Wapasha II
Wabasha II, also known as Wapahasha, Wapasha, or "The Leaf," succeeded his father as head chief of the Mdewakanton Dakota tribe in the early 1800s. He led the Dakota forces fighting with the British in the War of 1812, but sided with the United States in the Black Hawk War of 1832. Chief Wabasha II signed the Treaties of Prairie du Chien in 1825 and 1830.
In 1843, the settlers of Rocque's Landing changed the name of their town to "Wabasha" in honor of the chief. A statue of Wapahasha II stands next to a fountain in present-day Wabasha, Minnesota, on the west bank of the Mississippi River.
Changes among the Dakota
For a time in the late 1700s, the Mdewakanton Dakota were said to have united into a large village called Titankatanni on the lower Minnesota River, with as many as 400 lodges. By 1805, however, Titankatanni had split up due to the decline in the local population of game for hunting. The old Mantanton, Watpaton and Issati bands had dissolved, and five new Mdewakanton bands had formed and spread out geographically.Chief Wabasha II led an offshoot of the Mantantons which called itself the Kiyuksa band. In the early 1800s, the Kiyuksa band migrated periodically between the mouth of the upper Iowa River and Lake Pepin, and hunted on both sides of the upper Mississippi River. By 1830, the Kiyuksa band under Chief Wabasha grew to be over twice as large as any other Mdewakanton band.
Family and kinship ties
Wabasha had kinship ties to French Canadian fur trader Joseph Rolette, who married his niece, Marguerite Dubois, in 1807. He regularly stepped in to assist Rolette when there was trouble with hunters in his band, or when Rolette's clerks faced competition. In turn, Rolette probably advised Wabasha on issues such as the War of 1812, in which they both fought for the British, and relations with the Americans.Another prominent fur trader with kinship ties to Wabasha was Augustin Rocque, whose parents were French Canadian voyageur Joseph Rocque and one of Wabasha's sisters.
Early encounters with Americans
Pike expedition
In the fall of 1805, Lieutenant Zebulon Pike stopped at the mouth of the Upper Iowa River to meet with Chief Wabasha, "son of the great Wapashaw," before proceeding north on his first expedition. On September 23, 1805, he held a council with seven Mdewakanton "chiefs" to negotiate the purchase of 100,000 acres of land so that the United States could build a fort at the mouth of the Minnesota River. The Treaty of St. Peters, also known as Pike's Purchase, was signed by only two of the seven Mdewakanton leaders present, including Chief Little Crow I and Penichon.In April 1806, after spending the winter with the Ojibwe and with fur traders in the north, Pike returned to the mouth of the Minnesota River and held another council with the Dakota. This time, more than forty chiefs from the Sisseton, Wahpeton and Mdewakanton Dakota bands attended, together with 500 tribesmen. The Ojibwe had refused to attend the proposed peace council organized by Pike, and had sent him away with pipes, which the Dakota chiefs accepted and smoked. However, a few Dakota objected to reconciliation with the Ojibwe, and Pike was unable to convince any Dakota leaders to accompany him to St. Louis for further talks as he had hoped.
Following the council, Pike went downriver and stopped in Kaposia, and again in the villages of Tatankamani and Wabasha, on his way back to St. Louis.
Delegation to St. Louis
In May 1806, a large party of Dakota men including four chiefs went down the Mississippi River to St. Louis to meet with General James Wilkinson. Soon afterward, Lieutenant Pike was sent on an expedition to Mexico and General Wilkinson left St. Louis abruptly due to his involvement in the Aaron Burr conspiracy, leaving further diplomatic relations with the Dakota to fall to others.War of 1812
Chief Wabasha II led Dakota forces fighting for the British in the War of 1812. The Dakota, like many other Native American tribes, rallied against the Americans with "near unanimity"; Pike's efforts to establish American sovereignty over them had clearly failed.Support for the British
Even before the outbreak of war, British fur trader Robert Dickson had called a council of 300 representatives of various tribes. Mdewakanton chiefs Wabasha II and Little Crow I were among those who made speeches in favor of standing by the English. Wabasha stated that the English traders had "always assisted us, and never more so than this year, at the risk of their lives," whereas the promises made by Americans were "not the songs of truth."The Americans had failed to build the fort and trading post that Pike had promised in 1805. Meanwhile, in the winter of 1811–12, Robert Dickson had distributed nearly £2,000 in goods to the Dakota, who had suffered a particularly tough winter. The British fur traders had also suggested the possibility of establishing a permanent Indian nation, closed to settlers, that would serve as a buffer between Canada and the United States.
