USA > Wisconsin > An illustrated history of Wisconsin from prehistoric to present periods : the story of the state interspersed with realistic and romantic events > Part 9
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
La Salle's movements from this point are not full, but it is known, how- ever, that he followed the Ohio down to the rapids of Louisville. There he learned from the natives that far beyond, this stream joined the bed of that great river which loses itself in the immense low regions of the south. Here his followers, in a body, deserted him. La Salle was forced to return alone to Canada, living upon such as he was able to procure, and upon the hospitality of the Indians. Perrot claims that he met La Salle in the summer of 1670, hunting on the Ottawa river, with a party of Iroquois. This proves that he must have been in reduced circumstances, and that he was working to get the means to set out on another expedition.
In 1671, we again find him on Lake Erie, which, with his com- panions, he skirted in canoes to the mouth of the Detroit river, thence to Lake Huron, Mackinaw and Lake Michigan. He explored the vicinity of Green Bay and the west shore of the lake southward, as far as Chicago, and made the portage to the Illinois river, either by way of Chicago or by way of the St. Joseph and the Kankakee on the east shore of the lake. He followed down the Illinois to the vicinity of the Miss- issippi, and is said to have made a map of its course and tributary streamns. The map, claimed to have been made by La Salle, indicates that he made the Chicago portage, although his subsequent explorations, by way of St. Joseph and Kankakee portage, indicate that he did not so early make the portage of the Illinois, by way of Chicago.
LA SALLE'S RETINUE MAKING CHICAGO PORTAGE.
In 1673, he was occupied in the fur trade, and the next year he laid before Governor Frontenac a project for the exploration of the Missis- sippi and its valley. Frontenac could promise no money, but the project embraced mercantile advantages, which induced him to use his influence to further the scheme. The main object of the project, however, it is believed was to build forts westward and south of Canada, and to hold the country for Louis XIV., and to prevent the fur trade from being
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FRENCH EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS.
diverted to the Dutch and English, at Albany and New York. The forts were to be made great centers for the fur trade, beyond the competition of the dealers at Montreal. Naturally the project met with great oppo- sition from the fur-traders at Montreal, as well as the directors of the Jesuits, but Frontenac's iron will knew no opposition. With the con- sent of his king, he managed secretly to have a fort built for La Salle, at a point where Kingston, Canada, now stands, and invited the Iroquois to attend a grand council which was there assembled. The able and energetic La Salle's scheme embraced the building of forts at Niagara, and on all of the upper lakes.
Frontenac, in November, 1674, sent his friend La Salle to France, well recommended to the king, who received him at his court with great honor. To reimburse him in part as a daring and able explorer, he was made a noble, and appointed governor of new Fort Frontenac, and given a valuable land-grant around it. During the season of 1675, we again find La Salle back at Fort Frontenac, surrounded by power and great wealth, which had been partially showered upon him by his wealthy rel- atives at Rouen, which now enabled him to maintain his garrison, as required by the terms of his grant. At this time a bitter feeling existed between La Salle and the Jesuits, which threatened to endanger the suc- cess of their enterprises. The Jesuits could only retain their control over the Indians by excluding traders in the vicinity of their missions, over which they had no control. They derived large profits from the fur trade at their missions, and thus monopolized that trade as well as religion. The Jesuits succeeded in procuring an order from the supreme council, prohibiting traders from going into the Indian country to trade. The astute La Salle circumvented this order by establishing large settle- ments of Iroquois around the fort, who ranged the whole country for him as trappers and hunters, without being considered traders. He then built a new fort and barracks, erected a flouring-mill, a bakery, and numerous houses for French settlers. His fort was in the midst of numerous Indian villages, where he reigned as absolute lord of this half- civilized and barbarous colony.
He again visited France early in 1678, and through that renowned financier, Colbert, the prime minister of Louis XIV., secured the con- firmation and extension of the privileges of discovery before granted, together with the authority to build forts in any region he might discover, and to hold them upon the same terms contained in the grant of Fort Frontenac, which authorized a monopoly of the trade in buffalo-skins, a trade heretofore unthought of.
In July, 1678, he again sailed for Canada, being amply supplied by his relatives with wealth. In November following, the expedition assembled at Fort Frontenac. On November 8, 1678, disregarding the lateness of the season, and the inclement weather, which frowned upon them, they embarked, to begin the long and arduous journey to the sea.
