cousin of the chief Wabasha as his wife. This we imagine, makes a strong case against the assertion that the Winnebago is only a dialect of the Sioux.

When Sieur Nicolet assembled four or five thousand Winnebagoes, Sioux, Illinois and Pottawatomies at Green Bay, in 1639 [1634—see foot note] for a general council, is it not probable that there came also the Menomonees, Iowas, Osages and other kindred bands of the Winnebagoes, and from their numbers he correctly came to the conclusion that the Winnebagoes were "sedentary and very numerous?" They then evidently occupied the territory from near Mackinaw, southwest to the Red River, extending east as far as the Illinois River, the Mississippi and the Lower Ohio Valley. For over thirty years later, and after the advent of the fugitive Algonquins, the eight Illinois bands were on Illinois River as their real homes, although Marquette, January 25, 1673, found the Peorias on the Mississippi when descending the river; but they had returned to the Illinois when he came back, some two months later. Rev. Father Allonez also found the Illinois on the Illinois River in 1677. Thus was evidently situated in the Winnebago Confederacy in 1634, "sedentary and very numerous.

O-CHUNK-O-RAW.

The tradition of the O-chunk-o-raw claims that the tribe was created at the Mok-kau-shootsraw, on Red Earth Banks, on the south shore of Green Bay. They were known to the Algonquin tribe by the name of "Winnebagoec," or people of the salt water; and as the Algonquin word for salt water and stinking water was the same, the French gave them the name of La Puants, or stinkards. They, however, call themselves O-chunk-o-raw.

The tribe was spoken of by Sieur Champlain, who visited Lake Huron in 1615, and the singularity of their names probably induced the French Governor of Canada to send Sieur Nicollet, his Indian interpreter, to visit them in 1634, in hopes of discovering the Western ocean.* They continued to occupy Green Bay, Fox River and Lake Winnebago until modern times, and were generally allies of the Sacs and Foxes in the old Indian wars. They were, after 1754, allies of the French while they held Canada, and afterward of the British, until the close of the war in 1812.

In 1816, the United States concluded a treaty of peace with the Portage bands, under the chief Choo-ke-kaw, or the Ladle, more commonly known by his French name, "De Cora." This band agreed to separate themselves from the balance of the tribe until they made a treaty of peace also, and delivered up their prisoners. The O-chunk-o-raws joined the tribes at the great council with the United States, held at Prairie du Chien August 19, 1825. This gave to the Winnebagoes the country bounded as follows: "Southeasterly by Rock River, from its source near the Winnebago Lake to the Winnebago village, about forty miles above its mouth; westerly, by the east line of the tract lying upon the Mississippi, herein secured to the Ottawas, Chippewas and Pottawatomies of the Illinois; and also by the high bluff described in the Sioux boundary, and running north to Black River; from this point the Winnebagoes claim up Black River to a point due west from the source of the Left Fork of the Ouisconsin to the Portage, and across the Portage to Fox River; thence down Fox River to the Winnebago Lake, and to the grand Kau-kaulin, including in thin claim the whole of Winnebago Lake."

In a second treaty, August 11, 1827, between the United States and the Chippewas, Menominees and Winnebagoes, our Government stipulated that "the sum of $1,000 shall be annually appropriated, for the term of three years; and the sum of $1,500 shall be annnally thereafter appropriated as long as Congress thinks proper, for the education of the children of the tribes, parties thereto, and of the New York Indians near Green Bay, to be expended under the direc tion of the President of the United States."

In 1827, some Winnebagoes attacked and killed eight Chippewas near Fort Snelling, whereupon the Commandant of that fort took four of the offending Winnebagoes and delivered them

*Nicolet's mission was to confirm peace between the Hurons (allies of the French) and the Western tribes, for the purpose of increasing the trade in furs. His journey was not one of exploration, in a geographical sense, but was commercial in its character. He went westward to within about three days' travel of the Wisconsin, not the Mississippi, as has been erroneously stated.

to the Chippewas, who immediately put them to death. Red Bird's band soon after attacked two keel-boats at the mouth of Coon Slough, on the Mississippi, killing two and wounding six whites; while Red Bird himself killed two whites at Prairie du Chien. The settlers at once organized for war, electing Gen. Dodge commander. Gen. Atkinson, with a small force of regular troops, marched up the Wisconsin, and, joined by the forces of Gen. Dodge, advanced to attack the Winnebagoes in force at the Portage; but on their arrival received overtures from the Indians, who delivered up Red Bird and six others as the guilty parties, which ended the difficulty.

