Kay-ree-kau-say-kaw

White Crow

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Although White Crow cast a long shadow in Hoocąk history, relatively little is known about his life.  From his own word in treaty councils, he was born at Lake Winnebago.  White Crow continued to maintain ties with the Fox River band throughout his life.  His daughter was the wife of Yellow Thunder who lived near Rush Lake on the bank of the Fox River above Green Lake. 

 

White Crow's implied age indicates that he would have been of the generation which faced Techumseh's War and the War of 1812.  It is perhaps in this context that he incurred the eye injury which left him blind in one eye.

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Around the year 1818—a pivotal time of strained relations between the federal government and the tribe—White Crow chose to move to the Rock River, having married a woman of that band.  In his words, "Her friends persuaded me to remain with them, as they had no speaker."  By the year 1827, he had risen to prominence as a war chief in a village on the serene north shore of Lake Koshkonong.  Although he had not been born into the traditional leadership clans, by merit of respect and influence, he had become a defacto chief of his people.  Located at the heart of the Rock River band of along a strategic travel corridor connecting the interior of Wisconsin with Pottawatomi country to the southeast, White Crow's village suddenly became the center of confusion, fear, and impending weighty decisions.  A rumor had arisen that Hoocąk prisoners at Fort Snelling had been handed over to be killed by the Ojibwe.  Red Bird, from the Mississippi band, had avenged the murder and had sent messages requesting the Rock River band's assistance in pushing back against the burgeoning incursions of lead miners into Hoocąk territory.  Upon White Crow fell a share of responsibility for determining a course of action.  

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Moving on from 1827 with a decision for peace, White Crow became a prominent speaker opposing land cession through the 1820s and again found himself at the center of conflict during the Black Hawk War of the 1830s.  At this time, he was living at Turtle Creek, another geographically strategic village of the Rock River Hoocąk.  By autumn, 1832, after having endured the ordeal of his Rock River territory being ceded to the government, White Crow was called upon to surrender young men of his band who had joined forces with Black Hawk.   At the surrender, he transferred his treaty authority medal to his son on the front porch of the agency house at the portage, presumably frustrated with the cumulation of events of the past decade.  From this tested head of household of the Rock River band we find some of the most poignant, straightforward oratory of the removal era.  While his life story is relatively unknown, his imprint as a seasoned leader left an indelible mark on the documents, treaties, and correspondence of a pivotal era of Hoocąk history.