,NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 iiilii, } PUBLIC T- '<] TILDEN Fc ^ 1^ ^^ i\3 iiaajj ^19 I© ^±=±1 J^ HISTORY OF Macomb County, MICHIGAN, CONTAINING r AN ACCOUNT OF ITS SETTLEMENT, GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT AND RESOURCES ; AN EXTENSIVE AND MINUTE SKETCH OF ITS CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES— THEIR IMPROVEMENTS, INDUSTRIES, MANUFACTORIES, CHUKCHES, SCHOOLS AND SOCIETIES; ITS WAR REfORD, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCFIES, PORTRAITS OF PROMINENT MEN AND EARLY SETTLEHS; THE WHOLE PRECEDED BY A HISTORY OF MICHIGAN, STATISTICS OF THE STATE, AND AN ABSTRACT OF ITS LAWS AND CONSTITUTION AND OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. Illustratjed. , ^ » J > I -» o ^ ) ^ •^ <5 f^ CHICAGO : M. A. LEESON & CO 1882. :i^ A JtHE NEW YOf;K PUBLIC LIBRARY 299008 ASTOR, LENOX A;n TIlDEN FOUNOaT 1904 WRITER'S PREFACE. The period has passed away forever when the once philosophic phrase — a thousand years scarce serve to form a State, could be used with propriety. The same may now be said of history. The busy activities of our days, the march of progress, the wonderful advances of science and art. contribute to the realization of ideas, and crowd into a period of fifty years n orreater number of remarkable and important events, than fifty decades of olden times in the Eastern World could offer to the chronicler. Therefore, the compila- tion of history is not only justifiable, but also essential. It is the enduring record of years that can only through it be recalled, of men who will be honored by the American manhood of this and coming generations. This work is dedicated to the people of Macomb County. With the exception of the first part, the history of Michigan, it is distinctively local, and as siich must be considered a magnificent record of a worthy people. The work of the French and American pioneers of Macomb extends over a century. Within that period, they have raised it from its prim- itive condition to the rank of one of the first divisions of the State — cultivated its wild lands, built its villages and towns and brought into existence two important centers of population — Mt. Clemens and Romeo. They transmuted the marsh into firm earth, re- moved the forests, and decorated the river banks with happy homes and fertile fields. It is difiicult to point out precisely the men who were foremost in contributing to this result: all share in the prosperity of the county, and take a special pride in its advancement; each citizen has experienced the luxury of doing good, and feels that life is not now a mere shadow of a dream. The alarms and anxieties attendant on the pioneer life have been changed to certainties and happy greetings. Those who saw the primeval forest waving over the land, lived on through the days of its destruction to see the clearings covered with the bouses of merchants and manufacturers, or the fields and homes of a prosperous people. They wear the honors which justly belong to them: while those who died, ob- tained a glimpse of what they labored for before passing away, and live in the memory of the present. The pioneers who are gone beheld the budding desires of younger days ex- pand into the flower, and. seeing, went to the undiscovered land beyond the grave, leaving their memories and their deeds to be caiTied down the stream of time. In these pages, an effort has been made to treat the history of the county in a full and impartial manner. Doubtless a few inaccuracies may have crept in; but such must be attributed to other causes, rather than carelessness. In regard to the pages devoted to personal history, a large sum of money, much labor and time have been expended on them. Even after the personal notes taken by the township historian were rewritten, and in many instances submitted, this very copy was placed on type-writer and mailed to the person concerned for revision. The biographies given here, together with their collection, would necessitate the steady work of one experienced man for five years. The collection of such facts as appear in the State and County histories, would entail on an inexperienced writer ten years' steady work, while the conyiilation of township histories, as they appear here, would doubtless occupy the attention of such a writer for a year. Within a few months, this work has been begun and completed. Notwithstanding this remarkable celerity, it will be evident that little or nothing, which should have a place in its pages, has been omitted. It will also be evident throughout that the writer of the general history, as well as the gentlemen who collected the biographical notices, have realized the simple fact of undeserved praise being undisguised satire. In some instances, this realization may have led to too brief references to many men. an account of whose lives might occupy many pages. The plan of this work is specially adapted to a great record book. All things per- taining: in fifeneral to the State are dealt with in the State historv. and form, as it were, an introduction to the county history. The latter is carried down from the first Otchipwe invasion to the present time, treating fully and impartially every subject of general in- terest to the people. So with the cities and the villages — they have been very liberally sketched; while each township has just sufficient notice given it to render its history a most valuable record for the future. •We have been ably assisted in the woi'k by the members of the county press. The vrritten sketches of Judgfe James B. Eldredge. Edgrar Weeks, John E. Day. Kev. H. N. Bissell. Dr. Hollister, were all requisitioned and yielded up a mine of historical informa- tion. The reminiscences of early settlement were selected from the writings of members of the pioneer society, while the numei'ous anecdotes were vn'itten from facts obtained from the old settlers. To the county officers our most sincere thanks are offered — -first, for placing their well-kept records at our disposal; second, for the material aid rendered in searching old record books, and lastly, for the genial courtesy which marked their intercoui'se with us on all occasions. To Chauncey G. Cady. George H. Cannon and John E. Day, members of the His- torical Committee of the Pioneer Society, we desire to extend oiu- thanks for the deep in- terest which they have taken in the work, as well as recognition of their faithful labors on the Committee of Revision and Correction. The gentlemen engaged in the biographical department of the work wereH. O. Brown, in Bruce and Washington; W^, M. Bucklin, at Borneo; E. B. Belden, in Ray; F. A. Stitt. in Sterling; Thomas Mitchell, in Harrison and Erin: William Dicer, in Shelby; Jesse Cloud, in L'tica; George T. Mason, at Mt. Clemens City; S. A. Stinson. in Chester- field; John E. Day. Secretary of the Pioneer Society, compiled the general and biograph- ical history of Armada and Richmond Townships; Horatio N. Richards, of Lenox, and Calv n Davis, of Macomb. The support e.xtonded to the history was not so general as it should be: yet we feel satisfied that the quality of our subscribers compensates in a gi'eat measure for the loss in number, by rendering imr book so excellent in its biographical features. While the work deals with the county generally, it has. from a historical stand])oint. been written expressly for those wh(; supported it. The very few among the intelligent classes who did not order a Vjook cannot now obtain a copy from us. To all we have given a history, which we be- lieve is perfect in detail, and from the patrons of the work we ask only a careful perusal of the various chapters before their criticism. Chicago, July, 1882. M. A. LEESON. CONTENTS. HISTORY OF MICHICxAN. Page. CHAPTER I. — The Aborigines ^^ The Firat Immigration j° The Second Immigration '^ The Tartars 21 CHAPTER II — French Exploration and Settlement 22 Ihe Recent Discoveries of St. Iguaco 29 La Salle's Travels ^* Detroit "*^ CHAPTER III.— The French and Indian War 38 CHAPTER IV.— National Poliuies— British Policy 44 American Policy ^t Ordinance of 1787 *° -Military History.— Pontiac's Siege of CHAPTER V. Detroit Expediiions of Harniar, Scott and Wilkinson., Expeditions of St. Clair and Wayne Gen. Wayne's Great Victory Revolutionary War Hull's Surrender Perry's Victory Close of the War The Tecumseh War The Black Hawk War The Toledo War The Patriot War The Mexican War The War of 1861-65 CHAPTER VI.— Political History Administration of Gen. Cass Gen. George B. Porter's Administration Administration of Gov. Horner State Officers Political Statistics CHAPTER VII.— Miscellaneous.— Fur Traders and Slave Owners Slavery in Michigan Sale of Negro Man Pompey Public School System State University State Normal School Agricultural College Other Colleges Charitable Institutions The State Public School Institution for Deaf, Dumb and Blind Asylums for the Insane Penal Institutions The State Prison in 1880 State Reform School The Land Office— State Library State Fisheries 48 50 53 54 56 58 59 61 62 66 66 74 78 78 79 82 89 91 97 101 103 103 106 106 1U7 108 108 109 111 111 112 113 113 114 115 116 118 CHAPTER VIII.— State Societies.- Pioneer Michigan Roll of Pioneers First State Historical Society State Agricultnral Society State Pomological Society Society of 118 119 126 126 126 State Firemen's Association....; J^6 State Board of Public Health ''" Page. CHAPTER IX.— Michigan and Its Resources.- Iron and Steel Industries ^zl The Copper Product ^^° The Products of a Year 'fj^ Michigan Crops for 1881 }-•' The Vessel Interest "J Growth of Forty Years '^^ Leading the Van ;■ ^''" HISTORY OF MACOMB COUNTY. CHAPTER X.— Introduction J^'^ Geological Conformations :J^^ Supeiiicial Materials j;^^ Gas Wells \.l Subterranean Channels !:'. Water Reservoirs ' ' Ancient Lake Sites ... Mineral Waters The Salt Springs of 1797 "■; Mt. Clemens Magnetic Waters.. ^*- Analysis ^^^ Fossils ; ,.'- Review of Physical Characteristics j^^ Archt«ological . .j. Forts and Mounds of Macomb **° The Second Mound— Stone Mounds i«^ Forts Numbers Two and Thiee |"y Survey by S. L. Andrews '°^ Huge Skeletons •■■• ,^;^ Sundry Discoveries ' " Zoiilogical— Birds ^^^^ Mammalia ,..., The Flora of the County '"., Meteorological— The Big Snows '"-' The Black Days •••;,• " irs Tornado of 183.5— The Meteor and Comet '" Eclipse of the Moon. 1881 ^^° CHAPTER XI.— The Indians jj'jg The Otchipwe Invasion -.L. The Miamisand Pottawatoraies ^'" Keign of the Cholera ,_. Indian Treaties— Treaty of Greenville ^|i Treaty of Detroit ; ,_.> Treaty of Biownstown— Treaty ot Saginaw '^^ Well-known Savages .^^^ The Eagle Chief ^^.^j, Okemos ^gQ A Legend of Cusick Lake .„, Early Traders and Interpreters DiHtinguished Early Settlers •" ^„_ Captivity of the Boyer Family ^^^ The Lost Child j^q The Indians' Raid ■ ,pQ Indians on the Trail of an American ^^^^ Visit to the Indian Village ^^.^ Manners and Customs CHAPTER XII.— The French Pioneers ■•••■• ^^^ IJetroit io 1763 •.•••■ ■• jQp The Pioneer Land Buyers of Macomb ^^ Squatters' Claims ' 2J3 Indian Reservations ••• oia La Riviere an Vases and Maconee Reserves ^ VI CONTENTS. Page. CHAPTER XIII.— Thk Mokavuns— Settlt-meut of the Mo- ravian Suspects 214 Moravian Indians, 1781 215 Moravian ism 216 Moravian Marriages 216 Moravian Mannen), Habits and Customs 217 The Moravian Village 217 The German Immigration of 1845 219 CHAPTER XIV.— PiuNisEK History 219 Society of 1871 221 Organization of the County Pioneers 221 Charter Members 224 Members Enrolled Since Organization 225 Pioneer Reminiscences — The O'Connor Family 229 The Tuckar Family 232 Christian Clemens 236 C Clemens in a Briti'-b Dungeon 237 Distiitguiahed Visitant 238 Chastising a Savage 238 Col. John Stockton— Thomas Ashley 239 Chauucey G. Cady 240 William A.Burt 241 The Settlement of the Darlings 243 Corby n Reminiscences 244 Carter Reminiscences 245 Daniel W. Day's Reminiscences ; 246 Reminiscences of John D. Holland 248 Early Settlement In Shelby, by L. D. Owen 250 The Past and Present — Poem 254 CHAPTER XV. — PioNEEB Reminiscences. — Pioneer Mothers 259 The First Homes of the People 260 The Keg of Gold 261 Recluse of the Marsh — A Mother-in-law's Journey 262 Detroit to Mt. Clemeus 26-i Fortunate Hunters 263 Deer Hunting — Harrington's Coon Hunting 264 Dunce and O'Keefe — Bear Experiences 265 Dr. Gleeson and the Reptile 266 Deer Hunting Made Easy 266 Reminiscences of the Bailey Settlement 266 The Deer of Providence 268 Political Turncoat — Inwood's Bear Hunting 269 A Bear in Bruce 270 Noah Webster and the Bear 271 Finch's Wolf limiting 271 Tragic End of a Wolf— Orderly Retreat 272 Making Sugar Among the Wolves 272 The Yellow Cat of Richmond 273 Tlie Building of the Ship -'Harriet" 273 Jacob .\. Crawford and the Speculator 273 Leinurt- Hours in Pioneer Times 276 Nuptial Feasts in Early Times 276 Evening Visits 277 Lunibiriiig ill Early Days 278 Seasons of Sickness 279 Deaih ot Alanson Church 280 A Pioneer Lawyer 281 Chenlertield in Early Days 282 Marriage Record in Early Days 283 Marks fur Cattb- in UNbn Times 289 Pontiucanil St. Clair Mail Routes 290 Temperance and House Kaising 291 A Reiroepert 294 CHAPTER XVI.— Oroanization S(. Clair Township M>i<'oml> ('iiunty Kneted Locating the County Seat Original Tnwti ships Name Ilnrmi <'haiiged to Clinton Changi' of IVjiindary Organir Summary Establish men t of Townships MiHci'llaneoiiH Acts Ciiunty Ollicers Past and Present Supervisors' Board CHAI'TER XVII.— Political History County Elections CHAPTER XVIII.— The Press or Macomb CotJNTT.- nals of Komeo Journals of Utica -Jour- 296 296 296 296 297 297 297 298 299 3(H) 303 :)04 306 310 329 330 PAKE. Mt. Clemens 330 New Baltimore— Richmond 335 Armada — Personal Notices 336 CHAPTER XIX.— Poetry of Macomb.- The World's Pioneer 344 A Child's Prayer 346 A Legend of Shelby Township 347 Who Donglesthe Bell.'... 347 My Mother 348 The Garden of the Heart 348 April Storms— Happy To-Night 349 The Lonely Grave 349 On the Death ot Lincoln 350 CHAPTER XX.— Progress of Education 353 Sabbath Schools of the County 355 CHAPTER XXI.— The Churches of Macomb 358 CHAPTER XXII.— The War foe the Union.— Appoint- ments and Statistics 374 Record uf Commissioned Officers 376 First Michigan Infantry 384 Second Michigan Infantry 385 Third Michigan Infa try 385 Fourth Michigan Infantry 386 Fifth Michigan Infantry 387 Sixth Michigan Infantry 392 Seventh Michigan Infantry 392 Eighth Michigan Infantry 393 Ninth Michigan Infantry 393 Tenth Michigan Infantry 394 Eleventh Michigan Infantry 395 Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Michigan Infantry.. 