USA > Wisconsin > Sheboygan County > History of Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, past and present > Part 4
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38
JOLIET'S AND MARQUETTE'S MAPS.
The "Relations" of Joliet and Marquette contain the statement that maps were prepared by them for their guidance, from the reports of friendly Indians. Two of Joliet's charts have never been published, but a third (and probably the earliest) has recently been given to the world by M. Gabriel Gravier, president of the Norman Geographical Society, who is an authority on the subject of early explorations in America. The map is full of errors, which must have been known to Joliet as such at the time. Its value consists chiefly in the fact that it is the only specimen of Joliet's cartography thus far made public. Unlike Marquette's map, this one con- tains a crude representation of the stopping place at Chicago, which is vaguely designated as Mont Joliet.
Joliet found the Fox river very beautiful at its mouth, having a gentle
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current. It was full of bustards, duck, teal and other birds, attracted by wild oats, which were plentiful and of which they were very fond. As the party advanced up the river a little distance, it was found to be difficult of ascent, both on account of the currents and of the sharp rocks which cut their canoes. But the rapids in the stream were passed in safety. The Mascoutins were reached at length and in their village was gathered also the Miamis and Kickapoos. Bark for cabins was found to be rare in the Mascoutin village, the Indians using rushes, which served them for walls and roof, but which were no great shelter against the wind and still less against the rain when it fell in torrents. The view from the Indian village was beautiful and very picturesque; for, from the eminence on which it was perched, the eye discovered on every side, delightful prairies, spreading out beyond its reach, interspersed with thickets or groves of lofty trees. The soil was found to be very good, producing much corn. Plums also and grapes were gathered in the autumn in quantities by the Indians.
Joliet and his party arrived at the Mascoutins on the 7th of June; their departure was on the 10th. "We knew," afterward wrote Marquette, "that there was, three (thirty) leagues from Maskoutens (Mascoutins), a river (the Wisconsin) entering into the Mississippi; we knew, too, that the point of the 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, especi- ally as the river leading to it is covered with wild oats that you can hardly discover the channel. Hence we had good need of our two (Miami) guides, who led us safely to a portage of twenty-seven hundred paces (the site of the present city of Portage. Columbia county, Wisconsin), and helped us to transport our canoes to enter this river (the Wisconsin), after which they returned, leaving us alone in an unknown country in the hands of Providence."
"We now leave," continues Marquette, "the waters which flow to Quebec, a distance of four or five hundred leagues, to follow those which will hence- forth lead us into strange lands. . . . The river on which we embarked is called Meskousing (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 armed with thorns. We saw no small game or fish, but deer and moose in considerable numbers."
On the 17th of June, with a joy inexpressible, Joliet and his party reached and entered the Mississippi. After dropping down the river many miles they returned by the Illinois river and Lake Michigan to Green Bay. Here Marquette remained to recruit his wasted energies, while Joliet pro- ceeded on to Quebec, where he reported his discoveries and explorations to the governor of New France.
EXPLORATIONS SUBSEQUENT TO JOLIET
Explorations begun by Joliet were continued. La Salle, in 1679, with Father Louis Hennepin, coasted along the western shore of Lake Michigan,
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landing frequently. The return of Henri de Tonty, one of La Salle's party down the same coast to Green Bay from Illinois, followed in 1680. The same year Father Hennepin, from the Upper Mississippi, whither he had gone from the Illinois, made his way across what is now Wisconsin, by the Wisconsin and Fox rivers, to Green Bay. He was accompanied by Daniel Graysolon Du Lhut (synonymous with Duluth) who on his way down the "great river" from Lake Superior had met Hennepin. "As we went up the river Wisconsin," says the latter, "we found it was as large as that of the Illinois, which is navigable for large vessels above a hundred leagues. We could not sufficiently admire the extent of those vast countries, and the charming lands through which we passed, which lie all untilled. The cruel wars which these nations have one with another are the cause that they have not people enough to cultivate them. And the more bloody wars which have raged so long in all parts of Europe, have hindered the sending Chris- tian colonies to settle them. However, I must needs say that the poorer sort of our countrymen would do well to think of it and go and plant them- selves in this fine country, where, for a little pains in cultivating the earth, they would live happier and subsist much better than they do here."
