History of Macomb County, Michigan, Part 20

Author: Leeson, Michael A., [from old catalog] comp
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, M. A. Leeson & co.
Number of Pages: 952

USA > Michigan > Macomb County > History of Macomb County, Michigan > Part 20

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).

TREATY OF DETROIT.

The treaty was made by William Hull, U. S. Commissioner, and the Indians of the district November 17, 1807. Under its provisions all the territory beginning at the mouth of the Miami River of the Lakes, running thence to the mouth of the great Au Glaize River, thence due north until it intersects a latitudinal line to be drawn from the outlet of Lake Huron, which forms the River Sinclair, thence running northeast in 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 Miami River, and thence west to the month of the Miami River, was ceded to the United States.

From this cession the following lands were reserved for the sole use of the Indians :- Six square miles on the Miami above Roche de Boeuf, two in the village where Tondagonie, or The Dog, now lives ; three square miles including Presque Isle, four square miles on the Miami Bay, including the villages of Meskeman and Wangare ; three square miles at Macon, on the River Raisin, fourteen miles from the mouth of the Raisin ; two sections on the Range, at Seginsiwin's village; two sections at Tonquish's village near the Rouge River, three miles square on Lake St. Clair, above the River Huron to include Makornse's or Macompte's village, together with six square miles to be selected by the Indians. Together with those reservations, a sum of $10,000 was granted by the United States to be distributed equitably among the Pottawatomies, Otchipwes, Wyandotte, and Ottawa Indians then living in the district ceded under the treaty.

The Indians who signed this treaty were the Chippewas, Peewanshemenogh, Mamanshegauta, or bad legs, Poquaquet, Kiosk, Puckenese, or the spark of fire ;

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HISTORY OF MACOMB COUNTY.

Nemekas, Quiconquish, Negig ; the Pottawattomies were Tonquish, Skush, Nin- newa ; and the Wyandots Skahomat, Miere, or walk-in-the-water, and Iyonayotaha. Whittemore Knaggs and William Walker were interpreters.

THE TREATY OF BROWNSTOWN.

The Treaty of Brownstown, made November 25, 1808, was an amendatory treaty. Hull was the acting commissioner, assisted by Reuben Atwater, Secretary of Michigan Territory ; Judge James Wetherell, Jacob Visger, District Judge ; Jos. Watson, Secretary, L. M. T .; William Brown, Barney Campeau, Lewis Bond, A. Lyons, Whittemore Knaggs, William Walker, F. Duchouquet, and Samuel Sanders.

The treaties of later years negotiated by Mr. Schoolcraft or Gen Cass contained numerous provisions regarding the Indians of Macomb. From 1830 to 1837, the Otchipwes and mongrel savages inhabiting Macomb County saw plainly that their old hunting grounds were soon to pass out of their possession. In the former year those children of Nature entered upon that westward movement, and in the latter their last reserve in this county was parceled out for sale to the men of enterprise and industry who came hither about that time to enter on that earnest labor which has raised the county to its present status. Henry Tucker accompanied the In- dians to their Western reserve.

TREATY OF SAGINAW.

The treaty of Saginaw, 1819, was the most important of all the treaties affect- ing Indian titles in Michigan. Okemawkekehto, referred to in another page, was the chief orator of the tribe. Addressing General Cass, he said : " You do not know our wishes. My people wonder what has brought you so far from your homes. Your young men have invited us to come and light the Council Fire. We are here to smoke the pipe of peace, but not to sell our lands. Our American Father wants them. Our English Father treats us better ; he has never asked for them. Your people trespass upon our hunting grounds-they flock to our shores. Our waters grow warm; our lands melt like a cake of ice ; our possessions grow smaller and smaller, the warm wave of the white man rolls in upon us and melts us away ; our women reproach us ; our children want homes. Shall we sell from under them the spot where they spread their blankets ? We have not called you here. We smoke with you the pipe of peace." General Cass responded, Louis Beaufort, Whitte- more Knaggs, Gabriel Godfrey, Louis Campean, Henry Connor, John Hasson and others followed General Cass, and to their temperate, logical language is due the negotiation of a treaty which opened up the whole Northern Peninsula to the people who now occupy it.

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HISTORY OF MACOMB COUNTY.

WELL-KNOWN SAVAGES.

