In the late 1820s Red Bird and his followers began to grow uneasy over the encroachments of lead miners on Ho-Chunk land.

The tribe had an uneasy relationship with the dominant culture's legal concepts and often continued to follow tribal practices of justice.

One incident involved the mistaken information channeled to the tribe that two Ho-Chunk executions were conducted at Fort Snelling in 1826 for a murder they did not commit.

Under pressure from the tribe to defend their interests, Red Bird set off with two others, Chickhonsic (The Little Buffalo) and Wekau (The Sun); eventually meeting a trader, John Lockwood and a former British soldier, Duncan Graham, who advised against violence.

With an Indian war threatening, the militia was mobilized and Federal troops were dispatched to Prairie du Chien from Jefferson Barracks, Missouri.