USA > Michigan > Genesee County > History of Genesee county, Michigan. With illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 3
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Mr. Ephraim S. Williams, now of Flint, who passed many years among these Indians subsequently to 1820, and who also knew the Chippewas of Lake Superior, says of the former that they were a people who possessed many good traits, but who, generally, were but degenerate repre- sentatives of the northern nation from whom they sprung ; though he knew many instances of individuals to whom this criticism would not apply. One incident which he relates seems not inappropriate to mention here, as it oe- curred in the neighboring county of Saginaw, the actors in it being members of the same tribe who peopled the valley of the Flint, and Mr. Williams (who was an eye-witness of the scene) an old citizen of Genesee, personally known to a large portion of the people of this county, and recognized as among the best of anthorities in all matters pertaining to early Indian history. He tells the story as follows :
There lived upon the Saginaw a young Chippewa war- rior,-a model of physical power and grace,-named Na- wahgo, who, in a quarrel, had killed a son of the old chief Red Bird (Wuzcobenasa), whose home was ou the Tittaba- wassee. By Indian law and usage the relatives of the murdered man might take the life of his slayer, in retaliation, and in this case they demanded the forfeit. In response to the summons, Nawahgo presented himself before the warrior relatives of his victim, and bared his breast to receive their blows. The avengers filed past him, and each in turn delivered a blow at his heart; but when all had struck, and Indian justice was sated, the young warrior still lived. Weak from his wounds and loss of blood, he started to return to his wigwam, but on his way there was met by another Indian, who stabbed him in the back and
15
THE SAGINAW-CHIPPEWAS AFTER THE WAR OF 1812-15.
left him there, believing that he had given a mortal wound. There he was found by his faithful wife, who had tracked him by the blood-marks. She succeeded in removing him to their lodge, bathed and bound up his wounds, and nursed him through weeks of prostration and suffering until at last he was completely restored to health. It was then his turn to demand and to take vengeance on the coward who had struck him in the back, and he did not long lack an opportunity, for he soon met his enemy in the hunting- ground, and drove a knife with sure aim to his heart.
Not long after this, large numbers of Indians were assem- bled at Saginaw to receive a payment from the agents of the government, and on this occasion Black Beaver (a brother of one of the principal chiefs) reviled Nawahgo as a murderer for killing the Indian who had struck him in the back. The latter retorted that the act was justifiable, and that he had but killed a craven wretch who was unfit to live. Black Beaver reiterated the accusation in still more insulting terms, and then Nawahgo, fierce with anger, leaped upon him and slew him in his tracks. This took place upon the present site of East Saginaw. Nawalgo, immediately after the homicide, crossed to the west side of the river, where his own band were encamped, but here, under the white man's law, a warrant was issued for his arrest, and upon learning this he at once recrossed to the cast side. " He sent word to two of his white friends, E. S. Williams and Antoine Campau, desiring them to cross the river and come to the woods in which he was secreted, when, by their giving a signal, he would come to them. They did so, and he soon made his appearance. Ile in- formed them that he had sent for them for advice; that the white man's punishment, imprisonment, was only fit for cowards; death by the hands of his own race was glorious, in comparison, if any relative of Black Beaver should choose to make it a cause of vengeance. They advised him to cross back to his own camp, present himself to his people, and let the affair take the course warranted by Indian usage." The advice was taken, and he recrossed to his own camp. The arrest was waived, and Nawahgo awaited the summons to appear before those to whom his life was forfeit under the Chippewa law.
The time came for the burial ceremonies of the dead chief, Black Beaver. All the vast throng of Indians who had gathered for payment, and nearly or quite all the white people living at the place (each one acquainted with the circumstances of the homicide and each eager to know and see the sequel), were congregated in full view of the spot where lay the coffined form of the Beaver, encircled by mourning relatives and chiefs in black paint, among them being some of the head men of the tribe. Suddenly, dur- ing an interval of silence which forms part of the Indian burial ceremony, the stately form of Nawahgo entered the group, and moved towards the centre with a mien and step which might have befitted the great Pontiac, or Philip of Mount Hope. He was habited in costume such as an Indian warrior would wish to die in, and his belt bore knife and tomahawk. Advancing to the side of the coffin he laid his weapons upon it, then filled and lighted his pipe with great deliberation, drew a few whill's, and offered it successively to each of the scowling chiefs and warriors
who surrounded him, but all declined it. Next he unslung from his shoulder a small flask of whisky, drank, and offered it to cach in the same manner, but again all declined to partake.
