USA > Wisconsin > Vernon County > History of Vernon County, Wisconsin, together with sketches of its towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 12
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).
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 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111
Allouez, on the 24th of April, 1670, arrived at a village of the Foxes, situated on Wolf river, a northern tributary of the Fox. "The Nation," he declares, "is renowned for being
82
HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
numerous; they have more than 400 men bear- ing arms; the number of women and children is greater, on account of polygamy which exists among them-each man having commonly four wives, some of them six, and others as high as ten." The missionary found that the Foxes had retreated to those parts to escape the perse- cutions of the Iroquois. Allouez established among these Indians his mission of St. Mark, rejoicing in the fact that in less than two years he had baptized "sixty children and some adults." The Foxes, at the summons of De la Barre, in 1684, sent warriors against the Five Nations. They also took part in Denonville's more serions campaign; but soon after became hostile to the French. As early as 1693, they had plundered several on their way to trade with the Sioux, alleging that they were carry- ing arms and amunitions to their ancient ene- mies frequently cansing them to make port- ages to the southward in crossing from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi. Afterward they became reconciled to the French; but the rec- onciliation was of short duration. In 1712, Fort Detroit, then defended by only a handful of men, was attacked by them in conjunction with the Mascoutins and Kickapoos. However, in the end, by calling in friendly Indians, the garrison not only protected themselves but were enabled to act on the offensive, destroying the greater part of the besieging force.
The Nation continued their ill will to the French. The consequence was that their terri- tory in 1716 had been invaded and they were reduced to sne for peace. But their friendship was not of long continuance. In 1718 the Foxes numbered 500 men and "abounded in women and children." They are spoken of at that date as being very industrious, raising large quanti- ties of Indian corn. In 1728 another expedi- tion was sent against them by the French. Mean- while the Menomonees had also become hostile; so, too, the Sacs, who were now the allies of the Foxes. The result of the enterprise was, an attack upon and the defeat of a number of
Monomonees; the burning of the wigwams of the Winnebagoes (after passing the deserted vil- lage of the Sacs upon the Fox river), that tribe, also, at this date being hostile; and the destruc- tion of the fields of the Foxes. They were again attacked in their own country by the French, in 1730, and defeated. In 1734 both the Saes and Foxes came in conflict with the same foe; but this time the French were not as successful as on previous expeditions. In 1736 the Saes and Foxes' were "connected with the government of Canada;" but it is certain they were far from being friendly to the French.
The conflict between France and Great Brit- ain, commencing in 1754, found the Sacs and Foxes allied with the former power, against the English, although not long previous to this time they were the bitter enemies of the French. At the close of that contest so disastrous to the in- terests of France in North America, these tribes readily gave in their adhesion to the conquerors, asking that English traders might be sent them. The two Nations, then about equally divided, numbered, in 1761, about 700 warriors. Neither of the tribes took part in Pontiac's war, but they befriended the English. The Sacs had emigrated farther to the westward; but the Foxes, at least a portion of them, still remained upon the wa- ters of the river of Green bay, which perpet- uates their name. A few years later, however. and the former were occupants of the upper Wisconsin; also, to a considerable distance bo- low the portage, where their chief town was located. Further down the same stream was the upper village of the Foxes, while their lower one was situated near its mouth at the site of the present city of Prairie du Chien. At this date. 1766, and even later, what is now Vernon county, was within the territory claimed as theirs. Gradually, however, they retreated down the Mississippi until, before the close of the century, all their possessions in what is now Wisconsin, was in the extreme southwest. They no longer had their hunting grounds to the
83
HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
northward of the Wisconsin river. Another tribe . ad, as it were, crowded them out.
During the war of the Revolution, the Sacs and Foxes continued the firm friends of the English. In 1804 they ceded their lands south of the Wisconsin river to the United States; so that they no longer were owners of any lands within this State. From that date, therefore, these allied tribes can not be considered as be- longing to the Indian Nations of Wisconsin. They were generally friendly to Great Britain during the War of 1812-15, but they soon made peace with the United States after that contest ended. A striking episode in their subsequent history, is the Black Hawk war, which will be narrated in a subsequent chapter. The exact date of the Foxes leaving the Wisconsin river country is unknown. They sold the prairie at the mouth of that stream, to some Canadian French traders in 1781, and subsequently va- cated their village. Probably about the begin- ning of the present century they had abandoned this region as their home, although they long after visited it for the purposes of trade.
