History of St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources, its war record, biographical sketches, the whole preceded by a history of Michigan, Part 9

Author:
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, A.T. Andreas & Co.
Number of Pages: 818

USA > Michigan > St Clair County > History of St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources, its war record, biographical sketches, the whole preceded by a history of Michigan > Part 9

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Under the French and British dominion, the points occupied on the eastern boundary of what is now the State of Michigan were considered a part of New France, or Canada. Detroit was known to the French as Fort Pontchartrain.

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HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

The military commandant, under both governments, exercised a civil jurisdiction over the settlements surrounding their posts. In 1796, when the British garrisons at Detroit and Mackinaw were replaced by detachments by General Wayne, Mich- igan became a part of the Northwestern Territory and was organized as the county of Wayne, entitled to one Representative in the General Assembly, held at Chilli- cothe. In 1800, Indiana was made a separate Territory, embracing all the country west of the present State of Ohio, and of an extension of the western line of that State due north to the territorial limits of the United States. In 1802, the penin- sula was annexed to the Territory of Indiana, and in 1805 Michigan began a sepa- rate existence. That part of the Territory that lies east of a north and south line through the middle of Lake Michigan was formed into a distinct government, and the provisions of the ordinance of 1787 continued to regulate it. Under this Con- stitution the executive power was vested in a governor, the judicial in three judges, and the legislative in both united ; the officers were appointed by the General Gov- ernment, and their legislative authority was restricted to the adoption of laws from the codes of the several States. This form of government was to continue until the Territory should contain 5,000 free white males of full age. It then became optional with the people to choose a legislative body, to be supported by them ; but subsequent legislation by Congress more liberally provided a legislature at the expense of the general Government and also added to privileges in the elective franchise and eligibility to office ; as, for example, under the ordinance a freehold qualification was required, both on the part of the elector and of the elected.

The first officers of the territory of Michigan were: Wm. Hull, governor; Augustus B. Woodward, chief judge; Frederick Bates, Sr., assistant judge and treasurer ; John Griffin, assistant judge ; Col. James May, marshal ; Abijah Hull, surveyor; Peter Audrain, clerk of the legislative board. May 5, 1807, Joseph Watson was appointed Legislative Secretary ; in November, 1806, Elijah Brush was appointed Treasurer, to succeed Mr. Bates, and the books of the office were deliv- ered over on the 26th of that month ; and William McDowell Scott was appointed Marshal in November, 1806, to succeed Col. May. The latter never held the office of Judge of the Territory, but about 1800-'3 he was Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. Augustus Breevort Woodward was a native of Virginia; was ap- pointed a Judge of the Territory in 1805, his term of office expired February 1, 1824. He was soon afterward appointed Judge of the Territory of Florida, and three years after that he died. The grand scheme of "Catholepistemiad," or State University of Michigan, with its numerous names described under sesquipedalian names from the Greek, owed its origin to Judge Woodward.

John Griffin was appointed Assistant Judge in 1807, his term of office expir-

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ing February 1, 1824, when he was re-appointed for four years, and February 1, 1828, he was appointed Territorial Secretary.

When, in 1818, Illinois was admitted into the Union, all the territory lying north of that State and of Indiana was annexed to Michigan. In 1819 the terri- tory was authorized to elect a delegate to Congress, according to the present usage with reference to territories; previous to this time according to the ordinance of 1787, a territory was not entitled to a delegate until it entered upon the " second grade of Government," and the delegate was then to be chosen by the General Assembly.

In 1823 Congress abolished the legislative power of the Governor and Judges, and granted more enlarged ones to a council, to be composed of nine persons selected by the President of the United States from eighteen chosen by the electors of the territory; and by this law, also, eligibility to office was made co-existent with the right of suffrage as established by the act of 1819; also the judicial term of office was limited to four years. Im 1825 all county officers, except those of a judicial nature, were made elective, and the appointments which remained in the hands of the executive were made subject to the approval of the legislative council. In 1827 the electors were authorized to choose a number of persons for the legisla- tive council, which was empowered to enact all laws not inconsistent with the ordinance of 1787. Their acts, however, were subject to abolishment by Congress, and to veto by the territorial executives. When Gen. Wm. Hull arrived at Detroit to assume his official duties as Governor, he found the town in ruins, it having been destroyed by fire. Whether it had been burned by design or accident was not known. The inhabitants were without food and shelter, camping in the open fields ; still they were not discouraged, and soon commenced rebuilding their houses on the same site. Congress also kindly granted the sufferers the site of the old town of Detroit and 10,000 acres of land adjoining. A territorial militia was organized, and a code of laws was adopted similar to those of the original State. This code was signed by Gov. Hull, Augustus B. Woodward and Frederick Bates, Judges of the Territory, and was called the " Wood ward code."

