Sauk (Native Americans of the Northeast Woodlands)

Sauk (Sok), or Sac, from Osakiwugi, "People of the Outlet," or "Yellow Earth People." The Sauk were culturally related to the Kickapoo and Potawatomi. See also Fox.

Location For much of their history, the Sauk straddled the area between the Northeast Woodlands and the Prairie. In the sixteenth century they lived around Saginaw Bay in eastern Michigan. In the mid-seventeenth century they lived in the vicinity of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Today they live in Lincoln County, Oklahoma, and on the Missouri-Nebraska line.

Population There were approximately 3,500 Sauk in the mid-seventeenth century and about 2,200 enrolled members of the Sac and Fox Tribe of Oklahoma in the early 1990s.

Language Sauk is an Algonquian language.

Historical Information

History The Sauk may once have been united with the Fox and the Kickapoo. The Anishinabe and/or the Iroquois pushed the Sauk out of eastern Michigan and toward the lower Fox River sometime in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century. French explorers arrived around 1667.

The Sauk got along well with the British. The people also maintained good relations with the French until they began sheltering the Fox and other French enemies. Fox Indians fleeing the French took refuge with the Sauk in 1733, beginning an alliance that lasted until the 1850s. At that time, the Sauk and Fox moved away from the Green Bay area into eastern Iowa. They moved back to northern Illinois and southern Michigan after peace with the French was established in 1737.


In 1769 the Sauk, Fox, and other tribes, under pressure from the French as well as the Menominee and Anishinabe, dealt a permanent defeat to the Illinois tribes. At that point the Sauk and Fox moved south and west into some of the Illinois tribes’ former territory. Later they headed back into Iowa, where they adapted rapidly to a prairie/plains existence, becoming highly capable buffalo hunters. Their parties traveled far to the west of the Mississippi in search of the herds. They also continued to grow corn.

In 1804, one Sauk band (the Missouri Band) ceded all tribal lands, although they claimed they were only ceding a small parcel of land. The action was not binding, however, because the tribal council, in whom authority for land cessions was vested, refused to ratify the treaty. Anger at this treaty on the part of the rest of the Sauk people forced the Missouri Band to remain separate from the main group, ultimately settling on the eastern border of Kansas and Nebraska.

In the 1820s, the United States exercised an increasingly important role in Sauk internal politics, ultimately vesting as tribal chief Keokuk, pictured here, who had no hereditary claim to the position.

In the 1820s, the United States exercised an increasingly important role in Sauk internal politics, ultimately vesting as tribal chief Keokuk, pictured here, who had no hereditary claim to the position.

The Sauk took an active part in Little Turtle’s war (1790-1794), but most remained neutral in Tecumseh’s rebellion (1809-1811). They sided with the British in the War of 1812. After the war, the Sauk divided into two factions. Black Hawk headed the anti-U.S. band, which refused to accept the treaty of 1804, and Keokuk headed the accommodationist party. In the 1820s, the United States exercised an increasingly important role in Sauk internal politics, ultimately vesting Keokuk as tribal chief, a man with no hereditary claim to the position.

Black Hawk’s war (1832) resulted directly from the controversy over the 1804 treaty. Black Hawk (Makataimeshekiakiak), a Saukenuk (Rock Island) Sauk leader, attempted to form a pan-Indian alliance to defend his homeland against illegal non-native usurpation. Despite the fact that Keokuk had agreed to relocate west of the Mississippi, Black Hawk and his people were determined to occupy their own lands. Some fighting ensued, after which the Sauk decided to retreat beyond the Mississippi. However, a U.S. steamer caught up with and shelled the Indians, many of whom were women and children, as they attempted to cross the river in rafts, slaughtering hundreds. Black Hawk himself surrendered several months later. Following his release from prison in 1833, he toured several cities and dictated his autobiography.

This Sauk and Fox delegation group went to Washington, D.C., in 1868 to complain about their agent, Albert Wiley. Wiley had the men arrested on their eastern journey on the grounds that they were an unofficial delegation.

This Sauk and Fox delegation group went to Washington, D.C., in 1868 to complain about their agent, Albert Wiley. Wiley had the men arrested on their eastern journey on the grounds that they were an unofficial delegation.

The Sauk and Fox soon defeated Dakota warriors in Iowa (who had themselves killed many of the survivors of the Mississippi shelling) and occupied their land. Over the next few years, the factions hardened, and relations became strained with the Fox, who resented the U.S.-backed Keokuk’s control over the tribe. In 1842, the people were forced to cede their lands in Iowa and were relocated to a reservation in Kansas. They were joined by some members of the Missouri Band at that time. Most Fox returned to Iowa in the late 1850s. In 1867, the Sauk were forced into Indian Territory (Oklahoma). In 1890, most of the reservation was allotted in severalty, with the rest, almost 400,000 acres, opened to non-native settlement.

Religion The Sauk recognized any number of nature-related spirits, or manitous, the most important of which were Wisaka, founder of the Medicine Dance, and those 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.