THE WINNEBAGOES.
The Nation which displaced the Sacs and Foxes upon the Wisconsin river and its contig- nons territory, including what is now Vernon county, was the Winnebagos. It is now 250 "years since the civilized world began to get a knowledge of the Winnebagoes-the "men of the sea," as they were called, pointing, possibly, to their early emigration from the shores of the Mexican gulf, or the Pacific. The territory now included within the limits of Wisconsin, and so much of the State of Michigan as lies north of Green bay, Lake Michigan, the Straits of Mackinaw and Lake Huron were, in early times, inhabited by several tribes of the Algon- quin race, forming a barrier to the Dakotas, or Sioux, who had advanced eastward to the Mis- sissippi. But the Winnebagoes, although one of the tribes belonging to the family of the latter, had passed the great river, at some un- known period, and settled upon Winnebago I
lake. lIere, as early as 1634, they were visited by John Nicolet, an agent of France, and a treaty conclu led with them. Little more was heard of the Winnebagoes for the next thirty- five years, when, on the 2d of December, 1669, some of that Nation were seen at a Sac village on Green bay, by Father Allonez.
As early at least, as 1670, the French were ac- tively engaged among the Winnebagoes trading. "We found affairs," says one the Jesnit mission- aries, who arrived among them in September of that year, "we found affairs there in a pretty bad posture, and the minds of the sava- ges much soured against the French, who were there trading; ill treating them in deeds and words, pillaging and carrying away their mer- chandise in spite of them, and condneting themselves toward them with insupportable in- solences and indignities. The cause of this disorder," adds the missionary, " is that they had received some bad treatment from the French, to whom they had this year come to trade, and particularly from the soldiers, from whom they pretended to have received many wrongs and injuries." It is thus made certain that the arms of France were carried into the territory of the Winnebagoes over 200 years ago.
The Fox river of Green bay was found at that date a difficult stream to navigate. Two Jesuits who ascended the river in 1670, had " three or four leagues of rapids to contend with," when they had advanced "one day's journey" from the head of the bay, "more diffi- cult than those which are common in other rivers, in this, that the flints, over which" they had to walk with naked feet to drag their ca- noes, were so "sharp and so cutting, that one has all the trouble in the world to hold one's self steady against the great rushing of the waters." At the falls they found an idol that the savages honored ; "never failing, in pass- ing, to make him some sacrifice of tobacco, or arrows, or paintings, or other things, to thank him that, by his assistance, they had, in ascend-
.
84
HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
ing, avoided the dangers of the waterfalls which are in this stream; or else, if they had to ascend, to pray him to aid them in this perilons navigation." The missionaries caused the idol "to be lifted up by the strength of the arm, and cast into the depths of the river, to appear no more," to the idolatrous savages.
The Winnebagoes, by this time, had not only received considerable spiritual instruction from the Jesuit fathers, but had obtained quite an insight into the mysteries of trading and traffick- ing with white men ; for, following the foot- steps of the missionaries, and sometimes pre- ceding them, were the ubiquitous French fur traders. It is impossible to determine precisely what territory was ocenpied by the Winneba- goes at this early date, farther than that they lived near the head of Green bay.
A direct trade with the French upon the St. Lawrence was not carried on by the Winneba- goes to any great extent until the beginning of the 18th century. As early as 1679, an advance party of LaSalle had collected a large store of furs at the month of Green bay, doubtless in a traffic with this tribe and others contiguous to them; generally, however, the surrounding Na. tions sold their peltries to the Ottawas, who disposed of them, in turn, to the French. The commencement of the eighteenth century found the Winnebagoes firmly in alliance with France, and in peace with the dreaded Iroquois. In 1718, the nation numbered 600 They had moved from the Fox river to Green bay. They were afterward found to have moved up Fox river, locating upon Winnebago lake, which lake was their ancient seat, and from which they had been driven either by fear or the prowess of more powerful tribes of the west and sonth- west. Their intercourse with the French was gradually extended and generally peaceful, though not always so, joining with them, as did the Menominees, in their wars with the Iro- quois, and subsequently in their conflicts with the English, which finally ended in 1760.
When the British, in October, 1761, took pos- session of the French post, at the head of Green bay, the Winnebagoes were found to number 150 warriors only ; their nearest village being at the lower end of Winnebago lake. They had in all, not less than three towns. Their country, at this period, included, not only that lake, but all the streams flowing into it, espe- cially Fox river ; afterward extended to the Wisconsin and Rock rivers. They readily changed their course of trade-asking now of the commandant at the fort for English traders to be sent among them. In the Indian outbreak under Pontiac in 1763, they joined with the Me- nomonees and other tribes to befriend the Brit- ish garrison at the head of the bay, assisting in conducting them to a place of safety.
