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Dr. P. Manning (manningp(d,uwosh.edu/920-424-7342)
Chief Oshkosh Plaque Notes (DRAFT)
Comments:
*A committee member suggested we organize the plaques differently than is pictured in the first
mock-up, so perhaps the plaques could be organized around North(teachings, elders, wisdom),
South (emotion, trust), East(beginnings, illumination), West(insight, harvest). This would, of
course, strongly affect how the narrative on the plaques would be organized (and in some cases it
might be tricky)but it's doable.
*One way to work with the categories divided by cardinal direction might be to think in terms of
the early, middle, and late parts of his career (especially since that's where the historical record is
focused), and given that the implementation of sylvicultural practices strictly on the Menominee
reservation came late in his life/career, it fits serendipitously with"West," for example (in spite
of the longstanding history of such practices, which should, of course, be acknowledged).
*Questions I have: Would the Menominee like us to incorporate an invocation(perhaps most
logically placed on the eastern plaque)? In other words, is there a traditional utterance or
narrative/storytelling structure they'd like us to either begin with or incorporate throughout (that
would work on a plaque)? Would the Menominee like us to try to weave together any one or
more traditional stories into the narrative about Oshkosh (either stories more generally concerned
with the Menominee as a collective or, conversely, focused on Oshkosh himself)?
*The notes below extract elements from variously published historical accounts. They are by no
means exhaustive (indeed, they're intentionally spare), and they should not be read as the final
word on what we could/should say about Oshkosh or how the narrative should be shaped.
Possible Organizing Categories for the Plaques:
A narrative through-line might be to acknowledge coinciding factors between the formative
years of Oshkosh's life and the changes transpiring in the region and beyond it
• Born 1795, known variously as Le Brave, The Claw, and, later, Oshkosh (see Oshkosh
Public Museum, where the 1827 volunteer roll is cited as including the following:
"O'skash, 1 st Chief, the Fingernail (Claw)")
• "Menominee" derived from "O-MAEQ-NO-MIN-NI-WUK" ("wild rice people")—check
for alternate spellings of the transliteration and for alternate translations
�i►t . Participation in the war of 1812, where Oshkosh sides with the British at Mackinac, Fort
Meigs, and Fort Sandusky (clarify depending on source whether it's simply, as the
p� ie ,r Oshkosh Public Museum has it, that"he was present at the capture of Fort Mackinaw,
Michigan and the attack against Fort Sandusky, Ohio")
• Treaty of Butte des Morts (1827)
• Appointed/recognized as Chief of the Menominee in 1827
A narrative through-line might be Removal (land ceding, evaluating possibilities, treaty
negotiations, the formation and establishment of Oshkosh as a negotiator/statesman)
• Removal (and Settlement): Oshkosh is Chief of the Menominee during key years
surrounding the Indian Removal Act(1830),which, in terms of what is now Wisconsin,
not only saw the dispossession and displacement of the Sauk and Fox tribes,who were
among those forcibly moved to "Indian Territory" west of the Mississippi, but also the
settlement of the so-called"New York"tribes (Oneida; Stockbridge-Munsee, and
Brotherton) on ceded Menominee lands—ancestral lands of the Menominee and Ho-
Chunk
0 1831 (2.5m acres ceded); 1832 (3m acres ceded—or 500,000 (disagreement in
sources—this amount may represent the fraction that was designated for the use
of the "New York"tribes)); 1836 (4m ceded—Treaty of the Cedars/Treaty of
Cedar Point); 1848 (presidential decree to remove the Menominee to territory
around the Crow Wing River in Minnesota)
o Temporary move of the Menominee to territories around Keshena Falls and the
Wolf River, and Oshkosh's trip to the White House to petition President Polk
0 1854 Wolf River Treaty (270,000 acres of land along the Oconoto and Wolf
Rivers)