History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 2

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, D.W. Ensign & co.
Number of Pages: 716

USA > Michigan > Clinton County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 2
USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 2

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But if we may believe their own traditions, the Chippe- was had not always been masters of these forests and rivers, nor did their occupancy extend back to years beyond the memory of their ancestors. The story told by their old men (and which is to some extent supported by authentic history) was to the effect that, ages before, in the days of their great-grandfathers, all the hunting-grounds bordering the streams which find their outlet in Saginaw Bay, and all the forests and openings extending thence west to the Grand River, were held and inhabited by the Sauks, a pow- erful and warlike people, who not only felt entirely able to keep their own country, but who were often in the habit of making bloody forays into the territory of other tribes, who consequently hated them, and longed to exterminate, or at least to expel them from the region which they regarded as an Indian paradise, abounding as it did with fish, deer, beaver, and almost every kind of game. This desire to subjugate or destroy the powerful Sauks and to seize their teeming hunting-grounds, burned nowhere more intensely than in the breasts of the Chippewa warriors, whose home at that time was far away at the north. But they dreaded the prowess of their enemies too much to venture an attack, and this consideration held them in check for many years, though their hatred constantly increased and their wish to possess the Sauk country became so ardent as to well-nigh overcome their fears.

At last their ambitious desires could be controlled no longer, and they resolved at all hazards to attempt the enterprise which they had so long meditated. For this purpose they held council with the Ottawas of the north (whose country was contiguous to their own), and dispatched messengers to the southern branch of the Ottawas (who theu occupied what is now Southeastern Michigan) asking them both to join in a war of invasion. Their proposition was favorably received, a league was formed, and the confeder- ated bands set out speedily and secretly on their bloody expedition, which was destined to result in their complete triumph.

The invaders entered the country of the Sauks in two columns ; one, composed of the southern Ottawas, marching from the southeast through the forests to the bend of Flint River, where Flint City now stands, while the northern confederates moved in canoes from Mackinac, paddling

down the west shore of Lake Huron, and boldly crossing Saginaw Bay by night, landed in two detachments, marched stealthily up along the shore of the river, and at the proper moment and at a preconcerted signal fell like a thunder- bolt on the principal village of the Sauks at or near the present site of Saginaw City. " No precaution," says Mr. Fox, in his history of Saginaw, " had been taken by the Sauks to guard against danger, for none had been antici- pated. The night wind sighed through the dark pine-tops in mournful cadence, and the gentle spirit-bird hovered over the sleeper with its low, gushing death-chant ; but its warn- ing notes were unheard, and still the sleeper slumbered on. Suddenly a wild, unearthly yell broke fearfully upon the ear of night, and awoke a thousand echoes. Aroused by it the Sauks sprang to their fect, but were met by the fierce Chippewas, who commenced an indiscriminate slaughter. Some were tomahawked, some leaped into the Saginaw and were drowned, while a few escaped to impart the death news to their brethren." Those who escaped, and others from neighboring villages which had not yet been attacked, fled in their canoes to a small island in the Saginaw, where they believed themselves safe,-at least for a time,-for their foes had no canoes in the river. But in this they were mistaken, for the ice was rapidly forming, and on the following day or night it had become strong enough to permit the passage of the pursuing Chippewas, who there- upon crossed to the island and renewed the attack with such energy and ferocity that of all the Sauk refugees who had taken shelter there not a single man was left alive, and only about a dozen women were spared. The place, in after- years, became known as "Skull Island," from the great number of skulls* and other human bones which were found in its soil.

After completing their bloody work on the island, the Chippewa and Ottawa warriors moved rapidly up the river to the confluence of the Flint and Shiawassce Rivers, where they met the victorious band of southern Ottawas, who had destroyed the villages on the Flint and massacred nearly all the inhabitants, the few survivors retreating in terror towards their principal villages on the Saginaw, where they vainly hoped to find safety from their encmies. These panic-stricken fugitives now turned and fled up the valley of the Shiawassee, where they were relentlessly pursued by the invaders, and here the result was the same as it had been on the Saginaw and Flint. All the villages on the Shiawassce were given over to destruetion and massacre ; the Sauks were completely overthrown and almost exter- minated, only a miserable remnant escaping westward through the dense forests to the Grand River, and down that stream to Lake Michigan.

