History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin, Part 18

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899. [from old catalog]; Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company
Number of Pages: 1298

USA > Wisconsin > Richland County > History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin > Part 18
USA > Wisconsin > Crawford County > History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin > Part 18

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All the Indians with whom we were sent to treat were represented on the ground, and all that was wanting to begin onr councils we urged forward with all the energy that the officers of the government and their numerous friends could muster. The next day, in com- pany with Gen. Street, the agent of the Wine- bagoes, resident here, several sub-agents and in- terpreters, I met the principal men of the Win- nebagoes, and we impressed upon them the necessity of keeping their young men under subjection, and arranged with them the ont- lines of the manner in which our business should be conducted. The talk was a long one and occupied the afternoon. Gen. Street was very zealous in the service of the government. Gen. McNeil and his officers at the fort erected a council shade near the fort and in about three days we were ready to hold a public council, when Dr. Wolcott's Indians informed me that they could not meet in public council until an Indian was buried, and inquired of me if I objected to the burial, to which I replied that I could not object to the burial, certainly. On the next day, to my regret, I learned they would not assemble in council until the Indian was buried, and again inquired whether I was willing to have the person buried, to which question I replied in the affirmative, when I was informed that the relatives of the deceased would not consent to the burial of the mur- dered person until they had received a horse, as the compensation for his death. Under- standing the difficulty at last, the commissioners gave the horse, the deceased was buried and the Indians agreed to meet in council next day.

I took some pains to get the murderer and the relatives of the deceased together in order to have a perfect reconciliation between them. They shook hands very cordially in appearanec, but the relatives of the deceased person in- formed me privately afterwards that, as soon as the murderer got home with his horse and

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goods, they would kill him and take his prop- erty, which he could better keep than they could until then. If I am correctly informed they did as they assured me they would 'after their arrival in their own country. So that compounding for the murderer only procrasti- nated for a time the punishment of the crime

When everything was in readiness for the opening of the council, the Indians of all the tribes and Nations on the treaty ground attended, and requested to have translated to them, severally, what we said to each tribe, which being assented to on our part, the Win- nebagoes, the Chippewas, Ottawas, Pottawatta- mies, Sioux, Sauks, Foxes and Monomonees, half-breeds, the officers from the fort, the Indi- an agents, sub-agents, interpreters and a great concourse of strangers from every city in the Union; and even from Liverpool, London and Paris, were in attendance. The commissioners sat on a raised beneb facing the Indian chiefs; on each side of them stood the officers of the army in full dress, while the soldiers, in their best attire, appeared in bright array on the sides of the council shade. The ladies belong- ing to the officers' families', and the best families in the Prairie, were seated directly be- hind the commissioners, where they could see all that passed and hear all that was said. Be- hind the principal Indian chiefs sat the com- mon people-first the men, then the women and children, to the number of thousands, who list- ened in breathless and death-like silence to every word that was uttered. The spectacle was grand and morally sublime in the highest degree to the Nations of red men who were present, and when our proposition to sell all their country to their Father had been delivered to them, they requested an exact copy of it in writing; the request was instantly complied with and the council broke up. The next day we addressed the Winnebagoes, as we had the Chippewas, etc., the day before, and at their request gave them a copy of our speech.

After counciling among themselves, the Chip- pewas, etc., answered favorably as to a sale, though they would do nothing yet until they had fixed on their terms.

The Winnebagoes appeared in council and delivered many speeches to us. They de- manded the $20,000 worth of goods. "Wipe out your debt," was their reply, "before you run in debt again to us."

Our goods, owing to the low stage of the water, had not arrived yet, and the Indians feared we did not intend to fulfill Gov. C'ass' agreement of the year before. When our goods did arrive and they saw them they then changed their tone a little; but in the meantime, great uneasiness existed, and I was often seriously advised by Nawkaw and other friends to go into the fort, as Gen. McNeil had done. Col. Menard's ill health had compelled him to leave the ground and go to Gen. Street's, five miles (the general calls it three) from the council house. Unless we left the ground, we were told by the Winnebagoes, that they "would nse a little switch upon us." In plain English, they would assassinate the whole of us out of the fort. Two hundred warriors under Keokuk and Morgan, of Sanks and Foxes, arrived and began their war dance for the United States, and they brought word that thirty steamboats with cannon and United States troops, and 400 warriors of their own, were near at hand. The Winnebagoes were silenced by this intelligence, and by demonstrations, not misunderstood by them.

