USA > Wisconsin > The Wisconsin blue book 1893 > Part 19
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1673 .- Louis Joliet and Pere Marquette set out in May, from St. Ignace mission, at the straits of Mackinaw, in canoes paddled by voyageurs or boatmen, and reached the Mascou- tin village on the Upper Fox, June 7th, pushed up through its reeds, made the portage at the present site of Portage City, into the Wisconsin river, which they descended to its mouth, arriving there June 17th. They descended the Great river as far as the mouth of the Arkansas. The narratives of this voyage and journey by Marquette have [made the names of Joliet and Marquette immortal.
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1674 .- Joliet and Marquette, returning from their canoe voyage, came up the Missis- sippiand Illinois rivers, made portage to Chicago, thence paddled down the shores of Lake Michigan, and in September were again at the St. Francis Xavier's mission. In October, 1674, Marquette started with two assistants to establish a mission at Kaskaskia, among the Illinois Indians. Paddling by way of Green Bay, they came to Sturgeon's Bay; thence he made the portage eastward across the peninsula, where the Sturgeon Bay ship canal now is, paddled up the lake to the mouth of the Chicago river, where they wintered on a sand dune near the shore, in much discomfort. In the spring they proceeded to the Illinois river and Kaskaskia. But a mortal sickness was on the intrepid Marquette; and he turned back to Mackinaw, to die among his brethren. He died on the journey, May 19th, of a dysen- tery brought on by the hardships and privations he had suffered. He was buried at the mouth of a little stream on the Michigan side of the lake, some little distance south of the high point called the Sleeping Bear.
1679 .- The great explorer, La Salle, appeared upon the scene, arriving at Green Bay early in September, in a schooner built at Niagara river above the falls, called the "Griffin," a rude figure of which monster graced the prow. Sending her back laden with furs, to satisfy his creditors at Quebec, he started with a party of fourteen men in canoes laden with forges, merchandise and arms, up the west shore of the lake. The voyage was one of great peril, as the lake was swept by gales. They were nearly swamped in landing. Touching at one of these landings and camps, at or near the present site of Milwaukee, in the bay of Milwaukee river (which the relation called the " Millioke "), they were visited by a band of Fox or Outagamie Indians who stole several articles from their camp. La Salle intrepidly went out, captured a young Indian and brought him into camp to hold as a hostage, and prepared to fight the Indians, six score strong. He then held a parley, induced them to restore the stolen property or make recompense. He then moved on up the lake coast.
The same year a daring chief of the coureur du bois, Daniel Graysolon du Lhut (Duluth), explored the Upper Mississippi, taking special note of the Wisconsin and Black rivers. Vis- iting the Mille Lac Sioux, his party went with their band on a great buffalo hunt, below the St. Croix river on the Wisconsin side.
1680 .- Hennepin, with two companions, Accau and DuGay, set out, under orders of LaSalle, to explore the Upper Mississippi. Leaving the mouth of the Illinois river, March 12th, he passed the mouth of the Wisconsin, and the site of Prairie du Chien. Below Lake Pepin the party were taken prisoners by the Sioux, and carried to the present site of St. Paul, thence to Mille Lacs. Kept here for two months, they were started with a party on a buffalo hunt. At the mouth of Rum river, Hennepin and DuGay were set at liberty, given a gun, knife, an earthen pot and a small canoe. They began their journey, descended the river into the Mississippi, passed the great falls, which Hennepin named the St. Anthony. Nearing the mouth of the Chippewa river, being driven by starvation, they as- cended that river and joined a party of Sioux hunters, by whom they were roughly treated, but permitted to live.
