The history of Columbia county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, Part 75

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899, [from old catalog] ed; Western historical company, chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Wisconsin > Columbia County > The history of Columbia county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement > Part 75

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).

500

HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.

I was then living in the house that used to belong to Francis Le Roy, near where O. P. Will- iams' house stood before it was burnt. I did all that I could to persuade him to stay with me that night, seeing that he was under the influence of liquor, but he would go on; his brother- in-law, Touissant St. Huge, and William Powell (not Capt. William Powell, of Butte des Morts). from Green Lake, were with him, There were some Indians drinking at the house of Paul Grignon-the same house now used for a stable by O. P. Williams. Among these Indians were Black Wolf and his son, Rascal De-kau-ry, the Elk, Big Thunder and others.

" When Pauquette arrived there, he whipped Black Wolf; Rascal De-kau-ry ran away north from where they were, right in the direction of the lodge of Man-ze-mon-e-ka, whom Pau- quette had beaten the preceding day. On arriving at the chief's cabin, he informed him that Pauquette was coming to whip him again. Man-ze-mon-e-ka emerged from his lodge and told Pauquette very pointedly not to come any farther; that he had whipped him twice the day before without a cause, and if he advanced another step he was a dead man. Pauquette, putting his hand to his breast, said, 'Fire if you are brave,' when Man-ze-mon-e-ka shot and Pauquette fell. William Powell was close to Pauquette at the time, and as soon as I heard the report of the gun I ran for the spot as fast as I could. It was close to where I was living. I met William Powell running toward the fort, and asked him was the matter; but he was going so fast that he did not hear me. I went where Panquette was, took his hand, which was warm, and asked him if he knew me to press my hand ; but he was dead. The ball had passed through his heart. Old Crelie, father-in-law to Panquette, wanted to carry him home, but I would not allow him to touch him until the jury came. William Powell arrived there with Lieut. Hooe, Sergt. Pollinger, ten private soldiers, Satterlee Clark, and, I believe, Henry Merrell. Lieut. Hooe refused to go into the lodge to take the Indian; the chief, White French, went and brought him out, when they took him across in a scow ; the body of Pauquette being also taken over. They asked Man-ze-mon-e-ka if he shot Panquette, which he frankly acknowledged. I really believe that he thought he was going to be killed on the spot, as he sang his death-song. He was taken to the garrison, kept in strict confinement, and afterward conveyed to Green Bay, where he was tried by regular authority, and finally acquitted, it being determined on a second trial that he had killed Pauquette in self-defense.

Says Satterlee Clark :

" Peter Panquette was born in the year 1800, of a French father and a Winnebago mother ; the latter was buried nearly in front of the Old Agency house opposite the fort. He was thirty years old when I first knew him, and was the very best specimen of a man I ever saw. He was six feet two inches in height, and weighed 240 pounds-hardly ever varying a single pound. He was a very handsome man, hospitable, generous and kind, and I think I never saw a better- natured man.

" I had heard much of his strength before I left Green Bay, and of course, was anxious to see him perform some of the wonderful feats of strength of which I had heard. From my first acquaintance with him to the day of his death I was his most intimate friend, and consequently had a better opportunity to know him than any other person. *

* He often told me that all persons seemed alike to him. When I was nineteen or twenty years old, my business kept me constantly in training, and though I weighed less than 150 pounds, my muscles were like iron ; notwithstanding he often said it was no more trouble to take me across his lap than a child one year old, and so it seemed to me. * * * *

" He was employed by the American Fur Company up to the day of his death. For the last four years of his life he had a bookkeeper, but previous to that time (not being able to read or write), he gave credit to hundreds of Indians, relying entirely on his memory, and their hon- esty. Those who have been acquainted with the Indian character only since their association with the whites has degraded them, will be amused to hear of the honesty of the Indians ; and I desire to do them the justice to say, that while they saw no impropriety in stealing from another and a hostile tribe, I never knew them to steal from a trader, or refuse to pay what they owed him, till whisky was introduced among them by the worst class of whites. The women

501

HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.

were especially honest and virtuous. Their marriage amounted to the purchase of the daughter from the father, whether by an Indian or a white man ; when, as soon as the trade was made, the girl considered herself the wife of the purchaser, and accompanied him home often (when pur- chased by a white man who could not speak the Indian language) very reluctantly, and in tears ; still the right of the father was never resisted.

