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The Sauk (Sac) and Fox (Mesquakie) Nation
Location:
The Asakiwaki (Sauk) and Meshwahkihaki (Mequakie/Fox) are Algonquin-speaking peoples originally from the northeastern United States. Asakiwaki means "people of the yellow earth" and Meshkwahkihawi means "people of the red earth." Algonquin comes from the word alligewinenk which means "come together from distant places."
Language:
Algonquin
Famous Sauk-Fox People:
James Francis Thorpe, (Wa-tho-huck, Bright Path), was born May 28, 1887 near Prague, Oklahoma. His father, Hiran P. Thorpe was a farmer of both Irish and Sac-Fox descent. His mother was part French and a mix of Potawatomi and Kickapoo. Thorpe was best known as a two-time All American Athlete of his day, and considered by some to be one of the best athletes of all time. He began his career to athletic fame when he started school at the Carlisle Industrial Indian School in Pennsylvania. At Carlisle, he was both a great football player and a track star. He later played professional baseball for the New York Giants, Cincinnati Reds, and the Boston Braves. In 1912, Thorpe was chosen to compete in the Olympics and won the Olympic decathlon and pentathlon. He later had a career as a professional baseball player.
Traditions:
At Saukenuk or "River of the Rock" the Sauk and the Fox stayed to build their homes and plant their fields. There, in this rich valley the deer, buffalo, bear, and smaller game provided food and skins, which could be traded or made into clothing. Beaver and muskrat lived in the many streams, which were also filled with fish.
North of the valley there was a great source of lead. Since it was close to the surface it could be dug out easily. At first it was used to make ornaments, later white traders taught them how to make lead musket balls to use in their guns. Soon they traded lumps of lead for goods.
In the valley the soil was rich and fertile. Using the shoulder bone of a buffalo or deer, the women broke the land and turned over the soil. They grew corn, beans, squash, pumpkin and tobacco. Of all the crops corn was the most important. It could be boiled, roasted, or made into soup or dumplings. After the kernels were stripped from the cob it could be dried and pounded into meal or stored away for further use. When kernels were laid out on a hot rock they would pop into fluffy morsels. Corn provided its own seed for the next year's planting. As long as the Sauk and Fox had a good harvest of corn, they knew they would not go hungry. The Sauk women tilled the soil, raised the crops, gathered the harvest, prepared and stored the food and reared the children.
The mother was in charge of the family home and everything in it. If the mother belonged to the Sauk people then all of her children were Sauk. The women had an important part in tribal government. Unless the women approved a son could not take his fathers place as a sacred clan chief. The men protected the home, the fields, and the tribal hunting grounds. They went into the forest and out on the plains to hunt for game that provided food and skins for clothing and for trade. The Sauk are known for their excellent ribbon work, a form of appliqué. They enjoyed finely decorated deerskin dresses, vests, and shirts.
The Sauk farmed in villages in the summer and went to hunting grounds in the winter. Their lodges were large bark-covered wigwams with rounded roofs that let the rain and snow roll off easily. Most lodges were forty to sixty feet long and had several families living in them. Each family had its own cooking fire in the center of the lodge. Sleeping benches covered with skins and blankets ran along the inside walls.
The Sauk lived in towns from April to October. When the harvest had been gathered and the geese began to fly south, families went into the forests to build huts where they lived during the winter hunting season. People to old and weak stayed in town. A supply of food was stored in bark-lined caches in the ground and strong young boys stayed behind.
Religion played an important part in their daily life. The Sauk believed that every person, animal, and thing had its own "manito", or guardian spirit. When a hunter killed a bear, a deer, a buffalo, or any animal he thanked the "manito" of the animal for the gift it was giving to the people. Children began learning the religion of their people at an early age. Boys were taught to fast and to keep holy vigils to bring their soul closer to the Great Spirit. When the boy was old enough he made a special vigil quest. The Great Spirit would show him his personal manito, which would stay with him the rest of his life. At that time, he chose his manhood name and began to collect the sacred things that would go into his medicine bag.
Although the Sauk were a peaceful people, sometimes they had to go to war to defend their hunting grounds or their towns. Neighboring tribes such as the Osage raided Sauk lands. The Sauk were noted for their courage, and they believed that every raid should be answered by a counter raid to uphold the honor of their people. When other tribes invaded Sauk lands , a council was called to decided what action to take. Often war parties were sent out to meet the enemy.
Warfare had its own rules of conduct. In war, a Sauk gained honor if he could count coup. That meant that he had touched an armed enemy and lived to tell about it. Counting coup earned a warrior the right to wear an eagle feather in his crest.
The Sauk and Fox culture is based upon respect for the life within themselves, their families', their community, and all of creations'. The Creator gave this way of life to the Sauk and Fox people. The tribe is divided into clans, each with its own symbol,-- Bird, Fish, Bear Potato, Deer, Beaver, Snow, and Wolf,-- are a few. Each tribe was governed by a council of sacred clan chiefs, a war chief, the head of families, and the warriors. The traditional manner of selecting chiefs and governing themselves was forcibly replaced by the United States. Appointees and a constitution patterned after the American government was formed.
History:
The Sauk and Fox people believe that long ago the Great Spirit chose a fertile valley and the land around it to be their home. He commanded that the Sauk and Fox must think of themselves as brothers. But, each would have their own sacred things. Oral history tells that the tribe originated near the Saint Lawrence Seaway in Canada. Following the settlement and invasion of Europeans on the east coast and pressures from other native nations, the Sauk moved from near Saginaw Bay in Michigan to Green Bay in the Wisconsin area. The village of Saukenuk located at the convergence of the Rock and the Mississippi rivers was their home until they were forcibly removed to Iowa and Kansas. The fight to keep the homeland at Saukenuk resulted in a war led by Chief Black Hawk. The Black Hawk war greatly reduced the band as members were killed by the American soldiers. Men, women, and children were shot as they tried to swim across the Mississippi River to safety. Some of those that got across were then killed by Sioux warriors who were old enemies of the Sauk. Keok was the leader of another Sauk band. His peaceful leadership helped his band survive by cooperating with the Americans.
Due to contact with the white man the Native American population was reduced. The reason for this was diseases brought by the Europeans, warfare (both inter tribal and with white men) , forced relocation and removal, and the destruction of traditional lifestyles. The Europeans brought with them diseases such as smallpox, influenza, measles, bubonic plague, scarlet fever, mumps, and typhoid. These diseases were not present in the Western Hemisphere and the native people had no way of fighting them , so they died by the millions.
Additional Reading
Sac and Fox
Meskwaki
Sauk
Wisconsin Reservations
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