Macompte or Cum-e-kum-e-non .- About the center of the eastern boundary of the township of Chesterfield, on the shore of Lake Saint Clair, stood the Indian reservation, where resided for many years the chief of the tribes, Macompte. This chief was well beloved by his nation; in fact, his voice was the oracle of his people, his nod the law of his empire. There was, however, in this region a king greater and mightier to destroy than he. This king still reigns, while the warrior of the Indians "sleeps the sleep that knows no waking." He was slain by this king, whose name is Alcohol. His death was a tragic one. It seems that Macompte had been paying a familiar visit to his bosom friend the king, and had partaken too freely of the hospitality of his host. Towards evening the chief went down to the river, and, with a precipitous rush, glided down its banks into the water, and was drowned. In his suicidal intent he passed the residence of Stockton and Clemens. The wife of the former gentleman heard the hurried tread of the unfortunate chief as he passed on to the river, and heard the splash when he struck the water. Mrs. Stockton's testimony was the only direct evidence that tended to convince the Indians that his melancholy death was voluntary,-that he had not been murdered by the white man, as the ever-suspicious nature of the Indian led them to suppose. The event caused considerable excitement through the entire settlement. This reservation was located in the southeast part of the township of Chesterfield. The body was found the day after the suicide by John Tucker, and the Indians. It was buried in the orchard of John Tucker, on P. C. 129 Harrison. It was wrapped in a blue broadcloth blanket, bound by silver brooches, while the hat was ornamented with silver bands, a string of sixteen silver crescents, and silver arm bands com- pleted the ornamentation of the dead chief's body. All that has been disturbed in connection with this grave was a small piece of the enwrapping blanket, taken as a curiosity by David Tucker about the year 1840-1. All stories of other inter- ference are without foundation.

Old Macompte, the father of Cum-e-kum-e-non and Francis, died about 1816, and was buried in the sand banks beyond New Baltimore. Two men, Van Epps and Beebe, visited the grave, exhumed a brass rifle, and eloped with the prize. Shortly after this Francis Macompte and other Indians, who had gone West under Henry Tucker to select a reservation, returned to this point. The former found his father's grave tampered with, he discovered who were the actors in the affair, brought them before the court at Mount Clemens, where the matter was settled on payment of $60.

Francis Macompte then became chief, with Truckatoe as sub-chief. The latter became dissatisfied about the Indian Reserve, and moved with several members of the band to Lakeville about 1830. Next under him was Canope, said to be impli-

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HISTORY OF MACOMB COUNTY.

cated in the abduction of the Finch child, a saying without any foundation what- ever beyond the fact that the Indian loved the boy, and seemed determined to adopt him.

Those Indians were generally peaceful, and were present at almost all the bees of the olden time, not to labor by any means, but to run pony races, and trade with the Americans.

Wittaniss was one of the sub-chiefs of the Huron Indians so early as 1776. He was a devoted attache of the British commandants of Detroit, and shared with his brother Indians and British soldiery in all the dastardly acts which marked the great effort to sustain the reign of tyranny and persecution on this continent. This cowardly red-skin and his band made many attempts on the life of Richard Connor some years later. The American pioneer was compelled to be always on his guard against the treachery of those savages. After the purchase of the Moravian village by Askins and Ancram, the latter appointed Wittaniss caretaker. In his new office, the Indian chief essayed to act the Irish land agent, and accordingly tried to evict Connor ; but the new settler frustrated all his designs, treated him to a severe beating, and otherwise made life so hidcous for the malicious savage, that he was glad to seek refuge in the grave a day or so after the British power was for ever broken in the United States.

Keneobe, of Romeo, was present on the treaty ground at Saginaw in Septem- ber, 1819. The harsh statements made regarding his connection with the abduc- tion of the Finch boy have long since been proven without foundation. In 1827 Keneobe moved into Canada, stayed some time there, and returned to give assu- rances that the reports concerning him were without foundation. He was a savage of good parts, and an earnest friend of the American settlers of Northern Macomb.

An equally bad Indian, bearing a similar name, succeeded Wittaniss, senior. The circumstances which surrounded this fellow urged him to adopt a policy of conciliation towards the American settlers, which policy was carried ont. The last Wittaniss was an old man when he left the county in 1830.

