A Semi-Historical Account of the War of the Winnebago and the Foxes
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- Created Date
- 1730
- Description
Wisconsin Indians preserved their history the same way the ancient Greeks preserved Homer's Iliad and Odyssey: in a carefully maintained oral tradition. Around campfires on starry summer nights and inside lodges during long winter ones, they made sure that each new generation understood and could recite their heritage. The document linked below is a Ho-Chunk oral tradition describing some of their military engagements with the rival Meskwaki (Fox) during the 18th century. It was passed generation to generation for nearly 200 years before tribal stewards decided to share it in 1908 with anthropologist Paul Radin. Each paragraph is first given in Ho-Chunk, as transcribed by Radin, followed by its English translation. This is one of several works in or about American Indian languages to be found at Turning Points in Wisconsin History. Readers should note that this is a historical document rather than a modern one, and that it was produced by a white observer rather than a native speaker;
- Creator
Radin, Paul, 1883-1959
- Partner
- Recollection Wisconsin
- Contributing Institution
- Wisconsin Historical Society
- Collection
- Official File
Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin at its ... annual meeting - Publisher
- State Historical Society of Wisconsin
- Type
- text
- Language
- English; Ho-Chunk
- Rights
- We believe that online reproduction of this material is permitted because its copyright protection has lapsed or because sharing it here for non-profit educational purposes complies with the Fair Use provisions of the U.S. Copyright Law. Teachers and students are generally free to reproduce pages for nonprofit classroom use. For advice about other uses, or if you believe that you possess copyright to some of this material, please contact us at asklibrary@wisconsinhistory.org.
- Chicago citation style
- Radin, Paul, 1883-1959. A Semi-Historical Account of the War of the Winnebago and the Foxes. 1730. Retrieved from the Digital Public Library of America, http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/tp/id/39301. (Accessed March 29, 2024.)
- APA citation style
- Radin, Paul, 1883-1959, (1730) A Semi-Historical Account of the War of the Winnebago and the Foxes. Retrieved from the Digital Public Library of America, http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/tp/id/39301
- MLA citation style
- Radin, Paul, 1883-1959. Retrieved from the Digital Public Library of America <http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/tp/id/39301>.