History of Oakland County, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories, Part 3

Author: Durant, Samuel W
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts & co.
Number of Pages: 553

USA > Michigan > Oakland County > History of Oakland County, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories > Part 3

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In 1641, Raymbault and Jogues passed in a birch canoe around the north side of Lake Huron and held a council with the Chippewas at the Sault St. Marie, where they first heard of the Nadonnessies, or Sioux, who dwelt eighteen days' journey to the westward of the great lake. But, notwithstanding their piety and zeal, these adventurous spirits were subject to the same vicissitudes and perils as other men. In 1642, Jogues and Bressani were captured by the Iroquois and

savagely tortured to death. In 1648 the mission of St. Joseph (near Fort Gratiot) was destroyed and Father Daniel slain; and in 1649 St. Louis and St. Ignace were taken and Brebœuf, a veteran soldier of the cross, and the young but zeal- ous Lallemand captured while ministering to the sick and dying, and most barbar- ously tortured by the blood-thirsty Iroquois. In 1660, Father Rene Mesnard visited the south shore of Lake Superior, gathered a church at the bay of St. The- resa, and was afterwards lost in the forests on Keweenaw peninsula. His cassock and breviary were said to have been found among the Sioux long afterwards.

Meanwhile a change took place in the government of the colony of Canada. The " Company of the Hundred Associates," which had ruled since 1632, re- signed its charter, and New France passed under the jurisdiction of the " Com- pany of the Indies."§ In 1665, Tracy was made viceroy, Courcelles governor, and Talon intendant. The duties of the latter included a supervision of the policy, justice, and finances of the colony. Under the new government the Jesuit mis- sions were fostered and encouraged, and Father Claude Allouez was sent out the same year, via the Ottawa, to the far west. From the Sault St. Marie he passed along the south coast of Lake Superior, and landed at the bay of Chegoimegon, where was located the principal village of the Chippewas.

Here, in August, 1665, he established the first permanent mission on the lake, and made an alliance, on behalf of the colony, with the Pottawatomies, Sacs, Foxes, and Illinois against the Iroquois.

The next year, accompanied by a band of Ottawas, he crossed to the north shore of Lake Superior, and, voyaging along to the western extremity, met the Sioux, who described to him a great river flowing to the south, and called by them " Missippi."||

In 1668, Claude Dablon and Jacques T Marquette established a mission at the Sault St. Marie, and, during the succeeding five years, Allouez, Dablon, and Marquette explored the region lying south of Lake Superior and west of Lake Michigan, and founded the missions of Michilimackinac and Green Bay (the " Baie des Puans" of the French). In 1670, Nicholas Perrot was sent out to propose a congress of all the western Indians, and in 1671 a great council was held at the Sault St. Marie, at which, with much pomp and ceremony, the nations of the northwest were taken under the protection of France.

MARQUETTE AND JOLIET.

Not satisfied with mere display, Talon, the intendant, was determined to explore the country and learn more of the great river of which Allouez had heard.

To this end he authorized and directed Marquette and M. Joliet, of Quebec, to explore the region where it was supposed to be. Then followed the remarkable voyage of these adventurers (1673) through the lakes to Michilimackinac, ** and from thence in bark canoes up Green bay and the Fox river, over the portage to the Wisconsin ( Ouisconsin), and thence down to the Mississippi, which they reached on the 17th of June.

Boldly entering, against the advice of the natives, they leisurely sailed down the Mississippi as far as the A-kamocas (since corrupted into Arkansas), and from thence returned to Lake Michigan, via the Illinois river, along whose lux- uriant shores swarmed every species of game known to the country, in immense numbers. The party safely reached Green bay in September. The discoveries made by Marquette and Joliet were among the most important of that age, and awakened an interest which eventually culminated in the still more remarkable voyages of

LA SALLE AND HENNEPIN,

extending over a period of eight years, from 1679 to 1687. " Robert Chevalier de la Salle was a native of Rouen, in Normandy. He was educated in a semi- nary of the Jesuits, and probably being designed for the church, received no share of his father's estate. For some unknown reason he left the seminary, with, however, the approbation of his superiors, came to Canada about the year- 1667, and engaged in the fur trade. But his active mind was busied with specu- lations far beyond the details of his business. It was the belief of that age that a passage through the American continent might be found to China and the East, and La Salle's mind was so filled with the idea, and with the hope of realizing it, that his trading post on the island of Montreal was named La Chine. And thus he was occupied with great thoughts of discovery when Marquette and Joliet returned."tt

He at once laid his ideas and plans before Frontenac, then governor-general

* Written also De Chatte, and said to have been governor of Dieppe.

t " Quebec," according to Charlevoix, is derived from the Algonquin word Quebeis, signifying a strait.

