USA > Michigan > St Clair County > St. Clair County, Michigan, its history and its people; a narrative account of its historical progress and its principal interests, Vol. I > Part 14
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old dam were still in existence a few years ago. This mill was the only source of supply of pine lumber to Detroit. In his transfer to the Naval department he evidently was made a captain, and must have commended himself strongly to the people of Detroit, as in September. 1767, they presented him with a silver goblet upon which was in- seribed : "In remembrance of the encouragement experienced upon all occasions by the merchants and traders in the Indian countries from Captain Patrick Sinelair of the Naval Department, not as a reward for his services, but a public testimony of their gratitude, this is presented instead of a more adequate acknowledgment which his disinterested disposition renders impracticable."
The following year Captain Sinclair returned to England and in 1772 was appointed captain in his regiment, and applied for return to America, and after some delay, was, in 1775, appointed lieutenant- governor of Mackinac. This position gave him no military authority. but gave him general control in civil affairs. Sinclair set out for his post and landed in Maryland, and not believing that the Americans were really in earnest in their opposition to England, went to New York City on his way west. To his surprise, he was arrested and sent to Long Island as a prisoner. He was soon paroled, however, remaining as a prisoner on parole until released by resolution of the Continental Congress March 11. 1776. He made another attempt to reach his post in 1778 and this time succeeded, going first to Halifax and arriving in Quebec in Jnne, 1779. He at once set about the fixing of his command so that he should have the military, as well as civil control, but did not succeed until the following year when he purchased the commission of Captain George MeDougall of the Eighty-fourth regiment. In the mean- time he had gone to Fort Mackinae, which was at that time on the mainland of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, arriving there October 4, 1789. He immediately began to urge the removal of the fort to the island, which was accomplished under his superintendence, but at enor- mous cost. Having incurred expense contrary to the orders or General Haldimand, the British officer in general command, his drafts were protested and he was recalled to Quebec in the fall of 1782, to explain his accounts. During 1783 and most of 1784 he was at the Isle of Orleans near Quebec, and in the winter of the latter year sailed for England. Upon his arrival there he was arrested and thrown into Newgate, the debtors' prison, on account of his protested drafts, but remained there only a short time. His troubles in Canada do not seem to have interfered with his advancement in the army, as he became in turn major, lieutenant-colonel, colonel and major-general, which rank he held at the time of his death. January 31, 1820.
While General Sinclair was at Mackinac he kept in touch with his property at his old post on St. Clair river. In May, 1780, A. S. De Peyster, the commanding officer at Detroit, writes him that his man is at the pinery, and will remain there till a vessel from Mackinac comes. During this time Alexander Harrow, who later became a resident of this county, taking possession of a large tract above Algonac, a part of which his descendants still occupy, was the commander of the sloop "Welleome," which was used in transporting supplies between Detroit
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and Mackinac. In June, 1780, De Peyster writes that the "Wellcome" had been assisting the "Yandot," another boat in the same service, and that he heard "they are much difficulted to get her (the 'Yan- .dot') off and that the 'Wellcome' has not got further on her way than the Pinery."
It appears that at this time Francis Beleour, the British agent at Detroit, had been in charge of the post at Fort Sinclair, and for some reason he was not acceptable to the Indians along the river. as in July, 1780, Maskeash, one of the Chippewa chiefs on St. Clair river, came to Mackinac on board the "Wellcome" to ask him to send them in place of Mr. Belcour, Baptiste Point de Sable, a free negro, who had been a trader with the Miamis until arrested the year before and taken to Mackinac. This request was granted and Sinclair returns the Indians with directions to land them wherever they wish in the river, and to land Point de Sable at the Pine river.
In a letter to De Peyster. he justifies this change of agents. basing his rights to do so upon the commander-in-chief's (Gage's) letter, In- dian deed, tacit consent of government waiting the decision of the king in council, possession and property.
Two incidents occurring at this time throw much light on Sinclair's disposition, his touchiness, and insistence upon proper respect shown to his rank. The soldiers of two companies stationed at Mackinac had not received their pay, and complained to De Peyster, and say that they have been with complaints to the lieutenant-governor. "but his answer always is, 'Damn you for a pack of villains and scoundrels.' "'
Commander Harrow, who was lieutenant and commanded a ship in the naval armament on the Great Lakes in Canada, arrived at Mackinac with the "Wellcome" July 29, 1780, and was at once arrested by order of the governor, and detained for some time, without any appar- ent ground for action. Harrow must have been soon released, as the following spring he is again in charge of the "Wellcome," and in 1783 he is designated as commodore.
