USA > Wisconsin > Sheboygan County > History of Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, past and present > Part 2
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HISTORY OF SHEBOYGAN COUNTY
claim, as late as 1825, was north to the Chippewa country ; east to Green Bay and Lake Michigan; south to the Milwaukee river; and west to Black river. This tribe, which in 1761 had been feeble and depleted, had now, in less than three-quarters of a century, become a powerful nation, number- ing between three and four thousand. As late as 1831 the Menominee territory preserved its large proportions; but in that year it was shorn of a great and valuable part by the tribe ceding to the United States all the eastern division, estimated at two and a half million acres. The following year they aided the general government in the Black Hawk war. In order that the Menominees might become more established, they were assigned as a permanent home a large tract of land lying north of Fox river and east of Wolf river, with a reservation of their territory west for hunting grounds, until such time as the general government should desire to pur- chase it.
In 1836, another portion, amounting to four million acres, lying between Green Bay on the east and Wolf river on the west, was disposed of to the United States, besides a strip three miles in width from near the portage north, on each side of the Wisconsin river, and forty-eight miles long, still leaving them in peaceful possession of a country about one hundred and twenty miles long and eighty broad.
Finally, in 1848, the government purchased all the remaining lands of the Menominees, preparatory to their migration to a reservation beyond the Mississippi of six thousand acres. This latter tract, however, was re- ceded to the United States, for, notwithstanding there were treaty stipula- tions for the removal of the tribe to that tract, there were such obstacles in the way that they were finally permitted to remain in Wisconsin. Lands to the amount of twelve townships were granted them for permanent homes on the Upper Wolf river, in what is now Shawano and Oconto counties- a very small portion only of their once vast possessions. They removed to this reservation in 1852. Thus are the Menominees the only one of the original tribes, which, as a whole, has a local habitation within its limits. This tribe refused to join the Sioux in their outbreak in 1861, and several of their warriors served as volunteers in the United States army in the late Civil war.
The Winnebagoes, or "Men of the Sea," as the name signifies, were first visited in 1634, at which period their villages were upon the head waters of Green Bay. They were one of the tribes belonging to the family of the Dakotas, and had come hither from the westward, but whether from the Pacific, as their name might indicate, is not known. Their ancient seat was Winnebago Lake, whither they afterward removed up the Fox river. Their country included not only this lake but all the streams flowing into it, especially the Fox river, and was subsequently extended to the Wisconsin and Rock rivers. They were brought under the influence of the Jesuit missionaries, who, in 1670, found them worshipping idols. At the commencement of the eighteenth century the Winnebagoes were firmly allied to the French and in peace with the dreaded Iroquois. In 1718 the nation numbered six hundred. They subsequently joined the French against the Iroquois, and also aided them in their. conflict with the British. . But
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with the British possession of the post at Green Bay they allied themselves with their conquerors and kept up this friendship through the revolution and the War of 1812. At this period they were estimated to number 4,500 and were counted a bold and warlike people. When the United States took possession of the post of Green Bay in 1816, they apprehended trouble with the Winnebagoes, but after a single remonstrance with the commandant, they submitted to the new order of things and afterward made a treaty of peace. In 1820 they had five villages on Winnebago Lake and fourteen on Rock river. Five years later their claim to territory was an extensive one. Its southeast boundary stretched away from the source of Rock river to within forty miles of its mouth, in the state of Illinois, where they had a village. On the west it extended to the heads of the small stream flowing into the Mississippi. To the northward it reached Black river and the Upper Wisconsin, but did not cross Fox river, although they contended for the whole of Winnebago lake. In 1829 a large part of their territory, in what is now southwestern ,Wisconsin, was sold to the United States. In 1837 they ceded to the general government all their lands east of the Mississippi. Considerable difficulty was experienced in removing them beyond the Mississippi and they have several times changed their place of abode. Their numbers have greatly diminished.