" But to continue as to Pauquette. The last of September, 1836, the War Department (then having the Indian Bureau), directed Gov. Dodge to assemble the Winnebagoes, at Fort Winne- bago. and if possible treat with them for all the lands they owned east of the Mississippi; and he called to bis assistance all the half-blood Winnebagoes he could get. The council lasted several weeks, during which time every possible effort was made to induce them to sell ; but there seemed to be an undercurrent somewhere to prevent it, and the Governor failed. This he attributed to the influence of Pauquette and myself, and I think we never denied it. In the Governor's next official report, he recommended that no license be granted to one Satterlee Clark to trade with the Winnebagoes, for the reason that his influence with the Indians was so great that he prevented them from doing what the Government desired, and caused them to do what the Government did not desire to be done; and that he further induced them to give large sums of money out of their annuity to himself and friends. Pauquette would undoubtedly have been included with me in this report, but for his death.

" This council closed on the 17th day of October, 1836, and the next day Pauquette came to my store to rejoice over our victory. On this occasion, he drank too much wine, and became just enough intoxicated to be impatient of contradiction. In this condition, he started home on foot, and when within about one quarter of a mile of the ferry, opposite his house, he found an Indian and his wife sitting by a little fire in the bushes. The Indian was Man-ze-mon-e-ka, or Iron Walker, who was also drunk. What there occurred, is only known as related by the squaw that night. She said Pauquette kicked the fire apart, the Indian arose up and said some- thing that offended Pauquette, who slapped the Indian's face, knocking him down. The Indian got up, saying, 'You knocked me down ; but I got up. I will knock you down, and you will never get up. I will go for my gun.' Pauquette only laughed and sat down. The Indian returned, when Pauquette stood up, pulled open his coat, placed his hand on his breast and said, ' Strike, and see a brave man die.' The Indian fired, killing him instantly, the ball severing one of the main arteries leading from the heart. No man in Wisconsin could have died who was so much regretted. His death can safely be attributed to intoxication, though it was the first time I ever knew or heard of his being in that condition .*

"Man-ze-mon-e-ka was tried, convicted and sentenced to be hung; but the judgment was reversed by the Supreme Court, and he never was punished. He is long since dead.

" There has been some doubt as to where Mr. Pauquette was buried, and I will state what I know of his burial. In the first instance, while he did not claim to belong to any religious denomination, his wife being a Catholic, he built a small church near the center of what is now Portage City. At his death, I assisted to bury his remains under the floor of this church. Sub- sequently the church was burned ; and still later, while I was living at Green Lake, I received a summons to come up and point out the grave, some of his friends being desirous to remove his body. I came up and found the locality without any difficulty ; but never heard whether he was removed, or, if so, where. At that time Portage City had been surveyed, and his grave was in the middle of a street."

* The Galena Advertiser, of Saturday, October 22, 1836, thus referred to Pauquette's death : After mentioning that Gov. Dodge had failed in his negotiation with the Winnebago Indians for a further cession of their lauds to the United States, atated : " On Monday evening last [October 17], Mr. Pauquette, long and favorably known as an Indian trader and interpreter, was shot by a son of Whirling Thunder, a prominent chief of the tribe." The Belmont Gazette gives the following account of Pauquette's death from an eye witness : "Some of the Indiana, instigated, it was said, by a family of half-breeds, named Grignon, propagated a report that Pauquette had acted treacherously in his capacity of interpreter. Indignant at having hie correct ness questioned, he pursued several of the Grignon family, all of whom fled before him, until he was some con- siderable distance from the place where the treaty was being held. While returning from the fruitless pursnit, his murderer emerged from a copse of wood, and ordering him to stand, [avowed his intention of shooting him. Pauquette deliberately bared his bosom, and remarking that he feared not to die, bade him fire. The ball of the Indian passed through his heart, and he almost instantly expired. The anthor of the deed, with stoical indifference, expressed a perfect willingness to expiate his offense with his own life. Mr. Pauquette, we are informed, was a man of noble and generous qualities, and had scarcely an enemy in the world. He was in our service during the Black Hawk war, and distin- guished himself by his cool and collected courage in every emergency."

