Glory of the Morning: From the eyes of Louise Kellogg

Louise Kellogg was a prolific historian who I am sure never left the historical society of Wisconsin except to take in the beautiful scenery of an early Madison, Wisconsin, now home to major protests over significant proposed union cuts to public workers.  Yikes!  I digress.

Louise Kellogg wrote an article about Glory of the Morning which is now housed in the archives at the Wisconsin Historical Society.  In her article she described the care free life of a fur trader, enter Sabrevior Decaris.  He was a French military officer who gave up his commission to trade furs with the Native American tribes that lived around the waterways of early Wisconsin, enter Glory of the Morning.  Kellogg stated that many fur traders were taken in by the "bright eyes" of Indian women and the care free life of a fur trader; oh yes, and the beautiful scenery of early Wisconsin.  She added that their union made a smart match.  He was a gallant French officer and she was the daughter of a principal chief of the Winnebago or Ho-Chunk Nation.  Together they had two sons and a daughter.

When New France and the British went to war, Sabrevior left GOM to resume his post as Quebec had fallen into British hands.  He left his sons with GOM to be raised among the Winnebago or Ho-Chunk, but took his daughter with him to Canada.  He was wounded in the battle of St. Foye and died from his wounds in  1760 in a hospital in Montreal.

GOM, wrote Kellogg, remained with her people at Doty Island and succeeded her father, Postkawkaw as the Chief of the tribe.  She ruled her people in "wisdom and care."  She remained Chief until her sons matured and assumed their rightful place as Chiefs.

"...the rest is known only by tradition and the accounts of her descendants" (Kellogg 1912).

Here's to the rest of GOM's story obtained by tradition, through the literature culminating in an account from one of her descendants, me.



Kellogg, L.P. (1912). Glory of the Morning and the Decorah Family. Wisconsin Local History and Biography articles. Wisconsin Historical Society Collections.