HISTORIC
MACKINAC
EDWIN-O WOOD
HISTORIC MACKINAC
VOLUME I
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO DALLAS
ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED
LONDON BOMBAY CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTDV
TORONTO
^HISTORIC MACKINAC
THE HISTORICAL, PICTURESQUE AND
LEGENDARY FEATURES OF THE
MACKINAC COUNTRY
ILLUSTRATED FROM SKETCHES, DRAWINGS, MAPS AND
PHOTOGRAPHS, WITH AN ORIGINAL MAP OF MACKINAC
ISLAND, MADE ESPECIALLY FOR THIS WORK
BY
EDWIN 0. WOOD, LL.D.
Formerly President Michigan Historical Commission, Vice-president of the
Mackinac Island State Park Commission, Trustee of the Michigan
Pioneer and Historical Society, Life Member of the American His-
torical Association, the American Irish Historical Society, the
New York Historical Society, the New York State Histori-
cal Association, Life Fellow of the American Geo-
graphical Society, Member of the Mississippi
Valley Historical Society, and of the State
Historical Societies of Michigan,
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin
and Minnesota
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME I
NEW YORK
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1918
COPYRIGHT. 1918
BY THE MACMIL.I*AN COMPANY
Set up and printed. Published, March. 1918
TO '
THE RT. REV. MONSIGNOR FRANK A. O'BRIEN, LL.D.,
Member and a former President of the Michigan
Historical Commission,
THESE Two VOLUMES OF Historic Mackinac
ARE AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
For years as a trustee of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical
Society he was active and earnest in encouraging and stimulating the
study of the history of the Old Northwest and of Michigan, his na-
tive State. Upon the creation of the Michigan Historical Commis-
sion he was named by the Governor as one of its members. He has
been a leader in everything tending to preserve material relating to
the early history of the Great Lakes country. A ripe scholar, he has
given to the Michigan Historical Commission splendid executive abil-
ity and a large measure of energetic and practical service in its
especial field of endeavour. He has been for many years a student
of the history of Mackinac Island and the Mackinac country. As
President of the Commission he gave hearty co-operation to the com-
mittees having in charge the placing of historic tablets on Mackinac
Island in honour of John Nicolet and Lewis Cass.
An author of note, one of his most valuable productions is the
exhaustive work entitled Descriptive and Explanatory Notes on
Names and Places at Mackinac Island. He has founded schools,
erected hospitals, and is perhaps best known by reason of his con-
structive work along religious, educational and charitable lines. In
the field of historical research, however, he has brought about re-
newed interest on the part of teachers, students, and the public in the
romantic history of the Mackinac country and gained an enduring
place in the hearts of all scholars and laymen in that section known
as the Old Northwest.
The friendship and helpfulness of Monsignor O'Brien has been
a constant inspiration in the preparation of Historic Mackinac t and
it is a simple act of justice to pay this tribute which he so richly
merits.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The writer wishes to make grateful acknowledgment to
the authors and publishers of the material quoted herein,
who have generously accorded every assistance, making it
possible to bring together this work as a contribution to the
history of Mackinac. Especial care has been taken to give
full credit in the bibliography and notes, to title, authors,
and publishers, where quote matter has been used. The co-
operation of the Michigan Historical Commission and the
constant helpfulness of its secretary, Mr. George Newman
Fuller, Ph.D., has been invaluable, and it would be a seri-
ous omission if their assistance were not recognized by
these words of appreciation. The Mackinac Island State
Park Commission and its superintendent gave every aid
and encouragement, and to the splendid people of Mack-
inac Island there is due a word of thanks for their uniform
courtesy and kindness.
FOREWORD
During the many summers which the author spent on
Mackinac Island, interest in the history and romance of the
Island and the surrounding region grew steadily, until
books of travel, fiction and history connected with the
Mackinac country, and maps of the Great Lakes region,
were collected, forming an extensive historical and refer-
ence library pertaining especially to the Old Northwest.
Winter evenings and vacation periods were occupied in
reading about the Indians, the heroic priests at the missions,
the soldiers and traders in the frontier garrisons, and the
gay voyageurs and adventurous coureurs de bois in the
northern wilderness. The writer, for a number of years,
had been a member of the Mackinac Island State Park Com-
mission, and the Michigan Historical Commission, with the
result that exceptional opportunities were afforded for
study of the Island and its place in history. Gradually it
was determined to bring together the rich and varied ma-
terial relating to this historic and romantic field. And thus
began a labour of love, which has since been extended to
include fragments connected with the entire field of the Old
Northwest.
These volumes make no claim to rank with the achieve-
ments of historians. They represent merely the attempt
of a layman to bring together from this collection some
leading features which have seemed to be of especial in-
terest. Many items are taken from books long since out
of print, and therefore not readily available to the casual
FOREWORD
reader. The hope has been that as the years go by, the
bringing together of this material relating to Mackinac, may
prove an aid to those seeking information concerning one
of the most historic places on the American continent.
Possibly Historic Mackinac may add something to that
interest which in the last few years has so rapidly increased
in this region of rare fascination. As an integral part of
the Old Northwest, the Mackinac country may justly par-
take in its invitation to the scholar and its interest for the
layman in the following evaluation made by the late Pro-
fessor Hinsdale of the University of Michigan, who says:
"Save New England alone, there is no section of the
United States embracing several States that is so distinct
an historical unit, and that so readily yields to historical
treatment, as the Old Northwest. It is the part of the Great
West first discovered and colonized by the French. It was
the occasion of the final struggle for dominion between
France and England in North America. It was the theatre
of one of the most brilliant and far-reaching military ex-
ploits of the Revolution. The disposition to be made of
it at the close of the Revolution is the most important ter-
ritorial question treated in the history of American diplo-
macy. After the war, the Northwest began to assume a
constantly increasing importance in the national history.
It is the original public domain, and the part of the West
first colonized under the authority of the National Govern-
ment. It was the first and the most important Territory
ever organized by Congress. It is the only part of the
United States ever under a secondary constitution like the
Ordinance of 1787. No other equal part of the Union has
made in one hundred years such progress along the charac-
teristic lines of American development."
TABLE OF CONTENTS
VOLUME I
CHAPTER
I FRENCH EXPLORATION IN THE MACKINAC
COUNTRY ........ Pages 1- 21
II FATHER MARQUETTE AT MICHILIMACKI-
NAC " 22-47
III LA SALLE AND THE GRIFFIN .... " 48- 59
IV THE COUREURS DE Bois AND THE FUR
TRADE " 60-76
V REMOVAL OF FORT AND MISSION TO OLD
MACKINAW " 77-89
VI THE PARISH REGISTER AT MICHILIMACKI-
NAC " 90-121
VII THE FRENCH AND THE ENGLISH ..." 122-133
VIII THE ENGLISH AND THE INDIANS ..." 134^156
IX PONTIAC " 157-168
X MlNAVAVANA AND WAWATAM .... " 169-180
XI HENRY'S ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE:
His ESCAPE AND ADVENTURES ..." 181-209
XII OLD MACKINAW AFTER THE MASSACRE;
MAJOR ROBERT ROGERS .... " 210-236
XIII REMOVAL OF THE FORT TO MACKINAC
ISLAND " 237-266
XIV THE ENGLISH FUR TRADE .... " 267-283
XV THE WAR OF 1812 " 284^318
XVI THE AMERICAN FUR TRADE; ASTOR,
CROOKS AND STUART " 319-339
XVII DR. WILLIAM BEAUMONT AND ALEXIS ST.
MARTIN " 340-361
XVIII MACKINAC AND THE MORMONS OF BEAVER
ISLAND " 362-378
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
XIX
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND . . Pages
379-429
XX
THE LOST PRINCE
430-462
XXI
FORT MACKINAC, 1815-1918 ..."
463-485
XXII
MACKINAC NATIONAL PARK; MACKINAC
ISLAND STATE PARK
486-506
XXIII
DESCRIPTIVE NOTES ON NAMES AND
PLACES AT MACKINAC ISLAND ..."
507-606
APPENDIX
607-679
CHRONOLOGY "
681-697
VOLUME II
I
THE INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY Pages
1- 49
II
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC . . "
50-113
III
EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND,
1814-1821 "
114-134
IV
SCHOOLCRAFT'S VISIT TO THE ISLAND IN
1820 "
135-146
V
McKENNEY's Sketches of a Tour to the
Lakes, 1826 "
147-160
VI
MRS. KINZIE VISITS MACKINAC, 1830 . "
161-168
VII
MACKINAC IN WINTER 1834 ..."
169-185
VIII
DR. OILMAN'S Life on the Lakes 1835 "
186-214
IX
SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY
AT MACKINAC 1835-1841 ..."
215-254
X
HARRIET MARTINEAU 1836 ..."
255-269
XI
MRS. JAMESON 1837 "
270-299
XII
THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC 1837 . . "
300-333
XIII
A CANOE VOYAGE FROM MACKINAC TO
THE " Soo " IN 1837 "
334-360
XIV
MARGARET FULLER'S Summer on the
Lakes 1843 "
361-376
XV
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT'S Letters of a
Traveller 1846 "
377-402
XVI
BAYARD TAYLOR 1855 ...
t-r I I ^\J^
403-406
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
XVII " FAIRY ISLAND " AS SEEN BY CONSTANCE
FENIMORE WOOLSON 1870 . . . Pages 407-417
XVIII MACKINAC IN STORY " 418-484
XIX JEAN NICOLET " 485-506
XX LEWIS CASS " 507-548
XXI TSHUSICK " 549-561
XXII MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS . . . . " 562-623
XXIII INDIAN NAMES IN THE MACKINAC COUN-
TRY " 624^-640
XXIV THE FLOWERING PLANTS, FERNS AND
THEIR ALLIES OF MACKINAC ISLAND . " 641-678
BIBLIOGRAPHY " 679-740
INDEX . . " 741
ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME I
Flags of France, England and United States,
which have floated over the Mackinac Coun-
try Frontispiece Facing Title Page
Jacques Cartier Facing Page 2
Samuel de Champlain ........... 3
La Hontan's Map of the Straits of Mackinac
1688 Page 7
Ancient Michilimackinac, 1671-1705 (?) . . 24
Portrait Supposed to be that of Father Mar-
quette Facing Page 26
Statue of Father Marquette. Designed for De-
troit City Hall 27
Father Marquette's Plate and Spoon . . . Page 47
The Sailing of the Griffon Facing Page 50
View of Buildings and Corner of Parade
Ground, Fort Mackinac " 51
La Hontan's Map of the Great Lakes . . . Page 53
Francis Parkman Facing Page 56
Thomas Jefferson 57
The Griffin Page 59
Father Marquette and Louis Joliet leaving
Michilimackinac (St. Ignace) .... Facing Page 64
Death of Father Marquette " " 65
Burial of Father Marquette " " 65
Jean Nicolet's Introduction to the Indians " 80
Old Site of Fort Michilimackinac in 1820, on
the South Side of the Straits " 81
Mr. Justice William R. Day, of the Supreme
Court of the United States 92
Judge Edward Osgood Brown " " 93
Pere Marquette at St. Ignace in 1671 . . . Page 121
Marine View at Mackinac Island .... Facing Page 124
ILLUSTRATIONS
Two Fort Mackinac Views ...... Facing Page 125
An Indian Wigwam Page 133
A Fine View at Mackinac Facing Page 140
Rifle Range, Fort Mackinac 141
The Fur Trader Page 156
Father Gabriel Richard Facing Page 160
Pontiac " "161
Page from Parkman's Note Book .... Page 167
Page from Parkman's Note Book .... 168
Fairy Kitchen ' . . Facing Page 176
One of the Old Block Houses, Fort Mackinac " 177
Alexander Henry
Shore Boulevard, Mackinac Island . . . . " 189
The Walk-in-the-Water Page 207
Page from Parkman's Note Book .... "208
Page from Parkman's Note Book .... "209
The Old Mission Church ...... Facing Page 218
The Old Mission House " "219
Page from Parkman's Note Book .... Page 234
Page from Parkman's Note Book .... "235
Page from Parkman's Note Book .... "236
Outline of Fort Michilimackinac as Planned
by Sinclair "238
Fort Michilimackinac. Sketch of the Fort on
Michilimackinac Island " 241
Outline of Old Fort Michilimackinac ... " 244
Old Indian Trail on Mackinac Island . . . Facing Page 252
Rare old Print of Arch Rock " "253
Fort Mackinac. From an original Photograph
in Major D wight H. Kelton's Collection . . " " 272
The Missionary " "273
Stairs leading to Old Fort Mackinac . . . Page 283
Lieutenant Colonel George Croghan . . . Facing Page 288
Site of Battle of Mackinac Island . . . . " " 289
Major Andrew Hunter Holmes " "304
View of Fort Mackinac from the Southwest . Page 309
Fort Mackinac from the Beach ..... Facing Page 314
Within the Walls of Fort Mackinac .... ' p age 318
ILLUSTRATIONS
John Jacob Astor House Facing Page 326
Reproduction of two pictures of La Salle " " 327
John Jacob Astor, Founder of the American
Fur Company " "327
Robinson's Folly Page 339
Officers' Stone Quarters, Fort Mackinac. Dr.
William Beaumont Facing Page 344
A Daily Scene during the Occupation of Fort
Mackinac " "345
Henry R. Schoolcraft " "366
David Murray " "366
A Sketch of the Beach at Mackinac Island . . " " 367
St. Anne's Church, Mackinac Island ..." " 382
Louis Joliet " "383
Father Skolla's Sketch of St. Anne's Church,
Mackinac Island Page 388
Rev. Meade Creighton Williams, D.D. . . . Facing Page 398
Major Dwight H. Kelton " "399
General Patrick Sinclair 434
Bowl Presented to Captain Patrick Sinclair by
Merchants at Detroit, September 23, 1767 . " " 435
Arch Rock in 1917 " "454
A View of Early Mackinac. From a Sketch
made in 1820 " "455
North Sally Port, Fort Mackinac .... Page 465
Fort Mackinac Sally Port "470
Rare old Views of Fort Mackinac .... Facing Page 472
Early Views of Fort Mackinac " "473
Plan of Fort Mackinac. (Double Page.) . . " " 478
Block House, Fort Mackinac, Built in 1780 . Page 484
Major Kelton's Map of Mackinac Island 1883 " 485
Rt. Rev. Monsignor Frank A. O'Brien, LL.D. . Facing Page 490
Mackinac to Lake Superior " " 491
Map of Mackinac Island Page 506
Three-page Folding Map of Mackinac Island.
Accompanying Monsignor O'Brien's Descrip-
tive and Explanatory Notes on Names and
Places at Mackinac Island Facing Page 506
Block House, Fort Holmes . i . . " " 518
ILLUSTRATIONS
Sugar Loaf Rock Facing Page 519
A Fine Old View of Fort Mackinac ..." " 548
A View of the Butte Des Morts Treaty Ground " " 549
Map Showing Plan of the Straits of St. Mary
and Michilimackinac. London, 1761.
(Double page.) "606
Map of Fort Mackinac and Marquette Park.
(Double page.) "678
Sketch of Fort Michilimackinac . . . . " " 679
Great Arch Rock, Mackinac Island . . . Page 697
HISTORIC MACKINAC
VOLUME I
HISTORIC MACKINAC
CHAPTER I
FRENCH EXPLORATION IN THE MACKINAC
COUNTRY
FASCINATING and picturesque is the history of the
discovery, exploration and settlement of the
Mackinac country. At the outset we meet with
one of the most romantic of the European peoples; French
explorers, priests, traders and commandants were destined
to be for nearly two centuries the dominant figures in the
region of the Great Lakes, and in human interest the story
of their trials, triumphs, defeats and achievements has no
rival in North America.
Nearly three hundred years ago Jacques Cartier, "the
bold mariner of St. Malo," was commissioned by Francis
the First, King of France, to find a passageway through the
newly discovered lands to the Golden East. In 1535 he
reached the site of Montreal; as he gazed from the elevation
which he named Mont Royale, little did he dream of the
strange secrets hidden in the wilderness before him. Car-
tier and his men had not found a route to Cathay, but they
had visited the gateway through which later explorers were
to find their way to Mackinac.
Events in Europe were to fill nearly three quarters of a
century before this gateway was to be again approached by
white men. In 1608 Samuel de Champlain, "Father of
i
2 HISTORIC MACKINAC
New France," founded Quebec which is declared to be
"the most important event that had taken place in North
America since its discovery, save only the founding of
Jamestown the previous year." * In 1609 he discovered
the beautiful lake which bears his name though on this
occasion, unfortunately, he gained the lasting enmity of
the powerful New York tribes of the Iroquois, a circum-
stance destined to have far-reaching results for later ex-
ploration. In 1615, travelling from his rude fort at Mont-
real by way of the Ottawa, Lake Nipissing, and the French
river, he came to the shores of Lake Huron, thus extending
further the knowledge of that route by which the first white
man, Jean Nicolet, was to come within sight of, if he did
not visit, the Island of Mackinac.
Champlain had early been told of a strange people who
dwelt in far-away lands beyond Lake Huron by the sea,
who for this reason were called by the Algonquins "Men of
the Sea." He had heard also of a people without hair or
beards, whose costumes and habits reminded him of the
Tartars described by Marco Polo a people who came
from the west to trade with the "Sea-tribe," making their
journeys in large canoes over a "great water." Might not
this "great water" be the long sought South Sea which
Balboa had seen from the Isthmus of Darien, and which
Carder had searched for to lead him to the riches of Asia?
Some of the Indians who traded with the French used oc-
casionally to barter with these "People of the Sea," distant
only five or six weeks' journey. A lively imagination on
the part of the white men easily converted these hairless
traders into Chinese or Japanese. Jean Nicolet, whom as
early as 1618 Champlain had sent among the Indians to
1 Hinsdale, Old Northwest, p. 11. SUver, Burdett & Co., Boston.
JACQUES CARTIER
SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN
FRENCH EXPLORATION 3
learn their language and to be his interpreter, had heard
these stories, and his curiosity was not less excited than was
Champlain's. To no one would Champlain, now governor
of Canada, more naturally turn for a competent man to
penetrate the wilderness to the "People of the Sea" than
to Nicolet. 2
Jean Nicolet was a native of Cherbourg, France. He
was about thirty-six years old 3 when he undertook this
journey to the West, and in him we see one of the earliest
of that numerous and picturesque type, the French-Cana-
dian wood ranger, or coureur de bois. He had now spent
some fifteen years among the Indians learning their man-
ners, customs and habits, and had become thoroughly In-
dian in his mode of life. He had conducted successfully a
mission of peace to the Iroquois, and had sat in the council
of the Nipissings, writing down his observations of Indian
life. Both by nature and by experience he was well fitted
to hold "talks" and smoke the peace pipe with the strange
tribes whom it was now determined to cultivate for peace
and trade and bring to a knowledge of the true faith.
The course chosen by Nicolet was the old one which
Champlain had followed on his first trip to Lake Huron,
and which was to become the established route to this re-
gion. He visited the Huron villages and met his old Indian
friends. The story of his journey, as told by a contem-
porary, is as follows: 4
"He embarked in the Huron country, with seven savages;
2 Butterfield, Discovery of the Northwest, pp. 35-39. R. Clarke & Co.,
Cincinnati.
3 Gosselin, Jean Nicolet et le Canada de son temps, pp. 9, 11. (J. A. K.
Laflamme, Quebec, 1905.) For an extended discussion of this date see
Wis. Hist. Colls., VIII, 188-194.
4 Jesuit Relations, XXIII, 277-279. The Burrows Brothers Company,
Cleveland, 0.
4 HISTORIC MACKINAC
and they passed by many small nations, both going and
returning. When they arrived at their destination they
fastened two sticks in the earth, and hung gifts thereon, so
as to relieve these tribes from the notion of mistaking them
for enemies to be massacred. When he was two days'
journey from that nation, he sent one of those savages to
bear tidings of the peace, which word was specially well
received when they heard that it was a European who car-
ried the message; they dispatched several young men to
meet the Manitourinon that is to say 'the wonderful
man.' They meet him, they escort him, and carry all his
baggage. He wore a grand robe of China damask, all
strewn with flowers and birds of many colours. No sooner
did they perceive him than the women and children fled, at
the sight of a man who carried thunder in both hands for
thus they called the two pistols that he held. The news of
his coming quickly spread to the places round about and
there assembled four or five thousand men. Each of the
chief men made a feast for him, and at one of these ban-
quets they served at least six score beavers. The peace was
concluded; he returned to the Hurons, and some time later
to the three Rivers, where he continued his employment as
Agent and Inspector, to the great satisfaction of both the
French and the Savages, by whom he was equally and
singularly loved."
The Chinese costume which Nicolet wore in his interview
with the "People of the Sea" shows that he conceived his
mission to be that of ambassador of the French to the people
of Asia. In reality, he had arrived among the Winnebago
Indians on the shores of Green Bay. The "great water," of
which he here heard more, was probably the Wisconsin or
the Mississippi. For unknown reasons Nicolet did not
FRENCH EXPLORATION 5
act on this report, and the "Father of Waters" was yet to
lie shrouded in mystery for forty years.
On his way to the "People of the Sea" Nicolet and his
companions, paddling their canoes along the eastern and
northern shores of Lake Huron, were given pause by the
rapids of the Sault. We are told that they camped there,
on the south shore in the present upper peninsula of Michi-
gan. Instead of trying to pass the rapids, which would
have led them to the discovery of Lake Superior, they bent
their course south and west along the coastline through the
Straits of Mackinac, where it is entirely possible that
Nicolet, tired as he must have been by the long trip from
the Sault and attracted by the beauties of the Fairy Isle,
may have camped upon its very shores.
Just a century since Jacques Cartier had first approached
the gateway of the St. Lawrence, the first white man had
thus reached the vicinity of Mackinac. "Nicolet could
hardly have suspected the commanding stand at which he
had at last arrived," says Winsor. 5 "With all his surmises,
he even did not know the great channel which led to it from
the landfall of Cartier, for the existence of Lake Erie was
but faintly conceived; and the route by the Ottawa with all
its obstructions, was the only passage which he knew. To
the south of him lay the great lake whose position Cham-
plain had so recently misconceived in placing it to the
north; and at the head of Lake Michigan and the extremity
of Green Bay shortly to be tested by Nicolet himself
lay the inviting portages which were in due time to conduct
the French into that great valley which the English had
not dared to enter over the Appalachians, nor the Spaniards
5 Winsor, Carrier to Frontenac, pp. 150-151. Houghton, Mifflin & Co.,
Boston.
6 HISTORIC MACKINAC
to invade from the Gulf of Mexico. There was no dream
yet of the great affluents of the Mississippi which, by the
Missouri, were to conduct the explorer to the Columbia and
the Pacific, and by the Arkansas were to open a way along
the Colorado to the Gulf of California. All this was shad-
owy in men's minds, and the speculative geographer of the
time had not yet made it clear whether the canoe which was
carried over the southern portages would float to the At-
lantic, the Mexican Gulf, or the South Sea."
We do not know what effect the story told by Nicolet on
his return in 1635 may have had on the mind of Champlain.
A few months later a stroke of paralysis took that intrepid
explorer from the scene of his great plans for the glory of
France, and further exploration towards Mackinac Island
ceased for some years.
Nicolet was drowned in 1642, in the St. Lawrence while
on a mission to save a friendly Indian from torture and
death. A Jesuit friend has left the following beautiful
tribute: 6
"This was not the first time that this man had exposed
himself to the peril of death for the weal and salvation of
the savages he did so very often, and left us examples
beyond one's expectations from a married man, which
recall Apostolic times, and inspire even the most fervent
religious with a desire to imitate him." And again, by the
same friend, "In so far as his office allowed, he vigorously
co-operated with our Fathers for the conversion of those
peoples, whom he could shape and bend howsoever he
would, with a skill that can hardly be matched."
"Champlain's death," says a recent writer, 7 "caused all
8 Jesuit Relations, XXIII, 281. The Burrows Brothers Company, Cleve-
land, 0.
7 Wis. Hist. Colls., XI, 19.
8 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the long journeys of the kind which he had accomplished to
be abandoned, and later when these expeditions were re-
sumed, attention was bestowed only upon those who had
made them, and their forerunner was no longer remem-
bered. But this injustice has been fully repaired. Today
Jean Nicolet is openly recognized as the one who disclosed
the way to the great lakes and the western territory; neither
is it in Canada only that the place due him has been given;
the Historical Society of Wisconsin considers him the
Jacques Cartier of that region."
Champlain, like Nicolet, was a champion of the Church.
Of his life at sea, he says, 8 he "met its perils on the ocean
and on the coasts of New France with the hope of seeing the
lily of France able to protect there the Holy Catholic re-
ligion."
Father Joseph Le Caron, who was with Champlain in
1615, and was the first white man to see Lake Huron, was
the youngest of four brothers of the Recollet order of
Franciscan monks, who came at Champlain's invitation to
convert the savages. He laboured among the Hurons. To
Le Caron belongs the undying glory of performing the first
public religious service in the region of the Great Lakes.
"The twelfth of August was a day evermore marked with
white in the friar's calendar," says Parkman. 9 "Arrayed
in priestly vestments, he stood before his simple altar; be-
hind him his little band of Christians the twelve French-
men who had attended him, and the two who had followed
Champlain. Here stood their devout and valiant chief,
and at his side, that pioneer of pioneers, Etienne Brule, the
8 Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, p. 82. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston.
9 Parkman, Pioneers of France in the New World, II, 226. Little, Brown
& Co., Boston.
FRENCH EXPLORATION 9
interpreter. The Host was raised aloft; the worshippers
knelt. Then their rough voices joined in the hymn of
praise Te Deum Laudamus; and then a volley of their guns
proclaimed the triumph of the faith to the skies, the Mani-
tous and all the brood of anomalous devils who had reigned
with undisputed sway in these wild realms of darkness."
When Jean Nicolet set out for the West in 1634, there
accompanied him as far as the southern shores of the Geor-
gian Bay, two missionaries to the Hurons, Father Jean de
Brebeuf and Father Daniel. Brebeuf was one of the little
handful of Jesuits who came to Canada in 1625, through
whose enthusiastic devotion missions were rapidly extended
among the Hurons and to the neighbouring nations. This
was the advance guard of the great army of Loyola, those
black-robed Fathers, firm of character, inflexible of resolve,
superb in physical and moral courage, the story of whose
heroic Order in the Great Lakes region will ever be insep-
arably associated with the history of Mackinac.
Seven years after Nicolet and Brebeuf journeyed to Lake
Huron, Fathers Isaac Jogues and Charles Raymbault, ap-
parently acting under instructions from Brebeuf, preached
to two thousand jib ways and other Algonquins assembled
at the Sault, and left upon that waterway one of the first
permanent names given by white men to the geography of
the Mackinac country. 10 It is probable that Nicolet's dis-
coveries were known to them, for they sped their course
directly towards the rapids which had turned Nicolet back.
These they named the Sault de Sainte Marie, after the
Huron Mission from which they had come. The Indians
used to gather there to catch the whitefish, so abundant in
10 Jesuit Relations, I, 24. The Burrows Brothers Company, Cleveland, 0.
10 HISTORIC MACKINAC
these waters, which made it a good place for a mission.
The Fathers were invited to remain, but other duties obliged
them to decline and to return to the Huron Mission. 11
Two momentous events were soon to lead to extensive
exploration in the country which Nicolet, Jogues and Raym-
bault had brought to the attention of white men. The first
was the almost complete destruction of the missions by the
Hurons, 12 and the second, the dispersion of the Hurons by
a final onslaught of the Iroquois, their bitterest enemies.
The Hurons fled from their own country in terror, to the
Manitoulins, to the Straits of Mackinac, to Lake Superior,
to Green Bay, and far into the interior of the Mississippi
Valley. These disasters affected the traders as well, for
with the Indians gone it was necessary to follow them to
their retreats to open up new fields of trade.
Despite the enmity of the Iroquois, which made travelling
dangerous in the extreme, in 1658 two fur traders of Three
Rivers passed through the Straits of Mackinac on a voyage
of exploration to the West. The elder of these was Me-
dard Chouart Groseilliers, the other his brother-in-law,
Pierre Esprit Radisson, names almost unknown to history
until within a few years. 13 Not far out on their journey
they defeated an attack made on their party by the Iroquois
at Huron Village, on one of the lesser Manitoulins. They
stopped at the Grand Manitoulin; then pushing on through
the Straits of Mackinac, they landed on the shores of Green
Bay, the first visit to be paid to those waters since Nicolet,
a quarter of a century before.
11 For a biographical sketch of Jogues, see Jesuit Relations, IX, 313-
314, (The Burrows Brothers Company, Cleveland, 0.) for Raymbault, Ibid.,
VIII, 278-279.
12 Jesuit Relations, I, 24.
"See Wis. Hist. Colls., X, 292; and XI, 64-96.
FRENCH EXPLORATION 11
During their explorations, undoubtedly they passed
within sight of Mackinac Island. One writer, 14 who has
written a book on these explorers, affirms that "they passed
the Island of Michilimackinac with its stone arches."
They visited the Sault, coasted along the Pictured Rocks of
Lake Superior, and the site of the mission to be founded by
Allouez on Chequamegon Bay, exploring the lake to its
western extremity, and far beyond. 15
In the volume entitled Historic Green Bay, we read: 1(
"During the decade that followed the adventurous journey
of Radisson and Groseilliers, two powerful agencies were
at work for the advancement of European influence, in
what was the far West. Commerce and religion struggled
together, advancing slowly, side by side, into the heart of
the new country, until in course of time, there was to be
seen within every palisaded enclosure, a trader's hut and a
Mission chapel, each dependent upon the other." In 1660,
on the return of Radisson and Groseilliers to Montreal with
a fur-laden flotilla of sixty Indian canoes, the reports of
these explorers induced the sending of two missionaries to
the Lake Superior country, one of whom was Rene Menard,
formerly a co-worker with Raymbault in the Huron mis-
sions. He was escorted thither by Groseilliers. The Mis-
sion is with much reason supposed to have been at Old
Village Point, seven miles north of the present L'Anse, on
Keewenaw Bay. His course thither from Montreal lay
over the usual route, up the Ottawa and Mattawan rivers,
14 Laut, Pathfinders of the West, p. 112. The Macmillan Co., N. Y.
15 See for a critical survey of these explorations the excellent articles
by H. C. Campbell in Parkman Club Publications, No. 2; also, the Maga-
zine of American History for Jan., 1906; Wis. Hist. Colls., X, 292-298; Am.
Hist. Rev. for Jan., 1896; and Proceedings of the Wis. Hist. Society for
1895.
16 Neville et al., Hist. Green Bay, p. 24.
12 HISTORIC MACKINAC
across Lake Nipissing, and down French River to Geor-
gian Bay. Thence he passed by the shore of Lake Huron
to the Sault, and coasted along the southern borders of
Lake Superior. A letter to a friend shows that he felt this
would be his last mission. It was so. He suffered untold
hardships. 17 He was the first martyr of the Ottawa Mis-
sion, losing his life in an attempt to answer an appeal from
a band of fugitive Hurons who had gathered at the head of
Black River in Wisconsin. 18
There seems to be no evidence that Menard ever visited
the vicinity of Mackinac Island, his nearest approach being
the canoe trip from the Georgian Bay to the Sault. It was
FATHER ALLOUEZ' AUTOGRAPH
(From Major Dwight H. Kelton's Collection)
different with his successor, Father Claude Jean Allouez,
in whose letter of 1670 there occurs the earliest known
mention of the Island. Allouez succeeded to the work of
Menard in 1665, founding a mission on the shore of Che-
quamegon Bay, a little farther west, which he named in
honour of the Holy Ghost, La Pointe de Sainte Esprit; it is
the site of the present Ashland. Here he built the first
chapel to be erected on the shores of Lake Superior. The
Indians came from various quarters to this mission, and
from Green Bay they brought reports of mistreatment by
the traders. Prevailed upon to try to remedy conditions at
Green Bay, Allouez reported his plans at Quebec in 1669
Jesuit Relations, XLVTII, 263-265. The Burrows Brothers Company,
Cleveland, 0.
18 Jesuit Relations, XVIII, 256.
FRENCH EXPLORATION 13
and set out from there the same year for his new field by
way of the Sault.
It was on the canoe voyage from the Sault to Green Bay
that Allouez passed Mackinac Island, as he mentions in his
report to Dablon in the following year. "On the third of
November," he says, 19 "we departed from the Sault, I and
two others. Two canoe loads of Prouteouatamies wished
to conduct me to their country; not that they wished to re-
ceive instruction there, having no disposition for the faith,
but that I might curb some young Frenchmen, who, being
among them for the purpose of trading, were threatening
and maltreating them. We arrived on the first day at the
entrance to the Lake of the Hurons, where we slept under
the shelter of the Islands. . . . On the fourth, toward noon,
we doubled the Cape which forms the detour, as is the be-
ginning of the Strait or the Gulf of Lake Huron, which is
well known, and of the Lake of the Illinois [Michigan]
which up to the present time is unknown, and is much
smaller than Lake Huron." In about a week, Allouez and
his party "doubled successfully enough the Cape which
makes a detour to the west, having left in our rear a large
Island named Michilimackinack, celebrated among the
Savages."
In the following year, 1671, we find Allouez taking part
in one of the most significant events that had yet transpired
in the region of the Great Lakes. The scene was at Sault
Ste. Marie, where a permanent mission had been recently
established under the care of Louis Nicolas. The vigilant
mind of Jean Talon, Intendant of Canada, had grasped
the key to the French trading interests in the interior of the
19 Jesuit Relations, LIV, 197-201. For a biographical sketch of
Allouez, see Ibid., XLIV, 322.
14 HISTORIC MACKINAC
continent, the control of the great northern waterways, and
had ordered Daumont de Saint Lusson to take formal pos-
session of the whole vast region for the crown of France.
In response to messengers sent out to the various tribes,
throngs of Indians had assembled at the Sault from all
over the lake country, together with the French explorers,
priests, traders and soldiers. On June 14, 1671, Sainfr
Lusson with imposing ceremony, in which the cross and the
royal standard figured prominently, took possession "in the
name of the Most High, Mighty, and Redoubted Monarch,
Louis, Fourteenth of that name, Most Christian King of
France and of Navarre," of lands "both those which have
been discovered and those which may be discovered here-
after, in all their length and breadth, bounded on the one
side by the Seas of the North and of the West, and on the
other by the South Sea." 20 When the din of acclamation
had subsided, "Father Claude Allouez," says the Jesuit
account, 21 "began to eulogize the King, in order to make all
those Nations understand what sort of a man he was whose
standard they beheld, and to whose sovereignty they were
that day submitting." His words were "received with
wonder by those people, who were all astonished to hear
that there was any man on earth so great, rich, and power-
ful." The ceremony ended with "a bonfire, which was
lighted towards evening and around which the Te Deum
was sung to thank God, on behalf of those poor peoples,
that they were now the subjects of so great and powerful a
Monarch."
20 The ceremony is graphically described by Parkman, La Salle and
the Discovery of the Great West, pp. 51-55 (Little, Brown & Co., Boston)
and by Channing and Lansing in The Story of the Great Lakes, pp. 40-48.
(The Macmillan Co., N. Y.) See also Justin Winsor's Address, The Pageant
of St. Lusson, Ann Arbor, 1892. J. Wilson & Son, Cambridge.
21 Jesuit Relations, LV, 105-115. The Burrows Brothers Company,
Cleveland, 0.
FRENCH EXPLORATION 15
Besides Allouez, there were present, priests, traders and
explorers, famous in the early history of the Mackinac
country. Father Claude Dablon, Superior of all the Cana-
dian Missions of the Great Lakes, and Rector of the College
of Quebec, who had laboured in New France since 1655,
had joined Marquette in 1668 ministering to the Algonquin
tribes on Lake Superior; 22 Father Gabriel Druillettes, a
masterful man of wide experience in the art of the forest
missionary, and the instructor of Marquette, was now in
charge of the mission at the Sault; 23 Father Louis Andre,
who had arrived from France in June, 1669, had just taken
up his newly appointed work in the Ottawa Mission on Man-
itoulin Island, destined, however, to work at Green Bay,
after 1671, and later as a professor at the College of Que-
bec. 24 Here was Nicolas Perrot, interpreter for St. Lusson
on this occasion and chief messenger to gather the tribes at
the Sault de Ste. Marie; he was to become one of the most
influential of the early voyageurs in the Ottawa fur trade
among the tribes of the Great Lakes, for a quarter of a cen-
tury after this event. 25 Here also was Louis Joliet, sent
in 1669 to discover copper mines on Lake Superior, who, on
his return discovered the water route from Lake Erie to the
upper Lakes by the Detroit and St. Clair rivers, and who
was destined soon to visit Mackinac Island and engage with
Marquette in the memorable voyage to the Mississippi. 26
There needed but one other to make this group of famous
missionaries and explorers of the earliest days complete
22 Jesuit Relations, XLI, 257. The Burrows Brothers Company, Cleve-
land, O.
23 Jesuit Relations, XXIII, 327.
2* Jesuit Relations, LVII, 318.
25 Jesuit Relations, LV, 320.
26 Jesuit Relations, L, 324.
16 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Father Marquette, who arrived with the Ottawas after the
ceremony was completed. 27
Thus early had Talon seized, almost fortuitously upon
the strategic importance of the Mackinac country for the
military and commercial vantage of the French crown; we
shall see in the following chapter that Marquette divined
its cardinal advantages for the extension of the missions
of the Church.
MICHILIMACKINAC APPLICATION OF THE NAME
The name Michilimackinac, variously applied at differ-
ent times and by different writers, has given rise to some
confusion. It has meant, 1, the Island, probably its ear-
liest application; 2, the region round about, larger than the
whole drainage area of the Great Lakes; 3, the country of
the Straits and the eastern portion of the upper peninsula of
Michigan ; 4, the post at St. Ignace ; 5, the post near the site
of the present Mackinaw City, where the massacre took
place in 1763. To prevent confusion in a measure, some
writers now refer to the post at St. Ignace as Ancient Mich-
ilimackinac, and to the post on the south side of the Straits
as Old Mackinaw. In the early part of the last century was
added to the list the borough (the village) of Michilimack-
inac, and the County of Michilimackinac, which included
the upper portion of the lower peninsula of Michigan and a
large part of the upper peninsula.
The proper spelling as applied to the Island is, ending
with "nac" (Mackinac), correctly pronounced as if ending
27 Stickney, "Nicholas Perrot," in The Parkman Club Publications, No.
1, p. 6.
FRENCH EXPLORATION 17
"naw." When referring to the site on the south side of the
Straits, the spelling is "Mackinaw," with the pronunciation
the same as for the Island name. In Historic Mackinac
except when quoting, the Island is given as "Mackinac,"
and the location at the extreme north point of the lower pen-
insula of Michigan, as "Mackinaw." In all uses of the
word the final "c" is silent, and the pronunciation as if
spelled "Mackinaw." The name when referring to the
Straits is spelled "Mackinac," and in referring to the Mack-
inac country, the same spelling as for the Island should be
used.
FATHER CLAUDE DABLON'S ACCOUNT
OF THE MISSION OF ST. IGNACE AT MISSILIMAKINAC
"Missilimakinac is an Island of note in these regions.
It is a league in diameter, and has such high, steep rocks in
some places that it can be seen at a distance of more than
twelve leagues.
"It is situated exactly in the strait connecting the Lake
of the Hurons and that of the Illinois, and forms the key
and the door, so to speak, for all the peoples of the South,
as does the Sault for those of the North; for in these regions
there are only those two passages by water for very many
Nations, who must seek one or the other of the two if they
wish to visit the French settlements.
"This circumstance makes it very easy both to instruct
these poor people when they pass, and to gain ready access
to their countries.
"This spot is the most noted in all these regions for its
abundance of fish, since, in savage parlance, this is its
native country. No other place, however it may abound in
18 HISTORIC MACKINAC
fish, is properly its abode, which is only in the neighbour-
hood of Missilimakinac.
"In fact, besides the fish common to all the other Na-
tions, as the herring, carp, pike, golden fish, whitefish, and
sturgeon, there are here found three kinds of trout; one,
the common kind; the second, larger, being three feet in
length and one in width; and the third, monstrous, for no
other word expresses it, being moreover so fat that the
Savages, who delight in grease, have difficulty in eating it.
Now they are so abundant that one man will pierce with
his javelin as many as 40 or 50 under the ice, in three
hours' time.
"These advantages, in times past, attracted to so de-
sirable a spot most of the Savages of this region, who were
dispersed by the fear of the Iroquois. The three Nations
now dwelling as strangers on the Bay des Puans formerly
lived on the mainland, to the South of this Island,
some on the shores of the Lake of the Illinois, others on
those of the Lake of the Hurons. A part of the so-called
people of the Sault possessed territories on the mainland,
toward the West; and the rest also regard that region
as their country for passing the winter, during which there
are no fish at the Sault. The Hurons called Etiennonta-
tehronnons lived for some years on the Island itself, taking
refuge from the Iroquois. Four Villages of the Outaouacs
had also their lands in these regions.
"But, especially, those who bore the name of the Island
and were called Missilimakinac, were so numerous that
some of them still living declare that they constituted
thirty Villages; and that they all had intrenched themselves
in a fort a league and a half in circumference, when the
Iroquois elated at gaining a victory over three thousand
FRENCH EXPLORATION 19
men of that Nation, who had carried the war even into the
very country of the Agniehronnons came and defeated
them.
"In short, the abundance of fish, and the excellence of the
soil for raising Indian corn, have ever proved a very power-
ful attraction for the tribes of these regions, the greater
number of whom live only on fish, and some of them on
Indian corn.
"Hence it is that many of these same tribes, seeing the
apparent stability of the peace with the Iroquois, are turn-
ing their eyes toward so advantageous a location as this,
with the intention of returning hither, each to its own coun-
try, in imitation of those who have already made such a
beginning on the Islands of Lake Huron. The lake, by this
means, will be peopled with nations almost from one end
to the other which would be very desirable for facilitat-
ing the instruction of these tribes, as we would not be
obliged, in that case, to go in quest of them two and three
hundred leagues on these great Lakes, with inconceivable
danger and fatigue on our part.
"To promote the execution of the plan announced to
us by a number of Savages, to settle this country anew,
some of them having already passed the Winter here, hunt-
ing in the neighbourhood, we have also wintered here in
order to form plans for the Mission of Saint Ignace, whence
it will be very easy to gain access to all the Missions of
Lake Huron when the Nations shall have returned each to
its own district.
"We do not mean to imply that, amid so many ad-
vantages, this place has not its inconveniences, especially
for Frenchmen, who are not yet skilled, as the Savages are,
in the various kinds of fishing amid which the latter are
20 HISTORIC MACKINAG
born and reared. The winds and tides certainly furnish
the fishermen enough to cope with.
"First, the winds. This spot is midway between three
great Lakes which surround it and seem to be incessantly
playing ball with one another, the winds from the Lake
of the Illinois no sooner subsiding than the Lake of the
Hurons sends back those which it has received, whereupon
Lake Superior adds others of its own. Thus they con-
tinue in endless succession; and, as these Lakes are large,
it is inevitable that the winds arising from them should be
violent, especially throughout the autumn.
"The second inconvenience arises from the tides, con-
cerning which no fixed rules can be given. For whether
they are caused by the winds, which, blowing from one
direction or another, drive the water before them,
and make it run in a sort of flow and ebb; or whether
they are true tides, and hence some other cause explains
the rise and fall of the water, we have at times noted such
irregularity in this action, and again such precision, that
we cannot yet pronounce upon the principle of these move-
ments, so regular and again so irregular. We have indeed
noted that at full and at new Moon the tides change once
each day, today high, tomorrow low, for eight or ten
days; while at other times hardly any change is perceptible,
the water maintaining nearly an average altitude, neither
high nor low, unless the winds cause some variation.
"But in this sort of tide three things are somewhat sur-
prising. The first is, that it almost always flows in one di-
rection here, namely, toward the Lake of the Illinois,
and meanwhile it ceases not to rise and fall as usual.
The second is, that it runs almost always against the
wind, sometimes with as much strength as the tides be-
FRENCH EXPLORATION 21
fore Quebec; and we have seen cakes of ice moving against
the wind as rapidly as ships under sail. The third is that,
amid these currents, we have discovered a great discharge
of water gushing up from the bottom of the Lake, and caus-
ing constant whirlpools in the strait between the Lake of
the Hurons and that of the Illinois. We believe this to
be an underground outlet from Lake Superior into the
two latter lakes; and, indeed, we do not otherwise see any
answer to two queries, namely, what becomes of all the
water of Lake Superior, and whence comes that in the two
Lakes of the Hurons and of the Illinois? For, as to Lake
Superior, it has but one visible outlet, which is the River
of the Sault; and yet it is certain that it receives into its
bosom more than forty fine rivers, of which fully twelve
are wider and of greater volume than that of the Sault.
Whither, then, does all that water go, unless it find an issue
underground and so passes through? Moreover, we see only
a very few rivers entering the Lakes of the Hurons and of
the Illinois, which, however, are of enormous size, and prob-
ably receive the greater part of their water by subterranean
inlets, such as that one may be of which we are speaking.
"But, whatever the cause of the currents, the fishermen
feel their effects only too well, since these break their nets,
or drive them upon the rocks at the bottom of the lake,
where they easily catch, owing to the shape of rocks of this
sort, which are of a truly remarkable nature. For they are
not ordinary stones, but are all transpierced like sponges,
in forms so diversified by numerous cavities and sinuosities
as to furnish a pleasing spectacle to the curious, who
would find in one of these stones a sort of illustration, in
miniature, of what is attempted with such ingenuity in
artificial grottoes." Jesuit Relations, LV, 157-167.
CHAPTER II
FATHER MARQUETTE AT MICHILIMAGKINAC
THE name of Jacques Marquette is one that
ever be associated with the history of Mackinac.
One of a family of six children, he was born June
1, 1637, in the celebrated old hill town of Laon, France.
He came of a family which was prominent in the history of
Laon a century before the discovery of America by Colum-
bus, and apparently his father's home was one of wealth as
well as of distinction. From his mother he inherited that
strong religious nature and from his father those qualities
of the soldier which made him the successful soldier of the
Cross in the wilds of the New World. Educated in the
Jesuit College at Nancy he early yearned for the life of the
missionary, and when not yet thirty years of age he found
himself at Quebec, in 1666. By physique he was fitted
for the school rather than the Indian mission, and the
extreme hardships of forest life were to limit his work to
only nine years.
Until 1668 Marquette studied the Indian languages
under the instruction of Father Druillettes; in that year he
was appointed to the Ottawa country where, we are told, he
"founded a Mission on the southern side of the Sault Ste.
Marie, the earliest in what is now the State of Michigan.
Here he was joined by Dablon, and in September, 1669,
Marquette was sent to La Pointe to take the place of All-
ouez who had other work to do." l
1 Winsor, Carrier to Frontenac, p. 199. Houghton, Mifflin & Co Boston
22
FATHER MARQUETTE 23
Marquette himself tells the story of his work at La Pointe
in a letter to the Superior of the Missions, 2 and very signifi-
cant for his later work are his words about the Illinois
Indians and his desire to establish a Mission among them.
It had already been planned that he should do so, as soon
as he could be relieved at La Pointe, and he therefore
learned all he could about those people from the Indians
who came to La Pointe. He says: 3 "With this purpose in
view the Outaouaks gave me a young man who had lately
come from the Illinois, and he furnished me the rudiments
of the language during the leisure allowed me by the
savages at La Pointe in the course of the winter. One can
scarcely understand it, although it is somewhat like the
Algonquin; still I hope by the Grace of God to understand
and be understood, if God in His goodness lead me to that
country." That Marquette had clearly in mind the inten-
tion to explore a "great river" of which he had heard as
flowing through the country of the Illinois, appears from
his statement 4 that "when the Illinois come to La Pointe
they cross a great river which is nearly a league in width,
flows from north to south, and to such a distance that the
Illinois, who do not know what a canoe is, have not yet
heard any mention of its mouth. ... It is hard to believe
that that great river discharges its waters in Virginia, and
we think rather that it has its mouth in California. If the
savages who promise to make me a canoe do not break their
word to me, we shall explore this river as far as we can,
with a Frenchman and this young man who was given me,
who knows something of those languages and has a faculty
2 Jesuit Relations, LIV, 169-195. The Burrows Brothers Company,
Cleveland, 0.
3 Ibid., LIV, 187.
*lbid., LIV, 189, 191.
24 HISTORIC MACKINAC
for learning the others. We shall visit the nations dwelling
there, in order to open the passage to such of our Fathers
as have been awaiting this good fortune for so long a time.
This discovery will give us full knowledge either of the
South Sea or of the Western Sea."
Disturbances among the Indians at La Pointe were soon
SctJepfMflc*
^T STRAIT fff AfAKWA C
MICHILIMACKINAC, 1671-1705 (?)
ANCIENT
to end the mission there and bring about the founding of a
new mission at Michilimackinac. The Sioux, the "Iro-
quois of the North" as they are called by Dablon who gives
an account of these troubles, 5 were at war with all nations
"in consequence of a general league formed against them-
selves as against a common foe," and the Ottawas and Hu-
rons at La Pointe became embroiled with them during
Marquette's stay there. Murders were committed on both
sides. Both Ottawas and Hurons concluded it would be
Ibid., LV, 169-173.
FATHER MARQUETTE 25
safer to move than to risk battle, and began to migrate the
following spring, the Ottawas to Manitoulin Island, and
the Hurons to "that famous Island of Missilimackinac,
where we last winter began the Mission of St. Ignace."
Dablon explains: 6 "Their purpose was to repair to that
land where they had already dwelt in times past, and which
they have reason to prefer to many others because of its
attractions and also because its climate seems to be utterly
different from that of the surrounding regions. For the
winter there is rather short, not beginning until long after
Christmas, and ending toward the middle of March, at
which season we have witnessed here the new birth of
spring."
In the same report Father Dablon sets forth at length
the attractions of the Island for the Indians and its ad-
vantages for a Mission : 7 "It is situated exactly in the strait
connecting the Lake of the Hurons and that of the Illinois
[Michigan] and forms the key and the door, so to speak,
for all the peoples of the South, as does the Sault for those
of the North; for in these regions there are only those two
passages by water for very many nations, who must seek
one or the other of the two if they wish to visit the French
settlements. This circumstance makes it very easy both
to instruct these poor people when they pass, and to gain
ready access to their countries."
The Indians were attracted to the Island waters especi-
ally by the abundance of fish. They regarded the place as
being in a peculiar sense the home of the fish. "This spot
is the most noted in all these regions for its abundance of
fish," says Dablon, "since, in savage parlance, this is its
6 Ibid., LV, 173.
' Ibid., LV, 157-167,
26 HISTORIC MACKJNAC
native country. No other place, however it may abound
in fish, is properly its abode, which is only in the neighbour-
hood of Missilimackinac." Indeed, these waters contained
fish not common to all the region; "besides the fish common
to all the other nations there are here found three kinds of
trout; one, the common kind; the second, larger, being three
feet in length and one in width; and the third, monstrous,
for no other word expresses it. Now, they are so abundant
that one man will pierce with his javelin as many as forty
or fifty, under the ice, in three hours' time."
These advantages had attracted to the Island and its
vicinity most of the Indians of the region excepting those
who had been dispersed by fear of the Iroquois. The
Indians now at Green Bay had formerly lived on the main-
land to the south of the Island. A part of the Indians now
at the Sault had occupied lands to the west in the vicinity of
the present city of St. Ignace; "and the rest," says the Re-
lation, "also regard that region as their country for passing
the winter, during which there are no fish at the Sault."
Dablon tells us that "the Hurons lived for some years on
the Island itself, taking refuge from the Iroquois. Four
villages of the Ottawas had also lived in these regions. But
especially those who bore the name of the Island and were
called Missilimackinac, were so numerous that some of
them still living declare that they constituted thirty villages,
and that they all intrenched themselves in a fort a league
and a half in circumference, when the Iroquois, elated at
gaining a victory over three thousand men of that nation,
came and defeated them."
The abundance of fish and the excellence of the soil for
Indian corn strongly attracted the Indians, for whom these
were the chief articles of food. The return of the tribes
Reprint of portrait supposed to be that of Father Marquette
-/a
FATHER MARQUETTE'S AUTOGRAPH
(From Major Dwight H. Kelton's Collection)
STATUE OF FATHER MARQUETTE
Designed for Detroit City Hall. John M. Donaldson, sculptor
FATHER MARQUETTE 27
to the Island and vicinity was in a real sense a homecoming.
The Indians, "seeing the apparent stability of the peace
with the Iroquois, are turning their eyes toward so ad-
vantageous a location as this with the intention of returning
hither, each to his own country, in imitation of those who
have already made such a beginning on the Islands of
Lake Huron."
This happy circumstance tended to concentrate the In-
dians and make the vicinity of Mackinac Island a con-
venient centre for missionary work. "The Lake, by this
means," says Dablon, "will be peopled with nations almost
from one end to the other, which would be very desirable
for facilitating the instruction of these tribes, as we would
not be obliged, in that case, to go in quest of them two and
three hundred leagues on these great Lakes with incon-
ceivable danger on our part."
As we have seen, Dablon specifically states that "we"
began a mission on Mackinac Island "last winter" ; that is,
the winter which Marquette spent at La Pointe, 1670-71,
since Dablon is writing in 1671. He now explains again
that "to promote the execution of the plan announced to
us by a number of savages, to settle this country anew,
some of them having already passed the winter here, hunt-
ing in the neighbourhood, we have also wintered here, in
order to form plans for the Mission of Saint Ignace, whence
it will be very easy to gain access to all the missions of
Lake Huron when the nations shall have returned each to
its own district."
We get a glimpse of the work of this mission on the
Island even before the arrival of Marquette. Says Dab-
Ion: 8 "We consecrated this new Festival by the Baptism
wf., LV, 167.
28 HISTORIC MACKINAC
of five children, conferring it with all the ceremonies of the
church in our Chapel. God makes use even of children for
the salvation of children. In the case of one of those whom
we baptized, no sooner had it been born, in the heart of
the forests, than all the other children, although hardly
able to speak, could find no end to their congratulations,
and rejoiced with it, one telling it again and again that it
would be baptized at Missilimackinac, as it really was."
In the spring of 1671, Marquette left La Pointe to follow
his Indians. On the way he stopped at the Sault where he
spent a little time with his old instructor Druillettes, now in
charge there. On leaving the Sault, Marquette went either
to Mackinac Island or to Point St. Ignace. "It has been
held by some historians," says Dr. Thwaites, 9 "that St.
Ignace Mission was always located upon the mainland, to
the north of the Island, where is now the little city of St.
Ignace, Michigan, which contains a monument erected on
the supposed site of the old chapel. That the mission was
first upon the Island and probably within the present vil-
lage of Mackinac, a careful reading of the Relations should
convince any one. That it was afterward moved to the
mainland, to the St. Ignace of today, there can be no reas-
onable doubt. It is reasonable to suppose that the removal
took place in the year after Marquette's arrival. . . .
Quite likely the Island, at first resorted to because of its
safety from attack by foes, was found too small for the
villages and fields of the Indians who now centred here in
large numbers; and moreover, was found difficult of ap-
proach in time of summer storms or when the ice was weak
in spring and early winter. The long continuance of peace
with the Iroquois removed for the time all danger from
Thwaites, Father Marquette, p. 105. D. Appleton & Co., N. Y.
FATHER MARQUETTE 29
that quarter, and events proved that they had made their
last attack upon the tribesmen of these far western waters" ;
according to the same authority, "it was probably mid-
summer when Marquette and his Hurons, after slowly
threading their way between the forest clad islets which
stud the northwest shore of Lake Huron, finally arrived at
the Island of Michilimackinac."
Referring to the Island in Marquette's day, Dr. Thwaites
says: "Mackinac Island is a beauty spot today. . . .
But in the days of good Father Marquette, Michilimackinac
was indeed an earthly paradise. The sky hereabout was
unusually clear; light breezes, wafting over the wide
waters, brought relief in the warmest days; the air was
freighted with the odour of the balsam; the Island was
heavily wooded, chiefly with cedars, beeches, oaks, and
maples, presenting a pleasing variety of form and colour
when seen from the highest bluffs, which rising over three
hundred feet above the Straits, gave to the missionary a
far-reaching view of land and water almost incomparable.
"Eastward, but over the edge of the horizon, Marquette's
Ottawa friends were encamped upon the Great Manitoulin
Island, with Father Andre as their priestly counsellor.
Northeastward, a long and tortuous journey by canoe, but
only fifty miles away in a bee-line over the tops of the trees,
he could from his vantage point almost see the Sault, where
he had lately left Father Druillettes at his hopeless but
beloved task. But to the west no doubt his eyes most often
wandered. Over the waters of Lake Michigan he saw in
fancy rise the land of the Winnebagoes, the Pottawattomies,
and the Mascoutins ; the land where Father Allouez, whom
he had succeeded at La Pointe, was still labouring for the
salvation of the forest clans; the land where flowed the
30 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Mississippi, upon whose banks he hoped to discover new
nations to whom might be told the fruitful story of the
Cross." 10
Dr. Shea does not seem to take the view of Marquette's
sojourn on the Island, though admitting that a mission was
"already in a manner begun" on the Island the year before
Marquette came. Curiously, he uses the word "Macki-
naw" to cover Point St. Ignace. "Mackinaw," he says, 11
"where they [the Hurons] now rested, was a point of land
almost encompassed by wind-tossed lakes. Stationed in
this new spot, Father Marquette's first care was to raise
a chapel. Such was the origin of the Mission of St.
Ignatius, or Michilimackinac, already in a manner begun
the previous year by missionary labours on the island of
that name."
Winsor places Marquette in 1671 12 "among the Hurons,
on the north shore of the Straits of Mackinac, where they
had stopped in their flight; here Marquette founded the
Mission of St. Ignace."
Father Christian Le Clerq, a Recollet, writing about
1691, speaks of the Mission "of Michilimackinack Is-
land"; 13 on which Dr. Shea comments: "The mission
was not on the Island but on the north shore," and cites
Hennepin's "clear and explicit" statement about his arrival
at Missilimackinac in 1679, that "Missilimackinac is a
point of land at the entrance and north side of the strait." 14
In the judicious words of Judge Edward Osgood
*Ibid., pp. 107-109. D. Appleton & Co., N. Y.
11 Shea, Discovery of the Mississippi, p. Ixi.
12 Winsor, Carder to Frontenac, p. 202. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston.
18 Shea's edition, II, 105.
14 Hennepin's Description de la Louisiane (Shea's edition), p. 97.
15 Brown, Two Missionary Priests at Mackinac, p. 11. See also Shea's
discussion, in the Catholic World for March, 1877, pp. 273-274; also
FATHER MARQUETTE 31
Brown: 15 "It is impossible to tell with absolute certainty
even on the closest investigation whether it was on the Island
of Mackinac, or on the mainland known now as Point St.
Ignace, that Father Marquette and his Indian flock first es-
tablished themselves. It may have well been that the ren-
dezvous was made on the Island, but that it was intended
from the first that the permanent settlement would be on the
mainland, where communication with other points would not
be at times altogether cut off by waters too stormy for the
canoes, which were their only craft, to venture upon. In
1672, at all events, a settlement had been made at the pres-
ent site of St. Ignace a chapel had been built surrounded
by the cabins of the Indians, and the whole village en-
closed within a stockade for better protection against
enemies."
We have no account of Marquette's work during his first
year at Mackinac, but of his second year we possess de-
tailed knowledge in a letter written by Marquette himself
in 1672 to Father Dablon; 16 he makes no mention of hav-
ing changed the location of an original mission. It is
clear from his letter that Marquette and his mission were
meeting with a promising degree of success. The Hurons
"began last year [1671] a fort, enclosing all their cabins."
They had come regularly to prayers and listened atten-
tively to Marquette's instructions. "Having been obliged,"
he says, 17 "to go to St. Marie du Sault with Father Allouez
last summer, the Hurons came to the chapel during my ab-
sence as regularly as if I had been there, the girls singing
what prayers they knew. They counted the days of my
Marquette's letter in Jesuit Relations, LVII, 249. The Burrows Brothers
Company, Cleveland, 0.
16 Jesuit Relations, LVII, 249 ff .
17 Shea's translation in Discovery of the Mississippi, p. Ixii.
32 HISTORIC MACKINAC
absence, and constantly asked when I was to be back; I was
absent only fourteen days, and on my arrival all assembled
to chapel, some coming even from the fields, which are at a
very considerable distance." In his opinion the minds of
the Hurons at this mission "are now more mild, tractable,
and better disposed to receive instructions, than in any other
part." Nevertheless, he hints to his Father Superior the
great ambition that lay closest to his heart: "I am ready,
however," he says, "to leave it in the hands of another
missionary, to go on your order to seek new nations toward
the South Sea, who are still unknown to us, and to teach
them of our great God whom they have hitherto not known."
From the pen of a well-known writer 18 on Mackinac we
have the following graceful tribute to Marquette at this
stage of his work when about to set out upon his great
voyage of discovery: "One bright summer day we sailed
to Point St. Ignace where the little church with its spire
cross keeps watch over the Indian village. Few points
of this new continent of ours possess any historic interest,
and but few of our busy people are aware that around
Point St. Ignatius in the Straits of Mackinac cluster ancient
traditions and legends worthy to be crystallized into endur-
ing fame by the poet's pen and the painter's brush. When
the stern Puritans were enforcing their cold doctrines on the
barren shores of New England and protecting themselves
carefully in little villages on the edge of the great wil-
derness never dreaming of penetrating its depths, the
French missionaries were following the courses of the
western rivers and planting the Cross of Christ a thousand
miles towards the setting sun.
"Constance Fenimore Woolson, "Fairy Island," in Putnam's Magazine
for July, 1870, pp. 63-64.
FATHER MARQUETTE 33
"In the year 1670 the celebrated Pere Marquette, ad-
vancing westward through the wilderness, carrying the
good tidings of salvation to the red men, entered the Straits
of Mackinac through the western gateway, and beached his
canoe at the old Indian town on what was then called Iro-
quois Point. Here he planted the Gross and rested some
days among the friendly Indians who listened with curi-
osity to the tidings that a Saviour was born for them afar
off towards the rising sun a Saviour who gave up His life
on the Cross that they might be saved to meet Him in the
land of good spirits beyond the clouds.
"The woods on both sides of the Straits and the Islands
lying between the gates were filled at this time with Indian
Villages, for game was abundant and the deep water around
Fairy Island was called the "home of the fishes." Day
after day the canoes assembled at Iroquois Point, and the
young missionary saw his congregation grow, as standing
by the rude cross he preached to them the glad tidings of
great joy.
"Encouraged by his success Pere Marquette erected here
a log chapel; and soon the sound of a little bell echoed
through the forest, calling the new-made converts to their
devotions. Earnestly devoted to his work, speaking no less
than nine different Indian tongues, fiery in his eloquence
and warm-hearted in his love, is it any wonder that Mar-
quette became the idol of the red men who thronged his
chapel, learned his prayers, and kneeling on the beach
received the sacred symbol of salvation upon their dark
foreheads in the sparkling waters of the beautiful Straits.
"The next year Marquette and his companions erected
a college within the enclosure, the first institution of the
kind west of New England. Here he gathered the children
34 HISTORIC MACKINAC
together and instructed them in the truths of religion, hop-
ing thus to reach the hearts of the fierce warriors, who,
adorned with reeking scalps, assembled to hear the words
of peace.
"In 1672 while Marquette was thus engrossed with his
dusky converts, he was called upon to join an expedition
through the far West, in company with Joliet, another mem-
ber of that self-sacrificing band whose adventures outshine
the wildest pages of romance. Their object was to explore
the course of the Mississippi River, then supposed to flow
into the Gulf of California; and with that implicit obedi-
ence which rules the Order, Marquette prepared to leave his
resting place and move onward through the pathless forest.
On a bright May morning the boats containing the mission-
aries were started down the Straits towards the western
gateway, accompanied by a numerous flotilla of canoes
filled with sorrowing Indians. It is recorded that Pere
Marquette sat shading his eyes with his hand, looking back
earnestly at the little chapel of St. Ignatius, which he was
never more to see. 19
"At the western gateway, Marquette arose in his canoe,
and extending his arms over the water, gave a parting bene-
diction to the silent Indians, who sat motionless until the
last boat had disappeared into Lake Michigan, and then
returned sorrowing to their island homes."
Marquette had been appointed by Father Dablon to ac-
company Louis Joliet, whom Talon, the Intendant of New
France, had recommended to Governor Frontenac as "a
suitable agent for the discovery of the Mississippi."
19 This is an error, according to Winsor, Carrier to Frontenac, p. 244.
(Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston.) Speaking of the return of Marquette
and Joliet, he says: "Leaving Marquette at Mackinac, in much need of
rest, for he had been grievously ill on the return trip, Joliet passed on to
the Sault Ste. Marie."
FATHER MARQUETTE 35
Joliet, eight years younger than Marquette, was born at
Quebec, the son of a wagon-maker. He early resolved to
be a priest, but became a fur-trader. We have seen him,
in 1669, on his journey to the copper mines of Lake Supe-
rior and on the Straits newly discovered by him between
Lakes Huron and Erie. He was a warm friend of the
Jesuits. On December 8, 1672, "the intrepid explorer
beached his craft upon the strand of Point St. Ignace,
and embracing his priestly friend placed within his eager
hands the fateful message which was to link their names
upon a page of history." The Relation says of this voyage
that "they had frequently agreed upon it together." 20
Joliet was at Michilimackinac all that winter, and together
they sought all the information it was possible to obtain
about the new countries they were to visit.
Of these two friends at the Mission of St. Ignatius, Dr.
Thwaites has given us the following pleasing picture. 21
"Marquette was of a gentle, joyous disposition, ever look-
ing upon the bright side of life, and burned with that zeal
which has through all time inspired the martyrs of religious
faith; to him no experiences could be distasteful that were
endured for the glory of the Church. Joliet appears like-
wise to have been imbued with youthful enthusiasm and
was strongly in sympathy with the aspirations of his mis-
sionary comrade; but as a man of the world, he carefully
calculated the means employed, and whereas Marquette
sought merely to widen the realms of Christianity, he in his
turn was mindful of fame and of official preferment in case
20 Jesuit Relations, LVIII, 95. (The Burrows Brothers Company, Cleve-
land, 0.) For Joliet and his relation to Marquette, see Shea's edition of
Charlevoix, N. Y., 1900, vol. 3, p. 179 n.
21 Thwaites, Father Marquette, p. 138. (D. Appleton & Co., N. Y.) See
Dablon's appreciation of Joliet in Jesuit Relations, L1X, 89. The Burrows
Brothers Company, Cleveland, 0.
36 HISTORIC MACKINAG
the exploration were successful. Together, they com-
pletely represented the buoyant, vigorous spirit of their
time Marquette, the idealist, but thirty-six years of age;
and Joliet, the man of affairs, aged twenty-eight."
Were it our purpose here to present the larger subject
of western discovery and exploration, we would now follow
these friends and their companions to the Mississippi,
where, gazing rapturously upon the great river, Marquette
experienced, as he says, "a joy that I cannot express." 22
Suffice it to say, they explored the river to some distance
below the mouth of the Arkansas, satisfying themselves that
it emptied not into a western sea but into the Gulf of Mex-
ico. In a little more than four months they paddled their
canoes over two thousand miles, met numerous strange
tribes and mapped and described their discoveries. Joliet
returned to Montreal; but on the way his canoe upset, caus-
ing the loss of all his manuscripts of the voyage, which
left Marquette to be practically the sole narrator and in
the popular mind long the hero of the expedition. Mar-
quette, after recovering from a serious illness, set out
again; but in 1675, worn out with his great exertions, death
overtook him while he was trying to reach his mission at
Michilimackinac. "Feeling the approach of death," says
22 For Marquette's Journal of his first voyage, see Jesuit Relations,
LIX 87-163 (The Burrows Brothers Company, Cleveland, 0.) Shea, Dis-
covery of the Mississippi, pp. 3-52; Mich. Hist. Colls., XXI, 467-488.
For the unfinished journal of his second voyage, together with Dablon's
account, see Jesuit Relations, LIX, 165-211; Shea, Discovery of the Mis-
sissippi, 53-66; Mich. Hist. Colls., XXI, 488^94. Parkman gives a clear
and appreciative account in La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West,
pp. 60-82. (Little, Brown & Co., Boston.) For an interesting phase of these
explorations see a paper by L. G. Weld, Joliet and Marquette in Iowa.
Mr. George A. Baker, Secretary of the Northern Indiana Historical So-
ciety, has contributed an important geographical paper on The St. Joseph-
Kankakee Portage. Its location and use by Marquette, La Salle and the
French voyageurs.
FATHER MARQUETTE 37
our writer, 23 "the dying man's thoughts turned to his little
chapel in the Straits, and he expressed a wish to rest under
its walls where the shadow of the cross he had raised might
fall upon him. Loving hands carried him to the canoe,
and all speed was made toward the Straits; but death over-
took them, and the patient eyes closed without again behold-
ing the beloved cross of St. Ignatius. They buried him on
the banks of the river, which still bears his name; but when
the Indians of the Straits heard of his last wishes, they
assembled a vast fleet of canoes and paddled swiftly down
the lake after the body of their good Father. On reaching
the river they inclosed the simple coffin in robes of choice
furs and beadwork, and then, in solemn procession, they
turned back towards the Straits, joined ever and anon by
delegations from other tribes, all pressing to do honour to
the holy man. As the flotilla entered the sunset gate, it
was met by all the island Indians; and as they neared Point
St. Ignatius, the missionaries in charge came down to the
beach, clad in their vestments and singing the funeral chant,
while the coffin was silently borne ashore on the very spot
which the good Father's foot had first pressed five years
before."
It was not, however, until after many years that the docu-
ment containing this information came to the knowledge of
scholars. Over a century later, in 1821, Father Richard
visited what he supposed to be the resting-place of Mar-
quette, on the northern shore of Lake Michigan near Lud-
ington where Marquette had died in 1675 ; 24 not until more
than half a century after Richard's visit was Marquette's
real resting-place found. The story of this discovery is
23 Woolson, op. cit., p. 64. See Dablon's account in Jesuit Relations,
LIX, 193-205.
24 Walter March, p. 22, note.
38 HISTORIC MACKINAC
closely connected with the discussion about the situation
of Marquette's chapel, whether on Mackinac Island or at
Point St. Ignace. As told by Father Hedges in his book on
Father Marquette, the story is as follows: 25
"Mr. Murray [of St. Ignace] being determined to add a
large garden plot to his yard, began to clear away the
trees and brushwood adjoining his home. When the work
had been completed, there appeared, to his great astonish-
ment, the outlines of a building's foundation. Mr. Murray
was a devout Catholic and knew the history of the region,
and was fully cognizant of the tradition of St. Ignace con-
cerning Marquette and the old Mission of St. Ignace.
Divining that he had struck on some relic of importance
connected with the old mission he sent for Father Jacker,
and together they made a careful investigation. Both
being satisfied that they had actually discovered the site of
the old mission, Mr. Murray, at Father lacker's request,
left the clearing undisturbed till documents and informa-
tion could be obtained from Montreal and elsewhere to
fully establish their surmise as a fact. Then was set on
foot a systematic and scientific investigation the outcome
of which was to establish beyond a doubt the fact that they
had not only discovered the site of the old Mission of St.
Ignace but also Marquette's grave, the very box in which
his bones had rested and portions of the bones themselves.
In course of time all that was found of Marquette's re-
mains, save two portions of bone which belonged to an arm
25 Hedges, Father Marquette, pp. 88-90. (Christian Press Association
Pub. Co., N. Y.) For details, see Father Jacker's long and excellent ac-
count showing the great care used in the researches for identification,
in Shea's "Romance and Reality of the Death of Father Marquette and
the Recent Discovery of the Remains," in the Catholic World for March,
1877, pp. 276-281. Compare Mr. Murray's letter, in Hedges' Father Mar-
quette, pp. 98-107. See also the contribution by the Rev. George Duffield,
in Mich. Hist. Colls., II, 134-145.
FATHER MARQUETTE 39
and which were given to Marquette College at Milwaukee
and are there lovingly and piously preserved by the Jesuit
Fathers, was interred in the very grave from which they
were taken, and in the year 1882 the citizens of St. Ignace
erected a modest monument to mark the spot."
On September 1, 1909, was unveiled the Marquette
Statue on Mackinac Island; most fitting are the closing
words of the address delivered on that occasion by Mr.
Justice William R. Day of the Supreme Court of the United
States:
"Upon the statue which marks Wisconsin's tribute, in the
old Hall of the House of Representatives at Washington, are
inscribed these words: 'James Marquette, who with Louis
Joliet discovered the Mississippi River at Prairie du Chien,
Wisconsin, July 17, 1673.' Were we to write his epitaph
today, we mght take the simple words, which at his own re-
quest mark the last resting place of a great American, and
write upon this enduring granite the summary of Mar-
quette's life and character, 'He was Faithful.' " 26
The following tribute to Father Marquette is from the
pen of Rev. J. A. Van Fleet, M.A., author of Old and New
Mackinac; it voices the feeling of veneration and affection
which obtains among the people of all creeds for the heroic
missionary and explorer:
"In the life of this humble and unpretending missionary
and explorer there is much to admire. Though an heir to
wealth and position in his native land, he voluntarily sep-
26 See Father Dablon's fine tribute in Jesuit Relations, LIX, 207 (The
Burrows Brothers Company, Cleveland) ; also that of the Rev. T. J. Camp-
bell, S.J., in Pioneer Priests of America, III, 182. (Fordham University
Press, N. Y.) For several good sketches in addition to the references in
this chapter, see C. I. Walker, "Father Marquette and the Early Jesuits
of Michigan," in Mich. Hist. Colls., VIII, 368 ff., and an article entitled,
"F. James Marquette, S.J.," in the Catholic World for February, 1873, pp.
688-702.
40 HISTORIC MACKINAC
arated himself from his friends, and chose a life of sacri-
fice, toil, and death, that he might ameliorate the moral and
spiritual condition of nations sunk in paganism and vice.
His disposition was cheerful under all circumstances. His
rare qualities of mind and heart secured for him the esteem
of all who knew him. He was a man of sound sense and
close observation, not disposed to exaggerate, not egotis-
tical. His motives were pure and his efforts earnest. His
intellectual abilities must have been of no ordinary type;
his letters show him to have been a man of education, and
though but nine years a missionary among the Indians, he
spoke six languages with ease, and understood less per-
fectly many others.
"With Marquette religion was the controlling idea. The
salvation of a soul was more than the conquest of an em-
pire. He was careful to avoid all appearance of a worldly
or national mission among the savages. On many a hill-
side and in many a shady vale did he set up the Cross, but
nowhere did he carve the 'Lilies of the Bourbons.' His de-
votion to the 'Blessed Virgin' was tender and all-absorbing.
From early youth to his latest breath, she was the constant
object of his adoration; no letter ever came from his hands
which did not contain the words 'Blessed Virgin Immacu-
late,' and it was with her name upon his lips that he closed
his eyes in death, as gently as though sinking into a quiet
slumber.
"Marquette was a Catholic, yet he is not the exclusive
property of that people: he belongs alike to all. His name
is written in the hearts of the good of every class. As an
explorer he will live in the annals of the American people
forever." 2T
27 Old and New Mackinac by Rev. J. A. Van Fleet, M.A., pp. 1&-19.
Ann Arbor, Mich., 1870.
FATHER MARQUETTE 41
DATE OF MARQUETTE'S DEATH
The date of Marquette's death as given by Father Dab-
Ion in his edition of the account of Marquette's second
voyage (May 19) is held by A. E. Jones, S.J., to be one day
later than the correct date, the latter stating that "as May
19 fell on Sunday in 1675, and Marquette's death occurred
on Saturday, the date therefore should be May 18."
Jesuit Relations, LIX, 201, 315.
DEATH OF FATHER MARQUETTE
"The evening before his death, which was a Friday, he
told them, very joyously, that it would take place on the
morrow. He conversed with them during the whole day as
to what would need to be done for his burial; about the
manner in which they should inter him; of the spot that
should be chosen for his grave; how his feet, his hands,
and his face should be arranged; how they should erect a
Cross over his grave. He even went so far as to counsel
them, 3 hours before he expired, that as soon as he was
dead they should take the little hand-bell of his chapel
and sound it while he was being put under ground. He
spoke of all these things with so great tranquillity and pres-
ence of mind that one might have supposed that he was
concerned with the death and funeral of some other per-
son, and not with his own.
"Thus did he converse with them as they made their way
upon the lake, until, having perceived a river, on the
shore of which stood an eminence that he deemed well
42 HISTORIC MACKINAG
suited to be the place of his interment, he told them that
that was the place of his last repose. They wished, how-
ever, to proceed farther, as the weather was favourable,
and the day was not far advanced; but God raised a con-
trary wind, which compelled them to return, and enter the
river which the Father had pointed out. They accordingly
brought him to the land, lighted a little fire for him, and
prepared for him a wretched cabin of bark. They laid
him down therein, in the least uncomfortable way that they
could; but they were so stricken with sorrow that, as they
have since said, they hardly knew what they were doing.
"The Father, being thus stretched on the ground in much
the same way as was St. Francis Xavier, as he had always
so passionately desired, and finding himself alone in the
midst of these forests, for his companions were occupied
with the disembarkation, he had leisure to repeat all the
acts in which he had continued during these last days.
"His dear companions having afterward rejoined him,
all disconsolate, he comforted them, and inspired them with
the confidence that God would take care of them after his
death, in these new and unknown countries. He gave
them the last instructions, thanked them for all the charities
which they had exercised in his behalf during the whole
journey, and entreated pardon for the trouble that he had
given them. He charged them to ask pardon for him also,
from all our Fathers and brethren who live in the country of
the Outaouacs. Then he undertook to prepare them for the
sacrament of penance, which he administered to them for
the last time. He gave them also a paper on which he had
written all his faults since his own last confession, that they
might place it in the hands of the Father Superior, that the
latter might be enabled to pray to God for him in a more
FATHER MARQUETTE 43
special manner. Finally, he promised not to forget them
in Paradise. And, as he was very considerate, knowing
that they were much fatigued with the hardships of the pre-
ceding days, he bade them go and take a little repose. He
assured them that his hour was not yet so very near, and
that he would awaken them when the time should come
as, in fact, 2 or 3 hours afterward he did summon them,
being ready to enter into the agony.
"They drew near to him, and he embraced them once
again, while they burst into tears at his feet. Then he
asked for holy water and his reliquary; and having him-
self removed his Crucifix, which he carried always sus-
pended round his neck, he placed it in the hands of one of
his companions, begging him to hold it before his eyes.
Then, feeling that he had but a short time to live, he made
a last effort, clasped his hands, and, with a steady and fond
look upon his Crucifix, he uttered aloud his profession of
faith, and gave thanks to the Divine Majesty for the great
favour which he had accorded him of dying in the Society,
of dying in it as a missionary of Jesus Christ, and, above
all, of dying in it, as he had always prayed, in a wretched
cabin in the midst of the forests and bereft of all human
succour.
"After that, he was silent, communing within himself
with God. Nevertheless, he let escape from time to time
these words, Sustinuit anima mea in verbo ejus; or these,
Mater Dei, memento mei which were the last words that
he uttered before entering his agony, which was, however,
very mild and peaceful.
"He had prayed his companions to put him in mind,
when they should see him about to expire, to repeat fre-
quently the names of Jesus and Mary, if he could not him-
44 HISTORIC MACKINAC
self do so. They did as they were bidden; and, when they
believed him to be near his end, one of them called aloud,
'Jesus, Mary!' The dying man repeated the words dis-
tinctly, several times; and as if, at these sacred names,
something presented itself to him, he suddenly raised his
eyes above his Crucifix, holding them riveted on that object,
which he appeared to regard with pleasure. And so, with
a countenance beaming and all aglow, he expired without
any struggle, and so gently that it might have been regarded
as a pleasant sleep.
"His two poor companions, shedding many tears over
him, composed his body in the manner which he had pre-
scribed to them. Then they carried him devoutly to burial,
ringing the while the little bell as he had bidden them ; and
planted a large Cross near to his grave, as a sign to passers-
by.
"When it became a question of embarking, to proceed
on their journey, one of the two, who for some days had
been so heartsick with sorrow, and so prostrated with an
internal malady, that he could no longer eat or breathe
except with difficulty, bethought himself, while the other
was making all preparations for embarking, to visit the
grave of his good Father, and ask his intercession with the
glorious Virgin, as he had promised, not doubting in the
least that he was in Heaven. He fell, then, upon his knees,
made a short prayer, and having reverently taken some
earth from the tomb, he pressed it to his breast. Immedi-
ately his sickness abated, and his sorrow was changed into
a joy which did not forsake him during the remainder of his
journey." Jesuit Relations, LIX, 193-201.
FATHER MARQUETTE 45
FATHER MARQUETTE FIRST TO INSTRUCT THE
ILLINOIS INDIANS
"The Illinois are the last to whom we have borne The
Light of The Gospel. The first who ever laboured for their
instruction was Father Jacques Marquette who, from time
to time, saw some of them at the point of Saint Esprit, at
the extremity of Lake Superior, where he was then on a
mission. He went to their country for the first time ten
years ago, while on a long journey that he made with
Sieur Joliet, two hundred leagues beyond the first Villages
of the Illinois, descending the great River Mississippi. He
returned thither two years afterward, and preached Jesus
Christ to them; but he died, while returning from that mis-
sion, in a wretched cabin on the shore of Lake Illinois."
Jesuit Relations, LXII, 211.
FATHER MARQUETTE'S ILLINOIS PRAYER BOOK
Samuel Neilson, proprietor and editor of the Quebec
Gazette, found about 1890 among his grandfather's papers
a slip containing the following notice of relics once belong-
ing to Father Marquette:
"This pewter plate and spoon and the Prayer Book in
the language of the Illinois are relics of Pere Marquette,
the missionary. They were for many years kept at the
Mackinack Mission, then brought to the Quebec College.
Pere Cazot, the last Jesuit, gave them to my father, thirty
years ago, for having sent him the Gazette so long S. N.
Aug., 1828."
Mr. Neilson published this prayer book in fac-simile at
Quebec in 1908, with illustrations of the plate and spoon.
46 HISTORIC MAGKINAC
MEMORIALS TO MARQUETTE
"Besides the statue in Marquette Park on the Island,
Marquette's name is commemorated in Michigan by a river,
a county and a city, and in Wisconsin by a college, a county
and a village. Wisconsin is represented in the Capitol at
Washington, D. C., by a marble statue of Marquette, de-
signed by the Florentine sculptor Gaetano Trentanove."
PRIESTS
The following Priests of the Roman Catholic Church
were at Michilimackinac (St. Ignace), the dates opposite
their names indicating, as far as definitely ascertained, the
first and last years of their service :
1670. Rev. Father Dablon, S.J., (or possibly Mar-
quette)
1671-73. Rev. Father James Marquette, SJ.
1673-83. Rev. Father Philip Pierson, SJ.
1683-86(?). Rev. Father Nicholas Potier, S. J.
1673-83. Rev. Father Henry Nouvel, SJ.
1683. Rev. Father Bailloquet
1677(?). Rev. Father J. Enjalran, SJ. (Became Su-
perior in 1683)
1680-81. Rev. Father Louis Hennepin, Franciscan
16??(?). Rev. Father De Carheil, SJ.
1688-1706. Rev. Father J. Marest, S J.
FATHER Louis ANDRE (b. ?, France, May 28, 1631)
served at St. Ignace about 1670; his permanent station
after 1671 was at Green Bay. Jesuit Relations, LVII, 318.
FATHER JACQUES GRAVIER (b. Moulins, France, May 17,
1651), served at Michilimackinac, 1686-1688; Superior
at Mackinac, 1695-1698. Jesuit Relations, LXV, 264.
FATHER MARQUETTE 47
FATHER JEAN ENJALRAN (b. Rodez, France, 1639; d.
France, 1718), was Superior of the Ottawa Mission, 1681-
1688. Jesuit Relations, LX, 318.
FATHER JULIEN BINNETEAU (b. La Fleche, France,
March 13, 1653), served at St. Ignace prior to 1696
Jesuit Relations, LXV, 263.
FATHER PIERRE FRANCOIS PINET, (b. Perigueux,
France, Nov. 11, 1660), served at Michilimackinac about
1696. Jesuit Relations, LXIV, 278.
FATHER MARQUETTE'S PLATE AND SPOON
CHAPTER III
LA SALLE AND THE GRIFFIN
THE successor of Father Marquette at the Mission of
St. Ignatius was Father Philip Pierson, and thither
came frequently Father Henry Nouvel, Superior of
the Ottawa missions during much of the last quarter of the
seventeenth century. It was these holy men who received
the bones of Father Marquette, brought to this Mission by
the Indians in 1677. 1 The Relation of 1679 bears witness
to the "love and burning zeal, sincere and disinterested,
which they possess for the salvation of the souls which God
has entrusted to them." 2
Of Henry Nouvel, 3 the Very Rev. Edward Jacker ob-
serves, "This Missionary deserves to be much better known
than he has been to the general public. It is to him, un-
doubtedly, we owe the beautiful narrative of Father Mar-
quette's last days, death, and two-fold burial. But this is
not his only merit. His letters and journals show him to
have been a most hardy and indefatigable traveller, not
merely zealous like all his brethren, but actually glowing
with enthusiasm for the Apostolic vocation, and even in such
1 Jesuit Relations, LIX, 203. The Burrows Brothers Company, Cleve-
land, O.
2 Ibid., LXI, 103. See Ibid., L, 327, for a sketch of the life of Father
Pierson.
3 Jacker, "Father Henry Nouvel, S. J. ; the Pioneer Missionary of Lower
Michigan," in United States Catholic Magazine, July, 1887, p. 263. This
paper contains an excellent account of Nouvel's labours in the lower pen-
insula. See Jesuit Relations, XLVTI, 317, for a brief sketch of Nouvel's
life. The Burrows Brothers Company, Cleveland, 0.
48
LA SALLE AND THE GRIFFIN 49
goodly company, a man of more than average capacity.
He combined stern resolution and the greatest intrepidity
with a remarkable sweetness of disposition and depth of
feeling. For his Indians he bore the love of a mother, but
also knew how to make them feel a master's authority."
It was while Fathers Pierson and Nouvel laboured at
Michilimackinac that La Salle arrived with Father Henne-
pin and other missionaries, together with Henri de Tonti
and several traders, on board the Griffin, the first vessel
to sail on the Great Lakes. August 7, 1679, the Griffin had
sailed from Niagara, where she was built, and on the 27th
of August, after weathering a severe storm, had anchored
in the same harbour from which six years before, Marquette
and Joliet had set out to explore the Mississippi. 4
As the Griffin rode at anchor, there rose before her, says
Parkman "the house and the chapel of the Jesuits, enclosed
with palisades ; on the right, the Huron village, with its bark
cabins and its fence of tall pickets; on the left, the square,
compact houses of the French traders; and, not far off,
the clustered wigwams of an Ottawa village. Here was
a centre of the Jesuit missions, and a centre of the Indian
trade; . . . Keen traders, with or without a license, and
lawless coureurs de bois, whom a few years of forest life
had weaned from civilization, made St. Ignace their resort;
and there were many of them when the Griffin came. They
and their employers hated and feared La Salle, who, sus-
tained as he was by the governor, might set at naught the
4 For details of the voyage, see Thwaites' edition of Hennepin's Nouvelle
Decouverte, I, pp. 89-114. (A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago) ; compare
Shea's translation of Hennepin's Description de la Louisiane, pp. 89-97.
Interesting secondary treatments are to be found in Channing and Lansing's
Story of the Great Lakes, pp. 49-60 (The Macmillan Co., New York) ; and
James Cook Mills' Our Inland Seas, pp. 36-61. A. C. McClurg & Co.,
Chicago.
50 HISTORIC MACKINAC
prohibition of the King, debarring him from traffic with
these tribes. Yet, while plotting against him, they took
pains to allay his distrust by a show of welcome.
"The Griffin fired her cannon, and the Indians yelped
in wonder and amazement. The adventurers landed in
state, and marched under arms to the bark chapel of the
Ottawa village, where they heard Mass. La Salle knelt
before the altar, in a mantle of scarlet bordered with gold.
Soldiers, sailors, and artisans knelt around him, black
Jesuits, grey Recollets, swarthy voyageurs, and painted sav-
ages; a devout but motley concourse.
"As they left the chapel, the Ottawa chiefs came to bid
them welcome, and the Hurons saluted them with a volley
of musketry. They saw the Griffin at her anchorage, sur-
rounded by more than a hundred bark canoes, like a Triton
among minnows." 5
Father Hennepin who arrived with the Griffin and was
destined to spend the winter of 1680-81 at the St. Ignace
Mission tells the story upon which Parkman has based
the foregoing account. Of the Indians, Hennepin says: 6
"We lay between two different Nations of savages; those
who inhabit the Point of Michilimackinac are called Hu-
rons, and the others, who are about three or four leagues
more northward, are Ottawas. Those savages were equally
5 Parkman, La Salle, pp. 153-154. (Little, Brown & Co., Boston.) For
La Salle's plans, his early life and character, see Ibid., pp. 7-8, 328-342.
See also, "Robert Cavalier de la Salle," in the Catholic World, February
and March, 1875, pp. 690-702, and 833-847; and "Exploration of the
Mississippi by Cavalier de La Salle," in Magazine of American History,
Sept., 1878. For an interesting account of La Salle in southern Michigan,
see Mich. Pion. and Hist. Colls., XXXV, 546 ff.
6 Thwaites' edition of the second London issue (1698) of Hennepin's
Nouvelle Decouverte, I, 115-116. (A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago.) The
spelling in the text is modernized. Compare Shea's translation of Henne-
pin's Louisiane, pp. 97-104. For a sketch of Hennepin's life and works, see
Ibid., pp. 9 ff. A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 111.
THE CELEBRATED PAINTING, "THE SAILING OF THE GRIFFON"
By H. T. Koerner, which appears as a panel on the walls of the home of tiic
Buffalo Historical Society
VIEW OF BUILDINGS, AND CORNER OF PARADE GROUND,
FORT MACKINAC
LA SALLE AND THE GRIFFIN 51
surprised to see a ship in their country; and the noise of
our cannon, of which we made a general discharge, filled
them with great astonishment. We went to see the Ottawas,
and celebrated Mass in their habitation. M. la Salle was
finely dressed, having a scarlet cloak with a broad gold
lace, and most of his men with their arms attended him.
The chief captains of that people received us with great
civilities after their own way, and some of them came on
board with us to see our ship, which rode all that while
in the bay or creek I have spoken of. It was a diverting
prospect to see every day above six-score canoes about it,
and the savages staring and admiring that fine wooden
canoe as they called it. They brought us abundance of
whitings, and some trout of fifty or sixty pound weight.
"We went the next day to pay a visit to the Hurons, who
inhabit a rising ground on a neck of land over against
Michilimackinac. Their villages are fortified with pali-
sades twenty-five feet high and always situated upon
eminences or hills. They received us with more respect
than the Ottawas, for they made a triple discharge of all
the small guns they had, having learned from some Euro-
peans that it is the greatest civility amongst us. How-
ever, they took such a jealousy to our ship, that, as we
understood since, they endeavoured to make our expedition
odious to all the Nations about them."
Father Pierson is pleasantly mentioned by Hennepin
in his account of that winter: "During our stay there,"
he says, 7 "Father Pierson and I would often divert our-
selves on the ice, where we skated on the lake as they do in
7 Thwaites* edition of the second London issue of Hennepin's Nouvelle
Decouverte, I, 311-313; spelling modernized. (A. C. McClurg & Co., Chi-
cago, 111.) Compare the account of this winter's sojourn as given in Shea's
translation of Hennepin's Louisiane, 260-261.
52 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Holland." He says they fished through the ice, with nets,
sunk by means of stones, sometimes twenty-five fathoms:
"We took salmon-trouts, which often weighed from forty
to fifty pounds. These made our Indian wheat go down
the better, which was our ordinary diet." On various occa-
sions Hennepin preached to the Indians and traders, in a
church "covered over with rushes and a few boards, which
the Canadians had built here." The Indians would often
assist, but he has little good to say either for them or for
the Canadians. According to his own words, the traders
desired him to stay with them: "They would have kept
me with them, and made me a settlement, where from time
to time they might have resort to me. They promised me,
moreover, since I would accept of no furs, that they would
prevail with the savages to furnish out my subsistence in the
best manner which could be expected for the country. But
because the greatest part of them that made me this offer,
traded into these parts without permission, I gave them to
understand that the common good of our discoveries, ought
to be preferred before their private advantages; so desired
them to excuse me, and permit me to return to Canada for
a more public good."
Rene Robert Cavelier, sieur de la Salle, the organizer
and leader of the expedition of which the story of the
Griffin is a significant incident, was a native of Rouen,
France. At the time the Griffin sailed, he was thirty-six
years old. He had early entered the Jesuit order, but left
it, and came to Canada in the same year as Marquette.
He had a trading post at Lachine Rapids, but his desire to
explore the new country led him towards the Mississippi
in the year that Marquette succeeded Allouez at La Pointe.
In that year he met Joliet, who had just discovered the all-
53
54 HISTORIC MACKINAC
water route from Lake Erie to the upper lakes. While
Marquette was making his last voyage to the Mississippi,
La Salle through the friendship of Frontenac, Governor of
Canada, was in France obtaining royal grants to large acres
in Canada, and later he received the royal permission to
explore the great western country where Marquette had
been. His gigantic plans were soon made, to open the way
for French colonies, and to secure for himself rich returns
in a new commerce and vast lands.
The venture of the Griffin was unsuccessful. Laden
with furs at Green Bay, the vessel sailed for Canada, but
met an unknown fate in the lakes. La Salle had pushed
southward, wintering in Fort Crevecoeur which he built
near the site of the present Peoria, Illinois. But his men
were false to him, and on his absence in Canada to get
new supplies, they destroyed the fort and deserted. More-
over, he was severely hampered by the hostility of the
fur traders, the Canadian merchants and the Jesuits, from
whom he had early become alienated. Still he persisted,
and in 1681 he set out for the Mississippi, reaching its
mouth in 1682, where he took possession of the entire coun-
try drained by that river and its branches, for his King,
Louis XIV, in whose honour he named it Louisiana.
Frontenac's successor proved hostile to La Salle, who in
1683 again went to France for aid to build a fort at the
river mouth which he had been the first white man after
De Soto's expedition to explore. He secured the desired
aid, but on attempting to reach the mouth of the Mississippi
direct by water from France he landed on the shores of the
present State of Texas, and was killed by his followers in
1687 while trying to reach the Mississippi overland. 8
8 Jesuit Relations, LVII, 315-316. The Burrows Brothers Company,
Cleveland, 0.
LA SALLE AND THE GRIFFIN 55
A prominent member of La Salle's ill-fated expedition
from France was Henry Joutel, a fellow townsman of La
Salle and about his age, from whom we have the record of
La Salle's fate. The faithful Joutel, after the murder of
La Salle and a varied experience in the wilderness, finally
reached Michilimackinac, and in his Journal he has left
the following note of his observations from May 10 to the
early part of June, 1688: 9 "There are some Frenchmen
in that place," he says, "who have a house well built with
timber, inclosed with stakes and palisades. There are
also some Hurons and Ottawas, two neighbouring nations,
whom those Fathers take care to instruct. . . . These
Fathers have each of them the charge of instructing a
nation, and to that effect have translated the prayers into
the language peculiar to each of them, as also all other
things relating to the Catholic faith and religion."
When Joutel and his party arrived at Mackinac, they
were met by Louis Armand Lahontan 10 better known as
Baron Lahontan who mentions them in the account he
gives of his stay at the mission. Lahontan was a native
of the village of Lahontan, France, born of a noble and
wealthy family. Almost on the same day that La Salle
sailed for France in 1683, Lahontan arrived in Canada as
an army officer. In 1687, he was assigned to Fort St.
Joseph, near the present Port Huron. "I am to go along,"
he says, 11 "with M. Dulhut, a Lions gentleman, who is a
person of great merit, and has done his King and his coun-
9 Stiles' edition of the first English translation (1714) of Joutel's Jour-
nal of La Salle's Last Voyage, p. 199. For a biographical sketch of
Joutel, see Ibid., 27-30.
10 For a good account of Lahontan, see Roy, Memoires S. R. Canada,
Le Baron de Lahontan.
"Thwaites' edition of the original London translation (1703) of La
Hontan's Voyages, I, 133. A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago.
56 HISTORIC MACKINAC
try very considerable services. M. de Tonti makes an-
other of our company." After a tedious winter at Fort
St. Joseph, he went to Mackinac in the spring for supplies.
From there he writes a letter to a friend from the "f agg end
of the world." But in his Voyages, he accords the place
importance: "Michilimackinac, the place I am now in, is
certainly a place of great importance," he says. 12 "Here
the Hurons and the Ottawas have, each of them, a village.
... In this place the Jesuits have a little house, or college
adjoining to a part of a church, and inclosed with pales
that separate it from the village of the Hurons. . . . The
coureurs de bois have but a very small settlement here;
though at the same time it is not inconsiderable, as being
the staple of all the goods that they truck with the south and
the west savages. . . . The skins which they import from
these different places, must lie here some time before they
are transported to the colony." He speaks of the security
of the fort from attack by the Iroquois. Of the whitefish
he speaks at length and with fervour. "You can scarce
believe, Sir, what vast sholes of whitefish are catched about
the middle of the channel, between the continent and the
Isle of Michilimackinac. . . . This sort of whitefish in my
opinion, is the only one in all these lakes that can be called
good; and indeed it goes beyond all other sorts of river
fish. Above all, it has one singular property, that all sorts
of sauces spoil it, so that 'tis always eat either boiled or
broiled, without any manner of seasoning." He says the
Indians catch trout "as high as one's thigh, with a sort of
fishing-hook made in the form of an awl, and made fast to
a piece of brass wire which is joined to the line that reaches
to the bottom of the lake. This sort of fishing is carried
"Thwaites, op. cit., I, 147.
: : >!
FRANCIS PARKMAN
Eminent historian
LA SALLE AND THE GRIFFIN 57
on not only with hooks, but with nets, and that in winter, as
well as in summer, for they make holes in the ice at a cer-
tain distance one from another, through which they conduct
the nets with poles."
A few months later, Lahontan was again at Michili-
mackinac and reports that he "found here M. de la Duran-
tay, whom M. Denonville has invested with the commis-
sion of commander of the coureurs de bois that trade upon
the lakes, and in the southern countries of Canada." 13
M. de la Durantaye, Commandant of Mackinac from
1683 to 1690, is typical of the early incumbents of that
office; and an incident that occurred while he was at that
post, is typical of one of the activities of a Mackinac com-
mandant of this period. As related by Dr. Thwaites: l4
"Among the motley war party which Denonville had led
to his assault on the insolent Iroquois, was a band of the
'far Indians' brought by their commandant La Durantaye,
from the distant post of Mackinac. Sweeping down in a
flotilla of birch bark canoes, La Durantaye had halted his
savage forces at the head of the strait leading from Lake
Huron to Lake St. Clair; and there, 'on the seventh of June,
1687, in the presence of the reverend Father Angeleran,
Superior of the Mission of the Outaouas at Michilimack-
inac, of Ste. Marie du Sault, of the Miamis, of the Illinois,
of the Baie des Puans, and of the Sioux, of M. de la Forest,
late Commandant of the Fort at St. Louis at the Illinois,
and of M. de Beauvais, our lieutenant of the Fort of St.
13 Thwaites, op. cit., I, 164.
14 Thwaites, op. cit., I, xiii. A contemporary biographical sketch of
Durantaye runs thus: "In 1662, ensign; in 1665, captain; in 1663 [1683?],
commandant over the Ottawa country by order of the Court; in 1689,
captain on half pay in Canada; in 1694, captain enpied in that country,
where he has settled. A good officer, an honest man; ready for any serv-
ice; entitled to a company." Thwaites, op. cit., I, 125.
58 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Joseph at the Strait of Lakes Huron and Erie,' had erected
the arms of France and taken formal possession of this
vast region in the name of the King."
Henri de Tonti, a brother of the Tonti mentioned by
Lahontan, had come to Mackinac in 1679, on board the
Griffin. He was a cousin of Du Lhut, the builder of Fort
St. Joseph, whom we have seen guiding Hennepin to Mack-
inac in 1680. Tonti was a loyal and devoted friend to
La Salle, and in 1687 made a long and fruitless search
for the lost leader. La Salle, not usually enthusiastic in
praise, says of him, writing to Prince Conti: 1{ "His hon-
ourable character and his amiable disposition were well
known to you, but perhaps you would not have thought
him capable of doing things for which a strong constitu-
tion, an acquaintance with the country, and the use of both
hands seemed absolutely necessary. Nevertheless, his en-
ergy and address make him equal to anything; and now, at
a season when everybody is in fear of the ice, he is setting
out to begin a new fort, two hundred leagues from this
place."
Tonti was seven years younger than La Salle, his hero.
He had served in the French army with distinction before
he met La Salle in 1677, when the latter was in Paris seek-
ing royal aid. He was directing the building of the Griffin
at the time La Salle penned these words of praise. The
reference to "both hands" recalls his loss of a hand in mili-
tary service, which was replaced by an iron hand which he
usually wore gloved. A man of action rather than a
chronicler, he has left us no account of his stay at Michili-
mackinac. Indeed, his stay was brief. He followed La
15 Legler, Chevalier Henry de Tonty; His Exploits in the Valley of the
Mississippi. (Parkman Club Publication, No. 3, pp. 38-39.) This is one
of the best monographs on Tonty.
LA SALLE AND THE GRIFFIN
59
Salle down the Mississippi, built Fort St. Louis, on the
Illinois River; and after La Salle's death he laboured many
years to carry out the plans of that intrepid leader, "one of
the most courageous, loyal and far-sighted among the pio-
neers of New France." 16
" Jesuit Relations, LXIII, 304-305.
Cleveland, 0.
The Burrows Brothers Company,
THE GRIFFIN
CHAPTER IV
THE COUREURS DE BOIS AND THE FUR TRADE
M
'ACKINAC as a central meeting place for the
various tribes of Indians on the upper Great
Lakes early became one of the most important
rendezvous for the French fur-traders. When Champlain
and the early French explorers first came to Canada the
Indians brought to them from their hunting grounds the
furs of the beaver, the fox, the otter, the martin, the lynx
and other animals in exchange for trinkets, knives, hatchets,
etc., of European manufacture. It was clear to these far-
sighted men that here was the basis for a great trading in-
dustry which might rival in wealth the mines which the
Spaniards had found in Mexico and Peru.
Champlain was not slow to improve this advantage.
From his Indian allies he had heard of the forests of the
Ottawas rich with fur-bearing animals. These reports
had reached France, and hardy men seeking wealth and
adventure were soon added to the little colony at Quebec
which rapidly became the centre of a wide-reaching trade
with the Indians. Vessels from France loaded with trink-
ets for exchange found their way over the ocean to the
wilderness post. Montreal shared in the trade. Indian
chiefs and their dusky warriors with canoes laden with furs
threaded the rivers of Canada and thronged the markets at
these points. Frenchmen dressed in the toggery of the In-
dians spent the winters among the savages learning their
60
THE COUREURS DE BOIS 61
language, establishing friendships, and rapidly gaining
knowledge of the trapper's craft in the interest of the fur
trade.
Among these men we early meet with many generous
spirits. There was Jean Nicolet whose qualities as a scout
and fur trader recommended him to Champlain for a voy-
age to the western tribes in 1634. At about that time the
"beaver fair" in the spring of the year at Three Rivers
was coming to be the great event in Canada among the
Indians and traders it was from Three Rivers that Nicolet
started on his voyage of discovery, and it was to this place
that he returned in 1635 in company with a flotilla of
canoes laden with furs for the trade at Three Rivers, Mont-
real, and Quebec. It was from Three Rivers that the
traders Radisson and Groseilliers set out in 1658, the first
of the coureurs de bois, those unlicensed traders, or "wood
rangers," who roamed the forest and trafficked with the In-
dians in defiance of law, and who were sometimes caught
and punished. The right to trade with the Indians was
given by the King of France usually to a company by a
formal license and through the company to the traders.
Such a company, for example, was the "Hundred Asso-
ciates," of which Champlain was agent; it practically
owned Canada with all the rights of trade. The first time
Groseilliers returned his misdemeanour was overlooked; the
hostile Iroquois had recently cut off the trade of the Indians
who were friendly to the French, and even the King's officers
were so rejoiced over the renewal of trade that the jealous
licensed traders were quieted, but on his second return his
large cargo of furs was confiscated. Thereupon he and
Radisson went to London and interested several English
merchants in the project of finding a northwest passage
62 HISTORIC MACKINAC
to China by way of Hudson's Bay; they were fitted out with
a ship and after many adventures brought back to England
not the desired news of a route to China but a rich cargo
of furs and inviting accounts of great fur lands at the
North. Largely through their influence the Hudson's Bay
Company was formed in 1670 which was destined to have
an important bearing upon the interests of Mackinac. 1
"When the French came to know the country we now
call Michigan," says a recent writer, 2 "they found it the
greatest fur-producing region on the continent. The fierce
Iroquois had driven all the Indians out of our Lower Penin-
sula so that it had no fixed inhabitants. But such a great
hunting ground was frequented by many tribes during the
hunting season, who came mostly from the North, and the
Straits of Mackinac were the great gateway to the Penin-
sula. This same Strait was the gateway to the great region
beyond Lake Michigan; for Green Bay and the Fox and
Wisconsin rivers constituted the usual route to all the great
territory about the upper reaches of the Mississippi.
Hence Marquette's Mission of St. Ignace was really the
centre of an enormous fur-bearing region. Thither the
coureurs de bois, as the bush-rangers were called, soon
found their way, and their presence there soon changed the
seat of the Indian trade from the St. Lawrence to these
upper regions. Thither they brought from Montreal by
the arduous Ottawa route canoe load after canoe load of
goods, thence to be distributed to the Indians in every direc-
tion; and there were collected the furs for which the goods
were exchanged, to be loaded into canoes and paddled back
to the St. Lawrence. Thus at certain seasons the coureurs
iLaut, Conquest of the Great Northwest, pp. 97-131. Moffat, Yard &
Co., New York.
2 Webster Cook, Government of Michigan, p. 21. The Macmillan Co.,
New York.
THE COUREURS DE BOIS 63
de bois soon came to gather at St. Ignace by scores and
by hundreds and there were wild doings in the little town
which pious zeal had founded. At other seasons the place
would for a time be about deserted. The presence of these
lawless disorderlies in such great numbers was entirely
incompatible with the work of the devoted priests, and the
missionary character of the station quickly passed away.
But so important did St. Ignace become that a fort was soon
built, a garrison established, and a military commander
placed in charge."
The relation of the coureurs de bois to the government
and to the missionaries is thus stated by a recent Canadian
writer: 3 "The first risk which the coureur ran was that of
being punished by the government. In a community where
wealth could be gained in no other way than through the fur
trade, every one wished to traffic with the Indians. A large
part of the private trading thus carried on was an infringe-
ment of the monopoly, and therefore a breach of law.
The crown cannot be said to have followed a consistent
policy in dealing with offenders, but it always placed re-
strictions of some kind on barter for peltries. These
ranged from a complete prohibition of private trading to
the grant of a license at the Governor's discretion; in view of
the fact that the King had a long arm, the defiance of his
commands involved grave danger. Still the coureur de
bois was not without plausible arguments. When told that
he must not hunt in the forest at the distance of more than
a league from his house, he asked how the King meant to
extend his authority over the continent if no one explored
it. And obviously exploration could not go forward with-
8 Prof. Charles W. Colby, Canadian Types of the Old Regime, pp. 191-
193. Henry Holt & Co., New York.
64 HISTORIC MACKINAC
out the help of trade. Whoever entered the land of the In-
dians must carry presents, and unless permission were given
to trade, how could the costs of the expedition be met? A
second argument was that far beyond Lake Superior were
tribes who never brought their furs to the market at Mont-
real. If this source of wealth could be tapped, so much
the better for the colony! But no one would risk his life
among the Sioux, if the government told him he must re-
frain from buying their beaver skins.
"Such were some of the points which the coureur de bois
raised with the civil authorities. Likewise when the
Church hurled anathemas at him for selling fire water, he
was ready with an answer. 'If you prevent me from taking
good brandy to Mackinac, is it that you want the Indians
to buy bad rum from the English and the Dutch? On one
occasion when Laval had succeeded in securing a prohibi-
tion of the brandy trade, the report spread that a party of
Iroquois bringing a large convoy of furs to Montreal had
swerved from their course. Hearing of the new law at a
distance of thirty leagues, they turned aside and carried
the goods to Albany."
Typical of the coureurs de bois who came to St. Ignace
in the palmy days of the French fur trade before the re-
moval of the fort and mission to Old Mackinaw south of
the Straits, were Du Lhut and Nicolas Perrot.
Like Radisson and Groseilliers, Du Lhut loved the nov-
elty and the dangers of the wilderness and doubtless sought
private gain; "but," says the above writer, "nature had
given him a larger mind, a more impersonal outlook." He
was better born, he had a larger sense of social responsi-
bility, and his generous conduct throughout life won for
him the title of "King of the coureurs de bois." He was
66 HISTORIC MACKINAC
fallen when on an exploring expedition which had been
dispatched northward by La Salle from Fort Crevecoeur.
He arrived with Hennepin and his party at St. Ignace that
autumn; in leading Hennepin out of danger Du Lhut had
magnanimously turned back from his own expedition to
the West. 6
Du Lhut's strength of character is illustrated by an inci-
dent that occurred while he was commandant at Michili-
mackinac. The Indians had murdered two Frenchmen;
one of the suspects was an Indian of some power named
Folle Avoine. The Indians threatened a general massacre
if Folle Avoine were punished. After a conference with
Father Enjalran, Du Lhut determined to arrest the Indian
in person, which he did. The trial that followed proved
Folle Avoine guilty beyond a doubt. The assembled In-
dians were themselves convinced, but they murmured
against the execution of the death sentence. Undaunted
in the presence of grave danger, Du Lhut nevertheless
promptly executed the sentence, and the Indians voluntarily
dispersed. 6
In the year in which Du Lhut was in command of the fort
at Mackinac (1684) we find Nicolas Perrot there in confer-
ence with him as to means for allying the western Indians
with the French against the Iroquois. 7 Perrot we have
met as Saint Lusson's interpreter at Sault Ste. Marie, in
1671; in reference to that occasion Parkman says: "Among
Canadian voyageurs, few names are so conspicuous as that
6 Thwaites' edition of the English translation of Hennepin's Nouvelle
Decouverte, I, 293-310. A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago.
Colby op. cit., pp. 225-228. (Henry Holt & Co., New York.) See the
excellent article on Du Lhut by William McLennon, "A Gentleman of the
Royal Guard, Daniel de Gresolon Sieur du L'Hut," in Harper's New
Monthly Magazine for September, 1893, pp. 609-626.
