History of Dane County, Wisconsin, Part 57

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1304

USA > Wisconsin > Dane County > History of Dane County, Wisconsin > Part 57

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

A.b. Mainchild (DECEASED.) MADISON.

381

HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.

divided the prey, allowing a liberal share to Rasdall's party, although quite short of food them- selves. The Winnebago Indians, at that time, were regarded as friendly. The Sacs and Foxes had been displeased by the Pottawatomies and Winnebagoes, which led to a visit from Big Thunder to the region of the Four Lakes about that time. The Indians then appeared to be more provident, for in 1831, 1832 and 1833, Rasdall believed that they raised not less than 3,000 bushels of corn at the various fields and villages about the lakes. This was mostly stored in places arranged below ground, inclosed by the trunks of small trees, with which it was covered, and then often covered with earth.

"In the month of June, 1832, was the first assault from the Indians in this region of country. At that time, three men were killed near the rude fort which had been reared at Blue Mounds. The Indians seemed to cherish cruel intentions, as was inferred from their treatment of the bodies of these men, after they were slain, for they were horribly mutilated. These men were Smith, Force and Green ; others have only referred to the names of Force and Green, which has led to the impression that Mr. Smith may not have been killed at that precise time. Mr. Rasdall was one of fourteen men who were sent forward as a scout, when the army was pursuing Black Hawk from Rock River westward, before the battle at Wisconsin Heights. His party encamped about ten miles east of the Catfish [Yahara].

" They left their encampment early in the morning, and preceded the main body about two miles, crossing the Catfish, and reaching the present site of the city of Madison. Here an Indian was seen coming up from the shore of Lake Monona. He seated himself upon the bank, appar- ently indifferent to his fate. In a moment after, his body was pierced by several balls, one of which passed in at the temple and out at the back part of his head. Mr. Rasdall said the Indian proved to have been seated upon a grave, where he probably seated himself with the heroic intention of ending his days upon the grave of some dear friend or kindred. This, he thought, occurred about 8 o'clock in the morning, possibly earlier. The Indian was seated with his back partly toward the party, and was turning, apparently to look at them, when he received the shot. If the party had more fully appreciated the character of their victim, his life would, most likely, have been saved ; but, so frequent had been the deceptions practiced upon the whites, that it was not deemed safe to trust him, and they were at the time impressed with the idea that he was one of a party lying near in ambush.

" This party, which was commanded by Capt. Gentry, was sent forward in order to recon- noiter, and prevent a surprise by the main body, for they were well assured that the main body of Indians was but a short distance in advance, as was afterward proved, for this was the morning of the memorable 21st of July, near the evening of which was fought the battle of Wisconsin Heights. They hastened forward, passing a little north of what is now the Capitol Park, in Madi- son, and along Lake Mendota, near the University. When near Pheasant Branch, they saw an Indian in advance of them, who continued for the same distance for a short time, with no apparent definite purpose; when he suddenly placed himself behind a tree, from which he fired at them. As he had plainly exhibited his intentions, their course was very plain, and he was soon slain by a shot from one of the party. By spreading out to right and left, his place of refuge from them was of little avail, and in an effort to escape he was shot down. So hot was their chase, that no time was appropriated to the examination of his body ; but some weeks afterward, and after the prairie had been burned over, on examination of his body, the watch which had been taken from the body of Mr. Force was found among his effects. The watch was the more readily recognized, as it had been used at the fort at Blue Mounds to regulate the service of sentinels. Mr. Rasdall, with his party, hastened onward, after their adventure with the Indian near Pheasant Branch, and was engaged with the army under Gens. Henry and Dodge at the Wisconsin.

" During the battle, Mr. Rasdall said an Indian of noble form stood upon a high rock, apparently engaged in cheering on his men, when a gun, considerably larger than others, was brought to bear upon him, but without effecting any injury. He soon retreated from his posi- tion. This Indian was supposed to have been the old chief, Black Hawk.

382

HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.

" Another incident which illustrated the mode of Indian warfare was related, showing the necessity of meeting them with some tact. As a number of men were in close proximity to some straggling Indians in the midst of the battle, and were firing from behind bowlders, logs or any- thing that would afford protection, a man, who was near Mr. Rasdall, would often raise his head above the log in order to reconnoiter. While thus engaged, a ball from the gun of an Indian, who was concealed quite near them, and before unobserved, took effect just above the eye. The poor fellow thus paid a dear forfeit for his disregard of the advice given him by his more careful companions.

