Lac du Flambeau (Lake of Torches) has been a permanent settlement of the Chippewa Indian nation since about 1745, when Chief Sharpened Stone led his band to this lake. Nearby lakes furnished a fine setting for Indian life, with wild rice in season and plentiful fish which were taken at night by the light of flaming torches, hence the name "Flambeau." The tribe was loyal to the American colonies, never taking sides with the British or French and fought with the Union forces in the Civil War. Old Abe, American Eagle mascot of the Eighth Wisconsin in the Civil War, was captured a few miles below this point by a Flambeau Indian. In 1792 the Northwest Fur Trading Co. established the Lac du Flambeau department for the Wisconsin River area trade. Forts and posts remained on this shore for about fifty years.

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