USA > Wisconsin > Grant County > History of Grant County, Wisconsin, preceded by a history of Wisconsin > Part 68
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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.
birds. As the party advanced up the river, it was found to be more difficult of ascent, owing not only to the currents but to the sharp rocks which projected above the troubled waters on every side and cut their canoes. By using great care and precaution, the rapids were passed in safety, and soon afterward the party reached the nation of the Mascoutins. In their village were also gathered two other tribes, the Miamis and Kickapoos. The Miamis were very civil in their deportment. Two long ear-locks, which was a distinctive feature of their costume, added somewhat to their appearance. They had the name of being a warlike tribe, and seldom went out on war parties in vain. They were found to be very docile and ready to listen quietly to what was said to them. The Mascoutins and Kickapoos were more rude in their manner. Bark for cabins was found to be rare in this village, the Indians using rushes, which served them as walls and roof, but, as might be expected, were no protection against rain when it fell, as it frequently did, in torrents. Their advantage was that cabins built of these rushes could easily be taken to pieces, rolled up and transported wherever the owner wished.
The view from the village was extremely picturesque, it being perched upon an eminence and surrounded on every side by broad prairies, stretching away as far as the eye could reach, interspersed by thickets or groves of lofty trees. The soil was found to be very good, producing corn in abundance. Plums and grapes also were gathered in abundance by the Indians.
Joliet and his party arrived at this village on the 7th of June, and remained until the 10th. " We knew," wrote Father Marquette, " that there was, three [thirty] leagues from the Mascoutens [Mascoutins] a river entering into the Mississippi ; we knew, too, that the point of compass we were to hold to reach it was west-southwest, but the way is so cut up by marshes and little lakes that it is easy to go astray, especially as the river leading to it is so covered with wild oats that you can hardly. discover the channel, hence we had great need of our two (Miami) guides, who led us safely to a portage of 2,700 paces [the site now occupied by the city of Portage], and helped us to transport our canoes to enter this river [Wisconsin], after which they returned, leaving us alone in an unknown country, in the hand of Providence.
" We now leave the waters which flow to Quebec, a distance of four or five hundred leagues, to follow those which will henceforth lead us into strange lands. Before embarking, we all began together a new devotion to the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, which we practiced every day, addressing her particular prayers to put under her protection both our persons and the success of our voyage. Then after having encouraged one another, we got into our canoes. The river on which we embarked is called the Mesconsing [Wisconsin] ; it is very broad, with a sandy bottom, forming many shallows which render navigation very difficult. It is full of vine-clad islets. On the banks appear fertile lands diversified with wood, prairie and hill. Here you find oaks, walnut, whitewood, and another kind of tree with branches armed with thorns. We saw no small game or fish, but deer and moose in considerable numbers."
Thus they floated down this great tributary of a greater river, while on their left hand lay exposed for the first time to the gaze of civilized man in all its virginal beauty what is now included in the county of Grant. Without doubt, the explorers stopped at several points in pursuit of game or to camp, thus being actually the first white men who set foot in Grant County.
On the 17th of June, to their inexpressible joy, the party entered the Mississippi. After descending the river many miles, Joliet retraced his steps to Green Bay, and thence to Quebec, there to make his report of the wonderful discovery he had made. Marquette remained at the Bay to recruit his health, which had been seriously tried by the anxieties of the previous months.
OTHER EARLY VISITORS.
Not a great while was suffered to elapse before Joliet and his companions were followed by others. Louis Hennepin, a Recollet friar, and his party, as a detail from La Salle's expedition to the Illinois, reached the portage in 1680, on his way from the Upper Mississippi to the great lakes, passing up the Wisconsin and down the Fox River to Green Bay. Le Seuer and his
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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.
party passed down the Wisconsin in 1683, on his way to the Mississippi. The name is spelled by these early explorers Ouisconsin (Wisconsin).