Following the voyage of Hennepin was the one of the Le Sueur, in 1683, from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi, ascending that river to the Sioux country in the region about St. Anthony, and his subsequent establishment, said to have been in 1693, at La Pointe, in the present Ashland county, Wis- consin. He was, at least, "a voyageur stationed at Chegoimegon" during that year. He continued to trade with the Sioux at intervals to the year 1702.
Nicholas Perrot, who, as the agent of St. Lusson, had collected the Green Bay tribes in 1671, to assemble at the congress held at the Sault Ste. Marie, again made his appearance in the Winnebago country, this time in the year 1684. He was commissioned by the government of New France to manage the fur trade from Green Bay westward. "I was sent to his bay," he writes, "charged with the commission to have chief command there, and to the most distant countries on the side of the west." He passed the winter of 1685 and 1686 at a post erected by him on the east side of the Mississippi, at the foot of Lake Pepin, this being the first post on the Upper Mississippi. Thence he proceeded overland to Green Bay. Meanwhile, he had been or- dered by Denouville, the new governor, who did not approve of such dis- tant enterprises, to return with all the Frenchmen in this region, which order he now obeyed. In 1687 he was again at Green Bay, being engaged to bring the Indians inhabiting its shores to the assistance of Denouville against the Iroquois. In 1690 Perrot set out from Montreal with presents and messages to the Indians of the upper country, for the purpose of thwarting the English, who had opened negotiations with several na- tions. Two years subsequent he was sent to Green Bay, chiefly to guard against and frustrate the English overtures to the Miamis and their allies, and in August, 1693, he conducted ten or twelve chiefs of the differ- ten tribes to Montreal. He visited the Miamis again in 1697, by whom he was captured. He was, however, set at liberty through the intercession of the Foxes. The voyage of St. Cosme, in 1699, when he and his compan-
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ions frequently landed on the west coast of Lake Michigan, was followed by that of Le Sueur up the Mississippi in 1700. But far more important was that of Father Charlevoix in 1721 to the waters of Green Bay from Mackinaw, because of his valuable record of what he saw in that part of . the country. Other explorations followed, notably that of Father Guignas, in 1727, and of the Sieur de Laperrier, in the same year, so that, by the end of the first hundred years after the discovery of Wisconsin by Nicolet, con- siderable knowledge of its territory was brought home to the civilized world.
Fur traders, or at least their employes, were the first explorers, after Nicolet, of Wisconsin. They presented the Jesuit missionaries. These traders sent from the St. Lawrence, hatchets, knives, blankets and other articles coveted by the savage, to exchange with him for furs. Their em- ployes, the voyageurs, made their journeys into the far off region in birch bark canoes, of the lightest possible construction, for they had frequently to be carried by hand around rapids, and from one stream to another along carrying places, called portages. They usually made up their outfit at Quebec or Montreal, and ascending the Ottawa during the summer and sub- sequently that river and the lower lakes, proceeded to the various tribes in- habiting the region of the upper lakes, either wintering at Indian villages or at stations which had been established by them in their neighborhood. With their peltries, gathered during the winter and early spring they returned usually the next summer ; but sometimes they were required to make longer voyages. The fur traders were, as a class, men of some wealth, of respect- able families and of considerable intelligence, and were possessed of enter- prising and adventurous habits. They found the fur trade more profitable, or more congenial to their dispositions than agricultural pursuits. Their menials, the voyageurs, penetrated the fastnesses of the western wilderness with a perseverance and courage almost without a parallel in the history of explorations of savage countries. Indeed, they outsavaged the savage in that respect.
