The history of Detroit and Michigan; or, The metropolis illustrated; a chronological cyclopedia of the past and present, Vol I, Part 51

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Detroit, S. Farmer & co
Number of Pages: 1096

USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The history of Detroit and Michigan; or, The metropolis illustrated; a chronological cyclopedia of the past and present, Vol I > Part 51

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1 The Christian name of Governor Hay heretofore has invariably been printed John. The mistake evidently arose from the simi- larity of the words when carelessly written. His own letters, filed with the Johnson Manuscripts at Albany, and scores of let- ters in the Haldimand Collection at Ottawa, show clearly that his name was Jehu.

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THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

"the Indians are always cooking or counciling." Emissaries were sent from Detroit to the most dis- tant tribes, to induce them "to take up the hatchet;" Indian agents and interpreters came and went; boats loaded to their utmost capacity with army stores, Indian goods, and trinkets, arrived in num- bers. An extensive shipyard was kept busy building new vessels and repairing the old. Captains, lieu- tenants, and minor officers thronged the narrow and busy streets; war-parties were equipped, "set out" and "returned ;" prisoners arrived, were sent below or distributed; scalps were received, counted, and recorded ; alarms were raised, disaffection was pun- ished; and all the events of the East were told over, and many of them duplicated, in revolutionary days at Detroit.

The English officers found it not always fair weather. There were many secret and some open sympathizers with the "rebels." Citizens known to be in sympathy with the Americans were subjected to many annoyances. Garret Graverat, a leading merchant, was compelled to give bail in four hun- dred pounds not to correspond with the Americans or give them aid for the space of a year and a day. James Sterling and John Edgar, well-known trades- men, were sent away because they favored the rebel- lion. The last-named was compelled to leave all his goods, and go to Kaskaskia. Congress, in after years, gave him two thousand acres of land to help make up his losses. Other citizens also were forced to leave. Some were compelled to work on the fortifications ; and those who tried to escape were put in irons by the order of Governor Hamilton.

In one of his letters to General Haldimand, writ- ten on January 15, 1778, the governor complained that his plans were frequently made known, and said it was not to be wondered at, "when it is con- sidered how many people in the settlement have connections with the Americans, especially as an Indian, for a gallon of rum, will convey any letter or intelligence." In another letter, dated August 17, he said, "The few American newspapers which I send, being of a later date than any from Europe, you may conceive, have furnished surmises to the disaffected here not likely to produce agreeable effects. I shall watch and seize the first, however, who shall dare make a parade of his disloyalty."

In the spring of 1779, after the capture of Gover- nor Hamilton, there was much more trouble with the "rebel sympathizers." Captain Lernoult was authorized by Captain Brehm, aide-de-camp to Gen- eral Haldimand, to apprehend some of these and "send them to Niagara, and to take hostages from others ; " also to "hold court-martials on the ap- proach of an enemy" and "punish offences with death."

About this time James Cassity, a farmer at Grosse

Pointe, made himself obnoxious to the king's officers, and the following depositions against him are con- tained in the Haldimand correspondence. William Miller deposed on July 21, 1779, against Cassity, " that he and William Bostick drank success to the Congress and the American Arms, and said that Colonel Clark would soon be in possession of Detroit, that he was tanning a quantity of leather that he would not sell until Colonel Clark arrived at Detroit." John Loughton, naval store-keeper, deposed that Cassity said "that Detroit would be in the hands of Colonel Clark in six months, and declared himself a rebel." John Cornwall said Cassity declared "that there were many in Detroit who wore cockades in their hats who thought themselves very good people, but that, when Colonel Clark came, they would be no better than himself," and that " Colonel Butler, with his scalping crew, would soon meet with their deserts." Upon this testimony, Cassity was sent away.

The inhabitants of Detroit were thus compelled to leave their homes, and a number of loyalists and renegades came to settle in the city, among them those noted semi-savages, Matthew Elliott and James, Simon, and George Girty.

At one time Governor Hamilton estimated that about five thousand persons in Detroit would soon be dependent upon the Government for support. He was in favor of encouraging settlers to come, however, and even proposed, on his anticipated foray, to bring back the colonists and settle them at Detroit, but General Haldimand did not favor this idea. On August 6, 1778, he wrote to Hamilton : " I am of opinion that the driving these settlers back upon their brethren whom they would distress by an additional consumption of goods and provisions among them would prove a better measure for His Majesty's interest than inviting them to your post." He then suggested that those who did come be made to take arms and "exert themselves heartily."

