Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
JohnJacobAstor'sAmericanFurCompanysetupoperationsinWisconsin,butbythistime
the golden age of beaver trade in the area was over.
Though not yet even a territory and despite both the intractability of the Indians and the
large populations of British and French, Wisconsin was fully part of the United States by
1815. In 1822, the first wave of immigration began, with thousands of Cornish and other
minersburrowingintothehillsidesofsouthwesternWisconsintosearchforlead(theorigin
of the Badger State moniker). As miners poured into Wisconsin to scavenge lead, speculat-
ors multiplied, land offices sprang up, and the first banks opened; everyone was eager to
make money off the new immigrants. Before the area achieved territorial status, in 1836,
more than 10,000 settlers had inundated the southern part of the state.
Unfortunately,noneoftheforeignsettlersconsultedtheindigenousresidentsbeforecarving
up the land. The United States practiced a heavy-handed patriarchal policy toward the Nat-
ive Americans, insisting that they be relocated west—away from white settlers on the east-
ern seaboard—for the betterment of both sides. Simultaneously, the new government insti-
tutedaloonysystemdesignedtoreprogramtheNativestobecomehappyChristianfarmers.
Land cessions, begun around the turn of the 19th century, continued regularly until the first
general concourse of most western Indian tribes took place, in 1825, at Prairie du Chien,
Wisconsin, at which time the first of the more draconian treaties was drawn up. The first
New York Indians—the Oneida, Stockbridge, Munsee, and Brothertown—were moved to
Wisconsin beginning in 1823. The cocktail of misguided U.S. patronization and helplessly
naive Native negotiations turned lethal when many tribes came to realize what had been
done to them.
The first skirmish, the so-called Winnebago War of 1827, was nothing more than a frus-
trated attempt at vengeance by a Winnebago chieftain, Red Bird, who killed two settlers
before being convinced to surrender to avert war. The second was more serious—and more
legendary.
The Black Hawk War
In 1804, William Henry Harrison, a ruthless longtime foe of Indians in the west, rammed
throughatreatywithNativeAmericansinSt.Louisthateffectivelyextinguishedthetribes'
title to most of their land. Part of this land was in southwestern Wisconsin, newly dubbed
the “lead region.”
