USA > Wisconsin > Winnebago County > History of Winnebago County, Wisconsin, and early history of the Northwest > Part 9
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The situation was desolate, but they set to work to make the best of it. A rude fortifica- tion was made, and a few huts erected; and here were huddled together a band of 6
42
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTHWEST.
[1687.
dejected men and women, surrounded by hordes of savages that they must resist at every step of their progress.
The Mississippi now must be found at all hazards. It was their only way of communica- tion with friends. In fact, their only hope of prolonged life. La Salle, therefore, at once commenced his explorations. On one of his trips he found a more favorable location for a temporary refuge for his colony, on a small river which entered the Bay, and thither he removed it. On this site buildings were erected and enclosed with palisades. Their animals were provided with pasturage, and . then ground was prepared and seed sown.
The adjacent country abounded in game; deer, buffalo, turkeys, waterfowland partridges were without end, and they shot them at their pleasure. The waters of the river and bay were well stocked with fish and turtle; so their larder was well supplied.
In November, La Salle, accompanied with thirty men, started in search of the great river. For months they traversed the plains and water courses of Texas, encountering hostilc tribes through which they had to fight their way; but the search was fruitless, and they returned to the fort in a sad plight, wearied and in rags. To add to their misfortunes, their only remaining vesse1, the Little Belle, was wrecked in coasting along the shorc.
In this emergency, La Salle determined on the desperate expedient of a trip to the Illinois and Canada, as a means of obtaining succor for his colonists and of communication with their friends. Hc, therefore, set out, with twenty others, on the long and hazardous jour- ney. They would have to be self-sustaining- forage their way. So each one, with a pack on his back, bid adieu to those who were left behind, and took up the line of march. After six months' absence, La Salle appeared at the fort, having again failed to reach the Missis- sippi, by which he intended to travel to the Illinois. Only eight of the twenty men that went with him returned. They had lived two months in an Indian village, where La Salle and some of the others were prostrated with a fever. The little colony was now in the extremest despondency. Of their whole nun- ber only forty odd were remaining; disease and the Indians were rapidly depleting their thinned ranks. The journey to Canada was imperative, and La Salle again took his depar- ture. It was a sad parting, and foreshadowed in its ominous presentiments the terrible calam- ities that were to befall them.
In their company were two or three desper - adoes, who had formerly been guilty of
mutinous conduct; and, after having been on the route for some weeks, they quarreled with some other members of the party, about the division of some buffalo meat, and, in a fit of revengeful passion, killed three of the party. It seems that a number had left the main camp on a buffalo hunt. Not appearing in due time, La Salle went in pursuit, apprehending some evil, and found the murderers skulking and endeavoring to hide from him. As he drew near, he asked for the missing ones, and received an insolent answer from one of them; he stepped forward to chastise him, when two shots were fired by parties in the grass, and La Salle dropped dead. The travels and enterprises of the great explorer of our West- ern wilds was ended.
One of the desperadoes, Duhaut, then assumed command of the camp. In a few days they packed their goods on their horses, and started for the Cenis villages. Among the party was a friar, and a brother and nephew of LaSalle; the latter only seventeen years of age. These, with two or three others, who were attached to their leader, were inconsol- able and heart-broken with grief, and expected from day to day to be assassinated; as it was evident that the mutinous crew, who were now in power, intended to live among the Indians. Arriving at the Cenis village, they entered into trade with the Indians, and here they found two men who had formerly deserted from La Salle, living among the savages; hav- ing adopted the dress and mode of life of the latter. Here the desperadoes quarreled with each other about a division of the plunder; some having determined to remain with the Indians, and others intending to go to the fort, with the intention of building a vessel with which to cruise to the West Indies.
One of them, a German named Heins, drew his pistol and fired at Duhaut, who fell dead.
Another, at the same moment, shot three balls into the body of Liotot. The death of these two left the faithful few in the majority; so, obtaining guides from the Cenis Indians, they started for the Mississippi. Rcaching the Arkansas, they were descending that stream, when they were gladdened by the sight of a tall, wooden cross, and a small hut near it. They approached, and were raptur- ously welcomed by two men, whom Tonty, ever thoughtful, had sent out in search of La Salle. With them they journeyed to the Illi- nois and arrived at the Fort on Starve Rock in September, 1687.
