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TI TO MY COMRADES OF THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC, DEPARTMENT OF WISCONSIN, THIS EARLY HISTORY OF OUR STATE IS DEDICATED. tor PREFACE. This book deals with one of the most im- )ortant chapters of American history; and yet )ne heretofore quite unknown. The story of the French Empire in America has long been nvested with a deep dramatic and philosophic nterest; for, it has been well understood that |.ipon the downfall of that dominion depended the rise of American liberty. And in these )ages I hope to show that the French struggle for supremacy over the continent was, to a large extent, decided by events that took )lace in Wisconsin. Here was the entering ^vedge of disaster and ruin. Here happened the real although obscure crisis in a great Irama of which the Fall of Quebec was merely the closing scene. The main reason why these matters have Inot been understood is, that the history of the IWest has yet to be written. Our chief histor- lical works have heretofore come from the far lEast; and contemplated at that distance, affairs in the West have seemed but dim and trivial 6 PREFACE. episodes in the story of what has happened on the narrow strip of land between the Allegha- nies and the Atlantic. An adequate historyj of America can not be written from so one- sided a point of view. But the materials for the new history arc] being gathered rapidly and in great abundance. It is surprising how much light has been] thrown, within a very few years, upon the] early history of the West by such great pub- lications as the Collection de Manuscripts! relatifs a la Nouvelle France, the Margry Manuscripts, Brymmers Canadian Reports and Winsor's Narrative and Critical History; alsoj by the invaluable volumes of Faillon, Ferland, Tailhan, Harrisse, Suite, Shea, Parkman, Neill, Butterfield and others; last but by nol means least, .by the material printed in the Collections of the Wisconsin and Minnesota! Historical Societies or preserved in their libra- ries. And yet the most important part of this work remains to be done. The State of Wis- consin ought immediately to take measures for the exploration of the Archives at Paris where there are still sealed up many invaluable papers pertaining to her past. Wisconsin, among all her sister states, occupies the central and most rt^:- PREFACE. nportant position in the early annals of the lountry; and her citizens ought to feel a pat- (iotic interest in having her history brought jlly to the light. It has been my chief hope writing this book, that it might contribute lomewhat to that result. I have been compelled, in many different )arts of this volume, to very decidedly dissent jrom the conclusions reached by that eloquent ind indefatigable historian, Parkman, both in lis book upon La Salle and that upon the 'onspiracy of Pontiac. But this, however nuch to be regretted, was unavoidable. Mr. [\irkman has been amazingly unfortunate in his rhoice of La Salle as his hero and "the chief ictor in the discovery of the West." The great- est genius, crippled by such misconceptions, :ould only attain to distorted and deceptive "iews. Similarly, although not to the same ^reat extent, his account of the Conspiracy of ^ontiac is defective; and that striking passage In Western history remains yet to be described [rom a point of view which has entirely escaped lis notice. I expect and desire to be criticised myself. l11 but the first quarter of this book is, in every essential respect, entirely new. The history, especially of the period from 1700 to 1763, I .« PREFACE, have been compelled to construct out of data] widely scattered through the different collect- ions of documents; and in work of such a pio- neering kind, errors will inevitably be found. But for every important statement ampkl reference to authorities has been given. And I now dismiss this book, believing that it con- tains a faithful picture of events with which every citizen of Wisconsin and the West ought | .to be familiar. Menomonik, Wis. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. NlCOLET AND RAHISSON — THE DISCOVERY OF THE West. 1638 — 1662. The Men of the Sea — A Highway to China — Nicolet's Journey — His Disenchantment — Visits the Mascotitins — Kadisson — His First Journey to Wisconsin — Discovers the Mississippi — Second Journey — Winters on the Chip- pewa— The Famine — The Sioux — Radisson at Hudson's Bay. CHAPTER II. Green Bay and the Jesuit Missions. 1 66 1 — 1 67 1. Menard — Lost in the Wisconsin Wilderness — Martyr- dom— Chequamegon Bay — A tjarbaric Emporium — Flight of the Indians and Ruin of the Mission — The Green Bay Region — An Oasis in a Western Desert — AUouez — The Mascoutins and the Gospel— The Foxes— A Jesuit Em- pire. CHAPTER III. La Salle and the Coureurs de Bois. 1672 — 1682. La Salle's Hatred of the Jesuits — His Jealousy of Green Bay — His Pretended Discoveries — His Colony — Fraudu- lent Figures — The Forest Rangers — Their Services to France — Their Accusei's — The Pioneers of Wisconsin. 10 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. Nicolas Perrot — France takes Posses- sion OF the West. 1689. Perrot Sent to the Wisconsin Indians — Accused of Pois- oning La Salle — Made Governor of Wisconsin — The Eaid on Green Bay — Fort St. Antoine — Perrot's Subsequent Career — The Chippewas Keturn to Wisconsin — The Fur- Trade— The Secret of Iroquois Glory. CHAPTER V. The Betrayal of the Foxes. 1700 — 1 71 2. The French Policy — The Curse of Canada— Chafing under the Yoke — The Foxes Propose to Emigrate — En- ticed to Detroit— Attack by the French — Horrors of the Siege — Escape — Pursuit — Two Thousand Massacred. CHAPTER VI. The Gauntlet Taken Up. 1 71 2 — 1 7 16. Vengeance upon the Illinois — Alarm of the French — Their Plan — Perrot's Protest — De Louvigny's Expedition — The Foxes Waiting their Doom — The Siege — The Sur- render—Death of the Chiefs — Mouming for the Dead — The One-eyed Hostage. 1:. CONTENTS. II CHAPTER VII. The Great Confederacy. 1716 — 1726. The Continent at Peace — John Law and the Mississippi Bubble — Diplomacy of the Foxes — The Wisconsin Tribes United — Alliance with the Sioux — Rival Traders Arm the Indians — The Wisconsin Tribes — The lowas — The Chick- asaws — The Illinois Gibraltar — Besieged by the Foxes — Last Romnant of the Illinois flee. CHAPTER VIII. Extermination by Famine. 1726 — 1728. Grand Council at Green Bay — The French Conciliatory — Fort Beauharnais Built — The Mask Thrown Aside — De Lignery's Expedition — Tigers at their Devotions — Unaccountable Delay — Flight of the Prey — The Country Laid Waste — The Cold Winter — Glee of the French. CHAPTER IX. By Fire. 1728 — 1736. Four Thousand Exiles — False Friends — Burning of Women and Children — Expeditions of Marin and De Buis- son — De Villiei's — Foxes Besieged at Rock St. Louis — Massacre — A Lull in the Stonn — Another Massacre — A Woman's Devotion — The Tragedy at Green Bay — Sauks and Foxes Expelled — De Noyelle's Expedition — The French Fiasco. Jff^ 12 CONTENTS. CHAPTER X. The West in Revolt. 1736— 1752. Spreading Flames — Presents for the Foxes — The Chip- pewa Chief and his Son — Stoiyof Lac Court Oreilles — The Reign of Discontent— Michigan — Tlie Miamis — Ruin of French Trade — Political Corruption — The Green Bay "Ring " — Marin's Slaughter of the Foxes. CHAPTER XI. The Fall of the Frenxh Empire. 1752 — 1763. The Exiles on the Wisconsin — Prairie du Chien — A Barbaric Metropolis — Indian Miners — The Younger Marin at Green Bay — Langlade — Splendid Services — Defend- ers of a Lost Cause. CHAPTER Xn. The Conspiracy of Pontiac. English Policy in the West — Extent of Pontiac's Con- spiracy— The English at Green Bay — Delight of the Wis- ccasin Tribes — Capture of Mackinac — The Ottawas Overawed — The Death of Pontiac — A Marvellous Blun- der— Wisconsin's Part in the Struggle for Liberty — The End. i m ■\ II CHAPTER I. NICOLET AND RADISSON — THE DISCOVERY OF THE WEST. 1638-1662. The gaze of the French colonists in America was, from the very first, drawn to Wisconsin as the chief centre of interest in the West. Within tw'enty-fiv^e years after the founding of the colony at Quebec, some knowledge had been gained of Lakes Superior and Winnebago, and of the Fox river. The Mascoutins dwell- ing upon the river just named had been heard of, also another nation living near Lake Win- nebago— "the men of the sea," a strange people of altogether different language and habits from other Indians. Thus Wisconsin had emerged into a certain dim light, while all the rest of the vast interior was wrapped in darkness. The story of "the men of the sea" above all else fired the imagination of the French. The little band of traders and missionaries gathered at Quebec, had no conception of the vastness of the continent which they were seeking .!i* H HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. li' to control and to convert. As late as 1654, the Jesuit, Mercier, declared that it was about nine days journey, or a hundred leagues from the strange people on Lake Winnebago to the sea that separated America from China.' And that people, it was reported had not only come from the ocean but closely resembled the Orientals in speech and customs. To the eager fancy of the French, Eastern Wisconsin had thus be- come the threshold of a fairy-land; and Fox river the long sought highway to the riches and splendors of the Orient. Jean Nicolet was sent, in the year 1638 probably, =" to negotiate a peace between this (1) Relation, 1654. The idea had thus persisted long after Nicolet's trip. (2) Those able investigators, Suite and Butterfleld have put this date in 634. But I am forced to dissent from their generally accepted conclusion, for the following reasons: (a) " There is no probability," Suite says {Wis. Hist. Coll. y///, 193,) "that Nicolet went to Wisconsin in that short period of less than ten mouths — in 1638." The trip each way, he asserts, would consume ten weeks. But let us see. De Lignery's expedition left the Winnebago vil- lage on Doty's Island, August 24; ascended the river farther than Nicolet did, employed some days in laying waste the country, then turned about and reached Montreal September 28 — a period of just thirty-five days. {Crea- pel. De Lignery'H Expedition, Wis. His. Coll.X.,b\-^.) Nicolet could have done his work and returned as quickly, NICOLET AND RADISSON. 5 mysterious Wisconsin people and some tribes living farther eastward. Having already- passed some ten or twelve years of his life among the Indians, he was well fitted for this perilous trip of a thousand miles into the depths of the wilderness. Going first to the Huron country and thence embarking for Wis- consin with an escort of but seven savages, he safelv reached his destination. The strange people came forth to greet their visitor with a delight tempered with awe. They believed him to be a manitou or spirit; and when Nico- let discharged his pistols, the women and chil- dren fled in dismay, "seeing a man carry thunder in both hands." Nicolet, on his part, was also the victim of the facilities of travel being precisely tiie same. What time now would tiie trip from Three Elvers to the Winne- bagoeshave demanded? In 1()34 Bre'beuf made the trip, an average one, from Three Rivers to the Huron country in thirty days. (Parkman, Jesuits in N. America, 55.) Add- ing now fifteen days, a large estimate, as consumed in go- ing from the Hurons to the Winuebagoes, we have forty- five days. Or for the trip both ways and the doing of all that was done, eighty days, instead of the thirty weeks that Suite claims as necessary. I do not by any means say that the trip was made in eighty days; Suite's church i-egister leaves much larger intervals. But the whole basis of his argument is thus overthrown. Again, Dablon in IfiTO made an equally difficult journey of 1,500 miles in 40 days (Relation, IfiTl); Nicolet's journey was not one half i6 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. illusions. Believing that he was about to meet a people from the stately Orient, he had clothed himself, as a dress of ceremony, with a large garment of China damask embroidered with flowers and birds of various colors. Thus arrayed, and with a pistol in each hand he ad- vanced to meet "the men of the sea." In a moment all his dreams vanished. He saw be- fore him only a mob of savages, plumed but naked, differing in no essential respect except language, from the red men with whom he had dwelt for years. They were in fact, the Win- nebagoes, a detached branch of the Sioux or Dakota race. In spite of these mutual misapprehensions the business of the embassy went on well. longer. Consult also as to a day's journey , Tailhan in Per- rot, Memoire, 240. (6) The plain indication of great haste. If Ni^olet had nearly a year to spend in Wisconsin, as Suite thinks, would he not have made that " three days journey to the Great Waters?" Instead, he concludes his treaties and sets out or home. (c) The Relatione of the disputed years, constantly refer to Nicolet, but with no hint of his discoveries — no less than twelve such references in 1H3() and 1637. Bre'beuf's silence is also uttei'ly incredible if Nicolet was then really bound for the West. (d) " Nicolet had nothing to do with the Jesuits," says Suite. On this consult allusions referred to above. The argument about Nicol jt's marriage need not detain us. #. ^' NICOLET AND RADISSOX. 17 "The news of Nicolct's coming spreac^ to the [surrounding places; four or five thousand men assembled." Each of the chiefs gave a grand banquet in honor of their guest; and after the feasting the terms of peace were arranged to the Isatisfaction of all. Nicolet then made a flying trip up the Fox [river to the land of the Mascoutins; and there heard of the not distant waters of the Missis- jsippi. "The Sieur Nicolet," writes Vimont, "who has penetrated farthest into those dis- (e) "Epoch of discoveiy closed in lfi35." But Nicolet [was sent not to discover but to negotiate a peace — a mat- ter his employers were specially interested in. (/) Butterfleld's additional arguments; first, that the Ot- Itawa was closed in 1638, by Iroquois raids. Rather, com- munications better than usual. Early that year 12 arti- sans and laborers came up from Quebec to work at Huron Missions. (Parkman, Jesuits, 127 and 132.) Missionaries also came at different times. But lfi34wasthe very worst of years. "Hurons appeared at Three Elvers this year in small numbers and in a miserable state of dejection and alarm." {Ibid., 52.) Also the colony then in the chaos of I its re-establishment. (flf) Butterfleld's argument from the message sent to the iHurons in 1635, is self destructive. The tribes were ever- lastingly making treaties between themselves and one of these being broken, the whites were appealed to; and as soon as possible Nicolet was sent to negotiate. This, in- finitely more probable than that his treaty should have been broken, and war begun almost before he had started home- Iward. 2 . i8 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. tant countries, says that if he had gone three more days up a great river that leads out of Green Bay, he would have reached the Great Waters." Why did this daring man turn back when he thus stood on the verge of so great a discov- ery? The reasons are not stated but may be readily surmised. He had been sent not as an explorer, but as an envoy to negotiate peace, and his mission was now accomplished. His time was evidently limited. Possibly, too, when his visions of Chinese mandarins and Asiatic pomp had vanished, the Wisconsin wilderness had lost its charms. Nevertheless Nicolet deserves the highest honors. At a time when the English had hardly ventured a day's journey from the coast, this Frenchman had penetrated almost to the heart of the continent. He had lifted the veil of mystery that hung over the great West. That it so quickly fell again, was the fault of the times and not of Nicolet. More than twenty years elapsed after Nicol- et's journey before another white man reached Wisconsin. The fury ot the Iroquois had put a stop to such distant expeditions. The ruin of the Huron missions had, for a time at least, par- NICOLET AND RADISSON. 19 alyzed the missionaries. Trade languished on account of the war and the still more baleful influence of monopoly. The work of explor- ation and expansion was at a stand-still. But in 1658 Radisson and his brother-in-law, Groseilliers, began their explorations. For two centuries nothing was known of their travels except through some obscure mention by co- temporary writers. But Radisson had himself written an account for the use of the King of England, into whose service he had passed; and his manuscript, after passing through strange fortunes, was finally published in 1885. It is written in a curious style, such as might be expected from an unscholarly Frenchman struggling with the eccentricities of English speech; but at every point its truthfulness is manifest. The travellers, after tarrying for a while among the Huron and Ottawa refugees on the Manitoulin islands, came to the Pottawattam- ies then dwelling on the islands at the entrance of Green Bay. Among them they wintered and the next spring proceeded to the Mascou- tins, who still dwelt on the upper Fox river, where Nicolet had found them twenty years be- fore. Radisson admiringly describes these Mascoutins as "a faire, proper nation; they 20 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. arc tall and bi^ and very strong." The sav- ages, on their part, regarded the adventurer with mingled emotions of delight, amazement, and awe. They were astounded, above all else by the guns which they "worshipped by blow- ing smoke of tobacco instead of sacrifice." These reverential savages carried Radisson in their canoes up and down the water-courses of Wisconsin, whithersoever he desired, and in this way, some time during the summer of 1659, he discovered the Mississippi river. "We are fou rmonths on our voyage," Rad- isson writes,' "without doing anything but go from river to river. We met several sorts of people. By the persuasion of some of them, we went into ye great river that divides itself in 2, where the hurrons v/ith some Ottanaks* and the wild men that had warrs with them had retired. . . . This nation (the Mascou- tins) have warrs against those of the forked river. It is so called because it has 2 branches, the one towards the West, the other towards the South, w^'^ we beleeve runs tow- ards Mexico by the tokens which they gave us. (1) Voyages of Radiaaon, 168. (2) Hurons and Ottawas who had fled to an island in the Mississippi, above Lake Pepin. NICOLET AND RADISSON. 21 After some other details Radisson <;i\es an account of "that nation that lives on the other river" — evidently meaning the western branch, that is, the Missouri. This account is in some of its parts, quite mythical; but Radisson does not claim to have descended to the Missouri or to be here narratinj^ except from, hearsay. "This," he says, "I have not seene, therefore you may beleeve as you please." But his description of what he did see, de- monstrates that "the great river" on which he travelled, was the Mississippi. And if a doubt were possible, it would be set at rest by the description of Radisson's discovery given at the time by the Jesuits:' "A beautiful river, grand, wide, deep and comparable to our own great river, the St. Lawrence." Radisson was alone on this voyage of dis- covery, "The summer I went a hunting," he writes,^ "my brother stayed where he was wel- come and put up a great deal of corne that was given him." But this inactive life of his brother, he says, brought on a fit of sickness; and some pages further on he ends his account I of the discovery of the great river by saying: "When I came back I found my brother sick (1) Margry, I, 54. (2) Voyages, 158. 22 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. as I said before."' That this fact should have heretofore j^one unnoticed must be ascribed to the amazinj^ly entanj^led style of the careless young Frenchman. The exploration of Radisson was fourteen years prior to that of Marquette. At that time there was no mission, not even another white man except Groseilliers west of the Alleghan- ies. Alone, unaided, with no resources save his own skill and courage, he found his way] into the very depths of the wilderness and ex- plored the great river a thousand miles above the point reached by De Soto and his army of] Spaniards. Radisson will be famous when his] achievement is understood. The following year the two travellers re- turned to the St. Lawrence; and in the sum-] mer of 1661 ;;et out on a new exploration. This time they proceeded to Lake Superior and skirted its southern shore until they reached Chequamegon Bay; tlience they went five days journey in a south cast direction to the village] of the Hurons. These unhappy refugees, driven westward by the Iroquois, had settled, some years before, c«, an island in the Missis- 1 sippi above Lake Pepiff^ but they had been forced back by the Sioux and had now found] (1) Ibid., 169. NICOLET AND RADISSOX. 23 uld have cribed to ; careless fourteen that time ler white \.lleghan- rces save his way] > and ex- les above! 5 army of when hisl filers re- the sum- loration. erior and I reached five days e village] refugees, settled, e Missis- j lad been )w found a second asylum in the dense forests around the head waters of the Chippewa.' Among this poor people, the travellers were received like beings from another planet. There were great feastings and rejoicings in their honor. "We were demi-gods," says Radisson. But soon winter set in with an extraordinary depth of snow. The Hurons, an agricultural people, were poor hunters at best, and now hunting was impossible. A frightful famine ensued. The wretched refugees, already a dispirited and demoralized people, succumbed almost without an effort to these new horrors. Their only food was the bark of trees or vines and old beaver skins dug out from the filth of their cabins. " VVe became the very image of death," writes Radisson. "Here are above 500 dead, men, women and children." After two months the famine ended and life became less forlorn. Soon the travelers were visited by a large body of the Sioux who then occupied Northwestern Wisconsin and North- (1) The village Avas nearer the mouth of Montreal river than to Chequaraegon Bay (Radisson, Voyages, 193.) It was three days journey from Chequamegon and seven or eiglit from Green Bay. (Tailhau in Penot. Moeura dea Sauvages, 240.) It was near a little lake about eight leagues in circuit. <• 24 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. iiil ern Minnesota. The Sioux, gathered in coun- cil, said that they had come to make a sacrifice to the French, who were masters of all things. They asked for aid against their enemies, the Christinos, and pledged themselves to fidelity even unto death. Above all, they begged for guns. "The true means to get the victory," they said, "was to have a thunder." The two explorers soon afterward visited the Sioux in their Minnesota homes and also the Christinos, living to the northwest of La'":^ Superior. Everywhere they were welcomed with that delight and awe which always char- acterized the first meeting of the red man with the white. Finally, late in the summer of 1662, they returned to the St. Lawrence with sixty canoes and furs to the value of 200,000 livres — the well-earned reward of splendid labors. But the governor of the colony was bent upon robbing them. Even when they set out on their second journe}'- of exploration they had been compelled, in order to escape his ex- tortions, to slip away at mid-night like crim- inals bent upon some base design. His rapacity was now greatly increased by the sight of their riches; and they, becoming tired of his plun- NICOLET AND RADISSON. 25 dering, fled to Boston and thence sailed for England.' There they were grandly received, became honored guests in lordly mansions, and Radisson married the daughter of Sir John Kirk. Ir 1667 the two explorers, at the head of an English expedition, sailed for Hudson's Bay and established trading posts there, with the design of drawing the rich fur trade of the Northwest away from Canada. They thus be- came the founders of the famous Hudson's Bay |Company. After a while, having quarreled with some lof the officers of the company, they returned to the service of France, and in 1682 re- appeared at Hudson's Bay, seized an English ship, captured their former associates and raised the French flag over Port Nel.son. ' But on their return to Paris, the Elnglish ambassador urgently entreated them to go back to England. Radisson's wife was still there and the two Frenchmen were soon persuaded ^ to re-enter the English service. In 1684, they again sailed for (1) Colonie Francaiae, III, 311. Lettre de Marie d' In- \carnation, 27 Aout, 1670. Groseillier's wife and chil- I (hen remained in Canada. (2) Rapport de M. de Meules an Miniaire, 4 Nov., 1683. Collection de Manuscripts relatifs a la Noutelle France, I II, 302-4. (3) Neill. Minnesota, Hiat. Collections, V. 414. 26 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. Hudson's Bay, lowered the lilies of France and hoisted the English flag, which ever since hasj floated over half the continent. Radisson, reviewing these many changes,! stoutly avers that he does not **in the least! deserve to be taxed with lightness or incon- stancy."' It matters but little: French des-l potism and an English wife are a full excuse for all such aberrations. This gay, rollicking Frenchman was a wise, brave, honest and great man. Few careers have blended so much of romance and solid service as his. The discov- ery of the Mississippi, the first exploration of| Lake Superior, the founding of a vast com- mercial enterprise which for two centuries con- 1 trolled half the continent — how many among the famous have done so much as this } (1) Voyageit of Radisson, ^.2^9. Also 241 and 2';>-3. CHAPTER 11. GREEN BAY AND THE JESUIT MISSIONS. 1665-1672. The ruin of the Huron missions did not cause the Jesuits to despair. Their first failure served only to open before them a wider hori- zon of duty, just as the night reveals what the day hides. The West was just then beginning to rise into view, and towards it the Jesuits turned as to a new land of promise. Thither they were also called by their duty to their Huron and other converts who, wandering about in exile, were in great danger of being wholly lost to the fold. In August 1660, Father Menard set out for the West, and after frightful sufferings by the way, reached a settlement of the Ottawas at Keweenaw Point, on Lake Superior.' These fugitive Ottawas, of whom we shall hear much throughout this history, were now in the low- est depth of savage wretchedness. They had been driven from their old homes by the Iro- quois, and the steps of their wandering had all (1) Verivyst. Miaeionary Labors of Marquette, Men' ard, etc., 176. m- 28 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. wm\\ m m been steps downward. Misery had brutalized them; they had lost that self-respect which formed the sole basis of savage virtues. A year after Menard's visit, Radisson met them in the forests of Northern Wisconsin; and he| describes them, as "the coursedst, unablest, the unfamous and cowarliest people that I have seen among four score nations that I have frequented."' Their treatment of Menard was most in- human; they mocked at his teachings and at last drove him from their cabins. In the depth of winter he was forced to make such a shelter as he could out of a few pine boughs. There amidst winter blasts, snow-storms and the in- tensest cold — half famished too, with no food but acorns, bark and vile refuse — this feeble old man crouched from day to day, a living martyr. Still this marvellous man did not murmur. "I can truly say," he wrote, "that I have more contentment here in one day than I have enjoyed in all my life in whatsoever part of the world I have been."