Meskwaki

"Outagamie" redirects here. For the Wisconsin county, seeOutagamie County, Wisconsin.

For the language, seeFox language.

"Kee-shes-wa, A Fox Chief", fromHistory of the Indian Tribes of North America,(1836–1844, three volumes)

ChiefWapello;"Wa-pel-la the Prince, Musquakee Chief", fromHistory of the Indian Tribes of North America

TheMeskwaki(sometimes spelledMesquaki), also known by the EuropeanexonymsFox Indiansor theFox,are aNative Americanpeople. They have been closely linked to theSaukpeople of the same language family. In theMeskwaki language,the Meskwaki call themselvesMeshkwahkihaki,which means "the Red-Earths", related to their creation story.

The Meskwaki suffered damaging wars with the French and their Native American allies in the early 18th century, with one in 1730 decimating the tribe. Euro-American colonization and settlement proceeded in the United States during the 19th century and forced the Meskwaki/Fox south and west into thetall grass prairiein the American Midwest. In 1851 the Iowa state legislature passed an unusual act to allow the Fox to buy land and stay in the state. Other Sac and Fox were removed to Indian territory in what became Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska. In the 21st century, two federally recognized tribes of "Sac and Fox" havereservations,and one has asettlement.

Etymology

The name is derived from the Meskwaki creation myth, in which theirculture hero,Wisaka,created the first humans out of red clay.They called themselvesMeshkwahkihakiin Meskwaki, meaning "the Red-Earths".

The nameFoxlater was derived from a French mistake during the colonial era: hearing a group of Indians identify as "Fox", the French applied what was aclanname to the entire tribe who spoke the same language by calling them "les Renards." Later the English and Anglo-Americans adopted the French name by using its translation in English as "Fox." This name was also used officially by the United States government from the 19th century.

Ethnobotany

Historically the Meskwaki usedTriodanis perfoliataas anemeticin tribal ceremonies to make one "sick all day long,"smoking it at purification and other spiritual rituals.TheysmudgeSymphyotrichum novae-angliaeand use it to revive unconscious people.They usedAgastache scrophulariifolia,aninfusionof the root used as adiuretic,also using a compound of the plant heads medicinally.They eat the fruits ofViburnum prunifoliumraw and cook them into a jam.They make the flowers ofSolidago rigidainto a lotion and use them on bee stings and for swollen faces.

History

Meskwaki signature of afoxon theGreat Peace of Montreal.

Meskwaki are ofAlgonquianorigin from the prehistoricWoodland periodculture area. The Meskwaki language is a dialect of theSauk-Fox-Kickapoolanguage spoken by the Sauk, Meskwaki, andKickapoo.It belongs to theAlgic language family,and thus descended fromProto-Algic.

The Meskwaki andSauk peoplesare two distinct tribal groups. Linguistic and cultural connections between the two tribes have made them often associated in history. Under US government recognition treaties, officials treat the Sac (anglicizedSaukterm) and Meskwaki as a single political unit, despite their distinct identities.

Great Lakes region

The Meskwaki gained control of theFox Riversystem in eastern and central Wisconsin. This river became vital for the colonialNew Francefur tradethrough the interior of North America between northernFrench Canada,via the Mississippi River, and the French ports on theGulf of Mexico.As part of theFox–Wisconsin Waterway,the Fox River allowed travel fromLake Michiganand the other Great Lakes viaGreen Bayto theMississippi Riversystem.

At first European contact in 1698, the French estimated the number of Meskwaki as about 6,500. By 1712, the number of Meskwaki had declined to 3,500.

Fox Wars

The Meskwaki fought against the French, in what are called the Fox Wars, for more than three decades (1701–1742) to preserve their homelands. The Meskwaki resistance to French encroachment was highly effective.

TheFirst Fox Warwith the French lasted from 1712 to 1714. This first Fox War was purely economic in nature, as the French wanted rights to use the river system to gain access to the Mississippi. After theSecond Fox Warof 1728, the Meskwaki were reduced to some 1500 people. They found shelter with the Sac, but French competition carried to that tribe. In the Second Fox War, the French increased their pressure on the tribe to gain access to theFoxandWolfrivers. Nine hundred Fox (about 300 warriors and the remainder mostly women and children) tried to break out in Illinois to reach the English and Iroquois to the east,but they were greatly outnumbered by a combined force of French and hundreds of allied Native Americans. On September 9, 1730, most of the Fox warriors were killed; many women and children were taken captive into Indian slavery or killed by the French allies.