Tonty was absent, engaged in an encounter with the ubiquitous Iroquois, who had again taken the war-path.
43
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTHWEST.
1680.]
After a long sojourn, the survivors of La Salle's band started for Quebec, where they arrived in safety, after making one of the most perilous journeys on record.
Tonty made an attempt to reach the aban- doned colony in Texas, for the purpose of removing them to the Mississippi, but failed; and shortly afterward a Spanish cruiser, stopping at Matagorda Bay, the crew ascended the river and discovered the neglected dwellings and ruined palisades of the French fort; but no human sound was heard. All was as silent as the grave, and desolation reigned supreme. At an Indian camp, near by, the Spaniards found two Indians who spoke French. They were deserters from LaSalle, and from them learned that the Indians had massacred the entire colony. Thus ended the first attempt at colonization on the Mississippi.
In the meantime, the Missions, forts and trading-posts at Green Bay and Michilimacki- nac, surrounded by friendly Indians, were in a prosperous condition and in uninterrupted communication with Quebec.
CHAPTER XIII. .
Hennepin Explores the Upper Mississippi - Captured by the Soiux and Taken to Their Country - His Rescue and Arrival at Green Bay.
BHEN La Salle made his first journey to the Illinois, in 1680, he sent Hen- nepin to explore the upper Missis- sippi. This intrepid and adventur- ous traveler, with his canoe well laden with presents for the Indians, and with two companions, started on his voy- age. They kill deer and wild turkeys, which are plentiful, and proceed pleasantly up the
great river, charmed with the beautiful and fertile country. At one of their camping places, while repairing their canoe -Henne- pin engaged in daubing on the pitch-his nostrils regaled with the savory smell of a wild turkey that is roasting before the fire - a fleet of canoes suddenly appear, containing a war party of Sioux, numbering over a hundred. With yells, they paddled for the shore, and quickly surrounded the surprised Frenchmen. Hennepin presented the peace-pipe, but one of them rudely snatched it from him. Then he made an offer of tobacco, which was more agreeably received. After some further dem- onstrations, the Indians compelled them to embark and cross the river, where they
encamped, allowing the French to make their own camp-fire and cook their turkey.
The warriors then seated themselves in a circle to consider what disposal to make of the prisoners. One of them signed to Hennepin that his head was to be split with a hatchet. This was an intimation that presents might avert the threatened calamity. Hennepin therefore, hastened to appease his captors by taking from his canoe several articles highly prized by Indians, and presented them, while at the same time he bent his head to receive the blow and offered a hatchet. His compli- ance seemed to satisfy them, and they gave him and his companions some beaver meat. The Indians were of divided councils; some in favor of killing them and taking their goods; others, desirous of encouraging French traders . to come among them to supply their wants, were in favor of treating them kindly. In the morning they were greatly relieved by a young warrior asking them for the peace-pipe, which was gladly given, when he filled it, smoked it, and passed it to another, who did the same; and thus it passed from hand to hand through the whole assemblage. They then informed their captives that they intended to return to their homes, and that they must accompany them. This exactly comported with their desires, as they would now have the protection of a band of friendly Indians. But in the morning, when the friar opened his breviary and began to repeat his devotions, they gath- ered around him and manifested their super- stitious fears of the book, which they thought was a bad spirit, that he was invoking to destroy them. He was therefore obliged to resort to the expediency of singing the services, which seemed to gratify them, as they sup- posed he was singing for their pleasure.
Day after day they paddled up the river, camping on the shores and occasionally stop- ping for a hunt, which never failed to give them a bountiful supply of provisions.
After nineteen days they arrived at tlie site of St. Paul, and here their sorrows commenced. As the Indians belonged to different bands, each claimed a share of the captives and of their goods. They succeeded, however, in amicably dividing the spoils, and started across the country for their villages near Mille Lac. They travelled with such speed that it was torture to keep up with them, and as they swam the large streams, Hennepin suffered much from immersion in the cold waters. He was also nearly famished with hunger, receiving from them only a small bit of smoked meat twice a day; but the rations were the same as their own. On the fifth day of March they
44
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTHWEST.
