USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > The history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, containing an account of settlement, growth, development and resources biographical sketches the whole preceded by a history of Wisconsin > Part 47
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134
"About forty miles up this river from the great town of the Winnebagoes, stands a smaller town, belonging to that nation. Deer and bears are very numerous in these parts, and a great many beavers and other furs are taken on the streams that empty themselves into this river. The river I am treating of is remarkable for having been, about eighty years ago, the residence of the united bands of the Ottigaumies and the Saukies, whom the French had nicknamed, according to their wonted custom, Des Sacs and Des Reynards-the Sacs and the Foxes. About twelve miles before I reached the carrying place, I observed several small mountains, which extended quite to it. These, indeed, would only be esteemed as mole-hills when compared with those on the back of the colonies ; but as they were the first I had seen since my leaving Niagara, a track of nearly eleven hundred miles, I could not leave them unnoticed.
" The Fox River, where it enters the Winnebago Lake, is about fifty yards wide, but it gradually decreases to the carrying place, where it is no more than five yards over, except in a few places, where it widens into small lakes, though still of a considerable depth. I cannot recollect anything else that is remarkable in this river, except that it is so serpentine for five miles as only to gain in that place one-quarter of a mile.
" The carrying place, between the Fox and Ouisconsin Rivers, is in breadth not more than a mile and three-quarters, though in some maps it is so delineated as to appear to be ten miles. Near one-half of the way between the rivers is a morass overgrown with a kind of long grass; the rest of it a plain, with some few oak and pine trees growing thereon. I observed here a great number of rattlesnakes. I observed also that the main body of the Fox River came from the southwest, that of the Ouisconsin from the northeast; and, also, that some of the small branches
316
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.
of these two rivers, in descending into them, doubled within a few feet of each other, a little to the south of the carrying place. That two such rivers should take their rise so near each other, and, after running such different courses, empty themselves into the sea at a distance so amazing (for the former, having passed through several great lakes and run upward of two thousand miles, falls into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the other, after joining the Mississippi and run an equal number of miles, disembogues itself into the Gulf of Mexico), is an instance scarcely to be met in the extensive continent of North America. I had an opportunity, the year following, of making the same observations on the affinity of various head branches of the waters of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi to each other, and now bring them as a proof that the opinion of those geographers who assert that rivers taking their rise so near each other must spring from the same source, is erroneous. For I perceived a visibly distinct separation in all of them, notwithstanding, in some places, they appeared so near that I could have stepped from one to the other.
" On the 8th of October, we got our canoes into the Ouisconsin River, which at this place is more than a hundred yards wide ; and the next day arrived at the great town of the Saukies. This is the largest and best-built Indian town I ever saw. It contains about ninety houses, each large enough for several families. These are built of hewn plank, neatly jointed and covered with bark so compactly as to keep out the most penetrating rains. Before the doors are placed comfortable sheds, in which the inhabitants sit, when the weather will permit, and smoke their pipes. The streets are regular and spacious; so that it appears more like a civilized town than the abode of savages. The land near the town is very good. In their plantations, which lie adjacent to their houses, and which are neatly laid out, they raise great quantities of Indian corn, beans, melons, etc., so that this place is esteemed the best market for traders to furnish themselves with provisions, of any within 800 miles of it.
" The Saukies can raise about three hundred warriors, who are generally employed every summer in making incursions into the territories of the Illinois and Pawnee nations, from whence they return with a great number of slaves. But those people frequently retaliate, and in their turn destroy many of the Saukies, which I judge to be the reason that they increase no faster.
" Whilst I stayed here, I took a view of some mountains that lie about fifteen miles to the southward, and abound in lead ore. I ascended one of the highest of these, and had an exten- sive view of the country. For many miles nothing was to be seen but lesser mountains, which appeared at a distance like hay-cocks, they being free from trees. Only a few groves of hickory and stunted oaks covered some of the valleys. So plentiful is lead here, that I saw large quan- tities of it lying about the streets in the town belonging to the Saukies, and it seemed to be as good as the product of other countries.
" On the 10th of October, we proceeded down the river, and the next day reached the first town of the Ottigaumies. This town contained about fifty houses, but we found most of them deserted, on account of an epidemical disorder that had lately raged among them and carried off more than half of the inhabitants. The greater part of those who survived had retired into the woods to avoid the contagion.