^ The next June he started to establish a mis- sion among the Hurons who, as we have seen, (1) Voyages, 203. {2) Relation, 1664, p. 6. I GREEN BAY -JESUIT MISSIONS. 29 [had found a refuge on the head-waters of the IChippewa. On the way he was deserted by Ihis guides, but he pressed on until he had Ircached a point not very far distant from the Huron village. There he perished in the wil- Idcrness. The precise manner of his death has never been known. But in some way or other (the old missionary gained his coveted crown of Imartyrdom, iMenard was thus Wisconsin's first missionary land her first martyr. In 1665 Allouez was sent to take his place; but in the meantime the Hurons and Ottawas hc^d removed from the interior v/ilds to the head of Chequamegon Bay. Thither Allouez repaired, built a rude bark chapel and established the first mission in jWisconsin. This place, where Radisson in 1661 had jfound only a solitude, had now become a ren- dezvous for the nations on the West. The Hurons and Ottawas had come first, attracted by the abundant fisheries and the opportuni- ties for traffic. Other tribes had followed, some coming to trade and to fish, others as fugitives from the fury of the Iroquois who were then invading the West. Here were crowds of Sauks, Pottawattamies, Foxes and other tribes from Eastern Wisconsin as well as ■'•'I- •^&5f' 30 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. :i iil'lil lit large numbers of the dispersed and panic- stricken Illinois. "It is the center," writes! Allouez, ''of all the nations of that country." Amidst these animated scenes, Allouez labored with ardor, but with uncertain success.] He himself was sanguine. "God," he affirms' "found some of his Elect in every tribe while! they were held here by fear of the Iroquois."] The illustrious Marquette, who came after- wards, expressed himself less hopefully. Butj the work, whatever its value, was soon ended. The Iroquois, exhausted by constant fight-j ing and curbed by the power of the French, ceased their invasions and the Western Indians! returned to their homes. The Hurons and Ottawas remained, but in 1670 the Sioux drove them eastward just as the Iroquois, a few years] before, had driven them westward. The mis- sionaries followed their flock to the shore ofj Lake Huron. The short life of the mission ofl St. Esprit was over and Northern Wisconsin] was once more a solitude. r" It has long been noticed that there was a re- markable massing of Indian tribes along Greenj Bay and Fox river, in Wisconsin. But howl great was this massing and how utter the con- (1) Relation, 1667, p. 18. GREEN BAY— JESUIT MISSIONS. 31 nd panic- T," writes! country." , Allouez n success, le affirms'l ribe while Iroquois." me after- lily. But on ended. I ant fight- 2 French,! rn Indians! irons and DUX drove! few years] The mis- shore ofl ■nission ofl A^isconsin was a ra- ng Green But howl the con- trast between it and the desolation that about I1670, reigned everywhere else between the illeghanies and the Upper Mississippi — has, 50 far as I know, never been pointed out. When Marquette and Joliet journeyed down the Mississippi in 1673, they traveled almost the entire distance through an unbroken soli- tude. They met, indeed, one demoralized )and of the Illinois who had fled from their lomes and were tempoi irily encamped near the Mississippi, on its western side. But with this exception, in the long journey from the Wisconsin portage down to a great distance )elow the mouth of the Ohio — more than a thousand miles through the fairest portion of the continent — the travelers beheld only a tenantless waste, an unpeopled Paradise. The great expanse stretching from the Mis- sissippi, eastwardly, to the mountains, was vir- tually in the same condition. The Eries, who lad inhabited the present state of Ohio, had )een swept from the earth by the Iroquois, ^lichigan was also a solitude, except its north- ern part, where the Ottawa refugees and some )f the Chippewas had gathered around the 5traits of Mackinaw and upon the shore of .ake Superior; its southern part had been )ccupied by the Mascoutins, but the most of 32 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. them had been destroyed by the Neutral na- tion and the rest driven to their kindred in Wisconsin.' Indiana had been the home of! the Miamis, and a part of them were still roaming there; but the main body with the king of the confederacy at their head had emi- grated to Fox river. Illinois was also a soli- tude, its former denizens having fled across the Mississippi, leaving their broad prairies, crowded with buffalo and game of every kind, as a hunting ground for the Wisconsin Indians. In Kentucky a few hundred Shawanoes roamed along the banks of the Ohio."* In fine, the six states lying east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio — excluding Northeastern Wis- consin— contained a population in 1670, of less than twelve hundred warriors or eight thousand souls. There were three hundred thousand square miles of territory, rich in soil and in all things that contribute to human pros- (1) Lalcmant. Relation des Hurons, 1644. On Sanson's map they are placed in Southern Michigan. Farkman, Jesuits, 436. Note. (2) La Salle, in 1682, counted the Shawanoes as 200 war- riors. Parkraan, La Salle, 296. I have estimated the Ottawas and Chippewas in Northern Michigan at 500 war- riors — a very large estimate, as most of the Chippewas were then wanderers on the north shore of Lake Superior. The Miamis remaining in their old home, I have put at 500 warriors — also a large estimate. i ^^^■.. ■•■■•'■'"' ■^•- ■-■ GREEN BAY— JESUIT MISSIONS. 33 )crity; and yet this immense expanse was virtually a solitude. - . , Turning now to Northeastern Wisconsin we )ehold a wonderful contrast. Stretched along )oth sides of Green Bay and the Fox river as |ar south as Green Lake county was a terri- lory about one hundred and thirty-five miles Jong and of an average width of thirty miles, hich fairly teemed with human life. In the [orth, on the islands and along the eastern [here of Green Bay, were the Pottawattamies, docile people, with a keen instinct for trade, Ivho were seeking to become the middlemen |n the commerce between the French and the fribes farther west; they numbered not less [han five hundred warriors.' Across the bay ^ere the Menominees settled upon the river of [he same name, a brave but peaceful people — "very fine men," writes Charlevoix,' "the best [haped in all Canada." At the mouth of Fox fiver was a mixed village gathered from four (1) AUouez. Relation, 1667, — narrates a visit of 300 [)f these warriors to Chequamegon Bay. (2) Charlevoix, Letters, XIX. 202. Cadillac {Memoire in (argry, V, 121) is still more eulogistic. They were long |it war with the Chippewas, but in the time of the French al- lost unifoi'mly peaceable. Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, I, fOi, and Shea, Indian Tribes of Wisconsin, Wis. Hist. Ml, III, 134. 34 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. or five different tribes; a little distance up the river were the Winnebagoes or "Men of the Sea," of whom we have already heard. The number of the Winnebagoes, the Menominees and the people of the mixed village could not have been less than six hundred warriors. ' On the west side of the river, about four leagues from its mouth were the Sauks, who must have| numbered at least four hundred fighting men.' Passing through Lake Winnebago to the I Upper Fox and its tributary the Wolf, we come to that famous gathering of tribes that were to bring such disaster upon the French Empire in the West. Some distance up the Wolf river | were the Foxes, with not less than eight hun- (1) No estimate of the numbers either of the Menominees I or Winnebagoes is given in the 17th century. But in a Memoir of 1736 {New York Col. Documents, IX,) the Men- ominees are numbered at 160 warriors. But this Memoir is uniformly low in its estimates. Even the Iroquois are there counted as only 850 and the Illinois at 600, and the Miamis at 550; the real numbers, excepting those of the Il- linois were perhaps twice a& large. In this Memoir the I Winnebagos are put at only 80 wan-iors; but this was after I they had been decimated by famine and expelled from the! state; in 1640 their great numbers are spoken of (Margryl 1, 48). I have for these reasons increased the French estl- 1 mate of 1736 by 50 per cent, for 1670. (2) In the Memoir of 1736 they are put at 150 warriors — I a low estimate even for that time, and then they had been decimated by the Fox wars. In 1763 Lieut. Gorrel put] them at 350, as also Foxes. Wis. Hist. Coll., I, 32, GREEN BAY— JESUIT MISSIONS. 35 up the of the . The rninees uld not ;.' On leagues St have J men.' to the ^e cornel were to ipire in f river It hun- lominees But in a I ;he Men- Memoir I [juois are , and the of tiiell- moir the was after from the Margry^ | nch esti- irrioi'8 — I lad been )rrel put| 2. dred warriors. ' To the southwest of these, on the Fox river, was the great palisaded town where the Mascoutins and Miamis dwelt to- gether in barbaric friendliness; farther on, en- veloped in the wild rice marshes, were other towns of the Kickapoos and Mascoutins; all these tribes together could not have numbered less than the Foxes." Here then in this narrow strip of territory- was a population of thirty-one hundred war- riors or at least twenty thousand souls, nearly three times the number that roamed in the vast expanse of surrounding solitude. It was like an oasis in a desert. What caused this wonderful massing of tribes.^ In the first place, the land was excep- tionally rich in all essentials of barbaric plenty. Charlevoix declared that it was "the most (1) Relation, 1667, estimated the B'oxesat 1,000 warrioi-s. I Relation of 1670 at 400, on the first, hasty inspection. But the next year they are said to have 200 cabins, each con- taining five or ten families; so that the estimate of 1667 must have been nearer right than that of 1670. All the I facts of their subsequent history also con'oborate this. (2) Perrot, MoBura des Sauvagea, p. 127, puts population I of chief town of Mascoutins and Miamis at 4,000 souls. AU louez, Relation, 1670, at more than 3,000, at another time at 1 800 warriors. In the Narrative of Occurrences, 1695, New York Coll. Docts., IX, 608. Frontenac puts the Foxes, Mas- [ coutins and Kiclcapoos at 1,500 warriors. This does not include the Miamis, so that my estimate is very low. P'l 36 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. ■ ii charming country in the world."' The lakes and rivers were full of fish and the forest of| game; fuel was plenty; the soil was easy to till and yielded richly. But the crowning attrac- tion, doubtless, was the wild rice marshes, offerijig an abundant harvest without any labor I save that of gathering it in the autumn. There | indeed, was the Indian Utopia. Secondly, all the population excepting the I Winnebagos were of the Algonquin stock and they were here admirably sheltered from the two great foes of their race, the Iroquois on the Kast, and the Sioux or Dakotas on the West. The approach on the one side was guarded by a great lake and the bristling rapids] of Fox river; on the other side, were impass- able swamps, deep forests and the winding! mazes of a river enveloped in marshes. Thusl this region offered peace as well as plenty to itsi inhabitants. " It is a terrestial Paradise, " wrotel Dablon; **but the way to it is as difficult asl the way to heaven." Savages, at least, couldl desire nothing beyond that — a paradise safely| locked from one's enemies. The great gathering of the tribes alongl Green Bay and Fox river is thus easily ex-| plained. Consider now the commanding po- (1) Lettrea, XIX, 203. QREEN BAY— JESUIT MISSIONS. 17 sition occupied by this region between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi, makinej it virtually the key to the interior of the conti- nent. Thus we already begin to understand why Wisconsin was to become the focus of the French struggle for supremacy in the West. The instability of the mission at Chequame- gon Bay had been manifest for some time be- fore the final collapse; and the Jesuits had eagerly sought for some more permanent foundation on which to build. They were spurred on to such a work by the rising hostil- ity against their order. Their prestige had greatly waned and many of the colonists were rebelling against their rigid rule. "For more than thirty years, " writes Le Clerc, ' ' * they have complained in Canada of the hampering of their consciences." The Jesuit missions which had once set all France aflame with enthusiasm, began to be sharply criticised. Talon, the in- tendant of Canada, wrote to Colbert: *'I have reproached the Jesuits as courteously as pos- sible with paying too little attention to the civilizing and education of the savages. "- Stung by such reproaches and by still graver charges, (1) Le Clerc, Etablissement de la Foi, II, 84. (2) Margry, I, 79. 38 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. the disciples of Loyola sought for a new field where they might establish themselves firmly and reconstruct society according to the ideals! of Jesuitism. Their choice, almost inevitably,] fell upon the Green Bay region. Allouez was sent to make a beginning. Inl December, 1669, he landed at the head of) Green Bay, spent the winter in the vicinity and the next spring ascended the river to visitl the Foxes and Mascoutins. Returning to thel Bay he was joined in September by DablonJ the Superior of the Jesuit missions on thel lakes. Having established the mission of St. Francois Xavier, the two Fathers went to laborl among the Mascoutins. The journey over| the Fox rapids was arduous. "But as a re- compense for all our difficulties," Dablonl writes, "we enter the most beautiful eountry that ever was seen; prairies on all sides as far as the eye can reach, divided by a riverl which gently flows through them, and on which to float by rowing is to repose one's! self; there are forests of elms, oaks, etc.; vines, plum-trees, apple-trees are in abund- ance and seem by their appearance to invitel the traveller to disembark and taste of their fruits," They saw also great clouds of wild- fowl floating over the harvest of wild-rice that| GREEN BAY— JESUIT MISSIONS. 39 [lined the river on either side. And game of levery kind was so plentiful that it could be Ikilled almost without an effort.' Paddling through this savage elysium, they Ireached the chief abode of the Mascoutins. It was a palisaded town standing on the crown of a l/Ul about a league from the river bank; while all around the prairie stretched beyond I the sight, interspersed with groves and belts of tall forest. The Mascoutins with the j characteristic hospitality of the red man, had received the fugitive Miamis into their town. They had even accepted the Miami king as their ruler; and this potentate guarded day and night by a band of armed warriors, reigned over all with a pomp quite unparalleled in Indian politics. On his previous visit Allouez had been re- ceived like one from the clouds, ''and the rever- ence of the savages now was not abated. They listened with open ears, beset him night and day with questions, invited him and the Father Superior to unceasing feasts. Some were bap- tized. A cross was planted in the midst of the town, and three years afterward Marquette saw it still standing, decorated with deer- {\) Relation, Hi7l, p. i•^-i4. {2) Relation, U70,2i. lOi). 40 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. skins, red-girdles, and other offerings to the| Great Manitou of the French. But the Foxes were not so complaisant.l On his first visit to their town on Wolf river, Allouez had been extremely horrified. * * Theyl are a nation," he grimly observes, "renowned for being numerous; each man commonly has four wives, some six and others ten." Thel Foxes, on their part, "had had a very poorl opinion of the French ever since two traders in beaver skins had appeared among them."| Towards the new faith they maintained a ju- dicial reserve. "They allow the majesty! and unity of God," Allouez writes; "of thel "rest they say not a word," An old man, the grand chief of the Foxes, thanked the mis- sionary for his visit. "But as for these other I things," he continued, "we have no leisure to I speak; we are occupied in bewailing ouri dead."' On the second visit the Foxes proved still I more obdurate. The year before some of their number had visited Montreal, and there had been shamefully abused by the soldiery;" and "now they were determined to avenge them- (1) Ibid., p. 98. (2) Falllon. Colonic Francaise, III, 392. A vivid picture of | the brutality of the soldiery. The Indians were often mur- dered for their fnrs, on their visits to Montreal. GREEN BAY— JESUIT MISSIONS. 41 selves for the bad treatment they had re- ceived in the French settlements." But Al- louez armed himself with patience and with all the arts of Jesuitic wisdom. He exhibited highly colored paintings of judgment and eter- nal flames. "The parents," he remarks, "were happy to see their baptized children at the top of the picture, while they were horri- fied to behold the torments of the devils at the foot." In another way the missionary availed him- self of that master passion in the Indian's heart, his love of his children. With soft blandish- ments, Allouez first won the children to his side. "He sang to them spiritual songs with French airs which pleased them and their parents immensely. Then he composed cer- tain canticles against the superstitions and vices most opposed to Christ. These he taught to the children by the sound of a soft lute, and went about the village with his little savage musicians, declaring war against the jugglers, the dreamers and those with many wives. And because the savages, passionately loved their children and suffered everything from them, they permitted the biting reproaches which were made against them by these songs."' (1) Relation, 1672, p. 39-40. m HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. Gradually the Foxes succumbed. Sixty children and some adults were baptized; the whole village learned to make the sign of the cross. All revered the black-robed stranger as at least a mighty magician armed with a mysterious power, and possessed of more po- tent spells than had ever before been witnessed in the wilderness. One day a war-party were so wrought upon by the harangues of Allouez, that they daubed the figure of a cross upon their shields of bull-hide, before going to battle; they returned victorious, extolling the sacred symbol as the greatest of "war-medi- cines." This test convinced multitudes. It is the first recorded attempt to apply the scien- tific method to the verifying of religious truth. The Jesuits rejoiced. "We have good hope" they said, "that we shall soon carry our faith to the famous river called the Mis- sissippi and perhaps even to the South Sea." The missionaries had found favor in the eyes of all the tribes and a firm foothold had been gained amidst the only permanent population east of the great river. A central mission had been established at De Pere, five miles above the mouth of the Fox, with outlying stations among the various tribes. To be sure it was but a beginning; the central chapel was as yet GREEN BAY— JESUIT MISSIONS. 43 but a flimsy structure of bark. But as Dablon had said, "the way to heaven is as open through a roof of bark as through a roof of gold and silver. " Five years later a more substantial church was built, and within the palisaded enclosure of the mission were also dwellings, work- shops and store-houses. Besides the two mis- sionaries Allouez and Andre, there were also lay brothers 'and hired workmen, some em- ployed in building, hunting, fishing, clearing and tilling the soil, others as blacksmiths, gunsmiths, and it would seem that there was even a silversmith there. "^ The western trad- ers also, made the mission their rendezvous and stored their furs within its stockade. The scene was a rude and rough one, but the ar- dent missionaries saw in it the nucleus of a new Paraguay — another Jesuit empire rising in the wilds of North America. (1) Margr>', 11,251. (2) Butler, Early Historic Relics, Wis. Hist. Coll., VII. 295. CHAPTER III. LA SALLE AND THE COUREURS DE BOIS. 1672 — 1683. A little while after the establishment of the mission at Green Bay, Frontenac became gov- ernor of New France. The new governor seems to have set his heart chiefly upon two things: the one to harry the Jesuits, the other to monopolize for himself, so far as pos- sible, the fur-trade of the West. ''With the Jesuits," he declared, ' *'the conversion of souls is but a pious phrase for trading in beaver- skins;" and in another dispatch he affirmed, =• "that the most of their missions are pure mock- eries." As for the fur-trade, in order to mo- nopolize that, he made use of several agents or secret partners, chief among whom was the celebrated La Salle. Upon La Salle's career we wish to dwell only so far as it pertains to the history of Wis- consin. But such a glamour of romance has been thrown around his name by -his impas- sioned admirers and his real relation to West- CD Frontenac a Colbert, Nov. 2, 1672. Margry, I, 248. (2) Ibid., Nov. 14, 1C74. Ibid., 250. LA SALLE— COUREURS DE BOIS. 45 crn affairs has been so thoroughly misunder- stood that our research must take a rather wide range. La Salle was a fit agent for such a man as Frontenac. He was bold, unscrupulous, ready for anything that could help on his schemes. In hatred of the Jesuits, he surpassed even his master. La Salle's soul was surcharged with suspicions of everybody, but especially of the missionaries. Imaginary Jesuits dogged his footsteps everywhere; they tried to seduce him from the path of chastity; they encouraged his men to desert, soured the minds of the sav- ages against him, thwarted his enterprises and plotted against his life.' It is not worth our while to inquire what basis of fact may have underlain these dreams of a disordered fancy. Humanity is sinful; and the Jesuits, it must be confessed, were human. All of La Salle's hatred of the Jesuits con- verged upon the mission at Green Bay. He claimed for himself nearly the whole Missis- sippi valley by virtue of his alleged discover- ies; but he laid special stress upon the right to the Wisconsin river. He had even protested against Du Lhut's — who was another secret U) Paikman, La Salle, 101-7. m 46 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. partner of Frontenac — going by that route to trade with the Sioux. "If they go by the way of the Wisconsin where I have founded an es- tablishment," he wrote,' "they will ruin the trade, which is my chief reliance." Therefore he was madly jealous of the mission at Green Bay through which the Jesuits controlled the chief water-way to the West and were seeking to build up a rival empire to his own, "They hold the key to the beaver-country," he for- lornly complained. What rendered La Salle still more jealous was the fact that his own vast claims were ut- terly baseless. The only domain that he could really claim, by right of discovery, was the region of the Mississippi below the mouth of the Arkansas; and even that had been explored by the Spaniards more than a century before. To show any color . of right to the country north of the Arkansas, he was driven to the most enormous fabrications. In an account of La Salle's explorations writ- ten by a nameless friend of his and taken from his own lips, it is asserted that he made two journeys in 1669-71; the one down the Ohio nearly to its mouth, the other down the Illinois to the Mississippi and beyond. The story of (1) Margry, II, 251. LA SALLE— C0UREUR8 DE BOIS. 47 the last journey is now coldly dismissed as fali^e even by La Salle's most rapt admirer. But the claim to the discovery of the Ohio has heretofore gone unchallenged. La Salle's own statement deserves no credit; for since one part of his story is confessedly false, the maxim, falsus in uno, must prevail. His claim, however, has seemed to have a real support in Joliet's map of 1674, on which the Ohio is laid down with an inscription to the effect that it had been explored by La Salle. But a closer scrutiny reveals that the route of La Salle has been drawn by a later hand, after the map was finished.' The only support therefore vanishes. And in a note below I have given some additional reasons for believ- ing that La Salle's discovery of the Ohio was but another invention of his own unscrupulous brain.' (1) Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, IV, 215. " The route of La Salle is seemingly drawn by a later hand and the stream is without the coloring given to the other rivers. In its course, too, it runs athwart the vignette surrounding the scale at the bottom of the map as if added after that was made." (2) The account given both in the Paris memoir and in that to Frontenac is so absurdly incorrect as to prove that La Salle was only repeating repoits gathered from the Iroquois amongst whom he wintered in 1669. The rapids at Louisville described as a very high fall and the great 48 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. Claiming almost the whole West by virtue of these pretended discoveries, La Salle in 1682 began to entrench himself on Rock St. Louis by the side of the Illinois river. In his wooden castle, on this formidable cliff, he was to reign as a feudal lord over half a continent, gather- ing the Western savages around him as his vassals. Wisconsin and the whole Upper Mis- sissippi region were to become tributary to his error as to their location, the "very large river" from the north flowing into the Ohio above the fall and the marshy country in which tne river sinks and is lost below the fall, the six or seven leagues that separate Lake Erie from the Ohio, the twenty-four men who desert and flee some to New England and some to New Holland — it is wonderful that so many blunders and absurdities could be crowded into fifteen lines. — Parkman, La Salle, 23-4, gives both accotmtb without suspicion. Perrot {Moeura dea Sanvages, 119-120,) says that in the sumi er of 1670, he met La Salle hunting on the Ottawa with a party of Iroquois. The account states that La Salle separated from the priests, Sept. 30, 1669, being then sick of a fever, made a visit to the Onondagas, thence made an exploring trip to the Ohio and return, of 800 leagues. Who can believe that all this took place in time for La Salle to go far north on the Ottawa for a leisurely summer hunt? The manner of putting forth this claim — the long silence, the sudden assertion in 1677 and 1678, the subsequent silence— is proof enough. In the Relation des Decouvertea, 1681, it is stated that a violent fever obliged him to quit the priests at the beginning of their explorations, and there is not a hint of any subsequent journey of his own to the Ohio.