They continued their friendship to the Eng- lish during the revolution, by joining with them against the colonies, and were active in the Indian war of 1790-4, taking part in the at- tack on Fort Recovery, upon the Maumee, in the present State of Ohio, in 1793. They fought also on the side of the British in the War of 1812-15, aiding, in 1814, to reduce Prairie du Chien. They were then estimated at 4,500. When, in 1816, the government of the United States sent troop to take possession of the Green bay country, by establishing a garrison there, some trouble was anticipated from these Indians, who, at that date, had the reputation of being a bold and warlike tribe. A deputation from the Nation came down Fox river and remonstrated with the American commandant at what was thought to be an intrusion. They were de- sirous of knowing why a fort was to be estab- lished so near them. The reply was that, a !- though the troops were armed for war if nec- essary, their purpose was peace. Their response was an old one : "If your object is peace, you have too many men; if war, you have too few." However, the display of a number of cannon, which had not yet been mounted, satisfied the Winnebagoes that the Americans were masters
85
HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
of the situation, and the deputation gave the garrison no farther trouble.
On the 3d of June, 1816, at St Louis, the tribe made a treaty of peace and friendship with the general government ; but they continued to levy tribnte on all white people who passed up Fox river. English annuities also kept up a bad feeling. At this time, a portion of the tribe was living upon the Wisconsin river, away from the rest of the Nation, which was still seated upon the waters flowing into Green bay. In 1820 they had five villages on Win- nebago lake and fourteen on Rock river. In 1825, the claim of the Winnebagoes was an extensive one, so far as territory was con- eerned. Its southeast boundary stretched away from the source of Rock river, to within forty miles of its mouth, in Il inois, where they had a village. On the west it extended to the heads of the small streams flowing into the Missis- sippi. To the northward, it reached Black river and the upper Wisconsin, in other words. to the Chippewa territory including what is now Vernon county, but did not extend across Fox river, although they contended for the whole of Winnebago lake. In 1823 a large part of their territory in southwest Wisconsin, lying between Sugar river and the Mississippi, and extending to the Wisconsin river was sold to the general government.
Just previous to this time, occurred the Win- nebago war, an account of which will be found
in the next chapter. In 1832, all the residue of the Winnebago territory south and east of the Wisconsin and the Fox river of Green bay, was disposed of to the United States.
Finally, in the brief language of the treaty between this tribe (which had become unsettled and wasteful) and the United States, of the 1st of November, 1837, "the Winnebago Nation of Indians" ceded to the general government "all their lands east of the Mississippi." Not an acre was reserved. And the Indians agreed that, within eight months from that date, they would move west of "the great river." This arrangement, however, was not carried out fully. In 1842, there were only 756 at Turkey river, Iowa, their new home, with as many in Wisconsin, and smaller bands else- where. All had become lawless and roving. Some removed in 1848; while a party to the number of over 800 left the State as late as 1873. The present home of the tribe is in Nebraska, where they have a reser- vation north of, and adjacent to the Omahas, containing over 100,000 acres. However, since their first removal beyond the Missis- sippi, they have several times changed their place of abode. The period of Winnebago occupancy of Vernon county and the re- gion of country contiguous thereto, properly began about the commencement of the present century and ended, virtually, in 1848.
6
86
HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
CHAPTER IV.
EARLY EXPLORATIONS.
The territory now included within the limits of Vernon county, was first visited along its western border over 200 years ago by French- men, from the river St. Lawrence, in Canada. The first to approach this region of country was John Nicolet, in 1634, who came no nearer than to the village of the Maseoutins, on Fox river, supposed to have been located somewhere on that stream within the present boundaries of Green Lake Co., Wis. A Jesuit missionary, in 1670, also visited the Mascoutins. His name was Claude Allouez; but he came no nearer what is now Vernon county, than did Nicolet, in 1634. In 1673, Louis Joliet, accom- panied by a missionary, James Marquette and five other Frenehmen, ascended the Fox river to the portage, now Portage, Columbia Co., Wis .; crossed over to the Wisconsin river and dropped down that river to its mouth. Thence, Joliet journeyed down the Mississippi ; so, of course, no part of the present Vernon county was seen by him.
