Monroe County, Wisconsin - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 1 of those read), 1912

The Avtxxebago Tim Be Origin

Closely connected with llic events surrounding the earliest settlement of westeiii Wisconsin is tlie history of the AViniiebago and ^lenoininee tribes, who roamed all this section of the country as early as 1632. Archeologists have concluded that the Winneliago was the first tri])e of Indians wlio came to AVisconsin, as they made their lirst home on Doty island, and were there visited by Nicolet, the first white man to come to Wisconsin, and this war-loving tribe of savages Avere so prominent in pioneer days they became the most important tribe in the state. Recent investigations have led many students of Indian history to suppose that the AVinnebago were builders of the mounds. They have been phonetically assigned to the Siouan family of Indians. a family Avhich oi-iginated on the Atlantic coast.

The Siouan tril)es occupied a vast region. TO.OOd s(|uare miles in extent, along the eastern foothills of the southern Alleghanies, from the Potomac on the north to the Santee river on the south, including all central Virginia, oi- one -hall' Ihe area of the state, and two-thirds of North Carolina, and all the iiorlheastern jx)!'- tion of South Carolina, with an Atlantic coast line of 200 miles in the Carolinas. The Carawba and other cognate tribes of the Siouan stock related by archeologists through a study of scraps of tlicir language occupied parts of these regions down to a very late dale. This region is regarded as the "original honu^ of the Siouan race.'" That the nngi-ation of the tribes of the plains was from the East is evident fi-om "the older dialetic forms to be met with in the lOast. aiul llic concuri'ciil tcslimony of tlu' Siouan liihcs 1 iH-iusclves. " The language of the East was older in its forms tluin llir cognate dialects of the AVcst. The movement was doubt less by ti-ibcs and slow, constantly fighting their way along the pathway to their futui-e honu\ After crossing the mountains they passed down the New and Big Sandy rivers to the Ohio, down which they slowly ]iasse(l. I'emaining a long tinn^ at the falls of the Ohio, now Louisville. As early as 1701, Gravier said, the Ohio was known to the Illinois and ]\Iiaini as the ''river of tlie Arkansa."' The name of the tribe is now Kansa or Quapaw of the AVinnebago branch of the Siouan stock, living then on the lower Arkansas river. Traditions of tli(> Osage, ]\Iandan and almost all the tribes confirm this. Two of the plains tribes, the Kansa, cherish sacred shells which they assert were brought with them "from the great river of the sunrise.'' It is possible that the Winnebagos also brought the sea shells with them. They have been found in large numbers in Wisconsin. ]\Ir. Clarence Olen, of Oshkosh, has several picked up in Winnebago County. When the migration took place is not known. Doubtless it was of gradual progress during several centuries. When De Soto looked over the broad Mississippi from the Chaska mounds at ^Memphis in 1541 he found these "Capaha," or Kwapa, the southern branch of the AVinnebago, already established on the western bank, though still a considerable distance north of their later location "down the river," the converse of Omaha, which means "up the river." In their slow march towards the setting sun the Kwapa prol)ably brought up the rear, as their name lingered longest in the traditions of the Ohio tribes, and they were still near that stream when encountered by DeSoto.

The principle reason of this movement from Virginia was the presence, both North and South of powerful and hostile tribes leaving them only one way of retreat across the mountains. As late as 1728, as mentioned by Byrd, the Iroquois had "an implacable hatred'' for "the Siouan tribes of the Soutli," who still clung to their ancestral domain. From the mouth of the Ohio the Winnebago worked their w^ay up the Mississippi. As they are first known from Champlain's map (1632) as located on Lake Winnebago it is supposed they made the journey by the Wisconsin river to the Portage into the Fox river, where they descended to the spot on the Doty island, under wide branching oaks and elms, which they occupied so many years. There is evidence in their traditional wars with the Illinois, the Alenominees, the Potawatomi, Sauk and Foxes, that the maintenances of this Siouan wedge in the beautiful region of lake, forest and prairie, occupied very soon for hundreds of miles in all directions by Algoncjuin tribes, was attended by constant and bloody warfare.

The oldest map of the region, now known as Lake Winnebago and the Fox river, is Champlain's map of 1632, on which he names the "Nation des Puans'' on a lake named "Lac des Puans, " which discharges itself through a long river to Lake

Superior. 'J'luit tlu' ma[) \v;is intended to rv'present Lake AVinnel)ago and the Fox rivci- is now aceepted and seems tiie correct interpretation from th<' laltcr known habitat of ihc Winnebago. Tlie map is said to !)«' made up from information furnished by AVestcrn Indians visiting; <^u<'b('c. h fuiiiislies the evidence that both Lake Wimicbago and Ihc Fox river were the earliest names of all the i)hysi('al ol)jeets in Wisconsin, and the lake has ever since retained the name «riven it by ('hamj)lain. two years before any white man had been within several hundred miles of the state.

]t was two years after the date of this map that Nicolet visited "Wisconsin in 1()34, ''delegated to make a journey to the nation called 'Gens de mer, ' People of the Sea. and arranged peace between them and the Hurons, from Avhom they are distant about three hundred leagues westward.'' The account of Nicolet 's journey was not published until 1()43. nearly ten years after his visit, and then only mentioned as an incident in Avestern travel, giving sucli vague description of places and topograpliy that it Avas not until over two hundred years afterward that John G. Shea discovered, in 1(S.')2. that "Gens de mer." the People of the Sea. referred 1o the Winnebago, and lhat Nicolet visited Wisconsin; and the year (1634) of his coming Avas not settled until ]87*). In 1()43 Jean Boisoeau's map Avas published, in Avhich he folloAved the main topography features of Cham- ])lain"s nui{). ])lacing "La Nation des Puans" on "La des Puans" and named the river from Avhieh it discharged "H des Puans.''

