Lecture #4 - The Sauk and Fox Indians of Wisconsin’s Driftless Area (1804-1836)

1. Lecture #4 -The Sauk and Fox Indians of Wisconsin’s Driftless Area (1804-1836)

2. Wisconsin Indians After the American Revolution • Most tribes were hostile to Americans and American interests • Most had aided the British and would again in the War of 1812 • Very few Americans lived or traded in the area • Many French and British traders still roamed and were hostile to American control • Americans began a systematic method of taking lands from tribes east of the Mississippi River – the process of treaty making • Americans tricked many tribes into signing treaties that gave away their lands • The first treaties decided which tribes owned what – later treaties signed away those lands to the Americans

3. Southwest WI Indians – Sauk and Fox History • Originally tribes of southern Michigan • Were forced to move to southwest Wisconsin in the 17th and 18th centuries as a result of conflicts with other tribes after the Iroquois Wars • Occupied the territory of southwest Wisconsin, northwestern Illinois, and eastern Iowa

4. Southwest Wisconsin Indians - Sauk and Fox History • Agricultural • Hunting • Lead Miners • Warrior culture • Culture different from that of northern Wisconsin Indians • Opposed to American expansion

5. Land Cessions • 1804 Treaty With Sauk and Fox • Resulted from Sauk and Fox attack on whites north of St. Louis • Most of southwest Wisconsin was ceded to the U.S. government under an arrangement made by William Henry Harrison, Governor of Indiana Territory • Indians could occupy the land until it was needed for settlement

6. Negotiated 1804 Land Cession with Sauk and Fox Indians William Henry Harrison

7. Black Hawk • Grew in importance as a Sauk leader after the Treaty of 1804 • Believed the treaty was invalid because most Sauk were not told about the treaty • Helped to form a Sauk/Fox allegiance with Britain in the War of 1812 • Refused to attend treaty meetings with American representatives

8. Black Hawk • As Sauk Brave

9. 1804 Sauk/Fox Land Cessions in Present-day Wisconsin

10. Prairie du Chien Treaty of 1825 • Negotiated by William Clark (Supt. of Indian Affairs) and Lewis Cass (Gov. of Michigan Territory) • Goals: • Define tribal boundaries • Minimize intertribal warfare • *Organize land cessions?

11. William Clark Lewis Cass Prairie du Chien Treaty of 1825

12. Prairie du Chien Treaty of 1825

13. Grey Gold • Native Americans were mining lead in northern Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin before European contact • Sauk, Fox, and Winnebago tribes used it to supplement the fur trade • Beginning in the early 1820s, a boost in lead prices brought many miners to the region

14. One of the first to arrive was Col. Henry Dodge Many came from Missouri Early Miners

15. Mounting Tensions • Miners became squatters on Indian lands according to previous treaties • U.S. government agreed with Indians that they owned the land, but decided that it would rather negotiate land cessions with the Indians than remove encroaching white miners

16. Lead Mining • Wisconsin Lead Mining Region • http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/reference/maps/pdf/RM063.pdf

17. Dodge and other miners settled on Winnebago lands – ignored Indian rights Winnebago were infuriated by miner presence Chief Red Bird led an attack on settlers in Prairie du Chien Other Winnebago attacked keel boats on the Mississippi River Settlers panicked Red Bird was captured and died in prison at Prairie du Chien Winnebago War of 1827

18. 1829 Treaty • Allowed sale of lead region to white settlers • Forced final removal of Indians from this region to lands west of the Mississippi

19. Sauk and Fox Removal • Black Hawk reluctantly moved west of the Mississippi with his tribe after the 1829 treaty and mounting pressure from settlers • Tribal members suffered on their new lands in Iowa and were not allowed to visit ancestral burial grounds • Black Hawk became frustrated and decided to move his people back across the Mississippi River into southwest Wisconsin and northwest Illinois

20. Crossed the Mississippi River near Rock Island, Illinois Followed Rock River north Were attacked by local militia and Black Hawk’s men were massacred under a white flag Black Hawk ambushed them and they fled in panic The Black Hawk War

21. The Black Hawk War • Black Hawk’s hopes of other tribes helping were crushed when the Potawatomi and the Winnebago, who had encouraged him, turned against him • At Wisconsin Heights, Sauk warriors held off militia while rest of band crossed river • At Battle of Bad Axe, Black Hawk’s band was massacred • Of the nearly 1,000 people who followed Black Hawk, only about 150 made it back to Keokuk’s people in Iowa

22. Black Hawk escaped the massacre at Bad Axe Winnebago turned him over to American authorities Was treated as a hero by some and became a cultural icon in American society Post Black Hawk War

23. Important Outcomes of the Black Hawk War • Showed the will of settlers to take lands held by Indian tribes • Discouraged other Wisconsin tribes from further uprisings

24. Sources • Nesbit, Robert C. Wisconsin a history. Madison, WI. University of Wisconsin Press, c1989. • Bieder, Robert E. Native American Communities in Wisconsin 1600-1960. Madison, WI. University of Wisconsin Press, c1995. • Smith, Alice E. The History of Wisconsin From Exploration to Statehood, Volume I. Madison, WI. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, c1973. • The Wisconsin Cartographer’s Guild. Wisconsin’s Past and Present – A Historical Atlas. Madison, WI. University of Wisconsin Press, c1998. • Prucha, Francis Paul. Documents of United States Indian Policy, Third Edition. Lincoln, NE. University of Nebraska Press, c2000. • http://www.wisconsinhistory.org • http://www.galafilm.com/chiefs/htmlen/sauk/ev_greygold.html • http://www.galafilm.com/chiefs/htmlen/sauk/ev_treaties.html • http://www.galafilm.com/chiefs/htmlen/sauk/ev_wisconsin.html • http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi&q=