While Sinclair was at the Isle of Orleans awaiting the adjusting of his accounts, a young man from there, by the name of Nicholas Boul- vin, or Boilvin, was just setting out for the west to grow up with the country and to him Sinclair gave a power of attorney to take charge on the first of May, 1783, of his farm at Pine river, his "stock houses, barns, orchards, gardens, timber and every other article thereto apper- taining." He also recommends Boulvin to the protection of the officers at Detroit that any other person may be prevented from cutting timber, or from trading near the post to the detriment of Boulvin.
When Boulvin arrived at Detroit he did not make a long stay, but decided to go on to St. Louis where he was soon after appointed Indian agent for the United States, and after some years removed to Prairie du Chien, where he acted in the same capacity. and while living there he was appointed, in 1818, justice of the peace, by Governor Cass.
When Boulvin determined to leave Detroit he turned over his power of attorney to David Ross, September 20. 1783. and on May 19, 1788, the property was sold at public auction to Meldrum and Park, mer- chants of Detroit, who in 1795 obtained a deed from twenty-six of the
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Chippewa chiefs and tribesmen, which refers to the deed previously given to Sinclair by their ancestors, late chiefs of the Chippewa nation, and confirms and approves the grant, and the transfer to Meldrum and Park. The land is described in this deed as a traet on the west side of the river. "The north boundary whereof commences at a small creek or river known by the name of River Isecorse, adjoining the lands of the late Duperon Baby, Esq., thence running down the bank of the said River Sinclair to a blazed white oak tree about two miles above the entrance of the Belle river, marked with the initials MPK, and ex- tending back" four miles in depth. The River Isecorse, referred to, is probably the small creek emptying into St. Clair river at the village of Marysville, as in 1817 Preston, the U. S. surveyor of the public lands, in meandering section 32, town 6 north, range 17 east, refers to this stream as River Ecorse, and this creek is in the north line of private claim 255, granted to Meldrum and Park, which was the northernmost of their claims.
The location of Fort Sinclair is shown upon most of the important maps made of this locality after its erection, but not always correctly. It occasionally appears about where Fort Gratiot subsequently stood, and the name is as frequently St. Clair as it is Sinclair. In the plat made by Aaron Greeley, surveyor of private claims, made in 1810. "Fort St. Clair" is indicated just south of Pine river. In the map made in 1820 by the commissioners to locate the international boundary line, there is noted just below the mouth of Pine river "old Fort St. Claire." For nearly fifty years the name Sinclair was quite generally given to the river, and often to the lake, but after the Americans ob- tained undisputed possession of the west bank of river and lake, the name of both gradually settled into their present form.
THE AMERICAN FORT GRATIOT
The third and last flag to float over a fortified place in this county was the American flag, raised over Fort Gratiot, built in 1814. In the War of 1812, after the experiences of the United States with the British and the Indians near Detroit, additional protection for this part of the country, especially against the Indians, seemed necessary to the authori- ties, and in 1814 General Harrison directed Major Thomas Forsyth, with Captain Cobb, and a detachment of forty men, with Captain Charles Gratiot as engineer, to locate a post and erect defenses near the entrance of St. Clair river. The force arrived on the site of the fort May 14, 1814, and in the following month another detachment, mainly of militia arrived, and during the summer the fort was con- structed, with embankment of carth on the north, south and west sides, and with stronger fortifieations on the cast or river front, large logs entering into the construction. When completed it was called from the engineer in charge of its construction, Fort Gratiot.
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CHARLES GRATIOT
Charles Gratiot was born in that part of Louisiana which subse- quently became Missouri in 1788 and after going to West Point was ap- pointed second lieutenant of engineers in 1806, and captain in 1808. His rise in the army was rapid. undoubtedly due to his ability and in the War of 1812 he was the chief engineer of Harrison's army, and breveted colonel. In 1815 he was appointed major of engineers, and in 1828 he became colonel. and principal engineer in charge of the engineer bureau. and the same year was breveted brigadier-general for meritorious serv- ices and general good conduct, and appointed inspector at West Point. In this position he remained for ten years, until 1838, when he was dismissed by the President for claimed irregularities in his financial relations with the government. From 1840 to 1855 he was a clerk in the Land Office at Washington, and the latter year went to St. Louis, where he died. Few officers of the army have displayed greater ability or risen more rapidly, until he met with disaster. It should be added, however, that upon the petition of General Gratiot for an investigation of his eon- duet the judiciary committee of the U. S. Senate reported in high terms upon his character and ability, and that no authority existed in congress to undo the action.