The Chippeways, by reason of their numerousness and the immensity of the area embraced within the limits of their recognized territory, as well as by the continuance of their distinctive tribal relations, form one of the leading divisions of Wisconsin. Their country included all now known as northern Wisconsin, except the Menominee country on the east, or the present counties of Door, Kewaunee and a portion of Brown. Besides this vast region the tribe was accorded the lands north of Lake Superior. The name is commonly written and spoken "Chippeway," but the best au- thorities now agree that the correct spelling is Otchipwe. The name is employed interchangeably with Ojibway. The French also spoke of them as Sauteux, from the fact that the earliest encounter with them was at Sault Ste. Marie. This name is still applied to them by the Canadians. In 1642 Fathers Jogues and Raymbaut began a mission at Sault Ste. Marie, where there were 2,000 Chippeways. In character this tribe is described brave in war, expert in hunting, fond of adventure, and averse to agri- cultural labor. From remote times their contests with rival tribes are noted. They warred with the Foxes, the Sioux and the Iroquois, driving the Sioux from the upper regions of the Mississippi and the Red river of the north. Their style of fighting shows that they were more used to wooded coun- tries than to the plains, as they were oftener victorious when forcing their foes to battle among forests, than when meeting them on prairies. Their numbers were greatly reduced by war, during the half century succeed- ing the establishment of missions in 1642. They were devoted to the French down to the time of the end of French domination. During the American war for independence they were under British influence, but made peace by the treaties of Fort McIntosh, in 1785, and Fort Harmar in 1789. So far as their policies affect the history of northern Wisconsin, the reader is referred to the article entitled The Public Domain, given later
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on in this work. Therein will be found mention of such treaties with the Chippeways and other tribes as are required to complete the chain of title in the government to the lands of the state.
The Sacs and Foxes are one of the tribes of the Algonquin family. Father Allouez found a village of them in 1665, upon the shores of Green Bay, and early in 1670 he visited a village of them located upon the Fox river about four leagues from its mouth. Upon his first visit he de- scribed them as of wandering habit, great in numbers and fierce and savage beyond all other tribes. Polygamy was common amongst them, and the women and children were very numerous. The Foxes were of two stocks-the Outagamies or Foxes, and the Musquakink, or men of red clay. They were supposed to have come from as far east as the St. Lawrence, and to have been driven from time to time, first to near Detroit, then to Saginaw (a name derived from the Sacs), and then by the Iroquois to Green Bay and thence up the Fox river. Allouez estab- lished among these his mission of St. Mark and in two years rejoiced in the baptism of sixty children and some adults. In 1684 the Sacs sent out warriors against the Five Nations but they soon became hostile to the French. They afterward became reconciled but this reconciliation was of short duration and their ill will toward the French continued. The consequence of this spirit of enmity was that in 1716 their terri- tory was invaded and they were forced to sue for peace. This com- pulsory friendship was of short duration. The Foxes numbered five hundred men, with an abundance of women and children. They were in- dustrious, and raised large crops of Indian corn. In 1728 the French sent a second expedition against them and the Menominees and Win- nebagoes, destroying wigwams and fields. They were attacked for a third time in 1730 and defeated, and again in 1734 by the same foe, against whom in this last attack they were more successful than formerly. In 1736 the Sacs were connected with the government of Canada, though at heart far from brotherly in feeling to the French. In 1754 came the struggle between France and Great Britain, and the Sacs and Foxes allied themselves with their former foe and conqueror against the Eng- lish but were forced into subjection to the new victor. In 1761 the two nations, about equally divided, numbered about seven hundred warriors. The Sacs migrated to the westward but the Foxes, or a portion of them, still remained upon the waters of the Fox river. During the Revolu- tionary war the Sacs and Foxes adhered to the English. At the com- mencement of this century what territory remained to them in Wiscon- sin was in the extreme southwestern part of the state. This they ceded to the United States in 1804. From that date these allied tribes can- not be considered as belonging to the state of Wisconsin. An episode in their subsequent history comes in, however, incidentally in the annals of the state, and that is the Black Hawk war.
The Pottawattomies were neighbors to the Winnebagoes upon Green Bay in 1639. Thirty years later they were still upon its southern shore in two villages, and ten years subsequent to that they occupied at least one village in the same region. Upon the expiration of the first quarter
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of the eighteenth century a part only of this nation was in that vicinity, upon the islands at the mouth of the bay. These islands were then known as the Pottawattomie Islands, and considered as the ancient abode of these Indians. This tribe had scattered to the southward, one band on the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan, and the other near Detroit. The Potta- wattomies did not keep themselves distinct as a tribe but fraternized with various other tribes. These "united tribes" as they were called, claimed all the lands of their respective tribes and of other nations, and gave the United States no little trouble when possession was taken by the gen- eral government. Finally, by a treaty in 1833, their claims, such as they were, to the lands along the western shore of Lake Michigan, within the present state of Wisconsin, extending westward to Rock river, were pur- chased by the United States, with permission to retain possession of their ceded lands for three years longer, after which time this united nation of Chippewas, Ottawas and Pottawattomies began to disappear and soon were no longer seen in the state.