C'hai-levoix, Avho visited tlie tribe in 1720. names them "tlie Otchagras, Avho are commonly called Puans.'' Father Hennepin in his map 1()97 has this same name spelled Ocitigan placed against Lake AVinnebago. The name by wliicli ihe AVinnebago are best known 1o all the old French Avi-iters is "Puans" or "Puants." This is said 1o liave been an en-oneous retranslation by the Fi-eiich of the AlgoiKjuin name for the tiibe. Avhich Avas Ovenibigoutz. It is from the English spelling, and the French Oui being ])ronounced as "Ave."' and the free pronunciation of the Algoufpiin name, handed doAvn in the .lesuit Kelations, that the modei-n name is derived; and the Bureau of American Ethnology have determined that the plural of AVinnebago shall be the same as the singular.

Alost Avriters have amused themselves by giving the reason Avliy tlie AVinnebago Avere. called Puans. The French Avord for Ouenibigoutz of their Indian neighboi-s, the meaning of Avhich Avas feted or putrid or foul-smelling as variously given. It has been noticed that as early as 1632 and 1613 tlie ti'il)c and Lake AVinnebago, where they lived, and the Fox river had all been named Puans. No one knows why their neighbors gave them this name. As long as 1720 Charlevoix had said they were called "Puans, for what reason I do not know." Yet he did try an explanation: "They seated themselves on the border of a kind of lake (Winnebago), and I judge it was there that living on fish which they got in the lake in great plenty they were given the name of Puans, beqause all along the shore where their cabins were built one saw nothing but stinking fish, Avhich infected the air. It appears at least that this is the origin of the name which the other savages had given them before us, and which has communicated itself to the Bay." John G. Shea says their name Ouenibigoutz given them by the Algonquins, means "feted," therefore the French translated it by the "Puants. "

The name of Puans was frequently more roughly translated "stinkards," as used by Augustin Grignon as late as 1857. In 1816 Mr. Biddle mentions, "the Winnebago, a bold and warlike tribe, who lived at Lake Au Paimt or Stinking Lake, now Lake AVinnebago"; and the eccentric student of English, Radisson, wrote of them in 1659, as at "the great lake of the Stinkings"; while Allouez, before his visit to them, mentions their lake of "the Stinkards" in 1666, so that this "ill smelling" name has clung to the tribe through all the centuries down to the present moment.

The explanation of their name is simple when relieved from the numerous explanations that have been given, for the most l)art erroneous. Dr. Dorsey, a student of the Siouan language, says the Siouan root Changa or Hanga signified first, foremost, original, ancestral. Thus the W^innebago call themselves Hochanga-ra, "the people speaking the original language." The student of dialect can easily trace in the various spelling quoted above the attempt to reduce the gutteral sounds of the AVinnebago name to a written language, though their explanation and definitions have often gone far afield. Their name as known to the whites, however, is not so easy to understand. The migrating Algonquin tribes despised the AVinnebago, as they were of a different stock, speaking a different language, and tried at once to drive them out ; but these savages were no match for the Winnebago, who had the power by numbers or prowess to maintain their place in their new home. If the name by which they were called by these Algonquin neighbors, Ouenibigoutz. liad been translated at Quebec when first heard by the French, as iiU'aii. base or vik' in ])lac(' of riiaiis. il would Jiave more correctly expressed as intended the extreme disfavor of their neighbors, .nid ihis is the rational explanation of the name which has come down to us as AVinnebago.

Perrol. as rclatetl hy La Polhcric as Ihe eai-liest traditions of the tribe, gives the circumstances of their fall as their disregard of others' i-ights. lie says the nation was poj)ulous, very I'cdoubtable. s|)ared no one and \iolated all the laws of nature, as they wei-c Sodomites, and c\<-\\ had intercourse Avith heasts. If any stranger came among tiiem he was cooked in their kettles. They declared war on all the other nations, though they had only stone hatchets and knives. When the Ottawa sent envoys to Ihi'iii Ihey \V('re eaten; and then the n;itions formed an alliance against them, which occasioned ciNil war among themselves. They finally united all their forces in one village of five thousand men; but an epidemic occurred which reduced them to one thousand five Inmdred. "Despite all these misfortunes they sent a party of five hundred wai-i-iors against the Foxes, Avho dwelt on the other shorc^ of the lake, but they perished in a tempest." It is supposed this was on Litlle i^ake Butte des Morts. as it had been stated the Puans resided on an island whidi it is supposed was Doty island, where they had lived from the earliest times; and the Fox tribes resided on the op])osite side of tiie lake from very early lime. Ixeduced to despair and famine the other nations took pity on tlieiii. ceased to make war, and the Illinois sent five hundred men. including "fifty of the most prominent persons in their nation." to carry them a su]iply of pi-ovisions. "Those man eaters i-ecei\('d them with the utmost gratitude."" but at the same time meditated sacriticing the Illinois to the shades of their dead. A large cabin was erected to lodgi' their guests, but while the Illinois Avere dancing their lutw sti-ings were cut and the "Winnebago "threw themselves on the Illinois and massacred them, not sparing one man, and made a general feast of their llesh."" In a few years the Illinois assembled a large army, composed of all the nations, and came to avenge their dead. "Having reached the island (Doly island) over the iee they found oidy cabins - the AVinnebago had gone to their hunt - traveling in a body - that they might not be surprised by the Illinois." The hostile army followed the hunters in the dead of winter, coming up to them on the sixth day. and laid siege to theii- camp. "So vigorous was tlieii- attack that they killed. wounded or made i)risoners all the Puans except a few who escaped, and who reached the Menominee village, but severely wounded by arrows. ' ' He again refers to these traditional events as those of "the ancestors" of the tribe as he knew them, and which refers to "ancestors of" the Puans of possibly 1660. There is no record to say how many years before, though it is doubtless several score, for fifty years before La Potherie was published Rev. Jean Claude Allouez had told this same story of the massacre of the AYinnebago by the Illinois as "about thirty years ago, ' ' which would be in the year 1640 ; "all the people of the nation were killed or taken captive by the Illinois, with the exception of a single man, who escaped, shot through the body with an arrow," and adds that when the captives were permitted to return to their homes this one was made a chief as having never been a slave. John G. Shea, commenting on this disastrous defeat of the AYinnebago, says, if this strange event took place at all Ave must ascribe it to an earlier date than 1634, when visited by Nicolet, who found them prosperous, and we can hardly suppose a tribe almost annihilated and then restored to its former numbers in thirty years.

