USA > Michigan > History of Michigan, civil and topographical, in a compendious form; with a view of the surrounding lakes > Part 5
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In 1709 England and France being at war, hostilities were re-commenced in their American colonies, which continued until the treaty of Utrecht, in 1712. After this event, peace was enjoyed by the Canadian provinces. This peace was peculiarly fortunate at that period, because, in 1714, there were only about four thousand five hundred men in Canada able to bear arms. Beneficial changes were, however, made in the laws, and the fur trade was prosecuted with vigor. Such were the circumstances in which the colonization of Michi- gan was commenced.
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HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
CHAPTER III.
Colonization of Michigan -- Michilimackinac founded-Fort St. Joseph-Fort erected on St. Joseph's River -- Indian Council held regarding the post at De- troit-Detroit founded-Early condition of the town -- Indian allies of the French-First attack of Detroit by the Ottawas-Second attack of Detroit by the Foxes -- Early Travellers through the region of the Lakes-Baron La Hon- 1an-Peter Francis Xavier de Charlevoix.
MICHIGAN Was embraced in the Canadian jurisdiction, the prominent features of which have been described. The French settlements, which had been at first confined to the eastern portion of Canada, soon spread upon the north- western lakes, from Detroit to the remotest shores of Lake Su- perior. They consisted originally of solitary forts, at the point where the city of Detroit now stands ; at the present site of Fort Gratiot ; at Michilimackinac, on the northern part of the peninsula of Michigan ; at St. Marie ; at St. Joseph, on the river of the same name ; at Chicago in Illinois, and at Green Bay, within the organized limits of Wisconsin. These forts were stretched at wide distances along the lake frontier, at those points which commanded the largest tract of country, where the Indians were in the habit of resorting from the fa- tigues of the chase-and which afforded the most extensive communication by canoes with the inland streams of the forest, and the most secure and convenient navigation across the lakes to the head-quarters of the fur trade, Quebec and Mon- treal. Constructed of bark or logs, surrounded by pickets, and near the chapel of the Jesuits, the forts were erected not only to protect the trade, but also the ecclesiastics, in their mission- ary operations among the savages. Michilimackinac, on the peninsula, was one of the oldest forts erected; and it is of con- siderable importance as connected with the progress of the far trade and the military incidents of Michigan. Its foundation was laid by Father Marquette in the year 1671, who induced a party of Hurons to make a settlement at that place, as a nu-
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FIRST COLONIZATION OF MICHIGAN.
cleus for a future colony. A fort and chapel having been built, it soon grew into great prominence as a trading post, being situated on the grand avenue of commerce, between the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, and the most conspicuous rendezvous of the traders, merchants, soldiers, Coureurs des Bois, missionaries, and savages of the north-west. As early as 1688 the Ottawas and the Hurons had small villages in the vicinity of the chapel and the fort, separated by a single pali- sade ; and the former nation had commenced building a forti- fication on a rising ground near that place. Near to the vil- lage of the Hurons, the Jesuits had a college, adjoining a chapel, enclosed with pickets, in which they exercised their exertions for the conversion of the Indians. Their efforts for that object were, however, in the main unsuccessful, accord- ing to their own acknowledgment ; and the utmost limit, to which they could bring the minds of the savages in their cause, was to be permitted to administer the sacrament to their · dying children, and to aged Indians just ready to sink into their graves.
The Coureurs des Bois had important settlements also at Michilimackinac, as the goods which were to be traded for furs with the Indians at Green Bay, in Illinois, along Lake Su- perior, and the country upon the banks of the Mississippi, were obliged to remain at that post for some time before they could be transported to the most conspicuous markets. The savages at that post derived their principal subsistence from the fish, which was found in great abundance in the straits and neighboring streams ; and it was believed to possess great advantages from the fact that the Iroquois dared not to venture in their canoes to cross the " strait of Lake Huron ;" and it was also surrounded by marshes, which prevented their passage by land .* When Charlevoix visited Michilimackinac, in 1721, however, the post had fallen into decay. At that time the fort and missionary establishment were still retained, but the Indians opposed formidable obstacles to the exertions of the Jesuits. The post was subsequently much weakened by the
* La Hontan, vol. 1, p. 88.
