RAMECH
1 CHICAGO
Le Long d une petite rivtfre" (Big Rock Creek). Where with the spring comes nature
loveliest dress." (Thotn hy Lincoln, Piano, III.)
Lost Maramech and
Earliest Chicago
A HISTORY OF THE FOXES AND OF
THEIR DOWNFALL NEAR THE
GREAT VILLAGE OF
MARAMECH
Original Investigations and Discoveries
BY
JOHN F. STEWARD
ASSISTANT GEOLOGIST OF THE COLORADO RIVER EXPLORING EXPEDI
TION, l87l; PRESIDENT OF THE MARAMECH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
OF KENDALL CO., ILL.; MEMBER OF THE ILLINOIS
HISTORICAL SOCIETY; MEMBER OF THE
CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Chicago New York Toronto
Fleming H. Revell Company
London & Edinburgh
MCMIII
Copyright, 1903, by
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
(June)
Chicago: 63 Washington Street
New York: 158 Fifth Avenue
Toronto: 27 Richmond Street, W
London: 21 Paternoster Square
Edinburgh: 30 St. Mary Street
PREFACE
This book is directed, in the main, to putting
together the history of a people which reaches us
in fragments only. Some of the fragments were
dug from the military archives of France several
years ago, but the most important ones, those con
nected with what may practically be considered the
destruction of one of the fiercest people of America,
or, at least, taming it by a merciless war, were
recently found by Prof. Charles M. Andrist, whom
I engaged to make searches in the Bibliothdque
Nationale and the Archives of the Minister of the
Marine, in Paris.
Of the measures planned at Versailles for the
destruction of the Fox tribe, the carrying out of
none was more fatal than that of 1730, although it
is probable that a smaller number of the fated tribe
bit the dust than a few years earlier at Butte des
Morts, on the Fox river of Wisconsin. Where the
affair of 1730 took place had been lost up to my
discovery of an ancient earthwork near Piano, Illi
nois, that had undoubtedly been palisaded; since
then I have devoted much time in attempts that,
fortunately, have proved successful, to determine
what actually took place, and its date.
The descriptions of the lay of the land, found in
old records, apply to the site of ancient Maramech
so exactly that I have felt warranted in placing a
stone on the hill that shall connect the story with
5
9854.48
6 PREFACE
the place and mark the site of the old fort until the
granite crumbles.
The diversity in spelling the names of places has
been great and, in putting the fragments in the
form of a story, necessarily broken, I have not fol
lowed the orthography of the various writers except
where it would be improper to do otherwise.
Where I have taken fragments that may be found in
many places, as in the Wisconsin Historical Collection,
New York Colonial Documents, Smith s History of Wis
consin^ etc., I have not always taken care to give
credit; in other words, where the subject-matter is
everywhere accessible to the public, and is a mere
copy of some document, I have not taken the trouble
to mention the channels through which it came to
hand. The best English is not found in some of
the translations I have copied, but it has been
thought advisable to make no change.
This book has been prepared not to profit the
author, but for profit to those who are or may
become interested in early western history. Few
modern authors are quoted, as I have preferred to
go to the original sources of information In order
to become able to do so, I have examined a multi
tude of old maps and have explored the Quays of
Paris, the Antiquarian book stores of the largest
English and Scotch cities, as well as those of the
United States, with the result that original editions
of most of the early French writings are before me.
My main dependence has been upon histories and
accounts published before the year 1750; the prin
cipal authors quoted being La Salle, Tonti, Henne-
pin, the Jesuits (Jesuit Relations), La Hontan, La
PREFACE 7
Potherie, Perrot, Charlevoix, Margry s Collections,
and the collection known as the New York Colonial
Documents. The last two are compilations merely
of original English and French documents bearing
upon the early travels and explorations in America.
From the many thousand pages constituting these
collections of documents, and from the authors above
mentioned, I have been able, during the last quarter
of a century, to gather scraps of history that, when
put in order, tell the story of Maramech as well as
of the defeat and destruction of the Fox tribe. Not
to books alone must I give credit, however, but also
to my spade, my only servant in my years of labor.
I have not dared to attempt to avail myself of the
aid of a romantic pen, to smoothly join the gath
ered fragments, and this must be my apology for
the broken narrative.
THE AUTHOR.
Illustrations
PAGE
"Le long d une petite riviere" (Big Rock Creek). .Frontispiece
Scalps taken were proofs of bravery n
Site of the Great Village of Maramech and of the destruc
tion of the larger part of the Fox Tribe in 1730 21
Maramech Hill, from the South 29
Specimens of the Ceramic Art, from the Site of Maramech 35
Maramech Hill showing the "gentle slope" mentioned in
the military reports 36
One of the Twin Rocks 38
The Kishwaukee Trail 43
Work of the Potters of Maramech 48
Relics of the Miller and His Mill 54
Pu-ci-ti-nig-wa, His Counsellors and the Interpreter, Fox
Reservation 80
Fair Specimens, Tama Reservation 95
Hundreds of Arrow Heads Turned up by the Plow 121
The Cemetery, Tama Reservation 121
The Dancers, Tama Reservation 143
The Dog Sacrifice, Tama Reservation 143
Joseph Tisson, the Interpreter, and Child, Tama Reserva
tion 161
Fair Ones of the Tama Reservation 231
Harvesting Wild Rice 231
The Present and Future 269
Lettering the Massive Boulder 281
Frame of Fox Wigwam, Tama Reservation 291
Fox Wigwam, Tama Reservation 291
Site of De Villiers "Cavalier" (Little Fort) 295
"Now the hill s gentle slope is shocked only by the battles
of the elements 309
The Chief s Wigwam, Tama Reservation 343
Inscription on Boulder (translated into Fox language and
shown in Fox script) 344
Shaubena, a Pottawatomie Chief 354
CHAPTER I
We are told that the natives of the New World
were savages; as reported by intruders into their
country, they appear so to have been. To those
who intruded, no doubt, the natives seemed tame
less; if tameless meant inability to turn to our
domestic ways, more savage in many respects than
their own, they were indeed tameless. If it was
thought by the invaders that to defend homes and
kindred, to drive intruders from the hunting-
grounds that constituted their fields of sustenance,
rendered them worthy of the name, they were sav
ages. Nevertheless I have experienced every
degree of kindness at the hands of a few of these
tameless people, whom I know to be savages, accord
ing to our acceptation of the term, which, by the
way, is only comparative. The Indian mother is
not alone a savage because sometimes moved to the
fierceness of a tigress, for her pale-face sister, in
defending her child, with tooth and nail will tear
the flesh of him who would take from her her off
spring.
Where sets the sun a few remain savages still.
I have been with them in their homes, have shared
with them, and, in turn, have accepted their hos
pitality. One incident, in the far west, in the
9
io LOST MARAMECH
rugged canon of the Colorado river, I shall not for
get. Memory still vividly pictures a rude shelter of
willows, cut by my comrades and leaned together
willow branches upon the sand of the shore in the
canons of the Colorado river, my bed. A shout
from the cliff announced the nearness of a friend.
Signalled to approach, a stalwart Navajo descended.
Drawing near he heard the moans of an afflicted
man, and his sympathies were aroused. His tongue
was untrained to our language, but a few gestures
and words of Spanish sufficed to make me under
stand that, if I thought myself able to ride, he
would take me on one of his ponies to the Mormon
settlement. Although a savage, he was willing to
turn back on his trail and take me where I could be
better cared for.
Asking no reward, he offered to travel thither and
back, two hundred miles, in my behalf. Agua
Grande! How noble he looks to me, through the
years! In form and every feature he seemed like
one of nature s noblest. His sympathy cheered me
as he bent over, and shone in his storm-beaten face
as tenderly as in the face of woman.
Savage we say the natives were, because they
inflicted pain without a thought of mercy so the
foreign intruders thought. They were, in fact, indif
ferent to the agonies of their enemies taken in war,
when burning them at the stake; so were the bigots
of the religious denominations in the Old World,
when, with fire and rack, they were torturing those
who disputed their dogmas. The natives burned a
captive in order to terrify his tribe, their enemy.
In so doing they seemed heartless; but were not the
Scalps taken were proofs of bravery.
(From Schootcraft. )
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO n
British magistrates heartless when burning witches?
The natives were considered not to have passed the
state of barbarism because they were superstitious;
that is, the natives were charged with being super
stitious by those who themselves believed in witch
craft, and thought that they were doing God a
service by beginning, here on earth, the torments of
the hell they so fervently believed in. These bigots
were not willing to leave those they condemned
wholly to God, and their punishment to Him at the
day of judgment. As compared with our ancestors,
the natives were indeed unrefined, particularly in
methods of inflicting torture. They even tore off
the finger nails of captives with their teeth, and did
many cruel things in as crude a way. How much
more scientifically the operations might have been
performed! Pincers of steel would also have been
more convenient, had they been furnished by their
newly-arrived brothers, who so long had used them
in Europe to lacerate the hands of heretics, in
efforts to convince them of their error in matters of
belief. The children of the forest were taught that,
to be a warrior, to be brave, when captured or tor
tured, was the height to which ambition should
aspire, and that to take the scalp of an enemy was
the greatest of achievements. He killed for glory.
The nearest approach to a law was "an eye for an
eye, and a tooth for a tooth"; so he slew the mur
derer of a relative or of a friend. They killed in
revenge, but seldom to rob. They rarely slaugh
tered animals for sport merely. They kept no
"game preserves" in which to gratify their savage
instincts, as do many of the wealthy up to this, the
12 LOST MARAMECH
third year of the twentieth century. They killed
the innocent birds for feathers with which to deck
their heads and pipes of peace, but did that neces
sarily show them to be barbarous? While I write a
Christian lady passes my window, her head adorned
with a hat on which the wing, the head, and tail
feathers of a large, dark-hued bird are stitched.
She is dressed in mourning; the life of an innocent
bird was taken to add an emphasizing mark to her
grief.
Let us cease to cast stones until we are ourselves
without sin. Those who have sought acquaintance
with the red man at the point of the sword have not
learned his better nature. The highway robber does
not win our love; trespassers on one s rights do not
inspire kind words and smiles. We must not judge
of the Indian, as pictured by the whites, for they
tell us of him only as he was after his contamina
tion by them. My story is one of wrongs; it is one
of woes; it is of wars of extermination, with all that
they imply. Could I dip my pen in the blood of
the innocent, I might make my story impressive,
were it not that our language is, alas, so weak. If
to torture marks the savage, then what of the early
settlers of Illinois, who, after taking possession of
Kaskaskia, committed the following act?
"Illinois, to wit: To Richard Winston, Esq.,
Sheriff-in-chief of the District of Kaskaskia:
"Negro Manuel, a Slave in your custody, is con
demned by the Court of Kaskaskia, after having
made honorable Fine at the Door of the Church, to
be chained to a post at the Water-Side and there
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 13
to be burnt alive and his ashes scattered, as appears
to me by the Record. This sentence you are hereby
required to put in execution on Tuesday next at 9
o clock in the morning, and this shall be your war
rant. Given under my hand and seal at Kaskaskia,
the I3th day of June, in the third year of the Com
monwealth."
We have a better nature that sometimes sways us.
So had they, but as we know them now they seem
to have reached the lowest degradation. By nature
they were honest, but we taught them to be thieves;
were truthful, but learned to lie from the white man.
They were not avaricious, and hence not selfish.
They were so hospitable that even an enemy was
safe among them while partaking of their hospi
tality. Before I begin my story let us become
acquainted with them as they were when found.
Peter Martyr, Columbus, and others who were
first to meet the red man, spoke in praise. La
Fiteau said:
"The savages have good intellects, lively imagina
tions, ready conception, admirable memory. All
have at least some traces of an ancient and hereditary
religion and a form of government; they reason
logically upon their affairs; they reach their end
by sure means; they are deliberative, and with a
composure which exceeds our patience; by reason
of honor, and by grandeur of soul, they never anger,
appear always masters of themselves; they never
show passions; they are high-minded and proud,
and put to the proof, show great courage, intrepid
valor, a constancy in the torments which is heroic,
I 4 LOST MARAMECH
and an equanimity that misfortune and reverses can
not alter. Among themselves they have a degree
of politeness of manner which guards them from
unkindness, a respect for the aged, a deference for
their equals which is really surprising and that one
scarcely reconciles with the independence and the
freedom of which they appear extremely jealous;
they caress but little, and make few demonstrations;
but notwithstanding that, they are good and affable
and exercise toward the stranger and the unfortunate
a hospitality which might well put all of the nations
of Europe to blush."
Volumes might be quoted to show the better side
of their natures. I am pardonable for not telling of
their vices, for every schoolboy has heard and seen
the savage pictured since infancy, and blood-cur
dling stories have fed his imagination to satiety.
We prate of our virtues; does it not seem strange
that we imparted only our vices to them? The
red race is passing away, as by a pestilence, and
that by the too ready adoption of the habits and evil
ways of the white man. Have we adopted one of
the many virtues these people were credited with
possessing when our fathers came among them?
What one of our vices did we not impart to them?
Drink was unknown, but we made them drunkards;
and that, too, in order to cheat them more easily.
We accepted their one bad habit, only to magnify it
and make it more disgusting. How well fitted is the
white father to kiss the lips of the loved ones, his
own lips stained with the foul-smelling weed, and to
caress his babes, his clothing saturated with an
odor that stings the olfactory nerves.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 15
Fast-fading, degenerate race! Well may we bow
our heads in shame before you! Pity you? Alas!
It is too late; but remorse should yet consume us.
Too late? No, it is too early; it is too early in the
development of the human race for the proper exer
cise of pity. How can the heart of one who burns
a human being at the stake melt with pity? How
can the hearts of those who mob a mere suspect be
wrung in tears? This] very night, this very minute,
unless this night is an exception, in this busy Chris
tian city, its streets brilliant with electric lights, its
spires reaching far heavenward, and their bells call
ing to evening prayers, a laborer returning to his
home with his week s earnings is "held up."
Purses are snatched from women s hands. To-mor
row morning the police court will be crowded. The
shelves of the libraries of the civilized world groan
under their loads of books of law, yet in all the
so-called enlightened countries enough policemen,
and other officers, cannot be maintained to enforce
the laws. We lie, we cheat, we murder, and violate
every moral law, as we did two -hundred years ago;
and yet, as we did two hundred years ago, we send
missionaries among those who live more moral lives
than we. Three hundred years ago few laws were
known to the people of America, unless perhaps in
Mexico and Peru. The people were without enacted
laws, but were not lawless. They had governments;
but those governments were founded on the moral law.
Is there another side to their nature? As certain
as it is that we, who are said to have been created in
the image of God, have a brutish side to our natures.
Peter Martyr said:
16 LOST MARAMECH
"It is certain that the land among these people is
as common as the sun and water, and that mine and
thine, the seed of all misery, have no place with
them. They are content with so little that, in such
a large country, they have rather a superfluity than
a scarceness, so that they live in the golden world
without toil, living in the open gardens not in
trenched, divided with hedges, or defended with
walls. They deal truly, one with another, without
laws, without books, without judges. They take
him for an evil and mischievous man who taketh
pleasure in doing hurt to another; and albeit they
delight not in superfluities, yet they make provisions
for the increase of such roots whereof they make
bread, content with such simple diet, whereof health
is preserved and disease is avoided."
Yes, there is another side to their nature. They
were bloodthirsty, as we understand the term. The
Foxes, whose history I have gathered, possessed all
the good as well as all the savage traits. If that
fact warranted the wholesale murder of the natives,
by the intruding settlers, then what shall we do with
the three thousand men of enlightened Kansas, who,
suspecting a negro of murder, of which he declared
himself innocent, refused to allow the law to take
its course, took him from the sheriff s posse by
force, threw coal oil over him and set fire to it? I
curse these men as brutal. Compared with their
act, all the tortures and murders charged to our
natives were as acts of kindness.
History told in cold type may be likened to the
mossy marble that casts its shadow across a grass-
grown battlefield. Pen-pictures may embellish the
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 17
tale, but the struggle, the terrors, the death-throes,
the tortures of flame and sword, no stone, however
wrought, no print, even in colors of blood, can tell.
Greater though the pen, palsies the hand that would
move it, and languishes the brain before the task of
telling, in its fullness, what the sword hath wrought,
A nation, the strong hand of fate clutching its
throat, its warriors struggling as only the brave can,
struggling for its existence, struggling for the loved
ones, fire at its front, famine in its ranks and in its
homeless families what pen can tell its story? As
with the lash of pestilence, we drove the natives to
their doom, from the land of their birth, the home
dear to them.
Come to our western prairies when the sun has
ripened the year to its fullness, and to the streams
along which fruits hang ready for the lips. Though
the shade-loving bluebells have dropped their
petals, the goldenrod has sought the sun, and in the
morning the cheery notes of the birds are music.
The mating time is far past, and the broods are
found in every covert. When come the shades of
eve, the night-hawk swoops down from his high
flight with open throat and tells bob-white and
whip-poor-will their time of call has come. Stay
with me. Do not tire. There are other groves and
streams, and other hearts than mine there cling; but
it was here I first saw light. Twas here that my
heartstrings were tuned to Nature s chime. My
cradle rocked beneath the boughs where robins sang.
In June the locust blossoms showered upon the low
shake-roof over my natal bed, and every new year
bade me welcome. So, like the natives, a child of
iS LOST MARAMECH
Nature, I love the prairies, their groves and
streams.
Did not the dusky children of the wilds, nurtured
as close to Nature s bosom as I, love the brookside
shades and the fruits, sun-kissed to ripeness for
them? Were our love-sighs the first to be echoed
by the dove s low call, and was the plush of the soft
banks made only for the white maid and lover? The
heart of the young roots deeply into the soil that
nourishes it, and there it ever clings. Did not the
many generations that came and went cling to the
homes into which they were cradled? Is it that we
only, driven by Fate that severs family ties and
turns homes to ashes, feel a sting? May not those
wedded to this western sod have shrieked when
hearts were torn to shreds?
My story of a nearly vanished tribe is also one of
devastation, pursuit, and destruction. I find the
tale only in tatters, a bit here and there, in musty
volumes; follow me and you shall soon know their
full meaning.
They tell us of a battle fought, but say not where;
they tell us of famine somewhere in this great fertile
valley of the middle west, the garden spot of the
world, where hunger now seems impossible; but his
torians have not hitherto found the place.
Of the defeat the victor wrote: "Voila une nation
humiltie de fa$on qu elle ne troublera plus de tcrre."
Ferland II., 439. (Behold a nation humiliated to
such an extent that it will no more trouble the
earth.) Let us consider, a moment, the people of
whom I am writing. The environments of their
birthplaces were such as so-called civilization knows
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 19
nothing of; their schooling was that of the chase
and war; their inherent ambitions were only those
urging to greatness as warriors. How can we, of
this generation, judge them fairly? Let us not be
deceived by the terms applied to these natives.
The beasts the explorers found along the St. Law
rence river were wild, and the French called them
sauvage. The people they found living a life of wild
freedom they also called sauvage^ although many
were so mild in manners as to put the French to
shame. We have given the French word sauvage^
that merely means wild, a most savage interpreta
tion.
The European missionaries were not in position
to call these people savage, indiscriminately, in the
present sense of the term.
Site of the "Great Village of Mara-
mech" and of the destruction
of the larger part of the
Fox tribe in 1730.
Modeled in clay.
CHAPTER II
Call it idle curiosity that incites us unwrap the
winding-sheet of the mummy, if you will; say, if you
please, that it was curiosity merely that prompted
me to dig into musty archives for information, writ
ten in a foreign language, with its incongruities of
two hundred years ago. Be that as it may, it is
hoped that some will scan these pages with the
pleasure that the lover of history experiences.
Where lettered man has lived and loved, has
fought and died; where romance and strife have
been made indelible there is history. Where let
ters are not known, tradition alone serves to per
petuate the current of events of a people but, alas,
in a manner so broken!
On the broad prairies of northern Illinois and
southern Wisconsin long lived a people of whom
my story shall tell, and of whom we long have lived
in almost total ignorance. Fortunately for the
lovers of historical pursuits many records, scattered
though they now are, were made by the early
explorers of our country and have been preserved,
In the archives of France, from which most of my
materials have been dug, more may hereafter be
found; and it is hoped that, with the aid of appro
priations by the government, all scraps of early his
tory bearing upon our region will be collected.
Along the hills and groves of northern Illinois lies
the main scene of my story. The echoes of tradi-
21
22 LOST MARAMECH
tion have died away until only a mere murmur
remains; no recent writer before me has seemed to
know what there took place nor when.
The most interesting and tragic event in the
Indian history of Illinois has thus remained to the
present time in the obscurity of scattered annals.
These I have gathered, and the story is, for the first
time, made to some extent complete.
The discovery of a few potsherds and heaps of earth,
along the beautiful Fox river (Riviere du Rocher
of the early French), in Kendall county, Illinois, near
the present busy little city of Piano, spurred me into
investigations that have extended over a quarter of
a century; and my researches in the archives of
France, with those of others, have led to the discov
ery of early historical facts of great interest.
What and where was Maramech? What tribe of
natives was it that lived by the chase on the five
prairies that neighbor near the mouth of Big Rock
creek, and planted its corn in the rich valley? Who
was it that gathered the fruits and nuts in the forest
that borders this beautiful creek and the river that,
in turn, carries the creek s cool contribution to the
Father of Waters? Who lived here in the freedom
we so much enjoy when we throw off the harness of
restraint and seek the shades of the great trees at
Sylvan Spring and pitch our tents for a season of
absolute rest? Follow my story, and you shall
learn.
Early French maps show that no place in the
west was then better known than the northern part
of Illinois. When visited by Nicholas Perrot and
the French traders, so rich was it in game that it
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 23
formed the hunting-ground of many Algonquin
tribes; indeed, it supplied the needs of the aborig-
ines to such an extent that battles were fought for
its possession. The Iroquois of the east, sworn ene-
24 LOST MARAMECH
mies of all the Algonquin tribes, sought to rob them
of their homes, but succeeded in part only, leaving
the deed to be finished by so-called civilized man,
who later lusted after the bounties Nature had here
showered down.
Of La Salle s first explorations we know but little,
for they were carried on in a manner so quiet that
only the governor of New France was aware of his
whereabouts much of the time during the years pre
ceding the grant, to him, along the St. Lawrence
and later in the country of the Illinois. He was a
"Coureur du bois" of the most energetic type; he
knew too well the value of the Mississippi valley to
France to make known to the world his belief, or
the evidences thereof, that it could be better reached
from the Gulf of Mexico than by way of the St.
Lawrence, with its many rapids and with that great
barrier the falls of Niagara. Of all this he dared
not speak, except in a whisper, to the governor.
This knowledge, and the immeasurable confidence
on the part of the governor, resulted in the permits
that enabled La Salle to complete his discoveries.
The silence of the great explorer was the cause of
the break in the story of his life which enabled the
Jesuits (who wished to appropriate all the honors,
and the commercial opportunities as well), to claim
that Frontenac and the Abbe de Galinee had drawn
upon their imaginations in making the records they
left regarding La Salle s explorations, in 1669, on
the Ohio and other western rivers. (Margry I., 112.)
He again visited the region in 1680, descended
the Illinois river and reached the mouth of the Mis
sissippi. He returned and spent part of the year
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 25
1683 a d established the Colonie du Str. De La Salle,
within what is now La Salle, Will, Kendall, and
Cook counties, Illinois, and left his faithful lieu
tenant, Henri de Tonty, in charge of the fort estab
lished by him on what is now t known as Starved
Rock, in La Salle county. He then passed on to
Canada and there gave to Franquelin, the Official
Cartographer of Canada, the information necessary
to enable him to draw his map of 1684. On the lat
ter the Illinois river, the Des Plaines, Kankakee,
Fox river, and others are shown, but all bear their
aboriginal names.
At the head of the last-mentioned river is a small
body of water that now forms a summer resort much
JOLIET S MAP.
sought by the weary Pistakee lake, until recently
pronounced Pes-ta-koo-ee. Whence that name?
The little lake is shown on only one of the old maps,
but the river flowing from it is on other maps laid
26 LOST MARAMECH
down and named "Pestekuoy." On Lanman s map,
in his history of Michigan, the river, of which the lake
is, in fact, but an enlargement, bears the same name.
When Joliet, accompanied by the modest Mar-
quette,* in his efforts to carry out the instructions
of the governor of Canada, to him, to find the sea
of the west, floated down the Wisconsin and Missis
sippi rivers, and, returning, stemmed the current of
the Illinois river to the portage at "Chicagou," he
sought to gather such information as, added to that
acquired by La Salle and other earlier explorers and
traders, would be beneficial to his king and fellow
countrymen.
We have his maps and also Marquette s. On a
map, said to have been founded on Marquette s pub
lished in France in 1681, by Thevenot, a little north
of the Illinois river, is drawn the picture of a
buffalo, which, in the various Algonquin languages,
bore the name given to the river of which I shall
often speak, and to the lake above referred to that
forms one of its enlargements as well as one of its
*Marquette, in his journal, tells us all about Joliet, appointed
by the governor of New France to make the exploration, and
the opportunity offered him to accompany the expedition. Yet
so great was the desire of John G. Shea that the Catholics be
given the credit that, in his History of the Catholic Missions,
he devotes pages to the voyage, but fails to even mention
Joliet s name. Although there were other Frenchmen in the
party and some Indian guides, the author says: "Long sailed
he on, with no witness to his way but the birds and beasts of
the plains." The claims later made for Maiquette by the
Jesuits were not warranted by anything left in writing, or
otherwise, by their hero. He admitted Joliet was the head
and front of the exploration.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
27
sources. The maker of Thevenot s map spelled the
name of the animal Pichikib (Peeshikioo)* In the
Jesuit Relations
the name of the
animal is spelled
Pisikiou. Some
cart ographers
spelled it, as ap-
plied to the
river, Pestricoui^
and Tony spelled
it Pestegonky\
each writer made
his best effort to
represent the un
familiar sounds
that formed the
word, by the use
of the conven
tional symbols
of the sounds in
his mother
tongue, so far as his ear, dull to the language new
to him, enabled him to do.
In Franquelin s map of 1684, on tne west bank of
the river Pestekuoy, presumably a little above the
confluence of Big Rock creek (which, however, is
not on the ancient maps), is placed the town of
Maramech. In his later map the final two letters are
*In Thevenot s Collection of Voyages, we find on page 12 :
"Nous appe lions les Pisikious Bosuf Sauvages," and the
author goes on to say that they do so because these animals
(the buffalo) are very similar to domestic cattle.
is >
28
LOST MARAMECH
omitted. On an early map, corrected by Tillamen
(Paris, 1688), it is spelled Maramea. In Popples
map, of later date, it is Maraux, as also in an
N\
FRANQUELIN S, 1688, SHOWING MARAMECH DIFFERENTLY
SPELLED. FROM WINSOR S NARRATIVE AND CRITICAL HIS
TORY.
unnamed and undated "official" French map of
1718, now in the British Museum.
It was ever the custom, among savage tribes, to
give descriptive names to places and things. A
stream that was characterized by an abundance of
Maramech Hill, from the south.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 29
sturgeon was given the name of that fish, hence
Merrimac was applied to the river of New England,
and Marame to the Kalamazoo river of Michigan.
A river in Missouri also bears the name. The word
is seldom found spelled twice alike by old writers,
but it meant the spiny sturgeon.
Come with me to the site of ancient Maramech,
the "great village" of the Miamis. The Fox river,
as we now know it, always beautiful, in the autumn
months has special charms. Great maple and wal
nut trees overhang its banks; plums, sweeter than
any cultivated orchard ever produced, are found
wild; pawpaws in September offer their riches, and
nuts are the harvest of the squirrels. From the time
Nrfimaea Illinois
FRAGMENT OF POPPLES MAP. SHOWING THE HILLS OF
MARAMECH.
of the May apple and strawberry, in early summer,
until the last nut has fallen, everything necessary to
sustain life can be found growing spontaneously.
Where once the natives raised their corn we now
see great fields planted with but little greater regu
larity by the machine of to-day; the plow-cultivated
30 LOST MARAMECH
rows show but little improvement over the aborig
inal method of placing the hills in rows, a long step
apart, and ridging them. The way we plant and
"tend" was taught us by the people who left the
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 31
golden legacy. Upon the hillsides that face the
sun, the grapes of the white man grow no more
luxuriantly than those whose clambering vines erst
while reached the very treetops. The wild grape
was, to those early people, as great a luxury as it
TILLMAN (TILLEMON) 1688
now is to the boys who gather from the few remain
ing vines the scattered bunches, sweetened by the
early frosts. On these sunny hillsides, I am led to
believe, they cultivated the large grape indigenous
to our southern climates; early explorers speak of a
32 LOST MARAMECH
grape, the principal characteristic of which was its
great size. With the passing into du^ of the foster
ing hand, this grape also passed away, smitten by
the rigors of our climate.
This river, the river of the buffalo, always warm,
born of the lakes that now form the summer resorts,
tempts the bather precisely as it did the naked sav
age whose morning bath was taken in its pools.
FRAGMENT OF CORONELLI S MAP OF 1693.
Picnic parties in gay attire are now rowed among
the islands and along the shore, where, at the time
my story begins, the canoe, hewn from a single log,
was moved by arms as strong as those of modern
athletes. In the beautiful river of the buffalo the
bass, the pike, and other game fish may yet be
found. The modern angler with rod and reel, his
most precious lines and flies, makes no greater catch
than did the man who, with torch at the bow, stand
ing astride of his canoe, threw his spear with uner-
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
33
ring aim at the darting pickerel. Where now the
sportsman, with dog and modern arms, satisfies his
savage thirst to* blood, there the native, with bow
and arrow, killed only to sustain life. The former
kills for the love of it; and the latter, like him to
whom the sportsman applies the epithet "pot
hunter," took the life of beasts and of the innocent
feathered tribe only to sustain himself.
fc- v ITTtwSJ*
FRAGMENT OF GIBSON S MAP, 1763.
Beautiful river of the buffalo! River of the Rock!
Fox river! Thy rounded bluffs, thy bordering
woods, thy long stretches of bottom land, where the
natives raised their corn, now blooming the summer
long with Nature s best efforts, and thy graceful
elms, where still the robin wakes the morn with
34 LOST MARAMECH
song, I love thee yet as when, in my early days, I
read thee as a poem!
Beautiful river! Adorned by the rocky mounds
that gave thee thy second name in written history,
Riviere du Rocher, thy charms call the people to the
roomy "old mill," gray with age! There gather the
young for frolic, the summer long!
River of the Rock! How often midst the sum
mer s heat have I cooled my brow along thy shore,
sitting beneath the shade trees that found scanty
footing, and how often have I plunged from thy banks !
Beautiful valley! Often I have scanned thy face,
sitting on those mounds that rise six times my height
above the river, and contemplated what the years
might tell of all that passed. Here lovers sat and
told the old, old story. No well-kept lawn was
ever more attractive than thy sod. Up the stream,
along the shaded shore, once stretched the cabins
of the denizens of Maramech. The hearth-stones
that were within those cabins sometimes are laid
bare by the melting snows of spring, which cause
the stream to overflow its banks. Behind these
dwellings were the fields, where melons grew, and
from which came the roasting-ears that marked the
time of the corn feast.
From this rock, stretching along the river bank, to
and on along the creek that adds its ever-cooling
flood to the warmer waters of the river, extended the
fields and homes. Only primitive art was displayed
in the building of these shelters, but they were
warm. Constructed of strong frames and covered
with bark of the elm, or matting made of rushes,
with roofs to match, they were impervious to wind
Specimens of the Ceramic Art, from the site of Maramech.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 35
and rain. In covered places, of which no mark is
left, the corn was stored for winter s use, and upon
scaffolds in the cabins, beans, dried pumpkins and
squashes were kept for time of need.
River of the Rock! Well it is that thy two tribu
taries, which unite and flow into thy channel, are
still known by thy earlier name, now so nearly for
gotten; although the names of thy little tributaries
linger, tradition does not tell us why so christened.
Big Rock Creek I Thy waters, spring born, so cool in
summer, yet warm enough to be proof against the win
ter s cold, are clear as those of the mountain stream.
To all, except the geologist, it seems strange that thy
waters are always bright, while neighboring streams
are mere drains for the fields on the far-reaching
prairies. The river that receives thy waters, with
its lovely banks and groves, and the five prairies
that almost meet, is only exceeded in its beauty by
thy shades, where the bluebells of spring, delicate
and tender as the eyes of beauty, have sought thy
hillsides, where the violets, sweet as the wild rose of
the prairies so near, lend their charms. Along thy
banks were many of the long-vanished homes of
Maramech. The line of cabins reached where stands
the old mill whose gable windows blink to the mid
day sun, and, onward still, beyond where stood the
older mill (now but a memory) that yielded its grists
to the early settlers.
Beautiful creek! Long before the savage instincts
of the boy had been smothered, I learned to love
thee. In thy pools the pickerel and bass, choosing
thy cool waters, came from the warmer river and
were tempted by my bait.
36 LOST MARAMECH
Burnt stones and bones, washed from the banks,
show that generations of fishermen had already
come and gone.
The story of the Little Creek of the Rock is short.
Along the bluffs clay, from which the potters of
Maramech formed their wares, is found. This little
stream that, within my memory, swept the southern
foot of Maramech hill, for a time was diverted by
the hand of man to turn his wheels. Obedient only
for a while it was; then, like the horse long re
strained, taking the bit in its teeth and running at
will, it burst its bounds and sought again the old
channel. But during the years of its restraint, the
rainfalls upon the now bare summit of Maramech
hill had torn away the ancient passage from fort to
creek, of which I shall tell, thrown a gravel-spit
across the old channel and forced this stream to a
third course. The surrounding swamp that faintly
marks the unhealed scar of the little stream of geo
logical times, finds, in part, drainage into Big Rock
creek, and in part an outlet into the lesser stream
Lately the swamp has been cut by another gravel-
spit, so that, at all times, one may ignore the new-
cut road at the eastern side and pass to the hill dry-
shod.
By common consent, since my studies resulted in
the identification of the place, a name has been
given this romantic spot. The "Great Village of
Maramech" having been near the hill, why not, it
was thought, call the latter by that name? May it
not have been so in the language now little spoken?*
*At a time not very remote, perhaps not more than ten
thousand years ago, the smaller creek ran to the west of this
Maramech Hill. The "gentle slope, rising to the west and northwest from a
little river."
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 37
Before the Galena limestone, on which the great
depth of gravel forming the hill rests, was swept
bare by glacial action, many forms of animal life
existed, differing little from those we know. The
great ice-cap crept from the north, and by its slow but
mighty forces crushed the rocks whose debris forms
these gravel-beds. Its resistless share turned under
all forms of life; in the gravel of the hill, to the south,
a considerable depth below the surface, a tooth
of the great American elephant was recently found.
The gravel-beds being so dry, this pre-glacial relic
shows for itself that it had been well housed.
Before this hill was laid, these monsters browsed
in the forests that ultimately fell with them. Before
the river had found its way, these gravels had been
sifted and shifted and laid in beds as clean as the
sands of the seashore. The region was a lake during
a later time, because a barrier of marble whiteness,
the St. Peter Sandstone, rose high a few miles south
ward. The softer strata, the shales of the Cincin
nati Group of the Lower Silurian period, for a
distance of three miles to the north, had been
gouged away and the basin thus formed later became
filled with the gravels and sifted sands. The cool
island-like hill. What is now so isolated from the neighboring
bluffs was then a peninsula, long, narrow, and high. It was a
long turn the little creek then made to join its larger brother ;
the high peninsula for a half mile separated them. For cen
turies the little stream dug at the barrier. Gently it carved
when the bordering trees and shrubs were in leaf and bloom ;
but when the melting snows of spring formed floods it tore at
the walls of drift-gravels with greater might until its task was
done and the high neck of land could no more obstruct its way.
Where so long ran the little stream is now the swamp.
38 LOST MARAMECH
waters of the melting ice of the Glacial Epoch per
mitted no abundant life in this lake; a few beds of
shell-marl show on the hillsides. As the waters of
the ice-fields ran away, the barrier of white sand
stone became worn low, and the new-born river
carved out its valley. Then began the development
of life that culminated in the beauties we now see.
As if they had turned the edge of the great plow
share, the mounds of rock, almost an old French
land league southward from the hill, stand well
above the surface of the river valley. One of them
drops its sides, a large part of its more than thirty-
five feet, almost directly into the river. Beside this,
a twin rock rises with rounded sides and summit.
The river, diligent and effective as the tooth of
time, has cut its way through these hard strata.
Before the white man s destructive hand had
wrought havoc by taking building material for a
dam from the cliff on the eastern shore, a spring
flowed from it through a crevice which, for a dis
tance, it had eroded wide and high. To this roomy
part, extending fifty feet into the rocky ledge, early
settlers gave the name Black Hawk s Cave. Why
so called we do not know, but we do know that the
early settlers held that great warrior in fear, and that
Black Hawk, as we shall see, often trod the trail
passing the site of then ancient Maramech, and
sometimes camped a little less than a short French
league from the cave that continued to exist but
little longer than he.
The stone in the massive walls of the old mill and
its dam were quarried there, and from this place also
has been taken, for two generations, the necessary
One of the twin Rocks, each over an acre in extent, that gave the beautiful river its
second name in history, Riviere du Rocher.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 39
material for lime and other building purposes of the
surrounding country and the busy little city near
by; enough is left for several cities by no means
small. Attractive, because of the beauties of its
surroundings and man s love of romance, this mill
has been converted into a summer resort; and here
gather, for rest or for frolic, the old and the young
from the stifling cities. It is but an old story, for
here the sun-painted children of many generations
played, and lovers sat and sighed beneath the trees
upon the mound.
So prominent are these rocks, each more than an
acre in extent, that the beautiful Pestekouy lost its
name to be called Riviere du Rocher.* From Mara-
mech hill the rock is hidden by a point of bluff, but
we can look across the river, up the stream to the
east, or down it some distance to the south. The
view, in the anniversary month of the great slaugh
ter, becomes lost in either direction in the autumn
haze; a rapid here and there, not too strong for a
light canoe to stem, is all that breaks the surface of
the waters that reflect the turning leaves of the
maples on either bank.
Toward the rising sun went, and from the east
*The Fox River enters the Illinois nine full miles above
"The Rock" of La Salle s old fort. I have been informed by
French scholars in Paris that the name Rivtire du Rocher
could not have been given because of its nearness to the rock
upon which La Salle s lieutenant, Tonty, erected his defenses.
The name, they told me, bears evidence that it was given
because of some characteristic feature along it. After the pass
ing away of the buffalo, from which the river took its first
known name, no more noticeable feature characterized it than
the rounded rocks at Maramech.
40
LOST MARAMECH
came hunting parties, parties bent on war and, from
time to time, messengers bearing the pipe of peace.
Over the great trail, mapped in by Thevenot in
1681, and last traveled by the tribe by whose name
it was known when came the white man, the Sauk
Trail, labored the beasts of burden, urged on by
les Ma.scouten/s.
u Ni.ti.on. du. Feu.
ort Creuecoeur . * , .
te frocher & . j
imitoui.oa PeorraL
FRAGMENT OF HENNEPIN S MAP, 1683. SHOWING THE
GREAT TRAIL.
dusky drivers. They came to the trading stations.
Such means of transportation we now know little of
but in story. Two long poles, connected by thongs
to a rude saddle upon horses, their butt ends reaching
backward to the ground, and a rude rawhide basket
between, formed the only conveyance. Packed
with the decrepit and the children or with furs, or
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 41
both, these vehicles stirred the soil into dust which
the winds blew away. The sodless trails were worn
deeper as years passed until abandoned by the
natives and those who sought their trade. Later
came the whites, and where ran the trails there fol
lowed the ox-teams of the first settlers who, turning
THE TRAIL, AS SHOWN BY DE LISLE, 1703.
to the roadside wherever a location of particular
charm was reached, erected cabins and made claims,
almost always fronting on the trail. Wherever the
boundary lines of the early farms do not correspond
with the points of the compass followed by later sur
veys, the course of the trail may now be discovered.
42 LOST MARAMECH
The first stage roads followed the old trails, and
some of the public roads that serve the present
generation were traveled before America was discov
ered by Europeans. Where were fording places in
the rivers, there centered the many paths, worn
deeply by the hoofs of deer and buffalo, so often
mentioned by the many explorers.
The great east-and-west trail crossed the Peste-
kouy at Maramech, while the village existed, and
both before and since; and there came also the Kish-
waukee Trail, from the swamps of the northwest,
over which were brought the furs most sought by the
traders. Although I have found but little authority,
other than the river courses, I believe that not all of
the French goods were brought up the stream to
Maramech and the half dozen other towns along the
river Pestekouy. Many were brought up from Fort
St. Louis, that, from its establishment by La Salle
to about 1700, was an entrepot; but much was car
ried from the lake near where now is Racine, Wis.,
to the little lakes where forms the stream.
In St. Cosme s account of his voyage down the
Mississippi river, he speaks of the portage between
the head of Root river, that adds its mite to Lake
Michigan at Racine, Wis., and the head of the Fox
river of Illinois, and of the route he would have
taken to reach the Mississippi but for the low water
in the rivers at that season of the year. This route,
that I have before spoken of as the one taken by the
French in bringing goods to Maramech, he calls the
river Pistrui, and tells us that it enters the Illinois
about twenty-five or thirty leagues from Chikagu.
At Maramech many trails met. Over them came
The Kishwaukee trail, worn deep by heavy feet, and feet so light, still scars
the Hill. (Photo by the Author. )
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 43
visiting tribes and roving bands of hunters. Along
the larger creek, where now stands the old mill built
of wood, gray in its decay as the miller who catered
for years to the needs of the hungry settlers, was an
extension of the great village of Maramech.
The hill, so fatal to the Foxes a generation after
it was deserted by the Miamis, rose between the two
parts of the town, and hugged the creek so closely
that the way from one to the other could only be
made by passing over its narrow summit where it
droops to little more than half the height of the
peak so near, which peak, in times of danger, served
the purpose of a lookout. Deeply worn are still the
paths that formed the terminus of the Kishwaukee
Trail doubly worn by denizens of the divided vil
lage of Maramech.
Leave the modern road near the mill, turn to
the right into the pasture and direct your steps to
the lowest place in sight; halt when half way up the
path, and where you stand moccasined feet trod
for generations. So deeply worn the trail, a hun
dred years of wash of storm and heaving frost have
not defaced it. The few animals pastured there
keep the path fresh. How many feet, some weary
and others fleet, have passed where now you stand,
and rested beneath the trees that shield you from
the summer s sun!
With the long-lapsed years in mind we seem to
see canoes passing up the river laden with furs, and
coming down with trinkets that have been received
in exchange for the hunters harvests. From where
the little village of Waukegan dots the shore of
Lake Michigan to the headwaters of this river, a
44
LOST MARAMECH
m&rut
UT.MejR
trail was long in use by the hunters and traders who
gathered the furs of beaver and the skins of the
deer and buffalo.
On an old French map, the author of which is not
given, is found laid down the river. At a point
nearly due west from where Chicago is situated on
Lake Michigan, is placed Saut, the French word for
rapid. This leads one to believe that that rapid
was at the rocky
channel where, at
and above the
mounds that gave
the river its sec
ond name in his
tory, a dam has
been built. Pinart,
who copied the
map, in 1893,
from the original
in the Depot de
la Marine, Paris,
says that, al
though no date
is given, it does
not appear that this map was drawn later than 1680.
In the Bibliotheque du Depot de la Marine, at
Paris, is the accompanying dateless, nameless map
that much interests the seeker after certain histor
ical knowledge. Parkman credits it to the Jesuits.
In this no doubt he is partly right, for on it crosses
show the location of many of the early missions
founded by that order. Its author is unknown, but
I believe it to have been drawn from knowledge
FRAGMENT OF DATE
LESS OLD FRENCH
MAP.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 45
gained from Nicolet, Raddison, Grosseilliers, Per-
rot, and Allouez. Parkman believes that it was
made subsequent to Joliet s voyage, because the
great river is laid down as "Colbert," the name
given it, as claimed, by Joliet. Of a score of early
maps in my possession, on only three is Colbert
given. Joliet gives it "Baude" on one of his, and
"River that discharges into the Gulf of Mexico,"
on two others. Some of the knowledge upon which
this anonymous map was founded was gained as early
as 1640, for the place of death of Father Mey-
nard is shown. The Kankakee, traversed by La
Salle in 1679, is not laid down. The map may be
as early as 1673, but the Chicago portage is prop
erly shown, as it is on Joliet s and Marquette s
maps. That it shows the Mississippi river lower
than the Arkansas river does not prove that it was
drawn later than the true map of Marquette, for he
who drew it may have obtained his information
from the same source as did Joliet and Marquette,
as we find in the latter s journal, in which we read
as follows: "We gathered all the knowledge that
we were able from savages who had frequented the
places, and even traced, from their reports, a map of
all the new country; we laid down the rivers we should
navigate, the names of the people and the places we
should pass, the course of the Great River and the
points of the compass [direction] we should take."
Many towns are laid down by Marquette that he
never saw. The map he drew before starting on
the voyage may have been the very one left us.
The information given him by the natives was acces
sible for many years before 1673.
4 6
LOST MARAMECH
The fact that the Falls of St. Anthony (merely
written Saut) are shown on the map under consider
ation does not prove that the map was made later
than the expedition of Michael Acou,"the trader,
and Hennepin, the priest, who were sent up the Mis
sissippi river by La Salle, because traders had been
there before.
Natives had also brought details that enabled
sat.
FRAGMENT OF JOHN ANDREW S MAP OF 1782, ONE OF THE FIRST
TO SHOW Fox RIVER AND GIVE ITS PRESENT NAME.
cartographers to lay down rivers far beyond any
point where white men had been. I credit the first
knowledge we get of the Pestekuoy River (the Fox
river of Illinois) to Allouez, and believe him to
have also given those who drew some of the other
maps, the knowledge which enabled them to lay
down the beautiful river which courses the region so
abundant in the gifts of Nature. The lake at its
head, the saut^ rapid, (quite likely that where the
ruined dam now frets the waters and the old stone
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
47
mill frowns), and the junction of the river with the
Illinois, all show a fair amount of knowledge gained,
possibly, as early as 1669-70, when Allouez visited
the various tribes around Green Bay and west and
south thereof. The tribe that now most interests
us is known to have been at the bend of Wolf
river in what is now Sugar Bush township, Outaga-
mie county, Wisconsin; the Mascoutins are placed
REPRODUCTION DK CARTES, BY M. SHAFER, IN LENOX LIBRARY,
SHOWING THE LOCATION OF THE OUTAGAMY (Fox) VILLAGE.
on old maps not far from the present site of Waukon,
and the Kickapoos near the head of Rock river.
. During the sixty years, or more, that Maramech
was known to exist by the French, its center shifted,
but at what is now known as Sylvan Springs was
probably the main council fire. There, in the heavy
timber, the wigwams were best sheltered from the
winter blasts. The great trees of those days have
48 LOST MARAMECH
no doubt gone into decay, but the shelter was then
as it is now under the newer ones. The tempting
shades of the great elm and walnut trees attracted
the weary, and the springs along the bluff formed
an inexhaustible supply of cool water. Opposite
Sylvan Springs, where the corn now grows luxur
iantly, were the fields of Maramech. Along the
border of the river are a few mounds which mark
the last resting-places of the chiefs of an older race
that occupied the region long before the Miamis
had built the cabins of Maramech. Still down the
river, upon the same side, Rob Roy creek adds its
mite to the waters of the river. Here, upon a
slight elevation, seems to have been, at some time, a
nucleus of population, and behind it, upon the slope
of the hill, more fragments of pottery have been
found than elsewhere, which makes it seem that
this, for a time, may have been the "pottery" of
the "great village of Maramech." The soil has
been turned so many times, during the last thirty
years, that potsherds, never too well burned, have
crumbled, and where, not many years ago, frag
ments were quite abundant, few are now found.
Where Big Rock creek adds its coolness to the
waters of the river, was another congested position.
This we know by the cabin sites, indicated by frag
ments of burnt stones. Behind this is a bit of
prairie that was, no doubt, under cultivation for
years, and along the foot of the hill were places of
burial.
Work of the Potters of MaramecL.
.:-.-
CHAPTER III
On the bold bluff, up the river and to the east, a
mile or more, sleep many of the denizens of Mara-
mech. Carefully made graves prove the veneration
of the savages for their dead. It seems to have
been a poetic inspiration that led to the selection of
a spot where the beauties of Nature are so boun
teous. Sloping to the sun, the river approaches the
foot of the hill. Rushes shed their flossy tresses
when stirred by the breezes. The goldenrod and
autumn daisies, the only intruders in the yet native
sod, the open wood and quiet river make a picture
that tempts the artist. No lettered stones mark the
places and no owl hoots from bell-tower. These
people long ago sought the happy hunting-grounds
by way of the grave, and Maramech, like them, is
no more. Only their bones and a few potsherds
tell the place of either.
How do we know that they who there sleep were
the people of Maramech? La Salle, who spent
months at the great Illinois town near Starved
Rock, in La Salle county, was successful in uniting
the various tribes of Indians, in order to enable
them to make a common defense against the Iro-
quois. Among these tribes were the Miamis of
Maramech, Pepikokias, and Kilatikas. Some were
led to settle on Buffalo Rock, a few miles east of
Starved Rock, and many had already made their
homes along the Pestekouy near by. The branch
49
LOST MARAMECH
From M*p of
Louisiana , C&n&c
? LENOX LIBRARY
1718.
of the Miamis that remained at Maramech received
from the French traders the goods, useful and orna
mental, which they needed. In their graves have
been found beautiful fabrics. Among the finest
were fragments of
a broadcloth robe,
thickly beset with
silver buckles
the size of a
dime. Rouge and
"cheap-John" ar
ticles of various
kinds have repaid
the efforts of cu
riosity seekers. A finely wrought bullet-mould cut
from a bit of argillaceous shale, gives proof of
skillful workmanship. Two parts, with a half sphere
worked in each, an opening formed between the
two into which the molten lead was poured, and
grooves at the ends and sides in which the string
binding might lie, served a purpose equal to the
best bullet-mould of the gunsmith of to-day.
No stones mark the graves, and the slight
depressions visible forty years ago have become
filled with sediment so that the exact places of
sepulture are only made known when, for pelf, the
gravel of this hillside is carted away. The frag
ments of bark, now nearly dust, show the winding
sheet to have been taken from the giant trees then
near by. I have before me a fragmentary skull of
one of the people of Maramech. If it had a
tongue we know it might tell much; that it would
tell us of the brighter side of life is evidenced by the
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 51
teeth, as little worn and white as those of the dandy
of to-day; and there is no evidence that they
required the care of a dentist. The wisdom tooth
shows maturity and, if of a male, as seems probable,
we might hear the story of the first visit of the
Frenchmen; of the wars made by the Iroquois, or of
the raids, in turn, against the warlike Five Nations.
The green stain upon the jaw-bone tells of a cheap
necklace, bought of the French traders. This skull,
finely formed, speaks of the brain of a man of intel
ligence. Unlettered though its possessor, he may
have swayed the multitude in council. His eloquent
tongue and logical reasoning, for which the red man
was ever noted, may have equaled that of Tecumseh
or Red Jacket. He may, in fact, have been one of
the chiefs of the "Great Village of Maramech."
From a cabin, in the shade of the overhanging
trees that border the beautiful Pestekouy, we seem
to see a bier borne by braves, on which, wrapped in
his robes of fur, lies the conquered warrior. Ten
derly his clay is laid in the dugout, hewn from a
great tree trunk, in which, at bow and stern, kneel
the ones whose chosen duty it is to row it o er the
rippling river. In cadence with the dipping paddles
are mournful songs and dirges sung. The cortege
passes the low island and onward to the green hill
side, bared to the sun, where waits the new-made
grave.
When the spirit departed on its long journey to
the happy hunting-grounds, the erstwhile owner of
this fragment was wept. With this fragment was
found a piece of the bone of the buffalo which, when
covered with flesh, had been placed with the body
52 LOST MARAMECH
to sustain the spirit on its long way. Rude though
the coffin, it was of hewn walnut, that wood so
prized to-day. No hearse was trundled over pave
ment stones, but a pageant, bowed with grief, carried
the body to its resting-place on an impromptu bier.
Loving hands wrapped the remains in the furs and
blankets, and there placed the ornaments the spirits
of which were expected to adorn the departed soul.
We do not know what thoughts prompted the burial
of possessions with the body; perhaps it was in
accordance with the beliefs of many tribes that ani
mals and material things have souls. The dog was
buried with its master to serve him in the new
hunting-grounds. A kettle was broken and buried
there so that, also being dead, its soul might be
valuable to the departed.
If this fragment that formed the brain cavity could
talk it might tell us of the war dance, of the corn
festival and of the sugar making. It might tell us
of the many industries. I seem to hear it speak of
the mortar scooped in a log, and of the women,
young and fair, pounding corn for the sagamite,
while admiring warriors are lounging near. The
little metate* I found near the spring, little more than
a brick in size, slightly hollowed upon one side,
served to grind the nuts that seasoned the mess of
pottage. This shattered skull might tell of the
weavers of buffalo wool, busy at the primitive
looms, and the potters, their clay tempered with
crushed granite, forming the vessels we now find
only in pieces.
* A hollowed stone on which, with another stone, corn, nuts
and grain were crushed or ground.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 53
In their day-dreams the loved ones, whom the
departed had left behind, watched the soul on its
way to the happy hunting-grounds. On and on they
seemed to see him wander, with faithful dog that
mocked his every turn. Where shades of summer
trees, clambering vines and carpets of the softest
mosses tempted him, he took his frequent rests.
The pleasing thoughts of the watching loved ones,
inspired by his progress, were dispelled by visions
in which dream-clad feet outstripped him and they
saw, far before him, the rapid river he must cross or
his soul perish. The slender fallen tree, laid by the
Great Spirit, reaching from shore to shore and
shaken by the rapid waters that swirled around its
immersed branches, was yet to test his courage.
While in the flesh he had no dread of wars. For
years his scalp had been a freely-offered prize to
any one of other tribes with courage and of strength
to take it; but at last he cowered. Many passed
before him, but others failed. The weaker souls
fell to be swept into an unconscious eternity. Those
left by him on this mortal shore feared, in dreams
of night, and hoped in their dreams of waking hours,
as love only can, and longed to see him reach the
land of sun and everlasting flowers that, bounded by
the lisping waters of the quiet western sea, should
be to him a place of rest as long as stars should gem
the great white river overhead. He reached the
swaying bridge and was appalled, but go he must.
The beckoning hands on the other shore of eternity,
and the words of inspiration, spurred him to his
utmost and, with halting steps and snail-like prog
ress, his long journey found its end; so, too, did that
54 LOST MARAMECH
of his faithful pet and slave that, trembling in every
limb upon the frail bridge, dogged his steps.
Tis ever thus with cultured and with savage
minds. In their waking dreams was the vision of
tireless Love and Lagging Hope, hand in hand,
leading the soul of the late departed. When came
the visions of the night despair oft cast a spell whose
shudder woke the dreamer to again be cheered by
Hope.
The central village, in 1684, was estimated to have
one hundred and fifty warriors, which meant a popu
lation of about seven hundred and fifty; but the
town had many near neighbors that were occupied
by branches of the Miami nation. Although the
various Algonquin tribes were from time to time at
war, they were also often at peace, and then they
mingled freely. Upon the first visit of the coureurs
du bois to Green Bay, it may have been, that the
Miamis and Illinois met by them came direct from the
village of Maramech. We know that these people
told the traders of the richness of their country, and
we know that Maramech was the most important
town near Green Bay, unless "Chicagou" had
already become permanently peopled by that tribe.
In imagination we may spend a night in Mara
mech. The winds of approaching winter are [whis
tling through the maples. The weary hunter has
returned from the slough, the haunt of the mallard
duck, with the result of his day s efforts, including,
perhaps, a wild goose from a belated flock. He
heard their clanking cry, "go look," and sought
them where he had seen them drop in the rushes
for rest after a long southward flight. He enters
Relics of the Miller of Maramech
and his Mill.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 55
his cabin and throws down the game; but few words
disturb or welcome him. A mat is spread before
the fire, and his good wife brings a bowl of soup to
refresh him and then prepares a hearty meal. A
duck is dressed, cut into small pieces and partially
cooked; then cornmeal is stirred in and, when all is
done, the favorite dish of the Indian tribes, saga-
mite seasoned with meats, is placed before the
hungry huntsman. While the meal is being prepared
the children are at play, but their noise is hushed,
for nothing must disturb the returned master of the
cabin, who needs rest. After the repast and his
smoke, he then addresses whomsoever he wishes
and from that time all are at liberty to speak to
him; he has been refreshed, is rested and is again as
one of the family. He tells of the adventures of
the day; his wife, in turn, tells him of the little
incidents that occurred during his absence. She
removes her kettles, replenishes the fire, and all the
children gather around. The father repeats a stereo
typed folk-lore tale for the children and the story
that he heard from an Iroquois captive:
"There was once a hermit called The Long-
Haired, whose memory is still held in veneration.
During his time the village where he was born was
attacked by a great mortality that took away the
principal men, one dying after another. Every
night a bird of ill-omen flew over the cabins, flap
ping its wings with a great noise and putting forth
sad cries that aroused the fears of all. No one
doubted this was the Oiaron, or beast that caused
the plague; but no one knew from whence the harm
came. In this terrible extremity the council of old
5 6 LOST MARAMECH
men deputized three of the most able ones to pray
to The Long-Haired to have pity and aid them; his
condition did not permit him to quit his retreat;
besides, he never would condescend to come to the
village. He gave the deputies permission to come
to him, however, to learn his last resolution.
They came at the appointed time, and the hermit
showed them three arrows he had made in their
absence, and without communicating anything of
his design he said he only requested them to exam
ine the arrows in order to be able to recognize
them. That evening, toward sunset, The Long-
Haired went to his ambuscade on a little hill that
was near the village. The bird came out of the
trunk of a tree at dusk, spread his wings as usual
and named distinctly some of the principal men
that he had destined to die the next day. When
the hermit perceived the bird he advanced slyly,
shot him with one of his arrows and retired, sure of
having wounded the bird of ill-omen. The day
following the news spread in the village that a cer
tain young man, who was alone in a poor cabin with
a woman, was very sick. The old men, attentive to
all that passed, sent to visit him secretly, as with
out design, the three deputies who had been to see
The Long-Haired. The sick man was too much
pressed by his disability to be able to dissimulate.
An arrow had entered his side. The arrow of the
hermit was recognized. Secret instructions had
been given to those who came to treat the afflicted
one and, in their efforts ostensibly to pull the arrow
from the wound, they directed it in such a way as
to pierce the heart of the wounded man. The old
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 57
woman, yet more culpable than her son, was igno
rant of the source from whence the stroke had come,
but perceived well what the old men had done.
She, being a woman, had not the humor to belie her
sex, and sought vengeance. She resolved to kill
the hermit as her first victim; but her crime was not
conducted with much secrecy. In spite of her
different changes of form, she was discovered.
They burned her with all the refinement of cruelty
of the Iroquois. She confessed that her son, being
irritated, had wished to avenge himself on one who,
returning from the hunt, had neglected to include
him in the distribution of the game. She sustained
the torments of the fire in laughing at and insulting
her tormentors. After her death the plague recom
menced. The sorcerers being consulted, responded
that the unfortunate old woman was the cause; that
she had been changed to the marmot which had been
her mascot during her life. On seeing that it
retired to a den at the foot of a hill where her son
had changed his form, and had been wounded, fire
was at once applied and smoke having forced it to
come out, it was killed. A monument was erected
at the entrance of the den to testify to the truth of
the story."
The story of Wa-sa-ri was then told:
"Once upon a time, in a stream, there lived a
bullhead and his family. The old one said one
day: Oh, I am so hungry; I must go out and find
something to eat; I will go and see what I can
find. He wiggled his way up stream and he saw
the tops of the bushes that grew on the bank
waving occasionally, and knew what it meant, He
58 LOST MARAMECH
swam to that side of the stream and raised^his head
out of the water and rested it upon a rock and
began to sing in a half-monotonous way and in a
piping voice,
~~1 1
I 1
We - sha - wa - wi - ni kasb - kash - kash.
[The horns of the elk are utterly useless.]
