Pressure from Whites changes Indian life forever

This scene of a Chippewa maple sugar camp was drawn by Seth Eastman. Indians in the spring traveled to areas of sugar maple groves where trees were tapped and sap gathered in birch bark troughs made by the women. Sap was boiled until it became sugar in kettles hung over open fires.

     About 400 years ago there were only tow Indian tribes in Wisconsin, the Winnebago who had migrated here centuries ago and the Santee Sioux, a branch of the Dakota Sioux.
     The former group occupied the area around Lake Winnebago and the Fox River Valley. The Sioux were in the southwest and northwest parts of the state. They both spoke the Sioux language.

Other Indians moved to state

     Shortly before Nicolet arrived in 1634, the "Menomini" arrived from the east and settled between Green Bay and what is now Marinette. They were of the Algonkian-speaking group.
     Others in the group would include the Potawatomi, Chippewa, Ottawa, coming a few years later. Also the Fox, Sauk, Kickapoo, Mascouten, Munsee and Stockbridge tribes of the same language would soon join the "Menomoni" and Winnebago in that part of the state.
     Members of the Iroquoian language group were the Huron and Oneida. Languages of the various tribes were described as being as different as Chinese and English.

Few Indians in the Chippewa Valley

     There were few Indians in the Chippewa Valley 400 years ago. The Sioux, who at the time laid claim to most of the area, were mainly in the St. Paul and St. Croix areas and along the Mississippi River.
     Later, the Winnebago migrated west into the Black River area.
     By the time Nicolet landed, the "Menomini" had moved in. From 1634 to 1676 a number of tribes, including the Sauk, Fox, Miami, Kickapoo, Mascouten and Potawatomi had arrived in the state, pressured by events in the east.
     The Chippewa, Huron and Ottawa were in norther Michigan.
     However, long before they ever heard of the white man's ways, the native Wisconsinites, the American Indians, had learned how to cope with their surroundings.

Made nature work for them

     They had learned to make the natural wilderness, its trees, animals, birds, fish and land resources, work for them.
      The Indian had discovered through years of tradition the best way to sustain life, gather food, provide shelter and fashion clothing.
     His life was simple compared to the complexities he was introduced to after 1634 when the effects of the arrival of Jean Nicolet began to be felt.
     Food came from hunting and gathering natural product; clothing from skins of deer, caribou, elk and in some areas bison.
     The Indian had learned to use prairie lands to raise crops such as corn, squash and beans.
     His shelter was made from bits of bark and poles.
     About 350 years ago, the Indian moved frequently, generally for food and shelter materials, and found appropriate hunting grounds and a sheltered location for his winter lodging.
     Starting with spring the Indian would be setting up a new camp. Women would carry most of the household items. men would need their freedom to be alert for enemy attack or most likely to harvest whatever wild game they came in contact with as they moved about.
     Once they arrived at a camp site, the men took to the woods to gather poles for a shelter framework and birch and elm bark for its roof.
     Sides were made of reed mats the women carried with them Unlike plains Indians, the Indians of Wisconsin lived in wigwams during winter months. Bear skins covered most doors.
     The center of the lodge was open to let smoke from the small fire in a hole at the center drift out. The fire provided heat in the winter and cooking.
     Summer lodges were built much simpler, with just a light covering and and inverted V-shaped roof.

Clothes made by women

     Clothes were made by the women and usually decorated by an older woman often living with sons or daughters.
     Campsites were always selected near lakes or springs because of the need for water.
     Wisconsin Indians also realized early that nature provides food. Spring was always a time for preparing maple sugar, and special camps were made for this purpose.
     Indians in later years would use these items in trading and providing food for fur traders.
     Although Indians in other cultures had advanced pottery, early Wisconsin Indians has not mastered this art of developing pottery which would not crack when used on a fire. In lieu of this, Indian women would often heat rocks and drop them into the food they were preparing to bring it to a boil.
     Later the Indians learned to heat clay and mold stronger pottery.

Move on to spring camp

Indians in winter months quartered near a supply of game. This Indian in the late 1800's used snowshoes to ease the task. Deer provided food and stomachs of the animals were used for pouches. (State Historical Society of Wis. Whi (x3) 15462)

     After the maple sugar was made, the Indians often packed up and headed for the next camping location. At this point they would fashion tools and produce items needed for harvesting and storing food for the coming winter months.
     Raising corn and other vegetables was a skill the Indian inherited through centuries. He often would soak kernels in water to soften them before planting. The area was prepared by the men after it was burned over.
     Hunting tactics were developed because, with a bow and arrow, the Indian was limited by distance in slaying deer. Trees were felled to make a narrow trail about a mile long. Children and young men drove deer toward this narrow trail and the men were able to kill from short range.
     Deerskin and stomachs of the animals all had a use; stomachs for pouches to store wild rice and roots and later venison. These pouches hung over a fire were one of the cooling devices used by the women.

