History of Lafayette county, Wisconsin, Part 66

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899. cn; Western Historical Co
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical
Number of Pages: 754

USA > Wisconsin > Lafayette County > History of Lafayette county, Wisconsin > Part 66

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).

436

HISTORY OF LA FAYETTE COUNTY.

dently the work of other than Indians. Some of the largest leads in the mines, particularly about Shullsburg, were advertised to white men by the Indians, who elaborated eloquently, it is said, and with great earnestness, upon their inexhaustible sources of wealth. They had tested their richness for years, and spoke familiarly of the vast deposits of mineral to be found beneath the surface.

At this time, the present county was an almost uninhabited wilderness, possessing, as would seem from the refusal of traders and strollers to remain within its limits, few attractions, and those few of the most limited character. The nearest settlements were Galena, Dubuque, Prairie du Chien, at that time, and relatively of as much importance as St. Louis subsequently became. Chicago then consisted of a few rude cabins inhabited by half-breeds, and gave no indications either from its location or the immigration tending in that direction, of what was reserved for the future to disclose. Peoria was at the south and further east. Vandalia, subsequently the capital of Illinois, with a number of struggling settlements, filling up the intervals, so to speak, between these ambitious but impromptu municipal weaklings, constituted the permanent growth of that day in the great territory which has since reflected back the star of empire. St. Louis was then struggling for existence, and, notwithstanding the wealth and enterprise therein residing, the battling was difficult if not desperate. The confines of civilization, in its most perfect development, were limited to the settlements contiguous to Lake Erie and the western parts of the Eastern States. He who struck out for a home in the Territories was regarded as an adventurous traveler to a country whence return was a question of chance and not of probability.

This, then, was the condition of affairs as they existed sixty years ago, according to sources of information in that behalf, presumably correct. There was naught to attract save the intrinsic merits of the location, which, combined with the hopes of a future, were sufficient to direct the residents of Southern and Eastern States to Wisconsin Territory as an objective point of great interest. To those who at home were independent, it furnished as an incentive the resources for enabling men of means to add to their accumulations. To the imprudent and impoverished, pulling with steady stroke against the current of an adversity both pitiless and uncompromising, it held out a hope for better days, when he, too, could enjoy a home with his household gods clustering, like olive plants, about his table. To the speculator, it afforded a field for operations incalculably valuable; to the scientist, an opportunity for discovery ; to the scholar and the Christian, the occasion for labors that have since returned to bless the inventors.

As a consequent, the class of people who established themselves in La Fayette County, and have since been identified with its growth and the development of its wealth, were men of rare excellence. Earnest, frank and kind, they made all men friends by being friends of all men. Illustrating by example rather than precept, they bridged the brief interval between purity and sin by the power of kindness, and looked with eyes of charity upon the mistakes and failings of man. Brave but tender, they were indeed loving, generous Christian men, who have left the shore touched by a mysterious sea, that " has never yet borne on any wave the image of a home- ward sail," their deficiencies made up in the book of life by the love they bore their fellows.

And so, too, of the pioneer women, those who braved the absence of home, friends, and congenial associations to accompany their fathers and husbands and sons into the trackless waste of the Northwest, and contemplated a future the horizon of which was darkened by dis- couragement and gloom. Yet they faltered not, but sustained and soothed their husbands by a trust in the outlook that was constant and bore an abundant harvest. As wives, they were the most agreeable of companions, and as friends the most faithful and affectionate. As mothers, gentle as children ever had the misfortune to lose, who corrected the most pernicious of evils by the most tender management of them. Prudent from affection, and, though most liberal of nature, they practiced economy from the love they bore their husbands, and, at critical periods, preserved order in affairs from the care of which the husband was relieved. She reclaimed her choice from despair, urged his indolence to exertion, and was constantly by to admonish industry, integrity and manhood.

437

HISTORY OF LA FAYETTE COUNTY.

THE EARLY MINERS.