At this time the bounds of the Territory embraced all the country on the American side of the Detroit River, east of the north and south line through the center of Lake Michigan. The Indian land claims had been partially extinguished previous to this period. By the treaty of Fort McIntosh, in 1785, and that of Fort Harmar, in 1787, extensive cessions had been either made or confirmed, and, in 1807, the Indian titles to several tracts became entirely extinct. Settlements having been made under the French and English Governments, with irregularity or absence of definite surveys and records, some confusion sprang up in regard to the titles of valuable tracts. Accordingly, Congress established a Board of Com- missioners to examine and settle these conflicting claims, and, in 1807, another act 6

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

was passed, confirming, to a certain extent, the titles of all such as had been in possession of the lands then occupied by them from the year 1796, the year of the final evacuations by the British garrisons. Other acts were subsequently passed, extending the same conditions to settlements on the upper lakes.

As chief among the fathers of this State we may mention Gov. Lewis Cass, Gabriel Richard, Stevens T. Mason, Augustus B. Woodward, John Hornell, William Woodbridge, John Biddle, William A. Fletcher, Elon Farns- worth, Solomon Sibley, Benjamin B. Kircheval, John R. Williams, George Morrell, Daniel Goodwin, Augustus S. Porter, Benjamin F. H. Witherell, Jonathan Sheaver and Charles C. Trowbridge, all of Wayne County ; Edmund Munday, James Kingsley and Alpheus Felch, of Washentaw; Ross Wilkins and John J. Adam, of Lenawee; Warner Wing, Charles Noble and Austin E. Wing, of Monroe County ; Randolph Manning, O. D. Richardson and James B. Hunt, of Oakland ; Henry R. Schoolcraft, of Chippewa ; Albert Miller, of the Saginaw Valley ; John Stockton, Robert P. Eldridge and Christian Clemens, of Macomb ; Lucius Lyon, Charles E. Stuart, Edwin H. Lathrop, Epaphroditus Ransom and Hezekiah G. Wells, of Kalamazoo; Isaac E. Crary, John D. Pierce and Oliver C. Comstock, of Calhoun ; Kinsley S. Bingham, of Livingston ; John S. Barry, of St. Joseph ; Charles W. Whipple, Calvain Britain and Thomas Fitz- gerald, of Berrien, Bunce, of St. Clair, and George Redfield, of Cass. These men and their compeers shaped the policy of the State, and decided what should be its future. They originated all and established most of the great institutions which are the evidences of our advanced civilization, and of which we are so justly proud.

ADMINISTRATION OF GEN. CASS.

At the close of the war with Great Britain in 1814, an era of prosperity dawned upon the infant territory. Gen. Lewis Cass, who had served the Govern- ment with great distinction during the war, was appointed Governor. The condi- tion of the people was very much reduced, the country was wild, and the British flag still waved over the fort at Mackinaw. There was nothing inviting to immi- grants except the mere facts of the close of the war and the existence of a fertile soil and a good climate. The Indians were still dangerous, and the country was still comparatively remote from the centers of civilization and government. Such a set of circumstances was just the proper environment for the development of all those elements of the "sturdy pioneer," which we so often admire when writing up Western history. Here was the field for stout and brave men ; here was the place for the birth and education of real Spartan men,-men of strength, moral courage and indomitable perseverance.

At first, Gen. Cass had also the care of a small portion of Canada opposite

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

Detroit, and he had only twenty-seven soldiers for defending Detroit against the hostile Indians and carrying on the whole government. Believing that a civil governor should not be encumbered also with military duty, he resigned his brigadier-generalship in the army. But as Governor he soon had occasion to exer- cise his military power, even to act on the field as commander, in chasing away marauding bands of Indians. The latter seemed to be particularly threatening at this time, endeavoring to make up in yelling and petty depredations what they lacked in sweeping victory over all the pale-faces.