Col. Ebenezer Childs, in a letter to his wife written at Belmont, November 1, 1836, speaking of his journey there, etates : " At Pau- quette's farm, 1 got the news of poor Pauquette's death, and was never more astonished in my life."-ED.

502

HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.

Henry Merrell thus wrote of Pauquette :

" Peter Pauquette lived opposite Fort Winnebago, on what was called the Agency Ilill. I considered him the best specimen of Nature's noblemen I ever met. He was born, I think, in Missouri, and engaged in the Indian trade at an early day. When I knew him he was six feet two inches in height, large and fleshy, but his flesh was hard, and felt more like my knee- pan than common flesh. I once took my handerchief and measured round his thigh, and it just reached around my waist. He was the strongest man I ever knew ; he would pick up a barrel of pork and throw it into a wagon as easily as a man would a ten-gallon keg. I had a cask of dry white lead at my door, with 800 pounds of lead in it, and I was told by my clerk that he took it by the chimes, and lifted it off the ground. *

He was of a mild disposition, could neither read nor write; but had as fine a sense of honor as any gentleman I ever knew ; and all who knew him would take his word as soon as any man's bond.

" He and a companion (as he told me) were trading among some Indians in the Northwest until some others, the Flat Heads, took them prisoners, and determined to burn them ; they tied them each to a tree with their arms around it, then piled brush and wood around them, and set fire to the pile around his companion. He thought his time had come; but witnessing the excruciating sufferings of his fellow, he gave one superhuman pull at his thongs, and felt them give way. As he did so, an old squaw, the only one near him, caught him by the arm and gave a scream. He tried to shake her off, but could not; so he caught her hatchet and embedded it in her head, which loosened her hold, and he jumped and ran, the Indians at his heels after him ; but he could outrun almost any man, and outstripped them. Night coming on, he secreted himself, and finally got to a trading-post, after three days. He finally settled at Portage in the Indian trade ; and at the time I knew him, he had such influence over the chiefs of the Winnebagoes, that he was considered at the head of the nation. He could talk the Winnebago, French and English languages fluently, and was the only good Winnebago interpreter in the country. He was with Col. Dodge in the Sauk war, and the Colonel would always call for him to interpret when he held councils with the Winnebagoes. He used to trust the Indians, from year to year, I am informed, without any books, carrying their accounts in his head ; and when they would come in with their furs, he would tell them what they owed him, and they were invariably satisfied. When I arrived, he was trading for the American Fur Company, they furnishing him with goods and a book-keeper, he in the spring turning over to them bis furs, they fixing the prices of his goods and furs. Thus they of course had it all their own way. John T. De La Ronde was his clerk when I came, but he finally discharged him.

" In the fall of 1836, Gov. Dodge came to the fort, and had the Indians called in to meet him, and receive their payment. The chiefs met him in council, with Pauquette as interpreter. The Governor proposed to make a treaty with them, and buy their country between the Wiscon- sin and Mississippi. After they had counseled for some days, they refused to sell their country. It was generally supposed, as Pauquette advised them, they would act; therefore, the story was raised that Pauquette had advised them not to sell, and that he had not interpreted truly, which came to the ears of Pauquette, and he said it was untrue. He told me the chiefs asked his advice, but he told them he could not advise them, for he did not know anything about the country the Government wanted them to go to; and therefore, they must make up their own minds about it.

" The traders and half-breeds, all the way from Prairie du Chien and Green Bay, were assem- bled here; and it was supposed that many of them, if not most of them, wanted the Indians to form a treaty, so they could get money by it. As it was thought that Pauquette had as much influ- ence with the nation as a king, he was courted as well as feared by all ; therefore every man of them wanted to court his favor, and would treat him, and urge him to drink. The conse- quence was, that after getting through interpreting, and settling up with Gov. Dodge, which was the latter part of the third day, he drank too much-the first time I ever saw him under the influence of liquor. I had a long talk with him in the afternoon, when he told me he was

503

HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.

satisfied the agents of the fur company had cheated him, and he should settle off with them as soon as the payment was over, which was to take place the next day, if he could get any one to furnish him. I told him I would furnish him all the goods he wanted. 'Will you ?' said he. 'If I had known that, I would have proposed it long ago.' I told him that no one supposed that he could be induced to leave the fur company. He then appeared to be per- fectly himself.

