The bands or tribes in Wisconsin are the Chippewas of Lake Superior, the
Menomonees, the Stockbridges and Munsees, the Oneidas, and certain stray
bands (so called) of Winnebagoes, Pottawatomies, and Chippewas.
_The Chippewas_ of Lake Superior (under which head are included the
following bands: Fond du Lac, Boise Forte, Grand Portage, Red Cliff, Bad
River, Lac de Flambeau, and Lac Court D'Oreille) number about five
thousand one hundred and fifty. They constitute a part of the Ojibways
(anglicized in the term Chippewas), formerly one of the most powerful
and warlike nations in the north-west, embracing many bands, and ranging
over an immense territory, extending along the shores of Lakes Huron,
Michigan, and Superior, to the steppes of the Upper Mississippi. Of this
great nation large numbers are still found in Minnesota, many in
Michigan, and a fragment in Kansas.
The bands above mentioned by name are at present located on several
small reservations set apart for them by treaties of Sept. 30, 1854, and
April 7, 1866, in Wisconsin and Minnesota, comprising in all about six
hundred and ninety-five thousand two hundred and ninety acres. By act of
Congress of May 29, 1872, provision was made for the sale, with the
consent of the Indians, of three of these reservations, viz., the Lac de
Flambeau and Lac Court D'Oreille in Wisconsin, and the Fond du Lac in
Minnesota; and for the removal of the Indians located thereon to the Bad
River reservation, where there is plenty of good, arable land, and where
they can be properly cared for, and instructed in agriculture and
mechanics.
The greater part of these Indians at present lead a somewhat roving
life, finding their subsistence chiefly in game hunted by them, in the
rice gathered in its wild state, and in the fish afforded by waters
conveniently near. Comparatively little is done in the way of
cultivating the soil. Certain bands have of late been greatly
demoralized by contact with persons employed in the construction of the
Northern Pacific Railroad, the line of which runs near one (the Fond du
Lac) of their reservations. Portions of this people, however, especially
those situated at the Bad River reservation, have begun to evince an
earnest desire for self-improvement. Many live in houses of rude
construction, and raise small crops of grain and vegetables; others
labor among the whites; and a number find employment in cutting rails,
fence-posts, and saw-logs for the government. In regard to the efforts
made to instruct the children in letters, it may be said, that, without
being altogether fruitless, the results have been thus far meagre and
somewhat discouraging. The majority of the parents profess to wish to
have their children educated, and ask for schools; but, when the means
are provided and the work undertaken, the difficulties in the way of
success to any considerable extent appear in the undisciplined character
of the scholars, which has to be overcome by the teacher without
parental co-operation, and in the great irregularity of attendance at
school, especially on the part of those who are obliged to accompany
their parents to the rice-fields, the sugar-camps, or the
fishing-grounds.
_The Menomonees_ number thirteen hundred and sixty-two, and are located
on a reservation of two hundred and thirty thousand four hundred acres
in the north-eastern part of Wisconsin. They formerly owned most of the
eastern portion of the State, and, by treaty entered into with the
government on the 18th October, 1848, ceded the same for a home in
Minnesota upon lands that had been obtained by the United States from
the Chippewas; but, becoming dissatisfied with the arrangement, as not
having accorded them what they claimed to be rightfully due,
subsequently protested, and manifested great unwillingness to remove. In
view of this condition of affairs, they were, by the President,
permitted to remain in Wisconsin, and temporarily located upon the lands
they now occupy, which were secured to them by a subsequent treaty made
with the tribe on the 12th May, 1854. This reservation is well watered
by lakes and streams, the latter affording excellent power and
facilities for moving logs and lumber to market; the most of their
country abounding with valuable pine timber. A considerable portion of
the Menomonees have made real and substantial advancement in
civilization; numbers of them are engaged in agriculture; others find
remunerative employment in the lumbering camp established upon their
reservation, under the management of the government agent, while a few
still return, at times, to their old pursuits of hunting and fishing.
Under the plan adopted by the department in 1871, in regard to cutting
and selling the pine timber belonging to these Indians, 2,000,000 feet
have been cut and driven, realizing $23,731, of which individual
Indians received for their labor over $3,000, the treasury of the tribe
deriving a net profit of $5 per thousand feet. The agent estimates,
that, for labor done by the Indians upon the reservation, at lumbering,
and for work outside on railroads, during the past year, about twenty
thousand dollars has been earned and received, exclusive of the labor
rendered in building houses, raising crops, making sugar, gathering
rice, and hunting for peltries. The work of education upon the
reservations has been of late quite unsatisfactory, but one small school
being now in operation, with seventy scholars, the average attendance
being fifty.
