From the time of the “Black Hawk War” on, Wisconsin Indians were rapidly deprived of their land. In September, 1832, the Winnebago ceded the rest of their holdings south and east of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. Upon promise of payment of about one million dollars to the Indians and their creditors, the southern Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi, in a treaty at Chicago, Illinois, turned over their holdings in southern Wisconsin in 1833. The Menomini ceded almost four million acres between Green Bay and the Wolf River to the United States Government in 1836. In 1838, the Oneida ceded most of their land in this same area to the United States. The Chippewa, Sioux, and Winnebago, in three separate treaties, ceded the western half of Wisconsin, above the Wisconsin River, in 1837. With the final cession of some small holdings of the Menomini in the east central part of the state, in 1848, the United States Government now had possession of all Indian land in Wisconsin.
The Indians, in most cases, had western lands assigned to them. The United States army forcibly removed many Winnebago to Nebraska, some of whom remain there today. Other Winnebago, homesick for Wisconsin and afraid of the Sioux, gradually wandered back to Wisconsin where they still are. In 1854 the Menomini were placed on a reservation on the Upper Wolf River. Shortly after this, they sold two townships to the Stockbridge Indians. In 1854, also, three large reservations: Lac Court Oreilles, Lac du Flambeau, and Bad River, were assigned to the Chippewa.
SURRENDER OF BLACK HAWK (MURAL BY CAL PETERS, VILLA LOUIS, COURTESY OF THE WISCONSIN STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY).
CHAPTER SIX
WISCONSIN’S INDIANS TODAY
MIXED COSTUME IN FOX CEREMONIAL DANCE.
In considering the story of those Indians who were important in the history of our state, we have seen that from time to time some tribes have left the Wisconsin scene. We might well wonder what has been their final fate and where they may be found today. As we remember the United States Government removal plan, we are not too surprised to find many of them located at reservations and agencies in our western United States.
The Sauk and Fox are at agencies in Iowa, Kansas, and Oklahoma. The Sauk and Fox reservation in Iowa has an Indian population of 473, and there are 129 Sauk and Fox at the Kansas reservation and an additional 910 at the Sauk and Fox reservation at the Shawnee agency in Oklahoma.
The Kickapoo have small reservations in Oklahoma and Kansas. The Indian population at the Kickapoo reservation in Oklahoma numbers 269; and at the Kickapoo reservation in Kansas, 343. In addition, there are some 350 Kickapoo living in the state of Coahuila, Mexico, having split off from the Oklahoma band in 1852. Population figures given here for the Sauk, Fox, and Kickapoo are from the estimates of the Office of Indian Affairs of the United States Department of the Interior for the year 1940.