USA > Wisconsin > An illustrated history of Wisconsin from prehistoric to present periods : the story of the state interspersed with realistic and romantic events > Part 20
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In 1746, Captain De Villiers, or De Velie, was in command of the garrison, but about the time he was relieved by a new commandant, he was shot by Blackbird, a young Sac, at the palisaded town of the Sacs, nearly opposite the old fort. The garrison was withdrawn shortly before the breaking out of the French war, in 1754.
In the year 1745, a permanent settlement was established at Green Bay by Sieur Augustin de Langlade and his family, accompanied by a few settlers. With Augustin de Langlade came his son-in-law, M. Souligny, and his wife; they were shortly joined by M. Caron, who spent the remainder of his days there. Lamiot, a blacksmith, shortly after came; then the little colony consisted of about eight persons.
Captain Belfour, of the Eighth regiment of British infantry, arrived at Green Bay on October 12, 1761. He was accompanied by Lieutenant Gorrell, one sergeant, a corporal, fifteen privates, and a French inter- preter. They were also accompanied by two English traders, one named McKay, from Albany, and the other Goddard, from Montreal. The post, afterwards called Fort Edward Augustus, was, upon the return of Cap- tain Belfour on the 14th of October, 1761, left in charge of Lieutenant Gorrell, with seventeen men under him, who busied themselves during the winter in repairing the fort.
The Green Bay post was abandoned by Lieutenant Gorrell on the 26th day of June, 1763. At this time Gorrell, his garrison and the English traders, with a strong guard of friendly Indians, joined Captain Etherington, the former commandant, at Mackinaw, on the 30th of June, at an Ottawa village about thirty miles from Mackinaw. During the next forty years Green Bay made no progress in its growth, as in 1785 there were but seven families there, who, with their engagees, traders, etc., did not exceed fifty-six. The heads of these families were Charles de Langlade, Pierre Grignon, Sr., Laqral Baptiste Brunet. At this time all the residences, except those of Brunet, Laqral and Joseph Roy, were on the east side of the river, while all the trading, which was carried on by Mr. Grignon and Marchand, was on the same side.
In 1791, Jacques Porlier, from Montreal, located there. General Ellis, speaking of Green Bay in the early days, says, "Of all men of French origin at the Bay when I arrived there in 1822, Judge James Porlier stood foremost."
In 1792, a very singular and noted character named Charles Raume took up his residence at the Bay. "He long held the office of justice of the peace, and it has often been said that no person could tell when his official duties first devolved upon him, nor from whence his authority was derived. But it appears reasonably certain that his first commis-
*Wis. Hist. Mag., 99-100.
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sion was derived from the British authorities at Detroit, before the sur- render of that post in 1796, and that he subsequently received a similar commission from General Harrison, governor of Indiana Territory. Many amusing anecdotes are related of the manner in which he dis- charged his official duties, and it is well authenticated that the only proc- ess of the court was the judge's jack-knife, which served at once as the token and authority by which all defendants were brought under juris- diction. In 1818, he was appointed one of the associate justices of the court, by Governor Cass, and in the same year moved to Little Kaukalin, about ten miles above Green Bay, where he died in 1822." *
In 1794, the trading house of Ogilvie, Gillespie & Co. was established, which gave place, three years later, to the trading house of Jacob Franks, of which the noted John Lawe afterwards became pro- prietor. Many settlers came here from Canada, during the last decade of the past century, among whom were John Lawe, who arrived in the summer of 1797. In 1812, the total population had increased to about two hundred and fifty.
Among the most prominent families not heretofore mentioned were Duchana, Gravel, Chevalier, Chalifoux, Houlrich, Franks, Brisbon, Vieau, Cardrone, Dousman, Carbounsau, Vaun, Houll, Jacobs, Garriepy, Bauprez, Ducharme, Langevin, Hyotte, Norman, Lavigne, Bonneterre, Boucher, Le Bœuf, Thebeau, Dumond, Fortier, La Rock, Jourdin, and Laurent Solomon Juneau.
