Chief Daniel Bread

Chief Daniel Bread played a key role in establishing the Oneida Indians’ presence in Wisconsin after their removal from New York, yet no monument commemorates his deeds as the Oneida community’s founder.  Laurence M. Hauptman and L. Gordon McLester III redress that historical oversight, connecting Bread’s life story with the nineteenth century history of the Oneida Nation.
Bread was a complex individual.  He was often criticized for his support of acculturation and missionary schools as well as for his working relationship with Indian agents; however, when the Federal-Menominee treaties slashed Oneida lands, he fought back, taking his people’s cause to Washington and confronting President Andrew Jackson.  The authors challenge the long held views about Eleazer William’s leadership on the Oneidas and persuasively show that Bread’s was the voice vigorously defending tribal interest.