USA > Michigan > Genesee County > History of Genesee county, Michigan. With illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 2
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113
# The Indian name of this stream was Peronigowrink, or, as it has sometimes been written, Pewonnukening, which, being translated, means " River of the Flint" (literally, " River of the Fire Stone"), from which came its name in English. Among the early French traders and coureurs des bois it was known as " Rivière de la Pierre," this having nearly the same signification.
11
THE WHITE MAN'S PREDECESSORS IN THE SAGINAW VALLEY.
CHAPTER IL.
THE WHITE MAN'S PREDECESSORS IN THE SAGINAW VALLEY.
Ancient Mounds and Relics-The Sauks, and their Expulsion by the Chippewas-Early Indian Traders-Jacob Smith.
ANCIENT MOUNDS AND RELICS.
Iv hundreds of different localities in Michigan, and, in- deed, through all or nearly all the States lying between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi, there have been found in- disputable evidences that, centuries before the advent of the white man into this western land, its valleys and hills and forests had been inhabited by tribes, or nations of people, who were either the remote ancestors of the later Indians who were found in occupation, or, perhaps, of a race which is now extinct and unknown. Many such evidenees were found by the early settlers in Genesee County (as in every other part of the Saginaw Valley), chiefly in the form of ancient mounds of carth, which ap- peared to have been constructed for purposes of sepulture, as in nearly or quite every instance they were found to con- tain human bones,-sometimes sound and well preserved, but oftener in a condition of such friability that the lightest touch, or even exposure to the air, reduced them to fine powder ; the latter circumstance seeming to indicate a very ancient period of inhumation. And with these were some- times found rude implements and parts of warlike weapons, which may or may not have been significant of the rank or consequence of the person with whom they were buried.
Instanees are mentioned as having been noticed in the county, where the bones found were of unusually large size ; one of these cases being that of a colossal skeleton, which was discovered some two or three feet below the sur- face, and was disinterred by workmen engaged in construet- ing a road aeross Crane's Cove, on the west side of Long Lake, in the fall of 1877, and another instance in the east part of the county, where a number of skeletons (also of very large size) were found buried in a cirele directly be- neath the stump of a gigantic pine-tree of the oldest growth; but in both these cases the finding of the bones was wholly accidental, as there was no mound or other sur- face-mark to indicate the places of burial.
Many of the ancient mounds discovered in Ohio, Illi- nois, and other States seem to have been intended as de- fensive works; and in their construction, as well as in the material and finish of the implements, pottery, and weapons found within them, there appears the work of a people who, in enlightenment, engineering, and mechanical skill, must have been very far in advance of the later Indians to whom we are accustomed to apply the name of aborigines. But the pre-historie works found in Genesee County were not of this class; they were in every case (it is believed) simply sepulchral mounds, inclosing the bones and relies of a race that may have been identical with that which the first white settlers found in possession of the soil. There appears to have been nothing in the construction of the mounds, or in the mechanism or material of the implements discovered here, to compel a belief that either were the work of a superior people. That any race of men different from the Indian ever had a home in the valley of the
Saginaw is only rendered probable from the disclosure of skeletons, represented to have been of unusual size; and it is not impossible that even this peculiarity (in the absence of actual measurement) may have been unintentionally ex- aggerated on account of the atmosphere of mystery and romance which surrounded their discovery. They may have been the remains of Toltec or Aztec mound-builders, or they may have been those of the ancestors of Pontiac or Tecumseh. It is a question which can never be satis- factorily settled, and which, beyond the facts of the dis- covery of the tumuli and their mysterious contents, is not properly within the scope of this history.
THE SAUKS AND THEIR EXPULSION BY THE CHIPPEWAS.
When the first white explorers penetrated this wilderness region, they found it peopled by bands of both the Chip- peira and Ottawa nations of Indians, though the former were by far the more numerous here, and have generally been mentioned in Indian history, and recognized in all subsequent treaties as the original proprietors of the coun- try bordering on the Saginaw and its tributaries, and of the vast territory stretching away from thence northwestwardly to Lake Superior.