The Hon. Moses M. Strong, in his excellent History of Wisconsin Territory, in speaking of the early traders and their dealings with the Indians, says : " It is a great mistake to suppose that the Indians-at least those of any character-took what they pleased and kept no account with the natives. As to Judge Lawe's practice, the Indians, on taking his credit in the fall, high or low, each individual had an account bona fide, opened with him on his books; as formal and precise in all respects as the sharpest white man, in which he was debited his blanket, stroud, calico, powder, shot, thread, pipes, tobacco and flints, as care- fully as possible. On his appearance in the spring with his peltries, he was duly credited with payment, not in the gross, nor by the lump, but every skin was counted, separating the prime from the poor, and each kind from the other with exactness, with different prices, according to value, so that the Indian knew exactly how his account stood."
The first saw-mill built in Wisconsin was in 1809. This was erected by Jacob Franks, on Devil river, about three miles east of Depere. Shortly after this, he erected a grist-mill with one run of stones. The next mill erected in this vicinity was a saw-mill, built in 1816, by the United States government at Little Kaukalin. The year previous, the government sent John Bowyer, of Virginia, to Green Bay to reside as Indian agent, and Matthew, of Pennsylvania, as factor. At this time
*Strong's History of Wisconsin.
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there were no mechanics at Green Bay, except Augustin Thimbeau, a carpenter, and the indispensable village blacksmith.
Major Charles Gratiot, of the United States engineer corps, had previously prepared quarters for officers and soldiers, and on the 16th day of July, 1816, Colonel John Miller, in command of a detachment of troops, which required three schooners to transfer them, accompanied by Major Gratiot, landed with his troops on the west side of the Fox river, at its junction with the bay. The troops pitched their tents near where they shortly after erected Fort Howard. Colonel Miller returned to Detroit during the fall, leaving the post and troops in charge of Colonel Chambers.
Colonel Joseph L. Smith, the commandant in 1820, removed his troops two miles and a half up the river, where, on an eminence on the right bank, he built a stockade and barracks, which was named Fort Smith. Colonel Smith was superseded in command by Colonel Ninian Pinkney, in the fall of 1822. Shorty after taking command he moved the troops back to Fort Howard, which had been fully repaired, and thereafter this was the rendezvous for all the troops and army operations of that portion of the northwest. Colonel Pinkney, in the fall of 1823, was succeeded by Colonel John McNeill, who, the following year, was himself relieved by General Hugh Brady.
"Shanty Town," the little nondescript village, just below and in front of the old stockade, grew and thrived during the time that Colonel Smith occupied the camp. It had three stirring, energetic traders, Robert Irwin, Jr., Daniel Whitney, and William Dickinson. Daniel Whitney, it is said, was the most enterprising trader in the northwest. They each built stores and residences.
The early history of Green Bay would be incomplete without mention- ing the names of those sturdy pioneers, Henry S. Baird and Judge James D. Doty. Mr. Baird removed to Green Bay with his wife in 1824, and shortly after erected a dwelling and lived at "Shanty-town." A little later, Judge Doty built a fine residence just above the town. About this time the first jail and courthouse west of Lake Michigan were erected here. Mr. Baird, in his "Recollections," says: "There were, in 1824, at Green Bay but six or eight resident American families, and the families of the officers stationed at Fort Howard, in number about the same. The character of the people was a compound of civilization and primitive simplicity, exhibiting the light and lively characteristics of the French and the thoughtlessness and improvidence of the aborigines. Possessing the virtues of hospitality, and the warmth of heart unknown to residents of cities untrammeled by the etiquette and conventional rules of modern " high life," they were ever ready to receive and enter- tain their friends, and more intent upon the enjoyment of the present than to lay up stores, or make provision for the future. They
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deserve to be remembered, and placed upon the pages of history as the first real pioneers of Wisconsin." *
Another noted character who lived at Green Bay was Laurent Solomon Juneau, who, in 1818, was detailed by the American Fur Com- pany as clerk for Jacques Vieau, an Indian trader located at Mackinaw. From about this time up to 1834, Green Bay became the home of Jacques Vieau and Solomon Juneau. +
In May, 1820, Ebenezer Childs arrived at Green Bay. He was a carpenter, and about twenty-three years of age. The next year this venturesome young man went to St. Louis in a bark canoe, by way of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, and returned by the Illinois and Chicago rivers. In 1825, John P. Arndt and family came to Green Bay. In 1827, Childs and Arndt built a saw-mill on the Oconto river. The same year, Mr. Childs, with a son of Judge Arndt, went to southern Illinois, where they bought two hundred and sixty-two head of cattle, and succeeded in driving two hundred and ten to Green Bay in safety. Mr. Childs held several offices of trust during his residence here. He moved to La Crosse, where he continued to live the remainder of his life
The Green Bay mission school, devoted principally to the educa- tion of the children of the poor, was established in 1829 by the Protest- ant Episcopal church, and was placed under the care of the Rev. Rich- ard F. Cadle. This was the first permanent resident missionary of the Episcopal church west of Lake Michigan. The legislative council, on October 21, 1829, incorporated the first Protestant church west of Lake Michigan, and it was.known as Christ church. The first newspaper printed within the present boundaries of the territory now constituting the state of Wisconsin was published at Green Bay, by J. V. Suydam and Albert G. Ellis, and was called "The Green Bay Intelligencer." It bore date IIth of December, 1833. It was published semi-monthly, and the subscription price was $2 per annum. It was twelve by eigh- teen inches, and contained four pages with four columns in each page. After the twentieth issue, there was added to its title the words, "Wis- consin Democrat."
