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Indians in Wisconsin's History - John M Douglass · The Crime & Capture of John Wilkes Booth

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  Speaker 1: Chapter one of the Indians in Wisconsin's History. This is
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  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Read by Verla Vieira. The Indians in Wisconsin's History by
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  Speaker 1: John M. Douglas Wisconsin's Indians before the coming of the
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  Speaker 1: White Man. It is difficult now to realize that Wisconsin,
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  Speaker 1: famed as a dairy state and rich in farmland and
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  Speaker 1: thriving communities, was once a great wilderness before the land
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  Speaker 1: was cleared for the farmer's plow, and with its dense
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  Speaker 1: forests yet to hear the lumberjacks axe. The thick timberland
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  Speaker 1: of the north, and even the rolling prairies of the
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  Speaker 1: central and southern portions of our state teemed with a
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  Speaker 1: great variety of wild life, including animals no longer occurring
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  Speaker 1: in Wisconsin, such as the woodland caribou, moose, elk, and buffalo,
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  Speaker 1: lower bison, as well as the more familiar deer bear,
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  Speaker 1: and many smaller varieties. Before the arrival of the Europeans,
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  Speaker 1: this Wisconsin wilderness was the home of Indians who were
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  Speaker 1: wonderfully adapted to a life in the forests. They depended
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  Speaker 1: almost entirely on hunting and the gathering of natural products
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  Speaker 1: for their food, shelter, clothing, tools, and weapons, although most
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  Speaker 1: of them raised some garden crops such as corn, squash, beans,
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  Speaker 1: and possibly tobacco. Let's pretend that we can travel backwards
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  Speaker 1: in time, about three hundred and fifty years and visit
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  Speaker 1: a typical Indian family of that period. As we arrive
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  Speaker 1: on the scene the tribes preparing to set up a
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  Speaker 1: new camp, the women are busy unpacking their household gear,
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  Speaker 1: including reed mats used to cover the outer sides of
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  Speaker 1: the wigwam. The women themselves have carried the loads during
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  Speaker 1: the journey. This is not done because of any laziness
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  Speaker 1: on the part of the men, a common error of
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  Speaker 1: white obsess but simply because the men need their hands
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  Speaker 1: free to ward off a sudden enemy attack or to
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  Speaker 1: kill any game they might chance upon during the journey.
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  Speaker 1: While the women unpack, the men enter the woods to
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  Speaker 1: cut poles for the framework of the wigwams and collect
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  Speaker 1: birch bark for the roofs. After the poles are set
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  Speaker 1: in the ground to make an oval enclosure, they are
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  Speaker 1: bent and tied together at the top to form a
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  Speaker 1: rounded roof. The women then tie on the reed mats
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  Speaker 1: and roof the hut with the rolls of bark. This
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  Speaker 1: is the typical Wisconsin Indian winter lodge. Although it is
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  Speaker 1: the latter part of March, the weather is still too
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  Speaker 1: cold to live comfortably in a summer lodge. If we
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  Speaker 1: lived the bear skin covering the entrance and step into
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  Speaker 1: the lodge, we may see the simple furnishings and personal
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  Speaker 1: possessions of the family we are going to visit. A
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  Speaker 1: hole in the middle of the roof serves to carry
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  Speaker 1: off the smoke from the fire burning in the center
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  Speaker 1: of the floor. This fire serves the double purpose of
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  Speaker 1: heating the lodge and cooking the family meals. We find
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  Speaker 1: the hut almost too smoky to endure, accustomed as we
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  Speaker 1: are to our modern homes, but our Indian friends seem
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  Speaker 1: quite comfortable. Since our Indian family is fairly large, including
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  Speaker 1: the father's parents as well as the mother, father, two boys,
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  Speaker 1: and two girls, the wigwam is proportionately large in order
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  Speaker 1: to accommodate all of them. We look about the inside
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  Speaker 1: of the lodge and see the sleeping mats and furs.
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  Speaker 1: The families spare clothing. Breech clouts, shirts, leggings and moccasins
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  Speaker 1: of tandeer skin for the men, and skirts, blouses and
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  Speaker 1: moccasins for the women are in one corner. The garments
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  Speaker 1: are beautifully decorated with designs gramma embroidered on them with
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  Speaker 1: dyed porcupine quills. The work is quite fine and it
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  Speaker 1: takes many hours to do a small portion of the embroidery.
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  Speaker 1: Father is especially fond of his head dress, a roach
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  Speaker 1: made of deer and porcupine hair and an eagle feather
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  Speaker 1: which indicates that he is killed in enemy in battle.
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  Speaker 1: As we step outside again and look about, we can
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  Speaker 1: see why this particular spot has been chosen as the
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  Speaker 1: camp site. A small lake and several springs are only
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  Speaker 1: a short distance away, But the most important reason for
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  Speaker 1: camping here at this season is a large grove of
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  Speaker 1: sugar maple trees immediately to one side of the camp.
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  Speaker 1: March is the proper time to tap the trees for
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  Speaker 1: their sap. The next two or three weeks are spent
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  Speaker 1: tapping the trees and boiling the sap down until maple
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  Speaker 1: syrup and finally only maple sugar is left. This sugar
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  Speaker 1: keeps indefinitely and provides a very nourishing as well as
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  Speaker 1: a delicious source of food for the entire family. The
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  Speaker 1: children are especially fond of it. It is not a
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  Speaker 1: case of all work and no play during this period
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  Speaker 1: for the children. Morning Star, White Fawn, Blackbird, and Little
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  Speaker 1: Otter play games when their tasks are finished, and gambling
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  Speaker 1: games are popular with the men and women. Here we
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  Speaker 1: see mother and some neighbor women playing the cup and
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  Speaker 1: pin game. Each player in turn tosses into the air
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  Speaker 1: small cone shaped cups made of antler tips or berre
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  Speaker 1: toe bones, and tries to catch one or more on
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  Speaker 1: a bone pin. The men are enthusiastic gamblers too, using
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  Speaker 1: marked sticks which are thrown and scored, somewhat like our
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  Speaker 1: own familiar dice games. When the sugar making is finished,
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  Speaker 1: the tribe breaks camp and travels by birch bark canoe
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  Speaker 1: to a new location. The canoes are wonderfully light boats
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  Speaker 1: and can be paddled very swiftly. Their light weight makes
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  Speaker 1: them relatively easy to carry or portage from one stream
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  Speaker 1: to another. Our canoe has eyes painted on the bow
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  Speaker 1: and stern. The father explains that these eyes enable the
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  Speaker 1: canoe to see where to go. At the new summer camp,
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  Speaker 1: we watch our friends build summer lodges. These are rectangular
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  Speaker 1: in shape with inverted V shaped roofs, much like our
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  Speaker 1: own houses. The entire lodge is covered with strips of
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  Speaker 1: elm or other bark, as is often the case. The
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  Speaker 1: new campsite is near a river, and springs nearby furnish cool,
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  Speaker 1: pure drinking water. There are also open clearings close by
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  Speaker 1: which will be utilized for gardening. The next few weeks, however,
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  Speaker 1: will be used for making necessary utensils and equipment needed
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  Speaker 1: by the tribe. One day, we are interested observers of
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  Speaker 1: pottery making. Gramma goes to a clay bed near the
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  Speaker 1: river and selects suitable materials, including some coarse sand for
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  Speaker 1: tempering the pottery paste, which is made of both clay
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  Speaker 1: and sand. The paste is worked into long cylinders which
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  Speaker 1: are finally coiled about into the desired shape. After the
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  Speaker 1: vessel has assumed final shape, it is paddled with a
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  Speaker 1: cord wrapped tool and allowed to air dry for several days,
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  Speaker 1: and finally baked in a large outdoor fire. The finished
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  Speaker 1: pot can be used to boil water or cook food,
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  Speaker 1: and has the advantage of being eate easily replaced in
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  Speaker 1: case of breakage. May soon arrives, and as this is
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  Speaker 1: the time to plant corn, our Indian family selects a
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  Speaker 1: suitable clearing for their garden. The men burn out the
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  Speaker 1: underbrush and the women and girls prepare for the planting itself.
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  Speaker 1: Grandma informs us that it is always best to soak
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  Speaker 1: the grains in water several days before seeding. After the
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  Speaker 1: seeds have been properly softened, the women and girls dig
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  Speaker 1: holes in the ground, place six or seven grains of
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  Speaker 1: corn in each hole, and then heap up the dirt
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  Speaker 1: over the seeds in a little hillock. Squash and beans
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  Speaker 1: are planted in the clearing too. One day, we are
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  Speaker 1: told that the tribe is going to have a game drive,
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  Speaker 1: since considerable meat is needed by the village. We go
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  Speaker 1: along into the forest and watch the men chop down
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  Speaker 1: trees with their stone axes. These are all felled in
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  Speaker 1: one direction, the cut incomplete so that the tree is
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  Speaker 1: still attached to the stump, and in two rows, so
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  Speaker 1: as to leave a gradually narrowing corridor more than a
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  Speaker 1: mile long. The deer are then driven towards the corridor
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  Speaker 1: where men stationed with bows are able to shoot them
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  Speaker 1: easily as they approach the narrow opening between the barriers.
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  Speaker 1: A number of the animals are killed in this way
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  Speaker 1: and taken back to the village, where their flesh can
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  Speaker 1: be preserved by being cut into strips and smoke dried.
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  Speaker 1: We are all too hungry, however, to wait until we
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  Speaker 1: return to the village before eating. The chief says we
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  Speaker 1: can have some boiled venison stew. We are puzzled at this,
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  Speaker 1: for no utensils have been brought along, but we soon
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  Speaker 1: learn how resourceful our Indian friends are. One of the
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  Speaker 1: men obtains some edible roots, another cuts the stomachs from
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  Speaker 1: several of the deer. Each one of the stomachs is
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  Speaker 1: cleaned and tied to form a pouch. The venison roots
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  Speaker 1: and some wild rice, which some of the men brought along,
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  Speaker 1: are placed in the prepared deer stomachs, water added, and
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  Speaker 1: the ingenious kettles suspended over a slow fire. In a
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  Speaker 1: relatively short time, a delicious stew is set before each
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  Speaker 1: of us, served in birch bark dishes prepared in a
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  Speaker 1: few minutes by another of the hunters. While we are eating,
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  Speaker 1: we ask the father of the Indian family, we are
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  Speaker 1: visiting how the chief of his tribe obtained his position.
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  Speaker 1: We are told that his ability as a warrior and
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  Speaker 1: leader has led to his being chosen war chief, and
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  Speaker 1: his ability is an orator and his power to make
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  Speaker 1: people like him has kept him in authority. He says
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  Speaker 1: that in a nearby village, the chief is also a
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  Speaker 1: great war leader, but he is not well liked otherwise.
