A Menominee Indian chief, born probably in a tribal hunting camp at Point Bas, near Nekoosa, on the Wisconsin River. During the War of 1812 he served with Menominee warriors on the British side at Mackinac and at Fort Meigs and Fort Sandusky. In the Black Hawk War, he sided with the Americans. At the treaty of Butte des Morts (1827), Governor Lewis Cass recognized Oshkosh as chief of the Menominee. Three years later judge James D. Doty, in a dramatic trial, saved the chief from the penalty of murder of another Indian on the grounds that, under the circumstances, American laws did not apply to Indians. Oshkosh signed treaties surrendering large portions of Menominee lands at Cedar Point in 1836 and at Lake Poygan in 1848, but worked to get adjustments in the provisions of the latter. He died on the Menominee reservation at Keshena. In 1926 his remains were reinterred at Oshkosh, the city that bears his name.
Source: Wisconsin Historical Society
Source: Wisconsin Historical Society
A Menominee Indian chief, born probably in a tribal hunting camp at Point Bas, near Nekoosa, on the Wisconsin River. During the War of 1812 he served with Menominee warriors on the British side at Mackinac and at Fort Meigs and Fort Sandusky. In the Black Hawk War, he sided with the Americans. At the treaty of Butte des Morts (1827), Governor Lewis Cass recognized Oshkosh as chief of the Menominee. Three years later judge James D. Doty, in a dramatic trial, saved the chief from the penalty of murder of another Indian on the grounds that, under the circumstances, American laws did not apply to Indians. Oshkosh signed treaties surrendering large portions of Menominee lands at Cedar Point in 1836 and at Lake Poygan in 1848, but worked to get adjustments in the provisions of the latter. He died on the Menominee reservation at Keshena. In 1926 his remains were reinterred at Oshkosh, the city that bears his name.
Source: Wisconsin Historical Society
Source: Wisconsin Historical Society
Inscription
Oshkosh
A chief of the
Menominee Tribe of Indians
whose greatest achievement
in this life was in giving
to this city the name which
will make it famous while
one stone remains upon another.
Presented to the
City of Oshkosh
by John Hicks
1911
Chief Oshkosh
1795—1858
A man of peace,
beloved by all.
Presented by
A.C. McComb
Advertisement
Records on Ancestry
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
