History of the St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources.., Part 6

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 6

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It was a considerable time before the Territory of Michigan now in 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 country 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 Ter- ritory. It sent one representative to the legislature of that Territory, which was

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

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 representative was sent to the General Assembly of the Northwest Territory at Chillicothe until 1800, when Indiana was erected into a separate Territory. Two years later Mich- igan was annexed to Indiana Territory, but in 1805 Michigan separated and William Hull was appointed its first Governor.

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 seale to make war upon the Americans. The great idea of Tecumseh's life was a universal con- federacy 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 Range, 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; Mackinaw about 1,000. Detroit was garrisoned by ninety-four men, and Mackinaw by seventy-nine.

HULL'S SURRENDER.

Now we have to record an unexplained mystery, which no historian of Mich- igan can omit, namely, the surrender of Detroit to the British by Gen. Hull, when his forees were not in action and were far more powerful than the enemy. He was either a coward or a traitor, or both. The commander of the British forces, Gen. Brock, triumphantly took possession of the fort, left a small garrison under Col. Proetor, and returned to the seat of his government. In twelve days he had moved with a small army 250 miles against the enemy, effected the surrender of a strong fort and well-equipped army of 2,300 effective men, and one of the Territories of the United States. Hull and the regular troops were taken to Montreal, and the militia were sent to their homes.

In the capitulation, Gen. Hull also surrendered Fort Dearborn, at Chicago, commanding Captain Heald of that place to evacuate and retreat to Fort Wayne. In obedience to this order, the Captain started from the fort with his forces ; but

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no sooner were they outside the walls than they were attacked by a large foree of Indians, who took them prisoners and then proceeded to massacre them, killing thirty-eight out of the sixty-six soldiers,.even some of the women and children, two of the former and twelve of the latter. Captain Wells, a white man who had been brought up among the Indians, but espoused the white man's cause, was killed in the massacre.

January 3, 1811, Gen. Hull appeared before a court-martial at Albany, N. Y., where Gen. Dearborn was president. The aceused made no objection to the con- stitution and jurisdiction of this court ; its sessions were protracted and every facility was given the accused to make his defense. The three charges against him were treason, cowardice and neglect of duty. Hull was finally acquitted of the high erime of treason, but he was found guilty of the other charges, and sen- teneed to be shot : but by reason of his services in the Revolution and his advanced age the court recommended him to the merey of the President, who approved the sentence and dismissed llull from the service. The accused wrote a long defense, in which he enumerates many things too tedious to relate here.

Even before he was sent to Detroit he was rather opposed to the policy of the Government toward the British of Canada; and, besides, he had been kindly treated by British officers, who helped him across the frontier. Again, the General Gov- ernment was unreasonably slow to inform the General of the declaration of war which had been made against Great Britain, and very slow to forward troops and supplies. Many things can be said on both sides ; but historians generally approve the judgment of the court in his case, as well as of the executive clemency of the President.

PERRY'S VICTORY.

The lake communication of Michigan with the East, having been in the hands of the British since Hull's surrender, was cut off by Com. Perry, who obtained a signal naval victory over the British on Lake Erie, September 10, 1813. The Commodore put his fleet at Erie, Pa., under great disadvantages. The bar at the mouth of the harbor would not permit the vessels to pass out with their armament on board. For some time after the fleet was ready to sail, the British commodore continued to hover off the harbor, well knowing it must either remain there inac- tive or venture out with almost a certainty of defeat. During this blockade, Com. Perry had no alternative, but to ride at anchor at Erie ; but early in September the enemy relaxed his vigilance and withdrew to the upper end of the lake. Perry then slipped ont beyond the bar and fitted his vessels for action. The British fleet opposed to Com. Perry consisted of the ships " Detroit," carrying nineteen guns ; the " Queen Charlotte," seventeen guns; the schooner " Lady Prevost." thirteen guns ; the brig " Hunter," ten guns; the sloop " Little Belt," three guns, and the

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schooner " Chippewa," one gun and two swivels; and this fleet was commanded by a veteran officer of tried skill and valor.