396 Fifteenth and Sixteenth Michigan Infantry 397 Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Michigan In- fantry 398 Twentieth, Twenty-first and Twenty-second Michigan Infantry 399 Twenty-thiril, Twenty-fourth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty- sixth and Twenty-seventh Michigan Infantry 410 Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Michigan Infantry 411 First Michigan Colored Infantry 412 Fiist Michigan Engineers and Mechanics 412 First Michigan Cav..lry 413 Second Michigan Cavalry 415 Third Michigan Cavalry 416 Fourth and Fifth Michigan Cavalry 416 Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Michigan Cavalry 420 Ninth and Tenth Michigan Cavalry 423 Eleventh Michigan Cavalry — Light Artillery 424 Soldiers and Sailors of Macomb and St. Clair 424 Conclusion 430 CHAPTER XXIII.— Olden E*TERi'ai8Es.— The City of Bel- videre 432 Belvidere Land Titles 433 Frederick or Casino— Other Villages 435 Tremble Creek 435 Railroads and Navigation 436 The Weeks Contract 4.38 Action of the U. S. Troops 438 Railroads 439 Clinton River 440 Harbor of Refuge, Belle River 441 CHAPTER XXIV.— Courts and Bar ok Macomb.— Circuit Court 442 Retirement of Judge Morell 442 The Gniiiil Jury and the Judge 445 Admissions to the Bar of Macomb County 445 The i'resent Bar 447 Important Trials 148 Eieclioiicerliig in 1873 448 Til.' Ilatheway Estatr, Air Line Suit 449 The County Court House 450 Meeting of R lUeo Cili/.ens 451 Logic iif the Conservatives 451 Laying tlie 1" -. 5)| ^ «) History of Michigan. CHAPTER I. THE ABORIGINES. Scientists have ascribed to the Mound Builders varied origins, and though their divergence of opinion may, for a time, seem incompatible with a thorough investigation of the subject, and tend to a confusion of ideas, no doubt whatever may exist as to the comparative accuracy of conclusions arrived at by a few of the investigators. Like the vexed questions of the Pillar Towers and Garden Beds, it has caused much speculation, and elicited opinions from so many antiquarians, ethnologists, and travelers, that little remains to be known of the prehistoric peo- ples of America. That this continent is co-existent with the world of the ancients can not be questioned. Every investigation, made under the auspices of modern civilization confirms the fact and leaves no channel open through which the skeptic can escape the thorough refutation of his opinions. China, with its numerous living testimonials of antiquity, with its ancient, though limited, literature and its Babelish superstitions, claims a continuous history from antediluvian times ; but although its continuity may be denied with every just reason, there is nothing to prevent the transmission of a hieroglyphic record of its history prior to 1G56 Anno Mundi, since many traces of its early settlement survived the Deluge, and became sacred objects of the first historical epoch. This very survival of a record, such as that of which the Chinese boast, is not at variance with the designs of a God who made and ruled the universe ; but that an antediluvian people inhabited this continent, will not be claimed ; because it is not probable, though it may be possible, that a settlement in a land which may be considered a portion of the Asiatic continent, was effected by the immediate followers of the first progenitors of the human race. Therefore, on entering the study of the ancient people who raised these tumulus monuments over large tracts of the country, it will be just sufficient to wander back to that time when the flood-gates of heaven were swung open to hurl destruction on a wicked world ; and in doing so the inquiry must be based on legendary, or rather upon many circumstantial evidences ; for, so far as written narrative extends, there is nothing to show that a movement of people too far east resulted in a western settlement. 18 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. THE FIRST IMINIIG RATION. The first and most probable sources in which the origin of the Builders must be sought, are those countries lying along the eastern coast of Asia, which doubtless at that time stretched far beyond its present limits, and presented a continuous shore from Lapatka to Point Cambodia, holding a population comparatively civilized, and all professing some elementary form of Boodhism of later days. Those peoples, like the Chinese of the present, were bound to live at home, and probably observed that law until after the confusion of languages and the dispersion of the builders of Babel, in 1757, A. M.; but subsequently, within the following century, the old Mon- golians, like the new, crossed the great ocean in the very paths taken by the present representatives of the race, arrived on the same shores, which now extend a very questionable hospitality to them, and entered at once upon the colonization of the country south and east, while the Caucasian race engaged in a similar movement of exploration and colonization over what may be justly termed the western ex- tension of Asia, and both peoples growing stalwart under the change, attained a moral and physical eminence to which they never could lay claim under the tropical sun which shed its beams upon the cradle of the human race. That mysterious people who, like the Brahmins of to-day, worshipped some transitory deity, and in after years, evidently embraced the idealization of Bood- hism, as preached in Mongolia early in the thirty-fifth century of the world, together with acquiring the learning of the Confucian and Pythagorean schools of the same period, spread all over the land, and in their numerous settlements erected these raths, or mounds, and sacrificial altars whereon they received their peroidical visiting gods, surrendered their bodies to natural absorption or annihilation, and watched for the return of some transmigrated soul, the while adoring the universe, which with beings they believed would be eternally existent. They possessed religious orders corresponding, in external show at least, with the Essenes or Tlieraputse of the pre-Christian and Christian epochs, and to the reformed Theraputse or monks of the present. Every memento of their coming and their stay which has descended to us is an evidence of their civilized condition. The free copper found within the tumuli; the open veins of the Superior and Iron Mountain copper mines, with all the modus operandi of ancient mining, such as ladders, levers, chisels and hammer- heads, discovered by the French explorers of the Northwest and Mississippi, are conclusive proofs that those prehistoric people were highly civilized, and that many flourishing colonies were spread throughout the Mississippi Valley, while yet the mammotli, the mastodon, and a hundred other animals, now only known by their gigantic fossil remains, guarded the eastern shore of the continent, as it were, against supposed invasions of the Tower Builders who went west from Babel ; while yet the beautiful isles of the Antilles formed an integral portion of this continent, long years •MHaMMMAMMMrtbdUiMfaRUi^^d^k^iU :±=d HISTORY OP MICHIGAN. 19 before the European Northmen dreamed of setting forth to the discovery of Green- land and the northern isles, and certainly at a time when all that portion of America north of 45 deg. was an ice-incumbered waste. Within the last few years great advances have been made toward the dis- covery of antiquities whether pertaining to remains of organic or inorganic nature. Together with many small but telling relics of the early inhabitants of the country, the fossils of prehistoric animals have been unearthed from end to end of the land, and in districts, too, long pronounced b}' geologists of some repute to be without even a vestige of vertebrate fossils. Among the collected souvenirs of an age about which so very little is known, are twenty-five vertebrte averaging thir- teen inches in diameter, and three vertabrse, ossified together measuring nine cubical feet ; a thigh-bone five feet long by twenty-eight in diameter, and the shaft fourteen by eight inches thick, the entire lot weighing 600 pounds. These fossils are presumed to belong to the cretaceous period when the Dino- saur roamed over the country from east to west, desolating the villages of the people. This animal is said to be sixty feet long, and when feeding in cypress and palm forests, to extend himself eighty-five feet, so that he may devour the bud- ding tops of those great trees. Other efforts in this direction may lead to great results, and culminate probably in the discovery of a tablet engraven by some learned Mound Builder, describing, in the ancient hieroglyphics of China, all those men and beasts whose history excites so much speculation. The identity of the Mound Builders with the Mongolians might lead us to hope for such a consum- mation ; nor is it beyond the range of probability, particularly in this practical age, to find the future of some industrious antiquarian requited by the upheaval of a tablet written in the Tartar characters of 1700 years ago, bearing on a subject which can now be treated only on a purely circumstantial basis. THE SECOND IMMIGRATION may have begun a few centuries prior to the Christian era, and unlike the former expedition or expedtions, to have traversed northeastern Asia, to its Arctic confines, and then east to the narrow channel now known as Behring's Straits, which they crossed, and sailing up the unchanging Yukon, settled under the shadow of Mount St. Elias for many years, and pushing south commingled with their countrymen, soon acquiring the characteristics of the descendants of the first colonists. Chinese chronicles tell of such a people, who went north, and were never heard of more. Circumstances conspire to render that particular colony the carrier of a new religious faith and of an alphabetic system of representative character to the old colonists, and they, doubtless, exercised a most beneficial influence in other respects ; because the influx of immigrants of such culture as were the Chinese, even of that remote period, must necessarily bear very favorable results, not only in bringing in reports of their travels, but also accounts from the fatherland bearing on the latest events. • With the idea of a second and important exodus there are many theorists united, one of whom says : " It is now the generally received opinion that the first inhabi- tants of America passed over from Asia through these straits." The Esquimaux of North America, the Samoieds of Asia, and the Laplanders of Europe, are supposed to be of the same family ; and this supposition is strength- ened by the affinity which exists in their languages. The researches of Humboldt have traced the Mexicans to the vicinity of Behring's Straits ; whence it is con- jectured, that they, as well as the Peruvians and other tribes, came originally from Asia, and were the Hurignoos, who are, in the Chinese annals, said to have emigrated under Puno, and to have been lost in the north of Siberia." Since this theory is accepted by most antiquarians, there is every reason to be- lieve that from the discovery of what may be called an overland route to what was then considered an eastern extension of that country which is now known as the " Celestial Empire," many caravans of emigrants passed to their new homes in the land of illimitable possibilities until the way became a well-marked trail over which the Asiatic might travel forward, and having once entered the Elysian fields never entertained an idea of returning. Thus from generation to generation tlie tide of immigration poured in until the slopes of the Pacific and the banks of the great in- land rivers became hives of busy industry. Magnificent cities and monuments were raised at the bidding of the tribal leaders, and populous settlements centered with happy villages, sprung up everywhere in manifestation of the power and wealth and knowledge of the people. The colonizing Caucasian of the historic period walked over this great country on the very ruins of a civilization which a thousand years before eclipsed all that of which he could boast. He walked through the wilderness of the West over buried treasures hidden under the accumulated growth of nature, nor rested until he saw, with great surprise, the remains of ancient pyra- mids and temples and cities, larger and evidently more beautiful than ancient Egypt could bring forth after its long years of uninterrupted history. The pyramids re- semljle those of Egypt in exterior form, and in some instances are of larger dimen- sions. The pyiamid of Cholula is square, having each side of its base 1,335 feet in length, and its height about 172 feet. Another pyramid, situated in the north of Vera Cruz, is formed of large blocks of highly polished porph3'ry, and bears upon its front hieroglyphic inscriptions and curious sculpture. Each side of its square base is eighty-two feet in length, and a flight of fifty-seven steps conducts to its summit, which is sixty-five feet in height. The ruins of Palen([ue are said to extend twenty miles along the ridge of a mountain, and the remains of an Aztec city near the banks of the river Gila, are spread over more than a square league. Their literature HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. 