Besides the five tribes-Menominees, Winnebagoes, Chippewas, Sacs and Foxes and Pottawattomies many others, whole or in part, have, since the territory now constituting the state was first visited by white men, been occupants of its territory. Of these some are only known as having once lived in what is now Wisconsin; others, such as the Hurons, Illi- nois, Kickapoos, Mascoutins, Miamis, Noquets, Ottawas and Sioux are recognized as Indians once dwelling in this region. Yet, so transitory was their occupation, or so little is known of them, that they can scarcely be claimed as belonging in the state. Commencing in 1822, and continu- ing at intervals through some of the following years, was the migra- tion to Wisconsin from the state of New York of the remains of por- tions of four tribes: the Oneidas, Stockbridges, Munsees and Brother- towns. The Oneidas finally located west of Green Bay, where they still reside. Their reservation contains over sixty thousand acres, and lies wholly within the present counties of Brown and Outagamie. The Stock- bridges and Munsees, who first located above Green Bay, on the east side of Fox river, afterward moved to the east side of Winnebago lake. They now occupy a reservation joining the southwest township of the Menominee reservation, in Shawano county. The Brothertowns first lo- cated on the east side of Fox river, but subsequently moved to the east side of Winnebago lake, where, in 1839, they broke up their tribal rela- . tions and became citizens of Wisconsin Territory.
NICOLET'S EXPLORATIONS
To Jean Nicolet belongs the honor of the first place in the history of Wisconsin. Nor is that honor due from mere accidental events, as is so often the case in the discovery of new countries; for it was now by the deliberate accomplishment of a laborious and dangerous undertaking, whose purpose was, so far as evidence can now be adduced, substantially achieved. The sparse records of the life of this man contain but the barest outlines of his earlier days, though future research among orig-
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inal documents, it is to be hoped, will shed more light on the obscured details. It is known that he was of French nativity, born in Normandy, and that he emigrated to Canada in the year 1618, being a protege of Champlain. The date of his birth is not preserved in any document extant. Upon his arrival in New France, he at once took up his resi- dence at Allumettes Island, on the Ottawa, that he might the better study the Indian tongue and thereby fit himself for the office of interpreter. In 1622, but four years after his arrival, he is mentioned as having ac- quired an extensive influence over the Algonquin tribes. From 1623 to 1631, Nicolet lived with the tribes of the Nipissing. This is stated on the authority of his friend, Father Le Jeune, although other of the "Jesuit Relations" record that the period of his residence with the Nipissing tribes was from 1629 to 1632.
It is determined by those who have made a special study of the sub- ject, that Nicolet came to Green Bay in the summer of 1634, and re- turned to Quebec in 1635. Parkman observes that Nicolet was a re- markable man, and so he must have been, to win the confidence of the savage tribes to that degree which enabled him to penetrate into the re- mote regions of their homes and there conduct a peaceful enterprise with the warlike Winnebagoes, for the advancement of commerce in fur and peltry.
The long journey from Quebec was undertaken at the suggestion of Champlain, and in the official capacity of interpreter of the Company of One Hundred Associates of New France, which was formed in 1627, with a view to the development of the immense resources of the western wilder- ness in furs. The mission of Nicolet was not to establish peace, as dis- tinguished from warfare, between the Hurons and Winnebagoes, but was rather a mission of peace, to cement the friendly relations of these tribes, as well as the Nez Perces or Ottawas, and other tribes, in the general interest of the French.
Nicolet visited the Hurons while on his westward journey, at their home on the eastern side of the lake which bears their name, and ne- gotiated with them. It is recorded by Parkman that upon his arrival in Green Bay, at "Winnebago Town, he sent some of his Indian attendants to announce his coming, put on a robe of damask, and advanced to meet the expectant crowd with a pistol in each hand. The squaws and children fled, screaming that it was a manito, or spirit, armed with thunder and lightning, but the chiefs and warriors regaled him with so bountiful a hospitality that one hundred and twenty beavers were devoured at a single feast." With such a dramatic display was the white man intro- duced upon the soil of the great commonwealth of Wisconsin.
