USA > Michigan > Saginaw County > History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, Volume II > Part 9
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There was one more general council held, which was purely formal, for the purpose of having affixed to the engrossed copy of the treaty, the signa- tures of General Cass, the witnesses, and the totems of the chiefs and head- men of the Chippewas and Ottawas.
One great obstacle to the consummation of the treaty was the desire of the Government to remove the Chippewas west of the Mississippi, in addition to the cession of the valuable tract of land lying upon the Saginaw and its tributaries. But it was discovered by the Commissioner soon after his arrival in council that this provision endangered the treaty, and it was there- upon abandoned. This country had been so long occupied by the Indians, and was so well adapted to their hunter state in the remarkable abundance of fish in the rivers, lakes and bays, and in the game yet left to them in the forest, that they were not inclined to listen to any proposition of removal.
Transcript of the Treaty
Art. 1. The Chippewa nation of Indians, in consideration of the stipulations herein made on the part of the United States, do hereby forever cede to the United States the land comprehended within the following lines and boundaries: Beginning at a point in the present Indian boundary line, which runs due north from the mouth of the great Anglaize River, six miles south of the place where the base line, so called, intersects the same; thence, west, sixty miles; thence, in a direct line to the head of Thunder Bay River: thence, down the same, following the course thereof, to the mouth; thence, northeast, to the boundary line between the United States and British Province of Upper Canada: thence, with the same, to the line established by the treaty of Detroit, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seven; thence with the said line to the place of beginning.
Art. 2. From the cession aforesaid the following tracts of land shall be reserved, for use of the Chippewa nation of Indians.
One tract, of eight thousand acres, on the east side of the river Au Sable near where the Indians now live.
One tract, of two thousand acres, on the river Mesagwisk.
One traet, of six thousand acres, on the north side of the river Kawkawling, at the Indian village.
One tract, of five thousand seven hundred and sixty acres, upon the Flint River, to include Reaum's village, and a place called Kishkawbawee.
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THE TREATY OF SAGINAW
One tract, of eight thousand acres, on the head of the river Huron, which empties into the Saginaw River, at the village of Otusson.
One tract, of two thousand acres, where Nabolask formerly lived.
One island in the Saginaw Bay.
One tract, of one thousand acres, near the island in the Saginaw River.
One tract, of two thousand acres, at the mouth of the Au Gres River.
One tract, of one thousand acres, on the river Huron, at Menoequet's village.
One tract, of ten thousand acres, on the Shawassee River, at a place called the Big Rock.
One tract, of three thousand acres, on the Shawassee River, at Ketchewann- daugenick.
One tract, of six thousand acres, at the Little Forks, on the Tetabawasink River. One tract, of six thousand acres, at the Black Bird's Town, on the Tetabawasink River.
One tract, of forty thousand acres, on the Saginaw River, to be hereafter located.
Art. 3. There shall be reserved for the use of each of the persons hereinafter named and their heirs, which persons are all Indians by descent, the following tracts of land:
For the use of John Riley, the son of Menawcumegoqua, a Chippewa woman, six hundred and forty acres of land, beginning at the head of the first marsh above the mouth of the Saginaw River, on the east side thereof.
For the use of Peter Riley, the son of Menawenmegoqua, a Chippewa woman, six hundred and forty acres of land beginning above and adjoining the apple trees on the west side of the Saginaw River, and running up the same for quantity.
For the use of James Riley, the son of Menawcumegoqua, a Chippewa woman, six hundred and forty acres, beginning on the east side of the Saginaw River, nearly opposite to Campau's trading house, and running up the river for quantity.
For the use of Kawkawiskou, or the Crow, a Chippewa chief, six hundred and forty acres of land, on the east side of the Saginaw River, at a place called Menitsgow, and to include, in the six hundred and forty acres, the island opposite to the said place.
For the use of Nowokeshik, Metawanene, Mokitchenoqua. Nondeshemau, Peta- bonaqua, Messawwakut, Chechalk, Kitchegeequa, Sagosequa, Annoketoqua, and Taw- cumegoqua, each, six hundred and forty acres of land, to be located at and near the grand traverse of the Flint River, in such manner as the President of the United States may direct.
For the use of the children of Bokowtonden, six hundred and forty acres, on the Kawkawling River.
