The Murder of Joe White: Ojibwe Leadership and Colonialism in Wisconsin
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The Murder of Joe White: Ojibwe Leadership and Colonialism in Wisconsin
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781628950328 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Michigan State University Press |
| Publication date: | 09/01/2014 |
| Series: | American Indian Studies |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 310 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
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Read an Excerpt
The Murder of Joe White
Ojibwe Leadership and Colonialism in Wisconsin
By Erik M. Redix
Michigan State University Press
Copyright © 2014 Erik M. RedixAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-62895-032-8
CHAPTER 1
The Rise of Nena'aangabi and American Expansion in the Western Great Lakes, 1825–1837
At the 1855 annuity payment at Madeline Island, thousands of Lake Superior Ojibwe from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan gathered. Also present was Richard Morse, a Detroit physician. Dozens of Ojibwe leaders were there, yet the one that most captivated Morse was Nena'aangabi:
He is rather less than the medium height and size, an intelligent face and mild expression, a very keen eye, and when animated in speaking, a sort of fiery look or twinkle. Like most of the warriors, his face is highly colered with vermillion. At the head of his warriors and in council, he wears an elaborate turban of turkey feathers over his head and shoulders—giving him a fuller appearance in person than he really has, an unique look even for an Indian.
It was not long after this chief arrived, before he became the favorite orator and chief.
Nena'aangabi was the ogimaa of the Ojibwe community at Manoominikaan, or Rice Lake, the southernmost village of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band in northwest Wisconsin. Nena'aangabi was not born "the favorite orator and chief": he was not a hereditary leader but ascended to his position through military success. Writing in 1831, Henry Schoolcraft noted that Nena'aangabi was a leader "whose influence is entirely of his own creation." Nena'aangabi's leadership in warfare made Ojibwe presence at Manoominikaan possible. Nena'aangabi's father was not an ogimaa. Prior to his assumption of leadership, there was not an Ojibwe community at Manoominikaan. The area was rich in wild rice, the mainstay of the Ojibwe diet, due to the massive rice bed on Rice Lake and an even richer rice bed on Prairie Rice Lake, fifteen miles to the south. The area was also rich in game, as the mixed forest and prairie lands around Rice Lake and areas to the south provided more food sources for deer than the heavily forested areas of Lac Courte Oreilles, fifty miles to the northeast. By the 1830s, these vast resources made the community the most vital of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band, larger and more important to Ojibwe survival than the original community at Lac Courte Oreilles.
The rise of Nena'aangabi coincided with American expansion in the western Great Lakes. After centuries of trading relationships with the French and British marked by mutual cooperation, the Ojibwe were confronted by Americans who pushed west in the nineteenth century with the intent of fully incorporating Ojibwe territory into the United States. Despite the claims of the French and the British prior to the nineteenth century, the Ojibwe fully controlled their own territory. As treaties proceeded, fur traders demanded payment from the government for Ojibwe debts, claiming Ojibwe dependence on the fur trade. In reality, the fur trade was a declining industry due to declining demand for fur products in Europe. Prominent fur traders saw Ojibwe treaties as an opportunity to subsidize the industry. While American settlers were uninterested in Ojibwe lands during the time of Nena'aangabi, federal officials were bent on securing the timber and mineral resources. The first treaty that the Ojibwe made with the American government created borders among Native nations in the western Great Lakes that set the stage for future land cession treaties. However, Nena'aangabi and other Native leaders attempted to use these borders to their benefit as well. Nena'aangabi's vision of Ojibwe sovereignty brought complaints from American officials who hoped to get him to bend to their will, and yet his vast charisma also inspired respect from American officials. Treaties gave Ojibwe leaders like Nena'aangabi new opportunities for asserting influence that were not present in the eighteenth century. Nena'aangabi proved adept at utilizing these conditions on his way to becoming the "favorite orator and chief" of the Lake Superior Ojibwe.
