History of Washtenaw County, Michigan : together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships...and biographies of representative citizens : history of Michigan, Part 13

Author: Chas. C. Chapman & Co
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : Chas. C. Chapman & Co.
Number of Pages: 1457

USA > Michigan > Washtenaw County > History of Washtenaw County, Michigan : together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships...and biographies of representative citizens : history of Michigan > Part 13

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The Indians of Michigan were always faithful to their first white acquaintances, the French, so long as the French had a foothold in Canada or the State. There is a tradition that the Indians of Mich- igan sent a quota of braves to fight the English during the old French war-that they were present with their allies, the French,

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on that terrible night in the dead of winter when they attacked and destroyed the unsuspecting village of Schenectady.

While the Michigan Indians were always friendly to the French, they were always hostile, when favorable occasion offered, to the English inhabitants of the country. According to tradition Wash- ington had the grim satisfaction, or doubtful glory, of fighting the Michigan Indians on the disastrous day of Braddock's defeat. They took part in the conspiracy of Pontiac and ever remained faithful to that great chief, who, during his siege of Detroit, more than a century ago, issued promissory notes on birch bark, signed with the figure of an otter, which notes were honestly redeemed with honest coin. They were hostile to us during the Revolution. They gave aid to the British in the war of 1812, and allied them- selves with Tecumseh. Many of them prepared to array them- selves against us in the late Black Hawk war.

There was at least one American whom the Indians of Michigan came at last to fear and respect. That American was Lewis Cass. In the early days of his presence in the Territory of Michigan, they often attempted to kill him, and as their attempts were always with- out success, they came to believe that he held a charmed life. His influence with them was unbounded. It has been said that the loaded rifle aimed at the Indian's naked breast had less influence upon his conduct or his emotions than a word or gesture of Gen. Cass.

The Indians of Michigan had no idea of property, except so far as movable articles could be reduced to actual personal possession. In their primitive state they had but little better idea of the man- ufacturing arts than the bird which builds its nest or the fox which digs its hole. No Michigan Indian ever fashioned a stone battle- ax or clipped a flint arrow-head. He had barely intelligence enough to use these weapons when furnished ready for his hand. Like a great many white men of our day, he had no religion worth speaking of. The common impression that he recognized or wor- shiped a Great Spirit, or any other spirit than the " crooked " kind, is false and absurd. The preposterous supposition must have originated in the fancy of some enthusiastic poet or the imag- ination of some credulous missionary. His language had no words to express spiritual thoughts or spiritual things, or any abstract ideas, or the ideas of humility, worship or prayer. Spirit, as dis- tinguished from the gross and most sensuous matter, was as black to his mind as honesty was to the mind of Bill Tweed, or delicate moral sense to the mind of a Fiji Islander! The patient and devoted Elliot, in translating the Bible into the language of the New England Indians, found no words in their tongue to express the simplest idea of God and spiritual things. He only overcame the difficulty by resorting to circumlocutions and irreverent sym- bols which would excite the astonishment of an intelligent Chris- tian of to-day, or by coining words which would drive the brain of the toughest German philologist into a dizzy whirl. However

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unpleasant it may be in the light of reason and criticism, the " noble red men " of the poet must degenerate into the ignoble red brute of science, but little removed, in many respects, above the "beasts of the field." He was insensible to the moral emotions. He knew neither terror nor shame. His sexual instinct was that of a brute. The divine passion of love, that pure respect and affection for the opposite sex, not based upon low and selfish ideas, was foreign to his nature. The leading motive that influences the brute is hunger. This, coupled with the baser motive of revenge, was the principal motive which influenced the Indian.

THE BLACK HAWK WAR.

Although the seat of the Black Hawk war was several hundred miles west, yet it had its influence on the settlements in this county, not because it ever reached this country. but because of anticipations that it would. It was thought that when the Indians under Black Hawk were brought into action by the troops which were sent against them when they crossed the Mississippi river, if they were defeated, they would strive to make their way into Canada; and if they did that, they were most likely to follow the trail which ran through the county. This was cause for consider- able excitement and no little amusement at that day among the settlers. But the result of the war showed that these fears were entirely groundless; for, instead of being driven into this region, they were forced into Wisconsin, and the great Sac and Fox chief captured.

