While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Winnebago (winǐpig,
'filthy water' [Chippewa]; winǐpyägohagi,
'people of the filthy water' [Sauk and Fox]. W. J.)
A tribe of the Siouan linguistic family.
Habitat and History. The
Winnebago have been known to the whites since 1634, when the Frenchman
Nicollet found them in Wisconsin, on Green bay, at which time they
probably extended to Lake Winnebago. At this period they were found wedged
in by Central Algonquian tribes, particularly by the
Sauk and
Foxes and the Menominee.
To the west they were in intimate contact with a kindred tribe, the
Iowa, who in turn were neighbors of the
Oto and Missouri. These four tribes, the
Winnebago, Iowa, Oto, and Missouri, speak dialects naturally intelligible
to one another, and show many cultural similarities. On the other hand,
the Winnebago show many cultural similarities with their Central
Algonquian neighbors, particularly in all that pertains to material
culture and art, and this double influence, that from their Siouan
neighbors and that from their Algonquian neighbors, must be borne in mind
in any attempt to understand properly the Winnebago culture.
It is stated in the Jesuit Relation for 1671 (42, 1858)
that the Winnebago had always dwelt in the Green Bay region. Allouez spent
the winter of 1669-70 at Green Bay, preaching to the Potawatomi,
Menominee, Sauk, Foxes, and Winnebago, whom he, found commingled there.
The map of 1681 accompanying Marquette's Journal notes a Winnebago village
near the north end of Lake Winnebago. At a very early date, it is stated
in the Jesuit Relation for 1671, they were almost entirely destroyed by
the Illinois, but all captives
were at last allowed to return and form a tribe again. Jefferys (1761)
refers to them and the Sauk as living toward the head of Green bay. Carver
(1778) speaks of "the great town of the Winnebagoes situated on a small
island, just as you enter the east end of Lake Winnebago." A "queen," he
says, presided then over the tribe. Pike (1806) states that they resided
on Wisconsin, Rock, and Fox rivers and Green bay in 7 villages, situated
at the entrance and at the end of Green bay, at Lake Poygan, and Lake
Puckway, at the portage of the Wisconsin, and at two places on Rock river.
They had a war with the Chippewa
in 1827, but this was of short duration. By the treaty of Prairie du Chien
in 1825 and another treaty in 1832 they ceded all their lands south of
Wisconsin and Fox rivers in return for a reservation on the west side of
the Mississippi above upper Iowa river. One of their villages in 1832 was
at La Crosse, Wis. Smallpox visited the tribe twice before 1836, and in
that year more than one-fourth of the people died. In 1837 they
relinquished the title to their old country east of Mississippi river, and
in 1840 removed to the Neutral Ground in the territory of Iowa, though a
part of the tribe had to be removed by soldiers. They were in 1843 on the
Neutral Ground in different bands, the principal one, called the School
band, on Turkey river. In 1846 they surrendered their reservation for one
north of Minnesota river in Minnesota, and in 1848 removed to Long Prairie
reservation, bounded by Crow Wing, Watab, Mississippi, and Long Prairie
rivers, Minn.
Schoolcraft said that the tribe was composed of 21
bands in 1852, having a total population of 2,521 souls. They lost many of
their number by disease and were kept on the reservation only by force. In
1853 they were removed to Crow river, and in 1856 to Blue Earth, Minn.,
where they were just getting a start in civilization when the Sioux war of
1862 broke out, and the people of Minnesota demanded their removal. They
were taken to Crow Creek reservation, South Dakota, on Missouri river, but
could not be kept there by the troops. There was much suffering from
sickness and other causes. Out of the 2,000 taken to Crow creek only 1,
200 reached the Omaha reservation, whither they fled for protection. They
were then assigned a new reservation on the Omaha lands in north east
Nebraska, where they have since remained and where their lands have been
allotted to them in severalty. When the tribe was removed by force from
Minnesota to Crow creek in 1863, many who had taken up farms remained.
How long the tribe had maintained its position at Green
bay previous to the coming of the whites is unknown. As has been seen, it
appears they had receded slightly toward the west before 1766, the time of
Carver's visit, who found them on Fox river. The French found them in
league with the Menominee, and the 2 tribes gave shelter to the Potawatomi
and the Ottawa, who had been driven from their homes by the Iroquois, and
also to the Sauk and Fox tribes when these were expelled from south
Michigan. Notwithstanding their friendly relations with the last named,
who were the only Algonquian tribes with whom the French had strife, the
Winnebago managed to maintain friendship and uninterrupted trade with the
French. They generally kept on friendly terms also with their neighbors,
the Chippewa, Ottawa,
Potawatomi,
Kickapoo, and
Mascoutens, to do
which required great address, as the Sauk and Foxes seem to have been cut
loose from their ancient and natural affinities and were perpetually
making inroads on Algonquian tribes, particularly, in conjunction with the
Sioux, on the Chippewa
(Schoolcraft). After the fall of the French power in Canada in 1760 the
Winnebago were slow to transfer their allegiance to Great Britain, but
when they did they remained firm in their new fealty. When the United
States declared their independence in 1776, the Winnebago sided with the
Crown, and in all questions of local jurisdiction were arrayed on the side
of the British. In the War of 1812 they espoused the cause of England,
helped to defeat Col. Crogan at Michilimackinac, Col. Dudley at the rapids
of the Miami, and Gen. Winchester at the River Raisin, and were with the
tribes that gathered about Detroit. In the years immediately following
this war they became insolent. Hoochoop, a chief of the tribe, living at
the outlet of Lake Winnebago, assumed to be the keeper of Fox river valley
and sometimes levied toll for the privilege of ascent. This people also
connected themselves clandestinely with the Sauk and Foxes in the Black
Hawk war of 1832. Since that time they have been uniformly peaceable. Language. The Siouan
dialect spoken by the Winnebago is intimately related to Oto, Iowa, and
Missouri, more distantly to Dakota,
and still more distantly to Ponca. Its relationship to the northern Siouan
dialects (Crow, Hidatsa, and
Mandan), to the southern
(Biloxi), and eastern (Catawba and Tutelo), is not as yet definitely
known. The characteristics of the Winnebago dialect are, grammatically, a
strong development of the classifiers of position, and, phonetically, the
insertion of vowels between consonantal clusters and the change of the
Dakota and Omaha t, d, and m, to tc, dj,
and w. (See Handbook of Am. Ind. Languages, Bull. 40, B. A. E.,
part 1). Material Culture.
In their material culture the Winnebago are distinctly timber people, and
their houses and dress are practically identical with those of the Sauk
and Foxes, Menominee, and others. The same applies to their bead work,
although there is considerable evidence to show that they had a
characteristic porcupine quill industry not very long ago. In their
clothing, moccasins, cooking utensils, arms, and in other respects, they
show marked individual characteristics which, however, have not been
investigated as yet.
The population was estimated
by Pike at 1,750 in 1806; by Morse at 5,800 in 1820; in 1837 and again in
1843 their number was given at 4,500. In 1867 there were 1,750 on the
Nebraska reservation and 700 in Wisconsin. In 1876 there were 1,463 on the
Nebraska reservation and 860 in Wisconsin; but 204 of the latter removed
in 1877 to Nebraska. In 1886 there were 1,222 in Nebraska and 930 in
Wisconsin, and in 1910 there were 1,063 in Nebraska and 1,270 in
Wisconsin.
The Winnebago had a number of
villages, those whose names are known being Prairie la Crosse,
Sarrochau, Spotted Arm's village, Village du Puant, Wuckan, Yellow
Thunder.