Du Lhut voyaged from Lake Superior to the Mississippi with a small party. He canoed up the Bois Brule, now a famous trout stream, midway between Bayfield and Su- perior, crossed over from its upper waters to the head waters of the Saint Croix, and de- scended that river into the Mississippi. He there heardjof some white men with the Sioux, and pushing on found Hennepin and DuGay, with the Indian hunting party near the mouth of the Chippewa river. Rescuing the good Hennepin and his companion, the two parties returned to the Mille Lacs. That year, in his voyage up the river, Father Hennepin was the first white man to visit the fine prairie on this river, now Prairie du Chien. In autumn, Du Lhut and Hennepin drifted down to the mouth of the Wisconsin river, thence up that stream, they portaged across to the Fox, down which they paddled, and thence to Mackinaw. Du Lhut made several voyages of this kind later.
1683 .- La Sueur passed the Fox and Wisconsin route, thence ascended the Mississippi to the Falls of. St. Anthony.
1685 .- Nicholas Perrot, a daring chief of the coureur du bois, whose previous explora- tions are above narrated, was appointed the "commandant of the west," with an "army" of twenty men. He came to Green Bay, and there met Indians from the west who told him of white men far to the southwest who lived in houses that " walked on the water," probably Spaniards. Perrot, anxious for further discoveries, passed over the Fox-Wiscon- sin route. He wintered on the east bank of the Mississippi, about a mile above the now village of Trempealeau. Afterwards he established several trading posts on the river, among them Fort St. Nicholas, the site of Prairie du Chien, and worked lead mines in Wis- consis opposite Dubuque.
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1689 .- Perrot took possession of the St. Croix, St. Peter, and Upper Mississippi in the name of the French king.
1693 .- Pierre La Sueur was sent by the authorities of New France, at Quebec, to re- store the French prestige in the west, which had been much weakened by the intrigues of the Dutch-English traders from Albany on the Hudson. He built a stockaded fort at La Point, on the Chequamegon Bay, another at Red Wing, Minnesota, which became the cen- ter of western commerce. He was governor for several years. He also worked the Perrot lead mines.
1699 .- Returning from France. which he had visited, Perrot brought with him thirty experienced miners, and on his voyage up the Mississippi found lead mines on or near the sites of Dubuque and Galena, and at the "Smoke Diggings," near Potosi, Wisconsin.
1699 .- In October, Pere St. Cosmes, a missionary from Quebec, found the Fox Indians opposed to his passing up the Fox river route to the Mississippi, and' went south up the west shore of the lake. He stopped, as is supposed, at the present site of Sheboygan, where another missionary, Father Marest had wintered and planted a cross.
1700 .- Father St. Cosmes visited Milwaukee Bay, finding there many Mascoutins, Foxes, Pottawattomies, etc. He calls the Milwaukee river the "Milwarick." Lead mines discovered in southwest Wisconsin by La Sueur.
Wars With the Fox or Outagamie Indians. 1706-1734 .- The Fox Indians having grown quite insolent and obstructive of the passage of the great water-way from the Green Bay to the Mississippi, demanded tribute of all traders and voyagers. It is re- lated, though on questionable authority, that Perriere Marin, a bold French captain, was sent to punish them. At the head of a large party of soldiers, half-breeds and coureur du bois, he ascended the frozen surface of the Fox river, surprised the enemy at Winnebago Rapids and slew many hundreds of them, where Neenah now stands.
1711 .- The Illinois country and all Wisconsin placed in command of Governor-general Dirau d'Arlaguette, with headquarters at the site of Mobile (Ala).
1712 .- The Fox or Outagamies made a desperate attempt to destroy Detroit, but were thwarted and themselves severely punished. Full of hate they robbed and butchered all travelers. De Louvigny, the King's lieutenant at Quebec, was sent at the head of 800 men to destroy them.
1716 .- Leaving Quebec, March 14, 1716, he appeared before the Indian village, at the Little Butte des Mortes, 37 miles above Green Bay, surrounded their fort, which was heavily palisaded, laid siege to it and approached it by trenches. He set about mining and blow- ing up the work when the Indians sued for peace. It was granted upon severe conditions which the Indians promised to faithfully perform. But they were faithless, savage, untam- able, and persistent in their ferocity.