21 consisted of hieroglyphics ; but their arithmetical knowledge did not extend further than their calculations by the aid of grains of corn. Yet, notwithstanding all their varied accomplishments, and they were evidently many, their notions of religious duty led to a most demoniac zeal, at once barbarously savage and ferociously cruel. Each visiting god, instead of bringing new life to the people, brought death to thou- sands ; and their grotesque idols, exposed to drown the senses of the beholders in fear, wrought wretchedness rather than spiritual happiness, until, as some learned and humane Montezumian said, the people never approached these idols without fear, and this fear was the great animating principle, the great religious motive power which sustained the terrible religion. Their altars were sprinkled with blood drawn from their own bodies in large quantities, and on them thousands of human victims were sacrificed in honor of the demons whom they worshipped. The head and heart of every captive taken in war were offered up as a bloody sacrifice to the god of battles, while the victorious legions feasted on the remaining portions of the dead bodies. It has been ascertained that, during the ceremonies attendant on the con- secration of two of their temples, the number of prisoners offered up in sacrifice was 12,210 ; while their own legions contributed voluntary victims to the terrible belief in large numbers. Nor did this horrible custom cease immediately after 1521, when Cortez entered the imperial city of the Montezumas ; for, on being driven from it, all his troops who fell into the hands of the native soldiers were subjected to the most terrible and prolonged suffering that could be experienced in this world, and when about to yield up that spirit which is indestructible, were offered in sacrifice, their hearts and heads consecrated, and the victors allowed to feast on the yet warm flesh. A reference is made here to the period when the Montezumas ruled over Mex- ico, simply to gain a better idea of the hideous idolatry which took the place of the old Boodhism of the Mound Builders, and doubtless helped in a great measure to give victory to the new-comers, even as the tenets of Mahommetanism urged the ignorant followers of the prophet to the conquest of great nations. It was not the faith of the people who built the mounds and the pyramids and the temples, and who, two hundred years before the Christian era, built the great wall of jealous China. No ; rather was it that terrible faith born of the Tartar victory, which carried the great defences of China at the point of the javelin and hatchet, who afterwards marched to the very walls of Rome, under Alaric, and spread over the islands of Polynesia to the Pacific slopes of South America. THE TARTARS came there, and, like the pure Mongols of Mexico and the Mississippi valley, rose to a state of civilization bordering on that attained by them. Here for centuries the sons of the fierce Tartar race continued to dwell in comparative peace, until the J® k^ ^ §) 22 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. all-ruling empire took in the whole country from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and peopled the vast territory watered by the Amazon, with a race that was destined to conquer all the peoples of the Orient, and only to fall before the march of the arch-civilizing Caucasian. In course of time these fierce Tartars pushed their set- tlements northward, and ultimately entered the territories of the Mound Builders, putting to death all who fell within their reach, and causing the survivors of the death-dealing invasion to seek a refuge from the hordes of this semi-barbarous people in the wilds and fastnesses of the North and Northwest. The beautiful country of the Mound Builders was now in the hands of savage invaders, the quiet, industrious people, who raised the temples and pyramids were gone ; and the wealth of intelligence and industry accumulating for ages, passed into the possession of a rapacious horde, who could admire it only so far as it offered objects for plunder. Even in this the invaders were satisfied, and then, having arrived at the height of their ambition, rested on their swords and entered upon the luxury and ease, in the enjoyment of which they were found when the vanguard of European civiliza- tion appeared upon the scene. Meantime the southern countries which these adventurers abandoned after having completed their conquests in the North, were soon peopled by hundreds of people, always moving from island to island and ulti- mately halting amid the ruins of villages deserted by those who, as legends tell, liad passed eastward but never returned ; and it would scarcely be a matter for sur- piise if those emigrants were found to be the progenitors of that race found by the Spaniards in 1532, and identical with the Araucanians, Cuenches and Huiltiches of to-day. CHAPTER II. FRENCH EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. The fame of Marquette continues to gain strength as days advance. Notwith- standing all his countrymen had written of him, the new Americans continue to inquire into his magnificent career, and to add to the store of information regarding him, already garnered. Rev. Geo. Duffield, of Detroit, is one of his latest biogra- phers, and from his writings on the life of the missionary, we make the following extracts : Jacques Marquette came late to his fame. Open Davenport's Dictionary of Biography, 1831, " comprising the most eminent characters of all ages, nations and professions," and you will not find even so much as his name. Turn for that name HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. 23 to the Cyclopedia of Biography by Parke Godwin, with a supplement by George Sheppard, A. d. 1872, and you will not find it there, and so with many similar works. Hence we see the need of such an historical society as the present, that one of the greatest and best of the original founders of Michigan may receive his due credit, and be honored with an appropriate memorial. Marquette was born of an honorable family at Laon, in the north of France, in the year 1637, but the month and day of his birth are not easily found, and I have nowhere seen his portrait. In 1654 he joined the Society of the Jesuits, and in 1666 was sent to the missions in Canada. After the river St. Lawrence and the great lakes had been mapped out, the all-absorbing object of interest with Governor Frontenac Talch, the intendant, and Marquette himself, was to discover and trace from the north the wonderful Mississippi, that DeSoto, the Spaniard, had first seen at the south in 1541. In 1668 (according to Bancroft,III, 152), he repaired to the Chip- pewas at the Sault to establish the mission of St. Mary, the oldest settlement begun by Europeans within the present limits of the commonwealth of Michigan. On the day of the immaculate conception of the Holy Virgin, in 1673, he received his orders from Frontenac, to accompany Joliet on his long-desired journey. Taking probably the short trail through the woods he found his companion at Point St. Ignace, where, after many remarkable vicissitudes, both in life and death, he was at length to find his grave, where his numerous friends and admirers, both French and Indian, were for so long a time to lose sight of it again, and where a second time he gains his place as one of the founders of Michigan. Apart from his peculiar mission, which was looked upon by " the Protestant colonies " of New England with anything but favorable eyes ; apart from his pecu- liar dogma of the conception, which has only been officially sanctioned in our day and by the late Pope, there were many things in the life and times of Mar- quette that, to the lover of biography, make his character as attractive as that of Francis Xavier, " the great apostle of the Indies," or of his still greater master, Ignatius Loyola. The man in these days who can not admire, and even to a certain extent venerate man as man, apart from his more immediate antecedents or local surroundings, has but a very limited and mistaken idea of the enlightened spirit of the age, or the true dignity of human nature. Honor to whom honor is due, is not only a sound maxim, founded on that equity which is the highest form of justice, but is also in just so many words one of the very first principles of Christianity itself. When I can not give a man credit for what he really is, because he belongs to another party than my own, or give him credit for what he has done^ because he belongs to another denomination than my own, I deserve to be consigned for the remainder of my days to a hole in the woods. The pioneers of our country, no doubt, have had a very hard time of it, and 24 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. none more so than my Scotch-Irish ancestors in central Pennsylvania. From the childhood of Daniel Webster down to the present hour, it would argue a very igno- rant mind and most unfeeling and ungrateful heart to read the toils and trials and privations endured by men and women in the early settlement of this or any other State ; but after all what are the hardships of the early settlers compared with those of AUouez, in 1665, afloat in a frail canoe on the broad expanse of Lake Superior, of Dablon, Marquette, LaSalle, and others of the original explorers? " Defying the severity of climate," as Bancroft has it, " wading through water or through snows, without the comfort of fire ; having no bread but pounded corn, and often no food but the unwholesome moss from the rocks; laboring inces- santly, exposed to live, as it were, without nourishment, to sleep without a resting place ; to travel far, and always incurring perils ; to carry their lives in their hands ; or rather daily and oftener than every day, to hold them up as targets, expecting captivit}^ death from the tomahawk, tortures, fires" — (Bancroft, III., 152.) It seems to me that if there are any two classes of men who should be most cordially linked in closest bonds of sympathy with one another, it is the pioneers and explorers. Marquette was much more than a religious enthusiast. He was a scholar and a man of science. Having learned within a few years to speak with ease in six different languages, his talents as a linguist were quite remarkable. A subtle element of romance pervaded his character, which not only makes it exceedingly attractive to us in the retrospect, but was no doubt one of the great sources and elements of his power and success among his beloved Ottawas and Hurons, and others of the great Algonquin tribes, who were found in the immediate vicinity of the straits of Michilimackinac. With a fine eye for natural beauty, he was as much delighted with a rapid river, or extended lake, with an old forest or rolling prairie, or a lofty mountain as a Birch, or a Cole, or a Bierstadt. Every one who touches his character seems emulous of adorning it with a new epithet. Parkman speaks of him as "the humble Marquette, who with clasped hands and up-turned eyes, seems a figure evoked from some dim legend of mediaeval saintship." Bancroft calls him " the meek, gentle, single-hearted, unpretending, illustrious Marquette." — Vol. III., p. 157. Many call him " the venerated;" all unite in calling him "the good Marquette," and by this last, most simple, but appropriate title he will be the best remembered by the generations yet to come. " A man who was delighted at the happy necessity of exposing his life to bring the word of God " within reach of half a continent deserves that title if any one does. His Catholic eulogist, John Gilman Shea, (Catholic World, November, 1877, p. 267,) writes with pardon- able pride : " No missionary of that glorious band of Jesuits who in the seventeenth century announced the faith from the Hudson Bay to the lower Mississippi, who 9 ^ -^ — A HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. 35 hallowed by their labors and life-blood so many a wild spot now occupied by the busy hives of men, none of them impresses us more in his whole life and career with his piety, sanctity and absolute devotion to God, than Father Marquette. In life he seems to have been looked up to with reverence by the wildest savage, by the rude frontiersman, and by the polished officers of government. When he had passed away, his name and his fame, so marked in the great West, was treasured above that of his fellow-laborers, Menard, Allouez, Nouvel or Druillettes." May I not add that, most of all other States, his name and his fame should be dear to Michigan ? Such, then, was the man who on the 17th of May, 1673, with the simple outfit of two birch canoes, a supply of smoked meat and Indian corn, and a crew of five men, embarked on what was then known as Lac Des Illinois, now Lake Michigan. June 10th they came to the portage, in Wisconsin, (III., 158,) and after carrying their canoes some two miles over marsh and prairie, " he committed himself to the current that was to bear them he knew not whither — perhaps to the Gulf of Mex- ico, perhaps to the South Sea, or the Gulf of California." June 17, 1673, where now stands Prairie Du Chien, he had found what he sought, " and with a joy that I can not express we steered forth our canoes on the Mississippi, or great river." We know that the honor of this discovery is very stoutly contested in favor of LaSalle, but for the present we confidently hold with Parkman (Discovery of the Great West, p. 25): " LaSalle discovered the Ohio, and in all probability the Illinois also ; but that he discovered the Mississippi has not been proved, nor in the light of the evidence we have, is it likely." In 1846 W. J. A. Bradford, in his notes on the Northwest, says very dogmatically : " Father Hennepin must undoubtedly be considered the discoverer of the Mississippi ;" but if the proof of it is only to be established by Hennepin's own narrative, which Parkman describes as a rare mon- ument of brazen mendacity, the proof is still wanting. His famous voyage from the Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico must be considered not only as a falsehood, but a plagiarism. Fortunately for the fame of Marquette, the true record of his labors was not left to doubtful tradition and the hearsay testimony of Charlevoix. Among the papers some twenty-five years since in the archives of the College of Quebec are accounts of the last labors and death of Father Marquette, and of the removal of his remains, prepared for publication by Father Dablon ; Marquette's journal of his great expedition, the very map he drew, and a letter left unfinished at the time of his death. So at least says Mr. Shea, and that these documents are to be found in his work on the discovery and exploration of the Mississippi Valley. Leaving, then, the doubtful narrative of Charlevoix and the romantic page of Bancroft founded upon it, we learn the real story of his death. October 25, i ( g ^ ^ *) 26 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. 