History of northern Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development, and resources; an extensive sketch of its counties, cities, towns and villages, their improvements, industries, manufactories; biographical sketches, portraits of prominent men and early settlers; views of county seats, etc., Part 6

Author: Western historical co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1052

USA > Wisconsin > History of northern Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development, and resources; an extensive sketch of its counties, cities, towns and villages, their improvements, industries, manufactories; biographical sketches, portraits of prominent men and early settlers; views of county seats, etc. > Part 6

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).

But the Foxes proved irreconcilable. War was re-

HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

newed at Detroit in 1721; and in 1728, another ex- pedition 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 Winnebagoes, when these tribes promised to maintain peace. But the Foxes paid no regard to their plighted faith, and con- tinued 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 Menomonees, 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 seventeenth, the mouth of the Fox River was reached, when it became evident that the savages had knowledge of the expedi- tion. It had been the intention of De Lignery to at- tack 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 ar- rived at the French fort at midnight, and immediately sent word to the commandant of his presence, and asked for information, as to whether the Foxes were still in the Sac village. The reply was that they ought to be found there ; but, upon moving foward, 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 expedi- tion.

On the 24th of August, the army, consisting of not less than four hundred 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 " burnt 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 ex- pedition," says its historian, Emanuel Crespel, " if such a useless march deserves that name, we prepared to return 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 September, 1730, was more successful. His forces, including Indians, numbered 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 children 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 Cap- tain 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 desig- nated, upon Fox River, as the points of conflict in these expeditions, but all such designations are tradi- tionary ; 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 disastrous to France in America.

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 conquest delivered over as a part of Canada to the English- French trading-posts, French forts and French mis- sionary establishments had all disappeared. The forti- fication 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 per- ishing state-of French domination in North America. Governor Vaudreuil surrendered Canada to General Amherst, of the British army, on the 9th of Septem- ber, 1760, and immediately notified the commandant of the fort at Mackinaw, for the information of the people of the Northwest, 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 manner as though they were subjects of Great Britain.

But Wisconsin was, at this date, a howling wilder- ness. There was not a single white settler within what are now its limits. The fur trader, however, was still upon the ground. The fur trade of the North- west, long coveted by England, was now to be firmly established with the various tribes under the new order of things. To do this required a military occupation of the country, among other places at " the Bay "- as the post for some time previous to its evacuation by the French was called; for this was the point that commanded the Fox River country and the trade be- yond. There were, however, no English residents to be protected by English bayonets-no settlers on Wis- consin's soil to need the shielding presence of the red- coats. Military possession signified only protection to English traders. Detroit was the first of the French posts in the West to surrender; then Mackinaw ; and finally, in 1761, a small squad of English soldiers were despatched to the head of Green Bay to garrison the deserted post in that vicinity. A captain of the eighteenth English regiment was ordered to march

HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

Wom Detroit with a detachment from that and the sixtieth regiment, to take possession of and to leave garrison at the posts on lakes Huron and Michigan. These were Mackinaw, " the Bay" (afterward Fort Edward Augustus) and St. Joseph (upon the river of that name in the present states of Michigan and Indi- ana). The detachment arrived at Mackinaw on the 28th of September, 1761, where a lieutenant of the sixtieth regiment, one sergeant, one corporal, one drum- mer and twenty-five privates were left to garrison that post, the residue sailing, with a fair wind, for " the Bay," where they arrived, on the 12th of October, at the tumble-down post, now the city of Fort Howard, Brown County. The captain departed on the four- teenth, leaving at " the Bay," Lieut. James Gorrell, of the Royal American, or Sixtieth Regiment, and one sergeant, one corporal and fifteen privates, together with a French interpreter and two English traders.

"There were several Frenchmen," says Gorrell, " who had gone up the river that forms the bay which comes from Lake Winnebago, about fourteen leagues up. These traders have gone up as far as the Sioux country, near two hundred leagues from the bay. As they went past th's post, notwithstanding these very Frenchmen were employed by the English traders from Montreal, that come to Mackinaw by virtue of General Gage's license, they did all that laid in their power to persuade the Bay Indians to fall on the En- glish on their way ; as they heard of our coming,- they telling the Indians that the English were weak and that it could be done very readily." But the savages proved too wary, and remained at peace with the conquerors.

The garrison in Fort Edward Augustus (the new name of " the Bay"), busied themselves during the ensuing Winter in repairing the fort, houses and grounds, for the reason that reports were rife of in- tended Indian attacks upon the fort; but happily they proved groundless.