Midwest region

The Sauk and Meskwaki allied in 1735 in defense against the French and their allied Indian tribes. Descendants spread through southern Wisconsin, and along the present-dayIllinois-Iowaborder. In 1829 the US government estimated there were 1,500 Meskwaki along with 5,500 Sac (or Sauk). Both tribes relocated southward from Wisconsin into Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. There are accounts of Meskwaki as far south asPike County, Illinois.

TheAnishinaabepeoples called the MeskwakiOdagaamii,meaning "people on the other shore", referring to their territories south of the Great Lakes. The French had adopted use of this name, and transliterated its spelling into their pronunciation system asOutagamie.This name was later used by Americans for today'sOutagamie County, Wisconsin.

Kansas and Oklahoma

The Meskwaki and Sac were forced to leave their territory by land-hungry American settlers. PresidentAndrew Jacksonsigned theIndian Removal Actof 1830 passed by Congress, authorizing US removal of eastern American Indians to lands west of the Mississippi River. The act was directed mainly at theFive Civilized Tribesin the American Southeast, but it was also used against tribes in what was then called the Northwest as well, the area east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio River.

Some Meskwaki were involved with Sac warriors in theBlack Hawk Warover homelands in Illinois. After the Black Hawk War of 1832, the United States officially combined the two tribes into a single group known as the Sac & Fox Confederacy for treaty-making purposes. The United States persuaded the Sauk and Meskwaki to sell all their claims to land in Iowa in a treaty of October 1842. They moved to land west of a temporary line (Red Rock Line) in 1843. They were removed to a reservation in east centralKansasin 1845 via theDragoon Trace.TheDakota Siouxcalled the Meskwaki who moved west of theMississippi Riverthe "lost people" because they had been forced to leave their homelands. Some Meskwaki remained hidden in Iowa, with others returning within a few years. Soon after,the U.S. government forced the Sauk to a reservation inIndian Territorypresent-day Oklahoma.

Iowa

1857 photograph of the "Mesquakie Indians responsible for the establishment of theMeskwaki Settlement"inTama County, Iowa.

In 1851 the Iowa legislature passed an unprecedented act to allow the Meskwaki to buy land even though they had occupied it by right before and stay in the state.American Indians had not generally been permitted to do so, as the U.S. Government had said that tribal Indians were legally not US citizens. Only citizens could buy land.

In 1857, the Meskwaki purchased the first 80 acres (320,000 m²) inTama County;Tama was named forTaimah,a Meskwakichiefof the early 19th century. Many Meskwaki later moved to theMeskwaki SettlementnearTama.

The U.S. government tried to force the tribe backto the Kansas reservation by withholding treaty-right annuities. Ten years later, in 1867, the U.S. finally began paying annuities to the Meskwaki in Iowa. They recognized the Meskwaki as the "Sac and Fox of the Mississippi in Iowa".The jurisdictional status was unclear. The tribe had formal federal recognition with eligibility forBureau of Indian Affairsservices. It also had a continuing relationship with the State of Iowa due to the tribe's private ownership of land, which was held in trust by the governor.

For the next 30 years, the Meskwaki were virtually ignored by federal as well as state policies, which generally benefited them. Subsequently, they lived more independently than tribes confined toIndian reservationsregulated by federal authority. To resolve this jurisdictional ambiguity, in 1896 the State of Iowa ceded to the Federal government all jurisdiction over the Meskwaki.

20th century

By 1910, the Sac and Meskwaki together totaled only about 1,000 people. During the 20th century, they began to recover their cultures. By the year 2000, their numbers had increased to nearly 4,000.

InWorld War II,Meskwaki men enlisted in the U.S. Army. Several served ascode talkers,along with Navajo and some other speakers of uncommon languages. Meskwaki men used their language to keep Allied communications secret in actions against the Germans inNorth Africa.Twenty-seven Meskwaki men, then 16% of the Meskwaki population in Iowa, enlisted together in the U.S. Army in January 1941.

The modern Meskwaki Settlement in Tama County maintains acasino,tribal schools, tribal courts, tribal police and a public works department.

Contemporary tribes

Today the threefederally recognizedSac and Fox tribes are:

• Sac and Fox Nation,headquartered inStroud, Oklahoma;
• Sac and Fox of the Mississippi in Iowa,headquartered in Tama, Iowa; and
• Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska,headquartered inReserve, Kansas.

Notable Meskwaki

• Appanoose,chief
• Jean Adeline Morgan Wanatee,activist for Native American and women's rights; textile artist
• Ke-shes-wa, a Fox chief
• Ray Young Bear,writer and poet
• Marie-Angélique Memmie Le Blanc,captured by French
• Duane Slick,artist
• Ska-ba-quay Tesson,artist
• Wapello,also featured in McKenney and Hall
• Mary Young Bear, inducted into the Iowa Women's hall of Fame; 2021

See also

• Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma
• Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska
• Indigenous peoples of the Eastern Woodlands
• Kickapoo
• Mascouten
• Native American tribes in Nebraska
• USSAppanoose(AK-226),a U.S. Navy ship named forAppanoose,a Meskwaki chief
• USSWapello(YN-56),a U.S. Navy ship named forWapello,a Meskwaki chief
• Mid-Continent Airlines

Further reading

• Brown, Richard Frank (1964).A Social History of the Mesquakie Indians, 1800–1963(MS thesis). Iowa State University.RetrievedFebruary 14,2013.
• Buffalo, Jonathan 1993 Introduction to Mesquaki History, Parts I-III.The Legend:p. 11, 4.6, 6–7.
• Daubenmier, Judith M. 2008The Meskwaki and Anthropologists.University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.
• Edmunds, R. David, and Joseph L. Peyser 1993The Fox Wars: The Mesquakie Challenge to New France.University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma.no
• Green, Michael D. 1977Mesquakie Separatism in the Mid 19th Century.Center for the History of the American Indian, The Newberry Library Chicago, Chicago.
• Green, Michael D. 1983 "We Dance in Opposite Directions": Mesquakie (Fox) Separatism from the Sac and Fox Tribe.Ethnohistory30(3):129–140.
• Gussow, Zachary 1974Sac, Fox, and Iowa IndiansI. American Indian Ethnohistory: North Central and Northeastern Indians American Indian Ethnohistory: North Central and Northeastern Indians. Garland Publishing, New York.
• Leinicke, Will 1981 The Sauk and Fox Indians in Illinois.Historic Illinois3(5):1–6.
• Michelson, Truman 1927, 1930Contributions to Fox Ethnology.Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletins 85, 95. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
• Peattie, Lisa Redfield 1950Being a Mesquakie Indian.University of Chicago, Chicago.
• Rebok, Horace M. 1900The Last of the Mus-Qua-Kies and the Indian Congress 1898.W.R. Funk, Dayton, Ohio.
• Smith, Huron H. 1925 The Red Earth Indians. InYearbook of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee,1923, Vol. 3, edited by S. A. Barrett, pp. 27–38. Board of Trustees, The Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• Smith, Huron H. 1928 Ethnobotany of the Meskwaki Indians.Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee4(2):175–326.
• Stout, David B., Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin, and Emily J. Blasingham 1974Sac, Fox, and Iowa Indians II: Indians of E. Missouri, W. Illinois, and S. Wisconsin From the Proto-Historic Period to 1804.American Indian Ethnohistory. Garland Publishing, New York.
• Stucki, Larry R. 1967 Anthropologists and Indians: A New Look at the Fox Project.Plains Anthropologist12:300–317.
• Torrence, Gaylord, and Robert Hobbs 1989Art of the Red Earth People: The Mesquakie of Iowa.University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City.
• VanStone, James W. 1998Mesquakie (Fox) Material Culture: The William Jones and Frederick Starr Collections.Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.
• Ward, Duren J. H. 1906 Meskwakia.Iowa Journal of History and Politics4:178–219.

External links

• The 1730 Mesquakie Fort
• Official Site of the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa/Meskwaki Nation – the Meskwaki
• Official Site of the Sac and Fox Nation (of Oklahoma) – the Thakiwaki or Sa ki wa ki
• Official Site of the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska – the Ne ma ha ha ki
• "Estimating the Location of the Red Rock Treaty Line in Iowa"(Historical summary and effort to locate original position)
• "Visitors Guide to Pike County Illinois"(Mentions presence of Sauk Fox Tribes in Pike County Illinois)