bay looks like a lake.

SSee Jules Tailhan's annotation, on page 214, of his edition of Perrot's ** Memoire ete. des Sauvages de l'Amerique Septentrionale.'" His belief that this island was Washington Island is supported by several interior evidences in the narration that follows: (a) the Ottawas retreated from this island ''to Mechingan,'? meaning, presumably, along the shore of Mechingan (Lake Michigan); (b) when the Iroquois ''pushed further on'? (up lake) they encountered the Illinois who were then living in Northern Illinois; (e) when the Ottawas fled from their fort they, according to Perrot, pushed up the Fox and down the Wisconsin until they reached the Mississippi. All of which indicates that the great siege was on some point of the Door County peninsula.

After about a year of watching, these scouts one day discovered a large force of Iroquois marching westward. Hastening back to Washington Island, they sounded the alarm of the dreaded enemy. The Ottawas and Hurons, not finding the conditions suitable for defense on the island because of lack of running streams needed to supply water in case of siege, retreated to the mainland to the south." Here they erected their village in a strategical position and fortified it very strongly with a high stockade of logs. As the Iroquois did not know where to seek the Ottawas, they had time to complete their preparations and lay in an abundant supply of food, including a large crop of corn.

Finally the Iroquois appeared before the walls of their village with a force of no less than eight hundred warriors. They were greatly baffled to find that the Ottawas were so well entrenched - their fort seemed to them impregnable. Still they kept up a siege, with many sallies by night for two years. Finding all their valor and strategems unavailing and being in danger of starvation because of the scarcity of game, the Iroquois were finally compelled to propose a treaty of peace. In order to deliberate on the terms, six chiefs of the Iroquois were hoisted over the palisades into the Ottawa fort, while six Ottawa chiefs were entrusted to the Iroquois as hostages. The Iroquois bound themselves to depart in peace and make no war upon the Ottawas and Hurons in the future and, in addition, agreed to give up all the prisoners which they had taken in former battles which they now had with them as slaves. In return for this the Allies agreed to give to the Iroquois food in exchange for blankets and ornaments of beads and shells. A time of friendly barter now followed, but the Ottawas, fearing treachery, permitted only a few Iroquois to enter the fort at a time and these were hoisted over the palisades.

The day of the departure of the Iroquois, the Ottawas announced that they wished to present every man among the Iroquois a loaf of corn bread. This announcement was received with great joy among the half starved Iroquois. The Ottawas, however, feeling revengeful for many past injuries at the hands of the Iroquois, had prepared

9 Probably to Hein's Creek, about four miles south of the village of Bailey's Harbor. Here a small watercourse furnishing a steady supply of water the year around could furnish water for the fort. Schumacher says: ''Here is perhaps the largest village site on the peninsula. * * * It' is protected on the east by Lake Michigan, on the north and west by a swamp. The ground is thickly covered with broken pottery. * * * In several places the ground is covered to a depth of over a foot with flint flakes, showing work shop sites of arrow makers.'' See his report on Indian Remains in Door County.

a posion which they mixed in every loaf. A Huron woman who was married to an Iroquois warrior had learned of this scheme from her relatives within the fort and warned her son not to eat of the bread because of the poison. He quickly warned the others. When the bread was tossed down, the Iroquois first gave. it to their dogs who died after eating it. Seeing this evidence of treachery, they departed with empty stomachs.

Being greatly in need of food, the Iroquois now divided their forces. The smaller part embarked in canoes and soon met with a force of Chippewas (in Northern Michigan), by whom they were defeated, very few escaping. The main force pushed southward along the shore (of Lake Michigan) and eventually came to the land of the Illinois Indians. Here they began to pillage and murder. The Illinois, however, gathered a great force together, surprised the marauders and almost exterminated them. Very few Troquois returned to their homes in the East to tell of their three years' disastrous campaign in the West.

