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In June, 1848, the company of infantry stationed at Fort Snelling received an urgent call to come to Wabasha's Prairie near Winona, Minnesota. The Winnebago Indians were being transferred from their former home in the Turkey Valley region in Iowa to a new reservation obtained for them from the Chippewas.
In 1839 when the Sioux-Chippewa feuds were at their height and the Indians were afraid to remain at Lake Calhoun, Mr. Stevens tore down the little cabin the Ponds had built and used the material for breastworks and moved down the river to Wabasha's village outside the influence of Fort Snelling.
A system was arranged whereby a courier from Fort Snelling and one from Prairie du Chien set out at about the same time, meeting at Wabasha's village where the packs were exchanged and each returned to his own post. On one occasion a spring thaw overtook the carrier from Prairie du Chien, who had proceeded beyond the meeting place because the messenger from the north was late.
In June of the next year two keel boats, the "General Ashley" and the "O. H. Perry", which were carrying supplies to Fort Snelling noticed an unfriendly feeling among the Sioux at Wabasha's village. Fifty warriors with their faces painted black and with black streaks on their blankets visited the "O. H. Perry", but refused to shake hands.
For many years the payment of annuities that had been promised the Sioux was an annual reminder of these treaties. It was necessary that each Indian receive his portion of the goods and money in person in order to prevent fraud. In the late summer of each year all the warriors of Red Wing's and Wabasha's villages would leave their homes for the fort.
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