1674, he again left St. Ignace to fulfill a promise to tlie Kaskaskias in Illinois. December 4th he reached Chicago, hoping to ascend the river, and by a portage reacli the Illinois: but the ice had closed the stream and it was too late. A winter march, facing the cutting wind of the prairie was beyond his strength. His two faithful companions erected a log hut home and chapel — the first divelling and the first church of the first white settlement of the city — known for its great misfortune the world over, the city of Chicago. With the opening of Spring tlie good father again set out, and his last letter notes his progress till the 6th of April, 1675. " Just after Easter he was again stricken by disease (dysentery), and he saw that if he would die in the arms of his brethren " at St. Ignace, he must depart at once. Escorted by the Kaskaskias, who were deeply impressed by his zeal, he reached Lake Michigan, gave orders to liis faithful men to launch his canoe, and commenced his adventurous voyage along tliat still unknown and dangerous shore. His strength, however, failed so much tliat his men despaired of being able to convey him alive to their journey's end ; for in fact he became so weak and so exhausted that he could no longer help him- self, nor even stir, and had to be handled and carried like a cliild. He nevertheless in this state maintained au admirable resignation, joy and gentleness, consoling his beloved companions, and encouraging them to suffer courageously all the hardships of this voyage." " On the eve of his death, which was on Friday, he told them, all. radiant with joy, that it would take place on the morrow, and spoke so calmly and collectedly of his death and burial that you would have thought it was another's and not his own. Thus did he speak to them as they sailed along the lake, till perceiving the moutli of a river, with an eminence on the bank which he thought suited to his burial, he told them that it was the place of his last repose. They wished, how- ever, to pass on, as the weather permitted it and the day was not far advanced ; but God raised a contrary wind, which obliged them to return and enter the river which the father had designated. They then carried liim ashore, kindled a little fire and raised a bark cabin for his use, laying him in it witii as little discomfort as they could ; but they were so depressed by sadness that, as they afterward said, they did not know what they were doing." Many a time and oft, in my favorite summer home at Mackinac, have I had this whole scene pass before me as in a day-dream from Point Lookout, until last Sum- mer it took the form of accordant rhyme : I. Where the gently flowing river merges with the stormy lake, Where upon the beach so barren ceaseless billows roll and break, -^ — ^u HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. 27 There the barque so frail and gallant, known throughout the western world, Glides into the long-sought haven and its weary wings are furled. Here, says one, I end my voyage and my sun goes down at noon ; Here I make the final traverse, and the part comes not too soon ; Let God have " the greater glory," care have I for naught beside, But to bear the blest evangel, Jesus Christ, the crucified. II. Slow and faint into the forest, straight he takes his quiet way, Kneels upon the virgin mosses, prays as he is wont to pray ; Nunc dimitlis — then they hear him sweetly sing as ne'er before ; Then the angels join in chorus, and Marquette is now no more. This the prayer he leaves behind him, as is said his latest mass — "One day bear me to my mission, at the Pointe of St. Ignace." Entered into rest from labor, where all toils and tempests cease, Every sail outspread and swelling, so he finds the port of peace. III. Once again that spot so sacred hears the sound of human feet, And the gently flowing river sees a strange funereal fleet ; *Tis the plumed and painted warriors, of their different tribes the best, Who have met in solemn council to fulfill his last request. Down their cheeks the tears are flowing, for the sainted man of God ; Not the bones of dearest kindred dear as those beneath that sod, Reverently the grave they open, call the dear remains their own — Sink them in the running water, cleanse and whiten every bone. Place them gently in the mocock, wrought with woman's choicest skill, From the birch the very whitest, and the deepest colored quill ; In the war canoe the largest, to his consecrated tomb. Like a chief who falls in battle, silently they bear him home. IV. Gathers still the sad procession, as the fleet comes slowly nigh, Where the cross above the chapel stands against the northern sky ; Every tribe and every hamlet, from the nooks along the shore. Swell the company of mourners, who shall see his face no more. V. Forth then thro' the deepening twilight sounds the service high and clear. And the dark-stoled priests with tapers guide and guard the rustic bier ; In the center of the chapel, close by little Huron's wave. Near the tall and stately cedars, Pere Marquette has found his grave. VI. Still I hear the Miserere sounding loud within my soul. Still I hear the De Profundis, with its solemn cadence roll — " For the blood of thy red brother, who shall answer in that day." When before the throne of judgment earth and heaven shall pass away. -® 28 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. When these lines were written I had not seen the narrative of Father Dablon, but a further extract from it will show that there was very little poetic license in them as to the leading facts. '' God did not permit so precious a deposit to remain unhonored and forgotten amid tlie forests. The Indians called Kiskakons, who have for nearly ten years publicly professed Christianity, in which they were first instructed by Father Mar- quette, when stationed at La Pointe du St. Esprit, at the extremity of Lake Supe- rior, were hunting last year, not far from Lake Illinois (i. e. Michigan), and as they were returning early in the Spring they resolved to pass the tomb of their good father, whom they tenderly loved, and God even gave them the thought of taking his bones and conveying them to our church at the mission of St. Ignatius. " They accordingly repaired to the spot and deliberated together, resolving to act with their father, as they usually do with those whom they respect. They opened the grave, unrolled the body, and though the flesh and intestines were all dried up, they found it entire, without the skin being injured. This did not pre- vent their dissecting it according to custom. They washed the bones and dried tliem in the sun ; then putting them neatly in a box of birch bark, they set out to bear them to our house at St. Is^natius. " The convoy consisted of nearly thirty canoes in excellent order, including even a good number of the Iroquois " (a very ferocious tribe, who were a great terror to other tribes and especially hostile to the Jesuits), "who had joined our Algonquins to honor the ceremony. As they approached our house Father Nouvel, who is superior, went to meet them with Father Pierson, accompanied by all the French and Indians of the place ; and having caused the convoy to stop, he made the ordinary interrogations to verify the fact that the body which they bore was reall}'- Father Marquette. Then before they landed he intoned the De Profundis in sight of the thirty canoes still on the water, and of all the people still on the sliore. After this the body was carried to the church, observing all that the ritual prescribes for such ceremonies. It remained exposed under his catafalque all that day, which was Whitsun Monday, the 8th of June, and the next day, when all the funeral honors had been paid to it, it was deposited hi a little vault in the middle of the diarchy where he reposes as the guardiau angel of our Ottawa missions." So far the invaluable record of Dablon. We come now to 1706, when for well- known reasons, for which we can not pause, the Jesuits at St. Ignace broke up their mission, set fire to their house and chapel and returned to Quebec. What became of the hones of Marquette ? Did they carry them with them to Quebec? No ; they left in haste, and fled almost as for their lives. "There is nothing in Canadian registers, which are extensive, full and well preserved." "Charlevoix, who was at Quebec on the return of the missionaries, is silent." There is little ^ HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. 29 doubt, therefore, that the precious remains of the great explorer still lay in the chapel. But the very site of the chapel was soon lost. The new chapel, still standing, was confessedly not on the site of the old one. Could the old site ever be identi- fied? It seemed very doubtful indeed. True, there were a few local and legen- dary traditions to which reference was made some years since in his correspondence by the Hon. E. G. D. Holden, our present Secretary of State. An Indian now living in St. Ignace told me early last Summer that "his father told him, and that his father told Mm^'' and pointed out to him the place on the shore of the bay where a black cross used to stand, which was understood to "poinb out the direction" of the good father's grave, and where the voyagers would invoke his blessing. I also have it in writing from a very intelligent Indian, that last Sum- mer he called on an aged Indian woman in Petoskey, claiming to be in her 100th year. "I asked her if she had heard, when a girl, anything concerning the Kitchi- ma-ka-da-na-co-na-yaj, or "great priest." She said, "Yes. He died at the mouth of the river, and his body was carried to Min-is-sing,"z. e. to St. Ignace. These are but specimens of many similar traditions ; but would there ever be anything more than tradition ? Early in July I heard in Detroit for the first time, from Col. Stockbridge, who has a large lumber interest in St. Ignace ; that when he left there was a report that the site of the old chapel had been discovered. If so, thought I, then we have found Pere Marquette'' s grave at last — for the one statement in which all seem to agree is that he was buried in the middle of tlie chapel. On my arrival in Mackinac I lost but little time before starting for St. Ignace. Though only four miles off we tacked a dozen times and took four hours, and worked hard at that. On reaching Mr. Murray's house, where the supposed discovery had been made, I found precisely what had been described a few days before by a correspon- dent of the Eveniyig News. THE RECENT DISCOVERIES AT ST. IGNACE. SHALL WE, OR SHALL WE NOT, RECOVER THE BONES OF MARQUETTE? Correspondence of the Evenutg News. Mackinac, July 12, 1877. The readers of the Evening News will recollect the recently reported discovery at St. Ignace of the site of the mission chapel founded by Father Marquette in 1670, and under the pavement of which his bones were subsequently deposited. The account created considerable sensation among antiquaries. Being in Mackinac, within four miles of St. Ignatius, I improved the opportunity to cross over and see for myself what the discoveries amounted to. The little steamer Truscott crosses ±=fl 30 IIISTOUV OF MICHIGAN. each afternoon; fare fift3 cents. A few steps from tlie landing we turn into a potato patch, just beyond which the boy who pilots us suddenly announces, "Here's the place." At first glance nothing can be observed more than might be noticed on any vacant lot in Detroit. A closer examination, however, reveals a very slight trench about a foot and a half wide, forming a rectangle 35 by 45 feet and located very nearly, if not exactly, with the points of the compass, the longer measurement being in the direction of east and west. At places in this trench rough stones lay embedded in the earth. At the southern side of the space, about nine feet from the western side, is a hole say three feet deep and eight or ten square, and in the southeast corner another smaller hole. Until the present Spring the site has been covered with a growth of young spruce, the clearing o£f of which led to the sup- posed discovery. The larger hole is assumed to have been a cellar under the church in which the valuables are kept; the smaller hole is thought to mark the position of the baptismal font, though why an excavation should be made for it is more than I can conjecture. A few feet west of the rectangle described above are two heaps of stone and earth, evidently the debris of two ruined chimneys. The outlines of the houses to wliich the chimneys belonged can also be faintly traced. Mr. Murray, the owner of the ground, is a well-to-do Catholic Irishman, own- ing as he docs GOO acres of land on the Point. He has lived on the place for twenty years past, and before that lived on Mackinac Island. He is inclined to be super- stitious and to magnify the mystery to which he believes he holds the key. As illustrative of this he remarked in my presence that when he was about to build a cow-house some time ago, his sons wished it located on what he now believes to be the site of tiie ancient church, but the protecting influences of that sacred spot strangely impelled him to adopt a different location. He is confident that by dig- ging below tlie surface at the center of the church, the " mocock " of bones would be discovered, but thus far owing to a difference between himself and the parish priest, not a spadeful of eartli has been turned. The priest believes the location to be the correct one, and is anxious to excavate, but Mr. Murray refuses to permit it without a pledge that whatever is found shall not be carried away from the Point. He offers to give ground for the erection of a church or a monument on the spot, but insists that the sacred relics, if found, must be left where tliey have for two centuries rested. The bishop is expected at St. Ignace shortly, when the question will l)e laid before him for adjustment. Now as to the prol)al)ility of the discovery being confirmed by others yet to be made, I must confess to being less sanguine than Mr. Murray and his neighbors. It is certain that the two ruined chimneys alluded to indicate the location of dwellings at somi- {leriod in the[)ast. Bits of iron, copper and looking-glass found in the debris attest this; l)Ut whether the buildings stood fifty years ago or 200 no one can posi- [(5 W. HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. 