LEADING EVENTS 2! WISCONSIN HISTORY THE STORY... OF THE STATE I M k HENRY E. LEGLEK fT^" y : ^. JZ^ /<^ yf'ff LEADING EVENTS OP Wisconsin History The story of the State. By Henry E. Legler. Thb Sentinel Company, MiLWAUKEB, Wis. 1898. '^v* Copyright, 1898, by The Sentinel Company, Milwaukee, Wis. V ^ CONTENTS. PART I. IN THE ERA OF BEGINNINGS. PAGE 1. The Isle of Wisconsin 11 2. The Builders of the Mounds 14 3. Pre-Columbian Copper Minincj in Wisconsin 18 4. The Red Men of Wisconsin 22 5. Legendary Lore of Wisconsin Indians 29 PART II. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE EXPLORERS. 1. When Wisconsin Was Discovered 41 2. The Strange Adventures of Radisson 47 3. Rule of the Forest Ranger 52 4. A Prince of Coureurs de Bois 56 5. The Black Gowns and Their Wanderings 62 6. Unsolved Mystery of Father Menard's Death ... 65 7. Planting of the Jesuit Missions 67 8. Solving the Great Western Mystery 71 9. La Salle and His Companions 78 10. Travelers in the Wilderness »0 11. Friar Hennepin's Adventures 86 PART III. UNDER FRENCH AND ENGLISH DOMINION. 1. Firebrands of the West 91 2. The Hill of the Dead 97 3. Naming the Inland Waters 101 4. Some Errors of Geography 105 5. Under the Flag of England 107 6. First Permanent Settlers of Wisconsin Ill 7. Alexander Henry, the Fur Trader 118 8. Captain Jonathan Carver, the Traveler 122 9. During the War for Independence 126 10. The Magna Charta of the Northwest 132 Con tents — Continued . PART IV. PIONEER DAYS IN THE TERRITORY. PAGE 1. First Settlements 137 2. Village Life a Hundred Years Ago 141 3. The Capture of Prairie du Chien 144 4. Yankee Fur Traders in Wisconsin 152 5. Red Bird's Uprising 157 6. Life in the Diggings 165 7. Black Hawk's War 172 8. In the Days of the Territory ISl 9. A Modern Utopia 189 10. A Tragedy in the Capitol 196 11. Strang's Stake of Zion at Voree 198 12. The Migration From Over the Ocean 207 PART V. FIFTY YEARS OF STATEHOOD. 1. The Thirtieth Star in the Field of Blue 219 2. Rescue of Joshua Glover, a Runaway Slave .... 226 3. On the Verge of Civil War 230 4. Birth of the Republican Party in Wisconsin .... 234 5. Strange Story of a Spurious Lost Prince 235 6. Mob Law as a Political Factor 242 7. The Tocsin of War 244 8. On the Field of Battle 258 9. Lieut. Cushing's Deed of Heroism /?62 10. A Dam That Saved a Flotilla 269 11. Wisconsin's Part in the Capture of Jeff Davis . . . 271 12. Escape of Wisconsin Officers From Libby Prison . . 276 13. After the War — Events of Three Decades 280 14. In the Realm of Politics 289 15. May Riots of '86 .301 16. The Great Boom on the Gogebic 310 17. A. D. 1897 317 ILLUSTRATIONS AND PORTRAITS. PAGE Isle Wisconsin 10 Man-Shaped Mound near Baraboo 12 Elephant Mound in Grant County . 13 Typical Group of EfEgy Mounds 15 Tambourine Drum used by Menomonee Indians 17 , Medicine Drum and Stick 19 Indian Juggler's Rattle 21 Indian Chant 23 Birchbark Vessel for Maple Sap 2G Indian Reservations in Wisconsin 28 Ancient Hunting Grounds of the Tribes 28 Indian Women Gathering Wild Rice 31 An Ojibwa Family Record 35 Samuel de Champlain, Governor of New France 43 Earliest Map of the Wisconsin Region 44 French Carry-all 45 French Voyageur , 48 Head of Cow Moose 50 French Pony Cart 51 Coureurs de Bois Carousing 53 Plow Used a Hundred Years ago 55 Perrot's Silver Monstrance 57 Father Menard's Autograph 58 Wooden Anchor of the Voyageurs 60 Autograph of Father Allouez 61 Statue of Pere Marquette 63 Old Church on Madaline Island 64 Joliet's Autograph 66 Marquette's Autograph 70 First Vessel Built on the Lakes 72 Tonty's Autograph 75 Hennepin's Drawing of a Wisconsin Buffalo 81 The Fox-Wisconsin Portage 90 Langlade's Royal Commission y2 Scene of a French and Indian Battle 96 Modern View of the Hill of the Dead 98 Oldest Building in Wisconsin 108 Signatures to Carver's Famous Deed 110 Pauquette Making a Portage 112 Kaukauna Deed Signatures 115 First Paper Money Circulated in Wisconsin 117 Ramsey Crooks , 119 Prairie du Chien in 1835 121 Captain Jonathan Carver 121 The Little Drummer and the Large Sergeant 129 Langlade's Indians and the Spoils of War 131 Claims of the Colonies to the Northwest 133 Illustrations and Portraits — Continued. PAGH Fort Winnebago in 1831 134 Ruins of Fort Crawford 134 Fort Howard in 1851 134 Gov. Dodge as a Young Man 13G Augustin Grignon 143 Lewis Cass 146 Ebenezer Brigham 153 Black Hawk War Relics 158 Black Sparrow Hawk 162 First Norwegian Church in Wisconsin 164 Zachary Taylor 169 First Newspaper OfRce in Wisconsin 171 Scene at Bad Ax 176 Territorial Seals 182 Madison in 1836 186 Phalanx Long House at Ripon 190 Gov. Doty's House at Shantytown 193 Wisconsin's First Capitol 196 King Strang 199 One of the Voree Plates 203 Strang's Castle 205 Carl Schurz 208 James G. Percival 209 Original Mitchell Bank Building 212 Pioneer Milwaukee Brewery 215 Seals of the State 218 Nelson Dewey, First Governor 220 Leonard J. Farwell, Second Governor 222 Senator Isaac P. Walker 225 Sherman M. Booth 227 Byron Paine 229 Gov. William A. Barstow 231 Gov. Coles Bashford 232 E. G. Ryan 233 Eleazer Williams as a Young Man 23G Bleazer Williams in Priestly Garb 238 Jourdain Residence at Green Bay 210 Gen. Rufus King ' 243 Gov. Edward Salomon 245 L P. Harvey, First War Governor 247 Mrs. Cordelia Harvey 251 J. H. Tweedy 25? Old Abe, Wisconsin's War Eagle 255 Commander W. B. Cushing, U. S. A 263 Jefferson Davis as a Young Man in Wisconsin 272 A War-Time Handbill 274 Gen. Harrison C. Hobart 277 Gen. Lucius Fairchild 28!i The Little Red Schoolhouse 290 Gov. William Dempster Hoard 293 Paul Grottkau. Socialist Leader 302 Robert Schilling, Labor Leader ^^*' Map of the Gogebic Ore Vein ^12 Cabinet Members from Wisconsin 316 PRELIMINARY. Glancing back to the beginnings of Wisconsin, there pass in panoramic review the picturesque first comers, the hardy French coureurs de bois and blaclt-robed Jesuit priests; the palisaded huts of logs, wherein dwelt the fur traders and the soldiers; the bark chapels wherein priests sought to win heathen savages to Christian faith, even at the expense of their own lives; the great buffalo hunts participated in by the red men and their white companions; the dis- covery of the upper Mississippi by Father Marquette and Louis Joliet, at Prairie du Chien; the coming to Green Bay of the first ves- sel that sailed these lakes and the tragic fate of its crew; the great wars of extermination against the Fox Indians, and the thrilling story of the Hill of the Dead; the uprising of Red Bird, and later the Black Hawk war; the episodes of border life at the forts; the lead mine fever in Southwestern Wisconsin, that, like the gold excite- ment of California, brought in its train a motley crowd of gamblers, thieves and other adventurers, as well as men who sought fortune by delving for the ore; the establishment of negro slavery in Wiscon- sin, in strange contrast to the stirring part later taken by its citi- zens in the eradication of this blot upon civilization; the exciting in- cidents connected with the locating of the capitol; the shooting of Arndt in the legislature; the experiment of the Wisconsin phalanx, much like the more celebrated Brook Farm experiment; the strange career of King Strang, who led a band of Wisconsin Mormons from Racine county to an island in Lake Michigan, where he founded a kingdom with all the accessories of royalty; the coming of the na- tions—the Germans, the Irish, the Swiss, the Belgians, the Dutch, the Poles, and the characteristic communities they have planted on the soil of Wisconsin; the call to arms and the response of the loyal citizens; the days of statehood, with their development of commer- cial, social and political life; the struggles of the self-made men who aided in building up this commonwealth. The chapters which follow tell the story of the state in its sali- ent features; having been written for newspaper publication, the aim has been to make each installment as nearly complete in itself as the condensed form would permit. While events have beeen grouped for the sake of comprehensive presentation, chronological order has been observed as nearly as possible. In the gathering of the data, more than a thousand books and nearly as many pamphlets and newspaper files bearing more or less "viii Preliminary. •directly upon the subject, were consulted. These included narra- tives of the early French and English travelers, local histories, •monographs, magazine articles, newspaper accounts and interviews, and some manuscripts. The treasures of the splendid collection amassed at Madison by the State Historical society were kindly placed at the disposal of the writer. I am also greatly indebted to Benjamin Suite, Esq., the leading historian of Canada, for friendly and valuable aid, all his manuscript notes and monographs bearing upon the history of the Wisconsin region during the French regime having been generously placed at my disposal, without reserve. Whatever errors of omission, as well as commission, may be at- tributed to the history — and there are doubtless both — the writer has conscientiously endeavored to sift the great mass of material so as to bring into relief those events which are conspicuous either by reason of their picturesque character or because they have exercised a potent influence in shaping the destinies of the commonwealth. There has been an earnest effort to state facts accurately, and in the narrative of the later period, no pains have been spared to verify statements by means of correspondence with men who witnessed or participated in the events described, and by examination of all docu- mentary evidence available. The writer disclaims any attempt at a critical history, or a desire to give judgment respecting episodes about which differences of opinion may be honestly entertained. The primary purpose has been to give a fair presentation of the leading events that have made the history of Wisconsin unique as to their romantic or picturesque character and important as to their general bearing. Beginning with the travels and adventures of the early travelers and continuing through the later period, the narrative has been told, as nearly as circumstances and space would permit, in the words of actual participants, in order to better reflect the spirit of the times and the character of the people who have graven the his- tory of Wisconsin. Two features of Wisconsin's history have not been given the prominence which their importance warrants: The military history of Wisconsin has been so fully told in books specially dealing with the state's part in the Civil war that reference thereto has been con- fined to the most conspicuous exploits, regimental and individual. The state's political history has been touched upon but briefly; its narration in detail being beyond the scope of this book. PART L IN THE ERA OF BEGINNINGS. T3aj-n trou 5, Z [. ISLE WISCONSIN. Hypothetical Map of Land in the Trenton Period. LEADING EVENTS OF WISCONSIN HISTORY. CHAPTER I. THE ISLE OF WISCONSIN. As SCIENTISTS are enabled by putting together a few scattered bones upturned by the plowshare to tell the sEape and habits of ani- mals long since extinct, so geologists can ti'ace from the rocks they break with their hammers the history of the land. Thus they as- sei't, with positiveness, that ages ago the area that is now the north- central portion of the state and upper peninsula of Michigan was an island of great altitude. They trace the physical history of Wiscon- sin back even to a state of complete submergence beneath the waters of the ancient ocean. "Let an extensive but shallow sea, covering the whole of the present territory of the state, be pictured to the mind," suggests the eminent Wisconsin geologist, T. C. Chamberlin, "and let it be imag- ined to be depositing mud and sand, as at the present day. The thickness of the sediment that accumulated in that early period was immense, being measured by thousands of feet. In the progress of time an enormous pressure, attended by heat, was brought to bear upon them laterally, or edgewise, by which they were folded and crumpled and forced out of the water, giving rise to an island — the nucleus of Wisconsin. The force which produced this upheaval is believed to have arisen from the cooling and consequent contraction of the globe. The foldings may be imaged as the wrinkles of a shrinking earth." When this island rose from the wide waste of waters that cov- ered all the land, the climate was tropical. Rain fell in abundance, and soon the incessant showers that poured down began to disinte- grate the soil on top. and the beating waves of the ocean all around crumbled the sides without cessation. This process of erosion, con- tinued through unnumbered ages, began to plane the mountainous Island, the rains washing down the sediment till the vast accumula- tions piled above the waters on every side and added to the area. Thus as the altitude of this island was cut down, its area expanded. Soon little outlying islands or reefs were formed that in time be- came attached to the parent isle. During the process of ages there occurred numerous eruptions. The crust of the earth, yielding to the tremendous pressure from 11 12 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. beneath, became fissured, and immense masses of molten rock pene- trated, bearing with, them the mineral ingredients which later chemi- cal processes have converted into those deposits that have yielded vast riches to their finders. Thus by continued upheavals and ero- sions the surface and the length and breadth of this ancient island of Wisconsin was subjected to incessant change. The first mineral formations were doubtless what are known as the iron-bearing series, the most conspicuous development being the Penokee iron range in Ashland county. At the same time there rose Man-Shaped Mound. (Near Baraboo.) from the waters the Baraboo quartzite ranges, which formed a group of small islands where now Sauk county appears on the map ot tne United States. After the great upheavals that resulted in deposits of iron and copper, and accumulations of sandstone miles in thickness, came a great period of erosion. To the disintegrations thus washed into the water were added immense accumulations of myriad millions of the remains of marine life. In the words of Prof. Chamberlin, "abun- dant life swarmed in the ocean, and the sands became the great cemetery of the dead." The casts of numerous trilobites found in this state are relics of this age. The Story of the State. 13 Immense beds of sandstone, with layers of limestone and .'liiale, were formed. The waters acting on the copper and iron of the Lake Superior region gave the sandstone deposits there its tint of red. On the southern end of the island the sandstones lacked this element and they are to this day light colored. As the sand accumulations added to the island along its south- eastern front, the oceanic conditions massed great quantities of galena ore with the limestone there formed. Here later, in what are now Grant, Lafayette and Iowa counties, and extending into Illinois, were developed the lead mines that became the scene of a great min- ing excitement early in this century. When the period of iron deposits and limestone formations was drawing to a close, coral reefs rose above the surface, similar in their characteristics to those that form the atolls of to-day. With these tiny animals were associated the mollusks that have been r,/|n)ri'rmlii7- Elefhant Mound in Grant County. called "the oyster of the Siluiian seas." Then came the deposits on the southeast, in a limited area, that have produced the valuable cement beds along Milwaukee river. Next came the great ice age. One monster stream of ice plowed along the eastern edge and hollowed the bed of Lake Michigan; an- other scooped out Lake Superior and penetrated into Minnesota, while between these prodigious prongs of ice one of lesser size bored its way along Green Bay and down the valley of the Fox. When warmer days came the monster glaciers melted. The ice became water and filled numerous depressions scooped out in the irresistible progress of the vast masses. Thus were formed the two thousand and more lakes that make of Wisconsin a summer para- dise. The warmth that melted the ice to water also brought forth vegetation to cover the nakedness of the land, the forests grew, and "man came upon the scene." CHAPTER II. THE BUILDERS OF THE MOUNDS. Who were the first dwellers on the soil that is now known as Wisconsin? For many years it was believed that an ancient race conversant with the arts of civilization inhabited the land; that finally the bar- barous precursors of the Indians came like the locusts of Egypt and drove the ancient people southward, never to return; that this lost tribe of men were the progenitors of the Aztecs, now extinct, and that the evidence of their existence here is to be found in the many defensive and sepulchral mounds that once dotted this state, and in the abandoned workings of the Lake Superior copper region. For many years scientists tenaciously held this view, but patient investigators have finally traced the construction of the tumuli to Indian origin. Artificial mounds have been found in great numbers In the Mississippi river valley, but Wisconsin has proved especially rich in these antiquities. It has been estimated that not less than 10,000 mounds once existed in this state. Many of these have dis- appeared under the leveling influences of the plow, and even the remarkable earthworks at Aztalan, in Jefferson county, have been partly obliterated by a tiller of the soil who preferred a crop of corn to a site of historic interest. Many of the mounds in Wisconsin possess a rare interest in that they are fashioned in the form of animals. Except in a few isolated localities in neighboring states, tumuli of the class known as effigy mounds are found in Wisconsin only. The favorite types seemed to be the lizard, the turtle, the buffalo, the squirrel and a winged form that might be likened to a bird. One of the remarkable animal mounds, found in Grant county, was for a long time supposed to rep- resent a mammoth, and the circumstance strengthened the argument that a prehistoric race from another continent once dwelt here. As the hairy mammoth, the prototype of the elephant, was not known to have existed on this continent, it seemed plausible that the an- cient men fashioned a mound recalling one of the animals of the land whence they originally migrated. Since it has been established that Indians built the mounds, the theory has obtained that this elephant form was designed to represent a buffalo, and that a land- slide lengthened the snout into resemblance of an elephant's pro- boscis. The measurements of this large effigy mound were ascer- tained to be as follows: Total length, 135 feet; across the body, 36 feet; from end of proboscis to forelegs, 39 feet. This interesting relic of the past has nearly disappeared under the obliterating process of the agriculturist. 14 The Stori/ of the State. 15 Most curious of all the mound structures was the "ancient city of Aztalan," as the supposed fortifications in Jefferson county have been called. This ancient enclosure, the only one of its kind in Wisconsin, was for a long time believed to have been a citadel, but Increase A. Lapham's investigations established the fact that it was Intended, not for defense, but for the performance of sacred rites and for burial. The ancient city was discovered just sixty years ago, and has often been referred to as one of the wonders of the Western world. Its discoverer gave it its name, suggesting its occupancy by the old Aztecs. Early writers described the works as a fortress, with bastions or buttresses at nearly regular distances. As the earth Group of Effigy Mounds Peculiar to Wisconsin. 1. Squirrel Mound, Mendota. 2. Bear Mound, English Prairie. 3. Deer Mound, near Madison. 4. Bird Mound, Lake Wingra. 5. Turtle Mound, Waukesha. 6. Frog Mound, Wisconsin River. 7. War Club Mound, Mayville. near the top was burned and the reddish clay bore impressions of straw, it was supposed that the walls were built of brick. An ex- haustive examination showed, however, that the banks are of earth, the mixture of wild hay and burned clay extending but a short dis- tance below the surface, and that the so-called bricks bore no regu- lar form. The projecting mounds, which some antiquarians assumed to be bastions of a fort or citadel, were found to be sepulchres. A cavity was found wherein two bodies had been interred in a sitting posture. There were also found numerous fragments of earthen- ware, portions of broken vessels varying in size from a few inches to three feet across the rim. The relics unearthed by antiquarians 16 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. have been carried to all parts of the world, for many men of science have used the spade among these mounds during the last half cen- tury. Many plausible arguments have been advanced in support of the theory that here was a citadel to which the mound builders repaired when threatened — the buttresses or bastions at regular intervals, the watch towers and the outworks, the strategic location along the Rock river, giving the besieged access to water, all conveyed the impression that the enclosure was designed for a military fortifica- tion. This theory is exploded by Lapham's observation that "the fort is entirely commanded from the summit of a ridge extending along the west side parallel with and much higher than the west walls themselves, and within fair arrow shot; so that an enemy posted on it would have a decided advantage over those within the defense." It is the conclusion of Lapham that this was a place of worship; "the pyramidal mounds being the place of sacrifice, like the teocalli of Mexico. From its isolated situation^there being no other similar structure for a great distance in any direction — it may be conjec- tured that this was a kind of Mecca to which a periodical pilgrimage was prescribed by their religion. Here may have been the great annual feasts and sacrifices of a whole nation. Thousands of per- <4ons from remote locations may have engaged in midnight cere- monies conducted by the priests. The temple, lighted by fires kindled on the great pyramids and at every projection on the walla, on such occasions would have presented an imposing spectacle, well calculated to impress the minds of the people with awe and solemn- ity. That these works were designed for some such uses seems quite probable." The total length of the wall constituting the enclosure, when the measurement was first taken, was 2,750 feet, the ridge being about twenty-two feet wide. At regular intervals, on the outside, were the mounas which descriptive writers have called bastions of the fort. These were about eighty feet apart, and about forty feet in diameter. It was a matter of dispute for a long time whether some of the eflBgy mounds were modeled after the human form. Some antiqua- rians contended that the mounds were so designed, others that the form of a bird was intended. It must be conceded that many of the mounds which were so described as man-shaped bore little resem- blance to the human form divine. It was not till 1859 that convincing proof was obtained that the ancient sculptors of earth sought to model the human form. In that year there was found near Baraboo, in Sauk county, an earthwork that was unmistakably formed like a man. It was a huge figure, measuring fully two hundred and four- teen feet, with a head thirty feet in length, body one hundred and legs eighty-four feet long. The lines were graceful, this verdure- The Story of the State. 17 clad giant being in position of walking towards the West. While the variouB members were somewhat disproportionate, there was no mistaking the general form. Other man-shaped mounds have since been found, but none so perfect in its outlines. It is a curious fact that the flourishing cities of to-day are most- ly where once were the chief gathering places of the Indians, and that the old Indian trails were almost identical with the stage routes that succeeded them. Ic was not all coincidence that led to the Tambourine Drum. choice of identical centers of population and routes of travel, for the natural geographical advantages largely determined this selec- tion for the red men, as well as the white men. Tracing the analogy to prehistoric times, the same facts hold true. Milwaukee, Madison, Beloit, Waukesha, Fort Atkinson, Pewaukee, Sheboygan, Racine, Manitowoc, Prairie du Chien and many other cities in the southern half of the state are located where the presence of numerous emble- matic mounds show that prehistoric villages once existed, for these mounds have been located usually on the natural lines of travel, and the places where groups of them have been found, show evidences of earlier occupation by considerable numbers of people. CHAPTER III. PRE-COLUMBIAN COPPER MINING IN WISCONSIN. Most curious of all the ancient implements unearthed in Wis- consin are specimens of unalloyed copper — the most rare of all archaeological findings. When it became known that Wisconsin's soil contained more of these relics of pre-Columbian copper mining in North America than any other region known, much attention was attracted to the discoveries made here. At the Centennial exposi- tion, twenty years ago, the whole number of copper implements ex- hibited was 210. Of these 164 came from Wisconsin. The rarity of such specimens previous to the Wisconsin finds may be judged from the fact that the only European museum at that time known to pos- sess copper tools was the Royal Academy at Dublin, and the few specimens there came from India. The Wisconsin coppers comprise a variety of implements. Many of them are spear and arrow heads, marked with dents to represent the number of beasts or men killed by the weapon; some are knives, chisels, adzes and other tools; a number are axes, weighing as much as four and a half pounds. The heaviest copper specimen ever un- earthed is a Wisconsin ax, whose weight is nearly five pounds. Like the ancient mounds, the origin of Wisconsin's copper im- plements has become a fruitful source of learned controversy. Those who have maintained that copper implements were the handiwork of a pre-Indian race, have argued that Indian ingenuity never reached such development as is exhibited in their manufacture; moreover, that when white men first came among Wisconsin Indians, their tools and arrow heads were made of flint and not of metal — showing that copper mining was an art unknown to Indians. In the written accounts of some of the early French voyageurs In this region, which have been preserved in the archives at Paris, there is no reference to the use of copper tools, though the knowl- edge of the metal, which the Indians of that period regarded as a Bacred gift, not as an article of utility, is mentioned. In 1660 Claude Allouez, founder of the first Catholic mission in Wisconsin, wrote: "I have seen in the hands of the savages pieces of copper weighing from ten to twenty pounds. They esteem them as divinities or as presents made them by the gods." Writing of the Wisconsin Indians after his journey from Green Bay past the site of the future city of Milwaukee, two hundred and fifteen years ago, Robert de La Salle noted that "the extremity of their arrows is armed with a sharp stone or the tooth of some animal, Instead of iron. Their buffalo arrow is nothing else but a stone or bone, or sometimes a piece of very hard wood." 18 The Story of the State. 