Jonathan Carver came over the same route in 1766, and thus speaks of his voyage : "On the 8th of November (1766), we got our canoes into the Ouisconsin River, which, at this place (the portage), is more than 100 yards wide, and the next day arrived at the great town of the Saukies (Sauks or Sacs). This is the largest and best built Indian town I ever saw. It con- tains about ninety houses, each large enough to accommodate several families. These are built of hewn plank, neatly jointed, and covered with bark so compactly as to keep out the most pen- etrating rains. Before the doors are placed comfortable sheds, in which the inhabitants sit when the weather will permit, and smoke their pipes. The streets are regular and spacious, so that it appears more like a civilized town than the abode of savages. The land near the town is very good. In their plantations, which lie adjacent to their houses, and which are neatly laid out, they raise great quantities of Indian corn, beans, melons, etc., so that this place is esteemed the best market for traders to furnish themselves with provisions of any within 300 miles of it.
" The Saukies can raise about 300 warriors, who are generally employed every summer in making incursions into the territory of the Illinois and Pawnee nations, from whence they re- turn with a great number of slaves. But those people frequently retaliate, and in their turn destroy many of the Saukies, which I judged to be the reason they increased no faster.
" On the 10th of October, we proceeded down the river, and the next day reached the first town of the Ottigaumies (Foxes). This town contained about fifty houses, but we found most of them deserted, on account of an epidemical disorder that had lately raged among them, and carried off more than one-half of the inhabitants. The greater part of. those who had survived had retired into the woods to escape the contagion.
"On the 15th, we entered that extensive river, the Mississippi. The Ouisconsin, from the carrying place to the part where it falls into the Mississippi, flows with a smooth but a strong current ; the water of it is exceedingly clear, and through it you may perceive a fine and sandy bottom, tolerably free from rocks. In it are a few islands, the soil of which appeared to be good, though somewhat woody. The land near the river also seemed to be, in general, excel- lent, but that at a distance is very full of mountains, where it is said there are many lead mines."
In this last sentence, Carver undoubtedly refers to the section now included in the borders of Grant County, showing, also, that the great mineral wealth had been known to the Indians and French previous to his visit.
WATER-WAYS.
From the time when first the bow of Joliet's canoe clove the virgin waters of the Wisconsin, until the present, that river has been used as a prominent thoroughfare, first for convenience, and, as the country became inhabited by the pushing, daring white man, and succumbed to the advance of modern civilization, commerce claimed it for its own, and the hoarse shout of the " river man," as he pilots his unwieldy lumber raft, now resounds along those banks which for- merly gave back the echoes of the wild Canadian boat song, or the thoughtless laugh of the light-hearted traveler. During the last half of the seventeenth century, from Joliet's time for- ward, and during nearly all of the eighteenth, this river was a broad highway, furnishing the only connection between the Mississippi and the great lakes for the fur-trader, the missionary and the explorer. Small squads of French soldiers occasionally passed down the river, on their way to garrison the Western posts, and, returning, took the same route. Frequently the way would be rendered treacherous and full of danger by the Fox Indians, who dwelt first upon the river of that name, and then upon the Wisconsin. In 1761, the French lost, by the conquest of Canada, their supremacy over those rivers, and, for a time, England took nominal possession of them, and travel was not seriously interrupted until 1827. During the interval the water- courses had passed under the jurisdiction of the United States. In 1814, Col. McKay, of the British Army, came down the Wisconsin with a large force of British and Indians, and captured
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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.
the post at Prairie du Chien from the United States. In 1819, the Fifth Regiment of United States Infantry used the same broad stream as a means of reaching Prairie du Chien, which had again passed into the possession of the United States. Ebenezer Childs, a well-known Wiscon- sin pioneer, made the same trip in a bark canoe in 1821. He also conducted the first Durham boat that ever made that journey. In 1826, a fleet of thirty-five boats passed down the river, bearing the Third United States Infantry from Green Bay to St. Louis, and, a year later, Gen. Cass passed over the same route, to ascertain the feeling of the Winnebagoes toward the United States, as hostilities were threatened, which afterward broke out and were promptly squelched. Thus, year after year, the human tide swept back and forth along the northern boundary of this beautiful county, until the advent of post and railroads drew travelers in other directions. To- day it is given over to the raftsman and the pleasure seeker.
THE WINNEBAGO WAR.