At sunrise, September 10, while at anchor in Put-in-Bay, the Commodore espied the enemy toward the head of the lake, and he immediately sailed up and commenced action. His flag vessel, the Lawrence, was engaged with the full force of the enemy for nearly two hours before the wind permitted the other vessels to come in proper position to help. The crew of this vessel continued the fight until every one of them was either killed or wounded, all the rigging torn to pieces and every gun dismantled. Now comes the daring feat of the engagement which makes Perry a hero. He caused his boat to be lowered, in which he rowed to the Niagara amid the storm of shot and shell raging around him. This vessel he sailed through the enemy's fleet with swelling breeze, pouring in her broadsides upon their ships and forcing them to surrender in rapid succession, until all were taken. The smaller vessels of his fleet helped in this action, among which was one commanded by the brave and faithful Capt. Elliott. This victory was one of the most decisive in all the annals of American history. It opened the lake to Gen. Wm. H. Harrison, who had been operating in Indiana and Ohio, and who now crossed with his army to Canada, where he had a short campaign, terminated by the battle of the Morav- ian towns, by which the enemy were driven from the northwestern frontier. A detachment of his army occupied Detroit, September 20, 1819, and October 18, an armistice was concluded with the Indians, then restoring tranquility to the Terri- tory of Michigan. Soon afterward Gen. Harrison left Gen. Cass in command at Detroit and moved with the main body of his army down to the Niagara frontier.

Perry's brilliant success gave to the Americans the uncontrolled command of the lake, and September 23, their fleet landed 1,200 men near Malden. Col. Proc- tor, however, had previously evacuated that post, after setting fire to the fort and public storehouses. Commodore Perry in the meantime, passed up to Detroit with the " Ariel, " to assist in the occupation of that town, while Capt. Elliott, with the "Lady Prevost," the "Scorpion," and the " Tigress," advanced into Lake St. Clair to intercept the enemy's stores. Thus Gen. Harrison, on his arrival at Detroit and Malden, found both places abandoned by the enemy, and was met by the Canadians asking for his protection. Tecumseh proposed to the British commander that they should hazard an engagement at Malden ; but the latter foresaw that he should be exposed to the fire of the American fleet in that position, and therefore resolved to march to the Moravian towns upon the Thames, near St. Clair Lake, above Detroit, and there try the chance of a battle. Ilis force at this time consisted of about 900 regular troops and 1,500 Indians, commanded by Tecumseh. The American army amounted to about 2,700 men, of whom 120 were regulars, a considerable number of militia, about thirty Indians, and the remainder Kentucky riflemen, well mount-

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ed, and mainly young men, full of ardor, and burning with a desire to revenge the massacre of their friends and relatives at the River Raisin. During the following Winter, there were no military movements, except an incursion into the interior of the upper province, by Major Holmes, who was attacked near Stony Creek, and maintained his ground with bravery.

CLOSE OF THE WAR.

The war with Great Britain was now (November, 1813), practically closed, so far as the Northwest was concerned, the post at Mackinaw yet remained in the hands of the enemy, but active steps were taken to dispossess the English of this point and drive them wholly from the domain of the United States. The first effort to start an expedition failed ; but in the Summer of 1814, a well-equipped force of two sloops of war, several schooners, and 750 land militia, under the com- mand of Commodore St. Clair and Lient. Colonel Croghan, started for the north. Contrary, however, to the advice of experienced men, the commanders concluded to visit St. Joseph first, and the British, of Mackinaw, heard of their coming, and prepared themselves. The consequence was a failure to take the place. Major Holmes was killed, and the Winnebago Indians, from Green Bay, allies of the British, actually cut out the hearts and liver from the American slain, and cooked and ate them ! Com. St. Clair afterward made some arrangements to starve out the post, but his vessels were captured, and the British then remained secure in the possession of the place until the treaty of peace the following Winter.

The war with England formally closed on December 21, 1814, when a treaty of peace was signed at Ghent. The ninth article of the treaty required the United States to put an end to hostilities with all tribes or nations of Indians with whom they had been at war ; to restore to such tribes or nations respectively all the rights and possessions to which they were entitled in 1811, before the war, on con- dition that such Indians should agree to desist from all hostilities against the United States. But in February, just before the treaty was sanctioned by our Government there were signs of Indians accumulating arms and ammunition, and a cautionary order was therefore issued to have all the white forces in readiness for an attack by the Indians, but the attack was not made. During the ensuing Summer and Fall, the United States Government acquainted the Indians with the provisions of the treaty and entered into subordinate treaties of peace with the principal tribes. Just before the treaty of Spring Wells (near Detroit) was signed, the Sha- wance Prophet retired to Canada, declaring his resolution to abide by any treaty which the chiefs might sign. Some time afterward he returned to the Sha- wanee settlement in Ohio, and lastly to the west of the Mississippi, where he died in 1834. The British Government allowed him a pension from 1813 until his death.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

THE TECUMSEH WAR.

If one should inquire who has been the greatest Indian, the most noted, the " principal Indian " in North America since its discovery by Columbus, we would be obliged to answer, Tecumseh. For all those qualities that 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 along 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 cele- brated 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 himn- 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, forever worthy of the steel of the most gallant commander that ever entered the list in the defense of his altar or his home.

