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 5

Author: Western historical company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 840

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 5

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).

In June following, a new force had been raised and put under the command of General Atkinson, who commenced his march up Rock river. Before this, there had been a general "forting" in the lead region, including the whole country in Southwest Wisconsin, notwithstand- ing which, a number of settlers had been killed by the savages, mostly in Illinois. Squads of volunteers, in two or three instances, had encountered the Indians; and in one with entire suc- cess-upon the Pecatonica, in what is now Lafayette county, Wisconsin-every savage (and there were seventeen of them) being killed. The loss of the volunteers was three killed and wounded. Atkinson's march up Rock river was attended with some skirmishing; when, being informed that Black Hawk and his force were at Lake Koshkonong, in the southwest corner of what is now Jefferson county, Wisconsin, he immediately moved thither with a portion of his army, where the whole force was ordered to concentrate. But the Sac chief with his people had flown. Colonels Henry Dodge and James D. Henry, with the forces under them, discovered the

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.

trail of the savages, leading in the direction of the Wisconsin river. It was evident that the retreating force was large, and that it had but recently passed. The pursuing troops hastened their march. On the twenty-first of July, 1832, they arrived at the hills which skirt the left bank of that stream, in what is now Roxbury town (township), Dane county. Here was Black Hawk's whole force, including women and children, the aged and infirm, hastening by every effort to escape across the river. But that this might now be effected, it became necessary for that chief to make a firm stand, to cover the retreat. The Indians were in the bottom lands when the pursuing whites made their appearance upon the heights in their rear. Colonel Dodge occupied the front and sustained the first attack of the Indians. He was soon joined by Henry with his force, when they obtained a complete victory. The action commenced about five o'clock in the afternoon and ended at sunset. The enemy, numbering not less than five hundred, sustained a loss of about sixty killed and a large number wounded. The loss of the Americans was one killed and eight wounded. This conflict has since been known as the battle of Wis- consin Heights.

During the night following the battle, Black Hawk made his escape with his remaining force and people down the Wisconsin river. The women and children made their way down stream in canoes, while the warriors marched on foot along the shore. The Indians were pursued in their flight, and were finally brought to a stand on the Mississippi river, near the mouth of the Bad Axe, on the west boundary of what is now Vernon county, Wisconsin. About two o'clock on the morning of the second of August, the line of march began to the scene of the last con- flict in the Black Hawk War. Dodge's command formed the advance, supported by regular troops, under Colonel Zachary Taylor, afterward president of the United States. Meanwhile an armed steamboat had moved up the Mississippi and lay in front of the savages; so they were attacked on all sides by the exasperated Americans. The battle lasted about two hours, and was a complete victory for the whites. Black Hawk fled, but was soon after captured. This ended the war.

The survey of public lands by the General Government; the locating and opening of land ¿offices at Mineral Point and Green Bay; the erection of Milwaukee county from a part of `Brown, to include all the territory bounded on the east and south by the east and south lines of ¿the present State, on the north by what is now the north boundary of Washington and Ozaukee · counties and farther westward on the north line of township . numbered twelve, and on the west · by the dividing line between ranges eight and nine; and the changing of the eastern boundary « of Iowa county to correspond with the western one of Milwaukee county; - are some of the : important events following the close of the Black Hawk war. There was an immediate and rrapid increase of immigration, not only in the mining region but in various other parts of what 'is now Wisconsin, more especially in that portion bordering on Lake Michigan. The interior :was yet sparsely settled. By the act of June 28, 1834, congress having attached to the Territory of Michigan, for judicial purposes, all the country "west of the Mississippi river, and north of the State of Missouri," comprising the whole of what is now the State of Iowa, all of the present 'State of Minnesota west of the Mississippi river, and more than half of what is now the Terri- 'tory of Dakota, the legislative council of Michigan Territory extended her laws over the whole area, dividing it on the 6th of September, 1834, by a line drawn due west from the lower end of Rock island to the Missouri river into two counties : the country south of that line constituting the county of Des Moines; north of the line, to be known as the county of Dubuque. This whole region west of the Mississippi was known as the Iowa district. Immediately after the treaty of 1832 with the Sacs and Foxes, the United States having come into ownership of a large tract in this district, several families crossed the Mississippi, and settled on the purchase, but as

