USA > Wisconsin > Fond du Lac County > Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, past and present, Volume I > Part 2
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
ernment all their lands east of the Mississippi. Considerable difficulty was ex- perienced in removing them beyond the Mississippi and they have several times changed their place of abode. Their numbers have greatly diminished.
The Chippeways, by reason of their numerousness and the immensity of the area embraced within the limits of their recognized territory, as well as by the continuance of their distinctive tribal relations, form one of the leading divisions of Wisconsin. Their country included all now known as northern Wisconsin, except the Menomonee country on the east, or the present counties of Door, Ke- waunee and a portion of Brown. Besides this vast region the tribe was ac- corded the lands north of Lake Superior. The name is commonly written and spoken "Chippeway," but the best authorities now agree that the correct spell- ing is Otchipwe. The name is employed interchangeably with Ojibway. The French also spoke of them as Sauteux, from the fact that the earliest encounter with them was at Sault Ste. Marie. This name is still applied to them by the Canadians. In 1642 Fathers Jogues and Raymbaut began a mission at Sault Ste. Marie, where there were 2,000 Chippeways. In character this tribe is de- scribed brave in war, expert in hunting, fond of adventure, and averse to agri- cultural labor. From remote times their contests with rival tribes are noted. They warred with the Foxes, the Sioux and the Iroquois, driving the Sioux from the upper regions of the Mississippi and the Red river of the north. Their style of fighting shows that they were more used to wooded countries than to the plains, as they were oftener victorious when forcing their foes to battle among forests, than when meeting them on prairies. Their numbers were greatly reduced by war, during the half century succeeding the establishment of missions in 1642. They were devoted to the French down to the time of the end of French domination. During the American war for independence they were under British influence, but made peace by the treaties of Fort McIntosh, in 1785, and Fort Harmar in 1789. So far as their policies affect the history of northern Wisconsin, the reader is referred to the article entitled The Public Domain, given later on in this work. Therein will be found mention of such treaties with the Chippeways and other tribes as are required to complete the chain of title in the government to the lands of the state.
The Sacs and Foxes are one of the tribes of the Algonquin family. Father Allouez found a village of them in 1665, upon the shores of Green Bay, and early in 1670 he visited a village of them located upon the Fox river about four leagues from its mouth. Upon his first visit he described them as of wander- ing habit, great in numbers and fierce and savage beyond all other tribes. Polyg- amy was common amongst them, and the women and children were very nu- merous. The Foxes were of two stocks-the Outagamies or Foxes, and the Musquakink, or men of red clay. They were supposed to have come from as far east as the St. Lawrence, and to have been driven from time to time, first to near Detroit, then to Saginaw (a name derived from the Sacs), and then by the Iroquois to Green Bay and thence up the Fox river. Allouez established among these his mission of St. Mark and in two years rejoiced in the baptism of sixty children and some adults. In 1684 the Sacs sent out warriors against the Five Nations but they soon became hostile to the French. They afterward became reconciled but this reconciliation was of short duration and their ill will to- ward the French continued. The consequence of this spirit of enmity was that
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
in 1716 their territory was invaded and they were forced to sue for peace. This compulsory friendship lasted but a short time. The Foxes numbered five hun- dred men, with an abundance of women and children. They were industrious, and raised large crops of Indian corn. In 1728 the French sent a second ex- pedition against them and the Menomonees and Winnebagoes, destroying wig- wams and fields. They were attacked for a third time in 1730 and defeated, and again in 1734 by the same foe, against whom in this last attack they were more successful than formerly. In 1736 the Sacs were connected with the govern- ment of Canada, though at heart far from brotherly in feeling to the French. In 1754 came the struggle between France and Great Britain, and the Sacs and Foxes allied themselves with their former foe and conqueror against the Eng- lish but were forced into subjection to the new victor. In 1761 the two nations, about equally divided, numbered about seven hundred warriors. The Sacs mi- grated to the westward but the Foxes, or a portion of them, still remained upon the waters of the Fox river. During the Revolutionary war the Sacs and Foxes adhered to the English. At the commencement of this century what territory remained to them in Wisconsin was in the extreme southwestern part of the state. This they ceded to the United States in 1804. From that date these allied tribes cannot be considered as belonging to the state of Wisconsin. An episode in their subsequent history comes in, however, incidentally in the annals of the state, and that is the Black Hawk war.
