The Fox Wars: The Mesquakie Challenge to New France Volume 211

By Joseph L. Peyser and R. David Edmunds

Book Overview

This is the saga of the Fox (or Mesquakie) Indians' struggle to maintain their identity in the face of colonial New France during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

The Foxes occupied central Wisconsin, where for a long time they had warred with the Sioux and, more recently, had opposed the extension of the French firearm-and-fur trade with their western enemies. Caught between the Sioux anvil and the French hammer, the Foxes enlisted other tribes' support and maintained their independence until the late 1720s. Then the French treacherously offered them peace before launching a campaign of annihilation against them. The Foxes resisted valiantly, but finally were overwhelmed and took sanctuary among the Sac Indians, with whom they are closely associated to this day.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0806144637
• ISBN13: 9780806144634
• Release Date: April 2014
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

an incredible work

This is THE book on the Fox Wars, the second round in the clash of the French and British Empires over North America. I would recommend reading W.J. Eccles' "Frontenac: The Courtier Governor" before reading this. This is an incredible book. Edmunds and Peyser did a wonderful job. All of their knowledge comes from the records written by the French themseles during the conflict. Recommended to me by an expert on the subject.

Highlights present-day Wisconsin as a battleground

The Fox River/Wisconsin River road between Green Bay and the fur-rich Mississippi River was blocked by Mesquakie toll-collectors in the early 18th century. Here is an account of the French manipulation of trinket-greedy native warriors to break the Mesquakie blockade which eventually degenerates into cannibalistic genocide.