Nicolet Comes To Doty Island

Jean Nicolet was the first white man to visit the AVinnebago. He was sent over these ^^nknown lakes and rivers by Governor Champlain to make a treaty of peace between the AA^innebago and the Hurons of Canada. He visited them with seven Huron savages in the summer of 1634, returning home the next year. As he approached their village, word was sent in advance to announce his mission, and the AViunebago sent out envoys to meet him, who gave him a Avarm welcome and carried his baggage. AA^ord was sent out to the surrounding savages, and a great council was held with five thousand men, who indulged themselves in a barbaric banquet, in which the choicest dish was six score beaver tails. This was the first council held Avith the Indians in the region erected into the State of AA^isconsin. There is no contemporary narrati^'e inspired by Nicolet which gives a hint of the place at Avhich this council was held, or the location of the AA'innebago village, Avhich was the objective point of Nicolet 's voyage. The habitat of the AVinnebago during this period must therefore be sought from other narratives and maps, and these clearly show the AA^innebago village of 1634, and for two hundred years thereafter, to have been at the foot of Lake AYinnebago, and from the later accounts, which give a more exact locus in cpio, on Doty island, on what is now the cities of Menasha

It lias been therefore stated that Cliaiiiplain "s map of 1632, made two years before Nicolet's visit named the "Nation des Piians, " on "Lae des Piians.*' Also the map of Jean Boisseau's of ]t)43 Avliich is found in Jjciinox lji])rary in New York, and published in "Jesuit Relations," has "La Nation des Puans, " on "Las des Puans, '' wliieh discharges through "R. des Puans. " The next map to mention the tribe is that of Marquette. His .iournal of the famous voyage through tli<^ river valley was pu))- lislied in Paris by Thevenot in 1681. Avitli his real map of the voyage. It ])laees tlu^ "Puans" village at the foot of Lake AVinnebago. The master of this voyage was Joliet, and his map also places the "Puans" village at the foot of Lake of the AVinnebago. Father Hennepin also places the word "Ocitagan"' against Lake AVinnebago on his map, dated ]698. He also was a traveler among them and this is his attem])t to spell their own name, rendered by the Nicolet century while those of the next century, which show the village, all place it at the foot of the lake, which always bore tlieir name.

There is no historic reference narrative of travel or maps Avhich i)laces the AVinnebago at any location other than Lake AVinnebago during the century in wliich Nicolet visited the region, nor until 1760 when they seem to have divided into three villages with their head village still on Lake AVinnebago.

Perrot visited the Fox river region for a number of years, and took some of the AVinnebago Avith the otlun* tri])es to the great council at Sault Ste. Alarie Avhen Sr. Lusson took formal possession of the AVest, in the name of the French king. In 1690, while in this valley, the Fox tribes who resided on the west shore of tile Little l^ake l^utte des Alorts, contemplated treachery to Perrot, and he was informed of their intentions by the "chief of the Puans," who acted as his messenger and remained his steadfast friend. He advised and helped to prevent the Foxes making an alliance with the Iroiiuois of New A'ork. which they contemplated, and Pen-ol was detcrmiiUMl to pi'cxciit.

In The Fox Avars

Later in the long Fox war they formed a thii-d party in an alliance between the Foxes and Sauk, and were ever present with the Foxes in that long battl(» which they raged against the French throughout the Fox river valley and the prairie of the

The Avinnebago Tribe 19

Illinois. This was the war to save the region of the golden fleece to the fur trade of France, in which the war whoop of the Foxes was heard around the world; "a dreary half century of spasmodic conflict, which absorbed the attention and helped to drain the treasury of New France, contributing not a little to her downfall''; meanwhile, as Bancroft remarks, the ''Foxes were a nation, passionate and untamable, springing up into new life from every defeat, and though reduced in the number of their warriors, yet present everywhere by their ferocious enterprise and savage daring." Throughout those long years of frontier warfare the AVinnebago were everywhere the silent allies, wearing the livery of the forest and committing the terror of their name to strike dismay to the border post. And though the Foxes are mostly mentioned the French were aware of close friendship to their allies, the AVinnebago. As early as 1714 Ramezay had reported the Winnebago as friendly to the Foxes, which date the colonial office at Paris had determined on the extermination of the Fox tribe. At this time Father Marest writes the governor that "the Puans were sixty brave men, all boatmen. ' '

The long enmity between the AVinnebago and the Illinois was a part of the French war, and a relic of ancient days when the AVinnebago had been almost destroyed by the Illinois. The AVinnebago were with the Foxes in their raids against this tribe in 1723. Captain DeLignery was sent up the river in 1724, and called a council of the tribes at the old French fort at Green Bay. Those present were the AVinnebago, Foxes, and Sauk. The council to induce the tribes to cease their war on the Illinois was fruitless, as the AVinnebago declared the Illinois retained some of their tri])e prisoners^ and an exchange must be efi^ected before a treaty. However, the difference seemed to have been compromised, as at a council held by the same officer June 7, 1726, with the AVinnebago, Foxes, and Sauk, a treaty was settled by which these tribes consented not to fight the Illinois again. Very soon after this, however, war broke out afresh and the frontier rang with the savage war cry.

