USA > Michigan > History of Michigan, civil and topographical, in a compendious form; with a view of the surrounding lakes > Part 14
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" Father :- At the time you gave me this weapon, I had 'neither cause or wish to go to war against a foe who had done me no injury. But you say you are my father, and call me your child, and in obedience to you I received the hatchet. I knew that if I did not obey you, you would withhold from me the necessaries of life, which I could procure no where but here. Father, you may perhaps think me a fool for risking my life at your bidding, and that in a cause in which I have no prospect of gaining any thing. For it is your cause and not mine. You have raised a quarrel among yourselves, and you ought to fight it out. It is your concern to fight the Long-Knives. You should not compel your children, the Indians, to expose themselves to danger for your sake. Fa- ther, many lives have already been lost on your account. The tribes have suffered and been weakened. Children have lost parents and brothers-wives have lost husbands. It is not
" See Thatcher's " Lives of the Indians."
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known how many more may perish before your war will be at an end.
" Father :- I have said you may perhaps think me a fool for thus thoughtlessly rushing on your enemy. Do not be- lieve this, father ; think not I want sense to convince me, that although you now pretend to keep up a perpetual enmity to the Long-Knives, you may before long conclude a peace with them. Father, you say you love your children, the In- dians. This you have often told them ; and indeed it is your interest to say so to them, that you may have them at your service. But father, who of us can believe that you can love a people of a different color from your own better than those who have white skins like yourselves ? Father, pay atten- tion to what I am going to say. While you, father, are setting me on your enemy, much in the same manner as a hunter sets his dog on the game ; while I am in the act of rushing on that enemy of yours with the bloody destructive weapon you gave me, I may, perchance, happen to look back to the place from whence you started me ; and what shall I see ? Perhaps I may see my father shaking hands with the Long-Knives ; yes, with those very people he now calls his enemies. I may then see him laugh at my folly for having obeyed his orders. And yet I am now risking my life at his command. Father, keep what I have said in remembrance. Now, father, here is what has been done with the hatchet you gave me, (hand- ing the stick with the scalps on it), I have done with the hatch- et what you ordered me to do, and found it sharp. Never- theless I did not do all that I might have done. No, I did not. My heart failed me. I felt compassion for your enemy. Innocence had no part in your quarrels ; therefore I distin- guished, I spared. I took some live flesh, which, while I was bringing to you, I spied one of your large canoes, on which I put it for you. In a few days you will receive this flesh, and find that the skin is of the same color with your own. Father, I hope you will not destroy what I have saved. You have the means of preserving that which would perish with us for want. The warrior is poor, and his cabin is always empty ; but your house is always full."
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MISSIONARIES ACQUITTED.
Captain Pipe, however excited he might have been, that the English commandant had evaded his own responsibility, and thrown its whole weight upon the chief, at length avowed himself in favor of the missionaries ; and they were acquitted and discharged after having suffered much personal abuse from the savages. They returned home, and reached San- dusky in 1782, on the 22d of November. It was ascertained that the only ground of complaint against them was the fact that the missionaries had interpreted certain letters which had been received by the Delaware chiefs from Pittsburgh. Ef- forts of a similar character, calculated to arouse the friendly savages against the United States, and to prevent neutrality, by impressing them with the conviction that it was the de- sign of the Americans to drive them from their lands, were made by the British agents during the whole course of the revolutionary war.
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HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
CHAPTER IX.
Treaty of 1783-North-west territory organized -. Arthur St. Clair appointed Go- vernor -- Retention of the posts by the English-Confederation of the savages , -- Message of the Hurons of Detroit -- Division of Canada -- Simcoe, McKee, Elliot, and Girty -- Message from the Spanish settle ments on the Mississippi -- Campaign of Gen. Harmar-St. Clair's Defeat -- Victory of General Wayne -- View of settlements in Michigan-Project of Randall and Whitney -- Posts of Mackinaw and Detroit relinquished-Condition of Michigan at that time.
