A History of Van Buren County, Michigan: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its., Part 9

Author: Rowland, O. W. (Oran W.), 1839-
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 671


USA > Michigan > Van Buren County > A History of Van Buren County, Michigan: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its. > Part 9


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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Special messengers were sent out among the tribes, in the spring of 1671, for the purpose of calling a great council of the Indians at the Sault. Fourteen tribes sent representatives to this council to meet the French officers, who, with all due formality and ceremony, took possession of the country. Pere Allouez raised the cross and lilies of France and delivered an address on the oc- casion representing his King, Louis XIV, as "the chief of chiefs having no equal in the world."


During the same year Marquette's mission at La Pointe was practically abandoned and himself accompanied a band of Hurons to the straits of Mackinac, where he founded the mission of St. Ignatius (now St. Ignace). Father Marquette was buried near this mission which he founded nearly two hundred and fifty years ago. A monument to his memory is erected there, but his mortal remains have been deposited at the Marquette college, Milwaukee.


For the next nine years, 1671 to 1680, Pere Druilletes was the leading spirit at the Sault. Several times his chapel was destroyed by fire, but the aged missionary was full of energy and continued his work until his advancing years and increasing infirmities com- pelled him to abandon it. He returned to Quebec, where he died in 1680.


The first settlements made in this new land were largely under the auspices of companies organized for the purpose of engag- ing in the fur trade and for years there was little development of the country. On the 7th day of August, 1679, the schooner, "Grif- fin" set sail for the first voyage ever made on any of the great lakes that wash the shores of the Peninsular state. This vessel was


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commanded by Chevalier La Salle (who was accompanied by Father Hennepin, the missionary) and manned by a crew of fur traders. They were entirely ignorant of the waters over which they sailed and felt their way with great caution, finally reaching the mouth of the Detroit river on the 10th of August, and sailing northerly passed the Indian village of Teuchsagrondie, now the site of the great city of Detroit. This place had been previously visited by the French missionaries and traders but no attempt had been made to form a settlement. They continued their voyage through Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair river, into Lake Huron, where they experienced a severe storm, but finally succeeded in reaching the harbor of St. Ignace.


Soon afterward La Salle, resuming his voyage, crossed Lake Michigan and cast anchor in Green Bay, where the "Griffin" was loaded with furs and sailed for Niagara, under orders to return to the mouth of the St. Joseph river as soon as possible, but she never reached her destination. A terrible storm swept over the lake almost immediately after her departure and it is altogether probable that she found a watery grave at the time.


La Salle, with a few men, followed the coast of Lake Michigan to the mouth of the river, now the site of the city of St. Joseph, where he built a rude fort and shortly afterward was joined by a party from Mackinac under Tonty, La Salle's trusted agent. Losing hope of the return of the "Griffin" with the sorely needed supplies, the near approach of winter made further delay danger- ous and they began the ascent of the St. Joseph river. Near the present site of the city of South Bend, Indiana, they made a portage and continued their explorations, going down the Illinois river to the point where they built Fort Creve Coeur.


The first European settlement at Detroit was founded by An- toine de la Mothe Cadillac on the 24th day of July, 1701. He brought with him a company of fifty soldiers and fifty traders and artisans, and proceeded at once to the construction of a fort which he named Fort Ponchartrain; around the fort were soon erected log houses thatched with grass in which the settlers found shelter and a home. Cadillac remained in charge of the new set- tlement until 1710. The colony continued to exist, but did not increase very much during the period of French control.


In the meantime the rival claims of the French and English, in this valley of the Ohio and elsewhere, led to disputes which eventually culminated in a war, during which the French lost control of Forts Niagara, Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Finally the fall of Quebec decided the contest and all the vast territory was abandoned to English rule and New France became a memory.


The most prominent feature of the French rule of the territory


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was the neglect to develop the resources of the country, agricul- tural and otherwise. Very little land was cleared, few permanent improvements were made and the settlements were of little import- ance. The fur trade was the chief occupation of the people and this was not calculated to build up and sustain thriving commun- ities. Hence, at the close of the French and Indian war, the little trading posts of Sault Ste Marie, Michilimackinac and Detroit were the meager results of a hundred years of French coloniza- tion and control of the great state of Michigan that was destined soon to be.


ENGLISH PERIOD (1760 TO 1796) -


Shortly after the surrender of the territory to the British Major Robert Rogers took possession of the post at Detroit, which at that time contained an estimated population of about 2,500 in- habitants. The posts of Michilimackinac, Sault Ste. Marie and St. Joseph were not occupied by the English until the fall of 1761.