The Chippewa and Ottawa warriors were now absolute masters of the Sauk country, but they did not immediately remove their settlements here. The conquered territory was for a long time held as a hunting-ground, which was roamed over in common by the bands of the two tribes.

* Ephraim S. Williams, Esq., of Flint (brother of B. O. Williams, Esq., of Owosso), who was located at Saginaw for several years in the fur trade, says this tradition is probably well founded, for he has often visited the island in question, and has seen many wouldering skulls exhumed there.

INDIAN HISTORY OF THE TWO COUNTIES.

But when they found that some of their young braves who entered these l'orests disappeared and were never again seen or heard of, their superstitious fears were awakened, and they came to the firm belief that the eddies of the streams and the dark recesses of the woods were infested by evil spirits, -- the ghosts of the murdered Sauks,-who had come back to their old domain, and were thus mysteriously wreak- ing vengeance on their destroyers. The dread inspired by this belief and the strange disappearance of their young men became at last so strong that they entirely abandoned the country, and for years afterwards no Chippewa or Ottawa hunter braved the terrors of the " haunted hunting-grounds." But after many moons (no one can say how many) they ventured baek, though still in dread and fear, and finally in favored spots there sprang up many villages of the Chip- pewas,* while their bark canoes sped swiftly over the bright waters of the lakes and streams. And this (the tradition says) was the manner in which the tribe that became known as the Saginaw-Chippewa acquired and occupied the domain which the Sauk chiefs and warriors had onee called their own.

The Chippewas of the Lower Peninsula possessed all the fieree and sanguinary characteristics of their northern kin- dred. From the time when England wrested the lake country from the possession of the French this tribe was distinguished for its aggressive disposition, cruelty, and treachery ; and during the almost continuous Indian wars and conspiracies of the succeeding half century its chiefs showed a spirit as turbulent and untamable as that of the parent nation,-the Ojibwas of Lake Superior. The story of their ravages is found in all the annals of Indian hostili- ties. They were prominent actors in the Pontiac war of 1763 ; in the Indian alliance against America in the war of the Revolution ; in the savage rising which was quelled by " Mad Anthony" Wayne a few years later; and they were among the most energetie and efficient allies of Te- euinseh in his prolonged warfare against the United States. They did bloody work at the Raisin, at Sandusky, and on many other fields, and finally they fought with fierce des- peration in the battle of the Thames, Oct. 5, 1813. But that day extinguished forever the warlike spirit of the Chippewas, for then and there " the hopes of the red man perished." Their total defeat in that battle, and the death of Teeumsch, annihilated all possibility of successful resist- ance to the government, and all hope of holding their hunt- ing-grounds against the advance of settlement and civiliza- tion. So the Saginaws, like other Michigan tribes, sued for peace, gave hostages for their future good conduct, received a pardon (which they scarcely expected) for their past offenses, and retired to their villages-sullen and dejected, but thoroughly subjugated-and never again made war against white men. Nearly twenty years afterwards, the Wisconsin chief, Black Hawk, sent emissaries among them to distribute " war-quills" and invite them to join his bands in a new war, but they made reply that the Chippe-

was would not again raise the hatchet against the pale- faces, who were masters of the land, and under the protec- tion of the Great Spirit.

The earliest knowledge of the Indians, as they existed in their native wilderness, was gained by white men who went among them for purposes of trade,-the most impor- tant branch of which was the purchase of furs. Of these traders, the first of whom any account .is found, as being located in the country of the Saginaw-Chippewas, was a Frenchman named Bolicu (called by the Indians, Kase- gans) ; and soon after him there came another of the same nationality, named Tremblé (sinee corrupted to Trombley ), who established himself at Saginaw.' The date of Bolieu's coming is not exactly known, but it is certain that he was trading with the Saginaws before the commencement of the present century. He married a full-blood Indian woman,f a sister or near relative of Ncome, head-chief of the Pewonigo band of Indians, who lived at Pewonigowink, on the Flint River. He (Bolicu) prosecuted his trading business with the Indians living on the Flint and Shiawas- see, and, without doubt, with those on the Looking-Glass and Maple Rivers also. It is not known where his post was located, but there is strong probability that it was on the Shiawassee River at the Big Rapids (Owosso), near the present residence of B. O. Williams, Esq., for at that place there are still in existenee portions of two ancient chimneys and some other ruins which Mr. Williams (than whom no person in Michigan is more competent to judge) pronounces to be the remains of an old trading-post. This opinion is strengthened by the fact that at the same place there are still to be seen pits in the earth, evidently made for the burying of canoes.t As it is certain that this place was not occupied by any of the later traders, it seems highly probable that it was the post of Bolieu, the pioneer trader among the Saginaws. If so, the buildings must have been erected nearly or quite as early as the commencement of this century.

