Chief Oshkosh Monument, Oshkosh, WI

Chief Oshkosh Monument, Menomonie Park, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, October 17, 2012

Found: Chief Oshkosh Monument, Menomonie Park, Oshkosh, Wisc. by C.T. Photochrom circa 1930

Chief Oshkosh Monument (frontal view), Menomonie Park, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, October 17, 2012

Chief Oshkosh Monument (with Rambler), Menomonie Park, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, October 17, 2012

Little Oshkosh Park (with Chief Oshkosh Wood Carving), Menomonie Park, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, October 17, 2012

Found: Chief Oshkosh, daguerreotype portrait, circa 1854

 from the collection of the Oshkosh Public Museum

Ever since archivist Scott Cross at the Oshkosh Public Museum showed us the gem like daguerreotype portrait of Chief Oshkosh (1795-1858) circa 1854, we've been fascinated by portrayals of the Chief. Cross authored a small volume on Chief Oshkosh titled Like a Deer Chased by the Dogs: The Life of Chief Oshkosh and did a superb job of presenting the portrait in the most riveting way when we visited the archive. The portrait can be nestled in the viewers hands and upon close scrutiny, the eyes of the Chief penetrate across time. One rainy autumn day, we made the pilgrimage to Oshkosh to find the monument to the Chief where his remains are allegedly buried as per a plaque on the ground that reads: A man of peace beloved by all. Presented by A.C. McComb. Another plaque on the monument reads:

OSHKOSH
A Chief of the Menominee Tribe of  Indians whose greaest achievement in his life was in giving to the City the name which will make it famous while one stone remains upon another.

Found: Chief Oshkosh Beer Can circa 1960s

 Chief Oshkosh was charged with the impossible task of negotiating a land deal with the U.S. Government to surrender most of his tribe's homeland while retaining some land in the new state of Wisconsin. The monument in Oshkosh, unveiled on May 25, 1925, by by Gaetano Trentanove depicts a defiant stud with rippling muscles and a triumphant stance in contrast to the daguerreotype made of the Chief the last years of his life. Lore has it that government officials plied him with western clothes (note the garb on the dag portrait), liquor, and weapons. There is a tragic yet heroic quality to the dag portrait. We find it perverse, given these anecdoates, that a beer was named for him and the eerie wood carving that marks Little Oshkosh Park has become a place where seagulls regularly landto poop.