No behavior problem

     There was no behavior problem with the Indian way of life. Discipline and social control were largely a matter of immediate public reward and censure. Deliberate, conscious means of punishment were seldom used because they were seldom necessary. Good behavior was worthwhile because the chance of survival was much greater for the good than for the bad.
     The fall season was another busy one for the Indian. In September he would start the wild rice harvest. In each canoe, as the man poled the boat through the rice water, the woman pulled the stalks over the canoe with one cedar stick while with another she beat the ripe grain into the boat.
     When the canoes were full, they headed back to camp where the rice was spread out to dry and later be cleaned.
     Corn was ground into meal and stored.
     With the fall harvest completed, the Indians again moved camp toward an area where they knew by past experience there would be good hunting and winter fishing. This was the main food for the winter months. The Indians had developed snowshoes to make the tasks easier.

Recognize roll of great spirit

     These Indians also felt the great spirit would have a hand in any punishment. This threat was all the more effective because ways of the supernatural could not fully be understood or predicted. They also had many spirits for good and evil who they believed controlled the sun, winds and rain and all other phenomena of nature.
     There were no formal schools, but education was carried on by the family and older leaders of the tribe. Boys were taught by their fathers and uncles to hunt, fish, handle weapons and endure fatigue. Girls were taught housekeeping, cooking and tanning of hides. Traditions were learned from wise old men around campfires.
     When a boy reached the age of maturity at 10 or 12 years, he began a short period of fasting to prepare for manhood. It was the custom to awaken him before daylight and give him the choice of food or a charcoal stick.
     If he took the food, he was required to perform and unpleasant task. If he chose the charcoal, he blackened his face and refused all food and water for a day.
     When he was older he went to some secluded spot for a long fast, usually four days. here he would have a vision that he was visited by several spirits. he would adopt one as his guardian and it would be with him the rest of his life.
     Girls,. too, had to fast when they reached womanhood and were segregated for a number of days in a secluded lodge. During this time no man could approach them.

Satisfactory way of life

Chippewa Indians as well as the Winnebago carried their young on their backs while traveling and working. Here a young Chippewa woman goes about her duties while caring for her child. (State Historical Society of Wis. WHi (x3) 27062

     In short, the Wisconsin Indians prior to European contact maintained a satisfactory way of life that was a product of their time and place. This life represented a series of ingenious solutions to problems involved in meeting fundamental human needs.
     But all of that would change in the next 100 years, and even more drastically by the early 1800's. For 190 years after Nicolet's arrival with his guns blazing at Green Bay, there would be no Indian lands to speak of left in Wisconsin.
     But long before the natives here ever saw a white man, they were feeling the influx of the European in the east.
     There had been some inter-tribal wars, but nothing like what was to follow when the competition for the fur trade heated up. The Iroquois in the east were the middlemen for English and Dutch traders who found the Michigan and Wisconsin Indians too far away to trade with. Wisconsin Indians passed their furs on to the Iroquois and Huron who obtained guns, shot, powder and whiskey in return.

Sought to corner market

     Later the Iroquois fought and killed many Huron and Ottawa Indians in their quest for furs.
     The Huron and Ottawa moved into the southwestern Lake Superior area only to be forced back to the straits by the Sioux.
     Iroquois also pushed a number of Indian tribes out of the lower Great Lakes area. These, including the Miami, Fox, Sauk and Mascouten, moved to Wisconsin and crowded the Winnebago and several more Indian wars broke out when there was not enough food.
     In the meantime, the Chippewa allied themselves with the French in fighting the British. The same Chippewa Indians in 1670-1740 would move into northern Wisconsin. The Chippewa, with French guns, were able to drive the Sioux from the territory after a series of blood battles. Many of the Chippewa camped at the headwaters of the Chippewa River near Lac Courte Orielles.
     These rivals clashed on the portage below the point in a fierce battle. Each side advanced and fell back and the dead and wounded mounted. Some plunged into the narrow rocks or into the river.

Urged to hold ground

     Indian tales note "the voice of the great was chiefs resounded above the rattle of musketry and yells of their warriors as they urged them to stand their ground." Finally, the Fox and Sioux were forced to retreat.
     This is reportedly the last tribal battle of the Fox and survivors retreated to the south and sought to be taken in by the Sac tribe. In the battle of St. Croix Falls, the Chippewa secured the territory and made it safe for white settlers, with whom they had no problems, to come into the area.
     The two tribes would fight further, many of the battles taking place in the Chippewa Valley as late as the early 1860s.

Fought for British

Indians had many different dances, each depicting a segment of their society. Some were for rain, war, harvest and special ceremonies. This one was called the pipe dance or by some, tomahawk dance. The men more often than women were participants in the dancing.

     Many Wisconsin Indians fought on the side of the British during the Revolutionary War and again in 1812 a combined band of Sioux, Chippewa and Winnebago assisted the British in capturing Ft. Shelby at Prairie du Chien. The Indians were to fight the American government many more times.
     One of the effects of white fur traders was the dependence the Indians came to have on them. To obtain guns, powder, shot and other materials, Indians became a trading people and lost ways and means of supporting themselves.