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HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
diversion of the fur trade, as the northern Indians, who were ac- customed to bring their furs to this place, were enticed to Hud- son's Bay, where they traded with the English .* The cause assigned for this by Charlevoix was the fact that M. Cadillac, the founder of Detroit, had drawn to that place a great pro- portion of the Indians, especially the Hurons, who had been settled at Michilimackinac by father Marquette. There was, however, some trade carried on with the savages at that period, and it was a point of general resort by the French, who deemed it necessary to retain a Jesuit at this post for the preservation of the morals of the colonists.t
Soon after the occupation of Michilimackinac, the Sault de St. Marie was founded. Like the other French posts, it was comprised of a fort and chapel in 16SS, and was then a fa- vorite point of resort for the traders and savages on their way to Michilimackinac from the forests of Lake Superior. At that place there was then a settlement of Indians, called by the French the Salteurs, who procured their subsistence mainly from the fish which abounded at the foot of the rapids .; It had been populated for a long period previous to the mission of Charlevoix in 1721 ; and bracelets for the Indians, as well as candlesticks, crosses, and censers, were wrought for the use of the church, by a goldsmith who resided at the village, from the masses of pure copper found there, as well as on the shores of Lake Superior.§
A settlement was also made, at an early period, at Fort Gratiot, which was then called Fort St. Joseph, and a fort was there erected by the Coureurs des Bois at the expense of M. Dulbut, and occupied by the French. This fort was soon destroyed ; Fort Niagara had been abandoned to the Iroquois, and, as a measure of precaution, it was burned by the Baron La Hontan, in August 16SS, under the order of the Marquis de Denonville, the Governor-general of Canada.
Besides another post somewhere on the river St. Clair, a fort and chapel were also built up by the French on the St. Joseph
* Charlevoix's Journal. ៛ Ibid, vol. 2, p. 42.
# La Hontan, vol. 1, p. 93.
§ Charlevoix's Journal, vol. 2, p. 45. || La Hontan, vol. 1, p. 84.
39
FIRST COLONIZATION OF MICHIGAN.
river, the remains of which are still to be seen. The design of these establishments was to extend the dominion of the Frenchi. In 1721, this post had a mission, which was protected by a Commandant and a small garrison. The house of the Com- mandant, called the fort, was surrounded by pickets in the vicinity of three villages-those of the Hurons, Potawata- mies, and Miamies, converts of the missionaries, who were stationed at this point during that period. Without the bounds of Michigan, settlements were also made by the French at Green Bay, in the territory of Wisconsin about the year 1670, and also at Chicago in Illinois, for the purposes of religion and trade; and these exhibited the same features with the other posts. Their population was composed of a command- ant who was called Governor, Jesuits, soldiers, traders, and savages. The most marked features of these posts were the fort and the chapel, surrounded with small patches of cultivated land, and the wigwams of the Indians. In 1689 Green Bay contained a fort and chapel, which were situated amid the villages of the Sacs, Potawatamies, and Menominees. This place was at that time a rich market for peltries and Indian corn, which the savages sold to the traders as they passed to and from the Mississippi .*
The English and French having embarked as rivals in the fur trade, it became an important object with the former na- tion to secure its share of the traffic of the north-western lakes. Accordingly, a trading expedition of the English arrived at Michilimackinac in 1686, through the connivance of the Otta- gamies or Fox Indians, who then occupied the banks of the Detroit River. These tribes had been for a long time un- friendly to the French, and the English had exercised their policy to strengthen the friendship of the Foxes for their own cause, by frequent messages and valuable presents. At that period, no permanent settlement had been made at Detroit, because the French had a more direct and safer route to the upper lakes, from Montreal to Michilimackinac, through the Ottawas or Grand River.
* La Hontan, vol. 1, p. 105.