Although the French had abandoned the territory and their chief military leaders had returned to France, the English were not destined long to remain in peaceful occupation of their new possessions. Less than three years of intercourse with the Indian tribes aroused intense hostility against the new occupants of the country. Many of the French inhabitants remained and, as they had little love for the English, they made common cause with the red men, and with them hoped for a speedy downfall of British domination.


A conspiracy was formed for the purpose of attempting the overthrow of English rule. An able leader was found in the per- son of Pontiac, an Ottawa chief. He was well fitted for the dar- ing enterprise; an eloquent orator, a brave and crafty warrior who had won first place among the Indians of his day, and, what was more than all the rest, he was a real military genius, thought- ful and far seeing and able both to originate and manage compli- cated plans. In this latter respect, he was probably the greatest chief of his race ever produced. His plan was to simultaneously attack all the English posts west of the Alleghany mountains and to accomplish the massacre of all the garrisons at a single stroke, hoping thus to rid the country of a people whom they hated and whom they regarded as intruders in the valleys of the west which had, from time immemorial, been the possession of the Indians themselves. There were at this time twelve posts scattered from Niagara to Chicago, three of which, Detroit, Michilimackinac and St. Joseph, were within the boundaries of the present state of Michigan. Pontiac sent his ambassadors throughout the west and south and all the various tribes, from the Ottawa to the lower


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Mississippi, were visited, and all the Algonquins, most of the Wyan- dottes and some of the southern tribes were enlisted in the enter- prise.


A great council was held at a point on the River Ecorse, near Detroit, on the 27th day of April, 1763, at which arrangements were made for an attack on the posts in May.


The attack on Detroit was led by Pontiac in person. The crafty chief sought an interview with Major Gladwin, commander of the post, on the 7th day of May and' was admitted, accompanied by a band of some sixty warriors, who, to all appearances were un- armed, their weapons being carefully concealed beneath their blankets. The plan was for Pontiac to make an address to the commander of the fort and the presentation of a string of wam- pum was to be the signal for the beginning of the massacre. This plan would, without doubt, have been successfully carried out, had it not been revealed to Major Gladwin by an Ojibwa maiden the evening previous to the intended attack, and he was prepared for it. When the red men were admitted to the fort they found the garrison under arms and ready to meet any hostile demonstration that might be attempted. Being convinced that the commander had been made aware of his plans, Pontiac was at a loss what course to pursue, or what to say and made his speech very brief. Major Gladwin told the Indians that the English would be their friends as long as they merited it, but that any hostile act would meet with instant vengeance. Two days later Pontiac sought to gain an entrance with a greater number of warriors, but did not succeed. The Indians then set up a war-whoop and murdered a number of the English who were outside the fort.


The garrison were expecting reinforcements and on the 30th of May a sentinel reported that a fleet of boats was approaching, but the hopes of the garrison for assistance and supplies were not to be realized. for the Indians had learned of the approach of the fleet, consisting of twenty-three batteaux, and had captured all the supplies and massacred all but one officer and thirty men who es- caped in a boat and crossed the lake to Sandusky bay. The siege lasted from May until late in October, when scarcity of food in the camp of the Indians compelled them to withdraw. In an- ticipation of a possible renewal of hostilities on the part of the Indians, the commandant laid in a good supply of provisions, but the savages made no further demonstration, and in the spring the negotiations of Sir William Johnson and the opportune ar- rival of General Bradstreet induced them to refrain from further hostilities.


Fort St. Joseph, which was garrisoned by Ensign Schlosser and fourteen men, was captured on the 25th of May, 1763, by a band


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of Pottawattamies, who gained admission through pretended friendship and massacred all the little band except the commander and three men, who were afterward taken to Detroit and ex- changed.


Fort Michilimackinac, which was situated on the south side of the strait a short distance southwest of the present site of Mack- inaw City, was garrisoned by a force of nearly a hundred soldiers under the command of Major Etherington, who had full and ample warning of the hostile intentions of the Indians, but, dis- believing the reports, carelessly and foolishly neglected to take any precaution against possible attack, and on the second day of June, 1763, the Indians engaged in a game of ball just outside the gates of the fort, the officers and soldiers being interested specta- tors of the sport. About noon the ball was thrown into the fort and the red assassins rushed after it through the open gate. The Indians were furnished with tomahawks by the squaws who stood near the gate with the weapons concealed within their blankets. The garrison was taken completely by surprise and had little or no opportunity for defense. Lieutenant Jamette and seventy men were killed. Major Etherington and twenty-six men were taken prisoners and subsequently released.