1718 .- Frenchmen known to be at Green Bay.
1719 .- Francis Renault, with 200 miners, explores Upper Mississippi.
1718-1721 .- Fort St. Frances erected at Green Bay. Father Charlevoi, the historian, visits Green Bay.
1726 .- The Cardinells settle temporarily at Prairie du Chien. The French make a treaty with the Foxes, Sacs and Winnebagoes, to open the Fox-Wisconsin water-way.
1727 .-- A French trading fort, called Fort Beauharnais, established at Lake Pepin, with Sieur de La Perriere in command.
1728 .- Sieur Marchand de Lignery was sent against them with 400 Frenchmen, and reached the fort at the mouth of the Fox river, August 17th. Informed of the approach of this party the Indians fled, destroying their villages, corn, and other growing crops. He returned, much chagrined and censured for the failure of the expedition, destroying Fort St. Francis at' Green Bay.
1729 .-- A party of over 200 Indians fell by surprise upon a large band of Foxes, killed 77 men and some 300 women and children.
1730. - Sieur Perriere Marin was, according to some accounts, the next leader to pun- ish the Foxes. He had a trading post on the Wisconsin near what is now Wyalusing, Grant county, and carried on an extensive trade. He resolved to punish the Foxes, who were still insolent. Raising a force of volunteers at Mackinaw and some friendly Indians at Green Bay, he advanced up the river. At Grand Chute he divided the party, sending one band around to attack the village in the rear. The rest continued up stream in boats, the men concealed under large oil-cloth tarpaulins such as traders used to cover their goods, each boat exposing only two oarsmen. Some 1,500 Foxes awaited their coming, eager to plunder the party. At a signal the coverings were thrown off, a volley poured into the crowd of Indians, and the carnage increased by a swivel gun in one of the boats,
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loaded with canister. Tradition tells that over 1,000 Foxes were slain. Fleeing to their villages they found their dwellings in flames, which had been set by the flanking party. They ran to the forest, and there were beset by the other portion of Marin's command. They fought with the frenzy of despair; but only aremnant was left of the tribe. The survivors fled and located at a place where Wauzeka now stands on the lower Wisconsin. Later in the year De Villiers punishes the same tribe. Not long afterwards (1746) Marin fell upon them again, killed and captured them in that village, compelling the surviv- ors to go beyond the Mississippi. A few years later, the Sacs, who were living in villages near the present site of Green Bay, committed some 'outrages, and Charles de Langlade, afterwards the first white settler in Wisconsin, led a party of soldiers, and habitans from Green Bay, attacked the Sacs in their village, and after a desperate battle drove them away. They fled up the river and settled on the plateau where now flourish the villages of Sauk City and Prairie du Sac. Overpowered by the whites and beset by other Indian foes, the Sacs and Foxes or Outagamies, united the remnants of their tribes.
Missions and Trading Posts .- 1735 .- Saint Pierriere in command of the fort at Lake Pepin, called Fort Beauharnais.
1737 .- On hearing from La Pointe of the murder of French explorers at the Lake of the Woods, Saint Pierriere evacuates the fort.
1742 .- Presents distributed by the French among the Sacs and Foxes.
1749 .- The younger Marin stationed at La Pointe.
1752 .- He was at Lake Pepin.
1754 .- Marin in command at Green Bay, makes peace with the Wisconsin Indians. The Menomonees, Foxes, Sacs, Winnebagoes, Pottawattomies, Ottowas, Chippewas and Sioux are engaged to attack the English colonies on the western borders of Pennsylvania.
1755 .- Langlade, with Wisconsin Indians, led the onslaught upon Braddock's army, July 9th. Later he was at Fort George, and fought against Wolfe on the plains of Abra- ham, with his braves from Wisconsin.
1758 .- Eleven Frenchmen killed at Green Bay by Menomonees, who pillage a store- house.
1760 .- The French dominions seized by the English. Alexander Henry visited Mil- waukee.