According to their own traditions, however (which, in this particular, are supported to some extent by anthentie history ), their proprietorship was of but comparatively recent date. They said that, within the memory of some of their old men, all these streams and woods and hunting-grounds, this Indian paradise of fish and deer and beaver, was the home and pos- session of the Sauks and Onottoways (a kindred people), who lived near together in neighborly amity, and, both being strong and valiant tribes, and confederated for mutual de- fense, they felt perfectly secure in their fancied ability to hold their country against all invading cuemies. The Sauks were the more numerous, and occupied the valleys of the Tittabawassee, the Flint, and the Shiawassee, their domain extending as far south as the head-waters of the latter stream, along the present southern boundaries of Shiawas- see and Genesee Counties. The Onottoways lived in the valley of the Onottoway-Sebewing, or Cass River, and had their principal village a few miles above the mouth of that stream, nearly where is now the village of Bridgeport Cen- tre, and where, as late as 1840, a large earthen work was still visible, though whether built by these people or by their successors, the Chippewas, is, of course, a matter of doubt. The chief village of the Sauks was on the west side of the Saginaw River, opposite where Portsmouth now stands; but they had other small villages or encamp- ments at different points on the rivers, and as far up as the lakes of Genesee and Livingston Counties.
Both these tribes appear to have possessed warlike traits, and were not only disposed to hold and defend their own country, but sometimes engaged in aggressive expeditions against the tribes whose country adjoined theirs on the north and south, which tribes, as a consequence, both feared aud hated them. Particularly was this the case with the Ojibways (Chippewas), who then inhabited a region far away to the north, bordering on the lakes,-Michigan, Huron, and Superior. This nation had for years coveted the teeming hunting-grounds of the Sauks, and it had long
12
HISTORY OF GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
been a cherished project with them to conquer and extermi- nate the prosperous tribes who held the Saginaw Valley, and the country stretching thenee, for many a league, towards the north and west. But they dreaded the power and prowess of their enemies, and this consideration held them in check until their ambitious desires could be controlled no longer, and, at last, they determined to attempt the execution of the plan of invasion and conquest which they had so long secretly entertained. To this end they held council with the Ottawas of the north (whose country was contiguous to their own), and sent messengers to the southern Ottawas (whose domain lay along the northern border of that of the Pottawattamies), asking them to join in an expedition for the humiliation of the Sauks and Onottoways and the occupation of their hunting-grounds. The proposition was favorably received, the league was formed, and the confed- erated bands set out on the war-path with great secrecy, hoping to take their enemies by surprise,-a hope that was fully realized.
As to the manner in which the attack was made, the traditional accounts differed to some extent ; but that which seems the most complete and reasonable was nearly as fol- lows: The invaders entered the country of the doomed tribes in two columns,-one, composed of the southern Otta- was, coming through the woods from the direction of De- troit, and the other, made up of the Chippewas and north- ern Ottawas, setting out in eanoes from Mackinaw, proceed- ing down along the western shores of Lake Huron and the bay of Saginaw, paddling by night, and lying concealed in the woods by day. When the canoe fleet reached a point a few miles above the mouth of Saginaw River, half the force was landed; and the remainder, boldly striking across the bay in the night-time, disembarked at a place about the same distance below the mouth of the Saginaw. Then, in darkness and stealth, the two detachments glided up through the woods on both sides of the river, and fell upon the un- suspecting Sunks like panthers upon their prey. The principal village-situated on the west side of the river --- was first attacked ; many of its people were put to the tom- ahawk, and the remainder were driven across the river to another of their villages, which stood on the easteru bank. Here they encountered the body of warriors who had moved up on that side of the river, and a desperate fight ensued; in which the Sauks were again routed, with great loss. The survivors then fled to a small island in the Sagi- naw, where they believed themselves safe, at least for the time, for their enemies had no canoes in the river. But here again they had deluded themselves, for in the follow- ing night iee was formed of sufficient strength to enable the victorious Chippewas to cross to the island. This oppor- tunity they were not slow to avail themselves of, and then followed another massacre, in which, as one account says, the males were killed, to the last man, and only twelve women were spared out of all who had fled there for safety. So thiekly was the place strewn with bones and skulls of the massaered Sauks, that it became known as Skull Island .*
After completing their bloody work on the Saginaw, the invading army was divided into detachments, which severally proceeded to carry destruction to the villages on the Shiawassee, Tittabawassee, Cass, and Flint Rivers. Meanwhile, the co-operating foree of Ottawas, coming in from the south, struck the Flint River near its southern- most bend, and a desperate battle was fought between them and the Sauks, upon the bluff bank of the river, about a half-mile below the present city of Flint. Here the Sauks suffered a severe defeat, and retreated down the river to a point about one mile above where the village of Flushing now is; and there another battle was fought,f as bloody and disastrous as the first. Still another deadly struggle took place on the Flint, a little north of the present bound- ary between Genesee and Saginaw Counties; and on this field, as on the others, the bones of the slain were found many years afterwards. Equally murderous work was done by the bands which scoured the valleys of the Shiawassee and the Cass, and everywhere the result was the same,- the utter rout and overthrow of the Sauks, only a miser- able remnant of whom made their escape, and, finally, by some means, succeeded in eluding their relentless foes, and gained the shelter of the dense wilderness west of Lake Michigan.
