WINNEBAGO INDIANS

THESES INDIANS ARE PART OF THE SIOUAN TRIBE AND HAD EIGHT TYPES OF LODGES AND A CONNEIL LODGE. THE FRENCHMAN NICOLET FOUND THEM IN 1634 IN WISCONSIN AT GREENBAY. THEY ARE VERY THEY ARE VERY SIMILAR TO THE CENTRAL ALGONQUIAN NEIGHBORS. IN 1671 THE WINNEBAGO HAD ALWAYS DWELT IN THE IN THIS REGION. AT THIS TIME THEY WERE ALMOST DESTROYED BY THE ILLINOIS THEY WERE DESTROYED BY THE ILLINOIS. THE GREAT TOWN OF THE WINNEBAGOS WAS SITUATED ON A SMALL ISLAND IN GREENBAYJEFFREYS SAYS THAT A QUEEN PRESIDED OVER THE TRIBE. THEY HAD SEVEN VILLAGES THERE.

THERE ARE TWO FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED HO CHUNK TRIBES OF THE NATION - ONE IN WISCONSIN AND THE TRIBE IN NEBRASKA. WINNEBAGO TRANSLATES AS "PEOPLE OF FILTHY WATER'. THIS REFERRED TO THEIR PLACE OF ORIGIN NOT THEIR PRESENT VILLAGES. IT WAS BELIEVED THAT THEY ORIGINATED ON THE EAST OAST.

HO-CHUNK IS THE TRIBE'S NAME FOR ITSELF WHICH HAS MANY OTHER SPELLINGS. CURRENT ELDERS SAY IT MEANS PEOPLE OF THE BIG VOICE. BY 1634 THEY PRACTICED CORN AGRICULTURE, HUNTED GAME COLLECTED WILD GRASSES, AND FISHED. AT THIS TIME THEIR POPULATION WAS ESTIMATED TO BE BETWEEN 8 TO 20,000.

THEY BATTLED BETWEEN SOME TRIBES SUCH AS THE FOX AND LOST MANY OF THESES WARS. THEY ALSO SUFFERED FROM EUROPEAN PLAGUES LIKE SMALLPOX. BY THE 19TH CENTURY THE GOVERNMENT MOVED THIS THIS TRIBE TO RESERVATIONS IN WISCONSIN, SOUTH DAKOTA, AND NEBRASKA. HOWEVER, MANY MEMBERS RETURNED TO WISCONSIN AND WERE REPEATEDLY MOVED AGAIN. THEY FINALLY ALLOWED WISCONSIN WINNEGAGOS TO HOMESTEAD LAND THERE IN WISCONSIN. IN 2001 THERE WERE 6000PEOPLE. THE NEBRASKA TRIBE IS NOW COMPLETELY SEPARATE.

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