— (Margry, if, 436. m LA SALLE— COUREURS DE BOIS. 49 Imbition; the Jesuits at Green Hay were to be Ihcckmated in their evil designs. "La Salle leeps in the background," Frontenac's succesor ,'rote to the Minister, "with the idea of at- racting the inhabitants to him and building |p an imaginary kingdom for himself by de- lauching all the bankrupts and idlers of this jountry." The scheme, according to his own assertions, [rospered wonderfully. In a memorial to the [ing, he reports the number of Indians col- icted around Rock St. Louis at four thousand ,'arriors, or more than twenty thousand souls. ^his great concourse of savages had fled to him )r protection; organized by his genius and Ibedient to his will, they formed a mighty jarricr to any future invasions of the West by le Iroquois. "The diplomacy of La Salle," ,'rites his eloquent panegyrist, "had been Irowned with a marvelous success."' • But La Salle's claim is wholly fraudulent, |nd the only marvel about it is, that the fraud lould have gone so long undetected. In Franquelin's map of 1684, the colony is lid down in detail, the different villages lo- lated and the number of warriors in each vil- ige noted — all this information having been (1) Parkman, La Salle, 297. 4 50 HISTORY OF^mSCONSIiV. given by La Salle himself who had reached Quebec on his way to France, the autumn be- fore the map was finished. On this map the Shawanoes are estimated at 200 warriors and the Illinois at 1200, the latter beinjj doubtless greatly over-estimated. How now are the re-! maining 2600 made up.? Bjy the extremely simple device of counting the same people tzvice. The Miamis are first located as one body and their numbers estimated at 1300. Then the different tribes into which the Miamis were divided' — the Ouiatenons or Weas, the Peanghichias or Piankeshaws, etc. — are sepa- rately located and their respective numbers assigned to each. The trick is incredibly transparent. And there are other misstatements not quite so manifest. Only a part of the Miamis could have been with the colony, since a large body of them, including their king, were with the Mascoutins, at first on Fox river and then on the Wisconsin, from 1669 to 1690.' Their numbers are also exaggerated; since in 1736 — they having enjoyed peace and prosperity in the meantime — the whole nation was estimated (1) Consult Shea. Indian Tribes of Wisconsin, Wis. Hist. Coll., Ill, 134, on divisions of Miamis. ^2) Relation, 167L La Potlierie, II, 251. La SALLE— COUREUnS DE BO/fif. 51 reached umn be- map the iors and loubtless e the re- ! xtremtiy 'le twice, ody and hen the nis were as, the re sepa- numbers And uite so is could ^e body ith the then on Their in 1736 lerity in timated at 550 warriors.' Ai,^1in, the Illinois had long dwelt around Rock St. Louis, and La Salle, instead of collecting them there, had merely established his fort in their midst. In a word, a fraction of the Miamis and possibly two hundred Shawanoes — in all, perhaps seven hundred warriors — had temporarily located in the Illinois country. And this had been brought about not by La Salle's diplomacy, but by fear of an Iroquois invasion. That such a trick should not have been de- tected in .far-away Paris is not surprising; al- though it does almost take away one's breath to find La Salle coolly proposing, in a memorial to the king, to lead his four thousand imagin- ary Indians from Rock St. Louis to Mexico, promising with them to overthrow the Span- iards and to conquer an empire as large as half of Europe.'' But it is wonderful that this fraud should have lived on for two centuries, that an eminent historian should have accepted it without suspicion and made it the chief factor in that preposterous glory which he was bent upon wreathing around the brow of La Salle. History holds few such examples of triumphant mendacity. (1) Enumeration of Indian Tribes N. York Col. Docu- ments, IX, 1052. But this is a very low estimate. (2) Parkman, La Salle, 326. 52 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. La Salle's enterprise, although but a bubble of fraud, exerted a very malign influence by arousing the suspicions of the large Indian population massed in Wisconsin. Even before this the Foxes had become distrustful of the French; but now the eyes of the Mascoutins were o|>ened and upon La Salle's first arrival among the Illinois in 1680, they sent their chief Monso to warn the latter people against the en- croachments of the French.' La Salle, as usual, ascribed this interference to the intrigues of the Jesuit missionaries; with how much truth it would be difficult to say. But it is certain that from this time the two chief tribes of Wis- consin, the Foxes and Mascoutins, together with the Kickapoos became firm allies, united by a common sentiment of distrust and latent animosity toward the. French. lUit this rising distrust of the savages did not prevent large numbers of French traders or cowctirs dc bois from pressing forward into Wisconsin and other northern regions. These brave and hardy men were exposed to a double danger,, the suspicions of the savages and the regulations of the fur trade. For, the royal edicts, in the interests of monopoly, prohibited (1) Ihid.^ lGl-4. LA SALLE— COUREURS DE BOIS. 53 a bubble lence by e Indian ^n before il of the iscoutins t arrival leir chief t the en- )alle, as ntrigues ich truth > certain of Wis- iogether , ualted d latent did not ders or rd into These double and the e royal hibited the colonists from going into the wilderness to trade, under the heaviest penalties; for th': first offense, whipping and branding; for the second perpetual imprisonment in the galleys.' But despite these severities and perils the flight westward went en year by year, in ever in- creasing numbers. As early as 1676, there were already in the woods nearly five hundred young men, "the best in Canada, besides others on the way. "^ Three years later there were eight hundred out of a total Canadian popula- tion of io,roo souls. Canada was being rap- idly drained of its best young blood. "There is not a family," the intendant Du Chesnau, wrote "of any condition or quality, whatso- ever, that has not children, brothers, uncles and nephews among the coiireurs de bois. "^ Monopoly and despotism had made these men outlaws. But to accept outlawry under such conditions was an act of virtue and a proof of manhood. "The men," says a dis- tinguished authority, "• "who have been driven (l)Lettredu JRoi, 30,April,168l. Coll. de Manuscripts, I, 280. Also La Houtan, Voyages, I, 8.'>-6. (2) La Chesnayo. Memoire sur le Canada. Coll. de Manuscripts, I, 255. In Margry, VI, 3, this memoir is wrongly dated. (3) New York Coll. Docvments.IX, 140-152. (4) Campbell, Political History of Michigan, 14-15. 54 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. to the forests by feudal oppressions and mo- nopolies have assuredly been possessed of many- useful qualities which a better government could have turned to a great advantage." And as it was, they were of incalculable ser- vice to New France. The most faithful ser- vants of the crown confessed it, while deplor- ing the violation of the royal edicts. " No doubt," wrote Begon, ' ' * the trade they carry on with the nations is advantageous to the colony. The French should carry to the savages all that they need lest they be attracted to the English, and thus the fu'* trade in Canada which is our main dependence would be ruined. The savages would also array themselves against us in the first war, as they always take the part of those with v/hom they trade." The English were of the same opinion, and saw in these hardy voyageurs the chief pro- moters of French exploration and commerce. "We shall never be able to rancounter the French," wrote Livingston, the Indian commis- sioner of New York,"* "except we have a nur- sery of bushlopers as well as they. ' It was manifestly true. F'or lack of just such a class, (1) Sheldon, Early Hinlory of Michigan, 309-310. ' (2) Report of Journey to Onondaga, X. Y, Col. Docu- ments, IV, G50. ■ LA SALLE— COUREURS DE BOIS. 55 the English even in 1 7 50, had hardly found their [way across the Alleghanies, while the French lad pushed on to the base of the Rocky Mount- lins. ' And yet these forest rangers have been [savagely traduced even in modern times. The Isame eloquent historian who has clothed the Isorry figure of La Salle in a halo of romance, Idescribes the coui-airs dc bois as "standing example^ of unbridled license," and as, "drunk- jen riote' s stalking about the streets as naked as ? T j .awattamie or a Sioux." Doubtless there V ere wild spirits among so many men; but La Hontan, an eye-witness, does not paint their revelries in any such gross colors as the I above; and he expressly adds that "many were maTied men who on reaching the settle- ments betook themselves quietly and soberly to the bosom of their families." The great fault of these men was that they had rendered themselves odious to the aristocrats and mon- opolists of Canada. "They swagger about like lords," complains the Marquis Denonville, "they despise the peasantry whose daughters they will not marry although they are peasants a (1) Harrlsse. Noten »ur la Nouvelle France, 174 generous tribute to the forest rangers. ( ) Parkraan, La Salle, 16fl and Old Regime, .312. ( ) Voyages, I, 'M. Letter VI. Montreal, 14 Juin, 1C84. 5 J 56 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. themselves." The French voyagers had,| doubtless, many faults; their lives were] thoroughly human admixtures of good andl evil. But after all their chief crimfi seems tol have been their love of liberty. ' A bitter strife constantly went on betweenl these out-lawed fur traders of the forest and! men like La Salle, who were acting as secret) agents of corrupt official rings that were striv- ing to monopolize the trade of the West. ' Inl this strife Wisconsin became the headquarters of the forest rangers, to whom the missionaries at Green Bay gave as much sympathy and sup- port as they dared. Thus during the FrenchI dominion, the white population of Wisconsin came to be mainly made up of these gay and daring adventurers.' But all in all, the state | need not be ashamed of these, her early pio- neers. (1) Gravier, Cavelier de La Salle, 75-77. This French panegyrist of La Salle describes his troubles and the rigors ] dealt out to the forest rangers as both due to the Jesuits. (2) Mackinac was indeed their great rendezvous, buc this was but the gateway to Wisconsin, La Motte Cadil'ac complained that his designs at Detroit were constantly thwarted by the opposition of the Jesuits and " of the people of Canada, because their great project is the estab- lishment of Mackinac and the coureurs de hois." Also, Lettre a Pontchartrain, Detroit, Sept. 15, 1708. CHAPTER IV. NICOLAS PERROT — FRANCE TAKES POSSESSION OF THE WEST. . : • -.:.-'• ,: . 1689. .. : . , Small craft glide gaily into port while great ships have to wait for the rising tide. And thus it seems often to happen that small men sweep into distinction, while the great and the true stick on the sand-bars of history and have to bide their time. Only thus can one account for that strangely blended fate of oblivion and dishonor that has gathered around the name of Nicolas Perrot. And it is the chief joy of the historian — the full and almost sole reward for much delving in the dry and dusty records of the past, — if he may be able to help one such name onward into the place of honor where it really belongs, • Perrot, born in 1644, came at a very early age to the New World. The fi : years of his wilderness career were passed in the employ of the Jesuits; but about 1665, he began life for himself as a trader among the Indian tribes of Wisconsin. Thence he soon extended his travels throughout the Northwest. - 'V.', "■:'.•.* V, 58 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. In 1670, thw Trench authorities determined to take formal possession of the West, with solemn and imposing ceremonies. They looked around for some one fitted, by his prestige among the Indians, to go as an envoy and gather the tribes in a grand assembly at Sault St. Marie, where the ceremonies of occupation were to take place. ' ' ' No one, " writes Charle- voix, "was" better adapted for this import- ant duty than Nicholas Pcrrot;"' and he was sent. After dispatching messages to the tribes north of Lake Superior, he went in person to those of Wisconsin. His visit was crowned with success; and the next spring the young envoy returned to Sault Ste Marie at the head of a great fleet of canoes filled with the guile- less barbarians who had come to surrender their land to the crown of France. When the as- sembly was convened, St. Lusson — a non- entity of noble birth — acted as master of cere- monies; but Perrot had done the real work. It is worthy of note that the proud Foxes were not at the council. They had a great friendship for Perrot and followed him as far as Green Bay, but there they turned back. (1) Perrot, Moeura des Sauvagea. Tailhan'8 Notes, 258. (2) History of New France, III, 165. NICOLAS PERROT. 59 Not even he could persuade them to pay- homage to the French.' Soon afterward Frontenac, the monopolist and the fierce foe of the Jesuits, was made governor of New France, Under such an ad- ministration there was no chance for Perrot, an honest man and — like al! the great explor- ers, Nicolet, Radisson, Joliet'' — a friend of the missionaries. During this period, therefore, Perrot lived in retirement. But this blameless obscurity has given the opportunity for a frightful stab at Perrot's fame. The anonymous memoir which contains the lying account of La Salle's discoveries, also tells of an alleged attempt to poison him by a domestic in his service named Nicolas Perrot. Even if it was declared that our famous voyageur was meant, the charge would not deserve serious attention; since it would have no support except an anonymous doc- ument full of falsehoods and calumnies. But no such declaration is made. It has been reserved for a modern historian to give cur- rency to the charge.^ And so far as I know (1) Perrot, Memorre, 127. (2) Voyages of Radisson, 175. A hearty defence of the Jesuits. (3) Parkman, La Salle, 104. Even thai acute critic. Dr. Butler, expresses himself doubtfully. ^Vis. Hist. Coll., VIII, 205-fi.. 6o HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. no attempt has ever been made to clear Perrot from the infamy thus cast upon him. Thanks to a Canadian census list, we know something of Perrot at this period. It thus appears that about 1671, he married Made- leine Raclos, a young lady of good family and possessed of a considerable fortune; in 1681, he was living quietly, with his wife and six children, upon his estate.' Is it not absurd to think of him as La Salle's menial and a cut- throat to boot, who had been put in irons and publicly disgraced for having attempted to poison his master.? In 1683 the friends of Perrot returned to power and he was forthwith sent West to gather up the Indians for a campaign against the Iroquois. In 1685, ^^ was made governor of the Northwest with headquarters at Green Bay. "I was sent to this Bay, "he writes," with a commission to command there and in the most distant countries of the West, and also in all those I might be able to discover."' He arrived at Green Bay just in time to medi- ate between the Chippewas and the Foxes, then on the eve of war; thence he hastened to the Mississippi to establish posts and make (1) Tailhan in Perrot, Memoire, 331. Note. (2) Ibid., 156. NICOLAS PERROT, 6l explorations in the countries beyond. But he had hardly reached Black River before winter set in. And here Perrot, who had an artist's eye for the picturesque, fixed his habitation not far from Mount Trempeleau, that solitary peak which rises like a rocky exhalation from the midst of the Mississippi. The next season Perrot was recalled to again lead his Indians against the Iroquois. Before setting out on this campaign he presented to the little mission chapel at De Pere, a silver ostensorium — the pious offering of a brave and devout soul. This precious relic was dug up in 1802 near the site of the old chapel, and is now deposited with the Wisconsin Historical Society.' : _, ; , ; The campaign finished, Perrot hastened back to Green Bay, where there was urgent need of his presence. The long smouldering discon- tent of the Foxes and their allies was now bursting forth into open violence against the French. They were enraged by the establish- ment of the trading posts on the Mississippi by which their mortal enemies, the Sioux, were being supplied with munitions of war. Besides, they had suffered all manner of abuse and wrongs from the hands of the traders, as the (1) Butier, Early Historic Relica of the Northwest. Wis. Hist. Coll., VIII, 195-206. 62 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. colonial authorities confessed. "The violence and brutality of the French have been carried to such extremes," Denonville, the governor- general, wrote in 1686, "that it is a wonder that the savages do not rise and slay them all."' The malign influence of La Salle also, had greatly aggravated these disorders. Claiming almost everything in the West, he had faltered at nothing in order to enforce his mad preten- sions. "He had even ordered the savages," Charlevoix says,^ "to plunder the goods of any one who had no commission from him." Out of this chaos of conflicting claims, violence and iniquity, came a natural result. In 1687 the Foxes, Kickapoos and Mascoutins con- spired to pillage the French establishment at Green Bay in order to provide themselves with guns and other munitions of war. The plot was carried out, the mission chapel burned, everything valuable was carried off or de- stroyed. Perrot was the chief sufferer. For his pub- lie services he had neither received nor ex- pected any reward save the profits of his trade with the Indians. And, like all the merchants (1) Lettre a Seignelay, ' 12 Juin, 1686. Tailhan, 312. (2) History of New France, III, 246. iMiMi NICOLAS PEBROT. 63 of the colony, ' he had for several years been greatly embarrassed on account of the Iroquois wars, which had prevented the carrying of furs to Montreal. A letter of his to one of his cred- itors has been preserved, the letter of an hon- est, high-minded man who struggles and hopes. But his goods were stored in the mission build- ings at Green Bay; and now all had vanished in smoke and flame. According to Potherie* "M. Perrot lost furs valued at forty thousand livres," a considerable fortune in those primitive times. After so many hardships and perils, and so mnny services rendered to the state, he was left penniless and in debt. But the courage and serenity of Perrot were unfailing. Soon turning away from this scene of desolation, he hurried on to the Mississippi with a force of forty men. Winter was already at hand and ice had begun to form in Fox riyer. But daunted by nothing, he pushed forward until he reached Mount Trempeleau and there once more went into winter quarters. The next season was a busy and prosperous one. Order was restored among the rebellious (1) " Les marchands sont encore dans un e'tat plus de'- plorable tout leur bien est dans lo bois depuis trois ou quatre ans." Letter of Champigni/, Iniendanl of New France, Augnst 9, 1688. (2) La Pot! le, Septentrionale Arnerique, IT, 209. 64 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. tribes of Wisconsin. The Sioux were induced to move down from the north and fix their habitation around Lake Pepin. Fort St. An- toine was built on the eastern side of the lake, and a tributary post established near the mouth of the Wisconsin, where one Borie Guillot was placed in command. All the tribes being now at peace with each other and thorougly loyal to France, everything had been prepared for the ceremony of occupation. And on the 9th of May, 1689, at Fort St. Antoine, Perrot, as commissioner for the king, formally took pos- session of the great Northwest. Let us pause for a moment at the spot where this memorable ceremony was enacted. The site of Fort St. Antoine can be identified with sufificient certainty, as lying near the base of a lofty bluff on the eastern side of Lake Pepin, and about two miles below the present village of Stockholm.' In the rear the bluff rises pre- cipitously, first covered with woods, then bare and sprinkled with black-mottled rocks, then its sunimit crowned with stately trees. In front, there is a gentle slope of fifty or sixty feet to the side of the lake. Then the clear (1) Draper, Early French Forts. 368-372. Wis. Hist. Coll., X, NICOLAS PERROr. 6$ and wide expanse of the waters walled in on the other side by another lonj; line of lofty. cliffs, steep, grim, regular as a rampart. I.t is a scene of marvelous beauty; above all, in mid- summer, when one looking across the silvery waters, beholds the gray top of the distant bluffs, flecked here and there by streaks of gold, where the great sun-burned harvest fields beyond are peeping down on the fair lake be- neath. . . .; • Such is the setting of the scene. Qi the ceremony of taking possession we have no re-, cord save the brief official minute signed by Nicolas Perrot, "commissioned to manage the interests of commerce among all, the Indian tribes and peoples of the Bay • des Puants, Nadouesioux, Mascoutins, and other Western nations of the Upper Misssisippi, and to .lake possession in the King's name of all the places where he has heretofore been and whither he will go."' There are also subscribed to .the document the names of Marest the -Jesuit .mis- sionary, Borie-Guillot commandant on.' the Wisconsin, Le Sueur the afterwards noted ex- plorer, and others less known to fame. Among the latter is one Jean He'bert, doubt- (1) Wis. Hist. Coll., XI, 36. 5 66 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 'l; ■ --ii less a scion of that Hebert family who were the first actual settlers of New France.' Whole chapters of history have been de- voted to describing the pomp with which St. Lusson took possession for France of the rocky barrens around Sault Ste Marie and La Salle of the marshes which embosom the mouth of I the Mississippi. But to the thoughtful mind, the quiet scene at Fort St. Antoine will far| surpass them both in interest. St. Lusson and La Salle stood amidst uninhabited wastes, but Perrot, at Fort St. Antoine, stood at the I centre of the continent, close to what were to be its richest gardens and harvest fields. The date itself was a memorable one. A few weeks before William and Mary had ascended the Engli.sh throne and the English Revolution had thus been brought to its triumphant close. That | date has been universally accepted as the turn- itig-point in the career of Louis XIV. and of I European despotism. It seems like a stroke of supernatural irony that that very time should | have been chosen for the planting of the stand- ard of this waning despotism in the heart of I that continent which above all others had been| reserved for liberty. (1) Parkmau. Pioneers of New France. SICOLAS PERROT. *f In 1690, Perrot was once more in Quebec whence he returned to Wisconsin charged with high civil duties. He went as an envoy, with presents and messages, to the nations of the Northwesti seeking to dissuade them from the alliance which they were on the eve of con- cluding with the Iroquois and the English.' While employed upon this commission he discovered the lead mines which so long went by his name. Traveling on the Wisconsin, he was met by a delegation of Miamis who brought him presents of beaver skins and a specimen of lead ore from a rivulet flowing into the Mississippi; and in compliance with their request he soon after built a trading establishment across the river from the mines, probably not far from the site of Dunleith." Thence he hastened to Fort St. Antoine to mediate between the Sioux and the Wisconsin tribes, once more in a hostile mood; then back again to his new establishment among the Miamis. Next, he is heard of as commanding in Western Michigan, but soon returned to Wis- consin. ' Thus year after year passed in an end- less round of private cares and public duties. (1) Collection de Manuscripts, Canada, III, 495. (2) La Potherie, II, 260. (3) Still, however, retaining his command in Michigan, according to Tailhan, 330. HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. Life, for him, bristled with strange perils. As a mediator between warring tribes, he was always liable to fall a victim to the jealousies, the suspicions, the phrensy of the infuriated savages amidst whom he flung himself. In 1692 the Mascoutins inveigled him into their town, robbed him of all his merchandise, con- demned him to death as a sorcerer and led him to "the place of fire;" but he escaped almost miraculously." Four or five years later, the Miamis accused him of aiding their enemies, robbed him of everything, bound him to the stake, from which at the last mo» lent he was rescued by his ever faithful friends, the Foxes." Still Perrot clung to the wilderness, fascinated by its very perils and undesponding despite so many disasters. But in 1699 his career was summarily closed. The king issued an order absolutely suppress- ing all licenses, commanding the evacuation of the Western posts and recalling all traders and soldiers to the St. Lawrence. This sweeping proclamation was a death blow to the hope? of Perrot. Shut out from the employment of his life-time, without resources, harassed by his creditors, he was condemned to an old age of (1) La Potherie, 11, 284-6. (2) Lfttre de Frontenac, 15 Sept.. 1697, 331. Also La Potherie, II, 343, and Charlevoix. NICOLAS PEBROT. 69 poverty and humiliation. In vain the colonial authorities appealed to the king in his behalf. '•He is very poor and very miserable," wrote Callieres, the governor;.' • ' large sums are justly due him for his services to the colony." But such homely virtues as justice and gratitude did not thrive amidst the splendid vanities of Versailles. The savages, however, although they did not love their enemies, never forgot a friend. In the great council of the Indian tribes held at Montreal in 1701, the Foxes complained bit- terly about the removal of Perrot; "we have no more sense," said the honest savages, "since he has left us."- The Ottawas for once were agreed with the Foxes and earnestly re-echoed the demand for his return.' "He is the most highly esteemed," declared the grand chief of the Pottawattamies, "of all the Frenchmen that have ever been among us."* Nevertheless, this tried servant of the crown languished in neglect and poverty. During these years of inaction he wrote his Memoir upon the Indians and other works — not in the highest style of literary art, but keen and (1) Lettre de Callieres, 1702. (2) Charlevoix, V, 144. Tailhan, 267. (3) Ibid., V, 153. La Potherie, IV, 257. (4) LaPotherie, IV, 213. 