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  Speaker 1: For that reason, he sometimes finds it difficult to make
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  Speaker 1: his warriors obey him, and he is therefore not nearly
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  Speaker 1: as powerful as our leader. We soon realize that the
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  Speaker 1: Indian chiefs depend primarily upon personal prestige and influence to
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  Speaker 1: keep them in power. We are informed, however, that in
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  Speaker 1: some other tribes, the chief is always selected from a
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  Speaker 1: certain clan. One morning, we witness the curious ceremony grandfather
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  Speaker 1: mother offers Blackbird, the older boy, some charcoal as well
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  Speaker 1: as his food. The father seems very proud when his
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  Speaker 1: son rejects the food, applies the charcoal to his face,
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  Speaker 1: and leaves the village to enter the forest alone. Grandfather
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  Speaker 1: explains that Blackbird, by accepting the charcoal, automatically agreed to
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  Speaker 1: fast alone in the forest for one day. This one
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  Speaker 1: day fast will be good training for the day when
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  Speaker 1: he will feel ready to go on the long fast
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  Speaker 1: of four or five days. Every man has taken this
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  Speaker 1: long fast in the hope of seeing a vision of
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  Speaker 1: a guardian spirit who would then be his lifetime protector.
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  Speaker 1: The girls too must fast, but in a somewhat different fashion. Soon,
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  Speaker 1: Morning Star, the older girl in our friend's family, will
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  Speaker 1: reach womanhood and be segregated for a number of days
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  Speaker 1: in a secluded lodge, and during this period no man
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  Speaker 1: may approach her. The summer season rapidly nears an end.
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  Speaker 1: We have enjoyed ourselves watching the act activities of our
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  Speaker 1: friends at work and at play. We have learned too
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  Speaker 1: some of the beliefs of our friends. Grandfather has told
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  Speaker 1: us stories about the great white bear with the copper tail,
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  Speaker 1: who dwells underground and is the greatest power for evil.
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  Speaker 1: He has told the children how the Indian Sandman, a
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  Speaker 1: good natured elf, would put people to sleep at night
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  Speaker 1: by hitting them on the head with a soft war club.
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  Speaker 1: We have learned too, of the many spirits for good
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  Speaker 1: and evil who control the sun, moon, stars, winds, rain, thunder,
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  Speaker 1: and all the other phenomena. Of nature. One evening, he
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  Speaker 1: pointed out the Milky Way and told us that this
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  Speaker 1: was the road over which the dead traveled to the
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  Speaker 1: land of the spirits. He also warned us about entering
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  Speaker 1: the woods alone at night because of the evil living
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  Speaker 1: skeleton which haunts the forest paths seeking unwary men. Autumn,
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  Speaker 1: the time for harvesting garden crops as well as various
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  Speaker 1: wild vegetable foods, is a season of hard work for all.
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  Speaker 1: Corn is the most important garden crop, and from time
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  Speaker 1: to time we have sampled the ripe grain. The women
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  Speaker 1: have served us some roasted on the cob, or the
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  Speaker 1: fresh kernels ground with a wooden mortar and pestle and
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  Speaker 1: served as a sort of porridge. The ripe corn is
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  Speaker 1: now gathered and the ears will be allowed to dry.
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  Speaker 1: The dried kernels can then be ground into a meal
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  Speaker 1: as needed, since the dry corn will remain edible for
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  Speaker 1: a long time. Wild rice is the most important vegetable
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  Speaker 1: food provided for the Indians by nature. One day in
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  Speaker 1: the middle of September, we all go a short distance
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  Speaker 1: up the river in our canoes and enter a small lake. Here,
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  Speaker 1: the wild grain grows in great quantities. The men selected
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  Speaker 1: by the chief to determine when the rice is ready
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  Speaker 1: to be gathered. Have already given us the signal that
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  Speaker 1: the grain is ripe. We learn, however, that one more
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  Speaker 1: function is required before we can proceed with the harvesting
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  Speaker 1: of the rice. Chief medicine man of our village approaches
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  Speaker 1: the edge of the water and blows tobacco smoke towards
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  Speaker 1: the heavens as an offering to his grandfather, the master
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  Speaker 1: of the rice. He then buries a small portion of
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  Speaker 1: tobacco in the ground. And we are ready to proceed
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  Speaker 1: in each canoe. As the man pulls the boat slowly
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  Speaker 1: through the rice, the woman, who sits facing the man,
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  Speaker 1: pulls the stalks over the canoe with one cedar stick,
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  Speaker 1: while with another stick she beats the ripe grain into
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  Speaker 1: the boat. When the canoes are full, we head back
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  Speaker 1: for camp, where the rice is spread out to dry.
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  Speaker 1: Then the women heat the unhusked kernels in a pot
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  Speaker 1: over a slow fire until all have partially popped open. Next,
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  Speaker 1: a small pit is dug and a stake set into
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  Speaker 1: the ground beside it. The depression is lined with buckskin
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  Speaker 1: and filled with the parched grain. The father then takes
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  Speaker 1: hold of The steak steps into the grain filled pit
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  Speaker 1: and begins treading the grain with his feet to loosen
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  Speaker 1: the husks the kernels. The women take the grain from
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  Speaker 1: the pit and toss it up and down in bark
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  Speaker 1: winnowing trays. The wind blows away the light chaff as
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  Speaker 1: the grain is tossed into the air, and allows only
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  Speaker 1: the kernels to fall back into the tray. The time
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  Speaker 1: soon arrives for our friends to break camp and seek
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  Speaker 1: a winter campsite where the hunting is known to be good.
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  Speaker 1: Hunting and fishing will be the main source of food
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  Speaker 1: during the winter season. At the new camp site, storage
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  Speaker 1: pits lined with birch bark are dug in the ground
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  Speaker 1: to be used for storing the nuts, dried berries, dried corn,
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  Speaker 1: and rice that have been gathered and prepared during the autumn.
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  Speaker 1: If hunting is poor, or if a severe winter threatens
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  Speaker 1: spam into the village, this stored food may be the
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  Speaker 1: sole means of preventing starvation. It is now time for
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  Speaker 1: us to leave our Indian friends, but before we go,
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  Speaker 1: we learn that the winter season will be spent not
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  Speaker 1: only in the pursuits of fishing through the ice and hunting,
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  Speaker 1: but also in the telling of stories, sing and playing
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  Speaker 1: many different games. When the snows are deep, the tribe
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  Speaker 1: will don snowshoes for their hunting trips. We will miss
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  Speaker 1: seeing them play snow snake. In this game, the Indians
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  Speaker 1: compete with each other to see who can hurl the
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  Speaker 1: wooden snake the greatest distance across the snow or ice.
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  Speaker 1: We are sorry to miss all these things, but the
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  Speaker 1: time has come for us to end our visit. As
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  Speaker 1: we say farewell to our friends from the distant past,
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  Speaker 1: we reflect regretfully that the coming of the white man
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  Speaker 1: will change the old ways of life for these people
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  Speaker 1: of the forests, and soon their independence and freedom will
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  Speaker 1: vanish forever. The Indians seem destined to become largely dependent
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  Speaker 1: upon the whites for their livelihood and even for the
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  Speaker 1: few remnants of land to be left them for their homes.
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  Speaker 1: End of chapter one, Chapter two of The Indians in
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  Speaker 1: Wisconsin's History. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Verla Vieira. The
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: Indians in Wisconsin's History by John M. Douglas Wisconsin's Indians
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  Speaker 1: under French rule. Few of us realized that the early
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  Speaker 1: history of Wisconsin is as romantic as any of our
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  Speaker 1: eastern seaboard states can boast. The area that is now
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  Speaker 1: the state of Wisconsin became the gateway into the Middle
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  Speaker 1: West and the meeting place for the French and the
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  Speaker 1: Indian tribes of what was then regarded as the West.
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  Speaker 1: This early period of French control was an era in
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  Speaker 1: which Jesuit missionaries carried the doctrine of Christianity from village
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  Speaker 1: to village, often visiting tribes that had never before seen
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  Speaker 1: white men. It was a time when the French traders,
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  Speaker 1: lured by the love of adventure in romance as well
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  Speaker 1: as the wealth to be obtained in the fur trade,
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  Speaker 1: pushed through the forests and followed strange rivers until they
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  Speaker 1: reached the village of unknown Wisconsin Indians. It was in
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  Speaker 1: these villages that such traders, including the noblest youth of
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  Speaker 1: New France, lived with the Indians, said in their councils,
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  Speaker 1: took part in their war dances, accompanied their war parties
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  Speaker 1: to battle, and often married their women. It was in
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  Speaker 1: this early French regime that Wisconsin's Indian tribes underwent great
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  Speaker 1: changes in their manner of life due to contacts with
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  Speaker 1: the white man's civilization. It was a time of warfare
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  Speaker 1: and a struggle for supremacy in North America between the
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  Speaker 1: British and the French and their Indian allies, with Wisconsin's
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  Speaker 1: tribes espoused to the cause of the French. It was
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  Speaker 1: the heyday of the fur trade, with literally millions of
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  Speaker 1: beaver and other skins being taken from Wisconsin to enrich
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  Speaker 1: the trader and obtain white man's goods for the Indians.
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  Speaker 1: Despite the fact that Wisconsin's Indians all lived in pretty
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  Speaker 1: much the same manner, most of us are aware that
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  Speaker 1: there were different tribes in our state at various times,
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  Speaker 1: and that they spoke different languages in some instances. If
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  Speaker 1: we use a comparison from European languages, we might better
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  Speaker 1: understand the character of these Indian languages. German, English, and
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  Speaker 1: Swedish all originated from the same parent tongue and belonged
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  Speaker 1: to the same basic language division. English and Chinese are
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  Speaker 1: unrelated tongues, belonging to different basic language stocks. Thus, while
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  Speaker 1: many words are very similar in English and German, in
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  Speaker 1: English and Chinese no apparent similarity exists. Three basic language divisions. Algonkian,
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  Speaker 1: Siuin and Iroquoian were represented by Wisconsin's Indians. Algonkian was
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  Speaker 1: represented by such tribes as the Menominee, Partuwaramie, Chippewa, Mascutin, Sauk, Fox, Ottawa,
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  Speaker 1: and Kickapoo. Relatively later rivals to Wisconsin in the eighteen hundreds,
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  Speaker 1: also speaking Algonkian tongues were the Munsi, Brotherton, and Stockbridge tribes.