The Ottawas, fearing a renewed attack in larger force from their implacable enemies, thought it wise policy to ally themselves with their formidable neighbors, the Winnebagos. They therefore sent envoys to them, bearing messages of peace and friendship and many presents, such as knives, needles, hatchets and articles of ornament. The insolent Winnebagos, however, disdainful of any alliance, received the messages and presents, and thereupon killed and ate the emissaries.

'This shocking outrage greatly incensed not only the Ottawas, but all the other tribes in the Green Bay region. A league of war was formed to exterminate the Winnebagos and many expeditions were made against them. For awhile the latter held their own, but finding their scattered villages were exposed to surprise attacks by the enemy, they moved southward and concentrated at Red Banks, a high hill overlooking Green Bay. Here they built a great stockade, with a deep ditch or moat on the outside. Still numbering four or five thousand men they were able to resist their enemies successfully.

Before long, however, another enemy more terrible than the Ottawas overtook them. The filth caused by their congested quarters resulted in a great sickness which killed thousands of them. For awhile the terrible plague swept through the great town so rapidly that they were unable to bury the dead which lay rotting in the sun while the survivors lay upon their beds of sickness, groaning with pain. Within a short time their number was reduced to 1,500 men.

Yet even this dreadful visitation did not stop their plans for conquest. No sooner did the plague pass away but they determined to send a strong force against the Outagamis, or Foxes, a numerous people who lived on the other side of the bay. This was probably about where the present Village of Pensaukee is located. Five hundred warriors fitted out with arms and warpaint set out in canoes to cross Green Bay. On the way, however, a gale of wind overtook them and the entire force perished.

Finally, to fill their cup of misery, the Winnebagos were threatened with starvation. The many raids which their enemies had made upon them had dispersed the game and now it came to pass that it was impossible for them to find the necessary food.

Upon seeing all these afflictions overtake them, their old enemies, the Potawatomis, the Ottawas and other tribes, had compassion upon them and forbore to attack them any more. One tribe even went further. The Illinois, a gentle, noble-minded people, living some distance away,'" took pity upon the famished Winnebagos and sent 500 young men to them with food and presents. Among these 500 were 50 great chiefs of the Illinois.

But all the adversities that had overtaken the Winnebagos had in no wise changed their perfidious hearts. 'They believed that the souls of their departed, particularly those slain in battle, could not rest in peace unless their relatives avenged their death. The 500 men sent to fight the Outagamis had met their death and not one enemy had been slain to avenge them. "They therefore longed with the greatest superstitious zeal to find some victims whose blood would relieve the shades of their own departed from further unrest.

When the news came of the approach of the 500 Illinois, laden with gifts, the medicine men worked themselves into a religious frenzy. Here, they declared, was just the right number of victims to atone for the death of their own warriors. 'The 500 Illinois must be seized and sacrificed to the shades of the departed or the plague would return and devour the remainder of the people. Somewhat perplexed about the prudence of this course, the people finally adopted it.

When the Illinois arrived, they and their gifts were received with great show of gratitude and rejoicing. A huge cabin was erected to house the guests and sports were arranged for their entertainment.

10In Saint-Lusson's Proces-Verbal, June 14, 1671, quoted in W. H. S. Col. XI, pp. 26, 27, the Illinois are twice mentioned as being neighbors of the Ottawas, Potawatomis and Sauks. At the time of these events, they may have lived in Southern Wisconsin.

Then the Winnebagos made ready a dance expressly for their guests. While the unsuspecting Illinois became more and more animated in the dance, the treacherous hosts cut their bow strings and then upon a signal flung themselves upon the dancers. All were massacred, not one escaping, and a great feast was made of their flesh.