" You refuse to smoke with me," he said. " You will not drink the fire-water with me in token of peace. You demand my life, and I am here to give it !" Then he sat down on the foot of the coffin, loosed his hunting-shirt at the throat, bared his breast, and again addressed his ene- mies : "You demand my life ! Here it is; take it! But beware how you strike ! Make no mistake ; for if a war- rior strikes and fails, or if he deals a foul blow, he shall feel my knife in his heart, as I have driven it to the hearts of cowards before !"
This speech was followed by a dead silence. Nawahgo cast a proud and scornful glance around on the blackened faces of the hostile group, but there was not one among them who moved from his place to strike the waiting vic- tim. A little longer he sat there, and then-as none came to claim the vengeance due under Indian usage-he rose with deliberation, readjusted his hunting-shirt, resumed his belt and arms, and with the single withering epithet, " Cowards !" upon his lips, strode away, undaunted and unharmed, to the camp of his own band. " This," writes Mr. Williams, " I was eye-witness to. It was at a payment made by government, and nearly three thousand Indians were present. I was Nawahgo's friend, and he was also mine, and would and did stand by me in all dangerous times." Immediately after the occurrence above mentioned, Nawahgo left the Saginaw, and removed to the shore of Lake Huron, where he lived during the remainder of his life. He finally died a violent death,-in an encounter with a relative of one of his early victims. They met on the hunting-ground, and each knew that a death-struggle was to follow; but, before fighting, they sat down, and drank together from the same canteen. Having finished their potations, they rose, and, like Fitz-James and Roderick Dhu,
" Each looked to sun, and stream, and plain, As what he ne'er might see again, Then, foot, and point, and eye opposed, In dubious strife they darkly closed."
And they fought on till both fell, mortally wounded. From this narrative it seems evident that, in Nawahgo at least, the warrior blood and spirit of the northern Ojibways had suffered no degeneration.
SUPERSTITION OF THE SAGINAWS.
It has been mentioned that the ancient Chippewas imag- ined the country which they had wrested from the con- quered Sanks to be haunted by the spirits of those whom they had slain, and that it was only after the lapse of years that their terrors became allayed sufficiently to permit them to occupy the " haunted hunting-grounds." But the super- stition still remained, and in fact it was never entirely dis- pelled. Long after the Saginaw valley was studded with white settlements, the simple Indians still believed that mysterious Sunkes were lingering in their forests and along the margins of their streams for purposes of vengeance ; that Muursous, or bad spirits, in the form of Sauk warriors,
16
IIISTORY OF GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
were hovering around their villages and eamps, and on the flanks of their hunting-parties, preventing them from being successful in the chase, and bringing ill-fortune and discom- fiture in a hundred ways. So great was their dread, that when (as was frequently the case) they became possessed of the idea that the Munesous were in their immediate vicinity they would fly, as if for their lives, abandoning everything, wigwams, fish, game, and peltry ; and no amount of ridicule from the whites could convince them of their folly, or in- duce them to stay and face the imaginary danger. Some of the Indian bands whose country joined that of the Sag- inaws played upon their weak superstition and derived profit from it, by lurking around their villages or camps, frightening them into flight, and then appropriating the property which they had abandoned. A few shreds of wool from their blankets left sticking on thorns or dead brushwood, hideous figures drawn upon the trunks of trees with coal, or marked on the ground in the vicinity of their lodges, was sure to produce this result, by indicating the presence of the dreaded Munesous.
