History of Washtenaw County, Michigan : together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships...and biographies of representative citizens : history of Michigan, Part 4

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 4

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HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

Capt. Beletre, was in a situation similar to that of the Indians, and received the news of the defeat of the French from Major Rogers. He was indignant and incredulous, and tried to rouse the fury of his old-time friends, the Indians, but found them "faith- less " in this hour of his need. He surrendered with an ill grace, amid the yells of several hundred Indian warriors. It was a source of great amazement to the Indians to see so many men surrender to so few. Nothing is more effective in gaining the respect of In- dians than a display of power, and the above proceedings led them to be overawed by English prowess. They were astonished also at the forbearance of the conquerors in not killing their vanquished enemies on the spot.

This surrender of Detroit was on the 29th of November, 1760. The posts elsewhere in the lake region north and west were not reached until some time afterward. The English now thought they had the country perfectly in their own hands and that there was but little trouble ahead; but in this respect they were mistaken. The French renewed their efforts to circulate reports among the Indians that the English intended to take all their land from them, etc. The slaughter of the Monongahela, the massacre at Fort William Henry and the horrible devastation of the Western fron- tier, all bore witness to the fact that the French were successful in prejudicing the Indians against the British, and the latter began to have trouble at various points. The French had always been in the habit of making presents to the Indians, keeping them supplied with arms, ammunition, etc., and it was not their policy to settle upon their lands. The British, on the other hand, now supplied them with nothing, frequently insulting them when they appeared around the forts. Everything conspired to fix the Indian popula- tion in their prejudices against the British Government. Even the seeds of the American Revolution were scattered into the West and began to grow.

The first Indian chief to raise the war-whoop was probably Kia- shuta, of the Senecas, but Pontiac, of the Ottawas, was the great George Washington of all the tribes to systemize and render effect- nal the initial movements of the approaching storm. His home was about eight miles above Detroit, on Pechee Island, which looks ont upon the waters of Lake St. Clair. He was a well-formed man, with a countenance indicating a high degree of intelligence. In 1746 he had successfully defended Detroit against the northern tribes, and it is probable he was present and assisted in the defeat of Braddock.

About the close of 1762 he called a general council of the tribes, sending out embassadors in all directions, who with the war-belt of wampum and the tomahawk went from village to village and camp to camp, informing the sachems everywhere that war was impend- ing, and delivering to them the message of Pontiac. They all approved the message, and April 27, 1763, a grand council was held near Detroit, when Pontiac stood forth in war paint and delivered

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

" the great speech of the campaign." The English were slow to perceive any dangerous conspiracy in progress, and when the blow was struck, nine out of twelve of the British posts were surprised and destroyed! Three of these were within the bounds of this State.

The first prominent event of the war was the

MASSACRE AT FORT MICHILIMACKINAC,

on the northernmost point of the southern peninsula, the site of the present city of Mackinaw. This Indian outrage was one of the most ingeniously devised and resolutely executed schemes in American history. The Chippewas (or Ojibways) appointed one of their big ball plays in the vicinity of the post, and invited and inveigled as many of the occupants as they could to the scene of play, then fell upon the unsuspecting and unguarded English in the most brutal manner. For the details of this horrible scene we are indebted to Alexander Henry, a trader at that point, who experienced several most blood-curdling escapes from death and scalping at the hands of the savages. The result of the massacre was the death of about 70 out of 90 persons. The Ottawa Indians, who occupied mainly the eastern portion of the lower peninsula, were not consulted by the Chippewas with reference to attacking Michilimackinac, and were consequently so enraged that they espoused the cause of the English, through spite; and it was through their instrumentality that Mr. Henry and some of his comrades were saved from death and con- veyed east to the regions of civilization.

