BULL. 30] 



SAUK 



475 



1665-66 the Potawatomi took the south- 

 ern, the Sauk the northern, part of Green 

 bay, and the Winnebago, who were not 

 fishermen, went into the forest to live on 

 venison and bear meat. In the spring 

 the Foxes notified the Sauk that they had 

 established themselves in quarters 30 

 leagues from the bay, forming a settle- 

 ment of about 600 lodges. The French, 

 for prudent reasons, left to the Sauk the 

 trade in peltries with the Foxes, since 

 they could the more quietly deal with 

 the Sauk in the autumn. 



In 1721 the Sauk were still resident at 

 Green bay, but owing to growing diffi- 

 culties with the Foxes, they were on the 

 point of removing to the St Joseph r. 

 At this time their village was situated on 

 the left bank of Fox r., near its mouth. 

 Although consisting only of a small num- 

 ber of persons at this period, the Sauk 

 had separated into two factions, of which 

 one was attached to the Foxes and the 

 other to the Potawatomi and the French. 

 It was these latter who constituted the 

 bulk of the village mentioned above. 



In 1725 the Sauk, in sympathy with 

 the Foxes and the Sioux, were preparing 

 to attack the Illinois. 



According to a letter of Beauharnois, 

 dated July 21, 1729 (Wis. Hist. Coll., 

 XVII, 63), the Sauk and the Potawatomi 

 of St Joseph r. , along with the Ottawa and 

 the Chippewa of Michilimackinac, the 

 Miami, Wea, and Hurons, together with 

 the Potawatomi and Ottawa of Detroit, 

 went to Montreal to inform him what had 

 occurred concerning the Foxes, against 

 whom they were then at war, and to learn 

 what he desired them to do further. The 

 Sauk, whose village was situated prob- 

 ably on the w. side of Foxr., near the site 

 of the present city of Green Bay, Wis., 

 gave in 1733 asylum to some refugee Foxes. 

 When theSieur De Villiers, the younger, 

 attempted after a formal demand for the 

 surrender of the Foxes by the Sauk to 

 take them by force, the Sauk resisted and 

 killed De Villiers and Monsieur De Re- 

 pentigny and several other Frenchmen, 

 thus repulsing the detachment of French 

 and Indian allies. Three days later the 

 Sauk evacuated their fort by night. They 

 were pursued by the French and their 

 Indian allies — the Ottawa, the Menomi- 

 nee, and the Chippewa — under the ensign, 

 the Sieur De Villiers, who overtook the 

 Sauk and the Foxes probably at what is 

 now called Little Butte des Morts, near 

 the present Appleton. De Villiers at once 

 attacked the Sauk, and after several hours 

 of lighting defeated them. The Sauk lost 

 20, the Foxes 9, and among the injured 9 

 others were mortally wounded. Among 

 the French 13 officers and men were 

 wounded and 2 were killed; the Ottawa 

 lost 9 men, including their head chief; the 

 Chippewa loss was 2 killed and 4 wounded. 



The Marquis de Beauharnois, the gov- 

 ernor of Canada, at once gave orders to 

 attack the Sauk and the remaining Foxes 

 to avenge the shedding of French blood. 

 The death of De Villiers, who was the 

 victor at LeRocher in 1730, led to two 

 important events— first, the close confed- 

 eration of the Sauk and the Foxes, and 

 second, the removal of the united tribes 

 from the territory of Wisconsin to the 

 land of the Iowa, w. of the Mississippi. 

 Previous to the events leading up to this 

 migration the Sauk had ostensibly been 

 allies of the French, even taking part in 

 the war against the Foxes, but they had 

 nevertheless clandestinely given aid and 

 comfort to the devoted Foxes. From 

 this period the united tribes became 

 known as the Sauk and Foxes. 



In 1777 the Spanish authorities at San 

 Luis de Ylinneses knew the Sauk as one 

 of the tribes that came from the English 

 district "to receive presents at this post; 

 that they had 400 warriors, and that they 

 were kindly disposed toward the Span- 

 ish," for although " frequent bands " had 

 visited "this village," they had caused 

 no trouble. In 1780 Francisco Cruzat, a 

 Spanish officer, wrote to Governor Ber- 

 nardo Gal vez, of Louisiana, that he had 

 caused the Sauk to surrender to him two 

 English banners and thirteen medals 

 which they desired to be replaced with 

 Spanish medals. Cruzat accordingly 

 afterward made the exchange in order 

 that he might "content said chiefs. " 



In the instructions for the Spanish 

 Governor of St Louis, dated Feb. 15, 1781 

 (Wis. Hist. Coll., xviii, 419, 1908), the 

 writer thereof said: "I believe it is ex- 

 cellent for Your Grace to have distin- 

 guished the zeal and affection of the Sac 

 tribe who have so generously lent to our 

 district in circumstances of so little ad- 

 vantage [to them]. . . . On this occa- 

 sion, 16 medals are sent and 10 flags with 

 16 letters patent which Your Grace is to 

 distribute among the chiefs of the Sac 

 tribe, who, according to Your Grace's 

 advice of the 28th of September, surren- 

 dered 13 English medals and three ban- 

 ners ... I hope that in spite of the 

 great presents which are distributed by 

 the English among these tribes, and not- 

 withstanding the small sum that we have, 

 their hopes will prove empty, even 

 though the [English] governor descend 

 from Michilimakinak, which I doubt. 

 At all events, the zeal, honor, and activ- 

 ity of Your Grace promises me a happy 

 result on our part in their boasted attack 

 on those settlements next Spring. I ap- 

 prove the determination which Your 

 Grace took with the tribes of the Misuri, 

 in making them hand over the two Eng- 

 lish banners which had been introduced 

 among them. Chuteau [Chouteau] de- 

 livered me the 14 medals and 5 English 