" On the 15th, we entered that extensive river, the Mississippi. The Ouisconsin, from the carrying place to the part where it falls into the Mississippi, flows with a smooth but a strong current ; the water of it is exceedingly clear, and through it you may perceive a fine and sandy bottom, tolerably free from rocks. In it are a few islands, the soil of which appeared to be good, though somewhat woody. The land near the river also seemed to be, in general, excellent ; but that at a distance is very full of mountains, where it is said there are many lead mines."
The Wisconsin River was visited by Maj. S. H. Long in 1817, and again in 1823. He says : " The Wisconsin River, from its magnitude and importance, deserves a high rank among the tributaries of the Mississippi. When swollen by a freshet, it affords an easy navigation for boats of considerable burden through a distance of more than one hundred and eighty miles. [The actual distance to the portage is but 118 miles.] Its current is rapid, and, like the Mis- sissippi, it embosoms innumerable islands. In a low stage of water, its navigation is obstructed
317
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.
by numerous shoals and sand-banks. At the distance from its mouth above mentioned [which is too great an estimate by over sixty miles], there is a portage of one mile and a half across a flat meadow, which is occasionally subject to inundation, to a branch of Fox River of Green Bay, thus affording another navigable communication which boats have been known to pass."
In 1819, the Fifth Regiment of the United States Infantry made the voyage from Fort Howard, near Green Bay, to Prairie du Chien, by way of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, cross- ing the portage. Capt. Henry Whiting, of that regiment, says : " The Fox River, from Lake Winnebago to the portage, has always a strong current, and is often entirely overgrown with grass and wild rice, but presents no other impediments. It winds through a narrow prairie, bordered by oak openings and undulating lands, generally of a beautiful appearance, but prob- ably not remarkably rich in their soil, which, wherever the river washes them, seems to be a
sandy, reddish loam. The portage between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers is about two thou- sand five hundred yards ; the road runs over a marshy prairie. There is a Frenchman (Francis Le Roy) residing on the rising ground between the rivers. He keeps the proper transportation for boats and baggage. The limestone bluffs and highlands begin on the Wisconsin about eight miles below the portage. Just above Prairie du Sac appears to be the apex of the highland of that river, and the head of the great valley through which it winds."
Ebenezer Childs records making the same trip in a bark canoe, in 1821. He conducted the first Durham boat that ever went up the Fox and over the portage.
In 1826, a flotilla of thirty-five boats carried the Third United States Infantry from Green Bay to St. Louis, by the same streams and crossing.
In 1827. Gen. Cass passed over this route to ascertain the feeling among the Winnebagoes toward the United States Government.
HOW SAUK COUNTY GOT ITS NAME.
The name this county bears was suggested to the minds of those upon whom the great responsibility of christening it devolved by the traces they found of an Indian village, once located on the Wisconsin River, in the present town of Prairie du Sac. History, both written and traditional, tells us that the tribe to whom the village belonged called themselves the Saukies. Having searched the vocabulary of Indian appellations in vain for the root of the word, the writer addressed a professional friend (who is an adept in Indian nomenclature), holding a high position in the Smithsonian Institution, requesting a scientific explanation. The following reply sheds electric-light luster upon the subject :
DEAR SIR-Sacs, Sauks and Saukies are synonymous-all being the names applied to the Indians closely allied to the Foxes. The Jesuit missionaries wrote "Saukies," which was afterward cut short into " Sauks ; " but the French, finally, wrote (as more in harmony with their language) "Sacs," the identical pronunciation being retained. The latter orthography is the one usually adopted by English and Americans ; hence we find almost universally in our printed books "Sacs and Foxes." Now, the county got its name from " Prairie du Sac ; " but in the use of the word, the old adage of being " more nice than wise" was reversed ; it was " more wise than nice" to call it "Sauk County " instead of "Sac County." The meaning of the word as applied to the village, is, of course, the Sauk meadow, or, as the French prefer to write it, the Sac meadow; that is, " Prairie du Sac." Yours,
P. S .- I forgot to say that the meaning of the word Sauk is unknown.
Concerning the settlement of the Sauk Indians at this point, Augustin Grignon,* in his " Recollections," says :
" As the details of the war which eventuated in the expulsion of the Sauks and Foxes from the Fox River Valley, in 1746, are of much interest, I shall give them as fully as I have learned them from the lips of my grandfather, Charles De Langlade, who took an active part in some of the occurrences narrated, and from other ancient settlers and Indians.