Tipsikaw was the athlete of the band near Romeo. He was a powerful savage, well built, and, it is said, capable of running down wolves, bears, and, in some instances, deer. While hunting in the neighborhood of Almont he dislocated his shoulder. Dr. Gleason was called to his aid. All the doctor's physical power was not sufficient to replace the dislocated bone, so he tied the arm of the warrior to a tree, and then directed him to draw his body forward. This plan was success- ful, and Tipsikaw was again ready to resume the chase. This Indian left the county in 1837 or 1838. In 1874 he revisited his old hunt grounds, and was found weeping by one of the early settlers opposite the site of his former village.

Tonadoganow was the head chief of the Otchipwe nation. This honor be-

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HISTORY OF MACOMB COUNTY.

longed to him on account of his debating powers, acute understanding, and great prowess in the hunt. He was ugly in every sense. He wore only a hunting shirt from April until September, and this hung loosely from his hunch-back. This In- dian was accustomed to make periodical visits to the bands in Macomb County, was a great factor in the negotiation of two of the treaties referred to in this chapter, and well known to the first French and American settlers of Mt. Clemens and Romeo.

Okemawkeketo was chief of the tribe for years previous to the reign of Tona- doganow. He received from the hereditary chief, Miscobenasa, power to administer the office of chief. Old Misco and Okemawkeketo were noble savages, and well- known to the pioneers of this county.

Notaquoto, a short, ugly, powerful savage was well known to all the early set- tlers. To give an idea of this Indian, Wm. J. Tucker relates that a few Indian ponies happened to stray into Sterling township, where they were stabled by Jim Bruce. This settler was unaware of the danger of such a proceeding, and his mur- der for the act was only averted by the timely interference of C. G. Cady, then resid- ing at his present house in Sterling. Mr. Cady was returning from church, when he met the Indian. Asking him where he was going, the savage played with the tomahawk and replied that he was going to see Jim Bruce. " He has my horses," said Notaquoto, "and I will murder him." Cady prevailed upon the Indian to wait, while he himself went to Bruce's. He advised Bruce to set the animals at large, which advice was taken, and Notaquoto returned to his reserve with his property.

THE EAGLE CHIEF.

The following verses, written by J. E. Day in 1860, refer to the visit of an Indian to this district, who in his childhood called it home :

The Autumn sun fades slowly from the sky, And dimly shines his parting light, Across the clearing shadows swiftly fly, The harbingers of coming night, The forest warblers seek their nightly rest, The cricket pipes his evening lay, While here and there a few dim stars appear, As if to haste the setting sun away,

The place in beauty and in silence sleeps- No dissonance disturbs the scene ; But dimly 'neath the moon there comes a form Of stately step, of haughty mien, His stately tread, his light, elastic step, His form which age has slightly [bent, His swarthy cheek and ornamented breast Bespeak the Indian lineament.

HISTORY OF MACOMB COUNTY.

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Why stands he there so stern, cold and still, Whose deeds have challenged men's belief- The setting sun of Sonago's daring race, Powontonamo- " Eagle Chief ?" He lifts his eyes in silence and despair, That much their ancient fire impart, As mem'ry sweeping o'er him but displays, In broken, but unconquered heart.

Thirty long years have passed away since last, He visited the land he stands on now ; It is a spot of earth well known to him, Though furrowed by the white man's plow, And changed, alas ! to him, how sadly changed ; For buried 'neath its surface lie The only offspring of the Eagle Chief. And his young bride-the Sunny Eye.

He gazed upon the mountain's shaded brow ; The clouds that floated o'er his head, The river and the trees his youth had known, Though leafless now and dark and dead. These, still, had left the old familiar look- O'er all the rest a change had crept. He thought of this, and as the night came on He bowed his warrior head and wept.

" The white man's ax" he said, "has been here too. The oak I planted in my youthful pride, And watched long years with manhood's care, And the sweet vine that climbed its side, Ilave felt the blow, and withered much too soon. My bride I claimed beneath its shade, And 'neath it our young babes have gamboled oft, And 'neath it their short lives were laid.

" Down yonder stream the Indian's light canoe Would shoot, like wild bird on the wing, And yonder mountain side would echo back, The war cry of our Council ring. But all is changed. The white man's power has drove Us from our home to slowly die ; And now this oak and vine are emblems fit Of Eagle Chief and Sunny Eye."

What wonder that the Eagle's bosom swelled, And manhood's tears ran o'er his eheek, As memory brought before him all the Past, His plans, his wishes, all a wreck,

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HISTORY OF MACOMB COUNTY.

But mid his grief his pride and anger rose, To his dark eye the light had come, He strewed the broken arrows o'er the grave, And then the Eagle Chief was gone.

