USA > Minnesota > Goodhue County > History of Goodhue county, including a sketch of the territory and state of Minnesota > Part 6
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He traveled constantly, going from north to south; from the south to the north; everywhere urging the Indians to this step. He was a matchless orator, and his burning words had their effect.
Gen. Harrison, then Governor of Indiana, by watching the movements of the Indians became convinced that a grand conspiracy was forming, and made preparations to defend the settlements. Tecumseh's plan was similar to Pontiac's, elsewhere described, and to the cunning artifice of that chieftain was added his own sagacity.
During the year 1809, Tecumseh and > the prophet were actively pre- paring for the work. In that year, Gen. Harrison entered into a treaty with the Delawares, Kickapoos, Pottawatomies, Miamis, Eel River Indians and Weas, in which these tribes ceded to the whites certain lands upon the Wabash, to all of which Tecumseh entered a bitter pro- test, averring as one principal reason, that he did not want the Indians to give up any lands north and west of the Ohio River.
In August, 1810, Tecumseh visited General Harrison, at Vincennes, and held a council relating to the grievances of the Indians. Becoming unduly angry at this conference, he was dismissed from the village, and soon after departed to incite the southern Indian tribes to the conflict.
Gen. Harrison determined to move upon the chief's headquarters at Tippecanoe, and for this purpose went about sixty-five miles up the Wabash, where he built Fort Harrison. From this place he went to the prophet's town, where he informed the Indians he had no hostile intentions, provided they were true to the existing treaties. He en- camped near the village early in October, and on the morning of November 7, he was attacked by a large force of the Indians, and the famous battle of Tippecanoe occurred. The Indians were routed and their town broken up. Tecumseh returning not long after, was greatly exasperated at his brother, the prophet, even threatening to kill him for rashly precipitating the war, and foiling his (Tecumseh's) plans.
Soon after his return from the South, Tecumseh sent word to Gen. Harrison that he was ready to visit the President, according to previous agreement, when he was informed by Gen. Harrison that he would not
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be permitted to go to Washington as a chief, as he desired. This deci- sion of Gen. Harrison so wounded the proud spirit of Tecumseh, that the visit was never made.
In June of the following year, Tecumseh visited the Indian agent at Fort Wayne, to whom he disavowed any intention of making war against the United States, and severely reproached Gen. Harrison for marching against his people. To the agent's reply Tecumseh listened with cold indifference, and after making a few general remarks, drew his blanket about him and departed from the council house with a haughty demeanor, and immediately departed for Fort Malden, in Upper Canada, where he allied himself with the British standard.
He remained under the British Government and proved an effective ally for the Crown during the War of 1812, which was now opened. It is said of him, however, that he was always humane in his treatment of prisoners of war, and that he never allowed his warriors to ruthlessly mutilate the bodies of those slain in battle, nor to wantonly murder a captive.
Soon after Perry's victory on Lake Erie, in the summer of 1813, active preparations were made to capture Fort Malden. On the 27th of September, the American army, under Gen. Harrison, embarked for the shores of Canada, and in a few hours reached the point of destina- tion. But the fort had been deserted. The British forces, under command of Gen. Proctor, had retreated to Sandwich, intending to gain the heart of Canada by the valley of the Thames. Gen. Harrison fol- lowed in pursuit, and reached Sandwich on the 29th. On the same day Gen. McArthur took possession of Detroit and the Territory of Michigan.
On the 5th of October Proctor's army was overtaken, and the battle of the Thames followed, on the 6th. Early in the engagement, Tecum- seh, who was at the head of the Indian division or column of the " Red Coats," was killed, when his command became demoralized and panic- stricken, and fled in every direction. The American victory was decisive, and practically closed the war in the Northwest.
It has never been definitely known who killed Tecumseh, although the credit of that act has generally been conceded to Colonel Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, who fired at the Indian chieftan with an old- fashioned horse pistol. [Colonel Johnson was the candidate for Vice President on the ticket with Martin Van Buren, in 1840.]
In January, 1807, Governor Hull, of Michigan Territory, made a treaty with the Indians, whereby all that peninsula was ceded to the United States. Before the close of the year, a stockade was built
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about Detroit. It was also during this year that Indiana and Illinois endeavored to obtain the repeal of that section of the compact of 1787, whereby slavery was excluded from the Northwest Territory. These attempts, however, all signally failed.