19 Father Louis Hennepin, who was faithful in his description of Indian customs, though inclined to exaggerate v/hen narrating his own wonderful deeds, tells in his history that the Indians instead of hatches and knives utilized sharp stones, and instead of awls used sharp hones. MEDICINE DRUM AND STICK. FROM THE FIFTEENTH ANNUAL, BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY REPORT. (Used by Menomonee Indians. The drum contsiins water, and the hollow rever- beration of the drum-beat can be heard a mile di.stant.) A later writer was the French historian Charlevoix. He visited these parts about 1720, and described the Indian hatchets of flint, which were the only implements used in felling trees. "To fix them in the handle," he said, "they cut off the head of a young tree and make a notch in it, in which they thrust the head of the hatchet. After some time the tree, by growing together, keeps 20 Leading Events of WiscoU'Sm History. the hatohet so fixed that it cannot come out. They then cut tne tree to such a length as they would have the handle. Both the ar- rows and javelins are armed with a point of bone wrought in differ- ent shapes." The venerable Dr. J. D. Butler of Madison learnedly contended for many years that the copper implements found in Wisconsin show evidences of having been cast in moulds, some of them showing the mould marks where the halves of the form-flask united. The scoffers at the theory of a pre-historic metallurgy have argued as strongly on the other side. Dr. P. R. Hoy of Racine, ex- president of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, declared that the ■copper miners of the Lake Superior region did not employ a smelt- ing process in fashioning their implements. "Copper is a refractory metal," he said. "It melts at from 2,200 to 2,600 degrees, a temperature that can be reached only in a furnace assisted by some form of coal and an artificial blast. We must have good evidence before we assert that these dwellers by the lake pos- sessed these indispensable auxiliaries to successful working in metals. Besides, in casting copper, it is positively necessary to put the materials in a crucible. The manufacture of good crucibles, such as will withstand the heat necessary to melt the more refractory metals, involves such a degree of knowledge that for many genera- .tions the entire civilized world was dependent on a small section of Germany." Dr. Hoy called attention to the fact that a majority of the cop- per implements found in Wisconsin have specks or points of pure silver scattered over them. The best authorities say that a single speck of pure silver, visible even with the microscope, is positive evidence that the specimen was never melted. It was the theory of Dr. Hoy that the specimens were hammered Into shape, and not smelted. This is his explanation: "These ancient Indians, for, I believe, they were Indians, used nre in their mining operations. The vein rock was made hot by build- ing a fire on or against it; then, by dashing on water, the rock would not only be fractured, but the exposed pieces of copper be softened, so that it could be beaten into shape. Then the metal be- came hard, in consequence of its being pounded; it was again heated and plunged into cold water — for copper is in this respect the op- posite of steel; the one is softened, while the other is rendered hard. In this way copper was fashioned simply by pounding." The Lake Superior copper region affords the most remarkable oc- currence of native copper in the world. The old miners, whether they were Indians or Aztecs, worked mines superficially only. Isle Royale is honey-combed with the ancient diggings. In this island an interesting relic was found by an archaeologist, Henry Oilman. In cleaning out the debris from a pit he came upon a crescent- shaped mass of metal, weighing 5,720 pounds. The Story of the State. 21 "Such a huge mass," says he in a description of his find, "was evidently beyond the ability of those ancient men to remove. Thoy could only deal with it as best they knew how. Large quantities of ashes and charcoal lying round it show that the action of fire had been brought to bear on it. A great number of stone hammers or mauls were also found near by, many of them fractured from use. In- numerable fragments of copper chips lay strewn on all sides, and even the scales of fish, evidently the remnants of the meals of the miners." The trend of modern investigation dispels the theory of pre- historic mining operations. It establishes the fact that the Indians were the so-called miners, and that when the white men came among them the laborious process of securing the metal was abandoned because they could more easily obtain hatchets and knives by bar- tering their furs. Indian Juggler's Rattle. (Employed by Menomonee Medicine Men to Exorcise Evil Spirits.) CHAPTER IV. THE RED MEN OF WISCONSIN. Early comers to Wisconsin found the islands of Green Bay in- habited by the Pottawattomie Indians. Crossing the eighteen miles of water, there was reached the chief village of the Menomonees, or, as the French called them, the Wild Rice Eaters. Their wigwams clustered at the mouth of the river bearing their name. At the head of the bay were the Winnebago Indians, the "Men of the Sea," whom Nicolet sought in 1634 under the erroneous impression that they were Chinamen; following the Fox river, next were encountered the Mascoutens, known as the Fire Nation; adjacent were the warlike Sacs and Foxes. Along the shore of Lake Superior dwelt the Ojib- was, now better known as the Chippewas; to the southwest of thf^m, on the St. Croix, were straggling bands of the Sioux, whose main body was on the opposite side of the Mississippi river. In the south- western part of v/hat is now the state of Wisconsin were the Kicka- poos. These are the chief tribes of red men that figure in the early history of Wisconsin. They represented two great linguistic stocks of Indians — the Algonkin and the Dakotan. Here on Wisconsin soil the two powerful confederacies first came in contact. Indian boundaries were never well defined, and thus the hunting grounds claimed by these various tribes were subject to incessant shiftlngs. There seems to have been little conflict between the Winnebagoes, who are of Dakotan extraction, and their Algonkin neighbors; but between the Chippewas and the Sioux hostilities were incessant, and bloody wars frequent over boundary disputes. The Indians of Wisconsin have played an important part in the history of the nation. The Fox Indians, at first staunch allies of the French, later became their inveterate foes, and contributed to that series of events which ended in the fall of New France. On the plains of Abraham, Charles de Langlade, Wisconsin's first perma- nent white settler, led another band of Wisconsin Indians against the forces of Wolfe. Again, on that fatal day when Gen. Braddock's English forces were nearly annihilated and George Washington es- tablished his reputation as a soldier, Wisconsin Indians under the same leader aided in the dreadful slaughter; in their lodges in Wis- consin for many a day hung the scalps of these soldiers of England. In the Revolutionary war and in the war at the beginning of this century (1812) the Indians of Wisconsin sided with the red coats against the American colonists. In the bloody battles in Ohio, Wis- consin Indians shed many a frontiersman's blood. When George Rogers Clark conquered the Northwest with his handful of "Long 22 The Story of the State. 23 Knives," Wisconsin Indians were among the allies of the British with whom he had to contend. The Black Hawk war was carried on by the Fox and Sac Indians after their migration into Illinois, but the decisive battles were fought on Wisconsin soil. Wisconsin Winnebagoes were the captors of the Sac chieftain after the slaughter of his tribe at Bad Axe. How numerous the Indians were before white men came among them it is only possible to approximate. When it is considered that the entire Indian population of the United States did not at any time exceed half a million, or about one-fourth the total number of inhabitants that Wisconsin alone has to-day, it can be readily sur- mised that the forests and prairies of Wisconsin were but sparsely populated. It has been approximated that the number was never in •excess of 15,000 to 20,000. Indian nomadic life could not prove con- J. 2. tr.^l tfy^ I tr^ »^ ^' w tr^ tr^y. f/vw INDIAN Chant. ducive to large families. Wisconsin Indians moved with the sea- sons, following game or seeking the ground best adapted for grow- ing corn. In the places where water and fish were accessible and where grain and root crops flourished most, they pitched their wigwams; in these places the toiling priests came to them, and in these places have been built the principal cities of the state. In most respects the life of Wisconsin Indians did not differ ma- terially from that of other Indians of allied tribes. Game was abun- dant and included many animals which are now extinct or to be found only in the far West. On the prairies in the western part of the state roamed great herds of buffalo. Bear, elk, moose, antelope and even the woodland caribou were the prey of the hunter, and the waters fairly teemed with fish. In the days of the aborigines there was ordinarily no struggle for the necessities of life, for wants were few and easily supplied. 24 Leading Events of Wiscotisin History. The arrow that brought food to the lodge also furnished furs for clothing and for covering the tepee. Wild berries grew in abun- dance, and the sap of the sugar maple furnished a palatable luxury. The men employed their time in hunting and fishing, and in making war; the patient squaws gathered the corn and without a murmur served as beasts of burden for the lodge and camp. In their un- derground caches were stored grains and other food for winter use. Despite the prodigality of nature, it sometimes happened that during the long winter months food became exhausted and that the severity of the season prevented the hunters from chasing their game to quarry. Then famine stalked through the camp and thinned their ranks. Often, too, the dreaded smallpox swept through the tents, and the incantation of the medicine man was powerless to stop the pestilence. Two venturesome Frenchmen, Radisson and Groseilliers, who wintered with the Ojibwas in 1661-62, at Chequa- megon Bay, experienced a bitter famine with these Indians. They lived on the bark of trees, old beaver skins and other indigestible provender till the spring came and game could be secured. "We became the very image of death," wrote Radisson in his journal. Five hundred of the Indians died of starvation that winter. Most of the Indian tribes are known by the name which Euro- peans have given them. The principal tribes of Wisconsin redmen have been known by many different names, those given below being chiefly used: ' Menomonees — Folles Avoines, ^YiId Rice Eaters, Malhomines. Chippewas — Sateurs, Ojibwas, Ontehibouse. Foxes— Reynards, Outagamies, MusQuakis. Sacs — Osaukies, Sauks, Sakis. Winnebagoes— Puans, Puants, Nadouessi, Stinkards, Ochunkoraws, Ho- tanke. Bay Indians, Hojiras. Sioux — Nadowesioux, Dacotahs. Pottawattamies — Poueatamis, Powtewatamis, Pautawattamies. JIaseoutens Assistaeronous, Gens de Feur, Fire Nation. Kickapoos — Kikapus, Kikapoux, Quicapous. In addition to these tribes, wandering bands of Miamis, Illinois, Towas and other tribes and sub-tribes of the neighboring states have at various times located in Wisconsin. When in 1648 the fierce Iro- quois ravaged the country of the Hurons with pestilential fury, fugi- tives of this tribe and of the harried Ottawas found shelter in the forest fastness of Wisconsin. Even to these remote regions did the fury of the Eastern savages sometimes pursue them. The Menomonees are the only original inhabitants of Wisconsin who still make their home here. They are a well-favored race, and attracted the attention of the first Frenchmen because their com- plexions were several shades lighter than that of their neighbors. This peculiarity was attributed to the use of wild rice, or oats, as a staple article of food. Vast stretches of river bottoms, acres upon, acres In extent, were covered with this wild rice and furnished them The Story of the State. 25 with an abundance of food. The gathering of the harvest in Sep- tember, by the squaws, has been thus described: "The harvesters went in their canoes across watery fields, shak- ing the ears right and left as they advanced, the grain falling easily, if ripe, into the bark receptacle beneath. To clear it from chaff and strip it of a pellicle inclosing it, they put it to dry on a wooden lat- tice above a small fire, which was kept burning for several days. When the rice was well dried, it was placed in a skin of the form af a bag, which was then forced into a hole, made on purpose, in the ground. Then they tread it out so long and so well that the grain, being freed from the chaff, was easily winnowed. After this it was pounded to meal, or left unpounded and boiled in water seasoned with grease. It thus became a very palatable diet." Tradition taught the Menomonees to believe that once they were animals or birds, and that their transformation into human beings occurred at the mouth of the Menomonee river, at Marinette. When one of them dies a picture is painted on a board representing the animal from which the deceased is supposed to have derived his descent, and this is placed at the head of his grave. One of their superstitions is that a fabulous fowl which they term "the thuuder- bird" hovers over the clouds, causing lightning by winking its eyes and thunder by flapping its wings. This superstition is shared by other Algonkin tribes. Since the coming of white men, the Mascoutens, the Fire Nation, have disappeared from the face of the earth. They originally came to Wisconsin from the East as the result of a war with the Eries. Father Marquette found them on the Wisconsin river in a palisaded village, in 1673. Father Allouez records a visit some years before that date. It is believed that after they became reduced in num- bers the remnant was absorbed by the neighboring Kickapoos. At any rate, no trace of them has been found since the Revolutionary war. The Kickapoos were claimed by the Shawnees as a part of their tribe. They occupied a number of villages on the Wisconsin river. In 1754, with the Sioux and Pottawattomieis, they waged war against the Peorias of Illinois. Many years ago their migratory spirit led them southward, where they joined the Creeks. Mystery for a long time clouded the origin of the Winnebagoes. They had a tradition that their ancestors had migrated from a great distance, a region near the salt sea. It is now established that they are an off-shoot of the Siouan nation. These Indians have occupied a large place in the history of Wisconsin, from the time that Nicolet came to them as an ambassador from New France. Their name sig- nifies "fetid," a term applied by Indians to salt water. The French translated this term in another sense, and called them Puants, or Stinkards. This name led certain writers to assume that it had been given them on account of filthy habits. The modern Winne- 26 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. bago is not inaptly so named, for he is "the poorest, meanest and most ill-visaged of Wisconsin Indians"; two centuries ago the Win- nebagoes were warlike and possessed remarkable physical power. When the celebrated traveler, Capt. Jonathan Carver, visited these parts in 1766, he found a queen reigning over the Winneba- goes. The name of this remarkable Winnebago queen was Glory of the Morning. She was the widow of a Frenchman who was mortally wounded at Quebec. Her home was on Doty's island, in a palisaded town of fifty houses. Plums, grapes and other fruit grew there spon- taneously and the Indians raised great quantities of Indian corn, beans, pumpkins, watermelons and tobacco. The Indian queen en- tertained Carver right royally for four days. Greatest of Wisconsin hunters were the lithe-limbed Chippewas. They called themselves Ojibwas, or Leapers, meaning people at the EiRCHBARK Vessel for :maple Sap. (Used by Wisconsin Indians.) leaping water, or falls. They were found by the Jesuits in 1641 at the outlet of Lake Superior. Pursued by the Iroquois westward, they took refuge on the southern shore of Lake Superior and crowded out the Sioux. From that time on there were unremitting conflicts between these Algonkin and Dakotan enemies. The Sioux struggled to retain their ancient hunting grounds, but were finally crowded back to the St. Croix. For a century and more these na- tions were almost uninterruptedly at war, and their traditions tell of many bloody battles fought beneath the somber pines of the north. In the Chippewa tongue the word Sioux means "the enemy." For many years the string of islands in Green Bay were known as the Pottawattomie group, from the Indians who made their home upon them. These wandering Indians did not abide long in any one place. In 1641 they were at Sault Ste. Marie fleeing before the face of the Sioux. In 1721 they were widely scattered, some in Wiscon- sin, some near Detroit, some in Indiana. For a while they were at The Story of the State. 27 the site where Milwaukee has since been built, and the English commander at Green Bay in great disgust wrote of them as "those runagates of Milwackie, a horrid set of refractory Indians." These Indians joined the standard of Tecumseh and fought at Tippecanoe; they were the ones who massacred the garrison of Fort Dearborn (Chicago). The Pottawattomies are the Indians whose traditions gave to the poet Longfellow much of the material for his great poem, '"Hia- watha." Most warlike in their intercourse with the French were the Foxes and their confederates, the Sacs. The great war of extermina- tion which the French waged against them for many years is one of the most barbarous epochs of Western history. This restless and fierce tribe was the only one of Algonkin origin against whom the French waged war. In 1712 the Foxes, with the Mascoutens and Kickapoos, attacked Detroit, but the French defeated them with the aid of Pottawattomie allies. In all parts of the state survive relics of Indian occupation, not only in the implements of flint and stone found underground, but in the names of lakes, rivers and towns. Some of these are herewith given with their meaning: Sheboygan— A hollow bone; another version is that the original Indian word, Shawh-wa-way-kun, expresses a tradition "that a great noise, coming under ground was heard at this river." Waukesha — Pronounced by the Indians waw-goosh-sha, the little fox. Pewaukee — Pronounced Pee-wau-naw-kee, the flinty place. Oshkosh — Named after a well-known Menomonee chief, signifies brave; an- other meaning is a hoof. Manitowoc — Pronounced Manitou-wauk, the home of the spirits. Milwaukee— Pronounced by the Indians Me-ne-aw-kee, a rich or beautiful land. Kenosha — A long flsh, a pike; from. Kenose, long. Mazomanie— Walker on iron, the name of a Sioux chief. Mequon — Feather or quill. Nashotah — Twin. Ozaukee^ — Yellow earth. Wausau — Far off. Waupun — Early, frontier. Weyauwega — A corruption of the word "Wey-au-we-ya," signifying whirl- ing wind. Wisconsin — Father Marquette's narration spells the name Meskousing, after- wards rendered as Ouisconsin by the euphony-loving French. Its meaning is "strong current," according to the general acceptation of Indian philologists, but it has also been rendered as "great stone." Kewaunee — Doubtless a Chippewa word, meaning prairie hen. Muskego— Cranberry in the Pottawattomie tongue. Koshkonong— Signifies "the lake we live on." Here the warriors of Black Hawk were in hiding for a time during the Indian war of 1832. According to the federal census of 1890 there are now in Wis- consin nearly 10,000 Indians. Instead of roaming around the state as of yore, two-thirds of these Indians live on the reservations pro- 28 Leading Events of Wiscorusin History. vided by the state. There are seven reservations in Wisconsin, un- der two agencies, one at Green Bay and one at La Pointe. The Indian population of Wisconsin embraces to-day remnants of tribes belonging to the three greatest linguistic stocks on the North American continent — Dakotan (Siouan), Algonkin (Algic) and Iroquoian. The Oneidas came from New York sixty years ago, and orig- inally belonged to the great Five Nations. The Stockbridges re- moved here from Massachusetts. Part of the Munsee tribe of West- ern New York were absorbed by the Stockbridges by adoption. These Stockbridges were originally Pequods or Mohegans, thus constitut- ing a connecting link with some of the best known tribes of New England. Wisconsin may therefore claim to possess "the last of the Mohicans." Indian Reservations Hunting Grounds of the Wisconsin IN Wisconsin, 1897. Indians in the Seventeenth Century. The Brotherton Indians, in colonial days, made Long Island their home. A century ago they adopted the English language and obtained the name of Brotherton Indians from the fact that they organized themselves into brotherhoods and lived in a town. This was before their removal to Wisconsin. The only Indians who were ever elected to seats in the Wis- consin legislature were Brothertons. They were named Alonzo and William Dick, and they represented the same district in the '50's. The wandering Indians of Wisconsin are a shiftless set, who pick up a meager living as berry pickers In the cranberry marshes and blueberry fields of Central and Northwestern Wisconsin. Some of them are employed in the logging camps of the woods during the winter months. CHAPTER V. LEGENDARY LORE OF WISCONSIN INDIANS. I:^ COMMON with other tribes east of the Mississippi, the Indians of Wisconsin possessed many ancient traditions concerning the story of the creation, relative >.o the significance of the elements, or per- taining to their religious ceremonies. But not all their legendary lore bore such a wide significance; much of it was of local applica- tion. As Longfellow has poetically phrased it, in his introduction to "The Song of Hiawatha": Should you ask me whence these stories? Whence these legends and traditions, "With the odors of the forest. With the dew and damp of meadows. With the curling smoke of wigwams. With the rushing of great rivers, With their frequent repetitions. And their wild reverberations As of thunder in the mountains? I should answer, I should tell you, "From the forests and the prairies. From the great lakes of the Northland, From the land of the Ojibways, From the land of the Dacotahs, From the mountains, moors and fenlands. Where the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah, Feeds among the reeds and rushes; In the birds'-nests of the forest. In the lodges of the beaver. In the hoof-prints of the bison, In the eyry of the eagle!" Indian legends abound concerning the curious rock formation along Lake Superior, at the dalles of the St. Croix and Wisconsin and at Devil's Lake. Most beautifully told of all Indian legends is "The Song of Hia- watha." The scene of this Indian Edda, as it has been termed, is among the Ojibwas on the southern shore of Lake Superior. The author has availed himself of a poet's license, and in the musioa) narrative has interwoven many curious legends which were not cur- rent among the Indians of Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan. In the song, the adoption of the calumet — the univers- ally recognized symbol of peace among the Indians — is given as hav- ing occurred somewhere in the vicinity of the northwestern part of the state. The story as told by Longfellow is that Gitche Manito, the mighty, called all the nations together in council On the Mountains of the Prairie, On the great Red Pipestone Quarry. 29 30 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. The tribes came from the remote corners of the land, their faces set in stern defiance, "in their hearts the feud of ages, the hereditary hatred, the ancestral thirst for vengeance." The great Gitche Manito looked upon his quarreling children with compassion. Prom the old stone of the quarry With his hand he broke a fragment, Moulded it into a pipe-head. Shaped and fashioned it with figures; From the margin of the river Took a long reed for a pipe-stem, With its dark-green leaves upon it; Filled the pipe with bark of willow. With the bark of the red willow; Breathed upon the neighboring forest, Made its great boughs chafe together, Till in flame they burst and kindled. He stretched his right hand over them to subdue their stubborn natures; he allayed their thirst and fever, he spoke to them words of wisdom and of warning. He told them to bathe in the stream before them, to wash the warpaint from their faces and the blood-stains from their fingers; then to bury their war-clubs and weapons, and from the red stone of the quarry to fashion pipes of peace. They heeded the counsel thus given: And in silence all the warriors Broke the red stone of the quarry, Smoothed and formed it into peace-pipes. Broke the long reeds by the river. Decked them with their brightest feathers. And departed each one homeward. In his "Letters and Notes" Catlin has given an interesting ac- count of the Red Pipestone quarry, with its legend of the origin of the peace-pipe. Longfellow's version is substantially the same. Cat- lin concludes the legend thus: "At the last whiff of his pipe, his head went into a great cloud, and the whole surface of the rock for several miles was melted and glazed; two great ovens were opened beneath, and two women en- tered them in a blaze of fire. They are heard there yet answering to the invocations of high priests or medicine men, who consult them when they are visitors to this sacred place." In Emerson's "Indian Myths" is given the Winnebago tradition of the origin of man: "Having created the earth and the grass and the trees, the Great Spirit took a piece out of his heart, near which had been taken the earth, and formed the fragmant into a man. The woman then was made, but a bit of flesh sufficed for her; therefore it is that man became great in wisdom, but the woman very much wanting in sense. To the man was given the tobacco seed, that, thrown upon the fire, it might propitiate the messenger — manittos to convey prayers or supplications; to the woman a seed of every kind of grain was given, and to her were indicated the roots and herbs for medicine. Now the Great Spirit commanded the two to look down; The Story of the State. 31 and they looked down, when lo! there stood a child between them. Enjoining the pair to take care of all the children they might ob- tain in the future, he created the male and female the first parents of all tribes upon the earth. He then informed them, in the Win- nebago language, that they should live in the center of the earth. The spirit then created the beasts and birds, for the use of all man- kind; but the tobacco and fire were given to the Winnebagoes. ' The Indians hold the maize, or Indian corn, in great veneration. "They esteem it so important and divine a grain," says Schoolcraft, "that their story-tellers invented various tales, in which this idea Indian Women Gathering Wild Rice. (After Schoolcraft.) is symbolized under the form of a special gift from the Great Spirit. The Ojibwa-Algonkins, who call it Mon-da-min, that is, the spirit's grain or berry, have a pretty story of this kind, in which the stalk in full tassei is represented as descending from the sky, under the guise of a handsome youth, in answer to the prayers of a young man. It is well known that corn-planting and corn-gathering are left entirely to the females and children, and a few superannuated old men. It is not generally known, perhaps, that this labor is not compulsory, and that it is assumed by the females as a just equiva- lent, in their view, for the onerous and continuous labor of the other sex in providing meats, and skins for clothing, by the chase, and in 32 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. defending their villages against their enemies, and keeping intruders off their territories. A good Indian housewife deems this a part of her prerogative and prides herself to have a store of corn to exer- cise her hospitality." Schoolcraft also relates a custom respecting corn-planting show- ing a singular belief in the mysterious influence exercised by women over the vegetable and insect creation. "It was the practice of the hunter's wife, when the field of corn had been planted, to choose the first dark or overclouded evening to perform a secret circuit, sans habillement, around the field. For this purpose she slipped out of the lodge in the evening, unobserved, to some obscure nook, where she completely disrobed. Then taking her matchecota, or principal garment, in one hand, she dragged it around the field. This was thought to insure a prolific crop, and to prevent the assault of insects and worms upon the grain. It was supposed they could not creep over the charmed line." For many years there lived on the eastern bank of Green Bay an old Indian woman who was believed to have long passed the century mile-stone of her life. This old woman was fond of telling a legend associated with a place on the shore of the bay, known as Red Banks, an interesting earth-work resembling a fortification. Its location at the top of a precipice a hundred feet high, accessible from the water by means of a protected passage of steps cut into the clay, led to many surmises. Hon. Charles D. Robinson, a pioneer editor of Green Bay, translated the story associated with Red Banks, as told to him by the withered old woman. This is the legend, in a condensed form: "It was long ago, I was so high" — placing her hand about three feet from the ground — "when my grandfather told me the story. The Sauks and Outagamies lived in the old fort at the Red Banks. The forests eastward were full of deer, the waters of the bay were full of fish, and they possessed the whole. We (the Menomonees) lived over the bay. We sent down the lakes, inviting the other tribes to come up and help us drive out the Sauks and Outagamies. They came in canoes, the Chippewas, Pottawattomies and Ottawas and many more. You see how wide the bay is; their canoes stretched half way across. The bay was half full of canoes and each canoe was full of fighting men. They landed here at the Red river, and for two miles along the beach their canoes were so thick that no more could be crowded in." The old woman described how the doomed fort was surrounded and how just before daylight the great battle began. The besieged fought bravely, but they had no water, for the supply was cut off by the warriors along the beach. They tried in every way to ob- tain it. Vessels attached to cords were let down to the water at night, but the cords were cut before the vessels could be drawn up. The Story of the State. 