The French government early manifested a disposition to extend her dominions in America. At the very commencement of the seventeenth century he had colonized Acadia. In 1608 Quebec was founded. In 1663 New France (Canada) was made a royal colony. The resports circulated in France of the advantages of the fur trade were such as to induce many of the nobility and gentry to invest their fortunes in the new world. With this patronage and the constantly increasing number of colonists, New France grew rapidly in commerce, the most lucrative branch of which was dealing in furs. The voyageurs were the usual agents employed by the French government to extend and uphold its dominion in the northwest. This ยท traffic in furs maintained with the Indians constituted the only value of this region in the eyes of Frenchmen, so long as France continued her dominion over it. The regular fur trader was licensed by the government, this license generally stipulating the territory in which they were permitted to operate. It was drawn in the nature of a colonial commission, conferring upon the licensed trader the authority of a military officer over the voyageurs in his employ. It also made him a commercial agent of the government among
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the Indians. He was frequently employed as special agent of the colony to make treaties. Sometimes he was required to lead his voyageurs upon war expeditions in return for his fur trading privileges. His employes, there- fore, were always around, equipped and familiarized with military duties, partly from necessity of defending themselves from attacks of hostile In- dians, and partly to be enabled to carry out any requisition made by the government. The dominion of France over the western country was thus made self sustaining. But the government found some trouble in control- ling the traffic in furs. There grew up an illicit trade, maintained by couriers de bois, in contradistinction to the regular traders, the voyageurs. They followed the Indians in their wanderings and sometimes became as barbar- ous as the red men. A few years of forest life seemed to wean them from all thought or desire for civilization. They spread over the northwest, the outlaws of the forest. Although rendering essential aid at times to the government, the king of France, in 1699, launched a royal declaration against them. When French domination ceased in the northwest there was an essential change in the fur trade.
The military occupation of the country of the upper lakes by the French -including, of course, what is now Wisconsin-was, after all, only a nom- inal possession, intended as a protection to the fur trade. Posts, which were mere stockades without cannon, built by fur traders and held by them in the name of the king, though at their own expense, were erected on the waters of the Mississippi, at least at two points within what are now the bound- aries of the state: one upon the north side of Lake Pepin, another on an eastern tributary of the Mississippi, some distance inland. No post was es- tablished at or in the vicinity of the mouth of the Wisconsin river, prior to English domination, as has been supposed. There was a stockade at La Pointe, in 1726, but how long it was occupied, is not now known. On the west side of Fox river, not far above the mouth of that stream, there was erected somewhere between 1718 and 1721, a post having a commandant. It was afterward destroyed, then rebuilt, but deserted by the French before the occupation of the vicinity by the British. It was the only fort regularly occupied by French soldiers within what is now Wisconsin. It was called Fort St. Francis, and was in 1721 under the authority of Captain de Montigny. In 1726 it was commanded by Sieur Ameritan, and in 1754 by Sieur Marin, soon after which it was abandoned.
During the continuance of French supremacy in the northwest there were no permanent civilized settlements in Wisconsin. There was no immigra- tion hither for the purpose of tilling the soil, or engaging in the other use- ful vocations of life. The posts of fur traders and the few log huts erected in their vicinity were only temporary residences. The white population was "like driftwood from the current of a stream, only to be swept away again upon the next eddy."
The Fox Indians are supposed to have migrated from the banks of the river St. Lawrence, at a remote period, being driven west, and settling upon the waters of Saginaw, Michigan. Thence they were forced by the Iroquois to Green Bay, but were compelled to move subsequently to Fox River. The persecutions of the Five Nations continuing, they retreated to Wolf river,
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where, in 1670, they were visited by Father Allouez. The next year they stood aloof from the congress held by Daumont de St. Lusson, at the Sault. French fur traders had, thus early, aroused their animosity by their ill treat- ment, and when, subsequently the nation returned to the Fox river, they held this thoroughfare securely against the voyageurs from Green Bay to the Mississippi; not, however, until at the summons of De la Barre, in 1684, they had sent warriors against the Iroquois, and not until they had taken part on the side of the French in Denouville's more serious campaign. As early as 1693, several fur traders had been plundered by them, while on their way to the Sioux, the Foxes alleging that they were carrying arms to their ancient enemies. Their hostility continuing, the Fox river was com- pletely blockaded.
