History of the St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources.., Part 3

Author: Western historical company, Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas & co.
Number of Pages: 814

USA > Michigan > St Clair County > History of the St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources.. > Part 3

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The tradition is that the mission was founded in 1670, that Marquette subso- quently visited Wisconsin and Illinois, establishing mission stations as far up the lake as Chicago; that upon his return via the eastern shore of Lake Michigan he died at the mouth of the Pere Marquette river, where Ludington now stands, and. was buried there. A few years later his bones were taken up, cleaned and packed in a mocock, or box made of bireh bark, and were conveyed with due solemnity back to St. Ignace, where they were permanently deposited beneath the middle of the church. At a still later period Indian wars broke up the mission, and to protect the church from sacrilege the missionaries burned it to the ground.

I also found in the possession of the present priest of St. Ignace, Father Jaoka (pronounced Yocca), a pen and ink sketch, on which I looked with most intense interest. This invaluable drawing gives the original site of the French village, the " home of the Jesuits," the Indian village, the Indian fort on the bluff, and, most important of all, very accurately defines the contour of a little bay known as Na- (lowa-Wikweiamashong-i. e., as Mr. Jacker gave it, Nadowa Huron. Wik-weia -Here is a bay. Anglice-" Little bay of the Hurons ;" or according to the Ot- chepwa dictionary of Bp. Barraga, "Bad bay of the Iroquois squaw." Of the Indian village there is no trace. Their wigwams, built only of poles and bark, have not left a single vestige. Not so with the French village. You may still see the remains of their logs and plaster, and the ruins of their chimneys. On the sup- posed site of the house of the Jesuits, some 40 by 30 feet, are found distinet out- lines of walls, a little well, and a small cellar. Immediately in the rear of the larger building are the remains of a forge, where "the brothers" used to make spades or swords, as the occasion might require.

On further inquiry of the priest, who was equally remarkable for his candor and intelligence, and the length of his beard, I found that the sketch of the house of the Jesuits was taken by him from the travels of LaHenton, originally published in France, but translated and republished in England A. D. 1772. Only a few days

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after I saw a copy of this very same book in the hands of Judge C. I. Walker, of Detroit, and was thus enabled, to my very great satisfaction, to verify the sketch as shown to me by Father Jaoka or Jacker (Yocca).

LaHenton says: "The place which I am now in is not above half a league dis- tant from the Illinois lake. Here the Hurons and Ontawas have each of 'em (sic) a village, the one being severed from the other by a single palisade. But the On- tawas are beginning to build a fort upon a hill that stands but 1,000 or 1,200 paces off. *

* In this place the Jesuits liave a little house or college, adjoining to a sort of chapel and enclosed with pale, which separates it from the village of the Hurons.

" The Cuereur du Paris also a very small settlement."-La Henton, vol. I., p. 88.

From that moment I entertained the most sanguine hope that the long lost grave of the good Marquette would again be found. Greatly did I regret that I could not remain a few days longer, when the exploration would be made in the presence of the excellent Bishop Mrak, and learn what would be the result. I saw nothing whatever in the well-known character of the bishop, or of the worthy pas- tor of St. Ignace to justify even for a moment the least suspicion of anything like "pious fraud."

Monday, September 3, 1877, Bishop Mrak dug out the first spadeful of ground. For a time, however, the search was discouraging. " Nothing was found that would indicate the former existence of a tomb, vaulted or otherwise," and the bishop went away. After a while a small piece of birch bark came to light, followed by numerous other fragments scorched by fire. Finally a larger and well preserved piece appeared which onee evidently formed part of the bottom of an Indian-wig-wap-makak- birel-bark-box or mocock. Evidently the box had been double, such as the Indians sometimes use for greater durability in interments, and had been placed on three or four wooden sills. It was also evident that the box had not been placed on the floor but sunk in the ground, and perhaps covered with a layer of mortar. But it was equally evident that this humble tomb had been disturbed, and the box broken into, and parts of it torn ont, after the material had been made brittle by the action of fire. This would explain the absence of its former contents, which," says Mr. Jacker, " what else could we think-were nothing less than Father Marquette's bones ! But what had become of them? Further search brought to light two frag- · ments of bone-then thirty-six more-finally a small fragment, apparently of the skull-then similar fragments of the ribs, the hand and the thigh bone. From these circumstances then we deduce the following conclusions :

1. That of M. Pommier, the French surgeon, that these fragments of bones are undoubtedly human, and bear the marks of fire.