Some few young men of the different tribes in the vicinity came at various times to know how they would be treated by Gorrell and his men; and they were agreeably surprised to find themselves received with civility, so contrary to the accounts given them by the French, who were still smarting under English chas- tisement, and anxious for a rupture between the sav- ages and their new masters, which, indeed, was not long postponed. They asked for ammunition, which was given them at different times. Flour was also sent to some of their old men, who, they said, were sick in the woods. Finally a council was held with the Menomonees, the Winnebagoes, the Ottawas, and the Sacs and Foxes, during the last of May and first of June, 1762. when Lieut. Gorrell presented to the Menomonees and Winnebagoes belts of wampum and strings of the same for the return of prisoners.

He made at the same time a conciliatory speech, which had a most happy effect. The Menomonees, upon whose lands Fort Edward Augustus stood, an- swered in the same spirit. They said they were very poor, having lost three hundred warriors lately with small-pox, as well as most of their chiefs by the late war, in which they had been engaged by the then French commander at "the Bay," against the English.

They expressed themselves glad to find that the En- glish were pleased to pardon them, as they did not expect it ; they were conscious they did not merit it. They assured Lieut. Gorrell that he might depend they would adhere to whatever instructions the com- manding English officers might give them for the future, as they had always done with regard to the French. They begged that Gorrell would send for a gunsmith to mend their guns as they were poor and out of order; the French, they said, had always done this for them ; and their neighbors at Mackinaw had had this favor granted them. They said, also, that the French commandant always gave them rum as a true token of friendship.

Lieut. Gorrell had much the same understanding with the Winnebagoes, Ottawas and Sacs and Foxes. From this time until March 1, 1763, nothing of mo- ment happened at Fort Edward Augustus, except the arrival of several English and French traders, some of whom went up the country and also sent up a large part of their goods. On the day mentioned twelve Sioux warriors came to the post. They seemed very friendly to the English. "This nation," says Gorrell, " is always at war with the Chippewas. They told me with warmth that if ever the Chippewas or any other Indians wished to obstruct the passage of the traders coming up, to send them a belt and they would come and cut them off the face of the earth." The Sioux then gave the commandant a letter written in French, and two belts of wampum from their head chief, in which he expressed great joy on hearing of the English at the Bay, and a desire to make peace with them, and to have English traders sent among them.

In June some Ottawas and Frenchmen came to the post and delivered to Gorrell instructions from Capt. Etherington, commanding at Mackinaw, informing him that Mackinaw had been surprised by the Chip- pewas, and taken, one lieutenant and twenty privates having been killed, and all the rest of the garrison taken prisoners, but that friendly Ottawas had taken Capt. Etherington, Lieut. Leslie and eleven men out of their hands with the promise to re-instate them. Gorrell was ordered to set out with all his garrison and traders to Etherington's relief. It was thus that they first got word of the beginning of Pontiac's War and of the fall of Mackinaw. Gorrell complied with the orders from his superior officer. He set off on the 17th of June, 1763, but was hindered by contrary winds. He did not get off until the 21st, when he set sail with a part of the four tribes - Menomonees, Sacs, Winne- bagoes and Foxes. They found Etherington held a prisoner about thirty miles above Mackinaw, and they all, in due time, reached Montreal in safety. Thus actual occupation of Wisconsin by an English armed force was at an end.

By the treaty of peace between England and France, in 1763, that part of French territory lying west of Lake Michigan, was ceded, along with the residue of Canada, to the English. It was thus that Wisconsin, although no longer under direct military control of the conquerors, became actual British soil, with no counter claimants, save the savages who re- sided within its limits. The expectation of Capt. Etherington that Fort Edward Augustus would soon

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FIRST REPRESENTATION EVER MADE OF WISCONSIN.

FROM CHAMPLAIN'S MAP OF 1632.

The first attempt at delineating the country of the Great Lakes is to be found in a map accompanying the work of Samuel Champlain, entitled " Les Voyages de la Novvelle France," published in Paris, in 1632. So much of this map as includes the region lying southwest, west, and northwest of Lake Huron, is based wholly upon Indian reports. That portion of it comprehending what is now Wisconsin, is reproduced for this