When Keokuk arrived, he brought two de- serters from the garrison here, whom he had made prisoners on his way up the river. Quas- quawma and his son-in-law, Tia-ma, came with Keokuk. It was a season of great joy with me, who placed more reliance on these friendly warriors than on all our forces. Good as our officers were, our soldiers of the army were too dissipated and worthless to be relied on one moment. Taking Keokuk aside and alone, I told him in plain English all I wanted of him,

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what I would do for him and what I expected from him and his good officers. He replied in good English: "I understand you sir, perfectly, and it shall all be done." It was all done faith- fully, and he turned the tide in our favor.

The goods arrived and also our provisions; Col. Menard's and Gen. McNeil's health were restored and they appeared again at the council house and everything wore a new aspect. They approved of all I had done in their temporary absence.

On the 29th of July, 1829, we concluded our treaty with the Chippewas, Ottawas and Potta- wattamies.

On the Ist day of August a treaty was con- cluded with the Winnebagoes.

So the treaties were executed at last, and about 8,000,000 acres of land added to onr domain, purchased from the Indians. Taking the three tracts, ceded, and forming one whole, it extends from the upper end of Rock Island to the mouth of the Wisconsin; from latitude 41 degrees, 30 minutes, to latitude 48 degrees, 15 minutes, ou the Mississippi. Following the meanderings of the river, it is called 240 miles from south to north. It extends along the Wisconsin and Fox rivers, from west to east, so as to give us a passage across the country from the Mississippi to Lake Michigan. The south part of the purchase extends from Rock Island to Lake Michigan south of the Wisconsin, the Indians now own only reservations where they live, which, as soon as the white people settle on all the ceded lands, will be sold to us, and the Indians will retire above the Wisconsin, or cross the Mississippi, where the bear, the beaver, the deer and the bison invite them. The United States now owns all the country on the east side of the Mississippi, from the Gulf of Mexico to the mouth of the Wisconsin.

When I have erossed Rock river, after hav- ing passed over the interior of the ceded coun- try, I will describe it more particularly.

It remains for me to make a few remarks upon the country along the Mississippi from

Fort Edwards upward, and briefly describe Prairie du Chien.

Ascending the Mississippi, the country ap- peared to rise up out of the river at Fort Ed- wards, and the hills assume a greater elevation still, at Du Buque's mine and tomb not far from Galena. From thence upwards, the bot- tom lands are narrow, the river turns towards the northwest and becomes very crooked, bounded by high hills. Cassville, thirty miles below Prairie du Chien, stands on a narrow bottom, where an opening into the mineral country, in the direction of Mineral Point, pre- sents itself. This easy passage down to the river has located a town here of a few houses, consisting of a tavern, a storehouse for the lead, belonging to the United States; and here a government sub-agent to collect and receive the government's share of lead resides, Maj. Beal.

Opposite to the mouth of the Wisconsin stands Pike's hill, lofty and abrupt, and just above this place, on the eastern bank of the river, begins the low prairie ground on which Fort Crawford and the village of Prairie du Chien stand. The town begins to show itself three miles above the Wisconsin, and extends upwards about nine miles, where it ends. The river is full of islands, and when at its highest altitude in a freshet is three miles in width, from hill to hill. Originally settled by the French, it was once a place of some importance, as the remains of old cellars and chimneys show. That importance is no more, and proba- bly never will be again. Overflowed by high waters, and but little good land near it, with- out waterpower, I see little indncement to build up a town here. On the north side of the Wisconsin there is no land on which a town can be located near the Wisconsin, and the south side is preferable for it, where one will, one day, rise up. The town, though, is a seat of justice for a county of Michigan, and perhaps thirty families, besides those belonging to the garrison, reside here No Indians reside near

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here, and there is no sort of need of nor propri- ety in having an ageney, etc., here for the Win- nebagoes, because Fort Winnebago is the proper place for the agency.