# Lanman's "History of Michigan," published in 1839, says in 1612.

¿ The "one hundred associates" had become reduced to forty, and had sold their rights and privileges for one thousand beaver-skins .- Lanman's " History of Michigan." | According to Lanman, " Mich-i-se-pee."

" According to Charlevoix, Joseph.

** This name is said to be derived from the Indian word Mich-i-mack-i-nac, meaning a great turtle, or the Chippewa word Mich-ine-mauk-i-nonk, signifying the place of giant fairies. tt " Annals of the West."

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

of Canada, who warmly indorsed them. La Salle's great ruling idea was to explore the country lying between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico, via the Mississippi river, and connect the two widely-separated regions by a chain of strong posts and fortifications, the first step in which project was the rebuilding of Fort Frontenac or Catarocony (sometimes spelled Cataruqui) substantially of stone. Count Frontenac saw in La Salle's suggestions the germs of a magnifi- cent empire in America, whose advantages should wholly accrue to his beloved France and the glory of whose discovery and upbuilding should link the names of those conspicuous in the enterprise with the history of all coming time.

He warmly espoused the cause of La Salle, and advised him to proceed at once to France and lay the matter before the king and his counsellors, and, to aid him in his suit, gave him letters to the renowned Colbert, minister of finance and marine.

La Salle returned to France in 1675, and laid his plans, together with Count Frontenac's letter, before the minister, who at once entered into the spirit of the adventurer. La Salle was made a chevalier, and invested with the seigniory of Fort Catarocony, upon condition that he would rebuild it, and received from the noblemen and princes of the kingdom assurances of aid and good will. He soon after returned to Canada, where he labored diligently in the reconstruction of Fort Frontenac until the close of 1677, when he again visited France and re- ported his progress.

He was a second time received with great favor, and, at the instance of Colbert and his son Seignelay, then minister of marine, he was granted new letters patent, with additional privileges.

On the 14th of July, 1678, he sailed from Rochelle for Quebec, accompanied by Henri de Tonti,* an Italian, as lieutenant, and thirty men.

They arrived at Quebec on the 15th of September, and soon after proceeded up the river to Frontenac.

Here, quietly working, was Louis Hennepin, a friar of the Franciscan order, and of the Recollet variety. He had come to Canada about the time of La Salle's return from his first visit to the court, and had, in the mean time, made a journey among the Iroquois. He was appointed by his religious superiors to accompany the exploring expedition about to start for the unknown west, under La Salle, and was awaiting him at Fort Frontenac on his arrival from France.

The chevalier's first steps were to send forward agents to trade among the Indians, and by timely presents and pacific counsel to prepare the way for his coming ; and on the 18th of November, 1678, he himself embarked in a small brigantine of about ten tons burden to cross Lake Ontario. This, says one of his chroniclers, was the first " ship" that ever sailed upon that fresh-water sea. The weather was so unpropitious, and the lake so boisterous, that he was nearly four weeks beating up from Frontenac to Niagara. Near the Iroquois village of Niagara, La Salle erected magazines for the storage of supplies, and commenced work upon a fort, which the jealousy of the Iroquois compelled him to desist from for a time.

On the 26th of January, 1679, at the mouth of Cayuga creek, on the Ameri- can side of the river and about six miles above the great falls, La Salle laid the keel of the first vessel built by Europeans on the western waters. ; Leaving his men to continue work upon the vessel, he returned to Frontenac to collect and forward the necessary stores, cables, anchors, etc., for the new vessel.

Through the cold winter days some of his men worked upon the vessel, which was christened the " Griffin," after the arms of Count Frontenac, while others trafficked with the neighboring Indians for furs and peltry, until the 20th of January, 1679, when the chevalier returned from Frontenac. His little brigan- tine was wrecked by bad management, and a large share of the stores and provisions went to the bottom.

Early in the spring La Salle returned with a store of furs to Frontenac, with which to procure another outfit, while Tonti went forward to explore the lake coasts, collect the men together, and make ready for the voyage into the upper waters.

On the 7th of August, 1679, the "Griffin" was ready to sail, and with Te Deums and the discharge of fire-arms, she stood out upon the deep, blue waters before her and began the first voyage ever undertaken by a European-built ship upon the waters of the vast inland seas, whose aggregate area is equal to ninety- four thousand square miles.