Prior to permanent settlements, temporary residences had been established by lead prospect- ors in various parts of this county. Indeed, the settlement of the vicinity was induced by lead discoveries made by miners who radiated from Galena, which at that time was a point of impor- tance. Whenever the discovery of ore was made, a settlement followed, composed, as suggested, largely of fortune-hunters, a portion of whom became permanent and influential residents. In 1824, it is said, lead was discovered in large quantities in the southwestern part of the present county, near New Diggings, by a party from Galena, consisting of Duke L. Smith, George Fer- guson and a few others, who began their work and succeeded in turning out immense quantities of the metal to their profit. There can be no doubt but that La Fayette County-or, as it was then known, Michigan Territory-would have been settled at an earlier date but for the hard- ships imposed through a Government Superintendent of Mines, and also the danger apprehended from attacks by the Winnebago Indians.

In 1824, a Superintendent of Mines was appointed for the mineral country claimed by the Government in the Upper Mississippi district. His duties were confined to the enforcement of rules and regulations formulated by himself, and, as they did not always represent that portion of remedial justice in which the law, by reason of its universality, was deficient, their enforce- ment was calculated to create a variety of opinion, generally adverse to this official. Miners were compelled to locate their claims on land which was free from the claims of others, and restricted in the sale of their ore to licensed smelters. They were obliged to submit to these regulations, because there was no retreat, and the proof of damage the county sustained by the peculations indulged is to be found in the increased numbers who immigrated into La Fayette when these regulations were removed, and mining became the business of private individuals, companies or corporations.

Another influence that was exerted disastrously in the earlier settlement of this portion of Michigan Territory were the menaces of the Winnebago Indians. They manifested a vindic- tive uneasiness from the date when adventurous miners first appeared in the future county and began their prospectings. These expressions of uneasiness, as will be seen further along, cul- minated, in 1827, in open rupture between the savages and the settlers, which compelled the Government to interfere and conquer a peace that was concluded three months later at the Port- · age. To these two almost impassable embargoes is to be attributed, in a very great measure, the delay experienced in effecting permanent occupation of the domain.

Notwithstanding the difficulties cited, the wave of emigration began to tend in the direction of the lead mines at a day when the Indians were prime factors in its prevention and lords of the soil. As above noted, the first permanent settlements made are said to have been commenced in 1824. The authority for this is general repute, though there are. those who claim that their coming occurred during the year 1828.

It is asserted that Henry and J. P. B. Gratiot came in the year 1824. Others maintain that it was not until early in 1825 that they came into the country. At all events, they were there in the latter year, engaged in mining and smelting and conducting business with the Indians and settlers. They are believed to have been the first white men who effected a lodgment in the vicinity which resulted in both permanence and profit. To them is due the honor of laying the foundation in Southern Wisconsin for a large proportion of the wealth, intelligence, morality and enterprise which has ever characterized the inhabitants of that favored region. To these, as also to Col. Parkinson, Col. Moore, Jesse W. Shull, Samuel H. Scales, the Murphys, and the thousand and one men of nerve and character who came in during this period, is to be attributed the promi- nence La Fayette County has ever occupied in the history of the State. The occasion is here availed of to commend them to the honorable consideration of generations yet unborn for their courage, their steadfastness and pioneer perseverance. The Gratiots settled at a point near what has been known as Gratiot's Grove, which became celebrated as the location of Fort Gratiot during the Black Hawk war. The settlements made in 1825 were included between the present Shullsburg and the Ridge.

438

HISTORY OF LA FAYETTE COUNTY.

Among those who made their advent during 1826, both before and after the Winnebago troubles, were the Van Matre brothers-John, Joseph and Lewis-who began mining in Shulls- burg Township, developing what has since been known as the Badger Lot Diggings, having been discovered by these adventurous men through the information imparted to them by an Indian squaw, who pointed out the ore thrown up by Badgers in mining. Jesse W. Shull came the same year and settled in the same vicinity, as also did Devee and Hawthorne, who opened the Stump Grove mines on the Ridge, between the Fever and Pecatonica River ; Work and Redford, who employed about twenty men and operated mines on lands east of Shullsburg, now owned by the McNulty Brothers; Abraham Miller, a man named Wakefield, Isaac Hamilton, Humphrey Taylor, George Earl, the Townsends, and many others who made the vicinity of Shullsburg their abiding-place. It should be observed this section of the county had been sought a year previous by Choteau & Pratt and Col. Henry Gratiot, as a field of operations for lead mining. In the summer of that year, the latter gentleman purchased the privilege of sinking for ore in the vicinity from the Indians, paying $500 therefor, and was employed in profiting from his investment when the rush of '27 began. As early as 1826, there were six log furnaces in opera- tion, and sixty French and Indians employed at Gratiot's Grove.

