History of Washtenaw County, Michigan : together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships...and biographies of representative citizens : history of Michigan, Part 3

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 3

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

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

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

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

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

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

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

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

In 1749 there was a fresh accession of immigrants to all the points upon the lakes, but the history of this part of the world during the most of this century is rather monotonous, business and gov- ernment remaining about the same, without much improvement. The records nearly all concern Canada east of the lake region. It is true, there was almost a constant change of commandants at the posts, and there were many slight changes of administrative policy; but as no great enterprises were successfully put in operation, the events of the period have but little prominence. The northwest- ern territory during French rule was simply a vast ranging ground for the numerous Indian tribes, who had no ambition higher than obtaining an immediate subsistence of the crudest kind, buying arms, whisky, tobacco, blankets and jewelry by bartering for them the peltries of the chase. Like a drop in the ocean was the mis- sionary work of the few Jesuits at the half dozen posts on the great waters. The forests were full of otter, beaver, bear, deer, grouse, quails, etc., and on the few prairies the grouse, or " prairie chickens," were abundant. Not much work was required to obtain a bare subsistence, and human nature generally is not disposed to lay up much for the future. The present material prosperity of America is really an exception to the general law of the world.

In the latter part of 1796 Winthrop Sargent went to Detroit and organized the county of Wayne, forming a part of the Indiana Ter- ritory until its division in 1805, when the Territory of Michigan was organized.

NATIONAL POLICIES .- THE GREAT FRENCH SCHEME.

Soon after the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi by La Salle in 1682, the government of France began to encourage the policy of establishing a line of trading posts and missionary stations extending through the West from Canada to Louisiana, and this policy was maintained, with partial success, for about 75 years.

The river St. Joseph of Lake Michigan was called " the river Miamis " in 1679, in which year La Salle built a small fort on its bank, near the lake shore. The principal station of the mission for the instruction of the Miamis was established on the borders of this river. The first French post within the territory of the Miamis was at the mouth of the river Miamis, on an eminence naturally fortified on two sides by the river, and on one side by a deep ditch made by a fall of water. It was of triangular form. The mission- ary Hennepin gives a good description of it, as he was one of the company who built it, in 1679. Says he: " We felled the trees that were on the top of the hill; and having cleared the same from bushes for about two musket shot, we began to build a redoubt of 80 feet long and 40 feet broad, with great square pieces of timber laid one upon another, and prepared a great number of stakes of · about 25 feet long to drive into the ground, to make our fort more

N. OBB DO MY

INDIANS ATTACKING FRONTIERSMEN.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

inaccessible on the river side. We employed the whole month of November about that work, which was very hard, though we had no other food but the bears' flesh our savage killed. These beasts are very common in that place because of the great quantity of grapes they find there; but their flesh being too fat and luscious, our men began to be weary of it and desired leave to go a hunting to kill some wild goats. M. La Salle denied them that liberty, which caused some murmurs among them; and it was but unwillingly that they continued their work. This, together with the approach of winter and the apprehension that M. La Salle had that his vessel (the Griffin) was lost, made him very melancholy, though he con- cealed it as much as he could. We made a cabin wherein we per- formed divine service every Sunday, and Father Gabriel and I, who preached alternately, took care to take such texts as were suitable to our present circumstances and fit to inspire us with courage, concord and brotherly love. * * * The fort was at last per- fected, and called Fort Miamis."

In 1765 the Miami nation, or confederacy, was composed of four tribes, whose total number of warriors was estimated at only 1,050 men. Of these about 250 were Twightwees, or Miamis proper, 300 Weas, or Ouiatenons, 300 Piankeshaws and 200 Shockeys; and at this time the principal villages of the Twightwees were situated about the head of the Maumee river at and near the place where Fort Wayne now is. The larger Wea villages were near the banks of the Wabash river, in the vicinity of the Post Ouiatenon; and the Shockeys and Piankeshaws dwelt on the banks of the Vermillion, and on the borders of the Wabash between Vincennes and Ouiate- non. Branches of the Pottawatomie, Shawnee, Delaware and Kicka- poo tribes were permitted at different times to enter within the boundaries of the Miamis and reside for a while.

