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

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

Primary Sources Available Elsewhere

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

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