USA > Minnesota > Illustrated history of Minnesota, a hand-book for citizens and general readers > Part 3
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Le Sueur named the fort L' Huillier" in honor of the Farmer General of Paris. It was situated, according to the di-cription, near the mouth of the St. Remi.7 In May, Le Sueur, having loaded the boats with furs obtained in trade with the Indians, set out on his return to Ft. Biloxi. M. D' Evaque' and twelve men were left in charge of the post, and Le Sueur promised to send them supplies from the country of the Illinois,9 He endeavored to do so, but the boat in which they were carried sunk near the lead regions of the Mississippi. Consequently, the little garri- son was soon put to great straits, and to add to their
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
troubles they were attacked by the Foxes and Mascoutins,10 who killed three of their number while at work near the post. Thus was M. D' Evaque compelled to abandon it, and hastening southward with those who survived, he reached Ft. Biloxi in March, 1702. Such is the history of the second French establishment; and it shows plainly how difficult was the task of gaining a permanent foot-hold in the far northwest.
Ft. Beauharnois .- D' Iberville, in a memorial addressed to the French government, says the Sioux are too far re- moved for trade while they remain in their own country, and suggests a plan for their removal to the Missouri. He also mentions the tendency of the voyageurs to become roaming hunters and the interference of Canadian traders with those of Louisiana as great difficulties in the way of securing a stable system of commerce between the tribes and the latter colony. However, the French government heeded neither the advice of D' Iberville nor the schemes of others; but, discouraged by its ill success, abolished the system of licenses, and withdrew its garrisons from all the posts west of Mackinaw.1 This condition of affairs existed for nearly twenty years; but a disturbing factor in the problem of colonization was soon to restore the old order of things. The interest of the Canadians, it is true, had been somewhat revived in 1717 by the attempt of Vau- dreuil? and La Noue3 to find a northwest passage to the Pacific; but it became fully aroused only when it was dis- covered that the English were making every effort to extend their domain. A French document of the day thus speaks in reference to the matter :-
"It is more and more obvious that the English are endeavoring to interpolate among all the Indian nations,
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DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS.
4
and to attach them to themselves. They entertain con- stantly the idea of becoming masters of North America, persuaded that the European nation which will be possessor of that section, will, in course of time, be masters of all, because it is there alone that men live in health and have strong, robust children."
Thus it came to pass that the song of the Canadian boatman was heard again on the streams and lakes of Minnesota, and the fathers of the mission once more per- formed their sacred ministrations within its borders. But priest and voyageur were not left to battle alone; for the French authorities instituted means for the re-establishment of the deserted posts and the building of new ones.
.. Linetot," the commander at La Pointe, made presents to the Dakotas, and promised to send priests5 among them. It was his purpose also to break the alliance between the Foxes and Dakotas, and to make peace between the latter and the Ojibwas. The 17th of September, 1727, as it were in answer to his promise, a party of traders and two priests, Fathers Guignas6 and De Gonor,7 arrived opposite Maiden Rocks at the peninsula called Pointe au Sable.9 Capt. René De Boucher, 10 notorious because of his mis- · deeds at the sacking of Haverhill, Massachusetts, was the commander. They immediately built a fort on the penin- sula. The enclosure, a hundred feet square, was protected by a high stockade. Within were three large buildings designed, it is thought, for a chapel, store, and quarters. Besides these, there were two bastions surrounded by pick- ets. The fort was called Beauharnois1 in honor of the governor of Canada; and the mission was consecrated to St. Michael the Archangel.
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1
3
FRONTENAC.
LAKE PEPIN.
POINTE AU SABLE.
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DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS.
As may be inferred from what has already been said, the purposes to be subserved by this post were prob- ably four-fold: it would serve as a center of trade and a starting point for the missionaries; it would help to check- mate the encroachments of the English; it would cut off the retreat of the Foxes to the country of the Dakotas should the French see fit to approach the former nation from the eastward, as they afterwards did, in order to carry on a war of extermination provoked by unabated hostility; and, finally, it would form the initial post of a number to be built as bases of supplies in the endeavor to find a northwest passage, that alluring dream of the early navigators which at this day had lost none of its first vivid- ness.