After burning the fort and appropriating all the supplies therein, the savages for greater security from deserved retribution en- camped on Mackinac Island.


As a result of this Indian uprising, eight of the twelve English posts were captured, hundreds of Englishmen were slain and a reign of terror prevailed throughout the valleys of the west. But as far as accomplishing the real object of the conspiracy, the re- moval of the English from the interior of the country, the scheme of the great red chieftain was a complete failure. In the summer of 1764, General Bradstreet arrived at Detroit with an army of three thousand men. The Indians, realizing that it was useless for them to contend against so great a force, laid down their arms and thus the war was ended. From this time forth, the settle- ments grew slowly during the remainder of the English occupa- tion. Being so far removed from the scenes of conflict, the few settlers in this then far west had no occasion or opportunity to participate in the War of Independence, and although the treaty of peace between the colonies and the mother country, concluded at Paris in 1783, provided for the surrender of the English posts to the United States, it was not until July, 1796, that Detroit and Michilimackinac were given over into the possession of the new re- public and Michigan for the first time became an American posses- sion.


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TERRITORIAL ( AMERICAN ) PERIOD


Although the ordinance creating the Northwest territory was passed by congress in 1787, the retention of the Michigan posts by the English until 1796 made the latter date the practical begin- ning of the American territorial period.


The anti-slavery clause contained in this ordinance was at first rejected by the committee having it in charge, but was subse- quently accepted, although a majority of the committee were from the then slave states. Except the Declaration of Independence, it was, at the date of its adoption, the most important declaration of fundamental law ever adopted by a free people. It provided for the government of the vast territory lying between the Ohio river and Lake Superior, and was framed with such wisdom that a modern jurist, Judge Cooley of the Michigan Supreme court, has said of it: "No charter has so completely withstood the tests of time and experience. It was not a temporary adaptation to a particular emergency, but its principles were for all time and worthy of acceptance under all circumstances."


The ordinance was a compact between the original states and the people and states of the territory, and it provides that these articles shall forever remain unalterable, except by common con- sent. This ordinance is the second of the four great and immortal documents that insure to the American people their religious and political freedom, viz: The Declaration of Independence, the Or- dinance of 1787, the Constitution of the United States and the Proclamation of Emancipation.


Of these four documents, the ordinance is less generally known among the people at large than either of the others, although it might as well be instilled into the minds of the rising generation as the Declaration itself.


The important provisions of the ordinance were embodied in the six following articles :


Art. I. No person demeaning himself in a peaceable and orderly man- ner, shall ever be molested on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments, in the said territory.


Art. II. The inhabitants of said territory shall always be entitled to the benefits of the writ of habeas corpus and of the trial by jury; of a propor- tionate representation of the people in the legislature, and of judicial pro- ceedings according to the course of the common law. All persons shall be bailable unless for capital offenses, where the proof shall be evident or the presumption great. All fines shall be moderate, and no cruel or unusual punishments shall be inflicted. No man shall be deprived of liberty or property, but by the judgment of his peers or the law of the land, and should the public exigencies make it necessary for the common preservation to take any person's property, or to demand his particular services, full compensa-


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tion shall be made for the same. And in the just preservation of rights and property, it is understood and declared that no law ought ever to be made, or have force in the said territory, that shall in any manner whatever, interfere with or affect private contracts or engagements, bona fide and with- out fraud previously formed.


Art. III. Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good gov- ernment and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent and in their property, rights and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars author- ized by congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity, shall, from time to time, be made for preventing wrongs being done to them and for pre- serving peace and friendship with them.


Art. IV. The said territory and the states that may be formed therein shall forever remain a part of this confederacy of the United States of America, subject to the articles of confederation and to such alterations therein as shall be constitutionally made, and to all the acts and ordinances of the United States in congress assembled, conformable thereto. The in- habitants and settlers in the said territory shall be subject to pay a part of the federal debts contracted or to be contracted, and a proportional part of the expenses of government, to be apportioned among them by congress ac- cording to the same common rule and measure by which apportionments thereof shall be made on other states, and the taxes for paying their propor- tion shall be laid and levied by the authority and direction of the legisla- tures of the district or districts, or new states, as in the original states, within the time agreed upon by the United States in congress assembled. The legis- latures of those districts or new states shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States in congress assembled, nor with any regulations congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bona fide purchasers. No tax shall be imposed on lands the property of the United States, and in no case shall non-resident proprietors be taxed higher than residents. The navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between the same, shall be common high- ways and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of the said territory as to the citizens of the United States and those of any other state that may be admitted into the confederacy, without any tax, impost or duty therefor.


