2-11 Little Thunder and the Waushara Village Ho-Chunk

April 12, 2014

Lions Park

Hustisford, WI

It is the springtime of the year, according to the calendar, but the trees show no sign of it.  Lions Park in Hustisford is still trying to break free from its winter stasis, only the conifers daring to defy the wet and overcast day with their coats of evergreen color. The river is swollen, and the long-ago rapids of Hustisford have been tamed by a pair of dams, fattening the river and deepening the lake to the north.  The lake is one of several reminders of the name given to the Rock River by Native Americans, Sinnissippi.  The word ‘Sinnissippi’ has been translated many different ways into English.  According to the oldest reference I could find, the Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine volume 36 which was published in 1910, the name means ‘Son of the Father of Waters’, where the ‘Father of Waters’ was understood to be the Mississippi, into which the Rock River flows.  The word Sinnissippi is also translated as ‘clear flowing’, ‘clear flowing river’, ‘rocky river’, and ‘troubled waters’ among others, and, if one believes the essay written by Dan G. Loescher for the 2002 ‘The Voice’, Sinnissippi is derived from the Indian words ‘Assini-Sippi’, which means literally ‘Rock River’.

Parked on E. Griffith Street, through the steadily falling rain we see a piece of red granite, with a bronze plaque, standing next to a cedar tree.  ‘Kochs Mill Park’ is the title, followed by a description of various notable events that took place at or near this park.  Foremost is the description of how Generals Henry and Dodge camped at this spot with 750 men and a dozen Winnebago guides on July 18, 1832 while hunting for Black Hawk.  There is no mention of the momentous and fateful discovery of the fresh trail that was left behind by the escaping band just a few miles to the south.

A great many books and documents describe the events leading up to the discovery of Black Hawk’s Trail, and most refer to a ‘Winnebago Village’ near the Rock Rapids.  One source, the book Indian Creek Massacre and Captivity of Hall Girls, written in 1915 by Charles M. Scanlan, identifies the village as ‘Big Fox’, the Ho-Chunk word for which would have been ‘Waushara’.  Dodge and Henry arrived at this small Ho-Chunk village under the guidance of a Ho-Chunk by the name of Paquette and several others.  As I’ve said before, the Ho-Chunk had mixed feelings about the whole Black Hawk affair.  On the one hand, they wanted to remain true to their treaty promises and avoid further problems with the Americans.  On the other hand, they did not want to fight against the Sauk, who had been allies and trading partners.  Decorah, a Ho-Chunk chief, said in his memoirs, “But there was still among us a strong feeling of friendliness toward the Sacs."  This feeling was of compassionate pity; therefore, only six young men, none of them Chiefs, traveled with Paquette as guides.  Five of the six were Pawnee (Pania Blanc), Nahheesanchonka, Notsookeega (Bear that Breaks up the Brush), Ahmegunka, and Tahnichseeka (The Smoker).”  It seems clear that although Paquette and the other Ho-Chunk were guiding Henry and Dodge eastward across the state, to the Waushara Village near the Sinnissippi rapids, their intent may never have been to actually find Black Hawks band.

When the troops arrived at the rapids, on July 18, they did not locate Black Hawk’s band, but instead found only “…some emaciated Winnebagoes, who told us that the Sauks and Foxes had moved further up the river, to the Cranberry Lakes.”

I try to imagine the village, as it stood here almost 200 years ago.  It was described as being, “…in the midst of a very large growth of timber, in the bend of the river, and the earth was covered with an almost impenetrable undergrowth.”  The river, being unfettered by dams and swollen with the heavy rains of that spring and early summer, would have been roaring noisily down the rapids.  A quiet group of Ho-chunk Indians are going about their day-to-day lives, fishing and hunting, tending crops and waiting for the wild rice and cranberries to mature.  Suddenly, approaching this small group of Indians, 750 mounted white soldiers appear, prepared for war, and start setting up camp and interrogating the Indians whose home they have invaded.  Against so large a force, these Indians would not have been able to fight, even if they had been inclined to do so.