Treaty drawn up in 1825

     In 1825 the U.S. tried to put a stop to Indian warfare in the state, including this area, and a treaty was drawn up at Prairie du Chien defining Indian boundaries. One historian said it was a plan by which the American government would deal individually with the Indian in the future to gain control of their lands. Within the next 23 years, by time of statehood in 1848, the U.S. had control of all Indian lands in Wisconsin.
     One part of the treaty left a no-man's land between the Sioux and Chippewa in the lower Chippewa Valley.
     The Sioux-Chippewa treaty line established in 1825 passed through current Eau Claire. The boundary line was the Eau Claire River on the east side. The line on the west passed through were Little Niagara and the Chippewa River meet near the present day university, and extended through the falls on the Red Cedar River and westward.
     This line passed through the lower ends of Half Moon Lake, with the Sioux claiming the southern portion and the Chippewa the northern area.
     A few years later the U.S. government sent a survey team through the area to pinpoint the line agreed upon in the 1825 Prairie du Chien treaty.
     Frequent Indian fights developed in this area as Wabasha's band of Sioux kept close watch on it and the Chippewa continued to hunt in the area. The area, about 20 miles wide, was termed "Road of War."
     The Sioux and Winnebago did not get along well either. The Sioux allowed some whites to build sawmills on the lower Black River where they had been in control, but Winnebago Indians upstream burned them out on more than one occasion.

Peace parley at Chippewa City

Some of the most famous Sioux chiefs were names Wabasha. There were three by that name. The one with one eye was Wabasha II. His band had a large village near the present site of Wabasha, Minn.

     Chippewa and Sioux Indians did manage to get together on more than one occasion to work out a peace; however, the peaceful periods were often short-lived.
     Thomas Randall reported on two of the parleys. One took place in 1840 during November when chiefs of the two bitter enemies met near Chippewa Falls.
     A larger peace gathering took place in October of 1846 when 150 mounted Sioux, led by Chiefs Wabasha, Red Wing and Big Thunder, went to Chippewa City north of the Falls to meet with an equally strong group of Chippewa Indians, apparently led by Chief Hole-in-the-Day. The Indians passed the peace pipe and buried the hatchet. The next day, Randall said, the two groups met again for a bid dinner.
     Despite treaties, there were several more battles between the two belligerents. in 1840, a party of Sioux was ambushed near the Red Cedar River and killed. In November of the same year a party of six belonging to the Chippewa was killed the same way.
     In 1851, Sioux warriors killed an Indian friend of the Louis Demarie family at Chippewa Falls. Several Chippewa Indians were killed the same year near Dunnville, but the following year, the Chippewa killed two Sioux near Rock Run in the current Town of Wheaton.

Big Indian fight near Lake Hallie

     One of the biggest Indian battles took place near high ground overlooking the Lake Hallie area in 1854 where the Chippewa defeated the Sioux. Several hundred Indian took part in the two day battle. The Sioux apparently made a hasty retreat, leaving their dead behind.
     The Chippewa seemed to have an advantage when fighting in the woods, while the Sioux had the upper hand during warfare on prairies and open spaces.
     One of the last recorded Indian fights in the state took place near Vanceburg in Dunn County. One report nates it was in 1861 and another put it in 1858 or 1859.
     Regardless of the year, eight Chippewa Indians, including Chief Nonangabe, were at the South Fork of Hay River on a trapping and hunting trip.
     The Sioux who came over from Minnesota saw them but held back from attacking, not knowing how many there were or how near their camp was.
     The Chippewa came to Vance and traded their furs for provisions with Levi Vance at his post. The next day the Indians headed toward their camp near Prairie Farm.
     The Sioux were in pursuit and during the night crossed the Hay River and, learning the Chippewa camp was not there, set up an ambush.

Five Chippewa killed

     In the clash the 90 Sioux started firing on the Chippewa who dropped their packs, and although outnumbered, ran toward the Sioux. Five of them were killed and the other three escaped.
     A witness, Louis Bourrasseau, said Nonangable snatched a tomahawk from a Sioux and killed a number of them before he was finally slain. Bourrassear reportedly buried the mutilated bodies of the Indians on a river bank.
     An account given by a Sioux Indian years later said his tribe had lost a large number of warriors in that fight.
     The next morning a larger number of Chippewa chased the Sioux as far as the St. Croix River and then returned.

Sioux move across Mississippi

     The Sioux later moved west of the Mississippi and the Chippewa for the most part left the lower Chippewa River basin and settled on the Lac Courte Orielles reservation at the headwaters of the Chippewa River. Other bands are at St. Croix, Red Cliff, Bad River, Mole Lake and Lac du Flambeau.
     Some 400 years ago there were few Indians in the valley, and today there are very few again, but for far different reasons. The coming of the white man brought the change.

--Arnie Hoffman

Extracted from the Eau Claire Leader Telegram
Special Publication, Our Story 'The Chippewa Valley and Beyond', published 1976
Used with permission.