The next year, 1828, the United States made an unsuccessful attempt to purchase the Winnebago lands, including the lead mines, and failed.

In 1829, by a treaty concluded at Prairie du Chien, concluded August 1 of that year, the tribe ceded their territory south of the Wisconsin River, and west of a line running south from Lake Puckaway, by Duck Creek, Fourth Lake, near Madison, Sugar River and Pee-ku-tal-a-ka, by which the Winnebago interest in the mines was secured to the United States. The consideration for the territory purchased was $8,000, paid annually for thirty years; $30,000 in goods paid down, and 30,000 pounds of tobacco, and fifty barrels of salt, delivered annually for thirty

years.

By a treaty, on September 15, 1832, the Winnebagoes ceded to the United States all the balance of their lands south of the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers, for which the Government gave them an interest in the "neutral grounds" west of the Mississippi, an annual annuity for twenty-seven successive years of $10,000, and further agreed to establish and maintain a school at Prairie du Chien for twenty-seven years, at an annual expense not exceeding $3,000; support six agriculturists for twenty-seven years; pay not exceeding $2,500 for twelve yoke of oxen and agricultural implements; pay the Rock River band 1,500 pounds of tobacco per annum; and pay $200 per annum each for the services of two physicians, one stationed at Fort Winnebago, and the other at Prairie du Chien. The treaty contained some small grants of land to half-breeds, and required the surrender of eight Indians, charged with the murder of some whites in the Black Hawk war.

By another treaty, November 1, 1837, the Winnebagoes ceded to the United States all the balance of their territory on the east side of the Mississippi River, and certain interests on the west side, for which the Government paid $1,500,000. Of this amount, $100,000 was to be expended in goods, horses, provisions, opening farms and expenses of the removal of the Indians west of the Mississippi, where the tribe engaged to go in eight months after the ratification of the treaty. However, they did not perform that agreement until 1840. A new treaty was entered into at Washington, D. C., October 13, 1846, by which the tribe surrendered all their interests in lands in the United States, for which the United States engaged to give the tribe 800,000 acres of land north of the St. Peters, or Minnesota River, for a residence, and pay in addition $190,000. The chiefs selected a tract north of the Watab, but the tribe was generally dissatisfied with the location, and the most of them remained scattered about the country.

In 1853, a new treaty was made, by which they were allowed to change their location to the Crow River; but the ratification of this treaty was refused on the remonstrance of the people of Minnesota. The matter was compromised by the United States, and in February, 1855, the chiefs were permitted to select their land on the Blue Earth River, south of the Minnesota. Here the tribe settled the same spring, highly satisfied with their land, and immediately commenced building houses and improving land. So well had they succeeded that the Government Agent at St. Paul, in 1860, reported as follows:

"There have been raised by individual Indians as high as sixty acres of wheat on a single farm. The reservation presents the appearance of as much improvement as the surrounding country; and, in fact, when viewing the comfortable log and frame houses that dot the reservation as far as the eye can reach, it presents a far different scene than is usual to be found upon Indian reservations, for wigwams are becoming as rare as houses were but two years. since."

The same year the teachers of the reported one hundred and eighteen pupils enrolled, of which sixty-two were males and fifty-six females; that they were instructed in the ordinary English branches, and had "as much educational capacity as can be found in any school of equal size."

