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Sauk Indian
Chiefs and Leaders
Mokohoko (Mokohokoa,
'he who floats visible near the surface of the water'). A chief of the
band of Sauk that took the lead in supporting
Black Hawk (q. v.) in
the Black Hawk war. He was of the Sturgeon clan, the ruling clan of the
Sauk, and was a bitter enemy of Keokuk. The band still retains its
identity. It refused to leave Kansas when the rest of the tribe went to
Indian Territory, and had to be removed thither by the military. It is now
known as the Black Hawk band, and its members are the most conservative of
all the Sauk.
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Wabokieshiek
Wabokieshiek ('The Light.' or White Cloud') A
medicine-man also known as The Prophet, the friend and adviser of
Black hawk. He was born about 1794, and presided over a village
known as "prophet's Village," on Rock river, about 35 miles above
its mouth, on the site of the present Prophetstown, Ill. Half
Winnebago and half Sauk, he bad great
influence with both tribes, and was noted for cruelty and his
hostility toward Americans. When Black Hawk's |
lieutenant, Neapope, went to Malden,
Canada, to consult with the British authorities in regard to the
right of the Indians to retain their lands on Rock river, he stopped
on his return at the Prophet's village, where he remained during the
winter, and told Wabokieshiek of his mission. The Prophet, always
ready for mischief and delighted at this opportunity to make trouble
for the whites, is said to have performed some incantations, had
several visions, and prophesied that if Black Hawk would move
against the whites he would be joined by the "Great Spirit" and a
large army which would enable him to overcome the whites and regain
possession of his old village. These predictions, added to Neapope's
false reports from the British, induced Black Hawk to continue the
war which bears his name. Keokuk is said to have blamed the Prophet
for all the trouble. After the defeat of the Indians at Bad Axe in
1832, Black hawk and the Prophet made their escape, but were
captured by Chaetar and One-Eyed Dekaury, two Winnebago Indians, in
an attempt to reach Prairie La Crosse, where they expected
to cross the Mississippi and be safe. They were delivered to Gen.
Street on Aug.27,1832. Arriving at Jefferson Barracks, 10 miles
below St Louis, they were put in irons, to their extreme
mortification and of which they complained bitterly. In April of the
following year they were taken to Washington, where they were
permitted to see president Jackson, to whom Wabokieshiek appealed
for their freedom; instead, they, were sent to Fortress Monroe, Va.,
where they remained until June 4, when they were released. Having
lost his prestige as a prophet, Wabokieshiek lived in obscurity
among the Sauk in Iowa until their removal to Kansas, and died among
the Winnebago about 1841. He is described as being six ft tall,
stout and athletic of figure, with a countenance in keeping with his
militant disposition.
At variance with accounts of his depravity is a
statement by Maj. Thomas Forsythe, for years the agent of the Sauk
and Foxes, in which he says of Wabokieshiek: "Many a good meal has
the Prophet given to the people traveling past his village, and very
many stray horses has he recovered from the Indians and restored
them to their rightful owners, without asking any recompense
whatever." It is also said that during the progress of the Black
Hawk war, Col. Gratiot, agent for the Winnebago, who on account of
his humane and honorable treatment of the Indians was considered
most likely to influence them, was selected to visit the hostile
camp and induce the Prophet to turn the British band back to its
Iowa reservation. On reaching the Prophet's village, Gratiot and his
party were surrounded by the hostiles and made prisoners, despite
their flag of truce, and he would have lost his life had not the
Prophet come to his rescue. He was taken to Wabokieshiek's house and
allowed to explain the object of his mission, but could not dissuade
the Indians from their purpose. Although the warriors clamored for
Gratiot's life, Wabokieshiek was determined to save him, and after
keeping him for several days found an opportunity to allow him to
escape.
While in Jefferson Barracks Wabokieshiek's portrait was
painted by Catlin, and is now in the National Museum; another
portrait, by R. M. Sully, made while the Prophet was a prisoner at
Fortress Monroe.
Consult Fulton, Red Men of Iowa, 1882;
Stevens, Black Hawk War, 1903; Wis. Hist. Soc. Coll., X, 1888.
