USA > Michigan > A history of the northern peninsula of Michigan and its people, its mining, lumber and agricultural industries, Volume I > Part 20
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Father Carheil then suggests that if the twenty-five trading permits be continued. that, instead of commandants and garrisons, the company establish and carry on its own trading posts with people of its own selec- tion ; but he expresses also a preference that instead of the colony com- ing up to trade among the savages, the savages should go to the colony at Montreal for their trade, as they originally have done, and he de- elares that the results would be better for Canada both morally and as a commercial proposition. As to the effect of going to the Indians for their trade he speaks of the voyageurs as follows: "It exposes those who undertake such journeys to a thousand dangers for their bodies and
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their souls. It also causes them to ineur very many expenses, partly necessary, partly useless and partly criminal; it accustoms them not to work but to lose all taste for work, and to live in continual idleness; it renders them incapable of learning any trade, and thereby makes them useless to themselves, to their families, and to the entire coun- try. . But it is not only for these reasons, which affect this life-it is still more on account of those which concern the soul-that this sending of the French among the savages must appear infinitely harmful to them. And he draws the conclusion that "accordingly, the surest and most efficacious of all means to make the colony prosperous would be to secure for it the settlement within the country of all the young men, for the sake of their labor, and the descent to Montreal for trade of the nations up here, because then the labor of one and the trade of the other would contribute to enrich the colony. Such, Monsiegneur, is what I consider the most important step for the temporal and spirit- mal welfare of the colony, and what shoukl, in conscience. be most strongly represented to His Majesty, by making him thoroughly under- stand its necessity. To this end, the Iroquois must he completely tamed and reduced to subjection ; and we take possession of his country, which is much better than those of all the nations up here. He is the only enemy whom we have to dread, or who disputes with us the trade of the savages, which he tries to attract to the English."
Father Carleil continues at much greater length discussing the sit- nation from various standpoints and also varions remedies that might be applied, and reciting the opposition to the establishment of the post at Detroit. His entire letter is edifying, and of interest, but we have quoted selections therefrom which seem to illustrate the existing condi- tions at that time, and. the reasons why the missions were abandoned. The establishment of the post at Detroit resulted in the rapid depletion of the population at St. Ignace and Mackinac. The garrison was with- drawn, as the priests had requested, but the trade attractions offered by Detroit soon convinced the good fathers that the threat of La Mothe Cadillac to ruin the missions had become effective. The two Reverend Fathers, Carheil and Murest, were compelled to give up their hard fight to maintain them, and about 1706. to prevent the chapel from des- eeration by the savages, stripped it of its ornaments and consigned it to the flames; and when it was on fire they pushed out in their canoes; the final act in the abandonment of this, one of the most prominent missions of that missionary epoch.
THE FALL OF ST. IGNACE
Father Marest made his way westward and took up his work among the Sioux, while Carheil returned to Quebec, and the locality of the St. Ignace mission was left to its fate in the hands of the mixed Indians and French population that had been reduced to a state of demoraliza- tion, by trade and practices that had been in vogue. Unexpectedly. those who had deserted the mission for the attractions at Detroit soon
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began to return, and Father Marest, at the request of the governor general, returned again to the mission, probably about 1712, and stayed for a time at the old mission of St. Ignaee.
Of the work thereafter little record is made, though Charlevoix re- corded, that, on his arrival there in June, 1721, the fort and the house of the missionaries are preserved, though not much employed. This would seem to indicate that missionaries were still there, but with little to do, and that probably the old fort and the missionaries' house, or home, still remained; but there seems nothing to indicate that the ehapel itself was ever rebuilt after the abandonment of the mission and the destruction of the old chapel by Fathers Carheil and Marest. From the "register of baptisms administered to the French at the mission of St. Ignace at Michilimackinac" it is gathered that the mission lingered in a struggling condition, but that it built a new church at St. Ignace in 1741; and it is to be noted that there appears no registry of any bap- tism (of the French) from 1695 up to 1712, in which latter year the Jesuits are thought to have returned there. Occasional records of bap- tisms and of deaths occur, from time to time, indicating but little ac- tivity compared to that of former times.
