USA > Wisconsin > Winnebago County > History of Winnebago County, Wisconsin, and early history of the Northwest > Part 7
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They went up Fox River, and paddled up Lake Winnebago to the mouth of the Upper Fox, which they ascended to visit the town of the Mascoutins and Miamis, two tribes living together, and whose village was enclosed with palisades. They numbered about three thous- and souls. This was the present site of Buttes des Morts. They were charmed with these Indians, who gave them a most cordial recep- tion and listened to them with the most respectful attention. They were delighted with the charming country; and well they might be, for a lovelier spot is seldom met with. llere they were told of the great river, Mississippi.
Father Allouez next visited the Foxes, but found them a more intractable tribe. He was horrified at their polygamy, some of the Chiefs having eight wives, and their lodges seemed like seraglios. They were not well disposed towards him, but he succeeded in overcoming their hostility; and as a war-party was starting out on one of their predatory raids, he told them the story of the cross and the Emperor Constantine. This so much attracted them, as he could talk eloquently in Algonquin, that they each daubed the figure of a cross on their shields of hide, and took the war-path. As
they were victorious, they came back exulting, and extolled the sacred symbol as a "big war- medicine. '
The missionary chapels and buildings con- nected with them were built of logs and sur- rounded with palisades, like a stockade fort, and adjacent to them were cultivated fields. Attached to cach mission were a number of mechanics, woodsmen and laborers, who were employed in building and repairing the mis- sion houses, hunting, fishing and tilling the ground. Jean Talon was at this time Intend- ant of Canada, and instituted a vigorous administration. He, therefore, deputized Nich- olas Perrot, a man of great experience in Indian affairs, and whose imposing address and execu- tive ability gave him great influence with the Indians, to hold a grand council with the vari- ous tribes of the Northwest at Sault St. Maric. Notice having been given to the several tribes, they repaired in great numbers to the appointed rendezvous, Sault St. Maric, in May, 1671, to meet the deputy governor. He was accom- panied by a military officer and a body of sol- diers. The priests joined them, dressed in their vestments, and around them thronged the great body of Indians, delighted spectators. A large cross of cedar, which had been prepared, was then set up by planting the end in the ground, while the Frenchmen sang Verilla Regis, Dablon pronounced a blessing; then a post, to which was attached a metal plate engraved with the King's arms, was planted near it, and the Jesuits made a prayer for the King. St. Lusson, the military officer, in full uniform, holding his sword in one hand, and raising a sod of carth with the other, proclaimed in loud tones his announcement of possession, in the name of Louis XIV.
In 1672, Count Frontenac, from France, arrived at Quebec, and was installed as Gov- ernor. His name occupies a most distin- guished position in our history, from the vigor with which he pushed forward western explor- ations, and his brilliant campaigns against the warlike Iroquois. A man of the most impo- sing address and personal presence, fearless, energetic and enterprising, with a natural vigor of mind and high culture, he was well calculated for executive duties, and left an enduring impress of his administration, in which he saved the colony from impending ruin. He appointed Louis Joliet to make a voyage for the purpose of discovering the Upper Mississippi, and the young missionary Marquette, of Michilimack- inac, was appointed to accompany him.
Marquette was one of those saintly charac- ters that belong to a past age. Born of one of the leading families of France, and highly edu-
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cated and accomplished, he was seized with a fervor of devotion to the cause of Christianity, and with the most intense zeal abandoned all the gaities, comforts and luxuries of life in the circles in which he was raised, and subordin- ated himself to the strict and hard discipline of the life of the Jesuits. This order selected the very purest and bravest of its ranks for the American missions. He was chosen for one, and with the greatest delight embraced the opportunity to take up the hard lot of a life among the savages of the American wilds. Highly gifted by nature, and of great attain- ments in learning and science, his proficiency as a linguist was so great that he learned in a few years to speak six Indian languages fluently. Let those who disbelieve in his faith call him credulous; but when they have become familiar with his life, they must admire his transcendant loveliness of character, the sub- limity of his faith, his sincerity and truthful- ness, his unbounded benevolence and courage- ous daring. He was idolized by the Indians, and his name and virtues will be forever asso- ciated with the early history of the Northwest.