[1680.
reached an Indian town, and Hennepin was in a village of the Sioux. Here they were feasted, and afterwards the debate was renewed about the distribution of the captives. This being settled, they were compelled to part company; Hennepin fell to the lot of an old chief, who adopted him as his son, and whom he accom- panied to his village; here he was well treated, and as they perceived that he was weak after his exhaustive travels, they made for him sweat bath, where they steamed him three times a week, and which he thinks was beneficial.
In the summer a large body of the Indians went on a buffalo hunt, Hennepin and his two companions accompanying them. While on this hunt, he induced his captors to permit him to start for the mouth of the Wisconsin, where he expected to meet some French traders, with goods for the Indians. He was furnished with a canoe, and Du Gay accompanied him. On this trip he discovered the Falls of St. Anthony, which he named, and where he saw a number of Indians making their votive offering to the Spirit of the Waters. Sometimes they were short of food. At one time while Du Gay was in pursuit of buffalo, Hennepin, who had a large turtle in his charge, discovered that his canoe had floated off; turning the turtle on his back he covered it with his habit, on which he placed a number of stones, and plunged into the river in pursuit of the canoe, which he recovered and brought safely to the shore; shortly after, a herd of buffalo approached the shore, when Du Gay killed a young cow, which replenished their larder.
As they were reduced to ten charges of powder, they would run the risk of starvation if they attempted to reach Green Bay by the Wisconsin. There was no alternative, but for them to join a hunting-party of Sioux, who were not far off; they did so and while with them met five Frenchmen, near St. Anthony's Falls. It was Du Lhut and a party of courier de bois, engaged in the fur trade and now commissioned by Frontenac to establish friendly relations between the Sioux and a kindred tribe, and to explore the Upper Mississippi.
In the fall, this party having satisfactorily arranged their business, started for Green Bay; Hennepin and his companions in captivity accompanying them, which place they reached in safety.
CHAPTER XIV.
War Between the French and English Colonies - The Aggres- sors - Destruction of Port Royal - Terrible Massacre of English Settlers on the Frontier - Frontinac Ravages the Iroquois Country - That Nation Sues for Peace with the French - Detroit Founded - The French in Possession of the Country from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico.
T is not within the province of a work of this kind, to discuss the European com- plications, which were partly the cause of the war between the French and English colonies in North America; a war which exposed the innocent and defenseless frontier settlers of both colonies to all the horrors of savage warfare; but those subjects of the strife, involving historical events in the Northwest, are very pertinent to our present inquiries, and will be briefly considered.
It has been shown in the preceeding pages, how the daring enterprise of the French com- menced the settlement of the Northern part of the country, prior to any other people. In the language of Parkman: "Long before the ice-coated pines of Plymouth had listened to the rugged psalmody of the Puritans, the soli- tudes of Western New York and the shaddowy wilderness of Lake Huron were trodden by the iron heel of the soldier and the sandalled foot of the Franciscan friar. France was the true pioneer of the Great West. They who bore the Fleur de lis were always in the van, patient, daring, indomitable; and foremost on this bright roll of forest-chivalry, stands the half-forgotten name of Samuel de Champlain."
The French, as has been shown, endeavored to peaceably occupy the country conjointly with the Indians, and to raise the savages from the depths of barbarous brutality to the plane of Christian and civilized morals; to release them from the terrible tribal wars that were continually desolating the land with their ravages, and to unite them in the blessed bonds of peace and brotherly amity. Their efforts were peaceful, benign and nobly magnani- mous, and furnish, at least, one chapter in the cruel history of the world that sheds a luster reflected from the nobler and better qualities of the human heart.
Seventy years after Jaques Cartier and Roberval's attempted colonization on the St. Lawrence, we find a little French colony at Anapolis, Nova Scotia (then called Acadia). There were then no other civilized beings on the continent north, of the Spanish possessions in Florida.
The little colony peacefully occupying their new possessions, and enjoying the friendship of the Indians, lived for several years in the greatest tranquility. They cleared up and cul-
45
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTHWEST.