Fisher, a half-breed, who married a sister of Francis Macompte, committed suicide about 1852. It appears he made a cruel husband, so that Macompte took his wife from him, and presented him with an English rifle, as better suited to him than a wife. Fisher and the rifle lived quietly together for some years, when he returned to the Salt River Reserve, and there shot himself through the heart. About the same time a dog feast was held by the Indians on the Tucker farm.

Neome, the chief of the largest division of the Chippewas, occupied and assumed to control the southern portion of the tribal domain. The Flint River, with its northern affluents, was left a little north of the border in full Indian possession by the Treaty of 1807. It was called by the savages Pewonunkening, or the River of the Flint, and by the early French traders La Pierre ; the latter also called the ford a few rods below the present Flint City bridge Grand Traverse, while to the village in the neighborhood of the ford the Indians gave the name Mus-cu-ta-wa-ingh, which translated means the open plain burned over.

In point of geographical location, the chief Neome and his powerful band stood on the very threshold of the trail leading to the Northwest. To any one standing at Detroit and looking northerly to the land lying west of the Lake and River St. Clair, it was plain that Neome stood indeed a lion in the path unless well disposed toward the American settlers. The old chief was honest and simple-minded ; evincing but little of the craft and cunning of his race ; sincere in his nature ; by no means astute ; firm in his friendships ; easy to be persuaded by any benefactor who should appeal to his Indian sense of gratitude; harmless and kind-hearted. In stature he was short and heavily molded. With his own people he was a chief of patriarchal goodness, and his name was never mentioned by his people except with a certain veneration, and in more recent years with a traditionary sorrow, more impressive in its mournful simplicity than a labored epitaph.

Keshkawko .- In April, 1825, the Saginaw savage-Kesh-kaw-ko-killed a Huron warrior at Detroit, on the spot now forming the center of the D. & M. R. R. depot. The dead Indian was taken to a blacksmith's shop, then occupying the site of the Russell House, where the coroner, Benjamin Woodworth, held an inquest. Kesh-kaw-ko and his son were interned in the old fort, after the jury declared the older savage guilty, and the coroner sent him to await trial ; a squaw brought the chief some hemlock, which he drank eagerly, and died. His son, who was no party to the deed, escaped. He sought a trail homewards by the Clinton River,

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HISTORY OF MACOMB COUNTY.

was recognized by some of the Hurons, and pursued almost to the camping ground of his tribe.

This Chippewa desperado, and his son Chemick, were among the principal British allies of the War of 1812. Both were known to the pioneers of Macomb, for iu that quarter of the Peninsula those ruffians, with their followers from the Saginaw, attacked men, women and children indiscriminately. They did not enter into any battles-their warfare being only against the defenceless or unwary.

OKEMOS.

This well-known Indian, a nephew of Pontiac, and once the head chief of the Otchipwe nation, was born near Knagg's Station on the Shiawassee, about the year 1763. The earliest account of him states that he went forth on the war-path in 1793. In the Legends of the Northwest by Judge Littlejohn, the old chief is intro- duced in 1803. Okemos took a prominent part in the battle of Sandusky, which won for him the name of the greatest warrior and the chief of his tribe. It appears that himself, his cousin Man-i-to-corb-way, with sixteen other warriors enlisted under the British flag, formed a scouting party in search of American scalps, and ultimately reached the British rendezvous at Sandusky. Speaking of this period, the old scalp-taker said : " One morning while lying in ambush near a road lately cut for the passage of the American army and supply wagons, we saw twenty cav- alry men approaching us. Our ambush was located on a slight ridge, with brush directly in our front. We immediately decided to attack the Americans although they out-numbered us. Our plan was first to fire and cripple them, and then make a dash with the tomahawk. We waited until they came so near that we could count the buttons on their coats, when firing commenced. The cavalrymen with drawn sabres immediately charged upon the Indians. The plumes of the cavalry men looked like a flock of a thousand pigeons just hovering for a lighting. Myself and my cousin fought side by side, loading and firing, while dodging from one cover to another. In less than ten minutes after the firing begun the sound of a bugle was heard, and casting our eyes in the direction of the sound we saw the roads and woods filled with cavalry. The Indians were immediately surrounded, and every man cut down. All were left for dead upon the field. Myself and my cousin had our skulls cloven, and our bodies gashed in a fearful manner. The cavalrymen before leaving the field, in order to be sure life was extinct, would lean forward from their horses, and pierce the breasts of the Indians even into their lungs. The last I remember is, that after emptying one saddle, and springing toward another soldier, with clubbed rifle raised to strike, my head felt as if pierced with a red-hot iron, and I went down from a heavy sabre cut. All knowledge ceased from this time until many moons afterward, when I found myself nursed by the squaws of

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HISTORY OF MACOMB COUNTY.

friends who had found me where I fell two or three days after the engagement. The squaws thought all were dead ; but upon moving the bodies of myself and Manitocorbway, signs of life appeared, and we were taken to a place of safety where we were nursed until restored to partial health."