Art. 4. In consideration of the cession aforesaid, the United States agree to pay to the Chippewa nation of Indians, annually, forever, the sum of one thousand dollars in silver; and do hereby agree that all annuities due by any former treaty to the said tribe, shall be hereafter paid in silver.
Art. 5. The stipulation contained in the treaty of Greenville, relative to the right of the Indians to hunt upon the land ceded, while it continues the property of the United States, shall apply to this treaty; and the Indians shall, for the same term, enjoy the privilege of making sugar upon the same land, committing no unnecessary waste upon the trees.
Art. 6. The United States agree to pay to the Indians the value of any improve- ments which they may be obliged to abandon in consequence of the lines established by this treaty, and which improvements add real value to the land.
Art. 7. The United States reserve the right to make roads through any part of the land reserved by this treaty.
Art. 8. The United States engage to provide and support a blacksmith for the Indians, at Saginaw, so long as the President of the United States may think proper, and to furnish the Chippewa Indians with such farming utensils, and cattle, and to employ such persons to aid them in their agriculture, as the President may deem expedient.
Art. 9. This treaty shall take effect, and be obligatory on the contracting parties, so soon as the same shall be ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof.
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
In testimony whereof, the said Lewis Cass, Commissioner as aforesaid, and the Chiefs and Warriors of the Chippewa Nation of Indians, have hereunto set their hands, at Saginaw, in the Territory of Michigan, this twenty-fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and nineteen.
( Signed) Lewis Cass and one hundred and fourteen Indians.
Twenty-three witnesses
The execution of the treaty was consummated about the middle of the afternoon, and the silver that was to be paid to the Indians was counted out upon the table in front of the Commissioner. The Saginaw chiefs and head- men being largely indebted to Campau for goods furnished by him, had put themselves under a promise to him that he should receive at least fifteen hundred dollars of the amount in satisfaction of his just claims. The Com- missioner informed the Indians that all the money was theirs, and if it was their will that Campau's debt should be first paid to him, to so signify and it should be done. Three other traders were present with goods for sale, and they were by no means pleased to see so large a proportion of the money thus appropriated. Wah-be-sins (Smith ) was one of the three traders. Ile urged the turbulent and besotted Kish-kan-kon and his brother to object, and they addressed the Commissioner: "We are your children; we want our money in our hands." In accordance with this wish the Commissioner directed the money to be paid to them, and Campan received none of his pay from that fund.
At that instant Campan jumped from the platform and struck Smith two heavy blows in the face. He was smart as steel and Campan was not slow : but Louis Beaufait and others got between them and stopped the fight. Campau lost his money and was thus cheated out of a good fight besides. But he had his satisfaction that night. Five barrels of whiskey were opened by the United States Quartermaster, for the Indians. Campan ordered ten barrels of his whiskey opened and two men stationed with dippers at the open barrels. The Indians drank to fearful excess; and at ten o'clock the General sent Major Robert Forsyth to him to say: "The Indians are getting dangerous, the General says stop the liquor." Campan sent back word to him, "General, you commenced it.'
A guard was thereupon detailed to surround his door. Soon after some Indians from the Bay came to the post, and the guard tried to keep them out with the bayonet. In the scuffle that ensued one of the Indians was stabbed in the thigh. The war-whoop was given, and in fifteen minutes the building containing the store room and the General's headquarters was surrounded by excited Indians with tomahawks in their hands. General Cass came to the door of his lodgings looking very grotesque, with a red bandanna handker- chief tied about his head, and exclaimed, "Louis! Louis! stop the liquor. Louis!" Campau answered him: "General, you commenced it: you let Smith plunder me and rob me, but I will stand between you and all harm." The General called out again, "Louis! Louis! Send those Indians to their wigwams." "Yes, General," came the reply, "but you commenced it." In recalling this incident, which is so illustrative of the state of things on the treaty ground, Campan said: "I lost my money : I lost my fight: I lost my liquor : but 1 got good satisfaction."
The trading post conducted by Campau before and after the negotiation of the treaty stood on the east side of Water Street, on part of the site of Wright's mill. Many years after this event it served as a residence, its occupant being a genial old Frenchman, named J. Baptiste Desnoyers, who made the old house, with its rickety stairs and loose flooring, seem cheerful with his cordial welcome. For one year, 1820, Campen also had a trading
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THE TREATY OF SAGINAW
post on the east side of the river near where the Methodist Mission House was afterward erected. But the Indians were discontented and would not trade with him there, saying, "We gave you the other side for trading, go there." So he was obliged to abandon this post soon after. In June, 1826, he turned his business over to his brother, Antoine, and travelled westward to the Grand River where, at the rapids or Grand Traverse, he established a trading post.