"This derisive song annoyed the elk and he came
to the bank to see who was taunting him. Seeing
the bullhead, he said to him: You little fool, if
you don t stop singing that song I will come in and
kick you out of the water and on that bank where
you will die. But the bullhead, smiling, kept on
singing until in plunged the elk and repeated his
command; but still the bullhead s squeaking voice
was heard, We-sha-wa-wi-ni kash-kash-kash. The
elk turned to kick, but the bullhead swam clear of
his heels; turning on him the elk again kicked, but
the bullhead wiggled out of danger. This was
repeated until the elk became exhausted. Then
the bullhead wiggled his way cautiously and pierced
the cord of one of the heels of the elk with one of
his spines and in that way disabled that leg, so that
one hip went down. The elk floundered, but the
bullhead quickly stung the other heel and the hind
quarters of the elk sank into the water. The bull
head next stung the front legs and the elk fell help
less. No further danger; the bullhead stung the elk
to death. Then the bullhead invited all of his chil
dren and friends to the feast, but before beginning
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 59
to eat they raised their heads out of the water and
with a squeaking voice sang: We-sha-wa-wi-ni
kash-kash-kash. "
Then the uncle filled his pipe, puffed awhile,
and told the story of the ducks:
"One time Wi-sa-ka was walking along the shore
of a lake and, being hungry, wondered where and
how he could get something to eat. Soon after he
saw his younger brothers, the ducks, that were flap
ping their wings and quacking. Oh! I now know
what to do, he said. I am going to catch those
fellows over there. So he pulled some long reeds
and, getting a big bundle of them, put them on his
shoulders and, as if bent under a heavy load, went
walking along the lake within sight of his younger
brothers. The ducks soon saw him and said to one
another, There goes Wi-sa-ka, our elder brother; I
wonder what he has on his shoulders/ Oh, Wi-
sa-ka, they called, stop, wait, we want to see you;
where are you going? What is that you have on
your shoulders? Tell us what it is. And thus they
called, but Wi-sa-ka paid no attention to them until
he came to a good place to sit down; then he turned
around and made believe that he had just heard
them for the first time. Oh, is that you, my young
brothers, calling to me? he said. Well, hurry up
and tell me what you want, for I have a long journey
before me. What is that you have on your shoul
ders? they asked. Oh, I cannot tell you, he
replied. Do tell us, they said, we will do any
thing you ask us to. He replied, Well, if you
must know, they are songs. They said, Let one
sing to us. Well, one shall sing if you will dance
60 LOST MARAMECH
forme. All right, they said, and came waddling
along, single file, and took their places before him.
Now, he said, you must dance hard; I have a lot
of songs here but will use but one, for I have a long
journey before me. When you dance you must shut
both your eyes, he said, and began to beat time
with one of the reeds, and the reed began to sing
and Wi-sa-ka sang with it. Shut your eyes, he
said, and don t open them; the one that opens his
eyes will make them turn red. Dance hard, dance
hard/ he shouted, and away they danced, their
beaks pointed skyward. Bunch up! Bunch up!
The best part of the song is yet to come! This he
said and kept singing as he untied the string of his
bow and made a slip-noose to throw over their
heads. Just as he tightened the noose mud-hen
ducked, for all the while she had been watching
Wi-sa-ka and seeing what he had been doing. Fly
away, fly away, she cried, he is going to catch us.
As mud-hen ducked her head, Wi-sa-ka pulled tight
the noose and caught all of the ducks and ruffled up
the top-feathers of mud-hen. Away she flew into
the lake, and as she hit the water Wi-sa-ka shouted
at her, Ho! her top-feathers still standing up, and
as he shouted his forceful breath turned the top-
feathers farther forward, and such a head she has
had ever since. And the red eyes she has were
made so by straining to see what Wi-sa-ka was
doing.
"Wi-sa-ka gathered his ducks and went over the
hill and there he built a fire. He soon made a big
heap of coals and ashes. Here is where I am
going to cook my ducks, he said, and I will sleep
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 61
while they are cooking. When I have had my sleep
out, I will get up and eat. So he covered his ducks
in the hot ashes and coals, leaving only their feet
sticking out, and then lay down to sleep. By and
by some foxes got a smell of the cooking ducks.
Hello, they said, it is something good; let us fol
low up and see what it is, 1 and away they trotted.
Coming near the fire they saw something sleeping
there, and presently they saw that it was Wi-sa-ka.
You go there, said one to the other, and find out
what there is so good. No, you go, said one to
the other. Finally one plucked up courage and
went over, and as he came near the fire Wi-sa-ka
rolled over. Away ran the fox as fast as he could
go. He is awake, said he. No, he is not/ said
his friend. Then back the fox went, and when he
got there he saw what was in the bed of ashes and
coals, and motioned to his friend to come. They
pulled out the ducks and bit off their feet and made
up the heap of coals and ashes as before, and stuck
the ducks feet back as they had found them. Away
they then went with the ducks. By and by Wi-sa-
ka awoke and took his time in getting up. Now I
am going to have something good to eat, he said.
My ducks should be well cooked by this time. He
slowly poked the ashes away, but all he found was
the feet sticking out. Well, I slept too long for
this duck; it is all cooked away. Then he poked
the ashes away from another place. Again he only
found the feet sticking out. Then he got upon his
feet and began to suspect something. By the time
he had pulled the ashes away from another place he
was sure that something had taken his ducks. He
62 LOST MARAMECH
looked carefully and saw tracks all around in the
ashes and then he knew what had become of his
ducks. As he started after the thieves he heard
what seemed to be a voice overhead saying, Neg-ya,
Neg-ya [the word which the sound seemed to imi
tate meaning my mother in the Algonquin tongue].
Oh, he said, my mother died long ago. But the
voice kept on saying, Neg-ya, Neg-ya, and as he
looked up over his shoulder he saw two branches of a
tree rubbing against each other as the wind moved
them. He jumped up to pull the branches apart to
stop the irritating sounds. At that moment a gust
of wind came by and forced the branches apart and
then let them come together again, catching Wi-sa-
ka s hands between, and there he hung while he
beheld the foxes eating his ducks. They taunted
him by telling him how good they were. When
they had finished the last one they trotted away, and
only then came another gust of wind that blew the
branches apart enough to release Wi-sa-ka s bruised
fingers. "
The crimson leaves of the maples made the story
of those who chased the bear an appropriate one.
"Three Foxes went hunting, a long time ago.
They had a little dog with them. It was the time
of the first snowfall. By and by they struck the
trail of a bear. The trail went up a hill. They fol
lowed the trail, the little dog leading. As they
went along they saw the trail leading up to a sumac
thicket. At first the tops of the sumac were waving
to and fro, and then they became still. Presently
the bear stuck his head out and saw the hunters
coming. At that he withdrew. The hunter in the
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 63
lead ran around to the other side to head him off.*
Then another hunter ran around to the north, and
the other to the south. Every time the bear ran
out there was a hunter there to head him off and
drive him back. This kept the hunters running
round and round the thicket. By and by they
wounded the bear with an arrow, and away he ran,
the hunters after him. They flung away their bows
and arrows and, with the arrow in his wound, away
the bear ran, the hunters after him. They pulled
out their knives to grapple with him and slay him.
They were a long time in dispatching the bear. By
and by one of the men, the one in the rear, stopped
and looked all around him, and saw that he was in
*Evidently the bear was pulling the tops of the bushes down
to eat the "bobs." but to stop to explain to the listeners, who
are supposed to know things so common, would interrupt the
flow of the story, and to interrupt to the extent of asking a
question is not allowed.
64 LOST MARAMECH
a strange place. On looking he saw, way down
there below, the earth all green, the little lodges
and little people, and rivers and their windings.
Then he called to the man ahead: Ma-ta-pye, hold
on! we are going into the sky; but Ma-ta-pye paid
no attention, neither did Wa-pa-na-shi-wa, who was
pressing the bear hard. So finding that his com
panions paid no heed, he continued the chase, and
all followed the bear all winter, all the spring, and
all the summer, and overtook him in the fall, when
they butchered the bear. They placed the meat on
sumac leaves and then they began to throw the
various parts of the bear away. The head they
threw to the south, and there are the stars that lie
together.* The backbone they threw to the east,
and this is the cluster of stars that one sees early in
a winter morning, and thus they did with all other
parts of the bear. Wherever the parts were thrown,
there was a cluster of stars. But no sooner was this
done than the bear was on his feet and in flight, and
so the hunters were soon in pursuit again. They
followed through winter, spring, and summer, and
in the fall they overtook him. There is a time in
the fall when the sumac leaves are bright red, and
that is the time that these celestial hunters each
year overtake the bear. The drops of blood from
the bear s meat fall on the sumac leaves and stain
them red; and the blood also stains the leaves of
other plants and trees. That is why things change
their colors in the fall. The hunters and the bear
can be seen at night by looking at the northern
*This is what is popularly called the little dipper.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 65
sky they and their little dog are pursuing the
bear."*
This fairy tale must have originated since the
coming of Europeans, as the location of the Bear
indicates that, through the Jesuits or educated per
sons among the traders, the author of the tale places
the Bear where ancient astronomers put him.
The winds of late autumn whistled in the maples,
but the bark cabins, roofed with rush mats, were
proof against all weather. All were now ready for
sleep. The little ones first sought their blankets.
The dogs, unconsciously fattening for the feast of
welcome to the first visitor to come, were curled up
by the fire. Wood for the morning was in readi
ness. Arranging the fire to keep the cabin warm
during the night, the wife and mother was last to
retire. Few were the cares. Faith in the warrior s
bravery, and ability to provide from day to day, per
mitted all to sleep. The warrior s head lay easy,
for he wore not the crown of wealth. No stocks
were wavering in the balance; managing no corner
in corn and pulling no political wires, he slept only
to awaken with the rising sun.
That the town was a metropolis is known by the
fact that of the relics some were from distant
regions. Tobacco pipes, cut from the red pipe-
stones of Minnesota, have been found; arrow-heads
of a variety of flint not known in the region are com
mon. The corn raised along the river bottom was
traded to the prairie tribes who lived mainly by
*Keen must have been the eyes of the author of this bit of
Indian lore, for the little star at the break of the handle of the
great dipper is hardly visible to the unassisted sight.
66 LOST MARAMECH
hunting. The traffic carried on by the French at
Fort St. Louis was in part, no doubt, by water along
Fox river. Early maps show the river to have but
one rapid worth locating and that evidently near
where Maramech is placed on later maps. Between
Maramech and the Waukegan portage the river
Pestekouy, now called Fox river, served as a water
way for light canoes. Skins of the buffalo, the
bear, and other fur-bearing animals were taken to
the lake and thence to Montreal. From Maramech
southward the traffic was mostly carried on by
canoes hewn from logs; thus the "dugout," as well
as the birch-bark canoe, on this stream showed the
skill of their makers.
CHAPTER IV
The commerce between Maramech and the other
Indian towns not on the Pestekouy was carried on
over the trails. The alleged map of Marquette
shows many places and things never seen by Joliet
and him. In the map copied and published by
Thevenot in 1681 (see page 27, of this volume), a
trail was laid down from the Mississippi river, near
Rock Island, to the great Indian town on the Illi
nois river. Another trail is laid along the Fox river
of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin river, called Che-
min d Altie, meaning "route of going." The line
from Rock Island to the Illinois river is lettered
Chemin de Retour, meaning "route of return." This
route of return passing, as in fact it did, through
Maramech, has since been known as the Sauk
and Fox Trail, so called because later passing
through the great Sauk and Fox town, Sauke-
nuk, at the mouth of the Rock river, and eastward
near Wolf lake and the southern extremity of Lake
Michigan, and on to Maiden in Canada, at the
mouth of Detroit river, where the "British Father"
supplied the wants of the Sac and Fox nations,
among others; it was traveled by what was known
as the "British Band" of Foxes, both before and
after the war of 1812. This great trail was worn so
deeply that, although the plow for a half century has
turned the soil, it is not yet wholly obliterated.
That trail connected Lake Michigan with the Mis-
67
68 LOST MARAMECH
sissippi river at the point of nearest approach, and
Maramech was as a half-way house.
From the great Illinois town opposite Starved
Rock, in La Salle county, along the north side of
the river, ran a trail over one of the great prairies,
five of which approach each other at Maramech.
From where is now the busy city of Ottawa, along
the west side of the river Pestekouy, another trail
passed near or through Maramech, and then turned
to the Miami town of Chicagou. From Maramech
along the east side of the beautiful Pestekouy ran
the trail that connected the various villages located
along the river.
In July, 1682, La Salle went part way on foot from
Peoria Lake to Lake Michigan. He undoubtedly
took the trail that passed through Maramech. The
other towns along the river were seen by him, or at
least were made known to him, for he soon passed
on to Montreal and gave to Franquelin the infor
mation that enabled him to map in the section of
country around Maramech. (Margry, Vol. I., p.
569.) Henri de Tonty, the faithful lieutenant of La
Salle, later in the same month passed by land from
Fort St. Louis, on Starved Rock, to Chicagou.
(Margry, Vol. I., p. 612.) A long day s journey
took them to Maramech. In the autumn of 1687
Joutel, Cavalier (La Salle s brother), and others
reached Fort St. Louis on their weary journey from
the fated colony in Texas, in haste to get to France
to urge that aid be sent to the colony last estab
lished by La Salle. They struck out for the lake of
the Illinois (Michigan), there to embark for Canada,
in time to take the vessel bound for France. The
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 69
journey was "painful and fruitless," for, having
gone to the banks of the lake in very foul weather,
after waiting there for five days for the sky to clear,
they embarked, notwithstanding the storm, but
were obliged to put to shore again at the place of
embarkation. They returned, on foot, to Fort St.
Louis on the seventh day of October. Twice, then,
they passed over the trail between Fort ^St. Louis
and Chicagou, and undoubtedly through the village
of Maramech. In December of the same year two
Frenchmen arrived at Fort St. Louis and gave notice
to Tonty that three canoes, laden with merchandise,
powder, ball, and various other things, had arrived
at Chicagou; that there being too little water in the
Des Plaines river, and what there was being frozen,
they could not come nearer. It thus became neces
sary to send carriers to bring the goods upon their
backs. Tonty requested the chief of the Shawnees
to furnish him with people for the purpose. That
chief accordingly provided forty, men as well as
women, who set out with some of the Frenchmen.
The honesty of the Shawnees was the reason Tonty
had for preferring them over the Illinois, who had
the reputation of being thieves. Empty-handed the
troop took the trail and spent the first night, it
seems probable, at Maramech. Two more days of
travel, of twenty-five miles each, brought them to
Chicagou. Each heavily laden, the return journey
was more slow, and at the end of about the third
day the loads were laid aside at Maramech and
the hospitality of the Miamis, then at peace with the
Shawnees, was partaken of. Of the fatigue of the
journey we are not told, but we have often expe-
70 LOST MARAMECH
rienced the winters of this region. The abundance
of fuel made the nights endurable, and with the
presence of the visitors the wigwams of the natives
became scenes of festivities. The dance of wel
come, to the music of the flute, accompanied by
songs and folk-lore tales, made the night more a
season of pleasure than of rest; old friendships were
renewed and new acquaintances made.
So important to the French was the region that a
representative of the crown was kept at Maramech
and in its vicinity in the interest of trade and to
keep the tribes united against the Iroquois. The
French believed that, should the western country
become possessed by the latter tribe, the trade of
the west, and largely that of the Great Lakes, would
be diverted to the English. Of greatest service
was Nicholas Perrot. Of him we read:
"In addition to these officers" (referring to Tonty
and others) "who have each their stations fixed, the
man named Perrot is to occupy one in the imme
diate neighborhood of the Miamis, in order to exe
cute whatever will be ordered him. This place is
called Malamet, and the great concourse of Indians
who repair thither, among whom this man possesses
a great amount of credit, induced the Count to
select him to be stationed between the Miamis and
other tribes who might receive advances from the
English."*
The main body of the Miamis was on the river
*A footnote found in the N. Y. Col. Docs., IX., 570, states
that by Malamet the Kalamazoo river of Michigan is meant.
The location of the "great village of Marameck," has not been
known by historians.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 71
St. Joseph, where is now South Bend, Indiana.
The "other tribes who might receive advances from
the English" were the Foxes, Sacs, Mascoutins,
and others of Wisconsin. The English had tried to
reach them by way of the Straits and also by way of
the Ohio. To have been between the Miamis and
these tribes, it is seen, they could not have been on
the Kalamazoo.
On no map of the time is there laid down a large
town on the Maramea (the Kalamazoo river of
Michigan), and there is nothing to indicate that any
thing more was intended or attempted by travelers
than to mark the location of a river, on their maps,
and give its name. In what is quoted above we find
the words, "This place is called Malamet. " I think
the compiler of the document, to which he added
the footnote, was mistaken, for a river cannot be
referred to as a "place" nor as a "station." It
is known that at this time the Miamis occupied a
great area. La Salle collected many of them in
1683 and he named some of the various branches of
the tribe, particularly the Peanghichias (Pianke-
shaws), Pepikokias, and Kilaticas. On Franquelin s
map of 1684, in the "Colony du Sr. de La Salle,"
between the Pestekouy and the Illinois rivers, the
Pepikokias are located. They were also a branch
of the Miamis, Perrot tells us. (See map of 1684.)
Can the Governor have meant a river when refer
ring to the "chiefs of the great village" of "Mara-
mek"? When speaking to the Miamis of the place
he called "Malamet," did he also mean a river?
He also speaks of "other" chiefs there. Now, there
is no group of towns located on any of the early
72 LOST MARAMECH
maps on the Kalamazoo river of Michigan, but on
nearly all, Maramech, on the Pestekouy (the Fox
river of Illinois), is laid down; and on that river is a
group of towns.
Beckwith, in his The Illinois and Indiana Indians,
says that the Governor of New France "requested
the Miami s of the Pepikokia band, who resided
upon the Maramek (Kalamazoo river in Michigan)
to remove and join their tribe located on the river
St. Joseph of Lake Michigan." In the quotation
last above given, it is noticed that the Governor
wished them to be nearer to him; but the fact that
any point on the Kalamazoo river of Michigan was
as near the French seat of power as any point on
the river St. Joseph shows that he had some more
distant place in mind, and the fact that he sent
Perrot to a place called "Malamet" between the
Miamis and the western tribes, and thus prevented
the Iroquois from having communication with the
western tribes, also shows that the place could not
have been on the Kalamazoo river in Michigan, for
there were no important towns of western tribes on
or near the Kalamazoo; but on the other side of
Lake Michigan were all of the tribes of northern
Illinois and Wisconsin, including the Sacs, Foxes,
Mascoutins, Kickapoos, and Pottawatomies.
Maramech, on the Pestekouy river, was a center
of population and, being between the Miamis of St.
Joseph and the western tribes, who the Governor
feared would be influenced by the Iroquois, it is
clear that it was there that the Governor sent Perrot.
The French trinkets, bullet-moulds, gun-flints, and
finery in the graves on the hills of Maramech lead
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 73
to the belief that the village probably was something
of a trading-post. Beckwith further states that
"Nicholas Perrot had been commissioned to lead
the Maramek bands to the river St. Joseph," and
that "he would have been burned had it not been
for the interference of the Foxes." Now, the
Foxes were found all over the country west of Lake
Michigan, from time to time, but their home was in
the central part of Wisconsin, and their hunting-
grounds extended far into the present state of Illi
nois; they often invaded the hunting-grounds of the
Illinois tribes.
A council was held with the western Indians,
among whom were Miamis. In one of his addresses
to this body, when brought to him, the Governor
said: "As for you, Na-nan-gous-sis-ta and Ma-ci-
ton-ga, Miamis of Maramek, you are the chiefs of
the great village, and I believe that you have visited
me only with the consent of all the other chiefs
there. I will believe as you say, that you have no
other will than mine. Perrot told you that you must
remove your fires from Maramek and unite with the
rest of the Miamis in a place where you could
oppose the enemy, and make war on him. I think
only of the repose of my children. ... I will not
believe that the Miamis wish to obey me until they
make altogether one and the same fire, either at the
river St. Joseph or some other place adjoining."
Any place on the Kalamazoo would have practically
adjoined the river St. Joseph, and if Perrot was at
the river Maramek of Michigan, he was out of the
natural path of the Foxes; but if it was at Maramech
on the Pestekouy, he was very near the Foxes
74 LOST MARAMECH
hunting-grounds. It seems that Beckwith must
have got his information from the New York Colonial
Documents, where O Callaghan makes the mistake,
found in the footnote, by saying that the "Malamet"
referred to was the Maramek river of Michigan.*
On page 61, Vol. X., Wisconsin Historical Collec
tions, the same mistake is made, and it seems prob
able that Professor Butler, the writer of the article,
also gathered his information from the New York
Colonial Documents and located Maramech on the
east coast of Lake Michigan, between the Black and
Grand rivers. It seems to me a foregone conclusion
that Perrot will be found to have been located at Mar
amech, the village of the maps, "the great village"
of Maramech, of which I have written.
In a report of 1694 and 1695, ^ ^ s sa id that "Mes-
si-ton-ga, " a "Miami of Maramek," in a speech
delivered at the great conference, "complained that
the Miamis of the river St. Joseph rescued by force
from us and spared the lives of the Iroquois prison-
*Charlevoix and his map of 1744 were the authorities most
depended upon by historians for many years. His map shows
fourteen rivers cutting the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, and
but three the western. He did not visit the western shore, to
be sure, but a score of earlier maps would have informed him
fully in regard to the many rivers, towns, and trails long
known. Charlevoix was a Jesuit, and he, like others of that
order, ignored the discoveries made by those not in sympathy
with the Jesuits. Had he consulted Franquelin s map of
sixty years previous, he could have shown the "Colonie du Sr.
de La Salle," including the "great village of Maramech. " But
the discoveries of that region were made by La Salle, who hated
the Jesuits, justly it seems, and by his companions who were
ministered to only by Recolets, whom the Jesuits gave little
credit
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 75
ers we were bringing home." (N. Y. Col. Doc., Vol.
IX., p. 621.) If the Miamis of "Maramek" had
been on the Kalamazoo river, they would never
have passed by the Miamis of the village on the St.
Joseph, for such a route would have been at least
fifty miles longer than one leading direct from the
Iroquois country to any point on the Kalamazoo.
Again, if the Miamis of "Maramek" had been on
the Kalamazoo, the Governor of France would have
had little occasion to make such an effort as he did
to unite them with the Miamis of St. Joseph, for
the fifty miles, in that case, would have made the
villages practically within hearing distance in case
of war with the Iroquois. In a speech at the same
conference, "Perrot presented, on the part of the
Pepicoquis, who are also Miamis of Maramek, a
robe," etc., thus associating these two branches as
Franquelin s map places them.
A veil of mystery long hung about Maramech
Hill. Some, not conversant with the facts, thought
it might have been here that Black Hawk, in 1832,
called Shabbona and Waubansie, the Potawattomie
chiefs, to a council; but this was guesswork, for all
definite traditions touching this hill, if any there
ever were, have been forgotten.
Upon a September day, in 1874, with a friend, I
climbed the hill to gain a view of the panorama
spread out from its southern summit. My thoughts
and what I said to this friend at this, his first visit,
proved to be prophetic. I mentioned the many
burial mounds on other hills and wondered that the
so-called mound-builders had not chosen this beau
tiful spot as a last resting-place for their dead.
7 6 LOST MARAMECH
While scanning the surface, as often before, I
noticed, for the first time, a depression and a ridge.
The ridge and its ditch were easily traced, and, with
the curved brow of the hill, they completed a circle
enclosing about two acres. Pits also had been dug
along the brow. Here had certainly been a defense,
and a strategic point it was indeed. Where the
ditch met the southern brow of the hill it continued
slantwise down; this, I thought, must have been a
covered way by which the water of the creek that,
but a few years before had run near by, was reached.
Indications led me to believe that the ridge had
been palisaded. My eyes and thoughts wandered
to and along the cool spring-born creek to the east
and southeast, from which this hill gently rises;
thence on to the river, whose waters, particularly in
the summer time, are very warm and not well
adapted to quenching thirst, and further on to
Sylvan Spring, in the shade of the tall trees a little
distance up the river. I said to my friend that
trails must have crossed the river not far away, and
others have followed the river s course. I also
spoke to him of the attractions which this cool creek
and the springs must have had to the multitudes
who traversed the trails, and of the temptations to
the weary coursers of the trails to stop for rest and
refreshment. I went further and, pointing to a
newly-plowed field, a quarter of a mile away, at the
mouth of Big Rock creek, said that we should prob
ably find fragments of pottery and other evidences
of a prehistoric occupation. We passed to the fields
with hopes of finding proof of the existence of a
village, if one had ever existed there and, while
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 77
mounting a fence to step into the field, a dozen
fragments met my sight in a little gully, where the
handiwork of some fair potter of the forest had gone
to pieces. For several years since, my spare
moments have been spent in walking over the
site of this ancient village. I defined its boundaries
well, but nothing of its people could be learned
until old maps had been consulted.
CHAPTER V
THE FOX TRIBE*
autxpamis apeltcs
TOTEM OF THE FOXES, DRAWN ON A DEERSKIN.
*The Fox tribe called themselves Mesh-kwa-ki-ha-gi. It is
thought by Mr. William Jones, a descendant of that tribe, edu
cated at Harvard, that when met by the Frenchmen and asked
who they were, they replied: "We are Wa-go-sha-hugi,"
meaning to say, We are of the Fox clan." Nearly all writers
tell us that Watagamie is the Algonquin name of the fox, but
that word may be the name of the fox in some other of the
native languages and given to the Foxes by another tribe.
79
8o LOST MARAMECH
Somewhere south of Lake St. John, in which
heads the Saguenay river, a stream in places serene
and shadowed by cliffs which are studded by
cedar and pine trees, its depths as blue as the sky,
there, in a wilderness rich in all its primitive
charms, the Fox tribe was first heard of by the
French explorers. For our rivers, our mountains
and lakes, the native tribes made choice of names
significant of some prominent characteristic. It is
probable that no braver tribe ever lived on our con
tinent and that no wilder region is known than that
from which came the nation called by neighboring
natives Musquakees people of the red earth or
banks. What influence this wild region had upon
them, we cannot tell. We cannot, with certainty,
attribute their dispositions, most ferocious, to their
having been nurtured in a cradle where nature is
least tame.
As every nation, from time immemorial, has
placed upon its banner an emblem, so the wild
tribes of America each chose a totem by which to be
recognized. The British lion, the American eagle,
and the lily of France, relics of barbarism, have no
more significance than the fox painted upon the
wigwams of the Musquakees. When the French
explorers first knew this tribe, they saw the picture
of a fox crudely painted upon the shields and wig
wams, and at once called them the Renards; but the
Algonquin name of the fox was Watagamie, and
hence the neighboring tribes so called these people;
sometimes, at a later period, however, they were
often called Musquaukees. In the French records
these names were often used indiscriminately.
Pu-ci-ti-nig-wa, his counselors and the interpreter, Fox Reservation, Tama, Iowa.
(Photo by Moore, Toledo, loica.}
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 81
When Canada and the west came into the posses
sion of the English, the latter called these people
the Foxes.
Why they left the wilds north of Montreal, we are
not told. Later, we know, they were driven from
pillar to post by angered neighbors, and we natu
rally concluded that they may never have been con
genial. The Algonquin stock, of which they were
a branch, extended from Cape Race to the Rocky
Mountains, both sides of the St. Lawrence and the
Great Lakes, and down the Atlantic coast. The
Miamis, Sacs, Foxes, Kickapoos and, as well,
the Illinois, of whom I shall also say much, spoke
the Algonquin language; but among the tribes there
existed differences of dialect very noticeable. It
will not profit us to waste printer s ink in a discus
sion of the origin of the American Indians. Whether
this continent was peopled from Asia or Asia from
this continent we may well leave to ethnologists.
That communication by the way of Behring s strait
has been constant, since the close of the Glacial
Epoch, is as certain as that the Esquimau paddles
his kayak hundreds of miles, sometimes far beyond
the sight of land. About midway in Behring s
strait, which is only thirty-six miles wide, with Asia
and America both in sight on any fogless day, one
standing on the Diomede islands may see that inter
course between the tv/o continents has not been in
the least difficult. The babel of languages found in
America is only accounted for by the supposition of
an immense period of time and isolation of the
various tribes, from time to time.
Our people having the fox as their totem seem to
82 LOST MARAMECH
have been mentioned in the Jesuit Relations of 1640.
North and west of Montreal, between lakes Nipis-
sing and St. John, the Ouachegami were said to be
located; also were there known the Kristinon and
other Algonquin tribes. Each of the explorers and
missionaries made the best effort possible to him in
writing these names, and we find the name of a
tribe spelled a dozen ways. That the "Ouachegami"
tribe was the "Outagamie" (Watagamie), seems
probable. As in the French language the vowel
sound before a vowel represented by our w has no
single symbol, we find in its stead ou, and hence we
conclude that Ouachegami, as there given, and
later Watagamie, as often spelled, no doubt refer to
the same tribe.
The name "Watagamie," the Algonquin word for
fox, it is said, was chosen by this tribe, and the fox
was made its totem; but, if traditions be depended
upon, it seems quite likely that the name Musquaukee
was given to a branch of the tribe, by its neighbors,
after it had passed around the straits and reached
the western shores of Lake Michigan, near Green
Bay. By some it is thought that they bore the
name Musquaukee while yet in Canada, north of
Montreal. The legend of the Red Banks tends to
lead us to a contrary belief, for the word Musquaukee
means "red banks," or "red earth," from moskwah,
red, and aki, banks, or earth. In Vol. II. of the
Wisconsin Historical Collections is found the legend of
the Red Banks, as told by an Indian woman, then
living near the Red river, on the eastern shore of
Green Bay, by name O-Kee-Wah, or "The Sea."
The story had been told her in childhood. She had
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 83
dreamed it over, and her imagination led her, no
doubt, to magnify the deeds, particularly of the
people from whom she believed herself to have
descended. The fleet of canoes was magnified;
the number of warriors was greatly multiplied, and
the number of deaths probably greater than the actual
number engaged. The high lands between Lake
Michigan and Green Bay present bold cliffs of red
clay. They are called the Red Banks. North of
the present city of Green Bay, some twelve miles,
an ancient earthwork may be traced, evidently a
defense. The embankment originally high, was
probably supplemented by palisades as many simi
lar defenses were of which we have accounts. A
ditch is outside quite likely, as it was the cus
tom of the Indians to plant timbers vertically in
the ground and heap the earth against them, thus
leaving a depression on one or both sides. Evi
dences of the existence of three bastions may yet be
seen. The embankment formed three sides, and a
precipice, about a hundred feet in height, the
fourth. It was the custom of the early tribes to
select, for their defense, places that Nature had best
adapted for the purpose. When I shall have told
the story of Maramech Hill, it will be seen that
there a similar choice was made. In each case
water was reached by a covered passageway leading
to the shore. Steps may have been cut in the clay,
as was also the probable case at Maramech; a cover
ing of branches of trees hid those descending for
water. Palisaded walls about the center of the
works at the Red Banks served a purpose that we
can only guess quite likely some structures for
84 LOST MARAMECH
housing the aged and invalids. The promontory,
north of this enclosure, may have served as a look
out, or may have been the place of burial of some
chief of an older people, the only knowledge of
whom is reached by a study of the great mounds of
the Mississippi and Ohio valleys. In the far west
were tribes that lived on cliffs and mesas, so nearly
inaccessible as to render their places of abode prac
tically impregnable. Their fields were in the valleys
below. It seems to me probable that the defenses
at the Red Banks were likewise the actual village
site of the Musquaukee branch of the Foxes, and
that the hundred or more acres southward were the
fields in which, in times of peace, they raised their
corn, watermelons, beans, and a variety of other
grains and vegetables, long cultivated by the
natives, regarding which we have been only partially
informed. The corn ridges are said to have been
visible more than a hundred years later than the last
occupation.
Listen to the romantic account of the tragedy of
the Red Banks: We seem to see O-Kee-Wah sitting
at the wigwam fire, with the animation of childhood
incident to her advanced years, telling the story as
she heard it. The wigwam fire, always small to
avoid filling the cabin with smoke, burning spas
modically, lights up and, in turn, hides the wrinkles
that tell of age. Her people, she does not tell us
how many generations back, were with the attack
ing party. She seems to feel what these warriors
felt during the struggle, the scenes of which she is
painting in words. She tells us that the Sacs then
lived with the Foxes at the Red Banks. How long
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 85
they lived there she does not know, but they were a
people much dreaded. Their fields were large and
fish were abundant in the bay. Councils were held
among the neighboring tribes, and they united with
the Menominees, who lived on the western shore, to
make an effort to rid the country of the people of
the Red Banks. The Chippewas, Pottawatomies,
Ottawas, and others formed the attacking party.
O-Kee-Wah tells us of the immense number of
canoes filled with the bravest warriors, who landed
along the beach for a great distance and moved
against the Red Banks in the night. It was before
the time of firearms or steel arrow-points, and hence
the old method of Indian warfare was followed.
Canoe after canoe moved to the foot of the steep
bluff with braves, while other warriors surrounded
the defenses on the land side.
The besiegers, at night, sought their positions
undiscovered, except by a woman whose parents
lived within the fort. Unwillingly she had been
made the wife of one of the Sacs, not far away; and
as she ran from his wigwam to her old home she
passed the lines of the attacking party. Rushing
into the fort, she awakened her family and ex
claimed, as was the custom in cases of great danger,
"We are all dead!" Her story was not believed
until, at dawn, the hour usually chosen by the Indian
for attack, the full truth was made known. The
siege lasted many days. Both besiegers and the
besieged fought bravely. O-Kee-Wah tells us that
the blood was ankle deep within the walls; that the
water supply was cut off by the warriors in the
canoes; that every effort was made to obtain it by
86 LOST MARAMECH
stealth at night, and by dropping blankets, by
means of cords, in the daytime. 4 The taunts uttered
and the thirst of the braves did prompt some to go
down, where they met defeat and death at the hands
of the allies. She tells us of the heat of the burning
sun and the dreadful sufferings from thirst; she tells
of the partial relief by rainfall, and we seem to feel
the pangs they felt while watching the beautiful
waters of the bay lapping the shores in poetic
rhythm so near and yet so far. She tells us of a
dream and of the words of the dreamer. "Listen!"
he says. "Last night there stood by me the form
of a young man, clothed in white, who said, I was
alive once, was dead, and now live forever; only
trust in me, now and always, and I will deliver you;
to-night at midnight I will cast a deep sleep upon
your enemies. Then go forth silently.
Dreams, mere vagaries as we know them, have
often been considered by the savages either as
admonitions or commands from the Great Spirit or,
at least, warnings from the Spirit Land. They
served as an incentive to action, usually greater
than the commands of the chief. They were the
rule of life. Each young warrior, when nearing the
age of manhood, sought solitude and fasted for
many days, hunger often driving him near to mad
ness, and in his troubled sleep to dreams of war and
of the chase. Whatever the material object he
dreamed of, that thing he made his mascot. What
ever that dream was, it influenced him through life.
"The dream of the young man of the legend,"
she continues, "was believed to be a direct revela
tion from the Great Spirit and, thus encouraged, all
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 87
of the besieged who attempted to make their escape,
while the besiegers were wrapped in deep slumber,
succeeded. A few doubting ones who remained
were massacred when came the following dawn."
That the Sac (the "Osaukies"), the people of the
yellow earth, were probably from the same region as
the Foxes is made evident by Black Hawk, who
tells us that his great-grandfather, Thunder, a Sac,
lived in the region north of Montreal. We are told
that the Foxes were the first to move westward and
that they established themselves near Green Bay,
Wis. Whether they fled from belligerent neighbors
or were first to believe that to remain in the vicinity
of the Iroquois, who were occupying what is now
New York, meant extinction, we are not informed.
Their brothers, the Sacs, were found, soon after the
Foxes are supposed to have come west, at Saginaw
Bay, which took its present name from Saukenong,
the town of the Sacs. "The Sacs, although few in
number, are divided into two factions, of which one
is attached to the Watagamies, and the other to the
Pottawatomies," says Charlevoix (V., 432).
Fragmentary records speak of Sacs sometimes
being allied with the Foxes, and often against them.
It is probable that it was the faction of the Sacs
which was friendly to the Pottawatomies that many
times turned its hand against the Foxes; but it is
not credible that either faction was so fickle as to be
one day with the Foxes and the next against them.
The Foxes would have put an end to such fickleness
by effectual means, or have fled the country.
Some time after the Foxes had reached northern
Wisconsin, possibly before they were defeated at
88 LOST MARAMECH
the Red Banks, they made common cause with the
Sioux against the Ojibwas (Chippewas). At a cer
tain time a large party of Foxes floated down the
Ontonagon river in their small canoes. They
landed in the night on the island of the Ojibwas,
and early in the morning captured four women who
had gone to gather wood. The revenge of the
Ojibwas was quick and complete. As the Foxes,
by their exultant yells, made known to their enemies
the course of their flight, hundreds of Ojibwa war
riors hastily embarked in their large lake canoes in
pursuit. A dense fog covered the lake and, de
pending upon this for eventual escape and confident
in their numbers, the Foxes, intoxicated with their
success, kept up a continual yelling and singing.
The Ojibwas, thus guided, silently and swiftly pur
sued them, purposely keeping in their wake until
they arrived opposite a steep, rocky coast a mile
above the mouth of Montreal river and eight leagues
from the "Point," where they fell on the Foxes
with great fury. Fighting in large canoes which sat
firmly in the water, they almost destroyed the entire
party of four hundred Foxes who, being in small
canoes, were upset and most of them drowned or
dispatched in the water.
Soon after the above occurrence, the tradition
informs us, a party of Foxes fell on a camp of
Ojibwas while the men were out hunting. They
captured two youths, having driven them into boggy
ground. One of the prisoners was the son of the
principal Ojibwa chief. The father of the young
man was one of the hunting party. Upon his return
home he heard the heart-rending news and, knowing
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 89
that the boy s fate would be the stake, he imme
diately pursued the retreating captors alone. Fol
lowing in their trail he arrived at one of their
principal villages, where the Foxes were in the act
of burning their captive. He stepped boldly into
the midst of his enemies and requested that he be
allowed to take the place of his son. "My son,"
said he, "has seen but a few winters; his feet have
never trod the warpath; but the hairs of my head
are white, and over the graves of my relatives I
have hung many scalps that I have taken from the
heads of your warriors." The old war chief s offer
was accepted by the Foxes; his son was released
and himself burned at the stake with all the tortures
that savage ingenuity could invent.
The story of Damon and Pythias has often been
acted among the savage tribes of America, and the
above instance is only one of the hundred that have
become matters of history,
The son returned to his people and was afterward
known by the name of his father. This act was ter
ribly avenged by the Ojibwa tribe. A large party
was collected and sent against the towns of the
Foxes, and it did not return until after six villages
of their enemy had been laid waste and the inhabit
ants killed or driven away. The war between these
tribes was bloody in the extreme, and was carried
on with all the cruelty of savage warfare. Captives
were taken and burned. The practice of torturing
an enemy existed among the savages before the
coming of the white man, and long before the Foxes
left the vicinity of Montreal. Notwithstanding
this, a tradition exists among the Ojibwas which
go LOST MARAMECH
purports to be an account of the origin of the cus
tom. (Schoolcraft, Part II., 142.)
"A noted warrior of the Ojibwas was once taken
captive by his nephew, the son of his sister, who
had been captured and married among the Foxes.
The nephew, to show the Foxes, of whom he had
practically become one, his utter disregard for any
relationship with the Ojibwas, planted a stake in
the ground and, taking his captive by the arm, tied
his feet and hands to the stake, remarking that he
wished to warm his uncle by a good fire. He then
built a large fire, and after roasting one side of his
captive, turned the other to the blaze. When the
naked body had been burnt to a blister he untied his
uncle and told him to go home and tell the Ojibwas
how the Foxes treat their uncles. The uncle recov
ered from his fire wounds, and in a future excursion
succeeded in capturing his nephew. He took him
to the village of the Ojibwas where he tied him to a
stake and, taking a fresh elkskin on which a layer
of fat had purposely been left, he placed it over a
fire until it became an immense blaze; then throw
ing it over the shoulders of his nephew, remarked,
"Nephew, when I was in your village you warmed
me before a good fire; now I, in turn, give you a
mantle to warm yourself." The elkskin, covered
with fat, burned furiously, wrapping the body of his
nephew in a dreadful mantle that soon consumed
him. This act, the tradition states, was repeated
by the Foxes, and death by fire soon became cus
tomary with both tribes.
We are told by Schoolcraft, for whose statements
we must sometimes make allowances, that the
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 91
Foxes were, in a measure, allied with the Iroquois
in the wars that annihilated the Hurons. He would
have us believe that they formed a part of the
so-called "Neutral Nation," north of lakes Erie and
Ontario, so often referred to by the priests and
explorers. It is not easy to believe that this tribe
could remain neutral and thus win that name, if
there was a war going on within a few hundred miles
of them. However, when first we learn of the
Foxes with absolute certainty, they were near the
head of Green Bay, where they were making history
for themselves with a vengeance. Around Green
Bay many small nations had already gathered for
mutual protection against the Iroquois. Father
Allouez was one of the first to write them up; but
we must bear in mind, when reading what he says,
that these tribes had for some time been subjected
to the contaminating influence of the fur-traders
who were, in fact, the true discoverers of all por
tions of the west, rather than the Jesuit missionaries
who followed them and claimed all the honors.
As in the case of Joliet and Marquette, the priests
were mainly drones of the various expeditions; they
usually had leisure to write while the industrious
were at the oars. The hardships they tell of were
likely overdrawn.
Of the Sacs, with whom the Foxes were often
allied, the father says: "As for the Ousakes, they,
above all others, can be called savages; they are
very numerous, but wandering and scattered in the
forests without any fixed abode."
In an account, Father Allouez, referring to the
Foxes, says: "These savages withdrew to these
9 2 LOST MARAMECH
regions to escape the persecutions of the Iroquois,
and settled in an excellent country, the soil of which
is black, thus yielding them Indian corn in abun
dance. They live by the chase during the winter,
returning to their cabins toward its close and live
there on Indian corn hidden the previous autumn;
they season it with fish. In the midst of their
clearing they have a fort, where their cabins of
heavy bark are well suited for resisting all sorts
of attacks. On their journeys they make cabins of
mats. They are at war with the Sioux, their neigh
bors. Canoes are not used by them, and for that
reason they do not make war on the Iroquois,
although they have been killed by them. They are
held in low estimation, and are considered by other
nations as stingy, avaricious, choleric, and quarrel
some. They have had a very poor opinion of the
French ever since two traders for beaver skins
appeared among them. If these men had behaved
as they ought, I would have less trouble in giving
these poor people other ideas of the whole French
nation, which they are beginning to esteem since I
explained to them the principle and motive that
brought me to their country."
This is one of the many sighs found in the Jesuit
Relations sighs over the French immoralities, often
uttered between words of praise of the honor and
uprightness of the natives. An investigation made
by Schoolcraft shows that the Foxes were a very
large-brained people. That they were brainy is
shown by their activity and success where the odds
were not too greatly against them.
Judge James Hall (History ofN. A. Indians) char-
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 93
acterizes the Foxes as "always restless and discon
tented; Ishmaelites of the lakes; their hand against
every man and every man s hand against them."
If not thieves by nature, they soon became such by
schooling, and the traders were excellent teachers.
" - - "~r- j * jj"^
Fair specimens. Tama Reservation.
CHAPTER VI
Tradition must be depended upon until the time
that the Foxes were found by the first French
explorers who left definite accounts of them. They
were located near Green Bay. Whether Nicolet,
who reached Green Bay in 1639,* found any of them
there we are not told. The traders who dealt with
these tribes made few records, and it was left to the
Jesuit Fathers who, as was their custom, followed
the traders into the nooks and corners of the western
country, and were thus enabled to prepare the rec
ords now known as \\\e Jesuit Relations, and to tell us
of the natives they met.
Near the Foxes were the less warlike Menominees
and the Kickapoos and Mascoutins. The last-men
tioned tribes are said by some to have been related
to the Foxes, politically or otherwise, which, how
ever, could only have been through intermarriages
and treaties. The Kickapoos seem to have been
allies of the Sacs and Foxes in many of the wars
against the French, English, and Americans; and
one or both of these tribes, as well as the Foxes,
gained the enmity of the French to such an extent
that, at an early date, their destruction was deter
mined upon. (Perrot s Manuscripts.)
The result of all the struggles between them and
the French shows that the determination of the
*Davidson, in his Unnamed Wisconsin, says 1634.
95
9 6 LOST MARAMECH
French to destroy that tribe was followed by years
of indifferent success.
That the Iroquois had anything to do with the
driving of the Foxes from the vicinity of the St.
Lawrence river we are not certain; but early as 1661
the Iroquois rounded the head of Lake Michigan,
on their way to attack the Foxes, with what result
we are not told, unless La Hontan s story, soon to
follow, refers to it; but we are informed that they
killed a number of warriors of the Illinois tribes,
which act kindled the long war between the Iroquois
and the last named. This predatory warfare prac
tically resulted in the breaking up of the Illinois
Confederacy in twenty years. The story of the
early defeats of the various nations that formed the
prey of the Iroquois on the one hand and of the
Sioux on the other, was first told to the French
explorers at the Falls of St. Mary in 1665, where a
grand council of the many tribes inhabiting the
region west of Lake Michigan was held.
The Pottawatomies, from the south of Green Bay,
Sacs and Foxes from the west, Hurons from the
north of the lakes, and the Illinois from far south of
the Pottawatomies, all told of their ancient glory
and diminished numbers. In addition to their sad
stories, they told of the vast prairies, of the abun
dance of game, the fertility of the soil, and the mild
ness of the climate of their possessions. Father
Allouez was at this council and wrote much regard
ing it.
Following the traders, the Jesuits founded mis
sions at the villages of many of the tribes, and finally
one among the Foxes and the Sacs. These allied
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 97
nations mingled with the various other tribes above
mentioned, most of whom spoke dialects of the Al
gonquin language. The differences in speech were
largely in the matter of pronunciation, which made
it somewhat difficult, even for the various Algonquin
tribes, to communicate with each other, and still
more difficult on the part of the French to make
themselves understood.
Father Allouez prided himself that, after a little
labor, he could make them understand sufficiently
to enable him to instruct them in matters he
believed necessary to their salvation. He says:
"The country of the Outagami [Foxes] is to the
side of the south, towards the lake of the Illinois.
They are a numerous people and have about one
thousand men carrying arms; that is, hunters and
warriors. They have fields of Indian corn, and
dwell in a country having many advantages as far
as hunting of the wild cat, deer, buffalo, and beaver
is concerned. They do not use the canoe, and ordi
narily make their journeys by land, carrying on their
shoulders their packages and game.* These people
are abandoned to idolatry as much as are the other
nations. One day, being in the cabin of an Outa
gami, I found his father and mother dangerously ill;
and having said that bleeding would cure them, the
poor man took some tobacco, reduced it to a pow
der, and threw it on my gown on all sides, saying to
me, Thou art a spirit; proceed to render health to
these sick people; I offer to thee this tobacco in
sacrifice. What dost thou, my brother? I said to
him, I am nothing. It is He who made all that is
* This will be found to be a mistake.
9 8 LOST MARAMECH
my Master, and I am only His servant. Well, he
replied, at the same time scattering some tobacco
on the ground and raising high his eyes, this is then
of Thee, who hast created the heavens and earth,
that I offer this tobacco; give health to the sick.
These people are not alienated from the recognition
of the Creator of the world, for they have already
said to me what I have reported, that they recog
nize, in their country, the Great Spirit who has made
the heavens and the earth, and who dwells towards
the country of the French. It is said of them and
the Ousaki [Sacs] that when they find a man wan
dering, and it is to their advantage, they kill him if
he is a Frenchman, for they cannot bear a man with
whiskers. This sort of cruelty renders them less
disposed to the Gospel than the Pouteouatami [Pot-
tawatomies]. I have not, however, omitted to pro
claim the Gospel to nearly six score of persons who
have passed the summer here, but I have not found
among them any sufficiently well disposed to receive
baptism. I conferred it, nevertheless, on five sick
children, who then recovered their health.
"As for the Ousaki, one can well call them sav
ages above all others. They are in great numbers,
but are vagrants, wandering in the forest without
any permanent abode. I have seen nearly two hun
dred and have proclaimed the faith and have bap
tized eighteen of their children."
Father Allouez speaks often of the Foxes. In
the Jesuit Relations of 1669-71, we read: "On the
sixteenth of April I embarked to go and begin
the mission to the Outagamis [Foxes], a people of
considerable note in all these regions. We slept at
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
99
the head of the bay, at the mouth of the river des
Puaus, which we have named for Saint Francis. On
our way we saw clouds of swans, bustards, and
ducks. The savages set snares for them at the head
of the bay, where they catch as many as fifty in one
night; this game seeking in the autumn the wild
oats that the wind has shaken off in the month of
September. On the i/th we ascended the river
Saint Francis, which is two and sometimes three
arpents wide. After proceeding four leagues we
found the village of the savages called Sacs, whose
people were beginning a work that well deserves to
have its place here. From one bank of the river to
the other they make a barricade by driving down
large stakes in two brasses of water [two arms
length], so that there is a kind of bridge over the
stream for the fishermen who, with the help of a
small weir, easily catch the sturgeon and every other
kind of fish which this dam stops, although the
water does not cease to flow between the stakes.
They call this contrivance mitikikan, and it serves
them during the spring and a part of the summer.
"On the 20th, which was Sunday, I said mass,
after voyaging five or six leagues on the lake, and
we came to a river flowing from a lake bordered
with wild oats. This stream we followed and found
at the end of it the river that leads to the Outaga-
mies in one direction, and to the Maskoutens in the
other. We entered this first stream, which flows
from a lake; there we saw some turkeys perched on
a tree, male and female, resembling perfectly those
of France the same size, the same color, and the
same cry. Bustards, ducks, swans, and geese are in
ioo LOST MARAMECH
great numbers on all the lakes and rivers; the wild
oats, on which they live, attracting them thither.
There are large and small stags, bears, and beavers
in great abundance.
"On the 24th, after turning and doubling several
times in various lakes and rivers, we arrived at the
village of the Outagamies. The people came in
crowds to meet us, in order to see, as they said, the
Manitou who was coming to their country. They
accompanied us with respect as far as the door of
the cabin which we were made to enter. This nation
is renowned for being populous, the men who bear
arms numbering more than four hundred; while the
number of women and children there is the greater
on account of the polygamy which prevails among
them, each man having commonly four wives, some
having six, and others as many as ten. Six large
cabins of these poor people were put to rout this
month of March by eighteen Iroquois from Ison-
nontouan, who, under the guidance of two fugitive
Iroquois slaves of the Pottawatomies, made an
onslaught and killed all the people except thirty
women whom they led away as captives. As the
men were away hunting, they met with but little
resistance, there being only six warriors left in the
cabins, besides the women and children, who num
bered a hundred or thereabouts. This carnage was
committed two days journey from the place of our
winterquarters at the foot of the lake of the Illi
nois, which is called Machikiganing [Michigan].
On the 25th I called together the Elders in a large
assembly with the purpose of giving them the first
acquaintance with our mysteries. I began with the
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 101
invocation of the Holy Ghost, to whom we oaJ
made our appeal during our journey, to pray for His
blessing upon our labors. Then when I h aci, bv
means of a present which I thought I ought to make
them, dried the tears which the remembrance of the
massacre perpetrated by the Iroquois caused them
to shed, I explained to them the principal articles
of our faith and made known the law and the com
mandments of God, the rewards promised to those
that shall obey Him and the punishments prepared
by Him for those who shall not obey Him. They
understood me without my having need of an inter
preter; but, oh my God, what ideas and ways con
trary to the Gospel these poor people have and how
much need there is of very powerful grace to con
quer their hearts; they accept the unity and sover
eignty of God, Creator of all things; for the rest
they have not a word to say. An Outagami told me
in private that his ancestor had come from Heaven
and that he had preached the unity and sovereignty
of God who had made all the other gods; that he
had assured them that he would go to Heaven after
his death, where he should die no more; and that
his body would not be found in the place where it
had been buried, which was verified, said this Outa
gami, the body being no longer found where it had
been put.
"These are fables which God uses for their salva
tion, for after the man had finished telling me every
thing, he added that he was dismissing all of his
wives, retaining only one, whom he would not
change, and that he was resolved to obey me and pray
to God. I hope that God will show him mercy.
102 LOST MARAMECH
"I tried to visit the people in their cabins, which
are in very great numbers, sometimes for the pur
pose cf instructing them in private, and at other
times to go and carry them some little medicine, or
rather something sweet for their little sick children,
whom I was baptizing. Toward the end they
brought them to me voluntarily in the cabin where
I lodged. I spoke their language in the assurance
they gave me that they understood me; it is the
same as that of the Sacs; but, alas, what difficulty
they have in apprehending a law that is so opposed
to all their customs. . . .
"On the 26th the Elders came into the cabin
where I was lodging to hold counsel there. The
assembly having been convened, the captain, after
laying at my feet a present of some skins, ha
rangued in the following terms: We thank thee for
having come to visit and console us in our afflic
tion; and we are the more obliged to thee, inasmuch
as no one has hitherto shown us that kindness.
They added that they had nothing further to say to
me except that they were too dispirited to speak
to me, being all occupied in mourning their dead.
11 Do thou, black gown, who art not dispirited
and who takest pity on people, take pity on us as
thou shalt deem best. Thou couldst dwell here near
us to protect us from our enemies, and to teach us
to speak to the great Manitou, the same as thou
teachest the savages of the Sault. Thou couldest
cause to be restored to us our wives who were led
away prisoners. Thou couldst stay the arms of the
Iroquois, and speak to them of peace in our behalf
for the future. I have not the intelligence to say
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
103
anything to thee; take pity on us in the way thou
shalt judge most fitting. When thou seest the
Iroquois, tell them that they have taken me for
some one else. I do not make war on them. I
have not eaten [killed] their people; but my neigh
bors took them prisoners and made me a present of
them; I adopted them, and they are living here as
my children.
"This speech has nothing of the barbarian in it.
I told them that, in the treaty of peace which the
French had made with the Iroquois, no mention had
been made of them; that no Frenchmen had then
been here and that they were not known; that, as to
other matters, I much approved what their captain
had said; that I would not forget it, and that in the
following autumn I would render them an answer.
Meanwhile, I told them to fortify themselves in
their resolution to obey the true God, who alone
could procure them what they asked for and infi
nitely more.
"In the evening four savages of the nation of the
Miamis arrived from a place two days journey
hence, bringing three Iroquois scalps and a half-
smoked arm, to console the relatives of those whom
the Iroquois had killed a short time before. On the
27th we took our departure, commending to the
good angels the seeds sown in the hearts of these
poor people, who listened to me with respect and
attention. There is a glorious and rich harvest for
a zealous and patient missionary. We named this
mission after Saint Mark, because on his day the
Faith was proclaimed there."
Father Allouez later reports to his superiors con-
I0 4 LOST MARAMECH
cerning these people and the mission of St. Mark, at
the village of the Outagami. This mission was the
first ever established among the Foxes. He says of
these people: "They are haughty because of their
numbers, their cabins being reckoned as more than
two hundred, while in each there are five or six and
even as many as ten families." Reckoning each
family at five persons, this would give them more
than six thousand in a village. He says: "Several
other nations swell the size of this one, or rather
make a Babylon of it by the disorder which reigns
there." He regarded them "light of faith," having
yet made no impression on them. "They had
formed a plan," he further says, "as they are proud
and arrogant, to take vengeance by killing some
Frenchmen for the ill-treatment they had them
selves received during the past summer."
How mistaken was the father, for the light of
faith has not yet made sufficient impression upon
the world to suppress the spirit of vengeance! At
the present time our laws are not a far departure
from those of Moses, and when the spirit of revenge
is not suppressed the mob cries out, "An eye for an
eye, and a tooth for a tooth."
The father tells us that the young French explor
ers did not dare to set foot there for fear of punish
ment which this father and others, in their reports,
showed that they so often deserved; but the vain
glorious father informed his superiors that all this
did not frighten him. He counted himself happy
to expose his life to evident danger in order to bear
the Gospel to these poor barbarians, as he had done
to all the people of this region. This father was
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 105
modest in comparison with some of those who wrote
the reports known as the Relations. As we look
over the field, the hundred years in which they
labored in the wilds of America, we find that they
were quite safe. A few were killed, and some
burned at the stake; but all things considered, they
were far from danger compared with the coureurs du
bois, as the clandestine traders were called. Going
over their experiences, as we now find them in cold
type, one impression is likely to strike the reader
they prated of their deeds and of desiring to become
martyrs, but they showed the usual amount of pru
dence in their efforts to save their lives; they
reported their sufferings, due to ill-treatment and
hardships, and spoke of their successes in the wars
with the jugglers (medicine men) and Satan. They
tell us, by the way, of a custom among the savages
that their own boastings remind us of.
When war s excitement sways the savages a chief
or leading warrior wishing to recruit a force to go
against an enemy, plants a post in the midst of the
village. Around this the warriors gather, and each,
in turn, recites the brave deeds of his life. He
throws his hatchet so that its edge strikes the post
and stops there, or brandishing it, he strikes the
blow as upon the head of an enemy, dances around
the post and boasts of the number of scalps he has
taken, and of the prisoners he has captured. In
pantomime he draws the bow and sends arrow after
arrow at an imaginary foe; he jumps as if to dodge
or parry a blow; he leaps upon an imaginary enemy,
bears him to the ground, and with a quick move
ment of his knife, cuts the scalp and tears it from
io6 LOST MARAMECH
the head. It sometimes happens, however, that his
vainglory exceeds the bounds of reason, when he is
immediately humbled by some warrior who, know
ing that he is lying, rushes up and throws some dirt
into his mouth. The Jesuit Fatheis had no such
fear to restrain them, for each, alone at his mission,
had no one to dispute him when writing his reports,
or accuse him of overdrawing.*
*The above facts regarding Allouez s experience are largely
gathered from Burrows Brothers Jesuit Relations*
CHAPTER VII
The Foxes, when first visited by the traders, were
on a river of Wisconsin flowing from west to east
and emptying into Green Bay, to which river the
French gave the name that, translated into English,
became Fox river. Father Allouez first visited
them at their village, where he established the mis
sion of St. Mark in 1671. He traveled many days
over ice and snow in the severest part of winter to
get there. Reaching the village, "he had no
sooner entered it," he tells us, "than he went from
cabin to cabin, cheering some with the hope of para
dise and frightening others with the fear of hell."
He further says that from these haughty natures he
was bound to expect nothing but repulse and mock
ery, with which they at first received the words he
bore them, especially in certain cabins whose chiefs
had as many as eight wives and into which he could
not step without feeling that he was walking into a
seraglio. Nevertheless, the father s perseverance
won the day and he saw that these people were
insensibly softening, and that what they at first
received with mockery, they soon after received with
fear and respect. "I was preparing myself for
death," he says, "meeting at first nothing but inso
lence and repulses from these barbarians; and lo!
they are listening to me with attention and patience
beyond what I could have expected even from the
best disposed people. I enter all the cabins, making
107
io8 LOST MARAMECH
the sick pray to God, and baptizing the dying.
A few days after my arrival, while witnessing the
death of a person upon whom I had just con
ferred baptism, what joy I experienced in seeing
a soul take flight to heaven from so wanton a coun-
try."
The father s picture of the people, of whom I
shall treat, will bear further scrutiny.
"I still have reason to be surprised at the looks of
endearment which I received from most of these
people, instead of the trouble that I expected, and
more yet at the simplicity of a good old man in
whose cabin I publicly explained the holy mystery
of the incarnation and death of Jesus Christ. As
soon as I produced my crucifix to display before
these people, this good man, at the sight of it,
wished to acknowledge it as his god and to wor
ship it by offering the incense of this country; it
consisting of a powdered tobacco, of which he took
two or three handfuls and, one by one, scattered it
over the crucifix and over me, which is the highest
mark of honor they can show toward those they
regard as spirits. I could hardly restrain my tears
of joy at seeing the crucifix of Jesus Christ wor
shipped by a savage the very first time he was told
about Him."
It does not seem, to one reading these reports,
that this sentiment could have taken very deep root
so quickly. But did it ever take root? Was not
the introduction of so-called civilization the besom
that swept this tribe almost entirely from the face
of the earth? In their wretched wigwams in the
little reservation of Iowa, missionaries still labor
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 109
for the salvation of the souls of the decaying tribe.
The good father labored on.
"A woman did almost the same thing when, being
thoroughly instructed and receiving baptism, and at
the point of rendering up her soul, as she after
ward did, she repeatedly threw handfuls of tobacco
on the crucifix which I offered her; her intention
being the same as that of those who kiss it
devotedly."
The whole village being fully imbued with the
mysteries, by both public and private instruction,
the father took his departure after baptizing five
children and two adults, and after receiving assu
rance from the elders that upon his return he should
find a chapel there, which they would build them
selves, for entering upon the discharge of the func
tions of Christianity.
"Thus those people are being changed from
wolves into lambs, and little by little, but with the
exercise of much patience, are being won to Jesus
Christ; and hence we hope a Faith will spread to
many nations who have intercourse with this one,
and to whom we cannot have access without great
difficulty.
"The Ilimouec [Illinois] speak the language of
the Algonquins, but it differs much from that of
the other tribes. I understand them but little, for I
have had but little conversation with them. They
dwell in this vicinity; their country is more than
sixty leagues southward, beyond a large river that
discharges, as I conjecture, in the sea near Virginia.
