Fox (Faks), possibly from one of the tribe’s clans. Their self-designation was Mesquaki, "Red Earth People." The Fox were culturally related to the Kickapoo. See also Sauk.
Location In the seventeenth century, the Fox were located in a wide area on the border between the Woodlands and the prairie, centered in eastern Wisconsin near Lake Winnebago. By the eighteenth century the Anishinabe had forced them into extreme southwest Wisconsin, extreme northwest Illinois, and northern Iowa. Today, most Fox Indians live in central Iowa. Headquarters for the Sac and Fox Nation is in Lincoln County, Oklahoma.
Population There were about 2,500 Fox in the mid-seventeenth century. The tribe had approximately 1,000 enrolled members in the early 1990s.
Language The Fox people speak an Algonquian language.
Historical Information
History The Fox may once have lived just west and/or south of Lake Erie and, before that, along the southern shore of Lake Superior. They were driven by Iroquois raids into the upper Fox River-Chicago River area, perhaps in the early seventeenth century.
After non-natives first appeared among them in the mid-seventeenth century, the Fox quickly joined the fur trade. Unlike most Algonquians, however, they refused to settle near trading posts or missions. They also made enemies by requiring a toll from French traders plying the Fox River and were even able to block French access to the Mississippi if and when they chose.
The Fox fought the French and their Indian allies in the early to mid-eighteenth century, armed primarily with British weapons. They were almost destroyed during that period by warfare and disease, which was in fact the goal of French forces. Survivors took refuge with the Sauk in 1733, beginning an alliance that lasted until the 1850s. Refusing to give up their Fox friends, in 1735 the Sauk held off French attackers, and both tribes escaped to Iowa. The French pardoned both tribes in 1737, and shortly thereafter they returned to Wisconsin.
In 1769, the Sauk, Fox, and other tribes dealt a permanent defeat to the Illinois tribes and moved south and west into some of their former territory and ultimately back into Iowa. By that time they had become highly capable buffalo hunters. Hunting parties traveled far west of the Mississippi in search of the herds, and they adopted many aspects of typical Great Plains buffalo-hunting culture.
The Fox took an active part in Little Turtle’s war (1790-1794) and in Tecumseh’s rebellion (18091811), two defensive actions in which the tribes of the old west made a last-ditch effort to hold onto their lands. Lead mines near Dubuque, Iowa, at which the Fox had been mining up to two tons of lead a year, were illegally seized by non-native interests in the early nineteenth century. In 1842, the Sauk and Fox ceded their remaining lands and were relocated to a reservation in Kansas.
Some Fox remained with the Sauk in Kansas and went with them in 1869 to the Indian Territory (Oklahoma). However, after a series of disputes with the Sauk, most Fox returned to Iowa in the late 1850s, settling near Tama and acquiring land there. Ownership of their own land prevented future allotment and enabled the people to maintain their physical boundaries and thus much of their traditional culture. The people generally refused to enroll their children when the Bureau of Indian Affairs opened a boarding school in the late nineteenth century, but they did accept a day school after 1912. They adopted an Indian Reorganization Act-based government in 1937.
Religion The Fox recognized an upper and a lower region. The former was ruled by the great or gentle manitou. There were also any number of other nature-related spirits, or manitous, the most important of which were connected with the four directions. People might gain the attention and assistance of the manitous by offering tobacco, blackening the face with charcoal, fasting, and wailing.
The vision quest, undertaken at puberty, was another way to attract spiritual power. Those who were especially successful assembled a medicine pack or bundle; certain packs represented power that affected and were the property of entire lineages. Two annual ceremonies were related to the medicine packs.
The Midewiwin was a key ceremony. Others included the Green Corn and Adoption ceremonies. As part of the latter, a person was formally adopted to take the place of someone who had died or been killed. The calumet, or sacred pipe, played a vital role in all sacred activities, including peace negotiations. A head shaman instructed others in curing, hunting, agricultural, and other ceremonies.
Government Fox society was divided into bands or villages, of fluid composition, that formed in summer but broke up in winter. There were dual political divisions of peace and war. Officers were the main chief, subchiefs, and criers.
A hereditary peace chief held authority over gatherings, treaties, peace councils, intertribal negotiations, and rituals. In return for access to his property, the people regularly gave him gifts. War chiefs were chosen by other warriors on the basis of merit, although there may have been a hereditary component. These people commanded the camp police and presided over councils during war when a stricter, more disciplined organization was needed.
Customs The Fox recognized about 14 patrilineal clans. Membership in one of the two tribal divisions was determined by birth order. Each summer house was an economic unit as well as a social one. The families of murder victims usually accepted compensation, but they were at liberty to require blood vengeance. Lacrosse was a popular game.