During the early part of 1827, there arose a difficulty with the Winnebago tribe which for the time-being roused the early settlers of Grant County to a high pitch of excitement. The commencement of these troubles arose from the surprise of a party of Chippewas, who were on their way to Fort Snelling by a war-party of Winnebagoes. The attack was made at the mouth of St. Peter's River, and eight of the Chippewas were killed. The commandant of the United States forces at the fort, took four of the offending Winnebagoes prisoners, and turned them over to the exasperated Chippewas, who immediately put them to death. This act of the com- mandant, showing a lack of judgment, that, under the circumstances of the case, seemed little less than criminal, was greatly resented by " Red Bird," a prominent chief of the Winnebagoes, who owed his name to two birds of that color which he wore on his shoulders, much the same as epulets are worn by military officers.
Another inciting cause to this enmity was the daily encroachments of the miners in the lead region, extending between the Galena and Wisconsin Rivers east of the Mississippi. These infringements upon what the Indians considered their rights were each day becoming worse, and necessarily served to add new fuel to the flame that was already burning in the chieftain's breast. In revenge for the killing of the four Winnebagoes, " Red Bird " led a war party against the Chippewas, but being defeated in his attempt for scalps, he turned his resentment against the whites, whom he viewed not only as usurpers in a country which he claimed as belonging to his tribe, but also as allies of his ancient enemies, the Chippewas.
Previous to this, a murder had been committed by the Winnebagoes, near Prairie du Chien, by which several persons of the family of a Mr. Methode had been slain. This and other ominous signs showed that a spirit of enmity had been stirred up between the Indians and the whites, and for the first time since the war of 1812, a speck, presaging a war cloud of the most formid- able proportions, was visible to the affrighted gaze of the whites.
On the 28th day of June, 1827, Red Bird, We-Kaw and three of their companions entered the house of Register Gagnier, about three miles from Prairie du Chien, where they remained several hours. At last, when Mr. Gagnier stood unsuspecting any danger, Red Bird took deliberate aim and shot him dead on his own hearthstone. A person in the building by the name of Sip Cap, who was in the employ of Mr. Gagnier, was killed at the same time by We-Kaw. Madame Gagnier, seeing the assault turned to flee, with her babe of eighteen months in her arms. As she was about to leap through the window, the babe was torn from her arms by the fiendish We-Kaw, stabbed, scalped and thrown violently on the floor as dead.
The murderer then attacked the woman, but gave way when she snatched up a gun and presented it at his breast. She then effected her escape. Her eldest son, a lad of ten years, also succeeded in eluding the red fiends, and they both arrived in Prairie du Chien about the same time. The alarm was given, and a body of settlers promptly assembled and marched out to the scene of the murder, but the perpetrators had fled, leaving the mangled form of the infant behind. Strange as it may seem, the little one was still alive, and more than that, afterward recovered.
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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.
Red Bird and his companions at once proceeded from the scene of their crime to the ren- dezvous of their band. During their absence, thirty-seven of the warriors who acknowledged the authority of Red Bird, had assembled with their wives and children at the mouth of Bad Ax River. They received the murderers with joy, and evinced a hearty appreciation of their exploit.
A keg of liquor which they happened to have was brought out, and as the alcohol arose to their brains, they boasted long and loud over what they had done, and what they intended to. do. This revel continued for two days. On the third day, the whisky having given out, the dissipation came to an end. They were, about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, working off the last fumes in the scalp-dance, when they discovered keel-boats coming down the river. The boats had passed up a few days before loaded with provisions for Fort Snelling, and were now in charge of Mr. Lindsay. Supposing from their examination of the crafts while on their way up that no arms were aboard, the savages determined at once to capture the boats and massacre the crews.
The boats came on, unsuspecting attack, until nearly opposite the encampment of the Da- kotas some distance up the stream. These Indians hailed them with insults and reproaches, but offered no violence, and the whites supposed all danger over. Just here a heavy wind began to sweep up the river with such violence that it took all the strength of the crews to force their crafts down the river against it.