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Keokuk
Keokuk (Kiyo`kaga, 'one who moves about alert' ). A
Sauk leader, a member of the Fox clan, born on Rock river, Ill.,
about 1780. He was not a chief by birth, but rose to the command of
his people through marked ability, force of character, and
oratorical power. His mother is said to have been half French. At an
early age he was a member of the Sauk council, which he graced, but
at first played only a subordinate role there in. He stepped into
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prominence later on when he was made
tribal guest-keeper. While holding this office he was supplied at
tribal expense with all the means of rendering hospitality, and
played the part of a genial host with such pleasing effect that his
lodge became a center for all things social and political. Quick to
see the possibilities of this office he made use of the opportunity
to further his own ambitions.
Keokuk was well aware of the fact that the rigid social
organization of his people offered a barrier to the realization of
his cherished desire, which was to become the foremost man of his
tribe. Contrary to the manner of men of his training, environment,
and tradition, he had no scruples against doing away with a practice
if thereby he might reap profit for himself; and he worked his will
against custom, not in an open, aggressive way, but by veiled,
diplomatic methods. He was continually involved in intrigue;
standing always in the background, he secretly played one faction
against another. In time he became the leading councilor in the Sauk
assembly, and enjoyed great popularity among his people. But the
situation assented a different aspect when the troubled period of
the so called Black Hawk war arrived. The immediate cause of this
conflict grew out of an agreement first entered into the Government
and a small band of Sauk who, under their leader Kwaskwamia, were in
winter camp near the trading post of St Louis. By this compact the
Sauk were to give up the Rock River country. As soon as the
agreement became noised abroad among all the Sauk there was strong
opposition, particularly to the form in which it had been made.
Throughout the affair Keokuk assumed so passive an attitude that he
lost at once both social and political prestige. Those of the Sauk
who favored an appeal to arms then turned to a man of the Thunder
clan, Black-big-chest, known to the whites under the name of
Black Hawk, who
became their leader. Just at this critical period the feeble bond of
political union between the Sauk and the
Foxes was broken, this result
being due largely to internal dissensions brought on by the
intrigues of Keokuk, who, with a following of unpatriotic Sauk,
sought and obtained protection from the Foxes under their chief,
Paweshik. The fighting began before Black Hawk was ready, and he was
forced to take the field with but a small number of those on whose
support he had depended. With his depleted forces he could not
successfully contend against the Illinois militia and their Indian
allies.
Keokuk loomed up again during the final negotiations growing
out of the war, and played so deftly into the hands of the
Government officials that he was made chief of the Sauk. It is said
that the announcement of his elevation to supreme power was made in
open council, and that it so aroused the anger and contempt of Black
Hawk that he whipped off his clout and slapped Keokuk across the
face with it, The act of creating Keokuk chief of the Sauk has
always been regarded with ridicule by both the Sank and the Foxes,
for the reason that lie was not of the ruling clan. But the one
great occasion for which both the Sauk and the Foxes honor Keokuk
was when, in the city of Washington, in debate with the
representatives of the
Sioux and other tribes before Government officials, he
established the claim of the Sauk and Foxes to the territory
comprised in what is now the state of Iowa. He based this claim
primarily on conquest.
On his death, in 1848, in Kansas, whither he had moved
three years before, the chieftainship, with its unsavory
associations, went to his son, Moses Keokuk (Wunagisäa,
'he leaps up quickly from his lair'), who displayed many of the
mental characteristics of the father. Those who knew them both
maintain that the son was even the superior intellectually, and of
higher ethics. He was fond of debate, being always cool, deliberate,
and clear-headed. In argument he was more than a match for any
Government officer with whom he ever came in contact at the agency.
He bore an intense hatred for the Foxes, which was returned with
more than full measure. Moses Keokuk was acknowledged the purest
speaker of the Sauk dialect. The Sauk were never tired of his
eloquence; it was always simple, clear, and pleasing. Late in life
he embraced Christianity and was baptized a Baptist; but he never
ceased to cherish a sincere regard for the old-time life and its
fond associations. He succeeded in turning aside much of the odium
that had early surrounded his office, and though he met with more
political opposition during his whole life, yet when he died, near
Horton, Kans., in August, 1903, his death was regarded by the Sauk
as a tribal calamity.
In 1883 the remains of the elder Keokuk were removed
front Kansas to Keokuk, Iowa, where they were reinterred in the city
park and a monument erected over his grave by the citizens of the
town. A bronze bust of Keokuk stands in the Capitol at Washington. |
The books presented are for their
historical value only and are not the
opinions of the Webmasters of the site.
Handbook
of American Indians, 1906
Index of Tribes or Nations
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