ced the Winnebago as a buffer between the warring Dakota Sioux and Ojibwe tribes. Some Winnebago managed to remain in Iowa, but most of the tribe was removed to Minnesota during the late 1840’s. The new location consisted of poor soil and a short growing season, not to mention the constant battles taking place there between the Dakota Sioux and the Ojibwe. The Ojibwe used the Winnebago reservation as a battleground to attack the Dakota Sioux. As a result, in 1856, the Federal Government allowed the Winnebago to exchange the reservation for another located farther south in Minnesota. Unfortunately, as the Winnebago tribe’s population declined, they were forced to surrender a portion of their reservation in 1859 because it was deemed by the Federal Government to be “excess lands.”In 1862, the Winnebago were again forcibly gathered together and deported by the Federal Government. This time, they were sent by steamboat to the Crow Creek reservation of the Yankton Sioux in South Dakota. Conditions were unbearable at the Yankton Sioux reservation. Many members of the Winnebago tribe attempted to return to Minnesota or Wisconsin. The remaining 1,200 Winnebago living in South Dakota fled down the Missouri River to the Omaha reservation in eastern Nebraska for refuge. In 1865, the Federal Government finally accepted the Winnebago self-relocation and purchased 40,000 acres from the Omaha tribe to provide them with their own reservation. Again in 1868, in the Federal Indian Bureau’s infinite wisdom, a plan was proposed to once again relocate the Winnebago tribe. This time, they wanted to remove the Winnebago to North Dakota so that they could act as a buffer between the Lakota Sioux and the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribes. The Winnebago promptly declined the offer, and unbelievably, the Federal Government left them in Nebraska.During this time, Winnebago men and women were regularly being arrested in Wisc...