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
Notwithstanding the continuous bad weather, the vessel anchored in Toronto Bay within eight days after their embarkation. On December 5th, they crossed to the mouth of the Niagara, and commenced the erection of a palisaded fort. Shortly after this, their vessel was wrecked, but their stores were saved and carried up the cliffs of Niagara, and from thence conveyed to the shores of Lake Erie by sledge, where, at the mouth of Cayuga creek, they laid the keel of the first vessel built above the falls, a bark of forty-five tons, and named the Griffin. The winter was a long and dreary one for the settlement, owing to its severity, and the scant supply of provisions, together with the hostile attitude of the Indians, who surrounded them. Before spring greeted them, La Salle made his way back to Fort Frontenac, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles, on foot, through deep snow, and tangled forests, accompanied by two men, a dog and a sledge. Upon his arrival, he found his property had been seized by creditors in his absence. Discouraged, but adhering to the enterprise, he with diffi- culty succeeded in procuring equipments for the Griffin, which was com- pleted in the spring and summer of 1679. On August 7th, of this year, La Salle and thirty-four voyageurs embarked amidst a favorable breeze which carried them to the mouth of the Detroit in four days. After being nearly wrecked by a terrible storm, which they encountered on Lake Huron, they finally reached Mackinaw, and anchored behind Point St. Ignace, where the Jesuits had established a settlement, already strong in numbers, as well as in trade.
In September following, the voyage was continued as far as Green Bay, where he was met by his advance party, who had collected large quantities of rich furs. The furs were loaded on the Griffin, and sent back to Fort Frontenac, to appease the appetites of his ferocious credit- ors. The vessel was never again directly heard from, although, in after years, a rumor reached La Salle, that two of his agents who were on board the Griffin, were shortly after engaged in trade on the upper Mississippi.
From Green Bay, La Salle continued his perilous canoe voyage along the western shore of Lake Michigan. After battling many weeks with constant danger, along the surf and storm-lashed coasts, they finally reached the bay of Milwaukee. After tarrying a short time at this point, they moved southward. They were greeted by fairer weather, plentiful game and abundance of fruit. They finally reached the mouth of the St. Joseph river on the east shore, and erected Fort Miami. On Decem- ber 3, 1679, with a party of thirty-two men and eight canoes, they ascended the St. Joseph as far as the present site of South Bend, where they were shown trails leading to the Kankakee. Carrying their canoes over the portage, they launched them in a small stream hardly naviga- ble for even such frail crafts, and floated down the stream, which hourly grew in volume. At the present site of the village of Utica, they found
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FRENCH EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS.
an Indian town of four hundred and sixty lodges, where, on New Year's day, 1680, they landed and said mass. A few days later, they were at Peoria, below which place they found an Indian village, which occupied both banks of the river. La Salle quickly succeeded in making peace with the natives, although it is alleged that, even in that far-away land, the threatening hand of the Jesuit power found means to stir the Indians to hatred against La Salle. Several attempts had been previously made to poison him. La Salle was now in the midst of severe winter. The river had been closed by ice, and they were surrounded by savages not over-friendly. At this point he was apprised of the loss of the Griffin, which he had relied upon to bring back the means to build a boat on the Illinois, in which to sail to the Gulf of Mexico and thence to the West Indies. Amidst all these disappointments, he built Fort Crevecœur, (which means broken-heart), near the Indian village, then began the erec- tion of a forty-ton vessel on the banks of the river. He then, with four Frenchmen, a Mohican guide and a canoe, started back to Montreal, by way of Fort Miami, where they arrived on March 24th. Thence on foot to the Detroit river, which they crossed by raft, and proceeded on to the fort on the Niagara river. Here he learned that a vessel from France, with a cargo consigned to him, had been wrecked in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. He now took three fresh men, and pushed through the woods to the northern shore of Lake Ontario, and, on May 6th, he sighted the walls of Fort Frontenac. Upon his arrival, he found that he had been robbed by some of his agents, his creditors had financially embarrassed those who were faithful to him, while his voyageurs' canoes, which were richly laden with furs, had been wrecked in the rapids of the St. Lawrence. With the determination worthy of so great an enterprise, he, in a short time, secured another outfit, and was about to return to the Illinois, when he learned that Fort Crevecœur had been plundered and deserted by his men, who had organized as banditti of the woods and lakes, and had also visited and destroyed Fort Miami, plundered Michilimackinac of its furs, came on