Because of their natural antipathy to the English, and of the attitude of the mother country, the French generally favored the Americans, aiding them mate- rially in some instances, by conveying information ; others were bribed or threatened into putting on the British uniform. Their influence over the Indians was such that their presence was a necessity. Colonel De Peyster says, in one of his letters to General Haldimand, "Give me leave to assure your Excellency that nothing can be effected from the Indians without troops to head them."

A report of Governor Hamilton, made on August 30, 1778, shows that there were then at Detroit four hundred and eighty-two volunteer militia. Those who went with the Indians were paid from four shillings to sixteen shillings per day, and on the pay- list the names of the ancestors of many of the

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THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

French families of the present day are easily recog- nized. An old ledger, kept by a Detroit firm, has one account with the significant heading, " Men of Absent Companies,"-the account evidently being for goods furnished the families of persons absent on some foray with the Rangers, as they were called.

The employment of the Indians by the English Government during the Revolutionary War leaves an ineffaceable stigma on the names of the men who were then in power. The palliating facts are that the spirit of the age was different from that of the present, and that the public mind, during the French and English War, had been gradually accustomed to the thought of Indian allies. The wholesale employment, however, of the savages in wars against white settlers was unknown prior to the Revolution. It is claimed that the American forces also employed them to fight against the English ; but any such employment was in connec- tion with regular army movements, and even then exceptional. The English, on the contrary, employed all the tribes that could possibly be induced to make war on the colonists, and nation after nation was systematically and persistently solicited, urged, and hired to join them, and often allowed and encour- aged to make war in their own fashion.

The official correspondence found in the Haldi- mand papers and other documents contains scores and hundreds of letters to prove these statements.

A letter from Governor Carleton to Lieutenant- Governor Hamilton, dated October 6, 1776, contains this postscript :

You must keep the savages in readiness to join me in the spring, or march elsewhere as they may be most wanted.

Lord George Germain who succeeded the Earl of Dartmouth on November 4, 1775, in a letter dated Whitehall, March 26, 1777, and addressed to Gov- ernor Cramahe, says :

It is His Majesty's resolution that the most vigorous efforts should be made, and every means employed that Providence has put into His Majesty's hands for crushing the rebellion and restoring the constitution. It is the King's command that you should direct Lieutenant Governor Hamilton to assemble as many of the Indians of his district as he conveniently can, and placing proper persons at their head to whom he is to make suitable allow- ances, to conduct their parties and restrain them from committing violence on the well-affected and inoffensive inhabitants, employ them in making a diversion and exciting an alarm on the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania.

At this remote date we can afford to smile at the kingly assumption that Providence had put the Indians into the hands of the English, to be used in killing and scalping the unfortunate settlers of the West. Governor Hamilton acknowledged the receipt of Lord Germain's orders, and claimed that every possible method had been employed to induce the Indians to be kind to their prisoners and to

bring them in alive, and refrain "from their usual barbarities." How incredible this conception of the savage character ! How strange this ignorance of the necessary relation of cause and effect! Scalp- ing-knives and scalps, savages and murder !

The same sentiments that Lord George Germain addressed to Governor Cramahe were afterwards uttered in Parliament. But no criticism on such words and the action they sustained can equal that pronounced by the celebrated Lord Chatham. In the Parliament which opened November, 1777, he said,

But, my lords, who is the man that, in addition to these dis- graces and mischiefs of our army, has dared to authorize and asso- ciate to our arms the tomahawk and scalping-knive of the savage, to call into civilized alliance the wild and inhuman savage of the woods; to delegate to the merciless Indian the defence of disputed rights, and to wage the horrors of his barbarous war against our brethren ? My lords, these enormities call aloud for redress and punishment. Unless thoroughly done away it will be a stain on the national character. It is a violation of the constitution. I believe it is against law.

In reply to Chatham, Lord Suffolk said, "There were no means which God and nature might have placed at the disposal of the governing powers to which they would not be justified in having recourse." Said Chatham in reply,

My lords, I am astonished, shocked, to hear such sentiments confessed; to hear them announced in this House or in this country! - principles equally unconstitutional, inhuman, and unchristian ; My lords, I did not intend to have encroached again upon your attention, but I cannot repress my indignation. I feel myself impelled by every duty. We are called upon, as members of this House, as men, as Christian men, to protest against such notions, standing near the throne, polluting the ear of Majesty. "That God and nature have put into our hands!" I know not what idea that lord may entertain of God and nature, but I know that such abominable principles are equally abhorrent to religion and humanity. What ! to attribute the sanction of God and nature to the massacres of the Indian scalping-knife ? To the cannibal-sav- age, torturing, murdering, roasting, and eating-literally, my lords, eating-the mangled victims of his barbarous battles ? Such horri- ble notions shock every precept of religion, divine or natural, and every generous feeling of humanity. They shock every sentiment of honor. They shock me as a lover of honorable war, and a detester of murderous barbarity. These abominable principles, and this more abominable avowal of them, demand a most decisive indignation.

