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Native Americans
Wisconsin
has a very intensive and interesting Native
American history that dates back over 12,000
years.(1)
Early Native American cultures have been divided
into five periods, the Paleo-Indian (~13,000-7,900
B.C.), Archaic (~8000-1000 B.C), Early Woodland
(~900-300 B.C.), Middle Woodland (~300B.C.-700A.D.),
and Late Woodland (700-1300 A.D.) periods. These
stages describe the Native American cultures
that preceded the common tribes found in the
area at the time of European exploration. The
first people, the Paleo-Indians, lived in Wisconsin
shortly after the glacial ice sheet receded.
They hunted, gathered, and fished for their
food. Sometime around 6500 B.C., the environment
changed gradually to resemble the modern landscape.
The Native Americans who lived through this
change are known as the Archaic Indians. These
people were very nomadic and traveled throughout
the area. They hunted and gathered their food
and fashioned tools out of rock. The next distinct
group, the Early Woodlanders, emerged around
800 B.C. These people were more advanced than
the Archaic Indians. The Early Woodland culture
created pottery out of clay, stored their food,
and built round burial mounds for their dead.
This mound building culture carried into the
following Middle and Late Woodland periods.
The Late Woodland people constructed mounds
in the shape of animals, called effigy mounds.
Effigy mounds have been found throughout southern
Wisconsin. One bird-shaped effigy mound, in
Richland County, has a wingspan of one-quarter
of a mile.(2)
Most of the mounds were built near water and
contained human remains. It is unclear whether
the animals were intended for something beyond
their ceremonial significance. Some have speculated
that they represented certain clans or served
as maps and astronomical indicators.
During
the last 300 years of the effigy mound culture,
a different cultural group entered Wisconsin.
This group, the Middle Mississippians, migrated
to Wisconsin from the south. They were part
of a powerful nation whose main city of Cahokia,
near present-day St. Louis, had a population
of 35,000 people and were one of the largest
cities in the world.(3)
These people had a unique culture and belief
system. They developed an extensive trade route
that spanned from the Gulf of Mexico to the
Great Lakes and from the Rocky Mountains to
the Atlantic coast. They created the city of
Aztalan (in present-day Jefferson County) and
a city located near the modern city of Trempealeau,
probably for trading purposes. The Mississippians
only occupied the cities for eight generations;
both were abandoned by 1200 A.D. Another distinct
culture emerged at this time, called the Oneota.
These people were similar the Mississippians,
but they seldom built burial mounds. The Oneota
lived in the southern part of Wisconsin. They
farmed and developed a unique pottery technique.
Oneota and other Late Woodland cultures created
etched pictographs into rock walls. From the
pottery, pictograms, and burial mounds, archeologists
have been able to study and identify the socio-economic
culture of Wisconsin's early Native Americans.
The
Oneota and the Late Woodland tribes gave rise
to the modern Wisconsin tribes that existed when
the first European explorers arrived. It is estimated
that over 20,000 Native Americans lived in Wisconsin
in 1600 A.D.(4)
The Huron and Ottowa tribes lived east of Lake
Huron, the Chippewa lived north of Lake Huron
and surrounded Lake Superior, the Potawatomi inhabited
western Wisconsin, and the Menominee, Winnebago,
Sauk, Fox, and Miami settled throughout the state.
All of the tribes save the Huron and the Winnebago
were part of the Algonquian language group. The
Huron were part of the Iroquois language group,
but did not belong to the Iroquois League of Nations
(a confederacy of Iroquois tribes in the east).
