Chief Oshkosh: Leader in Troubled Times

How do you make history?

During Chief Oshkosh’s lifetime the United States government was pushing many American Indian nations off their lands, including his people, the Menominee. After much land had already been ceded, Chief Oshkosh pushed back and worked to negotiate treaties that would allow the Menominee to stay on their homeland. He also promoted his people’s traditional forest management practices, known today as sustainable forestry.

Meet Chief Oshkosh

View Transcript: English Spanish

Questions to Consider

The United States Government used treaties to make First Nations like the Menominee give up their lands. Later Oshkosh wrote a treaty to ensure that his people could keep and live on part of their original lands. What are treaties? What do they show us about the relationship between the Menominee and the United States Government?

In his role as leader of the Menominee people, Chief Oshkosh worked to protect his people and their land. To do that, he had to stand up to the government that wanted to take it away. How do you think Chief Oshkosh might have felt when he had to tell government leaders “no”? What qualities did he demonstrate when he did that?

Chief Oshkosh and his people relied on their lands and waters for everything they needed to live. How did they make sure that those resources would continue to exist?

Peek Into the Past

Chief Oshkosh

A painted portrait of Chief Oshkosh (1858).

Wisconsin Historical Society. WHi-1888.

A full color image of an illustration showing four people near a canoe on the shore, with thatch structures in the background.

Menominee Village

Painting of a Menominee village, showing the dome-shaped wigwams that many of them lived in (1842).

Wisconsin Historical Society. WHi-6049.

A black and white image showing a series of domed lodge structures along a river, with two canoes with people in them in the river.

River Village

A print of a Menominee village near the Wolf River, with wigwams along the shore and people in canoes.

Wisconsin Historical Society. WHi-27981.

A black and white photograph of a person standing outside of a structure with a rounded roof, next to a structure made of two beams, with grass and trees behind them.

Medicine Lodge

Menominee medicine lodge in Shawano, WI (1925).

Smithsonian Institution. BAE GN 609 B3.

Sustainable Forestry

The Menominee have practiced sustainable forestry for generations.

J. Stephen Conn. 2011. Flickr.

A black and white photo of the trunks of large trees with a person visible between two trees in the left side of the image.

White Pine Forest

Menominee white pine forest.

Wisconsin Historical Society. WHi-3219.

A statue of a man standing with his shoulders back and arms near his sides, on top of a square cement base that has a metal plaque on it.

Memorial

The Chief Oshkosh Monument in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Becky Murkley. 2013.

A color image showing a young person with a feather headdress and painted marks on their face.

Menominee Boy

Painting of a Menominee boy (1831).

Smithsonian, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.

A black and white photo of people kneeling next to each other, eating from bowls.

Chief Oshkosh Day

Menominee people eating lunch together on Chief Oshkosh Day (May 25, 1926).

Wisconsin Historical Society. WHi-23735.

A color image showing a pair of small black moccasins with purple, green, white, read and yellow beading on them.

Beaded Moccasins

Beaded moccasins like the ones worn by the Menominee (1900).

Wisconsin Historical Society. WHi-84027.

A color image showing a structure made of wooden beams and fabric.

Ojibwa Wigwam

A painting of an Ojibwa wigwam, similar to the type built by the Menominee.

Detail from a painting by Paul Kane (1846).

Read On

Get the full story with this biography book. Audio files are available on each page if you’d like to listen along!

Project Credits

Producer
Dan Kaplan
Becky Marburger
Kurt Griesemer

Associate Producer
Joe Young

Illustration
The Brave Union

Animation
The Brave Union

Animation Voice Over
Dawson McKay

Music
Wade Fernandez

Archival Images Courtesy of
Menominee Historic Preservation Office
Menominee Cultural Museum
Menominee High School

Audiobook Narration
Jonathan Horne

Audiobook Editing
Kerman Eckes

Captioning
Catie Pfeifer
Vicki Way Kipp

Educator Support Materials
Mia Forslund

Web
John Vieth
Erika Kachama-Nkoy
Tim Schneider

Design
Charles Barrows

Translation Services
University of Wisconsin-Madison Cultural Linguistic Services

Executive Producer
Peggy Garties

Special Thanks
Marta Bechtol
Kurt Griesemer
Gary J. Besaw

Story Advisors

Brenda Autz
Park Elementary School
Middleton, WI
(2013)

Pam Dempsey
James C. Wright Middle School
Madison, WI
(2021)

Charlene Dupler
Lakeview Elementary School
Wind Lake, WI
(2013)

Lisa Husnick
Lodi Elementary School
Lodi, WI
(2021)

Kerri Lintl
Merrimac Community School
Merrimac, WI
(2021)

Kristen McDaniel
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
Madison, WI
(2013)

David J. O’Connor
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
Madison, WI
(2013)

Susan Plewa
Gaenslen School
Milwaukee, WI
(2021)

Amanda Price
Marshall Elementary School
Marshall, WI
(2021)

Stephanie Schuettpelz
Marion Elementary School
Marion, WI

Corey Thompson
Cardinal Stritch University
(2013)

Stephanie Unertl
Lake Mills Area School District
Lake Mills, WI
(2013)

Stephanie Schuettpelz
Marion Elementary School
Marion, WI
(2021)

Beth Thayer
Hillsboro Elementary School
Hillsboro, WI
(2021)

Christina Venn
Sheboygan Falls Elementary School
Sheboygan Falls, WI
(2021)

Christine Wautlet
Susie C. Altmayer Elementary
De Pere, WI
(2021)

Wanda Welch
Hawthorne Elementary School
Milwaukee, WI
(2021)