DETAILED HISTORY

The Winnebago first arrived in northwest Kentucky around 500 BC and by 400 AD they had entered the area that is now Wisconsin. In the 1620s, the Winnebago fought an inter-tribal war with the Potawatomis'. After this war, small pox and measles epidemics reduced the population of the Tribe from about 25,000 to only 150 people.

The Winnebago signed their first treaty with the United States in 1816 and signed boundary and cession treaties in the 1820s and 1830s. These treaties resulted in the loss of most of the tribal land. The Tribe was moved from what is now northeast Iowa, to Minnesota then South Dakota, and finally to their current location in Nebraska where the Winnebago Indian Reservation was established by treaty of 1865.

Following their displacement to the treeless plains of South Dakota, many of the dispossessed Winnebago, under cover of darkness, traveled down Missouri River to rejoin remnants of their tribe in Nebraska.

The General Allotment Act of 1887 resulted in the loss of about two-thirds of the Reservation and economic opportunities were lost through the 1960s. In 1975, the Tribe was awarded $4.6 million by the Indian Claims Commission for the land it had lost in the 1837 land cessation treaty with the Federal government. The tribal council used much of the award to develop three programs: land acquisition, credit and a wake and burial program.

The Tribe is federally recognized and organized under the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act. The Tribal Council governs the Winnebago Tribe and consists of a chairperson, vice chairperson, secretary, treasurer and five other members. All council members are elected by tribal members while offices are appointed for three years terms from within the council. In 1986, theTribe reestablished jurisdiction in the area of its legal system.