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IIISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
The post of Detroit had long been regarded as a valuable point of settlement for the fur trade, inasmuch as it command- ed a broad tract of country, across the peninsula even to the banks of the Mississippi, and furnished a direct channel of navigation to the English colonies in New-York by the way of Lake Erie. While the English were looking with eager eyes to the acquisition of a post on the Detroit River, they were anticipated by their rivals the French. Taking coun- sel by the movements of the English, and determined them- selves to establish a post at this place, they had adopted the precaution to call a grand council at Montreal for the pur- pose of negotiating a treaty to that effect. This council was one of great pomp, and was comprised of chiefs of the different tribes from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi, the Governor- general of Canada, and the most prominent seigneurs of the country. It was the most imposing assemblage which had ever collected in the wilderness. At this council, the grounds on which the two nations based their claims to the country were discussed, as well as their relations to the several hordes. The complaints and wishes of the two claimants were also tho- roughly weighed. In this discussion, the Iroquois alleged that they had understood that the French were about to erect a post upon the Detroit River, and opposed the measure ; because they said the country belonged to them, and they had before prohibited the English from ma ing an establishment at that point.
To these remarks of the Iroquois, the Governor-general of Canada replied, that the country belonged neither to the In- dians or the English, but to the King of France ; and that there was an expedition already on the march for the purpose of establishing a colony on the banks of the Detroit. In ac- cordance with this determination, Antoine de la Motte Cadil- lac, Lord of Bouaget and Montdesert, and commandant for the king at Detroit, acting under a commission from Louis XIV. and being granted fifteen acres square, left Montreal in June, 1701, with one hundred men, a Jesuit missionary, and all the necessary means for the erection of a colony ; and reached Detroit in July of the same year, where they commenced the
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FIRST COLONIZATION OF MICHIGAN.
foundation of the settlements .* Before that period Detroit had not been unknown. As far back as 1620 it was the re- sort of the French Missionaries, and when first visited by the French, its present site was occupied by an Indian village named Teuchsa Grondie.t
These traders and missionaries had, however, made no permanent establishment at this place, but encamped at that point as a convenient resting ground in their journeys through the wilderness upon the lakes. As early as 1637 a mission had been sent out among the Hurons near the Detroit River, but no permanent settlement was made. The colony of Cadillac, however, came prepared with all the means of colo- nization. A rude fort was erected, and surrounded with pickets, which enclosed a few houses occupied by the French traders and the soldiers attached to the post. This establishment was, however, rude, frail, and mounted with small cannon, which were more adapted to overawe the Indians than for solid and effective defence.
While the French settlements were thus extended along the frontier of Michigan, they were surrounded by powerful savage confederates in the Algonquin tribes along the lakes. Among these were the agricultural race of the Ottawas, scat- tered in their villages through the forest ; the Hurons, a horde which seems to have been most inclined to religion, and consequently most willing to encourage the exertions of the Jesuit missionaries ; the Potawatamies, the Menominees of Green Bay, and the numerous and savage bands of Chippe- was, living upon the shores of Lake Superior, obtaining sub- sistence from the fish of the lakes ; a nation who had seldom seen the white man ; wild as the deer of their woods, and un bending as their granite mountains. These were the stock, who, in Michigan, during an early period, had leagued them- selves with the French, while the Foxes, of Iroquois des- cent, residing along the banks of the Detroit River, adhered to the English cause, and soon made their power felt against the French settlements.
* Cass's Discourse. t Colden's Five Nations.
6
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HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
The two. Indian confederacies, the Iroquois and Algon- quins, who had attached themselves to the French and En- glish governments, while their causes of alliance are not clearly known, were equally capricious and unstable in the leagues which they had formed. They had, perhaps, attached them- selves to these two rival powers, not so much from any strong friendship which they felt for the white men, as to increase their influencein battering down the power of their savage enemies, whom they hated with an intensity based on imme- morial feuds, and which had been strengthening for ages.
During the third year after Detroit was founded, the Indians in that quarter were invited to Albany, probably with a view to negotiations with the English government. It was, doubt- less, the policy of those colonies to disaffect them. A number of the Ottawa chiefs visited that place, and they returned with altered feelings .* During that visit they were persuaded by the English, who still desired to obtain possession of the post, that the French settlements on the Lakes were designed to wrest the dominion of the country from their hands, and, acting on this conviction, they set fire to the town. The fire was, however, discovered before any serious injury was done. About the same time another party of the Ottawas, having re- turned from a successful expedition against the Iroquois, flushed with victory, paraded themselves in hostile array in front of the fort, and endeavored to induce the other Indians to join them in its demolition. M. de Tonti was then the French commandant. The Sieur de Vincennes was accord- ingly despatched for the purpose of dispersing their hostile bands, and he succeeded in defeating and putting them to flight. In the hurry of their departure, they abandoned to the French the Iroquois prisoners whom they had captured, and these were sent back to the Iroquois tribes.