WISCONSIN TERRITORY.

the time provided for the Indians to give possession was the first of June, 1833, these settlers were dispossessed by order of the General Government. So soon, however, as the Indians yielded · possession, settlements began, but, from the date just mentioned until September, 1834, after the district was attached, for judicial purposes, to Michigan Territory, it was without any municipal law whatever. The organization of the counties of Dubuque and Des Moines on the sixth of that month, secured, of course a regular administration of justice. Before this time to facili- tate intercourse between the two remote military posts of Fort Howard at Green Bay, and Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien, a military road was commenced to connect the two points; so, one improvement followed another. On the Ist of January, 1836, a session (the first one) of the seventh legislative council of Michigan Territory - that is, of so much of it as lay to the westward of Lake Michigan-was held at Green Bay, and a memorial adopted, asking Congress for the formation of a new Territory west of that lake; to include all of Michigan Territory not embraced in the proposed State of Michigan. Congress, as will now be shown, very soon com- plied with the request of the memorialists.

IV .- WISCONSIN TERRITORY.

The establishing of a separate and distinct. Territory west of Lake Michigan, was the result of the prospective admission of Michigan into the Union (an event which took place not until the twenty-sixth of January, 1837), as the population, in all the region outside of the boundaries determined upon by the people for that State, would otherwise be left without a government, or, at least, it would be necessary to change the capital of the old Michigan Territory farther to the westward ; so it was thought best to erect a new territory, to be called WISCONSIN (an Indian word signifying wild rushing water, or channel, so called from the principal eastern tributary of the Mississippi within its borders), which was done by an act of congress, approved April 20, ₹ 836, to take effect from and after the third day of July following. The Territory was made to include all that is now embraced within the States of Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and a part of the Territory of Dakota, more particularly described within boundaries commencing at the north- east corner of the State of Illinois, running thence through the middle of Lake Michigan to a point opposite the main channel of Green bay ; thence through that channel and the bay to the mouth of the Menomonee river ; thence up that stream to its head, which is nearest the lake of the Desert ; thence to the middle of that lake; thence down the Montreal river to its mouth ; thence with a direct line across Lake Superior to where the territorial line of the United States last touches the lake northwest; thence on the north, with the territorial line, to the White Earth river; on the west by a line drawn down the middle of the main channel of that stream to the Missouri river, and down the middle of the main channel of the last mentioned stream to the northwest corner of the State of Missouri ; and thence with the boundaries of the States of Missouri and Illinois, as already fixed by act of congress, to the place or point of beginning. Its counties were Brown, Milwaukee, Iowa, Crawford, Dubuque, and Des Moines, with a portion of Chippewa and Michili- mackinac left unorganized. Although, at this time, the State of Michigan was only engaged, so to speak, to the Union, to include the two peninsulas (many of its citizens preferring in lieu thereof the lower one only, with a small slice off the northern boundary of the State of Ohio as now constituted), yet the marriage ceremony was performed, as has been stated, a few months afterward.

The act of congress establishing the Territorial government of Wisconsin was very full and complete. It first determined its boundaries ; then it declared that all authority of the govern- ment of Michigan over the new Territory should cease on the fourth day of July, 1836, with a

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.

proper reservation of rights in favor of the Indians. It provided for subsequently dividing the Territory into one or more, should congress deem it wise so to do. It also declared that the- executive power and authority in and over the Territory should be vested in a governor, at the same time defining his powers. It provided for the appointment of a secretary, stating what his duties should be. The legislative power was vested in the governor and legislative assembly, the latter to consist of a council and house of representatives, answering respectively to the senate and assembly, as states are usually organized. There was a provision for taking the census of the several counties, and one giving the governor power to name the time, place, and manner of holding the first election, and to declare the number of members of the council and house of representatives to which each county should be entitled. He was also to determine where the first legislative assembly should meet, and a wise provision was that the latter should not be in session in any one year more than seventy-five days.