" During the years referred to, other scenes were being enacted, and by other parties, in the Four Lakes region. On the 15th and 16th of October, 1832, Capt. Gideon Low, with Privates James Halpin and Archibald Crisman, encamped on the Monona Lake ridge. At that time, about five hundred Indians were encamped between where the Capitol now stands and the shore of Lake Monona. These Indians came here for the purpose of traffic with a French trader, who who had his goods in a temporary Indian-built hut. The name of this trader was Louis Armnel [Oliver Emell]. Capt. Low and his command came down from the Portage (Fort Winnebago), in pursuit of some deserters, whom they readily found, as they had imbibed too freely of the French trader's bad whisky to be well qualified to secrete themselves. One of them had taken so great liberty in his debauch that he was unable to be carried back im- mediately. The amiable officer and his command, were led to patronize the drinking depart- ment which was conducted by the French trader, quite as much as corresponded well with their mission.

" This expedition came from the Fort by the way of Dekorra and Hastings' Creek, now known as Enspringer's, and then across the prairie and along the northwest side of Lake Men- dota, through the old plat of the City of the Four Lakes, and around the west end of the lake, through the present University grounds. A cabin was built at Enspringer's place at a very early day. This house, which for some time served as a resort for persons coursing through the country, was supposed to have been burned by a soldier named John H. Megan, who had been flogged and drummed out of the garrison at Fort Winnebago, to which punishment he was subjected for selling liquors clandestinely. The man perished from cold the night following, about eleven miles toward Galena, along what is known as the military road. The poor fellow, probably finding that he would not be able to stand the severe cold, strapped himself to a tree with the fastenings of his soldier's knapsack. He was soon after discovered, frozen stiff, by an expedition on its way from Galena to Fort Winnebago, where his effects, including $500 in gold, were taken, and forwarded to the War Department, where they might be claimed by his friends. A command was immediately sent back to bury him. His body is supposed to rest at the foot of the tree under which he perished. This was about midway between Hastings' and Runey's, between which places there were no habitations at that period, and this was the way most com- monly traveled by persons who were passing from Fort Winnebago to Madison."

" Rasdall at one time kept a trading store on the east side of King and Webster streets, in Madison, and on one occasion a young Indian entered his store and attacked him with an open knife. Rasdall was unarmed, but, after guarding the blows, was finally able to wrench the knife from the hands of the Indian, and, though wounded across the back of his fingers, pursued him out into the street, where he caught and threw him down and then struck at him with the knife while he held him down with one hand. The knife each time struck a heavy buckskin belt the Indian wore, and thus failed to injure him. The father of the young man, coming up at the time, rushed up to Rasdall and besought him to spare the life of his son and take his, as he was an old man and had few moons to live. The appeal touched the heart of Rasdall, and, though naturally rash and vindictive, he allowed the young man to get up and go off with his father without further molestation."

Wallace Rowan, one of the pioneers of Dane County, whose name appears on the list of those enumerated in July, 1836, lived in what is now the town of Cross Plains. Of his early history nothing is known. He was largely employed in trafficking with the Indians,

383

HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.

but was also inclined to "settle down," as the phrase is, instead of leading the wandering life of the trader. He was the owner, by purchases from the Government, of several tracts of land in what is now Dane County, but soon after disposed of them. He left the county late in 1836.

Rowan was the first settler in what is now Columbia County. On the 6th day of June, 1836, he entered, at the Green Bay Land Office, the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 34, Township 11 north, of Range 9 east, in what is now the town of Dekorra, adjoining the village of Poynette. This was the first land entered in the county, but it was then Brown County, in Michigan Territory, afterward Brown County, Wisconsin Territory, subsequently Portage County, Wisconsin Territory ; then Columbia County, Wisconsin Territory ; finally Columbia County, State of Wisconsin, and so it remains. He moved from Dane County to his forty acres in what is now Columbia County. " I was at his house," says Moses M. Strong, "on the 19th day of February, 1837, and there was no appearance of his having just arrived there." He was living in a log house, built by himself on his own land, and he went there to stay. There was no other settler (as the term settler is usually understood), within the limits of what is now Columbia County, so early as Rowan.