Gen. Street, the agent and near relative of Mr. Barry, the postmaster general, is the pres- ent agent, and his residence, I consider to be about five miles above the fort, though I am aware that Gen. Street's estimated distance is only three miles.

The water found by digging in this prairie is not always good, and that in our well was the worst I ever tasted, operating upon the bowels like glanber salts, and I suffered excessively from using it. Even the food cooked in it af- fected me seriously. The well in the fort is better and some persons obtain water from springs in the river when it is low. The river covers all the town and where the fort is in high water. The Mississippi rising late in the season, and subsiding in the summer solstice, this place must be sickly in summer every year, when a freshet takes such a time to appear. In 1829 there was no such rise in the river, of any amount, and the place was healthy.

The only Indians living on this river below this place and near it, are the Sauks and Foxes. The principal town of the former, on the east side of the Mississippi, is situated on the north side of Rock river, near its mouth, and in sight of the Mississippi. Not many years ago this town contained, it is said, 4,000 or 5,000 inhabi- tants. They have sold all the country east of the river Mississippi, and are withdrawing from it to a new town some ten miles west of the old town, and about the same distance from Rock Island.

The principal town of the Foxes is on the brink of the river near Du Buque's mine, and in sight of his tomb, which is erected on a high hill, where the cross on his grave can be seen from the river to a considerable distance from it. Du Buque was an Indian trader and lived and died here.

The Fox town contains twenty wigwams or upwards, and I presume some 200 Indians, I saw but a few acres of poorly cultivated corn near the town, and the wigwams looked shabby enough. Morgan is the principal warrior of this village, as Keokuk is of the Rock river town.

The Sauks and Foxes were so useful to us as auxiliaries, that 1 feel grateful to them and make a few remarks on their principal men who were with us.

Keokuk, the principal warrior of the Sauks, is a shrewd, politie man, as well as a brave one, and he possesses great weight of character in their national councils. lle is a high-minded, honorable man, and never begs of the whites.

While ascending the Mississippi to join us, at the head of his brave troops, he met, arrested and brought along with him to Fort Crawford, two United States soldiers, who were deserting from the garrison when he met them. I in- formed him that for this act he was entitled to a bounty in money; to which he proudly re- plied, that he acted from motives of friendship towards the United states, and would accept no money for it.

Morgan is the principal warrior of the Foxes, and resides at Du Buque's mine on the western bank of the Mississippi. Though less versatil- ity of talent belongs to him than Keokuk pos- sesses, yet he is a brave man and fond of war. More than a year before we were in this country, this. Indian general had gone to the Sioux country and killed a woman and three children of that Nation, which act produced the war, then raging between the two Nations. This aet has since been dreadfully avenged by a large party, on some twenty individuals of the Foxes.

Tiama, a principal civil chief of the same tribe, is an excellent man, and son-in-law of Quasquawma. Their village is already noticed as being located on the west side of the river, opposite where we lay on an island, at the head of the lower rapids.

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Quasquawma was the chief of this tribe onee, but being cheated out of the mineral country, as the Indians allege, he was degraded from his rank and his son-in-law, Tiama, elected in his stead. The improvisatori, whose name has escaped my recollection, is a shrewd wit and a very good man, certainly a very amiable and agreeable one. He is highly esteemed by all his people.

Tom, a half-blood, is a great pet among the whites. He speaks prairie-wolf French and a little English, in addition to his knowledge of Indian languages.

Of the above named individuals, and several others belonging to these brave and generous allies, I brought away with me as correct a likeness as I ever saw drawn. Gratitude towards them was my motive for being at the expense of these beautiful paintings which have gone to London a year since. Like many other expenses I was necessarily put to, I have never received even one cent from the government towards them, nor have I received one cent, either for my expenses or my services at St. Louis, the lower rapids, Rock Island or Galena. I say this because it has been stated very differently, even on the floor of the House of Representatives. It is not. true that all my expenses were paid by the United States ; nor is it true that my services have been paid for by the government at all. In saying this, I do it in justice to myself as I would to do justice to any other injured individual, however hum- ble in the Nation. I am even yet unpaid, but I never will condescend to beg for my pay at the doors of Congress. I did onee expect very different treatment from my country.

AN INDIAN SCARE.

