24 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, 
Nevertheless, it was determined that the Winnebago must be 
removed from a territory so close to the settlements; so in Sep¬ 
tember, 1832, their chiefs were summoned to Fort Armstrong, 
where General Winfield Scott and Governor John Keynolds, of 
Illinois, secured the cession of all their land south of the Fox- 
Wisconsin waterway. In return for this cession the Winnebago 
were granted the so-called neutral tract in Iowa ceded by the 
treaties of 1830 with the Sauk and Foxes on one hand and the 
Sioux on the other. This large tract was well watered and full 
of game. Its drawback was the fact that it lay close to the habitat 
of these fierce tribes still at enmity, and that its neutrality was far 
from being assured. In compensation for this exchange of lands 
the Winnebago were accorded an additional $10,000 annually for 
twenty-seven years; they were to be served with a school and a 
band of white farmers to teach them agriculture, and the Kock 
Kiver band was to be supplied annually with 1500 pounds of to¬ 
bacco. In addition to the new cession in Iowa, the tribe still 
possessed a large tract of territory north of the Wisconsin River 
extending to the sources of Black River, sparsely settled by one or 
two small tribal bands. The treaty further stipulated that ‘‘In 
order to prevent misapprehensions that might disturb peace and 
friendship between the parties to this treaty, it is expressly under¬ 
stood that no band or party of Winnebagoes shall reside, plant, 
fish, or hunt after the first day of June next, on any portion of the 
country herein ceded to the United States. 
The winter following the Treaty of Rock Island was one of 
great hardship for the Winnebago. The Black Hawk War had 
prevented them from planting or harvesting any corn; game was 
not plentiful, and numbers of the tribe literally starved and froze 
to death. Mrs. Kinzie has given a graphic picture of this starv¬ 
ing time, and told of the distress of her husband and herself at 
their inability to alleviate the condition of their poor Indian 
“children.’’ “They would climb up on the outside [of the agency 
house], and tier upon tier of gaunt, wretched faces would peer 
in above, to watch us, and see if, indeed, we were as ill-provided 
as we represented ourselves.” Corn had been purchased by the 
government to supply the Winnebago; but it had been detained at 
Green Bay during the winter, on account of the frozen water¬ 
ways. Finally, in the spring the boats arrived and the famine 
was for the time being relieved.^ 
® Charles J. Kapler, Indian Treaties (Washington, 1904), 345—351. 
® Kinzie, Wau Bun, 363—365, 380—383. 
