I wish to thank you very much for the information you gave
me in your letter of October 30, 1916. I would have answered
sooner than this but as you requested me to give you a list
of my grandfather’s descendants I wanted first to find some
one who knew how many children and grandchildren my
grandfather, Osh-ka-he-nah-niew, had. I have not been able
to get this information from the old members of the tribe,
but as soon as I get it I will write you again and let you
know.
The name Osh-ka-he-nah-niew in the Menominee Indian language
means “young man.”
I received a letter from Mr. J. L. Baity, auditor of the
Treasury Department, Washington, D. C., dated November 25,
1916, in which he says:
“With return of the letter from the Superintendent of the
State Historical Society of Wisconsin, dated October 30,
1916, addressed to Mr. Mitchell Oshkenaniew, you are advised
that the information set forth in said letter is too meager
for the War Department to establish the service of
‘Oshkenaniew’ Menominee Indian Warrior Black Hawk War 1832,
and until sufficient information can be furnished setting
forth the organization in which service was rendered
together with the period of service and the names of some
commanding officer, no further action will be taken on the
claim.”
MITCHELL OSHKENANIEW,
_Neopit, Wisconsin_.
Col. George Boyd was Indian agent at Green Bay in the summer of 1832;
he replaced Col. Samuel C. Stambaugh early in June. Stambaugh,
although superseded, did not immediately leave Green Bay and was very
popular with the Menominee tribe. During the course of the war, when
all trace of the whereabouts of the Sauk band had been lost, Gen.
Henry Atkinson, encamped on Whitewater River in Wisconsin, sent Col.
William S. Hamilton (son of Alexander Hamilton) to Colonel Boyd at
Green Bay. Atkinson feared that Black Hawk and the Sauk hostiles would
attempt to escape to the British at Malden, and he therefore ordered
Boyd to enlist and equip as large a body of Menominee Indians as
possible to try to intercept them. Boyd at once called the Menominee
together. They were willing to go to war against the Sauk if they
might have officers of their own choosing. Col. S. C. Stambaugh was
thereupon made commander-in-chief. The second place was offered to
Col. W. S. Hamilton, but he declined the honor. The Menominee turned
out about three hundred warriors, who were organized into two
companies commanded by the following officers: 1st Company; Augustin
Grignon, captain, Charles A. Grignon Jr., first lieutenant; 2d
Company; George Johnston, captain, James M. Boyd, first lieutenant,
William Powell, second lieutenant and interpreter. Alexander J. Irwin
was charged with the commissariat with rank of first lieutenant.
There is every reason to suppose that Osh-ka-he-nah-niew was a member
of the first company. Augustin Grignon told Doctor Draper that this
Indian was in the war, and in all probability he named members of his
own command. Robert Grignon of this company received a wound in
action, and was in receipt of a pension until his death.
The documentary material in the Wisconsin Historical Library includes
the official papers of Col. George Boyd, Indian agent. Those relating
to the Menominee contingent under Stambaugh in the Black Hawk War are
published in _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, XII, 270-98. It will
be noticed that August 12, 1832, Boyd wrote that Stambaugh had
informed him that he had arrived at Fort Winnebago with his command,
three hundred Menominees, and was on his way to report to General
Scott. September 2, 1832, Boyd wrote to G. B. Porter, governor of
Michigan territory, enclosing Stambaugh’s report of the expedition and
the Muster Rolls of the Menominee. These should be in the War
Department at Washington.
The well-known fact that Osh-ka-he-nah-niew took part in the Black
Hawk War, that he was part of Stambaugh’s band, probably under Capt.
Augustin Grignon, seems to us established by the historical evidence.
His name on a muster roll must be sought in the documentary material
at Washington.