70 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. honest — the best original sources for the his- tory of the French Rule in the West, especially in Wisconsin, during the latter part of the 17th Century. His last work was a memoir addressed to the colonial authorities, about 17 16. It was an appeal, not for himself, but for a wiser and humaner treatment of his old friends, the Foxes, then just beginning that tremendous re- volt which was to prove so disastrous to the French Dominion. With this kindly and characteristic act, the bowed figure of Perrot vanishes from the dimly lighted stage of West- ern History. The withdrawal of the garrisons and traders from the West at the close of the century does not indicate any feeling of weakness on the part of the French, but rather of strength. Universal peace was now dawning, and the time seemed ripe for thoroughly carrying out what had always been the favorite policy of the French government. The trade of the Northwest was to be concentrated at Montreal. A few tribes, that had fully proved their docil- ity and submissiveness, were to be installed as middlemen between the French and the more independent nations of the interior. Chief among these intermediaries were to be the NICOLAS PERROT. 71 the his- jpecially the 17th idressed It was ser and ids, the dous re- i to the lly and • Perrot f West- traders ry does on the rength. nd the ng out licy of of the ntreal. * docil- lled as : more Chief t)e the Hurons, Ottawas, Pottavvattamies and Chippe- was — all people that had been ground into subjection by exile, misery and constant con- ^ tact with the whites. The first three tribes named have already been sufficiently noticed* v the last demands a moment's attention. The Chippewas, according to their own tra- ditions, had dwelt in Northern Wisconsin for ages before the coming of the white man. We cannot stop to tell the strange story of their flight eastward; suffice it that about 1640, the French found them crouching around Sault Ste. Marie whither they had been pursued by the Sioux.' In the next decade, as we have seen, the Hurons and Ottawas, fleeing from the wrath of the Iroquois, had sought an asylum in these deserted Wisconsin forests, but they too, were finally put to flight by the Sioux. Then the exiled Chippewas began to creep back to their old homes; as early as 1676, some of them were settled on Chequamegon Bay;" and before ^ many years the most of the nation had return- ed, building their council-house and relighting their sacred fire at Madeleine Island.^ For a (1) Margry, I, 46. (2) Memoire aur le Canada. Collection de ManuseriptH, I, 252. (3) Bronson. Early History of Wittconsin. Wis. Hist. Coll., IV, 232. a -:i s 72 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. time there was much warfare with the Sioux, but finally the interests of trade prevailed over hereditary hate;' about 1695, a firm friendship was established between the two nations;' and henceforth the Chippewas prospered abund- antly as brokers for the savage multitude be- yond the Mississippi. ^ The commerce which thus united the French and the Indians had its main-spring in the eagerness of the latter for guns and amunition. The savages saw — what our modern historians have strangely failed to sec — that their strength, their ability to cope with their rivals, their very existence depended upon their pos- session of the white man's weapons. History and romance have united to exalt the Iroquois, for instance, above all other American savages. The Iroquois, we are told, were wisier and braver than the rest; their po- litical organization was of a higher type; their skulls, it is gravely asserted,^ had a greater admeasurement. It is an old fault of this giddy world to thus mistake luck for merit. (1) Warren. History of the Ojibways. Minn. Hint. Coll., V, 16:^-7. . (2) New York Col. Documents, IX., 609. Le Sueur, to promote this peace, was sent to build a fort on the Mis- sissippi above Lake Pepin. (3) Farlcman. Jesuit Missions. Introduction. NICOLAS PERROT. 73 The fact is that the Iroquois had been driven from their old homes on the St. Lawrence' by the superior prowess of the Algononin tribes.' In the latter part of the sixteenth century, tl ey fled to New York and there they were soun lavishly supplied with guns by the careless and irresponsible Dutch traders at A-lbany.' The French, on the contrary, for i. long time re- fused to furnish guns to their Algonquin and Huron allies;* and so the Iroquois soon rose from the role of refugees to that of conquerors over other races as yet unarmed. Thus fully equipped for battle they easily crushed the Hurons whom the frugal French had supplied with hardly anything but iron kettles and mis- sionaries. Almost without an effort the Iro- (1) Hale. Book of Iroquois Rites, 10. Also Le Jeune, Relation, 1636. "Les sauvages m'out montre quelques endioits ou les Iroquois ont autrefois cultive la terre.'' Also, La Chemage, Ferland, Suite, etc. (2) " La superiorite des Algonquins se manlfesta des les premieres rencontres," etc. Suii^e, Melanges d'Histoire, 190. (3) Journal of New Netherlands. N. Y. Col. Docs., I, 179. The Dutch supplied the Mohawks alone with 400 guns. Also, Parknian, Jesuits, 212. (4) Ferland, Cours d'Histoire du Canada. "LeFran- cais enterent pendant longtemps de fournir des fusils a leur allies." Memoire, 1676, in Coll. de Manuscripts, I, 254. " Le grand nombre (Algonquins) ne fut arme quo de fort longtemps apres que les HoUandois eurent arme les Iroquois." 74 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. quois also annihilated the defenseless Eries; but for a long time they were defied by a mere handful of the Andastes who had been armed by the Swedes of Delaware, The Illinois fought with bows and arrows; and of course, they were driven before the armed Iroquois like chaff before the wind. And so everywhere it was bullets, not excess of brains or of brav- ery that made the Iroquois triumphant. CHAPTER V. n THE BETRAYAL OF THE FOXES. 170O-1712 When the eighteenth century opened, the French Empire in America was at the flood- tide of its prosperity. But let us be sure that we understand the policy upon which that prosperity was based. The French did not de- sign to make settlements in the West. The few forts were slightly garrisoned, and hardly more than palisaded trading posts; nothing was permitted that might awaken the jealousy of the Indians. The savages were to be left in undisturbed possession of the whole vast do- main, on eondition that they allowed the French to control the continent and to monop- olize its trade. * ' France, " wrote the English governor of Can- da, Sir Guy Carleton, in 1 768, ' 'did not de^)end on the number of her troops, but on the discretion of officers who learned the language of the na- tives, * * * distributed the king's presents, excited no jealousy and gained the affections of an ignorant, credulous but brave people, whose ruling passions are independence, gratitude 1^ HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. and revenge.'" It was a wise policy and had been crowned with signal success. At th'i be- ginning of the century the Indian nations were at peace with each other and with France. Even the Iroquois, who for more than eighty years had nursed the fiercest hatred of the French, were at last reconciled and henceforth maintained an unquiet neutrality in the great struggle for the possession of the continent. The destiny of America seemed already decided. Protestant England held a narrow strip along the Atlantic coast, but the lilies of France floated without opposition pver the entire ex- panse from Quebec to the mouth of ihe Missis- sippi and from the Alleghanies almost to the base of the Rocky Mountains. But already there were the mutterings of a distant storm along the horizon. The curse of Canada was the spirit of monopoly. The com- merce of the colony was at the mercy of a vast trading corporation; the bold, enterprising coureurs dc bois, despite their great services to the crown, were hunted down as outlaws; cor- rupt rings formed by the chief officials at Que- bec added the burden of their rapacity and ex- tortion; above all, because the same system of (1) Report to Lord Shelbume, March 2, 1768 in Cono- dian ArchivtSt 1887. THE BETRAYAL OF THE FOXES. 77 monopoly and restriction prevailed throughout France, the prices of French merchandise were ruinously high. The consequence was that the English traders, less absurdly fettered, could offer the Indians three or four times more for their furs than the French could. One beaver skin, according to a French memoir of 1689, would buy at Albany eight pounds of gun- powder, at Montreal only two; or forty pounds of lead at the one place against thirteen at the other; or six times as much of the indispensable brandy, and other goods in similar propor- tions.' . ^. ; The savages were not slow to discover this difference, and they began to chafe under the yoke of French monopoly and extortion. Even those humblest vassals of France, the Ottawas, became restless; and Perrot says that they were at heart traitors to the crown." The dis- content spread. In 1706 M. de Vaudreuil, Governor General of New France, declared that the cheapness of English goods was the Gordian knot and chief difficulty in all the In- dian troubles. "The English," he writes mournfully, "give powder and lead exceeding- ly low. The French government must some- (1) Collection de Manuacripts, 1, 476. (2) Perrot, Memoire, Notes, 314. 78 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. how manage to do the same or all will be lost." But the French held all the avenues of trade; they managed their savage vassals with infinite address; the most skillful politicians in the world, they humored the weakness and gained the favor of the people whom they were bent upon plundering, and whatever discontent was felt by the Indians went no further than mut- tered eomplaints and occasional outbursts of childish fury. One nation, however, — the Foxes of Wisconsin — was an exception. Their discontent flamed into a resistance whch grew all the fiercer amidst the most frightful calami- ties and distresses. And this fire of Fox re- sistance did not burn itself out until the French empire in the west had become a mere shell, ready to fall into ruins. It has been customary to explain the enmity of the Foxes against the French as excited by the machinations of the English and the Iro- quois; but the facts do not in the least support this theory. The resentment began, as we have seen, with their first meeting with the French, and at a time when they, like all the western nations, were at war with the Iroquois. It continued — and in fact did not rise into its fiercest fury — until long after the Iroquois had THE BETRAYAL OF THE FOXES. 79 made peace with the French. It was a hatred spontaneously springing up in the breasts of a people passionately fond of independence and wise enough to foresee the results of French domination. Other Algonquin nations — Hu- rons Ottawas, Illinois, etc. — cowed and crushed by the Iroquois and their guns, had flung themselves under the protection of the French; the Foxes, on the contrary, haughty and untamed, had received them at first with suspicion and dislike, at last with undying ha- tred. So early as 1694, the French were made aware that the Foxes were secretly hostile. In that year, Perrot, with ten or twelve ca- noes filled with deputies from the different Wisconsin tribes, made the long journey to Montreal to have an interview with the govern- or. Fox deputies were with the rest, but as if feeling that they were distrusted, they had en- gaged a Pottawattamie chief to speak for them in the council. But this very chief after- wards came privately to the governor and de- nounced his clients. "Put no faith," said he "in the Foxes. They are a proud people; They despise the French and all other nations also; they have a bad heart, and the Mascou- tins have a still worse heart than they." Oth- I# HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. i III ers gave the same warning. Last spring, so Frontenac was told, the Foxes had some Iro- quois prisoners presented to them by the Otta- was, but they had spared the captives to use them in negotiating with the enemy. Frontenac vas also informed that the Foxes were planning a singular and suspicious enter- prise. They had resolved to forsake their country. Already through fear of a Sioux inva- sion, they had left their villages and dispersed far and wide through the forests. But they expected to return after a while to secure their harvests. Then they would .seek a new home on the banks of the Wabash or the Ohio. Frontenac felt that this was indeed a grave peril. The Foxes, he wrote to the king, are a fierce and discontented people in secret alliance with the English. If they remove to the Wa- bash with their affiliated tribes, the Kickapoos and Mascoutins, they will form there a nation of I 500 war«"iors. Far away from their ene- mies the S.-,ax, and in close contact with their Iroquois and English allies, they will prosper as never before. Other Indian malcontents will gather around them. They will become a great people holding the key to the valley of the .Mississippi. The fur-trade will pass into the hands of the Engli? "1, and Frencli suprem- acy in the West will be at an end. ill THE BETRAYAL OF THE FOXES. 8l The Foxes, for reasons not necessavv tO dwell upon, put aside at that time their pror ject of emigration eastward. But eighteen years afterward the plan was revived and car ried into execution. In the meantime the French, in order to shut the English out from the Upper Lakes, had established a fort at Detroit, and around it they had induced their ever faithful vassals, the Pottawattamies, the Hurons and a part of the Ottavvas to settle. And in the year 171 2, the Foxes, Mascoutins, Kickapoos, and a part of the Sauks, forsaking their land of beauty and abundance along the Fox river, wended their way to the new estab- lishment on Detroit river. The French official reports pretend that the Wisconsin Indians, being in secret alliance with the Iroquois and the Knglish had come to Detroit with the express purpose of besiering the fort and reducing it to ruins; and their statement has heretofore been unsuspectingly accepted by all historians.' But there is little doubt that the charge is a shameful falsehood. The Fox Indians had rendered themselves very obnoxious to the French. Firmly lodged on (1) Bancroft, II, 383. Smith, HMory of Wisconsin, 911 Lanman. History of Michigan, 42. Strong, Wisconsin Hist. Collections, VIII, 242. 6 82 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. t4ic Fox River they controlled the chief high- way to the West; a haughty, independent and intractable people, they could not be cajoled into vassalage. It was necessary for the suc- cess of the French policy to get them out of the way. They were enticed to Detroit in order that they might be slaughtered. The proof seems direct and conclusive. In the Collection dc Manuscripts relatifs a la Nou- velle France published recently by the Cana- dian government, it is declared that La Motte Cadillac, the first commandant at Detroit, ••wishing to draw the commerce of all the natfons to his post, had sent belts to the Mas- coutins and Kickapoos to invite them to settle there and that they having accepted the offer, came and built a fort at the place which had been assigned them." The Memoir containing this is contemporaneous with the events and of high authority. ' Father Marest, Jesuit missionary, in a letter to the Governor General. De Vaudreuil, dated June 21, 1 71 2, states that the French were the first movers in the war, having joined with the Ottawas to destroy the Foxes. This is the declaration of an unprejudiced witness, writing in a semi-ofHcial way to the very man who, (1) Coll.de 3fanuMeripta, ITT, 622, seq. THE BETRAYAL OF THE FCXES. 83 above all others, would know the truth or fal- sity of the charge.' Even the oflficial report of Du Buisson, tem- porarily commanding at Detroit during the siege, contains statements strangely over- looked, which disclose a plot to destroy the Wisconsin Indians. **The Indians said in the council," writes Du Buisson, "that they knew the desire of the governor to exterminate the Foxes." *' And just as soon as the siege was over," he adds in another place, "the allies set out for Quebec to get the reward which they say, Sir, that you promised them."' Nor does the Governor General himself, pre- tend, in his despatches to the Colonial Minis- ter, that the Wisconsin Indians had come to Detroit with any hostile designs. On the con- trary, he lays the whole blame on the Indian allies of the French. "Saguima did it all. He not only destroyed many in their winter- ing place, but having found means to win over almost all the other tribes, pursued these unfor- tunate people as far as Detroit, and there killed captured nearly a thousand of both sexes."' Finally: on the very face of the accounts of 'D Sheldon, Early History of Michigan, 299. (2) Smith, History of Wisconsin. (3) New York Coll. Documents,lX, H6?i. w HISTORY OF WISCONSIN, , the siege, given both by Du Buisson and Char- levoix, it is manifest that the Wisconsin In- dians had not come for war. They reached Detroit early in the spring; the Indian allies of the French did not arrive until the nth of May. During all the intervening time the fort was virtually defenseless, being garrisoned by only twenty Frenchmen. Then, if ever, would have been the time for the Foxes to have destroyed Detroit. But they waited tranquilly until Du Buisson, had had time to send forth runners as far as the Illinois river and even to the banks of the Missouri, to gather in his allies. When all had gathered the pretended siege of Detroit began. The French opened fire upon the unsuspect- ing Foxes. The latter, overwhelmed with surprise, cried out indignantly: "What does this mean.-* My father! You invited us a little while ago to come and settle around you and now you declare war against us. What have we done.-* But we are ready. Know ye that the Fox is immortal." And with this yell of defiance the betrayed savages retreated behind their palisades.' The valor of the Foxes was a terror to all. (I) Collection de Manuscripts relatifs a la Nouvelle France, III, 623. THE BETRAYAL OF THE FOXES. 85 And although the French Indians were there in overwhelming numbers — Hurons, Ottawas, Pottawattamies, Illinois, even tribes from the Missouri and the Menominees from Wiscon- sin— they did not dare to attack the enemy in his stronghold. They preferred to fight at a safe distance, hoping to reduce the Foxes by famine and thirst. The battle went on for days. The French built two rough scaffolds about twenty-five feet high from which they poured such a galling fire day and night that the Foxes were cut off from their supply of water. Tormented by thirst and by hunger — for their provisions were almost exhausted — they were still as haughty and defiant as ever. To taunt the P'rench, they raised rude flag-staffs above . their camp and ran up red blankets as their ^j colors, shouting: "We have no Father but ■„ * the English." / The French allies on their part, were zeal- .: ous for France and the Catholic faith. "The '■''^'T' English," so they shouted back, "lire cowards; they destroy the Indians with brandy and are enemies of the true God." It was a veritable crusade — a battle of religion against the im- pious Foxes, who had flung the red flag of Eng- land and heresy to the breeze. ••« u HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. The Foxes, ready to perish with hunger and thirst, began to make desperate sorties. Once they swept all before them and gained a lodg- ment in a house near the fort where they forti- fied themselves; but the French cannon, at such close quarters, ploughed through and through the frail structure, and its defenders were finally forced to retire. Then they wished to negotiate; but their proposals not being listened to, they made another tremen- dous onslaught. This time they shot up hun- dreds of blazing arrows which fell upon the thatched roofs of the houses and set them on fire; the whole town and the fort would soon have been destroyed if the French had not checked the flames by covering the roofs with wet skins. Amid the smoke and flames the savages fought hand to hand, yelling like de- mons, their faces hideous with paint and fury, their tomahawks dripping with blood. At last the French Indians became discour- aged and wished to go away. • 'We shall never conquer these people," they said. "We know them well, and they are braver than any other people." Du Buisson, seeing himself about to be de- serted, prepared to sail away to Michillimack- THE BETRAYAL OF THE FOXES. «7 inac. But before surrendering Detroit, he made one more effort; gathering his confeder- ates in council, be tried to revive their droop- ing courage; he appealed to their hatred of the Foxes and loaded them down with presents until he "had given away everything he had.'' But all this would have availed nothing if treachery had not come to his aid. A part of the Sauk tribe had come with the other Wis- consin Indians, and they now deserted to the French, telling a frightful story of what was going on in the camp of the enemy. "The Foxes," they said, "are worn out with famine, sickness and constant fighting; great numbers have already fallen. More than eighty dead bodies are now lying unburied in the camp; the air is filled with a horrible stench; pesti- lence abounds." When the French Indians heard all this, their courage rose and they were eager for battle. The story of the deserters was too true. The unhappy Foxes had now lost all hope of successful resistance, and they soon raised the white flag of surrender. Pem- oussa, their great war chief, spoke like a genu- ine hero. "Do not believe," he said, "that I am afraid to die. It is the life of our women and children that I ask of you." But the French refused even this, and the Foxes, de- li HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. lift If, spairing but defiant, withdrew again into their entrenchments. Fortune came at last to their rescue. One night there was a heavy rain-storm, and under cover of its darkness, the Foxes slipped silent- ly-away. The fight had lasted for nineteen days. Next morning, the French confederates batulked and furious, set out in hot pursuit. Twelve miles above Detroit they came up with one division of the Foxes who had encamped hf the side of Lake St. Clair. "Not perceiving the enemy's entrenchments," the French ex- pected to find an ea.sy prey, and with yells of triumph fell upon the fugitives like wolves up- on a flock of sheep. Being driven back in dis- order, they began a new siege with great cau- tion. The Foxes fought bravely, but hope- lessly; they were hemmed in upon every side, either by the lake or the enemy; the French cannon, which had been brought up from De- troiti battered down their weak defences and finally on the fifth day of the second siege they surrendered at discretion. No mercy was shown. "The allies and the French," writes' Charlevoix, "commenced a deadly slaughter, destroying all the warriors (P Charlevoix, History of New France, V, 265. -^ THE BETRAYAL OF THE FOXES. 89 except about one hundred and fifty, who, with the women and children, were distributed as slaves among the Indians; but the latter did not keep them long for they were all massacred before they separated." The slain, according to the statements of Charlevoix and Ferland, numbered two thousand souls; ' one thousand, according to the exculpatory and wholly unreliable report of Du Buisson, the French commander. Certain it is that not a man, woman or child who fell into the hands of the enemy was permitted to live.' The dark annals of Indian history record no- thing quite as black as this transaction, begun in vile treachery and ending in unpicturable horrors. The lovely nights of early June, the tranquil lake, the forests newly robed in beauty — all this was lighted up by hundreds upon hundreds of fires, at each of which some man, woman or child, was being slowly burned to death. No wonder that the French were not willing to assume all the responsibility for this affair at Detroit. "It is God," writes the commandant, Du Buisson, "who has suffered these two audacious nations to perish." (1) Ferland, Cours d'Histoire du Canada, II, 388. (2) Report to M. de Vandreuil. Smith, Documentary History of Wiscowtin, CHAPTER VI. THE GAUNTLET TAKEN UP. I 712 — I7l6. But the Wisconsin Indians were by no means so nearly exterminated as the French authorities had fondly dreamed. ' ' Although the number of the dead is very great," wrote the missionary, Marest,' **the Fox nation is not destroyed." According to his estimate there still remained about Green Bay, four hundred good warriors, besides others scattered in the great flight. Nor had the slaughter at Detroit broken the spirit of these indomitable savages; it had only deepened their old dislike of the French into a grim, undying hatred. Even the next year the governor and the intendant complain to the Minister at Paris that '*the Fox Indians are daily becoming more insolent."' Disaster however had disciplined these wild warriors. Henceforth they will be more con- ciliatory in their intercourse with surrounding (1) LettertoM.de Vaudreuil. Sheldon, Early History of Michigan, 299. (2) Letter of De Vaudreuil and Begon, Nov. 15, 1713. Abstract in Canadian Archives, 1886, p. XLiv. THE GAUNTLET TAKEN UP. 91 ) means fiorities mber of ionary, royed." mained irriors, flight, en the id only I into a t year ain to ndians ie wild e con- inding History ), 1713. nations, seeking far and wide for helpers and friends in the great struggle to which they had devoted themselves. The first fruits of their new policy was an alliance with the Sioux, with whom they had been at war from time immemorial. But in 17 14 the two nations had joined hands against the Illinois, the wards and abject servants of the French. No great expedition was organized; war was waged by piecemeal. Some young warrior, eager for glory, would gather around him a band of com- rades and sally forth out of the forests of North- ern Wisconsin, across the prairies, to surprise the Illinois in their villages or to fall upon them in their hunting parties. If the warriors succeeded, they came back in triumph, waving their trophies and shouting their battle songs; but if they failed, they returned as men dis- graced, waiting on the outskirts of the village until the dead of night and then stealing, silent and crestfallen, into their cabins. ' But in either case the war went on. Thus blow after blow fell upon the Illinois. Charlevoix has indeed exaggerated or rather anticipated events when he says that so early as 1714 these Indians were driven from their old homes on the Illinois river, never to return. =» (1) Wiaconain Hist. Collectiona, III, 446. (2) History of New France, V. 309. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.25 iai2.8 ■ 50 ^^" 2.2 1^ 1^ 1.4 1.6 >Q ^r 7 /A .