33 "Come down and drink!" cried the Menomonees. "Here is plenty of water, if you dare to come down and get it." These taunts and the great necessity of the besieged made that narrow way an avenue of death, but all to no purpose. The heat of a burning sun and the dreadful suffering for want of water became unendurable. A few drops of rain fell once, but only enough to tantalize those who were perishing in sight of the water that sparkled almost within reach. At length, one of the young chiefs had a dream, after fasting strictly for ten days. He told it thus: "Listen! last night there stood by me the form of a young man clothed in white, who said: 'Fear not; I will deliver you. At mid- night I will cast a deep sleep upon your enemies. Then go forth boldly and silently, and you shall escape.' " That night an unusual silence prevailed in the camp of the enemy. Stealthily the wearied besiegers passed out and fled. Only a few, who disbelieved the vision, remained. They were massacred with fierce barbarity, when next morning the besieging tribes awoke from their strange slumbers to find that their prey was gone. The legend of the red swan has been told by several chroniclers of Indian lore. Its most interesting form is that imparted to it by Mrs. H. S. Baird, in her "Early Recollections." She was a native of Prairie du Chien and was the descendant of Returning Cloud, a distinguished Ottawa chief. For many years Mrs. Baird made Green Bay her home. This is the legend of the red swan, in abbreviated form, beginning, like the juvenile fairy tale: Once upon a time a young man was out hunting. He came to the shore of a beautiful lake, and there he saw floating a red swan. As he shot, the swan flew toward the west, leaving in its trail an ex- quisitely-hued radiance. This the young man followed, and at night- fall came to a wigwam where dwelt an old man and his daughter. The old man was making bows and arrows, and the daughter was making moccasins. He was hospitably entertained. The next morn- ing the young hunter could still see the red streak marking the path- way of the swan. He turned to the old man and begged to be given the daughter as wife. "Prove yourself worthy of her by overtaking the swan," was the reply. "If you do this, she is yours." Making an early start, the hunter followed the track of the swan all day. At night he came to another wigwam occupied by an old man and his daughter. He received the same greeting and treat- ment as before, and the wooing of the daughter met with similar response. Nine successive days passed by, each offering the same circum- stances and conditions, save only that each daughter was more beautiful than the last met, and that the swan had passed at a later hour each day. 34 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. On the tenth day the sky was crimson in its splendor. Again at twilight he came to a wigwam. An old man sat alone, muttering strange words and boiling roots and herbs in a cauldron. "Who gave you permission to enter here and interrupt me?" he asked in a tone of annoyance. The young hunter hastened to explain. He told his adventures of the past ten days, and asked whether the red swan had passed. The old man grew uneasy, and the young man now perceived that the wigwam was all aglow and luminous with a warm, bright light. In the morning he prepared to pursue the swan, but the old man said to him: "You have proved yourself brave; now you shall be rewarded." Opening the mat door he brought out the red swan, his daugh- ter, the most beautiful maiden the youth had ever beheld. "Take her," said the old man, "to your own land and hunting grounds, and be happy. Gitchie Manitou will watch over you." The legend of the "Spirit of the Corn" is current among the In- dians of the Lake Superior country. It was told to the German traveler. Kohl, and a translation of his narrative reads thus: Once a tribe of Indians had an extraordinary corn year. On their small fields they had grown an uncommon quantity of maize. But this rendered them very arrogant and extravagant. They de- voured more than they wanted; they let the corn lie about and rot. The children fought with the stalks like sticks and threw them in the mud. At length they grew so surfeited of the excellent corn that they went off hunting, after cacheing the remainder of their grain stores. But they secured no game. Soon hunger and need broke out and they remembered their corn. They found that the whole store had been devoured by mice. They saw that a powerful destiny had de- clared against them. One of the old men who had taken no part in the waste of the golden corn, while walking solitary in the forest, came to a birch bark lodge. Within it was a miserable looking manikin, stretched out on dirty, much worn hides. "See," said the Spirit of the Corn, in a mournful voice, "what a wretched condition these men have placed me in. They insulted me in the most ungrateful manner. This is the cause of their own misfortune and present want. I have no water in my jug and no clothes; not even a leaf to protect me from the cold. Weeds and wild plants grow in my garden, and the savage beasts of the forest prowl around me. Go back and tell this to thy people." When the good Indian told his people the wretched condition in which he had found the good Spirit of the Corn, they realized that their own culpable extravagance was the cause of their misfortune. The Story of the State. 35 They hurried home to their uncultivated and weed-choked gardens. They sacrificed a dog to the Spirit of the Corn. A little corn which the mice had not eaten served for a fresh sowing. They managed to get on somehow till the next summer, and then had a good harvest; they used it more carefully, and then their hunting luck returned. Among the Ojibwas on Lake Superior, the months have the fol- lowing names and meanings: January — The moon of the spirits. February — The moon of the suckers, because those fish begin going up the river then. March — The moon of the snow-crust, because then the sun covers the top of the snow with a firm crust, and it is a good time to travel. April — The moon for breaking the snow-shoes, because then the snow dis- appears and the snow-shoes are often broken. May — The moon of the flowers. June — Strawberry moon. July — Raspberry moon. August — Whortleberry moon. September — The moon of the wild-rice. October — The moon of the falling leaf. November — The freezing moon. December — The moon of little spirits. n 7 6 A X||X||X||Xi|xjlX||X ... U IIIIIH [l llllllll. II.IIIM An Ojibwa Family Record. (Loon-Foot had his family genealogical record for nine generations. The above strokes, crosses and points were made on a piece of birch-bark, each division representing one generation and his memory supplying the names.) All the Indians cannot divide the moon with equal precision, and disputes are prolific between the old men, as they argue with comi- cal seriousness as to what moon they are in. The superstitions of the Sioux, who dwelt along the St. Croix river were similar to those of the Ojibwas (Chippewas) as regards the various moons. It was their belief that the material of which the moon is made is edible; when the moon is full, a legion of mice commence nibbling at it, and finally it is consumed. Then a new moon begins to grow, to be in turn devoured by the mice. The Sioux calendar is thus given: 36 LeadUip Events of Wisconsin History. January — Witeri, the hard moon. February — Wicatawi, the raccoon moon. March — Istawicayazanwi, the sore-eyed moon. April — Magaokadiwi, the moon in which the geese lay eggs. May — Mojupiwi, the planting moon. June — Wajustecasawi, the moon when the strawberries are red. July — Wasunpawi, the moon when the geese shed their feathers. August — Wasutonwi, the harvest moon. September — Psinhnaktuwi, the moon when rice is laid up to dry. October— Wazupiwi, the drying rice moon. November — Takiyurawi, the deer-rutting moon. December — Tahecapsunwi, the moon when the deer shed their horns. It is curious tiow the ettorts of the missionaries among the In- dians have served to weave familiar bible stories into their original legends. Thus the story of the creation, which now obtains among certain of the reservation bands in the northern part of the state, is a faithful adaptation of the biblical story, and the forbidden fruit episode In Paradise has liltewise been given a red man's version. The Wisconsin Indians locate this happening on Lac du Flambeau, in Vilas county. The first man and his squaw, Mani, answering to the Adam and Eve of the bible story, lived on a beautiful island in this lake. In the garden grew the most delicious fruits and there were large, fine fields, wherein grew Indian corn and beans. The Great Spirit pointed out one tree whose fruit they must not eat. One day Mani heard a seductive voice say: "Mani, Mani, why dost thou not eat of this beautiful fruit; it will make thy heart glad." The fruit smelled pleasantly and Mani licked it a little. Then she swallowed it, and felt as if intoxicated. When her husband came she persuaded him to eat also of the fruit. Immediately the beautiful silver scales with which they had been covered fell off — only twenty of these scales remained, but they lost their brilliancy, ten on the fingers and ten on the toes. They were banished from the beautiful isle, which immediately grew wild. The Gitche Manito bore them in his canoe to the shore of Lac du Flambeau. But he had compassion on them. He gave the man bow and arrow, and told him he would find animals, which were called deer. These he was to shoot, and Mani would get ready the meat for him and convert the hide into moccasins and clothing. There is a legend that tells how Ashland bay derived its name from an Indian word that in its original form meant "far-stretching breakers." Menabosho, pursuing the Great Beaver from the St. Mary's river (where he broke his dams and thus formed the upper and lower rapids) through his pond (Lake Superior) drove him into Ashland bay. To secure his prey, Menabosho built a long dam from the south shore to Madaline island. While engaged in this work he threw handfuls of earth behind him into the outer lake, where they remain as the smaller Apostle islands. The Story of the State. 37 The dam being finished, Menabosho, sure of having cornered his game, entered through the north channel, between Madeline island and Bayfield peninsula, but behold! the Great Beaver, digging out the isouth channel, between Madaline island and Shagawamikon point, broke through Menabosho's dam, and escaped. Capt. Dwight H. Kelton, U. S. A., who tells this story, adds this explanation: "The width of the south channel is now two and a half miles; but the older inhabitants say that formerly a point of land, extending from the western extremity of the island toward Shagawamikon, made it much narrower. At one time, according to tradition, the distance was so short that an arrow could be shot across. The neck of the long point has been washed through within the last thirty years." PART II. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE EXPLORERS, 4*90. CHAPTER I. WHEN WISCONSIN WAS DISCOVERED. As THE quest of Columbus for a short route to the Indies led to the discovery of a continent, so the search for a short highway to the fabled riches of China and Japan — ^the Cathay and Zipango of Marco Polo — brought an intrepid discoverer to the heart of that continent, Wisconsin. Here mingle the waters that through devious channels later flow in opposite directions — some swelling that vast volume that pours from the mighty Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico at the rate of twenty million of millions cubic feet of water annually; others passing through the chain of lakes into the St. Lawrence, thence into the frozen regions of the North Atlantic. It was a period when the great highways of commerce were those provided by nature — the rivers and the lakes. The upper Mississippi had not been discovered and nothing was known of the vast conti- nent that stretched westward. Men believed that a few days' jour- ney would take thein to Its limits — perhaps to China. When the pioneer white man steered his frail birch-bark canoe along the western shore of Green Bay, he thought he had reached China. His coming occurred in the year 1634. This was two years before Roger Williams founded his Rhode Island colony; but a year after the be- ginnings of Connecticut were made; only twenty-seven years after the founding of the first permanent English settlement, that at Jamestown, and but fourteen years later than the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. A Parisian mail carrier's son was the first white man to step up- on Wisconsin soil. The year was 1634, and King Louis XIII. reigned as monarch of France. Thus, by the law of nations relating to new discoveries, the son of Mary de Medici became the first sovereign of Wisconsin. Jean Nicolet entered what now has become known as the Old Northwest through its natural gateway, the great arm of Lake Michigan that bears the name Green Bay. A hundred years before, the French had sailed up the St. Lawrence and started their first settlement in Canada. Rigorous winters and savage enmity com- bined with other untoward circumstances to render their foothold at Montreal insecure, and exploration westward was a slow process. At the end of a century they had progressed no further than Lake Huron. No Frenchman had ventured into the forest fastnesses of 42 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana or Ohio. Nothing was known as to the extent of the mysterious region that stretched westward, though few men believed that there was more than a nar- row strip between the great lakes and the China sea. The delusion was common that a river would be found leading to the Celestial em- pire. Thus the dream of Columbus survived in modified form a hun- dred and fifty years after the caravel of the explorer had grated its keel on the shore of Watling's island. From time to time wandering Indians brought to the eager list- eners at Quebec tales of the unknown western region. These but made more keen the desire to reach the riches of Cathay thitherward; but the vague accounts of the Indians were distorted and misappre- Samuel de Champlain. The Governor of New France, W^ho Sent Nicolet to the Winnebagoes of Wisconsin as His Ambassador. hended. How little was actually known of this region is shown by a map carefully drawn by Champlain, governor of New France, two years before Nicolet started on his quest. On it Green Bay is placed north of Lake Superior, and Lakes Huron and Ontario are connected directly. Lake Michigan is not on his map unless his Lac des Puants — the usual designation for Green Bay — is intended to repre- sent it. An Island designated as the region of copper mines he places in Green Bay. Niagara Falls he had never seen and his sup- position was that it was a rapid in the river. Though he had mistakenly located copper mines on a Green Bay island, he knew positively of the existence of the metal, for an In- dian had brought him a lump of the virgin ore. Other Indians, who were wont to come down the Ottawa river in their flotillas of canoes The Story of the State. 43 to trade with the Frenchmen, had told him of a nation dwelling some distance westward who were known as the "People of the Sea." These were the Wisconsin Winnebagoes, who years before had mi- grated to the region of the lake that now bears their tribal name, but Champlain believed they were Chinamen. The fanciful description of this people given by his Indian vis- itors and the fact that they made their habitation on the shores of a "great water" confirmed Champlain in his belief that he had at last found the long-sought clue to the route to China. He chose Jean Nicolet as his ambassador. Nicolet had lived for a number of years in the lodges of the Algonkin tribes, and knew their languages. He was accustomed to the fatigues and privations of wilderness life, and the lore of the woods was a lesson he had conned fully as v/ell as any of his dusky companions. In July of the year 1634 he started on his journey, accompanied by some Jesuit priests who were about to es- tablish a mission in the Huron country and were glad to avail them- selves of Nicolet's guidance. At the Isle de AUumettes they parted, and Nicolet pursued his way with Indian companions only. A glance at the map is necessary to convey an idea of the journey thus made in a canoe. Starting from Quebec and leaving the St. Lawrence at its junction with the Ottawa, Nicolet ascended this stream to the tributary whose Indian name, Mattawin, signifies "Home of the Beaver"; thence Lake Nipissing was reached by means of a narrow passage or "carry." Next his canoe floated down the French* river into Georgian bay and Lake Huron. He passed the Manitoulin isl- ands, skirted the shore of the great lake and came to the place where dwelt the "People of the Falls," the Sault Ste. Marie familiar on modern maps. Here he and his seven Hurons rested. But a few miles westward was the eastern extremity of the largest fresh water body in the world, Lake Superior. There is no evidence to show that Nicolet went nearer this lake than the sault, or falls. Instead he seemes to have rested at the falls with his seven Huron com- panions, and then retraced his way down the strait and entered Lake Michigan through the Mackinac passage. For the first time a white man saw the broad surface of this inland sea. Along its northern shore his canoe was paddled by his dusky oarsmen. At the bay de Noquet he briefly tarried, and finally he came to the Menomonee where that river pours into Green Bay. At last Nicolet was on Wisconsin soil. He believed himself to be on the threshold of China. The Menomonees, who made their habitation here, were of a lighter complexion than the Indians Nico- let knew. Some writers have ascribed this circumstance to the use of wild rice by these Indians as a staple article of diet. Champlain's messenger learned that but a short journey would now bring him to the land of the Winnebagoes. He sent one of his Hurons to apprise the supposed celestials of his coming and prepared to meet them in 44 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. becoming style. For this purpose he had brought a robe of gorge- ous hue, like unto Joseph's in its resplendent coloring. The early French narrative, known as the Vimont Relation, describes how Nicolet's mandarin dress was besprinkled with birds of bright plumage and flowers of many hues, in woven work. If Nicolet erred in his conception of the Winnebagoes, this tribe of red men likewise formed erroneous notions concerning their vis- itor. They believed him a Manitou or spirit, an impression that was accentuated when he advanced into their midst with a pistol Champlain's Map of the Wisconsin Region, 1632. The "Father of New France" based the old map of which the above is a section in outline — the first which aims to define the region of the great lakes — on the accounts of the Indians who came in flotillas to Canada to trade with him. On this map Lake Superior is designated as "Grand Lac," Lake Huron as "Mer Douce." Green Bay he designates as the region where then lived the "Nation des Puans" (Winnebagoes), and locates this sheet of water north of Lake Supe- rior. A large island in this bay, or lake, as he calls it, is given as the location of great copper mines. Lake Michigan does not exist on his map, though some authorities hold that he meant Green Bay to represent Lake Michigan. The map is a curious specimen of early geographical misconceptions. In the above repro- duction the English synonyms are given for the French names put down by Champlain. in each hand, the contents of which he discharged in the air with great dramatic effect. He was very much disappointed to learn, however, that the "People of the Sea," in quest of whom he had un- dertaken his long and arduous canoe voyage, wore moccasins and other savage apparel in place of the product of the loom. With true French adaptability he made the best of the situation and pro- ceeded to win to the French interest these nations of the West. He urged them to come to Montreal for barter, and not to engage in war with the nations friendly to the French. The Story of the State. 45 The coming of the wonderful man caused a great gathering of Indians. One account estimates the number of people wno came to greet him at 5,000, but later accounts considerably reduced this undoubted exaggeration. The Relation heretofore quoted mentions that a great feast was held. Judging from the quantity of pro- visions consumed, the number of warriors must have been large and their appetities considerably sharpened. There were consumed, if the account of the feast is true, more than one hundred beavers, besides many deer and other forest viands secured by the chase. When he left the Winnebagoes, Nicolet proceeded up the Fox river, journeying through the great regions of wild rice marshes, till he came to the Mascoutens. He was now but a short distance from the Wisconsin river. A journey of but three days would have taken him to it, and thence he could have drifted down to the "great water." Instead, he proceeded southward towards the Illinois coun- try, and thus missed discovering the upper Mississippi. It was not till thirty-nine years later that Joliet and his party reached the Mississippi. After a sojourn among the Illinois and kindred tribes, Nicolet returned to the Green Bay country, doubtless along the western coast of Lake Michigan — Lac Illinois and Lac Dauphin as it appears on the early maps. He visited the Pottawattomies who dwelt on the islands in the bay, and when spring thawed the ice and made canoe voyaging possible, returned to Montreal by way of the French and Ottawa rivers. Six months later the great Champlain aied. Indian troubles at home kept his successors from following up the investigations in the West, even had they possessed the inquiring and adventurous spirit of the "father of New France." Nearly a quarter of a century was to elapse before another French voyageur dared to follow in the wake of the first comer. But Nicolet had blazed the path. The fate of Nicolet possesses a pathetic interest. A man of warm sympathies as well as brave spirit, he was beloved by Frenchmen and Indians, and spent much of his time in ministering to the sick and in performing official duties at Three Rivers and Quebec, where he served as commissary and interpreter. One evening word was brought him that the Algonkins were torturing an Indian prisoner. To prevent this he entered a launch to go to the place, with several companions. A squall overturned the boat, and the occupants clung to the craft for some time. The waves tore one after another from their frail support. As Nicolet was about to be swept away, he called to his companions: "I am going to God. I commend to you my wife and daughter." It was through the gateway of Wisconsin that civilization en- tered the Mississippi valley. The coming of Nicolet was but the presage of greater events. While Anglo-Saxon colonists were strug- 46 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. gling to keep a foothold on ihe strip of coast along the Atlantic, the volatile Frenchmen were penetrating the very heart of the conti- nent. The former advanced by slow stages, but kept a firm grip on everything they seized; the latter obtained their territory with ease, and as readily lost it. The Anglo-Saxon built his colony on an enduring foundation; the careless, mercurial Frenchman thought but of to-day and had no concern for the morrow. As with the indi- vidual, so with the government. Had the French induced their col- onists to undertake agricultural pursuits instead of encouraging them to roam the woods for beaver peltries, perhaps the history of Wisconsin would to-day be materially different. The fall of New France occurred thirteen years before the min- ute men at Concord and Lexington fired the signal shots of the American revolution; long after that period, through that crucial test that cemented the colonies into a nation, through the stormy periods of the first administrations, till after the close of the war of 1812, the Wisconsin region remained essentially French. For almost two hundred years there passed in procession through Wisconsin the French coureurs de bois, wild, lawless as the Indians with whom they fraternized; the titled and impoverished noblemen who sought glory as voyageurs; the priestly wanderers in somber garb who came with crucifix, as their companions came with sword. "The French dominion is a memory of the past," says Parkman, "and when we evoke its departed shades, they rise upon us from their graves in strange, romantic guise. Again their ghostly camp- fires seem to burn, and the fitful light is cast around on lord and vassel and black-robed priest, mingled with wild forms of savage warriors, knit in close fellowship on the same stern errand. A boundless vision grows upon us; an untamed continent; vast wastes of forest verdure; mountains silent in primeval sleep; river, lake and glimmering pool; wilderness oceans mingling with the sky. Such was the domain which France conquered for civilization. Plumed helmets gleamed in the shade of its forests, priestly vest- ments in its dens and fastnesses of ancient barbarism. Pushing into the wilderness, their indomitable soldiers and devoted priests un- veiled the secrets of the barbarous continent; pierced the forests, traced and mapped out the streams, planted their emblems, built their forts and claimed all as their own." And to-day Frenchmen have in all of North America not one rood of soil they can call their own. French Carry-All. CHAPTER 11. THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF RADISSON. Those who were babes when Jean Nicolet returned to Montreal to tell what he had seen beyond the lakes, had grown to man's estate ere once more the sound of a white man's gun awoke reverber- ating echoes in the forests of Wisconsin. Twenty years or more had passed away, and the story of the lonely canoe voyage of Cham- plain's ambassador had be'^n all but forgottten. The Jesuit Rela- tion of 1660 notes in that year the return to Montreal of two ven- turesome explorers, who had penetrated to the Lake Superior region. They had also "visited the headwaters of the Black river, in North- western Wisconsin, and been guests of honor in the skin lodges and mud cabins of the Sioux in Northern Minnesota." The Jesuit Rela- tions seldom mention names of others than members of the order, and thus the identity of these two unnamed voyageurs remained un- known for more than two centuries. Patient research has finally established the fact that they were two adventurous Frenchmen named Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Medart Chouart des Groseilliers. Groseilliers was the husband of Radisson's sister. They spent sev- eral years in their dangerous wanderings and had many startling a,dventure& and escapes from death. For some supposed or actual slights suffered from their coun- trymen, upon their return to Montreal, they attached themselves to the cause of the rival Englishmen, though later they renewed their allegiance to France. In fact they appear to have been men of elastic conscience when self-interest distated a change of flag. Phys- ically they were stout-hearted, and in many respects displayed much capacity. Radisson became the husband of a daughter of John Kirke, who was knighted during the reign of Charles II. The story of the adventures of Radisson and his brother-in-law has been gathered chiefly from a manuscript narrative written by the former when he was in England. This manuscript has a curi- ous history. It was not written for publication, but to interest King Charles in the schemes of the renegade Frenchmen to have the English wrest the Hudson Bay country from French control. They did interest Prince Rupert, and the founding of the famous Hudson Bay company resulted from their efforts. This journal of Radisson's came into the possession of Samuel Pepys, author of the well-known Pepys Diary, who was secretary' of the admiralty. After his death, many of the Pepys collections of manuscripts were kicked about in garrets. Some of them went into waste-paper baskets. Others drifted into possession of London shopkeepers, and among them Radisson's journal. After many years the journal was picked up, 47 4d Leading Events of Wisconsin History. in 1750, by a man who recognized its value and turned it over to a British library. There it slumbered until 1885, when the Prince society of Boston published it in a limited edition. But two copies are owned in Wisconsin. Being the product of a Frenchman with a limited knowledge of English and an utter contempt for the rules of spelling, the journal of Radisson is a unique specimen of orthographic eccentricity. In other respects it is a most readable account of his strange adven- tures. Radisson's first experience was as a captive of the Mohawks. He was then a mere lad, and the Indians adopted him. Managing to escape, he joined the Dutch and sailed from Manhattan to Hol- land. He returned to New France, and after more adventures among the Indians, undertook his famous two trips to the West. The date French Votageur. (From an Oil Portrait at Montreal, 1835.) of his first voyage is usually given as 1658, but there is some evi- dence to show that he made a voyage westward two years earlier to the Green Bay region. In these voyages Radisson and his brother-in-law visited the Otttawas, "ye nation of ye stairing haires," as the French called them; the famous Fire Nation of Wisconsin, whose chiefs nearly a quarter of a century before had hospitably entertained Nicolet, passed a winter with the Pottawattomies, and heard of the Sioux nation and of a wandering tribe called the Christinos, dwelling on the shores of Hudson's Bay in summer and on the Wisconsin side of Lake Superior in winter. It is claimed that while with the Mas- coutens, or Fire Nation, the two Frenchmen made a canoe voyage to the Mississippi river, but evidence is lacking to prove the sur- mise that this is what Radisson meant in his journal in referring to "ye greate river." The Story of the State. 