1607.]
tivated large tracts of ground. The bountiful waters yielded an ample supply of fish, and the forests abounded in game. The beautiful Bay of Anapolis and its charming slopes of verdure, with its cozy little hamlet, was a scene of peaceful content. They joined the Indians in hunting and fishing parties, and the lodges of the latter were always found in neighborly proximity to their white friends. The weather was so mild in the winter of 1607, that Lescar- bot says: "I remember that on the fourteenth day of January, on a Sunday afternoon, we amused ourselves with singing and music, on the river Equille, and that in the same month we went to see the wheat-fields, two leagues from the fort, and dined merrily in the sun- shine."
But this peaceful scene was now to be con- verted into one of havoc and desolation. One Samuel Argall, commander of a large English armed vessel, the same who afterward treacher- ously kidnapped Pocahontas, after she had saved the life of Smith, suddenly appeared in the harbor of Anapolis. She carried fourteen guns and sixty men, and was accompanied by two other small vessels which she had formerly captured from the French, and was now sent by the Governor of Virginia, who claimed the territory as a British possession. The invasion was unauthorized by every law of nations; for the two powers were at peace, and the French had been in possession long before the English had a settlement in America.
The settlement at Port Royal was tenantless when Argall's ships sailed into the harbor. Biencourt, the Commander, with a number of his men, was at the village of a neighboring tribe. The balance of the men were reaping their harvest in the fields, two leagues from the fort.
The assailants found no one to resist them. They first captured the animals and killed them, carrying the carcasses on board - the- ships. They then plundered the fort and buildings, and afterwards applied the torch, laying the whole in ashes. They then went in boats up the river, and destroyed the grain fields. .
They were re-embarking when Biencourt and his small band arrived on the scene of destruction. Although largely outnumbered, he tried to lure Argall and his followers to the shore, but his efforts were vain. His word of honor being given, an interview was obtained. Biencourt, who was a young man, raved furiously, and threatened future reprisal on the English.
The following spring, Poutrincourt, the founder of the colony, came to Port Royal (Anapolis) and found Biencourt and his men
houseless in the forests. They had endured great privations through the winter, sustaining life frequently for days at a time on roots dug in the woods.
Port Royal was rebuilt and again occupied by the French. This was the beginning of the strife between the French and English. The latter were the aggressors again, in the capture of Quebec, when it was in a most forlorn and defenseless condition, and surrendered by Champlain and his little half-starved band. But this rapacious power was obliged to disa- vow the acts of its agents, and restore the con- trol of the country to its lawful posessors. The continued aggressions of the English Gov- ernment at last involved the colonies in war, which resulted in the expulsion of the Acadians from what is now Nova Scotia. One of the most merciless and malignantly cruel acts recorded in history, and of which Bancroft says: "I know not if the annals of the human race keep the record of sorrows so wantonly inflicted, so bitter and perrennial as fell upon the French inhabitants of Acadia." This piti- ful event is the theme of Longfellow's beautiful poem, Evangeline.
The two great powers that attempted to hold this continent as a fuedal dependency, were both destined to lose the prize they grasped at; for the very forces which England invoked to assist her, viz., the English colonies, were the mixed races inhabiting the sea coast; and if these, through superior numbers and resources, did overcome the French, it was not that the flag of St. George might wave trium- phant, but that it should be supplanted by the new banner representing a free people; a flag which France helped to crown with victory at the glorious battle of Yorktown. If the Fluer de lis had to yield its supremacy in America, and bend to remorseless destiny, it was not to see the flag of its hated rival take its place, but it was to be gloriously associated forever with the great event which gave birth to a mighty Republic.
In the struggle between the French and the English colonies, the French labored under such disadvantages that the result of the con- test could not be doubtful. Bancroft declares: "If the issue had depended on the condition of the colonies, it could hardly have seemed doubtful. The French census for the North American continent in 1688 showed but eleven thousand two hundred and forty-nine; scarcely a tenth part of the English population on its frontiers. "
The aim of the French to preserve peace between the Indian nations had been thwarted from the very beginning of their occupation of
46
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTHWEST.