Rowan's house was a double log tenement, built for the purpose of trafficking with the Indians and as a house of entertainment for travelers. It was on the military road that ran from Prairie du Chien, by the way of Fort Winnebago, to Fort Howard. On this highway, there was considerable travel for a number of years. Rowan's tavern was a little south of what is now Dole's mill, near a large spring. Rowan was a kind-hearted man, perfectly honest, one in whom you would at first sight be persuaded you could put confidence. His wife, though not so refined as her husband, was equal to him in kindness to travelers and friends. Rowan was a man of medium height, rather thin in flesh, and of a somewhat dark complexion. He had great conver- sational powers, was very social, and took great pains to make everybody who stopped with him as comfortable as his situation would permit. He carried on a small farm at the same time, raising corn, potatoes, oats and the very best kinds of vegetables. He had a large family of children. His oldest daughter Mr. Rowan always called " Ducky." She was a splendid girl- handsome, smart and well-behaved. His second daughter was called "Pop." Rowan also kept a trading-house at Portage City, in 1838. " A daughter of Mr. Rowan," says the Wisconsin Enquirer of June 1, 1839, "who resides twelve miles this side of the Portage, was on Tuesday last shockingly burned, her clothes having caught fire during the absence of her parents from the house: Her recovery is very doubtful. She is eight or nine years old."

In 1840, with a man by the name of Wood, he made a claim on the Baraboo River. They built a saw-mill just at the upper end of Baraboo Village. They supplied the lumber that was used in building up the village, and rafted lumber down the river, which was so crooked that it caused them a good deal of trouble to reach the Wisconsin. In 1842, Rowan left Columbia County, and took his family with him to Baraboo. He soon after died ; his beautiful daughter quickly followed her father to the grave, and then the mother.

Rowan and his wife were from the State of Indiana, as understood by a remark made by Mrs. Rowan, who, when asked to what tribe she belonged, answered, " Gol darn it, I don't belong to no tribe ! I am from Indianer !"

There have been many stories told of Rowan's Hotel. An old settler relates this one : " I arrived there in 1837, at about 11 o'clock P. M., on horseback. The hostler, a Frenchman, was yet up, making fires to keep those comfortable who were sleeping on the floor. After taking care of my horse, I went into the house. There was a good fire, and the floor was covered with men, sleeping. I asked the French hostler for something to eat; so he went into the kitchen and brought me a whole duck and two potatoes. He said that was all he could find cooked. After eating, I felt like lying down. He pointed to a place between two men. I took my blan- ket and crowded myself into it. Next morning the teamsters got up to feed their teams, and, in taking out their corn, they scattered some inside and outside the house. James Duane Doty, (afterward Governor), was lying next to the door, in his robes ; I was next to him, in my blan- ket. A lean, long old sow found the corn that the teamsters had scattered outside the door.

384

HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY

This encouraged her to follow up the corn that was scattered inside. Finding some among Doty's robes, she put her nose under him and rolled him over, when he exclaimed : 'Landlord! Landlord ! you must postpone my breakfast for some time, as I have not yet got rested.' Instead of the landlord disturbing him, it was the old sow. Then I heard some curious noise outside, which kept me awake ; so I got up, and found that the noise was created by a modern grist-mill, erected in front of the door, for grinding corn into meal. A pestle hung to the end of a spring- pole : there was a mortar made by burning out a hollow in the top of a stump. We all of us had the first mess made out of this mill, and you could compare it to nothing but the fine sift- ings of stone coal, such as you find in a blacksmith-shop. We had good coffee and plenty of honey. We made a hearty breakfast, and were thankful for it."

Perry Haney, another of " ye ancient pioneers," well remembered by the old settlers of the county, was a resident of what is now the town of Cross Plains. Of his early history noth- ing is known. He was one of those enumerated as residing in what is now Dane County, in July, 1836. He was, in the true sense of the term, a borderer. His home was near the pres- ent depot in Cross Plains. He lived in a small log house ; was married; his wife's maiden name was Baxter. He remained in the county until after the Territory became a State, when, in true pioneer style, " he went West ;" but, of the manner of his going, history is necessarily silent. Mention has already been made of Haney's shooting the Frenchman Pelkie. It is recorded that they " had the dispute about a claim of land in Cross Plains, and Haney shot the Frenchman through the thigh, the ball entering the folding leaf of a cherry table, and which for years after- ward was shown by Haney to his friends as a curiosity. Haney, however, took care of Pelkie until his final recovery."

