History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 16

Author: Durant, Samuel W. cn
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : D.W. Ensign & Co.
Number of Pages: 772

USA > Michigan > Eaton County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 16
USA > Michigan > Ingham County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 16

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).

According to Mr. Hosmer the Indians were a band of Chippewas, under command of the chief Car-i-baick, who were approaching the fort from the south to cut off the retreat of the garrison. They were moving in Indian file across the "Seneca Plains," about six miles from the present city of Fremont, Ohio, when, hearing the tramp of Ball's dragoons, they instantly hid themselves in some fallen tree-tops and underbrush, intending to let the cavalry pass without molesting them, as they were too strong to be attacked ; but after the column had passed an excited Indian rose from his ambush, and either accidentally or purposely discharged his gun. Instantly Capt. Ball gave the command, " Column to the right about !" and charged furiously upon the Indians with drawn sabres. The savages made a fierce fight for a few moments, and the chief Cari- baick, an athletic fellow, had a personal encounter with Capt. Ball, himself a powerful man, and had it not been for a carbine in the hands of one of the men it might have fare badly with the latter. In a few moments the Indians were all cut or shot down, and Okemos received a terrific blow from a sabre, which cleft his skull and cut through his shoulder-blade, and a shot in his side. When he came to himself he gave a signal, as stated also by Mr. Bray, and gave it a second time before he was answered, when, accord- ing to Mr. Hosmer, he found his brother "Standing-up- Devil," who was also terribly wounded. In telling it the old chief was wont to say, "I found my brother, but the Devil could not stand up any more," and then he would chuckle to himself in a very humorous way, as though it was a good joke.

They crawled to the water and washed off the blood, and, finding an old canoe, got into it and floated down the river among friends.

After his recovery, Okemos went to live again at his home on Grand River, at Shimnicon. Mr. Hosmer makes it appear that the chief was also present at the battle of the Thames, in Canada, where Tecumseh was killed and him- self severely wounded. He used to contend that Tecumseh was not killed by Col. Johnson, but by the Kentucky rifle- men before Johnson came up, which is about the conclusion arrived at by Judge Drake in his life of the great chieftain. Mr. Ilosmer says that Okemos bore the rank of colonel in the British service.

In the spring of 1814 the chief presented himself before

# The defeat occurred on the head-waters of the Wabash River, in what is now Mercer Co., Ohio, near the Indiana line.

HISTORY OF INGHAM AND EATON COUNTIES, MICHIGAN.

Col. Godfroy, in command at Detroit, saying, " Che-mo-ke- man too much for Indian ! Now I make peace and fight no more; me plenty fight enough !" HIe concluded for himself and tribe a treaty with Gen. Cass, and was true to his obligations. Mr. Hosmer thought the chief never made his home for any considerable length of time at the place where the village of Okemos now stands; but this statement does not agree with Mr. Bray's understanding of the matter. The former says his principal place of residence was at Shimuicon, on Grand River, in Ionia County. Ile also says he died at a hunting-lodge on the Looking-Glass River, five miles north of De Witt, and was buried on the 6th of December, 185S, at Shimnicon. He says he had four wives, at different times. One of these was a Bois Fort Indian woman, whom he found near the head of Lake Superior while on a visit to that region. He remained there through one winter, when there was a terrible famine among the Indians. A great many died, and among the sick was the squaw of Okemos, who, finding he could not remain much longer without starving, concluded to bury her and leave the country. " What ?" says one. "Did you bury her alive ?" " Ugh !" said the savage, " she most dead !" Mr. Ilosmer thought the chief was not much above five feet in height, and claimed that he was also a very temperate man.

Samuel H. Kilbourne, Esq., thinks the chief was in his better days a prominent and influential orator, and cites an instance at a treaty held at Mackinac to prove it ; but he became greatly degenerated in his later years, and indulged freely in strong drink.

Another gentleman, Mr. E. R. Merrifield, considered Okemos a great orator, the equal of Pontiac, Tecumseh, and Red Jacket, and cites instances of his influence over the Indians in proof of the assertion. Ile ealls him an Ottawa; says he held the rank of captain in the British army, and never drank to excess. Ile also claims that the chief was a Mason.