DURING the whole progress of the Revolutionary war, Michi- gan was in a state of comparative quietude. Constituting a part of the Canadian territory, which comprised the French and English loyalists, it was opposed to the doctrines of the American revolution. A magazine of arms for the savages, and a mart where the price of scalps was paid, it exhibited no prominent events which give interest and coloring to the page of history, because it was not made a theatre of exciting ac- tion. There was here no well-organized form of government and no settled frame of jurisprudence ; and, by consequence, there are few records of growth and production, commerce, population, and military events, like those which are found in the more densely-settled states. The mere outpost of the Ca- nadian territory, it spread out a magnificent wilderness, in which the axe had scarce felled a tree or the plough made a furrow. It was trackless, save where the Indian trail wound through the dense forests and the flowery oak-lands ; and un- broken, excepting by the scattered Indian villages, the clear- ings of Indian corn-fields, sometimes studding the prairies, or the solitary posts of the fur trade, which variegated the land- scape at wide intervals. The hunter's path lay along streams which had reflected little since the creation but the vegetation upon their banks, or the wild beasts which drank at their cur- rent and disputed the right of domain with the savage.
The wars which had raged in the eastern part of the country were, however, soon brought to a termination, under the pure and glorious administration of Washington, and the treaty of
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peace of 1783 was claimed to include Michigan within Ameri- can bounds. But peace found the country like a veteran sol- dier-unconquered, houseless, and covered with wounds. The nation was burdened with debt from the expenses of a long war, and it became an important object to provide for its liquidation. The people of the country had long regarded the western lands as a fund to aid in the payment of this na- tional debt. The lands, which were comprised in the territo- ry north-west of the river Ohio, in which limit Michigan was embraced, were claimed by several of the eastern states, on the ground of original charters to the colonies from the crown of England. These were, in consequence, denominated crown lands. It was maintained, that since the war, prosecuted for the general defence and benefit of the country, the states claim- ing the lands in this quarter, and who could not realise any special advantage from these possessions, ought to relinquish them as a common fund for the benefit of the United States rather than to see the whole nation sink under a burthen of debt. A concession of these lands was, in fact, made an im- portant object in establishing the confederation. The Ameri- can people in this quarter also desired some efficient system, which should regulate their territory in order to afford them organized defence in war and a settled frame of government. Under the existing state of things, they were on the edge of American jurisdiction, surrounded by enemies, and without any adequate means of protection.
In order to induce the States to make liberal cessions of lands to the general government, Congress, on the 10th of October, 1780, declared that the territory ceded should be dis- posed of for the common benefit of the Union, and be fornied into Republican states, possessing the same rights and privi- leges with the other States ; and to be of proper extent of ter- ritory, not less than one hundred, nor more than one hundred and fifty miles square ; and that the expense incurred by any State since the commencement of the war, in subduing any British post, or in maintaining and acquiring the title, should be reimbursed. In accordance with this recommendation, New-York led the way in this compromise, and ceded to the
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United States, in March, 1781, all her claims to the lands north-west of the River Ohio. In January, 1784, Virginia followed the example of New-York, but was disposed to affix a condition, which was not deemed liberal by some of the States, and which was refused by the majority in Congress. This condition was, that Congress should guarantee all the other lands which she claimed between the Atlantic Ocean and the south-east side of the River Ohio, and the boundaries of Ma- ryland, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. This condition, which was refused by Congress, was afterwards withdrawn by Virginia, and the cession was accepted. Massachusetts made its deed of cession in April, 1785, and surrendered all her right to lands west of the line fixed by New-York. In September, 1786, Connecticut ceded all the lands included within her chartered limits, lying one hundred and twenty miles west of the western boundary of Pennsylvania ; and in August, 1787, South Carolina granted to the United States her right to land lying west of the chain of mountains which divides the east- ern and western waters. In this mode Congress became pos- sessed of the lands lying north-west of the River Ohio, and in July, 1787, a government was established for this tract, which was termed the North-western Territory .* This go- vernment was comprised in the ordinance of 1787, and it was framed by Nathan Dane, of Beverly, Massachusetts. The or- dinance of 1787 is the basis of all the territorial governments of the United States in this quarter. The territory was made into one district, subject to be divided into two at the will of Con- gress. It was provided, that until the number of free male citizens should amount to five thousand, it should be vested in a governor and three judges, who, as well as a secretary, should be appointed by Congress. The governor and judges were empowered to adopt and publish such laws of the origi- nal states, criminal and civil, as might be suited to the circum- stances of the district, and report them to Congress. These laws were to be in force until disapproved by that body.