The Pottawatomies were neighbors to the Winnebagoes upon Green Bay in 1639. Thirty years later they were still upon its southern shore in two villages, and ten years subsequent to that they occupied at least one village in the same region. Upon the expiration of the first quarter of the eighteenth century a part only of this nation was in that vicinity, upon the islands at the mouth of the bay. These islands were then known as the Pottawatomie Islands, and con- sidered as the ancient abode of these Indians. This tribe had scattered to the southward, one band on the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan, and the other near Detroit. The Pottawatomies did not keep themselves distinct as a tribe but fraternized with various other tribes. These "united tribes" as they were called, claimed all the lands of their respective tribes and of other nations, and gave the United States no little trouble when possession was taken by the general govern- ment. Finally, by a treaty in 1833, their claims, such as they were, to the lands along the western shore of Lake Michigan, within the present state of Wis- consin, extending westward to Rock river, were purchased by the United States, with permission to retain possession of their ceded lands for three years longer, after which time this united nation of Chippewas, Ottawas and Pottawatomies began to disappear and soon were no longer seen in the state.
Besides the five tribes-Menomonees, Winnebagoes, Chippewas, Sacs and Foxes and Pottawatomies-many others, whole or in part, have, since the terri- tory now constituting the state was first visited by white men, been occupants of its territory. Of these some are only known as having once lived in what is now Wisconsin ; others, such as the Hurons, Illinois, Kickapoos, Mascoutins, Miamis. Noquets, Ottawas and Sioux are recognized as Indians once dwell- ing in this region. Yet, so transitory was their occupation, or so little is known of them, that they can scarcely be claimed as belonging in the state. Commenc- ing in 1822, and continuing at intervals through some of the following years,
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
was the migration to Wisconsin from the state of New York of the remains of portions of four tribes : the Oneidas, Stockbridges, Munsees and Brothertowns. The Oneidas finally located west of Green Bay, where they still reside. Their reservation contained over sixty thousand acres, and was wholly within the present counties of Brown and Outagamie. The tribe obtained a fee simple to the land in 1907 and much of it has been sold to the whites. The Stock- bridges and Munsees, who first located above Green Bay, on the east side of Fox river, afterward moved to the east side of Winnebago lake. They now occupy a reservation joining the southwest township of the Menomonee reser- vation, in Shawano county. The Brothertowns first located on the east side of Fox river, but subsequently moved to the east side of Winnebago lake, where, in 1839, they broke up their tribal relations and became citizens of Wisconsin Territory.
NICOLET'S EXPLORATIONS
To Jean Nicolet belongs the honor of the first place in the history of Wiscon- sin. Nor is that honor due from mere accidental events, as is so often the case in the discovery of new countries; for it was now by the deliberate accomplish- ment of a laborious and dangerous undertaking, whose purpose was, so far as evidence can now be adduced, substantially achieved. The sparse records of the life of this man contain but the barest outlines of his earlier days, though fu- ture research among original documents, it is to be hoped, will shed more light on the obscured details. It is known that he was of French nativity, born in Normandy, and that he emigrated to Canada in the year 1618, being a portage of Champlain. The date of his birth is not preserved in any document extant. Upon his arrival in New France, he at once took up his residence at Allumettes Island, on the Ottawa, that he might the better study the Indian tongue and thereby fit himself for the office of interpreter. In 1622, but four years afer his arrival, he is mentioned as having acquired an extensive influence over the Al- gonquin tribes. From 1623 to 1631, Nicolet lived with the tribes of the Nipis- sing. This is stated on the authority of his friend, Father Le Jeune, although other of the "Jesuit Relations" record that the period of his residence with the Nipissing tribes was from 1629 to 1632.
It is determined by those who have made a special study of the subject, that Nicolet came to Green Bay in the summer of 1634, and returned to Quebec in 1635. Parkman observes that Nicolet was a remarkable man, and so he must have been, to win the confidence of the savage tribes to that degree which en- abled him to penetrate into the remote regions of their homes and there conduct a peaceful enterprise with the warlike Winnebagoes, for the advancement of commerce in fur and peltry.