In the autumn of 1819, Jacob Smith, better known as Wah-be-sins, whose influence over the Indians was ever on the increase, built a rough log trading post on the Flint River. He had profited much by his friendship with the native chiefs, through craftiness being granted eleven sections of land on the Flint, where the City of Flint is situated. For several years he traded there, but in 1825, after a lingering and pitiable sickness, due more, it was said, to neglect than disease, he died. A good hearted Frenchman, by the name of Baptiste Cochios, who was with him upon the trading ground in 1819, and was himself a fur trader, performed for the brave but unfortunate man the last sad rites of humanity. An Indian lad who had lived with Smith for several years, and who attended him faithfully in his sickness, was the only household mourner. A few Indians gathered in mournful groups about the grave as the remains of the unfortunate trader were committed to the earth. Ne-ome, his trusty and faithful friend, was there mute with grief. With that feeling of gratitude which is characteristic and which is a cardinal virtue in their untutored minds, the Indians proved true and faithful through his sickness to the last.
A few days after the death of the old trader, a relative came from Detroit and gathered up most carefully the few remnants of the stores left by the hardy frontiersman, and took them away. Sa-gas-ewa-qua, the daughter of Ne-ome, expressed herself of this proceeding with sententous brevity. peculiar to the Indian :
"When Wah-be-sins sick nobody come. Him sicker and sicker, nobody come. Wah-be-sins die, little tinker come and take all him blankets, all him cattle, all him things."
Two years after, Ne-ome followed his friend Wah-be-sins to the spirit land. He died at his tribal home a few miles above the settlement of Sagi- naw, faithfully attended through a long and severe sickness by his children and relatives. He was enthroned in patriarchal simplicity in the hearts of his people, beloved and mourned.
Military Occupation
In the years 1821 and 1822 the Chippewa Indians on the Saginaw became restless and ill-tempered to such a degree that the war department, in the early past of 1822, ordered a detachment of the Third United States Infantry, then stationed at Fort Howard, Green Bay, to proceed to the Saginaw River, under the command of Major Daniel Baker. Shortly after. Doctor Zina Pitcher, having been appointed an assistant surgeon in the army, was ordered to report to Major Baker who, with two companies of infantry, would arrive at Saginaw about the twentieth of July. He therefore left Detroit with Captain Knaggs as guide, followed the Indian trail through the unbroken forest to the clearing of Oliver Williams, ( which is now the pleasant little town of Waterford, in Oakland County), and thence by way of Flint River to the wigwam of the old chief Kish-kan-kou, which stood on the east side of the Saginaw River. They arrived just in time to see the troops dis- embarking on the opposite bank of the river near the spot now occupied by the Michigan Central station.
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
The vessels by which the troops were transported from Green Bay did not come up the river beyond the present location of Bay City, where the men and stores were transferred to canoes and flat-boats and conveyed to the landing at their destination. They at once pitched their tents along the slope of the hill and prepared for permanent residence. On the site of the present Hotel Fordney they erected a block house, surrounded it with a strong stockade, thus raising a fortress in the heart of the wilderness. Within the stockade were the company's quarters, the officers' quarters being on the north side of the quadrangle, while on three sides were the barracks for the soldiers and their families. There were about one hundred and twenty en- listed men, besides women and children - all told perhaps one hundred and fifty persons, including the surgeon, the sutler and his clerks. The companies were commanded by Captain John Garland, company K. Lieutenants Allen and Bainbridge ; and Captain Stephen 11. Webb, of company 1, Lieutenants Brooks and Walker; and AAdjutant Nelson H. Baker, a brother of the major commanding. Thomas C. Sheldon, Chauncey Bush, and Elliot Gray, all had business connections with the command. Louis Campau and family, Antoine Campau, Archibald Lyons, Indian interpreter, Mr. Provensal, Indian black- smith, Mr. Corben, and Patrice Reaume, comprised the civil community. The trail from Smith's trading post on the Flint River to Saginaw was blazed in the winter of 1822-23, by a detail of soldiers commanded by Lieutenants Brooks and Bainbridge.