7 Neville et al., Historic Green Bay, pp. 70-71.
THE COUREURS DE BOIS 67
of Perrot, not because there were not others who matched
him in achievement, but because he could write, and left
behind him a tolerable account of what he had seen. 8 He
was at this time twenty-six years old, and had formerly
been an engage of the Jesuits. He was a man of enterprise,
courage, and address, the last being especially shown in
his dealings with the Indians. He spoke Algonquin flu-
ently, and was favorably known to many tribes of that
family." When Perrot appeared among the tribes with his
message from Saint Lusson to assemble at the Sault he was
warmly welcomed, the Miamis giving a sham battle in his
honour and entertaining him with an exhibition of the
Indian ball game.
Interest in the life of Perrot has grown steadily since
the discovery in 1802 of the monstrance now preserved in
the museum of the Wisconsin Historical Society, on which
are inscribed the words: 9 "This soleil was given by Mr.
Nicolas Perrot to the Mission of St. Francis Xavier, at the
Bay of the Puans, 1686."
Perrot was a man of integrity and ability, patient,
courageous and calm under numerous misfortunes. He is
thus introduced to the reader by the editor of his Mem-
oires: 10 "Nicolas, born in 1644, came to New France, in
what year I know not; he belonged to an honest family,
but one of small fortune. So, after receiving some instruc-
tion in letters he was obliged to interrupt his studies to enter
the service of the missionaries." In this capacity he was
a sort of body servant, farm hand and hunter an engage,
as Parkman refers to him.
8 See Perrot's Moeurs, Coustumes, et Relligion des Sauvages de VAmer-
ique Septentrionale, first published in 1864, edited by Father Tailhan, SJ.
9 The account of Perrot given here is based largely on Gardner P.
Stickney's "Nicolas Perrot," in the Parkman Club Publication, No. 1.
" P. 257.
68 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Like Du Lhut, Perrot early conceived the idea of uniting
the western Indians against those inveterate enemies of the
French, the Iroquois. He played the part of peacemaker
among these tribes, and they were glad for the superior ad-
vantages which the French alliance gave them. He vis-
ited most of the Wisconsin tribes. When the French, has-
tened by jealousy of the English at Hudson's Bay, deter-
mined to take formal possession of the Great Lakes region
and beyond, the "indispensable Perrot" was the natural
emissary to gather all the tribes of the region for the cere-
mony.
In 1683 Perrot was again employed by the government
on a mission to the western Indians to gather them against
the Iroquois; he stopped at St. Ignace, where Du Lhut be-
sought his aid. Perrot argued to the Indians that they had
more to fear from the Iroquois than the French had, and
that they ought to help the French against the common en-
emy. His skill with the Indians is illustrated by his en-
deavours to keep them together on the expedition ensuing,
alternately resorting to argument, persuasion and taunts.
As told by Parkman: n " 'You are cowards,' he said to the
naked crew, as they crowded about him with their wild
eyes and long lank hair. 'You do not know what war is;
you never killed a man and you never ate one, except those
that were given you tied hand and foot.' They broke out
against him in a storm of abuse. 'You shall see whether
we are men. We are going to fight the Iroquois; and un-
less you do your part, we will knock you in the head.'
'You will never have to give yourselves that trouble,' re-
torted Perrot, 'for at the first war-whoop you will all run
11 Parkman, Count Frontenac and France under Louis XIV, pp. 117-
118. Little, Brown & Co., Boston.
THE COUREURS DE BOIS 69
off.' He gained his point. Their pride was roused, and
for the moment they were full of fight."
Again in 1690 Perrot was sent to Michilimackinac to
dissuade the Indians from a contemplated alliance with
the English and the Iroquois: "I am strong enough to kill
the English, destroy the Iroquois, and whip you, if you fail
in your duty to me," he declared, and reinforced his words
with an imposing display of Iroquois scalps recently taken
in a chance encounter on the way up the Ottawa, while a
captive Iroquois was made to dance and sing before
them." 12 "Perrot," says Parkman, "took the disaffected
chiefs aside, and with his usual bold adroitness diverted
them for the moment from their purpose. The projected
embassy was stopped, but any day might revive it. There
was no safety for the French, and the ground of Michili-
mackinac was hollow under their feet." 13
In 1687 Perrot had followed the commandant Durantaye
from Michilimackinac to aid Governor Denonville against
the English and the Iroquois. During this absence from
Green Bay where he had been made commandant in 1685,
his furs which awaited shipment to the St. Lawrence after
the Iroquois should be driven back, were either burned or
carried away, and he was made a poor man. Notwith-
standing his great services, including the discovery of the
lead mines of Wisconsin, Perrot never received pay from
his government, and died about 1718 in comparative
poverty.
Perrot and Du Lhut, it is true, were leaders, men of ex-
ceptional energy and character, and yet they represent what
was best in the lives of the Mackinac coureurs de bois.
12 Ibid., pp. 21S-214.
13 Ibid., pp. 216-217.
70 HISTORIC MACKINAG
Among the leaders, frequently, as among the common rang-
ers of the woods, there were also the baser elements.
The chief object of prey among the coureurs was the
beaver. "This animal," says Professor Colby, 14 "has a
very distinct place in the literature of New France.
Though slaughtered without remorse, its virtues were appre-
ciated almost to the point of canonization. No account of
the wilderness was thought complete if it failed to contain
some fresh and authentic anecdote of the beaver's intelli-
gence; its skill, its forethought, its architectural talents, are
perennial themes of the missionary and the explorer."
The Jesuit Relations abound with stories of the "intelligent
and worthy beaver." The pious Father Le Jeune exclaims
of the beaver's work, "I do not know what to believe of this,
except that mirabilis Deus in omnibus operibus suis."
Lahontan dwells on the beaver at length, returning again and
again to the theme, avowing that there are an infinite num-
ber of men on the earth "who have not the hundredth part
of the understanding which these animals have." 15
Interesting is the picture given by Lahontan of the trad-
ing engaged in by the coureurs and the Indians from the
Lakes. "Much about the same day," he says, 16 "there
arrived about twenty-five or thirty canoes, belonging to the
coureurs de bois, being homeward bound upon the Great
Lakes, and laden with beaver skins. The cargo of each
canoe amounted to forty packs, each of which weighs fifty
pounds, and will fetch fifty crowns at the farmer's office.
14 Op. tit., p. 195.
15 See especially Lahontan, op. cit., II, 476-485 (A. C. McClurg &
Co., Chicago) ; Bela Hubbard's Memorials of a Half Century (G. P. Put-
nam's Sons, New York), 361-367; A. Radclyffe Dugmore, The Romance of
the Beaver, 178-204 (J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia) ; Lewis H. Mor-
gan, The American Beaver and his Works, p. 78 S.
16 Lahontan, op. cit., p. 92 ff, spelling modernized. A. C. McClurg &
Co., Chicago.
THE COUREURS DE BOIS 71
These canoes were followed by fifty more of the Ottawas
and Hurons, who came down every year to the colony, in
order to make a better market than they do in their own
country of Michilimackinac, which lies on the banks of
the Lake of Hurons, at the north of the Lake of the Illinois
[Michigan]."
He tells how they encamped near the town, ranged their
canoes, unloaded their goods, and pitched their birch bark
tents. Having gained an audience from the Governor,
"each nation makes a ring for itself; the savages sit upon
the ground with their pipes in their mouths and the Gov-
ernor is seated in an armed chair; after which there starts
up an orator or speaker from one of these nations, who
makes an harangue"; and he gives in some detail the sub-
stance of one of these harangues: "The spokesman having
made an end of his speech, returns to his place, and takes
up his pipe; and then the interpreter explains the substance
of the harangues to the Governor, who commonly gives a
very civil answer, especially if the present be valuable; in
consideration of which, he likewise makes them a payment
of some trifling things. This done, the savages rise up, and
return to their huts to make suitable preparations for the
ensuing truck." The slaves carry the skins to the mer-
chants, and bargains are made. The only articles inter-
dicted are wine and brandy, since "when the savages have
got what they wanted, and have any skins left, they drink to
excess, and then kill their slaves; for when they are in drink
they quarrel and fight; and if they were not held by those
who are sober, would certainly make havoc one of another."
When the Indians are done trading, "they take leave of the
Governor and so return home by the river of the Ottawas.
To conclude, they did a great deal of good both to the poor
72 HISTORIC MACKINAG
and the rich; for you will readily apprehend that everybody
turns merchant upon such occasions."
The route of this trade from Michilimackinac to the St.
Lawrence was the old route followed by Champlain by way
of the northern shores of Lake Huron and the Georgian
Bay, thence by French River, Lake Nipissing and the Ottawa
River. "A glance at the map," says a recent writer, 17 "will
show that this is the shortest possible distance, being almost
a direct line. Aside from this fact, it possessed several
advantages, although it compelled a portage of some
length. It was the ancient Indian route of travel from time
immemorial. It avoided the numerous rapids and cas-
cades of the St. Lawrence above Montreal, which Cartier
had found so troublesome. It was wholly within the coun-
try of friendly tribes, and gave a wide berth to the blood-
thirsty Iroquois who infested the shores of Lakes Ontario
and Erie and the Niagara frontier. The Ottawa route
involved many portages, that river being broken by numer-
ous rapids. The long portage, so called, was from Lake
Nipissing to the head tributaries of the Ottawa and was
some five or six miles in length and extremely rough and
rocky. Algonquin villages were found at the terminals,
and here labour could be employed for the carrying of
burdens. In spite of the inconvenience of it, a vast amount
of business was done. All the traffic between Montreal
and the upper lake region passed this way, as well as that
originating in or destined for the uttermost regions of the
sources of the Mississippi and the trading posts of Hudson's
Bay." 18
17 Henry M. Utley, "The Fur Trade in the Early Development of the
Northwest," in American History Magazine for January, 1906, p. 51.
18 See Lahontan's description of his journey over this route in 1689;
op. cit., I, 218-219. (A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago.) Alexander Henry,
THE COUREURS DE BOIS 73
Sometimes this route was blocked, a crisis which always
served to demonstrate the vast importance of the Mackinac
fur trade to all Canada. A quotation is in point: 19 "After
a time the French were again at war with the Iroquois, and
at first the war was very disastrous. For three years (1691-
1693) the daring New York warriors kept the Ottawa River
completely blocked. But 'Canada subsists only on the
trade of skins,' wrote Lahontan, 'and three-fourths of these
come from people that live around the Great Lakes.' No
furs reached Montreal and the people of lower Canada were
reduced to actual distress, and so impoverished as to be un-
able to carry on the war. It was from Michigan that relief
at last came. Du Lhut with two hundred coureurs de bois,
gathered at Michilimackinac, opened the river and con-
veyed through the three years' accumulation of skins. The
province again revived, and under the able leadership of
Count Frontenac, the Governor of Canada, the Iroquois were
thoroughly chastised and pressed back away from the route
of communication so as never again to make serious
trouble. The war had demonstrated that all Canada was
dependent, not only for its prosperity but even for its very
existence, upon the fur-trading station of Michilimackinac,
here in the wilds of northern Michigan." Not until the de-
struction of the power of the Iroquois did the all-water
route by Lakes Huron and Erie come gradually into use.
The English and the Dutch were constantly intriguing
with the western Indians to get a share of this rich trade.
Lahontan writes in 1685: 20 "The savages I spoke of in my
in his Travels (Bain's edition), pp. 28-37, describes his journey over the
same route at a later date. George N. Morang & Co., Toronto.
19 Webster Cook, Government of Michigan. The Macmillan Co., New
York.
20 Op cit., pp. 9&-99, spelling modernized.
74 HISTORIC MACKINAC
last [the Ottawas and the Hurons of Michilimackinac] met
the Iroquois upon the great river of the Ottawas, who in-
formed them that the English were making preparations to
transport to their villages in Michilimackinac, better and
cheaper commodities than those they had from the French.
This piece of news did equally alarm the gentlemen, the
pedlars called coureurs de bois, and the merchants; who,
at that rate, would be considerable losers; for you must
know that Canada subsists only upon the trade of skins or
furs, three-fourths of 'which come from the people who
live around the Great Lakes; so that if the English should
put such a design in execution, the whole country would
suffer by it." To prevent the English from getting this
foothold various expedients were used, among them the
extensive sale of brandy at Michilimackinac which was one
of the causes rapidly bringing about a radical transforma-
tion at the little centre of settlement begun as an outpost of
Christian influence.
CADILLAC'S DESCRIPTION OF THE OLD FRENCH
POST ON POINT ST. IGNACE
"The word Missilimakinak means, 'Island of the Tor-
toise.' The reason why it is so called may be either be-
cause it is shaped like a tortoise, or because turtles are
found in the vicinity. It is in Lake Huron, and is about
two leagues in circumference; it is a league and a half from
the uninhabited mainland; it is frequented mainly in the
fishing season, when there is excellent fishing all round
there.
"Opposite the island is a large sandy anse on the shore
of the lake, in the middle of which the French fort stands,
THE COUREURS DE BOIS 75
where there is a garrison and a commander-in-chief of the
district resides, who has under him the commandants of
the various posts; but both he and they are selected and
appointed by the Governor-General of New France. This
post is called Fort de Buade.
"The Jesuits' monastery, the French village and the vil-
lage of the Hurons and the Outaouas are adjacent to one
another, and together they border and fill up around the
'fond de 1'anse.'
"It is well to observe that, in that country, the word 'town'
is unknown; so that, if they wish to speak of Paris, they
would describe it by the phrase, 'the great village.'
"The position of this post is most advantageous, because
it is quite close to Lake Huron, through which all the tribes
from the south are obliged to pass when they go down to
Montreal and in coming back, and also the French people
who wish to trade in the distant districts. None of them
can pass without being observed, for the horizon is so clear
that canoes can be seen from the fort at as great a distance
as the keenest sight can reach. In a word, it may be said
that that place is as it were, the centre of the whole of this
further colony, where one is in the midst of all the other
posts and almost at an equal distance from them, and
among all the tribes which have dealings with us. . . .
"Since I have shown the position of the fort and of the
villages of the French and Indians, I will now describe the
manner in which they are built and fortified. Their forts
are made of stakes. Those in the first row, on the outside,
are as thick as a man's thigh and about thirty feet high ; the
second row, inside, is quite a foot from the first, which is
bent over on to it, and is to support it and prop it up; the
third row is four feet from the second and consists of
76 HISTORIC MACKINAC
stakes three and a half feet in diameter standing 15 or 16
feet out of the ground. Now, in that row, they leave no
space at all between the stakes; on the contrary, they set
them as close together as they can, making loop-holes at
intervals. As to the first two rows, there is a space of
about six inches between the stakes, and thus the first and
second rows do not prevent them from seeing the enemy;
but there are no curtains nor bastions, and the fort is,
strictly speaking, only an enclosure.
"As to their huts, they are built like arbours. They
drive into the ground poles as thick as one's leg and very
long, and join them to one another by making them curve
and bend over at the top, and then tying and fastening them
together with white-wood bark, which they use in the same
way as we do our thread and cordage. They then entwine
with these large poles cross pieces as thick as one's arm, and
cover them from top to bottom with the bark of fir-trees or
cedars, which they fasten to the poles and the cross-
branches ; they leave an opening about two feet wide at the
ridge, which runs from one end to the other. It is certain
that their huts are weather-proof, and no rain whatever gets
into them; they are generally 100 to 130 feet long by 24
feet wide and 20 high. There is an upper floor on both
sides, and each family has its little apartment. There is
also a door at each end. The streets are regular, like our
villages.
"The houses of the French are of wood, one log upon an-
other, but they are roofed with the bark of cedar trees.
Only those of the Jesuits are roofed with planks. . . ."
Margry Memoir es et Documents, vol. 5, page 75. (Trans-
lation from revised papers in the Burton Library at De-
troit.)
CHAPTER V
REMOVAL OF FORT AND MISSION TO OLD
MACKINAW
AT SOME time between the arrival of the Griffin
in the Straits of Mackinac and the coming of
Durantaye in 1683, a small French garrison was
placed at Michilimackinac. 1 It was not long before the
accompanying traffic in brandy was well under way. It is
charged that "the Commandant, his officers, his soldiers and
his employees had become traders with the Indians; the
principal article of their traffic was eau de vie, dealt in at
first sub rosa, but later on openly and in cabarets." 2 The
missionaries protested in vain to Governor Frontenac but
were successful at the French Court. The traffic was in a
measure suppressed. But this did not please the Indians,
who became in consequence alienated from the Jesuits. In
the years following the incumbency of Durantaye the strain
between the missionaries on the one hand and the Indians,
traders and commandants on the other, increased rapidly
to the breaking point.
In 1694 there was sent by Frontenac to the garrison at
Michilimackinac Antoine de la Mothe-Cadillac, a man,
"amply gifted," says Parkman, 3 "with the kind of intelli-
1 Jesuit Relations, LV, 319. The Burrows Brothers Company, Cleve-
land, 0.
2 Richard R. Elliot, "The Jesuits of L'Ancien Regime who labored
on Michigan Soil Their Detractors," in the American Catholic Quarterly
Review, January, 1903, p. 104.
3 Parkman, A Half Century of Conflict, I, 19 (Little, Brown & Co., Bos-
ton) ; for a sketch of Cadillac's life, see C. M. Burton's Cadillac.
77
78 HISTORIC MACKINAC
gence that consists in quick observation, sharpened by an
inveterate spirit of sarcasm, energetic, enterprising, well
instructed, and a bold and sometimes a visionary schemer,
with a restless spirit, a nimble and biting wit, a Gascon im-
petuosity of temperament, and as much devotion as an
officer of the King was forced to possess, coupled with small
love of priests and an aversion to Jesuits." Cadillac ad-
vised Frontenac of the attitude of the Indians, and of the
danger that if brandy were not supplied to them by the
French they would seek it from the English. Says Justin
Winsor: 4 "Cadillac, in his fort at Mackinac, it had a
garrison of two hundred men, was in every way situated
to know the conditions of the problem. His was an active
mind, and it mattered little to him whether he had the mis-
chievous Huron or the ungodly bushranger to control. He
liked most to thwart the Jesuits, and his purposes were all
that Frontenac could wish in this respect."
The point of view of the Jesuits at this time is clearly set
forth in a letter by Father Stephen de Carheil, "himself of
noble blood, a veteran of the Iroquoian missions, and one
of the holiest of the Jesuit priests," who at the time of this
letter to de Callieres, Governor-General of New France, was
Superior of the Ottawa missions. 5 The letter was written
from Michilimackinac in 1702. 6 He had been there six-
teen years, and was well informed of the conditions and
needs of the missions. The missions "are reduced to such
an extremity," he writes, "that we can no longer maintain
them against an infinite multitude of evil acts, acts of
* Winsor, Carder to Frontenac, p. 357. Hougbton, Mifflin & Co., Boston.
5 For a sketch of the life of Father Carheil, see Jesuit Relations, I, 325.
The Burrows Brothers Company, Cleveland, 0.
Ibid., LXV, 189-253.
REMOVAL TO OLD MACKINAW 79
brutality and violence; of injustice and impiety; of lewd
and shameless conduct; of contempt and insults. To such
acts the infamous and baleful trade in brandy gives rise
everywhere, among all the nations up here, where it is
carried on by going from village to village, and by roving
over the lakes with a prodigious quantity of brandy in bar-
rels, without any restraint. ... In our despair, there is no
other step to take than to leave our missions and abandon
them to the brandy traders, so that they may establish
therein the domain of their trade, of drunkenness, and of
immorality."
The permission to sell brandy was obtained from the
King "only by means of a pretext apparently reasonable,
but known to be false." With bad examples before the
Indians, the influence of the missionaries is nullified. The
soldiers do no real service for the King, "For, in reality, the
commandants come here solely for the purpose of trading,
in concert with their soldiers, without troubling themselves
about anything else." He says they have no intercourse
with the missionaries, except to further their own selfish
ends ; that they make no complaint of the traders, "because
they engage nearly all of them to assist them in their trade."
The policy of giving presents to the Indians had resulted in
making the Indians unwilling to do anything without pres-
ents, and "to make use of an infinite number of ruses, of
stratagems, and intrigues among themselves" to force the
commandants to give them presents. At great length he
urges that the garrisons be discontinued, and begs for "jus-
tice against the calumnies and violence of Monsieur de la
Motte."
"It is not a grateful task to assail the memory of M. de
80 HISTORIC MACKINAC
La Mothe Cadillac, the intrepid founder of Detroit in
1701," says Mr. Richard R. Elliott. 7 "The memory of
his experience at Michilimackinac rankled in the soul of
Cadillac. When appointed commandant at Detroit he con-
ceived the design of depopulating Michilimackinac, by in-
ducing the Ottawas and Hurons to leave their homes on the
littorals of the islands and mainlands of the upper waters,
and come down and build new homes in the vicinity of
Detroit. This plan was suggested to the Court of France
as the method of centralizing and organizing the Indian
tribes of the West, to be controlled by France at Detroit as
a barrier to the inroads of the Iroquoian Confederacy.
But the animus of Cadillac may be inferred by his averment
that he would not leave Father de Carheil a member of his
flock to bury him. Such, indeed, became the result of the
exodus of the Ottawas and Hurons to settle at Detroit.
Together with other Indian nations, the centralization at
Detroit became considerable. Several thousand Indians
came there and located their cantons in the vicinity; while
Michilimackinac, erstwhile an Indian missionary centre,
became as such, a dreary reminder of the past.
"In time the saintly Father de Carheil in despair decided
to burn his missionary chapels and to return to Quebec.
Thus was the labour of many years of Christian work at
Michilimackinac, by devoted priests, temporarily sus-
7 Elliott, op. cit., pp. 112-113. For correspondence of Cadillac bear-
ing on this controversy, see Sheldon's Early History of Michigan, pp. 101 ff,
133 ff, and the Cadillac Papers in Mich. Pion. and Hist. Colls., XXXIII,
36 ff . See also Ibid., VIII, 422 ff , for discussion. The burning of the build-
ing is placed by Charlevoix in 1705. Dr. Shea places this event in 1706;
see "Romance and Reality of the Death of Father Marquette," in Catholic
World for March, 1877, p. 273. According to Thwaites, Father de Carheil
had returned to Quebec in 1703, from which time until 1768 he laboured
at Montreal and vicinity. Jesuit Relations^ I, 326. The Burrows Brothers
Company, Cleveland, 0,
REMOVAL TO OLD MACKINAW 81
pended during the first decade of the eighteenth century."
According to Charlevoix, this turn of affairs caused
the governor-general much embarrassment. Pledging his
word to remove the cause of the Jesuits' complaints, he per-
suaded Father Marest to return to Michilimackinac, send-
ing with him Louvigny. Together they averted a threat-
ened war between the Ottawas and the Iroquois. The Ot-
tawas were rejoiced at his return, says Marest, in a letter of
1706: 8 "The Savages declared that they were now con-
vinced that their father Onontio would not abandon them;
that whatever might happen at Detroit, the French would
always be secure here. Indeed, they said they did not be-
lieve Onontio had anything to do with the affair at Detroit,
since, though he had knowledge of it, he had sent them
good promises, and the missionary had returned to them,
in spite of all the dangers of the way."
Cadillac complains, in 1708, that it is impossible for him
to accomplish any of his purposes, because the great project
of the people of Canada is the re-establishment of the post
at Michilimackinac: 9 "This proposed re-establishment has
great allurements for the governor-general, because it
makes him master of the commerce. If Michilimackinac
were abandoned, the savages would no longer resort to
Montreal, and, consequently, the governor-general would
not receive the annual presents from them."
The necessity of re-establishing the post at the Straits of
Mackinac was clear. M. d'Aigrement, after inspecting the
posts at Detroit and Michilimackinac in 1708, reports 10
that "if the post of Missilimackinac were given up entirely,
and all the Outaois there were to go and settle at Detroit, the
8 Sheldon, op. cit. t p. 211.
9 Cadillac's letter, 1708, in Sheldon, op. cit., 278-9.
1 Mich. Pion. and Hist. Colls.. XXXIII, 441.
82 HISTORIC MAGKINAG
greater part of the beaver-skins of Canada would go to the
English, by the agency of the Iroquois. For the savages,
and all others who were settled there, could not be com-
pelled to sell their beaver-skins to us except by our making
our goods as cheap to them as the Iroquois sell those of the
English; and this we could never do, whatever measures we
might adopt. If anyone thought he could compel them by
force to do so, he would make the greatest of all possible
mistakes." He observes further that "if all the Outaois
settled at Detroit, we should lose the trade of the northern
part of Lake Superior altogether, which would also go to
the English, through Hudson's Bay, for Detroit is too far
away to be able to transact it."
The trade at the north he considers "the only good trade
there is in Canada," on account of the superior quality of
the furs. The skins obtained in the southern parts, around
Detroit, have thick leather and scanty hair. The only way
to prevent the beaver skins of the north from going to the
English by way of Detroit or Hudson's Bay is to establish
a garrison of about thirty men on the Straits. He thinks
the Hurons would never have left Mackinac if there had
been a French commandant there, having left the post only
because they disliked the Ottawas who held them in a
species of slavery. If this post were established he thinks
they would very quickly go back to the Straits, since they
told him at Detroit they had been better off at Mackinac.
He even suggests the policy of forcing them to go back, if
necessary, because of the need of their industry, and of the
fact that their dislike for the Ottawas would bind them
closely to the French. If a commandant and garrison are
not placed at Mackinac the Hurons may settle with the
Iroquois on account of their discontent with Cadillac.
REMOVAL TO OLD MACKINAW 83
There are only about fifteen Frenchmen left at Mackinac,
and the northern Indians therefore now go to Hudson's Bay
with their furs. A garrisoned post on the Straits is nec-
essary, from which to go out and bring these furs in.
"From all that has been said above," he concludes, 11
"it may be seen that Missilimackinac is the most advantag-
eous post in Canada, and, to show its superiority over De-
troit, I may tell you that even if all the savages in Canada
were settled there we should not obtain one tenth of the
quantity of beaver skin that we can get from Missilimack-
inac, for it would almost all go to the English by the agency
of the Iroquois, the Hurons, and even many other savages
who have gone that way. I say [it would be] the same
even if we were able to sell goods to those savages at the
said post of Detroit at the same price as we let them have
them at Montreal, and the best proof that can be given of it
is that the savages settled amongst us constantly come into
the town of Montreal to trade for the beaver skins of the
merchants, with English goods, for the purpose of taking
them afterwards to Orange. This ought once more to bring
us to the conclusion, my Lord, that Missilimackinac is a
post which is very advantageous to the Colony, because it is
so easy for the savages to go to the English by means of the
Iroquois."
The argument was effective. The best man was sought
to re-establish the post. Louvigny was recommended in
1709, a man "much respected and loved by these savages,"
an "intelligent and vigilant officer," a brother-in-law of
the coureur de bois, Du Lhut. Louvigny had been com-
mandant at Michilimackinac from 1690 to 1694, of whom
Frontenac wrote when Cadillac was promoted to his
" Ibid., XXXIII, 450.
84 HISTORIC MACKINAC
place: 12 "He has performed his duty well while he has
been in these distant parts for more than four years, and to
the satisfaction of every one." Louvigny, in 1694, "ap-
plied to be relieved and is going to France to see his father
who has been sending for him for two years." He was
back in Canada before long, and in 1703 was an officer at
Detroit in the garrison under Cadillac. 13
"The confidence the savages have in the Sr. de Lou-
vigny," says the report recommending him 14 in 1709,
"makes them believe that nothing could be better at this
juncture than to send him to this post." But, "if His
Majesty adheres to the intention of having this post re-es-
tablished it will be essential, in order to make the savages
understand that it is a permanent one, to have a fort and
some houses built there, as there used to be before, and
20 soldiers and a sergeant will be required for building
this fort and keeping it up." It was clearly the thought, in
1709, that the post should be re-established at Point St.
Ignace, by Louvigny. He had not yet gone by 1711,
though no change of policy appears, as we learn from a
report by M. de Vaudreuil, who says, 15 "The Sr. de Lou-
vigny, My Lord, has not gone up to Michilimackinac; I
have had too much need of him here, and he is too good a
man for me to have dispensed with at a time when I learnt
from so many different sources that I was to be attacked.
This summer I sent him up to Montreal while the tribes
that had come down from the upper countries were there;
they were really glad to see him, and were truly pleased
when I told them that it was His Majesty's intention to give
12 Ibid., XXXIII, 72.
^ For a sketch of his life, see Mich. Pion. and Hist. Colls., XXXIV, 316.
14 Ibid., XXXIII, 454.
Ibid., XXXIII, 532-533.
REMOVAL TO OLD MACKINAW 85
him to them as a Commandant. The Sr. de Louvigny
was of the greatest use to me while he stayed at Montreal in
assisting me to control these restless spirits who rarely fail
to give a good deal of trouble. It appeared to me that they
had a genuine regard for him, and there is every reason to
hope that he will succeed in establishing the post at Mich-
ilimackinac if His Majesty wishes it."
The Indians were growing restless and anxious as to the
meaning of this delay. Father Marest writes from St.
Ignace in 1712, 16 "If the savages ever wished for Monsieur
de Louvigny it is now; and they say it is absolutely neces-
sary for him to come for the safety of the country, to recon-
cile them with one another, to keep together those whom the
war has already brought back to Michilimackinac, namely,
all those from the Grand River, almost all from Saguinan
and many from Detroit." A few days later, he writes, 17
"This morning before he set out, Koutaouiliboe came and
picked a quarrel with me. 'What does our Father Onontio
mean by it?' he said to me; 'it is five years already since he
promised to send us Monsieur de Louvigny, and he wants
to deceive us again this year as he did all the other years.
He tells us that the great Onontio, the King, loves his chil-
dren, the savages of Michilimackinac above all; yet he
seems to abandon them entirely. Formerly, before Detroit
was established, we who had settled at Michilimackinac
were people of importance. All tribes respected us be-
cause they were obliged to come here for what they had
need of; there were no unseemly affairs as there now are,
when the fiercest and most senseless tribes, such as the
Foxes, Kikapoos, Maskoutins, Miamis, etc., who do not
Ibid., XXXIII, 556.
" Ibid., XXXIII, 557-558.
86 HISTORIC MACKINAC
know how to use canoes, are able to go on foot to Detroit
in as large numbers as they like, to buy powder there and
to disturb all their allies. ... If our Father loves us, why
does he not think of establishing this place for us, and of
sending us the man that has been promised us for such a
long time, to give spirit to those who have none, to strengthen
us against our enemies if they attack us, and to prevent us
from scattering again now we are come together? Does not
our Father know that all the Outaouas from the great river
have returned here, almost all those from Saguinan, and the
most important men from Detroit, except Jean le Blanc
whose wife is also here? Does he not know also that all the
Outaouas of Detroit had already turned their boats for com-
ing here, also, with half of the Hurons? The other half
would have fled to the Iroquois if they had not heard the
news of the coming arrival of the French, for they did not
think themselves safe at Detroit, nor did the Saulteurs and
Missisaghez who all left there after the attack made upon
the Fox tribe."
Two months later a letter from M. de Vaudreuil ex-
presses the intention of "sending the Sieur de Louvigny
there in the early spring, for whom these tribes are waiting
with the utmost impatience." 18 But he did not go. It
was again planned to send him, in the spring of 1715, with
the necessary troops. He was taken ill, and the Marchand
de Lingery was sent instead. This plan seems to have
failed, and in 1716, Louvigny, recovered, led a successful
expedition against the Fox Indians of Wisconsin. 19
In the reply made by Vaudreuil to the Ottawas visiting
Montreal in 1717, he says: "I was pleased to hear that you
i*Ibid., XXXIII, 561.
XXXIV, 319.
REMOVAL TO OLD MACKINAW 87
removed your homes last year from Saguinan and had gone
to rejoin your old men and your brothers at Michilimack-
inac. I counted on re-establishing your village there, as
completely as it was formerly. M. de Louvigny has gone
there for that purpose, but I learn to-day that you have
returned to Saguinan."
It would appear that the post at Michilimackinac was not
re-established in any effective way previous to 1717, if
even then, and the intention seems to have been to re-estab-
lish it at Point St. Ignace. Charlevoix makes the definite
statement, 20 under date of 1712, that "The next year he
(the Governor-General) sent there Mr. de Louvigny," but
he does not mention the exact location. In his Journal of a
Voyage to North America, (London, 1761, Vol. II, p. 42),
in which he gives an account of his visit to "Michillimack-
inac" in June of 1721, he says that the post had fallen into
decay, since the time that Cadillac carried to Detroit the
best part of the Indians. This portion of the Journal reads
as follows: "Michillimackinac lies in 43 deg. and 30 min.
north lat. I arrived the 28th at this post, which is much
fallen to decay, since the time that Monsieur de la Motte
Cadillac, carried to the Narrows the best part of the Indians
who were settled here, and especially the Hurons; several
of the Outawais followed them thither, others dispersed
themselves amongst the beaver islands, so that what is left
is only a sorry village, where there is notwithstanding still
carried on a considerable fur-trade, this being a thorough-
fare or rendezvous of a number of Indian nations." This
statement, especially the reference to Cadillac and the
Hurons, seems to be definite evidence that he is speaking of
the old site, Point St. Ignace. The impression is further
History, V, 265.
88 HISTORIC MACKINAC
borne out by what follows: "The fort," he says, "is still kept
up as well as the house of the missionaries, who at present
are not distressed with business, having never found the
Outawais much disposed to receive their instructions, but
the court judges their presence necessary in a place where
we are often obliged to treat with our allies, in order to ex-
ercise their functions on the French, who repair thither in
great numbers." The reference to the post's having fallen
into decay, and to the fort's being still kept up, may well be
interpreted in the light of the probability that if so import-
ant a matter as an absolute change of base had been made
for the fort and mission, it would have received at least
passing mention by so careful an observer as Charlevoix.
It is difficult to determine either the exact date of the re-
establishment of the post or of the change to the south side
of the Straits. Sheldon thinks the change probably took
place "at the time of the re-establishment of Michilimack-
inac by the French in 1714." 21 Schoolcraft, who visited
the site of the fort south of the Straits in 1820, refers the
change to a very early date and to the influence of Mar-
quette: 22 "We were at the ancient site of Michilimackinac,
a spot celebrated in the early missionary annals and his-
tory of New France. This was, indeed, one of the first
points settled by the French after Cadaracqui, being a mis-
sionary and trading station before the foundation of Fort
Niagara, in 1678; for LaSalle, after determining on the
latter, proceeded, the same fall, up the lakes to this point,
which he installed with a military element. The mission
of St. Ignace had before been attempted on the north shore
of the Straits, but it was finally removed here by the advice
21 Op. cit., p. 331.
22 Summary Narrative, p. 208. See his Archives of Aboriginal Knowl-
edge, II, op. p. 242, for an engraving of the scene here described.
REMOVAL TO OLD MACKINAW 89
of Marquette." On examining the vicinity, Schoolcraft
adds: "It was found a deserted plain, overspread with sand,
in many parts, with the ruins of former occupancy piercing
through these sandy drifts, which gave it an air of perfect
desolation. By far the most conspicuous among those
ruins, was the stone foundation of the ancient fort and the
excavations of the exterior buildings, which had evidently
composed a part of the military or missionary plan. Not a
house, not a cultivated field, not a fence was to be seen.
The remains of broken pottery, and pieces of black bottles,
iridescent from age, served impressively to show that men
had once eaten and drank here."
The description of these ruins corresponds to the account
given by the traveller Alexander Henry in 176 1, 23 accord-
ing to whom, "The fort stands on the south side of the strait
which is between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. It has
an area of two acres and is enclosed with pickets of cedar
wood; and it is so near the water's edge that, when the wind
is in the west the waves break against the stockade."
Father Edward Jacker speaks of the "church built by the
Jesuits at Old Mackinaw in 1742," 24 and a symbol of the
church appears on the south shore of the straits near the
site of Mackinaw City on a map of 1755, together with a
symbol of the fort a short distance from it. 25
28 Bain's edition of Henry's Travels and Adventures, pp. 40-41. George
N. Morang & Co., Toronto.
24 See his "Catholic Indians in Michigan and Wisconsin," in American
Catholic Quarterly Review, July, 1876, p. 432, note 1.
25 Partie Occidentale de la Nouvelle France ou du Canada, published
by Horaan in 1755.
CHAPTER VI
THE PARISH REGISTER AT MICHILIMACKINAG
U T~ HAVE lately examined with great interest the par-
ish registers of the mission here," writes Judge
Edward Osgood Brown, at Mackinac Island in
1889, 1 " the Mission of St. Anne de Michilimackinac,
and as I read with outward eye the mere record of bap-
tisms, marriages and burials from 1695 to the present day,
between the lines I seemed to see with mental vision, the
whole strange story of the place, with its record of high
aims and noble purposes, seemingly thwarted and failing,
only to result in the end in success far beyond the early
dreams of priest or soldier." We cannot do better than
to quote extensively from Judge Brown's excellent mono-
graph on "The Parish Register at Michilimackinac," a
paper read by him before the Chicago Literary Club in
March, 1889. In introducing the history of the mission
in this period at Old Mackinaw, he briefly sketches the his-
tory of the Mission at St. Ignace:
"The first chapter in the history of Mackinac was but a
short one, but it was the most interesting of all. It began
when Jacques Marquette, in 1671, following his Huron
ir The quotations in this chapter are taken from a reprint which does
not bear date and place of publication. "The Parish Register of the Mis-
sion of Michilimackinac" forms the second part of the pamphlet, and begins
at p. 29, the author being Judge Edward Osgood Brown, a noted jurist and
eminent scholar, of Chicago, Illinois, who is a recognized authority upon
the history of the Mackinac country. The material quoted from his mono-
graph is used with his permission.
90
THE PARISH REGISTER 91
converts, who were flying from the western and the south-
ern shores of Lake Superior before the fierce revengeful
wrath of the Sioux, settled with them at Point St. Ignace, as
he named it, and built a chapel under which he was buried
six years after. That chapter closed, to the great grief of
Marquette's Jesuit successors who had been in charge of
the mission and who had laboured among the savage tribes
with the most encouraging and satisfactory results, shortly
after Cadillac, the commandant in charge, had removed
the garrison to Detroit in 1701. He held out all possible
inducements both to the Christianized and non-Christian-
ized Indians about Mackinac to follow him. But he had
quarrelled with the Jesuits and would have none but Recol-
let friars in his new settlement. So in 1706, with sad
hearts, to prevent its desecration, the Jesuit fathers burnt
their chapel at Point St. Ignace, and retired undoubtedly
with all the archives of the mission to Quebec. What has
become of the registers which they must have kept, I do not
know. If they are in existence, I should think they would
have been before this discovered, by some such scholar
and investigator as Dr. Shea, who did so much in bringing
to light documents of this time and character.
"The next chapter in the history of Mackinac begins
when the mission was re-established in 1712, probably by
Father Marest, upon the other side of the straits, near the
site of what is now known as Old Mackinaw. This was con-
temporaneous with the re-establishment of the fort by De
Louvigny, sent for that purpose by the Governor-General of
Canada. It was stated, I know not upon what authority,
by those who pretend to know, that a second and new church
was built at this post in 1741. I think that this supposi-
tion is made principally because of the fact that the first
92 HISTORIC MACKINAC
parish register which has come to our times was evidently
begun at that date. It may be, however, that there exists
evidence of the building of a new church in 1741. I do
not pretend to have made any thorough investigation of the
matter. Be that as it may, there was some church for the
mission upon the south shore of the Straits of Mackinac
from 1712 until about 1785, when it seems to have been
taken down and its material used in the construction of the
mission church at the Island of Mackinac itself, whither
the Fort had been by the English removed five years before.
This second chapter in the history of Mackinac, as I would
divide its story, lasted until the American Fur Company
had practically taken entire possession of the trading post,
and it had ceased to be to any great extent the headquarters
of the independent traders and of the old coureurs de bois,
the voyageurs and their engages.
"It was of all this period that I had hoped to find the ec-
clesiastical record. It was one of romantic interest, not
because, as the previous chapter was, especially connected
with the glorious missionary zeal and efforts of the Society
of Jesus, but because full of a more worldly but hardly less
adventurous spirit. Within this period occurred the great
French and Indian wars, when, as Macaulay says, 'In order
that Frederick the Great might rob a neighbour whom he
had promised to defend, black men fought on the coast of
Coramandel and red men scalped each other by the Great
Lakes of North America.' Then came the surrender and
cession of Canada to the English, and after that began
the revolt of the American colonies, the final possession
of the colonies about Mackinac by the new govern-
ment and the subsequent struggle with England in which
it was again the coveted prize of contending forces. But
Copyright by Harris & Ewing
MR. JUSTICE WILLIAM R. DAY, OF THE UNITED STATES SUPREME
COURT
Justice Day has spent his summer vacations on Mackinac Island for many years.
He is an authority on the history of Mackinac Island and
JUDGE EDWARD OSGOOD BROWN
Noted jurist and student of Old Northwest history
THE PARISH REGISTER 93
the earliest register which exists was, as I have said, begun
in 1741. It contains a short abridgment of entries from a
former register, which is declared by it still to exist in the
archives of the mission, but the abridgment is extremely
short, and the original from which it is taken can nowhere
be found.
"The first contemporaneous entry is the baptism of one
Louis Joseph Chaboyer upon October 4, 1741, by Jean
Baptiste Lamorinie, a missionary of the Society of Jesus,
and its last is of a baptism performed by Father Gabriel
Richard, in August, 1821.
"It is a mere accident that the register ends just where it
does. The space in the book was exhausted and a new one
begun by Father Richard at this last date of August, 1821.
The time, however, corresponds closely enough with the
close of the second chapter in the history of Mackinac,
which I have previously indicated. A transcription of this
register I have had made and it is in the library of the
Wisconsin Historical Society. It is of course in
French.
"Before we turn to the register itself, I will briefly ad-
vert to the character and condition of the settlement at the
time this record begins. It was then still in the hands of
the French, from which it passed in 1760, but its general
character, even after the cession, was not changed Eng-
lish forces however taking the places of the French.
"The settlement was of about sixty families, occupying
as many houses, clustered about the fort and mission house,
and all surrounded by a high wooden palisade. The
houses, of picturesque shape and appearance, were roughly
whitewashed, and the village was not unpleasing to the eye.
It was in the midst of boundless and unlimited forests
94 HISTORIC MACKINAC
stretching in every direction. It was then by far the largest
settlement in the northern lake region, and the headquarters
and centre of the trade between the French and the Indians
of the West.
"The inhabitants besides the few militia soldiers, with
their officers and the missionaries, were the descendants of
former garrisons and the fur traders with their engages and
voyageurs. From Michilimackinac these latter used every
autumn to go out with goods for the Indians to exchange for
furs to all parts of the western country where Indians were
known to congregate. They went in bateaux or birch bark
canoes, each boat or canoe with a crew or company of from
four to ten. These crews were under contract from the
traders and received each from $50 to $150 a year and an
outfit of a blanket, two suits of coarse clothes, and some
small articles necessary to the rudest toilet. They were a
hardy, adventurous set of men, who could live on meagre
fare, row their boats all day, or carry packs of 100 pounds
on their backs through the rough trackless woods for weeks
together and then spend the nights in music and dancing.
In the winter they were generally at their various winter
trading grounds, 'hyvernements,' these records call them,
and in the spring they came back to Mackinac, very likely
to spend in intemperance and dissolute idleness during
three or four months the hardly earned wages of the rest
of the year.
"Through the result of their ancestors' intermarriages
with the Indians and the less legal relations which were still
more common, all classes, even including most of the offi-
cers, had more or less Indian blood. Some of the voy-
ageurs were almost entirely Indian, others less so, but
almost the entire population of every class in Mackinac in
THE PARISH REGISTER 95
1741, may safely be supposed to have been in some degree
connected by birth or marriage with the savages.
"Their morals, as these registers show, were none of the
strictest; and 'natural' children 'by savage mothers,' or 'of
an unknown father' form perhaps the largest proportion of
those whose baptisms are in this register recorded. Con-
cubinage was a recognized institution, the obligations in-
curred by the temporary husband by contract with the
parents of the half-breed or Indian girl whom he undertook
to make his mistress for some limited time were enforced
sometimes even by the local jurisprudence, and at all times
by the force of public opinion. But chastity was not rated
high. It is a tradition that at about the time this register
ends, a local magistrate before whom a French voyageur
was proven to have committed a felonious assault on an
Indian girl, condemned the fellow to buy the girl a new
frock, as he had torn hers in the scuffle, and to work one
week in his (the Justice's) garden. It was more disheart-
ening, undoubtedly, and difficult for the good priests to
labour among these people, nominal Catholics, and in whom
indeed in many cases, intelligent and instructed faith seems
to have been strong, notwithstanding the dissoluteness of
their morals (for which in their better moments they un-
doubtedly felt remorseful) than it was even to preach to the
uncorrupted but pagan Indians.
"But they laboured hopefully on, as this register shows,
doing all they could and dividing their time and labours
evidently between the little French and half-breed colony
of Mackinac, which they treated as a mission parish, and
the Indian villages of the Ottawas and Ojibways (half
Christian and half pagan) near by.
"This register beginning, as I have said, in 1741, and
96 HISTORIC MACKINAC
ending in 1821, purports to be a record of all ecclesiastical
matters between those years in the parish of the mission at
Mackinac. But it is certainly very far from complete. It
is not continuous. For many years together at various
times there was no priest residing at Mackinac, and al-
though during these intervals, there are many curious
records attested by laymen as will hereafter be seen, yet it
is evident from the comparatively small number of them,
that it was only the more careful and thoughtful who took
pains to see during all these years that any record was made
at all.
"In 1741, when the first contemporaneous entries were
made, Father Du Jaunay and Father de Lamorinie, both
Jesuits, were evidently together at the post. In more than
one instance one served as godfather while the other ad-
ministered the baptism. In 1743 and 1744 their place was
taken by Father Coquarz, another of the later Jesuit mis-
sionaries. But from 1744 until 1749, a period nearly
contemporaneous with that part of the old French and In-
dian wars, known as 'King George's War,' there was evi-
dently no priest in Mackinac. From 1749 to 1752 Father
Du Jaunay was again in charge. In 1752 he was either
relieved or visited by Father de Lamorinie and Father
Lefranc, and Father Lefranc and Father Du Jaunay seem
to have alternated in their charge of the mission from 1752
until 1761.
"I suspect that they relieved each other by alternating
between the settlement upon the St. Joseph river and the one
at Mackinac. But from 1761 until 1765, during which
time the British took possession of Mackinac and the mas-
sacre and capture of the fort in Pontiac's conspiracy took
place, Father Du Jaunay was at the post. I shall allude
THE PARISH REGISTER 97
hereafter to the part which he played during that time.
From 1765 until 1768 there was evidently no priest at the
mission. In 1768 Father Gibault, styling himself first
'Grand Vicar of Louisiana' and again 'Vicar General of
Illinois,' and who, as we know from other sources, held
that title from the Bishop of Quebec, visited the post upon
his way south to arrange, if possible, the question of juris-
diction concerning the lower Illinois mission with the Ca-
puchins of New Orleans. In 1775 Father Gibault made
another brief visit. In 1776 and 1777, Father Payet, was
there for two months in the summer of each year. After
that for seven years, no priest visits the church. Then for
two or three months a Dominican named Ledru, styling him-
self 'an apostolic missionary priest,' performs marriages
and celebrates baptisms for a period of two or three months.
In 1796 Father Levadoux makes a visit to the mission, styl-
ing himself 'Vicar General of Monsieur the Bishop of Balti-
more.' Up to this time, through the great delay purposely
made by the British in carrying out the treaties of 1783 and
1794, the post at Michilimackinac had not been taken pos-
session of by the Americans. In October, 1796, two com-
panies of the United States army (of the 1st infantry)
arrived and took possession, and in 1799, the man who,
although a Frenchman by birth may from his career be
called the first distinctively American priest, Father Gabriel
Richard, in the course of an extended tour of the north-
western missions, arrived at Mackinac, where he made a
stay of about three months. In 1804 he sent from Detroit
his assistant, Father Dilhet. In 1821 and as the subsequent
register shows, again in 1823 (the last time just after his
election as delegate to the American Congress from the
Territory of Michigan), Father Richard was at Mackinac.
98 HISTORIC MAGKINAC
"When, upon a careful examination of the register, it
became apparent to me how scanty it really was, and for
how many years together, during the most interesting pe-
riods, there were no entries at all to be found, and when I
realized further that it was principally, after all, just what
it purported to be, a mere record of baptisms, marriages
and deaths, lacking many of the other and more interesting
features, which, as I remember it, are characteristic of the
register at Kaskaskia, I was somewhat disappointed, and I
feared it would be difficult to make the matter which ap-
peared in it as interesting to others as it was to me; but I
have studied it with considerable care, and there are some
observations to be made upon the register or record itself
which may throw some light upon the questions of interest,
or at least suggest such questions for more careful inves-
tigation. . . .
"By comparing the dates of entries of marriages and
baptisms it is easy to see how often when the father or
mother of illegitimate children brought them for baptism,
or when the good priest had successfully sought them out
for that purpose, he also succeeded in inducing the father
and mother to take upon themselves the bonds of a sacra-
mental marriage. Some instances of this occurred, I
believe, during each year, when priests were present at all,
at the mission. I remember one fact which interested me
because I know something of a startling incident in the life
of the father of the children and the subsequent bride-
groom. One Louis Hamline, who was a soldier, who fol-
lowed Charles De Langlade through many campaigns (of
Charles De Langlade I mean to say something hereafter),
was in 1777 married by Father Payet to Josette Le Sable,
a savage woman, some children of theirs having just before
THE PARISH REGISTER 99
that time been baptized. Some years before without being
married he had brought other and older children by the
same woman to be baptized. I am inclined to think that
the exhortations of the good father in 1777 were supple-
mented by an awakening conscience for which there was
certainly opportunity, as this same Louis Hamline had in
that year while setting trout lines through the ice, been
carried off by a sudden wind, which detached the ice in a
great floe from the land, as frequently happens in the
Straits of Mackinac. For nine days with great fortitude
and endurance he had lived without food until a favourable
wind arising, the ice was again blown to the shore.
"Of course, in speaking of these records as throwing
light upon the dissolute character of the settlement, I am
not referring to any of the acts which are happily numer-
ous, where marriages perfectly valid both under the exist-
ing civil and ecclesiastical law were contracted in the
absence of the priest, the religious ceremony alone being
supplied when the priest came to the settlement. In these
unions there was, of course, nothing immoral or censurable.
The essence of the sacrament is in the consent of the parties.
So teach the theologians. But how perfectly this was un-
derstood by the instructed Catholics at Mackinac, there are
some curious entries to attest. One particular case from
which I will hereafter quote, that of Charles Gautier de
Vierville, could have hardly been better expressed had it
been drawn by a doctor of the Sorbonne. There is an-
other matter to which I think the register bears interesting
testimony. It has been a too common opinion, springing
from prejudice against the Church, that the Catholic mis-
sionaries' apparent success among the Indians arose from
their taking them into the Church without sufficiently in-
100 HISTORIC MACKINAG
structing them. I think Parkman even allows himself
somewhere to speak of the Catholic missionary contenting
himself with sprinkling a few drops of water upon the fore-
head of his savage proselyte, while the Protestants tried to
win him from his barbarism and prepare his savage heart
for the truths of Christianity. There is absolutely no truth
in this, and no evidence has ever been cited for it. And
this register, like all the missionary registers, is affirmative
proof of its falsity. There is hardly a case in which an
Indian of adult age, or even above the age of reason, is
certified to have been baptized in this record, where special
allusion is not made to his or her previous instruction.
'Sufficiently instructed and ardently desiring baptism' is
the certificate of these men who were not either in formal or
in informal utterances, liars. Even in times of emergency
and danger there is shown a great anxiety upon the part
of the priests that improper and merely formal baptisms
should not be made.
"Thus the register shows that in October, 1757, there was
an outbreak of small-pox, to which the Indian settlements
were always extremely liable, and that Father Lef ranc was
very active in baptizing the infants and small children, and
those, persons who were dangerously ill; but even under
these circumstances he almost apologizes for the want of
preparation of his catechumens. Thus, in speaking of
two Indians who were dangerously ill, and who afterwards
died, he says 'they demanded baptism with great earnest-
ness, and promised to be instructed and to live as Chris-
tians.' In this outbreak of the small-pox there are certifi-
cates by Father Lefranc of the baptism of at least thirty
children, many of them infants, whom he says he found
'abandoned and dangerously sick with small-pox.' It is
THE PARISH REGISTER 101
evident that there was a great panic among the natives at
the visitation of this terrible scourge, and that Father
Lef ranc, like all the Jesuit missionaries in a like case, went
from cabin to cabin in the Indian village, seeking out the
dying. Although it does not exactly appear (at least not
to me, who cannot tell the difference between Ojibway and
Ottawa names), I think it is probable that this pestilence
occurred in the Indian village nearest the fort that of the
jib ways, upon the Island of Mackinac.
"As I have suggested before, the thoroughness of the
instruction is evidenced by the character of many of the lay
entries which were made during the long absence of the
priests from the church. Here is a literal translation of the
one most elaborate. It is of the marriage of a man of
whom I shall have something more to say hereafter.
" 'In the year 1779, the first of January, before noon, we, the
undersigned, on the part of Sieur Charles Gautier de Vierville,
Lieutenant-Captain and interpreter of the King, son of Claude
Germaine de Vierville and Therese Villeneuve, his father and
mother, deceased, and of Magdeleine Chevalier, daughter of the
late Pascal Chevalier and of Madeline Darch Eveque, her mother,
in order to confirm the alliance which a virtuous love mutually
leads them to contract together, and to crown the fires that
mutual tenderness has lighted in their hearts, before our Mother,
the Holy Church, of which they are members, and in the bosom
of which they wish to live and die, have gone to the house of
Sieur Louis Chevalier, uncle of the future bride, to remove every
obstacle to their desires, and to assure them, so far as in us lies,
of days full of sweetness and of repose. There, in the presence
of the future husband and wife, of their relations and of their
friends, we have placed upon them the following conditions,
namely: The said future husband, in the dispositions required
by the Holy Roman Church, and according to the order which
she has imposed upon her children, promises to take for his wife
102 HISTORIC MAGKINAG
and legitimate spouse Magdeline Chevalier, who, upon her part,
receives him for her husband and legitimate consort, having
the full and entire consent of all their relatives. In virtue of
this, the husband (taking the wife with all her rights for the
future in that part of her heritage which is due to her, and
which must be delivered to her at the first requisition, to be
held in common, in order to increase the property of his bride,
and to show by it the extreme tenderness which he has for her,
settled upon her the sum of a thousand crowns, taken from the
goods which they shall acquire together in order to provide for
the necessities which the accidents of life may perhaps cause to
arise. The future spouses, to assure for the alliance which they
are contracting, peace, repose and the sweets of well-being to
the last moment of their lives, will and consent, in order that they
may taste without trouble the felicity that they look for, that
their property shall be possessed by a full and entire title by the
survivor after the death of one or the other, be given after the death
of such survivor to their children, if Heaven, favourable to their
desires, accords them these worthy fruits of their mutual love;
but if the survivor wishes to contract a new alliance, in that case
the contracting party must account to inheriting children, and
divide with them. If Heaven, deaf to their voice, shall refuse
them a legitimate heir, the last survivor may dispose of all the
goods according to his or her will and pleasure, without being
molested by the relatives either of one or of the other. This,
they declare, is their will while waiting to approve and ratify
it before a notary, and to supplement the ceremonies of mar-
riage by a priest, when they shall have the power to do it.'
"The provisions here concerning property disposition
are according to the 'custom of Paris,' so-called, which gov-
erned in matters of municipal law these Canadian colonies.
"There are many other marriage records, not so elab-
orate, but not less sufficient to prove the validity of the act,
despite the absence of the priest.
"Of course, it was one of the first matters impressed
THE PARISH REGISTER 103
by the priest, both upon those who were of Christian descent
and upon converts, that lay baptism was not only permis-
sible but desirable in cases of emergency or danger, and
it is not surprising, therefore, to find that situated as these
people were, the larger proportion of the baptisms of chil-
dren, when they came to be performed by the priests, were
conditional baptisms. That is, the priest supplied the cere-
monies of baptism and baptized them on condition 'that
they had not already been baptized,' as in a very great num-
ber of cases they undoubtedly had been by their parents or
friends. No very complete register of the numerous lay
baptisms made when there was no priest at the mission
was kept, but of course there are some recorded. A good
many of them were either made by the commandant at
the post, by a justice of the peace, or by a notary public,
and certified to under his title, by the person administering
the rite. I have no idea that this was from any feeling
upon the part of the parishioners, simple minded though
they were, that these official gentlemen were any better
qualified to administer the sacrament than others, but
because they reasoned that if a record was to be made at
all it had best be made under the name and signature of
those best able both to make it and to secure its preserva-
tion. Some of them read a little curiously. There are a
few in English which form the only exception to the almost
universal French in the record.
"Upon page 73 appears this in French:
" 'On the 30th day of August, 1781, was baptized Domitille,
the legitimate daughter of Sieur Charles Gautier and Madeline
Pascal his legitimate wife, born the same day at noon.
" 'JOHN COATES, Notary Public.'
104 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"This is the child of the pair whose nuptials we quoted
above.
"Then occurs this in English:
" 'I certify you that according to the due and prescribed order
of the church at noon on this day, and at the above place, before
divers witnesses, I baptized this child Charlotte Cleves.
" TATRICK SINCLAIR,
"Lt. Governor and Justice of the Peace.
" 'Witnesses: William Grant, John McNamara, George Mac-
beth, D. McRay, George Meldrum.
" 'JOHN COATES, Notary Public.'
"I think, however, of the things shown by the record
itself that which interested me most is the light which it
throws upon the question of slavery, both of Indians and
of negroes, in these north-western posts, during the last
century and the beginning of the present.
"One thing is certain, it must have been a firmly estab-
lished and cherished institution despite the boast to the
contrary that has sometimes been made. The negro slaves
belonging to various persons in the community are fre-
quently spoken of in the register. Sometimes it is a child
of two negro slaves who is baptized, sometimes it is two
negro slaves who are married. Thus, in 1744, Father
Coquarz certifies to 'baptizing the daughter of Boncoeur,
a negro, and of Margaret, a negress, belonging to a trader
named Boutin, obliged to winter at Mackinac on his way
to the Illinois.'
"Frequently the word 'esclave' is used where it is im-
possible to determine whether the slave spoken of is red or
black. I was much puzzled for a long time by the use of
the words Tanis' and Tanise,' evidently intended from
their connection to signify a male or a female servant of
THE PARISH REGISTER 105
some kind, and as they were spoken of as 'belonging' to
various people, I inferred that they signified slaves. What
sort of slaves I could not ascertain, for in no French dic-
tionary, either of ancient or modern French, could I find
any such word. The words did not seem to be used at
all as the name of a tribe, or as a proper name, but rather
as though they signified servants held as slaves under some
different sort of tenure from that denoted by the word
'esclave,' and this I thought at first must be so. I discov-
ered finally their real signification. They are corrupted
or alternative forms of 'Pawnee,' and are evidently used
to signify 'Indian' slaves as distinguished from 'negro'
slaves.
"A note which I have found in the Wisconsin Historical
Collections, purporting to be taken from the memoir of
one Bougainville, published in France, concerning the state
of Canada, says, that 'the Panis' (evidently Pawnee) 'tribe
in America is in the same position as that of the negroes in
Europe.' 'The Panis tribe,' the author says, 'is a savage
nation situated on the Missouri, estimated at about twelve
thousand men. Other nations make war upon them and
sell us their slaves. It is the only savage nation that can
be thus treated.'
"Most of the Indian slaves who are mentioned in the
register, were, at the time of such mention, which is gen-
erally that of their baptism, quite young children. I think
that they were in most cases given or sold to the French
or half-breed traders and voyageurs, by the Ottawas who
had captured or bought them. Whether they were all
Pawnees or not, I think very doubtful. I am inclined to
think that as the word 'slave' became generic because so
many slaves were sold, the word 'Panis' among the Ottawas
106 HISTORIC MACKINAC
and jib ways was applied indiscriminately to any slave of
any tribe because the majority of such slaves were Pawnees.
However, this is all conjecture on my part.
"There are two interesting entries in the register con-
cerning slaves belonging to the Church.
"On page 29 of the baptismal register appears this cer-
tificate: 'Today, upon the 16th of April, the Feast of the
Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, in the year 1750, I
have solemnly baptized, in the Church of this Mission,
Jean Francois Regis, a young slave of about seven years,
given through gratitude to this mission last summer by M.
Le Chevalier, upon his safe return from the extreme West,
the said infant being well instructed and asking baptism.
His god-father was Sieur Etienne Chenier and his god-
mother Charlotte Parent. Done at Michilimackinac the
day and year aforesaid.
"Upon page 59 occurs the following: 'Today, Holy
Saturday, the 10th day of April, in the year 1762, I have
solemnly baptized a young negro about twenty years of
age, belonging to this mission; sufficiently instructed even
to serve the Holy Mass. After which he made his first
communion. In baptism the name of Pierre was given to
him. His godfather was Jean Baptiste called Noyer,
voyageur, and his godmother Mdlle. Martha Cheboyer.
Done at Michilimackinac the day and year aforesaid.'
The two entries above given were signed by Father Du
Jaunay.
"A monograph upon the subject of slavery in these
trading posts of Mackinac, Detroit, Green Bay, Prairie du
Chien and Chicago, its origin, rise, decline and extinction,
and its character and incidents, it seems to me would be
extremely interesting.
THE PARISH REGISTER 107
"One matter of which I would like to ascertain the
date is that of the extinction of Indian slavery. The allu-
sions to the Pawnee slaves become more and more infre-
quent, and finally before the close of the book cease alto-
gether. Father Richard states of an Indian whom he bap-
tized that he was 'au service' of Charles de Langlade, but
he never used the word 'slave.'
"Morgan L. Martin in a historical address at Madison
some years ago said that he saw in 1827 a Pawnee woman
at Green Bay, who within a few days of that time had been
a slave, but that she then was free.
"One other suggestion springing from this register, it
occurs to me might be worked up in an interesting manner,
and that is, a discussion of the methods and course in which
the administration of justice was continued from the French
dominion through the English occupation into the time
when the United States took possession of the country. I
do not think that this register throws any particular light
upon it, although there is one Adhamer St. Martin whose
entries appear as a Justice of the Peace during all three
of these periods. He subscribed himself as one of the 'Jus-
tices of the Peace of His Majesty' in March, 1796, the
American troops not having then arrived at the post, al-
though it had been long before distinctly agreed that the
United States should have jurisdiction over Mackinac.
After that for a time he calls himself 'Justice of the Peace
of this district,' and then, still later, in 1797, he says he is
a 'justice of the Peace of the United States.' It may very
well be that he received a renewal of his commission, but
the records and the traditions of Green Bay are very clear
that there some at least of the officers commissioned by the
English Government did not cease to exercise their func-
108 HISTORIC MACKINAC
tions, nor did the inhabitants care to question their juris-
diction although they received no accession of authority.
It may have been so also at Mackinac. . . .
"In June, 1746, Father Du Jaunay certifies that he bap-
tized 'Louis, the legitimate son of Amiot and of Marianne
his wife of this post; the said infant having been born at the
river Aux Plains, near to Chicago, early in October last.
The godfather was Mr. Louis de Lecorn, captain command-
ing for the King in this post. The godmother was Madame
Marie Catherine de Laplante, wife of Monsieur Bourassa.'
"This was a white child; for Amiot appears to have been
a French trader. Does it not settle the question as to the
'first white native of Chicago'?
"So far I have confined myself to the records themselves,
that is, to what they by and in themselves may be considered
to show or suggest. Pardon me if for a few moments I now
consider them with reference to the interest which they have
for us when viewed in the light of knowledge derived from
other sources concerning the men who figure in this book,
and whose handwriting again and again appears through it.
So considered, there will be no lack of interest in them to
those to whom this sort of historical research affords pleas-
ure. There is always something fascinating in contem-
poraneous records and signatures of persons who were pio-
neers in this western country, and whose names and deeds
were part of our early history, and I think that this is es-
pecially the case where the records are those of their births,
baptisms, marriages, and deaths.
"It is not particularly to the priests who have signed the
certificates in these registers, to whom I am referring, but
yet before I speak of other names more interesting still, let
THE PARISH REGISTER 109
me call your attention to something that may be said of
them.
"For instance, we know that Father de Lamorinie, who
makes the first contemporaneous entry in this register in
1741, was afterwards at the mission on St. Joseph River
and, being driven from there by the vicissitudes of the
French and Indian War, went to minister to the settlers of
the mission of St. Genevieve, not far from the present site
of St. Louis.
"By virtue of an infamous decree of the Superior Coun-
cil of Louisiana, an insignificant body of provincial officers,
who undertook in 1763 to condemn the Society of Jesus,
and to suppress the order within Louisiana, he was seized,
although upon British soil, and with other priests from
Kaskaskia and Vincennes, taken to New Orleans, and sent
from there to France, with orders to present himself to the
Due de Choiseul. This was his reward for the zeal, assid-
uity and devotion which he had manifested in his mission.
"Father Lefranc and Father Du Jaunay were then left
alone as the last Jesuit missionaries in this western country.
"Father Du Jaunay was at Mackinac at the time of Pon-
tiac's conspiracy. On the 2nd of June, 1763, the Indians
attacked Fort Mackinac, massacreing most of the garrison
and making prisoners of the officers, all of which is graph-
ically described in Parkman's History of the Conspiracy
of Pontiac. By Father Du Jaunay, the captured Captain
Etherington sent a letter shortly afterwards to Major Glad-
wyn, who was then beseiged by Pontiac himself in the fort
at Detroit, asking for assistance which, however, Gladwyn
was powerless to give. Du Jaunay went, and of course
through his influence with the Indians was enabled to carry
110 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the note into the fort. Captain Etherington says of him
in his letter:
" 'I have been very much obliged to the Jesuit for the many
good offices he has done on this occasion. He seems inclined to
go down to your post for a day or two, which I am very glad of,
as he is a very good man, and has a great deal to say with the
savages hereabout, who will believe everything he tells them on
his return.'
"He begs him to send the priest back as soon as possible,
as they will be in great need of him. In a diary of the
siege of Detroit, published in the Michigan Historical Col-
lections, it appears that Father Du Jaunay left Detroit upon
his return on the 20th of June, 1763. The following is
the entry in the diary :
" 'This morning the Commandant gave to the Jesuit a memo-
randum of what he should say to the Indians and French at
Michilimackinac, as also to Captain Etherington, seeing that he
did not choose to carry a letter, saying that if he did and were
asked by the Indians if he had one, he should be obliged to say,
"Yes," as he had never told a lie in his life.'
"After Father Du Jaunay left the mission at Mackinac
he became Superior of the mission at St. Joseph.
"In 1825 a missionary, visiting the Indian congregation
established at Arbre Croche, remarked that the memory of
Father Du Jaunay was religiously preserved among all the
tribes, and the place was pointed out to him where the priest
used to walk while saying his breviary.
"In 1822 the chiefs of the Ottawas petitioned the Con-
gress of the United States to send them Jesuit priests to
take the place, as they said, 'of Father Du Jaunay who lived
with us in our village of Arbre Croche and cultivated a field
THE PARISH REGISTER 111
in our territory in order to teach us the principles of agri-
culture and Christianity.'
"Father Gibault, whose entries as Vicar-General of
Louisiana and Illinois I have referred to, was in Kaskaskia
as a resident priest in 1778 and undertook then a mission to
Vincennes on behalf of George Rogers Clark, and suc-
ceeded in inducing its inhabitants to declare for the Ameri-
cans.
"He played a very important part in the American Revo-
lution, for it was largely due to him that it succeeded in the
Mississippi Valley.
"Of Gabriel Richard I have written fully in another
place. In 1821, as we have seen, he was at Mackinac,
and he also went to Green Bay. I do not know, but I can-
not help conjecturing, that he was a passenger on the second
trip ever made by a steamboat upon Lake Michigan or
Lake Huron. It is certain that the pioneer steamer Walk-
in-the-Water left Detroit for Mackinac upon July 31,
1821, and that Father Richard appears to have reached
Mackinac at just about the time the steamer did, in the
early days of August. It would have been quite in ac-
cordance with his character to have the desire to make this
trip. If he did he had for a companion the Reverend
Eleazar Williams, well known in connection with his claim
to be the Dauphin of France, the son of Louis XVI.
"Of the numerous laymen, soldiers, traders and voy~
ageurs, whose names and signatures appear frequently in
this register and concerning whom history has more or less
to say, perhaps the most striking and interesting figure is
Charles Michel de Langlade. The record of his baptism
appears in the abridgment of the old register preserved
at the beginning of the existing one, by which record it
112 HISTORIC MACKINAC
appears that Charles Michel de Langlade, son of Monsieur
de Langlade, was baptized upon the 9th of May, 1729.
"Father Lefranc, in 1754, certifies 'that upon the 12th
day of August, 1754, I, a missionary priest of the company
of Jesus, received the mutual consent to marriage of Le
Sieur de Langlade and Charlotte Ambroisine Bourassa,
both inhabitants of this post, in the presence of the under-
signed witnesses.' To this certificate are subscribed the
names of the principal inhabitants of Mackinac at the time,
including that of 'Herbin' commanding at the post. Made-
moiselle Bourassa was the daughter of an Indian trader of
substance and standing, recently removed to Mackinac from
Montreal. The register shows that he must have had a
large family, and both Indian and negro slaves.
"Following the marriage, occur at intervals careful cer-
tificates of baptisms of various children of Monsieur and of
Madame de Langlade, and in the capacity of godfather and
witness, Charles de Langlade has left his signature scores
of times in this register.
"Langlade's life was one of the most romantic and stir-
ring of any of our pioneers in the West, and he is known
among the inhabitants of a neighbouring state as 'the
founder of Wisconsin.' His father was Augustin Lang-
lade, who was, at a very early period in the eighteenth cen-
tury, a fur trader at Mackinac. Augustin Langlade mar-
ried a sister of the principal chief of the Ottawas, and
Charles de Langlade was therefore a true half-breed.
"His early education in letters was undoubtedly one of
the cares of Father Du Jaunay, but his early education in
arms was, at the solicitation of his savage uncle, entrusted
to him. In 1734, being then but five years old, he was al-
lowed by his father, under the entreaties of the Indians
THE PARISH REGISTER 113
who had taken a fancy to him, to accompany a war expedi-
tion of his uncle against a tribe allied to the English, his
father adjuring him upon sending him away, to show no
fear. When he was sixteen years of age, his father and he
established a trading post at Green Bay, Bay des Puants,
as it was called in those days. And from that time the son
resided alternately at Green Bay and at Mackinac, when he
was not absent upon his numerous military expeditions.
"Against the Sacs and Foxes, at the head of a band of
Ottawas, Langlade made frequent expeditions after the es-
tablishment at Green Bay was made, to protect the new
settlement or to revenge and punish depredations.
"In 1755 there broke out the Seven Years War. The
French government wisely undertook to secure, in order to
aid the regular troops and the Canadian militia, a contin-
gent of the savages and coureurs de bois, who were to be
found about the different trading stations. The command
was entrusted to Charles de Langlade. United to the sav-
ages by the ties of blood and by the similarity of habits,
familiar with their language and with their modes of war-
fare, of proven courage and ability, Langlade was exactly
the man for the situation. He organized a troop of at least
1,500 Indians and half-breeds, who rallied willingly under
the French flag against the hated English. Among his fol-
lowers is believed to have been the chieftain afterwards so
famous, Pontiac, but this is by no means certain. This
most effective body, Langlade led to Fort Du Quesne, and
upon the 9th of July, 1755, about half of his force, with
him at its head, together with 250 Frenchmen under Beau-
jeau, who commanded at Fort Du Quesne, marched out
from the post and surprised upon the Monongahela River
the army of Braddock, numbering at least 2,000 men. The
114 HISTORIC MACKINAC
terrible rout of the English army upon that day is too well
known to need re-telling. George Washington, who was
present, in command of the Virginia militia, could only
say of it, 'we were beaten, shamefully beaten, by a handful
of savages and Frenchmen.'
"The share of De Langlade in this victory, the honor of
which really entirely belongs to him, has not been suffi-
ciently recognized by historical writers, who make Beau-
jeau its hero, but the contemporary accounts leave no
doubt in my mind of Langlade's rightful claim to the
distinction. General Burgoyne, in a letter to Lord George
Germaine, in 1777, speaking of Indian allies whom he
expected, says: 'I am informed that the Ottawas and other
Indian tribes, who are two days' march from us, are brave
and faithful, and that they practice war, and not pillage.
They are under the order of Monsieur de Langlade, the
very man who, with his troops, projected and executed
Braddock's defeat.'
"In 1756 Langlade was put in charge of a detachment of
French and Indians, and made numerous expeditions from
Fort Du Quesne. In 1757 he came back from the West at
the head of several hundred natives and joined Montcalm,
and after that summer's campaign he received from the
Governor of Canada (Vaudreuil) orders to report at the
post in Mackinac as second in command to Monsieur Beau-
jeau, who was a brother of his old comrade at Fort Du
Quesne.
"In 1759 Langlade left Michilimackinac for Quebec at
the head of a body of Indians, and joined the army of the
Marquis de Montcalm. It is evident that there were times
before the fatal day above the Plains of Abraham on the
13th of September, 1759, when, had his advice been fol-
THE PARISH REGISTER 115
lowed, the army of Wolfe might have been entirely de-
stroyed, but he was not allowed the use of that discretion
which had proved so valuable upon the Monongahela. He
was at the battle on the 13th of September and had two
brothers shot by his side. Six days afterwards Quebec
surrendered. Langlade thought the capitulation cowardly,
and retired in disgust to Mackinac, where he found await-
ing him a lieutenant's commission in the French army
signed by Louis XV. Again Langlade joined the army and
was present at the last victory of the French and Canadians
on the 28th of April, 1760, upon the same field where
Montcalm had been previously defeated. But the end was
approaching, and the hopelessness of the cause being
recognized, Langlade was sent with his Indian troops back
to the West, where shortly afterward he received the fol-
lowing letter from Vaudreuil:
MONTREAL, Ninth of September, 1760.
I inform you sir, that I have today been obliged to capitulate
to the army of General Amherst. This city is, as you know, with-
out defences. Our troops were considerably diminished, our
means and resources exhausted. We were surrounded by three
armies, amounting in all to twenty thousand men. General Am-
herst was, on the sixth of this month, in sight of the walls of
this city, General Murray within reach of one of our suburbs
and the army of Lake Champlain was at La Prairie Longeuil.
Under these circumstances, with nothing to hope from our
efforts, nor even from the sacrifice of our troops, I have advisedly
decided to capitulate to General Amherst upon conditions very
advantageous for the colonists, and particularly for the inhab-
itants of Michilimackinac. Indeed, they retain the free exercise
of their religion; they are maintained in the possessions of their
goods, real and personal, and of their peltries. They have also
free trade just the same as the proper subjects of the king of
Great Britain.
116 HISTORIC MACKINAG
The same conditions are accorded to the military. They can
appoint persons to act for them in their absence. They, and all
citizens in general, can sell to the English or French their goods,
sending the proceeds thereof to France, or taking them with them
if they choose to return to that country after the peace. They
retain their negroes and Pawnee Indian slaves, but will be obliged
to restore those which have been taken from the English. The
English General has declared that the Canadians have become the
subjects of his Britannic Majesty, and consequently the people
will not continue to be governed as heretofore by the French
code.
In regard to the troops, the condition has been imposed upon
them not to serve during the present war and to lay down their
arms before being sent back to France. You will, therefore, sir,
assemble all the officers and soldiers who are at your post. You
will cause them to lay down their arms, and you will
proceed with them to such seaport as you think best, to pass
from thence to France. The citizens and inhabitants of Michili-
mackinac will consequently be under the command of the officer
whom General Amherst shall appoint to that post.
You will forward a copy of my letter to St. Joseph and to
the neighbouring posts, in order that if any soldiers remain
there they and the inhabitants may conform thereto.
I count upon the pleasure of seeing you in France with all
your officers.
I have the honour to be very sincerely, Monsieur, your very
humble and very obedient servant,
VAUDREUIL.
"In 1761 the English arrived at Fort Mackinac. The
English officer, Etherington, invited Langlade to reside as
before at the fort, and conferred upon him all questions of
local administration, a precaution which proved thereafter
of great service. In 1763, in the conspiracy of Pontiac,
Fort Mackinac was surprised by the Indians and the English
massacred. But before that event Langlade had occasion
THE PARISH REGISTER 117
to warn Etherington in vain. He was present in the fort
at the time of the massacre but could do nothing to arrest it.
Immediately afterwards, however, learning that Ethering-
ton and his second in command were prisoners and about
to be burned at some distance from the fort, he organized
a little band of Ottawas, loyal to himself, and rescued the
prisoners, defying the drunken victors to oppose him.
"Etherington while a prisoner delegated his authority at
the fort to Langlade.
"When the Revolutionary war broke out Charles Lang-
lade, then almost fifty years of age, was induced by the
English, his old enemies, to attempt to secure, in the inter-
est of the English, all the Western Indians and to raise an
auxiliary force of Indians for use in the war. He joined
Burgoyne's army in July, 1777. Burgoyne afterwards
complained of the conduct not of Langlade but of the sav-
ages he led but Langlade and his comrade St. Luc de-
clared that the fault lay not with the savages but with Bur-
goyne and his want of tact and justice.
"In 1778 Langlade raised an expedition to reinforce
Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, who was marching upon
Colonel George Rogers Clark, after the latter had taken pos-
session of the region of the Illinois. Langlade secured the
assistance even of the Indians whom the English command-
ant at Fort Mackinac, De Peyster, called that 'horrid refrac-
tory set of Indians at Milwaukee.' But the expedition was
disbanded upon its arrival at St. Joseph, on the reception of
news that Hamilton had surrendered to Clark.
"For his services in the Revolutionary War, Langlade
was given a pension by the English Government. He re-
mained Superintendent of the Indians until his death, hold-
ing thus an office which, as I understand it, came from the
118 HISTORIC MACKINAC
United States Government, as well as a pension from
England.
"He died in Green Bay in 1800, at the age of seventy-one
years. He could enumerate ninety-one battles and skir-
mishes in which during his life he had taken part, and ex-
pressed in his later years regret that he could not have
rounded the even hundred.
"In the course of this paper I have quoted in full the mar-
riage certificate of Charles Gautier de Vierville. He was
the nephew of Langlade, and almost equally as disting-
uished. I shall not have time to sketch his life for you, but
it is sufficient to say that he fought with his uncle upon the
Plains of Abraham, that he was constantly employed during
the Revolutionary War in keeping the Northwestern Indians
in line with the English interest, that for his services in war
and Indian diplomacy he was given a commission as cap-
tain by the English government, and that after the Revolu-
tionary War and before the cession of Mackinac to the
Americans he was the interpreter for the Indians at the
post. In 1798 he went amongst the earliest settlers to
Prairie du Chien, and there his descendants married and
lived, and to-day are its leading citizens in influence and
position.
"Langlade's second daughter married Pierre Grignon,
and he, too, figures in this register in many different char-
acters. He was an Indian trader, who also became one of
the very early settlers at Green Bay, where one of his sons
was living, a respected citizen, in 1860 or thereabouts.
There are many interesting things that could be said of
him, but want of space forbids. One thing, however, re-
lated by his son, Augustine de Grignon, a few years before
his death, finds confirmation in this register. In 1787
THE PARISH REGISTER 119
Father Payet, as I have said, made a visit to Mackinac.
Pierre Grignon was then at Mackinac, and he deemed it, as
a good Catholic, a satisfactory opportunity to have his
children baptized by a priest, and his own marriage with
Mademoiselle De Langlade confirmed and ratified by the
same authority. He therefore sent a messenger to Green
Bay and Madame Grignon and six small children, varying
in ages from six months to ten years, were conveyed to
Mackinac in a birch bark canoe, a distance of almost two
hundred and fifty miles. When they arrived there they
were duly baptized 'under conditions' (for in all probabil-
ity the ceremony had been properly enough performed by
lay hands), and, as the register sets forth, Father Payet
conferred upon the father and mother the sacrament of mar-
riage after (I quote) 'having received the mutual consent
that they had already given in the presence of witnesses
while awaiting an opportunity to ratify their alliance be-
fore an approved priest and several witnesses, according
to the custom and as it is ordered by our Mother, the Holy
Church.'
"Pierre Grignon was evidently a thorough-going man,
for a few days after this marriage and baptismal ceremony
he hunted up and brought to the priest a natural son of his
by a savage mother, and had him also baptized. The boy
was then thirteen years of age.
"Upon the twenty-third day of May, 1763, two children
were baptized by Father Du Jaunay, and he certifies in the
entry that one was the son of a woman named Chopin, for-
merly a slave of Monsieur Le Chevalier, but since sold to
an English merchant ('commercant') named 'Henneri,'
'which woman, although not yet baptized, has protested, in
presenting her child for holy baptism, that she had never
120 HISTORIC MACKINAC
had any other faith than that of the Holy Church, Catholic,
Apostolic and Roman, and that her new master had prom-
ised not to constrain her on the subject of religion.' Ten
days after this baptism, occurred the frightful massacre at
Fort Mackinac, and this English merchant, called 'Henneri'
had a hard time of it. He has left a little book from which
Parkman, in his Conspiracy of Pontiac, has drawn his entire
account of the massacre. It is entitled Alexander Henry 's
Travels. He was the only English trader who escaped, and
he, only after almost incredible sufferings and dangers, and
through the assistance of a friendly Indian. He was con-
cealed at first in the house of Langlade. It would seem
from Henry's account that although Langlade protected
him, he was none too well disposed toward him, but Lang-
lade's conduct was praised by Etherington and Leslie, and
the prejudice which Henry shows, I think, must have sprung
from seeing Langlade so cool and unconcerned regarding
his own safety while he (Henry) was in such desperate
peril. In his book he gives an account of one moment
during the massacre which vividly impresses my imagina-
tion. The Indians in the fort were furiously cutting down
and scalping, while yet living, every Englishman they could
find. Langlade was standing at his window calmly gazing
at the scene. Henry managed, by climbing a fence, to se-
cure an entrance to Langlade's house, and in despair rushed
to him begging for protection. Langlade turned to him
for a moment, and then again directing his gaze from the
window, calmly answered, 'And what do you think I can
do?' To Henry this seemed a piece of cruel heartless-
ness, but after all Henry was concealed in Langlade's house
and afterwards saved, and I think it more probable that
Langlade's question arose not so much from a want of sym-
THE PARISH REGISTER
121
pathy and compassion as from that invincible coolness
which had braved death too many times to consider it for
any one the worst thing that could befall him.
"There are many mentions and signatures in this record
of Jean Baptiste Beaubien, afterwards one of the settlers at
Milwaukee and at Chicago, and of Alexis La Framboise,
who, I think, was afterwards buried under the church at
Mackinac Island. La Framboise was, long before Juneau,
a settler at the present site of Milwaukee."
"Priests of the Roman Catholic Church who served at Old
Mackinaw (near the site of present Mackinaw City) :
1708(?) Rev. Father J. Marest, S. J.
1741-52 Rev. Father J. B. Lamorinie, S. J.
1741-65 Rev. Father Du Jaunay, S. J.
1742-44 Rev. Father C. G. Coquarz, S. J.
1753-61 Rev. Father M. L. Lefranc, S. J.
1768-75 Rev. Father Gibault, Vic.-Gen. of Illinois.
M
CHAPTER VII
THE FRENCH AND THE ENGLISH
"H /T ONSIEUR DE BEAUJEAU, Captain of Canada,
formerly in garrison at Michilimackinac, evacu-
ated that port in the month of October, 1760,
after the taking of Montreal, in order to retire to the Illi-
nois, with 4 officers, 2 cadets, 48 soldiers and 78 militia." *
Thus, nearly a century after Marquette founded the Mission
of St. Ignatius, the French regime at Michilimackinac was
officially closed.
The long struggle between France and England leading
up to this event is a most interesting story, the essential
features of which are well known. 2 It will readily be re-
called that the War of the Palatinate broke out in Europe
in 1689, and was closed by the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697.
War between the British and French on the continent precip-
itated war between the French and British colonists in
America. It is known here as King William's War, after
the English King. The War of the Spanish Succession, in
which England and France were again on opposing sides,
brought the colonies again to war from 1702 to 1713.
This was closed with the Treaty of Utrecht. The principal
events in both of these wars, in the colonies, were a series of
1 Wis. Hist. Colls., XVIII, 221; extract from a letter from D'Abbadie,
dated Aug. 9, 1764.
2 See especially Thwaites, France in America, 89-254. (Harper & Broth-
ers.) Hinsdale, Old Northwest, pp. 55-69. (Silver, Burdett & Co., Boston.)
Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac, I, 69-178. Little, Brown & Co., Boston.
122
THE FRENCH AND THE ENGLISH 123
horrifying Indian massacres. In New England, Queen
Anne's War, as the last was called, was followed in 1744
by King George's War, known in Europe as the War of the
Austrian Succession. It ended in 1748 with the treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle.
More significant than those wars was the extension, in
the meantime, of French and British colonization into the
region west of the Great Lakes. The English had thus far
been confined to a narrow strip east of the mountains and
along the Atlantic coast, occupied with agricultural pur-
suits and the development of local civil institutions. They
were now awakening to the possibilities of the country west
of the mountains, and venturous spirits were pushing out
into the wilderness. In the year of the treaty of Aix-la-
Chapelle the first English settlement over the mountains
was made on a branch of the Ohio, and in the same year
was formed the Ohio Company, with the expressed purpose
of profiting by the Indian trade of the Ohio Valley. Un-
der the instructions of this company the valley was ex-
plored. Scotch-Irish traders were soon there in consid-
erable numbers. Indian treaties were promoted, to gain a
treaty-hold of the western lands. The Iroquois conveyed
to the English colonies extensive rights, and at strategic
points forts were built.
The French, awake to the new interest being shown by
the English, hastened to follow up the vantage gained by
the early explorers in the valley of the Mississippi and the
region of the Great Lakes. The year after the Ohio Com-
pany was founded, Galissoniere, Governor of Canada, sent
Bienville into the valley, who reported the developments
made by the English. In 1753, the Marquis Duquesne,
the successor of Galissoniere, built Forts Le Boeuf and Yen-
124 HISTORIC MACKINAC
ango on the tributaries of the upper Ohio. In alarm, Gov-
ernor Dinwiddie of Virginia sent George Washington on
the historic mission of protest, in which he was unsuccess-
ful. Then followed the English attempts at fortification,
the unsuccessful encounter with the French, who built Fort
Duquesne, at the "doorway to the West." The way was
now paved for the "inevitable contest."
As summarized by Hinsdale, in the Old Northwest 3 the
words sound like a decree of fate. "But when two hostile
armies, moving on converging roads, reach the point of
convergence, a battle follows. The French column, with
the St. Lawrence as a base, has been long moving in the
direction of the Ohio; the English column, with the sea-
board as a base, has also been moving toward the same
destination; they enter the valley at practically the same
time, the French asserting their right to the country on the
ground of discovery and occupation, the English asserting
their right by virtue of the Cabot voyages, the Iroquois
protectorate, and the Indian purchases. Given the charac-
ter of Englishmen and Frenchmen, given the geographical
relations of the Atlantic plain to the St. Lawrence-Lake
Basin, and the relations of both these to the Mississippi
Valley, a contest for the West was inevitable from the time
that the foundations of Jamestown and Quebec were laid,
unless, indeed, one of the two powers should overwhelm
the other at an earlier day."
The conflict was precipitated in 1754. This was two
years before the outbreak of the Seven Years' War in
Europe, involving the mother countries France and Eng-
land, which shows that the causes were colonial and largely
independent of the European conflict. The tragedy of
P. 62.
TWO FORT MACKINAC VIEWS
(From photographs taken when troops were stationed there)
THE FRENCH AND THE ENGLISH 125
Braddock's defeat is a household story. The meaning of
his expedition was to drive a wedge down the Ohio into
the Mississippi Valley and cut in two the French chain of
strength from Mobile to Quebec. When William Pitt came
to the helm of affairs in England, the contest became a
world struggle. He aimed to crush French colonial ex-
pansion, not only in America but in India. The colonial
war in America was thus merged into a life-and-death
struggle for supremacy on two continents. In America,
the conquest of the French following on the capture of
Quebec and Montreal was completed by 1760.
The English now prepared to take possession of the
western posts. Detroit was the first to be visited by an
expedition under Major Robert Rogers, who was later des-
tined to command the fort at Old Mackinaw. In this un-
dertaking he was to receive the aid, strange as it may seem,
of the great Pontiac. The meeting of Rogers and Pontiac
is well described by Mr. Allan Nevins, in the introduction
to his edition of the tragedy, Ponteach, or the Savages of
America: 4 "On the fourth of November of that year, he
[Rogers] had set out westward from Presque Isle with
seven barges, coasting along the southern shores of Lake
Erie. The weather was rough, and an overcast sky and
cold drizzling rain were accompanied by a wind which
sent the waves breaking high over the prows of their boats;
the shore-line, level and high-timbered, showed the once
blazing foliage of the Indian summer hanging dreary and
dark in the chilling blast, or whirling in sodden clouds
over the wet beach. By the seventh, having skirted the
lake for nearly forty miles, they had reached the mouth of
the "Chogage" river, a considerable stream flowing down
* Introduction, pp. 84-86.
126 HISTORIC MACKINAG
placidly through tall, free groves of oak, hickory, and lo-
cust, near the site of the present city of Cleveland. Here,
putting in for an hour's refreshment, they were hailed by a
party of Indians wearing the paint and garb of Ottawas,
who represented themselves as Ambassadors of Pontiac,
and in the name of 'the king and lord of the country' com-
manded Rogers to await his presence. In the course of
an hour the chief arrived; he advanced 'with an air of
majesty and princely grandeur,' and, according the respect-
ful major a grave salutation, demanded of him how he
dared enter unannounced the Indian country. Rogers
quietly informed him of his mission to Detroit, diplomat-
ically adding that the expulsion of the French could not
fail to benefit the savages in increased privileges in hunt-
ing and trade. In brief rejoinder Pontiac held out a small
string of wampum, in token that the rangers must not de-
part without his leave, and retired to deliberate in council
upon the matter. Although the calumet of peace was
smoked during the course of the evening, Rogers posted
double guards, and himself remained awake all night, until
at daybreak the conference was continued. Amid puffs of
the re-lighted pipe, and in measured syllables, the chief now
declared that he was satisfied with the English officer's
statement of his purposes in invading the country; that he
wished to live in amity with his new neighbours; that he
would warn all the Indian towns along the shore and about
the mouth of the Detroit River to offer no obstacle to the
British advance; and that he would supply the company
with parched corn and meat, and detail one hundred war-
riors to help them transport their provisions. Continued
rainstorms confined the soldiers to camp for several days,
during which time the savages held a veritable carnival in
THE FRENCH AND THE ENGLISH 127
marketing their wild turkeys and venison. Meanwhile
Pontiac had withdrawn. On November 29, when Rogers'
lieutenants, in presence of a vastly larger French force, cut
loose the white lilies of the Bourbons from the flagstaff
at Detroit, and raised in their stead the colors of England,
seven hundred Indians, standing with their chief, lifted a
mighty cry of wonderment and acclamation. They had
been ready but a few days before to fall in annihilating
strength upon the English, but had been restrained by
Pontiac. During Rogers' stay at Detroit, he often saw the
proud chieftain, who dwelt with his squaws and retainers
on Peche Isle, a high, wooded islet near by in Lake St.
Glair, and always with strong deference to Pontiac's in-
tense personal pride and egotism engaged him in repeated
interviews. He learned much concerning the western
country, and the empire which even then the Lake Indians
had formed, and discovered in him 'great strength of judg-
ment, great thirst after knowledge, and great jealousy of
his own respect and honor.' The chief offered the major
part of his kingdom if he would take him over the seas to
England, and initiate him into British military, social and
commercial affairs; but at the same time made it clear that
he would expect to be treated abroad with the courtesy due
an independent and equal potentate. He was decisive in
his assertions that the country of the western tribes was not
to be bartered about among European nations as a piece of
conquered territory."
After garrisoning Detroit, Rogers started with a small
body of troops for Mackinaw, but it was too late in the
season, and he was obliged to turn back. Thus Old Mack-
inaw, though evacuated by Monsieur de Beaujeau in 1760,
was not garrisoned by the English until 1761. In the inter-
128 HISTORIC MACKINAC
val it was occupied by the French traders. The first Eng-
lish Commandant of the fort, Captain George Ethering-
ton, arrived in the autumn of 1761, remaining in command
of the fort until after the massacre in 1763. 5
Etherington was probably a native of Delaware. Enter-
ing the army early in life, he served first as a drummer and
then as a sergeant. A wealthy widow of New Castle
County, Delaware, becoming enamoured of him, purchased
him a commission. In 1756, he was made a lieutenant in
the Sixtieth or Royal American Regiment, and appears to
have served in the second battalion of that regiment, which
shared in the siege and capture of Louisburg in 1758. In
1759, he served under Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham,
and in the capture of Quebec. In April, 1760, he shared
in the second victory on the Plains of Abraham, serving as
a captain from April 4, 1758. 6
A glimpse of life in the stockade at Old Mackinaw as it
was on the arrival of Captain Etherington and the English
troops is given by Alexander Henry: 7 "Within the stockade
are thirty houses, neat in their appearance, and tolerably
commodious, and a church, in which Mass is celebrated,
by a Jesuit missionary. The number of families may be
nearly equal to that of the houses ; and their subsistence is
* Wis. Hist. Colls., VII, 151.
8 Wis. Hist. Colls., VII, 164. It is commonly stated that Lieutenant
Leslie was the first English Commandant at Old Mackinaw. Alexander
Henry in his Travels (Bain's Ed., p. 52, George N. Morang & Co., To-
ronto) explicitly states that "three hundred troops, of the sixtieth regiment,
under the command of Lieutenant Leslie, marched into the fort." Dr.
Lyman Copeland Draper, annotating the document written by Joseph Tasse
in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, from which we have quoted, al-
lows his statement of Etherington's precedence to stand. "Of Etherington's
associates at Mackinaw, Lieutenant Leslie," he says, "we can not trace him
with any certainty." Wis. Hist. Colls., VII, 164, note.
7 Henry's Travels (Bain's ed.), p. 41. George N. Morang & Co., To-
ronto.
THE FRENCH AND THE ENGLISH 129
derived from the Indian traders, who assemble here, in their
voyages to and from Montreal. Michilimackinac is the
place of deposit, and point of departure, between the upper
countries and the lower. Here the outfits are prepared for
the countries of Lake Michigan and the Mississippi, Lake
Superior and the Northwest; and here the returns in furs
are collected and embarked for Montreal."
FRENCH GOVERNORS OF CANADA AND THE OLD
NORTHWEST
1. 1603-12. M. Chauvin, Commander de Chastes and
M. de Monts.
2. 1612-19. Samuel de Champlain with Prince de
Conde as acting Governor.
3. 161929. Admiral Montmorency, acting Governor.
4. 1633 1
I Samuel de Champlain. l
5. 1636. Marc Antoine de Bras-de-Fer de Chateau-
fort.
6. 1636-47. Charles Huault de Montmagny.
7. 1648-51. Louis D'Aillebout de Coulognes.
8. 1651-55. Jean de Lauson.
9. 1656-57. Charles de Lauson-Charny. 2
10. 1657-58. Chevalier Louis D'Aillebout de Coul-
ognes. 3
11. 1658-61. Pierre de Voyer, Viscount D'Argenson.
12. 1661-63. Pierre du Bois, Baron D'Avaugour.
13. 1663-65. Chevalier Augustin de Saff rey-Mesy.
1 The English held possession of Canada from 1629 to 1632.
2 Son of No. 8.
8 Same as No. 7.
130 HISTORIC MACKINAG
14. 1663. Alexandre de Prouville, Marquis de Tracy.
15. 1665-72. Chevalier Daniel de Remi de Courcelles.
16. 1672-82. Louis de Buade, Count de Frontenac et
du Paluau.
17. 1682-85. Antoine Joseph Le Febore de la Barre.
18. 1685-89. Jacques Rene de Brisay, Marquis de
Denonville.
19. 1689-98. Louis de Buade, Count de Frontenac et de
Paluau. 4
20. 1698 I Chevalier Louis Hector de Callieres
1702. j Bonevue.
21. 1703. Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaud-
reuil.
22. 1725. Charles LeMoyne, Baron de Longueuil.
23. 1726-47. Charles de la Boische, Marquis de Beau-
harnois.
24. 1747-49. Rolland Michael Barrin, Count de la Gal-
issoniere.
25. 1749-52. Jacques Pierre de Tafanell, Marquis de
la Jonquiere.
26. 1752. Charles LeMoyne, Baron de Longueuil. 5
27. 1752-55. Marquis Duquesne de Menneville.
28. 175560. Pierre Francois, Marquis de Vaudreuil
Cavagnal.
* Same as No. 16.
5 Same as No. 22.
THE FRENCH AND THE ENGLISH 131
NAMES OF FRENCH OFFICERS AT FORT
MICHILIMACKINAC WHICH APPEAR
IN THE OLD AND OFFICIAL
RECORDS
1742, 12th August.
MONS. DE BLAINVILLE, Commandant of Michilimack-
inac.
1744, 6th January.
MONS. DE VIVEHEVET, Commandant of Michili-
mackinac.
1744, llth July.
DE RAMELIA, Captain and King's Commandant at
Nepigon.
1745, llth July, and 1747, 23d May.
DUPLESSIS DE MORAMPONT, King's Commandant at
Cammanettigsia.
1745, 25th August, and 1746, 29th June.
NOYELLE, JR., Second in command at Michilimack-
inac.
1745, 25th August.
Louis DE LA CORNE, Captain and King's Commandant
at Michilimackinac.
1747, 7th February, 20th June and 1st September.
MONS. DE NOYELLE, JR., Commandant at Michili-
mackinac
1748, 28th February, 1749, llth March and 21st June.
MONS. JACQUES LEGARDEUR DE ST. PIERRE, Captain
and King's Commandant at Michilimackinac.
1749, 27th January.
Louis LEGARDEUR, Chevalier de Repentigny, Second
in Command at Michilimackinac.
132 HISTORIC MAGKINAC
1749, 29th August.
MONS. GODEFROY, Officer of Troops.
1750, 24th March, and 1752, 4th June.
MONS. DUPLESSIS FABER, Captain and King's Com-
mandant at Michilimackinac. Knight of the
Royal and Military Order of St. Louis.
1751, 8th October.
MONS. DUPLESSIS, JR., Second in Command at Michili-
mackinac.
1752, 4th June.
MONS. BEAUJEAU DE VILLEMONDE, Captain and
King's Commandant at Camanitigousa.
1753, 18th July, and 1754, 15th August.
MONS. MARIN, King's Commandant, Post of La Baie.
1753, 18th July; 1754, 8th May; 1758, 23d February,
29th June, 16th July and 17th October; 1759,
30th January; 1760, 25th May and 8th Sep-
tember.
MONS. DE BEAUJEAU DE VILLEMONDE, Captain and
King's Commandant at Michilimackinac.
1754, 8th July, and 1755, 25th May.
MONS. HEREIN, Captain and King's Commandant at
Michilimackinac.
1755, 8th January.
Louis LEGARDEUR, Chevalier de Repentigny, King's
Commandant at the Sault.
1755, 24th August.
Louis LEGARDEUR, Chevalier de Repentigny, Lieuten-
ant of Infantry.
1756, 28th April.
CHARLES DE L'ANGLADE, Officer of Troops.
THE FRENCH AND THE ENGLISH 133
1756, 19th June.
MONS. HERTELLE BEAUBAFFIN, King's Commandant
at
1756, 19th July.
MONS. COUTEROT, Lieutenant of Infantry.
1758, 2d July.
MONS. DE L'ANGLADE, Second in Command at Mich-
ilimackinac.
1758, 13th July.
Louis LEGARDEUR, Chevalier de Repentigny, Officer
at Michilimackinac.
Kelton, Annals of Fort Mackinac, p. 136.
CHAPTER VIII
THE ENGLISH AND THE INDIANS
THE English conquest of Canada and the displace-
ment of the French garrisons at the western posts
was not to be the end of the story. The English
had yet to reckon with the friends of the French. An
incident occurring at Old Mackinaw just before the ar-
rival of Captain Etherington illustrates well the feeling
of the Indians there. It is told by the English trader,
Alexander Henry. Henry was a pioneer of the English
fur trade, who with several others had pushed on to Mack-
inac to enjoy the privileges of trade supposed to follow
upon the English victories in Canada. He came over the
Ottawa route, and on the way over Lake Huron stopped at
La Cloche Island.
"I found the island inhabited by a large village of In-
dians," he says, 1 "whose behavior was at first full of civ-
ility and kindness. I bartered away some small articles
among them, in exchange for fish and dried meat, and we
remained upon friendly terms till, discovering that I was
an Englishman, they told my men, that the Indians at Mich-
ilimackinac would not fail to kill me, and that, therefore,
they had a right to a share of the pillage. Upon this prin-
ciple, as they said, they demanded a keg of rum, adding
that, if not given to them, they would proceed to take it.
1 Alexander Henry's Travels and Adventures (Bain's Ed.), pp. 34 ff.
George N. Morang & Co., Toronto.
134
THE ENGLISH AND THE INDIANS 135
I judged it prudent to comply, on condition, however,
that I should experience, at this place, no further molesta-
tion.
"The condition was not unfaithfully observed; but the
repeated warnings which I had now received, of sure de-
struction at Michilimackinac, could not but oppress my
mind. I could not even yield myself, without danger, to
the course suggested by my fears, for my provisions were
nearly exhausted, and to return was, therefore, almost im-
practicable.
"The hostility of the Indians was exclusively against
the English. Between them and my Canadian attendants,
there appeared the most cordial good will. This circum-
stance suggested one means of escape, of which, by the
advice of my friend, Campion, I resolved to attempt avail-
ing myself; and which was that of putting on the dress usu-
ally worn by such of the Canadians as pursue the trade
into which I had entered, and assimilating myself, as
much as I was able, to their appearance and manners. To
this end, I laid aside my English clothes, and covered my-
self only with a cloth, passed about the middle; a skirt
hanging loose; a molton, or blanket coat; and a large red,
milled worsted cap. The next thing was to smear my face
and hands with dirt, and grease; and, this done, I took the
place of one of my men, and, when Indians approached,
used the paddle, with as much skill as I possessed. I had
the satisfaction to find, that my disguise enabled me to
pass several canoes, without attracting the smallest notice."
Henry at length arrived at Mackinac Island. "On the
Island, as I had been previously taught to expect, there was
a village of Chippeways, said to contain a hundred war-
riors. Here, I was fearful of discovery and consequent
136 HISTORIC MAGKINAC
ill treatment; but after inquiring the news, and particu-
larly, whether or not any Englishman was coming to Mich-
ilimackinac, they suffered us to pass uninjured. One man,
indeed, looked at me, laughed, and pointed me out to an-
other. This was enough to give me some uneasiness; but,
whatever was the singularity he perceived in me, both he
and his friend retired, without suspecting me to be an
Englishman."
Leaving Mackinac, "as speedily as possible," he says,
he crossed to the fort. "Here I put the entire charge of my
effects into the hands of my assistant, Campion, between
whom and myself it had been previously agreed, that he
should pass for the proprietor; and my men were instructed
to conceal the fact that I was an Englishman."
Campion soon found a house, to which Henry retired,
"but the men soon betrayed my secret, and I was visited
by the inhabitants, with great show of curiosity. They as-
sured me that I could not stay at Michilimackinac with-
out the most imminent risk, and strongly recommended that
I should lose no time in making my escape to Detroit."
Though this advice made him uneasy, "it did not shake
my determination to remain with my property and en-
counter the evils with which I was threatened; and my
spirits were in some measure sustained by the sentiments
of Campion in this regard, for he declared his belief that
the Canadian inhabitants of the fort were more hostile than
the Indians, as being jealous of English traders, who, like
myself, were penetrating into the country."
Scarcely was he relieved from the admonitions of the
inhabitants of the fort, when he was informed that the whole
band of Chippeways from Mackinac Island had arrived
with the intention of paying him a visit.
THE ENGLISH AND THE INDIANS 137
"There was, in the fort, one Farley, an interpreter, lately
in the employ of the French Commandant. He had mar-
ried a Chippeway woman, and was said to possess great
influence over the nation to which his wife belonged.
Doubtful as to the kind of visit which I was about to receive,
I sent for this interpreter, and requested, first, that he would
have the kindness to be present at the interview, and, sec-
ondly, that he would inform me of the intentions of the
band. M. Farley agreed to be present, and as to the ob-
ject of the visit, replied, that it was consistent with uniform
custom, that a stranger on his arrival, should be waited
upon, and welcomed, by the chiefs of the nation, who, on
their part, always gave a small present, and always ex-
pected a large one; but, as to the rest, declared himself
unable to answer for the particular views of the Chippe-
ways, on this occasion, I being an Englishman, and the
Indians having made no treaty with the English. He
thought that there might be danger, the Indians having
protested that they would not suffer an Englishman to re-
main in their part of the country."
This information was far from agreeable, but Henry
determined to await the outcome with fortitude and pa-
tience.
"At two o'clock in the afternoon, the Chippeways came
to my house, about sixty in number, and headed by Mina-
'va'va'na', their chief. They walked in single file, each
with his tomahawk in one hand, and scalping knife in the
other. Their bodies were naked, from the waist upward;
except in a few examples, where blankets were thrown
loosely over the shoulders. Their faces were painted with
charcoal, worked up with grease; their bodies, with white
clay, in patterns of various fancies. Some had feathers
138 HISTORIC MACKINAC
thrust through their noses, and their heads decorated with
the same. It is unnecessary to dwell on the sensations
with which I beheld the approach of this uncouth, if not
frightful assemblage.
"The chief entered first; and the rest followed, without
noise. On receiving a sign from the former, the latter
seated themselves on the floor.
"Minavavana appeared about fifty years of age. He
was six feet in height, and had, in his countenance, an
indescribable mixture of good and evil. Looking stead-
fastly at me, where I sat in ceremony with an interpreter on
either hand, and several Canadians behind me, he entered
at the same time into conversation with Campion, inquiring
how long it was since I left Montreal, and observing that the
English, as it would seem, were brave men, and not afraid
of death, since they had dared to come, as I had done,
fearlessly among their enemies.
"The Indians now gravely smoked their pipes, while I in-
wardly endured the tortures of suspense. At length, the
pipes being finished, as well as a long pause, by which they
were succeeded, Minavavana, taking a few strings of wam-
pum in his hand, began the following speech:
" 'Englishman, it is to you that I speak, and I demand your
attention !
" 'Englishman, you know that the French King is our father.
He promised to be such; and we, in return, promised to be his
children. This promise we have kept.
" 'Englishman, it is you that have made war with this our
father. You are his enemy; and, how then, could you have the
boldness to venture among us, his children? You know that
his enemies are ours.
" 'Englishman, we are informed, that our father, the King of
France, is old and infirm; and that, being fatigued, with making
THE ENGLISH AND THE INDIANS 139
war upon your nation, he is fallen asleep. During his sleep,
you have taken advantage of him, and possessed yourselves of
Canada. But, his nap is almost at an end. I think I hear him
already stirring, and enquiring for his children, the Indians; and
when he does awake, what must become of you? He will de-
stroy you utterly!
" 'Englishman, although you have conquered the French, you
have not conquered us! We are not your slaves. These lakes,
these woods and mountains, were left to us by our ancestors.
They are our inheritance; and we will part with them to none.
Your nation supposes that we, like the white people, cannot live
without bread and pork and beef! But, you ought to know,
that He, the Great Spirit and Master of Life, has provided food
for us, in these spacious lakes, and on these woody mountains.
" 'Englishman, our father, the King of France, employed our
young men to make war upon your nation. In this warfare,
many of them have been killed ; and it is our custom to retaliate,
until such time as the spirits of the slain are satisfied. But, the
spirits of the slain are to be satisfied in either of two ways; the
first is by the spilling of the blood of the nation by which they
fell ; the other, by covering the bodies of the dead, and thus allay-
ing the resentment of their relations. This is done by making
presents.
" 'Englishman, your King has never sent us any presents, nor
entered into any treaty with us, wherefore he and we are still at
war; and, until he does these things, we must consider that we
have no other father, nor friend, among the white men, than the
King of France; but, for you, we have taken into consideration,
that you have ventured your life among us, in the expectation
that we should not molest you. You do not come armed, with
an intention to make war; you come in peace, to trade with us,
and supply us with necessaries, of which we are in much want.
We shall regard you, therefore, as a brother; and you may sleep
tranquilly, without fear of the Chippeways. As a token of our
friendship, we present you with this pipe, to smoke.' "
As Minavavana finished this speech, an Indian handed
140 HISTORIC MACKINAG
Henry a pipe, which after he had smoked a little was passed
to every one in the room. Minavavana now asked that his
young men be allowed to taste the English milk, meaning
rum, to compare it with that of the French. Henry, from
experience, hesitated, but finally complied.
By the aid of his interpreter, Henry replied to Minava-
vana's speech, that only the good character he heard of the
Indians had emboldened him to come among them; that
their father, the King of England, would be as good to them
as the King of France had been. The Indians seemed sat-
isfied, and Henry distributed presents among them. He
assorted his goods, and prepared to send his agents to trade
in the surrounding country.
But new dangers arose, coming from a village of the
Ottawas at L'Arbre Croche, about twenty miles west of Old
Mackinaw. Just as he was about to set out, two hundred
Ottawa warriors entered the fort, and the next day ordered
him to appear before their council. He complied, and one
of the chiefs addressed the assembly, expressing pleasure
at having heard of Henry's arrival with goods the Indians
needed, but surprise that these goods were now about to be
sent elsewhere, even to their enemies. He demanded on
behalf of his people, that Henry deliver to them merchan-
dise and ammunition to the amount of fifty beaver-skins, on
credit, to be paid for the following summer. Henry had
learned that the Ottawas never paid for what they received
on credit. The only concession the Indians would make
was one day for reflection, at the end of which they would,
if need be, seize the goods, which they considered already
forfeited, since the goods had been brought into their coun-
try before the conclusion of any peace with the English.
The interpreter informed Henry that the Ottawas in-
THE ENGLISH AND THE INDIANS 141
tended to kill him that night unless he complied with their
demands; but Henry and his party armed themselves in
their house and the night passed without an attack. When
the traders were summoned to a council the next morning,
they refused to attend. Towards sunset that night, they
learned from Campion, the Frenchman, that a detachment
of English troops, sent to garrison the fort, was only five
miles away and would arrive next morning. After a
watchful and anxious night, the Ottawas were seen at day-
break preparing to depart.
