The Green Bay Tribes

In 1861 three American Indian nations had reservations located in northeastern Wisconsin and reported to the federal Indian Agent located in Green Bay. Because of this, they were often referred to as the Green Bay tribes. The Menominee, Oneida, and Stockbridge-Munsee Mohicans each had a unique and complicated history of interaction with the United States government, the Wisconsin state government, and the American military. Yet men from each of these nations, for a variety of reasons, chose to volunteer for service in the Union Army. Their stories of bravery and perseverance in the face of tremendous obstacles deserve to be told and remembered.

The ways Native Americans joined Wisconsin regiments changed throughout the war. In 1861, while the state dealt with a surplus of volunteers, a decision was made to exclude Native men from state forces. In 1862, when the flood of volunteers began drying up, Wisconsin officials asked the federal government for permission to begin accepting Natives into their regiments; the federal government denied the request.

Despite this disparity, men from the Green Bay tribes had been enlisting into the U.S. Army in small numbers since the beginning of the war. For example, Alexander Abrams, Henry and John Davids, Jefferson Fiddler, and Jeremiah Welch from the Stockbridge-Munsee were among the first Natives to enlist. They served in Company A, 3rd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment and saw action at places like Antietam, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. Henry Davids was wounded three separate times during his service.

37th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment and Menominee Nation Volunteers

When the Union Army began enlisting African-American troops in 1863, they also began recruiting and accepting Native American troops in earnest. In Wisconsin, this led to two large concentrations of men from Green Bay tribes in two different regiments.

More than 40 members of the Menominee Nation volunteered for service in Company K, 37^th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment in 1864. These men deployed to Virginia and took part in fierce fighting at the Battles of the Crater and Weldon Railroad, among others. According to the oral history tradition of the Menominee Nation, several Menominee non-commissioned officers, such as Corporals Seymour Hahpahtakwahnoquette and Meshell Kayso, translated orders from English into Menominee in training and in battle. Hahpahtakwahnoquette, Joseph Nahwahquah, Amable Nashahkahappah, and Felix Wahtahnotte were among the Menominee who were killed during the Battle of the Crater.