(A:,a;' 92 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. So late as 1722 one tribe still clung to their famous stronghold, Rock St. Louis; but the rest had fled far southward and had settled under French protection on the Kaskaskia. The French authorities became greatly- alarmed. The policy by which all the nations of the West were to be marshalled as retainers and supporters of a great French Empire stretching across the continent, was about to be defeated by the stubborn and bitter hate of a single tribe. The Foxes were allying with themselves not only the tribes of Wisconsin, but the Sioux and other distant peoples. By their settlement on Fox river they were mas- ters of the chief channel of communication be- tween the East and the West; by driving the Illinois off from the river of the same name they were gaining almost complete control of the only other great highway. Communica- tions were becoming very difficult. Travellers to and fro were always at the mercy of the Foxes; many were plundered and killed. The vast but fragile Empire of New France was al- most split asunder by these implacable savages of Wisconsin. Various means of meeting this danger were suggested. It was even proposed to sweep away the old commercial system with its mo- THE GAUNTLET TAKEN UP. 93 nopolies, restrictions and exactions. In 17 14 the governor and the intendant of the colony wrote to the colonial minister that "trading* must be made free for a few years at least,"' Such a policy, adopted, not for a few years, but permanently, would have changed the whole future of the colony; the rising discon- tent of the Indians would have been overcome; their affection for the French maintained. New France, already entrenched in the fairest portions of the West and commanding all its chief avenues of trade, would have entered upon a boundless prosperity and her supremacy over the continent been assured for ages to come. But the proposal was too revolutionary, too subversive of all the traditions of French despotism; and although suggested again and again," met with little favor from the court. Instead of this, it was proposed to again at- tempt the extermination of the Foxes. In vain, the wi >est and most experienced people of the colony protested against a policy so brutal and so foolish. Perrot, who for half a (1) De Vaudreuil and Begon to the Minister, Sept. 20, 1714. Canadian Archives, 188(5. xiiiv. (2) A letter of De Vaudreuil and Begon, Oct. U, 1716, contains a draft of proposed measures for freedom of trade — not to begin before Jan. 1, 1718. Can. Archiven, 1886, XL VII. a 94 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. century had been better versed than any other man in the affairs of the West, defended the Foxes and presented a memoir in their favor to the Governor General. Although now past seventy years of age, he offered to once more brave the hardships of the wilderness in order to treat with the savages who still had a per- fect trust in the one Frenchman who had never betrayed their confidence. "If I had gone with De Louvigny," he said afterwards, *'I would have made peace with the Foxes with- out fighting or bloodshed."' But folly prevailed. And on the 14th of March, 1716, an expedition led by a brave and tried officer, De Louvigny, set out from Que- bec to destroy the Foxes. On the route they were joined by allied Indians until the com- mand numbered eight hundred men. In due time they reached Green Bay, the first hostile expedition of white men that ever touched the shores of Wisconsin. ^ Thence they toiled up the rapids of the Fox river until they came to the town of the Foxes which, according to tradition, was located at Little Butte des Morts, a slight eminence close to the west bank of the river and nearly oppo- (1) Perrot, Moeura dea Savages, 153. erie. Also La Poth- THE GAUNTLET TAKEN UP. 95 site to the site of the city of Neenah.' Here the savages had fortified themselves in the rude way known to their engineering art, hav- ing run a triple row of oaken palisades arouud their town and in the rear dug a deep, wide ditch. Within the enclosure were five hundred warriors and three thousand women and child- ren. The Foxes at this time were in all the per- fection of savage wildness. Their dislike of the French had kept them free from the touch of civilized vices and miseries. The Jesuit missionaries noted the absence of sickness among them, having found on their first visit but one person seriously ill, a consumptive child. ^ "They abound in women and child- ren," says a French Memoir of 171 8. "They are as industrious as can be. The people live well on account of the abundance of meat and f.jh. The hunting is excellent and the river is full of fish. The men wear scarcely any clothing in the summer time. . . . But the girls are robed in black or brown fawn skins, embellished all around with little bells (1) The Chicago & Northwestern Railway was laid out through this famous mound and almost the entire hill has been dug away. (2) Relation, 1671. 96 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. or similar ornaments. They are pretty enough."' Such were the savages vvho had gathered behind their oaken palisades to await the com- ing of De Louvigny and his destroying army. '•Everybody believed," writes Charlevoix,' ''that the Fox nation was about to be de- stroyed; and so they themselves judged when they saw the storm gathering against them; they therefore prepared to sell their lives as dearly as possible." One can but dimly imagine the scene: thousands of men, women and children tran- quilly awaiting their doom; the busy prepa- rations for war, the few guns made ready, spears sharpened, the stone arrow-heads se- curely fastened to their shafts; the council fires around v/hich the warriors crouched, row upon row, in solemn conclave; the long fastings, for the Foxes, very devout after their own fashion, would often fast ten days at a time on the eve of battle;^ their incessant war dances now slow and measi'.red, now growing fast and furious until the forests rang with their wild songs and cries of defiance. " ' ' ' (1) N. Y. Col. Documents. Memoir upon the Indiana of Canada, IX, 889. (2) Charlevoix, History of New France, IV, 155. (3) Relation, 1671. THE GAUNTLET TAKEN UP. 97 The French, taught wisdom at Detroit, pro- ceeded with the utmost caution. Unwilling to risk an open assault against the redoubtable Foxes, they beseiged them in regular form. For three days the French toiled in the trench- es, "sustained by a continuous fire of fusileers with two pieces of cannon and a grenade mor- tar." The Foxes, on their part, fought with their wonted valor. From the first they had been expecting a re-inforcement of three hun- dred men, doubtless Mascoutins. Disappoint- ed and desperate they made a furious assault upon the enemy, but were finally driven back behind their palisades. The trenches which had opened at seventy yards distance, had been pushed forward to within twenty-four yards of the fort. On the third night, De Louvigny was ready to explode two mines under the defenses and to storm the place. At the last moment the Foxes offered to surrender, but the French commander re- fused to listen to them. He had come not to negotiate, but to destroy. The deputies came forth a second time to sue for peace. Why DeLouvigny should now have acceded to their proposition is a mys- lery not worth the unravelling; perhaps he knew that the long expected reinforcements 98 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. f'!W were close at hand; or very likely he doubted the nerve of his allies when brought face to face with the Foxes. At any rate, in his official report he tried to throw the responsi- bility for the peace upon the allied Indians. '•I submitted to them the enemy's proposition and they consented to it." But this the French Indians indignantly denied. Five years after- ward an attempt was made to once more unite them in a crusade against the Foxes and they refused; " it is difficult," they said "to place confidence in the French who had once before united the nations to assist in exterminating the Foxes and then had granted peace without even consulting the allies."' The conditions of surrender were remarkably mild, showing plainly that something had gone wrong in the project of extermination. The Foxes were to give up their prisoners; they were to hunt to pay the expenses of the war; they were to take slaves from different nations and deliver them to the allies to replace the dead; six chiefs, or children of chiefs, were also to be taken to Quebec as hostages. Peace con- cluded, De Louvigny set out on his home- ward march, arriving at Quebec on the I2th of October. The next day he made a report to (1) New York Col. Documents, IX. THE GAUNTLET TAKEN UP. 99 the council, ending with the boast that "he had reunited the nations and left that country en- joying universal peace." The next spring De Louvigny was sent back to secure the full performance of the conditions. During the winter, however, three of the Fox chiefs held at Quebec, had died of the small- pox, another, apparently the only remaining one, had lost an eye, and with but this solitary and disfigured hostage the French officer was compelled to return. He himself, a little tim- idly perhaps, stopped at Michillimackinac, and thence sent forward the one-eyed hostage, with two French interpreters to perfect the treaty. After their arrival among the Foxes, several days were spent in mourning for the des^d. This to the savages was the most sacred of all solemnities. "Their toils and their com- merce," writes the Jesuit Brebeuf, ' "seem to have no other end than to amass the means of honoring the departed; they have nothing too precious for this object; often in mid-winter you will see them going almost naked, while they have at home good and costly robes which they keep in reverence for the dead," And now the Foxes were bewailing the loss of their (1) JJeiahon desiTurows, 1636, 128. . lOO HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. three principal chiefs — above all, of the re- nowned I'emoussa, who had commanded them at Detroit and had led the remnant of the nation safely back to its Wisconsin home. It was a common grief shared by every member of the tribe. Day after day they lay, face downward, upon their mats, speechless or else chanting the death-songs dolorously.' These solemn duties discharged, a council was called to consider the treaty with the French. The one-eyed hostage gravely harangu*. d his countrymen upon their failure to keep the stipulations of the surrender. They, on their part, were very contrite and made many promises. They even signed an agree- ment in writing that they would send deputies to Montreal, the next spring, to finish the treaty. Armed with this precious document the hostage, with the two French interpreters, set out for Michillimackin^c. But when they had gone about ten leagues, the hostage began to hesitate. He felt it his duty, he said, to go back to his people and labor with them in order that they might keep faith with the French. So saying, the savage diplo- mat turned his back upon his fellow travelers (I) VuXe. Book of Iroquois Rites, 71. THE GAUNTLET TAKEN UP. lOI and was soon lost to view in the depths of the forest. And that was the end of the treaty with the Foxes. Shall we pause to bewail the faithlessness of the Foxes.-* They had been schooled in per- fidy by the French, and the events at Detroit were still fresh in their memories; their suspic- ions had been roused by the mysterious death of their chiefs at Quebec; they were struggling for home and liberty against a host that had united for their destruction. It may be that their conduct was open to criticism. But let him that is without sin, just cast a stone at them. It is no part of my design to idealize the Fox Indians. Doubtless they were savages addicted to nudity, lying and other unsavory habits. Placed under the microscope of exact research, they became as unromantic as other human beings. But after all, the story of their resistance to the French, and of its wide- sweeping results, has about it as much of the heroic and the grand, as the hard realism of history will ever permit. CHAPTER VII. THE GREAT CONFEDERACY. 1716-I726. The expedition of Dc Louvigny had accom- plished nothing but evil. Instead of being destroyed, the Foxes had only been roused to fiercer efforts; now that the old chiefs were dead, slain by the small-pox at Quebec, there was no check upon the hot-headed impetuosity of the young warriors;' and the next year after the attempt to perfect the peace, they h'id joined with the Mascoutins and the Kickapoos in another war against the Illinois.' Everywhere else tranquility reigned. But this wrath of the Wisconsin Indians against the French and their vassals was the black thunder-cloud that seemed all the more ominous amidst the uni- versal sun-shine. **A11 would be peace on this continent," De Vaudreuil in 1719 wrote plaintively to the king, "if it were not for this (1) Alluded to so late as 1727. Caaa Manuscripts. Wis- conain Hist. Collections, III, 163. (2) De Vaudreuil to the Minister, Oct. 30, 1718. Cana- dian Archives, 1886, p. LVii. THE a RE AT CONFEDERACY. 103 perpetual war of the Foxes and their allies against the Illinois."' It was now the period of John Law and his celebrated Mississippi scheme. France, im- poverished by the gilded follies of Louis XIV, suddenly became a perfect fairy-land of mock prosperity.'' Of course, the valley of the Mis- sissippi shared in this glamour; nothing was too absurd to be believed concerning its hidden wealth. Pearl-fisheries were said to abound in its waters. The prairies of Illinois were under- laid with vast deposits of gold and silver; and in 1 7 19, Renault, Director-General of the Mines of Louisiana was sent, with two hundred miners and artificers to unearth these fabulous treasures. The wool of the buffaloes also was to furnish inexhaustible material for the man- ufacture of cloth and hats; for this purpose they were to be domesticated, gathered in parks, and transported to France.^ Forty years before, indeed, the mad brain of La Salle had given birth to this plan for utilizing the buffaloes.* (1) Nexo York Coll. Documents, IX, 893. (2) Justamond, Lewis XV, vol. 1, page 82, gives a list of immense fortunes suddenly acquired . Consult also Buckle. Hiat. Ciinlization, 1,516. (3) Charlevoix, Hist. New France, III, 389. (4) Parkman, La Salle. ■■:fk% 104 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. ii-y The bubble soon burst, but it left behind it some solid benefits. Many colonists were for- warded; "persons without means of liveli- hood," according to St. Simon/ "sturdy beg- gars, male and female, and a quantity of pub- lic creatures were carried off;" but they entered upon a new life amidst the wilds of the Missis- sippi. A considerable settlement was formed below the Kaskaskia. Trade and agriculture flourished; not only furs but grain and flour were shipped down the river to France or to the West Indies. Fort Chartres was built with walls of solid masonry — the key-stone in that great arch of forts which stretching from Que- bec to the mouth of the Mississippi was de- signed to shut the English up in the narrow strip of land along the Atlantic, and to establish the unity of the French Empire in the West. The Foxes, thererefore, in their struggle to destroy the Illinois Indians and to gain control of the Illinois river, were aiming their blows at the very heart of the French Dofiiinion. The colonial authorities fully realized the dan- ger. ' * The nation, " wrote Charlevoix in 1 72 1 , ' "which for twenty years past has been the (1) Meraoires of St. Simon, III, 236. (2) Charlevoix. Lettern, London, 1763. July 21, 1721, p. 211. Letter XI^, mu THE GREAT CONFEDERACY. 105 most talked of in these western parts is the Outagamies or Renards. The natural fierce- ness of their savagery soured by the ill-treat- ment they have received, sometimes without cause, and their alliance with the Iroquois have rendered them formidable. They have since made a strict alliance with the Sioux, a numer- ous nation inured to war; and this union has rendered all the navigation of the upper part of the Mississippi almost impracticable to us. It is not quite safe to navigate the river of the Illinois unless we are in a condition to prevent surprise, which is a great injury to the trade between the two colonies." But this account does not do full justice to the diplomacy of the Foxes; for, when Charle- voix wrote, they had not completed their work. Year by year they went on extending their league and increasing the uneasiness of the French. "They will array all the upper (western) nations against us," wrote one com- mandant to another.' And in the end a league was formed, by the side of which Pontiac's famous confederacy, or any other ever estab- lished among Indians, seems but a trivial affair. (1) M. de Lignery to M. de Siette. Caaa Mantiacripta. Wisconsin Hist Collections, III, 155. .W^ '-'••fe fit io6 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. This great league comprehended, first, all the nations of Wisconsin, excepting those faith- ful henchmen of the French, the Chippewas. The Mascoutins and Kickapoos, as we have seen, had long been in closest union with the Foxes. The Sauks, even as late as the time of Charlevoix's visit,' had been divided into two factions, for and against the Foxes; but soon afterward they all joined the great confederacy. The Winnebagoes, also, were won over. Even the peaceful Menominees were drawn into the league against the French and were the first to feel their vengeance." These many tribes had hardly anything in common. They were of different races and languages; from the East, the West, the North and the South, they had been driven into Wis- consin like drift-wood flung upon a common shore. The uniting of these diverse, jealous, warring tribes is a wonderful tribute to the wis- dom and patience of the Foxes. Beyona the Mississippi, the league embraced the formidable Sioux. To break up this alliance and to bring the Sioux into commer- cial dependence upon the Chippewas, instead of (1) Charlevoix. Letters, 204. (2) CreepeVa Narrative. Wiaconain Hiat. Coll. ,X, 50, The Pottawattamies were faithful to the French, but had now abandoned Wisconsin for Michigan. THE GREAT CONFEDERACY. 107 the Foxes, the French, in 17 19 had re-estab- lished their post at Chaquamegon Bay, not now, as formerly at its head, but at its entrance upon Madeleine Island.' They had also en- deavored to plant a post somewhere on the banks of the Upper Mississippi. But their efforts availed nothing. The Foxes held the two gateways to the West, and still monop- olized both the trade and friendship of the Sioux. Thanks to the jealousies which from the first had subsisted between Canada and Louisiana ' both the Sioux and the Foxes were being amply equipped for war. The commandants in the north and the south, were disputing as to their respective jurisdictions, and were all eager to issue as many licenses as possible; the couretirs de bois, freed from restraint by these rivalries, were supplying the enemies of France with guns, powder and lead in abundance. * 'This" the Marquis de Vaudreuil complained ^ "con- tributes more than all else to foster the haught- iness of the Sioux and the Foxes. The latter are especially intractable and have a very bad influence upon the former. They have so (1) Margry, VI, 507. (2) Memoire d' Iberville. Mavgry, IV, 611. (3) Lettre de M. de Vaudreuil, Nov. 4, 1720. VI, 509-10. m Margry, io8 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. m I .11 ''If ml prejudiced them against us with stories of our treacherous designs that the Sioux turn a deaf ear to all the persuasions of our officers." The far-reaching diplomacy of the Foxes triumphed, even among the lowas and the tribes along the Missouri river. The govern- ment of Louisiana was at this time paying the closest attention to the Missouri country and had sent troops to build forts, as far west as the mouth of the Kansas river, to check the raids of the Spaniards from New Mexico.' In 1724, M. de Bourgemont, the French commis- sioner in that quarter, communicated to the counsel at New Orleans an unpleasant discov- ery. "I have been greatly surprised," he writes, "to hear that the Hotos and the lowas have made a firm alliance with the Foxes and the Sioux, the enemies of the French."' He claims indeed to have so intimidated these savages that they had promised "not only to break their alliance with our enemies, but to fight them and do whatever I command." One cannot but suspect this sudden repentance on the part of the too contrite savages. At any rate, the French were greatly alarmed. "If (1) Lettre de Bienville au Conaeil de Regence. Margry, VI, 386. (2) Lettre, Jan. 11, 1724. Margry, VI, 466. THE GREAT CONFEDERACY. 109 these nations had raised the hatchet against us," continues M. de Bourgemont, "the Mayas and Paninkas would certainly have joined them. I doubt even whether we should have been able to sustain ourselves at Fort Chart- res. The sinister influence of the Foxes extended even into the far South. There, according to Charlevoix,' they entered into alliance with the Chickasaws, who, gathering around them all the hostile elements on the Lower Missis- sippi gained famous victories over the French. It was this diversion that saved the Foxes from utter ruin, at the crisis of their misfortunes. Such, then, was this great confederation built up by the genius of the Foxes, one which, con- sidering the vast extent of territory over which it stretched, the number of tribes and the di- versity of races which it included, is utterly without a parallel in the history of the Ameri- can Indians. The French pretended that it was the result of the intrigues of the English whom they saw everywhere, as people see ghosts in a graveyard. But there is no proof nor likelihood of any active co-operation on the part of the English. The league rose as we have described, the spontaneous work of (1) History of New France, V, 309. '■A no HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. savages, who desired freedom and hated the French. Nor did the Foxes, amidst the toils of diplo- macy, neglect the work of war. Their attacks upon the Illinois went on unceasingly until all the latter, excepting on^.; ti 'be, were compelled to flee far southward and seek protection under the guns of Fort Chartres. The tribe which did not flee, the Peorias, had taken refuge on Rock St. Louis. This famous rock, the whilom capital of La Salle's imaginary kingdom, was one of Nature's fortresses. Standing on the very brink of the Illinois river, it rose one hun- dred and twenty-five feet above the water's level. Its front over-hanging the river and both its sides were steep as castle walls; but in the rear was a narrow path-way by which the height could be scaled. The level summit, about an acre in extent, gave ample room for defense and afforded a grand view of the sur- rounding country — the undulating prairie, the distant hills, the shining river fenced by nar- row strips of forest. It was a formidable stronghold; but the un- daunted Foxes determined to take it. Unluck- ily we know nothing of the details of the siege, except the number of the slain; twenty Peorias and one hundred and twenty of the besiegers. THE GREAT CONFEDERACY. Ill But the bare figures are eloquent; they tell, not of a mere blockade, but of fierce assaults, storming parties, desperate attempts to scale the heights — the old story of the Foxes' fury and reckless courage. Soon, however, word was carried to the commandant at Fort Chart- res, and he prepared to march to the rescue of his allies, with a force of one hundred and forty Frenchmen and four hundred savages. But before he arrived upon the scene, the Foxes raised the siege and marched away; they saw that with so large a forc^, threatening their rear, the capture of the Rock was impossible. The attack seems a piece of splendid folly; but in the end its wisdom was fully justified. For, as soon as the siege was over, the besieged Peorias prepared to flee; they saw themselves at the mercy of the Foxes from whom there was no security, except on the barren summit of Rock St. Louis; and they, therefore, deter- mined to join the other Illinois tribes in the South. And no persuasion of the French could keep them from instantly putting this project into execution. "It was a grave dis- aster for the French," Charlevoix says.' "For now, that there was nothing to check the raids (1) History of New France, VI, 71. m 112 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. of the Foxes, communication between Canada and Louisiana became much less practicable. The French, however, made every effort to keep control of the Illinois river. Not long after the events just narrated, Sieur de St. Ange drew a large body of the Foxes into an ambus- cade and cut them to pieces. Other of their bands met with a similar fate. **But," writes Charlevoix, "their fury increased as their forces diminished. On every side they have raised up new enemies against us. The whole course and neighborhood of the Mississippi is infested with Indians with whom we have no quarrel, and yet who give to the French no quarter. " CHAPTER VIII. EXTERMINATION BY FAxMINE. 1726-1728. On the 7th of June, 1726, at Green Bay, a grand council with the Sauks, Winnebagoes and Foxes was held by M. de Lignery, with whom were D'Amariton, the commandant of the post, and Chardon, its missionary. As usual upon such occasions, the savages were contrite and apologetic. They threw the blame for the past upon the impetuosity of their young warriors. "It is not without diffi- culty," said the chief of the Sauks, **that we have gained over our young men." The Win- nebago chief spoke in the same strain. "We old men do not agree with our young men, for if they sustained us they would never do any of these bad things." Then he began to ac- cuse the Foxes. "They are numerous, my father. It is they who invite our young men to do as they do for the fear they have of them."' (1) Caaa Manuscripts. Wis. His. Coll., Ill, 152, 3. 8 ,. ., •;■:"• ^"H*-"" .'i>.,-i'. 114 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. On all sides there was a great clamor for peace, "The chiefs of the nations said, with tears, that there was no hope except in obedi- ence." But on both sides it was all a farce — the handshaking of pugilists in the prize ring, before the brutal fight begins. The French neither expected nor desired peace; they were bent upon the destruction of the Foxes. Even before the convening of the council, M. de Siette, commanding in the Illinois country, had written to M. de Lignery "that the Foxes were afraid of treachery, and that the surest mode of securing our object is to destroy and exterminate them.'" But the French authorities hesitated, not from any horror of such butchery, but because the at- tempt would be dangerous and expensive. "We agree that this would be the best expedi- ent, but we maintain that nothing can be more dangerous or more prejudicial to the colonies than such an enterprise, in case it should fail." The King of France wrote the governor gen- eral to the same effect — "for there is the un- certainty of success, and the consequences of a failure might be frightful, besides the enter- prise would cause a heavy expenditure."" (1) Ibid., p. 148. (2) Memoire of the French King\ to Beauharnoia cmd Dupuy, on the Fox War, 29th April, 1727. EXTERMINATION BY FAMINE. 