The Ho-Chunk (Hoocąk, Ho-Chungra, or Winnebago) people appear very early in the annals of the known history of Wisconsin's indigenous inhabitants. Unlike other Wisconsin tribes which migrated here from other parts of the continent, the Ho-Chunk never remember being anywhere else. Originally recorded by French explorers to be clustered around Red Banks (Green Bay) between 1600 and 1800, this people group eventually spread across much of central and southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. By the early 19th century, Ho-Chunks inhabited the prairies and hills in an area from Lake Winnebago south to the Kishwaukee and west to the Mississippi.

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The introduction of United States occupation brought hard times to the Ho-Chunk Nation. No longer were their secluded villages a haven against the influence and encroachments of ambitions settlers. Wars, disease, and unscrupulous treaties took their toll. Strong and respected leaders saw their clans and villages through, but the times did not get better. 

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Ho-Chunk families were sequentially removed by the United States government to Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, and finally (of their own accord as they fled the horrors of the Crow Creek Reservation) to Nebraska, away from their traditional homeland. Today, however, the Ho-Chunk Nation is a sovereign nation in Wisconsin with their seat of government in Black River Falls. It is a testimony to extraordinary resilience in the face of crushing adversity.