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The Fox Wars were two wars between the Fox
Fox (tribe)

The Fox tribe of Native Americans in the United States?or Meskwaki?are an Algonquian language-speaking group that are now merged with the allied Sac tribe as the Sac and Fox Nation....
 Indians and the French
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 (mainly through their Indian allies) which occurred in modern Michigan
Michigan

Michigan is a Midwestern United States U.S. state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Anishinaabe language term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
 and Wisconsin
Wisconsin

Wisconsin is one of the fifty U.S. state in the United States of America, located in the north central part of the United States. It borders two of the five Great Lakes and four U.S....
, U.S.A.. The First Fox War broke out with the French (1712-1716) when the Fox numbered some 3,500. The Second Fox War of 1728-1733 found the remaining 1500 Fox reduced to 500 who found shelter with the Sac
Sac (tribe)

The Sauks or Sacs from where their French language and English language names are derived) are a group of Native Americans in the United Statess of the Eastern Woodlands culture group....
 and brought French animosity to that tribe. The Fox controlled the Fox River
Fox River (Wisconsin)

The Fox River is a river in eastern and central Wisconsin in the United States. Geographers divide the Fox into two distinct sections, the Upper Fox River that flows from central Wisconsin into Lake Winnebago, and the Lower Fox River that links Lake Winnebago with the Bay of Green Bay....
 system.






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The Fox Wars were two wars between the Fox
Fox (tribe)

The Fox tribe of Native Americans in the United States?or Meskwaki?are an Algonquian language-speaking group that are now merged with the allied Sac tribe as the Sac and Fox Nation....
 Indians and the French
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 (mainly through their Indian allies) which occurred in modern Michigan
Michigan

Michigan is a Midwestern United States U.S. state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Anishinaabe language term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
 and Wisconsin
Wisconsin

Wisconsin is one of the fifty U.S. state in the United States of America, located in the north central part of the United States. It borders two of the five Great Lakes and four U.S....
, U.S.A.. The First Fox War broke out with the French (1712-1716) when the Fox numbered some 3,500. The Second Fox War of 1728-1733 found the remaining 1500 Fox reduced to 500 who found shelter with the Sac
Sac (tribe)

The Sauks or Sacs from where their French language and English language names are derived) are a group of Native Americans in the United Statess of the Eastern Woodlands culture group....
 and brought French animosity to that tribe. The Fox controlled the Fox River
Fox River (Wisconsin)

The Fox River is a river in eastern and central Wisconsin in the United States. Geographers divide the Fox into two distinct sections, the Upper Fox River that flows from central Wisconsin into Lake Winnebago, and the Lower Fox River that links Lake Winnebago with the Bay of Green Bay....
 system. This river was vital for the fur trade
Fur trade

The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur....
 between French Canada
French Canada

French Canada is a term to distinguish the French-speaking population of Canada from English Canada....
 and the interior of North America, because one could navigate from the Bay of Green Bay
Bay of Green Bay

Green Bay is an arm of Lake Michigan, located along the south-west coast of Michigan's Upper Peninsula and the east coast of Wisconsin. It is separated from the rest of the lake by the Door Peninsula in Wisconsin, the Garden Peninsula in Michigan, and the chain of islands between them, all formed by the Niagara Escarpment....
 in Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America, and the only one located entirely within the United States. The third-largest of the Great Lakes, it is bounded, from west to east, by the U.S....
 to the Mississippi River
Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the longest river in the United States, with a length of from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico....
. The French wanted rights to use the river system to gain access to the Mississippi and trade contacts with the tribes farther west.

First Fox War

After the 1701 founding of Detroit
Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Wayne County, Michigan. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwestern United States of the United States....
 as a trading post at its strategic location between the Upper and Lower Great Lakes
Great Lakes

The St. Lawrence River Great Lakes are a chain of fresh water lakes located in eastern North America, on the Canada ? United States border. Consisting of Lakes Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth....
, Governor Cadillac
Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac

Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac was a prominent figure in the history of New France. He was christened Antoine Laumet but upon arriving in what is now Canada in 1683 at the age of 25, he changed his identity to sieur Antoine de Lamothe-Cadillac....
 invited numerous tribes to settle in the area. Ottawas and Hurons established villages in the area, soon joined by Potawatomi
Potawatomi

The Potawatomi are a Native Americans in the United States people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian languages....
es, Miamis
Miami tribe

The Miami are a Native Americans in the United States tribe originally found in Indiana, southwest Michigan and Ohio, and now living also in Oklahoma....
, and Ojibwa
Ojibwa

The Ojibwa or Chippewa is the largest group of Native Americans in the United States-First Nations north of Mexico, including M?tis people ....
. The population may have reached 6,000 at times. Conflicts between the Ottawas and the Miamis led to the Miamis removing to the Ohio area after 1708.