These people are hunters and warriors; they use the
bow and arrow, rarely the gun, and never the canoe.
i io LOST MARAMECH
This was a numerous nation, distributed in ten vil
lages, but at present reduced to two. The continual
wars with the Nadouessi [Sioux] on one side, and
the Iroquois on the other, have nearly exterminated
them. They recognize several spirits to whom they
offer sacrifices. They practice a kind of dance,
peculiar to themselves, that they call the dance of
the Calumet, in the following manner: They pre
pare a large pipe that they ornament with plumes
and put it in the middle of the place, handling it
with a kind of veneration; one of the company
raises it, at the same time dancing, and then yields
his place to a second, this one to a third, and this
to another. One would take this dance as a ballet
in pantomime that is made to rhythm with the
sound of a drum. He makes war, he prepares his
arms, runs, discovers the enemy, retires, then
approaches and utters the whoop, then kills the
enemy, takes his scalp and returns singing the song
of victory,* but doing all this with an unusual
promptness and surprising activity.
"After all have danced, one after the other,
around the pipe, one takes it and presents it to the
most noted of all the assembly to smoke, then to
another, and consecutively to all, wishing by this
ceremony to signify that which in France is done
by several drinking from the same glass. But
more: One leaves the pipe in the hands of the
most honorable one present as a sacred trust and as
* This last is very similar to that practiced by most other
tribes, called "striking the post, "and I think that the father s
mind was confused and hence he mingled two dances in his
account.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO m
a sure pledge of peace and union that shall continue
as long as it remains in the hands of this person.
"Among all the spirits to whom they make sacri
fices, they honor One particularly that is more prom
inent than the others because it is this One who has
created all things. They have such a desire to see
this Spirit that they make long fasts, hoping by this
means God will present Himself to them during their
troubled sleep; if it happens that they see Him, they
deem themselves happy and assured of a long life.
"All of the nations of the south have the same
wish to see God, which is without doubt a great
advantage for their conversion, for it only remains
to instruct them in the manner they should serve to
see Him and be happy. I have here published the
name of Jesus Christ to eighty persons of this
nation, and they have carried and published it to all
the country south, with praise, so that I can say
that at this mission, where I have least labored, is
where my labor has been most effective. Among
themselves they honor our Saviour in their fashion,
of whom they put the image that I have given them
in a place most honored when they make some cele
brated feast, and the master of the banquet addresses
himself to this image in an honorable tone. It is
Him they honor, the Man God, to Him they say:
We make this feast for Thee. It is to Thee that
we present these goods. I avow it is there where
appear the most beautiful fields for the Gospel. If
I had the leisure and the accommodations, I would
have gone among them to see with my own eyes the
good that to me has been recounted. I find those
with whom I have had to do affable and humane,
112 LOST MARAMECH
and it is said that when they encounter some stranger
they make a cry of joy, caress him, and render to
him all the proofs of friendship they can. I have
only baptized one child of this nation. The seeds
of the Faith that I have sown in their souls will
bear fruits when the Master of the vine wishes to
gather it.
"Their country is warm, and they sow Indian
corn twice a year.* There are rattlesnakes that
often cause death, lacking, as they do, an antidote. f
They hold medicine in high esteem and present
sacrifices to it as to the Great Spirit. They have no
great forests, but very large prairies where the
buffalo, the deer, the bear, and other animals exist
in great numbers."
The father, in a later voyage to Green Bay, found
the savages in their winterquarters, which consisted
of a single village of Sacs, Pottawatomies, Foxes,
and Winnebagoes, in all six hundred people, more
or less. Farther on, along the Fox river of Wis
consin, were other villages of the Foxes, and about
a day s journey farther still were the Miamis. He
had gained a knowledge of all these people at the
"Mission of the Holy Spirit," on Lake Superior.
He began giving instructions to the Sacs early in
the year 1671. Later he embarked for the mission
of the Foxes, and says: "These people came in
* This is a mistake that is repeated in nearly all accounts
left by the French. That these people raised an early and a
late variety of corn, in order that the roasting ears might con
tinue for a long time, was as true then as it now is with us.
f Few things are now better known than that a certain plant
was used as an antidote and believed to be effective.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 113
flocks to see us; they said they came to see the
Manitou who was coming to their country; they
accompanied us with respect as far as the doors of a
cabin where we were made to enter."
The father then went westward to the village of
the Miamis, and thence returned to the Pottawato-
mies and Winnebagoes.
He visited the tribes in the vicinity of Green Bay
on the following year and found the natives highly
incensed against the French, who were trading with
them.
"They were abusing the French and robbing them
of their goods, and subjecting them to insults and
indignities. The natives had received ill-treatment
from the French, whom they had visited for purposes
of trade, and claimed to have suffered much from the
hands of the soldiers. In order to avenge themselves
these people had chosen forty of their young men,
appointed a captain whom they placed over them,
and thus formed a company of soldiers for the pur
pose of treating the Frenchmen who were in the
region in the same manner that the soldiers at the
French settlements had treated them. A council
was held with the same formalities that they had
seen at the settlement of the French. The newly-
made soldiers took it upon themselves to imitate
the ceremonies that had prevailed among the
French, but with the manner of savages. When it
was time to assemble they came to us with muskets
at shoulder arms, and hatchets instead of swords at
the belt. During the sitting of the assembly they
continued to do mock sentry duty at the cabin door,
in as dignified a way as they could, pacing, which
II 4 LOST MARAMECH
the savages never do, with muskets first on one
shoulder, then on the other, striking astonishing
attitudes more and more ridiculous the more they
tried to act seriously. The father could hardly
refrain from laughter, although treating of impor
tant matters; viz., the mysteries of religion and
what one must do to not burn eternally in hell."
We read much in \hzjesuit Relations of the efforts
of the fathers to save the souls of the savages, and
some have told us that when they could not "win
them by presenting the beauties of heaven, they
frightened them by threats of the torments of hell."
The old men once called upon the father and tried
to justify themselves concerning the disorders which
the young men had been guilty of. As the father
had reprimanded them, they explained that their
soldiers had not used the French as badly as they
themselves had been used at the French settle
ments; that they had injured none, but bore the
marks of broken arms, cut hands, and other wounds
that had been inflicted upon them.
The fathers explain, in the Jesuit Relations, their
methods of reaching the hearts of the savages.
Father Allouez, for instance, reviewed the lessons
he had given them during the spring, touching upon
the sovereignty and unity of God and the incarna
tion of His Son; enlarged upon "some of the truths
more sensible and touching, as, for example, of
paradise and hell"; and in order to give a better
knowledge of the cause and to enter by means of the
eyes far into the hearts of those who came to listen,
he showed them a picture of the judgment and
took occasion to explain to them some of the
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 115
good fortunes of the saints and the torments of the
damned.
The Jesuit Relations are rich in expressions indi
cating the tender-heartedness of the fathers, but
such illustrations as the above lead us to believe
that that reputation was due to the fact that each
praised the other. Each lauded the other on the
results of his efforts, and they consoled themselves
with having secured the eternal salvation of so many,
the greater portion if not most of whom were
children baptized at the point of death. This
baptism in many instances was performed without
the knowledge of the parents. The adults were
slow in accepting the Christian religion. They
could not understand how it could be that people of
the Christian nation, France, could misbehave to
the extent they did and merit everlasting happiness,
while they (savage) lived moral lives. Deprived of
the knowledge of Christ, because of some wise pur
pose of the Creator, they could not believe that
they needed the interposition of the "black robes"
to save them. It still remains a question with
many not lacking in wisdom which should be man s
greater guide the natural or a so-called revealed
religion. They were ignorant of the latter, but
we are told that in general a day seldom passed with
an elderly Indian, or others who were esteemed
wise and good, in which a blessing was not asked
or thanks returned to the Giver of life; sometimes
audibly, but more generally in the devotional lan
guage of the heart. (Hunter s Memoirs?) We are
told of an Indian with whom one Brainard talked,
and who asked "why I desired the Indian to become
ii6 LOST MARAMECH
a Christian, seeing that the Christians were so much
worse; that a Christian would lie, steal, and drink
worse than the Indian? It was they who first taught
the Indians to be drunk and then steal from one
another to that degree that their rulers were obliged
to hang them for it; but it was not sufficient to deter
others from it, and he supposed that if the Indians
should become Christians they would then be as bad
as these." (Halkitt, N. A. Indians, I., p. 245.)
While at the villages Father Allouez learned of
the accessibility of the great river that had been
known to the traders for many years. Through him
and others the Governor received information that
Nicolet, as early as 1634-35, had undoubtedly visited
it. (Benj. Suite, IV. H. Col, Vol. VIII., p. 188,
Notes on Jean Nicolet.) La Salle, possibly, had
journeyed on the great river the year previous to
the visit made by Joliet and Father Marquette.*
On the same occasion Father Allouez learned of
the branch of the Miami tribe whose people were of
"the great village of Maramek." All of the tribes
adjacent to Green Bay were visited in 1671 by Per-
rot, who was sent there as a deputy by Governor
Courcelles. Perrot was given command of the
region and had much to do, in later years, with all
the tribes, as we shall see, particularly the Pean-
guichia branch of the Miamis. (Shea s Charlevoix,
Vol. III., p. 166.) Father Charlevoix tells us that
Perrot visited the Miamis at Chicago, piloted there
by two Pottawatomies. Shea, in his translation of
Charlevoix s history, says, however, that Perrot
* See Ohio River on various maps left by Joliet, and "Recite
d un ami de 1 Abbe de GallineV (Margry, Vol. I, p. 345).
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 117
went no farther than Green Bay, which he calls the
"Bay of the Foxes and Miamis." His reason given
for saying this is that, as he claims, the Miamis
were not then at Chicago. It is no doubt true,
nevertheless, that one of the many branches of this
tribe was there. (N. Y. Col. Docs., IX., p. 70.)
The Foxes were one of the tribes that most
resented aggressions. They were the only people
stirred by the acts of Perrot and four holy fathers
and others who, in 1671, in the name of the king,
took possession of their country in the presence of
fourteen tribes that gathered there. The priests
planted a cross, trusting that it would produce the
fruits of Christianity. Upon a cedar tree, near by,
the French deputies posted the arms of France,
shouting three times, in a loud voice, the name of
the very high and very powerful monarch Louis
XIV., very Christian king of France and Navarre.
Thus they took possession of the country adjacent
to Sault Ste. Marie, lakes Huron and Superior, and
all the country, rivers and lakes tributary thereto,
as far as the sea to the south. Each raised high a
tuft of grass and shouted "Vive le Roi!" and all
shouting in unison, in French as well as in the lan
guage of the savages, declared the French nation in
possession of this great region, thereby making all
the nations subject to the laws of that country.
The French promised protection to the tribes from
invasion of their lands by their enemies, and all
that, as reward for acquiescence; but aside from
that by Perrot, little effort was ever made by any
to live up to the promises. The tribes had had
some experience with the French, and we do not
ii8 LOST MARAMECH
wonder that the Foxes did not trust them and did
not take any stock in the good promises made; they
looked upon the good resolves as chaff in the wind.
Along the Fox river of Wisconsin, whither various
tribes gathered in shelter, on the west side of Lake
Michigan, in order to be less accessible to the
Iroquois, were the many villages visited by Father
Allouez, before referred to. Charlevoix speaks of
this visit as follows:
"He did not expect a good reception as some of
these Indians had been ill-treated by the Frenchmen
at Montreal, and the whole tribe had vowed ven
geance. The Foxes were estimated at nearly one
thousand families. The Miamis and Mascoutins
resorted to every expedient to dissuade the mis
sionary from delivering himself alone to the fury of
a provoked tribe, which, moreover, had never
appeared well disposed to harken to the tidings of
Christianity; but nothing could induce him to
change his design, and God blessed his courage.
He preached Jesus Christ to the Foxes, who admired
his resolution and his patience, and gradually
adopted humane ideas toward him. He baptized
the dying, and especially the children; many, even
on his departure, begged him to return to see them
and assured him that if he would take up his abode
with them he would find a cabin and a chapel
already erected."
Charlevoix, like those of whom he writes, and to
whom he gives the greatest credit for western dis
coveries, was a Jesuit, and his glorification of the
zeal of Marquette, the predecessor of Allouez, is
only surpassed by the attempts to heap unearned
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO ng
laurels on the father. He says: "Father Mar-
quette, on his part, labored quite usefully among
the Miamis at Chicago." This historian certainly
departs from the truth; he should have been guided,
as others have been since, by Marquette s own
story which tells us that his successes consisted in
baptizing a dying child, and that not at Chicago.
This holy duty, as a matter of fact, was performed
at the Illinois town opposite the Rock on which
Fort St. Louis was later built, on the first visit. On
his second visit he was detained by the severe win
ter of 1674-5 on the south branch of the Chicago
river, where he saw but few people, and hence in
his journal he did not claim to have been instru
mental in accomplishing anything material in the
line of religious duties. When spring approached
he proceeded to the Illinois town, where in 1673 he
had baptized the dying child, and there called
together a multitude of savages. He erected an
altar and explained to them the mysteries of his
holy religion. The fatal disease that ended his life
had made such progress, however, that his stay was
but of a few days duration.
The Miamis, about that time, were neighbors of
and friendly to the Illinois, and no doubt Marquette
met some of them. A large band of the Miamis
was later found on the St. Joseph river, where, on
his return from the discovery of the mouth of the
Mississippi river, La Salle commenced to establish
himself. (L Histoirde V Amerique Septentrionale par
La Potherie, II., p. 131.)
Father Allouez, if we may trust the accounts of
his zeal as found in the Jesuit Relations, was indeed
120 LOST MARAMECH
indefatigable. During the year 1672-4 he labored
among the many people adjacent to Green Bay and
learned of many tribes far to the southward. He
says: "Farther westward is the Mission of St.
Mark, of the Outegamie, " and various other
nations, among whom and still farther westward are
tribes, the unpronounceable names of which he
gives. Among them he mentions "Marameg,"
and near by the village of the "Miamis, whither
come the Illinois, the Kaskaskias, Peorias, Weato-
nons, Pepikokias, Kilatikas," etc.* This is a mix
ture of the Illinois, Miamis, and other tribes. The
Maramegs were a branch of the Chippewas, the
home-region of which tribe was around the Falls of
St. Mary and that portion of Michigan just south of
Lake Superior. They must not be confused with
the Miamis of "Maramek." (N. Y. Col. Docs., IX.,
P-
* The father erred in this, for all the tribes mentioned were
near the Illinois river.
Hundreds of arrow heads turned up by the plow, a
mile northeast of the old fort, tell where
the last stand was made.
The cemetery, Tama Reservation. The
graves are covered by logs to pro
tect those who there sleep
from the wolves and
curious white men.
CHAPTER VIII
It was during 1672-3 the Jesuits again labored at
the Mission of St. Mark of the Outagamies (Foxes).
Father Allouez there baptized forty-eight persons,
three of whom died shortly after. Some of the
Foxes having been compelled to remain in their
village, on account of sickness, the father and his
party went to see them on their way up the river.
The party found, at a little distance from the town
opposite a small rapid, a great rock roughly carved
into the figure of a man, the face of which had been
painted red. It was pronounced an idol, because of
the fact that the Indians invoked it for fortunate
results of their voyages. It is probable that the
father as little understood the meaning of this piece
of rock and the alleged worship of it as did the
Indians understand him when they looked upon the
two bars of wood crossing each other, coupled with
the worship of the father. That seemed to them,
no doubt, ridiculous mummery over an idol in
another form. The father wrote, "We overturned
it into the water." He soon reached the cross that
had been planted in the village during the previous
winter, and went to say holy mass in the bark cabin
in the fort. A little farther on, led by smoke in the
woods, they found the village of the Foxes. The
party claims to have been heartily received by
the sick, when the latter learned the object of their
arrival, which was only to comfort them and noth-
121
122 LOST MARAMECH
ing more; "for," adds the father, "I would not
allow the French with me to buy corn or anything
else." Several of the sick the father had baptized
the previous winter had died, and two more lingered
near death. He prepared them for their long jour
ney and noticed that one of them, named Joseph, a
Fox chief, in his prayers always asked for the pres
ent life. The father spoke to him of the life of
heaven. The chief told the father that he did not
think of death, as he was not yet very old, and
that he asked God for the life of the body. The
father labored two hours before he could bring the
chief to a Christian resignation to the will of God.
The chief was touched by the story of the cross,
when the father told him of the agony of Christ and
of the prayer he offered in the Garden of Olives.
The chief yielded then, and in spite of his long
sufferings, the father thought he saw a change in
him, for the chief took the crucifix and said his
prayers like that of our Lord, with perfect submis
sion and Christian indifference to life or death.
When confessing a good woman, the father asked
her whether she did not sometimes get angry.
"How can I get angry?" she replied; "I, who am
no longer counted among the living, and only a
dead body." Children were brought to the father
to be baptized. A young warrior had received an
arrow-shot in the thigh. The stone arrowhead had
remained in the flesh, producing a bad ulcer, which
had reduced him to a mere skeleton. The father
baptized him and named him Mark. It does not
seem to some that a heathen can be so quickly pre
pared, and that a drop of water, mumbled words,
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 123
and a Christian name can have the effect of insuring
him eternal happiness that was before denied him.
Chas. W. Colby says: "No one can read i\\e. Jesuit
Relations and believe that the zeal of the fathers did
not lead them to overstate their successes." (Amer.
Historical Review , Oct., 1901.)
Father Allouez administered the sacrament of
extreme unction to some of the dying, but could
not remain in the village, as the people were break
ing camp to go beaver hunting. Later in the winter
of 1673, having learned that the Foxes had returned
from their hunt earlier than usual, on account of a
Sac having killed one of the Foxes during the hunt,
the father again went to the village. The Heavenly
Spirit, claimed to have been instilled, did not
remain with these people. The Foxes who had
just returned from an embassy to the Iroquois, had
received a bad impression regarding the Christians,
and had communicated that impression to their
people. Added to this, the Sioux had killed thirty
persons, most of whom had prayed to God before
going to war. Because of the impression the
father found no encouragement and was obliged to
seek shelter from the elements unaided, as best he
could. He inveighed the Lord against the super
stition, the extraordinary license of having many
wives, and against exposing themselves naked. The
young men treated him insolently, but they never
contradicted him, even in their cabins and assem
blies; such silence was the result of good breeding
little practiced among civilized nations. The father
declared the chief to be infamous because of his
number of wives and because he would not listen
124 LOST MARAMECH
when spoken to in regard to his salvation. Later
the chief came to the father with his youngest wife
and son, to pray, and he listened willingly when
exhorted to be satisfied with one wife and not seek
others. A band of young men blackened their
faces, entered the cabin of the father in the even
ing and said that they had come to sleep there so
that God might speak to them in their dreams and
promise to deliver their enemies to them. The
father says, regarding this visit: "I undeceived
them and made them pray to God, and they went
home quickly." A hundred warriors passed by the
chapel door, only one entering, and he one of those
baptized only a few days before. The father asked
those who favored prayer why they did not enter,
and they replied that prayer had caused them to
die during the previous summer.
The father said, in his report: "God wills that
this church be tried by tribulations." He had
grounds for hope, however, for during the previous
winter a band of young Foxes defeated eleven ca
noes of Sioux and attributed their victory to prayer,
for all had prayed before starting. Their account
of the aid that God had given them induced others
to pray. They had done so the previous summer,
the father later informs us, and marked a cross on
their shields; but of the nineteen, sixteen were cap
tured or killed, while out of another band of thirteen,
three were captured or killed. "This does not dis
courage," he continues, "nor will it ever prevent
some of the people from coming to receive instruc
tions." On one occasion the Elders entered the
cabin, and of them the father speaks as follows:
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 125
"They have some ideas that excite compassion;
time and the grace of the Holy Spirit will tame
these spirits truly savage. Softness, such as the
mercies of God, and the reward of paradise are
necessary to change these spirits, for some seem to
be barbarous to the last degree. They seem to be
resolved to either be burned and eaten by their
enemies, or to burn and eat their enemies. Their
enemies, after burning them, cut them in pieces, as
we do animals or fish, and cook them."
The opportunity to eat the flesh of a brave enemy
was eagerly sought; the belief being that the par
taking of it inspired bravery. While the father was
at the village some Sacs, who came from Green
Bay, caused a coldness among the neophytes by
telling them that only children prayed to God.
Others said: "How can we pray to God? He does
not love us; He loves our enemies, for He always
delivers us into their hands, and seldom delivers
any of them into ours."
A small party was going to war, and the old men
entered the cabin and put several questions to the
father. God gave the father grace to be able to
reply, and they admitted that they had been de
ceived and that he spoke the truth. They acknowl
edged that war was largely governed by fate; they
did not attribute defeat either to the strength or the
bravery of their enemies or to the lack of strategy
on the part of their own captains, but to fate, or to
the Great Spirit who gave one tribe to be eaten by
another when it pleased Him. They fasted in order
that the Great Spirit might speak to them, hoping
that He would say: "I will give you some of your
126 LOST MARAMECH
enemies to eat; go and seek them." They declared
that one of the chiefs would certainly kill some of
their enemies, because the Manitou always spoke to
him.
The father tells us that he disabused the minds of
the savages; but his labors were interrupted by a
cold spell which crusted the snow to such an extent
that the hunting of the deer and elk became easy,
and hence the young men took to the woods, fol
lowed by the young women, who dressed the ani
mals and took the skins and flesh to the village.
The Foxes ofttimes made preparations for the hunt
by a long fast, sometimes protracted to even ten
days. They did much more, for while the men
were on the hunt, the children were obliged to fast
in order that they might dream of the bear which
their relatives were seeking, and they imagined
that the animals would be caught if seen in a dream
even by these children.
The father exultingly claimed to have taken pos
session of the infidel land in the name of Jesus
Christ by erecting a cross within the realm of Satan.
Hardly a person was seen in the village who did
not make the sign of the cross with deference.
"They even have such confidence in it," he tells us,
"that some of the young warriors, having formed a
company to wage war on the Sioux, appeared before
him to learn how they could insure a victory. He
related to them the story of Constantine, to encour
age them by that example, to have recourse to the
cross. They believed, for with their own hands
they marked their shields with this adorable sign;
every morning and evening they made it on them-
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 127
selves without fail; and on meeting the enemy, the
first thing they did was to make the sign of the
cross, after which they gave battle so confidently
that they won the victory and, upon returning
home, they celebrated the power of the cross, pro
claiming everywhere that they were solely indebted
to it for their success."
There is a strange mixture of sentiment and
prophecy regarding the discovery of the Mississippi
river. "Our Holy Faith," the father tells us in
the Relations, "is more and more gaining a foothold
among these people, and we have great hopes that
in a short time we will carry it as far as the famous
river named Mississippi, and perhaps even to the
South Sea, that the Gospel may extend as far south
ward as we are about to see it has northward."
This was in 1672, a year before the alleged dis
covery of the Mississippi river by Marquette, and
the fact that it was believed to enter the South Sea
late historians have shown very plainly, as seen in
the preceding pages. The belief that it entered the
Gulf of Mexico was founded not only upon its gen
eral course, as far as then known, but also upon the
fact that the Spanish maps of an early date showed
a great river entering the Gulf of Mexico at a point
not far from the actual mouth of the Mississippi,
and that De Soto had discovered it. La Salle s dis
covery of the mouth of the Mississippi was, more than
all, that of the commercial and strategic value of
the great river, and not merely one of geographical
location.
The eagerness of the Jesuit order to claim for its
priests the discovery of the Mississippi river was
128 LOST MARAMECH
illustrated by Thevenot in a small book published
under date of 1681, which contains a map, stated by
him to be a copy of that of Marquette. It is seen
that the Mississippi river flows into the Gulf of
Mexico, and that adjacent to the gulf is placed the
word "Europeans." The river is shown as flowing
nearly southward from the mouth of the Arkansas
river to the gulf. Marquette supposed that the river
so flowed, but on his genuine map of the river it is
now shown below the mouth of the Arkansas. In
Joliet s map, however, it is shown, as may be seen,
emptying into the gulf. Thevenot must have bor
rowed more from Joliet than from Marquette,
although he claims to have followed the latter.
Another copy of the alleged Marquette map is in
the Lenox Library, and on it is the following:
"Map of the new discoveries that the Reverend
Fathers Jesuits have made in the year of 1672, con
tinued by the Reverend Father Jacques Marquette,
accompanied by some French in the year 1673,"
etc. It will be noticed that the name of Joliet, who
was the head and front of the expedition, is unmen-
tioned. Comparing the Thevenot map with Mar-
quette s and Joliet s, it is seen that the resemblance
is closer to that of Joliet than to Marquette s.
Marquette learned nothing further of the Missis
sippi on the voyage he made to the Illinois country
in 1674, for he went by the return route of the
former voyage, and no farther southward than the
Illinois town near Starved Rock. He died six years
before the publication of Thevenot s book and of
the map in the Lenox Library. Again, comparing
closely the map copied in Thevenot s book with that
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
129
left by Joliet, it is found that the names of towns
and the general courses of rivers correspond very
nearly with Joliet s. His map is more correct than
that left by Marquette, although it was drawn from
memory; he having lost his original ones when
shipwrecked in the St. Lawrence. If Marquette,
before his death, had time to draw the Thevenot
map, he must have done so with the Joliet map, and
perhaps others, before him. The data for Mar-
quette s original map, as has been shown, was
mostly gathered before undertaking the journey.
But the map given by Thevenot shows features not
known until long after Marquette s death.
The Mission of St. Mark did not long hold its
own. Father Allouez visited the nation in 1676,
and tells us: "As for the Mission of the Outa-
gamie, where last year we planted a large cross in
the middle of their village, we hoped a great deal
from their conversion, since we see that our Lord has
made them share His cross. Last winter many of
them were killed by the Sioux. The summer fol
lowing their corn was injured by the frosts and they
gathered but little, and that little spoiled in the
autumn in the places where stored. During the past
winter many died from disease, and the Illinois
committed acts of hostility upon them and captured
many. During some visits I made I baptized seven
teen, among whom were ten adults who died after
baptism. Of the old Christians who numbered one
hundred and forty-four, twenty-seven died, upon
whom we had reason to believe God had mercy.
The Puants and the Sacs, who have stopped here in
our church during all Lent, came assiduously to
I 3 o LOST MARAMECH
listen to our instructions and pray to God. We
have baptized seven children."
To Green Bay came the Sioux when they dared.
The lowas, the Illinois, Miamis, and many others
also came to trade among themselves and with the
French. Pipes from Minnesota are found in various
parts of the country, which is one of the indelible
records of the fact that trade was carried on over
long distances. This stone, catlinite of modern
geology, is found only in Pipestone county, Minne
sota, and is an argillaceous shale of a beautiful pink
color and takes a fine polish. The pipes have been
picked up in nearly every state of the Union; a fine
little specimen found its way to Maramech.
The honesty of the various tribes, including the
Foxes before being contaminated by the whites, was
proverbial, but it did not last. Whether the teach
ing of the fathers, who themselves found it neces
sary to preach honesty to the French traders, led
the natives to know that dishonesty was practiced
by the foreigners, we do not know. We do know,
however, that they soon lost their regard for the
rights of others.
La Salle, in the autumn of 1679, stopped at Green
Bay, added to his supplies and turned his canoes
southward along the western coast of Lake Michi
gan. Late in October adverse winds compelled him
to land. He went, as usual, into the woods to see
what he might discover, where he found "grapes
ripe and very good," of which the Recollet Fathers
made wine with which to celebrate mass. He also
observed fresh foot-prints, which prompted him to
rejoin his people to command them to be on their
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 131
guard and make no noise. They obeyed him for
some time but having perceived a bear and a deer
they could not resist the temptation of shooting at
them. This noise made them known to one hun
dred and twenty-five Foxes whose home was near
the extremity of Green Bay, but who were then
camping near the Frenchmen without any knowl
edge of such neighbors. La Salle, to whom the
presence of these people gave much anxiety, blamed
his men for their imprudence and, to prevent sur
prises, he put a sentinel near the canoes under which
his companions had put their cargoes to protect
them from the rain. He put another guard near
their campfires. These precautions were not suffi
cient to prevent thirty Foxes, favored by the
abundant rain and the negligence of the sentinel,
from creeping along the shore where were the arms
and supplies. Lying flat they arranged themselves
in a line, and the first one taking what he wished
passed it on to the nearest, and thus it went from
hand to hand to the last one. La Salle awoke and,
having raised himself to see if his sentinel was
doing his duty, saw something move, which
prompted him to require his men to take their arms
and occupy an eminence near which the Foxes were
obliged to pass. A part of these savages, seeing
themselves discovered, called out that they were
friends. La Salle responded that the hour was one
at which people came only to steal or kill those who
were not on their guard. They replied that in truth
the gunshots that they had heard made them believe
that a party of the hostile Iroquois was near; this
they said they believed because the neighboring
132
LOST MARAMECH
savages did not use firearms; that they had advanced
thus with the intention of killing these supposed
enemies, but having recognized Frenchmen, whom
they regarded as brothers, their impatience held
them from waiting for daylight. La Salle feigned
to accept this reason and bade them approach to
the number of five or six only, because their young
men were accustomed to steal, and his people were
not in the humor to suffer anything of this kind.
Four or five men advanced and remained until the
approach of day, when he gave them permission to
retire. After their departure, he perceived what
had been stolen. He knew perfectly the humor of
the savages, and he knew that they would undertake
to do the same every night if he dissimulated in this
case. He caused his people to occupy an eminence
that was in the form of a peninsula, and he then
went out in search of some savage who had strayed
from the others. He had scarcely been gone a half
hour before he found the fresh tracks of a hunter.
He followed him, pistol in hand, and having imme
diately overtaken him, brought him to the place
where he had left the guard. After having informed
him of all the circumstances of the theft, he imme
diately went with two of his people and halted
another savage, evidently a more important person
age. He pointed out to him, in the distance, the
one he had taken prisoner, and sent him to say to
his people that he would kill their comrade if they
did not bring back all that had been stolen. This
proposition embarrassed the savages, because they
had cut some of the clothing to pieces to divide
among them, and consequently were not able to
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 133
return it entire. As these people have much friend
ship for each other, they resolved to take their com
rade by force. The next morning they advanced,
arms in hand, to begin the attack. The peninsula
where the French were was separated the distance
of a gunshot from the woods where the savages
appeared. La Salle noticed that, on the side of the
woods, there were several little knolls, the nearest
one to him commanding the others. He advanced
to occupy it with five men. Carrying their blan
kets, one-half wrapped around their left arms to
cover themselves against the arrows of the savages,
they advanced; they had already occupied all of
these eminences, but seeing that the French ap
proached to charge them, they abandoned the near
est one, which gave La Salle time to mount the
highest point. An act so daring intimidated the
savages to such an extent that, immediately after,
six of the old men approached, presenting the calu
met of peace, and having come near, on the assu
rance that they could do so without fear, they said
that they were carried to this extremity only because
of their inability to return what had been taken in
the condition that it was when taken, and that they
were ready to restore all that remained in good con
dition. They presented, at the same time, robes of
beaver skins to La Salle to conciliate him, excusing
themselves as best they could for the little value of
their presents. La Salle contented himself with
their apology, listened to their promises and par
doned them. The day following was passed in
dancing and feasts in which they begged La Salle to
remain with them and not try to go to the Illinois,
134 LOST MARAMECH
which would be impossible, for the Illinois were
resolved to massacre all the Frenchmen because an
Iroquois, whom they had taken and burned, had
assured them that the war made on them by his
nation had been counselled by the French who hated
the Illinois. They added many similar reasons
which alarmed La Salle s party, and he felt much
uneasiness because of the fact that all savages he
had encountered on his route had said very nearly
the same thing. He knew this objection was inspired
by those who opposed his enterprise and made
plausible by the expressed fears of the savages to
whom the Illinois were renowned for their valor,
and who feared that the Illinois would become still
more haughty by receiving, through the French, a
knowledge of the use of firearms. He resolved,
however, to continue his route and take all the pre
cautions necessary for the protection of himself and
party. He thanked the Foxes for the advice they
had given, but said that he did not fear the Illinois
and that he felt his ability to dispose of them by
friendship or by force. La Salle and his party
departed the next day for the mouth of the St.
Joseph river, and were no more troubled by the
Foxes. He established peace among the various
tribes of the region forming his "Colonie. " (Margry,
Vol. I.)
In 1680 a band of Illinois and Miamis, possibly
those of Maramech, who were hunting on the St.
Joseph river, were attacked by a party of Iroquois,
who surprised them, killed thirty or forty and made
three hundred prisoners, composed of women and
children. (La Hontan, L, 169.) I believe that
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 135
this is one version of the attack upon the great
Indian town of Kaskaskia, opposite what is now
called Starved Rock, or that at least in it two
accounts are mixed. After the Iroquois had rested
they separated and started on a leisurely return to
their country, believing that they would regain their
villages before the Illinois and Miamis had time to
send runners to their people, then dispersed in
various distant places. The fact that the Illinois
and Miamis were away from home is made evident
by the further fact that the attacked were a party of
hunters, and it is probable also that a large portion
of the two tribes remained in the vicinity of Kas
kaskia and along the Fox river of Illinois, as far
north as Maramech, or farther. The Pestekouy, as
already shown, was the home of the branches of the
Miami tribes.
La Hontan evidently received this story through
the French or Indians, which accounts for the varia
tion from Tonty s official report of what may have
been the same encounter. The Iroquois deceived
themselves, we are told, to such an extent that the
Illinois and Miamis had time to rally to the number
of four hundred, resolved to die sooner than permit
their people to be taken away. As the parties were
unequal, the Illinois and Miamis made an effort to
find some good expedient and, after having well
considered the manner of attack, they concluded to
follow the Iroquois until rain might fall. Their
project succeeded, as the heavens seemed to favor
them. For a day the rain continued from morning
until night. They doubled their pace as soon as
the rain began to fall, and passing two leagues to
136 LOST MARAMECH
the side of the Iroquois, took a position before the
latter and formed an ambuscade in the middle of
a prairie that the Iroquois must cross to gain the
woods where they intended to make their camp.
The Illinois and Miamis lying flat on the ground, in
the bushes and ferns, awaited the Iroquois. When
the latter were between them they let fly their
arrows and attacked so vigorously that the
Iroquois, not being able to use their guns, on
account of the priming being wet, were forced to
throw them away and defend themselves as best
they might, resorting to the same kind of arms as
those used by the attacking party. The Illinois
were more agile than the Iroquois, and the latter
were obliged to yield, fighting until darkness, after
having lost eighty of their warriors. The battle
would have continued into the night if the Illinois
and Miamis had not feared that their rescued prison
ers, being tied and remaining behind them, were
exposed to surprise in the darkness, so, after having
rejoined them and taken all the guns of the flying
Iroquois, thrown hither and thither, they returned
to their country without endeavoring to capture the
invaders.
The above is a fair specimen of the method of
warfare that was carried on between the eastern and
western tribes. La Hontan, in the same volume
(page 169), gives an instance of the strategy and
bravery that distinguished the Foxes. In 1683 ne
was preparing for his voyage of discovery up the
"Riviere Longue, " which river, by the way, evi
dently had its source, its mouth, and all its length
only in his brain. The Fox chiefs gave him guides.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 137
The story of the following encounter may be as
imaginary as his alleged discoveries along this
"Riviere Longue. " Be that as it may, the story
runs that a body of one thousand Iroquois came by
canoes, at the close of autumn, as far as the Bay of
Missisagues on Lake Huron, without being discov
ered, and there landed. As they were so numerous,
they carried with them nets by means of which they
expected to catch fish in the little lakes and rivers
while awaiting the approach of a freeze-up, which
occurred soon after. As soon as the ice was suffi
ciently strong they continued their route, coasting
Lake Huron five or six leagues to the south of Sault
Ste. Marie, to which place they dared not go, fear
ing to find coureurs du bois in the fort of the Jesuits.
Having traversed The Bay they judged proper to
march single file, one in the footsteps of another, in
order that, if their tracks were discovered, it should
appear that only thirty or forty had passed at most.
They marched in this manner until about the mid
dle of February without being perceived, but unfor
tunately for them four Sauteurs (people of the Sault
Ste. Marie, a branch of the Chippewa tribe), having
seen them pass in great numbers over a little lake,
ran to the hunting-grounds of the Foxes to inform
them of the danger, although their own tribes were
at war with the Foxes. They bore no love for the
Foxes and would have profited by their defeat but
for the fact that success of the Iroquois over the
smaller tribes would, in the end, mean their own
defeat by the conquering tribe.
About this time a thaw interfered with the inten
tions of the Iroquois, who yet counted on fifteen
138 LOST MARAMECH
days of cold weather as was ordinarily the case dur
ing that part of the winter. They quickened their
pace, sought the straight paths and those less fre
quented. The Foxes were much embarrassed as to
the course they should pursue. It was true that the
warriors would be able to gain their village in all
safety, but to do so they would have been forced to
abandon their women and children, who had not
the strength to run as fast as the men. Finally,
after having held council, they resolved to advance
as far as a certain passage, a half league in length
(about one and two-tenths miles), and of thirty paces
breadth, between two little lakes, where they fore
saw that the Iroquois were likely to pass. The
Foxes numbered four hundred, and judged proper to
divide themselves into two bodies, one party of two
hundred holding one end of the passage, which they
fortified immediately by planting posts across from
one lake to the other, and the other two hundred
remained within a fourth of a league of the other
end of the passage in order that, after having pre
pared poles, they could run quickly and fortify
themselves. As soon as the Foxes discovered that
the Iroquois had all passed they ran with all speed,
carrying heavy poles to enclose the little strip of
land bordered by the two lakes. They had suffi
cient time to plant the poles and support them by
throwing up earth, before the Iroquois, astonished at
having found the road closed at the other end, had
retraced their steps only to see themselves closed
between two barriers. The Iroquois came "with all
legs," as the Baron puts it, to force the new barri
cade, but they fled at the first discharge made by the
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 139
Foxes. The Iroquois, seeing themselves thus closed
in, were led to believe that the number of the Foxes
was great. They questioned how to get out of their
prison; whether to throw themselves into the water
and cross one of the lakes, to do which would have
required much courage, for the distance was long,
the water very cold, and the ice not of sufficient
strength to sustain them. During this time the
Foxes fortified their barricades better and better,
and sent their runners to the other sides of the lakes
to kill all those who attempted to escape. In spite
of these precautions the Iroquois found an expe
dient, which was to make some rafts of the trees
which surrounded them; but the strokes of the
hatchets made the Foxes aware of the design that
they had in mind, which they believed to be to make
some canoes of skins of deer to pass over one of the
little lakes during the night. The rafts were made
in five or six days, during which time the Iroquois
caught fish in quantities, in full view of the Foxes,
who could not stop them. It only remained to
cross the lakes and fight at the place of landing in
case their secret crossing was discovered. In order
to succeed better they made an attempt of which
success would have been sure had the bottom of the
lake not been so muddy that the poles, by which
the rafts were moved, sank so deeply in the mud
that it was found exceedingly difficult to withdraw
them. This caused the Iroquois to move so slowly
that the Foxes had time to run to the other side of
the lake where they perceived the Iroquois, a mus
ket-shot from the shore. At the time they reached
a depth of only three feet the Iroquois threw them-
140 LOST MARAMECH
selves into the water, vigorously endeavoring to
charge the Foxes who were no more than three hun
dred in number because they had left fifty men at
each of the barricades. It was a miracle that the
Iroquois were not all killed in gaining the shore, for
they sank into the mud as far as the knees. As this
was during the night, all of the strokes of the Foxes
were not effective although there were five hundred
Iroquois in the water, the rest having taken land in
spite of the resistance of the Foxes. The Iroquois,
once landed, attacked the Foxes so vigorously that
if the one hundred men left to guard the barricades
had not come promptly, upon hearing the gunshots,
the Foxes could not have held their ground. They
fought until daylight in a disordered way, dispersed
here and there in the woods, the people of the same
party killing one another without knowing it. The
Iroquois who, until that time were so obstinate as
not to concede the field of battle, because of their
wounded and also because they did not wish the
Foxes to take the scalps of their dead, were obliged
to fly, but were pursued. They rallied a league dis
tant. Being nearly to the number of three hun
dred, they were surely stronger than the Foxes, who
were enfeebled by having lost one-half of their
people in this fierce battle; besides all this, among
the two hundred who remained there were thirty
wounded. The Foxes, seeing the Iroquois depart,
returned to their homes without fear. Arriving at
their village, they acknowledged the services of the
two Sauteurs, who had informed them of the
approach of the Iroquois, proclaimed them great
chiefs of war and gave them one-half of the results
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 141
of their hunt. After having made all good cheer
possible and having heaped all honors of which
they were capable upon the Sauteurs, they sent
them by canoe to Sault Ste. Marie, by way of Green
Bay, with an escort of twenty warriors. The Sau
teurs in vain refused the presents brought by the
cortege, because the two nations were at war; but
the furs they were made to accept, and this led to
reconciliation of the two nations within four
months. The Foxes were usually successful in
their battles, but the risk they sometimes took is
well shown by the foregoing.
The dancers, Tama Reservation.
The dog sacrifice, Tama Reservation
CHAPTER IX
The superstitions of the natives of America
troubled the traders and explorers as little as the
dogmas of many of the denominations trouble the
business world to-day; but the fathers sought out
the superstitions of the Indians with a view to
eradicating them and, I fear, substituting others.
Father Hennepin had much to say about the super
stitions of the Indians and tells an interesting story
of what took place at the Falls of St. Anthony while
he and his party were there making the portage.
They noticed five or six Sioux who were in advance,
one of whom climbed an oak tree opposite the great
falls, where he was weeping bitterly. A well-
dressed beaver robe, whitened inside and trimmed
with porcupine quills, he offered as a sacrifice to the
falls. The father heard him say, while shedding
copious tears and addressing the Great Creator:
"Thou who art a spirit, grant that all the men of
our nation may pass here quietly without accident;
that we may kill buffalo in abundance, conquer our
enemies, and bring our captives here, some of whom
we will put to death before Thee. The Foxes have
killed our kindred. Grant that we may avenge
them." The reflective reader will not say that this
prayer differs much, except perhaps in degree, from
that of the One Hundred and Ninth Psalm, nor does
it differ much from the prayer of the present day,
when we ask that our Great Creator turn a cold
shoulder to our enemies and aid us.
143
I 4 4 LOST MARAMECH
Peace made with the natives at the falls, the
father informs us the day was spent in dancing,
feasts, and speeches. A principal chief of these
Indians, turning toward the Recollets, said: "See
the Gray-Gowns for whom we feel great esteem;
they go barefooted like us; they despise the beaver
robes which we wish to give them without any hope
of return; they have no arms to kill us with; they
flatter and caress our little children and give them
beads for nothing, and those of our nation who
have carried furs to the villages of the French have
told us that the Great Chief of the French loves
them because they have left everything that the
French esteem most to come and visit us and remain
with us. You, who are the chief of those who are
here, arrange so as to make one of the Gray-Gowns
remain with us. We will give him a part of all we
have to eat, and we will take him to our villages
after we have killed some buffalo, and you who are
master arrange so as to also stay here with us. Do
not go to the Illinois, for we know that they wish to
massacre all the French. It will be impossible for
you to resist that numerous nation."
Some parts of Hennepin s story may be bits of
romance similar to that found in the second edition
of his book, where he claims to have floated down
the Mississippi river to its mouth, prior to La Salle s
voyage, making the journey from the mouth of the
Illinois river and back in an incredibly short time.
It is believed by some that Hennepin had nothing
to do with this fictitious claim, but that it was
inserted by the enterprising publisher of the second
edition, to add interest.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
145
The French traders had no sooner become well-
established on the great lakes than the people of
New England turned envious eyes thitherward.
The Foxes, never over-friendly with the French,
were instrumental, it is thought, in leading the Eng
lish on in that direction. During the year 1686 a
branch of the Fox tribe was located on the banks of
the Detroit river, and the English made every effort
to strengthen the friendship between themselves
and the Foxes by frequent messages and valuable
presents. No permanent settlement was made by
the French at Detroit until about fourteen years
later. Thus occupied, it was regarded by both the
French and English nations as a most important
point, commanding, as it did, a broad tract of
country even to the Mississippi river, and furnishing
a channel of navigation to the whole country border
ing the lakes. In view of this fact the establish
ment of a fortified post at Detroit was eagerly
sought for a long time by both.
Every smile of the English upon the tribe brought
a scowl to the brows of the French. The Iroquois
also claimed the west by right of conquest and,
through the latter, the English looked to gain a
hold on the western trade. The Foxes and Iroquois
were not always warring against each other; they
mingled, when at peace. The character of both
was such that it is not to be wondered that they
were said by General Smith, in his History of Wis
consin, to be of the same blood. He says: "The
Outagamies or Foxes who resided along the banks
of the Detroit river were of Iroquois descent, and
agitation of the English cause soon made their
I 4 6 LOST MARAMECH
power known and severely felt by the French settle
ments. " No fact is better known, however, than
that the origin of the two tribes was as absolutely
distinct as the languages they spoke. The Iroquois
were Iroquois and the Foxes were Algonquins.
One of the most influential officers sent by the Gov
ernor of New France among the western tribes was
Nicholas Perrot, before referred to. He was dis
patched to the west in 1670 as an agent of the Gov
ernor to propose a congress of the western nations
at Sault Ste. Marie. (Smith s History of Wis., I., 32.)
The invitation was extended to all of the tribes of
the western lake regions. It was also carried to the
wandering hordes of the remotest north and west,
from Green Bay, by Pottawatomies.
The French gradually increased their trade west
ward, however, where they were welcomed, as much
as anything because they brought arms to the tribes
by which they could win in the wars against their
enemies farther on in the wilds. The Governor of
New France chose Perrot to make discoveries and
gain information among the natives because with
some of them he had become thoroughly acquainted,
having learned their languages well.
Soon after Perrot left Montreal on one of his
journeys his party met some Ottawas who informed
them that the Sauteurs had been destroyed by the
Foxes and that they (the Ottawas) were on their
way to the Governor to demand arms in exchange
for their furs, in order to avenge the Sauteurs.
Although these people had frequent quarrels
among themselves, for which others cared little, it
was at this time to the interests of the colony to
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 147
prevent them from destroying each other. (La
Potherie, II., p. 166.) Perrot promptly sent word
to the Governor, and the latter wrote to the Jesuit
Fathers and to the commandant at Mackinaw,
instructing them to prevent the Ottawas from under
taking anything against the Foxes. The Ottawas,
to whom the letters had been given for delivery,
fearing that the Governor might put some obstacles
in their way, burned the letters, with the exception
of those addressed to Perrot, because they imagined
that, being their friend, he would favor their
designs. All that they said to the fathers on their
arrival was that the Governor had consented to
their making "soup of the Foxes," this being their
way of speaking of an enemy whom they expected
to attack. The letters delivered to Perrot, how
ever, showed the contrary to be the case, for the
Governor expressly forbade them to attack the
Foxes and requested that Perrot adjust the differ
ences, which he proceeded to do.
A Sauteur chief had a daughter of eighteen years
of age who had been in slavery among the Foxes
for a year, and he had the apprehension that he
would be burned alive if he should go thither for
her. The various tribes of The Bay had carried
numbers of prisoners to the Foxes to purchase this
girl, but nothing could influence them. It was
feared, even, that she had already been sacrificed
to the shades of the Fox chief whom the Sauteurs
had killed. The father found no consolation, wher
ever he went, because these people said to him that
the Frenchmen had no influence among the Foxes,
and that his child would never be returned to him.
I 4 8 LOST MARAMECH
Perrot undertook to restore the girl but required
the father to remain at The Bay for fear that the
Foxes would take and burn him, and passed on.
When first he arrived at the Fox village they
greeted him cordially and recited to him the treason
of the Sauteurs and the Sioux; they told him that
their great chief had been killed in the wars, with
twenty-six of their people, and, although outnum
bered, they had put the enemy to flight. These
complaints gave him occasion to speak of this
daughter and, having made them assemble, he
addressed them in strong words: "Old men of the
Fox tribe, chiefs and young men, listen to me. I
have known that, in order to make peace with the
Sauteurs and the Sioux, . . . the first had engaged
the Sioux to put you and your families in the ket
tles. It is the Great Spirit that has given us to
know the perilous war you have had. We have
prayed Him to have pity on you and He will be able
to deliver you from your enemies. . . . He met you
on the battlefield; you have made some prisoners,
and you have cut off the heads of those whom you
have killed, which is proof of the valor of savages;
... it is the Spirit that has fought for you that you
should recognize as your liberator. What wish you
to do with this girl that you have held so long? Is
she able to quiet the resentment that you have
against her nation? She belongs to me, and I
demand her. I am her father. That is the senti
ment that prompts me to come to you as the first
Frenchman who has opened the doors of your
cabins. All these children of The Bay, who are
my children and your brothers, fear your refusal;
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 149
they fear the misfortunes that you menace; swallow
your desire for vengeance if you wish to live."
He had his calumet in hand while speaking to
them, which he presented to the lips of the brother
of the great chief to make him smoke, but it was
refused. He presented it to others, who received
it. Finally he refilled it and presented it again to
the first, three times, but it was rejected as before.
This led Perrot to leave in indignation. The tribe
was of two extractions, one calling themselves
Foxes, and the others Musquakees, "People of
the Red Earth." The one who refused to receive
the calumet was chief of the Foxes, having taken the
place of his brother. This chief of the People of
the Red Earth followed Perrot and brought him
into the cabin, where he also assembled all of the
old men and the warriors of his nation, saying to
them:
"You have heard Metaminens [Perrot], your
father, who wishes to give us life, and have heard
our brothers, the Foxes, who wish us to accept it.
. . . Bring me the kettles we will feast and I will
speak to them. I will test their good-will and
determine if they intend to refuse me. I have
always sustained them. My dear father and my
brothers exposed themselves always for them, hav
ing lost many young people in defending them. If
they refuse me, I will put out my fires and abandon
them to the fury of their enemies."
After they had brought the kettles and some
presents, he took his pipe and entered the cabin of
this headstrong man, with a company of his lieu
tenants, and said to him: "My comrade, behold the
150 LOST MARAMECH
pipe of our ancestors who are dead. . . . They pre
sented it to thy people, who have never refused it.
I present it to thee, refilled [after a feast from these
kettles], and I pray thee to have pity on our chil
dren and give this savage woman to Metaminens,
who asks her of thee. He has always been our
father."
The chief of the Foxes then smoked and required
all his relatives to do the same.
The chief of the People of the Red Earth returned
to his cabin and said to Perrot that the affair was
settled; he should have the Sauteur woman.
There arose, during the night, so great a storm
that it seemed as if the world were being destroyed.
It rained very hard; the lightnings and thunders
made so great a disturbance that the people believed
themselves to be lost. As all savages are naturally
superstitious, they imagined that the Great Spirit
was angered against them. The fright had put them
beside themselves; they believed that the Spirit
was about to overwhelm them. Onkinumiassan
knew no longer where he was. . . . Metaminens
had changed his course because he knew well that
it was the only means by which he could get the
captive quickly. Onkinumiassan prayed the chief
of the Red Earths to take her to him; he dared not
present himself before Metaminens without the
woman. The chief replied: "It is for thee to give
her to him; ... he will not show to thee so much
of evil." So superstitious was this chief that he
believed Perrot to have brought on the storm as a
punishment to him.
The rain continued during the day. They entered
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 151
into the cabin of Perrot with the Sauteur woman,
beseeching him to stop the rain, which would
destroy them, and to prevent the Sauteurs and their
allies from any longer making war. He thanked
them again by a present of tobacco and a kettle,
saying to them that this kettle would serve them for
a roof to shield them from the rain,* and that they
could smoke peaceably and without fear that the
Spirit would punish them. Perrot, not believing
himself to be a good prophet, nor to have the
ability to make the rain stop, judged well that if he
should rest long enough in possession of the prisoner,
matters were likely to change. He took leave of
them, notwithstanding the bad weather, promising
them that it would become pleasant before he
arrived at The Bay.
The Foxes treated their prisoners with more
humanity than did most other tribes. A Shawnee
prisoner, who had been taken by the Iroquois, was
rescued by the Sauteurs, and finally sent by the
Pottawatomies back to his people, with a supply of
goods received from the French traders; this was
with a view to inducing his tribe to join them, as
La Salle had early planned and partly brought about.
Forty Shawnee warriors by these presents were
induced to establish themselves near the Pottawato
mies and surprised, during their voyage, some Iro
quois who were on their way from having made war
on the tribes neighboring Green Bay, of which they
* This metaphor was probably intended to impress upon them
the belief that the kindly feeling on the part of the Sauteurs,
induced by the giving up of the chief s daughter, was such as
to shelter them from attack.
152 LOST MARAMECH
had killed and brought away several. They passed
by a village of Miamis, who received them so well
they could not refuse to give them the prisoners
they had taken from the Iroquois. The Miamis
sent the prisoners to the Foxes, to be eaten, in order
that the latter might avenge the occupants of the
five cabins the Iroquois had taken away a little
before. The Foxes, believing this a favorable
opportunity to make an exchange of prisoners how
ever, sent an ambassador to the Iroquois nation.
When the ambassador had turned the head of Lake
Michigan he found eight hundred Iroquois on their
way to attack the first village they might reach.
The Iroquois were calmed and gave their promise
to the ambassador that there should henceforth be a
barrier between his nation, including its allies, and
theirs, and that the river Chicagon [Chicago] should
be the limits of their war courses.
We are shown on early maps the Des Plaines
river as the Chicagou, and also, on other maps, the
well-known river that parts the great city, as having
its present name. Must it not then be that the
Iroquois promised this ambassador from the Fox
nation that the Chicago river, as we know it, or per
haps the Des Plaines, also called the Chicagou in
those days, should be the limit of their aggressions?
The indefiniteness of La Potherie leads me to believe
that historians have not dared locate many of the
tragedies and other events mentioned by him; the
fact is that we find no mention of such a river in
Nicholas Perrot s manuscript in this connection.
The caution I have so far exercised I shall relax
somewhat, while dealing in matters dwelt upon by
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
153
La Potherie with reference, as I believe, to past
events in the neighborhood of our great city of the
west, and the ancient "great village of Maramech. "
I am fully warranted in assuming that by "Chi-
cagon" (evidently one of the many errors in reading
the old French manuscripts) is meant "Chicagou. "
This last was the most common way of spelling the
name two centuries ago.
The claims made by the Iroquois to a great area
west of the Alleghany mountains were founded on
FRAGMENT OF JEFFREY S MAP NOT DATED. SHOWING WEST
ERN BOUNDS OF THE IROQUOIS.
previous conquests; but the line they drew did not
always bar their steps. The map on page 33,
sketched from Bowen and Gibson s of 1763, shows,
by dotted lines drawn along the Illinois river and, in
part following the Des Plaines (laid down as "Illi
nois or Chicagou river"), where the limits of the
Iroquois claims were understood to be when the
English took possession of the Mississippi valley.
The Iroquois sent the Fox ambassador to his tribe
154 LOST MARAMECH
with one of their principal men and a young warrior,
and turned themselves against the Shawnees. This
principal man (a chief) passed by the towns of the
Miamis, Mascoutins, and Kickapoos, where he was
well received and presented with a quantity of
beaver skins. These nations deputed two Miamis
to accompany him on his return in order to treat
for peace. Going to the village of the Foxes they,
in turn, gave him proofs of their good-will, and he
finally arrived at Green Bay, where the people
expressed great joy and received him as a friend.
They made presents of furs, and also gave him two
large canoes to enable him to carry the presents he
had received.
The Iroquois army, deterred from their purpose
to attack the northern tribes, divided, sending six
hundred against the Shawnees who formed a part of
the Illinois confederation, while two hundred fol
lowed the Des Plaines river to Chicago,* where they
encountered some Illinois who were returning from
Mackinaw with some Ottawas, of whom they cap
tured and killed nineteen. The Illinois might have
attacked the Iroquois but, instead, sent deputies to
Governor Frontenac, and complained that the Iro
quois had violated the peace and said that, fearing
to displease him, they had not attacked the Iroquois
in return; they demanded justice through him.
The Governor sent word by M. de la Forest who,
in the absence of Tonty, commanded at the Illinois
village neath the frowning brow of what is now
*The Indian town and river were variously spelled:
Chigaiva, Chikagoua, Chikagawa, Chicagou, Chikagou and
many others.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 155
Starved Rock, that they must defend themselves if
again attacked, but must not be the aggressors.
Shortly after La Salle s first visit, one branch of
the Miamis placed themselves in his "Colonie," sixty
leagues distant from the river St. Joseph, because of
having had trouble with those who served the Recol-
lets who were brought to the river St Joseph by
La Salle. That the new village was at Maramech,
west of the boundary defined by the Iroquois, seems
probable because the Miamis would there be better
shielded from those terrible invaders.
It was "out of the frying-pan into the fire" with
the Foxes. The Iroquois had pledged themselves
to go no farther westward than the rivers I have
mentioned as limiting their boundary, which fact
gave the Foxes, now out of one danger, an oppor
tunity to renew the old quarrel with the Sauteurs,
which was not a marked success.
The Foxes formed a party of thirty young war
riors, who captured twelve Sauteur women and
children, and the news was at once carried to the set
tlements at Green Bay, where the French were asked
to go and request the Foxes to send back an Ottawa
and a Sokokis girl, but to keep the others until
were brought back some of the children of that tribe
that they had held several years. A Sauteur chief
who was present was shocked by the refusal of the
Foxes to return some of the prisoners. The French,
in their march, met two of their comrades whom the
Iroquois had wished to kill, but who had saved
themselves. When the French arrived at the vil
lage of the Foxes they called an assembly. One of
the Frenchmen spoke:
1 5 6 LOST MARAMECH
"Foxes, listen to what I have to say. I have
learned that you have a strong desire to eat the flesh
of the French, and I have come to satisfy you with
these young men whom you see; put us in your ket
tles and satiate yourselves upon our flesh." Draw
ing his sword he threw open his garments. "My
flesh is salty; I do not believe, if you eat it, it can
pass the knot of your neck without causing you to
vomit."
The first chief of war responded: "What child
would eat his father, from whom he has received
life? Thou hast given the day to us when thou to
us hast brought the iron [guns] and now thou sayest
we would eat thee."
The Frenchman replied: "Thou hast reason to
say to me that I have given the day to thee, for
when I came in thy village all were miserable as
people who had nowhere to dwell and who wandered
to the farthest distances in the land. At present
you live in repose and enjoy the clear sky that I
have procured thee; you enjoy the light that I have
procured, and still you wish to trouble the earth,
kill the Sauteurs and subdue those that I have
adopted before thee vomit your prey; rend my
body which you wish to put in your kettles, but fear
the odor that shall from it arise, for you may excite
some vapors that shall form angry waves that will
sweep over your village which will be in one
moment consumed by the fire and lightning that
come from them, and that will be followed by a
hail that shall fall with such impetuosity upon your
families that they cannot be sheltered from it. Do
you remember your ancestors and yourselves, who
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 157
have been vagabonds to the present time? Are you
weary of well doing? Vomit! Believe your father
who does not wish to abandon you unless you com
pel him to do so. Listen to my words and I will
reconcile myself to the bad affairs that you have
made with the Sauteurs."
In Perrot s manuscript is found a proposed
address setting forth his ideas as to how the various
western tribes should have been approached in
regard to their intertribal relations, more partic
ularly concerning the Foxes:
"Listen, my children," said our Father Onontio;
"listen," said he; "I am pained to hear, all these
years, what has been told of the carnage that has
taken place in your countries, resulting in the
destruction of one another; I am horrified because
of the blood spilled and that which will be spilled.
Unless I put an end to it, I am assured that you will
soon destroy yourselves and that I shall have chil
dren no more. I love your people and your fam
ilies, and I wish them to live.
"Thou Ottawa, thou makest war against the Fox,
who has given thee life, having taken thy part
against the Miami, when thou wentest in the hunt
at the headwaters of the Black river, for he [the
Miami] would have killed thee but for him [the
Fox] and the Kickapous, who were opposed to his
[the Miami s] designs.
"Thou Sauteur, in the same time thou hast saved
the life of all the nation that was in Mamekagan
when Chingounabe invited the Miamis to attend his
dog feast. He intended to betray and devour thee,
if the Fox that thou regardest as thine enemy had
158 LOST MARAMECH
consented to thy destruction. Thou hast, however,
killed him; he had only avenged himself when thou
compelled him to do it; but he has restored to thee
willingly thy people, and thou hast his people yet.
"Thou Miami, thou knowest that the Fox has
never gone to war against thee; he has defended
thee and has aided thee to avenge thyself when thou
hast been defeated by the Sioux.
"Thou . . . ,* thou art not ignorant that thy
chiefs died of sickness when the Fox was [gone] to
avenge the Miamis of the Crane, who would have
been defeated by the Sioux, if he [the Fox] had not
had pity; he has won them by presents and has
confirmed the alliance which thou hadst contracted
with him [the Sioux], with whom thou hast never
been in war, no more than with the Kickapou, who
has visited every village with him; whereas the other
Miamis have killed the relatives of thy people this
winter.
"Thou Illinois, thou never madest war against the
Fox, neither against the Kickapou; thou hast, how
ever, attacked him when he was at Detroit; he has
defended himself; you have killed one another;
thou hast avenged thyself when he was defeated at
Detroit, and when he returned to his country; he
took one of thy chiefs, whom he has sent back, and
thou hast killed his deputy; thou shouldst be satis
fied.