Our Wisconsin State Historical Society hon- ored the event of Marquette and Joliet's dis- covery of the Mississippi, by celebrating the bi-centennial of the occurrence in 1873, at which was read an address, written for the occasion by John G. Shea, LL. D., of Can- ada, and which was published in the Wiscon- sin State Historical Collections, in which he says :
"Even in the hurry and whirl of the active life of an energetic nation, we may well pause on a day like this, to commemorate the bold and Christian energy of men of other days, who faccd all the dangers of the untried wilderness, to explore, for thousands of miles, the heart of our Northern Continent in the interest of relig- ion and science."
"On this day, two hundred years ago, a little bark canoe that had threaded the marshy maze between the Fox and Wisconsin, glided from the latter of these Rivers into the clear broad bosom of the Mississippi, which still bears the simple title Great River, which the Northern Algonquin tribes had given it."
"From the far North the River came, as its volume of water showed. Whither it bore its swelling tide, was the question that Louis Joliet and Father James Marquette were now practically to decide."
"And who were they? To imagine the one bush-ranger, an ignorant coureur de bois, a whose sole knowledge was wood-craft and shrewd dealings with the Indians, or the other a pious missionary, equally ignorant of all
human learning and indifferent to progress, would be a grave error."
"The missionaries who step by step threaded the net work of Lakes and Rivers, not only reported the data which they obtained, and preserved them; but they gleaned from mem- bers of distant tribes statements as to the geography, fauna and mineralogy of the lands beyond. Nearer and nearer they came to the Great River-the Mississippi of the Algonquin tribes, and they urged the Government at Quebec to undertake its exploration. It is little wonder that at first their hints and sug- gestions remained unheeded, For the little Canada colony on the St. Lawrence to seek to penetrate some untold thousands of miles into interior America, seemed as yet too bold and rash. Canada was scientific in tone. This may seem a strange view to many, but even down to the days of Kalm, a scientific traveler would have found more cultivated men in Canada than in New England or New York, to converse with him in regard to the topo- graphy, climate, botany, mineralogy, and natural history of America, as well as the ethnology and linguistics of its native tribes." "Geography was especially cultivated. France had long had at Dieppe and other ports, her schools of hydrography, sometimes directed by navigators, often, too, by priests, who seem to have worked in most heartily with the men of the sea. From these schools came men, who, on a new coast, at once with practiced eye and hand noted down its outline, and, if time permitted, gave exact charts. Such was Champlain, whose charts of the New England coast, overlooked by many students, excited the wonder of Thoreau by their accuracy, as he followed his course two centuries and a half after the founder of Quebec sailed along the coast."
"In the same spirit, the little hamlet of Quebec had a school of hydrography connected with its college, and a King's hydrographer stationed there. And we may safely aver that no English colony of that day had any such department for coast survcy.
Louis Joliet was a native of American soil; he was born in 1645 at Quebec, where his father was a worthy wheel-wright. Talent and piety distinguished the boy, who received an education at the College of Quebec, the more careful and extended as he evinced a desire to study for the ministry. He even took the preliminary steps and entered the Thcological Seminary of Quebec. But mathematical and geographical study seems to have had its charms for him, and it was cultivated as a science that in a colony under the French navy
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[1673.
department could not come amiss. Even then he may have been associated as a pupil with Franquelin, the King's hydrographer."