The long journey from Quebec was undertaken at the suggestion of Cham- plain, and in the official capacity of interpreter of the Company of One Hundred Associates of New France, which was formed in 1627, with a view to the de- velopment of the immense resources of the western wilderness in furs. The mission of Nicolet was not to establish peace, as distinguished from warfare, be- tween the Hurons and Winnebagoes, but was rather a mission of peace, to ce- ment the friendly relations of these tribes, as well as the Nez Perces or Otta- was, and other tribes, in the general interest of the French.
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
Nicolet visited the Hurons while on his westward journey, at their home on the eastern side of the lake which bears their name, and negotiated with them. It is recorded by Parkman that upon his arrival in Green Bay, at "Winnebago Town, he sent some of his Indian attendants to announce his coming, put on a robe of damask, and advanced to meet the expectant crowd with a pistol in each hand. The squaws and children fled, screaming that it was a manito, or spirit, armed with thunder and lightning, but the chiefs and warriors regaled him with so bountiful a hospitality that one hundred and twenty beavers were devoured at a single feast." With such a dramatic display was the white man introduced upon the soil of the great commonwealth of Wisconsin.
The Jesuit Paul le Jeune, writing in 1640, said : "Upon the borders of Green Bay are the Menomonees ; still further on, the Winnebagoes, a sedentary people and very numerous. Some Frenchmen call them the 'Nation of the Stinkards,' because the Winnebago word 'winipeg' signifies 'stinking water.' Now they thus call the water of the sea, therefore these people call themselves Winne- bagoes, because they came from the shores of a sea of which we have no knowledge. Consequently, we must not call them the 'Nation of the Stinkard,' but the 'Nation of the Sea.'"
It is asserted by several writers that Nicolet continued his journey down the Wisconsin river to a point "within three days' journey of the Mississippi ;" but this statement is shown, by the monograph referred to, to be an impossibility. It is therein given as historic fact that the renewed journey extended up the Fox river, to within three days' voyage of the Wisconsin, where it is supposed he found the Mascoutins. This correction is one of the most valuable that has been made by Professor Butterfield. After returning to Green Bay, Nicolet visited many of the surrounding nations. He retraced his way to the St. Law -. rence in the summer of 1635, reaching Quebec in safety. The parish records of that city furnish the information that this brave man was occupied with various duties from 1635 to the date of his death, and show conclusively that his journey must have been made at the date given, since he was not absent from Quebec long enough at any one time to have performed the feat subsequent to 1635.
Nicolet married Marguerite Couillard, at Quebec, October 7, 1637. He lost his life while on a mission to save a poor Abenaqui from the Algonquins, by the capsizing of his boat, October 31, 1642. To this bold adventurer, whose knowl- edge of the western tribes was gained by actual experience, must all praise be given for having opened to the devoted followers of the Cross the way to new fields of usefulness.
EARLY JESUIT MISSIONS
The pipe of peace which Nicolet smoked with the western tribes was not pro- ductive of immediate good returns. The death of Champlain and the change in purposes and ambitions among the Canadian settlers, produced in the east an almost total forgetfulness of the upper lake country. For at least two decades of years after the discovery of Wisconsin by Nicolet, very dim and shadowy is its history. Here and there references to Green Bay and the Indians inhab- iting its shores, are made by Jesuit missionaries in their "Relations." The "Re- lations" were the records kept by the priests of their experiences in their ar-
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
duous calling. For many years, beginning in 1632, the Superior of the Jesuit Mission in Canada-then New France-sent every summer to Paris his reports, which .embodied or were accompanied by those of his subordinates. For forty years these reports were annually published in Paris, and were known as the "Jesuit Relations." Those which are of interest to the student of Wisconsin history begin with the year 1639-40 and extend to 1672. Says one of these records of date 1648: "This Superior Lake extends to the northwest, that is to say, between the west and the north. A peninsula, or strip of land quite small, separates the Superior Lake from another third lake, called by us the 'Lake of the Puants' (Green Bay) which also discharges itself into our fresh water sea, through a mouth which is on the other side of the peninsula, about ten leagues more to the west than the Sault. This third lake extends between the west and the southwest, more toward the west, and is almost equal in size to our fresh water sea. On its shores dwell a different people, of an unknown language, that is to say, a language that is neither Algonquin nor Huron. These people (the Winnebagoes) are called the Puants, not on account of any un- pleasant odor that is peculiar to them, but because they say they came from the shores of the sea far distant toward the west, the waters of which, being salt, they call themselves 'the people of the Stinking Water.'"
