The most recent Native
Americans in the Prophetstown-Lyndon-Tampico area were the Winnebago, the
Sauk (or Sac) and Fox tribes. In the 1700’s there were fourteen Winnebago
villages along the Rock River. Good fishing, hunting and fertile
soil attracted these tribes to the Rock and Mississippi River valleys.
The Winnebago,
though mostly in Wisconsin, had moved into northwestern Illinois in small
numbers. Like many other tribes, the Winnebago's name is not what
they called themselves. It comes from a Fox word meaning, "people
of the stinking water." This was not an insult, though, because the
name referred to algae-thick water of the Fox River and Lake Winnebago
where the Indians had lived. The Winnebago called themselves the
Hochungra, meaning people of big speech.
The two tribes
commonly known as the Sauk and the Fox were originally known as the Sac
and the Meskwaki. The Fox were from Michigan and Wisconsin and had joined
the larger Sauk tribe for protection from the French. A large and
famous settlement called Saukenauk was built by the Sauk and Fox just south
of present day Rock Island and is where Black Hawk was born.
The tribes lived
peacefully with each other except when disputes over hunting grounds occurred.
Members of different tribes sometimes married. Wabokieshiek, (“White Cloud”
in English), the medicine man and prophet whose village was Prophetsown’s
namesake, was the son of a Sauk chief and his Winnebago wife.
 |
There is some controversy over the appearance of the Prophet. The painting of White Cloud to the left is by George Caitlin and shows a man with a broad face and a longer European hairstyle. White Cloud was reported to have been a large man, over six feet tall, with long, wavy hair. |  |
Home page |
Next page |