The Bad Axe River is a
[U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data]
The National Map
, accessed May 13, 2011 tributary of the
Mississippi River in southwestern
Wisconsin in the
United States. "Bad axe" is a translation from the
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, "la mauvaise hache", but the origin of the name is unknown.
[Butterfield, ''History of Vernon County'' (Springfield, 1884), p. 132.] The river's mouth at the Mississippi was the site of the
Battle of Bad Axe, an 1832
U.S. Army massacre of
Sauk and
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelv ...
Indians
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
at the end of the
Black Hawk War.
Course
The Bad Axe River flows for its entire length in western
Vernon County, and for most of its length as two streams, the North Fork Bad Axe River and the South Fork Bad Axe River. The North Fork rises at the town of
Westby and flows generally southwestwardly for .
[ The South Fork rises about south of Viroqua and flows westwardly for .][ The main stem of the Bad Axe flows for less than westward from the convergence of the two forks to its confluence with the Mississippi, about south of Genoa.
]
References
See also
* List of Wisconsin rivers
Rivers of Wisconsin
Tributaries of the Mississippi River
Rivers of Vernon County, Wisconsin
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