In the year 1728, the fort was flooded, and the garrison compelled to camp out. The hostility of the Indians in- creased, and in sheer necessity the French deserted it alto- gether. It was afterwards rebuilt above the high-water line. Subsequent to the confirming of peace with the Foxes, the post was commanded by Capt. Legardeur St. Pierre12 to whom Washington made the memorable official visit at Ft. Le Boeuf13 on the eve of the French and Indian war. This was about 1736. Ten years later the post was still occupied by traders, but Carver ascending Lake Pepin in 1766 beheld nothing but a crumbling ruin.
The Northwest Passage .- At this stage of events, a gallant Canadian soldier, Verandriel by name, matured a plan for forcing a way to the Pacific. After earnest solic- itation Gov. Beauharnois espoused his cause, and fitted out an expedition. It left Montreal in 1731 under the leader- ship of Verandrie's three eldest sons and his nephew De Jemeraye,2 who had been one of the garrison at Ft. Beau-
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
harnois in 1728. They entered the country by way of Pigeon River, and built Ft. St. Pierre near the southwest shore of Rainy Lake. The next year another post was built at the westernextremity of the Lake of the Woods. In 1736, a party of twenty-one belonging to the expedition were encamped on an island of the lake last mentioned, when they were surprised by the Dakotas and massacred. The youngest of the Verandrie brothers was one of the party. But far from being overwhelmed by their many misfortunes, the other brave explorers continued to push on. Ft. La Reine3 was built at the Assiniboine in 173S. Ascend- ing that river to the Mouse, they traversed the country to the Missouri, reaching the vicinity of the Yellowstone in 1742. The following year, the eldest Verandrie brother scaled the Rocky Mountains. Further progress was pre- vented by the warfare going on between the Arcs and Snakes; the expedition therefore returned to the Lake of the Woods.
Beauharnois, through the misrepresentations of others, became prejudiced against Verandrie, the father, and with- drew all further patronage; but Gallissonniere,+ the suc- ceeding governor of Canada, who was a man of science, planned an expedition to go out in 1750 with Verandrie as its leader. Before that time the latter died, and the kind- hearted Gallissonniere was superseded by the selfish Jon- quiere,5 who ignored the claims of Verandrie's sons to recognition, and chose Lamarque De Marin6 and Lagardeur St. Pierre as leaders of two expeditions, the former to go by way of the Missouri, the latter by the Saskatchewan? in. search of a northwest passage. Some of St. Pierre's men forced their way to the Rocky Mountains and built Ft. Jonquiere in 1752; but the trump of war called them to
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DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS.
more stirring scenes, and the existence of the great lake of the Indian's fable, which seemed to the explorer's burning fancy to lie just beyond the mountains, still lay shrouded in mystery.
But all these efforts were effective in another direction: they dispelled in part the mists of ignorance which had hung so long over the Minnesota region, and gave to the French and English a somewhat adequate conception of the boundless resources of that natural empire of which it formed a part.
French and English Supremacies .- In spite of the counteracting efforts of the French, the English had suffi- cient influence to in a certain measure disaffect the Indians; but through the strenuous endeavors of the wise St. Pierre and other officers stationed in the west, they were once more won over to the French alliance in the years subse- quent to 1746 and previous to the breaking out of the French and Indian war. In the year 1761, when the French power in America was fast waning, the English occupied the fort at Green Bay ; and in the year 1763, after the treaty of Versailles,1 they came into full possession of all the western posts. In March of that year, a small party of Dakotas came to Green Bay offering friendship to the garrison. The French, however, by reason of their firm hold on the tribes acquired through the religious and commercial rela- tions of a century, which were further strengthened by frequent intermarriages, kept the English for many years from gaining a permanent foot-hold. This being true, and because the latter could not profitably compete with the for- mer in trade, the English government sought to establish no posts west of Mackinaw.
Carver's Expedition .- Jonathan Carver, a native of
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
Connecticut, who for many years had been an officer of the English army of America, at the close of the French and Indian war devised a plan for exploring the North- west. Assisted by Major Rogers, commandant at Macki- naw, he started from Green Bay with a party of French and English traders in September 1766. Thence, by way of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, he came to Prairie Du Chien,1 at this time the great central fur mart of the west. Accompanied only by a. Canadian boatman and a Mo- hawk2 Indian, he ascended the Mississippi. He discovered on the way some of those ancient mounds which since his day have been objects of patient research and speculation on the part of archaeologists the world over, and which have thrown some light on the character of the prehistoric races of America.
