Quenemo.—According to a tradition of the Sauk Indians, some of the northern tribes, at some period far back in the past, raided their country and carried seven Sauk women into captivity. After carrying the prisoners far to the northward they liberated them to find their way back as best they could through the trackless forests and inhospitable snows. One by one they perished, the survivors subsisting upon the flesh of their dead sisters, until but one woman was left. That one gave birth to a male child, and in her anguish exclaimed, "Quen-e-mo!" the nearest English equivalent of which is, "Oh, my God!" Other translations are "Something hoped for," and "I am lonely."

The expression was adopted by the tribe as a name for one of the leading chiefs. The first to bear this name was born at Milan, Ohio. Altogether there have been six chiefs of this name, two of whom lived in Osage county, Kan., but there has never been but one Quenemo at a time. A town in Osage county bears this name. (See Quenemo.)