Hill of the Dead (Revisited)

 

July 17, 1956, Appleton Post-Crescent

Over the years, we have investigated in and around Little Lake Butte des Morts and this sign.  This official State of Wisconsin Historic Marker, formerly in Fritse Park, was removed in March of 2015. This marker, erected in 1955, described a 1730 French and Menominee attack on a Meskwaki (Fox Indian) village on the western shore of LLBDM and the resulting massacre. The story goes that the numerous Meskwaki allegedly killed in this attack were buried in a large earthen burial mound that once stood on the west shore of the lake. Although historians of the time attributed the burial mound to the attack, there later was found no archaeological support for this event. Modern science has proven that the mound was prehistoric in origin and likely dated between 2500 and 2000 years ago. Since 1990, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh anthropology professor Jeff Behm campaigned to have the record righted and the marker removed.  Today, you will no longer find this sign on the State of Wisconsin's list of 558 official state markers.  But this newspaper clipping makes for an interesting photo, what with the old automobile and the simple nature of Highway 41.