The wars in which France and England were engaged, from 1688 to 1697, retarded the growth of the colonies of those nations in North America, and the efforts made by France to connect Canada and the Gulf of Mexico by a chain of trading posts and colonies naturally excited the jealousy of England and gradually laid the foundation for a struggle at arms. After several stations were estab- lished elsewhere in the West, trading posts were started at the Miami villages, which stood at the head of the Maumee, at the Wea villages about Ouiatenon on the Wabash, and at the Piankeshaw vil- lages about the present sight of Vincennes. It is probable that before the close of the year 1719 temporary trading posts were erected at the sites of Fort Wayne, Ouiatenon and Vincennes. These points were probably often visited by French fur traders prior to 1700. In the meanwhile the English people in this country commenced also to establish military posts west of the Alleghanies, and thus matters went on until they naturally culminated in a general war, which, being waged by the French and Indians combined on one side, was called " the French and Indian war." This war was ter- minated in 1763 by a treaty at Paris, by which France ceded to

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

Great Britain all of North America east of the Mississippi except New Orleans and the island on which it is situated; and indeed, France had the preceding autumn, by a secret convention, ceded to Spain all the country west of that river.

In 1762, after Canada and its dependencies had been surrendered to the English, Pontiac and his partisans secretly organized a pow- erful confederacy in order to crush at one blow all English power in the West. This great scheme was skillfully projected and cau- tiously matured.

The principal act in the programme was to gain admittance into the fort at Detroit, on pretense of a friendly visit, with shortened muskets concealed under their blankets, and on a given signal sud- denly break forth upon the garrison; but an inadvertent remark of an Indian woman led to a discovery of the plot, which was conse- quently averted. Pontiac and his warriors afterward made many attacks upon the English, some of which were successful, but the Indians were finally defeated in the general war.

BRITISH POLICY.

In 1765 the total number of French families within the limits of the Northwestern Territory did not probably exceed 600. These were in settlements about Detroit, along the river Wabash and the neighborhood of Fort Chartres on the Mississippi. Of these fami- lies, about 80 or 90 resided at Post Vincennes, 14 at Fort Ouiate- non, on the Wabash, and nine or ten at the confluence of the St. Mary and St. Joseph rivers.

The colonial policy of the British government opposed any meas- ures which might strengthen settlements in the interior of this country, lest they become self-supporting and independent of the mother country; hence the early and rapid settlement of the North- western Territory was still further retarded by the short-sighted selfishness of England. That fatal policy consisted mainly in hold- ing the land in'the hands of the government and not allowing it to be subdivided and sold to settlers. But in spite of all her efforts in this direction, she constantly made just such efforts as provoked the American people to rebel, and to rebel successfully, which was within 15 years after the perfect close of the French and Indian war.

AMERICAN POLICY.

Thomas Jefferson, the shrewd statesman and wise Governor of Virginia, saw from the first that actual occupation of Western lands was the only way to keep them out of the hands of foreigners and Indians. Therefore, directly after the conquest of Vincennes by Clark, he engaged a scientific corps to proceed under an escort to 3

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

the Mississippi, and ascertain by celestial observations the point on that river intersected by latitude 36° 30', the southern limit of the State, and to measure its distance to the Ohio. To Gen. Clark was entrusted the conduct of the military operations in that quarter. He was instructed to select a strong position near that point and establish there a fort and garrison; thence to extend his conquest northward to the lakes, erecting forts at different points, which might serve as monuments of actual possession, besides affording protection to that portion of the country. Fort "Jefferson " was erected and garrisoned on the Mississippi a few miles above the southern limit.

The result of these operations was the addition, to the chartered limits of Virginia, of that immense region known as the " North- western Territory." The simple fact that such and such forts were established by the Americans in this vast region convinced the Brit- ish Commissioners that we had entitled ourselves to the land. But where are those " monuments " of our power now?

ORDINANCE OF 1787.

This ordinance has a marvelous and interesting history. Con- siderable controversy has been indulged in as to who is entitled to the credit for framing it. This belongs, undoubtedly, to Nathan Dane; and to Rufus King and Timothy Pickering belong the credit for suggesting the proviso contained in it against slavery, and also for aids to religion and knowledge, and for assuring forever the common use, without charge, of the great national highways of the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence and their tributaries to all the citi- zens of the United States. To Thomas Jefferson is also due much credit, as some features of this ordinance were embraced in his or- dinance of 1784. But the part taken by each in the long, laborious and eventful struggle which had so glorious a consummation in the ordinance, consecrating forever, by one imprescriptible and un- changeable monument, the very heart of our country to freedom, knowledge and union, will forever honor the names of those illustri- ous statesmen.