A vision quest at puberty was meant to attract manitous. Those who obtained especially powerful spirits assembled a medicine pack or bundle; certain packs represented spiritual power that affected and were the property of entire lineages. Two annual ceremonies were related to the vision packs.

The Midewiwin was a key ceremony. Others included green corn, naming, and adoption. In the last, there was a formal adoption to replace a family member who had died. The calumet, or sacred pipe, played a key role in all solemn activities, including peace negotiations. A head shaman instructed others in curing, hunting, and agricultural and other ceremonies.

Government The Sauk were divided into bands or villages, of fluid composition, that came together as one unit in summer. The chief of any one band was considered the tribal chief. Other officers were subchiefs and criers. A religious leader was in charge of ceremonies.

There was also a dual "peace and war" political division. A hereditary, clan-based village 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. Two war chiefs were chosen by other warriors on the basis of merit, although there may have been a hereditary component. The war chief commanded the camp police and presided over war councils. He also assumed greater overall authority during war when a stricter, more disciplined organization was needed.

Customs Sauks recognized about 12 patrilineal clans. Membership in the dual division—peace/white and war/black—was determined by birth order. 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. An elderly relative named a baby from the stock of clan names. As adults, people might acquire additional, nonclan names as a result of dreams or warfare.

Parents rarely engaged in corporal punishment of their children. At the onset of puberty, girls were secluded for ten days and were subject to various other restrictions. Boys marked puberty by undertaking a vision quest. Girls also sought visions, although not in seclusion. Vermilion face paint indicated adult status.

Marriages were generally arranged by the couple 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 usually led only to 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 and 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 fields in river bottoms. At least in the early nineteenth century, almost the entire tribe assembled at the summer villages. Each summer house was an economic unit as well. Extended families of some ten people lived in houses about 50 feet long and 20 feet wide and covered with elm bark. Houses were oriented in an east-west direction and were built in parallel rows, with an open game and ceremonial area in between. Villages were moved when firewood became scarce or when attacks forced the people to move.

In their winter camps, people lived in small, dome-shaped wigwams covered with reed mats and skins and located in sheltered river valleys. The camps ranged in size from one or two families to an entire band.

Diet 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 until about 1820. There were fall, spring, and summer hunts.

Key Technology Men hunted mainly with bows and arrows and spears. They made carved pipes of pipestone (catlinite) attached to wooden or reed stems. Bark containers and bone needles were heavily used items.

Trade The Sauk mined and traded lead. They also exported corn. They imported deer tallow, feathers, and beeswax.

Notable Arts The people decorated their clothing with quillwork and paint. Art objects also included pottery and carved and quilled wooden items. Silk applique was an important art from the mid-eighteenth century on.

Transportation Water transportation was by bark and dugout canoe.

Dress Clothing was made of skin and furs and consisted mainly of breechcouts, dresses, leggings, and moccasins. Body tattooing and painting were common.

War and Weapons Reasons for war included conflict over territory, retaliation, and the achievement of status. Military adventures 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 they and their men 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.

Weapons included the bow and arrow, spear, and war club. Most prisoners were adopted into the tribe. War calumets were decorated with red feathers, whereas peace calumets featured white feathers. Traditional enemies included the Anishinabe, Iroquois, Illinois, and later the Osage and Dakota. Allies included the Fox from the early eighteenth century on as well as the Kickapoo.

Contemporary Information

Government/Reservations The Sac and Fox Tribe of Oklahoma (Sac and Fox Nation) is located on over 16,000 acres of land in Lincoln County, Oklahoma, almost 1,000 of which is tribally owned. About 1,500 of the roughly 2,200 tribal members lived in the community in 1992. Under the 1987 constitution (successor to the original Indian Reorganization Act constitution of 1934), the tribe is governed by a governing council (every adult), which elects a five-member business committee and other committees. There are two main communities, one near Shawnee and a smaller one near Cushing.

The Sac and Fox Reservation (Sac and Fox of Missouri), Brown County, Kansas, and Richardson County, Nebraska, was established in 1842 and contains 354 acres. The 1990 Indian population was 48.

Economy Tribal members are generally assimilated into the regional economy. The oil industry has provided fluctuating benefits and advantages. There are also a bingo facility and tobacco shops in Oklahoma.

Legal Status The Sac and Fox Nation (so called since 1988) and the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska are federally recognized tribal entities.

Daily Life Eleven clans remain in existence. Classes will increase the number of people who speak the native language, now estimated at about 200. Many traditions continue, including seasonal ceremonies, adoptions, and naming. Crafts include applique, beadwork, basketry, and featherwork. Most people are Christians, but many adhere to the Native American Church.

Tribal facilities in Oklahoma include offices, a health center, a library and archives, and a community building. The tribe maintains its own police and court system. It publishes the Sac and Fox News. Local groundwater has been contaminated by oil. There is an annual all-Indian stampede and rodeo.

Most of the Kansas Sauks are acculturated and assimilated into the local economy.

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