White Cloud Mąxiskaga (Ho-Chunk) Wabokieshiek (abt.1780-)

White Cloud Mąxiskaga "Winnebago Prophet" Wabokieshiek formerly Ho-Chunk

Born about 1780 [location unknown]

Son of Unknown Sauk and [mother unknown]

Brother of Waxopįnįwįga (Sauk) Winneshiek

[spouse(s) unknown]

[children unknown]

Died [date unknown] [location unknown]

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Profile last modified 3 Mar 2021 | Created 6 Nov 2019

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White Cloud was Ho-Chunk.

Biography

Jipson says on the testimony of Winneshiek descendants, "“The elder Winneshiek, Ma-wa-ra-ga … wife’s name was Wa-ko-pee-nee-wee-ga. She was said to have been a sister to White Cloud, the so-called Winnebago Prophet, of Black Hawk War fame.” (Jipson, 211)

Waggoner adds further (29b), "Winneshiek’s involvement was grounded in kinship, as his maternal grandfather was a Sauk man and his maternal uncle, White Cloud (known as 'the Winnebago Prophet'), was Black Hawk’s principal spokesperson. The Ho-Chunk’s avuncular kinship system imparts a close relationship between a mother’s son and her brother that entails obligations on both sides."

Sources

Linda M. Waggoner, "Sibley’s Winnebago Prisoners: Deconstructing Race and Recovering Kinship in the Dakota War of 1862," Great Plains Quarterly, 33:1 (Winter 2013): 25-48.
Norton William Jipson, Story of the Winnebagoes (Chicago: The Chicago Historical Society, 1923). This is an unpublished typescript.

Acknowledgements

Thank you Richard Dieterle for the research into and creation of this profile. See his contributions to this profile.

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Images: 2

White Cloud, the Winnebago Prophet, by E. M. Sully

The Winnebago Prophet, by George Catlin

Comments: 3

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Richard Dieterle

I went ahead and switched "White Cloud" and "Maxiskaga" so that the latter was in the Middle Name position, since as you can see from Sully's painting, he was known as "White Cloud", which is a translation of the more obscure name "Maxiskaga". I did not fully develop this contribution since there is so much on him by historians. I expect someone else will come along and apply the knowledge that may be gleaned from these and future histories. His father was Sauk, and he was living among the Sauk, but they may have considered him foreign on account of his mother. I think that he also lived among the Hochungara. "White Cloud" is a standard name for a prophet in HoChunk. The Hochungara were well thought of in this regard, and calling him "the Winnebago Prophet" may have been intended to add to his status and prestige, and make it more likely that people would accept his judgments.

posted Mar 03, 2021 by Richard Dieterle