June, 1961 articles from the Post-Crescent
Although Red Bird was a great chief of the Winnebagoes, most accounts indicate that he was never in our corner of Wisconsin, having lived and fought in the Prairie du Chien area on the other side of the state and he was imprisoned in Minnesota. Still, he was memorialized in statue form at High Cliff in 1961 as a symbol for the conservation movement and a source of pride to the Winnebago people.
High Cliff State Park is the only state-owned recreational area on Lake Winnebago. The park gets its name from the limestone cliff of the Niagara Escarpment, which parallels the eastern shore of Lake Winnebago. Red Bird Trail is the longest trail within the park.
Thank you for posting. I am doing research about Red Bird for an event at Fort Winnebago in Oct 2015.
ReplyDeleteI am from Kaukauna and I love visiting High Cliff. I've been going for as long as I can remember, and as I get older I love learning about the history High Cliff has. It gives a new appreciation to each visit and is very valuable information. Thank you so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWere the true facts of the 1827 War known, people would all see this man as a real savior of his people. Red Bird deserves the statue, but in fact it should be at Fort Winnebago, where he actually surrendered. This statue depicts that moment.
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