The Iroquois, who were farmers and hence controlled less land than hunting tribes who were their neighbors, soon depleted their land of fur bearing animals and began to plan acquisition of land held by nearby tribes. At about this time the Dutch considerately gave the Iroquois guns, and by this act unleashed what was probably the most potent Indian military confederacy in North America upon the Hurons, who were practically exterminated in an amazingly short time. The Erie, Tobacco Nation, and Neutrals soon suffered the same fate as the Hurons.
The Algonkian tribes, attacked first by the Neutrals and then by the victorious Iroquois, fled pell-mell into eastern Michigan and the Sault area. Eventually most of these tribes either went around the southern or the northern extremity of Lake Michigan to arrive in the relative security of wilderness Wisconsin.
The exact dates for the arrival of these various dispossessed eastern tribes are not certain. We do know that they probably came to Wisconsin sometime after Nicolet’s visit in 1634. The Mascouten, Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Sauk, and Fox were coming into Wisconsin before 1654. Some Huron and Ottawa settled here temporarily at this time, but by 1678 were compelled by the Sioux to flee back to the Sault. The Chippewa stayed around and west of the Straits of Mackinac and actually did not settle in Wisconsin until about 1670.
[Illustration: SAUK AND FOX INDIANS (FROM MAXIMILIAN).]
[Illustration: CHIPPEWA INDIANS (FROM GEO. CATLIN).]
The Winnebago at first defended themselves vigorously against the invading refugee tribes; however, this constant warfare greatly reduced their numerical strength. Further decimated by plagues, probably smallpox introduced by the whites, and by famine, the Winnebago were compelled to make peace with the invading Algonkians who eventually settled in great numbers along the Upper and Lower Fox rivers, the lower reaches of the Wolf River, and in the vicinity of Green Bay.
Fur trade with the western Indians was successfully blocked by the rampaging Iroquois for twenty odd years after Nicolet’s voyage of exploration into the Middlewest, but with the establishment of a brief peace, the Ottawa, who had assumed the position of middlemen in the fur trade, sent a large canoe fleet to the western Indians and soon returned with large quantities of furs which had been accumulated by the Indians during the Iroquois War.