Instead, they attempted to misdirect the soldiers.  It was true, they said, that Black Hawk and his band had been there, but they had left, and headed north for the cranberry lakes.  It was less than half a day’s ride, they claimed.  Under more questioning, one Indian claimed to have visited Black Hawk and his band in their encampment to the north just two days earlier.  This news greatly excited Dodge and Henry, it seems, for they decided to countermand the orders they had received from Atkinson to return via the shortest possible route to their encampment near the place where the Bark River joined the Rock River with the provisions obtained from their recent trip to Fort Winnebago in Portage.

The two Generals met and decided to immediately pursue Black Hawk by marching north the next day.  They determined to send an express message south to General Atkinson explaining that they had discovered where Black Hawk was hiding and would be taking the offensive.  Two soldiers were selected for the thirty-five mile ride to Atkinson’s camp, and they solicited a guide from the disinclined local Ho-Chunk band to pilot them south.  One soldier described this event as, “After some Indian chat among themselves, they reluctantly agreed that Little Thunder should go.”

Again, I imagine myself in the scene.  Black Hawk and his followers, including his wife and children, have recently camped in an area not far southeast of the village.  The Ho-Chunk have mislead the soldiers into heading northward upriver, in a futile chase.  The villagers know that the fugitive band left not two days earlier, traveling south and west towards the Mississippi River.  Careful though Black Hawk and his people may have been, it is not possible to move 700 people and their horses across wet forest without leaving a wide and noticeable trail.

Little Thunder is commonly named as the Winnebago Guide who led the whites to their discovery of Black Hawk’s Trail.  Too often, it is left to the reader to imagine that Little Thunder was acting in full complicity with the Americans.  He was not. One of the better descriptions I read of this event is contained in the book, The Sauks and the Black Hawk War: With Biographical Sketches, Etc. by Perry Armstrong, written in 1886.  It reads, “These two doctors [Dr. Elias H. Merryman and Mr. William W. Woodbridge], with a Winnebago chief called Little Thunder as their guide, had not proceeded but about eight miles to the southwest ere they struck the fresh trail of Black Hawk and band moving towards the Four Lakes, evidently intending to cross the Wisconsin River and make his escape to the Mississippi in that direction.  If the doctors were surprised at this discovery, Little Thunder, their treacherous guide, was struck with terror.  But a short hour before he had told General Henry that Black Hawk was many miles in the other direction for the purpose of throwing him off the track, but now his treachery was exposed, and well he knew his worthless life was forfeited.”  This account, though biased mercilessly against the Indians, well describes the true feelings of Little Thunder and his tribe members.  When the trail was discovered, Merryman and Woodbridge insisted on following it for a couple of miles, thinking at first it was a trail cut by some of Atkinson’s scouts, but Little Thunder indicated to them through signs that this was indeed the trail of Black Hawk.  After a short while, Little Thunder wheeled his horse around and bolted back to Big Fox, leaving his charges behind, in an effort to warn his fellow Ho-Chunk that they needed to flee.

I could wish for things to have been different.  I could wish that Henry and Dodge had decided to wait until morning to send out their message-bearers to Atkinson’s camp.  I could wish many things had been different to give Black Hawk another day, or even a few more hours.  But if the Generals had been following orders, they themselves would have crossed Black Hawk’s path, and sooner than when they actually did.  No – one cannot change history.  One can only report on the events as they unfolded, and know that the outcome would have been different ‘if only’.  I do not think that the Ho-Chunk of Big Fox failed in their effort to give Black Hawk time to escape.  They did everything they could, and managed to give him a few precious hours.  There is no way of knowing what kind of a difference those few hours made in history.  It happened as it was meant to happen.

