History of Wabasha County : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc. : gathered from matter furnished by interviews with old settlers, county, township, and other records, and extracts from files of papers, pamphlets, and such other sources, Part 2

Author: H.H. Hill and Company. 4n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill & Co.
Number of Pages: 1176

USA > Minnesota > Wabasha County > History of Wabasha County : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc. : gathered from matter furnished by interviews with old settlers, county, township, and other records, and extracts from files of papers, pamphlets, and such other sources > Part 2

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ABORIGINAL HISTORY.

prairies of Minnesota, with their countless herds of buffalo and elk, would for a time, at least, content the warlike Sioux, who, pro- vided with some of the "big dogs" (horses) of the Spaniards, could roam at will over these boundless, beautiful plains. It seems also likely that reports of the more than savage cruelty of the Spaniard had gone ont, with accounts of the destructive nature of his "deadly thunder"; and if so, a common dread would have kept a superstitious people at peace.

Friendly alliances would most naturally have sprung up among border tribes, and in but a few generations old tribes would have been multiplied into new ones, as appears to have been done dur- ing some long era of peace. It is true that the problem may be as readily solved by supposing a state of civil war to have existed, but in that case there still must have been long eras of peace, or the race would have become extinct. Be that as it may, the forests of Minnesota and Wisconsin limited the range of the buffalo in these states, and in doing this determined the character of the native inhabitants.

The Sioux soon asserted his savage sway over the whole prairie region west of the Mississippi river, and drove into the forests of Wisconsin his less formidable neighbors. In after years, by com- bined attacks with firearms, he was driven back by those he had dispossessed of their patrimony. and was content to plant himself npon the western shore of his watery barrier ; keeping as neutral ground, for a time, a strip of territory along the east side of the Mississippi.

This region remained neutral but for a short time only, for we find by the accounts of the earliest French explorers that the Da- kotah and Algonquin nations were in an almost constant state of warfare when first visited by then, and during the whole time of the French occupation of the territory.

The water-courses afforded ready access to the greater part of the region between the lakes and "Great river," and the dense forests concealed the approach of the wily foes. While the " battle- ground " presented opportunities for a surprise, it was no less ser- viceable for those who waited in ambush. Many a war party of both nations have been cut off by a successful ambush, and their people lett to monrn and plot new schemes of vengeance.

Other tribes suffered by these national animosities, and aban- doned the noted theatres of war for more peaceful localities.

HISTORY OF WINONA COUNTY.

The Winnebagoes, according to their traditions, suffered from the incursions of both nations ; and at the time of the first visit of the French at Green Bay they were found there and on Fox river. living in amity with the rice-eaters, or Min-o-min-nee, and other tribes of Algonquin origin, though known to be closely re- lated to the almost universal enemy, the Sioux. During the summer months the Indians on Fox river appeared sedentary in their habits, living in bark houses and cultivating Indian corn and other products of Indian agriculture, or gathering the wild potatoes and wild rice that served them for their winter stores of vegetable food. During seasons of scarcity from frosts, or from disaster, edible nuts and acorns were secured against times of want ; and if famine came upon them in their extremity, they supported life by feeding upon the inner bark of the slippery elm, linden and white pine. Those were happy times for the peaceful tribes, and of sorrow for those in enmity with one another.

CHAPTER II.

EXPLORATIONS.

THE Minominnees, Pottawattamies and the Foxes occupied the water-courses tributary to Green Bay, while the Winnebagoes and the kindred tribes of Iowas, Missouris, Osages, Kansas, Quapaws. Ottoes, Ponkas and Mandans, possessed the country south and west, bordering upon the territory of the Sauks, the Illanois and the Sioux. This territory seems to have been visited by the French as early as 1634, and in 1660 Father René Menard went on a mission to Lake Superior, where the furs of that region and of Green Bay had already begun to attract adventurous Frenchmen.

Poor zealous Menard, the first missionary, never returned to civilization ; he was lost in the wilds of a Black river forest, separated in a swamp from his faithful follower and assistant Guerin, and all that was ever known of his fate was inferred from the agony of his companion and the priestly robe and prayer-book of the aged pre- late found years afterward in a Da-ko-tah lodge.

In 1665 Father Claude Allouez, with but six French voyageurs. but with a large number of savages, embarked from Montreal for

ABORIGINAL HISTORY.

