The Silver Man: The Life and Times of Indian Agent John Kinzie
Description
In The Silver Man: The Life and Times of John Kinzie, readers witness the dramatic changes that swept the Wisconsin frontier in the early and mid-1800s, through the life of Indian agent John Harris Kinzie. From the War of 1812 and the monopoly of the American Fur Company, to the Black Hawk War and the forced removal of thousands of Ho-Chunk people from their native lands—John Kinzie’s experience gives us a front-row seat to a pivotal time in the history of the American Midwest.
As an Indian agent at Fort Winnebago—in what is now Portage, Wisconsin—John Kinzie served the Ho-Chunk people during a time of turbulent change, as the tribe faced increasing attacks on its cultural existence and very sovereignty, and struggled to come to terms with American advancement into the upper Midwest. The story of the Ho-Chunk Nation continues today, as the tribe continues to rebuild its cultural presence in its native homeland.
Through John Kinzie’s story, we gain a broader view of the world in which he lived—a world that, in no small part, forms a foundation for the world in which we live today.
Praise for The Silver Man: The Life and Times of Indian Agent John Kinzie
American-Indian interaction did not begin with John Wayne at Fort Apache or a struggle over gold. Before that the cultures had met thousands of times in hundreds of places. "The Silver Man: The Life and Times of Indian Agent John Kinzie" is a look into the saga that played out in Southern and Central Wisconsin in the early Nineteenth Century. Though billed as a biography, this work is really the chronicle of the meeting of cultures during a period of great change...History is not all presidents and generals. It includes the men and women who settled the land, negotiated the peace and paved the way for change. John Kinzie was one such man. Meet him on the pages of "The Silver Man: The Life and Times of Indian Agent John Kinzie." (Jim Gallen, Reviewer, June 2016)