At the same time, three villages of friendly Indians were established in the vicinity of Detroit, some of whom had been brought by Cadillac from Michilimackinac. A Huron settle- ment had been made on the banks of the river, about half a
* Cass's Discourse.
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COLONIZATION OF MICHIGAN.
mile below the city of Detroit ; a Potawatamie village was founded on the same side, and a village of the Ottawas had been erected above the town, on the Canadian shore of the stream.
The small settlements in Michigan, upon the lakes, conti- nued in quietude until the year 1712. Jesuit missionaries were from time to time sent out from Quebec and Montreal to the lake posts, to perform their offices among the savages ; and ad- ditional security was extended to Michilimackinac, St. Joseph, and other French posts in this quarter. It appears, that what- ever might have been the assumption on the part of the French in making their settlement at Detroit, the right of domain to the land had been before acknowledged to be vested in the Indians ; because it is well known that before any per- manent settlement was made on the lakes, M. Perrot, a French explorer, had visited the nations in that quarter, and the In- dians afterwards sent deputies to meet the sub-delegate of the Intendant of New France at the Falls of St. Marie. In ac- cordance with negotiations there made with the Indians, it was determined that the French should occupy that point in the name of their king, and, as a seal of the agreement, a cross was erected, bearing the arms of France .* This occurred previous to the settlement of Michilimackinac.
The Iroquois had occasionally sent out marauding parties against the French and Indians upon the lakes, and the Je- suits had been murdered with the most savage cruelty by their wandering bands. During the month of May, 1712, the Ottagamies or Foxes, who were then comparatively obscure, but who, it appears, were in secret alliance with the Iroquois, perfected a plan to demolish the town of Detroit. They were, doubtless, induced to do this by the Five Nations backed by the English, who wished to destroy this post and erect a fort of their own on its ruins. Arrangements were accordingly made for that object in silence and darkness. The Indians were noticed at that time congregating, under various preten- ces, around the fort, which was garrisoned by a small force of
* M'Gregor's British America.
a
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HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
twenty French soldiers. M. Du Buisson was commandant. The occupants of the three Indian villages at Detroit, the Potawatamies, the Ottawas, and the Hurons, were at that time absent on a hunting party ; and those were the only friendly savages on whom he could safely depend for aid. The plan which had been secretly devised for the destruction of the fort of Detroit was disclosed by a convert of their tribes, who had adopted the Catholic faith, before it was ripe for execution ; and M. Du Buisson immediately sent despatches through the wilderness, to call in the aid of the friendly Indians, and com- menced preparing the fort for a vigorous and effectual defence.
On the 13th of May, the attack of Detroit was commenced by the Foxes." At this juncture, and when their aid was most required, the Indians friendly to the French appeared through the wilderness, naked, painted, and armed for bat- tle, and the gates of the fort were opened for their recep- tion. Entering the council-house, they had an interview with Du Buisson, and repeated their friendship for the French, and their determination to die in defence of the fort.
The Foxes, having perceived the arrival of the friendly In- dians, retreated to the eastern boundary of the city of Detroit, where they entrenched themselves within their camp, for the purpose of future action. In order to drive them from that post, a block-house was erected by the French, which com- manded their position." Here they were attacked with great vigor, and cut off from all supply of water by the constant fire which was poured upon them by the forces of the French and their savage allies. Their provisions were soon exhaust- ed ; and, driven to despair by thirst and famine, they issued from their camp and from having been the besieged, they be- came the besiegers. Rushing out upon the French, they succeeded in acquiring the possession of a house near the fort of Detroit. From this house, which they fortified, they at- tacked the French, but were again dislodged by the cannon, and driven back to their former intrenchment.
Finding that their attempt to undermine the French post
Cass's Discourse. t Ibid.