One section of the act declared who should be entitled to vote and hold office; another defined the extent of the powers of the legislature, and a third provided that all laws should be submitted to congress for their approval or rejection. There was a section designating what offices should be elective and what ones should be filled by the governor. There were others regulating the judiciary for the Territory and declaring what offices should be appointed by the United States, providing for their taking the proper oaths of office and regulating their salaries. One, perhaps the most important of all, declared that the Territory should be entitled to and enjoy all the rights, privileges, and advantages granted by the celebrated ordinance of 1787. There was also a provision for the election of a delegate to the house of representatives of the United States ; and a declaration that all suits and indictments pending in the old courts should be con- tinued in the new ones. Five thousand dollars were appropriated for a library for the accommo- dation of the legislative assembly of the Territory and of its supreme court.

For the new Territory, Henry Dodge was, on the 30th of April, 1836, by Andrew Jackson, then President of the United States, commissioned governor. John S. Horner was commissioned secretary ; Charles Dunn, chief justice; David Irvin and William C. Frazer, associate judges ; W. W. Chapman, attorney, and Francis Gehon, marshal. The machinery of a territorial gov- ernment was thus formed, which was set in motion by these officers taking the prescribed oath of office. The next important step to be taken was to organize the Territorial legislature. The provisions of the organic act relative to the enumeration of the population of the Territory were that previously to the first election, the governor should cause the ceusus of the inhabitants of the several counties to be taken by the several sheriffs, and that the latter should make returns of the same to the Executive. These figures gave to Des Moines county, 6,257 ; Iowa county, 5,234; Dubuque county, 4,274 ; Milwaukee county, 2,893; Brown county, 2,706 ; Crawford. county, 850. The entire population, therefore, of Wisconsin Territory in the summer of 1836,. as given by the first census was, in precise numbers, twenty-two thousand two hundred and four- teen, of which the two counties west of the Mississippi furnished nearly one half. The apportion- ment, after the census had been taken, made by the governor, gave to the different counties thir- teen councilmen and twenty-six representatives. Brown county got two councilmen and three. representatives ; Crawford, two representatives, but no councilmen; Milwaukee, two councilmen and three representatives ; Iowa, Dubuque and Des Moines, each three councilmen ; but of repre- sentatives, Iowa got six; Dubuque, five, and Des Moines, seven. The election was held on the. tenth of October, 1836, exciting considerable interest, growing out, chiefly, of local considera- tions. The permanent location of the capital, the division of counties, and the location of county seats, were the principal questions influencing the voters. There were elected from the county of Brown, Henry S. Baird and John P. Arndt, members of the council; Ebenezer Childs, Albert.

WISCONSIN TERRITORY.

G. Ellis and Alexander J. Irwin, members of the house of representatives ; from Milwaukee, the councilmen were Gilbert Knapp and Alanson Sweet; representatives, William B. Sheldon, Madison W. Cornwall and Charles Durkee : from Iowa, councilmen, Ebenezer Brigham, John B. Terry and James R. Vineyard; representatives, William Boyles, G. F. Smith, D. M. Parkinson, Thomas McKnight, T. Shanley and J. P. Cox : from Dubuque, councilmen, John Foley, Thomas McCraney and Thomas McKnight; representatives, Loring Wheeler, Hardin Nowlin, Hosea T. Camp, P. H. Engle and Patrick Quigley : from Des Moines, councilmen, Jeremiah Smith, Jr., Joseph B. Teas and Arthur B. Inghram ; representatives, Isaac Leffler, Thomas Blair, Warren L. Jenkins, John Box, George W. Teas, Eli Reynolds and David R. Chance : from Crawford, repre- sentatives, James H. Lockwood and James B. Dallam.

Belmont, in the present county of LaFayette, then in Iowa county, was, by the governor, appointed the place for the meeting of the legislature ; he also fixed the time-the twenty-fifth of October. A quorum was in attendance in both branches at the time decided upon for their assembling, and the two houses were speedily organized by the election of Peter Hill Fagle, of Dubuque, speaker of the house, and Henry S. Baird, of Brown, president of the council. Each of the separate divisions of the government-the executive, the judicial, and the legislative- was now in working order, except that it remained for the legislature to divide the Territory into judicial districts, and make an assignment of the judges ; and for the governor to appoint a Ter- ritorial treasurer, auditor and attorney general. The act of congress establishing the Terri- tory required that it should be divided into three judicial districts. The counties of Crawford and Iowa were constitued by the legislature the first district, to which was assigned Chief Justice Dunn. The second district was composed of the counties of Des Moines and Dubuque ; to it. was assigned Associate Judge Irvin. The third district was formed of the counties of Brown and Milwaukee, to which was assigned Associate Judge Frazer.