Two of the earliest traders who followed Bolieu and Tremble into the Saginaw country were Jacob Smith (named by the Indians Wahbesins) and Conrad Ten Eyek, who established at Saginaw before the opening of the war of 1812-15. Both of these men found it necessary to abandon their posts during the continuance of that war, but returned to Saginaw at the close of hostilities. In the fall of 1819, Smith removed his trading-post to the Grand Traverse of the Flint River (where Flint City now stands), and remained there in trade till his death, in the spring of 1825. He was of German parentage or descent, and a native of Quebec, Canada. Two of his daughters (Mrs. C. S. Payne and Mrs. T. B. W. Stockton) are still living at Flint, and another daughter became the wife of Gen. John Garland, United States Army. His son, Albert J. Smith, is, or was recently, living in South America.

* It does not appear that the Ottawas ever came to this section of country in any considerable numbers, but many of that tribe emigrated from their northern lands (on the cast shore of Lake Michigan, north of Grand Traverse Bay) and settled in the southeast, in the vicinity of Lake St. Clair, and the Detroit, St. Clair, and Huron Rivers.

+ A daughter of theirs, Angélique Bolien (whose Indian name was Tawcumegogua), was sent at the age of twelve years to Detroit, where she received a tolerable education. She married a Frenchman named Coutant, and after his death she became the wife of Jean Baptiste St. Anbin, of Detroit.

# The Indians (and the traders, who learned the custom from them) were io the habit of burying their canoes in winter, to prevent them from being ruined by the frost.

HISTORY OF SHIAWASSEE AND CLINTON COUNTIES, MICHIGAN.

Louis Campan commenced in the Indian trade at Sagi- naw in 1815. He remained there many years, but finally removed to Grand Rapids, where he passed the remainder of his life, and died highly respected. Antoine Campau, a brother of Louis, also located at Saginaw in 1815 or 1816. John B. Cushway,* Gen. Riley, of Schenectady, N. Y., and Whitmore Knaggs came to this Indian country as traders not long afterwards, as did also Baptiste Cochios, who established his post on the Flint. All these traders dealt with the Indians inhabiting the valleys of the Shia- wassee, Looking-Glass, and Maple Rivers, but only Cushway, Campau, and Knaggs located trading-houses in this region. It was in or about 1820} that Whitmore Knaggs came to open his post at the " crossing of the Shiawassee,"-that is, the place where several trails crossed that river, on the In- dian reservation of Kechewondaugoning, or " Big Salt Lick." The name given to the place by the French (very probably by old Bolieu himself ) was "Grand Saline." The white settlers afterwards called it " the Knaggs place," for the old trader by whom it was established, and his son, who was its last occupant as a trader. The post was situ- ated on the river, in the northwest corner of the present township of Burns.

In 1820 the nearest trading-posts to Knaggs' on the south and west were that of the two Godfroys (father and son), located on the Huron, at the present site of Ypsilanti, and that of Rix Robinson " at the Thornapple and on Grand River, above and below." These merchants, as well as those at Saginaw, divided the, trade with Knaggs to some extent, but there is little doubt that the latter took the lion's share among the Indians living within his range. Not long after the time mentioned, a Frenchman named Battise (correctly Baptiste) opened a post on the upper waters of the Grand River, in the present county of Jack- son, and this became a somewhat popular trading-place, even for some of the Indians living as far north as the territory of Clinton and Shiawassee Counties.

Whitmore Knaggs was succeeded, about 1824, by a man named Grant, who continued in the trade for a time, but became so unpopular with the Indians that they finally drove him from their country.