To continue with the list of settlers who came to the county in 1827 : D. M. Parkinson and family reached New Diggings that year ; John Armstrong established himself, it is claimed, in 1826, and struck a promising lead, which he afterward sold to George Ferguson ; Solomon Oliver settled on Fever River, near the Benton line; Abraham Looney located on the same stream, as also did D. Oliver, a Mr. Leland, Caleb Dustene, a brother-in-law of Gov. Henry Dodge named Willard ; P. A. Lorimier, who subsequently removed to the Dubuque mines ; Warren Johnson, A. D. Wakefield, Thomas Oliver, a family named Jones, Peter and Benjamin Carr, George Wiley, James Hutchinson, Harvey Carvener, John W. Blackstone, Calvin Curry, Mr. Vosburg, Mr. Harper and others, all of whom put up habitations in the present limits of the New Diggings.

In the spring of the same year, a number of straggling miners had made some approach toward settling up Benton, though here, as in New Diggings, the claim is urged that the town- ship was first visited by pioneers, who came to stay, in 1826. These were a Mr. Rawlins, accom- panied by Ashford Rawlins, his son. In March, 1827, Andrew Murphy adventured into Ben- ton with his family, consisting of a wife and five sons, and to that gentleman does the present prosperity of the township owe its origin. Attending him into the wilderness was Peter O'Leary and Catharine, his wife, an old family servant named Peggy, and a French adventurer by the name of Francois. The " group " hailed from St. Louis, and erected their temporary domiciles east of what was afterward known as Murphy's Mill and Furnace. These composed and con- cluded the roster of settlers who came into Benton that year.

The arrivals in other townships were necessarily limited, immigration being mostly confined to sections of the county wherein ore could be obtained in paying quantities. Fortunatus Berry settled near Gratiot's Grove, in White Oak Springs ; Col. William Hamilton, son of Alexander Hamilton, in Wiota Township, and engaged in mining and smelting, erecting the first furnace in the county, save the furnaces built by the Gratiots. This settlement was known as " Hamil- ton's Fort." Hamilton also platted a village, which he named Wiota, hoping to induce settle- ments and hasten improvements ; Jameson Hamilton began the building up of Darlington; George Skellinger came to Gratiot's Grove; Richard H. Magoon began smelting in Monticello, and afterward built and operated other furnaces in White Oak Springs ; Samuel Scales, Capt. Frank and Mr. Deering began the settlement of White Oak Springs. These were aided in their labors by the willing brawn and " pat " advice of those who also came during the same year, notably, James and John Woods, William, Thomas and Augustus Chilton, Andrew Clarno, Hugh McGeary, Anthony Miller, Crawford Million, Mathew Colvin, Col. James Collins, Jerry Adams, A. V. Hast- ings, Conrad Lichtenberger, George Lott, John Atchinson, Anson G. Phelps, David Southwick, Sample Journey, Frank Washburne, H. H. Gear, George and Marvin Watson, John Shultz, George F. Smith, John Williams, and others throughout various portions of the county, who

439

HISTORY OF LA FAYETTE COUNTY.

exchanged the courtesies of pioneer life and united in acts of pioneer safety in Belmont, Kendall, Wayne, Argyle and elsewhere, though their names and the current of their lives have become obscured with the lapse of years. Added to these was a colony of immigrants, who came hither from Selkirk, a primitive settlement on the Red River of the North. This colony was made up, in part, of Antoine Bane, Joseph Varien, Peter Gorey, the Breckler and Rendsburger families, Gabriel Gorke and others, who established themselves near Gratiot's Grove, where they engaged in mining and smelting.

THE FIRST FARM.

The first farm, or what is now claimed as such, was opened up this year. Its location was at Gratiot's Grove, and the ambitious husbandmen were A. C. Ransom and Kingsley Olds, who came into the county from the American Bottom, opposite St. Louis. They planted a crop of corn, but an early frost nipped the growth before harvest, and they were denied the profit of reaping their reward for the industry and enterprise they had manifested.

In the record of names of those who came during 1827, the claim is not indulged that it is complete. Far from it. There were others who ventured into the wilderness, as stated, but who, having left no "tracks " behind them to guide the historian in his search for facts and legends appertaining to their coming and going. The deeds they accomplished, the trials they endured and the triumphs which blessed their endeavors are reserved for future days to unfold and elaborate.