" Gradually his views changed. Plunging into the busy world without the cloistered life, he sought a field for his talents in the West. Soon after 1667, he is reported as explo- ring Lake Superior, and as having gone, very near the Mississippi. The last writer who has thrown light on this period, in his 'Notes on the History, Bibliography and Cartology of New France and the adjacent country,' sums up Joliet's character: ' He was a very well educated and upright man. '"
" His companion in the adventurous journey was one of that body to which Joliet owed his education, Father James Marquette, a young native of Laon in Picardy, one of those devoted men of skill and learning, in whom devotion to his calling and tender piety outshine all else. He had been nine years on the Western missions; was familiar with many of the dia- lects, fearless, energetic; who had longed for years to thread the course of the Great River that lay beyond, 'impelled by his ardent desire of extending the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and of making him known and adored by all the nations of that country; ' that River asto which he had gleaned so many details, and down whose mighty current the red warriors seeking foemen to engage, had day after day plied the paddle with nothing to show them where it emptied. "
Marquette and Joliet embarked in two birch- bark canocs, accompanied by five more men. Their provisions were principally smoked meat and Indian corn. They ply their paddles, and their canoes glide over the transparent waters of Michilimackinac. They pass along the dreary coast of Lake Michigan, and at night build their camp-fire on the shore. At last they reach Green Bay and ascend the Fox, carrying their canoes around the several rapids, and soon enter the beautiful lake of the Winneba- goes. They paddle along its leafy shores, delighted with its picturesque scenery, and obtain glimpses of the lovely prairies and open- ings which at intervals approach its banks, and entering the mouth of the Upper Fox, now the site of the city of Oshkosh, pass up that stream, and on the seventh of June they arrive at the village of the Miamis and Mas- coutins. Marquette describes the place as a most charming one, on a handsome elevation, rising from the river; while adjoining it, stretched away the prairie, interspersed with groves of trees (oak openings). It was the present site of Buttes des Morts. Here they obtained two Indian guides to conduct them,
and were soon on their way. Arriving at the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin, they transported their canoes and entered upon the waters of the Wisconsin. Here their guides bid them adieu and they were left alone in the midst of the grand solitude-to pursue their way through unknown lands and dangers. On the seventeenth of June they arrived at the mouth of the river, and the broad current of the Missis- sippi, with its high bluffs in the distance, greeted their delighted vision. The long sought river, flowing in mysterious grandeur, was found. Floating along in the midst of the most profound solitude, they admire the picturesque scenery, and glimpses occasionally obtained of the broad prairies stretching away in the illimit- able distance, with herds of elk and deer browsing undisturbed and frequently approach- ing them on the river bank.
" At what they calculated to be about forty- one degrees and twenty-eight minutes north latitude, they came upon the bison country and gaze with wonder on the vast herds that dotted the plains before them."
What glowing visions of the splendors of the New France, that was to arise out of this mighty wilderness, must have inspired Mar- quette and his companions, as they viewed this vast country in all its primeval grandeur and wild loveliness? The mighty river flowing from the distant north in such majestic volume, until its waters laved the banks of far-off south- ern shores, overhanging with tropical vendure -the magnificent scenery, which from some points of observation, spread out before them, like an endless panorama, and the fertile soil and luxuriant vegetation, all giving evidence of the "most magnificent dwelling place ever prepared for the abode of man."
Nearly two weeks had now passed since leaving the portage on the Wisconsin, and so sparsely was the country inhabited, that in all that time, they had not obtained the sight of a human being. Now, for the first time they discovered foot prints, and a well worn Indian trail. Leaving the men with the canoes, Mar- quette and Joliet followed the trail for a dis- tance of six miles, where they discovered an Indian village on the banks of a small stream. They had long desired to meet with some of the inhabitants of the country, and now their longings were to be gratified. They halted and called out in loud voices to announce their presence, when the astonished Indians swarmed out to meet them.
Four chiefs approached them, presenting cal- umets, or peace pipes. Marquette asked who they were, in Algonquin. They answered that they were Illinois, and offered the pipes,
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which were smoked in friendship. They then went to the village and had a grand reception, the chief addressing them as follows : "French- men, how bright the sun shines when you come to visit us! All our village awaits you, and you shall enter our wigwams in peace." Here they were feasted, and Marquette announced himself as a messenger sent by God, whom they were in duty bound to rec- ognize and obey. They were importuned to remain with their new friends, but, feeling compelled to decline, proceeded on their voy- age, down to where the Missouri pours out its muddy waters. By the united currents they were rapidly borne on, and soon passed the mouth of the Ohio. Voyaging onward, they met Indians who were in communication with the Spaniards ; for they were armed with guns, and wore garments of cloth. These gave them a kind reception, and fcasted Mar- quette and his companions on buffalo meat and wild plums. Taking leave of these, they resumed their course, and reached the mouth of the Arkansas, on the bank of which was an Indian village. The inhabitants, yelling the war-whoop, plunged into their canoes and paddled out into the stream, above and below them, to cut off their escape; while a number of young warriors waded out into the stream to attack them. The current prevented them from reaching the canoes of the French, but one threw his war club at theni.
