This fur trader’s ledger is available at Minnesota Digital Library.

Most Minnesotans know that Dakota, and then Ojibwe tribes, resided here from early on. But the Winnebago (properly called Ho-Chunk) also lived here for a short time.

I recently learned that while perusing an old account book of fur trader A.C. Riggs with two small bands of “Winnebago” Indians at Watab and Cold Spring, Minnesota Territory. The 1852-53 ledger is owned by the Cold Spring Historical Society and available online at Minnesota Digital Library. Reading it has riveted me.

A little background

The Long Prairie Winnebago reservation. The southernmost red dot shows Watab, which is at Sartell, Minnesota. (map courtesy of Wiki Commons)

In the 1800s, the U.S. government identified Indian lands that they wanted for settlers, and “negotiated” their “sales” with numerous tribes. Government representatives negotiated with whom they wanted to be chiefs, but many times those Native “chiefs” weren’t the overall head of the tribe — tribes had multiple chiefs for different aspects of their lives.

[If I have trouble reading contract language, how much worse would that be in a second language and for a culture which held land in common?]

The Ho-Chunk negotiated treaties in 1816, 1829, 1832 and 1837, ceding their ancestral lands in Wisconsin. According to an article “Ho-Chunk and Long Prairie, 1846-1855” in MNopedia, “In Iowa, the Ho-Chunk were placed on so-called ‘neutral ground’ to act as a buffer between other Native American groups: the Sauk and Meskwaki (Sac and Fox) to the south and the Dakota to the north. Within a short time, however, Euro-American immigrants began to push onto the reservation, and the Ho-Chunk people living there asked to be moved.”

In 1848 they were relocated to a reservation at Long Prairie, Minnesota Territory. With each move, their population dwindled, they received less of the kind of land they’d requested and more restrictions on annuity payments.

Minnesota became a territory in 1849, and things changed rapidly as it sped toward statehood. There was money to be made in acquiring valuable Indian lands, managing annuity payments and in trading. The area was being quickly settled by white pioneers who believed they’d purchased land free and clear, so they were nonplussed to see Native people — hunting or fishing on land that was once theirs, gathering wild rice or maple sugar, collecting medicines, honoring dead ancestors, drinking, spying, warring…

The items Old Rogue traded for included 3 white fish ($.25 each), a ham of venison ($.50) and 2 quarts of wild rice ($1), indicating how difficult it was to procure their own food.

Here is where A.C. Riggs’ ledger picks up part of their story.

How did the new location work for the Ho-Chunk?

First: Their Long Prairie reservation was also a buffer zone between Ojibwe and Dakota tribes whose relationships had long been complicated. While most times were peaceful, when a warrior from one tribe slipped across the border of the reservation to spy on or exact revenge on the other tribe, the Ho-Chunk feared being caught in a war between them or attacks from both sides.

Second: The land of the Long Prairie reservation, 23 miles inland from the Mississippi River, didn’t match what they were promised: semi-permament villages for seasonal horticulture, hunting, fishing and gathering. They expected rolling open prairies, woodlands, lakes, marshes, small streams and major rivers, like they’d left in central Wisconsin. They were also far from the graves of their ancestors.

Third: The land was too sandy, too far north and too densely wooded to raise their accustomed crops. Game was scarce. This was borne out in A.C. Riggs’ ledger — instead of hunting, fishing or ricing, tribesmen like Old Rogue purchased whitefish, wild rice and a ham of venison.

The chief Winne-sheick or Thunder Coming is pictured second from left–he was the first signer of the treaty. Next to him on the right, Baptiste Lassallier was the last one of the Ho-Chunk delegates to sign. (image courtesy of MNopedia)

Fourth: In my last blog post, I found that those who traded traditionally, using pelts, brought in only a few furs: a total of 8 otters, 2 fishers, 3 martins, 12 mink, 1 wolf, 7 raccoons, 69 muskrats. The values ranged from $5 for an otter to $.10 for a muskrat. They did lots of work for very little in trade.