In 1809 it was deemed advisable to divide the Indiana Territory. This was done, and the Territory of Illinois was formed from the west- ern part, the seat of government being fixed at Kaskaskia. The next year, the intentions of Tecumseh manifested themselves in open hos- tilities, and then began the events already narrated.
While this war was in progress, emigration to the West continned with surprising rapidity. In 1811, under Mr. Roosevelt, of New York, the first steamboat trip was made on the Ohio, much to the astonish- ment of the natives, many of whom fled in terror at the appearance of the " monster." It arrived at Louisville on the 10th day of October. At the close of the first week of January, 1812, it arrived at Natchez, after being nearly overwhelmed in the great earthquake which occurred while on its downward trip.
The battle of the Thames was fought on October 6, 1813. It effectually closed hostilities in the Northwest, although peace was not fully restored until July 22d, 1814, when a treaty was formed at Green- ville, (now in Dorke county, Ohio,) under the direction of General Harrison, between the United States and the Indian tribes, in which it was stipulated that the Indians should cease hostilities against the Americans if the war were continued. Such, happily, was not the case, and on the 24th of December the treaty of Ghent was signed by the representatives of England and the United States. This treaty was followed the next year by treaties with various Indian tribes throughout the West and Northwest, and quiet was again restored in this part of the New World.
Until the year 1832, the commencement of the Black Hawk War, but few Indian hostilities were experienced. Roads were opened, canals were constructed, cities were built, common schools were established, and universities were founded, many of which, especially the Michigan University, have achieved a world-wide reputation. The people were becoming wealthy. The domain of the United States had been ex- tended, and had the children of the forest duly appreciated the good intentions of the government, the record of many years would have been that of peace and continuous prosperity.
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ABSTRACT OF TERRITORIAL TITLE.
ORGANIZATION OF TERRITORIES-ADMISSION OF STATES, ETC.
The States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and that part of Minnesota lying on the east side of the Mississippi River, came from the Northwest Territory, which was ceded to the United States by Virginia in 1784. In 1800 Congress deemed it advisable, because of the vast extent of the territory and the difficulty of executing the laws, to divide the territory, and the Ohio Territory, with the bounda- ries substantially the same as those of the present State of Ohio, was created. Two years later (in 1802) Ohio was admitted into the Union as a sovereign and independent State.
The act of Congress creating the Territory of Ohio, extinguished the Northwest Territory, and declared that all the remaining part of the Northwest Territory should be called the Indiana Territory.
On the 30th day of June, 1805, the Indiana Territory was divided by the creation of Michigan Territory, with boundaries nearly the same as the present State of Michigan.
In 1835 a controversy arose between Michigan and Ohio, in regard to their boundary-line and the right to a strip of land to which both laid claim. At first there was danger of an armed collision, but the excitement passed away without bloodshed. A constitution was adopted and a State government elected in 1835, which were accepted by Congress June 15, 1836, and the State admitted into the Union with the condition that Michigan should accept the boundary claimed by Ohio. This condition was very unsatisfactory to the people of Michi- gan, but it was finally accepted under protest, December 15. 1836, and the State was allowed to record its vote for President that year, although it was not formally declared a State by act of Congress until January 26,1837.
In 1809 Indiana Territory was again divided, and the Territory of Illinois created. On the 11th day of December, 1816, Indiana was formally declared to be a State of the American Union ; and two years later, in April, 1818, Illinois was admitted to the sisterhood of States.