I could stop this post here, but I cannot ignore the reaction of the Americans after finding the trail.  They were elated, of course, after months of pursuing an enemy fruitlessly through unmapped forests and vast marshlands.  But I am chilled at the calloused opinion of author Perry Armstrong as he continues his narrative.  “Elated of the prospect of overtaking and killing or capturing the Sauks, the soldiers were in fine spirits, and when they struck the fresh, broad trail left by the retreating Indians, lined with the evidences of famine, and witnessed the red elm trees freshly denuded of bark, and saw numerous places where they had dug in the earth for succulent roots, and had passed by a number of dead pappooses [babies], with now and then the corpse of an old squaw or Indian, all bearing evidence of starvation, they felt assured of their game and pressed forward with avidity.”

The facts of history are plain, but the nuances of their meaning are fashioned by the authors of history.  After having read many personal accounts, I know that some of the soldiers were less than enthusiastic about following a trail littered with the starved corpses of women, elders and babies.  I can only pray that this sight gave conscience to some of these men as they pursued Black Hawk through the thickets and wetlands along the trail.  Too many, I fear, shared the feelings of the author, Perry Armstrong, who later described the 'Elated' beginnings of that final chase across the state. Too many. Too many.

Makataimeshekiakiak – You were born to the Thunder Clan.  You now know that Little Thunder was your friend, as were the Ho-Chunk of Waushara Village.  Did you hear the thunder of hooves in your warrior’s mind?  You were beyond the borders of the ceded land as you camped near the rapids, but the Americans pursued you still.  Men say you left the area when you heard of the approach of the white soldiers.  It is said you now wished to escape to the Wisconsin River, and then down it’s flowage to the Mississippi, bringing your people to safety.  Several times already you have fought for your people, leading men and soldiers away from your wife, and the other women and children.  Many times already you thought you would die protecting your people, but still you live, and still you lead them on and away.  I mourn for the suffering of your people, as I know you did.  I mourn for the babies who starved to death because there was no food for them.  I mourn for the women and the elderly who dropped dead from exposure, and exhaustion, and starvation as you ran for your lives.  The thunder is coming, Black Sparrow Hawk.  I leave behind this prayer stick for the spirits of those who helped you at this place, that they may be at peace knowing they did all they could.  Ah-Ho

Return to Table of Contents

(Key Terms: Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak, Black Sparrow Hawk, Black Hawk, 1767, Saukenuk, Pyesa, Rock Island, Black Hawk’s Watch Tower, Black Hawk State Historic Site, Hauberg Museum, Sauk, Sac, Meskwaki, Fox, Rock River, Sinnissippi River, Mississippi River, War of 1812, British Band, Great Britain, Treaty of 1804, Treaties, Ceded Land, William Henry Harrison, Quashquame, Keokuk, Fort Armstrong, Samuel Whiteside, Black Hawk War of 1832, Black Hawk Conflict, Scalp, Great Sauk Trail, Black Hawk Trail, Prophetstown, Wabokieshiek, White Cloud, The Winnebago Prophet, Ne-o-po-pe, Dixon’s Ferry, Isaiah Stillman, The Battle of Stillman’s Run, Old Man’s Creek, Sycamore Creek, Abraham Lincoln, Chief Shabbona, Felix St. Vrain, Lake Koshkonong, Fort Koshkonong, Fort Atkinson, Henry Atkinson, Andrew Jackson, Lewis Cass, Winfield Scott, Chief Black Wolf, Henry Dodge, James Henry, White Crow, Rock River Rapids, The Four Lakes, Battle of Wisconsin Heights, Benjamin Franklin Smith, Wisconsin River, Kickapoo River, Soldier’s Grove, Steamboat Warrior, Steamship Warrior, Fort Crawford, Battle of Bad Axe, Bad Axe Massacre, Joseph M. Street, Antoine LeClaire, Native American, Indian, Michigan Territory, Indiana Territory, Louisiana Territory, Osage, Souix, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, Ottawa, Ho-Chunk)