At the time Fort Gratiot was located in 1814. it was assumed that no private rights existed to interfere with the government, but the fact was that in 1808 Pierre Bonhomme had presented to the land board in Detroit his claim for 240 arpents, six arpents in front on St. Clair river, by forty deep, which included the land upon which the fort was erected, but so far as appears from the records which have been preserved. no testimony was produced, and certainly no patent was issued by the gov- ernment. It appears. however, from the testimony which was taken in 1821, when the land board was revived and the Bonhomme claim renewed. that as early as 1803 there was a house, stable and blacksmith shop, and improvements upon which crops had been raised.
By 1818 the idea had crept into the official mind that it might be desirable to have the title to the fort put in proper shape, and on July 18th of that year General Macomb, then at Detroit, wrote to the secre- tary of war that on examining the surveys of the lands which were to be sold in the Territory of Michigan. he found that no reservation had been made of the site upon which Fort Gratiot was built, and suggested immediate action to reserve the section on which the fort stood.
August 20, 1818, J. C. Calhoun, the secretary of war, wrote to the commissioner of the general land office requesting him to instruct the proper officer to make a reservation in accordance with a sketch which he enclosed. At that time the system of public surveys had been ex- tended over this area. and the fort lay near the north line of section 3, town 6, north range 17 east.
August 21, 1818. the commissioner wrote the superintendent of land sales at Detroit to reserve for military purposes the five fractions of sections lying between St. Clair river and River de Lude. By this he un- doubtedly meant the parts of fractional sections 2, 3, 4, 10 and 11, lying north and east of Black river, but before that order reached Detroit,
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owing to the slowness of mail connections, all public lands within the Indian treaty line of 1807, which had been surveyed, were placed on sale, and on September 19, 1818, Solomon Sibley of Detroit, purchased fractional section 2, and that part of fractional section 10 lying north of Black river. Matters remained in this shape then for ten years longer. In the meantime the land board in 1821 had acted upon the Bonhomme claims, which included the fort itself, and an additional elaim lying north of this one, and adjacent to it, and observing that Fort Gratiot stood upon the lands, confirmed the claims, as they had been preferred in 1808, prior to the location of the military site, and prior to any res- ervation by the government.
In November, 1828, General Macomb, then major-general and gen- cral-in-chief of the army, some months after congress had passed an act confirming the action of the land board, wrote to the secretary of war recommending that all the land lying north and east of Black river and south of private claim 244, and also the east fifty acres of that claim, be reserved for military purposes. IIe probably included the latter parcel because the government had in 1825 erected upon it a lighthouse, without troubling itself to secure any conveyance from Francois Bonhomme, to whom it had been patented in 1881.
The following day, November 11th, the secretary of war, P. B. Por- ter, concurred in the recommendation and the President, J. Q. Adams, ordered the reservation to be made. But even the government could not "reserve" what it had already granted, and as by this time all of the tract indicated by the President, except that part of section 3 not included in the Bonhomme claims, and the small parts of fractional sections 34 and 35 in town 7 north range 17 east, had been sold, the reservation actually made could only apply to the unsold part, and the government was forced to purchase, in 1833, from Andrew Westbrook, and P. J. Desnoyers, the owners of the Bonhomme claims, their rights and to surrender any claim to sections 2 and 11, which are now included in the Thorn plat, and to section 10, which is included in the Butler plat. This, however, left a reservation of 614 acres, which was sufficient for all needs.