to Fort Niagara, and, after plunder- ing it, they separated, one party going to Albany, and the other to Fort Frontenac, to surprise and kill La Salle, who, being warned at the crit- ical moment, surprised them in detail, as they arrived in canoes, and either captured or killed the whole party. But few escaped. La Salle, at the head of twenty-five men, started, on August 10th, for the Illinois, with equipments to finish his vessel for the descent of the Mississippi. He traveled by the eastern shore of Georgian Bay to Mackinaw, and, on November 4th, he reached the ruins of Fort Miami, at the mouth of the St. Joseph. Leaving his stores at this place, he proceeded to Fort Crevecœur, where he found that not only the fort had been destroyed, but where he had left a populous Indian village, the blackened remains of lodges and human bodies half-burned, told the awful story of the bloody visit of the insatiate Iroquois. He followed
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
the river to the Mississippi, and found along the whole valley the horri- ble evidence of the retreat of the entire tribe of the Illinois, under the murderous attacks of the powerful and bloodthirsty Iroquois. After leaving a mark on the shores of the Mississippi, to show that he had been there, he returned with his party to commence preparations for the great voyage. On January 6, 1681, he reached the Kankakee, and soon after arrived at St. Joseph. The horrors of the Iroquois invasion of the Illinois country had made so great an impression upon him that he con- ceived the idea, and at once put it in execution, to unite the western Indian tribes in self-defense, by rallying them around the French flag near its forts.
Late in May, they returned to Michilimackinac, thence to Fort Frontenac, by water. Early in December following, they arrived at the St. Joseph river. On December 21, 1681, he and fifty-four com- panions crossed Lake Michigan and proceeded to the mouth of the Chicago river, to find that portage to the Illinois. They, on account of the ice, were obliged to place their canoes on sledges and drag them over prairies and forests, until they came to open water below Lake Peoria. They came to the Mississippi on February 6, 1682, and, on the 24th of February, they were building Fort Prudhomme near the Chick- asaw Bluffs. Spring with its balmy breezes and gentle zephyrs, saw them floating down the river, where on every hand they met Indians more hospitable and intelligent. As they progressed, La Salle with his usual suavity of manner, quickly won their good-will, and erected mon- uments in their villages, and claimed the country in the name of Louis XIV., King of France. On March 31st, he was at the mouth of the Red river; on April 6th, at the divergence of the three mouths of the Mississippi; and, on April 9th, 1682, he planted at the mouth of the Mississippi a cross bearing the arms of France, and, with due impres- siveness, claimed the river, and all the lands drained by it, as belonging to France, by right of discovery.
In September of the same year, the untiring La Salle was back at Michilimackinac and St. Joseph, and before the winter set in, was erecting a fort at Starved Rock, for the safety of the Illinois. In less than a year, it is alleged, 20,000 Indians had settled near the fort. It seemed as though La Salle's success was well assured. It was left for him to trace the Mississippi, for the first time, from its source to the sea. But now his greatest trouble began. Frontenac, his resolute and mighty friend, was no longer governor of Canada, La Barre was put in his place; and he not only set the king against La Salle, but authorized the Indians to consider his property legitimate spoils. La Salle then sailed to France to see the king. At the luxuriant court of Louis XIV., this courageous man made numerous friends. Count Frontenac, then in Paris, was among the foremost. The government reversed its policy, gave back all his rights and privileges, and ordered four vessels to be
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FRENCH EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS.
equipped and placed at his command, to make a voyage directly to the mouth of the Mississippi. The fleet was unfortunately placed under the command of a man named Beaujeu. This man did all he could to balk La Salle's plans. The trip was a series of misfortunes from beginning to end. When they came to the Gulf of Mexico, they passed unnoticed the mouths of the Mississippi. They searched vainly for the mouths of the river, along the Texan coast, and anchored finally in Matagorda Bay. Beaujeu, with all but one of the fleet, sailed back to France, leaving the colony to its fate. On November 1, 1685, La Salle left the colony with a party, in order to search again for the Mississippi, and to
MONEY RICHARDS
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ASSASSINATION OF LA SALLE.
bring aid from Canada to help his colony. At the end of March, 1686, he returned baffled. Half his men had died in this vain attempt. Again he set out to make the journey overland to Canada. Once more he was forced to return, on account of many of his men having been lost in a cane-brake. Of the two hundred men who had landed with him, but forty five were left. His men now became discontented, and a mutiny resulted. Three of his men were murdered while sleeping, and La Salle was shot from an ambuscade.