2. That everything goes to show " the haste of profane robbery."

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3. That this robbery was by Indian medicine men, who coveted his bones, according to their belief, as a powerful medicine.

4. That it must have taken place within a few years after the departure of the Jesuits, otherwise when the mission was renewed (about 1708), the remains would most certainly have been transferred to the new church in old Mackinac.

5. That Charlevoix, at his sojourn there in 1721, could hardly have failed to be taken to see the new tomb, and to mention the fact of its transfer in his journal, or history.

6. That if we have failed to find all the remains of the great explorer, we have at least found some, and ascertained the fact of his having been interred on that particular spot.

7. That the records answer all the circumstances of the discovery, and that the finding of these few fragments, if not as satisfactory to our wishes, is at least as good evidence for the fact in question as if we had found every bone that is in the human body.

Such are the leading points in Father Jacker's elaborate narrative, as published in the Catholic World. November, 1877, in connection with the article entitled " Romance and Reality of the Death of Father James Marquette, and the recent discovery of his remains," by John G. Shea, for which papers I am indebted to the kind courtesy of Mr. Daniel E. Hudson, C. S. C., Notre Dame, Indiana, to whom I return most cordial thanks.

While in some respects the results are not quite so satisfactory as might have been desired, yet the determination of the site of the old house of the Jesuits, the discovery of the tomb, the recovery in part of the mocock coffin, and above all, the finding of some of the bones of Marquette, are all of intense interest to every lover of early Michigan history.

Marquette, the great explorer-the oldest founder of Michigan, whose grave was found within her borders, and to whom belongs immortal honor, being the dis- coverer of the upper Mississippi and first navigator of the great river. The seat- tering of his bones, I am well persuaded. is only a symbol of the wider extension of his fame. Already his name is attached to a railroad, a river, a city, a diocese in Michigan ; but that is not enough. Some forty years ago it was foretold by Ban eroli " that the people of the West will build his monument," and now the time has fully come when that prophecy will be fulfilled. Lest you might think that I say this merely out of state pride, or as a lover of antiquarian history, I will only add in conclusion that I say it out of a much higher motive, and with reference to a much higher object. In reading the life of Francis Xavier when a boy. I learned that there were some lessons for Christian laborers from the lives of the early Jesuits, that neither I nor any other man could afford to overlook. Granting that

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too often they sought to help what they deemed a righteous canse by what they knew to be unrighteous means, and so teach us what we should avoid, there are other lessons that we would do well to imitate. The spirit of union, which was to them so great a source of power, the cheerfulness with which they suffered for the cause that they had esponsed ; the unlooked-for combinations of character in the same individuals, and above all the magnetism of personal importance and power by hav- ing a definite aim-such for example as we find in the good Marquette-belonging to any one church or order of that church, but to man as man, and to the world at large! There is only one regret that I should have in the erecting of such a mon- ument, and that is lest it should be built by our Catholic friends alone. Will they not permit us all to join-Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and the whole Northwest -and do honor to the great explorer in a monument of natural rock, (like Monu- mental Rock, Isle Royale), the materials for which in that immediate vicinity have been so long waiting, apparently, for just such a noble purpose ?

LASALLE'S TRAVELS.

The next settlement in point of time was made in 1679, by Robert Cavalier de LaSalle, at the mouth of the St. Joseph river. He had constructed a vessel, the " Griffin," just above Niagara Falls, and sailed around by the lakes to Green Bay, Wis., whence he traversed " Lac des Illinois," now Lake Michigan, by canoe to the mouth of the St. Joseph river. The " Griffin " was the first sailing vessel that ever came west of Niagara Falls. La Salle erected a fort at the month of the St. Joseph river, which afterward was moved about 60 miles up the river, where it was still seen in Charlevoix's time, 1721. La Salle also built a fort on the Illinois river, just below Peoria, and explored the region of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers.