Lake Superior, where he established himself for a time at a place called by the French La Pointe, because of its jutting out into the beautiful bay of Bayfield. Here at once was erected the mission of the Holy Spirit, and the good offices of the priest tendered to the untntored and savage tribes of that vast wilderness. The peaceful mission of Allouez was soon known among the warring tribes, and Sauks and Foxes, Illani and other distant tribes, sent messengers of peace or curiosity to the "Black Gown," and he was admitted to their counsels. In turn, "their tales of the noble river on which they dwelt," and which flowed to the south, "interested Allouez, and he became desirous of exploring the territory of his proselytes." Then, too, at the very extremity of the lake, the missionary met the wild and impassioned Sioux, who dwelt to the west of Lake Superior, in a land of prairie, with wild rice for food, and skins of beasts instead of bark for roofs to their cabins, on the bank of the Great river, of which Allouez reported the name to be Mississippi. To Father Allouez belongs the honor of having first given this name to the world. In speaking of the Da-ko-tahs, he says: "These people are, above all others, savage and warlike. * *

* They speak a language entirely unknown to us, and the savages about here do not understand them."

In 1669 the zealous Marquette succeeded to the mission estab- lished by Allonez, and his writings give a somewhat florid account of Sioux character. He says: "The Nadawessi (the Chippewa name of the Sioux), are the Iroquois of this country beyond La Pointe, but less faithless, and never attack until attacked. Their language is entirely different from the Huron and Algonquin ; they have many villages, but are widely scattered ; they have very extra-

ordinary customs. * * All the lake tribes make war upon them, but with small success. They have false oats (wild rice), use little canoes, and keep their word strictly.

At that time the Dah-ko-tahs used knives, spears and arrow- heads made of stone. About that time, one band of Dah-ko-tahs were allied to a band of Chippewas by intermarriage and commer- cial relations, and for a time were living in friendly relations with a band of Hurons, who had fled from the Iroquois of New York. Hostilities breaking out between these people and the Sioux, they joined the people of their tribe at La Pointe.

To Nicholas Perrot is due the honor of having first established a trading post on the Mississippi below Lake Pepin, and according

HISTORY OF WINONA . COUNTY.

to Neil's History of Minnesota, Perrot inspired the enterprise of La Salle, who sent Louis Hennepin to explore the Mississippi. Hennepin was first to explore the river above the mouth of the Wis- consin, the first to name and describe the falls of St. Anthony, the first to present an engraving of the Falls of Niagara, and it may be added, the first to translate the Winnebago name of Trempealeau Mountain into French. The Winnebagoes call that peculiar mount- ain Hay-me-ah-chaw, which is well rendered in French as the Soak- ing Mountain, as it stands isolated from its fellow peaks entirely surrounded by water.

After reaching the Illinois river, La Salle, in 1680, sent Henne- pin on his voyage of discovery, with but two voyageur assistants. After reaching the mouth of the Illinois river he commenced the hazardous ascent of the "Great river," traversed before only by Joliette and Marquette, when they descended from the Wisconsin. Hennepin encountered war-parties of Dah-ko-tahs, and was taken a prisoner by them up the Mississippi to St. Paul, to St. Anthony's Falls, and to Mille Lac. While in the land of the Sioux he met Du Luth, who had come across from Lake Superior.

Du Luth obtained the release of Hennepin, and gave him much information of value. Du Luth seems to have been the real dis- coverer of Minnesota.

Owing to the war inaugurated against the English by Denon- ville, in 1687, most of the French left the Mississippi, and concen- trated for defense under Du Luth at Green Bay.

In 1688 Perrot returned to his trading-post below Lake Pepin, and the year following, by proclamation, claimed the country for France. In the year 1695 Le Seur built the second post established in Minnesota, on an island not far from Red Wing.

During this year Le Seur took with him to Canada the first Dah-ko-tah known to have visited that country. The Indian's name was Tee-os-kah-tay. He unfortunately sickened and died in Mont- real.

Le Seur hoped to open the mines known to be on the Mississippi, and went to France for a license. The license to work them was obtained, but Le Seur was captured by the English and taken to England, but was finally released. After overcoming great and renewed opposition, and making one more trip to France, he, in 1700, commenced his search for copper, which was said to be abundant on the upper Mississippi.

EXPLORATIONS.

Some time in August of this year he entered Fever or Galena river, whose banks were known to the Indians to contain lead, but Le Seur was the first to mention the existence of those lead mines. After many incidents of interest, Le Seur reached the Blue Earth river, and established himself in a tort about one mile below the mineral deposits, from which the Dah-ko-tahs obtained their paint for personal adornment. In 1701 Le Seur took to the French post, on the Gulf of Mexico a large quantity of this mineral, and soon thereafter sailed for France.