Mr. Williams, whose authority has already been cited in the foregoing pages, writes of this matter as follows : " There was a time every spring when the Indians from Saginaw and the interior would congregate in large parties for the purpose of putting up dried sturgeon, which made a very delicate dish when properly cooked, and was much used in those days by the first families of Detroit. ... The Indians would select the best, flay them, hang them across poles in rows about four feet from the ground and two feet apart, then a gentle smoke was kept under them until per- fectly dry. When this was nearly accomplished, poor, lazy, worthless Indians from a distance, having an eye to supply- ing themselves with provisions which they never labored to obtain, would commence, in different ways, to excite their fears that the Munesous were about their camps, until at last they would take to their canoes and flee, often leaving almost everything they possessed. Then the Munesous (the thieving Indians from other bands who had cunningly brought about the stampede for the sake of plunder) would rob the camps of what they wanted, and escape to their homes with, perhaps, their summer supplies of fish, and often of sugar and dried venison. I have often met them fleeing as above; sometimes twenty or more canoes ; have stopped them, and tried to induce them to return, and we would go with them; but no, it was the Munesous, they said, and nothing would convince them differently, and away they would go, frightened nearly to death. I have visited their camps at such times, gathered up their effects that were left, and secured them in some one camp from destruction by wild animals. After a while they would return and save what was left. During these times they were perfectly miserable, actually afraid of their own shadow."
It was not alone on their annual fishing expedition to the lake that these things occurred ; similar scenes were enacted by their hunting-parties in the forests of the Shiawassee and Flint, and at their summer camps among the beautiful inland lakes of their southern border. " I have had them come from places miles distant," says Mr. Williams, " bring- ing their rifles to me, asking me to examine and re-sight
them, declaring that the sights had been removed (and in most cases they had, but it was by themselves in their fright). I have often, and in fact always did when applied to, re-sighted and tried them until they would shoot cor- rectly, and then they would go away cheerfully. I would tell them they must keep their rifles where the Munesous could not find them. . .. At other times, having a little bad luck in trapping or hunting, they became excited, and would say that game had been over and in their traps, and that they could not catch anything; have known them go so far as to insist that a beaver or an otter had been in their traps and gotten out; that their traps were bewitched or spell-bound, and their rifles charmed by the Munesous, so that they could not catch or kill anything. Then they must give a great feast, and have the medicine-man or conjuror, and through his wise and dark performances the charm is removed and all is well, and traps and rifles do their duty again. These things have been handed down for genera- tions." And so, through all the domain of the Saginaws, their lives were made miserable by these superstitious fears ; and thus they expiated the crime committed by their an- cestors against the unfortunate Sauks.
THE CHIEF NEOME AND THE PEWONIGO BAND.
The old chief Neome was, as has been mentioned, the most powerful and respected among the chiefs of the Sag- inuws, though it does not appear that he was or ever had been famed for skill or prowess in war. His power had somewhat decayed in the latter years of his life, but he retained until the last the respect and confidence of his people. Ile was a man well advaneed in years when the white people first knew him, prior to 1819. Then, and during the remainder of his life, he held with his band the southern frontier of his nation, though the territory of the Saginaws extended southward many miles beyond his village, which was named Pewonigowink, and located on the river of the same name (the Fiint), near where it crosses the boundary between Genesee and Saginaw Coun- ties. Its site, however, was once or twice moved,-being at one time in the present township of Montrose, in Genesee, and at another, farther down the river, in Taymouth, Sag- inaw Co. A large open tract of land, more than a hundred acres in extent, situated about seven miles south of Bridge- port Centre, is yet remembered by the oldest settlers as the " old Indian field." This had been used by the people of Neome's band for their rude agriculture; but, after years of continuous planting, the corn was destroyed for two or three seasons by the grub-worms, which they believed to be the Great Spirit's curse upon the land, and they therefore abandoned it, and planted in newer fields farther up the river. Neome died at his village in the year 1827, and was succeeded in the chiefship by Tonedogane, who had been the principal war-chief of the band and second in command during the life of his superior. Neome had a brother named Mixanene, and it does not seem clear why he was not made his brother's successor. He appears to have been a fierce and bloodthirsty Indian, and it is related of him that in the year 1813 Mr. Joseph Campau paid to him a large sum for the ransom of a white prisoner, Mr. James Hardan, whom Mixanene had determined to torture
17
INDIAN TREATIES AND CESSIONS OF LAND.
to death. But perhaps at that early time even the good Neome was less amiable than the whites found him to be in later years after the Indian spirit had been cowed and broken.