Carver speaks of the Dakotas as the River Bands, their villages at this time being near the Mississippi. This shows conclusively the nomadic character of that nation; for, it will be remembered that in the days of Hennepin and the earlier voyageurs they dwelt far to the north and west.
Near the site of St. Paul, Carver found a strange sand- stone cave which still bears his name. He describes it in exaggerated terms as a place of awful depths whose outer walls were covered with strange characters and picto- graphs. He made a pilgrimage to St. Anthony Falls in company with a Winnebago chief, and these too he pic- tured in the glowing colors of his quick imagination. Re- turning to the mouth of the St. Pierre, which he had previously noticed, he ascended that stream for a long distance, bearing with him the British flag. He even claims to have penetrated the interior two hundred miles.
1
CARVER'S CAVE, LOOKING IN.
FOUNTAIN CAVE, LOOKING OUT.
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
This, if he followed the course of the stream, would have brought him to the vicinity of Lac qui Parle. Greatly impressed by the resources of the country and its water routes, he entertained schemes for its settlement, and be- lieved also that a water route to China and the East Indies could be found by way of the St. Pierre. Of this scheme Neill gives the following account :--
"Carver having returned to England, interested Whit- worth, a member of Parliament, in the Northern route. Had not the American Revolution commenced, they pro- posed to have built a fort at Lake Pepin, to have proceeded up the Minnesota, until they had found, as they supposed they would, a branch of the Missouri, and from thence journeying over the summit of lands, until they came to a river which they called the Oregon, they expected to de- scend to the Pacific."
Carver's heirs3 strove to establish their rights to a large tract of country in the vicinity of St. Anthony's Falls, basing their claims upon a supposed transfer made to him, by two Dakota chiefs, at the great cave above mentioned; but neither the English government, while eastern Minne- sota remained in the possession of the crown, nor that of the United States, when it had established its supremacy, would recognize the validity of so vague a claim as this proved to be.
Indian Wars .- As previously stated, the Ojibwas were the traditional enemies of the Dakotas. For generations they had waged with one another a ceaseless and deadly warfare of varying results; but in the end the glory of Dakota prowess paled somewhat before that of their ene- mies. Through bloody strife, the Ojibwas gained Sandy Lake, their first abiding place in Minnesota, and in time a
Wixsol
هـ
LOOKING UP THE ST. PIERRE.
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
band of them, subsequently called the Pillagers,1 estab- lished themselves at Leech Lake,2 where the descendants of the tribe remain to this day. Two fierce conflicts are recorded; one occurred near the mouth of the Crow Wing between the Dakotas and Ojibwas; the other at the Dalles of the St. Croix he- tween the lat- ter nation and the allied for- ces of the Fox- es and Dako- tas. The Ojib- was were vic- torious in both engagements, and after the OJIBWA HOME. last, about the time of the English possession, were never molested by the Foxes, and continued to maintain their position on the hunting grounds of the Dakotas.
Wabasha's Mission .-- An event occurred about the time of the Revolution which shows clearly what changes had, after the advent of the fur traders, been made in the Indian's mode of gaining subsistence. It seems that one of the Mdewakantonwans murdered a trader at Mendota. To punish the tribe, the English cut off all trade with them at the beginning of winter. No longer self-reliant, they were in consequence driven to the verge of starvation. The
THE FALLS OF MINNEHAHA.
Still dissuading said Nokomis: "Bring not to my lodge a stranger From the land of the Dacotahs ! Very fierce are the Dacotahs. Often is there war between ns, There are feuds yet unforgotten. Wounds that ache and still may open"' Laughing answered Hiawatha : " For that reason, if no other, Would I wed the fair Dacotah. That our tribes might be united, That old fonds might be forgotten!" Thus departed Hiawatha
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Co the land of the Darotahs.
To the land of handsome women; Striding over moor and meadow, Through interminable forests, Through uninterrupted silence. With his moccasins of magic, At each stride a mile he measured; Yet the way seemed long before him, And his heart ontrun his footsteps; And he journeyed without resting. Till he heard the cataract's laughter, Heard the Falls of Minnehaha Calling to him through the silence.
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-HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
brave chief Wabashal and a large party of warriors took the murderer and started for Canada, in order to plead with the English authorities for mercy and the restoration of the trading posts. Deserted by all save a few faithful friends, Wabasha at last reached Quebec, and offered to sacrifice his life for the good of his perishing subjects. Struck by the nobility of a character so self-forgetting, the English received him cordially, and granted his request without the offered sacrifice.
