WINNEBAGO

WINNEBAGO. A Siouan tribe that referred to itself as Hotcangara, "people of the real speech." The name Winnebago is a SAUK word meaning "people of the dirty water."

The Winnebago cooperated with Julien DUBUQUE and allowed his miners to explore areas west of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER in search of LEAD as early as 1805. Americans, fearing that the Winnebago would join the British during the War of 1812, constructed a fort in 1813 near present day Bellevue, Iowa, in an attempt to coerce them into remaining loyal.

In 1830 a band of Winnebago and DAKOTA ambushed a party of FOX on their way to a peace conference at Prairie du Chien. Among the Fox killed was PIA-NO-SKY. One year later the Winnebago were allies of the Sauk and Fox in the BLACK HAWK WAR. In defeat they were punished by being forced to cede all lands south and east of the Wisconsin River and accept lands in the Neutral Ground created by the Treaty of 1830 as part of the Indian Removal Policy.

The Winnebago tribe was subdivided into two divisions. The "wangeregi," or war division, had four clans. The "manegi," or earth division, had eight. Children inherited the clan of their father. Each clan constructed small effigy mounds representing the animal that stood for its group.

The Winnebago economy included fishing, hunting and farming. Communal buffalo hunts were conducted on the prairies; forest animals were hunted with bows and arrows, traps and later guns.

The Winnebago expanded into southwestern Wisconsin and northwestern Illinois by the early 19th century. By 1837 most had been forced to cede their lands east of the Mississippi River and were living in Minnesota, Iowa, and South Dakota. In 1874 those who returned to Wisconsin received forty-acre homesteads.