At this time, according to Le Seur's journal, there were seven villages of the Sioux on the east side of the Mississippi, and nine on the west.

The Wah-pa-sha band was anciently known as the Ona-pe-ton or falling leaf band. and their village of Ke-ox-ah was upon the prairie now occupied by the city of Winona. Keoxa is difficult of translation, but it may be rendered as "The Homestead," because in the springtime there was here a family reunion to honor the dead and invoke their blessings upon the band.

The site of Winona was known to the French as La Prairie Aux- Ailes (pronounced O'Zell) or the Wing's prairie, presumably because of its having been occupied by members of Red Wing's band. The Americans called it Wah-pa-sha's prairie.

Under the impression that it drew from Canada its most enter- prising colonists, the French government for some years discour- aged French settlements among the Indians west of Mackanaw ; but very soon the policy of the English in estranging the Foxes and other tribes from the French, compelled a renewal of the licenses that had been canceled by the French authorities.

The Foxes had made an unsuccessful attempt upon the French · fort at Detroit (known as Wah-way-oo-tay-nong, or the Wy-an-dette fort), and smarting under defeat they made an alliance with their old enemies the Dah-ko-tahs. This alliance and the enmity of the Foxes made it unsafe for the French to visit the Mississippi by way of Fox and Wisconsin rivers, and for some years the Sanks and Foxes scalped the French traders, and waged war against their Indian allies. The Foxes were finally overcome by the French in 1714, and, capitulating, they gave six hostages as security for a peaceful treaty to be agreed upon in Montreal. Pemoussa, their greatest warrior, and others sent as hostages, died there of small- pox. One who had recovered with the loss of an eye was sent to

HISTORY OF WINONA COUNTY.

Mackanaw to treat, but he escaped and again stirred up the Indians to revolt.

The Chick-a-saws in the south and Dah-ko-tahs in the north made the country exceedingly dangerous to the French. They now became assured that the English were undermining their influence with the Indians, for in a dispatch written about 1726 it is stated that the English "entertain constantly the idea of becoming masters of North America." Licenses to traders were once more abundantly issued, and the prohibition against the sale of liquors that had been established by the influence of the pions missionaries was removed. In 1718 Capt. St. Pierre was sent with a small force to reocenpy La Pointe, now Bayfield. The Indians there and at Kee-wee-naw had threatened war against the Foxes. During this year peace was established at Green Bay with the Sauks and Foxes and Winne- bagoes, who had taken part against the French. An endeavor was now made to detach the Dah-ko-tahs from friendly alliances with the Foxes, and to secure a treaty of peace between the Chippewas and Dah-ko-tahs, with a promise of renewed trade with them if they remained at peace. To accomplish this purpose, two Frenchmen were sent to the Dalı-ko-tahs, but it would appear were not entirely suc- cessful, and wintered among the Menominee and Winnebago Indians on Black river. In order to obtain a strategic point it was resolved by the French to build a fort in the Sioux country. On June 16, 1727, the expedition left Montreal, accompanied by missionaries and traders, and on September 17 of the same year reached their desti- nation on Lake Pepin. A stockade was soon built on the north side near Maiden Rock that inclosed buildings for troops, missionaries and traders. The fort was named "Beauharnois," in honor of the governor of Canada, and the mission named "St. Michael the Archangel." The commander of this fort was De la Perriere Boucher, noted for his savage brutality and bigotry. This fort was overflowed in 1728 and its site abandoned. According to Sioux tradition, the prairie on which Winona is now situated was also overflowed at that time. During this year a large force of French and Indians left Canada with the intention of destroying the Sauks and Foxes. On Angust 17 they arrived at the mouth of Fox river. Before the dawn of day an attempt was made to surprise the Sank village, but they escaped, leaving only four of their people to reward the French for their midnight vigils. A few days later the French ascended the rapid stream to a Winnebago village, but it also was deserted; still

EXPLORATIONS.

pursuing their search, on the twenty-fifth they came to a large Fox village, but that too was abandoned. Orders were now given to advance the command to the grand portage of the Wisconsin river; but this move was as fruitless as those which had preceded it, and the expedition returned to Green Bay without results. The Foxes retired to Iowa, and, establishing still closer relations with the Iowas and Sioux, were allotted hunting-grounds to which have been at- tached some of their names. The Kick-ah-poos and Masco-tens were allies of the Foxes and their congeners, the Sanks, and took part with them against the French.