Over the dancing waters of Erie, past the sunny islands in the west, through the rapid St. Clair, over the shallow lake beyond, and up against the strong cur- rent of the blue "d'etroit," between luxuriant shores, they swept out upon the tumultuous waves of the Huron sea, where they encountered storms terrible as those of the Atlantic, and, after many days of perilous adventure, sought safety in the roadstead of Michilimackinac on the 27th of August.

Here the bold adventurers remained until the middle of September, founded a fort (to be famous in after-years), explored the adjacent shores, and trafficked with the red men.

From thence he pursued his voyage to Green bay (" Baie des Puans"). At this place, finding a large quantity of furs, he loaded the "Griffin" and sent her down the lakes to Niagara. She sailed on her return on the 18th of September, under command of a pilot supposed to be experienced and trustworthy, while La Salle with fourteen men proceeded up the western coast of the lake in boats or canoes, leisurely examining the country as he passed along. Tonti was to look up some men, who had straggled, and join La Salle at the head of the lake. The chevalier arrived at the mouth of the St. Joseph river (then called Miamis) on the 1st of November, having coasted around the southern end of the lake, past the sites of Chicago and Michigan City. At this point he built a fort,t and re- mained nearly a month, when, hearing nothing from his vessel, he determined to continue his explorations. Leaving ten men to garrison the fort, on the 3d of December he started, with about twenty men and three monks, on " his great voy- age and glorious undertaking." Following up the St. Joseph river as far as the present city of South Bend, Indiana, he crossed a short portage to the The-a- ki-ki, since corrupted into Kan-ka-kee, and made his way through its marshy channel to the Illinois river. At a deserted Indian village within the limits of La Salle county, Illinois, he found an abundant store of Indian corn, which he appropriated, and, floating down the Illinois river, arrived on the 4th of January, 1680, at a widening of that stream, since called Peoria lake, at the southern ex- tremity of which he constructed a fort, and gave it the name Crevecœur ( Broken Heart). This fort most probably stood upon a site now occupied by the thriving city of Peoria. Whether La Salle had heard of the loss of his vessel, which most likely occurred upon the stormy waters of Lake Huron, is not known, but the name given to his little stockade is at least suggestive of a mind depressed with gloomy forebodings.

Remaining here until the last of February, La Salle determined to return to Canada and procure more men and supplies wherewith to continue his exploration of the western rivers. In the mean time he dispatched Hennepin with a small party to explore the Mississippi towards its source, and leaving Tonti with the larger number of the men to work upon the fortifications and extend his inter- course among the Indians, he started with a few companions and traversed a wilder- ness of at least twelve hundred miles, from Illinois to Fort Frontenac, along the south- ern borders of Lakes Michigan, Erie, and Ontario, and at last reached his destina- tion. His worst forebodings were realized. The "Griffin" had foundered, his agents had proven false to their trust, and his creditors had seized all his remaining goods. Almost any other man, under such circumstances, would have given up in despair, but La Salle, nothing daunted, straightened up his affairs, and by mid- summer was again on his way to rejoin his little band in Illinois. But on his arrival, in December, 1680, or January, 1681, he found the fort deserted and no tidings of the fate of those he had left behind.

After La Salle's departure the command of Tonti had suffered from the sur- rounding Indians and a war party of Iroquois, who had made their way from their homes in New York to make war upon the Indians of the prairies.

Their commander at length became disheartened, and in September, 1680, aban- doned the post and made his way to the lakes, and finally to Michilimackinac.

Once more discouraged, La Salle turned his face towards Canada, and, return- ing by way of Lakes Michigan and Huron, found his lieutenant on his arrival at Michilimackinac, in June, 1681.

Meanwhile, Hennepin proceeded from Crevecoeur and reached the Mississippi in seven days. Embarking upon its turbulent waters, he paddled his way against the ice-encumbered stream, and on the 11th of April arrived at the mouth of the Wisconsin river. At this point he was taken prisoner by a band of northern Indians, who treated him and his companions with comparative kindness, and took them up the river to the falls of St. Anthony, which was named by Hennepin in honor of his patron saint. This was on the 1st of May. From this point they traveled by land to a village of the Sioux, situated two hundred miles northwest of the falls. Here, after a sojourn of three months, a band of French explorers, under command of one Sieur de Luth, § reached them by way of Lake Superior. With this officer the captives returned to Canada in November, 1680, just after La Salle had returned to the wilderness.

