BULL. 30] 



WINNEBAGO 



959 



eissippi r., and in 1840 removed to the 

 Neutral Ground in the territory of Iowa, 

 though a part of the tribe had to be re- 

 moved by soldiers. They were in 1843 

 on the Neutral Ground in different bands, 

 the principal one, called the School band, 

 on Turkey r. In 1846 they surrendered 

 their reservation for one n. of Minnesota r. 

 in Minnesota, and in 1848 removed to 

 Long Prairie res. , bounded by Crow Wing, 

 Watab, Mississippi, and Long Prairie rs., 

 Minn. Schoolcraft said that the tribe was 

 composed of 21 bands in 1852, having a 

 total population of 2,521 souls. They lost 

 many of their number by disease and were 

 kept on the reservation only by force. 

 In 1853 they were removed to Crow r. , and 

 in 1856 to Blue Earth, Minn., where they 

 were just getting a start in civilization 

 when the Sioux war of 1862 broke out, and 

 the people of Minnesota demanded their 

 removal. They were taken to Crow 

 Creek res., S. Dak., on Missouri r., but 

 could not be kept there by the troops. 

 There was much suffering from sickness 

 and other causes. Out of the 2,000 taken 

 to Crow cr. only 1,200 reached the Omaha 

 res., whither they fled for protection. 

 They were then assigned a new reservation 

 on the Omaha lands in n. e. Nebraska, 

 where they have since remained and where 

 their lands have been allotted to them in 

 severalty. When the tribe was removed by 

 force from Minnesota to Crow cr. in 1863, 

 many who had taken up farms remained. 

 How long the tribe had maintained its 

 position at Green bay previous to the 

 coming of the whites is unknown. As 

 has been seen, it appears they had re- 

 ceded slightly toward the w. before 1766, 

 the time of Carver's visit, who found 

 them on Fox r. The French found them 

 in league with the Menominee, and the 

 2 tribes gave shelter to the Potawatomi 

 and the Ottawa, who had been driven from 

 their homes by the Iroquois, and also to 

 the Sauk and Fox tribes when these were 

 expelled from s. Michigan. Notwith- 

 standing their friendly relations with the 

 last named, who were the only Algonquian 

 tribes with whom the French had strife, 

 the Winnebago managed to maintain 

 friendship and uninterrupted trade with 

 the French. They generally kept on 

 friendly terms also with their neighbors, 

 the Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatomi, 

 Kickapoo, and Mascoutens, to do which 

 required great address, as the Sauk and 

 Foxes seem to have been cut loose from 

 their ancient and natural affinities and 

 were perpetually making inroads on Al- 

 gonquian tribes, particularly, in conjunc- 

 tion with the Sioux, on the Chippewa 

 ( Schoolcraft ) . After the fall of the French 

 power in Canada in 1760 the Winnebago 

 were slow to transfer their allegiance to 

 Great Britain, but when they did they 



remained firm in their new fealty. 

 When the United States declared their 

 independence in 1776, the Winnebago 

 sided with the Crown, and in all questions 

 of local jurisdiction were arrayed on the 

 side of the British. In the War of 1812 

 they espoused the cause of England, 

 helped to defeat Col. Crogan at Michili- 

 mackinac. Col. Dudley at the rapids of 

 the Miami, and Gen. Winchester at the 

 River Raisin, and were with the tribes 

 that gathered about Detroit. In the 

 years immediately following this war they 

 became insolent. Hoochoop, a chief of 

 the tribe, living at the outlet of L. Winne- 

 bago, assumed to be the keeper of Fox r. 

 valley and sometimes levied toll for the 

 privilege of ascent. This people also con- 

 nected themselves clandestinely with the 

 Sauk and Foxes in the Black Hawk war 

 of 1832. Since that time they have been 

 uniformly peaceable. 



Language. — The Siouan dialect spoken 

 by the Winnebago is intimately related 

 to Oto, Iowa, and Missouri, more dis- 

 tantly to Dakota, and still more distantly 

 to Ponca. Its relationship to the north- 

 ern Siouan dialects (Crow, Hidatsa, and 

 Mandan), to the southern (Biloxi), and 

 eastern (Catawba and Tutelo), is not as 

 yet definitely known. The characteris- 

 tics of the Winnebago dialect are, gram- 

 matically, a strong development of the 

 classifiers of position, and, phonetically, 

 the insertion of vowels between conso- 

 nantal clusters and the change of the 

 Dakota and Omaha t, d, and m, to tc, dj, 

 and w. (See Handbook of Am. Ind. 

 Languages, Bull. 40, B. A. E., part 1). 



Social Organization.— The Winnebago 

 social organization is based on two phra- 

 tries, known, respectively, as the Upper 

 or Air, and the Lower or Earth, divisions. 

 The Upper division contains four clans, 

 Thunderbird, War People, Eagle, and 

 Pigeon (extinct), and the Lower division 

 eight clans, the IBear, Wolf, Water-spirit, 

 Deer, Elk, Buffalo, Fish, and Snake. 

 An Upper individual must marry a 

 Lower individual, and vice versa. While 

 there is no law restricting marriage be- 

 tween the clans of the two phratries, 

 there is some evidence showing a ten- 

 dency of certain clans to intermarry. The 

 Thunderbird and Bear clans are regarded 

 as the leading clans of their respective 

 phratries. Both have definite functions. 

 The lodge of the former is the peace 

 lodge, over which the chief of the tribe 

 presides, and in which disputes between 

 Indians are adjudicated. No person 

 could be killed in the lodge, and an 

 offender or prisoner escaping to it was 

 protected as long as he was within its 

 precincts. The lodge of the Bear clan 

 was the war or disciplinary lodge: pris- 

 oners were killed, and offenders pun- 



