ABSTRACT
Murphy’s article on Indian and white interactions in the Fox-Wisconsin river-way region (what is now southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and eastern Iowa) deals with the history of primarily three Indian groups: the Mesquakies (Fox), Sauks, and Winnebagos. The native people of the Fox-Wisconsin riverway became heavily involved in trading with the French in the eighteenth century and then were colonized by the British who defeated the French in the French and Indian War (1754–1763). After the American Revolution, their lands fell within territorial claims of the United States, and under pressure from white settlers and miners, the United States arranged a series of treaties with the Indians calling for land cessions. Rising tension and violence between Indians and whites culminated in an 1832 war led by a Sauk leader, Black Hawk. Although the Mesquakies, Winnebagos, and most of the Sauks remained neutral during the Black Hawk War, when the war ended, the U.S. forced all three tribes to sign treaties that arranged for the Indians to retain small reservations while ceding most of their lands to the United States.
