The Foiled Night Assault

by Mark J. Green (Wą́nihegá)
translated by Bill Hall (Hų̄ka)

William Hall, ca. 1895

They began by heading them off with an encircling movement. Then, as they went along, now, they passed the halfway point. Being very late at night, the soldiers were fast asleep, [but] there were sentries posted. This is the way they were. A man stood there as sentry, he was a Negro. They did not see the Winnebago. He had started to crawl, then the sentry saw him, and watched him. Then he tried going on hands and feet, then, to make matters worse, when he did this, and when he was not expecting it, the man saw him.

He gave whoops now and then, he kept going back, then he ran. Just as he got to the edge of the lighted area, someone caught up to him, he grabbed him on the back. "We just shot down one of your men," [and] he told his name. Right then from all the tents, there was a discharge of firearms, to-to-to-to-to-to-to-to. There was roar after roar, [and] the ground shook. And then "Dog's Head" said, "The men have tangled, this is it! Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!"¹

Commentary

"somewhat marshy" — this describes the area in the vicinity of Prophetstown, which was founded in 1808. This area is adjacent to the Tippecanoe River, near where the battle was fought on 7 November 1811.

"they ran" — both Indians and frontiersmen, rather than walking to a destination, always ran. For a people dependent on hunting for what we now call "protein," it was necessary to get as far away from their dwellings as possible in order to put themselves in an area where game was plentiful, inasmuch as the vicinity around a settlement was avoided by game animals.

"this side" — meaning near the edge of the camp, rather than a staging area rather more distant.

© Nat. Mus. of the Am. Indian, NMAI_239531		Engineer comp geek
A Hōcąk Tomahawk		A Period Musket

"shoot them" — this appears to be self-contradictory: if any of them are shot in their sleep, the noise of the discharge would awaken everyone else. However, a standard practice was to stack arms outside the tents, which would mean that the men asleep in their tents would be defenseless, and could indeed be both shot and tomahawked. However, as it happened, the men on this occasion were ordered to sleep with their loaded arms next to them.

Keith Rocco
William Williams A Black Soldier, 1814

"Negro" — it is highly unlikely that there were any black soldiers in the ranks of the US Army in 1811. "Following adoption of the federal Militia Act in 1792, the army excluded black men, and the prohibition remained in effect until the second summer of the Civil War."² Specifically, the Act stated that the militia would be restricted to "free able-bodied white male citizens."³ Regardless of the Militia Act, during the War of 1812, quite a number of Black soldiers were enlisted, most out of acts of desperation in filling the ranks by recruiters: "Although it was not legal for the United States government to enlist enslaved people, recruitment quotas left many officers turning a blind eye to possible legal entanglements."⁴ However, in 1811, it is not at all likely that William Henry Harrison, who owned many a slave, had strayed from the Militia Act and recruited Blacks into the regular Army. However, the matter is complicated. He had manumitted one of his slaves, Ben by name, whom he assigned a role as a teamster in his service. It is not likely that this was a military position, and Ben seems to have served in that capacity as a civilian. Of the several accounts of the Tippecanoe campaign, confusion reigns over who Ben was and just what role he played in the affair. The historical record shows that he defected to the Indian Confederacy and participated in a plan to assassinate Harrison himself by making a raid on his encampment. They did succeed in shooting an officer who was riding Harrison's horse, but this proved to be another officer who had borrowed the horse for the day. The survivors of the raiding party were captured, and Ben was put in shackles.⁵ He was tried and convicted of a capital crime, but was pardoned by the now President Harrison. In our story, Ben has become a victim of folklore and is transformed into a sentry who causes the failure of the mission not due to misjudgments, but by being a nearly invisible opponent in the dark owing to his skin color.

"his name" — it doesn't seem likely that the sentry told him his own (the sentry's) name. It seems by exclusion that he must have told the captive the name of the man they just killed. This would imply that they took the first man captive, interrogated him, and then killed him.

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A 6-pounder Field Gun

"the ground shook" — this would seem to imply that cannons came into play. Smoothbore 6-pounder cannons (firing a round shot weighing roughly 6 pounds) were the standard light field pieces during this period.