But this outcome of the war did not prevent the settlers from making necessary preparations for the emergency, should it come. The natural desire for safety and protection, on the part of the settlers, was heightened when they knew that hostilities had broken out, from the fact that the Ottawas and Pottawatomies had asserted that "when the leaves on the trees are as large as squirrels' ears, the Sacs intended to invade the settlements, and kill the white settlers." An Independent Rifle Company was organized at Dex- ter, its members not being confined alone to citizens of the village, but were scattered over a considerable portion of the surrounding country. The regiment to which this company was attached was commanded by Col. J. D. Davis, who lived at Plymouth, and that place was the headquarters of the regiment. Says a local writer: " One bright May morning, in 1832, at about eight o'clock, a man was seen riding on horseback in great haste over the hill, from toward Ann Arbor. As he rode into the village he met the com- mander of this company on the street, and in an excited manner announced that the Indians under Black Hawk had made war upon the whites and were marching toward Detroit, murdering every man, woman and child they could find; that they were at White Pigeon Prairie 80,000 strong at that moment, and would soon be upon us, at the same time delivering to the Captain of the com-

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pany a military order signed by Col. Davis, and dated at Plymouth at six P. M. of the previous day, which was couched substantially in the following language:

HEADQUARTERS 1ST REG'T MICH. RIFLE CORPS, PLYMOUTH, May 9, 1832, 6. P. M.

Captain Dexter Rifles :

SIR :- You are hereby commanded to be and appear with your full company armed and equipped as the law dictates, for actual service, at Ten Eyck's tavern, 10 miles west of Detroit, on the Chicago turnpike, on to-morrow, May 10, at 10 o'clock A. M., then and there to meet the regiment and other military forces, to march at once against the Black Hawk Indians.

By order of Major General John R. Williams, commanding Michigan Forces. J. D. DAVIS, Colonel 1st Regiment Michigan Rifles.

" The bearer of this order was George Warner. It was now May 10, at half past eight o'clock A. M. In order to obey this order literally, the company must be assembled (with some of them nine miles away) and marched on foot, for there was no conveyance, 40 miles, in just an hour and a half. That, of course, was impossible, and strange as it inay seem at this distance of time, that company were called together, and at just two o'clock that afternoon every member was in the ranks with rifle and blanket, and in less than 30 minutes they took up their line of march to the stirring music of fife and drum. They actually marched to Ypsilanti that same evening, where they rested until the morning light, when they again took up their line of march toward Detroit, and at about 11 o'clock A. M. they met the forces under Gen. John R. Williams, about four miles west of Ten Eyck's, on the march, westward, ho! to meet the enemy. Here the company joined the advancing army, and returned over the same road they had traversed in the early part of the day.

"By the time the troops had reached Saline the reports of the whereabouts of the enemy began to be quite conflicting, so much so that the troops halted there for two days, when authentic infor- mation was received that Black Hawk was captured in Wisconsin, his forces dispersed, and the Indian war ended. The Michigan troops were therefore disbanded and permitted to return to their homes.

" The Dexter Rifles returned after an absence of six days, but during its absence the inhabitants of the village and surrounding country had become very much excited and alarmed. They had held counsel together and resolved to build a block house of the saw-logs that lay upon the mill yard upon the west side of the creek, as a place of safety for the women and children, and other works of defense were to be erected. In fact, so great was the con- sternation, it was said (with how much truth I cannot vouch), that one man, owning a farm but a short distance from the village, with a small lake upon it, actually sunk his farming utensils in the lake, in order that the Indians should not destroy them."

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PIONEER LIFE.

One of the most interesting phases of national or local history is that of the settlement of a new country. What was the original state in which the pioneer found this country? How was it made to blossom like the rose? These are questions propounded by almost every individual of the country in which he makes his home, or sojourn for a time. Pioneer life in Washtenaw county finds its parallel in almost every county in the State, and throughout the entire West. In addition to what is given in the State history, in this volume, we add the following items:

When John Bryant, Daniel Cross, Benjamin Woodruff and oth- ers of that noble band of pioneers settled here, they found an unbroken wilderness. Wild beasts, and but little less wild savages, roamed at will over the rolling prairies, through the dense forests, and along the waters of the Raisin, Saline, and the " beautiful Huron." Forests were to be felled, cabins erected, wells built, and the rivers and creeks made to labor for the benefit of mankind; the beautiful prairies were to be robbed of their natural ornaments, and the hand of art was to assist in their decoration. Who was to undertake this work? Are they qualified for the task? What will be the effect of their labors upon future generations?