"The inhabitants," says Henry, "who, while the Ottawas
were present, had avoided all connection with the English
traders, now came with congratulations. They related that
the Ottawas had proposed to them, that if joined by the
Canadians, they would march and attack the troops which
were known to be advancing on the fort; and they added
that it was their refusal which had determined the Ottawas
to depart."
Mr. F. B. Hough, in the introduction to his edition of the
Diary of the Siege of Detroit, says that "the French retained
a place in the memory of the Indian tribes which could not
be alienated by treaties ; and this regard, which was gained
by a long series of kind offices and well-timed presents, was
strengthened rather than diminished by the neglect and ill-
usage which these sons of nature received at the hands of
the English."
The story of the general situation, left by the triumph of
the English, may well be told in the language of this writer.
"There was no longer any European rival to contend
against; no competition existed for the monopoly and profit
of the Indian trade, and no risk of an alliance with any
civilized power, to molest the long frontier which had
142 HISTORIC MACKINAC
through many years been desolated with fire, and kept in
mourning by the cruel hand of a lurking enemy. The mo-
tives for cultivating the friendship of the Indians, which
had been dictated by policy, no longer existed, and those of
humanity and common justice soon proved inadequate to
secure those favours which the natives had long been accus-
tomed to receive from the whites, and which the introduc-
tion of the weapons and some of the arts, if not the vices,
had to a certain degree rendered necessary to their comfort
and contentment." The only means now of securing these
artifices, fire-arms, knives, blankets, etc., was from the Eng-
lish, now the sole masters of the country, and upon such
terms as the Indians might get from unscrupulous traders
or the haughty officers at the fort; and there was no friendly
ear to hear a complaint of even the grossest abuses.
"It will be remembered that the French," continues Mr.
Hough, "still retained command of the posts upon the Mis-
sissippi; that most of the inhabitants of this nation, who
were scattered around the military posts in the interior,
garrisoned by English troops, were still living in terms of
intimacy with the Indians, and although yielding a formal
allegiance to their new masters, were still national in lan-
guage and in heart and finally that French missionaries
and emissaries were still living in the Indian villages
throughout the country. The war between France and
England, although settled in North America, was still rag-
ing in Europe, and a series of successful operations in the
Old World might have still enabled the French to claim
the relinquishment of Canada, as one of the conditions of
peace, as had occurred but a few years previous in the re-
surrender of Louisburg upon the Island of Cape Breton,
after its capture by New England troops.
THE ENGLISH AND THE INDIANS 143
"If in addition to these we remember that the Indians
had been taught by their French allies, that the Grand
Monarch of France was scarcely less omnipotent than Deity,
that he loved his red children and would ultimately protect
them, and that greatly perverted accounts of the true rela-
tions existing between the two countries were circulated
among the Indians, we shall have sufficient reasons to ac-
count for the war which devastated the frontiers in the
summer of 1763, and in which Pontiac, the great Ottawa
chief, acted so conspicuous a part."
This author quotes the authoritative opinion of Sir Wil-
liam Johnson, given in a letter to the Lords of Trade at
about this time regarding the power of the Indians about
the Great Lakes and of their relative attitudes towards the
French and the English, who says: "As the French well
knew the importance of the Indians, they wisely took ad-
vantage of our neglect, and although they were not able to
affect a proper reconciliation with the Six Nations, took
care to cultivate a good understanding with the western
Indians, which the safety of their colony, and their am-
bitious views of extending their bounds, rendered indis-
pensably necessary. To effect this they were at an im-
mense expense in buying the favour of the Indians."
In contrast with this treatment, Sir William places the
policy and conduct of the English traders in a very unfav-
ourable light. "The frontier traders," he says, "sensible
they have little to apprehend from their conduct, went still
greater and more dangerous lengths than their superiors."
From a "variety of unheard-of frauds" he narrates "in-
stances which will tend to show to what lengths some of that
character will go when subject to no control, and because
two of these instances were the occasion of our losing the
144 HISTORIC MACKINAC
trade and affections of some powerful tribes of the Ottawas,
who were persuaded to come the length of Oswego to trade
with us, and the last instances caused the deflection of the
most powerful tribes of the Senecas." Even when the
English authorities commended certain influential chiefs
to the traders for special kindness and strict justice, in-
stances were not lacking where the instructions were en-
tirely disregarded, with subsequent disastrous effects.
From the beginning of English colonization in America,
even on the brink of war with France, the English with very
few exceptions, had entirely disregarded the rights and
feelings of the Indians. Now that they were triumphant
over the French in arms, they were still less likely to take a
different course. "In truth," says Parkman, 2 "the in-
tentions of the English were soon apparent. In the zeal for
retrenchment which prevailed after hostilities, the presents
which it had always been customary to give to the Indians
at stated intervals, were either with-held altogether, or doled
out with a niggardly and reluctant hand; while, to make
the matter worse, the agents and officers of the government
often appropriated the presents to themselves, and after-
wards sold them at an exorbitant price to the Indians.
When the French had possession of the remote forts, they
were accustomed with a wise liberality to supply the sur-
rounding Indians with guns, ammunition, and clothing,
until the latter had forgotten the weapons and garments of
their forefathers, and depended on the white men for sup-
port. The sudden withholding of these supplies was, there-
fore, a grievous calamity. Want, suffering, and death
were the consequences; and this cause alone would have
been enough to produce general discontent. But, unhap-
2 Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac, I, 180 ff. Little, Brown & Co., Boston.
THE ENGLISH AND THE INDIANS 145
pily, other grievances were superadded." Among these
Parkman mentions the abuses by the English traders, the
conduct of the English officers and soldiers, and the intru-
sion of settlers upon the Indian hunting grounds.
"Many of the traders," he says, "and those in their em-
ploy, were ruffians of the coarsest stamp, who vied with
each other in rapacity, violence, and profligacy. They
cheated, cursed and plundered the Indians, and outraged
their families, offering, when compared with the French
traders, who were under better regulation, a most unfav-
ourable example of the character of their nation."
Where the French had welcomed the Indians to the forts,
disregarded the inconveniences they occasioned and over-
looked their peculiarities, the Indians were now received
"with cold looks and harsh words from the officers, and
with oaths, menaces, and sometimes blows, from the reck-
less and brutal soldiers. If the Indians lounged about the
fort they were met with muttered ejaculations of impa-
tience, or abrupt orders to be gone, enforced perhaps by a
touch from the butt of a sentinel's musket."
The grievances of the Indians are set forth in the Tragedy
of Ponteach, or the Savages of America, written by the
famous English ranger, Robert Rogers, and finished just
before his arrival at Old Mackinaw as Commandant of the
fort and garrison in 1765. Parkman has attested its his-
torical value by using it liberally as a source. Says the
editor, Mr. Allan Nevins: 3 "The specification of the
grievances of the Indians is accomplished with a detail
which is kept fresh and interesting by a grimly effective
sense of humour. The traders Murphey and McDole, with
3 Allan Nevins Edition, published by the Caxton Club (Chicago, 1914),
p. 13.
146 HISTORIC MACKINAG
their use of rum 'more powerful made by certain strength-
ening drugs, and scales so well conceived, that one small
slip will turn three pounds to one,' so that they secure
ninety pounds of beaver skin for six quarts of vile alcoholic
decoction; the hunters Osborne and Honeyman, who shoot
two braves for their loads of fur; Colonel Cockum and
Captain Frisk of the English fort, who requite the chiefs
pleas for justice with unsoldierly insults; Governors Sharp,
Gripe, and Catchum, who, quoting scripture to their own
wretched purposes, steal all but a beggarly remnant of the
1000 worth of goods given them for presents to the In-
dians; all are drawn by a satirical pen that makes of
the scenes in which they appear rather more than a mere
explanation of the central action." The part of the
tragedy relevant to this chapter is as follows: 4
ACT I
SCENE I. An Indian Trading House
Enter M'DoLE and MURPHEY, Two Indian Traders, and
their Servants
M'DoLE. So, Murphey, you are come to try your Fortune
Among the Savages in this wild Desart?
MURPHEY. Ay, any Thing to get an honest Living,
Which 'faith I find it hard enough to do;
Times are so dull, and Traders are so plenty, 5
That Gains are small, and Profits come but slow.
M'DoLE. Are you experienc'd in this kind of Trade?
4 Allan Nevins' Edition, pp. 179-186. (The notes are those accompany-
ing the text of Ponteach.)
5 Cf. Johnson Mss., 24, 6. Abercrombie condemns the vast extent of the
illicit fur-trade in Pennsylvania.
THE ENGLISH AND THE INDIANS 147
Know you the Principles by which it prospers,
And how to make it lucrative and safe?
If not, you're like a Ship without a Rudder,
That drives at random, and must surely sink.
MURPHEY. I'm unacquainted with your Indian Com-
merce.
And gladly would I learn the Arts from you
Who're old and practis'd in them many Years.
M'DoLE. That is the curst Misfortune of our Traders,
A thousand fools attempt to live this Way,
Who might as well turn Ministers of State.
But, as you are a Friend, I will inform you
Of all the Secret Arts by which we thrive,
Which if all practis'd, we might all grow rich,
Nor circumvent each other in our Gains.
What have you got to part with to the Indians?
MURPHEY. I've Rum and Blankets, Wampum, Powder,
Bells,
And such-like Trifles as they're wont to prize.
M'DoLE. 'Tis very well: your Articles are good:
But now the Thing's to make a Profit from them,
Worth all your toil and Pains of coming hither.
Our fundamental Maxim then is this,
That it's no Crime to cheat and gull an Indian*
6 Cf. Johnson Mss., 5, 153. Egremont to Amherst ; pointing to the
necessity of correcting the trickery of Indian Traders in their dealings with
the Indians and compelling imitation of the more honourable French prac-
tice. Also Idem, 5, 108. "The English fur-trade had never been well
regulated, and it was now in a worse condition than ever. Many of the
traders and those in their employ, were ruffians of the coarsest stamp, who
vied with each other in the worst rapacity, violence, and profligacy. They
cheated, cursed, and plundered the Indians, and outraged their families;
offering, when compared with the French traders, who were under better
regulation, a most unfavourable example of the character of their nation."
Parkman, The Conspiracy of Pontiac, Chapter VII. (Little, Brown & Co.,
Boston.) See Colonial History of New York, VII, 995.
148 HISTORIC MACKINAC
MURPHEY. How! Not a Sin to cheat an Indian, say you?
Are they not Men? hav'nt they a right to Justice
As well as we, though savage in their Manners?
M'DoLE. Ah! If you boggle here, I say no more;
This is the very Quintessence of Trade,
And ev'ry Hope of Gain depends upon it;
None who neglect it ever did grow rich,
Or ever will, or can by Indian Commerce.
By this old Ogden built his stately House,
Purchas'd Estates, and grew a little King.
He, like an honest Man, bought all by Weight,
And made the ign'rant Savages believe
That his Right Foot exactly weigh'd a Pound : 7
By this for many Years he bought their Furs,
And died in Quiet like an honest Dealer.
MURPHEY. Well, I'll not stick at what is necessary;
But his Device is now grown old and stale,
Nor could I manage such a barefac'd Fraud.
M'DoLE. A thousand Opportunities present
To take Advantage of their Ignorance;
But the great Engine I employ is Rum, 8
More pow'rful made by certain strength'ning Drugs,
This I distribute with a lib'ral Hand,
7 This classic method of cheating the Indian is probably best known
through Washington Irving's ludicrous description of its practice by the
Dutch in his Knickerbocker History of New York.
8 "The Indians dwindle away . . . chiefly because when settled among
the English they have better opportunity of procuring spiritous liquors,
of which they are inordinately fond; and very little care ha<* ever been
taken to prevent those who are inclined to take advantage of them in trade
from debauching them; by which means, where there were considable set-
tlements of them a few years since, their name is now almost totally ex-
tinct." Rogers, A Concise Account of North America, p. 152. See also
Johnson Mss., 24:11, 12; Johnson, engaged (July, 1758) in bringing an
Indian party to Fort Edward, disgustedly charges his delay to an illicit
rum-trade, and asks power to quash it.
THE ENGLISH AND THE INDIANS 149
Urge them to drink till they grow mad and valiant:
Which makes them think me generous and just,
And gives full Scope to practise all my Art.
I then begin my Trade with water'd Rum,
The cooling Draught well suits their scorching Throats.
Their Fur and Peltry come in quick Return;
My Scales are honest, but so well contriv'd,
That one small Slip will turn Three Pounds to One ;
Which they, poor silly Souls! Ignorant of Weights
And Rules of Balancing, do not perceive.
But here they come; you'll see how I proceed.
Jack, is the Rum prepar'd as I commanded?
JACK. Yes, Sir, All's ready when you please to call.
M'DoLE. Bring here the Scales and Weights immediately.
You see the Trick is easy and concealed.
[Shewing how to slip the Scales.]
MURPHEY. By Jupiter, it's artfully contriv'd;
And was I King, I swear I'd knight the Inventor.
Tom, mind the Part that you will have to act.
TOM. Ah, never fear, I'll do as well as Jack.
But then, you know, an honest Servant's Pains
Deserves Reward.
MURPHEY. 0! I'll take care of that.
[Enter a Number of Indians with Packs of Fur.~\
IST INDIAN. So, what you trade with Indians here to-day?
M'DoLE. Yes, if my Goods will suit, and we agree.
2ND INDIAN. 'Tis Rum we want, we're tired, hot, and
thirsty.
3RD INDIAN. You, Mr. Englishman, have you got Rum?
M'DoLE. Jack, bring a Bottle, pour them each a Gill.
You know which Cask contains the Rum. The Rum?
IST INDIAN. It's good strong Rum, I feel it very soon.
150 HISTORIC MACKINAC
M'DoLE. Give me a Glass. Here's Honesty in Trade;
We English always drink before we deal.
2ND INDIAN. Good Way enough; it makes one sharp and
cunning.
M'DoLE. Hand round another Gill. You're very wel-
come.
SRD INDIAN. Some say you Englishmen are sometimes
Rogues; You make poor Indians drunk, and then you
cheat.
IST INDIAN. No, English good. The Frenchmen give no
Rum.
2ND INDIAN. I think it's best to trade with Englishmen.
M'DoLE. What is your Price for Beaver Skins per
Pound? 9
2ND INDIAN. How much you ask per Quart for this strong
Rum?
M'DoLE. Five Pounds of Beaver for One Quart of Rum.
IST INDIAN. Five Pounds? Too much. Which is't you
call Five Pound?
M'DoLE. This little Weight. I cannot give you more.
IST INDIAN. Well, take 'em; weigh 'em. Don't you
cheat us now.
M'DoLE. No. He that cheats an Indian should be
hanged. [Weighing the Packs']
There's Thirty Pounds precisely of the Whole;
Five times six is Thirty. Six Quarts of Rum.
Jack, measure it to them; you know the Cask.
This Rum is sold. You draw it off the best.
[Exeunt Indians to receive their Rum.]
9 In 1765, according to Alexander Henry, beaver was worth two shillings
sixpence per pound at Mackinac, or one-half pound of powder, or one pound
of shot, or one-tenth of a blanket. Travels and Adventures, Bain's edition.
George N. Morang & Co., Toronto.
THE ENGLISH AND THE INDIANS 151
MURPHEY. By Jove, you've gained more in a single Hour
Than ever I have done in Half a Year;
Curse on my Honesty! I might have been
A little King, and liv'd without Concern,
Had I but known the proper Arts to thrive.
M'DoLE. Ay, there's the Way, my honest Friend, to live.
[Clapping his shoulder.]
There's Ninety Weight of Sterling Beaver for you,
Worth all the Rum and Trinkets in my Store;
And, would my Conscience let me do the Thing,
I might enhance my Price, and lessen theirs,
And raise my Profits to an higher Pitch.
MURPHEY. I can't but thank you for your kind Instruc-
tions,
As from them I expect to reap Advantage.
But should the Dogs detect me in the Fraud,
They are malicious, and would have Revenge.
M'DoLE. Can't you avoid them? Let their Vengeance
light
On others Heads, no matter whose, if you
Are but secure, and have the Gain in Hand:
For they're indiff'rent where they take Revenge,
Whether on him that cheated, or his Friend,
Or on a stranger whom they never saw,
Perhaps an honest Peasant, who never dreamt
Of Fraud or Villany in all his life;
Such let them murder, if they will a Score,
The Guilt is theirs, while we secure the Gain,
Nor shall we feel the bleeding Victims Pain.
[Exeunt.]
152 HISTORIC MACKINAC
SCENE II. A Desart.
[Enter ORSBOURN and HONNYMAN, Two English Hunters.}
ORSBOURN. Long have we toil'd, and rang'd the Woods
in vain,
No Game, nor Track, nor Sign of any Kind
Is to be seen; I swear I'm discourag'd
And Weary'd out with this long fruitless Hunt.
No Life on Earth besides is half so hard,
So full of Disappointments, as a Hunter's:
Each Morn he wakes he views the destin'd Prey,
And counts the Profits of th' ensuing Day;
Each Ev'ning at his curs'd ill Fortune pines,
And till next day his Hope of Gain resigns.
By Jove, I'll from these Desarts hasten home,
And swear that never more I'll touch a Gun.
HONNYMAN. These hateful Indians kidnap all the Game.
Curse their black Heads! They fright the Deer and
Bear,
And ev'ry Animal that haunts the Wood,
Or by their Witchcraft conjure them away.
No Englishman can get a single Shot,
While they go loaded home with Skins and Furs.
'Twere to be wish'd not one of them survived,
Thus to infest the World, and plague Mankind.
Curs'd Heathen Infidels! Mere savage Beasts!
They don't deserve to breathe in Christian Air,
And should be hunted down like other Brutes.
ORSBOURN. I only wish the Laws permitted us
To hunt the savage Herd where-e'er they're found;
I'd never leave the Trade of Hunting then,
While one remain'd to tread and range the Wood.
THE ENGLISH AND THE INDIANS 153
HONNYMAN. Curse on the Law, I say, that makes it Death
To kill an Indian, more than to kill a Snake.
What if 'tis Peace? these Dogs deserve no Mercy;
Cursed revengeful, cruel, faithless Devils!
They killed my Father and my eldest Brother.
Since which I hate their very Looks and Name.
ORSBOURN. And I, since they betray'd and killed my
Uncle;
Hell seize their cruel, unrelenting Souls!
Tho' these are not the same, 'twould ease my Heart
To cleave their painted Heads, and spill their Blood.
I abhor, detest, and hate them all,
And now cou'd eat an Indian's Heart with Pleasure.
HONNYMAN. I'd join you, and soop his savage Brains
for Sauce ;
I lose all patience when I think of them,
And, if you will, we'll quickly have Amends
For our long Travel of Revenge to boot.
ORSBOURN. What will you do? Present, and pop one
down?
HONNYMAN. Yes, faith, the first we meet well fraught
with Furs;
Or if there's Two, and we can make sure Work,
By Jove, we'll ease the Rascals of their Packs,
And send them empty home to their own Country.
But then observe, that what we do is secret,
Or the Hangman will come in for Snacks.
ORSBOURN. Trust me for that; I'll join with all my Heart;
Nor with a nicer Aim, or Steadier Hand,
Would shoot a Tyger than I would an Indian.
There is a Couple stalking now this Way
With lusty Packs; Heav'n favour our Design.
154 HISTORIC MACKINAC
HONNYMAN. Silence; conceal yourself, and mind your
Eye.
ORSBOURN. Are you well charg'd?
HONNYMAN. I am. Take you the nearest,
And mind to fire exactly when I do.
ORSBOURN. A charming Chance!
HONNYMAN. Hush, let them still come nearer.
[They shoot, and run to rifle the Indians.]
They're down, old Boy, a Brace of noble Bucks!
ORSBOURN. Well tallow'd, faith, and noble Hides upon
'em. [Taking up a Pack.]
We might have hunted all the Season thro'
For Half this Gamej and thought ourselves well paid.
HONNYMAN. By Jove, we might, and been at great Expence
For Lead and Powder, here's a single Shot.
ORSBOURN. I swear, I've got as much as I can carry.
HONNYMAN. And faith I'm not behind; this Pack is heavy.
But stop; we must conceal the tawny Dogs,
Or their blood-thirsty Countrymen will find them,
And then we're bit. There'll be the Devil to pay,
They'll murder us, and cheat the Hangman too.
ORSBOURN. Right. We'll prevent all Mischief of this
Kind.
Where shall we hide their savage Carcases?
HONNYMAN. There they will lie conceal'd and snug
enough [They cover them.]
But stay perhaps ere long there'll be a War,
And then their Scalps will sell for ready Cash,
Two Hundred Crowns at least, and that's worth saving.
ORSBOURN. Well! That is true, no sooner said than
done [Drawing his knife.]
THE ENGLISH AND THE INDIANS 155
I'll strip this Fellow's painted greasy Skull.
[Strips off the scalp.]
HONNYMAN. A Damn'd tough Hide, or my Knife's devil-
ish dull [Takes the other scalp.]
Now let them sleep to Night without their Caps,
And pleasant Dreams attend their long Repose.
ORSBOURN. Their Guns and Hatchets now are lawful
Prize,
For they'll not need them on their present Journey.
HONNYMAN. The Devil hates Arms, and dreads the smell
of Powder;
He'll not allow such Instruments about him,
They're free from training now, they're in his Clutches.
ORSBOURN. But, Honnyman, d'ye think this is not Mur-
der?
I vow I'm shocked a little to see them scalp'd,
And fear their Ghosts will haunt us in the Dark.
HONNYMAN. It's no more Murder than to crack a Louse, 10
That is, if you've the Wit to keep it private.
And as to Haunting, Indians have no Ghosts,
But as they live like Beasts, like Beasts they die.
I've killed a dozen in this self-same Way,
And never yet was troubled with their Spirits.
ORSBOURN. Then I'm content; my Scruples are remov'd.
And what I've done, my conscience justifies.
But we must have these Guns and Hatchets alter'd,
Or they'll detect th' Affair, and hang us both.
10 "Twenty Indians have been murdered near here in a treacherous man-
ner within the last six months. A young fellow executed lately for two un-
paralleled murders declared on the gallows that he thought it a meritorious
act to kill heathen wherever they were found; and this seems to be the
opinion of all the common people." Johnson in Documentary History of
New York, VII, 852.
156
HISTORIC MACKINAC
HONNYMAN. That's quickly done Let us with Speed re-
turn,
And think no more of being hang'd or haunted;
But turn our Fur to Gold, our Gold to Wine,
Thus gaily spend what we've so slily won,
And bless the first Inventor of a Gun.
[Exeunt.]
CHAPTER IX
PONTIAC
IN view of the conditions already outlined, and the
direct connection of the Mackinac and entire Great
Lakes country with the transition from French to
British control, intense interest attaches to the personality
and activities of Pontiac.
"Such being the causes of disaffection, and such the mo-
tives still remaining with the French to encourage Indian
hostilities," says Mr. Hough, "there was wanting only a
leader around whom to rally and upon whom to rely for
direction and counsel, and such a chieftain was found in
the person of Pontiac." The way was largely prepared
for Pontiac, and the degree of success which he reached
was largely a resultant of the forces tending to bind the
Indians as a unit in a vast program of revenge, ambition
and patriotism. Yet without the organizing genius of
Pontiac to give method and order to those energies, there
would doubtless have issued little else than a series of wild
but futile bursts of fury against the outlying settlements.
"Pontiac," says Cooley, in his Michigan, 1 "was one of
those rare characters among the Indians whose merits are
so transcendent that, without the aid of adventitious circum-
stances, they take by common consent the leadership in
peace and the leadership in war. In battle he had shown
his courage, in council his eloquence, and his wisdom; he
was wary in planning and indefatigable in execution; his
1 Michigan, Thomas M. Cooley, p. 54. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston.
157
158 HISTORIC MACKINAC
patriotism was ardent and his ambition boundless, and he
was at this time in all the region between the head-waters of
the Ohio and the distant Mississippi the most conspicuous
figure among the savage tribes, and the predestined leader
in any undertaking which should enlist the general in-
terest."
Not only by birth had Pontiac become the principal
chief of the Ottawas, but by merit as well. By merit he
had gained a powerful influence over almost all the tribes
of the Algonquin stock, and to some extent over the Iro-
quois. At this time he was about fifty years old. He had
been all his life a warm friend of the French, but his de-
cision in the conference with Major Rogers seems to point
to his willingness to sacrifice their ascendancy if it might
aid his own people, and his own ambitions as their leader.
"Up to this time," says Rev. Norman B. Wood, 2 "Pontiac
had been in word and deed the fast friend and ally of the
French, but it is easy to discern the motives that impelled
him to renounce his old adherence. The American forests
never produced a man more shrewd, politic and ambitious.
Ignorant as he was of what was passing in the world he
could clearly see that the French power was on the wane,
and he knew his own interest too well to prop a falling cause.
By making friends of the English he hoped to gain power-
ful allies, who would aid his ambitious projects, and give
him an increased influence over the tribes; and he flattered
himself that the newcomers would treat him with the same
studied respect which the French had always observed. In
this and all his other expectations of advantage from the
English, he was doomed to disappointment."
2 Lives of Famous Indian Chiefs. American Indian Historical Pub. Co.,
Aurora, 111.
PONTIAC 159
That Pontiac was sincere in his offer of friendship to the
English there is no positive evidence to refute. "It will be
remembered," continues Rev. Wood, "that Pontiac, in his
interview with Major Rogers, made his overtures of friend-
ship and alliance with the English conditional. His whole
conversation sufficiently indicated that he was far from con-
sidering himself a conquered prince, and that he expected
to be treated with the respect and honour due to a king or
emperor by all who came into his country or treated with
him. In short, if the English treated him in this manner
they were welcome to come into his country, but if they
treated him with neglect and contempt, 'he should shut up
the way and keep them out.' As the English did treat him
and his people with neglect and contempt, he was justified,
from his point of view, in defending his honour and the
honour of his people, and were we writing of white men, we
would be tempted to name his conduct by a more generous
name than 'conspiracy.' '
Brooding over the perfidy of the English and the wrongs
of his people, Pontiac determined to unite his people in one
grand uprising against their oppressors. "The plan of
operation," says Thatcher, 3 "evinces an extraordinary gen-
ius, as well as courage and energy of the highest order.
This was a sudden and contemporaneous attack upon all
the British posts on the Lakes at St. Joseph, Ouiatenon,
Green Bay, Michilimackinac, Detroit, the Maumee and the
Sandusky and also upon the forts at Niagara, Presque
Isle, Le Boeuf, Venango, and Fort Pitt. Most of the for-
tifications at these places were slight, being rather com-
mercial depots than military establishments. Still, against
3 Indian Biographies, quoted in Lives of Famous Indian Chiefs, op. cit.,
p. 128.
160 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the Indians they were strongholds, and the positions had
been so judiciously selected by the French that to this day
they command the great avenues of communication to the
world of woods and waters in the remote North and West.
It was manifest to Pontiac, familiar as he was with the
geography of this vast tract of country, and with the prac-
tical, if not the technical, maxims of war, that the posses-
sion or the destruction of these posts saying nothing of
the garrisons, would be emphatically 'shutting up the way.'
If the surprise could be simultaneous, so that every English
banner which waved upon a line of thousands of miles
should be prostrated at the same moment, the garrisons
would be unable to exchange assistance, while on the
other hand, the failure of one Indian detachment would
have no effect to discourage another. Certainly, some
might succeed. Probably the war might begin and be ter-
minated with the same single blow; and then Pontiac would
again be lord and king of the broad land of his ancestors."
Pontiac's methods were characteristic of his genius.
Trusted emissaries were sent with the dark message to all
the tribes throughout the country from the Great Lakes
to the Gulf of Mexico. He himself went from village to
village rousing the Indians by his powerful appeal for
revenge against their despoilers, playing upon every pos-
sible motive animating the breast of the savage. "The
bugle call of such a mighty leader as Pontiac," as Mason 4
says, "roused the tribes. Everywhere they joined the con-
spiracy, and sent lofty messages to Pontiac of the deeds
they would perform. The ordinary pursuits of life were
given up. The warriors danced the war dance for weeks
4 Mason's Pioneer History, quoted in Lives of Famous Indian Chiefs, op.
cit., p. 131. (Chapters from Illinois History. H. S. Stone & Co., Chicago,
HI.)
FATHER GABRIEL RICHARD
Pastor at Mackinac Island in 1799. Founded the first newspaper
published in Michigan. The only Catholic priest ever
elected to the United States Congress.
PONTIAC
As eminent an authority as C. M. Burton, the famous collector of historical
material pertaining to the Old Northwest Territory asserts that there
is no authentic portrait of Pontiac. This reproduction is
from Lives of Famous Indian Chiefs
PONTIAC 161
at a time. Squaws were set to sharpening knives, mould-
ing bullets and mixing war paint. Children caught the
fever, and practised incessantly with bows and arrows."
At length a great council was arranged, at which Pontiac
should meet and address the chiefs of all the tribes, to be
held on the River Ecorse near Detroit, April 27, 1763.
The story of what happened there has been penned by the
masterful hand of Parkman. 5
"On that morning, several old men, the heralds of the
camp, passed to and fro among the lodges, calling the war-
riors, in a loud voice, to attend the meeting.
"In accordance with the summons, they issued from their
cabins, the tall, naked figures of the wild jib ways, with
quivers slung at their backs, and light war-clubs resting in
the hollow of their arms; Ottawas, wrapped close in gaudy
blankets; Wyandots, fluttering in painted shirts, their heads
adorned with feathers, and their leggins garnished with
bells. All were soon seated in a wide circle upon the grass,
row within row, a grave and silent assembly. Each savage
countenance seemed carved in wood, and none could have
detected the ferocious passions hidden beneath that im-
movable mask. Pipes with ornamented stems were lighted,
and passed from hand to hand.
"Then Pontiac rose, and walked forward into the midst
of the council. According to Canadian tradition, he was
not above the middle height, though his muscular figure
was cast in a mould of remarkable symmetry and vigour.
His complexion was darker than is usual with his race,
and his features, though by no means regular, had a bold
and stern expression; while his habitual bearing was im-
perious and peremptory, like that of a man accustomed to
5 Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac, I, 209. Little, Brown & Co., Boston.
162 HISTORIC MACKINAG
sweep away all opposition by the force of his impetuous
will. His ordinary attire was that of the primitive savage,
a scanty cincture girt about his loins, and his long, black
hair flowing loosely at his back; but on occasions like this
he was wont to appear as befitted his power and char-
acter, and he stood doubtless before the council plumed
and painted in the full costume of war.
"Looking round upon his wild auditors he began to speak
with fierce gesture, and a loud, impassioned voice; and at
every pause, deep, guttural ejaculations of assent and
approval responded to his words. He inveighed against
the arrogance, rapacity, and injustice of the English, and
contrasted them with the French, whom they had driven
from the soil. He declared that the British Commandant
had treated him with neglect and contempt; that the sol-
diers of the garrison had abused the Indians; that one of
them had struck a follower of his own. He represented
the danger that would arise from the supremacy of the
English. They had expelled the French, and now they
only waited for a pretext to turn upon the Indians and
destroy them. Then, holding out a broad belt of wampum,
he told the council that he had received it from their
great father the King of France, in token that he had heard
the voice of his red children; that his sleep was at an end;
and that his great war canoes would soon sail up the St.
Lawrence, to win back Canada and wreak vengeance on
his enemies. The Indians and their French brethren
would fight once more side by side, as they had always
fought; they would strike the English as they had struck
them many moons ago, when their great army marched
down the Monongahela, and they had shot them from
their ambush, like a flock of pigeons in the woods."
PONTIAC 163
Having roused in his warlike listeners their native thirst
for blood and vengeance, he next addressed himself to
their superstition, and told the following tale.
' 'A Delaware Indian,' said Pontiac, 'conceived an
eager desire to learn wisdom from the Master of Life;
but, being ignorant where to find him, he had recourse to
fasting, dreaming, and magical incantations. By these
means it was revealed to him, that, by moving forward in
a straight, undeviating course, he would reach the abode
of the Great Spirit. He told his purpose to no one, and
having provided the equipments of a hunter gun, powder-
horn, ammunition, and a kettle for preparing his food, he
set out on his errand. For some time he journeyed on in
high hope and confidence. On the evening of the eighth
day, he stopped by the side of a brook at the edge of a
meadow, where he began to make ready his evening meal,
when, looking up, he saw three large openings in the woods
before him, and three well-beaten paths which entered
them. He was much surprised ; but his wonder increased,
when, after it had grown dark, the three paths were more
clearly visible than ever. Remembering the important ob-
ject of his journey, he could neither rest nor sleep; and,
leaving his fire, he crossed the meadow, and entered the
largest of the three openings. He had advanced but a
short distance into the forest, when a bright flame sprang
out of the ground before him, and arrested his steps. In
great amazement, he turned back, and entered the second
path, where the same wonderful phenomenon again encoun-
tered him; and now, in terror and bewilderment, yet still
resolved to persevere, he took the last of the three paths.
On this he journeyed a whole day without interruption,
when, at length, emerging from the forest, he saw before
164 HISTORIC MACKINAC
him a vast mountain, of dazzling whiteness. So precipitous
was the ascent that the Indian thought it hopeless to go far-
ther, and looked around him in despair: at that moment, he
saw, seated at some distance above, the figure of a beautiful
woman arrayed in white, who arose as he looked upon her,
and thus accosted him: 'How can you hope, encumbered
as you are, to succeed in your design? Go down to the
foot of the mountain, throw away your gun, your ammuni-
tion, your provisions, and your clothing; wash yourself
in the stream which flows there, and you will then be pre-
pared to stand before the Master of Life.' The Indian
obeyed, and again began to ascend among the rocks, while
the woman, seeing him still discouraged, laughed at his
faintness of heart, and told him that, if he wished for
success, he must climb by the aid of one hand and one foot
only. After great toil and suffering, he at length found
himself at the summit. The woman had disappeared, and
he was left alone. A high and beautiful plain lay before
him, and at a little distance he saw three great villages, far
superior to the squalid wigwams of the Delawares. As he
approached the largest, and stood hesitating whether he
should enter, a man gorgeously attired stepped forth, and,
taking him by the hand, welcomed him to the celestial
abode. He then conducted him to the presence of the
Great Spirit, where the Indian stood confounded at the
unspeakable splendour which surrounded him. The Great
Spirit bade him be seated, and thus addressed him:
" * "I am the Maker of heaven and earth, the trees, lakes,
rivers, and all things else. I am the Maker of Mankind;
and because I love you, you must do my will. The land on
which you live I have made for you, and not for others.
Why do you suffer the white men to dwell among you? My
PONTIAC 165
children, you have forgotten the customs and traditions of
your forefathers. Why do you not clothe yourselves in
skins as they did, and use the bows and arrows, and the
stone-painted lances, which they used? You have bought
guns, knives, kettles, and blankets, from the white men, un-
til you can no longer do without them; and, what is worse,
you have drunk the poison fire-water, which turns you into
fools. Fling all these things away; live as your wise fore-
fathers lived before you. And as for these English,
these dogs dressed in red, who have come to rob you of
your hunting-grounds, and drive away the game, you must
lift the hatchet against them. Wipe them from the face of
the earth, and then you will win my favour back again, and
once more be happy and prosperous. The children of
your great father, the King of .France, are not like the
English. Never forget that they are your brethren. They
are very dear to me, for they love the red men, and under-
stand the true mode of worshipping me."
Such was Pontiac's tale to the assembled Indians as told
by Parkman. 5 "Before the vast assembly dissolved," says
Norman B. Wood, "the great chieftain unfolded his wide-
laid plans for a simultaneous attack on all the forts in pos-
5 The standard work on Pontiac's rebellion is Parkman's The Con-
spiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War After the Conquest of Canada, 2
vols. (Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1905.) See especially Vol. I, pp. 335,
381, for the capture of Old Mackinaw. Louis B. Porlier has an especially
interesting article on the "Capture of Mackinaw, 1763," in Wis. Hist. Colls.,
VIII, 227-231. Channing and Lansing give an unusually good summary in
The Story of the Great Lakes, pp. 113-134 (The Macmillan Co., N. Y.).
Cooley's Michigan presents a very sympathetic treatment in Chapter III
(Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston), "Pontiac's vain struggle for the homes
of his people." See also Charles Moore's Northwest Under Three Flags,
Chapter IV (Harper & Bros., N. Y.). Of the Pontiac MS., used exten-
sively by Parkman, relating to the siege of Detroit, the best edition is that
translated by Prof. R. Clyde Ford, and published by C. M. Burton, Detroit,
Michigan.
166 HISTORIC MACKINAC
session of the English. The 7th of May, 1763, was named
as the day of destruction, and his schemes, which were con-
structed with the white man's skill and the red man's
cunning, met the hearty approval of all the assembled
chiefs and warriors, and the great council dissolved.
"The plan was now ripe for execution, and with the sud-
denness of a whirlwind, the storm of war burst forth all
along the frontier. Nine of the British forts, or stations,
were captured. Some of the garrisons were completely
surprised and massacred on the spot; a few individuals, in
other cases, escaped. In case of most, if not all of the
nine surprisals, quite as much was effected by stratagem as
by force, and that apparently by a pre-concerted system,
which indicates the far-seeing superintendence of Pontiac
himself."
Of all the tragic scenes enacted, one of the most bloody
and savage triumphs was that which resulted from the use
of a cunning and successful stratagem at Old Mackinaw.
FROM NOTE BOOK OF FRANCIS PARKMAN
(Courtesy of Massachusetts Historical Society)
167
FROM PARKMAN'S NOTE BOOK
166
CHAPTER X
MINAVAVANA AND WAWATAM
AMONG the tribes embraced in the far-reaching
plans of Pontiac for crushing the English were the
Ojibways of the upper Great Lakes; and to Minava-
vana, the great war chieftain of this tribe, was entrusted
the task of capturing Old Mackinaw.
Minavavana cherished against the English an inveterate
hatred, as seen in his speech to the English trader Henry,
and it was still undiminished when some years after the
tragedy at Old Mackinaw he is thus described by the Eng-
lish traveller Jonathan Carver: 1 "At some little distance
behind these stood a chief, remarkably tall and well made,
but of so stern an aspect that the most undaunted person
could not behold him without some degree of terror. . . .
However, I approached him in a courteous manner and ex-
pected to have met the same reception I had received from
the others, but to my great surprise, he with-held his hand,
and looking fiercely at me, said, in the Chipeway tongue,
'Cawin nishishin saganosh'; that is, 'The English are no
good.' As he had his tomahawk in his hand, I expected
that this laconic sentence would have been followed by a
blow; to prevent which I drew a pistol from my belt, and,
holding it in a careless position, passed close to him to let
him see that I was not afraid of him. I learned soon after,
1 Bain's edition of Henry's Travels, p. 46 (George N. Morang & Co.,
Toronto), note: Quoting Carver's Travels (1781), p. 96.
169
170 HISTORIC MACKINAG
from the other Indians, that this was a chief called by the
French the Grand Sautor, or the Great Chipeway Chief, for
they denominate the Chipeways, Sautors. They likewise
told me that he had been always a steady friend to that
people, and when they delivered up Michilimackinac to
the English, on their evacuation of Canada, the Grand
Sautor had sworn that he would ever remain the avowed
enemy of its new possessors, as the territory on which the
fort is built belonged to him."
The history of Minavavana's people has been ably in-
vestigated by Mr. William W. Warren, 2 who writes as
follows of Minavavana's plan for the capture of Mackinaw:
"The important enterprise of the capture of this im-
portant and indispensable post was entrusted into the hands
of Min-neh-weh-na, the great war chieftain of the Ojibways
of Mackinaw, whom we have already mentioned, and by
the manner in which he superintended and managed the
affair, to a complete and successful issue, he proved
himself a worthy lieutenant of the great head and leader
of the war, the Ottawa Chieftain Pontiac.
"The Ottawas of Lake Michigan being more friendly
disposed to the British, were not called on by the politic
jib way Chieftain for help in this enterprise, and a knowl-
edge of this secret plan of attack was carefully kept from
them, for fear that they would inform their English friends,
and place them on their guard. In fact, every person of
his own tribe whom he suspected of secret good will towards
any of the new British traders, Min-neh-weh-na sent away
from the scene of the intended attack, with the admonition
that death would be their sure fate, should the Saugunash
2 "History of the Ojibways," Minnesota Historical Collections, V. The
quotation given is from pp. 200-205.
MINAVAVANA AND WAWATAM 171
be informed of the plan which had been formed to take
possession of the fort.
"In this manner did he guard with equal foresight and
greater success than Pontiac himself, against a premature
development of their plans. Had not the loving Indian
girl informed the young officer at Fort Detroit of Pontiac's
secret plan, that important post, and its inmates, would have
shared the same fate as befell the fort at Mackinaw.
"Of all the northern tribes who occupied the Great Lakes,
the Ojibways allowed only the Osaugees to participate with
them in their secret councils, in which was developed the
plan of taking the fort, and these two tribes only were
actively engaged in this enterprise.
"The fighting men of the Ojibways and Osaugees grad-
ually collected in the vicinity of the fort as the day ap-
pointed for the attack approached. They numbered be-
tween four and six hundred. An active trade was in the
meantime carried on with the British traders, and every
means resorted to for the purpose of totally blinding the
suspicions which the more humane class of the French pop-
ulation found means to impart to the officers of the fort,
respecting the secret animosity of the Indians. These
hints were entirely disregarded by Major Etherington, the
commandant of the fort, and he even threatened to confine
any person who would have the future audacity to whisper
these tales of danger into his ears. Everything, therefore,
favoured the scheme which the Ojibway chieftain had laid
to ensnare his confident enemies. On the eve of the great
English King's birthday, he informed the British com-
mandant that as the morrow was to be a day of rejoicing,
his young men would play the game of ball, or Baug-ah-ud-
o-way, for the amusement of the whites, in front of the gate
172 HISTORIC MACKINAG
of the fort. In this game the young men of the Osaugee
tribe would play against the Ojibways for a large stake.
The commandant expressed his pleasure and willingness
to the crafty chieftain's proposal, little dreaming that this
was to lead to a game of blood, in which those under his
charge were to be the victims.
"During the whole night the Ojibways were silently busy
in making preparations for the morrow's work. They
sharpened their knives and tomahawks, and filed short off
their guns. In the morning these weapons were entrusted
to the care of their women, who, hiding them under the
folds of their blankets, were ordered to stand as near as
possible to the gate of the fort, as if to witness the game
which the men were about to play. Over a hundred on
each side of the Ojibways and Osaugees, all chosen men,
now sallied forth from their wigwams, painted and orna-
mented for the occasion, and proceeding to the open green
which lay in front of the fort, they made up the stakes
for which they were apparently about to play, and planted
the posts towards which each party was to strive to take
the ball.
"This game of Baug-ah-ud-o-way is played with a bat
and wooden ball. The bat is about four feet long, ter-
minating at one end into a circular curve, which is netted
with leather strings, and forms a cavity where the ball is
caught, carried, and if necessary thrown with great force,
to treble the distance that it can be thrown by hand. Two
posts are planted at the distance of about half a mile.
Each party has its particular post, and the game consists in
carrying or throwing the ball in the bat to the post of the
adversary. At the commencement of the game, the two
parties collect midway between the two posts; the ball is
MINAVAVANA AND WAWATAM 173
thrown up into the air, and the competition for its posses-
sion commences in earnest. It is the wildest game extant
among the Indians, and is generally played in full feathers
and ornaments, and with the greatest excitement and vehe-
mence. The great object is to obtain possession of the ball ;
and, during the heat of the excitement, no obstacle is
allowed to stand in the way of getting it. Let it fall far out
into the deep water, numbers rush madly in and swim for
it, each party impeding the efforts of the other in every
manner possible. Let it fall into a high enclosure, it is
surmounted, or torn down in a moment, and the ball re-
covered; and were it to fall into the chimney of a house,
a jump through the window, or a smash of the door, would
be considered of no moment ; and the most violent hurts or
bruises are incident to the headlong, mad manner in which
it is played. It will be seen by this hurried description,
that the game was very well adapted to carry out the scheme
of the Indians.
"On the morning of the 4th of June, after the cannon of
the fort had been discharged in commemoration of the
King's natal day, the ominous ball was thrown up a short
distance in front of the gate of Fort Mackinaw, and the ex-
citing game commenced. The two hundred players, their
painted persons streaming with feathers, ribbons, fox and
wolf tails, swayed to and fro as the ball was carried back-
wards and forwards by either party, who for the moment
had possession of it. Occasionally a swift and agile run-
ner would catch it in his bat, and making tremendous leaps
hither and thither to avoid the attempts of his opponents to
knock it out of his bat, or force him to throw it, he would
make a sudden dodge past them, and choosing a clear
track, run swiftly, urged on by the deafening shouts of his
174 HISTORIC MACKINAC
party and the by-standers, towards the stake of his adver-
saries, till his onward course was stopped by a swifter
runner, or an advanced guard of the opposite party.
"The game, played as it was, by the young men of two
different tribes, became exciting, and the commandant of
the fort even took his stand outside of his open gates, to
view its progress. His soldiers stood carelessly unarmed,
here and there, intermingling with the Indian women, who
gradually huddled near the gateway, carrying under their
blankets the weapons which were to be used in their
approaching work of death.
"In the struggle for its possession, the ball at last was
gradually carried towards the open gates, and all at once,
after having reached a proper distance, an athletic arm
caught it up in his bat, and as if by accident threw it within
the precincts of the fort. With one deafening yell and
impulse, the players rushed forward in a body, as if to
regain it, but as they reached their women and entered the
gateway, they threw down their wooden bats, and grasping
the shortened guns, tomahawks and knives, the massacre
commenced, and the bodies of the unsuspecting British
soldiers soon lay strewn about, lifeless, horribly mangled,
and scalpless. The careless commander was taken captive
without a struggle, as he stood outside the fort, viewing the
game, which the Ojibway chieftain had gotten up for his
amusement.
"The above is the account, much brief ened, which I have
learned verbally from the old French traders and half-
breeds, who learned it from the lips of those who were
present and witnessed the bloody transaction. Not a hair
on the head of the many Frenchmen who witnessed this
scene was hurt by the infuriated savages, and there stands
MINAVAVANA AND WAWATAM 175
not on record a stronger proof of the love borne them by
the tribe engaged in this business than this very fact, for
the passions of an Indian warrior, once aroused by a scene
of this nature, are not easily appeased, and generally every-
thing kindred in any manner to his foe, falls a victim to
satiate his blood-thirsty propensities."
It is worthy of note that the commanders of almost all
the English posts had ample warning, in one way or an-
other, of the intended action of the Indians. Major Glad-
win at Detroit profited by the love of an Indian maid who
disclosed to him the designs of Pontiac. But this was
only after he had received repeated intimations from vari-
ous sources upon which he had neglected to act. Ether-
ington at Mackinaw strangely shared in this illusion of
security. He was repeatedly and emphatically warned,
by competent authority, such, for example, as the trader
Charles de Langlade.
"Happening to be at Michilimackinac at this epoch,"
says Joseph Tasse, 3 "Langlade thought it his duty to ac-
quaint Captain Etherington with the plot that was being
laid against the English. On receiving this startling intel-
ligence, the English Commandant sent for Matchekewis
and some other savage chiefs, who appeared implicated in
the mischief, and endeavoured to sound them as to their
designs; but so adroit was their dissimulation that they
persuaded Captain Etherington that the English cause had
in them the most devoted patriotism.
"Langlade, better informed of the true sentiments of the
savages, reported their designs to Captain Etherington, rec-
ommending to him the utmost vigilance. But the com-
mandant, having a blind faith in the sincerity of the pro-
3 JTis. Hist. Colls., VII, 153.
176 HISTORIC MACKINAC
testations which he had received, would listen to nothing.
'M. Langlade,' said he to him one day, 'I am tired of hear-
ing the stories you are so often telling me; they are the fool-
ish stories of old women, and unworthy of belief. The
Indians are well satisfied with the English, and have no hos-
tile designs against them. I hope, therefore, that you will
no longer importune me on this subject.' 'Very well, Cap-
tain Etherington,' replied Langlade. 'I will not trouble
you any more with my so-called old women's stories; but
you will ere long regret not having listened to my advice.' '
Alexander Henry and other traders repeatedly warned
Captain Etherington of his danger. A Canadian, Laur-
ent Ducharme, so excited the displeasure of Etherington by
his alarms that the latter threatened to send the next person
who should bring a story of the same kind, a prisoner to
Detroit. With a garrison of ninety privates, two subal-
terns, and four English merchants at the fort, he feared
little from the Indians, who had only small arms. Though
the Indians kept assembling in unusual numbers, they dis-
played every appearance of friendship, frequenting the
fort and disposing of their peltries in such a manner as to
dissipate almost everyone's fears. But Henry was not
deluded. "For myself," he says, "on one occasion, I took
the liberty of observing to Major Etherington that in my
judgment, no confidence ought to be placed in them, and
that I was informed no less than four hundred lay around
the fort." For his pains he was only rallied on his tim-
idity. The plans of Minavavana were vastly aided by this
singular perversity of the commander of the fort. Even
Henry himself was not fully conscious of the seriousness
of the mischief contemplated by the Indians, as he con-
fesses in an account he gives of the warning given him by
FAIRY KITCHEN, EAST SHORE BOULEVARD
Fairy Arch is immediately overhead
Portrait of Dr. John R. Bailey, author of History and Guide Book of
Mackinac Island
MINAVAVANA AND WAWATAM 177
Wawatam, a Chippewa who had conceived for him a strong
personal friendship. The memory of this worthy deed has
been perpetuated in Henry's Travels. 4
"Shortly after my first arrival at Michilimackinac, in the
preceding year," says Henry, "a Ghipeway, named Wa'wa'-
tam, began to come often to my house, betraying in his
demeanor strong marks of personal regard. After this
had continued for some time, he came, on a certain day,
bringing with him his whole family, at the same time, a
large present, consisting of skins, sugar and dried meat.
Having laid these in a heap, he commenced a speech, in
which he informed me, that some years before, he had ob-
served a fast, devoting himself, according to the custom of
his nation, to solitude, and to the mortification of his body,
in the hope to obtain, from the Great Spirit, protection
through all his days ; that on this occasion, he had dreamed
of adopting an Englishman, as his son, brother and friend;
that from the moment in which he first beheld me, he had
recognized me as the person whom the Great Spirit had
been pleased to point out to him for a brother; that he
hoped that I would not refuse his present; and that he
should forever regard me as one of his family.
"I could not do otherwise than accept the present, and
declare my willingness to have so good a man, as this ap-
4 Travels and Adventures of Alexander Henry, Bain's edition, pp. 72-76
(George N. Morang & Co., Toronto). Francis Parkman, in his Conspiracy
of Pontiac (Little, Brown & Co., Boston), says of Henry's Travels: "The
authenticity of this very interesting book has never been questioned," and
he bases upon it his own account of the massacre at Old Mackinaw. Re-
cently, Mr. H. M. McConnell and Mr. H. Bedford-Jones, have checked up
Henry's data, in a paper entitled Alexander Henry in a New Light. Many
discrepancies, mainly of a minor nature, are pointed out, but many readers
will still feel, with Mrs. Jameson, that Henry's plain, unaffected manner
of telling what he has to tell in few and simple words, is important internal
evidence of the general truthfulness of his narrative. A copy of the paper
above referred to may be consulted in the author's "Old Northwest" library,
and in the office of the Michigan Historical Commission, at Lansing.
178 HISTORIC MACKINAC
peared to be, for my friend and brother. I offered a pres-
ent in return for that which I had received, which Wawa-
tam accepted, and then, thanking me for the favor which
he said that I had rendered him, he left me, and soon after
set out on his winter's hunt.
"Twelve months had now elapsed, since the occurrence
of this incident, and I had almost forgotten the person of
my brother, when, on the second day of June, Wawatam
came again to my house, in a temper of mind visibly melan-
choly and thoughtful. He told me that he had just returned
from his wintering-ground, and I asked after his health;
but, without answering my question, he went on to say, that
he was very sorry to find me returned from the Sault; that
he had intended to go to that place himself, immediately
after his arrival at Michilimackinac ; and that he wished me
to go there, along with him and his family, the next morn-
ing. To all this, he joined an inquiry, whether or not the
commandant had heard bad news, adding, that, during the
winter, he had himself been frequently disturbed with the
noise of evil birds; and further suggesting, that there were
numerous Indians near the fort, many of whom had never
shown themselves within it. Wawatam was about forty-
five years of age, of an excellent character among his na-
tion, and a chief.
"Referring much of what I had heard to the peculiarities
of the Indian character, I did not pay all the attention which
they will be found to have deserved, to the entreaties and
remarks of my visitor. I answered that I could not think
of going to the Sault, so soon as the next morning, but would
follow him there, after the arrival of my clerks. Finding
himself unable to prevail with me, he withdrew, for that
day; but, early the next morning, he came again, bringing
MINAVAVANA AND WAWATAM 179
with him his wife, and a present of dried meat. At this
interview, after stating that he had several packs of beaver,
for which he intended to deal with me, he expressed, a sec-
ond time, his apprehensions, from the numerous Indians
who were round the fort, and earnestly pressed me to con-
sent to an immediate departure for the Sault. As a reason
for this particular request, he assured me that all the In-
dians proposed to come in a body, that day, to the fort, to
demand liquor of the commandant, and that he wished me
to be gone, before they should grow intoxicated.
"I had made, at the period to which I am now referring,
so much progress in the language in which Wawatam ad-
dressed me, as to be able to hold an ordinary conversation
in it; but, the Indian manner of speech is so extravagantly
figurative, that it is only for a very perfect master to follow
and comprehend it entirely. Had I been further advanced
in this respect, I think that I should have gathered so much
information, from this my friendly monitor, as would have
put me into possession of the design of the enemy, and en-
abled me to save as well others as myself; as it was, it un-
fortunately happened, that I turned a deaf ear to every-
thing, leaving Wawatam and his wife, after long and pa-
tient, but ineffectual efforts, to depart alone, with dejected
countenances, and not before they had each let fall some
tears.
"In the course of the same day, I observed that the In-
dians came in great numbers into the fort, purchasing
tomahawks (small axes, of one pound weight) and fre-
quently desiring to see silver armbands, and other valuable
ornaments, of which I had a large quantity for sale. These
ornaments, however, they in no instance purchased ; but, af-
ter turning them over, left them, saying that they would
180
HISTORIC MACKINAC
call again the next day. Their motive, as it afterward ap-
peared, was no other than the very artful one of discover-
ing, by requesting to see them, the particular places of their
deposit, so that they might lay their hands on them in the
moment of pillage with the greater certainty and dispatch.
"At night, I turned in my mind the visits of Wawatam;
but, though they were calculated to excite uneasiness, noth-
ing induced me to believe that serious mischief was at hand.
The next day, being the fourth of June, was the king's birth-
day."
CHAPTER XI
HENRY'S ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE: HIS
ESCAPE AND ADVENTURES
ALEXANDER HENRY is one of the many interesting
characters whose names are indelibly inscribed in
the records of Old Mackinaw and Mackinac Island.
To continue the story of his experiences, at the time of the
massacre :
"The morning was sultry. A Chipeway came to tell me
that his nation was going to play at baggat'iway, with the
Sacs or Saakies, another Indian nation, for a high wager.
He invited me to witness the sport, adding that the com-
mandant was to be there, and would bet on the side of the
Chipeways. In consequence of this information, I went
to the commandant, and expostulated with him a little, rep-
resenting that the Indians might possibly have some sinis-
ter end in view; but, the commandant only smiled at my
suspicions.
"Baggatiway, called by the Canadians, le jeu de la crosse,
is played with a bat and a ball. 1 The bat is about four feet
in length, curved, and terminating in a sort of racket. Two
posts are planted in the ground, at a considerable distance
1 The game of La Crosse has always been a favourite with the Indian
tribes of the North American continent. A full reference to its early his-
tory will be found in the Bulletins of the Essex Institute, Vol. XVII, p. 89.
Indian Games; an Historical Research, by Andrew McFarland; to its mod-
ern development in Lacrosse, the National Game of Canada, W. G. Beers,
1875.
181
182 HISTORIC MACKINAG
from each other, as a mile, or more. Each party has its
post, and the game consists in throwing the ball up to the
post of the adversary. The ball, at the beginning, is placed
in the middle of the course, and each party endeavors as
well to throw the ball out of the direction of its own post,
as into that of the adversary's.
"I did not go myself to see the match which was now to be
played without the fort, because, there being a canoe pre-
pared to depart, on the following day, for Montreal, I em-
ployed myself in writing letters to my friends; and even
when a fellow-trader, Mr. Tracy, happened to call upon
me, saying that another canoe had just arrived from De-
troit, and proposing that I should go with him to the beach,
to inquire the news, it so happened that I still remained, to
finish my letters; promising to follow Mr. Tracy in the
course of a few minutes. Mr. Tracy had not gone more
than twenty paces from my door, when I heard an Indian
war-cry, and a noise of general confusion.
"Going instantly to my window, I saw a crowd of In-
dians, within the fort, furiously cutting down and scalping
every Englishman they found. In particular, I witnessed
the fate of Lieutenant Jemette.
"I had, in the room in which I was, a fowling-piece,
loaded with swan-shot. This I immediately seized, and
held it for a few minutes, waiting to hear the drum beat to
arms. In this dreadful interval I saw several of my
countrymen fall, and more than one struggling between the
knees of an Indian, who, holding him in this manner,
scalped him, while yet living.
"At length, disappointed in the hope of seeing resistance
made to the enemy, and sensible, of course, that no effort of
my own unassisted arm, could avail against four hundred
HENRY'S ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE 183
Indians, I thought only of seeking shelter. Amid the
slaughter which was mging, I observed many of the Cana-
dian inhabitants of the fort, calmly looking on, neither op-
posing the Indians, nor suffering injury; and, from this
circumstance, I conceived a hope of finding security in their
houses.
"Between the yard-door of my own house, and that of M.
Langlade, my next neighbour, there was only a low fence,
over which I easily climbed. At my entrance, I found the
whole family at the windows, gazing at the scene of blood
before them. I addressed myself immediately to M. Lang-
lade, begging that he would put me into some place of
safety, until the heat of the affair should be over; an act
of charity by which he might perhaps preserve me from the
general massacre; but while I uttered my petition, M.
Langlade, who had looked for a moment at me, turned
again to the window, shrugging his shoulders, and inti-
mating that he could do nothing for me: 'Que voudriez-
vous que fen ferais?'
"This was a moment of despair; but the next, a Pani 2
woman, a slave of M. Langlade's, beckoned to me to follow
her. She brought me to a door, which she opened, desir-
ing me to enter, and telling me that it led to the garret,
where I must go and conceal myself. I joyfully obeyed
2 Pani is another form of Pawnee, which was the name of a tribe of
Indians of Caddoan stock, occupying the present State of Nebraska, along
the Platte river, and its tributaries. They were constantly at war with the
surrounding tribes, and appear to have been true Ishmaelites. When cap-
tured they were retained and frequently sold to Indians at a distance, so
that the common name for an Indian slave was Pani, though Choctaws,
Osages, and others from the West and South were included in the title.
The capitulation at Montreal, September 8th, 1760, provides that the
negroes and Panis of both sexes should remain in their condition of slavery.
Mr. J. C. Hamilton has compiled an interesting account of this people which
is published in the Proceedings of the Canadian Institute, series 3, vol. I,
p. 19.
184 HISTORIC MACKINAC
her directions; and she, having followed me up to the gar-
ret door, locked it after me, and with great presence of
mind took away the key.
"This shelter obtained, if shelter I could hope to find it,
I was naturally anxious to know what might still be passing
without. Through an aperture, which afforded me a view
of the area of the fort, I beheld, in shapes the foulest and
most terrible, the ferocious triumphs of barbarian con-
querors. The dead were scalped and mangled; the dy-
ing were writhing and shrieking, under the unsatiated knife
and tomahawk; and, from the bodies of some ripped open,
their butchers were drinking the blood, scooped up in the
hollow of joined hands, and quaffed amid shouts of rage
and victory. I was shaken, not only with horror, but with
fear. The sufferings which I witnessed, I seemed on the
point of experiencing. No long time elapsed, before ev-
ery one being destroyed, who could be found, there was a
general cry of 'All is finished!' At the same instant, I
heard some of the Indians enter the house in which I was.
"The garret was separated from the room below, only by
a layer of single boards, at once the flooring of the one and
the ceiling of the other. I could therefore hear everything
that passed; and, the Indians no sooner in, than they in-
quired whether or not any Englishmen were in the house?
M. Langlade replied that 'He could not say he did not
know of any;' answers in which he did not exceed the
truth; for the Pani woman had not only hidden me by
stealth, but kept my secret, and her own. M. Langlade was
therefore, as I presume, as far from a wish to destroy me, as
he was careless about saving me, when he added to these
answers, that 'They might examine for themselves, and
HENRY'S ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE 185
would soon be satisfied, as to the object of their question.'
Saying this, he brought them to the garret door.
"The state of my mind will be imagined. Arrived at
the door, some delay was occasioned by the absence of the
key, and a few moments were thus allowed me, in which to
look around for a hiding place. In one corner of the gar-
ret was a heap of those vessels of birch-bark, used in maple-
sugar making, as I have recently described.
"The door was unlocked, and opening, and the Indians
ascending the stairs before I had completely crept into a
small opening, which presented itself, at one end of the
heap. An instant after, four Indians entered the room, all
armed with tomahawks, and all besmeared with blood,
upon every part of their bodies.
"The die appeared to be cast. I could scarcely breathe ;
but I thought that the throbbing of my heart occasioned a
noise loud enough to betray me. The Indians walked in
every direction about the garret, and one of them ap-
proached me so closely that at a particular moment, had he
put out his hand he must have touched me. Still, I re-
mained undiscovered; a circumstance to which the dark
color of my clothes, and the corner in which I was, must
have contributed. In a word, after taking several turns in
the room, during want of light, in a room which had no win-
dow, and in which they told M. Langlade how many they
had killed and how many scalps they had taken, they
returned down stairs, and I, with sensations not to be
expressed, heard the door, which was the barrier between
me and my fate, locked for the second time.
"There was a feather-bed on the floor; and, on this, ex-
hausted as I was, by the agitation of my mind, I threw my-
186 HISTORIC MACKINAG
self down and fell asleep. In this state I remained till the
dusk of the evening, when I was awakened by a second
opening of the door. The person that now entered was M.
Langlade's wife, who was much surprised at finding me,
but advised me not to be uneasy, observing that the Indians
had killed most of the English, but that she hoped I might
myself escape. A shower of rain having begun to fall, she
had come to stop a hole in the roof. On her going away,
I begged her to send me a little water, which she did.
"As night was now advancing, I continued to lie on the
bed, ruminating on my condition, but unable to discover a
resource, from which I could hope for life. A flight, to
Detroit, had no probable chance of success. The distance,
from Michilimackinac, was four hundred miles ; I was with-
out provisions; and the whole length of the road lay through
Indian countries, countries of an enemy in arms, where the
first man whom I should meet would kill me. To stay
where I was, threatened nearly the same issue. As before,
fatigue of mind, and not tranquillity, suspended my cares,
and procured me further sleep. . . .
"The respite which sleep afforded me, during the night,
was put an end to by the return of morning. I was again
on the rack of apprehension. At sunrise, I heard the fam-
ily stirring; and, presently after, Indian voices, informing
M. Langlade that they had not found my hapless self among
the dead, and that they supposed me to be somewhere con-
cealed. M. Langlade appeared, from what followed, to
be, by this time, acquainted with the place of my retreat,
of which, no doubt, he had been informed by his wife.
The poor woman, as soon as the Indians mentioned me de-
clared to her husband in the French tongue, that he should
no longer keep me in his house, but deliver me up to my
HENRY'S ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE 187
pursuers; giving as a reason for this measure, that should
the Indians discover his instrumentality in my concealment,
they might revenge it on her children, and that it was bet-
ter that I should die than they. M. Langlade resisted, at
first, this sentence of his wife's; but soon suffered her to
prevail, informing the Indians that he had been told I was
in his house, that I had come there without his knowledge,
and that he would put me into their hands. This was no
sooner expressed than he began to ascend the stairs, the
Indians following upon his heels.
"I now resigned myself to the fate with which I was
menaced; and, regarding every attempt at concealment as
vain, I arose from the bed and presented myself full in
view, to the Indians who were entering the room. They
were all in a state of intoxication, and entirely naked, ex-
cept about the middle. One of them, named Wenniway,
whom I had previously known, and who was upward of six
feet in height, had his entire body covered with charcoal
and grease, only that a white spot, of two inches in diam-
eter, encircled either eye. This man, walking up to me,
seized me, with one hand, by the collar of the coat, while in
the other hand he held a large carving knife, as if to plunge
it in my breast; his eyes, meanwhile, were fixed steadfastly
on mine. At length, after some seconds, of the most anx-
ious suspense, he dropped his arm, saying, 'I won't kill
you!' To this he added that he had been frequently en-
gaged in wars against the English, and had brought away
many scalps; that, on a certain occasion, he had lost a
brother, whose name was Musinigon, and that I should be
called after him.
"A reprieve, upon any terms, placed me among the liv-
ing, and gave me back the sustaining voice of hope; but
188 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Wenniway ordered me down stairs, and there informing me
that I was to be taken to his cabin, where, and indeed every
where else, the Indians were all mad with liquor, death
again was threatened, and not as possible only, but as cer-
tain. I mentioned my fears upon this subject to M. Lang-
lade, begging him to represent the danger to my master.
M. Langlade, in this instance, did not with-hold his com-
passion, and Wenniway immediately consented that I
should remain where I was, until he found another oppor-
tunity to take me away.
"Thus far secure, I re-ascended my garret-stairs, in order
to place myself, the furthest possible, out of the reach of
insult from drunken Indians; but I had not remained there
more than an hour, when I was called to the room below, in
which was an Indian, who said that I must go with him out
of the fort, Wenniway having sent him to fetch me. This
man, as well as Wenniway himself, I had seen before. In
the preceding year, I had allowed him to take goods on
credit, for which he was still in my debt; and some short
time previous to the surprise of the fort he had said, upon
my upbraiding him with want of honesty, that 'He would
pay me "before long!" This speech now came afresh
into my memory, and led me to suspect that the fellow had
formed a design against my life. I communicated the
suspicion to M. Langlade; but he gave for answer, that 'I
was not now my own master,' and must 'do as I was or-
dered.'
"The Indian, on his part, directed that before I left the
house, I should undress myself, declaring that my coat and
shirt would become him better than they did me. His
pleasure, in this respect, being complied with, no other al-
ternative was left me than either to go out naked, or to put
ALEXANDER HENRY
HENRY'S ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE 189
on the clothes of the Indian, which he freely gave me in
exchange. His motive,, for thus stripping me of my own
apparel, was no other, as I afterward learned, than this,
that it might not be stained with blood when he should kill
me.
"I was now told to proceed; and my driver followed me
close, until I had passed the gate of the fort, when I turned
toward the spot where I knew the Indians to be encamped.
This, however, did not suit the purpose of my enemy, who
seized me by the arm, and drew me violently, in the oppo-
site direction, to the distance of fifty yards, above the fort.
Here, finding that I was approaching the bushes and sand-
hills, I determined to proceed no further, but told the In-
dian that I believed he meant to murder me, and that if so,
he might as well strike where I was, as at any greater dis-
tance. He replied, with coolness, that my suspicions were
just, and that he meant to pay me, in this manner, for my
goods. At the same time, he produced a knife, and held
me in a position to receive the intended blow. Both this,
and that which followed, were necessarily the affair of a
moment. By some effort, too sudden and too little de-
pendent on thought, to be explained or remembered, I was
enabled to arrest his arm, and give him a sudden push,
by which I turned him from me, and released myself
from his grasp. This was no sooner done, than I ran to-
ward the fort, with all the swiftness in my power, the Indian
following me, and I expecting every moment to feel his
knife. I succeeded in my flight, and on entering the fort,
I saw Wenniway, standing in the midst of the area, and to
him I hastened for protection. Wenniway desired the In-
dian to desist; but the latter pursued me round him, making
several strokes at me with his knife, and foaming at the
190 HISTORIC MACKINAG
mouth, with rage at the repeated failure of his purpose.
At length, Wenniway drew near to M. Langlade's house;
and, the door being open, I ran into it. The Indian fol-
lowed me; but, on my entering the house, he voluntarily
abandoned the pursuit.
"Preserved so often, and so unexpectedly, as it now had
been my lot to be, I returned to my garret with a strong
inclination to believe, that through the will of an over-
ruling power, no Indian enemy could do me hurt; but, new
trials, as I believed, were at hand, when, at ten o'clock in
the evening, I was roused from sleep, and once more desired
to descend the stairs. Not less, however, to my satisfac-
tion than surprise, I was summoned only to meet Major
Etherington, Mr. Bostwick and Lieutenant Leslie, who were
in the room below.
"These gentlemen had been taken prisoners, while look-
ing at the game, without the fort, and immediately stripped
of all their clothes. They were now sent into the fort, un-
der the charge of Canadians, because, the Indians having
resolved on getting drunk, the chiefs were apprehensive that
they would be murdered, if they continued in the camp.
Lieutenant Jemette and seventy soldiers had been killed;
and but twenty Englishmen, including soldiers, were still
alive. These were all within the fort, together with nearly
three hundred Canadians.
"These being our numbers, myself and others proposed
to Major Etherington, to make an effort for regaining pos-
session of the fort, and maintaining it against the Indians.
The Jesuit missionary was consulted on the subject; but he
discouraged us, by his representations, not only of the
merciless treatment which we must expect from the In-
dians, should they regain their superiority, but of the little
HENRY'S ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE 191
dependence which was to be placed upon our Canadian
auxiliaries. Thus, the fort and prisoners remained in the
hands of the Indians, though, through the whole night, the
prisoners and whites were in actual possession, and they
were without the gates.
"That whole night, or the greater part of it, was passed
in mutual condolence; and my fellow prisoners shared my
garret. In the morning, being again called down, I found
my master, Wenniway, and was desired to follow him. He
led me to a small house, within the fort, where, in a narrow
room, and almost dark, I found Mr. Ezekiel Solomons, 3
an Englishman from Detroit, and a soldier, all prisoners.
With these, I remained in painful suspense, as to the scene
that was next to present itself, till ten o'clock, in the fore-
noon, when an Indian arrived, and presently marched us to
the lake-side, where a canoe appeared ready for departure,
and in which we found we were to embark.
"Our voyage, full of doubt as it was, would have com-
menced immediately, but that one of the Indians, who was
to be of the party, was absent. His arrival was to be
waited for; and this occasioned a very long delay, during
which we were exposed to a keen north-east wind. An
3 Ezekiel Solomons, a trader from Montreal. In Chapter XII we learn
that he was taken by the Ottawas to Montreal and then ransomed. He
made the following affidavit before the town Mayor of Montreal, on the 14th
of August, 1763: "I, Ezekiel Solomons, resident in the Fort of Michili-
mackinac at the time it was surprised by the savages, declare that on the
2nd day of June, a Frenchman, Mons. Cote, entered my house several times
and carried from thence several parcels of goods, my property. And also
an Indian named Sanpear, carried the peltry from my house to the house
of Aimable Deniviere in whose garret I was then concealed. I owed
Monsr. Arick a sum of money but at the time he demanded it the payment
was not due, and I refused to pay him till the time I had contracted for;
but he told me, if I did not pay it, he would take it by force ; I told him that
the commanding officer would prevent that and he replied that the com-
manding officer was nothing and that he himself was commanding officer."
Gladwin Manuscripts, p. 667, 1897.
192 HISTORIC MACKINAC
old shirt was all that covered me; I suffered much from the
cold; and, in this extremity, M. Langlade coming down to
the beach, I asked him for a blanket, promising, if I lived,
to pay him for it, at any price he pleased; but, the answer
I received was this, that he could let me have no blanket,
unless there were someone to be security for the payment.
For myself, he observed, I had no longer any property in
that country. I had no more to say to M. Langlade;
but, presently, seeing another Canadian, named John Cuch-
oise, I addressed to him a similar request, and was not re-
fused. 4 Naked, as I was, and rigorous as was the weather,
but for the blanket, I must have perished. At noon, our
party was all collected, the prisoners all embarked, and we
steered for the Isles du Castor, 5 in Lake Michigan.
* Charles Langlade was the son of Sieur August Langlade, who was born
in France about 1695 and was brought to Canada at an early age. He was
engaged in the Indian trade near Michilimackinac in 1720, and married
the daughter of an Ottawa chief. His eldest son, Charles, born in 1724,
also married an Ottawa woman. He commenced his career as a warrior,
by fighting with the Indians at Fort Du Quesne, when Braddock's army
was destroyed, and afterwards with Montcalm at the capture of Fort Wil-
liam Henry. The Marquis de Vaudreuil appointed him second in command
at Michilimackinac, in September, 1757, from whence he returned to help
Montcalm at Ticonderoga and Quebec. After the fall of Quebec he
was dispatched by Vaudreuil in 1760, with a commission as lieutenant
to take command of the troops and Indians at Michilimackinac. On
the conclusion of the peace he removed to Green Bay, where he engaged
in trading. Captain Etherington asked him to come to him at Michili-
mackinac, which he did, accompanied by his wife and bringing with him
a quantity of furs to trade. It was on a subsequent visit that the massacre
occurred. He seems after this to have taken the British side, for he was
appointed Indian Agent at Green Bay. During the Revolution he raised a
body of Indians for the British and was given a medal by Governor Haldi-
mand for his assistance. After the peace, he was continued in office by the
Americans, though receiving an annuity from the British government. He
died in January, 1800, aged seventy-five years, and his wife survived him
until 1818. His descendants are still living in Canada and the Western
States. We are told "he was of medium height, about five feet nine inches,
a square built man, rather heavy but never corpulent." Grignon's Recollec-
tions. Wisconsin Hist. Coll., vol. 3, p. 197.
5 Beaver Islands, in the northern part of Lake Michigan. The largest is
HENRY'S ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE 193
"The soldier, who was our companion in misfortune, was
made fast to the bar of the canoe, by a rope tied round his
neck, as is the manner of the Indians, in transporting their
prisoners. The rest were unconfined; but a paddle was
put into each of our hands, and we were made to use it.
The Indians in the canoe were seven in number; the pris-
oners four. I had left, as it will be recollected, Major
Etherington, Lieutenant Leslie and Mr. Bostwick, at M.
Langlade's, and was now joined in misery with Mr. Ezekiel
Solomons, the soldier, and the Englishman who had newly
arrived from Detroit. This was on the sixth day of June.
The fort was taken on the fourth; I surrendered myself to
Wenniway on the fifth; and this was the third day of our
distress.
"We were bound, as I have said, for the Isles du Castor,
which lie in the mouth of Lake Michigan; and we should
have crossed the lake, but that a thick fog came on, on
account of which the Indians deemed it safer to keep the
shore close under their lee. We therefore approached the
lands of the Otawas, and their village of L'Arbre Croche,
already mentioned as lying about twenty miles to the west-
ward of Michilimackinac, on the opposite side of the tongue
of land on which the fort is built.
"Every half hour, the Indians gave their war-whoops,
one for every prisoner in their canoe. This is a general
custom, by the aid of which all other Indians, within hear-
ing, are apprized of the number of prisoners they are
carrying.
"In this manner, we reached Wagoshense, 6 a long point,
stretching westward into the lake, and which the Otawas
about fifty miles long. In a direct course it is about forty-five miles from
Mackinac.
6 i.e., Fox-point. From Wagosh, a fox.
194 HISTORIC MACKINAG
make a carrying place, to avoid going round it. It is dis-
tant eighteen miles from Michilimackinac. After the In-
dians had made their war-whoop, as before, an Otawa ap-
peared upon the beach, who made signs that we should land.
In consequence, we approached. The Otawa asked the
news, and kept the Ghipeways in further conversation, till
we were within a few yards of the land, and in shallow
water. At this moment, a hundred men rushed upon us,
from among the bushes, and dragged all the prisoners out
of the canoes, amid a terrifying shout.
"We now believed that our last sufferings were approach-
ing; but, no sooner were we fairly on shore, and on our
legs, than the chiefs of the party advanced, and gave each
of us their hands, telling us that they were our friends, and
Otawas, whom the Chipeways had insulted, by destroying
the English without consulting with them on the affair.
They added, that what they had done was for the purpose
of saving our lives, the Chipeways having been carrying us
to the Isles du Castor only to kill and devour us.
"The reader's imagination is here distracted by the va-
riety of our fortunes, and he may well paint to himself the
state of mind of those who sustained them; who were the
sport, or the victims, of a series of events, more like dreams
than realities, more like fiction than truth! It was not long
before we were embarked again, in the canoes of the Ota-
was, who, the same evening, relanded us at Michilimack-
inac, where they marched us into the fort, in view of the
Chipeways, confounded at beholding the Otawas espouse a
side opposite to their own.
"The Otawas, who had accompanied us in sufficient num-
bers, took possession of the fort. We, who had changed
HENRY'S ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE 195
masters, but were still prisoners, were lodged in the house
of the commandant, and strictly guarded.
"Early the next morning, a general council was held, in
which the Chipeways complained much of the conduct of
the Otawas, in robbing them of their prisoners; alleging
that all the Indians, the Otawas alone excepted, were at
war with the English; that Pontiac had taken Detroit; that
the King of France had awoke, and repossessed himself of
Quebec and Montreal; and that the English were meeting
destruction, not only at Michilimackinac, but in every other
part of the world. From all this they inferred, that it be-
came the Otawas to restore the prisoners, and to join in the
war; and the speech was followed by large presents, being
part of the plunder of the fort, and which was previously
heaped in the centre of the room. The Indians rarely
make their answers till the day after they have heard the
arguments off ered. They did not depart from their custom
on this occasion; and the council therefore adjourned.
"We, the prisoners, whose fate was thus in controversy,
were unacquainted at the time, with this transaction; and
therefore enjoyed a night of tolerable tranquility, not in
the least suspecting the reverse which was preparing for us.
Which of the arguments of the Chipeways, or whether or
not all were deemed valid by the Otawas, I cannot say;
but the council was resumed at an early hour in the morn-
ing, and, after several speeches had been made in it, the
prisoners were sent for, and returned to the Chipeways.
"The Otawas, who now gave us into the hands of the
Chipeways, had themselves declared, that the latter de-
signed no other than to kill us, and make broth of us. The
Chipeways, as soon as we were restored to them, marched
196 HISTORIC MACKINAC
us to a village of their own, situate on the point which is
below the fort, and put us into a lodge, already the prison of
fourteen soldiers, tied two and two, with each a rope about
his neck, and made fast to a pole which might be called the
supporter of the building.
"I was left untied; but I passed a night sleepless and full
of wretchedness. The bed was the bare ground, and I was
again reduced to an old shirt, as my entire apparel; the
blanket which I had received, through the generosity of M.
Cuchoise, having been taken from me among the Otawas,
when they seized upon myself and the others, at Wago-
shense. I was, besides, in want of food, having for two
days, ate nothing.
"I confess that in the canoe, with the Chipeways, I was
offered bread but, bread, with what accompaniment!
They had a loaf, which they cut with the same knives that
they had employed in the massacre knives still covered
with blood. The blood they moistened with spittle, and
rubbing this on the bread, offered this for food to their
prisoners, telling them to eat the blood of their country-
men.
"Such was my situation, on the morning of the seventh of
June, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-
three; but a few hours produced an event which gave still
a new color to my lot.
"Toward noon, when the great war-chief, in company
with Wenniway, was seated at the opposite end of the lodge,
my friend and brother, Wawatam, suddenly came in.
During the four days preceding, I had often wondered what
had become of him. In passing by, he gave me his hand,
but went immediately toward the great chief, by the side
of whom and Wenniway, he sat himself down. The most
HENRY'S ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE 197
uninterrupted silence prevailed; each smoked his pipe, and
this done, Wawatam arose, and left the lodge, saying, to
me, as he passed, 'Take courage!'
"An hour elapsed, during which several chiefs entered
and preparations appeared to be making for a council.
At length, Wawatam re-entered the lodge, followed by his
wife, and both loaded with merchandise, which they carried
up to the chiefs, and laid in a heap before them. Some
moments of silence followed, at the end of which Wawatam
pronounced a speech, every word of which, to me, was of
extraordinary interest:
' 'Friends and relations,' he began, 'what is it that I shall
say? You know what I feel. You all have friends and
brothers and children, whom as yourselves you love; and
you what would you experience, did you, like me, behold
your dearest friend your brother in the condition of a
slave; a slave, exposed every moment to insult, and to men-
aces of death? This case, as you all know, is mine. See
there' (pointing to myself) 'my friend and brother among
slaves himself a slave!
" 'You all well know, that long before the war began, I
adopted him as my brother. From that moment, he be-
came one of my family, so that no change of circumstances
could break the cord which fastened us together.
" 'He is my brother, and, because I am your relation, he
is therefore your relation too; and how, being your rela-
tion, can he be your slave?
" 'On the day on which the war began, you were fearful,
lest, on this very account, I should reveal your secret. You
requested, therefore, that I would leave the fort, and even
cross the lake. I did so; but I did it with reluctance, not-
withstanding that you, Menehwehna, who had the command
198 HISTORIC MACKINAG
in this enterprise, gave me your promise that you would
protect my friend, delivering him from all danger and
giving him safely to me.
6 'The performance of this promise, I now claim. I
come not with empty hands to ask it. You, Menehwehna,
best know, whether or not, as it respects yourself, you have
kept your word, but I bring these goods, to buy off every
claim which any man among you all may have on my
brother, as his prisoner.'
"Wawatam having ceased, the pipes were again filled;
and, after they were finished, a further period of silence
followed. At the end of this, Menehwehna arose, and gave
his reply:
' 'My relation and brother,' said he, 'what you have
spoken is the truth. We were acquainted with the friend-
ship which subsisted between yourself and the Englishman,
in whose behalf you have now addressed us. We knew
the danger of having our secret discovered, and the conse-
quences which must follow; and you say truly, that we re-
quested you to leave the fort. This we did, out of regard
for you and your family; for, if a discovery of our design
had been made, you would have been blamed, whether
guilty or not; and you would thus have been involved in
difficulties from which you could not have extricated your-
self.
' 'It is also true, that I promised you to take care of your
friend; and this promise I performed, by desiring my son,
at the moment of assault, to seek him out, and bring him
to my lodge. He went accordingly, but could not find him.
The day after, I sent him to Langlade's, when he was in-
formed that your friend was safe; and had it not been that
the Indians were then drinking the rum which had been
HENRY'S ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE 199
found in the fort, he would have brought him home with
him, according to my orders.
' 'I am very glad to find that your friend has escaped.
We accept your present; and you may take him home with
you.'
"Wawatam thanked the assembled chiefs, and taking me
by the hand, led me to his lodge, which was at the distance
of a few yards only from the prison lodge. My entrance
appeared to give joy to the whole family; food was imme-
diately prepared for me; and I now ate the first hearty
meal which I had made since my capture. I found my-
self one of the family; and but that I had still my fears, as
to the other Indians, I felt as happy as the situation could
allow.
"In the course of the next morning, I was alarmed by a
noise in the prison-lodge; and looking through the open-
ings of the lodge in which I was, I saw seven dead bodies of
white men dragged forth. Upon my inquiry into the occa-
sion, I was informed that a certain chief, called, by the
Canadians, Le Grand Sable, had not long before arrived
from his winter's hunt; and that he, having been absent
when the war begun, and being now desirous of manifesting
to the Indians at large, his hearty concurrence in what they
had done, had gone into the prison-lodge, and there, with
his knife, put the seven men, whose bodies I had seen, to
death.
"Shortly after, two of the Indians took one of the dead
bodies, which they chose as being the fattest, cut off the
head, and divided the whole into five parts, one of which
was put into each of five kettles, hung over as many fires
kindled for this purpose, at the door of the prison-lodge.
Soon after things were so far prepared, a message came to
200 HISTORIC MACKINAG
our lodge, with an invitation to Wawatam, to assist at the
feast.
"An invitation to a feast is given by him who is the
master of it. Small cuttings of cedar-wood, of about four
inches in length, supply the place of cards; and the bearer,
by word of mouth, states the particulars.
"Wawatam obeyed the summons, taking with him, as is
usual, to the place of entertainment, his dish and spoon.
"After an absence of about half an hour, he returned,
bringing in his dish a human hand, and a large piece of
flesh. He did not appear to relish the repast, but told me
that it was then, and always had been the custom, among
all the Indian nations, when returning from war, or on
overcoming their enemies, to make a war-feast, from among
the slain. This, he said, inspired the warrior with courage
in attack, and bred him to meet death with fearlessness.
"In the evening of the same day, a large canoe, such as
those which came from Montreal, was seen advancing to the
fort. It was full of men, and I distinguished several pas-
sengers. The Indian cry was made in the village; a gen-
eral muster ordered; and, to the number of two hundred,
they marched up to the fort, where the canoe was expected
to land. The canoe, suspecting nothing, came boldly to
the fort, where the passengers, as being English traders,
were seized, dragged through the water, beat, reviled,
marched to the prison-lodge, and there stripped of their
clothes, and confined.
"Of the English traders that fell into the hands of the
Indians, at the capture of the fort, Mr. Tracy was the only
one who lost his life. Ezekiel Solomons and Mr. Henry
Bostwick were taken by the Otawas, and, after the peace,
carried down to Montreal, and there ransomed. Of ninety
.
;; f - ;
' ''.# .;
t* . :
HENRY'S ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE 201
troops, about seventy were killed; the rest, together with
those of the posts in the Bay des Puants, and at the River
Saint- Joseph, were also kept in safety by the Otawas, till
the peace, and then either freely restored, or ransomed at
Montreal. The Otawas never overcame their disgust at
the neglect with which they had been treated, in the begin-
ning of the war, by those who afterward desired their as-
sistance as allies.
"In the morning of the ninth of June, a general council
was held, at which it was agreed to remove to the Island of
Michilimackinac, as a more defensible situation, in the
event of an attack by the English. The Indians had begun
to entertain apprehensions of want of strength. No news
had reached them from the Potawatamies, in the Bay des
Puants; and they were uncertain whether or not the Mono-
minis 7 would join them. They even feared that the Sioux
would take the English side.
"This resolution fixed, they prepared for a speedy re-
treat. At noon, the camp was broken up, and we em-
barked, taking with us the prisoners that were still undis-
posed of. On our passage, we encountered a gale of wind,
and there were some appearances of danger. To avert it,
7 Menomini Indians, who occupied the western side of Green Bay, Wis-
consin, and have since been removed to a reservation in the northwestern
part of the State. They were first visited by Nicolet in 1634. The name is
derived from Omanomineu (manome, rice, and inani, man) . Shea says the
"name is the Algonquin term for the grain Zizania aquatica, wild rice. The
French called both the grain and tribe Fol Avon, wild oats. They have
always been closely associated with the Winnebagos, their language is
Algonquin and more nearly related to the Ojibway than any other. Lieut.
Gorell, who was in command of the fort at Green Bay, at this time, induced
them to accompany him to L'Arbre Croche, where the prisoners were re-
leased. See GorelVs Journal, Hist. Soc. of Wisconsin Coll., vol. I, p. 25.
For the history and language of this nation, see Hist. Soc., Wisconsin, Coll.,
vol. Ill; Gallatin's Synopsis of the Indian Tribes of North America Ar-
chceologia Americana, vol. II; and Hoffman's Menomini Indians Four-
teenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1892-93.
>*
202 HISTORIC MACKINAC
a dog, of which the legs were previously tied together, was
thrown into the lake; an offering designed to soothe the
angry passions of some offended Ma'ni'to'.
"As we approached the Island, two women, in the canoe
in which I was, began to utter melancholy and hideous
cries. Precarious as my condition still remained, I expe-
rienced some sensations of alarm, from these dismal sounds,
of which I could not then discover the occasion. Subse-
quently, I learned that it is customary for the women, on
passing near the burial-places of relations, never to omit
the practice of which I was now a witness, and by which
they intend to denote their grief.
"By the approach of evening, we reached the island in
safety, and the women were not long in erecting our cabins.
In the morning, there was a muster of the Indians, at which
there were found three hundred and fifty fighting-men.
"In the course of the day, there arrived a canoe from De-
troit, with ambassadors, who endeavored to prevail on
the Indians to repair thither, to the assistance of Pontiac;
but fear was now the prevailing passion. A guard was
kept during the day, and alarms were very frequently
spread. Had an enemy appeared, all the prisoners would
have been put to death; and I suspected, that as an English-
man, I should share their fate.
"Several days had now passed, when, one morning, a
continued alarm prevailed, and I saw the Indians running,
in a confused manner, toward the beach. In a short time,
I learned that two large canoes, from Montreal, were in
sight.
"All the Indian canoes were immediately manned, and
those from Montreal were surrounded and seized, as they
HENRY'S ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE 203
turned a point, behind which the flotilla had been con-
cealed. The goods were consigned to a Mr. Levy, and
would have been saved, if the canoe-men had called them
French properly; but they were terrified, and disguised
nothing. !j ^^ j-ffj
"In the canoes was a large proportion of liquor, a dan-
gerous acquisition, and which threatened disturbance
among the Indians, even to the loss of their dearest friends.
Wawatam, always watchful of my safety, no sooner heard
the noise of drunkenness, which, in the evening did not
fail to begin, than he represented to me the danger of re-
maining in the village, and owned that he could not himself
resist the temptation of joining his comrades in the de-
bauch. That I might escape all mischief, he therefore re-
quested that I would accompany him to the mountain, where
I was to remain hidden, till the liquor should be drank.
"We ascended the mountain accordingly. It is this
mountain which constitutes that high land, in the middle of
the island, of which I have spoken before, as of a figure
considered as resembling a turtle, and therefore called
michilimackinac. It is thickly covered with wood, and
very rocky toward the top. After walking more than half
a mile, we came to a large rock, at the base of which was
an opening, dark within, and appearing to be the entrance
of a cave.
"Here Wawatam recommended that I should take up my
lodging, and by all means remain till he returned.
"On going into the cave, of which the entrance was nearly
ten feet wide, I found the further end to be rounded in its
shape, like that of an oven, but with a further aperture, too
small, however, to be explored.
204 HISTORIC MACKINAG
"After thus looking around me, I broke small branches
from the trees, and spread them for a bed; then wrapped
myself in my blanket, and slept till day-break.
"On awakening, I felt myself incommoded by some ob-
ject, upon which I lay; and, removing it, found it to be a
bone. This I supposed to be that of a deer, or some other
animal, and what might very naturally be looked for, in the
place in which I was; but, when day -light visited my cham-
ber, I discovered, with some feelings of horror, that I was
lying on nothing less than a heap of human bones, and
skulls, which covered all the floor!
"The day passed without the return of Wawatam, and
without food. As night approached, I found myself un-
able to meet its darkness in the charnel-house, which, never-
theless, I had viewed free from uneasiness during the day.
I chose, therefore, an adjacent bush for this night's lodging,
and slept under it as before; but, in the morning, I awoke
hungry and dispirited, and almost envying the dry bones,
to the view of which I returned. At length, the sound of a
foot reached me, and my Indian friend appeared, making
many apologies for his long absence, the cause of which
was an unfortunate excess in the enjoyment of his liquor.
"This point being explained, I mentioned the extraor-
dinary sight that had presented itself, in the cave to which
he had commended my slumbers. He had never heard of
its existence before ; and, upon examining the cave together,
we saw reason to believe that it had been anciently filled
with human bodies.
"On returning to the lodge, I experienced a cordial re-
ception from the family, which consisted of the wife of my
friend, his two sons, of whom the eldest was married, and
HENRY'S ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE 205
whose wife, and a daughter, of thirteen years of age, com-
pleted the list.
"Wawatam related to the other Indians the adventure of
the bones. All of them expressed surprise at hearing it,
and declared that they had never been aware of the con-
tents of this cave before. After visiting it, which they
immediately did, almost every one offered a different opin-
ion, as to its history.
"Some advanced, that at a period when the waters over-
flowed the land (an event which makes a distinguished fig-
ure in the history of their world), the inhabitants of this
island had fled into the cave, and been there drowned;
others, that those same inhabitants, when the Hurons made
war upon them (as tradition says they did), hid themselves
in the cave, and being discovered, were there massacred.
For myself, I am disposed to believe, that this cave was
an ancient receptacle of the bones of prisoners, sacrificed
and devoured at war-feasts. I have always observed, that
the Indians pay particular attention to the bones of sacri-
fices, preserving them unbroken, and depositing them in
some place kept exclusively for that purpose."
According to Henry's account, a few days after this the
chief Minavavana came to the lodge of his friend, and
warning Henry of the approach of hostile Indians assisted
him to escape in the disguise of an Indian. In this disguise
he visited the fort, succeeded in finding his French clerks,
but could recover none of his goods. Abandoning his
trading plans, he visited St. Martin's Island, and later in
company with Wawatam spent the winter in hunting. In
the spring he returned to Mackinaw, where he found only
two French traders and a few Indians. His winter's hunt-
206 HISTORIC MACKINAC
ing had netted him about $160. There he learned that a
band of Indians from Saginaw Bay were approaching,
and was informed by some who arrived in advance that
they proposed to kill him "in order to give their friends a
mess of English broth, to raise their courage."
An opportunity presented itself to reach Sault Ste. Marie,
in company with Madame Cadotte, the Chippewa wife of a
Sault trader, who was returning from Montreal. This was
at the Isle aux Outardes, whither Henry, with Wawatam
and his family had gone for safety, and it was there that
Henry parted with his friends.
"We now exchanged farewells," he says, "with an emo-
tion entirely reciprocal. I did not quit the lodge without
the most grateful sense of the many acts of goodness which
I had experienced in it, nor without the sincerest respect for
the virtues which I had witnessed among its members. All
the family accompanied me to the beach; and the canoe
had no sooner put off, than Wawatam commenced an ad-
dress to the Ki'chi' Ma'ni'to', beseeching him to take care
of me, his brother, till we should next meet. This, he had
told me, would not be long, as he intended to return to
Michilimackinac for a short time only, and would then
follow me to the Sault. We had proceeded to too great a
distance to allow of our hearing his voice, before Wawatam
had ceased to offer up his prayers."
The next day Henry arrived at the Sault, but hostile
Indians were there from Mackinaw inquiring for him and
he was compelled to take refuge in a garret. On learning
that he was under the protection of M. Cadotte, who assured
8 Henry, Travels (Bain's edition, George N, Morang & Co., Toronto),
p. 154.
HENRY'S ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE 207
them that Henry was now under the immediate protection
of all the chiefs, they desisted from their purpose. Soon
after this a deputation arrived from Sir William Johnson,
inviting the Indians to Niagara to partake of a great feast,
in common with the Six Nations of the Iroquois, which had
all made peace with the English; and the invitation was
reinforced with the assurance that unless they complied,
the English before the fall of the leaf, would be at Michili-
mackinac and the Six Nations with them. The return of
the deputation with the northern Indians offered Henry the
means of leaving the country.
"Very little time was proposed to be lost in setting for-
ward on the voyage," says Henry, "but the occasion was
of too much magnitude not to call for more than human
knowledge and discretion; and preparations were accord-
ingly made for solemnly invoking and consulting the
Great Turtle."
In due course Henry, accompanying the deputation of
Indians, arrived at Niagara safe, delivered finally from the
grave dangers which trading at Mackinaw had brought
down upon the head of an Englishman.
WALK-IN-THE-WATER
NOTE BOOK OF FRANCIS PARKMAN
(Cpurtesy of Massachusetts Historical Society)
208
PARKMAN'S NOTE BOOK
209
CHAPTER XII
OLD MACKINAW AFTER THE MASSACRE: MAJOR
ROBERT ROGERS
ON June 12, eight days after the massacre at Old
Mackinaw, Captain Etherington who had com-
manded the fort wrote to Major Gladwin at Detroit
a brief account of the disaster which corroborates in most
particulars that given by Henry. 1
"They made prisoners all the English Traders," he says,
"and robbed them of everything they had; but they offered
no violence to the persons or property of any of the French-
men. When that massacre was over, Messrs. Langlade
and Farli, the Interpreter, came down to the place where
Lieut. Lesley and me were prisoners, and on their giving
themselves as security to return us when demanded, they
obtained leave for us to go to the Fort, under a guard of
savages, which gave time, by the assistance of the gentle-
man above-mentioned, to send for the Outaways, who came
down on the first notice and were very much displeased at
what the Chipeways had done." This, as Henry says, was
not out of any regard for the English, but out of chagrin
that the jib ways should have taken this step without
admitting them to the plan. The resentment of the Ottawas
explains the subsequent aid they gave the English pris-
oners. "Since the arrival of the Ottawas," he writes,
1 Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac, II, 366-368. Little, Brown & Co.,
Boston.
210
OLD MACKINAW AFTER THE MASSACRE 211
"they have done everything in their power to serve us."
He expressed the belief that if Gladwin could send up a
strong reinforcement, the fort might be re-established.
"I have been very much obliged," he says, "to Messrs.
Langlade and Farli, the Interpreter, as likewise to the
Jesuit, for the many good offices they have done us on this
occasion. The priest seems inclinable to go down to your
post for a day or two, which I am very glad of, as he is a
very good man, and had a great deal to say with the savages
hereabout, who will believe everything he tells them on his
return, which I hope will be soon." In a postscript, he
adds: "And once more I beg that nothing may stop your
sending of him back, the next day after his arrival, if pos-
sible, as we shall be at a great loss for the want of him."
This was Father Pierre Du Jaunay, who had been at the
mission of St. Ignatius at L'Arbre Croche since 1744, and
superior of the Ottawa mission since 1756. 2 The follow-
ing is from the Jesuit Relations? "Finally, in the month
of July [June], 1763, at the time of the revolt of the
savages of Canada against the English, the Sauteurs of
Michilimakina threw themselves upon the English garrison
which occupied that fort. They had already destroyed a
large part of it, when Father Du Jaunay, a Jesuit priest,
opened his house to serve as an asylum to what remained
of the soldiers and of the English traders; but to save their
lives, he greatly endangered his own. The savage youth,
irritated at seeing half of their prey snatched away from
them, tried to make amends for their loss at the expense of
Father Du Jaunay, and the old men of the nation had
difficulty in pacifying them."
2 Wis. Hist. Colls., XVII, 370, note. Ibid., XVIII, 471, note 99.
3LXX, 251; see also LXVIII, 281; LXIX, 79; LXXI, 130, 171, 399. The
Burrows Brothers Company, Cleveland, Ohio.
212 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"It may be added," says Parkman, 4 "that the Indians of
L'Arbre Croche were somewhat less hostile to the English
than the neighbouring tribes; for the great influence of the
priest Jonois [Jaunay] seems always to have been exerted
on the side of peace."
The Ojibways made a formal protest to the Ottawas
against their aiding the English. A council of the prin-
cipal chiefs was addressed by Minavavana, who expressed
surprise that they should be the only Indians who had
opposed the will of the Great Spirit, which had decreed
the death of all Englishmen. The Ottawas, after a day's
deliberation and probably under the influence of Father
Du Jaunay, diplomatically expressed a willingness to con-
cur, and an adjustment was made regarding the prisoners,
who were taken to the mission at L'Arbre Croche.
It was from here that Etherington, the day before writing
to Gladwin, sent a note to Lieutenant Gorell, Commandant
at Green Bay, where an English garrison had been sta-
tioned in 1761. Gorell was a man of judgment and tact,
and had so won the Indians about him, that his post had
been spared from the general attack planned by Pontiac.
On receiving this letter from Etherington, he held a council,
at which he told the Indians what had happened at Mack-
inaw, that he was going there to restore order, and that he
commended the fort to their care in his absence. The
effect of his firmness, his flattering expressions of confi-
dence, and the liberal presents distributed, was reinforced
by the fortunate arrival of news from the Dahcotahs, the
dreaded enemies of the Green Bay Indians, who said that
they had heard the news from Mackinaw, and that they
would take ample revenge on any Indians that should
4 Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac, I, 366. Little, Brown & Co., Boston.
OLD MACKINAW AFTER THE MASSACRE 213
further molest the English. The departure of Gorell was
favoured also by the enmity which some of the Green Bay
Indians bore for the jib ways.
GorelPs party was accompanied to L'Arbre Croche by
ninety warriors. Captain Etherington and Lieutenant Les-
lie with eleven men were found there, prisoners, but kindly
treated. Councils with the Ottawas and Ojibwas followed,
lasting for several days. The prisoners were finally lib-
erated. On July 18 the English, setting out from L'Arbre
Croche with a large Indian escort, descended by the Ottawa
route to Montreal, where they arrived safe on August 13th.
In the meantime, in July, there had gathered at Niagara
a vast concourse of western Indians implicated in Pontiac's
plans, to the grand council for which Alexander Henry had
set out from Sault Ste. Marie with his Indian escorts.
"Among the Indians present," says Parkman, 5 "were a
band of Ottawas from Michilimackinac and remoter settle-
ments beyond Lake Michigan, and a band of Menominees
from Green Bay. The former, it will be remembered, had
done good service to the English, by rescuing the survivors
of the garrison of Michilimackinac from the clutches of the
Ojibwas; and the latter had deserved no less at their
hands, by the protection they had extended to Lieutenant
Gorell, and the garrison at Green Bay." They expressed
in numerous speeches their confidence in the English, dis-
avowing any connection with Pontiac. "Brother," said an
Ottawa Chief, 6 "you must not imagine I am acquainted with
the cause of the war. I only heard a little bird whistle an
account of it, and, on going to Michilimackinac, I found
your people killed, upon which I sent our priest to inquire
Ibid ., II, 185.
Ibid., II, 186.
214 HISTORIC MACKINAC
into the matter. On the priest's return, he brought me no
favourable account, but a war-hatchet from Pontiac, which
I scarcely looked on, and immediately threw away."
Their confidence and fidelity was rewarded with food and
clothing and permission to trade with the soldiers at Fort
Niagara. A moderate quantity of the inevitable liquor
was distributed, on their request. But the English took
care in making the treaties to leave ample room for dis-
cord among the tribes, to discourage further tendencies to
united action. 7
The return of the English to Old Mackinaw has been
briefly summarized as follows: 8 "One of the results of
the treaty and conference at Niagara, in the summer of
1764, was the consent of the Indians to the re-establish-
ment of an English garrison at Michilimackinac. There*
upon Colonel John Bradstreet, in command of an army of
over two thousand men, destined for the relief of Detroit,
and the punishment of the hostile Indians, was ordered to
send a party of regulars to retake Fort Mackinaw. After
being deceived by the astute tribesmen, into signing with
them a fallacious peace, Bradstreet reached Detroit August
27, and at once set his engineers to work to prepare boats
and provisions for the garrison at Mackinaw. He also
had enlisted two companies of French habitants to accom-
pany the regulars thither and aid in pacifying the Indians
and establishing the new garrison. September 1, the ex-
pedition left Detroit under command of Captain William
Howard of the 17th infantry, with a detachment composed
of two companies of regulars and an artillery force. With
7 See Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New York, VII,
655, for an official report of this conference.
8 "Summary of documents on the return of an English garrison to
Mackinaw." Wis. Hist. Colls., XVIII, 270.
OLD MACKINAW AFTER THE MASSACRE 215
them was the trader Alexander Henry. No Indians were
encountered en route, the report of the advance of the
British army having driven them from the lake. The
schooner Gladwin was sent after them, on the ninth, with
provisions and equipment. The militia returned to Detroit
on October 27th."
Whether the old fort was re-occupied or a new one was
built by the English, and if so, just where it was located,
are matters of dispute. Dr. Thwaites thinks that a new
fort was built. He says: 9 "There appears to be good rea-
son for the belief that it was among the sand dunes farther
west along the coast; for in the official correspondence of the
next fifteen years, there is much complaint upon the part
of commandants that their 'rickety picket is commanded by
sand hills,' a condition which does not exist at the old
site, near Mackinaw City."
Jonathan Carver, the English traveller and explorer, who
visited the site in 1766, does not mention the sand dunes,
and in the following description he appears to refer to the
old fort: 10 "Michilimackinac, from whence I began my
travels, is a fort composed of a strong stockade, and is
usually defended by a garrison of one hundred men. It
contains about thirty houses, one of which belongs to the
Governor, and another to the commissary. Several traders
also dwell within its fortifications, who find it a convenient
situation to traffic with the neighboring nations."
The editor of Rogers' Ponteach, 11 in describing the fort
at the time of the arrival of Rogers, the year before Carver,
speaks definitely of the fort as "newly built" among "sand
9 "Story of Mackinac," in Thwaites' How George Rogers Clark Won the
Northwest, p. 218. A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago.
10 Carver's Travels (Lond., 1796) , p. 12.
P. 115.
216 HISTORIC MACKINAC
dunes": "The post stood there on a bold point a mile or
two west of the present site of Mackinaw City, just south
of and overlooking the straits; and to arrive at it Rogers
passed the beautiful Mackinac Island, its high, blanched
limestone cliffs, crowned and backed by heavy pine forests,
rising in irregular splendour from the lake. Newly built
since Pontiac's war, the fort was not a prepossessing struc-
ture, for it was 'neither commodious nor strong; and its
situation, among monotonous sand dunes, that ran back for
a long distance before they were broken by the odorous
woods of cedar and pine, was bleak in winter, and baking
hot in summer. Heavy barracks rose near the fort proper,
and at some distance stood the French village of Mackinaw,
a cluster of white plastered log houses, defining the extremi-
ties of the long, narrow, rectangular plot in which the
villagers cultivated the land. In front, the opposite
shore outlined by well wooded heights spread the brief
straits, widening away on either hand into the lovely waters
of Huron and Michigan."
Captain Etherington was succeeded for a brief interval
by Captain Howard, who in turn was succeeded by the
noted Ranger, Robert Rogers. The arrival of Major Rob-
ert Rogers to succeed Captain Howard, introduces one of
the most picturesque figures in the history of Old Mack-
inaw, of whom Parkman has left the following vivid pen
picture: 12
"Rogers was a native of New Hampshire. He com-
manded a body of provincial rangers, and stood in high
repute as a partisan officer. Putnam and Stark were his
associates; and it was in this woodland warfare that the
12 Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac, I, 168-170. Little, Brown & Co.,
Boston.
OLD MACKINAW AFTER THE MASSACRE 217
former achieved many of those startling adventures and
hair-breadth escapes which have made his name familiar
at every New England fireside. Rogers' Rangers, half
hunters, half woodsmen, trained in a discipline of their
own, and armed, like Indians, with hatchet, knife and gun,
were employed in a service of peculiar hardship. . . .
"Their commander was a man tall and strong in person,
and rough in feature. He was versed in all the arts of
woodcraft, sagacious, prompt, and resolute, yet so cautious
withal that he sometimes incurred the unjust charge of
cowardice. His mind, naturally active, was by no means
uncultivated; and his books and unpublished papers bear
witness that his style as a writer was not contemptible. But
his vain, restless, and grasping spirit, and more than doubt-
ful honesty, proved the ruin of an enviable reputation.
Early in August, 1765, Rogers arrived at Old Mackinaw,
with fairly full powers as Commandant and Indian Agent. 13
His practical isolation at the beginning of winter from all
effective control was a strong temptation to indulge in
schemes to advance his private gain, especially to disre-
gard the apparently impractical instructions given him
by Sir William Johnson to regulate the Mackinaw fur
trade. Because of the liberties he allowed the traders,
doubling the quantity of furs possible to be gathered under
Johnson's hampering instructions, Rogers was "vastly liked
and applauded" at Mackinaw as well as at Montreal, where
centred "almost all the channels of trade that drained the
Mackinaw district." It was a bold step, for Captain How-
ard, his predecessor, had been displaced for a similar
offence.
13 This sketch is based on Allan Nevins' edition of Rogers' Ponteach,
pp. 115 ff. Caxton Club, Chicago.
218 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Rogers well knew the danger, but he counted upon the
friends he was fast making among the influential traders
at Mackinaw, Atkinson, Goddard, Stuart, Des Rivieres,
Tute, and others. "The most memorable of his relation-
ships at the inception of his duties, however, was a needy
adventurer who had followed him out from the east upon
a previous understanding Jonathan Carver. This officer,
slightly older than Rogers, had first come into contact with
the leader of the Rangers in the fighting about Lake George,
where he also had served as a provincial captain. 14 He
was a native of Connecticut, born, like Rogers, into a
frontier community, and left fatherless at an even earlier
age, though amid surroundings vastly better for his educa-
tion. Wounded at the massacre of Fort William Henry,
he had written a vivid and stirring account of that sorry
occurrence. He was retired from the service in 1763,
returning to Massachusetts, where his company had been
raised, and apparently dragging out a rather painful civil
existence there for the next two years. Now, in the middle
of August, he was at Mackinaw, head bent with the major
over vast plans, which centred about one wild surmise.
"In one way, perhaps through hearing of Rogers' peti-
tion of 1765, more probably through meeting him upon
his return from London, Carver had been struck with the
possibility of aiding the Governor of Mackinaw in carrying
out, upon a modest scale, his glorious scheme for the dis-
covery of the semi-fabulous Northwest passage. In his
Travels he long after attempted to arrogate to himself the
[Notes 14-21 are Mr. Nevins', accompanying Ponteach.]
14 This information is largely drawn from petitions of Carver's pre-
sented to the Board of Trade when he went to England in 1769 to secure
his expenses for his journey; see Board of Trade, Commercial Papers, Vol.
459.
O
I I < '
81 .s
OLD MACKINAW AFTER THE MASSACRE 219
credit, for his expedition, 15 saying that he was inde-
pendently struck by the possibility in it of performing a
further service to the King; but it has already been shown
that Rogers had made a similar proposal to the ministry
in 1765, so that he has a better claim to be the originator
of the plan. 16 Carver's missions would have in his own
ambitions an almost inexplicable origin; he must have
known that he, a landless, almost penniless officer, could
never have financed it; and if he had conceived it alone it is
unbelievable that he would not have sought some official
approbation for it. Three years later in London, at the
very moment Rogers was collecting his personal expenses
in the expedition, Carver secured his own share by swear-
ing before the Privy Council for Plantation Affairs that it
was only in consequence of the Governor's commission
that he undertook the journey. 17 Finally we gather from
a letter of Claus' to Johnson that Rogers had returned
from England still quite full of the plan he had broached
there so full that he was willing to seize the opportunity
his new authority gave him. 18 The enterprise was rapidly
15 Introduction, Travels Through the Interior Part of North America,
by J. Carver, London, 1779.
16 There has been a very considerable reaction from the complete con-
demnation of Carver's Travels, since the publication of E. C. Bourne's de-
structive criticism, American Historical Review, XI, 2, p. 287. The study
of Carver's career by John T. Lee in the Wisconsin Historical Society's
Proceedings, 1912, pp. 87-123, Ibid., 1909, pp. 143-153, has completely
overthrown most of Professor Bourne's contentions, and, as far as his ac-
tual travels are concerned, Carver is regarded today by historians as a re-
liable witness. See also M. M. Quaife, The Evolution of Source Material
for Western History, in Mississippi Valley Historical Review, I, 167 and
following (September, 1914). It is interesting to note that for Carver's
descriptions of the beaver, bear, porcupine, pp. 282, 274, and 279, of the
Travels, he drew almost verbatim upon Rogers' paragraphs upon the same,
pp. 253, 259, and 263 of the Concise Account.