THE WINNEBAGO WAR.

The most important event of this year was the Winnebago war, in which the unfriendly disposition of the savages culminated during the month of June. At that time old citizens state there was a considerable population in the county, and mining operations were being car- ried on with profit to all concerned. During this year, De Vee and Hawthorne, with other prospectors and miners, crossed the Ridge, which was regarded as the dividing line between civ- ilization and barbarism, and trespassed upon the Indian mineral deposits. This Ridge is two miles north of the village of Shullsburg. All the territory north of the ordinance line of 1787 was in the undisputed possession of the Indians except the reservations at the mouth of the Wisconsin and Fever Rivers, and the mining district in Jo Daviess County and Michigan Terri- tory. Many rich leads were discovered on Indian lands, and miners persisted in digging there in direct disobedience to orders against such intrusion issued by the Superintendent of the lead mines.

In treating of this episode in the history of the contest for supremacy in La Fayette County, it must necessarily be referred to generally the part taken in the struggle by the early settlers of that county forming incidents simply.

In exceptional instances the right to mine, as already stated, had been purchased of the Indians ; but in a majority of cases the search for wealth in La Fayette County, as elsewhere in the lead region, had been prosecuted with an entire disregard of Indian rights or immunities. The crossing of this dividing line was, consequently, the occasion for disputes without number, and occasional bloodshed. Jesse W. Shull, who had discovered a rich lead over the Ridge, was driven off, and his cabin and preliminary works destroyed by the Winnebagoes. But these, it is claimed by authorities presumably correct, were not the immediate causes of the war. Had the contrary been the case, they might have been adjusted without open hostilities. But while these disputes were pending, two keel boats, owned by the contractor, engaged in furnishing sup- plies to the troops at Fort Snelling, while en route to that post, halted in the vicinity of Prairie du Chien, where a large number of Winnebago Indians were encamped. The crews of these transports, it seems, visited the Indian camp, when they rendered the savages helplessly drunk, and kidnaping a number of squaws fled to their boats and pursued the trip to Fort Snelling with these Indian wives as enforced companions. Another version is that the squaws were detained for one night only. There is no dispute about the fact of outrage. When the Winne- bagoes realized with returning consciousness the part that had been taken by these disreputable

440

HISTORY OF LA FAYETTE COUNTY.

types of human animals in the scandalous drama cited, they very naturally became exasperated, and determined to wash out the stain upon their honor with blood. Runners were sent out in all directions summoning warriors to the scene of action at once, and recruits assembled at Galena with the avowed purpose of avenging the insult which had been thrust upon their race. When preparations were completed for an advance, a division of the revenging army marched north in the direction of Prairie du Chien, while another division was distributed about the adjoining settlements, which were occupied by miners and others who had become a part of the population at that time. While the danger was impending four Winnebago chiefs visited Gra- tiot's Grove and informed the settlers there that on account of the action of the whites they were unable to restrain their young men, and that as they did not desire to harm those with whom they had lived upon amicable terms, it would be necessary for them to move elsewhere to avoid the consequences. As a natural result this intelligence produced feelings of the most serious apprehension, and excited the inhabitants throughout La Fayette County to take immediate action for defense. It was impossible to fly, the country being occupied by the wily savage thirsting for blood as a panacea for the wrongs which had been done to him and his wife, and naught was left but to take immediate counsel as to the most available and effectual means of derense.

Meetings were accordingly convened and efforts inaugurated to prevent a surprise, as also to repulse an attack. In July a fort was built on the prairie, to the north of Gratiot's Grove, and, though not tested, would have proved a formidable obstacle to attack. The " fort " was really a block-house, it is said, with defenses at each corner, and was for the times as formidable as skill could render it. Though not deemed necessary to be built until the war was well under way, its completion was hastened by the workmen, and reached before any imperative demand was made upon its resources.

In the meantime, the settlers had enrolled themselves for self-protection throughout the county, and become perfect in the knowledge of their duties anterior to the necessity for their employment. A company of eighty, under the command of Capt. Hollingsworth, was assigned to the defense of this portion of the territory, and quartered at the fort, but beyond an occasional scout in pursuit of adventure rather than the enemy, the occasion for their services did not arise.