In 1846 the citizens living contignous to the Wisconsin river were treated to a genuine In- dian seare, and as the Winnebagoes were the supposed enemies, an account in this history is properly given of the event.

In the winter of 1844-5, and while the Legis- lature of the State was in session at Madison, the

capital, a rumor that an Indian war had broken out,came to the ears of the legislators with a thou- sand fearful forebodings, and producing intense excitement. At this time the militia laws had all been repealed, probably with a view to coun- teract the supposed influence of Gov. Doty, and the capital he might have made by the or- ganization of the militia, and the appointment of the officers from among his friends, the ma- jority of the Legislature being opposed to Doty. At this juncture, however, a change in the administration of the general government had changed governors, and Gen. Dodge was again at the helm of the territory. But the law which abolished the militia service with a view to hamper and trammel Doty, was now, in a time of need, found to trammel and hamper Dodge, for though great fear was excited, that plunder and murder would be, or were actually being committed by the Indians, the governor's hands were tied By the law, which he had him- self approved. The representations of the Indian disturbances made to the governor he communicated to the Assembly.

The emergency of the case was such as to call the two Houses together at an evening ses- sion, to receive the governor's message on the subject, and to devise ways and means for the publie defense. And while one was looking at another, at a loss to know what to do, a mem- ber penned and offered a bill to repeal the act by which the militia organization had been abol- ished, and to restore the former laws upon the subject. In offering the bill which contained only a few lines, he moved a suspension of the rules, so that the bill passed at once, and was sent to the council; and by the same process, it was passed there, and in about half an hour from the time it was first offered, the governor had approved of it, and the whole militia of the territory was organized, officers and all, and measures were taken to call out a portion of it, to chastise the supposed marand- ers, when a second communication to the gov- ernor showed that there was no occasion for it.

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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

The first report had grown out of exaggerated sta'ements of some white hunters, who had come in contact with some Indians in the same pursuit, and who probably took some game which the whites would have been glad to have taken ; and possibly some pigs had been taken on the credit of the Indians, but this was never proven against them.

By reference to the Legislative journals, it appears that this matter happened on the last evening, Feb. 3, 1846. The governor com- municated the proceedings of a meeting of the citizens of Muscoda, on the Wisconsin river, in Grant county, dated Sunday night, Feb. 1, 1846, stating as follows : "The citizens of this prairie and surrounding country, having been for the last several months annoyed and harrassed by the depredations of the Winnebago Indians, and submitted to their bullying and insults, have at length been forced to the dernier re- sort ; to take up arms for our protection. This evening a skirmish took place between the In- dians and the citizens, in which four of the former were severely, if not mortally wounded; and from the known character of the Indians, we may naturally expect more serious conse- quences to ensue. A true and correct state- ment of the occurrences of the day is substan- tially as follows : A number of the Indians came down the north side of the Wisconsin river to Capt. Smith's, and stole his canoe. He discovered them and called to them to bring it back, which they refused to do. The captain, with several other men, came over to this shore, found the Indians who took his boat, and chas- tised one or two of them with a stick, and in the melee one of his men was severely hurt with a club in the hands of one of the Indians. The Indians then ran, and the citizens, a num- ber of whom had by this time collected, followed them a little way and returned. In a short time the Indians came back also. All the citizens having by this time assembled, Capt. James B. Estes and Booth advanced towards them, unarmed, and in a peaceable manner,

making friendly manifestations, all of which time the Indians threatened, by drawing their knives, throwing off their blankets, waving their guns in the air, and pointing them toward the whites. Finding it impossible to pacify or appease them they separated, and in a moment they fired upon the citizens ; the next minute their fire was returned, and four of them fell." They then add, that the Indians have sent their runners to collect their scattered bands, and the whites have sent for aid ; that they want the governor's assistance, and are determined 10 kill or drive every Indian on the Wisconsin over the Mississippi; have upwards of forty men under arms, and have chosen James B. Estes for captain.

Gov. Dodge recommended the adoption of a memorial to the secretary of war, asking for a corps of dragoons to protect the frontier settle- ments. "In the course of half an hour," says the Madison Argus of that period, "resolutions were adopted to that effect, and the militia law of the territory revived ;" and on the adjourn- ment of the Legislature, the governor set out immediately for the scene of disturbance, but the excitement had died away and no more trouble was apprehended.