"Thou Pottawatomie, thy nation is half Sacs; the
Sacs are in part Foxes; thy cousins and thy brothers-
in-law are Foxes and Sacs. Pirimon and Ouene-
* Illegible in the manuscript. Mascoutins are thought to be
the people referred to.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
159
mek, who are thy chiefs, and who mourn the
murders which have been committed in thy families,
they are Sacs. I love you all, says your father
Onontio. I will extinguish the fires of war, which
are so brilliant that, besides all of you who have
been consumed by them, they will not fail to con
sume, from all quarters, the remainder, if I do not
extinguish them.
"Thou Huron, be content; thou hast lost thy
people, but thou shouldst be avenged [be satisfied
with what vengeance thou hast already had]. Thou
art too cruel; remember what thou hast done against
me and against my children, thy allies, since I have
taken up for thee against all, and since I have pro
tected thee, and if I had not protected thee, thou
wouldst be no more. Thou hast wished to betray
me on many occasions; and I have pardoned thee,
in order to gain thy gratitude.
"Thou Ottawa, thou hast killed the Miamis at
Detroit, who were under my protection; thou hast
assassinated some Frenchmen there at the same
time, and elsewhere.
"Thou Sauteur, thou hast, in like manner, killed
some Frenchmen; thou also hast killed some Mis-
sisakis. I have grieved for my dead, but I have not
chastened thee; and thou Miami, also; I have par
doned all.
"And very far from avenging myself, I have
defended thee against the Iroquois, who was one of
my faithful children that thou hast killed, and who
has never caused trouble since the last peace which
I succeeded in making between you, without which
he would have destroyed you all For he was capa-
160 LOST MARAMECH
ble of destroying all, without asking from me any
thing but my will and consent; on the contrary, to
defend you, I have not only furnished you with
arms but, more, with my young men, who have
been entirely destroyed by you. I have even
defended you against the Fox, who has never killed
any of my people.
"I wish, my children, that this war might be
ended, and if any one does not obey me, I declare
myself against him and for the Fox.
"All the nations would have consented to peace.
This is why we ought not to fear to reproach them
for their vices any more than for [to reproach them
on account of] the services that we have rendered
them; for the character of the savage is not to for
get the good that has been done him [and we have
aided them] as opportunities have occurred.
"These, Your Highness, are my humble opinions,
which would have led to success if I had accom
panied M. De Louvigney.
"As to the Foxes, I would welcome the end of
them."
Joseph Tisson, the interpreter, and child.
Tama Reservation.
CHAPTER X
While De Nonville was Governor of New France,
in his attempts to defeat the Iroquois he allied the
western tribes. A body of the Miamis was stationed
at Chicago, and somewhere near the French had a
fort and trading-post. At one time three men were
heard approaching the post crying that the Miamis
were all dead; that the Iroquois had defeated them
at Chicagon (Chicago). They were requested to
enter the fort and, given an opportunity to smoke
and rest, they gradually regained their composure.
After they had eaten they were questioned as to the
news and said: "When you made presents this
autumn to Apichagan, chief of the Miamis, he
departed the next day to inform all the Miamis and
our people ot what you had said; he made them
consent to follow you. Two Frenchmen sent some
presents to the Miamis to say to them that Onontio*
wished that they establish themselves at Chicago.
Apichagan opposed this and said that his people
had all been killed at the river of St. Joseph, when
La Salle established them at that place. The French
sent some of their people, who declared to Apicha
gan, on the part of Onontio, that he would abandon
* When Montmagne, one of the early Governors, reached
Canada, his name was explained to the natives as meaning
Great Mountain, and hence after that time each Governor was
known as Onontio, that being the native word for such a phys
ical characteristic.
161
162 LOST MARAMECH
them if they did not obey him. He requested them
to follow Perrot, who had given them life and had
prevented the slaughter of many of their families at
Chicago. The Miamis having arrived at Chicago,
the French requested them to hunt there and return
to the fort of the French to supply their needs.
Some of the Miamis who had not arrived at Chicago
were surprised by the Iroquois. A chief was taken
who, in his song of death, demanded of his enemies
that they spare his life; he assured them that he
would deliver his village to them if they would per
mit him to live.* Some hunters, members of these
families who *,had been to Chicago, returning to
their homes perceived afar a great encampment, and
they judged that their people had been defeated
and had fled to the fort to carry the news to the
French. The Miamis who were there consulted
whether they should make an assault or take flight.
A Sokoki who was among them warned them not to
trust the French, for they were friends of the
Iroquois. The Miamis believed him and fled in all
directions. The Iroquois came, conducted by the
Miami chief who had [offered to betray his village,
but found only four Frenchmen who had just arrived
from the Illinois, and attacked them. The Iroquois
pursued those who had fled from the village and
captured all the women and children.
The news of the defeat of the Miamis at Chicago
spread among the tribes, and a hundred Miami,
Mascoutin, Pottawatomie, and Fox warriors pur
sued the Iroquois and attacked them, tomahawk in
* Such cowardice was so uncommon among the Indians that
what is charged seems incredible.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 163
hand, with such fury that they killed a hundred of
them, retook half of their people and scattered the
Iroquois, who would have been defeated if the pur
suit had continued. (This is possibly the affair
mentioned by La Hontan, II., 167.)
The commandant in the west (La Potherie tells
us), presumably Perrot, came from his trading-post
among the Sioux and sent a tomahawk to each of
the various tribes, requesting them to join and
strike the Iroquois. On his way from his fort he saw
smoke which he believed was from an army of the
allies going against the Sioux. He met the Mas-
coutin chief, who was on his way to find him, and
was informed that the Foxes, Kickapoos, and other
people of The Bay had come to pillage his supplies
in order to get arms to aid them in their attacks on
the Sioux.
They had resolved to force the fort and kill all the
French if they made the least resistance. Three
spies were sent, who made the pretext of trade, and
reported, upon returning, that they had seen only
six Frenchmen, the commandant not being there.
Two more spies came the next day, ostensibly for
the purpose of trade. The French had taken the
precaution to put some loaded guns near the doors
of their cabins. In order that the savages might be
deceived as to the number of people, and to make
the deception more nearly complete, the French
changed their clothes occasionally. The savages
asked how many Frenchmen there were, and were
answered that there were forty, and that they were,
at that moment, awaiting others from the buffalo
hunt across the river. Seeing all the arms in readi-
1 64 LOST MARAMECH
ness, the savages were led to reflect. The French
men told them that they were always ready in case
the savages came to attack them and, being on a
great trail, they always held themselves in readiness,
knowing the savages to be very inconstant, and told
them to bring the chiefs of each nation, as they had
something to say to them, but that if they ap
proached the fort in large numbers they would be
fired upon. Six of these chiefs came, who cast
away their bows and arrows at the doors, and were
permitted to enter. Seeing all the arms in readi
ness they asked the commandant if he feared his chil
dren. He replied that he was not embarrassed, as
he knew how to slay others. He told them that the
Great Spirit had informed him of their designs,
saying that they wished to carry away his effects in
order to go against the Sioux, and intended to put
him in the kettle. They admitted this was true and
hoped, as he was a father to them, that he would be
indulgent.
Next morning the army of savages approached
and claimed they wished to trade, but the French
men required one of the chiefs to mount the door of
the fort and tell them not to advance or they would
be killed; that the Spirit had informed Metaminens
[Perrot] of their resolution.
This trouble over, Perrot was then free to under
take to assemble recruits to go against the Iroquois,
some of whom were Foxes, some were Miamis of
Maramech, and some Pepikokias, then living near
the mouth of the Pestekouy (the Fox river of Illi
nois), some Mangokekis, west of the same river,
some Piankeshaws, east of the river, and some Kila-
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 165
taks, from the south side of the Illinois river. Some
of the latter would have perished of hunger had not
others had a sufficient supply to aid them.
It required many presents, however, to turn these
people against the dreaded Iroquois, the common
enemy. Very far from keeping their promise, they
amused themselves at buffalo hunts for a whole
month; the Foxes and Mascoutins were at war with
the Sioux, hoping to terrify the latter so that they
would not dare approach their villages while they
were making war on the Iroquois.
Perrot was made a prisoner by Mascoutins, who
were of one of the nations that had been particularly
benefited by him in matters of trade. They had
sent to him asking that he come and trade at their
village. He complied, accompanied by a Potta-
watomie chief and six Frenchmen. No sooner were
they there than the Mascoutins seized his merchan
dise. It was the custom among the savages to feed
well the prisoners who were to be burned, in order
that they might have strength to endure the tortures
of fire longer. One of the chiefs chided, saying that
they should care better for him. They wished to
sacrifice him to the shades of a number of their
people who had been killed on several occasions,
they said, for he had been the author of the deaths.
A warrior informed him that he was to be burned at
the rising of the sun, on the prairies; that he was a
sorcerer and had been the cause of the death of fifty
of their people to satisfy the shades of two French
men whom the Mascoutins had killed at Chicago.
He was told that if the French had merely avenged
themselves, nothing would have been said, for
1 66 LOST MARAMECH
"blow should be paid for blow"; but that he had
been too cruel.
He awaited his fate calmly, but the Pottawatomie
chief, fearing for himself, sang his death song.
Perrot was taken from the village the next day with
the other Frenchmen, they complaining bitterly of
their fate. While this was taking place the Mas-
coutins busied themselves dividing Perrot s mer
chandise.
It resulted, however, that Perrot was not burned,
but made his escape; how has not been told us
except by Tailhan, who says that he was rescued by
the Foxes.
A Miami who had a Mascoutin wife saw the war
riors leaving with Perrot, and immediately gave
information to his nation that the Frenchman had
been pillaged and burned by the Mascoutins. The
chief of the Miamis was then engaged in war with
the Iroquois, but his tribe did not wait a moment,
after his arrival, to avenge the supposed death of
Perrot. The nations at The Bay were also in
formed, and they wished to raise the tomahawk and
chastise the Mascoutins.
This being, however, the time of the troubles with
the Iroquois, Perrot turned their warlike spirit to
account in that direction.
The Miamis of Maramech captured eight Loups,
to whom the English had given many presents.
They gave four of these prisoners to the command
ant of the branch of the Miami tribe living on the
river St. Joseph, and destined the others for the
French, their friends, who had rendered them sev
eral services. De Louvigney sent thirty-eight men
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 167
in quest of these people, with an order for them to
put the prisoners "in the kettle" (a figure of speech
meaning to kill, and sometimes, as well, to eat), if
they were not able to get them to Mackinac; but the
Miamis of the St. Joseph river had taken them
away. The Frenchmen presented the Miamis of
Maramech with fifty pounds of powder to engage
them in their interests. These Miamis marched to
the number of two hundred, but separated into four
parties after having divided the powder among
them.
The Miamis who remained at the village of Mara
mech made a solemn feast next day by order of the
great chief, to obtain from the Great Spirit a fortu
nate return of the warriors. They dressed an altar,
on which they put some bearskins, of which they
daubed the heads with green earth. As they passed
before the altar they bowed and knelt. All of the
people were obliged to assist in this ceremony.
Jugglers and the medicine-men, and those who
called themselves sorcerers, formed the first rank;
they held in hand their medicine-bags and their
implements of jugglery; they threw a spell over
those they wished to have die, who feigned to fall
dead; but the medicine-men put drugs between their
lips and resuscitated them by shaking them rudely.
The one that could make the most grotesque figure
drew the most admiration. They danced to the
sound of the drum and gourd rattles; they formed
into two parties, as enemies, and attacked and
defeated in turn. They had some skins of water-
adders and otters which, they said, produced death
to those on whom was thrown this spell, and they
1 68 LOST MARAMECH
brought to life all that they wished. The master of
the ceremony, accompanied by two old men and two
women at his side, marched with gravity while going
to announce, at the doors of all the cabins of the
village, that the ceremony would immediately com
mence. They laid hands upon all they met, who
thanked them by dropping to the knee and embra
cing their legs. One saw nothing but dancing, and
heard nothing but the howls of the dogs that were
killed for the sacrificial feast. The bones of those
they had eaten were then burned, as at a holocaust.
The persons who were killed and resuscitated
danced separately, while some remained as if dead.
Men, women, and girls, and young persons of the
age of twelve years, fell dead and were resuscitated.
The jugglers, the medicine-men and the sorcerers
were each fitted out with their finest ornaments.
Some thrust sticks a foot and a half in length, and
the size of the thumb, down their throats and simu
lated death; but medicine was given them that
brought them to life and set them dancing again.
Others swallowed the feathers of swans and eagles,
which they withdrew and then fell as dead and, in
turn, were resuscitated also. One recognized in
their movements nothing more than artifices most
diabolical. The wealth of all the people was divided
among the jugglers.
The ceremonies continued day and night for five
days. They sought the cabins at night and the pub
lic places during the day, marching always in pro
cession. It was represented to them that what they
did was criminal before God. They responded that,
on the contrary, this was the proper means to influ-
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 169
ence the Great Spirit to deliver the enemy to their
young people, who would perish in war if this
solemnity were not observed.
It resulted that one of the parties returned, at the
end of thirty days, and had killed several Iroquois
without having lost one of their people. They
asked the French: "Believe you that the Great
Spirit has listened to our prayers?" The other
parties returned somewhat later with several prison
ers and the Loups that the Miamis of St. Joseph
had held.
Does it seem possible that where now, on sum
mer nights, laughter echoes midst the maples and
the whip-poor-wills mock the music at the camp-
fires, where Sylvan Spring, like a well-filled goblet,
pours Nature s nectar o er its brim, where now to
sigh is madness, and where, within the hearing of
the dullest ears, the bells and choirs call to lesser
superstitious practices, all this took place?
The Mascoutins at last wished to draw Perrot to
them, and one of the tribe arrived at Maramech and
assured him that they would satisfy him for the
loss of his merchandise. The Miamis, who knew
that the Mascoutins wished only to capture him,
brusquely demanded of them if they believed he
was a dog that one could chase away when he
troubled them, and make return by a caress.
The Mascoutins had learned that all of the people
of The Bay, the Miamis and others, had wished to
avenge the insult they had offered, and sent two
deputies to pray Perrot not to depart from Mara-
i;o LOST MARAMECH
mech, where they wished to speak to him. Their
chief came, with several warriors, and entered the
cabin of the Miamis, where they assembled many of
the] principal men of the nation and some Kicka-
poos; the latter had brought a slave and three chil
dren, whom they made sit before Perrot. The
Mascoutins said that they had only borrowed the
guns, at the same time presenting the slave. They
made various other presents, accompanied by
remarks [to the effect that they had only taken the
merchandise on credit.
Perrot did not succeed in getting the Miamis of
Maramech nor the small branch of the Miami tribe
that had established itself on the west side of the
Mississippi river, near the lead mines, to join those
located on the St. Joseph river. They did not feel
safe where they were, for they did not take any
stock in the promise made by the Iroquois that
their westward excursions should be limited by the
Chicago river. (La Potherie, II., 316.)
The ambition of the Iroquois was still ultimately
to destroy the Illinois, as they had long sought to
do, and hence, in order to allay the fears of those
who would otherwise ally themselves with the Illi
nois, they declared the limit of their claims of pos
session to be as later shown on Jeffrey s map of
1777, by a dotted line. On Gibson s map is this
legend: "The pecked line extending by the Illinois
through Quadaghe cross the Lakes, Illinois and
Hurons, shows the bounds of the territories of the
Six Nations, which by deed of sale they surrendered
to the Crown of Great Britain in 1701, and renewed
in 1726 and 1744."
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 171
An envoy was sent to tell the people of the Miami
village on the other side of the Mississippi river,
that the Governor of New France had something
important to tell them. They were informed that
they were useless to the Governor in the place
where they were; that they were not provided with
munitions of war and would not be able to get any,
if the Iroquois should turn their tomahawks against
them; and that they ought to understand that the
Sioux might easily fall upon them also, should the
Sioux wish to avenge their dead against the Mas-
coutins.
The people of this village "promised to place
their fires atMaramech." They would have placed
them on the river St. Joseph, at the solicitation of
the chief of that region, but he refused to give them
powder and ball. He certainly did stand in his own
light, as they declared, and it is probable that this
branch of the Miamis believed themselves safer at
Maramech, on the Fox river of Illinois, beyond the
line limiting the claims of the Iroquois.
The Mascoutins had failed in their stroke against
the Sioux, with whom they were at that time at
war, and fear that the branch of Miamis on the Mis
sissippi might ally themselves with the Sioux
against them induced the Mascoutins to send one
of their chiefs to Maramech to sound carefully the
Miamis of that region as to any possible intentions
against them.
The affairs among the tribes were decidedly
mixed. The Foxes had received some Iroquois
prisoners from the Miamis of Chicago. Policy pre
vented them from burning these captives, for they
1 72 LOST MARAMECH
hoped that, in case the Sioux came against them,
they could throw themselves, with their families,
on the Iroquois and, with these prisoners, pave the
way to a peaceful union.
In their efforts to get the Miamis of Maramech to
abandon their fires, the Governor finally commanded
that they be given powder in order that their fam
ilies might subsist during the journey to the St.
Joseph, and to kill any Iroquois whom they might
encounter.
Returning to the Foxes, La Potherie tells us that
at one time they built a new village of more than
six hundred cabins and invited the Sacs, then near
them on the Wisconsin river, to share it with them.
The Sacs sent deputies, accompanied by some
Frenchmen, to investigate and consider the pro
priety of accepting the invitation. They found the
people destitute. The Foxes had only about five
or six hatchets, all without edges, which served
each family, in turn, to cut wood; scarcely had they
an awl or knife to each cabin. They cut their
meat with the flints of their arrows, and scaled fish
with clam shells. The misery of the people was
great enough to excite compassion among the
French. They were so thin that whenever they had
eaten their fill they appeared malformed; in feature
they were disagreeable, of voice brutal, and of
visage bad. They acted as though they thought the
French should give up to them all they had; the
fact was that they had but few beaver skins with
which they found it possible to buy anything. Such
was often the impoverished condition reached by
these people. (La Potherie, II., 98.)
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 173
The custom among the western tribes to heal
wounds, as they termed it, by means of presents, is
well shown in the case of a Sac at this Fox village,
who was bathing in the river, when a Frenchman
came and bantered the Sac to let him shoot one of
his arrows. The Sac, having a bit of "cloth, held it
as a target, but the Frenchman s aim was not good
and, as the Sac was not quick enough to "dodge, the
arrow struck his shoulder and he yelled that the
Frenchman had killed him. Perrot ran to him,
pulled out the arrow and made him a present of a
knife, a little vermilion, with which to beautify his
face, and a piece of tobacco. The presents were
sufficient to appease him, but his comrades prepared
to avenge the injury and sought the Frenchman, but
were dissuaded by the Sac, who shouted: "Where
are you going? I am cured. Metaminens has
healed me by this ointment that you see on the
wound, and I am no longer suffering any injury."
With these people the name given by the parent
to a child was usually ignored as the individual
advanced in years, and special names given, often
prompted by fancy. Once accepted the name
remained, for a time at least, by common consent.
So it was that Perrot, the friend of all northern
tribes, was known as Metaminens, the word mean
ing "Little Corn." May not the title have been
chosen because, of all the French who came among
them, he best suited their needs and fancies, and to
him they gave the name of that variety of the pride
of their fields which, when parched, served best
their needs when on long war excursions?
Trade had given the Hurons advantages that were
174 LOST MARAMECH
soon sought by other tribes, some of whom had been
driven west of the Mississippi by the Iroquois.
The Miamis, Mascoutins, Kickapoos, and fifty fam
ilies of Illinois also chose to be near the French
post at Green Bay, because they needed knives and
hatchets, such as they had seen in the hands of the
Hurons. They chose to make their fields about
seventy miles south of one of the villages of the
Foxes. This probably placed them some distance
below the head waters of the river then known as
Pestekouy. The Illinois and Miamis had long
made their fields and hunted over the surrounding
prairies and had run the woods that bordered the
beautiful river, and the bones of their fathers called
them back to their old homes on its shores. To
them eventually came the French, led by Perrot,
accompanied by some Mascoutins. A Miami
among them, owning a gun, was sent before to
announce the coming, which he did by firing within
earshot of the village. They were welcomed by an
old man and woman, who carried an earthen pot of
newly-prepared succotash; it was in the season of
the withering of the silks of the corn and when the
beans were most tender. How the French must
have relished the luxury brought from the native
cornfields and gardens that, mixed and boiled, we
know to be so toothsome! We well may thank
those crude people who taught our mothers to pre
pare the primitive dish, one of the most enjoyable
served to the hungry.
The old man bore a calumet cut out of the red
stone brought from the pipestone quarries of Minne
sota, its long stem ornamented with the heads of the
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 175
brilliant woodpeckers and, at its middle, a bunch of
red feathers. When he saw Perrot, the leader of the
French, he presented the calumet. Holding it to
the sun he uttered words seemingly addressed to
all of the many spirits adored by his people. As if
addressing the god of day, in his course, he held it
first to the east and then to the reddening west.
Many evolutions followed, all seemingly accom
panied by words of prayer and seeming praise that
the French had been permitted to come among
them. A buffalo-robe, "its hair soft as silk,"
was spread on the grass and Perrot and his com
panion requested to sit. The old man failing, on
account of the dampness, to get fire to light the
calumet by rubbing two pieces of wood together,
Perrot astonished them all with his steel, flint, and
punk. To them the steel seemed to be a spirit a
new one to be added to their already too long list.
All then smoked and a feast of soup was prepared,
made from dried meats, and followed by a dessert
of the juice of stalks of ripening corn.
Passing on, frequent halts were made until finally
they reached a hill, on the slope of which was a
great village composed of various tribes. The chief
of the Miamis met them at the shore, at the head
of three thousand men, calumet in hand. A chief
of war raised Perrot on his shoulders and, accom
panied by the musicians, carried him to the village.
This village must have been one of the many that
were located in the "Colonie du Sr. de La Salle,"
the principal one of which was Maramech. The
Mascoutins who had brought him turned him over
to the Miamis to be cared for, but the latter were
i;6 LOST MARAMECH
loth to deprive them of the company of the French
man. Perrot was given fifty guards to prevent
annoyance by the crowds of curious people. A feast
was given, served on wooden dishes that looked
more like troughs than plates. The foods were
soaked with buffalo fat. Particular attention was
paid to Perrot by the attendants who, presumably,
expected ample rewards. The Frenchman pre
sented a gun and kettle, and in an address praised
the people, particularly in regard to their physical
characteristics. Finally he cast more than a dozen
awls and knives, saying: "Leave your awls of
bone; those of the French will serve you better,
and these knives will be more useful to you in dress
ing your beavers and cutting your meats than are
your own made of stone." The Miamis apologized,
regretting that they had not beavers upon which
they might feast the Frenchmen.
An alliance of all these tribes was brought about
by the interposition of Perrot, and at the end of
eight days a feast was made to thank the sun for
lighting his way to their village. In his cabin the
great chief of the Miamis had erected an altar, upon
which he had caused to be put his medicine-bag in
which his charms were carried. Perrot, not approv
ing the ceremonies, said that he worshipped a God
who forbade him to eat anything sacrificed to evil
spirits. They were greatly surprised by this refusal
and requested him, after removing their charms, to
then eat of what had been prepared. The chief also
prayed Perrot to promise the true God that hence
forth he would give Him preference because his own
god had not taught them to make hatchets and ket-
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 177
ties and all things of the kinds brought by the
French; and that he would hope, in worshipping
Him, to obtain all the knowledge that the French
had.
All of these tribes deliberated in council whether,
having few furs and being short of provisions for
their families, they should go with the French to
Montreal. Deciding to go, they made great prepa
rations, beginning with a solemn feast. The even
ing before their departure they fired volleys of
musketry in the village. Three men also sang all
the night without ceasing, invoking, from time to
time, different gods. They sang to Michapous, the
great hare, their most influential god, then to the
god of the lakes, of the rivers and of the forests,
praying the winds, the thunder, the storms, and the
tempests to be favorable to them during their
voyage.
In the morning the village crier called the men to
the cabins where the feast was to be served. There
came the singers of the night before, the first one
stationed at the door of the cabin, the second at
the center, and the third at the extreme end, armed
with quivers, bows, and arrows, the face and all the
body of each blackened with coals from the fires,
and each performed his part. They sang their
songs, each in turn. Twenty nude and painted
young men entered, decorated with crow feathers
and belts of otter skins. Vigorous dancing fol
lowed; so vigorous, in fact, as to frighten the women
and children. Sixty volunteered to go with the
Frenchmen, and later seventy more joined them at
Sault Ste. Marie,
178 LOST MARAMECH
While these were passing the portage at the head
of the Ottawa river, on their way to Montreal, they
were requested by the Nipissings to pay toll; in
fact, a large part of their furs were required to gain
permission to pass. This incident shows that the
Foxes along the Wisconsin river were not alone in
exacting toll.
Perrot repaired, on another mission of friendship,
to the Miamis at Chicago. We learn from early
accounts that the Miamis had a village on the river
of that name, and it is probable, several of them.
This tribe was also, in part, located near the Illinois
town of Kaskaskia, opposite Fort St. Louis, and
Maramech was on the great trail that passed directly
from the Miami and the Illinois villages to Chicago.
Perrot visited Maramech, as previously stated, as
a representative of the Governor of New France in
all matters pertaining to the tribes that were allied
to the French. During the years that Perrot rep
resented the government in the west he visited the
various Miami tribes, in 1692-3 was at "Malamet"
(Maramech) on the river Pestekouy (now the Fox
river of Illinois) and not on the Kalamazoo, as
supposed by O Callaghan, who is followed by
Margry, in Chain of Posts* Neither the birch-bark
canoes nor dugouts were sufficiently seaworthy to
cross the lake, and Perrot, to be in the "way" between
the Iroquois and the Algonquin nations, could not
have been at the Kalamazoo, but plainly on the
Pestekouy, as is seen by Franquelin s maps of 1684,
1687, anc * J 688, and a score of other old maps. That
* For a discussion of this subject see ante pages 70-75.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 179
great concourses of Indians repaired to the actual
"Maramech" is evident by relics there found, sug
gesting a trading station, and by the great area cov
ered by that and possibly both earlier and later
towns. In 1694 Nicholas Perrot arrived at Mon
treal from the west with the Ottawas and farthest
nations, with ten or twelve canoes of Pottawatomies,
Sacs, Folles-Avoines (Winnebagoes), Foxes, and
"Miamis of Maramek. " Every one of these tribes
was from the west side of Lake Michigan, and the
"Miamis of Maramek" were that branch of the tribe
that often warred against the Foxes and Sioux, and
that often joined one or the other. The chief Mes-
sitonga, a "Miami of Maramek," said: "When the
Sioux kills me, I bow my head and recollect my
father has forbidden me to turn my tomahawk
against him." The fact that Messitonga spoke of
being killed by the Sioux shows clearly that the
great barrier, Lake Michigan, was not between him
and the Sioux; that the Illinois, the Miamis of Chi
cago, the Pottawatomies and Menominees, the
Ottawas, Sacs, and Foxes, Kickapoos, and Mas-
coutins, most of whom were from time to time at
war with the Sioux, were not on the way (route)
between him and the English, if he was on the
Kalamazoo. At a great council held in 1694, where
the various western tribes were represented, Perrot
spoke for the "Pepicoquis, who also are Miamis of
Maramek." The Pepicokias, near neighbors of the
Miamis of Maramek, were far from the Kalamazoo,
which is across the lake from the Maramech of
Franquelin s map; they fished and hunted along the
beautiful Pestekouy and there chased the buffalo
i8o LOST MARAMECH
on all of the five prairies that approached Maramech
and the river it adorned, which prairies formed a
great range that was the typical locality of the wild
ox of America; the river being called the Pestekouy
by the Algonquins, the name also being that of the
buffalo.
CHAPTER XI
In 1672 Allouez met the "Machkoutench, Mara-
meg, Kikaboua, Illinoie, Pepikoukia, Kilatika," and
others, all later mapped in the so-called "Colonie du
Sr. de La Salle." He says (Relations, 1672): "They
were deeper in the woods" (from the Mission of St.
Francis Xavier); but he errs by later saying that
they were to the "westward," for they were, in fact,
on the "Pestekouy" river, which heads within a few
leagues of the site of his ancient mission at Green
Bay. They were not the Maramegs of the Chip-
pewa tribe, north of Lake Superior, nor were they
people of the river "Maramec" of Michigan, for
unquestionably they were in the very midst of the
tribes he mentions, where La Salle later found them.
They were of the "Great Village of Maramek"
referred to in the reports of 1695 (^ ^ Cl* Docs.^
IX., 621-624), where we read: "Sieur Perrot pre
sented a robe on the part of the Pepicoquis, who
also are Miamis of Maramek."
It is believed that the Foxes got more than their
share of blame for the depredations along the Wis
consin river, from the fact that the Mascoutins, their
near neighbors, often outdid them in acts of barbarity.
While Perrot was commandant at Maramech these
tribes united in an attack on the Sioux. Perrot had
a fort and trading post on the west side of the Mis
sissippi, "opposite the lead mines," where the lowas
and Sioux came to trade. The Mascoutins and
181
182 LOST MARAMECH
Foxes, being "at war with the Sioux, claimed that
the traders were supplying arms to their enemy, and
planned to rob Perrot. They prepared an ambush,
but the dogs of the Frenchmen found them out and
their plans were defeated.
The Miamis, almost always bitterly against the
Iroquois, once raised a band of three hundred war
riors and were ready for the warpath. Some French
men who were in the vicinity, considering only their
own immediate interests, made them believe that
Onontio wished them to hunt the beaver during the
winter in order to trade the furs for ammunition to
become better able to go against the common enemy
during the r coming spring; but the counsel did not
delay them, and they went and captured twelve
Iroquois and broke their heads. Finding themselves
pursued, they killed sixteen on another occasion.
The Sacs and their allies were wise enough to
prove their fidelity to Onontio. There were only
the Foxes and Mascoutins who violated their prom
ises; they were infuriated against the Sioux, notwith
standing an alliance of peace, and found themselves
in embarrassments from which they were finally only
able to extricate themselves by the mediation of the
French. They were never able to efface from their
hearts the passion for revenge that dominated them.
They moved in a body and provoked a combat with
the Sioux, taking over four hundred prisoners and
cutting to pieces all who resisted. They practiced
some unheard-of cruelties on their prisoners, seem
ingly to avenge the loss of fifteen warriors, in the
action, and burned two hundred women and chil
dren. Six Frenchmen went to liberate some of the
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 183
prisoners and, on the way, passed some of the lately
killed. The Miamis (the branch on the Mississippi
near the lead mines) were sensibly touched by the
depredations and, fearing that the Sioux would lay
violent hands on them, they being the neighbors of
the Foxes and Mascoutins, they engaged Perrot to
go to the Sioux and assure them that the Miamis
had taken no hand in the murders, and to say that
they would take their part. He went with a party
of Sioux who came from a reconnoiter against the
Mascoutins, and who said that they had found,
about twenty miles above, sixty of their people who
formed the advance guard, to see if their enemy was
likely to return the attack. He had no sooner
approached the Sioux than they bathed him with
their tears, making cries capable of touching the
hearts of the most insensible. After having wept a
half hour they raised him on a bearskin and carried
him to the top of a hill, upon which they camped.
He requested them to make his arrival known at the
French fort.
Several days after he departed with six Sioux.
He passed by the village, entirely ruined, where he
saw the sad remains of the fury of their enemies.
The lamentations of those who had escaped from
the cruelties were heard on all sides.
There chanced to be there at that time a French
man who called himself a great captain. In expo
sing some pieces of cloth for sale he made the people
believe that the fabrics would develop an evil spirit
that would cause the death of those who had
devoured their families. This trifling enabled him
to dispose of his merchandise. When the Sioux
184 LOST MARAMECH
learned of the arrival of Perrot they conducted him
to his fort. He took a favorable opportunity to
present to them the pipe of peace on the part of the
Miamis, and said to them:
"Chiefs, I weep the death of your children; the
Foxes and Mascoutins, in deceiving me, have
ravished you. Heaven has witnessed their cruelty,
for which it will punish them. The blood of your
dead is yet too fresh to warrant you in undertaking
to avenge them; Heaven wishes that you weep to
appease it. It has declared against you and will
not assist if you put yourself in march this summer.
I have learned that you have assembled to search
your enemies; they are entrenched in a good fort;
the Foxes have the greater part of the prisoners
taken from you and will undoubtedly massacre them
if your warriors appear. I cover your dead* by
casting to them two kettles; but do not bury the
kettles with them. I will shelter your dead from
the storms until Onontio shall have learned of your
loss; he will determine what he can do for you. I
shall go to him and do my best to learn from him
what he can do to restore your children. He can
only be influenced by compassion. The Miamis,
who are his children, have obeyed him when,
through me, he has bidden them to cease making
war against you; they have learned of your affliction
and lament your disaster. Behold the pipe of
peace, which they send you with the word that they
disapprove of the course taken by the Foxes and
Mascoutins, and pray you to remember the alliance
* By this idiom is meant, I soothe your feelings for the loss
of your dead by casting to their spirits, etc.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 185
existing between them and you; if you make up
parties to go to find the bones of your dead, do not
mistake and peril their families."
This speech was followed by very bitter lamenta
tions; there were heard only cries and dirges. They
took brands from the fire with which they burned
their bodies, without wincing, saying several times
this word of despair: "Kabato! Kabato!"
Perrot, having yielded the time they gave to these
natural impulses, gave them presents of several
lengths of tobacco and said: "Smoke, chiefs!
Smoke, warriors! Smoke peaceably in the hope
that will return to you some of your wives and chil
dren; that I will take them from the jaws of your
enemies. Place again all your confidence in
Onontio [Governor Frontenac], who is master of
the land, from whom you will receive satisfaction."
Perrot, pausing, cast to them some packages of
knives and continued: "These knives are to dress
the beavers and not to scalp men ; use them until you
have news from Onontio."
The Frenchmen who had stopped them to trade
in furs, were compelled to come to the fort to dis
pose of their merchandise. The one they had
regarded as a great captain having arrived, they
sought him and said that since the cloths he had
sold them had caused the deaths of the Foxes and
Mascoutins, they wished to sing to him and Perrot
some of the dirges of the calumet, to lead them to
aid in their undertakings. "We have resolved,"
said they, "not to leave our dead until we have
taken a village, the people of which we wish to sac
rifice to the shades of our dead. We recognize the
1 86 LOST MARAMECH
Miamis as our brothers, and we are going to send
deputies to make peace with them. We have little
against the Foxes for taking away our women, for
they have spared their lives; they have not followed
them when they have escaped. Ten have returned
who have said that the Foxes are kindhearted and
that the latter censured the Mascoutins for having
eaten all of their captives."* It was reported that
for one Mascoutin who had been killed in the
encounter they had burned and put to death twenty
of the Sioux women and children, and that they
lived only on the flesh of the prisoners, in the retreat.
The trader said that he was ready to receive the
pipe if Perrot would do so. The Sioux assembled
in the cabin of the war chief, where they performed
the ceremony of the pipe of war, in which they asked
the two Frenchmen to smoke. Putting the ashes of
the tobacco on the ground, they invoked the Great
Spirit, the sun, the stars, and all the lesser spirits.
Perrot refused the pipe, saying that as he was only a
child he could do nothing without the participation
of his father, Onontio; that he had come to lament
their dead and to bring the pipe of peace from the
Miamis who had not participated in the barbarities
of their enemies; that if they wished to give him a
pipe to reply to the Miamis, he would carry it to
them, but that he was not in position to declare
against the Mascoutins, who would distrust him for
that reason; that they would not fail to learn that
one had sung to him the dirge; that he had great
* To "eat the captives" did not always mean to use them as
food, but it was often a general term signifying to make way
with them.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 187
reason to complain of their ingratitude because he
had run great risks of being himself burned among
them, but that it would be necessary to lay all such
matters before Onontio. The Sioux admitted that
he was right and were made to believe that they had
sufficient reason to hang up the tomahawk until
Onontio should know all that had passed.
The Foxes much wished that the Frenchmen
would bring some of the Sioux to treat for peace, as
they were much embarrassed by their prisoners;
they were not ignorant of the fact that their conduct
was an invasion of the rights of those people. The
Sioux judged it not judicious to expose their depu
ties alone, and so departed, thirty in number, to go
to the Miami village that was located on the west
bank of the Mississippi river, opposite the lead
mine. The Miamis were informed of the coming of
the [deputies, and forty went to meet them. The
interview between these people passed with offers of
services on the part of one and of lamentations on
the part of the other. The Sioux shed many tears,
as was their custom on such occasions, on the^heads
of the Miamis. The ^Miamis presented the Sioux
with one of the girls and a little boy that they had
taken from the Mascoutins, and covered the dead
Sioux by giving eight kettles, assuring the Sioux of
their friendship and asking the chiefs to smoke,
promising to bring back as many of their women and
children as they could.
The Miamis and Sioux had (unknown to the
Frenchmen) some secret meetings during one night,
when the Miamis vowed the entire destruction of the
Mascoutins.
1 88 LOST MARAMECH
The Miamis last referred to were informed that
Onontio wished to communicate with them and they
came, to the number of twenty-five. They were
told that they were useless where they were to aid in
sustaining Onontio in the war against the Iroquois;
that they would not be given munitions of war if
they did not also turn their tomahawks against the
common enemy; that they ought to assure them
selves that the Sioux would not fall upon them when
they should go to take vengeance for their dead
against the Mascoutins. They promised to "place
their fires at Maramek." They would have gone to
the river St. Joseph, where was a large branch of the
Miami tribe, at the solicitation of the chief there,
but for the refusal of powder and balls, which gave
them the bad opinion they had of him.
The Mascoutins learned of the meeting of the
Sioux and Miamis, by the interposition of Perrot,
and they conjectured that Perrot s act was only the
result of the recollection of the insults they had
committed against him. They admitted his loss and
flattered themselves that, in taking his goods and
those of the Frenchmen who were with him, they
had means to enable them to withdraw more easily
to the Iroquois if they should fall under the fire of
the nations that had vowed vengeance against them.
They resolved to surprise Perrot one night, but
some dogs that had a great antipathy for the
savages who eat them, caused them to be discovered.
This obliged Perrot to put himself on the defensive.
The Mascoutins, who had failed, withdrew without
undertaking anything further. The fear they had
that the Frenchmen and Miamis would unite with
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 189
the Sioux against them, inclined them to send one
of their chiefs to Maramech to skillfully sound the
Miamis of that village, as previously stated. He
there chanced to meet Perrot, with whom he had a
conference. The savages were commonly politic
and compliant in their conduct. He said, "Thou
rememberest," at the same time smiling, "what I
have done to thee; thou seekest to avenge thyself."
The controversy continued for some time, but Perrot
contented himself with reproaching the Mascoutins
for all their unfaithfulnesses, both in regard to the
French and the Sioux.
Some young Mascoutin warriors arrived at the
cabin while this was taking place, who reported
that the chief was wanted at the village, as his
people had discovered the army of the Sioux at the
lead mine.
The messengers had no trouble to make them
selves heard, and the chief of the village ran about
calling the scattered people to proceed quickly to
build a fort.
When this took place (1694) Na-nan-gous-sis-ta
and Mac-i-ton-ga were the chiefs of Maramech, one
of them, no doubt, the war-chief, and it was he who
commanded the people of Maramech to hasten to
protect themselves. It seems probable that the
denizens of the scattered village hastened to the
hill, found by me to be historic, and there began
the fort that, thirty years afterward, when finished
by the Foxes, made a temporary shelter. We shall
never know to what extent history was made on
Maramech hill. It is probable that at the eastern
side, where the ditch is deepest, the Miamis began
190 LOST MARAMECH
the work. Fragments of three events only are
known. Perrot was chosen to command at Mara-
mech in 1692, and it seems possible that the fort had
already been commenced at the time his responsi
bilities at the village began.
Soon after the fears of the approach of the Sioux
had subsided the Frenchmen departed for Green
Bay and were escorted by many people of the village.
Before debarking at The Bay the Frenchmen em
ployed themselves in successful attempts to influ
ence the Foxes to deliver the Sioux prisoners. The
Foxes were presented two Iroquois by the Miamis
of Chicagou; policy prevented them from applying
the torch because they hoped that in case the Sioux
attacked their village they could throw themselves
with their families upon the Iroquois, who had long
wished them to join in a war against the French.
The Foxes had long known that all the neighboring
nations wished their entire destruction. The Sau-
teurs had been pillaged, the French brutalized, and
all the allies insulted. The Foxes sent a chief with
the two prisoners, whom they freed, to ask that the
Iroquois meet them on the river St. Joseph; they
wished the Mascoutins to join them, in which case
they would have been able to raise a body of nine
hundred warriors to march against the Miamis and
Illinois. A son of the Fox chief, however, was
friendly to the French, and insisted upon going
with the many delegates from the western tribes to
Montreal to confer with the Governor of New
France. The return of the son of the Fox chief
from Montreal made a great impression upon the
tribes, however, very favorable to the French.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 191
The Foxes seem sometimes to have been driven
to drastic measures and arguments most convincing.
At one time, while a party of French traders were
in the Sioux country, some Foxes brought some
hatchets to The Bay for repair. They forced a
Jesuit brother to put them in order. The chief held
a naked saber ready to kill him should he object.
The brother, remonstrating against the act, was
injured to such an extent that he was laid up for a
time. With weapons thus in order the chief formed
an ambuscade and awaited the return of the French
who had gone to the Sioux. "It is true that all of
the people of The Bay have reason to complain that
one carries all sorts of munitions of war to their
enemies." (La Potherie, II., 245.)
The French considered the Foxes mere footpads
when, as a matter of fact, they were only exacting
toll for the right to pass through their lands and
across the portage. This tribe early became the
Ishmaelites of the west. They interrupted the
western tribes that brought furs to Green Bay, and
the legitimate traders, as well as the clandestine
ones, the coureurs du bois. Complaints were early
made of the Foxes by the traders when passing
through their country and, as the mild remedies
applied by the French for many years had failed to
cure the evil, arms were soon resorted to. The
trade with the Sioux was profitable to the French,
but the great highway was watched by the Foxes
and Mascoutins, neighbors as well as sometimes
brothers in iniquity, as the French rightly believed.
They plundered the French under the pretense that
the latter were carrying ammunition to the Sioux,
LOST MARAMECH
then, as often before, their enemies That the
French carried ammunition to the Sioux is made
evident by the very fact that the Sioux got ammu
nition, for they could not have procured it in any
other way. The Spanish could not have approached
within a thousand miles of ^their hunting-grounds,
and the English were effectually shut out. As early
as these troubles, more than one of the western
tribes believed it desirable to leave the country and
unite with the Iroquois, on account of the fact that
the Sioux had become armed to such an extent that
they constituted a greater terror than the Iroquois
had ever been, even to the Hurons. The remnants
of the Hurons were long in league with the Iro
quois, only as a matter of policy, and it became a
question, even with the Ottawas, what had best be
done. The Foxes and Mascoutins, mustering
twelve hundred warriors at that time, had never
made a general war upon the French; but as they
received no aid from the latter, they were contem
plating joining the Iroquois and settling near them
as a matter of protection from the Sioux, who had
made war upon them.* The opinion then held by
the French is found in Chain of Posts, p. 121: "The
Foxes are so called because theirs is a nation deceit
ful and malicious. They are situated on a very
beautiful river and in a very good country for all
purposes. This nation is powerful, and this is why
it has become so insolent. I think that if we had
not had the war with the Iroquois on hand, we would
have taken measures to humiliate them; they have
already insulted and pillaged the French several
* Despatches from Canada, N. Y. C. Doc., IX, 633.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
193
times, and otherwise treated them indignantly.
They do not make war upon the Iroquois, but on
the contrary, there is some alliance between them.
It is due to the policy of this enemy of all nations
of the New World that they have been able to hold
in neutrality one nation, amidst all the others, that
would have been able to disturb it much, if it had
declared war. When affairs go badly, the Foxes
interfere by undertaking negotiations, and often suc
ceed so well that the Iroquois take breath in the
interval, because there is no nation that estimates
itself happy that does not pride itself on being
sought by an enemy that makes all tremble so that
one does not refuse the peace when demanded. The
Foxes are slovenly and great thieves, and one must
watch their feet as well as their hands, for they are
very adroit with them. They are at war with the
Sioux, the Saulteux [a branch of the Ojibwas], and
make telling strokes on their enemies."
"Chicagou" (Chicago) had become an important
trading post at the time Cadillac was given com
mand at Detroit. He tells us that the word signifies
"river of the onion," because those vegetables grow
without care in great quantities. (Chain of Posts,
123.) It is readily believed by the dwellers in the
now great city that such was the origin, for wher
ever the native sod of the suburbs is found, adjacent
to the stream of that name, the wild onion is still
exceedingly abundant. Along the river was a
Miami village. Its people were bold, good war
riors, and extremely alert. Cadillac tells us that
they were true bloodhounds, and that they were
feared by the Iroquois. The nation was numerous,
194 LOST MARAMECH
but divided into several villages because of jealousy
of the leading men who could not agree and, as they
were haughty and warlike, they were inclined to
make war against each other. Because of this divi
sion, their enemies destroyed them often; by being
disunited they risked destruction. Where the
branches of this tribe were, Cadillac does not say,
but we know that some were near the great Illinois
village and others were at "Malamek [Maramech],
(Chain of Posts, p. 72.) It was with these people,
the Foxes, the Hurons, and others that the Iro-
quois, in 1694, demanded, through the French, a
treaty of peace. (Chain of Posts, P. LIII.)
Perrot succeeded in taking representatives of the
various western tribes to hold council with the Gov
ernor of New France, where the chief of the Foxes
had but few words to offer. "What shall I say to
my father? I have come all naked [in poverty]
to see him. I can give him no assurance. The
Sioux tied my arms and I killed him because he
began. Father, be not angry with me" for so doing.
I am come here only to hear you and execute your
will." In reply to this the Governor said: "Fox, I
now speak to you; your young men have no sense;
you have a bad t heart, but mine was beginning to
be worse disposed than yours, had you not come to
hear my word and do my will. I was resolved to
send Mr. de Lamotte with a party of my young men
on a visit to your village. That would have been
unfortunate, for no doubt your women and children
would have been frightened by them. I hope you
have sense now, and that you will smoke in peace
out of the same calumet as the French who are
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 195
about to go and see you." (N. Y. Col. Doc., IX.,
679.)
The Governor, to conciliate the Foxes, after the
distribution of presents among them, said: "No
more powder and iron [guns] will be conveyed to the
Sioux, and if my young men carry any thither, I
will chastise them severely." In 1701 peace was
again made between the Foxes and all other nations,
including the Miamis. The pipe of peace was
smoked, and the deputies from the various tribes
partook of the feasts prepared by the French. The
Miamis presented the pipe of peace, and the Gov
ernor then said that it should serve thereafter, that
all who came there willing to maintain peace might
smoke it. After the speech of the Governor a rep
resentative of each nation spoke in reply. Chichi-
catato, one of the chiefs of the Miamis, said:
"Father, I have obeyed you by bringing you back
eight Iroquois prisoners, to do with as you please;
had I canoes I would have brought more, although
I do not see here any of my people in the hands of
the Iroquois present. I will bring you those that
remain, if you wish it, or I shall open the door to
them that they may return." Miskeounas, chief of
the Foxes, said: "I have no prisoners to surrender
to you, father, but I thank you for the clear sky
[the new peace] you give the whole world. For
myself I will never lose this light."
We shall soon see how well this declaration of
peace with the Foxes was kept by the French. The
peace established among these tribes, by the influ
ence of the Governor, was none too soon. The
Piankeshaws, a branch of the Miamis, having been
ig6 LOST MARAMECH
defeated by the Sioux and the lowas, had united
with the Kickapoos, Mascoutins, Foxes, and others,
a year or two previous, with the intention of aven
ging the injuries committed by the Sioux. Follow
ing this, some or all of the Foxes united with the
Sacs, Pottawatomies, and others, and, passing up the
Mississippi river, encountered five Canadians, whom
they wounded, robbed, and left destitute with the
exception of a poor gun and five or six charges of
powder. The Canadians were on their way to trade
with the tribes at the mouth of the Illinois river. If
there was any pillaging of the French, or interfer
ence of trade, on any of the routes leading from
Canada to Louisiana, the Foxes usually took a
hand. Their depredations became worse after
about the year 1700. Le Sueur, who established a
trading post among the Sioux and was getting his
supplies by the way of the Great Lakes, received
attentions from the Foxes and others along the
Fox river of Wisconsin. About 1703 a merchant of
Montreal despatched an expedition to the country
of the Sioux to join Le Sueur. The value of the
supplies was very great, and it was pillaged by the
Foxes.
Heading near the Wisconsin river, and wandering
through a rich level country, is the Fox river. The
lips of tradition are silent as to the people who had
already left tumuli along the bank when Europeans
first visited the region. The great area of small
lakes and ponds invited waterfowl and fur-bearing
animals, and the rich grasses of the broad prairies
made the region the home of the deer and buffalo.
Man had long before been there; a superior race, or
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 197
a superior branch of some of the western tribes, had
raised a mound on the north bank of the river, near
Winnebago lake, known as "Great Butte des Morts"
(hill of the dead). Tradition s echo tells that it was
a burial-place, as in fact the presence of human
bones shows. One tradition informs us that "the
earth has not only covered the bodies of warriors
slain in battle, but it has been raised up as a record
of events disastrous to the Fox tribe of Indians,
whose principal village, at an early period, was
near this place on the Fox river. This mound is
nevertheless to be considered as a modern structure,
because the time of its erection, or at least the event
which it commemorates, can be referred to, if not
in correct history, at least as traditionary accounts.
Here, it is said, the Foxes had their stronghold, and
from this point not only were depredatory excur
sions made against the neighboring tribes, but the
early French traders were compelled to submit to
exactions from these Indians on their voyages along
the Fox river.
"It thus became necessary for the French to
inflict such a punishment on the Fox tribe as should
be the means of deterring them, in the future, from
their depredations on the traders. Accordingly, in
1703, an expedition under Captain Morand was sent
from Mackinaw against them, and in the attack
upon them by surprise, at this, their stronghold,
more than one thousand of their warriors perished;
and the great hill of the dead was raised over
their bones by the survivors who, in a few years,
left this part of the country and removed farther to
the west. Other accounts differ in regard to the
198 LOST MARAMECH
time when the great battle was fought, which nearly
destroyed the tribe and caused their removal; but all
agree that the mound raised received its significant
name from such an event." (Smith s Hist. Wis.,
Ill, 362.)
I have found nothing definite in regard to this
battle, and it is quite probable that the account may
be a mixture of early and later events, for we are
told of a similar battle that occurred in 1714.
CHAPTER XII
The siege of Detroit has been told by several
whose accounts vary but little. The only official
account at hand was that of Du Buisson, the French
commandant, sent to the Marquis de Vaudreuil,
which follows (Smith s Hist. Wis., III., 315):
"As I thought it was of great consequence to
inform you of the state of this post by express
canoe, I have requested M. de Vincennes to make
the voyage, having assured him that this arrange
ment would be pleasing to you, persuaded, as I am,
that you are very solicitous about what passes here.
The fatigue I undergo day and night in consequence
of the public and private councils that I hold with
the Indians preventing me from rendering you a
detailed account of all the circumstances.
"The destruction of the Mascoutin and Fox vil
lages is one of the principal reasons which induces
me to send this express canoe. [By Village is here
meant "branches of the tribes."] It is God who has
suffered these two audacious nations to perish.
They have received many presents and some belts
[treaty belts of wampum] from the English, to
destroy the post of Fort Pontchartrain [Detroit],
and then to cut our throats and those of our allies,
particularly the Hurons and Ottawas, residing upon
the Detroit river, and after that these wretches
intended to settle among the English and devote
themselves to their services. . . ."
199
200 LOST MARAMECH
Certain of the tribes had gone to the Iroquois and
established a village, and it was thought by the com
mandant that the Foxes would be likely to do the
same; in fact, as we shall see, a branch of the Foxes
attempted to carry this out eighteen years later.
Three canoes of Foxes that had been defeated by
the Chippewas, some distance above Detroit, gave
this information to Du Buisson, he claims. The
account states that "the band of the Great Chief
Lamina and that of the Great Chief Pemoussa came
early in the spring and encamped, in spite of my
opposition, at about fifty paces from my fort, never
willing to listen to me, speaking always with much
insolence and calling themselves the owners of all
this country. It was necessary for me to be very
mild, having as you know, sir, but thirty Frenchmen
with me, and wishing to restrain eight Miamis who
were with De Vincennes, and also to sow our grain
and pasture our cattle; and, besides, the Ottawas
and Hurons had not come in from their winter hunt.
I was thus exposed every day to a thousand insults.
The fowls, pigeons, and other animals belonging to
the French were killed without their daring to say a
word, and, for myself, I was in no condition to
openly declare my intentions. One of their parties
entered my fort in order to kill one of the inhabit
ants named Lagmenesse and a daughter of Roy,
another inhabitant. I could then no longer restrain
myself, but took arms to prevent their accomplish
ing their object. I compelled them to retire imme
diately from the vicinity of the fort in order to not
give them time to strengthen their party, as they
expected the Kickapoos, their allies, that they
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 201
might together execute their nefarious project; ho
ping to be strong enough to retire without loss among
the English and Iroquois, they wanted but a favor
able moment to set fire to the fort.
"But they were alarmed when they learned that
the party of Mascoutins, who had wintered upon
the head of the St. Joseph, had been cut off to the
number of a hundred and fifty men, women, and
children, by Saguina, a war-chief of the Ottawas,
and Pottawatomies. They immediately determined
to set fire to an Ottawa cabin, which was close by
the gate of my fort. I was informed of their inten
tion by an Outagamie [Fox] Indian named Joseph,
who long since left his people and came to reside
among us. It was from him I learned all that
passed in the Outagamie and Mascoutin village.
He had the honor to be presented to you, sir, last
year, at Montreal. He informed me of the inten
tion to set fire to my fort, and I immediately sent
an express canoe to the hunting-grounds of the
Ottawas and Hurons, to request them to join me as
soon as possible. I sent also another canoe to the
other side of the lake to invite the Chippeways and
Mississaugas to join us.
"The church and the house of Mr. Mullet were
outside of the fort, and all our wheat was stored
there. The contrary winds prevented our allies
from arriving, which troubled me much. As the
circumstances were now pressing, I prevailed on the
few Frenchmen who were with me immediately to
bring the wheat into the fort. And it was well I
did so, for two days later it would have been pil
laged. We had to fire upon the enemy to secure it,
202 LOST MARAMECH
and as it was, they stole a considerable portion of it.
But the principal object was to pull down, as quickly
as possible, the church, the storehouse, and some
other houses which were near my fort, and so close
that the Indians, at any time, by setting fire to
them, might have burnt our works. And, besides,
it was important, in order to defend ourselves in
case of an attack, which very soon took place. It
became us to render thanks to the Lord for His
mercies. We should have been lost if I had not
formed this determination. I put on the best coun
tenance I could, encouraging the French who were
in consternation, believing themselves lost. The
apprehension I entertained that some accident
might happen to the French who had not yet arrived,
and the necessity of sowing our grain and pasturing
our cattle, prevented me from refusing them [the
hostile Indians] permission to enter the fort to
trade, for fear they should suspect I was aware of
their object. The only thing I could do was to tell
them that I apprehended the Miamis would attack
me because I permitted them to remain so near, and
therefore I was about to repair my fort. They did
not appear to give much credit. to my assertions.
Our men were obliged to draw some posts, of which
the Indians had taken possession, in order to repair
the fort as soon as possible, and I succeeded per
fectly well in effecting the repairs with material
taken from some of the houses. They wished to
preserve a pigeon-house, from which they might
have assailed us, but I deceived them and took
possession of it. I placed it immediately oppo
site their fort, and pierced it with loopholes. I
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 203
mounted two swivels upon logs of wood, to serve
as cannon in case of necessity.
"The thirteenth day of May, while I was impa
tiently awaiting the arrival of my allies, who were
the only aid I could expect, Mr. de Vincennes
arrived from the Miami country with seven or eight
Frenchmen. He brought me no news of the
Indians, which gave me much trouble, and I did not
know on jvvhat saint to call. But heaven watched
over our preservation, and when I least expected it,
there came a Huron, all breathless, who said to me:
My father, I wish to speak to you in secret. I am
sent to you by our peace chiefs. There were then
in their villages but seven or eight men. It seems
that our deliverance was miraculous, for all others
arrived two hours after, and the Ottawas also. The
messenger said, God has pity on you; He has
decreed that your enemies and ours should perish. I
bring you information that four men have just
arrived at our fort, not daring to enter yours on
account of the Outagamies and Mascoutins who sur
round you. Makisabie, war-chief of the Pottawato-
mies, and his brother, Tehamasimon, are at their
head and desire to counsel with you.
"I requested Mr. de Vincennes to meet them,
and he recognized at once the four Indians. He
returned an hour after, to render me an account of
the interview and told me, on the part of Makisabie,
that six hundred men would soon arrive to aid me,
and to eat those miserable nations who had troubled
all the country; that it was necessary to keep myself
on my guard against the Outagamies and Mascoutins,
who might learn of the expected arrival of assistance.
204 LOST MARAMECH
"I requested Mr. de Vincennes to return to the
Huron fort and ascertain from Makisabie if it would
not be satisfactory to his people to content them
selves with driving away the Mascoutins and the
Outagamies and compel them to return to their
former villages, which, sir, was your intention.
But this could not be done, for the Hurons were too
much irritated. This great affair had been too well
concerted during the whole autumn and winter,
with all the nations. Mr. de Vincennes, perceiv
ing it would only irritate the Hurons to speak of
accommodation, dropped the subject and the more
readily as they said these wicked men never kept
their word. Nothing else was done but to be silent
and put the best face on the affair, while we fought
with them against our enemies. The Hurons even
reproached us with being tired of living, as we knew
the bad intentions of the Outagamies and Mascou
tins. They said it was absolutely necessary to
destroy them and to extinguish their fire, and it
was your intention they should perish. They added
that they knew your views on this subject at Mon
treal.
"Mr. de Vincennes returned and told me it was
useless to speak of any accommodation. And in truth
I well knew there was great danger in having so
many nations around us of whose good intentions
we were not certain. I then closed the gates of the
fort and divided my Frenchmen into four brigades,
each having its brigadier. I inspected their arms
and ammunition and assigned them their stations
on the bastions. I put four of them into the
redoubt I had just constructed. I placed some of
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 205
them at the two curtains which were most exposed,
and armed them with spears. My two cannon were
all ready, with slugs of iron prepared to load them
with, which had been made by the blacksmith. Our
reverend father held himself ready to give general
absolution in case of necessity, and to assist the
wounded if there should be any. He communicated
also the Sacred Host.
"Every arrangement being made, and while we
were waiting with impatience, I was informed that
there were many people in sight. I immediately
ascended a bastion, and casting my eyes toward the
woods I saw the army of the nations of the south issu
ing from it. They were the Illinois, the Missouris,
the Osages, and other nations yet more remote.
There were also with them the Ottawa chief Saguina,
and also the Pottawatomies, the Sacs, and some
Menomenies. Detroit never saw such a collection
of people. It is surprising how much all these
nations are irritated against the Mascoutins and the
Outagamies. This army marched in good order,
with as many flags" as there were different nations,
and it proceeded directly to the fort of the Hurons.
These Indians ^said to the head chief of [the army,
You must not encamp. Affairs are too pressing.
We must enter immediately into our father s fort
and fight for him. As he has always had pity on]us,
and as he loves us, we ought to die for him. And
don t you see that smoke also? They are the women
of your village, Saguina, who are burning there, and
your wife is among them. Not another word was
necessary. There arose a great cry, and at the
same time they all began to run, having the Hurons
206 LOST MARAMECH
and the Ottawas at their head. The Outagamies
and the Mascoutins raised also their war cry, and
about forty of them issued from their fort, all naked
and well armed, running to meet our Indians and to
brave them, in order to make them believe they
were not afraid. They were obliged, however, to
retreat immediately, and to return to their village.
Our Indians requested permission to enter my fort,
which I granted, seeing they were much excited.
It was my design they should encamp near the
woods, that they might not be troublesome to us.
All the Indian chiefs assembled upon the parade
ground of my fort and spoke to me as follows: My
father, I speak to you on the part of all the nations,
your children, who are before you. What you did
last year in drawing their flesh from the fire, which
the Outagamies were about to roast and eat, well
merits that we should bring you our bodies. So
make you the master of them, they to do all you
wish. We do not fear death, whenever it is neces
sary to die for you. We have only to request that
you pray the father of all nations to have pity
on our women and our children in case we lose our
lives with you. We beg you to throw a blade of
grass upon our bones to protect them from the flies.
You see, my father, that we have abandoned our vil
lages, our women, and our children, to hasten as
soon as possible to join you. We hope that you
will have pity on us and that you will give us some
thing to eat and a little tobacco to smoke. We
have come from a distance and are destitute of
everything; we hope you will give us powder and
balls to fight with you. We don t make a great
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 207
speech. We perceive that we fatigue you and your
people by the ardor which you ^show for the fight.