There seem to be about as many opinions concerning this noted Indian as there were people who knew him with any degree of intimacy. We are not able to reconcile these slight differences,* which are, no doubt, honest ones, and have, therefore, given a variety of statements regarding him from several parties who were more or less intimate with him. Mr. B. O. Williams has been familiar with the In- dians of Michigan since 1818; Mr. F. Bray, of Okemos, lived neighbor to the chief and knew him well ; Mr. O. A. Jenison also knew him well, and has had excellent facilities for gaining knowledge of him ; while both Mr. Hosmer and Mr. Merrifield were also quite familiar with him in the latter part of his life.

A good story is told of Okemos by a prominent gentle- man of Mason. In speaking of the Indians' manner of hunting and their experience with various kinds of game, he said, " When deer aroused by Indian, he jump a few times, then stop and listen, and finally say, ' Me guess he no

Indian.' When Indian start wild turkey, he say, ' Indian, by -d" and quick run off !"

TREATIES WITH THE INDIANS.

The first treaty with Indians inhabiting the territory now comprising the State of Michigan was made at Fort McIntosh, on the ground now occupied by the town of Beaver, at the mouth of the Beaver River, in Pennsylvania, on the 21st of January, 1785, between the United States, represented by George Rogers Clark, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee, and the chiefs of the Wyandot, Delaware, Chippewa (Ojibwa), and Ottawa nations.

At this treaty the above-named nations acknowledged themselves to be under the protection of the United States, and delivered hostages for the safe return of white prisoners in their hands. The following clauses are the only ones referring to Michigan, and are quite important :

" The post of Detroit, with a district beginning at the month of the River Rosine (Raisin), en the west side ef Lake Erie, and running west six miles np the southern bank of the said river, thence north- erly, and nlways six miles west of the strait, till it strikes the Lake St. Clair, shall be reserved to the sole use of the United States.

"In the same manner the post of Michilimaekinnek, with its de- pendencies, and twelve miles square nbont the same, shall be reserved to the use of the United States."

On the 9th of January, 1789, another treaty was made with the Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawas, Chippewas, Potta- wattomies, and Sacs at Fort Harmar, situated on the west side of the Muskingum River at its mouth, but there seems to have been no special reference made to Michigan at that time.

The next important treaty concerning Michigan was made at Greenville, Ohio, and signed on the 3d of August, 1795, between the United States, represented by Gen. Anthony Wayne, and the chiefs of the Wyandots, Delawares, Sha- wanoes (Shawanese), Miamis, Ottawas, Chippewas, Potta- wattomies, and the various tribes dwelling in Indiana and Illinois.

The general boundary agreed upon between the United States and the Indian nations commenced at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, and ran thence up that stream to the portage to the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum River ; thence down that stream to the crossing-place above Fort Laurens ; thence westerly to Loramie's store, on the Great Miami; thence westwardly to Fort Recovery, on the head- streams of the Wabash River ; and thence southwest wardly in a direct line to the mouth of the Kentucky River. From the country lying within the limits of Michigan were made the following reservations :

" The post of Detreit, nad all the lands te the north, the west, nnd the south of it, of which the Indian title hns heen extinguished by gifts or grants to the French or English governments, and so unch more Innd to be annexed to the district ef Detroit, as shall be comprehended between the river Raisin on the south and 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.

" The post of Michilimnekinnek, and all the land en the island on which that post stands, and the mainland adjaecot, of which the Indian title has been extinguished by gifts or grants to the French or English governments, and n piece of land on the main, to the north of the island, to measure six miles en Lake Huren, or the strait between Lakes Huron and Michigae, and to extend three miles back from the water on the Inke or strait; and niso the island De Bois Blane, being an extra and voluntary gift of the Chippewa nation."

" We can only account for them in une wny, and that is that perhaps none of there gentlemen ever look down verbatim his conversation with the chief at the lime it oceurred, but reduced it to writing as he remembered it, perhaps, after the lapse of months or years. Mr. Bray never put his in manuscript or print.

INDIANS AND TREATIES.

In consideration of these cessions by the Indians the United States government delivered at the time of the treaty goods valued at $20,000, and agreed to deliver annually thereafter, " at some convenient place northward of the Ohio River," goods to the value of $9500, to be ap- portioned among the various nations and tribes as follows : To the Wyandots, $1000; to the Delawares, $1000; to the Shawanese, $1000; to the Miamis, $1000; to the Ottawas, $1000; to the Chippewas, $1000; to the Potta- wattomics, $1000; and to the Kickapoo, Wea, Eel River, Piankeshaw, and Kaskaskia tribes, $500 each.