31 tively assert. Mr. Murray has known the spot for a quarter of a century, and can vouch for no change having occurred in that time. I think it likely that they are of a much older date. In regard to the assumed church site I think the proba- bilities favor the existence there at one time of a building of some sort. Whether it occupied the limits assumed — 45 by 35 feet — is less certain, while the existence of the cellar would seem to indicate that it was a dwelling rather than a church. On the other hand, it is certain that the mission was founded in this immediate vicinity, and the Murray farm, as fronting on the most protected part of the bay, and affording the best landing for boats, is certainly as likely a spot for Marquette to have adopted as any. But nothing can be told with any certainty till thorough investigation is made. The tradition is that the mission was founded in 1670, that Marquette subse- quently visited Wisconsin and Illinois, establishing mission stations as far up the lake as Chicago; that upon his return via the eastern shore of Lake Michigan he died at the mouth of the Pere Marquette river, where Ludington now stands, and was buried there. A few years later his bones were taken up, cleaned and packed in a mocock, or box made of birch bark, and were conveyed with due solemnity back to St. Ignace, where they were permanently deposited beneath the middle of the church. At a still later period Indian wars broke up the mission, and to protect tlie church from sacrilege the missionaries burned it to the ground. I also found in the possession of the present priest of St. Ignace, Father Jaoka (pronounced Yocca), a pen and ink sketch, on which I looked with most intense interest. This invaluable drawing gives the original site of the French village, the "home of the Jesuits," the Indian village, the Indian fort on the bluff, and, most important of all, very accurately defines the contour of a little bay known as Na- dowa — Wikweiamashong — i. e., as Mr. Jacker gave it, Nadowa Huron. Wik-weia — Here is a bay. Anglice — " Little bay of the Hurons ;" or according to the Ot- chepwa dictionary of Bp. Barraga, " Bad bay of the Iroquois squaw." Of the Indian village there is no trace. Their wigwams, built only of poles and bark, have not left a single vestige. Not so with the French village. You may still see the remains of their logs and plaster, and the ruins of their chimneys. On the sup- posed site of the house of the Jesuits, some 40 by 30 feet, are found distinct out- lines of walls, a little well, and a small cellar. Immediately in the rear of the larger building are the remains of a forge, where "the brothers" used to make spades or swords, as the occasion might require. On further inquiry of the priest, who was equally remarkable for his candor and intelligence, and the length of his beard, I found that the sketch of the liouse of the Jesuits was taken by him from the travels of LaHenton, originally published in France, but translated and republished in England A. D. 1772. Only a few days 33 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. after I saw a copy of this very same book in the hands of Judge C. I. Walker, of Detroit, and was thus enabled, to ray very great satisfaction, to verify the sketch as shown to me by Father Jaoka or Jacker (Yocca). LaHenton says : " The phice which I am now in is not above half a league dis- tant from the Illinois lake. Here the Hurons and Ontawas have each of 'em (see) a village, the one being severed from the other by a single palisade. But the On- tawas are beginning to build a fort upon a hill that stands but 1,000 or 1,200 paces off. * * In this place the Jesuits have a little house or college, adjoining to a sort of chapel and enclosed with pale, which separates it from the village of the Hurons. " The Cuereur du Paris also a very small settlement." — La Henton, vol. L, p. 88. From that moment I entertained the most sanguine hope that the long lost grave of the good Marquette would again be found. Greatly did I regret that I could not remain a few days longer, when the exploration would he made in the presence of the excellent Bishop Mrak, and learn what would be the result. I saw nothing whatever in the well-known character of the bishop, or of the worthy pas- tor of St. Ignace to justify even for a moment the least suspicion of anything like "pious fraud." Monday, Septembers, 1877, Bishop Mrak dug out the first spadeful of ground. For a time, however, the search was discouraging. " Nothing was found that would indicate the former existence of a tomb, vaulted or otherwise," and the bishop went away. After a while a small piece of birch bark came to light, followed by numerous other fragments scorched by fire. Finally a larger and well preserved piece appeared which once evidently formed part of the bottom of an Indian-wig-wap-makak- i)irch-bark-box or mocock. Evidently the box had been double, such as the Indians sometimes use for greater durability in interments, and had been placed on three or four wootedly humjin, and bear the marks of fire. 2. Tiiat everything goes to show " the haste of profane robbery." « k. HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. 33 3. That this robbery was by Indian medicine men, who coveted his bones, according to their belief, as a powerful medicine. 4. That it must have taken place within a few years after the departure of the Jesuits, otherwise when the mission was renewed (about 170S), the remains would most certainly have been transferred to the new church in old Mackinac. 5. That Charlevoix, at his sojourn there in 1721, could hardly have failed to be taken to see the new tomb, and to mention the fact of its transfer in his journal, or history. 6. That if we have failed to find all the remains of the great explorer, we have at least found some, and ascertained the fact of his having been interred on that particular spot. 7. That the records answer all the circumstances of the discovery, and that the finding of these few fragments, if not as satisfactory to our wishes, is at least as good evidence for the fact in question as if we had found every bone that is in the human body. Such are the leading points in Father Jacker's elaborate narrative, as published in the Catholic Worlds November, 1877, in connection with the article entitled " Romance and Reality of the Death of Father James Marquette, and the recent discovery of his remains," by John G. Shea, for which papers I am indebted to the kind courtesy of Mr. Daniel E. Hudson, C. S. C, Notre Dame, Indiana, to whom I return most cordial thanks. While in some respects the results are not quite so satisfactory as might have been desired, yet the determination of the site of the old house of the Jesuits, the discovery of the tomb, the recovery in part of the mocock coffin, and above all, the finding of some of the bones of Marquette, are all of intense interest to every lover of earl^' Michigan history. Marquette, the great explorer — the oldest founder of Michigan, whose grave was found within her borders, and to whom belongs immortal honor, being the dis- coverer of the upper Mississippi and first navigator of the great river. The scat- tering of his bones, lam well persuaded, is only a symbol of the wider extension of his fame. Already his name is attached to a railroad, a river, a city, a diocese in Michigan ; but that is not enough. Some forty years ago it was foretold by Ban croft " that the people of the West will build his monument," and now the time has fully come when that prophecy will be fulfilled. Lest you might think that I say this merely out of state pride, or as a lover of antiquarian history, I will only add in conclusion that I say it out of a much higher motive, and with reference to a much higher object. In reading the life of Francis Xavier when a boy, I learned that there were some lessons for Christian laborers from the lives of the early Jesuits, that neither I nor any other man could afford to overlook. Granting that 3 ^-.| 34 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. too often they souglit to help what they deemed a righteous cause by what they knew to be unrighteous means, and so teach us what we should avoid, there are other lessons tliat we would do well to imitate. The spirit of union, which was to them so great a source of power, the cheerfulness with which they suffered for the cause that they had espoused ; the unlooked-for combinations of character in the same individuals, and above all the magnetism of personal importance and power hy hav- ing a definite am— such for example as we find in the good Marquette— belonging to any one church or order of that church, but to man as man, and to the world at large ! There is only one regret that I should have in the erecting of such a mon- ument, and that is lest it should be built by our Catholic friends alone. Will they not permit us all to join — Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and the whole Northwest — and do honor to the great explorer in a monument of natural rock, (like Monu- mental Rock, Isle Royale), the materials for which in that immediate vicinity have been so long waiting, apparently, for just such a noble purpose ? lasalle's travels. The next settlement in point of time was made in 1679, by Robert Cavalier de LaSalle, at the mouth of the St. Joseph river. He had constructed a vessel, the " Griffin," just above Niagara Falls, and sailed around by the lakes to Green Bay, Wis., whence he traversed " Lac des Illinois," now Lake Michigan, by canoe to the mouth of the St. Joseph river. The " Griffin " was the first sailing vessel that ever came west of Niagara Falls. La Salle erected a fort at the month of the St. Joseph river, which afterward was moved about 60 miles up the river, where it was still seen in Charlevoix's time, 172 L La Salle also built a fort on the Illinois river, just below Peoria, and explored the region of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. The next, and third, Michigan post erected by authority was a second fort on the St. Joseph river, established by Du Suth, near the present Fort Gratiot, in 1686. The object of this was to intercept emissaries of the English, who were anxious to open traffic with the Mackinaw and Lake Superior nations. Tiie French posts in Michigan on westward, left very little to be gathered by tli(j New York traders, and they determined, as there was peace between France and England, to push forward their agencies and endeavor to deal with the western and northern Indians in their own country. The French governors not only plainly asserted the title of France, but as plainly threatened to use all requisite force to expel intruders. Anticipating correctly that the English would attempt to reach Lake Huron from tlie East without passing up Detroit river, Du Luth built a fort at the outlet of the lake into the St. Clair. About the same time an expedition was planned against the Senecas, and the Chevalier Tonti, commanding La Salle's forts, of St. Louis and St. Joseph of Lake Michigan, and La Durantaye, the veteran commander of Mackinaw, were employed to bring down the French and Indian HISTORY OF ]\riCHIGAN. 35 auxiliaries to take part in the war. These men intercepted English expeditions into tlie interior to establish trade with the Northern Indians, and succeeded in cutting them off for many j^ears. Religious zeal for the Catholic Church and the national aggrandizement were almost or quite equally the primary and all-ruling motive of western explorations. For these two purposes expeditions were sent out and missionaries and military posts were established. In these enterprises Mar- quette, Joliet, La Salle, St. Lusson and others did all that we find credited to them in history. In 1669 or 1670, Talon, then " Intendant of New France," sent out two parties to discover a passage to the South Sea, St. Lusson to Hudson's Bay and La Salle southwestward. On his return in 1671, St. Lusson held a council of all the north- ern tribes at the Sault Ste. Marie, where they formed an alliance with the French. " It is a curious fact," says Campbell, " that the public documents are usually made to exhibit the local authorities as originating everything, when the facts brought to light from other sources show that they were compelled to permit what they ostensibly directed." The expeditions sent out by Talon were at least sug- gested from France. The local authorities were sometimes made to do things which were not, in their judgment, the wisest. DETROIT. July 19, 1701, the Iroquois conveyed to King William III, all their claims to land, describing their territory as " that vast tract of land or colony called Cana- gariarchio, beginning on the northwest side of Cadarachqui (Ontario) Lake, and includes all that vast tract of land lying between the great lake of Ottawawa (Huron), and the lake called by the natives Sahiquage, and by the Christians the J^ake of Sweege (Oswego, for Lake Erie), and runs till it butts upon the Twich- twichs, and is bounded on the westward by the Twichtwichs, on the eastward by a place called Qnadoge, containing in length about 800 miles, and breadth 400 miles, including the country where beavers and all sorts of wild game keep, and the place called Tjeughsaghrondie alias Fort De Tret or Wawyachtenock (Detroit) ; and so runs round the lake of Sweege till you come to a place called Oniadarun- daquat," etc. It was chiefly to prevent any further mischief, and to secure more effectually the French supremacy that La Motte Cadillac, who had great influence over the savages, succeeded, in 1701, after various plans urged by him had been shelved by hostile colonial intrigues, in getting permission from Count Pontchartraine to begin a settlement in Detroit. His purpose was from the beginning to make not only a military post, but also a civil establishment for trade and agriculture. He was more or less threatened and opposed by the monopolists and by the Mackinaw missionaries, and was subjected to severe persecutions. He finally triumphed and obtained valuable . 