Like a Deer Chased by Dogs

Anyone who has spent time in the Lake Winnebago region of Wisconsin is familiar with the image of Chief Oshkosh in his tall beaver hat, coat with tails, and his steel-eyed gaze. The city of Oshkosh, a beer company, and numerous other business concerns have used his name and image. Even a bronze statue of a tall muscular Indian stands in Menominee Park over his supposed grave. But who was the real Chief Oshkosh of the Menominee? Folklore concerning his raucous drinking behavior has come down over the past hundred and fifty years and is sometimes difficult to separate from fact. He has been both vilified and praised for the treaties he signed with the federal government. Here interviews, recollections, observations, and published accounts are compiled into a complete picture of the real man.