The governor was also invested with the power to divide
* Sce Report of Mr. Thomas, from the committee on Judiciary, March 2, 1836.
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the districts into townships or counties, and to appoint civil of- ficers ; and when the free male inhabitants of full age should amount to five thousand, a general assembly-comprised of a governor, a legislative council, and house of representatives -- was to be constituted. The representatives were to be select- ed from the counties or townships, one for every five hundred free male inhabitants, until the number amounted to twenty- five, after which the number was to be regulated by the le- gislature. They were to hold their offices for two years. Each representative was required to have been a citizen of the United States for three years, and a resident in the dis- trict, or to have resided in the district three years, and to possess in the district, in fee simple, two hundred acres of land ; and an elector was required to have resided three years in the district, and to be a citizen of one of the States, or pos- sess a like freehold and two years' residence.
The legislative council was to consist of five persons, who were, unless removed by Congress, to hold their offices for five years. The following was the mode in which they were to be appointed :- The house of representatives were authoriz- ed to nominate ten persons, each possessed of a freehold of five hundred acres of land ; and out of this number Congress were permitted to appoint five, as members of the legislative council. The general assembly were allowed to make laws for the district, in conformity to the ordinance, which were to have the assent of the majority of both houses and that of the governor. The legislative assembly were also permitted by joint ballot to elect a delegate to Congress, who had the right of speaking but not of voting.
Certain articles of compact were also established between the original States and the people of the north-western terri- tory, which might form the basis of their future connexion, which should remain unalterable, unless by common consent. By this compact freedom of religion was guaranteed, as well as the benefits of the writ of Habeas Corpus and trial by jury ; and those other fundamental principles which constitute the basis of the American constitutions. Education was to be encouraged. The utmost good faith was to be preserved to-
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HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
ward the Indians, their lands were forbidden to be taken without their consent, and slavery was to be prohibited for ever. The territory and States erected therein were to remain forever a part of the American confederacy, and not less than three, or more than five States were to be erected within its bounds. At the same time the bounds of these States were so fixed, as that Congress had a right to alter them by forming one or two new States in that part of the territory lying north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or ex- treme of Lake Michigan. Whenever either of those States should contain a population of sixty thousand free inhabitants, such State was allowed to be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, and to form a permanent republican constitution and State government ; and before they had attained that population, they were allowed an admission in- to the Union if it should be found consistent with the interest of the confederation. Under this frame of government, Michi- gan commenced its first existence within American jurisdic- tion. The first step taken toward settling the north-western territory, was the presentation of a memorial from the officers and soldiers of the revolutionary army entitled to land boun- ties under the resolves of 1776 and 1780. This memorial was forwarded to Gen. Washington by Gen. Rufus Putnam, in February of 1783 .* The first set of laws was published by being nailed upon a tree upon the banks of the Muskin- gum, and in 1788 Return Jonathan Meigs was appointed to administer them, Gen. Arthur St. Clair, the governor, having not at that time arrived.t
* See an elaborate article in the 100th number of the North American Review entitled " Fifty Years of Ohio."
t The following is an extract of an oration delivered on the 4th of July, 1788, on the banks of the Muskingum, now Marietta, by James H. Varnum, who, with S. H. Parsons and John Armstrong, had been appointed to the bench. It relates to the non-arrival of the Governor of the north-western territory, and is a prominent specimen of grandiloquence :-
" May he soon arrive! Thou, gently flowing Ohio, whose surface, as cen scious of thy unequalled majesty, reflecteth no images but the grandeur of the impending heavens, bear him, oh bear him safely to this anxious spet; and thou, beautifully transparent Muskingum ! swell at the moment of his approach,
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WESTERN POSTS RETAINED.