"I immediately answered them, and briefly: I
thank you, my children; the determination that you
have taken to offer to die with us is very agreeable
to me and causes me much pleasure. I recognize
you as the true children of the Governor-General,
and I shall not fail to render him account of all that
you have done for me to-day. You need not doubt
that when any question respecting your interest
arises, he will regard it favorably. I receive orders
from him every day to watch continually for the
preservation of his children. With regard to your
necessities, I know you want everything. The fire
which has just taken place is unlucky for you as
well as for me. I will do all I can to provide you
with what you want. I beg you to live in peace,
union, and good intelligence together, as well
among your different nations as with the French
people. This will be the best means of enabling us
to defeat our common enemies. Take courage,
then; inspect and repair your war clubs, your bows
and arrows, and especially your guns. I shall sup
ply you with powder and balls immediately, and
then will attack our enemies. This is all I have to
say to you.
"All the Indians uttered a cry of joy and of
thanks and said: Our enemies are dead from the
present moment. The heavens begin to grow clear,
and the Master of Life has pity on us.
"All the old men made harangues through the
fort to encourage the warriors, telling them to listen
to my words and strictly obey all my orders. I dis-
208 LOST MARAMECH
tributed among them immediately a quantity of
balls and powder, and then we all raised the war
cry. The very earth trembled. The enemy, who
were not more than a pistol-shot distant, raised also
their war cry at the same time. The guns were
immediately discharged on both sides, and the
balls flew like hail.
"We had to do as our Indians did in order to
encourage them. The powder and balls that you
had the goodness to send us, sir, the past autumn,
did not last long. I was obliged to have recourse
to three barrels that Mr. de Lamothe left with a cer
tain Roy to sell, not leaving me a single grain when
he went away for the defense of the fort in case of
an attack. All mine was exhausted, as well as a
quantity which I had been obliged to purchase of
some of the French people.
"I held the Outagamies and the Mascoutins in a
state of siege during nineteen days, wearing them
out by a continual fire night and day. In order to
avoid our fires they were obliged to dig holes four
or five feet deep in the ground to shelter them
selves. I had erected two high scaffolds, twenty
feet high, the better to fire into their village. They
could not go out for water, and they were exhausted
by hunger and thirst. I had from four to five hun
dred ^men, who blockaded their village night and
day, so that no one could issue to seek assistance.
All our Indians went and hid themselves at the edge
of the woods, whence they continually returned with
prisoners, who came to join their people, not know
ing they were besieged. Their sport was to shoot
them or to fire arrows at them and then burn them.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
209
"The enemy that I had kept besieged, thinking
to intimidate me and by this means to have the
field left open to them, covered their palisades with
scarlet blankets and then hallooed to me that they
wished the earth was all colored with blood; these
red blankets were the mark of it. They hoisted
twelve red blankets as standards in twelve different
places of their village. I well knew that these sig
nals were English and that they fought for the Eng
lish. This, indeed, they told us, for we could speak
from one fort to the other. They said they had no
father but the English, and told all the nations, our
allies, that they would do much better to quit our
side and join theirs.
"The great war chief of the Pottawatomies, after
having requested my advice and permission,
mounted one of my scaffolds and spoke to our ene
mies in the name of all our nations in these words:
Wicked nations that you are, you hope to frighten
us by all that red color which you exhibit in your
village. Learn that if the earth is covered with
blood, it will be yours. You speak to us of the
English; they are the cause of your destruction,
because you have listened to their bad counsel.
They are enemies of prayer, and it is for that reason
that the Master of Life chastises them as well as
you, wicked men that you are; don t you know as
well as we do, that the father of all the nations,
who is at Montreal, sends continually parties of his
young men against the English to make war, and
who took so many prisoners that they do not know
what to do with them? The English, who are
cowards, only defend themselves by secretly killing
210 LOST MARAMECH
men by that wicked strong drink, which has caused
so many men to die immediately after drinking it.
Thus we shall see what will happen to you for hav
ing listened to them.
"I was obliged to stop this conversation, perceiv
ing that the enemy had requested to speak merely
to attract our attention while they went for water.
I ordered our great fire to recommence, which was
so violent that we killed more than twenty men and
some women who had secretly gone out for water.
I lost that day twelve men who were killed in my
fort. The enemy, in spite of my opposition, had
taken possession of a house, where they had erected
a scaffold behind the gable end, which was of earth.
Our balls could not penetrate this defense, and thus
every day many of our people were killed. This
obliged me to raise one of my scaffolds, the two
large logs upon which were mounted our swivels.
I loaded them with slugs and caused them to be fired
upon the scaffold which troubled me so much. They
were so well aimed that at the first two discharges
we heard the scaffolds fall, and some of the enemy
were killed. They were so frightened that we heard
them utter cries and frightful groans, and toward
evening they called out to know if I would allow
them to come and speak to me. I assembled imme
diately the chiefs of all the nations who were with
me to ascertain their opinion, and we agreed it was
best to listen to them in order, by some strategy, to
withdraw from them three of our women whom they
had made prisoners some days before the siege, and
one of whom was the wife of the great war chief
Saguina. I told them, through my interpreter, that
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 211
they might come in safety to speak to me, as I was
willing they should have that satisfaction before
dying.
"They did not fail, the next morning, to make
me a visit. We were very much surprised not to
see the red flag in their village, but only a white
flag. It was the great chief Pemoussa who was at
the head of this first embassy. He came out of his
village with two other Indians, carrying a white
flag in his hand. I sent my interpreter to meet
him and conduct him to me, and to protect him
from the insults of some of the young warriors. He
entered my fort; I placed him in the midst of the
parade-ground, and then I assembled all the chiefs
of the nations who were with me to hear our ambas
sador, who spoke in these words (presenting a belt
of wampum and two slaves). My father, I am dead;
I see very well that the heaven is clear and beauti
ful for you only, and that for me it is altogether
dark. When I left my village I hoped that you
would willingly listen to me. I demand of you, my
father, by this belt, which I lay at your feet, that
you have pity on your children and that you do not
refuse them the two days that they ask you in which
there shall be no firing on either side, that our old
men may hold council to find the means of turning
away your wrath.
It is to you that I now speak, you other chil
dren, listening to the advice of our father; this belt
is to pray you to recollect that you are our kindred.
If you shed our blood, recollect that it is your own;
endeavor, then, to soften the heart of our father,
whom we have so often offended.
212 LOST MARAMECH
These two slaves are to replace a little blood
that you have lost. I do not speak many words
until our old men can counsel together, if you grant
us those two days that I have asked of you.
"I answered him thus: If your hearts were prop
erly moved and if you truly considered the Gov
ernor at Montreal as your father, you would have
begun by bringing with you the three women whom
you hold as prisoners; not having done so, I believe
your hearts are yet bad. If you expect me to listen
to you, begin by bringing them here. This is all I
have to say.
"All the chiefs who were with me exclaimed with
a high voice: My father, after what you have just
said, we have nothing to answer to this ambassador.
Let him obey you if he wishes to live.
"The ambassador answered: I am only a child.
I shall return to my village to render an account of
what you have said to our old men.
"Thus finished the council. I gave him three or
four Frenchmen to reconduct him, assuring him that
we would not fire upon his village during the day,
on condition, however, that no one should leave it to
seek water, and that if they did so the truce should
be at an end and we should fire upon them.
"Two hours after, three chiefs, two of the Mascou-
tins, and the third an Outagamie, came bearing a
flag and bringing with them the three women. I
made them enter into the same place where the
others were stationed and where all our chiefs were
again assembled. The three messengers spoke as
follows: My father, here are these three pieces of
flesh that you ask of us. We would not eat them,
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
213
thinking you would call us to an account for it.
Do what you please with them. You are the master.
Now, we Mascoutins and Outagamies request that
you cause all the nations who are with you to retire
in order that we may freely seek provisions for our
women and our children. Many die every day of
hunger. All our village regrets that we have dis
pleased you. If you are as good a father as all your
children who are around you say you are, you will
not refuse the favor we ask of you.
"As I had now the three women whom I sought,
1 did not care any longer to keep fair with them,
and I therefore answered: If you had eaten my
flesh which you have now brought to me, you would
not have been living at this moment. You would
have felt such terrible coils that they would have
covered you so deep in the ground that no one would
any longer speak of you, so true is it that I love the
father of all the nations. With regard to the
liberty that you demand, I leave it to my children to
answer you. Therefore, I shall not say any more.
"The head chief of the Illinois, whose name is
Makouandeby, was appointed by the chiefs of the
other nations to speak in these words: My father,
we all thank you for your kindness to us; we thank
you for it, and since you give us permission to speak
we shall do so.
"And then, addressing the hostile chiefs, he said:
Now, listen to me, ye nations who have troubled
all the earth. We perceive clearly, by your words,
that you seek only to surprise our father and to
deceive him again in demanding that we should
retire. We should no sooner do that than you
2i 4 L ST MARAMECH
would again torment our father and you would
infallibly shed his blood. You are dogs who have
always bitten him. You have never been sensible
of the favors you have received from all the French.
You have thought, wretches that you are, that we
did not know all the speeches you have received
from the English, telling you to cut the throats of
our father and of his children and then to lead the
English into this country. Go away, then. For
us, we will not stir a step from you; we are deter
mined to die with our father; we should disobey
him; because we know your bad hearts and we would
not leave him alone with you. We shall see from
this moment who will be master, you or us; you
have now only to retire and as soon as you shall
reenter your fort we shall fire upon you.
"I sent an escort to conduct the ambassadors to
their fort, and we began to fire again as usual. We
were three or four days without any intercourse,
firing briskly on both sides. The enemy discharged
their arrows so rapidly that more than three or four
hundred were flying at the same time,* and at their
ends were lighted fuses; the object being to burn us,
as they had threatened to do. I found myself very
much embarrassed; the arrows fell upon all our
quarters, which were covered with straw, so that
the fire easily caught many of them, which fright
ened the French so much that they thought every
thing was lost. I reassured them, telling them
that this was nothing and that we must find a remedy
* This statement shows that Du Buisson was something of a
romancer, and it may well caution us to take many of the
other statements as possible exaggerations.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
215
as soon as possible. Come, then, said I, take
courage; let us take off the thatch from the houses
and let us cover them with bearskins and deer
skins; our Indians will help us. I then directed
them to bring in two large wooden pirogues, which
I filled with water and provided badrouilles at the
ends of rods to [extinguish the fire when it should
break out anywhere, and hooks to pull out the
arrows. There were four or five Frenchmen who
were wounded. I fell into another embarrassment
much greater than this; my Indians became dis
couraged and wished to go away, a part of them
saying that we should never conquer those nations;
that they knew them well, and that they were braver
than any other people; and besides, I could no
longer furnish them with provisions.
"This inconstancy ought to teach us how danger
ous it is to leave a post so distant as this without
troops. I then saw myself on the point of being
abandoned and left a prey to our enemies, who
would not have granted us any quarter, and the
English would have triumphed.
"The French were so frightened that they told
me they saw clearly it was necessary we should
retire as quickly as possible to Michilimacinac.
I said to them: What are you thinking of? Is it
possible you can entertain such sentiments? What!
abandon a post in such a cowardly manner? Dis
miss such thoughts, my friends, from your minds.
Do things appear so bad? You ought to know that
if you should abandon me the Governor-General
would follow you everywhere to punish you for your
cowardice. What the Indians have just said ought
216 LOST MARAMECH
not to frighten you. I am going to speak to all the
chiefs in private and inspire them with new cour
age. Therefore, change your views and let me act,
and you will see that everything will go well.
They answered me that they did not think of retir
ing without my consent nor without me at their
head, believing that we could not hold the place if
our Indians should abandon us. They begged me
to pardon them and assured me they would do all I
wished. And, truly, I was afterward very well con
tented with them. They did their duty like brave
people.
"I was four days and four nights without taking
any repose and without eating and drinking, striving
all the time to secure to my interest all the young
war chiefs in order to keep the warriors firm, and
to encourage them so that they would not quit us
until our enemies were defeated. To succeed in
this object I stripped myself of all I had, making
presents to one and another. You know, sir, that
with the Indians one must not be mean. I flatter
myself that you will have the goodness to approve
all expenditures, which for me are immense, and
for the King of no consequence; for otherwise I
should be very much to be pitied, having a large
family, which occasions me a great expense at
Quebec.
"Having gained all the Indians in private, I held
a general council, to which I called all the nations,
and said to them: What, my children, when you are
just on the point of destroying these wicked nations,
do you think of retreating shamefully after having
so well begun? Could you lift up your heads
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 217
again? You would be overwhelmed with confusion.
All the other nations would say, Are these the
brave warriors who fled so ignominiously after hav
ing abandoned the French? Be not troubled; take
courage; we will endeavor yet to find a few provi
sions. The Hurons and the Ottawas, your brothers,
offer you some. 1 will do all I can to comfort you
and to aid you. Don t you see that our enemies
can hardly preserve their position? Hunger and
thirst overpower them. We shall quickly render
ourselves masters of their bodies. Will it not be
pleasant, after such a result, when you visit Mon
treal, to receive there the thanks and friendship of
the father of all nations, who will thank you for
having risked your lives with me? For you cannot
doubt that in the report I shall make to him I shall
render justice to each of you for all you will have
done. You must also be aware that to defeat these
two nations is to give that life and peace to your
women and children which they have not yet
enjoyed.
"The young war chiefs whom I had gained did
not give me time to finish, but said to me: My
father, allow us to interrupt you; we believe there
is some liar who has told you falsehoods. We
assure you that we all love you too much to abandon
you, and we are not such cowards as is reported.
We are resolved, even if we are much more pressed
with hunger, not to quit you till your enemies are
utterly destroyed. All the old men approved of
these sentiments and said: Come on, come on, let
us hasten to arm ourselves and prove that those are
liars who have reported evil of us to our father.
218 LOST MARAMECH
They then raised a great cry and sung the war song,
and danced the war dance, and a large party went
to fight.
"Every day some Sacs, who had lived some time
with the Outagamies, left their fort and came to join
their people who were with me, and who received
them with much pleasure. They made known to us
the condition of our enemies, assuring us that they
were reduced to the last extremity; that from sixty
to eighty women and children had died from hunger
and thirst, and that their bodies and the bodies of
those who were killed everyday caused an infection
in their camp, as they could not inter their dead in
consequence of the heavy fire that we continually
kept up.
"Under these circumstances, they demanded per
mission to speak to us, which was granted. Their
messengers were their two great chiefs, one of
peace, the other of war; the first named Allamima
and the other Pemoussa. With them were two great
Mascoutin chiefs, one Kuit and the other Onabi-
maniton. Pemoussa was at the head of the three
others, having a crown of wampum upon his head
and many belts of wampum on his body, and hung
over his shoulders. He was painted with green
earth, and supported by seven female slaves, who
were also painted and covered with wampum. The
three other chiefs had each a Chichory in their
hands. All of them marched in order, singing and
shouting with all their might, to the song of the
Chichories, calling all the devils to their assistance,
and to have pity on them. They had even figures
of little devils hanging on their girdles. They
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 219
entered my fort in this manner and, when being
placed in the midst of the nations, our allies, they
spoke as follows: My father, I speak to you, and
to all the nations who are before you. I come to
you to demand life. It is no longer ours. You are
the masters of it. All the nations have abandoned
us. I bring you my flesh in the seven slaves, whom
I put at your feet. But do not believe I am afraid
to die. It is the life of our women and our children
that I ask of you. I beg you to allow the sun to
shine; let the sky be clear, that we can see the day,
and that, hereafter, our affairs may be prosperous.
Here are six belts that we give you, which bind us
to you like your slaves. Untie them, we beg you,
to show that you give us life. Recollect, ye
nations, that you are our great nephews; tell us
something, I pray you, which can give pleasure on
our return to our village.
"I left it to our Indians to answer these ambas
sadors. They were, however, so much enraged
against them that they would not give them any
answer. Eight or ten of them asked permission to
speak to me in private.
" My father, we come to ask liberty of you to
break the heads of these four great chiefs. They
are the men who prevent our enemies from sur
rendering at discretion. When these shall be no
longer at their head they will find themselves much
embarrassed and will surrender.
"I told them they must be drunk to make me such
a proposition. Recollect that they came here upon
our word, and you have given me yours. We must
act with good faith, and if such a thing be done
220 LOST MARAMECH
how could you trust one another? Besides, if I
acquiesced in this proposition the Governor-General
would never pardon me. Dismiss it, therefore,
from your thoughts. They must return peaceably.
You see clearly that they cannot avoid us, since you
resolved not to give them quarter.
"They confessed I was right and that they were
foolish. We dismissed the ambassadors in all
safety without, however, giving them any further
answer. These poor wretches well knew there was
no longer any hope for them.
"I confess, sir, that I was touched with compas
sion at their misfortunes; but as war and pity do
not well agree together and particularly as I under
stood they were paid by the English for our destruc
tion, I abandoned them to their unfortunate fate;
indeed, I hastened to have this tragedy finished in
order that the example might strike terror to the
English and to themselves.
"The great fire recommenced, more and more
violently; the enemy being in despair, beaten in
their village and out of it; and when they wished to
go for water or to gather a few herbs, to appease
their hunger, had no other recourse but an obscure
night with rain in order to effect their escape. They
awaited it with much impatience, and it came on
the nineteenth day of the siege. They did not fail
to make use of it, decamping about midnight, and
we did not know of their escape until daylight. I
encouraged our people and they pursued them very
vigorously. Mr. de Vincennes joined in the pur
suit, with some Frenchmen, and this gave much
pleasure to the Indians.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 221
"The enemy, not doubting but that they would
be pursued, stopped at the Presq isle, which is oppo
site Hog island, near Lake St. Clair, four leagues
from the fort.
"Our people, not perceiving their entrenchment,
pushed into it, and lost there twenty killed and
wounded. It was necessary to form a second siege,
and also an encampment. The camp was regularly
laid out; there were a hundred canoes every day, as
well Ottawas, Hurons, and Chippeways, as Missis-
sagas to carry provisions there. The chiefs sent to
me for two cannon and all the axes and mattocks
that I had, to cut timber, and to place it so as to
approach the hostile entrenchment, together with
powder and ball. As for the Indian corn, tobacco,
and seasoning, they were supplied as usual, without
counting all the kettles of the French, which are
now lost and that I had to pay for.
"The enemy held their position for four days,
fighting with much courage, and finally, not being
able to do anything more, surrendered at discretion
to our people, who gave them no quarter. All were
killed except the women and children, whose lives
were spared, and one hundred men, who had been
tied but escaped.
"All our allies returned to our fort with their
slaves, having avoided it before, as they thought it
was infective. Their amusement was to shoot four
or five of them every day. The Hurons did not
spare a single one of theirs.
"In this manner came to an end, sire, these two
wicked nations, who so badly afflicted and troubled
all the country. Our reverend father chanted a
222 LOST MARAMECH
grand mass to render thanks to God for having pre
served us from the enemy.
"The Outagamies and Mascoutins had constructed
a very good fort which, as I said, was within pistol
shot of mine. Our people did not dare to under
take to storm it, notwithstanding all I could say.
The works were defended by three hundred men,
and our loss would have been great had we assaulted
it; but the siege would not have been so long. Our
Indians lost sixty men killed and wounded, thirty
of whom were killed in the fort, and a Frenchman
named Germain, and five or six others were wounded
with arrows. The enemy lost a thousand souls,
men, women, and children.
"I ought not to forget, sir, to state that there were
about twenty-five Iroquois who had joined them
selves to the Hurons of Fond du Lac in this war.
These two nations distinguished themselves above
all the others and, therefore, their loss had been
proportionately greater. They received the thanks
of all the Indians and more particularly of the Pot-
tawatomies, to whom they made satisfaction for an
old quarrel by presents of slaves and pipes. I
brought about this accommodation. I dare venture
to assure you, sir, that the general assembly of all
the nations has put them at peace with one another
and renewed their ancient alliance. They calculate
upon receiving many presents which they say, sir,
you promised them.
"I have determined, with the consent of his
nation, to send to you the grand chief of the Illinois
Rock village. His name is Chachagonache. He is
a good man and has much authority, and I trust,
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
223
sir, that you will induce him to make a peace with
the Miamis.
"This affair is of very great consequence, the
Miamis having sent me word that they should aban
don their village and build another on the Oyou, at
the end of Lake Erie. It is precisely where the
English are about to erect a fort, according to the
belts they have sent to the different nations. They
also said that they would be contented if you sent
them, sir, a garrison and a reverend father, a Jesuit,
and some presents that they say you promised them.
"Makisabie, the Pottawatomie chief, has much
influence over the mind of this Illinois chief. He
goes with him. Joseph, who accompanies them,
deserves your kindness. I have had much trouble
to save his life.
"I venture, sir, to request that you take care that
the Indians who are with Mr. de Vincennes return
contented; their visit secures this post.
"Saguina has complained to me that Mr, Desti-
ettes would not wait for him last spring, believing it
was through contempt.
"Poor Otchipouac died this winter. It is a great
loss to us, for he had much firmness and was well
disposed toward the French. We have another
difficult affair which threatens to give us much
trouble. The Kickapoos, who live at the mouth of
the Maumee river, are about to make war upon us
now that our allies have left us; about thirty Mas-
coutins have joined them. A canoe of Kickapoos
who came here to speak to the three villages has.
been defeated by the Hurons and Ottawas. Among
them was a principal chief, whose head was brought
224 LOST MARAMECH
to me, with the heads of three others. This was
done out of resentment, because last winter they had
taken prisoners some of the Hurons and the Iro-
quois; besides, they considered him a true Outaga-
mie. I believe that if Mr. de Vincennes had not
been at the mouth of the Maumee at the time, the
Kickapoos would have killed the two Hurons and
the Iroquois. There was every probability of it.
Those same Indians took prisoner also Langlois,
who was on his return from the Miami country and
who had charge of many letters from the reverend
fathers, the Jesuits of the Illinois villages. All
these letters have been destroyed, which circum
stance has given me much uneasiness, as I am sure,
sir, there were some for you from Louisiana. They
dismissed him, after robbing him of his peltry,
charging him to return and tell them the news; but
he had no more desire to do that than I had to per
mit him. However, the Ottawas might safely send
there, because the Kickapoos have among them one
of their women with her children. I will endeavor
to prevail upon the Ottawas and the Hurons to
accommodate their difficulties with the Kickapoos
in order that our repose may not be troubled here.
"I have the honor to inform you, sir, that I
accomplished a measure the last year that Mr. de
Lamothe never could effect, during all the time he
was here, which was to compel the Ottawas to make
a solid peace with the Miamis and to engage them
to visit the latter, which, till now, they never would
do. I succeeded very happily in the object, the
Miamis having received them very kindly, and a
durable alliance has been the consequence.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
225
"I flatter myself, sir, it will be agreeable to you to
be informed that Mr. de Vincennes has faithfully
performed his duty and that he has labored assidu
ously here, as well as on his voyage to the Miamis
and Ouyatonons, the last winter.
"If I am so happy, sir, as to receive your appro
bation of my conduct, I shall be fully compensated
for all my trouble and shall experience no more
dejection.
"My success has been much owing to the great
influence I have over the nations; Mr. de Vin
cennes is the witness of this. I do not say this in
order to gratify my vanity or to claim any credit,
for, truly, I am very tired of Detroit.
"You can easily judge, sir, in what a condition
my affairs must be in consequence of having no
presents belonging to the king in my hands. How
ever, I venture to trust to your goodness and hope
that you will not suffer a devil to be reduced to beg
gary.
"I have the honor to be, with very profound
respect, sir, your very humble and very obedient
servant,
"(Signed) Dubuisson.
"Pontchartrain,
"Au Fort du Detroit, June 15, 1712."
From the following (Collection of Manuscripts, I.,
622) we may gather some valuable facts; they do
not seem to lay all the blame on the Foxes.
The commandant at Detroit in 1712, wishing to
draw the commerce of all the nations to his post,
sent some belts of wampum to the Mascoutins and
226 LOST MARAMECH
Kickapoos to invite them to make a village at
Detroit, where he offered them a place which they
accepted and, having come to the number of forty
families, they there made a fort. In the account
the Mascoutins, Kickapoos, and Foxes are grouped
together, which is often the case. The Mascoutins,
as is well known, by the way, have disappeared,
and it is a question if they were not, in fact, a
branch of the Fox tribe, unrecognized as such by
the French.
"As the nation is feared and hated by the other
nations, because of its arrogance/ says our inform
ant, "the fomentation of a conspiracy was com
menced by those already established at Detroit,
where the Sr. de Buisson was in command. In 1712
the Hurons and Ottawas, numbering about nine
hundred men, gathered at the fort and to them the
commandant opened the gate, which they entered.
They quickly mounted the bastions that commanded
the fort of the Foxes and made several discharges
of musketry. One of the Fox chiefs spoke to the
French in a loud voice, saying: What do you wish
of us, my father? Thou hast invited us to come and
dwell near thee, and thy words [represented by
wampum belts] are fresh in our sacks, and yet thou
declarest war; what is the cause of your having
done this? Apparently, my father, thou hast for
gotten that there is not a nation that calls itself thy
children that has not dipped its hand in the blood
of the French. I am [we are] the only one of them
to whom thou canst not make this reproach; and
nevertheless, thou joinest our enemies and eat [kill]
us; but know thou that the Foxes arc immortal;
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 227
and if in my defense I shed the blood of the French,
thou, my father, canst not reproach me.
The speech was interrupted by musketry. On the
fourth day the Foxes ran short of provisions, and
one called out in a high tone: "My father, I am not
addressing thee, but saying to the women [squaw-
men, a way of calling warriors cowards] who hide
in thy fort that if they are as brave as they say, they
may detail eighty of their best warriors, and I will
oppose them with no more than twenty; and if the
eighty defeat us, I will consent that we become
their slaves; and if, on the contrary, the twenty
defeat them, then they shall be our slaves."
After the Foxes had escaped from their fort and
reached the peninsula that thrusts itself into the
river near Lake St. Clair, one of the Fox chiefs
called to De Vincennes, who had demanded sur
render: "Is it to thee I surrender? Reply at once
and tell me, my father, if quarter will be given to
our families. Answer me." De Vincennes replied
that he would accord to them their lives.
This memoir is attributed to one M. de Lery. All
accounts show that this butchery may have been
brought about by treachery on the part of the
French.
CHAPTER XIII
Revenge was ever sweet to an Indian, and the
Foxes never were free from the desire to seek
revenge for their many wrongs, even though the
danger was so great as possibly to lead to their own
destruction. The few who escaped massacre at
Detroit evidently found their way to the south end
of Green Bay and united with the portion of their
tribe there that had long affiliated with the Sacs.
No better locality could have been found in which
to retaliate than along the Wisconsin river, and
they did not miss many opportunities to return to
their old methods. Travelers from Green Bay to
the Mississippi took their lives in their hands when
ever they passed and failed to pay tribute. Through
the machinations of the Foxes the other routes to
the Mississippi were also made dangerous to the
traders. With the exception of the Sioux, although
sometimes against them, and the Iroquois with
whom they were at times allied, all the nations who
were on friendly terms with the French suffered
greatly from the depredations of the Foxes, and it
was feared that if a speedy remedy was not applied
the greater number of the Indian tribes would
become reconciled with the Foxes to the prejudices
of the French. It is said that some Sioux and Iro
quois secretly joined the Foxes in some of their
depredations. (Ferland, II., 204.)
All this prompted Marquis de Vaudreuil, when
229
230 LOST MARAMECH
Governor of Canada, to propose a union of the
French with the Indian tribes in an expedition to
exterminate the common enemy. M. de Louvigny
led a party of eight hundred men, all resolved not
to lay down arms while the Foxes remained.
The Foxes had selected a stronghold at what is
now known as Butte des Morts, before referred to.
More than five hundred warriors and three thousand
women and children shut themselves up in a fort
surrounded by three ranges of palisades, with a ditch
in the rear. Three hundred warriors were on the
way to reenforce them, but they did not arrive in
time. De Louvigny, finding them thus strongly
entrenched, attacked them in form. He had two
field-pieces and a grenade mortar.
The trenches were opened about a hundred yards
from the fort, and on the third day he was only
about twenty-five yards distant when the besieged
made a great attack by firing on the French.
De Louvigny was preparing to undermine the
works when the Foxes proposed terms of capitula
tion, which were finally agreed to. A treaty of
peace was to be made between the Foxes on one
hand and the French and their Indian allies on the
other; all of the prisoners were to be given up at
once; the]dead French and allies were to be replaced
by slaves, which the Foxes were to obtain from the
neighboring nations with whom they were at war.
The expenses of the war were to be paid from the
results of the chase by the Foxes, and their country
was to be ceded to the French. The Foxes gave
six hostages, all chiefs or sons of chiefs, and prom
ised to send some deputies to Montreal to sign the
Fair ones of the Tama Reservation.
Harvesting wild rice.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
231
treaty, in which they declared that they would cede
all their country to the French. Pemoussa, who was
spared at Detroit the year previous, and two others
of the hostages who went, died during the following
winter of smallpox at Montreal, and this deranged
the plans of De Vaudreuil who, fearing that the
treacherous Foxes would not carry the whole terms
of the treaty into effect, sent De Louvigny back to
Mackinaw with orders to have the treaty fully exe
cuted and to bring chiefs of that nation to him at
Montreal.
In May, 1717, De Louvigny arrived at Mackinaw
with one of the hostages, who had been attacked
with the smallpox, as the others, and had been made
blind in one eye by it. As soon as he arrived De
Louvigny sent this chief to the Foxes with presents
to cover the dead, accompanied by two interpreters.
They were well received, the calumet was smoked,
and after some days of grieving for the dead, the
chiefs met to listen to the hostage. He represented
all matters in a proper manner, and reproached the
chiefs for not having repaired to Mackinaw. The
chiefs said that they were sensible of the kindness
which the Governor continued to show them, ex
cused themselves for not having already sent depu
ties in fulfillment of the treaty, and promised to
fulfill their obligations the following year, giving
their promise in writing, and adding that they would
never forget that they held their lives as a gift from
the great father.
The hostage came away with the interpreters to
rejoin De Louvigny at Mackinaw; but after travel
ing about twenty leagues he left them, saying that it
232 LOST MARAMECH
was necessary that he should return and oblige the
nation to keep its word. Nothing further was heard
from him. The Foxes did not send deputies to the
Governor-General; and although he flattered him
self for a while that they would do so, he was only
taught by the renewal of the old practices by the
Foxes that an enemy driven to a certain point is
always irreconcilable. It is true that their pride
was greatly humbled and that a few years afterward
they abandoned their old home and retired to the
west side of the Mississippi; but in the meanwhile
many battles were fought with them, while the
Foxes, on their part, had obliged the Illinois to
abandon their river forever. Although, after re
peated defeats, it could scarcely be considered that
there remained enough of the Foxes to form a
trifling village, yet no one ventured to go from
Canada to Louisiana without taking great precau
tions against surprises.
They soon renewed their old persecutions, and the
courcurs du bois found the region that was thus aban
doned by the Illinois too dangerous to frequent, and
although it abounded in peltries, they preferred not
to venture there for them.
After the expedition of De Louvigny, the Foxes
gradually increased in numbers, and in 1718 they
were reported to have five hundred men at their
village on the Fox river of Wisconsin, which
abounded in a multitude of women and children.
(N. Y. Col. Docs, IX., 889.) They were said to be
as industrious as people could be; they gathered
wild rice and raised large quantities of Indian corn,
pumpkins, and melons. Their customs differed
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 233
little from those of their neighbors; they had the
same kind of dances and games as the Pottawato-
mies and other tribes, but differed in dress, for the
men wore little clothing and the greater portion of
them did not even wear a breech-cloth. As for the
women, they were all well dressed, and the girls, in
addition, wore black or brown fawn-skins embel
lished all around with little beads, or copper or tin
trinkets, and also wore blankets. "They were
pretty enough," says one writer, "and not black."
There was excellent hunting in these parts, and the
people lived well in consequence of the abundance
of meat and fish; of the latter the Fox river was said
to be very full. In the same account they are said
to have been fifty leagues (about 121 miles), in the
direction of Chicagou, from the Mascoutins and
Kickapoos, who resided together in a village on the
bank of a river, the name of which was forgotten by
the narrator. O Callaghan, editor of the New York
Colonial Documents, in a footnote, gives the Rock
river of Illinois as the location of the Mascoutins
and Kickapoos at the time, which is undoubtedly
correct, but if the Foxes were one hundred and
twenty miles from them in the direction of Chicago,
they must have been located near Chicago. If so
located, possibly on the Fox river of Illinois, it
must have been only for a very short period of time
for, as will be seen, they soon after left their old
home on the Fox river of Wisconsin and passed
westward toward the Mississippi river, and finally
down the latter to Rock Island. The Pottawatomies
and Miamis seem to have left the St. Joseph river
about 1718, for a time at least.
234 LOST MARAMECH
A writer, in a memoir on the Indians between
Lake Erie and Lake Superior, dated 1717 (N. Y. Col.
Docs., X., 890), says: "I believed they left it (the
St. Joseph river) only because of the war between
the Sacs, Foxes, and Ottawas, and all the other tribes
of those parts. It is thirty leagues from the Rock.
The Ouitanons, a branch of the Miamis, were also
at Chicago, but being afraid of the canoe people
(Pottawatomies and others) left it."
The early writers did not always distinguish
between the Illinois and Miamis, for the tribes were
often at peace with each other and their villages near
together. The Foxes and tribes allied with them
made war on the Illinois and Miamis and drove
them from the northern part of what is now the
state of Illinois. The Illinois occupied a position
near "The Rock" on the banks of the Illinois river
(Starved Rock), at the time the French occupied
the Rock, which was fortified. From their lofty
position they could see the prairies on which herds
of buffalo grazed. The branch of the Illinois tribe
known as the "Illinois of the Rock" (Peorias)
remained in the vicinity until long after other parts
of this tribe had settled at the new town of Kaskas-
kia, on the Mississippi river. They joined the rest
of the tribe about 1730, and we shall see the Foxes
there took revenge.
The Foxes often sought big game, and so at one
time succeeded in killing some Ojibwa chiefs who
resided on the southern shore of Lake Superior.
That tribe threatened war upon the Foxes and, as
well, other tribes adjacent to Green Bay. It
required great effort on the part of the Governor,
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 235
through deputies, to calm these people; but the
Foxes were finally induced to send three deputies
to Montreal, in company with a Kickapoo chief,
who was sent by his people and the Mascoutins, to
assure the Governor that they were really disposed
to preserve peace with all nations, but peace was
not brought by mere words, and war was continued
between the Illinois, on the one hand, and the Kick-
apoos and Mascoutins on the other. The Foxes
again became involved because the Illinois had
attacked them on several occasions and had killed
and made prisoners several of their people, regard
less of the fact that the Foxes had not made the
attack. On eight different occasions the prison
ers which the Kickapoos had taken from the Illinois
and presented to the Foxes had been released by
the Foxes, who always instructed them, on the part
of the chiefs, that if they were disposed for peace
they had only to come to their village where they
would be safe. The excuses offered by the Foxes
for having finally joined against the Illinois ap
peared reasonable, and the Kickapoo deputy repre
sented to the Governor that he did not commence
hostilities, but that the Illinois had attacked him at
a time when he entertained no other hopes than to
live in peace with all the nations. The Governor
gave the deputies to understand that peace must be
made, and in order to conclude it they must prevail
upon their allies, the Sacs, to labor to that end.
He requested them not to make any movement
against the Illinois nation during the negotiations;
but even while the negotiations for peace were
going on, a party of forty Illinois who had just struck
236 LOST MARAMECH
a blow, having encountered, on their way, a party
of Foxes, Kickapoos, and Mascoutins, were so com
pletely surrounded that not one of them escaped,
twenty of them having been killed on the spot and
as many taken prisoners.
It can hardly be said that anything precipitated
the last great war with the Foxes, but a very near
approach to it was the affair connected with Father
Michael Guignas, a Jesuit missionary, who came to
Canada in 1716, and two years later was assigned to
the Mission at Mackinaw. In 1727 he accompanied
Governor Beauharnois to Lake Pipin, where a fort
was built and a mission established. In the follow
ing year the French were obliged to leave this post
on account of the hostility of the Foxes, but
returned to it in a few years, but not until after one
of the most numerous branches of the tribe had
been destroyed, at a point on the Fox river of Illi
nois at the site of ancient Maramech.
While descending the Mississippi river, from Fort
Beauharnois, Guignas and his comrades were cap
tured (October 15, 1728) by the Mascoutins and
Kickapoos, still located in the southwestern part of
Wisconsin. He was kept in captivity five months,
and narrowly escaped being burned at the stake.
(/. R., LXV1IL, 329.) With him were sixteen
Frenchmen, all on their way to one of the Illinois
villages that had been established about thirty years
before at the great river. The name Kaskaskia they
had carried with them from the village on the Illi
nois river, opposite "Rock Fort," now known as
Starved Rock, which they had been forced to aban
don. "The time at last came," we are told of
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 237
Guignas, "when he was to be burned alive, and he
prepared himself to finish his life in this horrible
torment, when he was adopted by an old man who
saved his life and procured him his liberty. Other
missionaries who were among the Illinois were no
sooner made acquainted with his sad situation than
they procured him all the alleviations they were
able to. Everything he received he employed in
conciliating the savages, and he succeeded to such
an extent that he induced them to conduct him to
the Illinois, and while there to make peace with the
French and with the savages of that region. Eight
months after this peace was concluded, the Mascou-
tins and Kickapoos returned again to the Illinois
country and took Father Guignas to spend the win
ter with them, from whence, in all probability, he
will return to Canada. He has been exceedingly
broken down by these fatiguing journeys, but his
zeal, full of fire and activity, seems to give him
strength."
Later he was found at Fort Beauharnois and
remained in that region until 1739. Although many
historians say that nothing was heard of him after
the encounter with the Foxes, still we find a state
ment that he died at Quebec, February 5, 1752. In
the reports sent by Father Nau to his superior he
says: "The war is still carried on against the Fox
nation and against other tribes which have taken
them under their protection. Father Guignas was
not taken, as it was feared, but he has much to
suffer, for nothing can be sent him safely. For two
consecutive years the provisions sent him have
fallen into the enemy s hands." (/. R., LXV.,
238 LOST MARAMECH
233.) This probably refers to the time when Father
Guignas was at Fort Beauharnois the second time,
as above stated.
There evidently remained enough of the Foxes
associated with the Sacs to annoy the father much
for a long time after the slaughter of 1730. Father
Aulneau says: "We received a few days ago news
of Father Guignas, of whom we had not heard since
1732. He is in a helpless condition; the hunger he
has had to endure and constant dangers which he
has been continually exposed to of being massacred
by the Sacs and Foxes, and numerous other hard
ships borne heroically, have brought him so low
that even the savages, who have little pity for us,
are forced to look upon him with feelings of com
passion." (/. R., LXVIII., 257.) Father Nau
further says: "Our people have a war on their hands
this long time with a savage tribe called the Foxes.
It has been in a very slight degree successful,
through the impossibility in which our troops are of
ever overtaking them in sufficient numbers to
destroy them. Last year ninety of our young men
joined a French expedition against the Foxes; but
after inconceivable hardships and a journey of more
than seven hundred leagues, the guides led them
astray, and they were obliged to make their way
back without having caught sight of the enemy,
save in one instance. A party of twenty-three sav
ages, nearly all of our mission, and seven French
men had somehow become separated from the main
body when they found themselves suddenly sur
rounded by a war party of two hundred Foxes. Our
men would have been destroyed had it not been for
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 239
the resolution of the Iroquois. We are all dead
men, he said, if we surrender. There is no help
for it; we will have to sell our lives as dearly as
possible. Let us show the Foxes that we are Iro
quois and Frenchmen/ Whereupon he led the war
riors to the attack. The enemy could not stand the
first onslaught and retreated precipitately to their
fort. Thirty Foxes were laid low and ten taken
prisoners; our party lost but two Frenchmen and
one savage." Hebbard s Wisco?isin under Dominion
of France, p. 142, speaks of this expedition as having
been in August, 1734, when the Foxes were found
on the Des Moines river of Iowa. The attack was a
failure and ended only in negotiations for peace.
The expedition was under the command of De
Noyelle, who, in 1730, as we shall see, aided in
defeating the Foxes (we may as well say aided in
the massacre), at the site of the ancient village of
Maramech. It was not until 1733 that peace, to any
extent effective, was concluded between the French
and the Foxes with others associated with the latter.
CHAPTER XIV
Turning back to 1710, we read that some French
men, who for a time had traded with the Sioux,
found the route blockaded by the Foxes, and that
the Foxes had, in many ways, attempted to embit
ter the Sioux against the French, on the ground that
the latter were only wishing to aid the Sioux and
lead them to their own final injury. They made a
pretext that the French clandestine traders (the
coureurs du bois] were supplying the Sioux with pow
der, lead, arms, and merchandise. Ten years before
this, La Sueur s journal tells us, that that traveler
met, on the Mississippi river, five Canadians, one of
whom was dangerously wounded in the head; they
were naked and had no arms except a wretched gun
with five or six charges of powder and ball. They
said .that they were descending from the Sioux to
go to the Tamarois and that they had met with nine
canoes, carrying ninety Indians, who had plundered
and cruelly beaten them. The party was going to
war against the Sioux and was made up of .four
different nations, Foxes, Sacs, Pottawatomies, and
Winnebagoes. The Indians no doubt intended the
robbery as a punishment to the Frenchmen for hav
ing taken arms to the Sioux. The Foxes were jeal
ous of what they considered their rights and, as
before, levied tribute on all who passed along their
river. This jealousy continued for many years.
Father Chardon, a missionary at Green Bay, wrote
241
242 LOST MARAMECH
to his superiors, even as late as 1733, that it would
be difficult to establish a mission at the Sioux
because of the interference of the Foxes and Kicka-
poos who, two years before, had killed two French
men. The Foxes declared that they would not let
the French go to the Sioux because they not only
carried arms, but the commerce that the French
made diminished their own commerce^ considerably,
as otherwise, as middlemen, they could carry on a
profitable trade between the French and the Sioux.
Notwithstanding this opposition, the Foxes suc
ceeded in getting the Sioux to join them and attack
some of the French who were on their way to the
Illinois. Prior to this, fragments of these two tribes
attacked the French who were established at the
Illinois village. Being so embittered against the
Illinois they could not be made to end the war they
had been engaged in for so many years.
In 1727 an association of Frenchmen was formed
to attempt trade with the Sioux. The uncertainty
of reaching the latter was such that, in the articles
of association, there was a provision to the effect
that in case the traders were prevented by the
Foxes, from passing to the Sioux, they were to be
permitted to trade their merchandise wherever it
seemed best, under the orders of the officer com
manding, who would direct the manner and place
for the purpose. (Affluents Mississippi, p. 548.)
Father Charlevoix encountered fragments of this
ruthless tribe. He tells us, in speaking of the cus
tom of burning prisoners: "Sometimes the prisoners
are judged and executed before arriving at the vil
lage of their captors. At one time a Frenchman
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
243
having been taken by the Foxes, the latter held a
council, on their route homeward, to determine
what they should do with the prisoner." The way
they reached a conclusion "was to throw a stick up
in a tree a certain number of times, and if it
remained there the prisoner was to be burned, but
if it fell to the ground his life was to be spared."
While passing down the Illinois river, near Peoria
lake, the father and ,his Frenchmen found forty
Canadians, who informed him that he would soon be
in the midst of four parties of Foxes and that he
would have safety neither in advancing nor return
ing. There were thirty Foxes in ambush, and an
equal number of the same around the village of
Pimiteouy, and others, to the number of eighty,
held themselves in readiness lower down the river.
The canoes of the fleet that carried the father
landed at the foot of an island for the purpose of
procuring game, and while there heard noises of
wood-chopping. The nearness of the Illinois vil
lage of Pimiteouy led them to judge that the noise
came from some Illinois who were doing this, yet it
had much the appearance that the Foxes had dis
covered them and, not daring to attack them, wished
to draw some of the French into the woods. The
father believed that the lack of curiosity on the part
of the French proved their safety. Thirty Illinois
warriors, commanded by the chief of the village of
Pimiteouy, were on the march to endeavor to get
reliable information in regard to the enemy. A few
days before their departure an engagement had
taken place in the neighborhood, where the two
parties had each made a prisoner. The Fox that
244
LOST MARAMECH
was taken had been burned, a gunshot distant from
the village, and the body yet remained tied on its
frame.
The custom of the Illinois in torturing a prisoner,
it may be said in passing, was to plant two posts
and secure a cross-bar near the ground to which the
feet of the prisoner were tied, some distance apart,
and another cross-bar at sufficient height to tie his
outstretched arms well apart. A slow fire beneath,
"to give their friend warmth," as they would tan-
talizingly say, was usually the beginning of the tor
ture. Firebrands and necklaces of hot hatchets
were resorted to. Shower-baths of hot ashes and
coals, and various other amusements followed.
The Canadians who had assisted in torturing the
prisoner told the father that he endured the torment
five hours, and that the unfortunate had, up to the
time of his death, insisted that he was an Illinois
who had been taken prisoner by the Foxes in his
infancy and had been adopted by them. He could
offer no proofs of this assertion, and suffered slow
death in consequence. Unlike most savages, when
submitted to the tortures, this prisoner uttered dis
tressing cries. An old Illinois warrior, whose sons
had been killed by the Foxes, inspired by re
venge, did more than others to torture the prisoner
in every way that he could invent. Finally the
sufferer s cries excited the pity of one who, with a
view to ending his misery, enveloped him in cloth
ing of dry grass and set fire to it. As he still
breathed after the grass had been consumed, the
children were permitted to pierce his body with
arrows. Usually, where the prisoners did not die
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 245
bravely, it was a woman or a child that was per
mitted to give the stroke of death, as he did not
merit to die by the hand of a warrior.
Father Charlevoix, the Jesuit priest who told the
story, was a fair historian, but the fact that he, like
Bancroft, gave to the Jesuit missionaries credit for
most of the discoveries in America, rather than to
the traders who ever preceded them, becomes
apparent to his readers. The traders sometimes put
on the cloak of religion, by taking missionaries with
them in their excursions, in order to win commer
cial privileges from the zealous Christian king of
France.
Charlevoix was observing, and tells us much in
regard to the region of country that we now see to
have become one of the garden spots of the world.
Passing down the Illinois river, he mentions many
tributaries thereof. "The largest," he wrote, "is
named the Pisticoui and comes from the beautiful
country of the Mascoutins, and it has at its mouth
a rapid named La Charboniere, because of the rich
coal-beds found on either hand. One sees on this
route little more than immense prairies, sown with
little bunches of woods that appear to have been
planted by the hand of man. The grasses are so
high that one becomes lost but for paths that are as
well beaten as in well-populated countries. How
ever, nothing passes over them but buffalo and,
from time to time, herds of deer and antelope."
Along the Pestekouy (the Fox river) fora distance
above its mouth, the soil has been turned, during
recent years, to strip the beds of coal that lie
unconformably upon the St. Peter s Sandstone
246 LOST MARAMECH
through which the ancient Pestekouy cut its way.
Where was this rapid may now be the Dayton dam
that turns the waters of the river into the canal
feeder at Ottawa. The father does not tell us that
he passed up the Pestekouy, but he certainly did
have correct information regarding it. The Peste
kouy is laid down on all maps as heading far up in
the country of the Mascoutins, and the father could
not have better spoken of the richness of the region
through which it runs had his canoe stemmed its
current.
Near where heads the stream, at one of its many
summer-sought enlargements, is laid down Pistakee
lake, that still bears the erstwhile name of the river.
The river and lake were so named because of the
herds of buffalo that grazed on the bordering
prairies. In Lanman s History of Michigan (1839),
on the map, is shown a bit each of Illinois and Wis
consin, and there we find, above the lake, the word
"PISTAKA." As there seen, the river also persists
in being known by its ancient name, Pistaka, the
English interpretation of the French spelling Peste
kouy.
While passing down the Illinois river the father
met the Illinois and Miami tribes. The latter
claimed to him to have originally come from the
sea, far to the west. These tribes united firmly in
i697, for the first time, succeeded in making a stand
against the Iroquois and, having driven them back,
forced them into the treaty of peace of 1702. (Mis
sissippi Basin, p. 15.)
The Illinois and Foxes were still enemies, and the
former, in 1722, captured the nephew of Oushala,
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 247
the principal Fox war chief, and burned him alive.
War resulted. (Starved Rock, p. 49.) The Foxes
then attacked the Illinois and drove them to the top
of Starved Rock and held them there at their mercy.
These Illinois were of the Peoria branch, the last to
cling to the region about the famous stronghold of
La Salle; all the other Illinois had fled to the west.
Mr. Hebbard, in Wisconsin under the Dominion of
France, tells us: "Unluckily we know nothing of the
details of the siege, except the number of the slain
twenty Peorias and one hundred and twenty of the
besiegers but ^the bare figures are quite eloquent.
They tell not of a mere blockade, but of fierce
assaults, storming parties, desperate attempts to
scale the heights the old story of Foxes fury and
reckless courage." The author of Starved Rock
tells us that the "news of this attack on the Peorias
having reached Fort Chartres, a detachment of a
hundred men, commanded by Chevalier d Artagui-
ette and Sieur de Tisne, was sent to their assistance.
Before these reinforcements reached the Rock,
however, the Foxes raised the siege and departed."
The Peorias, on or about this time, abandoned their
home near the Illinois river, and united with the
other branches of the tribe at Kaskaskia; so that,
after all, the Foxes again had control of the very
heart of New France, along the Illinois river. "It
was a grave disaster to the French," Charlevoix
says, "for now that there is nothing to check the
raids of the Foxes, communication between Canada
and Louisiana became less practicable. " The hand
ful of warriors of the Fox tribe were so troublesome
to the French that the matter was taken up at Vcr-
248 LOST MARAMECH
sailles, France, and it was decided "that the Foxes
must be effectually put down and that His Majesty
would reward the officer who could reduce or rather
destroy them." It seems from the above that the
last of the" Illinois left the Rock in 1722, and all
historians substantially agree as to this date; but
when I write the account of the struggle between
the French and allies on one hand and the Foxes on
the other, eight years later, we shall find certain of
the allies referred to in the military reports from
which I shall quote, as the "Illinois of the Rock."
It seems from this that some of the Peoria branch of
the Illinois tribe for sometime had been called "the
Illinois of the Rock," and that the braver ones hov
ered about their old hunting-grounds and thus, as
we shall find, were among the first to give warning
of the attempt of the Foxes to pass through the
former hunting-grounds of the Illinois to those of
the Iroquois, where they hoped to find an asylum.
While so near let us learn of the Rock. Echoes
of forgotten tragedies and romance seem to resound
over Starved Rock, and traditions of sad events
seem to be whispered by the soughing oaks and
sighing pines that crown the summit of this natural
fortress. A half century ago a pretty story was
written that found its" way into the school readers
of the day, entitled Starved Rock, or The Last of
the Illinois. Purely fiction though it probably
was, all there depicted might have been. So
charmed was I with the story that whenever oppor
tunity offered I visited the place. A more fertile
field for the flowers of romance cannot be found.
I have stood upon the summit and watched the ris-
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 249
ing sun over the westward-flowing Illinois river that
narrows to the sight until it is lost in the distant
bend. Beautiful islands, that were the fields of the
natives, divide the river; and there are still fields
that rustle in the summer winds as did the fields of
those who, two hundred years ago, taught the
intruders to plant and tend the golden corn.
Buffalo Rock, on the river s northern bank, for
many years was the home of a branch of the Miami
tribe brought there by La Salle who, at a treaty
held on the St. Joseph river, convinced them that it
was to their interest to unite with the Illinois for
common defense. A rock indeed, but not a barren
one. Its surface was, back in geological ages, cov
ered unconformably by a seam of coal, the debris of
ferns, sturdy as the palms of our day, and a thin
seam of carboniferous shales and surface soil.
Great trees offered shade, and blue grass carpeted it.
Where once were the cabins of these people the soil
has been stripped, by the enterprising miner, for the
fossil sunshine beneath. This rock, covering a large
area, precipitous at nearly all points, was a place of
easy defense.
One gathers from the description given by most
recent writers that what is now known as Starved
Rock is a promontory, but this is not true, although
half the pleasure-seekers who visit it, and tire not of
telling of its beautiful surroundings, come away
believing it to be but a height thrust northward from
the range of hills that are upon the same plane as
the prairie beyond the woods that border the river.
The fact is that the path that leads from the river
passes up to a neck that connects two otherwise iso-
250 LOST MARAMECH
lated rocks. The one upon which was the ancient
fort is somewhat higher and larger, and rises with a
sheer front from the >iver. Back of this double-
summited rock is a well-defined swamp that is
drained by a small stream passing to the east, and
north into the river. To the west the land is low,
and during the rainy season the Rock may well be
considered an island, for upon the west side also the
water then flows down a slight ravine to the river.
Although the site of Fort St. Louis has never been
lost, Francis Parkman claims to have discovered it.
The tales of early French affairs in the west identify,
and a multitude of two-centuries-old maps mark its
place. Some late writers lead us to the old Shawnee
earthworks on the neighboring hills, and others say
that on Lovers Leap, Tonty built the fort.
"Lovers Leap" is but a cliff terminating an exten
sion of the prairie and, not being "isolated and
approachable only at a single point," cannot have
been referred to as "the Rock." The definition of
the French word roche is given as a rock "very
large and isolated."
A question as to the location of Fort St. Louis has
been raised by the Hon. Perry Armstrong, of Mor
ris, Illinois, and uncertainty is also entertained by
others, which I attribute to unfamiliarity with the
early French records and maps, many of which, it
may be said, have not long been accessible. More
than a score of maps before me show the fort on the
south side of the Illinois river, somewhere between
the mouth of the Fox river and the Vermilion.
This general location has never been disputed, but
the exact place of the Rock is the matter con-
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 251
troverted. Before turning to the French writers,
every one of whom spent either days or months or
years at the post, one may well read what Mr. Arm
strong says, in his valuable article on "The Piasa" :
"Standing on the south bank of the Illinois river,
about eight miles below the city of Ottawa, is a sin
gularly shaped St. Peter s Sandstone rock, which
rises up from the river s edge one hundred and
forty-seven feet. Its surface embraces an area of
about half an acre* and is overlaid with earth sev
eral feet deep, studded with a few small red cedar
trees. It is circular in shape, and its walls are
nearly perpendicular, except a small space on the
south side, where persons can climb up. But this
passageway is so narrow that it was easily defended
by those on the summit."
Now follows La Salle s description of the Rock,
written in 1682, or possibly 1683 (Margry, II., 175):
"It is situated six leaguesf below the said village
[Kaskaskia, which shifting village must then have
been near the mouth of the Fox river], on the left
bank in descending the river on the summit of a
rock, steep nearly all around; the river bathes at the
foot, so that one can draw water to the top of the
rock which is about six hundred feet around. It is
inaccessible except on one side, where the ascent is
yet quite high."
* By pacing I have made the area of the Rock to be about
f of an acre upon its level summit, but, if taken over all, an
acre is not far out of the way. Differences in the way of meas
uring its area have been the cause of the different estimates.
f A French land league was then 2.42 miles. Distances
were guessed by the travelers, who, as Charlevoix says, almost
always overestimated, because of the difficulty of traveling.
252 LOST MARAMECH
La Salle again wrote (Margry, II., 122): "The vil
lage of the Illinois is on the north side of the river.
On the south is a great rock, very high, sharp and
almost everywhere steep, with the exception of one
place, where it inclines to the edge of the water."
Nicholas La Salle (said by Margry not to have
been in the same line of descent as the great
explorer) wrote in 1683: "He proceeded to make a
fort of wood on a rock on the border of the river of
the Illinois, face to face with their village."
Tonty says (Margry, I., 613), in speaking of La
Salle: "He came to join me on the 3Oth of Decem
ber, and during the winter we there constructed the
Fort of St. Louis on an inaccessible rock, whither La
Salle had induced the Shawnees to come."
Charlevoix, who visited the place in 1721 (VI.,
119, edition of 1744), makes as bad an estimate of
distances as any when he places the fort a league
from Buffalo Rock, and the latter only a league
from the mouth of the beautiful "Pisticoui," the
country bordering which he praises so highly. "At
the end of another league [from Buffalo Rock,
where was the fort of the Miamis], on the left, one
sees a similar rock, which has been named sim
ply Le Rocher; this is a plateau, much elevated,
two hundred feet of which border the river, which
river is here much enlarged. The Rock is almost
perpendicular and, at a distance, one takes it for a
fortress. One yet sees there some remains of pali
sades, because the Illinois had formerly made there
an entrenchment, in which it was easy for them to
seek shelter in case of any irruption on the part of
their enemies. Their village is at the foot of this
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 253
rock on an island, which, with several others, all of
a marvelous fertility, separate, at this place, the
river into two channels quite large."
Joutel, who spent the winter of 1687-88 at the fort,
wrote: "Fort Louis is in the country of the Illinois
and seated on a steep rock about two hundred feet
high, the river running at the base of it. It is forti
fied with stakes and palisades only, and some houses
advancing to the edge of the rock. It has a very
spacious esplanade, or place of arms. The place is
naturally strong and might be made more so by art,
at little expense. Several of the natives live in it,
in their huts."
La Potherie, who wrote in 1704 (Vol. II., 141)
says, speaking of La Salle: "He established him
self upon a steep rock, which was accessible only
by a little path."
It is plain to one familiar with the surrounding
country that these descriptions apply to none other
than Starved Rock.
I now refer to Mathieu Sagean, whose travels,
both real and imaginary, extended from 1683 to
1699, not because the unlettered man can be consid
ered to have been an authority, but because he was
a contemporaneous traveler and conversant with the
country, though it is doubtful if he ever saw Fort
St. Louis. In the following (Margry, VI., 99) he
probably repeats descriptions given by others: "De
La Salle and his troups went to the country of the
Illinois, another nation on the borders of the said
river, about eighty leagues farther up, where they
established Fort Saint Louis, upon an island adjacent
to the mainland, with which they communicated by
254 LOST MARAMECH
means of a drawbridge. It took six or seven months
to build the fort, with the help of the savages, after
which La Salle, having left De Tonty, a French gen
tleman, in command," etc. Reference to Tonty as
being a Frenchman, shows that Sagean knew little
of him personally, but his description of the Rock is
not bad.
The opinion that the site of the fort was prac
tically an island, is borne out by the facts; for
Starved Rock is bounded by the river in front, and
in the rear by ponds, swamps and a little stream
leading therefrom.
Accounts lead to the conclusion that a bridge led
to the gate of the palisades; and careful digging
out of the debris, with a cane, disclosed to me one
of the steps, and part of the other, in which were
laid the long timbers that formed the stringers of
the bridge which, only a few feet high, reached,
with a slight incline, part way up the steep path
way. The bridge may have had a draw, as Sagean
says; probably it had, for that would have been
wise.
I seem to stand again, as I once stood, upon the
western crest of the Rock, and watch the coming
storm. Beautiful islands part the waters of the
river, and the down-pouring sheet, lighted by light
ning flashes, hides, as it approaches, first one and
then another of the verdure-clad islands until the
storm bursts with fury, as if to attack this strong
hold of Nature. What a battle of the elements!
And, after the storm, what beauty! The clouds pass
to the east; a vista is opened to the north, reaching
far over fields of corn so like those of the long ago.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 255
Beyond the hills are the prairies where for centuries
the buffalo grazed and were hunted for food,
raiment, and trade by the people of the valley. To
the north and west, upon the little eminence in the
direction of the modern town of Utica, one sees the
burial-places, now made more green by the thirst-
quenched grasses. What opportunities for contem
plation! Upon another little eminence, where a
farmhouse is seen, one may well suppose that there
the Illinois, when attacked by the Iroquois in 1680,
erected the temporary fort which they were treacher
ously led to abandon by pretensions of peace. To
the west and south in the valley we can place the
cabins of the Shawnees, the Algonquin tribe that
returned to the north not many years before, from a
sojourn in Florida. Upon the hill to the southeast
the marks of an ancient fortification are found, and
along the river bank a few mounds mark the resting-
places of an earlier people. Burned stones and
flint-chips only are left to show where labored the
living and lie the dead. The canoes, chiseled from
the great cottonwood trees that bordered the banks
then as now, are in dust; the erstwhile fields upon
the islands are now tended by alien hands. Beauti
ful full-clad trees border these cornfields which are
no greener nor better tended than those worked by
the dark daughters of the field and forest, when
America knew no white race; and when comes the
autumn these fields are no richer in the golden yield
that forms the greatest boon ever granted to a
usurping people, than those garnered by the red
man. Had we been susceptible another boon those
people might have left us a greater sense of virtue
256 LOST MARAMECH
and honesty than we possess. But alas, to him we
taught the vices of civilization, but scoffed at him
as a teacher of virtues!
While we are standing upon this stronghold of
Nature the mind wanders, and the labors, hopes, and
fears of several generations are brought before us.