Early in the spring of 1712, a number of Foxes and Mascoutins en- camped close to the fort at Detroit. This post was commanded by M. Du- buisson. His garrison numbered only thirty French soldiers. The Foxes and their allies, the Mascoutins, soon became insolent, calling themselves the owners of all the country. It seems to have been a plan laid by them to burn the fort, but their purpose was communicated to the commandant by a friendly Fox. An express was immediately sent to the hunting grounds of the Ottawas and Hurons by Dubuisson for aid. The Chippewas and an- other tribe, upon the other side of the lake, were invited to join with him in defending his post. The commandant took such measures of defense as his limited force would permit. On the 13th of May he was reenforced by seven or eight Frenchmen. Happily other aid arrived-quite a number of Indians from various nations around, who, joining the Hurons, entered the fort to assist in defending it. This brought matters to a crisis, and firing commenced between the besiegers and the besieged. With undaunted courage, Dubuisson for nineteen days continued to defend his post. The assailants were finally obliged to retreat, their provisions becoming ex- hausted. Some of the Frenchmen, with the Indians, soon started in pur- suit, overtaking the enemy near Lake St. Clair, where they had erected en- trenchments. They held their position four days, fighting with much courage, when they were forced to surrender, receiving no quarter from the victors. All were killed except the women and children, whose lives were spared, and one hundred men who had been tied, but escaped. There were a few Sacs engaged in this attack on the fort, but more, perhaps, were fight- ing upon the other side. The Foxes were incensed rather than weakened by the severe loss they sustained near Detroit; and, their hostility continu- ing, not only against the French but the Indian tribes in alliance with them, caused a proposition to be brought forward by the Marquis de Vaudreuil to commence a war of extermination against the Foxes. To this most of the friendly nations readily assented. A party of French troops was raised and put under the command of De Louvigny, a lieutenant, who left Quebec in March, 1716, returning to that place in October of the same year. He as- cended to Detroit in canoes with all possible despatch. There he received reinforcements and thence urged his way to Mackinaw, where "his pres- ence inspired in all the Frenchmen and Indians a confidence which was a presage of victory." With a respectable force-said to have been eight hun-
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dred strong-De Louvigny entered Green Bay and ascended Fox river, to what point is now uncertain, when he encountered the enemy in a palisaded fort. William R. Smith, in his History of Wisconsin, says: "The Foxes had selected a stronghold on the Fox river, now known as the 'Butte des Morts,' or 'Hill of the Dead,' " but he does not designate the exact locality. "After three days of open trenches," says the commander, "sustained by a continuous fire of fusileers, with two pieces of cannon and a grenade mortar, they were reduced to ask for peace, notwithstanding they had five hundred warriors in the fort, who fired briskly, and more than three thou- sand women; they also expected shortly a reenforcement of three hundred men. But the promptitude with which the officers who were in this action pushed forward the trenches that I had opened only seventy yards from their fort, made the enemy fear, the third night, that they would be taken. As I was only twenty-four yards from their fort, my design was to reach their triple oak stakes by a ditch of a foot and a half in the rear. Perceiv- ing very well that my balls had not the effect I anticipated, I decided to take the place at the first onset, and to explode two mines under their curtains. The boxes being properly placed for the purpose, I did not listen to the enemy's first proposition; but they, having made a second one, I submitted it to my allies, who consented to it on the following conditions: That the Foxes and their allies would make peace with all the Indians who are sub- missive to the king, and with whom the French are engaged in trade and commerce; and that they would return to me all the French prisoners that they have, and those captured during the war from all our allies (this was complied with immediately) ; that they would take slaves from distant na- tions and deliver them to our allies to replace their dead; that they would hunt to pay the expenses of the war; and, as a surety of their keeping their word, that they should deliver me six chiefs, or the children of chiefs, to take with me to M. La Marquis de Vaudreuil as hostages, until the entire execution of our treaty, which they did, and I took them with me to Quebec. Besides I have reunited the other nations at variance among themselves, and have left that country enjoying universal peace."