4« — «- 36 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. privileges and the right of seigneury. Craftsmen of all kinds were induced to settle in the town, and trade flourished. He succeeded in getting the Hurons and many of the Ottawas to leave Mackinaw and settle about " Fort Pontchartraine." This fort stood on what was formerly called the first terrace, being on the ground lying between Larned street and the river, and between Griswold and Wayne streets. Cadillac's success was so great, in spite of all opposition, that he was appointed governor of the new province of Louisiana, which had been granted to Crozat and his associates. This appointment removed him from Detroit, and immediately afterward the place was exposed to an Indian siege, instigated by English emissaries, and conducted by the Mascoutins and Ontagamies, the same people who made the last war on the whites in the territory of Michigan under Black Hawk a century and a quarter later. The tribes allied to the French came in with alacrity and de- feated and almost annihilated the assailants, of whom a thousand were put to death. Unfortunately for the country, the commanders who succeeded Cadillac for many years were narrow-minded and selfish and not disposed to advance any in- terests beyond the lucrative traffic with the Indians in peltries. It was not until 1734 that any new grants were made to farmers. This was done by Governor- General Heauharnois, who made the grants on the very easiest terms. Skilled ar- tisans became numerous in Detroit, and prosperity set in all around. The build- ings were not of the rudest kind, but built of oak or cedar, and of smooth finish. Tlie cedar was brought from a great distance. Before 1742 the pineries were known, and at a very early day a saw-mill was erected on the St. Clair River, near Lake Huron. Before 1749 quarries were worked, especially at Stony Island. In 170:'. there were several lime kilns within the present limits of Detroit, and not only stone foundations but also stone buildings, existed in the settlement. Several grist-mills existed along the river near Detroit. Agriculture was car- ried on profitably, and supplies were exported quite early, consisting chiefly of corn and wheat, and possibly beans and peas. Cattle, horses and swine were raised in consideral)le nuuii)ers ; but as salt was very expensive, but little meat, if any, was packed for exportation. The salt springs near Lake St. Clair, it is true, were known, and utilized to some extent, but not to an appreciable extent. Gardening and fruit-raising were carried on more thoroughly than general farming. Apples and pears were good and abundant. During the Frencli and English war Detroit was the principal source of sup- plies to the French troops west of Lake Ontario, and it also furnished a large number of fighting nuM). The upper posts were not much involved in this war. " Teuchsa (irondie." one of the many ways of spelling an old Indian name of Detroit, is rendered famous by a large and splendid poem of Levi Bishop, Esq., of ±. HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. 39 to yield the situation to Rogers. Even the French commandant at Detroit, Capt. Beletre, was in a situation similar to that of the Indians, and received the news of the defeat of the French from Major Rogers. He was indignant and incredulous, and tried to rouse the fury of his old-time friends, the Indians, but found them "faithless" in this hour of his need. He surrendered with an ill grace, amid the yells of several hundred Indian warriors. It was a source of great amazement to the Indians to see so many men surrender to so few. Nothing is more effective in gaining the respect of Indians than a display of power, and the above proceed- ings led them to be overawed by English powers. They were astonished also at the forbearance of the conquerors in not killing their vanquished enemies on the spot. This surrender of Detroit was on the 29th of November, 1760. The posts elsewhere in the lake region, north and west; were not reached until some time afterward. The English now thought they had the country perfectly in their own hands, and that there was but little trouble ahead ; but in this respect they were mistaken. The French renewed their efforts to circulate reports among the Indians that the English intended to take all their land from them, etc. The slaughter of the Mo- nougahela, the massacre at Fort William Henry, and the horrible devastation of the western frontier, all bore witness to the fact that the French were successful in pre- judicing the Indians against the British, and the latter began to have trouble at various points. The French had always been in the habit of making presents to the Indians, keeping them supplied with arms, ammunition, etc., and it was not their policy to settle upon their lands. The British, on the other hand, now sup- plied them with nothing, frequently insulting them when they appeared around the forts. Everything conspired to fix the Indian population in their prejudices against the British Government. Even the seeds of the American Revolution were scattered into the west, and began to grow. The first Indian chief to raise the war-whoop was probably Kiashutu, of the Senecas, but Pontiac, of the Ottawas, was the great George Washington of all the tribes to systemize and render effectual the initial movements of the approaching storm. His home was about eight miles above Detroit, on Pechee Island, which looks out upon the waters of Lake St. Clair. He was a well-formed man, with a countenance indicating a high degree of intelligence. In 1746 he had successfully defended Detroit against the northern tribes, and it is probable he was present and assisted in the defeat of Braddock. About the close of 1762 he called a general council of the tribes, sending out ambassadors in all directions, who, with the war belt of wampum and the tomahawk, went from village to village, and camp to camp, informing the sachems everywhere, that war was impending, and delivering to them the message of Pontiac. They all approved the message, and April 27, 1 763, a 7U r- 40 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. grand council was held near Detroit, when Pontiac stood forth in war paint and delivered " the great speech of the campaign." The English were slow to perceive any dangerous conspiracy in progress, and when the blow was struck, nine out of twelve of the British posts were surprised and destroyed. Three of these were within the bounds of this State. The first prominent event of the war was the massacre at Fort Michilimackinac, on the northernmost point of the southern peninsula, the site of the present city of Mackinaw. This Indian outrage was one of the most ingeniously devised and resolutely executed schemes in American his- tory. The Chippewas (or Ojibways) appointed one of their big ball plays in the vicinity of the post and invited and inveigled as many of the occupants as they could to the scene of play, then fell upon the unsuspecting and unguarded English in the most brutal manner. For the details of this horrible scene we are indebted to Alexander Henry, a trader at that point, who experienced several most blood- curdling escapes from death and scalping at the hands of the savages. The result of the massacre was the death of about seventy out of ninety persons. The Ottawa Indians, who occupied mainly the eastern portion of the lower peninsula, were not consulted by the Chippewas, with reference to attacking Michilimackinac, and were consequently so enraged that they espoused the cause of the English, through spite ; and it was through their instrumentality that Mr. Henry and some of his comrades were saved from death and conveyed east to the regions of civilization. Of Mr. Henry's narrow escapes we give the following succinct account : Instead of attending the ball play of the Indians he spent the day writing letters to his friends, as a canoe was to leave for the East the following day. While thus engaged, he heard an Indian war cry and a noise of general confusion. Looking out of tiie window, he saw a crowd of Indians witliin the fort, that is, within the village palisade, who were cutting down and scalping every Englishman they found. He seized a fowling piece which he had at hand, and waited a moment for the signal, tlie drum beat to arms. In that dreadful interval he saw several of his countrymen fall under the tomaliawk and struggle between the knees of an Indian, who held him in this manner to scalp him, while still alive. Mr. Henry heard no signal to arms; and seeing it was useless to undertake to resist 400 Indians, he thought only of shelter for himself. He saw many of the Canadian inhabitants of the fort calmly looking on, neither opposing the Indians nor suffering injury, and he therefore concluded he might find safety in some of their houses. He stealthily ran to one occupied Ijy Mr. Langlade and family, who were at their windows beholding the bloody scene. Mr. Langlade scarcely dared to harbor him, but a Pawnee slave of the former concealed him in the garret, locked the stairway door and took away the key. In this situation Mr. Henry obtained, through an aperture, a view of what was going on without. He saw the dead scalped and mangled, the <5 r~ ^"s © L HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. 41 dying in writhing agony, under the insatiate knife and tomahawk, and the savages drinking human blood from the hollow of their joined hands ! Mr. Henry almost felt as if he were a victim himself so intense were his sufferings. Soon the Indian fiends began to halloo, " All is finished." At this instant Henry heard some of the Indians enter the house he had taken shelter. The garret was separated from the room below by only a layer of single boards, and Mr. Henry heard all that was said. As soon as the Indians entered they inquired whether there were any En- glishmen in the house. Mr. Langlade replied that he could not say ; they might examine for themselves. He then conducted them to the garret door. As the door was locked, a moment of time was snatched by Mr. Henry to crawl into a heap of birch-bark vessels in a dark corner : and although several Indians searched around the garret, one of them coming within arm's length of the sweating prisoner, they went out satisfied that no Englishman was there. As Mr. Henry was passing the succeeding night in this room, he could think of no possible chance of escape from the country. He was out of provisions, the nearest post was Detroit, 400 miles away, and the route thither lay through the enemy's country. The next morning he heard Indian voices below informing Mr. Langlade that they had not found an Englishman named Henry among the dead, and they believed him to be somewhere concealed. Mrs. L., believing that the safety of the household depended on giving np the refugee to his pursuers, prevailed on her husband to lead the Indians upstairs to the room of Mr. H. The latter was saved from instant death by one of the savages adopting him as a brother in the place of one lost. The Indians were all mad with liquor, however, and Mr. H. again very narrowly escaped death. An hour afterwards he was taken out of the fort by an Indian indebted to him for goods, and was under the uplifted knife of the savage when he suddenly broke away from him and made back to Mr. Lang- lade's house, barely escaping the knife of the Indian tlie whole distance. The next day he, with three other prisoners, were taken in a canoe toward Lake Michigan, and at Fox Point, eighteen miles distant, the Ottawas rescued the whites through spite at the Chippewas, sayir.g that the latter contemplated killing and eating them ; but the next day they were returned to the Chippewas, as the result of some kind of agreement about the conduct of the war. He was rescued again by an old friendly Indian claiming him as a brother. The next morning he saw the dead bodies of seven whites dragged forth from the prison lodge he had just occupied. The fattest of these dead bodies was actually served up and feasted on directly before the eyes of Mr. Henry. Through the partiality of the Ottawas and the com- plications of military affairs among the Indians, Mr. Henry, after severe exposures and many more thrilling escapes, was finally landed within territory occupied by whites. Tv ^ 42 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. For more than a year after the massacre, Michilimackinac was occupied only by wood rangers and Indians ; then, after the treaty, Capt. Howard was sent with troops to take possession. CHAPTER IV. NATIONAL POLICIES. The Great French Scheme. — Soon after the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi by La Salle, in 1682, the government of France began to encourage the policy of establishing a line of trading posts and missionary stations extending through the West from Canada to Louisiana, and this policy was maintained, with partial success, for about seventy-five years. The river St. Joseph, of Lake Michigan, was called " the river Miamis " in 1679, in which year La Salle built a small fort on its bank, near the lake shore. The principal station of the mission for the instruction of the Miamis was estab- lished on the borders of this river. The first French post within the territory of the Miamis was at the mouth of the river Miamis, on an eminence naturally forti- fied on two sides by the river, and on one side by a deep ditch made by a fall of water. It was of triangular form. The missionary, Hennepin, gives a good description of it, as he was one of the company who built it in 1679. Says he : " We felled the trees that were on the top of the hill, and having cleared the same from bushes for about two musket shot, we began to build a redoubt of eighty feet long and forty feet broad, with great square pieces of timber laid one upon another, and prepared a great number of stakes of about twenty-five feet long to drive into the ground, to make our fort more inaccessible on the river side. We employed the whole month of November about tliat work, wliich was very hard, though we had no other food but the bears' llesh our savage killed. These beasts are very common in that place, because of the great quantity of grapes they find there ; but their flesh being too fat and luscious, our men began to be weary of it, and desired leave to go a-hunting to kill some wild goats. M. La Salle denied them that liberty, which caused some murmurs among them, and it was but unwillingly that they continued their work. Tiiis, together with the approach of Winter and the apprehension that M. La Salle had that his vessel (the Griffin) was lost, made him very melancholy, though he con- cealed it as much as he could. We made a cabin wherein we performed divine service every Sunday, and Father Gabriel and I, who preached alternately, took care to take such texts as were suitable to oui- present circumstances and fit to (s b?v HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. 