Governor Dodge, in his first message to the Territorial legislature, directed attention to the necessity for defining the jurisdiction and powers of the several courts, and recommended that congress should be memorialized to extend the right of pre-emption to actual settlers upon the public lands and to miners on mineral lands; also, to remove the obstructions in the rapids of the Upper Mississippi, to construct harbors and light-houses on Lake Michigan, to improve the navigation of Fox river and to survey the same from its mouth to Fort Winnebago, to increase the amount of lands granted to the Territory for school purposes, and to organize and arm the militia for the protection of the frontier settlements. The first act passed by the legis- lature was one privileging members from arrest in certain cases and conferring on themselves power to punish parties for contempt. The second one established the three judicial districts and assigned the judges thereto. One was passed to borrow money to defray the expenses of the session ; others protecting ail lands donated to the Territory by the United States in aid of schools, and creating a common school fund. A memorial to congress was adopted request- ing authorization to sell the school-section in each township, and appropriate the money arising therefrom for increasing the fund for schools.

During this session, five counties were " set off" west of the Mississippi river : Lee, Van Buren, Henry, Louisa, Muscatine, and Cook; and fifteen east of that stream : Walworth, Racine, Jefferson, Dane, Portage, Dodge, Washington, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac, Calumet, Manitowoc, Marquette, Rock, Grant and Green.

The principal question agitating the legislature at its first session was the location of the capital. Already the people west of the Mississippi were speculating upon the establishment of a Territory on that side the river, prospects for which would be enhanced evidently, by placing the seat of government somewhat in a central position east of that stream, for Wisconsin

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.

Territory. Now, as Madison was a point answering such requirements she triumphed over all competitors ; and the latter numbered a dozen or more-including, among others, Fond du Lac, Milwaukee, Racine, Belmont, Mineral Point, Green Bay, and Cassville. The struggle over this question was one of the most exciting ever witnessed in the Territorial legislature. Madison was fixed upon as the seat of government, but it was provided that sessions of the legislature should be held at Burlington, in Des Moines county, until the fourth of March, 1839, unless the public buildings in the new capital should be sooner completed. After an enactment that the legislature should thereafter meet on the first Monday of November of each year, both houses, on the ninth day of December, 1836, adjourned sine die.

In the act of congress establishing the Territory of Wisconsin it was provided that a delegate to the house of representatives of the United States, to serve for the term of two years, should be elected by the voters qualified to elect members of the legislative assembly; and that the first election should be held at such time and place or places, and be conducted in such manner as the governor of the Territory should appoint and direct. In pursuance of this enactment, Governor Dodge directed that the election for delegate should be at the time and places appointed for the election of members of the legislative assembly - the Ioth of October, 1836. The successful candidate for that office was George W. Jones, of Sinsinawa Mound, Iowa county - in that portion which was afterward "set off" as Grant county. Jones, under the act of 1819, had been elected a delegate for Michigan Territory, in October, 1835, and took his seat at the ensuing session, in December of that year. By the act of June 15, 1836, the consti- tution and State government which the people of Michigan had formed for themselves was accepted, ratified and confirmed, and she was declared to be one of the United States of · America, so that the term of two years for which Jones had been elected was cut short, as, in the nature of the case, his term could not survive the existence of the Territory he represented. But, as he was a candidate for election to represent the new Territory of Wisconsin in congress as a delegate, and was successful, he took his seat at the commencement of the second session of the twenty-fourth congress-December 12, 1836, notwithstanding he had been elected only a little over two months.

The first term of the supreme court of the Territory was held at Belmont on the 8th day of December. There were present, Charles Dunn, chief justice, and David Irvin, associate judge. John Catlin was appointed clerk, and Henry S. Baird having previously been commissioned attorney general for the Territory by Governor Dodge, appeared before the court and took the oath of office. Causes in which the United States was party or interested were looked after by the United States attorney, who received his appointment from the president; while all cases in which the Territory was interested was attended to by the attorney general, whose commission was signed by the governor. The appointing of a crier and reporter and the admission of several attorneys to practice, completed the business for the term. The annual term appointed for the third Monday of July of the following year, at Madison, was not held; as no business for the action of the court had matured.