Of Mr. Henry's narrow escapes we give the following succinct account. Instead of attending the ball play of the Indians he spent the day writing letters to his friends, as a canoe was to leave for the East the following day. While thus engaged, he heard an Indian war cry and a noise of general confusion. Looking out of the win- dow, he saw a crowd of Indians within the fort, that is, within the village palisade, who were cutting down and scalping every English- man they found. He seized a fowling-piece which he had at hand, and waited a moment for the signal, the drum beat to arms. In that dreadful interval he saw several of his countrymen fall under the tomahawk and struggle between the knees of an Indian who held him in this manner to scalp him while still alive. Mr. Henry heard no signal to arms; and seeing that it was useless to under- take to resist 400 Indians, he thought only of shelter for himself. He saw many of the Canadian inhabitants of the fort calmly look- ing on, neither opposing the Indians nor suffering injury, and he therefore concluded he might find safety in some of their houses. He stealthily ran to one occupied by Mr. Langlade and family, who were at their windows beholding the bloody scene. Mr. L. scarcely dared to harbor him, but a Pawnee slave of the former concealed him in the garret, locked the stairway door and took away the key. In this situation Mr. Henry obtained through an aperture a view

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

of what was going on without. He saw the dead scalped and man- gled, the dying in writhing agony under the insatiate knife and tomahawk, and the savages drinking human blood from the hollow of their joined hands! Mr. Henry almost felt as if he were a vic- tim himself, so intense were his sufferings. Soon the Indian fiends began to halloo, " All is finished!" At this instant Henry heard some of the Indians enter the house in which he had taken shelter. The garret was separated from the room below by only a layer of single boards, and Mr. Henry heard all that was said. As soon as the Indians entered they inquired whether there were any English- men in the house. Mr. Langlade replied that he could not say; they might examine for themselves. He then conducted them to the garret door. As the door was locked, a moment of time was snatched by Mr. Henry to crawl into a heap of birch-bark vessels in a dark corner; and although several Indians searched around the garret, one of them coming within arm's length of the sweating prisoner, they went out satisfied that no Englishman was there.

As Mr. Henry was passing the succeeding night in this room he could think of no possible chance of escape from the country. He was out of provisions, the nearest post was Detroit, 400 miles away, and the route thither lay through the enemy's country. The next morning he heard Indian voices below informing Mr. Langlade that they had not found an Englishman named Henry among the dead, and that they believed him to be somewhere concealed. Mrs. L., believing that the safety of the household depended on giving up the refugee to his pursuers, prevailed on her husband to lead the Indians up stairs, to the room of Mr. H. The latter was saved from instant death by one of the savages adopting him as a " brother," in the place of one lost. The Indians were all mad with liquor, however, and Mr. H. again very narrowly escaped death. An hour afterward he was taken out of the fort by an Indian indebted to him for goods, and was under the uplifted knife of the savage when he suddenly broke away from him and made back to Mr. Langlade's house, barely escaping the knife of the Indian the whole distance. The next day he, with three other prisoners, were taken in a canoe toward Lake Michigan, and at Fox Point, 18 miles distant, the Ottawas rescued the whites, through spite at the Chippewas, say- ing that the latter contemplated killing and eating them; but the next day they were returned to the Chippewas, as the result of some kind of agreement about the conduct of the war. He was rescued again by an old friendly Indian claiming him as a brother. The next morning he saw the dead bodies of seven whites dragged forth from the prison lodge he had just occupied. The fattest of these dead bodies was actually served up and feasted on, directly before the eyes of Mr. Henry.

Through the partiality of the Ottawas and complications of mili- tary affairs among the Indians, Mr. Henry, after severe exposures and many more thrilling escapes, was finally landed within terri- tory occupied by whites.

GEN. ARTHUR ST. CLAIR.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

For more than a year after the massacre, Michilimackinac was occupied only by wood rangers and Indians; then, after the treaty, Capt. Howard was sent with troops to take possession.

SIEGE OF DETROIT.

In the spring of 1763 Pontiac determined to take Detroit by an ingenious assault. He had his men file off their guns so that they would be short enough to conceal under their blanket clothing as they entered the fortification. A Canadian woman who went over to their village on the east side of the river to obtain some venison, saw them thus at work on their guns, and suspected they were pre- paring for an attack on the whites. She told her neighbors what she had seen, and one of them informed the commandant, Major Gladwyn, who at first slighted the advice, but before another day passed he had full knowledge of the plot. There is a legend that a beautiful Chippewa girl, well known to Gladwyn, divulged to him the scheme which the Indians had in view, namely, that the next day Pontiac would come to the fort with 60 of his chiefs, each armed with a gun cut short and hidden under his blanket; that Pontiac would demand a council, deliver a speech, offer a peace-belt of wampum, holding it in a reversed position as the signal for attack; that the chiefs, sitting upon the ground, would then spring up and fire upon the officers, and the Indians out in the streets would next fall upon the garrison, and kill every Englishman, but sparing all the French.