CONCERNING INDIAN MIGRATION. [By Alfred Brunson.]

At what period the Chippewas began to oc- enpy that portion of the country south of Lake Superior, and within the ancient limits of Crawford county, it is difficult to ascertain. Their first council fire within these limits was kindled on the Island of Magdalene, now, La Pointe-but when, neither history or their traditions definitely inform us. Whenever it was, the Sioux occupied the main land, and I was shown points and places on the island, as well as on the main land, where the severest of battles were fought between these warlike tribes. From the best date I have the Chippewas were on this island in 1722; for about that time a trading post existed there, and how long pre- viously is not determined. In 1665, the mis-

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sionary, Claude Allouez reached Kenenana, and interposed his influence in preventing a party of young warriors from going against the Sioux; from which it would appear that Kenewana was then the western limit of the Chippewas, on the south shore of that lake .*

After the Chippewas had gained a foothold upon the Magdalene Island, their first move "inland" was towards the head branches of the Chippewa, and resulted in planting a colony at Lake Flambeau. As early as 1659, the Chip- pewas were near Green bay, and west and north- west of it to the Wisconsin and Lake Superior, from which the Flambeau colony probably re- ceived accessions, and by degrees they extended their conquest down the Chippewa, until the the battle field between them and the Sioux was between the falls of Chippewa and Lake Pepin.

In the meantime this warlike and conquering people extended their excursions to the head of the lake, and up the St. Louis river; and pass- ing the falls by a nine mile portage, they con- tinued to ascend that river, and the Savannah branch of it,-and by a five mile portage reached the waters of Sandy Lake, on the Mississippi, where they planted a colony, and this region became the battle ground between them and the Sioux in that direction until the line was pushed down the river to the Sauk rapids. In 1825, when General Cass, as governor of Michi- gan and superintendent of Indian affairs, had a general congress of Indian Nations at Prairie du Chien, to settle the boundaries of their respee- tive lands, a dispute arose between the Sioux and Chippewas, as to the line between them. The latter claimed to the St. Peter and the Mis- sissippi rivers, while the former claimed to Lake Superior, and averred that their fathers had al- ways occupied and owned the country to that point.

General Cass inquired of the Chippewas, "on what ground they claimed the country, the Sioux having occupied it before the Chippewas came to it." Upon this Hole-in-the-day, then

but a young man, rose and said, "We claim it on the same ground that you claim this country from the King of England-by conquest." "Then," said Governor Cass, "you are entitled to it." One of the most sanguine battles fought between these tribes was at the mouth of the Crow Wing river, as near as I conld learn, from Indian tradition, about the year 1768. The battle lasted four days between seventy Chip- pewas and 400 Sioux, the most of the latter being killed. In 1843 the remains of the fortifica- tions, such as holes dug in the ground, and breast works thrown up by the Chippewas, were plainly visible; and the affair was explained to me by William Aitkin, Esq.

The next Indian occupants of a portion of the soil in this original country, seem to have been the Sacs, (Sauks or Saukies) and the Foxes, the latter called Ottigaumies by Carver. At what time they commenced their occupation is uncertain. In 1673, and for some time be- fore, they lived on Fox river, not far from Green bay. But in 1766, Carver found the Sauks at Sauk Prairie, and the Foxes at Prairie du Chien. And, according to his account of the time of building their village-it being thirty years previous to his reaching the place-it must have been as early as 1736, and perhaps earlier. These confederated tribes, who had been like Ishmael, their hands against everybody, and, of course, in self defence, everybody's hand against them, were driven from the St. Law- rence step by step, until they were reduced in numbers, and compelled to unite their frag- ments of bands for mutual defence and self- protection, and settle on Fox river, fifty miles from Green bay, where in 1706, they were de- feated by the French and some allied Indians, who killed and took most of them prisoners .* It is probable that soon after this event they moved over upon the Wisconsin river, and wrested the country from the Sioux, with whom and the Chippewas they kept a continual war, until, as Black Hawk says, in his life by Le *Carver's Travels, p 45.

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History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin, Part 18

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899. [from old catalog]; Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company Number of Pages: 1298

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899. [from old catalog]; Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company
Number of Pages: 1298