USA > Michigan > Hillsdale County > History of Hillsdale county. Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 2
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The only portrait which has been preserved of La Salle represents him as a blue-eyed, handsome cavalier with blonde ringlets, apparently better fitted for the salons of Paris than the forests of America ; but a thousand evidences show not only the courage but the extraordinary vigor and hardi- hood of this remarkable man. He was accompanied by Tonti, a gallant Italian exile, who was his second in com- mand, by Father Hennepin, a Franciscan monk, who became the historian of the expedition, and by about thirty sailors, voyageurs, hunters, etc.
The "Griffin " passed on over the tempest-tossed waters of Lake Huron, through the Strait of Michillimacinac, out upon the unknown waste of Lake Michigan, and at length came to anchor in Green Bay. Thence she was sent back
with a part of her crew and a cargo of furs, while the in- trepid La Salle with a score of men remained to explore the vast unconquered empire which lay spread before him. He and his comrades in birch-bark canoes coasted along the western shore of Lake Michigan, reaching its southern extremity on the eighteenth day of October, 1679. Thence the flotilla proceeded to the mouth of the St. Joseph River .* At its mouth he built a fortified trading-post, to which he gave the name of Fort of the Miamis, and which was in- tended both to facilitate commerce and curb the hostility of the surrounding tribes. Pottawattamies were found at the southern end and on the western shore of Lake Michi- gan.
This trading-post, or fort, was the first built for the pur- pose of controlling the Indians of this part of the Northwest, and its erection, coincident with the appearance of a French vessel on the upper lakes, may be considered as marking the establishment of French authority (though somewhat vague) over the peninsula of Michigan, including the county which is the subject of this history. La Salle and his comrades remained several weary months at the St. Joseph awaiting the return of the " Griffin," but that ill-fated bark was never heard of after leaving the outlet of Green Bay. Whether, as is probable, it went down with all its men before the gales of one of the great inland seas, or was captured at anchor by jealous savages, its crew butchered and the ves- sel itself destroyed, is one of the unsolved problems of American history.
Despairing at length of the "Griffin's" return, La Salle with a portion of his men in December proceeded up the St. Joseph River in canoes to South Bend, in the present State of Indiana, whence they made their way overland to the head-waters of the Illinois. The future career of this ad- venturous explorer is not especially connected with the history of this region, and must be dismissed in a few words.
After numerous remarkable adventures (being compelled once to return to Canada on foot) La Salle explored the Mississippi to the sea, and took verbal possession of the adjacent country for the benefit of King Louis the Four- teenth, by the name of Louisiana. While attempting, how- ever, to colonize the new domain he met with many mis- fortunes, and was at length assassinated by two of his own men in Texas, in the year 1687.
But, notwithstanding the unfortunate end of the great discoverer, his achievements had extended the dominion of France more widely than had any of his adventurous com- patriots, and from that time forth the Bourbon kings main- tained an ascendency more or less complete throughout all the vast region extending from Quebec to New Orleans, until compelled to resign it nearly a century later by the prowess of the British. French vessels circled around the great lakes on the track of the ill-fated " Griffin," French forts and trading-posts were established in the wilderness, and French missionaries bore the cross among the heathen with redoubled zeal. French adroitness succeeded in estab- lishing friendly relations with the Indians on the shores of all the upper lakes, and members of all the various bands
# From a few Miamis who were then located there, La Salle called it the river of the Miamis.
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HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
found their way to Fort Frontenac (now Kingston), and even to Montreal, with packages of furs to sell to the chil- dren of their great father across the sea.
The English, busily engaged in building up a powerful but compact empire along the sea-coast, scarcely attempted to rival their Gallic competitors in gaining control over the immense interior. The various Indian tribes doubtless would have rejected with scorn the idea of French ownership in the lands which they and their fathers had so long occupied, but as between the English and French it was substantially understood that the dominion of the former extended from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to that of the Mississippi. The only question was where the boundary line should be between the two domains.