Art. V. There shall be formed in the said territory not less than three nor more than five states and the boundaries of the said states, as soon as Virginia shall alter her act of cession and consent to the same,* shall be- come fixed and established as follows, to-wit: The western state in the said territory shall be bounded by the Mississippi, Ohio and Wabash rivers, a direct line drawn from the Wabash and Post St. Vincent's due north to the territorial line between the United States and Canada and, by the said ter- ritorial line, to the Lake of the Woods and Mississippi. The middle states shall be bounded by the said direct line, the Wabash from Post St. Vincent 's


* In the Virginia act of cession of December, 1783. the cession was made on condition that the territory so ceded should be laid out and formed into states, containing suitable extent of territory, not less than one hundred nor more than one hundred and fifty miles square,' or as near thereto as circumstances would permit. Five years later, in December, 1788, Virginia altered her act of cession and consented to the boundaries of the new states as fixed in the ordinance of 1787.


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to the Ohio, by the Ohio, by a direct line, drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami to the said territorial line, and by the said territorial line. The eastern state shall be bounded by the last mentioned direct line, the Ohio, Pennsylvania and the said territorial line: Provided, however, and it is further understood and declared, that the boundaries of these three states shall be subject, so far to be altered that, if congress shall hereafter find it expedient, they shall have authority to form one or two states in that part of said territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan. And whenever any of the said states shall have sixty thousand free inhabitants therein, such state shall be admitted, by its delegates, into the congress of the United States, on an equal footing with the original states in all respects whatever, and shall be at liberty to form a permanent constitution and state government : Provided, the constitution and government so to be formed shall be republican and in conformity to the principles contained in these articles; and, so far as it can be consistent with the general interest of the confederacy, such admission shall be allowed at an earlier period, and when there may be a less number of free inhabitants in the state than sixty thousand.


Art. VI. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted: Provided, always, that any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original states, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid.


The congress that adopted the foregoing ordinance was the old continental congress, which, under the articles of confederation, had carried the new nation through the War of the Revolution. However, as soon as the colonies had won the contest with the mother country and had secured their independence, it was per- ceived that the loosely drawn articles of confederation were not sufficient to hold the several colonies together under one govern- ment, and steps were taken by the people of the several states "to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty." At the very time when the Ordinance of 1787 was adopted, the constitutional con- vention which would "secure a more perfect union" was in ses- sion. The ordinance and the constitution each contains the same patriotic conditions and both of the great documents were the product of practically the same wise Fathers, who laid so broad and deep the foundations of the new republic that it has ever since been able to successfully resist all assaults from without, as well as to survive all domestic contention and discord.


By the adoption of the Ordinance of 1787, at the very begin- ning of its political existence, this vast region was pledged to edu- cation, freedom and equal rights for all.


In the fall of 1787 congress appointed General Arthur St. Clair governor of the Northwest territory, but owing to the failure of


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the British to surrender the posts in this section until 1796 the first pages of territorial history have only slight connection with Michigan affairs.


Indiana territory was formed by act of congress in 1800, and two years later the lower peninsula of the present state of Michi- gan was made a part of the new territory and so remained until 1805. The most important event that occurred in the history of Michigan during the period while it was attached to Indiana ter- ritory, was an act of congress enacted in 1804, providing for the disposal of public lands within the territory, by which section sixteen, in each township, was reserved for the use of schools, and one entire township in each of the districts afterwards forming the states of Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, was to be located for the benefit of a seminary of learning. This act was the germ of the primary school fund in the state of Michigan and was the original source from which sprang the great university of the state, which has become one of the world's foremost educational institutions.


Several different plans were evolved for the division of this great Northwest territory into states, besides the Virginia plan, in the original deed of cession, and the plan embodied in the Ordinance of 1787. The first congressional plan contemplated the formation of seventeen individual states, eight states to be be- tween the Mississippi and a line due north from the Falls of the Ohio, at Louisville, eight more to be between the Ohio Falls line and a parallel line running north from the western side of the mouth of the Kanawha river. On the extreme east was to be the seventeenth state. This plan did not meet with favorable con- sideration.


What is called the Jeffersonian plan, because Thomas Jeffer- son was one of its chief originators, proposed a division into ten states. This plan is of interest chiefly for the names by which the proposed states were to have been called. Some of these names were Latin, some were Greek and some were of Indian derivation. The proposed states were to be about two degrees in width, north and south, and bounded on the east and west, as nearly as prac- ticable, by the north and south lines of the first congressional plan, above noted.




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