Gladwyn accordingly put the place in a state of defense as well as he could, and arranged for a quiet reception of the Indians and a sudden attack upon them when he should give a signal. At 10 o'clock, May 7, according to the girl's prediction, the Indians came, entered the fort and proceeded with the programme, but with some hesitation, as they saw their plot had been discovered. Pontiac made his speech, professing friendship for the English, etc., and without giving his signal for attack, sat down, and heard Major Gladwyn's reply, who suffered him and his men to retire unmo- lested. He probably feared to take them as prisoners, as war was not actually commenced. The next day Pontiac determined to try again, but was refused entrance at the gate unless he should come in alone. He turned away in a rage, and in a few minutes some of his men commenced the peculiarly Indian work of attacking an innocent household and murdering them, just beyond the range of British guns. Another squad murdered an Englishman on an island at a little distance. Pontiac did not authorize these pro- ceedings, but retired across the river and ordered preparations to be made for taking the fort by direct assault, the headquarters of the camp to be on "Bloody run" west of the river. Meanwhile the garrison was kept in readiness for any outbreak. The very next day Pontiac, having received reinforcements from the Chippewas of Saginaw Bay, commenced the attack, but was repulsed; no deaths

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

upon either side. Gladwyn sent embassadors to arrange for peace, but Pontiac, although professing to be willing in a general way to conclude peace, would not agree to any particular proposition. A number of Canadians visited the fort and warned the commandant to evacuate, as 1,500 or more Indians would storm the place in an hour; and soon afterward a Canadian came with a summons from Pontiac, demanding Gladwyn to surrender the post at once, and promising that, in case of compliance, he and his men would be allowed to go on board their vessels unmolested, leaving their arms and effects behind. To both these advices Major Gladwyn gave a flat refusal.

Only three weeks' provisions were within the fort, and the garri- son was in a deplorable condition. A few Canadians, however, from across the river, sent some provisions occasionally, by night. Had it not been for this timely assistance, the garrison would doubtless have had to abandon the fort. The Indians themselves soon began to suffer from hunger, as they had not prepared for a long siege; but Pontiac, after some maraudings upon the French settlers had been made, issued "promises to pay" on birch bark, with which he pacified the residents. He subsequently redeemed all these notes. About the end of July Capt. Dalzell arrived from Niagara with re-enforcements and provisions, and persuaded Glad- wyn to undertake an aggressive movement against Pontiac. Dalzell was detailed for the purpose of attacking the camp at Parent's creek, a mile and a half away, but being delayed a day, Pontiac learned of his movements and prepared his men to contest his march. On the next morning, July 31, before day-break, Dalzell went out with 250 men, but was repulsed with a loss of 59 killed and wounded, while the Indians lost less than half that number. Parent's creek was afterward known as " Bloody run."

Shortly afterward, the schooner "Gladwyn," on its return from Niagara with ammunition and provisions,anchored about nine miles below Detroit for the night, when in the darkness about 300 Indians in canoes came quietly upon the vessel and very nearly succeeded in taking it. Slaughter proceeded vigorously until the mate gave orders to his men to blow up the schooner, when the Indians, under- standing the design, fled precipitately, plunging into the water and swimming ashore. This desperate command saved the crew, and the schooner succeeded in reaching the post with the much needed supply of provisions.

By this time, September, most of the tribes around Detroit were disposed to sue for peace. A truce being obtained, Gladwyn laid in provisions for the winter, while Pontiac retired with his chiefs to the Maumee country, only to prepare for a resumption of war the next spring. He or his allies the next season carried on a petty warfare until in August, when the garrison, now worn out and reduced, were relieved by fresh troops, Major Bradstreet com- manding. Pontiac retired to the Maumee again, still to stir up hate against the British. Meanwhile the Indians near Detroit,

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

scarcely comprehending what they were doing, were induced by Bradstreet to declare themselves subjects of Great Britain. An embassy sent to Pontiac induced him also to cease belligerent operations against the British.