In the midst of their prosperity, when their civilization had become almost a certainty, the occurrence of the "Sioux massacre," in June, 1862, dashed their fond hopes to the ground. Notwithstanding the Winnebagoes took no part, but offered the services of their warriors to our Government to help punish that rebellious nation; yet the exasperated inhabitants of Minnesota demanded their removal, and Congress, by a special act, directed the President to transport them to the Missouri River with the friendly Sioux.

Accordingly, in May and June, 1863, without any treaty, they were loaded upon steamers and taken to the Missouri River, where, in the language of a missionary to the writer," they were, like the Sioux, dumped in the desert one hundred miles from Fort Randall."

When the purposes of the Government became known to the tribe, the old chiefs, De Cora, Winneshiek, Dandy and their families, and some others, fled to Wisconsin, where, near the tunnel, in the fall of 1864, the venerable old chief, DeCora, who captured Black Hawk in 1832, and sent him to the Government Agent at Prairie du Chien, died in poverty.

Soon after the Winnebagoes were landed at Crow Creek, Dakota Territory, they pronounced the country not fit for cultivation, and were generally dissatisfied. They soon commenced the manufacture of canoes to return down the river. Brig. Gen. Sully visited their reservation, and July 15, 1863, sent a dispatch to Gen. Pope, in which he remarked: "I find both tribes (Sioux and Winnebagoes) very discontented, and if troops are not constantly kept here, I think there will be trouble.

"The Winnebagoes I find hard at work making canoes, with the intention of quitting the agency and going to join the Omahas, or some other tribes down the river. I had a council with them yesterday, in which they said they had been promised, when they left their last reservation, to be settled on the Big Sioux River. How true that is, I cannot say. They also stated that nothing would grow here. They dare not go out to hunt, for fear of the other tribes, and they would all starve to death. This I believe to be true, without the Government intends to ration them all the time. The land is dry, sandy and parched up."

In a letter to the Secretary of the Interior, dated the following day, Gen. Sully remarked: "I state this from my own knowledge of the country. The land is poor, a low, sandy soil. I don't think you can depend on a crop of corn even once in five years, as it seldom rains here in the summer. There is no hunting in the immediate vicinity, and the bands of Sioux near here are hostile to them. The Winnebagoes tell me they are friends of the Omahas, and speak nearly the same language. It is their wish to be united with them on the Omaha reservation, and, as they say, the Omahas are in favor of this also. Their last removal from Minnesota was hard for them, for they were not implicated in the late massacre."

The Indian Agent for the Omahas, October 16, 1863, reported the continued arrival of small parties of Winnebagoes at that reservation in a destitute condition, and he was soon after instructed from Washington to provide for all that arrived. In September, 1864, over twelve hundred had arrived, and the agent, with the consent of the Omahas, had assigned them a tract. of land for temporary cultivation, and they had harvested 100 acres of corn.

Soon after this the Winnebagoes contracted with the Omahas for nearly one-third of their reservation at about 39 cents per acre, of which the Indian Agent said, September 13, 1865: "If this arrangement be ratified by the Senate the coming winter, they will become possessed of lands (240 sections) ample in extent for all the purposes of the tribe, abounding in wood and water, and for agricultural purposes equal to the best farming lands in Nebraska.'

This contract was finally ratified by the United States Government.

Speaking generally of the Winnebagoes, the Indian Superintendent of the northern department, in September, 1865, said: "I cannot too strongly recommend this unfortunate and much-abused tribe to the fostering care and protection of the Department. Hurried from

their comfortable homes in Minnesota, in 1863, and located at the Crow Creek Agency, where it is impossible, one year in six, to raise a crop, either of corn, wheat or potatoes, they have suffered more than any other tribe in the country. They are now subsisted by the Government on the Omaha Reservation, in Nebraska, whither they have all sought refuge to escape starvation, and, under the most favorable auspices, they must continue a charge upon the Government to a greater or less extent for nearly two years to come."

In the August report occur these remarks: "This tribe is characterized by frugality, thrift and industry to an extent unequaled by any other tribe of Indians in the Northwest. Loyal to the Government and peaceful toward their neighbors, they are entitled to the fostering care of the General Government.'