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  Speaker 1: The Sun group included the Winnebago and the Santee division
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  Speaker 1: of the Dakota siouxs the Huron, and the Oneida. The
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  Speaker 1: latter also arriving in the eighteen hundreds were Wisconsin representatives
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  Speaker 1: of the Iroquoian language stock. The differences become more apparent
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  Speaker 1: when we realized that languages in the Iroquoian division would
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  Speaker 1: be as different from those in the Algonquian stock as
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  Speaker 1: English is from Chinese. The historic period in Wisconsin began
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  Speaker 1: when Jean Nicolette, the first known white man to visit Wisconsin,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: landed near what is now Green Bay in sixteen thirty four.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Nicolette's mission was to arrange a peace between the powerful
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: Winnebago tribe, or Puans as they were known to the
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: French and the Ottawa, who were then acting as middlemen
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: between the French and the Indians of the unknown Middle West.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Nicolette's journey into the Wisconsin Wilderness, a mere fourteen years
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: after the landing of our pilgrim forefathers at Plymouth Rock,
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: was the beginning of the period of French exploration and
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: rule in Wiscon, which is as romantic and fascinating a
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: story as any in our country's history. Imagine Nicolette's emotion
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: as he approached his destination, a lone white man with
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: seven Indians for companions, in a country which, as far
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: as was known, had never been before visited by a
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: white man. He had no idea as to what sort
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: of reception he would receive from the strange people he
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: was to visit. Their friendliness or enmity would be determined
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: upon arrival. Fortunately, he was hailed as a great visitor
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: and feasted and entertained. Accordingly, only three Indian tribes are
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: definitely known to have been residents of Wisconsin when Nicolette
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: visited here in sixteen thirty four. These were the Winnebago,
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: the Menominee, who resided along the shores of the Menominee
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: River above Green Bay, and the Santi Sioux, whose villages
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: were scattered along the upper reaches of the Mississippi River
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: in northwestern Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota. Documentary evidence strongly suggests
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: that some other tribes often mentioned as early residents, as
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: for example, the Mascutin, did not arrive until a generation later.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: Archaeological findings conclusively show the prehistoric occupation of Wisconsin by
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: the Santis Sioux and the Winnebago, and support the probability
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: of prehistoric occupation by the Menominee. Thus, Wisconsin was controlled
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: primarily by Sue and speaking peoples in sixteen thirty four,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: the peaceful Menominee were far outnumbered by their powerful neighbors,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: the Winnebago, but this situation was soon to change radically.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: Events occurring far to the east in what is now
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: New York State and eastern Canada were to profoundly affect
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: and change the Indian population of Wisconsin. When the French
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: began permanent settlement to along the Saint Lawrence, they found
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: the Huron and the Iroquois Confederacy engaged in a death
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: struggle for supremacy in the area. The French espoused to
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: the cause of the Hurons, who quickly became the middlemen
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: in the fur trade between the French the Western Indians.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: The Iroquois, who were farmers and hence controlled less land
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: than hunting tribes who were their neighbors, soon depleted their
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: land of fur bearing animals and began to plan acquisition
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: of land held by nearby tribes. At about this time,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: the Dutch considerately gave the Iroquois guns, and by this
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: act unleashed what was probably the most potent Indian military
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: confederacy in North America upon the Hurons, who were practically
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: exterminated in an amazingly short time. The Erie Tobacco nation
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: and Neutrals soon suffered the same fate as the Hurons.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: The Algonquian tribes, attacked first by the Neutrals and then
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: by the victorious Iroquois, fled pell Mell into eastern Michigan
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: and the Sioux area. Reader's note Sioux spelled s A
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: U l T. Eventually, most of these tribes either went
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: around the southern or the northern extremity of Lake Michigan
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: to arrive in the relative security of wilderness Wisconsin. The
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: exact dates for the arrival of these various dispossessed Eastern
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: tribes are not certain. We do know that they probably
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: came to Wisconsin some time after Nicolette's visit in sixteen
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: thirty four. The Muscutin, Potawattamie, Kickapoo, Soak, and Fox were
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: coming into Wisconsin before sixteen fifty four. Some Huron and
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: Ottawa settled here temporarily at this time, but by sixteen
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: seventy eight were compelled by the Sioux Reader's note spelling
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: s i O u X to flee back to the
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: Sioux Reader's note spelling s A U l T. The
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: Chippewa stayed around and west of the Straits of Mackinaw
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: and actually did not settle in Wisconsin until about sixteen seventy.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: The Winnebago at first defended themselves vigorously against the invading
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: refugee tribes. However, this constant warfare greatly reduced their numerical strength.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Further decimated by plagues, probably small pox introduced by the
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Whites and by famine, the Winnebago were compelled to make
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: peace with the invading Algonkians who eventually settled in great
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: numbers along the upper and lower Fox Rivers, the lower
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: reaches of the Wolf River, and in the vicinity of
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Green Bay. Fur trade with the Western Indians was successfully
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: blocked by the rampaging Iroquois for twenty odd years after
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: Nicolette's voyage of exploration into the Middle West, but with
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: the establishment of a brief peace, the Ottawa, who had
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: assumed the position of middlemen in the fur trade, sent
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: a large canoe fleet to the Western Indians, and soon
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: returned with large quantities of furs which had been accumulated
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: by the Indians during the Iroquois war. On the return journey,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: two young frenchmen, Radisson and Grosiers, went into Wisconsin with
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: the Ottawa and became the first known white traders in
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: the area. Other traders quickly followed their example, and by
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: sixteen seventy the fur trade in Wisconsin was proceeding at
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: a good pace. The Indians, even before actually being visited
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: by the Whites, had received European implements by trade with
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: other Indians, and soon learned the superiority of iron knives
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: and axes over those of stone. The arrival of the
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: white traders with their guns, kettles, cloth, brandy, and many
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: other trade items was eagerly awaited by the Indians of
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: what is now Wisconsin. As early as sixteen sixty eight,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: Pirot and traders with him had brought furs to Green
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: Bay La Bai. Great activity in the fur trade was
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: quick to follow, with the French traders using guns in brandy,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: particularly as an inducement to increase the tempo of fur
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: trapping by the Indian. The Indian was as anxious to
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: obtain the white man's goods as the trader was to
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: obtain the Indian's furs. This formed the basis for an
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: understanding mutually agreeable to Indian and trader alike. The fur
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: trade during the French regime went through many changes due
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: to changing circumstances and the issuing of different regulations from
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: time to time. The discovery of new western lands and
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: tribes spurred literally hundreds of Canadian youths to seek these
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: virgin territories and the riches in furs to be had there.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: At first, traders persuaded the Indians to make the long
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: trip to Montreal with their furs. The presence of so
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: many traders in the forests however, soon made these long
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: trips unnecessary. By the time Pirat began trading in Wisconsin,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: the traders were carrying their goods to the Indians in
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: their own country. Regulations required that all traders must be licensed,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: or by cone, as they were called. Twenty five of
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: these were issued each year and permitted the trader to
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: take a designated load of goods into the interior to
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: be traded for the Indians furs. The presence of great
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: numbers of unlicensed traders in the woods was responsible for
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: an edict from the king declaring such illegal traders to
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: be outlaws. The punishment for such activities was death. These
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: outlaw traders were known as curreuse de boi and were
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: actually never hampered too much by the stringent laws passed
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: against them. During the latter part of the seventeenth century,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: outposts were built to help control the trade. Nicholas Perrault
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: built posts at Mount Trempealou, at Lake Pepin, and at
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: the mouth of the Wisconsin River. The Sieur de Lute
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: Duluth built posts in the Lake Superior region. Since these
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: terms are often misused, it might be best to briefly
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: describe the following occupations. A bourgeois was an owner of
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: goods and a license. The hired men were called on gage.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: Those hired men who only carried the goods and paddled
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: the canoe for a stipulated daily hire were called voyageur.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: The Cochras des bois and sometimes the Woyajou were usually
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: the ones who often remained in the forests and went native.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: The impact of the white man's civilization was bound to
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: profoundly change the life and geography of the Indians, and
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: particularly in the early French period, this change change was
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: extremely rapid. Three groups were actively working to institute changes
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: in the Indian pattern of life. These were the fur trader,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: whose goods revolutionised the material culture of the natives, the
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: Jesuit missionaries who hoped to convert the tribes to Christianity,
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: and the French government itself, which attempted at various times
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: to relocate the tribes, form confederacies and even to civilize them.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: The fur trader was the only one of the three
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: groups who really succeeded in materially changing the Indian's way
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: of life, although his success was unintentional. So completely did
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: the materials of the white man replace those of the
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: Indian that within a few short generations almost no one
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: knew how to make stone, tools and weapons, pottery, vessels,
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: bows and arrows, and many other aboriginal products, which were
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: abandoned as rapidly as superior goods of the whites were
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: made available. The change in tools and weapons naturally changed
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: the Indian's pattern of life in many ways, but the
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: entire economy of the tribes was affected greatly by the
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: fur trade. The Indian's need for the white man's goods
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: was great, and he became more and more dependent upon
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: the trader. As the tempo of fur trading increased, the
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: Indian began devoting almost all of his time to hunting
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: and trapping, until, in a sense, he became an employee
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: in a great fur trade factory, with the goods he
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: received from the trader representing his wages. Much of the
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: Indian's old life of freedom gradually disappeared, since failure to
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: obtain guns or powder and bullets meant starvation for the
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: Indian and his family. Perhaps the worst effect of the
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: contact between the Europeans and the Indians was the introduction
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: of brandy, always an effective persuader in bargaining, and the
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: introduction of European diseases, particularly venereal disease and smallpox, the
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: latter in some instances wiping out entire tribes. The tendency
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: for tribes to congregate around fur trade areas at the
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: behest of the the traders also had a detrimental effect
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: upon the Indians in the Fox River Valley and around
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: Green Bay. This overpopulation resulted in famine and the voluntary
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: exodus of some tribes before seventeen hundred, among them the
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Miami and some of the Kickapoo and Moscutine. It should
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: be noted that the adoption of new materials and living
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: habits was not entirely one sided. The white man learned
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: how to use the Indian's birch bark, canoe, many of
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: his foods, tobacco, moccasins, snow shoes, and often buckskin clothing.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: Both the Jesuits and the French military deliberately aimed at
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: changing the Indian's way of life, but their aims were
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: in direct opposition to one another. The Jesuits were not
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: interested in civilizing the Indians. They desired to see these
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: simple people maintained in their original ignorance except for their
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: belief in the One True God, and such simple improvements
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: in agriculture and other techniques as would improve their lot
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: as mission Indians. The Jesuits, not without some justification, regarded
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: contact between their charges and the French traders and soldiers
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: as having a demoralizing influence. Despite great heroism and prodigious
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: efforts on the part of the missionaries, permanent effects on
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: the Indians by the Jesuits was to prove almost negligible.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: The Wisconsin Indian was highly warlike and found it difficult
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: to appreciate the humility preached by the missionary. The Indian
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: regarded such behavior as effeminate. Nevertheless, the story of their
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: efforts to christianize the tribes and the valor of these
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: missionaries in exploring unknown territory makes a fascinating story in
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: our state's history. Not the least among such heroic deeds
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: was the Great Voyage of Exploration by Father Jacques Marquette
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: and Louis Jolie. Traveling up the Fox River, crossing over
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: on foot at what is now Portage, Wisconsin, and proceeding
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: down the Wisconsin River. The two explorers entered the Mississippi
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: River on the seventeenth of June's sixteen seventy three, they
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: explored the Great River as far south as the Arkansas
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: River and then returned by way of the Illinois River.