Hardships of Frontier Life
The winter of 1822-23 was very cold and much snow fell. When spring came the rapid solution of the ice and snow caused a great food in the Tittabawassee and other tributaries of the Saginaw, so that most of the prairie between the post and Green Point was under water. The succeeding summer was very warm, with the natural result that it proved very sickly to the inhabitants. As carly as July a very aggravated form of intermittent fever became the universal malady, and only one of the officers escaped an attack of more or less severity. Among the sufferers by the disease was the surgeon, Dr. Pitcher, who for several days was carried from his quarters to the bedside of his patients, and for whom he was the only person to prescribe. During this state of things Lieutenant Allen, Mrs. Baker, wife of the com- manding officer, his daughter and a young son about fifteen years of age, and Lieutenant Nelson Baker, died, and one enlisted man only. Major Baker himself being on the sick bed, Captain Garland, next in command, made a requisition on Quartermaster Samuel Stanton for a surgeon to relieve Dr. Pitcher.
On the twenty-ninth of August, Dr. J. L. Whiting. at a great personal sacrifice, mounted his horse in Detroit, and under the guidance of a soldier set his face towards the pestilential swamps on the Saginaw. On the morn- ing of the second day after, he sat down to a bountiful breakfast at the quarters of Captain Garland, with whom he stayed for about three weeks. He was then taken sick with the same disease and removed to the officers' mess-house, where he spent, as he afterward declared, three of the most harassing weeks of his whole life, but through a kind Providence recovered sufficiently to leave the valley with the other members of the command.
Thoroughly disheartened and discouraged with their innumerable hard- ships and sufferings, Major Baker, reported to the Department that the climate was so unhealthy that "nothing but Indians, muskrats and bull-frogs, could possibly subsist here," and requested removal of his ill-conditioned troops to another post. In the midst of a howling wilderness, surrounded by untamed savages, whose nightly whooping and infernal pow-wow orgies
F-
THERE
OLD FORT SAGINAW, IN 1822
[from a drawing prepared under the direction of Fred Dustin from descriptions given by the late Norman L. Miller, J. W. Richardson and other pioneers, who well remembered the outlines and general features of the old fort]
This old stockade fort stood in a clearing on the present site of the Hotel Fordney and adjoining buildings, including the old bank building on the east side of Hamilton Street which is about where the sally port and pathway are shown.
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
were far more appalling than even the cries of wild beasts, and exposed to the rigidity of a northern climate, together with its vicissitudes, they hailed with delight the order for the abandonment of the fort on the Saginaw, and their removal to Detroit. About the twenty-fifth of October the weakened command embarked on the schooner Red Jacket, Captain Walker, and another vessel commanded by Captain Keith, and sailed for Detroit where they arrived safely on the thirtieth of the same month.
The Deviltry of Kish-kau-kou
While the troops were stationed at the fort on the Saginaw, besides suf- fering many privations and inconveniences, they were subject to petty annoy- ances and insults from some of the Indians, who looked upon them as tres- passers. The savages did not dare, however, to make any advances towards hostility, for they knew full well that the troops were prepared to meet any- thing of that nature with prompt retaliation. Still the "red-skins" lost no opportunity of reminding them that they were not at home upon ground claimed by themselves. Old Chief Kish-kau-kou in particular, whose wigwam was close under cover of the fort, was exceedingly annoying, at least to the soldiers, but more so to the sentry. Every night as he, on his accustomed round, would give the hour, with the usual "all's well," this rascally chief would mockingly reiterate the watchword, together with a taunting shout and whoop, making the very welkin ring again, and startling the inmates of the fort, who not unfrequently imagined, upon being so unceremoniously awakened, that an attack was at hand.
The old chief had repeated this trick a number of times, when the soldiers determined to punish him a little, and at the same time enjoy some sport at his expense. Accordingly they loaded an okl swivel to the muzzle, with grape and canister, and mounted it upon the pickets, pointing it in the direction of the savage's wigwam, but in such a position that the shot would merely rattle over his head, with no other effect than that of frightening him into silence, if nothing else. Night came and all was still, the heavy tramp of the sentinel, and the distant howl of hungry wolves alone being heard. The men were lying quietly behind the gun, while a match was ready to apply at the signal, which the old chief himself was unwittingly to give. At length twelve o'clock came, the hour usually selected by the Indian for his ccho. "Twelve o'clock - all's well," sang out the sentry. "All well," echoed the savage, "ke-whoop-ke-kee-who-whoop," making at the same time a grand flourish after the war style of his forefathers - "ye-ye-ye-yeep-ke-who."