One interesting bit of the record furnishes substantial evidence of the existence of slavery in the locality ; said entry made in 1750, by Du Jaunay, being as follows: "This 6th day of April, the Feast of the An- nunciation of the Blessed Virgin, I have solemnly baptized in the church of this mission Jean Francois Regis, a young slave of about seven years, given through gratitude to this mission last summer by Monsieur le Chevalier De la Virendrege, upon his safe return from the extreme west." Numerous other instances of baptism of slaves are recorded, supposed to be mostly from the Pawnee tribe of Indians, though there are some instances showing negro slavery at the mission.
POSTS PASS TO THE BRITISH
With the defeat of the French in 1760, and the surrender of Canada to the British, all the French trading posts along the lakes passed into British control. Marquis de Vandreuil, then the French governor gen- eral, following the surrender, and under date of September 9, 1760, addressed Commander Langlade at Mackinac, notifying him of the sur- render, and the causes thereof, and of the conditions, especially as re- garded the inhabitants at Michilimackinac, saying, as to them: "They retain the free exercise of their religion; they are maintained in the possession of their goods, real and personal, and of peltries. They have also free trade just the same as the proper subjects of Great Britain. The same conditions are accorded to the military. They can appoint persons to act for them in their absence. They, and all citizens in gen- eral, can sell to the English or French their goods, sending the pro- ceeds thereof to France, or taking them with them if they choose to return to that country after the peace. They retain their negroes and Pawnee Indian slaves, but will be obliged to restore those which have
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been taken from the English. The English general has declared that the Canadians have become the subjects of His Britannic Majesty, and consequently the people will not continue to be governed by the French code. In regard to the troops, the condition has been imposed upon them not to serve during the present war, and to lay down their arms before being sent back to France. You will therefore, sir, assemble all the officers and soldiers who are at your post. You will cause them to lay down their arms, and you will proceed with them to such seaport as you think best, to pass from thenee to France. The citizens who are inhabitants of Michilimackinac will, consequently, be under the com- mand of the officer whom General Amherst shall appoint to that post."
Not until the following year was there an actual British possession of Michilimackinac. On September 28. 1761. Lieutenant Lesley, of the Royal American Regiment, represented the British on that occasion and replaced the flag of France with that of Britain, and for a time he re- mained in charge of the British garrison at this point ; his garrison be- ing composed of twenty-eight persons besides himself-one sergeant, one corporal, one drummer, and the others privates. The Indians did not fraternize, or harmonize with the English as they had with the French. The English held aloof from association with the Indians and did not supply their wants as the French had done, and, as a conse- quence, their Indian (and perhaps human) nature turned them to thoughts of revenge, with serious results.
The coming of Etherington to take command of the post in the place of Lesley, afforded no relief from the growing danger, and the hostile attitude of the Indians towards the British grew in intensity until it finally culminated in the massacres of June 2, 1763, the awful story of which is told in the history of the Chippewas elsewhere in this work.
On June 12, 1763, Commander Etherington made report to Major Gladwin at Detroit, of the details of the massacre and further wrote:
"When that massacre was over, Messrs. Langlade and Farli, the interpreter, came down to the place where Lieut. Lesley and I were prisoners; and on their giv- ing themselves as security to return us when demanded, they obtained leave for un to go to the fort, under a guard of savagen, which gave time, by the assistance of the gentlemen above mentioned, to send for the Ottawas, who came down on the first notice and were very much displeased at what the Chippewas bad done.
"Since the arrival of the Oitawas they have done everything in their power to serve us, and with what prisoners the Chippewas had given them, and what they have bought, I have now with me Lieut. Lesley and eleven privates; and the other four of the Garrison, who are yet living remain in the hands of the Chippewas.
"The Chippewas who are superior in numbers to the Ottawas, have derlared in council to them that if they do not remove us out of the fort, they will cut off all communication to the post, by which means all the convoys of merchants from Mon- treal, La Baye, St. Joseph and the upper posts, would perish. But if the news of your posts being attacked (which they say was the reason why they took up the hatchet ) be false, and you can send us up a strong re-inforcement, with provisions, ete., accompanied by some of your savages, I believe the post might be re-established again.