In 1769 the great chief and warrior, Pontiac, was killed in Illi- nois by a Kaskaskia Indian, for a barrel of whisky offered by an Englishman named Williamson.

The British at Detroit now changed their policy somewhat, and endeavored to conciliate the Indians, paying them for land and encouraging French settlements in the vicinity. This encourage- ment was exhibited, in part, in showing some partiality to French customs.

At this time the fur trade was considerably revived, the princi- pal point of shipment being the Grand Portage of Lake Superior. The charter boundaries of the two companies, the Hudson's Bay and the Northwest, not having been very well defined, the employes of the respective companies often came into conflict. Lord Selkirk, the head of the former company, ended the difficulty by uniting the stock of both companies. An attempt was also made to mine and ship copper, but the project was found too expensive.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

By this important struggle the territory of the present State of Michigan was but little affected, the posts of Detroit and Mackinaw being the principal points whence the British operated among the Indians to prejudice them against the " Americans," going so far as to pay a reward for scalps, which the savages of course hesitated not to take from defenseless inhabitants. The expeditions made by the Indians for this purpose were even supported sometimes by the regular troops and local militia. One of these joint expeditions, commanded by Capt. Byrd, set out from Detroit to attack Louis- ville, Ky. It proceeded in boats as far as it could ascend the Maumee, and thence crossed to the Ohio river, on which stream Ruddle's Station was situated, which surrendered at once, without fighting, under the promise of being protected from the Indians; but this promise was broken and all the prisoners massacred.

Another expedition, under Gov. Hamilton, the commandant at Detroit, started out in 1778, and appeared at Vincennes, Ind., with a force of 30 regulars, 50 French volunteers and about 400 Indians. At this fort the garrison consisted only of Capt. Helm and one soldier, named Henry. Seeing the troops at a distance, they loaded a cannon, which they placed in the open gateway; and Capt. Helm stood by the cannon with a lighted match. When Hamilton with his army approached within hailing distance, Helm called out with a loud voice, " Halt!" This show of resistance made Hamilton stop and demand a surrender of the garrison. "No man," exclaimed Helm, with an oath, " enters here until I know the terms." Ham- ilton replied, " You shall have the honors of war." Helm thereupon

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

surrendered the fort, and the whole garrison, consisting of the two already named (!), marched out and received the customary marks of respect for their brave defense. Hamilton was soon afterward made to surrender this place to Gen. George Rogers Clark, the ablest American defender in the West. The British soldiers were allowed to return to Detroit; but their commander, who was known to have been active in instigating Indian barbarities, was put in irons and sent to Virginia as a prisoner of war.

The English at Detroit suspected that a certain settlement of pious Moravian missionaries on the Muskingum river were aiding the American cause, and they called a conference at Niagara and urged the Iroquois to break up the Indian congregation which had collected under these missionaries; but the Iroquois declined to concern themselves so deeply in white men's quarrels, and sent a message to the Chippewas and Ottawas, requesting them to " make soup " of the Indian congregation on the Muskingum.

These Moravian missionaries came to Detroit in 1781, before De Peyster, the commandant. A war council was held, and the council- house completely filled with Indians. Capt. Pike, an Indian chief, addressed the assembly and told the commandant that the English might fight the Americans if they chose; it was their cause, not his; that they had raised a quarrel among themselves, and it was their business to fight it out." They had set him on the Americans as the hunter sets his dog upon the game. By the side of the British commander stood another war chief, with a stick in his hand four feet in length, strung with American scalps. This warrior fol- lowed Capt. Pike, saying: " Now, father, here is what has been done with the hatchet you gave me. I have made the use of it you ordered me to do, and found it sharp."

The events just related are specimens of what occurred at and in connection with Detroit from the close of Pontiac's war until a number of years after the establishment of American independence. When the treaty of peace was signed at Versailles in 1783, the British on the frontier reduced their aggressive policy somewhat, but they continued to occupy the lake posts until 1796, on the claim that the lake region was not designed to be included in the treaty by the commissioners, probably on account of their ignorance of the geog- raphy of the region. Meanwhile the Indians extensively organized for depredation upon the Americans, and continued to harass them at every point.