The tribe to which Tecumseh, or Tecumtha, as some write it, belonged, was the Shawnee, or Shawanee. The tradition of the nation held that they originally came from the Gulf of Mexico ; that they wended their way up the Mississippi and the Ohio, and settled at or near the present site of the Shawneetown, Ill., whence they removed to the upper Wabash. In the latter place, at any rate, they were found early in the 18th century, and were known as the " bravest of the brave." This tribe has uniformly been the bitter enemy of the white man, and in every contest with our people exhibited a degree of skill and strategy that should character- ize the most dangerous foe. Tecumseh's notoriety and that of his brother, the Prophet, mutually served to establish and strengthen each other. While the Prophet had unlimited power, spiritual and temporal, he distributed his greatness in all the departments of Indian life with a kind of fanaticism that magnetically aronsed the religious and superstitious passions, not only of his own followers, but also of all the tribes in this part of the country ; but Tecumseh concentrated his greatness upon the more practical and business affairs of military conquest. It is doubted whether he was really a sincere believer in the pretensions of his fanatic brother; if he did not believe in the pretentious feature of them he had the shrewd- ness to keep his unbelief to himself, knowing that religious fanaticism was one of the strongest impulses to reckless bravery.

During his sojourn in the Northwestern Territory, it was Tecumseh's upper- most desire of life to confederate all the Indian tribes of the country, against the whites, to maintain their choice hunting-grounds. All his public policy converged toward this single end. In his vast scheme he comprised even all the Indians in

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the Gulf country,-all in America west of the Alleghany mountains. He held, as a subordinate principle, that the Great Spirit had given the Indian race all these hunting-grounds to keep in common, and that no Indian or tribe could cede any portion of the land to the whites without consent of all the trices. Ilence, in all his councils with the whites he ever maintained that the treaties were null and void.

When he met Harrison at Vincennes in council the last time, and, as he was invited by the General to take a seat with him on the platform, he hesitated ; Har- rison insisted, saying that it was the " wish of their Great Father, the President of the United States that he should do so." The chief paused a moment, raised his tall and commanding form to its greatest height, surveyed the troops and crowd around him, fixed his keen oyes upon Gov. Harrison, and then turning them to the sky above, and pointing toward heaven with his sinewy arm in a manner indicative of supreme contempt for the paternity assigned him, said in clarion tones: " My Father ? The sun is my father, the earth is my mother, and on her bosom I will recline." Ile then stretched himself, with his warriors on the green sward. The effect was electrical, and for some moments there was perfect silence.

The Governor, then, through an interpreter, told him that he understood that he had some complaints to make and redress to ask, etc., and that he wished to investigate the matter and make restitution whenever it might be decided it should be done. As soon as the Governor was through with this introductory speech, the stately warrior arose, tall, athletic, manly, dignified and graceful, and with a voice at first low, but distinet and musical, commenced a reply. As he warmed up with his subject his clear tones might be heard, as if " trumpet-tongued," to the utmost limits of the assembly-the most perfeet silence prevailed, except when his warriors gave their guttural assent to some eloquent recital of the red-men's wrong and the white man's injustice. Tecumseh recited the wrongs which his race had suffered from the time of the massacre of the Moravian Indians to the present ; said he did not know how he ever again could be the friend of the white man ; that the Great Spirit had given to the Indian all the land from the Miami to the Mississippi, and from the lakes to the Ohio, as a common property to all the tribes in these borders, and that the land could not and should not be sold without the consent of all ; that all the tribes on the continent formed but one nation; that if the United States would not give up the lands they had bought of the Miamis and the other tribes, those united with him were determined to annihilate those tribes; that they were determined to have no more chiefs, but in future to be governed by their war- riors ; that unless the whites ceased their encroachments upon Indian lands, the fate of the Indians was sealed ; they had been driven from the banks of the Dela- ware across the Alleghanies, and their possessions on the Wabash and the Illinois

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were now to be taken from them ; that in a few years they would not have ground enough to bury their warriors on this side of " Father of Waters;" that all would perish, all their possessions taken from them by fraud or force, unless they stopped the progress of the white man westward ; that it must be a war of races in which one or the other must perish ; that their tribes had been driven toward the setting sun like a galloping horse (ne-kat-a-kush-e-ka-top-o-lin-to).