The removal and unsettled condition of the Winnebagoes broke up their schools and religious instruction, and in December, 1864, thirty-eight chiefs and head men, at their Omaha residence, petitioned their "Father," the President, among other things, as follows: "It is our sincere desire to have again established among us such schools as we see in operation among your Omaha children. Father, as soon as you find a permanent home for us, will you not do And, Father, as we would like our children taught the Christian religion, as before, we would like our school placed under the care of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. And last, Father, to show you our sincerity, we desire to have set apart for its establishment, erection and support all of our school funds, and whatever more is necessary."

The population of this tribe has been variously estimated at different periods. Thus we find in a French document that they had 230 warriors in 1736; according to Sir William Johnson, in 1763 they had increased to 360; Capt. Carver, in 1766, reduced the number to 200. By a census of the tribe in 1859, they were found to number 2,256 souls, of which 1,055 were males, and 1,201 females; but by the census of 1865 the whole number had diminished to 1,900. The latter census probably did not include the stragglers in Wisconsin, which were still there in 1866. They have been a vigorous, athletic race, and received from the Sioux a name-O-ton-ta-kah-said to mean "the large and strong people."

In the spring of 1866, the Winnebagoes finally settled on their Omaha reservation and commenced building houses, of which they had been destitute these years; they also put on white men's clothing, and have cheerfully settled down, hoping to have a permanent home.

The Agent, in his report of August 20, 1866, said: "There have returned to the tribe, within the past few weeks, about one hundred soldiers, who have served with credit to themselves and to their tribe, in the defense of their country. I consider the Winnebagoes one of the best tribes of Indians in the country, and with proper treatment they will soon become a self-sustaining, prosperous and happy people."

By the treaty with the United States ratified and proclaimed March 28, 1866, the Winnebagoes released their Crow Creek Reservation and accepted their Omaha Reservation, paid for by the United States. They also were to receive 100 cows, 400 horses, 20 yoke of oxen, and wagons; have a steam saw and grist mill, and necessary buildings for a complete agency erected, and are to be paid the expenses of removal and subsistence for one year.

In the account of Rev. Alfred Barenson, of Prairie du Chien, he says:

Some of Shea's authorities found them at Green Bay as early as 1639. Winnebago is the name given them by the Algonquins, which means "fetid." It was because they were said to have come from the salt water, which the Indians style fetid water. This name, however, is corrupted. Weene, means filthy or fetid, be water, go gives its character. Weenebago is the name of the water in a marsh that is scented or filthy. Ouinnebago is the French of it. The Algonquins called the Winnebagoes a Dakota tribe, but as there is no analogy between their languages, there is no probability of such relationship. They called themselves Otchagras, but were nicknamed by the French voyager Puants, fetid, probably translating the Algic into French, and no less than ten different names are given them by different writers.

The various names, and the variations of the same name, are thus treated by an article. relating thereto in the Wisconsin Historical Collection of 1856, page 137, which is taken in turn from the Jesuit Relations of 1659-60, 1669-70:

They are a Dakota tribe, and this name is that given by the Algonquins, and means "fetid." The French translated it by the word Puants, giving it as a name to the tribe and to Green Bay (Sagard). The early mission

aries (Brussana, p. 64, and Marquette) state that they were so called by the Algonquins, as coming from the ocean or salt water, which the Indians style "fetid water." Nicolet called them more properly Gendes mer (men of the sea). The Hurons called the tribe Aweatsiwaent-rhorons, and the Sioux, Otonkah or Sturgeon (Schoolcraft), but they call themselves Otchagras (Charlevoix), Hochungara or Ochungarand, or Trout Nation, or Horogi (fish eaters), Schoolcraft. Guynon states in his Recollections, page 286, that the name was given by the Menomonees Win-nepa-go, or filthy. They were the original inhabitants of Wisconsin, and were often troublesome and hostile. They were allies of Pontiac in 1763, were defeated by Wayne in 1794, and adhered to England in the war of 1812.