In 1736 St. Pierre was in command at Lake Pepin and regarded the Sioux as friendly, but they still remained objects of suspicion to the French Canadian government, as some of them had attacked an expedition under Veranderie, undertaken at that early period to open a route to the Pacific.

In 1741 the Foxes killed some Frenchimen in the territory of the Illinois, and this so aroused the authorities in Canada that they determined, if possible, to overthrow and completely subdue the Foxes. The officer selected for this purpose was the Sienr Moran or Marin, who had once been in command at Fort St. Nicholas near Prairie du Chien. With the cunning of a savage, Marin placed his men in canoes under cover, as if they were merchandise, and when ordered by the Foxes opposite or near the Butte des Morts to land and pay the usual tribute exacted from all traders passing their village, lie opened fire upon the assembled multitude and killed indiscrimi- nately men, women and children. Marin had anticipated the Foxes' consternation and flight, and before reaching the village had sent a detachment of his force to cut them off. There was great slaughter and but a remnant of the village escaped. These people were again surprised by Marin and his forces on snowshoes in their winter encampment on the Wisconsin, and were utterly destroyed.

The Dah-ko-tahs had during this period been at war with the Chippewas, but in 1746 were induced by the French to make peace. Many of the French voyageurs, and in some few instances French offi- cers even, had taken wives, after the Indian method of marriage, from among the Dah-ko-tahs and other tribes, and by this means their in- fluence was still great among their Indian followers. Yet, English influence had commenced its work, and soon after this period French power seems to have begun to wane. The French, however, still continued to make a struggle for existence, if not supremacy.

HISTORY OF WINONA COUNTY.

The Chippewas of Lake Superior showed a disposition to aid the English, and committed a robbery at the Sault St. Marie; "even the commandant at Mackanaw was exposed to insolence." St. Pierre was sent to the scene of disorder. His judgment and courage was undoubted. St. Pierre seized three murderers and advised that no French traders should come among the Chippewas. While the Indians, secured by the boldness of St. Pierre, were on their way to Quebec under a guard of eight French soldiers, by great cunning and daring they managed to kill or drown their guard, and though manacled at the time, they escaped, severing their irons with an axe. " Thus was lost in a great measure the fruit of Sieur St. Pierre's good management, "as wrote Galassoniere in 1749.

Affairs continued in a disturbed state, and Canada finally became involved in the war with New York and the New England colonies. In the West, affairs were for some time in doubt, but the influence of the Sieur Marin became most powerful, and in 1753 he was able to restore tranquillity between the French, and Indian chiefs assem- bled at Green Bay.

CHAPTER III.

AMONG THE INDIANS.

As the war between the colonies became more desperate, the French officers of experience and distinction were called from the West to aid the Eastern struggle. Legardeur de St. Pierre in 1755 fell in the battle upon Lake Champlain, and Marin, Langlade, and others from the West, distinguished themselves as heroes. After the fall of Quebec the Indians of the Northwest readily transferred their alle- giance to the British. In 1761 the English took possession of Green Bay, and trade was once more opened with the Indians. A French trader named Penneshaw was sent by the English into the country to the Dah-ko-tahs, and in March; 1763, twelve Dahkotah warriors arrived at Green Bay, and offered the English the friendship of their nation. They told the English commandant that if any Indians obstructed the passage of traders to their country, to send them a belt of Wampum as a sign, and "they would come and cut them off, as all Indians were their slaves or dogs." After this talk they pro- duced a letter from Penneshaw, explaining the object of their visit.

AMONG THE INDIANS.

In June Penneshaw himself arrived with most welcome news from the land of the Dah-ko-tahs, bringing with him for the commander of the post a pipe of peace, and a request that English traders be sent to trade with the Sioux of the Mississippi.

A tradition still exists among the Sioux that the elder Wah-pa- sha, or, as we might say, Wah-pa-sha the First, was one of the twelve Da-ko-tahs who visited Green Bay. Notwithstanding the English had conquered all the vast territory between the lakes and the Mississippi, and had the proffered friendship of the Sioux to strengthen their influence with all the other Indian tribes, the lines of trade between the territory of Louisiana and the newly acquired territory of the English were not closely drawn, and French influence was sufficiently potent to send most of the furs and peltries to their post at New Orleans. The cause of Indian prefer- ence for the French may be found in the latter's gaiety of character, and their ability to conform to the circumstances that may surround them. The Canadian voyageurs and woodmen displayed a fondness for high colored sashes and moccasins that was pleasing to the bar- baric tastes of the Indian women, and many of them, joining their fortunes and their honors with those of the French, raised children that were taught to reverence and obey them.