OJIBWE MIGRATION TO MANOOMINIKAAN
Although Ojibwe oral traditions vary on the exact details of Ojibwe migration, all share certain commonalities: a westward movement along the Great Lakes from a starting point on the east coast. Ojibwe migration took several centuries, and Ojibwe people had common origins with Odawa and Potawatomi people. A common thread to Ojibwe migration stories is the role of Mooningwanekaan, or Madeline Island in Lake Superior. Madeline Island is a central place for Ojibwe people. In 1831, Henry Schoolcraft described it this way: "It appears to be the focus from which, as radii from a centre, the ancient population emigrated; and the interior bands consequently look back to it with something of the feelings of parental relations."
Ojibwe society was organized in small geographically based bands. While autonomous from one another, bands were linked through common language, history, kinship, and clan ties. By the mid-nineteenth century, there were four bands of Ojibwe in Wisconsin: La Pointe, St. Croix, Lac du Flambeau, and Lac Courte Oreilles. Bands were usually identified by the waterways that linked the villages in a band together. For example, the Lac du Flambeau Band is named for Waaswaagan Zaaga'igan, the lake from which the band originated. Lac du Flambeau is the literal French translation of the Ojibwe name, which means Torch Lake, named after the Ojibwe practice of spearing fish at night using torchlight. The St. Croix Band is named for the St. Croix River, which links the villages in that band. The Ojibwe name is Manoominikeshinh Ziibi, after the small birds that inhabit wild rice, as the St. Croix River valley contains massive amounts of wild rice, perhaps the most on Earth. The villages of the La Pointe Band were all linked through Chequomegon Bay, including villages at Madeline Island (which the French termed La Pointe or the Point), across the bay at Red Cliff, and at the mouth of the Bad River.
The Ojibwe name for Lac Courte Oreilles is Odaawaa Zaaga'igan, or Ottawa Lake, so named because early in the eighteenth century an Ojibwe hunting party found a dead Odawa on the lake's shores. Both oral tradition and archeological evidence suggest that Lac Courte Oreilles was at one time home to a substantial Odawa community. In the late nineteenth century, future Bad River Ojibwe Tribal Chairman John Condecon was laboring as a surveyor at Lac Courte Oreilles. In the 1930s Condecon was interviewed for the Bad River Works Progress Administration historical project: "When the mounds are dug, there are found skeletons in various positions of Ottawas who died suddenly and without warning. It is said they died suddenly of some epidemic." Lac Courte Oreilles in French literally means "lake of the short ears." Bizarre explanations as to why Lac Courte Oreilles is identified this way abound including the unique shape of the ears of Ojibwe people of the area or that bays in Lac Courte Oreilles resemble short ears. However, the French name for the Lac Courte Oreilles is simply a translation of the Ojibwe name, much like Lac du Flambeau is a direct translation of Waaswaagan Zaaga'igan. Historical sources indicate that French fur traders identified Odawa people as courte oreilles. Thus, in the French vernacular of the time, Lac Courte Oreilles meant Odawa Lake, the same as its Ojibwe meaning.
Band cohesiveness was strong and rooted in recognition of common origin, kinship, and geographical proximity. Villages within the same band were typically linked geographically by a common waterway, travel along lakes and rivers by birchbark canoe being the primary means of transport. Ojibwe bands contained anywhere from four to seven villages, each led by an ogimaa, identified in federal records from the nineteenth century as chiefs. Each ogimaa was autonomous. However, leaders could assert influence within the band or in larger Ojibwe politics based on their success in war, the importance of their community, and the number of persons living in the community.