1761 .- Capt. Belfour of the British army came with troops to Green Bay, took posses- sion of the fort, naming it Fort Edward. He left here Lieut. James Gorrell of the Sixtieth, or Royal American regiment, with a sergeant, corporal and fifteen privates who spent a wretched winter in the old fort. In the spring, Gorrell made treaties with the bands who came in.
1763 .- Gorrell and his force abandon Green Bay. Pontiac's conspiracy led to a confed- eration of Miamis, Ottawas, Chippewas, Wyandottes, Pottawattomies, Missisaguas, Shawa- noes, Outagamies and Winnebagoes. They organized and burst upon the English posts, eight of which were captured. After the massacre of a large part of the garrison at Michillimackinac, a friendly band of Indians escorted Gorrell and his party from Green Bay to L'Arbre Croche, where they sent the remnants of the garrison, that had been spared in the Michillimackinac slaughter.
1763 .- The territories of New France, including Wisconsin, ceded by the French to the English. Traders' posts established at Milwaukee.
1766 .- The Langlades had settled with other white settlers at Green Bay.
This year Capt. Jonathan Carver, a medical student and officer of Massachusetts militia, visited Green Bay. He was searching for a northwest passage to the Pacific ocean, and passed over the Fox-Wisconsin route, wintering with the Sioux on the plains. Disappointed in his search he returns next year by way of Lake Superior.
1774 .- A civil government established over the northwest and Canadas by the " Quebec act."
1777 .- Indians under Charles de Langlade and Gauthier join the British against the colonies in the Revolutionary war. But they do not appear to have fought in any of the battles.
1779 .- Capt. Robertson of the British sloop "Felicity " made a voyage of reconnais- sance around Lake Michigan, inducing traders and Indians to support the English.
1781 .- Lieut .- Gov. Patrick Sinclair, of Canada, purchased Green Bay, Prairie du Chien, etc., from the Indians. His purchase was not confirmed. The settlement of Prairie du Chien commenced by Bazil Giard, Augustin Ange and Pierre Antaya.
1786 .- Julian Dubuque explored the lead regions of the Upper Mississippi and opened lead mines in both Wisconsin and Iowa.
SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF, DELAVAN ..
THE MILWAUKEE LITHO. &ENGR . Co.
.
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OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
1787 .- Wisconsin, with the territory northwest of the Ohio, placed under a govern- ment, by the " Ordinance of 1787, and the action of the President thereupon."
1788 .- An Indian council at Green Bay. Permission given to Dubuque to work the lead mines on a large scale.
1789 .- Jean Baptiste Mirandeau said to have settled at Milwaukee.
1793 .- Lawrence Barth built a cabin at the portage of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers and engaged in the carrying trade.
1795 .- Jacques Vieau, agent of the Northwest Company, established trading posts at Kewannee, Sheboygan, Manitowoc and Milwaukee.
1796 .- The western parts surrendered by the Britishi to the United States, and the Or. dinance of 1787 extended over all the northwest.
1800 .- Indiana territory organized embracing the territory now comprising Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota east of the Mississippi. Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison is appointed governor.
1804 .- Gen. Harrison makes a treaty with the Sacs and Foxes at St. Louis, in which they extinguish their title to parts of the lands in Wisconsin in the southern portion, in- cluding the lead region.
1805 -Michigan territory organized.
1809 .- Thomas Nuttall, the botanist, and John Bradbury, the Scotch naturalist, ex- plored Wisconsin.
John Jacob Astor's party of explorers, under William P. Hunt and Ramsay Crooks, passed Green Bay and Prairie du Chien, en route for the Pacific Ocean. The story of the western part of their journey is told in Irving's " Astoria."
1811 .- The Wisconsin Indians to some extent take part in Tecumseh's war.
Wisconsin in the war of 1812 .- The Indians assembled at Green Bay to join the English in the " war of 1812." French traders mostly held commissions in the British army.