The treaty of peace of 1783 did not terminate the difficul- ties between Great Britain and the United States. Several minor questions sprang up, which were the cause of dissatis- faction to both parties. Debts due by Americans to British subjects, whose payment was guaranteed in the treaty, were neglected ; and on the other hand, the negroes belonging to American subjects, who were in the possession of British officers, were not restored ; and when the Baron Steuben was sent by Gen. Washington to Sir Frederick Haldimand at Que- bec, to arrange matters for the occupation of these posts, with instructions to proceed to Michigan, he was informed that the posts would not be surrendered at that time, and was refused his passports to Niagara and Detroit. The Indian tribes scat- tered along the north-western territory, goaded by the advance of the white population upon that domain, and inflamed by the people in that quarter, began to show undoubted signs of dissatisfaction. As early as 1785 and 1786, they had carried their acts of individual hostility to the feeble settlements of Kentucky and the banks of the Ohio. Two years had there- fore scarcely elapsed after the close of the war, before a com- bination of the savages along the north-west was formed, and Thayendanegea, called Joseph Brant, the leading warrior of the Six Nations, was requested by the Algonquin tribes to as- certain what assistance could, in case of war, be derived from Great Britain .*
In December, 1786, a grand confederate council of the In- dians north-west of the Ohio was held near the Huron village at the mouth of the Detroit River, which was attended by the Six Nations, the Hurons, Ottawas, Miamies, Shawanese, Chip- pewas, Cherokees, Delawares, Potawatamies, and the confede- rates of the Wabash. The ground of difference between the In- dians and the United States was a question of boundary ; the Indians maintaining that the Ohio River was not to be crossed by the Americans. The council was pacific, providing that the United States did not encroach on their lands. The Indians
and reflect no objects but of pleasure and delight." See North American Review Number 100 article on Ohio.
* See Stone's " Life of Brant," a valuable depository of facts.
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were not included in the treaty, and it became a nice legal question how far the United States had a right to advance upon the territory then occupied by the Indians. The sava- ges attributed the mischief and confusion to the fact that the United States would " kindle the council-fires wherever they thought proper without consulting the Indians." The posts in Michigan thus withheld from the possession of the United States, were Detroit and Mackinaw ; and Great Britain, in or- der to strengthen the post against the incursions of the Ameri- cans, took immediate measures to garrison the fort of Detroit, under instructions from Lord Dorchester.
It was finally proposed to call a grand council of the In- "dians in which the whole ground of complaint between the savages and the United States should be discussed, and some final deterinination made.
The following is the invitation of the Hurons of Detroit to the Five Nations, requesting them to attend this council.
Message of the Hurons of Detroit to the Five Nations.
" January 21st, 1788.
" BRETHREN :- Nothing yet has reached us in answer to the messages sent to the Americans on the breaking up of onr general council, nor is it now probable that we shall hear from them before our next meeting takes place, a circumstance that ought to expedite us in our business. The nations this way have adhered hitherto to the engagements entered into before we parted, at least as far as has come to our knowledge, and we intend immediately to call them to this council-fire, which shall be uncovered at the time appointed ; that without further delay some decisive measures may be finally fixed upon for our future interest, which must govern hereafter the con- duct of all the nations in our alliance ; and this we intend to be our last council for the purpose ; therefore it is needless to urge farther the indispensable necessity of all nations being present at the conclusion of affairs tending so much to their own future welfare and happiness. And we do in a particu- lar manner desire you, the Five Nations, to be strong and punctual in your promise of being with us early and in time ;
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and that not only the warriors, but the chiefs of your several nations, attend on this occasion. We shall therefore endea- vor to have as many of the western and southern Indians as possible collected. Strings of wampum."
No records of this council have been discovered, although the account of the proceedings, it is believed, were forwarded to Lord Dorchester. It is probable that there was a division in their deliberations, because two separate treaties were held at Fort Harmar, which were attended by only a part of the Indians. These treaties were held by Gen. St. Clair in Janu- ary, 1789 ; in the first place with the Five Nations, with the exception of the Mohawks ; and the second was made with the warriors and sachems of the Wyandot, Delaware, Ottawa, Chippewa, Potawatamie, and Sac tribes.