Fifth: Most of what the Ho-Chunk traded for was food, or tools to prepare food or items for hunting, and trapping. They were hungry, even starving.

Sixth: The location of Long Prairie reservation itself caused division among the Ho-Chunk. Of the tribe’s 19 bands, 11 bands moved away from the agency and administrative headquarters where annuities were paid, and relocated at the Watab area. Those at Cold Spring were even farther away.

Seventh: The tribe became impoverished — and indebted to the traders, who held great sway in treaty negotiations, which was used against them.

According to Edward J. Pluth’s article, “The Failed Watab Treaty of 1853,” the Winnebago tried to negotiate a treaty, but it stalled as the white leaders changed sides. While Minnesota’s territorial governor Willis Gorman and the Indian agents Jonathan Fletcher and Henry Rice had once been proponents for the Winnebago, they succumbed to economic interests from the white community and bailed on the Ho-Chunk needs and promises.

And the rest of the story?

Little Hill, or Sho-go-nik-kaw, a Ho-Chunk chief, the second person to sign the 1855 treaty. (image courtesy of MNopedia)

In the new treaty, the Ho-Chunk expected that the Long Prairie reservation land would be swapped for land between the Crow and Sauk rivers which, they were promised, would remain far from white settlement. And they were pressured to accept no money for the Long Prairie reservation, including the value of improvements, and a 50-year limit on annuities. They would be given one year to move — those who didn’t move would be prohibited from receiving annuities.

Also around that time, Ojibwe and Dakota tribes were being pressured to leave their ancestral lands and move onto ever-shrinking reservations.

Riggs’ fur trading posts closed after one year. In 1855, a different treaty relocated the Ho-Chunk to Blue Earth County in southern Minnesota, but unfortunately that would not be their permanent home.

About seven years later, the Dakota rose up in anger at the Indian agents refusing to adhere to treaty promises — both food and money payments had been stalled for months and the Dakota were starving, though food for them was in a warehouse, and could have been distributed.

So began the Dakota Uprising of 1862. Though it didn’t involve the Ho-Chunk, they were caught in the bitter whirlwind and forced out of Minnesota by a secret hate society, the Knights of the Forest, to South Dakota and Nebraska. Some were imprisoned.

Three representatives whose names were also in A.C. Riggs’ ledger are Waw-kon-chaw-hoo-no-kaw, or Little Thunder; Hoonk-hoo-no-kaw, Little Chief, or Little Priest; and Honch-hutta-kaw, or Big Bear. (image from Tribal Treaty Database)

About 45 Winnebago tribespeople were mentioned in Riggs’ account book, and I could trace three “chiefs and delegates” who represented them on the treaty: Waw-kon-chaw-hoo-no-kaw, or Little Thunder; Hoonk-hoo-no-kaw, Little Chief, or Little Priest; and Honch-hutta-kaw, or Big Bear.

 Imagine yourself with the Ho-Chunk, trying to negotiate the “American” way but not receiving what you’d been promised. Not proud moments in our history. Many of us didn’t even know they lived in Minnesota.

Want more information about the Ho-Chunk? On Feb. 15, the Minnesota Historical Society Forum presents “Citizens of a Stolen Land: A Conversation of Ho-Chunk History & Survivance,” both live and virtual.

Final Thoughts:

  • In Book 3 — “Uncharted Waters” — Andre delivers a young boy to his British father on Lake Huron. There’s no fur trade brigade to rely on — his crew is all alone to accomplish their task!
  • Follow Andre from the beginning — his first voyage in “Waters Like the Sky” or his second in  “Treacherous Waters”, available through PayPal. Or an ebook.
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  • Book me as a speaker.
  • Ask your library, local school, gift shop to buy copies.
  • Be a voyageur for an hour — come to my presentations. Next is “Women in the Fur Trade,” March 15 at the Forest History Center in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

Sources:

The featured image of “Winnebago Cherahs” was taken in about 1865. (courtesy of MNopedia)

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