History of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska

POPULATION
Estimates of the Winnebago's pre-contact population are usually about 8,000, but it probably was much higher. On Nicollet's second visit to the Winnebago in 1639, he estimated they had 5,000
warriors suggesting a population of 20,000. This higher figure would explain the pre-contact dominance of the region by the Winnebago. It is also more in line with Winnebago's own tradition which says that, due to over-population, several large groups of their people (Otoe, Missouri, and Iowa) left shortly before Nicollet's visit. Whatever their original number, the sudden drop in their
population during the next 30 years was one of the most worst experienced by any tribe. When the French returned to Wisconsin in 1665, wars and epidemic had reduced the Winnebago to fewer
than 500.

From the point of near-extinction, the Winnebago began a slow recovery. In 1736 the French said there were about 700, but afterwards they grew rapidly through intermarriage with neighboring
Algonquin. While other native populations declined, the Winnebago actually increased. Zebulon Pike made the first American estimate in 1806 - about 2,000, but he probably was too low. In 1825
American Indian agents in Wisconsin gave 5,800, and even after a smallpox epidemic in 1835 killed 25%, this only dropped to 4,500. The first accurate count in 1842 was 2,200 Winnebago living
in Iowa near Fort Atkinson. The trouble was no one knew how many Winnebago were still in Wisconsin. Four years later, the government said there were 22 Winnebago bands totaling 4,400 people. By 1848 the figure was back to 2,500. There were 1,756 "official" Winnebago in Minnesota in 1856 - 1,200 of whom were finally settled in Nebraska in 1865.

The Wisconsin Winnebago (Ho-Chunk Nation) at first actually avoided seeking federal recognition and delayed this until 1963. Tribal headquarters are at Black River Falls with an enrollment close to
5,000. Taken together, there are currently more than 12,000 Winnebago which makes them one of the larger tribes in the United States.