But the Foxes proved irreconcilable. War was renewed at Detroit in 1721 ; and in 1728, another expedition was organized, "to go and destroy" that nation. It was commanded by Marchand de Lignery, who had, two years before, held a council at Green Bay with the Foxes, Sacs and Winne- bagoes, when these tribes promised to maintain peace. But the Foxes paid no regard to their plighted faith and continued their hostility; and joined with them were the Sacs and Winnebagoes. De Lignery left Montreal in June, 1728, proceeding by way of the Ottawa river and Lake Huron to Mackinaw, thence to Green Bay, upon the northern shore of which the Menominees, who had also made common cause with the Foxes, were at- tacked and defeated. This was on the 15th of August. On the evening of the 17th the mouth of the Fox river was reached, when it became evident that the savages had knowledge of the expedition. It had been the intention of De Lignery to attack a Sac village just above Fort St. Francis-the French post, where he wished to surprise the enemy who were staying with their allies, the Sacs. He arrived at the French fort at midnight and im-
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mediately sent word to the commandant of his presence and asked for in- formation as to whether the Foxes were still in the Sac village. The reply was that they ought to be found there; but, upon moving forward, De Lignery discovered that both Sacs and Foxes had all escaped except four, who were captured and soon put to death by the Indians accompanying the expedition.
On the 24th of August, the army, consisting of not less than four hun- dred French, and seven hundred and fifty Indians, consisting of Hurons, Iroquois, Ottawas and others, reached a Winnebago village on Fox river, which was deserted and which, with the crops in the vicinity, was destroyed by the invaders. Thence they proceeded to the home of the Foxes farther up that stream. Four of their villages were found but all were deserted. They secured four prisoners,-two squaws and a girl who were reduced to slavery, and an old man, who was "burned to death at a slow fire." After destroying the villages and fields of the Foxes, the army returned, having, in reality, accomplished little, save the destruction of the crops and empty huts of the enemy. "After this expedition," says its historian, Emanuel Crespel, "if such a useless march deserves that name, we prepared to re- turn to Montreal." On their return, the French post near the mouth of the Fox river was destroyed, "because, being so near the enemy, it would not afford a secure retreat to the French, who must be left as a garrison." When the army arrived at Mackinaw, the "commander gave permission to every one to go where he pleased."
Another expedition against the Foxes, led by Neyon de Villiers in Sep- tember, 1730, was more successful. His forces, including Indians, num- bered not less than twelve hundred. It resulted in the almost total defeat of the Foxes. Two hundred of their warriors were "killed on the spot, or burned, after having been taken as slaves, and six hundred women and chil- dren were absolutely destroyed." Such only are the facts known of this successful enterprise of the French and their allies. But the Foxes were not humbled. They drew the Sacs into a firmer alliance and soon became so troublesome that another expedition was planned against them-this time under the command of Captain de Nayelle. Preparations began near the close of 1734, and it was carried on the following year with sixty soldiers and probably a number of Indian allies. The Foxes were attacked in their own country, where they had suffered defeat at the hands of De Villiers. This was the last enterprise of the French against that troublesome nation. Many places have been designated upon Fox river as the points of conflict in these expeditions, but all such designations are traditionary; nothing is known with certainty concerning them.
In 1736 the Sacs and Foxes were "connected with the government of Canada," nevertheless they were far from being friendly to the French. However, in 1754, they arrayed themselves with the French against the English, and so continued until the close of the contest so diastrous to France in America.
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ENGLISH SUPREMACY IN WISCONSIN
When France yielded her inchoate rights in the west to England-where all the territory now included in the state of Wisconsin was by right of con- quest delivered over as a part of Canada to the English-French trading posts, French forts and French missionary establishments had all disap- peared. The fortification at the head of Green Bay had been vacated for some years. It was "rotten, the stockade ready to fall and the houses without cover." It was a fit emblem of the decay-of the fast crumbling and perishing state-of French domination in North America. Governor Vaudreuil surrendered Canada to General Amherst, of the British army, on the 9th of September, 1760, and immediately notified the commandant of the fort at Mackinaw, for the information of the people of the north- west, that thereafter they would be amenable to England's authority, under stipulations which guaranteed to them the undisturbed possession of their goods and peltries, and full liberty to continue their trade in the same man- ner as though they were subjects of Great Britain.
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