From Capt. Carver's North America, page 13, the following statement is given of his first meeting with these Indians:

On the 25th of September, 1766, I arrived at the great town of the Winnebagoes, situated on a small island just as you enter the east end of Lake Winnebago. Here the Queen who presided over this tribe received me with great civility, and entertained me in a very distinguished manner during the four days I continued with her. The time I tarried here I employed in making the best observations possible on the country, and in collecting the most certain intelligence I could of the origin, language and customs of this people. From these inquiries, I have reason to conclude that the Winnebagoes originally resided in some of the provinces belonging to New Mexico, and being driven from their native country, either by intestine divisions, or by the extension of the Spanish conquests, they took refuge in these more northern parts about a century ago.

My reasons for adopting this supposition are, first from their unalienable attachment to the Mandawessie Indians (Sioux), who, they say, gave them the earliest succor during their emigration, notwithstanding their pres ent residence is more than six hundred miles distant from that people. Secondly, that their dialect differs from every other nation yet discovered, it being very uncouth, guttral jargon, which none of their neighbors will attempt to learn. They converse with other nations in the Chippeway tongue, which is the prevailing language throughout all the tribes, from the Mohawks of Canada to those who inhabit the borders of the Mississippi, and from the Hurons and Illinois to such as dwell near Hudson's Bay. Thirdly, from their inveterate hatred to the Spaniards. Some of them informed me that they had made many excursions to the southwest, which took up several moons. An elderly chief, more particularly acquainted me that, about forty-six winters ago, he marched at the head of fifty warriors toward the southwest for three moons. That during this expedition, whilst they were crossing a plain, they discovered a body of men on horseback, who belonged to the black people, for so they call the Spaniards. As soon as they perceived them, they proceeded with caution, and concealed themselves till night came on, when they drew so near as to be able to discern the number and situation of their enemies. Finding they were not able to cope with so great a superiority by daylight, they waited till they had retired to rest, when they rushed upon them, and after having killed the greatest part of the men, took eighty horses loaded with what they termed white stone. This I suppose to have been silver; he told me the horses were shod with it, and that their bridles were ornamented with When they had satiated their revenge, they carried off their spoil, and being got so far as to be out of reach of the Spaniards that had escaped their fury, they left the useless and ponderous burthen with which the horses were loaded in the woods, and mounting themselves in this manner returned to their friends. The party they had thus defeated I conclude to be the caravan than annually conveys to Mexico its silver which the Spaniards find in great quantities on the mountains lying near the head of the Colorado River. The Winnebagoes can raise about two hundred warriors. Their town contains about fifty houses, which are strongly built with palisades, and the island on which it is situated nearly fifty acres. It lies thirty-five miles, reckoning according to the course of the river, from Green Bay.

the same.

PRELIMINARY.

Wisconsin was very early known, having been first visited by a white man in 1634, less than a score of years from the date of the landing at Plymouth Rock, and the introduction of slavery into the colonies. Most fortunately for the welfare of the State, it has always been the home of freemen. In the year above mentioned, it is established that an adventurous Frenchman, Jean Nicolet, first set foot within the present State, and ascended Fox River to within three days' journey of the Wisconsin. It has previously been stated that he approached the Mississippi; but this is now known to be an error. It is painful to add that this venturesome explorer met his death in 1642, in the St. Lawrence River, while engaged in a benevolent mission to rescue a defenseless Aborigine from a relentless enemy. Nicolet visited Wisconsin but once, spending the winter of 1634-35 at Green Bay, and then returning to his home near Quebec.

No State in the Union, whose annals commence at a date so remote from the present, has been subject to so numerous a change of rulers or a more peaceful career in her history than Wisconsin. From 1670 to 1760, the territory was tributary to France. In the latter year. Green Bay was wrested from France by the English giving that nation virtual control of all the French possessions west of Lake Michigan, confirmed by the treaty of Paris in 1763.

During their occupation the laws of Canada were enforced over the Northwest; Jonathan Carver made his exploration; the Northwestern Fur Company was organized, civil government established by the Quebec act, and its possession retained by the aid of Indians until 1783. In