Another account written in 1654, after giving the arrival at Montreal of a fleet of canoes loaded with furs, belonging to friendly Indians, who came from the upper country a distance of four hundred leagues, speaks of a part of these Indians being the Tobacco nations of the Hurons, and a portion Ottawas, and adds: "These tribes have abandoned their ancient country and have retired to- ward the more distant nation in the vicinity of the Great Lake, whom we call Puants, in consequence of their having dwelt near the sea, which is salt, and which our savages call 'stinking water.'" The Hurons had been entirely over- thrown by the Iroquois in 1649 and 1650, and had abandoned their country. A division of this nation, called the Tobacco Indians, with such other Hurons as had taken refuge with them, settled on Mackinac Island, where they were joined by a branch of the Ottawas, nicknamed by the French Cheveux Releves, or Standing Hair; hence this statement in the "Relations" that these nations had "retired toward the more distant" Winnebagoes.
Again, in the same year, this is recorded: "In the islands of the 'lake of the people of the sea,' whom some persons wrongly call the 'Puants,' there are many tribes whose language closely resembles the Algonquins." In 1656, one of the Jesuits writes: "Our attention has been directed toward a number of nations in the neighborhood of the 'Nation of the Sea,' whom some persons have called the 'Puants,' in consequence of their having formerly dwelt on the shores of the sea, which they call 'Winipeg,' that is to say, 'stinking water.'" Then follows an enumeration of the villages of Illinois and Sioux Indians, and of two other nations, the "Ponarak" and "Kiristinous." Such are the meager records of Wisconsin after its visitation by Nicolet, down to the year 1658.
In August, 1656, a band of the Ottawas, or other Algonquins, numbering three hundred, and in fifty birch bark canoes, appeared upon the St. Law- rence! These savages demanded commerce with the French, and missionaries for the boundless west. This was the beginning of the commerce of the north- west. But for the greed of the fur trader and the zeal of the Jesuit, the story
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
of Nicolet would soon have passed from the mind of the Frenchmen inhabiting the St. Lawrence; and the discovery of Wisconsin, like the discovery of the Mississippi by De Soto, would soon have faded from the memory of man.
But a missionary, whose name is not yet appended to the "Relation," and it is consequently, uncertain who the reverend father was, took from the lips of an Indian captive, named Asatanik, and a man of considerable importance, an account of his having in the month of June, 1658, set out from Green Bay for the north, passing the rest of the summer and the following winter near Lake Superior-so called because of its being above Lake Huron. This Indian informed the Jesuit of the havoc and desolation of the Iroquois , war in the west ; how it had reduced the Algonquin nations about Lake Superior and Green Bay. The same missionary saw at Quebec two Frenchmen, who had just arrived from the upper countries with three hundred Algonquins in sixty canoes, laden with peltries. These fur traders had passed the winter of 1659 on the shores of Lake Superior, during which time they made several trips among the surrounding tribes. In their wanderings they probably visited some of the northern parts of what is now Wisconsin. They saw, at six days' jour- ney beyond the lake toward the southwest, a tribe composed of the remainder of Hurons of the Tobacco nation, compelled by the Iroquois to abandon Macki- nac, and to bury themselves thus deep in the forests, that they might not be bound by their enemies. The two traders told the tales they had heard of the ferocious Sioux, and of a great river upon which they dwelt-the "great wa- ter" of Nicolet's guides. Thus a knowledge of the Mississippi began to dawn again upon the civilized world. It may be well to remember in this connection that the fur traders came to what is now Wisconsin in advance generally of the missionaries. They led the way for the Jesuit fathers; but as trade was their object, and they left no record of their visits, only vague knowledge is had of what they really saw or did. But slight mention is made of them in the Relations, where, as much as possible, their presence and doings are kept in the background.