The Indians around the upper lakes were the more ready to court the friendship of the French, since it was only from the latter that they could obtain arms and ammunition to contest with the terrible Iroquois. After the time of La Salle the French government supported a post, and the Jesuit fathers maintained a mission, at the mouth of the St. Joseph, and the two institutions became a centre of in- fluence over all the southern part of the peninsula. In 1701, however, another frontier post was established, destined soon to overshadow that of St. Joseph. In that year Monsieur La Motte de Cadillac, an officer in the service of the King of France, with a small detachment of troops, landed at the head of Detroit River, and established a post to which he gave the name of " Fort Ponchartrain," but which soon became known by the appellation of " Detroit." This post and the whole of Michigan were nominally a part of the province of Canada, and so remained during both French and English rule. During the French dominion, however, the provincial government exercised very little authority, except to appoint commanders of the various posts. Those commanders ruled both the soldiers and the few civilians about as they saw proper.
The establishment of this post increased still more the influence of the French throughout the West, and especially throughout the peninsula of Michigan. There seemed little doubt that this whole region was to be subject to French rule, and fancy might have pictured these gleaming lakes and rippling rivers overlooked by the baronial castles of French seigneurs, while around them clustered the humble dwellings of their loyal retainers. French hunters and trappers made their way into all parts of the peninsula, establishing friendly relations with the natives, and not unfrequently forming unions more or less permanent with the copper-colored damsels of the various tribes.
Of these tribes we are especially concerned with the Pottawattamies, who soon obtained entire control of the valley of the St. Joseph, who are known to have been fully established here in 1721, and who for over a century were the undisputed lords of its noble forests, its pellucid lakes, and its grassy glades. From the time of the early discov- eries already mentioned down to the beginning of settle- ment and cultivation by the whites, the history of the territory now composing Hillsdale County, with the rest of the St. Joseph Valley, is confined substantially to the doings of the Pottawattamie Indians. To them and their deeds the following three chapters are devoted.
CHAPTER III.
THE POTTAWATTAMIES.
General Relations of the Indian Tribes-Iroquois and Algonquins- Their Location-Numerous Tribes of Algonquin Race-The Potta- wattamies-Their League with the Ottawas and Chippewas-Their Establishment in the Saint Joseph Valley-Changes of Location- Absence of Romance-Indian Warfare-Indian Weapons-Sur- prising an Enemy-Insult and Torture-Adoption-The Mission of Saint Joseph-Pottawattamie Friendship for the French-Rescue of Detroit-Trading with French and English-The War of 1744 -Raids on the Frontiers-French Records of the Pottawattamies- Peace in 1748.
IN order to give a correct idea of the position and history of the Pottawattamie Indians, so long the lords of Hillsdale County and all the adjacent country, it is necessary very briefly to sketch the general relations of the Indians of this part of North America. Of course the writer of a mere county history does not pretend to have investigated this abstruse subject by reference to original sources of informa-' tion ; he is obliged to depend on those who have made those matters the study of their lives,-especially on Fran- cis Parkman, the accomplished author of the " Conspiracy of Pontiac," the " Discovery of the Great West," and other works on cognate subjects.
When the French and English hunters first penetrated the dark forests whose gloomy masses rolled from the shores of the North Atlantic far back beyond the Alleghanies, and when the most adventurous among them first gladdened their eyes with the gay prairies still further westward, they found two great Indian races occupying the whole land from the ocean to the Mississippi, and from the valleys of Ten- nessee to the frozen regions of Northern. Canada. South- ward of these limits were the Mobilian tribes, of whom the Cherokees, Chickasaws, and others have since adopted to some extent the customs of the whites, while west of the Father of Waters were the great Dakota race, whose prin- cipal representatives, the Sioux, still roam in savage freedom over the prairies, a terror to all who cross their path.
The two races, who, as stated a few lines above, occupied the whole northeastern portion of the United States and a large part of Canada, were the Iroquois and the Algonquins. Though the former were the most celebrated and the most powerful, the latter were by far the most numerous; in fact, as has been truly said, the former were like an island amid the vast hordes of Algonquins around. The five confederate tribes of the Iroquois, commonly known as the Five Nations (afterwards the Six Nations), occupied a strong position, extending from the banks of the Hudson nearly to those of the Niagara, protected on the north by the waters of Lake Ontario, on the south by the mountains of Pennsyl- vania, and now comprising the heart of the great Empire State. The Wyandots, or Hurons, before mentioned, were an outlying branch of the same race, but hostile to the great confederacy ; while the Tuscaroras were a friendly offshoot in the South, who afterwards became the sixth of the Six Nations.
