|
Winnebago Indian Tribe
Location
Winnebago. Signifying in the Fox and the
Sauk languages "people of the filthy water," for which reason they were
sometimes known to the French as Puants and to the English as Stinkards.
Also called:
Aweatsiwaenhronon, a form of the Huron name (see below).
Banabeouiks, a shortened form of Winnebago.
Bay Indians, so called by Lapham, Blossom, and Dousman (1870).
Hati'hshi'rű'nű,
Huron name, meaning "afraid of sticking in the mire."
Hotanka, Dakota name.
Hotcangara, own name, signifying "(people of the) big or real
speech," but, through a confusion of words, often misinterpreted "fish
eaters."
Nipegon, so called by Long (in James (1823).
Connections
The Winnebago belong to the Siouan
linguistic family, and to a subdivision comprising also
the group called by J. O. Dorsey (1897) Chiwere, which includes also
the Iowa, Oto, and Missouri.
Location
The most ancient known habitat of
this tribe was on the south side of Green Bay extending
inland as far as Lake Winnebago. (See also
Illinois, Iowa,
Minnesota, and
South Dakota.)
Villages
Those that are known by name are:
Prairie la Crosse, in southeastern Wisconsin.
Sarrochau, on the site of Taycheeday, Fond du Lac County, Wis.
Spotted Arm's Village, near Exeter, Green County, Wis.
Village du Puant, on Wildcat Creek about a mile above its junction with
the Wabash, above Lafayette, in Tippecanoe County, Ind.
Wuckan, on Lake Poygan, Winnebago County, Wis.
Yellow Thunder, at Yellow Banks, Green Lake County, Wis.
History
The Winnebago were occupants of the territory above mentioned
from the earliest times of which we have any record. During the eighteenth
century they spread up Fox River and still later extended their villages to
Wisconsin and Rock Rivers. It is reported that they were nearly destroyed by the
Illinois some time before 1671 but, if so, they soon recovered entirely from
this shock. They managed to remain on better terms with the surrounding tribes
than most of their neighbors. By treaties made in 1825 and 1832 they ceded all
of their lands south of Wisconsin and Fox Rivers to the United States Government
in return for a reservation on the west side of the Mississippi above upper Iowa
River. In 1836 they suffered severely from the smallpox. In 1837 they
relinquished the title to their old country east of the Mississippi, and in 1840
they removed to the Neutral Ground in the territory of Iowa. Many, however,
remained in their old lands. In 1846 the rest surrendered their
reservation for one in Minnesota north of Minnesota River, and in 1848
removed to Long Prairie Reservation, bounded by Crow Wing, Watab,
Mississippi, and Long Prairie Reservations, Minn. In 1853 they removed to
Crow River and in 1856 to Blue Earth, Minn., where they remained until the
Dakota outbreak of 1862, when the Whites in the section demanded their
removal. In consequence they were taken to Crow Creek Reservation, S.
Dak., but suffered so much from sickness, and in other ways, that they
escaped to the Omaha for protection. There a new reservation was assigned
to them on the Omaha lands, where they have since been allotted land in
severalty. Some however, remained in Minnesota when the tribe was removed
from that State and a larger number did not leave Wisconsin.
Population
Mooney (1928) estimates that there were 3,800 individuals
belonging to the Winnebago tribe in 1650. The following figures have been given
from time to time: In 1806, 1,750; in 1820, 5,800; in 1837 and 1843, 4,500; in
1867, 1,750 in Nebraska and 700 in Wisconsin. In 1876 there were 1,463 on the
Nebraska Reservation and 860 in Wisconsin, but 204 of the latter removed to
Nebraska in 1877. In 1886 there were 1,222 in Nebraska and 930 in Wisconsin. In
1910 the United States Indian Office gave 1,063 in Nebraska and 1,270 in
Wisconsin, but the United States Census of the same date gave a total Winnebago
population of 1,820, of whom 1,007 were in Nebraska, 735 in Wisconsin, and the
remainder scattered among 10 other States. In 1923 the Report of the United
States Commissioner of Indian Affairs gave 1,096 in Nebraska. In 1930 the figure
was 1,446, of whom 937 were in Wisconsin and 423 in Nebraska. In 1937 the United
States Indian Office reported 1,456 in Wisconsin, and 1,212 in Nebraska: total,
2,668.
Connection in which they have become noted
The Winnebago tribe is
noted for the unique position it occupied, as a Siouan tribe surrounded by
Algonquian peoples, probably having been left behind in the general Siouan
movement west, and its reputation as one of the mother tribes of the
Siouan stock. Its name is perpetuated in that of Winnebago Lake; Wis.; the
names of counties in Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin; and places in
Winnebago County, Ill.; Faribault County, Minn.; Winnebago County, Wis.;
and Thurston County, Nebr.
Additional Resources
Notes About the Book:
Source: The Indian Tribes of North America, by John R. Swanton, 1953, Bureau of
American Ethnology, Bulletin 145, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC.
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing
has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual
output.
|
|
Pre-Order Family Tree Maker 2012!!!