The Winnebago were related to the Sioux of the
Great Plains. These tribes, although significantly
different, shared many characteristics. They all
lived in wigwams and ate a similar diet. They
hunted deer, rabbit, and waterfowl and they fished
for sturgeon, pike, lake trout, and catfish. They
ate nuts and gathered many plants, such as wild
rice and berries. They planted crops of corn,
beans, squash, tobacco, and sunflowers to compliment
the food they gathered. Tribes of the north had
shorter growing seasons and were less dependent
on agriculture. These tribes depended on hunting,
trapping, and gathering, forcing them to live
in smaller clans. Southern tribes, such as the
Winnebago and the Menominee, were able to live
in larger communities. The arrival of Europeans
had many effects on the tribes. Even before there
was significant European settlement in Wisconsin,
the Native Americans felt the effects of the white
man. European settlement on the coast drove many
tribes westward. Wisconsin gained many refugee
tribes such as the Sauk, Mascouten, Potawatomi,
and the Kickapoo. Ojibwe, Ottowa, Fox, and other
Iroquois-speaking tribes also encroached on the
land. The new arrivals caused many clashes over
territory. When the Europeans did arrive in Wisconsin
and started the fur trade, they gradually brought
many changes. The fur trade ultimately harmed
the tribes as competition for furs set tribes
against each other. Disease and European encroachment
decimated tribes who eventually had to settle
on reservations.
| Table
1: Populations of Wisconsin Tribes as of
2001(5) |
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Tribe
|
Population (2001)
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Menominee
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8,055
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Ho-Chunk (Winnebago)
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6,065
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Ojibwe (6 reservations)
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Red
Cliff
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4,144
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Bad
River
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6,790
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Lac
du Flambeau
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3,057
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Lac
Courte Oreilles
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5,513
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St.
Croix
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2,000
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Sokagon
(Mole Lake)
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1,207
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Potawatomi
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1,153
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Oneida (Originally
from New York)
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13,508
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Mohicans (2 reserv.,
also from NY)
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Mohican
Nation, Stockbridge
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1,500
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Brothertown
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2,568
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Early Explorers
The
first European to set foot in modern-day Wisconsin
is unknown, but it is widely believed to be
Jean Nicolet. Nicolet, working for the leader
of New France, Samuel de Champlain, reached
Wisconsin while on an expedition in 1634. Nicolet,
along with seven Huron Indians, left Canada
and traveled through the Straits of Mackinac
to Lake Michigan and came ashore at Green Bay.
Their stay was short but it marks the first
known European encounter with what would later
become Wisconsin.
The
next European encounter with Wisconsin would
not come for another 25 years. Medard Chouart
des Groseilliers and Pierre Esprit Radisson
made two expeditions to Wisconsin, the first
between the years of 1654 and 1656, and the
second between the years of 1659 and 1660. They
became Wisconsin's first European residents
and erected the first trading fort in the area..
The first Europeans to cross Wisconsin were
Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet. Marquette,
a Jesuit priest determined to convert the Native
Americans, and Jolliet, a priest turned fur
trader, were ordered by New France in 1672 to
find the "Great River," (known today as the
Mississippi). Their expedition, which included
Marquette, Jolliet, and five other men, landed
in Green Bay in 1673. They traveled up the Fox
River to Lake Winnebago. From there, they took
the Upper Fox River to a river the Natives called
the "Misconsing." They made it to the Mississippi
by June. Their exploration was especially significant
because it provided the first European accounts
of the whole area of Wisconsin. Their expedition
marked the beginning of the French claim to
the area that would last until the conclusion
of the French and Indian War in 1763. Also,
their route on the Fox and Wisconsin (Misconsing)
Rivers became very important for future fur
traders.
The Fur Trading Era
The
French fur trade brought the first steady European
influence to Wisconsin. The first French trading
post was actually constructed before Marquette
and Jolliet's expedition. Radisson and Groseilliers
constructed the first post in 1659, marking
the beginning of the French trading era. The
numerous lakes and rivers and the willing Native
American fur trappers made the area ideal for
fur trading. Deer, elk, marten, lynx, bear,
and the extremely popular beaver, were trapped
and skinned for the fur hungry market in Europe.
Very few French people settled in the area because
of the harsh weather and the frequent Indian
wars, but a number of illegal traders did, usually
living among the Natives and taking Indian wives.
The fur trade led to many Indian wars as tribes
competed for land and control of the trade.
The French and British also had many conflicts
over control of the fur trade. The British threat
intensified when they built a trading fort at
Oswego on Lake Ontario in 1724, which took business
away from the French. The British built another
trading post in Ohio in 1748, angering the French
enough to prompt an attack. The French took
the fort, temporarily reasserting their dominance.