	Leonardo AI, from a painting by J. O. Lewis
	Dog Head (Sarcel, Teal, Little Duck)

"Dog's Head" — Šųgépaga, a famous warrior and chief, quickly became legendary, as we see from semi-mythological accounts of his life in the stories Great Walker's Medicine, The Warbundle Maker, and The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara. "The Warbundle Maker" says, "There was a man named Šųgépaga, who belonged to the Eagle Clan."⁶ The name "Dog Head" is clearly not an Eagle Clan name, and must be a nickname. Prior to the War of 1812, he was known to the French by this same name, Tête de Chien. So what was his Eagle Clan name? The French also knew him by his clan name, which they rendered as Sarcelle, which means "Teal." George recorded the word for teal as being hunašizka, which is for hunašiske, from huna, "to come hither"; šis, "to shoot"; and -ke, a suffix indicating a kind of thing. So a teal is "the kind of thing that comes hither to be shot." So it appears that his Eagle Clan name was Hunašiskega. The Anglos rendered his clan name as "Sarcel," "Teal," or "Little Duck." Col. McDouall in writing to Gen. Drummond in 1814, says of him,

the Susell or tete de Chien, [is] a distinguished Chief of the Winnebago Nation (who came to supplicate assistance) ... The solemn & impressive eloquence of the tete de Chien, excited a general enthusiasm, & never was more zeal or unanimity shown amongst them, this chief is scarcely inferior to Tecumseth, & I doubt not will act a distinguished part in the campaign ...⁷

Brisbois remarks that, "One of the Carimaunee family of Winnebagoes was known as Tête de Chien, or Dog's Head. He lived in 1827, at English Prairie, now Muscoda (ca. 43.210370, -90.30401). He was a prominent man, of considerable good sense, and very honest. The Indians cultivated some fields there, and lived there as one of their changeable localities."⁸ This means that he was related in some way to the famous chief Nąga (Wood), known as the "Elder Keramąnį," who was standing next to Tecumseh when the latter was struck dead by a stray bullet. Lurie's informants told her that the Keramąnįs were originally of Fox or Sauk extraction. Foreign captives who are spared are always put into the Thunderbird Clan, or may enter it through marriage. Mrs. Kinzie said that this name meant, "Walking Rain." This is due to the fact that the name has a double meaning in Hocąk: Ke-ra-mąnį means literally, "The Turtle Walking," where -ra is the definite article. On the face of it, this name is rather peculiar, since the -ga attached to the end of it to indicate that it's a personal name is also a definite article. This leads to the rather stilted translation, "The Walking One Who is the Turtle." However, the same name differently parsed, Kera-mąnį, means "Walking Cloud," where kera, like the more common mąxí, means both "cloud" and "sky." It could be that Kera-mąnį-ga was originally a Thunderbird Clan name for the ancestor of the lineage, but members of that family liked the mystical association that the double meaning gave them to the God of War. Sometime before 1832, Dog Head had moved to Big Green Lake (43.813354, -88.934092), where he lived in a large lodge with three other men, five women, and six children.⁹ Grignon says, "Sarcel, or The Teal, resided at the Winnebago village at Green Lake, in Marquette county; in his younger days his reputation was not good, but he afterwards became a very good Indian. I have already adverted to his war services. I think he died at Green Lake, before the emigration of his people west of the Mississippi."¹⁰

"hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo" — this represents a battle cry made by shouting hū-ū-ū while patting one's mouth. Inasmuch as Dog Head is the Warleader, he is announcing that contact has been made and an all out assault can now commence. As it happened, this assault was ill fated.

Comparative Material. ...

Links: ...