115 nor for I, with obedi- farce — se ring, French ey were s. council, Illinois y "that ind that :ct is to But the om any the at- pensive. expedi- be more colonies uld fail." nor gen- the un- lences of le enter- irnota The French, therefore for the time being, assumed a gentler tone. ?'or the sake of con- ciliation they were willing even to forego the pleasure of burning their prisoners. "The Foxes testified to me," writes M. de Lignery, "that some of their nation had been given to the French, who had burned them upon the spot; this had completely exasperated them and made thjm anxious to kill." An order was now issued by the governor general to discontinue this practice; but in the order there was no tinge of a blush for the past. Burning men alive was simply inexpedient. "It has only served to irritate the Fox people and arouse the strongest hatred against us. "' A peculiar piety lingered about this ferocity of the French. A little before the meeting of the council at Green Bay, the governor had addressed a deputation of Chippewas at Que- bec; and had condoled with them on account of their losses in war. "But it appears to me," he added, "that Heaven has revenged you for your losses, since it has given you the flesh of a young Fox to eat."" What shall be said of a religion that could speak of the Supreme Being as actively engaged in provid- (1) Ibid., p. 149. (JJ) Ibid., p. 166. I^HH ii6 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. ing younjr and tender victims for a cannibal feast? The peace of 1726 then was a mere mock- ery. It was a temporary truce during which the French were busily preparing for the slaughter of the Foxes. "In the meantime," writes De Lignery, ' "we are laboring by way of La Pointe to detach the Sioux from their alliance. We endeavor also to stop their passage to the Iroquois, those Indians having offered them an asylum." Thus all avenues of escape, either to the east or the west, were to be closed against the doomed nation. To carry out this purpose so far as the Sioux were concerned, the French had been- long trying to establish a trading post on the Mis- sissippi. But the art and fury of the Foxes had prevented. In 1725, Chardon, missionary at Green Bay, had written to his Superior that it was impossible to send an expedition or mis- sionaries to the Sioux on account of the Foxes who declared defiantly that they would never permit the French to pass because it would greatly diminish their own trade; and they had killed several Frenchmen who at different times had attempted it," But now that the (1) Letter to M. de Siette, June 19, 1726. Ibid., p. 154. (2) Lettre de LongueU et Begon au Minister de Marine. Margry, VI, 543. EXTERMINATION BY FAMINE. ii; truce was established, another effort was made. A trading corporation, the company of the Sioux, was formed; and in June, 1727, an ex- pedition commanded by La Perriere de Boucher, of infamous memory, with a few soldiers and traders and two missionaries, was dispatched from Montreal. The voyagers reached Green Bay safely, thence pushed up the river past the village of the Winnebagoes, and about eight leagues be- yond came in sight of the long, low cabins of the Foxes. The town built upon a slight eminence by the river side, contained — accord- ing to Inignas, one of the missionaries, who gives an account of the voyage' — only two hundred warriors. But it fairly swarmed with boys from ten to fourteen years of age who would soon be able to fill the places of the countless braves slain in the long warfare against the French. The little party drew near to the town with many misgivings; for this was the critical point of their journey. But peace had been recently established, and the savages were on their good behavior. "Of all nations, the Foxes are the most dreaded by the French," Guignas says, "but we found in them nothing to fear. As (1) Lettre a Beauharnois. Margry, VI, 654. Il8 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. soon as our canoes touched the shore they came to us with their pipes lighted, although it was raining heavily. And everybody smoked." A council was called; the French were read- ily permitted to proceed, and went on their way rejoicing, They soon arrived at Lake Pepin. There, at about the middle of the west side of the lake, upon a low spit of sand nearly opposite to the famous Maiden Rock, they built Fort Beauharnois. ' So much at least, the French had gained by their treaty of peace with the "faithless Foxes." This accomplished, the French threw aside the mask, declaring that peace was no longer possible. They claimed that war parties were still going from Wisconsin against the Illinois. They were alarmed at the encroachments of the English who had recently built a stone fort at Oswego, on Lake Ontario, and were said to be intriguing with the Indians for the expulsion of the French from the West. The Foxes, it was reported, had accepted the belts of the English, and had declared that they would not suffer the French to remain in their country. *'Thc colony," wrote the governor and intend- (1) Noill. Early Wisconsin Exploration. Coll., X, 302. Also Draper, Ibid., p. 371. Wis. Hist. EXTERMINATION BY FAMINE. 119 ; they though rybody e read- 1 their t Lake of the )f sand Rock, t least, f peace y aside longer ^s were llinois. ents of )ne fort said to pulsion Dxes, it of the uld not ountry. intend- 'i8. Hist. ant to the king, "is reduced to an extremity which justifies war." The colonial authorities were so eager to begin their fiendish crusade that they did not even wait for the approval of the king; and for this they were censured by the home government. But they amply justified themselves on two grounds. First; "it was aiready known that the court had nothing so much at heart as the destruction of the Foxes."' Secondly; "the intrigues of the English and thewar part- ies which the Foxes were raising every day did not allow them to defer this expedition for a year without endangering the loss of the whole country. " = The preparations for the campaign were car- ried on with the utmost secrecy. The Cana- dians and friendly Indians were notified to hold themselves in readiness for a movement the next spring against the new English fort at Oswego; and until the last moment they knew nothing of their real destination. "It is the intention," wrote De Beauharnois to the king, (1) Ca»» Manuscript. Wis. Hist. Coll., Ill, 164. (2) Memoire of De Beauharnois. Smith, History of Wisconsin, I, 343. Note. Just before the starting of the expedition, the Icing wrote: ' 'His Majesty is persuaded of the necessity of destroying the Fox nation." Letter of the king, 14 May, 1728. N. Y. Documents, IX, 1005. -s*^ I20 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. "to make this war a brilliant affair; and it is therefore of the utmost importance that the Foxes should not be informed of the design."' The expedition, commanded by M. de Lig- nery, left Montreal on the 5th of June, 1728. It was composed of four hundred Frenchmen and nearly nine hundred savages from many nations, but chiefly converted Iroquois and Hurons. A large re-enforcement of Indians was expected at Mackinac. The commandant in the Illinois country had also been ordered to meet the expedition at Green Bay with all his force, French and Indian.' All this against a handful of savages that did not now prob- ably number five hundred fighting men. The army toiled painfully over the usual route by way of the Ottawa river. In strug- gling through the wilderness, by narrow trails and difficult portages the force was- necessarily split into small detachments; but by July 26th, all had reached the rendezvous on the shore of Lake Huron. Here mass was celebrated be- fore the reunited army. The place of worship was a green prairie, smooth as a temple floor, walled in upon the one side by the dim arches of the forest, on the other by the glistening (1) Wi8. Hist. Coll., Ill, 163 and 164. (2) Letter to M. de Siette, Aug. 20, 1727. Ibid., 163. EXTERMINATION BY FAMINE. 121 waters of the inland sea. In the center stood three priests clad in the stately vestments of their office; before them an altar transported with infinite pains through the wilderness. Roundabout was a motley host. Soldiers in uni- form and Canadian hunters in their many- colored garb stood beneath the banners of France; scantily costumed savages crouched or lay flat on the ground, with eyes and ears intent upon the ** great war medicine" of the French. After these pious exercises the mul- titude set out with new ardor to exterminate the Foxes. Mackinac was soon reached and here ensued an inexplicable delay. Everything depended upon a swift, unexpected swooping down upon the enemy; and yet M. de Lignery loitered for nine days. The whole army murmured; the Indians, always restless when on the war- path, were almost frantic over the detention. No excuse was ever offered for thus lingering except that "M. de Lignery was too ill to go on." But a more probable explanation is sug- gested by a statement made by Montcalm con- cerning this officer when long afterward he was in command at Fort Duquesne: "the Indians do not like M. de Lignery who is drunk every day."- (1) Parkman. Montcalm and Wolfe, II, 169. 122 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. The expedition finally got under way, and on the 15th of August reached the abode of the Menominees, on the river of the same name. "This people," writes the chaplain of the army,' "are some of the tallest and hand- somest men in Canada." He coolly adds, that "we landed with a view to provoke them to oppose our descent; they fell into the trap and were entirely defeated." After this brilliant exploit, the French moved on to within eight or ten miles of the village of the Sauks at Green Bay. Here the expedi- tion was halted until night, and then paddled silently on under cover of the darkness. The Sauk village was reached about midnight; a part of the force was sent around to the rear to surround the sleeping foe; the rest made a brave dash on the front. Of course, the in- habitants amply warned, had fled. Four poor creatures, however, were found lurking in the cabins; and these were handed over to the French Indians, who "made them suffer the pain of twenty deaths before depriving them of life." ^ Then the invaders passed up the river to the town of the Winnebagoes. "Our people were (1) Crespel. Coll., X, 50. Expedition against the Foxes. Wis. His. EXTERMINATION BY FAMINE. 123 ay, and .bode of le same plain of d hand- Ids, that them to rap and h moved : village expedi- paddled ,s. The night; a the rear made a , the in- our poor ig in the to the jffer the them of er to the pie were Wis. His. well disposed to destroy those that might be found there, but the flight of the inhabitants saved them and we could only burn their huts and destroy the harvest of Indian corn on which they subsist." Then, after celebrating mass, these devout vandals moved on to the chief settlement of the Foxes. But the savages, unwilling to be exterminated, had fled four days before. An old man, two women and a girl were captured however, and burned at a slow fire. The French still paddled up the river until they reached another town of the enemy and found this too, a solitude. Their savage allies re- fused to go further, saying that the fugitives hav- ing four days the start, could not ^" overtaken. Winter, also, was rapidly approaching and the French were four hundred and fifty leagues from home; outwitted and foiled, they were compelled to return. On their way back they demolished the fort at Green Bay, believing that it could not be held any longer; took with them its garrison and missionary and has- tened homeward. Was then the tiger to be baulked of his prey.' No, malignity has many resources. Before setting o"t on their return the French army had ** employed several days in laying ..i,^ 124 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. waste the country, to deprive the enemy of the means of subsistence." Nothing escaped them. They burned the villages, they "des- troyed all that they could find in the fields, Indian corn, peas, beans and gourds, of all which the savages had great abundance."' Thus the Foxes, against whom all other arts had failed, were left to the mercies of winter and starvation. It seems, too, as if that mysterious and ma- lign element, so often found in Nature, had come to the aid of human hate. The next winter, according to the chief historian of New France, was one of unusual severity; such in- tensity of cold had hardly ever been known since the first settlement of Canada.'' To this, thousands of Fox women and children were left exposed, without shelter or food. The lambs had been shorn but the winds were not tempered. The glee of the French was great. "Neither the glory nor the arms of the king will suffer by this expedition," the official dis- patch declares. The more misery, it seemed to be thought, the more glory for the king; (1) Ibid., 53. (2) Ferland, Cours d Hiatorie du Canada, II, 435. Fer- land mentions this without any reference to the attempted starvation of the Foxes. lemy of escaped 7 "des- e fields, , of all iance."' :her arts \ winter EXTERMINATION BY FAMINE. 125 and therefore the mathematical Frenchmen carefully computed the number of the perish- ing. ''It is certain," wrote the Marquis de Beauharnois, triumphantly, ''that one half of these nations who number four thousand souls, will die of hunger, and that the rest will C3me in and sue for mercy." and ma- ire, had he next of New ;uch in- known To this, en were i. The 'ere not great. he king cial dis- seemed lie king; 135. Fer- ittempted CHAPTER IX. EXTERMINATION BY FIRE. 1728 -1736. In the first days of September, 1728, four thousand exiles, their homes burned and their fields laid waste, were fleeing for their lives along the Wisconsin. The women and chil- dren were carried in canoes, but the warriors traveled on foot, struggling through the thick- ets and across the swamps and sands that lined the river.' Reaching the Mississippi, they turned to the North, and very soon a host of savages, wild with hunger and with rage, were peering through the leafy forests that rose above Fort Beauharnois on Lake Pepin. They had come expecting aid in the hour of their distress, from their friends and allies, the Sioux. But they found, as countless other poor wretches have found, that friendships are like reeds; they must not be leaned on too heavily. The Sioux had been won over to the French by the planting of the trading post in their midst the year before; and they turned a deaf ear to the entreaties and reproaches of their (1) Lettre au Miniatre de Marine, Oct., 1729. Margry, VI, 561. EXTERMINATION BY FIRE. 127 old confederates. "There is no doubt," the governor general wrote to the colonial minister, ' •'that the Foxes would have found an asylum with the Sioux, if the French fort had not been established there." Thus the confederacy formed by the Foxes with so much pains and skill began to crumble; not long after, these hapless savages were also deserted by their oldest and closest allies, the Mascoutins and Kickapoos. On the approach of the terrible Foxes, Fort Beauharnois had been temporarily abandoned, and a large part of its garrison, including Guignas, the mission- ary, had fled southward, hoping to find refuge among the Illinois, nearly six hundred miles away. But they were intercepted in their flight by the Mascoutins, who had been driven from Wisconsin into Northeastern Iowa. At first the captives were very roughly handled, and Guignas narrowly escaped being burned alive, According to his own account, however, he finally so ingratiated himself with the savages that they released him after five months of captivity, and sent with him envoys to the Illinois and the French to sue for peace." (1) Lettre au Miniatre de Marine, Oct. 1729. Margry VI, 561. (2) Lettres Ediflantea, I, 771. Lettre du Pe're Le Petit 12 Juillet, 1730. 128 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. Probably more potent reasons than the wheedling of the Jesuit, influenced the Mas- coutins. At any rate it is certain that in the spring of 1729, they declared war against the Foxes.' The Sauks also fell away and re- turned submissively to their old home at Green Bay. The Winnebagoes having fled from their devastated land, found refuge among the Sioux, and for the next nine years dwelt peacefully around Fort Beauharnois.' Under the press- ure of cajolery and violence the league had gone to pieces; the Foxes were left alone to face the storm of French vengeance. Driven away by the Sioux, they found some sort of an asylum in the land of the lowas.^ But subdued by hunger and cold, crushed by the desertion of all their allies, longing for home, they returned the next season to Wisconsin. They were broken in spirit, willing to yield everything to the insatiable French. **The Foxes are begging for peace," Beauharnois wrote triumphantly to the King." But their (1) Beauharnois to the Minister, May 19, 1729. Cana dian Archives, 1886, p. xcv. (2) Memoir upon the Indians of Canada, 1736. New York Coll. Docs., X, p. xcv. Also Margry, VI, 575. (3) Memoir of Beauharnois, 1729. Smith's Hist. Wis- consin, 344. (4) Letter to the minister, Aug. 17, 1729. Canadian Archives, 1886, p. xcv. EXTERMINATION BY FIRE. 129 ti the Mas- in the 1st the nd re- Green a their Sioux, cefully press- Lie had one to d some 'But by the home, consin. yield ♦'The harnois t their ). Cana New tat. Wi8- J6. lanadian peaceful proposal was answered only by a fierce assault upon one of their encampments by a body of French Indians.' Somewhat later, probably about the close of 1729, another expedition, composed of Ottawas, Chippewas, Menominees and Winnebagoes.was sent against the returning exiles, and succeed- ed in ambuscading a detachment of them. The latter had only eighty warriors; but they fought with their wonted valor, until all excepting three were either killed or captured. Three hundred women and childre*n were also taken prisoners. All were burned to death. The French authorities were delighted. Beauharnois wrote to the minister exultantly: "I communicate this news with .so much the more pleasure because there is no doubt of it."' The French used to apologize for their burning of prisoners as a lesson taught them by the savages. ' 'Among the wolves we have learned to howl," wrote Cadillac flippantly.* But the savages burned men — conceiving that death at the stake was that final and supreme test of courage from which no brave man ought to shrink. The burning of women and chil- (1) Letter of Oct. 26, 1729. Ibid., p. xcvii .Also N. Y. Coll. Does., IX, 1017. (2) Relation, etc. Margry, Y, 100. 9 I30 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. drcn, however, subserved no such purpose, and was something quite unknown to the prim- itive red man. He regarded children, especially, with so passionate and indulgent a love that his indignation was aroused by even the sight of the whippings and other severities visited upon the young in the white man's settlements; and to torture the little ones at the stake was a devel- opment of malignity far beyond the reach of his unprogressive nature. That was the in- vention of the French — one of those depths of infamy into which* it would seem that only the civilized can sink, as a stone descends with the greater force when it falls from the greater height. Despite these barbarities on the part of their enemies, the Foxes did not yet despair of peace. Not long after the burning of the three hundred women and children, the great chief of the nation made his way through the wilderness in the depth of winter, to the dis- tant post of St Joseph in southern Michigan. •'I look upon myself as dead," he said to the commandant there. Asking for nothing ex- cept the lives of the women and children, he promised that this people would send deputies to Montreal the next spring to sue for mercy. EXTERMINATION BY FIRE. 131 (urpose, le prim- )ecially, that his ht of the ipon the ;; and to a devel- reach of the in- lepths of only the i with the p greater •t of their espair of g of the he great ough the the dis- ^ichigan. d to the hing ex- Idren, he eputies to lercy. But the doomed nation might as well have appealed to the pity of the winds. In March, 1730, they were again attacked by a force un- der the command of the afterwards noted Marin. "An action ensued of the warmest kind, and very well supported," says the offi- cial dispatch. Beyond that we know nothing. One thing about this transaction, however, is noteworthy. The French now began, ap- parently, to feel some slight sense of shame over this persistent malignity toward a foe suing for mercy; and they tried to excuse themselves by casting the blame upon their savage allies. "This expedition was under- taken," we are told, "at the earnest solicita- tion of the Indians." But if any one doubts who were really at the bottom of these atrocities let him read how these same Ottawas were induced by the French to massacre the forty Iroquois deputies at Mackinaw, in 1695. At first the Ottawas sturdily refused to thus violate the law of na- tions which was just as sacred among the savage as the civilized; but they were plied with liquor by the French until they became a mere mob of drunken madmen, and in this condition they fell upon the unsuspecting dep- uties and slew them all. Frontenac, then gov- 132 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. ernor, narrates all this without the tinge of a blush, and adds boastfully: "Thus we have entirely broken up the inception of peace."' Two months after Marin's departure, another exterminating expedition, composed of five hundred and fifty Indians and fifty Frenchmen, set out from Mackinaw. Its commander, Du Buisson, declared that "all the nations of the upper country are very much excited against the Foxes; large bodies of Indians have col- lected and urged me to go at their head to fall upon that people and destroy them." But the statement, doubtless, is as false as those which he made, at the time of the betrayal and mas- sacre of the Foxes at Detroit, in 1712. At any rate, Du Buisson and his allies were foiled of their prey. Even before they were ready to start, the enemy had fled southward beyond reach of pursuit. When the curtain next rises upon the wretched fugitives, we find them gathered on t^e Illinois river, not far from Rock St. Louis, and there fortifying themselves as for a despei ite resistance. Word was quickly sent to all the commandants in that part of the West — St. Ange in the country of the Illinois, De Noyelles among the Miamis in Indiana, De (1) Narrative of 1696-6. New York Col. Docta., IX, 640. • EXTERMINATION BY FIRE. 133 Villiers at Fort St. Joseph in Michigan; and they all assembled their forces and hastened to the spot, determined to sweep the unhappy Foxes from the earth. De Villiers took com- mand of the combined forces which amounted to eleven hundred Indians and one hundred and seventy Frenchmen. The battle began on the 19th of August, 1730, and lasted twenty-two days. The Foxes had chosen an admirable position in a piece of woods upon a gentle slope by the side of a small river. Although outnumbered four to one, they fought with their usual dash and valor, making many desperate sorties, but were each time driven back by the overwhelming numbers of the enemy. The French, on their part, dug trenches, and proceeded with all the caution they had been taught by many cam- paigns again.st these redoubtable foes.' (1) Ferland, Cours d'Histoire du Canada, II, 436, aeq. To this historian'8 heretofore unnoticed account, I am in- debted for ray naiTative of this battle. Ferland, unfortu- nately, never gives his authorities; but he is known to have been an untiring dolver among the manuscripts in the Archives at Paris. The slight reference to De Villiers' ex- pedition, presei-ved in the New York Col. Docts., so far as it goes, corroborates the account of Ferland. And the Ca.iadian Archives Report, 188(5, p. c, lists a dispatch aboat " the crushing defeat of the Renardsby De Villiers.'' Letter of Beauharnois and Hocquart to the Minister ^ Nov. 1, 1730. 134 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. After a while the supply of food gave out and famine reigned in both camps. The Foxes and the French, the oppressed and the op- pressor, suffered alike under the calm, cruel impartiality of nature, Two hundred Illinois Indians deserted. But the French persevered, and began the construction of a fort to prevent the besieged from going to the river for water. Further resistance now seemed impossible. But on the 8th of September, a violent storm arose, accompanied by heavy thunder and tor- rents of rain. The following night was rainy, dark and cold; and under its cover, the Foxes stole away from their fort. Before they had gone far, the crying of their children betrayed them. But the French did not dare to attack them amidst a darkness so dense that it was im- possible to distinguish friend from foe; in the morning, however, they set out in hot pursuit. The fugitives marched with the women, children and old men at the head, the warriors in the rear to protect their flight; thus cum- bered they advanced but slowly and were soon overtaken. The warriors were without ammuni- tion,' enveloped on every side by a vastly su- (1) Even during the siege, tiie Foxes hod been supplied wltli ammunition, only by the help of some of the French al- lies viho secretly favored them. Ferland, Couth d'His- torie, II. EXTERMINATION BY FIRE. 135 ave out e Foxes the op- n, cruel Illinois severed, prevent )r water. ible. nt storm and tor- as rainy, le Foxes they had betrayed ;o attack t was im- e; in the pursuit. women, warriors lus cum- /ere soon ammuni- /astly su- en supplied B French al- tura d'Hia- perior and well-armed force, entangled in crowds of helpless .vomen and children whom they were striving to defend. Under such conditions the battle soon became a massacre. Only fifty or sixty men escaped; three hundred "were killed or burned after being taken pris- oners, " Six hundred women and children also perished either under the tomahawk or by fire. The proportion of women and children to that of men slaughtered is here not so great as in previous massacres. The reason was that many of the savages, notably the Miamis and Sauks, recoiled from this wholesale murdering of the defenseless. The French complained that even during the siege, "their allies, un- der various pretexts, helped a large number of the women and children to escape from the fort and thus saved them from the massacre of their nation."" Still nine hundred men and women had been massacred, either by the knife or by the slower and more horrible doom of fire; and despite the escape of a few, the French were cheerful. "Behold," wrote the Canadian governor to the (1) N. Y. Col. Documenta, IX. This dispatch puts the number at 200, Ferland at 300. (2) Ferland, II, 438. 136 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. king, "a nation humiliated in such a fashion that they will nevermore trouble the earth." ' Happily we are now permitted a slight breathing-spell midst this recital of horrors. The curtain suddenly falls, for two years, upon the wanderings and miseries of the indomitable Foxes. There is indeed one report of an at- tack made upon them by the young warriors of Illinois,^ and other similar enterprises arc vaguely mentioned.^ But in the main it is an interval of peace. The French availed them- selves of it to re-establish the fort on Lake Pepin which they had been compelled to aban- don;* and rejoiced in other "happy results from the defeat of the Foxes. " s When, on the 17th of October, 1732, the curtain again rises, the remnant of the Foxes are dwelling peaceably upon the borders of the Wisconsin. But the wrath of the implaca- ble French had flamed forth anew. A bodv of Christian Iroquois from the St. Lawrence, (1) M. de Beauharnois ^a M. de Maurepaa, Ibid., 18 Mar., 1731. (2) Beauharnois to the Minister, Oct. 12, 1731. Cana- dian Archives. 