During this period Alex. Mckenzie, an agent of the British gov- ernment, visited Detroit, painted like an Indian, and said that he was just from the upper lakes, and that the tribes in that region were all in arms against any further immigration of Americans, and were ready to attack the infant settlements in Ohio. His state- ments had the desired effect; and, encouraged also by an agent from the Spanish settlements on the Mississippi, the Indians organized a great confederacy against the United States. To put this down, Gen. Harmar was first sent out by the Government, with 1,400 men;

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

but he imprudently divided his army, and he was taken by surprise and defeated by a body of Indians under " Little Turtle." Gen. Arthur St. Clair was next sent out, with 2,000 men, and he suf- fered a like fate. Then Gen. Anthony Wayne was sent West with a still larger army, and on the Maumee he gained an easy victory over the Indians, within a few miles of a British post. He finally concluded a treaty with the Indians at Greenville, which broke up the whole confederacy. The British soon afterward gave up Detroit and Mackinaw.

"It was a considerable time before the Territory of Michigan, now in the possession of the United States, was improved or altered by the increase of settlements. The Canadian French continued to form the principal part of its population. The interior of the coun- try was but little known, except by the Indians and the fur traders. The Indian title not being fully extinguished, no lands were brought into market, and consequently the settlements increased but slowly. The State of Michigan at this time constituted simply the county of Wayne in Northwest Territory. It sent one Repre- sentative to the Legislature of that Territory, which was held at Chillicothe. A court of common pleas was organized for the county, and the General Court of the whole Territory sometimes met at Detroit. No roads had as yet been constructed through the interior, nor were there any settlements except on the frontiers. The habits of the people were essentially military, and but little attention was paid to agriculture except by the French peasantry. A representation was sent to the General Assembly of the North- west Territory at Chillicothe until 1800, when Indiana was ereeted into a separate Territory. Two years later Michigan was annexed to Indiana Territory; but in 1805 Michigan separated, and William Hull appointed its first Governor."-Tuttle's Hist. Mich.

The British revived the old prejudices that the Americans intended to drive the Indians out of the country, and the latter, under the lead of Tecumseh and his brother Elkswatawa, " the prophet," organized again on an extensive scale to make war upon the Amer- icans. The great idea of Tecumseh's life was a universal confed- eracy of all the Indian tribes north and south to resist the invasion of the whites; and his plan was to surprise them at all their posts throughout the country and capture them by the first assault. At this time the entire white population of Michigan was about 4,800, four-fifths of whom were French and the remainder Americans. The settlements were situated on the rivers Miami and Raisin, on the Huron of Lake Erie, on the Ecorse, Rouge and Detroit rivers, on the Huron of St. Clair, on the St. Clair river and Mackinaw island. Besides, there were here and there a group of huts belonging to the French fur traders. The villages on the Maumee, the Raisin and the Huron of Lake Erie contained a population of about 1,300; the settlements at Detroit and northward had about 2,200; Mack- inaw about 1,000. Detroit was garrisoned by 94 men and Mack- inaw by 79.

HICKOK & GRIFF

TRAPPING.

TECUMSEH.

If one should inquire who has been the greatest Indian, the most noted, the "principal Indian " in North America since its discov- ery by Columbus, we would be obliged to answer, Tecumseh. For all those qualities which elevate a man far above his race; for talent, tact, skill and bravery as a warrior; for high-minded, honorable and chivalrous bearing as a man; in a word, for all those elements of greatness which place him a long way above his fellows in savage life, the name and fame of Tecumseh will go down to posterity in the West as one of the most celebrated of the aborigines of this continent,-as one who had no equal among the tribes that dwelt in the country drained by the Mississippi. Born to command him- self, he used all the appliances that would stimulate the courage and nerve the valor of his followers. Always in the front rank of battle, his followers blindly followed his lead, and as his war-cry rang clear above the din and noise of the battle-field, the Shawnee warriors, as they rushed on to victory or the grave, rallied around him, foemen worthy of the steel of the most gallant commander that ever entered the lists in defense of his altar or his home.

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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 4

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