The Jesuit Paul Le Jeune, writing in 1640, said: "Upon the borders of Green Bay are the Menominees; still further on, the Winnebagoes, a sedentary people and very numerous. Some Frenchmen call them the 'Nation of the Stinkards,' because the Winnebago word 'winipeg' signi- fies 'stinking water.' Now they thus call the water of the sea, therefore these people call themselves Winnebagoes, because they came from the shores of a sea of which we have no knowledge. Consequently, we must
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not call them the 'Nation of the Stinkards,' but the 'Nation of the Sea.'"
It is asserted by several writers that Nicolet continued his journey down the Wisconsin river to a point "within three days' journey of the Mississippi;" but this statement is shown, by the monograph referred to, to be an impossibility. It is therein given as historic fact that the re- newed journey extended up the Fox river, to within three days' voyage of the Wisconsin, where it is supposed he found the Mascoutins. This correction is one of the most valuable that has been made by Professor Butterfield. After returning to Green Bay, Nicolet visited many of the surrounding nations. He retraced his way to the St. Lawrence in the summer of 1635, reaching Quebec in safety. The parish records of that city furnish the information that this brave man was occupied with va- rious duties from 1635 to the date of his death, and show conclusively that his journey must have been made at the date given, since he was not absent from Quebec long enough at any one time to have performed the feat subsequent to 1635.
Nicolet married Marguerite Couillard, at Quebec, October 7, 1637. He lost his life while on a mission to save a poor Abenaqui from the Al- gonquins, by the capsizing of his boat, October 31, 1642. To this bold adventurer, whose knowledge of the western tribes was gained by actual experience, must all praise be given for having opened to the devoted fol- lowers of the Cross the way to new fields of usefulness.
EARLY JESUIT MISSIONS
The pipe of peace which Nicolet smoked with the western tribes was not productive of immediate good returns. The death of Champlain and the change in purposes and ambitions among the Canadian settlers, pro- duced in the east an almost total forgetfulness of the upper lake country. For at least two decades of years after the discovery of Wisconsin by Nicolet, very dim and shadowy is its history. Here and there references to Green Bay and the Indians inhabiting its shores, are made by Jesuit missionaries in their "Relations." The "Relations" were the records kept by the priests of their experiences in their arduous calling. For many years, beginning in 1632, the Superior of the Jesuit Mission in Canada- then New France-sent every summer to Paris his reports, which em- bodied or were accompanied by those of his subordinates. For forty years these reports were annually published in Paris, and were known as the "Jesuit Relations." Those which are of interest to the student of Wis- consin history begin with the year 1639-40 and extend to 1672. Says one of these records of date 1648: "This Superior Lake extends to the northwest, that is to say, between the west and the north. A peninsula, or strip of land quite small, separates the Superior Lake from another third lake, called by us the 'Lake of the Puants' (Green Bay) which also dis- charges itself into our fresh water sea, through a mouth which is on the other side of the peninsula, about ten leagues more to the west than the Sault. This third lake extends between the west and the southwest, more toward the west, and is almost equal in size to our fresh water sea. On
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its shores dwell a different people, of an unknown language, that is to say, a language that is neither Algonquin nor Huron. These people (the Winnebagoes) are called the Puants, not on account of any unpleasant odor that is peculiar to them, but because they say they came from the shores of the sea far distant toward the west, the waters of which, being salt, they call themselves 'the people of the Stinking Water.'"
Another account written in 1654, after giving the arrival at Montreal of a fleet of canoes loaded with furs, belonging to friendly Indians, who came from the upper country a distance of four hundred leagues, speaks of a part of these Indians being the Tobacco nations of the Hurons, and a portion Ottawas, and adds: "These tribes have abandoned their an- cient country and have retired toward the more distant nation in the vicinity of the Great Lake, whom we call Puants, in consequence of their having dwelt near the sea, which is salt, and which our savages call 'stink- ing water.'" The Hurons had been entirely overthrown by the Iroquois in 1649 and 1650, and had abandoned their country. A division of this nation, called the Tobacco Indians, with such other Hurons as had taken refuge with them, settled on Mackinac Island, where they were joined by a branch of the Ottawas, nicknamed by the French, Cheveux rélèves, or Standing Hair; hence this statement in the "Relations" that these nations had "retired toward the more distant" Winnebagoes.