49 "We weare 4 moneths in our voyage without doeing anything but goe from river to river," Radisson wrote. "We went into ye greate river that divides itself in 2." It was during their second voyage that Radisson and Groseilliers had their liveliest experience. En route they enjoyed themselves hugely shooting game — "it was to us like a terrestrial paradise." On the shore of Chequamegon bay they constructed the first habi- tation ever built by white men in Wisconsin, a little fort of stakes surrounded by a long cord on which little bells were tied. They reasoned that if hostile "wildmen," as they termed the Indians, came unexpectedly upon them, the ringing of these bells by sudden con- tact would apprise the occupants of the fort in season to guard against surprise. This is Radisson's curious description of the littie fort they built: "We went about to make a fort of stakes, wch was in this man- ner. Suppose that the watter side had ben in one end; att the same end there should be murtherers, and att need we made a bastion in a triangle to defend us from an assault. The doore was neare the watter side, our fire was in the midle, and our bed on the right hand covered. There were boughs of trees all about our fort layed acrosse, one uppon an other. Besides these boughs, we had a long cord tyed with some small bells, wch weare senteryes. Finally, we made an end of that fort in 2 dayes' time." The "wildmen" came, but proved to be friendly. In fact they seemed to fear the strangers, rather than wish to do them harm. But the Frenchmen were on their guard and took good care to pre- vent treachery and to astonish the natives with a show of power. In his quaint style, Radisson i-emarks in his journal: "We suffered none to goe in but one person (at a time), and (they) liked it so much the better & often durst not goe in, so much they stood in feare of our arms, that were in good order, wch weare 5 guns, two musquetons, 3 fowling peeces, 3 paire of great pistoletts and 2 paire of pockett ons, and every one his sword and dagger." And he proudly exclaims: "We weare Cesars, being nobody to con- tradict us." Then he adds, in narrating a visit from fifty young warriors, and their wonder at sight of the fort: "They were astonished, calling us every foot devills to have made such a machine." When the Hurons went on their great winter hunt, Radisson and Groseilliers went with them. They killed much large game, for in those days Wisconsin's forests were the haunt of the moose, the elk, the antelope, the woodland caribou and other animals long extinct here, while on the prairies roamed great herds of buffalo. Among other quadrupeds killed were beavers, bears and wolverines. The moose seems to have been the chief trophy of the chase — Radis- son calls this animal the oriniack: 50 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. "We beated downe the woods dayly for to discover novelties. We killed severall other beasts, as Oriniacks, staggs, wild cows, Car- riboucks, fallow does and bucks, Catts of mountains, child of the Devill; in a word, we lead a good life. The snow increases daily. There we make racketts, not to play at ball, but to exercise our- selves in a game harder and more necessary. Tney are broad, made like racketts, that they may goe in the snow and not sinke when they runne after the eland or other beast." Following this prodigality of hunting prowess, there came a great famine, for the snow, which fell in immense quantities, was so Co^Y^Y^^^' Large Wisconsin Game Killed by Radisson. (Radisson's Journal Speaks of the Moose as the "Oriniack.".) light that it would not bear the burden of the snowshoes, and hunt- ing for food was out of the question. With painful minuteness the journal of Radisson depicts their misery, which "grows wors and wors dayly." Though Radisson's journal was written some years after this event, its memories must have remained fresh, judging from the graphic fidelity of his narrative. "0, cursed covetousnesse," he wrote, "what art thou going to doe? Every one cryes out for hun- ger; Ffrench, you called yourselves Gods of the earth, that you should be feared, for your interest; notwithstanding you shall tast of the bitternesse. Where is the plentynesse that yee had in all places The Story of the State. 51 and in c6untreys. Here comes a new family of these poore people dayly to us, halfe dead, for they have but the skins and boans. The first 2 weeke we did eate our doggs. As we went backe upon our stepps for to gett anything to fill our bellyes, we were glad to gett the boans and carcasses of the beasts that we killed. And happy was he that could gett what the other did throw away after it had been boiled 3 or foure times to get the substance out of it." Finally they were reduced to eating boiled skins, ground bones and the bark of trees. As Radisson expressed it, "finally we bee- came the very Image of Death. Here are above 500 dead. It's time to come out of such miseryes." At last the snow hardened and the wornout hunters were enabled with great effort to secure a few animals with which to cheer their famished stomachs. Much of the success that attended the barter of the two French- men with the Indians was due to the possession of merchandise that pleased the fancy of the latter. Such articles as kettles, hatchets, knives, garters, awls, needles, tin looking-glasses, little bells, combs, Vermillion, necklaces and bracelets were profitably ex- changed, although the barter was made ostensibly in the nature of an exchange of gifts. Says Radisson: "We gave them several gifts and received many. They bestowed upon us above 300 robs of cas- tors" (beavers). How far south of the Wisconsin river Radisson and his brother- in-law went in their journeys is a matter of conjecture. Benja- min Suite, a leading Canadian historian, who has made a close study of Radisson's journal, believes that they wintered in the neighborhood of Milwaukee, if not Chicago, in 1658-59. The two Frenchmen had many more adventures after this. T3iey wandered to the country of the Sioux, and claim to have gone as far as Hudson's bay. After many adventures they returned to Mon- treal. Their subsequent experiences are full of incident, but do not pertain to Wisconsin history. Alternating in allegiance between the French and English, as their interests dictated, finally they made England their home. Both are believed to have died in that country. French Pony Cart. CHAPTER III. RULE OF THE FOREST RANGER. Whex, on the 19th day of August in the year 1660, the intrepid Radisson and his brother-in-law, Groseilliers, returned from Wis- consin to Montreal, they were accompanied by 300 Indians and sixty canoes loaded with Furs of bison and of beaver, Furs of sable and of ermine. The Indian flotilla created the greatest excitement in Montreal. Every young Frenchman there dreamed of riches to be found in the forests of the Wisconsin region, for to New France the fur trade was what the mines of the Southwest were to the Spaniards. The population of New France had at this time a large admixture of ruined sprigs of nobility and disbanded soldiers. Without kith or Mn to tie them to domestic hearthstones, these soldiers of fortune turned the prows of their birch-bark canoes westward in search of adventures among the children of the forest. They became known as coureurs de bois (rangers of the woods), and with utter disregard of the hazards that threatened and hardships that must be endured, the adventurers penetrated to the most remote regions of the lake country. The coureur de bois was the most picturesque character in the history of this region. For a century and a half he and the more modern fur trader, of whom he was the prototype, were the most potent factors in the discoveries that preceded settlement. The traf- fic in peltries was lucrative, the roving life, free from restraint, had charms that appealed with peculiar fascination to the ardent French temperament, and the numbers of the coureurs de bois constantly increased. Unlike the sturdy Saxon, whose meeting with the abo- rigines meant the survival of the fittest, the easy-going Frenchman did not seek to crowd the Indian from his place. Instead he adapted himself to the customs and habits of the red man, and became half Indian himself. "Divested of all the proprieties of his former civi- lized life, painted and tattooed, with feathered hat and beaded gar- ments, he gaily danced with the braves or gravely smoked the calu- met at the council of the tribe." In the lodges of the chiefs he wooed and won the dusky maidens of the woods; if, perhaps, in his wandering journeys from tribe to tribe, the fancy seized him, he did not scruple to take to wife as many of them as there were villages in which he tarried — there were no inconvenient laws of civilization to deter him from following the example of the jolly tar who had a wife in every port. Sometimes there came upon the coureur de bois a longing to I'e- turn to the settlements of the St. Lawrence. With his accumulated The Story of the State. 53 store of beaver furs he made his way along the water courses until he came to such a place. Then, disposing of his merchandise, he COUREURS DE BOIS CAROUSING. AFTER A SKETCH BY PTLE, IN HARPER'S. (The scene represents the jollification of the wood rangers upon their return from the forests of Wisconsin, where they have secured valuable furs.) sought the company of boon companions for a season of wild gayety that lasted till his empty purse made necessary a return to the home 54 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. of the beaver and the lodge of the Indian. While his money lasted he abandoned himself to the wild carousal of the frontier tavern. After a time the French authorities tried to suppress the lawless rangers of the woods, deeming their barter for furs an infringement on the rights of the government. Severe repressive measures did not deter the unlicensed traffic, and then the French authorities tried to regulate it by stipulating how many canoes would be permitted to engage in it. There were three men with each canoe. Despite their disregard of law, the rangers proved of great service to their gov- ernment, for everywhere they went they made friends of the In- dians. This friendship for the French remained steadfast in the case of every Algonkin tribe but one — the Fox Indians of Wisconsin. The lawless coureur de bois thus became the advance guard who spread for France the great arteries of trade in the Western country. A century later the coureur de bois was no longer the independ- ent ranger who yielded obedience to neither king nor potentate; he had become the modern voyageur of forest commerce. Instead of following the dictates of his fickle fancy, he went here or there at the behest of his employer. His work Vv^as to ply the paddle while on the stream and to carry the burden when making a portage. The French coureur de bois, using the language of cultivated France, had been succeeded by the half-breed oarsman, speaking the patois which French and Indian ancestors had contributed as his only legacy. These voyageurs, some of whom were to be encountered in Wis- consin as late as fifty years ago, were in their way as picturesque characters as the earlier specimens of coureurs de bois. Clad in shirts of red flannel or leather, with tasseled caps of vivid coloring hanging over on one side, they manned conoe and barge as though a part of the craft. Like a thing instinct with life, the canoe sped through the water with tireless velocity. The muscles of the voy- ageurs were bands of steel; from the hour when a gray line in the east proclaimed the coming dawn till the sun sank in the west in roseate splendor, they sped the craft forward. As the voyageurs plied the paddle, they chanted songs in rhyth- mic unison with the motion. These songs, once begun, seemed to have no end, and one verse seemed like the others of the intermin- able number. Love was usually the theme, though sometimes the stillness of the forest brought a softening mood upon the men, and the ditty gave way to the ballad and elegy. Mellowed by distance, these boat songs, with their accompanying sound of the oar, fell upon the ear with cadence of indescribable sweetness. The plaintive melody of the voyageur's chanson cannot be reproduced by giving the words, but the quaint rhyming has an interest, too. Mrs. Mary A. Krum of Madison has happily rendered in English the words of one of these popular ditties of the voyageur: The Story of the State. 55 Each returning springtime Brings so much that's new, All the fickle lovers Changing sweethearts too. The good wine soothes and gives me rest. While love inspires and fills my breast. All the fickle lovers Changing sweethearts still, I'll keep mine forever, Those may change who will. The good wine soothes and gives me rest, While love inspires and fills my breast. Etc., etc. It was well for the more modern voyageur that he could find sweet solace in song, for in many respects his life was one of few compensations for toil and hardship. Paddling from dawn to dusk, seldom stopping for a midday meal, his daily rations were a quart of hulled corn and a piece of sea biscuit, with a half pint of bear's grease. The corn served, with a piece of pork, for boiling a kind of soup, and this he ate with zest, as he munched his hard biscuit. Sometimes he varied the bill of fare by using pease or beans in place of hulled corn when boiling his bouillon or soup. The well- known traveler, Alexander Henry, whom Mrs. Mary Hartwell Cath- erwood has made her hero in her charmingly told story of "The White Islander," was an interesting observer of Wisconsin life In 1776. He wrote in his journal concerning the voyageur of his day: "A bushel of hulled corn with two pounds of fat is reckoned to be a month's subsistence. No other allowance is made of any kind, not even salt, and bread is never thought of." •What a contrast from the life led by his progenitor — the wild, lawless, untrammeled forest ranger of the seventeenth century. Plow Used a Hundred Years Ago. CHAPTER IV. A PRINCE OF COUREURS DE BOIS. Of the company of coureurs de bois whose favorite abiding place was Wisconsin, none became as famous as Nicholas Perrot. Daniel Greysolon du L'hut and his cousin, Henry de Tonty, "the man with the iron hand," played a more conspicuous part in the exploration of the Western country, but neither was so closely associated with events on Wisconsin soil. The oldest memorial in Wisconsin, to-day, of white man's occupation here, is a soleil wrought in silver and pre- sented by Perrot to the Jesuit mission at Green Bay in 1686. This ancient relic was unearthed by workmen ninety-five years ago, while digging a foundation, and is now in the possession of the Wisconsin Historical society at Madison. Long before he thought of giving to the mission on the Fox this Catholic emblem, Perrot had become familiar with the region around Green Bay. Of his earlier years little is known, except that he attached himself to the wandering missionaries as a hunter to provide for their wants while they were threading the woods in search of converts. He was about 21 years old when, in 1665, he came West and made the acquaintance of the Wisconsin Indians. He obtained an extraordinary influence over them. It was of the greatest importance to French interests that the Western Indians should remain at peace with each other, and the authorities at Mon- treal entrusted to Perrot the delicate role of peacemaker. The In- dians living in what is now Northwestern Wisconsin have been well described as "a race unsteady as aspens, and fierce as wild cats; full of mutual jealousies, without rulers and without laws." Perrot suc- ceeded remarkably well in pacifying the unruly nomads of forest and prairie. He built a number of rude stockades, or forts, in Wis- consin. One was Fort St. Antoine, on the Wisconsin shore of Lake Pepin, traces of which fort were visible four decades ago; another was near the present site of Trempealeau, where but a few years since was discovered the hearth and* fireplace that he had built two hun- dred years before. Fort St. Francis was built by Perrot near the future site of Prairie du Chien; he also built a fort near the lead mines, which he discovered while traveling among the tribes to prevent an alliance with the Iroquois Indians, who were friendly to the Eng- lish. The Miamis presented him with a packet of beaver skins and a piece of lead ore, and thus called his attention to the presence of the metal in Southwestern Wisconsin. Perrot played an important part in an imposing ceremony that occurred in 1671 at Sault Ste. Marie, when the French commander, St. Lusson, formally took possession of the entire Western country. 56 The Story of the State. 57 Representatives of fourteen tribes of Indians were present, Nicholas Perrot having gathered them from the Wisconsin and Hudson Bay regions for this purpose. The ceremony was an elaborate affair, well calculated to impress the savages with the importance of the French. A hole had been dug, and into this was placed one end of a huge wooden cross. This was surrounded by the splendidly- Perrot's Soleil. (Found at Green Bay by Workmen Engaged in Digging a Foundation. Now in Possession of the Wisconsin Historical Society.) dressed officers and their soldiers, and led by the black-gowned Jesuit priests of the company, the uncovered Frenchmen began to chant the seventh century hymn beginning thus: "Vexilla Regis proderunt Fulget crucis mysterium," etc. As the sound of their hoarse voices died away, St. Lusson ad- vanced to a post erected near the cross, and as the royal arms of Leading Events of Wisconsin History. France engraved on a tablet of lead were nailed thereon, he lifted a sod, bared his sword and dramatically took possession of the soil in the name of the Grand Monarque, Louis XIV., styled "the Mag- nificent." A priest offered a prayer for his most Christian majesty, another hymn was sung, and Father Claude AUouez treated tne somewhat astonished tribesmen to a long address. St. Lusson, in taking possession, claimed for the king of France "Lakes Huron and Superior, the island of Manitoulin and all countries, rivers, lakes and streams contiguous and adjacent thereunto; both those which have been discovered and those which may be discovered hereafter, in all their length and breadth, bounded on the one side by the seas of the north and of the west, and on the other by the South sea." "Long live the king," came from the brazen throats of the sol- diers as the ceremony was concluded, and the painted savages howled in sympathy. Hardly had St. Lusson's gorgeous pageant come to a conclusion, when the Indians celebrated on their own account by stealing the royal arms. Facsimile Autograph of Father Menard. (Reue Menard has been called Wisconsin's martyr missionary because in seeking his lost sheep, the migratory Huron Indians, about the headwaters of the Black River, he lost his life either through exposure and starvation, or by the tomahawk. He was the pioneer soldier of the cross in Wisconsin.) Fourteen years later Perrot was appointed "commandant of the West," and in 1689 repeated on Wisconsin soil the ceremony of tak- ing possession in the name of the French king. Despite his great influence over the Indians, Perrot had much to contend with in his relations with them during the thirty-four years that embraced his labors in the West. While at his fort on the shore of Lake Pepin, a party of Kickapoos and Mascoutens learned that there were but six Frenchmen in charge and planned to pillage the post. Learning their plans, Perrot prepared for them. Spies came to the fort and asked: "How many French are there?" "Forty," was the reply. "More are expected from a buffalo hunt. Our guns are well loaded and our knives are sharpened." Six chiefs came in apparent friendship and were admitted to the fort. Being divested of their arms, they were taken into Perrot's hut of logs, where meat was given to eat and tobacco to smoke. Loaded guns were placed conveniently within reach of the French- men. These the conspirators eyed suspiciously. "Is Metaminens afraid of his children?" they asked Perrot in sim- ulated reproach. "No." "Then he is displeased." The Story of the State. 59 "I have good reason to be," said Perrot sternly. "The spirit has warned me of your designs; you will rob me of my goods and put me in the kettle. The spirit told me to be on my guard and he would help me." Surprised that their plans were known, the chiefs confessed the plot, and when their warriors came next morning, one of them shouted to them from the gate of the fort: "Do not advance, or you are dead. The spirit has warned Metaminens." Perrot gave the chiefs two kettles and a few other presents, and they departed. On another occasion thievish Indians had stolen a box of goods. Perrot ordered the goods returned at once, or he would dry up their rice marshes and visit dire punishment upon them. To show them that he possessed supernatural powers, he ordered a cup of water to be brought to him. Pouring some brandy into it, he set fire to the liquor. Terrified by the sight of the burning liquid and believing Metaminens capable of any miracle, they restored the stolen goods. His boldness saved some Indian prisoners of the Ottawas from the torture of the stake. The unhappy captives had already run the gauntlet, and those who had fallen beneath the blows of the sticks wielded by the double row of women and young men had been con- demned to be burned. As they sang the death dirge, Perrot ap- peared among them and commanded them to cease the song. Im- patient at the interruption, the braves commanded their victims to continue. Perrot boldly declared: "I came to cut the strings of the dogs. I will not suffer them to be eaten. You Ottawas are like tame bears, who will not recognize them who have brought them up. You have forgotten the protection of Onontio (the governor of New France). When he asks your obe- dience you want to rule over him, and eat the flesh of those chil- dren he does not wish to give you. Take care, Onontio will tear them with violence from between your teeth." Perrot's attitude had the desired effect and the bands of the prisoners were cut. At one time Perrot had a narrow escape from being tortured at the stake. He was rescued before the torch had been applied to the fagots. Perrot wrote an account of his experiences, but it was not printed until 1864. An English translation has never been published. Perrot's Memoire gives an interesting account of his experiences and of the customs of the savages. He gives a vivid picture of an Indian feast and war dance, as practiced in Wisconsin two centuries and a half ago. A translation of a part of this description is here given: After describing the contents of the war bag, or "pindikossan," consisting of the skins of owls, snakes, white birds, parrots, magpies and other animals, he goes on to say: "Before the feast they always fast, without either eating or drinkmg until they have had a dream. 60 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. During this fast they blacken their face, shoulders and breast with coal; they smoke, however. Some are said to have fasted twelve consecutive days — which seems incredible — and others less." After elaborate ceremonials and the eating of dog's flesh, an In- dian delicacy, the master of ceremonies, who is armed with bow and quiver of arrows, as well as a javelin, "assumes a most furious look, entones his war song, and at each syllable that he pronounces makes most horrible contortions of head and body — the most terrible that can be seen. After him all the guests, one after another, endeavor to outdo one another in assuming most furious appearances. While singing, some fill their plates with hot ashes and burning coals, which they throw upon the spectators, who vociferate in chorus with Wooden Anchor of the Voyageurs. (Picture of a Wooden Anchor Found at Green Bay and now in the Possession of the Wisconsin Historical Society.) a very strong but slow voice, 'Ouiy!' Others seize fire-brands and throw them up into the air; others, again, act as if they were going to tomahawk the spectators. These last are obliged to repair the affront offered to him whom they feigned to strike, by making him a present of vermillion, knife or some other object of like value. Only such warriors as have slain or captured an enemy are allowed to act in this manner. These feints signify that it was thus the enemy was slain." After some more shouting and grimacing, the best of the feast is given to the guests. "Above all," adds Perrot, "everyone must come provided with his own plate; otherwise he would not get his share. Hence they never fail in this, the Indian being naturally too gluttonous to forget on an occasion like this to fill well his belly." The Story of the State. 61 The declining years of Perrot's life were spent on the banks of the St. Lawrence. In his old age he was neglected by the govern- ment for which he had toiled and borne hardships so many years. He was about 75 years of age when his career came to a close. Facsimile Autograph of Claude Allouez. (It is not known where or when Allouez was born. He reached Canada seven years before he came to Wisconsin. He not only founded every Jesuit Mission in this State, but wandered into the Illinois country, and started several mis- sions there. The great explorer, La Salle, became a bitter enemy of Allouez, claiming that the Jesuit attempted to excite against his enterprises the enmity of the Wisconsin Indians. It is certainly true that on several occasions Indians from Wisconsin frustrated the plans of La Salle, but it has not been established beyond doubt that the influence of Allouez was responsible. La Salle and the Jesuits were bitterly hostile in their relations and Allouez on two occasions pre- cipitately left the French fort on the Illinois because La Salle was expected there.) CHAPTER V. THE BLACK GOWNS AND THEIR WANDERINGS. The story of the Jesuit missionaries, contemporary wanderers of the coureurs de bois in Wisconsin as in other parts of the New World, can be read "on ancient worm-eaten pages, between the cov- ers of begrimed parchment." Bancroft's oft-quoted sentence that in the new world "not a cape was turned, not a river entered, but a Jesuit led the way," is based on error. The soldier of fortune came with the sword before the soldier of the cross came with the cruci- fix, but the man of peace was close on the heels of the man of war, and frequently they were together. The Jesuit priest was the historian of this early period. These wandering black-gowns, as the Indians termed them, were required to report periodically to their superior, and their reports were col- lated and printed in Paris. Annually, from 1632 till 1672, these an- nals of the New World came from the press. The lawless rangers of the woods, with a few notable exceptions like Radisson and Per- rot, did not commit to paper their experiences and impressions, and thus the relations of the Jesuits have come to be almost sole author- ity for an authentic narrative of this interesting period of North- western history. These printed Relations in the course of time be- came scattered and lost; but one complete set is known to exist in America, and that is in the fire-proof vaults of Lenox library. Nearly all of the little volumes known as the Jesuit Relations came from the press of the French king's printer. They were issued during the reign of Louis the Fourteenth, styled "the Magnifi- cent," and the dissolute members of his frivolous court eagerly read the narrative of hideous torture at the stake, and other cruelties practiced upon the devoted wanderers of the wilderness who were seeking converts among the heathen red men. In "bewigged, be- ruflfled, bepowdered France" there were not wanting pious zealots who eagerly furnished the means whereby these men of religion, as well as explorers with more material aims, might be enabled to prosecute their journeyings; thus New France was soon dotted with the isolated bark chapels built by the black-gowned missionaries. Amid the somber pine's of the New World there was heard, to the refrain of rustling branches and rippling streams, the chanting of the same old seventeenth century hymns that in the Old World filled the vast spaces of classic cathedrals; in the rude bark chapel, half-starved priests suffering from the rigor of the climate and the cruelties of the natives, intoned the" simple service; in the great cathedrals of France, titled prelates in gleaming vestments per- formed the service, while the jubilant voices of the surpliced choir carried the hymns to the congregation. 