_The Stockbridges and Munsees_, numbering two hundred and fifty, occupy
a reservation of sixty thousand eight hundred acres adjoining the
Menomonees. The Stockbridges came originally from Massachusetts and New
York. After several removals they, with the Munsees, finally located on
their present reservation. Under the provisions of the act of Feb. 6,
1871, steps are now being taken to dispose of all of their reservation,
with the exception of eighteen sections best adapted for agricultural
purposes, which are reserved for their future use. They have no treaty
stipulations with the United States at the present time; nor do they
receive any annuities of any kind from the government. These
tribes--indeed, it may be said this tribe (the Stockbridges); for of the
Munsees there probably remain not more than a half a dozen souls--were
formerly an intelligent, prosperous people, not a whit behind the most
advanced of the race, possessed of good farms, well instructed, and
industrious. Unfortunately for them, though much to the advantage of the
government, which acquired thereby a valuable tract of country for white
settlement, they removed, in 1857, to their present place of abode. The
change has proved highly detrimental to their interests and prospects.
Their new reservation, the greater part poor in soil and seriously
affected by wet seasons and frequent frosts, has never yielded them more
than a meagre subsistence. Many have for this reason left the tribe, and
have been for years endeavoring to obtain a livelihood among the whites,
maintaining but little intercourse with those remaining on the
reservation, yet still holding their rights in the tribal property. The
result has been bickerings and faction quarrels, prejudicial to the
peace and advancement of the community. More than one-half of the
present membership of the tribe, from both the "citizen" and the
"Indian" parties, into which it has been long divided, are reported by
the agent as having decided to avail themselves of the enrollment
provisions in the act of Congress of February, 1871, before referred to,
by which they will finally receive their share of the tribal property,
and become citizens of the United States. Those who desire to retain
their tribal relation under the protection of the United States may,
under the act adverted to, if they so elect by their council, procure a
new location for their future home. The school interests and religious
care of this people are under the superintendence of Mr. Jeremiah
Slingerland, a Stockbridge of much repute for his intelligence, and his
success in the cause of the moral and educational improvement of his
people.
_The Oneidas_, numbering twelve hundred and fifty-nine, have a
reservation of 60,800 acres near Green Bay. They constitute the greater
portion of the tribe of that name (derived from Lake Oneida, where the
tribe then resided), formerly one of the "Six Nations." Two hundred and
fifty of the Oneidas yet remain in New York on the reservations already
described. Those who are found in Michigan are progressing in the arts
of civilized life, many of them being intelligent, industrious, and ripe
for citizenship. The progress of those best disposed and most advanced
is, however, retarded by the fact of the tribal lands being held in
common, by which the incentive to individual exertion is greatly
impaired, and habits of industry and frugality discouraged. There are
also some members who fail to keep pace with the progress of the tribe,
in part, probably, from the same cause which hinders the improvement of
those better disposed, but principally from that fatal curse of the
Indian, the passion for intoxicating liquor, which is especially
developed among those members of the tribe who are engaged in lumbering.
It is now believed that a large majority of the tribe favor the division
of their lands, and the allotment of parcels to families and
individuals,--a measure deemed to be of the first importance to the
future welfare of this people, and which, it is suggested, should be the
subject of legislative action with a view to its consummation at the
earliest practicable date. There are two schools for this tribe, having
on the rolls two hundred and seventeen scholars, the average attendance
being ninety.
The stray bands of Winnebagoes, Chippewas, and Pottawatomies number
about sixteen hundred. They are scattered in small parties over the
central and northern portions of the State, and are those members of the
tribes named who did not remove when their respective tribes went west
of the Mississippi. They receive no assistance from the government, and
subsist by cultivating small patches of corn and vegetables, by hunting,
fishing, and gathering berries, and by working for the whites at certain
seasons of the year. A number own a few acres: others rent small patches
from the whites. They are accused of causing considerable annoyance to
the farmers in some localities; and, on account of complaints having
been made in this respect, Congress has appropriated funds to remove
them to the tribes to which they respectively belong, or to some place
in the Indian Territory south of Kansas. For various reasons their
removal has not yet been undertaken. Indeed, while this may be found
practicable, I doubt whether it can be thoroughly accomplished without
additional and severe legislation on the part of Congress, as the
Indians are attached to the country, and express great repugnance to
their contemplated removal from it. On this account, and for the reason
that they cannot be supposed to feel much interest in those from whom
they have been so long separated, and by whom they might not be heartily
welcomed, it is probable that those who should be removed against their
will would return to their old haunts, and do the same as often as they
should be removed therefrom.