The incident sparked a string of conflicts with
the British that ultimately culminated in the
French and Indian war (1755-1763). The British
won the war and brought an end to the French
fur trading empire. In the Treaty of Paris,
(the treaty that ended the war) France ceded
all of Canada and the land they claimed along
the Mississippi to the British.
The
British used Wisconsin as a fur-trading center,
just as the French had done. The region remained
largely unsettled, except for the Native Americans
and the traders. Settlement was actually forbidden
beyond the Proclamation Line, a government-drawn
line along the Allegheny Mountains created in
1673. It was dangerous for those who did attempt
to settle because there was no government in the
area; the only fort in the region, Fort Edward
Augustus, was only garrisoned between the years
of 1761-1763. Although the British did not change
much about the area, they did make some changes
to the dynamics of the fur trade. Furs were sent
to London instead of Paris, English investors
replaced the French capitalists, and the trade
companies became larger and spread further into
the northwest as beaver populations dwindled in
Wisconsin. The growth of large trade companies
reduced the power of the tribes, causing many
Indian uprisings. The British were able to maintain
control of the fur trade after the American Revolution,
but were finally forced out after the War of 1812.
By
the 1820s, all of the British had been pushed
out of the fur trade and the Americans held a
monopoly. They had managed this by forbidding
trade between Indians and other nations on American
territory. Unfortunately for the Americans, by
the time they had complete control of the trade
it was already in decline. The decimation of the
beaver population and the removal of Native Americans
to reservations worked in tandem to destroy the
fur trade in the Wisconsin area. Traders gradually
moved headquarters to the untouched Pacific Northwest
where furs were still abundant. For nearly 200
years Wisconsin had served as trading grounds
for the French, British, and the Americans. The
decline in the fur trade allowed Wisconsin to
shift from a frontier civilization to a settled
community.
Wisconsin During the American Revolution and the
War of 1812
The
American Revolution only affected Wisconsin remotely.
The area was not yet a state, and there were not
many Americans in the region. The fur trade was
interrupted in Wisconsin and other areas south
of the Great Lakes when George Rogers Clark led
an invasion into Illinois in 1778. Other than
that incident, Wisconsin and the fur trade remained
under British control throughout the war. American
victory in the revolution did not immediately
bring change to the region either. Scattered French
and British traders remained in the area. All
of the trading posts were in American hands by
1796, but the British continued to occupy the
area control the trade from Canada. .
It took another war with England to bring the
western border and the fur trade under American
control. The continued British occupation of the
area enabled them to control Wisconsin and the
surrounding area during the War of 1812. Wisconsin
was touched by war when the Winnebago Indians
fought in the Battle of the Thames in 1813. During
this battle, the Americans beat the Indian forces
and killed the great Indian warrior, Tecumseh.
In June of 1814, the superintendent of Indian
affairs, William Clark, marched to Wisconsin with
a small force and built Fort Shelby at Prairie
du Chien, marking the first time an American flag
flew over Wisconsin soil. However, the accomplishment
was short lived; the British conquered the fort
a month later. The Treaty of Ghent, which followed
the American victory in the War of 1812, stated
that Wisconsin and the Northwest was now part
of the United States.
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(1)The Wisconsin
Cartographers Guild, Wisconsin's Past and Present,
A Historical Atlas, ( Madison: The University
of Wisconsin Press, 1998), 2.
(2)Patty Loew,
Indian Nations of Wisconsin, Histories of Endurance
and Renewal, (Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society
Press, 2001), 6.
(3)Loew, 7.
(4)Robert C.
Nesbitt, Wisconsin, A History, (Madison: The University
of Wisconsin Press, 1973), 12.
(5)Loew, 24,
40, 56-57, 84.
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By
Rickie Lazzerini
Historian
BA History
University of California, Santa Barbara
Index
of Historical Reviews
© 2006 Rickie Lazzerini,
All Rights Reserved
This page may be freely linked to but may not
be reproduced
in any form without prior written consent from
the author.
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