Okemos and his cousin never took part in a battle since that time having satis- fied themselves that they were wrong then.

Shortly after his recovery he asked Colonel Gabriel Godfroy, father of Richard Godfroy of Grand Rapids, to intercede for him with General Cass, which resulted in a treaty between the United States and himself and other chiefs-a treaty faith- fully observed. In 1837, the small-pox and other canses tended to scatter the band near Knagg's Station, where they were located. Previons to this time he was ac- customed to wear a blanket-coat with belt, steel pipe, hatchet, tomahawk, and a long, English hunting knife. He painted his cheeks and forehead with vermillion, wore a shawl around his head a la Turc and leggings. The old scalp-taker for the English died in his wig-wam a few miles from Lansing, and was buried at Shim- nicon, in Ionia County, December 5, 1858.

A LEGEND OF CUSICK LAKE.

That as beautiful a spot as Cusick Lake has remained as long as it has, with- out its appropriate legend, is somewhat curious. That it was a place greatly ad- mired and frequented by the red man iscertain. The beautiful banks densely covered as they once were, with forest trees, before vandalism had done it work on them, could not have failed to attract and please the children of nature. Over on the island under the murmuring pine and hemlock in the " moon of leaves," the scalp- locked warrior whispered sweet nothings in the ear of his dusky maid and boasted of his prowess in the chase and the field. To Miss Hayner belongs the honor of bringing the poem to light, and of preserving this incident in the history of the county.

Day into night had almost grown, And all was still and silent and lone, And the long night shadows began to break, Across the surface of Cusick Lake ; When out of the dark and shady wood, A maid moved out, and silent stood, And gazed across to the other bank, Where the willows grew so thick and rank. That morn her father, a hunter bold, Had left his daughter-Edith Gold, While he should go to a distant fort, To tell the men of a faint report, Of how the Indians late that night, After the moon had sank from sight,

Would creep out in the deepest shade, And on the fort make a wild, wild raid. The hunter, as he left that morn, Told his daughter not to mourn, While he was gone to the fort to warn. He said that ere the sun sank low,

He should have warned them of the foe ; And when upon her ears should fall, Her father's well-known signal call, She must launch the birch canoe, And meet him where the willow grew. But the sunset hour had come and pissed, And the twilight rays were fading fast ; At length it grew so dark and late,

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She went to the bank, to watch and wait ; She looked away to the other side, And still she looked, and looking, sighed.

The shadows thickened on the ground, The moon came up with silvery light, And gazed upon that lonely sight ; There in the edge of the forest shade,

With anxious look, stood the woodland maid ;

Fairly flying onward, through

Her hair all streaming to the night ;

Her face all pale and gleaming white

Hark ! a cry from the willow's shade,

Is lifted to the arching sky, While she besought her God on high

To shield her father on his way,

And lead him from where dangers lay.

All round 'tis still as silent death,

Naught is stirred by a single breath, But hark ! was it, was that a sound,

That stirred the still night air around ?

She gasps for breath, she peers across

To where the breeze makes the willows toss ;

Is it all a fancy, or does she see

A form in the shade of the waving tree ?

Quickly she turned and made way to

The place where lay the birch canoe.

Then came the well-known signal cry,

No motion, groan, or faintest breath,

But stiff and cold in silent death.

Their white friends made a double grave

The water eddies round the boat,

The lilies swiftly past her float,

The little pine wood point is passed,

Many a time have mirth and song

The trees and banks receding fast,

Mingled and floated the trees among.

Her boat is far out in the lake,

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History of Macomb County, Michigan, Part 20

Author: Leeson, Michael A., [from old catalog] comp Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago, M. A. Leeson & co. Number of Pages: 952

Author: Leeson, Michael A., [from old catalog] comp
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, M. A. Leeson & co.
Number of Pages: 952