The Indians of Iowa

WINNEBAGO

WINNEBAGO Name means: “Stinking Water,” derived from Algonquian winnepeko, referring to Green Bay, Wisconsin Other names: Hochunk They call themselves: Hochunkara, Hochunk, Hocak, Hochugara, etc., translated variously as “The People of the Big (Original) Voice,” indicating that Hochunk was the original language Language spoken/language family: Hochunk/Siouan Residence in Iowa: 1832 to 1846, although some families stayed after removal in 1846 Location today: Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska near Macy, Nebraska; Ho-Chunk Nation near Black River Falls, Wisconsin    “Winnebago” was the name given to this tribe by Algonquianspeaking tribes, neighbors of the Winnebago, who lived near Green Bay, Wisconsin. Winnebago, from winnepeko, means something like “Stinking Water,” referring to the fishy-smelling shores of Green Bay on Lake Michigan. The “Winnebago” actually called themselves Hochunkara, which meant something like the “People of the Great Language” or “People of the Big Voice,” “big” meaning originating in earliest times. Some Ioway and Otoe traditions point to the Hochunkara as that portion of the original people who stayed near the Great Lakes when clans who would become the Ioway and Otoe decided to move away in search of new lands on the prairies. Today, some branches of the Hochunkara have decided to reject the foreign term “Winnebago” in favor of variations from their 86 Winnebago own language, Hochunk. In Wisconsin, they are known as the HoChunk ; in Nebraska, they are the Winnebago. The Winnebago’s earliest known residence was at a place they called Red Banks, near Green Bay, on Lake Michigan in Wisconsin . Their traditions maintained that this was their place of origin and that other tribes such as the Ioway, Otoe, and Missouri split off from them. The Ioway and Otoe language developed from the same ancestral language which gave rise to Hochunkara as it is known today. Finally, archaeological evidence indicates both a common origin for these cultures, centered in Wisconsin, and considerable interaction and population movement in the region. The Winnebago first traded with the French, but when England took Canada they became British allies and joined Tecumseh against the Americans in the War of 1812. They remained in their Wisconsin homelands. In 1827 they began to resist American incursions into their territory in Wisconsin and Illinois, a situation sometimes called the Winnebago War, and American troops from St. Louis were sent to prevent outright war. On August 11, 1827, they signed a friendship treaty with the United States under their chief Huchup. Continuing American invasions of their lands, especially in search of lead deposits, brought more conflicts. A treaty providing for boundaries and compensation was signed at Green Bay in 1828. The very next year, they ceded a tract south of the Wisconsin River. The involvement of a few Winnebago, such as Winneshiek, in the Black Hawk War of 1832 was used by the United States as a pretext to force them into more cessions. As partial payment for Wisconsin and Illinois lands ceded to the United States in the Treaty of 1832, the Winnebago were assigned lands in northeast Iowa on the Turkey River, in an area called the Neutral Ground. In 1839, a Winnebago group went to Iowa to scout for village locations , provoking Keokuk to demand that they should be sent south of the Missouri River instead. The Winnebago were pleased neither with the Neutral Ground nor with Keokuk’s demand. They wanted Winnebago 87 to remain in their Wisconsin homelands. In 1840, they met at Prairie du Chien to try to convince the Americans to let them remain in Wisconsin. The American authorities refused and further stated that the 1841 annuity payments would be made only at the Neutral Ground Agency. The Winnebago reluctantly and in small groups made the move. For a long time they simply lingered on the edge of the danger zone, on the western bank of the Mississippi. Retreat was impossible, as the U.S. Army had burned and destroyed their canoes to prevent their return to Wisconsin. The Neutral Ground was not neutral at all. Originally established to separate the Sioux to the north and the Sac and Meskwaki to the south, through the terms of the Treaty of 1825, the Neutral Ground had become unclaimed land marked by incessant warring between the Sioux and the Sauk and Meskwaki. The Winnebago were stuck in a dangerous spot between two old enemies; they were raided from both sides, and some were killed. Fort Atkinson was built by the U.S. Army as a protective measure , but it was considered...