The Northwest Company .- The Northwest Company of fur traders came into existence in the year 1783 and established its headquarters at Montreal. Large cargoes of goods were purchased by it in England1 and shipped to that city, from which they were taken to its western sta- tions for distribution. Its business was greatly multiplied after its reorganization in 179S. It had over forty clerks, fifty interpreters, and six hundred canoe-men in Minnesota and the regions beyond, to say nothing of those just to the eastward. Surely a century had wrought great changes; at the beginning, a solitary boatman's canoe ruffled the surface of the stream : at the close, whole fleets were seen, and in every thicket, on every plain were heard the foot- falls of a restless civilization that was one day destined to accomplish marvelous things.
By the treaty of Paris,2 that portion of Minnesota lying east of the Mississippi came under the United States' su- premacy, but the English for several years retained their garrisons in the frontier forts. Even as late as 1794 the Northwest Company, under British protection, built a strongly fortified post at Sandy Lake; and during the year of immunity from United States interference, stipulated by Jay's treaty of 1796, it did not fail to erect numerous posts
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DAYS OF THE VOYAGEURS.
throughout Minnesota and to float the English colors above their walls, while its agents endeavored to hold the Indians loyal to the British rule.
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ILLUSTRATED
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
TREATY
Territorial Changes .- The French-American posses- sions originally ceded to Spain in 1763 were returned to France in ISoo by a secret clause in the treaty of San Ildefonso.1 The adroit Napoleon, fearing his ability to hold the newly acquired domain, hard pressed as he was by Britian, ceded it to the Americans, who were also eager to withstand English encroachments. Thus, during the period of history upon which we are about to enter, that part of Minnesota lying west of the Mississippi came suc-
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BEFORE THE TERRITORY.
cessively under the jurisdiction of Louisiana Province in the year 1803, Louisiana District in 1S04, Louisiana Territory in IS05, Missouri Territory in IS12, Michigan Territory in 1834, Wisconsin Territory in 1836, and Iowa Territory in IS3S; while the part lying east of the same river, secured to the United States, as previously stated, by the treaty of Paris, belonged to the Northwest Territory in 1787, Indiana Territory in ISoo, Illinois Territory in ISog, Michigan Territory in 1834, Wisconsin Territory in 1836.
Pike's Expedition .- The provisions of Jay's treaty did not put an end to the unlawful intrigues of the British trad- ers in Minnesota, and the United States authorities at last re- solved to take more active measures for the suppression of their autocratic powers. Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike,1 acting under the orders of Gen. Wilkinson3 left St. Louis on the 7th of August, IS05, for the triple purpose of exploring the upper Mississippi region, curbing the insolent spirit of the traders, and making treaties of friendship with the Indian tribes, who under the influence of such men as Dickson had learned to despise and ignore the authority of the new republic.
Pike was only twenty-six years of age at this time, but a brave, energetic, ambitions officer, and withal a man of sterling integrity. He was accompanied by a detachment of only seventeen privates and three non-commissioned officers, but, nevertheless, turned his face resolutely toward the unknown dangers and hardships of a hostile wilderness. On the Sth of September, he made a new start from Prairie Du Chien, where he had obtained two batteanx and two additional men, who were to act as interpreters. Every day's journey was one of interest, and its events he faith- fully recorded. In due time La Crosse,3 Pointe au Sable,
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
Kaposia, and other places now familiar to the reader, were successively passed, and on the 21st of the month he en- camped at the mouth of the St. Pierre on the large island which still bears his name.
Here Little Crow and his band from Kaposia assembled on the bluff now occupied by Ft. Snelling, and Pike entered into counsel with them on the 23d. As a result, the Indians ceded two tracts of land for military purposes: one nine miles square at the mouth of the St. Croix; the other extending nine miles along the course of the Missis- sippi from below the mouth of the St. Pierre to above St. Anthony's Falls and laterally nine miles back from either bank.
September 26th, Pike resumed his upward course, and from that time on for many days he and his little band endured toils and hardships sufficient to try the sturdiest soldier. On the 16th of October, snow began to fall, and the ice was forming in the streams. Impeded on this ac- count, Pike built a block houset near the mouth of Swan river, and drawing up the larger boats within the protection of the stockade, ordered some of his soldiers into winter quarters under the command of the sergeant. With a corporal and a few privates he pushed on. Now they were forced to attach themselves to sleds like beasts of burden, and draw their canoe over bleak prairies in some places bare of snow; anon were plunged with their effects into the chill waters of the river. For subsistence, they depended in great measure on the game taken by the way, and some days this was quite scarce. They occasionally met small parties of Indians, who informed them of the movements of the traders and the temper of the different tribes.