The next, and third, Michigan post erected by authority was a second fort on the St. Joseph river, established by Du Suth, near the present Fort Gratiot, in 1686. The object of this was to intercept emissaries of the English, who were anxious to open traffic with the Mackinaw and Lake Superior nations.

The French posts in Michigan on westward, left very little to be gathered by the New York traders, and they determined, as there was peace between France and England, to push forward their agencies and endeavor to deal with the western and northern Indians in their own country. The French governors not only plainly asserted the title of France, but as plainly threatened to use all requisite force to expel intruders. Anticipating correctly that the English would attempt to reach Lake Huron from the East without passing up Detroit river, Du Luth built a fort at the outlet of the lake into the St. Clair. About the same time an expedition was planned against the Senecas, and the Chevalier Tonti, commanding La Salle's forts, of St. Louis and St. Joseph of Lake Michigan, and La Durantaye, the veteran commander of Mackinaw, were employed to bring down the French and Indian

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

auxiliaries to take part in the war. These men intercepted English expeditions into the interior to establish trade with the Northern Indians, and succeeded in eutting them off for many years. Religious zeal for the Catholic Church and the national aggrandizement were almost or quite equally the primary and all-ruling motive of western explorations. For these two purposes expeditions were sent out and missionaries and military posts were established. In these enterprises Mar- quette, Joliet, La Salle, St. Lusson and others did all that we find credited to them in history.

In 1669 or 1670, Talon, then " Intendant of New France," sent out two parties to discover a passage to the South Sea, St. Lusson to Hudson's Bay and La Salle southwestward. On his return in 1671, St. Lusson held a council of all the north- ern tribes at the Sault Ste. Marie, where they formed an alliance with the French. " It is a curious fact," says Campbell, " that the publie documents are usually made to exhibit the local authorities as originating everything, when the facts brought to light from other sources show that they were compelled to permit what they ostensibly directed." The expeditions sent out by Talon were at least sug- gested from France. The local authorities were sometimes made to do things which were not, in their judgment, the wisest.

DETROIT.

July 19, 1701, the Iroquois conveyed to King William III, all their claims to land, describing their territory as " that vast tract of land or colony called Cana- gariarchio, beginning on the northwest side of Cadarachqui ( Ontario) Lake, and includes all that vast tract of land lying between the great lake of Ottawawa (Huron), and the lake called by the natives Sahiquage, and by the Christians the Lake of Sweege (Oswego, for Lake Erie), and runs till it butts upon the Twich- twichs, and is bounded on the westward by the Twichtwichs, on the eastwar l by a place called Quadoge, containing in length about 800 miles, and breadth 400 miles, including the country where beavers and all sorts of wild game keep, and the place called Tjeughsaghrondie alias Fort De Tret or Wawyachtenock (Detroit) : and so runs round the lake of Sweege till you come to a place called Oniadarun- daquat," etc.

It was chiefly to prevent any further mischief, and to secure more effectually the French supremacy that La Motte Cadillac, who had great influence over the savages, succeeded, in 1701, after various plans urged by him had been shelved by hostile colonial intrigues, in getting permission from Count Pontchartraine to begin a settlement in Detroit. His purpose was from the beginning to make not only a military post, but also a civil establishment for trade and agriculture. He was more or less threatened and opposed by the monopolists and by the Mackinaw missionaries, and was subjected to severe persecutions. Ile finally triumphed and obtained valuable

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privileges and the right of seigneury. Craftsmen of all kinds were induced to settle in the town, and trade flourished. He succeeded in getting the Hurons and many of the Ottawas to leave Mackinaw and settle about " Fort Pontchartraine." This fort stood on what was formerly called the first terrace, being on the ground lying between Larned street and the river, and between Griswold and Wayne streets. Cadillac's success was so great, in spite of all opposition, that he was appointed governor of the new province of Louisiana, which had been granted to Crozat and his associates. This appointment removed him from Detroit, and immediately afterward the place was exposed to an Indian siege, instigated by English emissaries, and conducted by the Maseoutins and Ontagamies, the same people who made the last war on the whites in the territory of Michigan under Black Hawk a century and a quarter later. The tribes allied to the French came in with alaerity and de- feated and almost annihilated the assailants, of whom a thousand were put to deatlı.