The Washtenaw county pioneers had many difficulties to con- tend with, not the least of which was the journey from civilization to their forest homes. The route lay for the most part through a rough country; swamps and marshes were crossed with great exer- tion and fatigue; rivers were forded with difficulty and danger; nights were passed on the open prairies, with " old mother earth " for a couch, and the starry heavens for a shelter; long weary days and weeks of travel were endured, but finally their eyes were glad- dened, and their hearts beat faster when a vision of the " promised land " burst on their view.

For several years the early settlers of Washtenaw county were compelled to go to Detroit for their flour or meal, requiring almost a week's time to make the journey.

The fever and ague, or " chills and fever," was a disease of which every pioneer was required to have a taste.

The first thing upon arrival was to set about building the cabin. While this was being done the family slept in their wagons or upon the grass, while the horses or mules, hobbled to prevent escape, grazed the prairie around them. Trees of a suitable and uniform size were selected, felled and prepared for their places. The day for the raising is announced, and from far and near come other pioneers to assist in this labor. The structure goes up, a log at a time, those engaged stopping now and then to "wet up their whistles," and soon it is ready for the clapboard roof, which was held on by huge weight poles. A door and a window is cut where the "good wife" directs, a chimney built, and the building is ready

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for the occupants. It is not a model home, but it is the beginning of a great prosperity, and as such is worthy of preservation in history, on account of its obscurity and its severe economy. The window was very small, sometimes glass being inserted, but often cov- ered with greased paper. The door was made of spliced clapboards and hung with wooden hinges. It was opened by pulling a leather latch-string, which raised a wooden latch inside the door. For security at night this latch-string was pulled in, but for friends and neighbors, and even strangers, the "latch-string hangs out " was always a sign of welcome.

These simple cabins were inhabited by a kind and true-hearted people. They were strangers to mock modesty, and the traveler seeking lodgings for the night, or desirous of spending a few days in the community, if willing to accept the rude offering, was always welcome, although how they were disposed of at night the reader may not easily imagine, for, as described, a single room was made to serve the purpose of kitchen, dining-room, sitting-room and par- lor, and many families consisted of eight to ten members.

Next came the work of preparing the soil for agricultural pur- poses. Spring comes and the ground is prepared for the seed. The father takes his post at the plow, and the daughter takes possession of the reins. This is a grand scene-one full of grace and beauty. The pioneer girl thinks but little of fine dress; knows less of the fash- ions; has probably heard of the opera, but does not understand its meaning; has been told of the piano, but has never seen one; wears a dress " buttoned up behind;" has on leather boots, and " drives plow " for father.

The character of the pioneers of Washtenaw county falls properly within the range ofthe historians. They lived in a region of exu- berant fertility, where nature had scattered her blessings with her liberal hand. The beautiful Huron river winding its serpentine way to the lake, the inexhaustible forest supply, the fertile prairie, and the many improvements constantly going forward, and the bright prospect for a glorious future in everything that renders life pleasant, combined to deeply impress their character, to give them a spirit of enterprise, an independence of feeling, and a joyousness of hope. They were a thorough admixture of many nations, char- acters, languages, conditions and opinions. There was scarcely a State in the Union that was not represented among the early set- tlers. All the various religious sects had their advocates. All now form one society. Says an early writer: " Men must cleave to their own kind, and must be dependent upon each other. Pride and jealousy give way to the natural yearnings of the human heart for society. They begin to rub off mutual prejudices; one takes a step, and then the other; they meet half way and embrace, and the society thus newly organized and constituted is more liberal, en- larged, unprejudiced, and of course more affectionate, than a society of people of like birth and character, who bring all their early prej-

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udices as a common stock, to be transmitted as an inheritance to posterity."