In 1830, a Roman Catholic church was erected here and a school building, which was placed in charge of Father Gabriel Richard. Father Richard was afterwards elected a delegate to congress for Mich- igan territory. An Indian agency was also fixed at this place, during the year 1830, and placed in charge of Major Brevoort. General A. G. Ellis came to Green Bay in September, 1822. Much of his time was devoted to teaching school, and performing services in the Episcopal church, as a lay reader. In 1827, he was appointed deputy United States surveyor, and for many years was largely engaged in surveying
*Wis. Hist. Coll., Vol. IV., 197.
+Wis. Hist. Coll., Vol. XI., 224.
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public lands. Ten years later, he was appointed by President Van Buren surveyor-general of Wisconsin and Iowa. In 1842-43, he was speaker of the territorial legislature. In 1853, upon the establishment of the land-office at Stevens Point, he was appointed receiver of public moneys, and removed to that place, where he has ever since resided.
Morgan L. Martin, who was one of Green Bay's most esteemed citizens, came to that town in 1827, and believed then, as he did at the time of his death, which occurred on December 10, 1887, that Green Bay is the most desirable location in the northwest. Mr. Martin became a lawyer of distinction, as well as a judge of local renown. He served as a member of the territorial legislature, as territorial delegate in the congress, a member and the president of the convention which framed the present constitution of the state; he was also a member of the state legislature, and ably served as the judge of the county court of Brown county.
Green Bay has become noted, not only for its being the earliest- settled town in the state, and the great center of early military opera- tions in the northwest, but on account of its being the home of many of the great men who have, during the past century, sat in our nation's counsels.
CHAPTER XXI.
PRAIRIE DU CHIEN.
Tradition .- Old French Fort and Fortifications .- Fur Traders .- Fort Shelby Captured by the British .- The Territory of Michigan .- H. L. Dousman and General Joseph M. Street Settle at the Prairie .- Lieutenant Jefferson Davis Becomes Wisconsin's First Lumberman, and Rebuilds Fort Crawford .- Early Reminiscences.
PICTURESQUE Prairie du Chien, situated in the broad expanse of the Mississippi valley, a few miles above the junction of the Wisconsin river, is surrounded by mists of legendary and realistic romances and crimes.
According to tradition, the first settlement at Prairie du Chien was made by Cardinelle, a trader and hunter, who, with his wife, came from Canada in 1726, and cleared a small farm, which became the nucleus of the present prosperous city of Prairie du Chien. Tradition records the fact that after the death of Cardinelle, his wife survived him, attained the great age of one hundred and thirty years, and died in 1827, having been repeatedly married after the death of Cardinelle.
According to Dr. Brunson, the traditional chronicler, the next set- tler at Prairie du Chien was one Ganier, whose descendants still live at that place. From various authorities, it has been clearly established that at least one French military post existed near the mouth of the Wisconsin. This point was the northern limit of the Illinois tribes, and a general rendezvous and starting point for raids against the Iroquois, established near Chicago. It was, in fact, the starting point for all important expeditions, either up or down the Mississippi. According to Jeffreys' map, of 1776, a line is drawn from Prairie du Chien to Omaha, and is inscribed "French Route to the Western Indians." The governor of Pennsylvania, in 1721, in a report to the king of England, designates this as one of the three great routes from Canada to the Mississippi, * and subsequently it was remarked "that since the peace of Aix-la- Chapelle, in 1748, the French had greatly increased the number of forts on the rivers which run into the Mississippi." The forts of the early French traders were indeed plentiful. Every trading house was, in fact, fortified to some extent, as the pioneer poem, with reference to the establishment of Solomon Juneau, at Milwaukee, bears witness, which reads thus:
"Juneau's palace of logs was a store and a fort, Though surrounded by neither a ditch or a moat; For often this lonely and primitive place Was sorely beset by that bloodthirsty race With whom Juneau had mercantile dealings."