Around the border of this rock is still the heaped
earth that held the palisades placed by Tonty. On
the western crest the conformation of the surface
leads us to think that it was there La Salle planted
one of his little cannon, brought in bark canoes from
Montreal. Fragments of cinders show where stood
the blacksmith s forge, fed by coal found near by.
Flint chips strew the surface, and these indicate that
the artisan of the forge was not the only maker of
arms of the chase and weapons of war. Near the
middle of the summit is a leveled area where, no
doubt, stood the magazine in which stores for trade
and peltry received in trade were placed. Along
the palisades, to the south, seem to have been the
cabins where dwelt the officers and men who gar
risoned Fort St. Louis, which was practically the
headquarters of France in the fertile prairie-lands
of the west. Where stood the great out-reaching
poles, placed by Tonty to aid in drawing water from
the river, I have found no marks to determine; but
by the sides of the narrow stairway, at the south,
may still be seen one well-preserved niche, and
another less preserved, showing where rested the
timbers of the gangway by which part of the ascent
was made easy, and up and over which the timbers
cut for palisades were drawn. The tooth of time
has changed the form of the Rock, no doubt, by cut-
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 257
ting here and there. One may now step down
through a narrow cleft to a ledge, upon the north
side, and wend his way to the river. Starved Rock
has now two places of ascent. It matters little
whether this stronghold was accessible at these two
points when the tragedies were enacted, for each
ascent is easy of defense. Knowing the Rock well,
it would be quite possible for one to pass down the
crevice and along the ledge, in the darkness of
night, and reach the water. Tradition tells us of at
least one escape, probably by this way.
Starved Rock! Why so called? By the French
it was christened La Roche. We know not by what
poetic name the natives knew it. The story of
starvation, as told by tradition, prompted the writer
of the beautiful romance, to which I have referred,
to give the name by which we know it now. Be
that as it may, the mouldering bones, turned to the
sun by curiosity hunters, show us that there at least
was death, and the specter of hunger at once rises
before us.
Starved Rock! When we read Tonty s account,
what so stirs us at the sound of that name?
When gazing over this placid river, its waters gli
ding at the foot, the scene becomes animated; the
whole a battlefield where, two centuries ago, the
Illinois fought for life and the Iroquois for scalps
and slaves a scene of carnage and flight. In the
fields of corn I seem to see the Iroquois busy gather
ing a supply to serve them in their pursuit of the
fleeing Illinois; to see, not many leagues down the
river, on the little peninsula, the loved ones of
the warriors, anxious and watching, awaiting any turn
258 LOST MARAMECH
of events that will permit escape from torture. I
seem to see the council where stood Tonty pleading
for peace between the invaders and the invaded; to
hear the Jroquois chief boasting that they will eat the
Illinois. There Tonty, in his anger, kicks away the
package of beaver skins intended to bribe him to
forsake the Illinois, and then I see the flashing eyes
of the chief who warns him to leave at once.
Tonty and his companions take heed and paddle
laboriously against the rapid current. The Illinois
have left their village to seek their women and chil
dren, and the Iroquois soon start in pursuit, on the
opposite side of the river. Day after day we trace
them; the followers hurry on to keep pace with the
followed, the river only between them. Sad indeed
the fate of the pursued! As they pass along the
river they disperse, the better to escape; but a por
tion are overtaken, and warriors, women, and chil
dren, are burned at the stake or led prisoners to the
homes of the Iroquois. Many charred bodies stand
ing tied to trees tell the sad, sad ending.
So calm that river! Who can tell where, in our
country, more blood was ever shed than flowed and
enriched the sod along its banks?
CHAPTER XV
By 1728 patience had again ceased to be a virtue
with the French, and again they sought utterly to
annihilate the Foxes. The adventure of De
Lignerie is told us by the Recollet Father Emanuel
Crespel. (Smith s His. Wis., I., 339.) The father
recites that he was withdrawn from his curacy and
appointed confessor to a party of four hundred
Frenchmen which the Marquis de Beauharnois had
joined to eight or nine hundred savages, principally
Iroquois, partly of the Christian branch settled
among the French. We shall see how much influ
ence the gentle father had in softening the hearts of
the French and their allies.
The troops commanded by De Lignerie "were
commissioned to go and destroy a nation called the
Foxes." The journey was begun on the fifth of
June, 1728, by passing up the Ottawa river in birch-
bark canoes. Portage was made into Lake Nip-
pissing, and thence into Georgian Bay. While
passing up the Ottawa and the smaller rivers on
their way, as it was not possible for all to travel
together, the army was divided into small parties,
and the first to pass awaited the others at a place
called the Prairie, on the border of Lake Huron.
At the time of embarkation from that point, July
26, the father celebrated mass and, no doubt, offered
prayers for the interposition of Divine Providence
on behalf of the Frenchmen and, possibly, for favor-
259
260 LOST MARAMECH
able winds. Be that as it may, the winds hurried
them on to such an extent that they reached Macki
naw, about two hundred and forty miles distant, in
six days, where the good father takes the pains to
tell us that he consecrated two flags. The army
soon departed and entered Lake Michigan, but was
there detained two days by the wind. Ill though
the winds were, they blew some good, for it gave
the hungry party an opportunity to take several
moose and elk. "The hunters were so polite," the
father adds, "as to offer to share with us. We
made some objections at first, but they compelled us
to accept their present, saying that, since we had
shared with them the fatigues of the journey, it was
right that they should share with us the comforts
which they had found, and that they should not con
sider themselves as men if they acted in a different
manner toward others."
The discourse, which one of the men translated
into French, affected the father very much, and he
cried: "What humanity in savages, and how many
men might be found in Europe to whom the title of
barbarian might much better be applied than to these
inhabitants of America! The generosity of our sav
ages merited the most lively gratitude on our part."
The army passed along down to Green Bay, and,
says the father: "The next day we crossed over to
the Folles Avoines* in order to invite [provoke] the
inhabitants to come and oppose our landing. They
fell into the trap and were entirely defeated." The
Christian father was indeed very much affected by
the kindness of the Indian huntsmen, but he does
* A harmless tribe on Green Bay.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 261
not tell us that the setting of a trap, into which
these poor people fell and hence were defeated,
excited any feeling of pity in his heart. "About
midday," he goes on to say, "on the i/th we were
ordered to halt until evening in order that we might
reach the post at The Bay during the night, as we
wished to surprise the enemy who we knew were
staying with their allies, the Sacs, whose village lies
near Fort St. Francis. At twilight [dusk] we com
menced our march, and about midnight we arrived
at the mouth of the Fox river, at which point our
fort is built. As soon as we had arrived there M. de
Lignerie sent some Frenchmen to the commandant
to ascertain if the enemy were really at the village
of the Sacs, and, having learned that we ought [were
likely] still to find them there, he caused all the
savages and a detachment of French troops to cross
over the river in order to surround the habitations,
and then ordered the rest of our troops to enter the
village. Notwithstanding the precautions that had
been taken to conceal our arrival, the savages had
received information of it, and all had escaped with
the exception of four. These were presented to our
savages, who, after having diverted themselves with
them, shot them to death with arrows."
Although the good father was not shocked at the
trap that was set, into which the Folles Avoines
fell and in which they were killed, yet his heart soft
ened later, for he continues: "I was much pained
to witness this terrible spectacle, and the pleasure
which our savages took in making these unfortunate
persons suffer, causing them to undergo the horror
of thirty deaths before depriving them of life, I
262 LOST MARAMECH
could not make accord with the manner in which
they had appeared some days before. I would
willingly have asked them if they did not perceive,
as I did, this opposition of sentiment, and have
pointed out to them what I saw commendable in
their proceedings; but those of our party who
might have served as interpreters were on the other
side of the river, and I was obliged to postpone
until another time the satisfaction of my curiosity.
After this little coup de main we went up Fox
river, which is full of rapids and is about thirty-
five or forty leagues in length. The 24th of August
[1726] we arrived at the village of the Puants [Win-
nebagos], much disposed to destroy any inhabitant
that might be found there; but their flight had pre
ceded our arrival, and we had nothing to do but to
burn their wigwams and ravage their fields of Indian
corn, which is their principal article of food. We
afterward crossed over the little Fox lake, at the
end of which we camped; and the next day (day of
St. Louis), after mass, we entered a small river
which conducted us into a kind of swamp, on the
borders of which were situated the grand habitations
of those we were in search of. Their allies, the
Sacs, doubtless informed them of our approach, and
they did not deem it advisable to await our arrival,
for we found in their village only a few women,
whom our savages made their slaves, and an old
man, whom they burned to death at a slow fire with
out appearing to entertain the least repugnance
toward committing so barbarous an action."
Again the sentiments of the father seem to have
been somewhat mixed. Whether the burning was
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 263
repugnant to him (such as was practiced as a means
of conversions in some parts of Europe at that
time), or the burning of an old man because he was
an enemy, we are left to judge for ourselves. I am
led to believe that the father was very human, not
withstanding his assumed divine mission. Farther
on the father tells us: "This appeared to me a more
striking act of cruelty than that which had been
experienced toward the four savages found in the
village of the Sacs. I seized upon this occasion and
circumstance to satisfy my curiosity about that of
which I have just been speaking. There was in our
company a Frenchman who could speak the Iro-
quois language. I entreated him to tell the savages
that I was surprised to see them take so much pleas
ure in tormenting an unfortunate old man; that the
rights of war did not extend so far, and that an act
so barbarous appeared to me to be in direct opposi
tion to the principle which they had professed to
entertain toward all men. I was answered by an
Iroquois who, in order to justify his companions,
said that when they fell into the hands of the Foxes
and Sacs they were treated with still greater cruelty,
and that it was their custom to treat their enemies
in the same manner that they would be treated by
them if they were vanquished. I was about to give
him some further reasons when the orders were
given to advance upon the last stronghold of the
enemy. This post is situated upon the borders of a
small river which empties into another called the
Wisconsin, which latter discharges itself into the
Mississippi, about thirty leagues from there. We
found no person there, and as we had no orders to
264 LOST MARAMECH
go any farther, we employed ourselves several days
in destroying the fields in order to deprive the
enemy of the means of subsisting there."
Beauharnois did not regard the march as useless.
"It is certain," he wrote September ist, 1728, to the
French minister of war, "that half of these nations,
who number four thousands souls, will die of hun
ger, and that they will come in and ask for mercy."
In a private letter he repeats his instructions to
De Lignerie in regard to the expedition. The let
ter states that De Lignerie made use of all his skill
in his efforts to succeed in the expedition, but found
it impossible to surprise the enemy, they having
knowledge of his march. Three Puants and a Fox,
who were discovered by some Sacs whom he had
brought from Mackinaw, were taken by him. These
four savages were bound and sent to the tribes, who
put them to death the next day. He afterward
continued his march, Beauharnois writes, at the
head of one thousand savages and four hundred and
fifty Frenchmen, to the village of the Puants, and
then to that of the Foxes, who had fled, some
escaping by swimming. In the four villages he
captured two women and a girl and a man, who
were killed and burned. The Foxes had left four
days before, taking the old men, women, and chil
dren in canoes. Marching by land the warriors kept
pace along the banks. De Lignerie urged his allies
to pursue the Foxes, but only a portion would con
sent, the others saying that the Foxes were too
much in the lead to be overtaken. The French had
nothing to eat but Indian corn, and having a march
of about four hundred leagues before them on their
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 265
return, by which the safety of the army was endan
gered, it was decided to burn the four Fox villages,
their forts, and their huts, and to destroy all that
they could find in their fields Indian corn, beans,
and pumpkins, of which they had a great abundance.
The French and allies did the same execution
among the Puants.
In returning, the French passed by a village of
Sacs. These savages told the Marquis, in a council
of the tribes, that they no longer wished to stay
with the French, for fear of the Foxes, and that they
were going to retire to the river St. Joseph. As
he could not reassure the Sacs, De Lignerie burned
the fort lest the Foxes or their allies should take
possession of it and thus fortify themselves and
make war upon the Folles Avoines, said, since their
defeat, to have become allies of the French.
The failure of De Lignerie was attributed to his
long stay at Mackinaw and to the fact that a Potta-
watomie, who had come from Green Bay with four
others, three of whom did not appear, was sent back
to his comrades by De Lignerie to say that he had
come to talk with the tribes there, and even with
the Foxes, who were two days distant. At this the
Pottawatomie warned the Foxes of all that he had
seen in the army, and they fled at once. The
French and allies wished to march upon them, but
De Lignerie would not hasten his departure. The
murmur was very general against him in the army,
and the savages in their speeches did not spare him.
De Lignerie had attempted to make peace with
the Foxes and other tribes in 1726, when it was
thought best to grant the request of Ouchata, the
266 LOST MARAMECH
principal chief of the Foxes, to have a French offi
cer in the country to aid him in restraining his young
warriors from bad thoughts and actions. It was
believed better, however, that the commandant at
La Point, on Lake Superior, endeavor to withdraw
the Sioux from an alliance with the Foxes, which it
was thought might be done by presents, and lead
them to hope for a missionary and other French
men, as they had often desired. It was afterward
regretted that the same instructions were not given
to the officers commanding at Detroit and at the
river St. Joseph, in order that the neighboring
nations might be detached from the Foxes, and
that those officers, in case of war, might be able to
prevent the Foxes from seeking an asylum with the
Iroquois, or with any other nation where they might
secrete themselves. De Siette, who then com
manded in the Illinois country, had written De
Lignerie that the Foxes were afraid of treachery,
and that the surest mode of securing peace was to
exterminate them.
As we read all this (which will be found in Wis.
Hist. Col., III., 148), we are not surprised that the
Foxes were afraid of treachery. It seems as if it
had been recommended to allay their fears by mur
dering them a very effective remedy surely. De
Siette had made this proposition to the council-
general at New Orleans, and had expressed the
same opinion to the "directors of the Company of
the Indies." In this account we find that it was
held that such a course would be the best expedient,
but that nothing would be more dangerous or more
prejudicial to the colonies of Canada and Louisiana
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 267
than such an enterprise in case of failure. It was
thought that it would be necessary to effect a sur
prise and keep them shut up in a fort, as in the last
war (at Detroit, 1712), for in case of escape the
Foxes and Sioux or the lowas would return to
destroy all the upper country; and that the French
of both colonies would be unable to pass from post
to post except at the risk of robbery and murder.
It was recommended that De Siette should cause to
be restored to the Foxes, by the Illinois, whatever
prisoners that they had with them, and De Lignerie
made the Foxes promise to send back to the Illinois
their prisoners. It was recommended that the
example of the other commandants who, by burning
the Fox prisoners that fell into their hands, had
thought to intimidate the Foxes and cause them to
lay down their arms, be not followed, as that only
served to irritate that people and aroused their
strongest hatred against the French.
In the council of June 7, 1728, De Lignerie spoke
to the tribes there assembled, demanding that they
go next spring to Green Bay and labor to put an end
to the unjust war which these nations were waging
against the Illinois. The Foxes replied that "since
the Great King extended his hand to them to signify
that he pitied them, their children and women, the
speaker gave his word to use his efforts toward
peace, and although the young Fox warriors were
then at war, he expected to gain them over."
(Wis. Hist. Col., III., 152.)
The chiefs of the nations assembled were well dis
posed, and saw very clearly that there could be no
hope for them except in obedience to the king.
268 LOST MARAMECH
While all this was going on, a party of Foxes
struck the Chippevvas who, being put on the defen
sive, killed one Fox and wounded three. They were
not contented, however, and would have got up a
party of warriors to attack the Foxes had they not
been prevented by presents, and hopes held out to
them that the Foxes would lay down the war-club.
Beauharnois wrote from Quebec, October I, of the
same year (1726), expressing great satisfaction that
peace had been effected with the Foxes. De Lign-
erie, he informs us, says that since the chiefs of
the Foxes and Sacs gave their word to no more war
against the Illinois, two small war-parties of young
men of the Fox nation had gone to avenge the death
of one of their relatives; that the greater part of
both parties, composed of ten men, had been
entirely defeated; that four of them had been killed
on the spot, four wounded and taken prisoners by
the Illinois, and that the two who escaped were
wounded. "If the Illinois are careful," he says,
"this affair will have no further bad results; they
have but to send the prisoners they have taken to
the Fox village with presents to cover their dead,
according to usage, by which means they will dis
arm the Foxes and prevent them from forming new
parties." (Wis. Hist. Col, III., 159.)
The present and future.
CHAPTER XVI
In the autumn of 1727 Beauharnois felt that he
foresaw the necessity of again making war upon the
Foxes, and he wrote to that effect to De Siette, com
mandant at the Illinois. A copy of a letter De
Siette had previously written was sent to Montreal
to be considered by the officers there assembled.
On August 24, 1727, Beauharnois informed De Siette
by letter that "not being able any longer to rely
upon the word of the Foxes given De Lignerie,
promising to remain at peace, and as, especially
since the death of their chiefs, war-parties are daily
being formed, he had determined to make war upon
them the coming year."
May 29, 1729, Father Guignas, who accompanied
the expedition to the Sioux, wrote to Beauharnois
that the expedition delayed departure some time
hoping to learn from Montreal what were the inten
tions as to overcoming the extreme difficulty usually
encountered when passing through the country of
the Foxes. Hearing nothing, the party departed
from Mackinaw, and reached Green Bay on the 8th
of August. They soon passed on and met some of
the chiefs of the Puants, who received them kindly
and feasted them. The expedition soon reached
the village of the Foxes, twenty-two leagues (about
fifty-two miles) from Green Bay. The father speaks
of these people as not being so formidable as
reported:
269
270 LOST MARAMECH
"Early the next morning, the I5th of the month
of August, the convoy prepared to continue its route
with quite pleasant weather; but a storm coming on
in the afternoon, we arrived quite wet, still in the
rain, at the cabins of the Foxes, a nation so much
dreaded and really so little to be dreaded. From
all that we could see, it is composed of two hundred
men at most, but there is a perfect hive of children,
especially boys from ten to fourteen years old, well
made and formed. They are cabined on a little
eminence on the bank of a small river, that bears
their name, extremely tortuous or winding, so that
you are constantly boxing the compass. Yet it is
apparently quite wide, with a chain of hills on both
sides, but there is only one miserable little channel
amid this extent of apparent bed, which is a kind of
marsh full of rushes and wild rice of almost impen
etrable thickness. They have nothing but mere bark
cabins without any kind of palisade or other fortifi
cation. As soon as the French canoes touched their
shore, they ran down with their peace calumets
lighted in spite of the rain, and all smoked.
"We staid among them the rest of this day and
all the next, to know what were their designs and
ideas as to the French post among the Sioux. The
Sieur Reaume, interpreter of Indian languages at
The Bay, acted efficiently there and with devotion to
the king s service. Even if my testimony, sir,
should be deemed not impartial, I must have the
honor to tell you that Rev. Father Chardon, an old
missionary, was of very great assistance there, and
the presence of three missionaries who were there,
reassured these cut-throats and assassins of the
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 271
French more than all the speeches of the best
orators could have done. A general council was
convened in one of the cabins; they were addressed
in decent and friendly terms, and they replied in the
same way. A small present was made to them. On
their side they gave some quite handsome dishes
lined with dry meat."
Referring to the establishment of the French
among the Sioux, Beauharnois, in a letter to the
minister of the colonies, wrote in substance: "The
interest of religion and of the colonies is involved
in the maintenance of this establishment, which has
been the more necessary, as there is no doubt but
that the Foxes, when routed, would have found an
asylum among the Sioux had not the French been
sent there. The docility and submissiveness mani
fested by the Foxes cannot be attributed to any
cause except the good-will entertained by the Sioux
for the French and the offers which the former made
the latter, of which the Foxes were fully cognizant.
It would be necessary to retain the Sioux in their
favorable disposition in order to keep the Foxes
respectful and defeat the measures they might adopt
to gain over the Sioux, who will always reject their
propositions so long as the French will remain in
their country and their trading post there continue.
The Foxes will, in all probability, come next year
to sue for peace; therefore, if it be granted to them
on advantageous conditions, there need be no appre
hension when going to the Sioux; and another com
pany could be formed, less numerous than the first,
with whom one would make a new treaty, or make
It with some responsible merchants able to afford
272 LOST MARAMECH
the outfitting, whereby these difficulties would be
soon obviated." (Affluents of the Mississippi, p. 459.)
We now come to the most interesting series of
events in the history of the Foxes. There are many
traditions, military reports, and references made by
parties having had knowledge of important events,
but as every one interested reported matters as they
appeared from his point of view, there is no exact
agreement.
Historians do agree, however, that in 1730 a large
part of the Fox tribe was annihilated; but where the
defeat took place has been lost to history. David
son says: "The worst event of the war occurred near
Rock St. Louis on the Illinois river." (Unnamed
Wisconsin, p. 22.) Hebbard tells of the affair, but
gives no opinion as to where it took place. (Wis
consin under the Dominion of France.} Parkman says:
"The accounts of the affair are obscure and not very
trustworthy. It seems that the Outagamies [Foxes]
began the affray by an attack on the Illinois at La
Salle s old station Le Rocher, on the river Illinois."
(Half Century of Conflict. )
The physical geography of the region about
Starved Rock enables me to determine absolutely
that Parkman s guess is wrong, and further geo
graphical and historical knowledge enables me to say
where the persecuted tribe met its greatest and last
defeat. The earliest definite account of the struggle
is found in the report of Beauharnois, dated May 6,
1730. In his reports we read of an encounter of a
party of warriors from several tribes with eighty
Foxes. Various events of about that time are also
mentioned. (Wis. Hist. Col., VIII., 245.)
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 273
Perriere Marin was a native of France, who estab
lished a place of deposit, called Fort Marin, on the
Mississippi, a short distance from the mouth of the
Wisconsin river, near what is now Wyalusing, and
also another near Mackinaw. Between these two
points Marin conducted an extensive traffic over the
route formed by the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. He
was obliged to curry favor with the Foxes who lived
along the banks of the river of that name, at or near
Little Butte des Morts, and to submit to the exac
tions of these people, in the form of tribute. The
acts of the Foxes were very much like those of the
buccaneers of the West Indies, or, we may say, of
modern nations that exact duties on goods entering
their country; and hence we cannot say that the
Foxes were much worse than the people of the civil
ized nations. Be that as it may, these repeated
piratical acts, as Marin considered them, determined
him to drive the Foxes from their position. Tradi
tion and vague accounts of his eventful expedition
leave some doubt as to the exact date of his first
attack, but it was probably as early as the year 1730.
He raised a considerable force at Mackinaw, which
was increased by friendly Indians of Green Bay.
They embarked, each boat having a full complement
of men, well armed and concealed by tarpaulins
large enough to cover the whole boat, such as were
generally used to protect goods from the weather.
Near the rapids, about three miles below but not
within view of the Little Butte des Morts, the party
divided, one portion going by land to the rear of
the village to support the attack which was to be
made by the other party in the front from the boats.
274 LOST MARAMECH
The men in the boats, with their guns ready for use,
were concealed by the covers, except two men at
the oars. The Foxes discovered the approach of
the trader s fleet, as they supposed it to be, and
placed out their torch and posted themselves along
the bank and awaited the landing of the boats and
the payment of the customary exaction. When
near enough for an effective attack, the tarpaulins
were thrown off and a volley of musketry and two
swivel-guns, loaded with grape and canister, was fired
by the soldiers, which scattered death among the
unsuspecting savages. The living fled to their fort to
prepare for defense, and were pursued by the troops.
A Menominee warrior had stealthily entered the vil
lage and set fire to the large bark dwellings on the
windward side, and they were soon consumed by
the flames. The Foxes in despair sought safety in
flight, but were met by the party which had inter
cepted their retreat, and they found themselves
between two fires. Bullet and tomahawk soon
began their work, and the scalping-knife reaped a
rich harvest.
"The time occupied by the bloody tragedy was
not long," says Hon. Moses Strong, from whose
papers I have chosen to cull these facts, "but in
strategy, surprise, and sanguinary execution it
probably has no parallel in the annals of Indian
warfare. Most of the Foxes were killed or taken
prisoners, but a few escaped up the river, and others
were absent at the time of the engagement."
Whether Marin was warranted in such "strategy"
or not, I shall not say, but do not hesitate to state
that I know of no greater display of savagery on the
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 275
part of the red savages than the attack by the white
savages upon these people, who for years had been
paid tribute and were merely waiting on the shore
for the customary distribution of gewgaws. It may
have been this barbarous attack of Marin that
formed the final incentive to the flight toward the
Iroquois which ended in the massacre at the site of
the ancient Miami town of Maramech.
Some time early in 1730 the Foxes sent two stone
axes to the young warriors of the Seneca branch of
the Iroquois, who gave them to the Sachems, and
the latter, in turn, to the Governor of Canada.
This was the initial move in the last great tragedy.
By this present the Foxes requested that they
might come and live near the Senecas and join them
in their campaigns. The Senecas were warned by
the French not to accept the proposition of the
Foxes. That the Six Nations* (the Iroquois) were
altogether too strong, the French had been forced to
believe; but the English, it is evident, favored the
move, and had often recommended the same or sim
ilar plans to the Senecas.
The Governors of New France had several times
been ordered to annihilate the Fox tribe, and it
became their purpose to make more strenuous efforts
than ever before. Saint Ange was in command at
Fort Chartres, on the Mississippi river, near what
was then the new Kaskaskia. It was a French set
tlement, and to it the Illinois tribes had come and
brought with them the name of the erstwhile great
Illinois town, near Starved Rock, which they had
* After defeating and absorbing the Tuscaroras the Iroquois
were known as the Six Nations.
276 LOST MARAMECH
been forced to abandon years before. The Illinois
held themselves in readiness for revenge on the
Foxes and seemed willing to proceed with Saint
Ange, but when others were ready they held back
for some unknown reason. The French jeered them,
declaring that they were only women and conse
quently did not know how to fight. Slavery was
then one of the barbarous institutions at Kaskaskia,
Cahokia, and other towns adjoining Fort Chartres;
and the Frenchmen declared to the Illinois that
they would take their negro slaves and join the
other savages and defeat the Foxes. We know not
what orders were given Saint Ange except that he
should direct his march toward the Rock. We
are not told whether he passed up the Mississippi
and Illinois rivers and then the "river of the Rock,"
and struck northeast across the great prairies. We
read from the reports, however, that the last two
days march was under cover of the woods. This
leads us to believe that the march was mainly across
great prairies.
The summer was nearing its end; the lilies were
giving way to the goldenrod and to the multitude
of autumn daisies that bordered the trails. The
grown broods of quail whirred from the tall grass,
but they little woke the instincts of the sportsman,
for small game was of little account as food for an
army; but the deer and wild turkeys fared less well.
Food, while on the march, was abundant, but the
way was long.
To a great extent the valley of the Riviere du
Rocher, now the beautiful Fox river, had become
No Man s Land, because of the long-standing wars
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 277
between the Illinois on one side and the Foxes,
Kickapoos, and allies on the other, who seemed bent
on driving that people from northern Illinois, a
region that thirty years before was one of the best
known of the west. (See maps ante pp. 23, 28
and 30.) It had practically been lost sight of.
This was true to such an extent in 1730 that Per-
rier, the Governor of Louisiana, wrote of it as "a
country up to this time unknown to the French,
and even to our allied savages, of whom none
could serve us as guides." Louisiana then ex
tended from the mouth of the Mississippi river to
the headwaters of every tributary, and hence the
Riviere du Rocher was within Perrier s jurisdiction.
Although its name has been twice changed, the
Pestekouy still flows through smiling prairies where
the herds that gave it name so long grazed, but how
changed!
CHAPTER XVII
In July, 1730, the Illinois of the village of Kas-
kaskia had learned that the Foxes, a short time
previously, had taken some prisoners from among
them and had burned the son of the great Illinois
chief "near the Rock" which, as Ferland puts it, is
upon the Illinois river. This and other news led
Saint Ange to move. On the loth day of August,
after overtaking the three or four hundred savages
who had passed on several days before, the army
found itself about five hundred strong. The Kicka-
poos and Mascoutins and the "Illinois of the Rock"
had taken possession of the passage to the northeast
in order to head off the Foxes, which they succeeded
in doing; and the latter proceeded to fortify them
selves.
Near the western border of Section 24 of the town
of Little Rock, Kendall county, is what may be
considered a freak of nature. It is a pond of con
siderable depth, about an acre in extent, with its
surface twenty feet below the level of the prairie,
and surrounded by trees. No stream enters it, nor
does one flow from it. The pond is well adapted
for defense. It is a fraction over two miles from
the site of the old Fox fort on Maramech Hill,
which leads me to believe that this was the place
where the Mascoutins and Kickapoos awaited the
arrival of the French, for it corresponds surprisingly
closely to the distance at which the warriors of these
279
2 8o LOST MARAMECH
tribes were located, to the northeast of the Foxes,
which was said to be one league.* Defense was
easy because then, as now, the pond was sur
rounded by a narrow belt of trees, and hence log-
built breastworks and enclosures were of easy
construction. This pond is a study in physical
geography and, because of its being somewhat a
freak of nature, it may have been considered a
special providence by the superstitious savages.
A pool by the wayside, it quenched the thirst; its
surrounding shades offered to fatigued warriors a
resting-place from the trail. All blessings were
credited by the natives to some of the many Mani-
tous. To what one of them may the finely wrought
ornamental stones found on the shore of the pond
have been offered as sacrifices? The lakelet may
have been considered as sacred and have received
the worship of the savage^, as in the ancient Scandi
navian countries the wealth of the individual was
often sacrificed by casting it into the waters of a
sacred spring. So may it not have been that our
natives considered this oasis in the far-reaching
prairies, with its pool and shades, as a special crea
tion for them? Game was usually abundant, and it
is probable that fish could there be caught, then as
now. Because of the natural advantages and the
exact distance and direction from the fort of the
Foxes, I place the watching Kickapoos there.
Saint Ange, when approaching, was informed of
the nearness of the enemy, on the I2th of August,
by one of the scouts who also gave information as
* A French land league at that time was equal to 2.42 Eng
lish miles.
*F \.
ESCAPfJ SCPT. 9-
^f*0 of HlU-
Lettering the massive boulder.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 281
to the location of the fort. This scout stated
that he had counted there one hundred and eleven
cabins. The advancing army was then but three
days distant, and on the I7th, at break of day, the
enemy was sighted. A party of forty hunters was
forced to return to the fort. Saint Ange s army
cautiously made its way over trails that led north
eastwardly across the prairies, south of the Illinois
river, and finally followed the open timber that
skirted the bluffs of the Riviere du Rocher (Fox
river). When he reached the great bend, along
which the bark and rush cabins of Maramech had
formerly stood, he was in position to look to the
northwest, across the river and across the bottom
lands where had once been the cornfields of the
Miamis. He could look up the slope (to the west and
northwest), that forms the amphitheater now studded
with a second growth of hickory and oak. Upon
this amphitheater were the one hundred and eleven
temporary shelters of the Foxes spoken of by the
scout. Other French troops were moving else
where.
Early in 1730 two Mascoutins had come to the
river St. Joseph where M. de Villiers commanded,
and reported that the Foxes were fighting with the
Illinois between the Rock and the Ouiatonons
(Weas, a branch of the Miamis, on the Wabash),
and that the Puants, Mascoutins, and Kickapoos
had joined the Illinois and attacked the Foxes, but
that the Illinois had fled. In that attack six Puants
were wounded and one killed. There were also two
Kickapoos of the river St. Joseph killed. This news
had the effect of awakening the French to the fact
282 LOST MARAMECH
that the Foxes were endeavoring to pass from their
village in the Wisconsin region to the Iroquois, who
for several years had been attempting to induce
them to make this move. The commandant at St.
Joseph put himself immediately in readiness to
march against the Foxes, and at once sent word to
Detroit, giving notice of what had taken place and
of the fact that he would proceed immediately.
Some of the Puants at Detroit and the Ottawas
determined to take up the hatchet against the
Foxes, but were deterred from so doing by the fact
that a large number of their warriors were absent.
The Foxes, when opposed by the Kickapoos and
others, said that they were expecting a large party
of Iroquois to come to their assistance. This was
no doubt said in order to frighten the French, and
allies in turn, to do which seemed to require little
more than to cry "Iroquois!" It was known, as
already stated, that the English had been working
to that end and had sought to influence the Foxes
by sending them presents by the hands of the Iro
quois. It was on the 6th of August, 1730, that M.
de Villiers, commandant at the St. Joseph river,
learned of the move the Foxes were making, and at
once gave the information to M. de Noyelles, com
mandant at the Miamis. De Villiers made hasty
preparations and started on the loth of August, at
the head of three hundred French and allies, to
march against the Foxes. Upon his arrival he found
that Saint Ange had preceded him with one hundred
Frenchmen and four hundred savages. He took a
position on the right, to the northwest of the fort
the Foxes had hastily constructed, and there located
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 283
his little battery upon the hill across the swamp,
which in itself protected it, where a stone has been
placed. De Noyelles soon joined them, when the
force aggregated about thirteen hundred men, all
bent on the annihilation of the Foxes.
The details of this affair are given in the various
fragmentary military reports. They were digested
and entered in books of record at Paris, many writ
ten by the same hand. It seems evident that the
compiler omitted much and, because of lack of
geographical knowledge of the region, erred [in his
interpretation of the meaning of the writers. So
far as I have been able to learn, Ferland is the only
historian who availed himself of such of the Parisian
records as deal with this great tragedy. He prob
ably had before him the account found in Cor
respondence General, 1732, Vol. LVIL, p. 316. The
following is a translation from the French of his
account. (Histoire du Canada, II., 436.)*
* In the account from which Ferland made this narration
there is some confusion ; and no distinction is made between
"the Rock," which is on the Illinois river and "the Rock"
which characterizes the stream first known to the French as
the Pestecouy and later by them called "Riviere du Rocher,"
which discharges into the Illinois river, several miles above
the site of old Fort St. Louis. This confusion is in part
explained by the fact that the geography of the country was
little known to the commanders directing the movement, and
to the writers of the military reports (see letter of March 25,
1731, appendix). The Rock on which Fort St. Louis had
been was well known, for it was on two direct routes between
Louisiana and Canada ; many of the soldiers of the little army
had, no doubt, often passed up and down the Illinois river.
The "Riviere du Rocher" was off the main line of canoe-
travel, but was familiar to most of the traders.
284 LOST MARAMECH
"In the month of October, 1728, a party of Kicka-
poos and Mascoutins made prisoners, on the Missis
sippi, of seventeen Frenchmen who were descending
[the Mississippi] from Fort Beauharnois [on Lake
Pipin] to the Illinois country. The savages deliber
ated at first whether they would burn their captives
or deliver them to the Foxes, who were demanding
them. In the meantime Father Guignas, who was
among the prisoners, so gained their confidence that
he succeeded in detaching them from the Foxes,
and induced them to ask the French for peace.
"After five months of captivity, he descended to
Fort Chartres with ,a few Kickapoos and Mascoutin
chiefs, at which place Saint Ange was in command.
Peace was concluded^ according to their wishes and
the prisoners were given their liberty.
"Enfeebled and disconcerted by this arrangement,
the Foxes contemplated taking refuge among the
Ferland, in his account, does not follow the original
manuscript very closely, as may be gathered by reference to
his Histoire du Canada, II., p. 437. The original reads: "Les
Quikapous, Maskoutins et Illinois du Rocher s estaient
rendus maitre des parrages du cost& du nord est et fut
vraisemblement ce qui contraignet les renards de faire un
fort au rocher a une lieue audessous d^eux pour se mettrc
a convert de leurs insults" Put in plain English, the above
might well read: "The Kickapous, Mascoutins and Illinois of
the Rock had taken possession of the region to the northeast
of the Foxes, and it was probably that which constrained the
Foxes to build a fort at (near) the Rock, a league below them
(the Mascoutins, Kickapous and Illinois of the Rock)." Fer-
land s mistake was in putting the Foxes a league r from the
Rock instead of a league from the enemy that held the places
to the northeast. It is true, however, that the old Fox fort is
nearly an old French land league from the Rock.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 285
Iroquois, friends of the English, by passing by the
village of the Ouiatonons [Weas], a branch of the
Miamis living on the Wabash river, friendly to
them.
"But the Kickapoos and the Mascoutins pene
trated their schemes and gave information, at all of
the posts, to the French of Louisiana and Canada.
In the meantime the Illinois of the village of Kao-
kias, in the month of May, 1730, gave information
that the Foxes had taken some prisoners near the
Rock, upon the river of the Illinois. This report
induced Saint Ange to take the field; four hundred
savages joined a hundred Frenchmen whom he had
assembled. This little army directed itself toward
the Rock, at a league from which the Foxes had
stopped and had just finished building a fort. They
had not been able to continue their journey toward
the country of the Iroquois, for the Kickapoos and
Mascoutins and the Illinois of the Rock were mas
ters of the places to the northeast.
"On the I7th of August Saint Ange arrived in
sight of the enemy; after having driven back into
the fort a party of hunters, he reconnoitered the
place where they were lodged. It was a little grove
enclosed with palisades, situated on a gentle slope
which rose toward the west and the northwest,
along a little river; their retreats were made in the
ground like the den of the Fox, of which they bear
the name.
"At the sound of the first gunshot fired by the
French, the Kickapoos, Mascoutins, and the Illi
nois, who, for a month, had been expecting aid, ran
up to the number of two hundred men.
286 LOST MARAMECH
"Thus reenforced, Saint Ange divided his forces
in such a way [as to hem in the Foxes, who had
undertaken several ineffectual sorties. It was
necessary to entrench, and each one worked to
fortify himself in the post that had been assigned
to him. On the igth the enemy demanded to par
ley; they offered to deliver the slaves that they had
before" taken on the Illinois river, and did deliver
some; but as they sought only to procrastinate,
Saint Ange renewed the attack on the morrow.
During the days following he was joined by fifty
or sixty Frenchmen and five hundred savages, Pot-
tawatomies and Sacs, which M. de Villiers, com
mandant of the river Saint Joseph, had brought.
"M. de Noyelles arrived from the other direc
tion, with two hundred Miamis and ten Frenchmen.
The Foxes defended themselves bravely and ably.
By means of presents they sought to gain some of
their ancient allies; the Sacs treated underhanded
with them, furnished them some ammunition and
took measures to favor their escape. The other
savages perceived the movements of the Sacs, and
were on the point of attacking them when Saint
Ange advanced, at the head of a hundred French
men, between the two parties, to establish order.
The siege lasted longer than they had foreseen;
famine reigned, not only with the Foxes, but also
with the French and their allies. Reduced to eat
their quivers, a part of the allies became discour
aged; two hundred Illinois deserted on the 7th of
September. Fortunately, this bad example was
not followed by others. The Foxes were pressed
more and more; Saint Ange had a fort constructed
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 287
which prevented them from going to the river for
water. All expressed themselves that the time of
surrender was near. But the 8th of September a
violent storm, accompanied with thunder and tor
rents of rain, interrupted the efforts of the French.
This day was followed by a rainy night, dark and
cold; the Foxes profited by it and attempted to
escape from their fort.
"The cries of the children betrayed them, and it
was believed that they were escaping. In the dark
ness that reigned it was impossible to distinguish
friends from the enemy, and the entire night was
passed in this uncertainty. Nevertheless, the
French and their allies remained under arms, and
at daylight of the gth the freshest and most vigorous
started in pursuit of the Foxes, who could not
advance rapidly because of their embarrassments.
"The women, the children, and the old men
marched at the head; the warriors were placed last
to protect the retreat. In an instant their ranks
were broken, and they fled pell-mell; more than
three hundred of their warriors were killed or taken
prisoners; a considerable number of women and
children perished in the fight, pursued by the Illi
nois of the Rock, the Mascoutins and Kickapoos.
Fifty or sixty warriors alone escaped; but under
different pretexts the Ouitanons and the Sacs had
succeeded in helping many of the women and chil
dren to also escape the massacre of their nation.
"The Foxes had lost many people; seventy cabins
had been destroyed; the nation, it was said, no
longer possessed more than thirty cabins (families);
only a few women and a small number of children
288 LOST MARAMECH
remained. Some years before the Foxes prided
themselves on the number of children they pos
sessed who promised a brilliant future."*
Regarding the defeat of the Foxes, M. de Beau-
harnois wrote to M. de Maurepas on the i8th of
May, 1731: "Behold a nation humbled to the extent
that it will no longer trouble the earth."
THE SIEGE
Turn loose the wings of the imagination; let it fly
back one hundred and seventy years while we place
ourselves upon the summit, at the northeast end of
what is now known as Maramech Hill. There must
have stood during the beautiful Indian summer days
of 1730 a watchful warrior. With hand shading his
eyes, he peers far over the "Little River" and over
the valley toward the rising sun. He is higher than
the reddening maple trees in the valley. With him,
on this promontory, are other braves; they are the
"watchmen of the tower." They watch not so much
for the immediate approach of the expected enemies
as for expected signal fires on the prairies, to the
northeast watch for prairie fires that, by prearrange-
ment, are to be lit by those chosen to do double
duty, not only to act as pickets and give warning,
but to hunt supplies of food.
How strange it seems to us now, sitting in com
fort amid plenty, to read that hunger at any time
was felt here! In and along the streams where the
sportsman now finds game in abundance, and tells
big fish stories, was little food supply found in those
*For the original documents and translation thereof see
Appendix.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 289
autumn days, for the hunters dared not wander far.
Three hundred warriors, with their women and chil
dren, probably more than a thousand in number, we
seem to see here concentrated, who, unwilling to
separate because of the watchful Mascoutins and
Kickapoos and of the nearness of the French and
allies, find subsistence hard to procure. From the
hills to the north and over the prairies game has
been frightened into receding farther than the hunt
ers dare go, for no one knows when the blow may
fall; they know not when they will be startled by
the war-cry of the Mascoutins, Kickapoos, and Illi
nois, joined by the expected reinforcements from
whose well-earned rage they fled. Their stock of
dried meat, fish, parched corn and maple sugar is
exhausted.
The women and children are as hungry as the
dogs which dispute with them every morsel, and
which, in turn, are soon to be eaten. Upon the
crest of the hill, along the eastern side, are other
watchmen; upon the bluffs and farther on, as far as
the prairies that stretch away to the west, are others
still. The lesser creek, from which they get
their water by a covered way since having been
driven into the stockade upon the hill, comes from
the northwest to within a mile and then turns to the
east, then sharply to the north and touches the hill.
It then passes to the east along the hillside. After
forming a channel like a letter S, it mingles its
waters with those of the larger creek the "Little
River" of the French accounts. Eyes are fixed
across the lesser creek, to the west and to the south;
they watch for pillars of smoke by day and for the
2QO LOST MARAMECH
light of signal fires by night. On this great prairie,
stretching across the river and also to the west, the
hunters are particularly watchful; and more so
toward the southwest, for Saint Ange is known to
be on the march against them, from Fort Chartres,
on the Mississippi, with his Illinois allies.*
The prairie fires are expected to warn of his
approach. As the heliograph serves in modern war
fare, so do signal fires with our native races. The
prisoners taken, somewhere on or near the Illinois
river and held by the Foxes, cast longing eyes in
the direction of the expected army that is coming
from so near the town of Kaskaskia, their last home.
Theirs with other of the Illinois tribes were driven
from this section, their old home, by the Foxes,
who now hold it. The captives share the hunger of
their captors.
Far down the lovely Riviere du Rocher fisher
men are also performing the double task of supply
ing food, as best they can, and doing picket duty.
We know how Saint Ange is making his approach.
The last two days his army has moved under cover
* A manuscript map of 1818, in the Congressional Library at
Washington, shows a road running north from Kaskaskia to
Edwardsville, thence to Springfield, thence to Peoria Lake, and
thence to the Illinois River, crossing it just below the mouth of
the Des Plaines ; thence it follows the west shore of the river
Des Plaines, crossing it at the site of the present city of River
side. The road crosses the Vermilion about twelve miles from
Starved Rock.
As was usually true, the road was probably an old trail, and
it seems likely that Saint Ange took that course. He followed
the trail that led from Ottawa to Chicagou, but turned at the
river timber and passed up to the fort of the Foxes.
Frame of Fox wigwam, Tama Reservation.
Fox Wigwam, Tama Reservation.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 291
of the woods, along the bluffs that border the
Riviere du Rocher on the east.
The Foxes have made enemies of the greater part
of the Miami tribes, and from the east they fear
the approach of these people of the St. Joseph
region. Far to the southeast, on the banks of the
Wabash river, are the Ouitanons (Weas), the only
Miamis the Foxes can call brothers. To these
their course has been directed; the village that they
hope may serve them as an asylum, if only for a
time, is not far from a direct route to the Iroquois
nation of New York, where they hope that their
troubles may cease.
The Foxes have made themselves so odious to
their neighbors as to be compelled to leave the
region of their old home on the Wisconsin and the
Fox river that heads near by. How they came this
far we are not told, but we know that the Kishwau-
kee trail is the shortest route. Horses were brought
a part of the way from New Spain by the remnants
of La Salle s ill-fated party, but we may safely say
that the pursued had none and, laden with their all,
they dragged themselves along the deeply worn
trail that climbs the northeastern end of this fatal
hill. Having reached this place, they sought rest
on the slope "rising toward the west and north
west," along the "Little River." They halted and
constructed defenses. They levelled places and
erected one hundred and eleven rush-mat shelters.
The hill seeming to them to be a strategic point ?
they built this stockade. The women shared the
labor; they chopped and they dug. This ditch and
palisade form a half-circle that is completed by the
2 9 2 LOST MARAMECH
very steep bluff at the south end of the hill which,
with the log-protected rifle-pits, is a defense in
itself. Upon the embankment a palisade of poles,
cut from the crest of the hill, is planted. Into this
enclosure a large part of the three hundred warriors
and many times more women and children are
crowded. The beautiful landscape to the south has
no charms for them; landscapes, ever so beautiful,
neither quiet fears nor satisfy hunger.
The Kickapoos are the first of the enemy to
approach, but for a time they keep somewhat
aloof, for their number is not great. Before the
approach of the others, the Foxes little feared
them. Watchfulness however, has become more
necessary because of their nearness. The fatal hour
is approaching. Far to the south the night sky is
faintly lighted. Is it the expected signal or an acci
dental prairie fire run wild from some hunter s
camp? The anxiety, already great, becomes
intense. Breathless hunters report the approach of
the enemy. The French and their allies, in turn,
are watchful and cautious, so amidst uncertainties
they are.
Saint Ange, in starting, had directed his little
army toward the Rock, but whether the erst
while Fort St. Louis, as guessed by some, or the
Rock that gave this, the Riviere du Rocher, its
second name, he was not informed; the course was
uncertain, and he groped his way. He now has
reason to believe that he is nearing his prey; he
encounters forty of the Fox hunters. Finding
them, and fearing to be led into ambush, he moves
with greater caution still, and follows their retreat
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 293
with care. Now all the pickets have been driven
in, and all the women, children, and old men
brought from the slope along the "Little River" to
the stockade where the trees afford their only shel
ter from the sun and storm. The stockade is crowded
and food scarce, but as a covered passageway leads
to the foot of the hill, where the smaller stream
bathes it, water is abundant. The Fox braves still
lie in shallow trenches they have dug along the crest
of the hill to command the slopes.
The French and their allies quickly take positions
upon the bluffs surrounding this island-like hill. To
the north, a good rifle-shot away, a part of the army
is posted; across this valley, between this and the
hill of the besieged, no successful sortie can be
made a few of the Fox riflemen can easily com
mand the valley and steep hillsides.
De VIl .eL- s Cavalier" (little fort), for protecting his advance across
the swamp and up Maramech Hill.
CHAPTER XVIII
Standing on this isolated hill, fortified, and with
a swamp and the creeks surrounding it, it seems
invulnerable, unless attacked by a large force. A
valley, densely grown with trees, bounds its steep
sides. An eighth of a mile from the crest, and
parallel with it, across the narrow valley, are bluffs
that rise gradually and recede to the open prairie a
little to the north. They are steep only in places,
and there a body of French soldiers have taken
position with a light field-piece. The hill occupied
by the Foxes is long and narrow at its summit a
mere ridge the greater part of its length. From
the works at the south end it extends northward a
distance, and then turns to the northeast, finally
increasing in height. The abrupt sides are easily
defended, but not so with the side that "rises with
a gentle slope to the west and northwest from the
Little River." To defend this slope is imperative,
for once driven to the summit, the three hundred
warriors must necessarily extend the whole length
of the hill, in a single line, a fourth of a mile in
length, that can be easily broken by the attacks from
front and rear. Between two fires such a line, held
by much less than three hundred men, is at the
mercy of the attacking army.
Strategy demands that the foot of the hill, where
it rises with a gentle slope westwardly and north
westwardly, be held. Across the heavily timbered
295
2 g6 LOST MARAMECH
valley, east of the "Little River," a mere skirmish
line can easily pass, skulking Indian-like from tree
to tree, or in the darkness of the night, across the
little knee-deep river; they are protected at the foot
of the long slope by the banks of the stream as
safely as by the best breastworks.
The banks of the stream once attained, the attack
ing army has gained vantage ground, for their rifle
shots can reach the very crest of the hill; and
besides, their advance, when they wish to go farther,
is through the woods and they can creep from tree
to tree while the abundant force in the rear can keep
the enemy well under cover.
A trifling distance to the north of the little fort,
with De Villiers single field-piece, protected by
great logs that bed themselves in the soil, is a
spring in the hillside which furnishes water for the
infantry and the men who man the single piece of
artillery. The point of the hill at the south (across
the smaller creek), that reaches toward us to within
a rifle-shot of this death trap, is selected by Saint
Ange as a strategic position. He hopes to prevent
the besieged from reaching the water, but is
baffled, for they succeeded by means of their cov
ered way down to the little creek. The ditch that
leads down to the water is deep and well protected;
time alone can obliterate it; it is well protected by
warriors in the rifle-pits.
Hunger sees no beauty in the great river that, so
near, flows gently from the direction of the rising
September sun for a little distance, turns south
wardly and passes the Rock, nearly a league
away. Menacing the overcrowded palisade, be-
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 297
tween this hill and the "Little River" is another
part of the besieging army. Thus surrounded,
death is certain to the besieged, for successful resist
ance seems impossible. To surrender is to offer
themselves to torture at the stake. The conditions
seem desperate, for the pangs of hunger touch alike
the old and young. The dogs are eaten and chil
dren gnaw the bones. The aged brood in silence.
Warriors lie along the ridge, in irregular shallow
trenches, and guard the steep that drops to the
northward, while others, along the same ridge, are
prepared to resist any approach of warriors up the
gentle slope from the sheltering banks of the
"Little River," where hides Saint Ange s main body
of troops.
The Foxes are not alone hungered, for the be
siegers fare little better. Although they have the
fertile prairies around them and water in abundance,
still they hunger, for so large a body of hunters has
frightened the deer arid buffalo far away. To such
an extent does famine press that some of the allies
are forced to eat their quivers, and some desert in
order to obtain food. Fiercely they resolved to do
their share in annihilating the Foxes, but hunger
now cows them. The fields of corn that erstwhile
bordered the river are no more For many years
they have not been cultivated, for this region has
been No Man s Land. The incursions of the north
ern tribes, in their struggles to rob the Illinois of
the garden spot of the west, and the efforts of the
Illinois to drive intruders away, made it unsafe
for all.
Only occasional shots need be fired, and those
298 LOST MARAMECH
merely to remind the Foxes of the continued pres
ence of their vengeful enemies; the French and
their allies have only to play a waiting game. In
the darkness of the night De Villiers forces charge
up the steep hill at the north and dig deeper the
trenches made by the Foxes to protect their pros
trate forms. The little piece of artillery across the
valley will serve its purpose well, if need there be.
Just behind the newly possessed trenches the
Frenchmen place two more. The morning dawns
and finds lines of shallow trenches within easy mus
ket shot of the north side of the stockade. The
tables are now turned. The besieged must become
the attacking party or surrender to be massacred.
To attack Saint Ange in the open valley to the east
will be fatal. They do not fear approach from the
south, for a few brave warriors, in their log-pro
tected pits, with flying arrows can baffle all who
come. Unpromising though sorties are, naught
else can offer any hope of escaping the stake. A
rush is made across the plain toward the trenches to
drive the Frenchmen from the ridge. It fails. As
the days pass other attempts are made with no suc
cess. Sullenly the Foxes keep to their stockaded
fort. Few shots are exchanged, but long muskets
are ready to be thrust out between the palisades
should the Frenchmen and allies leave their trenches
for attack. Along the River of the Rock, at the old
village site, the reserves of the attacking army are
placed, and from there reliefs are sent to hold
strategic points.
Many of the allies are only half-hearted. The
Foxes for many years have been their neighbors,
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 299
and their main grievance is that the Foxes have
plundered the French who came to trade, and thus
interfered with their own commerce. Even to this
time the Foxes are not fully supplied with guns, and
yet they have wrought military wonders. The sym
pathies of the Sacs and the Miamis are aroused to
such an extent that they seek to aid many to
escape, particularly the women and children.
These attempts to aid the besieged so anger some
of the allies that a breaking up of the expedition
seems likely to take place. Saint Ange marches a
hundred Frenchmen between the angered parties
and puts an immediate stop to the intrigue of the
Sacs and Weas by force of arms, and restores order.
Driven to despair, the Foxes demand a parley, but
all terms they ask are refused.
A favorable opportunity for the besieged to
attempt to escape at last presents itself. It is the
8th of September, 1730. The beautiful Indian sum
mer day ends in a heavy storm, and a cold night
follows. The breath of the great lake, little more
than fifty miles away, suddenly comes, reducing the
warmth of mild autumn to the chill of blustering
March. In the darkness the warriors quietly emerge
from the stockade; with caution they creep down
the abrupt slope at the southeastern termination of
the palisades; the women and enfeebled grope their
way, and children, weak from hunger, cling to
mothers scanty garments and shake with fear.
Alas, the wail of infants tell of the escape! With
what anxiety the mothers attempt to quiet them!
On the success of that attempt escape from tortures,
which mean a thousand death-pangs, depends. A
300 LOST MARAMECH
Sac woman, perhaps herself with babe at breast,
also betrays the persecuted people. With warriors
at front, resolved to die for their loved ones, they
find their way across the "Little River," between
the French who are camped along the larger stream
and those who occupy the eastern slope of the
hill. Unwatchful, the French and allies have
sought shelter from the storm. As the fleeing ones
pass beyond the besiegers lines, the larger portion
of the warriors fall behind to guard the rear.
Enough remain in front to form an advance guard.
The half-friendly allies of the French know of the
escape, and some of them render assistance. The
Foxes are not pursued, for, in the darkness, the war
riors cannot distinguish friend from foe; they can
only await the dawn. To turn to the southeast and
cross the river is impossible, and yet that is the
direction in which all the hope of the Foxes lie.
Were the circumstances different, to take any well-
known trail would be wise; but they have no choice,
and strike toward the east they must. For a mile
they pass through the heavy timber extending across
the valley and, for some distance, beyond the
bkiff. In these woods, upon the eastern hill,
they meet their fate; to move out on the prairie is
to be surrounded at approach of day and be over
whelmed.
Knowing that their departure has been discovered,
to halt upon this hill in the heavy timber is pru
dent. Here they make their last stand. The Mas-
coutins and Kickapoos take revenge and here the
Illinois of the Rock, the very people who for years
have been warred against by the Foxes to such an
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 301
extent as to be driven from their homes, fully glut
their vengeance. The prisoners, spared for a time
only, are brought back to the camps along the
"Little River," and to the larger stream, the
Riviere du Rocher, where every savage art is prac
ticed upon them, and they perish.
Words cannot tell the tale of horror! What brush
can depict the agonizing scene? Women, children,
and old men fall victims to the hatchet, for they are
not worthy to die as warriors die. The warriors
that survive the struggle are greater game. They
are tied to trees, and there sing their death-songs,
while the flames of slow fires creep around their
lower limbs. No cry of anguish escapes them.
Wrists tied together, their arms around the tree or
stake, they have some freedom to walk, but only on
beds of burning coals. In derision they are prom
ised warmth, and necklaces of red hot hatchets are
placed upon their naked shoulders. Scalps are torn
from their heads while yet they live, but with stolid
mien they sing to the last breath. The Frenchmen
raise no hand in pity, such is the end!
The frosts of autumn have dyed to crimson the
leaves of the maples, and the blood of the natives
has stained the sod. When comes, anew the spring
the violets shall have a brighter hue and the blue
bells be richer imitations of the eyes of beauty,
springing, as they shall, from soil enriched by tears
of agony, by blood of innocent children, and still
more by the flesh and bones of the brave. How
sad the scene! The maples sigh in the soft winds
of September, but no human sigh of sympathy for
the tortured is heard. No friend is left to weave a
302 LOST MARAMECH
wreath of autumn flowers for the loved, nor laurels
for the slaughtered braves.
The prophecy that after this defeat the Foxes
would "no more trouble the earth" failed to come
true, although the troubles remained less than they
were before. The route from Green Bay to the
west, up the Fox river of Wisconsin and down the
Wisconsin river, was open for a time, and Fort
Beauharnois, on Lake Pepin, was reestablished.
Scattered bands of Foxes still remained. They were
attacked by the Sioux, and also by the Illinois, on
the borders of "Lake Maramech, " says Ferland.
(II., 439.) Where this lake is I am unable to learn.
Possibly it is one of those at the headwaters of the
Fox river of Illinois, not far from the ancient
"Great Village of Maramech." Several other tribes,
from time to time, directed their efforts toward the
more complete destruction of the Foxes. One of
the last was made by Iroquois of the Lake of Two
Mountains, north of the St. Lawrence river, joined to
some Hurons of Detroit who asked their assistance.
Fifty Christian Iroquois arrived at Detroit, from
which place they departed on the i/th of October,
1732, numbering seventy-four well-armed warriors.
They crossed the peninsula of Michigan and built a
fort at Chicago, where they left their sick. They
were then conducted by two Mascoutins as far as the
banks of the Wisconsin river, at which place some
of the Foxes had collected. Mounting a high hill,
they were surprised to see four or five large cabins
in the valley. The Foxes came out to meet them.
After they had discharged their guns, the Iroquois
and Hurons rushed upon the Foxes, hatchet in
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 303
hand, and forced them to take flight. They then
pushed into the village, where they massacred a
large number of men, women, and children. The
attack was so fierce that the Foxes had three hun
dred killed and taken. The few who escaped dis
persed among the other nations. Thirty or forty
men, and as many women, surrendered to De Vil-
liers, who then commanded at Green Bay. The
latter sent an envoy to Quebec, accompanied by two
chiefs of these people, as hostages. One named
Kiala, who had been the principal author of previous
treasonable acts, was sent to Martinique. His wife
remained some time at Lorette, but finally joined
her husband.
Still the Foxes could not remain quiet. They
sought to ally themselves with a band of Sacs who
had built a fort at Green Bay. What then followed
is well told by Ferland. (II., 40.)
"De Villiers arrived at Green Bay on the 6th day
of September. At a league from the place he was
met by Repentigny, commandant at Mackinaw,
with sixty Frenchmen and two hundred savages.
De Villiers had ordered Repentigny to hold himself
in readiness to march immediately upon hearing a
signal that was . to consist of three gun-shots.
Arriving at the French fort, De Villiers sent to find
the Sac chiefs, to whom he explained that the Gov
ernor-General had promised to spare the lives of the
Foxes if they would remove to Montreal. He
declared that if they did not send the Foxes who
were among them within a given time he would
come for them. The time expired and no Foxes
had appeared. De Villiers, whom Repentigny had
304 LOST MARAMECH
joined, proceeded at once to the fort of the Sacs
with some Frenchmen to demand the delivery of
the Foxes. Moved by his courage, and without
consulting the rules of prudence, for he only had
nine Frenchmen with him, he undertook to tear
down the barriers of the fort of the Sacs. Some
chiefs commanded him to retire, because their
young men could not be controlled, and said that if
he continued he would surely die; but nothing
deterred him. In a moment a gun-shot, fired by a
Sac, laid low the son of De Villiers, by the side of
his father. The father fired upon the first Sac that
presented himself. A general discharge of mus
ketry was returned by the Sacs; De Villiers fell dead,
and several Frenchmen were wounded. Repentigny
was killed; also were seven other Frenchmen of his
command. A few days later, another son of De Vil
liers assembled many from the friendly tribes and
marched against the Sacs, who had abandoned their
fort, crossing the Mississippi river, whither they had
fled with the few Foxes who remained."
The account of this affair is also found in Margry
(Affluents of the Mississippi River, p. 470). The
Sacs became much disgusted with the Foxes and
required them to build a fort of their own, but
allowed it to be near theirs.
In 1734 the Foxes were reduced to a hundred
warriors. (TV. Y. Col. Docs., IX., 1055.) Not
withstanding this, their numbers were sufficient to
seriously trouble the French, and Beauharnois, in
1741, wrote: "The court has written, since several
years, that it has nothing so much at heart as the
destruction of that Indian nation which cannot be
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 305
prevailed upon by presents and the good treatment
of the French to live in peace, notwithstanding all
of its promises. Besides, it is notorious that the
Foxes have a secret understanding with the Iroquois
to secure a retreat among the latter in case they be
obliged to abandon their village."