"Since this affair happened, two cannes arrived from Montreal which put in my power to make a present to the Ottawa nation, who very well deserve anything that can be done them.
"I have been very much obliged to Messrs. Langlade and Farli, the interpreter,
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as likewise to the Jesuits, for the many good offices they have done us on this oca- sion. The priest seems inclinable to go down to your post for a day or two, which I am very glad of, as he is a very good mun, and had a great deal to say to the savages hereabout, who will believe everything he tells them on his return, which I hope will be soon. The Ottawas say they will take Lieut. Lesley, me, and the eleven men which I mentioned before were in their hands, up to their village, and there keep us, till they hear what is doing ut your post. They have sent this canoe for that purpose.
"I refer you to the Priest for the particulars of the melancholy affair, and am, dear sir,
Yours very sincerely,
GEO. ETHERINGTON. TO MAJOR GLADWIN.
"P. S. The Indians that are to carry the priest to Detroit, will not underluke to land him ut the fort, but at some of the Indian villages near it; so you must not take it amiss that he does not pay you the first visit, And once more I beg that notbing may stop your sending of him back, the next day after his arrival, if pos- sible, as we shall be at a great loss for want of him, and I make no doubt you will do all in your power to make peace, as you see the situation we are in, and send up provisions as soon as possible, and ammunition, as what we had was pillaged by the savages. "
But when the Jesuit, Father Jannay, bearing this important mes- sage, arrived at Detroit, the fort was under siege and he was unable to make entry, and returned to Mackinac without delivering the message; but in the meantime word had been sent to the post at Green bay, also, and relief from that quarter came promptly, with the result that the relief party made up of regulars, traders and Indians, under command of Lieutenant Gorell, promptly secured the release of the prisoners. Father Jannay, continned at this mission until 1765, when, he left it and it was thereafter apparently without a priest except for an occa- sional visit ; and in 1781, the church, as well as the fort, was transferred to the Island of Mackinac, from which time the mission was known as Michilimackinac.
MICHILIMACKINAC ABANDONED BY FRENCH
Michilimackinac, according to tradition, has always been recognized by the Indians as a location of central importance, and, as has been said it was early so recognized by the missionaries, the traders, and the mili- tary. When Cadillac was appointed commandant at this place in 1694. the government of New France was seriously concerned because of the tronbles with the English and the influence of the English upon the Indians and traders. However questionable his methods of government, and, regardless of the motives attributed to him by the missionaries in establishing the post at Detroit, history seems to justify that course ns a wise one. The growing troubles with the English were to be fought out in the frontier fields of America, and the establishment of a post at Detroit as the basis of French activity brought them mnch eloser to the probable fields of conflict, at the same time affording apparently better protection to the claims of the French and the business of the French traders in this northern lake conntry, than would the mainte- nance of such center of activity at Michilimackinac.
After three years as commandant at the latter place, he succeeded in convincing his superiors that Detroit was the proper locality for the
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center of western activity; and when actually establishing the post at that point, it was learned that he had barely got ahend of the English who had their eyes on the same locality, because of its apparent strate- gie advantage, controlling the water highway to the northern lakes and the fur-bearing region round about them. It was July 24, 1701, that Cadillac was commissioned commandant at Detroit, and he immediately set about the carrying out of his plans to there establish a formidable barrier to the English, and thus protect the French in their valuable fur trade to the north and west.
The wars that had been existing between France and England in the old world during the last half of the seventeenth century were des- tined to continue and to be transplanted to America in the half een- tury then to follow. King William and Mary's war ended with the peace of Ryswich, but Queen Ann's war, early in the eighteenth cen- tury, was followed by twelve years of border warfare between the colonies in America, and such of the Indian tribes as either could induce to join them against the other. With the peace of Utrecht, in 1712, hostilities were supposed to be at an end, but the terms of the treaty were not sufficiently definite to afford a settlement of the differences in America, and the claims of the colonists remained conflicting. the French claim- ing by virtue of La Salle's discoveries as far south as the Ohio. In de- fense of these claims, they established Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburg) as a point of vantage.