" After tea, Satterlee Clark and I went down to the sutler's store ; met there Pauquette, and Messrs. Powell and Gleason. We stood in the yard in front of the store, talking for some time. Pauquette said some of the traders had been lying about him, and he would lick some of them before they left the ground. As he felt so aggrieved, and dwelt so much upon it, I feared he would get into a quarrel with them. While we were talking, Paul Grignon rode up on horseback, and Pauquette caught hold of him and pulled him off of his horse, playfully ; and, laughing, commenced talking to him, but we, not understanding the language, did not know what was said. Finally, I saw he became enraged, having hold of the man's cravat, a black silk one, tied loosely around his neck, with his left hand, and flourishing his right, as though he would strike him. I said to the men, 'Don't let him hurt Grignon,' and remarked to Pauquette, ' Don't hurt him, for he is no more than a child in your hands.' Three men, all strong ones, caught hold of his right arm, but he would sway them backward and forward as though they were children ; but as long as they held on to his arm he could not strike him ; I, in the mean time, trying to unfasten his grip, but, finding I could not, as his grasp seemed like a vise, I took out my knife and cut the cravat in two, jerking Grignon away at the same time, and tell- ing him to clear out, as Pauquette was crazy, and would kill him. He then readily jumped upon his horse and rode off. Pauquette seemed to give up, and did not try to stop him, but said he would whip some of them yet. He stayed and talked with us for a time.

" There were quite a number of the Grignons at the portage from Green Bay and the country, and Pauquette said it was some of them who had lied about him. By this time, it was getting dark, and he started to go over to the Agency Hill, as it was called, about half a mile opposite the fort, where the traders and half-breeds were encamped, some in tents and some in wigwams. I said to Satterlee Clark, he had better go and see that he did not get into a fight, for if he did he would kill some one, or would get killed himself. He started, but Pauquette told him to go back as he did not want to get any of his friends into a scrape, so Clark turned back, and I asked him if he was not going, when he said no. I then said to Mr. Gleason, ' We must go.' 'Agreed,' said he, and we followed him over. I told Gleason we would keep out of his sight, but watch him, which we did. Pauquette went into a wigwam, and chatted a few minutes, and then went into Judge Law's tent, and talked with him a short time. After com- ing out, he met Amable Grignon, who had on a plaid cloak, hooked at the neck. He com- menced talking with him, but soon got into a rage, as he had before, and insisted upon fighting him, pulling off his coat. Several went up and tried to appease him, but could not. Louis Grignon finally came up, and I supposed he would quiet him, as I had reason to believe Pauquette thought a great deal of him, as he always called him Father Grignon ; but he would not listen to him.

" Then I thought I would try and sce what I could do; so I took his coat and went up to him, saying, . Pauquette, what are you doing out here, a sick man, in the night air, without his coat on ?' ' I ain't sick,' he replied. 'Well, you will be, if you expose yourself in this way ; put on your coat, and go with me over to the shanty ; there is no use quarreling, for we are all friends here.' 'Well, I will, if you say so,' said he. He then put on his coat, and went over with us to the sutler's store, to my astonishment, for I never supposed I had so much influence over him as the circumstance indicated. This night he stayed with us (there being several officers in), conversing with us until 11 o'clock. Ever and anon he would speak about the reports about him, and the lies told, so that I saw it was the one thing uppermost in his mind. He said he would not tell a lie for any man, not even his father, and they should not lie about' him. All at once, he started out of the door, and down across the bridge, Gleason and I after

504

HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.

him. When Gleason got on the bridge, he called to him, when Pauquette stopped and asked what he wanted. 'Merrell wants you,' said Gleason. 'What does he want ?' said Pauquette. " Just then I came up, and said to him, 'Panquette, there is no use of your going over there ; you will only get into a scrape if you do ; but go over home; Gleason, Powell and Touissant will go home with you and stay to-night.' ' Well, agreed,' he replied, 'if you say so.' They all started, and went over toward the Wisconsin River, across which he lived, and Satter- lee Clark and I went to bed, thinking he was safe, but, about 12 or 1 o'clock, Mr. Powell rapped at our window, and said Pauquette was killed by an Indian. We sent word to the officers, and a number of us mounted our horses-Lieut. Hooe taking a file of soldiers-and went over and found, sure enough, he lay dead in the bushes, near where the Catholic Church now stands. We took the body and carried it over to his house, he having a ferry-boat for his own use.