The successor of Grant in the Indian trade on the Shia- wassee was Richard Godfroy, who reopened the post at Kechewondaugoning in 1828. In the spring of 1829 this post was visited by the brothers Alfred L. and Benjamin O. Williams, who were then making a tour of exploration with a view to permanent settlement, they being probably the first white men who visited Shiawassee County with that intention. The Godfroy trading-post, as it existed at

that time, is described by B. O. Williams as a rude log house and stable, with bark roof, and then in charge of John B. Cushway, as Godfroy's agent. The post was con- tinued by Godfroy's successors, Antoine Beaubien and John Knaggs, until about 1839.

On the south side of the Maple River, at the site of the present village of Maple Rapids, a trading-post was opened as early as 1826, but whether the first trader there was John B. Cushway or George Campau is a matter of some doubt. It is certain that it bore the name of the first-named proprietor in 1837, for on the 17th of March in that year the Legislature passed an act laying out a State road " from the seat of justice in Eaton County to Cushway's trading- post on Maple River in the county of Clinton." Mr. James Sowle, of Essex. is of the opinion, however, that Cushway carried on the trading-station before Campau, which latter seems to have been the one recollected by old residents as the first proprietor. He was a brother of Louis and An- toine Campau, and was known to the Indians as Waugoosh, or " the Red Fox." His successor in trade at the post on the Maple was John Johnson, who became a permanent resident, and died there since 1875. Mr. Campan is (or ·was very recently) living at Grand Rapids. The Cushway or Campau trading-station, with the Genereau post, on the river below, in Ionia County, took a large part of the trade of the Indians living on the Maple and Looking-Glass Rivers, but there was also for a time a post on the Grand River, in Ionia County, kept by Gilbert W. Prentiss and one or two associates, who (it was said) were also engaged in counterfeiting, and were driven away from their post by the Indians, on whom they had passed some of their spuri- ous coin. The same fate also befell them at a trading- station which they opened in 1834, in Cohoctah township, on the north border of Livingston County, adjoining Shia- wassee.

The Williams trading-post, which secured a very large business among the Indians of this section of country, and which is particularly noticeable from the fact that the two young men who opened it became permanent residents and very prominent citizens of Shiawassee County, was estab- lished in August, 1831, by Alfred L. and Benjamin O. Williams, for Rufus W. Stevens and Elisha Beach, of Pon- tiac. The location of this trading-station was a very little north of the north line of the Kechewondaugoning reser- vation, at the point where the Chicago and Lake Huron Railroad crosses the Shiawassee River, on or very near the dividing line between the townships of Shiawassee and Vernon. To this station there were brought furs collected within the present counties of Shiawassee and Clinton, as well as iu adjoining counties to the south and east. Their trade within the limits of Clinton, however, was much less than in Shiawassee, as much of the Indian trade in the former county was secured by Genereau, at the post on the Grand River, and by Campau, at his station at Maple Rapids.

In 1832 the brothers Williams became agents for the American Fur Company, and continued as such until 1836, when they began trading on their own account, and re- mained until 1837, when the post was vacated and the business abandoned, the Indians having been in that year

* Cushway was called by the Indians Pewabicorzo, or "the iron- shod," because he wore heavily-nailed boots.

+ A list of tho licensed traders in Michigan in that year places Knaggs' post "on the river Shiawassee, at the Indian Reservation."

# This tract of three thousand acres was reserved to the Indians of the Shiawassee hands, in the treaty concluded by den, Cass at Sagi- naw, Sept. 24, 1819. The name of this reservation is spelled in the treaty Ketchewaundaugenink, which is perhaps as nearly correct as any other manner of spelling,-the orthography of Indian names being at best a matter of taste or caprice. It was located in the northwest corner of the present township of Burns and southwest corner of Vernon, and comprised also small parts of Shiawassee and Antrim.

INDIAN HISTORY OF THE TWO COUNTIES.

so greatly reduced in numbers, and so much scattered and demoralized by the ravages of a fatal pestilence among them, that their trade was no longer of any value. The owners of the trading-station then removed to Owosso, where Mr. B. O. Williams yet resides. He still speaks the Chippewa language almost as fluently as English. He un- questionably knows more of the Indian history of this region than any other person, and it is principally on in- formation furnished by him that this account of the Indians of these two counties is based.