The English resented this and it became at once apparent that the supposed peace of Utrecht was in reality but a transfer of the conflict to American soil, where the fight for supremacy must be fought out. The French navy began its attacks upon New England's coast settle- ments, thus hastening a union of the English colonies of America, for concerted defense, as arranged in a convention which met at Albany in June, 1754, with representatives present from New York, New Hamp- shire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Maryland. This convention may be said to have been important among the events that a little later led to the independence of the colonies, for the plans for colonial union formulated by Benjamin Franklin and sub- mitted to the British government, as the result of that convention, were rejected by that government, because they were said to infringe upon the rights of the crown. However, to aid in defense of our American colonies the parliament of Great Britain appropriated two hundred thousand pounds, and sent General Braddock to command the colonial arms.
BRADDOCK AND WASHINGTON
It was in 1755, after council with the governors of the colonies that aggressive measures were fully planned and it was decided to proceed against the French all along the line; and to attack Fort Duquesne, Niagara, Crown Point and Frontenac. Braddock was born and bred to the military service, his father having been major general in the
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British army, and, in selecting him for the command in America, Eng- land recognized the importance of the task at hand. Braddock, him- self. having arranged for the various campaigns against the several border posts of the French, took personal charge of the branch of the army assigned to the reduction of Fort Duquesne; thereby in turn rec- ognizing the heat of the conflict as being centered there; that there the French would resist to the utmost its claims to the territory north and west, and that there the English must vanquish their enemies, or sur- render all claims to this territory commanded by the French fort on the disputed territory. It is not in the province of this work to follow the details of that campaign, which can be read in any general history of the United States, but it is mentioned as having had an important bearing upon the trend of events in the Upper Peninsula, and es- pecially in the transfer, by the French, of their western military cen- ter from Michilimackinac to Detroit, there to meet and check the advance of the English.
Incidentally, it should also be mentioned, that in that campaign, upon the staff of General Braddock, George Washington was aide-de-camp, and therefore took personal part in the campaign that may be said to have practically led to the result of including Michigan within the United States, rather than leaving her to remain a part of Canada ; and it was in this campaign that the then future Father of his Country began his glo- rious military career. He was in the thick of an attack that put the French to flight, and, writing to his mother he said : "I luckily escaped without a wound, though I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me." Who shall say that providenee did not there pro- tect the man of destiny, and the destiny of the English colonies in Amer- ica ? Engaged in that campaign also, was another man who later played directly in the making of Michigan history, and that was Gladwin, who, in the defense of Detroit, met the attacks of Pontiac; and Pontiac himself was then assisting the French, and in charge of a combined company of Indians and French from Detroit under Langlade, while the Detroit mili- tia was assisting also in the defense of Fort Duquesne.
The lamented and brave General Braddock, after having had four horses shot from under him, and having mounted the fifth, gave up his own life to the cause of the English colonies. For a time the French arms seemed to he gradually but firmly gaining ascendancy, until all England was aroused, and to her assistance there also came the man of the hour in the person of William Pitt, and notwithstanding the severe home conflicts ir which the English joined with Prussia to defeat the plans of the combined forces of France, Russia, Austria and others, to reduce and possess Prussia, Pitt also recognized the importance of the conflict in America and unreservedly supported and encouraged the English colonies, taking upon the English goverment the debts already incurred, and the support of the army in America. The immediate re- sult was found in a colonial army that far exceeded anything that it was possible for the colony of New France to put into the field, and thus the
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tide was turned and the English forces began to march to ascendancy that finally drove the French from all claims to the territory now within the United States and transferred the Upper Peninsula as a part of the northwest territory, to the English. In this revival of the English cam- paign Washington again joined the forces against Fort Duquesne, and because of the illness of General Forbes, then in command, was assigned, with Bouquet, to the leadership of the attacking army. The French and Indian garrison learning of the strength of the English attacking army, burned the fort and took to flight, so that Washington, on the 25th of November, 1758, raised the British flag on the smoking ruins of the de- serted French fort. The place was then garrisoned by the English, and soon thereafter a fort was built, and Pittsburg was given its name in honor of the then great English statesman of the day. Pitt was in the American contest in earnest, and, with the power of Great Britain firmly at his back, which meant woe for the French arms that must meet his assaults, or retreat in acknowledged defeat. In 1759 parliament pro- vided ample funds, and land and naval forces were equipped for the task, the various campaigns being planned under the personal direction of Pitt himself.
