 The source is in central Douglas County near Upper St. Croix Lake, it flows through the Brule River State Forest, and drains into Lake Superior.The river is called "Wiisaakode-ziibi" ("a river through a half-burnt woods") in the Anishinaabe language, which was translated into French and incorporated into English.It was the site of the 1842 Battle of the Brule between the La Pointe Band of Ojibwe and a group of Dakota Sioux.