By the time the first boat was near the village of Red Bird's party, the crew were quite ready to stop and rest. One or two Frenchmen who were aboard, seeing signs of hostility from the Indians on the bank, advised their companions not to make a landing. The majority of the crew were Americans, and, like the generality of their countrymen, held the Indian in considerable contempt, and their contempt was only equaled by their ignorance of Indian char- acter. They therefore urged the boat toward the camp with all the force of the long sweeps. There were sixteen men on deck, the boat itself being like all keel-boats, built somewhat on the model of the Erie and Middlesex canal-boats.
The men were rallying their French companions on their fears, and the boat was within thirty yards of shore and nearing it as fast as the strong arms on board could effect the junction, when suddenly the trees and rocks rang with the blood-chilling, ear-piercing war-whoop, and a volley of rifle balls rained upon the deck. Happily the nerves of the Winnebagoes were yet unstrung from the effects of their late debauch, and, as a consequence, their aim was not so steady as it would have otherwise been. One man only fell from their fire. He was a negro named Peter. His leg was dreadfully shattered, and he afterward died of the wound. A second volley soon came from the shore, but, as the men were lying in the bottom of the boat, they escaped injury, save one who was more exposed, and was shot through the heart. Encouraged by the non-resistance of the boatmen, the Winnebagoes rushed for their canoes, intending to board. The whites, having recovered from their first panic, seized their arms, and the boarders were met with a well-aimed discharge, that laid two of the Indians dead and wounded another. The attack was continued until night, when one of the boatmen named Mandeville, who had assumed command, jumped into the water followed by four of his companions, and, by their united exertions, the craft was set afloat and drifted down stream.
Thirty-seven Indians were engaged in this attack, seven of whom were killed and fourteen wounded. They managed, however, to put 693 bullets into different parts of the boat, some even passing through it. Two of the crew were killed outright, two mortally and two slightly wounded. The daring and presence of mind of Mandeville no doubt saved the rest as well as the boat.
Mr. Lindsay's boat-the rear one-did not reach the Indian encampment until midnight. The Indians opened fire on it and the fire was returned, but, owing to the darkness, no injury was done and the boat escaped in safety.
The arrival of the boats at Prairie du Chien caused a panic. The people thereabouts crowded into the dilapidated fort, leaving farms and houses to the mercies of the dreaded Indians.
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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.
An express was immediately sent to Galena and another to Fort Snelling for assistance. A company of nearly a hundred volunteers soon arrived from Galena, and the fears of the settlers were much assuaged. A few days later relief also arrived from Fort Snelling. The consterna- tion and alarm felt throughout the lead mines and outlying settlements was fully as great as that felt at Prairie du Chien. Everybody crowded to the block-houses that were hastily constructed, and, for a time, work of all kinds was at a standstill. Many, in fact, were so terrified at the wild stories afloat that they left the country.
Troops were at once ordered to the seat of war from Fort Howard and St. Louis. The former were under the command of Maj. Whistler, who, on the 1st of September, arrived at " the portage." While here, an express arrived from Gen. Atkinson, commanding the detachment coming up from St. Louis, directing Maj. Whistler to halt and fortify himself at the portage, and await his arrival. The object of these joint expeditions was to capture the " hostiles " and intimidate the remainder of the tribe in such a manner that no further depredations would be committed. The Winnebagoes had previously been advised that their safety lay in the surren- der of the Gagnier murderers. While Maj. Whistler was awaiting the arrival of the other troops at the portage, he received a mysterious call. An Indian came unceremoniously to his tent and informed the officer that about 3 o'clock on the afternoon of the next day " they will come in." In reply to the question " Who will come in ?" he answered, " Red Bird and We-Kaw." After making this answer, he retired by the way he came. At 3 o'clock on the same day, a second Indian made his appearance in the same silent manner, made a similar announcement, and an- swered the question as to who would come in in the same manner as the first. At sundown a third came, and confirmed what the other two had stated, adding that he had given nearly all his property to the families of the murderers to secure this object.