In contrast to the flourishing condition of the English forces, New France was in a pitiable condition. The friendliness and support of the Indians had been seriously deflected by the success and the reported strength of the English arms, as well as by the fact that the English market afforded far better prices for furs than did that of the French. At the same time the French army had ealled into requisition all able- bodied men in New France, so that there was none left for the produc- tion of supplies, which as a consequence, became scarce and dear; and as the British ships prevented their being supplied from France, the col- ony was left to do the best it could in the way of both arms and supplies, practically unaided by the court of France that was kept busy in its affairs at home. In the conflicts of that year the French colonial forces were assisted by the coureurs de bois from the lake regions, and by about two thousand friendly Indians, but were unequal to the well equipped, and far greater forces of the English ; therefore, realizing their condition, they made numerous evacuations of French forts before the coming apparent attacks of the English, though at the same time at- tempts were made to stand their ground at most important points.
At Niagara, the English secured a victory which carried with it the control of the situation at Michilimackinac, Detroit and other lake posts. This was in July, 1759, and at the same time the siege of Quebec was in progress where Wolfe had under his command a force of eight thousand. men, and was supported by Admiral Saunders with his flect of twenty-two large ships and some smaller ones. The siege continued for months with attack after attack met by stubborn defense, in a con- fliet between two of the bravest commanders that ever met in battle, both of whom, in the final act of that long drama of war met their deaths on the famous plains of Abraham in that most sanguinary conflict, which Vol. 1-10
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gave to the British arms the possession of that almost impregnable fort- ress.
Montreal now alone remained as a French stronghold, and after con- siderable siege, by both land and naval forces, it too, on September 8, 1760, surrendered, and the province of New France closed its last chap- ter in history. It was not until 1763 that the results of the war were fully decided upon by the treaty of Paris, whereby the king of France surrendered all Canada to England, and was permitted to retain Louisi- ana which was shortly thereafter transferred to Spain.
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CHAPTER IX OCCUPANCY OF WESTERN POSTS
SURRENDER OF FORT TO ENGLISH-POSSIBILITIES OF REGION NOT FORE- SEEN-ENGLISH LOTH TO SURRENDER THIS TERRITORY-ORDINANCE OF 1787-A CENTURY OF POPULATIVE GROWTH-FIRST GOVERNOR OF MICHIGAN-WAR OF 1812-TREATY OF GHENT-FALSE IMPRES- SIONS OF CLIMATE AND SOIL-FUR TRADE ATTRACTS TRADERS.
Immediately after the surrender of Montreal. Maj. Robert Rogers was sent to take possession of Detroit and to command that and other western lake ports. He took with him about two hundred Royal Rang- ers, and en route was reinforced by American infantry from Pittsburg. The English were now penetrating new territory to meet a foe well pro- tected by fortifications, and supported by the savages of the lake region, who, through the teaching of the Jesuits, had become close friends of the French. They much preferred them to the English because the French met them as associates, while the English would not ; and, furthermore, these Indians of the lake region had for years been accustomed to think of the English as the allies of their most dreaded savage foes, the Iro- quois. It is not surprising that, under such circumstances, the English found the French and the lake Indians combined to resist, to the last. subjugation of the lake posts by their enemy; and, being forewarned. they were armed for their defense and even more; for Pontiac, the great chief, wth a delegaton of followers, met Major Rogers at the present site of Cleveland and demanded of Rogers information as to his mission, and why he had dared to come into the country without permission. Rogers informed him of the surrender of the territory by the French to the English, and that he had come to take command at Detroit; and also gave to Pontiac assurances of friendship for the Indians, and of their kind treatment at the hands of the English. After further conferences Pontiac appeared to be satisfied ; the pipe of peace was smoked, and Pon- tiae tendered his assistance to Major Rogers in continuing his trip to Detroit.
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