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BEFORE THE TERRITORY.
Feeling that he must now be near Sandy Lake, Pike on the Sth of January left all his men in camp save Corporal Bradly, and struggled forward on foot through the long hours of that cold winter day. At dusk, they were still several miles from the lake, but did not waver until their eyes were rewarded by its broad expanse stretching out before them. Thinking they could catch the dim outlines of the farther shore, with renewed courage they plodded toward it through the deep snow that had completely ob- literated the trail across the ice. The glimmering lights of the Northwest Company's stockade soon appeared and cheered them on. When they reached it, they were re- ceived with rare hospitality by Mr. Grant the English trader in charge.
Pike and his detachment marched from this place to Leech Lake, where he hoisted the American flag. In the month of February, he called together the Sauteurs of that place and Red Lake. The fruits of this council were threefold; the Sauteurs gave up their British flags and medals,6 promised to make peace with the Sioux, and al- lowed two of their most noted warriors to accompany Pike to St. Louis.
On the 5th of March, on his downward journey, Pike came to the winter quarters at Swan river, and found to his chagrin that the sergeant had been holding high revel- ry, squandering the stores while he had sometimes been suffering through lack of necessaries. A blinding snow storm was raging on the 11th of April when he arrived again at the mouth of the St. Pierre. Here he found the Sioux who had assembled at his request. Of the council he speaks in these terms :-
"About sundown I was sent for and introduced into the
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
council house, where I found a great many chiefs of the Sussitongs,7 Gens des Feuilles,8 and the Gens du Lac.9 The Yanctongs10had not yet come down. They were all awaiting my arrival. There were about one hundred lodges, or six hundred people; we were saluted on our crossing the river with ball11 as usual. The council-house was two large lodges capable of containing three hundred men. In the upper were forty chiefs, and as many pipes set against the poles, along side of which I had the Sau- teurs' pipes arranged. I then informed them, in short de- tail, of my transactions with the Sauteurs; but my inter- preters were not capable of making themselves fully un- derstood. The interpreters, however, informed them that I wanted some of their principal chiefs to go to St. Louis; and that those who thought proper might descend to the Prairie, where we would give them more explicit informa- tion. They all smoked out of the Sauteurs'! pipes, except- ing three."
. Pike arrived at Prairie Du Chien on the ISth of April; but, as hereafter seen, his nine weary months of labor proved to be almost fruitless in the attempt to accom- plish the chief objects of the expedition.
Minnesota Indians in War of 1812 .- The hospitable reception of Pike by the British traders of Minnesota was like that of the Arabs, who treat a stranger with lavish kindness while he remains within their tents but become his sworn enemies when he has departed; for in the sel- fishness of their hearts they feared the results of the new policy of trade adopted by the United States. Once more with subtle daring they began to win back the partly alienated tribes, and on the eve of hostilities between England and America, furnished the Indians with munitions of war.
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H.R.SO
LCRAFT.
WA MORRISON.
CAPTE J.CARVER.
S.H.LONG
Z.M. PIKE.
IS CASS
EXPLORERS.
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
About this time the celebrated Shawnee chief Tecum- seh1 and his brother Elskwatawa, the Prophet, kindled the fires of a general Indian war, and Dickson, the British superintendent of the western tribes, who seemed to cher- ish toward the Americans a lasting and bitter hatred, spared no pains to fan the flame of discord. Besides Dickson, Askin, Renville, and Rolette were some of the traders who led the Dakotas and Ojibwas of Minnesota against the fortifications of Mackinaw in IS12, Ft. Meigs3 in 1813, and Ft. Shelby at Prairie Du Chien in ISI4. Tahamie, + of whom valorous deeds are recorded, and Hay-pee-dans were the only Dakotas who remained faithful to the Americans. By the treaty of Ghent,6 the Indians' wild dreams of con- quest were dispelled, and Little Crow, Wabasha, and other chiefs, eloquently upbraiding the English for treachery in the non-fulfillment of their golden promises, returned to their people disappointed and sad at heart.
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