The pathetic and the heroic were both combined in this voluntary submission, and the pre- liminary arrangements. That the prisoners were aware that they were probably going to their death, is shown in their endeavor to first secure something for their families previous to giving themselves up. It was the relinquishment of two lives to satisfy the demands of the law upon the whole tribe. The act rises to the level of the heroic, in the fact that the murders committed at Prairie du Chien were, according to the Indian law, if not justifiable, at least permissible, on the ground of the complicity of the whites in the murder of the four Winnebago prisoners. Cer- tainly, the victims of this savage vengeance were in no ways associated in that act, but, belong- ing to the same tribe of "pale-faces," under the savage law, the act was in accordance with justice.
The grand finale of this impressive scene is thus described by an eye witness : "About noon of the day following the announcement, there was seen descending a mound on the portage a body of Indians. Some were mounted and some were on foot. By the aid of a glass they were made out to be coming toward Maj. Whistler's camp. They bore no arms, and Whistler was at a loss to understand that the promise made by the three Indians was about to be fulfilled. In the course of half an hour they had approached within a short distance of the crossing of Fox River, when, on a sudden, was heard singing. Those who were familiar with the air said it is the death song. When still nearer, those who knew him said it is Red Bird singing his death song. The moment a halt was made preparatory to passing over, two scalp yells were given.
" The Menomonees and other Indians who had accompanied us were lying carelessly about the ground regardless of what was going on ; but when the scalp yells were heard they sprang as one man to their feet, seized their rifles and were ready for battle. They were at no loss to know what these yells were, but they had not heard them with sufficient accuracy to determine whether they indicated scalps to be taken or given, but, doubtless, inferred the first.
" Barges were sent across to receive the Indians, and an escort of military to accompany them within Whistler's lines. The white flag which had been seen in the distance was borne by Red Bird.
" And now the advance of the Indians had reached half way up the ascent of the bluff on which was Whistler's encampment. In the lead was Kar-ray-mau-nee, a distinguished chief.
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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.
Arriving on the level on which was the encampment of the Americans, and order being called, Kar-ray-mau-nee spoke, saying, 'They are here. Like braves they have come in; treat them as braves ; do not put them in irons.' This address was made to Col. McKenney. The latter told the chief he was not the big captain. His talk must be to Maj. Whistler, who would do what was right. Mr. Marsh, the sub-agent, being there, an advance was made to him, and the hope expressed that the Indians might be turned over into his hands.
" The military had been previously drawn out into line. The Menomonee and Wa- banackie (Oneida) Indians were in groups upon their haunches upon the left flank. On the right was the band of music a little in advance of the line. In front of the center, about ten paces distant, were the murderers. On the right and left were those who had accompanied them, forming a semi-circle, the magnificent Red Bird and the miserable-looking We-kaw a little in advance of the center. All eyes were fixed on Red Bird. In height, he is about six feet, straight, but with an easy air, devoid of restraint. His proportions are those of most exact symmetry ; and these embraced the entire man from his head to his feet.
" He and We-kaw were told to sit down. At this moment the band struck up Pleyel's hymn. Everything was still. Red Bird turned his eyes toward the band. The music having ceased, he took up his pouch, and taking from it kinnikinnic and tobacco, cut the latter in the palm of his hand Indian fashion; then, rubbing the two together, filled the bowl of his calumet, struck fire on a bit of punk with his flint and steel, lighted and smoked it. All sat except the speaker. The substance of what they said was as follows :
" They were required to bring in the murderers. They had no power over any except two ; the third had gone away ; these had voluntarily agreed to come in and give themselves up. As their friends, they had come with them. They hoped their white brothers would accept the horses, of which there were perhaps twenty, the meaning of which was to take them in com- mutation of the lives of their two friends. They asked kind treatment for them, and earnestly besought that they might not be put in irons, and concluded by asking for a little tobacco and something to eat.
"They were answered, and told in substance that they had done well thus to come in. By having done so, they had turned away our guns and saved their people. They were admonished against placing themselves in a like situation in the future, and were advised, when they were aggrieved, not to resort to violence, but to go to their agent, who would inform the Great Father of their complaints, and he would redress their grievances; that their friends would be treated kindly, and tried by the same laws by which their Great Father's white children were tried ; that for the present Red Bird and We-kaw should not be put in irons ; that they should all have something to eat and tobacco to smoke.
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