Hennepin soon after proceeded to France, where, in 1684, he published a his- tory of his adventures.

After La Salle met Tonti at Michilimackinac they returned together to Fron- tenac, where they fitted out another expedition, and in August, 1681, were on their way once more towards the goal of their hopes, the Mississippi. On the 3d

* De Tonti accompanied La Salle in most of his voyages, and was long a resident of Detroit. + " Annals of the West," page 56.

# The Jesuits subsequently established a mission here.

¿ From whom Duluth was probably named.

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

of November they reached St. Joseph's, from whence, about the middle of Decem- ber, he started with twenty-three Frenchmen, eighteen eastern Indians, ten Indian women, and three children, and crossed to the present site of the city of Chi- cago, and made the portage thence to the head-waters of the Illinois river. The party traveled on foot, with their baggage upon sledges. Leaving Chicago about the 6th of January, 1682, they passed down the Illinois, found Fort Creve- cœur in good condition, and reached the Mississippi on the 6th of February. At a point on one of the Chickasaw bluffs a Frenchman, named Proudhomme, was lost while hunting on the 26th of February. A fort was built upon the spot and named after him, though he was afterwards found. Passing down, on the 6th of April, 1682, they discovered the three great openings by which the river discharges its waters into the sea. On the 7th they examined the sea-coast, and on the 9th erected a cross, to which were affixed the arms of France, with this inscription :

"LOUIS LE GRAND, ROI DE FRANCE ET DE NAVARRE, RÈGNE, LE NEUVIÈME AVRIL, 1682."

La Salle then took formal possession of all the lands watered by the great river, in the name of the king of France, and the ceremony ended by a salute of fire- arms and cries of " Vive le Roi!"

Thus the bold and determined navigator and explorer laid the foundation for the claims which the French made to a vast region, and which they stubbornly defended for three-quarters of a century,-a region which to-day comprises the largest and most fertile area of land upon the face of the globe drained by a single stream, with the exception of the basin of the Amazon, in South America, and cap- able of sustaining a much denser population than the valley of the latter stream.

The expedition did not remain long in the lower Mississippi. Returning up the river, everything progressed favorably until they arrived at Fort Proudhomme, when La Salle was taken violently sick and compelled to stop. His lieutenant, Tonti, was sent forward with dispatches to Count Frontenac, and La Salle him- self followed, and arrived at St. Joseph in September. From this latter point he sent Father Zenobe with dispatches to represent him in France, while he engaged in the fur trade in the northwest, and is said to have completed a fort, called St. Louis, upon a high and commanding bluff of the Illinois river, which the French writers describe as being two hundred and fifty feet high, and inac- cessible except upon one side .*

In the autumn of 1683 the chevalier returned to France. In July, 1684, a fleet of twenty-four vessels sailed from Rochelle for America, four of which, hav- ing La Salle and a large party of emigrants on board, were destined for Louisiana. The subsequent trials, misfortunes, and adventures of this intrepid navigator are well known to every student of history. He missed the mouth of the Mississippi, and finally landed at Matagorda bay, in Texas, where he built a fort out of the wreck of one of his vessels, which he named St. Louis. He remained here until the spring of 1687, exploring the country and fighting the hostile sav- ages, and on the 20th of March, 1687, while on an exploring expedition, was treacherously waylaid and shot by his own men near a river called the Cenis, in Texas. Thus perished one of the most remarkable men of any age.

We have given this somewhat lengthy account of La Salle because he was the first European who visited the present territory of Michigan in a sail-vessel, and also because he was instrumental in locating and erecting at least two prominent fortifications within her limits,-Michilimackinac and Miamis, on the St. Joseph.

In the course of his voyages and journeyings by sea and land, he passed en- tirely around the lower peninsula and examined many of its bays and rivers, and his journey in the winter of 1680-81, from Fort Crevecoeur to Frontenac, on foot, through the wilderness, quite likely included the route from the St. Joseph river to the head of Lake Erie, through at least a portion of Michigan.

CHAPTER III.

THE FRANCISCANS AND JESUITS-INDIAN WARS-EARLY SETTLEMENTS IN MICHIGAN-FIRST SETTLEMENT AT DETROIT-SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT- FIRST SIEGE OF DETROIT-MILITARY ROAD TO THE OHIO RIVER-FIRST APPEARANCE OF PONTIAC-DETROIT SURRENDERED TO THE ENGLISH.