17 Board of Trade, Commercial Papers, Volume 459.
18 Johnson MSS., 16, 134. Claus speaks of Lieutenant Pauli of the
220 HISTORIC MACKINAC
put under way. In June, while Rogers was in New Eng-
land or New York, Carver set out from Boston, and taking
the same ship as his superior, 19 apparently arrived with
him, or at any rate not many days behind him, at the straits,
thirteen hundred miles to the west. The prompt assistance
which the major, so new at his post, rendered him, far be-
yond the measures of his legal powers, is almost indubit-
able evidence of previous collusion. On August 12, Rogers
issued Carver a commission as leader of a special explor-
ing detail from the fort, at a salary of eight shillings daily,
'for the purpose of making surveys of the interior, es-
Royal Americans having proposed to him in confidence a plan for an ex-
pedition northwest of Lake Superior, "he having made himself acquainted
with the discoveries of several nations at sea, particularly with those of
the Russians, which latter gave him great encouragement"; and compares
Pauli's fitness for the journey with that of Rogers, as the originator of an
earlier and similar scheme, which Rogers was still hopeful of carrying out.
19 It seems impossible to determine just when or how Carver arrived
at Mackinac: for deliberately or otherwise, his Travels throw a great deal
of dust about those of his movements which immediately preceded the
initiation of his expedition. In 1766 the only schooner plying between
Detroit and Mackinac was the Gladwin, which had played such a part in
the siege of Detroit; if he arrived upon it he almost certainly came with
Rogers, for trips were infrequent, and he was at the post early in Au-
gust. He may, however, have come by canoe. It may as well be remarked
here as anywhere, that throughout his book Carver seems anxious to ex-
clude Rogers' name from any connection with his travels, and makes no
mention whatever of him in narrating his return to Mackinac at the end
of the summer of 1767. He speaks merely of the tranquil pleasures of
fishing and of the passing of the time in pleasant company, during the
stirring months in which Rogers was arrested, kept in irons, and the en-
tire settlement was full of excitement. In a letter from the fort to his
wife, September 24, 1767, he states that the date of his arrival was August
30; while in his Travels he puts it "at the beginning of November." In
this letter he further says that "on my return to this place, I received the
thanks of the Governor Commandant, who has promised he w?ll take spe-
cial care to acquaint the government at home of my services," and that
"I have two hundred pounds sterling due to me from the crown, which
I shall have in the spring." Published by John T. Lee in Wisconsin His-
torical Society Proceedings, 1909, p. 149, and in The Nation, New York,
Volume XCIX, 161. Carver returned to his family at Montague, Massa-
chusetts, in August, 1768.
OLD MACKINAW AFTER THE MASSACRE 221
pecially to the west and northwest,' and outlining carefully
the route to be followed. 20
"He endowed Carver and his companions liberally with
supplies, promised to send more to the Falls of St. Anthony,
and advised him as carefully as his superior knowledge of
the Indians and the West warranted him. The hopes and
fears of both officers were high. If the exploration suc-
ceeded in even a portion of its objects it would benefit
both immeasurably. The West, in all its rich resources,
its scenery, and its Indian life, was unknown; its plains,
rivers, mountains, unmapped; the routes to the western
ocean but conjectural. To penetrate it would be at once
to confer a benefit upon science and geography, to give
England a claim to its possession, to open it to settlement,
and perhaps, if a water passage above the 'Ouragon' did
not prove mythical, to give a new impulse to commerce.
On the third day of September, Carver set forth with
several traders and guides down Lake Michigan. The
trip was destined to do much less, and much more, than
was expected of it; it was to discover no Northwest pas-
sage, and to map no vast extent of unknown territory; but
it was to give birth to a book of travel which should arouse
European curiosity for America as no other ever had, and
to interest Schiller, Chateaubriand, and Byron." 21
20 Board of Trade, Commercial Papers, Volume 459. Carver says he
never received the provisions which Rogers promised to send him to the
Falls of St. Anthony; but it is certain that they were sent to him, for
Rogers was later paid for them. The fact that Carver used that part of
Rogers' plan of 1765 which appointed the Falls as headquarters for the
first winter may have a slight significance. See Carver's Petition of Feb.
10, 1773, in the Earl of Dartmouth's MSS., (unpublished) .
21 In evidence of the astonishing popularity of Carver's Travels John T.
Lee enumerates thirty editions, with translations into German, French and
Dutch. (Wisconsin Historical Society Proceedings, 1909, pp. 143-183.)
"From Carver's Travels, Chateaubriand drew not a few of the descriptions
222 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Before Carver's return, affairs at Old Mackinaw were
destined to suffer a serious change. Secure of the friend-
ship of the traders, Rogers now sought to win the Indians,
not only immediately about the fort, but among remote
tribes in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and even beyond the
Mississippi, where his agents by flattery, fair promises, and
liberal presents succeeded so well that the report went
down to Montreal that "his behaviour toward the Indians
was liked and approved by them, as well as the people of
Mackinac." Giving presents, however, was expensive, and
his heavy drafts for money got him into trouble almost im-
mediately with his superior, Sir William Johnson. Within
his first few weeks of office he had spent in Indian affairs
some $4,000. His need of money was greatly increased
by his bad habits and general riotous living, which was
eventually to ruin him; to get the money he borrowed ex-
tensively from well-to-do traders and merchants, and be-
came in time so embarrassed financially that he was driven
to desperate remedies. Of his mode of living at this time,
Mrs. Rogers writes: "To paint in their true colours my
suffering during my stay in that remote and lonely region
would be a task beyond my ability." 22
It was not long before Johnson, influenced by Rogers'
disregard of instructions, his large and increasing drafts,
his dissipation and his accumulating debts, determined
to send Benjamin Roberts, commissary at Niagara, to
Mackinaw in that capacity, as a check upon him. Roberts
was delayed until June, 1768. In the meantime Rogers,
of Indian customs for his fascinating and poetic Voyage en Amerique.
From the same source Schiller derived the language and thought for his
Nadowessier's Todtenlied, familiar to English readers through Bulwer-Lyt-
ton's translation as The Indian's Death Dirge" Joseph Bedier, Etudes
Critiques, Paris, 1903, on Chateaubriand.
22 Ponteach, p. 126. Allan Nevins, Caxton Club, Chicago.
OLD MACKINAW AFTER THE MASSACRE 223
aiming to make himself independent of Johnson, drafted
a plan of government for Mackinaw, which he transmitted
direct to the Board of Trade in England. The plan was
a combination of civil and military government, in which
Rogers was to be Governor of Mackinaw, with subordinates
appointed by himself and an advisory Council of twelve
elected by citizens of the town. He was to be given an
adequate military force, an adequate permanent appropria-
tion for presents to the Indians, and be responsible only to
the King's ministers. "The plan was suggestive, but its
obvious inspiration lay in his debts, his troubles with the
traders and with Johnson, and the increasing certainty that
a commissary would be watchfully at his side. It was
clear that, under a scheme for promoting trade, he was
virtually proposing that he be given the most absolute
control over the tribes, the fur business, the garrison of
the Northwest, and a large sum of money." 23
In 1768, an exceedingly expensive convocation of In-
dians was held at Mackinaw, gathered by Rogers' agents
from a wide region; so numerous were the Indians that
their canoes blackened the waters of the straits and the
woods were filled with their tents. "Before the meeting
broke up, the Governor devoted one whole day to the dis-
tribution of many presents, secured upon more drafts from
the merchants of the town." During the summer Rogers
drew upon Johnson for a grand total of $25,000. Johnson
was angered, and his suspicions were aroused that Rogers
had some ulterior motive in thus ingratiating himself with
the Indians at such a ruinous rate for the government.
"There must be some particular motive," he wrote to Gen-
eral Gage. "Expenses seem to have been made, Indians
23 Ibid., p. 128. Allan Nevins, Caxton Club, Chicago.
224 HISTORIC MACKINAC
called, and traders indulged purely to procure their es-
teem." 24
On June 23, Roberts entered on his duties as Commis-
sary, instructed to cut down expenses, and enforce the
trade regulations. He was received coldly, and Rogers
hampered his work in every way possible. In return,
Roberts reported to Johnson Rogers' machinations and
those of his agents, "simple, canting, over-reaching New
Englanders, who watch every opportunity of making the
Indians drunk, and cheating them of their furs, continually
abuse one another, and never speak well of any one in
power." 25
Roberts carried out Johnson's embargo on the sale of
liquor, which at first angered the Indians; but by tact and
good sense, Roberts gained their good will. The sol-
diers remained steadfastly loyal to Rogers, as the breach
between the commissary and the commandant widened.
Rogers' mounting debts and the refusal of his drafts by
Johnson made him irritable and quarrelsome with every
one. One day an incident occurred between him and
his secretary, Potter, which strengthened the suspicions of
Roberts that Rogers was contemplating some scheme dan-
gerous to the government. "In July, Potter returned from
his trip upon Lake Superior, and three or four days later
the entire garrison was amazed to see the door of Rogers'
house fly violently open, and the two emerge, scuffling, fight-
ing, and blaspheming one another, down the steps. They
separated in a moment and strode away from each other,
white and panting, but without divulging the root of the
sudden and amazing quarrel. The soldiery were agog,
24 Ibid., p. 130. Allan Nevins, Caxton Club, Chicago.
25 Ibid., p. 132.
OLD MACKINAW AFTER THE MASSACRE 225
and watched the two men closely. On the morrow they
indulged in high words on the parade ground, and on the
third day, meeting again, Rogers flew into a violent passion,
knocked Potter down, and ordered him put in irons." 26
Rumours began to float about the fort that Rogers was
planning to sack and abandon Mackinaw, and join the
French or the Spanish beyond the Mississippi. The trad-
ers and merchants to whom Rogers was now in debt several
hundred thousand French livres, appealed to Roberts for
protection. Potter planned to go to England. The sus-
picions of Roberts were deepened by the hints Potter
dropped of weighty matters he might disclose if the time
were ripe. These rumours and suspicions Roberts sent
down to Johnson. To add greatly to his suspicions, in
August, Roberts discovered that Rogers was smuggling rum
out of the fort to Green Bay, probably to be used to influ-
ence the Indians. He then appealed to Potter to make a
clean breast of all he knew, which, after some hesitation,
Potter did. "He said that Rogers had determined a full
month before, that if his plans for the civil government of
Mackinaw did not elicit a favourable reply from England
during the ensuing winter, he would close at once with an
offer he had received from the French through one of his
old comrades in the provincial service, Captain Hopkins,
now a turncoat in the West Indies. With Tute, Goddard,
Atherton, and whatever part of the garrison he could induce
to desert, Potter further alleged, he planned to rifle all the
trading depots in the vicinity, and thus 'full-handed' join
the French west of the Illinois country. It was his own
refusal to adhere to this plan, said Potter, which had occa-
sioned his quarrel with Rogers, who had threatened him
26 Ibid., p. 134. Allan Nevins, Caxton Club, Chicago.
226 HISTORIC MACKINAG
with instant death if he revealed it." 27 Roberts at once
revealed the alleged plot to Johnson, and Potter went down
to Montreal to repeat his accusation of Rogers under
oath. 28
The rum which Rogers had ordered taken from the fort
was found and seized by the commissary. "As 'seizing
officer,' Roberts felt the disposition of the rum to be his,
and ordered it to be placed in the King's store, of which
he held the key; but Rogers, who was standing glowering
by, sharply contradicted his directions, commanding that
it be given to the deputy commissary of provisions. A
heated quarrel ensued, in which both the excitable commis-
sary, highly wrought upon by all he had heard, and the
imperious Governor lost their heads ; the lie was exchanged ;
a denunciation as traitor trembled on the lips of Roberts;
and Rogers in a rage called the guard, and had the strug-
gling officer, before the amazed eyes of the Indians and
townspeople, borne away and locked up in his house." A
temporary reconciliation followed, but another quarrel
soon broke out and Roberts was again confined by Rogers'
orders.
In the meantime, Potter had made a complete deposition
as to Rogers' plans, at Montreal, and had sailed imme-
diately for England. Orders were sent to Mackinaw to
arrest Rogers, which was done. Rogers planned escape,
as the soldiers were still loyal to him, but he was foiled,
and transported to Niagara. He complained bitterly of the
ill-treatment he received on the way down the lakes. "I
was thrown," he afterwards testified, "into the hold of the
vessel, upon the ballast of stones, still in irons; and in this
27 Ibid., p. 136. Allan Nevins, Caxton Club, Chicago.
Pion. and Hist. Colls., X, 225-228.
OLD MACKINAW AFTER THE MASSACRE 227
manner transported the whole distance. When they were
taken off, the weight of them was so considerable, and
they were fastened so tightly, that my legs were bent.
From the pain I suffered, together with the cold, the bone
of my right leg was split, and the marrow forced its way
out of it through the skin." 29
This was the last that Old Mackinaw was to see of its
third English Commandant, Major Robert Rogers. It may
be of interest to trace briefly his subsequent career. It
takes us into Revolutionary times, and is entirely in keep-
ing with his character and career at Mackinaw.
He was tried at Montreal for mutiny, to avoid the delay
incident to a civil trial on the charge of treason. Strangely
enough, he was acquitted, through the influence of his cred-
itors, who hoped that if freed he might pay his debts.
Meanwhile, the innocent Roberts was arrested, though later
freed, and Rogers spent the winter in turning the tables
of public sentiment on his enemies. Shortly he went to
London, interested powerful political friends and secured
the personal favour of George III. Back pay was granted
him for his services at Mackinaw. Following him, how-
ever, came Roberts, at first received everywhere coldly, for
his way had been poisoned by Rogers, but his opportunity
finally came. The true story of Rogers' conduct received,
the discredited ranger's fortunes began to decline and those
who had been his friends turned against him. By 1773
he was in a debtor's prison, with Roberts in a neighbouring
cell. By some means, probably through his brother, James
Rogers, he got out of prison, and took ship in 1775 for
the colonies, determined to patch up the breach, if possible*
with his former superiors, to the end of getting a position
29 Ponteach, p. 141. Allan Nevins, Caxton Club, Chicago.
228 HISTORIC MAGKINAC
in the British army. He visited old friends who had taken
sides with the revolted colonists. But quite generally he
was treated with suspicion. In 1776 Washington wrote
to Schuyler that "Rogers being much suspected of un-
friendly views toward this country, his conduct should be
attended to with some degree of vigilance and circumspec-
tion." 30 On June 25, 1776, the New Hampshire House of
Representatives appointed a committee to "consider the ex-
pediency of securing Major Rogers in consequence of sun-
dry information against him." 31 He was a prisoner in
Philadelphia when the Declaration of Independence was
signed.
By some means Rogers escaped from the colonists to
Howe's army at Staten Island, where he was regarded as a
very valuable man by an army untrained in New World
methods of fighting and unacquainted with the geography
of the country. He was made Lieutenant Colonel and
placed at the head of the "Queen's American Rangers."
But fortune was not with him. He and his command were
disastrously defeated, October 21, 1776, by Colonel Has-
lett, near White Plains, and he was deprived of the leader-
ship of his corps. Later he met some success as recruiting
agent for the British army in Canada, but the old vices that
had made him so much trouble at Mackinaw again got the
upper hand, and in disgrace he was compelled to flee to
England to escape summary punishment. A last echo of
Rogers in America is contained in a letter of his brother
James. "The conduct of my brother of late," James writes,
"had almost unmanned me. When I was last in Quebec,
I often wrote to and told him my mind in regard to it, and
80 Ibid., p. 162. Allan Nevins, Caxton Club, Chicago.
21 Ibid., p. 163.
OLD MACKINAW AFTER THE MASSACRE 229
as often he promised to reform. I am sorry his good
talents should so unguardedly fall a prey to intemper-
ance."
Rogers died in comparative poverty in London, May 18,
1795. "No one, so far as we know, mourned his going.
His wife had been divorced from him by a decree of the
New Hampshire legislature, seventeen years before, and
she, having remarried, his only son had grown up under an
alien roof, among patriot Americans who regarded all
loyalists with opprobrium. He died in total obscurity, and
no newspaper or newsletter, in either America or England,
chronicled his going in its list of obituaries." 32
COPY OF A LETTER FROM CAPT. JONATHAN CARVER
OF MICHILIMACKINAC, TO HIS WIFE AT
MONTAGUE, DATED SEPT. 24, 1767
"My dear,
"I arrived at this place the 30th of last month, from the
westward; last winter I spent among Naudoussee of the
Plains, a roving nation of Indians, near the River St. Piere,
one of the western branches of the Mississipi, near four-
teen hundred miles west of Michillimackinac. This na-
tion live in bands, and continually march like the roving
Arabians in Asia. They live in tents of leather and are
very powerful. I have learned and procured a specimen
of their dialect, and to the utmost of my power have made
minute remarks on their customs and manners, and like-
wise of many other nations that I have passed through;
which, I dare say, you and my acquaintance will think well
worth hearing, and which I hope (by the continuation of
82 Ibid., p. 173. Allan Nevins, Caxton Club, Chicago.
230 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the same divine Providence that has hitherto in this journey-
ing, in a most remarkable manner guarded over me in all
my ways) personally to communicate. It would require a
volume to relate all the hardships and dangers I have
suffered since I left you, by stormy tempests on these lakes
and rivers, by hunger and cold, in danger of savage beasts,
and men more savage than they; for a long time no one to
speak with in my native language, having only two men
with me, the one a French man, the other an Indian of
the Iroquois, which I had hired to work in the canoe. I
never received any considerable insult during my voyage,
except on the 4th of November last, a little below Lake
Pepin on the Mississipi. About sun down, having stopt
in order to encamp, we made fast our canoe, and built a
hut to sleep in, dressed some victuals and supped. In the
evening, my people being fatigued, lay down to sleep ; I sat
a while and wrote some time by fire light, after which I
stept out of my hut. It being star-light only, I saw a num-
ber of Indians about eight rods off, creeping on the banks
of the river. I thought at first they had been some wild
beasts, but soon found them to be Indians. I ran into my
hut, awakened my two men, took my pistol in one hand, and
sword in the other, being followed by my two men well
armed. I told them as 'twas dark, not to fire till we
could touch them with the muzzle of our pieces. I rushed
down upon them, just as they were about to cut off our com-
munication from the canoe, where was our baggage, and
some goods for presents to the Indians; but on seeing our
resolution they soon retreated. I pursued within ten feet
of a large party. I could not tell what sort of weapons of
war they had, but believe they had bows and arrows. I
don't impute this resolution of mine to anything more than
OLD MACKINAW AFTER THE MASSACRE 231
the entire impossibility I saw of any retreat. The rest
of the night I took my turn about with the men in watch-
ing. The next morning proceeded up the Mississipi as
usual, though importuned by my people to return, for fear
of another onset from these Barbarians, who often infest
these parts as robbers, at some seasons of the year.
"My travels last year, by computing my journal, amount
to two thousand seven hundred miles, and this year, from
the place where I wintered, round the west, north, and east
parts of Lake Superior, to Michillimackinac, are two
thousand one hundred miles; the total of my travels since I
left New England is four thousand eight hundred miles, by
a moderate computation. Part of the plans and journals,
with some letters concerning the situation of the country, I
sent back with some Indians, which plans and letters Gov-
ernor Rogers has sent some time ago by Mr. Baxter, a
gentleman belonging to London, to be laid before the
Lords of trade. My travels this summer I am now pre-
paring for the same purpose, which is the reason of my
not coming home this fall.
"I have seen the places where the Spaniards came and
carried away silver and gold formerly, till the Indians
drove them away; undoubtedly there is a great plenty of
gold in many places of the Mississipi and westward. I
trust I have made many valuable discoveries for the good
of my King and country.
"I cannot conclude without mentioning something of the
superstition of the Naudoussees, where I spent the last
winter which agrees with the account that the father Henne-
pin, a French Recollect or a Fryar of that order, (who
some years ago travelled among some part of the Nau-
doussees, tho' not as far west as I have been) has given
232 HISTORIC MACKINAG
of that people concerning books. I had with me some
books necessary for my employment, which they sup-
posed to be spirits, for as I by looking on the page when I
first opened the book, could tell them how many leaves
there were in the book to that place, they then could count
over the leaves and found I told true; supposing the book
was a spirit, and had told me the number, which otherways,
they judged impossible for me to know, they would imme-
diately lay their hands on their mouths, and cry out in
their language, Wokonchee, Wokonchee, which signifies,
he is a God, he is a God; and often when I desired to be
rid of my guests in my hut, I would open the book and read
aloud; they would soon begin to go away, saying to one
another, he talks with the gods. Many other remarks of
the like kind I have made of that people.
"They believe there is a superior spirit, or God, who is
infinitely good, and that there is a bad spirit or devil.
When they are in trouble, they pray to the devil, because,
say they, that God being good, will not hurt them, but the
evil spirit, that hurts them, can only avert their misery.
I have seen them pray to the sun and moon and all the ele-
ments, and often hold a pipe for the sun and moon and
the waters, to smoak.
"On my return to this place, I received the thanks of the
Governor Commandant, who has promised he will take
special care to acquaint the Government at home of my
services. .
"I have had my health ever since I left home, blessed
be God. I hope you and all our children are well. I
have not heard from you since I came away. Give my
most affectionate love to my children. I long to see you
all. I expect to be at home next July. I have two hun-
OLD MACKINAW AFTER THE MASSACRE 233
dred pounds sterling due to me from the crown, which I
shall have in the spring. Give my compliments to all
friend and acquaintances.
"I am,
"My dear, yours forever,
"Jonathan Carver.
From the Burton Library, Detroit; copied from The
Boston Chronicle of Feb. 15-22, 1768; p. 91 in the Bur-
ton volume.
*
1
a
a
i
PARKMAN'S NOTE BOOK
234
sir
PARKMAN'S NOTE BOOK
235
:
Gc-
of
PARKMAN'S NOTE BOOK
236
CHAPTER XIII
REMOVAL OF THE FORT TO MACKINAC ISLAND
THE most important event at the Straits of Mackinac
during the American Revolution was the removal
of the fort from Old Mackinaw on the south side
of the Straits to Mackinac Island. This project was begun
partly under the influence of fear of the Indians, which
had not entirely died down since the massacre of 1763,
and was accentuated by the exigencies of the Revolution,
but the removal had its immediate impulse from the vic-
tories of the Virginian backwoodsman, George Rogers
Clark, in the Ohio Valley. He first figured prominently
in that region in 1778, as a defender of the American and
French settlements from the British, particularly from the
atrocities of the "hair-buying" General Hamilton, who
commanded at Detroit.
Clark "had come from a good family in Virginia, was
but twenty-five years of age, and, for his day, had acquired
a fair education, but from childhood had been a rover of
the woods. Full six feet in height, stout of frame, pos-
sessed of 'red hair, and a black, penetrating, sparkling
eye,' he was courageous even to audacity, and exhibited
strong, often unbridled passions. Clark early became a
backwoods surveyor, such as Washington was, and many
another colonial gentleman of superior antecedents and
training. With chain and compass, axe and rifle, he had
in the employ of land speculators wandered far and wide
237
238
REMOVAL OF THE FORT 239
through the border region, learning its trails, its fords,
its mountain passes, and its aborigines, better than his
books. In many ways, Clark was a marked character in
a community of strongly accentuated types heroes and
desperadoes, saints and sinners. At the age of twenty-one
he had served in the Dunmore war, and then settled as a
Kentucky farmer at the mouth of Fish Creek, only again
to be called out by an Indian uprising and obliged there-
after to take a leading part in the protracted defence of
the 'Dark and Bloody Ground.' " *
In the spring of 1777, Hamilton's Indians committed
nameless horrors on the American settlements in the Ohio
Valley. The centres about which the French and Indians
rallied were the forts built for the fur trade, at strategic
points on the Ohio and the Mississippi, at Vincennes, Kas-
kaskia and Cahokia. The forts were centres of British
influence, because the Indians favoured King George's
plan of keeping the interior a wilderness for the fur trade
rather than the colonial plan of clearing the forests and
settling the land for agriculture; and the same was true
of the French at the beginning of hostilities, who were in-
fluenced also by their Indian wives. Clark, determined
to conquer these posts for Virginia, found support in the
Kentucky backwoodsmen, and in Patrick Henry, whose
warm favour procured him the rank of Lieutenant Colonel,
together with money and supplies.
His amazing successes, against overwhelming odds, could
not but impress the Commandant at Old Mackinaw, es-
pecially when he should learn that the successes on the
Ohio were regarded by Clark as only preliminary to an
1( Thwaites, How George Rogers Clark Won the Northwest, pp. 10-11.
(A. C. Mcdurg & Co., Chicago.) The sketch of Clark is based on pp. 14 ff.
240 HISTORIC MACKINAG
advance upon Detroit. Establishing his headquarters at
the site of the present Louisville, Clark had taken suc-
cessively the forts at Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Vincennes,
within a few months with scarcely the loss of a man, and
captured Hamilton, 2 whom he sent to Virginia in irons.
Several factors contributed to this phenomenal good
fortune. Among others was the influence of Father Gibault
who was among the prisoners taken by Clark at Kaskaskia.
This worthy priest had for some time been stationed at
Vincennes, and exercised a strong influence over the
French and the Indians throughout a wide region. "He
was a man of strong sympathies for the American cause
and tendered to Colonel Clark both his allegiance and
services. News that France had recognized the American
cause and had entered into treaty relations with the col-
onists soon became known at Kaskaskia, and lent enthus-
iasm to the cause. Father Gibault soon tendered his serv-
ices in ascertaining the sentiments of the inhabitants of
Vincennes, which were gladly accepted. His visit to that
place was fortunately timed, for he arrived there while
the English lieutenant governor, Edward Abbott, was ab-
sent in Detroit. The good priest gathered his parishioners
into the church and explained the events that had trans-
pired. The whole population took the oath of allegiance
to the commonwealth of Virginia. When Father Gibault
left Vincennes late in July [1778], he had the satisfaction
of seeing the stars and stripes waving above Fort Sackville,
as the fort at Vincennes had been christened." 3
Not the least factor in Clark's success was his clear
2 For Hamilton's account of his expedition and capture see Mich. Pion.
and Hist. Colls., IX, 489-504.
3 Hemans, History of Michigan, p. 80. Hammond Pub. Co., Lansing,
Mich.
FORT mCfflLMAOaNAC
SKETCH OF THE FORT ON MlCfflLMACKINAC ISLAND
TEMPORARY LINES or PICKETS
GATE WAY \
WHICH THREATENED we *. __
-..SIIOM. THIS SINGLE LINE-TO THE
STEEP BANK WILL BE RAISED IN THE COUPSI or THE SUMMER.
THE HALT CURTAIN WAS REDUCED ON THIS SIDE THE GAIE AS
THE DISTANCE TO WHICH IT WAS ONCE EXTENDED WOULD HAVE.
EXPOSED THE RAMPART TO HAVE BEEN TAKCNINREVEBU
GROUND WITHOUT OPPOSITE SIDE or THE foRT.
241
242 HISTORIC MACKINAG
vision, his promptness and decision. He was as quick to
act as to think. When the news reached the fort at Old
Mackinaw that Hamilton had been captured and sent east
in irons, it struck consternation into that garrison. If
Clark could do that, what would hinder him from sweeping
northward and taking all in his path? In the capture of
Hamilton he "had conducted a forced march of about two
hundred and thirty miles through almost unheard-of diffi-
culties. With a small party of ragged and half -famished
militiamen, nearly half of whom were Creoles, he had cap-
tured, in the heart of a strange and hostile country, without
the aid of his artillery, a heavy stockade mounted by can-
non and swivels and manned by a trained garrison." 4
Clark, in pursuit of his plan for an immediate attack on
Detroit, went to Virginia to interest men of power. In
December, 1778, Washington himself considered it in con-
nection with a general invasion of Canada. "In January,
1779, when a Northwestern expedition, under General
Mclntosh, was proposed, he said the best way to deal
with the Indians was to carry the war into their own
country. In April of the same year he inquired of Colonel
Broadhead the best time to attempt a march to Detroit, and
suggested the winter, because the British would not then
be able to use their naval force on Lake Erie. Naturally,
Clark's achievement, since it made the reduction of the
fort seem more feasible, led to more serious consideration
of the subject. Clark himself considered his work only
half done, and was very ambitious to lead an army through
the wilderness to the gateway of the Northwest." 5
On August 31, 1778, Major De Peyster, commanding at
Mackinaw, wrote to General Haldimand: "I have this
4 Thwaites, op. cit., p. 62.
5 Hinsdale, Old Northwest, p. 157. Silver, Burdett & Co., Boston.
REMOVAL OF THE FORT 243
moment received a letter from Monsr. Chevalier of St.
Josephs informing that the rebels are in possession of all
the Illinois. . . . The traders in that country and many
from this Post are plundered, and the whole country is in
the greatest confusion, being at a loss to know which route
the rebels will take next." 6 In the following spring,
(May 13) he wrote to Haldimand, that "The Chipawas of
the Island of Michilimackinac arrived here the 8th from
the Grand River and report that the Ottawas and Grand
River traders are on their way. They declare that the
news of the Virginians building boats on the Lake Michigan
was the invention of some evil minded Indians and that
neither themselves nor the Ottawas would listen to the
Rebels' belt." He adds, "I don't care how soon Mr.
Clark appears provided he come by Lake Michigan and
the Indians prove staunch, and above all that the Canadians
do not follow the example of their brethren at the Illinois
who have joined the Rebels to a man. ... If I had armed
vessels I could make them constantly coast Lake Michigan
to awe the Indians and prevent the Rebels building boats.
There is a small sloop here as already reported, but no
sailors, nor will my present garrison admit of any detach-
ment, it not being by the one half sufficient to do the neces-
sary duty here. ... If Detroit should be taken it is evi-
dent that we have but a dismal prospect." 7
News of Hamilton's capture and the prospect of an
immediate attack on Detroit led De Peyster to make every
possible effort to strengthen the fort at Mackinaw. "With
regard to fortifying the Fort," he writes to Brehm, Haldi-
mand's aid-de-camp, June 20, 1779, 8 "I took the precaution
Mich. Pion. and Hist. Colls., IX, 371.
T Ibid., IX, 380-381.
*Ibid., IX, 387.
244
HISTORIC MACKINAG
to do everything that could be done to it, so soon as I
heard of Mr. Hamilton's defeat, by throwing down such
houses as encumbered it, and making use of the timber
together with the cedar fences for that purpose. The
whole fort is now lined with good strong cedar Picquets,
and a banquet thrown up so as to fire from a good height
through loop holes. The Barracks are now surrounded
with strong Pickets, so as to secure the soldiers from sur-
REMOVAL OF THE FORT 245
prise of the Indians, which is the chief object to be attended
to here, as I cannot believe that the Rebels will ever venture
to come by Chickagou. If they do, they can bring Cannons
we need fear. But if Detroit should fall into their hands,
this place must, of course, fall tho' they should not send
a man against it." A week later, he writes to Haldimand,
"On hearing of Mr. Hamilton's defeat, I did all that this
sand would allow me to put this fort in a state of defence.
The sand hills lately reported are now nearly levelled, so
as to prevent any lodgement behind them." Conflicting
reports were received at Mackinaw during the following
months, that "Detroit is in great security," 10 "an attack is
intended against Detroit," ll "no Rebels on their march." 12
On October 4, 1779, Captain Patrick Sinclair, recently
appointed to succeed De Peyster as "Lieutenant Governor
and Superintendent of Indian Affairs," arrived at Mack-
inaw, 13 and according to the first report, which doubtless
was collaborated with De Peyster, he seems to have been
impressed at once with the advisability of removing the fort
to Mackinac Island. 14 To summarize this report: The
situation of the fort made it incapable of being secured
against any but small arms. It afforded no protection to
vessels, traders, or the garrison's supplies. "On my way
to this place," he says, "I stop't at Michilimackinac Island
for several hours, in a very fine Bay well covered by the
little White Wood Island. The situation is respectable and
lbid., IX, 388.
iIbid., IX, 389.
11 Ibid., IX, 390, 392.
12 Ibid., IX, 394.
1 3 Ibid., IX, 398. See Ibid., IX, 516-518, for Sinclair's instructions. A
good biographical sketch of Patrick Sinclair is given by William L. Jenks,
in vol. 39 of the Collections of the Michigan Historical Commission, from
which the data about Sinclair is taken.
"Mich. Pion. and Hist. Colls., IX, 523 ff.
246 HISTORIC MACKINAC
convenient for a Fort, in Major De Peyster's opinion, as
well as mine. It is so much so," he explains, "that were
we to be attacked by any considerable force provided with
artillery, that Island would be our place of greatest safety
with even temporary works which the Garrison might raise
against such an Event."
A mason, a carpenter, a bricklayer and "a man ac-
quainted with soil favourable to vegetation" were sent over
to examine "the Island and the grounds." Sinclair spent
a day there with them. "I can assure the General [Haldi-
mand] that Vessels can winter there, that there is very
good Timber, and good Clay for Brick. The only stone
is limestone, and that hard or soft as exposed to the sun
very fit for facing works or building. A Powder Mag-
azine should at all events be constructed with it and ren-
dered Bombproof." An enclosed sketch, 15 shows a large
space of lower ground, "the most convenient for Store
Houses, Traders, & ca." The nearest and most favourable
of the upper grounds rises "from a little small ridge which
divides the plain and continues to cover the Bay for the
distance of 500 yards," commanding all below, "and is not
commanded by any ground for 800 yards behind it." He
concludes this part of his letter: "In short, no situation
can be more favourable but for God's sake be careful in
the choice of an Engineer and don't send up one of your
paper Engineers fond of fine regular Polygons."
A week later he calls Brehm's attention again to "the
necessity of taking Post at the Island of Michilimacki-
nac." The expense and labour would be small. "The
face of two Bastions made strong with the half faces of
" Ibid., X, op. p. 390
lbid. f IX, 528.
REMOVAL OF THE FORT 247
both, and the two Flanks to the land side made strong,
would be all that is requisite; the curtain on that side, and
the rest piquets. A ditch will be little expense, from the
angular figure of the ground, the earth being easily removed
and that what is not wanted in the inside will be rolled
down a bank which is all fine green sod, very firm, and that
kind of earth which will not from its adhesion, being lime-
stone, loam, etc., wash away with rain or crumble with
frost." In his urgency, he affirms: "It is the most re-
spectable situation I ever saw, besides convenient for the
subsistence of a Garrison, the safety of Troops, Traders and
Commerce. The influence it would retain and command
with the Indians of this Extended country, and its capacity
of its supporting itself, for a long time, if the communica-
tion with below should be interrupted, are with the General,
sufficient argument, I dare say, for setting about the re-
moval of this Garrison as early as possible." He here
comes to the central motive, contrasting the strength of the
proposed position with that of Old Mackinaw, and the dan-
ger in case an attack should be made by the "rebels":
"This place being defenceless, and all our dependence on
fish, or other supplies of Provision," they would be entirely
cut off the moment they should be invested and shut up
within their piquets. "We are certainly liable to be at-
tacked by Lake Michigan," he concludes, "and this may
very justly be looked upon as the object of a second expe-
dition of the Rebels."
The letter is accompanied by an outline sketch showing
by solid lines the part of the proposed fort that might be
faced with stone at less expense; for, he says, "there is
abundance of stone easily raised, and may be cut or shaped
at pleasure. . . . The upper ground for officers' and sol-
248 HISTORIC MACKINAC
diers' barracks, Powder Magazine and Provision Store
House the lower for other Store Houses Traders and
the house of the Person who managed the Indians, will be
a safe and easy disposition of the whole charge at this
post."
Among the first things to do was to get a favourable atti-
tude for the proposed plan from the jib ways on the
Island. In October, 1779, "Mr. Gautier carries a string
of wampum to the Chief of Michlc Island, to tell him that
we are to cut down some brush this winter, in order to
judge whether we can flatter him with any assurance of
making use of his Island." The chief seemed favour-
able. The Indians were exhorted to be quiet during the
winter. Those inclined to go to war could join an expedi-
tion about to set out in concert with the Sioux, Sacs and
Foxes "against the Rebels on the Illenois and in that quar-
ter." 17 These overtures were so successful that in the
following July Sinclair could write: "The Indians have
delivered up the Island, removed their Houses and formally
surrendered it without any Present, as yet, in the Presence
of Chiefs of Eight Different Nations who all rejoice at the
change." He had explained to them Governor Haldi-
mand's intention "to make Corn Fields of the whole Is-
land." The Fort would be on the upper ground, where no
Indians would be allowed to enter. Their agents' houses
would be in the stockaded village. "They were told that
all of the white People who were married amongst them
were called in and would have lots of land on the Island
They send them in daily now, and I hope we shall be
able to clear the Country of such Destructive Members and
make them usefull to themselves and to the Post." With
IX, 530.
REMOVAL OF THE FORT 249
the whole arrangement the Indians "expressed much satis-
faction." 18
Their satisfaction resulted in a formal treaty of cession,
May 12, 1781, in which the Indians signatory to the treaty
"acknowledged to have received ... on His Majesty's
Behalf, the sum of Five Thousand Pounds New York Cur-
rency being the adequate and compleat value of the before
mentioned Island of Michilimackinac." For this sum
"the following Chiefs Kitchie Negon or Grand Sable,
Pouanas, Koupe and Magousseihigan in behalf of ourselves
and all others of our Nation the Chipiwas who have or can
lay claim to the herein mentioned Island, as being their
Representatives and Chiefs" surrender to the British "for
ever the Island of Michilimackinac or as it is called by the
Canadians La Grosse Isle."
Assured of the good will of the Ojibways, Sinclair was
sufficiently sure of Haldimand's acquiescence to set about
the work at once. He spent three days in examining the
Island, on which he found "great quantity of excellent
Oak, Elm, Beach and Maple with a considerable vein of the
largest and finest Cedar Trees I ever saw," through which
there was "a run of water sufficient for a saw mill." The
soil was "exceedingly fine throughout, with abundance of
Lime Stone on the high banks which almost surround the
Island." There were several "fine springs," and "the best
fishing is all around this Island." He felt warranted in
beginning at once to clear the upper ground and prepare
timber "for any change the Genl may see necessary."
His very favourable report appears to have been well
., IX, 579.
19 Ibid., XIX, 633. A report by John Coates, Clerk of the Indian DepX
dated Sept. 10, 1782, places the number of "Chipawas Proprietors of this
Island," at 100. Ibid., X, 635.
250 HISTORIC MACKINAC
received at Old Mackinaw, for he says: "The situation
is so apparently advantageous that numbers of the People
established and well lodged have applied for leave to
remove their effects this winter on a supposition that my
examination was from a design of having the Garrison
removed next year." But he declined their offers, "un-
willing to proceed till I have the honour to receive His
Excellency's orders." Moreover, he wished "to have the
General's permission to advise with any Engineer who is
sent up as to the diff't objects which may require his
attention to the Construction of any works there." 20
On the whole, Sinclair was handling matters with much
tact. He exercised special care to make the transition
natural and desirable to the traders and the Indians, and
especially to keep from the latter the real motive. The
time was ripe for getting firmly placed on the Island,
"where we must go to, if we are threatened with any great
Force, and then it will appear to the Indians to be a step
taken from timidity." 21 To the Indians he argued "a
Personal Dislike to this place [Old Mackinaw], which I
always express to them." 22 With the best he could do
at the old fort, "still our situation is bad," he reports;
"No cannon, no ammunition, no naval stores." 23
There was one considerable opposition to his plans, com-
ing from those who had good houses on the south side,
the removal of which would entail much expense to their
owners. Sinclair reinforces with this his argument for
immediate action: "It is necessary to get as good a foot-
ing on the Island as possible to avoid the artfull manage-
so Ibid., IX, 532.
21 Ibid., IX, 533.
"Ibid., IX, 539.
**Ibid., IX, 552.
REMOVAL OF THE FORT 251
ment of the Indians who were tutored by some people here
who had good Houses, and by others who were too
indolent to remove from a situation worse than that in
which we are in, if worse there can be." 24 As early as
possible Sinclair got in writing "the opinions of the Public
in Trade, and others attached to the Post, relative to the
removal of their command to the Island," 25 which in
June he transmitted to Haldimand. This document is
signed by John Macnamara, Benjamin Lyon, Henry Bost-
wick, David McCrae, Wm. Dugan, and Matthew Lessey,
and is a business-like summary of advantages and disad-
vantages. "In the first place our lives and Property would
be in much better security from the attacks of any enemy or
the insults of Indians. Secondly the necessaries of life
may be procured much cheaper and easier when properly
established on the Island from the superior fertility of the
soil and the Fishery being much more convenient. And
Lastly, If ever the Commander in Chief should permit us
having Vessels as private Property, we are assured of a
good Harbour for them, which here we have not. . . .
The great Disadvantage that will arise to us from the Re-
moval is the loss of our Houses which have cost us very
dear, from the enormous wages we are obliged to give
Labourers in this country. These Houses when pulled to
pieces will not be worth Transporting although at present
they answer all the Purposes of our Trade, full as well as
Houses of more real value." The summary concludes by
stating that provisions are excessively dear and very scarce,
that trade is at a very low ebb from the low price of furs
and the great extra expense attending the transportation
**lbid., IX, 553.
**Ibid. y IX, 556.
252 HISTORIC MACKINAC
of goods to Montreal; and that they by themselves are
people of small capital, unable to bear any loss without
being much distressed.
A similar opinion was given at the same time by one
William Grant. "The Island is very strong by nature,"
he says, 26 "well watered, plenty of good wood, and fish in
abundance. One of the best Harbours to be found in the
upper Country is close to the Village door, for a vessel
drawing fourteen foot water may lay afloat with very great
safety. The Island is eminently suited for the fort and
village when compared with Old Mackinaw, which is at-
tended with many inconveniences. Being situated on the
mainland, an enemy may attack the Village or the Indians
Insult the Traders without hardly being able to receive any
immediate relief from the Fort. Good Firewood and the
Fisheries are at a great distance; and a Vessel, let her be
ever so small, can ride with no safety before the Fort."
He mentions the inconvenience and expense in using the
men to do the work who might otherwise be employed in
fishing for the garrison or bringing in the packs from the
posts and taking them to Montreal.
One of the leading arguments in the mind of Sinclair for
removal, seems to have been the advantages offered by the
Island for agriculture, to which his correspondence recurs
frequently. In one place, to Brehm, he says, "If the
General sends in the Spring men capable of erecting and
working a saw and Grist mill with some of the Dutch
Refugee Families below, I will answer for the success of
the scheme of Agriculture," 27 to which Brehm replies:
"The General is much pleased by the flattering Prospect
se Ibid., IX, 557.
Ibid., IX, 533.
AN OLD INDIAN TRAIL ON MACKINAC ISLAND
REMOVAL OF THE FORT 253
you give of success in his favourite scheme of Agriculture,
and you may depend on having every assistance in his
power in forwarding it. Some Garden Seeds will be sent
by this Opportunity, and some Rye, if it can be procured,
the General thinking that Grain will, as in all Northern
Countries answer best with you, but an experiment may be
made with all kinds." 28
The central motive, however, was the weakness of the old
fort and the possible danger of either an attack from the
"rebels" or from the Indians in case of a successful move-
ment against Detroit. In October, 1779, he wrote to
Brehm that "some Indians in our neighbourhood are pos-
sessed of Rebel Commissions, and particularly one, an
Ottawa Chief Manetewabe," in consequence of which he
had judged it unsafe to let any vessels to winter "in the
River where they used to be lay'd up ; it being on the main
land." This led to the first recorded improvements made
on the Island. "Therefore I have sent," he says, "a Cor-
poral and four men of the 8th Regt, a Trader who is bred
a Carpenter with some Trader's Servants to build a Wharf
in Haldimand Bay, Michilimackinac Island, to erect a
Block House to cover them, and to prepare Timber for
hutting the officers and seamen during the winter." 29
Samuel Robertson, 30 "an able artificer and sensible man,"
was given charge of this work, and by February had "car-
ried out a Wharf to 150 feet in two fathom water well
framed and partly filled with stone."
One means taken to overcome any opposition against
removing to the Island was to transport the church thither,
28 Ibid., IX, 537.
2 Ibid ., IX, 532.
80 Biog. sketch of Robertson, Wis. Hist. Colls., XIX, 241, note 53; see
his Journal of a trip around the lakes in 1779, Ibid., XI, 203-207.
254 HISTORIC MACKINAC
which was done, during the first winter. In the same letter
as above he states that he has all the traders and their
servants "employed in carrying over the Church to the
Island, which will be, I expect, completely rebuilt about
the latter end of March. The French Church will stand
where the Traders will be hereafter fixed, not in the Fort.
By this removal the Worship and work of the Canadians
will be drawn to the Island next year." 31
Five block houses were to be erected at once, twenty feet
square. "The men's Barracks on this side will remove
with ease and little trouble, as we shall saw the shingle roof,
without hurting it, in pieces fit for transportation. The
provision store, tho' small, will be worth removing, and two
men are squaring cedar to make an addition to it." 32 By
the middle of February, 1780, about four acres of the
"upper ground" had been cleared on which to place the
fort, and about sixty cords of fire wood had accumulated.
They were ready for "lime burning" the stone to be ob-
tained from the ridge, "a dry limestone, very light, easily
quarried." 33
This much had been accomplished without specific in-
structions from General Haldimand, but he had not counted
amiss upon his support. A letter from Haldimand to
Major De Peyster in the following April states that "Hav-
ing long thought it would be expedient to remove the Fort,
etc., from its present situation to the Island of Michili-
mackinac, and being encouraged to this undertaking by
advantages enumerated by Lt. Governor Sinclair, that
must result from it, and the earnest desire of the
Traders, I have given directions that Preparations, by
si Mich. Hist. Colls., IX, 539.
82 Ibid., IX, 539.
**lbid., IX, 540.
REMOVAL OF THE FORT 255
collecting materials, etc., be made with as much
Expedition as the strength of that Post will admit of." 34
And he directed the Major to give Sinclair every
assistance possible. About the same date Brehm writes
to Sinclair, that as for Sinclair's plan, so fully demon-
strated, "General Haldimand is determined to carry it into
Execution, altho' he is sensible many difficulties and
delays will unavoidably occur, because the great demand
he has for artificers, etc., will not permit him to send
you that supply which your situation seems to call for." 35
In July of that year he was obliged to report to Haldimand
that "our endeavours to secure this Garrison have been
retarded for want of working Cattle, Tools, the materials
and Rum forwarded to carry on the works upon the Is-
land." 36
Owing to necessary delays another winter passed, and
in May, 1781, he is still "transporting Bricks, Boards,
Planks, etc., from the old F.ort. . . . The traders' serv-
ants will receive every encouragement to compleat the
works." 37 By July, "we have raised the old Provision
Store, the Soldiers' Barracks, with stone Chimnies, the
Powder Magazine, Stone Work, both partly cut stone and
have kept raising the defences of the Fort which receive our
rubbish. The foundation of the officers' Barracks will be
laid in a few days." 38 In another letter of the same
month, he says: "The new fort is a good deal advanced
from the labour of the Canadians who have not uttered a
single complaint here. The Tools and Iron have not yet
** Ibid., X, 390.
**lbid., IX, 534.
**lbid., IX, 586.
" Ibid., X, 480.
38 Ibid., X, 495.
256 HISTORIC MACKINAG
arrived nor any Barrack stores for this year. If three or
four large Crow-Barrs with as many Sledge hammers could
be forwarded this year they are much wanted. We can
purchase no Iron of that size. I hope to have all the
Timber drawn in this winter which will be needed. . . .
All the Troops and Stores will be within the works in
October if the Season is favourable. One half of the
Garrison is there now and Provisions for one year for the
Hundred men." 39
The following notes, made by the late Major D wight H.
Kelton, largely from the Log Book of Captain Alexander
Harrow, throw much light upon the movements attending
the transfer of the fort and troops from Old Mackinaw to
the Island, from the fall of 1779 to the spring of 1781.
Captain Harrow was one of the first settlers on the St.
Clair River, in what now comprises the township of Cottrel-
ville. In a letter written to Mr. Norman McKay "com-
manding His Majesty's Sloop Felicity on the upper Lakes,"
dated "July 30, 1780 on Board the Welcome at Machelc,"
he signs himself "Lt. and Commander the Naval Armament
on the Rivers and Lakes of Canada."
According to Major Kelton, the Log Book opens Aug. 27,
1779, when Capt. Harrow, who had arrived at Detroit
from Mackinac the day before, took command of the Wel-
come, "His Majesty's Armed Sloop."
"1779. Sept. 13. Lt. Bennett and thirteen more pas-
sengers come on board at Old Mackinaw for Detroit.
Sailed on the 15th.
"Oct. 3. Detroit. In the morning, loaded etc. per or-
der of Capt. Lernault. At noon the fort at Detroit was
named Fort Lernault.
3 Ibid., X, 503.
REMOVAL OF THE FORT 257
"Oct. 15. [Old Mackinaw], Friday. About 4 P.M.
Major De Peyster, his lady, and Governor Sinclair came
on board. Got under way, and ran over to Mackinac Is-
land, where we came to, about 8 o'clock, and lay all night.
"Oct. 16. Saturday. In the morning, Major DePey-
ster and Governor Sinclair went on shore to view the Island.
About 8 o'clock, got under way and passed on the north
side of Bois Blanc. Arrived in Detroit Oct. 20.
"Nov. 3. At anchor in bay on south side of Bois Blanc
Island. Two negroes of a party that had been driven over
to the island with raft of timber, came on board, to whom I
gave provisions and rum.
"Nov. 5. [Old Mackinaw.] This morning received
order from the Governor to take under my charge the
artificers, etc., to be employed on Mackinac Island this
winter. Took on board [the Welcome} the timber of a
house to take to the Island. Arrived at the Island on the
6th. About 6 A. M. on the 7th, hauled the vessel close to
the bank and unloaded all the timber, artificers' baggage,
etc.
"1780. Oct. 21. Capt. Mompesson commanding at
Old Mackinaw. John Donald drowned at the Island.
Was walking on the wharf on watch. Buried at Old Mack-
inaw, Oct. 24.
"Nov. 2. The Angelica helped transfer materials from
Old Mackinaw to the Island.
"Nov. 3. Capt. Montpesson and his baggage went over
to the Island.
"Nov. 4. Saturday. Governor Sinclair removed to
the Island on board the Welcome.
"Nov. 12. Sunday. Lt. Brooks and twenty soldiers
were transferred from Old Mackinaw to the Island.
258 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"Dec. The Welcome, the Angelica and the schooner
DePeyster went into winter quarters at the Island.
"Dec. 10. 2 A. M. Upwards of forty feet of the wharf
abreast the vessels gave way.
"Dec. 21. The sloop Archangel moored astern the An-
gelica.
"Dec. 2429. The people [crew] assisted two carpen-
ters in boarding up the block-house to live in, hauled logs
to the saw-pit, and from the saw-pit to the block-house.
[Evidently there was no saw-mill, but a hand rip-saw was
used, over a trench, worked by two men.]
"1781. Feb. 12. Monday, Myself [Capt. Harrow?],
with all the others, assisted Capt. Mompesson with his
troops, to carry over part of the barracks from "Makina."
[Probably taken over on the ice. Mr. Ford is mentioned
as helping on Feb. 14. The work was progressing Feb.
17.]
"Feb. 20. A new saw-pit was being dug.
"Feb. 21. Island. This day an advertisement of the
Governor's authority to command here, was put up on the
church.
"March 22. All hands clearing a road to haul cedar
planks out of the woods. Two men were kept in the woods
at the saw-pit, sawing all the time the weather permitted.
"April 25-27. Carried over to the Island from Old
Mackinaw bricks, baggage, provisions, and "the party of
soldiers." [This was probably the last of the soldiers at
Old Mackinaw. Evidently a detachment wintered on the
Island.]
"April 28. Took over a load of boards to the Island.
"May 6. This forenoon the Tawas came here [to the
Island] from Arbre Croche. [Apparently the first boat
REMOVAL OF THE FORT 259
to touch at the Island on a Lake trip, aside from those
officially engaged in transporting materials, and supplies.]
"May 13. The Makina Sloop arrived at the Island
from Detroit. Returned to Detroit the 14th.
"May 18. Went to the Tinery' and got a raft of logs
which were ready. [This pinery was north by northwest
of Mackinac Island, about nine miles, on Pine River, east-
ward from St. Ignace. A party apparently wintered at
the Tinery' in 1780-1781.]
"May 24. This day a part of the troops encamped in
the new Fort. [The merchants and traders apparently did
not move their houses and goods to the Island until the
Spring of 1781. They evidently made rafts of their
timber, and had their merchandise transported in the
Governor's boats.]
"July 15. ['Old Makina' is mentioned for the first
time. This would seem to indicate that the site of the fort
on the south side of the straits was now considered to be
abandoned.]
"July 20. Loaded the vessel [the Angelica, he having
exchanged commands with Mr. Ford] with three hundred
bundles of hay, and ran back to the Island. [This was
at the Tinery.']
"July 30. Sailed with the Angelica for Detroit [from
Mackinac] . Arrived at Detroit Aug. 5.
"Aug. 8. Detroit. Capt. Obrey, Lt. Ford and about
fifty of the 47th regiment embarked for Mackinac. Ar-
rived at the Island Aug. 18. Capt. Obrey, with the troops,
went on shore.
"Aug. 20. About 10 A. M. Capt. Mompesson with a de-
tachment of the King's regiment embarked for Detroit,
arriving there Aug. 24, 1781.
260 HISTORIC MAGKINAC
"Sept. 2. Capt. Harrow ordered to take command of the
Dunmore.
"Sept. 5. Ensign Hamilton with part of the 47th regi-
ment came on board, for Mackinac, arriving at the Island
about midnight, Sept. 12. Troops disembarked the 13th."
On September 20, 1782, R. Hockings, Engineer, sub-
mitted a "Report of the State and Condition of the Works at
Fort Michilimackinac, attended with a plan of what is
thought necessary to put it into a state of defence, before
the Winter, as will prevent its being taken by surprise." 40
But apparently his suggestions were not carried out, to
judge from the following authoritative report made six
years later. 41 The report is signed, "Gother Mann, Capt.
and Command'g Roy'l Eng'rs," and is addressed to "His
Excellency, the Right Hon'ble Lord Dorchester, General
and Commander in Chief in British America" :
"The Fort stands over the North end of the Town on a
Bank about Fifty or Sixty feet high, and is on this side very
steep, but from the Land Front, the Ground rises gradually
above the Fort, and at the distance of seven hundred or
eight hundred yards, there is a very steep ascent of about
one Hundred feet perpendicular height, and from this
place the Fort is so effectually commanded that it never
could resist cannon from hence, as the Garrison would not
dare to shew themselves in their works. The Fort itself
has never been completed. The Ditches which are in the
Rock, are very little excavated, and the Rampart but partly
raised, but in order to shut the place up from being sur-
* Ibid., X, 641-645.
^Ibid., XII, 33-34. The report is signed Gother Mann, Capt. and
Command'g Roy'al Eng'rs, and is addressed to "His Excellency, The Right
Hon'ble Lord Dorchester, General and Commander in Chief in British
America."
REMOVAL OF THE FORT 261
prised by Indians or others, a Picketting has been raised
upon it all round, which now begins to be very rotten; I
had a part of it towards the Bay, shored up while I was
there, but the Bank having slipped from under the cell,
there is an opening of Forty or Fifty feet long into the
Fort. The Soldiers Barracks is in indifferent repair.
"The Powder Magazine is in pretty good order; having
lately had a new roof, and a window struck out at the
end, it is now sufficiently dry and airy. There is a very
good well sunk in the Rock and there is a Pile of Building
of Masonry intended for Officers Barracks about half fin-
ished; the walls are nearly raised to their proper height,
and the Window frames put in, but the Roof, Floor, &c., are
wanting. The Commanding Officer's House, the Indian
and Engineer's Stores, are without the forts. There is
only one Front of the Fort that has Flanks ; which is oppo-
site to the Commanding Ground.
"Considering the foregoing circumstances and situation
of this place, I cannot help being of opinion, that as a Mili-
tary Post, the greater part of the expence bestowed here has
been a waste of money. If the works were intended as a
Defence against Musquetry or Indians only, too much was
designed, and if against Cannon, far too little; and most of
that little ill judged. In the first case a Picketted Fort
Flanked with Block houses, or if designed to be perman-
ent, a Loop-Holed Wall instead of Picketting would have
been quite sufficient. But if an enemy with Cannon was to
be apprehended, it was then absolutely necessary to have
taken Post on the Commanding Ground, either by a Re-
doubt or such other works as the strength of the Garrison
proposed to be kept here would have pointed out.
"But for the immediate protection of the Town, it would
262 HISTORIC MACKINAC
still have been necessary to have had the small picketted or
walled Fort in the situation where the present work stands.
The Town being under the Hill is too distant and not seen
from the Commanding Ground. Such being the state and
circumstances of this Post as they have occurred to me, I
cannot therefore recommend compleating the Fort on the
Original Plan; and hardly any improvement or alteration
can be made that will fall much short of a new one. But
a temporary Business, and in order as far as may be, to
insure the immediate possession of it, at least to prevent
any surprize by Indians or others, I should imagine that the
picketting ought to be renewed and the platform repaired,
and if it should be judged expedient, the Officers' Bar-
racks might be compleated as they are much wanted.
About One Hundred and Fifty men, would I conceive be
requisite for the Defence of this place."
Twelve years after this British report, there was made
the following official report for the Government of the
United States; 42 it is by Uriah Tracy to Samuel Dexter,
Secretary of War, under date of December 20, 1800:
"Our Fort at Michilimackinac from every consideration
is one of the most important posts we hold on our western
frontier. It stands on an Island in the strait which leads
from Lake Michigan into Lake Huron four or five miles
from the head of the strait. The fort is an irregular work
partly built with a strong wall and partly with pickets; and
the parade ground within it is from 100 to 125 feet above
the surface of the water. It contains a well of never failing
water, a boom [bomb] proof used as a magazine, one stone
42 Ibid., XXXVIII, 86. The report was made by Uriah Tracy to Samuel
Dexter, Secretary of War, under date of Dec. 20, 1800.
REMOVAL OF THE FORT 263
barracks for the use of the officers, equal if not superior to
any building of the kind in the United States; a good guard
house and barracks for soldiers and convenient store house
for provisions, etc., with three strong and convenient block
houses. This post is strong, both by nature and art, and
the possession of it has great influence with the Indians in
favor of the United States. The whole Island on which
the fort of Michilimackinac is situated belongs to the
United States and is five or six miles in length and two or
three miles in width. On the banks of the strait adjacent
to the fort stands a large house which was built by the
English called "Government House" and kept by the Brit-
ish commandant of the fort which now belongs to the
United States.
"The Island and country about it is remarkably healthy
and very fertile for so high a northern latitude."
Mackinac Island became a possession of the United
States by the Treaty of Paris in 1783, at the close of the
Revolution. The extent of the influence of Clark's con-
quests upon the negotiations of that treaty in acquiring the
Northwest, including Mackinac Island, for the United
States, is a disputed point. Western writers have laid
much stress upon his work, but Hinsdale remarks that "this
view rests on tradition rather than on historical evidence"
and ventures the opinion that it is largely erroneous. 43 He
thinks that far more reliance was laid on the colonial char-
ters, and cites as evidence the reports on the national bound-
aries submitted to Congress by the several committees.
There is, on the other hand, much force in the view of the
case presented by Dr. Thwaites, who says: ^
43 Hinsdale, Old Northwest, p. 183. Silver, Burdett & Co., Boston.
** Thwaites, How George Rogers Clark Won the Northwest, pp. 71-72.
A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago.
264 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"The English peace commissioners at first claimed the
Northwest as a part of Canada; but throughout the pro-
tracted negotiations Jay and Franklin persisted in demand-
ing the country which Clark had so gallantly won and was
still holding. What appears to have had more effect upon
the English treaty commissioners than the fact of military
occupancy, was Franklin's argument that unless room for
growth were given the United States, a permanent peace
could not be expected between the two countries that the
tide of emigration westward over the Alleghanies could not
be stemmed; that the rough, masterful borderers could not
be restrained from intrenching on the English wilderness,
and a never-ending frontier fight, disastrous to all con-
cerned, would be inevitable. The situation was admitted.
Later, Lord Shelbourne, who was chiefly responsible for
yielding this point, reinforced his position by maintaining
in Parliament that after all the fur trade of the Northwest
was not worth fighting for, and the fur trade was all that
Englishmen wished of that vast area. Nevertheless, Jay
and Franklin could have found no footing for their con-
tention, had Clark not been in actual possession of the
country. It certainly was a prime factor in the situation."
It is highly probable that the British parties to the treaty
had little conception of the importance of the fortress
Island.
The first Commandant of the Fort on the Island, Patrick
Sinclair, was a native of Lybster, County of Caithness, Scot-
land, one of a family of four children. He was born in
1736. His career in the British army began at least as
early as 1758, when Patrick was about twenty-two years of
age. He was about forty -three years old when he arrived
at Mackinac as Lieutenant Governor in 1779. Sinclair
REMOVAL OF THE FORT 265
had seen considerable service before he came to Mackinac.
He was in the West Indies in 1759; at the capture of Mont-
real in 1760; at Staten Island, and again in the West In-
dies in 1761; in 1763, in Canada; on the Great Lakes by
1764, connected apparently with the Naval Department of
the Lakes.
In the latter connection he rendered important service
to the merchants of the Lakes, being presented with fine tes-
timonials from Mackinac and Detroit. The merchants of
Detroit presented him with a bowl on which were inscribed
the words: "In remembrance of the encouragement expe-
rienced upon all occasions by the merchants in the Indian
countries, from Capt. Patrick Sinclair of the Naval De-
partment, not as a reward for his services, but a public tes-
timony of their gratitude this is presented instead of a more
adequate acknowledgment which his disinterested dispo-
sition renders impracticable. Dated the 23rd of Sep-
tember, 1767." 45
In 1764, Sinclair built a small fort and wharf near the
mouth of Pine River in what is now St. Glair County, and
in 1768 obtained a deed from the Indians to a large tract
of land along the St. Clair River, including his improve-
ments and considerable pine and timber. In 1769 his af-
fairs took him to England, where he was made a Captain in
the army in 1772. But for some reason he retired to his
old home at Lybster the next year. Just as the American
Revolution was breaking out he was given, in 1775, an
appointment appropriate to his experience on the Great
Lakes, that of Lieutenant Governor and Superintendent of
Michilimackinac, but it was only after four years of varied
difficulties that he was able to reach his post.
45 From a photograph of the bowl given in Jenks' Patrick Sinclair, op.
p. 68.
266 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Sinclair's work during the removal of the fort to the
Island was attended with many petty annoyances, two of
which, however, one with Captain Mompesson of the
8th Regiment, 46 and one with Captain Harrow of the
Schooner Welcome 4T growing out of conflicts of authority,
assumed serious proportions. In each case Haldimand
supported Sinclair. There were not the most cordial rela-
tions between Sinclair and De Peyster at Detroit, due
largely to Sinclair's feeling that De Peyster did not aid
him as much as he should. Eventually Sinclair fell into
disfavour with Haldimand, owing to what the General re-
garded as excessive expenditures especially in presents to
the Indians. In 1782, a committee appointed by Haldi-
mand to investigate affairs at the post found a number of
apparantly unwarranted irregularities, whereupon Sinclair,
placing affairs at the Island in the hands of Captain Rob-
ertson, went to Quebec. He never again set foot upon the
Island, but drew annual pay of 200 even after his retire-
ment to Lybster, where he spent the most of his remaining
days to the ripe old age of eighty-four years. In justice
it should be said that the first Commandant of the Fort on
the Island probably acted in good faith in those instances;
whereas, to the mind of General Haldimand, accustomed to
having orders implicitly obeyed without allowing for much
latitude of discretion, he seemed guilty of wilful violations
of his instructions. 48
46 Mich. P.ion. & Hist. Colls., IX, 590, 592.
^ Ibid., IX, 601-605.
48 See William L. Jenks' Patrick Sinclair for a summary of this con-
troversy. For certificates of expenditures from Oct 1, 1781, to March 31,
1782, see Mich. Pion. and Hist. Colls., X, 557-565.
CHAPTER XIV
THE ENGLISH FUR TRADE
AFTER the removal of the Fort and Mission from
Point St. Ignace to the south side of the Straits
early in the eighteenth century, Old Mackinaw
became for over a half century the centre of the French fur
trade, as St. Ignace had been since before the time of Father
Marquette. The trade suffered much from the competi-
tion, on the one hand, of the New York merchants who drew
the Indians and coureurs de bois to their posts by offering
them better terms for their furs, and on the other, by the
operations of the Hudson's Bay Company, causing endless
waste of energies in forest feuds between the agents of rival
French and British interests. When Canada and the Great
Lakes region fell into the hands of the English after the
long struggle for supremacy on the continent, the French
fur trade at Old Mackinaw came to an end.
"The old Coureurs des bois" writes Washington Irving, 1
"were broken up and dispersed, or where they could be met
with, were slow to accustom themselves to the habits and
manners of their British employers. They missed the
freedom, indulgence, and familiarity of the old French
trading houses, and did not relish the sober exactness, re-
serve, and method of the new comers. The British traders,
too, were ignorant of the country, and distrustful of the
natives. They had reason to be so. The treacherous and
1 Washington Irving, Astoria (London, 1836) , I, 12.
267
268 HISTORIC MACKINAC
bloody affairs of Detroit and Michilimackinac showed
them the lurking hostility cherished by the savages, who
had too long been taught by the French to regard them as
enemies."
During the time when Major Robert Rogers was Com-
mandant at Old Mackinaw the fur trade was just beginning
to adjust itself to the new conditions. The Hudson's Bay
Company, chartered in 1670, was gradually extending its
operations towards the Mackinac country, where it was des-
tined to come into conflict with individual traders. "The
consequence was injurious to the trade," says Lanman, 2 "as
the time and energies which might have been employed
in securing advantages to themselves were devoted to petty
quarrels, and the forest became a scene of brawls, and a
battle ground of the contending parties. The war was or-
ganized into a system. The traders of the Hudson's Bay
Company followed the Canadians to their different posts,
and used every method to undermine their power."
Another demoralizing influence leading to the formation
of new English companies to operate in the Mackinac
country is seen in the activities of two brothers, Benjamin
and Joseph Frobisher, 3 who began to trade on the upper
lakes about this time. "In order to protect their venture,"
writes Charles Moore, 4 "they made a strong combination
with the other traders who had gone into the northwest coun-
try, and by 1774 supplies were received by the Indians so
regularly that not only were the old stations occupied, but
also a number of new posts unknown to the French were
2 Lanman's Hist, of Mich., p. 127.
3 For biographical sketch of the Frobishers and other leading British
merchants and traders, see Wis. Hist. Colls., XIX, 234-373, notes passim.
* "Retaining the Northwest Posts," in Mag. of Amer. Hist., Sept., 1892,
p. 189.
THE ENGLISH FUR TRADE 269
established. The success of the Frobishers drew many ad-
venturers into the field, who so demoralized business that
the cautious Montreal firms no longer were willing to supply
outfits; and by the end of the year 1782 only twelve traders
were left in the field."
These were the conditions when shortly after the removal
of the fort to Mackinac Island, came the treaty of peace be-
tween Great Britain and the United States, by the terms of
which the Island and all the country to the south of it passed
into the possession of the new republic. But General
Haldimand did not propose to sacrifice the northwestern
fur trade to the Americans until he should receive official
orders, and politely countered Washington's effort to get
possession of Mackinac and the other northwestern posts.
He persisted in this policy throughout his term, and ad-
vised his sucessor to do the same. He explains: 5 "Dif-
ferent attempts having been made by the American States
to get possession of the posts of the Upper Country, in con-
sequence of the treaty of peace, I have thought it my duty
uniformly to oppose the same, until his majesty's orders
for that purpose shall be received, and my conduct upon
that occasion having been approved, I have only to recom-
mend to you a strict attention to the same."
The treaty was unquestionably a severe blow to the Eng-
lish fur trade, the life of the Canadian merchants, in whose
interests Haldimand was acting. It had transferred more
than half of the western trade to the Americans. "It was
estimated that not far from four thousand Indians of the
watershed of the upper lakes were accustomed to gather for
trade at Mackinac, which was also by the treaty brought
within the American bounds." Haldimand had imme-
5 Canadian Archives, 1890, XXXII, cited by Moore, op. cit., p. 191.
270 HISTORIC MACKINAG
diately sent messengers to them with persuasive speeches to
keep them loyal to the British. The merchants were only
too glad to profit by the delay in surrendering the posts. 6
The trade of Mackinac, it was estimated, comprised "three
quarters of the entire trade in the Mississippi Valley, be-
tween 39 and 60 of latitude." The finest fur country
was represented to be that south of Lake Superior. . . .
Well might Frobisher, one of the leading traders, contend
that it would be a "fatal moment when the posts were
given up." 7 The promptings of "those mighty and clam-
ourous Quebec merchants" had their effect upon the British
Government. It was moreover feared that these merchants
"might otherwise prefer to cling to their profits under the
new republic rather than to their birthright without them,"
and go over to the Americans. There was also the hope
either that the American Government might fail to main-
tain itself or at least that a change of boundary might be
effected, "as was indeed later attempted by those who nego-
tiated a treaty with Jay in 1794." 8
The fur trade was the fundamental cause of the British
retention of Mackinac and the other western posts, and
coupled with this was the desire to retain control of the
Indians. As Dr. Quaif e has well said : 9 "The real reasons
for the British policy with reference to the Northwest were
the desire to retain control of the fur trade and of the In-
dian tribes of that region. In one sense these two reasons
coalesce, but to some extent they may be distinguished.
The fur trade constituted Canada's chief commercial asset,
6 Winsor, Westward Movement, p. 220. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston.
7 Ibid., p. 235.
s Ibid., p. 240.
9 Quaif e, Chicago and the Old Northwest, p. 107 (Chicago University
Press) , citing McLaughlin's "Western Posts and the British Debts," in
Amer. Hist. Assoc. Ann. Rep., 1894, 413 ff.
THE ENGLISH FUR TRADE 271
and the Canadians had looked upon the concessions con-
tained in the treaty of 1783 as needlessly generous to the
Americans and fatal to their own prosperity. To retain
this trade the Americans must be shut out of the Northwest,
and to this end the posts must be retained. Further than
this, it was an obvious fact that in time of war the Indian
would side with the party with whom he traded in time of
peace. By her control of the Indian trade, and the exclu-
sion of the Americans from the Northwest, Great Britain
assured herself that in case of a future war with America
or Spain, the tomahawk and scalping knife might once more
be called into requisition against her enemy."
In order to strengthen their hold on the fur trade and the
Indians, and to put an end to the ruinous contentions inci-
dent to unrestrained competition among individual traders,
the Frobisher brothers and other Montreal merchants
formed in the winter of 17834, a sixteen-share company,
with headquarters at Montreal and the general rendezvous
at the Grand Portage on Lake Superior, where was built
Fort William. In 1787 some former rivals were admitted
to the partnership, making the great Northwest Company,
with resident partners at Mackinac. In 1798 the company
was still further enlarged to forty-six shares, a powerful
trade combination, "which for a time held a lordly sway
over the wintry lakes and boundless forests of the Canadas,
almost equal to that of the East India Company over the
voluptuous climes and magnificent realms of the Orient."
"To behold the Northwest Company in all its state and
grandeur, however," writes Irving, 11 "it was necessary to
10 Washington Irving, op. cit., I, 13; Wis. Hist. Colls., XIX, 163, note
20. For the pool of interests in 1778, the precursors of the Northwest
Company, see Ibid., XVIII, 314, note 39, and for McKenzie's opposition,
Ibid., XIX, 169, note 30.
" Op. cit. y I, 18 ff.
272 HISTORIC MACKINAC
witness an annual gathering at the great interior place of
conference established at Fort William, near what is called
the Grand Portage, on Lake Superior. Here two or three
of the leading partners from Montreal proceeded once a
year, to meet the partners from the various trading posts
of the wilderness, to discuss the affairs of the Company
during the preceding year, and to arrange plans for the
future.
"On these occasions might be seen the change since the
unceremonious times of the old French traders; now the
aristocratical character of the Briton shone forth magnifi-
cently, or rather the feudal spirit of the Highlander. Ev-
ery partner who had charge of an interior post, and a score
of retainers at his command, felt like the chieftain of a
Highland clan, and was almost as important in the eyes of
his dependants as of himself. To him a visit to the grand
conference at Fort William was a most important event ; and
he repaired there as to a meeting of parliament.
"The partners from Montreal, however, were the lords
of the ascendant; coming from the midst of luxurious and
ostentatious life, they quite eclipsed their compeers from
the woods, whose forms and faces had been battered and
hardened by hard living and hard service, and whose gar-
ments and equipments were all the worse for wear. In-
deed, the partners from below considered the whole dignity
of the company as represented in their persons, and con-
ducted themselves in suitable style. They ascended the
rivers in great state, like sovereigns making a progress; or
rather like Highland chieftains navigating their subject
lakes. They were wrapped in rich furs, their huge canoes
freighted with every convenience and luxury, and manned
by Canadian voyageurs, as obedient as Highland clansmen.
o
sr
o
o
9s
"2- O
g.3
fR
THE ENGLISH FUR TRADE 273
They carried up with them cooks and bakers, togethei with
delicacies of every kind, and abundance of choice wines
for the banquet which attended this great convocation.
Happy were they, too, if they could meet with some dis-
tinguished stranger, above all, some titled member of the
British nobility, to accompany them on this stately occasion,
and grace their high solemnities. . . .
"While the chiefs thus revelled in hall, and made the
rafters resound with bursts of loyalty and old Scottish
songs, chanted in voices cracked and sharpened by the
northern blast, their merriment was echoed and prolonged
by a mongrel legion of retainers, Canadian voyageurs,
half breeds, Indian hunters, and vagabond hangers-on, who
feasted sumptuously without on the crumbs that fell from
their table, and made the welkin ring with old French dit-
ties, mingled with Indian yelps and yellings. . . .
"The success of the Northwest Company stimulated fur-
ther enterprise in this opening and apparently boundless
field of profit. The traffic of that company lay principally
in the high northern latitudes, while there were immense
regions to the south and west, known to abound with val-
uable peltries; but which, as yet, had been but little ex-
plored by the fur trader. A new association of British
merchants was therefore formed, to prosecute the trade in
that direction. The chief factory was established at the
old emporium of Michilimackinac, from which place the
association took its name, and was commonly called the
Mackinaw Company.
"While the North- waters continued to push their enter-
prises into the hyperborean regions from their stronghold
at Fort William, and to hold almost sovereign sway over
the tribes of the upper lakes and rivers, the Mackinaw Com-
274 HISTORIC MACKINAC
pany sent forth their light perogues and barks, by Green
Bay, Fox River, and the Wisconsin, to that great artery of
the West, the Mississippi; and down that stream to all its
tributary rivers. In this way they hoped soon to monopo-
lize the trade with all the tribes on the southern and western
waters, and of those vast tracts comprised in ancient Louis-
iana."
The importance of Mackinac in this trade is noted by
Major Caleb Strong, paymaster to the Western Army, in
his diary in 1798. He writes: 12 "This celebrated streight
is the only key to the immense, lucrative skin trade, now
solely carried on by British subjects from Montreal with
the nations of Indians called the Sauteurs or Chipewas,
Sioux, Reynards, etc., who inhabit the water-courses that
fall into the Mississippi, between the Illinois and the Falls
of St. Anthony. Canoes are loaded and fitted out by these
traders every year from Michilimackinac. They com-
monly set out in July, and return in June, July, or August
the year following to Michilimackinac, from whence they
started. Here they are again met by the Montreal canoes,
with fresh goods, exchange loading, and each return from
whence they came. The Montreal canoes penetrate to
Michilimackinac by way of Grand River [the Ottawa],
which, with the exception of a small portage, conveys them
to the northern point of Lake Huron, and return by the
same route. Those from Michilimackinac penetrate the
interior, or Indian country, by way of Green Bay, an arm
of Lake Michigan; thence through Fox River into the Mis-
sissippi and its tributary streams, and return also to Mich-
ilimackinac by the same route."
A trip to Mackinac Island from Montreal in 1800, nar-
12 Mag. of Amer. Hist., Jan., 1888, p. 75.
THE ENGLISH FUR TRADE 275
rated by an English trader, Capt. Thomas G. Anderson, at
that time in the employ of the Northwest Company, is typi-
cal and interesting: 13 "My personal outfit," writes Cap-
tain Anderson, "consisted of a corduroy round-about, pants
and vest, four striped cotton shirts, four pair of socks, and
four 'two and a half point blankets' sewed up in canvas
with two pair of blankets to cover me forming my bed and
bedding. A gun, powder-horn and shot-bag filled, fitted
me for the hunt ; and a travelling basket, containing a boiled
ham, some sea biscuit, salt, tea, sugar and pepper, with a
tea-pot, a small tin kettle in which to boil tea water, a tin
cup for tea drinking, two tin plates, two knives and forks,
two iron spoons, and a small canvas tent for fair weather.
These articles, with two hundred dollars' salary, formed
the usual outfit and wages for a clerk in the Mississippi
Indian trade for the first year."
On the third of April he was at Lachine Rapids ready to
start for Mackinac. "I took a look at the bark canoe,
which was to transport me to savage wilds. These canoes
are about forty feet long, over five feet wide, and three feet
deep, and made of the bark taken from the white birch
tree, and sewed together with the small roots of the hem-
lock tree. The strips of bark were cut into the proper
shape, and stretched upon a strong frame, composed of
split cedar, and firmly sewed to it with the hemlock fibres.
It is now ready for pitching or, rather, 'gumming' which
is performed by spreading on the seams a kind of resin
prepared from the sap extracted from the pine tree care-
fully laid on, and pressed firmly with the thumb. It hard-
ens and stops every leak."
At daylight the next morning they loaded the canoe.
i* ITis. Hist. Colls., IX, 139-142.
276 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"The canoe was placed in the water, when four nicely
smoothed cedar poles, the length of the canoe, were laid
in the bottom, in order that the cargo may bear equal pres-
sure on the frail vessel throughout, and the most weighty
packages laid on them to bind and confine them to the
shape of the canoe. On these the heavier articles were
placed, such as shot, axes, powder, then the dry goods to the
brim. Over all was piled a month's provisions for all
hands, consisting of pork, peas, and sea biscuit the latter
contained in canvas sacks, which, when filled, were five
feet long, and two feet in diameter."
After proceeding a few miles, they halted, and all hands
debarked, to surmount the rapids. Two men waded to their
middles up the rapids, one at each end of the canoe, to
steer it clear of the rocks, while the rest towed it slowly up
stream by a long rope. "At the end, no fire was made to
dry the men's clothes and warm their feet; but all was
hurry, and away to the camping ground, about three miles.
The paddling was brisk, the song loud and lively, the water
smooth, and the hungry mouths soon reached the end of
their first day's journey."
The men's practice in cooking was very simple, but good.
"The tin kettle, in which they cooked their food, would
hold eight or ten gallons. It was hung over the fire, nearly
full of water, then nine quarts of peas one quart per man,
the daily allowance were put in; and when they were well
bursted, two or three pounds of pork, cut into strips, for
seasoning, were added, and all allowed to boil or simmer,
till daylight, when the cook added four biscuits, broken up,
to the mess, and invited all hands to breakfast. The swell-
ing of the peas and biscuit had now filled the kettle to the
brim, so thick that a stick would stand upright in it. It
THE ENGLISH FUR TRADE 277
looked inviting, and I begged for a plateful of it, and ate
little else during the journey. The men now squatted in a
circle, the kettle in their midst, and each one plying his
wooden spoon or ladle from kettle to mouth, with almost
electric speed, soon filled every cavity. Then the pipes
were soon brought into full smoke."
Coming up the river they had mounted seventeen por-
tages and had to descend seventeen more to reach Lake
Huron. "After getting over these seventeen portages, and
running sundry rapids, at times going at the rate of ten
knots an hour, we at length reached the big lake; and again,
after paddling and working many days, we landed on
Grosse Island, within nine miles of Messhemickanock
the Big Turtle, corrupted into Michilimackinac, and finally
into Mackinaw."
Washington Irving has left a pleasing picture of this
important post, and of the rival traders from the Northwest
Company and the Mackinaw Company gathered at the
Island: 14 "This famous old French trading post," he
writes, "continued to be a rallying point for a multifarious
and motley population. The inhabitants were amphibious
in their habits, most of them being, or having been, voy-
ageurs or canoe men. It was the great place of arrival and
departure of the south-west fur trade. Here the Mackinaw
Company had established its principal post, from whence it
communicated with the interior and with Montreal. Hence
its various traders and trappers set out for their respective
destinations about Lake Superior and its tributary waters,
or for the Mississippi, the Arkansas, the Missouri, and
the other regions of the west. Here, after the absence of a
year or more, they returned with their peltries, and settled
" Astoria, I, pp. 208-211.
278 HISTORIC MACKINAC
their accounts; the furs rendered in by them being trans-
mitted, in canoes, from hence to Montreal. Mackinaw
was, therefore, for a great part of the year, very scantily
peopled; but at certain seasons the traders arrived from
all points, with their crews of voyageurs, and the place
swarmed like a hive.
"Mackinaw, at that time, was a mere village, stretching
along a small bay, with a fine broad beach in front of its
principal row of houses, and dominated by the old fort,
which crowned an impending height. The beach was a
kind of public promenade, where were displayed all the
vagaries of a seaport on the arrival of a fleet from a long
cruise. Here voyageurs frolicked away their wages, fid-
dling and dancing in the booths and cabins, buying all kinds
of knick-knacks, dressing themselves out finely, and parad-
ing up and down, like arrant braggarts and coxcombs.
Sometimes they met with rival coxcombs in the young In-
dians from the opposite shore, who would appear on the
beach painted and decorated in fantastic style, and would
saunter up and down, to be gazed at and admired, perfectly
satisfied that they eclipsed their palefaced competitors.
"Now and then a chance party of 'North-westers' ap-
peared at Mackinaw from the rendezvous at Fort William.
"These held themselves up as the chivalry of the fur
trade. They were men of iron; proof against cold weather,
hard fare, and perils of all kind. Some would wear the
north-west button, and a formidable dirk, and assume
something of a military air. They generally wore feathers
in their hats, and affected the 'brave.' 6 ]e suis un homme
du nord!' 'I am a man of the North,' one of these swelling
fellows would exclaim, sticking his arms akimbo and ruf-
fling by the South-westers; whom he regarded with great
THE ENGLISH FUR TRADE 279
contempt, as men softened by mild climates and the luxur-
ious fare of bread and bacon, and whom he stigmatized
with the inglorious name of pork eaters. The superiority
assumed by these vainglorious swaggerers was, in general,
tacitly admitted. Indeed, some of them had acquired great
notoriety for deeds of hardihood and courage; for the fur
trade had its heroes, whose names resounded throughout
the wilderness.
"Such was Mackinaw at the time of which we are treat-
ing. It now, doubtless, presents a totally different aspect.
The fur companies no longer assemble there; the navigation
of the lakes is carried on by steamboats and various ship-
ping, and the race of traders, and trappers, and voyageurs,
and Indian dandies, have vapoured out their brief hour and
disappeared. Such changes does the lapse of a handful
of years make in this ever changing country."
In 1796 Mackinac was evacuated by the British troops,
when news of Jay's treaty reached the Island. By the
terms of that treaty Great Britain was to deliver the west-
ern posts to the United States on June 1, 1796. The Brit-
ish soldiers under command of Captain Doyle took station
on St. Joseph's Island, some forty miles northeast of Mack-
inac, where they built a fort and remained until the out-
break of the War of 1812. A scarcity of food prevented
the United States soldiers from reaching Mackinac until
October, 1796, the surrender of the post being received by
Major Henry Burbeck. 15
General Wilkinson had arrived at Mackinac in August,
and in his company was Major Caleb Swan. The Major's
is Wis. Hist. Colls., XVIII, 447, note 68. For Jay's treaty, see Cooley's
Michigan (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston), pp. 105-119; Winsor, Westward
Movement, p. 462 ff (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston) ; Moore, Northwest
Under Three Flags, ch. 8, Harper & Brothers, N. Y.
280 HISTORIC MACKINAG
Journal contains an interesting description of the Island
at this time: 16 "On the south side of this Island, there is a
small bason, of a segment of a circle, serving as an excel-
lent harbour for vessels of any burden, and for canoes.
Around this bason the village is built, having two streets
of nearly a quarter of a mile in length, a Roman chapel, and
containing eighty-nine houses and stores; some of them
spacious and handsome, with white lime plastering in front,
which shews to great advantage from the sea. At one end,
and in the rear of the town, is an elegant government
house, of immense size, and finished with great taste. It
is one story high, the rooms fifteen feet and a half in
the clear. It has a spacious garden in front, laid out
with taste; and extending from the house, on a gentle
declivity, to the water's edge. There are two natural lim-
pid springs in the rear of the house, and a very lively grove
of sugar-trees, called the park. Suitable out-houses,
stables, and offices are added; and it is enriched on three
sides with beautiful distant prospects. Twenty rods from
the rear, there is a sudden and almost perpendicular as-
cent of about a hundred feet of rock, upon the top of which
stands the fort, built of stone and lime, with towers, bast-
ions, etc., occupied by our troops and commanded by
Major Burbeck. About half a mile from the fort, in the
rear, there is an eminence, which I estimate to be about two
hundred and fifty feet from the surface of the water. This
spot commands an extensive and sublime view of the adja-
cent country. The fort, the village, the neighbouring
islands and channels seem prostrated at your feet; while,
to the south-west, you look into the immensity of Lake
Michigan, which loses itself in the southern hemisphere;
is Mag. of Amer. Hist., Jan., 1888, pp. 74-75.
THE ENGLISH FUR TRADE 281
and, to the north-west, the great Lake Huron lies expanded
to the bounds of the horizon. It was a beautiful morning
when I had this view."
With the occupation of Mackinac and the northwest
posts, the United States "began to view with a wary eye the
growing influence acquired by combinations of foreigners
over the aboriginal tribes inhabiting its territories, and
endeavouring to counteract it. For this purpose, as early
as 1796, the government sent out agents to establish rival
trading houses on the frontier, so as to supply the wants of
the Indians, to link their interests and feelings with those
of the people of the United States, and to divert this impor-
tant branch of trade into national channels." 17 Already,
in 1795, General Anthony Wayne, after a victory over the
Indians at Fallen Timbers, had negotiated a treaty at
Greenville, in the Illinois country, by which, among other
grants, the jib ways ceded reservations on Mackinac Is-
land and another tract on the mainland north of the Island.
But before the "dull patronage of government" could do
anything effective, the Indians, incited by the British, were
within ten years looking towards war. As early as 1807,
Tecumseh was busy organizing a confederacy of the Indians
about the Great Lakes, with much the same purpose and the
same arguments as Pontiac, and the plan of attack was sim-
ilar. When war broke out between the United States and
Great Britain in 1812, the savage allies of the British fur
trade were ready for a fierce struggle with the advancing
frontier of American settlement in the Mackinac country
and the Old Northwest. 18
17 Washington Irving, op. cit., I, 25.
18 For the text of the Treaty of Greenville, together with a historical
summary of events leading up to it, see Frazer E. Wilson, The Treaty of
Greenville (Piqua, Ohio, 1894) ; also Manypenny, Our Indian Wards, pp.
282 HISTORIC MAGKINAC
BRITISH GOVERNORS OF CANADA AND THE OLD
NORTHWEST
1. 1760-63. Sir Jeffrey Amherst.
2. 1763-66. Sir James Murray.
3. 1766. Palinus Emelius Irvine.
4. 176670. Brigadier General Guy Carleton.
5. 1770-74. Hector Theophilus Cramahe.
6. 1774-78. Major General Guy Carleton. 1
7. 1778-84. Sir Frederick Haldimand.
8. 1784. Henry Hamilton. 2
9. 1785. Colonel Henry Hope.
10. 1785. Guy Carleton (as Lord Dorchester). 3
11. 1792. John Graves Simcoe.
Michigan Legislative Manual, 1915, p. 103.
NAMES OF ENGLISH OFFICERS AT FORT MICHILI-
MACKINAC WHICH APPEAR IN THE OLD
AND OFFICIAL RECORDS
1774 to 1779.
A. S. DE PEYSTER, Major Commanding Michilimack-
inac and Dependencies.
1779 to 1782.
PATRICK SINCLAIR, Major and Lieutenant Governor,
Commanding Michilimackinac and Depen-
dencies.
73-91; Winsor, Westward Movement, pp. 485 ff (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.,
Boston) ; Burnet, Notes on the Early Settlement of the Northwest Territory,
192-274.
1 Same as No. 4.
2 Captured at Vincennes, Ind., February 24, 1778, by General George
Rogers Clark, U. S. A.
1 Same as Nos. 4 and 6.
THE ENGLISH FUR TRADE 283
1782 to 1787, 10th May.
DANIEL ROBERTSON, Captain Commanding Michili-
mackinac and Dependencies.
1784, 31st July.
PHIL B. FRY, Ensign 8th, or King's Regiment.
1784, 31st July.
GEORGE CLOWES, Lieutenant 8th, or King's Regiment.
1791, 15th November.
EDWARD CHARLETON, Captain 5th Regiment Foot,
Commanding Michilimackinac.
1791, 15th November.
J. M. HAMILTON, Ensign 5th Regiment Foot.
1791, 15th November.
BENJAMIN ROCHA, Lieutenant 5th Foot.
1791, 15th November.
H. HEADOWE, Ensign 5th Foot.
Kelton, Annals of Fort Mackinac, p. 138.
CHAPTER XV
THE WAR OF 1812
THE activity of the British fur traders of the Mack-
inac country in the War of 1812 is exemplified in
the part taken by Robert Dickson, and by the em-
ployees of the Northwest Fur Company from Fort William
on Lake Superior. Dickson was one of the most influen-
tial traders operating south and west of the Great Lakes.
In 1811 he was on the Mississippi, where he had a strong
influence with the Indians, particularly through his gener-
osity to them in their distress due to failure of crops.
When news of the probability of war reached him he was
ready at once to gather his "friends," and rendezvous as
directed at St. Joseph's Island near Mackinac.
"On the 18th of June, 1812," writes Lieut. Col. E.
Cruikshank, 1 "as Dickson was returning to Montreal, he
was met at the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin
Rivers by a messenger from Captain Glegg, Military Secre-
tary to General Brock, bearing a letter dated at York on
the 27th of February, informing him that war with the
United States might be expected, and asking for informa-
tion as to the number of "his friends that might be de-
pended on."
In reply, Dickson stated that all his "friends," whose
numbers he estimated at 250 or 300 warriors, would as-
1 "The Capture of Mackinac in the War of 1812," in Educational Review
Supplementary Readings, Canadian History, No. 6, p. 159. See Wis. Hist.
Colls., XII, 133-153 for a biographical sketch of Dickson.
284 '
THE WAR OF 1812 285
semble at St. Joseph about the 30th of June. Punctually
to the day he arrived there himself, accompanied by 130
Sioux, Winnebagoes (Puants), and Menomonees (Folles
Avoines), commanded by their principal chiefs. The gar-
rison of that post then consisted of a sergeant and two gun-
ners of the royal artillery, and three officers and forty-one
non-commissioned officers and privates of the 10th Royal
Veteran Battalion, mostly infirm and worn-out men who
were considered unfit for any service except garrison duty,
under the command of Captain Charles Roberts of the lat-
ter corps, who was himself almost an invalid. The station
there was described as 'a square consisting merely of high
cedar pickets to enclose the blockhouse and public build-
ings, the whole in bad repair and incapable of any de-
fence.' 2 It was armed with four very old iron six pound-
ers, which were honey-combed and nearly useless, and six
small swivels. Very few voyageurs had yet assembled
there, as the British traders had left many of their men with
their furs at other places. On the third day of July, Mr.
Toussaint Pothier (afterward a member of the Legislative
Council of Canada) arrived from Montreal in the capacity
of agent for the Southwest Fur Company. Five days later,
an express came from General Brock, at York, announcing
the declaration of war and directing Roberts to attack
Mackinac as soon as practicable. The voyageurs upon the
Island and from the trading stations on the mainland as
far as Sault Ste. Marie were hastily assembled and organ-
ized as a small battalion of volunteers under the command
of Mr. Lewis Crawford. Messengers were even sent to
distant Fort William, at the head of Lake Superior, to seek
the assistance of the Agents of the Northwest Fur Company.
2 Report of Lt. Col. R. H. Bruyers, R.E.
286 HISTORIC MACKINAC
They promptly responded to this summons, but arrived
too late to render any service. "Those gentlemen," said
Mr. Pothier, "with great alacrity came down with a strong
party to co-operate, bringing to St. Marie's several carriage
guns and other arms; and altho' the distance between
St. Joseph's and Fort William is about 500 miles, they ar-
rived at Michilimackinac the ninth day from the date of the
express and found us in peaceable possession."
The story of the capture of Mackinac is interestingly told
in the standard account given by Lossing: 3 The first offi-
cial report of the capture of Mackinac was that made by
Captain Roberts written from Mackinac on the day of the
capture, July 17. 4 His motives for immediate attack were
strong. He states that on receiving orders from Brock "to
adopt the most prudent measures either of offense or de-
fence which circumstances might point out, and having re-
ceived intelligence from the best information that large
reinforcements were daily expected to be thrown into this
garrison, and finding that the Indians who had been col-
lected would soon have abandoned me if I had made the
attempt, with the thorough conviction that my situation at
St. Joseph's was totally indefensible," he determined to at-
tack Mackinac at once. In five sentences he gives the
result. "On the sixteenth, at ten o'clock in the morning,"
he says, "I embarked my few men with about one hundred
and fifty Canadian engages, half of them without arms,
about three hundred Indians and two iron six pounders.
The boats arrived without the smallest accident at the place
s The Pictorial Field Book of the War of 1812, pp. 269-271. (Harper &
Brothers, N. Y.) See also C. P. Lucas, The Canadian War of 1812, pp. 25-
27 (Oxford University Press, New York and London) ; Tapper's Life and
Correspondence of Brock (Lond., 1845), pp. 205-208; and H. B. Dawson, in
Historical Landmarks of America, 248-252.
*Mich. Pion. and Hist. Colls., XV, 109.
THE WAR OF 1812 287
of rendezvous. At three o'clock the following morning, by
the exertions of the Canadians, one of the guns was brought
up to a height commanding the garrison and ready to act
about ten o'clock. A summons was then sent in, a copy of
which as well as the capitulation which followed I have the
honour to enclose. At twelve the American colours were
hauled down and those of His Majesty's were hoisted."
Lieutenant Hanks' report was not made until August 4,
and is dated from Detroit. 5 He says that the reports of an
interpreter and the coolness of the Indians in the neighbour-
hood first led him to think something was wrong, whereupon
he sent Captain Dousman to watch them. In part, the re-
port which was made to General Hull reads: 6 "On the 16th,
I was informed by the Indian interpreter that he had discov-
ered from an Indian that the several nations of Indians then
at St. Joseph ( a British garrison, distant about forty miles)
intended to make an immediate attack on Michilimackinac.
"I was inclined, from the coolness I had discovered in
some of the principal chiefs of the Ottawa and Chippewa
nations, who had but a few days before professed the great-
est friendship for the United States, to place confidence in
this report.
"I immediately called a meeting of the American gentle-
men at that time on the Island, in which it was thought
proper to dispatch a confidential person to St. Joseph to
watch the motions of the Indians.
"Captain Michael Dousman, of the militia, was thought
the most suitable for this service. He embarked about sun-
set, and met the British forces within ten or fifteen miles of
the Island, by whom he was made prisoner and put on his
5 Kelton, Annals of Fort Mackinac, 167.
*Ibid., 167-168.
288 HISTORIC MACKINAC
parole of honour. He was landed on the Island at day-
break, with positive directions to give me no intelligence
whatever. He was also instructed to take the inhabitants
of the village, indiscriminately, to a place on the west side
of the Island where their persons and property should be
protected by a British guard, but should they go to the Fort,
they would be subject to a general massacre by the savages,
which would be inevitable if the garrison fired a gun. This
information I received from Doctor Day, who was passing
through the village when every person was flying for refuge
to the enemy. I immediately, on being informed of the
approach of the enemy, placed ammunition, &c., in the
Block houses; ordered every gun charged, and made every
preparation for action. About 9 o'clock I could discover
that the enemy were in possession of the heights that com-
manded the Fort, and one piece of their artillery directed to
the most defenceless part of the garrison. The Indians at
this time were to be seen in great numbers in the edge of
the woods. At half past 11 o'clock the enemy sent in a flag
of truce, demanding a surrender of the Fort and Island to
His Britannic Majesty's forces. This, Sir, was the first in-
formation I had of the declaration of war; I, however, had
anticipated it, and was as well prepared to meet such an
event as I possibly could have been with the force under my
command, amounting to 57 effective men, including offi-
cers. Three American gentlemen, who were prisoners,
were permitted to accompany the flag; from them I ascer-
tained the strength of the enemy to be from nine hundred to
one thousand strong, consisting of regular troops, Cana-
dians and savages; that they had two pieces of artillery,
and were provided with ladders and ropes for the purpose
of scaling the works, if necessary. After I had obtained
LIEUTENANT COLONEL GEORGE CROGHAN
In command at the Battle of Mackinac Island
THE WAR OF 1812 289
this information, I consulted my officers, and also the
American gentlemen present, who were very intelligent
men; the result of which was, that it was impossible for the
garrison to hold out against such a superior force. In this
opinion I fully concurred, from the conviction that it was
the only measure that could prevent a general massacre.
The fort and garrison were accordingly surrendered."
A postscript contains the following particulars relating
to the strength of the British force 7 "from a source that
admits no doubt."
"Regular troops 46 including 4 officers
Canadian militia 260
Total 306
Savages,
Sioux, 56
Winnebagoes 48
Menomonees 39
Chippewas and Ottawas . . 572
715 Savages
306 Whites
Total ............ 1021"
"It may also be remarked, that one hundred and fifty
Chippewas and Ottawas joined the British two days after
the capitulation."
The articles of capitulation, significantly dated from the
"Heights above Michilimackinac," were as follows: 8
169.
*Ibid., 169-170; see also Mich. Pion. and Hist. Colls., XV, 110.
290 HISTORIC MACKINAG
"I. The Fort at Michilimackinac shall immediately
be surrendered to the British forces. Granted.
II. The garrison shall march out with the honours of
war, lay down their arms, and become prisoners of war, and
shall be sent to the United States of America by his Britan-
nic Majesty, not to serve in this war until regularly ex-
changed; and for the due performance of this article the
officers pledge their word and honour. Granted.
III. All the merchant vessels in the harbour, with their
cargoes, shall be in the possession of their respective own-
ers. Granted.
IV. Private property shall be held sacred so far as in
my power. Granted.
V. All citizens of the United States of America who
shall not take the oath of allegiance to his Britannic Majesty
shall depart with their property from this Island in one
month from the date hereof. Granted."
The following interesting reminiscence of the Michael
Dousman incident is recorded in the Wisconsin Historical
Collections: 9
"Soon after the breaking out of the war, when the Ameri-
can officers on garrison at Mackinac and the citizens of that
place were yet ignorant of the commencement of hostilities,
but apprehensive that war had been declared, some traders
were dispatched to the old British post and settlement of
St. Joseph's, on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, for
intelligence. As none of the traders returned, remaining
absent so much longer than was deemed necessary, it nat-
9 II, 123. For a biographical sketch of Dousman, see Ibid., XVIII, 506,
and XIX, 345. James Strang, the Mormon King of Beaver Island, pays
Dousman a tribute in his Ancient and Modern Michilimackinac, p. 11; and
at p. 14, he gives an interesting anecdote connecting Dousman with the ad-
ministration of justice at Mackinac Island.
THE WAR OF 1812 291
urally enough excited the suspicions of the commanding
officer and the principal citizens at Mackinac. Under the
circumstances a council was held, at which it was deter-
mined that immediate information must be had from St.
Joseph's, and the question then was, who could go there and
not be suspected of being a spy. After looking around and
finding none qualified to go, the late Michael Dousman, of
Mackinac, said that he had an outfit in Lake Superior that
ought, by that time, to be at St. Joseph's, and he thought that
he could go there and look after his property without being
suspected. Accordingly he volunteered his services, and
late in the afternoon he left Mackinac for St. Joseph's in
a canoe. About dark, at Goose Island, fifteen miles from
Mackinac, he met the British troops on their way to that
place, who took him prisoner, but released him on his
parole that he would go back to Mackinac, and not give the
garrison any information of what he had seen, but collect
the citizens together at the old still-house on the southern
side of the Island, where a guard would be immediately
sent to protect them from the Indians. This promise Mr.
Dousman faithfully performed, and was probably the cause
of saving many an innocent family from being brutally
murdered by the savages. The British arrived, planted
their cannon during the night, and in the morning sent in
to the commanding officer a copy of the declaration of war,
with a demand for him to surrender, which he complied
with."
The good conduct of the Indians on this occasion much
surprised Captain Roberts. 10 "It is a circumstance I be-
lieve without precedent," he said, "and demands the great-
est praise for all those who conducted the Indians, that
10 Educ. Rev. Sup. Readings, Canadian History, No. 6, p. 162.
292 HISTORIC MACKINAG
though these people's minds were much heated, yet as soon
as they heard the capitulation was signed, they all returned
to their canoes, and not one drop, either of man's or ani-
mal's blood, was spilt, till I gave an order for a certain
number of bullocks to be purchased for them."
Most significant was the capture of Mackinac on the
minds of the Indians. Summing up the results, Mr. C. P.
Lucas says forcefully: n
"The War opened with British successes. The first was
in the far West. On learning that war had been declared
Brock sent instructions to the officer commanding the post
on St. Joseph's Island, near to the Sault Ste. Marie, giving
him discretion to attack or defend as circumstances might
dictate. The instructions were received on July 15, and
the officer in question, Captain Roberts, considering his
post to be indefensible and hearing that large reinforce-
ments were likely to reach the American garrison at Mich-
ilimackinac, determined immediately to attack that place,
which was between forty-five and fifty miles distant. With
the help of the agent of the Hudson's Bay Company, at ten
o'clock on the following morning, the 16th, he embarked
his small force consisting of some forty-five men of the
10th Battalion of Royal Veterans, about 180 Canadians,
and some 400 Indians, together with two iron six-pound-
ers. At three o'clock on the morning of the 17th he landed
near the fort of Michilimackinac, and before ten o'clock
had taken up a position completely commanding it. The
garrison, which consisted only of sixty-one men in all, of
whom fifty-seven were effectives, were then summoned to
surrender; and at noon the capitulation was completed, and
"Lucas, Canadian War of 1812, pp. 25-27. Oxford University Press,
New York and London.
THE WAR OF 1812 293
the fort with all that it contained passed into British pos-
session.
"Not a shot had been fired. It was merely a case of a
handful of men at a distant outpost having to surrender to a
larger force which had them at their mercy; but the enter-
prise was of some importance, mainly because of the effect
which it had upon the minds of the Indians. The first
notable incident in the war had been a little expedition on
the British side, bold, well-managed, and thoroughly suc-
cessful. The result had been the capture of one of the
historic points in the West, where for many generations In-
dians and white men had been wont to congregate. After
his surrender at Detroit, General Hull, in his dispatch to
the American Secretary of War, pleaded that the capture
of Michillimackinac had led to a general rising of the In-
dians, who cut his communications and largely contributed
to his misfortunes. 'After the surrender of Michillimack-
inac,' he wrote, 'almost every tribe and nation of Indians,
excepting a part of the Miamis and Delawares, north from
beyond Lake Superior, west from beyond the Mississippi,
south from the Ohio and Wabash, and east from every part
of Upper Canada and from all the intermediate country,
joined in open hostility, under the British standard, against
the army I commanded. . . . The surrender of Michilli-
mackinac opened the northern hive of Indians, and they
were swarming down in every direction.' Allowing for
the fact that the writer was anxious to find excuses for the
disaster which had befallen his army and himself, there is
still no reason to doubt that this little initial success brought
to the English and Canadians a number of Indian allies.
Neither is there any reason to doubt that such incidents as
the surrender of Michillimackinac were largely determined
294 HISTORIC MACKINAC
by dread, in case of resistance, of wholesale massacre at the
hands of the Indians. In his dispatch reporting the capit-
ulation, the American Commander, Lieutenant Hanks, wrote
that he took the step 'from the conviction that it was the
only measure that could prevent a general massacre'; and
the Americans published a corroborating letter from an
Englishman who was in charge of some of the Indians who
took part in the expedition, in which the statement was
made, 'It was a fortunate circumstance the fort capitulated
without firing a single gun, for had they done so, I firmly
believe not a soul of them would have been saved.' As it
was, not a hair of a head was touched, nor was there pillage
of any kind. Cases occurred later in the war of massacres
by Indians serving on the British side. On the other hand,
it must be remembered that the Americans as well as the
English employed Indians when they could enlist their
services, and the greater readiness of the Indians to follow
the English lead was evidence of the better treatment they
had received in Canada than in the United States. Hull's
proclamation gave no quarter even to any white man who
might be taken prisoner, while fighting side by side with an
Indian. Brock, in his counter-proclamation, laid down
firmly and bravely the principle that the natives 'are men
and have equal rights with all other men to defend them-
selves and their property when invaded, more especially
when they find in the enemy's camp a ferocious and mortal
foe using the same warfare which the American commander
affects to reprobate.' '
The conduct of the Ottawas after the surrender of the
Island was very pronounced in their leaning towards the
THE WAR OF 1812 295
Americans, but the fall of Detroit brought a change. "Af-
ter the surrender of the Island of Mackinac to the British
forces on July 17, 1812," says Cruikshank, 12 "the greater
part of the small garrison at St. Joseph's was stationed
there as the most defensible position of the two. The
powerful tribe of Ottawas in the immediate vicinity had
taken no part in the reduction of the place. Even after it
was taken they still seemed to retain a predilection in favour
of the Americans. A few days after the surrender of the
fort, information was received of the invasion of Canada
by an American army, which rumour considerably exag-
gerated. 'This,' Mr. Pothier wrote, 'tended greatly to
dampen the ardour of the other tribes, and the very men
whom Captain Roberts appointed to a village guard were
those who held private councils, to which they invited the
Saulteaux for the purpose not only of abandoning the
British cause, but eventually to avail themselves of the first
opportunity of cutting off the fort. This being rejected
by the others, they suddenly broke up their camp and re-
turned to their villages, with the exception of a few young
and old men of little or no importance.'
"After the lapse of a few days the principal chiefs again
came to the Island where nearly two hundred Indians were
assembled who were preparing to go to the relief of Am-
herstburg, and at a special council called for the purpose
they not only declared their intentions of remaining neu-
tral, but 'reproached the commanding officer with having
taken them too abruptly at St. Joseph's; that their eyes were
then shut, but now open, and that without them he could
never have gotten up there, pointing to the fort; and from
12 Educ. Sup. Readings, Canadian History, No. 7, pp. 194-195.
296 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the general conversation at that time gave [him] to under-
stand that the future possession of the fort depended upon
them.'
"Their arguments, however, had little effect upon these
Indians, who went away at once under Dickson's command,
but arrived too late to be present at the surrender of Detroit.
That remarkable success brought the Ottawas to their knees.
'The Ottawas of the L'Arbre Croche village,' Captain
Roberts reported, 'have repented of their errors, and have
in the most humble manner implored forgiveness.' '
In the summer of 181?^ an interesting incident occurred
connecting Mackinac with the trading post at Prairie du
Chien. The Americans had in May of that year captured
that post. As told by Lieut. Col. Cruikshank 13 "Informa-
tion of the latter event was received at Mackinac on June
21st, and next day a chief of the Winnebagoes, who came
to implore assistance, related that several Indians of his
own tribe, and the wife of Wabasha, the Sioux Chief, who
was then at Mackinac, had been killed in cold blood by the
Americans after being taken prisoners. This caused an
universal outcry for revenge from the Indians on the Island,
who demanded to be led against the enemy.
" 'I saw at once the imperious necessity which existed of
endeavouring by every means to dislodge the American
general from his new conquest and make him relinquish
the immense tract of country he had seized upon in conse-
quence, and which brought him into the very heart of that
occupied by our friendly Indians,' said McDouall. 'There
was no alternative, it must either be done or there was an
end to our connection with the Indians, for if allowed to
settle themselves in place, by dint of threats, bribes, and
is Ibid., p. 198.
THE WAR OF 1812 297
sowing divisions among them, tribe after tribe would be
gained over or subdued, and thus would be destroyed the
only barrier which protects the great trading establish-
ments of the Northwest and the Hudson's Bay Company.'
He accordingly decided to make an effort to retake Prairie
du Chien at the risk of weakening his own position. A
company of volunteers was quickly enrolled on the Island
for this purpose, to whom Bombardier Kitson, of the Royal
Artillery, was attached with a small field gun. The whole
of the Winnebagoes and Sioux assembled at Mackinac,
numbering 155 warriors, were permitted to join the expedi-
tion, which set out on the seventh day after the news was
received, under the command of Major William McKay,
a veteran trader. At Green Bay he was joined by an-
other company of volunteers, which increased his white
force to 120 men; and during his advance by way of the
Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, the number of Indians under
his control was gradually augmented to 450. The jour-
ney of more than 500 miles was performed in nineteen
days, and on the 17th of July McKay unexpectedly sur-
rounded the American fort, which surrendered forty-eight
hours later with its garrison of three officers and seventy-
one men."
This incident is narrated also by Captain Thomas G.
Anderson, one of the principal actors, who places it in
1814. 14 "The garrison at Mackinac," says Captain Ander-
son, "was commanded by Lieut. Col. Robert McDouall 15
of the Glengaries, with detachments of the Royal Veterans,
i* Wis. Hist. Colls., IX, 193-196. [Notes 15-17 are Dr. Draper's.]
15 McDouall was a Scotsman, entered the British army in 1796, became
a lieutenant the following year, a captain in 1804, a major, June 24th, 1813 ;
a lieut.-col., July 29th, 1813; and a major-general in 1841. He successfully
defended Fort Mackinac Aug. 4, 1814, when attacked by Col. Croghan and
Maj. Holmes. He died at Stranrawer, Scotland, Nov. 15th, 1848.
298 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the Eighty-first and Newfoundland regiments, and a ser-
geant's command of the Royal Artillery. Being a poor
Indian trader, it was, of course, not my business to seek
acquaintance with such great men as army officers. How-
ever, before the end of a week after my arrival, I was
roused up one morning by a gentleman, who informed me
that two men in a little bark canoe had just arrived express
from Prairie du Ghien, with the information that three boat
loads of American soldiers had arrived there, and were
building a fort at that place.