Unfortunately for the country, the commanders who succeeded Cadillac for many years were narrow-minded and selfish and not disposed to advance any in- terests beyond the luerative 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 Beauharnois, who made the grants on the very easiest terms. Skilled ar- tisans became numerous in Detroit, and prosperity set in all around. The build- ings 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 ereeted on the St. Clair River, near Lake 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 car- ried on profitably, and supplies were exported quite carly, consisting chiefly of eorn and wheat, and possibly beans and peas. Cattle, horses and swine were raised in considerable numbers ; but as salt was very expensive, 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 sup- plies 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 splendid poem of Levi Bishop, Esq., of

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that city. During the whole of the eighteenth 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 localities for self-government.

About 1704, or three years after the founding of Detroit, this place was at- tacked by the Ottawa Indians, but unsuccessfully ; and again, in 1712, the Otta- gamies, 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 perpen- dieularly upon the dry shingle roofs of the houses and set them on fire. But this scheme was soon check-mated by the French, who covered the remaining houses with wet skins. The Foxes were considerably disappointed at this and disconr- aged, but they made one more desperate attempt, failed, and retreated toward Lake St. Clair, where they again entrenched themselves. From this place how- ever. they were soon dislodged. After this period these Indians ocenpied Wis- consin for a time and made it dangerous for travelers passing through from the lakes to the Mississippi. They were the Ishmaelites of the wilderness.

In 17-19, there was a fresh accession of immigrants to all the points upon the lakes. but the history of this part of the workl during the most of this century, is la her monotonous, business and government 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 enter- prises were successfully put in operation the events of the period have but little prominence.

The Northwestern Territory during French rule, was simply a vast ranging ground for the numerous Indian tribes, who had no ambition higher than obtaining immediate subsistence of the erudest 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 missionary 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,

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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 Territory until its division, 1805, when the Territory of Michigan was organized.

CHAPTER III.

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.

Soon after the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi in 1682, the Govern- ment of France began to encourage the policy of establishing 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 suecess, for about seventy-five years. British power was the rival upon which the French continually kept their eye. Of course a collision of arms would result in a short time, and this commeneed about 1755. In 1760, Canada, including the lake re- gion, fell into the hands of the British. During the war, occurred Braddock's de- feat, the battles of Niagara, Crown Point and Lake George, and the death of brave Wolfe and Montealm. September 12 of 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 aseend 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 fifteen whale boats. November 7, they reached the mouth of a river (Chogage), on the southern coast of Lake Erie, where they were met by Pontiae, 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 forees 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 faet, and to restore a general peace to white men and Indians alike. The next day Pontiae signified his willingness to live at peace with the English, allowing them to remain in his country, provided they paid him dne respeet. 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 the Detroit, reported 400 strong, to resist the coming of the British forees, were easily influenced by Pontiac

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to yield the situation to Rogers. Even the French commandant at Detroit, 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 " faithless" 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 Indians than a display of power, and the above proceed- ings led them to be overawed by English powers. 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 eireulate reports among the Indians that the English intended to take all their land from them, etc. The slaughter of the Mo- nongahela, the massacre at Fort William Henry, and the horrible devastation of the western frontier, all bore witness to the fact that the French were successful in pre- judieing 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, ete., and it was not their policy to settle upon their lands. The British, on the other hand, now sup- plied them with nothing, frequently insulting them when they appeared around the forts. Everything conspired to fix the Indian population in their prejudices against the British Government. Even the seeds of the American Revolution were seattered into the west, and began to grow.

The first Indian chief to raise the war-whoop was probably Kiashuta, of the Seneeas, but Pontiae, of the Ottawas, was the great George Washington of all the tribes to systemize and render effectual the initial movements of the approaching storm. llis home was about eight miles above Detroit, on Pechee Island, which looks out 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 eouneil of the tribes, sending out ambassadors in all directions, who, with the war belt of wampum and the tomahawk, went from village to village, and eamp to camp, informing the sachems everywhere, that war was impending, and delivering to them the message of Pontiae. They all approved the message, and April 27, 1763, a

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History of the St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources.., Part 3

Author: Western historical company, Chicago. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas & co. Number of Pages: 814

Author: Western historical company, Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas & co.
Number of Pages: 814