I call upon that Right Reverend Bench, those holy ministers of the gospel, and pious pastors of our church ! I conjure them to join in the holy work, and vindicate the religion of their God ! I appeal to the wisdom and law of this learned Bench to defend and support the justice of their country ! I call upon the bishops to interpose the unsullied sanctity of their lawn, upon the learned judges to interpose the purity of their ermine, to save us from this pollution ! I call upon the honor of your lordships to reverence the dignity of your ancestors, and to maintain your own ! I call upon the spirit and humanity of my country to vindicate the national character ! I invoke the genius of the constitution ! From the tapestry that adorns these walls, the immortal ancestor of this noble lord frowns with indignation at the disgrace of his country. In vain he led your victorious fleet agaist the boasted Armada of Spain ; in vain he defended and established the honor, the liberties, the religion, the Protestant religion, of this country against the arbitrary cruelties of Popery and the Inquisition, if

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these more than popish cruelties and inquisitorial practices are let loose among us. To turn forth into our settlements, among our ancient connections, friends, and relations, the merciless cannibal, thirsting for the blood of man, woman, and child,-against your Protestant brethren, to lay waste their country, to desolate their dwellings, and extirpate their race and name with those horrible hell-hounds of savage war,- hell-hounds, I say, of savage war !"

Notwithstanding this energetic and manly protest, the same methods were continued, and, as before, the savages were encouraged and paid to continue their dreadful work.

On January 15, 1778, Governor Hamilton wrote to General Carlton, "The parties sent from hence have been generally successful, though the Indians have lost men enough to sharpen their resentment ; they have brought in twenty-three prisoners alive, twenty of which they presented to me, and a hundred and twenty-nine scalps." In another letter, written on September 17, 1778, he stated that "since last May the Indians in this district have taken thirty-four prisoners, seventeen of which they delivered up, and eighty-one scalps."

In order to do Governor Hamilton full justice, extracts from letters written by him in April, 1778, are here given; but in view of the statements already quoted, dated both before and after these letters, some of his words seem like mockery. He says, "Many of the war-parties bring in prisoners, and have shown a humanity hitherto unpracticed among them. They never fail of a gratuity on every proof of obedience they show in sparing the lives of such as are incapable of defending themselves." In another letter he says, " All parties going to war are exhorted to act with humanity as the means of securing a secure peace when His Majesty shall be pleased to order the hatchet to be buried."

At the councils it was a common thing for the Indians to present scalps to the governor. One of these presentations is thus reported by De Peyster : " Presenting sixteen scalps, one of the Delaware chiefs said, 'Listen to your children, the Delawares, who are now come in to see you at a time they have nothing to apprehend from the enemy, and present you some dried meat, as we could not have the face to appear before our father empty.'"

Among the goods regularly kept by merchants for the Indian trade scalping-knives were prominent. The writer has seen the original entry of the sale on June 6, 1783, by Macomb & Brother to William Park & Company of "sixteen gross red-handled scalping-knives at 100s-£80;" and on July 22 following, there is a charge of twenty-four dozen more to the same parties. "Scalping-knives for sale here " was possibly one of the signs on what is now Jefferson Avenue, in those "times that tried men's souls."

Before the Indians started out on their expedi- tions their tomahawks were dedicated to their mur-

derous work by being publicly passed through the hands of the local governor or commandant in the council house, this ceremony signifying in the sym- bolic language of the Indian, " We take hold of the same tomahawk,"

At a council on July 3, 1778, Governor Hamilton personally presented an axe to the chief, saying he "presented him an axe for his use to set against those people who want to possess themselves of your land. It's the King's command that I put this axe into your hands to act against his Majesty's enemies. I pray the Master of Life to give you success, as also your warriors, wherever you go with your father's axe."

In a letter to General Haldimand, dated II A. M., October 3, 1778, he says, "Last night the savages were assembled, when I sung the war-song, and was followed by Captain Lernoult and several officers."

It was possibly this very occasion that is thus described by Governor Cass in his appendix to " Ontwa:"

In the year 1776, during the administration of Lieutenant-Gov- ernor Hamilton at Detroit, a large number of Indian warriors were assembled in order that they might be induced to co-operate with the British in the war which had then commenced. They were drawn up in two lines, extending from the river to the woods; their kettles and fires were between the lines. An ox was killed, and his head cut off ; a large tomahawk was then struck into the head, and thus loaded it was presented to the governor. He was requested to sing his war-song along the whole line of the In- dians.