"I jumped up, exclaiming, 'We must go and take the
fort.' I dressed, and, on reaching the street, I found all
astir, and alive to my views. I said: 'All those who are
willing to go, give me your names.' By sundown, I had
more than eighty volunteers, all traders' clerks and engages,
save one, who had large interests at stake on the Mississippi.
It is true our enterprise appeared unwise, and very doubt-
ful of success, for our private means were too limited for
a big job of this kind. We had no stores of any description
for such an undertaking no boats, provisions, arms, nor
ammunition.
"When Col. McDouall, in the course of the day, became
aware of my success, he was much pleased, and offered me
any military stores he could spare from his scanty stock.
This good news inspired our ambition. I was made a
Captain, mounted a red coat, mustered a couple of epau-
lettes and an old rusty sword, with a red cock feather
adorning my round hat. I was at once a captain of pomp-
ous dimensions, and lucky it was for Napoleon and his
hosts, that they were beyond the reach of Anderson's
Mississippi Volunteers.
"I was an entire stranger to the commandant, and it
THE WAR OF 1812 299
would not have been soldier-like in him to have entrusted
valuable military stores to a man without credentials. So
the command of the expedition was placed nominally under
a volunteer officer from Lower Canada, Lieut. Col. McKay,
whose entire knowledge of war matters consisted of his
predilection for rum. Well, the Island of Mackinac was,
in fact, under blockade, and in daily expectation of a
formidable attack. It would, therefore, have been unwise
in the Commandant to have granted us very many supplies
from his limited stores; but knowing the vast importance
of securing the services of the northwestern tribes, and
witnessing also the devoted enthusiasm of a jolly band of
Canadian voyageurs, embodied in so short a time and
that, too, by an old volunteer of the Revolutionary War,
in defence of their country, inspired him with confidence
in us, and we were joyfully mustered into service as a
part of his command.
"Col. McDouall assigned three gun-boats for our use
open vessels which had been constructed at Nottawasawgun
the winter before; one having a platform near the prow
for a gun. A brass three-pounder, and such other stores
as he could prudently spare, also one artillery man for a
bombardier, and a worn-out soldier for the veteran bat-
talion. Finally we were ready, and started about the
twentieth of June, 1814, on our expedition against Prairie
du Chien, with many a cheer, and hearty wish, for our
success. We made all haste to get out of the reach of the
expected enemies' fleet from below. At Green Bay some
of the Menomonee tribe volunteered, and following us in
their canoes, joined us at Winnebago Lake. In fact, when
we reached Prairie du Chien, about the twentieth of July,
16 It was Sunday, July 17th.
16
300 HISTORIC MACKINAC
we had a host of followers of all nations, ages and sexes.
"We reached there about noon, and pitched our camp
at a convenient place; and I went immediately with a flag
of truce, demanding their surrender. This they refused
to do. I noticed that they had built houses, and fenced
them in with strong oak pickets, ten feet high, with two
substantial block-houses, with chevaux-de-frise, and two
gun-boats at anchor near by. On my return to camp, we
opened fire on the fort, but to little effect upon their
earthed-oak pickets. Their six-pound shots, because of
their bad powder, did not reach our camp. Meanwhile,
under shelter of the village buildings, the Indians kept up
a constant firing at the fort, cutting down their flag, and
wounding two of their men through the port holes. Two
of our Indians were also wounded, but slightly. Thus
ended the first day.
"The next morning, we reopened our fire upon the fort.
So I ordered the bombardier to run his gun up, and attack
the gun-boats. Only one returned the fire, the [other]
being empty. They gave shot for shot merrily. At length
my gunner cried out: Tor God's sake, come and help
me!' I ran to him and found all his men had left him, and
I said 'What can I do?' 'Take the trail of the gun, please,
and enable me to lay it,' he replied. The next shot from
the boat rolled in between the wheels of our gun, being a
three-pound shot, having taken aim, saying 'Will you return
us this ball, sir?' 'Yes,' we replied; and loading our gun
with it, shot it off, and with it cut off their gunner's two
legs. This shut them up; they cut cable, and I ran to
camp, ordering our gun-boats ready to follow and capture
their vessel, as it had all their valuable stores on board.
"But our commander, Col. McKay, rose from his snooze
came along rubbing his eyes, peremptorily ordering me to
THE WAR OF 1812 301
desist. 17 One word from me would have caused mutiny.
The American boat turned a point about a mile below,
and landed to stop leakage, and prevent their sinking.
"Our cannon shot were now nearly all gone. So I got
a quantity of lead from the village, and with a couple of
brick made a mould, and cast a number of three-pound
leaden balls. Meanwhile the Indians, were bringing in
balls which the Americans had by their short shots, scat-
tered about the prairie without effect. Our stores of pro-
visions were getting low, our ammunition exhausted, but
the fort and its contents we came to take, and must have
them.
"At daylight the next morning, our gun was within one
hundred and fifty yards of the pickets, with a small fire
making an iron shot red hot. When they found themselves
in a fair way to be burnt out, they surrendered. We took
sixty-five prisoners, several iron guns, a small quantity of
pork, flour, etc., together with a quantity of whiskey. The
casks containing the liquor, I stove in, fearing the Indians
might get it, as they were thirsting for the blood of their
enemies, and it required some tact to keep their hands off
the American prisoners. We could not trust any of them
inside the fort. The American empty boat was fitted up,
and next morning at daylight, the prisoners were on their
way to St. Louis, on parole; escorted by one of our lieuten-
ants, [Brisbois] for a short distance.
"Now began the novel and much needed instruction as to
guard mounting, etc. The bombardier and the old vet-
eran were the only two persons in the whole batch that had
17 Capt. Anderson's family object to giving the credit of the capture
of Prairie du Chien to Col. McKay, when, as they assert, he was not in a
condition to render efficient service during the time of the fight; and Capt.
Anderson's narrative evidently conveys the same idea.
'*
302 HISTORIC MACKINAC
any correct knowledge of the science of war. Our com-
mander, an old North Western, boiling inside, and roasting
outside, for the thermometer stood at ninety-eight in the
shade, constantly cursing and blaspheming all above and
below, now took a bark canoe, with four men, and after
giving his own name McKay to the fort, and trans-
ferring the command to me, took his leave to the joy of all
concerned."
The British were strongly impressed with the vast im-
portance of Mackinac, and the necessity of strengthening
their position. The Governor-General of Canada wrote to
Lord Bathurst: 18 "Its geographical position is admirable.
Its influence extends and is felt amongst the Indian tribes
at New Orleans and the Pacific Ocean; vast tracts of coun-
try look to it for protection and supplies, and it gives
security to the great trading establishment of the Northwest
and Hudson's Bay Companies, by supporting the Indians
on the Mississippi, the only barrier which interposes be-
tween them and the enemy, and which if once forced (an
event which lately seemed probable) their progress into
the heart of these companies' settlements by the Red River
is practicable, and would enable them to execute their
long-formed project of monopolizing the whole fur trade
into their own hands. From these observations your lord-
ship will be enabled to judge how necessary the possession
of this valuable post, situated on the outskirts of these
extensive provinces, is daily becoming to their future
security and protection."
Detroit, which fell into the hands of the British by
Hull's surrender, following upon the capture of Mackinac,
was retaken in 1813, and the Americans determined to
18 Educational Review Supplementary Readings, Canadian History, No.
7, p. 197.
THE WAR OF 1812 303
follow up this victory by the recapture of Mackinac. "Ac-
cordingly," writes Lossing, 19 "Lieutenant Colonel McDouall
was sent thither with a considerable body of troops (regu-
lars and Canadian militia) and sea-men, accompanied by
twenty-four bateaux laden with ordnance. There he found
a large body of Indians waiting to join him as allies.
"The Americans planned a land and naval expedition
to the upper lakes; and so early as April, when M'Douall
went to Mackinac, Commander Arthur St. Clair was placed
in charge of a little squadron for the purpose, consisting
of the Niagara, Caledonia, St. Lawrence, Scorpion and
Tigress, all familiar names in connection with Commodore
Perry on Lake Erie. A land force, under Lieutenant
Colonel Croghan, the gallant defender of Fort Stephenson,
was prepared to accompany the squadron.
"Owing to the differences of opinion in Madison's Cab-
inet, the expedition was not in readiness until the close of
June. It left Detroit at the beginning of July. Croghan
had five hundred regular troops and two hundred and
fifty militia; and on the arrival of the expedition at Fort
Gratiot on the 12th he was joined by the garrison of that
post, composed of a regiment of Ohio Volunteers, under
Colonel William Cotgreave. Captain Gratiot also joined
the expedition. They sailed for Matchadash Bay to attack
a newly-established British post there. A lack of good
pilots for the dangerous channels among islands, rocks,
and shoals leading to it, and the perpetual fogs that lay
upon the water, caused them to abandon the undertaking
after a week's trial, and the squadron sailed for St. Joseph,
in the direction of Lake Superior. It anchored before it
on the 20th. The post was abandoned, and the fort was
19 Op. cit., pp. 849-851.
304 HISTORIC MACKINAG
committed to the flames. This accomplished, Major
Holmes, of the Thirty-second Infantry, and Lieutenant
Turner, of the Navy, were sent with some troops and cannon
to destroy the establishment of the British Northwest Com-
pany at the Sault St. Marie, or Falls of St. Mary. That
company had been from the beginning, because of its vital
interest in maintaining the British ascendency among the
Indian tribes, with whom its profitable traffic was carried
on, the most inveterate and active enemy of the Americans.
Its Agents had been the most effective emissaries of the
British authorities in inciting the Indians to make war on
the Americans; and, in every way, it merited severe chas-
tisement at the hands of those whose friends had suffered
from the knife and hatchet of the cruel savages.
"Holmes arrived at St. Mary's on the 21st. John John-
son, a renegade magistrate from Michigan, and an Indian
trader, who was the agent of the Northwest Company at that
place, apprised of his approach, fled with a considerable
amount of property, after setting on fire the company's ves-
sel above the Rapids. She was saved by the Americans, 20
but everything valuable on the shore that could not be car-
ried away was destroyed. Holmes then returned to St. Jos-
eph, when the whole expedition started for Mackinac,
where it arrived on the 26th. It was soon ascertained that
the enemy there were very strong in position and numbers,
and the propriety of an immediate attack was a question be-
tween Croghan and St. Clair. The post could not be car-
ried by storm, nor could the guns of the vessels easily do
much damage to the works, they were so elevated. It was
finally decided that Croghan should land with his troops on
(Notes 20 and 29 are Lossing's.)
20 They endeavoured to bring this vessel away with them, but she bilged
while passing down the Rapids, and was then destroyed.
MAJOR ANDREW HUNTER HOLMES
Gallant officer who was killed in the Battle of Mackinac Island
THE WAR OF 1812 305
the back or western part of the island, under cover of the
guns of the ships, and attempt to attack the works in the rear.
This was done at Dousman's farm on the 4th of August,
without much molestation, but Croghan had not advanced
far before he was confronted by the garrison under M'Dou-
all, who were strongly supported by Indians in the thick
woods. M'Douall poured a storm of shot and shell from a
battery of guns upon the invaders, when the savages fell
upon them. A sharp conflict ensued, carried on chiefly on
the part of the enemy by the Indians under Thomas, a brave
chief of the Fallsovine tribe, when Croghan was compelled
to fall back and flee to the shipping, with the loss of the
much-beloved Major Holmes, who was killed, and Captains
Van Horn and Desha, and Lieutenant Jackson, who were
severely wounded. He also lost twelve private soldiers
killed, fifty-two wounded, and two missing. The loss of
the enemy is unknown."
On August 9, 1814, on board the U. S. sloop of War
Niagara, Col. George Croghan and Captain Sinclair made
their official reports of the attempted capture of Mackinac.
Says Col. Croghan: 21 "We left Fort Gratiot (head of the
strait St. Clair) on the 12th ult. and imagined that we
should arrive in a few days at Matchadash Bay. At the
end of a week, however, the commodore from the want of
pilots acquainted with that unfrequented part of the lake,
despaired of being able to find a passage through the
island into the bay, and made for St. Joseph's, where he
anchored on the 20th day of July. After setting fire to
the Fort of St. Joseph's, which seemed not to have been
recently occupied, a detachment of infantry and artillery,
under Major Holmes, was ordered to Sault St. Mary's, for
21 Kelton, Annals of Mackinac, 175-177.
306 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the purpose of breaking up the enemy's establishment at
that place.
"For particulars relative to the execution of this order,
I beg leave to refer you to Major Holmes' report herewith
enclosed. Finding on my arrival at Michilimackinac, on
the 26th ult., that the enemy had strongly fortified the height
overlooking the old Fort of Mackinac, I at once despaired
of being able with my small force, to carry the place by
storm, and determined (as the only course remaining)
on landing and establishing myself on some favourable
position, whence I could be enabled to annoy the enemy
by gradual and slow approaches, under cover of my
artillery, in which I should have the superiority in point
of metal. I was urged to adopt this step by another reason,
not a little cogent; could a position be taken and fortified
on the island, I was well aware that it would either induce
the enemy to attack me in my strongholds, or force his
Indians and Canadians (the most efficient, and only dis-
posable force) off the island, as they would be very un-
willing to remain in my neighbourhood after a permanent
footing had been taken. On enquiry, I learned from indi-
viduals who had lived many years on the island, that a
position desirable as I might wish, could be found on
the west end, and therefore immediately made arrange-
ments for disembarking. A landing was effected on the
4th inst., under cover of the guns of the shipping, and the
line being quickly formed, had advanced to the edge of
the field spoken of for a camp, when intelligence was
conveyed to me, that the enemy was ahead, and a few
seconds more brought us a fire from his battery of four
pieces, firing shot and shells. After reconnoitering his
position, which was well selected, his line reached along the
THE WAR OF 1812 307
edge of the woods, at the further extremity of the field
and covered by a temporary breast work; I determined on
changing my position (which was now two lines, the militia
forming the front), by advancing Major Holmes' battalion
of regulars on the right of the militia, thus to outflank
him, and by a vigorous effort to gain his rear. The move-
ment was immediately ordered, but before it could be exe-
cuted, a fire was opened by some Indians posted in a thick
wood near our right, which proved fatal to Major Holmes
and severely wounded Captain Desha (the next officer in
rank). This unlucky fire, by depriving us of the services
of our most valuable officers, threw that part of the line into
confusion from which the best exertions of the officers were
not able to recover it. Finding it impossible to gain the
enemy's left, owing to the impenetrable thickness of the
woods, a charge was ordered to be made by the regulars
immediately against the front. This charge although made
in some confusion served to drive the enemy back into the
woods, from whence an annoying fire was kept up by the
Indians.
"Lieut. Morgan was ordered up with a light piece to
assist the left, now particularly galled; the excellent prac-
tice of this brought the enemy to fire at a longer distance.
Discovering that this disposition from whence the enemy
had just been driven (and which had been represented to
me as so high and commanding), was by no means tenable,
from being interspersed with thickets, and intersected in
every way by ravines, I determined no longer to expose my
force to the force of an enemy deriving every advantage
which could be obtained from numbers and a knowledge
of the position, and therefore ordered an immediate retreat
towards the shipping. This affair, which cost us many
308 HISTORIC MACKINAG
valuable lives, leaves us to lament the fall of that gallant
officer, Major Holmes, whose character is so well known
to the war department. Captain Van Home, of the 19th
Infantry and Lieut. Jackson of the 24th Infantry, both
brave, intrepid young men, fell mortally wounded at the
head of their respective commands.
"The conduct of all my officers on this occasion merits my
approbation. Captain Desha of the 24th Infantry, al-
though wounded, continued with his command until forced
to retire from faintness through loss of blood. Captains
Saunders, Hawkins and Sturges, with every subaltern of
that battalion, acted in the most exemplary manner. En-
sign Bryan, 2nd Rifle Regiment, acting Adjutant to the
battalion, actively forwarded the wishes of the command-
ing officer. Lieuts. Hickman, 28th Infantry, and Hyde of
the U. S. Marines, who commanded the reserve, claim my
particular thanks for their activity in keeping that com-
mand in readiness to meet any exigency. I have before
mentioned Lieut. Morgan's activity; his two assistants,
Lieut. Pickett and Mr. Peters, conductor of artillery, also
merit the name of good officers.
"The militia were wanting in no part of their duty. Col-
onel Cotgreave, his officers and soldiers, deserve the warm-
est approbation. My acting assistant Adjutant General
Captain N. H. Moore, 28th Infantry, with Volunteer Ad-
jutant McComb, were prompt in delivering my orders.
"Captain Gratiot of the engineers, who volunteered his
services as Adjutant on the occasion, gave me valuable
assistance. On the morning of the 5th, I sent a flag to the
enemy, to enquire into the state of the wounded (two in
number) who were left on the field, and to request permis-
sion to bring away the body of Major Holmes, which was
THE WAR OF 1812
309
also left, owing to the unpardonable neglect of the soldiers
in whose hands it was placed. I am happy in assuring you,
that the body of Major Holmes is secured, and will be
buried at Detroit with becoming honours. I shall dis-
charge the militia tomorrow, and will send them down, to-
gether with two regular companies, to Detroit.
"With the remaining three Companies I shall attempt to
destroy the enemy's establishment in the head of Naw-taw-
wa-sa-ga River, and if it be thought proper, erect a post at
the mouth of that River."
Captain Sinclair reported: 22 "I arrived off Michilli-
mackinac on the 26th of July; but owing to a tedious spell
of bad weather, which prevented our reconnoitering, or
being able to procure a prisoner who could give us infor-
mation of the enemy's Indian force, which, from several
"Ibid., 180-182.
310 HISTORIC MACKINAC
little skirmishes we had on an adjacent island, appeared
to be very great, we did not attempt a landing until the 4th
inst., and it was then made more with a view to ascertain
positively the enemy's strength, than with any possible
hope of success; knowing, at the same time, that I could
effectually cover their landing and retreat to the ships,
from the position I had taken within 300 yards of the
beach. Col. Croghan would never have landed, even with
this protection, being positive, as he was, that the Indian
force alone on the island, with the advantages they had,
were superior to him, could he have justified himself to his
government, without having stronger proof than appear-
ances, that he could not effect the object in view. Mack-
inac, is by nature a perfect Gibraltar, being a high inacces-
sible rock on every side, except the west, from which to
the heights, you have near two miles to pass through a wood,
so thick that our men were shot in every direction, and
within a few yards of them, without being able to see the
Indians who did it; and a height was scarcely gained before
there was another within 50 or 100 yards commanding it,
where breastworks were erected and cannon opened on
them. Several of those were charged and the enemy
driven from them; but it was soon found the further our
troops advanced the stronger the enemy became, and the
weaker and more bewildered our forces were; several of
the commanding officers were picked out and killed or
wounded by the savages, without seeing any of them. The
men were getting lost and falling into confusion, natural
under such circumstances, which demanded an immediate
retreat, or a total defeat and general massacre must have
ensued. This was conducted in a masterly manner by
Col. Croghan, who had lost the aid of that valuable and
THE WAR OF 1812 311
ever to be lamented officer, Major Holmes, who, with Cap-
tain Van Horn, was killed by the Indians.
"The enemy were driven from many of their strong-
holds; but such was the impenetrable thickness of the
woods, that no advantage gained could be profited by.
Our attack would have been made immediately under the
lower fort, that the enemy might not have been able to
use his Indian force to such advantage as in the woods,
having discovered by drawing a fire from him in several
instances, that I had greatly the superiority of metal of
him; but its site being about 120 feet above the water, I
could not, when near enough to do him an injury, elevate
sufficiently to batter it. Above this, nearly as high again,
he has another strong fort, commanding every point on the
Island, and almost perpendicular on all sides. Col. Cro-
ghan not deeming it prudent to make a second attempt upon
this place, and having ascertained to a certainty that the
only naval force the enemy have upon the lake consists of
one schooner of four guns, I have determined to despatch
the Lawrence and Caledonia to Lake Erie immediately,
believing their services in transporting our armies there
will be wanting; and it being important that the sick and
wounded, amounting to about 100, and that part of the
detachment not necessary to further our future operations
here, should reach Detroit without delay. By an intelli-
gent prisoner, captured in the Mink, I ascertained this,
and that the mechanics and others sent across from York
during the winter were for the purpose of building a
flotilla to transport reinforcements and supplies to Mack-
inac. An attempt was made to transport them by the way
of Matchadash, but it was found impracticable, from all the
portages being a morass ; that they then resorted to a small
312 HISTORIC MACKINAG
river called Nautawasaga, situated on the south of Match-
adash, from which there is a portage of three leagues over
a good road to Lake Simcoe. This place was never known
until pointed out to them last summer by an Indian. This
river is very narrow, and has six or eight feet water in it
about three miles up, and is then a muddy, rapid shallow
for 45 miles up to the portage, where their armada was
built, and their store houses are now situated. The naviga-
tion is dangerous and difficult, and so obscured by rocks and
bushes that no stranger could ever find it. I have, how-
ever, availed myself of the means of discovering it; I shall
blockade the mouth of French River until the fall; and
those being the only two channels of communication by
which Mackinac can possibly be supplied, and their pro-
visions at this time being extremely short, I think they will
be starved into a surrender. This will also cut off all sup-
plies to the Northwest Company, who are now nearly
starving, and their furs on hand can only find transporta-
tion by the way of Hudson's Bay. At this place I calculate
on falling in with their schooner, which it is said, has gone
there for a load of provisions and a message sent to her
not to venture up while we were on the Lake."
One of the lost officers in the disastrous Battle of Mack-
inac Island, Major Andrew Hunter Holmes, was born in
Virginia and was a friend of Thomas Jefferson. 23 His
father was born in Londonderry, Ireland, Aug. 22nd, 1746.
His older brother, David Holmes, was the first Governor
and the first United States Senator for the State of Missis-
23 These items are taken from R. G. Thwaites' Early Western Travels,
VI, 393, footnote 217, by permission of the publishers (The Arthur H.
Clark Company, Cleveland, 0.). The data concerning Major Holmes' rela-
tives was secured direct for Historic Mackinac from Mr. Holmes Conrad, a
grand-nephew, of Winchester, Virginia.
THE WAR OF 1812 313
sippi, and died while holding the latter office. Another
brother, Hugh Holmes, was Judge of the General Court
of Virginia at the time of his death. Before going to Mack-
inac he had served in the army about Detroit, leading a
successful attack in February, 1814, against a large British
force on the Thames. It was in reward for this service
that he was made a Major. After the war, when Mackinac
was surrendered to the United States, Fort George, as the
British had named the Island Fort, received in his honour
the name of Fort Holmes.
The question, "Who shot Major Holmes?" in the Battle
of Mackinac Island, has long been one of the interesting
puzzles in the history of the Mackinac country. One ac-
count has it: 24 "Major Holmes, while leading on the
advance, was shot by an Indian lad only ten years of age,
who, lying concealed in a bush, aimed his rifle and shot
the gallant officer, who instantly fell dead with two balls
in the breast, at a distance of but ten feet from the young
savage." The trader, Augustin Grignon, states that Major
Holmes was shot simultaneously by L'Espanol and Yellow
Dog, Menominee Chiefs. C. J. Coon, an old Indian trader,
says: 25 "I was engaged in the Indian trade before Wis-
consin became a State, and among my many acquaintances
was an Indian named Aspis. He claimed to have Spanish
blood, and was known by the Indians as Aspio, which means
Spaniard. He often related to me his connection with the
big English chief, Dickson, and his greatest war exploit
was the shooting of Major Holmes, at Mackinac, for which
he drew a life pension from the British Government."
The body of Major Holmes was transferred by schooner
to Detroit and there buried on land belonging to what was
24 Tomes, Battles of America, III, 158.
25 Wis. Hist. Colls., X, 499.
314 HISTORIC MACKINAC
known as "The First Protestant Society," near the corner
of Lamed Street and Woodward Avenue. 26 "In 1834,
when excavating for the building of "The First Protestant
Church" the remains of Major Holmes were found with six
cannon balls in the coffin. The balls were placed in the
coffin for the purpose of sinking the body if in danger of
being captured by the British while on its way to Detroit.
The remains were placed in a box and buried in the Protest-
ant cemetery near Gratiot, Beaubien and Antoine Streets."
The attempt to blockade the Nautawasaga, referred to
in the reports of Croghan and Sinclair not only proved un-
successful, but the Americans lost two schooners, the Scor-
pion and the Tigress. The account of his humiliating dis-
aster is given in a report made Sept. 7 by the British Lieu-
tenant Bulger, 27 and largely upon this Lossing has based
the following interesting narrative:
"Croghan and St. Clair abandoned the attempt to take
Mackinac; and as they were about to depart, they heard
of the successful expedition of Lieutenant Colonel McKay,
who, with nearly seven hundred men, mostly Indians, had
gone down the Wisconsin River and taken from the Ameri-
cans the post at Prairie du Chien, at the mouth of that
stream. Yet they were not disheartened, and resolved not
to return to Detroit empty-handed of all success. They
proceeded to the mouth of the Nautawasaga River, as-
sailed and destroyed a blockhouse three miles up from its
mouth, and hoped to capture the schooner Nancy, belonging
to the Northwest Company, and a quantity of valuable furs.
They failed. The furs had been taken to a place of safety,
and the schooner was burnt by order of Lieutenant Worse-
ley, who was in command of the block-house.
26 Kelton, Annals, 182.
27 For this report see Mich. Pion. and Hist. Colls., XV, 641.
THE WAR OF 1812 315
"Very soon after this the squadron sailed for Detroit,
with the exception of the Tigress, Captain Champlin, and
Scorpion, Captain Turner, which were left to blockade the
Nautawasaga, it being the only route by which provisions
and other supplies might be sent to Mackinac. They
cruised about for some time, effectually cutting off sup-
plies from Mackinac, and threatening the garrison with
starvation. Their useful career in that business was sud-
denly closed early in September, when they were both cap-
tured by a party of British and Indians, sent out in five
boats (one mounting a long 6, and another a 3 pounder)
from Mackinac to raise the blockade, under the general
command' of Lieutenant Bulger, his second being Lieu-
tenant Worseley. They fell first upon the Tigress, off St.
Joseph's, when her consort was understood to be fifteen
miles away. She was at anchor near the shore. The
attack was made at nine o'clock in the evening of the 3rd
of September. It was intensely dark, and they were within
fifty yards of the Tigress when discovered. The assailants
were warmly received, but in five minutes the vessel was
boarded and carried by overwhelming numbers, her force
being only thirty men, exclusive of officers, and that of the
assailants about one hundred. 'The defence of this ves-
sel,' said Bulger in his report of the affair, 'did credit to
her officers, who were all severely wounded.' 28 Her offi-
cers and crew were sent prisoners of war to Mackinac the
next morning. 29
28 Lieut. Bulger to Lieutenant Colonel M'Douall, September 7, 1814.
Captain Champlin had his thigh-bone shattered by a ball in that fight, and
has not only been a cripple ever since, but a painful sufferer from a seldom-
healed wound. In the year 1863 several pieces of bone were taken from
his thigh.
29 Champlin's Report to Lieutenant Turner, commanding.
316 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"Bulger and his men remained on board the Tigress.
Her position was unchanged, and her pennant was kept
flying. On the 5th, the Scorpion was seen approaching.
Bulger ordered his men to hide. The unsuspecting vessel
came within two miles, and anchored for the night. At
dawn the next morning the Tigress ran down alongside of
her, and then the enemy, starting from his concealment,
rushed on board, and in a few minutes the British flag was
floating over her. The loss on each side in these captures
was slight. Vessels and prisoners were taken to Mack-
inac, and their arrival produced great joy there. So ex-
hausted were the supplies of the garrison that starvation
would have compelled a surrender in less than a fortnight.
These captures were announced with a great flourish by the
British authorities; and Adjutant General Baynes actually
stated, in a general order, that the vessels 'had crews of
three hundred men each!' He only exaggerated five hun-
dred and seventy in stating the aggregate of the crews of the
two schooners."
After the Treaty of Ghent in 1815, by which Mackinac
Island was lost for all time to Great Britain, Lieut. Col.
McDouall wrote to Lieut. Bulger: "Our negotiators as
usual, have been agregiously duped; as usual, they have
shown themselves profoundly ignorant of the concerns of
this part of the Empire. I am penetrated with grief at the
restoration of this fine Island a Fortress built by nature
for herself." 30
The surrender of Mackinac was a sore grievance to the
British fur traders. 31 In their interests the Governor of
so Wis. Hist. Colls., XHI, 143.
31 See the memorial of Mr. Richardson and Mr. McGillivray, Mich. Pion.
and Hist. Colls., XVI, 77-80.
THE WAR OF 1812 317
Canada was not unwilling to delay the actual evacuation
of the post as long as he could safely do so. 32 With this
purpose Lieut. Col. McDouall was in full accord. More-
over, he had other reasons for wishing delay, in the difficul-
ties attending the selection of a new post and the building
of the needed shelter for his men. He lacked not only
skilled workmen but materials for the buildings. 33 On
June 24, 1815, Drummond Island was fixed upon for the
new post, a situation combining "several important ad-
vantages," writes McDouall, "viz.: an admirable harbour
proximity to the Indians, and will enable us to command
the passage of the Detour, giving our vessels the double
advantage of a good anchorage in that strait in addition to
the fine harbour adjoining." He anticipated that the
ground where the fort would be located was difficult to work,
being very rocky, and would require a large garrison and
help in masons, miners and labourers from Canada. He
hoped, in order to "restore the drooping spirits of the In-
dians," that the fortifications there might be stronger than
those at Mackinac. On October 4th, he writes from Drum-
mond Island, 34 "Mackinac is already almost wholly de-
serted and scarcely a person to be seen except the garrison."
The choice of Drummond Island for the new post so
near to Mackinac was clearly motivated by the hope of
being able to keep control of the Indians and the fur trade.
Whether or not Drummond Island was within American
territory was not definitely settled until the boundary sur-
vey of 1822, and not until some time after that was the
British post removed to St. Joseph's Island. 35 This posi-
32 ibid., XVI, 81.
33 See M'Douall to Butler, Ibid., XVI, 132.
s* Ibid ., XVI, 136.
ss /few*., XVI, 311.
318
HISTORIC MACKINAC
tion, not satisfactory, was soon afterwards abandoned, and
since that time no British post has been maintained in the
vicinity of Mackinac. 36
* Wis. Hist. Colls., XIX, 146, note 194, and Mich. Pion. and Hist. Colls.,
XVI, 725, note 136.
CHAPTER XVI
THE AMERICAN FUR TRADE; ASTOR, CROOKS
AND STUART
BEFORE the War of 1812, the United States had
made some effort to protect the interests of Ameri-
cans in the fur trade of the Mackinac country, but
without much success. "What government failed to effect,
however, with all its patronage and all its agents," writes
Washington Irving, 1 "was at length brought about by the
enterprise and perseverance of a single merchant, one of
its adopted citizens." This was John Jacob Astor, "a man
whose name and character are worthy of being enrolled
in the history of commerce, as illustrating its noblest aims
and soundest maxims." We cannot do better than to fol-
low the charming lines of Irving's Astoria 2 in introducing
the founder of the American fur trade :
"John Jacob Astor, the individual in question, was born
in the honest little German village of Waldorf, near Heidel-
berg, on the banks of the Rhine. He was brought up in
simplicity of rural life, but, while yet a mere stripling,
left his home, and launched himself amid the busy scenes
of London, having had, from his boyhood, a singular pre-
sentiment that he would ultimately arrive at great fortune.
"At the close of the American Revolution he was still in
London, and scarce on the threshold of active life. An
1 Washington Irving, Astoria, I, 26.
2 Washington Irving, Astoria, I, 27-29.
319
320 HISTORIC MACKINAG
elder brother had been for some years resident in the
United States, and Mr. Astor determined to follow him,
and to seek his fortunes in the rising country. Investing a
small sum which he had amassed since leaving his native
village, in merchandise suited to the American market, he
embarked, in the month of November, 1783, in a ship
bound to Baltimore, and arrived in Hampton Roads in the
month of January. The winter was extremely severe, and
the ship, with many others, was detained by the ice in and
about Chesapeake Bay for nearly three months.
"During this period the passengers of the various ships
used occasionally to go on shore, and mingle sociably to-
gether. In this way Mr. Astor became acquainted with a
countryman of his, a furrier by trade. Having had a pre-
vious impression that this might be a lucrative trade in the
New World, he made many inquiries of his new acquaint-
ance on the subject, who cheerfully gave him all the infor-
mation in his power, as to the quality and value of different
furs, and the mode of carrying on the traffic. He subse-
quently accompanied him to New York, and, by his advice,
Mr. Astor was induced to invest the proceeds of his mer-
chandise in furs. With these he sailed from New York to
London in 1784, disposed of them advantageously, made
himself further acquainted with the course of the trade,
and returned the same year to New York, with a view to
settle in the United States.
"He now devoted himself to the branch of commerce
with which he had thus casually been made acquainted.
He began his career, of course, on the narrowest scale; but
he brought to the task a persevering industry, rigid econ-
omy, and strict integrity. To these were added an inspir-
ing spirit that always looked upward; a genius bold, fertile,
THE AMERICAN FUR TRADE 321
and expansive; a sagacity quick to grasp and convert every
circumstance to its advantage, and a singular and never
wavering confidence of signal success."
"It was not long before Astor became convinced that to
attain the degree of success he desired, he would have to
devise some plan to successfully compete with the powerful
Mackinaw Fur Company, which had extended its operations
to cover a large part of the trade within the borders of the
United States. 3 He was aware of the wish of the Ameri-
can government, already stated, that the fur trade within
its boundaries should be in the hands of American citizens,
and of the ineffectual measures it had taken to accomplish
that object. He now offered, if aided and protected by
government, to turn the whole of that trade into American
channels. He was invited to unfold his plans to the govern-
ment, and they were warmly approved, though the execu-
tive could give no direct aid.
"Thus countenanced, however, he obtained in 1809, a
charter from the legislature of the state of New York, in-
corporating a company under the name of 'The American
Fur Company,' with a capital of one million of dollars,
with the privilege of increasing it to two millions. The
capital was furnished by himself he, in fact, constituted
the company; for, though he had a board of directors,
they were merely nominal; the whole business was con-
ducted on his plans, and with his resources, but he pre-
ferred to do so under the imposing and formidable aspect
of a corporation, rather than in his individual name, and
his policy was sagacious and effective.
"As the Mackinaw Company still continued its rivalry,
and as the fur trade would not advantageously admit of
8 Washington Irving, Astoria, I, 31-33.
322 HISTORIC MACKINAC
competition, he made a new arrangement in 1811, by which,
in conjunction with certain partners of the Northwest Com-
pany, and other persons engaged in the fur trade, he bought
out the Mackinaw Company, and merged that and the
American Fur Company into a new association, to be called
'The Southwest Company.' This he likewise did with the
privity and approbation of the American government.
"By this arrangement Mr. Astor became proprietor of
one half of the Indian establishments and goods which the
Mackinaw Company had within the territory of the Indian
country in the United States, and it was understood that
the whole was to be surrendered into his hands at the expira-
tion of five years, on condition that the American company
would not trade within the British dominions.
"Unluckily, the war which broke out in 1812, between
Great Britain and the United States, suspended the associa-
tion; and, after the war, it was entirely dissolved; congress
having passed a law prohibiting British fur traders from
prosecuting their enterprises within the territories of the
United States."
Two years before war broke out, in 1810, Astor became
the leading member of "The Pacific Fur Company," the
headquarters of whose great scheme of trade, commerce
and colonization, bore his name, at Astoria on the Pacific
coast. In that year, an overland expedition started from
Montreal for Astoria by way of Mackinac, in charge of
Mr. William P. Hunt, of Trenton, New Jersey, a member
of the Company. Mr. Hunt's experience in recruiting
Canadian voyageurs at Montreal and at Mackinac illus-
trates well the annoyances and obstacles with which the
British traders sought to embarrass the Americans in dis-
suading the better class of men from his enterprise. On
THE AMERICAN FUR TRADE 323
setting out, "he soon discovered that his recruits, enlisted
at Montreal, were fit to vie with the ragged regiment of
Falstaff. Some were able bodied, but in-expert; others
were expert, but lazy; while a third class were expert and
willing, but totally worn out, being broken down veterans,
incapable of toil." At Mackinac he remained some time,
trying to improve his outfit of voyageurs both in number
and in quality.
"And now," says Irving, 4 "commenced another game of
jockey ship. There were able and efficient men in abun-
dance at Mackinac, but for several days no one presented
himself. If offers were made to any, they were listened
to with a shake of the head. Should any one seem inclined
to enlist, there were officious idlers and busy-bodies, of
that class who were ever ready to dissuade others from any
enterprise in which they themselves have no concern.
These would pull him by the sleeve, take him on one side,
and murmur in his ear, or would suggest difficulties out-
right.
"It was objected that the expedition would have to navi-
gate unknown rivers, and pass through howling wilder-
nesses infested by savage tribes, who had already cut off
the unfortunate voyageurs that had ventured among them.
That it was to climb the Rocky Mountains and descend
into desolate and famished regions, where the traveller was
often obliged to subsist on grasshoppers and crickets, or
to kill his own horse for food.
"At length one man was hardy enough to engage, and
he was used like a 'stool pigeon,' to decoy others; but
several days elapsed before any more could be prevailed
upon to join him. A few then came to terms. It was
* Washington Irving, Astoria, I, 211-214.
324 HISTORIC MACKINAG
desirable to engage them for five years, but some refused
to engage for more than three. Then they must have part
of their pay in advance, which was readily granted. When
they had pocketed the amount, and squandered it in regales
or in outfits, they began to talk of pecuniary obligations at
Mackinac, which must be discharged before they would be
free to depart; or engagements with other persons, which
were only to be cancelled by a 'reasonable consideration.'
"It was in vain to argue or remonstrate. The money
advanced had already been sacked and spent, and must be
lost and the receipts left behind, unless they could be freed
from their debts and engagements. Accordingly a fine
was paid for one; a judgment for another; a tavern bill for
a third; and almost all had to be bought off from some
prior engagement either real or pretended.
"Mr. Hunt groaned in spirit at the incessant and un-
reasonable demands of these worthies upon his purse; yet
with all this outlay of funds, the number recruited was
but scanty, and many of the most desirable still held
themselves aloof, and were not to be caught by a golden
bait. With these he tried another temptation. Among the
recruits who had enlisted he distributed feathers and os-
trich plumes. These they put in their hats, and thus
figured about Mackinac, assuming airs of vast importance,
as 'voyageurs in a new company, that was to eclipse the
Northwest.' The effect was complete. A French Cana-
dian is too vain and mercurial a being to withstand the
finery and ostentation of the feather. Numbers immedi-
ately pressed into the service. One must have an ostrich
plume; another, a white feather with a red end; a third,
a bunch of cocks' tails. Thus all paraded about, in vain-
glorious style, more delighted with the feathers in their
THE AMERICAN FUR TRADE 325
hats than with the money in their pockets; and consider-
ing themselves fully equal to the boastful 'men of the
North.' "
At length, arrangements were completed and Mr. Hunt
prepared to embark, "but the embarkation of a crew of
Canadian voyageurs on a distant expedition is not so easy
a matter as might be imagined; especially of such a set
of vain-glorious fellows with money in both pockets, and
cocks' tails in their hats. Like sailors, the Canadian voy-
ageurs generally preface a long cruise with a carouse.
They have their cronies, their brothers, their cousins, their
wives, their sweet-hearts; all to be entertained at their ex-
pense. They feast, they fiddle, they drink, they sing, they
dance, they frolic and fight, until they are all as mad as
so many drunken Indians. The publicans are all obedi-
ence to their commands, never hesitating to let them run
up scores without limit, knowing that, when their own
money is expended, the purses of their employers must
answer for the bill,, or the voyage must be delayed.
Neither was it possible, at that time, to remedy the matter at
Mackinac. In that amphibious community, there was
always a propensity to wrest the laws in favour of riotous
or mutinous boatmen. It was necessary, also, to keep the
recruits in good humour, seeing the novelty and danger of
the service into which they were entering, and the ease with
which they might at any time escape it, by jumping into a
canoe and going down the stream.
"Such were the scenes that beset Mr. Hunt, and gave him
a foretaste of the difficulties of his command. The little
cabarets and sutlers' shops along the bay resounded with
the scraping of fiddles, with snatches of old French songs,
with Indian whoops and yelps; while every plumed and
326 HISTORIC MACKINAG
feathered vagabond had his troop of loving cousins and
comrades at his heels. It was with the utmost difficulty
they could be extricated from the clutches of the publicans,
and the embraces of their pot companions, who followed
them to the water's edge with many a hug, a kiss on each
cheek, and a maudlin benediction in Canadian French.
"It was about the 12th of August that they left Mack-
inac, and pursued the usual route by Green Bay, Fox and
Wisconsin Rivers, to Prairie du Chien, and thence down
the Mississippi to St. Louis, where they landed on the 3rd
of September."
While Mr. Hunt was at Mackinac Island recruiting his
voyageurs, he was joined by a gentleman whom he had in-
vited by letter to meet him there, to engage as a partner in
the expedition. This was Mr. Ramsay Crooks, a young
Scotchman, who had formerly been connected with the
Northwest Company, and who with Astor and Robert Stuart
make the great triumvirate whose names are associated with
the American fur trade at Mackinac.
The following notice of Mr. Crooks is from the Wiscon-
sin Historical Collections: 5 Ramsay Crooks was a native
(1787) of Greenock, Scotland. Several members of his
family migrated in 1792 to America and settled on the
Canadian side of Niagara River. Thence young Crooks,
at the age of sixteen, came West with Robert Dickson and
was in Wisconsin as early as 1806. The next year he left
the Northwest Company, and at St. Louis formed a partner-
ship with one of Wayne's veterans, Robert McClellan, for
a fur-trading expedition up the Missouri. This, however,
was frustrated by the hostility of the Teton Sioux. In
1811 Crooks joined the Pacific Fur Company, and was one
* Wis. Hist. Colls., XIX, 347, note 91.
Founder of the American Fur Company
REPRODUCTION OF TWO PICTURES SUPPOSED TO BE OF
LA SALLE
The first is from an engraving by Waltner, in Margry's work, Voyages des
Francois. The second is from a plate in Gravier's La Salle,
THE AMERICAN FUR TRADE 327
of the overland Astorian expedition headed by Wilson
Hunt. In that journey, Crooks endured almost incredible
hardships, eventually reaching Astoria May 12, 1812, and
starting homeward the 28th of June following. The return
journey was accomplished with nearly as great difficulties
as the outward, the party being attacked and robbed by
hostile Indians; after wintering on the upper waters of the
Platte, they reached St. Louis in April, 1813. There
Crooks first heard of the declaration of war between Eng-
land and the United States. He at once proceeded to New
York, whence he was sent, as the accompanying documents
show, to aid Astor in his fur-trade along the Great Lakes.
Crooks remained in Astor's employ until, in 1817, he was
made a partner in the American Fur Company, and each
year made a visit to Mackinac and the upper country in
the interests of that corporation. In 1834, upon Astor's
retirement, Crooks became its president. He died at New
York in 1859, leaving a reputation for business integrity.
He was interested in the founding of the Wisconsin His-
torical Society, and presented his portrait to its museum."
An appreciative biographer of Mr. Crooks says of his
last days: 6 "He quietly passed from the world as one
retired to sleep. The 'sword had worn out the scabbard.'
The frame had become too much dilapidated by an active
life to be longer a fit habitation for the occupation of a
noble spirit, and it departed to the God who gave it. His
death occurred at his residence in New York City, on the
6th of June, 1859, in the 73rd year of his age. The sad
intelligence carried pain to many a heart, not only in the
City where he had so long resided, but throughout the West,
from Detroit, Mackinac, Green Bay, and Prairie du Chien,
9 Wis. Hist. Colls., IV, 101 ; the entire sketch is contained hi pages 95-
102.
328 HISTORIC MACKINAC
to the Red River of the North; at St. Louis, along the
Missouri; and among the old settlers in Arkansas. He was
noted for the simplicity of his manners, kindness and hu-
manity of heart to both the white men and the red; his
entire life, may, in truth, be named as a proud example of
sterling integrity surrounded with the best emblems of pa-
tience, and purity of action; characteristics to which may be
added not only a love of discipline, but a quiet perform-
ance of those duties which elevate the soul, and procure
the esteem of intelligent men."
The difficulties of the American fur trade during the War
of 1812 are reflected in an interesting letter written by
Ramsay Crooks to John Jacob Astor shortly after Major
Holmes' attempt to capture Mackinac. In part, he says: 7
"On entering Lake Huron we shaped our course for Mache-
dash, but this part of the navigation being imperfectly
known, the Commodore was, after some time spent in fruit-
less search of the Bay, induced to steer for St. Joseph's;
there the Schooner Mink, belonging to the Northwest Com-
pany laden with Two Hundred and thirty Barrels of Flour
for St. Mary's was captured and the Fort and Store Houses
reduced to ashes.
"A Company of Regulars and some Sailors were next
dispatched to St. Mary's where the company's Store houses
were burned; there the fine Schooner Perseverance was
destroyed and a quantity of dry goods, sugar and spirits
said to belong to a Mr. Johnson were taken and brought
to the fleet.
"Off Mackinac we lay a considerable time and only saw
a few Indians to skirmish with occasionally, till in the
afternoon of the 4th Instant the troops were landed on the
7 Wis. Hist. Colls., XIX, 361-363.
THE AMERICAN FUR TRADE 329
West side of the Island, and at some distance from the
beach, were vigorously attacked by Indians and others
in ambush, aided by four pieces of artillery planted on
elevated spots a charge made the enemy fall back, but
he soon returned to the work of death which lasted until a
number fell, when owing to the total impracticability of pen-
etrating to the Fort through the woods and finding every
position of any strength on the road in possession of the
British it was judged most advisable to return to the Vessels,
which was effected without opposition, and all the well and
wounded were re-embarked before sunset.
"Understanding early on the 6th that we were about to
weigh anchor, and supposing thereby the expedition was
abandoned, I waited on the Commodore requesting per-
mission to go ashore and ascertain whether the commandant
of Mackinac would allow your property to be brought
away, but was answered that from information obtained
the day previous there was no doubt he would, but as the
future movements of the forces were not determined on,
it was thought improper to suffer any communication with
the Island. We soon after sailed again to St. Joseph's,
anchored one night, and then came down to an Island about
one hundred miles from Mackinac, where Commodore
Sinclair delivered me a letter from Mr. Forrest, agent for
the late Southwest Company, telling me at the same time
that as the object of the enterprise could not be attained
with the force on board, I was at liberty to visit Mackinac;
and that Captain Dexter who was going to Erie with the
Lawrence, Caledonia, and Mink, would grant the necessary
passports at Detroit.
"Here I arrived four days ago, and am happy to inform
you that Mr. George Astor entered the river yesterday with
330 HISTORIC MACKINAC
a vessel of about 90 tons, he chartered at Grand River 70
miles above Erie. I have not seen him, neither has he
wrote me, but he certainly must be up the first fair wind.
"I have your favour of 2nd July from Washington and
observe what you say of Raccoons and Muskrat.
"The season is now pretty far advanced, but with mod-
erate luck we can get back from Mackinac before the
weather becomes boisterous to ensure which, you may rest
satisfied not a moment will be lost."
The third of this Mackinac triumvirate, Robert Stuart,
was a countryman of Ramsay Crooks. He was born in
Callander, Perthshire, Scotland, and was educated at
Paris. 8 When twenty-two years old he came to Canada
and entered the service of the Northwest Fur Company.
He was one of Astor's partners in the Pacific Fur Company
and later a partner with Astor in the American Fur Com-
pany. From 1819 he became manager of the latter Com-
pany at Mackinac.
"I first met Mr. Robert Stuart at the Astor Fur Com-
pany's headquarters at Mackinac (or, as we used to write
it in those days, Michilimackinac)," writes Hon. Charles
C. Trowbridge, in an interestingly reminiscent letter to
Hon. B. 0. Williams, 9 "in the summer of 1820, when,
as an attache to the suite of Governor Cass, I accompanied
him in his great canoe voyage around Lakes Huron and
Superior, to the head of the Mississippi and down that
river to Prairie du Chien, and from the Prairie up the Wis-
consin, down the Fox, around Lake Michigan via Chicago
to Mackinac and thence home.
8 Thwaites, R. G., Early Western Travels, by permission of the publish-
ers, The Arthur H. Clark Company, Cleveland, 0., V, 224, footnote 119.
Mich. Pion. and Hist. Colls., Ill, 53-54.
THE AMERICAN FUR TRADE 331
"You will recollect that this voyage of four thousand five
hundred miles was authorized by the War Department (Mr.
Calhoun then being Secretary of War), at the suggestion of
Governor Cass, in order to carry the United States flag
through the Indian country, and thus give the natives a
palpable notion of the intent of the great father of the
Kitcha-mo-ko-man nation to possess and govern the same, as
against their first great father the Wamet-a-goshe (the
French monarch) or their other and best loved, because
their most generous the Sage-enaster (the English King),
whom they had so faithfully served during the then recent
war between England and the United States.
"I presume Governor Cass was moved to make this sug-
gestion to Mr. Calhoun by the representatives of Robert
Stuart and Ramsay Crooks, who were the administrators
of Mr. Astor's power on the great lakes. The Stuarts,
uncle and nephew, were very uncommon men. David, the
uncle, had been a hardy adventurer along the coast of
Labrador, and in 1810 he and his nephew Robert were
found in New York. Whether Mr. Astor had sent for
them to take part in his grand scheme of securing the fur
trade of the Pacific Coast about the mouth of Columbia
River and its tributaries, or whether they had heard of his
plans and had proposed themselves for service, I know not,
nor do I know whether the fact could now be ascertained,
nor is it material. There they were, and in 1810 they
entered into an agreement to become proprietares, as Mons.
Franchere calls them, together with John Jacob Astor,
Alexander McKay, Duncan McDonald and Jas. Lewis, and
to go to the mouth of the Columbia River and embark in
the fur trade on the Pacific Coast and its rivers. Among
332 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the clerks, of whom there were eleven, were Russel Farn-
ham, of Vermont; W. W. Mathews, of England; Gabriel
Franchere, of Montreal; and Wm. Wallace, of New York.
I knew all these men; saw them often at Mackinac, and
heard their after-dinner stories. The Stuarts and other
proprietors, with the eleven clerks, nineteen officers and
sailors, thirteen Canadian voyageurs, for canoe work, and
five mechanics, in all fifty-one persons, sailed in the ship
Tonquin from New York, September 6, 1810, for the mouth
of the Columbia River, and the expedition was broken up
in 1814, after the establishment of several large trading
posts on the Columbia and its tributaries.
"The war between England and the United States com-
pelled Mr. Astor to sell his outfit to the Northwest Fur
Company, a British institution, and the inventories which
were to form the basis of an adjustment of accounts, were
made in quadruple. One copy was placed in charge of Mr.
Benjamin Clapp, who had come around in a vessel from
New York and was bound for Canton, China. Mr. Clapp
reached New York in two years. One copy was given to
Farnham, who went up the coast, crossed Behring Straits,
travelled through Kamtschatka with a dog train, arrived in
St. Petersburg safely, and thence made his way to London
and New York in two years. The third copy was given to
Franchere, who remained at the post until the Northwest Fur
Company's furs were sent in, and returned with the agent by
way of the Saskatchawan and Lake Winnepec and the
Ottawa River route to Montreal and thence to New York
in two years; and the fourth was taken by Robert Stuart,
who returned across the country, after having suffered in-
describable hardships and 'the loss of all things.' He ar-
rived in about two years. This is a remarkable story, and
THE AMERICAN FUR TRADE 333
it has the merit of freshness. I have heard it from the
lips of the parties concerned.
"Mr. Astor having been foiled on the Pacific, turned his
attention to the development of the trade on the lakes, the
Mississippi and the Missouri. You knew Mackinac in the
days of the power of the trade. Robert Stuart was then
an imperious man. Before he started from New York in
1810, he was privately married to a Brooklyn lass, who had
stolen his heart. The marriage, which took place in one of
the churches of that city, was not divulged until Mr. Stuart's
return from the Pacific. I dare say you knew Mrs. Stuart.
She was a brave, gifted woman who was loved by her hus-
band with a devotion beautiful to behold, until his death.
"In 1835-6, Mr. Stuart bought land and built a house
in Detroit, and in that year or early in 1836, he brought
his family to this city, which was thereafter their
home."
The following fine tribute is paid to Mr. Stuart by a con-
temporary and friend: 10 "Mr. Stuart was the general
agent of the American Fur Company's interest in all this
region, and his intimate relation with John Jacob Astor
gave him a wide influence, and that influence was always
used in every good cause. Mr. Stuart was from the first, a
warm friend and liberal supporter of the Mackinac Mis-
sion. He was a wise counsellor, and in times of difficulty
and doubt we never sought his aid in vain. After the mis-
sion closed, and the fur trade was transferred to another
place, Mr. Stuart retired to private life. He removed to
Detroit and invested largely there and in other places in
real estate. His personal interests occupied most of his
time, but he never lost sight of his duties to God, or his
v>Ibid., Ill, 56.
334 HISTORIC MACKINAC
obligations to his fellow men. His influence was largely
felt at home, through the new settlements, and afterwards
in Chicago. He did much to shape the moral, social and
political status of our new and coming State."
The genial human nature of Mr. Stuart, his cordial rela-
tions with Ramsay Crooks, and their feeling for Mr. Astor,
are delightfully portrayed in the following letter of Stuart
to Crooks, in 1815, written from Brooklyn, New York. 11
Mr. Astor will readily be recognized in the soubriquets, the
"Old Cock" and the "Old Tyger." The letter reads:
"DEAR CROOKS: Long ere now you must have chalked
me down in your Black Buke for a most ungrateful, lazy
dog, but my dear fellow you must no longer remain under
that surly impression, for be it known unto you, that almost
ever since you last heard from me I have been Campaigning
it between this and the Canadian lines, partly for myself
and particularly for an old friend of ours; the result of this
peregrination &c. you shall have at full length when we
meet, which I hope you will accelerate as much as circum-
stances may permit. I am now in the full bustle of prepa-
ration for Albany, where business calls me for a few days,
therefore have only time to give you the purport of a short
tete-a-tete I had with the old Cock this morning, viz:
"That he is digesting a very extensive plan for establish-
ing all the Indian Countries within the line of demarka-
tion between G. B. & the U. S. and the probability is
that a considerable time may elapse before that object can
be brought to full maturity, as he wants an exclusive grant
or privilege &c. &c. he added that it would be a pity, we
should in the meantime be altogether inactive, therefore as
11 Wis. Hist. Colls., XIX, 369-372. The original is in the library of C.
M. Burton, Detroit.
THE AMERICAN FUR TRADE 335
he expects a parcel of Indian goods out in the Spring it is
his wish that (Lob Man) you and myself would come to
some arrangement either to purchase the goods and try
the S. W. on our own account, or take them to Mackinac and
give him a certain share of the profits, (as might be agreed
upon).
"These are the general outlines, from which you can very
easily draw your conclusions regarding his views, which I
really believe are as friendly toward us all, as his own dear
interest will permit, for of that you are no doubt aware, he
will never lose sight until some kind friend will put his or
her fingers over his eyelids.
"If something like this plan would meet your ideas, it
will give me much pleasure for on your judgment I can
entirely rely, knowing you are perfectly conversant in
every branch of that business, and there is no mortal living,
I would prefer being concerned with, of this I have no
doubt you are perfectly convinced. On your arrival at
New York have the goodness to come to Brooklyn before
you wait on the old man as I would much like to have the
first confab with you. Fat McKenzie is here for the third
time since his arrival in the white man's country ; he pesters
the old Tyger's soul out to employ him again, but he dis-
likes him very much, sometimes says that if he enters into
the business upon the meditated large scale that he should
like to give him a situation in some retired corner where he
could do no mischief &c. &c.
"I am glad that he did not propose him as one of our
party as I think it would break up the concern. Keep these
affairs to yourself and hasten to meet your sincere friend.
ROBERT STUART.
"All the good folks of this family desire me to rem. them
very kindly to you. I no sooner told the old Lady that I
336 HISTORIC MACKINAC
expected you soon, than she began to scour her little pot,
and called for the supper to be got ready for her pooi*
Scotchman. I really think the old lady has some design
upon you; and whether you are to become my father,
brother or son-in-law, you will always find me yours truly.
R. S.
"N. B. Betsy is so glad at the near prospect of your
coming amongst us, that if I did not depend much on my
own qualifications I assure you, it staggers my faith not a
little. Magee desires his best wishes to you, but is too
devilish lazy to write, but promises to make up for it in
chat when you meet."
The condition of the fur trade at Mackinac following
the year 1820 is thus described in Lanman's History of
Michigan: 12
"In the year 1820 this town was the seat of an Indian
agency of the United States, a council-house, a post-office,
and gaol. Fine building stone abounds on the island. It
was long the depot of the fur trade, conducted by the Amer-
ican Fur Company under the agency of Messrs. Stuart
and Crooks. A large portion of the town plot was occu-
pied by the buildings and fixtures connected with that
establishment. Their ware-houses, offices, boat yards,
stores, &c. were numerous, affording employment for a
great number of mechanics, clerks, and engages, neces-
sarily connected with so great an establishment. It is now
unoccupied, but the trade is extensively carried on by indi-
vidual adventurers. Steam-boats almost daily visit this
place upon their voyages to the northwestern ports; while
the numberless canoes and vessels, during the period of
12 P. 271.
THE AMERICAN FUR TRADE 337
navigation, which daily go into the station, give an air of
business and bustle to this beautiful island."
Lanman wrote the above comment in 1839. Five years
before that time John Jacob Astor had dissolved the Ameri-
can Fur Company, and was practically retired from busi-
ness. Ramsay Crooks bought out the Northern Depart-
ment, and the post at Mackinac Island dwindled to a mere
agency for handling furs in New York.
How much the fur trade had meant to the Island socially
and commercially was realized when its operations ceased.
It had made Mackinac "a great mart of trade long before
Chicago, Milwaukee or St. Paul had entered on their first
beginnings, and vied with its contemporaries Detroit and
St. Louis. The capital and enterprise on the Island per-
tained principally to the business of the Company. They
furnished employment to a great number of men, who with
their families, largely contributed to the life of the village.
In the summer, when for several weeks the agents and
voyageurs (or canoemen) and the engages of different
kinds gathered in from the widely scattered hunting and
trading grounds of the wilderness, they made, together with
the local contingent employed the year through, a force
of some twenty-five hundred men, all representing the work
of the great organization. The company's warehouses,
stores, offices and boat-yards occupied much of the town
plat. The present summer hotel, the John Jacob Astor,
was originally built for their business, furnishing quarters
for the housing of their men, particularly at the great sum-
mer gatherings, and also ware-rooms where the peltries
were weighed and packed and kept in storage."
"In the Astor House on the Island there are two large
copy-volumes of letters written from the company's office at
338 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Mackinac, and dating from a period the most flourishing
in its history. These old books interest many of the sum-
mer guests today. Also belonging to the same hotel, and
preserved as relics, are an old-fashioned, high-legged desk
at which one of the clerks used to work in the company's
palmy days, and an old style scales or 'balances' which was
used in weighing the peltries as they were packed and
bound for storage or for shipment." 13
COUNTY OF MICHILIMACKINAC, 1818
"A Proclamation
"Whereas, the convenience of the citizens, and the due
administration of justice, require that a new county should
be established in the said territory;
"Now therefore, I do by these presents, and by the virtue
of the Ordinance of Congress, July 13, 1787, lay out that
part of the said territory, to which the Indian title has been
extinguished, included within the following boundaries,
namely: Commencing at the White Rock on the shore of
Lake Huron, thence with the line of the county of Macomb,
to the boundary line between the United States and the
British Province of Upper Canada; thence with the said
boundary line, to the western boundary of the said terri-
tory of Michigan; thence southerly, with the said western
boundary, so far that a line drawn due west, from the
dividing ground between the rivers which flow into Lake
Superior, and those which flow south, will strike the same;
thence due east, to the said dividing ground, and with the
13 Mich. Pion. and Hist. Colls., XXXV, 70-71, Photo-stat copies of the
records remaining in the John Jacob Astor House have been made by the
Michigan Historical Commission and the Wisconsin Historical Society,
through the courtesy of the present owners, Messrs. Davis Brothers.
THE AMERICAN FUR TRADE
339
same, to a point due north from Sturgeon Bay; thence south
to the said bay; thence by the nearest line to the western
boundary of the said territory, as the same was established
by the act of Congress, passed, January 11, 1805, entitled
'An act to divide the Indian Territory into two separate gov-
ernments'; thence with the same, to a point due west from
the southwestern corner of the said county of Macomb;
thence due east to the southwestern corner of the said
County of Macomb; thence with the western boundary of
the said county, to the place of beginning, into a separate
county, to be called the county of Michilimackinac.
"And I do establish the seat of justice of the said county
of Michilimackinac, at the Borough of Michilimackinac.
"Given under my hand, at Detroit, the twenty-sixth day of
October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hun-
dred and eighteen, and of the Independence of the United
States, the forty-third.
"LEW. CASS."
Mich. Hist. Colls., I, 272.
CHAPTER XVII
DR. WILLIAM BEAUMONT AND ALEXIS
ST. MARTIN
IN 1822 an accident occurred to an employee of the
American Fur Company at Mackinac Island which
was destined to have results of world- wide importance.
The victim was a young voyageur, named Alexis St. Martin.
The story of the accident and of the subsequent physiolog-
ical investigations which the case afforded to Dr. William
Beaumont, the army surgeon then at Fort Mackinac, is
unusually well told in the scholarly and interesting volume
on the Life and Letters of Dr. William Beaumont, by Dr.
Jesse S. Myer, published by the C. V. Mosby Company of
St. Louis, which has been generously drawn upon in the
account here given: *
"Early in the month of June, 1822," says Dr. Myer,
"Indians and voyageurs were returning to Mackinac with
the results of their winter's catch. The little village had
awakened from its long sleep, and the beach was again
crowded with tents and wigwams and a seething mass of
strange humanity. New arrivals of canoes and bateaux
were being heralded, and friends who had been stationed
far apart in the wilds of the North were familiarly greet-
ing one another. Some were pitching tents in which to
sleep when not otherwise engaged in carousing; newer ar-
1 Life and Letters of Dr. William Beaumont, by Dr. Jesse S. Myer,
p. 102. The C. V. Mosby Company, St. Louis.
340
DR. WILLIAM BEAUMONT 341
rivals were unpacking pelts, watching their appraisal by the
officers of the fur company, and eagerly awaiting the figures
that were to indicate the results of their winter's work;
others, whose fate had already been decided, were engaged
in games or watching the fight of two of the brigade bullies
for the proverbial "black feather" ; others still were crowd-
ing into the retail store of the American Fur Company in an
effort to buy buckskin coats, moccasins, flannel shirts, and
gaudy neck bands. It was in this little throng that a trag-
edy occurred on June 6th which was to leave its imprint on
the pages of medical history for all time to come. A gun
was accidentally discharged, and a young voyageur
dropped to the floor, with a cavity in the left upper abdomen
that would have admitted a man's fist. He proved to be
a young French Canadian about 19 years of age, who had
recently come down from Montreal, doubtless with one
of the expeditions of Mr. Matthews."
Dr. Myer cites the following account of the accident
given by an eye witness, Mr. Gurdon S. Hubbard: 2
"The late Major John H. Kinzie had charge of the Amer-
ican Fur Company's retail store at Michilimackinac. 1
was in the habit of assisting him occasionally when a press
of customers needed extra clerks. The store comprised
the ground floor near the foot of Fort Hill, on the corner of
the street and the road leading up to the fort. The rear
part of the store was underground, built of stone, which
is still standing.
"This St. Martin was at the time one of the American
Fur Company's engages, who, with quite a number of
others, was in the store. One of the party was holding a
shotgun (not a musket), which was accidentally discharged,
2 Ibid., p. 103.
342 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the whole charge entering St. Martin's body. The muzzle
was not over three feet from him I think not over two.
The wadding entered, as well as pieces of his clothing; his
shirt took fire; he fell, as we supposed, dead.
"Dr. Beaumont, the surgeon of the fort, was immediately
sent for, and reached the wounded man within a very short
time probably three minutes. We had just got him on a
cot and were taking off some of his clothing.
"After Dr. Beaumont had extracted part of the shot,
pieces of clothing, and dressed his wound carefully, Robert
Stuart and others assisting, he left him, remarking, 'The
man can't live thirty-six hours; I will come to see him by
and by.' In two or three hours he visited him again,
expressing surprise at finding him doing better than he
anticipated. The next day, I think, he resolved on a course
of treatment, and brought down his instruments, getting out
more shot and clothing, cutting off ragged ends of the
wound, and made frequent visits, seeming very much inter-
ested, informing Mr. Stuart in my presence that he thought
he could save him.
"As soon as the man could be moved he was taken to the
fort hospital where Dr. Beaumont could give him better
attention. About this time, if I am not greatly mistaken,
the doctor announced that he was treating his patient with
a view to experimenting on his stomach, being satisfied of
his recovery. You know the result.
"I knew Dr. Beaumont very well. The experiment of
introducing food into the stomach through the orifice, pur-
posely kept open and healed with that object, was con-
ceived by the doctor very soon after the first examination."
With the last statement made by Mr. Hubbard, that the
wound was purposely kept open for the purpose of experi-
DR. WILLIAM BEAUMONT 343
menting, the record of the case kept by Dr. Beaumont does
not seem to accord. This is pointed out by Dr. Myer, who
gives in his book the complete record from which the fol-
lowing extract is made. 3
Says Dr. Beaumont: "I was called to him immediately
after the accident. Found a portion of the lungs as large
as a turkey's egg protruding through the external wound,
lacerated and burnt, and below this another protrusion re-
sembling a portion of the Stomach, what at first view I could
not believe possible to be that organ in that situation with
the subject surviving, but on closer examination I found it
to be actually the Stomach, with a puncture in the pro-
truding portion large enough to receive my forefinger, and
through which a portion of his food that he had taken for
breakfast had come out and lodged among his apparel. In
this dilemma I considered any attempt to save his life en-
tirely useless. But as I had ever considered it a duty to
use every means in my power to preserve life when called
to administer relief, I proceeded to cleanse the wound and
give it a powerful dressing, not believing it possible for him
to survive twenty minutes. On attempting to reduce the
protruding portions, I found the Lung was prevented from
returning by the sharp point of the fractured rib, over which
its membrane had caught fast, but by raising up the Lung
with the front of the forefinger of my left hand I clipped
off with my pen knife, in my right hand, the sharp point
of the rib, which enabled me to return the Lung into the
cavity of the Thorax, but could not retain it there on the
least efforts of the patient to cough, which were frequent.
"After giving the wound a superficial dressing, the pa-
8 Ibid., pp. 107-115.
344 HISTORIC MACKINAC
tient was moved to a more convenient place, and in about
an hour I attended to dressing the wound more thoroughly,
not supposing it probable for him to survive the operation
of extracting the fractured spicula of bones and other
extraneous substances, but to the utter astonishment of
every one he bore it without a struggle or without sink-
ing. . . .
"A lucky and perhaps the only circumstance to which
his miraculous survival can be attributed was that the pro-
truded portion of the Stomach, instead of falling back into
the cavity of the abdomen to its natural position, adhered
by the first intention to the intercostal muscles, and by that
means retained the orifice in the wounded stomach in con-
tact with the external wound, and afforded a free passage
out and a fair opportunity to apply the dressings. The
carbon poultice was continued constantly until the slough-
ing was complete and the granulating process established.
They were afterwards occasionally applied as a corrective
when the wound was becoming ill conditioned or languid.
The Aq. Am. Acetat. was continued for several weeks, in
proportion to the febrile symptons or fetid condition of the
wound.
"No sickness or peculiar irritability of the Stomach was
ever experienced, not even nausea, during the whole time;
and after three weeks the appetite regular and healthy, al-
vine evacuation became regular, and all the functions of
the system seemed as regular and healthy as in perfect
health, excepting the wounded parts. . . .
"After trying every means within my power to close the
puncture of the Stomach by exciting adhesions between
the lips of the wound of its own proper coats, without the
least appearance of success, I gave over trying, convinced
DR. WILLIAM BEAUMONT 345
that the Stomach of itself will not close a puncture in its
coats by granulations, and the only alternative left seemed
to be to draw the external wound together as fast as cicatri-
zation would form and contracting as much as possible
the orifice in the Stomach, and make the granulations from
the intercostal muscles and integuments shoot across and
form over and close it that way. But to this method there
seemed an insuperable difficulty, for, unless there be kept
constantly upon the orifice a firm plug of lint compound, all
the contents of the Stomach flow out and the patient must
die for want of aliment, and this lint, intercepting, prevents
the granulation from forming across. . . .
"The County refusing any further assistance to the pa-
tient (who has become a pauper from his misfortune) I
took him into my own family from mere motives of charity
and a disposition to save his life, or at least to make him
comfortable, where he has continued improving in health
and condition, and is now able to perform any kind of
labour from the whittling of a stick to the chopping of
logs, and is as healthy, active and strong as he ever was in
his life, or any man in Mackinac, with the aperture of the
Stomach in much the same condition as it was at the last
mentioned date. June 1, 1824."
Up to this time, two years after the accident occurred, no
experiments are recorded as having been made. In a paper
read by Dr. S. C. Ayres before the Academy of Medicine of
Cincinnati, January 16, 1899, 4 there occurs this interesting
note: "I had visited the Island of Mackinac for several
years before I learned that the accident to St. Martin oc-
curred there. This fact excited anew my interest in this
very remarkable gun-shot wound, hence this paper." On
4 Cincinnati Lancet-Clinic, February 4, 1899.
346 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the genesis and progress of the experimentation upon the
stomach of the young voyageur, Dr. Ayres writes as fol-
lows: 5
"Beaumont's first experiments on St. Martin were made
in May, 1825, about three years after the accident. These
were continued until August, when, without leave or con-
sent, St. Martin deserted his friend and benefactor and
made his way back to Canada. Dr. Beaumont made every
effort to recover him, but it was four years before he saw
him again. Learning that he was employed by the Hud-
son's Bay Fur Company, he arranged to have him return to
his service. Dr. Beaumont was then stationed at Fort
Crawford, Prairie du Chien, Upper Mississippi, and at
great personal expense he had him, his wife and two chil-
dren brought to him, a distance of nearly two thousand
miles from Lower Canada.. He began experiments on him
in August, 1829, and continued them until March, 1831.
During this time St. Martin performed all the service of a
servant, chopping wood and doing all kinds of hard work.
In April, 1831, St. Martin returned to Lower Canada. The
trip seems strange now, in these days of rapid transit, but
there were no railroads then, and he had to travel by water
and land. He left Fort Crawford in an open boat on the
Mississippi River, passing St. Louis, thence to the Ohio
River and up to the State of Ohio, which he crossed to Lake
Erie, thence across to Lake Ontario, and then down the St.
Lawrence River to Montreal, consuming about two months.
He joined Dr. Beaumont again in November, 1832, and con-
tinued in his service until November, 1833, as the last
experiment is dated November 1.
5 Op. cit., p. 4 ; see end of this chapter for a summary of Beaumont's
conclusions.
DR. WILLIAM BEAUMONT 347
"During all these years Dr. Beaumont paid his patient
for his time and spent a great deal of money in transporting
his family from place to place. The salary of a surgeon
in those days was not large, and this fact shows how devoted
he was to the study of this extraordinary case. Then, too,
he had much to learn. The writings of other physiologists
could not help him, for they were founded on theoretical
ideas of digestion. He had to combat old ideas based on
false premises, and unlearn much, if not all, he had
learned. The whole field of the physiology of digestion
was before him, and he was working in new and untried
lines. Fortunately for medicine, he was the man for the
occasion, and he rose to a full appreciation of its import-
ance. For nearly four years, he kept his patient under his
eye, and, in spite of his arduous military duties, continued
his experiments. He had to disagree with the authorities
of the day, and the respect and deference he pays them is
remarkable. His modesty in speaking of his observations
is characteristic of the man. He says: 'I consider myself
but an humble inquirer of the truth, a simple experimenter.
And if I have been led to conclusions opposite to the opin-
ions of many who have been considered the great lumi-
naries of physiology, and in some instances from all the
professors of this science, I hope the claim of sincerity will
be conceded to me when I say that such difference of opin-
ion has been forced upon me by the convictions of experi-
ments and the fair deductions of reasoning.' '
In 1833 Dr. Beaumont, at the earnest solicitation of his
friends, published the results of his investigation, in a book
entitled Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice
and the Physiology of Digestion. An edition of three thou-
348 HISTORIC MACKINAC
sand copies was quickly exhausted, and a second edition
was published in 1847. The book was republished in
England, Germany and France. Of this event, Dr. Ayres
says: 6
"The publication of Dr. Beaumont's book created a sen-
sation in the medical world. All foreign writers quoted
from it, and it became the standard of authority among
all physiologists. English, French and German teachers
acknowledged their indebtedness to it, and up to the pres-
ent day it is quoted, and always will be. All previous
writers had been, as it were, groping their way in the dark,
but now the light of day and the assurance of ocular in-
spection, and his experiment made with gastric juice in a
test-tube on a sand bath gave an emphasis to his deductions,
which made them authority everywhere. It is now nearly
seventy-seven years since this accident occurred, and sixty-
six since Dr. Beaumont ended his experiments, and yet
no physiologist has written on the subject who has not given
him full credit for the careful and painstaking work he did.
He did not understand intestinal digestion as we do now,
and hence could not draw correct conclusions as to the dis-
position of the chyme after it passed through the pyloric
end of the stomach. He is not open to criticism on this
subject, and no reflections should be made on some of his
conclusions which in the light of the present day are not
strictly in accordance with our more advanced knowledge.
"All writers on physiology have acknowledged their
indebtedness to him, for he placed an obscure and doubtful
subject on a well-founded basis of facts derived from his
extended and critical observations."
In memory of his achievements there stands on Mack-
6 Op. dt. 9 p. 7.
DR. WILLIAM BEAUMONT 349
inac Island, near the old quarters of the officers at Fort
Mackinac, a monument bearing the inscription: 7 "Near this
spot, Dr. William Beaumont, U. S. A., made those experi-
ments upon St. Martin which brought fame to himself
and honour to American medicine. Erected by the Upper
Peninsula and Michigan State Medical Societies. June
10, 1900."
Apart from his connection with the St. Martin case, Dr.
Beaumont is one of the most interesting men associated with
the early history of Mackinac Island. He was bora in
Lebanon, Connecticut, November 21, 1775. In 1806 he
left home, and after spending some time in Massachusetts
and Vermont, settled at Champlain, New York, where for
three years he taught school. In 1810 he began the study
of medicine with Dr. Benjamin Chandler, of St. Albans,
Vermont. Two years later, he entered the army of the
North as surgeon's mate in the Sixth Regiment Infantry.
During the War of 1812 he was present at the battle of
Little York, the storming of Fort George, and the battle of
Plattsburg, and has left an interesting descriptive diary
of his services at these points. For a few years after the
war he resigned from the army to enter private practice at
Plattsburg, where he met the future Mrs. Beaumont. Ere
long, he re-entered the army as post surgeon, and was
almost immediately ordered to Fort Mackinac to act again
under General Macomb, under whom he had served at the
battle of Plattsburg.
On his way from Plattsburg to Mackinac he kept a diary,
which contains many interesting observations. The fol-
lowing extract is taken from his notes on the trip from De-
7 For an appreciation of the life and work of Dr. Beaumont, see the ad-
dress by Hon. Chase S. Osborn, Ex-Governor of Michigan, delivered at the
dedication of this monument.
350 HISTORIC MACKINAC
troit up the Lakes. Some recent experience seems to have
inspired in him a bit of misanthropy. The lady to whom he
refers he was soon to have with him at Mackinac, as Mrs.
Beaumont. Captain Benjamin K. Pierce, Commandant at
Mackinac, was a brother of President Franklin Pierce.
"June 14th, Wednesday," reads this portion of the
diary; 8 "Started this morning at 4 ock. in the Steam-boat
W alk-in-the-W ater for Fort Michilimackinac. Had on
board Genl. Macomb, Col. Wool, Revd. Dr. Morse and
many other gentlemen. Had a fine breeze and fair
weather, a thunder shower between 12 & 1 ok. Adopted
the following maxim this day: 'Trust not to man's honesty,
whether Christian, Jew or Gentile. Deal with all as though
they were rogues and villains; it will never injure an hon-
est person, it will always protect you from being
cheated by friend or foe. Selfishness or villainy, or both
combined, govern the world, with a very few exceptions.'
At sunset arrived at the lower end of Lake Huron, where
the boat anchored for the night. Here stands Fort Gratiot,
a handsome little fortification. Got under way at 3 ok.
next morning, and passed through Lake Huron, and arrived
at Mackinac on the 16th of June 10 ok. eve.
"17th. Attended the Inspection of the Troops at this
Garrison with Genl. Macomb and Col. I. E. Wool. Dined
with Capt. Pierce.
"18th. Assumed the charge of the Hospital and com-
menced duty in U. S. Service.
"19th to 27th. Nothing extraordinary occurred during
this time. Obtained 2 horses of Capt. Pierce, and procured
a private waiter on the 26th inst. . . . My thoughts are
nightly, and every night and all the night with thee, and
8 Myer, op. cit., pp. 83-85.
DR. WILLIAM BEAUMONT 351
faithful servants are they to the little divinity of Love. . . .
Morpheus sends them flying fervent, faithful messengers
of sleeping thoughts to bear my love to you. Oh, how
long doth seem our separation. Anxious indeed am I to
know our final prospects. Were our present happy antici-
pations to be destroyed, & our hopeful hearts sustaining
prospects, cut off, oh, how cheerless, difficult and desperate
would be the future scenes of life a deadly banishment, a
dark, benighted world! a hopeless, Joyless life! Could
I not think of you by day and dream of you by night, there
would be no zest in life no stimulus to act, no wish to
live. You are the soul of my existence. For you I live,
I think, I act, and your dear image do I cherish with increas-
ing fervency and love. . . .
"Sept. 9th, 1820. Commenced a diary of conduct on
Dr. Franklin's plan for attaining Moral perfection.
"Reading Shakespeare to-day, I judged the following
extracts worthy of copying: 'Love all, trust a few. Do
wrong to none; be able for thine enemy, rather in power
than use ; & keep thy friend under thy life's key ; Be checked
for silence, but more taxed for speech.'
"10th. Rose at 6 ok. Visited my patients in village
and discharged Garrison duty before 9 ok. A. M. Settled
my hospital % with Comd. & perused scriptures & Pope's
Essay on Man till eve."
"Upon his arrival here," says Dr. Myer, 9 "he promptly
assumed the duties incumbent upon him, and took up his
abode in the east end of the officers' stone quarters, erected
by the British in 1780, took charge of the small one-story
frame hospital and perfected its organization, with James
Homer as steward and wardmaster and his wife as matron.
9 Ibid., p. 86.
352 HISTORIC MACKINAG
The fort at this time lay within the intersecting lines of three
blockhouses, the only approach being through two arched
sally ports, each of which was provided with a portcullis
that could be dropped instantly in case of attack. The
walls were of stone and pointed cedar pickets, about ten
feet high, tipped with three-pronged spikes wherever scaling
was possible. There were rows of loop-holes, through
which firing could be carried on when fighting off the en-
emy, and a few pieces of artillery were mounted in block-
houses."
The need of a surgeon at the post was prompted not only
by the military but by the exigencies of the wild life at this
frontier post. An illustration is given by Dr. Myer. 10
Beaumont had arrived in the midst of the usual Mackinac
summer scene when the voyageurs and coureurs de bois
were coming in from the trading posts. "He found the
beach lined with Indian wigwams and tents of traders and
voyageurs, who could not find lodging in the old agency
house. Dances and parties, jollifications and fights, and
the whoops of drunken Indians greeted him by day and
night. The scene was very different from that which he
had just left on the placid shores of Lake Champlain.
But, soldier-like, he promptly entered on the duties before
him, and was soon engaged in his usual painstaking work
up at the old fort, which frowned upon the hilarious scenes
in the village. Not only was he looking after the interests
of the little garrison, but he had obtained permission to
engage in private practice as well, for he was the only phy-
sician on the Island. At certain seasons of the year, there-
fore, he had much to do as the result of the dissipation
which he found in the garrison, drunken brawls on the
10 Op. cit. y p. 94.
DR. WILLIAM BEAUMONT 353
beach, and injuries of various sorts. On one occasion we
find the hot-headed Scotchman, Mr. Stuart, cudgeling
two of his unruly men almost to the point of insensibility.
'Dr. Beaumont, surgeon of the fort, was sent for, who
examined the man, and pronounced his skull fractured and
the result doubtful. Mr. Stuart was in great distress,
and himself cared for the man through the night, being
much relieved in his mind when the Doctor told him in
the morning that he thought the man would live, though a
slight increase in the force of the blow would certainly have
killed him.' Many such opportunities must have presented
themselves during the assembly of this throng, for fighting
was a pastime among them, and each brigade had its stout
fellow, characterized by a black feather which he wore in
his cap. When there was a fight between the bullies of two
brigades, the man winning was given the feather. Such
customs and regulations were destined to supply surgical
material."
In August, 1821, Dr. Beaumont went to Plattsburg, where
he was married, and returned that same year with his bride
to Mackinac. "One who knew Mrs. Beaumont at this
period of her life," says Dr. Myer, 11 "states that she was
noted for her rare personal beauty and irresistible charm of
manner, which were only enhanced by her gentle 'thee and
thou' of speech. The events of her younger years had
developed in her courage and strength of endurance almost
masculine, and yet withal she was by nature a delicate,
sensitive feminine character. She was peculiarly pre-
pared for the adversities and privations of this new life in
the wild country. The proverbial Quaker hospitality and
her splendid ability to entertain introduced a new and much
"Ibid., P . 99.
354 HISTORIC MACKINAG
needed feature into the garrison life of this uncivilized do-
main. She kept open house for her husband's fellow offi-
cers, who, far from home, were much in need of the leaven-
ing influence of gentle, refined women, in their midst, for,
as we have mentioned before, there were at this time not
more than a dozen white women on the entire Island. They
established their little home within the walls of the old fort,
and in due time a child came to break the monotony of her
humdrum existence and relieve the feeling of home-sick-
ness that she naturally experienced so far from her family
ties and the fertile fields and placid waters of the Cham-
plain home that she loved so dearly."
The following letter from Dr. Beaumont, written after
the birth of their daughter, Sarah, gives a delightful glimpse
into the domestic happiness of the Beaumont family at
Mackinac. The letter is to Mrs. Beaumont's parents: 12
"I write, my dear Parents, in filial obedience to the kind
dictates of connubial affection, and am happy in doing so,
because I think I am adding a mite to the quantum of your
declining enjoyments and earthly felicities by announcing
to you the good health, happiness and contentment of your
fond and favorite Debh., your little grand-son Melanchthon
and grand-daughter Sarah, who are all in the full enjoy-
ment of every necessary blessing of human life. Debh.
has occasional periods of tender musings upon the circum-
stance of being so far and so long separated from her aged
parents and affectionate relatives and friends, and feels
sad and sorrowful at the time, shedding tears of gratitude
and affection most copiously; but it is only the impulse of
a moment, and she is always relieved by the indulgence,
and immediately resumes her usual cheerfulness and vivac-
12 Ibid, pp. 99-101.
DR. WILLIAM BEAUMONT 355
ity, and returns again to her wonted paths of domestic du-
ties and maternal cares, superintending her household and
nurturing and caressing the children, with that placid
benignity of countenance so natural to her temper and dis-
position when troubles and vexations are far away, as we
verily hope they are, and with them a long and distant
flight. She is troubled occasionally by visits from her old
acquaintances, pain-in-the-side, and experiences some slight
indisposition, and lately has some qualms not of con-
science, but of the Stomach.
"Our little daughter has the cheerfulness and vivacity of
her mother's disposition fully stampt upon her by nature,
and is continually displaying them to the delight and ad-
miration of all that know her. 'She's blithe and she's
bonny, and she's dear to her mamma,' and to her papa, and
would be to her Grand-parents if they could see her, no
doubt. Little Melanchthon is also an unusually fine and in-
teresting boy. He is the favourite of everybody, and is
almost considered as a prodigy of intelligence and spright-
liness for one of his age. They are little boon play-mates,
constantly amusing our ears through the day with their
cheerful little prattle and infantile gambols about the house,
and through the night lie quietly embraced in the arms of
'Nature's sweet restorer,' always waking in the morning
smiling and pleasant.
"We verily hope, and partially believe, that it will be
our happy fortune to visit you with our little family in the
course of a year or two. Your declining years and our
anxiety require that we should do so as soon as is possibly
consistent with my official situation.
"Our best love to all the family, and believe me your
affectionate Son-in-law."
356 HISTORIC MACKINAG
The happy home life of Dr. Beaumont was his great
support through all the trials, vexations and discourage-
ments attending the long series of labours as an army sur-
geon, after leaving Mackinac, and during his private prac-
tice in St. Louis, Missouri. From St. Louis, he wrote, in
1853, to a friend a few months before his death: 13
"Myself and wife, not unlike 'John Anderson, My Jo,'
have climbed the hill o' life togither, and many a canty
day we've had wi' ane anither. But now we maun totter
down life's ebbing wane in peaceful quiet ease and com*
petence, with just so much selfishness and social sympathy
as to be satisfied with ourselves, our children, and friends,
caring little for the formalities, follies and fashions of the
present age, the bustling turmoils, vain shows, pride and
pageantry of modern Society, or the jealousies and envy of
the mean or malicious, sure of rectitude of purpose and un-
conscious of wrong intentions to the injury of any human
being, boastful of nothing, cheerfully submissive to the
duress of fate, the freaks of fortune, or the last fiat of
nature. Come when it may, we only ask God's blessings
on our 'frosty brows,' and hand in hand we'll go and sleep
together."
The following beautiful tribute is paid to Dr. Beaumont
by a contemporary and friend: 14
"Dr. Beaumont possessed great firmness and determina-
tion of purpose; difficulties which would have discouraged
most men, he never allowed to turn him from his course.
is Ibid., p. 294.
i4/feiU, p. 294.
Dr. Jesse S. Myer died soon after the publication of his book, Life and
Letters of Dr. William Beaumont. His brother, Dr. Max C. Myer, Dean,
School of Medicine, University of Missouri, and the publishers, The C. V.
Mosby Company, St. Louis, very generously accorded permission to quote
freely in Historic Mackinac.
DR. WILLIAM BEAUMONT 357
These he did not attempt to evade, but to meet and over-
come. He possessed more than any man I ever knew a
knowledge (almost intuitive) of human character. You
might have introduced him to twenty different persons in
a day, all strangers to him, and he would have given you
an accurate estimate of the character of each, his peculiar
traits, disposition, etc., and not a few would receive some
appropriate soubriquet from him. He was gifted with
strong natural powers, which, working upon an extensive ex-
perience in life, resulted in a species of natural sagacity,
which, as I suppose, was something peculiar to him, and not
to be attained by any course of study. His temperament
was ardent, but never got the better of his instructed and dis-
ciplined judgment, and, whenever or however employed, he
always adopted the most judicious means of attaining ends
that were always honourable. In the sick-room he was a
model of patience and kindness; his intuitive perceptions,
guiding a pure benevolence, never failed to inspire confi-
dence, and thus he belonged to that class of physicians
whose very presence affords nature a sensible relief."
DR. BEAUMONT'S INFERENCES RESPECTING GASTRIC
DIGESTION
1. That animal and farinaceous aliments are more easy
of digestion than vegetable.
2. That the susceptibility of digestion does not, how-
ever, depend altogether upon natural or chemical distinc-
tions.
3. That digestion is facilitated by minuteness of divi-
sion and tenderness of fibre, and retarded by opposite
qualities.
358 HISTORIC MACKINAG
4. That the ultimate principles of aliment are always
the same, from whatever food they may be obtained.
5. That the action of the stomach, and its fluids are the
same on all kinds of diet.
6. That the digestibility of aliment does not depend
upon the quantity of nutriment principles that it contains.
7. That the quantity of food generally taken, is more
than the wants of the system require; and that such excess,
if persevered in, generally produces, not only functional
aberration, but disease of the coats of the stomach.
8. That bulk, as well as nutriment, is necessary to the
articles of diet.
9. That oily food is difficult of digestion, though it
contains a large proportion of the nutriment principles.
10. That the time required for the digestion of food,
is various, depending upon the quantity and quality of the
food, state of the stomach, etc. ; but that the time ordinarily
required for the disposal of a moderate meal of the fibrous
part of meat, with bread, etc., is from three to three and a
half hours.
11. That solid food, of a certain texture, is easier of
digestion, than fluid.
12. That stimulating condiments are injurious to the
healthy stomach.
13. That the use of ardent spirits always produces dis-
eases of the stomach, if persevered in.
14. That hunger is the effect of distention of the vessels
that secrete the gastric juice.
15. That the processes of mastication, insalivation and
deglutition, in an abstract point of view, do not, in any way
affect the digestion of food; or, in other words, when food
is introduced directly into the stomach, in a finely divided
DR. WILLIAM BEAUMONT 359
state, without these previous steps, it is as readily and as
perfectly digested as when they have been taken.
16. That saliva does not possess the properties of an
alimentary solvent.
17. That the first stage of digestion is effected in the
stomach.
18. That the natural temperature of the stomach is
100 Fahrenheit.
19. That the temperature is not elevated by the inges-
tion of food.
20. That exercise elevates the temperature; and that
sleep or rest, in a recumbent position, depresses it.
21. That the agent of chymification is the Gastric
Juice.
22. That it acts as a solvent of food, and alters its prop-
erties.
23. That its action is facilitated by the warmth and
motions of the stomach.
24. That it contains free Muriatic Acid and some other
active chemical principles.
25. That it is never found free in the gastric cavity;
but is always excited to discharge itself by the introduction
of food, or other irritants.
26. That it is secreted from vessels distinct from the
mucous follicles.
27. That it is seldom obtained pure, but is generally
mixed with mucus, and sometimes with saliva. When
pure, it is capable of being kept for months, and perhaps
for years.
28. That it coagulates albumen, and afterwards dis-
solves the coagulae.
29. That it checks the progress of putrefaction.
360 HISTORIC MACKINAG
30. That the pure gastric juice is fluid, clear and trans-
parent; without odour; a little salt, and perceptibly acid.
31. That like other chemical agents, it commences its
action on food, as soon as it comes in contact with it.
32. That it is capable of combining with a certain and
fixed quantity of food, and when more aliment is presented
for its action than it will dissolve, disturbance of the stom-
ach, or "indigestion" will ensue.
33. That it becomes intimately mixed and blended with
the ingestae in the stomach, by the motions of that organ.
34. That it is invariably the same substance, modified
only by admixture with other fluids.
35. That gentle exercise facilitates the digestion of
food.
36. That bile is not ordinarily found in the stomach,
and is not commonly necessary for the digestion of food;
but
37. That, when oily food has been used, it assists its
digestion.
38. That chyme is homogeneous, but invariable in its
colour and consistence.
39. That towards the latter stages of chymification, it
becomes more acid and stimulating, and passes more rap-
idly from the stomach.
40. That water, ardent spirits, and most other fluids are
not affected by the gastric juice, but pass from the stomach
soon after they have been received.
41. That the inner coat of the stomach, is of a pale
pink colour, varying in its hues, according to its full or
empty state.
42. That, in health, it is constantly sheathed with a
mucous coat.
DR. WILLIAM BEAUMONT 361
43. That the gastric juice and mucus are dissimilar in
their physical and chemical properties.
44. That the appearance of the interior of the stomach,
in disease, is essentially different from that of its healthy
state.
45. That the motions of the stomach produce a constant
churning of its contents, and admixture of food and gastric
juice.
46. That these motions are in two directions; trans-
versely and longitudinally.
47. That the expulsion of the chyme is assisted by a
transverse band, etc.,
48. That chyle is formed in the duodenum and small
intestines, by the addition of bile and pancreatic juice, on
the chyme.
49. That crude chyle is a semi-transparent, whey col-
oured fluid.
50. That it is further changed by the action of the lac-
teals and mesenteric glands. This is only an inference
from the other facts. It has not been the subject of ex-
periment.
51. That no other fluid produces the same effect on
food that gastric juice does; and that it is the only solvent
or aliment.
CHAPTER XVIII
MACKINAC AND THE MORMONS OF BEAVER
ISLAND
"1 OME years ago," writes Miss Woolson, 1 "the Straits
^S of Mackinac were enlivened by a brilliant naval
^"^^ battle. It is true that few of the dwellers in our
great cities were aware of the fierce war which raged on
the northern outskirts; and the annals of the War Depart-
ment, also, are silent concerning the proud fleet which set
sail from Fairy Island one dark morning, and, after a
hard-fought battle, returned victorious. But an unworthy
pen will attempt to chronicle the glory, as follows:
"Big Beaver Island, just outside the western gateway,
had been taken by the Mormons after a bloodless contest
with the gulls, who were the original inhabitants. Driven
from the Eastern States, hither had the saints migrated in
small bands, and gradually, as refugee after refugee ar-
rived, a town grew up, a temple was built, and a king chosen
to rule over the settlement. For some time the saints con-
fined themselves to cultivating their land and entrapping
fish, only occasionally entrapping some discontented wife
on the mainland, by way of a little innocent variety. But,
waxing fat and lazy, they concluded that labour was un-
worthy of their vocation, and therefore they proceeded to
levy toll on passing vessels; and, when the nights were
dark and stormy, they set out lights, and lured the unsuspi-
1 Putnam's Magazine for July, 1870, pp. 66-67.
362
THE MORMONS OF BEAVER ISLAND 363
cious mariners to destruction on their shores, reaping the
reward of their labours in the numerous wrecks on the
beach. These acts inflamed with wrath the worldly inhab-
itants of Mackinac, and, one day, the cup of their indigna-
tion ran over, when it was discovered that a lovely young
French girl had been enticed away to join the harem of
King Strang. A fleet, much resembling the primitive flo-
tillas of Homer's day, was prepared for battle, manned by
a motley crew of French and half-breeds, while a sprink-
ling of uniforms from the fort on the heights gave Uncle
Sam's sanction to the enterprise. A pugnacious steam-tug
led the way, bearing a small cannon proudly on its quarter-
deck, and displaying the Stars and Stripes nailed to the
mast. A fleet of Mackinaw boats sailed fiercely alongside,
filled with Islanders armed with rusty shot-guns and anti-
quated pistols, while in the rear, paddling for dear life to
see the sight, came the noble race of 'Lo' in their dirty
blankets.
"Passing the western gateway, Big Beaver loomed in
sight, and the City of the Saints was shortly afterwards as-
saulted by the ferocious Islanders. The steam-tug took up
position and opened fire upon the town, while the land
forces swarmed ashore and did prodigious execution with
their superannuated pistols. The female saints made a
brave resistance when they saw their deserted husbands
among the invaders; but the prophets fled to the protecting
woods, whence they were dragged one by one to enjoy the
delights of tar and feathers. King Strang himself was
taken prisoner, and carried on board the flagship; but ven-
geance smote him by the hand of one of his flock, and he
paid for his many sins with his life. The conquering fleet
returned in triumph to Mackinac, and the scattered rem-
364 HISTORIC MACKINAG
nant of the Mormons forsook Big Beaver in haste, turning
their faces towards the setting sun, where gleamed before
them the glorious City of the Saints; and Big Beaver is
restored to the original aristocracy of the loons and sea-
gulls."
Miss Woolson's tale is at least vivid and heroic, if not
exactly true in every detail. The facts regarding Strang,
his romantic Kingdom of St. James, his troubles with the
people of Mackinac, and his tragic death may be of interest.
"Upon the assassination of Joseph Smith, the Mormon
prophet, at Nauvoo, Illinois," says Mr. John C. Wright in
the preface to King Strang; or The Tragedy of Beaver
Island, 2 "there arose several aspirants to the honour of
leading his followers. Among the number was James
Jesse Strang, a gifted lawyer, originally from New York
State, who had lately located in Wisconsin, where he em-
braced the new faith and said he had received a letter from
Smith, just previous to the latter's death, appointing him
as his successor; he also claimed to have had a vision at
the moment of Smith's demise, in which the Lord annointed
him 'teacher, ruler, prophet and protector' of the Mor-
mons. Though but a recent convert, he gained many sup-
porters through the logic of his arguments and the force of
his brilliant oratory. It is said that among the half dozen
contestants for the honor, aside from Brigham Young,
Strang was the only one who displayed any real qualities
of leadership. Being defeated by Young, who had the
advantage of an entrenched position and the powerful sup-
port of the Council of Twelve, Strang withdrew with a large
number of followers, first to Voree, Wis., 'the Garden of
Peace,' where he planted a 'State of Zion,' then to Beaver
2 Pp. 30-31.
THE MORMONS OF BEAVER ISLAND 365
Island, (called by the early French missionaries 'L'Isle au
Castore'), in Lake Michigan, where he founded his 'king-
dom,' naming the capital 'St. James' in honour of himself,
and on the 8th day of July, 1850, was publicly crowned,
'king,' amid much pomp and ceremony. He erected a
tabernacle and palace, constructed beautiful highways, and
had a royal press. He took unto himself five wives, and
lived in regal splendor, considering the limited advantages
of the region at that period. He was twice elected to the
Michigan legislature and his influence and support was
solicited by no less a personage than President Millard Fill-
more. Finally external warfare with the 'gentiles' and in-
ternal dissensions culminated to overthrow his power.
Several conspirators formulated a plot to depose him, and
he was fatally shot on the 20th of June, 1856. During his
last hours he was tenderly nursed and cared for by his first
and lawful wife, who had left him when she learned that he
advocated polygamy.
"Those who knew Strang say he was a wise, sagacious
and able ruler, though oftimes unscrupulous and arbitrary.
His 'Revelations,' orations, state papers and 'Book of the
Law of the Lord,' reveal a keen intellect, strong personality,
and a leader of men, whose prowess was not surpassed by
any of his contemporaries."
One of these acquaintances was Mr. Ludlow P. Hill, who
says, 3 "Strang was in many respects a remarkable man.
He was small and spare, but as a speaker he towered like a
giant. He was one of the most fascinating orators imagin-
able. He wore a very heavy beard of reddish tinge, and
his hair was red, too. He had dark eyes, that looked at
one on occasion as though they could bore right through.
*Mich. Pion. and Hist. Colls., XXXII, 213.
366 HISTORIC MACKINAC
They were set close together, under wide projecting brows,
from which rose a massive forehead. Add to this a thin
hatchet face, and you have a grouping of features that
would attract attention anywhere. His oratory was of the
fervid, impassioned sort that would carry his audience with
him every time. His words came out in a torrent ; he could
work himself into emotion spells at will, the sincerity of his
words being attested by tears when necessary to produce
that effect, or by infectious laughter when his mood was
merry. He had what is known as magnetism, too, and
could be one of the most companionable of men. His in-
fluence over his followers was unbounded. He was cer-
tainly a man of unusual talents in many respects. Had
he chosen to use them for good, he would have left a great
impress upon his country."
It seems highly probable that in the beginning of the oc-
cupation of Beaver Island, the Mormons were more sinned
against than sinning. They planned a large tabernacle,
and, while getting out timber for it, they were set upon by
the "Gentiles" and beaten. "Drunken fishermen invaded
their homes and subjected the women to indignities; debat-
ing clubs were attended by uninvited guests, whose bois-
terous conduct prevented proceedings. Men from Old
Michilimackinac came in boats to raid outlying farm-
houses." 4 By 1850, however, the numbers of the "Saints"
had so increased that Strang could afford to retaliate.
"A sort of war existed between him and Mackinac,"
writes one who knew him, 8 "and he was, as he claims, ex-
asperatingly pursued by Charles O'Malley once a member
of the legislature, and later justice of the peace at Mack-
*Ibid., XXXII, 193.
XVIII, 625.
THE MORMONS OF BEAVER ISLAND 367
inac. O'Malley was one of those stern and uncompromis-
ing characters whose antipathies to the Mormons some-
times overcame his discretion. To be a Mormon, was, in
his eyes, to be the worst of offenders. ...
"In 1850, Strang, the Mormon, was before Justice
O'Malley, charged with driving a woman from Beaver
Island by threats of personal chastisement. Strang
claimed that the woman was a prostitute. The witnesses
were not distinct as to the use of threats, and Justice O'Mal-
ley recalled one to inquire 'if he understood Mr. Strang to
mean that she should be chastised or rode on the back of a
black ram, if she did not leave the Island.'
"Strang objected to the question and O'Malley at once
sentenced him to imprisonment for life, for contempt of
court. Strang was taken to jail and the case proceeded,
with the result that the Mormon king was sentenced to a
year in jail for want of sureties in the sum of $10,000, to
keep the peace.
"It was this same O'Malley, who, being in the legislature
and having a quarrel with Schoolcraft, the explorer, took
revenge on him by changing the Indian names of various
counties in Michigan, to Irish designations, such as Roscom-
mon, Clare, Emmet and Antrim. It nearly broke School-
craft's heart and earned for O'Malley the designation of
the 'Irish Dragon,' to distinguish him from Lever's hero,
Charles O'Malley, 'The Irish Dragoon.' "
In 1851 Captain Mackinnon, of the British Royal Navy,
travelling on the upper Lakes, relates the following expe-
rience which occurred on board his steamer: 6
"Whilst forming my plans for a thorough exploration of
Mackinac and its vicinity, I was taken with a lake-warning;
6 Atlantic and Trans- Atlantic Sketches, I, 204-207.
368 HISTORIC MACKINAC
that is to say, the steamer was approaching to convey pas-
sengers to Green Bay. A few minutes sufficed for hasty
preparations, and I found myself steaming through the
straits in the good vessel, Julius Morton. In this steamer
I experienced great comfort, cleanliness and civility. The
cabins are excellent; a small sitting room being attached to
each sleeping cabin. Calling at St. Helena, the vessel
again commenced ploughing the dark blue water of the
lake; so clear, so blue, that it compared advantageously
with the tropical seas. I discovered that we were approach-
ing the famed Mormon settlement at Beaver Island.
"A group was assembled on the forecastle, discussing the
recent outrages amongst the Mormons, who were violently
abused by a pale attenuated man, in the garb of a sailor.
He spoke of a murderous attack made by them upon him-
self and brother. Elevating his wounded arm, he de-
scribed the onslaught in animated terms. 'They fired five
balls through my brother's body!' exclaimed he. 'I will
pursue them to the world's end, until I get vengeance.'
"His story had a wonderful effect upon the listeners,
who became excited, and even threatened to raise a body of
men to exterminate the rascally fanatics.
"After listening for some time, I ventured to say :
" 'Well, gentlemen, this appears very dreadful; but it
would be as well to hear the other side, and not make up
your mind on an ex parte statement.'
"This observation was assented to, particularly by a
couple of persons, who had been silent listeners to all that
had passed. As the vessel was now approaching the island,
one of these persons addressed me, and strongly took the
Mormon's part.
" 'Let me introduce you,' said he, 'to some of the chiefs;
THE MORMONS OF BEAVER ISLAND 369
you will see, as an intelligent stranger, how falsely they
are accused.'
"This assertion certainly staggered the impression pre-
viously made, and I determined to judge for myself.
" 'Do you think,' inquired he, 'that a party of intelligent,
industrious, and careful men, with considerable property
at stake, would wilfully commit such blind and foolish atro-
cities? There is a conspiracy against them.'
"Soon afterwards we ran into a beautiful land-locked
bay very similar in appearance to the coral lagoons in
the South Seas, and the vessel was lashed alongside a pro-
jecting wharf. In a few moments the space between the
vessel's side and the wharf, was swarming with fish from
one to three feet long.
"I landed and strolled into the village. On my way I
entered into conversation with several of the inhabitants,
but found them all, as they expressed it, Gentiles. This is
the name given by the Mormons to those who do not belong
to their sect. The Gentiles positively affirmed that each
of the Mormons had more than one wife. Several were
mentioned to us by name, who were asserted to have from
four to six each! If this be true, it is certainly an as-
tounding fact in a civilized country. My suspicions were
rather strengthened, on learning from an officer of the
steam-boat that a large party of Mormons were anxious to
take passage in the vessel. As the officer expressed it,
'they wanted to make a bolt of it,' because the sheriff of
the state was on his way to arrest them."
Strang's troubles were largely due to the antagonism
aroused by his political successes. In 1850-51, Strang
and his people had by their seven hundred Democratic Mor-
mon votes "secured nearly all the local offices of the Island
370 HISTORIC MACKINAC
of Mackinac, to which the Beaver Islands were attached for
judicial purposes." This served to increase the trouble be-
tween the Mormons and the people of Mackinac. The
Mormon judge at Mackinac Island was J. M. Greig. It was
charged that justice to the "Gentiles" under the new regime
was impossible, while a Mormon offender was sure to es-
cape punishment.
As told by Hon. George G. Bates, 7 "orders were at once
issued through the Attorney General to the United States
District Attorney of Michigan to commence legal proceed-
ings against Strang and his confederates for offences pun-
ishable in the Federal Courts, such as obstructing the mail,
delaying the mail, cutting mail bags, stealing timber from
the public lands, counterfeiting the coin of the United
States, passing counterfeit coin, etc., of all of which crimes
there was evidence to convict them, and of which they had
been guilty. Simultaneously, orders were issued from
the Navy Department to Captain Bullis, of the U. S. naval
steamship Michigan, to proceed to Detroit fully armed and
equipped, and report there to the United States Marshal
for orders; to transport him and his deputies and the
United States District Attorney to Mackinac and the Beaver
Islands in order that all processes issued by the district
attorney from the Federal courts could be served with cer-
tainty, and that Strang, no matter what his force, could not
resist capture, arrest, and trial in the courts of Detroit,
wherein all United States process must issue. Accord-
ingly, in May, 1851, the United States District Attorney,
using the evidence of several Gentiles who had long lived
on the Beaver Islands, and whom Strang had persecuted and
annoyed in every possible way, obtained warrants for the
? Mich. Pion. and Hist. Colls., XXXII, 227-229.
THE MORMONS OF BEAVER ISLAND 371
arrest of Strang and a large number of his confederates,
and embarked on board the war steamer Michigan, with
Gen. Schwartz as Chief Deputy United States Marshal, and
forty well armed and equipped assistants, bound for the
Kingdom of James the First, at Beaver Island.
Of course, it was deemed impossible to arrest these de-
fendants, except by strategy, for the Island on which they
had erected their tabernacle was wholly unsettled save by
Mormons, and on leaving its shores, there were several
cranberry marshes of large extent, and heavy timbered
lands where the larch, the pine, the beech and maple grew
so compactly and were so completely hedged with under-
brush that they were wholly inaccessible. Long ere the
Michigan reached Mackinac where the Mormon Judge
Greig was then holding the county court, the District At-
torney had with the aid and advice of Capt. Bullis's United
States Navy devised a plan which as will be seen was car-
ried out to the very letter, and which resulted in the cap-
ture of Strang and every defendant against whom a United
States warrant had been issued.
"It was agreed between the United States District Attor-
ney and the Captain of the Michigan, that the steamer
should anchor off the court house at Mackinac, at as nearly
half past three as possible, that her guns would be trained
directly on the court house, the marines mustered to arms,
and as much display of force made as this gallant little iron
steamer could show. The vessel arrived precisely at the
time named, let go her anchor as near the court house front
door as possible, and brought her guns and force all to bear
on the door of the building where the Mormon chief justice
of the county court was then holding a term, sitting without
his coat or cravat on the seat of justice. This done, the
372 HISTORIC MACKINAC
captain's gig was lowered away with all the pomp and cere-
mony of war. The United States District Attorney, the first
officer of the ship the boatswain a splendid large old
pilot of the lakes, and one United States Deputy Marshal
embarked in it, and moved directly to the front door of the
court house, which stood open half musket shot from the
war steamer and her grinning guns. Reaching the land
the United States District Attorney, Marshal and boatswain
proceeded directly to the court house, entered it, and ad-
vancing to the Judge's desk, he was asked 'to adjourn the
court, and to consider himself under arrest on a United
States warrant,' then shown to him by the United States Dis-
trict Attorney, 'and to come on board.' Being at first taken
by utter surprise, he hesitated, and attempted to order the
Mormon officers of court to arrest the parties for contempt
of court. Whereupon the District Attorney notified his
honor 'that by raising his eye he would see the guns of the
Michigan trained upon him and his court house, and that
any hesitancy or resistance to the United States process
would result in the destruction of the building and his own
death, and that nothing remained for him but to adjourn the
court and surrender as a prisoner of the law.' Still hesi-
tating, the District Attorney directed the clerk of the court
'to enter the adjournment, and the boatswain and Deputy
Marshal to seize the judge on the bench and take him to the
boat,' which was done, the judge in the meantime remon-
strating and threatening his captors with every kind of
punishment. He was led to the captain's gig, and without
coat or necktie, just as he was, was pulled off to the ship,
where Capt. Bullis, in full naval uniform, received him on
deck and escorted him to the very small cabin below decks.
THE MORMONS OF BEAVER ISLAND 373
In less than half an hour from the time the Michigan let go
her anchor, it was triced up again, and she was steaming
gently away toward the Beaver Island with the Hon. J. M.
Greig as prisoner, confined below decks, in utter amazement
at the coolness and impudence of those authorities by whom
he had been taken by violence, as he thought, from the judg-
ment seat of the Kingdom of James the First."
Through intimidation Greig became a tool to secure
Strang, and the Mormons were taken to Detroit for trial.
Strang made his own plea so successfully, that in the face of
hostile crowds, bitter prejudice, and newspaper abuse, the
jury acquitted him.
"In 1853 King Strang 8 secured his own election to the
legislature by clever political manipulation. His candi-
dacy was not announced until election day; the Mormons
then plumped their votes for him and snowed under their
unsuspecting enemies, who supposed their own candidate
would go in without an opposing candidate. An attempt
was made to prevent Strang from taking his seat by serving
an old warrant for his arrest. To outwit his foes Strang
barricaded himself in his stateroom and withstood the siege
till the boat entered the St. Glair, when he broke down the
door and sought neutral territory by jumping on a wharf on
the Canadian shore. Arrived at the capital, he ascertained
that his seat would be contested. He argued his own case,
and made such a favourable impression that he obtained
the disputed seat. As a legislator he proved industrious
and tactful, so that at the close of the session the Detroit
Advertiser said of him:
" 'Mr. Strang's course as a member of the present legis-
s Ibid., XXXII, 199.