EXPEDITION OF MICHAEL ACCAU.
In 1680 La Salle, who was then on the Illinois river, was desirous to have the Mississ- ippi explored above the point where it was first sren by Joliet ; that is, above the mouth of the Wisconsin river ; so he dispatched one Michael Accau, on an expedition thither; with him went Antoine Auguel and the Rev. Louis Hen- nepin, a recollet friar. The party proceeded down the Illinois river in April and up the Mississippi river. They were the first white men who ever saw any portion of what is, at this time, Vernon county, or who set foot upon its territory. This was in May, 1680.
The description of the voyage along what is now the western boundary of Wisconsin ( including, of course, Vernon county ) is inter- esting, as given by Hennepin :
"On the eastern side ( of the Mississippi ) you meet first an inconsiderable river ( Roek river ) and then further on another, called by the Indians Ouisconsin ( Wisconsin ) which comes from the east and east-northeast. *
* It is almost as broad as the river Seignelay, or Islinois ( Illinois river ), and empties into the river Colbert ( Mississippi ), 100 leagues "above the river Seignelay.
"Twenty-four leagues above ( the Wisconsin river ), you come to the Black river, called by the Nadonessious, or Issate ( the modern Sioux ) Chabadeba, or Chabaoudeba ; it seems incon- siderable. Thirty leagues higher up, you find the lake of Tears ( Lake Pepin ), which we so named, because the Indians who had taken us, wishing to kill us, some of them wept the whole night to induce the others to consent to our death. This lake which is formed by the river Colbert is seven leagues long and about four wide ; there is no considerable current in the middle that we could perceive, but only at its entrance and exit. Half a league below the lake of Tears, on the south side, is Buffalo river ( the Chippewa ), full of turtles. It is so called by the Indians on account of the num- bers of buffalo found there. We followed it for ten or twelve leagues; it empties with rapidity into the river Colbert, but as you ascend it, it is always gentle and free from rapids. It is skirted by mountains, far enough off in some places to form prairies. The mouth
87
HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
is wooded on both sides, and is full as wide as the Seignelay.
" Forty leagues above is a river ( St. Croix ) full of rapids, by which, striking northwest, you can proceed to Lake Conde (Lake Superior) as far as Minissakouat river ( the St. Louis ), which empties into that lake. The first river ( St. Croix) is called Tomb river, because the Issati left there the body of one of their warriors, killed by a rattle snake, on whom according to their custom, I put a blanket. This act of humanity gained me much impor- tance by the gratitude displayed by the men of the deceased's tribe, in a great banquet which they gave me in their country, and to which more than 100 Indians were invited."
EXPEDITION OF DULUTH.
The next expedition independent of that of Accau, and down the Mississippi from the St. Croix to the Wisconsin. river, and, therefore, along the western border of what is now Vernon county, was that of Daniel Greysolon Du Lhut, generally known as Duluth. He and some companions, in 1680, made the journey across from Lake Superior to the Mississippi, by way of Bois Brule river and the St. Croix. Upon reaching the Mississippi, he learned the fact that some Frenchmen had passed up and had been robbed and carried off by the Sioux. This was Accau and his party. These, however, he finally indueed the Indians to liberate, and the whole party floated down the river to the mouth of the Wisconsin, returning by that stream to Mackinaw.
THE MISSISSIPPI VISITED BY LE SUEUR.
Le Sueur, a Frenchman, passed up the Missis- sippi from the mouth of the Wisconsin in 1683; but of this voyage we have no account, only that he was on his way to the Sioux country.
PERROT'S VOYAGE TO THE WEST.
Nicholas Perrot was the next to ascend the Mississippi ; and his was the fourth expedi- tion that had floated along the western border of what is now Vernon county. This was in 1684. Perrot had been appointed by the gov-
ernor of Canada to command in the west, - leaving Montreal with twenty men. His object was the establishing of a post on the Missis- sippi. He proceeded from the St. Lawrence to Green bay, and up the Fox river to the portage; thence down the Wisconsin and up the Missis- sippi to Lake Pepin, on the east side of which, near its mouth, he erected a stockade.
The next year he prevented with a good deal of difficulty the capture of his post by the Fox Indians and their allies. He passed the winter of 1685-6 in his stockade, and then returned to Green bay by the same route traveled by him when going out. In 1688 he again ascended the Mississippi from the month of the Wiscon- sin to the mouth of the St. Peters, and returned by the same route to Green bay. This ended the explorations of Perrot in the valley of the Mississippi.