1886, p. cvii. (3) Forland, 11,439. (4) Lettre de Beauharnois. Mai'gry, VI, 569. (5) Ibid. Canadian Archives, cviic m \ EXTERMINATION BY FIRE. 137 fashion ■th."' I slight horrors, -s, upon )mitablc f an at- vvarriors ises arc I it is an d them- on Lake to aban- results 732, the Foxes rders of implaca- A body iwrence, Ibid., 18 I. Carta- and of Hurons from Detroit, had been dis- patched from the latter place to once more exterminate the people who had been so piti- lessly pursued for twenty years. The invaders pushed on until they reached the basin of the Wisconsin, Ascending one day the summit of a hill, they looked down and beheld their prey dwelling quietly in the vale beneath. It was the work of but a moment to discharge their guns, and tomahawk in hand swoop down upon the village. The Foxes expecting no danger were but poorly prepared for battle, and after a short contest three hundred of them — men, women and children — were cap- tured and massacred.' The rest dispersed among the neighboring nations. One party, consisting of thirty or forty men and as many women, wended their way in despair to Green Bay and threw them- selves upon the mercy of the French command- ant, De Villiers. In this party was the grand chief of the Foxes, Kiala, who was soon sent to Quebec, and thence hurried off into slavery under the blazing skies of Martinique. His wife followed him as far as Quebec; but there (1) Ferland, II, 438, alone gives the nan-ative of this ex- pedition. But lie is very fully corroborated by the lists and abstracts of despatches in the Report of Canadian Archives, 1886, p. cxi, et neq. No less than five are given* 'itil .lilll 138 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. I she lingered for some time, distracted between her wifely affection and her horror of bondage. At last woman's love conquered, and she went to join her husband in the slave-gang. The historian may well rejoice in this little bit of savage romance, sad but sweet, that comes to relieve the blackness of all these civ- ilized iniquities. The other fugitives who fled to Green Bay were more fortunate; for nearly a year they were permitted to remain undisturbed in the village of the Sauks, across the river from the fort. But the French government finally de- termined to demand their surrender; and to enforce this demand, M. de Repentigny, the commandant at Mackinaw, was secretly sent with sixty Frenchmen and two hundred In- dians to the aid of De Villiers, who had been promoted to the command at Green Bay; after a consultation between the two officers, this force was ordered to lie concealed about a mile from the fort until three gun-shots should be heard, which was to be the signal for an im- mediate advance. This arranged, De Villiers returned to the fort, and sending for the Sauk chiefs, laid his demands before them. Life, he said, had been accorded by the government to the Fox fugitives, but only on EXTERMINATION BY FIRE. 139 tween idage. I went 5 little :, that se civ- il! Bay r they in the om the illy de- and to ly, the y sent ed In- d been r, after rs, this : a mile )uld be an im- Villiers s Sauk by the )nly on condition that they should deliver themselves to him, in order to be carried to Montreal; if they were not forthcoming at a certain hour, he further declared, he himself would go to the Sauk village and take them. The chiefs lis- tened gravely and then withdrew to consult with their people. One can readily imagine the results; the Foxes having in view the fate of their great chief, Kiala, and the horrors of Martinique, were quite unwilling to go to Mon- treal; the Sauks, with whom, as with all sav- ages, the rites of hospitality were sacred, having once welcomed the fugitives into their cabin, would not betray them. The hour passed; but the Foxes did not appear at the fort. De Villiers taking with him De Repen- tigny and eight other Frenchmen, hastened to the palisaded village of the Sauks to carry out his threat. Enraged by the contempt of the savages for his authority, and maddened, according to the traditions, by strong drink, he attempted to force an entrance. The prin- cipal chief entreated him to desist, saying that the young men could not be controlled, and that if he did more, he was a dead man.' (1) Ferland. Coura d' Hiatoire, II, 440. He is abun- dantly corroborated by no less than five lengthy dispatches devoted to this affair that are listed in Brymner's Report. 1886. 140 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. The furious Frenchman not only persisted, but drew up his gun and shot the chief dead. With unabated fury he slew another chief, and then a third. For a moment the Sauks were stupefied, and the first to recover himself was a brave boy, only twelve years of age, who leveled his gun and killed the brutal comman- dant.' Then a general melee ensued, in which De Repentigny and all the Frenchmen except one were slain. In this account I have followed the French reports except in regard to the first firing, which they claim was done by the Indians. But herein the carefully preserved tradition is intrinsically more credible; besides, it is cor- roborated by the admission of the official dis- patches, that "the disaster was caused by the rash courage of De Villiers."' And which- ever account may be true, it is plain enough that the outrageous Frenchman met only his just deserts. But the French thought only of revenge. (1) Orignon'8 RecoUectiona. Wia. Hist. Golls., Ill, 204. So far as known to me, this noted tradition recorded by Grignon, has never before this been corroborated and its date fixed by reference to Ferland or to the Canadian Re- ports. Another version of the tradition is given in Wia. Hiat. Colla, VIII, 207. (2) Letter of Beauharnoia to the minister, Oct. 13, 1733. Canadian Archives, 18S6, p. cxx. EXTERMINATION BY FIRE. 141 The governor writing to the minister recounts " the perfidy of the Sauks, who have killed De Villiers and others;" and declares that it is necessary to avenge them.' The Sauks, fore- seeing the storm of vengeance that was to burst upon them, prepared to abandon their country forever, and after three days set out in the darkness of the night. The French, who had not dared attack them behind their pali- sades, pursued and overtook them about twen- ty miles away. There a fierce battle was fought with heavy losses on both sides. The Sauks then continued on their way. The exiles wandered far and long, gathering up the fragments of the Fox nation as they went. In their extremity they sought an asy- lum among the lowas, but were refused. Then they turned to the Sioux and Winnebagoes settled around Fort Beauharnois. But these prudent savages were solicitous for their trade; vowed eternal friendship with the French and asked to be led to battle against the Sacs and Foxes. Linctot, the commandant, however, doubted the depth of their devotion, and wisely refused to head another crusade.'' The (1) Report of Beauharnois and Hocqunrt, Nov. 11, 1733, Ibid, cxix. (2) Margry, VI, 570. Extract d'une Lettre Mme. de Beauharnois et Hocquart au de Ministre de la Marine. 7 Oct. 1734. 142 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. wanderers, left to themselves, finally fixed their abode on the Wapsipinacon river about two or three day's journey southwest from the mouth of the Wisconsin. Even into this far country the hate of the French pursued them. In August, 1734, De Noyelles, with eighty' Frenchmen and the usual contingent of converted savages, set out from Montreal to reach the exiled Sacs and Foxes. This expedition from the first, was strangely mismanaged; several months were consumed in the march; in the meantime the enemy had fled farther westward and strongly fortified themselves on the banks of the Des Moines. The French arriving at last, carried on a desultory and farcical kind of siege for several weeks. Their Indian allies grew dis- gusted and many deserted. As all hopes of success dwindled away, t^^e French smothered their wrath and began to negotiate. They succeeded in cajoling the Sauks into some sort of a promise that they would separate from the Foxes and relight their fires at Green Bay. Then the French set out on their inglorious re- turn' (1) 60 were regular soldiers, according to the army re port of Beauharnois, Oct., 1734. Neiv York Coll Doca, IX, 1046. (2) Ferland, II, 441. Also N. Y, Coll. Documents, IX, 1051. Three dispatches devoted to this expedition are listed in Can. Archives, p. cxxto cxvii. EXTERMINATION BY FIRE. 143 '•The ill-success of De Noyelle's expedi- tion," wrote the governor apologetically, "was due to the bad conduct of the Indians, and especially the Hurons."' But the French themselves had lost all stomach for any further fight with their indomitable foes, and the dis- patch just quoted proceeds to point out the "great danger of pushing the Sacs and Foxes to extremity. " The next year it was announced that peace had at last been established with those nations.' Thus the war against the Foxes was ended, after having lasted just a quarter of a century. During that time these savages confronted an array of horrors which has no counterpart in history. The triple agencies of the sword, starvation and the stake were evoked to destroy them. They v;ere betrayed by their friends, and entrapped by the matchless per- fidy of their foes. Their homes were burned, their lands laid waste , and they themselves driven forth, like wild beasts from their dens. In four states of this Union, Michigan, Illi- nois, Iowa and Wisconsin, they were hunted, besieged and slaughtered. Wherever they went their trail could almost be traced by the dripping of their blood. Two thousand of them (1) Letter of Beauharnoia, Oct. 17, 1736. (2) Ibid., Oct. 16, 1737. C. A. p. cxxxi. 144 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. — if the French did not over estimate their own baseness — were left in a single winter to die of cold and hunger. Out of their small numbers twenty-five hundred were burned to death at slow fires. The story of it all affects us like the visions of Dante's Inferno; one is incredulous rather than horrified. But every item of the story rests upon the admissions, or rather the boasts, of the French themselves. The Indian version of it has never been told. And these wonderful savages were not ex- terminated. According to a French memoir of 1736, they still had one hundred warriors — seven or eight hundred souls in all. Nor were they ever subjugated. That same year, 1736, Boulanger, a French missionary, wrote to the colonial minister: "They have deceived the king in making him believe that the Foxes are destroyed * * * The only result has been to augment expenditures and render that na- tion more insolent then before.'" It makes one think better of poor humanity to read that. The Foxes, although reduced to a little band of exiles, were as undaunted and defiant as ever. But in attempting to destroy them, the French Dominion in the West had received a blow from which it never recovered. (1) Ferland, II, 441. i their titer to small ned to visions ler than ■y rests boasts, version not ex- memoir irriors — lor were r, 1736, J to the ived the oxes are las been that na- akes one that. :tle band sfiant as lem, the iceived a Ci.:/\PTKR X. THE WEST IN REVOI.T 1738-1752. We have described in a former chaptLT the policy of cajolery and intimidation by which the French hoped to secure the allegiance of the Indians and the control of the continent. Up to 1 712 this policy had been successful. Drawn by their desire for trade and their re- spect— almost reverence — for the mysterious power of the whites, the Indians were, in the main, friendly to the French. But at the end of the Fox war all this had changed. The splen- did resistance of the Wisconsin savages, and the revelation of the white man's weakness and wickedness had disenchanted the Indians. The prestige of the French was gone. The larger part of their trade had been diverted either to Hudson's Bay or, through the Iroquois, to the English settlements on the coast. Indian friend- ship had given way to turbulence, sullenness and contempt. In trying to stamp out the Wisconsin fires the French had only scattered the sparks in every direction. 10 ,i i 146 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. The Sioux, the ruling nation beyond the Mississippi, became refractory and hostile. In 1736 they massacred a part of Verendrie's force and put av end to his explorations in the remote West; about the same time they began a fierce war against the Chippewa allies of the French;' and the next year became so riotous around Fort Beauharnois on Lake Pepin — burning the buildings and pillaging the traders — that the post had to be abandoned. "^ Thus the French were cast jff from the West. Simultaneously the flames of revolt burst forth in the South, and the French suffered frightful disasters in their vain attempt to sub- jugate the Chickasaws. Eastward also the fires spread. Even those humble servants of the French, the Hurons and Ottawas around De- troit, became turbulent and for three years made ceaseless trouble.^ In 1740, the Cana- dian governor wrote to the court lamenting the "drunkenness and insolence of the Indian allies in the West."'* Discontent and tumult reigned everywhere. (1) Letters of La Sonde, Comd'tat Chequamegon, June] 28 and July 21, 1738. Can. Archives, 1886, p. cxxxiv. (2) Margry. VI, 575. (3) Beauharnois to the Minister, Sept. 17, 1741. Can. Archives, 1886, p. cxLix. (4) Ibid, July 6, 1740, p. cxiiiv. . THE WEST IN REVOLT. 147 ond the stile. In -rendrie's )ns in the ley began lies of the so riotous ; Pepin — :he traders id.' Thus ^est. jvolt burst :h suffered npt to sub- Iso the fires ints of the around De- three years , the Cana- t lamenting [ the Indian | and tumult' luamegon, June | p.cxxxiv. 17, 1741. Can. The Foxes, although seemingly crushed and cut to pieces, needed only a little breathing spell and then they too were ready for revolt. Peace had been made v.ith them in 1737 as we have seen. But it could not have lasted long; for in 1739 the French were forced to make another peace with these irrepressible savages.' This proved also a very fleeting affair. The Foxes renewed their ancient alliance with the Sioux, and in 1741 both were again warring against the French allies, the Chippewas in the north and the Illinois in the south.' In 1742, however, the Canadian governor announces "the submission of the Sioux, Sauks and Foxes. "3 But the next year he makes another report in a more subdued strain concerning "the measures taken to prevent a union be- tween the Sioux and the Foxes."" A somewhat later dispatch apologizes for the increase of colonial expenditures by the plea that they had been obliged that "year to give so many presents to the Sioux, the Sauks and Foxes. "5 To that condition the French Do- ll) Ibid, June 30, 1739, p. cxxxvii. (2) Ibid, Sept. 24, 1741, p. CXLix. (3) Ibid, Sept. 24, 1742, p. cxMi. (4) Ibid, Sept. 18, 1743, p. cxLvi. (5) Letter to Count MsLurepaa, Oct. 13, 1743. N. Y. Col. Documents, IX, 1099. 148 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. minion in the West had been reduced. It ex- isted at the sufferance of these truculent sav- ages who could be pacified only by presents. During these turbulent times, the Chippe- was began to form settlements in the interior v)f Northern Wisconsin; having finally lost the friendship and trade of the Sioux, their posi- tion on the shore of Lake Superior became less valuable and many of them withdrew to better hunting grounds on the head waters of the Chip- pewa and other rivers. Tradition preserves a graceful story concerning the origin of one of these new villages. While a hunting party was encamped on the shore of a lake in the forest, a little child died and was buried by the water- side. The party pressed on. But the hearts of the father and mother still clung to the child and the next summer they came back to grieve by the grave. Unable to tear themselves away, they built their lodge there, alone in the woods, on the war-path of their enemies, but close to the precious ashes. But their grief was sacred and no one molested them. From time to time other Chippewas came and built their lodges likewise by the side of the lake. Thus began the still existing village of Lac Court Oreilles.* (1) Warren, History of the OJibvaya. Minnesota Hist. 11, V. 127. THE WEST IN REVOLT. 149 Itex- ent sav- sents. Chippe- interior r lost the leir posi- came less to better the Chip- preserves 1 of one of party was fhe forest, the water- the hearts o the child k to grieve themselves lone in the lemies, but their grief ixn. From e and built )f the lake, age of Lac inn€80ta Hist. The story has no sponsor except tradition. But it is of historic value for the light it throws upon the Indian nature — that tangled incon- gruity of good and bad which underlies the red skin and the white. Still the whirligig of war and peace went on. lu 1747 the Canadian governor wrote to the colonial minister that "there is a great change of feeling among the Indians of the West, and that the state of affairs there is very bad."' In 1747, Marin, commanding at St. Joseph in Western Michigan, reports that the savages in that quarter, heretofore so faithful to the French, "are being debauched by the English."' The same year another commandant writes concerning "the great revolt in the Detroit region."^ Of this revolt, notable as arising among the chief allies of the French, Pontiac spoke in 1763, saying that "seventeen years ago the Northern nations combined under the great chief, Mackinac, and came to destroy the French at Detroit; and that he (Pontiac) aided the French in lighting their battles with Mack- inac and driving him home to his country."* (1) Beauharnois to the Minister Oct, 29, 1745. Cana- dian Archives, 1887, p. clvii. (2) New York Col. Documents, X, 139, (3) M. de Raymond to the Minister, Nov. 2, 1747. Ca88, Archives, 1887, p. CLXV. (4) Smith. History of Wisconsin, I, 361, I50 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. The next year the Miamis, then the most powerful and peaceful confederacy east of the Mississippi, revolted, pillaged a French fort and committed other acts of violence.* The French began to see the handwriting on the wall. Startling rumors arose of a vast con- spiracy among all the Western Indians to de- stroy the trading posts and drive the white man from the country." Even the Chippewas, so long faithful to the French, were now drawn into the fiery circle of revolt. In 1748, Galis- soniere, the governor, reports that the voy- ageurs had been robbed and maltreated at Sault Ste Marie and elsewhere on Lake Superior. "In fine," he adds, "there appears to be no security anywhere."^ In 1750 the Miamis again revolted, leaguing themselves with the Mascoutins on Rock River and even urging the Illinois to join them; but the latter with characteristic slavishness be- trayed the plot to the French.* And not long I.I . .-- - . ■,■■.—■■— —I. .— — y I .1 ■— .i.-i— . -i» ,.. I. . I ... ■■■■,..-. ., ■_ (1) New York Coll. Documente, X, 140 and 150. Also other references. (2) Ibid.,U2. (3) Letter to Count Afaurepaa, Oct. 1748. Neillin Minn. Hiat. Coll.,\, 430. (4) Letter of M. Benoiat, concerning a conspiracy of the Miamis, Oct. 1, 1751. Can. Archives, 1887, p. cxc. Also Dispatch of De Vaudreuil, Sept. 18, 1750. N. Y. Col. Documents, X, 220. le most : of the ch fort .' The on the ist con- s to de- le white ppewas, w drawn 8, Galis- the voy- 1 at Sault Superior. ;o be no leaguing Dck River hem; but hness be- l not long 150. Also eillinMinn. tiracy of tht . cxo. Also N. Y. Col THE WEST IN REVOLT. 151 after, the French were forced to build a fort at Sault Ste Marie, "to prevent the Chippcwas and other Indians from communicating with the English."' Thus J have laboriously collected the widely scattered evidence of the real relations subsist- ing between the French and Indians. The common conception which has passed into his- tory is, that the two races dwelt together like cooing doves. But in fact, from 1737 onward the French could hardly depend upon the friendship even of the refugee tribes, the Hurons, Ottawas and others. And of the original occupants of the West all were hostile except the Illinois, a people debauched and spiritless who were fast fading away before the fury of the Foxes and the Sioux. We catch a glimpse also of the hidden forces that were working for the overthrow of New France. Her destiny had been virtually de- cided long before the English armies encamped around Quebec. The policy by which she hoped to hold the continent had proved an utter failure; the Indians were estranged and trade demoralized; a chaos of revolt and mis- rule had set in throughout the whole magnifi- cent domain. (1) Jonquiere to the Minister, Oct. 5, 1751. Can. Archives, CLXXXIX. 152 HISTORY OF WI8C0NS V. And has it not been likewise shown that the long and gallant resistance of the Wisconsin Indians, in the face of great odds and frightful sufferings, was the entering wedge of ruin for the French Dominion in America. . Other causes were, of course, conspiring to hurry on the PVench Dominion to ruin. By the middle of the century the colonial govern- ment had touched the lowest point of corrup- tion. It was the era of Bigot, the evil genius of New France. He and his accomplices were stealing millions from the king, the colonists, the soldiers and the savages. No one escaped their rapacity; even the Acadian exiles were fed on mouldered and unsaleable cod-fish, which was charged to the king at enormous prices.' Montcalm boldly averred that the chief officials of New France were "hoping and plot- ting for the ruin of the colony in order that all recorded evidence of their peculations might be hidden under the wreck.'"' . Under such malign influences the fur trade sank lower and lower, until it became but an- other name for plundering the savages. Ac- (1) Parkman. Montcalm and Wolf, II, 27. (2) Montcalm to Marshal de Belle Isle, April 12, 1759. Can. Archives, 1887, p. coxxix. Also Gameau. History of Canada, 1, 547. THE WEST IN REVOLT. 153 cording to the admission of the French them- selves their goods were inferior and their prices enormous.' The traders carried large supplies of liquors and made the savages drunk in order to swindle them more effectually. At one western post in 1754, beaver skins were sold for four grains of pepper apiece; and a pound of paint which the savages bought to improve their complexions, realized a profit of eight hundred francs." The savages struggled to escape from such a .system of multiplied robberies. The Miamis for instance, after two or three revolts, moved eastward into Ohio in order to open trade with the English. "Our friendship," they told Gist, the envoy from Virginia, "shall stand like the lofty mountain." ^ Even in these evil times Wisconsin did not lose the prominence which it had had from the first days of the French Dominion. Green Bay now became the chief center of operations in the west for that band of corrupt officials who were plundering both the Indians and the gov- ernment. (1) Bigot to the Minister, Oct. 1749. N. Y. Coll. Docu- ments, X, 200. Also De Bougainville, in Margry's Memoirs Inedites, p. 74. (2) Smith. Canada, I, p. Lxviii. (3) Bancroft. History of the United States, III, 54. 154 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. In 1750 Marin was sent to Green Bay osten- sibly to act as governor of the northwest and to continue the explorations of Verendry in search of a passage to the Sea of the West. Really he came to manage the affairs of a se- cret partnership, of which he himself, Bigot, the intendant of the colony, and La Jonquiere, its governor, were the members.^ Their object was to monopolize as far as possible the fur trade of the Northwest, and their annual profits amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand livres, equal to as many dollars in the present day. Besides, the firm was engaged in other transac- tions. They divided among themselves the profits of Capt. St. Pierre's exploring expedi- tion, which made no discoveries, but brought back furs of great value; the governor's share, alone, it is said, amounting to three hundred thousand livres. In all the gains of the Green Bay ring, from their various enterprises, must have amounted to millions. While thus engaged Marin became the hero of an exploit more noted than anything else in the traditionary annals of Wisconsin. But heretofore the date of it has not been fixed; and even the chief actor has been known only (1) Memoire de Bougainville sur VEtat de la Nouvelle France. Maxgry. Memoires Ineditea, p. 59. THE WEST W REVOLT. 155 osten- ist and idry in ; West. 3f a se- , Bigot, nquiere, r object the fur al profits housand sent day. transac- ^Ives the expedi- brought r's share, hundred le Green ses, must the hero ng else in sin. But ^en fixed; lown only la Nouvelle as a "prominent French trader," otherwise unidentified. Some time before, the Fox Indians had crept back to their old homes on the Fox river and with their wonted arrogance, began to levy tribute upon the passing traders. The com- merce of the whole Upper Mississippi country was at their mercy. Marin resolved to put a stop to this; and quietly collecting all his available forces, he set out from Green Bay with the utmost secrecy. Arriving at a point some miles below the Fox village, the force was divided, one part disembarking and going by land to attack the savages in the rear. The rest laid down in the canoes and were covered over by large tarpaulins such as were used by traders to shield their goods from the weather. Two men to row each boat were left in view. It was to all appearance a peace- ful trading fleet. ^ ^ In due time the Foxes discovered the ap- proach of the fleet. Rushing to the shore they hung out a lighted torch, the usual signal for the traders to land at this aboriginal custom house. Then they squatted upon the bank and waited patiently for their customary dues. The boats rounded to, in obedience to the sig- nal and drew close to the shore; the savages 156 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. still sat expectant but serene, with all the grave decorum of Indiana upon a state occa- sion. • ' Suddenly the tarpaulins were flung off from the boats. A long line of armed men sprang up, with their guns pointed at the astounded Foxes. It was as if the infernal flames had burst from the depths of the. river. The sav- ages had hardly sprung to their feet before many were mowed down by a volley of mus- ketry and the discharge of a swivel gun loaded with grape and canister. The rest, with a yell of dismay, fled to their village, closely pursued by the French. Here a new horror confronted the flying mob. The flanking party had by this time reached the rear of the village; some of them, creeping stealthily in, had set on fire the frail bark cabins; and the wind was wrap- ping everything in flames. The Foxes, rushing wildly about amidst their burning cabins, found themselves hemmed in by a F*;orm of bullets from front and rear. Women and children ran to and fro, shrieking and blind with fright; mothers snatched their babes and fled they knew not whither. But the warriors, long schooled by the French in such horrors, rallied and fought des- THE WEST IN REVOLT. 