The wedding was an attractive feature of pioneer life. There was no distinction of life and very little of fortune. On these accounts the first impressions of love generally resulted in marriages. The family establishment cost but little labor-nothing more. The marriage was always celebrated at the house of the bride, and she was generally left to choose the officiating clergyman. A wedding, however, engaged the attention of the whole neighborhood. It was anticipated by both old and young with eager expectation. In the morning of the wedding day the groom and his intimate friends assembled at the house of his father, and after due preparation, de- parted, en masse, for the " mansion " of his bride. The journey was sometimes made on horseback, sometimes on foot, and some- times in farm wagons and carts. It was always a merry journey; and, to insure merriment, the bottle was taken along. On reaching the house of the bride, the marriage ceremony took place, and then dinner or supper was served. After the meal the dancing com- menced, and generally lasted until the following morning. The figures of the dance were three and four-handed reels, or square sets and jigs. The commencement was always a square four, which was followed by what pioneers call "jigging;" that is, two of the four would single out for a jig, and were followed by the remaining couple. The jigs were often accompanied with what was called " cutting out," that is, when either of the parties became tired of the dance, on intimation the place was supplied by some one of the company, without interruption of the dance. In this way the reel was often continued until the musician was exhausted. About nine or ten o'clock in the evening a deputation of young ladies stole off the bride and put her to bed. In doing this they had to ascend a ladder from the kitchen to the upper floor, which was composed of loose boards. Here, in this pioneer bridal chamber, the young, simple-hearted girl was put to bed by her enthusiastic friends. This done, a deputation of young men escorted the groom to the same department, and placed him snugly by the side of his bride. The dance still continues, and if seats were scarce, which was generally the case, says a local writer, every young man when not engaged in the dance was obliged to offer his lap as a seat for one of the girls; and the offer was sure to be accepted. During the night's festivi- ties spirits were freely used, but seldom to great excess. The infair was held on the following evening, when the same order of exercises was observed.

Election days were observed as holidays. The men went to town, voted, drank whisky, smoked, swore, wrestled and fought,-all for a little fun.

The " little brown jug" was often brought into requisition as affording a means of enjoyment that nothing else could supply. No caller was permitted to leave the house without an invitation to partake of its contents; not to so invite was a breach of hospitality

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not to be thought of for a moment. It was brought out upon all conceivable occasions, and freely dispensed to old and young alike, with no thought of danger. It was a thing of prime importance in all the assemblages of men,-at log-rollings, house-raisings, husk- ings and elections.

CHAPTER IV. GEOLOGY OF WASHTENAW COUNTY.

BY ALEXANDER WINCHELL.

The entire surface of Washtenaw county is occupied by inco- herent materials commonly known as Drift. The Drift proper consists of accumulations due to the action which took place during a period of general glaciation, and the period of flooding which accompanied the dissolution of the glacier. This is overlaid, in some places, by deposits formed since the physical conditions have existed nearly as at the present day. No outcrop of any preglacial formation is known in the county, though such occur to a consid- erable extent in all the surrounding counties except Oakland.

I. THE DRIFT.

Unstratified and Stratified .- Beginning with the Drift, the most conspicuous and best known formation of the county, we may remark that it consists of sand, gravel and clayey loam with inter- spersed boulders, passing locally into deposits of fine and well- bedded clay. Careful observation reveals the fact that certain portions of the Drift appear to be quite unstratified, with boulder masses sparingly, but somewhat promiscuously, disseminated. The most common condition of the visible Drift, however, presents it imperfectly stratified. The unstratified Drift is most deeply seated. The partially stratified Drift has evidently been arranged by water. The confused stratification of the beds is such as is pro- duced by torrential action; and there is little doubt that geological opinion is correct in ascribing the confusedly stratified Drift to the violent action of the waters resulting from the rapid melting of the continental glacier, which had accumulated those deposits still remaining as unstratified Drift or till.

Boulders .- Boulders, so abundant in the Drift, are hard, rounded masses of all sizes up to six or eight feet in diameter. One of these lies upon the University campus, which weighs about six tons. It was brought by the Literary Class of 1862 from a spot near the Michigan Central Depot. Nearly all of these boulders are of very hard rocks, and of kinds which are not found in place in any region nearer than the shores of Lake Superior and the north shore of Lake Huron. They have, therefore, been trans- ported by some tremendous natural agency; and glaciers are gen- erally thought to furnish an adequate explanation. Charpentier