62 The Story of the State. 63 Devoted to their calling as they undoubtedly were, oblivious to physical discomfort, willing to endure privations and to face death, in order to win to their faith a few miserable savages, the mission- aries had, too, all the prejudices of their age. For forty years they Ml i ■ ' i Jh fife PERB MARQUETTE. AFTER THE TRENTANOVE STATUE IN THE OLD HALL OF CONGRESS. (No portrait of Marquetto is known to exist. The face of the priest is purely the poetic creation of the sculptor. The garb, it is claimed, is historically correct, Signer Trentanove having received the assistance of the Jesuits of Paris in obtaining the necessary information.) wrote their Relations, and in all that time they carefully excluded from their pages all reference to achievements in which they had no part. In all the history of Western exploration no figure looms so conspicuously as that of Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. Not a line of the Relations bears his name, though his great discoveries 64 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. were contemporaneous with Jesuit effort for twenty years. There are long and tedious descriptions of baptisms, intelligent observa- tions on soil and climate and topography, graphic pictures of savage customs and vivid narratives of personal experience; but nowhere is there even an allusion to La Salle or any other man hostile to the order. Old Church on Madaline Island. (Tourists who visit the Apostle group of islands are told that the old church on Madaline Island is the one built in 1665 by Claude Allouez. This is fiction. The chapel constructed by Allouez was on the mainland, and some miles in the interior; the church on the island was built by Bishop Baraga early in the pres- ent century. All traces of Allouez's chapel have long since disappeared.) CHAPTER VI. UNSOLVED MYSTERY OF FATHER MENARD'S DEATH. Inseparably associated with, the history of Wisconsin are the names of three Jesuits — Claude Allouez, Rene Menard and James Marquette. Menard was the pioneer, and he met death in the region drained by Black river. When he came to Wisconsin, in 1660, he was an old man. He seemed to have a premoniiion of his sad fate. "I write to you probably the last word, and I desire it to be the seal of our friendship until eternity," he wrote a friend on the eve of his departure. "In three or four months you may put me in the memento of the dead, considering the manner of living of these people and my age and weak constitution." From the wilds of Wisconsin the aged missionary wrote to his superior at Quebec an account of his hardships. His Indian com- panions treated him badly. "They required me to carry on my shoulders very heavy packs, and although my paddle, wielded by hands as feeble as mine, did but little service towards hastening the journey, they would not allow it to be idle." Provisions became scarce and the aged missionary was aban- doned with three Indians. "We have everyone of us kept fast, and that a rigorous one," he wrote. "Happy those who find a certain kind of moss which grows on rocks and of which they make a black broth. As for moose skins, those who had some left ate them stealthily. Everything seems palatable when a person is hungry." But the worst was to come. For six days they were reduced to subsisting on soup from grounded bone and earth saturated with the blood of animals that had been killed there. Finally a band of In- dians, more compassionate than the others, took the old man with them to their wintering station on Keweenaw bay on the south shore of Lake Superior. Here he started a mission. It was while on his way towards distant pagan tribes of whom he had heard that Father Menard lost his life. Undeterred by the description given him of the country to be traversed — "an almost continual series of swamps, in which soundings had to be taken lest one might get himself inextricably engulfed," and where the traveler, "winding his way through dense swarms of mosquitoes, would not find anywhere in those dismal regions means of living" — Father Menard undertook the journey to the headwaters of the Black river of Wisconsin. "It is my hope," he wrote, "to die on the way." It was his last letter, and it was prophetic. The Relation of 1663 tells how Father Menard died while seek- ing his lost sheep, the migratory Hurons. He set out in July, 1661, 65 '66 Leading Events of ^yiscon.'^ Facsimile Autograph of James Marquette. (Although Father Marquette was connected with Wisconsin Missions but a few years, and his heart beat warmer for the impressionable Illinois Indians than the less ductile savages of Wisconsin, he is popularly identified with this State in history. Wisconsin has placed his statue in the National Hall of Statu- ary, and his name has been given to a county in this State. Some of the exhumed bones of Father Marquette are in the possession of Marquette College,. Milwaukee, and are guarded as precious relics.) CHAPTER VIII. SOLVING THE GREAT WESTERN MYSTERY. Where a bend of the upper Fox river approaches nearest a curve of the picturesque Wisconsin river, one treads upon historic ground. A rain drop falling here may be carried down the latter stream into the Mississippi river, and thence into the Gulf of Mex- ico; or, perchance, it may flow with the rapid flood of the Fox into the volume of the great lakes, over the ledge of Niagara, down the St, Lawrence, into the ocean of the north. Between the two streams there is a marshy stretch, less than a mile and a half in width, and over this portage the Indian was wont to carry his birch bark canoe. This portage was the doorway to the upper Mississippi river. Jean Nicolet, in 1634, had come to its portal, without entering. Claude Allouez a quarter of a century later had stepped upon its threshold, but had not ventured further; it was reserved for the Sieur Louis Joliet and his priestly companion, James Marquette, to discover the upper Mississippi and open an empire of marvelous richness to the venturesome Frenchmen who followed. The Mis- sissippi river was to be explored and settled, not from the sea as were the streams of the Atlantic plain, but as its current flows. Long before Joliet's canoe glided from the Wisconsin upon the Mississippi river, in 1673, Frenchmen had heard from Indians of the existence of the great water. It was a mysterious highway of which no white man knew the beginning or the end. It was surmised that its waters mingled with those of the Vermilion sea (Gulf of California), and some thought that doubtless here was the route leading to the "wealth of Ormuz and of Ind." One hundred and thirty-one years before, the mailed soldiers of De Soto had consigned to the river's bed the body of their dead chieftain; the memory of their terrible march remained as a shadowy tradition only. Doubt- less in the intervening years others had come to the bank of the continent's greatest artery, but if so, no record remains to tell of it. To Jean Baptiste Talon, intendant of New France, belongs the credit for the conception of the enterprise that led to the discovery of the upper Mississippi; to Louis Joliet for the execution of it; to James Marquette for the preservation of its incidents in historical narrative; to Robert Cavelier, the Sieur de La Salle, the glory be- longs of achieving that which made possible the exploration and subsequent settlement of the Mississippi valley. As the result of an accident whereby Joliet's canoe was over- turned and all his notes were lost, Marquette's name has overshad- owed his as the discoverer of the upper Mississippi. Joliet was the 71 LeadiiKj Emits of Wisconsin History. head of the enterprise, and as such is entitled to the distinction. Marquette deserves to rank as the historian of the party, for he wrote a most readable account of the expedition, and writers of his- tory have been compelled, in consequence of the loss of Joliet's notes, to rely upon Marquette's narrative. The energetic Talon had chosen Joliet to head the important enterprise as a man well fitted for the task. He was 30 years old, a Canadian by birth and ac- customed from boyhood to a roving, adventurous life. The newly- appointed governor of New France, the bluff old Count Frontenac, confirmed this choice, and Joliet started on his quest. Frontenac wrote to France that "he promised to find the Mississippi by way of Green Bay, and that he would probably make it clear that its outlet was in the Gulf of California." The Griffon. (The first vessel that sailed the great lakes was a barque of sixty tons that moored at Washington Island, in Green Bay, September, 1679. Shortly after leaving Green Bay a terrific storm arose. It is supposed that the Griffon went to the bottom with all hands, for she was never seen again.) Joliet reached the mission at Michilimackinac (Mackinac) a few weeks before Christmas, and decided to winter here. At this time Marquette was in charge of the mission of St. Ignace, and as the youthful zealot had long wanted to go among the hospitable Illinois Indians, he gladly embraced the opportunity of accompanying the Canadian envoy. In the long winter nights, as the logs blazed and spluttered on the hearthstone, they drew maps and plans as a guide for the journey. In May, 1673, Joliet and Marquette, accompanied by five French- men, left the frontier mission. They occupied two birch bark canoes, and their store of provisions consisted of a quantity of Indian corri. and smoked beef. When they reached Wisconsin, they first came among the People of Wild Oats, to whom some years before Mar- quette had preached. Here the travelers heard tales that would have dissuaded less determined men from going on. The Story of the State. 73 "They told me," observes Marquette's narrative, " that the Great river was exceedingly dangerous and full of frightful monsters who devoured men and canoes together; and that the heat was so great that it would surely cause our death; that there is even a demon there, who can be heard from afar, who stops the passage and en- gulfs all who dare approach." At Green Bay — then known as the Bay des Puans — the travelers noted a phenomenon that later puzzled scientists — tides that ebbed and flowed as do those of the ocean. As they journeyed up the Fox river, myriads of waterfowl, bustards, duck and teal, rose on wing above the great fields of wild oats whereon they were feeding. The voyageurs plucked the herb which an Indian told them was an in- fallible antidote against the poison that lies in the fang of a snake. The French called the plant, which produces several stalks about a foot long, and has pretty long leaves and a white blossom re-r sembling the gilly-flower, "serpant-a-sonnettes." The Indians chewed the root of it to prevent the poison of snakes from taking effect. Snakes are said to have such an antipathy to this herb that they flee from one rubbed with it, and two or three drops of its es- sence, if placed in a snake's mouth, proves fatal to the reptile. In the town of the Fire Nation the travelers found cordial wel- come. These people lived in cabins of rushes, and in hunting time they could roll them up and carry them away easily. The great cross erected by Allouez in this village a few years before still stood in the midst of the town. A famine had threatened the Indians, and in gratitude to the Great Manitou for averting the misfortune, the Indians had adorned the wooden cross with white skins, red belts and bows and arroAvs. The companions were now near the portage, and two guides showed the way through the labyrinth of marshes and lakelets choked with waving greenery, for the river here wai3 found so cov- ered with wild oats as to make it almost impossible to follow the channel. They helped also to transport their canoes. At last they were on the threshold of the great discovery. As the canoes floated down the beautiful Meskousing, as Mar- quette's narrative terms the Wisconsin, they passed vine-clad islets, bunches of wild grapes peeping from beneath the foliage of the trees, in tempting profusion. Along the banks hill, wood and prai- rie succeeded each other in variety pleasing to the eye. Startled deer scampered away from their drinking places, and the large- antlered moose in large numbers attracted the attention of the Frenchmen. On the 17th of June, 1673, the two canoes entered the Mississippi river. With beating hearts, the travelers paddled with the current, to explore the mysterious region towards the South. Would they reach the Yellow sea? Where would the current land them? 74 Leading Eccnts of Wisconsin History. Prepared, by the tales that had been told them, for surprising experiences, they were not a little startled when they met, as the chronicle of the priest narrates, "a monstrous fish, which struck so violently against our canoe that I took it for a large tree about to knock us to pieces." This was doubtless the catfish of the Mississippi, which is known to grow to an enormous size, and which strikes with great force any object in its way. On another occasion they saw what was probably an American tiger-cat. To the alarmed canoeists it appeared to be "a monster with the head of a tiger, a pointed snout like a wild- cat's, a beard and ears erect, a grayish head and neck all black." Coming to the prairie country, they saw on the banks great herds of buffalo, or pisikious as the narrative terms them: "Our men having killed one, three of us had considerable trouble in mov- ing it. The head is very large, the forehead flat, and a foot and a half broad between the horns, which are exactly like those of our cattle, except that they are black and much larger. Under the neck there is a kind of large crop hanging down, and on the back a pretty high hump. The whole head, the neck, and part of the shoulders are covered with a great mane like a horse's; it is a crest a foot long, which renders them hideous, and falling over their eyes, pre- vents their seeing before them. The rest of the body is covered with a coarse curly hair like the wool of our sheep, but much stronger and thicker. It falls in summer, and the skin is then as soft as velvet. At this time the Indians employ the skins to make beautiful robes, which they paint of various colors; the flesh and fat of the pisikious are excellent, and constitute the best dish in banquets. They are very flerce, and not a year passes without their killing some Indian. When attacked, they take a man with their horns, if they can, lift him up and then dash him on the ground, trample on him and kill him. When you fire at them from a dis- tance with a gun or bow, you must throw yourself on the ground as soon as you fire, and hide in the grass; for, if they perceive the one who fired, they rush on him and attack him. As their feet are large and rather short, they do not generally go very fast, except when they are irritated. They are scattered over the prairies like herds of cattle. I have seen a band of 400." The Menomonee or AVild-Race Indians of Wisconsin had told the priest about a terrible monster that would be encountered. Mar- quette tells how they found this fabled demon of the river; in fact, several of them: ''As we coasted along the rocks frightful for their height and length, we saw two monsters painted on one of these rocks, which startled us at first, and on which the boldest Indian dare not gaze long. They are as large as a calf, with horns on the head like a deer, a, fearful look, red eyes, bearded like a tiger, the face somewhat like a man's, the body covered with scales, and the The Story of the State. 75 tail so long that it twice makes the turn of the body, passing over the head and down between the legs, and ending at last in a fish's tail. Green, red and a kind of black are the colors employed. On the whole, these two monsters are so well painted, that we could not believe any Indian to have been the designer, as good painters in France would find it hard to do as well; besides this, they are so high upon the rock that it is hard to get conveniently at them to paint them." Numerous adventures befell the Frenchmen in their voyage down the river; some tribes proved friendly and others were in- clined to threaten them. When they reached the Arkansas river, they deemed it prudent not to venture among the cannibal Indians of the lower Mississippi. They had gone far enough to learn that the great river disembogued into the Gulf of Mexico, and not Gulf of California. Laboriously they pulled their craft against the cur- rent, homeward bound. They ascended the Illinois river and re- turned to Lake Michigan by way of the Des Plaines river. They had made the journey of nearly 2,800 miles, from the mission of St. Ignace to the mouth of the Arkansas and back, in a trifle over four months. Facsimile Autograph of Henry de Tontt. (Of all the voyageurs during the early French period of exploration, the most picturesque figure was that of the one-handed Tonty, the loyal companion of Robert Cavelier de La Salle. Mrs. Mary Hartwell Catherwood has woven a romance, "The Story of Tonty," from the main incidents of his adventurous life.) Marquette's health failed on the return journey, and he sought rest at his mission while Joliet pushed on to Quebec to report to his superiors. While approaching Montreal, his canoe was upset and he narrowly escaped death. A young Pawnee slave who had been presented to him by one of the chiefs with whom he had smoked the calumet, was in the canoe when the accident occurred, and was drowned. Joliet's journal and notes were swept away and never re- covered. He afterwards drew some maps from memory, but it re- mained for Marquette to bequeath to future generations the narra- tive of the expedition. A sad interest attaches to the fate of the gentle Marquette. After recuperating from the fatigues of his journey, he went among the Illinois Indians in the vicinity of Chicago. But his frame had be- come so enfeebled that he felt the end was near. He prepared to travel to his mission at St. Ignace, accompanied by two Frenchmen. Says the old account: "The eve of his death, which was a Friday, he told them, all radiant with joy, that it would take place on the 76 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. morrow. During the whole day he conversed with them about the manner of his burial, the way in which he should be laid out, the place to be selected for his interment; he told them how to arrange his hands, feet and face, and directed them to raise a cross over his grave. He even went so far as to enjoin them, only three hours be- fore he expired, to take his chapel-bell, as soon as he was dead, and ring it while they carried him to the grave. Of all this he spoke so calmly and collectedly, that you would have thought that he spoke of the death and burial of another, and not of his own." On the east bank of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of a river, they laid down their paddles and carried Father Marquette ashore. Kindling a fire, they erected for him a rude cabin of bark, and here he sank gently into his last slumber. He was but 38 years of age when he died. The remains of the missionary were not permitted to remain in this wild spot. A band of Kiskakon Indians who had become con- verted by him when he was at the mission of the Holy Ghost at Chequamegon Bay, sought his grave, exhumed the remains and placed them in a box of birch bark, which they conveyed to the mission of St. Ignace. Nearly thirty canoes comprised the convoy, the solemn procession being met at the shore by the priests of the mission. With fitting obsequies, the remains of the missionary priest were deposited in a little vault in the middle of the church. A fire destroyed the church in 1705. Nearly two hundred years after the burial of Father Marquette, in 1877, when the chapel had long since been destroyed and even the knowledge of Its location remained but as a tradition, a half- breed engaged in clearing land at St. Ignace, came upon the rude foundatickn of a building. A priest, who surmised that the old church of Marquette had probably stood there, made an investiga- tion that established the fact. Excavations were begun, and the fragments of the birch bark casket wherein Father Marquette's re- mains had rested, were found. The fragments of bones were gath- ered reverently. Some of them were re-interred under a monument, others were distributed among admirers of Father Marquette resid- ing in various parts of the country. A neat casket was provided as a receptacle for most of the pieces of charred bone, and this cas- ket was sent, with its contents, to M&rquette college, Milwaukee. There they are now. Of the fate of Joliet, the official head of the enterprise that led to the discovery of the Mississippi river, little note has been taken by writers of history. He was rewarded by the French govern- ment as all the brave Frenchmen were who brought glory to the flag of the fleur de lis — by neglect. The historian John Gilmary Shea records that "the discoverer of the Mississippi was rewarded, as if in mockery, with an island in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence. This was Anticosti, and here Joliet built a fort and a dwelling for TJic Story of the State. 77 his family, and houses for trade. Two years after his island was taken by the English fleet and he himself, with his wife and mother- in-law, probably while attempting to reach Quebec, fell into the hands of Phipps, the English commander. His vessel and property were a total loss, but his liberty he recovered when the English re- tired from the walls of Quebec. Of his subsequent history there are but occasional traces, and we know only that he died some years prior to 1737." JOLIET'S MAP. (Considering the period when it was drawn, the Joliet map reproduced here- with is evidence of French sliill in cartography. Many later maps of English and Dutch design lack its clearness and comparative accuracy. Joliet's map and Marquette's are the earliest of the Mississippi based on actual knowledge. The tablet in the sketch served the explorer for a long inscription addressed to the Governor of New France.) Father Marquette's narrative does not constitute one of the famous Relations. His manuscript was sent to Paris, and nine years after the discovery of the great river, a Paris publisher brought it out, together with his map, in a small duodecimo volume compris- ing forty-three pages. The map is undoubtedly the first ever pub- lished of the Mississippi river. Five great rivers are delineated with surprising accuracy — the Arkansas, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois and Wisconsin. The latter is spelled Mescousing in the narrative — probably a typographical error for Mesconsin. The narrative of Marquette is written in a straightforward, sim- ple style, wholly free from exaggeration or any apparent purpose to give anything but facts. CHAPTER IX. LA SALLE AND HIS COMPANIONS. Following the discovery of the great river, there came to the Wisconsin region a notable group of voyageurs. In all the annals of the seventeenth century, no figure looms up as conspicuously as that of Robert Cavelier de La Salle. With his companiofas, the boastful friar Louis Hennepin, and the brave and faithful Chevalier Henry de Tonty, he daringly penetrated to unknown regions, and amid hardships almost incredible and in the face of difficulties seemingly impossible to counteract, secured for his country what seemed an empire of untold richness — the great Mississippi valley. The sol- dier of fortune, Greysolon de L'hut, also played a part in the re- markable career of La Salle. The story of these men is as marvel- ous as woven romance. Early in life La Salle had consecrated himself to the priesthood. His nature but ill fitted him for seclusion from the world, and he left the Jesuit order and went to Canada in quest of fame and for- tune. On the St. Lawrence he built a cabin, bartered for furs and studied the language of the Indians. His dream was to find a way to China, and in derision his frontier trading-post was named La Chine. The rapids, a stone's throw away, retain the name to this day. During one of his journeys he explored the Ohio as far as the falls, where the city of Louisville is now situated. He is believed to have penetrated to the Illinois country, and the claim has been made for him that he reached the Mississippi before Joliet and Marquette. This claim is based on mere surmise, and it is very improbable that La Salle was on the Mississippi before 1682, or nine years later, when he made his famous voyage down the river to the Gulf of Mexico. The incidents connected with that expedition are closely allied to the history of Wisconsin. Chevalier Henry de Tonty, the lieutenant of La Salle, was ?n Italian in the French service. His father was the inventor of the tontine system of life insurance. Having incurred the French king's displeasure, the elder Tonty, was locked up in the Bastile, and his son Henry entered the army. The latter was then 18 years old. He fought bravely in seven campaigns on board ships of war and in the galleys. His right hand having been shot away by a grenade, he had a hand made of iron to replace the lost member. Among the Indians this metal hand proved a great aid, for he used it vigor- ously when they became disorderly. As he wore the hand gloved, the red men could not understand how he could deal blows so effica- cious as to knock out their teeth or crack their skulls, and they re- garded him as a wonderful man. Tonty lived in the wilderness of The Story of the State. 79 the West a quarter of a century, his expeditions being chiefly iu what are now the states of Illinois and Wisconsin. Another of the companions of La Salle was Hennepin, a mem- ber of the order of St. Francis. He had an adventurous spirit and much shrewdness, but he was given to greatly exaggerating his own achievements and belittling those of others. Clad in his coarse gown, with girdle at the waist, sandals on his feet and a portable al- tar strapped on his back, Hennepin was a unique figure in the wilderness. He was captured by the Sioux Indians, but was rescued by du L'hut. He wrote an interesting account of his experiences, but his inordinate vanity caused him to narrate achievements purely fictitious. His books had an extraordinary sale in Europe and were translated into almost every language spoken on that continent. Daniel Greysolon du L'hut was a cousin of Tonty of the iron hand. He had, like his cousin, been a brave soldier in Europe, and had served as a member of the royal guard. At the bloody battle of Seneriffe two horses were killed under him. For some unknown reason he renounced the splendid opportunities which he had for winning military glory and chose instead to become a wanderer among the barbarians of the New World. For thirty years this courageous man wandered over the Western country, in constant activity. He was the first white man who journeyed in a canoe from Lake Superior to the Mississippi river, his route being by way of the St. Croix river. When he died, the governor of New France wrote to his government: "He was a very honest man." In the following chapter, narrating the exploits of La Salle and his companions, the incidents given are chiefly those associated with their explorations in the Wisconsin region; the adventures that be- fell them elsewhere are of as absorbing interest, but are not prop- erly a part of this history. CHAPTER X. TRAVELERS IN THE WILDERNESS. Gazixg out upon the waters of Green Bay, the Pottawattomies, who, in 1879, had their wigwams pitched on the islands clustered at its mouth, saw a strange looking object approaching, one day in September of that year. It was a canoe of gigantic size, such as they had never seen before. Like the astonished Indians of Hud- son's bay, under similar circumstances, they marveled greatly to see this "house that walked on the water." The craft that was making for harbor, with bellowed sails and with the brazen throats of cannon glaring from her portholes, was the first sailing vessel that had furrowed the bosom of the great lakes. Though its size was not to exceed sixty tons burden, to the curious Indians gathered on the shore of Washington island it seemed like a huge monster of the deep come to the surface for a breathing spell. Aboard the Griffon — that was the name of the ves- sel — were Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, Friar Hennepin and two other Franciscans, and a motley crew of adventurers whom La Salle had hired to accompany him on a great expedition down the mysterious Mississippi. The vessel had been built amid incredible difficulties the preceding winter, under the direction of the lion- hearted Chevalier Henry de Tonty. La Salle headed the expedition, the king of France having generously given him permission to un- dertake it — at his own expense. In order to procure his outfit, La Salle had involved himself heavily in debt, hoping to pay his cred- itors by securing valuable furs in the Western country. He dreamed of a great empire to be won in the distant lands for his beloved France, and he sought to plant the fleur-de-lis in the remotest parts of the unexplored West. The shipyard of the Griffon was at the mouth of Cayuga creek, near Buffalo. Carved rudely in wood at the prow of the vessel was a representation of the fabulous monster — half eagle and half lion — whose name had been given this argonaut of fortune. The Griffon being conspicuous in the armorial bearings of Count Frontenac, the christening of the vessel was complimentary to this illustrious gov- ernor of New France. Like Frontenac, La Salle was bitterly hostile to the Jesuits, though his youth had been spent in preparation for donning their garb. "I will yet make the griflfin fly above the crows," he declared as he named his vessel. Count Frontenac was the griffin, and the crows were the black-gowned Jesuits whom he hated. The Griffon spread her sails in midsummer (1679) and moored at Washington island in September. On Lake Huron a terrific gale so The Story of the State. 