Native Americans Tribes

Upper Midwest Region: Tribal History

Below are brief descriptions about the tribes that artist Dave McGary focuses on in his bronze sculptures of the people of the Upper Midwest region of Native America:

Algonquian Family

Tribes of the Algonquian Family: In the West – Siksika, Kainah, and Piegan; Arapaho and Cheyenne; in the North – Chippewa group, Ottawa, Chippewa, Missisauga, Algonkin group, Nipissing, Temiscaming, Abittibi, and Algonkin; Northeast – the Montagnais group, composed of the Nascapee, Montagnais, Mistassin, Bersiamite, Papinachois, Micmac, Malecite, Passamaquoddy, Arosaguntacook, Sokoki, Penobscot, and Norridgewock; Central – Menominee, Sauk, Fox, Kickapoo, Mascouten, Potawatomi, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Tamaroa, Michigamea, Miami, Piankashaw, and Wea; Eastern – Pennacook, Massachuset, Wampanoag, Narraganset, Nipmuc, Montauk, Mohegan, Mahican, Wappinger, Delawares, Shawnee, Nanticoke, Conoy, Powhatan, and Pamlico
Home Territories: Eastern Canada, Quebec, Maine, New England, Ohio, the Great Lakes, Mississippi, Tennessee, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Upper Michigan, the Rocky Mountains, Western Ontario and the Canadian Prairies
Languages: Multiple
Enemies: Iroquoian Confederacy
Point of Interest: They were a mobile group who would move to areas with the most resources.

Chippewa

Tribal Origin: Algonquian Family
Also known as: Ojibwa, Ojibway, Ojibwe and the Chippeway
Native Name: Bāwa'tigōwininiwŭg, means 'people of the Sault'
Home Territories: Michigan, northern Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota
Language: Anishinaabemowin or Ojibwemowin
Alliances: Ottawa and Potawatomi peoples
Enemies: Iroquois Confederacy and the Sioux
Point of Interest: Known for birch bark canoes, wild rice, copper points, and their use of guns from the British to defeat the Dakota and the Sioux

Dakota

Tribal Origin: Siouan Family
Also known as: Eastern Sioux, Nakota and Lakota
Native Name: Dakota, means 'Allies' or 'Friends'
Home Territories: Dakotas, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Carolina, Manitoba and southern Saskatchewan
Language: Lakota
Alliances: Sioux Nation
Points of Interest: Known for their bravery

Huron

Tribal Origin: Wendat Conferacy
Native Name: Wendat, or 'Dwellers of the Peninsula' or 'Islanders'
Home Territories: Ontario, Quebec, Ohio, Oklahoma, Michigan and Kansas
Language: Wendat
Alliances: Delawares and Munsees
Enemies: Iroquois
Point of Interest: Consisted of 4 tribes (Attignaouantan – 'Bear people', the Attigneenongnahac – 'Cord people', the Arendahronon – 'Rock people', and the Tohontaenrat – 'White-eared' or 'Deer people')

Iroquois Confederacy

Tribal Origin: Iroquoian Family
Native Name: Haudenosaunee, means 'People of the Longhouse'
Home Territories: Northeast United States and Midwest
Language: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora
6 Nation Alliance: Tuscarora, Oneida, Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga and Cayuga
Enemies: The Huron and the Algonquin
Point of Interest: Through conquering other tribes, thy sought to incorporate these conquered peoples into the Iroquois Confederacy

Oneida

Tribal Origin: Iroquois Confederacy
Native Name: Onyota'a:ka or Onayotekaono, means 'People of the Upright Stone'
Home Territories: New York, Wisconsin and Ontario
Language: Oneida
Alliances: Tuscarora, Oneida, Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga and Cayuga
Enemies: The Foxes, the Illinois and the Algonquin
Point of Interest: Most sided with the colonial rebels during the American Revolution mainly due to relationships they had built with missionaries in the nearby townships

Potawatomi

Tribal Origin: Algonquian Family
Native Name: Bodéwadmi, means 'Keepers of the fire'
Home Territories: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin
Language: Potawatomi
Alliances: Tuscarora, Oneida, Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga and Cayuga
Enemies: The Illinois and the Iroquois
Point of Interest: Changed sides frequently during the American Revolution

Shawnee

Tribal Origin: Algonquian Family
Native Name: Shawŭnogi or 'Southerners'
Home Territories: Tennessee, South Carolina, Ohion, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas
Language: Shawnee
Alliances: The Union during the United States Civil War
Point of Interest: Following the American Civil War, many Shawnee in Kansas were blended into the Cherokee Nation and were known as Cherokee Shawnee. In the year 2000, they gained back their original name of Shawnee

Winnebago:

Tribal Origin: Possibly the Sioux
Also known as: Ho-Chunk
Native Name: Bāwa'tigōwininiwŭg, means 'people of the big voice'
Home Territories: Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota and eventually Nebraska
Language: Siouan
Alliances: Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Kickapoo and Mascoutens
Enemies: Fox and Potawatomi
Point of Interest: A quarter of their population was wiped out due to Smallpox in 1836

 

For more information regarding the Native American tribes that Dave McGary focuses on in his bronze sculptures, we recommend the following resources: encarta.msn.com; accessgenealogy.com; Handbook of American Indians, 1906; Handbook of American Indians, 1912, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 30, part 1 and 2; wikipedia.org; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ojibwa; mohawktribe.com