The Wisconsin tribes (Fox, Sauk, Mascouten
Mascouten

The Mascouten were a tribe of Algonquian languages Indigenous peoples of the Americas who are believed to have dwelt on both sides of the Mississippi adjacent to the present-day Wisconsin-Illinois border....
, Kickapoo
Kickapoo

The Kickapoos are one of the Algonquian peoples speaking Native Americans in the United States tribes. According to the Anishinaabeg, the name "Kickapoo" means "Stands Here and there" and refers to the tribes migratory patterns....
 and Winnebago
Winnebago

Winnebago can refer to:* The former name of the Ho-Chunk tribe of Native Americans with reservations in Nebraska, Iowa, and Wisconsin*A popular brand of recreational vehicles, manufactured by Winnebago Industries, of Forest City, Iowa...
) actively prevented French trade access to the Sioux
Sioux

Sioux are a Native Americans in the United States and First Nations people. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many dialects....
. The French invited these tribes to also start settlements at Detroit. In the spring of 1712, a large group of Fox under Lamyma, a peace chief, and Pemaussa, a war chief, established villages in the area, including one only 50 feet from the walls of Fort Pontchartrain. The Mascouten, under Kisis and Ouabimanitou, also established a village nearby. Most of the Huron and Ottawa were still out in winter hunting camps and the new French commander, Charles Regnault, Sieur Dubuisson, had perhaps as few as 30 fighting men in his garrison at the fort.

Dubuisson may have requested that the Fox remove their village and also sent messages to hurry the return of the more friendly Huron and Ottawa. At some point, the Fox and Mascouten learned of the winter raid by Saguina and his Ottawas upon a village on the St. Joseph River
St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan)

The St. Joseph River is a river, approximately 210 mi long, in southern Michigan and northern Indiana in the United States. It drains a primarily rural farming area in the watershed of Lake Michigan....
 that had killed over 150 Mascouten. The Fox and Mascouten began threatening the Ottawas and French and took some Ottawas hostage. However the hunters soon returned when Makisabe and Saguina arrived with hundreds of Hurons and Ottawa. The Illiniwek
Illiniwek

The Illinois Confederation, sometimes referred to as the Illiniwek or Illini , were a group of Native Americans in the United States tribes in the upper Mississippi River valley of North America....
 chief Makovaandely along with Illiniwek, Missouri
Missouri tribe

The Missouri or Missouria are a Native Americans in the United States tribe that originally lived in the Great Lakes region of United States before European explorers arrived....
 and Osage
Osage

The Osage Nation, a Native American tribe in the United States, is the source of most other terms containing the word "osage".Osage can also refer to:...
 warriors also came..

The Fox and Mascouten used fire arrows to damage the buildings of Fort Ponchartrain but were driven inside their palisaded village north of the fort, fighting from trenches to avoid the musket
Musket

A musket is a Muzzle -loaded, smoothbore long gun, which is intended to be fired from the shoulder.Usually, the musket is thought to be the weapon that replaced the arquebus, and was in turn replaced by the rifle....
 and mortar
Mortar (weapon)

A mortar is a Muzzleloader indirect fire weapon that fires shell at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing Ballistics trajectories. It typically has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
 fire from their French-supplied and supported opponents. After several days, the Fox asked for a ceasefire and returned some hostages; however, none was granted. Several days later, another parley occurred, to seek protection of the women and children. Dubuisson chose to let his allies choose their course; they chose to grant no mercy. After nineteen days, during a nighttime thunderstorm, the Fox escaped their village and fled north. The French-allied Indians caught them near the head of the Detroit River
Detroit River

The Detroit River is a river in the Great Lakes system, about 32 miles long and 0.5 to 2.5 miles wide. The name comes from French language Rivi?re du D?troit, i.e....
 and four more days of fighting occurred. The Fox and Mascouten were almost completely overwhelmed with 150 being taken captive. At the end of the siege and pursuit, around 1,000 Fox and Mascouten men, women and children were killed (including many of the captives). French losses were 30 men while their allies lost 60.

The French sent joint expeditions out against the Fox. In 1716, an expedition of 200 French with 600 Indian allies captured Fox warchief Pemaussa ending this phase of the wars.

Second Fox War

The Fox continued to harass French settlements along the Mississippi River
Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the longest river in the United States, with a length of from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico....
 along with raiding the Illiniwek and attacking the French trade on Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America, and the only one located entirely within the United States. The third-largest of the Great Lakes, it is bounded, from west to east, by the U.S....
. By 1720, Kiala led the anti-French faction of the Fox but faced raids by the French-supported tribes (Potawatomi, Ojibwa, Huron and Ottawa). In 1733, Kiala surrendered and was sent as a prisoner to the West Indies. Other captured Fox were given out as slaves to other tribes while the small remnant of the tribe, numbering around 500 took refuge among the Sauk. French pursuit of the destruction of the Fox tribe was so severe as to damage French relations with other tribes.

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