In times of peace Gov. Cass had high notions of civilizing the Indians, encour- aging the purchase of their lands, limiting their hunting grounds to a narrow com- pass, teaching them agriculture and mechanics, and providing the means for their instruction and religious training. The policy of the French and English had been to pacify them with presents and gewgaws, merely to obtain a temporary foothold for the purpose of carrying on the fur trade. Those benefited by the trade lived thousands of miles away, and had no interest in the permanent development of the country. The United States Government, on the other hand, indorsed Gov. Cass' policy, which was to result in the development of the country and the establish- ment of all the arts of peace. Govs. Cass and Harrison were accordingly empowered to treat with the Indians on the Miami and Wabash ; and, July 20, a treaty was signed with the Wyandottes, Senecas, Shawnees, Miamis and Delawares, which restored comparative tranquility. During the Summer, however, there was Indian war enough to call out all Gov. Cass' men, in aid of Gen. Brown on the Niagara.

Indians can never remain long at peace, whatever may be the obligations they assume in treaty making. Gen. Cass often headed his forces in person, and drove the hostile tribes from place to place until they finally retreated to Saginaw.

An attempt was made to recover Mackinaw from the English in July of this year (1814), but the British works were too strong ; however, the establishments at Saint Joseph and Sault Ste. Marie were destroyed. In the following Winter the final treaty of peace was ratified between England and the United States. The population of the Territory at this time was not over 5,000 or 6,000, scattered over a vast extent, and in a state of great destitution on account of the calamities of war. Scarcely a family, on resuming the duties of home, found more than the remnants of former wealth and comfort. Families had been broken up and dis- persed ; parents had been torn from their children, and children from each other; some had been slain on the battle-field, and others had been massacred by the ruth- less savages. Laws had become a dead letter, and morals had suffered in the general wreck. Agriculture had been almost abandoned and commerce paralyzed ; food and all necessaries of life were scarce, and luxuries unknown. Money was

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

difficult to get, and the bank paper of Ohio, which was almost the sole circulating medium, was twenty-five per cent. below par.

Such was the gloomy state of domestic affairs when Gen. Cass assumed the office of Governor. Besides, he had the delicate task of aiding in legislation and of being at the same time the sole executive of the law. In 1817, he made an im- portant treaty with the Indians, by which their title was extinguished to nearly all the land in Ohio, and a great portion in Indiana and Michigan. This treaty at- tached the isolated population of Michigan to the State of Ohio, made the Terri- torial Government in a fuller sense an integral member of the Federal Union, and removed all apprehension of a hostile confederacy among the Indian tribes along the lake and river frontier.

Hitherto there had not been a road in Michigan, except the military road along the Detroit River ; but as the Indian settlements and lands could not now be inter- posed as a barrier, Gen. Cass called the attention of Congress to the necessity of a military road from Detroit to Sandusky, through a trackless morass called the Black Swamp.

Congress passed an act requiring that 2,000,000 acres of land should be sur- veyed in the Territory of Louisiana, the same amount in the Territory of Illinois, and the same amount in the Territory of Michigan; in all 6,000,000 acres, to be set apart for the soldiers in the war with Great Britain. Each soldier was to have 160 acres of land fit for cultivation. The surveyors under this law reported that there were no lands in Michigan. fit for cultivation ! This unconscionable report deterred immigration for many years, and the Government took the whole 6,000,000 acres from Illinois and Missouri. The language of that report is so remarkable that we must quote it : " The country on the Indian boundary line, from the mouth of the Great Auglaize river and running thence for about fifty miles, is (with some few exceptions) low, wet land, with a very thick growth of underbrush, intermixed with very bad marshes, but generally very heavily timbered with beech, cotton- wood, oak, etc., thence continuing north and extending from the Indian boundary eastward, the number and extent of the swamps increase, with the addition of numbers of lakes, from twenty chains to two and three miles across. Many of the lakes have extensive marshes adjoining their margins, sometimes thickly covered with a species of pine called ' tamarack,' and other places covered with a coarse, high grass, and uniformly covered from six inches to three feet (and more at times) with water. The margins of these lakes are not the only places where swamps are found, for they are interspersed throughout the whole country and filled with water, as above stated, and varying in extent. The intermediate space between these swamps and lakes, which is probably near one-half of the country, is, with a very few exceptions, a poor, barren, sandy land on which scarcely any vegetation