Central to nineteenth-century Ojibwe life was the clan, or doodem. English speakers sometimes called clans totems in the nineteenth century. The importance of clans is reflected in the meaning of the word. Ode' means heart, and the word part doo- refers to the breast area. Nineteenth-century ethnographers found that Ojibwe people were guarded about not speaking their name aloud out of humility. At the same time, Ojibwe people stated their clan affiliation with pride. Inherited from one's father, historically clans were central to Ojibwe society. According to Ojibwe oral tradition, each of the original clans had specific duties. For example, the ajijaak, or crane clan, was associated with leadership. By the nineteenth century these traditional roles had faded, so not all ogimaag (the plural of ogimaa) belonged to the crane clan. However, clans remained an integral part of the fabric of Ojibwe society, most significantly in kinship. One was responsible to a member of their clan the same way as to a blood relative, even if this person was in no way related biologically. This tied Ojibwe communities together, as one could travel a vast area, from Lower Michigan to Manitoba, and have kinship ties in different Ojibwe communities.
The Lac Courte Oreilles Band had its origin in 1745, when Ojibwe who lived on Lake Superior and frequented the area on hunting trips made Lac Courte Oreilles their year-round base. According to mixed-descent historian William Warren, Ojibwe people utilized the area around Lac Courte Oreilles increasingly in the early eighteenth century for seasonal activities as Dakota peoples slowly moved out of the area. According to Warren, this was risky: "For a number of years, however, these hunters made no permanent stay on any spot throughout this country, because danger lurked behind every bush and every tree from the prowling war parties of the Dakotas and Odugamees [Fox]." In 1745, things changed when three brothers of the bear clan were hunting in the area. One of the brothers lost a child while hunting in the winter on the shores of Lac Courte Oreilles. When they buried the child, the devoted parents would not leave: "There was a silent charm about that silent little grave, which caused the mourning parents to brave all dangers, and isolated from their fellows, they passed the spring and summer in its vicinity, and eventually made the spot where it stood the site of a permanent village." Soon, more families with kinship ties to the original family began moving to Lac Courte Oreilles.
The natural beauty of the Lac Courte Oreilles area cannot be overstated. Even today the crystal-clear waters and sandy shores of Lac Courte Oreilles and other lakes in the area beckon visitors from Minneapolis-St. Paul, Milwaukee, Chicago, and other metropolitan areas in the western Great Lakes. Pristine, bubbling rivers and creeks linked to the Chippewa River connected areas to the south where the Ojibwe hunted, fished, made maple sugar, and harvested wild rice. In addition, a pipestone quarry was nearby, an important cultural resource to Native peoples in the Great Lakes. From the first community at Lac Courte Oreilles, Ojibwe families then established other villages in the area including Bakweyawaa (later called Post) east of Lac Courte Oreilles on the Chippewa River, and at Lake Chetac, south of Lac Courte Oreilles. By 1860, government officials paid treaty annuities to communities at Lac Courte Oreilles, Lake Chetac, Pacwawong Lake on the Namekagon River north of Lac Courte Oreilles, Rice Lake, and three on the Chippewa River. These communities, although autonomous, were all part of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band.
Although nineteenth-century Ojibwe villages were important geographic posts, we should not think of them as being the same as towns today since they were rarely continuously occupied. Instead, village sites were the base of operations for seasonal labor, including making maple sugar, gathering wild rice, hunting, trapping, and fishing. Indian Agent Henry Schoolcraft noted: "They are not fixed in their habitations at any point, during the whole of the year, being compelled to go in search of game, fish, and other spontaneous productions, on which they depend." Village sites were most populated in the warmer months following splitting off into smaller family groups in order to more effectively harvest resources. However, even during the summer months, village sites could be devoid of people due to labor activities such as gathering berries or social events in other communities. For example, in July 1831 Schoolcraft passed through the village at Pacwawong Lake on the Namekagon River and gave this description: "We found it completely deserted, according to the custom of the Indians, who after planting their gardens, leave them to go on summer hunts, gather berries, etc."