The Indians living in the valley of the Flint were known as the Peronigo tribe, or band, from the Indian name of the stream. The present county of Genesee was crossed in various directions by their trails, which, by being trav- eled for years by themselves and their ponies, had become hard-beaten paths, worn into the soft soil in some places to the depth of more than a foot. The principal of these was the " Saginaw trail," which was the Indian road from the Saginaw River to Detroit. Its route through Genesee County was from P'ewonigowink up the Flint River to its southern bend, and thence south by way of Grand Blane and the Big Springs (Oakland County) to Detroit. The place where it crossed the Flint was known as the Grand Traverse, or great crossing-place,-a name probably given to it by Bolieu the French trader. A beautiful open plain, lying in the bend of the river, on the north side and con- tiguous to the crossing, was named, in Indian, Muscata- wingh, meaning " the plain burned over." This is now in the first ward of the city of Flint. A part of it had for- merly been used by the Indians as a corn-field, and it was always one of their favorite camping-grounds. as many as fifteen hundred of them having been seen eneamped on it at one time by people who are still residing in Flint. Over this great trail, too, for years after the first settlers came to Genesee County, thousands of Indians passed and repassed annually, the throng always being particularly large at the time when they went down to receive their annuities. These yearly payments were made in the early times by both the United States and the British governments ; the latter usually paying them at Malden. The amount paid there was fifty cents a head to Indians of all ages, from the red patriarch of ninety years to the papoose upon its mother's baek. On these occasions, therefore, every member of the tribe took the trail to be present at the muster for pay. After a time the British payments ceased, and the United States adopted the plan of paying at inland points to avoid the demoralization which resulted from vast collections of Indians at Detroit. These interior payments were oftenest made at Saginaw, but were on one or two occasions unade at Pewonigowink. The money used was silver coin, and this was brought up from Detroit on pack-horses. "Two boxes of one thousand dollars each, weighing one hundred and twenty pounds, slung on each side, were a load for a paek-horse. The party (generally consisting of an inter- preter and sub-agent) made in this way twenty miles per day, and slept out in the woods without fear, though with- out firearms. The journey occupied four days from De- troit to Saginaw." The Indians were not given to plun- dering on so grand a seale as the robbery of a pack-horse train loaded with specie, though they sometimes engaged in small pilfering. Beyond this it does not appear that the settlers stood in much, if any, fear of them. They were comparatively harmless except when excited by liquor, and even when, under that influence, they were disposed to be defiant, they were easily overawed by a firm and. deter- mined course of treatment. At the commencement of 3
Black Hawk's war, that chief sent his emissaries among these Indians to distribute his " war-quills," inviting them to take part against the whites, but the message failed to bring the response he desired, for the warlike spirit of the Saginawes was dead, and they had buried the hatchet for- ever.
CHAPTER IV.
INDIAN TREATIES AND CESSIONS OF LAND- INDIAN EMIGRATION.
Treaty of Greenville-Treaties of Detroit and Springwells-Treaty of Saginaw-Pewonigowink Reservation-Plans for Indian Em- igration-Treaties of Washington (1836), Detroit (1837), Flint River (1837), and Saginaw (1838).
THE United States government, from the time of its formation, has recognized the possessory rights of the In- dian tribes in the soil; and the principle has been estab- lished that these rights ean only be acquired by the government, or with its consent, and can only be alienated from the native Indians by their own voluntary aet, done in publie and open council, where the tribes are represented by their chiefs and head men, and the government by its accredited agent or commissioner. This principle has always been aeted on, and this method observed, by the government in its treaties with Indians for the acquisition of their possessory rights in the public domain.
TREATY OF GREENVILLE IN 1795.