" The Outagamies or Foxes were at this time ocated at the Little Butte des Morts, on the western bank of Fox River, and some thirty-seven miles above Green Bay. Here they made it a point, whenever a trader's boat approached, to place a torch upon the bank, as a signal for the
* Augustin Grignon was once the possessor of the famous "Grignon Claim," upon which a large portion of the city of Portage now stands. He came by the property through John Ecuyer, who beld it under French title, and deeded it to Grignon in 1832; the instrument being, of course, a United States patent, was signed by Andrew Jackson, President -ED.
318
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.
traders to come ashore, and pay the customary tribute which they exacted from all. To refuse this tribute, was sure to incur the displeasure of the Foxes, and robbery would be the mildest punishment inflicted. This haughty, imperious conduct of the Foxes was a source of no little annoyance to the traders, who made their complaints to the commandants of the Western posts, and in due time these grievances reached the ears of the Governor of Canada.
" Capt. De Velie was at this time commandant of the small garrison at Green Bay. He was relieved by the arrival of a new officer, whose name I have forgotton, and the new com- mandant brought with him demands for the Sauks of the village opposite the fort, who had hitherto demeaned themselves well, to deliver up the few Foxes living among them, in conse- quence of inter-marriage or otherwise. All were readily given up, except a Fox boy, who had been adopted by a Sauk woman. De Velie and his successor were dining together, and, becom- ing somewhat influenced by wine, some sharp words passed between them relative to the tardi- ness of the Sauks in rendering the Fox boy ; when De Velie arose, and taking his gun and a negro servant, crossed the river to the Sauk village, which was surrounded with palisades or pickets. He found the Sauks in council, and was met by the Sauk chief, of whom he demanded the immediate surrender of the remaining Indian. The chief said he and his principal men had just been in council about the matter, and thought the adopted mother of the youth was loath to part with him, yet they hoped to prevail upon her peaceably to do so. The chief proceeded to visit the old woman, who still remained obstinate, and De Velie renewing his demands for immediate compliance, again would the chief renew his efforts ; and thus three times did he go to the sturdy old woman, and endeaver to prevail upon her to give up the boy, and returning each time without success, but assuring De Velie that if he would be a little patient he was certain the old squaw would yet comply with his demands, as she seemed to be relenting. But, in his warm blood, the Frenchman was in no mood to exercise patience ; than he at length drew up his gun and shot the chief dead. Some of the young Sauks were for taking instant revenge, but the older and wiser men present begged them to be cool, and refrain from inflicting injury on their French father, as they had provoked him to commit the act. By this time De Velie, whose anger was yet unappeased, had got his gun reloaded by his servant, and wantonly shot down another chief, and then a third one; when a young Sauk, only twelve years of age, named Ma-kau-ta-pe-na-se, or the Black Bird, shot the enraged Frenchman dead.
" The garrison was too weak to attempt the chastisement of the Sauks, but upon the arrival of a re- enforcement, joined by the French settlers, Charles De Langlade among them, the Sauks were attacked at their village, where a severe battle occurred, in which several were killed on both sides, and the Sauks finally driven away. In this Sauk battle, two of my father's uncles were among the slain on the part of the French. The Sauks now retired to the Wisconsin River and located themselves at Sauk Prairie, where they still resided, and had a fine village, with comfortable houses, and were apparently doing something in mining lead, when Carver visited the country in 1766, but which appeared to have been several years deserted when I first saw the place, in 1795, as there were then only a few remains of fire-places and posts to be seen. The brave young Sauk, Black Bird, became a distinguished chief among his people, and Mr. Laurent Fily, an old trader, told me many years since, that he knew Black Bird well at the Sauk village at the mouth of Rock River, and that he lived to a good old age, and Fily added, that he was the same person who in his youth had so fearlessly shot De Velie."
SAUK COUNTY ON EARLY MAPS.
