Chief Oshkosh (also spelled Os-kosh or Oskosh) (1795–August 31, 1858) was a chief of the Menominee Native Americans, recognized as the leader of the Menominee people by the United States government from August 7, 1827, until his death. He was involved in treaty negotiations as the United States sought to acquire more of the Menominee tribe's land in Wisconsin and Michigan for both white settlers and relocated Oneida, Stockbridge, Munsee, and Brothertown Indians. During his tenure as head chief, the Menominee ceded over 10,000,000 acres (40,000 km2) of land to the United States. However, Oshkosh resisted U.S. government pressure for the tribe to relocate to northern Minnesota and played a key role in securing the Menominee Indian Reservation as a permanent home for his people on their ancestral land.
Oshkosh, Wisconsin, is named after him.
Early life
Oshkosh ("Claw"; cf. Ojibwe oshkanzhiin, "claw") was probably born in 1795 at Point Basse on the Wisconsin River, near present-day Nekoosa, Wisconsin. His family belonged to the Bear Clan, and his grandfather Chawanon was head chief of the Menominee. During the War of 1812, Oshkosh fought on the British side with a band of approximately one-hundred Menominee warriors led by Tomah, also known as Thomas Caron, a Menominee chief whose paternal grandfather was a French military officer. Oshkosh was present at the sieges of Fort Mackinac, Fort Meigs, and Fort Stephenson, as well as the 1814 Battle of Mackinac Island.
Chief of the Menominee
Head Chief Chawanon died in 1821 without leaving a clear successor. In 1827, Oshkosh was involved in negotiations with the United States Federal Government at Butte des Morts, Wisconsin, to resettle Christianized Oneida, Stockbridge, and Munsee people from New York and western Massachusetts on Menominee land in Wisconsin. Michigan Territorial governor Lewis Cass and Superintendent of Indian Affairs Thomas L. McKenney negotiated on behalf of the U.S. government. Cass lamented the lack of centralized leadership among the Menominee at the time, saying "We have observed for some time the Menomonees to be a in bad situation as to their chiefs. There is no one we can talk to as head of the nation...like a flock of geese without a leader, some fly one way and some another. At the opening of the council [at Butte des Mortes], we [the United States government] shall appoint a principal chief of the Menomonees...We shall give him the medal, and expect the Menomonees to respect him." On August 7, 1827, Cass and McKenney declared Oshkosh to be the Principal Chief of the Menominee, making him the intermediary between the United States government and the Menominee people.
Murder trial
On June 3, 1830, a Pawnee man named Okewa (also known as Antoine), who was enslaved by a Métis family in Green Bay was hunting and accidentally killed a Menominee man who belonged to Oshkosh's band. He reported the incident to Oshkosh, who was in Green Bay at the time. Oshkosh and two other men stabbed Okewa to death. The three men were arrested and charged with murder. Some historians have interpreted Oshkosh's actions as having fallen in line with the Menominee traditional of justice practiced at that time; an enslaved person could be killed for taking a Menominee person's life under any circumstances, even if it was an accident.
When the case came to trial, the jury ruled that while Oshkosh was guilty of killing Okewa, he had acted in accordance with Menominee custom and could not be convicted of murder. Unfamiliar with the nuances of the law, the jury asked Judge James Duane Doty to render the final verdict. Doty acquitted Oshkosh and the other two men, believing that they should not be punished for following traditional customs. He ruled that United States laws did not apply to Native Americans under the circumstances, because, at the time, Native Americans were not granted the privileges of citizenship under the law, so U.S. law did not apply to their internal disputes and affairs on their own lands.
However, Eleazer Williams recalled that his mother-in-law, who was related to the Métis family that enslaved Okewa, considered asking a council of chiefs to kill Oshkosh as an act of retribution for Okewa's death. According to Williams, Oshkosh possibly feared for his life and apologized to the woman by "acknowledg[ing] the murder, thr[owing] himself on her mercy, and implor[ing] pardon," which she granted.