It was also "provided that if either of the said tribes shall hercafter, at an annual delivery of their share of the goods aforesaid, desire that a part of their annuity should be furnished in domestic animals, implements of husbandry, and other utensils convenient for them, and in compensation to useful artificers who may reside with or near them, and be employed for their benefit, the same shall, at the subsequent annual deliveries, be furnished accordingly."*

By this treaty all former ones were annulled, and the Indians subscribing it acknowledged themselves to be under the protection of the United States, "and no other power whatever." Either party was to remove and punish in- truders on Indian lands, and the Indians were allowed the privilege of hunting on ceded lands. All injuries were to be settled by law, and not privately avenged.

On the part of the Chippewas the treaty was signed by Mash-i-pi-nash-i-wish, Na-sha-ga-sha, Ka-tha-wa-sung, Mas- sass, No-me-kass, Pe-shaw-kay, Nau-guey, Me-ne-dah-gee- sagh, Pee-wa-she-me-nogh, Wey-me-gwas, Gob-mo-a-tick, and Gec-gue.

Among other prominent chiefs were Buck-ong-a-he-las and Mich-e-cun-ne-qua (or Little Turtle), of the Miamis, Tarke, of the Wyandots, and "Blue Jacket," of the Shawanese.

This celebrated treaty closed the war on the Western border and gave peace to the inhabitants until the outbreak led by the Shawanese Prophet in 1811, a period of sixteen years.

The next important treaty for the cession of lands in Michigan was made at Detroit, on the 17th of November, 1807, between Governor Hull, of Michigan Territory, and the Ottawas, Chippewas, Wyandots, and Pottawattomies, at which the nations ceded territory bounded as follows:

" Beginning at the month of the Miami River of the Lakes (Man- mee), and running thence up the middle thereof to the mouth of the Great Au Glaize River ; thence running due north until it intersects a parallel of latitude to be drawn from the entlet of Lake Huron,t which forms the river Sinclair (St. Clair) ; thence running northeast 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; thence southwardly, following the said boundary-line down said lake, through river Sinclair, Lake St. Clair, and the river Detroit into Lake Erie, to a point due east of the aforesaid Miami River; thence west to the place of beginning."

This boundary passed through the middle of the present

county of Ingham, and included, besides its castern half, the counties of Monroe, Lenawce, Wayne, Washtenaw, Livingston, Oakland, Macomb, St. Clair, Lapeer, and greater or less portions of Jackson, Shiawassce, Gencsec, Saginaw, Tuscola, and Sanilac Counties, covering a total area of nearly 9000 square miles. Within this cession the Indians reserved a number of small tracts.t

This treaty was signed on the part of the Chippewas by seventeen chiefs, as follows: Pee-wau-shc-me-nogh, Ma-mon- she-gau-ta, Poo-qui-gau-boa-wie, Kiosk, Po-qua-quet, See- gau-ge-wau, Quit-chon-c-quit, Qui-con-quish, Puek-e-noosc, Ne-gig, Me-a-si-ta, Mac-quet-te-quet, Ne-me-kas, Sa-wan-a- be-nase, Ton-quish, Mi-ott, and Men-e-tu-ge-sheck.

In September, 1815, Gen. Harrison, Gen. Duncan Mc- Arthur, and John Graham, Esq., on behalf the United States, held a council at Spring Wells, with the Ottawas, Pottawattomies, and Chippewas, and on the 8th of the month concluded a treaty by wbich peace was granted the Indians, and the government agreed to restore to them all the possessions, rights, aud privileges which were theirs previous to the year 1812. The former treaties of Green- ville and other places were also renewed and reaffirmed.

On the 29th of September, 1817, Governor Cass made a treaty at the Maumee Rapids, or Fort Meigs, with the Pottawattomies, Chippewas, and others, by which they ceded a strip of country lying north of the Maumee River, but with such indefinite boundaries that it is hard to deter- mine whether it included any lands in Michigan or not, and it would seem that at the treaty of Chicago, in 1821, the boundaries were not well understood, for they are spoken of in, a doubting manner.

Soon after the close of the war of 1812 it became ap- parent that the lower peninsula of Michigan was destined to fill up very rapidly with settlers, provided the Indian titles to the land could be extinguished, and Governor Cass early foresaw the need of legislation upon the subject, and, as ex-oficio Indian commissioner for the Territory of Michigan, he laid the matter before the President, from whom he received authority and instructions under which he could proceed to the extinguishment of the Indian titles.