In 1830 the Indian villages or settlements on the Shia- wassee River were those of Kechewondangoning, on the reservation of the same name, and Shigemasking (meaning " soft-maple place"), near Shiawasseetown. The former was the summer residence of Wasso, the principal chief of the Shiawassee bands. These were the only villages on the river within the boundaries of Shiawassee County. Below, on the same stream, but a few miles north of the county line, was the Chippewa village of Che-as-sin-ning or " Big Rock," at the site of the present village of Chesaning. This was a much larger village than either of those pre- viously mentioned. Its people were under the chief Sher- manito, who died in 1836 and was succeeded in the chief- ship by Nokchikaming.

On the south branch of the Shiawassee, in Livingston County, near its northern border, was a very small settle- ment of Indians at Assineboinaing (" Rocky Place"). This had in earlier years borne the name of Nabobish, which was then also the name of its chief. His successor was old Portabeek, who is yet recollected by residents of that part of Livingston County. This settlement or village was entirely abandoned by the Indians about 1830. Away to the eastward, and nearly on the boundary between Gene- see and Oakland Counties, was the village of Kopenicorn- ing, situated by a small lake, which is yet known by the same name. This was a village of the " Fisher tribe" of Saginaws, of whom a few are still living in Genesee County.

On the Looking-Glass River, in what is now the town- ship of Antrim, there had been an Indian village of con- siderable size, but this had been abandoned prior to 1831. Farther down the stream, on its northern bank, just above the place which is now the village of De Witt in Clinton County, there was still in existence at that time the Chip- pewa village of Wabwahnahseepee, of which the chiefs were Wahbaskonoquay, or " Whitelocks," and his son, Canorbway. This village was broken up soon afterwards, and there are now few, if any, of even the oldest settlers in Clinton County who have any recollection of the exist- ence of an Indian village at this place, though the place continued to be for many years a favorite ground for the temporary camps of wandering parties of the Chippewa bands. This was a well-known place to the early white settlers, who ealled it the " Indian Green." Some four miles above this, but on the opposite side of the river, at Lowry Plains, there was another large and much frequented camp-ground, and still others were found at different places up the stream, in both Clinton and Shiawassee Counties.

On the south bank of the stream which the early French

traders called La Rivière du Plain, but which the English- speaking settlers named Maple River, was the village of the chief Makitoquet, located on what is now to be described as the northwest part of section 3, township of Essex. This settlement remained and prospered (as much as any Indian village can ever be said to prosper) for a considera- ble time after the coming of the first white settlers. There were also villages of Makitoquet's people farther down the river, in the present township of Lebanon (on section 14 and at one or two other points), but these were not as an- cient as the one first mentioned ; and they were, in fact, more like camps than permanent villages, but were always fully occupied during the sugaring season. The sub-chief, Wintagowish, was a kind of lieutenant to Makitoquet. The latter became a land-owner (having purchased land from government) in Lebanon in 1837.

Passing from Makitoquet's village down the Maple River to a point at or very near where the present village of Muir stands, there would have been found at that time a settle- ment of Chippewas, mixed with Ottawas, all under the authority of a chief named Cocoose. The name of this chief was also the name of the village. West of this, on the Grand River, at the place which is now Lowell, Kent Co., was the chief Kewagoosheum's village, also composed of Ottawas and Chippewas. Many miles farther up the Grand River, on its west bank, in the present township of Danby, Ionia Co., and near the west border of Clinton County, was the village of Pe-shimnecon (Apple Place), which was under the authority of the chiefs Dayomek and Kekonosoway, the latter of whom was stabbed to death by one of his own braves in a drunken brawl. This village, unlike most of the others named, continued to be held by the Indians as a place of residence until within recent years.

A few miles south of the southern boundary of Clinton County were settlements of the people known as Red Cedar Indians, though they belonged to the Shiawassee bands of the Saginaws. Their principal chief was the veteran Okemos, and next to him in authority were Manitocorb- way and Shingwank, of the first two of whom further men- tion will be made.

" The various bands," says Mr. Williams, " all belonged to the Chippewa or Saginaw tribe. We found them seat- tered over this vast primitive forest, each band known by its locality or chief. They subsisted principally by hunting, though all had summer residences, where they raised min- dor-min (corn), potatoes, turnips, beans, and sometimes squashes, pumpkins, and melons."

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History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 2

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia, D.W. Ensign & co. Number of Pages: 716

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, D.W. Ensign & co.
Number of Pages: 716