A second fort or block-house was constructed in the immediate vicinity, by Capt. Jesse W. Shull. It occupied the site of old Shullsburg, on land now owned by Augustus Estey, about 200 yards from the furnace, and was garrisoned by a company of thirty men who anticipated the accomplishment of heroic deeds, which, however, the absence of opportunity failed to realize.

Preparations had been set on foot elsewhere to resist the advance of the foe, and in the light of subsequent events proved to have been most timely. Gov. Edwards, of Illinois, received information on which he relied, that the Winnebagoes had attacked keel-boats, that the miners and settlers of Fever River were in danger of attack, and that a general massacre of the inhabit- ants was to follow. Acting upon such information, he issued a proclamation calling out the Twentieth Regiment Illinois State Militia, which was to rendezvous at Peoria, thence to march with all possible haste to the assistance of their fellow-citizens at Galena. The brave soldiers accordingly assembled, and, with ten days' rations, marched to Gratiot's Grove. About this time, Gen. Cass, who had been appointed by the Government to hold a treaty with the Lake Michigan Indians at Green Bay, arrived at that point, but finding few there, and hearing that the Lake Indians had received war messages from the interior, he hastened to communicate this startling intelligence to the military authorities at St. Louis. He ascended Fox River from Green Bay, descended the Wisconsin and the Mississippi, and in nine days reached St. Louis. It is said that among the Winnebagoes he discovered warlike preparations, but his sudden and unexpected appearance among them with a force of armed men, caused a panic, and dissipated among the savages any disposition to war. En route to St. Louis, Gen. Cass halted at Galena, where Gens. Dodge and Whiteside had massed a force to march against the threatening foe. In the midst of the alarm then prevailing the excited people heard singing, and concluded that the days of disaster had come indeed. But their fears were allayed when they witnessed a large canoe filled

441

HISTORY OF LA FAYETTE COUNTY.

with troops gliding gracefully up the river, and halted opposite the village. Their cries of alarm were changed to merry meetings, and their quakings of fear to delightful measures. Immediately upon receipt of news from Gov. Cass, Gen. Atkinson marched with a force of 600 men, and formed a junction with the Galena volunteers. The Indians had by this time concluded that it was useless to longer contend for supremacy, and surrendered their chiefs-Red Wing among the rest, who was imprisoned at Prairie du Chien, where he was kept as a hostage for the good behaviour of his nation ; but his proud spirit, broken by the indignities to which he was subjected, precipitated an illness which caused his death. The tribe made peace at the treaty of the Portage and grim-visaged war smoothed his wrinkled front and hung up his bruised arms for monuments, without having inflicted upon the settlers serious loss of life.

Thus ended the Winnebago war, but its effects were experienced for years, it might be said, after the dusky warrior resigned the contest, and ceded to the whites possession of the territory for which he had so fruitlessly contended. With the first alarm, miners, speculators, prospectors, and the host of immigrants and adventurers who always make a new country of promise the base of their operations, with one accord fled to places of security. The pick and gad were left idle ; the ax which had been laid at the root of the forest tree was cast one side ; the plow remained idle in the rich furrows of the prairie, and desolation usurped that prominence which but a short time previous had been accorded to industry and prospective prosperity. Very many, as already observed, remained in the country, and became factors in the forces enlisted for the common defense ; a limited number essayed individual protection, and hunted the lairs of the foe singly and solus. But while this was the case, a majority of the body politic sought at military points elsewhere the safety they imagined was denied them at home. And this was by no means the only discouraging effect visible. The development of the mines, notwithstanding the flattering inducements therein offered, was temporarily delayed ; and it was not until the summer sunshine again kissed the horizon, the flowers again decked the prairies, and the summer birds once more caroled their refrains, that new life, activity, industry and fortune combined to induce the results which long, long years ago stamped La Fayette County as a point of irresistible attrac- tion. Through the succeeding winter but little was accomplished. The dreams of youth, the chastened wish of manhood, the hope of one day resting from labors of so diligently pursuing Fortune's smile, that an interval of reflection might be interposed between old age and the tomb, lay dormant.

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 Lafayette county, Wisconsin, Part 66

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899. cn; Western Historical Co Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical Number of Pages: 754

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899. cn; Western Historical Co
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical
Number of Pages: 754