After the Sauks had been thus utterly erushed, and their villages destroyed, the victorious allies did not imme- diately settle in the conquered territory, but held it as a common ground for the range of their hunting-parties. After a time they found that some of the young men who went out with those parties did not return, and could never be heard of, and then it became their firm belief that the dim reeesses of these forests were haunted by the spirits of the murdered Sauks, who had come back to their former hunting-grounds to take vengeance on their merciless de- stroyers. And the result of the belief (so said the tradi- tion ) was that they abandoned this inviting region, and for years their hunters and fishermen avoided its haunted woods and streams, although the thiekets swarmed with game and the waters were alive with fish.
No one can say how long their superstitious terrors pre- vailed, but it is certain that they were overcome at last, and the Chippewa and Ottawa tribes built their lodges in the land which their bloody hands had wrenched from its rightful possessors. Those who came to the valley of the Saginaw, however, were principally Chippewas, and from that time the Indian inhabitants of this region were known as the Saginaw tribe of the Chippewa nation. They possessed all the characteristics of the parent stock, and, until they were overawed and cowed by the power of the whites, they showed a disposition as fierce and turbulent as that of their kindred, the Ojibways of Lake Superior,
* Mr. Ephraim S. Williams, one of the oldest and most respected citizens of Flint, but formerly of Saginaw City, verifies this state- ment. Ile has often visited the island in earlier years, and has seen numbers of skulls exhumed from its soil.
+ At both these places were found a number of mounds covering human bones. These were visible within the past few years, and have been seen by many persons now living in the county.
į One of the Indian accounts of this sanguinary campaign was to the effect that no Sank or Quottoway warrior escaped ; that of all the people of the Saginaw Valley not one was spared except the twelve women before mentioned, and that these were sent westward and placed among the tribes beyond the Mississippi. This, however, was unquestionably an exaggeration made by the boastful Chipperax ; and it is certain that a part of the Sauks escaped beyond the lake.
13
THE WHITE MAN'S PREDECESSORS IN THE SAGINAW VALLEY.
who massacred the garrison of Fort Michilimackinac, in 1763.
The country of the Saginaws was then an almost inac- cessible fastness, and from this their warriors continually forayed against the unprotected settlements on the Detroit, St. Clair, and Iluron Rivers; and many were the scalps and captives which they brought back from these hostile expeditions. They joined the Indian league which was formed in 1786 in the interest of the British, for the purpose of destroying the American settlements and driv- ing them beyond the Ohio River, and they took part with the other tribes in the hostilities which continued until checked by the victorious campaign of General Anthony Wayne. Again, when the Shawanese chieftain, Tecumseh, and his brother, the " Prophet" Elkswatawa, instigated by the British, sent forth their emissaries to ask the co- operation of the northern and western tribes in a project to exterminate the white settlements within the Northwest Territory, the Saginaw Chippewas were found ready and willing to join the league ; and they continued among the most active of all the Indian allies of the English during tbe war of 1812-15.
EARLY INDIAN TRADERS-JACOB SMITII.