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: This great discovery made known a continuous water route from
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico and open
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: to the French the interior of a vast continent. It
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: was the desire to exploit and unify this vast wilderness
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: empire that led the French leaders to attempt deliberate changes
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: in the Wisconsin Indian geography and political structure. This was
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: necessary in order to strengthen the Wisconsin tribes and keep
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: them fighting the Iroquois, who consistently raided the Western Indians
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: and the French settlements along the Saint Lawrence LaSalle conceived
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: the idea of a Great Indian Confederacy, which it was
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: hoped would be able to successfully oppose the mighty Iroquois,
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: and so built forts in the Illinois country to help
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: defend the area. The Wisconsin Moscutin and Kickapoo left this area,
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: partly because of their desire to join the confederacy and
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: partly because of the population pressure in the Fox River Valley.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: The year before the Iroquois invasions of sixteen eighty. Delute
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: helped to strengthen the French cause by negotiating peace between
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: the Dakota Sioux and their enemy of long standing, the Chippewa,
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: and also reconciling the Dakota Sioux and a Sinaboine who
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: had been warning for thirty years. Nicholas Piraut probably was
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: the most influential French officer ever to have worked with
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: the Wisconsin tribes. It was mainly through his constant efforts
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: that they were kept from going over to the Iroquois
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: when the tribes felt that the French had abandoned them.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: Piraut was probably the only Frenchman to remain consistently on
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: friendly terms with the Foxes, who eventually were to engage
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: the French in the bloodiest Indian War ever to be
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: fought on Wisconsin soil. Piraut constantly traveled from village to
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: village organizing raids against the Iroquois, raids which eventually assisted
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: in forcing the Iroquois to sue for peace. The French,
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: through the efforts of men like lasal Pirout and Aleute,
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: had once again secured a firm hold on the Western tribes,
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: but the Iroquois warfare of the sixteen eighties had caused
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: a slump in the fur trade. The trade was moreover
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: soon to receive a blow which was to almost completely
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: kill all official commerce between the Indians and the French
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: for a number of years. This was the issuance of
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: a royal edict by the French King May twenty first,
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: sixteen ninety six, revoking all fur trade licenses and prohibiting
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: all colonials from carrying goods to the Western country. There
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: were really two main causes for the issuance of this edict.
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: One was a slump in the beaver market caused by
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: the great flood of furs into France and a decline
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: in beaver hat production due partly to the emigration of
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: the Huguenots, who were the main hat felters. The other
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: cause for the edict was the anger of the Jesuits,
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: aroused by the sale of brandy to the Indians by
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: the traders and soldiers. It was hoped that the Indian
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: tribes would make the journey to Montreal themselves to trade
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: their furs, but it was soon discovered that most tribes
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: either would not or could not make such a journey.
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: For purposes of trade. The result, of course, was severe
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: hardship for the Indians of Wisconsin. Lack of gunpowder and
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: lead restricted their hunting abilities and made it more difficult
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: for them to defend themselves against the Iroquois and other
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: hostile tribes. The Indians were becoming increasingly dependent upon the French,
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: to the extent that they had lost much of the
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: freedom they had enjoyed as a self sufficient people. The
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: rapid abandonment of the western posts followed the fur trade ban.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: The commanders of these outposts, for the most part, did
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: not consider it worthwhile to stay on in that capacity
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: if they could not enrich themselves by means of the
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: Indian trade. Peace was finally arranged between the Iroquois and
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: the French and their Indian allies in seventeen hundred. The
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: Iroquois had suffered heavily from the raids by the Western Indians.
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: They claimed to have lost more than half their warriors.
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: With the fear of the Iroquois raids ended, the confederacies
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: of Western tribes quickly fell apart, and the latter turned
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: to fighting among themselves as they had always done in
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: the past. The French military now decided on a concentration policy.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: The western posts were to be restricted to three main centers.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: These were to be at Detroit, New Orleans, and near
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: Tonti's post in the Illinois country. Fairly large numbers of
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: troops were stationed at these posts to provide adequate defense,
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: and the Western tribes were to be concentrated in these areas.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: This would facilitate the fur trade by permitting the Indians
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: to trap their furs and bring them directly to the
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: trading centers. The French government also hoped to civilize the Indians,
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: teaching them to farm the land, learn the French language,
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: and eventually even participate in the colonial economy. The concentration
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: policy was foredoomed to failure. The Wisconsin tribes, of whom
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: many were hereditary enemies, needed a spark to set them
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: at one another's throats. This led to trouble at Detroit,
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: which resulted in the Bloody Fox Wars, long costly fighting
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: for the French, which contributed much towards their final downfall
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: in the New World. End of chapter two, Chapter three
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: of the Indians in Wisconsin's History. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Read
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: by Verlavieira. The Indians in Wisconsin's History by John M. Douglas.
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: The Fox Wars and the Fall of New France, events
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: occurring in Wisconsin during the first half of the eighteenth
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: century were to bode little good for the French and
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: were to contribute towards the final downfall of New France
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: at the hands of the British. For a good share
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: of the years between seventeen oh one and seventeen thirty eight,
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: the French were to be largely occupied with the attempt
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: to subjugate the Fox, Indians and their allies. Not only
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: were the expeditions against the Fox to prove costly to
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: the French, but the enmity of the Fox required shiftings
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: of trade routes. As an inevitable result, friction between the
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: French and English traders developed, since the Fox at times
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: blocked both the Fox River in Wisconsin and the Illinois
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: River to the French traders. The determined resistance of the
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: Fox also prevented the fruition of French hopes to dominate
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: the Western tribes and influence them to espouse the French cause. Furthermore,
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: the difficulty experienced by the French military in conquering a
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: relatively small group of Wisconsin Indians did little to further
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: French prestige among other Western tribes. The First Fox War
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: was actually the result of the French concentration policy. Within
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: a few years after the found of Detroit in seventeen
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: o one by the Sieux de Cadillac, there were almost
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: six thousand Indians in the vicinity of the fort. The Fox, meanwhile,
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: determined to prevent the carrying of guns to their enemy,
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: The Dakota Sioux, were halting French traders attempting to proceed
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: up the Fox River on their journey to the Sioux
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: Country on the Upper Mississippi. A French fort in the
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: Sioux Country was also abandoned after the loss of several
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: men due to attacks by the Fox. Cadillac, realizing the
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: need for some measure to bring these warlike tribesmen under control,
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: in seventeen ten, invited the Fox, along with the other
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: tribes resident around Green Bay, to come and reside near Detroit.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: At this crucial time, when so much depended on the
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: leadership of a Frenchman experienced in handling the tribes. Cadillac,
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: probably the most capable colonial officer of the times, was
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: sent to Louisiana as governor of that colony. The new
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: commandant at Detroit had none of Cadillac's ability with the Indians.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: The arrival of the Fox and their allies, the Kickapoo,
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: Soak and the Scutin was the signal for trouble. These
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: tribesmen were feared as well as hated by the other
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: Indians about Detroit. After a band of Moscutin were attacked
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: by the Ottawa near the Saint Joseph River during the
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: winter of seventeen eleven to seventeen twelve, the Fox, in revenge,
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: immediately attacked the Ottawa and Huron at the Detroit post.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: The Detroit commandant sided with the Ottawa and Huron and
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: permitted them to seek refuge in the French fort. Shortly after,
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: the Fox erected a stockade of their own and made
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: preparations for a long fight. The French and their allies
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: were reinforced by a large band of Illinois, Missouri, O Sage, Potawatamie,
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: and Menominee. This greatly superior force laid siege to the
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: Fox fort, and the latter soon offered to surrender. The
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: French and their Indian supporters, however, were now determined to
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: completely extend germinate their enemies. After a siege of nineteen days,
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: the Fox attempted to escape by taking advantage of cover
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: offered on a dark, rainy night. They were pursued, overtaken,
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: and the great majority of them were slaughtered. This was
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: a victory for the French, but a very costly one
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: for the Fox, and their allies still had a great
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: many warriors in the forests of Wisconsin. These, in retaliation,
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: began a war of extermination against the allies of the
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: French who had participated in the Detroit massacre, and the
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: hunted tribesmen soon complained that their people were starving because
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: they dared not hunt in the forests lest their men
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: be slain by the vengeful Fox. The summer of seventeen
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: sixteen saw the first white army ever to invade the
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: forests of Wisconsin, the Sierrie de Luvigny in May of
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: that year left Montreal with an army of several hundred
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: French and a force of mission Indians, determined to compel
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: the Fox to sue for peace. He arrived in Wisconsin
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: with his army augmented by Western tribesmen and coucheu de
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: bois who had been granted pardons for joining the expedition
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: at their own expense. With his total force amounting to
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: about eight hundred men, Louvignyi besieged the fortified Fox village,
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: situated near Little Lake Butemore. While the French kept up
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: a fire with two small cannon and a grenade mortar,
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: they sank a trench towards the Fox fort, determined to
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: mine the place and blow it up. The Fox surrendered
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: after three days of fighting and agreed to accept terms
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: which Louvignyi thought very severe, but which his Indian allies
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: regarded as over mild. The terms include the requirement that
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: the Fox pay for the costs of the expedition against
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: them by means of furs yet to be gathered, to
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: give up prisoners taken from the allies of the French,
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: to furnish a number of hostages, to guarantee their future
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: good behavior, and to cede their territory to the French king.
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: The peace temporarily halted the bloody warfare of the four
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: preceding years. And permitted the fur trade to be resumed.