Aside from these, the woods and prairies far and near swarmed with the diverse tribes of the Algonquin race ; Abenaquis in Canada, Pequots and Narragansetts in New England, Delawares in Pennsylvania, Shawnees in Ohio,
.
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HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Miamis in Ohio and Indiana, Illinois in the territory of the State which still bears their name, Sauks, Foxes, and Meno- monees in the country west of Lake Michigan, while the great peninsula of Michigan, and some neighboring sections, were occupied by the Ojibways, or Chippewas, the Ottawas, and the tribe which is the especial subject of this chapter, the Pottawattamies. All these, though sundered far apart, and often warring desperately among themselves, have been shown by students of their characteristics to have belonged to one great stock, and to have spoken various dialects of one language. They outnumbered the Five Nations of Iroquois more than ten to one; yet such was the superior skill, sagacity, and prowess of the confederates that they were able to defeat their disunited foes one after the other, till none could stand before them, and the terror of their name spread over half the continent. Even the Wyandots, though of the same race, and almost equal in numbers, lacked the ferocious energy of the Five Nations, and were driven before them as deer are driven before the screaming panther.
The three tribes of Algonquin stock just mentioned, the Ojibwas, the Ottawas, and the Pottawattamies, were in the forepart of the eighteenth century united in a rude confederacy, somewhat similar to the celebrated league of the Iroquois, but far less thorough and less potent. The dialects of the three tribes differed less even than was usual among the various branches of the Algonquin race, and, notwithstanding some differences of inflection, the members could understand each other without the aid of an interpreter.
The Ojibwas, outnumbering both the other two tribes combined, dwelt in the frozen region of Lake Superior, where their descendants still chase the elk and moose amid the gloomy pines, and spear their finny prey over the sides of frail canoes, rocked on the boiling waters of the Saut Ste. Marie. The Ottawas, who had fled from Canada before the hatred of the all-conquering Iroquois, had their principal headquarters in the vicinity of Detroit and St. Clair Rivers, where, after the erection of Fort Ponchartrain by their French friends, they felt comparatively secure from their terrible enemies. Finally, the domain of the Potta- wattamies, the subject of these chapters, stretched from the vicinity of Chicago around the head of Lake Michigan, northward to the mouth of the Kalamazoo or beyond, while to the eastward it extended so as to include the valleys of the St. Joseph, the Kalamazoo, and other streams which flow into Lake Michigan from the central portion of the penin- sula.
The exact period at which the Pottawattamies established themselves in the valley of the St. Joseph is unknown. Unless La Salle was mistaken, the Miamis occupied the banks of the St. Joseph in 1678, at which time the Potta- wattamies are believed to have been mostly in the vicinity of Green Bay. It is certain, however, that they were in the St. Joseph Valley in 1721 (having probably established themselves there about the beginning of the century), and there they remained until within the memory of men still living.
It will be understood, however, that the location of the various tribes of the Iroquois and Algonquin races at that
distant period can only be given with approximate correct- ness. Their boundaries were constantly changing. Tribes were frequently driven by the fortunes of war from the homes of their fathers, or even blotted from the list of forest nationalities. Sometimes they changed their locali- ties in search of more abundant game, and sometimes no cause but caprice could be assigned for their migrations. Not only did whole tribes occasionally change their loca- tions, but in many cases outlying clans dwelt at a long distance from the parent tribe, being sometimes surrounded by the villages of other nations. Thus, though the main body of the Pottawattamies were to be found as early as 1721 stretching from the head of Lake Michigan eastward to the head of the St. Joseph River, there were for a con- siderable time two or three detached villages in the vicinity of Detroit, and others in the neighborhood of Green Bay.