In addition to the influences extended by these ties of blood, the kindness and devotion to their religious faith exhibited by the Catholic missionaries won upon the imaginations of the Indians, and many were won over to a profession of their faith. The tribes which came under their influences looked upon the priests as verita- ble messengers from God, and called them the "good spirits," be- lieving that they were the mediums only of " good spirits."

All Indians are spiritists, believing implicitly that the spirits of departed human beings take an interest in mundane affairs.

The English, in contrast with French management, had a bluff and arbitrary way of dealing, that, however successful it may have been with eastern tribes, was for a time very distasteful to the Sionx. However, the English learned something in due time by contact with these Indians, and from French politeness; but some years were required before their success with the Sioux was established.

For some years the trade seems to have been abandoned west of Mackanaw, to the French. In the year 1766 Jonathan Carver, a native of Connecticut, visited the upper Mississippi, and his reports

HISTORY OF WINONA COUNTY.

concerning the beauty, fertility and resources of Minnesota aroused some attention to the value of these new possessions.

Carver was a 'man of keen observation and discernment, and some of his predictions regarding the "new northwest," though scoffed at by some at that time, proved almost prophetic. Carver died in England in 1780. After his death, a claim was set up to a large tract of land said to have been given him by the Sioux, and since known as the "Carver tract."

The claim was investigated after the territory came into the pos- session of the United States, but it was found to be untenable.

Carver found the Sioux and Chippewas at war when he arrived among them, and was told that "war had existed among them for forty years." Chippewa and Sioux tradition both make the time much longer. It was supposed by the English that the policy of the French traders fostered war between the Sioux and Chippewa nations. Whether this be true or not, it is certain that French in- fluence continued paramount in the country for some years, but as the French that remained after the transfer of the country to the English were inferior in intelligence to those in authority while the French held possession, we are principally dependant upon Indian and mixed blood tradition for what occurred in this vast territory until after the revolution.

Tradition tells us that an Englishman, located near the month of the Min-ne-so-ta river, was killed while smoking his pipe, by an Indian named Ix-ka-ta-pe. He was of the M'de-wa-kan-ton-wan band of Dah-ko-tahs.

As a result of this unprovoked murder, no other trader would visit this band, which had already been divided by dissensions, and been driven by the Chippewas from territory formerly occupied east of the Mississippi.

In earlier times this decision of the traders would have been disregarded, but then it was of vital importance to their well-being if not their existence ; for they had learned to depend upon guns instead of bows and arrows, and therefore suffered for want of an- munition and other supplies, and were at the merey of their well- armed enemies. After a grand couneil it was determined to give up the murderer to English justice.

Accordingly a large party of Sioux, with their wives and the murderer, started for Quebec. In order to avoid their enemies the Chippewas, they took the usual canoe route by the Wisconsin and

AMONG THE INDIANS.

Fox rivers to Green Bay. While on this journey, the ridicule of other tribes and their own dissensions caused a desertion of over half of their number, and upon their arrival at Green Bay, but six, of whom some were women, persevered in their intention to go on. When about to start, the murderer also disappeared ingloriously. The leader of the little band of six, then called Wa-pa "The Leaf," told his followers that he himself would go as an offering to the British commander, and if required, would give up his life that his people might not be destroyed. On arriving at Quebec, his motive and heroism were both appreciated by the English governor, and the chief was sent back to his prairie home, loaded with abundant supplies of the coveted ammunition and Indian trinkets ; and as evidence of his gratitude demanded a British flag to wave over his territory. A gaudy uniform, which included a red cap, common enough in early days, was also given "The Leaf," or as Grignon calls him, the "Fallen Leaf," and as he represented the Dah-ko-tas as a nation of seven principal bands, he was given seven medals for the respective bands, the one for himself being hung by a tassel cord upon his neck by the English commander at Quebec in person. This noble band of Spartan Sioux wintered in Canada and had small-pox, though in a mild form, and when the navigation of the great lakes was fully opened in the spring they safely returned to their tribe.

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History of Wabasha County : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc. : gathered from matter furnished by interviews with old settlers, county, township, and other records, and extracts from files of papers, pamphlets, and such other sources, Part 2

Author: H.H. Hill and Company. 4n Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill & Co. Number of Pages: 1176

Author: H.H. Hill and Company. 4n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill & Co.
Number of Pages: 1176