The French had sent an army against the Fox palisade or Fort village on the west shore of Little Lake Butte des Morts, under cle Louvigny, in 1716, opposite the AVinnebago village on the eastern shore. The three days' battle and siege had resulted in a treaty of peace, but in which the French had no confidence. They determined to establish a post in the border of the Sioux country to prevent an alliance with the Foxes and that powerful tribe of the plains, 'i'liis (,-(jiii])iu(nt witii soldiei-s and j^oods for trado made llicir way over Fox river towards the head of Lake Pepin, to ('sta))lisli tliis post. The journal of the voyage was made l>y Father Guignes. As tliey passed the Fox ri\('i- lie says of the visit to the "Winnebago, August 14. ]727: "The chief im-l him there three leagues from their village Avitli peace calumets and refresliments of l)ears' meat, and escorted them into their village mid dischai'ge of musketry and great demonstrations of joy, requesting Ihem to remain some tinu'. There were sixty to eighty num in the village. Both men and women are tall and well built. They are located on the borders of a pretty lake at thirty-five miles from LaBaye and eight leagues from the Foxes." The Foxes seem to have been on the uppci' Fox river at this season.

AVhen Captain DeLignery arrived at LaBaye with liis expedition against the Foxes, composed of four hundred fifty Frenchmen and one thousand two hundred savages, in the month of August. 1728, he captured three AVinnebago Avhom he handed over to the tribes. They put them to death with slow torture and ate them. He then pushed on up the Fox river to the village of the "\Vinnel)ago on the Doty island, which had been abandoned several days hefore, and burned the wigwams ami fort, and ravaged their fields of Indian corn, which is tlieir principal article of food.

In pursuance of their policy to combine all the tribes against the Foxes, the French in some manner bought over the Winnebago, the lifelong friends of the Foxes and Sauk. So we read that in the autumn of 1729 Avord was l)rought to (Quebec by information given by the Indians, of an attack by llic Winnebago, Ottawa and Menominee on a Fox village, in which thera were killed one hundred Fox warriors and seventy women and children. Among the killed of the assaulting party were four of the AVinnebago. The Winnebago having Itroken up their neighbors and friends, the Foxes, by the treacherous and unprovoked slaughter, were now in tei-ror fi>i- the conseciuences of their misei-able acts. Further attempts against the Fox tribe were projected from (Quebec and by the fall of 1725) Sieur Captain ]\Iarin appeai-ed at the old Freucli foi-t at Green Bay and repaired its fallen roofs, lie had with him ten Frenclunen. On September 10 the AVinnebago returned from their hunt aiul went to ]\rarin to assure him that they still renuiined faithful to the French, presenting him Avith three slaves. They were rewarded by powder, bullets, hatchets, guns and knives. Some days after, having ascertained that the Foxes were not in llie country, the

Winnebago took their families and camped on Dendo island, where "their former fort stood." But very soon the Foxes and Sauk surprised some AVinnebago fisherman, and then began a long siege of the Winnebago, by erecting on the Doty island water side two forts to command the water in all directions. The siege lasted two months ; but was finally abandoned after IMarin came with the Menominee to aid the Winnebago.

Before 1739, after being at enmity with the Foxes for ten years, the old friendship was revived, and at a council in Quebec, held that year with the Avestern savages, the W^innebago chief spoke for mercy for the Foxes, some representatives of whom were present. The following year, at a council held in Montreal, the Winnebago chief again spoke for the good will of the French for "their kinsman, the Foxes and Sauk." The next year they appeared in Montreal again and reported they had returned to their home on Doty island. AVhile at a council at Quebec the next year the Mayoba, chief of the Alascoutins, whispered to Beauharnois that the AA^innebago sought refuge in their village the year before, as they feared the Foxes. At this council the Winnebago said half of their village had returned to its old home and half was at Rock river. The Rock river band were notified to join the Fox river band and form one village. Serotchon and Chelanois were AVinnebago chiefs present and promised medals by Beauharnois ; but he had none then to bestow, they must wait until next year. Sieur de Clignaucoiirt had sole right in 1747 to trade at Green Bay with the AA^innebago.

In Other Border Wars

By some very ancient maps in possession of Mr. Hames B. Albrigt, of Milwaukee, which bear dates of 1755, 1756, 1757, the "Otchagras" village is marked against Lake Winnebago. About this time the De Langlades had settled in AVisconsin as the first pioneers, and in a few years the great M^ar between France and England has its influence on this farthest frontier, where the bold warrior. Captain Charles de Langlade, was appointed to command the western tribes. With his motley throng of savages there were about one hundred AA^innebago, and midst the din of Braddoek's defeat was "mingled the blood curdling screech of the Winnebago." They were at the council, with Montcalm, on the banks of Lake George ; and at the massacre of Fort AVilliam Henry, and at the fall of Quebec.