Although Marquette was a man of peace, yet his mission-house was palisaded. Even the black-gowned Jesuits generally fortified their
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missions, and taught the Indians the manner in which their strongholds could be improved, by changing circles to squares, and adding towers at the corners.
In 1685, according to the narrative of La Potherie, the Miamis, whose villages were a few leagues below the mouth of the Wisconsin, went to Green Bay, about forty strong, where Nicholas Perrot had already arrived as governor of the Northwest. "They begged him to set up his establishment on the Mississippi and near the Wisconsin, in order that they could sell their furs there." They brought him presents consisting of beautiful specimens of lead, and each gave him four beaver- skins. The result was that Perrot, shortly afterward, established him- self a little below the Wisconsin. "The establishment of Perrot was below the Wisconsin, in a situation very strong against the assaults of neighboring tribes."*
According to Parkman, the most remarkable of all the early maps of the interior of North America was made in 1688, by J. B. Franquelin, for presentation to the French king, and bears this inscription: "Carte de l'Amérique Septentrionale, dressée par J. B. Franquelin, dans 1688, pour etrê présentée à Louis XIV." According to this map, Fort St. Nicholas is located near the mouth of the Wisconsin.
Thomas Jeffreys, geographer to his majesty, George III., published a map in 1762, entitled " Canada and the Northern Part of Louisiana." On this map, at the confluence of the Wisconsin and the Mississippi, are the following words: "Fort St. Nicholas destroyed."
According to a report made to the house of representatives of the United States, in 1818, by the committee on public lands, of which the Hon. George Robertson, of Kentucky, was chairman, it is recorded that in the year 1755, the government of France established a military post near the mouth of the Wisconsin; that many French families estab- lished themselves in the neighborhood, and that this settlement founded the village of Prairie du Chien.
It is fittingly suggested by the Hon. Moses M. Strong, in his " History of Wisconsin Territory," page 87, that "it does not appear probable that the trading-post and stockade established in 1755, by the French government, if any was then established or permanently main- tained, or that either had any existence as late as 1780. There was a tradition among the old settlers, according to testimony taken in 1820, in relation to the private land claims, that the old fort was burned in 1777."
From numerous facts it would appear that tradition has dealt kindly with the early history of Prairie du Chien, as Captain Carver, in his " Travels," fails to make any mention of there being any white inhabi- tants at this place, which he visited in 1766. This observing traveler describes with considerable minuteness the large Indian town on the
*Wis. Hist. Coll., Vol. X., 60.
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Wisconsin, at the present site of Prairie du Sac, and remarks that the traders who accompanied him took up their winter-quarters at a point on the Yellow river, about ten miles above Prairie du Chien, on the Missis- sippi side. Had any settlements of the whites been near the mouth of the Wisconsin river, they would not have located their winter-quarters on the Yellow river, but would have stopped with the whites at the settlement.
Governor St. Patrick, of Mackinaw, at a treaty with the Indians in 1781, purchased their right and title to Mackinaw, Green Bay, and Prairie du Chien. The Prairie du Chien tract was six leagues up and down the river, and six leagues west, and was purchased for and in behalf of the traders, three of whom were Bazil Guird, Pierre Antua, and Augustin Ange. The payment for this valuable tract of land was made in goods by these enterprising traders.
One of the early settlers of Prairie du Chien was Michael Brisbois, who came there in 1781, and there resided for fifty-six years. He died in 1837, at the age of seventy-seven years, and was buried, in accordance with his request, on one of the prominent bluffs back of the village of Prairie du Chien. He left numerous children, whose ancestors still live near that place.