In September, 1819, a grand council was held with the Chippewa and Ottawa nations at Saginaw, where they as- sembled in great numbers. A treaty was concluded and signed on the 24th of the month, by which the Chippewas ceded a vast traet of country, with the exception of a few reservations, to the United States. The boundaries of the tract are described in the treaty as follows :

" Beginning at a point in the present Indian boundary-line, which runs due north from the mouth of the Great Au Glaize River, six miles senth of the place where the hase-line, so called, intersects the same; thence west sixty miles; thence in a direct line to the heart of Thunder Bay River; thence down the same, following the course thereof, to the mouth ; thence northeast to the boundary-line between the United States and the British province of Upper Canada; thence

* Annals of the West.

t This north-and-sonth line was afterwards adopted as the principal meridian for the Territorial and State surveys.

¿ As a consideration the United States agreed to pay to the Chip- pewas and Ottawas each $3333, and to the Pottawattomies and Wyan- dets each one-half that sum, with a perpetual annuity of $2000 to each of the two first-mentioned nations and one-half that sum to each of the others, the whole to be paid at Detroit, in money, goods, domestic animals, or implements, as the Indians should elect.

HISTORY OF INGHAM AND EATON COUNTIES, MICHIGAN.

with the same to the line established by the treaty of Detroit, in the year 1807; and thence with the said liue to the place of beginning."

This cession was estimated to have included about 6,000,000 aeres, and, as will be seen by reference to the map, extinguished the Indian title to the remainder of Ingham and the whole of Eaton County twelve years after the eastern half of the former had been purchased by Gov- ernor Hull.

The reservations, in all, amounted to about 80,000 aeres, but none were within the counties of Ingham or Eaton. This treaty was signed on the part of the United States by Governor Lewis Cass, and on the part of the Chippewas by 114 chiefs and principal men.

On the 16th of June, 1820, Governor Cass coneluded a treaty at the Sault Ste. Marie with the Chippewas, by which the latter ceded a tract at the Sault equivalent to sixteen square miles. This treaty was signed by fifteen chiefs.

On the 6th of July, in the same year, he coneluded a treaty with the Chippewas and Ottawas at L'Arbe Croche and Mackinae, by which they ceded St. Martin's Island, in Lake Huron. This treaty was signed by eighteen Ottawas and two Chippewas.

On the 29th of August, 1821, Governor Cass and Hon. Solomon Sibley concluded a treaty at Chicago with the Ot- tawas, Pottawattomies, and Chippewas by which they eeded a traet of country in Southwestern Michigan bounded as follows :

" Beginning at a point on the south bank of the river St. Joseph, of Lake Michigan, near the Parc aux Vaches,# due north from Rum's "village, and running thence south to a line drawn due east from the southern extreme of Lake Michigan; thence with the said line east to the tract coded by the Pottowattomics to the United States by the treaty of Fort Meigs in 1817, if the said line should strike the said tract, but if the said line should pass north of the said tract, then such line shall be continued until it strikes the western boundary of the traet ceded to the United States by the treaty of Detroit in 1807;+ and from the termination of the said linc, following the boundaries of former cessions to the main branch of the Grand River of Lake Michigan, should any of the said lines eross the said river; but if none of the said lines should cross the said river, then to a point due cast of the source of the said main branch of the said river, and from such point due west to the source of the said principal branch, and from the crossing of the said river, or from the source thoreof, as the caso may be, down the said river on the north bank thercof to the mouth ; thence following the shore of Lako Michigan to the south bank of the said St. Joseph at the mouth thereof; and thence with the said south bank, to the place of heginning."

From the cession five small reservations were made, but none of them in Ingham or Eaton County.

The principal meridian crosses the main branch of Grand River four different times south of the city of Jackson, and where the boundary above given first starts to follow the river is not known. From this description it would appear that the northern boundary of the ceded tract followed Grand River through the counties of Jackson, Ingham, and Eaton, thus intercepting the boundaries of the treaties in 1807 and 1819, the former in Jackson County and the latter in Ingham and Eaton, if not also in Jackson. Eaton County was wholly ceded by the treaty of 1819, and the treaty of 1821 covered nearly its whole territory a second

time, the exceptions being those portions lying east of Grand River.

The Indian treaties were not always definite in these re- spects, and the eessions frequently overlapped each other. The treaty of Chicago was signed by eight Ottawa, two Chippewa, and fifty-five Pottawattomie chiefs.

