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TheMeskwaki (sometimes spelledMesquaki), also known by the EuropeanexonymsFox Indians or theFox, are aNative American people. They have been closely linked to theSauk (Sac) people 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 south and west into thetallgrass prairie in the American Midwest. In 1851 the Iowa state legislature passed an unusual act to allow the Meskwaki to buy land and stay in the state. Other Sauk and Meskwaki 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.
The name is derived from the Meskwaki creation myth, in which theirculture hero,Wisaka, created the first humans out of red clay.[1] They called themselvesMeshkwahkihaki in Meskwaki, meaning "the Red-Earths".
The nameFox later was derived from a French mistake during the colonial era: hearing a group of Indians identify as "Fox", the French applied what was aclan name 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.[citation needed]
Historically the Meskwaki usedTriodanis perfoliata as anemetic in tribal ceremonies to make one "sick all day long,"[2] smoking it at purification and other spiritual rituals.[3] TheysmudgeSymphyotrichum novae-angliae and use it to revive unconscious people.[4] They usedAgastache scrophulariifolia, aninfusion of the root used as adiuretic, also using a compound of the plant heads medicinally.[5] They eat the fruits ofViburnum prunifolium raw and cook them into a jam.[6] They make the flowers ofSolidago rigida into a lotion and use them on bee stings and for swollen faces.[7]
Meskwaki are ofAlgonquian origin from the prehistoricWoodland period culture area. The Meskwaki language is a dialect of theSauk-Fox-Kickapoo language spoken by the Sauk, Meskwaki, andKickapoo.[8] It belongs to theAlgic language family, and thus descended fromProto-Algic.
The Meskwaki andSauk peoples are 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 (anglicizedSauk term) and Meskwaki as a single political unit, despite their distinct identities.[citation needed]
The Meskwaki gained control of theFox River system in eastern and central Wisconsin. This river became vital for the colonialNew Francefur trade through 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 Michigan and the other Great Lakes viaGreen Bay to theMississippi River system.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
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. The King of France signed a decree in 1728, commanding the complete extermination of the Meskwaki.[9]
TheFirst Fox War with 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 War of 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 theFox andWolf rivers. 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,[10] 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.[10]
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-Iowa border. 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.[citation needed]
TheAnishinaabe peoples 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.[citation needed]
The Meskwaki and Sac were forced to leave their territory by land-hungry American settlers. PresidentAndrew Jackson signed theIndian Removal Act of 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 Tribes in 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.[11]
Some Meskwaki were involved with Sac warriors in theBlack Hawk War over 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 centralKansas in 1845 via theDragoon Trace. TheDakota Sioux called the Meskwaki who moved west of theMississippi River the "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[when?], the U.S. government forced the Sauk to a reservation inIndian Territory present-day Oklahoma.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed] 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, with money raised from selling crafts and stockpiling their treaty annuities, the Meskwaki were able to buy the first 80 acres (320,000 m2) inTama County from the Butler Farm for US$1,000;[12] Tama was named forTaimah, a Meskwakichief of the early 19th century. Many Meskwaki later moved to theMeskwaki Settlement nearTama.
The U.S. government tried to force the tribe back[when?] to 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 Affairs services. 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.[citation needed]
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 reservations regulated by federal authority. To resolve this jurisdictional ambiguity, in 1896 the State of Iowa ceded to the Federal government all jurisdiction over the Meskwaki.[13]
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.[citation needed]
InWorld War II, Meskwaki men enlisted in the U.S. Army. Several served ascode talkers,[14] 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.[15][16]
Today the threefederally recognized Sac and Fox tribes are:
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| Present languages | |
| Present reservations | |
| Present tribal colleges and universities | |
| Historic figures | |
| Historic events | |
| Historic reservations | |
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| Historic sacred places | |
| Other historic places | |
| Precontact peoples | |
| Precontact communities |
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| Other precontact places |
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| Other topics | |
