The Battle of Kathio, or Battle of Izatys, was an oral tradition of the
Chippewa reporting a battle fought in 1750 between
Chippewas
The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains.
According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
and the
Sioux at the village of
Kathio, or Izatys, on the
Rum River
The Rum River is a slow, meandering stream that connects Minnesota's Mille Lacs Lake with the Mississippi River. It runs for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 5, 2 ...
next to
Mille Lacs Lake
Mille Lacs Lake (also called Lake Mille Lacs or Mille Lacs) is a large but shallow lake in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is located in the counties of Mille Lacs, Aitkin, and Crow Wing, roughly 75 miles north of the Minneapolis-St. Paul m ...
.
According to tradition an old man, living in a Chippewa village at the
Fond du Lac (end of the lake), had four adult sons. They frequently made trips to visit the Sioux and they often returned home with gifts. During one particular trip one of the sons was killed in a quarrel over a Sioux woman. The remaining three brothers returned home for a short while, then returned to the Sioux, convinced the death of their brother was a mistake. However, upon this trip, only one brother returned home to his father safely. The last son, filled with forgiveness, went to seek the Sioux and reconcile their differences, but only met his death in the Sioux village.
For two years after, the father hunted and worked hard to obtain enough ammunition and supplies to raid the Sioux village and seek his revenge. As was the custom, he sent his tobacco and war club to the other Chippewa villages asking for help to accompany him "in search of his sons". The response was overwhelming and a large war party assembled at Fond du Lac. The Chippewas were victorious, and gained control of the northern part of what became modern day
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
as a result.
To date no archaeological evidence has been found to support the historical validity of this story, although French explorer
Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut
Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut ( 1639 – 25 February 1710) was a French soldier and explorer who is the first European known to have visited the area where the city of Duluth, Minnesota, United States, is now located and the head of Lake Superi ...
did, in 1679, record the existence of 40 Sioux villages in the vicinity.
The last vestige of Sioux domination in this area was broken with the destruction, in about the year 1750, of the great Sioux village of Kathio on the Rum River, near the present village of Vineland
''Vineland'' is a 1990 novel by Thomas Pynchon, a postmodern fiction set in California, United States in 1984, the year of Ronald Reagan's reelection.Knabb 2002 Through flashbacks by its characters, who have lived the sixties in their youth, th ...
.[Writers' Program (1940), p. 6.]
Image:Kathio Historic District - view from habitation site.JPG, View from Izatys habitation site.
Image:Kathio Historic District - Izatys habitation site.JPG, Izatys habitation site.
See also
*
Mille Lacs Kathio State Park
Notes
References
*
*
*
External links
National Historic Landmarks program of the National Park Service*
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...
'
Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings: Kathio Site*Transcript o
Radiograms of Minnesota History: Sioux versus Chippewa courtesy of
Minnesota Historical Society.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Of Kathio
Kathio
Conflicts in 1750
Native American history of Minnesota
1750 in North America