Stories: mentioning Black people (Negroes): The Creation of Man, v. 9, Soldiers Catch Two Boys, a Black One and a White One, The Shrewd Winnebagoes of Dixon’s Crossing; about famous Hocąk warriors and warleaders: How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, Little Priest's Game, The Masaxe War (Hogimasąga), Wazųka, Great Walker's Warpath (Great Walker), Great Walker's Medicine (Great Walker, Smoke Walker, Dog Head, Small Snake), Šųgepaga (Dog Head), The Warbundle Maker (Dog Head), Digging a Trench and White Strategy (Dog Head), Black Otter’s Sacrifice to a Thunder, Black Otter's Warpath (Dog Head, Black Otter), The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara (Smoke Walker, Dog Head, Small Snake), Two War Chiefs are Called on to Spy (Dog Head, Black Cloud), Young Thunder and Dog Head, Big Thunder Teaches Cap’ósgaga the Warpath (Big Thunder, Cap’ósgaga), The Osage Massacre (Big Thunder, Cap’ósgaga), The Fox-Hocąk War (Cap’ósgaga), The Origin of Big Canoe's Name, White Thunder's Warpath, Four Legs, The Man who Fought against Forty (Mącosepka), Yellow Thunder and the Lore of Lost Canyon, The Hills of La Crosse (Yellow Thunder), The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, Fighting Retreat, Mitchell Red Cloud, jr. Wins the Medal of Honor (Mitchell Red Cloud, jr.), The War of Indian Tribes against White Soldiers (Dog Head, Black Otter, Big Sandbar), How Jarrot Got His Name, Jerrot's Temperance Pledge — A Poem, Jarrot's Aborted Raid, Jarrot and His Friends Saved from Starvation, Bear Gets Challenged, Soldiers Catch Two Boys, a Black One and a White One, v. 1 (Dog Head, Short Wing, Bear), They Owe a Bullet (Pawnee Shooter), Bear Gets Challenged; about Šųgépaga (Dog Head = Sarcel = Teal = Little Duck): Šųgepaga, The War of Indian Tribes against White Soldiers, The Warbundle Maker, Black Otter's Warpath, Great Walker's Medicine, Digging a Trench and White Strategy, The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, Soldiers Catch Two Boys, a Black One and a White One, v. 1, Young Thunder and Dog Head, Two War Chiefs are Called on to Spy; – see also Kinzie's Receipt Roll; about the (post-Columbian) history of the Hōcągara: The Cosmic Ages of the Hocągara, The Hocągara Migrate South, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I, Annihilat dion of the Hocągara II, First Contact, Origin of the Decorah Family, The Glory of the Morning, The First Fox and Sauk War, The Fox-Hocąk War, The Masaxe War, The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, Black Otter's Warpath, Great Walker's Medicine, Great Walker's Warpath, The Chief Who Shot His Own Daughter, How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, Little Priest's Game, The Spanish Fight, The War of Indian Tribes against White Soldiers, Digging a Trench and White Strategy, Soldiers Catch Two Boys, a Black One and a White One, The Man who Fought against Forty, The Origin of Big Canoe's Name, Jarrot's Aborted Raid, They Owe a Bullet, Origin of the Name "Milwaukee," A Waterspirit Blesses Mąnį́xete’ų́ga, Origin of the Hocąk Name for "Chicago"; mentioning the Big Knives (white Americans): The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, The Fate of Native America: a Prophecy, Brawl in Omro, The Scalping Knife of Wakąšucka, Little Priest's Game, How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, A Prophecy, The Chief Who Shot His Own Daughter, The First Fox and Sauk War, The War of Indian Tribes against White Soldiers, The Road to Tippecanoe ("Hats"), Soldiers Catch Two Boys, a Black One and a White One, The Cosmic Ages of the Hocągara, Turtle and the Merchant, The Hocągara Migrate South, Neenah, Run for Your Life, The Glory of the Morning, First Contact, Mijistéga’s Powwow Magic and How He Won the Trader's Store, Migistéga’s Magic, Yellow Thunder and the Lore of Lost Canyon, Mighty Thunder, The Beginning of the Winnebago, Soldiers Catch Two Boys, a Black One and a White One, Digging a Trench and White Strategy.

Themes: ...

Notes

¹ "A night assault against soldier's camp which is foiled by an unseen Negro guard," Archives of Traditional Music (ATM), Indiana University, translation by William Hall, Original Typescript (Black River Falls: ca. 1960-1970) E6-7, recording by Milford G. Chandler of Mark J. Green - vocals, bef. 1922, Black River Falls, Jackson County, Wisconsin. ATL no. 527.7 8742.21, Recording 56.SCY 18210158, Collection number (collection identifier): 54-196-F, p. 58 of 87; OT 7695; APS accession number 7215.

² Joseph P. Reidy, "Black Men in Navy Blue During the Civil War," Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives and Records Administration, vol. 33, no. 3 (Fall 2001): 155-167.

³ The Militia Act states: "I. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That each and every free able-bodied white male citizen of the respective States, resident therein, who is or shall be of age of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years (except as is herein after excepted) shall severally and respectively be enrolled in the militia, by the Captain or Commanding Officer of the company, within whose bounds such citizen shall reside, and that within twelve months after the passing of this Act." The Militia Act of 1792, Second Congress, Session I. Chapter XXVIII, Passed May 8, 1792, APPROVED, February 28, 1795.

⁴ National Parks Service > William Williams.

⁵ Alfred A. Cave, Prophets of the Great Spirit (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2006) 120–121; Adam Jortner, The Gods of Prophetstown: The Battle of Tippecanoe and the Holy War for the American Frontier (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011) 195.

⁶ W. C. McKern, Winnebago Notebook (Milwaukee: Milwaukee Public Museum, 1927) 167-174 [167].

⁷ Douglas Brymner, "The Capture of Fort M'Kay, Prairie du Chien, in 1814," Wisconsin Historical Collections, 11 (1888) 254-270 [260, 263].

⁸ B. W. Brisbois, "Recollections of Prairie du Chien," Wisconsin Historical Collections, IX (1882/1909): 282-302 [300].

⁹ See Kinzie's Rolls for Big Green Lake.

¹⁰ Augustin Grignon, "Seventy-two Years' Recollections of Wisconsin," Wisconsin Historical Collections, 3 (1857) 197-295 [288].