In his Journal Lieut. James Gorrell reports of the "Indian warriors. l)esides Avomen and children dei)ending on the i)ost at Green Bay," there were "Puans, loO al the end of Puan's lake (AVinnebago) and over against Louistonant." It was in 17(i() that the celebrated Capt. Jonathan Carver mad" his voyage up the historic Fox river and pased four days enjoying the hospitality of the Winnebago village on Doty island, then presided Dver l)y their ((ueen, Glory of the ^loi-niug. or Ilopokoekau. who had married Kebrevoir De Carrie, an officer of the b'l-cnch ai'uiy, Avlu) after ]'esigning in 172!) Ix'canu' the first trader among the AVinnebago. Three sons and one daughter Avei-e boi'u to the iniion. He reentered the army and died for his flag before Quebec, April 28, 1760. Captain Carver called the village "the great town of AVinuebago," and said it contained fifty houses which were strongly built Avith i^alisades.

During the war of the l\e\()lution there was iu)t a friend of the colonists in all Wisconsin, and Capt. Charles de Langlade, now in the red uniform of a British officer, recruited his dusky troops from among the Winnebago to join Burgoyne's invasion. bnt all had abandoned the English geiu'i-al befoi-e his surrender. The Winnebau'o recei\-ed a wai- belt from De Peystei-. in command at Old .Mackinaw, and liad notice to be ready to go to Hamilton's aid, at Vincennes. in the autumn of 1778. In the ]>arty of savages who went down the ^Mississippi in the spring to aid Hamilton, l)ut I'ejni'iu'd on receiving woi'd ol iiis sui'i-ender to (reorge Roger Clark, tliei'e were Winnebago. On theii' return to old Mackinaw witii (Joutier the Winnebago were at once sent (in .Inne. 177!^ south thi'ongh ^lichigan to commit depredations and "bring in some prisoners." The AVinnebago repaired to Montreal with other western savages under De Langlade, and returned on news of the operations of George Roger Clark in Illinois. When Lieutenant-Governor Sinelair sent the army of savages under Captain de Langlade to the massacre of St. Louis, there Avas a band of AVinnebago, as usual, in his party. The assault on the embankment at the stone warehouse was made by the AVinnebago, Avho left one chief and three warriors dead on the parapet, Avhile four others were badly wounded, the only casualty of the expedition. Governor Sinclair reports in July, 1780, sending sixty AVinnebago and a party of other Indians south to the Ohio and AVabash rivers to intercept convoys of provisions intended tor Americans in the Illinois region.

After the close of the Revolutionary war the British fur trader had no intention of giving up the rich fur bearing region of AVisconsin, and began at once to keep the savages in good feeling, by a liberal distribution of presents, an annual favor which was accorded llic AVinnebago and others for many vears and until after the close of the last war in 1815. At the instance of the merchants of Alontreal in 1787, after the cession of the region now AVisconsin, the British sent ]Mr. Ainsee up the Fox river to the Alississippi with a "canoe loaded with thirteen bales of goods" for presents to AVisconsin savages. At the Portage he "assembled all the Puants to give them a speech and made them presents of goods, rum and tobacco." In the same report Ainsee gives the number of Puants as 310 men in "the village of the Puants altogether."

The principal or head village of the AVinnebago was still on Lake Winnebago, as it had been since long prior to the coming of Nicolet in 1634. The first record of any other village was the reference given from Gorrell in 1762. During the Revolution, when Goutier took to the woods on snowshoes to rouse the clans for the spring campaign in 1778, he mentions "the great village of the Puants of the lake. Avhich was the strongest one."

Antoine LeClaire, a trader who settled in Alilwaukee in 1800, mentions sending out "engages" to trade Avith the Indians, "on AVinnebago lake to the AVinnebago." The merchants of ^Montreal reported to the agents of the croAvn, in 1786, that the AVinnebago numbered six hundred men, and had their first Anllage only twelve leagues (thirty miles) fi'om "LaBaye," and being on the road to the Mississippi, they are frecpiently troublesome to the traders passing. This system of claiming to own the river and exacting presents for the right to pass had been practiced for many years by the tril)e, and had been a frequent cause of strife between the "Winnebago on Doty island and the numerous traders obliged to stem the tides of the Fox river to reach their posts along the ^Mississippi river.

The frontier discpiict of the Indians, inspired by l^ritisli agents, finally resulted in sending ^Nlad Anthony AVayne into the border huuls of Ohio, where he fought several successful battles the savages, the most desperate and successful one being that near Maumee City, in Ohio, on ilie ;Wth day of August. 17i)4. The Winne])ago hud been liil into these border troubles and were among the savages defeated in tli;i1 disastrous battle. Mr. William J. Snelling relates that he remembers a AVinnebago at the AVisconsin portage who met travelers Avith a human hand dangling on his breast, which he had taken from a Yankee soldier at Tip})ecanoe, and says sixty AVinnebago were killed in that battle. The last war with England was declared on June 19. 1812, by the President's proclamation. Before it was possible to reinforce the small garrison at Fort IMackinaAv, on the island of that name, it Avas surprised and captured and held during the Avar as a rally outpost of the British, from Avhich the saA'ages of AVisconsin Avere constantly recruited to add to the frontier horrors of that Avar. It is said that after the capture of Proctor's camp in the battle of the Thames, bales of scalps Avere discovered on Avhich had been paid a bounty by the British agents. The "Winnebago took part in many of the important movements of the British on the Avestern border. AVhen Col. Robert Dickson, the "Red Head," gathered the tribes for the English in 1812. he ran into (}i-eeii Bay Avilli 100 Sioux, and enlisted Tomah and the Grizzly Bear Avith 100 Alenominee, and a large body of "Winnebago led by Teal. One-eyed Decorah and other chiefs. They A'oyaged over to ^NFackinac island and captured the fort from the Americans, July 17, 1812, Avithout a bloAv, after Avhich the AVinnebago and Sioux returned home. Jn the spring of 1813, Avhen Colonel Dickson rallied the clans again for the AA'ar. there sailed out of tlie Fox river on his train, beside the Sioux and IMenominee, a considerable band of AYinncbago under their chiefs. Old Decorah, Carrymaunee. AYinnocheek, Pesheu. or the AYild Cat, Sausamaunee, Black AYolf, Sarcel, or the Teal, and Neokautah, or Four Legs. Avith AFichael Brisbois as their interpreter. Arriving at Fort Meigs too late for the action, they retired to Detroit, from AA-hence they sailed under Proctor and Dickson to Sandusky and attacked the fort so gallantly defended by the young Afaj. George Croghan, Avhere they Avere defeated. In June, 1813,