In 1809 Wisconsin was included in the Territory of Illinois, as then formed. When Illinois was admitted into the Union in 1818, Wiscon- sin was still a wilderness, and was annexed to Michigan for such gov- ernment as was needed. In 1836 the population had so increased that a territorial government was organized, which at first included a part of the upper peninsula of Michigan, the whole of Minnesota and Iowa,
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and that part of Dakota lying east of the Missouri and White Earth Rivers. When Michigan was admitted into the Union as a State, part of the Lake Superior region was set off to her ; and when the Territory of Iowa was formed in 1838, it included all the region west of the Mis- sissippi. [Two sessions of the Wisconsin Legislature were held at Burlington, Iowa, in 1837 and 1838.] The first effort to procure the admission of Wisconsin to the Union, as a State, was made in 1846, when Congress passed a conditional e abling act. A convention was held that year, and a constitution draf ed, which was sent to Congress and submitted to the people for their acceptance. In 1847 Congress passed an act admitting the State under this constitution, but the people rejected the constitution on account of some objectionable features. Another convention was called December 15, 1847, and another con- stitution drafted and submitted to the people and ratified by them in March, 1848, and the State was admitted to the Union by act of Congress, May 29, 1848. Under the jurisdiction of the Territorial gov- ernment of Wisconsin, county organization was extended to that part of Minnesota lying on the east side of the Mississippi River. The county was called St. Croix, with Stillwater as the county seat.
In order to complete our chain of territorial title, it is now necessary to go back and bring up the history of the Louisiana purchase, from which much the larger part of the territory included in the State of Minnesota was derived.
What is known as the Louisiana Purchase, included nearly all the present States of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Dakota Territory, Nebraska, the most of Kansas and the Indian Terri- tory ; part of Colorado, the most of Wyoming, and the whole of Mon- tana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington Territory.
As the reader already knows, the Upper Mississippi River and its principal tributaries, was first discovered and explored by the French. DeSoto and his followers were the first to visit the vicinity of New Orleans and to explore the country on both sides of the Lower Missis- sippi. DeSoto died and was buried in the waters of the Great River in 1543. Marquette and his Canadians descended to the mouth of the Mississippi in 1673, but did not establish any colony or settlement. LaSalle descended the river in 1682, and took possession of the country in the name of Louis XIV, King of France, and give it the name of Louisiana, but it is doubtful whether any colony was attempted pre- vious to 1699, when Iberville and a number of followers commenced a settlement at Biloxi. In 1723 the capital of the colony was removed from New Biloxi to New Orleans. In 1762 France ceded the whole 5
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province, claimed by right of discovery and possession, to Spain, and for thirty-eight years the country remained under the control of the Spanish government. In 1800, at the treaty of Ildefonso, Spain restored the country to the possession of France, and in 1803 it was sold to the United States by Napoleon Bonaparte, then First Consul of France, for 60,000,000 francs, or $11,250,000, and the assumption of what was known as the "French Spoliation Claims," amounting to $3,750,000, and making the total cost to the United States of the vast extent of country described above, only $15,000,000.
In 1804, the southern portion of this great domain was erected into a separate territory, and called the Territory of Orleans. In 1810, that portion of the State of Louisiana lying between the Mississippi and the Amite and the Pearl River, which had been ceded by Spain, was annexed to the territory, and in April, 1812, the Territory of Orleans was admitted into the Union as the State of Louisiana.
In 1812, when Louisiana was admitted into the Union, the remaining territory was reorganized as Missouri Territory. In 1819, Missouri having framed a State constitution, Arkansas and the Indian Territory were organized as Arkansas Territory, and remained in that condition until June 15, 1836, when the State of Arkansas, with its present boundaries, was admitted into the Union as the twenty-fifth State.
[That portion of the Arkansas Territory not included within the boundaries of the State of Arkansas was set up as the Indian Territory, and is bounded as follows: On the east by the States of Missouri and Arkansas; on the south by Texas; on the west by Texas and New Mexico; and on the north by Kansas. The territory remains for the most part in the ownership and exclusive possession of the Indians, the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Kiowas and Comanches being the strongest in numbers. The last named are untamed and uncivilized, and still adhere to the customs of their tribal ancestors. The four for- mer tribes or nations, especially the Cherokees, are, for the most part, highly civilized and educated. The Cherokees maintain their courts and court buildings ; capital (Tahlequa) and capitol buildings ; legisla- tive assemblies, schools, churches, colleges, a newspaper, agricultural association, etc. Besides the tribes named, there are remnants of the Wyandotts, Pottawottomies, Sacs and Foxes, Delawares, Quapaws, Osages, and some others, who inhabit certain parts of the territory. A good many individuals of these several remnants of tribes-the Qua- paws and Osages, perhaps, excepted-have entirely abandoned their ancient habits of idleness, are cultivating large farms, and are in every way well-to-do.]