81 was encountered that threatened to engulf vessel and crew. Deliv- ered from this danger, they anchored between two steep bluffs at Michilimackinac, famous in Indian tradition as the He Rabbit and the She Rabbit. They all felt so thankful not to be at the bottom of the lake that while the Griffon rode at anchor in the bay they went ashore for religious services. La Salle, arrayed in his scarlet cloak, with trimmings of gold lace, led the procession and ordered arms to be stacked along the chapel. The only sinner on the boat during the storm who was too hardened to feel repentance or fear. Hennepin's Drawing of a Wisconsin Buffalo. (The adventuies of Hennepin and his exaggerated narrative of them consti- tute one of the readable pages of Wisconsin and Minnesota history. Hennepin was a unique character. With a portable altar strapped on his back, he trudged through the woods in search of adventures. It was while a prisoner of the Sioux Indians that he witnessed several great buffalo hunts on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River. The buffalo ranges of Wisconsin were famous hunting grounds two hundred years ago. The last buffalo in this State is believed to have crossed the great river about fifty years ago, although long before that time this species of game was nearing extinction, as far as tlTe region this side of the Mississippi River was concerned.) was the pilot. While the others were kneeling in prayer, he spent his time in blasphemy and in swearing like a pirate. On Wisconsin soil La Salle found a cordial welcome. He bar- tered with such success that his little vessel was soon heavily freighted with beaver furs. Fortune seemed to smile upon him. These valuable peltries would appease his hungry creditors and would purchase more supplies for the long trip he had planned. He sent the richly-laden barque back to Montreal, directing the crew to rejoin him as soon as possible at the upper end of Lake Dauphin (Michigan). 82 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. The Griffon was never seen again. Wliettier she foundered in a storm, or whether the cut-throat crew — ripe for mutiny before their departure — scuttled the vessel after rifling her cargo, and then es- caped to the Indians of the North, forever remained a mysterj\ "They set sail on the 18th of September with a very favorable light wind," afterward wrote the Franciscan friar, "making their adieu by firing a single cannon; and we were never afterward able to learn what course they had taken, and though there is no doubt but that she perished, we were never able to learn any other cir- cumstances of their shipwreck than the following: The barque hav- ing anchored north of Lake Dauphin (Michigan), the pilot against the advice of some Indians, who assured him that there was a great storm in the middle of the lake, resolved to continue his voy- age, without considering that the sheltered position where he lay prevented him knowing the force of the wind. He had scarcely sailed a quarter of a league from the coast, when these Indians saw the barque tossing in an extraordinary manner, unable to resist the tempest; so that in a short time they lost sight of her, and they be- lieve she was either driven on some sandbank, or that she found- ered. We did not learn all this till the next year. This barque cost more than 40,000 livres in goods, tools and peltries as well as men and rigging imported into Canada from France, and transported from Montreal to Ft. Frontenac in canoes." Unconscious of the fate that had befallen his vessel. La Salle and his men journeyed, in canoes down the west shore of Lake Michi- gan. The same storm that doubtless sent the Griffon to the bottom was experienced by them. The loquacious Hennepin jotted down the notes for the following description of the treacherous storms that on Lake Michigan seem born from sunshine, so quickly do they gather: "Amid the most beautiful calm in the world, a storm arose which endangered our lives, and which made us fear for the barque, and more for ourselves. We completed this great passage amid the darkness of night, calling to one another so as not to part com- pany. The water often entered our canoes, and the impetuous wind lasted four days with a fury like the greatest tempests of ocean. * * * We were forced to land on a bare rock, on which we en- dured the rain and snow for two days." Bad weather pursued the canoeists, and early in October they came to a place which from contemporary descriptions is assumed to have been the bay of Milwaukee. A village of the Pottawatta- mies was located here, and as the store of Indian corn and squashes was well-nigh exhausted, it was deemed prudent to replenish the supplies and to seek shelter from the storm. The waves rolled high and as the canoes were tossed about like shells, the Indians, gath- ered on the shore to haul them in. La Salle feared to land, believ- The Story of the State. 83 ing his goods would be seized, and went some distance further despite their peril; then, jumping waist-high into the water, the men dragged the canoes ashore. To prevent a surprise, the party posted themselves on an eminence, presumably where Juneau park is, and several men cautiously wended their way to the Indian village to barter for provisions. They found it abandoned; the Indians, non- plussed by the behavior of the Frenchmen in not landing where thoy were, had taken the alarm. The men thereupon helped themselves to the corn in the cabins, and by way of compensation left a quan- tity of such articles as were customarily employed in Indian barter. Returning to the camp on the bluff the messengers found their companions there suspiciously watching the movements of a score of Indians, who were armed with bows, arrows and clubs. On pro- ducing a calumet, the Indians began to dance in sign of friendship. They manifested no anger because corn had been taken from their village, and sent to the village for more. La Salle was distrustful, •despite these friendly manifestations. Trees were felled to serve as .a shelter in case of attack, and the men passed the night under arms. The next day the old men of the village came and feasted the French; La Salle made a number of presents and the journey was resumed. Passing the mouth of the Chicago river the head of the lake was rounded, and where the St. Joseph river empties a rude stockade was built. Instructing the men he left here to forward to iim the supplies from the Griffon, La Salle, Tonty and Hennepin pursued their journey towards the Mississippi river, going by way of the Kankakee and Illinois rivers. On the shore of Lake Peoria, among the Illinois Indians, a fort was built. La Salle called it Fort Crevecoeur — the Fort of the Broken Heart. There was ample ground for discouragement. No word came to the anxious voyageurs concerning the Griffon. Let- ters had been suspended conspicuously from the branches of trees along the route to guide expected messengers upon the return of the "vessel. But no messengers came. Instead, the demeanor of the Indians gave ground for the belief that the emissaries of La Salle's enemies had followed him to these remote regions. So it proved. Under cover of night a Wisconsin Indian entered the village and in a secret council of the chiefs poisoned their good will by declar- ing that the strangers enjoying their hospitality were agents come to betray them to their dreaded foes — the Iroquois. He then re- turned to his Wisconsin wilderness as silently as he had come. When La Salle and Tonty sought to enlist the Illinois chiefs in their Mississippi exploration, the Indians responded by describing with the picturesque exaggeration appertaining to their phraseology, 84 LcndhKj Events of Wisconsin History. the terrible dangers that would have to be encountered. Alarmed by their tales the insubordination of the miserable crew accom- panying La Salle and Tonty came to the surface. An attempt was made to poison La Salle. Some of the men deserted and their de- parture redoubled the suspicions of the Illinois that treachery was meditated. Finally La Salle's impatience concerning the Griffon and its ex- pected supplies became so great that he determined on a journey afoot to Montreal to learn what had become of his vessel. He left Chevalier Tonty in command, and sent Hennepin and two com- panions down the river with instructions to go to the Mississippi and explore its northern waters. Most of the Frenchmen deserted Tonty not long after, and he spent the fall in making friends with the Illinois Indians. In the fall a war party of the dreaded Iroquois Indians appeared. Tonty tried to protect the Illinois and almost lost his life in consequence. Thereupon he and his five remaining companions sought safety by departing in a leaky canoe. GTreeu Bay was the objective point. While pursuing their toilsome way one of the two Recollect priests of the party lost his life. They had landed to repair the leaky canoe, and Father Gabriel retired to a leafy arbor for medita- tion and prayer. He never returned, and his companions in vain sought for him. Years afterwards the breviary of Father Gabriel was found among the Kickapoo Indians of Wisconsin, and the mys- tery of his fate became known. While absorbed in prayer, he had been discovered by a wandering band of these Indians, and they cruelly crushed in hie skull with a club, scalped him and threw his body into a deep hole. It was unfortunate for Tonty that he sought succor at Green Bay, instead of going by the longer route along the opposite shore of Lake Michigan, to Michilimackinac. He thus missed La Salle, who was hurrying along that route with reinforcements. In Wisconsin Tonty and his men fared but ill. For days they skirted along the lake shore, living on nuts, roots and wild garlic which they dug from under the frozen snow. It grew bitterly cold, their footgear gave cut and they improvised moccasins by cutting the beaver mantle of poor Father Gabriel into strips, which they tied on with thongs made of the same material. For fifteen days they subsisted on the scanty fare they dug out of the frozen ground, when the providential killing of a stag gave them renewed courage and sustenance. The Sieur de Boisrondet became lost in the forest and for ten days was looked upon as forever lr>st by his dispirited companions. When he rejoined them he told how he had lived alone in the woods, armed with a musket, but unprovided with flint and bullets. In his extremity he had melted a pewter dish into pellets and with the touch of a live coal successfully discharged his musket at a flock of The Story of the State. 85 wild turkeys. Thus he had kept alive his emaciated frame till he found his companions. When at last the eyes of the weary travelers were gladdened by the sight of an Indian village, new disappointments awaited them; the village was deserted. The famished men eagerly gathered a few handfuls of scattered corn and a few frozen gourds. While search- ing for more, a belated member of the party came up and began de- vouring the provisions, which he supposed had been left there tot him. When the gleaners returned, they found he had not spared the corn and the gourds. "We had much pleasure in seeing him again, but little to see our provisions partly consumed," Tonty remarks in his memoir of the journey. Following another Indian trail, the weary travelers reached a second village. The Indians had departed, leaving the slumbering embers of a fire. This was about the place where the Sturgeon Bay canal opens into Lake Michigan. In the hope of coming upon the Indians, the weary men made a portage to Sturgeon creek. Failing to come upon the savages, they determined to go back to the Indian village to secure at least the comfort of dying by a fire. They were now in their last extremity. Tonty was attacked by a fever and his legs were swollen terribly. In his hunger one of the men had made a meal of part of Father Gabriel's mantle of hide, and suffered so excruciatingly from indigestion as to be unable to proceed. The creek had frozen so as to render navigation by canoe impossible. The last hope seemed to be gone, when two Indians chanced that way and brought the long sought relief to the famish- ing men. Among the well-disposed Pottawattamies, in what is now the peninsula of Door County, Wis., Tonty spent the winter and recuperated from the hardships of his terrible journey. In the spring he crossed toMichilimackinac. To their mutual joy, Tonty and La Salle there met and told each other what adventures had befallen each, since their parting at Fort Crevecoeur, twelve months before. Subsequent events in the lives of La Salle and Tonty were less intimately associated with the Wisconsin region. In 1682, they un- dertook their second expedition down the Mississippi, reaching Its mouth after many exciting adventures, and taking possession in the name of Louis XIV. of all the country drained by its streams — an empire reaching from the Alleghenies to the Rocky mountains. A couple of years later the enterprising La Salle endeavored to reach the mouth of the Mississippi by vessel from France and was cast away on the inhospitable shore of Texas. Some of his men shot him from ambush, and his unburied bones were left to bleach un- der a Southern sun. His faithful friend Tonty had before this been made commander of the fort on the minors river known later as "Starved Rock." There he ruled his savage vassals for many years. CHAPTER XL FRIAR Hennepin's adventures. It took Friar Hennepin and his two Frenclimen many days to reach Wisconsin soil after leaving the Fort of the Broken Heart, for when they drifted to the junction of the Illinois with the Mis- sissippi, great masses of ice were floating down the latter. They passed the Wisconsin and Black rivers, and when they reached the great expansion of the Mississippi river called Lake Pepin, Indians made them prisoners. Hennepin called it the Lake of Tears, be- cause the Indians who had taken him wept the whole night to in- duce the other warriors to consent to the death of the captives. Their lives were spared, and they were taken to Minnesota villages of the Sioux, where the three Frenchmen had many curious experi- ences. On the way there, they witnessed a great buffalo hunt on the Wisconsin side of the river. In Hennepin's narrative he describes how "these Indians at times sent their best runners by land to chase the herds of wild cattle on the water side; as these animals crossed the river, they sometimes killed forty or fifty, merely to take the tongue and most delicate morsels, leaving the rest, with which they would not burden themselves, so as to travel more rapidly. We sometimes indeed ate good pieces, but without bread, wine or salt, and without spice or other seasoning." Sometimes the party feasted right royally, and again went twenty-four hours at a stretch without eating. Hennepin had a robust appetite and this fasting did not suit him. "If a religious in Europe underwent as many hardships and labors, and practiced abstinences like those wt were often obliged to suffer in America, no other proof would be needed for his canon- ization," ruefully observed the Franciscan. An Indian chief named Aquipaguetin adopted Hennepin as his son, and from that time on the friar's life was made most miserable. While on a great buffalo hunt in Wisconsin, with their Indian cap- tors, Hennepin and one of the Frenchmen tried to escape to the Wisconsin river. They hoped to find some of La Salle's men. They suffered much for want of provisions. They captured a turtle, and while Hennepin endeavored to cut off its head, the turtle almost snapped off one of his fingers. They chanced upon a herd of sixty buffaloes crossing the river, chased the animals to an island, and there killed one. Hennepin cooked little pieces of the fat meat in an earthen pot, and as they had fasted for twenty-four hours, both ate so voraciously as to become ill. Their distress lasted two days and then they found the rest of the buffalo meat so tainted that they could not eat it. Pursuing their way and wondering where their so The Story of the State. 87 next meal would come from, an eagle providentially dropped a large carp which it was carrying in its claws to feed the eaglets in its eyrie nest. Again they discerned an otter feeding on a huge spade fish, and robbed it of its prey. When his companion saw the large fish "with a kind of paddle or beak five fingers broad and a foot and a half long running from the head," his superstitious fears were aroused. He thought it was "a devil in the paws of that otter." "But his fright did not prevent our eating this monstrous fish, which we found very good," adds the reverend chronicler, whose ap- petite never failed him. To the consternation of Hennepin, as they neared the Wisconsin river, there suddenly appeared on the scene his savage foster father and ten warriors. Hennepin's companion was away on a hunt for food, and the friar was reposing on the bank of the river under a canopy improvised with an old blanket. When he saw Aquipaguetin, he thought his last hour had come. As Hennepin afterwards told the story, the Indian "seeing me alone came up, tomahawk in hand. I laid hold of two pocket pistols which the Picard had got back from the Indians, and a knife, not intending to kill this would-be- Indian father of mine, but only to frighten him." Hennepin doubtless exaggerated this incident, for there was no bloodshed. Once more a prisoner, he accompanied the Indians on a great buffalo hunt in Wisconsin, where they killed, at different times, "as many as a hundred and twenty buffaloes." En route to the Indian villages with the booty of the chase, the Sieur du L'hut made his appearance with a party of Frenchmen and demanded the release of the Franciscan and his companions. This brave soldier of fortune had great influence over the Indians, and Hennepin was released from the bondage of his tyrannical foster father. For a year and a half, the friar had been virtually a slave. He now accompanied du L'hut on a westward expedition, and when that explorer decided to return to Green Bay, went with him. An old chief traced for them a route identical with that pursued by Joliet when he went to the Mississippi. Hennepin's account gives these incidents of the trip in Wisconsin: "We stopped near Ousconsin river to smoke some meat; three Indians coming from the nations we had left, told us that their great chief named the Pierced Pine, having heard that one of the chiefs of his nation wished to pursue and kill us, had entered his cabin and tomahawked him, to prevent his pernicious design. We regaled these three Indians with meat." Journeying on for two days tue Frenchmen "perceived an army of one hundred and forty canoes, filled with about two hundred and fifty warriors; we thought that those who brought the preceding news were spies, for instead of descending the river upon leaving us. Lcailing Ercnts of Wisconsin History. they ascended to tell their people. The chiefs of this little army visited us, and treated us very kindly." At the portage they stopped to mark crosses on the trunks of the trees, and reached Green Bay without further mishap. Hennepin returned to Europe, where he published his book of adventures — some of them true, and some the creation of his imagination. Du L'hut remained in the West and ended his days in the wilderness, after experienaing many thrilling adventures. Other travelers came to Wisconsin in search of adventure and fortune. One Baron La Hontan went as far as the Mississippi in 1689, and wrote a book containing more fiction than Hennepin's. An- other traveler was a Frenchman named Pierre Le Sueur, who went down the Fox-Wisconsin route and reached the Sioux country, in 1683. Ten years later he built a fort at Chequamegon Bay, and an- other on an island in the Mississippi, near the mouth of the St. Croix river. He also worked the lead diggings in the southwestern corner of the state. Toward the end of the seventeenth century, the Fox- Wisconsin route became closed to travelers on account of the hostility of the Fox Indians. Father St. Cosme, who had planned to go to the Mississippi from Green Bay by that route, was compelled to go along the western shore of Lake Michigan. The closing of this important waterway was one of the chief causes of the great Fox Indian war. PART III. UNDER FRENCH AND ENGLISH DOMINION. -' o '' o " H B >5 d.'O 2 3 H o o CHAPTER I. FIRE BRANDS OF THE WEST. No EVENT in the annals of Western Indian warfare bears a paral- lel to the savage ferocity of the long war of extermination carrried on by the Frenchmen against the Outagamies of Wisconsin — the Musquakies as they called themselves; les Renards, as the French called them; the Poxes, as they were termed by the English. Neither the Pequot war of New England nor the tireless pursuit of the South- ern Seminoles witnessed such scenes of barbaric cruelty as occurred during the great conflict with the Foxes. For a period of thirty years, Frenchmen hunted the harried fugitives fi'om one place to another. Firebrand and famine alike proved unavailing to sweep off the face of the earth these war-like Indians, "passionate and un- tamable, springing into new life from every defeat, and, though re- duced in the number of their warriors, yet present everywhere by their ferocious enterprise and savage character." Indian and white man vied with each other in acts of demon-like cruelty; even women and children suffered the horrors of death at the stake. It it not easy to determine the origin of the hatred manifested by the Foxes towards the French; doubtless a series of events con- tributed to this feeling, rather than any one act, for the Fox tribe was the only one of the great Algonkin family which did not fra- ternize with the French. Nicholas Perrot was the only Frenchman for whom they manifested friendship, and in his case a display of heroism in rescuing a daughter of a Fox chief from their enemies was responsible for this feeling of friendship. It seems to have been a grievance of the Foxes that their ene- mies among neighboring tribes were supplied with firearms by the French traders. They also claimed to have been ill-treated on the occasion of a visit to Montreal. The ill-feeling thus engendered grew more bitter as one act of reprisal brought on another. At last the Foxes grew so insolent that they took possession of the river high- way that bears their name, and levied tribute on all who passed that way. Their demands grew so extortionate as to threaten the ruin of the great fur trade. In his "Seventy-two Years' Recollections of Wisconsin," Augus- tin Grignon narrates that the Foxes were located on the western bank of the Fox river, 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 traders to come 91 92 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. 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 LANGLADE'S COMMISSION FROM KING LOUIS XV. (The Original is in Possession of Mrs. Morgan L. Maxtin of Green Bay.) Following is the wording of Langlade's Commission: DE PAR LE ROY. Sa Majeste ayant fait choix du Sr. Langlade pour servir en quaJite de Lieu- tenant reforme a la suite des troupes entretenues en Canada, Elle mande an Gouverneur, Son Lieutenant-general de la Nouvello France, de le recevoir et de le faire reconnaitre en la dite qualite de Lieutenant reforme de tout ceux et ainsy qu'il appartiendra. Fait a Versailles, le pr. fevrier 1760. Louis. annoyance to the traders, who made their complaints to the com- mandants of the Western posts, and in due time these grievances reached the ears of the governor of Canada." So bold had these firebrands become in 1712 that they planned to destroy Detroit, then a garrison of thirty men. Friendly Indians The Story of the State. 93 came to the rescue of the French and the invaders were surrounded. They had dug holes in the ground and here they 'hid themselves, till one dark and rainy night they managed to elude their foes. Near Lake St. Claire the Foxes were overtaken and a desperate fight en- sued. One thousand men, women and children — so the old accounts say — lost their lives in this engagement. The remnant of the band hurried back to their Wisconsin villages. Here they diligently sought to unite the tribes in a confederacy for a general attack on the French. So threatening seemed the danger that the authorities at Montreal dispatched a considerable force to Wisconsin, under com- mand of the king's lieutenant at Quebec, Sieur de Louvigny. For the first time in the history of Wisconsin, an armed military force with hostile intent appeared within its borders. The commanQ comprised 800 men, some of them Indians who joined the standard of the French en route from Quebec. Thirteen canoes of Iroquois opposed their passage, but were defeated. One of the prisoners was roasted and eaten by the Ottawas. Sieur de L/ouvigny started on his war of extermination with great energy. The command left Quebec in March, 1716, and the king's lieutenant urged the canoes forward so as to inspire his In- dian allies with his earnestness. At Michilimackinac the report was given out that not a single member of the Fox tribe would be spared. Evidently the Foxes also deemed the situation serious, for they pre- pared to sell their lives as dearly as possible. On Fox river, at the place known as Butte des Morts (Hill of the Dead) they erected a stockade. In the rear they dug a ditch, and a triple range of oak palisades served as a protection to those within. Five hundred war- riors and three thousand women, if the old accounts are trustworthy, here barricaded themselves and awaited the coming of the French. The siege began before three hundred warriors who were com- ing to reinforce the Foxes had arrived. The Indians had constructed their fort with such military genius that it seemed a foolhardy un- dertaking to attempt to storm it. De Louvigny ordered his two field pieces and one grenade mortar to play on the fort, but the triple row of oaken palisades could not be battered down. He de- termined to force the fort by means of mines. "After three days of open trenches, sustained by continuous fire of fusileers with two pieces of cannon and a grenade mortar, they were reduced to ask for peace," Louvigny wrote in his official ac- count. "The promptitude with which the officers who were in this action pushed forward the trenches that I had opened at only seventy yards from their fort, made the enemy fear the third night that they would be taken." As Louvigny was about to explode two mines, the humbled Foxes sent a proposition for peace. It was rejected. A second time the Foxes sued for peace, offering following terms of capitulation: 94 Leadinp Eccnts of Wisconsin History. 1. The Foxes and allies agreed to make peace with the French and their Indian confederates. 2. The Foxes agreed to release all their prisoners. 