Mr. Jefferson had vainly tried to secure a system of government for the Northwestern Territory. He was an emancipationist and favored the exclusion of slavery from the Territory, but the South voted him down every time he proposed a measure of this nature. In 1787, as late as July 10, an organizing act without the anti- slavery clause was pending. This concession to the South was expected to carry it. Congress was in session in New York. On July 5, Rev. Manasseh Cutler, of Massachusetts, came into New York to lobby on the Northwestern Territory. Everything seemed to fall into his hands. Events were ripe. The state of the public credit, the growing of Southern prejudice, the basis of his mission, his personal character, all combined to complete one of those sudden

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

and marvelous revolutions of public sentiment that once in five or ten centuries are seen to sweep over a country like the breath of the Almighty.

Cutler was a graduate of Yale. He had studied and taken de- grees in the three learned professions, medicine, law, and divinity. He had published a scientific examination of the plants of New England. As a scientist in America his name stood second only to that of Franklin. He was a courtly gentleman of the old style, a man of commanding presence and of inviting face. The Southern members said they had never seen such a gentleman in the North. He came representing a Massachusetts company that desired to purchase a tract of land, now included in Ohio, for the purpose of planting a colony. It was a speculation. Government money was worth eighteen cents on the dollar. This company had collected enough to purchase 1,500,000 acres of land. Other speculators in New York made Dr. Cutler their agent, which enabled him to represent a demand for 5,500,000 acres. As this would reduce the national debt, and Jefferson's policy was to provide for the public credit, it presented a good opportunity to do something.

Massachusetts then owned the territory of Maine, which she was crowding on the market. She was opposed to opening the North- western region. This fired the zeal of Virginia. The South caught the inspiration, and all exalted Dr. Cutler. The entire South ral. lied around him. Massachusetts could not vote against him, be- cause many of the constuitents of her members were interested personally in the Western speculation. Thus Cutler, making friends in the South, and doubtless using all the arts of the lobby, was enabled to command the situation. True to deeper convic- tions, he dictated one of the most compact and finished documents of wise statesmanship that has ever adorned any human law book. He borrowed from Jefferson the term "Articles of Compact," which, preceding the federal constitution, rose into the most sacred char- acter. He then followed very closely the constitution of Massa- chusetts, adopted three years before. Its most prominent points were:

1. The exclusion of slavery from the territory forever.

2. Provision for public schools, giving one township for a semi- nary and every section numbered 16 in each township; that is, one thirty-sixth of all the land for public schools.

3. A provision prohibiting the adoption of any constitution or the enactment of any law that should nullify pre-existing contracts.

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Be it forever remembered that this compact declared that "re- ligion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good govern- ment and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of edu- cation shall always be encouraged." Dr. Cutler planted himself on this platform and would not yield. Giving his unqualified dec- laration that it was that or nothing,-that unless they could make the land desirable they did not want it,-he took his horse and buggy and started for the constitutional convention at Philadelphia. On July 13, 1787, the bill was put upon its passage, and was unani- mously adopted. Thus the great States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, a vast empire, were consecrated to free dom, intelligence, and morality. Thus the great heart of the nation was prepared to save the union of States, for it was this act that was the salvation of the republic and the destruction of slavery. Soon the South saw their great blunder and tried to have the compact repealed. In 1803 Congress referred it to a committee, of which John Randolph was chairman. He reported that this ordinance was a compact and opposed repeal. Thus it stood, a rock in the way of the on-rushing sea of slavery.

The "Northwestern Territory " included of course what is now the State of Indiana; and Oct 5, 1787, Maj. Gen. Arthur St. Clair was elected by Congress Governor of this territory. Upon commencing the duties of his office he was instructed to ascertain the real temper of the Indians and do all in his power to remove the causes for controversy between them and the United States, and to effect the extinguishment of Indian titles to all the land possible. The Governor took up quarters in the new settlement of Marietta, Ohio, where he immediately began the organization of the government of the territory. The first session of the General Court of the new territory was held at that place in 1788, the Judges being Samuel H. Parsons, James M. Varnum and John C. Symmes, but under the ordinance Gov. St. Clair was President of the Court. After the first session, and after the necessary laws for government were adopted, Gov. St. Clair, accompanied by the Judges, visited Kaskaskia for the purpose of organizing a civil gov- ernment there. Full instructions had been sent to Maj. Hamtramck, commandant at Vincennes, to ascertain the exact feeling and temper of the Indian tribes of the Wabash. These instructions were ac- companied by speeches to each of the tribes. A Frenchman named Antoine Gamelin was dispatched with these messages April 5, 1790, who visited nearly all the tribes on the Wabash, St. Joseph and St.