Colonel Dickson emerged at ^Mackinac from a lon^ sojourn among the Wisconsin tribes, bringing with him 600 savages and their families, to be sent to General Proctor as a part of his force. There were 130 Winnebago in the party. After eating nearly all of Proctor's available provisions and committing wanton depredations on the settlers' live stock tlie AYisconsin Indians returned home. During the winter of 1813-14 a delegation of AVisconsin savages visited Quebec, where they were warmly welcomed by Sir George Prevost. The AVinnebago were represented by Lassamic.

The expedition under the British Col. AVilliam AtcKay, which surprised and captured the American fort Shelby at Prairie Du Chien, July 17, 1814, had with them a band of 100 AVinnebago under their chiefs, Pesheu or AVild Cat, Sarcel or Teal, Carrymaunee, AVinnocheek, Sar-ra-chau, Neokautah or Four Legs, and Black Wolf. As McKay's fleet of barges and canoes floated down the Wisconsin, a AVinnebago was in the party of scouts, who went under cover of night into the to-\vn and captured a citizen, whom they carried away to get information. In deploying before the fort the AYinnel)ago took post above the fort. Two of the AVinnebago, discovering some hams in a house, mounted to the roof and began to tear off the shingles to gain an entrance and were both shot in the thigh. On the second day of tlie siege Colonel AIcKay assembled the Indian chiefs and requested their consent to an assault, but the AVinnebago chief, Sarcel or the Teal, demurred, saying he and his people remembered taking part with the English in assaulting an American fort, when they were beaten back with terrible slaughter. Sarcel proposed to dig a trench in the sand and blow up the fort, to which Colonel McKay agreed; but after 'a few hours' labor the Indians tired of the Avork and refused to go ahead. After the surrender, and just before the time appointed for the Americans to give up their arms, a AVinnebago cut off the finger of a soldier whose hand was thrust through a port hole in friendly greeting. In his reports Colonel McKay mentions the AVinnebago as in the Indian contingent, and says of them that they were ''perfectly useless to him," and severely criticises them. They would not receive officers' orders unless he "held a blanket in one hand and a piece of pork in another."

Col. Robert Dickson on his way to the British garrison at Prairie Du Chien in the fall of 1814, caught by the freezing of Lake AVinnebago at Doty Island and forced to remain the winter, writes in the spring: "I shall move from this as soon as I can.

The New York Indians

The AVinneliago were involved in the iiiimigration of the New York Indians by the range of their hunting gi-ounds. Tiie Winnebago and JVIenominee, August IS. 1S21, tii'aiited to tlie Xew ^'oil< tribes a ribl)on of land diagonal! \' across the state five miles wide, the strij) crossing the Fox river at Little ('hut(\ At this tinu' the jMenominee claimed all Green Bay and the shore of Lake ^lichigan to tlu^ mouth of the ]Milwauk(M> lixcr and west to the .Mississippi imnct in a northwest direction. The Winnebago claimed all the balance of the state north and west of the Fox river and Lake Winnebago. The following summer the Xew York Iiulians returned to urge a larger grant : but on coming into a council the AVinnebago refused to concede any further grants and left in a body to go on their hunt. Before leaving, however, they were induced to favoi' the visitor with an exhibition of their war dance, pipe dance and begging dance, which are grai)hically described by (Jeneral Willis, who adds: "The AViuTiebago exhibited the largest, most perfectly formed men aiul women ever seen anywhere. The display of action and muside in the dances stru(dv the Ixdiolder with admiration and terror. The ring around the dancers of several thousand, all singing in chorus to the chief drunnner. the voices of the AVinnebago women pi-evailing in clarion tone above the whole." August 11, 1827. was a treaty concluded at tlie Little P.ntte des Morts. "the Hill of the Dead," on the west bank of the lake of that name, now in the town of Alenasha. betAvecMi the AVinnebago. .Menominee aiul Xew A'ork Indians, by which the above lrii)es ceiled their lanils in the Fox vallev to the I'nited States. Lewis Cass and

Thos. L. ^Mc'Kinney were the commissioners. This council was lickl during- the Winnebago war, so called. It was attended by live thousand savages. Colonel AVhistler, while on his journey up the Fox river from Fort IIoAvard to join General Atkinson at Portage, remained with his regiment at the Little Butte des Morts as the Governor's guard until the close of the council, when he resumed his journey uji stream. During the council the Winnebago were notified that they must give up the murderers. It is said to have been due to this council that brought the surrender at Portage the next month on the arrival of Colonel Whistler. There is a painting of the Little Butte des jMorts council made by Lewis, "painted on the spot," in his rare portfolio of frontier scenes.