The Shawnee language, in which this most eminent Indian statesman spoke, excelled all other aboriginal tongues in its musical articulation ; and the effect of Tecumseh's oratory on this occasion can be more easily imagined than described. Gov. Harrison, although as brave a soldier and general as any American, was over- come by his speech. He well knew Tecumseh's power and influence among all the tribes, knew his bravery, courage and determination, and knew that he meant what lie said. When Tecumseh was done speaking there was a stillness throughout the assembly which was really painful; not a whisper was heard, and all eyes were turned from the speaker toward Gov. Harrison, who after a few moments came to himself, and recollecting many of the absurd statements of the great Indian orator, began a reply which was more logical, if not so eloquent. The Shawnees were attentive until Harrison's interpreter began to translate his speech to the Miamis and Pottawatomies, when Tecumseh and his warriors sprang to their feet, brand- ishing their war-clubs and tomahawks. "Tell him," said Tecumseh, addressing the interpreter in Shawnee, " he lies." The interpreter undertook to convey this message to the Governor in smoother language, but Tecumseh noticed the effort and remonstrated, " No, no; tell him he lies." The warriors began to grow more excited, when Secretary Gibson ordered the American troops in arms to advance. This allayed the rising storm, and as soon as Tecumseh's " He lies" was literally interpreted to the Governor, the latter told the interpreter to tell Tecumseh he would hold no further council with him.

Thus the assembly was broken up, and one can hardly imagine a more exciting scene. It would constitute the finest subject for a historical painting to adorn the rotunda of the capitol. The next day Tecumseh requested another interview with the Governor, which was granted on condition that he should make an apology to the Governor for his language the day before. This he made through the inter- preter. Measures for defense and protection were taken, however, lest there should be another outbreak. Two companies of militia were ordered from the country, and the one in town added to them, while the Governor and his friends went into council fully armed and prepared for any contingency. On this occasion the con- duet of Tecumseh was entirely different from that of the day before. Firm and intrepid, showing not the slightest fear or alarm, surrounded with a military force four times his own, he preserved the utmost composure and equanimity. None

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would have supposed that he could have been the principal actor in the thrilling seene of the previous day. He claimed that half the Americans were in sympathy with him. He also said that whites had informed him that Gov. Harrison had purchased land from the Indians without any authority from the Government ; that he, Harrison, had but two years more to remain in office, and that if he, Tecumseh, could prevail upon the Indians who sold the lands not to receive their annuities for that time, and the present Governor displaced by a good man as his successor, the latter would restore to the Indians all the lands purchased from them. The Wyan- dots, Kickapoos, Pottawattomies, Ottawas and the Winnebagoes, through their respective spokesmen, declared their adherence to the great Shawnee warrior and statesman. Gov. Harrison then told them that he would send Tecumseh's speech to the President of the United States and return the answer to the Indians as soon as it was received. Tecumseh then declared that he and his allies were determined that the old boundary line should continue ; and that if the whites crossed it, it would be at their peril. Gov. Harrison replied that he would be equally plain with him and state that the President would never allow that the lands on the Wabash were the property of any other tribes than those who had occupied them since the white people first came to America ; and as the title to the lands lately purchased was derived from those tribes by a late purchase, he might rest assured that the right of the United States would be supported by the sword. "So be it " was the stern and haughty reply of the Shawnee chieftain, as he and his braves took leave of the Governor and wended their way in Indian file to their camping ground. Thus ended the last conference on earth by the chivalrous Tecumseh and the hero of the battle of Tippecanoe. The bones of the first lie bleaching on the battlefield of the Thames, and those of the last in a mausoleum on the banks of the Ohio; each struggled for the mastery of his race, and each no doubt was equally honest and patriotie in his purposes. The weak yielded to the strong, the defenseless to the powerful, and the hunting-ground of the Shawnee is all ocenpied by his enemy.

Tecumseh, with four of his braves, immediately embarked in a birch eanoe, descended the Wabash, and went on to the South to unite the tribes of that country in a general system of self-defense against the eneroachment of the whites. llis emblem was a disjointed snake, with the motto " Join or die !" In union alone was strength.

Before Teenmseh left the Prophet's town at the mouth of the Tippecanoe River, on his excursion to the South, he had a definite understanding with his brother and the chieftains of the other tribes in the Wabash country, that they should preserve perfect peace with the whites until his arrangements were completed for a con- federaey of the tribes on both sides of the Ohio and on the Mississippi River; but

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it seems that while he was in the South engaged in his work of uniting the tribes of that country some of the Northern tribes showed signs of fight and precipitated Harrison into that campaign which ended in the battle of Tippecanoe, and the total rout of the Indians. Tecumseh, on his return from the South, learning what had happened, was overcome with chagrin, disappointment, and anger, and accused his brother of duplicity and cowardice ; indeed, it is said, he never forgave him to the day of his death. A short time afterward, on the breaking out of the war with Great Britain, he joined Proctor, at Malden, with a party of his warriors, and was killed at the battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813, by a Mr. Wheatly, as we are positively informed by Mr. A. J. James, now a resident of La Harpe township, Hancock County, Illinois, whose father-in-law, John Pigman, of Coshocton County, Ohio, was an eye-witness. Gen. Johnson has generally had the credit of killing Tecumseh.

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History of the St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources.., Part 6

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