374 HISTORIC MACKINAC
lature has disarmed much of the prejudice which had pre-
viously surrounded him. Whatever may be said or thought
of the peculiar sect of which he is the local head, throughout
this session he has conducted himself with a degree of de-
corum and propriety which have been equalled by his in-
dustry, sagacity, good temper, apparent regard for the true
interests of the people, and the obligations of his official
oath.' "
The bitterness at Mackinac against the Mormons had
other than political grounds. It rooted in practices which
grew out of Strang's doctrine of "consecration," that the
spoiling of the "Gentiles" was right. A gentleman who
visited Mackinac in 1855, in a published account of his ob-
servations, says: 9
"So frequent and so extensive had been these robberies,
that the people at many points on the lake shore have be-
come highly excited, so highly, indeed, that we should not
be surprised to hear of serious conflicts and bloodshed. At
Mackinac and Grand Traverse, particularly, nothing but
the cautious and constant absence of the suspected will pre-
vent severe and fatal chastisement. Stopping recently for
a few days at Mackinac, we had ample opportunity to feel
the public pulse, and we must say that we were really sur-
prised at the deep and determined feeling which has taken
hold of every person in that community. We met several
gentlemen from Grand Traverse and other places in that
portion of the State, from whom we ascertained that the
same spirit pervades that entire region of country."
It was, however, from internal dissensions that Strang
was destined to meet his fate, as told by Captain Alexander
Ibid., XXXII, 121.
THE MORMONS OF BEAVER ISLAND 375
St. Bernard, who was at Strang's side when he was foully
murdered; the spirit of the people at Mackinac is well il-
lustrated by the joy with which the murderers were there
received and protected: 10
"I was an officer on the United States steamer Michigan
for twenty-five years," says Captain St. Bernard. "She
was the first iron boat that navigated the lakes, and she is
in first-rate condition yet. During the war we were kept
pretty busy cruising between Erie and Chicago. We gen-
erally took on wood at Beaver Island. There were between
two thousand and three thousand Mormons living there
then, with their leader, King Strang, besides the Gentiles,
who were mostly fishermen and wood-choppers. The Mor-
mons lived in comfortable houses of hewn logs, and wor-
shipped in a large temple built of the same material, which
they also used for a theatre and dance hall. There was a
platform across one end with scenery at the back, and a
movable pulpit, which was built on trucks. It was a queer
affair a sort of circular platform, with seats around the
outside edge for the twelve apostles, and a high seat in the
centre for the king. When they had a show of any kind the
pulpit was rolled behind the scenery out of sight.
"I was well acquainted with the king, for he often came
on board the ship. He was a fine looking, sociable sort of
man ; but he was not very popular among the Gentiles. We
heard a great many complaints from them whenever we
stopped there. The Mormons were obliged to turn over
one-tenth of their earnings to the king, and he demanded
the same from the Gentiles. Two fishermen, who refused
to surrender their hard-earned money, were taken to the
10 Ibid., XVIII, 626-627.
376 HISTORIC MACKINAC
woods, stripped and beaten with beech switches; and the
county treasurer, who lived on the island, was ordered to
deliver up one-tenth of the public money.
"The king was arrested and taken to Detroit, with his
twelve apostles, where he pleaded his own case and won
it, too; and after that things were worse than ever. When
we stopped as usual on one of our trips around the lakes,
the complaints were so bitter that our captain made up his
mind to arrest him again, and he told me to find him and
bring him on board the ship. I went to the temple, first,
where I was told that he had just gone home. I found
him sitting in his room, with four of his wives, where he
received me very cordially, and when I told him my errand,
accompanied me willingly. He linked arms with me and
we walked along talking pleasantly. Just as we stepped
on the dock and started to walk down the narrow passage
between the piles of wood, two of his enemies sprang from
some hiding place and shot at him. He clung to my arm
until they began to pound him with the butt of their pis-
tols, when he let go and fell, leaving me covered with blood
from my head to my feet.
"There were no telephones in those days, but the news
spread in a very short time, and a howling mob of men,
women and children gathered around their dying chief.
Our surgeon came on shore and did what he could for the
poor fellow, but nothing could save him. He died in the
arms of his first and real wife, whose home was west of
Racine, in Wisconsin.
"The murderers ran aboard the ship and gave them-
selves up the best thing they could have done, for the
mob would have pulled them in pieces if they had caught
them. Of course, suspicion fell on me, many thinking I
THE MORMONS OF BEAVER ISLAND 377
had led him to his death, and I received several friendly
warnings to be on my guard, but I was not molested. A de-
tachment of troops was sent to bring the fishermen and
their families on board the ship, as it was considered un-
safe to leave them on the island with the excited Mormons.
"The murderers were taken to Mackinac, and given into
the custody of the County Sheriff, Mr. Granger, who kept
the Grove House at that time, and is now living at Fort
Gratiot. But they were never brought to trial.
"The band scattered soon after, some returning to their
homes west of Marine City, and some joining their fortunes
with the Utah^element.
"Poor King Strang. He was a fine fellow and deserved
a better fate."
Says another account: * "On the arrival of the party at
Mackinac, there was great excitement and universal re-
joicing. Bedford and Wentworth were received as heroes
and public benefactors. The formality of surrendering
them to the sheriff of Mackinac County was observed, and
they were conducted by that functionary to the jail, accom-
panied by several officers of the Michigan. At the jail a
spontaneous ovation awaited them. Citizens flocked in
with congratulations and offers of assistance. Everything
necessary for comfort was placed at their disposal, and the
luxury of cigars and whisky was not forgotten. The doors
of the jail were not allowed to be locked, and before night
the prisoners informally walked out, and became the guests
of their friends.
"The kingdom fell with him. 12 The Gentile invasion
came soon after his removal to Voree. The fishermen came
11 Ibid., XXXII, 126.
12 Ibid., XXXII, 202.
378
HISTORIC MACKINAC
with torch to destroy and with ax to demolish. The print-
ing office was sacked; the tabernacle was reduced to ashes;
the Mormons were exiled. On .the Islands of Green Bay
and its adjacent peninsula a few of them built new homes;
some sought the land whence they had followed the prophet ;
the rest were scattered to the four points of the compass.
Like that of the prophet Joseph, the life of the prophet
James ended in a tragedy and the exile and dispersion of
his people." 13
13 The article by Henry E. Legler, "A Moses of the Mormons," is also
in Parkman Club Publications, Nos. 15 and 16, May, 1897. See also C. K.
Backus, "An American King," in Harper's New Monthly Mag. for March,
1882, pp. 553-559; E. F. Watrous, "King James of Beaver Island," in The
Century Magazine for March, 1902, pp. 685-689, and J. J. Strang's Ancient
and Modern Michilimackinac.
CHAPTER XIX
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND
IN THE History of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie and
Marquette, Father Antoine Ivan Rezek, after a care-
ful review of all the evidence, says that "It is safe to
conclude that none of the early missions were located on
the Island." * When the fort 'was removed from Old Mack-
inaw to the Island, "the mission church, which stood in
Old Mackinaw, was taken down, hauled over the ice to the
Island and re-erected on a lot known later as the old grave-
yard. This strip of land was patented by the United
States, signed by Andrew Jackson, to the Parish of St.
Anne, Mackinac, December 21, 1829; recorded August 9,
1830.' Lib. B. p. 32, and is described as follows: 'A tract
of land containing 32/100ths of an acre situated in the
village of Michilimackinac and bounded northwesterly by
Lot No. 297, southwardly by Lot No. 713 and 678, south-
westwardly by Church Street, and northwestwardly by
Market Street, and being designated as Lot No. 15 on the
connected Plat of private claims on the Island of Michili-
mackinac.' This lot was sold in the spring of 1891 to
Michael McNally for a consideration of some eight hun-
dred dollars.
"The removal of the chapel," continues Father Rezek,
"was undertaken by the Catholic Frenchmen because there
i History of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie and Marquette, Rev. An-
toine Ivan Rezek, Houghton, Mich., II, p. 167.
379
380 HISTORIC MACKINAC
was no missionary at Michilimackinac for a period of al-
most ten years. The last entry in the church records before
the removal is the baptism of Archange, born of legiti-
mate wedlock of Sieur Jean Askin Commissaire pour Le
Roy en ce Poste, October 3, 1775, by P. Gibault, pretre
missionaire, and that of a marriage on the same day, of
Joseph Ainste and Theresa Rondy. The first record after
the removal of the chapel is that of an election of trustees
presided over by the missionary Payet, on the 23rd of July,
1786. At this meeting, Messrs. Jean Baptiste Earth and
Louis Carrignan were elected marguilliers after having
promised and firmly bound themselves to administrate the
affairs of the church as their own 'upon their soul and
conscience.' The year after, July 22, Charles Charboiller
and Daniel Bourassa were chosen to the same office. Hence
Pere Payet was the first missionary actually stationed on
Mackinac Island. According to the register of baptisms he
remained there from the 15th of July, 1786, till the 20th
of August, 1787, having during this time administered the
sacrament of Baptism to sixty -five persons; of these sixteen
were baptized conditionally and in great many more in-
stances only the ceremonies were supplied. The neophytes
were all children ranging from eleven years down to a
few months with the exception of five adults. The most
important, if we may say so, was ( un Chef Sauvage de la
nation des Courtes Oreilles, ou des Outaois' who was chris-
tened to the name of Charles. Unfortunately the priest
did not give his age nor his Indian name. Pere Payet
officiated at four marriages and had but one burial.
"The register bears splendid testimony that the people
were instructed in the nature of the two sacraments, bap-
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 381
tism and matrimony. The record is interspersed with lay
baptisms using invariably the verb ondoyer, to christen
privately; and entries of marriage plainly attest how well
the instructed people of Mackinac understood the teaching
of the Church regarding this Sacrament. Both Sacraments
were perfectly valid, for in absence of the priest, if neces-
sity requires it, any one who has the use of reason and
knows how, may baptize; and in the sacrament of matri-
mony neither priest nor witness, strictly speaking, is neces-
sary, because the essence of the sacrament is the consent of
the parties. Such civil marriages were always made sub-
ject to a subsequent supplement of religious ceremony when
the priest arrived, the same as the baptisms were supplied
by the unctions and other prayers which accompany a
solemn baptism, or even in case of a doubt where private
baptism was conferred by less competent persons, it was
given again conditionally.
"From August, 1787, until May, 1794, there was again
no priest at Mackinac. Only eight private baptisms are
entered, and we may indeed safely guess that there were
many more, if not all, thus christened, but not done pub-
licly or by persons who had access to the church records.
"On May 8, 1794, Pere Le Dm, missionary apostolic,
as he signs himself, a Dominican, supplied the ceremony
of baptism to Charlotte, a free negress, aged eight years.
This is Le Dru's first official act on record. His activity
extended only until July (ninth) of the same year when
the lay interregnum again stepped in. Two years later,
Father Michael Levadoux, grand vicaire de Monseigneur
I'eveque de Baltimore, paid a visit to the Island but re-
mained only until the first part of August, because his
382 HISTORIC MACKINAC
presence was so much needed in Detroit, whither he was
sent by Bishop Carroll in 1796, and invested with vicarial
jurisdiction. He was a Sulpitian.
"By the treaty of peace between Great Britain and the
United States, made and signed at Paris, September 3,
1783, the post of Michilimackinac fell within the boundary
of the United States, but the British, under all sorts of
pretences, refused to withdraw their troops; on November
19, 1794, a second treaty was concluded at London, rati-
fied October 28, 1795, and proclaimed February 29, 1796,
according to the stipulations of which all posts within the
boundary lines assigned by a former treaty shall be evacu-
ated by the British on or before June 1st, 1796. This,
however, was not carried out until October when two Com-
panies of United States troops, under command of Major
Henry Burbeck, with Captain Abner Prior, and Lieuten-
ants Ebenezer Massay and John Michael, arrived and took
possession of Michilimackinac.
"With new sovereignty over the Island arrived a dis-
tinctly American priest. Father Gabriel Richard was not
American born, but thoroughly imbued with American
ideas and progress. He was a member of the Sulpitian
community which had settled in 1791 in Baltimore with
the intention of opening a seminary. As but few pro-
fessors were required to fill the want, the young priests
were assigned to the missions. Father Richard was se-
lected, to use the language of Judge Brown, to the settle-
ments of Illinois for two purposes. First, that as being of
the same race and language, he might give regular pastoral
care to the French and Canadians and their half-breed
descendants, who had, since the English occupation, fallen
into such sad need of it; and, secondly, that he might de-
ST. ANNE'S CHURCH, MACKINAC ISLAND
LOUIS JOLIET
Companion of Marquette on journey to the Mississippi River
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 383
velop and encourage .in this western country a new growth
of the Catholic Church from roots that should strike more
deeply than the old French missions could into the newly-
born American life and national character. In 1798, after
labours which had become more and more fruitful as the
years went on, he was withdrawn from Kaskaskia and
given as helpmate to Father Levadoux at Detroit. In the
summer of 1799, he undertook a trip to visit the missions
located on the Lakes Huron and Michigan and arrived on
Mackinac Island June 29th."
A few months afterward Father Richard wrote to Bishop
Carroll a long account of his work at Mackinac : 2
"Father Richard's first entry in the Parish Record is the
baptism of Jossette Laframboise. He supplied the cere-
mony in twenty-four cases and conferred baptism abso-
lutely upon seven persons. On the 23rd of September is
his last entry. Having succeeded Father Levadoux, who
returned to France, in the jurisdiction at Detroit, he pain-
fully recalled the sad need of a priest at Mackinac and
sent his Sulpitian companion, Father J. Dilhet, to that
post. The first record made by this priest was on the 9th
of June, 1804. He stayed, however, only a couple of
months and according to all appearances the parish was
left to drift for itself for the incredibly long time of almost
seventeen years, unless Father Dumoulin, who was in the
neighbourhood in 1815, paid it a visit, but no record is
made to that effect. 3
2 Ibid., p. 171.
3 "On the fly-leaf of the second volume of Baptisms is a pasted slip
most likely by Father Richard, on which is recorded the baptism of Paul
Tusignan. It is dated at Michilimackinac, September 9, 1818, and is
signed by Joseph Crevier, Pretre missionaire. The slip bears no further
information. The Priest must have been passing the Island on his way
to some other missions and performed the above act. Major Kelton has
384 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"April 8, 1808, the diocese of Bardstown, Ky., was
established, and its first Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Benedict Jos-
eph Flaget, consecrated November 4, 1810. Kentucky,
Indiana, Michigan, and the Northwest fell under his spir-
itual jurisdiction. The new Bishop confirmed Father
Richard in his pastorate in Detroit. The trouble which
arose in the St. Anne's Parish at Detroit through the opposi-
tion of some trustees to a new church site, was greatly
responsible for the long neglect of Mackinac. At last,
'Father Richard undertook a journey through the vast dis-
trict under his charge, in order to ascertain the exact num-
ber of Catholics among the white and Indian population
of the Northwest, that the bishops might know the different
posts which required a resident priest. Having left De-
troit in July, 1821, he spent three weeks at Mackinac in
missionary duty, after which he embarked upon Lake
Michigan in a large bateau, encamping every night with
his party on shore.' Of this sojourn at Mackinac the first
record is made in the baptismal entry of Mary McGulpin
on August 4th, 1821, and the last on the sixteenth day of
the same month and year. One can better imagine than
describe his activity for, after such an unusually long ab-
sence of a priest, his arrival must have been as refreshing to
the little community as a cool draught to the thirsty. To
become all to all his activity must have been incessant, for
besides the daily instruction of young and old preparing
them for confession and first holy communion, he conferred
baptism, or supplied the same, on forty-seven persons and
blessed three marriages, which had been civilly entered
him in his list as having served the parish from 1816-1818. If this were
the case, there would be a trace of his services on the parish records."
Rezek, note 17, p. 174.
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 385
upon, which fact he duly mentions in the text of the record,
and in which we are informed that these facts were per-
formed by the soussigne cure de Ste. Anne du Detroit.
"The Catholic white population of Michigan at that time
was about six thousand; how much of this was on Mackinac
is hard to guess, as we have no figures to guide us. This
much is sure, that among the five Catholic Churches, in
the State, Mackinac Island was counted as one of them and
notwithstanding the mixture of whites, negroes, halfbreeds
and Indians, as its parishioners, Father Richard took as
much interest and devoted as much time to it as circum-
stances would allow. The vast territory depended upon
him for services with no other assistance but that of the
newly ordained Frangois Vincent Badin. No wonder then
that his visits to the Island were so short and so far apart.
"Still, in July, 1823, we see him back in Mackinac again.
During the intervening two years his experience had been
enriched by a seat in the Congress of the United States and
in the County jail of Detroit. To the first he was elected
by the third territorial district of Michigan, and to the latter
he was accommodated for non-payment of one thousand
one hundred and sixteen dollars to which he had been
condemned on account of excommunicating a parishioner
who obtained a civil divorce and remarried, and who
brought suit against him. This time he remained on the
Island till the end of August, his last record being on the
21st of August. This last entry is remarkable for being
in English; all entries to this date are in French. It reads:
'Frederick Henry Contriman has this day, the twenty-first
(of) August, 1823, asked me to record in this book, the
Name of Nantcy, his daughter by ancestry of the Ottawa
386 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Nation, born along Illinois River, on the eighteenth of
September in the year one thousand eight hundred and
twenty-one.' '
After Father Richard, there came to the Island in Sep-
tember, 1825, Father Frangois Vincent Badin, who contin-
ued his visits until 1827. "Into Father Badin's time, how-
ever, falls an important incident of Mackinac Island Church
history, namely the removal of the church to its present loca-
tion. It cannot be stated with certainty when this was
done. From the deed executed by Magdalaine Lafram-
boise and Joseph Laframboise, to Edward Fenwick, dated
October 26, 1827, it would appear that the church was
already moved at that date, for it says 'with the church
thereon.' And if we inquire into the reasons of removal
we find that it could not have happened earlier than 1820.
In that year, on November 24th, Mrs. Josephine Pierce, a
daughter of Joseph and Magdalaine Laframboise, died and
was interred in their own lot, where the present church
stands. Aside of his mother was also buried Langdon
Pierce, son, and wife of Capt. Benjamin K. Pierce, U. S. A.
To preserve these graves intact, Magdalaine Laframboise,
the only survivor of her family, offered the lot for a church
site. The graves which had gradually filled the old
church yard in course of almost a half -century made that
location less suitable for church purposes. Hence the
proposition was accepted and the church removed. The
description of the lot is given as a 'tract of land situated
in the village of Mackinac containing twenty-two thou-
sand, three hundred and twenty-eight square feet, with
church thereon, bounded in front by a street, on the rear
by another street, on one side by Gilloris' and Brisbois'
and on the other side by small cross-street, the said tract
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 387
belonging to the heirs of Joseph Laframboise by Patent of
United States, dated July 3, 1812.'
"We cannot imagine that Father Richard found time
to superintend the removal of the church, or that it was
accomplished in his absence during his time, because he
would have likely mentioned it in his letters. Hence we
are impelled to accept the removal having taken place be-
tween the years 1825-27.
"The old church was taken down and again set up with-
out any addition thereto. Father Richard states in his
letter that the old church measured twenty -five feet in width
and forty-five feet in length. We reproduce a view of the
church and house, drawn in 1845 by Father Skolla. This
picture was located in the Franciscan monastery at Tersat,
near Fiume, Hungary, where Father Skolla died, and doubt-
less we have before us the church as it stood in Lower
Point, and as it was re-erected in 1781 on the old cemetery
site, with the possible addition of the steeple. The bell,
still in use, has graced this little belfry but when and by
whom it was purchased is even beyond a probable guess.
But we have all reasons to believe that the house, or at
least the first section of it, enjoys the same honourable
recollections as the church, because in Old Mackinaw the
Jesuit-missionary was stationary, and we cannot imagine
that the house was left behind and only the church re-
moved to its new location. This second church, if we
may call it thus, was built close to the western line of the
lot, so that there was no space left towards the lane. The
house was located on the upper end of the lot, its south-
west corner and the northeast corner of the church forming
a right-angle. In the yard, before the house, grew a pro-
fusion of flowers, which the missionaries cultivated for
388
HISTORIC MACKINAC
pastime. Also two plum trees we must mention it was
amusing, when we were gathering information, that all the
old boys had such a vivid recollection of these two trees, and
invariably mentioned them first.
FATHER SKOLLA'S SKETCH OF ST. ANNE'S CHURCH, MACKINAC
ISLAND
(Drawn in 1845)
"In 1827 Pere Jean Dejean, a French secular priest,
became the first stationary missionary at Arbre Croche; to
him was also transferred the spiritual care of the Island.
On the 29th of September, 1827, he baptized there the
first child, and from this time on, for three years, he made
his regular calls. On the 27th of July, 1830, he closed his
pastorate with the baptism of Johanna Duchene, an adult
sauvagesse. In all he had seventy-nine baptisms. One-
third of these were grown up persons ranging in age from
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 389
twenty to sixty years. On the sixth of July, 1830, he
conferred baptism on three Gauthier brothers; Baptiste,
Francois and Joseph, all three over twenty years of age.
The knowledge of the Ottawa and Chippewa languages
served him well and was the means of reaching the most
neglected of the natives and half-breeds. These baptismal
entries unwittingly bear witness to the splendid services
he rendered to religion by keeping the poor and ignorant
from straying from the true faith, and by bringing the
stray ones back to the fold. Father Dejean's sacrifices
and zeal are exemplary. His missionary career was cut
short by private interests which demanded his immediate
personal attention in his native country.
"On the 8th of June, 1829, is the first Latin entry made
by Father J. J. Mullon, of Cincinnati, recording the bap-
tism of Elizabeth Jane Wendell. Father Mullon was
accompanying Bishop Fenwick on his tour through the
northern missions. They arrived on the Island from
Green Bay in the first week of June, 1829, and after visit-
ing Arbre Croche, remained in Mackinac three weeks
giving instruction and preaching a mission during which
nine Indians were baptized, and, on Pentecost, sixty persons
confirmed . . .
"This was the first visit of the diocesan Bishop to the
Island and on June 7, 1829, the Sunday of Pentecost,
was the first confirmation ever given on Mackinac.
"The Dominican, Samuel Mazzuchelli, became the imme-
diate successor of Father Dejean. He arrived in Mackinac
in November, 1830, and was practically the second resi-
dent priest of Mackinac Island parish. His activity ac-
cording to the baptismal register, extended from Novem-
ber 19, 1830, to July 23, 1833. During this period of
390 HISTORIC MAGKINAG
time two hundred and twelve persons were baptized, and
all but four by himself. Fathers De Jean and Baraga,
neighbouring missionaries, each had two christenings.
And we believe that James Dassen (probably Dawson),
baptized on October 23, 1831, was the first child christened
by Baraga within the limits of his future diocese.
"In the summer of 1831 Bishop Fenwick undertook his
second episcopal visit to the northern missions of his ex-
tensive diocese. Father Baraga, who was assigned to the
Arbre Croche mission, joined him at Dayton, Ohio, and
the two travelled together by way of Detroit to Mackinac,
where the Bishop landed, while Father Baraga continued
his journey to the field of his future activity to domicile
himself and to prepare his new charges for the Bishop's
visit."
After a week's visit to the missions at Green Bay and
Arbre Croche, Bishop Fenwick returned to the Island and
was the guest of Colonel Boid, where he says he "was
honoured and made to feel as much at home as if he were
in the house of a Catholic." It was at this time that he
began to think seriously of a Sisters' school for Mackinac
Island, and wrote earnestly about it to Vicar General Rese
at Detroit. But obstacles arose which thwarted the project
for that time. From 1833 onward the church records at
Mackinac show a long succession of worthy men serving at
Mackinac Island. Some important changes in the church
building took place during the service of Father Moise
Mainville, 1872-3.
"He tore down the old church and commenced the erec-
tion of the present one in its place. Times were not very
good and he was only partly successful. Besides, his
design was somewhat out of the ordinary for those days,
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 391
therefore the work proceeded slowly. Belonging to the
Viateur Fathers, he was recalled by his superiors before
the end of the year. At the time of his departure the
church was sided and shingled, though no windows were
placed yet. During the latter part of October (1873)
Father Jacker came as pastor. Mass was said in the old
court house west of the Astor House. Divining that the
completion of the church would be a long time off, he
sought more suitable quarters for his congregation. The
Presbyterian 'Old Mission Church' came as a natural
suggestion. For the stipulation of re-shingling the roof,
he obtained permission from Mr. E. A. Franks, the owner,
to use it as long as he needed it. Here then the congrega-
tion worshipped for over two years. In the meanwhile no
efforts were spared to finish their own church. While
Father Jacker looked after the spiritual wants of his
charges St. Ignace included he gave Father Dwyer, who
sojourned with him, the care for the completion of the
church. Due to his exertion the building was plastered at
last in 1875. Father Jacker planned moving to St. Ignace,
but this he did not do until the spring of 1876, and soon
after that Father Dwyer commenced holding services in
the new church. One year more the two priests jointly
exercised the pastorate over the Island after which time
Father Dwyer became actual pastor. He remained until
May 21, 1878, when he was appointed to a similar posi-
tion at Rockland.
"From the time the old church was torn down, and with
it the old rectory, the pastors of St. Anne's lived in rented
homes. When Rev. John Brown succeeded, in June, 1878,
Father Dwyer, although many things were needed around
the church, and not an inconsiderable debt was still over-
392 HISTORIC MACKINAG
hanging it, the first thing thought of was the house. Father
Brown collected the money but did not build it. Hoping
that a warmer clime would benefit his failing health, he
went to Italy in the fall. His successor, Rev. John C.
Kenny, finished the rectory and remained with the con-
gregation from November 16, 1879, to May 15, 1881."
The next improvements of importance were begun in
1891, under the care of the new pastor, Father A. J. Rezek:
"Despite his youth, and inexperience counting against his
good will, he commenced to improve the standing of the
parish as much as was under the circumstances possible.
His appeal for new sets of vestments and a complement of
church linens was most generously met. This gave him
courage to broach the subject of repairing the church,
which was in a lamentable condition. In the days when
it was built a keg of nails cost anywhere from five to ten
dollars, hence they were used most sparingly and unfortu-
nately too much so for the stability of the building which
was giving way under the blasts of the winter storms like
a reed shaken by the wind. No plaster could stay on the
walls; great pieces which had fallen off made the church
unsightly. The trustees, Benoni Lachance, Michael Mc-
Nally and Frank Chambers, heartily supported the pas-
tor's undertaking. With the opening of navigation, which
in 1891, was about the middle of April, the contract was
given to Mr. Edward Couchois. The entire church was
stripped inside to the bare studdings, and braced and re-
sheeted diagonally. The sanctuary partition was placed
and the ceiling vaulted in a semi-circle. All sides were
lathed and plastered anew. The gallery was finished and
turned to its use. Thus the church obtained a solidity and
firmness against any kind of storm, as also a church-like
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 393
appearance. The summer visitors were delighted with the
much-needed improvements and gave their offerings freely.
The entire cost ran up to two thousand dollars. Eight
hundred dollars were realized from the sale of the old
cemetery, the first land owned by the congregation under
U. S. patent; Messrs. John and Michael Cudahy gave
each three hundred dollars while the balance came in
smaller contributions from the congregation and the visi-
tors. In September (2nd), when Father Rezek was called
away there was no indebtedness on the parish.
"Rev. Adam J. Doser immediately succeeded Father
Rezek and anxious to carry on the good work begun, placed
a much-needed heating apparatus in the church. Unfortu-
nately ill health compelled him to relinquish his post,
February 10th. The parish then remained without a resi-
dent priest until August (1892) when Rev. James Miller
received the appointment to the 'states' prison' as it was
formerly jocosely called among the priests of the diocese on
account of its poverty and desolation. Father Miller at
once summarized the work before him and put his heart
and soul into it, making not only the church but the con-
gregation, as well, what they are today. His taste for
neatness reflects so well in the plain but beautiful fresco
decorations and the three splendid altars, in white and
gold, furnished by the renowned altar builder E. Hackner
of La Crosse, Wisconsin. The external appearance was
not neglected. The spire was remodelled to its present
shape, the semi-circular steps added in the front of the
church, and the whole painted, so that it now rivals in ap-
pearance any church of the diocese. The work when done
was unincumbered by indebtedness. Father Miller en-
joyed the fruit of his labours almost eight years. In the
394 HISTORIC MACKINAG
fall, November 5th, 1899, to the sincere regret of his
parishioners, he was removed to another field of activity."
Father Martin C. Sommers is the present pastor, having
served since 1905. He is a faithful priest and a public
spirited citizen much beloved by the people of all denomi-
nations. Among other improvements undertaken by Father
Sommers was the remodelling of the residence which has
been in use since 1879.
Turning now to the work of another denomination, the
first Protestant missionary to visit Mackinac Island was the
Rev. David Bacon, a young man prepared at Yale, who
was sent out to the West by the Connecticut Missionary
Society in 1800. The following summary of his work is
given by Mr. Charles I. Walker, a former President of the
Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society: 4
"The Connecticut Missionary Society is, I believe, the
oldest Missionary Society in America. It was organized
in June, 1795, the General Association of Connecticut, at
its annual meeting that year, having organized itself into a
society of that name. Its object was 'to Christianize the
heathen in North America, and to support and promote
Christian knowledge in the new settlements within the
United States.' For some years its efforts were principally
directed to sending missionaries 'to the new settlements
in Vermont, New York and Pennsylvania,' and subsequently
'New Connecticut' or the Western Reserve of Ohio, be-
came an important field of its operations. The trustees,
in June, 1800, determined 'that a discreet man, animated
by the love of God and souls, of a good common educa-
tion, be sought for, to travel among the Indian tribes south
and west of Lake Erie, to explore their situation and
* Strickland, Old Mackinaw, pp. 14S-153.
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 395
learn their feelings with respect to Christianity, and so far
as he has opportunity to teach them its doctrines and duties.'
A very sensible letter of 'Instructions' was adopted and a
long message 'to the Indian tribes bordering on Lake Erie'
prepared, showing very little knowledge of Indian mind
and character. Mr. David Bacon presented himself as a
candidate for this somewhat unpromising field of labour.
His son says he was one of those men who are called vision-
ary and enthusiasts by men of more prosaic and plodding
temperaments. He had not a liberal education, but was
a man of eminent intellectual powers and of intensely
thoughtful habits, and beside a deep religious experience,
he had endeavoured diligently to fit himself for a mis-
sionary life, the self-denying labours of which he ardently
coveted. On examination Mr. Bacon was accepted.
"On the 8th of August, 1800, Mr. Bacon left Hartford
on foot with his pack upon his back, and on the 4th of Sep-
tember he was at Buffalo, having walked most of the dis-
tance. On the 8th he left on a vessel for this city, which he
reached after a quick and pleasant voyage on the llth.
He was made welcome at the house of the commandant,
Major Hunt, where, I believe, his first religious services
were held. Gen. Uriah Tracy, of Litchfield, Conn., Gen-
eral Agent of the United States for the Western Indians,
was then here, and, together with the local Indian Agent,
Jonathan Schieffelin, took an active interest in the mission
of Mr. Bacon. John Askin, Esq., the same liberal-minded
merchant, who so essentially befriended the Moravians
twenty years before, and Benjamin Huntington, a merchant
here, formerly of Norwich, Conn., rendered him valuable
information and assistance. Learning from these sources
that the Delawares at Sandusky were about to remove,
396 HISTORIC MACKINAG
that the Wyandottes were mostly Catholics, and that there
were no other Indians 'south and west of Lake Erie,' among
whom there was an inviting field of labour, his attention was
turned to the north, and, with the advice of these judicious
friends, on the 13th of September, he took passage with
General Tracy in a government vessel bound for Mackinac,
and went to Harson's Island, at the head of Lake St. Clair,
near which there was quite an Indian settlement. Al-
though only forty miles distant, he did not reach there until
the 17th, being four days upon the voyage. Jacob Har-
son, or Harsing, as it was originally spelled, the pro-
prietor of the island, was an Albany Dutchman, who, in
1766, on appointment of Sir Wm. Johnson, came to Niagara
as Indian blacksmith and gunsmith, and his original com-
mission or letter of appointment, written by Sir William,
is now before me. On the breaking out of the Revolution,
finding Mr. Harson friendly to the Americans, the British
stripped him of his property and sent him, sorely against
his will, to this frontier. He established himself upon the
island as early as 1786, where his descendants now reside,
acquired great influence with the Indians, and lived in a
very comfortable manner. He received Mr. Bacon in this
beautiful retreat, with great kindness and hospitality, and
he 'thanks the Lord that he is provided with a comfortable
house, a convenient study, and as good a bed and as good
board as I should have had if I had remained in Connec-
ticut. I know of no place in the State of New York so
healthy as this, I believe the water and the air as pure here
as in any part of New England, and I have never seen
before where venison and wild geese and ducks were so
plenty, or where there was such a rich variety of fresh
water fish.' There were many Indians in the vicinity. Mr.
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 397
Harson encouraged the establishment of a mission, and
Mr. Bacon deemed it a most favorable opening. Bernar-
dus Harson, a son of Jacob, was engaged as interpreter.
He returned to Detroit on the same vessel with General
Tracy, Sept. 30th, to attend an Indian Council which was
held here on the 7th of October, when he was formally in-
troduced to the Indians by General Tracy, and was most
favorably received. He returned to the Island and re-
mained until the Indians departed for their winter hunting
grounds, when he left for Connecticut, where he arrived
about the middle of December. He was soon ordained to
the ministry, and I believe married, for he returned with
a young wife of whom nothing is heard previously. . . .
"While toilfully but hopefully preparing for his antici-
pated work, getting acquainted with Indians, their life and
character, and as yet uncertain at what precise point to
commence his mission, Mr. Denhey, a Moravian mission-
ary, desired to occupy the field upon the St. Clair River,
which Mr. Bacon in some measure occupied the year before,
and to this Mr. Bacon assented. His attention had been
called to Mackinac and L'Arbre Croche, but he resolved to
visit the Indians upon the Maumee, and ascertain by per-
sonal interviews and examinations what encouragement
there was for a mission in that vicinity.
"On the following day Mr. Bacon started for Detroit,
and remained here until June 2d, when, with his family,
he removed to Missilimackinac, then the great centre of
Indian population in our Territory. Here he remained
until August, 1804, perfecting himself in the language,
teaching, preaching, and pursuing the other labours inci-
dent to his mission. He very clearly saw that a successful
Indian mission involved no inconsiderable expenditure in
398 HISTORIC MACKINAC
establishing schools and in educating the Indians in agri-
culture and the ruder arts of civilization. These expendi-
tures were too large for the means of the Missionary So-
ciety, and in January, 1804, they directed the mission to be
abandoned, and that Mr. Bacon should move to the Western
Reserve. The intelligence of this reached Mr. Bacon in
July, and in August he removed, and became the first
founder of the town of Tallmadge, Ohio. Thus ended this
first Protestant effort to convert the Indians of Michigan
to the faith of the cross. It was while Mr. Bacon was
residing here [Detroit] that Rev. Dr. Bacon was born. We
may therefore with pride, claim him as a native of our
beautiful city."
From that time until 1820, when Mackinac was visited
by the Rev. Jedidiah Morse, father of the inventor of the
electric telegraph, no further movement was made to con-
tinue this work on Mackinac Island. 4a It was about that
period when the Old Northwest was being opened up to
settlement from the Eastern States under the impulse of
the new land sales begun by the national government at
Detroit in 1818, and the prospect of the near completion
of the Erie Canal. A new interest was being aroused
throughout the Eastern States, and it was about this time
that the new immigrants to Michigan Territory organized
the First Protestant Society at Detroit. The story of the
founding and progress of the Mackinac mission has been
well told by the Rev. Meade C. Williams, D.D., in a revised
edition of the historical address delivered on the Island in
1895, in commemoration of the establishment of the Union
Chapel there. 5 We can scarcely do better than to follow
this authoritative paper:
4a See Morse, A Report to the Secretary of War . . . on Indian Affairs.
5 For the original address, see Mich. Pion. and Hist Colls., XXVIII, 187-
^H
REV. MEADE CREIGHTON WILLIAMS, D.D.
Author of Early Mackinac. Eminent theologian and scholar
MAJOR DWIGHT H. KELTON
Author of Annals of Fort Mackinac
A conscientious student of Mackinac history
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 399
"The Protestant Mission to the Indians was established
on Mackinac Island in 1823, by the United Foreign Mis-
sionary Society. 6 Rev. Wm. M. Ferry was appointed Sup-
erintendent, and the work, during almost the entire period
of its history, was associated with his name.
"A school was opened in November of that year begin-
ning with twelve pupils. By the following spring there
were over thirty, and in the second year over seventy were
enrolled.
"For two years the work was conducted in temporary
quarters. In 1825 a large Mission House was built at the
east end of the Island the tract of land, some twelve acres,
being given by the United States Government. The build-
ing still stands, and since 1845 it has served as a summer
hotel and bears today its original name The Mission
House. The house was designed for the work of the
school, and as a home for the Indian pupils and the
teachers.
"The work was maintained by the United Foreign Mis-
sion Society, for the first three years. In 1826 that society
merged with the American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions, and henceforth, until it ceased, the Mack-
inac Mission was the work of that Board, with headquarters
in Boston.
"The Mission was not designed for the Indians of the
immediate vicinity alone, nor for those of any one tribe.
The children came from every band bordering on the upper
lakes, and some from the Hudson's Bay Territory, the
banks of the Mississippi, the Red River of the North, and
196. The text quoted is the 2nd edition (St. Louis, Missouri, 1906). The
notes given are Rev. Williams'.
6 In those days Indian missions, although on our own soil, were classi-
fied as foreign.
400 HISTORIC MACKINAC
other remote parts. The Indians, in large numbers, gath-
ered every summer on the Island to receive their annuities
from the government, and for purposes of trade and excite-
ment. Many would bring their children and leave them at
the school. From the first the school, as far as the pupils
were concerned, was on the family basis.
"Besides class-room instruction the school had a practi-
cal system of manual training. There were on the prem-
ises the shops of blacksmith, carpenter, tailor and shoe-
maker, and at the west end of the Island a farm, known as
the Mission Farm. 7 There were also one or two fields on
Bois Blanc Island (opposite) which they cultivated. The
older boys were thus trained in handicraft and taught to till
the soil, while the girls were taught sewing and house-
work.
"Generally there was a full force of teachers. They
came to their self-denying work in the true missionary and
heroic spirit. They taught all week until Saturday noon,
and held four terms per year of twelve weeks each. They
were allured by no worldly ambitions in coming to this
remote point in the wilderness. Their remuneration in
salary, we may well believe, was very meagre. Concern-
ing one of the teachers, it was related in pleasantry, that
for compensation he had the privilege of selecting from the
charity boxes of clothing sent to the Mission. He had
as many potatoes as he and the Indian boys could raise,
and as many delicious white fish as they could catch.
While, of course, this was not intended as an exact show-
ing of the ledger account, we can feel assured their work
7 This was a farm of 75 acres. It lay about a mile and a half from
the Mission House. It yielded good crops of potatoes, beans, peas, oats and
grass all of which contributed to the support of the school.
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 401
offered no great attraction from a money point of view.
The following is a list of the teachers (apart from Mr.
and Mrs. Ferry) who at different times, and for longer or
shorter periods, were connected with the work: Elizabeth
McFarland, Eunice 0. Osmer, Martin Heydenburk, Delia
Cook, John S. Hudson, Mrs. Hudson, Jedidiah D. Stevens,
Mrs. Stevens, Sabrina Stevens, Hannah Goodale, Elizabeth
Taylor, Matilda Hotchkiss, Frederick Ayer, John Newland,
Mrs. Newland, Elisha Loomis, Mrs. Loomis, Abel D. New-
ton, Persis Skinner, Chauncey Hall, John L. Seymour,
Jane B. Leavitt, Lucius Geary, Mason Hearsey, W. R.
Campbell, Mrs. Campbell.
"For several years the enrolment of pupils reached as
high as 150 per year, over one hundred of whom were
boarding scholars, being clothed, fed and lodged by the
Mission family, while at the same time their progress in the
class room was very encouraging. The following is found
in an old letter of that period written at the School: 'It
is the common sentiment of visitors (of whom we have
many during the summer, both friends and enemies to the
missionary cause) that the progress of our children far
exceeds anything they have met with elsewhere. ... In a
number of instances we have had children, from entire
ignorance of the letters, within eight months learn to
read quite intelligbly in the Testament, and to write a fair
hand. We have now a large number of boys and girls,
who, besides spelling, reading and writing, are good schol-
ars in common arithmetic and geography. And for the last
quarter a class of girls have made considerable progress
in grammar.'
"The Mission became well known. From time to time
402 HISTORIC MACKINAG
strangers visiting the school would write their impressions.
Col. Thomas L. McKenney, of Washington, a United States
Commissioner of Indian affairs, was on the Island in 1826,
and his Sketches of a Tour to the Lakes, published the fol-
lowing year, describes his visit to the Mission House. He
says: 'One hundred and seven little foresters eat and are
happy. 8 In personal cleanliness and neatness, in behav-
iour, in attainments in various branches, no children, white
or red, excel them.' He speaks of Mr. Ferry's skill, indus-
try and devotion to the work, in terms of unqualified appro-
bation.
"Miss Chappelle, afterward Mrs. Jeremiah Porter, of
Chicago, dwelt two years at Mackinac, and in diary notes,
as given in her biography, tells of visiting the Mission
House and hearing the young Indian girls at their evening
lesson repeat together the 23rd Psalm and the 55th chapter
of Isaiah, and of hearing a hymn sung by 'sixteen sweet
Indian voices which was peculiarly touching.'
"Mrs. White, the mother of Mrs. Ferry, journeying from
her home in Ashfield, Mass., to visit her daughter, in
1827, writes: 'Sabbath morning Saw for the first time
all the family assembled for their meals. Oh, what a
sight! One hundred and twelve of the poor, ignorant,
despised natives gathered from the wilderness, and placed
where the wants of their perishing bodies are amply sup-
plied, and the wants of their never-dying souls are made
the object of the greatest care and unwearied love of the
missionaries.'
"Mrs. John Kinzie, in her book, Wau-Bun, describing
8 Mr. Ferry in one of his personal letters says: "It is full as good as
half a meal to see so many boys and girls eat as hearty as a man who has
been mowing."
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 403
her visit to the Island in 1830, says of the Mission:
'Through the zeal and good management of Mr. and Mrs.
Ferry, and the fostering encouragement of the congrega-
tion, the school was in great repute.'
"In 1834 Bishop Kemper, of the Episcopal Church, in a
trip to the Northwest, stopped off at Mackinac and wrote
concerning the Island and its attractions. Among other
places of interest he visited the Mission House and exam-
ined the whole establishment and gave pleasing testimony
to its good management and its beneficial influence.
"During the brief history of the school no less than five
hundred youths of full or part Indian blood and of Indian
habits, acquired the rudiments of education, and were
taught the pursuits and methods of civilized life. They
were at all times under religious influence, and were in-
structed in the truths of the Gospel, and many were brought
into a true Christian experience. Mr. Henry R. School-
craft, an eminent scientist and explorer of that time, and
who lived for eight years on the Island, says many of the
boys 'became teachers and interpreters and traders' clerks
over a wide space of wilderness where they disseminated
Gospel principles. Many of the girls turned out to be
ladies of finished education and manners, and married
officers of the army or citizens.'
"A church developed in connection with the school. Its
founding, indeed, preceded that of the school, it having
been organized by Mr. Ferry, with eight members, in
February, 1823, during his visit of inspection and survey
on the Island. These eight charter members were: Miles
Standish, Anna Standish, Mrs. Christine Carlson, John
Campbell, Ambrose Davenport, Isaac Blanchard and Wil-
liam Sylvester. Mr. Ferry spent ten months in this pre-
406 HISTORIC MACKINAC
sionary ground and labouring for the heathen Indian,
the church was accustomed regularly to observe the
'monthly concert of prayer' for the conversion of the
world.
"This church was the first Protestant organization north
of Detroit, and the building is one of the oldest Protestant
church buildings in the whole Northwest. And there is this
to be remarked that while other ancient church structures,
which may be still standing, generally show change and
enlargement or remodelling, modern pews and other fit-
tings, decorated walls, etc., this house, in its entire struc-
tural form, from end to end and from the foundation to its
tin-topped belfry, 12 in the plaster of its walls and ceiling,
in its flooring, in its solid timbers and its weatherworn ex-
terior, and in its pulpit desk, stands without any change
the same today as when first built in 1830.
"In those early days the congregations were large and
very interesting. There were the teachers and pupils of
the Mission House, officers and clerks and other employes
of the Fur Company, traders and native Indians. The
military post, too, used to be represented by both officers
and men. 13
"The whole number of members enrolled during the
history of the church was about 80. As a pioneer church
in the remote wilderness it was remarkable in having on its
roll, and in the spiritual office of Ruling Elder, two men of
such standing and public name as Robert Stuart and Henry
12 This is tin sheathing, enduring from the beginning without repair and
without paint, and today glistening in the sun like burnished silver is
remarkable in its quality.
13 Miss Chappelle in her Mackinac Diary (1830-32) makes the follow-
ing entry on a Sunday evening after a communion service in the church:
"It is delightful to see the officers of the army with their soldiers enlisting
together in the service of the Prince of Peace."
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 407
R. Schoolcraft. Mr. Stuart came to this country from
Scotland when a young man, and had figured in great
enterprises and adventures. He was conspicuous in the
expedition to the Pacific Coast that founded Astoria, in
the interest of the Astor fur business; and with a party
under his leadership had travelled back across the conti-
nent. This was among the earliest of the overland trips
ever made (about 1812) subsequent to the Lewis and Clark
expedition, and was attended with great hardship and peril.
The toilsome march, and Mr. Stuart's part in it as the
leader, is graphically described in Washington Irving's
Astoria. In 1817 he came to Mackinac as resident part-
ner and manager for the Fur Company, and lived there
about seventeen years. In the above-mentioned religious
awakening, Mr. Stuart was converted, and from being a
gay and careless worldling became a devoted Christian, and
henceforth a very earnest and efficient factor in all Chris-
tian work, not only during his remaining stay on the Island
but during his long residence, subsequently, in Detroit.
"Mr. Schoolcraft was the United States Superintendent
of Indian Affairs in the Northwest and lived on the Island
from 1833 to 1841. He was a well-known authority in all
that pertains to the language and customs and race fea-
tures of the Indians. He had rank as a scientist, explorer
and writer, being the author of some thirty volumes. He
stood in high repute, while living on the Island as well as
subsequently, in the learned circles both of this country
and in Europe. 14
14 A gentleman from the East sojourning at the Mission, writing to Dr.
Green, the Secretary of the American Board, says: "I find some people
here much more polished than I had thought possible. Most of the persons
who visit us from the village and garrison are as highly cultivated as the
best society in New England villages."
408 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"In 1837 the school, which had been gradually declining
for a few years, was given up. Changes had taken place
which rendered the Island a less advantageous point for the
work than it had been. The Indians of this part of the
country were being deported to reservations in the far
West, and those from a distance were not coming to the
Island as formerly, and it became difficult to secure pupils.
At the same time the Fur Company was removing its busi-
ness. 15 Mr. Ferry resigned his work, both of the school
and the church, in the latter part of 1834, settling in that
part of Michigan which became Grand Haven, himself be-
ing the founder of that city, and continuing to reside there
until his death in 1867. 16
"The school closed, the teachers and pupils removed,
many members being lost in the change of the Fur Com-
pany's business, and the trade and emporium character of
the village ceasing, the church organization did not long
15 Although probably without any bearing on the suitability of the place
as the seat of a mission for Indian children, it may be mentioned here as
indicating another change then beginning to show itself and which has
since gradually developed on the Island, namely, its feature as a summer
resort for tourists and visitors. Mr. Lucius Geary, in charge of the school
after Mr. Ferry retired, in a report to the Board at Boston in 1835, thus
wrote: "There is now a probability of the Island becoming a place of
fashionable resort. General Cass (of Detroit) visited us this summer, and
has purchased a lot of sand and given directions to have buildings erected
sufficient for the summer residence of four families. Several others are
contemplating the same."
16 He straightway established public worship in the wilderness spot and
organized a church a half-blood Indian convert of the Mackinac church,
who removed with him, being chosen the first Elder and serving in that
office nearly thirty years, until his death. In the first two years, before a
sanctuary was built, Mr. Ferry's own dwelling served the purpose. He him-
self supplied the pulpit for about eighteen years, without a salary, until the
people were able to provide a stated pastor. He became possessed of large
means, and was always most liberal in aiding the work of the Gospel and
all the various lines of religious benevolence; and his bequests by will to
missions, to the cause of Christian education, to Bible Society work, etc.,
were munificent. "Ferry Hall," a part of the equipment of Lake Forest
University, near Chicago, is one of his monuments.
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 409
survive. Mr. Geary already referred to as Mr. Ferry's
successor in the management of the school, thus reported
to the Board in 1836: 'The English population have more
than half left the Island. Only five families remain, ex-
clusive of those of the garrison and the Mission, and most
of them will probably leave in the course of a year or two.'
And so, under circumstances such as these, the church grad-
ually dissolved and melted away. The whole Mission
property, including the church building, passed into private
hands and became secular property, about 1838, and so
remained until 1894, and was entirely without any eccle-
siastical relation or supervision. For nearly sixty years it
served a variety of purposes, secular and religious, in the
accommodating spirit of its owners. It answered as a
hall for festivals, for political speeches, and once a theatri-
cal troupe, 'summering' on the Island, secured the old
sanctuary for their performances, with stage and scenic
effects. 17 The village school was once held in the base-
ment. The chaplain of the Fort, in the earlier days, at one
time held Sunday afternoon services there. During the
Civil War for awhile, when some Southern prisoners were
confined at the Fort, a detachment of troops was on guard,
and their chaplain, a Rev. Mr. Knox, held preaching serv-
ices in the church. In the year 1874 the Catholics of the
Island occupied it while their present new building was in
course of erection. Occasionally in the summer seasons it
would be used for public worship by the visitors. But
17 In Vol. Ill of the Michigan Historical Collections I find some remin-
iscences of the Mackinac Mission written by Martin Heydenburk, already
mentioned as one of the early teachers in the school. He wrote the sketch
in 1880, when an old man, and says: "In 1878 I visited Mackinac and
found the church as I had left it forty-seven years before, except that the
pulpit had given place to a rough stage for theatrical entertainments."
(The pulpit, it is likely, had been temporarily consigned to the basement.)
410 HISTORIC MACKINAC
while not always possible to retain for the building an
ecclesiastical character, yet in all those years it was known
by no other name than the Old Mission Church, and doubt-
less will continue in the future thus to be known and to be
familiarly and tenderly spoken of.
"It is interesting to find mention made of the old church,
in letters and in books written by Mackinac visitors of long
ago. One thus referred to it: 'An elegant little church
was built which not only adds to the usefulness of the Mis-
sion, but to the beauty of the prospect as you sail up
the harbour.'
"Miss Hannah White, in 1830, coming from Massachu-
setts for a year's visit to her sister, Mrs. Ferry, describes
her arrival. It was a Sabbath morning when they came in
view of the Island. The sun was shining clear. They had
worship on deck, Mr. Robert Stuart leading the company
in prayer. The sailing vessel in which they were trav-
elling, she says, had been built by the inhabitants of the
Island, and the Mission owned a share in it. 18 'The first
sound that saluted our ears from the shore was the bell 19
from the new church, and as we approached all was still
and silent as a Sabbath morn. 9
"Dr. Gilman, of New York, in his Life on the Lakes,
described Mackinac as seen in 1835, and mentions his at-
tending church on a Sabbath morning when Mr. School-
18 This probably is the craft concerning which I have found the follow-
ing note: "Mr. Stuart generously helps the Mission by a vessel. The
sailing master is obligated not to load or unload on the Sabbath and by
his influence, persuasion and authority, as far as possible, prevent all gam-
bling and games of chance, or whatever is a breach of moral rectitude."
19 This old bell still remains on the Island and retains all its original
purity of tone. It was purchased a short time before the building came
into its present ownership, and was removed from the belfry to the roof
of the wharf house, and now serves in time of fogs, to guide the vessels
as they slowly creep into the slips.
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 411
craft conducted the services and read from some book a
very good sermon. He also describes the mixed character
of the congregation present, officers and privates of the
garrison in their uniforms, residents of the village, and
Indians here and there in the pews attired in blankets, and
others of their race standing about the doors in their or-
dinary savage dresses.
"Miss Harriet Martineau, in her Society in America,
notes enthusiastically her stop at Mackinac in the summer
of 1836, and speaks of the 'quadrangle of Missionary
buildings and the white Mission church.' 20
"Mrs. Jameson, the well known English authoress, made
an extended visit to the Island in 1837, and describes it in
one of her books. 21 She mentions 'the little Missionary
church, its light spire and belfry defined against the sky.'
She also attended service in it on a Sunday when Bishop
McCloskey, of Detroit, officiated.
"In an old book entitled Lights and Shades of Missionary
Life, by Rev. John Pitezel, a well-known Methodist minis-
ter, I find a very pleasing reference. The writer of the
book spent a Sunday at Mackinac in the summer of 1843,
at a time when hundreds of Indians were encamped on the
beach exhibiting 'the direst effects of drunkenness,' he
says, and 'pandemonium' was raging in the village. He
speaks of two other ministers of the Gospel besides himself,
who were visitors on the Island that day, the three repre-
20 The exterior of the building in the early days, when it was used as a
sanctuary, was kept neatly whitewashed. But after it passed from the con-
trol and use of a church corporation this practice ceased, and the house
took on that weather-worn appearance which it wears today, and we think
it more in keeping with its venerable history to let it so remain. This we
are more willing to do, inasmuch as the frame sheathing shows no mark of
decay.
21 Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada.
412 HISTORIC MACKINAC
senting different denominations. They held three preach-
ing services during the day in the old church one preach-
ing in the morning, another in the afternoon, and the third
at night. 'It was refreshing,' he writes, 'for ministers and
members of different persuasions, but all belonging, as we
trust, to the true Church, to blend our hearts and our devo-
tions together.' That scene of more than sixty years ago
seems like a forecast of the use and purpose to which the
venerable structure is now devoted, illustrating in our Sum-
mer Sunday gatherings there that same sentiment, that
while of different denominations we, as one body in Christ,
'blend our hearts and our devotions together.'
"The old church building, however, kept falling into
dilapidation dilapidation, I say, but not at all into decay,
so excellent was the material used in those early days and
so thorough the construction.
"In the latter part of the 80's when the number of visi-
tors was so increasing that the one small Protestant sanctu-
ary of the Island could not furnish the accommodation
needed, some of the visitors began the system of a Sunday
service conducted by clergymen of different church bodies
who might be sojourning there. Part of the time we oc-
cupied a hall in the village and for two seasons the Casino
of the Grand Hotel was used. Then it was proposed that
we purchase this old property and refit it; that while it
would be most suitable for our religious services, and thus
link it with its old associations again, it would at the same
time preserve, in a seemly manner, a very interesting relic
of the Island. This was accordingly done in 1894 a few
of the residents joining those of us who were summer
visitors in making the purchase. During that autumn
and the following spring the repairing was made, and on
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 413
Sunday, the 5th of July, 1895, the house was opened for
divine worship. In refitting the old sanctuary the object
was to restore it to its original condition and appearance,
after the church style of nearly a century ago. This
explains the altitude and general unmodern style of the
pulpit, the perhaps uncomfortable pews and their little
doors, the diminutive panes of glass in the windows, the
quaint old gallery and the seating of the singers there.
"We are now, at this writing, in the twelfth season of its
summer use. It is occupied for six or eight Sabbath days,
as the case may be, during the visitors' season. It has
no church organization whatever, nor any denominational
name or character. In order to hold the property in legal
form the purchasers appointed a board of trustees with
power to elect their own successors. This is purely a
secular or civil body. It numbers seven. Two are to be
residents of Mackinac, and five are to be cottagers who are
more or less regular in summer sojourn on the Island. It
is the duty of the trustees to keep the building in repair and
in seemly condition, and to see to the supply of the pulpit
by the visiting clergymen of different denominations as
they may be found in their sojourn on the Island. 22
"As already said, there is no ecclesiastical or church
organization whatever in connection with the property, nor
any denominational colour or control. There is no pastor
and no membership, nor any officering, save the body of
trustees in whom the property vests. The name church
attaches only because it was originally an ecclesiastical
22 The present members of the Board of Trustees are as follows : COT-
TAGERS, Rev. Meade C. Williams, D.D., St. Louis, Mo., Chairman of the
Board; E. D. Waldron, Elgin, 111.; Walter Brooks, Detroit, Mich.; Thomas
Patterson, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Frank F. Dinsmore, Cincinnati, 0. ISLANDERS:
John D. Davis, George T. Arnold.
414 HISTORIC MACKINAC
edifice, and that designation has always clung to it. The
motive in the movement has been to preserve the old sanctu-
ary as an historic relic and memorial of early Christian
work, and to hold it as a summer chapel for religious ser-
vices when visiting strangers crowd the Island. As the
preachers have been of different churches, so, likewise, have
the worshippers come from all the different church homes,
as well as from different quarters of the country."
One of the first teachers at the Ferry mission, to whom
Rev. Williams refers in a note, was Mr. Martin Heyden-
burk, who during his year of teaching helped to build the
Old Mission House and the Old Mission Church. In a let-
ter written to Prof. J. C. Holmes in 1880 he gives interest-
ing reminiscences of this work. 23
"In the year 1821," he says, "I was sent to Mackinac as
a teacher in the mission school at that place. The school
was kept at first in the court house; the next season we con-
tracted with Detroit parties to erect the building that is now
known as the 'Old Mission House,' which is now precisely
as it was originally, except the centre which at first was but
one and a half stories high, and is now two stories. The
contractors put up the frame and inclosed it, but for some
cause they went away and left it unfinished. I was re-
lieved from school duties to go to work on the unfinished
building and put it into a condition to be occupied. I fin-
ished the upper part of the east wing with a movable parti-
tion so as to be occupied on week days for the school, and
on the Sabbath as a chapel. The rest of the house was fin-
ished as circumstances permitted and necessity required.
"Thomas White Ferry was born in the southwest corner
of the west wing of that house in the spring of 1826. This
23 Mich. Pion. and Hist. Colls., Ill, 157-158.
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 415
was the first birth in the new Mission House. Much of the
wood-work of the house was finished by my own hands,
working mornings and evenings and other odd hours, when
not teaching.
"In the winter of 1830 there was an extensive revival of
religion, and the people wanted to build a tabernacle, but
no one was found competent to make out and prepare a bill
of timber. I was again relieved from my school and sent
across the straits, nine miles south, to the main land. It
was rather rough to leave a warm school-room and bed to
go out and lie on the snow at night with the thermometer at
zero; but in three weeks' time we had all the timber hewed,
fifty pieces flattened to be made into scantling and joist
by the whip-saw, and three hundred saw-logs hauled out of
the woods to the shore ready to be moved home or to the
saw mill when the ice should prove favourable. A few
weeks afterward a heavy rain flooded the snow upon the ice
and then froze. Michael Dousman had a saw-mill about
two miles from our logs and we soon had them there; but
the timber and flatted logs still remained. On the eleventh
day of April, with the thermometer at zero, and the wind
blowing strong from the east, all the horses and French
trains on the Island started at daylight for the timber; we
crossed safely, loaded up and started for home; when about
half way across the straits we were met by messengers and
guides who told us that the ice which was two feet thick
had become porous and we could not cross the channel.
We left our loads on Round Island, then put ropes on the
necks of the horses and started across the treacherous chan-
nel. If a horse fell through we would pull on the rope and
choke him till he would float and then we would get him
out and go on. We all got home safe.
416 HISTORIC MACKINAG
"The next season we employed men to build the church;
but when the frame was up and partly enclosed, and the last
vessel of the season was about to sail for Detroit, the men
made some exorbitant demands, supposing we must comply
or leave the building in that condition through the winter.
I was consulted and I said let them go. On the 28th of
October, 1831, I again left the schoolroom, this time for
the top of the steeple, and before winter we had the build-
ing inclosed, and on the 4th of March, 1832, it was com-
pleted and dedicated. The school was then moved to the
basement of the church. In 1878 I visited Mackinac and
found the church as I had left it forty-seven years before,
except the pulpit had given place to a less rough stage for
theatrical entertainments."
Mr. Thomas L. McKenney made a visit to the Island in
1826. Particularly pleasing are his comments upon the
devoted work of Mrs. Stuart, who with her husband, Robert
Stuart of the American Fur Company, were among Mr.
Ferry's chief supporters. He says, under date of Aug.
29: 24 "In the afternoon I visited, in company with Mrs.
Stuart, and her amiable visitor, Miss , the missionary
station, and examined the buildings and the children. The
buildings occupy the eastern slope of the Island, and front
south-east, looking out upon the lake; and are admirably
adapted for the object for which they were built. They
are composed of a centre and two wings; the centre is oc-
cupied chiefly as an eating apartment, and the offices con-
nected therewith, and is eighty-four feet by twenty-one.
The wings are thirty-two by forty-four. The western wing
accommodates the family. In this wing are eight rooms
four below and four above. A communication is had be-
24 Sketches of a Tour to the Lakes, 386-389.
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 417
tween the west end, and from the second story with the
second story of the centre building, which is the dormi-
tory. In the eastern wing, and on the second floor, are the
school rooms; and below are apartments for various pur-
poses. The dining room is in the centre building, and is
thirty-eight feet by twenty-one, and here one hundred and
seven little foresters eat, and are happy. There are apart-
ments in the eastern wing, in the ground story, for shoe-
makers and other manufacturers.
"Everything in the building is plain. There are no
mouldings nor ornaments of any kind. But everything is
well planned, in excellent order, and entirely adapted to
the purposes intended to be answered by it.
"In the girls' school were seventy-three, from four to
seventeen years of age. Three were full blood, the re-
mainder half-breeds, and quarter-breeds, and fifteen white
children, belonging to the Island. These were examined
in spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic and geography.
"In personal cleanliness and neatness; in behaviour; in
attainments in the various parts of learning that they had
been engaged in acquiring; no children, white or red, excel
them. I could but contrast the appearance of these little
favourites of fortune with that of their less favoured sisters
of the lakes, nor get rid of the most agreeable surprise at
the change which education, and good, wholesome food,
had made. There are two daughters of Mr. Holliday
here, children of great promise I supposed them to be
about eleven and fourteen years old. Their acquirements
are considerable, and their appearance and manners both
very fine.
"The boys' school is composed of about eighty, whose
ages are from four to eighteen years. Eight of these are
418 HISTORIC MACKINAC
full blooded; thirty-five are the children of the citizens
of the Island, and the rest are quarter or half breeds.
These were also examined in spelling, reading, writing and
arithmetic. Thirty-five write well, and thirty had made
considerable progress in arithmetic. There is one boy
here from the Fond du Lac, upwards of seven hundred
miles distant, and who has been at school only one year,
and writes a large hand, good enough for a ledger! He
is a half breed. There is another from the Lake of the
Woods! Poor things, how far they have come to get light;
and how few of the many are there who come at all.
"I should be doing injustice to the superintendent, Mr.
Ferry, were I not to speak of him in terms of unqualified
approbation. Few men possess his skill, his qualifications,
his industry, and devotion to the work. His is a practical
lesson he is a book himself, out of which the children
may derive the most profitable lessons. 'His own hands,'
he may say with Paul, 'minister to his necessities.' Such a
pattern of practical industry is without price in such an
establishment. Indeed the entire mission family appeared
to me to have undertaken this most interesting charge from
the purest motives.
"And what shall I say of Mrs. S 1? of this excel-
lent and accomplished, and intelligent lady, whose whole
soul is in this work of mercy. This school is, in her eye,
the green spot of the Island; and she loves to look upon it.
But this is not all. With her influence and means, she has
held up the hands that were ready, in the beginning of this
establishment, to hang down. She patronized the work
and now looks upon Mr. Ferry and his labours, as being
worth more to the Island than all the land of which it is
composed; whilst he, with gratitude, mentions her kind-
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 419
ness, and that of her co-operating husband. I do wish you
could see this school and hear Mrs. S talk about it.
She is always eloquent, but when the missionary establish-
ment is the theme, she is more than eloquent. Her own
children go to it.
"I felt but one melancholy reflection, and that arose out
of the thought, that after these children are educated, and
shall have acquired the ability to advance their own happi-
ness, and that of their posterity, there will be no homes for
them to go to; and no theatre for them on which they can
turn their acquirements to any profitable account! Vain
is all this teaching, if those who are subjects of it are to be
turned loose with no materials out of which to renew their
condition. Can nothing be done to carry on to its consum-
mation a work so generously and so prosperously begun?
I say yes. Let the portions of their own lands be allotted to
them, and their tribe are willing to give their assent, in
suitable farms; and implements for working them fur-
nished; and to such as may learn the mechanic arts, the
tools necessary for their prosecution, and then we shall see
how effective the education will be which is now acquiring
by so many hundreds of hitherto friendless and ignorant
savages. And what, I will ask, could add more to the
glory of our country? Tell me not of those who devote
days and nights to add to the prosperity of the already
prosperous; but point out the statesman who devoted his
hours to the relief of the wretched; to the advancement of
the cause of human happiness, to the welfare and protection
of the friendless him I will honour."
Henry R. Schoolcraft gave loyal support to the mission.
A special occasion for its exercise arose in 1829, respect-
ing which this note occurs in Schoolcraft's Personal Mem-
420 HISTORIC MACKINAC
oirs: 25 "Towards the close of the session [of the Michigan
territorial legislature] a movement was made against the
Mackinac Mission by an attempt to repeal the law exempt-
ing the persons engaged in it from militia and jury service.
A formal attack was made by one of the members against
that establishment, its mode of management, and character.
This I resisted. Being in my district, and familiar with the
facts and persons implicated, I repelled the charge as be-
ing entirely unjust to the Rev. Mr. Ferry, the gentleman at
the head of that institution. I drew up a report on the
subject, which was adopted and printed. This was a tri-
umph achieved with some exertions."
The difficulties of the mission, however, seem to have
moved rapidly to a crisis after that time. In 1834, Mr.
Schoolcraft received a letter from Mr. David Green, Secre-
tary of the Board of Commissioners for American Missions,
Boston. "Your favor by Mr. Ferry," he says, "has come
to hand. 26 As you anticipated, he has requested our Mis-
sionary Board to relieve him from the missionary service,
and they, though with much reluctance, have granted his
request. He seems fully convinced that he is not likely to
be hereafter useful to any great extent, in connection with
the Mackinac mission; and that the claims of his family
call him to a different situation. This movement on his
part, though he has before suggested that such a step might
be expedient, was quite unexpected by us at this time; and
I fear that we shall not find it easy to obtain a suitable man
to fill his place. No such person is now at our disposal.
I have written to the Rev. Dr. Peters, of New York, Secre-
tary of the American Home Missionary Society, stating the
25 p. 328.
26 Personal Memoirs, pp. 489^490.
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 421
circumstances of the place, inquiring if it would not prop-
erly fall within that portion of the Lord's Vineyard, and
whether they could not furnish a suitable man to cultivate it.
"That Society, as well as ours, is, I believe, pressed for
missionaries on every hand. The prayers of all the Lord's
people should be, in these exigencies, 'Send forth labourers
into thy harvest.' Men of devoted piety and zeal, and of
high intellectual character, and judgment, and enterprise,
are needed in great numbers both in our own land and
abroad. The want of such men is now the most serious im-
pediment which our societies have to contend with.
"You may be assured, sir, that we shall do all in our
power, consistent with the claims of our other missions, to
send some person to Mackinac; but we cannot promise to
succeed immediately. Mr. Ferry, we hope will remain the
next spring.
"Some embarrassment is felt by our Board, from the
fact that foreign fields, offering access to densely popu-
lated districts, where millions speaking the same language,
can be easily approached are more attractive to the can-
didates for the missionary work than the small, scattered,
and migratory bands of our Indians.
"I fear that a preference of this nature will cause our
friends the Indians to be neglected, if not forgotten.
As Providence seems, in so many ways, to be against the
Indians, I often fear that no considerable portion of them
are ever to enjoy the blessings of civilization and Christian-
ity. But we must leave them in the hands of God, after
using faithfully the means which He places at our disposal.
"We are glad to hear that you still approve of the course
pursued by our missionaries in the north-west, and that the
advancement of the cause of Christ, in that quarter, is still
422 HISTORIC MACKINAC
a subject of care with you, and truth and divine grace will
enable you rightly to bear the responsibility in this respect,
which rests on you."
Commenting on this letter, Mr. Schoolcraft after forcibly
approving the wisdom of not sending men without "energy,
talents and sound discretion" to the Indian missions, adds
reflectively, respecting Mr. Ferry's qualifications and
work: 27
"With respect to the mission of Mackinac, its influence,
on the whole, has been eminently good, and not evil. Mr.
Ferry possessed business talents of a high order, with that
strict reference to moral responsibilities and accountabil-
ities, which compose the golden fibres of the Gospel net.
He sought to bring all, white and red men, into this net ; and
its influences were extensively spread from that central
point into the Indian country. He gathered, from the re-
motest quarters, the half-breed children of the traders and
clerks, into a large and well organized boarding school,
where they were instructed in the points essential to their
becoming useful and respectable men and women. They
were then sent abroad as teachers and interpreters, and trad-
ers' clerks, over a wide space of wilderness, where they dis-
seminated Gospel principles. Many of their parents also
embraced Christianity. Many of the girls turned out to
be ladies of finished education and manners, and married
officers of the army or citizens. There were some pure In-
dian converts of both sexes among whom was the chief
prophet of the Ottawas the aged Chusco. In 1829, after
seven years' labour, he witnessed a revival among the citi-
zens of that town, which appeared to be his crowning labour,
and it had the effect to renovate the place, and for many
27 Ibid., p. 491-492.
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 423
years to drive vice and disorder, if not entirely away, into
holes and corners, where they avoided the light. He came
to this Island first, to begin his mission, I believe, in 1822.
The effort to set up a mission there seemed as wild and
hopeless, to common judgments, as it would be to dig down
the pyramids of the Nile with a pin. I defended its course
of proceedings from an unjust attack in the legislative coun-
cil of the territory, in 1830, having had extensive opportuni-
ties to scan its principles and workings which were only
offensive to worldly men, because, in upholding the Gospel
banner, a shrewd knowledge of business transactions was at
the same time evinced. To be a fool in worldly things is
sometimes supposed, by the wits of the world, to be an evi-
dence of pious zeal."
Schoolcraft's deep interest in the fate of the mission is
reflected clearly in the long entries in his Memoirs after Mr.
Ferry's retirement. On January 10, 1835, he writes: 28
"The year opened with some bright moral gleams. The
members of the church had, early in the autumn, felt the
necessity of a close union. Left by their esteemed pastor,
who had been their 'guide, philosopher and friend,' for
twelve years, and by some of its leading members, they
rested with more directness and simplicity of faith on God.
They ordained a fast. Evening and lecture meetings were
observed to be full of eager listeners. A marked attention
was paid on the Sabbath when Mr. J. D. Stevens, who had
come into the harbour late in the fall, bound westward,
agreed to pass the winter and occupied Mr. Ferry's empty
desk. The Sabbath schools in the village and at the mis-
sion were observed to be well attended. Indeed, it was not
long in being noticed that we were in the midst of a quiet
p. 504.
424 HISTORIC MACKINAG
and deeply spread revival. Never, it would seem, was
there a truer exemplification of the maxim that 'the race is
not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong,' for we
had supposed ourselves to be shorn of all strength by the
loss of our pastor, by the failure of help from the Home
Missionary Society, and by the withdrawal from the Island
of some of our most efficient members. This feeling of
weakness and desertion was, in fact, the secret of our
strength, which lay in the church's humility. Ere we were
aware of it, a spirit of profound seriousness stole over the
community like a soft and gentle wind."
After this time Mr. Schoolcraft himself occasionally
conducted services in the Old Mission Church. Sometimes,
as Mr. Schoolcraft mentions, pastors from other fields were
induced to give their services while staying at Mackinac.
In 1838 Mrs. Jameson attended a service there, conducted
by the Bishop of Michigan. In her account, after referring
briefly to the early history of and present condition of the
mission, she writes at length of the conversion of the Indian
Chusco: 29
"There was a mission established on this Island in 1823,
for the conversion of the Indians and the education of the
Indian and half-breed children. A large mission and
school-house was erected, and a neat little church. Those
who were interested about the Indians entertained the most
sanguine expectations of the success of the undertaking.
But at present the extensive buildings of the mission-house
are used merely as store-houses, or as lodgings; and if
Mackinac should become a place of resort, they will prob-
ably be converted into a fashionable hotel. The mission
29 A long account of Chusco is given by Schoolcraft in The Indian in
His Wigwam, pp. 206-210.
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 425
itself is established farther west, somewhere near Green
Bay, on Lake Michigan; and when overtaken by the ad-
vancing stream of white civilization, and the contagion
which it carries with it, no doubt it must retire yet farther.
"As for the little missionary church, it has been for some
time disused, the French Canadians and half-breeds on the
Island being mostly Roman Catholics. To-day, however,
divine service was performed in it by the Bishop of Michi-
gan, to a congregation of about twenty persons. Around
the open doors of the church, a crowd of Indians, princi-
pally women, had assembled, and a few came in, and stood
leaning against the pews, with their blankets folded round
them, mute and still, and respectfully atttentive.
"Immediately before me sat a man who at once attracted
my attention. He was an Indian, evidently of unmixed
blood, though wearing a long blanket coat and a decent but
worn hat. His eyes, during the whole service, were fixed
on those of the Bishop with a passionate, eager gaze; not for
a moment were they withdrawn; he seemed to devour every
word both of the office and the sermon, and, by the working
of his features, I supposed him to be strongly impressed
it was the very enthusiasm of devotion; and yet, strange to
say, not one word did he understand. When I inquired
how it was that his attention was so fixed, and that he seemed
thus moved by what he could not possibly comprehend, I
was told, 'it was by the power of faith.' I have the story
of this man (whom I see frequently) from Mr. Schoolcraft.
His name is Chusco. He was formerly a distinguished
man in his tribe as professor of the Meta and the Wabeno
that is, physician and conjuror; and no less as a professor
of whisky-drinking. His wife, who had been converted
by one of the missionaries, converted her husband. He
426 HISTORIC MACKINAC
had long resisted her preaching and persuasion, but at last
one day, as they were making maple sugar together on an
island, 'he was suddenly thrown into an agony as if an evil
spirit haunted him, and from that moment had no peace till
he had been baptized.' From this time he avoided drunk-
enness, and surrendered his medicine-bag, manitos, and
implements of sorcery into the hands of Mr. Schoolcraft.
Subsequently he showed no indisposition to speak of the
power and arts he had exercised. He would not allow that
it was all mere trick and deception, but insisted that he had
been enabled to perform certain cures, or extraordinary
magical operations, by the direct agency of the evil spirit,
i.e., the devil, who, now that he was become a Christian,
had forsaken him, and left him in peace. I was a little
surprised to find, in the course of this explanation, that
there were educated and intelligent people who had no
more doubt of this direct satanic agency than the poor
Indian himself.
"Chusco has not touched ardent spirits for the last seven
years, and, ever since his conversion in the sugar-camp, he
has firmly adhered to his Christian profession. He is now
between sixty and seventy years old, with a countenance in-
dicating more of mildness and simplicity than intellect.
Generally speaking, the men who practice medicine among
the Indians made a great mystery of their art, and of the
herbs and nostrums they are in the habit of using; and it
were to be wished that one of these converted medicine-
men could be prevailed on to disclose some of their medi-
cal arcana; for of the efficacy of some of their prescriptions,
apart from the mummery with which they are accompanied,
there can be no doubt."
The Old Mission Church stands today as the symbol of
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 427
the Christian love and zeal of the little band led by him
whom a candid writer of another faith has called an "exem-
plary and a zealous man." 30
THE FOLLOWING PRIESTS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC
CHURCH HAVE SERVED ON MACKINAC ISLAND:
1786-87. Rev. Father Payet, of Illinois.
1794. Rev. Father Le Dm, Dominican, of France.
1796. Rev. Father Michael Levadoux, of Detroit,
Vic-Gen, of the Bishop of Baltimore.
1799. Rev. Father Gabriel Richard, Curate of St.
Anne, Detroit, and Vicar-General.
1804. Rev. Father J. Dilhet.
1821-23. Rev. Father Gabriel Richard.
1825, 27. Rev. Father Frangois Vincent Badin of St.
Joseph's.
1827, 30. Rev. Jean Dejean, of Little Traverse Bay.
1829, 31. Rt. Rev. Edward Fenwick, Bishop of Cin-
cinnati.
1829. Rev. Father J. J. Mullon, of Cincinnati.
1830-33. Rev. Father Samuel Mazzuchelli, Dominican.
1831-65. Rev. Father Frederic Baraga, of Little Trav-
verse Bay. Afterwards (1853-68)
Bishop of Sault Ste. Marie and Mar-
quette.
80 Amer. Cath. Quar. Rev. for April, 1896, p. 363.
Rev. Meade C. Williams, D.D., author of Early Mackinac, and various
monographs relating to Mackinac, has gone to his reward. He was a
student of the history of the Great Lakes country, a scholar, and much be-
loved by the people of Mackinac Island.
Permission to quote from the writings of the late Rev. Williams was
granted by Mr. Tyrrell Williams of St. Louis, Mo.
Rev. Antoine Ivan Rezek, LL.D., gave full authority to use material freely
from the History of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie and Marquette. Father
Rezek's work will ever remain a monument to him; it is an accurate and
exhaustive history of the activities of the Catholic Church in the Lake
Superior country.
428
HISTORIC MACKINAG
1833. Rev. Father J. Lostrie.
1833-34. Rev. Father Francis Haetscher, C. SS.R.
1834-38. Rev. Father F. J. Bonduel.
1838-43. Rev. Father Sante Santelli.
1843-45. Rev. Father Otto Skolla, Franciscan.
1845. Rev. Father Henry Van Renterghem.
1846-54. Rev. Father Andrew D. J. Piret, retired to
"Cheneaux," 1870.
1852. Rev. Father Francis Pierz, of Little Traverse
Bay.
Father E. L. M. Jahan.
Father Patrick Bernard Murray.
Father Henry L. Thiele (two terms).
Father A. D. J. Piret.
Anthony Gaess.
Father Matthias Orth.
Father Philip S. Zorn, of Grand Tra-
verse Bay.
1871-72. Rev. Father L. B. Lebouc.
1872-73. Rev. Father Moise Mainville.
1873-76. Rev. Father Edward Jacker.
1876-78. Rev. Father William Dwyer.
1878-79. Rev. Father John Brown.
1879-81. Rev. Father John C. Kenny.
1881-82. Rev. Father Kilian Haas, 0. M. Cap.
1881-82. Rev. Father Isidore Handtmann, 0. M. Cap.
1883. Rev. Father Joseph Niebling.
1883-84. Rev. Father P. G. Tobin.
1884-87. Rev. Father William Dwyer.
1887. Rev. Father Peter W. O'Connell.
1887-1888. Rev. Father Joseph Barren.
1888. Rev. Father Alberico Vitali, U. J. D.
1854-57.
Rev.
1858-61.
Rev.
1861, 67.
Rev.
1861-62.
Rev.
1862.
Rev.
1868-71.
Rev.
1869-70.
Rev.
CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND 429
1889. Rev. Father John Gruender.
1890. Rev. Father Philip J. Erlach.
1890-91. Rev. Father Antoine Ivan Rezek.
1891-92. Rev. Father Adam J. Doser.
1892-99. Rev. Father James Miller.
1899-1900. Rev. Father William H. Joisten.
1900-1901. Rev. Father F. X. Becker.
1901-1904. Rev. Father John A. Keul.
1904. Rev. Father Francis H. Swift.
1904-1905. Rev. Father Joseph N. Raymond.
1905-1918. Rev. Father Martin C. Sommers.
(NOTE: Father Sommers is still stationed at Mackinac
Island, 1918, at the time Historic Mackinac goes to press.)
CHAPTER XX
THE LOST PRINCE
"T~l ARLY in the thirties," writes Mary H. A. Allen
|i in the Critic for April, 1900, "my grand-father,
Captain C , of the Second U. S. Infantry, was
stationed in command of old Fort Mackinac, in Michigan,
formerly called Michilimackinac. It was a picturesque old
island, rough and rocky, and inhabited only by Indians
until we made Fort Mackinac a United States military post.
The fort is situated on a rocky eminence 150 feet high.
Several tribes of Indians were on a Government reserva-
tion near the fort, and it was there that the missionary
Eleazar Williams had wandered to preach the word of God
to these Indians. Eleazar Williams was supposed to be
the son of Tehoragwanegen, Chief of the Caughnawaga
tribe, but was known as Thomas Williams, an Indian
Chief, and the Grandson of Eunice, daughter of the 'Re-
deemed Captive.' He was educated at Long Meadow,
Massachusetts, served among the Canadian Indians as a se-
cret agent of the United States, and was severely wounded
at Plattsburg in 1814. He translated the Prayer Book into
the Mohawk tongue, and he also published an Indian spell-
ing-book. Later, he acted as a lay missionary of the Epis-
copal Church among the Indians for several years, and was
ordained in 1826. It was after this that he came to Fort
Mackinac.
"During this period the fort was visited by Prince de
Joinville, who was at that time the second nearest in direct
430
THE LOST PRINCE 431
descent to the Bourbon throne. My grandfather, Captain
C , being the commanding officer, the duty of enter-
taining the Prince devolved upon him, and it was performed
as royally as the circumstances would permit. Prince de
Joinville had a mission to this country, but not, however,
the usual one of the present day hunting a rich wife.
"His visit to so uninteresting a place as Fort Mackinac
at that time was prolonged to several days. After visiting
the different tribes of Indians and their schools, looking
over Indian relics, the methods of managing the reserva-
tion, etc., the Prince announced at a late breakfast with my
grandmother (my grandfather having been called to his
duties), that he must depart, but that, before leaving, he
would like very much to interview this wonderful mis-
sionary, who had done such marvellous work among the
Indians. My grandmother said that it could easily be
accomplished my grandfather could arrange to have him
at his quarters, and that she was a little surprised at his
non-appearance, as he spent many of his evenings with
them, consulting the Captain on various matters pertaining
to the best methods for the advancement of the Indians; but
she supposed he had heard of their distinguished guest, and
was absenting himself until the Prince's departure. The
Prince followed up the conversation by asking her if she
believed him to be a half-breed. She replied, 'That is the
general belief, but from many conversations my husband
and I have had with Mr. Williams, we have concluded that
this is not the case, though he has many characteristics of
the Indian.' She added that they believed these were due
to his long sojourn with them; that he had often said his
childhood was enveloped in mystery, but felt certain he had
no Indian blood in his veins.
432 HISTORIC MACKINAG
"The Prince then eagerly asked, 'What, then, is the
conclusion at which your husband and yourself have ar-
rived?' Her reply staggered Prince de Joinville, and he
showed visible agitation. It was, in substance, as follows :
'Of course, the matter is obscure to us, as well as to Eleazar
Williams himself, but some light may be thrown upon it
from a little circumstance which occurred when he first
came among us. The Captain is a collector of engravings,
and his collection, which has been the work of many years,
is now considered a very valuable one. These engravings
are kept in a large portfolio, and indexed. Williams was
sitting with us one evening, and Captain C called his
attention to the portfolio, placing it before him. He be-
came quietly absorbed for some time over the engravings,
when suddenly he exclaimed aloud, "My God, my God!
Where have I seen that terrible face?" He arose to his
feet, trembling from limb to limb; the cold perspiration was
pouring down his face; he caught hold of my chair as a
support. After talking to himself in a rambling way, he
commenced to walk in agitation up and down my drawing
room, saying "Grace de Dieu! I remember, I remember."
He bade me good night with tears in his eyes. I was quite
startled, and looked at the engraving, and, turning to the
index, found it was "Simon, the Jailer." No inducement
could ever prevail upon Williams to open the portfolio
again. My husband and I have always thought that he
was a Frenchman, and that he had, at some time in his
childhood, fallen into the hands of this cruel Simon.'
"The Prince was intensely absorbed for some time, but
did not make any reply. We can all recall the sad history
of the little suffering Dauphin, torn from his parents and
placed in the hands of this cruel jailer, to be tortured,
THE LOST PRINCE 433
beaten, and starved. A private meeting with the mission-
ary was arranged for the Prince. When the Prince de
Joinville paid his farewell visit he presented his gracious
hostess with a handsome snuff-box set with diamonds.
"Eleazar Williams gave Captain C an account of
the meeting, which was a long and stormy one. Prince de
Joinville was authorized to pay Eleazar Williams two hun-
dred thousand dollars if he would give up all right and
title to the Bourbon crown, provided the Prince found suf-
ficient proof that he, Eleazar Williams, could establish his
claim. Eleazar Williams declined, saying, 'I will not de-
fraud my children of their rights.'
"Eleazar Williams passed away shortly after this, but
before his death, subsequent to the visit of the Prince and
his interview with him, he appeared before a medical board
to be examined for the scrofulous scars known to have been
on the body of the Dauphin. The result was more than
satisfactory, for he still bore the marks of Simon's cruelty,
besides the scars resulting from scrofula.
"In 1842, he began to make known his claim to be the
son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. He asserted
that he had been successfully abstracted from the prison in
Paris, and had been brought to America by an agent of the
royal family. The Rev. J. H. Hanson wrote the story in
Putnam s Monthly in 1853. Eleazar Williams passed to
the life beyond, his work fully completed ; all was revealed
to him, the mystery of his childhood and the suffering of
his youth were made clear to him, and we may believe that
he knew that the beautiful Marie Antoinette was his
mother.
"When we were children this was our favourite story,
and it always gave my grandmother keen pleasure to relate
434 HISTORIC MACKINAC
it to us. How well I can recall her, sitting in her red satin
chair, dressed in black satin and point lace, with her soft
white hair caught up on diamond pins over each little ear,
her dainty feet on a stool, and her knitting in her hands,
sitting before a roaring fire, our pet dogs and ourselves sur-
rounding her, just waiting to hear her say, 'Well, children,
do you want to hear the story of "The Lost Prince"?' "
The idea of the identity of the little son of Louis XVI and
Marie Antoinette, with the Rev. Eleazar Williams has had
its vigorous defenders, among whom none has been more
zealous than the Rev. John H. Hanson, a clergyman of
Hoboken, New Jersey, who brought Williams' claim to the
knowledge of the public in his book, The Lost Prince, pub-
lished in 1854. In the conclusion of his book he gives the
following summary of evidence: *
"I. The great fundamental fact that Louis XVII did
not die in the Temple, on the 8th of June, 1795, has been
proved by an accumulation of evidence, which would com-
pel the assent of any impartial jury. Those who assert the
fact of death, deprive themselves of the benefit of any al-
ternative. Their position is the strongest possible, if sus-
tained, because it expresses no uncertainty; and, indeed,
nothing short of this would have availed them. They say,
he died at a particular time and place, and, pointing to a
certain dead body, declare it was his. Disprove the last
assertion and they have nothing more to produce. The
witnesses they cite, are, 1, four physicians, and, 2, two
jailers. The physicians testify they know nothing about
the matter. They saw a dead body, but were entirely ig-
norant whose it was. The jailers stand convicted of gross
i Pp. 448-459.
GENERAL PATRICK SINCLAIR
Under whose supervision the Fort was built on Mackinac Island
THE LOST PRINCE 435
falsehood, in regard to an asserted fact necessary to the
truth of their testimony, and no jury would, therefore, be-
lieve them on oath. There is, thus, no evidence to prove
the death of Louis XVII, but that of two men convicted of
falsehood.
"On the other hand, it has been shown,
"1. That it is physically impossible that the body, de-
scribed in the proces verbal, could be that of Louis XVII ;
and,
"2. That the police records of June, 1795, prove he was
removed from prison before the 8th of that month.
"So far the naked fact. In explanation of it, the history
of France shows that, prior to the French Revolution, the
Count de Provence was plotting to obtain the throne, and
anxious to supplant his unfortunate brother; that to obtain
this end, he fomented the troubles in the kingdom with the
hope of forcing Louis XVI to abdication; that, the king
and queen distrusted him, on account of his unprincipled
ambition, and, abstained, at their death, from committing
their children to his care; that, after usurping the nominal
regency of the kingdom, the Count de Provence attempted,
by means of intriguing agents, to obtain the sovereign
power, and corresponded with the most extreme of the revo-
lutionary leaders; that having pledged himself, in a proc-
lamation, to release Louis XVII from the Temple, there is
evidence he found means, through his agents, to surround
the imprisoned Prince with persons devoted to his own in-
terests, who, with the probable connivance of members of
the republican government, took advantage of a treaty
made by the Convention with Charette, the Vendeean leader,
in which it was stipulated, Louis XVII should be delivered
to him, on the 13th of June, 1795, to remove him from the
436 HISTORIC MACKINAG
Temple, and circulate the report of his death, having
adroitly substituted a dying child in his stead.
"II. The series of facts next in order are those which
intimate, or prove, that the royal family of France were
cognizant of the existence of the youthful king, viz. :
"1. The confession of the Duchess D'Angouleme, to the
wife of the secretary of the Count D'Artois, in 1807, that
she knew her brother was alive, and in America.
"2. The contradictions and inconsistencies attending the
funeral solemnities for the departed Bourbons, on the
Restoration; the omission of any respect to the memory of
Louis XVII, made only more glaringly evident by the de-
cree to erect a monument to him, and the actual preparation
of an epitaph, under the orders of Louis XVIII ; and, also,
the rejection by the royal family, of the asserted heart of
Louis XVII, in the possession of Pelletan.
"3. The strange conduct of the Duchess D'Angouleme in
respect to the pretenders, and especially Herr Naundorff.
"The list might be extended, but these are here sufficient.
"III. We come now to the circumstances, which, his-
torically, project from the transactions in Europe to serve
as means of future identification. These are often very
trivial and minute, when viewed separately, but, in combina-
tion, they acquire an irresistible cogency, if it be found they
all centre on some one individual, no matter in what part
of the world he may be found.
"1. The individual last known to have been with Louis
XVII in the Temple was named Bellanger, and was a con-
fidant and creature of Louis XVIII ; and, it seems evident,
that, if the Prince were removed from the Temple, as it is
proved he was, Bellanger, from his official position as acting
commissary, which gave him, for the time being, supreme
THE LOST PRINCE 437
command in the prison, must have been the chief agent in
the affair.
"2. Louis XVII, at the time of his removal from the
Tower, was in a state of imbecility, bordering on idiocy.
"3. He had on his person the following marks: 1. A
scar over the eyebrow, from a blow inflicted by Simon. 2.
Tumors on both elbows. 3. Tumors on both wrists. 4.
Tumors on both knees. 5. Inoculation marks on his arm,
one of which was in the form of a crescent. Besides which,
there were natural peculiarities not to be overlooked. 1.
He strongly resembled the rest of his family in the general
formation of the head, ear, jaw, chin, and mouth, but had
hazel eyes, and a nose approaching to what is called the
nez retrousse, which, as life advanced, would, probably, de-
velop into a straighter shape, but could never acquire the
aquiline form observable in the features of the Regent Or-
leans, Louis XVI, or even Louis XVIII.
"4. It was intimated by Herr Naundorff that, besides
Mr. B , probably M. Bellanger, there was engaged in
the removal of the Prince from France, a lady of the court,
formerly in the service of Marie Antoinette, and also that
the destination of the Prince was America.
"5. The time of action was 1795, when the Dauphin was
ten years of age.
"IV. And, now, let us examine the corresponding cir-
cumstances which tend to identify the Rev. Eleazar Wil-
liams with the royal child.
"1. In the year 1795, a French lady and gentleman, the
former of whom had been in the service of Marie Antoin-
ette, came to Albany, having lately arrived from France,
bringing with them a girl and a little boy, the latter of whom
438 HISTORIC MACKINAC
was called Monsieur Louis, was about ten years of age, and
was characterized by the same listlessness and lack of ob-
servation recorded of Louis XVII, and resembled in the
form of his head and face, the Rev. Eleazar Williams, and
concerning whom much mystery was observed. The party
suddenly disappeared.
"2. In the year 1795, two Frenchmen carried an imbe-
cile French boy to Lake George, and left him with Thomas
Williams, which boy, on the oath of a credible witness,
present at the time, and who has known him in after life, is
the Eleazar Williams.
"3. His reputed mother acknowledges she adopted him.
"4. Eleazar Williams recovered his mind by a fall into
Lake George, since which his memory is perfect but the
images which come to him from his previous life, tally
with the events of the Dauphin's history. His condition
of mind, his absence of distinct memory of his childhood,
are proved on respectable testimony.
"5. He has all the natural characteristics, and all the
accidental marks, necessary to identify with Louis XVII.
"6. Money was sent from France to a merchant in Al-
bany and was expended on his behalf.
"7. Nathaniel Ely, who had charge of his education, was
acquainted with the fact, that he was of noble birth.
"8. The rapid development of his mind indicates pre-
vious culture.
"9. His condition of health, from boyhood to the pres-
ent time, constantly wavering between robust vigour and
excessive prostration, accompanied with pains in the head
and side, indicate that a constitution originally strong, re-
ceived, at some time, a great shock, but which is anterior to
anything which happened to him in this country.
THE LOST PRINCE 439
"10. The mental and moral characteristics exhibited
by him throughout life, the fertility of resource and mili-
tary genius, which developed without culture, and seemed
innate, the generous ardour of his disposition, his religious
feelings, his untiring labours for the benefit of others, his
absence of pecuniary tact and management, his ignorance
even of his own powers, his gentle and forgiving character,
and the very want of balance and symmetry in his mind, all
agree, in combination with the best characteristics of the
Bourbons, with what we know from history of the natural
disposition of the Prince, and with what it is natural to
expect would be the character, the power, and the weakness
of one whose birth, sufferings, and entire history are such
as those of Louis XVII and Eleazar Williams in continuous
unity of existence.
"11. The wife of the secretary of the Count D'Artois not
only heard the confession of the Duchess D'Angouleme that
her brother was alive in America, but also learned, in the
royal family, that Bellanger brought him to this country,
and that he was known in America as Eleazar Williams, an
Indian Missionary; and it is on oath that she made,
in substance these statements, in New Orleans, prior
to the visit of the Prince de Joinville to this country in
1841.
"12. The Rev. Eleazar Williams did become acquainted,
in 1848, with the fact that Bellanger brought the Dauphin
to this country, and that he was asserted by Bellanger to be
the Dauphin four years before he, or any other man on the
continent of America, not in the secret, knew there was an
historic personage named Bellanger, who could be sus-
pected of kidnapping the Dauphin, or was in any way
connected with him in the Temple.
440 HISTORIC MACKINAG
"To these I might add other particulars, but those enum-
erated suffice for my purpose.
"V. I proceed now to the series of facts connected with
the intercourse between the Prince de Joinville and the
Rev. Eleazar Williams.
"1. The Prince de Joinville came to the United States
in 1838 and leaving his ships at Newport, went on a
secret expedition into the interior of the country.
"2. Immediately after the return of the Prince to
France, inquiries were made of the French vice-consul in
Newport, concerning two servants of Marie Antoinette, who
came to America during the French Revolution.
"3. The Prince de Joinville, on his return to America in
1841, inquired earnestly of many persons, and in divers
places, concerning the Rev. Eleazar Williams, asking ques-
tions about him which cannot be resolved into anxiety to
find one who could give him historic information, with
which there is nothing in their intercourse that tallies,
except what bears on its face the appearance of deception,
a covert and blind to other designs; he caused word to be
transmitted to him that he desired to see him; on meeting
him he manifested agitation and surprise, and exhibited, in
public, excessive deference beyond the requirements and
the practice of ordinary politeness even French polite-
ness ; he corresponded with him by name through his secre-
taries for several years, and thus, long before and long after
their interview, was well acquainted with his name.
"4. In the face of these facts, the Prince de Joinville
represents his meeting with Mr. Williams to have been acci-
dental, and denies he even remembered his name.
"5. Mr. Williams, on the other hand, asserts that, at the
interview, sought and solicited by the Prince, the latter com-
THE LOST PRINCE 441
municated to him the secret of his birth, and demanded
a resignation of right to the French throne in favour of
Louis Philippe. In respect to this assertion, every syllable
in this volume which renders it probable that he is Louis
XVII. supports his credibility, while at the same time it
discredits the affirmation of the Prince.
"6. One of the officers of the Prince de Joinville con-
fessed to Mr. Geo. Sumner the mystery attending the expe-
dition to Green Bay, and that Mr. Williams was spoken of
as the son of Louis XVI.
"7. There is the political circumstances of the times,
the relative position of Louis Philippe to the Royalists and
other parties in France, and his suicidal, albeit, compul-
sory folly in bringing the remains of Napoleon to France,
everything to render it not improbable that, on the discovery
of the secret of the existence of Louis XVII., he would adopt
the course which Mr. Williams asserts he did.
"VI. In the next place, let me group together some few
of the reasons for confiding in the statements of Mr. Wil-
liams.
"1. It is proved, that since the year 1803, or at the
latest, 1804, he has been in the habit, with more or less
regularity, of keeping a journal.
"2. In his journal for 1841, occurs a full and minute
account, which bears every mark of having been written
at the time, of his interview with the Prince together with
all that led to, and followed it which account has not been
made public by his instrumentality, although with his con-
sent and, in fact, has only been brought to light by a
series of seeming accidents.
"3. The history of his life exhibits him, as a man whose
word can be depended on, if we are to depend on the word
442 HISTORIC MACKINAC
of any one. It will take much, I think, to make the world
believe that the gallant soldier, and the laborious self-
denying missionary, could, without aim or purpose, have
contrived a story so foul and dishonorable, if false, and in
the absence, too, of any knowledge how it could be sus-
tained.
"VII. A strong argument may also be drawn, in his
favour, from the signal failure which has attended every
effort to discredit his assertions. It matters not from what
quarter the opposition has proceeded, or what have been the
authorities cited. It is not difficult, we think, to dispose
alike of Beauchesne, Lasne, Gomin, Naundorff, Richemont,
the Prince de Joinville, General Cass, the Rev. Mr. Mar-
coux, and Dr. Stephen Williams, while there has not been,
in all the pages of argument, ridicule, and abuse, heaped
on Mr. Williams and his friends, one single word which
has not fallen to the ground harmless, as it respects the
issue really involved.
"No outline of the evidence, in this case, can do justice
to it, as it stands in its living force and freshness, and if
any one shall chance to open the volume at its termination,
to see what has been accomplished, I must refer him to the
foregoing pages for information. But rapid as has been
the accumulation of evidence on this subject, I should not
be surprised to find that it increases in every direction.
The stores of Europe remain yet untouched. It is not too
late to recover everything which relates to this transaction.
I am much inclined to think that Talleyrand was fully con-
versant with the whole. We have seen that, when in this
country, he was in communication with old Jacob Vander-
heyden, an Indian trader, who was present at the time that
Mr. Williams was left among the Indians; and it is not
THE LOST PRINCE 443
too much to hope that, when the period comes, for the open-
ing of his Memoirs, the whole facts relative to the removal
of Louis XVII may come to light.
"The saddest thought, to my mind, connected with the
whole of this dark historic drama, which convicts of crime
and perfidy so many who have stood high in name and
power, is that the sister knew the brother's doom. And yet,
I would not speak or think harshly of the Duchess of An-
gouleme. She was the victim of the unnatural and ab-
horrent villainy of Louis XVIII, and was entrapped, ere
she was aware, in the meshes of a dark web of subtle fraud,
from which she could not, throughout life, escape. At first,
she was taught to believe her brother dead, and, before she
knew the contrary, found herself the wife of him to whom
the crown would, in all human probability, ultimately fall,
in consequence of the removal of Louis XVII from France.
And when the fact did come to her knowledge, she, doubt-
less, had no idea of the ultimate designs of her uncle, but
regarded the exiled child as placed in security till the
political storm was entirely over. In this frame of mind
she could speak to one who enjoyed her confidence with
pleasure of her conviction of his safety, and cherish the
hope that in brighter days they would be again united. It
is not difficult to picture the conflict of feeling which would
rise in her mind, when the overthrow of Napoleon brought
again the crown of France within reach of the House of
Bourbon, nor the subtle arguments used by the uncle, who
had the authority of a father, to prove how expedient it was
for the welfare of all, for the happiness of France, for the
repose of Europe, for the prevention of such scenes of blood
as 1793 exhibited, that the Gallic crown should be placed
on the brow of one competent to govern. What a contrast
444 HISTORIC MACKINAC
could be drawn between the mature statesman, educated in
the midst of courts, acquainted with every avenue of diplo-
macy, and all the reciprocally balancing powers of which
Europe is composed, and the half -barbaric boy, ignorant
of French language and habits, ignorant of political life,
ministering to savages in a western wilderness. It would
be said, and said, too, with much appearance of reason,
that to place such an individual on the throne of
France, in 1814, would be to ensure a relapse into anarchy;
that he could only be a mere tool of others; that
he could, for a long time, have no opinion of his own;
and, in the old cant phrase of the proclamation, of 1795,
'France needed a Father,' and not a monarch in lead-
ing strings. The heir presumptive to the throne stood by
her side as a husband; and could she for so dubious a
benefit as a crown, which had proved to her father an instru-
ment of death, recall from rustic happiness and security,
one who suffered no wrong, because not conscious of any,
while she endangered the welfare, and sacrificed the inter-
ests of all she loved, and prepared for France and Europe,
just resting after their long convulsion, an endless succes-
sion of those evils which accompany weakness and misrule?
All this she could understand and submit to but conceive
her feelings and her indignation when requested to receive
the dried heart of her wronged and exiled brother; or ad-
mire the chaste harmony of the epitaph, which, in strains
of Augustan elegance, spoke of the forlorn boy as travelling
starlike in the heavens, and from his pathway of eternal
light, gazing with calm eye of angel love, on the affection-
ate uncle who had swindled him out of an empire.
"It is said, the duchess never smiled, but went through
life and to the tomb, bowed down by some deep-seated and
THE LOST PRINCE 445
mysterious sorrow. Many a night may she have spent,
like that so graphically described by the Viscountess Cha-
teaubriand, pacing her apartment in restless agony, unable
to allay her perturbed spirit, and, writhing, amid the splen-
dours of royalty, in inward humiliation and self -up-braid-
ing sorrow. Yes, the sister was the victim of the ambition
of others, and more to be pitied in her titled desolation than
the hardy man, toiling on a far strand in the dusty thor-
oughfare of common life, but still able to breast with
honest heart the crush and variation of the crowd, and lift
to heaven a trusting eye. As for those whose ambition
demanded of a weak woman's heart this costly sacrifice,
verily they had their reward. On no page of history are
the stern retributive workings of Providence more legibly
inscribed than on that which chronicles the history of the
Bourbons since the first French Revolution. The curse
of impotence has rested on all they essayed to do. No
sooner were they lifted, on the tide of events, towards an
apparently stable throne, than they were dashed back
again, and engulfed in the abyss from which they had
emerged. Reiterated exiles, agitations, assassinations,
tracked their career. Life, with them, was all unreal. In
their proudest days they were but crowned brigands. Dis-
trust, suspicion, felon fear, pursued them till the last. In
vain was the cry of legitimacy raised to support that which
was illegitimate. In vain did monarchial Europe rally, to
ensure to them a throne, which they had neither wisdom to
preserve, nor courage to defend. Theirs was 'a barren
sceptre.'
'Wrenched from their grasp by an unlineal hand
No son of theirs succeeding,'
and be it fiction or be it fact, the prophecy of the letter read
446 HISTORIC MACKINAC
by the midnight lamp, shall be fulfilled to its final punctua-
tion, and on their dynasty, their name, their lineage, and
their memory shall be stamped with livid hand 'Death! ! !'
"A word before I conclude, with respect to the position
of Mr. Williams. On his part there is no claim and no
pretension. The last thought in his mind is that of political
elevation. Educated in a republican country, he is himself
a republican in sentiment and feeling. A minister of the
Protestant Episcopal Church, he has no wish but to labour
in her fold and worship at her altar until death. Devoted
to the regeneration of the Indian, his chief earthly hope is
to rear among those formerly reputed his countrymen, a
temple to the name of the Almighty God, which shall be
at once a means in future years of recalling them from their
ignorance and vice, and a monument of his love and sacri-
fices for them. He is now rapidly approaching that period
of life when the ambitions and the interests of earth are of
little avail. Had he known all he now does, thirty or even
twenty years earlier, the case might have been different. If
at times thoughts and aspirations of a different character
have entered his mind, he has now dismissed them; and to
go down to a Christian's grave in peace, usefulness, and
honour, is all he wishes for himself, and all his friends
wish for him.
"His late years have been embittered by many sorrows,
and especially by the knowledge of his early history, and
having been myself the means of dragging him into an
unpleasant notoriety, I have deemed it my duty to do what
lay within the power of an unpractised pen, to vindicate
him from assaults.
"To the eye of a cold philosophy, kings and the sons of
kings, are much like other men but few of us are philoso-
THE LOST PRINCE 447
phers, and God forbid we should be, if it would deprive of
sympathy for the fallen. If I read any truth in history it
is, that the hand of God is there, guiding the motions of
the vast machine of human destiny, and making kings and
rulers, and great men, statesmen, orators and poets, the
agents for accomplishing His all-wise designs, nor can I,
from the loop-holes of republican retreat, gaze with cynical
eye, upon the centuries that are fled, nor on the realms that
are afar. The blood of a Bourbon or a Guelph may be
composed of much the same ingredients as my own but
I recognize in it a something which the Providence of God
has sanctified through many generations, and I confess to
the weakness of dropping a tear at the thought of the forlorn
descendant of European kings, ministering, on the desolate
outskirts of civilization, to the scanty remnant of a race,
once the barbaric sovereigns of this continent. But God,
Who deals equally with all, has, doubtless, granted to him
as much happiness in the toils of missionary life, as to
those who have successfully occupied the throne of his
fathers."
Among those who have denied Williams' claim, none are
perhaps more convincing than Mr. John Smith, in his
"Eleazar Williams and the Lost Prince," published in
1872, in the Wisconsin Historical Collections. 2 Says Mr.
Smith:
"1 Did the Dauphin ever come to America?
"2 If he did, has he been identified in the person of
Rev. Eleazar Williams?
"To review in detail all the vagaries which Mr. Hanson
has arrayed in the name of evidence upon these two points,
is quite impossible within the endurable limits of an even-
2 Wis. Hist. Colls., VI, 308 ff.
448 HISTORIC MACKINAC
ing discourse, and I must dispose of the first inquiry very
briefly. It is obvious that if there is clear and satisfactory
evidence that the Dauphin died in the Temple in his eleventh
year, both these questions must be regarded as finally set-
tled. If not, the question of his identity in the person of
Mr. Williams still remains.
"M. Beauchesne, a French writer, in his elaborate work
on the Dauphin, Louis XVII, has presented the evidence of
his death in the Temple, in a very clear and satisfactory
manner. It is gathered from the public records of France,
and consists of the sworn testimony of four distinct groups
of witnesses taken at the time of the Dauphin's death.
"1. That of the four physicians, Dumangin, Pelletan,
Lassus and Jeanroy, who performed a post-mortem exam-
ination of the body, who drew up and subscribed the legal
document called the proces verbal, and two of whom had
attended the Prince for some time previous to his death.
"2. That of Lasne and Gomin, the two jailers who had
charge of the Dauphin's person, during his confinement in
the Temple.
"3. That of four members of the Committee of General
Safety, who saw and recognized the body immediately after
death.
"4. That of the officers and sub-officers of the guard of
the Temple.
"All these witnesses, ten in number, besides the officers
and sub-officers of the Temple, attest, under oath, the death
of the Dauphin, Louis Charles Capet, in the Temple in
Paris, on the 9th of June, 1795. The proof of his burial
is equally clear, direct and positive, as established by still
another class of witnesses; and the two jailors, Lasne and
Gomin, reaffirmed their testimony to M. Beauchesne more
THE LOST PRINCE 449
than forty years after the event. It would seem, there-
fore, that the death of the Dauphin in the Temple at Paris,
in 1795, is as well attested as that of Abraham Lincoln in
the City of Washington, in 1865.
"All this direct and positive testimony, based upon per-
sonal cognizance of the facts, and much more of the same
nature, adduced by M. Beauchesne, Mr. Hanson sets aside
upon inferences drawn from sheer assumptions, and upon
hearsay evidence, most of which has since been traced to
the inventive genius of Mr. Williams himself. Not one
word of direct and positive evidence has he produced that
the Dauphin ever came to America, nor to contradict the
evidence that he died in the Temple, in Paris, in 1795.
It is all assumption, inference, and vague hearsay, but the
main assumptions are not only violent, but altogether incon-
sistent with each other. For example, he assumes that the
brother of Louis XVI, and uncle of the Dauphin, wishing
to secure the reversion of the throne to himself and family,
and to rid himself of the only obstacle, the Dauphin, plotted
his abduction from the Temple, and this at a time when
there seemed to be no prospect that another Bourbon would
ever ascend the throne of France at all. Next Mr. Hanson
assumes that the Dauphin, abducted by his mortal enemy,
was placed in the hands of his most trusty friends two
old body servants of his parents, a man and his wife who
brought him to America; and finally, that these trusty
friends carried him into a wilderness and dropped him, a
sickly and imbecile child, to die or endure the hardships
and privations of savage life.
"The extreme improbability of all these assumptions will
be still further manifest when we consider the imminent
danger attending this assumed conspiracy. In those times,
450 HISTORIC MACKINAG
when men's heads were cheap things, had such a plot been
discovered, either before or after its execution, every per-
son engaged in it would have been held guilty of treason
against the revolutionary government, and executed as fast
as the guillotine could have dispatched them. That so
many persons should have entered into such a conspiracy,
at such a fearful risk, and in the face of extreme difficulties
attending the stealing of one person out, and smuggling
another in, through the complicated guards which sur-
rounded the Temple, and which, to prevent the possibility
of collusion, were changed every day, is to the last degree
improbable. Besides, the assumption takes it for granted
that the child smuggled in as substitute for the Prince,
would die, like a good boy, to carry out this indispensable
part of the program ; for had he obstinately lived, he must
either have passed for the genuine Prince, and so the object
of the uncle, in the abduction, been defeated; or, if his
counterfeit character were discovered, as it certainly would
have been, the conspiracy would have been detected, and
those engaged in it led to speedy execution. The death of
the substitute, therefore, was an essential part of the plot.
The French are indeed noted for their politeness. But
how could a dozen or twenty men have been so very sure
as to risk their lives upon it, that little Monsieur would
be so extremely polite as to do the dying for them.
"It would seem as if such a mass of direct, positive
testimony to the death of Louis Charles Capet, in 1795,
might suffice in the absence of any direct proof to the con-
trary, to establish the fact that the Dauphin was not the Rev.
Eleazar Williams, of 1853, and the proof is equally clear
and direct that the Rev. Eleazar Williams was not the
THE LOST PRINCE 451
Dauphin, even if we could admit that the latter came to
America."