The narratives of the Indian captive and of two Frenchmen were not lost upon the zealous Jesuits, for, two years later, Rene Menard attempted to plant a mission on the southern shore of Lake Superior but perished in the forest by starvation or the tomahawk. Thoroughly inured to Indian life, with many a dialect of Huron and Algonquin at his command, this missionary, in endeavor- ing to establish the Cross so far to the westward, went, with eight Frenchmen and a number of Ottawas, starting from Three Rivers, Canada, August 28, 1660. He made his way to "a large bay" upon the southern shore of the lake, in all probability, what is now known as Keweenaw, Michigan. Here, however, he met with little success in founding a mission. He subsequently determined to visit some Hurons, who were then located upon, or near, the Noquet Islands in the mouth of Green Bay, and who had sent to implore the missionary to come amongst them, as they had long been destitute of a pastor, and many of them were fast relapsing into pagan habits. It should be remembered that the Hu- rons proper, and their allies and kindred of the Tobacco nation, had, many years before, while living near the Georgian Bay at Lake Huron, Canada, received the Jesuit missionaries at their villages and numbers had professed Christian- ity. Three of Menard's companions were sent to explore the way. Descending
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
the Menomonee river, they finally reached the Huron village, where they found a few wretched Indians-mere living skeletons. On their way they encountered great hardships, owing to the rapid current of the stream, its portages and prec- ipices. Convinced of the impossibility of Menard's reaching the Hurons, or remaining with them, if he did, they returned, encountering still greater diffi- culties in ascending the river. These Frenchmen were, doubtless, in their peri- lous journey, many times upon what is now territory of Wisconsin-the Me- nomonee forming the northeastern boundary of the state. On their arrival at the lake they implored the aged missionary not to attempt a journey evidently beyond his 'strength. But to their remonstrance he interposed, "I must go if it , cost me my life." He set out with one Frenchman and some Hurons. His seventeen other companions returned to the St. Lawrence. Menard was soon left by the Hurons, and was afterward lost from his companion, who sought for him, but in vain. It seems that while his attendant was employed in transport- ing a canoe, Father Menard accidentally became separated from him. This was probably at the first rapids in the Menomonee river as we ascend that stream. It is possible, therefore, that the father may have perished upon what is now the soil of Wisconsin. This was about the Ioth of August, 1661. With him perished the first mission-if, indeed, it can be called one-upon the shores of Lake Superior. His faithful companion, Donne John Guerin, reached the Huron village in safety. There was not at that time, another missionary station nearer than Montreal. But the failure of this first attempt did not discourage the Jesuits or quench their enthusiasm. But who was the man to cope with the thousand difficulties surrounding the establishment of a mission so far in western wilds ?
With better hopes, undismayed by the sad fate of Menard, indifferent to hunger, nakedness and cold; to the wreck of their ships of bark; and to fatigue and privations by night and by day-in August, 1665, Father Claude Allouez embarked on a mission, by way of the Ottawa, to the far west. Early in Sep- tember he reached the rapids through which the waters of Lake Superior rush to Lake Huron, and admired the beautiful river, with its woody isles and in- viting bays. On the 2d of that month he entered the Great Lake, which the savages revere as a divinity, and of which the entrance presents a spectacle of magnificence rarely excelled in the rugged scenery of the north. He passed the lofty ridge of naked sand which stretches along the shore its drifting heaps of barrenness; he urged his canoe by the cliffs of pictorial sandstone, which for twelve miles rise three hundred feet in height, fretted by the chafing waves into arches and bastions, caverns and towering walls, heaps of prostrate ruins, and erect columns crowned with fantastic entablatures. Landing on the south shore; he said mass, thus consecrating the forests which he claimed for a Christian king. Sailing beyond the bay of St. Theresa (so named by Menard, now Ke- weenaw Bay), and having vainly sought for a mass of fine copper, of which he had heard rumors, (this being the first known of that metal by the whites), on the Ist day of October he arrived at the great village of the Chippewas, on the west shore of the bay of Chagouamigong, or Chegoimegon (now Chequame- gon or Ashland bay, in Ashland and Bayfield counties). It was at a moment when the young warriors were bent on a strife with the warlike Sioux. A grand council of ten or twelve neighboring nations was held, to wrest the hatchet from
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