On January 9, 1873, commissioner Charles Hunt was appointed to expel Wisconsin Hoocąk families once and for all.  Within weeks, Hoocąk elders initiated an unannounced journey to Washington, D.C., likely passing by rail via Portage, to petition that no soldiers be sent to expel them.  U.S. Officials responded unanimously: “There was no danger of soldiers being sent to drive them away.”

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On December 20, the 3 a.m. train brought Federal troops to Portage. They surrounded Kerejųxetega’s (Big Hawk’s) feast lodge at dawn and forced 73 Hoocąk people into train cars for exile to Nebraska.  Thus began Portage’s last forced expulsion.  Listen to the words of eyewitness Moses Paquette, read Big Hawk's letters back to Portage from Nebraska, peruse petitions written by Portage citizens vouching for the character of local Hoocąk families, and investigate the bigger picture of this final failed attempt to erase Hoocąk people from Wisconsin.