Mr. Smith here introduces as further evidence three
affidavits, two from persons who knew Eleazar as a boy in
Caughnawaga, Canada, the third from his alleged mother,,
Mary Ann Williams. The latter reads as follows: 3
"STATE OF NEW YORK Franklin County ss.
"Personally appeared before me, one of the Justices of
the Peace in and for the said County, Mary Ann Williams,
and being duly sworn, deposeth and saith : That she is up-
wards of eighty years of age, but does not know her exact
age ; that she is the widow of Thomas Williams, and that she
is the natural mother of Rev. Eleazar Williams, and that
she is aware of his pretension to be the son of Louis XVI,
and knows them to be false; that he was her fourth child,
and born at Caughnawaga; that at the time of his birth
her sister took him to the priest to be baptized, and that
her sister gave the priest the name of the child's godfather,
which was Lazare, from which the child took his name ; that
he was born in the spring thinks in June; says, when he
was about nine years old some of his father's friends from
the States came to Caughnawaga and took him and a
younger brother away, to send them to school; that some
time after he returned home, and had a sore leg that made
him lame; that they doctored his leg; that the sore was on
his knee; that sometimes it would heal up and break out
again, and that they were sometimes fearful he would
never get well; that she has no recollection how the scar
came on his face; that she never knew of his having any
3 Ibid., VI, 317.
452 HISTORIC MACKINAG
trunk or medals in his possession; that her son Eleazar
very strongly resembles his father, Thomas Williams; and
says that no person whatever, either clergyman or others,
ever advised or influenced her to say that he was her son;
that the first intimation she ever had of his pretensions to
royal birth was from one William Woodman, an Oneida
Indian, who came to her about a year ago, and asked her if
she would not be willing to go before a magistrate and
swear that Eleazar was not her son, but was given her to
bring up; she told him she would do no such thing, as she
knew him to be her son; that Eleazar has since mentioned
to her that some of his friends thought he was not an
Indian, but descended from royal parentage; she told him
it was no such thing; that he was her own son.
her
"MARY ANN X WILLIAMS.
mark
"Subscribed and sworn before me this 28th day of
March, 1853.
"ALFRED FULTON,
"Justice of the Peace."
Mr. Smith claims to have known Rev. Eleazar Williams,
and gives some interesting reminiscences of their acquaint-
ance. 4 "First," says Mr. Smith, "as to his Indian blood.
I became a resident of Green Bay in the year 1828, and
knew Williams well from that time till I left there in
1837. For some time we boarded at the same table, and
I was almost as familiar with his appearance as I am with
that of any person in Madison; and I should as soon suspect
any one of my Madison acquaintances of being a pure In-
dian, as that Eleazar Williams was a pure European. Wil-
4 Ibid., VI, 330-336.
THE LOST PRINCE 453
liams had, undoubtedly, white blood in his veins. His
mother, as before remarked, was one-quarter white, and his
father was of mixed blood. I was familiar with mixed
blood of every grade, from octoroon whites to octoroon
Indians. Half breeds, as every one knows who has seen
much of frontier life, present opposite extremes of com-
plexion in different individuals, some being nearly white
and others being darker, even, than pure Indians. Eleazar
Williams and his wife presented these opposite extremes,
though Madame had the advantage in the proportion of
white blood. She was the daughter of a Canadian French-
man, and a pure Menomonee woman, and yet she would
have passed for a brunette French woman, while Williams
would have passed for a pure Indian, with just a suspicion
of the African in his complexion and features. Gov. Cass,
who was as familiar with every variety of mixed bloods
as any man in the country, ridiculed the idea that Wil-
liams, whom he knew well, was a pure Frenchman, and
declared in a published article that he was a fair type of
the Indian half breed. Again, when Mr. Williams first
imposed his pretensions upon Rev. Dr. Hawks, and that
worthy divine announced the supposed discovery to the
world through a New York paper, Gen. A. G. Ellis, himself
a decided churchman, and who had known Williams almost
from boyhood, and knew his father also, exposed the fraud
in an article published in his paper, the Wisconsin Pinery.
Among other things, Gen. Ellis spoke of Thomas Williams
visiting his son at Oneida, I think it was, and that the resem-
blance between young Williams and his father was so strong
and marked as to attract the notice of every one who saw
them. And yet Mr. Hanson repeatedly asserts that Mr.
Williams had the complexion and features of a pure Euro-
454 HISTORIC MACKINAC
pean, and is at immense pains to make out his resemblance
to the Bourbons. He must have known better. No man
ever saw a pure blooded European of any nation, with the
complexion especially of Mr. Williams.
"Finally, the character and reputation of Mr. Williams.
Mr. Hanson, aware that a large portion of the evidence he
had adduced in support of his claims, depended entirely
upon the truth of Mr. Williams' own statements, labours
throughout his book to keep the reader impressed with the
idea that he was a modest, devoted, self-sacrificing Chris-
tian missionary, who had worn himself out in unrequited
toil for the religious improvement of the Indians, and
whose integrity was above the slightest suspicion. In all
this it would be generous to suppose that Mr. Hanson was
deceived, though facts seem to forbid that even generosity
should concede so much. He knew that Williams was con-
cerned with him in the forgery committees upon Mrs. Wil-
liams' second affidavit, and having joined in this flagrant
conspiracy, we have a right to suppose they did it in others;
and before Mr. Hanson's book was published, Mr. Wil-
liams' moral delinquencies had become matters of ecclesias-
tical cognizance.
"The Montreal correspondent of the World, in the expose
before alluded to, gives a specimen of detected dishonesty
in Mr. Williams' early manhood. He informs us that in
1812, the Indians of Caughnawaga empowered Williams to
draw for then a small annuity of $266 due them from the
State of New York, and the Indians affirmed that he drew
this amount regularly from 1812 to 1820, but not one cent
of it ever reached them. By one dodge or another he
managed to keep the business in his own hands until the
latter year, when the Indians laid the matter before the
I
THE LOST PRINCE 455
Canadian Government, and that Government called to it
the attention of the Government of New York, and the pay-
ment to Williams was suspended.
"This transaction corresponds very well with his general
character while at Green Bay. Nominally a missionary
to the Oneidas located in that vicinity, under the patronage
of a Missionary Society, he drew his salary, not large, it is
true, but he did nothing, or next to nothing for them or for
anybody else. He rarely preached to either Indians or
white men, and spent but very little time with the people of
his nominal charge, but was continually boring the poor
souls for money to eke out a living. The Indians finally
informed the Mission Society that Williams did nothing for
them, and only wanted money, and requested that he might
be removed, and some one appointed in his place; and the
request was complied with. He was a fat, lazy, good-for-
nothing Indian; but cunning, crafty, fruitful in expedients
to raise the wind, and unscrupulous about the means of
accomplishing it. During the last four or five years of my
acquaintance with him, I doubt whether there was a man
at Green Bay whose word commanded less confidence than
that of Eleazar Williams. His character for dishonesty,
trickery and falsehood became so notorious and scandalous
that respectable Episcopalians preferred charges against
him to Bishop Onderdonk. But, as Mr. Williams was
located in the diocese of Wisconsin, under Bishop Kemper,
the Bishop of New York disclaimed jurisdiction of the case;
and, as Williams was there under a commission from a
society in New York, Bishop Kemper disclaimed jurisdic-
tion of the case, and in consequence of these counter-dis-
claimers, the charges were never investigated.
"Mr. Hanson has much to say about Mr. Williams' deli-
456 HISTORIC MACKINAC
cate health, and a constitution broken down by his mission-
ary labours and privations. I can well conceive that Mr.
Hanson may have been deceived in this matter, notwith-
standing Eleazar's rotundity, and the justice he could do
to a good dinner when not playing his favourite role; for
it was an old trick of his to be in very delicate health when
he had an object to accomplish by it. An instance of this
kind was related to me by Gen. Ellis more than thirty-five
years ago, but which I think I can repeat with substantial
accuracy.
"In the fall of 1830, Col. Stambaugh, then Indian agent
at Green Bay, went to Washington with a delegation of
New York Indians and Menomonees, to settle a dispute
between them concerning a purchase of land which the
former had made of the latter by treaty. Williams of
course was one of the Oneida delegation. He was always
on the look-out for little jobs of this kind, which Mr. Han-
son magnifies into instances of self-sacrifice to the interests
of the Indians ; but anything was a God-send to him, which
would pay expenses, and furnish him with good dinners.
"And Williams managed to make these instances of 'self-
sacrifice' pay pretty well, besides.
"On one of these occasions, the treaty of Buffalo Creek,
in 1838, the Government appropriated thirty -three thou-
sand dollars for the services of the Oneida Chiefs and head
men. Mr. Baird, the gentleman before alluded to in
connection with Mr. Williams' applications to the Masonic
Lodge, was appointed Commissioner to disburse the money.
Mr. Williams put in a claim upon this fund of ten thousand.
Mr. Baird recently informed me, that in adjusting the
several claims, he allowed Mr. Williams five thousand five
hundred dollars, and actually paid him that amount. On
THE LOST PRINCE 457
every similar occasion he received large sums of money
from the Government, and in one instance twenty-five hun-
dred acres of land in his wife's name, in a valuable location
on Fox River. In the course of these 'self -denying serv-
ices for the Indians,' of which Mr. Hanson makes such a
virtue, he must have received from the Government not less
than twenty thousand dollars in cash; and with such large
pay from the Government, any one can judge whose inter-
ests he had laboured most to promote, those of the Indians
or of the Government. There was one Indian, however,
whose interests were never overlooked, and that Indian's
name was Eleazar Williams. Yet, with true Indian im-
providence, his money went as easily as it came, and he was
always poor, and always in debt. Precisely how much he
received under the negotiations conducted by Col. Stam-
baugh, I am not able to say; but it must have been quite
sufficient to atone for the self-denial of spending a winter
at a hotel in Washington. But I have wandered a little
from the anecdote I was about to relate, illustrative of Mr.
Williams' delicate health.
"Gen. Ellis accompanied Stambaugh's mission in 1830
as Secretary.
"Arriving in Buffalo, they tarried two or three days.
While there, Mr. Williams, Gen. Ellis and others were
invited to tea at the house of a wealthy Episcopalian of
that city. They were seated at a richly furnished table,
spread with a great variety of delicacies. The hostess
asked Mr. Williams whether he would take tea or coffee?
He replied, neither; his health would not admit of his
taking either tea or coffee. Would he have a glass of
milk? No; his stomach would not bear milk at all. What
would he have to drink? Would he be free to mention any-
458 HISTORIC MACKINAC
thing that would agree with him? He would take a cup of
warm water with a very little milk in it. Then the prob-
lem was to find something he could eat. Would Mr. Wil-
liams be helped to some of this dish? No; his stomach
was so delicate he could not bear it. Then would he have
some of that dish? Oh! no; his stomach would not bear
any such thing; his health was so miserable he was obliged
to be extremely careful about his diet. They went through
their bill of fare, offering in turn everything there was
upon the table; but there was nothing his delicate stomach
would bear. In much embarrassment, and almost in de-
spair, the lady begged him to mention anything which
would agree with him, and if possible she would get it.
If convenient he would take a very thin bit of dry toast.
So he sat and nibbled his dry toast, and sipped his cup of
warm water. Returning to their hotel about eleven o'clock
the same evening, Williams rallied a waiter, ordered him to
set on a cold ham and other substantials to match, and sat
down for a square meal; 'and,' Gen. Ellis added, with em-
phasis, 'I verily believe he ate four pounds of that ham
before he left the table.' He then rose, gave a hearty
Indian chuckle, and went to bed; and the General could
not perceive that his delicate stomach was any the worse for
it the next day. This trick he was in the habit of playing
before there had been sufficient time for much wear and tear
in missionary labour. He would resort to it when among
strangers, wherever he thought he could excite a little sym-
pathy, and possibly induce a donation by the means.
"This is the whole secret of Mr. Williams' broken-down
constitution and delicate health, of which Mr. Hanson has
so much to say in his book. It is marvellous that it did
not occur to him to admonish his royal foundling to take
THE LOST PRINCE 459
another dip into Lake George. The effect might have been
as magical upon his delicate stomach as it had before been
upon his weak head. Eleazar was built very much like a
hogshead, largest in the middle and tapering a little both
ways, and if you could have seen him eat, when free from
restraint, you would have thought him about as hollow.
But not to exaggerate, in his capacity for eating he was a
match for the hungriest Indian / ever saw; and I do not
think that any one about the Bay, while I lived there, ever
suspected that his health was not as firm as that of most
men, and if it afterwards became impaired, it must have
been the result of something else than labours performed,
and hardships endured, as a missionary to the Indians.
"Completely bankrupt in character and credit at Green
Bay, Williams went to Washington and set up for an Indian
and Claim Agent, and became his own chief customer. In
this capacity he failed, for the obvious reason that no one
had any confidence in him. The next we hear of him he
turns up in New York as the 'Lost Prince' his last, final
dodge to excite sympathy and eke out a subsistence upon
the public credulity and charity; and he carried the joke so
far with himself as actually to issue a proclamation, in
which he used the personal pronoun in the first person
plural, after the manner of kings and editors.
"It seems, according to Mr. Hanson, that in the midst
of his newly found honours, Williams' heart still clung
fondly to his missionary work, and he was only anxious to
raise money to build a church at Duck Creek, the scene of
his former 'self-denying labours.' This object was ex-
tensively advertised by Mr. Hanson, but how much money
he raised under this false pretence, does not appear. Cer-
tain it is that none of it ever appeared at Duck Creek."
460 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Finally Mr. Smith adduces evidence from Col. H. E.
Eastman, a well known Wisconsin lawyer, giving the origin
of the whole story. 5
"A few days after the publication of my paper, I re-
ceived a note from Col. H. E. Eastman, a well known
lawyer of this State, informing me that he had read my
paper on The Lost Prince that it was good, but very in-
complete that perhaps he could throw more light on the
subject than any other man living, and quite as much as the
dead Dauphin, were he still on earth. In brief, he was the
originator of the idea and story of Williams being the Lost
Prince, conceived and written in leisure days while reading
French history, and becoming much interested in the mis-
fortunes of the Bourbons, but never intended as anything
more than a romance, which he might, sometime, publish.
That, at the same time, he had some business relations with
Mr. Williams and became quite intimate with him ; and this
circumstance led him to adopt him as the hero of the tale.
Finding that Williams was amused and flattered by the
idea, he lent him his manuscripts, from time to time to read
at his leisure. He afterwards learned that Williams had
them all copied. This, Mr. Eastman thinks, was in the
summer of 1847, and the winter of 1847-48.
"Busy times came on in the spring of 1848, and Col.
Eastman says he thought no more of his romance; and he
adds, 'You were none of you so much astonished as I was
when I went into Burley Follett's book store at Green Bay,
one day in 1853, and bought a number of Putnam s Maga-
zine, containing a startling discovery of the mislaid
Dauphin, in my own language, all but the affidavits and
other special proofs which I never had any purpose of
VI, 337-338.
THE LOST PRINCE 461
procuring. My facts were drawn entirely from imagina-
tion.' Among his imaginary facts, Col. Eastman men-
tioned to me the evidence which was said to have been
found at New Orleans, and some which Williams pre-
tended to have derived from other sources, and which he
assured me were pure fictions of his romance.
"Learning the above facts from Col. Eastman, I urged
him to make a detailed statement of the facts concerning
the origin of the Williams' Dauphin story for publication
with my paper in these Collections. He expressed some
delicacy about appearing in print with such an expose, but
encouraged me to hope that he would do so. As the vol-
ume was about being put into the hands of the printer, I
renewed this request, and was sorry to receive only the fol-
lowing, which however, in connection with the corrobora-
tive evidence which follows it, is quite sufficient to establish
the origin and fictitious character of Mr. Hanson's 'Lost
Prince.'
"DEAR SIR: On my return from the north counties two days
ago, I found your favour of the 18th in further relation to the
subject of the 'Lost Prince.' I have no excuse for not keeping
my promise to furnish you with 'a statement of some facts rela-
tive to the origin of Hanson's book,' except that I put it off from
time to time, and hesitated and lingered until I came at last to
doubt the propriety of taking upon myself the office of the icono-
clast at all, until there should seem to be some more excuse for
so much wantonness with so little gratification.
"I do not however, object, to your referring to me 'as the
originator of the idea in the form of a romance,' or of making
use of such facts as you already possess in proof of that proposi-
tion. It will be a more appropriate time for me to appear when
it is combatted or disputed. I promise you then abundant cor-
roborative testimony. I shall be able to prove, or to enable you
to prove, that the original story of the 'Lost Prince' was my
462 HISTORIC MACKINAC
story; that it had no claim or pretence above a moderately in-
genious, if somewhat extravagant romance; that the manuscript,
or a copy of it, was surreptitiously obtained from me by Rev.
Williams; that it was several years in his hands before he got the
courage, or conceived the folly, of claiming my fictions as his
facts; that when Mr. Hanson builded his book in three acts and
an epilogue he had my model before him, of which he adopted
something more than the name and theory.
"It is right to tell you, however, that I shall be willing to forego
the glory of the monstrous conception, if it is not already too late
to be saved the mortification of having been so monstrously
absurd.
"Truly yours,
"H. E. EASTMAN."
" 'Verily,' concludes Mr. Smith, 'Williams was great, and
Hanson was his prophet.' '
6 See William Ward Wright "Eleazar Williams, His Forerunners, Him-
self," in Parkman Club Publications, No. 7, 1896.
CHAPTER XXI
FORT MACKINAC, 1815-1918
OF all the features of Mackinac Island, the most
striking object seen as one approaches from the
Straits, is the historic fortification which crowns
the bluff overlooking the village and the crescent shore.
This is Fort Mackinac. On first view, as seen in the dis-
tance, it awakens a mixed feeling, of the glamour of the
frontier fortress and of the old-world castle. Its thick
walls of whitish limestone, crawling along a bold and lofty
elevation, lead to the sally-ports formerly defended by
cannon. At the angles of the work stand blockhouses of
logs loopholed for musketry and in olden times having the
added protection of pickets, palisades or stockades against
attack from the valorous red man. A ramble through Fort
Mackinac is one of the delights of a visit to the Island, and
few places afford finer views than does its lofty parapet,
from which the beholder may obtain "charming and hardly
paralleled visions of sunrise and sunset glories, gilding the
floods which spread their mirroring faces around the Is-
land." A noted traveller states that there is nothing in the
Mediterranean surpassing the marine view obtained from
the heights of Old Fort Mackinac. Several writers have
designated it the "Gibraltar of America." The following
items from Kelton's Annals of Fort Mackinac will be of
interest: *
1 Kelton's Annals of Fort Mackinac, pp. 20-24.
463
464 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"There are various ways of reaching the Fort from the
village; probably the best is 'up the steps,' the view at the
top being well worth the breath it costs.
"Now follow us, and we will show you through the Fort.
"The old block-house on our left was built in 1780-82,
by the British troops; for several years after they were
built the block-houses were used as barracks for the troops,
each of the three stories having been provided with an
open fire-place; beyond, to the left, are two buildings,
officers' quarters; passing along toward the flag-staff, we
come to another set of officers' quarters, built in 1835,
and another old block-house, the upper story of which con-
tains a wooden tank, into which water is pumped from a
spring at the foot of the bluff, and distributed through
pipes into various buildings. This innovation on the
water-wagon was made in accordance with a plan devised
by, and executed under the direction of Lieut. D wight H.
Kelton, U. S. A.; water was first pumped October 11, 1881.
"While reinforcing the flag-staff in 1869, a bottle was
taken out of the base, containing a parchment upon which
was written:
"HEADQUARTERS FORT MACKINAC,
"May 25th, 1835.
"This flag staff erected on the 25th day of May, 1835, by 'A'
and *G' Companies, of the 2d Regiment of Infantry, stationed at
this post.
"The following Officers of the 2d Infantry were present:
"Captain John Glitz, 'A' Company, Com'd'g Post.
"Captain E. Kerby Barnum, *G' Company.
"Ist-Lieut. J. J. B. Kingsbury, 'G' Company.
"2d-Lieut. J. W. Penrose, 'G' Company, A. C. S.
"2d-Lieut. J. V. Bomford, 'H' Company.
"Asst. -Surgeon Geo. F. Turner, U. S. A.
FORT MACKINAC, 1815-1918 465
"David Jones, Sutler.
"Absent Officers:
"Ist-Lieut. J. S. Gallagher, 'A' Company, Adjutant.
"2d-Lieut. J. H. Leavenworth, 'A' Company, on Special Duty.
"Colonel Hugh Brady, Bvt.-Brig. General, Commanding Left
Wing, Eastern Department, Headquarters at Detroit.
"Lieut.-Colonel Alexander Cummings, Commanding 2d Regi-
ment, Headquarters Madison Barracks, Sackett's Harbor, New
York.
"President of the United States, Andrew Jackson.
"Builder (of flag-staff), John McCraith, Private, 'A' Company,
2d Infantry.
"Going down the steps to the right, we are brought face
to face with one of the historical landmarks of this country,
the building in which this book was written, the old stone
officers' quarters, built in 17812, with walls from two and
a half to eight feet thick; formerly the windows had iron
bars across them. In 1812, the basement of this building
466 HISTORIC MACKINAG
and the old block-houses were used as prisons, in which
Captain Roberts detained the men and larger boys of the
village, after the capture of the Fort, until he decided what
to do with them. Those who took the oath of allegiance to
Great Britain were released and allowed to return to their
homes ; the others were sent to Detroit. Mr. Michael Dous-
man was permitted to remain neutral and was not disturbed.
In 1814, the basement of this building and the block-
houses were used as a place of refuge for the women and
children of the village, while the vessels containing the
American troops were anchored off the Island.
"The old wooden building on our right, now used as a
storehouse, was built for a hospital in 1828, on the site of
the original hospital built by the British, and it is said
to be nightly haunted by the noisy and visible ghosts of
some Indians who were in early days the victims of the
inquiring mind and deadly knife of a morbidly ambitious
surgeon.
"The long, low wooden building at the other end of
the stone-quarters, formerly officers' quarters, is now used
as a storehouse; facing it are the barracks, a two-story
frame-building, built in 1859, occupied by two companies
of soldiers, one on each floor, with mess-rooms, etc., com-
plete for each.
"We come next to the guard-house, built in 1828; be-
yond is the south sally-port, in which the old gates still
remain in place. Turning toward the north sally-port, on
our right, there was in early days a well more than one
hundred feet in depth, which furnished an abundance of
good water for the use of the garrison; the first building on
our right is the office and storehouse of the commissary of
subsistence, built in 1877, on the site of the old stone
FORT MACKINAC, 1815-1918 467
powder-magazine; the first office in the small building ad-
jacent is that of the commanding officer and the adjutant,
and adjoining it is the office of the quartermaster, which
is connected by a covered passage-way with the storehouse
beyond, built on the site of the post-bakery of earlier days ;
the building beyond is a bath-house, built in 1885, on the
site of the old sutler's store.
"Going up the path from the guard-house we will ex-
amine the 'reveille gun,' and take a glimpse of the magnifi-
cent view from the gun-platform. Below, at the foot of the
bluff, are the governmental stables, blacksmith shop, and
granary; beyond them the company gardens, where the
buildings of the Indian Agency stood in earlier days.
"In front of us is Round Island, where, for a long time,
there was a large Indian village, the only remnant of which
is an Indian burying-ground, on the southeastern part of
the Island. There is also an old burying-ground on Bois
Blanc Island. It is a singular fact that all these Indian
graves were dug due east and west.
"Wauchusco, a celebrated spiritualist of the Ottawa
tribe, lived on Round Island for several years previous
to his death, which occurred September 30, 1837.
"To the left of Round Island is Bois Blanc Island.
"The building in our rear is the hospital, built in 1858;
leaving it to our right, we pass another old block-house, and
over the old north sally-port, just outside of which, on July
17th, 1812, the British troops stood in line and presented
arms while Lieuts. Porter Hanks and Archibald Darragh
marched the American troops out, with arms reversed, to
receive their parole as prisoners of war.
"Passing on we come to the library, built in 1879.
"When built, the fort was enclosed by a stockade ten
468 HISTORIC MACKINAC
feet high, made of cedar pickets, into the tops of which were
driven irons with three sharp prongs projecting. Formerly
all the buildings belonging to the fort were within this stock-
ade. . . .
"The flags of three great nations have successively floated
over the Mackinac country, which has been the theatre
of many a bloody tragedy. Its possession has been dis-
puted by powerful nations, and its internal peace has
continually been made the sport of Indian treachery and
white man's duplicity. Today, chanting te deums beneath
the ample folds of the fleur-de-lis, tomorrow yielding to the
power of the British lion, and a few years later, listening
to the exultant screams of the American eagle, as the stars
and stripes float over the battlements on the 'Isle of the
dancing spirits.' The historical reminiscences rendering
it classic ground, and the many wild traditions, peopling
each rock and glen with spectral inhabitants, combine to
throw around Mackinac an interest and attractiveness un-
equalled by any other place on the Western Continent."
The following extracts from Bailey's Mackinac give a
very good idea of the Fort and its buildings: 2
"The present fort was occupied July 15, 1780, but not
completed until 1783. At that time the stone building and
the block-houses and a strong bomb-proof magazine with
arched walls, six feet thick, built on part of the site of the
present commissary, were constructed; also, the two arches
and stone works, surmounted by a stockade of white cedar
posts, squared and pointed at the tops, about ten feet high
and set in the lines intersecting the block-houses. The
stockade was pierced with two sets of loopholes for mus-
ketry and the block-houses armed with small iron cannon.
2 Adapted from the McMillan edition Bailey's Mackinac, pp. 194-198.
FORT MACKINAC, 181.5-1918 469
The whole formed a most perfect and secure defence against
the Indians of that day.
"In 1817-18 and as late as 1856-7 the fort retained
much of its original appearance. About this last date
a part of the stockade rotted and fell down and the rest
was removed. The other parts of the old fort and works,
viz., the stone wall facing the lake, and the other stone and
earth works, block-houses and old buildings, retain much
if not all their uniqueness.
"Buildings. The material of some of the buildings is
rough limestone, quarried near the fort, of various shapes
and sizes. The walls of these are very thick and strong,
and although now about one hundred years old, bid fair to
last for centuries. One of them, one story high, is on the
parade with a basement facing the water, and a two-story
porch on the water front. It is divided by a stone wall into
two equal parts, with a narrow hall through the centre of
each half, and a set of officers' quarters on each side of the
halls. The barracks for two companies were constructed
in 1858. Other buildings on the same foundations have
been twice destroyed by fire. An upper story was added,
and the porch remodelled to make room for two companies
in 18767. This barrack is a two-story frame building
with porches the whole length in front, facing the parade
ground southeast. The upper story of the porch has a
tight deck planking that answers the double purpose of a
floor above and a roof for the lower part. The dormi-
tories are 11 and 12 feet high and are fitted with single
iron bedsteads, each having an air space of 496, and 749
cubic feet respectively. Mess-rooms and kitchens are in
the rear of the main building.
"Hospital. A wooden structure two stories high, with
470 HISTORIC MACKINAC
porches in front facing the lake, standing on the second
level, east and just outside of the old walls of the fort, about
17 feet above the level of the parade ground. It is a
double house, with wide halls through the centre of each
story, and rooms on the sides of the halls. There are three
wards besides the other rooms, capacity 14 beds, with an
air space of from 600 to 800 cubic feet each. It was con-
structed in 1858. (Since, a dead house and also hospital
steward's quarters, both near by, have been built.)
"(At a meeting of the State Park Commission, held May
23, 1904, this Hospital, with the buildings attached, and
the grounds east of the lines of the Old Fort, south of the
East Block-house, within the inclosure, was set apart, at a
nominal rent, as a Hospital and Sanitarium for the use of
the people of the Island and visiting tourists, on condition
that it be kept in repair, and be supported by subscriptions
and endowments.)
66 Commissary. This fine building was completed in
FORT MACKINAC, 1815-1918 471
1878. It is a one-story frame house, built on the site of
the old magazine. It has a cellar which is part of the walls
of the demolished magazine."
The principal facts about the history of the Fort since
1815 are indicated in the following chronology: 3
"1815. By the treaty of peace and amity between Great
Britain and the United States, concluded at Ghent,
Belgium, December 24th, 1814, and signed by
Lord Gambier, Henry Goulbourn and William
Adams, on the part of Great Britain, and by John
Quincy Adams, James A. Bayard, Henry Clay,
Jonathan Russell and Albert Gallatin, on the part
of the United States (ratifications exchanged
February 17th, and proclaimed February 18th,
1815), the post of Michilimackinac was again
restored to the United States.
"On March 28th, Lieut.-General Sir Gordon
Drummond sent a dispatch from York (now To-
ronto), Canada, to Lieut.-Colonel Robert Mc-
Douall, of the Glengarry Light Infantry Fencibles,
commanding Fort Mackinac and Dependencies,
announcing the restoration of peace between
Great Britain and the United States. This dis-
patch reached Mackinac May 1st, and of it Col.
McDouall in a letter of May 5th, to Colonel An-
thony Butler, 2d Rifles, commanding 'Michigan
Territory and District of Upper Canada,' said,
'This was the first official communication I had
received from my Government, announcing the
termination of hostilities and the restoration of
the blessings of peace.'
8 Kelton's Annals of Fort Mackinac and Bailey's Mackinac, Passim.
472 HISTORIC MACKINAG
"Upon the receipt of the above dispatch, Col.
McDouall sent a detachment of troops to Drum-
mond's Island to prepare for the removal thither,
of the Mackinac garrison.
"The efforts made at all times by Col. Mc-
Douall to protect American citizens and their
property from the Indians, deserve mention.
"On the same day and by the same conveyance
that brought General Drummond's dispatch, Col.
McDouall received a letter from Col. Butler,
dated Detroit, April 16th, in reference to the re-
occupation of Fort Mackinac by U. S. troops.
Col. McDouall's reply, dated May 5th, was con-
veyed to Col. Butler by Lieut. Worseley of the
Royal Navy.
"The details connected with the restoration
of Fort Mackinac to the United States, and of
Fort Maiden, Amherstburg and Isle aux Bois
Blanc to Great Britain, were arranged between
Col. Anthony Butler, on the part of the United
States, and Lieut. Colonel W. W. James, of
the British Infantry, on the part of Great Bri-
tain.
"The United States troops were withdrawn
from Fort Maiden, Amherstburg and Isle aux
Bois Blanc, at noon on the first day of July.
"British troops, Col. McDouall in command,
occupied Fort Mackinac until noon July 18th,
when they were relieved by United States troops,
consisting of two companies of Riflemen (Cap-
tains Willoughby Morgan and Joseph Kean), and
half a company (Captain Benjamin K. Pierce's),
RARE OLD VIEWS OF FORT MACKINAC
EARLY VIEWS OF FORT MACKINAC
(From Major Dwight H. Kelton's collection)
FORT MACKINAC, 1815-1918 473
of artillery, under command of Colonel Anthony
Butler.
"These troops with supplies for six months, left
Detroit July 3d, in four vessels (commanded by
Lieut. Samuel Woodhouse, U. S. N.)., viz.: the
U. S. sloop of war Niagara, the U. S. schooner
Porcupine, and two private vessels chartered for
the trip. William Gamble, Collector of Customs
for Mackinac, accompanied the troops.
"The British withdrew to Drummond's Island
in the St. Mary's River, where they established a
post.
"Colonel Butler immediately returned to De-
troit, leaving Captain Willoughby Morgan in com-
mand at Fort Mackinac.
"Captain Morgan changed the name of Fort
George to Fort Holmes, and for a short time gar-
risoned it with a small detachment. He also
appointed Michael Dousman, a resident citizen,
Military Agent for Mackinac.
"Major Talbot Chambers, of the Riflemen, ar-
rived at Fort Mackinac, August 31st, who took
command, relieving Captain Morgan, who was or-
dered to Detroit.
'1816. Two Companies of Rifles left Fort Mackinac un-
der the command of Colonel John Miller, and
established Fort Howard, at Green Bay, Wis.
"Fort Mackinac 4 was temporarily evacuated,
October 14, 1839, by Captain Samuel McKen-
zie's Company, 2d United States Artillery, and
reoccupied May 18th, 1840, by Captain Harvey
Brown's Company H, 4th Artillery.
* Bailey, p. 184.
474 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"1840. May 18th. 5 Fort Mackinac reoccupied by Co.
H, 4th Artillery.
"1845. Armament of Fort Mackinac? In 1845, Captain
Silas Casey, Second United States Infantry, com-
manding Fort Mackinac, showed in his Ordnance
returns:
2 12-pounder brass guns, on ramparts.
2 18-pounder iron guns, on ramparts.
2 12-pounder iron guns, near old magazine.
2 9-pounder iron guns, near old magazine.
5 6-pounder guns, 1 in East, 2 in West, and 2 in North
Block-houses.
1 4-pounder iron gun, in East Block-house.
2 5!o inch iron Howitzers, in East Block-house.
"The same guns were there from 1852 to 1856,
when Thomas Williams, Captain and Brevet
Major 4th Artillery, commanded.
"In 1853 Major Williams got five additional
brass field guns, with carriages, and one ten-
inch iron mortar. All the guns were smoothbore.
The last five guns and the mortar were sent to
Fort Brady, when this fort was abandoned in
1895. The other sixteen guns were sold at auc-
tion by order of the Secretary of War when the
northern forts were all dismantled, just before the
breaking out of the Civil War. Some of the guns
were marked: 'Taken from Sara(to)ga,' 'Taken
from Lord Cornwallis,' et cetera. A few were
consigned to the scrap pile for old iron, and some
were shipped to Buffalo and other ports and used
as snubbing posts on the docks; they deserved a
better fate. There were, also, during the first
'Kelton, p. 186. 6 Bailey, pp. 187-188.
FORT MACKINAC, 1815-1918 475
British occupation, two brass 6-pounders, brought
over from Fort Michilimackinac, on the south
shore, that were taken, before 1763, from the
posts at Hudson's Bay, by a party of French
Canadians who went on a plundering expedition."
"1856. October 12th. Fort Mackinac evacuated. 7
"1857. May 25th. Fort Mackinac reoccupied by Co. E,
2nd Artillery.
"August 2nd. Fort Mackinac evacuated.
"1858. June 6th. Fort Mackinac reoccupied by Co. G,
2nd Artillery.
"1861. April 28. Fort Mackinac evacuated.
"1862. May 10th, the steamer Illinois arrived at Macki-
nac from Detroit, having on board Co. A, Stanton
Guards, Michigan Volunteers, Capt. Grover S.
Wormer, of Detroit, commanding (afterwards,
Lieut.-Col. and Col. 8th Michigan Cavalry, and
Brevet Brigadier-General United States Volun-
teers,) with First Lieutenant Elias F. Button,
Second Lieutenant Louis Hartmeyer, Chaplain
James Knox, and Dr. John Gregg, having in
charge the following distinguished gentlemen
from Tennessee, who were State prisoners of war:
Gen. William G. Harding, Gen. Washington Bar-
rows, and Judge Joseph C. Guild.
"For six days after their arrival, the prisoners
were allowed to remain at the Mission House, un-
der a guard, while quarters were being prepared
in the Fort. The three sets of officers' quarters in
the wooden building between the stone quarters
and the guard house were assigned to them.
* Kelton, pp. 186-187.
476 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"Gen. Harding occupied the set in the west
end, or nearest the stone quarters, Gen. Barrows,
the middle set, and Judge Guild, the set in the
east end. The rooms were comfortably fur-
nished by the prisoners, who remained here until
September 10th, 1862, when the Fort was again
evacuated, the prisoners taken to Detroit, and
thence to Johnson's Island, Lake Erie.
"1866. August 3d. Fort Mackinac re-occupied by the
4th Independent Company, of the Veteran Reserve
Corps.
"August 26th. Fort Mackinac evacuated.
"1867. August 22d. Fort Mackinac re-occupied by Co.
B, 43rd United States Infantry.
"1879. Saturday, May 31 Co. C, 10th U. S. Infantry,
(Lieuts. Kelton and Plummer) arrived at Fort
Mackinac from Fort McKavett, Texas.
"1895. The government of the United States abandoned
the post, transferring the buildings of the Fort and
its grounds to the State of Michigan."
Referring to the transference of the Island to the State
of Michigan by the national government, there occurs this
interesting comment in Williams' Early Mackinac: 8
"We do not question the fact, that as a fort constructed
in primitive times it was unsuited to the days of modern
warfare; nor the fact that with the numerous other well
8 Williams, Early Mackinac, p. 97, Duffield & Company, N. Y. (Note:
The copyrights, library, maps, autographs and letters belonging to the late
Major Dwight H. Kelton were purchased from his widow by Mr. Wood,
author of Historic Mackinac. Material from Major Kelton's collection has
been used extensively in this work. Permission to quote from Dr. John R.
Bailey's work Mackinac was granted by his son, Mathew G. Bailey, a promi-
nent citizen, and former Mayor of Mackinac Island. Mr. Tyrrell Williams
of St. Louis, Mo., very courteously gave authority to use material from
Early Mackinac, by the late Rev. Meade C. Williams, D.D.)
FORT MACKINAC, 1815-1918 477
equipped posts the department is maintaining for its troops,
this old-fashioned one was not an absolute necessity. Nor
do we question for a moment the propriety of making the
State of Michigan the legatee and successor to this property,
if the general government was determined to dispossess
itself of it. It could not have been more suitably be-
stowed, if it had to pass into other hands. The commis-
sioners, to whose charge it is now committed, appreciate
and will cherish that historic and patriotic interest which
attaches to the old fort, and will keep the grounds intact
and carefully guard the buildings. They will aim likewise
to preserve the trees and the drives of the park in that
natural beauty which has so long given them such charm.
But while thus assured, it is at the same time a matter of
deep regret that the national government should have for-
saken the Island. For sentimental reasons alone, even
had there been no other, the old fort should have been re-
tained as a United States post. A military seat which has
two hundred years or more of history behind it, is not often
to be found in the western world. Indeed, with the pos-
sible exception of Fort Marion, the old Spanish fortifica-
tions at St. Augustine, Fla., it is doubtful if there be
another on this whole continent, which could boast of so
long a period of continuous occupation as old Fort Michili-
mackinac, which was established first at St. Ignace in the
17th century, then removed to Old Mackinaw, and since
1780 has been located on our Island.
"The legislature of Michigan in the spring of 1897, by
formal act made the offer of recession to the United States
of the old military post with all the garrison buildings and
all the ground known as the Fort and Military reserva-
tion; such transfer to be made whenever the War Depart-
478 HISTORIC MACKINAC
ment should notify the commissioners of its readiness to
accept the tender. This would still leave what is known as
the Park in the hands of the State of Michigan. By reason
of the enlargement of the army, and the need there will be
for additional barracks and quarters for our soldiers, and
because of the eminent fitness and suitability of the Island
for an army post, it is thought the U. S. government may
incline to this offer, and that the old historic fort may again
be occupied."
The entry of the United States into war with Germany
in April, 1917, has brought about greatly changed condi-
tions in the size of the army and navy. The bracing and
pure air at Mackinac makes the old Fort an ideal location
to recuperate and strengthen the soldiers, and, with Rev.
Williams, it is hoped that a garrison may in good time
again be stationed in this historic fortress.
The Mackinac Island State Park Commission and the
Michigan Historical Commission are co-operating to utilize
one of the old Fort Mackinac buildings as an historical
museum, to be known as "Fort Mackinac Museum." An
extensive and valuable collection of Indian implements and
pioneer articles was presented to the Park Commission in
1915, by Edwin 0. Wood, of Flint, Michigan, as a nucleus
or foundation, to which it is expected additions will be
made, not only from duplicates in the State Historical
Museum at Lansing, Michigan, but by gifts and bequests
from time to time from those who have been interested in
the Mackinac country and its history.
The Superintendent of the State Park resides within the
walls of Old Fort Mackinac. Many leading citizens have
suggested that the two detached dwellings within the fort
enclosure be used as the summer residence, and office, of the
t"iol 10
FORT MACKINAC, 1815-1918
479
Governor of Michigan, and it is hoped that this may take
definite form. New Jersey and several other states have a
summer capital, and with the buildings available at Macki-
nac Island, there would be no added expense were the
Chief Executive to establish his official residence here, for
the months of July and August of each year.
UNITED STATES ARMY OFFICERS
The following is a. complete list of the commissioned
officers of the United States Army who have been stationed
at Fort Mackinac. The year of their arrival at the Fort
and their actual rank at that time are given. 1
1796. Henry Burbeck,
Abner Prior,
Ebenezer Massay,
" John Michael,
1800. Richard Whiley,
1802. Thomas Hunt,
" Josiah Dunham,
Francis Le Barron,
1804. Jacob Kingsbury,
1807. Jonathan Eastman,
1808. Lewis Howard,*
" Porter Hanks,
Archibald Darragh,
1810. Sylvester Day,
1815. Anthony Butler,
Willoughby Morgan,
Talbot Chambers,
" Joseph Kean,
John O'Fallon,
John Heddelson,
James S. Gray,
" William Armstrong,
Major,
Captain,
Lieutenant,
1st Lieutenant,
Major,
Captain,
Surgeon's Mate,
Lieut.-Colonel,
1st Lieutenant,
Captain,
1st Lieutenant,
2d
Garrison Surgeon's
Mate.
Colonel,
Captain,
Major,
Captain,
1st Lieutenant,
2d
2d ' "
Artillerists and
Eng'rs.
1st '
Artillerists and
Eng'rs.
1st "
Artillerists and
Eng'rs.
1st "
Artillerists and
Eng'rs.
1st Infantry.
Artillerists.
Artillerists.
2d Rifles.
Riflemen.
1 Kelton, Annals of Fort Mackinac (Smith ed.), pp. 26-32.
2 Died at Fort Mackinac, January 13, 1811.
480
HISTORIC MACKINAC
1815.
William Hening,
Surgeon's Mate.
"
Benjamin K. Pierce,
Captain,
Artillery.
M
Robert McClallan, Jr.,
1st Lieutenant,
"
M
Lewis Morgan.
1st Lieutenant,
it
"
George S. Wilkins,
2d Lieutenant,
U
((
John S. Pierce,
2d
"
"
Thomas J. Baird,
3d
it
1816.
John Miller,
Colonel,
3d Infantry.
u
John McNeil,
Major,
5th "
u
Charles Gratiot,
"
Engineers.
u
William Whistler,
Captain,
3d Infantry.
It
John Greene,
3d "
"
Daniel Curtis,
1st Lieutenant,
3d
(
John Garland,
1st
3d "
(C
Turby F. Thomas,
1st
3d "
"
Henry Conway, Jr.,
1st
3d "
(
James Dean,
2d
3d "
Andrew Lewis,
2d
3d "
"
Asher Phillips,
Paymaster,
3d "
Edward Purcell,
Hospital Surgeon's
Mate.
1817.
Albion T. Crow,
Hospital Surgeon's
Mate.
William S. Eveleth,
2d Lieutenant,
Engineers.
1818.
Edward Brooks,
1st
3d Infantry.
"
Joseph P. Russell,
Post Surgeon,
1819.
Joseph Gleason, 3
1st Lieutenant,
5th Infantry.
K
William Lawrence,
Lieut.-Colonel,
2d "
"
William S. Comstock,
Surgeon's Mate.
3d "
((
Peter T. January,
2d Lieutenant,
3d "
(C
John Peacock,
2d
3d -
1821.
William Beaumont,
Post Surgeon.
"
Thomas C. Legate,
Captain,
2d Artillery.
t<
Elijah Lyon,
1st Lieutenant,
3d "
"
James A. Chambers,
2d
2d "
Joshua Barney,
2d
2d
1822.
James M. Spencer,
1st
2d "
1823.
Alexander C. W. Fanning,
Captain,
2d "
u
William Whistler,
u
3d Infantry.
(
Samuel W. Hunt,
1st Lieutenant,
3d "
M
Aaron H. Wright,
2d
3d "
{<
George H. Crosman,
2d
6th "
"
Stewart Cowan,
2d
3d "
1825.
William Hoffman,
Captain,
2d "
Richard S. Satterlee,
Assist. Surgeon,
Carlos A. Wait,
2d Lieutenant,
2d Infantry.
M
Seth Johnson,
1st
2d "
1826.
David Brooks,
2d
2d "
3 Died at Fort Mackinac, March 27, 1820.
FORT MACKINAC, 1815-1918
481
1826.
Alexander R. Thompson,
Captain,
2d Infantry.
1827.
James G. Allen,
2d Lieutenant,
5th "
u
Edwin James,
Assist. Surgeon,
M
Ephraim K. Barnum,
1st Lieutenant,
2d Infantry.
M
Edwin V. Sumner,
2d
2d -
U
Samuel T. Heintzelman,
2d
2d "
1828.
Charles F. Morton,
1st
2d "
u
Sullivan Burbank,
Captain,
5th "
u
Robert A. McCabe,
u
5th "
u
William Alexander,
1st Lieutenant,
5th "
u
Abner R. Hetzel,
2d
2d "
u
Josiah H. Vose,
Major,
5th "
1829.
James Engle,
2d Lieutenant,
5th "
Amos Foster,
2d
5th "
M
Enos Cutler,
Lieut.-Colonel,
3d "
U
Moses E. Merrill,
2d Lieutenant,
5th "
If
Ephraim Kirby Smith,
2d
5th "
"
Isaac Lynde,
2d
5th "
it
Caleb C. Sibley,
2d
5th "
(
William E. Cruger,
1st
5th "
M
Louis T. Jamison,
2d
5th "
1830.
Henry Clark,
1st
5th "
1831.
John T. Collingsworth,
2d
5th "
M
Robert McMillan,
Assist. Surgeon,
Medical Department.
1832.
George M. Brooks,
Colonel,
5th Infantry.
M
Waddy V. Cobbs,
Captain,
2d "
((
Joseph S. Gallagher,
1st Lieutenant,
2d "
George W. Patten,
2d
2d "
U
Thomas Stockton,
Bvt. 2d Lieut.,
5th "
U
Alexander R. Thompson,
Major,
6th "
John B. F. Russell,
Captain,
5th "
1833.
William Whistler,
Major,
2d "
M
Ephraim K. Barnum,
Captain,
2d "
"
Joseph R. Smith,
1st Lieutenant,
2d "
James W. Penrose,
2d
2d "
Charles S. Frailey,
Assist. Surgeon,
Medical Department.
George F. Turner,
a
" **
1834.
Jesse H. Leavenworth,
2d Lieutenant,
2d Infantry.
John Glitz,*
Captain,
2d "
1835.
James V. Bomford,
2d Lieutenant,
2d "
<<
Julius J. B. Kingsbury,
1st
2d u
<
Marsena R. Patrick,
Bvt. 2d Lieut.,
2d "
1836.
Erastus B. Wolcott,
Assist. Surgeon,
Medical Department.
M
James W. Anderson,
2d Lieutenant,
2d Infantry.
1839.
Samuel McKenzie,
Captain,
2d Artillery.
H
Arnold E. Jones,
2d Lieutenant,
2d "
1840.
Harvey Brown,
Captain,
4th "
H
John W. Phelps,
1st Lieutenant,
4th "
M
John C. Pemberton,
2d
4th "
4 Died at Fort Mackinac, November 7, 1836.
482
HISTORIC MACKINAC
1841. Henry Holt,
Patrick H. Gait,
" George C. Thomas,
" George W. Getty,
" Alexander Johnston,
" William Chapman,
Spencer Norvell,
Henry Whiting,
" John M. Jones,
1842. Rev. John O'Brien,
Martin Scott,
1843. Levi H. Holden,
" Moses E. Merrill,
William Root,
John C. Robinson,
1844 John Byrne,
1845. Charles C. Keeney,
George C. Wescott,
Silas Casey,
" Joseph P. Smith,
Fred Steele,
1847. Frazey M. Winans,
Michael P. Doyle,
Morgan L. Gage,
Caleb F. Davis,
William F. Chittenden,
1848. William N. R. Beall,
Charles H. Larnard,
Hiram Dryer,
1849. Joseph B. Brown,
Joseph L. Tidball,
1850. Charles H. Laub,
1851. David A. Russell,
1852. Thomas Williams,
George W. Rains,
Jacob Culbertson,
Joseph H. Bailey,
1854. Joseph B. Brown,
1855. John H. Greland,
1856. Edward F. Bagley,
William R. Terrill,
Joseph H. Wheelock,
" John Byrne,
1857. Arnold Elzey,
Henry Benson,
Guilford D. Bailey,
1858. Henry C. Pratt,
Henry A. Smalley,
John F. Head,
Assist. Surgeon,
Medical Department.
Captain,
4th Artillery.
1st Lieutenant,
4th "
2d
4th "
Captain,
5th Infantry.
1st Lieutenant,
5th "
2d
5th "
2d
5th "
Bvt. 2d Lieut.,
5th "
Chaplain,
Captain,
5th "
Assist. Surgeon,
Medical Department.
Captain,
5th Infantry.
1st Lieutenant,
5th "
2d
5th "
Assist. Surgeon,
Medical Department.
Assist. Surgeon,
Medical Department.
2d Lieutenant,
2d Infantry.
Captain,
2d "
Bvt. 2d Lieut.,
5th "
" u
5th "
Captain,
15th "
2d Lieutenant,
Captain,
15th "
1st Mich. Vols.
2d Lieutenant,
1st
2d
1st
Bvt. 2d Lieut.,
4th Infantry.
Captain,
4th "
2d Lieutenant,
4th "
Assist. Surgeon,
Medical Department.
Bvt. 2d Lieut.,
4th Infantry.
Assist. Surgeon,
Medical Department.
1st Lieutenant,
4th Infantry.
Captain,
4th Artillery.
1st Lieutenant,
4th "
2d
4th "
Captain,
Medical Department.
Assist. Surgeon,
"
1st Lieutenant,
4th Artillery.
2d
4th "
1st"
4th "
1st
4th "
Assist. Surgeon,
Medical Department.
Captain,
2d Artillery.
1st Lieutenant,
2d ""
2d
2d "
Captain,
2d "
2d Lieutenant,
2d "
Captain,
Medical Department.
FORT MACKINAG, 1815-1918
483
1859.
William A. Hammond,
Captain,
Medical Department.
M
George L. Hartsuff,
1st Lieutenant,
2d Artillery.
1862.
Grover S. Wormer,
Captain, Stanton
Guards,
Mich. Vols.
<(
Elias F. Sutton,
1st Lieutenant,
Stanton Guards,
1C
Louis Hartmeyer,
2d Lieutenant,
Stanton Guards,
u
James Knox,
Chaplain,
" **
M
Charles W. Le Boutillier,
Assist. Surgeon,
1st. Minn. Inf'y Vols.
1866.
Jerry N. Hill,
Captain,
Vet. Res. Corps.
"
Washington L. Wood,
2d Lieutenant,
K
1867.
John Mitchell,
Captain,
43d Infantry.
M
Edwin C. Gaskill,
1st Lieutenant,
43d "
M
Julius Stommell,
2d
43d "
1869.
Leslie Smith,
Captain,
1st "
"
John Leonard,
1st Lieutenant,
1st "
a
Matthew Markland,
2d
1st "
1870.
Samuel S. Jessop,
Captain,
Medical Department.
1871.
Thomas Sharp,
1st Lieutenant,
1st Infantry.
1872.
William M. Notson,
Captain,
Medical Department.
1873.
Carlos Carvallo,
u
" "
1874.
Charles J. Dickey,
22d Infantry.
*'
John McA. Webster,
2d Lieutenant,
22d "
"
J. Victor De Hanne,
Captain,
Medical Department.
1875.
Alfred L. Hough,
Major,
22d Infantry.
1876.
Joseph Bush,
Captain,
22d "
u
Thomas H. Fisher,
1st Lieutenant,
22d "
M
Fielding L. Davies,
2d
22d "
1877.
Charles A. Webb,
Captain,
22d "
u
John G. Ballance,
2d Lieutenant,
22d "
Theodore Mosher, Jr.,
2d
22d "
u
Peter Moffatt,
Captain,
Medical Department.
1878.
Oscar D. Ladley,
1st" Lieutenant,
22d Infantry.
1879.
Edwin E. Sellers, 5
Captain,
10th "
Charles L. Davis,
"
10th "
Dwight H. Kelton,
1st Lieutenant,
10th "
Walter T. Duggan,
1st
10th "
Bogardus Eldridge,
2d
10th "
Edward H. Plummer,
2d Lieutenant,
10th "
George W. Adair,
Captain,
Medical Department.
1882.
William H. Corbusier,
H
<
1883.
John Adams Perry,
2d Lieutenant,
10th Infantry.
1884.
George K. Brady,
Captain,
23d "
M
Greenleaf A. Goodale,
M
23d "
Edward B. Pratt,
1st Lieutenant,
23d "
Calvin D. Cowles,
1st
23d "
M
J. Rozier Clagett,
1st
23d "
Stephen O'Connor,
2d
23d "
5 Died at Fort Mackinac, April 8, 1884.
484
HISTORIC MACKINAG
1884. Benjamin C. Morse, 2d Lieutenant,
1886. William C. Manning, Captain,
" George B. Davis, 2d Lieutenant,
1887. Charles E. Woodruff, 1st
1889. Harlan E. McVay, 1st
1890. Jacob H. Smith, Captain,
Charles T. Witherell,
" Edmund D. Smith, 1st Lieutenant,
Zebulon B. Vance, Jr., 2d
Woodbridge Geary, 2d "
Henry G. Learnard, 2d
" Edwin M. Coates. Major,
1891. Alexander McC. Guard, Captain,
" Joseph Frazier, 2d Lieutenant,
1892. Edwin F. Gardner, Captain,
1893. John Howard, 2d Lieutenant,
" James Ronayne, 2d "
1894. Clarence E. Bennett, Major,
1894-5. Woodbridge Geary, 1st Lieutenant,
1895. E. M. Johnson, Jr., 1st
23d Infantry.
23d "
23d tt
Medical Department.
<( U
19th Infantry.
19th
19th
19th
19th
19th
19th "
19th "
19th "
Medical Department.
19th Infantry.
19th "
19th "
19th "
19th "
MAP OF
Whitney's
Point
MICHIGAN.
mccordingto Act of Congreu in 1883, by
Scale, 2 inches to 1 Mile.
British Landi
Ledyard's
Cliffs
Rocb
485
CHAPTER XXII
MACKINAC NATIONAL PARK; MACKINAC ISLAND
STATE PARK
IN 1873 (March 11), the following resolution was intro-
duced in the United States Senate by Hon. Thomas
W. Ferry, a native of Mackinac Island, and Senator
from Michigan. 1
"Resolved, That so much of the Island of Mackinac,
lying in the Straits of Mackinac, within the county of
Mackinac, in the State of Michigan, as is now held by the
United States under military reservation or otherwise, (ex-
cepting the Fort Mackinac and so much of the present reser-
vation thereof as bounds it to the south of the village of
Mackinac, and to the west, north, and east respectively by
lines drawn north and south, east and west, at a distance
from the present fort flag-staff of four hundred yards)
hereby is reserved and withdrawn from settlement, occu-
pancy, or sale under the laws of the United States, and dedi-
cated and set apart as a national public park, or grounds,
for health, comfort and pleasure, for the benefit and enjoy-
ment of the people and all persons who shall locate or settle
upon or occupy the same, or any part thereof, except as
herein provided, shall be considered trespassers and re-
moved therefrom.
"That said public park shall be under the exclusive con-
trol of the Secretary of War, whose duty it shall be, as
1 Report of the Board of Commissioners, Mackinac Island State Park.
1909.
486
MACKINAG ISLAND PARK 487
soon as practicable, to make and publish such rules and
regulations as he may deem necessary or proper for the
care and management of the same. Such regulations shall
provide for the preservation from injury or spoliation of
all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonders
within said park, and their retention in their natural con-
dition. The secretary may, in his discretion, grant leases,
for building purposes, of small parcels of ground, at such
places in said park as shall require the erection of build-
ings for the accommodation of visitors, for terms not ex-
ceeding ten years; all of the proceeds of said leases, and all
other revenues derived from any source connected with said
park, to be expended, under his direction, in the manage-
ment of the same and in all the construction of roads and
bridle-paths therein. He shall provide against the wanton
destruction of game or fish found within said park, and
against their capture or destruction for any purposes of use
or profit. He also shall cause all persons trespassing upon
the same after the passage of this act to be removed there-
from and generally shall be authorized to take all such
measures as shall be necessary or proper to fully carry out
the objects and purposes of this act.
"That any part of the park hereby created shall at all
times be available for military purposes, either as a parade
or drill ground, in times of peace, or for complete occupa-
tion in time of war, or whenever war is expected, and may
also be used for the erection of any public buildings or
works; Provided, That no person shall ever claim or receive
of the United States any damage on account of any future
amendment or repeal of this act, or the taking of said park,
or any part thereof, for public purposes or use."
Through the earnest efforts of Senator Ferry, the Act for
488 HISTORIC MACKINAG
the Mackinac National Park, based upon this bill, was
passed by Congress, March 3, 1875.
Following the survey of the Park, certain lots were set
aside for building purposes, on three of the most pictur-
esque elevations, commanding water views. In 1885 was
issued the first lease of a building lot in the Park, to Mrs.
Phoebe Gehr, of Chicago, and in the same year the first
three cottages to be erected on Park lots were built, re-
spectively, by Mrs. Gehr, Mrs. Charlotte R. Warren, also
of Chicago, and Col. John Atkinson, of Detroit.
In 1884 was passed by Congress an Act to provide for
the disposal of abandoned and useless Military Reserva-
tions, of which Section 3 reads : 2
"And provided further, the proceeds of the military res-
ervation lands sold on Bois Blanc Island near to Fort Mack-
inac military reservation shall be set apart as a separate
fund for the improvement of the National Park on the
Island of Mackinac, Michigan, under the direction of the
Secretary of War."
On March 3, 1895, was approved the following act,
introduced by James McMillan, Senator from Michi-
gan: 3
"The Secretary of War is hereby authorized on applica-
tion of the Governor of Michigan, to turn over to the State
of Michigan, for use as a state park, and for no other
purpose, the military reservation and buildings, and the
land of the National Park on Mackinac Island, Michigan;
provided, that whenever the state ceases to use the land for
the purpose aforesaid, it shall revert to the United States."
2 Bailey, Mackinac, 212.
3 Report of the Board of Commissioners, Mackinac Island State Park,
1909.
MACKINAC ISLAND PARK 489
In 1895 the Legislature of Michigan accepted the gov-
ernment's offer, by an Act approved May 31, which in sub-
stance reads: 4
"AN ACT to provide for the appointment of a board of
commissioners who shall have the management and control
of the Mackinac Island State Park, and defining its powers
and duties.
"SECTION 1. The People of the State of Michigan
enact: That, pursuant to an act of Congress authorizing the
Secretary of War, on the application of the Governor of the
State of Michigan, to turn over to the State of Michigan for
use as a state park, and for no other purpose, the military
reservation and buildings and the lands of the national park
on Mackinac Island, the same shall thereafter be known as
'Mackinac Island State Park.'
"SEC. 2. Provides: Within thirty days, appoint-
ment by the Governor, with the Senate's consent, of a board
of five commissioners, citizens of the State, to serve, respec-
tively, two, four, six, eight and ten years; also, the Gov-
ernor to be ex-officio, a member. Commissioners shall
serve without compensation, but may receive actual ex-
penses out of the park fund, for not exceeding one week
in each year. Governor to fill vacancies.
"SEC. 3. Provides: Commission can lay out, control
and manage park, employ and pay a superintendent, but
debts and obligations can not exceed the funds on hand.
Commissioners can designate one or more employes to act
as deputy sheriffs of Mackinac county, with sheriff's ap-
proval, without pay or compensation as such. Commis-
sioners report to Governor annually receipts and expen-
ditures, and recommend and suggest as may seem proper.
* Bailey, Mackinac, 214.
490 HISTORIC MACKINAG
"SEC. 4. Provides: Superintendent shall see 'that the
United States flag is kept floating from the flag staff of
Fort Mackinac' under rules governing when the fort was
occupied 'by the United States troops.'
The Board of Commissioners, 5 as above stated, numbers
five members, who serve without pay, and are allowed
necessary travelling expenses for a time not to exceed one
week in any one year. Successive legislatures have added
to their powers. The first meeting of the Commission was
held at the Island, July 11, 1895.
Governor John T. Rich, in behalf of the State of Michi-
gan, formally accepted the Park from the Secretary of
War. The Fort was evacuated on September 16, 1895, by
the United States troops, who were removed to Sault Ste.
Marie.
Mackinac Island State Park contains 1,041 acres, of
which 500 are covered with hardwood, 400 acres spruce,
cedar, hemlock and other soft woods, and the balance
cleared land. Old Fort Mackinac, begun in 1780, with
its various buildings, comprises part of the Park.
Throughout the Park are drives, paths and trails. There
are more than forty miles of roads, with over sixty miles of
Indian trails and paths. There is a boulevard shore drive,
entirely around the Island, a distance of about nine miles.
(See Distance Map in this work.)
The expenses of keeping up the Park are met partly by
receipts from the leases of Park lands for building pur-
poses rented for summer homes, and partly by legislative
appropriation.
Among the notable improvements that have been made by
5 For names of Park Commissioners 1895-1917, see end of this chapter.
Past
RIGHT REV. MONSIGNOR FRANK A. O'BRIEN, LL.D.
Kalamazoo, Michigan
President Michigan Historical Commission. Author Descriptive Notes on
Names and Places at Mackinac Island
MACKINAC ISLAND PARK 491
the Park Commissioners, aided by the many friends of the
Island, who have its best interests at heart, may be men-
tioned those on the long neglected Post Cemetery. Quoting
from the Loyal Guard Magazine: 6
"For a number of years there was a question as to who
had the authority to look after this plot and when General
Humphrey, Quartermaster General U. S. A., was at the
Island three years ago, he promised to look the matter up
and see if the Department could furnish funds. After
the usual delay it was found that the War Department had
no control over it and could not use any of the funds appro-
priated for the care of national cemeteries for this use.
The late Hon. Peter White, President of the Mackinac Is-
land State Park Commission at that time, always interested
in matters concerning Mackinac Island, made a special trip
to Washington and had a bill introduced making an appro-
priation for the care and improvement of the Post Cemetery
at Fort Mackinac. Dr. John R. Bailey, of Mackinac Is-
land, also a member of the State Park Commission then,
was active and influential in bringing this about.
"Through the efforts of the Representatives and Senators
from Michigan, $1,000 was allowed, and the Quarter-
master General appointed the Superintendent of the State
Park, Mr. B. F. Emery, as Custodian.
"Before the matter was taken up with Congress, the fol-
lowing Memorial was addressed to Hon. William H. Taft,
Secretary of War, calling the attention of the War Depart-
ment to the condition of the cemetery and its needs:
" 'Sir:
The Board of Commissioners of the Mackinac Island State
6 The Loyal Guard Magazine, April, 1908, p. 7.
492 HISTORIC MACKINAG
Park, through its President, desire to call your attention to the
condition of the old Post Cemetery of Fort Mackinac.
'1st. We have no definite record of the first interments in this
cemetery, but know that the men who fell with Major Holmes, in
his disastrous attempt to recapture the Fort from the British in
1814, were buried in it. There are undoubtedly in the War De-
partment, records showing all the interments, but from such
sources as we are able to draw on, we can state, that with the
exception of two sailors, who were drowned off this port in a
wrecked steamer, one of whom was a soldier in the Civil War, no
burials have been made in this cemetery except officers and en-
listed men serving at Fort Mackinac, and their families. Since
the Commission took charge of the Fort in 1895, there has been
but one burial, that of a Non-Commissioned officer who had years
before served at this Post. There are 142 interments in the
cemetery, 72 known and 70 unknown. Of the known interments,
seven are of Commissioned officers, among them being Col. Sel-
lers, Capt. Glitz and Major Gaskill. Sixteen are the wives and
children of the officers, and the balance are enlisted men who
served at this Post. One of the oldest stones was erected in
1823 to the memory of the consort of Major William Henry
Puthuff, Indian Agent of this district. Of the unknown, it is un-
written history handed down from one generation to another
that fourteen men who fell in the battle of 1814 are buried in
Sections E. and G. There are also buried in the same sections,
two officers and four privates of the British Army, who died
during the period the Fort was occupied by the British, 1812 to
1815.'
"A detailed statement was made of the improvements
desired, and the approximate cost, which was attached to
the memorial which was closed with these words:
The above and foregoing are the main facts as we find them
and believe them to be, and it is the wish of the Commission that
you will give this appeal careful consideration and take such ac-
tion as your judgment dictates and the facts warrant.'
MACKINAG ISLAND PARK 493
"After a great many delays the work was started, and all
was completed on the 28th of May, 1907, in time for the
exercises held on Decoration Day.
"The work as carried out was approved by the Quarter-
master, and it is the intention of the Commission to keep it
in as good condition as it is today.
"In the centre of the cemetery is mounted a cannon which
formed one of the defences of Fort Sumter which, as it
stands, is dedicated to the unknown dead. On two sides
of the pedestal on which the cannon rests is a tablet with
these words:
'On fame's eternal camping ground,
Their silent tents are spread,
And glory guards with solemn round,
The bivouac of the dead.'
"From a tall staff at the left of the entrance to the ceme-
tery floats the Stars and Stripes, and as the evening gun is
fired, memory brings to us these words:
'Nor wreck, nor change, nor winter's blight,
Nor time's remorseless doom,
Shall dim one ray of holy light,
That gilds thy glorious tomb.' "
About thirty years ago, something over a thousand dol-
lars was contributed for the erection of a monument to
Father Marquette on the Island. Later, popular subscrip-
tions increased the amount to considerably over two thou-
sand dollars. Hon. Peter White, of Marquette, who held
the funds, was deeply interested in the success of the move-
ment, but after repeated efforts to raise the necessary
amount by subscription, he contributed personally much of
494 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the balance required to procure a bronze statue of the noted
missionary. The statue was dedicated September 1, 1909.
Among the addresses delivered on that occasion was one
by Mr. Justice William R. Day, of the Supreme Court of
the United States, and to render this noble tribute paid to
the great explorer and missionary available, it is here pro-
duced in full:
"We have gathered to dedicate a lasting remembrance of
one of the New World's great characters. No chapter in
American history is more suggestive of that spirit of devo-
tion and self-sacrifice which characterized the pioneers in
America than that which records the heroic struggles, the
patient endurance, the faith which encompassed all and
endured all, which in the early settlement of New France
inspired the fathers of the Church who sought to extend
with the new empire of the King the spiritual dominion of
the religion to which they had devoted their lives and for-
tunes. Hand in hand with the warriors and governors
went the faithful servants of the Church, sharing the priva-
tions of the forest, and everywhere planting the altar beside
the banner of the Sovereign.
"Of the memories which still linger in the broad domain
which came under their influence, the name of James Mar-
quette stands out in bold relief. For him a flourishing
city of the lakes is named; for him county and river are
called; for him a great State has placed a statue in the
National Pantheon at Washington; to him the historian has
devoted some of the most attractive chapters of our history.
"In the presence of his statue to-day, we pause for a mo-
ment to ask: What are the deeds, what the elements of
character which have circled the earth with the name and
fame of this gentle follower of his Master? For the brief
MACKINAC ISLAND PARK 495
time in which I shall address you, I can only point to a
few of the headlands along the coast of that brief and
stormy voyage which began and ended within the short
span of thirty-eight years.
"Of gentle lineage, devoted to his calling, and esteeming
his life as nothing if it might be sacrificed in the saving of
souls, he was also a scientist and a scholar imbued with
the spirit of discovery. He hailed with joy the orders of
a superior which sent him with Joliet on a mission of dis-
covery to the great river of the West. Entering upon its
waters at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, with his little band
of seven, in 1673, he traversed its waters to a point below
the mouth of the Arkansas, and with Joliet solved for all
time the question of the course and outlet of the Mississippi.
Had he left nothing else, his journal of that voyage, fortu-
nately preserved, and many years later given to the world,
would entitle him to a high place upon the roll of those who
first made known the geography and resources of America.
"Living for a few months subsequently at the mission at
Green Bay, delivering his messages of faith and hope, and
having visited the mission to the Illinois, he set out to return
to the mission at St. Ignace. Failing health reminded him
that his labours and privations had well-nigh overdrawn his
little capital of physical strength. It was on this return
journey, realizing that his end was near, that he calmly
directed his companions to draw their canoes upon the
shore. 'Erecting an altar,' says Bancroft, 'he said Mass
after the rites of the Catholic Church, then begging the
men who conducted his canoe to leave him alone for half
an hour in the darkling wood, amidst cool and silence he
knelt down and offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks and
supplication.' At the end of half an hour they went to
496 HISTORIC MACKINAC
seek him and he was no more. The good missionary, dis-
coverer of a world, had fallen asleep on the margin of the
stream that bears his name.
"That this journey of discovery had not overshadowed
the great mission of his life, is shown in the last paragraph
of his journal of the voyage. 'Had all this voyage caused
but the salvation of a single soul, I should deem all my fa-
tigue well repaid, and this I have reason to think, for when
I was returning I passed by the Indians of Peoria. I was
three days announcing the faith in all their cabins, after
which, as we were embarking, they brought me on the wa-
ter's edge a dying child, which I baptized a little before it
expired, by an admirable Providence for the salvation of
that innocent soul.' Here was one imbued with the spirit
of Him who said: 'Suffer little children to come unto me.'
"One of the most beautiful of the many descriptions
which his death and burial have invoked is from the pen
of one who spent many summers upon this Island, and to
whose mental vision the pathetic end of this life's journey
appeared, as he gazed from Point Look-out upon the
waters to the west, toward the pathway of that eventful
journey, more than two hundred years before. Many will
remember Dr. Duffield, the author of the poem, from which
I shall give you a single stanza:
'Where the gently flowing river merges with the stormy lake,
When upon the beach so barren, ceaseless billows roll and break,
There the bark 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 besides,
But to bear the blessed Evangel, Jesus Christ the crucified.'
MACKINAG ISLAND PARK 497
"America has but little to remind one of the early strug-
gles of the human race; and our life as a people, though
stirring and strenuous, has been, as nations go, of little
span. Of few of our great characters can it truthfully be
said, that his statue rests upon the spot where two hundred
and thirty-nine years earlier, the scene was spread before
his living eyes. Coming from the Mission upon Lake
Superior, by way of the quiet settlement at the falls of St.
Mary, Father Marquette remained upon the Island of Mack-
inac for a time in 1670, before departing for the mission at
St. Ignace. His was the great privilege of beholding the
Island in all of its primitive glory, with all its wild beauty
of tree and flower, and formed as Nature's God had made
it. He stood upon the verdure-crowned cliffs, unmarred by
the hands of man, and looked out upon the shining waters
beyond, unvexed by commerce, and dimpled only by the
friendly breeze. Coming from a life of hardship, toil and
peril; everywhere exposed to the attacks of wild beasts, and
the more treacherous attacks of those whom he would lift
from earth to heaven, who shall say, that as his eye met
the rising sun, lighting up this scene of natural beauty, that
his soul was not refreshed and his purpose strengthened
for new sacrifices by the thought so beautifully expressed
by one who saw it many years later, that here was a 'bit of
Heaven caught on earth.'
"The life this day commemorated belongs not alone to
one nation or organization, however powerful and great,
such characters live for all mankind. It is fitting that
monuments shall rise not alone to commemorate their char-
acters and achievements, but to teach, by their silent pres-
ence, lessons to the living. The great lesson of this life,
which this grasping, pushing age may well stop to consider,
498 HISTORIC MACKINAC
is absolute devotion to duty, to the following of an ideal
through privation and sickness, at all hazards and with
steadfast courage to the end.
"It is fitting that this statue shall stand within the
shadows of the fortress suggesting not only the two
great Nations whose ensigns have floated from its walls,
but that other people, an account of whose gallant
struggle for the possession of the West is an inspir-
ing record of valour and sacrifice. The life here commem-
orated suggests more emphatically the picturesque civiliza-
tion and the heroic and devoted following of those whose
allegiance was to the first of the three great sovereignties,
which, in succession, occupied this western land.
"Monuments do indeed teach their lessons to the living.
Who looks within that temple which commemorates the
fame of the great Napoleon, but thinks of the mighty genius
whose dust rests there, of the endless procession of vic-
tims to his ambition in his triumphant progress which over-
ran the countries of Europe, of the snows of Russia, the
fall at Waterloo, the rock-ribbed Island in the sea which
ended all. Who looks upon the stately column which rises
to the memory of Washington at our national capital, but
thinks of the wise leader in war, and safe counsellor of his
country in peace, perhaps the greatest character which
the world has known. Who looks upon the sad lines of
Lincoln's face, outlined in bronze, but thinks of the patient,
quiet strength and gentle but prevailing wisdom of the first
of our martyred Presidents. Who looks upon the temples
wherein rest all that is mortal of Grant, and Garfield, and
McKinley, but recalls to his mental vision the lessons of
their lives.
"The thousands who come from 'towered cities and the
MACKINAC ISLAND PARK 499
busy marts of trade' to find health and recreation on this
Island, shall learn as they look upon this statue new lessons
of duty, of self-reliance, and that faith in high ideals which
characterized every act of James Marquette from early
manhood to the grave.
"Upon the statue which marks Wisconsin's tribute, in the
old Hall of the House of Representatives at Washington,
are inscribed these words: 'James Marquette, who with
Louis Joliet discovered the Mississippi River at Prairie du
Chien, Wisconsin, June 17, 1673.' Were we to write his
epitaph to-day, we might take the simple words, which at
his own request mark the last resting place of a great Amer-
ican, and write upon this enduring granite the summary of
Marquette's life and character 'He Was Faithful.' '
An eloquent and scholarly address was also delivered
by Rev. John Cunningham, SJ. of Marquette University,
Milwaukee, of which it has been impossible to secure a copy.
From the Report of the Board of Commissioners of the
Mackinac Island State Park for 1909, may be quoted the
following, relative to the beautification of one of the natural
springs on the Island along the East Shore Boulevard: 7
"During the past year the Park has been enriched
through the generosity of Hon. Edwin 0. Wood of Flint,
who has presented the Commission with sufficient funds to
improve one of the numerous springs on the eastern boule-
vard. This spring is to be known henceforth as 'Dwight-
wood Spring.' In his letter to the Superintendent, Mr.
Wood says:
'Permit me to thank your Honorable Board of Commissioners,
and yourself personally, for the courtesy extended to me in the
7 Report of the Board of Commissioners, Mackinac Island State Park y
1909.
500 HISTORIC MAGKINAG
matter. If in beautifying this spring of pure, clear, cold water,
which God has brought out from the rock, to quench the thirst
of the thousands of people who visit your Island, if it shall have
become one of the bright spots, restful and refreshing to the
weary, to be remembered by them long after leaving the Island's
shores, then I am sure we will all be repaid for the small part
which we may have taken in providing additional comfort and
conveniences for the public. I congratulate yourself and the
Board of Commissioners on the conscientious, practical and splen-
did work you are doing, not only for the State of Michigan, but
for the entire world, in maintaining and adding to the natural
beauties of Mackinac Island.'
The account of the dedication printed at the time is as
follows :
"On Thursday afternoon, July 22d, 1909, there was dedi-
cated at Mackinac Island, Mich., a spring, christened
Dwightwood Spring, as a memorial to Dwight Hulbert
Wood, deceased son of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin 0. Wood, of
Flint, Michigan. The spring as provided by nature, is a
wealth of pure, cold water rushing out of the rocky cliffs on
the east side of the Island. Mr. and Mrs. Wood were
granted permission to provide funds to beautify the spring
where it reaches the shore drive or boulevard, and their gift
was accepted by the Board of Mackinac Island State Park
Commissioners, and by resolution the fountain was named
Dwightwood Spring.
"The design for the mason work and canopy was drawn
under the direction of the Superintendent of the State Park,
Mr. B. F. Emery, to whose artistic genius the public are
indebted for the symmetry and beauty of the completed
fountain. It is built of natural stone with cement columns,
and a bowl or basin of solid rock is provided, which the
MACKINAC ISLAND PARK 501
water reaches from a passage directly through a large stone.
Seats are furnished, sheltered by the canopy, and thereby is
provided a resting place for the thousands of travellers who
visit the Island each year.
"The spring faces the east, and, as a promising and
beautiful character went out in the morning of life, so this
pure and refreshing water runs towards the rising sun, and
typifies a life of service, which, had the deceased been
spared, it is certain he would have given to the world.
"The simple ceremonies and service at the dedication
were attended by a large concourse of people, among them
being the Mayor and city officials of Mackinac Island, and
many summer residents, including Mr. Justice William R.
Day, of the Supreme Court of the United States. Rev.
Father Sommers was one of the Committee on Arrange-
ments.
"In a few well chosen words Hon. John R. Bailey ac-
cepted the work on behalf of the State Park Commission,
and with a sprinkling of cold water formally christened
the fountain, Dwightwood Spring.
"At the conclusion of the program a silent toast was
drunk to the memory of the late William C. Maybury, Ex-
Mayor of Detroit, who was to have been the speaker on
this occasion, but who was called to his reward before the
completion of the work.
"The singing of 'The Beautiful Isle of Somewhere' by
Mr. Harold Jarvis and the fervent and eloquent address of
Superintendent Emery were features of the event which left
a lasting imprint on the hearts of all present.
Superintendent Emery spoke as follows:
"The All Wise Creator has placed some parts of this
world under a cover of perpetual snow and ice, other parts
502 HISTORIC MACKINAC
under the rays of the tropical sun, while lying between these
zones and the regions most familiar to us, to the wave
washed, sun kissed shores of Mackinac, there come each
year, thousands for relief from the torrid waves which
sweep the thickly settled portions of our country. For
ages there existed upon the eastern shores of this Island, a
little spring that, ever and anon, trickled its way through
neglected moss and debris, to which those who once tasted
its refreshing waters, returned again, if not the same year,
whenever they wended their way to the 'Fairy Isle.' Years
of neglect did not warm its waters, nor take away the charm
of its gushing out from the rock, but to the aged and the
infirm it was not available. It offered no shelter from
the storm, which might have overtaken the pedestrian, nor
was there any protection to the fast scaling banks, over
which the overflow was rapidly eating its way. Years ago
the Indian tribes who roamed about this region, knew of
this spring, and of the healing efficacy of its waters, and no
camp fire or council was complete until all had taken water
from it, and washed the evil from their hands.
"A visitor to the Island, one day walking around the
beach, was taken with the ripple of its waters, and secured
a draught, but the rest of the party had to be content with
his description of its virtues. He made a second pilgrim-
age to the spring, and then he approached the Park Com-
mission, asking if they had any objections to the spring's
being improved, made more accessible, and protected from
the ravages of time. He was at once granted the desired
permission, and to-day he is able to be with us, to note how
his thoughtfulness is appreciated. It has been a work of
love for all who have had a hand in the erection of this
memorial. God, in His infinite wisdom, brought out from
MACKINAG ISLAND PARK 503
the rock a stream of pure cold water, to refresh the weary
wanderer, and it has been the main idea of those who have
had the work in charge, not to improve on nature, for that
would be impossible, but to preserve the work of nature,
to make the spring accessible, to prove a shelter in time of
storm, to be a resting place for the weary, long to be remem-
bered after leaving the beautiful Island shores. If so it be,
well will we consider our work done. It stands to-day at
the service of the people, all the people, for all time; to
be used, but not abused. Let vandal hands touch it not.
'A little stream had lost its way
Amid the grass and fern.
A passing stranger scooped a well,
Where weary men might turn.
He walled it in and hung with care
A ladle at the brink.
He thought not of the deed he did,
But judged that all might drink.
He passed again, and, lo, the well,
By summer never dried,
Had cooled ten thousand parching tongues
And saved a life beside.
A nameless man amid a crowd
That thronged the daily mart
Let fall a word of hope and love,
Unstudied, from the heart.
A whisper on the tumult thrown,
A transitory breath,
It raised a brother from the dust;
It saved a soul from death.
germ, fount, word of love,
thought at random cast,
Ye were but little at the first,
But mighty at the last!'"
504 HISTORIC MACKINAC
A bronze tablet has been erected adjoining Arch Rock,
to the memory of John Nicolet, the first white man to enter
the Old Northwest.
A memorial tablet in honour of Lewis Cass has been
placed on Cass Cliff, and near by, in Sinclair Grove, the rel-
atives of Constance Fenimore Woolson, the talented novel-
ist, have caused to be erected as a tribute to her, a beauti-
ful memorial.
In 1914 and 1915, the Mackinac Island State Park
Commission met with the Michigan Historical Commission,
the Hon. Woodbridge N. Ferris, Governor of Michigan,
being present, and by a unanimous vote names of historical
import were given to points of interest. Great care was
given to the selection, and all names which had been ap-
plied for a long period of years were retained. 8 Later
Rt. Rev. Monsignor F. A. O'Brien, LL.D., President of the
Michigan Historical Commission, wrote a valuable bulle-
tin, which was published by the State, entitled Explanatory
and Descriptive Notes on Names and Places at Mackinac
Island.
The beauty of the Mackinac Island State Park is not
excelled by any state or national park in America. The
old Indian trails have been restored and designated by
name. The Mackinac Island State Park Commission has,
in co-operation with the Michigan Forestry Department,
and Mr. Warren H. Manning, Landscape Architect, of Bos-
ton, taken important steps to protect the forests from de-
struction by fire and preserve the natural beauty of the
"Fairy Island." Superintendent F. A. Kenyon has re-
moved much of the dead timber, and improved the roads,
8 Explanatory and Descriptive Notes on Names and Places at Mackinac
Island, Rt. Rev. Monsignor F. A. O'Brien, LL.D.
MACKINAC ISLAND PARK 505
drives, paths and trails, keeping the entire park in splendid
condition. The State of Michigan has in recent years
come to appreciate Mackinac Island State Park, and the
appropriations for its preservation and maintenance have
been liberal. The aim of the Park Commission is to keep
Old Fort Mackinac intact, and to retain it, as far as pos-
sible, exactly as it was in the days of old.
Thousands of visitors from all parts of the world land on
the shores of Mackinac Island every summer. It has be-
come one of the famous watering places of the American
continent.
The natural formations on Mackinac Island are de-
scribed so concisely by Monsignor O'Brien in Notes on
Names and Places that with his generous permission, and
that of the Michigan Historical Commission, it is given in
full in the succeeding chapter of this work.
MACKINAC ISLAND STATE PARK COMMISSION
1896-1897 Thomas W. Ferry, Grand Haven
1895-1899 William M. Clark, Lansing
1895-1901 Peter White, Marquette
1895-1903 George T. Arnold, Mackinac Island
1895-1905 Albert L. Stephens, Detroit
? -1905 George H. Barbour, Detroit
1897-1907 Charles R. Miller, Adrian
1899-1909 William A. Perren, Detroit
1901-1911 Peter White, Marquette
? -1911 Alfred 0. Jopling, Marquette
1903-1913 Dr. John R. Bailey, Mackinac Island
? -1913 Louis H. Weil, Port Huron
1905-1915 Leo M. Butzel, Detroit
1907-1917 Ira A. Adams, Bellaire
506
HISTORIC MACKINAG
1909-1919
1911-1921
1913-1916
1915-1925
1917-1923
1917-1927
Harry Coleman, Pontiac
Alfred 0. Jopling, Marquette
Edwin 0. Wood, Flint
Walter 0. Briggs, Detroit
Phelps F. Ferris, Big Rapids
John P. Hemmeter, Detroit
SUPERINTENDENTS OF THE STATE PARK
1895-1911 Benjamin F. Emery.
191 1-1918 Frank A. Kenyon.
[NOTE: Superintendent Kenyon is in charge of the
State Park at the time Historic Mackinac goes to
press.]
SCJLE.
2 MILES
CHAPTER XXIII
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST
AT
MACKINAC ISLAND, MICHIGAN,
ESTABLISHED, DESIGNATED AND ADOPTED BY THE
MACKINAC ISLAND STATE PARK COMMISSION
AND THE MICHIGAN HISTORICAL
COMMISSION
Descriptive and Explanatory Notes by
RT. REV. MONSIGNOR FRANK A. O'BRIEN, LL.D.,
President, Michigan Historical Commission
[NOTE: The numbers following the names of places of interest, refei
to corresponding numbers on the three page map of Mackinac Island which
is a part of this work. Where the name is not shown in print on the map
referred to, a number is given. The location of any point of interest can
be readily found on the map, being designated either by name or number.]
AGATHA OUTLOOK (151) : A natural view point on the
southwest side of the Island, overlooking the Straits.
Sister Agatha was a Catholic nun, of the Sisters of St.
Joseph. She took care of the orphans in the Mackinac
district, and finally established an asylum for them at the
L'Anse Mission.
ALEXANDER HENRY TRAIL (128) : Trail from the parade
ground to Skull Cave, paralleling Garrison Road.
Alexander Henry was an English explorer and fur-
trader, who narrrowly escaped death in the massacre at
Old Mackinaw, in June, 1763. He owed his life largely to
a friendly jib way chief, Wawatam, and the seclusion af-
forded by Skull Cave, on Mackinac Island, to which he was
conducted by his friend after the massacre. The story is
graphically told in Henry's Travels. According to his own
account he spent nearly a year in Indian garb, following the
507
508 HISTORIC MACKINAG
fortunes of Wawatam and his family, in Indian camps and
villages, on the Southern Peninsula. Returning in the
spring of 1764, to what they supposed was a place of safety
at old Fort Mackinaw, Henry's life was again in dan-
ger. To prevent his murder by hostile Indians, Wawatam
fled with him in the night to Point St. Ignace, thence to St.
Martin's Bay, thence to Goose Island, where he made his
final escape, and was rescued by the Chippewa wife of M.
Cadotte and her three French boatmen of Sault Ste. Marie.
Here Henry bade farewell to his Indian brother who had
saved his life many times. His family accompanied him
to the canoe, and Wawatam prayed, beseeching God "to
take care of him, his brother, until they should meet again."
In 1770 he was one of a Company formed to mine copper
on Lake Superior; the venture was unsuccessful. Henry
was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey ; died in Montreal,
in 1824. 1
ALGONQUIN STREET (125) : Street in State Plat No. 1.
Algonquin, or Algonkin, in the Indian language, means
"at the place of spearing fish, from the bow of a canoe."
The name was applied originally by the French Canadians
to a small tribe living near the site of the present city of
Ottawa, Canada. It later came to include all tribes of this
family of languages, a stock which occupied all the Mack-
inac country and an area more extended than any other in
North America.
ALLOUEZ CASCADE (169) : Natural overflow of water.
Father Claude Jean Allouez was the first Jesuit mission-
ary to visit the Straits of Mackinac, in 1669, on a canoe
voyage from Sault Ste. Marie to his new mission at Green
Bay, Wisconsin. He laboured in the mission at Chequa-
i See Michigan Historical Collections, Vols. I, VI, XI, XIII, XIV, XVII,
XX, XXI, XXIV, XXV, XXVI, XXVII.
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 509
megon Bay (present Ashland County, Wisconsin), on Lake
Superior, in 1665-1669, being in the latter year succeeded
by Father Marquette. For more than a quarter of a cen-
tury Father Allouez laboured in the western missions. He
was named the first Vicar-General of the Northwest Terri-
tory. He was styled by his superior, Father Dablon, a
"second Xavier." Shea calls him "the founder of Chris-
tianity in the West," and by others he is called "the Apostle
of the West." He preached the Gospel to twenty different
tribes. He dared to travel farther than any of the mission-
aries of his time. His life was one alternation of triumph
and defeat. At one time the Indians wished to worship
him as a god, at another they would murder him. His
name is imperishably connected with the progress of dis-
covery in the Mackinac country and the West. He died
near Fort St. Joseph, in the vicinity of the present Uni-
versity of Notre Dame, Indiana.
ANNEX ROAD (148) : Road from Four Corners through
Hubbard's Annex, where the West End cottages are located.
ARCH ROCK (75) : The world-famous natural arch, a
counterpart of the Natural Bridge in Virginia.
According to Indian tradition, this magnificent arch,
which from some view points seems suspended in air, was
formed by the Giant Fairies, who once inhabited the Island,
and who may still be seen about this chasm of wild gran-
deur on moonlight nights by those who have the eye to
perceive them. Geologically, it is a calcareous formation,
which was among the first points on the Island to project
above water in ancient times. It was formed by the action
of the receding waters, wearing and loosening great masses
from its sides. The summit of the arch is a hundred and
forty-nine feet above the lake level, with a span of over
510 HISTORIC MACKINAC
fifty feet. Legendary lore records that Arch Rock was the
gateway through which the Giant Fairies entered the Island.
ARCH ROCK ROAD (135): Carriage Drive from Huron
Roa/I to Arch Rock.
ARCH ROCK TRAIL (83) : An old Indian trail from the
northeast corner of Marquette Park, up the bluff to Cass
Cliff, crossing Huron Road, Potawatomi Court, and Arch
Rock Road, leading direct to Forest King, a lone pine tree,
at which it makes a square turn to the right; it ends at
Arch Rock.
ASTOR HOUSE (Named for John Jacob Astor) (41):
The building was formerly the headquarters of the Ameri-
can Fur Company, for the Mackinac country; it is now
utilized as a hotel.
John Jacob Astor organized the American Fur Company
in 1809, and was until 1834 its head and chief promoter.
Washington Irving has given a charming account of this
fur-trade and its relations with Mackinac Island, in Astoria.
The force numbered about four hundred clerks and traders,
and about two thousand voyageurs. Five hundred of these
were quartered in barracks, one hundred lived in the "Old
Agency House," and the others were camped in tents and the
homes of the Islanders. The Astor House, or as then, the
Island headquarters of the Company, was the social centre
for the Mackinac country and vast regions beyond. Mr.
Astor was born in Waldorf, near Heidelberg, Germany,
July 17, 1763; died at his home in New York, 1848. His
fortune at the time of his death is said to have been nearly
$20,000,000. In his will, among other provisions, he left
a liberal sum to found the Astor House, in his birth-place,
at Waldorf, for the education of poor children and the care
of the aged. One of his descendants, John Jacob Astor,
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 511
was drowned, with many others, by the sinking of the
Titanic.
BABY MANITOU (205) : A detached boulder just a little
distance to the north of Gitchi Manitou, both being on the
East Shore Boulevard, and below Arch Rock.
BADIN GROVE (107): A magnificent grove, named in
honour of the two Badin brothers, both Catholic priests of
the early days.
Father Stephen Theodore Badin was the first priest to be
ordained within the limits of the thirteen original States.
As a pioneer missionary of Kentucky, he is said to have
"lived in the saddle," travelling more than 100,000 miles
during his service there, beginning with the half century
following the year 1793. He was born at Orleans, France,
in 1768; died in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1853. In 1904, his
body was removed to the University of Notre Dame, In-
diana, he having secured the property for this great insti-
tution of learning.
Father Frangois Vincent Badin left Detroit in April,
1825, and after a long and tedious voyage arrived at Mack-
inac Island. His coming having been announced, he was
received with great joy by Catholics and Protestants alike.
The courthouse, whither he was conducted, was lighted up
and decorated for the occasion, and he addressed the peo-
ple. The Secretary of War, through the influence of
Congressman Father Richard, agreed to bear two-thirds of
the expense of establishing educational buildings at Mack-
inac, and to pay twenty dollars per year for each child edu-
cated. Father Badin inspired two Catholic nuns to give
their services for the instruction of the Indian girls. Dur-
ing his administration the Catholic church was removed to
the present site. At his departure the Indians assembled
512 HISTORIC MACKINAC
on the beach to say farewell to the good Father they had
loved so well. Father Badin returned to Detroit.
BANCROFT REST (53) : Resting place on east bluff.
Named for George Bancroft, the American historian.
Mr. Bancroft was educated at Harvard, and at Gottingen
and Heidelberg, Germany. Among his friends were the
leading scholars of his day in Europe and America. He
was an intimate friend of the poets Longfellow, Whittier
and Lowell; of the writers Irving, Hawthorne, and Emer-
son; and of the historians Parkman, Motley and Prescott.
His first publication was a volume of poems (1823). The
first volume of his History of the United States appeared in
1834. President Polk appointed him Secretary of the
Navy, and during his term of office Bancroft established
the Naval Academy at Annapolis. It was he who gave the
order, in case of war with Mexico, to take immediate pos-
session of California, an acquisition of territory due to his
initiative. He was later Minister to Great Britain and
Germany. He was greatly interested in Mackinac and the
Old Northwest, and his enthusiastic letters to Schoolcraft,
while the latter was an Indian agent at Mackinac in the
thirties, are gratefully mentioned by the latter in his Per-
sonal Memoirs as a great encouragement. Bancroft was
born in Worcester, Mass., in 1800; died in 1891.
BARAGA VIEW (54) : A view point on east bluff overlook-
ing the water.
Rt. Rev. Frederick Baraga, D. D., was born in Hanover
in 1797. He was a member of the Austrian House of
Hapsburg. As pastor of Mackinac, he has frequent entries
in the parish register. Ordained in 1823, he wrote Rt.
Rev. Bishop Fenwick of Cincinnati for admission into his
Diocese, but the letter was lost. In April, 1830, he wrote
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 513
again. For answer he was pressingly invited to come as
soon as possible. Father Baraga reached Cincinnati on
January 18, 1831. In April of the same year he came to
Arbre Croche. The Indians were delighted. His church,
school and house were built by them. When it rained
through the birch-bark roof, Father Baraga would spread
his cloak over his books, open an umbrella over the bed to
keep it dry, and remain in that part of the room where it
leaked the least. No one is the author of more books in
the Indian language. His Grammar and Dictionary, a
History of the Indians, Catechisms, Prayer Books, Instruc-
tions, Bible History, etc., form a richer religious library
for the Ottawas and Chippeways than any other tribes pos-
sessed. He spent a whole life among, these Indians in
Michigan. Father Baraga endeavoured to have mechanics
come to instruct the Indians in the trades. Bishop Fenwick
called him "The Crown of his Apostolic labours." During
the winter, Father Baraga frequently journeyed a distance
of thirty or forty miles, on snow shoes. He established a
mission at Grand Rapids in 1833. A man of great activity
and energy, he had extended his missions even beyond Lake
Michigan, erecting chapels in various places. In 1853
Father Baraga was consecrated Bishop. The Indian mis-
sions in lower Michigan and Northern Wisconsin were
ceded to him. Soon afterward he went to Europe to secure
funds for his Diocese. While at Baltimore in 1866 he was
stricken with apoplexy, from which he never fully recov-
ered. He died January 19, 1868. Bishop Baraga justly
deserves to be called "The Apostle of the Northwest."
Among the pioneer men of renown in the Peninsula, the
name of Baraga deserves special remembrance.
BATTLE FIELD (95) : Site of the Battle of Mackinac Is-
514 HISTORIC MACKINAC
land, Aug. 4, 1814, when the Americans attacked the Brit-
ish forces on the Island.
In this engagement Major Holmes was killed; Captain
Van Home and Lieutenant Jackson were mortally wounded,
and Captain Desha was seriously injured. (See "Croghan
Water," and "Holmes Hill.")
BEAUMONT MONUMENT (194): Granite memorial
erected by the medical profession to the memory of Dr.
William Beaumont, U. S. A.
Dr. Beaumont's experiments in the case of Alexis St.
Martin brought to the world the first direct information
concerning the action of the gastric juice. (See "St. Mar-
tin.")
BIDDLE'S POINT (170) : Point of land forming Haldi-
mand Bay. Named for Edward Biddle, a prominent resi-
dent of the Island, engaged in the fur trade.
BIG MOLAR (Linden) (11-B) : One of the curiosities of
the Island. A large linden tree (basswood) with tooth-
like roots, at St. Joseph Place, a landing on Arch Rock
Trail, three-fourths of the way up the hillside between Mar-
quette Park and Cass Cliff.
BIRCH KNOLL (29) : Birch grove on a knoll, northwest
of the old fort gardens off Murray Road.
BONNIE BRAE (40) : Catholic cemetery.
On the grounds of the former Catholic cemetery stood
the old log church which was brought over piece-meal from
Old Mackinaw in 1780 and set up, remaining in position
until about 1825, when it was removed to the present site
of St. Anne's. Later the bodies were removed to the pres-
sent location in the centre of the beautiful forest and near
to Glenwood and the Post Cemetery. Bonnie Brae signifies
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 515
"goodly meadows." This cemetery is the burial place of
members of the congregation of St. Anne's Church.
BOULDER TRAIL (13) : Rough, rocky trail to Robinson's
Folly from Huron Road.
BREAKWATER, EAST, (Harbour of Refuge) (56) : The
two piers of stone transform the beautiful bay at Mackinac
Island into a safe harbour of refuge for lake craft.
The United States Government, in building these solid
piers and locating a Life Saving or Coast Guard Station on
the Island for the Straits of Mackinac, has taken into con-
sideration the enormous amount of shipping which passes
through the narrow channel, also the danger to mariners
from fogs and from the smoke of forest fires.
BREAKWATER, WEST, (Harbour of Refuge) (57) : (See
above.)
BRITISH LANDING (103): Spot on the northwest shore
where the British forces landed at the time of the capture
of the Island in 1812.
On July 17, 1812, Captain Roberts of the British Army
captured without bloodshed the Fort and Island, with thirty-
five British soldiers and a thousand Indians. He landed in
the night on the north side of the bay, which has ever since
been called British Landing. Col. George Croghan also
landed here with the American forces in 1814, under the
protection of the guns of the vessels commanded by Arthur
Sinclair, but was defeated and withdrew.
BRITISH LANDING ROAD (141) : Road from Leslie Avenue
to British Landing.
CADILLAC SHELTER (55) : A knoll at the cliff's edge,
forming a fine view point.
Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac was commandant at Mich-
516 HISTORIC MAGKINAG
ilimackinac (St. Ignace), 1694-1697. He founded De-
troit in 1701. From 1712 to 1717 he was governor of a
vast area in the Mississippi Valley known as Louisiana.
As a young man he served in the French army, coming to
America in 1683. After the foundation of Detroit a dis-
pute soon arose between Cadillac and the Jesuits, the latter
wishing the French Government to re-establish Michili-
mackinac. Cadillac held out every inducement to the
Indians to leave their villages and come to the new Fort.
He succeeded so well that the Jesuits, discouraged, re-
turned to Quebec. His father was a counsellor in the par-
liament of Toulouse, France. Cadillac was probably born
in Toulouse, between 1657 and 1661; died in France in
1730.
CADOTTE AVENUE (133) : The avenue leading from the
town past Borough Lot to all high land roads on the west
side of the Island.
Jean Baptiste Cadotte became a partner of Alexander
Henry in the Mackinac fur-trade after the massacre at Old
Mackinaw in 1763. His wife, Madame Cadotte, daughter
of a chief of the A-wous-e clan of the jib ways, aided
Henry to escape from Mackinac Island in the spring after
his winter with the friendly chief Wawatam, by taking him
in her canoe to Sault Ste. Marie. She had touched at the
Island on her return from a trip to Montreal. When the
Indians pursued Henry to the Sault, her husband, who had
a strong influence over the savages, through his Indian wife,
protected him. Henry says M. Cadotte was the last French
governor of the fort at the Sault. When the French regime
passed from the upper country, he was the only French
trader of importance remaining. His father was present
with Lusson at the Sault when the French flag was raised
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 517
over the region in 1671. Cadotte was married to his In-
dian bride in the chapel at Old Mackinaw in 1756. He
exercised a powerful influence over the conduct of the In-
dians at Sault Ste. Marie. They considered him their
chief. It was through him that the Ghippewa Indians of
Lake Superior were prevented from joining Pontiac. Ma-
dame Cadotte helped Alexander Henry to get to Montreal
after his escape from the Indians. He died in 1803.
CANNON BALL (196): A famous stopping place and
restaurant at British Landing.
CARVER POND (113) : Small pond or artificial lake be-
low Lake Huron water level.
Jonathan Carver, explorer and fur-trader, left Old Mack-
inaw in 1766 on an extensive trip into the great Northwest,
of which he gives an account in his Travels. Apparently
he came to Mackinaw on some sort of an understanding
with Major Robert Rogers. He had served with Rogers as
Captain in the fighting about Lake George, and later was
wounded in the massacre at Fort William Henry. His
coming to Mackinaw, either with or soon after Rogers, was
very possibly as an agent to further Rogers' scheme of find-
ing a northwest passage to the Orient. He returned to
Mackinaw in 1767. His Travels, published in London,
became enormously popular, passing through thirty edi-
tions, with translations into German, French and Dutch.
They influenced Schiller, Chateaubriand and Byron, and in
general aroused European curiosity about the Mackinac
country to a degree that nothing else had yet done. Carver
was born in Connecticut (or New York) ; died in poverty, in
London, in 1780.
CALUMET TRAIL (164) : Trail from Indian Road to the
junction of Wigwam Trail and Cupid's Pathway.
518 HISTORIC MACKINAG
Calumet is not an Indian word, as commonly supposed,
but a Norman-French word derived through literary
French from the Latin calamus, a reed. The calumet is
the peace-pipe of the North American Indians, a tobacco
pipe having a reed stem about two and a half feet long,
decorated with locks of women's hair and feathers, and
having a bowl of polished marble. It was the ratifier of
treaties, and a sign of hospitality. Father Charlevoix
(1721) says that, strictly, the calumet is only the shaft of
the calumet pipe. The shaft has a symbolical history
of its own, independent of the pipe, the pipe having been
later added as an altar upon which to smoke sacrificial
tobacco to the gods. There were different calumet pipes
for different public or private contracts, including war
and peace. If war was intended, the shaft and feathers
were coloured red. The use of the calumet pipe rendered
a contract sacred, and the Indians believed the violation
of such a contract would be swiftly and surely punished by
the gods. But the calumet pipe was most often used to
seal a pact of peace.
CASS CLIFF (84) : Place where Arch Rock Trail reaches
the summit of the east bluff. Adjoining Sinclair Grove
on the east, it affords an unobstructed view of the Straits
and city.
Here is a triangular park with picturesque clumps of
cedars. It is said to be one of the coolest spots on the
Island. From this point can be seen perhaps at their best,
Round Island, the Light-house, Harbour of Refuge, Life
Saving Station, the wharf, and business section of the city.
General Lewis Cass first visited Mackinac Island in 1820,
as leader of an expedition under national auspices which
had for its object, among other things, to acquire knowl-
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 519
edge of the resources of the Mackinac country and to culti-
vate friendly relations with the Mackinac Indians. He
succeeded General Hull as Governor of Michigan Territory
in 1813, having served ably in the War of 1812, gaining
the rank of brigadier-general under General William
Henry Harrison. Prior to this time he had held prominent
public offices in Ohio. In 1831 he became Secretary of
War under President Jackson. During eighteen years,
1813-1831, as Governor of Michigan Territory, Michi-
gan's institutions received the strong impress of his un-
usual mind. He was a firm and true friend to the Indians,
negotiating with them many treaties. From 1836 to 1842,
he was Minister to France. In 1845 he was elected to the
United States Senate from Michigan. In 1857 he became
Secretary of State under President Buchanan.
Gass was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1782.
His father was an officer in the Revolution. In 1799 the
family moved to Marietta, Ohio, whence General Cass
came to Michigan in 1812. He died at his home in De-
troit in 1866. In the dedication of Sheldon's Early His-
tory of Michigan appears the following tribute to General
Cass: "To Hon. Lewis Cass, Second Governor of Michi-
gan, whose judicious management of the numerous tribes
of the Northwest secured to the Peninsular State its peace-
ful settlement and continued prosperity." Among the
many men of Michigan who rendered distinguished service
to their country, none holds a higher place in history than
General Cass. On the 28th of August, 1915, a magnificent
bronze Memorial Tablet, one of the finest in the United
States, eight feet high and nearly four feet wide, was
erected at Mackinac Island. A striking lifelike portrait
or bust adorns the Tablet and the following inscription is
520 HISTORIC MACKINAC
placed upon it: "Cass Cliff. Named by the Michigan
Historical Commission and the Mackinac State Park Com-
mission, in honour of Lewis Cass, Teacher, Lawyer, Ex-
plorer, Soldier, Diplomat, Statesman. Born Oct. 9, 1782,
died June 17, 1866. Appointed by President Thomas
Jefferson, U. S. Marshal for the District of Ohio, 1807-
1811. Brigadier-General, 1813. Governor of Michigan
Territory, 1813-1831. Secretary of War in President An-
drew Jackson's Cabinet, 1831-1836. Minister to France,
1836-1842. United States Senator from Michigan, 1845-
1848; 1849-1857. Secretary of State, 1857-1860. He
explored the country from the Great Lakes, to the Missis-
sippi River and negotiated with the Indian tribes just
Treaties. His fair and generous treatment accorded to
the Indians of the Northwest, secured to the Peninsular
State its peaceful settlement, and continued prosperity.
Erected 1915 by The Citizens of Michigan in grateful
appreciation of his distinguished and patriotic services
to his country and State."
CAVE OF THE WOOD (111) : A natural limestone cave
well worth seeing. It is said to have been used by the
Indians as a hiding place. It is also said to have been an
early Indian burial vault.
CAVE ROAD (158) : Road from Leslie Avenue to Brit-
ish Landing Road, along the bluff past Scott's Cave and
Eagle Point Cave.
CHARLEVOIX HEIGHTS (20) : Projection of the bluff in
front of Fort Holmes, giving a splendid bird's-eye view of
the Straits of Mackinac and the north shore of the southern
peninsula. Named for Father Pierre Frangois Xavier de
Charlevoix, noted as a historian. He entered the Jesuit
Society at the age of sixteen, and in 1705 came to Quebec,
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 521
where he taught in the College for a time. He went to
France for further study, and in 1720 was commissioned
by the French government to go to America and seek a
passage to the Western Sea. He travelled up the St.
Lawrence, through the Great Lakes and visited the Straits
of Mackinac in 1721, then proceeded to the lower end of
the territory occupied by the Winnebago Indians. Enter-
ing Lake Michigan he continued along the eastern shore,
reaching the Illinois, whence he descended the Mississippi
to its mouth. He reached San Domingo after a second at-
tempt, in 1722 and then returned to France. He wrote, by
order of the King, the most complete description of Canada
and the neighbouring countries, that had been published
up to that time, giving an account of the character of every
nation, or tribe, its religion, manner, etc., the posts or
forts, and settlements established by the French; in fact,
including every detail that could possibly be learned. In
his journal he gives an interesting account of the post and
mission at Michilimackinac. He returned to France in
1722 and later wrote many books, the best known of
which is his History of New France. (1744.) He was
born at St. Quentin, France, in 1682; died at La Fleche,
in 1761.
CHIMNEY ROCK (114): Limestone pinnacle standing
away from the cliff and resembling a huge chimney. From
within the huge fireplace, the fumes of boiling, frying and
roasting mingle with the chimney flue. Great clumps of
dark green balsams are beneath it, and lower still the
restless waters fall on rock and pebble. Prof. Winchell
says of Chimney Rock that it is one of the most remarkable
natural formations in America.
CHIPPEWA STREET (192): Street in State Plat No. 1.
522 HISTORIC MACKINAC
For two hundred years preceding the event of the white
man at Mackinac, and perhaps longer, more than half the
American continent was peopled by the tribes speaking the
Algonquin language in its various dialects. The most pow-
erful of the group was the Chippewa Nation. The warriors
equalled in appearance the best of the northwestern In-
dians, excepting perhaps the Foxes. For many centuries
the Straits of Mackinac were the home of these Indians,
where some still reside.
COQUART BROOK (195): A fine spring brook, whose
source is Dablon Spring.
Father Claude Godefroy Coquart came to Michilimacki-
nac in 1741, as chaplain to Verendrye's expedition, and
resided there probably until 1745. He was born at Melun,
France, in 1706; died in a western mission in 1765.
COUREURS DE Bois SHELTER (14): Natural spot of
refuge: a knoll on bluff edge on path to Robinson's Folly.
The coureurs de bois, literally "rangers of the woods,"
constituted a class of men which grew out of the fur-trade.
They were originally men who had gone with the Indians
on their hunting trips to learn the country and the methods
of hunting and trapping. Ultimately they abandoned civ-
ilization and gave themselves up to the wild life of the
forest. They intermarried with the Indians and adopted
their habits. They usually adapted themselves to the
social condition and mode of life of the Indians. They
claimed each other as brothers; in the speech of a Chip-
pewa chief, "They called us children and we found them
fathers." Before the year 1700, Michilimackinac was the
capital of the Northwest, and the headquarters of the
coureurs de bois. The skins which they brought from
various places remained there until they could transport
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 523
them to the colony. From them sprang a hardy race of
half-breeds, skilled in canoeing, fishing, hunting, trapping,
who were employed by the French merchants of Quebec
and Montreal as guides, canoemen, steersmen or rangers,
to carry their goods to distant posts and bring back the
valuable furs and peltries for the European market.
Mackinac was one of the most important meeting places of
the coureurs de bois because of its central position among
the Indian tribes of the upper Great Lakes.
CRACK IN THE ISLAND (110): A deep fissure in the
earth several feet wide, extending several rods.
This natural curiosity is well worth seeing. It is not
known what brought it about. Old settlers assert that it is
widening. An old Indian prophecy is responsible for the
story that the Island would split in two some day, carrying
destruction in its upheaval. Tradition tells that it is the
remnant of an extinct volcano. It strongly resembles fis-
sures caused by earthquakes.
CREBASSA GROVE (23) : A spot of sylvan beauty, with
view through large grove of birch trees.
Named after Pierre Crebassa, who came into this region
in 1837. He was employed by the American Fur Com-
pany. Through his efforts Father Baraga came to instruct
the Indians. He arranged for this good priest's reception.
He had a number of Indians camp on his farm and gave
half of his house for a chapel. When Father Baraga re-
turned to La Pointe, Crebassa furnished a canoe and two
of his men to accompany him.
CROGHAN WATER (91): Very fine cold spring near
Jackson Ridge. Named in honour of Col. George Croghan,
who was in command of the American troops against the
British forces on the Island in 1814.
524 HISTORIC MACKINAG
George Croghan was a nephew of the famous Virginian,
George Rogers Clark. His father was Major William
Croghan of the Revolutionary army. His son, George St.
John Croghan, was a Confederate officer, and was fatally
wounded at McCoy's Mill, West Virginia, in December,
1861. Croghan graduated from William and Mary Col-
lege, Virginia, in 1810, and in the following year took part
in the Battle of Tippecanoe, under General Harrison. Dis-
tinguished service at Fort Meigs gained him the rank of
major. For his gallant defence of Fort Stephenson, he
received a medal from Congress. His defeat in the at-
tempt to recapture Fort Mackinac, at the Battle of Mackinac
Island, in 1814, was due to the overwhelming numbers
against him, and the early loss of several of his best officers
with consequent confusion among the men. For a short
time afterward he left the army and became Postmaster
at New Orleans. He reentered the army in 1823, with the
rank of Colonel. In 1826 he was a member of the expedi-
tion to the upper lakes led by Governor Cass and Thomas L.
McKenney. Later he rendered excellent service in the war
with Mexico. Born near Louisville, Kentucky, Nov. 15,
1791; died at New Orleans, 1849.