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: The concentration policy had proven to be a failure, and
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: shortly after the death of Louis the fourteenth in seventeen fifteen,
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: the posts were once more occupied and the licensing system
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: for the fur trade was restored. A fort was built
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: at Labai Green Bay in seventeen seventeen, and a post
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: was occupied at Shaquamigon Bay to keep the Chippewa from
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: attacking the Fox and causing a resumption of war, and
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: also to regulate the fur trade in that area. The
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: quite considerable friction between the colonies of Canada and Louisiana
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: provided the background for the events which led directly to
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: the Second Fox War. There was considerable argument as to
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: the exact boundaries of Illinois, which now was annexed to Louisiana,
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: although originally settled by Canadians. The Fox took advantage of
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: these feelings of hostility by attacking the Illinois in the
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: vicinity of Kaskaskia, even killing Frenchmen in this area. The
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: Fox claimed the Illinois would not return Fox prisoners as
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: they had promised according to treaty. The Canadian governor Baudroi
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: tended to side with the Fox in the argument. After
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: the death of Baudroy, his temporary successor, Baron de long Way,
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: ordered the Sieur de Linierie commandant at Mackinaw to enforce
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: a peace between the Fox, Kickapoo and Moscutin and their
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: enemies the Illinois. The Fox promised to obey this demand,
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: and in order to ensure their obedience, a new post
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: was built in the Sioux country. This was rendered necessary
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: by the fact that the Dakota Sioux had now become
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: allies of the Fox, and the French intended to make
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: sure that no aid would be coming to the Fox
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: from that warlike tribe. The three forts in the northwest
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: at Chiquamigon Bay, Le Bay and on the Upper Mississippi
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: in the Sioux Country were to be maintained rather steadily
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: until near the end of the French regime. Meanwhile, the
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: Fox chief Kiala had succeeded in forming an alliance against
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: the French, between the Fox and their longtime allies the
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: Kickapoo and Moscutin, and a series of other tribes, including,
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: in addition to the nearby Winnebago, such far distant tribes
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: as the Abnaki and Seneca in the east, and the Dakota, Sioux, Missouri, Iowa,
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: and Otto in the west. Kiala hoped by this means
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: to form a hostile circle about the French, which would
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: end in their complete defeat, a plan similar to that
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: later attempted by Pontiac and Tecumza. The Marquis de Baurnois,
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: appointed governor of Canada to replace Vaudroy, was determined that
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: the raids on the Illinois and the French at Kaskaskia
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: must be stopped. A French army was once more sent
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: against the Fox, this time headed by the Sieur de Lignerie.
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: The expedition numbered about four hundred French and approximately one
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: thousand Indians. Warned by the Potawatamie, the Fox escaped from
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: their villages, and the other army arrived at each to
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: find it deserted. At Little Lake Butemore, the soldiers refused
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: to go farther, and Linirie had to be satisfied with
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: the burning of the Fox and Winnebago villages and their
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: stores of food. Despite the poor showing of Lenieri's expedition
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: against the Fox, Kiala's confederacy began to fall apart. Even
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: their old allies, the Moscutin and Kickapoo, were persuaded by
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: the French to turn against them, and the Sioux, closely
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: watched by the French, no longer could give the Fox
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: refuge in their country. Discouraged by these losses and defeated
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: by the French under the capable Paul Marin, the Fox
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: decided to flee to the Iroquois country. The Fox had
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: long been secretly treating with the English and the Seneca,
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: a member tribe of the Iroquois Confederacy, and hoped to
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: find a friendly reception in their country. Warned by the
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: Moscutin and Kickapoo regarding the plans of the Fox, French
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: officers from nearby posts hastily gathered together Indians allies and
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: prepared to attack their fleeing enemies. The Fox, warned by
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: their scouts of the force advancing against them, hastily erected
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: a stockade and prepared to fight for their lives. They
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: managed to fight off the besiegers for twenty three days.
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: Then on a stormy night, they attempted flight, but were
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: quickly overtaken. Almost all of the band were either slaughtered
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: or taken as slaves. After the few survivors of this disaster,
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: seeking refuge in their village near the mouth of the
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: Wisconsin River, were attacked by Detroit Indians. Kiala and three
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: other chiefs offered to give themselves up, asking mercy for
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: themselves and the fifty surviving warriors, supposedly all that were
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: left of the entire tribe. De Villiers accepted the surrender
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: and hastened to Montreal with his prisoners. De Villiers was
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: ordered to return and kill off the rest of the Fox,
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: taking only the women and children as prisoners. These were
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: to be sold into slavery. Like Kiala, who was faded
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: to and his days as a slave in the West Indies.
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: De Villiers returned to the Sac village at Green Bay
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: and demanded that the Sac release the remnant of Fox survivors.
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: The Sak declined to release warriors with whom they had
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: strong blood ties, and in an attempt to force an entrance,
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: one of de Villier's sons was killed. The French quickly retaliated,
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: and in the exchange of fire, de Villiers himself was
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: killed by a twelve year old boy who later became
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: renowned as the Sac Chief Blackbird. In the battle that
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: followed the Sieur du Pacie, the Sieur de Repentignies, and
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: six other Frenchmen quickly met the same fate. The sac
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: and Fox, too, lost heavily and fled to the vicinity
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: of the present day city of Nnasha. The bloody battle
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: that ensued there, it is said, accounts for the name
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: but Deemor or Hill of the Dead. As a result
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: of this battle, the remainder of the Fox and the
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: sok amalgamated, and for all practical purposes, became one try.
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: They fled into Iowa, where they erected a new fort,
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: and gradually their ranks were swelled by fox released from
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: captivity by tribes now secretly in sympathy with the Sock
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: and Fox. One more expedition was sent against them, led
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: by the Sieur de Noiyel, but although he followed the
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: sac and Fox to the vicinity of the des Moines River,
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: they were so well entrenched that it was impossible to
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: dislodge them, and the expedition returned home without success. Eventually,
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: the Fox Wars were brought to an end through a
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: policy of conciliation inaugurated in seventeen forty by Paul Morin.
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: The new commandant at Levy Force had in the long
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: run proven a failure in the campaign to completely subjugate
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: the Fox. Throughout the first half of the eighteenth century,
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: the French, as we have seen, had been occupied with
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: more or less constant warfare with the Fox. This warfare
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: was the dominant note in the history of Wisconsin for
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: this period, and in general, the role of other Wisconsin
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: tribes during this era was that of serving as allies
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: either of the French or of the Fox. The failure
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: of Noyel's expedition against the Fox had helped to lower
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: French prestige among the western tribes, and in seventeen thirty six,
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: the Sioux, angered by French friendship for the Chippewa and Cree,
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: murdered a French officer, a priest, and a party of
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: nineteen voyageurs. From this time on, the Sioux could no
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: longer be numbered among the allies of the French. By
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: seventeen thirty nine, the Sioux Chippewa War flamed into action,
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: and the Sioux were driven westward from the areas of
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: Wisconsin now held by the Chippewa. Warfare between the English
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: and the French in America again was to seriously affect
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: the Western tribes. This conflict, lasting from seventeen forty four
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: to seventeen forty eight, saw the fur trade with the
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: Western tribes reach extremely low proportions. Goods were very scarce
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: due to the loss of French ships at the hands
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: of British fighting vessels, and this failure to produce sufficient
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: goods for the Indians, in addition to the already declining
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: prestige of the French, encouraged some of the Western tribes
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: to seek more favorable relations with the British. Most of
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: the Huron, under Chief Nicolas, began trading with the British,
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: and many other Western tribes exhibited the same inclination. The
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: end of the current conflict with the English enabled the
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: French to regain control of these tribes, but the Miami
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: had moved into Ohio and established a large village called Picawallane,
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: which became a fairly permanent camp for a number of
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: English traders. Several expeditions against this village by the French
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: failed in seventeen fifty two. However, Charles de Langlade, later
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: famed as one of Wisconsin's pioneer French settlers at Green Bay,
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: who was part French and part Ottawa, and who thus
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: had tremendous influence among the Indians, led an expedition against Picawellani,
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: which enjoyed remarkable success. The village was destroyed, the English
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: traders captured, and the Miami returned to French allegiance. For
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: a while, France again enjoyed supremacy in the West. In
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: seventeen fifty five, lang Laid and his contingent of Wisconsin
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: and Mackinaw Braves participated in the famous Battle culminating in
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: Braddock's defeat. Chippewa, Menominee, Pottawatamie, and Winnebago were said to
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: be present at this engagement, and for many years thereafter
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: trophies of this battle were to be found in Wisconsin
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: Indian lodges. Despite the severe defeat of the British and
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: American colonials, the fortunes of the French were destined to
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: take a turn for the worse. By seventeen sixty one,
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: Wisconsin was under British control, and in seventeen sixty three
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: France formally surrendered the rest of her American possessions to England.
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: She had seated Louisiana to Spain the year before. Much
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: had happened to Wisconsin's Indians. Touring this period roughly from
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: seventeen hundred to seventeen sixty, The long and bloody Fox
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: Wars had brought hardship on the other tribes as well
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: as on the Fox. The Sioux Chippewa War had resulted
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: in the Sioux being forced to relinquish most of their
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: Wisconsin territory to the Chippewa. The Pottawatamie Indians, who had
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: fought under Langlade and participated in the killing of the
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: unarmed English and Americans at Fort William Henry, were visited
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: by a grim vengeance in the form of smallpox, contracted
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: from the English soldiers and brought back by the tribes
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: to their own country, where it raged virtually unchecked. Great
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: numbers of Indians lost their lives As a result. Other
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: tribes left Wisconsin, some never to return. The Kickapoo and
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: Moscutine were now in Illinois and Indiana. The Pottawatamie were
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: below Lake Michigan at Saint Joseph. Thus many of the
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: tribes here when the French traders and missionaries first arrived.
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: No longer were in the Wisconsin Sceine. The tribe's remaining
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: here were destined to know new masters, the British, who
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: were to control the fur trade in Wisconsin until the
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: end of the War of eighteen twelve. End of chapter three,
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: Chapter four of The Indians in Wisconsin's History. This is
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: Read by Verla Vieira. The Indians in Wisconsin's History by
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: John M. Douglas. The period of British control British military
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: control of Wisconsin was ushered in with the arrival of
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: Ensign James Gorel at Green Bay on the twelfth of
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: October seventeen sixty one. With the aid of his two
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: non commissioned officers and fifteen privates, Gorels set about to
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: restore or the old French fort, which he renamed Fort
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: Edward Augustus in honor of the Duke of York. His
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: next task was to win over the French chabitat about
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: the fort, and to gain the sympathy of the Indians
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: in the area for the British cause. Apparently, Gorel was
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: quite successful in both tasks. The French abitint about the
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: posts taken over by the British found it rather easy
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: for the most part to transfer their allegiance to the
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: British crown, since they were given the same privileges they
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: enjoyed under French authority. Moreover, the British traders found it
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: more advantageous to form partnerships with the more experienced French
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: traders than to attempt to supersede them. British success with
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: the Indians varied according to local conditions at the different forts.
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: The British were not inclined to give presents as liberally
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: as the French had done, and it was not British
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: policy to fraternize or intermarry with their savage allies. The
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: feeling of inferiority prompted by this treatment caused resentment among
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: many tribes in central Wisconsin. However, Gorl's diplomatic treatment of
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: the Indians added to the fact that the sac Fox, Winnebago,
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: and Menominee held a certain amount of resentment towards the French.