LE SUEUR AGAIN ON THE MISSISSIPPI.
In the year 1700 the fifth explorer ascended the Mississippi. His name was Le Sueur, the same who had seventeen years before been among the Sioux. From the Ist of September until the 5th he advanced but fourteen leagues. It is probable he landed several times in what is now Vernon county. Le Sueur was the last to ascend the Mississippi until 1727, when Sienr LaPerriere attempted a renewal of the fur trade which the governor of Canada had re- solved to abandon west of Mackinaw, some time previous.
LA PERRIERE BUILDS A FORT ON LAKE PEPIN.
"Fort Beanharnais," on Lake Pepin, was erected by LaPerriere, but it was not long oc- eupied as a military post. The same year, a Jesuit missionary, Louis Ignatius Guignas, at- tempted to found a mission among the Sioux on the upper Mississippi, passing up the river for that purpose to Fort Beauharnais, but it proved a failure. He was on the Mississippi again in 1736, and at Lake Pepin, with M. de St. Pierre, but of his latter voyage little i- I known. From this time until the war of 1755- 60, between France and Great Britain, French
38
HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
traders at intervals passed up the Misssssippi ; but during that conflict the river was totally abandoned by Frenchmen.
THE JOURNEY OF JONATHAN CARVER.
The first to ascend the river after Great Britain had assumed control of the country, was Jonathan Carver. In 1766 he reached the month of the Wisconsin, just above which he found an Indian village called La Prairies les Chiens by the French, the site of the present village of Prairie du Chien, in Crawford Co., Wis. It was inhabited by the Fox Indians. He says the name meant Dog Plains.
"It ('Prairies les Chiens') is a large town and contains about 300 families; the houses are well built after the Indian manner, and pleasantly situated on a -very rich soil, from which they raise every necessary of life in great abundance. I saw here many horses of a good size and shape. This town is the great mart where all the adjacent tribes, and even those who inhabit the most remote branches of the Mississippi, annually assemble about the latter end of May, bringing with them their furs to dispose of to the traders. But it is not always that they con- clude their sale here; this is determined by a general council of the chiefs, who consult whether it would be more conducive to their in- terest to sell their goods at this place, or carry them on to Louisiana or Mitchillimackinac. According to the decision of this council they either proceed further, or return to their differ- ent homes.
"The Mississippi, at the entrance of the Wis- consin, near which stands a mountain of consid- «rable height, is about half a mile over; but opposite to the last mentioned town it appears to be more than a mile wide, and full of islands, the soil of which is extraordinarily rich, and but thinly wooded.
"A little further to the west, on the contrary side, a small river flows into the Mississippi, which the French call Le Jaun riviere, or the Yellow river. I then bought a canoe, and with two servants, one a French Canadian and the
other 'a Mohawk of Canada, on the 19th pro ceeded np the Mississippi." * *
About sixty miles below this lake is a mour tain remarkably situated; for it stands by it self exactly in the middle of the river, and looks as if it bad slidden from the adjacent shore into the stream. It cannot be termed an island, as it rises immediately from the brink of the water to a considerable height. Both the Indians and the French call it the mountain in the river."
"One day, having landed on the shore of the Mississippi, some miles below Lake Pepin, whilst my attendants were preparing my din- ner, I walked out to take a view of the adjacent country. I had not proceeded far before I came to a fine, level, open plain, on which I per- ceived at a little distance a partial elevation that had the appearance of an intrenchment. On a nearer inspection I had greater reason to suppose that it had really been intended for this many centuries ago. Notwithstanding it was now covered with grass, I could plainly discern that it had once been a breast work of about four feet in height, extending the best part of a mile, and sufficiently capacious to cover 5,000 men. Its form was somewhat cir- cular, and its flanks reached to the river. Though much defaced by time, every angle was distinguishable, and appeared as regular, and fashioned with as much military skill, as if planned by Vauban himself. The ditch was not visible, but I thought on examining more curiously, that I could perceive there certainly had been one. From this situation also, I am convinced that it must have been for this pur- pose. It fronted the country, and the rear was covered by the river; nor was there any rising ground for a considerable way that commanded it; a few straggling oaks were alone to be seen near it. In many places small tracks were across it by the feet of the elk and deer, and from the depth of the bed of earth by which it was covered, I was able to draw certain conclus- ions of its great antiquity. I examined all the
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.