3. Every Frenchman whom the Foxes had killed was to be re- placed by a slave, such slaves to be prisoners taken from distant na- tions with whom they were at war. 4. The Foxes agreed to pay all the expenses of the war by the product of the ohase. These conditions were accepted by Louvigny, though the boast had been made that nothing less than the utter extermination of the Fox nation would satisfy the Fi-ench. The brave Chief Pemoussa, who had led the attack on Detroit, and five other chiefs, accompanied the victor to Montreal, as hostages, and to ratify the treaty. Small-pox was decimating the colony that year, and to this scourge three of the hostages succumbed. The famous war chief Pemoussa was one of the victims. Louvigny, fearful that the Foxes would believe that the hostages had been betrayed to their death, hastened with one of the survivors to the Fox river. A rich store of presents assuaged the grief of the Foxes for their dead chieftains, and after the usual ceremonials of the tribe in grieving for the dead, lasting several days, the calumet was smoked and songs of peace were sung. It was but a hollow peace. The Foxes continued their depreda- tions, and failed to carry out the treaty they had made. In 1728 the Sieur de Lignery was sent to Wisconsin to humble the haughty Foxes. Fifteen hundred men made the journey in canoes. The plan was to surprise the Foxes in their villages, and to give no quar- ter. As one of the governors of New Fi'ance had written .sometime before this: "His majesty is persuaded of the necessity of destroy- ing that nation, as it cannot be kept quiet." The commandant of the 450 French and 1,000 Indian allies acted with great deliberation. Delays that were unaccountable occurred along the way, and it was suspected that the officer's lack of haste was due to potations in the privacy of his tent. At any rate, such slow progress was made, that long before the army arrived at Green Bay the Foxes had been apprised of their coming, and had fled. They had been lodged at the village of the Sac Indians, near Fort St. Francis (Green Bay), and de Lignery surrounded the wigwams, not knowing that the Foxes had decamped in anticipation of his coming. But four Indians were found there, and these unfortunates were turned over to the allies of the French. After diverting themselves by practicing cruelties of all sorts, the Indians put an end to the misery of the prisoners by shooting them to death with their arrows. After this achievement de Lignery proceeded up Fox river in pursuit of the enemy, going in the same leisurely way as before. Empty villages were found, but no trace of the Foxes. Fields of The Story of the State. 95 Indian corn were ruthlessly ravaged and the torch was applied to the deserted villages. Vast quantities of maize, peas, beans and gourds were thus destroyed. The Winnebago villages were likewise swept with fire. • "It is certain that half of these nations, who number 4,000 souls, will die with hunger," is the cheerful prediction made in the official account of the expedition that was sent to the king. In four of the Fox villages two old women, a girl and an old man were found. These were roasted at a slow fire, and then killed. The season was now far advanced, the French had to rely on Indian corn for daily fare, and as the safety of half the army was endangered, de Lignery ordered a return march. Thus inglori- ously ended this expedition. The second in command on this occa- sion was the same Beaujeu who later led the terrific onslaug'ht on the army of Gen. Braddock. The Marquis de Beauharnois wrote in the month of May, 1730, that he had received "the favorable news" that while returning from a buffalo hunt a party of Foxes had been surprised and annihilated. Eighty Indians were killed in ambush or sang the death song at the stake. "Our allies burned the boats, and three hundred women and children shared the same fate," gleefully wrote Beauharnois. "I have the honor, my lord, to communicate this news with so much the more pleasure, as there is no doubt existing on the subject." Shortly after this, the official letters sent to the French minister at Paris convey the interesting information that "two hundred of their warriors have been killed on the spot, or burned after having been taken as slaves, and six hundred women and children were absolutely destroyed." The Sieur de Villiers commanded this expedi- tion. Another expedition was undertaken by the Sieur de Buisson. With desperate bravery, the hunted tribesmen defended their ancient hunting grounds. Forced to fly from the Fox river valley owing to the unrelenting onslaughts of the French, they pitched their tepees on the Wisconsin. Here, too, they made a gallant stand, but their decimated ranks could no longer withstand the fury of the French and their Indian allies. They sought refuge among the lowas. Their descendants, nearly a century later, with the Sac Indians, under the celebrated chief Black Ha/wk, cai'ried terror to the pioneer American settlements of Wisconsin. The Sac Indians were closely allied with the Foxes. This friend- ship led to serious consequences. It was suspected by the French commander at Green Bay that the Sacs were harboring Fox refugees in their village near the fort. Capt. de Villiers rashly concluded to go to the village and demand their surrender. He found the Indians in council. Annoyed at their disinclination to comply with his demands, the captain drew a pistol and shot one of the chiefs dead. 96 Leading Ecciits of Wiscoimn Hifitory. His life seemed to hang by a thread, for the young men rushed at him to avenge the chief's death. The old men interposed. Unmind- ful of his danger, Capt. Villiers again leveled his weapon and killed a chief. A third bullet sped on its way and found a victim. At this juncture a young Sac known as Blackbird seized a gun and shot the captain to the heart. This- young Indian, who after- "Where the Battle Was Fought." (The foot of Lake Winnebago (where the city of Neenah has been built) was the scene of one of the fiercest battles of the war against the Foxes. During the early part of the present century, the Winnebago Indians were located here, and one of their chiefs, who was known as Four Legs, undertook, as had the Foxes a century before, to stop all comers and to require the payment of tribute. On one occasion Gen. Leavenworth came with troops in batteaux en route to the Mississippi. Four Legs ordered him to stop and deliver. "The door is locked," said the old chief. "But I have the key," said the General, as he raised his rifle and aimed it at the head of the chief. "Then you can pass through," quickly replied the old Indian, who seems to have had as much prudence as valor in his composition.) wards became a celebrated chief of his tribe, was then but 12 years of age. The French now rallied to avenge the death of their commander. A battle was fought, and the Sacs were totally routed. Like the Foxes they became exiles from their fertile fields in the valley of the Fox. They took up their habitations along the Wisconsin river. CHAPTER II. THE HILL OF THE DEAD. Tradition has it that at the Butte des Morts (Hill of the Dead) there were fought the bloodiest battles of the long war of extermina- tion carried on by the French in seeking the expulsion of the Fox Indians from their fertile valley. A gallant captain whose name is recorded in history as "the famous French partisan, Marin," was chiefly associated with the expedition that led to the sanguinary title given to the two hills near Oshkosh known as the Great Butte des Moi'ts and Little Butte des Morts. Capt. Marin was undoubtedly at one time in command of the little garrison at La Bale (Green Bay), but the dates of his conflicts with the Indians have not been clearly ascertained. The tradition of the Hill of the Dead is an interest- ing one. Like many other traders who used the Fox-Wisconsin highway, Capt. Marin had suffered from the exactions of the robbers along the banks of the Fox. He determined to inflict a terrible lesson, that the Foxes would long remember. Before railway graders attacked the eminence with pick and spade, the summit of la Butte des Morts was an outlook whence could be seen the "lake of Graise d'Ours to the east and a long reach of the Fox river and many a rood of fat prairie land to the west- ward." Situated in an angle where the Fox and the Wolf rivers mingle their waters, it was exceptionally well located as a vantage ground whence the pirates of the prairies could discern the coming of their victims. When the boats of the French grew few, the Foxes could vary monotony by shooting the blue-winged teal which fat- tened on the wild rice that grew there so plentifully. Myriads of water fowl would rise on wing as the voyageurs worked their canoes through the tangled growth that barred their way. Soon the men in the boats would discern the flicker of the red men's torch as a signal to come ashore and pay such tariff as the Indians chose to levy. A Sac Indian who attempted to enforce the penalty received a wound that felled him to the ground. The young trader's life paid the penalty of his rash resistance. His scalp was taken in triumph, and his goods were pillaged. Thus did the haughty Indians give warning that they would brook no protest against their trade regu- lations. The tradition current half a century ago was that the Hill of the Dead was the repository of the bones of warriors who fell in the ter- rible battle with the French at some period not definitely known, except that it was during the great thirty years' war carried on against the Foxes. Capt. Perriere Marin was a dashing soldier who 97 98 Lcmllng Events of Wiscom'ui Histori/. had taken part in the bloody battles of Malplaquet and Friedlingen before coming to America. He was of too stern stuff to yield to In- dian arrogance without a struggle. "Give me 300 regulars," quoth he to the commanding officer at Quebec, "and these Indians on the Fox will repent their presumption in barring the path to a soldier of France." His request having been granted, he repaired to the great ren- dezvous at Michilimackinac to make preparations. A dozen boats of the usual pattern — strongly built, flat-bottomed, pointed at both ends and covered with sheets of painted canvas — were constructed. Into Hill of the Dead, as It Appears To-day. (Above view represents the mound or what remains of the tumulus, as it appears from the river. The hill was not of great altitude at any time, but the surrounding country, being exceptionally flat, gave the elevation an added importance. The pick and spade of civilization have in the last half century materially reduced its dimensions.) these he stowed a number of kegs of French brandy, and proceeded to make a tour of the islands that are strung like beads on a thread along the eastern shore of Green Bay. Here he smoked the calumet and unfolded to the Indians his purpose of meting out punishment to the insolent Foxes. The chiefs deliberated and looked longingly at the brandy, which Capt. Marin temptingly exposed. "What the Father observes is good," responded one of the chiefs. "He is wise. But our understanding is weak; a little milk will strengthen it." Capt. Marin took the hint and tapped a keg of brandy. For sev- eral days there was revel in the camp of the Indians. The chief took The Storu of the State. 99 advantage of the delay to send the Foxes warning of the contem- plated attack. Unfortunately for the latter, they failed to heed the warning. "The Outagamies are not cowards," was the lofty answer they sent back. Finally Oapt. Marin had everything in readiness, and by prom- ing his Indian allies the land of the Foxes, induced them to join his force. He sent one of his boats in advance to the Butte des Morts, with instructions to permit the boat to be plundered without offer- ing resistance. In the boat he had stowed some of his brandy kegs. He had a shrewd design in this. Of course, as soon as the Foxes spied the boat, they went through the usual tactics, and when they discovered the nature of the cargo, increased the ordinary toll to 100 per cent. The confiscation of the brandy was what the crafty French cap- tain had planned. He landed his force a mile below the Hill of the Dead, out of sight, and instructed them to creep behind the Indian villages and secrete themselves until they heard firing in front. Into his boats he crowded his armed soldiers and covered them with the parlas, as the painted sheetings were called, so as to make it appear that he had a cargo of freight. A few of the soldiers disguised as boatmen took up the paddles and sang one of the popular ditties of the rivermen, as they made the boats cut through the water. The drunken Indians on the hill spied them with great delight. It seemed the richest spoil that had ever ventured within their domain. As the boats came along, bullets whizzed athwart to signal an immediate stop. In pretended fi-ight the steersmen cried to the rowers to heed the summons. As the keels grated, the Indians leaped into the water in their eagerness to secure their prey. This was the opportunity for which Oapt. Marin had maneuvered. "Help! help! thieves! thieves!" he yelled in a loud voice. In a moment the boats were alive with soldiers; the canvas cov- erings were thrown oft like magic. Six score Frenchmen raised their muskets with the precision of trained soldiers, and poured a deadly volley into the thick crowd of Indians who were dragging at the boats. Dazed by the sudden attack, seeing their men falling on all sides, as the bullets tore into their midst, the v/arriors fied to their village on the hill. Here, to their consternation, they faced an enemy as remorseless. Their wigwams of bark were in flames, and behind the curtain of flames and smoke were the men whom Oapt. Marin had sent to cut off their retreat. Surrounded as they were, the Foxes fought with the fury born of desperation. Men, women and children perished in the flames or fell by the bullets of the Fremch and the tomahawks of the French- men's allies. Not one asked or was given quarter. Their charred bones gave to the hill the name it bears to this day. 100 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. Such is the tradition of the Hill of the Dead. Doubtless it is true that at one time an engagement took place here, but there are no records preserved to tell whether there was indeed such a wholesale slaughter as that Avhioh is told in the traditional narrative. It is told of Oapt. Marin that at another time he carried ruin to an Indian village in the dead of winter. His men made the arduous and perilous journey on snowshoes, caught the unsuspecting Indians unawares, and by torch and tomahawk annihilated the whole band. It is known that Capt. Marin commanded at La Bale in 1754, but the battle at the Hill must have occurred many years before this date. Subsequently Capt. Marin took part in the Indian war in New York and the East. When Fort William Henry was captured, he aided in the slaughter with a band of Wisconsin Indians. The great French general Montcalm wrote that in a daring expedition against Fort Edward this adventurous captain "exhibited a rare audacity"; with a small detachment "he carried off a patrol of ten men and swept away an ordinary guard of fifty like a wafer." When New France fell, Capt. Marin returned to the Wisconsin woods. He lived to a ripe old age, and in the soil of Wisconsin his grave was dug. CHAPTER III. NAMING THE INLAND WATERS. Mississippi River — Synonyms: Rio Grande del Espiritu Santo (Hernando Da Soto); Great river (Friar Hennepin); River of the Immaculate Conception (Pere Marquette); River Colbert (Sieur de La Salle); River Buade (Louis Joliet); River Gastacha (Iroquois Indians); Messipi (Ottawa Indians). Wisconsin River — Synonyms: Meskousing, Miskonsing, Onisconsin, Miscon- sin, Ouisconsing, Ouisconsin, Wisconche. Lake Michigan — Synonyms: Lake Illinois, lUinovik; Lake Dauphin; Lake Michigonong, Michigami, Mitchigami, Mitchiganons; Lake St. Joseph; Magnus Lacus Algonquinorum. Lake Superior— Synonyms: Lake Superieur; Lake Tracy; Geetchee-Gumee ; Kitchi-Gami; Grand Lac; Lac de Conde; Upper Lake. Green Bay — Synonyms: Lac de Gens de Mer; Enitajghe (Iroquois); La Grand Bale; Bay des Puants; La Baye des Eaux Puantes; La Baye; La Baie Verte; Lake of the People of the Sea. Lake Winnebago — Synonyms: Winnebagog; Lac Outouagamis; Lake Wyne- baygas; Lac Ouinnebagon; Lake Puan. Many of the names g-iven by the early explorers to the water- ways of this region have survived to this day, though not all of them in their original form. Again others, and among them the great lakes and the great river Mississippi, have gone through many and curious transformations of nomenclature before they obtained the names they bear at this day. The first time the name Mississippi appeared in print was in a Jesuit Relation. Claude Allouez had heard from Indians sojourning at his Chequamegon chapel of bark of a great stream which they termed Me-sipi. The Iroquois Indians, whose habitations were in what is now New York, called this river Gastacha. In Friar Hen- nepin's narrative, the river is called Mechasipi. Joliet, when his canoe came from the Wisconsin river to the junction with the great river at the place where later rose the city of Prairie du Chien, chris- tened the stream Buade river, in honor of the family name of Count Frontenac. His companion, Marquette, less worldly-minded, called the river Conception, because it was on the day known by that name in the calendar of his faith that he had received pei-mission to accompany Joliet. Eleven years later the Sieur de La Salle gave to the noble river, which he descended to its mouth, the name Colbert, in honor of the great minister of France whose friendship he en- joyed. A century and a half before the Spaniard De Soto had given to the river the name Rio Grande del Espiritu Santo. The name the Spaniard gave, the many names given by the Frenchmen, are to be found only on maps yellow with age; on the modern map there survives, as is meet, the name given by the abo- rigines. The orthography has been most varied, for geographers who sought to convey in modern spelling the pronunciation of the old Algonkin word rarely agreed. Thus the old maps, and the old chronicles of travelers, have included these forms of the word Mis- 101 102 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. sissippi: Mechisipi, Messasipi, Micissippi, Miscissipy, Misasipi, Mis- chasippi, Missesipie, Mississippy. The definition usually given of the word Mississippi is "father of waters." This is far from a literal translation of the word de- rived from the Algonkin language, one of the original tongues of the continent. The historian, Shea, who made a study of aboriginal philology, says that the word Mississippi is a compound of the word Missi, signifying great, and Sepe, a river. The former is variously pronounced Missil, or Michil, as in Michilimack- inac; Michi, as in Michigan; Missu, as in Missouri, and Missi, as In Mississippi. The word Sipi may be considered as the English pronunciation of Sepe, derived through the medium of the French, and "affords an instance of an Indian term of much melody being corrupted by Europeans into one that has a harsh and hissing sound." An interesting, but apparently unauthentic version of the ver- sion of the meaning of the word Mississippi is given in an old num- ber of The Magazine of American History. The writer quotes a tradi- tion given in Heckewelder's "Indian Natioins," according to which two large tribes emigrated several centuries ago, from west of the Mississippi, giving to that stream the name of Nawoesi Sipu, or River of Pish, whence the present name is derived. These two tribes, the Lenni Lenape and the Mengwe, uniting their forces, made war on the prior occupants of the country, the Allegheny Indians, and drove them southwards out of the territory east of the Mississippi. The name Mengwe seems in time to have been corrupted into Mingo and came into use to designate the confederate tribes known as the Iro- quois, or Six Nations. Lake Michigan was the last of the five great inland seas of the continent concerning which the early cartographers derived knowledge. The old maps call it Lake Illinois (Illinovik, Ilinois, etc.), after the tribe of Indians that dwelt on its southern border; and Lake Dauphin, after the heir to the throne of Prance. Lake Mitchi- ganons is the term used in the old Jesuit Relation (1670-1), and a Paris map of 1688 labels it Lake Michigami. Most of the early French maps give preference to the word Illinois in its various ren- derings. The Indian word, which has outlived the European names, is variously interpreted to mean "fish weir," and "great lake." Some authorities maintain that the word is derived from Mitchaw, "great," and Sagiegan, "lake." This seems to be the most plausible explana- tion. The assumption that the meaning is weir, or fish-trap, is based on the shape of the lake. As with other geographical names derived from Inaian sources, the real meaning of the word Wisconsin is so obscure as to be in dispute. The popular translation is "wild, rushing channel," a defi- The Story of the State. 103 nition that accords well with the nature of the stream, but which nevertheless is of doubtful authenticity. Another rendering, "the gathering of the waters," is pronounced absurd by students of the Algonkin tongue. It is claimed by Consul W. Butterfield that the name is derived from the physical features of its lower course, where are observable the high lands or river hills. "Some of these hills present high and precipitous faces towards the water. Others terminate in knobs. The name is supposed to have been taken from this feature, the word being derived from Missi, 'great,' and Os-sin, 'a stone, or rock.' " The word Wisconsin is the result of considerable change from the first rendering. On Marquette's map, where the stream is indi- cated for the first time, the word is spelled Meskousing. Joliet's map gives it as Miskonsing. Friar Hennepin wrote it Onisconsin and again Misconsin, and the French traveler Charlevoix, who visited this country early in the last century, gave his preference to this form: Ouisconsing. It was not long before the final letter was dropped, and this form was retained until the present English spell- ing superseded the French version, and the harsher English pro- nunciation the euphonious French. From its source in Lake Vieux Desert, on the northern boundary line, the stream flows througn this state for four hundred and fifty miles. Its descent from the lake to where, at Prairie du Chien, it debouches into the Mississippi, is about a thousand feet. From the famous portage that has played such an important part in Western history, where the Wisconsin turns to the southwest, the current is exceedingly rapid, and the distance to the mouth a hundred and eighteen miles. Early travelers, as those of to-day, were impressed with the remarkable picturesque beauty of the stream. The Indian name for Lake Superior was Kitchi-Gami, or, as Longfellow has rendered it, Gitohee-Gumee. The name is derived from the Ojibwa tongue, its English equivalent being "big water." Lac de Tracy was a French appellation given in honor of Gen. Tracy, but it was not sufficiently popular to take firm root. On some of the old maps of the seventeenth century this great fresh-water sea is given the name of Grand Lac des Nadouessi. The latter word was the appellation by which the French usually designated the Sioux Indians. It was at the western end of the lake that the Sioux were wont to come in war parties for sudden raids on the villages of their old-time foes, the Ojibwas. Lake Superior is the only one of the five great lakes that has retained the name Frenchmen gave it — ^Superieur, or Upper Lake. This is the more remarkable in that legendary lore is associated with every island in this lake, and headland and bay on its shores. The Indian fairies known as pukwudjinees had their fabled home along the southern shore of Lake Superior, their most noted habitations 104 Leading Events of Wiscou'iin History. being the great sand dunes. This pigmy folk is happily described In Longfellow's "Hiawatha." Early travelers on Lake Superior ascribe the origin of the legend of the pukwudjinees to the mirage, a phenomenon that can be observed frequently on this lake on summer days. The German trav- eler, Kohl, saw a tall, bluish island, with which the mirage played in an infinity of ways. At times it "rose in the aar to a spectral height, then sank and faded away; again, islands appeared hovering over one another in the air; islands appeared, turned upside down; and the white surf of the beach, translated aloft, seemed like the smoke of artillery blazing away from a fort." Another traveler describes imagery so clearly defined as to be seeming reality: "It occurred just as the sun was setting. The sky was overcast with such a thick haze as precedes a storm; and the inverted images of twelve vessels — with the full outlines of the rig- ging, as well as the sails and other parts — were most distinctly visi- ble on the darkened background." Again, "a blue coast stretched along the horizon in front of us. Surprised, I referred to Bayfield's accurate chart, and found, as I expected, no land so near in that direction. The pilot told me it was a mirage." It seems singular that of all the great lakes, the one most closely identified with Indian tradition and legend is the only one that bears a name of European origin. CHAPTER IV. SOME ERRORS OF GEOGRAPHY. Curious misconceptions concerning the Mississippi basin and great lakes region appear on the old maps. English cartographers were behind their French colleagues in tracing the meanderings of the rivers and the lines of the lakes. Long after the French map- makers had begun to infuse accuracy into their delineations the car- tographers across the channel were copying the old mistakes. The French were in possession, and their maps were the result of actual knowledge; the English had to rely on sources far from reliable for their map material. In 1632 Champlain drew a map that gave some form to the great lakes. At that date no white man had seen the broad expanse of either i^ake Michigan or Lake Superior, but Indians had told of their existence, and from their descriptions the father of New France traced their forms. It was therefore excusable that his map locates Green Bay north of Superior; possibly Cham- plain may have meant it to represent Lake Michigan, for both these waters bore the name of the Puans. How the old maps perpetuated erroneous ideas of topography is shown by an English atlas printed about 1690 by John Seller, "hydro- grapher to the king." This atlas minimus, about 2 inches by 3^^ in size, merges the five great lakes in one and makes them appear as a great arm of Hudson's bay. There were maps extant a quarter of a century before this, giv- ing a fairly accurate conception of this region, which the "hydro- grapher to the king" could have copied with profit. Strange shapes were given some of the lakes in the old maps. Friar Hennepin's map of 1683 gives Lake Erie the appearance of a Scotch bagpipe, and it is represented as having a size almost double that of Lake Michigan. This lake Hennepin labels Lac Dauphin, and gives it a shape distorted beyond recognition. On the same map Fox river runs across Wisconsin due west almost to the Mississippi, and the Wisconsin river in comparison is but a short stream. It took a long period to efface the first impression that the Wisconsin did not have its source in a large pond somewhere in the middle of what is now the state that bears its name. The Joutel map of 1713 unduly prolongs the Green Bay arm of Lake Michigan; the map-maker makes it extend within a short dis- tance of the Mississippi river. Edward Well's map of 1699 follows Hennepin's conception of Fox river, and a body of water, possibly meant for Lake Winnebago, is located more than half way towards the Mississippi river. The famous Marquette and Joliet maps — ^the latter drawn from memory — are the earliest maps of the Mississippi 105 106 Leading Events of ^Yisconsin History. river basin based on actual knowledge. Joliet depicts Lake Michi- gan (Lac des Illinois) in form akin to a banana; on Marquette's map the form is not so narrow, nor so well defined. In comparing the Joliet and Marquette maps, the observations of the same trip being embodied in them, E. D. Neill notes these dif- ferences: "Joliet marks the large island toward the extremity of Lake Superior, known as Isle Royale; but he gives no name, and he indicates four other islands on the north shore. Marquette shows the large island only, but without a name. Joliet gives the name Miskonsing to the river, and marks the portage; while Marquette gives no names. . . Joliet calls the Mississippi, Riviere de Buade, and Marquette names it R. de la Conception." Although his canoe had breasted its waves, and in general he was a keen observer. Baron La Hontan conceived the idea that Lake Michigan ought to be tilted on the map so as to point at a sharp angle from the southwest to the northeast. Green Bay, or Baye des Puants, as he calls it, shows a width less