1814 .- An expedition by the British organized at Mackinaw (Michillimackinac) for the capture of the military post at Prairie du Chien, started June 28th, reaching Green Day six days later, were joined by Louis Grignon, a Creole trader, with 30 habitans of Green Bay, and about 100 Indians, and rowed up the Fox river in grand procession. July 17th they landed at the mouth of the Wisconsin a few miles below Fort Shelby, at Prairie du Chien The American garrison numbered some 60 or 70 effective men with six pieces of cannon The fort consisted of a small stockade and two block houses; and a gun boat manned by part of the garrison, and with 14 cannon, lay in the river. The attacking force was about 500 whites and 120 Indians. The British commander, Major Mckay, demanded the sur- render of the fort. Lieut. Perkins, the American officer in command, declined to surrender. The British artillery opened upon the gun boat. After receiving some 50 or more shots the boat dropped down stream. The fort was then attacked and Perkins, abandoned by the gun boat, was forced to surrender. Mckay with difficulty saved the prisoners from massacre by his Indian allies. The American loss was 5 killed and 10 wounded in the boat and 3 in the fort. Soon after Perkins and his men were given back their arms and sent down the river. The name of the fort was then changed from Fort Shelby to Fort Mckay.
1815 .- After peace, the British commander of the fort offered to turn the post over to the American governor at St. Louis, and (May 24th) hauled down the British flag and proceeded up the Wisconsin, thence to Mackinaw.
1816 .- Treaty with Indians confirming that of 1804. Erection of Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien and Fort Howard, on Green Bay, begun; Major Morgan in command at Prairie du Chien, Col. John Miller at Fort Howard.
1818 .- Illinois admitted into the Union. Wisconsin attached to the territory of Mich- igan. Brown, Crawford and Michillimackinac counties organized in Michigan and em- brace the whole of Wisconsin, besides other territory. Solomon Juneau arrived in Milwaukee.
1820. - United States Commissioners adjusted land claims in Green Bay. John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company had stations at Green Bay, on the Menomonee, Peshtigo Oconto, and Upper Wolf rivers. Milwaukee the entrepot of trade with the Pottawattomies. Augustin Grignon had a trading shanty at the present site of Kaukauna, for the trade on the Lower Fox. At Prairie du Chien, Joseph Roulette was the chief trader for the Amer- ican Fur Company, his field being on the Mississippi from Dubuque upwards. The same company had stations at La Pointe, and on Lac du Chambeau, Lac Chetac, Rice Lake, Tomahawk Lake, Lac Court Oreilles, Namekogan Lake and other points in the Chippewa country.
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The fur traders, it is said, established posts, which ultimately led to settlements at Mil- wankee, Oshkosh, Fond du Lac, La Crosse, Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, Madison, Sheboy- gan, Manitowoc, Two Rivers, Kewaunee, Green Bay, Prairie du Chien, Depere, Kaukauna, Neenah, Hudson, Portage, Menomonee, Oconto, Peshtigo, Black River Falls, Rice Lake, Baraboo, and Shullsburg. These were established at various times.
On July 9, of this year the first Protestant sermon preached in Wisconsin was delivered at Fort Howard, by Rev. Jedediah Morse, father of the inventor of the telegraph.
1822 .-- The New York Indians, transplanted, purchase lands cast of Lake Winnebago. James Johnsou obtained from the Indians the right to dig for lead with negro slaves front Kentucky.
1823 .- Counties of Brown, Crawford, and Michillimackinac made a separate judicial district by Congress. The first steamboat ascended the Mississippi. and Lake Superior sur- veyed by Lieut. Bayfield of the British navy. An Episcopal mission established near Green Bay.
1824 .- Judge James Duane Doty held his first district court of the territory, at Green Bay.
1825 .- Treaty concluded in August between the Indians of Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin by Gov. William Clark and Lewis Cass, the former then serving as Superintend- ent of Indian affairs at St. Louis, the latter as governor of Michigan territory, The Indians begin to grow sullen.