Tlie AVinnel)ago war took place in 1827. It was not a war, but only a widespread scare to the few pioneers who had come to settle in the far aAvay lands of the Avest. Those who mention the events of that day generally agree that the energetic movements of Governor Lewis Cass, and the promptness of the militia under Gen. Henry Dodge, and the dispatch of General Atkinson witli the United States army into the field, inspired the AVinnebago with such respect for the poAver of the United States that the incipient disturbance was quelled before it was barely commenced. As there were at that time nearly nine thousand Winnebago, they could have set the torch to the whole frontier before being conquered. At that period there was a small settlement of whites at Green Bay, another at Prairie du Chien. and possibly seven hundred people in the lead region south of the Wisconsin river. Fort Winnebago was then erected at Portage as a protection to the frontier from any Winnebago treachery.

In Settlement Days

I>y this time the trilie had very nuich increased in numbers, and were scattered all along the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. Mrs. John Kinzie reports in ''Wau Bun," in 1880, two divisions of Winnebago Indians, "one paid l)y the agent at Portage and the other at Prairie du Chien." "The Portage division numbered between four and five thousand." At the Winnebago annuity payment in 1884, jNIr. Henry ]\lerrill says there asseml)led at Portage upwards of three thousand men. women and children. Mr. Mc- Call reports in 1830, "Four thousand Winnebago in the nation."

The delegates wlio visited Washington in 1837 to make a treaty liad no anthority to eonelude a treaty, and so declared. That was the treaty (Nov. 1, 1887.) by whieh all the lands of tiie Winnebago east of the ^Mississippi were eeded to the Ignited States. It Avas loudly jiroelaimed by the tribe to be a fraud. Chief Yellow Thunder, whose village was near Eureka, in AVinnebago county, and two others were of this party, and all declared they had no right to make a treaty. The first allrnipl to remove the tribe was begun in 1840. when a considerable band wei-c induced to remove to the Turkey river in Iowa. In 1837 the AVinnebago, headed ])y One-eyed Dekaury, Ijittle Dekaury, AVinnosheek, AVaukon Dekaury, and six other chiefs, went to AVashington and ceded all the land still claimed by them east of the Alississippi river, reserving the privilege of occupying until 18-40. That year the troops came to Portage to remove them. Yellow Tlninder and Black AVolf 's son were invited to Portage to get provisions, l)ut as soon as they arrived at Portage they were put in the guardhouse Avith l)all and chain on their ankles, which Inirt their feelings, as 1lie\- luid done no harm. The Genei'al liad understood they were going to revolt, and i-efused to emigrate; but as soon as Governor Dodge came to Portage they were released. They all promised faithfully to be in Portage in three days, ready for removal, and they Avere all there. Two large boats Avere provided to take doAvn the Indians Avho had no canoes. At the head of Kickapoo creek they came to some AvigAvams, Avhere Iavo old Avomen, sisters of Black AA^olf, fell on their knees, crying and beseeching Captain Summer to kill them : Ilie\' wei'e old and would rather die and l)e l)uried Avith their fathers and mothers and children than he taken aAvay. The Captain let them remain, and left three young men to hunt for them. Further doAvn they came to the camp of Ke-ji-que-Ave-ka ; the people Avere told to ]>ut tlunr things in the wagon and go along. Depositing their l)elongings they started south from Avhere they Avere Avhen the Captain sent to ask Avhere they Avere going. They said they Avere going to bid good-bye to their fathers, mothers and children. The interpreter folloAved lliem and found them on Hieii' knees, kissing the ground and crying very loud Avhere their relations Avere buried. This touched the Captain, Avho exclaimed: "Good God, Avhat harm can these poor Indians do among the rocks."

Minnesota and Dakota, they Avere finally located on one hundred twenty-eight thousand acres of the northern part of the Omaha reservation in eastern Nebraska, containing some of the best timbered lands, by May, 1866. There still reside in the pine barrens of Jackson and Adams county stragglers who have returned, reported in 1887 to number one thousand six hundred. Most of these have homesteads, where they live by picking berries, fishing and hunting, with ever increasing families. Large families are the rule among the Winnebago. Green Grass, son of Kayrahmaunee, came to the payment at Black River Falls to draw for fifteen children; but could not count or name them. Major Halleck, the agent, had him bring them in and stand them in a row. ''The AVinnebago as a tribe has due them $883,249.58 under their treaties of 1837 and the act of July 15, 1870, which has not been capitalized and placed in the treasury as a trust fund. Congress annually appropriates 5 per cent interest on the principal, amounting to $1:4,1 62.47. The AA^isconsin band received $18,- 026.13 of that amount, whicli is paid them in cash. They also receive $7,000 each year from that amount to ecpialize their payments with the Nebraska branch under the act of 1881. Under that act they have reecived $147,000 and $73,969.91 is yet due them in yearly installments of $7,000. The Nebraska branch receives yearly $10,000 cash for per capita payments, and after this and the amounts due to the AVisconsin branch are deducted the remainder is subject to expenditure for supplies for the Nebraska branch. Eventually the Wisconsin branch will receive their share of the principal after it has been capitalized and segregated."

Their Habits And Domestic Life

There are at this writing 1,180 AVinnebago listed in Wisconsin and 2,613 in Nebraska, making a total of 3,793 or about 4,000 Winnebago now living. This shows an increase in 200 years of 700 per cent, due to enforced peace ; and notwithstanding the natural decimation due to smallpox, famine, habits and whisky.

