Note 120 — Front matter (continued 7)

(page page 357).—Red Bird, a Winnebago village chief, was the leader of what in Wisconsin history is indifferently called “The Winnebago War,” or “Red Bird’s uprising,” in 1827. The United States troops, having quelled the disturbance, proposed to wreak summary vengeance on the entire tribe unless it gave up the two principal offenders. Red Bird and a brave named Wekau, who had escaped to the wilderness. The two men voluntarily surrendered themselves to Major William Whistler, at the Fox-Wisconsin portage, in July of that year. Red Bird’s conduct on this occasion was particularly brave and picturesque, and he won the admiration of the troops. He was confined at Prairie du Chien, and given ample opportunity to escape, for the military authorities did not know what to do with him; but he proudly refused to break his parole. After a few months he died from an epidemic then prevalent in the village, and thus greatly relieved his unwilling jailers.