SAUK AND FOX

SAUK AND FOX.

Bear-in-the-Fork-of-a-Tree (Sauk)(1858)

Kee-shes-wa, a chief of the Fox

The Fox and the Sauk (Sauk Tribe ( Osā’kiwŭg, ‘people of the outlet,’ or, possibly, ‘people of the yellow earth,’ compared to the Muskwakiwuk, ‘Red Earth People’, a name of the Foxes) are two closely related, but separate, tribes. In 1600 they occupied the eastern half of lower Michigan between Saginaw Bay and Detroit. (1)

Both of their oral histories tell of an earlier time when they migrated from the Atlantic coast by way of the St. Lawrence River. When this happened is unclear. The Sauk lived around Saginaw Bay (which is named for them), while the Fox were just to the south and west. Driven from their homeland during the 1640s, the Fox resettled in central Wisconsin. The Sauk crossed over to the upper peninsula near the Mackinac Strait and moved into the headwaters of the Wisconsin River west of Green Bay. Except for 1710-12 the Fox lived near Detroit; neither tribe ever returned to Michigan. (2)

At the time of their first contact with the French in 1666, both the Fox and the Sauk were living in Wisconsin. The first French to the region estimated the Fox at 5,000 and the Sauk at 6,500 people. Since both tribes had just endured thirty years of war, a relocation to Wisconsin, and many epidemics, it appears their original populations may have been twice this - approximately 10,000 for each tribe. By 1712 the Fox had dropped to about 3,500. Half of this number were lost in the First French War (1712-14). They began the Second Fox War in 1728 with about 1,500, only 500 of whom survived. The Sauk relations with the French were friendly until they protected the Fox in 1734, and they numbered close to 4,000 at this time. Later population estimates treated them as a merged tribe. Both tribes increased after 1737. In 1806 Zebulon Montgomery PIKE listed the Fox at 1,750 and the Sauk at 2,850. His estimate of the Sauk may actually have been too low. Government records in 1829 reported there were 5,000 Sauk, 1,600 Fox, and another 500 Sauk in Missouri. (3)

The Sauk and Fox remained in Wisconsin until 1734, when both were driven across the MISSISSIPPI RIVER into eastern Iowa by the French. The Fox afterwards lived along the upper Mississippi in northeastern Iowa except for the period (1765-83) when they constructed some villages in western Wisconsin. The Sauk were also located along the upper Mississippi after 1734 just south of the Fox. Through wars with the Illinois Confederation and Osage, the Sauk expanded southward. By 1800 they controlled the upper Mississippi between St. Louis and Dubuque. (4)

Scrapers used by Native Americans

These lands were ceded to the Americans beginning with a treaty signed in 1804. Internal disagreements over accepting this treaty caused one Sauk group to separate from the others and move south to the Missouri River. Known as the Missouri Band, they remained there until 1824 when they were removed to the northwest corner of the state. In 1836 they exchanged their last lands in Missouri for a reserve west of the Missouri River on the Kansas-Nebraska border. Despite allotment, the Sac and Fox of Missouri have retained a small reservation with their tribal headquarters located in Reserve, Kansas. (5)

Pressures from white settlement after 1825 forced the Sauk along the Mississippi to leave western Illinois and relocate to southeast Iowa. The exception was Blackhawk's Band at Rock Island (Illinois) which did not finally leave until after the Blackhawk War in 1832. As a result of the war, the Sauk surrendered a large part of eastern Iowa. The Fox and Sauk remained in Iowa until 1842. The Neutral Ground in Iowa was meant to keep the Sauk and Fox apart from the DAKOTA. Positioned between such hostile tribes lived the WINNEBAGO; difficulties were bound to arise. In 1840 the Sauk and Winnebago agreed to hunt on the same ground just west of Dubuque. Argument arose and the Sauk led by Stabbing Chief attacked the Winnebago and killed between 43 and 50. The Sauk suffered two deaths. (6)

In 1842 the Sauk and Fox ceded their lands for a reserve in Kansas just south of present-day Topeka. However, many of them refused to leave Iowa. Once in Kansas, major disagreements developed between the Fox and the Sauk due largely to Chief Keokuk. (7) Some of the Fox moved in with the Kickapoo and later left with them for northern Mexico. By 1859 most of the Fox had left Kansas and returned to Iowa where they purchased land near Tama. (8)

After their removal from Iowa in 1846, the population of both tribes drastically declined. The Indian Bureau in 1845 stated 1,300 Fox and 2,500 Sauk had left Iowa, but only 700 Fox and 1,900 Sauk arrived in Kansas. The Missouri Band at this time numbered less than 200. After a terrible SMALLPOX epidemic, 300 Fox and 1,300 Sauk were all that remained on the Kansas reserve in 1852, but at least 300 Fox and an unknown number of Sauk were hiding in Iowa. Others were on the Kickapoo reserve or in places where no one could count them. Most of the Fox left shortly afterwards and returned to Iowa. (9)

Following the CIVIL WAR, the remaining Fox and Sauk sold their Kansas land and relocated to Oklahoma in 1869 where they were given a 750,000 acre reservation in Potawatomi, Lincoln, and Payne Counties east of Oklahoma City. After allotment, most of this was released to whites in 1891. Only the Missouri Band managed to stay in Kansas. The 1910 census listed 343 Fox in Iowa, 630 Sauk and Fox in Oklahoma, and 90 Sauk in Kansas. The current enrollments of the three federally recognized Sac and Fox tribes are: 1,100 Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi (Iowa); 400 Sac & Fox Tribe of Missouri (Kansas and Nebraska); and 2,200 Sac & Fox Tribe of Indians (Oklahoma). (10)

The Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma, headquartered in Stroud, kept less than 1,000 acres. On the other hand, the Fox in Iowa used their own money to purchase land, and their tribal holdings grew to almost 5,000 acres. The only federally recognized tribe in Iowa, they preferred to be called the Mesquaki Indian settlement, but because of treaties signed jointly with the Sauk, their official name is the Sac and Fox of the Mississippi in Iowa. (11)

---

Source:

1. "Sauk Tribe." Access Genealogy. Online: https://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/sauk-tribe.htm

2. Sultzman, Lee. "Sauk and Fox History," Online: http://www.tolatsga.org/sf.html

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid,

5. Ibid.

6. "Indian Difficulty," The North American. February 19, 1840, p. 2. Online: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86086342/1840-02-19/ed-1/seq-2/#date1=1836&index=18&rows=20&words=Dubuque&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1840&proxtext=dubuque+&y=8&x=24&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

7. "Sauk Tribe"

8. Sultzman

9. Ibid.

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid.