History of Marathon County, Wisconsin and representative citizens, Part 3

Author: Marchetti, Louis. cn
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1042

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HISTORY OF MARATHON COUNTY

they portaged over in the Wisconsin river, leaving the portage on June 10th, and in a short time reached the Mississippi. Going steadily down stream they went as far south as the 33º latitude to an Indian village called Akansea, where they rested a short time, and returned.

On their return trip they entered the sluggish Illinois river, which favored their passage up stream, until they came in close proximity to the Chicago river, portaging over and descending that river to Lake Michigan, and before the end of September, they were safely back again in Green Bay. They had spoken to many Indian tribes on their trip, and gave a glowing description of the fertility of the country which they had traversed.

The upper Mississippi from the mouth of the Wisconsin upwards, was explored by Hennepin and Carver a few years later. Hennepin returned to Green Bay by the Wisconsin-Fox route, which in that early day had become quite a highway and artery of commerce.

In 1689 Green Bay had a military post, a chapel and mission house for the Jesuit Fathers who did missionary work among the Sacs and Foxes and Pottowatamies.

But the first missions in point of time, though not so permanent as the one in Green Bay, were on Lake Superior, which Father Allouez founded as early as 1685. He had set out from St. Mary's, traveling west on the Great Lakes, until he reached the great village of the Chippewas at Che- quoigon, in the immediate neighborhood of the present city of Ashland. Here he met a large assembly of Sacs, Foxes, Hurons, Sioux, and Chippewas. He founded two missions, one for the Ottawas, and one for the Chippewas, whose villages were separated by a river. Here he baptized Indians, taught the catechism to the children, and the squaws to cultivate the land. In 1689 a mission was established by Father Marquette on La Point, on one of the Apostle Islands.

But the enmity between the Sioux and the Chippewas broke out afresh in 1780: their war broke up the missions, and the Indians returned fully to their original savage state, except that there are traces which show that long afterwards the ground was tilled at La Point, and also at Lake View Desert. A mission was re-established long afterwards at La Point, and it became an important trading point.

These first explorations by fur traders and missionaries were followed up by many in quick succession. The Fox and Wisconsin routes became the highway to the interior. At the portage there was another trading point, and it is said that the Winnebagoes levied a tariff on the trade at the portage, claiming the privilege to portage it over from one river into the other, exact- ing a stipulated price therefor.

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The war between France and England, and later the Revolutionary war, did not interrupt the trade, because this far off territory was not invaded by the contending forces. It was thoroughly known to the voyageur at the time of its cession to congress, and the trade which had been carried on mainly by the Hudson Bay Company while in British possession, was continued by the American Fur Company, or perhaps it should be said, by the proprietor of the same, J. J. Astor. 1480955

The efforts of the missionaries, so full of promise in the beginning, turned out failures in the end. The causes of the failure were the continu- ous hostilities between the tribes, which interfered with a peaceful settle- ment of the Indian, and partly by the utter lack of support of the missionary work by the mother country or government after this vast area had been ceded to England.

When it is remembered that the northern route from (Soult) St. Mary to Ashland by following the shores of the lake was traveled in 1666; that Indians assembled there from all parts of the present territory of Wisconsin ; that Green Bay and its eastern shore and the streams emptying into it were known; that the Fox and Wisconsin had become a regular commercial artery connecting the Mississippi with Lake Michigan and the Great River explored up from Prairie du Chien as far as Minneapolis; that the voyageur paddled or poled his bark canoe upstream wherever an opportunity for trade offered itself, with permanent trading points at Green Bay, the portage, at Prairie du Chien and La Point, it seems indisputable that at the end of the Revo- lutionary war Wisconsin was as well known to the Indian trader and voyageur at least as some of the eastern and New England states. The French occu- pation ended in 1763; the English occupation in 1783, although Great Britain arbitrarily held possession until 1795, when it passed under the control of the American congress.

By the treaty with England in 1783, the right of the Indians to the land was acknowledged by the United States. The government obligated itself to acquire title from the Indians only by purchase, but on the other hand, the sale or cession of lands by the Indians to anybody else than the United States was forbidden.

CHAPTER II.

The Indian Occupation-The Different Tribes Occupying the Wisconsin Territory-Present Indian Reservations-New York Indians in WViscon- sin-Under American Rule-Negro Slavery in Wisconsin-Indian Wars -Lead Mining.

INDIAN OCCUPATION.

The Indians were not the first people to occupy this territory. The mounds on the prairies of Wisconsin, plainly the work of human hands; the tools of copper resembling hammers and shovels, found in shallow dug- out places on the surface of the earth in the copper country on the Upper Peninsula, which seem like rude attempt at mining, are proof of the exist- ence of a people long before the appearance of the North American Indians. No knowledge whatever of this prehistoric people has come to us; they have left no other evidences of their existence and as yet we are unable to interpret or decipher the meaning of these mounds nor form a correct idea of the use of these tools. The Indians themselves know nothing of a prior race to theirs on this continent and consider themselves the original occu- pants of this part of the world. Nor do we know much more of the Indians themselves. They have no history. Even their tradition is limited.

The Indian, when first discovered by white men, was an untutored child of nature. He knew not the God of Revelation, but acknowledged a God of the Universe, a Great Spirit. He beheld him in the star that sank in beauty behind his lonely dwelling; in the sacred orb that flamed on him from his midday throne; in the thousand things that puzzled his understanding and excited his admiration; he heard his voice speaking gently in the balmy breezes and beheld his anger in the thunders and lightnings which made the mighty oak and pine break and fall like a reed, but he also believed in an existence after death, in another world.

The North American Indian built no temples; he had no religious observances as his brothers had in Mexico or in South America; but he had

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his Medicine Man, who was his priest, who was supposed to converse with the Great Spirit. They probably had some religious observances, too, but kept them a secret from the white man.

The Indian is suspicious and secretive by nature and pretends not to understand any but his own tongue, though he may well understand the language of the stranger addressed to him and be able to converse with him in the same language. That they have ceremonies which they carry on with great solemnity in secrecy is beyond question.

The Chippewas on the Lac du Flambeau reservation go visiting at inter- vals of a few years to friends or other members of their tribe to Canada or British Columbia. Their visit is returned the next season. On the arrival of these Canadian Indians there is great feasting and dancing. A big tent is erected and in the night time the Indians assemble therein and have cere- monies and performances which no white man is permitted to witness. The Indian farmer on that reservation, himself a man who is a member of sev- eral secret organizations, orders so-called, and who from curiosity was watch- ing from a vantage ground, trying to detect as much as possible of what was going on in the big tent, said that what he saw and heard resembled the secret work of a secret society to which he belonged, making allowance, of course, for the primitive work of the Indians. Whatever it may be, it seems to have a spiritual character, adapted to Indian religious notions.

The unreliability of their tradition is illustrated by the following incident. The writer of this was on a fishing trip, rowed by an intelligent and half civilized Indian from Lac du Flambeau or Fence Lake into Crawling Stone Lake. This half-breed Indian acts frequently as interpreter in the United States courts; he is or was a trader on that reservation. On passing by a big stone, at the thoroughfare to Crawling Stone Lake, having asked his guide how the lake came to this name, the guide pointed out the stone, saying that there was once a terrible battle between the Sioux and the Chippewas ; that a stream of blood ran into the lake which washed this stone to its present location from the battlefield. Unfortunately, the writer was not then acquainted with the character of the Indians and anyway, believing his guide to be more of a white than Indian, uttered a word of disbelief of the immensity of bloodshed which could move so large a rock, and immediately his guide stopped and could not be induced to proceed with his narration. It is known, however, from a study of their language, that the Wisconsin Indians belong to two far branching families of the race, namely: to the Algonquins of the East, and the Dakotas of the West.

To the Algonquins belong the Chippewas, one of the strongest tribes in

HISTORY OF MARATHON COUNTY

existence, the Mennominees, Pottawatamies, Mascutins, Sacs, and Foxes, the last tribe also called Outagamies ; to the Dakotas belong the Winnebagoes, and some wandering tribes of Sioux, which invaded Wisconsin from Minnesota.

The Dakotas and Algonquins were always at enmity, excepting the Winne- bagoes, a weak tribe, who became more numerous though while in Wisconsin, living in peace in the midst of Algonquin tribes.

The following is a list of the tribes or perhaps families of tribes, which occupied the Wisconsin territory proper, and as these names often appear as the names of rivers, creeks, etc., in the geography of Wisconsin, they are given here for future reference; Mascoutins, Winnebagoes; Ojiboys, Chippe- was, Gibbways or Sauteurs; Ottawas, Courteorielles; Mennominees; Kicka- poos; Foxes, Outagamies; Osaukies, Sauks or Sacs.

In a pamphlet edited by J. A. Lapham, Levy Blossom and George C. Dousman, now among the collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society, the following paragraphs appear, which will be read with interest by all who desire to know something of the early Indian occupation of Wisconsin :

"The Mascoutins, as before remarked, early disappeared. Their record is fully made up; their decline and fall is complete; but what has become of them-whether removed to some distant part of the country, amalgamated with some other tribe, or destroyed by poverty and disease-we are not permitted to know. Alas! the destiny of the Mascoutins is the destiny of the red man.

"The Kickapoos were removed at an early date, west of the Mississippi River; and their name does not appear among those tribes that disposed of their lands to our government.

"The Sauks and Foxes appear at one time to have joined the Sioux in their effort to main- tain a footing upon the east bank of the Mississippi, against the Chippewas. In 1766 they were upon the upper Wisconsin, occupying the country from Green Bay to Lac du Flambeau, and even to Lake Superior and Upper Mississippi, giving the name (Sauk) to a river and rapids in Minnesota. From this position, which they occupied but a short time, they were driven back by the Chippewas, under the leadership of their famous chief, Wah-boo-jeog (White Fisher) who died at Chegoimegon in 1793. The decisive battle was fought at the Falls of the St. Croix. They were thus forced to the lower Rock River, beyond our borders; and they do not appear as claiming any share of Wisconsin in the general apportionment among the Indian tribes at Prairie du Chien in 1825.

"The Winnebagoes are supposed to be an off-shoot of the great Sioux nation ; they figure largely in the Indian History of Wisconsin. They were but a small tribe when first en- countered by the French on the shores of Green Bay. They afterwards became a very bold and warlike tribe. They joined Pontiac in his effort to eradicate the British rule in the Northwest in 1763, and afterwards fought with the British against us (the Americans), in 1812. In 1837 they sold their lands in Wisconsin, and were removed in the spring of 1849 to their reservation at the West, where it is supposed they are to remain permanently.

"The Sioux struggled manfully for their ancient hunting grounds on the St. Croix River, and only relinquished them in 1837 to the United States by treaty. The Chippewas on the north, and the Winnebagoes on the south, had already crowded them into a very narrow space along the east bank of the Mississippi, between Prairie du Chien and Lake St. Croix. It is supposed that they extended much further eastward, along the southern borders of Lake

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Superior, whence they were driven by the Chippewas who were themselves crowded by other still more eastern tribes. Their very name, in the language of the Chippewas (Nada wessy), signifies an enemy. And these two tribes were always at war.

"The Chippewas have persistently maintained their position on the south shore of Lake Superior, stretching in 1832, to the head waters of the Chippewa and Wisconsin Rivers. At this time they number 2,826. (They are stronger at this time.)

"Among them were 35 trading posts, visited annually by traders licensed under the act of Congress of May 26th, 1824. The Chippewas sold their land to the Government in 1837 and 1842, except a small reservation near the mouth of Bad River, on Lake Superior, and three reservations in Wisconsin.

"The Mennominees, or Wild Rice Eaters, appear to have been a quiet, peace-loving people, usually ranked above the average Indian tribe in personal appearance and intellectual qualities. For a long time the Milwaukee River was the boundary separating them from the Pottowata- mies at the south. Tomah appears to have been in former times a good and great chief among them, advising them against wars and all other kinds of wickedness. He has been very properly remembered in the name of one of our flourishing towns.

"In 1848 the Mennominees ceded their entire country in this State to the General Govern- ment, and were to be removed to Minnesota; but the district assigned to them not being found suitable to their wants, they were, with the consent of the legislature of Wisconsin, allowed to remain upon a small reservation (276,480 acres) on the Wolf River. (They are now on this reservation.)

"In August, 1853, Oshkosh, the renowned chief of this tribe, whose name is very properly perpetuated in the beautiful city on the shores of Lake Winnebago, represented to the govern- ment that his tribe was never so poor and destitute of provisions, having fallen almost to a condition of starvation. About half of the tribe were devoted to agriculture; the remainder still adhered to the roving life of the hunter.

"The Pottowatamies were one of the largest and most powerful tribes of Indians. They were represented in 1821 as thinly scattered in wigwams over a great extent of country, stretch- ing on the south along both sides of the Illinois River, on the western shore of Lake Michigan, to the Mennominees of Milliwaky, and to the Winnebagoes of Green Bay, on the east beyond the St. Joseph to the head waters of the Maumee and the Wabash; and to the west their territories extended to Rock River, and to the lands of the Sauks and Foxes on the Missis- sippi. At the treaty held in Chicago in 1833 they relinquished to the government all their lands in this State south and west of the Milwaukee River, which then became public land, and was open for settlement and improvement by the white people.

"In 1853 the remnant still remaining of this once powerful tribe was removed to per- manent homes west of the Upper Mississippi. (A small portion however still is with the Mennominees on their reservation.)"

The lands occupied in Wisconsin at the time of the explorations of the French may be properly limited thus: The Mennominees from the Mennomi- nee river south to the Milwaukee river and east of Lake Michigan; west to the Wisconsin river and up the Wisconsin to Big Bull Falls (Wausau). The Sacs and Foxes on the Fox river and north-the Chippewas on the head- waters of the Chippewa river and Wisconsin and extending up into the penin- sula of Michigan. The Winnebagoes surrounded Lake Winnebago and occu- pied western lands too; their principal villages in 1766 stood on what is now Doty's Island.

The Foxes, more fierce and warlike than other tribes, soon came in con- 2

HISTORY OF MARATHON COUNTY

flict with the French and their Indian allies, and were driven out and fled across the Mississippi, where they were later joined by their friends, the Sacs, who for some thirty years occupied the land on the west of the Wisconsin river front Baraboo and Sauk down south.

According to all reliable reports, there were never more than fifteen thou- sand Indians occupying Wisconsin. The territory was a veritable paradise for the Indian. Red deer were plentiful, the elk common, the bear could be trapped, numerous beaver dams in all parts of the state prove the existence of large colonies of this animal so highly valued by the Indian for his meat as well as fur. The lakes, rivers, and creeks were full of excellent fish, which when dried and smoked could be easily preserved; berries and nuts could be gathered by the squaws and young ones, and the shores of most lakes were fringed with wild rice. The thick forest sheltered the Indians from the wintery blasts, which passed over their heads, and there was always plenty of dry wood to keep the wigwam warm.

They had their trails which ran in as straight direction as possible from place to place, avoiding low swampy places. When a party was on a march, knowing that another party of theirs was behind, they would put sticks in the ground on leaving camp, from which the party behind, when the sun struck the sticks, could determine the day and hour when the first party had left. Their trails have often served as the proper location for highways by the pioneers. Within recent years, before the lumber in and around Minoqua was cut and all old landmarks perished, there could plainly be seen the old Indian trail, passing from Lake Superior to the portage on the Fox and Wisconsin rivers.

The reservations occupied in Wisconsin by Indians and population in 1912 are as follows :

I. Lac du Flambeau ; in Vilas, Oneida and Iron counties ; 77,223 acres. Chippewas; population, 730.

2. Lac Courte Oreille ; Sawyer county ; 68,914 acres. Chippewas ; popu- lation, 1,252.

On each of these reservations is a government boarding school, a Catholic and Protestant church; but the Indians still hold to ancient ceremonies and religious customs.

3. La Point (Bad River ) ; Ashland county; 123,750 acres. Chippewas ; population, 1, 140.

There is a Roman Catholic church, a Methodist church, and a Congre- gational church, the two former having resident ministers, and the Congre- gational church having a missionary not residing but holding regular services there.

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There are two or three public schools, and the Roman Catholics operate a large boarding school, and there is a day school supported by the government.

4. Red Cliff reservation; Bayfield county; 14,166 acres. Chippewas; population, 472.

5. Menominee reservation; in Shawano and Oconto counties; 231,680 acres. Menominees ; population, 1,632.

They have three schools on that reservation, to-wit : the Keshena Boarding School which accommodates about ninety Indian pupils; the St. Joseph's Catholic Industrial School with about one hundred and fifty pupils, both schools located at Keshena, besides a mixed school at Neopit attended by about thirty Indian children and 45 white children. There are four Catholic churches, one at Keshena, one at South Branch, one at West Branch, and one at Neopit, Wisconsin. The Menominees live mostly on separate small farms like the Oneidas, having from two to fifty acres under cultivation.

The New York Indians, brought here by treaty in 1832, by which they exchanged their land in New York for land in Wisconsin, are the six nations, commonly called Oneidas, and the Stockbridges, the St. Regis, the Munsees and the Brothertons.

The Oneida reservation embraces 65,440 acres-in Brown and Outagamie counties. Population is now 2,333.

They were about one thousand and one hundred head in all when they emigrated, but have since been augmented by accessions from New York and are now 2,333 in number. They occupy the land in severalty to the number of 1,520 and have fine cultivated farms, one government boarding school, one government day school, two mission day schools, and one public school; four church societies, one Protestant Episcopal, one Methodist, one Catholic and one Adventist.

The Stockbridge, Munsee and the St. Regis Indians were given a small reservation in Calumet county, as also the Brotherton Indians. They all hold their land in severalty, have become citizens, and are fast losing their Indian characteristics and language, and it will be but one or two generations more when they will entirely disappear as Indians, as the Brothertons have already.

UNDER AMERICAN RULE.

Although the territory was ceded by England by the treaty of 1783, the British posts were not withdrawn until 1795, pursuant to "Jay's treaty." In the War of 1812, the sympathies of the few white traders and Indians were

HISTORY OF MARATHON COUNTY

with the British, but no British force being in the territory, these sympathies did not assert themselves in hostile acts.

There came a change in the fur trade after the passing of the act of con- gress in 1815, which drove the Hudson Bay Company out of business, which was quickly seized by the American Fur Company, principally owned by John Jacob Astor, who succeeded by various manipulations, buying out and combining with other fur companies in monopolizing the trade, which con- tinued to prosper, but brought no permanent settlers into the territory. The peace was disturbed later by two Indian wars, which were but of short dura- tion, and occurred while Wisconsin was still a part of Michigan territory. The real cause of the first war was the taking possession of the lead mines by white men in the vicinity of Galena while the land still belonged to the Indians.

Indians themselves mined, or rather dug out and smelted lead ore and traded it to the whites, which trade attracted white men up from Illinois, so that after 1820 there were quite a number of white men engaged in that business, which excited the enmity of the Indians, especially the Winnebagoes, because they treated the lead mines, and properly so, as their own property .*

In 1825, there were shipped from Galena 439,473 pounds of lead, and the output increased rapidly.

In the same year, a council of Indians was held with the different tribes of Indians, at Prairie du Chien, ostensibly to make lasting peace between them, and definitely settle the boundaries between them respectively. In October, 1826, orders came from Washington to remove the troops to Fort Snelling, and abandon Fort Crawford, which was done, the commandant taking with him two Winnebago Indians who had been confined in the guard- house for some supposed trivial offense. The Indians were already in an ugly mood; they had committed some murders on straggling whites, and the removal of the troops caused the Indians to believe they had fled through fear for them.

In the spring of 1827 a rumor gained currency that the two prisoners taken to Fort Snelling were turned over to the Chippewas, made to run the gauntlet through a party of the latter tribe and had been killed. Something of that kind did occur to some Sioux prisoners. These supposed murders,

*In 1822 Mr. James Thompson, a government contractor for the army, made a treaty with the Indians, and obtained leave to work the mines for a limited time, probably four years, as he left in 1826. Mr. Thompson let in other parties to dig; and one firm of the name of Ware, brought from 50 to 400 negro slaves. In 1826 there was a great rush to Galena, somewhat like the California excitement at a later period.

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coupled with the wrongful occupation of the lead miners, led the Winnebagoes to reprisal or retaliation.

In March, 1827, one Methode, a settler near Galena, was killed in his sugar bush, his wife and five children were killed in the house, and also the dog who had valiantly defended his master. In the dead dog's jaw a piece of red cloth was found, which apparently had been torn from an Indian leg. Winnebagoes had been seen in the vicinity, which fixed the terrible murders upon them. Red Bird, a well known chief, was with that band of Winne- bagoes. There was great alarm and excitement; a militia company at once organized in Galena, and Secretary of War Louis Cass, who happened to be at Butte de Morts, to make a treaty with the Winnebagoes, proceeded at once to Prairie du Chien by bark canoe, and ordered the troops from Fort Snelling and from Fort Howard with 62 Oneida and Stockbridge Indians to the scene. Red Bird's Winnebago band had fled from Prairie du Chien and were found encamped near where Portage City now is, several hundred strong, but being surrounded with no hope of escape, they surrendered.

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History of Marathon County, Wisconsin and representative citizens, Part 3

Author: Marchetti, Louis. cn Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1042

Author: Marchetti, Louis. cn
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1042