At the time of the complete organization of the Territory of Wisconsin, when the whole machinery had been put fairly in motion ; when its first legislature at its first session had, after passing forty-two laws and three joint resolutions, in forty-six days, adjourned ; - at this time, the entire portion west of the Mississippi had, in round numbers, a population of only eleven thousand ; while the sparsely settled mineral region, the military establishments - Fort Craw- ford, Fort Winnebago, and Fort Howard -and the settlements at or near them, with the village of Milwaukee, constituted about all there was of the Territory east of that river, aggregating about twelve thousand inhabitants. There was no land in market, except a narrow strip along

WISCONSIN TERRITORY.

the shore of Lake Michigan, and in the vicinity of Green bay. The residue of the country south and east of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers was open only to preemption by actual settlers. The Indian tribes still claimed a large portion of the lands. On the north and as far west as the Red river of the north were located the Chippewas. The southern limits of their posses- sions were defined by a line drawn from a point on that stream in about latitude 46° 30' in a southeasterly direction to the head of Lake St. Croix; thence in the same general direction to what is now Stevens Point, in the present Portage county, Wisconsin ; thence nearly east to Wolf river; and thence in a direction. nearly northeast to the Menomonee river. The whole country bounded by the Red river and Mississippi on the east; the parallel of about 43º of latitude on the south; the Missouri and White Earth river on the west; and the Territorial line on the north, was occupied by the Sioux. In the southwest part of the Territory, lying mostly south of latitude 43º - in the country reaching to the Missouri State boundary line south, and to the Missouri river west -were the homes of the Pottawattamies, the Iowas, and the Sacs and Foxes. Between the Wisconsin river and the Mississippi, and extending north to the south line of the Chippewas was the territory of the Winnebagoes. East of the Winnebagoes in the country north of the Fox river of Green bay were located the Menomonees, their lands extending to Wolf river. Such was the general outline of Indian occupancy in Wisconsin Territory at its organization. A portion of the country east of Wolf river and north of Green bay and the Fox river; the whole of the area lying south of Green bay, Fox river and the Wisconsin ; and a strip of territory immediately west of the Mississippi, about fifty miles in width, and extending from the Missouri State line as far north as the northern boundary of the present State of Iowa, constituted the whole extent of country over which the Indians had no claim.

The second session of the first legislative assembly of the Territory began at Burlington, now the county seat of Des Moines county, Iowa, on the 6th of November, 1837. The governor, in his message, recommended a codification of the laws, the organization of the militia, and other measures of interest to the people. An act was passed providing for taking another census, and one abolishing imprisonment for debt. By a joint resolution, congress was urged to make an appropriation of twenty thousand dollars in money, and two townships of land for a " University of the Territory of Wisconsin." The money was not appropriated, but the land was granted - forty-six thousand and eighty acres. This was the fundamental endowment of the present State university, at Madison. A bill was also passed to regulate the sale of school lands, and to prepare for organizing, regulating and perfecting schools. Another act, which passed the legislature at this session, proved an apple of discord to the people of the Territory. The measure was intended to provide ways and means whereby to connect, by canals and slack- water, the waters of Lake Michigan with those of the Mississippi, by way of Rock river, the Catfish, the four lakes and the Wisconsin, by the incorporation of the Milwaukee and Rock river canal company. This company was given authority to apply to congress for an appro- priation in money or lands to aid in the construction of the work, which was to have its eastern outlet in the Milwaukee river, and to unite at its western terminus with Rock river, near the present village of Jefferson, in Jefferson county. The result was that a grant of land of odd- numbered sections in a strip of territory five miles on each side of the line of the proposed canal was secured, and in July, 1839, over forty thousand acres were sold at the minimum price of two dollars and fifty cents per acre. However, owing mainly to the fact that purchasers were compelled to pay double the government price for their lands - owing also to the circumstance of an antagonism growing up between the officers of the canal company and the Territorial officers intrusted with the disposition of the lands, and to conflicts between the beneficiaries of

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 Sauk County, Wisconsin, containing an account of settlement, growth, development and resources biographical sketches the whole preceded by a history of Wisconsin, Part 5

Author: Western historical company, Chicago, pub Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 840

Author: Western historical company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 840