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gives the dimensions of one of the largest boulders in Switzerland as 53 English feet in mean length, 48 feet in mean breadth and 60 feet in height. At least half of our boulders are strictly quartzose. In constitution they may be coarse, imperfectly coherent conglom- erates, or firmly compacted conglomerates, like those on the Uni- versity grounds, of which the one near the main entrance is most purely silicious, and is diversified in color by the presence of red jasper and dark flint pebbles. Other quartzose boulders are coarsely or finely granular, and in either case, they may be firmly cemented or, occasionally, somewhat friable. Others assume a vitreous condition, but preserve traces of their original granular state, so that one can easily imagine the ancient granular mass to have been softened by heat or chemical action until the separate grains, by mutual pressure, had partially coalesced. Still others have passed into a purely vitreous condition, with all traces of a former granular structure almost or quite obliterated. These quartzose boulders present a great diversity of colors, both in their general hue and in the tint of their constituents. The most purely silicious are glassy or white-opaque. Some are delicately tinted, rose-colored, or buff, or smoky. Others are of a deeper red or brown. The coloring ingredient is generally iron peroxyd, but sometimes manganese oxyd. These quartzites present so many vari- ations in texture and color that one may make what seems a large collection of rocks, and find them all mere varieties of quartzite. About thirty per cent.of our boulders are micaceous and hornblendic rocks. Many of these are apparently quite unstratified, and con- stitute good examples of granites, syenites and diorites. They may generally be known by a speckled appearance,-the quartz or the feldspar in them being of a lighter color than the hornblende or mica. Sometimes they present the constituents of a granite- quartz, feldspar and mica-in a very coarse condition, and furnish admirable examples for study. More frequently, the rocks con- taining hornblende or mica exist in a stratified condition. Feld- spar, plentifully present with quartz and mica, or hornblende, gives us a series of gneisses, which exist under all conceivable modifica- tions of color, fineness, stratification, coherence and relative pro- portions of ingredients. But with feldspar absent or nearly so, we have a series of schists, which otherwise present modifications parallel with those presented by the gneisses. About ten per cent. of the boulders consist of other rocks of Northern origin. Among them, talcose and hydro-mica schists frequently occur; stratified hornblende rock less frequently; and also an occasional specimen of real protogine or Alpine granite. In addition to these, doleritic boulders are sometimes seen, and even the greenstone conglomer- ates of Lake Superior. Finally, about ten per cent. of our Northern boulders are limestones. These are at once recognized, generally, as derived from the " Niagara limestone," which outcrops on the Manitoulin Islands, and on the farther shore of Lake Michigan, from the neighborhood of Mackinac to Green Bay. It is a hard

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and marble-like rock, and for this reason has been able to with- stand the wear incident to transportation from a region so remote.

Limestone Masses .- In addition to all the loose rocks thus far enumerated, we frequently find large tabular masses of loosely stratified limestone, which bear none of the common evidences of boulder transportation; and I do not include them among boulders. These masses vary from a foot to several rods in extent. They have been mistaken repeatedly for genuine outcrops of formations in place; and quarries have been opened, and limekilns built in the faith of a permanent supply of the rock. In some cases, hundreds of bushels of lime have been burned from them; and in one place which I examined near Franciscoville, in Jackson county, 20,000 bushels of lime had been manufactured. Many years ago a lime- kiln just east of the city limits of Ann Arbor, was long maintained from one of these masses. But invariably the formation becomes exhausted. Underneath re-appear the usual deposits of the Modi- fied Drift. No bed rock lies within a hundred feet of most of these isolated patches of limestone. Such phenomena are of frequent occurrence through Lenawee and Hillsdale counties, and the south- ern part of Jackson and Washtenaw. I have seen something simi- lar as far west as Berrien, Van Buren and Ottawa counties, and as far north as Oceana county. These outlying masses constitute a class of phenomena little known to geologists, and I believe I was the first to call attention to them in published communications .* That they do not belong to the class of boulders is manifest: 1. From the enormous size of many of them. No boulders of admit- ted Northern origin attain to any similar dimensions. . Many of these masses far exceed even the largest boulder blocks known in more northern regions. 2. The limestone is not of such character as to endure transportation from the Northern outcrop of rocks of the same kind. It is loosely jointed, often shaly, and seamed with argillaceous matter. Glacier transportation is endurable only by the hardest known rocks. These enormous tabular pieces have been lifted gently, transported without violence, and let down in their resting places without a shock. Again, the fossils in which these masses abound proclaim more distinctly than the structure of the rock, their origin from the Corniferous formation. I have else- where enumerated 60 species of fossils found at Ann Arbor, while numerous others still undetermined exist. Most of these are known to occur in the tabular masses here under consideration. The fact proves beyond a doubt that these floating rocks have been derived from the Corniferous limestone. If they could not have been transported from the Northern outcrop of this formation, then from what region have they come? The nearest surface exposures of the Corniferous are in Monroe and Lenawee counties, and in

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History of Washtenaw County, Michigan : together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships...and biographies of representative citizens : history of Michigan, Part 13

Author: Chas. C. Chapman & Co Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : Chas. C. Chapman & Co. Number of Pages: 1457

Author: Chas. C. Chapman & Co
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : Chas. C. Chapman & Co.
Number of Pages: 1457