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Information About ™Sauk |
For the Abbreviation or Acronym SAC, please see SAC . The Sauks or '''Sacs''' ('''oθaakiiwaki''' in their own language or '''Ozaagii(-wag)''' in Ojibwe from where their French and English names are derived) are a group of First Nations / Native American s. CLAN SYSTEM Originally, the Sac were governed by a patrilineal Clans System . Clans which continue are: Fish, Ocean/Sea, Thunder, Bear, Fox, Bear, Potato, Deer, Beaver, Snow and Wolf. The tribe was governed by a council of sacred clan chiefs, a war chief, the head of families, and the warriors. Chiefs fell into three categories: civil, war and ceremonial, but only the civil chief was hereditary. Other two chiefs were determined by demonstrating their ability or their spiritual power. This traditional manner of selecting historic clan chiefs and governing themselves was at first forcibly replaced by United States appointees of the Sac and Fox Agency and now by constitutional government patterned after the American form. EARLY HISTORY The Sac may have had their original territory along the St. Lawrence River . However, migration patterns of other tribes drove them to Michigan around Saginaw Bay . Due to the yellow clay soils found around Saginaw Bay, their self-designation became ''Asakiwaki'' which is often misinterpreted to mean "yellow-earth". The Ojibwe and Ottawa name for the tribe is ''Ozaagii'', meaning "Those at the Outlet", whence they were known by the French as "Sac" or by the English "Sauk". With the Anishinaabe expansion and Huron s attempts at gaining regional stability, the Sac were driven by the Huron s armed with French weapons. They then occupied territory in parts of what are now northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin . Their closely allied tribe, the to accept the continued loss of lands (in western Illinois, this time) led to their reduction in importance at the hands of General Edmund P. Gaines in the Blackhawk War . About this time, one group of Sac moved into Missouri and later to Kansas and Nebraska. The larger group of Sac moved into reservations in Oklahoma in 1869 where they merged with the Fox as the Sac And Fox Nation . As smaller number returned from Oklahoma (or did not go) and became the Mesquakie tribe in Iowa. As Of 2006 the Sac and Fox communities in existence are:
LANGUAGE The Sac speak an Algonquian Language , now called Sauk Language , which is a dialect of the same language spoken by the Meskwaki , and very closely related to that of the Kickapoo . Their language is now almost extinct. Supposedly, the now extinct Mascouten language was also related to the Sauk language. NOTES SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS |