History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, Volume I, Part 2

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : C.C. Chapman & Co.
Number of Pages: 962

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It must be admitted that whatever the uses of these mounds- whether as dwellings or burial places-these silent monuments were built, and the race who built them vanished from the face of the earth, ages before the Indians occupied the land, but their date must probably forever baffle human skill and ingenuity.

It is sometimes difficult to distingnish the places of sepulture raised by the Mound-Builders from the more modern graves of the Indians. The tombs of the former were in general larger than those of the latter, and were used as receptacles for a greater number of bodies, and contained relics of art, evincing a higher degree of civilization than that attained by the Indians. The ancient earth- works of the Mound-Builders have occasionally been appropriated as burial places by the Indians, but the skeletons of the latter may be distinguished from the osteologieal remains of the former by their greater stature.

What finally became of the Mound-Builders is another query which has been extensively discussed. The fact that their works extend into Mexico and Peru has induced the belief that it was their posterity that dwelt in these countries when they were first visited by the Spaniards. The Mexican and Peruvian works, with the exception of their greater magnitude, are similar. Relics common to all of them have been occasionally found, and it is believed that the religions uses which they subserved were the same. If, indeed, the Mexicans and Pernvians were the progeny of the more ancient Monnd-Builders, Spanish rapacity for gold was the cause of their overthrow and final extermination.

A thousand other queries naturally arise respecting these nations which now repose under the ground, but the most searching investi-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

gation can give us only vague speculations for answers. No histo- rian has preserved the names of their mighty chieftains, or given an account of their exploits, and even tradition is silent respecting them.

Following the Mound-Builders as inhabitants of North America, were, as it is supposed, the people who reared the magnificent cities, the ruins of which are found in Central America. This people was far more civilized and advanced in the arts than were the Mound- Builders. The cities built by them, judging from the ruins of broken columns, fallen archies and crumbling walls of temples, palaces and pyramids, which in some places for miles bestrew the gronnd, must have been of great extent, magnificent and very pop- ulous. When we consider the vast period of time necessary to erect such colossal structures, and, again, the time required to reduce them to their present ruined state, we can conceive something of their antiqnity. These cities must have been old when many of the ancient cities of the Orient were being built.

INDIANS.

The third race inhabiting North America, distinct from the former two in every particular, is the present Indians. They were, when visited by the early discoverers, withont cultivation, refine- ment or literature, and far behind the Monnd-Builders in the knowl- edge of the arts. The question of their origin has long interested archæologists, and is the most difficult they have been called upon to answer. Of their predecessors the Indian tribes knew nothing; they even had no traditions respecting them. It is quite certain that they were the successors of a race which had entirely passed away ages before the discovery of the New World. One hypothesis is that the American Indians are an original race indigenous to the Western hemisphere. Those who entertain this view think their peculiarities of physical structure preclnde the possibility of a com- inon parentage with the rest of mankind. Prominent among those distinctive traits is the hair, which in the red man is round, in the white man oval, and in the black man flat.

A more common snpposition, however, is that they are a deriva- tive race, and sprang from one or more of the ancient peoples of Asia. In the absence of all authentic history, and when even tradition is wanting, any attempt to point out the particular location of their origin must prove unsatisfactory. Though the exact place of origin may never be known, yet the striking coincidents of physical organization between the Oriental type of mankind and the Indians point unmistakably to some part of Asia as the place whence they emigrated, which was originally peopled to a great extent by the children of Shem. In this connection it has been claimed that the meeting of the Europeans, Indians and Africans on the continent of America, is the fulfillment of a prophecy as recorded in Genesis ix. 27: "God shall enlarge Japhetlı, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant."

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

Assuming the theory to be true that the Indian tribes are of Shemitic origin, they were met on this continent in the fifteenth century by the Japhetic race, after the two stoeks had passed around the globe by directly different routes. A few years afterward the Hamitic branch of the human family was brought from the coast of Africa. During the occupancy of the continent by the three distinet races, the children of Japheth have grown and prospered, while the called and not voluntary sons of Hamn have endured a servitude in the wider stretching valleys of the tents of Shein.

When Christopher Columbus had finally succeeded in demon- strating the truth of his theory, that by sailing westward from Europe land would be discovered, landing on the Island of Ber- inuda he supposed he had reached the East Indies. This was an error, but it led to the adoption of the name of "Indians" for the inhabitants of the island and the main land of America, by which name the red men of America have ever since been known.

Of the several great branches of North American Indians the only ones entitled to consideration in Michigan history are the Algonquins and Iroquois. At the time of the discovery of America the former occupied the Atlantic seaboard, while the home of the Iroquois was as an island in this vast area of Algonquin popula- tion. The latter great nation spread over a vast territory, and various tribes of Algonquin lineage sprung up over the country, adopting, in time, distinct tribal customs and laws. An almost continuous warfare was carried on between tribes; but later, on the entrance of the white man into their beloved liomes, every foot of territory was fiercely disputed by the confederacy of niany neigli- boring tribes. The Algonquins formed the most extensive alliance to resist the encroachment of the whites, especially the English. Such was the nature of King Philip's war. This king, with his Algonquin braves, spread terror and desolation throughout New England. With the Algonquins as the controlling spirit, a con- federacy of continental proportions was the result, embracing in its alliance the tribes of every name and lineage from the Northern lakes to the gult. Pontiac, having breathed into them liis impla- cable hate of the English intruders, ordered the conflict to com- mence, and all the British colonies trembled before the desolating fury of Indian vengeance.

The "Saghinan " (spelled variously) or Saginaw country eom- prised most of the eastern portion of the southern peninsula indef- initely. The village of the " Hurons " was probably near Detroit. The term " Huron " is derived from the French hure, a wild boar, and was applied to this tribe of Indians on account of the bristly appearance of their hair. These Indians called themselves " Ouen- dats," as the French spelled the name, or "Wyandots," as is the inodern orthography.

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

The art of hunting not only supplied the Indian with food, but, like that of war, was a means of gratifying his love of distinction.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

The male children, as soon as they acquired sufficient age and strength, were furnished with a bow and arrow and taught to shoot birds and other small game. Success in killing large quadrupeds required years of careful study and practice, and the art was as sedulously inculcated in the minds of the rising generation as are the elements of reading, writing and arithmetic in the cominon schools of civilized communities. The mazes of the forest and the dense, tall grass of the prairies were the best fields for the exercise of the hunter's skill. No feet could be impressed in the yielding soil but that the tracks were the objects of the most searching scrutiny, and revealed at a glance the animal that made them, the direction it was pursuing, and the time that had elapsed since it had passed. In a forest country he selected the valleys, because they were most frequently the resort of game. The niost easily taken, perhaps, of all the animals of the chase was the deer. It is endowed with a curiosity which prompts it to stop in its flight and look back at the approaching hunter, who always avails himself of this opportunity to let fly the fatal arrow.

Their general councils were composed of the chief's and old men. When in council, they usually sat in concentric circles around the speaker, and each individual, notwithstanding the fiery passions that rankled within, preserved an exterior as immovable as if cast in bronze. Before commencing business a person appeared with the sacred pipe, and another with fire to kindle it. After being lighted, it was first presented to heaven, secondly to the earth, thirdly to the presiding spirit, and lastly to the several councilors, each of whom took a whiff. These formalities were observed with as close exactness as State etiquette in civilized courts.

The dwellings of the Indians were of the simplest and rudest · character. On some pleasant spot by the bank of a river, or near an eyer-running spring, they raised their groups of wigwams, con- structed of the bark of trees, and easily taken down and removed to another spot. The dwelling-places of the chief's were sometimes inore spacious, and constructed with greater care, but of the same materials. Skins taken in the chase served them for repose. Though principally dependent upon hunting and fishing, the un- certain supply from those sources led them to cultivate small patches of corn. Every family did everything necessary within itself, commerce, or an interchange of articles, being almost unknown to thein. In cases of dispute and dissension, each Indian relied npon himself for retaliation. Blood for blood was the rule, and the relatives of the slain man were bound to obtain bloody revenge for his death. This principle gave rise, as a matter of course, to in- numerable and bitter feuds, and wars of extermination where such were possible. War, indeed, rather than peace, was the Indian's glory and delight,-war, not conducted as in civilization, but war where individnal skill, endurance, gallantry and cruelty were prime requisites. For such a purpose as revenge the Indian would make great sacrifices, and display a patience and perseverance truly heroic ;

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

bnt when the excitement was over, he sank back into a listless, un- occupied, well-nigh useless savage. During the intervals of his more exciting pursuits, the Indian employed his time in decorating his person with all the refinement of paint and feathers, and in the manufacture of his arms and of eanoes. These were constructed of bark, and so light that they could easily be carried on the shoulder from stream to stream. His amnsements were the war dance, ath- letic games, the narration of his exploits, and listening to the ora- tory of the chiefs; but during long periods of such existence he remained in a state of torpor, gazing listlessly upon the trees of the forests and the clouds that sailed above them; and this vacancy imprinted a habitnal gravity, and even melancholy, upon his gen- eral deportment.

The main labor and drudgery of Indian communities fell upon the women. The planting, tending and gathering of the crops, making mats and baskets, carrying burdens,-in fact, all things of the kind were performed by them, thus making their condition but little better than that of slaves. Marriage was merely a matter of bargain and sale, the husband giving presents to the father of the bride. In general they had but few children. They were subjected to many and severe attacks of sickness, and at times famine and pestilence swept away whole tribes.

The Indians had not only their good " manitons," but also their evil spirits; and the wild features of the lake seenery appears to have impressed their savage minds with superstition. They believed that all the prominent points of this wide region were created and guarded by monsters; and the images of these they senlptured on stone, painted npon the rocks, or carved upon the trees. Those who "obeyed " these supernatural beings, they thought, would after death range among flowery fields filled with the choicest game, while those who neglected their counsels wonld wander amid dreary soli- tudes, stung by gnats as large as pigeons.

EUROPEAN POSSESSION.

It is not necessary to dwell on the details of history from the discovery of America in 1492 to the settlement of Mielrigan in 1668, as some historians do under the head of " the history of Michigan;" for the transaction of men and conncils at Quebec, New York, Boston, or London, or Paris, concerning the European possessions in America prior to 1668 did not in the least affect either inan, beast or inanimate objeet within the present limits of the State of Michigan. Nor do we see the necessity of going back to the foundations of American institutions, simply because they are the origin of the present features of Michigan institutions and society, any more than to Greek, Latin, Cliristian or mediæval civ- ilization, although all the latter also affect Mieliigan society.

Jaeques Marquette was the first white man, according to history, to set foot npou ground within what is now the State of Michigan.

LA SALLE LANDING AT THE MOUTH OF THE ST. JOSEPH'S RIVER.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

He was born of an honorable family at Laon, in the north of France, in 1637, the month not known. He was educated for the Catholic priesthood; in 1654 he joined the Jesnits, and in 1666 he was sent as a missionary to Canada; after the river St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes had been mapped out, the all-absorbing object of interest with Gov. Frontenac Talch, the " intendent," and Mar- quette himself was to discover and trace from the north the won- derful Mississippi that De Soto, the Spaniard, had first seen at the South in 1641. In 1668, according to Bancroft, he repaired to the Chippewa, at the Sault, to establish the mission of the St. Mary, the oldest settlement begun by Europeans within the present limits of Michigan. This was under Louis XIV., of France.

In 1669 Father Marquette established a mission at Mackinaw, then called " Michilimackinac," from an Indian word signifying " a great turtle," or from the Chippewa " inichine-maukinonk," " a place of giant fairies." Here Marquette built a chapel in 1671, and continued to teach the Indians until his death.

In 1673, in company with Lonis Joliet, Father Marquette received orders from Gov. Frontenac to proceed west and explore the Mis- sissippi, which they did, as far south as the Arkansas river.

Marquette was a scholar and a polite Christian, enthusiastic, shrewd and persevering. He won the affections of all parties, French, English and Indian. He was even a man of science, with a strong element of romance and love of natural beauty in his character. Parkman speaks of him, in characteristic epithet, as " the humble Marquette who, with clasped liands and upturned eyes, seems a figure evoked from some dim legend of inediæval saintship." In life he seems to have been looked up to with rever- ence by the wildest savage, by the rude frontiersman, and by the polished officer of government. Most of all the States, his name and his fame should be dear to Michigan. He died in June, 1675, and was buried with great solemnity and deep sorrow near the mouth of Pere Marquette river. The remains were afterward deposited in a vault in the middle of the chapel of St. Ignace near by; but on the breaking up of the mission at this place the Jesuits burned the chapel, and the exact site was forgotten until Sept. 3, 1877, when the vault, consisting of birch bark, was found; but the remains of the great missionary were probably stolen away by his Indian admirers soon after the abandonment of the mission.

The next settlement in point of time was made in 1679, by Robert Cavalier de La Salle, at the mouth of the St. Joseph river. He had constructed a vessel, the " Griffin," just above Niagara falls, and sailed around by the lakes to Green Bay, Wis., whence he traversed " Lac des Illinois," now Lake Michigan, by canoe to the month of the St. Joseph river. The " Griffin " was the first sailing vessel that ever came west of Niagara falls. La Salle erected a fort at the mouth of the St. Joseph river, which afterward was moved about 60 miles up the river, where it was still seen in Charlevoix's

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

time, 1721. La Salle also built a fort on the Illinois river just below Peoria, and explored the region of the Illinois and Missis- sippi rivers.

The next, and third, Michigan post erected by authority was a second fort on the St. Josephi river, established by Du Luth, near the present Fort Gratiot, in 1686. The object of this was to inter- cept emissaries of the English, who were anxious to open traffic with the Mackinaw and Lake Superior nations.

The French posts in Michigan and westward left very little to be gathered by the New York traders, and they determined, as there was peace between France and England, to push forward their agencies and endeavor to deal with the western and northern Indians in their own country. The French governors not only plainly asserted the title of France, but as plainly threatened to lise all requisite force to expel intruders. Anticipating correctly that the English would attempt to reach Lake Huron from the East without passing up Detroit river, Dn Luth built a fort at the outlet of the lake into the St. Clair. About the same time an expedition was planned against the Senecas, and the Chevalier Tonti, commanding La Salle's forts, of St. Louis and St. Joseph of Lake Michigan, and La Durantaye, the veteran commander of Mackinaw, were employed to bring down the French and Indian auxiliaries to take part in the war. These men intercepted English expeditions into the interior to establish trade with the Northern Indians, and succeeded in cutting them off for many years.

Religious zeal for the Catholic Church and the national aggrand- izement were almost or quite equally the primary and all-ruling inotive of western explorations. For these two purposes expedi- tions were sent out and missions and military posts were established. In these enterprises Marquette, Joliet, La Salle, St. Lusson and others did all that we find credited to them in history.

In 1669 or 1670, Talon, then " Intendant of New France," sent out two parties to discover a passage to the South Sea, St. Lusson to Hudson's Bay and La Salle southwestward. On his return in 1671, St. Lnsson held a council of all the northern tribes at the Sanlt Ste. Marie, where they formed an alliance with the French.

" It is a curious fact," says Campbell, " that the public docu- ments are usually made to exhibit the local authorities as originat- ing everything, when the facts brought to light from other sources show that they were compelled to permit what they ostensibly directed." The expeditions sent out by Talon were at least sug- gested from France. The local authorities were sometimes made to do things which were not, in their judgment, the wisest.

DETROIT.

July 19, 1701, the Iroquois conveyed to King William III all their claims to land, describing their territory as " that vast tract of land or colony called Canagariarchio, beginning on the north-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

west side of Cadarachqui lake [Ontario], and includes all that vast tract of land lying between the great lake of Ottawawa [Huron], and the lake called by the natives Sahiquage, and by the Christians the Lake of Sweege [Oswego, for Lake Erie], and runs till it butts upon the Twichtwichs, and is bounded on the westward by the Twichtwichs by a place called Quadoge, containing in length about 800 miles and breadth 400 miles, including the country where beavers and all sorts of wild game keeps, and the place called Tjeuglisaghrondie alias Fort De Tret or Wawyachtenock [Detroit], and so runs round the lake of Sweege till you come to a place called Oniadarundaquat," etc.

It was chiefly to prevent any further mischief, and to secure more effectually the French supremacy that La Motte Cadillac, who had great influence over the savages, succeeded, in 1701, after various plans urged by him had been shielved by hostile colonial intrigues, in getting permission from Count Pontchartrain to begin a settlement in Detroit. His purpose was from the beginning to make not only a military post, but also a civil establishment, for trade and agriculture. He was more or less threatened and opposed by the monopolists and by the Mackinaw missionaries, and was subjected to severe persecutions. He finally triumphed and obtained valuable privileges and the right of seigneury. Crafts- men of all kinds were induced to settle in the town, and trade flourished. He succeeded in getting the Hurons and many of the Ottawas to leave Mackinaw and settle about " Fort Pontchartrain." This fort stood on what was formerly called the first terrace, being on the ground lying between Larned street and the river, and between Griswold and Wayne streets. Cadillac's success was so great, in spite of all opposition, that he was appointed governor of the new province of Louisiana, which had been granted to Crozat and his associates. This appointment removed him front Detroit. and immediately afterward the place was exposed to an Indian siege, instigated by Englishi emissaries and conducted by the Mas- coutins and Ontagamies, the same people who made the last war on the whites in the territory of Michigan under Black Hawk a cen- tury and a quarter later. The tribes allied to the French came in with alacrity and defeated and almost annihilated the assailants, of whom a thousand were put to death.

Unfortunately for the country, the commanders who succeeded Cadillac for many years were narrow-minded and selfish and not disposed to advance any interests beyond the lucrative traffic with the Indians in peltries. It was not until 1734 that any new grants were made to farmers. This was done by Governor-General Beau- harnois, who made the grants on thie very easiest terms. , Skilled artisans became numerous in Detroit, and prosperity set in all around. The buildings were not of the rudest kind, but built of oak or cedar, and of sinootli finish. The cedar was brought from a great distance. Before 1742 the pineries were known, and at a very early day a saw-mill was erected on St. Clair river, near Lake

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

Huron. Before 1749 quarries were worked, especially at Stony Island. In 1763 there were several lime kilns within the present limits of Detroit, and not only stone foundations but also stone buildings, existed in the settlement. Several grist-mills existed along the river near Detroit. Agriculture was carried on profitably, and supplies were exported quite early, consisting chiefly of corn and wheat, and possibly beans and peas. Cattle, liorses and swine were raised in considerable numbers; but as salt was very expens- ive, but little meat, if any, was packed for exportation. The salt springs near Lake St. Clair, it is true, were known, and utilized to some extent, but not to an appreciable extent. Gardening and fruit- raising were carried on more thoroughly than general farming. Apples and pears were good and abundant.

During the French and English war Detroit was the principal source of supplies to the French troops west of Lake Ontario, and it also furnished a large number of fighting men. The upper posts were not much involved in. this war.

" Teuchsa Grondie," one of the many ways of spelling an old Indian name of Detroit, is rendered famous by a large and splen- did poem of Levi Bishop, Esq., of that city.

During the whole of the 18th century the history of Michigan was little else than the history of Detroit, as the genius of French government was to centralize power instead of building up locali- ties for self-government.

About 1704, or three years after the founding of Detroit, this place was attacked by the Ottawa Indians, but unsuccessfully; and again, in 1712, the Ottagamies, or Fox Indians, who were in secret alliance with the old enemies of the French, the Iroquois, attacked the village and laid siege to it. They were severely repulsed, and their chief offered a capitulation, which was refused. Considering this an insult, they became enraged and endeavored to burn up the town. Their method of firing the place was to shoot large arrows, inounted with combustible material in flame, in a track through the sky rainbow-form. The bows and arrows being very large and stout, the Indians lay with their backs on the ground, put both feet against the central portion of the inner side of the bow and pulled the strings with all the miglit of their hands. A ball of blazing material would thus be sent arching over nearly a quarter of a mile, which would come down perpendicularly upon the dry shingle roofs of the houses and set them on fire. But this scheme was soon checkmated by the French, who covered the remaining houses with wet skins. The Foxes were considerably disappointed at this and discouraged, but they made one more desperate attempt, failed, and retreated toward Lake St. Clair, where they again entrenched themselves. From this place, however, they were soon dislodged. After this period these Indians occupied Wisconsin for a time and made it dangerous for travelers passing through from the lakes to the Mississippi. They were the Ishmaelites of the wilderness.

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History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, Volume I, Part 2

Author: Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : C.C. Chapman & Co. Number of Pages: 962

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : C.C. Chapman & Co.
Number of Pages: 962