43 inspire us with courage, concord and brotherly love. . . . The fort was at last perfected and called Fort Miamis." In 1765, the Miamis nation, or confederacy, was composed of four tribes, whose total number of warriors was estimated at only 1,050 men. Of these, about 250 were Twight-wess or Miamis proper, 300 Weas or Ouiate-nons, 300 Pianke- shaws and 200 Schockej'^s, and at this time the principal villages of the Twight- wess were situated about the head of the Maumee River, at and near the place wliere Fort Wayne now is. The larger Wea villages were near the banks of the Wabash River, in the vicinity of the Ouiatenon ; and the Shockeys and Piankeshaws dwelt on the banks of the Vermillion and on the borders of the Wabash, between Vin- cennes and Ouiatenon. Branches of the Pottawatomie, Shawnee, Delaware and Kickapoo tribes were permitted at different times to enter within the boundaries of the Miamis and reside for a while. The wars in which France and England were engaged from 1688 to 1697, retarded the growth of the colonies of those nations in North America, and the efforts made by France to connect Canada and the Gulf of Mexico by a chain of trading-posts and colonies naturally excited the jealousy of England and gradually laid the foundation for a struggle at arms. After several stations were established elsewhere in the West, trading-posts were started at the Miami villages, which stood at the head of the Maumee, at the Wea villages about Ouiatenon, on the Wabash, and at the Piankeshaw villages about the present site of Vincennes. It is probable that before the close of the year 1719, temporary trading-posts were erected at the sites of Fort Wayne, Ouiatenon and Vincennes. The points were probably often visited by French fur traders prior to 1700. In the meanwhile, the English people in this country commenced also to establish military posts west of the Alleghanies, and thus matters went on until they naturally culminated in a general war, which, being waged by the French and Indians combined on one side, was called " the French and Indian war." This war was terminated in 1763 by a treaty at Paris, by which France ceded to Great Britain all of North America east of the Mississippi except New Orleans and the island on which it is situated ; and, indeed, France had the preceding Autumn, by a secret convention, ceded to Spain all the country west of that river. In 1762, after Canada and its dependencies had been surrendered to the English, Pontiac and his partisans secretly organized a powerful confederacy in order to crush at one blow all English power in the West. This great scheme was skillfully projected and cautiously matured. The principal act in the programme was to gain admittance into the fort at Detroit, on pretense of a friendly visit, with shortened muskets concealed under their blankets, and, on a given signal, suddenly break forth upon the garrison ; but an inadvertent remark of an Indian woman led to a 44 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. discover}'- of the plot, which was consequently averted. Pontiac and his warriors afterward made many attacks upon the English, some of which were successful, but the Indians were finally defeated in the general war. BRITISH POLICY. In 1765 the total number of French families within the limits of the North- western Territory did not probably exceed 600. These were in settlements about Detroit, along the river Wabash and the neighborhood of Fort Ohartres on the Mis- sissippi. Of these families, about eighty or ninety resided at Post Vincennes, fourteen at Fort Ouiatenon, on the Wabash, and nine or ten at the confluence of the St. Mary and St. Joseph rivers, together with a few on St. Clair lake and river. The colonial policy of the British Government opposed any measures which might strengthen settlements in the interior of this country, lest they become self- supporting and independent of the mother country; hence the early and rapid settle- ment of the Northwestern Territory was still further retarded by short-sighted self- ishness of England. That fatal policy consisted mainly in holding the lands in the hands of the government and not allowing it to be subdivided and sold to settlers. But in spite of all her efforts in this direction, she constantly made just such efforts as provoked the American people to rebel, and to rebel successfully, which was within fifteen years after the perfect close of the French and Indian war. AMERICAN POLICY. Thomas Jefferson, the shrewd statesman and wise Governor of Virginia, saw from the first that actual occupation of Western lands was the only way to keep them out of the hands of foreigners and Indians. Therefore, directly after the con- quest of Vincennes by Clark he engaged a scientific corps to proceed under an escort to the Mississippi, and ascertain by celestial observations the point on that river intersected by latitude 36 deg. 31 min., the southern limit of the State, and to measure its distance to the Ohio. To Gen. Clark was entrusted the conduct of the military operations in that quarter. He was instructed to select a strong position near that point and establish there a fort and garrison ; thence to extend his conquest northward to the lakes, erecting forts at different points, which might serve as monuments of actual i)Ossession, besides affording protection to that por- tion of the countr}-. Fort " Jefferson " was erected and garrisoned on the Missis- sippi a few miles above the southern limit. The result of these operations was the addition to the chartered limits of Vir- ginia, of that immense region known as the " Northwestern Territory." The sim- ple fact that such and such forts were established by the Americans in this vast refjion convinced the British Commissioners that we had entitled ourselves to the land. But where are those " monuments " of our power now ? J^ — ^ '■iL HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. 45 ORDINANCE OF 1787. This ordinance has a marvelous and interesting history. Considerable contro- versy has been indulged in as to who is entitled to the credit for framing it. This belongs undoubtedly, to Nathan Dane ; and to Rufus King and Timothy Pickering belong the credit for suggesting the proviso contained in it against slavery, and also for aids to religion and knowledge, and for assuring forever the common use, without charge, of the great national highways of the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence and their tributaries to all the citizens of the United States. To Thomas Jefferson is also due much credit, as some features of this ordinance were embraced in his ordin- ance of 1784. But the part taken by each in the long, laborious and eventful struggle which had so glorious a consummation in the ordinance, consecrating for- ever, by one imprescriptible and unchangeable monument, the very heart of our country to freedom, knowledge and union, will forever honor the names of those illustrious statesmen. Jefferson had vainly tried to secure a system of government for the North- western Territor3\ He was an emancipationist and favored the exclusion of slavery from the Territory, but the South voted him down every time he proposed a meas- ure of this nature. In 1787, as late as July 10, an organizing act without the anti- slavery clause was pending. This concession to the South was expected to carry it. Congress was in session in New York. On July 5, Rev. Manasseh Cutler of Massachusetts, came into New York to lobby on the Northwestern Territory. Everything seemed to fall into his hands. Events were ripe. The state of the public credit, the growing of Southern prejudice, the basis of his mission, his per- sonal character, all combined to complete one of those sudden and marvelous revo- lutions of public sentiment that once in five or ten centuries are seen to sweep over a country like the breath of the Almighty. Cutler was a graduate of Yale. He had studied and taken degrees in the three learned professions, medicine, law, and divinity. He had published a scien- tific examination of the plants of New England. As a scientist in America, his name stood second only to Franklin. He was a courtly gentleman of the old style, a man of commanding presence and inviting face. The Southern members said they had never seen such a gentleman in the North. He came, representing a Massachusetts company that desired to purchase a tract of land, now included in Ohio for the purpose of planting a colony. It was a speculation. Government money was worth eighteen cents on the dollar. This company had collected enough to purchase 1,500,000 acres of land. Other speculators in New York made Dr. Cutler their agent, which enabled him to represent a demand for 5,500,000 acres. As this would reduce the national debt, it presented a good opportunity to do something. -^^ ® ^ ^ 5 46 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. Massachusetts then owned the territory of Maine, which she was crowding on the market. She was opposed to opening tlie Northwestern region. This fired the zeal of Virginia. The South caught the inspiration, and all exalted Dr. Cutler. The entire South rallied around him. Massachusetts could not vote against him, because many of the coustituents of her members were interested personally in the Western speculation. Thus Cutler making friends in the South, and doubtless using all the arts of the lobby, was enabled to command the situation. True to deeper convictions, he dictated one of the most compact and finished documents of wise statesmenship that has ever adorned any human law book. He borrowed from Jefferson the term " Articles of Compact," which preceding the federal constitution, rose into the most sacred character. He then followed very closely the constitution of Massachusetts, adopted three years before. Its most prominent points were : 1. The exclusion of slavery from the territory forever. 2. Provision fur public schools, giving one township for a seminary and every section numbered 16 in each township ; that is, one thirty-sixth of all the land for pul)lic schools. 3. A provision prohibiting the adoption of any constitution or the enactment of any law that should nullify pre-existing contracts. Be it forever remembered that this compact declared that " religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of edu- cation shall always be encouraged." Dr. Cutler planted himself on this platform and would not yield. Giving his unqualified declaration that it was that or noth- ing, he took his horse and V)Uggy and started for the constitutional convention at Philadelphia. On July 13, 1787, the bill was put upon its passage, and was unani- mously adopted. Thus the great States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, a vast empire, were consecrated to freedom, intelligence and morality. Thus the great heart of the nation was pre[)ared to save the union of States, for it was this act that was the salvation of the Republic and the destruction of slavery. Soon the South saw their great blunder and tried to have the compact repealed. In 1803 Congress re- ferred it to a committee, of which John Randolph was chairman. He reported that this ordinance was a compact, and opposed repeal. Thus it stood, a rock in the way of the on-rushing sea of slavery. The " Northwestern Territory" included, of course, what is now the State of Indiana, and October 5, 1787, Major General Arthur St. Clair was elected by Con- gress, Governor of this territory. Upon commencing the duties of his office he was instructed to ascertain the real temper of the Indians, and do all in his power to remove the causes for controversy between them and the United States, and to s~ -4V HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. 47 effect the extinguishment of Indian titles to all the land possible. The Governor took up quarters in the new settlement of Marietta, Ohio, where he immediately began the organization of the government of the territory. The first session of the General Court of the new territory was held at that place in 1788, the judges being Samuel H. Parsons, James M. Varnum and John C. Symmes, but under the ordinance, Gov. St. Glair was president of the court. After the first session, and after the necessary laws for government were adopted, Gov. St. Clair, accompanied by the judges, visited Kaskaskia for the purpose of organizing a civil government there. Full instructions had been sent to Maj. Hamtramck, commandant at Vin- cennes, to ascertain the exact feeling and temper of the Indian tribes of the Wabash. The instructions were accompanied by speeches to each of the tribes. A Frenchman, named Antoine Gamelin, was dispatched with these messages April 5, 1790, who visited nearly all the tribes on the Wabash, St. Joseph, and St. Mary's Rivers, but was coldly received, most of the chiefs being dissatisfied with the policy of the Americans toward them, and prejudiced through English misrepresentation. Full accounts of his adventures among the tribes, reached Gov. St. Clair at Kaskas- kia, in June, 1790. Being satisfied that there was no prospect of effecting a general peace with the Indians of Indiana, he resolved to visit Gen. Harmar, at his head- quarters at Fort Washington, and consult with him on the means of carrying on an expedition against the hostile Indians ; but before leaving he intrusted Winthrop Sargent, the secretary of the Territory, with the execution of the resolutions of Congress regarding the lands and settlers on the Wabash. He directed that oflBcer to proceed to Vincennes, lay out a county there, establish the militia and appoint the necessary civil and military officers. Accordingly Mr. Sargent went to Vin- cennes and organized Camp Knox, appointed the officers, and notified the inhabi- tants to present their claims to lands. In establishing these claims the settlers found great difficulty, and concerning this matter the secretary in his report to the president wrote as follows : Although the lands and lots which were awarded to the inhabitants appeared from very good oral testimony to belong to those persons to whom they were awarded, either by original grants, purchase or inheritance, yet there was scarcely one case in twenty where the title was complete, owing to the desultory manner in which public business had been transacted, and some other unfortunate causes. The original concessions by the French and British commandants were generall}'^ made upon a small scrap of paper, which it has been customary to lodge in the notary's office, who has seldom kept any book of record, but committed