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: Swung these tribes over to the British the promises of
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: medals and commissions to the Indian chiefs, and the fact
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: that the British trade goods were cheaper by far than
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: those offered by the French also tended to offset the
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: more arrogant treatment of the tribes by the British. Gorel's
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: success with the Indians of central Wisconsin was very important
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: to Wisconsin history, for in seventeen sixty three, the British
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: were compelled to deal with a widespread Indian uprising, largely
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: led by Pontiac, chief of an Ottawa tribe from around
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: the Straits of Mackinaw and one of the most able
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: Indian leaders who ever lived. It was Pontiac's plan to
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: drive all the British and Colonials into the sea by
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: means of an alliance of Indian tribes from the Alleghanies
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: to the Mississippi River and from the Ohio River to
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: the Great Lakes. Pontiac's chief claim to greatness lies in
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: his remarkable feat of keeping a number of tribes together
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: for a seven month siege of Detroit, a unique event
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: in Indian warfare. In addition to the attack on Detroit,
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: concerted attacks were made on other British posts, of which
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: a number fell, including the one at Mackinaw. The failure
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: of the Indians to take Fort's Detroit, Pitt and Niagara
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: assured defeat for Pontiac's campaign. On June second, seventeen sixty three,
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: the Chippewa Indians took Fort Mackinaw by a clever subterfuge.
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: They faked a game of lacrosse in front of the
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: stockade and pretended accidentally to knock the ball into the fort.
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: As the players rushed after the ball, they seized guns
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: from the watching Indian women, who had concealed the weapons
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: under their blankets. Most of the garrison was massacred before
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: they had a chance to defend themselves. The loyalty to
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: the British of Wisconsin, sac Fox when a baby and
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: Menominee Indians, and the timely arrival of a delegation of
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: Sioux sworn enemies of the Chippewa, probably saved Green Bay
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: from a similar fate. Etherington hastily summoned Gorel to his assistance.
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: Gorel abandoned Fort Edward Augustus at green Bay, and with
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: the aid of ninety men of the sac Fox, Menominee,
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: and Winnebago tribes, succeeded in obtaining the prisoner's release from
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: the Indians. The party then proceeded on to Montreal. British
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: military occupation of Wisconsin was not resumed until the War
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: of eighteen twelve. The Pontiac Rebellion also served to bring
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: the problems relating to the Indians home to the British government,
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: and probably helped as an incentive to the issuance of
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: the Proclamation of seventeen sixty three. British subjects were now
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: forbidden to purchase lands west of the Appalachian Mountains without
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: special license. It was hoped that this would prevent further
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: encroachments by white settlers upon Indian lands. Trade with dad
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: the Indians was to be permitted where licenses with the
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: various colonial governments had been procured. Moreover, since Wisconsin was
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: not included in the limits of any of the colonies,
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: Wisconsin was left without any government other than that exercised
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: by the military at Mackinaw. This matter was not rectified
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: until seventeen seventy four, when the Quebec Act placed Wisconsin
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: under the authority of the Governor of Canada. Mackinaw became
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: the seat of Wisconsin's fur trade. When the fort was
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: rebuilt there in seventeen sixty four, it was the only
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: fort northwest of Detroit with government officers and Indian agents.
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: By seventeen sixty seven, large numbers of traders were coming
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: into the Wisconsin area. The Indians by this time were
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: so dependent on the white trader that any interruption in
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: the supply of goods flowing to the Indians worked severe
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: hardships upon them. Wisconsin's fur trade was still largely controlled
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: by Montreal investors, mostly British. The actual traders, however, who
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: contacted the Indians were still primarily Frenchmen, and this was
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: to remain so throughout Wisconsin's fur trade period. Some competition
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: in Wisconsin was given to the British by Spanish and
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: French traders from Louisiana, which had become Spanish territory by
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: the Peace Treaty in seventeen sixty three, but the British
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: managed to retain the bulk of the northwest fur trade
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: with the Indians. Wisconsin's Indians did not participate strongly in
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: the American Revolution, but they did take part in some action.
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: Charles de Langlade, half French half Ottawa, Indian leader who
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: helped the French so efficiently during the French and Indian War,
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: now espoused the British cause as ardently as he had
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: the French. Langlade's tremendous influence over the Indians was well known,
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: and the British hoped to persuade him to obtain Wisconsin
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: Indian help in fighting the colonists. Langlade did succeed in
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: leading Chippewa and Ottawa east to help Burgoyne in seventeen
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: seventy seven, and in seventeen seventy eight Wisconsin Indians went
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: to Detroit to help General Hamilton. On the whole. However,
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: Wisconsin's Indians were too disinterested in the White Man's War
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: to be enthusiastic about long trips east to aid the British.
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: The American Revolutionary War hero Major George Rogers Clark, whose
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: capture of Vincennes and Kaskaskia and the French villages of
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: the Illinois Country provided the basis for United States claims
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: to the Northwest Territory. During the peace negotiations between the
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: British and the United States, called together a Great Assembly
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: of Indians at Cahokia, Illinois in seventeen seventy eight and
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: succeeded in obtaining their pledges of allegiance to the United States.
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: Many Wisconsin Indians attended the meeting, including the noted Blackbird,
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: chief of a Milwaukee village composed of Ottawa, Chippewa and Pottawatomie.
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: Blackbird apparently remained loyal to the American cause. Major Clark's
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: influence with the Wisconsin Indians tended to nullify the efforts
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: of Charles Langlade and other French officers in the service
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: of England to mobilize the Wisconsin Indians against the United States.
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: In seventeen eighty, England utilized some Wisconsin Indians in an
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: attack on the Spanish, with whom she was then at war.
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: Twelve hundred warriors were assembled at Prairie to Sheene and
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: marched on Saint Louis, aided by the fact that they
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: had advanced knowledge of the enemy movements, that some of
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: the tribesmen were more or less sympathetic with the American cause,
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: and that the Indians showed no enthusiasm for attacking. In
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: the face of cannon fire, the Spanish and Americans succeeded
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: in routing the attackers. After this action, Wisconsin's Indians were
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: not involved in any important campaigns during the remaining years
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: of the American Revolution. British control of Wisconsin's Indians did
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: not cease with the end of the Revolutionary War. Despite
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: the British agreement in the Treaty of Paris in seventeen
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: eighty three to turn over their posts at Niagara, Detroit
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: and Michela MacKinnon, they continued to hold these forts until
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: after the Jay Treaty of seventeen ninety four. It was
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: not until October seventeen ninety six that Mackinaw, the last
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: post to be turned over by the British, was officially
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: occupied by American troops. The British, however, still maintained their
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: control over Wisconsin's Indians through the fur trade, now operating
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: from posts just across the Canadian border. Within a month
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: after the declaration of war against England by the American
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: Congress in eighteen twelve, Mackinaw was retaken by the British
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: and Menominee and Winnebago Indians from Wisconsin. Among the Menominee
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: were chiefs Toma and Oshkosh, the latter destined to become
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: a famous Menominee leader and friend of the Americans. Within
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: another month, Fort Dearborn at Chicago was attacked by Indians,
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: and most of its civilian and military inhabitants massacred. Menominee, Pottawatamie,
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 1: and Winnebago. Indians from Wisconsin took part in this attack.
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: The Americans were well aware of the strategic importance of
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: Prairie Duchine in any attempt to control Wisconsin's Indians. In
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: June eighteen fourteen, Fort Shelby, probably the first building over
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: which an American flag ever flew in Wisconsin, was erected.
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: At this strategic location. Lieutenant Perkins and sixty men were
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: left in charge at the fort. The British quickly determined
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: to drive out the Americans and succeeded in forcing Perkins
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: to surrender the fort. On July nineteenth, eighteen fourteen. About
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: five hundred Indians, mostly Menominee, Chippewa, Winnebago, and Sioux, took
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: part in the assault on the American post. The British
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: renamed the post Fort Mackay and managed to hold it
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: against the Americans until, in agreement with the Treaty of Ghent,
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: they finally abandoned the fort in May eighteen fifteen, and
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: British control of Wisconsin's Indians was finally at an end.
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: The fate of Wisconsin's Indians was now in the hands
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: of the United States government. End of chapter four, Chapter
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: five of The Indians in Wisconsin's History. This is a
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: Read by Verla Vieira. The Indians in Wisconsin's History by
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: John M. Douglas. The period of American settlement, Wisconsin's Indians
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: under the French and British had become increasingly dependent upon
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: the white Man. Without the invader's tools, weapons, utensils, and
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: various other things which the Indian had come to depend upon,
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: he found himself unable to supply himself with the necessities
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: of life. The French and British traders, of course, were
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: interested almost exclusively in procuring furs from the Indians, and
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: as long long as the Aborigines could obtain furs for them,
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: the traders would supply their needs. The Americans, however, were
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: primarily interested in exploiting and settling the Indian's land. Fur
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: trading was secondary, as they pushed into the new territory
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: and ever increasing numbers, first to exploit the lead mines
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: of southwestern Wisconsin and then to farm the fertile soil.
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: The Indian was doomed to be relentlessly pushed aside. He
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: had lost his independence. Now he was to lose his
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: land and the very means of his livelihood. The arrival
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: of the Americans upon the Wisconsin sine pleased Neither the
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: Indians nor the French traders. Both relied to a great
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: extent on the fur trade, and they knew that the
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: clearing of land by the settlers would hasten the end
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: of this activity. Many of the French, too had Indian
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: blood and considered their cause as one with the Indians.
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: The United States government first showed poor judgment in its
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: own attempt to make these people conform to American standards.
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: For example, the French and Indians were warned that common
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: law marriages between the two races would no longer be tolerated,
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: but must be legalized by either a civil or church ceremony,
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: and violators would face punishment. Both the French and Indians
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: bitterly fought what seemed to them oppression, and eventually later
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: decisions recognized the legality of common law unions of earlier regimes.
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: Wisconsin's Indian agents were for a time under the authority
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: of two superintendents of Indian affairs. Lewis Cass, governor of
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 1: Michigan Territory of which Wisconsin was apart from eighteen eighteen
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: to eighteen thirty six, was in charge of the Indian
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: agent at Green Bay. The agent at Prairie Duchene worked
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: under the direction of William Clark, who, as Superintendent of
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: Saint Louis from eighteen o seven to eighteen thirty eight,
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: had authority to the source of the Mississippi River. These
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: agents distributed annuities and payments due the Indians, and attempted
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: to keep white settlers from squatting on Indian land. The settlers, however,
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: rudely took over Indian land, and in the inevitable conflict
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: that followed, the militia and army would be called out
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: to protect the whites. In the ensuing peace treaty, the
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: Indians would be forced to see their lands and move westward.
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: Wisconsin's early territorial period was also the era of the
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: frontier fort manned by the regular U. S. Army. Since
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: the pay for the ordinary soldier was very small, the
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: army attracted men who could not succeed elsewhere or immigrants
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: who wished to desert at the first opportunity and travel westward.
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: The officers, however, were of different character. Entirely educated at
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: West Point, they were by far the most educated and
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: cultured men in the frontier settlements. With their wives, they
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: represented the cream of Wisconsin society of this period. Wisconsin
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: had three main forts along the Fox Wisconsin Waterway. Fort
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: Howard was erected at Green Bay in eighteen sixteen, the
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: same year that Fort Crawford was established at Prairie to Sheen.