Besides these more permanent changes of location, the several bands of which each nation was composed were, even in time of peace, constantly migrating to and fro over the domain which unquestionably belonged to their tribe. In summer they raised corn (that is, the squaws did) in one place, in winter they hunted in another, perhaps a hundred miles distant, and in spring they visited still another location for the purpose of fishing; usually but not always returning to their former ground to raise and harvest their crops. Yet, notwithstanding these various changes by which the Pottawattamies were more or less affected, they continued for over a century and a quarter the masters of the territory composing this county, and their bloody record is perhaps quite as deserving of being embodied in history as are those of several other con- querors.
While, however, the admirers of stirring adventure and desperate conflict may find something of interest in the story of an Indian tribe, it would be hopeless for the lover of romance to seek there for aught to gratify his taste. No truthful delineation can present the Indian as a romantic character. Apathetic in an extraordinary degree in regard to the softer passions, it is seldom, indeed, that love sways his actions, although the slightest cause is liable to arouse him to the direst fury of hate. He had rather capture one scalp than a dozen hearts.
The Pottawattamie inherited the usual characteristics of the Indian, and especially of the Algonquin race. Less ter- rible in battle, less sagacious in council, than the men of the Five Nations, he was, nevertheless, like the rest of his red brethren, a brave, hardy, and skillful warrior, an astute man- ager so far as his knowledge extended, generally a faithful friend, and invariably a most implacable enemy. His own time he devoted to war, the chase, or idleness, abandoning to the women the labor of raising his scanty supplies of Indian corn, pumpkins, and beans, of transporting his house- hold goods from point to point, and every other burden which he could possibly impose upon her weary shoulders.
He lived in the utmost freedom which it is possible to imagine, consistent with any civil or military organization whatever. His sachems exercised little authority except to declare war and make peace, to determine on the migrations of the tribe, and to give wise counsels allaying any ill fecl-
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HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
ings which might arise among the people. There was no positive law compelling obedience.
Even when war was declared there was no way by which the braves could be compelled to take the war-path. Any war-chief could drive a stake in the ground, dance the war- dance around it, strike his tomahawk into it with a yell of defiance, and call for volunteers to go forth against the foe. If his courage or capacity were doubted, he obtained but few followers. If he were of approved valor and skill, a larger number would grasp their tomahawks in response to his ap- peal; while, if he were a chieftain distinguished far and wide for deeds of blood and craft, the whole nation would spring to arms, and all its villages would resound with the terrific notes of the war-song, chanted by hundreds of frenzied braves.
With followers few or many, the chief went forth against the foe. But he could not compel their obedience a mo- ment longer than they chose to give it, and no punishment but disgrace awaited the recreant who deserted his leader in the hour of his utmost need. The most extreme penalty only consisted in giving the dishonor due the dastard a visible form, by enveloping him in the garments of a woman and compelling him to perform the menial labors usually performed by the weaker sex. But to an Indian, accus- tomed to look down on his squaw as infinitely below him, this would be the most terrible of inflictions.
As is well known, the original weapons of the Indians were bows and arrows (the latter tipped with flint), war- clubs, stone tomahawks, and scalping-knives, also made of sharpened flints. But, stubborn as they were in repelling all the arts of civilization offered by the whites, they grasped eagerly at the formidable implements of war brought across the Atlantic. Iron tomahawks and scalp- ing-knives could be cheaply manufactured, and soon an ample supply of them was furnished by the Dutch and English to the Iroquois, and by the French to the numer- ous tribes of the Algonquin race under the influence of that subtle people.
Guns and ammunition were more costly, but the Indian longed for them with a love second only to his passion for whisky, and, despite occasional prohibitions by the colonial authorities on either side, the best warriors and hunters in the various tribes were soon provided with these deadly in- struments of slaughter. In fact, whenever war was threat- ened between the French and English, both parties were eager to enlist all the Indian allies they could, and furnished muskets and gunpowder with a free hand.
Armed and equipped, clad only in a breech-clout, but covered from head to foot with paint disposed in the most hideous figures, his head crested with feathers of the wild birds he had slain, the Indian went forth on the war-path. If the band was a small one, it lurked in the vicinity of the hostile villages until a still smaller number of the enemy could be caught at a distance from their friends. These were, if possible, shot down from an ambush (for under no circumstances will an Indian run any risk which it is possi- ble to avoid), their scalps were stripped off with eager haste, and the victors fled towards their homes at their utmost speed.