" I, being a Justice of the Peace, commenced taking the testimony, when an Indian came in, and said the Indian who shot Pauquette was in a wigwam across the river, and if the soldiers would go he would show them where he was. So Lieut. Hooe went with his men, but, before reaching the wigwam, the Indians proposed going in and pinioning him, as he was armed, which they did, and delivered him up to Lieut. Hooe, who said the Indians wanted he should let them kill him on the spot, but he would not let them, and brought him over to the house. The Indian proved to be Man-ze-mon-e-ka, son of the chief Whirling Thunder, who, according to his mother's statement, came up from the mines determined to kill Pauquette.

" William Powell, from Green Lake, who was with Pauquette when he was shot down, tes- tified that on their way they stopped at Mr. Gleason's house, a short distance from where we found the body, and Pauquette went out. That he, Powell, went to look for him, and found him sitting, talking with an Indian by a small fire; and seeing he was without his coat, he went to the house and got it, and helped him on with it, and started for the ferry. Soon they met the Indian with his gun on his shoulder, and passed him, who immediately turned and said, " Pau- quette, is that you ? ' Panquette turned and said, 'Yes-what do you want ? ' The Indian asked 'Are you a man ?' ' Yes,' was his reply, striking his breast with his hands, 'and a good man, too.' The Indian leveled his gun, and shot, the ball passing through the left lung; and Powell further related, that he was so near the Indian that he caught hold of the gun, but it went off at that instant. Powell ran to the house, and called the men out, thinking the Indian would fall on him. When they got to Pauquette, he was just breathing his last. The Indian said Pan- quette stuck him over the head with a brand from the fire; but there was no mark on his head, and his mother's statement, who witnessed it, was thought to be the correct one.

" I committed Man-ze-mon-e-ka, and requested the commanding officer at the fort to keep him until the Sheriff from Green Bay could come up and take him to jail, which was done, and he was taken to Green Bay, tried, and sentenced to be hanged. The Sheriff made all preparations to hang him, but, on the day he was to be executed, there came an order to the Sheriff to stay proceedings, that a new trial would be granted; so he was not hanged on that day, and then it was found out he could not be tried a second time, and so was released ; but he never dared let himself be seen in the nation again, as many Indians were determined to kill him if they could find him, for they felt-and there was no doubt in the minds of any one that they had lost the best friend they ever had .* Pauquette was always called upon to divide the provisions and goods, furnished them by the Government, among the several bands, of which there were six or eight, which was done in this way : The heads of families of each band were seated on the ground in a large circle, and Pauquette would go into the center of the ring, and deal out to each the proportion according to the size of the families, of flour, pork, salt, tobacco, etc. Here was one cause of jealousy. Then he trusted the Indians, receiving their furs when they came in; and, of course, those who were the best hunters, got the greatest credits-and this was another cause of jealousy.

* In Schoolcrafts " History and Condition of the Indian Tribes," Vol. iii, page 281, is this corroborative testimony of Pauquette's good char- acter: "One of the worst acts, and which stains their character by its atrocity, was the assassination of Peter Panquette, the interpreter at the agency, on the Wisconsin Portage. He was a man of Winnebago lineage, and was reputed to be one of the best friends and counselors of the nation."

John Adams

COLUMBUS.

507

HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.

" In the preceding summer of 1836, the chiefs came in, and requested the commanding officer, who was acting as Indian agent, by order of the War Department, to pay Pauquette when their payment was made, for goods and provisions, to be furnished the nation, as they were in a starving condition; and the commandant agreed to pay him at their request $22,000, which would have been his the next day had he lived ; but, after his death, they refused and forbade it being paid to the agent of the American Fur Company. Whirling Thunder had fallen into dis- grace with the other chiefs, as he did not live in the country with the nation, but lived in the mines, pitching his wigwam near the dwelling of a man by the name of Doherty, who had taken Thunder's daughter for his wife; and as Pauquette, Doherty thought, stood in his way of influ- ence with the nation, as well as trade, it was believed he felt it for his interest to prejudice the chief and his son against Pauquette, and the son got so wrought up that he determined to make way with him.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

The history of Columbia county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, Part 75

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899, [from old catalog] ed; Western historical company, chicago, pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899, [from old catalog] ed; Western historical company, chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1104