As before, the Foxes were not the only ones to irri
tate the French, for we find a report that various mem
bers of the Miami tribe and, it is proper to believe,
the Foxes and Sacs and still others, had entered into
a conspiracy to make a general attack on the French.
Thrice in the history of the west was the Hill of
Maramech sought as a place of refuge. To such an
extent was it a strategic point that the possible
necessity of works of defense, which need the hill
supplied, early led the Miamis to make their village
near-by. The abundance of fish in the river and of
game, before the warring tribes had driven the deer
and buffalo from the neighboring prairies, made
life easy to those men of the wilderness.
Although for years petted and cajoled by the
French, the natives, influenced by the English,
gradually turned against their erstwhile friends.
Louisiana and Canada joined where the watershed
between the valleys of the St. Lawrence and the
Mississippi drew its sinuous length over the prairies.
The traders of the Atlantic colonies, shut out at
the north and south, were late in finding an entrance
into the regions so abundant in furs. Their efforts
were futile until an entering wedge, in the form of
fleets of canoes, floated down the Ohio. Armed
traders forced their way, sold goods cheaply, and
won friends among the red men.
3 o6 LOST MARAMECH
With the beginning and increase of their trade
came, and grew to disastrous dimensions, the
troubles of the French. In 1747 Sieur de Langueil,
in command at Detroit, succeeded in calming the
Sacs, Foxes, Pottawatomies, and Miamis. They
promised fidelity to the French father. The com
mandant took little stock in their avowal of friend
ship, however, as each tribe had recently killed
Frenchmen. By 1748 the English had reached the
Illinois regions in considerable force. The Illinois
tribe, still true to the French, only a few years
before could have successfully resisted the English;
but now they were languishing and also lacked the
essentials to a long campaign. The French clearly
saw that the loss of the Mississippi river and the
trade of Canada seemed inevitable.
A military report of 1748 reads:
"Of all of the Indians who are going home [from
the council] there are many faithful ones who are
most ^anxious to go back to their country to labor,
as was seen here, to reestablish peace. They belong
to the river St. Joseph, and are principally Potta
watomies, who are all allied with the Miamis, Sacs,
Foxes, and Folle Avoine. Their first harangue was
delivered with energy to convince us of their fidelity
and attachment to the French, whom they would
rather die with than ever abandon. . . . The Otta-
was have killed some [Frenchmen]; the Foxes of
The Bay, the Sioux and the Sacs, in a word, all the
nations, so to speak, have struck whenever an oppor
tunity presented; we dissimulate, as we are unable
to do anything else; their bad excuses are received
as sincere and ours refuse to do the like. . Three
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
307
strange Indians from Fond du Lac came at the
end of July to the Illinois country, with a message
from the English, in the name of the Iroquois,
Hurons, Abenaquis, Pouz [Pottawatomies], Ottawas,
and all the Wabash tribes, inviting the Illinois to
abandon the French, to withdraw and go to the
Cahokias, and they would come and cut them [the
French] off, after which the English would come to
the Illinois and supply their necessities abundantly.
. . . Mr. de Berthet has been informed by a Huron
returning from the Chicachas war, who had spent
the winter at Scioto with the Shawnees, of the
league formed by the latter to destroy the upper
country posts; this Huron assured him that the
Iroquois of the great village, as well as all the
other nations, had accepted the tomahawk against
the French and had all united to seize the French
posts, beginning with the Illinois country. . . .
Mr. de Berthet, the commandant at the Illinois,
writes us, in the months of November and Decem
ber, about the general conspiracy of the Indians
against the French, which was instigated by the
English, who always employ the Five Nations [the
Iroquois] to convey their sinister belts; the Illinois
narrowly escaped being seduced. . . . He [Vau-
dreuil] is, however, not free from uneasiness in
regard to the projects of the English. He has
learned that they have succeeded in causing a revolt
among the Miamis, at present settled on Rock river
(marked with a cross on the map) ;* the Weas, a
* Until this map is found I shall continue to believe that the
river referred to is the one known to the French as River of
Now the hill s gentle slope is shocked only
by the battles of the elements.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 309
blood of women and children might again have
reddened the sod of Maramech Hill, which saw,
however, only the scowls upon the brows of the
angered natives, for the clouds of war passed away.
Over one hundred and fifty years have since
dropped the blossoms and ripened the nuts on Mara
mech Hill, yet haunted, mayhap, by the ghosts of
the murdered Foxes, but its sod has received no new
scars.
At Fort Duquesne, in 1755, a few Foxes joined
the French in that memorable battle which resulted
in the crushing defeat and death of General Brad-
dock; and some attacked the French upon Lake
George in 1757.
CHAPTER XIX
In 1760 the Foxes joined the Sioux against the
Ojibways, and we are told by Schoolcraft (Part II.,
149) that Waub-o-jeeg collected a party of three
hundred warriors and floated down the St. Croix
river, at their head, into the country of their ene
mies.
At the mouth of Snake river they were to meet a
party collected from Mille-Lac and Sand lake to
join them on their excursion. Not finding the party
as expected, and confident in his numbers, Waub-o-
jeeg pursued his course down stream, leaving marks,
however, by which the other party would be guided.
Arriving early in the morning at the head of the
portage that led around the falls of St. Croix, the
men had already lifted their light canoes on their
heads to carry across the portage when the scouts
came in with news that a large party of Sioux and
Foxes were landing at the foot of the portage.
The Ojibways put on their war paint and ornaments,
and in the middle of the portage they met their
enemies, who were on the same errand as they.
The combined Sioux and Fox warriors were much
more numerous than the Ojibways; so much so that
it is said that the Foxes, confident in their numbers,
requested the Sioux to stand by and see how easily
they could rout the Ojibways. The Sioux, there
fore, stood or sat on the rocks at a distance, quietly
smoking their pipes.
311
312 LOST MARAMECH
The fight is said to have been fierce and hardly
contested. About noon the Foxes commenced to
give ground, having lost some of their leading men.
At last they turned and fled, the Ojibways after
them. They would probably have been killed to a
man and driven into the water had not, at this
moment, the Sioux, eager and fresh for fight, raised
their war-whoop and rushed to the rescue of their
defeated allies.
The Ojibways resisted their new enemies man
fully, but they, in turn, showed their backs in flight.
But few would have escaped to tell the sad tale of
their defeat had not, at this juncture, the party from
Sandy lake, who were to have met them at Snake
river, arrived at the head of the portage; seeing
their friends driven over the rocks into the water
they jumped out of their canoes, and the sixty war
riors, fresh for the contest, withstood the onset of
the Sioux and Foxes until their friends rallied again
to the fight.
The allied Sioux and Foxes being out of ammuni
tion, are said to have again fled, and their slaughter
is stated to have been great. Many were driven
over the steep rocks into the boiling rapids below,
and every crevice in the rocks contained a dead or
wounded enemy.
From this time the Foxes retired south, and gave
up the contest with their victorious enemies.
Captain Carver tells us, in his Travels , that near
the site of Prairie du Chien he observed the ruins of
a large town in a pleasing situation. He was in
formed this was the site of the ancient Fox village.
"On inquiring of the neighboring Indians why it
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 313
was deserted, I was informed that about thirty years
ago the Great Spirit appeared on the top of a pyra
mid of rocks, which lay a little distance to the west,
and warned them to quit their habitations, for the
land on which they lived belonged to Him and He
had occasion for it. As a proof to them that He
who gave them their orders was really the Great
Spirit, He told them the grass should immediate
ly spring on these very rocks from whence He
addressed them, which they knew to be barren.
The Indians obeyed, and soon after discovered that
the change had taken place. They showed me the
spot, but the growth of grass appeared no way
supernatural. I considered this to have been a
piece of strategy of the French or Spaniards to
answer some selfish view. . . .
"Soon after their removal they built a town on the
banks of the Mississippi river, near the mouth of the
Wisconsin, at a place called by the French La
Prairie les Chien, which signifies the dog plain.
It is a large town and contains about three hundred
families. The houses are well built, after the Indian
manner, and are pleasantly situated on very rich
soil, from which they raise every necessary of life in
great abundance. This town is the great mart
where all of the western tribes, and those who
inhabit the remote branches of the Mississippi, annu
ally assemble about the end of May, bringing with
them their furs to dispose of to the traders."
The dates above given are questioned by some.
The fact that they numbered about fifteen hundred
people shows that the Foxes could probably muster
two or three hundred warriors.
3 i4 LOST MARAMECH
In 1763 they are given in the report as numbering
about three hundred and twenty warriors.
It is probable that never a year passed but that
some branch of the Fox tribe was embroiled against
the whites or neighboring tribes.
The Foxes increased in numbers rapidly, as is
shown by an account given in Drake s Life of Black
Hawk, page 45, from which I quote:
"The Reynards reside in three villages; the first
on the west side of the Mississippi, six miles above
the rapids of the river de Roche [Rock river]; the
second about twelve miles in the rear of the lead
mines, and the third on Turkey river, half a league
from its source. They are engaged in the same
wars, and have the same alliance as the Sauks, with
whom they must be considered as indissoluble in
war and peace. They t hunt on both sides of the
Mississippi, from the river Iowa (below the Prairie
des Chiens) to a river of that name above said vil
lage. They raise a great quantity of corn, beans,
and melons, the former of these articles in such
quantities as to sell many hundred bushels per
annum."
In 1805, according to Lieutenant Pike, the total
number of people in the Sauk nation was two thou
sand eight hundred and fifty, of whom fourteen hun
dred were children, seven hundred and fifty women,
and seven hundred warriors. They resided in a vil
lage and had about seven hundred stand of arms.
Their trade was principally in deerskins, with some
bear and a few otter, beaver, and raccoon skins.
The total number of the Foxes was one thousand
seven hundred and fifty, of whom eight hundred and
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
315
fifty were children, five hundred women, and four
hundred warriors, with about four hundred stand of
arms; their village and their trade being the same as
those of the Sacs.
Some further items of information about these
tribes may be gleaned from the statistics furnished
by Lewis and Clark s expedition. It is there stated
that the Saukee, or O-sau-kee (Sacs), spoke a primi
tive language, dwelt principally in two villages, had
about five hundred warriors and two thousand souls
in all in the tribe, and were at war with the Osages,
Chippewas, and Sioux. The Foxes (or Ot-tar-gar-me,
in the Saukee language) then numbered not more
than twelve hundred souls and about three hundred
warriors. "These nations" [the Sacs and Foxes],
says Mr. Lewis, "are so perfectly consolidated that
they may in fact be considered as one nation. They
are extremely friendly to the whites and seldom injure
their traders; but they are the most implacable ene
mies to the Indian nations with whom they are at
war; to them is justly attributed the almost entire
destruction of the Missouries, the Illinois, the Caho-
kias, Kaskaskias, and Peorias."
In 1825 the secretary of war estimated the entire
number of Sacs and Foxes at four thousand six hun
dred souls, and in 1826 the warriors were supposed
to number between twelve and fourteen hundred.
Supposing these estimates to approximate the truth,
it appears that during the twenty years between
1805 and 1825, these tribes had increased very con
siderably in numbers.
The traders generally, and those who had most
intercourse with the Sacs and Foxes, spoke of them
3 i6 LOST MARAMECH
as honest in their dealings, and felt safe among
them, seldom locking their doors by day or night,
and allowing them free ingress to their stores and
houses. Their reputation for courage, it appears,
does not stand quite so fair. Lieutenant Pike
speaks of them as being more dreaded by their sav
age brethren for "their deeds and inclinations for
stratagem than for their open courage." Major
Thomas Forsythe, late United States agent among
the Sacs and Foxes, calls them a dastardly and
cowardly set of Indians. The correctness of these
charges may be questioned. Mr. Schoolcraft, in
speaking of the Foxes, says: "The history of their
migrations and wars shows them to have been a
restless and spirited people, erratic in their disposi
tions, having a great contempt for agriculture and a
predominant passion for war." He adds: "They
still retain their ancient character and are constantly
embroiled in wars and disputes with their neigh
bors, the results of which show that they have more
courage in battle than wisdom in council."
In a report of the war department to the Presi
dent, made by the Secretary, Mr. Cass, in 1832, the
Sacs and Foxes are spoken of as being distinguished
for their "daring spirit of adventure and for their
natural courage."
In 1811, there being a strong probability of a war
with Great Britain, a deputation of the Sacs and
Foxes visited Washington City to see the Presi
dent, by whom they were told that, in the event of
a war taking place with England, their great father
did not wish them to interfere on either side, but to
remain neutral. He did not want their assistance,
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 317
but desired them to hunt and support their families
and live in peace. Immediately after the war of
1812 began, the Sacs and Foxes, with whom, as with
Indians generally, war is the great business of life,
felt that they ought, as a matter of course, to take
sides with one party or the other, and went to St.
Louis to offer their services to the United States
agent to fight against the British; but the offer was
declined on the ground that the government of the
United States had resolved not to employ the
Indians in that capacity. The machinations of the
British, however, were successfully continued. The
Sacs and Foxes divided upon the question of
taking up arms against the United States. A part of
them claimed the protection of the American gov
ernment, and received it; a part joined the British
standard, Black Hawk among the number, and
fought against the Americans until the peace of
1815. The number of warriors who joined the Brit
ish is supposed to have been about two hundred, and
they have ever since been known as the "British
Band," at the head of which was General Black
Hawk.
CHAPTER XX
The main reason given by the early French
traders, be it remembered, for desiring to destroy
the Foxes, was that the Foxes, whose home for so
many years was along the Wisconsin river, interfered
with the French traders, requiring them to pay toll
for the right to pass through their country; but we
learn that the French military officers, after the
river had come into their possession, probably did
precisely the same thing.
In 1827, when the Hon. Henry S. Beaty and Judge
Doty were passing up the Wisconsin river, they
were halted by a sentinel who was stationed upon
the wharf at a trading post and ordered ashore. The
command was at first disregarded and the oarsmen
were instructed to go on. They became alarmed,
however, when the sentinel made ready with his
musket and threatened to fire if the boat did not
immediately come ashore. The boat approached
and they were met at the wharf by the officer of the
day, of whom they inquired when war had been
declared. He sheepishly replied that it was a
standing order of the post that no boat or vessel
should be permitted to pass without reporting.
There were general complaints that the officers
expected, and usually received, a reward for permit
ting traders to pass.
"Upon the igth of August, 1825, William Clark
319
320 LOST MARAMECH
and Lewis Cass, commissioners on behalf of the
United States, concluded a treaty at Prairie du
Chien, in the territory of Michigan, with the chiefs
and warriors of the Sioux, Winnebagoes, Menomi-
nees, Chippewas, Ottawas, Pottawatomies, Sacs,
Foxes, and loways. The objects of this treaty were
the restoration of peace among the Indian tribes,
several of whom had been for some time waging war
against each other, the settlement of boundary
lines between these tribes respectively, and between
them and the United States. The commissioners
succeeded in effecting a peace between the Sioux
and Chippeways, and between the Sacs, Foxes, and
loways on the one part, and the Sioux on the other;
and also in adjusting the boundary lines of the ter
ritory of each tribe to the satisfaction of all parties.
Under this treaty nothing was asked by the United
States nor was anything granted to them; the char
acter in which the government presented itself
being simply that of a pacificator.
"The concourse of Indians assembled at this
council was very great. About three thousand
came to the council ground, clothed in their war
dresses, and armed with bows, war-clubs, and toma
hawks. The Sacs and Foxes were the last to arrive,
but were very imposing and warlike in their appear
ance when they reached the ground. They ascended
the Mississippi to Prairie du Chien in a fleet of
canoes, lashed together. They passed and repassed
the town in a connected squadron, standing erect in
their canoes, in full dress, singing their war songs.
Upon landing, they drew up in martial order, as if
in warlike defiance of their bitter enemies, the
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 321
Sioux, who were encamped near the shore, and who,
in turn, shot back the fierce looks of hostility upon
their ancient foe. An eye-witness describes this
scene as one unique and singularly magnificent.
The council was held under a spacious booth of
green boughs, and lasted for several days. Keokuk
was present on this occasion, as the head chief of
the Sacs, and took an active part in the council; his
course being marked by that moderation and sound
policy for which he is eminently distinguished."
(Drake s Life of Black Hawk, p. 67.)
"The Sauks and Foxes* have a historical legend
of a severe battle having been fought opposite the
mouth of the Iowa river, about fifty or sixty miles
above the mouth of the Rock river. The Sauks and
Foxes descended the Mississippi in canoes, and,
landing at the place above described, started east,
toward the enemy; they had not gone far before
they were attacked by a party of the Mascoutins.
The battle continued nearly all day; the Sauks and
Foxes, for want of ammunition, finally gave way
and fled to their canoes; the Mascoutins pursued
them and fought desperately, and left but few of
the Sauks and Foxes to carry home the story of their
defeat. Some forty or fifty years ago the Sauks and
Foxes attacked a small village of Peorias, about
a mile below St. Louis and were there defeated.
At a place on the Illinois river called Little Rock,
there were formerly killed by the Chippeways and
Ottawas a number of men, women, and children of
*The total number of Foxes given in 1750 by Lieutenant
Pike was eight hundred and fifty children, five hundred
women, and four hundred warriors, the latter well armed.
322 LOST MARAMECH
the Minneway [Illinois] nation. In 1800 the Kicka-
poos made a great slaughter of the Kaskaskia
[Illinois] Indians." (Drake s Life of Black Hawk^
p. 17.)
Going back to Revolutionary times:
When the Foxes learned that war had been de
clared between Great Britain and its colony, all felt
that they must take a hand; but whether to unite
with the English or with the rebels, using the Eng
lish term that soon became familiar to them, was
long debated, and they became divided. During
the many years of the struggle an opportunity was
given to any one who might choose to serve Great
Britain or the colonies struggling to free themselves
from oppression. The brandy trade, more than any
other, seems to have influenced the Foxes all the
Indians believed that the white settlers wished to
destroy the tribe both by drink and by war. Some
Indians were killed by white men and an officer
thought to pacify the members of the tribe by a
present of whisky. A Fox chief called Le Chat
(the cat) became very much offended and stove in a
barrel of whisky, saying that that present "did not
pay for the bodies of the two dead men whom the
whites had killed."
The British officers succeeded in recruiting twenty
Foxes and twenty Sacs for service in the Revolu
tionary war against the Americans. The warriors
of these and neighboring tribes were employed
along the Mississippi river, and at times did good
service against the Americans in the southern por
tions of Illinois, but at times vacillated. They were
often charged with having "listened to the rebels."
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
323
Even the Ottawas of the upper Mississippi and
Lake Superior were urged, under the leadership of
a Chippewa chief, to unite with the Sioux, Sacs,
and Foxes against the rebels on the Illinois and near
that quarter, the operations to be directed against
bodies of armed men and forts or strongholds by
siege, as the garrisons of those places were de
pendent on the inhabitants, who were weary of their
demands, for their daily bread. The warriors
recruited among those tribes were ordered to ren
dezvous at the mouth of the Wisconsin river, and
for a time excursions were made wherever it was
believed that effective blows could be struck. A
portion of them were sent to watch the lead mines
with a view to preventing the rebels from obtaining
lead. One of the successful excursions was made
against the Americans at Cahokia, in which several
hundred cattle were destroyed and forty-three
scalps, thirty-four prisoners, black and white, were
taken, and about seventy persons killed; but the
Indians were beaten off, owing to the treachery of
some of the Sacs and Foxes and the interpreter, it
was said.
The Foxes were scolded and praised, in turn, by
the English, whether censured or praised depending
upon the intentions they at that moment expressed.
An English officer at Mackinaw, in 1780, wrote:
"The Sacs and Foxes have taken up the hatchets
against us"; and in 1781 Sinclair wrote to the Gov
ernor: "The Sacs and Foxes from the banks of the
Mississippi, with the Menominee Indians, have
arrived, and more are expected daily from other
tribes bordering on the Illinois country who have
3 2 4 LOST MARAMECH
sent to inform me that they do not mean any longer
to listen to the tales imposed upon them by the
enemy" (the British). It thus seems that the Eng
lish were no more successful in winning the con
stancy of the Foxes than the French had been.
CHAPTER XXI
LEAD MINES
The Foxes were among those first to learn from
the French the value of the mineral found along the
upper Mississippi river and its tributaries. While it
is probable that earlier travelers learned of the
existence of the lead mines, Perrot must be credited
with making them known.
We read in La Potherie (II., 251): "A Mascoutin
chief presented him [Perrot] with a fragment of ore
that he had found on the banks of a stream which
discharges into the Mississippi." And again: "The
great chief of the Miamis, knowing that Perrot was
there [had arrived], sent to him a war-chief and ten
young warriors, to say to him that his [the chief s]
village was four leagues below and that he much
wished to join him [Perrot] at his fire [camping-
place]. The chief came, two days after, accom
panied by twenty men and their wives, and pre
sented him with a fragment taken from a lead mine.
Perrot pretended not to know the utility of the
mineral, even reproaching the chief for making such
a present, by which he intended to cover the two
dead Frenchmen that the Mascoutins had assassi
nated, with the three Miamis who had escaped from
the Iroquois." (La Potherie, II., 260.)
The primitive manner of mining and smelting the
ores by the Indians is described in Smith s History
of Wisconsin (III., 353):
"The Indians had their lead diggings in many
325
326 LOST MARAMECH
parts of the country, now properly called the lead-
bearing region; these diggings were of course shal
low, they not possessing either the necessary tools,
the ability, or the industry of sinking shafts of any
depth. Their mode of smelting was thus: A hole,
or cavity, was dug in the face of a piece of sloping
ground, about two feet in depth, and as much in
width at the top; this hole was made in the shape
of a mill-hopper, and lined, or faced, with flat
stones. At the bottom, or point of the hopper,
which was about eight or nine inches square, other
narrow stones were laid across, grate-wise; a chan
nel, or eye, was dug from the sloping side of the
ground, inwards, to the bottom of the hopper; this
channel was about a foot in width and in height,
and was filled with dry wood and brush. The hop
per being filled with the mineral and the wood
ignited, in a few minutes the molten lead fell
through the stones, at the bottom of the hopper,
and thence was discharged through the eye over
the earth. It was certainly a simple but rough and
improvident way of gathering the melted lead; but
in the great abundance of mineral, and ease of its
procuration, it sufficed for the wants of the Indians.
At many of these primitive smelting places the
white settlers afterward extracted a profitable har
vest of rich lead from the slag and refuse of the
Indian laborers smelting; but even with the whites,
in after time, the old ash-and-log furnace was little
better than the Indian mode of smelting, in regard
to economy."
The Indians guarded the mines, fearing that the
white men wo- d take possession. They were espe-
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 327
cially particular that no American should learn their
location.
In 1816 Col. John Shaw, a boatman, was a com
mon carrier, taking merchandise from St. Louis to
the trading posts on the upper Mississippi. Hav
ing discharged his load at Prairie du Chien, he
descended to Fever river to load with lead for St.
Louis that had been received in payment for goods,
by the merchants of that city. The traders, respect
ing the wishes of the Indians, requested Colonel
Shaw to wait at the mouth of Fever river until the
lead could be delivered to him. This the Colonel
refused to do, as he could not wait so long, and
asked permission to go up the river for the lead.
The Indians declined, replying that "the Americans
must not see their lead mines," as they were partic
ularly suspicious of Americans ; but they did not feel
the same toward the Frenchmen, with whom they
had been so long associated. As the Colonel spoke
French as fluently as he did English, the traders
told the Indians that he was a Frenchman as well
as the boatmen, the last being true. A little persua
sion opened the way to the smelting works. He
found no town, but many camps and about twenty
furnaces. The molten lead was run into "flats," of
about seventy pounds each, being formed by smelt
ing the mineral in a small walled hole in which the
fuel and mineral were mingled and the liquid lead
run out, in front, into a hole scooped in the earth so
that a bowl-shaped mass of lead was formed. The
squaws dug the mineral and carried it in sacks, on
their heads, to the furnaces. (Wisconsin Historical
Collections > II., 226.)
328 LOST MARAMECH
By the methods of mining among the Foxes,
Sacs, and Pottavvatomies, who owned the mineral
lands, much mineral was left in the old diggings
among the debris, which made reworking by the
whites quite profitable.
The Hon. E. B. Washburn, referring to the lead
mines, tells us that the discovery of certain new
mines was regarded as a great secret by the Indians,
and one not to be divulged without offending the
Great Spirit. Their desire for profit, however, was
so great that they sought to reveal the secret in a
way that, they believed, could not be considered by
the Great Spirit as a violation of His commands.
So they told a prospector, with whom they had
some dealing, that if he would go to the top of a
hill with them they would shoot an arrow in the
direction of their newly-discovered mines. (Wis
consin Historical Collections, X. , 244.) They soon
drove him off, however; but other white men,
through the agency of a squaw, acquired rights to
mine there, yet their primitive methods were little
improvement over those of the simple people who,
as many times before, had permitted the invaders
to gain an advantage over them, which advantage
meant, in the end, utter destruction.
During the Revolutionary war some of the west
ern tribes had been won over to the British, but not
so were the French and Indians in the country of
the Illinois. The Foxes and Sacs, among others,
received orders from the British commander to pro
ceed to the lead mines and prevent the people of
the Illinois region from availing themselves of the
lead ore. The Illinois were informed that no
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
329
quarter would be given them if they ventured
near.
That mining became an important industry is
shown by facts told in Vol. II., p. 252, of the Wis
consin Historical Collections, where a letter to the
secretary of war, written in 1811, states that "the
Sacs, Foxes, and lowas can be as well supplied at
the latter place [Prairie du Chien] as at the former
[St. Louis]; particularly as they have mostly aban
doned the chase except to furnish themselves with
meat, and turned their attention to the manufacture
of lead, which they procure from a mine about sixty
miles below Prairie du Chien. During the last
season they manufactured four hundred thousand
pounds of that article, which they exchanged for
goods."
This prosperity did not last long, for the avari-
ciousness of the whites first led to encroachments,
then to murders, and soon to expulsion by the
so-called treaty made at Prairie du Chien.
In the early part of the year 1828, the President of
the United States appointed Governor Cass and Col.
Pierre Menard to treat with certain tribes of Indians
for the cession of what is called the "mineral
region" lying on the Mississippi, south of the Wis
consin. The commissioners arrived at Green Bay
late in the summer of that year, and on the 25th of
August made a temporary agreement with the
Indians, by which the whites were allowed to occupy
the country where the lead mines were worked; and
in the ensuing year a treaty was to be made with the
Indians for the purchase of the mineral country. In
the meantime, no white man was to cross a certain
330 LOST MARAMECH
line, specified in said agreement, to dig for ore; and
finally the Indians were paid twenty thousand dol
lars in goods for the trespasses already committed
on their lands by the white miners. This agreement
was ratified by the President and Senate of the
United States on January 7, 1829. Soon after Presi
dent Jackson came into office, in 1829, he appointed
General McNeil of the army to fill the place of
Governor Cass in the said commission, which was to
meet at St. Louis, and under the agreement above
mentioned to proceed to the mineral region to effect
its purchase by treaty. In consequence of some dis
agreement in opinion between these two commis
sioners, the President subsequently appointed
another, Caleb Atwater, Esq., of Ohio. They
reached Prairie du Chien about the middle of July,
where they met deputies on the part of the Winne-
bagoes, Chippeways, Ottawas, Pottawatomies,
Sioux, Sacs, Foxes, and Menominees; and on the
first of August a treaty was concluded for about
eight million acres, extending from the upper end
of Rock island to the mouth of the Wisconsin, from
latitude 41 15 to latitude 43 15 on the Missis
sippi. Following the meanderings of the river the
tract was about two hundred and forty miles from
south to north. It extended along the Wisconsin
and Fox rivers from west to east so as to give a pas
sage across the country from the Mississippi to Lake
Michigan.
CHAPTER XXII
As has been said, traffic was carried on between
tribes when peace permitted. The great trails were
worn deep, not only by war parties, but often by
braves from the various tribes who traversed the coun
try with the staple products of their own sections.
The pipestone of Minnesota, both the crude article
and the artistically manufactured product, was taken
to the east and south. The flints from the Mountain
Limestone beds of Tennessee found their way north
ward in exchange for trinkets and for the copper of
the north in both its crude and its manufactured state.
The roughed-out flints, so abundantly produced in
Ohio, were taken westward and served to make the
spear-heads and knives so common throughout the
Mississippi valley, in regions where flint of the kind
is not plentiful.
The first great trail of traffic and war known in the
region that my story most concerns, reached across
the great prairies from the mouth of the Rock river
to Chicago. Others joined it from the north and
south, and an important trail followed the sinuous
bluffs of Rock river. In the map of 1680 (see page
27) the course of the great east-and-west route is
shown, and identified by the words Chemin du
Retour. The author of the map I refer to is not
known, but the information from which it was drawn
was gathered, as previously stated, from early
traders and from the Indians who knew it well. For
332 LOST MARAMECH
generations their ancestors had traveled it. Henne-
pin did not pass over the trail, but his map of 1697
is the first to lay down the route to any extent
definitely. (See p. 40.) De Lisle s map of 1703
(see page 41) shows the same trail in dotted lines.
It followed the southern bank of Rock river to a
point near the present city of Dixon, Illinois; then
struck southeastwardly; thence down the Kishwau-
kee branch to a point near the "Great Village of
Maramech," just south of the modern little city of
Piano, in Kendall county, and from thence it passed
to Chicago. A branch, however, struck directly
east from Maramech, and, passing the head of Lake
Michigan, reached Detroit. Over this trail, after
the French had taken possession of the region,
deputies from the tribes passed to the site of French
power in Canada. It was over this that the British
band of Foxes, during the first third of the nine
teenth century, passed to and from Maiden, Canada,
to receive annuities from the British general there
in command; and later over this trail the home-
seekers came to the great grove-studded prairies,
which they accepted as the fulfillment of their
hopes. For two hundred years, at least, this route,
later called the Sac and Fox trail, was well known;
but with the coming of the plow its effacement
began, and now it is only discernible by a few
scars.
One of the last to avail himself of the great Sac
and Fox trail and of its Kishwaukee branch, which
latter formed a feeder, as it were, was John Kinzie,
in the early part of the year 1831. An account of
the journey is found in "Wau-Bun," a delightful
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
333
story from the pen of Mrs. Kinzie, a brave but some
what frail and helpless member of the party. The
time of her experiences was near the dawn of the
present occupation, and well did she name her book
"Wau-Bun," a native word meaning "the dawn."
Early in March they left Fort Winnebago, in
Wisconsin, on their way to Chicago. The swollen
streams made it best to strike southwest, so as to
cross Rock river at Ogle s Ferry. They stopped
the first night at Kellogg s Grove, and next day
reached the river where, the larger boat having been
carried away, they were ferried across in a canoe.
Mr. Kellogg joined them, as he had business to
transact at Chicago; and, so sure was he that the
place of destination would be reached quickly that
he endeavored to impress upon them that a supply
of provisions for two days would be sufficient. A
hearty breakfast at the house of Mr. Dixon was
ample for the time being. Mr. Dixon assured them
that there would be no difficulty if they would keep
a little to the north and strike the great Sac Trail.
Mrs. Kinzie s memory was evidently at fault when
mentioning the old Sac Trail, for that trail, when
known by that name, passed from the great Sac vil
lage, Saukenong, directly east, and did not pass so
far northward as the present city of Dixon,
Mr. Dixon, in giving his directions, probably said
that the Kishwaukee Trail, a branch of the Sac
Trail, would be reached by going a little distance to
the north. He assured them that if they did not go
far enough to the north they would not escape the
Winnebago Swamp; and, once in that, they would
have difficulty in getting out again. He assured
334 LOST MARAMECH
them that the distance to Chicago was not great;
that two young men had reached Dixon from Chi
cago on the evening of the second day of travel, and
that, even with a lady in their party, they could
reach Chicago in less time than that. He impressed
upon them that they must be sure to get the great
trail that the Sacs had made in going from the Mis
sissippi river to Canada.
They took their leave in high spirits, and traveled
for a few miles along the banks of the Rock river
in a somewhat easterly direction. They had been
told that the road would cross the Sac Trail six
miles distant. Mrs. Kinzie says that her husband
feared the guide, Plante, was leading them too far
to the north, for the trail soon brought them to the
great bend of the river, now known as Grand
Detour. This fact warranted Mr. Kinzie in ignoring
the guide and in taking his course directly east.
They soon came to the Winnebago Swamp, which
they had difficulty in crossing.
On the 1 5th of March they awoke early and, feel
ing that they were lost, again began the search for
the great trail. After traveling many miles, they
came upon an Indian trail, deeply worn, running at
right angles with the course they were pursuing.
This I find, from a careful study of early maps, was
the Kishwaukee Trail. The sky was overcast, but
the clouds were so thin that the position of the
sun could give them direction. The guide was
quite sure that the new trail should be followed
northward; but Mr. Kinzie had lost confidence
in Plante and Kellogg, and after traveling a few
miles he turned abruptly saying to them that
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
335
they might go north if they pleased, but he would
turn to the south and take the trail in that direc
tion.
They followed the trail for a great distance, con
trary to the advice of the guide and Mr. Kellogg,
who frequently assured Mr. Kinzie that he was
going wrong. At last, turning a point of woods,
they came upon an Indian village. This, no doubt,
was the village of Shabbona, whose people were yet
away on their winter s hunt. I judge that it was the
village of Shabbona from the fact that the Kish-
waukee Trail passed the home of that great chief,
who, but a year later, showed himself to be a warm
friend of the whites. Provisions had become short,
and the travelers were much disappointed to find the
village vacant. They mounted and rode on, the
snow again falling, and after traveling some distance
halted for the night.
After a cold night, their hunger being relieved
only by a pot of coffee, they were ready for the
start. The last three crackers were given to Mrs.
Kinzie for her dinner, and Mr. Kellogg handed her
a piece of tongue and a slice of fruit cake, which he
had been "saving for the lady" since the day
before. The trail was still visible, and they fol
lowed it until about nine o clock, when they reached
Fox river, on the opposite side of which was Wau-
bansee s village. They shouted, but no answer
came for the village was deserted. Mr. Kinzie
decided to take a cross-trail that passed down the
bank of the river, hoping to find Indians wintering
near. They followed the bank of the river, then as
now bordered by timber. Suddenly Mrs. Kinzie s
336 LOST MARAMECH
horse started, and she called to her husband that
Indians were near, for, as she says, the horse was
mortally afraid of these people; at the same time a
little dog ran from under the bushes and began bark
ing. Riding into the thicket a little distance they
found two squaws, crouching behind some bushes,
trying to conceal themselves. Addressing them in
the Pottawatomie language, Mr. Kinzie asked them
what they were doing there, and they replied that
they were digging Indian potatoes. Their lodge
was across the river, and by this fact Mr. Kinzie
gathered that they must have a canoe, and he re
quested them to take the party over. What kind of
a canoe it was we are not told, except that it was
small. It was probably a dugout, hewn from a tree
that had stood near by. It was necessary for Mrs.
Kinzie to lie flat on her back in the canoe while the
mother kneeling in the stern and the daughter at
the bow paddled across. They were then at the
site of ancient Maramech, the old Miami town, and
this Pottawatomie family was probably the last of
native blood to shelter itself amidst the great trees
that border the river and stud the hills near by.
Sylvan Spring, by what name then known we shall
not know, bubbled from the washed sands and kissed
the water-cresses as now; and there the master of
the family made his winter hunt, and the wife, with
the ample hospitality known to the native tribes
only, catered to those who came.
On being asked the name of the river, the woman
could only reply, "Sau-man-ong, " the word being a
general term applied to any large stream. Mr.
Kinzie became impressed with the fact that the vil-
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 337
lage they had passed was Waubansee s, and he esti
mated that they were then about fifty miles from
Chicago, which, by the way, is practically the exact
distance from Sylvan Spring to our modern great
city. The squaw assured Mr. Kinzie that Chicago
was close by, which, as he said, he took to mean
that it was probably not so far off as Canada. The
men busied themselves unpacking the horses, in
order to ford the river. The old woman, returning
to aid the others in crossing, left the younger one
with Mrs. Kinzie, who was seated on the trunk of a
fallen tree amidst the snow. The prospects were
gloomy, and she could not restrain her tears, because
of the utter desolation of spirit which disappoint
ment had wrought. The little squaw, Mrs. Kinzie
states, was looking into her face with wonder and
sympathy, and seemed to be speculating what could
bring tears to one who rode so fine a horse and was
so comfortably clothed. Soon the little girl was
joined by another, and after chattering a while they
trotted off into the woods.
The river having been crossed, Mrs. Kinzie fol
lowed the squaw to her lodge a little distance in the
woods. It was nicely arranged. Four sticks of
wood placed to form a square in the center answered
the purpose of a hearth, and in this the fire was
burning, the smoke escaping through an opening in
the roof. The hut was constructed of neat new
mats tied to the poles that formed the framework,
and on these poles were the dried food and other
household treasures. Ladles, a small kettle, and
wooden bowls also hung from the poles, and at the
center, by an iron chain depending from the frame-
33 8 LOST MARAMECH
work, a kettle was hung. In the kettle food for the
returning hunter was being prepared.
Mr. Kinzie joined his wife at the lodge. They
were forced to disappoint the housewife by telling
her they had no bread, which, by the way, was
always much prized and often asked for by the
Indians. When she learned that Mrs. Kinzie had
had no breakfast, she filled a bowl from the kettle
and presented it. It was a soup made of Indian
potatoes, and, sauced with hunger, it was highly
relished. The two little girls came, and were much
astonished when Mrs. Kinzie took her prayer-book
from her pocket and began to read. As if fearing
to seem rude, they looked away and quietly ques
tioned their mother as to what the strange employ
ment could mean.
While thus engaged, Mrs. Kinzie was startled by
a sudden "Hoh!" when the mat that hung over the
entrance was raised and an Indian entered. He was
the master of the lodge, and had been out to shoot
ducks. Mrs. Kinzie tells us "he was tall, finely
formed, with a genial, open countenance, and he
listened to what his wife, in a quiet tone, related to
him, while he divested himself of his accouterments
in the most unembarrassed manner imaginable.
The narrative continues: "From the Indian he [Mr.
Kinzie] learned that we were in what was called the
Big Woods, or Tiche s [Specie s] Grove, from a
Frenchman of that name living not far from the
spot; that the river we had crossed was the Fox
river, and that he could guide us to Piche s, from
which the road was perfectly plain, or even to Chi
cago, if we preferred; but that we had better remain
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 339
encamped for the day, as there was a storm coming
on; and in the meantime he would go and shoot
some ducks for our dinner and supper. He was
accordingly furnished with powder and shot, and set
off for game without delay."
The home comforts found in the cabin were no
doubt sufficient to Mrs. Kinzie for a time, and she
amused herself by taking from her pocket a roll of
red ribbon, and presenting a piece to each of the
little girls. With it they were delighted, and
the mother~divided it and tied a piece to each of the
little clubs into which the hair was knotted on the
temples. This pleased them much, and their
mother joined them in their mirth.
The storm came, and such a night in Maramech
was experienced as I myself have often known; and
I seem to renew the experiences of my boyhood
when I read Mrs. Kinzie s description of that win
ter s night in the woods:
"The storm was raging without. The trees were
bending and cracking around us, and the air was
completely filled with the wild-fowl screaming and
quacking as they made their way southward before
the blast. Our tent was among the trees not far
from the river. My husband took me to the bank
to look for a moment at what we had escaped. The
wind was sweeping down from the north in a perfect
hurricane. The water was filled with masses of
snow and ice, dancing along upon the torrent, over
which were hurrying thousands of wild-fowl, ma
king the woods resound withiheir deafening clamor.
"Had we been one hour later, we could not pos
sibly have crossed the stream, and there would have
340 LOST MARAMECH
been nothing for us but to have remained and
starved in the wilderness. Could we be sufficiently
grateful to that kind Providence that had brought
us safely through such dangers?
"The men had cut down an immense tree, and
built a fire against it, but the wind shifted so con
tinually that every five minutes the tent would
become completely filled with smoke, so that I was
driven into the open air for breath. Then I would
seat myself on one end of the huge log, as near the
fire as possible, for it was dismally cold; but the
wind seemed actuated by a kind of caprice, for in
whatever direction I took my seat, just that way
came the smoke and hot ashes, puffing in my face
until I was nearly blinded. Neither veil nor silk
handkerchief afforded an effectual protection, and I
was glad when the arrival of our huntsman, with a
quantity of ducks, gave me an opportunity of
diverting my thoughts from my own sufferings, by
aiding the men to pick them and get them ready for
our meal.
"We borrowed a kettle from our Indian friends.
It was not remarkably clean; but we heated a little
water in it, and prairie-hay d it out, before consign
ing our birds to it, and with a bowl of Indian pota
toes, a present from our kind neighbors, we soon
had an excellent soup.
"What with the cold, the smoke, and the driving
ashes and cinders, this was the most uncomfortable
afternoon I had yet passed, and I was glad when
night came and I could creep into the tent and
cover myself up in the blankets, out of the way of
all three of these evils.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 341
"The storm raged with ten-fold violence during
the night. We were continually startled by the
crashing of the falling trees around us, and who
could tell but that the next would be upon us?
Spite of our fatigue, we passed an almost sleepless
night. When we arose in the morning, we were
made fully alive to the perils by which we had been
surrounded. At least fifty trees, the giants of the
forest, lay prostrate within view of the tent.
"When we had taken our scanty breakfast, and
were mounted and ready for departure, it was with
difficulty we could thread our way, so completely
was it obstructed by the fallen trunks.
"Our Indian guide had joined us at an early hour,
and after conducting us carefully out of the wood,
and pointing out to us numerous bee-trees,* for
which he said that grove was famous, he set off at a
long trot, and about nine o clock brought us to
Piche s, a log cabin on a rising ground, looking off
over the broad prairie to the east. We had hoped
to get some refreshment here, Piche being an old
acquaintance of some of the party, but, alas! the
master was from home. We found his cabin occu
pied by Indians and travelers the latter few, the
former numerous."
The point of wood now laid down as Piche s
Grove is but a continuation of the heavy timber
that lines the southern bank of the Fox river, and is
less than five miles from the site of the ancient town
where I have placed the hut of this lone Indian and
* The honey-bee is not known in the perfectly wild countries
of North America. It is ever the pioneer of civilization, and
the Indians call it "the white man s bird."
342 LOST MARAMECH
his family. The fact that they started early and
reached Specie s Grove by nine o clock shows that
they were probably as much as five miles west
therefrom, which would place them at Sylvan
Spring. Following the Sac Trail for a little dis
tance, they reached a cross-trail that, at that time,
paralleled the eastern bank of the Fox river from
Ottawa half way to Chicago.
The "Big Woods" were anywhere along Fox
river, near Batavia, near Aurora, and, in fact, any
where where tall timber was to be found.
The Chief s Wigwam. Tama Reservation.
CHAPTER XXIII
At the Tama reservation, sitting by the fire in the
middle of the rush-mat-covered lodge of Chief Pu-
ci-to-nig-wa, with his counsellors and interpreters, I
found around me much of what we are so often told
in narratives of travelers through the west more
than two hundred years ago. The domicile of the
chief shows no change; it is precisely like those
described by Alouez, Perrot, and others. Rattles
consisting of gourds filled with pebbles serve, now
as then, at the ceremonial dances. Nothing mod
ern is seen except an occasional trunk or basket
around the walls of the cabin, mingled with those
home-made, of leather, with thongs for locks.
Mats serve as beds, some raised and some upon the
floor of well-beaten earth. The blankets are of the
kind first given in exchange by the early traders.
At the middle of the cabin a space is left for the
fire. Over its embers hangs a chain, upon which
the kettle is suspended. Rush mats, neatly sewn
and supported upon a bee-hive-like structure of
poles, serve well to protect from the storms of sum
mer and the blasts of winter. A hole at the summit
permits a large part of the smoke to escape, but
some remains and tortures the eyes. The wrinkled
faces of the aged ones show exposure to the sun of
summer and smoke of winter. The lack of neatness
indicates no advance in hygienic knowledge there
are almost no signs of advancement. The love for
343
344
LOST MARAMECH
ornaments is shown by beads which hang from ears
and neck, and that are sewn upon the moccasins,
upon the skirts of the women and upon the belts
worn by the men.
About three hundred and fifty of these people yet
remain. They till the soil for corn as they tilled it
when first met by the traders. Their foods are
the same as then. Although mills are near, the
corn is ground by pounding in a wooden mortar.
Maple sugar of their own make is their greatest
luxury. They repel the spirit of progress. Their
conservatism will be their death. The fate that
must overtake the native tribes may prove a kindness
to them; yet how sad, and to us how keen the sting
of conscience.
I told those around the fire with me the story of
the destruction of the several branches of the Fox
tribe, at Detroit, at the river in Wisconsin that now
bears their name, and at the fatal hill where a mass
ive boulder marks the place of starvation and tor
ture.
The Fox tribe has adopted for its use a writing
consisting of English script letters, with some modi
fications and additions. An example of this script
is furnished me by a descendant of the tribe, Mr.
William Jones, educated at Harvard and now con
nected with the American Museum of Natural His
tory of the City of New York. It is a translation
into the Fox language of the inscription on the
stone recently placed on Maramech Hill. As will be
seen by the interlineations, retranslations into Eng
lish, the Fox method of translation differs greatly
from ours.
THE INSCRIPTION ON THE BOULDER TRANSLATED INTO THE Fox
LANGUAGE AND SHOWN IN THE Fox SCRIPT, WITH
RETRANSLATION INTO ENGLISH.
Here this at the stockade
I ^ ^c 4e & t^K^ cc/c* fa .
is the place where they were besieged the
Red-Earths. Three hundred they num-
. >^-L ^C^< ^4. "H U o 5-c\ c<. A>c*.
bered, Red-Earth warriors,
o 6</<: use*, OL/^ V . >ic< ftc. -o
their wives and also their
. -c c^ . cc c</>c ^i< Us c<
children there were
X w* -t^. cc x x
at the time. These French
and other
u/ a. fii* - i^~t f^
P e P le thirteen hundred
4.
they numbered
when they besieged them the Red-Earths\
Aug. 17, 1730 was the time the
siege began here. then Sept. 8 was
when they escaped the Ked-Earths when
they were captured when they were tortured
o. o 6t/ ^ : y:
when they were slain.
-t
French trenches were
on ttufhill whence the cold.
x i4*4c^cL << to t+,^<^.^ . c<
Ferland tells aoout it, rock,
in a book, History of Canada
ktLuZi-iL+ . ^t^ n &^
it is called, two . miles
Us<. dec e ^ . cc &
whence the heat it is
w . df-IAs I -HC C< >r
that rock, but partly
<. o
hauled away it is. Near it is
Maramech, for such was the name of it
ti
town I68 4 he told of it Franque
-c vu 7^ . .44 6<XL vCi & Kf u
lin town; map
in a book
NOTE. Dots separate words. Crosses separate sentences.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 345
Upon the ribbed framework of the lodge of Chief
Pu-ci-to-nig-wa hung the medicine-bags of the chief
and those of the adult male members of his family.
Of smoke-browned leather and old, they seemed
much like the skin of a mummy. Each, to its pos
sessor, was priceless. Each contained the mascot
of a brave, an eagle s claw, perhaps, a stone, a
shell, and what not. The mascot was whatever the
possessor had dreamed of in youth, when fasting in
order that he might dream and thus hold commu
nion with the Great Spirit; a memento of what he
first dreamed that is what he held precious.
More than this, the medicine-bags contained the
mementoes of generations, and each thing contained
was a reminder of some event long almost forgotten.
When I had read from rusty French volumes,
printed before his great-grandfather was born, the
sad stories that their traditions but echo, the chief
said to his counsellors: "How like the red man s
medicine-bag! The rusty leather-covered book
seems to be so full of sacred memories."
I have since listened to their traditions, mixtures
of fact, fiction, and fable, of victories and defeats,
and of their almost total destruction, but gather
nothing fully corroborative of any one event men
tioned in the French records. In my efforts to get
the story of their last great struggle, I found but one
which to any extent seems to have any possible
reference to any part of the affair on Maramech
Hill.
"Once upon a time," it runs, "when the Foxes
were living north of the Wisconsin river, a child
was born and they named him Wa-pa-sai-ya, the
346 LOST MARAMECH
name meaning the white buckskin. He was rest
less, as a child, and as a youth quarrelsome. He
delighted in torturing his comrades, but because of
his marked abilities was a leader among them.
When he became a man and people from other
tribes came to visit his village, he would often say,
The dogs will have something to eat to-day. He
would tell those who were entertaining the visitors
to feed them well and later have them brought to
him. Some he would kill, and would let others go
home with fingers, nose, and ears cut off. By and
by his people said, among themselves, that such
things must stop. It is wrong so to treat our friends
from other tribes, and, besides, we do not know but
they will come upon us in retaliation. So some of
the principal men went to Wa-pa-sai-ya and said to
him: We want you to be our chief, and he replied:
Just one more time will I treat those people that
same old way. At the time this was going on there
were war parties setting out, and he often accom
panied them, even though they did not wish him to;
and when they would again ask him not to go out he
would reply as before, Just one more time; I will go
out on just one more war raid. * It soon resulted
that the neighboring tribes became much angered
because of the treatment received from the White
Buckskin. Among the people who suffered most
were the French soldiers. The Frenchmen came
and gave arms to the surrounding nations, and by
* With the Fox tribe the chief must be a man of peace, and
these people offering the chieftainship did so in order that, by
the laws of the tribe, he, as chief, would be compelled to cease
his aggressions.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 347
and by the French soldiers came against the Foxes.
Before the fighting began the French held a parley
with Wa-pa-sai-ya and wanted him to stop all his
cruelties and agree to several things, such as keep
ing peace with other tribes; but he would not con
sent to anything.
"The efforts of the French officers resulted only
in making him defiant. He bade them come in any
numbers, but failed to make them fully understand
the contempt he felt for their soldiers and their
methods of warfare. To make them know his
defiant attitude which words, through the inter
preter, had failed to express, he stuck a number of
sticks in the ground, in a row, to represent the num
ber of warriors he was willing to pit against the
French, and then placed many times more sticks,
opposite the first, to represent the number of
Frenchmen his few chosen warriors were willing to
battle with; but the officers refused to accept his
challenge and only said: We will attack you, and
Wa-pa-sai-ya replied :\ Go ahead when you want
to/ The French retired to their camp and, after
consultation, advanced against the Foxes in great
numbers. The Foxes saw them coming from a long
way off and made an ambush and defeated the
French and drove them back. Wa-pa-sai-ya killed
the prisoners he had taken, all but one, to whom he
said: Go back to your people and tell them to come
in greater numbers than before, when they again
want to come against me. You will live to deliver
this message and then die. The Frenchman went
back and did as he had been told, and, sure enough,
then died. The French did come in greater num-
348 LOST MARAMECH
bers, and were again defeated by the Foxes. The
French, then fearing that they could make no more
headway against the Foxes, got all of their friends,
the warriors of the other tribes, to help them; they
came from every direction, from all the nations, and
fought the Foxes. By and by they crowded the
Foxes into their defenses and surrounded them.
Soon after Wa-pa-sai-ya became tired of fighting
and broke his own bow and those his friends gave
him. Then his people said to him: What is the
matter with you? Why do you stop fighting? You
should remember that you are the one who brought
all this trouble upon us. We told you it was not
right to mistreat guests, and that you might have to
suffer for all this, but you would not listen to us;
now, in the midst of this war, you want to stop
fighting when we need you most ; but he would not
listen. Now, with the enemy, was a Mascoutin, and
this Mascoutin had a son, and this son had a dream
one night. He told the dream to his father, saying:
I dreamed that I captured Wa-pa-sai-ya. Well,
is that so? said the father. Then he went and got a
drum and told his son to strike it. When this was
done the father said: Draw a picture of Wa-pa-
sai-ya on the drum-head and strike it. The son hit
the drum as he was told. He was bidden to hit it
again, and the head burst. It is true, said the
father, the dream will come true; that test has
proved it. Then the son joined the other warriors.
By and by he returned and brought Wa-pa-sai-ya
with him as a prisoner, and tied him to a tree. The
father went out to see what all of the noise was
about. He saw Wa-pa-sai-ya tied to the tree and
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
349
mistook him for his son, as the son and Wa-pa-sai-ya
looked much alike; and so the father had the
prisoner set free and took him up to his lodge and
there fed him. When Wa-pa-sai-ya had eaten, the
father gave him two wives; but after a while the
father learned that it was Wa-pa-sai-ya, and had him
tied to the tree again. While they were preparing
to bind him the people asked him, Who was it that
killed our chief, and when? He replied, It was
one of my friends, in the last big fight we had, and
as he hit your chief on the head it was like hitting a
dog on the head and making him howl. Then they
tied Wa-pa-sai-ya to the tree again. The Mascoutin
said to him: Are you hungry, Wa-pa-sai-ya? And
the victim said he was. At that the Mascoutin cut
a slice from the thigh of Wa-pa-sai-ya, cooked it on
the coals of the fire and gave it to him to eat.
When he had finished eating it the Mascoutin again
said: Are you still hungry, Wa-pa-sai-ya? Yes,
of course I am, said the victim. Then the Mas
coutin cut a slice from the calf of Wa-pa-sai-ya s
leg, cooked it and gave it to Wa-pa-sai-ya, and he
ate it. They repeated the cutting out of slices,
cooking them and feeding him until the flesh was
all gone and only the bones remained, hanging
together, tied to the tree. Then fire was placed
under the bones, and thereupon the Mascoutin chief
came up and, as the fire was kindled, said to the
bones of Wa-pa-sai-ya: Now, Wa-pa-sai-ya, you
shall burn, and at some future time your town and
people shall burn. When this was said the tree to
which the victim s bones were tied turned round in
its place, as a sign, but the bones remained un-
350 LOST MARAMECH
moved. While the tree was turning, a voice came
from the bones saying, I shall burn, and your town
shall burn. Some one pushed the Mascoutin chief
and he almost fell into the fire, and see-med restrained
there as by some mysterious force; help was needed
to put him on his feet again he almost died there.
"A little while afterward the Foxes fell upon the
Mascoutins, killed nearly all and burned the town,
and that is why there are so few Mascoutins to-day.*
"Thus was the prophecy fulfilled, and thus the
people were made to know that Wa-pa-sai-ya was
supernatural; being a Manitou, he passed above,
and the bright star in the great white river overhead
is he.
"Soon after this the nations again came and
united against the Foxes, and the fighting became
hard and incessant. Then the old men said to the
young men: Let us old men go out and do the
fighting; we have not long to live and we can well
spare the rest of our time wearing the enemy out;
let them waste part of their strength on us. You
stay here and take care of the women and children
and fight when it comes your turn, and that will be
when all the old men are killed off. Every time
the old men withdrew they returned fewer in num
bers, and at last all were killed. Then the fighting
fell upon the young men. It was about the time
when the corn was ripening in the fields. Among
the Foxes was a young man who fasted and dreamed,
and he dreamed that he was blest by the Great
* This part of the tradition may be considered as a sugges
tion that the lost tribe of the Illinois and Wisconsin prairies
was destroyed, or at least depleted, by the Foxes.
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO
Spirit, and he said to the people: I am going to
make the enemy sleep, and so saying he sang and
beat upon a drum. At once the weather grew cold
and snow began to fall. The enemy went into their
tents and slept soundly, and out of the stockade
went the Foxes. They went in two directions, one
part to the north and the other to the east. Those
who went to the east were women and children,
with a force of young men to protect them. They
followed a young man who drew a strip of rawhide
behind him to make a trail for them to follow.
When they came to a high place they built a fort.
"The party that passed to the north was made up of
a force of young men who made a big, broad trail
in the snow in order to draw the enemy after them
and thus keep the women and children out of dan
ger and give them time to build a fort. As was
expected, the large trail was discovered and alarm
raised in the camp of the enemy. They are flee
ing! They are fleeing! they shouted, and came upon
the Fox warriors in full force. The Foxes held
them back until they thought the women had had
time to build another fort, and then gave way and
joined their friends in the new stockade. Then the
enemy came again, and were beaten back. The
Foxes scattered, and the small parties were pursued
by the enemy. Most were captured, but many
escaped."
In this mixture of myths and facts only a few
points of similarity with the accounts left by the
French can be found. We learn that most of the
neighboring tribes were against the Foxes. The
Foxes were in a stockaded defense when last
352 LOST MARAMECH
attacked. They held parleys with the French.
"It was about the time the corn was ripening in the
fields." It became very cold. The Foxes escaped
in the night, in two parties, and went in two direc
tions, one to the north, the tradition says (but, as
previously stated, I believe the direction to have
been northeast) and were overtaken upon the hill a
mile away, where so many arrow-heads marked the
place of some great event. "Most were captured,
but many escaped." The French accounts say that
those who escaped were a few old women, and they
without supplies.
Only the traditions, nourished by the remaining
Foxes, tell them of the wanderings of their ances
tors after the disastrous siege of 1730. Notwith
standing the frequent returns by the hunting parties
to the hunting-grounds, the place of defeat became
lost to them. When the great Sac warrior, Black
Hawk, chief by common approval, but not by elec
tion, strove to repossess the hunting-grounds and
fields, having Saukenuk as their center, a few Foxes
joined the Sacs and Pottawatomies against the
whites.
Leaving the stormy council held on the Sycamore
creek, Shaubena and Waubansie, friends of the
whites, sought their respective villages. They had
not succeeded in convincing Black Hawk of the
hopelessness of his undertaking. He had refused
to recross the Mississippi to the new grounds
allotted to his tribe. Shaubena had not succeeded
in holding all of the young warriors of his tribe in
check, and was spurred by his humane sentiments to
warn all the settlers within his reach of the coming
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 353
storm. Arriving at his village, on his reservation,
he sent his son, Pypogee, and also his nephew,
Pyps, to give warning to the whites who, like the
Miamis, a century and a half before, had chosen for
their home the five prairies that radiate from the
site of ancient Maramech. Down the Kishwaukee
Trail, over Maramech Hill, where a scar of the trail
still remains, and onward over the ford where the
east-and-west ancient trail, mapped in in 1680,
crosses, with panting steeds they sped on their errand
of mercy. A detachment of Black Hawk s band
arrived only to find themselves too late. The
whites had fled, and the disappointed warriors
vowed vengeance on Shaubena. But for the warn
ing, a score of settlers would have been slain, some
within hearing of a rifle-shot from the ancient fort
upon the hill. But a dozen miles away a half score
or more, who had scoffed at the warning, met
death.
So closed the last scene in the tragedy of savage
life. The curtain dropped to again be raised only
for the drama of civilized life.
In the middle fifties an aged Indian, straight as
an arrow, with a one-horse wagon and squaw of
width to almost fill it when seated, crept northward
over the road that, when a mere trail, had been
traveled by the French in going by land from Fort
St. Louis to Chicago. He turned therefrom to fol
low up the "Little River," as called in the early
military reports. This last representative of our
local tribes was Shaubena with his squaw. The
road cleft in the side of the hill that skirts the
stream had not yet been made. The old trail over
354 LOST MARAMECH
the hill, not prepared for wheeled vehicles, so wound
among the trees and dropped so abruptly to the
north that he was forced to take a newer road, made
by the whites. Hence it was only across the swamp
that he saw the hill so fatal to the Foxes. He
passed within a stonethrow of the site of De Villiers
little fort and onward to the new village of Piano,
where he exchanged furs for necessities. For a
time he camped near the head of the cool stream
that, miles below, bathes the foot of Maramech Hill.
Since then the eyes of no red man have rested
upon the scene of alternate storm and calm.
Shaubena, a Pottawattomy Chief.
A friend to the whites.
CHAPTER XXIV
CHICAGO
The question as to the origin of the name of our
great city of the west has often been raised, but
never in a manner so novel as by the author of
Reminiscences of Early Chicago^ in whose interest
ing book we find what purports to be an extract
from a letter written by La Salle to a friend in
France: "Were I to give this place a name, I would
derive it from the nature of the place and the nature
of the man who will occupy this place: ago, I act;
circum, all around Circago." I do not find any
thing like this in any of the writings of La Salle,
and believe that I have a copy of every scratch of
La Salle s pen that did not perish with him. If he
ever did propose the name, he did not use it, for we
find him using the name given to the stream by the
Algonquin tribes, the meaning of which is stated by
Cadillac, an officer in command at Mackinaw and
other places, who wrote in 1695 or perhaps a little
later: "The post of Chigagou comes next [in going
westward]. The word signifies the river of the
onion, because it [the onion] is there produced
naturally without any care, in great quantities."
Knowing what he is seeking one may, in early
harvest time, see the prairies about the Chicago and
Des Plaines rivers given a pale pink hue by the
blossom of the plant that gave the river its name,
which name was often also applied to the Des
355
356 LOST MARAMECH
Plaincs. In the Fox dialect of the Algonquin lan
guage, the skunk is known by a name very similar,
the difference being but slight. It is not strange
that the animal and plant received names one so like
the other, for it was an Indian custom to give names
that accorded with the characteristics of the object.