Up to this time it is probable that not more than a dozen white men had ever penetrated into the country of the Sug- inuws. They may have been visited by the enterprising and adventurous priests from the Récollet Mission at the foot of Lake Iluron, but such is not known to be the fact. It is known, however, that, some time before the commence- ment of the present century, a French trader named Bolieu (named, in Indian, Kasegans) came among them, and lived at different points on the Flint and Saginaw Rivers; that he married a full-blood Chippewa woman, by whom he be- came the father of a number of half-breed children,* one of whom, in after years, was a claimant to one of the Indian reservations in Genesee County. There is little doubt that (with the possible exception of a priest or two, as above mentioned) this trader, Bolicu, with perhaps two or three assistants, or coureurs de boist (forest-runners), were the first men of European descent who ever set foot upon the wilderness domain of the Saginaw Chippewas. There was another French trader, however, named Tremble (frequently corrupted to Trombley), who came to Saginaw very soon after Bolicu, but it is not shown that he was located any- where else in the Indian country than at that point.
# The facts of Bolien's residence among the Saginais at the timo mentioned, of his marriage with the Indian woman, who was a near relative of the Saginaw chief Neome, and of the rearing of his half- breed family, were afterwards shown in a noted ease of litigation (Dewey re. Campau), involving the title to a part of the site of the city of Flint.
+ In mentioning this class of men, Judge Campbell, in his Political History of Michigan, says, " Many of these were of the lower classes, and dropped readily into the ways of tho Indians, adopting their hab- its, and becoming adherents to the tribes. But there were many also of respectable connections, who betook themselves to a wandering life of hunting and trading, partly from love of adventure and partly because they could find no other means of livelihood. There is no reason to regard them as a despicable or essentially vicious race." They were generally employed by the carly Indian traders to assist in the transportation of their merchandise through the woods, etc.
Perhaps the next (and certainly one among the earliest) of the traders who came into these wilds was Jacob Smith, a man who should receive more than a cursory mention, not only because he was brave, true, and nobly generous in all his impulses, honest and benevolent in his dealings with the Indians of this valley, to a degree which gave him a firmer hold on their esteem and confidence than has ever been enjoyed by any other white man, but because, although an alien by birth, he was warmly devoted to the cause of America, an officer under her banner, one who braved great personal peril in her service, and gave his property, as he also risked his life, to rescue prisoners from the hands of their savage captors, and because his name is intimately connected with the early history of the region which is now partially included in Genesee County. lle was of German parentage or descent, and a native of the city of Quebec, Canada. His enterprising and adventurous spirit drew him to the western frontier, and in the early years of the pres- ent century we find him, with a wife and several children, located in Detroit, as the base of his trading operations. He came among the Indians of the Saginaw before the be- ginning of the war of 1812, at a time when their hostile disposition had been wrought up to a high pitch by the machinations of Tecumseh. At this time, however, he was not permanently established among them, but merely made periodical visits to their country from his home at Detroit.
On the breaking out of the war, in 1812, it became a matter of importance to know what position the Saginaw tribe would take in the contest, and Jacob Smith undertook the task of gaining such information by going to their vil- lages, ostensibly on a trading expedition, but really with the object above named, though it was necessary to the success of his mission, as well as for his own safety, that this object should remain unknown and unsuspected by the Indians. Ile arrived safely at their main settlement on the Saginaw, but soon after reaching there the tongue of one of his two assistants became loosened by a too free use of the treacherous whisky, and while thus off his guard he in- cautiously divulged the secret which should have been jeal- ously guarded. Upon learning that the trader, whom they knew to be a British subject, had now come among them as a spy, in the interest of the Americans, they became so greatly infuriated that it was only by instant flight that Smith and one of his assistants were finally enabled to es- cape with their lives. Abandoning the merchandise, they leaped on their horses and sped away with all possible rapidity on the southern trail, up the valley of the Flint, fording the river where Flint City now stands, and thence flying on through the woods and openings towards Detroit. All this time the Indians were in pursuit and gradually gaining ground. On reaching the Big Springs (in the present town of Groveland, Oakland County) the fugitives found themselves so hard pressed that, in order to embarrass their fierce pursuers, they separated, one continuing on the trail to the Clinton River, the other striking more towards the south, and by this means they finally escaped unharmed, except that Mr. Smith, in riding through a thicket, re- ceived a permanent injury to one of his eyes. The assist- ant whom they were compelled to leave behind lost his life, and the goods were of course a total loss; but the main
14
HISTORY OF GENESEE COUNTY, MICIIIGAN.
