The death penalty has been illegal in Wisconsin since 1853, but prior to that time (and once afterwards) 15 people were executed under state, local or tribal law:

1815, ca. Jan. 15: the nephew of Sioux chief Le Corbeau Francoix was shot by a British firing squad at Prairie du Chien for murdering two traders;

1821, Dec. 27: Ke-taw-tah, an Ojibwe Indian, was executed at Detroit for murdering Dr. William S. Madison, a military surgeon, near the Manitowoc River the previous May;

1821, Dec. 27: Ke-wa-bush-kim, a Menominee Indian, was executed at Detroit for stabbing to death a French settler at Green Bay on Sept. 4, 1820;

1829, Aug. 17: Sgt. John Renaka (also found as 'Ramaca') was hanged at Prairie du Chien for shooting a fellow officer the previous Sept.;

1830, Aug. 20: Daniel Hempstead, a soldier, was hanged at Green Bay for murdering a boat builder at Duck Creek three months earlier;

1832, summer or autumn: Matthew Beckwith, a soldier, was hanged at Prairie du Chien for shooting an officer there earlier in the year;

1833, Oct. 15: Patrick Doyle, a soldier, was hanged at Green Bay for murdering a superior officer the previous year;

1838, Oct. 29: Edward Oliver was hanged at Lancaster for shooting John Russell near Cassville earlier in the year;

1840, March 13: Isaac Littleman, a Stockbridge Indian, was hanged at Stockbridge for the ax murder of a fellow tribesman the previous month; the trial and execution were conducted under tribal law;

1842, Feb. 18: Peter Green, an Oneida Indian, was hanged at Duck Creek for murdering three of his children there two weeks earlier; the trial and execution were conducted under tribal law;

1842, Nov. 1: William Caffee was hanged at Mineral Point for shooting Samuel Southwick at Gratiot's Grove in February of the same year;

1846, May 16: Robert Brewer was hanged at Lancaster for shooting Francis DeLasseaulx of New Orleans at Beetown on April 1st of the same year;

1848, June 9: Little Sauk, an Ojibwe Indian, was hanged at St. Croix Falls for murdering two fur traders near there; trial and execution were carried out by white settlers rather than under tribal law; because St. Croix County did not yet exist and boundaries were in flux (some claimed that St. Croix Falls was then part of Minnesota Territory), historians differ on whether this event ought to be counted among "Wisconsin" executions;

1851, Aug. 21: John McCaffary hanged at Kenosha for drowning his wife the previous year; this event ultimately led to the legislation that prohibited capital punishment in Wisconsin;

1868, Nov. 13: Jacob Fowles, an Oneida Indian, was hanged at Oneida Settlement for shooting a fellow tribesman the previous month; the murder took place on tribal lands and the trial and execution were conducted under tribal law.

[Source: Holzhueter, John O. "Executions Stained Area's History." Wisconsin Then and Now, June 1979]

Holzhueter, John O. "Executions Stained Area's History." Wisconsin Then and Now, June 1979

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