1826. First steamboat on Lake Michigan.
1826. The lead mines attract attention. The general government leased lands for mining purposes in 1822, and in this year the mining population rose from 100 to 406 by the following March.
1827. The rush to the lead mines continued. The Indians sullen and inimical to the whites. Fort Crawford abandoned and the troops sent to Fort Snelling, near St. Paul. The Winnebagoes murdered a half-breed named Metl ode and his family near Prairie du Chien. The Indian chief, Red Bird, and two others, inflamed by rumors that Winnebago prisoners had been killed by the whites, murdered and scalped Rijeste Gagnier and Solomon Lipeop near Prairie du Chien. About the same time, a band of thirty-seven Winnebagoes attacked two keel boats laden with provisions for the troops at Fort Snelling, killing two, wounding two mortally and two slightly, but were repulsed. These outrages produced great aların. The settlers fled to Prairie du Chien and there organized and manned the abandoned fort. The news spread through southwestern Wisconsin and thousands of settlers fled in the greatest precipitation to Galena. Gov. Cass, of Michigan territory, soon caine upon the scene. Col. Snelling reinforced Fort Crawford. Col. Henry Dodge raised a hundred mounted volunteers in the lead mines; Maj. Whistler, in command at Fort Howard, moved up the Fox to Portage, and the troops on the Lower Wisconsin moved up that river, pur- suing the fleeing Winnebagoes. They were overtaken near Portage, and seeing themselves overpowered, gave up the murderers. Red Bird died in prison soon after. His associates were tried and sentenced, but afterwards pardoned on condition that the Winnebagoes cede lauds.
1828. Fort Winnebago built at the portage. An Indian treaty had at Green Bay, The Indian claim to the lead region purchased.
1829 .-- Thousands of miners settled in the lead region. Speculation rife. A Methodist mission established at Green Bay.
1830 --- The Sioux killed seventeen Sacs and Foxes near Prairie du Chien. A Protestant mission was founded on Madelaine island, one of the Apostle islands, in Lake Superior, op- posite Bayfield - the first of the island missions at La Point, the original La Point mis- sion having been founded on the main land.
1832,- The Black Hawk War .-- This year Black Hawk, a petty chief of the Sacs, had a village at the mouth of the Rock river. He hated the Americans and loved the Eng- lish. Returning from a visit to Canada in 1830, where he had been flattered by the English, he found the settlers had preempted the site of his village and the burial ground of his fathers. He was enraged and made threats. The militia were called out. Ten companies of United States troops came to the mouth of the Rock river, and Black Hawk was com- pelled to cross the Mississippi promising never to return. But he failed to keep his prom- ise. He re-crossed the river in April, passed up Rock river to Prophetstown, intending to raise a crop there. This "invasion" aronsed general alarm in Illinois and Wisconsin. Settlers fled or threw up log forts. Gen. Atkinson, with 1,600 horse and 200 foot volunteers - of whom Abraham Lincoln commanded one company - and 300 regulars were put on the march. Black Hawk sent a defiant message and retreated up Rock river. At Stiil- man's creek he halted to surrender. His messengers of peace were killed by the pickets
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when they approached the lines. He then attacked and sent scampering to the rear 275 horsemen, with thirty-five braves. He then removed his women and children to the swamps of Lake Koshkonong, in Wisconsin. He descended into Illinois, scattering consternation. Skirmishes took place in Illinois, at Pecatonica, Blue Mounds and Sinsiniwa Mounds in Wisconsin. Some 200 whites and as many Indians lost their lives in these battles, skir- mishes and surprises.
Meanwhile, forts had been thrown up in the lead region .- Fort Union at Dodgeville, where Major Dodge's headquarters hadEbeen; Fort Defiance at the farm of D. M. Parkin- son; Fort Hamilton at Wiota; Fort Jackson at Mineral Point; Mound Fort at Blue Mounds and others.
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