lO SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 8/ 



Wisconsin, others went west into the interior and western part of Iowa. I have 

 recently been informed that a party of about one hundred in number have joined 



the Ottoes, southwest of the Missouri river 



J. E. Fletcher, 

 Indian Ageiit.^ 



The report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs dated Novem- 

 ber 30, 1848, contains a brief reference to the removal of the Winne- 

 bago: "The experiment in the case of the Winnebagoes has also 

 been successful ; although their emigration from Iowa to their new 

 country on the upper JNIississippi was attended with some delay and 

 difficulty ; caused, however, by the unauthorized interference of inter- 

 ested white persons, and of a portion of the Sioux that were desirous 

 to have them stop and remain in their country." 



It was evidently Wabasha's band of Aldewakanton Sioux that 

 desired the Winnebago to settle or remain with them, and the excit- 

 ing scene witnessed by Captain Eastman was probably enacted at that 

 time. The pencil drawing, described by the artist as : " Wahbasha's 

 Prairie, Miss. River. Scene in July 1848. Difficulty with the Winne- 

 bagoes while removing them to their present country," now repro- 

 duced in Plate 6, is a beautiful example of his work and reveals his 

 great skill in showing minute detail. The United States troops are 

 drawn up on the left with a large number of mounted Indians, prob- 

 ably the Winnebago, in their front. The small group of armed In- 

 dians, crouching on the river bank in the immediate foreground, 

 appear to be operating with the Americans. 



In a letter written from " Fort Snelling, I. T., August 6, 1848 " 

 and signed " S. Eastman, Captain ist Infantry, Conunanding Fort 

 SnclUng " he discussed " means as will effectually stop the Indians 

 from smuggling ardent spirits into the country." The letter was ad- 

 dressed to Maj. Thomas H. Harvey, Superintendent of Indian Af- 

 fairs, but no means were ever effective. As Eastman was at that time 

 in command at Fort Snelling he may have led the troops shown fac- 

 ing the Winnebago on " Wahbasha's Prairie." 



Later in the year Captain Eastman again visited " Wahbasha's 

 Prairie," and made an interesting sketch of a group of temporarv 

 shelters, probably a camp of a small number of Indians. This bears 

 the legend : " Miss. River. Wahbasha's Prairie. 725 miles above 

 St. Louis — looking South. Oct. 1848 " (pi. 7). 



The Territory of jNIinnesota was created in 1849. O^'^ May 16 of 

 that year one who was ascending the Mississippi entered in his nar- 

 rative : " passed Wapasha's Prairie .... a beautiful prairie in Min- 



' Ex. Doc. no. I, 30th Cong., 2A Sess., Washington, 1848. 



