Treaty Councils, from Prairie du Chien to Madeline Island

During August 1825, thousands of Indians representing all the Wisconsin tribes gathered in Prairie du Chien. Territorial governors William Clark of Missouri and Lewis Cass of Michigan facilitated discussions that produced a general treaty of peace among all the tribes. Henry Schoolcraft left a long account of this seminal event in chapter 23 of his memoirs (see below), and painter J.O. Lewis captured the scene and dozens of Indian leaders in color (all included here).

Although it granted no land to the United States, the Prairie du Chien treaty of 1825 opened the door for talks with individual... more...

Original Documents and Other Primary Sources

	Gen. Joseph Street, Indian agent to the Ho-Chunk, Sauk and Fox.
	Essays and speeches by Brothertown and Stockbridge leaders.
	Menominee Vocabulary, 1893
	Indian Versions of Some Early Wisconsin Events
	Ojibwe Place Names in Wisconsin, ca. 1890
	John Shaw recalls Tomah, Black Hawk, Keokuk, and other Indian leaders.
	Walking Cloud recounts episodes of the Black Hawk War.
	The Oneidas claim land in New York
	A participant tells how the Oneida, Stockbridge, and Brothertown came to Wisconsin in the 1820s.
	A trader relates his family history and personal adventures, 1745-1857.
	Ho-Chunk chief Spoon Decorah looks back over a long life.
	Speeches of Pontiac (1763) and Souligny (1848) against white incursions.
	A memoir of Indian agent Joseph Street
	Early History of the Brothertown Indians
	Ojibwe ceremonial pipe given to Gov. James Doty, 1844
	The Commissioner of Indian Affairs visits the Ojibwe in 1826.
	Caleb Atwater describes the 1829 talks at Prairie du Chien
	A guide to the Mohican language, 1789
	The language spoken by the Brothertown Indians when Europeans arrived in America
	An Oneida prayer-book, 1816
	The language of the Brothertown Indians' ancestors, 1722
	A missionary's speech in Oneida, 1815.
	The first book printed in Wisconsin, an Ojibwe almanac
	A religious primer in Mohican, 1818
	A speech by Brothertown Indian leader Samsom Occom, 1771
	Report on the Menominee at Termination, 1958
	A life of Jesus in Ottawa, 1837
	A Ho-Chunk grammar textbook, 1945
	Stockbridge and Munsee Testimony, 1892
	An Oneida spelling book for children, 1820
	Fr. Baraga's 1853 Ojibwe Dictionary
	Memoirs of an Interpreter among the Ojibwe, 1840-1900
	A Munsee language edition of Methodist hymns, 1874
	The Stockbridge-Munsee Constitution, 1857
	The history and traditions of the Chippewa Valley
	Menominee chiefs refuse to give up more land in 1832.
	The Killing of Chief Joe White (Gishkitawag), 1894
	Menominee Chief Oshkosh in 1858
	Pictures of the Ojibwe in the 19th and 20th centuries.
	Pictures of the Menominee in the 19th and 20th centuries.
	Pictures of the Ho-Chunk in the 19th and 20th centuries.
	Pictures of the Meskwaki (Fox) Indians in the 19th century.
	Pictures of the Potawatomi from the 1820's to the 1920's
	Pictures of the Sauk Indians during the 1830's
	Ojibwe leaders represent their credentials to Washington in a picture
	Stockbridge Chief John W. Quinney in 1849
	Oneida Chief Daniel Bread in 1856
	Stockbridge Indian leader Austin E. Quinney, 1849
	Wisconsin Indian leaders as they attended treaty councils in the 1830's.
	The U.S. government deceives the Ojibwe, 1850.
	Ojibwe chiefs protest broken treaties to officials in Washington in 1864.
	The new Indian agent describes tensions in the Lead Region in 1827.
	Wisconsin soldiers who served in the Black Hawk War (1832)
	Brief Potawatomi Language Vocabularies, 1920-1932.
	Brief Ho-Chunk Language Vocabularies, 1830-1930
	The Treaty of Prairie du Chien, 1825
	A French visitor describes the Menominee's 1838 annuity payment.
	The Menominee and Ho-Chunk negotiate with the New York Indians in 1821.
	A Long Ho-Chunk Vocabulary, 1880
	Chief Oshkosh protests U.S. government treatment, ca. 1848
	Wisconsin soldiers who served in the Winnebago War (1827)
	Madeline Island Historical Museum

Primary Sources Available Elsewhere

	Collected historical documents from the Wisconsin Historical Society
	Maps and texts of all Wisconsin treaty cessions
	Henry Schoolcraft's Personal Memoirs (1812-1842)
	Black Hawk's autobiography (electronic text from Project Gutenberg)
	A Scholarly Overview of Ojibwe Treaty Rights
	A historical, documentary, and descriptive history of Wisconsin to 1854
	An 1823 interview with a Sauk warrior
	Texts of all the Indian treaties with Wisconsin tribes.
	A missionary recounts his experiences near Lake Superior, 1860
	The full text of Caleb Atwater's book, excerpted above (1831)
	An Indian interpreter negotiates treaty payments in 1856
	Diary of Oneida Indian John Archiquette, 1868-1874

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