Rev. Cutting Marsh crossed Doty island in 1832, and found still there a small village of AVinnebago. This was the remnant of Four Leg's tribe. He was dead two years before. Three years later the Alenomonee mission was established at Neenah, before which time, it is presumed, the last of those who had made this ancient village famous in border annals had moved up the river and away.

fat and stajr. 'J'lu'v drosscd in the earlier days much as tlie ]ii-iniitiv(' tribes, in the tanned skins and lurs of the wild animals, as also in woven cloth. The special manner of doin^ their hair was to shave llie sides of the head and do tlie liaii- in two square cushions on tlie t)ack of the head. The artist in ihe Nieolet landfall, i-eceiilly hiin»i in the i-ooms of the State Historical Society, has taken llieii- nakedness too literallv ami made a earicature of their nudeness. There is no authority for such literal nak(>dness. They were an industrious and thrifty people, having at all theii" villa^res wide fields of corn and ve<?etal)les. Some of these fields were several hundred acres in extent. They trathered wild rice for food also. Sat. Clark told Dr. Lapham that General Atkinson purchased 6,000 l)ushels of corn from the AVinnebago ; and in 1848 he had (lii\('n over half a mile of old Indian cornfields in Columbia county, Avhich a pioneer had told him the AVinnebago had cultivated. Their villages contained Avell constructed, warm cabins or Avigwams, and they appeared to enjoy ])rosperity, notwithstanding their history contains so much war. pestilence and whisky.

AVhatever may have l)een tlu' truth of the mattci-. they seem to have the universal hatred or disfavor of all their neighbors aud the whites. The whites write them down invariably filthy. It is such a general charge that one might be incdined to suppose it to be repeated by suggestion. AVhether any one took the trouble to inquire if this was a domestic infirmity or only came from the supposed derivation of their nann^ we cannot learn. One hundred years ago Capt. Thomas A. Anderson Avintered on Kock river, at tlu^ foot of a precipice, ;W0 feet above the river, trading with the AVinnebago. and long afterward said. "They are the nu)st tilthy, most obstinate and bravest people of any Indian tribe." As an instance of their independence, Hon. Alorgan L. Martin relates of the guide he i)rocured at Taycheedah, who, after leading tlieiii into llie prairie, lay down and refused to ju-oceed. saying ''he had never yet been the slave of a white man and never would be."

The nunu'rous missionaries who had gone among the AVisconsin savages seein to hMV(> made little progress Mith the Winnebago. The first to devote himself specially to one of tlie bantls was Kev. Father Ma/zuchelli, who, April Iti. 1 visited the AVinnebago at the old Decorah village, eight miles up the AVisconsin river tVoiii Portage. Two hundred converts were made, and he translated Father Harago's Catechism from Ottawa to AVinnebago, going 7(10 miles to Detroit to get it printed, ami returned. Pietre Paquette assisted liim in talking to the savages. The Catechism when returned had eighteen pages. The intluence of the missionary was such that on ^Mrs. Kinzie's offering wine to one of the Indian women she pointed to the cross about her neck and refused to drink.

From the earliest settlement hands of AVinnebagoes had, at different times, established their villages temporarily in several parts of the county; no permanent location w^as made until right after the Avar of the rebellion, when a considerable number, under the chief, Ah-oo-cho-ka oi' "Blue AVing, " settled near Water Mill, a few miles north of Tomah.

"Blue AVing" Avas the head of this branch of the tribe and was its chief spokesman in the councils of the tribe held at the original settlement near Winnebago Lake. He was a quiet, peaceful man, who ruled his tribe Avith justice, whose good qualities made him many friends among his Avhite neighbors and the business and professional men in Tomah Avith Avhom he had dealings ; he lived to the age of 103 years, and at his death he Avas held in such esteem that a public funeral Avas held in the Methodist church at Tomah, largely attended by the town people and his neighbors; a striking illustration, indeed, of the transition from saA^agery to civilization, a modern funeral serA'ice held over the remains of a savage attended by his own people. After the death of "Blue Wing" there Avas no succession as chief as the band had gradually taken up land and Avere, and are, getting away from the tribal relations. They in common Avith other members of the tribe Avere moved to Nebraska at the time mentioned in this chapter, but this band of about 200 came back and settled again at AVater Alill, Avdiere they among them oAvned quite a tract of land. They enlisted the services of Harry Lea, of Tomah, Avho had traded A^dth them for j^ears, and he diA'ided the land into ten-acre pieces, assigning one or more to the head of each family so that they became land OAvners and could not then be taken back to Nebraska.

In this band Avere tAvo Indians avIio Avere in the army during the rebellion, an old felloAV familiarly knoAvn in later years as "Sherman," because he served in the Third AVisconsin and Avas under General Sherman, and also a son of Chief "Blue AVing, " known as "Thunder Chief."

IxH'ii ill existence no one knows liow long. It lias an otter skin lia<l<re, to lose which is said to invoke a death penalty; they indulge in strange and fantastic rites and ceremonies, and no Avhite man has ever been able to discover any of their secrets. The squaws of different branches of the tril)e in general are known by the kind of work they turn out. This particular branch was noted for the beautiful bead work turned out by its women, everything from moccasins and hair liands to entire suits of buckskin, beautifully decorated in most elaborate patterns. Some of the children are sent to the Government Indian School at Tomah, although it seems to be the case that only a small percentage take advantage of the education thus acquired, but go back to the indolent tribal life.