Leadership in battle
Robert Dickson and other traders with the North West Company were commissioned as British army officers, and Wabasha II and Little Crow I were both named generals of the Indian forces. The British forces led by Captain Charles Roberts together with over 400 Indians assembled by Robert Dickson quickly captured Fort Mackinac in July 1812. In the winter of 1812–13, most British allies stayed near Green Bay and Mackinac Island, but the Mdewakanton forces now led by Chief Wabasha II went west for the winter hunt.In February 1813, Chief Wabasha II received orders to report in at Prairie du Chien with his men. A total of 97 Dakota warriors fought in the campaigns near Detroit that summer. They took part in the unsuccessful Siege of Fort Meigs and Battle of Fort Stephenson near Lake Erie in 1813.
Discontent among Dakota warriors
The failure of the British to take the forts was discouraging to many Dakota warriors, who also complained that they had received very little in return for their service. In the fall of 1813, Colonel Robert Dickson was unable to deliver supplies to the west, testing the patience of even Wabasha. When his tribesmen complained about the lack of guns, ammunitions and lead, Chief Wabasha took out the medals and flags he had received from the Americans to show that he could wield influence with them if needed.In February 1814, Colonel Dickson finally arrived on the upper Mississippi River with five canoes filled with supplies. Wabasha thanked Dickson for the goods, but it was too little too late for many of the disaffected fighters.
During the Siege of Prairie du Chien in the summer of 1814, Wabasha's men stood by the British but did not get involved in the fighting. After the Americans surrendered Fort Shelby, the Mdewakanton warriors spent most of their energy protecting the defeated U.S. troops from the Ho-Chunks who seemed intent on attacking them.
Over the winter of 1814–15, the British maintained the garrison at Prairie du Chien, mainly to ensure that the Native Americans remained neutral. Chief Wabasha continued to support the British outwardly but the commander was aware that he regularly received visits from tribes sympathetic to the Americans, including the Yanktons and Wahpekutes. Nevertheless, the British regarded Wabasha as the key to controlling the region and continued to placate him with supplies from the garrison, often at the expense of others.
Council on Drummond Island
Following the signing of the Treaty of Ghent between the United States and the United Kingdom in 1815, the Indians felt that they had been betrayed and "sold out" by the British. The Canadian fur traders were also shocked to learn that they had gained no new territory; the border between Canada and the United States was remaining the same as before the War of 1812.In 1816, the British held a council of western Indians on Drummond Island, east of the Straits of Mackinac. They praised the Sioux for their valor during the War of 1812 and offered gifts of blankets, knives and food provisions. Wabasha II and Little Crow I rejected their gifts and made speeches expressing anger at the British for failing to protect the interests of the Indians. At the meeting, Chief Wabasha said to Lieutenant Colonel Robert McDouall :
"We never knew of this peace. We are told it was made by our Great Father...that it is your duty to obey his orders. What is that to us? Will these presents pay for the men we have lost in battle?...Will they make good your promises?”As a result, McDouall wrote many letters to his superiors arguing in favor of British intervention against the military outposts that the United States was planning to build in Green Bay and Prairie du Chien. The Indians considered this an intrusion on their territory; they had never given permission for the Americans to build forts there. McDouall argued that the forts would be in violation of the Treaty of Ghent and that the British risked losing support from the Indians if they failed to stand up to the Americans.
Ambivalence toward Americans
While the British held their council on Drummond Island, American treaty commissioners met with a group of eastern Sioux near St. Louis. More than forty Dakotas, including nearly ten chiefs and headmen, "touched a pen" to an 1816 accord pledging peace and reaffirming all previous agreements with the United States including Pike's 1805 treaty. The Mdewakanton chiefs who signed included Bad Hail and Penichon from the Minnesota River bands; Red Wing II, Iron Cloud and Marching Wind from the Red Wing band, which had switched sides to support the Americans during the war; and White Dog, second chief from Wabasha's village.On their way back from Drummond Island, Wabasha and Little Crow were traveling with their men down the Wisconsin River toward Prairie du Chien, when they were stopped by the new American commanding officer, Brevet Brigadier General Thomas A. Smith. Chief Wabasha explained that they intended to join their tribesmen who had pitched their tents above the town, at a location traditionally reserved for the Dakota, after returning from St. Louis. General Smith insisted that only the Dakota who had made peace with the Americans in St. Louis were allowed to camp north of the town, and launched a gunboat in a show of force that made Wabasha's men very unhappy. Nevertheless, Wabasha and Little Crow secured permission to visit and confer with their relatives.
The following morning, Wabasha and Little Crow gave up their British flags and medals and pledged to protect "their American father." They then reapproached Prairie du Chien by river, this time with American flags flying from the bows of their canoes, and were greeted with a celebration. General Smith wrote that he was satisfied that Chief Wabasha, a leader with "dignity and superior understanding," had been won over to support the Americans, observing that Wapasha had led his men in "shaking the flags with much zeal."
Indian superintendent William Clark, however, was not convinced. He was aware that Robert Dickson had begun building a stockade between Big Stone Lake and Lake Traverse, and was suspicious of his intentions. Clark then hired Benjamin O'Fallon as Indian agent to the eastern Sioux with orders to spy on Dickson's movements.