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ATTACK OF DETROIT BY THE FOXES.
was likely to be unsuccessful, the Foxes sent a deputation to the French Commandant, with pacific overtures ; but as no confidence was placed in their promises, the capitulation was rejected. This tended only to increase their rage and indig- nation. They now deemed themselves insulted, and, under the influence of a determined and desperate revenge, they dis- charged showers of blazing arrows upon the fort. The lighted matches which had been affixed to the arrows, coming in contact with many of the roofs of the houses, which were thatched with straw, kindled them into flame, until the pre- caution was taken to cover the rest with wet skins ; and by that means they were preserved.
M. Du Buisson was almost discouraged by the desperation of the Foxes, and had nearly determined to evacuate the post, and retire to Michilimackinac, when he was dissuaded from that act by the friendly Indians, who promised to increase their efforts to dislodge the Foxes. When the preparations for the second attack had been concluded, the war-song and the war-dance finished, the savages returned to their posts and re-commenced the onset upon the Foxes with increased fury. It was successful. A constant and unerring fire was poured upon their intrenchments, which were soon heaped with the dying and the dead.
A capitulation was again demanded. Before any negotia- tion was effected, however, the Foxes retreated into that por- tion of the peninsula of Michigan which advances into Lake St. Clair, where they intrenched themselves. This abandon- ment was made at night, during a storm, without discovery, and on the nineteenth day of the siege.
As soon as this escape was made known, they were pursued by the Indian allies, aided by the French, and attacked in their camp. On the first action, the Foxes gained considerable advantage, and repulsed the French and Indians, who had attacked them without sufficient precaution and judgment. Another and more successful method was soon adopted to dislodge them from that position. About four days were oc- cupied by the French for that object ; a field battery was erect- ed, and the entrenchment of the Foxes soon fell, battered
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HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
down by the French cannon on the fifth day of that siege. Entering the works in arms, the allies and French commenc- ed a deadly slaughter upon the Foxes, destroyed about a thousand of their warriors, while the women and children, whose lives they spared, were divided as slaves among the French confederates.
The discomfited bands of the Foxes, at war with every power, civilized and savage, in this quarter, the Ishmaelites of the American wilderness, soon after collected their scattered bands on the banks of the Fox River of Green Bay. Here they commanded the country between the lakes and the Mis- sissippi, so that no travellers could pass through their territory unless they were in large bodies, and armed ; while their warriors were sent out into the forest to seek objects of butch- ery and devastation. The predatory spirit of these hordes caused great alarm to the French missionaries and traders. So great apprehension, indeed, was entertained by the French interest from their hostility, and so great injury had already been done by those tribes, that an expedition was fitted out against them by the French, backed by Indian allies, most of whom had solid ground of revenge against the Foxes. These tribes had selected a strong-hold on the banks of the Fox River, now called by the French Butte des Morts, THE HILL OF THE DEAD. That position was secured by a deep ditch and three courses of palisades. At this place they collected their women and children, and prepared for a desperate de- fence. The fort was so strong, that De Louvigny, the com- mandant of the expedition, declined a sudden attack, and pre- pared for a formal siege. Advancing by a gradual progress to a proper position for undermining the works, he was pre- paring for the final result, when terms of capitulation were proposed and accepted. The warriors who had survived the siege were spared. After this event, the pride of the Ottaga- mis was humbled, and they sunk into obscurity during the remainder of the French war.
The few scattered posts of Michigan, at that time without any separate organization of colonial government, such as prevailed in the English colonies at this period, exhibit no
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LA HONTAN.
connected sequence of prominent events. They were a part of the Canadian domain, inhabited by wandering hordes of sava- ges and migratory traders, whose operations had reference to the fur trade, and whose head-quarters were at Quebec and Montreal. To the French soldiers and Jesuits who were sent into that region, the freshness and magnificence of the scenery spread out the most glowing visions. From the metropo- lis of refinement and the arts, the depository of most that was valuable in sculpture, painting, and architecture, they were transferred to a trackless wilderness, where all was unculti- vated nature. If their reflections were somewhat tinctured with romance, the scenes which surrounded them were emi- nently calculated to call forth that spirit.
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