It appears, that from 1783, the date of the peace with En- gland, to the reception of the address of the grand council of Indians, which was held at the Huron village, Congress acted on the ground that this treaty invested the United States with the fee of all the Indian lands within its bounds. The In- dians, on the contrary, claimed that they alone had the exclu- sive right to the soil ; and hence arose the ground of their troubles with the Americans, who, they claimed, were tres- passers upon their land. In 1790 the government of the United States were at issue on the right of navigation to the Mississippi, and the English attempted to take advantage of that difficulty for the purpose of fomenting difficulties with the United States.
Mutual complaints were, in fact, made after the peace of 1783, both by the United States and Great Britain, that the stipulations of the treaty had been violated by both parties.
On the side of Great Britain, it was alleged that loyalists to the crown had been refused the power of regaining possession of their estates, and of recovering their debts before the hos- tilities had been commenced. It was maintained, on the other hand, that the military posts had not only been denied to the Americans, which of right belonged to them ; but that the Indians were incited to massacre the defenceless inhabitants
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on the frontier, and also that commercial restrictions had been imposed on American commerce.
By these restrictions American ships trading with France might be seized by English cruisers and condemned.
The motives which actuated the policy of Great Britain regarding the western posts are manifest. They well knew the Indian influence was strongly in favor of the English, and that they might use the savage strength in crippling the growth of a sturdy rival, which was advancing with power- ful strides into fertile forests, and constructing broader and deeper the foundations of the republican edifice. Accordingly, from 1783, when the treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States was made, down to the year 1796, the whole north-western frontier, which was included within American bounds, was withheld from the possession of the country. The relations between the two governments were in an unsettled state. Charges were made on the part of the British, and pressed at the court of St. James, that the Americans had not complied with their own agreements. It is quite possible, although differences of opinion now exist on the subject, that Great Britain had regretted the cession of the wide and fertile region along the American shore of the lakes, and was disposed to pursue a policy that would secure it at first to the Indians, and subsequently to themselves.
But the war was about drawing to a close. Although in 1791 Canada was divided into an Upper and Lower Pro- vince, which introduced upon the stage a number of promi- nent actors, still no material injury was cffected to the Ameri- can cause by the change. The upper province was placed un- der the administration of Colonel T. G. Simcoe, who was ap- pointed lieutenant-governor to the newly-organised territory. Col. Simcoe established his head-quarters at Niagara. AI- though at first professing a pacific spirit, it is manifest, that with the growing difficulties between thetwocountries, he afterwards exercised his influence most strongly against the United States, aided by Colonel McKec,* Capt. Elliot, and the notorious Si-
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mon Girty. The three last were British agents. Lord Dor- chester, it is affirmed, exercised his own influence for the same end, by the delivery of a speech, whose genuineness, how- ever, has been denied, to the deputies of the seven nations of Canada, as well as all the other Indians at the grand council of the preceding autumn. After the delivery of this speech Governor Simcoe repaired over land to Detroit, and, proceed- ing with a strong detachment to the foot of the Miami Rapids, he erected a fortress at that place. During the whole progress of the war Detroit was made the scene of its most interesting councils ; and the half-breeds of that place constantly exercis- ed their address and duplicity by operating upon the minds of the credulous savages around the post. It was represented to them, and also to the remote tribes, that Governor Simcoe was to march to their aid with fifteen hundred men ; that he was giving them clothing and all necessary supplies ; that all the speeches sent to them were red as blood. The wampum and feathers were painted red ; the war pipes and hatchets were painted red ; and even the tobacco was painted red. The minds of the savages were swayed by such influences. This was not, however, the case with the Shawanese prisoners who were captured. They said " they could not depend upon the British for effectual support ; that they were always setting the Indians on like dogs after game, perchance to go to war and kill the Americans, but they did not help them."
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