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
Thus ended the life of the renowned La Salle, who had only lived forty-four years, which were passed in the interest of those who went before him to make up the great discoveries, which would close the chapter of the French explorations in North America.
From 1634, the time when that venturesome explorer, Jean Nicol- let, first trod the soil of Wisconsin, up to the time of the Treaty of Paris, in 1763, when Wisconsin, as a part of New France, was sur- rendered to England-a period of one hundred and twenty-nine years- numerous French zealots and adventurers explored the many beautiful lakes, and traversed the picturesque waterways within our borders.
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WISCONSIN'S WAR GOVERNORS.
WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR.
1861-1865.
IN CHAPTERS.
CHAPTER XVII
The Call to Arms .- Wisconsin's Wonderful Response .- One Hundred Thousand Vol- unteers .- All Classes and Conditions Represented .- Sunday Service Suspended. - Wisconsin Women in the War .- The Christian and Sanitary Commissions. - Wis- consin's Tribute to the Southern Army .- Skulkers to Canada .- The Loyal League and the Knights of the Golden Circle. - Action of Northern Governors .- The First Regiment Ordered to the Front .- They Engage and Drive the Enemy .- Badger Boys in Battle .- Anecdotes and Incidents .- The Old Iron Brigade.
INTO the immense armies and navies, on the union side, between the 16th day of April, 1861, and the same month in 1865, Wisconsin contributed nearly one hundred thousand of her loyal sons.
It is impossible for even the most intelligent of the present genera- tion to appreciate the material composing the numerous organizations of these wonderful human forces.
Not infrequently, every civilized nation on the face of the earth was represented in the rank and file of the same regiment.
Every condition of social, religious and political faith, all the trades, occupations and professions were represented. The same tent covered the banker, lumberman, medical student, lawyer, merchant and machin- ist. The millionaire's son touched elbows with the son of his father's hired man.
When the war commenced Wisconsin had been a state scarcely twelve years, so that, comparatively speaking, only a few of these volunteers were native born; while the sons of New England, and all other of the loyal states, who had settled there, helped to fill the quotas called. But whether born in America, or across the ocean, they were patriotic and proud of their new home, and the Badger commonwealth had no more gallant defenders on land or sea than those who were bred beyond her borders, or in foreign climes. The earlier volunteers were usually young men, the average age being less than twenty-five years. Such a variety, such a mixture of manual and mental strength, when harmonized and disciplined for effort in a common cause, and that the cause of a gen- erally-united country dedicated to freedom, against an unholy sectional rebellion to maintain human slavery, constituted a force which only needed wise leaders or commanders to become irresistible to all the combined armies of the world.
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
HOW THE NEWS CAME.
It was Friday morning, April 12th, 1861, when the slaveholders' rebellion first opened fire on the flag of the national government, flying from Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor, South Carolina. On the 14th (Sunday), President Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand volunteers, to protect Washington and the public property. Wisconsin's share, or quota, was fixed at one regiment of infantry.
This call for troops was first heard of from the pulpits of the prin- cipal churches, at the close of the morning service, in the cities of Wis- consin having telegraphic communication, on April 14th, 1861. The effect of the announcement can hardly be told upon those who had persistently insisted, notwithstanding all the threats which had been made, that no American would ever open fire upon an American flag. Then came a palsied numbness, and from those of hotter temperament- those who had met the threat of secession with the counter-promise of hanging-there was instant willingness to make the promise good.
The noon Sunday schools were not well attended by the older boys that day. They were out on the corners listening, thinking and talking, as they had not listened, thought nor talked before. There was very little loud expression, and no boasting or cheers. The saloons were not patronized by even those who habitually frequented such resorts. There was a most ominous quietness among those who gathered on the streets from the different congregations. This semi-silence was more expressive than can well be described. It forbode a terrible storm.