As early as the year 1632, Samuel Champlain, then at Quebec, drew a map of the Valley of the Saint Lawrence, and of the region of the Upper Lakes-the first attempt of the kind. His delineations of the country to the westward and northwestward of Lake Huron were wholly from Indian reports. Upon this map, Fox River is placed to the north of Lake Superior, and the Wisconsin is rudely given as leading into a northern sea. There is a narrow space between the two rivers, and, possibly, it had been described to him by the savages.
319
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.
But the first map of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers and the portage, made with any degree of accuracy, was by Father James Marquette, who accompanied Louis Joliet up the first-men- tioned stream and down the last, in 1673. The portage is distinctly traced, and the general course of the two rivers given. Other maps were published at subsequent periods, down to 1768, when the one by J. Carver appeared, attached to his "Travels." This one is, considering the circumstances under which it was made, exceedingly creditable. It locates the " carrying place " -the portage-and has a representation of Swan Lake, besides a pretty accurate delineation of the Baraboo River. On the south side of Lake Puckaway is the Winnebago Upper Town, and on Sauk Prairie, down the Wisconsin, is located the "Saukies Chief Town." The Portage, tlien, in 1766, was about the boundary line between the Sacs upon the Wisconsin and the Winneba- goes upon the Fox River.
In 1830, John Farmer, of Detroit, published a " Map of the Territories of Michigan and Ouisconsin." Fort Winnebago appears as if situated between the Fox and Wisconsin, while " Roi's " [Le Roy's] house occupies the site where the fort was, in fact, located ; that is, on the east side of the Fox. Pauquette's place is designated farther down the last-mentioned stream, but on the west side. The Baraboo River is noted as " Bonibau's Creek." Winnebago villages are represented down the Fox and the Wisconsin, and upon the Baraboo.
Farmer's revised map of 1836, las Fort Winnebago in its correct position, on the east side of Fox River. The whole of the territory now constituting Sauk County is a complete blank, except as a part of Crawford County. There is, however, a rude representation of the Bara- boo Bluffs, but the Baraboo River is wholly wanting.
The first " Map of Wiskonsin Territory, compiled from Public Surveys," has upon it, cor- rectly located, the village of Prairie du Sac. There is also represented, immediately opposite Arena, the village of Ozaukee, located on the north side of the Wisconsin River, and upon its immediate bank.
On Mitchell's "Map of the Settled Part of Wisconsin and Iowa," of 1838, the territory now constituting Sauk County is correctly represented as constituting a small part of the terri- tory north of the Wisconsin River, belonging to the Winnebago Indians.
On a manuscript " Map of Wiskonsan, drawn by Charles Doty and Francis Hudson, 1844," now preserved in the archives of the State Historical Society, the boundaries of Sauk County are correctly delineated, and so much of the Government survey as was then completed is indi- cated. But the first published map upon which Sauk County appears, is that of Morse & Breese, of 1847. Upon this map, the townships and ranges are indicated, also the Baraboo River.
The next published map upon which Sauk County is represented, was Farmer's map of Wisconsin and Iowa, in 1848. Honey Creek and the Baraboo River are pretty correctly delin- eated, while Prairie du Sac and Ozaukee occupy the same positions as in previous maps.
Sauk County, upon the admission of Wisconsin as a State into the Union, was so fre- quently represented upon various maps that farther notice is unnecessary.
" THE WINNEBAGO WAR."
Though this memorable conflict did not take place in Sauk County, an account of it will be interesting, as showing the causes which usually lead to Indian wars : In the early part of the year 1827, a party of twenty-four Chippewas, being on their way to Fort Snelling, at the mouth of St. Peter's River, were surprised and attacked by a war-party of the Winnebagoes, and eight of them were killed. The commandant of the United States troops at the fort took four of the offend- ing Winnebagoes prisoners, and (certainly with great imprudence) delivered them into the hands of the exasperated Chippewas, who immediately put them to death. This act was greatly resented by the chief of the Winnebagoes, named " Red Bird," and in addition to this source of enmity was to be added the daily encroachment of the whites in the lead region ; for at this time they had overrun the mining country from Galena to the Wisconsin River. In the spirit of revenge for the killing of the four Winnebagoes, Red Bird led a war-party against the Chip- pewas, by whom he was defeated, and thus, having been disappointed, lie turned the force of his
320
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.
resentment against the whites, whom he considered as having not only invaded his country, but as having aided and abetted his enemies in the destruction of his people.
