Accounts of GOM and the Fur Trade

There are two eye-witness accounts of Glory of the Morning that are considered official or credible and they have been written by two non-Indians of course.  One was written by an explorer named Jonathan Carver and the other was written by Kinzie of Waubun fame.  The Carver account is favorable and plants the idea that GOM was indeed a chieftess, namely she would have been a peace chief according to Ho Chunk custom.  The other is a less favorable account of GOM written by Kinzie a missionary.  She describes GOM (thought controversial) or rather the mother of old Dekaury as an old woman who wanted to view herself in a looking glass.  Though there is no clear death date of GOM, Kinzie's account would have put GOM at 100 years of age or more.

These two accounts are the primary accounts of GOM.

There are others that have been written which are primary sources, however there are secondary and other sources that discuss her or the Winnebagos (aka Ho Chunk).  Amidst the readings of the Fur Trade, the early French Explorers, early missionaries, and paleo-Indinas I gleaned out several precious sources.  One is that Mason describes Doty Island (others have too, Carver and Kinzie) as strategic, meaning that it was located in an area in which the people had protection and their enemies could not surprise them.  Another is that the paleo Indians lived around these same places, as early as 500 BC.  Very fascinating.  The only book that I know that could explain their life would be the Book of Mormon, another Testament of Jesus Christ.  Another precious source is that during the uptick of the fur trade, those in the business would enter into marriages in an effort to keep the fur trade open and in their favor.  Mason cites that in an effort to obtain trade agreements exclusive some traders married chief's daughters.  Very interesting.  As the fur trade between the French and Ho Chunk, it became apparent to the Ho Chunk that the fur trade was good.  It is not surprising to me that GOM would naturally enter into a marriage that would ensure her village's survival.  As the fur trade ensued the Ho Chunk moved from wood and arrows to metal pots and guns almost overnight.  Nicolet, a missionary even remarked on how quickly the Winnebagos took to the items of trade, particularly metal and guns.  Within 100 years from the earliest contacts with the French (though some say it was with Nicolet or possibly Burle) Wisconsin Indians were predominantly using and had become dependent upon European goods.  However, as the businessmen, missionaries and immigrants moved in and the fur trade fell into the hands of the British and then to the Americans just as the beaver population became scarce, the Ho Chunk were being squeezed out with less places to live, less places to hunt and plant food.  Treaties with the every growing population of new Americans became a new way to ensure food and a place to live.  Fortunately, GOM never lived to see the days of forced removals, land dispossessions and the ravages of alcohol being introduced to her people.

Fascinating!