Furthermore, the sites of Ojibwe villages in the nineteenth century were not fixed in one location as the community eventually exhausted the firewood supply adjacent to the village. For example, the site of the village at Lake Chetac moved to different locations on the lake throughout the nineteenth century. In 1831, Henry Schoolcraft found the village site on an island, while in the late nineteenth century, according to early settler Paul Kirkendall, the village site was located on the eastern side of the lake.
In the case of the Ojibwe at Manoominikaan, the community split their time between Manoominikaan and Long Lake, a large irregularly shaped lake about fifteen miles north of Manoominikaan. Long Lake is extremely narrow, and most of its body more resembles a river. By land, it is thirteen miles from the northernmost point of Long Lake to its southernmost point. Historically, Long Lake had an excellent walleye fishery, and its shallow bays supported excellent stands of wild rice. Rice Lake Chronotype editor August Ender wrote: "The headquarters of Chief Nay-Na-Ong-Gay-Bee were on the site of the present city of Rice Lake, and also on a point off the northeast shore of Long Lake." A different location on Long Lake was given by Ira Isham (who was married to one of Nena'aangabi's granddaughters) in 1925: "Na-Non-Gabe, like most of his predecessors, made his headquarters a great deal of the time at Rice Lake and also on the point below the island on Long Lake." It is likely the community occupied two different sites on Long Lake over the course of the nineteenth century due to exhausting firewood. Regardless, late in the nineteenth century, when faced with threats of removal to the reservation at Lac Courte Oreilles, the Ojibwe retreated completely from Manoominikaan and spent most of their time at Long Lake. In the closing years of the nineteenth century, when many Native children were educated in distant federal boarding schools, the children of the Ojibwe community at Manoominikaan instead attended a public school on Long Lake alongside the children of white settlers.
Ojibwe people established a permanent community at Manoominikaan in the late eighteenth century. William Warren claimed that Nena'aangabi's father, Gekek, founded the community. Gekek was a direct descendent of the hunter who lost his child on Lac Courte Oreilles and established the permanent Ojibwe community there in 1745. Much like how the Ojibwe settled at Lac Courte Oreilles, the abundant wild rice supply at Manoominikaan rapidly drew more and more Ojibwe families to Gekek's community. In July 1831, Henry Schoolcraft noted: "On coming into Rice Lake we found the whole area of it, except a channel, covered with rice not yet ripe." Furthermore, Schoolcraft noted the abundance of rice along the Red Cedar River (which flows into and out of Rice Lake) north of Rice Lake.
However, there was no better ricing area in northwest Wisconsin (and perhaps anywhere on Earth) than Prairie Rice Lake, about twenty miles south of the Ojibwe village on Rice Lake. In the nineteenth century, the skinny lake was eight miles long and about a quarter mile wide at its widest with a four-acre island in the middle. Prairie Rice Lake is located on a stream just off of the Red Cedar River. It was named Mashkode-Manoominikaan, or Prairie Rice Lake, because the area surrounding the lake was ravaged by fire, making it an open expanse with few trees. William Warren claimed that it could feed two thousand people per season. In 1850, Warren visited Prairie Rice Lake during the height of ricing season and found five hundred people gathering rice there. At the annuity payment that fall, there were 203 people in Nena'aangabi's community. This means that there were hundreds of other Ojibwe people from other communities that utilized Prairie Rice Lake.
All Ojibwe village sites were located on ricing lakes or rivers, and most battles Ojibwe people fought in Wisconsin were over access to ricing areas. Wild rice was the resource that enabled human survival in northern Wisconsin, northern Minnesota, and Upper Michigan prior to the advent of refrigeration and large-scale importation of food into the area. It is a highly nutritious and delicious grain that could be easily stored in caches throughout the year without spoiling so long as it does not get wet. An annual, wild rice grows in shallow bodies of water with murky bottoms. Wild rice yield varies considerably from year to year depending on weather conditions.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Murder of Joe White by Erik M. Redix. Copyright © 2014 Erik M. Redix. Excerpted by permission of Michigan State University Press.
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