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: Fort Winnebago was built at what is now Portage in
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: eighteen twenty eight. Shortly after the Red Bird Rebellion. The
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: United States Army did its best to maintain peace between
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: the Indians and whites, and to protect the Indians from
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: unlicensed traders and sometimes legitimate ones who illegally sold whisky
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: to them. In their efforts in this direction, they often
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: found themselves in conflict with civil authorities, who sometimes protected
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: the traders apprehended in such violations. The fur trade continued
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: in Wisconsin while the population was primarily Indian, but by
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: eighteen thirty five it was no longer of any significance
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: in this area. Following the War of eighteen tine twelve,
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: the United States government set up fur trade factories at
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 1: Prairie Duchine in Green Bay, hoping by this means to
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: control some of the evils, one of the most vicious
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: of which was the peddling of whiskey to the Indians.
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: The whisky was usually diluted with water and adulterates such
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: as turpentine or even corrosive acids added to restore the bite.
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: The government entry into the fur trade was unsuccessful. The factors,
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: as the proprietors of the trade factories were called, lacked
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: experience in dealing with the Indians. They did not give
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: credit advancements to them as did the other traders, and
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 1: the American Fur Company applied pressure on Congress to end
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 1: this system. Gradually, this company acquired the fur trade monopoly
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: in this area. Solomon Juno, Milwaukee's famous founder, was one
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: of the American Fur Company's agents in what is now
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 1: the state of Wisconsin. The gradual decadence of the fur trade,
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 1: of course, increased the hardships of Wisconsin tribes. As settlers
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: began encroaching on the Indian's land, conflicts were inevitable. John C. Calhoun,
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: the Secretary of War, in eighteen twenty five, sponsored a
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: plan for the removal of Eastern tribes across the Mississippi
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: to the western plains. It was believed that by furnishing
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 1: them with equipment for hunting and farming, they could survive
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: readily and would be safe from further pressure by white homesteaders.
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: No one realized at this time how soon these western
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: lands would be overrun by the relentless pressure of the
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: American pioneer. The land purchased from the Indians was to
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: be made available to American settlers. The lands of certain
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: tribes of Wisconsin Indians were to be included in this
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: overall plan. Unfortunately, for the smooth functioning of this operation,
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: the Indians did not care to leave the land on
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: which they and their ancestors had hunted for so long
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 1: a time, and traveled to new hume hunting grounds. In
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: many instances, they were not removed without a show of force,
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: sometimes with considerable blood being shed by both Whites and Indians.
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: In eighteen twenty five, Lewis Cass and William Clark held
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: a conference of Wisconsin tribes at Prairie to Sheen. They
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: hoped to establish definite boundaries for the holdings of the
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: different tribes in order to eliminate friction between them. This
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 1: would also facilitate future land purchases from the Indians. Roughly
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: these boundaries were recognized. The southwest and southeast corners of
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: Wisconsin were allotted to the southern Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatamie.
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: The Winnebago held the remainder of southern Wisconsin, the Menominee
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: kept the northeast part of the state from the Milwaukee
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: River up, and the Chippewa held all of northern Wisconsin
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 1: west of the Menominee. These Indian territories were not to
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 1: be respected for very long by white squatters, however, and
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: the Winnebago were to be among the first to encounter
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: trouble from this source. The fact that southwestern Wisconsin was
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 1: very rich in lead was discovered quite early in the
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: French regime, and it is probable that the French taught
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: the Indians how to mine and smelt the ore. By
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: eighteen eleven, the Sauk and Fox are reported to have
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: devoted almost all their attention to lead mining, only hunting
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: to supply themselves with meat. They exchanged the metal with
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: Canadian traders for the goods they needed. Some early American
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: traders who attempted to get in on this trade were
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: killed by the Indians, who feared that once the Americans
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: learned of the value of the lead deposits, their cupidity
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: would be aroused and the Indians would lose their land.
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: Later events were to prove the excellence of this reasoning.
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 1: Aroused by the rich deposits, Cornish miners particularly began to
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: arrive in force. By eighteen twenty seven, the Indians were
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: rudely expelled from their diggings and their minds appropriated by
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: armed whites. In the same year, Redbird, a young Winnebago chief,
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: killed two settlers and scalped a baby, who, interestingly enough,
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: survived to become the mother of a large family and
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: lived to a ripe old age. Following this attack, Redbird
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 1: and his warriors, about forty in number, celebrated the scalp
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: taking with a drunken carousal at the mouth of the
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: Badax River, about forty miles north of Prairie Duchene. Two
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: keelboats on their way from Fort Snelling to Saint Louis
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: were fired upon by the drunken Winnebago braves, and after
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: a battle of about three hours, the keelboats escaped with
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: the loss of four men dead and several wounded. The
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: Indians were reported to have suffered losses of seven dead
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: and fourteen wounded. United States troops rapidly arrived at the scene,
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: and after fleeing up the Wisconsin River, Redbird found himself
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: and his tribe surrounded. The Americans agreed to forget the
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: matter of the keel boats, provided the murderers of the
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: settlers would give themselves up for the trial. On September third,
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: eighteen twenty seven, Red Bird, rather than engage his people
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 1: in a hopeless war against the Whites, voluntarily surrendered to
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: Major Whistler at Portage. Arrangements were made for the Americans
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: to use the lead mines until a treaty could be arranged,
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: and in July eighteen twenty nine, another Grand Council was
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: held at Prairie d Sheen. The Winnebago southern Patawatamie, Chippewa,
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: and Ottawa agreed to cede their land. The United States
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: government now owned the rich lead mining country of southwestern Wisconsin.
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: During this period of American settlement, beginning as early as
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: eighteen twenty one and lasting through eighteen thirty four, a
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: migration of Indians from New York occurred, which was to
• 1:15:51
  Speaker 1: add some permanent residence to Wisconsin's Indian population. The Oneida
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: and Munsey settled near Green Bay, and the Stockbridge Brotherton
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: Indians settled among the eastern shore of Lake Winnebago. The
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: Menominee seated five hundred thousand acres of their land to
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 1: these tribes in eighteen thirty one. Meanwhile, the stage had
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: been set for what was to become the most famous
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: and also perhaps the most infamous Indian and white conflict
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 1: in the Wisconsin area. This was the so called black
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: Hawk War, although it was more of a systematic extermination
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 1: of Indians by whites, hardly deserving the term war. Black
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: Hawk was leader of the British band of the Sak,
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: with a large village said to number about five hundred families,
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: situated near the mouth of the Rock River in Illinois.
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 1: His people were known as the British Band because of
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 1: their known sympathies with the English, and also since Blackhawk
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: and his warriors had fought with Tacumsa and the British
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: against the Americans in the War of eighteen twelve. White
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: settlers began squatting on Blackhawk's land as early as eighteen
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: twenty three, despite the fact that, according to treaty, the
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: Indians were not required to give up their land until
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: land offices had been set up, an event which had
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: not yet occurred. The Indians corn fields were fenced in,
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: wigwams were burned, and the women mistreated. Black Hawk went
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: to the British agent in Canada near Detroit. He was
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: advised that the treaties of eighteen o four in eighteen
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: sixteen were being violated and that he rightfully could resist
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 1: the settlers and expect the backing of the United States government.
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 1: Black Hawk returned and warned the settlers that they would
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: be attacked unless they left at once. The alarmed settlers
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: sought help from the Illinois militia, which was rapidly called
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: to arms in eighteen thirty one. This show of force
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: compelled black Hawk to retire to the west side of
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 1: the Mississippi River with his people and promised not to
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: return without government permission. Chief Keiacuk, head of the combined
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 1: Sock and Fox tribes, had already taken all of his
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: people except the rebellious Black Hawk and his band, into
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 1: what is now Iowa in eighteen thirty Realizing the futility
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: of fighting the tremendously superior White forces, on April sixth,
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: eighteen thirty two, black Hawk crossed back into Illinois with
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 1: approximately one thousand of his people, about four hundred of
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 1: whom were warriors. He had been promised to aid by
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: emissaries of the Pottawatamie, Whenebago, Ottawa, and Chippewa, but before
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: a month had passed, black Hawk realized he would get
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: little aid, either from these tribes or from the British
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: in a war against the settlers. The militia had been
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: called out again in the meantime, and black Hawk now
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 1: only desired to make peace and get his people back
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: to Iowa. He sent messengers under a white flag to
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 1: Major Stillman, who was encamped nearby with about four hundred volunteers.
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: The white flag was ignored and three of the Indians
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: were killed. Black Hawk had only forty warriors with him
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 1: at the time, but angered by this treachery, he attacked
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: Stillman's men in what he himself called a suicide charge.
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: The tremendously superior force of volunteers, upon seeing Blackhawk's charging braves,
• 1:19:15
  Speaker 1: fled frantically, with the first volley fired by the Indians.
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: As they fled, they spread the alarm over most of
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: northern Illinois and maintained that black Hawk had ambushed them
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: with two thousand warriors. Following this event, Blackhawk removed his
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: women and children to the Lake Koshkanong area in Wisconsin
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: so that they could forage for desperately needed food and
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: be relatively safe from attack. Blackhawk and his warriors spent
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 1: the following two months attacking settlements along the Wisconsin Illinois frontier.
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: Two hundred Whites and possibly as many Indians were killed
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: in these border skirmishes. Blackhawk soon found himself pursued by
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 1: a greatly superior force of militia and regular US Army troops.
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: He and his band fled through the Madison, Wisconsin area
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 1: and were overtaken attempting to cross the Wisconsin River, where
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: the Battle of Wisconsin Heights took place on July twenty one,
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: eighteen thirty two. Blackhawk's braves succeeded in holding back the
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 1: Americans while the tribe crossed the river, and the following morning,
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: one of his men made a surrender speech in the
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: Winnebago language. No one in the American camp understood the
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 1: plea for surrender terms, since the Winnebago followers of the
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: Americans were not in their camp at the time. The
• 1:20:34
  Speaker 1: Indians were again compelled to flee. Blackhawk then divided his
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: people into two groups, one of which obtained rafts and
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: canoes from friendly Winnebago and proceeded down the Wisconsin River,
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: hoping to reach the Mississippi River and cross back to Iowa.
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 1: Soldiers from Prairie to Sheen captured or shot most of them.
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 1: Some others were hunted down in the woods by Menominee
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: Indians led by white officers. As the rest of Blackhawk's
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: band fled over land toward the Mississippi River, they were
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: pursued by the combined forces of General Atkinson, General Henry,
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: and Major Dodd, a total force of some four thousand men.