According to Dr. Brunson's early history of Wisconsin, there were twenty or thirty settlers at Prairie du Chien when Michael Brisbois came there, and in 1793, twelve years later, there were forty-three farms and twenty or thirty village lots, most of which had been built upon. The majority of these early settlers were hunters, traders and voyegeurs, who married among the natives, and prosecuted farming only to relieve the monotony of their other employments. M. Brisbois was not only a trader and a farmer on a diminutive scale, but a baker as well. He gave to the inhabitants tickets for fifty loaves of bread for each one hundred pounds of flour they delivered to him, and these tickets, like the Arkansas coon-skins, formed a currency with which they carried on trade with the Indians and with each other. As none of the inhabitants made their own bread, Brisbois' bake-house became an institution of vast importance.
A trader, of the name of Campbell, was appointed by the United States government sub-Indian agent, and justice of the peace by the governor of Illinois about 1807. About a year afterwards, Campbell was killed at Mackinaw, while fighting a duel with one Crawford. Campbell's successor to both offices was Nicholas Boilvin.
Joseph Roulette was born in Canada, of a respectable French family, and was educated for the Roman Catholic church, but not liking the profession, quit it, and served an apprenticeship in the mercantile busi- ness, and soon became one of the most noted characters in the early history of Prairie du Chien. Having engaged in the Indian trade with one Murdock Cameron, he came to Prairie du Chien about 1804, where
·
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he resided up to the time of his death in 1841. Roulette was appointed chief-justice of the county court, in 1827 or '28, which office he held with honor and distinction until 1830. He was an active merchant and trader, and exhibited considerable enterprise for the prosperity and improvement of the country. His wife was a woman of culture and refinement, whose influence was so beneficial in those early days. Their daughter married Major Alexander S. Hooe, of the United States army.
The code Coutume de Paris was the French laws, which governed Canada and all the territory of the northwest, while under French dominion, and, in fact, to some extent prevailed up to the time the laws of Michigan were introduced, about 1819. These laws were greatly perverted by the usages adopted to suit the convenience of the early settlers in various localities, especially in Prairie du Chien and Green Bay. I. e .: Under the marriage contract, the survivor took the whole of the property, especially where there was no issue, and whenever the contracting parties wished to be divorced, they went together before the magistrate, and after making known their wishes, tore up the mar- riage contract, thus severing the bonds of matrimony.
Lyman C. Draper, in his note to page 126, Wis. Hist. Coll., Vol. II., gives a fair illustration of early justice as dealt out by the early connois- seurs of the law, and especially the kind dealt out by Colonel Boilvin, whose justice-office was just outside the walls of Prairie du Chien. It appears that a soldier named Fry had been accused of stealing a calf belonging to one M. Roulette, and the constable, a brickmaker by trade, had been dispatched, without a warrant, to arrest the culprit, and bring him before the dignified court.
Colonel Boilvin was talking with some of his friends when Officer Bell returned with the accused man, and knocked at the door.
" Come in," cried Colonel Boilvin, rising and walking towards the door.
Bell-"Here, sir, I have brought Fry to you, as you ordered."
Colonel B .- " Fry, you great rascal, what for you kill M. Roulette's calf?"
Fry-" I did not kill M. Roulette's calf."
Colonel B. (shaking his fist.)-" You lie, you great rascal! Bell, . take him to jail. Come, gentlemen, come; let us take a leetle quelque- chose."
For many years prior to the war of 1812, the whole Mississippi val- ley, on the east side of the river, and the surrounding country from Prairie du Chien to Rock Island, attracted the attention of the east as well as the west, and especially those desiring to become western settlers. In 1813, the British meditated the occupation of the whole Illinois territory, and had, at the portage of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, several cannon for a fort, the erection of which they anticipated at .
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EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS.
Prairie du Chien. For reasons only known to the British authorities, the erection of the fort was not undertaken that year.
The United States government, in the spring of 1814, sent Lieu- tenant Perkins and one hundred and thirty-five dauntless young volun- teers from Missouri to Prairie du Chien. They were accompanied by Governor Clark, who returned to St. Louis during the following June. He reported to the authorities upon his return, that the command under Lieutenant Perkins had taken possession of the house formerly occupied by the old Mackinaw Fur Company, and that the volunteers occupied two armed boats, under command of Aid-de-Camp Kennesley and Captains Sullivan and Yeizer, and that, when he left, the new fort was in progress of erection, and occupied a most commanding spot. The fort was finished during the month of June, and called Fort Shelby. " The site of this fort is nearly opposite the present pontoon railroad bridge, and is where Colonel H. L. Dousman, after the removal of the fort to the east side of the Marais St. Friole, built an elegant private residence."*
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