1827

California and Oregon Indians encounter the Jedidiah Smith expedition.

Fur trapper and adventurer Jedidiah Smith leads the first non-Indian expedition from present-day southern California to what is now southern Oregon. Several Indians groups they come upon react to the newcomers with violence. Along the Colorado River, the Mojave attack Smith and his men, killing 10 of them. The survivors continue north, but they are set upon a second time along Oregon’s Umpqua River after one of Smith’s men rapes an Indian woman. Only four of the whites, including Smith, escape with their lives.

David Cusick’s Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations is published.

Tuscarora artist and doctor David Cusick publishes Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations, an account of Iroquois mythology and history. Finding a wide readership, the book will be reprinted in 1828 and 1848. These later editions will include four woodcuts made by Cusick—the first images of

Iroquois myths produced by an Indian artist using non-Indian techniques.

P

“I have been long waiting in hopes that some of my people, who have received an English education, would have undertaken [a history of the Iroquois]; but found no one seemed to concur in the matter, after some hesitation I determined to commence the

Work____I have taken much [s/c]

Pains procuring the materials, and translating it into English language. I have endeavored to throw some light on the history of the original population of the country, which I believe never have been recorded.”

—David Cusick on the difficulty of writing Sketches of Anc/ent H/story of the S/x Nat/ons

June 26 to September 27

The Winnebago strike out against whites in their territory.

Since the early 1820s, white settlers and miners have been moving into the lands of the Winnebago in present-day Wisconsin. Tension between these whites and the tribe explodes when two Winnebago men are arrested for killing a white family. The Winnebago are outraged when they hear a rumor that non-Indian authorities have turned over the accused to the Ojibway, the Winnebago’s traditional enemies, who have supposedly beat the alleged murderers to death. The Winnebago leaders call on Red Bird, a respected warrior, to avenge the deaths. His men kill three whites—two men and a child—near the town of Prairie du Chien on June 26. Three days later, the warriors strike a boat crew on the Mississippi and murder two more men.

After the U. S. government threatens to conduct an all-out war against the Winnebago, Red Bird decides on September 27 to surrender to protect his tribe. Initially, Red Bird is sentenced to death, but largely because whites are impressed by his personal dignity, he is sent to jail instead.

July

The Cherokee adopt a written constitution.

With the encouragement of federal officials, the members of the Cherokee Council draft a constitution modeled on that of the United States. The document maintains that the Cherokee Nation is “sovereign and independent,” a phrase that alarms authorities in Georgia, who are trying to strip the Cherokee of their autonomy and thus pave the way for their tribe’s removal from the state (see entry for 1828).