Again, in the same year, this is recorded: "In the islands of the 'lake of the people of the sea,' whom some persons wrongly call the 'Puants,' there are many tribes whose language closely resembles the Algonquins." In 1656, one of the Jesuits writes: "Our attention has been directed to- ward a number of nations in the neighborhood of the 'Nation of the Sea,' whom some persons have called the 'Puants,' in consequence of their having formerly dwelt on the shores of the sea, which they call 'Winipeg,' that is to say, 'stinking water.'" Then follows an enumeration of the villages of Illinois and Sioux Indians, and of two other nations, the "Ponarak" and "Kiristinous." Such are the meager records of Wiscon- sin after its visitation by Nicolet, down to the year 1658.
In August, 1656, a band of the Ottawas, or other Algonquins, number- ing three hundred, and in fifty birch bark canoes, appeared upon the St. Lawrence! These savages demanded commerce with the French, and missionaries for the boundless west. This was the beginning of the com- merce of the northwest. But for the greed of the fur trader and the zeal of the Jesuit, the story of Nicolet would soon have passed from the minds of the Frenchmen inhabiting the St. Lawrence; and the discovery of Wisconsin, like the discovery of the Mississippi by De Soto, would soon have faded from the memory of man.
But a missionary, whose name is not yet appended to the "Relations," and it is, consequently, uncertain who the reverend father was, took from the lips of an Indian captive, named Asatanik, and a man of consider- able importance an account of his having in the month of June, 1658, set out from Green Bay for the north, passing the rest of the summer and the following winter near Lake Superior-so called because of its be- ing above Lake Huron. This Indian informed the Jesuit of the havoc and
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desolation of the Iroquois war in the west; how it had reduced the Algon- quin nations about Lake Superior and Green Bay. The same mission- ary saw at Quebec two Frenchmen, who had just arrived from the upper countries with three hundred Algonquins in sixty canoes, laden with peltries. These fur traders had passed the winter of 1659 on the shores of Lake Superior, during which time they made sev- eral trips among the surrounding tribes. In their wanderings they prob- ably visited some of the northern parts of what is now Wisconsin. They saw, at six days' journey beyond the lake toward the southwest, a tribe composed of the remainder of Hurons of the Tobacco nation, compelled by the Iroquois to abandon Mackinac, and to bury themselves thus deep in the forests, that they might not be bound by their enemies. The two traders told the tales they had heard of the ferocious Sioux, and of a great river upon which they dwelt-the "great water" of Nicolet's guides. Thus a knowledge of the Mississippi began to dawn again upon the civil- ized world. It may be well to remember in this connection that the fur traders came to what is now Wisconsin in advance generally of the mis- sionaries. They led the way for the Jesuit fathers; but as trade was their object, and they left no record of their visits, only vague knowledge is had of what they really saw or did. But slight mention is made of them in the "Relations," where, as much as possible, their presence and doings are kept in the background.
The narratives of the Indian captive and of the two Frenchmen were not lost upon the zealous Jesuits, for, two years later, Rene Menard at- tempted to plant a mission on the southern shore of Lake Superior but perished in the forest by starvation or the tomahawk. Thoroughly inured to Indian life, with many a dialect of Huron and Algonquin at his com- mand, this missionary, in endeavoring to establish the Cross so far to the westward, went, with eight Frenchmen and a number of Ottawas, start- ing from Three Rivers, Canada, August 28, 1660. He made his way to "a large bay" upon the southern shore of the lake, in all probability, what is now known as Keweenaw, Michigan. Here, however, he met with lit- tle success in founding a mission. He subsequently determined to visit some Hurons, who were then located upon, or near, the Noquet Islands in the mouth of Green Bay, and who had sent to implore the missionary to come amongst them, as they had long been destitute of a pastor, and many of them were fast relapsing into pagan habits. It should be remem- bered that the Hurons proper, and their allies and kindred of the Tobacco nation, had, many years before, while living near the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron, Canada, received the Jesuit missionaries at their villages. and numbers had professed Christianity. Three of Menard's companions were sent to explore the way. Descending the Menominee river, they finally reached the Huron village, where they found a few wretched In- dians-mere living skeletons. On their way they encountered great hard- ships, owing to the rapid current of the stream, its portages and precipices. Convinced of the impossibility of Menard's reaching the Hurons, or re- maining with them, if he did, they returned, encountering still greater dif- ficulties in ascending the river. These Frenchmen were, doubtless, in
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