Marquette, in the meantime, was holding out his peace pipe; but this did not restrain them, till some of the elder chiefs arrived on the seene; when peace was proclaimed, and the Frenchmen invited to land, which they did, and were again entertained with an Indian feast. Procceding on their voyage, they reached an Arkansas tribe that received them kindly, and entertained them with every mark of Indian hospitality. These Indians had carthen pots and platters of their own manu- facture. They were also supplied with Euro- pean hatchets, guns and trinkets.
The travelers, having now learned that the Mississippi emptied into the gulf of Mexico, resolved on returning, as the natives told them that the river below was infested by hostile Indians that would be likely to capture them.
They therefore commenced the toilsome ascent, and, after paddling wcarily, day after day in the mid-summer heat, at length reached the mouth of the Illinois. Marquette, suffering with a severe attack of dysentery, was much exhausted. They ascended the Illinois, and were charmed with the views of its prairies and forests abounding in buffalo and decr. They stopped at the Illinois village, Kaskaskia, where
a chief and band of warriors offered to guide them to the Lake of the Illinois. They thank- fully accepted the escort, and, passing up to the head of the Illinois River, crossed the portage to the small stream which empties into Lake Michigan, at the present site of Chicago, which they followed to its mouth. From thence they followed the shore of Lake Michigan to Green Bay, which they reached the last of September, having been absent nearly four months on the voyage, in which time they had paddled their canoes a distance of two thousand five hundred miles. Marquette remained at the Green Bay Mission to recu- perate; Joliet went to Quebee to report the discovery of the Mississippi. At the Rapids, above Montreal, his canoe was capsized; two of his men and an Indian were drowned; the valuable record of his voyage was lost, and he narrowly escaped losing his life.
Marquette passed the following year at Green Bay, and in the autumn of 1674, though still suffering from the effects of his disease, he determined on going to establish a mission among the Illinois, at their village at Kaskas- kia. Embarking with ten canoes, he reached Chicago River, and, having ascended it for two leagues, was prostrated by sickness; hem- orrhage ensued, and he declared to his com- panions that this voyage would be his last. As it was impossible for him to proceed any further, his two men built a log cabin, and here they lived through the winter. Wild game was abundant, and they were plentifully supplied with buffalo meat, venison and wild turkeys, which they frequently shot in the vicinity of their log cabin. The Indians also brought them corn and game.
In the spring, Marquette, having somewhat regained his strength, proceeded on his voy- age to Kaskaskia, where he arrived, and was received, he says, " like an angel from Hea- ven." Here he held a grand council, in which were assembled over three thousand Indians, to whom he explained the doctrines of Chris- tianity, urging them to adopt the belief in God and to conform their lives to His commands. As he was an eloquent speaker and familiar with the Algonquin language, they were charmed with his fervent appeal, and listened with great approval. They begged him to take up his abode among them; but as he was conscious of approaching death, he felt admon- ished to hastily return to Michilimackinac. He therefore started, and was accompanied as far as Lake Michigan by a large body of Indians. He was now a confirmed invalid, and, as he lay in his canoc exposed to the cold winds of the carly spring, his two men urged it along
1149166
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[1649.
the eastern shore of the lake. On the nine- teenth of May, he felt that his death was at hand, and, as they were passing a small river, he asked his men to land. They complied, and built a small bark hut on the bank of the stream, into which they carried the dying mis- sionary. With the greatest cheerfulness and composure, he gave instructions for his burial, and, with that kind regard for the happiness of others which ever characterized his actions, he instructed them on the duties of life, expressed his fervent gratitude to them for their devoted kindness; and, as they were tired, requested them to take their sleep, say- ing that he would call them when he felt that his hour of death had come. A few hours afterward they heard his feeble appeal, and coming to him, found him at the point of dis- solution, which he met with peaceful resigna- tion. They dug his grave near the hut on that lonely river, as he had directed, and then pursued their way to Michilimackinac, where they conveyed to the priests of St. Ignace the sad intelligence of the decease of their comrade.