157 all the te occa- off from 1 sprang tounded mes had rhe sav- t before of mus- n loaded ith a yell ' pursued jnfronted had by ge; some et on fire ^as wrap- amidst lemselves front and and fro, mothers cnew not by the ught des- perately. Out of the smoke and flame they flung themselves against the force in the rear and struggled to cut their way through, with knives and tomahawks. Many succeeded and escaped into the forest, followed by throngs of women and children. The rest were hewn down, singing their death-song amidst the flames. No quarter was given and none was asked. In a few moments all was over. What a little while before had been a peaceful village, was a^heap of ashes studded with the dead. As a mere tragedy, this is rivalled by many others in the appalling story of the war against the Foxes. But the grotesque surprise, the grim glare of humor lighting up the horror, makes an altogether matchless scene. Ac- cording to the traditions, Marin struck other blows against his enemy, but the accounts are too confused to enter into sober history. Suf- fice it that the Foxes were expelled forever from their ancient home and once more found a refuge on the Wisconsin. But let us do no injustice to Marin. He was a soldier with a military code of morals; but he was wise, brave and loyal to France. The stern and2.incorruptible Du Quesne, ad- 158 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. mired him greatly' and selected him as the one man fitted to command on the Ohio, ir that critical hour when the Indian revolt had reached its height and New France was begin- ning its last struggle for life. Thus he was called from his speculations at Green Bay to nobler tasks. A few months afterward he died; and Du Quesne wrote to the king that ••the death of Marin is an irreparable loss to the colony."' , (1) New York Coll. Documents, X, 254. VI. 634. (2) Du Queane to the Minister, Oct. 1, 1753. chives. 1887, p. cxcvi. Also Margry, Can. Ar- the one ir that rolt had IS begin- is he was n Bay to -ward he king that )le loss to jso Margry. 3. Can. Ar- CHAPTER XL THE FALL OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE. I752-1763. The Sauks, after their expulsion from the Green Bay region, built a town on the banks of the Wisconsin near what is now Prairie du Sac. Carver, who travelled through Wiscon- sin in 1766, describes it as the largest and best built Indian town that he ever saw. "It con- tained about ninety houses, each large enough for several families, built of heavy planks, neatly jointed and covered so compactly with bark as to keep out the most penetrating rains. Before the doors were placed comfortable sheds in which the inhabitants sat when the weather would permit and smoked their pipes. The streets were both regular and spacious, appear- ing more like a civilized town than the abode of savages. The land was rich, and corn, beans and melons were raised in large quanti- ties."' (1) Carver. Travels. 47. A very admirable account of this noted traveller is given by Durrle. WiscotMin Hiat. Coll., VI, 220-270. lOO HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. The Foxes, after their long wanderings, fi- nally settled near the mouth of the Wisconsin, on the site of Prairie du Chien. They had selected their new location with characteristic sagacity, and it soon became the great mart of the Northwest, There the adjacent tribes and even those from the remote branches of the Mississippi annually assembled about the end of May; and it was determined in a general council whether it would be best to dispose of their furs to the traders upon the spot or to transport them to the Lakes or to Louisiana. Mining, as well as commerce, contributed to the prosperity of the Foxes. Towards the close of the 17th century the Miamis had worked the lead mines south of the Wisconsin, but probably only after the rude fashion known to the Iroquois in Canada, who hewed out long splinters of ore and cut them up into bullets.' But the Foxes smelted the ores and carried on a regular mining industry with such jealous secrecy that no white man was perm'tted to come near their mines.' From their firm friends, the Sioux, they had obtained horses and learned the art of horse- (1) Boucher. Canada. (2) Early History Lead Regions. Wis. Hist. Coll., VI, 272. Wa8hbume,i6tU,X244. Shaw, /6td,, II, 228. -V FALL OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE. l6l ngs, fi- consin, ey had :teristic mart of ibes and of the the end general [spose of >ot or to .ouisiana. ntributed vards the imis had /isconsin, on known d out long 3 bullets/ larrled on :h jealous m'tted to I, they had of horse- rise. Coll., VI, 11,228. manship, so that in a few years their warriors were all finely mounted.' The thoughtful reader will be surprised by these tokens of great prosperity and progress on the part of a people who for more than forty years had been crushed under almost every conceivable form of disaster and suffer- ing. And his wonder will grow when he con- siders the degradation of the tribes that had clung most closely to the French. Carver, who overflows with praises of the Sauks and Foxes, describes the Chippewas as "the nasti- est people" he had ever seen, and the Illinois everywhere were a bye-word on account of their vile habits and their cowardice.'' But the explanation is simple. The tribes that had been the most hostile to the white man, his faith and modes of life, had best pre- served the national spirit, the respect for an- cestral and public opinion, the esprit dv corps upon which savage virtue depends. "They combine," writes Carver,' "as if actuated only (1) Long, Voyagefi and Travel»,149. (2) Pitman, Account of the Misainftippi, London, 1770, p. 53, describes the Illinois as a "poor, debauclied and das- tardly people," but praises the Mascoutlns, Miamit%, etc., as brave and warlike. Farkman admits the extraordinary degradation of the Illinois. La Salle, 207. note. (3) Travels, 412. 11 l62 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. by one soul. The honor of their tribe and the welfare of the nation is the first and most pre- dominating emotion of their hearts. Hence proceed in great measure, all their virtues and vices. They brave every danger, endure the most exquisite torments and expire triumph- ing in their fortiudc, not as a personal quali- fication, but as a national characteristic." The wisest of the Indians saw that they must exclude the white man's influence and his faith, if they wished to preserve their own polity and the special savage virtues. When the Sene- cas, out of their conquests, gave the Shawnees a country to dwell in, they charged them never to receive Christianity from the English. "Be- fore the missionaries came," they said, "the Indians were an honest, sober and innocent people, but now most of them are rogues; they formerly had the fear of God, but now they hardly believe his existence. " ' Without accept- ing all that, one may see that the higher faith must necessarily be destructive even to what is best in the lower. When in 1752 the elder Marin was ordered to take command on the Ohio, his son succed- ed him at Green Bay. Soon a new partner- (1) Long. Voyages and Travels, 32. FALL OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE. 163 id the 5t pre- Hence les and ire the iumph- l quali- ey must is faith, )lity and e Sene- hawnees pm never h. "Be- d, "the linnocent es; they w they ,t accept- higher even to ordered In succed- partner- ship was formed, having the same equivocal ob- ject as the old one, but composed of the younger Marin, and Rigaud, a brother of the governor of Canada. The affairs of the new firm prospered, and in two years the partners divided between them a profit of one hundred and twelve thousand livres. ' Outside of these transactions. Marin did good service for New France. He drew back to the colony for a time, at least, the fur trade of the Northwest, which was being di- verted to Hudson's Bay." "In two years," he r'aimed, "I travelled more than two thousand leagues on foot, often in snow and ice, running a thousand dangers from savage tribes, and meeting privations of every sort. In those two years I conquered more than twenty na- tions, who have since been loyal to France and made war in our behalf. 3" There is doubtless some excess of color in this, but still Marin did brilliant work. (1) Margry. Memoires Inedites, .59. ' ' . (2) Dobbs. Account of the Hudson's Bay Countries, London, 1745, p. 43. According to a pamphlet printed in 1750, the heavy furs went to Hudson's Bay; the lighter to Canada. Shori Statement, etc., p. 16. This pamphlet can be found in the library of the Minnesota Historical So- ciety. (.S) Margry, VI, 654. Also N. Y. Coll. Docimcvts, X, 263. 1 64 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. A still more notable name is that of Charles Langlade, who came to Green Bay as a trader about the middle of the century. The brilliant service and the utter obscurity of this man cause one to almost despair of history. In 1752 the revolt in the Valley of the Ohio was at its height, the Miamis and other tribes having entirely renounced allegiance to France. To strike terror into the hearts of these savages, an expedition mainly composed of the faithful Ottawas, was sent from northern Michigan, and Langlade, whose father was a Frenchman but his mother a sister of the Otta- wa head-chief, was placed in command. The young man, then only twenty-three years old, marched swiftly to western Ohio, with a force ot thirty Frenchman and 250 Indians. On the morning of the 21st of June, he suddenly ap- peared before Picqua, a town of four hundred families, the strongest in the Valley of the Ohio and the residence of the grand chief of the Miami confederacy. The surprise was complete, and after a short but fierce resist- ence, the Miamis surrendered. One English trader was killed and five taken prisoners, the town was burned and the grand chief of the confederacy sacrificed at a cannibal feast. FALL OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE. 165 Charles L trader )rilUant lis man he Ohio -r tribes ince to learts of omposed northern er was a the Otta- id. The rears old, ti a force On the denly ap- r hundred ey of the I chief of prise was rce resist- Enghsh ,oners, the ief of the bal feast. Then young Langlade swiftly departed, leav- ing the French flag flying over the ruins. "Thus," says Bancroft, "began the contest that was to scatter death broadcast through- out the world." The immediate results of this sharp and sudden blow were very great; the Indians, dismayed by such prompt vengeance, returned to their old allegiance, and soon throughout the Valley of the Ohio there floated no banner but that of France. But while tHe colonial authorities exulted in his success, they dismissed the low-born Langlade with disdain. "As he is not in the king's service, and has married a squaw," wrote Du Quesne, the gov- ernor,"! will ask for him only a pension of two hundred francs, which will flatter him infinitely. ' The young leader, therefore, resumed his former work at Green Bay, bartering calicos, needles and rum for the furs of the Indians. But three years later he was called forth again, to lead his faithful Ottawas to the relief of the little garrison at Fort Du Quesne, then imper- illed by the approach of Braddock and his army. And to the military genius of this un- trained half-breed, was due that wonderful (1) Du Quesny to the Miulster, Oct. 25, 1752. Can Achive», 1887, p. cxci. Also Parkman. Montcalm and Wolfe, l\, 84-85. Parkman's tone is as lofty as the French- ru.^n's. 1 66 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. ' ' Defeat of Braddock, " the fame of which re- sounded throughout Europe, taught the thir- teen colonies to despise the English regulars and thus led the way to the War of Indepen- dence. The statement seems incredibl'\ but as will be seen in a note below,' is supported by the most irrefragable proofs. We cannot follow further the life of Lang- lade. Suffice it that throughout the war he continued to render valuable although not quite so splendid services to France — each year leading down the Indian allies from the West to the aid of Montcalm. But it was all an unavailing struggle in behalf of what long had been a lost cause. The Fox wars had (1) First: Gen. Burgoyne, writes to Lord Germain, July 11. 1777, of Langlade as "the very man, who with these tribes, (Ottawas, etc.) projected and executed Braddock's defeat." Expedition from Canada, London, 1786. Ap- pendix, p. XXI. Second: Anburey, an officer in Bur- goyne's army, wrote in 1777, that they were expecting the Ottawas, led by St. Luc, and Langlade, and adds that "the latter is the person who at the head of the tribe which he now commands planned and executed the defeat of Gen^ Braddock." {Journey, I, 315.) Third: The very circum- stantial account given by Langlade himself, in Grignon's Recollections. {Wis. Hist. Coll., Ill, 212-215.) Fourth: The testimony of De Peystcr, commanding at Mackinaw, who in his Miscellanies alludes to Langlade as "a French officer who had been instrumental in defeating Braddock." {Ibid., VII, 135, note.) Concerning silence of French offi- cial records, see, Ibid., p. 1.50-1. FALL OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE. 167 ich re- - thir- jgulars depen- le, but ►ported Lang- war he gh not — each rom the was all at long rs had lain, July ith these raddock's 86. Ap- in Bur- jcting the that "the which he ,t of Gen- Y circum- Grignon's Fourth: lacklnaw, ' a French raddock." ench offl- shown twenty years before that it was impos- sible for French despotism to hold America. The sentence then pronounced upon the French Dominion, was finally carried into execution at the fall of Quebec. After the occupation of the West by the English,' Lanrj^lade returned to Green Bay and founded there the first permanent settlement of white men in Wisconsin — a rude little vil- lage of French traders, the humble monument of a fallen Empire. (1) In Sir Guy Carleton's report of 1767, Langlade's resi- dence is set down as still at Michilliniackinac Brymner, Can. ArchiveH, 18H8, p. 45. CHAPTER XII. THE CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC. 1763. The English in their occupation of the coun- try, adopted the French policy. They did not design to form settlements in the West. It was feared that colonies in so remote a region could not be controlled and therefore the coun- try beyond the Alleghanies was shut against the emigrant. Royal orders forbade the Vir- ginians from settling in the valley of the Ohio; in Penn.sylvania it was even proposed to aban- don Fort Pitt, and to bring all the settlers back to the eastern side of the mountains. "The country to the westward quite to the Mississippi, was intended to be a desert for the Indians to hunt in and to inhabit."" Such a policy made it easy for Pontiac to organize his famous conspiracy. That bloody postscript to the history of the French Domin- ion has been strangely misinterpreted; it is commonly conceived of as a general uprising of the Western Indians against the English; (1) Bancroft, III, 401-2. CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC. 169 he coun- y did not ^cst. It a region the coun- it against the Vir- the Ohio; I to aban- e settlers lountains. ite to the ert for the Tontiiic to lat bloody ch Domin- eted; it is al uprising e English; and its chief historian' declares that "the whole Algonquin stock with a few unimpor- tant exceptions," were engagea i' it. But all that is wild and wide of the mark. The con- spiracy was confined to what we have described throughout this history as the French Indians, consisting mostly of refugee tribes who had al- ways clung to France, and it did not even in- clude all of them. That large part of the Ot- tawas that dwelt in Northern Michigan, wav- ered, and as we shall see, finally sided with the English. The Chippewas around Mack- inaw were active conspirators; but the main body dwelling at Chequamegon Bay — where were the council house and sacred fire of the nation — took no part in the revolt.' Beyond these refugee races the conspiracy did not spread. The Miamis, the dominant confederacy in the Ohio valley, stood aloof. Above all, the tribes massed upon the Fox and Wisconsin rivers — the Menominees, Winne- bagoes, Sauks and Foxes — adhered firmly to the English cause; and it was their prompt, decisive action which sealed the fate of the conspiracy. Thus to the end Wisconsin re- mained the pivot upon which the fortunes of the West revolved. (1) ParkmAn, Conspiracy ofPontiac,!, 187. (2) Warren, Hist. Ojibways. Minn. Hist. Coll., V. 210, I JO HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. To show this vvc must go back two years. On the 1 2th of October, 1761, Lieut. Gorrell, with seventeen men, arrived in Green Bay to assume command of the Northwest. Already the fomenters of revolt had been there. Some French traders had passed up Fox river on their way to the Sioux; and although in Eng- lish employ they had "done all that laid in their power to persuade the Bay Indians to fall upon the English, telling them that the latter were very weak and that it could be done very readily." Some of the young warriors, always eager fo*- any fray, were willing enough. But the ancient hatred and scorn of the French flashed forth in the answer of the head-chief of the Sauks. *'The old and great man of the Sauk nation whom they call a king, told the French- men that they were English dogs or slaves now that they were conquered by the English; that they only wanted his men to fight the English for them, but he said that they should not. He called the French old squaws and commanded the young men to desist, which they did and went to their hunting." ' The winter was spent in repairing the old French fort and the buildings; it was not until (1) QorrelV 8 Journal. Win. Hint, Coll., I, 26. CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC. 171 years, jorrell, Bay to \lready Some •iver on in Kng- laid in IS to fall le latter )ne very 's eager But the 1 flashed f of the he Sauk French- ves now English; ht the / should Lws and which the old lot until the next season, after the Indians had returned from the'.r hunting-grounds, that any councils were held. First came the Menominees. "They were very poor," they said, "having lost three hundred warriors lately with the small-pox and most of their chiefs in the late war in which they had been engaged by the French commandant here against the English." They were very glad to find that the English were pleased to pardon them as they did not expect it and were conscious that they did not merit it. They asked for a gun-smith, and modestly suggested that "the French always gave them rum as a true token of friendship." They rejoiced to hear that the English traders were coming among them. "We have al- ready found by experience, "said the sagacious savages, "that the goods are one-half cheaper than when the French were amongst us." Some Winnebago chiefs were present at this council and spoke to the same effect. A fort- night later, ambassadors arrived from the Sauks and Foxes, with pledges of peace and good-will. In August the chief of a more dis- tant town of the Winnebagoes came to declare that his people had never been at war with the English, nor could the French commander persuade him to it as he never knew of any 172 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. harm the English had done him. With him came also four ambassadors from the lowas, who said that "they had come from very far to see if I would shake hands with them and forgive them as I had done the rest."' In March, 1763, the long looked for depu- ties of the Sioux arrived. They brought a let- ter from their king in which he expressed his joy at the coming of the English, asked for friendship and trade, and promised that if the Chippewas or any other tribe should make trouble, he would come with his warriors and wipe them from the face of the earth. Thus all the tribes of the Northwest, from Lake Michigan to the Missouri, had welcomed the English with unbounded delight. The time was now near when their loyalty was to be put to the test. On the 1 5th of June, the news, came like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky, that the Chippewas had captured Mackinaw and massacred a part of its garrison. Pontiac and his fellow - conspirators had begun their work. Not long before Pontiac had secretly visited Wisconsin and won over the Milwaukee band, a mixed village of refractory and turbulent In- dians, the offscouring of many different tribes. (1) Ibid., p. 30-36. CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC. 173 th him lowas, 2ry far ;m and depu- t a let- sed his ced for t if the I make Dfs and t, from loomed . The was to ne, the ;ar sky, ckinaw ^ontiac n their visited band, ent In- tribes. But the real tribes of Wisconsin had indig- nantly spurned his messages and war-belts. "I want no such message. I mean to do no wrong to my English friends," Carron the grand chief of the Menominees, had ans- wered. ' But Gorrell knew nothing of this, and was naturally very much alarmed. In an agony of suspense he went to the Menominee chiefs to find out what they were about to do. A grand council of the whole tribe was called, and with an ardor unusual among the stoics of the forest, all agreed that they would go to the relief of the English at Mackinaw. Swift runners were also sent to the other Indian na- tions. Three days afterward the chiefs of the Winnebagoes, Sauks and Foxes arrived in great haste, saying that their warriors were on the way. With them came Pennensha, a French trader, but a firm friend of the English, bring- ing new pledges of fidelity and assistance from the Sioux. When all the warriors had arrived another great council was convened. "All the chiefs said," writes Gorrel, "that they were '-. glad they could now show the E iglish how much they loved them, and that we should find (1) Orignon's Recollectiona. Wis. Hist. Coll., Ill, 226. 174 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. that they would keep their promise of the year before. ' . Preparations were speedily made and then the relieving expedition set out from Green Bay. The Indians, fully alive to the gravity of the crisis, took precautions quite unusual for them; every night before landing to camp, they sent a large party to sccur the woods in every direction in order to guard against sur- prise. "The king of the Sauks," writes Gorrel, always went in the batteau with me, and would always lay in the tent, so great was their care." When they drew near the village of the Otta- was, whom they believed to be traitors at heart, "* they made ready for battle; the Eng- lish batteau was placed in the centre; the Me- nominees, stripped for action, went in the front. At the sight of this formidable array, the . Ottawas were overawed. They resolved to side with the English, although the other half of (1) Parkman. Conspiracy of Po...mc., I, 3G3, at a loss for any plausible explanation of the action of the Wiscon- sin Indians, ascribes it to Lieut. "Gorrel's prudence." There is not the least spark, of evidence to this effect. The reader of the preceding pages needs no explanation of the eagerness with which these savages welcomed the English as the conquerors * the hated French. (2) Before leaving Green Bay, they told Gorrel not to tnist himself to the Ottawas. Wis. Hiat. Coll., I, ''". CONSPIRACY OF POXTIAC. 175 ve year d then Green gravity isual for ) camp, /oods in nst sur- j Gorrel, lid would sir care." :he Otta- aitors at :he Eng- ; the Me- tt in the irray, the ed to side -r half of B3, at a loss the Wiscon- prudence." this effect, planation of elcoraed the torrel not to their nation at Detroit were fighting under the lead of Pontiac. And so the expedition was re- ceived with clamors of welcome, salutes were fired, pipes of peace were smoked, and then came feasting, dancing and councils without end. At first the Wisconsin Indians demanded that the Ottawas should join with them in reinstating the English commander, Capt. Etherington, at Mackinaw. But this the Ottawas were not will- ing to attempt, although they promised to do all in their power to conduct the English back to Montreal. And it is not likely that the latter, ;.fter they learned what was going on at De- troit and in the lower country, wished to re- main. Gradually the bloodthirsty Chippewas also began to weaken. On the 1 3th day of July they came to the English very penitently. "They said that although it was the Chippe- was that struck, it was the Ottawas that be- gan the war at Detroit and instigated them to do the same. If the General would forgive them they would never act thus again." Capt. Etherington replied that if they expected any mercy they must give up their prisoners. The next day the Chippewas returned and asked for rum. 'Having no rum to give them,' writes Gorrel, "they went away and 176 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. said no more to us." That was the last of Pontiac's great conspiracy so far as the Northern nations were concerned. In a little while the English went on their way to Montreal, safe and rejoicing. All that summer, the conspiracy, like a wounded serpent, dragged its hideous length through the Valley of the Ohio, carrying horror wherever it went. In the autumn it came to an end. Pontiac, dejected and sullen, wan- dered off to the West, and was killed while ca- rousing among the Illinois. How little this noted conspiracy has been understood, is shown by a strange error into which, at this point, its chief historian has fallen. The Sauks and Foxes and other friends of Pontiac, we are gravely told, rose in fury to avenge his death, visiting their vengeance upon the Illinois as his murderers. ' And the consequent carnage is described in terms of Homeric song. But the whole state- ment, however classically adorned, is mar- velously untrue. Our brief recital has proved that the Wiscon- (1) Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac, II, 312. Parkman blindly follows a confused traditional^' account given by some writers in the early part of this century. The war of the Sauks and Foxes against the Illinois was going on be- fore Pontiac was bom. COySPlRACV OF PONTIAC. 177 last of lorthern hile the ial, safe like a IS length ig horror came to :n, wan- vhile ca- has been ror into rian has other old, rose ng their rderers. ' ribed in e state- is mar- Wiscon- Parkman t given by The war of Ing on be- sin Indians, so far from being the allies and avengers of Pontiac, were his chief enemies. Their resistance broke up his plans and brought all his schemes to nought. If the prompt ac- tion of the Wisconsin Indians had not over- awed the Ottawas and curbed the Chippewas, the latter, after completing their work in the North, would have gone to the help of their brethren at Detroit. The success of Pontiac would then have been assured. The irreso- lute Miamis would have flung themselves fully into the fight. And with the active aid of the Wisconsin tribes and their allies in the North- west, the flames of revolt would have swept the continent. One result would certainly have followed. The contest for American independence, which virtually began the year after the conspiracy ended, would have been indefinitely postponed. The thirteen colonies, so long as their frontier was infested by hordes of fierce and irreconcil- able savages — 'the most formidable foe upon the face of the earth"' — would have little thought or desire of separating from the moth- er country. Hut al! that was averted by the (1) Barre, the compuukm of Wolfe, a man who knew In-