Winnebago Wonk (Chief) Edward Leach
(He-noonck) and his wife Sadie Leach (nee Winneshiek) has the only
tombstone in this Indian burial grounds. Although the location
above will only take you to the roadside..
Just imagine somewhere in the thick woods is a 100x100ft
cemetery. There is a brown road sign near.. to verify that you were
there.. please tell me what the sign says.. Email the answer to
me by clicking on my profile above, also log at the same time, if
there is a problem, I'll get back to you. Please do not
Trespass .. too many WARS are raging already over this special
cemetery.
From my understanding..
There is a dispute going on even to
this day on the easement/caretaking to this unique graveyard..
between the County, the Ho-Chunk Nation and the property owner..
Even back in history (1890's) the Indians lost the right to this
land because they owed back taxes. A section (100x100ft) was given
back to the Chief (County owned) so that he could be laid to rest
upon his death. The graveyard had not been tended to since the 70's
and what started the land feud again was that a relative of the
Chief was buried (mounded burial) there just last year.
Tribal/family cut some of the overgrown trees and tossed them over
the barbed wire fence (that surrounds the graveyard on a few sides)
which made the owner that grants the easement ticked off. The
Ho-Chunk Nation refuses to pay the high price to buy the land that
would connect to the roadway. Now all that shows from the road are
alot of NO TRESPASSING signs.. I got special permissions to enter
the graveyard and took a few pictures.
A bit more history..
Sadie Leach went to Washington to act as interpreter for Mrs.
Nellie Red Cloud, another Winnebago Indian from Friendship, as she
received from the hands of General Omar C. Bradley in Washington D.
C., the Congressional Medal of Honor awarded posthumously to her
son Corporal Mitchell Red Cloud, who was killed in Korea November
5.
My wish is that one day soon this mess will be over and I can
actually post the cemetery location. I felt honor to have had the
chance to pay my respects and to have had permissions to enter such
a place, during such a time of Turmoil.
~The Lil Otter
(pictures are below, out of respect for the area.. I did not
include the pictures of two recent unmarked graves, one was mounded
with old florals surrounding it)