It is also related that Haney at one time borrowed $50 of a citizen of Madison, and ten- dered him his note, which the latter refused, remarking that it was a matter of honor between Haney and himself, and all he wished was that the money should be returned at a given date. Haney was never known to honor his note, but this matter of verbal promise to pay was the highest form of integrity to him, and, on the appointed day, Haney passed over the lawful amount with a nervous earnestness that he never was known to experience at any other time when his note of hand fell due.

EARLY GOVERNMENT OF THE DANE COUNTY REGION.

The first civilized claimants to the territory now included within the boundaries of Wiscon. sin were the French. The whole of the Northwest was claimed by France from 1671 to 1763 when it was surrendered to the British. By the " Quebec Act" of 1774, all of this region was placed under the local administration of Canada. It was, however, practically put under a des- potic military rule, and so continued until possession passed to the United States. Before the last-mentioned event, and during and after the Revolution, the conflicting claims of Virginia, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut to portions of the country, were relinquished to the general Government. All these claims were based upon supposed chartered rights, Virginia adding to hers the right of conquest, as she contended, of the "Illinois country" during the Revolution. As early as October, 1778, Virginia declared, by an act of her General Assembly, that all the citizens of that commonwealth who were then settled, or should thereafter settle, on the western side of the Ohio, should be included in a distinct county, which should be called Illinois. No Virginians were then settled as far north as the southern boundary line of what is now Wisconsin, and, as none thereafter located so far north before Virginia relinquished to the United States all her rights to territory on the western and northern side of the Ohio, it follows that no part of the territory which afterward became Wisconsin was ever included in Illinois County as a part of Virginia ; nor did the last-mentioned State ever exercise any jurisdiction over any portion of the territory now constituting this State, or make claim to any part of it by right of conquest.

, Notwithstanding the passage of the ordinance of 1787, establishing a government over the territory northwest of the Ohio River, which territory was acquired by the treaty of 1783 from

385

HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY

Great Britain, possession only was obtained by the United States of the southern portion, the northern part being held by the British Government until 1796. Arthur St. Clair, in Febru- ary, 1790, exercising the functions of Governor, and having previously organized a government for the country under the ordinance just mentioned, established, in what is now the State of Illinois, a county which was named St. Clair. But, as this county only extended north " to the mouth of the Little Mackinaw Creek, on the Illinois," it did not include, of course, any part of the present State of Wisconsin, although heing the nearest approach thereto of any organized county up to that date.

In 1796, Wayne County was organized, which was made to include, beside much other ter- ritory, all of what is now Wisconsin watered by streams flowing into Lake Michigan. But no part of what is now Dane County came within its jurisdiction. From 1800 to 1809, what are now the limits of Wisconsin were within the Territory of Indiana, and, in the year last men- tioned, passed into the Territory of Illinois. It is probable that Indiana Territory exercised jurisdiction over the Territory now included in the State of Wisconsin, at least to the extent of appointing two Justices of the Peace, one for Green Bay and one for Prairie du Chien. In the year 1809, the Illinois Territorial Government commissioned three Justices of the Peace and two militia officers at Prairie du Chien, the county of St. Clair having previously been extended so as to include that point, and probably Green Bay, thereby bringing into its jurisdiction what is now Dane County. In the course of time, other Illinois counties had jurisdiction, until, in 1818, what is now Wisconsin became a portion of Michigan Territory.