Whether the word originally meant merely a bad
smell, or a skunk, or an onion, does not matter, for
if either, all is clear. Low, flat, and wet prairies do
not produce skunks, but do breed crawfishes and
wild onions, and the river now rendered nauseous
by the sewage of a great city, was then a clear
stream and not deserving a name indicating an odor
not pleasant.
Allouez, 1680 (Margry, II., 95), uses descriptive
words when speaking of the region: "The prairies
. . . being wet all the time."
La Salle, late in 1681, wrote: "And all my people
who, having marched three days along the lake and
gained the portage called Chicagou, were waiting,"
etc., and in the letter repeats the name twelve
times. In the same letter he says: "The land there
produces naturally a quantity of roots good to eat,
as wild ognons [onions]," and he also refers to the
garlic.
Father Membre wrote of Chicagou in 1683.
(Margry, II., 206.)
La Salle wrote a letter to La Barre, then Governor
of Canada, beginning: " Du portage de Chicagou, 4
Juin, 1683" (Margry, II., 317.)
Le Clercq (First Establishment of the Faith, Shea s
translation, II., 162) says: "On the 2ist of Decem
ber I embarked with Sieur de Tonty and a part
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 357
of our people on Lake Dauphin [Michigan], to
go to the divine river, called by the Indians Che-
cagou, in order to make the necessary arrangements
for our voyage. The Sieur de La Salle joined us
there with the rest of the troop on the 4th of Jan
uary, 1682."
Tonty, in his memoir (Historical Collections of
Louisiana, I., 65), says: "We arrived about the end
of June, 1682, at the river Chicagou."
Tonty, in his Relation dated November 14, 1684
(Margry, II., 251), says: "After we had drawn our
equipage seventy leagues, namely, twenty, on the
river of Chicago [Des Plaines]," etc. (The date
given is 1683, evidently a slip of the pen.)
Late in 1687 Joutel anc ^ others "arrived at Chi
cagou on the 29th of March," from La Salle s ill-
fated settlement in Texas.
La Salle wrote in 1680 (Margry, II., 82): "It was
therefore necessary, at the end of the lake, where
navigation is ended, at the place called Chicagou,
to pack close the things that they had brought in
the boats, and transport them to the canoes two
leagues from there [to the Des Plaines river]."
Father Gravier, writing in 1698, says: " He, as
well as Father Pinet, at Chicagwa, will do them
selves the pleasure of rendering them any kind of
service." (Jesuit Relations, LXV., 61.) Father
Pinet s mission was then with the branch of the
Miami tribe whose village presumably it was that
was located where so many relics have been found,
on the north branch of the Chicago river.
We learn from the father that the malarial fevers
("fever and ague" of our own early times) were
358 LOST MARAMECH
contracted by the people of the prairies, both
natives and whites.
The natives resorted to all sorts of remedies for
diseases, and sometimes attempted to propitiate the
god or the demon that was responsible for the ill
ness of a comrade by sacrifices, and sometimes
thought to interest the god or demon by playing
some of their most interesting games for his bene
fit, for instance, the game of ball. Reports have
reached us that those efforts were eminently suc
cessful.
The efforts later made by the early fathers seemed
to have been equally successful. The following is
found in Father Guignas account. He left Chika-
goua (Chicago) in 1700 for New Orleans, and wrote:
"I found an excellent remedy to cure our French
of their fevers. I promised God jointly with Peter
de Bonne, who had a violent tertian fever for a con
siderable time, to recite for nine days prayers in
honor of Father Francis Regis, whose relics I have,
which I applied to him in the height of his fever,
when it ceased suddenly, and he had no more of it
after that time. After my novena I resumed my
reliquary, which I hung around the neck of Louis
de Hemme of Riviere du Loup, with whom I began
a second novena, and from the first day the fever left
him; and having taken off my reliquary the fourth
or fifth day of the novena to hang it on the neck of
one by name Augustine la Pointe of Cote St. Michel
in Canada, who had already had two or three attacks
of fever, it took De Hemme again, who feeling him
self cured, had said that he was not afraid of being
sick with that reliquary always hung around his
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 359
neck, and as soon as I took it off the fever came
back and did not leave him till after the novena,
and La Pointe was cured perfectly from the first day
that I hung my reliquary around his neck, which I
did not remove till the novena was completed. And
at this moment Pierre Chabot of Isle Orleans, who
had the fever for more than six months, having hung
it on his neck, the third day of the novena that
stubborn fever diminished and he was entirely rid of
it at the end of the novena. A small piece of
Father Regis hat, which one of our domestics gave
me, is the most infallible remedy that I can have to
cure all kinds of fevers."
Many, since the death of Father Guignas, yet
live who can say that the malarial fevers incident to
the low lands around both ancient and modern Chi
cago were never as easily cured by the white phy
sician and his remedies.
Appendix
PARIS DOCUMENTS
The larger part of the following documents were copied for
me from the archives of the Minister of Marine, at Paris, by
Prof. Charles M. Andrist. The documents are reproduced
verbatim as far as possible, accompanied by translations. It
is believed that, except those found in the Wisconsin His
torical Collection, none has before been published.
REPORTS
Fox Savages
[Of the 6th of May, 1630.]
M. le Marq. de Beauharnois a marqu6 qu un party de 200
sauvages surpis 20 cabannes des Renards et qu il avoit este
massacre ou brule 80 hommes et 300 femmes et enfans, ne
s etaint sauve que trois hommes. Que depuis cette aventure
le grand chef des Renards avoit este trouve le commandant
francais a la Riviere St. Joseph pour demander misericorde et
qu il devoit descendre pour cela a Montreal aimant mieux
courir les risques d estre tue en chemin que dans son village.
Que 1 entreprise faite centre eux en 1728 a fait tant d impres-
sion dans 1 esprit des autres nations, qu elles se maintiendront
dans le party des francais et continueront la guerre contre les
Renards.
TRANSLA TION:
Le Marc de Beauharnois has noted that a party of two hun
dred savages surprised twenty cabins (tepees) of the Foxes,
and that there has been massacred or burned eighty men and
three hundred women and children, only three men having got
ten away. That since that adventure the Grand Chief of the
Foxes had been to see the French Commandant at the River
361
362 APPENDIX
St. Joseph in order to beg for mercy, and that he had to
descend for that to Montreal, preferring rather to run the risk
of being killed on the road than in the village. That the
enterprise undertaken against them in 1728 had made such an
impression upon the minds of the other nations that they will
now keep on the side of the French and continue the war
against the Foxes.
[Of the 25th of June, 1630.]
Le Dubuisson commandant a Missilimakinic luy avoit donne"
avis que toutes les nations des pays d enhaut estoient si fort
animus centre les Renards, qu un corps de sauvages assez
considerable 1 avoit prie de se mettre a leur tete pour tomber
sur les Renards; qu il 1 avoit accepte et qu il estait party avec
600 sauvages et 20 francais.
TRANSLA TION:
Le Dubuisson, Commandant at Missilimakinac, had advised
him that all the nations of the upper country were so embit
tered against the Foxes that quite a large body of savages had
begged him to place himself at their head in order to fall upon
the Foxes ; that he had accepted, and that he had departed
with six hundred savages and twenty Frenchmen.
[Of the i8th of October, 1730.]
Mrs. de Beauharnois et Hocquart marquent que les raisons
qui ont engage le Dubuisson dans cette demarche leur font
penser qu il ne sera pas desaprouv6 d autant plus que le bien
du service et la necessite qu il y avoit d en imposer aux nations
sur les discours desavantageux qu elles tenoient du peu de
succes de la Campagne de 1728 le demandait.
II est vray qu il n a pas reussy dans cette entreprise quoy
qu il ait aporte" toute 1 aplication et le zele qu on pouvait atten-
dre mais les Renards estaient decampez de leur fort avant son
arriv6e. II les a meme pour suivy pendant quelques jours
inutilement.
La depense qu il a faite en cette occasion pourra monter a ce
qu il leur a marquS a 2 ou 3 M . Us en envoyeront 1 estat
I ann6e prochaine. Cependant afin qu aucun autre comman
dant ne tombe pas dans le meme cas. M. de Beauharnois a
ecrit a tous les commandants des postes de ne point accepter
de pareilles propositions de la par des sauvages sans recevoir
APPENDIX 363
auparavant ses ordres. II a pareillement deffendu de traitter
ny armes ny munitions tant aux Renards qu a leurs allies dans
le nombre desquels sont particulierement les Sakis. Us
ajoutent que cette derniere tentative du Sr. le Dubuisson a
existe denouveau dans 1 esprit des nations la defaite entiere
des Renards ; Les Sioux qui ne s estoient pas jusqu a present
declares ont frappe dessus et en ont tue douze; Ainsy il y a
aparence qu ils saffoibliront de maniere qu ils [ne pourront
plus se relever et qu on assurera par ce moyen la tranquilite
des pays d enhant sans qu il soit besoin dorenavant d autres
secours que des sauvages memes que M. de Beauharnois con-
tinuera d entretenir dans ces dispositions jusqu a ce que les
Renards soient entierement detruits ou qu ils soient soumis
aux conditions prescrittes s ils demandait la paix.
TRANSLA TION:
Messrs, de Beauharnois and Hocquart note that the reasons
which have induced le Dubuisson in this move makes them
think that he will not be censured, the more so as the good of
the service demanded it, and the necessity that there was of
overawing the nations for the slighting remarks which they
made about the lack of success of the Company of 1728.
It is true that he did not succeed in that enterprise, although
he devoted all the application and zeal which could be
expected, but the Foxes had decamped from their fort before
his arrival. He even pursued them uselessly for several days.
The expenses which he had on this occasion will amount to
what he noted to them, to two or three M . They will send
the account of it the next year. However, in order that no
other commandant may fall in the same error, M. de Beauhar
nois has written to all the commandants of the posts to not
accept such propositions on the part of the savages, without
first receiving orders from him. He has likewise forbidden to
furnish either arms or munitions to the Foxes and their allies
in the number of which are particularly the Saks. They add
that this last attempt of M. le Dubuisson has revived anew in
the minds of the nations the complete defeat of the Foxes.
The Sioux, who up to the present had not declared themselves,
attacked them and killed twelve. Thus there is an appearance
that they will become enfeebled, so much so that they will not
364 APPENDIX
be able to recover, and by these means the tranquillity of the
upper country will be assured, without any further need of
other assistance than the savages themselves, whom M. le
Beauharnois will continue to keep in that disposition until the
Foxes are entirely destroyed, or have submitted to the condi
tions prescribed, if they ask for peace.
[Of the loth of October, 1730.]
Le Marqs. de Beauharnois envoye la copie d une lettre que
luy a ecrit le Commandant du Detroit le 22 Aoust, 1730:
II en resulte que deux sauvages Mascoutins arriv6s a la
Riviere St. Joseph ou commande le Sr. de Villiers ont raporte*
que les Renards se battoient avec les Ilinois entre le Rocher
et les Ouyatanons, que les puants, Mascoutins et Quiquapoux
s estaient joints aux Ilinois et avoient tombe sur les Renards
qui se trouverent par ce moyen enfermez des deux costes mais
dans le moment que les puants les Mascoutins et Quiquipoux
attaquoient les Renards compants que les Ilinois leur feroient
face de 1 autre coste, ceux cy prirent la fuite. II y a eu dans
cette gr attaque 6 puants blessez et un tue. II a este tue aussy
deux Quiquapoux de la Riviere St. Joseph qui estoient etablis
parmi les Sakis, ce qui fera un bon effet parceque cela les a
anime centre des Renards et il s en fallait beaucoup qu ils ne
le fussent auparavant. II y a eu aussi plusieurs Renards tues
ou blessez.
Les francais des Cahosquia ont reproche aux Ilinois qu ils
estoient des femmes et qu ils ne scavoient point se battre; qu a
leur egard ils alloient partir avec leurs Negres pour le joindre
aux sauvages et defaire les Renards ; ils forment deja un party
assez considerable. Car les Ilinois qui avoit fuyont rejoint, ils
ont fait des troux en terre pour se mettre a 1 abry et les
Renards sont dans un Islet de bois, si ils y restent il y a toute
aparence qu ils pouront este defaits, parceque les Sr. de Vil
liers devoit partir de la Riviere St. Joseph avec tous ses gens et
devoit en ecrire au commandement du detroit pour demander
le secours des ses sauvages, mais ces lettres ne luy sont point
encore arrivee et ses sauvages qui doutent ce cette nouvelle ne
veulent point partir que les lettres du Sr. de Villiers ne soient
arrivees on ne doit cependant point douter que ces nouvelles
ne soient veritables. Le Pere Messager, missionnaire a St.
APPENDIX 365
Joseph, ayant ecrit a peu pres la meme chose a P. la Richardy,
missionnaire du detroit. Les puants du detroit parvissent
bien determinez a y aller, aussy bien qu une partie des Outases,
mais il y tres peu de Hurons par ce qu il en est reste 80 du
party qui avail marche le printemps dernier. II en est cepen-
dant arrive il y a huit jours qui ont aporte une Chevelure des
Chicachas, on espere que le reste des Hurons pourra rejoindre
et ce sera un bon renfort.
Les Renards ont dit qu ils attendoient un gros party d lro-
quois qui devait les joindre et leur accorder retraite. Us ont
petit estre tenu ces discours pour epouvanter les autres nations.
Cependant il est tres sur que les Iroquois a la sollicitation des
Anglais sement tous les jours des colliers qui nous sont tres
prejudiciables. Canada, Correspondance Ghi&rale, 1731, Vol.
L VI, p. 321.
[Here begins a chapter on the Sioux.]
TRANSLA TION:
The Marquis de Beauharnois sends the copy of a letter which
the Commandant of Detroit had written him August 22, 1730:
It appears that two Mascoutin savages who came to the River
St. Joseph where M. de Villiers commanded, reported that the
Foxes were fighting with the Illinois between the Rock and
the Ouatonons, that the Puants, Muscoutines and Kickapoos
had joined the Illinois and had fallen upon the Foxes, who
found themselves by this move hemmed in on both sides, but
at the moment when the Puants, the Muscatines and Kicka
poos attacked, expecting the Illinois to face them on the other
side, the latter fled. There were in that great attack six
Puants wounded and one killed ; there were also killed two
Kickapoos of the River St. Joseph, who were established
among the Saks, which will produce a good effect, because
that will excite them against the Foxes, and it lacked but little
before. There were also several Foxes killed or wounded.
The French of the Cahosquia reproached the Illinois, saying
that they were women and did not know how to fight ; that, as
for themselves, they were going to leave with their negroes to
join the savages and defeat the Foxes ; they already form quite
a large party, for the Illinois, who had fled, joined them.
They made holes in the ground in order to get under cover,
3 66 APPENDIX
and the Foxes are in a little islet of wood. If they remain
there, there is every appearance that they will be defeated,
since M. de Villiers was to leave the River St. Joseph with all
his men, and was to write of it to the Commandant at Detroit,
to ask him for the assistance of his savages, but these letters
have not yet reached him, and his savages, who doubt this
news, do not wish to depart because the letters from M. de
Villiers have not arrived. There should be no doubt, however,
but that this news is true, Le Pere, Missionary Messenger at
St. Joseph, having written about the same thing to P. la
Richardy, Missionary at Detroit. The Puants, of Detroit,
appear very much determined to go, as well as a party of the
Outeses, but there were very few Hurons, because there
remained eighty from the party which had marched last
spring. There arrived, however, some eight days ago, [one]
who brought a scalp from the Chicasaws. It is hoped that the
remainder of the Hurons will be able to join, and that will
make a good re enforcement. The Foxes said that they were
expecting a large party of Iroquois, which was to join them
and offer them refuge. They perhaps have [said] these things
in order to frighten the other nations. However, it is very
sure the Iroquois, at the instigation of the English, send every
day beads, which will be very harmful to us.
[The preceding are analyses of letters written by M. le Mar
quis de Beauharnois to M. de Maurepas, Minister of the
Marine. The original letters do not exist, simply the analyses,
made by a clerk employed in the Ministry.]
New Expedition against the Foxes
[The Marquis de Beauharnois s letter to the Minister, June 25,
1730, relates to a new expedition against the Foxes:]
My Lord: The Sieur de Buisson, who commands at Macki
naw, has dispatched to me a canoe from_there, with advice that
all the nations of the upper country were very much excited
against the Foxes ; that a considerable body of Indians had
collected and requested him to place himself at their head, to
fall upon the nation, and destroy it entirely. He states that
he thought best not to refuse, inasmuch as their proposition
tended toward the peace of the colony, and it was very neces-
APPENDIX 367
sary to take the step to overcome the Indians and cut short
their remarks against the French, concerning our little suc
cess in the last campaign against the Foxes.
This officer, My Lord, must have left his post the 2oth of last
May, with six hundred men, among whom were fifty French
men. We have unfortunately no further account of this expe
dition of De Buisson.
I have the honor to send you hereunto annexed the extract
from a letter, written to me by the Sieur Marin, who com
manded at the Folle-Avoins, concerning the movement he
made last March, against the Foxes, with the Indians of this
post, through their solicitations, as you will see in the details
of this adventure or action, which was of the warmest charac
ter, and very well supported. This officer informs me that he
was present at the council held at Mackinaw, when the Indians
invited Monsieur de Buisson to place himself at their head,
and that a few of the Folle-Avoins who were there also pre
sented to him the tomahawk (as is customary on similar occa
sions), to invite him to be one of the expedition. Monsieur
Marin must have gone with the Sieur de Buisson. I expect
news from their expedition before the last of July, of which I
will have the honor of informing you immediately. I have
also the honor of being, with great respect, your very humble
and obedient servant, BEAUHARNOIS.
Montreal, June 25, 1730.
TRANSLA TION:
Sieur de Villiers Defeats the Foxes
[Messieurs Beauharnois and Hocquart s letter to the Minister,
Nov. 2, 1730:]
My Lord: The Sieur Colon de Villiers, son of Sieur de
Villiers, commanding at the River St. Joseph, has just arrived,
dispatched by his father, to bring us the interesting news of
the almost total defeat of the Foxes ; two hundred of their war-
liors being killed on the spot, or burned after having been
taken as slaves, and six hundred women and children were
absolutely destroyed. This affair took place in September
under the command of De Villiers, to whom were united the
Sieur de Noyelle, commanding the Miamis, and the Sieur de
3 68 APPENDIX
Saint Ange, father and sons, from the Government of Louisi
ana, with the French of that distant colony, together with
those of our post, and all the neighboring Indians, our allies;
we numbered from 1200 to 1300 men. The Marquis de Beau-
harnois will have, My Lord, the honor to send you a descrip
tion of the action, by the Sieur de Fevie s vessel, which will sail
in about eight or ten days. We risk this letter by vessel going
to Martinique, which may pass the Isle Royal. It was at the
point of starting that we learned this news. This is a brilliant
action, which sheds great honor on Sieur de Villiers, who
through it .may k flatter ^himself as having some share in your
friendship, and the honor of your protection in the promotion
which is to take place.
BEAUHARNOIS AND HOQUART.
[The above is quoted from the Wisconsin Historical Collec
tion, in which the editor says: "This boat was wrecked and
the dispatches returned to Beauharnois and Hoquart, among
the rest those regarding the last defeat of the Foxes."]
[Perrier, Governor of Louisiana, to De Maurepas, March 25,
J ay P honneur d informer Votre Grandeur de la defaite des
Renards sur les terres de la Louisianna par les Illinois et les
nations des frontieres du Canada. Nos sauvages se plaingnent
que ceux du Canada ont trop garde d esclaves qu ils denoient
tous les tuer comme ils ont fait, quelque bien quaillent les
affaires les sauvages ne [sont jamais content? ce que j ay pu
scavoir de plus positif par les Francais qui estoient a cette
Expedition c est qu on a tuez onze a douze cent renards, tant
hommes que femmcs et enfans? cette destruction fait un bien
infini a la Colonie de la Louisianne dont le progres estoit arrest6
par les courses continuelles que fasoient ces sauvages tant sur
les francois que sur les Illinois, a present ce pals va devinir
dautant plus fertile qu il sera peuple et mieux cultive. ce
quartier doit estre regarde comme un des plus important de
cette colonie, et il faut absolument que la Compagnie y entre-
tienne un grand estat-major. non seulement pour contenir
les sauvages mais les francois coureurs et libertins qui establis-
sent dans cet endroit hors de dessou les yeux des gouverneurs?
APPENDIX 369
de plus le fleuve estant devenu libre par la destruction dec
natchez, thioux, yazous et corrois qui avaient resolu de det-
ruire les establissements des francois. de ces quatre nations
qui estoient sur le fleuve il n en reste pas quarante hommes qui
sont disperses pour esviter de tomber entre les mains des
autres nations qui j ai mis apres eux.
L expedition que je viens de faire, Monseigneur, prouve a
Votre Grandeur qu on a eu tort de lui insinuer que la guerre
contre les sauvages icy ne se pouvoit que par d autres sauvages
j ay pense le contraire depuis que je suis dans ce pays icy.
j ay esprouve depuis seize mois sans rien espargner que les
sauvages sont bons et a s entre escarmoucher et a lever quel-
ques cheveleures par cy par la mais incapable de pouvoir forcer
ni detruire une nation fortifiee. javoue que nous suffrirons
dans les premieres marches que nous ferons, mais rien n est
impossible au francais bien conduit il se fait peu a peu aux
marches les plus penibles quand il s agit de la gloire du Roy?
Les officiers et les soldats qui ont marche avec mon frere et moy
n estoient asseurement pas faits aux fatigues de ce pais icy.
Qui ont este le plus rude qu on ait veu depuis 30 ans. leur
zele, et leur emulation ne leur a fait faire aucune difference
entre le beau et le mauvais terns quand il s est agi d attaquer
1 ennemy. que nous avons trouve dans un pais jusqu a lors
inconnu a tous francois et mme a nos sauvages alliez dont
aucun na pu nous servir de guide, c est dans cette scitu-
ation si capable d abatre le courage le plus dur que les
officiers ont fait voir par leur example que rien n estoit
impossible aux Francais qui ne travaillent que pour la gloire
du Roy?
On a voulu egalement faire voire a Votre Grandeur que je la
trompais lorsque j avais 1 honneur de luy marquer qu il y avait
17 pieds d eau sur la barre du fleuve? je descend avec le
vaisseau, la Somne, pour faire faire un proces verbal de
1 entree du fleuve et je prend la liberte de dire a Votre Gran
deur qu il serait tres necessaire au progres de cette colonie
que le Roy envoya tous les ans un vaisseau dans le fleuve tant
pour estre asseure de 1 entree que pour rendre compte du succes
des differentes cultures et de 1 etat des fortresses? cette
colonie merite 1 attention de Votre Grandeur le fleuve est le
plus beau port que la France puisse avoir dans le Golfe. il ni
370 APPENDIX
avoit que douze pieds d eau sur la barre quand je suis venu
dans ce pals icy. j y en ai mis 17 par le seul passage des
vaisseaux et naiant jamais eu ce qui m estoit necessaire pour y
travailler de suite, je fais rester deux navires de la compagnie
pendant huit jours sur la barre. Correspondance General >,
year 1731, Vol. XIII, Archives du Minis t^re des Colonies,
Paris.
TRANSLATION:
My Lord: I have the honor of informing Your Greatness
of the defeat of the Foxes upon the territory of Louisiana
by the Illinois and the Nations of the frontiers of Canada.
Our savages complain that those of Canada have kept too
many slaves, that they ought to kill them all, as they have
done. However well things go the savages are never con
tented. That which I have been able to learn the most
positive from the French, who were on that expedition, is that
they killed eleven or twelve hundred Foxes, men as well as
women and children! This destruction will do an infinite
amount of good to the Colony of Louisiana, whose progress
was arrested by the continual incursions which they made
upon the French as well as upon the Illinois. At present this
country is going to become all the more fertile as it will become
populous and better cultivated. This region must be regarded
as one of the most important of this Colony, and it is absolutely
necessary that the Company should maintain a great staff, not
only to keep the savages in check, but the roving and libertine
French who establish themselves in this section away from the
eyes of the Governors. Furthermore, the river has become
free by the destruction of the Natchez, Thioux, Yazous, and
Corrois, who had resolved to destroy the establishments of the
French. Of these four nations who were upon the river, there
does not remain forty men, who have dispersed in order to
avoid falling into the hands of the other nations whom I have
sent after them.
The expedition which I have just made, My Lord, proves to
Your Grandeur that folks were wrong in insinuating that the
war against the savages here could only be carried on by other
savages. I have thought the contrary ever since I have been
in this country. I have experienced, for sixteen months with
out sparing anything, that the savages are good to skirmish
APPENDIX 371
against each other and to take off a few scalps here and there,
but incapable of being able to force or destroy a fortified
nation. I avow that we shall suffer in the first marches which
we make, but nothing is impossible to the Frenchman well led.
He accustoms himself, little by little, to the most difficult
marches when it is a question of the glory of the King ! The
officers and soldiers, who have marched with my brother and
me, were certainly not accustomed to the fatigues of this coun
try, which have been the most trying that have been seen for
thirty years. Their zeal and emulation caused them to make no
difference between the good and the bad weather when it was
a question of attacking the enemy who are found in a country
up to that time unknown to all French and even to our allied
savages, of which none could serve us as guide. It was in that
situation, so capable of striking down the courage of the most
hardy, that the officers showed by their example that nothing
was impossible to the French who only work for the glory of
the King !
Folks also wished to show Your Grandeur that I was deceiv
ing him when I had the honor to inform him that there were
seventeen feet of water upon the bar of the river. I descended
with the vessel, the Somme, to have a report made of the
entrance of the river, and I take the liberty to say to Your
Grandeur that it would be very necessary for the progress of
this Colony that the King should send every year a ship into
the river, as much to be assured of the entrance as to take
account of the success of the different crops and the state of
the fortresses. This Colony merits the attention of Your
Grandeur; the river is the most beautiful port which France
can have in the Gulf. There were only twelve feet of water
upon the bar when I came to this country. I put in seventeen
in the only passage of the vessels, and never having had what
I needed to work successively at it I have had two ships of the
Company remain on the bar for eight days.
Monseigneur: Nous avons eu 1 honneur, Mr. Le Marquis de
Beauharnois, et moy de vous escrie 1 hiver dernier par la Nou-
velle Angleterre, a 1 occasion de la defaite des Renards. je
joins a celle cy le duplicata de ma lettre particuliere du 16
372 APPENDIX
Janvier dernier qui vous sera rendu Monseigneur par la voye
de 1 isle Royalle.
[There is nothing more relative to the defeat of the Foxes.]
Votre tres humble et tres obeissant serviteur,
HOCQUART.
A Quebec, le 16 May, 1731.
Canada, Correspondance Gkn&rale, ifji, Vol. L V
TRANSLA TION:
My Lord: We had the honor, M. Le Marquise de Beauhar-
nois and myself, to write you last winter via New England, on
the occasion of the defeat of the Foxes. I join to this the
duplicate of my especial letter of the i6th of January, last, which
will be brought to you, Monseigneur, by the way of Isle Royal.
Your most humble and most obedient servant,
HOCQUART.
At Quebec, May 16, 1731.
[There are also in the archives at Paris (Canada, Corre
spondance Generate, 1731, Vol. LVI, p. 251) eight other letters
relative to the wars with the Foxes, but all prior to 1730.]
Account of the Defeat of the Foxes by the French of
Louisiana and of Canada
Les Renards unis avec les Maskoutins et Quickapous nous
fesoient depuis bien des annees une guerre ouverte et aux
sauvages nos allies? ils surprenoient nos detachements, ils
enlevoient nos voiageurs, traversoient tous nos dessins, et
venoient nous inquitter meme juisque dans nos habitations,
que nous ne pouvions cultiver que les armes a la main, on avait
tente deja plusieurs fois de les detruire. mais le peu de con
cert 1 esprit et la mauvaise conduite de ceux qui furent charges
en divers terns de cette entreprise 1 avoient tou jours fait
eschouer, un evenement causa en fin leur desunion et la perte
des renards.
Au mois d octobre de 1 annee 1728 un parti de Quikapous et
Maskoutins fit prisonnier sur le Missisipi dix sept francais qui
descendoient des Sioux aux Illinois, ils delibrerent d abord sils
les brusleroient ou s ils les remettroient entre les mains des
renards qui les leur demandoient. mais le pere Guignas miss
jesuite qui estoient du nombre des prisonniers gagna leur con-
fiance et vint about ensuite des les detacher deux et des les
APPENDIX 373
engager a nous demander la paix. il vint luy meme avec eux
aubout de cinq mois de captivite au fort de Chartres ou elle se
conclut selon leurs souhaits.
Les renards, affaibles et deconcertes par cette division pen-
serent a se ref ugier par les ouyatannons ches les Iroquois amis
des anglais, les quickapous et maskoutins penetrerent leur
dessin et ils en donnerent avis dans tons les postes aux francais
de la Louisianne et du Canada. On douta quelque terns de
leur bonne foy, et M. de St. Ange officier commandant au fort
de Chartres ne pouvait determiner les habitans francais a se
mettre en campagne.
Cependant les Illinois du village des lakokias vinrent au mois
de juillet 1730 nous aprendre que les renards avoient fait des
prisonniers sur eux et brule le fils de leur grand chef aupres du
rocher sur la riviere des Illinois, ce nouvelle jointes a des avis
que nous receumes dailleurs engagerent a partir. on assembla
les sauvages, Mr. de St. Ange se mit a la teste des francais et
le 10* jour d aoust ceux-ci aiant joint les trois a quatre cent
sauvages qui les avoient devances de quelque -jours notre armee
se trouva forte de 500 hommes.
Les Quikapous, Maskoutins et Illinois du rocher s estoient
rendus maitre des parrages du coste du nord est et fut vrai-
semblement ce qui contraignit les renards de faire un fort au
rocher a une lieue audessous deux pour se mettre a couvert de
leurs insultes. Nous eumes des nouvelles de 1 ennemi le 12 par
un de nos decouvreurs qui nous aprit ou estoit leur fort et qu il
y avoit compte cent ouze cabannes. Nous n en estoins plus
esloigner que de deux ou trois journees? Nous continuames
done notre marche par des pals couverts, et le 1 7" a la pointe
du jour nous arrivames a la vue de 1 ennemi. Nous tombames
sur un parti de 40 hommes qui estoient sortis pour la chasse
que nous contraignimes de regagner leur fort.
C estoit un petit bouquet de bois renferme de pieux et situ6
sur une pente douce qui s elevoit du cote du oiiest et du nord
oiiest le long d une petite riviere, en sorte que du cote du sud
et du sud est on les voioit a decouvert leurs cabannes estoient
fort petites et pratequees dans la terre comme les tamieres des
renards dont ils portent le nom.
Au bruit des premiers coups de fusil les quickapous, mas
koutins et Illinois qui estoient souvent aux mains avec leurs
374 APPENDIX
partis et qui depuis un mois attendoient du secours vinrent
nous joindre au nombre de 200 hommes on se partagea selon
les ordres de Mr. de St. Ange pour bloquer les renards qui
firent ce jour la deux sorties inutiles. On ouvrit la tranchee
la nuit suivante et chacun travailla a se fortifier dans le post
qui luy este assigne.
Le 19 les ennemis demanderent a parler ils offrirent de
rendre les es claves q uils avoient faits autrefois sur les Illinois,
et ils en rendirent en effet quelques-uns. mais on s apercent
q uils ne cherchoient qua nous amuser, on recommencea a tirer
sur eux des le lendemain.
Nous fumes joint les jours suivants par 50 a 60 francais et 500
sauvages Poiiatamie, et Sakis que avaoit amenes Mr. de Vil-
liers commandant de la riviere St. Joseph, ouyatannons et
Peauguichias. Nouvelle conference, les renards demandent
la vie les presents a la main. Mr. de Villiers paroit tente mais
ses gens n estoient pas les plus forts et il ne pouvait rien con-
clure sans le consentement des francais et sauvages Illinois qui
ne vouloient se preter a aucun accommodement.
Cependant on s apercent que les Sakis nous trahissoient,
parens et alliez des renards, ils traittoient sous mainavec eux.
ils leur fournissoient des munitions et ils prenoient des mesures
pour favoriser leur evasion, nos sauvages qui ser aperceurent
le i eT 7 tro sameutrent et ils estoient sur le point de donner
sur les Sakis 1 orsque Mr. de St. Ange a la teste de 100 fran
cais savanca pour fermer toutes les avenues du cote des Sakis
et retablit le bon ordre.
Nous dissimulames cette perfidie jusqua 1 arrivee de Mr. de
Noille commandant des Miamis qui se rendit a notre camp le
meme jour avec 10 francais et 200 sauvages, il aportoit des
defenses de Mr. le gouverneur du Canada de faire aucun traitt6
avec les renards. On tint un con 81 genera!, les Sakis y
furent humilies et toutes les voix se reunirent pour la perte de
1 ennemy.
Mais nous souffrions deja depuis longtems de la faim aussi
bien que les renards. Nos sauvages reduits a manger leurs
pars fleches se rebutoient 200 Illinois deserterent le 7 7 b ce
mauvais example n eut pas de suite, les renards estoient plus
press6 tous les jours les trouppes de Mr. de St. Ange construis-
soient a deux portees de pistollet un petit fort qui alloit leur
APPENDIX
375
couper la communication de la riviere, tout paroissoit nous
annoncer une victoire complete.
Mais le 8 e 7 bre un orage voilent des tonneres affreux une
pluie continuelle interrompirent nos ouvrages. cette journee
fut suivie d une nuit aussi pluvieuse que noire et tres froide.
Les renards profiterent de 1 occasion et sortirent en silence de
leurs fort, on s en apercent aussitot aux cris des enfants.
mais que faire et a quelle marque se reconnaitre dans cette
obscurite? on craignoit egalement de tuer nos gens et de
laisser eschaper 1 ennemi. tout le monde estoit cependant
sous les armes et les sauvages s avancoient sur les deux ailes
des renards pour donner des que le jour parvitroit. il parut
en fin et chacun se mit a les suivre. Nos sauvages plus frais et
plus vigoureux les joignirent bientot.
Les femmes, les enfans et les viellards marchoient a la teste
et les guerriers s estoient mis derriere pour les couvrir. ils
furent d abord rompus et defaits. le nombre des morts et des
prisonniers fut environ de 300 homines guerrier sans parler des
femmes et des enfans. tous conviennent quil n en est
eschape au plus que 50 ou 60 homines qui se sont sauv6s sans
fusil et sans des meubles necessaires a la vie. Les Illinois du
rocher, les maskoutins et les quikapous sont actuellement apres
ce petit reste de fuiards et les premieres nouvelles nous apren-
dront la destruction de cette malheureuse nation.
Nous ne scavons pas encore combien les nations du Canada
ont tues de guerriers non plus que le nombre d esclaves quils
ont faits. Canada, Correspondance G&n&rale, 1732, Vol.
CLVII,p. 3 /6.
[This is the document which Ferland had before him when
he wrote the description of the battle ; indeed, he made use of
the account in totoJ\
TRANSLA TION:
The Foxes, united with the Muscatines and Kickapoos, had
carried on open warfare against us and against the savages,
our allies. They surprised our detachments; they carried
away our travelers ; thwarted all our schemes and even came
to disturb us in our settlements, which we could only cultivate,
our arms in our hands. Their destruction had been under
taken already several times, but the lack of harmony, the tem
per and the bad leadership of those who were charged at differ-
376 APPENDIX
ent times with this enterprise had always caused it to fail.
An event finally caused their disunion and the loss of the
Foxes.
In the month of October of the year 1728 a party of Kicka-
poos and Muscatines captured upon the Mississippi seventeen
French who were descending from the Sioux to the Illinois.
They deliberated at first whether they should burn them or
whether they should give them into the hands of the Foxes,
who were asking for them ; but Father Guignas, a Jesuit mis
sionary, who was one of the prisoners, gained their confidence
and finally succeeded in detaching them from them [Foxes],
and induced them to ask us for peace. He himself came with
them, at the end of five months captivity, to Fort de Chartres,
where it was concluded according to their wishes.
The Foxes enfeebled and disconcerted by this division,
thought about taking refuge (by passing through the territory
of the Outanous) among the Iroquois, the friends of the Eng
lish. The Kickapoos and Muscatines anticipated their designs,
and they gave notice of them in all the French posts of Louisi
ana and of Canada. Their good faith was doubted for some
time, and M. de St. Ange, officer commanding at Fort Char
tres, could not persuade the French inhabitants to take up
arms.
However, the Illinois of the village of Lakokias came in the
month of July, 1730, to tell us that the Foxes had taken some
prisoners among them, and had burned the son of their great
chief near^the Rock, upon the Illinois River. This news,
joined to information we received from elsewhere, led us to
move. The savages are brought together, M. de St. Ange
places himself at the head of the French, and the roth day of
August, after having overtaken the three or four hundred
savages which had preceded them several days, our army finds
itself 500 men strong.
The Kickapoos, Muscatines and Illinois of the Rock had
taken possession of the northeast quarter, and it was probably
that which constrained the Foxes to build a fort at the Rock a
league below them in order to get under cover from their
assaults. We had news of the enemy on the i2th from one of
our scouts, who informed us where their fort was, and that he
had counted there one hundred and eleven cabins. We were
APPENDIX 377
distant from it only two or three days march. We continued,
therefore, our march through covered country, and the i7th, at
the break of day, we arrived in sight of theienemy.
We met a party of forty men who had gone outpn the hunt,
whom we forced to return to their fort.
It was a little thicket of woods enclosed with piles and situ
ated upon ^a gentle slope which rose in the direction of the
west and northwest along a little river ; so that in the direction
of the south and southeast one saw them plainly; their tepees
were small and set in the earth like the dens (holes) of foxes,
whose name they bear.
At the noise of the first gunshot the Kickapoos, Muscatines
and the Illinois who were often in contact with their bands, and
who had been expecting aid for a month, came to join us to
the number of 200 men. They divided according to the orders
of M. de St. Ange, in order to blockade the Foxes, who made
two unfruitful attempts to get out that day. A trench was
opened in the following night, and each worked to fortify him
self at the post assigned him.
The igth the enemy asked a parley. They offered to give
up the slaves which they had formerly taken from the Illinois,
and they returned several, in fact, but it could be seen that
they were only seeking to amuse themselves. The firing upon
them began again the next morning.
We were joined the following day by fifty to sixty French,
and 500 savages, Pottawattamies and Saks, whom M. de Vil-
liers, Commandant of St. Joseph River Outamous and Peau-
quichias, had led thither. A new conference was held. The
Foxes asked for their lives with presents in their hands. M. de
Villiers appeared tempted, but his followers were not the
strongest, and he could not conclude anything without the
consent of the French and the Illinois savages, who would not
lend themselves to any agreement.
In the meanwhile we perceived that the Saks were betraying
us to the relatives and allies of [the Foxes. They were treat
ing underhandedly with them. They were furnishing them
with ammunition, and they were taking measures to favor
their escape. Our savages, who noticed it the ist of Septem
ber, mutinied, and they were upon the point of attacking the
Saks when M. de St. Ange at the head of 100 French advanced
378 APPENDIX
so as to close all avenues in the direction of the Saks and re
establish good order.
We feigned not to take notice of this perfidy until the arrival
of M. de Noille, Commandant of the Miamis, who came to our
camp the same day with ten French and 200 savages. He
brought a prohibition from the Governor of Canada to make
any treaty with the Foxes. A general council was held. The
Saks were humiliated, and all voices joined for the destruction
of the enemy.
But we had already suffered a long time from hunger as well
as the Foxes. Our savages, reduced to eating their shields,
were disheartened. Two hundred Illinois deserted on the 7th
of September. This bad example had no result. The Foxes
were pressed harder every day. The troops of M. de St. Ange
constructed a small fort at two lengths of a pistol-shot,
which was to cut them off from communication with the
river. Everything appeared to promise a complete victory
for us.
But on the 8th of September a violent storm, with frightful
thunder and continual rain, interrupted our works. This day
was followed by a night quite as rainy, dark, and very cold.
The Foxes profited by the occasion and left their forts in
silence. It was immediately noticed from the cries of the chil
dren. But what could we do, and by what marks could we
recognize one another in that darkness? We feared equally
killing our own men and letting the enemy escape. Every
one, however, was under arms, and the savages advanced
upon the two wings of the Foxes in order to attack them as
soon as the day should appear. It finally appeared, and each
one began following them. Our savages, fresher and more
vigorous, soon overtook them.
The women, the children and the old men were marching at
the head, and the warriors had taken their places behind them
in order to cover them. They were at first broken and then
defeated. The number of the dead and of the prisoners was
about 300 warriors, without speaking of the women and the
children. All agree that at the most only fifty or sixty men
escaped, who ran away without guns or any weapons neces
sary to life! The Illinois of the Rock, the Muscatines and the
Kickapoos are at present after this small remaining number of
APPENDIX
379
runaways, and the first news will bring information of the
destruction of that miserable nation.
We do not yet know how many warriors the nations of
Canada killed, nor the number of slaves which they have
taken.
Defeat of the Fox Savages
[December 18, 1731.]
Le 6 aoust 1730 le Sr. de Villiers commandant a la Riviere
St. Joseph apris par deux Maskoutins qut lui furent deputes
par leur nation que les Renards qui s estoient mis en marche
pour se rendre chez les Iroquois avoient 6te poursuivis par les
Poutoutamis Maskoutins Kikapous et Illinois et qu apres avoir
essuye deux differentes attaques de la part de ces nations, ils
avoient gagne un bosquet de vois on ils s estoient fortifies avec
leurs families.
II donne aussitot avis de cette nouvelle au Sr. de Noyelles
commandant aux Miamis. il detacha en meme temps deux
sauvages au Commandant du Detroit pour lui en faire par et
le 10 du meme mois il partit lui meme a la tete de 300 francais
ou sauvages allies pour se rendre au lieu ou etoient les Renards.
II y trouva le Sr. de St. Ange qui y etait deja arrive de la
Louisianne avec 100 francais et 400 sauvages. Le Sr. de
Noyelles s y rendit aussi avec des nations de son poste, en
sorte que la troupe se trouva composee d environ 1400 homines.
Les Renards avoient construit leur fort dans un bouquet de
bois situe sur le bord d une Riviere dans une vaste prairie.
Le Sr. St. Ange s etait campe a la gauche de cette riviere et
avait fait faire des redoutes pour couper 1 eau aux assieges ;
mais ce redoutes devinrent inutiles, les Renards ay ant trouve"
le moyen de pratiquer des chemins souterrains qui communi-
quoient a la riviere.
Le Sr. de Villiers se campa a la droite de leur fort pour le
battre. II en fit construire lui meme deux avec un cavalier et
pour en aprocher de plus pres et essayer d y mettre le feu, il
fit ouvrir la tranchee. Les assieges firent d abord grand feu
sur lui, mais ils chercherent bientot a parlementer; les nations
sauvages qui ne vouloient que faire des esclaves, lui propose-
rent de les ecouter, mais il refusa constament; en sorte qu ils
380 APPENDIX
tournerent leurs ^tentatives du cot6 du Sr. de St. Ange qui fit
le meme refus.
Les assieges se trouverent par la reduits a manger leur
couvertures de peaux; malgre cet 6tat violent ils soutinrent
pendant 23 jours ; mais le 8, 7 bre. il y cut un orage, si furieux
et la nuit si obscure, qu il ne fut pas possible au Sr. de
Villiers d engager les sauvages a garder les passages. Les
assieges profiterent de cet avantage pour sortir de leur fort ;
mais les cris de leurs enfants, et une femme qui se rendit a la
tranchee ayant decouverte leur fuite, on les poursuivit, on les
joignit: a la pointe du jour, on donna sur eux avec viguer, on
les mit en deroute ; 200 guerriers furent tues ou brales ; 600
femmes ou enfants eurent le meme sort, et cette defaite jointe
aux autres pertes que cette nation avoit soufert dans les differ-
entes attaques qu elle avait assuy6 precedemment de la part
des sauvages allies, la reduite a 30 cabannes avec quelques
vieilles femmes sans enfans erronte sans vivres munitions.
les Illinois ont encore frape sur elle ;* et ne trouvant d azile
nulle part, elle a pris le parti d envoyer deux nouveaux chefs a
Mr. le Marquis de Beauharnois pour lui demander la vie.
Dans les paroles que ces 2 chefs lui ont ports de la part du
reste de la nation ils se sont representes comme des victimes
dignes de la mort et ils lui ont demande grace que pour reparer
par leur soumission les crimes que leur obstination leur a fait
commetre. Ils lui ont proteste que si dans la suite il se
trouve quelque coupable ils le livreront eux-memes pour
estre puni ; et pour assurance de leur protestation, ils lui ont
demand^ quelqu un pour les gouverner. Mr. le Marquis de
Beauharnois leur a repondu avec fermet6, il leur a fait voir
1 indignit6 de leur conduite, il leur a reproche leur trahisons,
et les tentatives qu ils avoient faites ches les Sonontouans dans
le temps qu ils lui demandoient la paix. II leur a dit qu il
voulait d autres assurances de leur fidelit6 que leur protesta
tions et leurs paroles; et il a exig6 que 1 un d eux restat aupres
de lui, et que 1 autre allot chercher 4 des principaux guerriers
de la nation pour lui venir demander pardon I ann6e prochaine
a Montreal ; sans quoi tout ce reste miserable seroit extermine
*Suivant une lettre du Sr. de Boishebert, commandant au Detroit du 15
juillet 1731 les Illinois ont tu6 dans cette occasion 3 femmes et fait.
APPENDIX 381
sans misericorde, cette condition a este accepte" 1 un des chefs
est parti pour aller faire, par a sa nation de la reponse de Mr.
le Marquis de Beauharnois Pautre est reste aupres de lui et on
attend le printemps prochain le 4 guerriers. Les sauvages
paroissent cependant vouloir en 6teindre la race, et M. le
Marquis de Beauharnois les entiendra dans cette disposition si
cette nation manque a ce qu elle lui a promis.
Cette defaite a repandu la joye ches les nations et il est venu
1 este dernier a Montreal des sauvages de toutes partes pour en
marquer leur satisfaction a M. le Marquis de Beauharnois et
lui renouveler les assurances de leur fidelite, el y a este d aulant
plus sensible lui meme que par la resignation de tous les sau
vages il s est apercu de 1 impression que cette guerre a fait sur
leurs esprits et quil se trouve par ce moyen en etat de travail-
ler a retablir dans les pays d enhaut la paix qui y etait enter-
rompiie depuis longtemps et d y continuer nos etablissements.
C est dans cette veu quil a renvoy6 cette annee ches les Sioux
pour y retablir le poste qu on avait este oblige d abandonner, a
cause de la proximite des Renards et il a renouvelle pour cet
effet le traite quil avait fait lors du per etablissement de ce
poste.*
II ne lui a paru moins important de penser au poste de la
Baye que la proximit6 des Renards avait aussi fait abandon-
ner. il y a envoye" le Sr. de Villiers au retour de son expedi
tion pour le retablir comme il etait avant quil fut evacue en cas
qu il trouve les Sakis dans la disposition d y etablir parealle-
ment leur village.
II a era devoir d abord pouvoir au retablissement de ces deux
postes d autant plus que 1 empechmens que les Renards apor-
toient a celui des Scioux ne subsistant plus, on sera en etat
d en tirer tous les avantages qu on s etait propose. D un autre
cote Penterprise de Sr. de la Veranderie le demandait, parce
quil est absolument necessaire que cette nation soit dans nos
interets, afin de nous mettre a portee d estre en commerce avec
les assiniboils et les Cristenaux ches lesquels il faut passer pour
aller a la decouverte de la mer de POuest. Les Cristenaux ont
eu affaire avec les Sauteurs de la pointe de Chagouamigon et
leur ont tue quelques hommes, mais il compte P affaire acco-
*Ce traite avoit este fait en 1726, il y en a une copie cy jointe.
382 APPENDIX
modee, et il veillera a ce que ces sauvages vivent en paix a
1 avenir, les differens entre ces nations prejudicieroient beau-
coup a toutes nos enterprises, pour la reussite desquelles il est
besoin de la tranquillite quil tacher d afermer dans les pays
d en haut.
Mr. De Maurepas, Ministre de la Marine, fonctionnaires
divers de la Colonie. Canada, Correspondance Gbntrale,
1731, Vol. L VI, p. 336.
TRANSLA TION:
The 6th of August, 1730, M. de Villiers, commandant at the
St. Joseph river, learned from two Maskoutins who had been
sent to him by their nation that the Foxes, who had started on
the march to go to the Iroquois, had been pursued by the Pot-
tawattamies, Mascoutins, Kickapoos and Illinois, and that after
having endured two different attacks on the part of these
nations, they had gained a thicket [of woods] where they had
fortified themselves with their families.
He immediately gave advice of this news to M. de Noyelles,
commandant at the Miamis. He sent at the same time two
savages to the commandant of Detroit, to notify him of it,
and the loth of the same month he himself departed at the
head of 300 French or allied savages to go to the place where
the Foxes were. He found there M. de St. Ange, who had
arrived from Louisiana with 100 French and 400 savages.
M. de Noyelles also came there with the nations of his post,
so that the troop was composed of about 1400 men.
The Foxes had constructed their fort in a thicket situated on
the bank of a river in a vast prairie. M. St. Ange had camped
at the left of that river and had had redoubts constructed in
order to cut off the water from the besieged, but these redoubts
became worthless, the Foxes having found the means of con
triving subterranean ways which communicated with the river.
M. de Villiers camped at the right of their fort in order to
assail it. He also had two of them constructed with a cavalier
(a kind of fort to protect advanced positions), and, in order to
approach the closest possible to try to set fire to it, he had a
trench opened. The besieged at first opened a great fire upon
him, but they soon sought to parley ; the savage nations, who
only wished to make slaves, proposed to him to harken to them,
APPENDIX 383
but he constantly refused, so that they directed their attempts
in the direction of M. St. Ange, who made them the same
refusal.
The besieged found themselves thereby reduced to eating
their skin coverings. In spite of this desperate condition, they
held out for twenty-three days ; but on the 8th of September
there was such a terrible storm and the night was so dark that
it was not possible for M. de Villiers to induce the savages to
guard the passages.
The besieged profited by this advantage to leave their fort ;
but the cries of their children and a woman who was going to
the trench having made known their flight, they were pursued
and overtaken at the break of day. They were attacked with
vigor and put to flight ; 200 warriors were killed or burned ;
600 women and children met the same fate, and this defeat,
joined to the other losses which that nation had suffered in the
different attacks which it had endured previously from the part
of the allied savages, reduced it to thirty cabins, with a few
old women without children wandering about without provi
sions or ammunition. The Illinois attacked them* once more,
and finding no refuge anywhere they decided to send two new
chiefs to M. le Marquis de Beauharnois in order to ask their
lives of him.
In the expressions which these two chiefs brought to him
from the rest of the nations, they represented themselves as
victims worthy of death, and they only asked grace in order to
repair by their submission the crimes which their obstinacy
had caused them to commit. They protested to him that if in
the future any guilty person was found among them, they
would deliver him up themselves^to be punished; and for an
assurance of their protestations, they asked him for some one
to govern them. M. le Marquis de Beauharnois answered them
with firmness. He showed them the infamy of their conduct.
He reproached them for their treachery and the attempts
which they had made among the Sonontouans at the time
when they were asking him for peace. He told them that he
wished other assurances of their fidelity than their protesta-
* According to a letter from M. de Boishebert, commandant at Detroit,
of July 15, 1731, the Illinois killed on that occasion three women and made
prisoners of five men and nine women and children.
384 APPENDIX
tions and their words; and he required that one of them should
remain with him and the other should go fetch four of the
principal warriors of the nation to come and beg his pardon
the next year at Montreal; without which all the miserable
remainder should be exterminated without mercy. This con
dition having been accepted, one of the chiefs departed to go
and inform his nation of the answer of M. le Marquis de Beau-
harnois. The other remained with him, and the four warriors
were expected the following spring. The savages, however,
appear to desire to destroy the race, and M. le Marquis de
Beauharnois will keep them in that disposition if that nation
fails in what it has promised him.
This defeat has spread joy among the nations, and last sum
mer there came to Montreal savages from all parts to express
their satisfaction to M. le Marquis de Beauharnois, and to
renew to him the assurance of their fidelity. He has been all
the more aware of it himself, as by the resignation of all the
savages he perceives the impression which that war has made
upon their minds; and as by that means he finds himself in a
position to work to reestablish in the upper country the peace
which had been interrupted for so long a time, and to continue
our establishment there. It is with that in view that he has
sent away this year among the Sioux to reestablish the post
there which had had to be abandoned on account of the prox
imity of the Foxes, and he renewed to that end the treaty
which had been made at the time of the first establishment of
that post.*
It seemed none the less important to think of the post at The
Bay which the proximity of the Foxes had also caused to be
abandoned. He sent there M. de Villiers, upon his return from
his expedition, to reestablish it as it was before it was evacu
ated, in case he found the Saks in the disposition to also estab
lish their village there.
He believed that he ought first to provide for the reestablish-
ment of these two posts, the more so as the hindrance which
the Foxes had occasioned to the one among the Sioux no longer
existing they would be enabled to derive all the advantages
which they expected. On the other hand, the enterprise of M.
*This treaty had been made in 1726.
APPENDIX 385
de la Veranderie demanded it, because it is absolutely neces
sary that that nation should be on our side in order to enable
us to be in communication with the Assiniboils and the
Cristenaux, through whose territories it will be necessary to
pass to discover the Ocean of the West. The Cristenaux had
an affair with the Sauteurs* of the point of Chagoumigon,
and killed a few men, but he counts the affair as settled,
and he will see that the savages live in peace in the
future. The differences among these nations hindered all our
enterprises exceedingly, for the success of which there is need
of tranquillity, which he will undertake to make more secure in
the upper country.
M. de Maurepas, Minister of the Marine, divers functionaries
of the Colony.
[There is one letter written by Perier to Maurepas in which
he refers to the fact that his son had been sent to France to
give a personal description of the defeat of the Foxes. It was
a most important defeat, for the Foxes were forever opposing
the progress of the French. ]
The Sauteurs in habited the region around the Sault Ste. Marie, hence
the name.
INDEX
Andrews map, 46.
Allouez among the Foxes, 91,
97, 107, 118.
describes the Illinois, 109.
Black Hawk s cave, 38, 39.
Big Rock Creek described, 35.
Buffalo Rock, 49, 247.
Burning of criminal in Illinois,
12.
a suspect in Kansas, 16.
Burials, 50.
Bullhead, the story of, 57.
Burning of prisoners, Illinois
custom of, 242.
Burning of prisoners, origin of
custom of, 90.
Butte de Mort, 196, 229.
Canons of the Colorado, in the,
10.
Charlevoix among the western
tribes, 241.
describes the Pestekouy, 243.
Crespel s, Father, account of De
Lignerie s expedition, 261.
Chicagou portage, 45.
Chicago, trails to, 68.
Kinzie takes, 341.
a Miami village, 68, 116, 162,
178, 193-
French post near, 161.
why so named, 193, 355.
Crimes of to-day, 15.
Chiefs of Maramech, 73.
Coronelli s map, 32.
Commerce, 130.
Conspiracy against the French,
305-
Dance of the calumet, no.
De Lisle s map, 41.
De Lignerie s expedition, 261.
De Villiers attacks Sac fort, 303.
Detroit, siege of, 200, 226.
English intrigues with the
Foxes, 145.
Franquelin s map of 1684, 23.
of 1688, 28.
Foxes rob the French, 196.
French map, early, 30.
old, 44.
Foxes, defeat of, in 1730, 279,
288.
village of the, the deserted,
312.
Sioux tribes unite against,
239-
first heard of, 80.
Fox tribe, first accounts of, 79.
Fort St. Louis, 25, 68, 248 (see
maps 23 to 31).
French, prejudice against the,
113-
387
388
INDEX
French, menaced by Foxes and
others, 163.
Foxes and Sacs against the
Ojibwas, 88.
Foxes against the Sauteurs,
155-
Foxes, branch of, located near
Chicago, 232.
afraid of treachery, 266.
attack the Illinois, 267.
warred against by the French,
269, 272.
attacked by Iroquois, 302.
attacked by Ojibwas, 311.
attacked by Marin, 273.
part remove west of the Mis
sissippi, 313.
mentioned by Drake, 314.
mentioned by Lieut. Pike,
314-
mentioned by Clark, 315.
various opinions of, 316.
and Sacs in the War of 1812,
316.
Fox chief s son goes to Mon
treal, 190.
Foxes, French expedition
against, 237.
poverty of, 172.
De Lignerie s expedition
against, 257.
and Sacs attack the Mascou-
tins, 321.
and Sacs attack the Peorias,
321.
Fox reservation at Tama,
Iowa, 343.
Foxes, defeat of the, traditions
of, 345-
Foxes with Black Hawk, 352.
Gibson s map, 33.
Guiguas, Father, captured, 235.
opinion of the Foxes, 269.
Happy hunting-ground, 51.
Hennepin s map, 40.
Hennepin at the Falls of St.
Anthony, 143.
Hunters, the story of the, 62.
Indians, their better natures
and schooling, 9, n, 13, 16,
18, 143.
Indian lands purchased, 329.
Illinois, various tribes against,
233-
Illinois attacked by Iroquois,
134-
attack the Iroquois, 136.
Illinois, confederated tribes,
120.
Iroquois, defeated by the
Foxes, 137.
western limit of claims, 152.
Joliet s map, 25.
Kalamazoo river not the vil
lage of Maramech, 70-75.
Kilatikas, 49, 120.
Kishwaukee trail, 42.
Kinzie s trip over the trails,
333-
La Salle s expeditions, 24.
colony, map of, 23, 71.
robbed by the Foxes, 130.
INDEX
389
Lanman s map referred to, 26.
Lead mines worked by the
Foxes, 325, 327.
Lenox Library map, 50.
Little Rock Creek described, 35.
Long-haired, the hermit, story
of, 55-
Maps:
Franquelin s, 1684, 23.
1688, 38.
Shafer s, 47.
Andrews , 46.
Hennepin s, 40.
De Lisle s, 41.
Tillman s, 31.
Site of Maramech, 21.
Thevenot s, 27.
Lenox Library, 50.
Popple s, 29.
Old French, 30.
Joliet s, 25.
Coronelli s, 32.
Gibson s, 33.
Old French map, 44.
Maramech hill, Popple s map
showing, 29.
Maramech (Maramea-Maraux)
first learned of, 116.
Maramech, discovery of site of,
22.
site of, shown on map, 23, 28,
29, 30, 31-
site of, described, 32, 36, 75.
Perrot recruits at, 164.
Feast at, 167, 177.
M iami s urged to abandon ,172.
where located, 70, 181.
Maramech, Miamis requested
to settle at, 188.
site of, Kinzie at, 336, 338.
site of, the last red resident
at, 336.
Mascoutin chief meets Perrot
at, 189.
Marquette at the Illinois town,
119.
Shea s unwarranted claims
for, 26.
Medicines, presents as, 173.
Miamis on the St. Joseph river,
119.
Miamis, branches of the, 120.
Mississippi river, discovery of,
127.
Allouez learns of, 116.
Maramech, Miamis of, ordered
by chief to build fort, 189.
Mortuary customs, 50.
Morand s expedition, 197.
Negro slavery at Kaskaskia, 276.
Nicolet, 95.
at the Mississippi river, 44.
Old French map, 30.
Ouchegamie-Outagamie, 82.
Paris documents, 360.
Pepikokias, 49, 120.
Pestekouy (Fox river), 25, 39.
Perrot commissioned, 70, 73,
146.
Perrot, among the Sauteurs, 147.
at the Fox village, 156.
proposed speech of, 157.
a prisoner, 165.
rescued, 166.
390
INDEX
Perrot, at Maramech, 164, 167,
169, 175.
arrives at Montreal with
western tribes, 179, 194.
at the Sioux, 184.
Mascoutins attempt to am
bush, 1 88.
at the lead mines, 325.
Pistakee lake, 25, 244.
Pinart s reproduction of old
French map, 44.
Popple s map, 29.
Racine portage, 42.
Red Banks, 82.
Starved Rock, 68, 245, 246, 247,
248, 252, 253, 255, 256.
Sacs, people of the yellow earth,
87-
Shafer s map, 47.
Saint Marks, mission of, 103,
107, 120, 121, 129.
Saint Ange, march of, 276.
Shaubena, 352, 353.
Sauk and Fox trail, 39, 67, 68.
Sioux attacked by Mascoutins
and Foxes, 182.
Siege, the, 288.
Taking possession of the west,
117.
Tama, Iowa, Fox reservation,
343-
Traffic of the trails, 331.
Treaty of Prairie du Chien, 320.
Foxes at, 321.
The trails, Kinzie s trip over,
333-
The Rock of Fox river, 38,
39-
Thevenot s map, 27, 128.
Tonty, 68.
Tonty at Fort St. Louis, ordered
by Iroquois to leave, 256.
Torture of captives, 88, 89.
Tillman s map, 31.
Wa-sa-ri, the story of, 57.
Wa-sa-ka, the story of, 59.
Waubansie, 352.
Witches, burning of, n.
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THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
