Wednesday, July 28, 1999
by Jean Stockwell
Piecing together a written history where there are few written words will be a daunting task, but that isn't stopping creators of Winona's first film documentary about the history of Chief Wapasha, his family, and the Dakota people of the Winona area.
Project FINE (Focus on Integrating Newcomers through Education), has been discussing the making of the documentary for two years. Chau Kim Ngo, coordinator for Project FINE, said written information about Chief Wapasha and his people is limited, and that much of the information in history books is not correct. Together with the Cultural Diversity Task Force Ngo said she hopes to create an informative and historically correct 26 minute film that will be used in schools, universities, and the Winona Visitors and Convention Bureau. She said the film will also act as a connection for new immigrants to Winona.
Mark Peterson, executive director at the Winona Co. Historical Society, said the historical society is a co-sponsor that will help with research assistance, grant writing and promoting project.
"Its something I think is long overdue," he said. "Too many don't know the history of Winona prior to the white settlers."
"The story is important and should be told," said Peterson.
The Historical Society has some information about Chief Wapasha, and some artifacts, but Peterson said much more information would be a welcome commodity.
Work on gathering the oral history from Wapasha descendents has already started. At a PowWow in Santee, Nebraska the last weekend in June producers of the local film project, Diversity Foundation Inc., in St. Cloud, traveled to Nebraska and
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gathered video stories from descendents of Chief Wapasha. In May, descendents of Chief Wapasha attended the annual powwow at Winona State University. Information will also be sought from descendents of early European settlers.
Fact Finding missions are being scheduled at several Dakota communities where descendents of Chief Wapasha and the Mdewakanton Dakota Indians now live.
Information in the archives of the Winona County Historical Society describe the Indians of Winona as people of Honor, Honesty and Character. Chief Wapasha I was born around 1720. He established the Indian Village of Keoxa where the city of Winona is now located.
A 1947 paper written by Florence Schroth, a Winona social studies teacher, described the land in what is now Minnesota City, Gilmore Valley, and Burns Valley as cornfields. She states that Burns Valley was once called Wapasha's Garden.
The area where the Chicago Northwestern Railroad Company was located in 1947 was once an Indian burial ground. Schroth states that Indians started their dead in the ground after the white settlers arrived. She states in her paper that Indian artifacts and skeletons were found in the area.
Chief Wapasha I lived to be 80. He died at an encampment in Houston County on the Root River Jan 5, 1806. He was buried at Prairie du Chien.
Chief Wapasha the II became chief when his father died. He was considered an able orator. Most of his time was spent at the village of keoxa, where there were cabins for the summer on Crooked Slough.
The Battle of Money Creek is said to have been fought in early 1830 when an enemy Indian band attempted to capture the daughter of Chief Wahkondeotah, Witoka. The group of Wapasha Indians prevailed. Twenty five years later the village of Witoka was named after his daughter.
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Chief Wapasha II died of smallpox in 1836.
Chief Wapasha III became chief in 1836. He too lived mostly in the village of Keoxa, population about 300. He had two underchiefs, one was the war chief and the second was the main speaker for the tribe. The speaker Chief Mockahpeahketahpah married Wenonah, a cousin of Chief Wapasha.
The Treaty of 1837 stipulated that Chief Wapasha's band and six others were to receive benefits from the government that included $35,000. annually in provisions, stock, and the services of doctors, blacksmiths and farmers for 20 years. In 1848 the Winnebago Tribe was moved to Central Minnesota. Chief Wapasha III was arrested and held at Ft. Snelling. He was imprisoned for years before was moved to a reservation in South Dakota and later to Santee, Nebraska where he died April 23, 1876.
Years later the graves of Chief Wapasha's children were reported looted in a journal, 1852-53, kept by the Rev. Edward Ely. According to the entry, a couple looking for Indian skulls came to Winona. They reportedly lectured on the subject of phrenology, a sort of fortune telling technique that uses the pattern of the skull to reveal secrets of the past and future.
After an unsuccessful half-day search on the Wapasha Prairie, the couple was taken to the burial place of Wapasha's children. Before they were taken to the grave site, a Dr. Balcombe was consulted to see if it would be considered proper to disturb the graves. A journal entry states that the doctor said it would be all right as long as the Indians didn't know.
Under the cover of the night, the small group located the graves, and removed the skulls of the three Indians that "belonged to the royal line of sovereigns that had governed the prairie for ages".
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