The ox-head represented the head of an American; and as the British were the principals in the war, it was necessary for them to take up the tomahawk first. The lieutenant-governor was embarrassed by the novelty of the situation and by his own ignorance of the language and songs of the Indians. He was extricated in a manner equally happy and ludicrous by his inter- preter. The latter instructed his superior to sing the following words in French:

" Quand je vais à la guerre-ruh J'emporterai ma grand cuillere-ruh." 1

The monosyllable at the end of each line is only intended to mark the elevation of the voice and the prolongation of the last syllable.

These words correspond with the necessary tune, and were sung with all the gravity and dignity suited to the occasion. As the Lieutenant-Governor passed the immense assemblage, he sung his song and fixed his eyes upon the Indians, who made the air re- sound with the cries of " Yeh ! Yeh ! Yeh ! "

They concluded, of course, that the great warrior was threaten- ing with deadful vengeance the " Big Knives," the rebellious chil- dren of the British father. The second officer in command, Major Hayes, was relieved by a similar expedient. The ingenious inter- preter composed the following song, which possessed the same advantage of an accompaniment to the music :

" J'ai le talon au bout du pied," etc. 2

Thus even the dreadful preliminaries to the mas- sacre of the Americans were mingled with exhibi- tions of wit and humor.

1 When I go to the war I will bring my great spoon.

2 My heel is at the end of my foot.

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THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

The English soon found that the Indians were costly allies. They could not be trusted to keep constantly on the war-path unless they were encour- aged with gifts, and spurred with the fear that their hunting-grounds would be destroyed and they left to the mercy of the " Big Knives." They soon learned how much depended on their action, and from asking a gift or accepting a favor, they de- manded everything as their right. The expenses of the Indian Department grew so large that letter after letter came from General Haldimand complain- ing of the " enormous " and " amazing " expense of the goods for the Indians.

The drafts of governor and commandants for supplies followed each other in rapid succession ; and during the war several millions of dollars worth of goods for the Indians were distributed at Detroit. In addition to the ordinary Indian goods, provisions also were supplied. From December 25, 1777, to August 31, 1778, there were received at Detroit 372,460 barrels of flour, 42,176 pounds of fresh beef, 16,473 pounds of salt beef, 203,932 pounds of salt pork, 19,756 pounds of butter, also great quan- tities of mutton, peas, corn, rice, oatmeal, salt, and rum. In the summer of 1778 fifty-eight and a half tons of gunpowder were sent here from Niagara. Of course a large proportion of these articles were used by the regular troops, but no small amount was for the Indians. The following docu- ment gives an idea of many similar ones that were sent from Detroit at this time :

Estimate of Merchandise wanted for Indian Presents at Detroit from 21st of August, 1782, to 20th of August, 1783.

230 pieces Blue strouds.

20 Red

" Crimson

IO " Scarlet

20 Scarlet cloth 8s 6d Sterling.

4000 Pr 212 Pt Blankets.

300 " 3

500 2

500 “ I 12

1000 fine 212 Pt

1000 pieces 4-4 linen sorted.

100 " striped calimanco.

cotton.

2000 lbs vermillion in 1 lb Bags.

50 pieces coarse muslin.

20 Pieces Russia Sheeting.

100 Doz Blk silk handkerch'fs.

20 " Colored

30 cotton

250 Pieces ribbon assorted.

200 Gross Bed lace.

200 Gross Gartering.

30 Pieces embossed serge.

500 felt Hats 12 laced.

100 castor " "

50 Beaver "

500 Pieces White Melton.

50 Blue

20 Coating, blue and brown.

20 Brown Melton.

30 Ratteen, Blue and Brown.

100 Common Saddles.

400 Bridles.

500 Powder Horns.

20 Doz Tobacco Boxes.

30 " Snuff

80 Gross Pipes.

300 large feathers, red, blue, green.

300 Blk ostrich feathers.

200 Pairs shoes.

250 Pairs Buckles.

100 Pieces Hambro lines.

IO Doz Mackerel lines.

10 " Spurs.

50 Gro Morris Bells.

50 " Brass Thimbles.

6 Pieces Red serge.

IO Pieces White serge.

6 Blue "

IO Gross Jews harps. 500 Fusils.

200 Rifles Guns small bore.

50 Pair Pistols.

5 Doz Couteaux de Chasse.

50000 Gun Flints.

60 Gro Scalping Knives.

IO Clasp

20 " Scissors.

20 " Looking Glasses.

IO Razors.

300 lbs Thread assorted.

20 pieces spotted swan-skin.

I2000 lbs Gunpowder.