THE PRECEDING PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN,
of the previous autumn and fall, had been waged with surprising vigor by the three contending parties. The organized marching columns constituted remarkable and conspicuous figures. They were usually composed of representative citizens, according to their respective political affiliations, the country on horseback and the city on foot. It may be truthfully stated that they were the only practically organized forces in the country. They differed in politics, social condition, religion and business, but as a general rule they were all union men. They were not soldiers, but they were patriots. The shots at Sumter, and the president's call for volunteers to protect the national capital, harmonized, for the time being, all other differences. These were the men who consulted together that Sunday noontime. They united in sending dispatches to Governor Randall, at Madison, tendering their services. The next morning (April 16th) that official was able to wire to the secretary of war that in place of one, Wisconsin tendered three regiments of infantry to the national government, and that they awaited muster-in and marching orders.
THE DISTRIBUTION OF THOSE WHO
went out from the state to represent at the front the patriotism of its
WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR.
new and mixed population found such service for the maintenance of the national cause in seventy-four different organizations, besides those who did duty on the water as naval officers, seamen and marines.
There were fifty-three regiments of infantry, besides one company formed of the most skilled riflemen, which was called Co. G, of the celebrated United States Berdan Sharpshooters Regiment. Four regiments of cavalry, thirteen light batteries, and one full regiment of heavy artillery, besides a battalion of the last-named regiment, who, at the expiration of their term of service, reënlisted, and until the close of the war were known as such. The service of each of these will be given, so far as can be, in the numerical order of their organization and departure from the state.
WISCONSIN'S TRIBUTE TO THE NAVY NUMBERED
more than one thousand able-bodied men, but, because we had no seaport city, and, with a single temporary exception, no recruiting station for such service, nearly all those who entered from Wisconsin had to leave the state to do so, and our commonwealth never received the credit from this class of enlistment. But this fact is known, that the Badger State was represented by one or more of her citizens on four hundred and eighty-seven different vessels, which served and fought on the union side. The names and experiences of these several boats, will be here- after recorded.
WISCONSIN WOMEN IN THE WAR.
Those who think that the union soldiers, in the south, won the final glorious victory by their own heroic efforts, are in error. They did their part, and did it splendidly. They could not have remained a single day before the enemy-much less four long years-except for that great supporting rear-line-of-battle at home. The great loyal north was always actively engaged in backing them up.
Individual efforts of men, women and children at home contributed their immeasurable weight to the national cause, while organizations in infinite number aided the government in its great cause. Among the latter are conspicuously mentioned in all histories
THE CHRISTIAN AND SANITARY COMMISSIONS.
While men of means poured out their wealth most bountifully, it was the mothers, wives and sisters, who stirred men to organized action. None but a soldier or sailor, who when in grevious trouble, whether in camp, hospital, prison or on the march, has received the contrbutions of thoughtful women at home, can fully appreciate even a fractional part of what these two generous commissions did for the country's cause. Their record-although not as full as it should be made-will be found in its proper place in later pages
GENERAL NELSON A. MILES.
WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR.
THE LOYAL LEAGUE.
The general government had its bitter enemies in large numbers scattered here and there among the loyal people of the north, and, while such were not brave enough to go openly and fight on the side of slavery, they secretly organized and in midnight meetings laid plans to dis- courage enlistments, and by the back-fire process aid the enemies of the union. They were principally known as "Knights of the Golden Circle," "Copperheads," and "Canada Skulkers." The surrender of the confederacy, and capture of all its archives, exposed the treason of those who belonged to these several organizations-and the story is told for the first time, as far as Wisconsin citizenship is concerned, in the following pages. It constitutes one of the most interesting features of Wisconsin in the war. Some skipped to foreign parts, and were there relegated to the rear-for everybody hates a coward. Others, through a vicious or mistaken theory as to state rights and the slavery issue, remained at home, frequently stabbing their own government in the back. There were other individuals who were too pure, good and holy to take part on either side, or do anything except find fault with everybody and hide behind one excuse and another, and often behind the skirts of a slender woman.
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