When this horrible orgy was over, even the perfidious Winnebagos were filled with remorse over their treachery and ingratitude. The Illinois were a mighty nation and they knew that sure punishment would be meted out to them. "They did not dare to remain in their fortress at Red Banks, but moved to an island in Green Bay, where they thought to be more safe because the Illinois did not use canoes. But the Illinois learned their whereabouts and waited until the bay was frozen over. Then they marched to the island on the ice, but found the whole tribe of Winnebagos, now greatly reduced by the plague and starvation, had left the island in a body on a hunting expedition. The Illinois pursued them and after six days caught up with them. In the resulting battle, all the Winnebagos were killed or taken captive except one man."

The Outagamis '* now took possession of the northen half of the (Door County) peninsula which had been evacuated by the Ottawas, while the Sauks left the islands and settled in the southern half, where they made the old Winnebago fort at Red Banks their headquarters. The Outagami headquarters were several large villages near the present Village of Jacksonport in Door County.'*

From time to time small bands of daring Iroquois - the ancient enemy of these Algonquin tribes - would suddenly appear among them, deal them a crushing blow and then disappear as suddenly as they came. The sudden devastation of one of these Outagami villages, as recorded by Allouez, is an illustration of this.

11 For the above facts, see La Potherie's * Amerique Septentrionale,'' pp. 69-81. Father Claude Allouez, who for years labored among these tribes, corroborated this story and adds: ''About thirty years ago (from A. D. 1677), all the people of this nation (the Winnebagos) were killed or taken eaptive by the Illinois except one man.'? Jesuit Relations, LIV, page 237. See also Charlevoix' Journal Historique (Paris, 1744), pp. 290-296.

13 Allouez, who visited the Outagamis within a month after the events recorded, says it was ''two days' journey from the place of our winter quarters at the foot of the Lake of the Illinois, which is called Machihiganing (Michigan).'? Jesuit Relations LIV, pp. 12-16, His winter headquarters at that time was one day's journey north of the mouth of Fox River. Two days' journey from this place toward the foot of Lake Michigan could not be farther down than the vicinity of Jacksonport. Very abundant village remains have there been found.

ing more than four hundred warriors, while their women and children (being a polygamous people) numbered several thousand. 'While they were away on the hunt, a small band of Iroquois from the vicinity of Niagara Falls appeared on the peninsula. These may have been a part of the large force of Iroquois who had been defeated in the recent attack upon the Ottawas. They were now prowling around the camps of the Potawatomis looking for scalps.

The Potawatomis had some Iroquois prisoners who lived among them as slaves. Two of these slaves were induced to join the marauding band of Iroquois. 'These slaves told of the defenseless villages of the Outagamis a little way down the shore. An attack was planned by the little band - there were only eighteen Iroquois in the party - and they proceeded to one of the villages. In the darkness of the night, the fearful warery of the Iroquois was heard. The six warriors who were left to guard the village were overpowered and killed. Then followed an awful carnage of women and children, more than one hundred being slaughtered. Only thirty of the fairest women were spared, being carried away as captives by the Iroquois.

When the Outagami hunters a short time afterward returned, they found their village deserted and in ruins, the bodies of their dead wives and children devoured by the wild beasts of the forest, their bones only remaining. In haste they moved away from.the dreadful spot, not stopping until they had penetrated far into the interior of the state, on the headwaters of the Wolf River, probably in the vicinity of the present City of New London.'*

Here Father Allouez in April, 1670, found them, depressed with fear and hunger.: In a feast which they prepared for him, an old man among them arose and made the following pitiful and humble appeal to him: "This is well, Black Gown, that thou comest to visit us. Take pity on us! Thou art a Manitou. I give thee tobacco to smoke. The Naddonessious (Sioux) and the Iroquois are eating us. Take pity on us! We are often ill, our children are dying, we are hungry. Hear me, Manitou. I give thee tobacco to smoke. Let the earth give us corn and the rivers give us fish. Let not disease kill us any more, or famine treat us so harshly!" '*

15Tbid. The Outagamis prospered greatly in their new location, A generation later we find them at the head of all tribes of Wisconsin, waging sanguine warfare against the French.