the most important land concerns to loose sheets, which in process of time have come into possession of persons that have fraudulently destroyed them ; or unacquainted with their consequence, innocently lost or trifled them away. By French usage they are 48 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. considered family inheritances, and often descend to women and children. In one instance, during tlie government of St. Ange, a royal notary ran off with all the public papers in his possession, as by a certificate produced to me. And I am very sorry further to observe that in the office of Mr. Le Grande, which continued from 1777 to 1787, and where should have been the vouchers for important land transac- tions, the records have been so falsified, and there is such gross fraud and forgery as to invalidate all evidence and information which might be otherwise acquired from his papers. Mr. Sargent says there were about 150 French families at Vincennes in 1790. The heads of all the families had been at one time vested with certain titles to a portion of the soil ; and while the secretary was busy in straightening out those claims, he received a petition signed by eighty Americans, asking for the confirma- tion of grants of land ceded by the Court, organized by Col. John Todd, under the authority of Virginia. With reference to this cause. Congress, March 3, 1691, em- powered the territorial governor, in cases where land had been actually improved and cultivated under a supposed grant for the same, to confirm to the persons who made such improvements the lands supposed to have been granted, not, however, exceeding the quantity of 1,100 acres to any one person. CHAPTER V. MILITARY HISTORY. PONTIAC'S SIEGE OF DETROIT. In the Spring of 1763 Pontiac determined to take Detroit by an ingenious attack. He had his men file off their guns so that they would be short enough to conceal under their blanket clothing as they entered the fortification. A Canadian woman wlio went over to their village on the east side of tiie river to obtain some venison, saw them thus at work on their guns, and suspected they were preparing for an attack on the whites. She told her neighbors what she had seen, and one of them informed the commandant. Major Gladwyn, who at first slighted the advice, but before anotiier day had passed he liad full knowledge of the plot. There is a legend that a beautiful Chippewa girl, well-known to Gladwyn, divulged to him the scheme which the Indians had in view, namely, that the next day Pontiac would come to the fort with sixty of his chiefs, each armed with a gun cut short and hidden under his blanket ; that Pontiac would demand a council, deliver a speech, offer a peace-belt of wampum, holding it in a reversed position as the signal for cs ^AiftdbtfMM :l. HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. 49 attack ; that the chiefs, sitting upon the ground, would then spring up and fire upon the officers, and the Indians out in the streets would next fall upon the garrison, and kill every Englishman but spare all the French. Gladwjni accordingly put the place in a state of defence as well as he could, and arranged for a quiet reception of the Indians and a sudden attack upon them when he should give a signal. At 10 o'clock, May 7, according to the girl's pre- diction, the Indians came, entered the fort, and proceeded with the programme, but witlj some hesitation, as they saw their plot was discovered. Pontiac made his speech, professing friendship for the English, etc., and without giving his signal for attack, sat down and heard Major Gladwyn's reply, who suffered him and his men to retire unmolested. He probably feared to take them as prisoners, as war was not actually commenced. The next day Pontiac determined to try again, but was refused entrance at the gate unless he should come in alone. He turned away in a rage, and in a few minutes some of his men commenced the peculiarly Indian work of attacking an innocent household and murdering them, just beyond the range of British guns. Another squad murdered an Englishman on an island at a little distance. Pontiac did not authorize the proceedings, but retired across the river and ordered pre- parations to be made for taking the fort by direct assault, the headquarters of the camp to be on " Bloody Run," west of the river. Meanwhile the garrison was kept in readiness for any out-break. The very next day Pontiac, having received reinforcements from the Chippewas of Saginaw Bay, commenced the attack, but was repulsed; no deaths upon either side. Gladwyn sent ambassadors to arrange for peace, but Pontiac, although professing to be willing, in a general way, to con- clude peace, would not agree to any particular proposition. A number of Canadians visited the fort and warned the commandant to evacuate, as 1,500 or more Indians would storm the place in an hour ; and soon afterward a Canadian came with a summons from Pontiac, demanding Gladwyn to surrender the post at once, and promising that, in case of compliance, he and his men would be allowed to go on board their vessels unmolested, leaving their arms and effects behind. To both these advices Major Gladwyn gave a flat refusal. Only three weeks' provisions were within the fort, and the garrison was in a deplorable condition. A few Canadians, however, from across the river, sent some provisions occasionally, by night. Had it not been for this timely assistance, the garrison would doubtless have had to abandon the fort. The Indians themselves soon began to suffer from hunger, as they had not prepared for a long siege ; but Pontiac, after some maraudings upon the French settlers had been made, issued " promise to pay " on birch bark, with which he pacified the residents. He sub- sequently redeemed all these notes. About the end of July, Capt. Dalzell arrived 4 rfv* •^<2- -5 50 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. from Niagara with reinforcements and provisions, and persuaded Gladwyn to under- take an aggressive movement against Pontiac. Dalzell was detailed for the purpose of attacking the camp at Parents' Creek, a mile and a half away, but, being delayed a day, Pontiac learned of his movements, and prepared his men to contest his march. On the next morning, July 31, before day-break, Dalzell went out with 250 men, but was repulsed with a loss of fifty-nine killed and wounded, while the Indians lost less than half that number. Parents' Creek was afterward known as " Bloody Run." Shortly afterward, the schooner " Gladwyn," on its return from Niagara, with ammunition and provisions, anchored about nine miles below Detroit for the night, when in the darkness about 300 Indians in canoes came quietly upon the vessel and very nearly succeeded in taking it. Slaughter proceeded vigorously until the mate gave orders to his men to blow up the schooner, when the Indians under- standing the design, fled precipitately, plunging into the water and swimming ashore. This desperate command saved the crew, and the schooner succeeded in reaching the post with the much-needed supply of provisions. By this time, September, most of the tribes around Detroit were disposed to sue for peace. A truce being obtained, Gladwyn laid in provisions for the Winter, while Pontiac retired with his chiefs to the Maumee country, only to prepare for a resumption of war the next Spring. He or his allies the next season carried on a petty warfare until in August when the garrison, now worn out and reduced, were relieved by fresh troops. Major Bradstreet commanding. Pontiac retired to the Maumee again, still to stir up hate against the British. Meanwhile the Indians near Detroit, scarcely comprehending what they were doing, were induced by Bradstreet to declare themselves subjects of Great Britain. An embassy sent to Pontiac induced him also to cease belligerent operations against the British. In 1769 the great chief and warrior, Pontiac, was killed in Illinois by a Kaskas- kia Indian, for a barrel of whisky offered by an Englishman named Williamson. EXPEDITIONS OF HARMAR, SCOTT AND WILKINSON. Gov. St. Clair, on his arrival at Fort Washington from Kaskaskia, had a long conversation with Gen. Harmar, and concluded to send a powertul force to chastise the savages about the head-waters of the Wabash. He had been empowered by the President to call on Virginia for 1,000 troops and on Pennsylvania for 500, and he immediately availed himself of this resource, ordering 300 of the Virginia mili- tia to muster at Fort Steuben, and march with the garrison of that fort to Vin- cennes, and join Maj. Hamtramck, who had orders to call for aid from the militia of Vincennes, march up the Wabash and attack any of the Indian villages which he might think he could overcome. *> «- ^ ^ -*— — ® HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. 51 The remaining 1,200 of the militia were ordered to rendezvous at Fort Wash- ington, and to join the regular troops at that post under Gen. Harmar. At this time the United States troops in the West were estimated by Gen. Harmar at 400 effective men. These, with the militia, gave him a force of 1,450 men. With this army Gen. Harmar marched from Fort Washington, September 30, and arrived at the Maumee, October 17. They commenced the work of punishing the Indians, but were not very successful. The savages, it is true, received a severe scourging, but the militia behaved so badly as to be of little or no service. A detachment of 340 militia and sixty regulars, under the command of Col. Hardin, were sorely defeated on the Maumee October 22. The next day the army took up the line of march for Fort Washington, which place they reached November 4, having lost in the expedition 183 killed and thirty-one wounded ; the Indians lost about as many. During the progress of this expedition Maj. Hamtramck marched up the Wabash from Vincennes, as far as the Vermillion river, and destroyed several deserted vil- lages, but without finding an enemy to oppose him. Although the savages seem to have been severely punished by these expeditions, yet they refused to sue for peace, and continued their hostilities. Thereupon, the inhabitants of the frontier settle- ments of Virginia took alarm, and the delegates of Ohio, Monongahela, Harrison, Randolph, Greenbrier, Kanawah and Montgomery counties sent a joint memorial to the Governor of Virginia, saying that the defenseless condition of the counties, forming aline of nearly 400 miles along the Ohio river, exposed to the hostile inva- sion of their Indian enemies, destitute of every kind of support, was truly alarm- ing, for, notwithstanding all the regulations of the General Government in that country, they have reason to lament that they have been up to that time ineffectual for their protection ; nor indeed could it be otherwise, for the garrisons kept by the Continental troops on the Ohio River, if of any use at all, must protect only the Kentucky settlement, as they immediately covered that country. They further stated in their memorial, " We beg leave to observe that we have reason to fear that the consequences of the defeat of our army by the Indians in the late expe- dition will be severely felt on our frontiers, as there is no doubt that the Indians will, in their turn, being flushed with victory, invade our settlements and exercise all their horrid murder upon the inhabitants thereof whenever the weather will permit them to travel. Then, is it not better to support us where we are, be the expense what it may, than to oblige such a number of your brave citizens, who have so long supported, and still continue to support, a dangerous frontier (although thousands of their relatives in the flesh have in the prosecution thereof fallen a sacrifice to the savage inventions) to quit the country, after all they have done and suffered, when you know that a frontier must be supported somewhere ? " This memorial caused the Legislature of Virginia to authorize the Governor of -t^ (9 52 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN. that State to make any defensive operations necessary for the temporary defense of the frontiers, until the General Government could adopt and carry out measures to suppress the hostile Indians. The Governor at once called upon the military com- manding officers in the western counties of Virginia to raise by the first of March, 1791, several small companies for this purpose. At the same time Charles Scott was appointed Brigadier-General of the Kentucky Militia, with authority to raise 226 volunteers, to protect the most exposed portions of that district. A full report of the proceedings of the Virginia Legislature being transmitted to Congress, that body constituted a local Board of War for the district of Kentucky, consisting of five men. March, 1791, Gen. Henry Knox, Secretary of War, sent a letter of instructions to Gen. Scott, recommending an expedition of mounted men not exceding 750 men, against the Wea towns on the Wabash. With this force Gen. Scott, accordingly, crossed the Ohio, May 23, 1791, and reached the Wabash in about ten days. Many of the Indians, having discovered his approach, fled, but he succeeded in destroying all the villages around Ouiatenon, together with several Kickapoo towns, killing thirty-two warriors and taking fifty-eight prisoners. He released a few of the most infirm prisoners, giving them a "talk," which they car- ried to the towns further up the Wabash, and which the wretched condition of his horses prevented him from reaching. March 3, 1791, Congress provided for raising and equipping a regiment for the protection of th^ frontiers, and Gov. St. Clair was invested with the chief command of about 3,000 troops, to be raised and employed against the hostile Indians in the territory over which his jurisdiction extended. He was instructed by the Secretary of War to march to the Miami village and establish a strong and permanent mili- tary post there, also such posts elsewhere along the Ohio as would be in communi- cation with Fort Washington. The post at Miami Village was intended to keep the savages in that vicinity in check, and was ordered to be strong enough in its garrison to afford a detacliment of 500 or 600 men in case of emergency, either to chastise any of the Wabash or other hostile Indians or capture convoys of the enemy's provisions. The Secretary of War also urged Gov. St. Clair to establish that post as the first and