Birth took place in special lodges in the company of only women; the mother remained subject to special postpartum restrictions for up to a year or more. The baby was named by an elderly relative, who could choose from among the stock of clan names. As adults, people might acquire additional, nonclan names as a result of dreams or warfare. Parents rarely inflicted corporal punishment upon their children.
At the onset of puberty, girls were secluded for ten days and were subject to various restrictions. Both sexes marked puberty by undertaking a vision quest. Vermilion face paint indicated an adult status. Marriages were generally arranged by the couple in question and were formalized when the families exchanged gifts. The couple lived with the wife’s family for a year before establishing their own household. Some men had more than one wife. Adultery was generally cause for divorce.
Burial took place after various rituals had been performed. Warriors might be buried in a sitting position. All people were buried in their finest clothing, wrapped in bark or mats with their feet toward the west. Sacred tobacco was placed on the graves. A dog might be killed as a companion on the way to the land of the dead. The mourning period lasted for at least six months, during which time mourners were subject to a variety of behavioral restrictions.
Dwellings Summer villages were located near crop fields in river bottoms. Extended families of some ten people lived in houses about 50 feet long by 20 feet wide and covered with elm bark. These houses were oriented in an east-west direction and were built in parallel rows, with an open game and ceremonial area in between. People moved the villages when firewood became scarce or when attacks forced them to move.
When in their winter camps, people lived in small, dome-shaped wigwams covered with reed mats and located in sheltered river valleys. The camps ranged in size from just one or two families to an entire band.
Diet Fox women grew corn, beans, squash, and tobacco. They also gathered a number of wild plant foods, including nuts, honey, berries, fruits, and tubers. Men hunted a variety of large and small game, especially deer, as well as buffalo from at least the eighteenth century until about 1820.
Key Technology Pipes were made of carved pipestone (catlinite) and wooden or reed stems. Most tools and utensils were made of wood, grasses, stone, or bone. The people also made bark containers.
Trade The Fox exported deerskins and tallow as well as lead.
Notable Arts The people made silk applique from the mid-eighteenth century on.
Transportation Men made bark and dugout canoes.
Dress Clothing was generally light and consisted mainly of buckskin breechclouts, dresses or aprons, leggings, and moccasins. Hide or fur robes were added for extra warmth. The people also tattooed and painted their bodies.
Extended families of roughly 10 people lived in houses about 50 feet long and 20 feet wide and covered with elm bark, as depicted in this photo. These houses were oriented in an east-west direction and were built in parallel rows, with an open game and ceremonial area in between.
War and Weapons Reasons for war included conflict over territory, retaliation, and the achievement of status. War parties had to be authorized by the war council. Leaders of war parties began by fasting to obtain a vision and undertook several more ritualistic activities before the party departed. The leader carried his sacred ark, which was said to provide the party with spiritual power. Warriors were subject to a number of rituals on their return as well.
Prisoners were often adopted. War calumets were decorated with red feathers and peace calumets with white feathers. Traditional enemies included the Anishinabe and occasionally the Dakota; allies were the Sauk from the early eighteenth century on and the Kickapoo.
Contemporary Information
Government/Reservations The Mesquaki Nation lives on or near their own settlement established in 1856 and located near Tama, Tama County, Iowa.
A delegation of Sauk, Fox, and Ioway chiefs, photographed in 1866, wears headgear that includes, from left to right, a cloth turban with roach, an otter-skin turban with beaded tail, a cloth turban, and a fur turban with a shell-disk decoration. Their moccasins and leggings are beaded with either geometric or floral designs.
The nation holds roughly 5,000 acres of land, none of which has been allotted. The 1990 Indian population was 563. Government is by a seven-member tribal council with officers, all of whom must be enrolled in the tribe and living in the community. Some members still recognize the authority of the hereditary chief.
Economy There is some corn and soybean farming, some farmwork or wage work in neighboring towns, and some income from land leased to non-natives. There is also bingo, and a casino and other tourist-related enterprises are planned.
Legal Status The Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa (Mesquaki Nation) is a federally recognized tribal entity.
Daily Life "Traditional" and "progressive" factions have struggled for control of the tribe for much of the twentieth century. Traditional kinship ties remain important, and the language remains vital. The Sac and Fox Settlement School, bilingual and bicultural, enrolls children from kindergarten through the eighth grade. Christian sects, the Native American Church, and the Drum religion are all active, as are elements of traditional Fox religion. The annual powwow is held in August.
