In 1828 John Kinzie Jr., formerly a clerk with the monopolistic American Fur Company, was appointed Indian agent by the federal government for the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) Nation. His responsibilities included disbursing the “annuities” the U.S. paid the tribe each year for land they already surrendered, adjudicating disputes between whites and natives and acting as point man for Indian affairs from his office in what is now Portage, Wisconsin.
Peter Shrake’s account is less a biography (Kinzie’s life is known mostly through his wife’s memoirs) but a window onto Wisconsin at a time when Indians were being expelled and American mine and fur interests prevailed. Kinzie comes across as benign, genuinely interested in Native American culture but unable to prevent the ethnic cleansing mandated by President Andrew Jackson.
