Red Bird, Ho-Chunk chief, 1788-1828
Death of the Chief
Red Bird Surrenders
Illustration of Redbird following his surrender after an attack on Prairie du Chien in 1827. McKenney and Michigan Governor Lewis Cass negotiated the surrender, which prevented the outbreak of a larger war by promising not to place Red Bird and his party in irons. Illustration ca. 1848. View the original source document: WHI 3911
b. 1788
d. 1828
Red Bird was a chief of the Ho-Chunk tribe. He was one of the friendliest and most trusted of the Wisconsin Indians. In the late 1820s, Red Bird and his followers began to grow uneasy over lead miners encroaching on Indian land.
Conflict
The tribe also believed that two Ho-Chunk had been put to death at Fort Snelling in 1826 for a murder they did not commit. On June 28, 1827, Red Bird and three companions got drunk near Prairie du Chien and murdered Registre Gagnier, Solomon Lipcap and seriously injured Gagnier's infant daughter, according to the Indian code of revenge. The Indians fled after Gagnier's wife and son escaped and gave the alarm in Prairie du Chien. On June 30, a band of Ho-Chunk fired on the Wisconsin River keelboat "Oliver Perry," killing two of the crew and wounding several others. With an Indian war threatening, federal troops were dispatched to Prairie du Chien from Jefferson Barracks, Missouri.
Surrender
To avert a war, Red Bird and his companions surrendered at Portage on September 2, 1827. Although the chief expected the dignity of being put to death, he was instead taken to Prairie du Chien where he died in prison. The other Indians were pardoned several months later. The surrender of the proud and handsome chief became the subject of stories, paintings and plays. It was one of the most dramatic incidents in Wisconsin history.
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Colls. State Hist. Soc. Wis., 5 (1868); P. L. Scanlan, Prairie du Chien ([Menasha, Wis.] 1937); A. E. Smith, James Duane Doty (Madison [1954]); WPA MS.