Red Banks," waxed very mighty and arrogant. They were a brutal, savage tribe who lacked the common courtesies of the Indian people and soon gave offense to all. They frequently made prisoners of peaceable Indians traveling that way and sacrificed them upon a scaffold elevated above the ground for that purpose. Before the prisoner was burnt, he was required to name the principal men of his tribe, whereupon these were burnt in effigy. This was considered great sport by the brutal Sauks but a great indignity by the chiefs of other nations.

At one time an Ottawa Indian and his wife were taken prisoners and preparations were made to burn them. When the Ottawa was placed upon the scaffold, his courage failed him and he screamed with fear. At this the Sauks howled with joy. His wife then sprang upon the scaffold and said: "Your unmanly conduct gives pleasure to these savages. Let me show you how to die!" Thereupon she was tied to the stake and asked to name the chiefs of her tribe. Defiantly she told them she would give them the names of no worthy men to insult, but she would name one Sauk chief who would soon meet his doom because she had six brothers who would avenge her. With this she pointed to the principal Sauk chief and was burnt with a song of defiance upon her lips.

Little by little this story found its way until it reached the ears of Nangadook, her oldest brother, at the mouth of the bay. In silence Nangadook heard of the brave death of his sister. Then he sent the war belt and war pipe to all the different tribes in the north country and asked them to join him in punishing these insolent Sauks, who had treated with insult all the chiefs of the tribes that dwelt in that region. They came, the Potawatomis, the Menominees, the Chippewas and many others, an immense flotilla of canoes filled with warriors. When all had assembled, they proceeded up the bay to Red River, a few miles north of the Sauk village. Here their canoes lined the beach for two miles so thick that none could be crowded in. Silently the army made its way through the forest in the darkness of the night until they had completely encircled the large village of the Sauks. Then before proceeding to attack they laid down to rest.

16 Rev. Alfred Brunson in his interesting article on 'Early Wisconsin," in W. H. S. Col. IV, pp. 237, 238, attempts to prove that the Sauks did not settle in Wisconsin until about 1760. However, Nicolet mentions them as occupying a village on the islands at the mouth of Green Bay in company with the Potawatomis in 1634. See La Potherie's ** Amerique Septentrionale, page 69. His (Nicolet's) observation cannot very well be set aside.

A young Sauk woman had that same night been given against her will to a Sauk who lived some distance from the village. During the night she ran away from her husband and returned to her father. On her way, she passed the line of the sleeping besiegers and discovered that an unbroken line of an unknown enemy encircled the village. With terror she ran to her father's cabin and awakened him saying: "We are all dead!" However, thinking only of how her husband had dragged her off the night before, her father only laughed at her, reproaching her for her temper. Greatly enraged by the ill treatment she had received, both from her husband and father, she said no more but rolled up in her blanket and went to sleep.

Early the next morning the Sauks were awakened by the great battle cry of their allied enemies and a terrific onslaught ensued. A part of the great stockade was broken down and the Sauks, taken unaware, were slaughtered in great numbers. However, they rallied, drove the invaders back and fought stubbornly all day, while hundreds were killed on both sides. For many days and nights afterward the battle raged with great fierceness, but the deep moat dug by the Winnebagos and the high wall greatly protected the Sauks. Soon, however, they were attacked by another enemy - thirst. Again and again they made desperate sallies down the steep slope to get water, but were each time met by the watchful besiegers. Soon the slope was strewn with dead.