It was during the year of the fort's construction that William Brown, one of the enterprising and eapable pioneers of the county, per- formed an act of greatest importance to the garrison. The supplies had fallen very short, starvation, or at least, short rations, was im- minent; although Detroit was only sixty miles away, the intervening country had many Indians, mostly hostile, and the taking of supplies was not only difficult, but extremely dangerous. Colonel Butler, in charge of the American forces at Detroit, looking for a capable man who knew the country to convoy a train to Fort Gratiot, selected Brown, who at the time was living in Detroit. He was born in Detroit in 1784, and when twenty-two years old married Martha Thorn-a sister of John Thorn-and moved to Canada, upon what was known as the Sutherland place, opposite the upper end of St. Clair city. In 1814 he was confronted by the British authorities with the order either to take the oath of allegiance or leave the country, and promptly left for Detroit. He conducted a troop of forty men with sixty head of fat Vol. 1-7
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cattle, to Fort Gratiot in safety, delivering them the second night after the start from Detroit.
TEMPORARILY ABANDONED
The earliest return on file in the War department relating to the fort is for August, 1815, and is signed by Captain William Whistler, Third Regiment U. S. Infantry, with First Lieutenant John Butler (discharged June 15, 1815), Twenty-fourth Regular U. S. Infantry, temporarily serving.
In October of the same year Brevet-Major Sullivan Burbank came and assumed command, and there were two companies present and a detachment of artillery. Between that time and the abandonment of the fort for a time in 1821, it was under the charge of Brevet-Colonel John MeNeil, Major Peter Muhlenberg, Brevet-Major John T. Chunn, Major Alex Cummings, and the following captains: Peter Pelham, David Perry, John Fowle, Jr., Brevet-Captain Joseph Gleason, George H. Grosvenor, C. L. Caps, John Farley; First Lieutenants Joseph Plympton, Collin MeLeod, Robert A. McCabe, Otis Fisher, Charles Mel- lon ; Second Lieutenants William Downey, Samuel S. Stacey, Ephraim K. Barnum, Peter T. January, Samuel W. Hunt, John Peacock, Peter W. Grayson, James Watson Webb, John M. Tufts, Robert Wright. The earlier part of the time the fort was garrisoned by a company or com- panies from the Fifth Regiment U. S. Infantry, and during the latter part by a company from the Third Regiment U. S. Infantry.
In the spring of 1820 when Governor Cass and his party passed up St. Clair river on their way to the Indians at the headwaters of the Mississippi, they found Major Alexander Cummings in command at Fort Gratiot. Upon the return of the party in September, H. R. Schoolcraft, the historian of the trip, says, they stopped at the fort, but finding none of the commanding officers present, continued their journey toward Detroit and when they came to the mouth of Black river, they met a boat with a few soldiers under command of Lieu- tenant Webb returning with a load of watermelons obtained up Black river. This Lieutenant Webb was James Watson Webb, who entered the army in 1819 as second lieutenant, becoming first lieutenant in 1823, resigning in 1827, to become the editor of the New York Courier, and later of the Courier and Enquirer. This very influential news- paper he owned and edited until 1861 when it was merged with the World, and the same year he became minister to Brazil, continuing until 1869. While in that position he had great influence in causing the withdrawal of the French from Mexico, owing to his intimacy with Napoleon III, the French emperor. For many years he exercised a powerful influence on the politics of the United States.
In 1821 the army was reduced in numbers and Fort Gratiot as one of the comparatively unimportant posts, was abandoned, and was only occupied by two Presbyterian missionaries, Hart and Hudson, who used the buildings from early in 1822 until the following year as a school for a short time. The missionaries did not meet with much success, and left in 1823 for Mackinac. The fort gradually fell into decay, and
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in 1826 it was described by Schoolcraft, who passed it upon another official trip, as a mass of ruins.
In 1828 the fort was reoccupied by troops under the command of Brevet-Major Alex R. Thompson and it was largely rebuilt during that and the following year. From this time until June, 1837, a garrison was continuously maintained under the successive charge of Major Thompson, from 1828 to July, 1832; Brevet-Major Mathew M. Payne, from July, 1832, to winter of 1833. and Brevet-Major William Hoff-
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man, who followed Payne and was in command until the fort was aban- doned in June, 1837.
Major Thompson and his wife were cultivated people and the latter possessed a piano, the only one probably in the county at that time, and they formed the center of a small social circle which extended many miles but embraced few people within its circumference, as that was several years before there was any settlement at what is now Port Huron.