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In 1834, all that district north of Missouri and west of the Mississippi River was placed under the jurisdiction of Michigan Territory. When Wisconsin Territory was organized, in 1836, Iowa was made to form a part of it, and the seat of government was fixed at Burlington. June 12, 1838, Congress passed an act which became operative on the 3d day of July following, by which Iowa was separated from Wisconsin, and on the 3d day of March, 1845, Iowa [and Florida] was admitted into the Union as a sovereign and independent State.
MINNESOTA.
FOOTPRINTS OF FRENCH OCCUPANCY.
During the latter part of the seventeenth century, says Mr. NEILL, the name of NICHOLAS .PERROT was familiar, not only to the men of business and officers of government at Montreal and Quebec, but around the council fires of the Hurons, Ottawas, Otchagus, Ojibways, Miamis and Dahkotahs. He was a native of Canada, and had been accustomed from childhood to the excitement and incidents of border life, which, to a certain extent, prepared him for the wild scenes of which he was a witness and a participant in his later years.
" If the name of Joliet is worthy of preservation," continues the author from which we quote, " the citizens of the Northwest ought not to be willing to let the name of that man die who was the first of whom we have any account that erected a trading post on the Upper Mississippi."
Before LaSalle launched the Griffin on Lake Erie and commenced his career of discovery, Perrot, at the request of the authorities in Canada, who looked upon him as a man of great shrewdness and tact, visited the various Indian tribes of the Northwest to prepare them for partici- pation in the grand council or convocation between white men and Indians at Sault Ste. Marie, in May, 1671. That visit made Perrot acquainted, not only with the Indians, their habits and customs, but with the country ; and when the council was held, he became the inter- preter between the French envoy, St. Sussin, and the aborigines, thus giving him character and influence among the people with whom he was afterwards associated as trader.
The accounts Perrot gave of the country he visited when inviting the Indians to the council of which we have just written, attracted the attention of LaSalle, and inspired him to undertake those enterprises that gave distinction to his name. These explorations also unfolded to
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Monsieur Perrot the wonderful beauty of the Minnesota country, and influenced him to establish himself as a trader among the Dakotas a few years later. Referring to the theatre of Perrot's operations, Neill's history of Minnesota appropriately and truthfully remarks :
" One of the most picturesque scenes in North America is the approach to Lake Pepin. For miles the steamboat ascending the Mississippi glides through an extended vista, crowned in the distance by an am- phitheatre of hills which define the basin of the lake.
" In the summer the islands of the river, luxuriant with vegetation, and the banks flanked by abrupt bluffs of limestone, with cedar trees standing like sentinels wherever roothold can be found, make an im- pression which the traveler can not erase in a lifetime.
"Occasionally these steep walls of stone recede with their fanciful outline of castles and battlements, and prairies sufficiently elevated to be secure from the inundations of spring, appear, which were enticing spots to the ancient voyageur after a long and wearisome day's paddle in his frail canoe.
" Just below Lake Pepin, on the west shore, opposite the mouth of the Chippewa River, is one of those beautiful plateaux, which captivated Nicholas Perrot, who had been commissioned by the governor of Canada as commandant of the West"-all of which, at that time, was claimed by France.
There are no records to show that Perrot visited this region previous to 1683. Sometime in that year, however, accompanied by twenty other bold and daring Frenchmen, he was voyaging along the Missis- sippi River, and impressed with the peculiar and attractive beauty of the country, they landed their fleet of canoes at the foot of Lake Pepin, determined to make that place the scene of their operations. If Perrot had previously visited Lake Pepin, or any part of the adjacent country, the fact is lost to history, as are the names of his daring companions. In that year, however, and immediately after their arrival, they pro- ceeded to the erection of a rude log fort, which was the first European- fashioned structure erected in any part of all that vast region of country included in the Louisiana purchase. A generation passed before New Orleans, " two thousand miles lower down the Mississippi, was founded."
Mr. Neill continues : " This primitive establishment, within the limits of the State of Minnesota, on some of the maps is appropriately named Fort Perrot." On a map of the year 1700 it was called Fort Bon Secours. Three years later, on a map published in Paris by Wil- liam de l'Isle, it was marked Fort LeSueur.
