Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-30
INDIAN MEMORIALS
Monument to Yellow Thunder
Put Up at Baraboo, Wis.
STORY OF A WRONG TRIBE
Statue Erected to the Lilly of the
Mohawks.
LEWIS AND CLARK'S GUIDE
Tribute Paid to the Memory Of this
Chief From Whom Sleepy Eye,
MINI, Takes Its Name.
BY WILLIAM 4. CURTIS.

museum. The collections are displayed
in the courthouse at Baraboo.
Aided by the Wisconsin Archeological
Association and the Federation Of Wom-
ems Clubs the society has secured and
opened to the public Man Mound Park.
ana through the generosity Of one Of the
members. j. Van Orden, large bronze
memorial tablet, with an inscription, was
erected upon that historic spot and un-
yelled August Z. 1908.
The monument to Yellow Thunder is a
tall, lofty cairn of powders of various
sizes set roughly in cement, and bears
the following insorip tion upon tablets i'm
bedded in two Of its sides. On the east
side is:
-, YELLOW THUNDER.
Chief OF
THO WINNEBAGO.
Born 1774-Died 1874.
And His Squaw,
Died 1868.
On the north side is:
Erected by
The Sank County
Historical Society
and the
Twentieth Century Club
OF Baraboo,
+ During the closing years Of the eight
zenith century q tall. 1.-THE and active but
thoughtful young Winnebago warrior
roamed with his tribe through the coun-
Green Bay. Wis. and extending south
ward as Tar as Rock river In Illinois. He
was called Yellow Thunder, and married
q daughter Of the chief Of q neighboring
tribe OF Algonquins. Who lived not far
Gated. The W innebasos We're a peace
:.o-ton-kah." which means the large.
strong people," but in 1872 they were In
dslced to join tho British In an attack
upon tho Americans at Detroit They
were badly punished and returned to their
homes In Wisconsin, hungry and dtsheart-
ened. 1t was q Lesson they never forgot.
and they became very submisaive-so
much % that they allowed themselves to
be imposed upon.
A Tribe Wronged.
When the white settlers decided
that they wanted the land Of the Win
nebagos they induced Yellow Thunder,
who had been pyomoted to the chieftain-
ship, with War Eagle and Dandy, minor
chiefs. to 60 to Washington. where they
were urged to Sign treaty relinquishing
their land in exchange for q much larger
area across the Mississippi river in Iowa.
yellow Thunder declared that he had NO
authority to sign an such relinquisaa-
Ce
but was assured that no action would be
taken for eight years, and that in the
meantime the agents Of the government
would make it all right with his tribes
men.
Scarcely had the three young chiefs re-
turned to Wisconsin when military
force arrived at Portage under orders
from Washington, and the commands
sent for all the chiefs and headmen Of the
Winnehagos to come in for council. When
they arrived they were informed that
they must move to their new home In
Iowa at once. and when they refused to
do 50 they were arrested and disarmed.
When they insisted that the agreement
made at Washington should be carried
out, Yellow Thunder and his companions
were thrown into irons and imprisoned
until they promised to obey. Then fol-
lowed a forcible migration to Iowa under
a military escort. but the next year Yell
low Thunder and his wife returned to
Portage, walking nearly 800 miles. and
entered a forty-acre homestead on the
west side of the Wisconsin river, about
sixteen miles above Portage.
There he lived and cultivated his farm
until his death in February. 1874, an in
Gustrious, temperate, highly respected
citizen, a devout Catholic and honorable !
man.
His remains were buried beside those
of his wife in an ordinary coffin about
half q mile east of the main road, Ave
milee north Of Baraboo, Wis. upon a
farm now owned by Q. o. Lowering. In
1893 the graves were violated by vandals |
hunting for relics. but the bones were
reburied By William Calvert and last fall
they were placed In an earthen receptacle |
under the monument that was erected to |
the memory OF Yellow Thunder.
First Indian Nun.
At Aur4ssviila, Montgomery county, |
N. Y, in the Mohawk valley. about half
way between Albany and Utica, is a me-
mortal Cross. and ct st. Joseph's Cemetery, |
nearby. is Q statue erected to Catherine |
Te-kak.wit-ha. the first Indian nun. who |
has been called La Saincre Sauvagesse''
(the savage saint. THE Lilly Of the Mo-
hawks and by various other endearing
Names
Catherine Te-kak-wit-h a was the daugh-
ter Of a Mohawk warrior by Christian
woman OF the Algonquin tribe, and was
born near the site of the village of Au-
riesville. on the Mohawk river, in 1856.
She was ten years old when De Tracy
her parents were killed. She was reared
by her uncle. bitter, enemy of the
whites and an incorporating opponent
Of the Christian missionaries. But when
she was about nineteen she was convert
ed. and on Easter Sunday. 1875. was bap-
tized by Father LAmberville.
This act provoked the resentment of
her uncle and many members of her
tribe, ana the girl was bitterly perSe- |
cuted. But, although frail in health, she
continued to do her share of the family
labor and endured the insults of her COM
paniOns with perfect patience. Two years
after her baptism a number of Christian
IroQuois from Sault Saint Louis visited
the villages of their nation in New
York for the purpose Of gaining prose-
lytes to the new faith. One OF the most
prominent OF them, a former fnhabitant
and chief of the Oneida village. was
Ogenratarihen eliot Ashes'). sometimes
called Louis Garongiague.
In 1877. while making a tour of the
Indian villages and learning that Te-kak-
wit-ha was prosecuted on account OF her
new faith, he placed her in a canoe with
two companions and started for the
sault. where she arrived in the autumn,
bearing letters from Father De Lamber-
Vile extolling her virtues. Here she
grew in Christian knowledge and in the
exercise Of q holy life, practicing great
austerities. Visiting Montreal, she saw
tho nuns Of Marguerite Bourgeoise at
their school work, and, aware of the
charity which the Hospital Sister OF
vills-Marie had shown toward her people,
she sought to found convent on Heron
Island, among the rapids OF the 81. Law
renee river. This project was rfdfculed
by her friends, and even the father was
] amused. He nevertheless permitted her