The Indians in Wisconsin's History

by John M. Douglass

ROACH HEADDRESS (MUSEUM EXHIBIT).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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