The first Indian treaty by which the aboriginal title to lands now within the State of Michigan was extinguished was made on the 3d of August, 1795, at Greenville, Ohio, by General Anthony Wayne, on behalf of the United States, with representatives of the Wyandots, Shuwanese, Ottawas, Chippewus, Pottawattamies, and several other tribes. By the terms of that treaty the Indians ceded to the United States government " the post of Detroit, and all the lands to the north, the west, and the south of it, of which the Indian title has been extinguished by gifts or grants to the French or English governments, and so much more land to be annexed to the district of Detroit as shall be comprehended between the river Rosine (Raisin) on the south, Lake St. Clair on the north, and a line, the general course whereof shall be six miles distant from the west end of Lake Erie and Detroit River." Several other large tracts were also ceded by the treaty ; among these being " the post of Michilimackinac, all the island, and lands on the mainland adjacent," and the island of Bois Blanc,- mentioned as being an extra and voluntary gift of the Chippewa nation. Also among the lands ceded by this treaty was " one piece of land six miles square at the mouth of Chikago River emptying into the southwest end of Lake Michigan." It was expressly stipulated in the treaty that, in consideration of the peace then and there established, and of the relinquishments made by the Indians, as well as to manifest the liberality of the United States as the means of making the peace strong and perpetual, " the United States relinquish their elaims to all other Indian lands northward of the river Ohio, eastward of the Mississippi,
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HISTORY OF GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
and westward and southward of the great lakes and the waters uniting them,* according to the boundary line agreed on between the United States and the King of Great Brit- ain in the peace made between them in the year 1783." And it was declared that " the Indian tribes who have a right to those lands are quietly to enjoy them, hunting, planting, and dwelling thereon so long as they please, with- out any molestation from the United States; but when those tribes, or any of them, shall be disposed to sell their lands, or any part of them, they are to be sold only to the United States ; and until such sale the United States will protect the said Indian tribes in the quiet enjoyment of their lands against all citizens of the United States, and against all other white persons who intrude upon the same; . . . and if any citizen of the United States, or any other white person or persons, shall presume to settle npon the lands now relinquished by the United States, such citizen or other person shall be out of the protection of the United States, and the Indian tribe on whose land such settlement shall be made may drive off the settler, or punish him in such manner as they shall think fit; and because sneh set- tlements, made without the consent of the United States, will be injurious to them as well as to the Indians, the United States shall be at liberty to break them up, and remove and punish the settlers as they shall think proper, and so to effect the protection of the Indian lands herein- before stipulated." The Indians were also allowed, under the treaty, to have the privilege of hunting and fishing over all the ceded territory during their good behavior.
TREATIES OF DETROIT (1807) AND SPRINGWELLS (1815).
The treaty by which the entire southeastern part of Michigan (including more than nineteen-twentieths of the present county of Genesee) was ecded to the United States government was made and coneluded at Detroit on the 17th of November, 1807, " by William IIull, governor of the Territory of Michigan, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and sole commissioner of the United States to conclude and sign a treaty or treaties with the several nations of Indians northwest of the river Ohio, on the one part, and the sachems, chiefs, and warriors of the Ottaway, Wyandotte, and Potta- wattamie nations of Indians on the other part." The terri- tory here ceded by the Indians, in consideration of goods and money paid and to be paid to them by the United States, was described in the treaty as " beginning at the mouth of the Miami River of the lakes [meaning the Maumee], and running thenee up the middle thereof to the mouth of the great Auglaize River ; thence running due north until it intersects a parallel of latitude to be drawn from the outlet of Lake Huron, which forms the river Sin- elair ; thence running northeast on the course that may be found will lead in a direct line to White Rock, in Lake Huron ; thence due east until it intersects the boundary line between the United States and Upper Canada, in said lake ;
then southwardly, following the said boundary line down said lake, through the river Sinclair, Lake St. Clair, and the river Detroit into Lake Erie, to a point due east of the aforesaid Miami [Maumee] River ; thence west to the place of beginning." For this cession the government stipulated to pay (in money, goods, agricultural imple- ments, or domestic animals. at the discretion of the su- perintendent of Indian affairs) the sum of $3333.33 each, to the Ottawa and Chippewa tribes, and one-half that amount each to the Pottawattamies and Wyandots, with a perpetual annuity of $2000 to each of the first-mentioned tribes, and one-half that sumu to each of the others ; all to be paid at Detroit. And it was further declared in the treaty, that " the United States, to manifest their liberality and disposition to encourage the said Indians in agriculture, further stipulate to furnish the said Indians with two black- smiths ; one to reside with the Chippewas at Saginaw, and the other with the Ottawas, at the Miami, during the term of ten years ; said blacksmiths are to do such work for the said nations as shall be most useful to them."
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