GEN. GEORGE ROGERS CLARK.

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Mary's rivers, but was coldly received; most of the chiefs being dissatisfied with the policy of the Americans toward them, and prejudiced through English misrepresentation. Full accounts of his adventures among the tribes reached Gov. St. Clair at Kaskas- kia in June, 1790. Being satisfied that there was no prospect of effecting a general peace with the Indians of Indiana, he resolved to visit Gen. Harmar at his headquarters at Fort Washington and consult with him on the means of carrying an expedition against the hostile Indians; but before leaving he intrusted Winthrop Sargent, the Secretary of the Territory, with the execution of the resolutions of Congress regarding the lands and settlers on the Wabash. He directed that officer to proceed to Vincennes, lay out a county there, establish the militia and appoint the necessary civil and military officers. Accordingly Mr. Sargent went to Vin- cennes and organized Camp Knox, appointed the officers, and noti- fied the inhabitants to present their claims to lands. In establish- ing these claims the settlers found great difficulty, and concerning this matter the Secretary in his report to the President wrote as follows:

" Although the lands and lots which were awarded to the inhabi- tants appeared from very good oral testimony to belong to those persons to whom they were awarded, either by original grants, pur- chase or inheritance, yet there was scarcely one case in twenty where the title was complete, owing to the desultory manner in which public business had been transacted and some other unfor- tunate causes. The original concessions by the French and British commandants were generally made upon a small scrap of paper, which it has been customary to lodge in the notary's office, who has seldom kept any book of record, but committed the most im- portant land concerns to loose sheets, which in process of time have come into possession of persons that have fraudulently de- stroyed them; or, unacquainted with their consequence, innocently lost or trifled them away. By French usage they are considered family inheritances, and often descend to women and children. In one instance, and during the government of St. Ange here, a royal notary ran off with all the public papers in his possession, as by a certificate produced to me. And I am very sorry further to observe that in the office of Mr. Le Grand, which continued from 1777 to 1787, and where should have been the vouchers for important land transactions, the records have been so falsified, and there is such gross fraud and forgery, as to invalidate all evidence and informa- tion which I might have otherwise acquired from his papers."

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

Mr. Sargent says there were about 150 French families at Vin- cennes in 1790. The heads of all these families had been at one time vested with certain titles to a portion of the soil; and while the Secretary was busy in straightening out these claims, he received a petition signed by 80 Americans, asking for the confirmation of grants of land ceded by the Court organized by Col. John Todd under the authority of Virginia. With reference to this cause, Congress, March 3, 1791, empowered the Territorial Governor, in cases where land had been actually improved and cultivated under a supposed grant for the same, to confirm to the persons who made such improvements the lands supposed to have been granted, not, however, exceeding the quantity of 400 acres to any one person.

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.

Soon after the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi in 1682, the government of France began to encourage the policy of estab- lishing a line of trading posts and missionary stations extending through the West from Canada and the great lakes to Louisiana; and this policy was maintained, with partial success, for about 75 years. British power was the rival upon which the French con- tinually kept their eye. Of course a collision of arms would re- sult in a short time, and this commenced about 1755. In 1760 Canada, including the lake region, fell into the hands of the British. During the war occurred Braddock's defeat, the battles of Niagara, Crown Point and Lake George, and the death of brave Wolfe and Montcalm. Sept. 12, this year, Major Robert Rogers, a native of New Hampshire, a provincial officer and then at the height of his reputation, received orders from Sir Jeffrey Amherst to ascend the lakes with a detachment of rangers, and take possession, in the name of his Britannic Majesty, of Detroit, Michilimackinac, and other Western posts included in the capitulation of Montreal. He left the latter place on the following day with 200 rangers in 15 whale boats. Nov. 7 they reached the mouth of a river (" Chogage") on the southern coast of lake Erie, where they were met by Pontiac, the Indian chief, who now appears for the first time upon the pages of Michigan history. He haughtily demanded of Rogers why he should appear in his realm with his forces without his permission. The Major informed him that the English had obtained permission of Canada, and that he was on his way to Detroit to publish the fact and to restore a general peace to white men and Indians alike. The next day Pontiac signified his willingness to live at peace with the English, allowing them to remain in his country, provided they paid him due respect. He knew that French power was on the wane, and that it was to the interest of his tribes to establish an early peace with the new power. The Indians, who had collected at the mouth of Detroit, reported 400 strong, to resist the coming of the British forces, were easily influenced by Pontiac to yield the situation to Rogers. Even the French commandant at Detroit,

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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 3

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