On the 28th of March, 1836, the Ottawas and Chippe- was ceded all their remaining lands in the lower peninsula except a few small reservations. This treaty was nego- tiated by Henry R. Sehooleraft, at Washington, D. C.

By various subsequent treaties most of these reserva- tions have been ceded to the government. A few still re- main, but many of the Indians have become individual land-owners, and are successfully cultivating farms in the northern part of the peninsula.}

CHAPTER IX.

STATE ORGANIZATION.

Boundaries of 1787-Conventions-Border Difficulty-Admission into the Union-Miscellaneous-State Officers-Statistics.

THE ordinance of 1787, establishing the Northwest Ter- ritory, provided that the Territory should be divided into not less than three nor inore than five States. The follow- ing are the elauses relating to this subject :

"There shall be formed in the said Territory not less than three nor more than five States ; and the boundaries of the States, as soon as Virginia shall alter her act of cession and consent to the same, shall become fixed and established as follows, to wit: The western State in the said Territory shall be bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio, and Wabash Rivers; a direct line drawn from the Wabash and Post St. Vincent's,¿ due north to the Territorial line between the United States and Canada; and by the said Territorial line to the Lake of the Woods and Mississippi.

"The middle State shall be bounded by the said direct line; the Wabash from Post St. Vincent's to the Ohio; by the Ohio; and by a direct line drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami to the said Territorial line. The eastern State shall be bounded by the last-mentioned direct line, the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the said Ter- ritorial line ; Provided, however, and it is further understood and de- clarcd, that the boundaries of these three States shall be subject so far to be altered that if Congress shall hereafter find it expedient they shall have authority to form one or two States in that part of the said Territory which lies north of an east-and-west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan."

Out of this great area Ohio had been erected into a State in 1802, Indiana in 1816, and Illinois in 1818. The or- dinance provided that when a Territory contained a popu- lation of 60,000, it should upon application be admitted as a member of the Union.

In 1834 the people of Michigan took the preliminary steps for admission. The Territorial Legislature, on the 6th of September in that year, passed an act direeting a census to be taken. This was carried out, and the returns showed a free white population of 87,273. At the session of the council in January, 1835, an act was passed author-

* The cow . pasture.

t The principal meridian.

# The ihregoing facts regarding Indian treaties have been taken from Public Statutes of the United States at Large,-Indian Trea- ties, volume vii., in the State Library.

¿ Now Vincennes, Indiana.

STATE ORGANIZATION.

izing a convention to be held at Detroit, on the second Monday of May following, for the purpose of framing a State constitution. This convention was composed of eighty-nine delegates, who met upon the day specified, and continued in session until the 24th day of June.

A constitution was framed and submitted to the people in October following, and adopted by a vote of 6299 to 1359. At the same time a full set of State officers and a Legislature were elected to act under the constitution. Hon. Stevens T. Mason, secretary and acting Governor, was chosen Governor of the new State. The Legislature met on the 2d of November, 1835, and continued in session until the 28th of March, 1836.

In the mean time occurred the troubles growing out of the adjustment of the boundary question between Ohio and Michigan, and familiarly known as " the Toledo War."

The people of Michigan very justly claimed that the line established by the ordinance of 1787 was the boundary, while Ohio, finding that it cut off the port of Toledo and the mouth of the Maumee River, set up a claim contrary to the provisions of the ordinance, and insisted upon run- ning the line so as to have it terminate at the north cape of Maumee Bay.

The facts are that when Congress established the line " drawn through the southerly bend of Lake Michigan," there were no good maps of the Northwest, and it was not known how far south Lake Michigan extended. It was supposed, however, that the line would pass to the north- ward of the mouth of the Maumce River.

The rival claims of the belligerents created great excite- ment, and there was imminent danger of a hostile collision. The militia was called out in both States, and active preparations were made to enforce their respective claius. But happily no blood was shed, and the matter was finally compromised by an act of Congress passed July I, 1836, admitting Arkansas and Michigan. The act contained the following proviso relating to Michigan :

" This act shall not take effect until the State of Michigan shall be admitted into the Union according to the provisions of the act entitled ' An Act to establish the northern boundary of the State of Ohio, and to provide for the admission of the State of Michigan into the Union on certain conditions.' "

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History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 16

Author: Durant, Samuel W. cn Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia : D.W. Ensign & Co. Number of Pages: 772

Author: Durant, Samuel W. cn
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : D.W. Ensign & Co.
Number of Pages: 772