If the whole nation turned out in arms, they might
attempt the total destruction of their enemy ; but even then surprise was generally an essential element of success. Hurrying forward by unfrequented paths, or plunging through the trackless forest, guided only by the sun and the well-known courses of the streams, the little army reached the neighborhood of the foe. Carefully conceal- ing their approach, they waited an opportunity for attack, which was usually made at night. When their unsuspect- ing victims were wrapped in slumber, the whole crowd of painted demons would burst in among them, using musket, knife, and tomahawk with furious zeal, and striking terror to every heart with the fiendish sound of war-whoops shrieked from a thousand throats. The torch was applied to the frail cabins of the unhappy people, and men, women, and children were stricken down in indiscriminate slaughter by the lurid light of their blazing homes.
When the first fury of savage hate had been satiated, prisoners were taken, but these were frequently destined to a fate far more terrible than the speedy death from which they had escaped. Bound with thongs and loaded with burdens, they were urged on with remorseless speed toward the home of their captors, and if, enfeebled by wounds or sickness, they lagged behind, the ready tomahawk put an end to their miseries. But if the prisoner, withstanding the hardships of the march, was brought alive to the wig- wams of the victors, and especially if he were a well-known warrior, human fancy never painted a more awful doom than that which awaited him, save where it has described the tortures of the damned in another world.
As a sportive preliminary the victim was required to run the gauntlet, when a hundred malicious foes, both male and female, ranged on either side, flung stones, clubs, toma- hawks, and every other possible missile at his naked form, as he dashed with the energy of despair between their furious ranks. Then, unless he was saved by unexpected lenity, came the fiercer agony of the stake, prolonged some- times for hours and even for days, accompanied by all the refinements of torment which a baleful ingenuity could invent, yet supported with unsurpassable fortitude by the victim, who often shrieked his defiant death-song even amid the last convulsions of his tortured frame.
Yet women, children, and youths were frequently saved from this horrible fate to be adopted into the tribe of their captors, and even men sometimes shared the same lenity. What is remarkable is that as soon as it was decided thus to receive a captive into the tribe, all appearances of hate seemed immediately to disappear ; the best of all the forest luxuries was placed before the honored guest, the costliest blankets were spread over his shoulders, and the softest couches of fur were spread for his wearied limbs. Either because the change was so great from the expected torture to the kindly adoption, or because the captors knew so well whom to choose as recipients of their indulgence, it was very seldom that the latter attempted to escape from their new alliances. Nay, even young white men and women, thus adopted into the ranks of the savages, frequently became so well satisfied with forest life as to resist every inducement afterwards offered them to return to their coun- trymen.
Such were some of the salient characteristics of the
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HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
North American Indians, shared by the Pottawattamies, the subject of these chapters. Those characteristics were common to the Algonquin and Iroquois races, the principal difference being in the greater intensity with which they were manifested by the latter. The Shawnee was subtle in war ; the Iroquois was still more so. The Ottawa was cold and haughty toward others, but he was met by still greater coldness and haughtiness on the part of the Iroquois. The Pottawattamie, the confederate of the Ottawa, was brave and ferocious, but he was surpassed both in bravery and ferocity by the terrible warriors of the Five Nations.
In speaking of Indians the term " nation" is generally used as synonymous with tribe, and to the civilized ear the word carries an idea of large numbers, confirmed by the immense range of Indian operations, and the terror which they inspired on the frontiers. Yet the celebrated Five Nations, in the height of their power, numbered altogether but two or three thousand warriors, the Wyandot branch of the Iroquois had about the same number, and the various tribes of Algonquin lineage were proportionally small. As near as can be ascertained, the Pottawattamies at the begin- ning of the eighteenth century numbered about eight hun- dred warriors, including those of Illinois and Wisconsin. As has been said, they were linked in a loose confederacy with the more numerous Ottawas and Chippewas, but the Pottawattamies were the only tribe sufficiently connected with this county to make their acts a subject of interest in this work. The others will not be mentioned except when the story of their savage deeds is necessarily intermingled with the record of the Pottawattamies. To that record we now address ourselves.
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