In the year 1832 occurred the terrible cholera epidemic; the Black Hawk war was in progress and troops from the east were ordered by way of the lakes to Chicago. On their arrival at Detroit two men were taken with the disease and died, and the force was hastily sent on to Fort Gratiot to be out of danger. They did not leave the scourge be- hind, however, and by the time of their arrival at the head of St. Clair
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river a number of the men were seized with the disease. The facilities at Fort Gratiot were inadequate to properly care for the number dis- embarked and sick, and panic seems to have caught the commanding officers as well as the people. The soldiers apparently were turned loose on shore, many of them died, others wandered down the river, and were generally met by the settlers with help, but often by fright- ened refusals of assistance or even food. Those dying at the fort were buried in a small cemetery upon the military reservation, and when the reservation was divided and sold, their remains were removed to Lake- side cemetery.
At that time Louis Facer occupied a building on the north side of Black river, cast of Huron avenue, and his son, W. D. Facer, related that upon the coming of the cholera infected troops, his father boarded up the windows and barred the doors, but the soldiers came in such numbers begging for coffee that his mother could not refuse, and all day long, through a broken window pane, cups of strong coffee were handed out to the men, who in turn paid so liberally that at the end of the day she had received seventy-two dollars.
During the period from 1828 to 1837 Captains Thomas J. Beall, Waddy V. Cobbs, Levi Whiting and Owen Ransom-who died after a short service here, July 3, 1836-were stationed here with William W. Morris, Frederick Searle, Edward C. Ross, Amos B. Eaton and James M. Hill, as first lieutenants, and Isaac P. Simonton, Samuel P. Heintzleman, Julius Kingsbury, George W. Patten, John M. Clendenin, Danforth H. Tufts, John H. Miller, Thomas Johns, Silas Casey, and Henry W. Wessels as second lieutenants.
From June, 1837, the fort was unoccupied for about a year, when it was again garrisoned with troops, this time under the command of Colonel John L. Gardner, who was followed in 1841 by Lieutenant- Colonel James S. McIntosh, under whose superintendence the fort was entirely rebuilt. A plan of the fort as rebuilt is subjoined.
It was during the fall of 1837 that a detachment from the Brady Guards of Detroit came to the fort and removed the military property, stored there, to Detroit. It was the time of the so-called Patriot war. All along the border from Niagara Falls to Port Huron there was ex- citement and alarm. There was much unrest in Canada and many sympathizers in the United States were ready to take up arms and go to the assistance of the oppressed Canadians. The United States gov- ernment issued a proclamation of neutrality but many hot-headed par- tisans were ready to violate that. It was feared that these military supplies would be seized by the "Patriots" and to avoid that danger, the detachment above referred to was sent with the steamer General Macomb to take the supplies to Detroit. After some trouble, and a nar- row escape from altercation, the material was put on board, and started for Detroit. The steamer, however, was stopped by the ice, was com- pelled to come back to St. Clair, and from there everything was carried safely overland to Detroit and kept until all danger was over.
From 1845 to July 14, 1846, the fort was under the command of Brevet-Captain James W. Anderson, and at the latter date the troops were withdrawn and sent to take part in the Mexican war, leaving the
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fort unoccupied until 1848, when it was again garrisoned for a period of four years, first commanded by Brevet-Major Benjamin Alvord, who subsequently became paymaster of the army, and while here was with his wife an active participant in the social and intellectual activi- ties of the small village of Port Huron.
Major Alvord was followed in 1851 by Major Gabriel J. Rains, who resigned from the army in 1861 to enter the Confederate army, in which he served with distinction.
During the period from 1838 to 1852 Captains Isaac Lynde, James L. Thompson, Samuel P. Heintzleman and Charles S. Merchant, with First Lieutenants Randolph B. Marcy, William P. Bainbridge, Simon H. Drum, Thomas R. McConnell, Edmund Russell and Thomas J. Mont- gomery, and Second Lieutenants William A. Nichols, Leslie Chase, Wil- liam Irvin, Pinkney Lugenbeel, James W. Schureman, C. W. Howard, Richard I. Dodge, William A. Slaughter, and James M. L. Henry, were stationed at the fort, and two of them indicated their approval of their surroundings by taking wives from the county, Lieutenant Montgomery marrying a daughter of Duthan Northup, a former county treasurer, and Lieutenant Slaughter, a daughter of John Wells, and sister of Fred L. Wells. Both of these officers lived but a short time to enjoy their happiness, Lieutenant Montgomery dying in Oregon in 1854, and Lieu- tenant Slaughter was killed by the Indians in Washington territory in 1855.
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