At this instant a bright gleam of fire shot from the walls of the fort accompanied by a report so loud, so deafening, that the buildings shook with the concussion, while the grape and canister rattled fearfully over the wig- wam and tore through the branches of the trees overhanging it. The old chief thought his end had indeed come, and called lustily upon all the gods in his unlettered vocabulary, and the medicine men of his nation, to save him. After this salutary rebuke no papoose in the tribe was more humble or deferential to the troops than this same Indian. He probably thought it advisable to keep on good terms with the men who repaid insult with thunder, lightning and iron hail.
During the epidemic of fever in the garrison, a great Indian council was held at Green Point, according to Indian law, at which the old tyrant, Kish- kan-kou, was present. A Delaware Indian, intermarried with a Chippewa woman, was on trial for the killing of a Chippewa Indian in a drunken brawl.
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THE TREATY OF SAGINAW
The offender had compromised the matter, and bought his life by paying the relatives a certain amount of furs, skins and money. But according to the custom of the Chippewa tribe, it was necessary that the pardon should be confirmed by a council. In this proceeding the delinquent was required to walk around in a circle on the ground, formed by the assembled red-skins, and if unmollested by any of the relatives of the murdered man, the matter was to be considered as finally settled, and not to be reopened forever after. He had quietly passed all the relatives, near and remote, and was therefore restored to his former standing in the tribe; but in passing the old tyrant, Kish-kau-kou, he rose and struck the offender dead at his feet. The whole circle was amazed at this audacious act, and the usual "Waugh" was uttered by the council. The hereditary chief, Min-non-e-quot, said: "What does this mean? It is contrary to Indian law." Old Kish-kau-kou deigned only the reply: "The law is altered." The council then broke up, and the old rascal took the body of the slain Indian into his canoe, covered it with skins and furs, and paddled away to his village at the mouth of the river, where it was buried.
When on the way to Malden, to receive their annual presents from the British government, Kish-kau-kou, who was in the habit of travelling with thirty or forty blood-thirsty warriors, took advantage of the sparseness of the settlements, and levied contributions upon the poor settlers. If his demands were not readily complied with he would take what he wanted by force, such as cattle, hogs, and corn, thus subjecting the poor settlers to great suffering and continnal fear. On une occasion, after his arrival at Detroit which hap- pened a few days before payment, his men being very hungry, he applied to some of the authorities for food, saying. "Unless my young men get some- thing to eat, it will be impossible for me to restrain them from robbing the settlers along the route." To this threat General Cass replied: "If your young men commit any depredations upon the settlers, I will send my young men to punish them." Notwithstanding this admonition. depredations were occasionally committed with impunity upon the helpless pioneers.
Kisb-kau-kou at length came to his end in a manner strikingly in keeping with his cowardly career. In April, 1825. while encamped at a place a little above Detroit, known as the Chene farm. he got into a drunken brawl on Water Street, on the site of the Grand Trunk Railway Station, and killed an Indian. The dead savage was taken to "Uncle" Harvey William's black- smith shop, directly across the street, and an inquest was held, while Kish- kau-kou and his son were conveyed to the fort. Feeling assured from con- templation of his past conduct that he need expect no mercy or lenity, from the hands of those whom he had so often outraged, he anticipated the action of the law by drinking the hemlock in his prison, and died before the trial was concluded. It was supposed that the poison was provided him by one or more of his numerous squaws. His son, who was no party to the crime, escaped.
The successive chieftain of the Saginaw tribe was Oge-maw-ke-ke-to, whose name signified the "Chief Speaker." He was in every respect anti- podal to Kish-kau-kou, being a high-minded and honorable Indian, and was an eloquent orator. Although he was not the head chief by birth, he was a great favorite with the white settlers, on account of the loftiness of his style, the beauty of his expression, and his powerful and commanding eloquence which always carried conviction with it. The place upon which the settlement of Saginaw was built was called by the Indians Ke-pay-sho- wink, meaning "the great camping ground."
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