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

grows except very small, scrubby oaks. In many places that part which may be called dry land is composed of little, short sand-hills, forming a kind of deep basins, the bottoms of many of which are composed of a marsh similar to the above-de- scribed. The streams are generally narrow, and very deep compared with their width, the shores and bottoms of which are, with a very few exceptions, swampy beyond description ; and it is with the utmost difficulty that a place can be found over which horses can be conveyed with safety.

" A circumstance peculiar to that country is exhibited in many of the marshes by their being thinly covered with a sward of grass, by walking on which evinced the existence of water or a very thin mud immediately under their covering, which sinks from six to eighteen inches from the pressure of the foot at every step, and at the same time rising before and behind the person passing over. The margins of many of the lakes and streams are in a similar situation, and in many places are literally afloat. On approaching the eastern part of the military lands, toward the private claims on the straits and lake, the country does not contain so many swamps and lakes, but the extreme sterility and barrenness of the soil continues the same. Taking the country altogether, so far as has been explored, and to all appearances, together with the information received regarding the balance, it is so bad there would not be more than one acre out of a hundred, if there would be one out of a thousand, that would in any place admit of cultivation."

It is probable that those Government surveyors made a lazy job of their duty, and depended almost entirely on the fur-traders, who were interested in keeping settlers out of the country. But we must make allowance, too, for the universal ignorance existing at that time of the methods of developing the Western country which modern invention has brought to bear since the days of our grandfathers. We must remember that our Western prairies were counted worth nothing, even by all the early settlers.

By the year 1818, some immigrants crowded in and further explored and tested the land ; and in March, this year, Gov. Cass called for the views of the inhabitants upon the question of changing the civil authority by entering upon the second grade of Territorial government. A vote was taken and a majority was found to be against it ; but for the purpose of facilitating immigration and settlement, Gov. Cass recommended to the Secretary of the Treasury that the lands in the district of Detroit be at once brought into market. The Department immediately complied, and the lands were offered for sale the following Autumn. Immigration was now increased more than ever before, and the permanent growth of the country became fully established.

In 1819, the people were allowed to elect a delegate to Congress. The popu- lation was now 8,806 in the whole Territory, distributed as follows: Detroit, 1,450,

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

not including the garrison; the Island of Mackinaw, still the entrepot of the fur trade, a stationary population of about 450, sometimes increased to 2,000 or over; Sault Ste. Marie, fifteen or twenty houses, occupied by French and English families.

The year 1819 was also rendered memorable by the appearance of the first steamboat on the lakes, the "Walk-in-the-water," which came up Lake Erie and went on to Mackinaw.

Up to this time no executive measure had been taken by the people to avail themselves of the school lands appropriated by the ordinance of 1787, except the curious act passed by the Governor and judges establishing the "Catholepistemiad," or University of Michigan, with thirteen "didaxia," or professorships. The scheme for the institution was a grand one, described by quaint, sesquipedalian technical- ities carried from the Greek language, and the whole devised by that unique man, Judge Woodward. The act is given in full in the Territorial laws of Michigan, compiled and printed a few years ago. It was Judge Woodward, also, who laid out the plan of Detroit, in the form of a cobweb, with a "Campus Martius" and a grand circus, and avenues radiating in every direction, grand public parks and squares, etc. Centuries would be required to fulfill his vast design. Like authors and artists of ancient Greece and Rome, he laid the foundations of grand work for posterity, more than the passing generation.