By a proclamation of Lewis Cass, Governor of Michigan Territory, of October 26, 1818, Brown and Crawford Counties were organized. The county of Brown originally comprised all of what is now Wisconsin east of a line passing north and south through the middle of the port- age between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, except a small portion of the Door County penin- sula, which was included in the county of Michilimackinac. The limits of the county extended north into the territory of the present State of Michigan so far that its north line ran due west from the head of Noquet Bay. An east-and-west line, passing near the northern limits of the present county of Barron, separated the county of Crawford from the county of Michilimackinac on the north ; on the east, it was bounded by the county of Brown ; on the south, by the State of Illinois, and on the west, by the Mississippi River. The present county of Dane was thus included in both the counties of Brown and Crawford, and the line "through the middle of the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers," extending south to the Illinois line, divided the territory now forming Dane County into two nearly equal parts. By an act of the Legis- lative Council of the Territory of Michigan, approved October 29, 1829, to take effect the 1st of January following, the county of Iowa was established, embracing all the present State of Wis- consin south of the Wisconsin River and west of Brown County ; in other words, it included the whole of what was previously Crawford County lying south of the Wisconsin River. What is now Dane County was thereby included in portions of Brown and Iowa Counties. On the 6th of September, 1834, the eastern boundary of Iowa was extended so as to be identical with the lin between the Green Bay and Wisconsin Land Districts ; that is, it was fixed upon the meridian between Ranges 8 and 9 east. By the same act, all that district of country before that time in Brown County, lying south of a line drawn between Townships 11 and 12 north, in all the ranges east of Range 8 (the east line of Iowa County as established by the same act), was con- stituted a new county, and named " Milwaukie ;" so that what is now Dane County fell into Iowa and Milwaukee Counties instead of Iowa and Brown Counties, as before ; that is to say, all of the present county of Dane lying west of a line drawn north and south through the extreme west end of Lake Mendota was then in Iowa County ; while all east of that line was in Mil- waukee County ; and the divisions so remained until December 7, 1836.

FORMING AND NAMING THE COUNTY.

By an act of the Territorial Legislature of December 7, 1836, Townships 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 north, of Ranges 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 east-that is, so much of them as was then surveyed

386

HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.

-were set apart as a new county, to which was given the name of Dane. The seat of justice was located at Madison, and the county was attached to Iowa County for judicial purposes. It was more than two years after the erection of the new county out of the thirty-five townships pre- viously enumerated, before its organization for all county purposes was effected.

James Duane Doty gave the name Dane to the new county, in honor of Nathan Dane, who, when a delegate in the Continental Congress from Massachusetts, introduced into that body the Ordinance of 1787 .. Doty deemed it very proper that the county in which was the capital of the last Territory organized out of the old Northwest Territory should perpetuate the name of Dane.

VISITS TO DANE COUNTY IN 1837. I .- BY G. W. FEATHERST. NHAUGH.

The banks [of the Wisconsin after leaving the portage] at first were low, and verdant with overhanging foliage, as were the beautiful islands which frequently presented themselves ; whilst often the river expanded into an uninterrupted sheet of water, of a reddish color, marking the quality of the soil it had passed through. The river, however, was so shallow in many places that our canoe frequently grazed the bottom ; and, going with unusual velocity, we more than once got so fast in the sand that we found it difficult to force it back into deeper water. Upon such occasions, or at any difficult passes, the men never hesitated to jump out, knowing what frail vessels birch-bark canoes are, and that no time is to be lost. I never had men in my service more to be depended upon in emergencies of this kind.

About 10 A. M., we came up with sandstone strata, of the same character with those which I had examined at Fort Winnebago. At 11, the country began to rise, and became hilly in the distance. We passed a sandstone bluff sixty feet high, the strata still preserving that horizontal character which distinguishes the coal measures and the other intervening silurian beds I had left behind me, all of which lay above these rocks. The loose sandbanks of the river contained seams of red oxide of iron, showing that they were derived from the strata the river had broken down, they being everywhere banded with red and yellow oxides. Our course being southwest by south by compass, we came up at noon with some pine trees, and a sandstone bluff on the right bank 150 feet high. As a storm appeared to be rising in the west, I stopped here a short time, not wishing the men to eat their meal in so much discomfort as they had done upon other occasions ; but we were soon off again, and got into a fine expanse of the river, free from islands, with lofty, sloping banks, pleasingly interspersed with oak trees. At half past 2 P. M., we passed an isolated ridge standing a little back from the left bank, with a singular crest, rudely resembling walls and batteries, near 200 feet high. Every now and then we passed heaps of dead valves of the unios, many of which, from their freshness, appeared to have been very recently dragged there by the otters and musk-rats. I occasionally stopped to examine them, and sometimes obtained very beautiful shells, especially a large U. rectus, with a deep, salmon- colored nacre. The species generally resembled those in the Tennessee, Cumberland, and other Western rivers, and confirmed my previous experience of the separation of Atlantic and Gulf species.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Dane County, Wisconsin, Part 57

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company Number of Pages: 1304

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1304