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: When Blackhawk's band arrived at the Mississippi River. They were
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: met by the steamboat Warrior. Black Hawk again attempted to surrender,
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: but the warrior's captain preferred to believe this a trick
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 1: and opened fire on the Indians. The infantry then arrived
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: and attacked the Indians from the rear. Men, women and
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: children were forced into the river at Bayonette Point. Many
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 1: were drowned as they attempted to swim the river, and
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 1: others were picked off by American sharpshooters from the shore.
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: This was the Massacre of the bad Axe River, which
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 1: lasted three hours and in which one hundred and fifty
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 1: Indians were killed and as many more drowned. A band
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 1: of Sioux, brought there for the purpose by General Atkinson,
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: set upon the three hundred Indians who reached the other
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 1: bank and killed about half of them. Only about one
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 1: hundred fifty survivors remained of the thousand Indians who had
• 1:22:09
  Speaker 1: crossed with Blackhawk into Illinois in April, only four months before,
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 1: Blackhawk fled to the Winnebago, who later surrendered him to
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: the Americans. He was then taken on a tour through
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: the Eastern States to impress him with the power of
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 1: the American government and released in June eighteen thirty three.
• 1:22:29
  Speaker 1: His tribe was given a small reservation in Iowa on
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 1: the Des Moines River, where he died October third, eighteen
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 1: thirty eight. The treatment of Blackhawk and his people in
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 1: the so called Blackhawk War will always remain a blot
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 1: on American history and a discredit to the government. From
• 1:22:49
  Speaker 1: the time of the Blackhawk War on Wisconsin, Indians were
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 1: rapidly deprived of their land. In September eighteen thirty two,
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 1: the Winnebago seated the rest of their holdings south and
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 1: east of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers upon promise of
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 1: payment of about one million dollars to the Indians and
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 1: their creditors. The southern Chippewa, Ottawa, and Pottawatamie, in a
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 1: treaty at Chicago, Illinois, turned over their holdings in southern
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: Wisconsin in eighteen thirty three. The Menominee seated almost four
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 1: million acres between Green Bay and the Wolf River to
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: the United States government in eighteen thirty six. In eighteen
• 1:23:28
  Speaker 1: thirty eight, the Oneida seated most of their land in
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 1: this same area to the United States. The Chippowa, Sioux,
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: and Winnebago, in three separate treaties, seated the western half
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 1: of Wisconsin above the Wisconsin River in eighteen thirty seven,
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 1: with the final session of some small holdings of the
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: Menominee in the east central part of the state, in
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: eighteen forty eight, the United States government now had possession
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 1: of all Indian land in Wisconsin. The Indians, in most cases,
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 1: had Western lands assigned to them. The United States Army
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: forcibly removed many Winnebago to Nebraska, some of whom remain
• 1:24:07
  Speaker 1: there today. Other Winnebago, homesick for Wisconsin and afraid of
• 1:24:12
  Speaker 1: the Sioux, gradually wandered back to Wisconsin, where they still are.
• 1:24:17
  Speaker 1: In eighteen fifty four, the Menominee were placed on a
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: reservation on the Upper Wolf River. Shortly after this, they
• 1:24:24
  Speaker 1: sold two townships to the Stockbridge Indians. In eighteen fifty four,
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: also three large reservations, the Couterey, loc Deflambeaux, and Bad River,
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 1: were assigned to the Chippewa end of Chapter five, Chapter
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 1: six of the Indians in Wisconsin's History. This is a
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer. Please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 1: The Indians in Wisconsin's History by John M. Douglas Wisconsin's
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: Indians to day, in considering the story of those Indians
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: who were important in the history of our state, we
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 1: have seen that from time to time some tribes have
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 1: left the Wisconsin scene. We might well wonder what has
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 1: been their final fate and where they may be found.
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 1: To day, as we remember the United States government removal plan,
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: we are not too surprised to find many of them
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 1: located at reservations and agencies in our Western United States.
• 1:25:34
  Speaker 1: The Sauk and Fox are at agencies in Iowa, Kansas,
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 1: and Oklahoma. The Sauk and Fox Reservation in Iowa has
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: an Indian population of four hundred and seventy three, and
• 1:25:46
  Speaker 1: there are one hundred and twenty nine Sauk and Fox
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: at the Kansas Reservation and an additional nine hundred and
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: ten at the Sauk and Fox Reservation at the Shawnee
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 1: Agency in Oklahoma. The Kickapoo have small reservations in Oklahoma
• 1:26:00
  Speaker 1: and Kansas. The Indian population at the Kickapoo Reservation in
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 1: Oklahoma numbers two hundred and sixty nine and at the
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: Kickapoo Reservation in Kansas three hundred and forty three. In addition,
• 1:26:14
  Speaker 1: there are some three hundred and fifty Kickapoo living in
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 1: the state of Kuahuila, Mexico, having split off from the
• 1:26:20
  Speaker 1: Oklahoma band in eighteen fifty two. Population figures given here
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 1: for the Sauk Fox and Kickapoo are from the estimates
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 1: of the Office of Indian Affairs of the United States
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: Department of the Interior for the year nineteen forty. The
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: present whereabouts of the Mascutins present somewhat of a mystery.
• 1:26:41
  Speaker 1: Most students of the subject present believe that members of
• 1:26:44
  Speaker 1: the prairie band of the Potawatamie, who also call themselves
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 1: the Mascutins, are the descendants of that tribe which is
• 1:26:50
  Speaker 1: so often referred to in early Wisconsin history. The early
• 1:26:55
  Speaker 1: Maschutins were closely related to the sak Fox and Kickapoo,
• 1:26:59
  Speaker 1: according to early reports in language and culture, and usually
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 1: were the political allies of these tribes as well. Some
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 1: bands of the Prairie Patawatamie are found associated with the
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 1: Kickapoo in Oklahoma and Kansas, and also in Mexico. As
• 1:27:15
  Speaker 1: for the Sante Sioux, who were in northern Wisconsin even
• 1:27:18
  Speaker 1: before the arrival of the white Man. It is again
• 1:27:21
  Speaker 1: difficult to give accurate present population figures. The term Santee
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 1: originally designated one band of Indians, but eventually came to
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 1: mean all of the forest bands of the Sioux, of whom,
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: in all probability many never resided in Wisconsin. There are,
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 1: according to the nineteen forty estimate, one thousand, one hundred
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 1: ninety seven Sioux living on the Sante Reservation in Nebraska,
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: and there are five hundred and eighty five Sioux in
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 1: Minnesota who would be included in the Sante division. If
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 1: we were to include all tribes generally classed as Sante
• 1:27:56
  Speaker 1: Sioux today expressed in round numbers, five thousand would probably
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 1: be a conservative estimate. However, many of these are not
• 1:28:04
  Speaker 1: derived from those bands formerly living in Wisconsin. Returning to
• 1:28:09
  Speaker 1: the Wisconsin scene today, we learn from the nineteen forty
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 1: estimates of the Office of Indian Affairs that the present
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 1: Indian population in Wisconsin is thirteen thousand, six hundred seventy eight.
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: Of this total, five thousand, six hundred and five are
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 1: Chippewa residing at the Bad River Lecuterrey Loch dew Flambeaux
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 1: and Redcliffe reservations. Also included in this figure are the
• 1:28:35
  Speaker 1: Mole Lake Chippewa and the Saint Croix Band. Included in
• 1:28:39
  Speaker 1: Wisconsin's present Indian population are also two thousand, four hundred
• 1:28:44
  Speaker 1: and fifty four Menominee located at their reservation in Shiuano County,
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 1: four hundred and sixty Stockbridge and Monthses on their reservation,
• 1:28:52
  Speaker 1: Adjoining that of the Menominee, one thousand, seven hundred Oneida
• 1:28:57
  Speaker 1: scattered around the village of Oneida, ten miles southwest of
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: Green Bay, one thousand, four hundred ninety eight Winnebago on
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 1: public domain land allotments, primarily in Jackson, Wood and Shiuano Counties,
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 1: and three hundred and ten Pottawatamie in Forest County. While
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 1: only a small number of Potawatamie have returned to this
• 1:29:18
  Speaker 1: state since their removal, over half of the Winnebago are
• 1:29:21
  Speaker 1: now back in their Wisconsin homeland. In addition to the
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 1: Winnebago who returned to Wisconsin after their removal by the
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 1: United States Army, one thousand, two hundred and sixty eight
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 1: remained at their reservation in Nebraska. Thus, of this reportedly
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 1: numerous and powerful tribe first encountered by the French when
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 1: Nicolette landed near Green Bay in sixteen thirty four. About
• 1:29:44
  Speaker 1: two thousand, seven hundred and sixty six still survive. The
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: future status of Wisconsin's Indians presents a considerable problem to
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 1: the United States government. Their life on reservations is hardly
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 1: an easy one for the majority. Even among the Menominee,
• 1:30:01
  Speaker 1: whose tribal lumbering industry makes them economically the most prosperous
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: in the state, the standard of living is not high.
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 1: Finding a means whereby they can earn a decent living
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 1: is probably the greatest difficulty. For the most part, they
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 1: suffer for lack of adequate clothing and food, particularly during
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 1: the winter season. To alleviate the situation, a considerable number
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 1: have migrated to the cities to obtain employment, and there
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 1: are an estimated one thousand Indians living in Milwaukee, for example,
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 1: of which the largest group is Oneida. So far, no
• 1:30:36
  Speaker 1: satisfactory solution to the problem has been reached, although some
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 1: sincere attempts have been made in that direction. The hope,
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 1: of course, is that eventually the Indians will be assimilated
• 1:30:47
  Speaker 1: by the rest of our population and be able to
• 1:30:50
  Speaker 1: live normal lives as United States citizens without intelligently directed help.
• 1:30:56
  Speaker 1: This process will take a long time, and during that
• 1:30:59
  Speaker 1: period the Indians will continue to suffer. The Wisconsin Indians
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: of today are acculturated to a greater or lesser degree.
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: Among the Chippewa, Potawatamie, Menominee, and Wuinnebago. A considerable amount
• 1:31:13
  Speaker 1: of the traditional culture survives. Among the Stockbridge in Oneida,
• 1:31:18
  Speaker 1: nearly all of the old culture is lost. It is
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 1: to be hoped that all of the colorful pattern of
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 1: Indian culture and tradition is not lost in the process
• 1:31:26
  Speaker 1: of assimilation. One thing is certain. The Indians of Wisconsin,
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: along with most of those of the entire United States,
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 1: have suffered much at the hands of the white man.
• 1:31:38
  Speaker 1: They deserve constructive help now toward accomplishing the ultimate adjustment
• 1:31:42
  Speaker 1: to the final demands made on them by the white
• 1:31:45
  Speaker 1: man's civilization. End of chapter six read by Verla Vieira
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 1: Las Crusis, New Mexico, USA, November fourth, twenty twenty one.
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 1: End of the Indians in Las Wisconsin's History by John M.
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 1: Douglas