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HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN

be re-ocenpied was not realized. Instead thereof, the Indians were placed under control of the post at Mackinaw, which was soon re-garrisoned. No sooner, however, had the soldiers under Gorrell left "the Bay," than French traders seized upon the occasion to again make it head-quarters for traffic in furs to the westward of Lake Michigan. Not that alone, for a few determined to make it their permanent home. By the year 1766, there were some families living in the decayed Fort Edward Augustus, as well as opposite thereto, on the east side of Fox River, where they cultivated the soil in a small way and in an extremely primitive manner. Of these French Canadians no one can be exactly considered the pioneer - no individual one is entitled to the renown of having first led the way, becoming thus the first settler of the State, much less the father and founder of Wisconsin. It was simply that "the Bay," being, after Pontiac's War, oc- cupied by Canadian French fur traders, their station finally ripened into a permanent settlement - the first in Wisconsin, and the leading spirits of which were the two Langlades, Augustin and Charles, father and son. It had all the characteristics of a French settle- ment. Its growth was very slow ; its industries were few and simple. Besides the employments of trading and transporting goods and peltries, the inhabitants engaged in hunting and trapping. The cultivation of the soil was only an incidental matter, though gradu- ally a few persons turned their chief attention to agriculture. At length wheat enough was raised to supply the community with bread, while other grains were cultivated to some extent, and a few domestic animals were raised. Mechanical trades were almost unknown ; a smith to mend fire-arms and to make and repair traps was all that was necessary. The imple- ments of husbandry were rude and few. If a respect- able house was to be erected, workmen were sent for to Canada. The people had the free exercise of their religious belief, which was Catholic. There were no schools nearer than Mackinaw for many years, though private instruction was occasionally given in families ; nor were there any physicians or lawyers. The settlers were allowed to govern themselves by custom and the "Laws of Paris." Many of them formed matrimonial alliances with the Indians, in consequence of which a mixed lineage became so prevalent that the commun- ity, in the course of years. numbered but few persons of pure white blood. Such was the settlement at the head of Green Bay, and so it continued until Ameri- can influence became paramount, every thing, even the occupation of the land, being subordinate to the Indian trade, which, directly or indirectly, furnished employment for every member of the community, and in which all its interests centered. When the settlers, who at first held the soil in common, began to estab- lish individual rights, they did so by apportioning to each a tract abutting upon Fox River, extending inland a considerable distance ; so, when these were sub- divided, the result was, long, narrow strips, each with a water-front. Nearly twenty years subsequent to the time when the Green Bay settlement began to assume a permanency, some French Canadians located on the east shore of the Mississippi, within what are now the boundaries of Wisconsin. There is no positive evi-

dence of any permanent settlers being there before the year 1783. It was in that year that four men perman- ently occupied the open traet upon which is now situated the city of Prairie du Chien. Quite a num- ber soon after followed and located there. Here, as at the settlement, at the Bay, no one could claim preee- dence, as being the first to "settle" on the prairie. Those who remained were first traders, then settlers ; or, rather, they became permanent traders. They usually passed the Winter months at the Indian vil- lages, and, during the Summer, transported their furs to Mackinaw, returning with their canoes laden with goods for the next season's trade, and with a supply of provisions. In the Winter, Prairie du Chien was half deserted, while in Summer its numbers were swelled, not only by the return of its own people, but also by traders from other quarters, and by throngs of Indian visitors. Little value was placed upon the soil by the inhabitants, though they found leisure to cultivate small portions of the prairie in a rude way ; and occa- sionally a voyageur, weary of his roving life, or unable longer to endure its hardships, settled there, and de- voted himself exclusively to farming. The traders located there were generally men of considerable wealth, for it required means to carry on their business, provide stocks of goods and provisions for long periods. and transport them hundreds of miles by oarsmen con- stantly employed for that purpose.

The voyageurs constituted a different class. They were generally very poor and dependent on their small wages, which barely sufficed to supply them with the simplest necessaries of life. Although there was no administration of law, the will of their employers, en- forced by possession of their subsistence was very nearly absolute over them, and the distinctions of mas- ter and servant were strongly marked. The houses of the wealthy, though constructed of logs, sometimes clapboarded, yet rude and unattractive in external appearance, were comfortably, neatly, and even ele- gantly furnished. Those of the poorer classes were very inferior structures, often without floors, and with straw for a covering, while the furniture consisted of a few rude kitchen utensils, benches and other domestic articles equally meager. A sort of middle class event- ually sprang up in the small farmers scattered about the prairie, who were somewhat less dependent upon the will and caprice of the traders. They were enabled to live better than the voyageurs, whose diet consisted chiefly of corn soup ; but their implements for work were very primitive, their carts and plows being made of wood, to which the oxen were attached by rawhide thongs. Coffee-mills were at first used for grinding grain. These were superseded by mills turned by hand-power-the buhrs being ent from native granite boulders.

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Author: Western historical co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 1052

Author: Western historical co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1052