The heat of the burning sun, the terrible suffering from lack of water, became intolerable to the Sauks and they saw that they would soon miserably perish from thirst, even if they could repel the attackers. They therefore planned a stratagem to escape. Standing one evening upon the walls, waving a flag of truce, their heralds called to the besieging chiefs and said: "Our great chief, Ahkeenandodaug, is dead! Give us tonight to bury him in a manner befitting his rank and we will resume fighting tomorrow!" This prayer was granted and the besiegers, weary with much fighting, slept heavily that night. The next morning, when they with renewed vigor resumed the assault, they were amazed to find the enemy was not there. Stealing quietly out between the sleeping ranks of the enemy, the Sauks fled far to the southward, not stopping until they reached the upper Fox River above Lake Winnebago. After pursuing the enemy, Nangadook returned with his forces and leveled the old Sauk and Winnebago capital to the ground. Since then no Indians have had a village on that cursed spot.'*

17 The above narrative of the Sauks at Red Banks is handed down to us in two independent traditions - one from the Menominees (as narrated by Chas. D. Robinson in '' Legend

After the defeat of the Sauks, no great battle or feud has taken place among the Indians of the peninsula. A band of Ottawas settled on Detroit Island, which came to be looked upon as the ancient seat of their tribe.' The Potawatomis after a time moved away from the islands and resumed their peaceful dominion of the peninsula. The many war parties which had overrun the peninsula had greatly depleted the game and it did not offer the happy conditions of life as formerly. When therefore Captain Cadillac a few years later invited them and other tribes to settle in Southern Michigan to build up a great trading post at Detroit and to close the way against the Iroquois, the Potawatomis accepted his invitation and moved to Southern Michigan. Here they built a village at the mouth of St. Joseph River and another at Detroit. Only a few remained on the Door County peninsula. About 1812 some of the Potawatomis from St. Joseph River moved to Chicago where they perpetrated the Fort Dearborn Massacre.

As to the terrible Winnebagos - this Ishmael among Indian nations - who once played such a savage part on the peninsula, their power was thoroughly broken. When the Illinois released their captives, a few returned to their old hunting grounds, where they. were looked upon as thieves and robbers. 'The larger number settled on the shores of Lake Winnebago. From here they spread westward and settled on the headwaters of the Fox River in the vicinity of the present City of Portage, where Jonathan Carver and Peter Pond found them in the latter part of the eighteenth century. The first settlers who came to Wisconsin about 1830 found them in Southwestern Wisconsin and Northeastern Illinois, claiming possession of the lead mines, and in Northeastern Iowa. Being in the way of the immigrants who rushed westward, they were in 1848 deported 400 miles into the wilderness to the present Todd County in Minnesota. They refused to stay here and many streamed back to Wisconsin the following year. They were then taken to the vicinity of Mankato and later far up the Missouri, to the Crow and Creek reservation. Being unable to keep them there, a reservation of 128,000 of the Red Banks," in W. H. S. CoL, II, pp. 491-494), and the other from the Chippewas (as narrated by Geo. Johnston in ''Osawgenong - a Sae Tradition," in W. H. S. Col. XV, pp. 448-451). Although they differ in minor details, there can be no doubt that they tell the same story. The parallel walls twenty-five feet long in the center of the village, which Mr. Robinson saw in 1856, were probably the base of the sacrificial altar mentioned in the narrative. Mr. Geo. Fox also reports its currency in the old Indian haunts on the Pensaukee, Little Suamico and Big Suamico, where was the great village of Oussouamigong. See his article in Wisconsin Archeologist, April, 1913, pp. 127-129. 38See Samuel A. Storrow's ''Northwest in 1817,'? in W. H. S. Col. VI, page 165.

acres was set aside for them in Dakota County, Nebraska. By 1873 most of them were back in Wisconsin again, whereupon another order was issued to deport them. They were kicked and beaten and handcuffed and prodded with bayonets, but still clung to their native soil. In spite of their hardships and many deportations, there are still about fifteen hundred left in Wisconsin, living mostly north of Tomah and east of Black River Falls, where they receive an annuity from the Federal Government.

The above account is called "traditions," which does not give a correct impression of its significance. It would be more correct to call it history in practically all respects except definite dates. It is eorroborated by, and largely based upon, the reports of the early Jesuit missionaries and fur traders who sojourned in this region immediately after the events recorded transpired.