Some time previously, a murder by the Winnebagoes had been committed in the family of a Mr. Methode, near Prairie du Chien, in which several persons had been killed. It was appar- ent that a spirit of enmity between the Indians and the whites was effectually stirred up ; and, for the first time since the war of 1812, disturbances were daily looked for by the settlers and miners.
On the 28th of June, 1827, Red Bird, We-Kaw, and three of their companions, entered the house of Registre Gagnier, about three miles from Prairie du Chien, where they remained several hours. At last, when Mr. Gagnier least expected it, Red Bird leveled his gun and shot him dead on his hearthstone. A person in the building, by the name of Sip Cap, who was a hired man, was slain at the same time by We-Kaw. Madame Gagnier turned to fly with her infant of eighteen months. As she was about to leap through the window, the child was torn from her arms by We-Kaw, stabbed, scalped, and thrown violently on the floor as dead.
The murderer then attacked the woman, but gave way when she snatched up a gun that was leaning against the wall, and presented it to his breast. She then effected her escape. Her eldest son, a lad of ten years, also shunned the murderers ; and they both arrived in the village at the same time. The alarm was soon given ; but, when the avengers of blood arrived at Gagnier's house, they found in it nothing living but his mangled infant. It was carried to the village, and, incredible as it may seem, it recovered.
Red Bird and his companions immediately proceeded from the scene of their crime to the rendezvous of their band. During their absence, thirty-seven of the warriors who acknowl- edged the authority of Red Bird, had assembled, with their wives and children, near the mouth of the Bad Axe River. They received the murderers with joy, and loud approbation of their exploit. A keg of liquor which they had secured was set abroach ; and the red men began to drink, and, as their spirits rose, to boast of what they had already done and intended to do. Two days did they continue to revel ; and on the third the source of their excitement gave out. They were, at about 4 in the afternoon, dissipating the last fumes of their excitement in the scalp-dance, when they descried one of the keel-boats, which had a few days before passed up the river with provisions for the troops at Fort Snelling, on her return in charge of Mr. Lindsay. Forthwith a proposal to take her, and massacre the crew, was made, and carried by acclamation. They counted upon doing this without risk; for they had examined her on her way up, and sup- posed there were no arms on board.
Mr. Lindsay's boats had descended the river as far as the village of Wabashaw, where they expected an attack. The Dakotas on shore were dancing the war-dance, and hailed their approach with insults and menaces, but did not, however, offer to obstruct their passage. The whites now supposed the danger over ; and, a strong wind at that moment beginning to blow up stream, the boats parted company. So strong was the wind that all the force of the sweeps could scarcely stem it; and, by the time the foremost boat was near the encampment at the mouth of the Bad Axe River, the crew were very willing to stop and rest. One or two French- men, or half-breeds, who were on board, observed hostile appearances on shore, and advised the rest to keep the middle of the stream ; but their counsel was disregarded. Most of the crew were Americans, who, as usual with our countrymen, combined a profound ignorance of Indian character with a thorough contempt for Indian prowess. They urged the boat directly toward the camp with all the force of the sweeps. There were sixteen men on deck. It may be well to observe here, that this, like all keel-boats used in the Mississippi Valley, was built almost exactly on the model of the Erie and Middlesex canalboats.
The men were rallying their French companions on their apprehensions, and the boat (named Oliver H. Perry) was within thirty yards of the shore, when suddenly the trees and rocks rang with the blood-chilling, ear-piercing tones of the warwhoop, and a volley of rifle-balls rained upon the deck. Happily, the Winnebagoes had not yet recovered from the effects of their debauch, and their arms were not steady. One man only fell from their fire. He was a
321
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.
little negro, named Peter. His leg was dreadfully shattered, and he afterward died of the wound. A second volley soon came from the shore ; but, as the men were lying at the bottom of the boat, they all escaped but one, who was shot through the heart. Encouraged by the non- resistance, the Winnebagoes rushed to their canoes, with intent to board. The whites, having recovered from their first panic, seized their arms, and the boarders were received with a very severe discharge. In one canoe, two savages were killed with the same bullet, and several were wounded. The attack was continued until night, when one of the party, named Mandeville, who had assumed command, sprang into the water, followed by four others, who succeeded in setting the boat afloat, and then went down the stream.
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.