To the Franciscan and Jesuit branches of the Romish priesthood more than to any other class of men is the region around the great lakes indebted for its ear-

liest settlements ; and to their influence more than any other cause may be attrib- uted the almost unlimited sway exercised by the civil and military rulers of France over the children of the forest.

As has already been shown, the earliest settlements within the territory of Michigan were established by the Jesuits at St. Joseph, at the foot of Lake Huron; at St. Ignace, St. Louis, and Mackinaw, near the straits; at the Sault St. Marie; at St. Joseph, on Lake Michigan; and at several points along the southern shore of Lake Superior.

The first missionaries among the Indians were Le Caron, Viel, and Sagard (Franciscans), as early as 1616, under Champlain's administration.

Owing to the fierce hostility of the Iroquois, the French had rarely visited Lake Erie or the rivers connecting it with Lakes St. Clair and Huron. Their line of operations had been by the valley of the Ottawa river, Lake Nipissing, and Lake Huron, whose borders were occupied by the friendly Hurons, or Wyandots, until they were expelled by the Iroquois in 1649.

The Ottawas had formerly lived in the valley of the Ottawa river, in Canada, from whence they had been driven by the terrible Iroquois. The Ottawas, Ojib- was, and Pottawatomies had banded themselves together in a sort of confedera- tion for mutual defense. The Ojibwas were said to have been the most numer- ous, and were principally located around Lake Superior, with a small portion on the lower peninsula, near Michilimackinac. The Chippewas, another western tribe, probably lived along the eastern coast of Lake Michigan. Two warlike nations occupied the peninsula lying between the Lakes Ontario, Erie, and Huron : the Hurons or Wyandots, and the Neutral nation. The Hurons lived along the eastern borders of the great sea which bears their name, while the Neutral nation occupied the region lying along the north shore of Lake Erie, with their left flank thrown across the Niagara river. Both these nations spoke a dialect of the Algonquin language. The population of the Huron nation has been variously estimated at from ten thousand to thirty thousand souls, but it did not probably exceed the smaller estimate.

In 1649 the dreaded Iroquois broke in upon the quiet of the Hurons, cap- tured their principal village, and slaughtered or carried into captivity its inhab- itants, scattering the entire nation. Some found a refuge among the French inhabitants of Lower Canada, and many fled to the region north and west of Lake Superior, where, encountering the bands of the fierce Dacotahs, they were driven back, and finally established themselves about the outlet of the great lakes, among the adjacent shores and islands in the northern part of Lake Huron.

About the year 1680 a colony of them made a permanent settlement on the site of Detroit, " where, by their superior valor, capacity, and address, they soon acquired a marvelous ascendency over the surrounding Algonquins."

It is claimed by some that as early as 1620 the site of Detroit was occupied by an Indian village called Teuch-sa Gron-die, but to what nation or tribe its people belonged, or what became of them, is not known.

The Indian nations were so much mixed together in their transient settlements, and each particular tribe had so many appellations, that it is next to impossible to speak with any degree of certainty regarding them.

In the vicinity of Detroit were found Hurons, Ottawas, Ojibwas, Pottawato- mies, Ottagamies, Mascoutins, Twightwees, or Miamis, and here and there scat- tering bands of the Iroquois, and probably others. The Neutral nation was completely destroyed by the Senecas, and soon after the Eries and Andostes shared the same fate. Between the years 1649 and 1672 the Iroquois destroyed or drove into exile four of the most warlike nations of the continent.

FIRST SETTLEMENT AT DETROIT.

In 1694, Antoine de la Motte Cadillac was placed in command of Mackinaw, then the most important post in the northwest. In 1699 he visited France and proposed the establishment of a post at Detroit, and Count Ponchartrain, the prime minister of Louis XIV., approved of his plan.

Both the French and English were anxious to establish a settlement at this point, and the former power soon took the necessary steps to occupy the ground and forestall its great rival. Preliminary to carrying out the plan, and as a pre- cautionary measure, a great council of all the Indian tribes from the St. Lawrence, to the Mississippi, including the Iroquois, was held at Montreal in the spring of 1701, at which the matter was presented to the Indians and fully discussed. The project was strongly opposed by the Iroquois, who stated that they had already refused the English the coveted privilege; but the governor-general declared that the land belonged not to the Indians, nor the English, but to the king of France, and that it would be occupied at once and in force.

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History of Oakland County, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories, Part 3

Author: Durant, Samuel W Publication date: 1877 Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts & co. Number of Pages: 553

Author: Durant, Samuel W
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts & co.
Number of Pages: 553