[1689.
the country, by the Iroquois, and the French had largely exhausted their energies and resources in endeavors to suppress those ene- mies to peace, and in protecting the other nations. They had been partially successful and several times had brought that war-like nation to submission; and now all of their work was to be overthrown, by the English making an alliance with the Iroquois, and furnishing them with arms and means to resist the French and the Algonquin allies of the latter. In the vast territory to be guarded, there were only three or four defensive posts west of Montreal. Those were Forts Frontenac, Niagara, St. Louis, on Starve Rock. in the Illinois country, St. Ignace, near Mackinaw, and the Mission at Green Bay.
The English had sent the secret wampum belt, not only to the Iroquois, but their emmis- saries had passed as far west as our Fox River, and tampered with the troublesome Foxes and Sauks, the only Algonquin tribes against which the French ever waged war. It was expected by the English, that through the instrumentality of the Foxes, a league might be effected with the other nations of the West; but the attempt failed, and the other Algonquin nations remained the steadfast friends of the French. The desperate situation of the French was not only discouraging, but seemed absolutely hopeless. They did not number one-tenth of the compact population of the English colonies, which were comparatively safe, except on the frontier, while the French were exposed on all points, except at Quebec and Montreal.
On the twenty-fifth of August, 1689, fifteen hundred Iroquois, well armed, secreted them- selves, during the night, on the Isle of Mont- real, and at daybreak attacked La Chine. The inhabitants were awakened by the noisy war- whoop, whose ominous sound foretold their fearful doom. The houses were set on fire, and a general slaughter ensued, in which neither age, sex or condition was spared. In an hour over two hundred were massacred and the place reduced to ashes. They next attacked Montreal, and, after a struggle, obtained possession of the fort, and became masters of the island.
In this emergency, a band of brothers, De Sainte Helene and D'Iberville, came to the rescue. They distinguished themselves through marvelous exploits and heroic adventures that have made their names famous. In 1686 they had conquered the English posts from Fort Rupert to Albany River; and now, at the head of a force of French and Indians, they marched for the English settlements. Cocheco was first reached. At this point, thirteen years
before, some three hundred Indians had been treacherously captured by the English, and shipped to Boston, where they were sold into foreign slavery. The memory of this wrong rankled in the breasts of the remainder of the nation, and they were eager for revenge. As usual, in such instances, the innocent, unoffending frontier settlers suffered for the atrocious wrong done by the guilty parties.
The settlers at this point were all slain or captured. The stockade at Pemaquid, on the Penobscot, next captured, and the Indians, dividing into war-parties, scoured the country, and mercilessly massacred the English settlers.
In September, commissioners from New England met the Mohawks in council, for the purpose of perfecting the alliance between them. The Indians boasted of their service- able achievements in behalf of the English. "We have burned Montreal," they said; "we are allies of the English and will keep the chain unbroken."
A party of a hundred French and Indians after twenty days travel reached the vicinity of Schenectady. At midnight they stealthily entered the picketed enclosure, and the sleep- ing inhabitants were awakened by the yells of the invaders. A dreadful scene of massacre ensued.
" The party from Three Rivers, led by Hertel, and consist- ing of but fifty-two persons, of whom three were his sons, and two his nephews, surprised the settlement at Salmon Falls, on the Piscataqua, and, after a bloody engagement, burned house: , barns, and cattle in the stalls, and took fifty-four prisoners, chiefly women and children. The prisoners were laden by the victors with spoils from their own houses. Robert Rogers rejecting his burden, was bound by the Indians to a tree, and dry leaves kindled about him, yet in such heaps as would burn but slowly. Mary Furguson, a girl of fifteen, burst into tears from fatigue, and was scalped forthwith. Mehetabel Goodwin would linger apart in the snow to lull her infant to sleep, lest its cries should provoke the savages: angry at the delay, her master struck the child against a tree, and hung it among the branches. The infant of Mary Plaisted was thrown into the river, that, eased of her burden, she might walk faster."
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" While the people of New England and New York were concerting the grand enterprise of the reduction of Canada, the French had, by their successes, inspired the savages with respect, and renewed their intercourse with the West But, in August, Montreal became alarmed. An Indian announced that an army of Iroquois and English was busy in constructing canoes on Lake George; and immediately Frontenac himself placed the hatchet in the hands of his allies, and, with the tomahawk in his own grasp, old as he was, chanted the war- song, and danced the war-dance."- Bancroft.
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