In 1676 Frontenac, who was Governor of Canada, was removed from
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authority because of his opposition to the "ecclesiastics, who deplored the ill effects of rum and licentious ' coureurs des bois' upon the morals of the savages, and desired both excluded from the country." Frontenac " had no interest in Christianity, and still less confidence in the Jesuits. In a communication to the government he bluntly said to Cobert, the minister, ' to speak frankly to you, they think as much about the con- version of beavers as of souls. The majority of their missions are mockeries.'" In 1683 Frontenac was re-commissioned as Governor of Canada, and soon after assuming the duties of the office, he "issued orders that all Frenchmen in the Upper Mississippi country should return to Mackinaw." In consonance with this order, Perrot aban- doned his fort, and it remained unoccupied until 1688, when he returned with forty men to its re-occupation. In May of the next year Perrot formally claimed the country in the name of his king, and issued the following pronunciamento, which is the first official document relating to Minnesota, and consequently worthy of preservation :
1
"Nicholas Perrot, commanding for the king, at the post of the Nadouessioux,* commis- sioned by Marquis Denouville, Governor and Lieutenant-Governor of all New France, to manage the interest of commerce among all the Indian tribes and people of the Bay des Puants (Green Bay,) Nadouessioux (Dahkotahs,) Mascoutins and other Western nations of the Upper Mississippi, and to take possession in the king's name of all the places where he has heretofore been and whither he will go.
" We, this day, the eighth of May, one thousand six hundred and eighty-nine, do, in the presence of the Reverend Father Marest of the Society of Jesus, missionary among the Nadouessionx ; of Monsieur de Borieguillot [Charlevoix writes Boisguillot, ] command- ing the French in the neighborhood of the Ouiskonchet on the Mississippi; Augustine L'egardeur, Esquire, Sieur de Caumont, and of Messieurs LeSueur, Herbert, Lemire and Blein,
" Declare to all whom it may concern, that they being come from the Bay des Puants, and the Lake of the Ouiskonches, and to the river Mississippi, we did transport our- selves to the country of the Nadouessioux on the border of the river St. Croix, ; and at the mouth of the river St. Pierre,§ on the bank of which were the Mantantans, and farther up to the interior to the Northeast of the Mississippi, as far as the Menchoka- tonx (M'daywawkawtwawns,) with whom dwell the majority of the Songeskitons, and other Nadouessioux, who are to the northeast of the Mississippi, to take possession for, and in the name of the king, of countries and rivers inhabited by the said tribes, and of which they are proprietors. The present act done in our presence, signed with our hand and subscribed."
The second French post was built by LeSueur, in 1695, by order of
* On the first of September, 1678, Daniel Greysolon du Suth, a native of Lyons, left Quebec, to explore the country of the Assineboines and Dahkotahs. On the 2nd of July, 1679, he caused his king's arms to be planted in the "great village of Nadouessioux (Dahkotahs,) called Kathio, where no Frenchman had ever been; also, at Songaskicons and Houetbalons, 120 leagues distant from the former. Du Suth also built the first trading post on Lake Superior, beyond Sault St. Marie. The site of this post was at the mouth of Pigeon River, The post was built of pine logs .- Neill.
+ Wisconsin (Fort St. Nicholas,) Ouisconche, Mesconsing, Ouisconsing, Wisconsan, are some of the
. former spellings of this word.
# Named after Mons. St. Croix, who was drowned at its mouth .- La Harpe's Louisiana.
§ Nicollet supposes that this river bore the name of Capt. St. Pierre.
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Frontenac. The site of this post is on an island on the west side of the channel of the Mississippi River, about eight miles above Red Wing, and is therefore in Goodhue county. The island was easily accessible by canoes, yet very retired. The fort was erected as a barrier and pro- tection against hostile Indians. Referring to its location, Charlevoix said : " The island has a beautiful prairie, and the French of Canada have made it a channel of commerce for the western posts, and many pass the winter here, because it is a good country for hunting." It is said that the foundation of this old fort is still pretty clearly outlined. Its location, at least, is well known to many of the residents of Good- hue county, whose farms are in the near vicinity of the island upon which it was built.
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