.
object of Mr. Smith's mission was accomplished, for he had ascertained the disposition and intentions of the Saginaws most conclusively.
Either before, or immediately after, this expedition, he was made a captain in the United States service, and was present, under General Hull, at the disgraceful surrender of Detroit. By reason of this surrender he experienced heavy losses, for which he was never reimbursed by the government. During the war which succeeded, he on sev- cral occasions rendered admirable service by procuring the liberation of prisoners who had been taken by the Indians. One of these cases was that of a family named Boyer, whose dwelling on Clinton River had been burned and themselves carried into captivity by the Saginaws. To effect their release, Jacob Smith proceeded into the Indian country, taking with him (loaded upon pack-horses) a large quantity of goods, such as delight the hearts of Indians, to be given as a ransom for the unfortunate prisoners. It was a bold movement for one who had once been compelled to fly for his life from these same Indians whom he now went to seek in their stronghold ; but it was just such an act as might have been expected from one of his brave and gen- erous nature. The Indians admired his fearlessness and respected his mission, and the prisoners were released un- harmed.
After the elose of the war Mr. Smith continued to prose- cute his traffic with the Indians, though he still had his residence in Detroit. But after the death of his wife, in 1817, he became permanently established in the Saginaw country, and passed most of his time there during the re- mainder of his life. In 1819 he located his store where Flint City now stands, and died there a little less than six years afterwards.
By the Indians he was known as Wahbesins (meaning " the young swan"), and his popularity and influence with them was almost unbounded. He was kind and generous to them ; he was unexcelled in bravery ; and was the pos- sessor of physical qualities such as invariably clicit the red man's admiration. No Indian hunter was more skilled in woodcraft than he. He had to a great extent adopted their dress and mode of life, and by his long intercourse with them had become so familiar with their language that he spoke it as fluently and perfectly as the Chippewas themselves. Among all the principal men of the tribe there were few, if any, who were not friends to Wahbe- sins ; and especially strong was the bond of amity between him and old Neome, who was one of the most respected and powerful of all the Saginaw chiefs, but an honest, sim- ple-minded, and peaceable man. The attachment which existed between him and Jacob Smith was so strong that for years after both were dead the Indians invariably spoke of Neome and Wahbesins as brothers, whose friendship had never been broken or clouded.
Conrad Ten Eyck was trading among the Saginaws nearly as early as Jacob Smith. Louis Campau established him- self as a trader among them in 1815. His brother, Au- toine, came about the same time, and Baptiste Cochios had his trading-post on the Flint. General Riley, of Schenec- tady, N. Y., commenced trading here soon after the close of the war of 1812-15, and several other traders were in
the Indian country as early as 1820, but among all these there were none who ever held the confidence and friend- ship of the natives to an equal degree with Jacob Smith.
CHAPTER III.
THE SAGINAW-CHIPPEWAS AFTER THE WAR OF 1812-15.
Story of the Chief Nawahgo-Superstition of the Saginaws-Tho Chief Neome, and the Pewonigo band. .
THE close of the war of 1812-15, which resulted in the discomfiture of Britain and her Indian allies, seems to have marked the extinguishment of the fierce and warlike dis- position of the Saginaw tribe of Chippewas, and from that time their progress was rapid towards that state of decay and demoralization which is invariably the result of the Indian's contact with the white race, and his access to the white man's whisky. When they began to be well known by the traders who followed Jacob Smith, and by the United States officers and agents whose duties called them to the Indian country, they were found to be a dispirited and comparatively harmless people, who, realizing that their former power and prowess were broken, were little disposed to take the war-path or wield the tomahawk for the enforce- ment of the aboriginal rights which they knew had been justly forfeited by their acts of hostility against the gov- ernment during the then recent war.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.