A party of Ottawas, in the spring of 1676, passing near the place, disinterred the remains and placed them in a birch box. Then, in a procession of' thirty canoes, they bore them to St. Ignace, where they were met by the priests, Indians and traders, who received them with befitting ceremony, and. chanting the funeral rites, consigned them to their last resting place, beneath the little chapel of St. Ignace.
CHAPTER XII.
Count Frontenac and La Salle Secure the Control of the Head of the St. Lawrence, and set out to Establish a Line of Communication Between Quebec and the Mouth of the Mississippi - La Salle Builds Fort Frontenac, at the Head of the St. Lawrence, and Another at Niagara - Constructs the Griffin and Launches her - The First Vessel on the Lakes - Her Trip up the Lakes to Michilimackinac and Green Bay - His Voyage to the Country of the Illinois - Builds Fort Crevecour, on the Illinois River - Massacre of the Illinois by the Iroquois - La Salle Organizes the Illinois and Other Tribes, Taking the Leadership - Builds a Fort on " Starve Rock,"- Attempt to Found a Colony at the Mouth of the Mississippi - Lost in the Wilds of Texas - Two Months Fruitless Search for the Mississippi - Assas- sination of La Salle - Destruction of the Colony.
ITH the accession of Frontenac to the Governor-Generalship of New France, commenced a new era in its history. That enterprising official infused a new life into the colony, the fortunes of which had been waning since the death of Champlain. He at once took measures for opening up and pro-
teeting the lines of communication with the interior; so as to secure as far as possible an uninterrupted communication through the great water arteries leading to the Mississippi.
In accomplishing this, he found an able ally in La Salle who had conceived the plan of establishing a fortified post at the mouth of the Mississippi, with intermediate ones between that point and Quebec; so as to hold the con- trol of the Mississippi and Ohio valleys. La Salle was of a wealthy French family, and from his rich relations he obtained the pecuniary means for prosecuting his vast enterprises. Hc laid his plans before Frontenac who embraced them with great avidity. Those men were well matched in all the elements of vigorous, daring enterprise, and they began an attempt for the occupation of the interior, which, for persistent effort, comprehensive aim and bold daring, eclipses the exaggerations of fiction. They determined first to establish a fort at the head of the St. Lawrence, on Lake Ontario, to pro- tect communication with that lake, and as an aid in keeping under control the Iroquois who had obtained fire-arms from the Dutch traders on the Hudson. They purposed, also, to make this point a trading post and means of communi- cation with that nation, and check, as far as pos- sible, their intercourse with the English colonics. Frontenac, therefore, set out in June, 1673, with a grand expedition to that point; first sending La Salle to the Iroquois country, requesting them to send delegates, to meet him at the appointed rendezvous. The cxpc- dition consisted of himself, staff officers and soldiers of the garrison, and four hundred armed militia, with a large body of Indians. The flotilla was composed of a hundred and twenty canoes and two barges.
Reaching Montreal, the new Governor-Gen- cral was received with much pomp and cerc- mony, in which mingled the polished courtesies of the court circles of France, with the rougher hospitalities and rude surroundings of frontier life.
From thence the expedition proceeded up the St. Lawrence to the point of its destination, now the site of Kingston. Here they landed and encamped; the Iroquois having arrived before them and now occupying an adjoining site. The next morning at beat of drum, they
were drawn up in martial array. The Indians had never before witnessed such a grand mili- tary display as here, in this wild solitude, here- tofore a stranger almost to the presence of man, other than the passing hunter, or war party, now dazzled their eyes with its imposing splendor.
Two lines of armed men were formed, which
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1673-79.]
reached from the Governor's tent to the Indian encampment, and between them filed the sav- age representatives to Frontenac's headquar- ters. The splendors of the uniforms and the long files of soldiers, with their glistening arms in all the precision of dress parade, elicited from the Indians their highest admiration. Frontenac now addressed them in a decisive, arrogant manner which, comporting with the military bearing and dignity of the man, com- manded their respect.
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