CROOKED TREE DRIVE (138) : Road from the vicinity
of Sugar Loaf, through attractive growth of gnarled trees,
to Four Corners.
CUPID'S PATHWAY (142) : A road from the rear of the
Fort to Indian Village.
A quiet, retired pathway named by soldiers of the gar-
rison. It was also known as Lovers' Lane.
CUSTER ROAD (184): Drive from Fort Hill Road to
Garrison Road, west of Deer Park. Named in honour of
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 525
Michigan's distinguished and gallant son, General George
Armstrong Custer.
General Custer is most widely known from the heroic
sacrifice of his life in battle at the Little Big Horn, in
Montana, June 25, 1876, where his entire command of
1,100 men were slain by the confederated tribes of the
Sioux Indians. But Michigan remembers him best for his
gallant work as leader of her famous brigade of cavalry
during the Civil War, particularly at Gettysburg. He
fought in all but one of the battles of the Army of the
Potomac. At the age of twenty-five he was a major-gen-
eral. He was present at Lee's surrender at Appomattox
Court House. General Sheridan, a warm personal friend,
wrote to Mrs. Custer of that occasion: "No person was
more instrumental in bringing about this most desirable
result than your gallant husband." Custer was born in
New Rumley, Harrison county, Ohio, in 1839, but after his
marriage in 1864, he made Monroe, Michigan, his home.
An equestrian statue by Potter was there dedicated to his
memory in 1913.
DABLON SPRING (146): Natural outflow of water.
Named for Father Claude Dablon.
Father Dablon was the first missionary to conduct re-
ligious services on Mackinac Island. He entered the Jesuit
order at the age of twenty-one, and came to Canada in
1655. In 1668 he was with Allouez and Marquette at
Lake Superior, the three forming what Bancroft calls "the
illustrious triumvirate." Father Dablon together with
Father Marquette laid the foundation of St. Ignace in
1669. He selected this mission by reason of its position
and superior advantages for defence, productive soil, game
526 HISTORIC MAGKINAC
and fish. He was the first to inform the world of the
rich copper mines in Michigan. It was Father Dablon who
directed Father Marquette to undertake the expedition
which led to the discovery of the Mississippi. He also
gave Marquette's letters and charts to the world. He called
attention to the feasibility of passing from Lake Erie to
Florida, by cutting a canal, to pass from the end of Lake
Michigan to the Illinois River. This canal projected by
Father Dablon over two hundred years ago, was the subject
of a special message from the Governor of Illinois
to the State Legislature in 1907. After founding Sault
Ste. Marie, Father Dablon became in 1670 Superior Gen-
eral of the Jesuit Canadian missions, retaining that office
until 1680. He was reappointed in 1686, and remained
Superior until 1693. He was born at Dieppe, France, in
1618 or 1619; died at Quebec in 1697.
DAVENPORT PICTURE (32) : View point on the bluff,
beyond Scott's Cave.
Ambrose R. Davenport became a resident of Mackinac
Island in 1796, where he spent the remainder of his life.
He was a school-fellow of General Harrison, and a non-
commissioned officer under General Wayne. When the
British took Mackinac in 1812, Davenport was urged by
the British commander to declare himself a British subject,
but he refused. "I was born in America," he said, "and
am determined, at all hazards, to live and die an American
citizen." He was taken as a prisoner of war to Detroit.
After the war he rejoined his wife and six children on the
Island, where the Davenport Farm, now known as Hub-
bard's Annex, continued to be their home for many years.
Mrs. Davenport was constantly annoyed and insulted by
being called "the wife of the Yankee Rebel," during the
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 527
bloody times of 1814, when Mr. Davenport was fighting
under Major Holmes. He was quartermaster and guide
under Colonel Croghan. He was at one time an officer in
the commissary department, and was with General Har-
rison at the Battle of the Thames. He was also in the
Battle of Mackinac Island on August 4, 1914. He urged
Major Holmes to take off his uniform and put on a common
suit, or the Indians would certainly make a mark of him.
Holmes replied that his uniform was made to wear and
that he intended to wear it, adding that if it was his day
to fall, he was willing. He was among the first to fall
in the battle.
DEER PARK (178) : Fenced range of white-tailed deer.
Located north of the Fort grounds and west of Garrison
Road.
DE PEYSTER EDGE (109) : View point over the Straits
created by an angle in the walls of Fort Mackinac.
Major Arent Schuyler de Peyster was commandant at
Old Mackinaw from 1774 to 1779. He thus served prac-
tically through the entire period of the Revolutionary War.
At Old Mackinaw he succeeded in keeping the Indians faith-
ful to the British. On Oct. 16, 1779, Major De Peyster
and Governor Sinclair visited the Island to look over the
ground for building a new fort there. In the same
year De Peyster was removed to Detroit to succeed
Gov. Hamilton, who had been captured at Vincennes by
George Rogers Clark. De Peyster remained at Detroit
until 1784, afterwards going to England. During the
French Revolution he trained the regiment of which Robert
Burns was a member. It was to De Peyster that Burns,
who became his warm friend, addressed the lines begin-
ning: "My honoured Colonel, deep I feel." De Peyster
528 HISTORIC MACKINAC
was born in New York City in 1736; died at Dumfries,
Scotland, in 1822.
DESK A MOUND (106) : Mound or knoll affording a fine
vista of trees.
Captain Robert Desha, of the 24th regiment, was severely
wounded in the Battle of Mackinac Island, Aug. 4, 1814,
in the unsuccessful attempt to recapture Mackinac from the
British, in which Major Holmes was killed. He continued
with his command until forced through loss of blood to
desist.
DEVIL'S KITCHEN (119) : Limestone cave. One of the
delights of the Island. A favourite place for tourists to
roast marshmallows. The water rises and falls so that the
entrance below is sometimes closed by high water.
It is said all manner of cooking utensils may be found
in this queer old workshop. The huge fireplace is deep,
broad, high and grand. Within
"No foul odours pervade the kitchen,
Breezes play from door to door,
One looks up the leafy stairway,
One looks down upon the shore.
From above the yellow sunlight
Mellowed into softest rays,
Fairy sunlight, weird, fantastic
Through the fir and cedar plays.
Far away the water stretches
Foamy white, and green and blue :
Till the colours, lost in distance,
Blend in misty leaden hue."
DOUSMAN'S DISTILLERY (199): An old distillery site
located on the Early Farm, near the scene of the Battle of
Mackinac Island.
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 529
Du LHUT LOOKOUT (154): Natural view point on a
cliff overlooking the Straits.
Daniel Greysolon du Lhut, after whom is named the
present city of Duluth, Minnesota, was in the Mackinac
country and vicinity the larger part of the years 1680
1690, trading with the Indians, exploring, and at times act-
ing as commandant. His advice was a great aid to the
French at Mackinac, in controlling the Indians, over whom
he had a remarkable influence. He has been called "King
of the coureurs de bois" Before coming to America he
was a French army officer. Born at Germain-en-laye,
France; died in 1710.
DURANTAYE VISTA (51): A knoll from which a fine
vista is had through the forest.
Oliver Morel de la Durantaye was commandant at Mack-
inac in 16831689. In 1687 he led a canoe expedition
of Mackinac Indians down the Lakes to aid Governor De-
nonville against the Iroquois. Born at Nantes, France, in
1641; died in 1717.
DWIGHTWOOD FOOTWAY (17): Steps, path and stair-
way leading from the bluff to the beach on East Shore
Boulevard near Dwightwood Spring, connecting Manitou
Trail with the shore drive. Used between Arch Rock or
Robinson's Folly and Dwightwood Spring. A few feet
from this path, and half way up the bluff is the celebrated
Hiawatha Spring, whose waters, the same as those from
Dwightwood Spring, are especially healthful and invigor-
ating.
DWIGHTWOOD SPRING (175) : This is a natural spring
of water gushing out of the solid rock. Looking up the
cliff at its source, with the overhanging cedars and foliage,
it is a place fit for the Fairies. The water is reported by
530 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Government and State analysis to be as near 100 per cent
pure as any similar spring in the country. It is bottled by
visitors to the Island, and sent to all parts of the United
States. There are many instances where tourists have
asserted that renewed health and strength have followed
drinking this water. To make it accessible to those most
in need of it the aged, infirm and little children an
artificial wall of hard head stone has been erected and a
canopy provided, affording a delightful resting place. It
faces the rising sun, and was dedicated and christened
Dwightwood Spring, in memory of a charming, noble boy,
Dwight Hulburt Wood, son of Hon. Edwin 0. Wood of
Flint, Michigan, who sacrificed his life for his brother,
August 12, 1905. All who pause at the fountain, or rest
within the shaded pavilion bless the name of Mr. Wood,
who has commemorated in so touching a manner, his be-
loved son, thus turning his own sorrow to comfort and joy
for others.
EAGLE POINT CAVE (81) : An interesting cave in lime-
stone.
This is a natural curiosity well worth a visit to see. Tra-
dition says it was the resting place of eagles. The eagle
was worshipped by the Indians as a divinity because of its
fearlessness.
EARLY FARM (201): Formerly the Michael Dousman
farm.
No plat of ground in America has more romantic, pic-
turesque or historic associations. Over its fields the In-
dians, French, English and Americans have trod. Here the
British crossed in 1812, when they captured Fort Mack-
inac. Here the memorable Battle of Mackinac Island
took place, and the life blood of brave soldiers was spilled.
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 531
On this farm are some of the most interesting natural curi-
osities in the entire country. The farms are now owned
by the Early brothers, worthy members of a fine family
connected with some of the leading citizens of Michigan.
EAST BLOCK HOUSE (71) : Old block house of the early
period, built of stone. (For explanatory description, see
West Block House.)
ECHO GROTTO (87) : Recession of the bluff making a
grotto along the shore where echoes are multiplied many
times. Located between Robinson's Folly and Dwightwood
Spring. Visitors will note the echo of boat whistles.
ETHERINGTON BULWARK (26) : A lookout point on the
east bluff line, just beyond the water works.
George Etherington was the first English commandant
at Old Mackinaw, after the surrender of the fort to the Eng-
lish by the French. He arrived with his troops in 1761.
He was in command of the troops at Old Mackinaw at
the massacre in 1763, and narrowly escaped death at the
hands of the Indians. When Major Etherington was first
informed that the Indians were disposed to be hostile to
the English, he believed the report to be without founda-
tion, as coming from ill-disposed persons. His garrison
at the fort consisted of ninety privates, two subalterns, him-
self and four English merchants. The Major was taken
prisoner by the Ottawas to L'Arbre Croche. Through the
efforts of Father Du Jaunay who carried a letter to Lieut.
Gorell at Detroit, and a party of Indians, Etherington and
his companions were allowed to return to Montreal. On
his arrival at Old Mackinaw he bore the title of captain,
which he received in 1758. In 1759, and again in 1760,
he fought with General Wolfe on the Heights of Abraham,
and was present at the surrender of Quebec. In 1770 he
532 HISTORIC MACKINAC
was promoted to the rank of major; in 1775 to lieutenant-
colonel; and in 1782 to colonel. Through the Revolu-
tion he served with the British. Apparently he was a
native of Delaware; died probably in 1787.
FAIRY ARCH (65) : Limestone Arch standing out from
the cliff wall near Robinson's Folly, East Shore Boulevard,
on the way to Dwightwood Spring and Arch Rock.
This delightful and fascinating object is distinguished
for the beauty of its sylvan setting. It is one of the most
beautiful specimens of nature's handiwork, and is reached
by natural stairs, called the Giant's Stairway. At this
point is the celebrated Fairy Kitchen, known to travellers
almost the world over. To visit Mackinac Island and
fail to climb the Giant's Stairway and view this beautiful
handiwork of nature, is to miss one of the leading features
of the "Fairy Isle."
FAIRY KITCHEN (160) : Limestone cave at Fairy Arch,
East Shore Boulevard, between Robinson's Folly and
Dwightwood Spring.
A miniature counterpart of the famous Devil's Kitchen,
the latter being on the West Shore Boulevard. There are
perhaps as many legends and romances connected with
Fairy Kitchen and Fairy Arch as with any other two places
of interest on the "Fairy Isle."
FAMILY ROCKS (208) : A group of rocks on the East
Shore Boulevard, between Robinson's Folly and Fairy
Arch.
FENWICK'S CACHE ( 188) : Limestone cave in cliff above
Devil's Kitchen. There is a small opening which leads into
the cave, where, it is related, the fairies used to hide while
the Devil cooked his food. A full grown person can crawl
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 533
into the opening, and there stand erect; and through the
Fairy window or "Lookout" may be had one of the finest
marine views of the entire Great Lakes region.
Rt. Rev. Bishop Edward Fenwick, D.D., the first bishop
of the diocese of Cincinnati, visited Mackinac Island in
1831, during the pastorate of Father Mazzuchelli. He was
a native of Maryland, and a member of the Dominican
order. He was appointed the first bishop of Cincinnati
and made Vicar General Apostolic of Michigan and the
eastern part of the Northwest Territory. Consecrated by
Bishop Flaget in St. Rose's Church, Washington County,
Kentucky in 1822, he arrived in Cincinnati the same year.
In the poor building known as the Seminary, he led with
his priests and students a real monastic life. His diocese
extended from the Ohio River to the Great Lakes. Among
his students was a full blooded Indian from L'Arbre Croche,
called Blackbird, studying for the priesthood, to labour
among his own people. When the bishop visited his flock,
he was compelled to go on foot, horseback or by stage.
He did all in his power to further the missionary cause in
upper Michigan, by sending worthy priests to minister to
the Indians and coming himself to visit and perform his
episcopal duties. From the Indians in the Mission he
selected two for the priesthood and sent them to Rome for
training. Born in St. Mary's County, Maryland, in 1768;
died in Wooster, Ohio, in 1832, from the cholera, which
attacked him while he was on one of his visitations. His
remains were brought to Cincinnati in 1833, and deposited
in St. Xavier's Church. In 1845 they were transferred
to the new cathedral where they now repose.
FERRY BEACH ( 147) : Good bathing beach west of Mis-
sion Point.
534 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Rev. William Montague Ferry was the founder of the
first Protestant Indian mission on the Island, coming to
Mackinac in 1823, under the auspices of the United For-
eign Missionary Society. The building now known as the
"Mission House" was originally built (1825) for the use
of his mission and school. The late Senator Thomas White
Ferry, who was born in this building, June 1, 1827, was
his son. In 1834 William M. Ferry removed with his
family to Grand Haven, founded the First Presbyterian
Church there, and became one of the foremost citizens of
southern Michigan. Born in Granby, Mass., in 1796;
died in Grand Haven, Mich., in 1867. Senator Ferry's
friends claimed for him the distinction of having been
President of the United States for one day, during the
Hayes and Tilden controversy, but this is not literally true.
FOREST DRIVEWAY (153) : A drive on the upper table-
land bordering Sunset Forest.
FOREST KING ( 18) : A magnificent lone pine tree, which
excites the admiration of all who see it. It stands as a
guide on Arch Rock Trail silently directing the traveller
to make a square turn to the right if en route to Arch Rock,
and to the left if returning to the Fort or to town.
FORT HOLMES (78) : Built by the British soon after the
capture of Mackinac in 1812.
The British named it Fort George, after the reigning
English King, George III. When the Americans took pos-
session of the Island after the war, they named it Fort
Holmes, after Major Andrew Hunter Holmes, who was
killed in the Battle of Mackinac Island, Aug. 4, 1814, in
the attempt to take the fort from the British. While the
British held this fort, a large block house occupied the
centre, under which was stored the ammunition. This was
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 535
encircled by an embankment lined with cedar poles, with
pickets so interlocked as to prevent entrance except by the
gate, on the east side. There were several cellars which
are now caved in. The block house was destroyed by the
Americans after the war. A party of officers used it as a
target for cannon fired from Fort Mackinac in an experi-
ment to see what execution could be done. The timber of
the fort was afterward used for a barn, which was at the
bottom of the hill below Fort Mackinac. The material was
later taken back to Fort Holmes and the block house re-
stored. Fort Holmes is the highest point on the Island,
being 318 feet above the waters of Lake Huron, and 168
feet above Fort Mackinac. This accounts for the choice of
the site for the British fort. Numerous are the descrip-
tions by noted travellers of the beautiful panorama of the
surrounding waters, islands, and adjacent shores centring
about this spot. At one time there was an observatory,
some seventy feet high, on its summit; but the occurrence
of a serious accident in 1908, in which a life was lost,
caused its removal.
FORT HILL ROAD (149) : Road up Fort Hill.
FORT MACKINAC (*) Fort Mackinac being the central
feature, it is designated by an asterisk or star on the list
of names and on the map.
This historic fortress, now abandoned by the Govern-
ment as a military post, has been termed by various writers
the "Gibraltar of America." The statement commonly
made that "the flags of three nations have floated over
Mackinac" is literally true as relating to the Mackinac
country. The French held dominion over the entire coun-
try of Michilimackinac including Mackinac Island for a
long period. Then, alternately, it passed to the English
536 HISTORIC MACKINAC
and the Americans. Strictly speaking, only the flags of
two nations have actually floated over the present Fort, it
having been built subsequent to the French period.
The Fort was begun in 1780, under the direction of
Patrick Sinclair, and was first occupied by troops in the
winter of 1780-1781. The last of the troops from Old
Mackinaw were transferred to Fort Mackinac April 25-27,
1781, Lieutenant Governor Patrick Sinclair in command.
Much of the material for the building of the Fort was
carried over on the ice, or in the vessel Welcome, from
Old Mackinaw, abandoned because of the insecurity of its
location against attack from either the Indians or from
soldiers in the Revolutionary armies.
Fort Mackinac was held by the British long after the
close of the Revolution, in the interest of the English fur-
trade. In 1796, following Jay's treaty with Great Britain,
it was surrendered to the Americans with the other north-
western posts. United States troops under command of
Major Henry Burbeck occupied the Fort in October of that
year.
In 1812, mainly because news of the Declaration of War
reached the British at St. Joseph's Island some time before
being received at Mackinac, the commander of the fort,
Lieut. Porter Hanks, who was taken unawares and threat-
ened with imminent danger of indiscriminate Indian mas-
sacre of the citizens of the Island, surrendered the fort
at discretion, to the British commander, Captain Charles
Roberts. On Aug. 4, 1814, in the Battle of Mackinac
Island, the Americans, led by Col. George Croghan, made
an unsuccessful attempt to retake the Fort, with great loss
of lives among others, the gallant Major Holmes. At
the close of the war the Fort passed to the Americans, by
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 537
the Treaty of Ghent. The British, under Col. McDouall,
evacuated the Fort at noon, July 18, 1815. It was im-
mediately occupied by United States troops, under Captain
Willoughby Morgan, Joseph Kean, and Benjamin K. Pierce,
the latter a brother of President Franklin Pierce; and
by artillery under command of Col. Anthony Butler. The
Fort was afterwards evacuated, or partly evacuated, at
different times, but was reoccupied.
In 1862, there were detained temporarily, in the old
officers' quarters, three prominent adherents to the cause
of the South. In 1895, the Fort passed, with the other
appurtenances of the Island, from national control to the
State of Michigan, and it now forms an integral portion of
the Mackinac Island State Park. As such it is under the
control of the Mackinac Island State Park Commission,
of five members appointed by the Governor of Michigan.
In 1914 several minor buildings, connected with the
Fort but outside its walls, were removed, they having no
special historical associations. The features of the Fort
proper, its walls, and all within their enclosures, are to be
restored and retained exactly as they were when the Fort
was occupied as a military post. Among other things, in
co-operation with the Michigan Historical Commission, a
state museum and Mackinac library are projected by the
Park Commission for the instruction and pleasure of the
thousands who annually visit the Island and desire to know
more about the history of the Island and the Fort.
FORT HOLMES ROAD (185) : Road from Garrison Road
past Point Lookout to Fort Holmes.
FRIENDSHIP'S ALTAR (193): Sometimes called Pulpit
Rock. An interesting natural formation northeast of and
near British Landing.
538 HISTORIC MACKINAG
There is a conflict of opinion among old residents of the
Island as to whether the designation "Pulpit Rock" did not
originally apply to the huge stone formation at the north
end of Musket Range, now officially named Vista Rock.
FRONTENAC RAMPART (49) : A view point on the east
bluff (Cliff summit).
Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac, was Governor of
Canada in 1672-1682, and again in 1689-1698. He was
the ablest man that ever represented the French crown in
America. He had a marvellous influence over the Indians,
who both loved and feared him. His most noted achieve-
ment was the complete breaking up of the power of the
Iroquois, whose inveterate hostility, since the time of Cham-
plain's memorable victory on Lake Champlain, had caused
the French in Canada more trouble than any other one
thing. From the time of Father Marquette at St. Ignace to
within a few years of the abandonment of the Mission at
that point, Frontenac was the dominant mind in the affairs
of New France. He encouraged and aided La Salle in
colonizing the Mississippi, and by erecting posts at Niagara,
Mackinac, and in Illinois, he controlled the Indians. It
was Frontenac who appointed Joliet and Father Marquette
to explore the Mississippi. The first stockade at Michili-
mackinac was called Fort de Buade, in honour of Louis de
Buade, Comte de Frontenac. Before coming to America
he had won fame fighting in Holland. His father held a
high office in the household of Louis XIII, who was Fronte-
nac's god-father. Frontenac was born in France in 1620;
died in Quebec, in 1698.
GARRISON ROAD (140) : Road from Parade Ground to
Four Corners, where it joins with Crooked Tree Drive, An-
nex Road and Leslie Avenue.
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 539
GARRISON TRAIL (131) : Trail from Arch Rock Road,
past Lime Kiln, and down Musket Range to Sugar Loaf and
Point Lookout.
GIANT'S STAIRWAY (67): Natural limestone steps of
giant size in the cliff leading to Fairy Arch. According
to an old Indian legend the Giant Fairies regularly as-
cended this stairway, stopping on each step to offer a
prayer or make a new resolve.
GIBRALTAR CRAIG (4) : Impregnable limestone craig
included in the walls of Fort Mackinac. Mackinac Island
has been designated by some writers as the "Gibraltar of
America."
GITCHI MANITOU (98) : A massive rock, also known
as Michabou's Rock, lying between East Shore Boulevard
and Lake Huron, below Arch Rock and beyond Dwight-
wood Spring. This probably once formed a part of Arch
Rock.
According to Indian tradition, here was the landing place
of the Great Manitou of the Lakes. Ascending the cliff he
passed through the opening of Arch Rock, which was the
gateway used by the fairies to enter the Island, and pro-
ceeded thence to his wigwam, the Sugar Loaf.
GLENWOOD CEMETERY (39): Protestant burying
ground.
GOLF LINKS (176): Links of Wawashkamo Club, on
the Early Farm.
This property in the period covering the War of 1812
was the farm of Michael Dousman, an American fur-
trader, who for some time had made the Island his home.
It was he who, when the Islanders observed the strange
movements of the Indians towards the Sault in July, 1812,
set out from the Island on the 16th of that month to learn
540 HISTORIC MACKINAC
its meaning and was captured by the British; and who,
learning that a general massacre was intended in case of
resistance, was among those who urged Lieut. Porter Hanks
to surrender the Fort to the British at discretion. After
the war he was appointed by Captain Morgan military agent
for Mackinac.
GRATIOT TRAIL (130) : Trail from Battle Field to In-
dian Road.
Captain Charles Gratiot was an engineering officer under
whose supervision Fort Gratiot, near the present site of the
city of Port Huron, was begun in May, 1814, which was
named after him. He was a graduate of West Point Mili-
tary Academy, and its Superintendent from 1828 to 1838.
He became a captain under General Harrison. His pro-
motion for meritorious service was rapid, and he attained
ultimately the rank of brigadier-general. His name is
borne by Gratiot County, Michigan, named after the fort.
He was a native of Missouri.
GRIFFIN COVE (145): Small Bay into which flows
Coquart Brook.
The Griffin was the first vessel that ever sailed on the
Great Lakes. It was built by order of La Salle, under the
direction of Henri de Tonti, and completed in the spring
of 1679 at the junction of Cayuga Creek and the Niagara
River, a little above the Falls. It was launched on August
7, for the Upper Lakes. After safely weathering a severe
storm which threatened the loss of the vessel and all on
board, on the 27th of the same month it reached the har-
bour at Point St. Ignace, where Father Marquette eight
years before had founded his mission. Among those on
board were La Salle, Father Hennepin, and Henri de Tonti,
La Salle's devoted friend. On September 2, the Griffin
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 541
left Michilimackinac for Green Bay, where it was loaded
with a cargo of furs. It then set sail for Niagara. This
was the last ever heard of the vessel. It was lost with its
cargo and all on board. To this day no one knows whether
it was destroyed by the Indians, or fell into the hands of
traitors, or was swallowed up by the waves.
GROSEILLIERS WATCH (28) : A view point on the east
bluff (Cliff summit).
Medard Chouart, Sieur des Groseilliers, and his brother-
in-law Pierre Esprit Radisson, were the first fur-traders
after Nicolet to pass through the Straits of Mackinac. The
date of this voyage is widely disputed, but it was probably
in 1658. Later they were outfitted by Charles II of Eng-
land to search for a northwest passage to the South Sea.
This resulted in the rediscovery of the great fur lands about
Hudson's Bay and the founding of the famous Hudson's
Bay Company in 1670. Born in France, between 1621
and 1625; died probably in England.
HALDIMAND BAY (92) : Protected harbour of the Is-
lana. One of the earliest geographical names applied to
Mackinac Island.
General Sir Frederick Haldimand was the British Gov-
ernor of Canada during the American Revolution, 1778-
1784. It was during the first years of his rule (1780) that
the building of Fort Mackinac was begun on the Island.
The "Haldimand Papers" containing official letters to and
from Mackinac are very important for the early history
of military affairs on the Island. Before coming to Amer-
ica Haldimand had served with distinction in the armies
of Prussia, Sardinia, Switzerland and Holland. In Amer-
ica he served with the British in the French and Indian War,
and in the early part of the Revolution he was at Boston
542 HISTORIC MACKINAC
with General Gage. He was appointed Governor of Que-
bec, General and Commander-in-chief of His Majesty's
forces in Canada, and received, in King George's name,
the deed in which the Indians renounced all claim to Mack-
inac Island. He paid for the same five thousand pounds.
After six years of government he was recalled to England,
where he was knighted in 1785. Born in Switzerland, in
1718; died in Yverdun, Switzerland, in 1791.
HANKS POND (181) : Small pond whose inlet is Wawa-
tam Brook and La Salle Spring, and whose outlet is through
the crevices in the limestone beneath.
Lieut. Porter Hanks was in command of the garrison at
Fort Mackinac when it was surrendered to the British, July
17, 1812. The position in which Lieutenant Hanks found
himself on the morning of the surrender made him a victim
of circumstances beyond his control. The British at botH
Detroit and St. Joseph's Island, only a little distance from
Mackinac, had news of the declaration of war. Captain
Roberts at St. Joseph acted immediately. All the avail-
able fur-traders and Indians were quickly added to his
troops at St. Joseph, numbering together a thousand men.
The first intimation of trouble the Americans had was the
movement of the Indians. Michael Dousman, who set out
to see what it was all about, was made a prisoner, and was
informed that any resistance on the part of the Americans
would result in the massacre of all, regardless of age or sex.
He was allowed to mass the citizens at the Old Distillery,
under a British guard. Small wonder they should urge
him and other influential citizens to counsel Hanks to sur-
render unconditionally. Reinforcing this appeal of hu-
manity, was that of the menacing guns on the heights above
Fort Mackinac, which the British had planted there in the
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 543
night. Just one month later, lacking a day (August 16),
Lieut. Hanks was killed by a cannon shot at the bombard-
ment of Detroit, from near Windsor. Hanks' account of
his surrender of Mackinac to prevent an Indian massacre
of all the inhabitants is said to have deeply impressed
General Hull, who was then contemplating the surrender
of Detroit.
HENNEPIN POINT (94) : Projection of land into Lake
Huron on the east shore.
Father Louis Hennepin was the journalist of the Griffin? s
expedition to Michilimackinac in 1679. Setting out from
the Niagara River Aug 7th of that year in company with
La Salle, Henri de Tonti, and others, he arrived with the
Griffin off St. Ignace on the 27th. They anchored in the
harbour overlooked by the two bold bluffs called by the
Indians, Rabbit's Back and She Rabbit. Hennepin wrote
a vivid description of the Ottawas and Hurons swarming in
birch-bark canoes around the Griffin as it lay at anchor,
or attending Mass in the little Chapel, or admiring the gold
lace on the scarlet robes of La Salle.
From Mackinac Hennepin travelled extensively. In
1680 he was rescued from a party of Sioux by Du Lhut,
who conducted him back to the Mission at Michilimackinac,
where they spent the winter. Hennepin tells of skating
on the ice of the Straits with Father Pierson, who was then
the resident priest at the Mission of St. Ignace. Pierson
was a fellow-townsman of Hennepin, from Ath, Belgium.
These descriptions he wrote in both of his books of travel,
Description de la Louisiane and his Nouvelle Decouverte,
books especially noted for their vivid and accurate pen pic-
tures of Indian life. Born in Ath, Belgium, about 1640;
died in Holland, after 1701.
544 HISTORIC MACKINAG
HERIOT POINT (161): Projection of land into Lake
Huron on the west shore of the Island.
George Heriot published, in 1807, his Travels through
the Canadas, in which he described Mackinac Island. He
was Deputy Postmaster General of British North America
in 1800-1806. Later he participated in several battles of
the War of 1812, and was promoted to the rank of major-
general in 1841. Born on the Island of Jersey, 1766; died
in Drummondville, Canada, in 1844.
HIAWATHA SPRING (60): A rushing spring of pure
water, located midway up the cliff, by Dwightwood Spring.
The water from both Hiawatha and Dwightwood Springs is
attested by thousands of tourists and summer visitors, to be
especially healthful and strengthening.
This spring was named for Henry W. Longfellow, Ameri-
ca's distinguished poet, who used the Indian legends and
information furnished by Henry R. Schoolcraft as the
whole framework and skeleton of The Song of Hiawatha.
This Indian Edda was founded on a tradition prevalent
among the North American Indians, of a person of miracu-
lous birth, who was sent among them, to clear their rivers,
forests and fishing grounds, and teach them the arts of
peace. He was known among different tribes by several
names, Michabou, Chiabo, Manaboza and Hiawatha, the
son of Mudjekewis, the Westwind, and Menonah, daugh-
ter of Nokomis. The scene of the poem is among the
jib ways, on the southern shores of Lake Superior. Ac-
cording to Mr. Joseph Greusel, Longfellow lived for some
time in this region, to get the local colouring for his beauti-
ful poem. The general purpose, to make use of Indian
material, appears to have been in the poet's mind for
some time. He wrote in his diary under date, June 22,
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 545
1854, "I have at length hit upon a plan for a poem on the
American Indians, which seems to me to be the right one
and the only. It is to weave their beautiful traditions
into a whole. I have hit upon a measure too, which I
think the only right one for such a theme." Mr. Long-
fellow began writing Hiawatha June 25, 1854, finished it
March 29, 1855, and published it Nov. 10, 1855.
HOLMES HILL (96): Site near which Major Holmes
was killed in the Battle of Mackinac Island, Aug. 4, 1814.
Major Andrew Hunter Holmes was a Virginian, although
Kentucky claimed him as her son. He was a friend of
Thomas Jefferson. He received promotion to the rank of
major after gallant service, in February, 1814, on the
Thames, in Canada, where he overcame a British force
much larger than his own.
On Aug. 4, of that year, he served under Col. George
Croghan, in the attack on the British at Mackinac. The
American troops were disembarked at British Landing
under the protection of the vessels commanded by Captain
Arthur Sinclair. The time used in cruising about the Is-
land to ascertain the most advantageous place to land, had
given the British opportunity to arrange an effective plan
of defence. In obeying the order to attempt to outflank
the British advance and cut it off from the Fort, Major
Holmes, who led the van of the troops to encourage them,
fell, mortally wounded, before a destructive fire from the
Indians concealed in a thicket. His troops were thrown
into confusion, and after heroic attempts to retrieve the
disaster, Col. Croghan ordered a retreat to the ships.
Major Holmes and twelve men were killed, and forty-eight
wounded. A Spaniard, and a Winnebago chief called Yel-
low Dog both claimed that they killed the Major.
546 HISTORIC MACKINAG
The body of Major Holmes was recovered after the battle
and taken to Detroit for interment. It was buried in the
old cemetery on the corner of Larned Street and Woodward
Avenue, on ground belonging to the first Protestant Society.
In June, 1834, when excavations were made for building
the First Presbyterian Church, the remains of Major Holmes
were found enclosed in a coffin with the six cannon balls
which had been placed there in 1814 to insure the sinking
of the body in the lake in case the schooner bearing the
remains was taken by the British on the way to Detroit.
At the time of the disinterment, the remains, together with
many others in the same coffin, were buried in the Protest-
ant cemetery near the intersection of Gratiot and Antoine
Streets, about thirty feet from the south line of Gratiot
Street.
Major Holmes was the idol of his soldiers. His courage,
his personal bearing, the fire in his eye, the very tone of
his voice, won their confidence and devotion. There was a
magnetism in his fervour that electrified, and by those who
knew him in his native state he is said to have been one of
the most brilliant orators Virginia ever produced. He was
a gallant, valuable and much needed officer. President
James Madison in his message to Congress dated September
20th, 1814, refers to Major Holmes as "an officer justly
distinguished for his gallant exploits."
HURON ROAD (82) : The road upon which the east bluff
cottages are located. It connects Fort Hill Road and
Arch Rock Road, and runs back of Fort Mackinac through
the Parade Ground, past Sinclair Grove, Indian Frying
Pan, and the beautiful park named Cass Cliff, State Plat
No. 2, Robinson's Folly, etc.
It was named for the Huron Indians, who, when driven
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 547
from their home in Upper Canada, took refuge on Mackinac
Island. When first known to the white man these powerful
and warlike tribes dwelt in the region along the east shore
of the great lake which bears their name. They were
deadly enemies of the Iroquois, and hence allies of the
French whom the Iroquois hated with a deadly hatred.
The friendship of the French and the Hurons was never
broken. Among the Hurons were established the first
Jesuit missions. About 1650 the Iroquois triumphed in
a terrible war of extermination over the Huron nation, the
remnants of which fled terror-stricken to the Mackinac
country and beyond. Famine and disease followed them.
The Iroquois pursued them even to their remote hiding
places. The Jesuit Fathers at the missions suffered the
deaths of martyrs.
The bands of Hurons which had fled to Mackinac Island,
threatened by the Iroquois, fled further, to the shores of
Lake Superior, where Father Allouez found them in 1665.
Others fled far into the interior, even to and beyond the
Mississippi. The Lake Superior bands were threatened
by the fierce Sioux, the "Iroquois of the North," in the
time of Father Marquette, and fled again to Mackinac Island
and vicinity, where Father Marquette established the Mis-
sion of St. Ignatius for them in 1671. Here they were
ever the faithful friends of the French, and many are the
heroic services performed by the greatest of their chiefs,
Kondiaronk called by the French Le Rat in the interests
of the French fur-traders and the missions. In 1701, when
the commandant, Cadillac, withdrew to Detroit, many of
them, fearing to be without the protection of the French
troops, went to Detroit where their name is still perpetuated
in the Huron River, and in Wyandotte, which is another
548 HISTORIC MACKINAC
name for these tribes. Many of the Hurons later returned
to Mackinac on the re-establishment of the fort at Old
Mackinaw.
ILLINI ROUTE (34) : View from the bluff's edge down
Lake Michigan, near Coquart Brook. Named from the
Illinois Indians, the same that have given their name to a
State of the Union.
This was a name applied by the French to all the Indians
southward of the Great Lakes on the Mississippi, because
the first Indians who came to trade with the French from
that region were the Illinois. The Jesuit Relations speak
especially regarding the "good disposition and politeness
of those people." They are the Indians most frequently
mentioned by Fathers Allouez and Marquette in their ex-
plorations. Lake Michigan, as extending so far southward,
was called by the early French, "The Lake of the Illinois,"
and appears so named on some of the early French maps.
Father Dablon (1672) speaks of the "Lake called Mitchi-
ganons, to which the Illinois have given their name." It
was the desire to serve these people that led Father Mar-
quette on his great voyage of discovery to the Mississippi.
INDIAN BURYING GROUND (37) : In use when Mackinac
was the rendezvous of the Indians and fur-traders. It was
held sacred by the various tribes.
INDIAN'S COUNCIL (8) : A natural miniature park, cir-
cular in form and enclosed by an Arbor Vitae grove.
The Indians are said to have annually gathered here in
council. Located at the west edge of Sinclair Grove, on the
line of the trail from Cass Cliff to Fort Mackinac.
INDIAN FRYING PAN, Sinclair Grove (10): A depres-
sion in the ground overgrown with Arbor Vitae, forming
the shape of a frying pan; according to Indian tradition the
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 549
base or pan becomes very hot in the summer months.
INDIAN PIPE TRAIL (163) : A trail from Indian Village
to Tranquil Lane. Indian pipe grows along this trail in
great abundance at certain seasons of the year.
INDIAN ROAD (134) : The road from Cadotte Avenue to
Annex Road through Indian Village. One of the old roads
on the Island.
INDIAN VILLAGE (Harrisonville) (132) : Indian settle-
ment in Private Claim named Harrisonville, after President
William Henry Harrison. The descendants of some of the
most noted Indian warriors still reside here.
JACKER POINT (182) : Located at the west end of the
Island, between Devil's Kitchen and Pontiac's Lookout.
It was named for Father Edward Jacker, one of the best
known and best loved missionaries of the Mackinac coun-
try. He came to Mackinac Island as pastor in October,
1873, and first said Mass in the old court house west of the
Astor House. For two years he held services in the Old
Mission Church, while the new Catholic Church was being
completed. In 1877 Father Jacker became pastor at St.
Ignace, and it was in that year that he discovered the re-
mains of his great predecessor, Father Marquette, on the
site of the little chapel where they had been buried by
Fathers Pierson and Nouvel two centuries before.
Previous to coming to the Island, Father Jacker had
served as Vicar-General to Bishop Frederic Baraga, who
died at Marquette in 1867. He was ordained by Bishop
Baraga, and sent to the Indian mission at L'Anse in 1855.
Father Jacker became familiar with the Chippewa lan-
guage, the rudiments of which he learned under Bishop
Baraga's guidance. He was much pleased during the
latter part of his life to be permitted to go again among
550 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the Indians he so dearly loved. Besides being master of
several languages, he had a general knowledge of the gram-
matical construction of all languages, of which he even
attempted an analysis in print.
Father Jacker was a very remarkable man. Money he
never could keep, for he gave every cent to the poor and
when he died not a penny was found among his effects.
He was an eminent scholar in the Indian languages, especi-
ally in the language of the jib ways, and published many
researches of great value. Born at Wiirtemburg, in Swa-
bia, Germany; died on the shores of Lake Superior, in
1887.
JACKSON RIDGE (104): Timbered ridge giving a view
of the valley on the east, and of the forest and lake on the
northwest.
The ridge was named for Lieutenant Hezekiah Jackson
of the 24th Regiment, U. S. A., a brave officer at the head
of his command, who died after the Battle of Mackinac
Island, from the result of wounds received.
JAMESON FOUNTAIN (122) : Mrs. Anna Brownell Mur-
phy Jameson, the noted English author and critic, visited
Mackinac in the year in which Michigan was admitted to
the Union ( 1837) . She has left, in her Winter Studies and
Summer Rambles, delightful sketches of Mackinac Island
and the Straits, as they were at that interesting period.
Her husband, Robert Jameson, was at one time Speaker of
the House of Assembly of Upper Canada. She came to
Mackinac from their home in Toronto. While on the Is-
land she stayed at the home of Henry R. Schoolcraft, then
Indian Agent at Mackinac, to whose family she became
greatly attached. Most delightful are her sketches of In-
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 551
dian life at Mackinac. On leaving the Island she wrote to
a friend:
"0, Mackinac! that fairy island, which I shall never
see again, and which I would have dearly liked to filch from
the Americans, and carry home in my dressing box, or per
die, in my toothpick case."
In her books dealing with the old masters and the relig-
ious bearings of medieval art, few writers have done more
to refine the public taste and diffuse sound canons of art
criticism. Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1794; died at Eal-
ing, Middlesex, England, in 1860.
JOGUES SLOPE (46) : A view point on the east bluff
above Carver Pond.
Father Isaac Jogues was one of the first two Jesuit mis-
sionaries to set foot on the soil of the Mackinac country.
In 1641, he and Father Charles Raymbault preached to
two thousand jib ways assembled at the Sault. It was
they who gave the name Sault Ste. Marie to the Rapids, in
honour of their mission of St. Mary among the Hurons.
The cruel martyrdom of Father Jogues among the Iroquois
in 1646 is one of the saddest episodes in the annals of the
missions.
Father Jogues was a native of Orleans, France, born in
1607. He was one of the first white men to visit Mack-
inac. After labouring several years among the Huron In-
dians, he established a Mission at Sault Ste. Marie, among
the Algonquin tribes. With a party of Hurons he went to
Quebec for supplies, and on returning fell into an ambus-
cade, was made a slave and treated with great cruelty. He
was killed in New York by the Indians in 1646.
JOLIET VIEW (47) : A lookout or view point on the cliff.
552 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Louis Joliet was educated by the Jesuits for the priest-
hood, but abandoned the design, and going west engaged in
the fur-trade. He was a companion of Father Marquette
in the discovery of the Mississippi River, June 17, 1673,
at the mouth of the Wisconsin River. The winter before,
Dec. 8, 1672, he arrived at Michilimackinac (St. Ignace),
where he and Marquette spent the remainder of that winter
gathering all the information they could about the new
country into which they were to adventure. The Indians
at Mackinac aided them, and a map of the region was
drawn, later revised by Marquette. They went as far
south as the vicinity of the Arkansas River, and ascertained
that the Mississippi empties, not into the Sea of California
as supposed, but into the Gulf of Mexico. On his way back
to Quebec, Joliet, who was the official leader of the expedi-
tion, lost all his papers of the expedition by the over-turn-
ing of his canoe in the St. Lawrence. Later the French
Government rejected the plans urged by him for developing
the Mississippi Valley. Joliet had been present, in 1671,
at Sault Ste Marie, when St. Lusson formally took posses-
sion of the Mackinac country and beyond for the French
crown. He was born in Quebec, in 1645; it is said he died
in poverty, about 1700.
JULIA POINT (85) : Projection of land into the lake.
Sister Julia was a Catholic nun, of the Sisters of St. Jo-
seph, who visited Mackinac and instructed the Indian chil-
dren. She became famous at La Pointe on account of the
Indian Agent's endeavours to close the school. The In-
dians revolted when they heard of the Sister's being ejected,
and the agent became so frightened that he gladly agreed to
permit her to continue her school.
JUNIPER TRAIL (190): Trail from Sugar Loaf to
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 553
Crooked Tree Drive. This locality abounds in a luxuriant
growth of Juniper shrubs.
LA HONTAN HILL (68) : A considerable elevation above
surrounding land.
Named for Armand Louis de Delondarce de La Hontan,
better known as Baron La Hontan. He was in the Mack-
inac country and at Michilimackinac (St. Ignace) in 1688.
Shortly before this, because of his knowledge of the Indian
language and his skill in forest diplomacy, he was sent as
a commander of troops to the Great Lakes region, in com-
pany with Du Lhut, and built Fort St. Joseph at the foot of
Lake Huron, near the present site of the city of Port Huron.
Here La Durantaye, commandant at Michilimackinac,
sweeping down in 1687 with birch-bark canoe loads of
Mackinac Indians, took possession of the whole surround-
ing country for France. It was from this post that La Hon-
tan went to Mackinac in 1688 "to buy up corn for the Hu-
rons and the Outaouacs," as he writes. His New Voyages
was published in French at The Hague in 1703. He was the
author of a map showing the French and Indian villages,
and the Jesuit establishments as they were in 1688. Born
in the village of Lahontan, in southern France, about 1667;
died in Hanover in 1715.
LAKE SHORE BOULEVARD, or Boulevard Drive (174):
Driveway extending along the shore, completely encircling
the Island, it is a drive which cannot be excelled for novelty,
variety and scenic effect. In some particulars it resembles
the famous Riverside Drive in New York.
LANGLADE CRAIG (197) : A projecting craig above Hen-
nepin Point, being about forty feet high and of broken lime-
stone.
Charles Michel Langlade was born at Old Mackinaw, in
554 HISTORIC MACKINAG
May, 1729. It is said that at the age of ten, he accom-
panied troops. He was a cadet at twenty-one. Until 1764
his usual residence was at Old Mackinaw. At the outbreak
of the French and Indian War, he was made an ensign on
half pay, and campaigned against Braddock. In 1757
Langlade was appointed second in command of Fort Mich-
ilimackinac, and appears to have remained there until the
spring of 1759, when he served in the Quebec campaign.
His abilities gained for him the rank of Lieutenant on half
pay, his commission being signed by King Louis XV at
Versailles; it is preserved in the archives of Wisconsin.
He also participated in the defence of Montreal in 1760,
and was sent back to Mackinaw five days before its surren-
der. He was in command of Mackinaw after the departure
of Beaujeau, and finally surrendered the Fort September
28, 1761, to the English under Capt. Henry Balfour of the
80th Regiment, and Lieut. Wm. Leslie.
During the next year and a half Langlade remained
quietly in Old Mackinaw, probably making trading voyages
to the interior posts, among them La Pointe (Green Bay).
In April, 1763, he intended to remove his family to Green
Bay, but before the project was consummated, the con-
spiracy of Pontiac broke out, and Mackinaw was captured
by the Indians, June 4, 1763. He preserved the lives of
the officers and part of the garrison, secured the neutrality
of the turbulent nations, and finally stayed the outbreak.
Upon Etherington's departure for Montreal, he placed the
command of the fort once more in the hands of Langlade,
who retained it until September, 1764, when Capt. Howard
reestablished British authority. During the autumn of
1764 or in 1765, he made his permanent residence at
Green Bay.
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 555
At the outbreak of the Revolution, Langlade was sent
together with the Indians, to the aid of Carleton, who gave
him a commission as Captain in the Indian department. In
1777 he was again sent with native reinforcements for Bur-
goyne's Army, but returned before the latter's surrender.
In 1778 he was dispatched to Montreal. The following
years of this war found him occupied in the West chiefly
against George Rogers Clark. The remainder of his life
was devoted to private interests, his services being well
recognized. His death must have occurred after January,
1800. Langlade was called "The Father of Wisconsin."
Langlade County in Wisconsin is named for him. He was
the man with whom Alexander Henry sought shelter from
the Indians.
LA SALLE SPRING (7) : Fine flow of water originally
used to supply the Garrison of Fort Mackinac.
This spring is named for Rene Robert Cavelier, sieur de
La Salle, the great explorer. He first came to Michili-
mackinac (St. Ignace) in 1679, on board the Griffin, a sail-
ing vessel built by his orders a little above Niagara Falls,
in which he was one of the first explorers to traverse the
Great Lakes in a boat larger than the birch-bark canoe.
In 1679 we find La Salle exploring in Mackinac. In
consideration of his services, the French King made him an
untitled noble, Governor of the new Fort at Michilimacki-
nac. The fame of the discoveries of Marquette and Joliet
fired the mind of La Salle. He obtained a concession from
Count Frontenac, another from the French King, which al-
lowed him, in the territory which he discovered, the exclu-
sive trade of buffalo and all other articles excepting the fur-
trade of the Lakes. Sailing from Fort Frontenac in the
Griffin late in November, 1674, and after many wild storms
556 HISTORIC MACKINAG
turning the foot of Bois Blanc, he beheld the highland
ahead, "sitting like an emerald gem in the clear pellucid
wave, the rock-girt, fairy isle of Michilimackinac." A
story has come down to us of the great impression he made
upon the Indians in his "Scarlet cloak with a broad Gold
Lace."
In 1681 he again visited the Straits of Mackinac, on his
second voyage to the Mississippi. He reached the mouth
of the "Father of Waters" the following year on the ninth of
April, naming the country Louisiana for the King, Louis
XIV of France. In 1688, survivors of his fatal expedition
from France, in which he aimed to reach the mouth of the
great river direct by water, arrived at Michilimackinac
with a tale of disaster.
La Salle was a man of indomitable will, who made warm
friends, such as the devoted Tonti, and bitter enemies,
whose machinations finally compassed his ruin. He came
of a wealthy family and was well educated. His discover-
ies on the Mississippi opened to him visions of vice-regal
control of a new empire, in the lure of which he met death
at the hands of some of his followers, somewhere in the
present State of Texas, March 19, 1687, while trying to
reach the Mississippi overland. He was born at Rouen,
France, in 1643.
LESLIE AVENUE (198): Named for Col. Leslie, who
projected an extensive plan of road development for Mack-
inac Island.
LIFE SAVING STATION, or United States Coast Guard Sta-
tion (42) :
The United States Government in 1915 built this, one of
the most modern stations in the entire service. Its first sea-
son in active use began in 1916. The credit for bringing
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 557
about the establishing of this station belongs to Col. Wm. P.
Preston, for many years Mayor of Mackinac Island, who
remained in Washington during an entire session of Con-
gress. He brought to the attention of the Treasury Depart-
ment the danger to life and shipping in the Straits of Mack-
inac, due to the narrow channel, the rocky shores, and the
fogs and dense smoke which prevail, the latter when forest
fires are raging.
LIME KILN (76) : Old Lime Kiln where limestone was
burned in 1779-80-81 for the construction of Fort Mack-
inac.
LIMESTONE SINKS (212) : Natural depressions located
by Mr. F. B. Taylor of the United States Geological Survey,
on the Early Farm, at the southwest of the Golf Links.
LOVER'S LEAP (118) : Limestone pillar detached from
cliff. This lone pinnacle rises to a height of 145 feet above
the waters of Lake Huron, about a mile west of the main
part of the city. It derives its name from the following
beautiful Indian legend of the Ojibways.
Many years ago, there lived on the Island of Mackinac,
a renowned warrior named Wawanosh. Chief of an an-
cient tribe, he occupied a foremost place in the Councils of
the Nation. He had an only daughter called Lotah, very
beautiful, and noted for her womanly virtues as well. At
the age of eighteen, a youth of humble parentage, named
Geniwegwon, sought her hand in marriage, but the proud
father would not acknowledge him as a worthy suitor for
his daughter, and haughtily bade him earn a name for
himself. The youth left, but not disheartened. Before
ten suns had set, he was at the head of a band of young
ambitious braves, painted and feathered according to cus-
tom, and they repaired to the Straits for the War-dance,
558 HISTORIC MACKINAC
which was continued for two days and two nights. At its
close he had a last meeting with the daughter of Wawanosh.
Lotah grieved by day and night. She sought a sequestered
place on the bluff, and crooned the Ojibway Love Song, "A
loon I thought was looming Why it is he, my lover, his
paddle in the waters gleaming." Two moons later word
was brought to the lodge, that her lover had been wounded
on the field of battle, by the flying enemy, and had sent her
a last tender message. One day as she sat in her accus-
tomed place at the lonely rock, a bird of beautiful plumage
appeared to her, mingling its sweet tones with her plaintive
voice. She recognized the visitor as the spirit of her de-
parted lover, and from that time petitioned the loved shade
to take her with him to the Country of Souls. One evening
her father found her lifeless body at the foot of the preci-
pice, her face wearing a smile of recognition and joy.
MAJOR ROGER'S CLIFF (16): Projection of the bluff
on the east side of the Island, on Manitou Trail, between
Robinson's Folly and Arch Rock.
This cliff is named for Major Robert Rogers, who was
commandant at Old Mackinaw shortly after the massacre of
1763. He arrived at Old Mackinaw in 1765, either with,
or a short time before, the noted traveller, Jonathan Carver,
who is supposed to have been his agent in search for a
northwest passage to the South Sea.
Rogers' career at Old Mackinaw was brief and lament-
able. Strained relations with his superior, Sir William
Johnson, and his ambitious plans for self-aggrandizement,
led him into a plot to sack Mackinaw and go over to the
Spaniards on the lower Mississippi. The plot was discov-
ered in 1678, and Rogers was tried at Montreal; but was
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 559
acquitted, owing to the influence of his creditors who hoped
that he might pay his debts if freed. He went to England,
where he later spent some time in a debtor's prison.
Major Rogers is the same Robert Rogers who won fame
as commander of "Rogers' Rangers," a company widely
noted for its exploits during the French and Indian War in
the region of Lake George. His name is perpetuated there
by "Rogers' Slide," a precipice down whose steep defile
the Indians believed he slid, protected by the Great Spirit,
when he escaped their pursuit. Born in Dunbarton, New
Hampshire, in 1727; died in London, in poverty, about
1800.
MANIBOAJO BAY (183) : Bay on the northwest shore of
the Island.
This name is on an old map in the Boston Public Library,
derived doubtless from that remarkable personage in Al-
gonquin tradition known as Manabozho, and sometimes
written Messou, Michabou, and Nanabush. He is the
Great Hare of Algonquin mythology. His father was the
West-wind. His mother was a great grand-daughter of the
moon. He is the hero of innumerable legends. He it was
that restored the world after the great deluge. In the task
he was asMsted by the loon, which dived in search of mud,
but failed to find it; whereupon Manabozho found by
chance a little mud on one of its paws, and of this and the
body of the loon he re-made the world. Variations of this
theme are numerous, the musk-rat and the beaver figuring
as his helpers. In one of these stories Mackinac Island
was the first land made by Manabozho, who from that time
made his home upon the Island.
MANITOU TRAIL ( 123) : One of the oldest of the Indian
560 HISTORIC MACKINAC
trails on the Island; it leads along the edge of the east bluff,
from Robinson's Folly to Arch Rock, connecting Dwight-
wood Footway with East Shore Boulevard.
Manitous, in Algonquin mythology, were supernatural
beings of various kinds. The spelling Manitou indicates
French influence, the early English writers using manitto,
manetto, manitoa, manito, monedo, and manido. Gitchi
Manitou means Great Spirit. There were local manitous
of streams, rocks, and forests. Manitous revealed them-
selves to mortals only under the form of some beast, bird or
reptile, usually distorted. There were manitous good, and
manitous bad. They controlled the destiny of mortals.
Every Indian early chose his guardian manitou, to whom
he looked for counsel, guidance and protection. The
choice was made under the influence of extreme fasting,
falling upon the animal first or most often appearing to
the Indian in his sleep of exhaustion. Some portion of
the animal, as a feather or a bone, was from that time worn
about the person. This was his "medicine," to which he
yielded a sort of worship.
MAPLE TRAIL (144) : Trail from Garrison Road to In-
dian Village through Maple Grove.
MARINE VISTA (101) : Spot where a fine vista may be
had over Lake Huron to the Northern Peninsula.
MARQUETTE PARK AND STATUE (1): At the foot of
Fort Mackinac, Trentanove's statue of Father Marquette is
in the centre of Marquette Park.
Father Jacques Marquette founded the first mission on
the Straits of Mackinac, at Michilimackinac (St. Ignace) in
1671. He came to Mackinac Island in the spring of that
year from the mission at La Pointe on Lake Superior, where
he had succeeded Father Allouez in 1665. The mission
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 561
there was broken up when the Hurons and Ottawas aban-
doned the place in face of a threatening invasion of the
Sioux. The Hurons went to Mackinac Island, and Mar-
quette followed them, afterwards finding that Father Dab-
Ion had been there during the preceding winter. But Mar-
quette soon changed to Point St. Ignace. The Mission of
St. Ignatius was established on the Point for both the
Hurons and the Ottawas. Father Marquette doubtless
many times visited Mackinac Island during his stay on the
Straits of Mackinac. In 1672 he wrote a long account of
his work in that neighbourhood, which is published in the
Jesuit Relations.
On May 17, 1673, he and Louis Joliet, whom he had met
in 1671, at the great ceremony of St. Lusson's at the Sault,
left Michilimackinac on their great voyage of discovery,
reaching the "Father of Waters" at the mouth of the Wis-
consin River on the seventeenth of June. They later pad-
dled their birch-bark canoes as far south as a point near
the mouth of the Arkansas River. Satisfied that the Mis-
sissippi emptied not into the South Sea, but into the Gulf
of Mexico, Joliet returned to Quebec, but Marquette made
another voyage down the Mississippi in the following year.
Of both these voyages Marquette gives an account in his
Journals.
On the second voyage, worn out with the fatigue of his
labours, he was stricken by the hand of death, perishing
before he could reach his Mission at Michilimackinac.
He was buried on the banks of a stream, thought by some
to have been the St. Joseph's River, and by others, the
Sable River near the present city of Ludington, May 18,
1675. In 1677, Kiskakon Indians, whom he had in-
structed at La Pointe, bore his remains to the Mission
562 HISTORIC MACKINAC
chapel on the Straits, where they were buried by Fathers
Pierson and Nouvel. The convoy consisted of thirty canoes.
As they approached the church the priests chanted the De
Profundis in presence of all the people, and the body re-
mained in state in the little church all day Whit Monday,
June 8, 1677. The next day it was buried with honours
under the church. Father Marquette was called "The Guar-
dian Angel of the Ottawa Mission." His remains were dis-
covered by Very Rev. Edward Jacker, V.G., in 1877, who
was then pastor at St. Ignace. About a fourth of these
relics are still preserved in the Church at St. Ignace; the
remainder in Marquette College at Milwaukee.
In commemoration of Father Marquette, his name is
borne by a county and village of Wisconsin. His statue
stands in the Capitol at Washington. On September 1,
1909, the Marquette statue in Marquette Park on the Island
was dedicated to his memory with appropriate ceremonies,
including among other features, an address by Mr. Justice
William R. Day of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Marquette was a native of the little hill town of Laon.
France, where he was born in 1637.
MARTINEAU TRAIL (143): Trail on the State Park
boundary from Garrison Road to Indian Village.
Miss Harriet Martineau, the English writer, visited Mack-
inac Island in 1836. To her delighted eyes "no words can
give an idea of the charms" about her. Of a view from
Fort Holmes she says:
"I can compare it to nothing but what Noah might have
seen the first bright morning after the deluge. Such a
cluster of little paradises rising out of such a congregation
of waters, I can hardly fancy to have been seen elsewhere."
Miss Martineau came of a family of French Huguenots
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 563
who settled in England shortly after the French Revolution.
She early developed unusual literary ability, and when left
by the death of her father in need of earning her livelihood
she prepared to do so by the aid of her pen. In search of
material, she travelled in America in 1834-1836, and pub-
lished the result of her travels in Society in America. Her
descriptions of Mackinac are contained in this work. Born
in Norwich, England, in 1802 ; died in Ambleside, England,
in 1876.
MASON FOREST (112) : Forest in which the blue spruce
is developed to perfection.
Stevens T. Mason was the first Governor of the State of
Michigan. Governor Mason was a Virginian by birth, and
came of a long line of illustrious ancestors prominent in
colonial days and in the American Revolution. He was
educated in Kentucky. When only nineteen years old he
was appointed by President Andrew Jackson to be Secre-
tary of Michigan Territory (1831); and when Governor
Lewis Cass resigned to take a place in Jackson's cabinet,
Mason became Acting Governor of the Territory. From
that time he became one of the most picturesque figures in
Michigan's history. As "the Boy Governor" he was elected
in 1835, and again in 1837, Governor of the new State.
As soon as Michigan became a State, Mason was unani-
mously chosen Governor and honoured with re-election.
The peaceful settlement of the boundary line between Mich-
igan and Ohio was in no small measure due to his tact and
moderation. When Father Baraga was ordered from the
Reservation at Grand River, as being an obstacle to the
personal interests of the Indian Agent, the youthful Gov-
ernor of Michigan tried his best to have him remain with
the Ottawas, but his voice was unavailing.
564 HISTORIC MACKINAG
His name is borne by the city of Mason, and a resident
of that city, the late Hon. Lawton T. Hemans, wrote a
comprehensive biography of Michigan's "Boy Governor."
A boy in years, Mason proved to be a man in thought and
action. It was during his administration that a large por-
tion of the present Upper Peninsula of Michigan was
added to the State, in lieu of a strip of land on the south
which was relinquished to Ohio. Born in Leesburg, Lou-
doun county, Virginia, in 1811; died in New York City,
in 1843.
MENARD STATION (99) : A natural view point on the
east bluff.
Father Rene Menard, a Jesuit, was the first missionary
after Fathers Jogues and Raymbault to enter the Mackinac
country. Thoroughly accustomed to Indian life, with sev-
eral Indian dialects at his command, he longed to die as his
earlier friends had died. He went from Three Rivers, des-
titute and alone, broken with age and toil, but with a heart
and will ready for sacrifice. He was a man of quiet dispo-
sition, but did his work faithfully. On the journey, the
Ottawas compelled him to do all the drudgery. They left
him without food or protection, until hungry, barefoot and
wounded with sharp stones, he stood on the shore of Lake
Superior, where for some days he lived on pounded bones,
and such things as he could find. On the Indians' return
they took him to the home of the tribe, where he began a
mission. He lived in a cabin built of fir branches, piled
one on another. Of delicate constitution, his courage was
boundless. Born in Paris, in 1604 or 1605; he perished or
was killed at the head waters of Black River in August,
1661.
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 565
MEDICINE MAN'S TRAIL (162): Trail from Indian
Village to Annex Road, said to have been the haunt of the
Indian medicine men.
The medicine man of the Indians was believed to have
supernatural power to cure disease and prevent death.
This power was obtained from the gods through dreams, or
sometimes before birth. In the tribe he became the official
healer, feared as well as respected. Often his influence was
increased by his assumption of priestly functions. The med-
icine men formed a powerful class, which was often a jeal-
ous influence in opposition to the missionaries. Their meth-
ods of healing were various, comprising magic, prayers,
songs, exhortations, suggestions, ceremonies, fetishes, and
sometimes certain herbs or mechanical processes. In some
ailments, particularly of a nervous character, genuine cures
were effected through their powerful mental influence.
MICHABOU'S LANDING (202) : Said to be the landing
place of the Giant Fairies who steered their craft to Gitchi
Manitou, cooked their food in the Fairy Kitchen, ascended
the Giant's Stairway, making a new resolve upon each step,
and paid their respects to Fairy Arch, which gave them hope
for a long life, filled with an abundance of health, happi-
ness and prosperity. Later they returned to the great Arch
Rock, and through its portals entered the Island domain of
the good fairies.
MINERAL SPRING (124): Natural spring of water on
the beach, having such mineral in solution as to give the
water laxative properties.
MISSION CHURCH (43) : Built by the Presbyterian mis-
sion under Rev. William M. Ferry in 1829-30.
This is said to be the oldest Protestant church building in
566 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the Old Northwest that is still standing. The style of its
interior and of its furnishings has been preserved as it was
when the church was first built. Among its early promi-
nent parishioners were Henry R. Schoolcraft and Robert
Stuart. The building passed into private hands by sale
about 1838. In 1874-76 it was used by Father Edward
Jacker for services while the new St. Anne's Church was
being completed. In 1895 it was dedicated as a Union
Chapel, where services are now held in the summer months
by pastors of various denominations.
MISSION HOUSE (44) : Originally the home of the Rev.
William M. Ferry, founder of the Presbyterian mission of
1823.
This house was built in 1825, and was the birthplace
(1827) of the late Senator Thomas W. Ferry, of Grand
Haven. Since 1845 it has served as a summer hotel. It
is mentioned by Edward Everett Hale in the opening lines
of his book, The Man Without a Country, which is gener-
ally supposed to have been written there.
MISSION HILL (12): Hill above the Old Mission
Church.
MISSION POINT (172): Point of land opposite to Bid-
die's Point, south and in front of the Old Mission House.
MORGAN VIEW (38) : Natural view point on the edge of
the tableland.
Lieutenant Willoughby Morgan served under Colonel
Croghan in the Battle of Mackinac Island, Aug. 4, 1814,
and rendered valuable service after the death of Major
Holmes; with a piece of light artillery he caused the enemy
to retire to a greater distance. After peace was concluded,
as a result of the Treaty of Ghent, Colonel Butler took pos-
session of the Fort and dependencies, then retired, leaving
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 567
Captain Morgan of the U. S. Army in command of Mack-
inac.
MUSINIGON POINT (52) : A lookout point on the east
bluff.
Musinigon was the brother of Wenniway, the Indian into
whose hands the English trader, Alexander Henry, fell after
the massacre at Old Mackinaw in 1763. Musinigon was
slain in the wars with the English. His place Wenniway
intended Henry should fill, and he spared the trader's life.
MURRAY ROAD (159): Road from Leslie Avenue
through Old Fort Gardens to Crooked Tree Drive.
Rev. Patrick Bernard Murray, an early Catholic mis-
sionary on the Island, was badly frozen in an attempt to
reach a sick Indian on a dark night. The name of this
road may also be termed a tribute to the distinguished
Murray family which is so thoroughly interwoven with
the history of Michigan. It was on the Murray farm that
the grave of Father Marquette was discovered in 1877.
Mrs. Murray, of the New Murray Hotel, is noted for her
generous hospitality and gracious manner. She has been
frequently called "The Queen of the Island."
MUSKET RANGE (180) : Soldiers' Shooting range.
MUSKET RANGE BUTTS (22): The target butts of the
musket range. Practice ground where the soldiers ac-
quired accuracy in aim and fire.
MYSTIC ROUTE (157): Very crooked, winding road,
difficult to follow. It runs near La Hontan Hill.
NATURAL AMPHITHEATRE (21) : A natural semi-circu-
lar formation fronting on a level glade. Very suitable for
open air plays. Fully 10,000 people might gather here,
in which natural auditorium, all present could readily hear
and see the speakers.
568 HISTORIC MACKINAC
NICOLET WATCH TOWER (86) : Fine view point above
Arch Rock; one of the best marine views in America.
This point is named in honour of Jean Nicolet, the first
white man known to have viewed the Straits of Mackinac.
In 1634, in a birch-bark canoe, accompanied by Huron In-
dians, he made a trip from Three Rivers, Canada, to Green
Bay, following the route by the Ottawa trail to Georgian
Bay, the Sault, and Lakes Huron and Michigan. On this
voyage he was the agent of Champlain to find a route to the
South Sea and the people of China, and to extend the French
fur-trade. It was probably to make a proper impression
upon the Chinese that he took with him on the journey the
"damask robe broidered with flowers," which he wore at
Green Bay, no doubt to the amazement and pleasure of the
Winnebago Indians, whom he found there.
In passing from the Sault to Green Bay, he would nat-
urally go through the Straits of Mackinac and pass Mack-
inac Island, and it is conceivable that, wearied with the
long pull from the Sault, he may have rested on the shores
of the Island itself. The information gathered by Nico-
let about the Mackinac country was doubtless useful to
later explorers. He was born in Cherbourg, France; and
was drowned in the St. Lawrence, near Sillery, in 1642,
while on a mission to save a friendly Indian from tor-
ture.
Nicolet was the first white man to pass through the Straits
of Mackinac and enter what became the Old Northwest, now
comprising the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan,
Wisconsin, and that portion of Minnesota lying east of the
Mississippi River. In 1915 a bronze tablet in his honour
was unveiled at Arch Rock under the auspices of the Michi-
gan Historical Commission, the Mackinac Island State
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 569
Park Commission, and the City of Mackinac Island. The
dedicatory address was delivered by the noted author and
historian, Rev. Thomas J. Campbell, SJ. The tablet
bears the following inscription:
NICOLET WATCH TOWER
IN HONOR OF
JOHN NICOLET,
Who in 1634 passed through the Straits of Mackinac
in a birch bark canoe, and was the first white man to
enter Michigan and the Old Northwest. Erected on
behalf of the State of Michigan, by the Michigan His-
torical Commission and the Mackinac Island State
Park Commission. 1915.
NORTH BLOCK HOUSE (73) : For explanatory descrip-
tion, see West Block House.
NORTHEAST CRACK (210) : A crack in the Island dis-
covered by Mr. F. B. Taylor of the United States Geological
Survey, on the Early Farm, northwest of Scott's Cave.
NORTHWEST CRACK (211): A crack in the Island lo-
cated by Mr. F. B. Taylor of the United States Geological
Survey, in Badin Grove, near Forest Driveway.
NORTH SALLY PORT (70) : Explanatory description is
the same as for the South Sally Port.
NORTHWEST KNAPSACK (33) : Low cliff edge, where
there is a tree and a vista of Lake Huron.
The knapsack was a sort of portmanteau universally in
use among the early fur traders of the Mackinac country
and the great Northwest. This spot is said by some to re-
semble a knapsack.
570 HISTORIC MACKINAC
NOUVEL SPRING (165) : Natural overflow of water.
Father Henri Nouvel was the Superior of the Ottawa Mis-
sions of the Mackinac country in 1672-1680 (except 1678-
1679), and again in 1688-1695. In 1670 when Father
Dablon returned to Canada he sent as his successor Father
Henri Nouvel, a Jesuit, who had been working under diffi-
culties among the Indians on the Lower St. Lawrence. The
sick were his chief care.
In 1677 Father Nouvel came to Michilimackinac, to take
charge of the Ottawas. He built the bark chapel of St.
Francis. The cross, when first planted, was fired at by the
pagans, but a chief caused reparation to be made. He
lived in a rude wigwam adjoining the chapel. After the
departure of Marquette and Joliet from St. Ignace, Father
Nouvel erected a more substantial log church and residence,
protected by a palisade enclosure twenty-five feet high.
In 1676 or 1677, he with Father Philip Pierson received
and buried the remains of Father Marquette in the little
chapel at St. Ignace. He was the first missionary to visit
the Indians in the southern peninsula of Michigan. In
1704 the veteran Nouvel retired from the missionary field.
Born in Pezenas, France, in 1624; died in Aix-la-Chapelle,
Belgium, in 1696.
OFFICERS' QUARTERS, or Old Stone Quarters (62):
Stone dwelling occupied by officers of Fort Mackinac.
Built in 1780-81.
Three prominent Confederate prisoners of war were con-
fined here during the War of the Rebellion. In the later
years of the military occupancy of the fort, the officers'
quarters were the three modern buildings, one of which is
now occupied by the Superintendent of the State Park, the
other two being directly to the west.
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 571
It is the purpose of the Mackinac Island State Park Com-
mission and the Historical Commission to establish a State
museum to be known as Fort Mackinac Museum, in the
old stone building. Gifts of articles for this Museum
will be gratefully received from any who are interested in
historical objects, and all such contributions will be labelled
with the name of the donor attached. The cooperation of
all visitors to the historic old fortress, and beautiful Mack-
inac Island is solicited. The Mackinac Island State Park
Commission, on behalf of the State of Michigan, assure
prospective donors that all articles, manuscripts, maps,
books, papers, and everything of interest given to the Mu-
seum will be safely, securely and permanently preserved.
OJIBWAY STREET (90) : Street in State Plat No. 2.
The name Ojibway ("Chippewa" is a popular corruption
of it) means, according to the Government's derivation,
"to roast till puckered up," referring to the puckered seam
on their moccasins. The tribe bearing this name was once
the most numerous of the Indian tribes north of Mexico,
occupying regions along both shores of Lake Huron and
Lake Superior, and extending as far west as North Dakota.
Their traditions reveal that they originally came from a
region northeast of Mackinac, near the Atlantic coast, and
that the original stock included the Ottawas and Potawa-
tomis. The stock separated into these three divisions on
reaching the Mackinac country. The first recorded notice
of them, in the Jesuit Relation of 1640, calls them by a
name meaning "people of the Sault." Many were their
wars with the Foxes, the Sioux, and the Iroquois, against
whom they proved their valour.
The legends and Indian traditions that cluster about the
Island of Mackinac are mainly those of the Ojibways.
572 HISTORIC MACKINAG
Their Great Spirit, Manabozho, recreated the world after
the great flood; and Mackinac, the first land to appear
above the water, was chosen by him for his home. The
rock, Gitchi Manitou, commemorates his deeds, from
which, mounting the Giant's Stairway, and passing through
Fairy Arch, thence by Arch Rock Portal, he was wont to
make his way to his wigwam, the Sugar Loaf. The Ojib-
ways are perhaps more intimately known than any other
American tribe, through the scholarly researches of Henry
R. Schoolcraft and others, and the genius of Longfellow
who has immortalized them in Hiawatha.
When Fathers Raymbault and Jogues reached Sault Ste.
Marie, they called the Indians they found there Ojibways,
but through a misunderstanding about the pronunciation
of the name, the English called them Chippewas. They
have since been known by the two names. The Ojibways
claimed the eastern side of Michigan, and the Ottawas the
western, separated by a line drawn southward from the
Fort. The principal settlement of the Ojibways on the
Island of Mackinac contained about one hundred warriors.
In their mode of life they were far more crude than the
southern Algonquins or the Iroquois. The nation once
included the Ottawas and the Potawatomis. They had
an inexhaustible fund of myths and legends. Longfellow
says in Hiawatha:
"Should you ask me whence these stories,
I should answer, I should tell you,
From the forest and the prairies,
From the Great Lakes of the northland,
From the land of the Ojibways."
OLD AGENCY (2) : Site of the Old Indian Agency.
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 573
The building which stood here was erected by the United
States as the headquarters of the federal Indian Agent at
Mackinac. It served both as a residence and a business
office. The Indians came here to receive their annuities
from the Government. In 1873-4 it was accidentally
burned. Miss Constance Fenimore Woolson has immor-
talized the Old Agency in her Mackinac novel, Anne.
OLD DISTILLERY (167): Site of a distillery in use at
the time of the British conquest of the Island.
The "Old Still House" was the place of refuge to which
the women and children were taken by Mr. Michael Dous-
man when he learned from the British that the Indians were
directed to massacre the people of the Island indiscrimi-
nately if resistance were made. In 1814, in preparation
against the American attack, a British battery was placed
on the height overlooking this point, and guards put in
charge of the place. The distillery is said to have been
near the Indian cemetery, under the bluff to the west of the
village.
OLD FORT HOSPITAL (61): Hospital erected at Fort
Mackinac in 1817.
OLD FORT GARDENS (Great Gardens) (80): Ground
clear of timber, cultivated by the soldiers of Fort Mack-
inac. One of the most beautiful places on the entire Is-
land, abounding in flowers and berries.
OLD QUARRY (121) : Place where limestone was quar-
ried for reduction in Lime Kiln, to be used in the construc-
tion of Fort Mackinac.
ONEOTA TRAIL (139): Trail from Musket Range to
Leslie Avenue near Wenniway Prospect.
Oneota, or Characteristics of the Red Race of America,
574 HISTORIC MACKINAC
is the title of a book written by Henry R. Schoolcraft, pub-
lished in 1844-1845. In 1848 this book was republished,
with the title The Indian in His Wigwam.
OTTAWA TRAIL (168): An old Indian trail along the
edge of the bluff.
The name Ottawa means, according to the Government's
derivation, "to trade," "to buy and sell." The Ottawas
were noted among their neighbours as intertribal traders,
chiefly in corn-meal, furs, tobacco, and herbs. Champlain
was the first white man to meet them, in 1615, near the
mouth of French River on Georgian Bay. The Ottawa
River in Canada bears their name, where many made their
home when first known to the whites. In earlier times, the
Ottawas, with the Ojibways and Potawatomis, formed one
people, and before their westward migration lived on the
Atlantic coast, northeast of the Mackinac country. The
Manitoulin Islands as well as the north and south shores of
the Georgian Bay were early occupied by the Ottawas.
The French applied the name to many tribes of the Mack-
inac country, the Ottawas having been the first to descend
the St. Lawrence to trade with the French.
The Ottawas, with the Hurons, were driven west about
1650, during a war of extermination waged by the Iroquois.
Father Allouez found them on Chequamegon Bay (Ashland
county, Wisconsin) in 1665. In 1670, these bands re-
treated before the Sioux to the Straits of Mackinac, settling
at Point St. Ignace and at their old home on the Manitoulin
Islands. When Cadillac, commandant at Michilimackinac
(St. Ignace), withdrew the French garrison from the Fort to
Detroit, in 1701, large numbers of the Ottawas followed,
fearful to be outside of the protection of the French forces.
Some settled west of Detroit on the shore of Lake Michigan,
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 575
where their name is still perpetuated in Ottawa county.
After the re-establishment of the Fort at Michilimackinac,
many Ottawas returned to the Straits. They formed a con-
siderable village at L'Arbre Croche. Their known friend-
ship for the English led the jib ways to exclude them from
any knowledge of the plot to massacre the garrison in 1763,
notwithstanding Pontiac was an Ottawa chief. The Otta-
was resented this, and it was due largely to their aid that
some of the English officers and men were rescued from
their captors. The temper of this tribe is shown by the war
of extermination waged by them against the Illinois, and the
tragedy at Starved Rock (about 1770) to avenge the alleged
murder of Pontiac by that tribe. As a whole they were
faithful friends and allies, successively, of the French and
English against their savage enemies in the Mackinac
country and in Canada.
PARADE GROUND (177) : Assembly and drill ground at
Fort Mackinac. Here the troops assembled every evening
for dress parade. A great rendezvous for visitors during
the period when the Fort was garrisoned.
PARKMAN PROSPECT (93) : A view point on the east
bluff, overlooking Lake Huron.
Francis Parkman, the historian, has given a vivid de-
scription of the life of the Indians, the traders, and the mis-
sionaries of the Mackinac country and Canada in his mon-
umental works. In the Conspiracy of Pontiac he describes
in detail the massacre at Old Mackinaw in 1763. Park-
man's vast and accurate knowledge was gained by living
with the scenes he describes. About 1845 he visited the
Mackinac country and has left some notes on the ruins of
the fort at Old Mackinaw which are reproduced in Historic
Mackinac, a comprehensive work by Edwin 0. Wood,
576 HISTORIC MACKINAG
LL.D., pertaining to the Mackinac country, published by
The Macmillan Company of New York and London. The
great hardships endured by Parkman in outdoor exposures
in winter among the Indians made him an invalid for
the remainder of his life. A large portion of his works
was written in partial and painful blindness. The
volumes of Parkman form a continuous record of the rise,
progress and decline of the French power in America. He
was educated at Harvard University, and taught there. He
also travelled in Europe, visiting the French archives in
the interest of the greater fullness and accuracy for his
historical work. Born in Boston in 1823; died in Boston,
in 1893.
PERROT POINT (35) : Point of land on the beach be-
neath Chimney Rock.
Nicholas Perrot was one of the most picturesque of the
early voyageurs of the Mackinac country. In 1665 he
made a canoe voyage through the Straits of Mackinac to
Green Bay. Perrot was interpreter to His Majesty, King
George, in the treaty between the Indians and French in
1671. He was the agent of St. Lusson in gathering to-
gether the Indians of the Mackinac country for the great
ceremony at the Sault in 1671, when St. Lusson took pos-
session of all this vast region for the Crown of France.
For many years afterward he was prominent among the
Mackinac Indians as a trader and leader against the ene-
mies of the French. In 1685 he was appointed command-
ant of the Northwest. In 1688 he arrived at Mackinac,
and persuaded the Ottawa and Fox tribes to make peace.
Perrot rescued the daughter of an jib way chief, whom the
Foxes intended to burn at the stake, and returned her to her
father. He grew comparatively rich through the fur trade,
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 577
but through a series of misfortunes died poor. He has
left in his Memoirs a faithful picture of life among the
Indians. Born in 1644; died in 1717.
PERRY CANNON (3) : Old iron cannon said to have been
used on a boat of Perry's fleet in the Battle of Lake Erie
in 1813.
PESHTIGO BEACH (129): Good bathing beach east of
Mission Point. Named for the Steamer Peshtigo, which,
lumber-laden, went on the rocks here. Peshtigo is the
name of a river mentioned in the Jesuit Relation for 1673-
74, under the spelling Pechetik. The word apparently is
an Indian word for sturgeon.
POINT Aux PINS (187): Northernmost point of the
Island. Scrub pines grow here.
POINT LOOKOUT (186): View of Straits and Lake
Huron, over forest. One of the finest views on the Island.
PONTIAC'S LOOKOUT (120) : View point on the edge of
the bluff.
Pontiac was the greatest chief of the Ottawas, of whose
wide-reaching rebellion against English rule the massacre
at Old Mackinaw was one of the most tragic results. His
great power lay in his wonderful personality, his superb
executive ability, and the fact that by his mother's being an
jib way woman and the Ottawas and Potawatomis in alli-
ance with the Ojibways, he became the principal chief of
the three nations. His aim was to consolidate this power,
and by concerted action with various tribes, to strike down
the English garrisons and roll back the tide of settlement.
This plan was fully consummated at a great council held
at Detroit on April 27, 1763, when Pontiac delivered an
oration to the assembled representatives of the tribes. He
himself was to take Detroit, but the plot was revealed to
578 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Major Gladwin it is said by an Ojibway maiden who had
conceived a deep affection for him, and Pontiac was foiled.
Nine other forts fell, of which the fort at Old Mackinaw
was one. The plan as a whole failed, and in 1766 a
treaty of peace was concluded between the English and
the Indians. Pontiac was born on the Ottawa River in
Canada, in 1720; he was murdered, it is supposed by an
Indian of the Illinois tribe, near Cahokia, 111., in 1769.
Pontiac's form was cast in the finest mould of grace
and strength. His eyes seemed capable of penetrating
at a glance the secret motives which actuated the savage
tribes around him. His rare personal qualities, his
courage, resolution, wisdom, address and eloquence, to-
gether with the hereditary claims to authority which accord-
ing to Indian custom he possessed, secured for him the
esteem of the French and English, and gave him an influ-
ence among the Lake tribes greater than that of any other
individual. To avenge his death the Ottawas carried on a
war of extermination against the Illinois tribe, a mere
handful escaping their vengeance.
POST CEMETERY (200) : Burial place of soldiers.
Here lie the remains of white men, seventy-three known,
and seventy unknown. Of the known, seven were officers
of the United States Army, sixteen wives and children of
officers, the remainder enlisted men. Fourteen unknown
fell in the battle of Mackinac Island in 1814.
The present improvements were completed by the Park
Commission in time for the exercises on Decoration Day,
1907. The cannon which is mounted in the centre of the
lot was once used in the defence of Fort Sumter, and is
now dedicated to the unknown dead who lie here. The
pedestal on which it rests bears these lines:
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 579
"On fame's eternal camping ground,
Their silent tents are spread,
And glory guards with solemn round,
The bivouac of the dead."
POTAWATOMI COURT (58): Rear street, State Plat
No. 2.
The Potawatomis were friends, allies and former kins-
men of the Ottawas. The Winnebagoes and Menominees
also belonged to the tribe. They inhabited Sault Ste.
Marie in 1671. When the time came for the formal
process of ceding their lands in Michigan and nearby States
to the United States, and their immigration to the West,
great opposition was experienced. The Potawatomis were
reluctant to leave their homes and the vicinity of the graves
of their ancestors, where for centuries this nation had oc-
cupied the soil of the fairest region of Michigan and
Indiana; consequently they were not unanimous in going.
But speculators wanted their lands, and means were found
whereby the signatures of a sufficient number of chiefs to
make a majority in favour of removal were secured. A
regiment of United States troops was sent from Fort Dear-
born to drive these Christian men, women and children
from their homes, at the point of the bayonet, and escort
them like wild cattle to the far West.
PUBLIC PASTURE (171): An institution of military
days, very similar to the Boston Commons idea.
The name "Public Pasture" is long established, being
a relic of the military days. This ground has been re-
christened Richard Park in honour of Father Richard, the
only Catholic priest who has ever been a member of
Congress. See Richard Park. Now utilized in part as
public golf grounds.
580 HISTORIC MACKINAG
RABBIT'S-BACK VIEW (31): Splendid view on East
Shore Boulevard of Rabbit's-Back Hill across the water at
St. Ignace.
Here is a rock of peculiar shape about three miles from
the Point, where the Indians gathered in 1680. Here it
is said Manabozho, the Great Hare, who was a Huron deity,
once gave a Huron the gift of immortality tied in a bundle,
enjoining him never to open it. The Indian's wife, how-
ever, moved by curiosity, cut the string, and the precious
gift flew out. Ever since then the Indians have been sub-
ject to death.
RADISSON POINT (74) : Projection of land into Lake
Huron on the west shore of the Island.
This was named for Pierre Esprit Radisson, whose career
as an explorer, which began in the Mackinac country, reads
like that of a second Robinson Crusoe. He, with his
brother-in-law Groseilliers, were the first Frenchmen to ex-
plore extensively the great Northwest. They passed
through the Straits of Mackinac in 1658. (See Groseil-
liers Watch.) Born probably in St. Malo, France, before
1640; died after 1710.
RAYMBAULT HEIGHT (48) : A view-point on the east
bluff (Cliff summit).
Father Charles Raymbault was a Jesuit who, with Father
Jogues, was sent to Upper Michigan. They were the first
missionaries to set foot on the soil of the Mackinac coun-
try. Both were conversant with the Algonquin language.
On the 17th of June they launched their canoes at St.
Mary's and proceeded for seventeen days, down to the Falls,
where two thousand Indians assembled to meet them. The
Ojibways earnestly pressed the two priests to remain, but
the scarcity of missionaries in the Huron country would
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 581
not permit it. They planted the Cross to mark the limit
of their spiritual progress. After a short stay they re-
turned to St. Mary's, but the climate did not agree with
Father Raymbault, and he died at the foot of the Sault
Rapids (or at Quebec) October 22, 1642. He was born
in France, in 1602.
RESE ROAD (152): Road from Annex Road to the
Crack in the Island.
Rt. Rev. Frederick Rese, D.D., Bishop of Detroit, visited
Mackinac between 1833 and 1837 the dates of his service
at Detroit and was instrumental in providing pastors for
the Island during those years. Drafted into military serv-
ice in his youth, he served under Bliicher as dragoon in the
Battle of Waterloo. He was ordained in Rome in 1822,
and came to America in 1825, affiliating himself with
Bishop Fenwick. Bishop Fenwick made him Vicar-Gen-
eral, which in those days meant the entire official corps of a
Bishop. He was sent to visit the various Indian tribes in
the Northwest. He first reached the Potawatomis at St.
Joseph, then proceeded to the Sault, administering to the
French and Ojibways. While here he was invited by the
Sauk and Foxes to visit their villages. In 1827 he pe-
titioned the Bishop to allow him to visit Europe to obtain
priests and funds to continue the mission work. In Europe
he met with great success.
Father Rese was a handsome man, very attractive, and
carried his point in an argument, whether dealing with the
aristocracy of Europe, or with the common people. This
poor missionary asked the Emperor Leopold of Austria for
assistance; besides contributions for the churches, he re-
ceived presents for the Indians, clothes for the half-breeds
and poor French people, and clothing for the missionaries.
582 HISTORIC MACKINAG
In 1829 he became founder of the famous Leopoldine So-
ciety, which contributed so much to the American missions.
For more than forty years the Leopoldine Society attended
to the wants of the missionaries and missions in the North-
west. A little periodical was circulated throughout
Europe, telling of the work of the missionaries. More than
fifty centres were established through the maintenance of
the Leopoldine Society in Michigan Territory. The con-
secration of Bishop Rese as the first Bishop of Detroit took
place in 1833. In 1837, owing to ill health Bishop Rese
resigned. He remained at Rome until 1848 and then
retired to Hildesheim, Hanover, where he died Dec. 30,
1871. Bishop Rese was born in 1791.
RESERVOIR ROUTE (173) : Path along water pipe line
from the waterworks station to the Reservoir near Fort
Holmes.
RICHARD PARK (5): The ground in Public Pasture
surrounding Hanks Pond. It is to be made into a park and
golf links in due time.
Father Gabriel Richard was the first distinctively Amer-
ican priest to serve as pastor at Mackinac Island. He was
a Sulpitian priest, who came to America from France in
1792, and was sent by Bishop Carroll to labour among
the French Canadians, half-breeds and Indians at Kas-
kaskia. After spending six years there he was sent to
Detroit, where he laboured for thirty-four years. In June,
1799, he visited Mackinac Island, remaining there three
months; and he has left an account of his visit. Subse-
quently he again visited Upper Michigan and Mackinac
Island, and was conducted by the Indians to Marquette's
burial place, where to honour the founder of Mackinac
he raised a cross, and with his pen knife cut in the humble
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 583
monument the little inscription found there. In 1812 when
Detroit was captured by the British, Father Richard was
taken prisoner. When General Hull surrendered in De-
troit, all the citizens not prisoners of war were required to
take the oath of allegiance to the King of Great Britain.
When asked to swear allegiance Father Richard said :
"I have taken one oath to support the Constitution of the
United States, and I cannot take another. Do with me as
you please."
He was then hurried off to Maiden as a prisoner of war,
where great discomforts were experienced. It was while
here that the chief Tecumseh, (the Indians were allies of
the British) demanded Father Richard's liberty, saying his
men would no longer fight for the British if the Black-robe
remained a prisoner. The priest was released.
Father Richard did a great work during the first three
decades of the eighteenth century. His parish extended
from the River Raisin near Lake Erie, along the American
shore of the Straits of Detroit, around Lake St. Clair and
tributary streams, and around Lakes Huron and Michigan,
as far as the St. Joseph River on the Indiana border, and
included Green Bay and other parts of Wisconsin, the Is-
land of Mackinac, the Islands in Lake Huron, the Georgian
Bay and up the St. Mary's River to the mouth of Lake
Superior.
Father Richard was one of the founders of the University
of Michigan, which began with the act of the Legislature
in August, 1817, establishing the "Catholepistemiad or
University of Michigan." He was vice president, and
professor for six of the thirteen departments in its cur-
riculum. In 1807, the Governor and other officials in-
vited Father Richard to give a course of lectures. It thus
584 HISTORIC MACKINAC
happened that he was the first Catholic priest to lecture
to a body of non-Catholics in this section, on religious
subjects. He spoke to them every Sunday in the Council
House, on the general principles of morality.
In 1808 he brought to Michigan a printing press which
he set up in Detroit. From that time he issued the Michi-
gan Essay or Impartial Observer, the first paper pub-
lished in Michigan. The love universally borne for him
is shown by his election, in 1823, as Michigan's delegate to
Congress, over Gen. John R. Williams and Major John
Biddle. The first national roads in Michigan were secured
through his influence in Congress.
In 1832 Father Richard contracted cholera, then raging
in Detroit. Day and night he attended to the sick calls of
the poor plague-stricken people. He finally succumbed to
the disease, and died Sept. 13, 1832. On his mother's
side, Father Richard was a relative of the famous and
eloquent Bishop Bossuet. He spent forty years in Michi-
gan, in the service of religion, humanity, literature and
patriotism. He was born in Saintes, France, in 1764.
RIFLE RANGE (179) : Soldiers' practice range.
ROBINSON'S FOLLY (64): Most prominent projecting
bluff on the Island.
Captain Daniel Robertson was the commandant at Mack-
inac succeeding Patrick Sinclair, being thus the first English
commandant who served the whole of his term upon the
Island, (1782-1787). The name Robinson is a corrup-
tion, from the French addressing him as Robinson.
The story is told that Robertson loved a young and
beautiful Indian girl, the daughter of a chief. She was
betrothed to an ugly brave of the tribe whom her father
favoured, but whom she hated. She loved the young
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 585
British officer, and Robertson determined to marry her
secretly. He had a summer house built upon the Island
cliff overhanging the shore, where for some time the young
couple lived happily undetected. But in an evil day, the
discarded brave discovered the retreat, and entering stealth-
ily one dark night in the husband's absence, and finding the
wife alone, he took fatal revenge with a swift blow of his
hunting knife. At that moment Robertson returned. A
fearful struggle followed, in which both Robertson and the
Indian unconsciously approached near the edge of the
cliff, fell over and were dashed to death on the rocks
below.
Captain Robertson entered the army in 1754, and served
in America during the French and Indian War. His home
was in Montreal during a short absence from army service.
In 1775 he reentered the army as Captain of the 84th
regiment, with which he came to Mackinac from the St.
Lawrence in 1782. He was an efficient officer, and was
popular with the Indians. The romantic legends that
have attached to him have some basis in the fact that he
is supposed to have been killed by a fall from the cliff
that bears his name.
ST. ANNE'S CHURCH (59) : This building stands on the
site of an earlier one built at the time the church was re-
moved from Old Mackinaw to the Island. It was removed
to this site from its original position between 1825 and
1827. The old building was torn down and the present
one was begun in 1873, by Father Moise Mainville. Bad
times delayed progress. Services were held in the old
court house west of the Astor House, and in the Old
Mission Church. Father Jacker took up the work at the
beginning of his pastorate, but it was not completed until
586 HISTORIC MACKINAC
in the early nineties. The Most Rev. John Ireland, D.D.,
Archbishop of St. Paul, in referring to the records of St.
Anne's Parish, said:
"As real authentic sources of history they are among the
most valuable in the Northwest, as much of the material
therein dates back as far as the seventeenth century."
These records have been reproduced in the Wisconsin
Historical collections, and also form the subject of an
excellent monograph by Judge Edward Osgood Brown, who
has been for many years a summer resident on the Island.
ST. GLAIR POINT (155) : Point of land projecting into
Lake Huron.
General Arthur St. Glair was the first Governor of the
Northwest Territory, 1789-1802. He was born in the
same county of Scotland as Patrick Sinclair, the first com-
mandant of the Fort on Mackinac Island, and was probably
related to him. He was a grandson of the Earl of Roslyn,
and was educated at the University of Edinburgh. He
served with the British during the French and Indian War,
and was with Wolfe at Quebec. During the Revolution
he served with Washington, and was at the battles of Tren-
ton, Princeton, and the Brandywine. He was a member of
the court martial that condemned Major Andre, the British
spy, and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis at York-
town. Later he was a delegate to the Continental Congress
and was its president in 1787. He was always interested
in the West, and gave the name to Cincinnati, Ohio. Fail-
ures came at length. On March 4, 1791, in an Indian cam-
paign he was surprised and disastrously defeated on the
Miami River. Notwithstanding he had inherited a for-
tune from his mother, he died in comparative poverty,
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 587
having spent it largely in the cause of the American gov-
ernment, which only scantily reimbursed him. Born in
Thurso, County of Caithness, Scotland, in 1734; died in
Greensburg, Pennsylvania, in 1818.
ST. JOSEPH PLACE (11-A) : A landing on the stairs of
Arch Rock Trail, three-fourths of the way up the path from
Marquette Park to Cass Cliff. A shady secluded platform,
with seats, affording a choice view of Round Island and
the Straits. St. Joseph, the foster-father of Christ, was
the patron of the early explorers. Many of the first settle-
ments and stations bore his name.
ST. LUSSON OUTLOOK (30) : View point on the bluff
at Scott's Cave.
Simon Frangois Daumont, sieur de St. Lusson, was a
French officer. On June 4, 1671, at Sault Ste. Marie, in
the presence of Indians, missionaries and traders, assem-
bled from all parts of the Mackinac country, he took part
in one of the most picturesque scenes in the romance of the
Upper Great Lakes. Sieur Lusson represented Louis XIV
of France. By a formal ceremony of imposing splendour,
in which the royal banner of France and the Cross of the
Church figured conspicuously, he took possession of these
vast regions represented by fourteen Indian tribes as-
sembled for the purpose, for the crown of France, acting
under instructions from Jean Talon, Intendant of New
France. Among others present on this occasion were the
explorers Joliet and Perrot, and Fathers Dablon, Andre,
Druillettes and Marquette. The Jesuit Father Allouez ad-
dressed the Indians on this occasion.
ST. MARTIN DWELLING (6) : A retail store of the Amer-
ican Fur Company.
588 HISTORIC MACKINAC
In this building Alexis St. Martin, a young French Cana-
dian voyageur employed by the American Fur Company,
was severely wounded on June 6, 1822, by the accidental
discharge of a gun, the shot tearing a large hole in the
stomach which healed but did not close. He was attended
by Dr. William Beaumont, the Post Surgeon, to whom
the nature of this wound afforded for many years the oppor-
tunity to experiment on the processes of gastric digestion,
revolutionizing knowledge in that field. At the time of the
accident it was supposed that St. Martin could not live
twenty minutes. The whole charge of powder and duck
shot entered his left side not more than two or three feet
from the muzzle of the gun. A portion of the lungs, lac-
erated and burnt, protruded through the wound, together
with a portion of the stomach, from which food that he had
taken for his breakfast was oozing into his apparel. It is
most remarkable that, not only did he live, but married and
reared a family of children. Living until 1880, he sur-
vived Dr. Beaumont by twenty-seven years, dying at the
age of eighty. The family was determined that the medi-
cal profession should not get the stomach, and had a grave
dug, eight feet deep, to prevent an attempt at resurrecting
the remains.
SANNILLAC ARCH (204) : A beautiful miniature arch
about half way up the cliff and opening into Arch Rock.
It was named for Sannillac, an Indian warrior, the sub-
ject of a poem by Henry Whiting, with notes by General
Lewis Cass and Henry R. Schoolcraft. This poem was pub-
lished in Boston in 1831, and the original edition is very
rare.
In legendary lore and tradition Sannillac Arch was the
gate through which the fairy children entered, while the
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 589
Giant Fairies came through the larger portal, Arch Rock.
Sanilac County, Michigan, derives its name from the story
in verse by Henry Whiting.
The following are among the opening lines of the poem
Sannillac, which relate to Mackinac Island:
"On Huron's wave there stands an isle,
Which lifts on high its tower-like pile,
Guarding the strait, whose promont sides
Press into union various tides,
From broad Superior rushing down,
Chill'd with the arctic winter's frown,
Or coming up from milder skies,
Where Michigania's sources rise.
This isle by wild tradition long
Made theme of forest tale and song
In ev'ry age has caught the eye
Of Indian, as he wanders by,
Who sees it rise, like giant mound,
O'erlooking all the region round,
The clust'ring islands, sever'd main,
And straits drawn out, like liquid chain;
And as his light canoe draws near,
He stays awhile its fleet career,
That, off'ring up a simple prayer,
And leaving simple tribute there,
The Manitou, whom fancy sees
Enshrouded 'mong the rocks and trees,
May send him on his course with fav'ring breeze."
SCHOOLCRAFT REST (9-A) : Resting place and view
point overlooking Haldimand Bay.
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft was a prominent resident of the
Island, being the Indian Agent at Sault Ste. Marie and
Mackinac Island from 1822 until 1841. During School-
590 HISTORIC MACKINAC
craft's administration occurred the famous Treaty of 1836,
whereby the Indians ceded to the State of Michigan about
one-half its present territory. His name will be forever
associated with the history of the Indians in the United
States. He resided in the Old Agency Building that stood
in the East Fort Garden. During the years he served as
Indian Agent, he kept a journal from day to day, which
he later published in his Personal Memoirs. During his
residence there, no one was more influential than he in the
affairs of the Island. European visitors record in their
published volumes their impressions of his work. He was
in touch with all the great writers of his day in America.
Mr. Schoolcraft spent all his leisure time in studying
Indian life, habits, manners, customs, thought and lan-
guage. In this he was aided by his wife, who on her
mother's side, was a granddaughter of Wabojeeg, a promi-
nent jib way chief. She was the daughter of Mr. Johns-
ton, an Irish fur-trader who married the child of the ruling
chief of the Ojibways, Wabojeeg. She was a lady of
superior intelligence, well educated by the nuns in Mont-
real, and in England, and was considered one of the most
beautiful women in the Northwest. Schoolcraft's mar-
riage opened to him the very arcanum of Indian thought
and feeling. His stories and legends formed the frame-
work of Longfellow's Hiawatha. He had pursued these
studies at the Sault where he became Indian Agent in 1822,
and was married the following year.
Before this time he had travelled among the Indians
extensively, in 1817-18 in Missouri and Arkansas. He
was with Governor Lewis Cass on the exploring expedi-
tion of 1820, which touched at the Island and later pene-
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 591
trated the Lake Superior region and the upper valley of
the Mississippi.
Schoolcraft, with others, founded the first historical
society in Michigan, in 1828, and in 1831 the Algic Society
for the study of the Indian languages. From 1828 to
1832 he was a member of the territorial legislature of
Michigan.
In 1847 he began the great work of his life, when Con-
gress authorized him to collect and edit, with the Govern-
ment's aid, all information obtainable about the Indians
of America. The result was the monumental Archives of
Aboriginal Knowledge, in six ponderous tomes. In all,
Schoolcraft wrote besides these volumes some thirty differ-
ent works. Through his influence, many laws were made
in behalf of the Indians.
The original name of Schoolcraft's family, which was
of English origin, was Calcraft, which was changed to
Schoolcraft by his great grandfather, James Calcraft, who
came to America in the reign of Queen Anne and became
a prominent school-teacher in Albany county, New York.
Henry R. Schoolcraft was born in that county in 1793;
died in Washington, D. C., in 1864.
SCOTT'S CAVE (63) : Natural limestone cave.
Captain Thomas Scott of the 53rd Regiment commanded
at Fort Mackinac in 1787. He was highly esteemed by his
superiors who said there was no better man in the world,
nor more zealous officer in the army. He gained in-
finite credit during his command at Mackinac and con-
vinced the people that it was possible for a commanding
officer to be both honest and honourable. This cave is some-
times called Flinn's cave. The huge rock above it is char-
592 HISTORIC MACKINAC
acteristic of the curious limestone formation of the Island.
The low entrance is deceptive as to the giant cavity con-
cealed within.
SEA GULL BOULDER (207) : A large boulder, north of
the waterworks or power plant on the East Shore Boule-
vard; a favourite resting place for gulls.
SENTINEL ROCK (206) : A lone rock or boulder about
six rods north of Gitchi Manitou, on the East Shore Boule-
vard.
SINCLAIR GROVE (105): Grove of Arbor Vitae.
Lieutenant Governor Patrick Sinclair was the first com-
mandant of the Fort on Mackinac Island. He came to
Old Mackinaw in 1779 to succeed Colonel De Peyster who
was transferred to Detroit. In 1780 he began work on the
Fort on the Island, and by 1782 Old Mackinaw was
abandoned. (See Fort Mackinac.) In 1782 Sinclair was
succeeded as commandant on the Island by Captain Daniel
Robertson.
Before coming to Mackinac Sinclair had seen service in
the French and Indian Wars. By 1764 he was apparently
connected in some capacity with the Naval Department of
the Lakes, there rendering great service to the merchants of
Mackinac and Detroit, who in 1767 presented him with
substantial testimonials of their regard. In that year he
built a small fort and wharf near the mouth of Pine River
in St. Clair County and became a land owner along the
St. Clair River. In 1769 he went to England, and a little
later retired to his old home at Lybster in Scotland. In
1775, just as the American Revolution was breaking out,
he was offered, and accepted, the position of Lieutenant
Governor and Superintendent of Michilimackinac. He did
not reach his post, however, until after some four years, in
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 593
which he encountered a series of difficulties. After leav-
ing Mackinac he again retired to his Scottish home at
Lybster, where he spent the most of his remaining days to
the ripe old age of eighty-four years.
SKULL CAVE (77): So called from the numerous
human bones found there. It was probably used by the
Indians as a place of sepulture.
It was here that Alexander Henry, the English fur-trader,
sought refuge in his flight from the Indians after the mas-
sacre at Old Mackinaw in 1763. Henry tells how the
friendly Indian, Wawatam, guided him thither. The en-
trance, he says, was then nearly ten feet wide, with the
farther end rounded in shape like an oven. There he
passed the night, noting, however, the roughness of the floor
upon which he lay. When daylight came it was with
horror that he found he had been lying on a heap of human
bones and skulls.
Thomas L. McKenney, the Indian Agent, who visited the
cave in 1826, says he found it to be as Henry described it.
The bones had been deposited so far back in antiquity that
even the Indians of Henry's day had no knowledge of them
nor of how they came there. Some of the Indians advanced
the theory that the cave had been a place of refuge for the
Indians at the time of the ancient deluge. Others thought
that the bones might have been those of original inhabitants
of the Island who had fled to the cave before the invasion
of the Hurons at the time of the Iroquois war of 1650, and
had been there massacred. Henry inclined to the view
that the cave was the ancient receptacle of the bones of
prisoners who had been sacrificed and devoured at war
feasts. But probably the time has gone by when this mys-
tery can ever be solved.
594 HISTORIC MACKINAG
There is an interesting Indian legend of the cave, which
tells how the chief Kenu sat within it waiting for Michabou,
the Great Spirit, to answer the prayer which he had offered
to him. He had brought clay materials from which, by the
aid of Michabou, to make better peace-pipes for his con-
tentious people. While waiting he was startled to see one
of the skeletons in the Cave move and begin to speak.
"Silver is under my feet," said the hollow voice. "Of
silver, with thy clay, make thou the pipes of peace, and thy
people shall find the spirit of peace wherever smoke from
these shall rise." Kenu did as he was told, and then the
skeleton which had spoken took them and blew upon them,
and filled them with peace-making power. Happy were
the days now in the tribe of the peace-loving Kenu, and
the power of his now united nation was felt far and wide.
SOUTH SALLY PORT (69) : One of the original gate-
ways, being an opening in the walls of the Fort provided for
making charges or sallies by the garrison against the enemy,
a military manoeuvre of the early times. When not in use
Sally Ports were closed by massive gates of timber and
iron.
SPRING GARDEN ( 108) : Natural garden of wild flowers
beside Coquart Brook.
SPRING STREET (150): Street from Fort Hill Road
past La Salle Spring to Cadotte Avenue.
STATE PLAT No. 1 (115) : Platted and leased for sum-
mer homes on the West bluff.
STATE PLAT No. 2 (89) : Platted and leased for sum-
mer homes on the East Bluff.
SUGAR LOAF (79): Natural pinnacle of limestone,
standing 284 feet above the Lake. Its summit is 79 feet
above the road at its base.
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 595
Sugar Loaf was so named on account of its conical shape.
In composition it is the same as Arch Rock. It is some-
what crystalline, with its strata distorted in every conceiv-
able direction, showing its varied history while in process
of formation under water. In the north side is a cavernous
opening, large enough to admit several persons. One
would here be safe from the most violent storm. During
the years since visitors began coming to the Island, the
smooth surface of its walls has been covered with hundreds
of names. The effect of approaching the rock along the
road is grand and imposing. A fine view of it may also
be obtained from the top of the ridge.
The origin of the rock is due to gradual denudation of the
softer rock which was about it when the mass was near the
level of a large body of water, that is, in the distant geologi-
cal ages when the surface of the Island was just emerging
from the waters of Lake Huron.
In Indian mythology, this was the wigwam of the Great
Spirit, Manabozho, who recreated the world after the an-
cient deluge and here made his home. Gitchi Manitou, at
the water's edge, was his landing place. He first ascended
the Giant's Stairway to Fairy Arch, making a new resolve
upon each step, later entering the Island through Arch Rock,
and thence reached his wigwam. The Indians relate that
the rock is called Sugar Loaf because the bees once made a
gigantic hive of it, filling its great cavern and every crack
and crevice with honey. Another story is that the rock is
the transformed body of a giant who once dwelt in it,
and that he will come to life when Hiawatha returns to the
Island.
SUGAR LOAF ROAD (136): From Huron Road, past
Musket Range, Old Quarry, Lime Kiln, to Sugar Loaf.
596 HISTORIC MACKINAC
SUNSET FOREST (137): A magnificent forest occupy-
ing the west slope of the Island, especially fascinating at
sunset.
TALON MOUND (36) : A mound on the edge of the cliff,
presenting a fine view point.
Jean Baptiste Talon was a man of great ability, energy
and honesty, who represented the French crown in Canada
from 1663 to 1672 in the administration of justice, police,
and finance. He was Secretary of the Cabinet in his Maj-
esty's service, and Intendant at Michilimackinac in 1671.
He gave instructions concerning the signing of the Treaty
between the French and Indians, which resulted in peace
for several years. It was he who laid the plan before
Frontenac of exploring the Mississippi, and subsequently
the appointment of La Salle and Father Marquette for the
expedition. He was highly esteemed by Louis XIV. It
was under Talon's direction that St. Lusson in 1671, took
possession at Sault Ste. Marie, of the Mackinac country
and all the vast region beyond for France, thus officially
opening up the great Northwest to exploration and trade.
Born in Picardy, France, in 1625; died in Versailles, in
1691.
THE TURTLE BACK (209) : The lines of ancient Mack-
inac Island, as given by Mr. F. B. Taylor of the United
States Geological Survey, being the territory above water
when the balance of what is now Mackinac Island was en-
tirely submerged.
THWAITES VIEW (50) : A view-point on the east bluff.
This beautiful view was named for the late Reuben Gold
Thwaites, LL.D., whose interest in Mackinac Island and the
Mackinac country is reflected in his many historical works.
His monumental edition of the Jesuit Relations, published
NAMES OF PLACES OF INTEREST 597
by The Burrows Brothers Company, Cleveland, 0., in
seventy-three volumes, constitutes one of the fundamental
sources for the history of this region.
Dr. Thwaites is best known for his work as the head of
the State Historical Society of Wisconsin from 1884 to
1913. He was educated at Yale, and worked as a news-
paper correspondent, a school-teacher, a newspaper editor,
a historical writer, and lecturer in the University of Wis-
consin. Among his Mackinac books, one of the best is his
Father Marquette.
Perhaps no man was more universally loved and re-
spected throughout the fraternity of historians in America.
Born in Boston, in 1853; died in Madison, Wis., in 1913.
TONTI SPRING (191) : Natural outflow of water.
Henri de Tonti, came to Michilimackinac (St. Ignace) in
1679, with La Salle, on board the Griffin. Tonti was the
builder of the Griffin. He was a man of boundless energy,
clear vision, and a devoted friend of La Salle through all
his many misfortunes.
While La Salle was at St. Ignace, Tonti made a trip to
the Sault, and recovered goods stolen by some of La Salle' s
unfaithful men. He was at St. Ignace again in 1682, to
get supplies for La Salle who was on the lower Mississippi.
He had come to America with La Salle in 1678. Many
were his adventures and hair-breadth escapes while serving
La Salle among the Illinois, a service which drew down
upon those tribes the enmity of the Iroquois, the ever-
watchful enemies of the French. The achievements of
Tonti are the more remarkable in that he had but one
natural hand, having lost the other when young, in Eur-
opean wars.
Tonti was an Italian. His father, Lorenzo, was the
598 HISTORIC MACKINAG
inventor of the system of annuities known as the Tontine.
Henri de Tonti was born at Gaeta, Italy, about 1650; died
in Mobile, on the Gulf of Mexico, in 1704.
TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE (19): An old Indian
Trail which runs past Forest King from Arch Rock Trail
to Old Quarry and Charlevoix Heights. There is a charm
connected with the Trail which makes it one of the most
delightful walks on the Island.
TRANQUIL LANE (156): Nearly straight road through
thick evergreen, from Forest Driveway. It derives its
name from its peacefulness and seclusion.
TWIN TREES (27) : Two beech trees curiously grown
together, at the roadside on Leslie Avenue.
VALLEY VIEWS (102): Vista where a 