36000 " Ball and shot.

I Gro Gun locks.

500 Tomahawks.

500 Half axes.

300 Hoes. 30 Gross fire steel.

10000 Needles.

400 Pieces calico.

1 5000 lbs Tobacco.

600 lbs Beads assorted.

40 Gross Awl Blades.

" Gun Worms.

" Box combs.

" Ivory “

20 Nests Brass Kettles.

20 Copper "

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THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

20 Nests Tin Kettles.

Silver Works :-

60 Hair Trunks.

1 3000 large Brooches.

300 lbs Pewter Basins.

7000 Small

100 Beaver Traps.

300 Large Gorgets.

20 Gross Bath finger rings. 300 " Moons.

5000 lbs. iron.

550 Ear Wheels.

1000 steel.

550 Arm Bands.

500 lbs. Soap.

1 500 Prs large Ear bobs.

6 Barrels white wine.

1500 " small

5 Shrub.

Some medals chiefly large

400,000 Black Wampum. A large assortment Smith 100,000 White Wampum. . and Armorers files.

A. S. DE PEYSTER,

Major King's Regt. Detroit and its Dependencies.

Other requisitions call for "scarlet and green laced coats," "calico and linen, ruffled and plain shirts," and-though it appears incredible-" eighty pounds of Rose Pink." This was perhaps for the squaws

These last, by the way, took care to obtain a fair share of whatever was given to the Indians. De Peyster, in one of his letters concerning the war- parties, says, " The squaws never fail to tear off everything from their backs before they enter the fort, when they must be equipped anew." Indeed, the same party had sometimes to be equipped two or three times, for the Americans, or " rebels," as they are almost invariably styled in the Haldimand letters, frequently circulated reports among the Indians through some secret friend of the cause, that led to the return of war-parties, and then the warriors had to be again fitted out and en- couraged with presents and ammunition. So fre- quently did this occur that on August 10, 1780, General Haldimand wrote to De Peyster, "It evi- dently appears that the Indians in general wish to protract the war and are most happy when most frequently fitted out."

Concerning the extent of the gifts to the Indians, and the enlisting of them in the war against the Americans, Zeisberger, in his diary, gives pertinent testimony. Under date of October 31, 1781, while on the road from Muskingum to Detroit, he wrote :

We met to-day, as indeed every day, as far as Detroit, a multi- tude of Indians of various nations, who were all bringing from Detroit horse-loads of wares and gifts, and in such number that one would think they must have emptied all Detroit.

On June 14, 1784, while at Detroit, he wrote :

There came, about half-past one, a hundred Chippewas from Michilimackinac, who were summoned here to go to the war. They were welcomed by the discharge of three cannon from the Fort.

Plans for inciting the Indians were laid as early as July, 1775. At that time Dr. John Connolly entered into an agreement with Lord Dunmore, the royal Governor of Virginia, to endeavor to enlist

certain of the western militia with the Indians to operate against the Americans. He was to be sup- plied at Detroit with cannon and ammunition ; was to visit different Indian nations, rendezvous his forces at Fort Pitt, and then go through Virginia to Alexandria, where he was to meet Lord Dunmore on April 20, 1776. The scheme was frustrated by the capture of Connolley.

In order to counteract these plans, Congress, in 1775, appointed commissioners to treat with the Indians at Fort Pitt and endeavor to secure their neutrality. These commissioners, Judge James Wil- son, of Pennsylvania, General Lewis Morris, of New York, and Dr. Walker, of Virginia, engaged Arthur St. Clair (subsequently first Governor of the North- west Territory) as their secretary. He formed the project of a volunteer expedition to Detroit, provided the Indians would remain neutral, for the purpose of surprising and capturing the city; and he actually succeeded in enlisting four or five hundred young men in the enterprise. They were to equip them- selves, and provide everything necessary except ammunition. The commissioners approved the pro- ject, and recommended it to Congress, but it was finally given up, as it was hoped that General Arnold would capture Quebec, and that the surrender of Detroit would follow. Arnold's expedition failed, and no expedition was led against Detroit ; instead, in May, 1776, Captain Foster, with forty men from the Eighth Regiment, one hundred volunteers, and a large number of Indians, went from Detroit and captured an important post at the Cedars, about fifty miles southwest of Montreal. An allusion to this battle is contained in verses written by Colonel De Peyster at Mackinaw, entitled

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The history of Detroit and Michigan; or, The metropolis illustrated; a chronological cyclopedia of the past and present, Vol I, Part 51

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902 Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Detroit, S. Farmer & co Number of Pages: 1096

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Detroit, S. Farmer & co
Number of Pages: 1096