Settlements now began to form at the points where now are the cities of Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Jackson, Tecumseh and Pontiac. There were still some annoy- ances by the Indians. The Sacs and Foxes annually made their appearance to ob- tain presents from the English at Malden, and as they passed along they would commit many depredations. This practice of the British Government had a ten- dency to prejudice the Indians against the Americans, and it thus became necessary to take some measures for removing the Indians beyond British influence, or other- wise putting a stop to this dangerous custom. Accordingly, in the Fall of 1819, Gov. Cass desired the government at Washington to cause a more thorough explor- ation to be made of the lake region, estimating the number and influence of the Indians, their relations, prejudices, etc., with a view to the further extinguishment of Indian title to land, etc .; but the Government deemed it advisable at this time only to take ten miles square at Sault Ste. Marie for military purposes, and some islands near Mackinaw, where beds of plaster had been found to exist. However, the General Government soon ordered an expedition to be fitted out for such an exploration as Gov. Cass desired, to travel with birch canoes. The men composing the expedition were Gen. Cass and Robert A. Forsyth, his private secretary ; Capt. D. B. Douglass, topographer and astronomer; Dr. Alex Walcot, physician ; James D. Doty, official secretary ; and Charles C. Trowbridge, assistant topographer. Lieut. Evans Mackey was commander of the escort, which consisted of ten U. S. soldiers.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

Besides these there were ten Canadian voyageurs to manage the canoes, and ten Indians to act as hunter. The latter were under the direction of James Riley and Joseph Parks, who were also to act as interpreters. The party left Detroit, March 24, 1820, and reached Michilimackinac, June 6. On leaving this place, June 14, twenty-two soldiers, under the command of Lieut. John S. Pierce, were added to the party, and the expedition now numbered sixty-four persons. They reached the Sault Ste. Marie the 16th, where Gen. Cass called the Indians (Chippewas) to- gether, in order to have a definite understanding with them considering the boun- dary lines of the land grants, and thereby renew also their sanction of former trea- ties. At first the Indians protested against the Americans having any garrison at the place, and some of them grew violent and almost precipitated a general fight, which would have been disastrous to Gen. Cass' party, as the Indians were far more numer- ous; but Cass exhibited a great degree of coolness and courage, and caused more deliberate counsels to prevail amongst the savages. Thus the threatened storm blew over. The next day the expedition resumed its journey, on Lake Superior, passing the "pictured rocks," and landing at one place where there was a band of friendly Chippewas. June 25, they left Lake Superior, ascended Portage River and returned home by way of Lake Michigan, after having traveled over 4,000 miles.

The results of the expedition were: a more thorough knowledge of a vast re- gion, and of the numbers and disposition of the various tribes of Indians ; several important Indian treaties, by which valuable lands were ceded to the United States; a knowledge of the operations of the Northwest Fur Company, and the selection of sites for a line of military posts.

As the greater want of the people seemed to be roads, Congress was appealed to for assistance, and not in vain, for that body immediately provided for the open- ing of roads between Detroit and the Miami River, from Detroit to Chicago, and from Detroit to Fort Gratiot, and for the improvement of La Plaisance Bay. Gov- ernment surveys were carried into the Territory. Two straight lines were drawn through the center of the Territory, east and west, and north and south, the lat- ter being denominated the principal meridian, and the former the base line. The Territory was also divided into townships of six miles square.

In 1821, there was still a tract of land lying south of Grand River which had not yet been added to the United States, and Gov. Cass deemed it necessary to negotiate with the Indians for it. To accomplish this work he had to visit Chicago, and as a matter of curiosity we will inform the reader of his most feasible route to that place, which he can contrast with that of the present day. Leaving Detroit, he descended to the mouth of the Maumee River; he ascended that river and crossed the intervening country to the Wabash; descended that stream to the Ohio; down the latter to the Mississippi, and up this and the Illinois rivers to Chicago. At this

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

council the American Commissioners were Gen. Cass and Judge Sibley, of Detroit. They were successful in their undertaking, and obtained a cession of the land in question. On this occasion the Indians exhibited in a remarkable manner their appetite for whisky. As a preliminary step to the negotiations, the commissioners ordered that no spirits should be given to the Indians. The chief of the latter was a man of about a hundred years old, but still of a good constitution. The com- missioners urged every consideration to convince him and the other Indians of the propriety of the course they had adopted, but in vain. "Father," said the old chieftain, " we do not care for the laud, nor the money, nor the goods: what we want is whisky ; give us whisky." But the commissioners were inexorable, and the Indians were forced to content themselves.

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History of St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources, its war record, biographical sketches, the whole preceded by a history of Michigan, Part 9

Author: Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, A.T. Andreas & Co. Number of Pages: 818

Author:
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, A.T. Andreas & Co.
Number of Pages: 818