than that of Fox river, which he terms Riviere des Puants. This river he causes to run from a northwesterly direction, from a point some distance west- ward, where it turns sharply from the opposite direction at the con- fluence of two other streams. Lake Winnebago is not put down on the map, but a large body of water shaped like an egg is given as the source of the Ovisconsink, as he spells the Wisconsin river. On the old maps can be traced the gradual exploration of the Western country. Inaccurate as they were, they located approxi- mately not only the physical features of the region, but designated the habitations of the different Indian tribes and the pioneer set- tlements. Taken collectively, they tell the story of European migra- tion, and the crowding out of the Indian possessors of the soil. The names upon the maps give in epitome the successive stages of coloni- zation. CHAPTER V. UNDER THE FLAG OF ENGLAND. On the plains of Abraham, in 1760, painted warriors from the woods and prairies of Wisconsin fought under the fleur-de-lis of France. New France fell, and the savages accepted the change with true Indian stoicism. Their indifference may have been partly due to the fact that the change of flag did not materially disturb their relations with the French for many years to come. The red-coats of England marched into the tumble-down stockade at Green Bay, but in the woods French fur-traders still roamed as before and frater- nized with the Indians. And, if the English were not inclined to treat the Indians as brothers, at least they paid good prices for pel- tries. The British flag floated in Wisconsin for the first time on the 12th day of October, 1761. Detachments of the Royal American regi- ment, commanded by Capt. Balfour and Lieut. James Gorrell, arrived at Green Bay on that day to take possession. They found the post deserted and in a dismal state of dilapidation. "We found the fort quite rotten, the stockade ready to fall, the houses without cover, our fire wood far off, and none to be got when the river closed," Lieut. James Gorrell wrote in his journal. The journal of the English lieutenant, which is in the possession of the Maryland Historical society, is the chief authority for the incidents connected with the first British occupation of Wisconsin. It gives an excellent description of life at this then remote frontier post, and the dangers that surrounded the English garrison. The French had called the stockade Fort St. Francis. Capt. Bal- four, as the union-jack climbed to the peak of the flagstaff, gave it a new name — Fort Edward Augustus. Two days of the cheerless life at the crumbling fort seem to have been enough for the captain, and he departed for Michilimackinac. Lieut. Gorrell, who was left in command, had under him one sergeant, one corporal and flfteen privates. A French interpreter and two English traders shared the comfortless barracks with the soldiers. Although the Englishmen had taken possession of the post with- out firing a gun, they learned subsequently that it had been planned to massacre the garrison on their arrival. When the Frenchmen at the Bay learned that the British were coming, they urged the In- dians to ambush the detachment. They represented the weakness of the soldiers and the ease with which the party could be cut off. The young warriors readily assented to the proposition, but a wise old chief of the Sacs influenced them to avoid a conflict and to go on 107 108 Leading Events of Wisconsin Eistory. a great hunt instead. When the English arrived there was but one family of Indians at the Bay village. In the spring the Indians returned from their great winter hunt, and Lieut. Gorrell busied himself in winning their good-will. He had six belts made, one for each nation that visited the place. As the French had always liberally supplied the Indians, Lieut. Gorrell soon discovered that only the most generous liberality would enable him to counteract French intrigues. He gave them ammuni- tion, and to some of the old men he sent flour. He then proceeded to Oldest Building in Wisconsin. (Above is a representation of the so called Ducharme house at Kaukauna, popularly believed to be the cabin constructed in the last century by the fur- traders Ducharme. It is really the old Grignon house, partly reconstructed, and was built in 1813. The Ducharme house was erected about the year 1790. A large Indian village was then located at the Grand Kakalin, and the Ducharmes put up their log structure as a trading post. Jean Ducharme, whose son built the house, was one of the best known fur traders connected with the Bay settlement. It was he who, in the spring of 1780, led a large Indian expedition against the Spanish settlements of the Upper Mississippi.) hold councils with the chiefs. He managed his negotiations with adroitness. Meeting the chiefs of the Folles Avoines (Nation of "Wild Oats), he presented strings of waupum and belts made of the same material, and then addressed them in this wise: "Brothers! — As you may have lost some of your brothers in the war in which you imprudently -engaged with the French against your brothers, the English, and though by it you ought to have brought a just indignation upon you, yet we will condescend so far to forget whatever hath happened, that I am glad to take this opportunity to The Story of the State. 109 condole you on the loss you have met with. At the same time, by these belts I wipe away all the blood that was spilt, and bury all your brothers' bones that remain unburied on the face ol the earth, that they may grieve no more, as my intention is henceforward not to grieve but to rejoice among you. "Brothers! — I hope also by these belts to open a passage to your hearts, so that you may always speak honestly and truly, and drive away from your hearts all that may be bad, that you may, like your brothers, the English, think of good things only. I light also a fire of pure friendship and concord, w^hich affords a heat sweet and agreeable to those who draw nigh unto it; and I light it for all In- dian nations that are willing to draw nigh unto it. I also clear a great road from the rising of the sun to the setting of the same, and clear it from all obstructions, that all nations may travel in it freely and safely." There was much more said by Lieut. Gorrell, of the same tenor. If his rhetoric had little effect, his gifts exercised some influence. The chiefs responded with expressions of good will, promised to befriend the English traoers, to become true and loyal subjects of the king of England and to turn a deaf ear to the blandishments of the French. Under date of August 21, Lieut. Gorrell notes in his journal that "a party of Indians came from Milwacky and demanded credit, which was refused." They also complained of an English trader among them that had tried to impose on them. This is the first mention of Milwaukee, and proves that an Indian village of sufficient importance to attract an English trader was located here in 1762. The name of the trader, doubtless the first Englishman to abide at Milwaukee, is not given. In the month of June, 1763, news of the most alarming nature reached Lieut. Gorrell. Ten Ottawas and a Frenchman brought a letter from Capt. Etherington, commandant of Michilimackiuac, apprising him that that fort had been taken by Indians, and entreat- ing Gorrell to evacuate Fort Edward Augustus and come to his relief at L'Arbre Croche. Twenty men of the garrison had been slaugh- tered. Etherington and eleven others had been saved by friendly Ottawas. It was the beginning of the great Pontiac conspiracy. This re- markable Indian brought about a confederation of many Western tribes for a general attack on the British. It had been planned to take all the posts on the same day. The crafty brain of Pontiac con- ceived numerous strategems for gaining entrance into the forts. At Detroit the chiefs were to ask for a council. They were to hide their rifles under their blankets, and at Pontiac's signal were to fall upon, the unsuspecting garrison. An Indian woman betrayed the plot, and it miscarried. At Miohilimackinac the Indians gathered in front of 110 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. the fort to play their game of baggatiway, called by the French le jeu de la crosse. The garrison gathered outside the pickets to watch the game, which soon became exciting. The ball, as if by accident, flew over the pickets and the Indians followed it pell mell. Once within, the design of the Indians became manifest. Tomahawks flashed, and the war yell was heard, as the British soldiers fell beneath the savage onslaught of the Indians. Frenchmen were present, but none of them were injured. Doubtless Pontiac's emissaries had also been busy among the Indians of Wisconsin. Those at the Bay proved loyal to Britisih interests. When Lieut. Gorrell received Btherington's urgent mes- sage, he prepared to evacuate. With his usual shrewd diplomacy, Lieut. Gorrell distributed presents among the Indians, told them that he was about to go to the aid of his fellow soldiers across the lake, and asked them to take care of the fort during his absence. Many of the Indians accompanied him, and proved of material service. Upon reaching Beaver island, signal smokes were curling upwards in many parts of the island, and preparations were made for battle. The Wild Oats Indians stripped for action, the English boat was placed in the center, and the flotilla moved forward in battle array. Instead of being hostile the Indians on the island proved to be friendly Ottawas bearing another message from Etherington. "The Ohippe- was continue their mischief," he wrote. "They have plundered all the canoes they have met with since I wrote to you last, and are now encamped on the great island near the fort." Lieut. Gorrell succeeded finally in joining the forces of Ethering- ton, and together they made their way to Montreal. Thus abandoned, Fort Edward Augustus again fell into decay. Once more the French were left in undisturbed quiet, and a charac- teristic community grew up at the Bay. English traders came and went, but the English flag did not again wave over the stockades of Wisconsin until half a century had elapsed. Hawnopawjatin tA^^^^K___ his mark Otohtongoomlisheaw ^^^^ <\>1_ ^^ mark. Indian Signatures to Carver's Deed. (The famous deed from. Indians, on the strength of which Carver's heirs claimed ownership of 14,000 square miles of land in Wisconsin, it is claimed, was stolen. At any rate it disappeared from the office of Dr. John C. Lettsom, who claimed to have it in his possession after Carver's death. The deed conveyed to Carver the whole of the counties of Eau Claire, Pepin. St. Croix, Dunn, Barron, Pierce, Washburn, Chippewa, Clark, Taylor. Price and Sawyer, and sections of the counties of Ashland, Polk, Burnett, Lincoln, Marathon, Wood, Jackson, Trempealeau and Buffalo.) CHAPTER VI. FIRST PERMANENT SETTLERS OF WISCONSIN. It was shortly after the evacuation of Fort Edward Augustus that there came to Wisconsin its first permanent white settlers. Augustin de Langlade and his son Charles were destined to have their names inseparably associated with the history of Wisconsin. The elder Langlade, who was a fur trader at Miohilimackinac as early as 1727, married an Indian woman of the Ottawa tribe and a sister of an influential chief. Charles Michael Langlade was one of their sons. The priests of the mission station interested themselves in the young half-breed, but Indian instinct for forest lore was stronger than European thirst for book knowledge; he manifested more pleasure in learning the use of the scalping knife than in conn- ing the alphabet. When but a mere lad he accompanied his Indian uncle, whom the French called La Fourche (The Fork), on the war path. As he grew to manhood, young Langlade obtained remarkable influence over the Ottawas. Years before the Langlades went to Green Bay to make it their permanent home — thus 'forming the nucleus of the first permanent settlement in Wisconsin (about 1764) — they had frequently visited that trading post. When the Fi'ench captain, deVilliers, was shot to the heart by the Indian boy Blackbird, the raid on the Sac village that was undertaken to avenge the Frenchman's deatJi was led by Charles Langlade. Engaged as they were in the Indian trade, the father and son made frequent journeys between the Bay post and the Great Turtle, but they do not seem to have shared in the plunder that fell into the coffers of the officials at Quebec and Montreal. It was a period of bold official corruption. Supplies sent by the French government for the Indian trade, such as knives, hatchets and trinkets, were diverted so as to put the proceeds into the pockets of the dishonest government representatives. The governor's brother and the commandant at Green Bay are said to have pocketed within a brief period the enormous sum of 312,000 francs. The Indian trade had grown to large proportions; it is recorded that annually there were needed at Green Bay post for this barter $18,000 worth of trinkets. In the midst of this corruption the Langlades seem to have dealt honestly. When the French sent an expedition into the Ohio country to frustrate English attempts at colonization, in 1749, tihe younger Langlade commanded the Indian contingent — ^a greased and painted rabble Parkman calls them. They attacked the post of Pickawillany and plundered it completely. An Indian chief of the Miamis and 112 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. eleven of his warriors were killed, and Langlade's Ottawa cannibals put the chief into the kettle and ate him. Having proven his prowess in war, Langlade determined to marry and settle down to peaceful pursuits. A young Frenchwoman named Charlotte Ambroisine Bourassa became his bride, August 12, 1754. Their descendants live in Wisconsin to-day. Madame Lang- Pauquette Making a Portage. lade was fairly well educated, and was desci'ibed as "remarkably beautiful, having a slender figure, regular features and very dark eyes. These physical gifts were allied to rare moral qualities, which secured her a general respect at Michilimackinac, and afterwards at Green Bay." According to accounts of the period, she feared the Indians greatly and her experiences at Green Bay caused her to suf- fer keenly. The sight of Indians invariably gave her a strong nerv- The Story of the State. 113 ous shock. At one time it was reported that hostile Indians were about to attaclc Green Bay. In mortal fear she hid under a pile of boards; when found, she seemed almost paralyzed with fear. On another occasion she locked herself into her room to escape from a party of Indians who entered her house on a visit. The Indians seated themselves around the room, except one. Madame Langlade, to observe their movements, slightly opened the door behind which she sought safety, and seeing this Indian standing in the middle of the room, imagined he was awaiting an opportunity to kill her. In a fi-enzy of fear, she seized a long knife, rushed into the room and desperately attempted to stab him. "You rogue, you are a dead man," she screamed, as she made a lunge at him. The Indians saw that she was beside herself with terror, and laughed good-naturedly at her futile attempt to stab their companion. They easily disarmed her, but it was only when her husband quietly spoke to her that her terror was allayed. From the Langlade cabin door a view of the river stretch could be had. Often when she saw a canoe with Indians approaching, ter- ror would almost overcome the sensitive young Frenchwoman. "They are coming, they are coming," she would say in despair. "We shall all be massacred." The honeymoon of the Langlades was hardly at an end when the young man was summoned to go on the warpath against the British. This was while the Langlades still made Michilimackinac their home. It was the year 1755 that Gen. Braddock's army of English red-coats, with the confidence born of victory on European battlefields, marched against Fort Duquesne. George Washington and his provincials marched with them. It was for the defense of the French fort and against the regulars of England and the provincials of Virginia that Langlade raised a band of 800 paint-bedaubed warriors. Joining a French and Canadian command under Beaujeu, Langlade and his Indians marched to ambush the enemy. A grandson of Langlade's, Augustin Grignon, has left an account of the massacre as he heard it from the lips of his grandfather: "Spies were sent out to discover the enemy's approach, and they soon returned, reporting that Braddock's army was within a half a day's march of the Monongahela, cutting a road as they advanced. It was determined that M. Beaujeu, with what French could be spared, and the Indian force under de Langlade, should go out and meet the enemy at the Monongahela and attack them while crossing that stream. The English got to the south bank of the Monongahela about noon, halted and prepared for dinner; while the French and Indians were secreted on the other shore." The account goes on to tell that Beaujeu at first refused to con- sent to Langlade's plan for an attack while the English were eating. At last Langlade's stinging remark that if Beaujeu didn't 114 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. intend to do any fighting his conduct could be explained, spurred the French commander to action. He gave the word and a deadly fire was poured into the ranks of the surprised Englishmen. "The English officers," Grignon's account continues, "who had their little towels pinned over their breasts, seized their arms and took part in the conflict; and a good many of them were killed with these napkins still pinned on their coats — showing how suddenly they rushed into the battle. The English, occupying the lowest ground, almost invariably overshot the French, and their cannon balls would strike the trees half way up among the branches. In the battle Beaujeu was killed, but the French and Indian loss was very small; and the most who were killed and injured were not killed by the bullets of the enemy; but by the falling limbs cut from the trees by the overshooting of the English cannon." The slaughter of the English was frightful. Braddock was mor- tally wounded, and but for the presence of mind of George Wash- ington and his provincials, who were accustomed to Indian warfare, and whose advice the arrogant English general had loftily ignored, few of the soldiers would have escaped the tomahawk and scalping knife. Of the eighty-six British officers, sixty-three were killed; they had worn splendid uniforms, this being their initial campaign since their arrival from Great Britain, and Langlade's braves stripped the fallen men and bedecked themselves with the raiment of their foes. Many of them brought these trophies to their lodges In "Wisconsin, to strut in captured finery before the admiring and en- vious Indians who had not joined the expedition. And with them they brought as evidence of their prowess the scalp locks of Brad- dock's men to hang on their lodgepoles. More than half a thousand Englishmen had lost their lives as the result of their commander's obstinacy. In the bloody massacre at Fort William Henry, the braves of Langlade were at the front. Langlade's services were rewarded by the French governor, who conferred upon him the rank of lieu- tenant, placed him second in command at Michilimackinac and allowed him a salary of 1,000 francs per annum. Two years later he again. gathered his Indians, to the number of 200, and his flotilla of canoes made the journey to Quebec to join the standard of the gal- lant Montcalm. Menomonees, Sacs, Foxes and Chippewas from Wis- consin mingled with his Ottawa kinsmen on this expedition. It was here that Langlade perfonned a service to the French cause, which, but for the stupidity or delay of others, would have prevented the capture of the great French stronghold and changed the history of North America. With 400 Indian warriors, Langlade was fording the Montmorenci river when they discovered British troops executing the movement planned by Gen. Wolfe, of landing below the cataract and climbing the heights. With keen discernment of the strategic The Story of the State. 115 possibilities involved, the French partisan sent word to the French officer Levis that an immediate attack would result in the annihi- lation of the maneuvering force, comprising a third of the British army. Hours elapsed while the French officers leisurely debated what to do, and the opportunity was lost. After having lain flat on the ground for five hours, waiting for the French to appear, Lan- glade's braves impetuously assaulted the English. In the war archives at Paris there is preserved this notice of their valiant attack: "They were so impetuous, as we were sub- sequently told by a sergeant who had deserted to the enemy, and two Canadians, their prisoners, that the English were obliged to fight, retreating more than 200 paces from the place of combat be- MARQUE DE WABISUINE. DB L'ATTRIBUT DE J } t/MQLK MARQUE DU TABAC NOIR. Signatures to the Kaukauna Deed. 1793. (The entire site whereon Kaukauna has been built was deeded in 1793 to Dominick Duchrame for two barrels of rum, well mixed. The curious deed, written in French, is on file in the records of Brown County. This is an extract from the document; "The said vendors are contented and satisfied for two bar- rels of rum. In faith of which they have made their marks, the old Wabisipine being blind, the witnesses have made his mark for him." The sons of the blind Wabisipine (Eagle) later claimed the land, but were "contented and satisfied" to quitclaim their ownership for sundry barrels of rum, mixed "a mes sines." Their signatures are appended to the deed as follows: The Eagle, Black Tobacco, The Drinker, The Beaver, etc.) fore they could rally. The alarm was communicated even to the main camp, to which Gen. Wolfe had returned. The savages, see- ing themselves almost entirely surrounded, effected a ratreat after having killed or wounded more than 150 men, losing only two or three of their own number. They met at the ford of the river Mont- morenci, the detachment coming to their support, which M. de Levis had been unwilling to take the responsibility of sending until he had received an order of M. de Vaudreuil." On the plains of Abraham, on the fatal day when Wolfe died In the flush of victory and Montcalm in the shadow of defeat, Lang- lade fought fiercely for the French cause. His two brothers fell by his side. It is related of Langlade that "he seemei to delight to 116 Lradiii!/ Events of Wisconsin History. be in the midst of the din of arms and the yells of the combatants. A succession of rapid discharges having heated his gun to such a de- gree that he could not use it again for a few minutes, he drew his pipe from his pocket, filled it with tobacco, struck fire with the aid of his tinder box, then lighted it, appearing so calm amidst the can- nonade and the whistling of bullets as if he had been tranquilly seated by the fire in bivouac." When Quebec surrendered, Langlade returned to his home at the outlet of Lake Michigan. Some time after British garrison:^ marched to the outposts of France and occupied them. French rule was at an end, and the Langlades entered the employ of the new rulers. When Pontiac was spreading sedition among the Western Indians, Langlade endeavored to warn Capt. Etherington of the threatened massacre, but the Englishman paid no attention to the warning. It has been charged that when the massacre occurred, Langlade made no attempt to protect the unfortunate Englishmen; on the other hand, the claim is made that but for his interposition, Etherington and the few soldiers who escaped the tomahawk, would also have lost their lives. Probably, the Langlades acted as humanely as the circumstances permitted. After the war, Langlade was stationed at the head of the Indian department of Green Bay. He seems to have managed affairs with prudence and ability, and to have won the confidence of the British. A letter has been preserved written him by Capt. Arent S. de Peyster, commandant at Michlli- mackinac, that shows that the English wanted to retain his good will. "I send you eighty pounds of tobacco," Capt. de Peyster wrote April 18, 1777, "a sack of corn — ground, in order that the gentlemen may not compel their wives to grind it — two barrels of sco-ta-wa-bo (whisky) that they may not drive you wild. Besides, I send my best respects to Madame Langlade, and beg her to accept two kegs of brandy, one barrel of salt, a small barrel of rice, and twenty pounds of tobacco, if necessary. I also send for madame a sack of one hundred and twenty-three pounds of flour, as a present. These, Monsieur, are all the gifts I am able to send you at present." Ever loyal to his employers, Langlade sided with the British during the revolutionary war. He raised a large force of Wiscon- sin Indians to march against George Rogers Clark in the Illinois country, but the surrender of the British general, Hamilton, occurred before he could go to his relief. Previous to this time, he had gone to Montreal at the head of a band of Indians, and joined the invading army of Burgoyne. His fierce warriors became disgruntled in consequence of the restraints imposed by that humane general, and left for home in disgust. In 1780 Langlade headed an expedi- tion to Prairie du Chien to take charge of a large quantity of furs stored there, which it was feared would fall into the hands of the The Storu of the State. 117 Americans under George Rogers Clark. He successfully accom- plished his mission. Langlade's old age was spent in serenity at Green Bay. He had received valuable grants of land, and he obtained an annuity of $800 from the British government for his past services. He lived in com- fort till his death occurred, in 1800, eighteen years before that of his wife. Gathering his grandchildren about him, he was v/ont to tell them the story of his eventful life, and of the ninety-nine bat- tles and skirmishes wherein he had taken part. Following a Can- adian custom, the people of Green Bay on each recurring first of May raised a flag pole in his honor, and emphasized the ceremony by cheers and volleys of musketry. It was a token of the affection- ate reverence that the simple-hearted people of the settlement enter- tained for their militia commandant. The name the Indians gave Langlade was A-ke-wau-ge-ke- tan-so, meaning He-who-is-fierce-for-the-land, their way of express ing a military conqueror. „^^ I ^ — So/! pour UNE Piaftrc l • f f i Arnjy Bill Office. Qutlx-c. ^ ^riC Dollar, redeemable at this Offcc (Facsimile of money received by •"ff by Government Mm. «f/tf ,. ' ' Green Bay volunteers in the British ^ y uovernment jgnis of (Bxchavqt on London, service during the war of 1812. It is tiog *' Thirty Days Sight. ' surmised that although the word bon uog (good) is repeated seventeen times nog - ^> °''<''"/ •>" Ctmmamjtr ,f ^, f,,„j^ OH the bill, the money was at such uog Eotertd, ' discount that it was not worth while uog trying to redeem it.) VO(J Five Skilltngs. (() G. AT' No. [26] Michilimackintu, [/rf May] iSiSj\ (Probably the earliest forms of Good for FOUR DOLLARS, payable by Drafts paper currency in actual circulation in Wisconsin v/as that paid to the on Quebec, or Montreal creditors of the British government in the Northwest during the war of 1812. Accompanying is a facsimile FOUR DOLLARS rr H MriMiri °^ ^^® '°'''" issued by the commii- ruuK. uuLLAKb . [G.. H. MONK] gary at Michilimackinac. The brack- . eted portion was written in with Deputy Assistant Commissary General. P®°- FIRST PAPER MONEY CIRCULATED IN WISCONSIN. DURING THE WAR OF 1812. CHAPTER VII. ALEXANDER HENRY, THE FUR TRADER. In the train of the English soldiers who marched to take pos- session of the Western forts, after the fall of New France, came adventurous fur traders. Under French dominion, Englishmen who had attempted to penetrate to the beaver country for barter had found the way barred by French hostility and the Indian's prefer- ence for Frenchmen. As early as 1762 an Englishman was at the site of Milwaukee; evidently he sought to drive shrewd bargains — judging from the complaint made by the Indians to the commandant at Fort Edward Augustus (Green Bay). Two years after the evacuation of that post, the exclusive trade of the Lake Superior region was pro- cured by a young fur trader named Alexander Henry, a native of New Jersey. This young man had been at Michilimackinac when its garrison was massacred by Indians, and was saved from the tomahawk by a Pawnee girl who was a slave in the household of Charles Langlade. She hid him in the garret of the Langlade house. In the journal of Alexander Henry, a graphic picture is given of the slaughter of his countrymen, and the Langlades are represented as having shown great unconcern regarding the fate of the English. In the garret of their cabin Henry found refuge, until Langlade turned him over to the Indians — doubtless fearing for the safety of his own household should the Englishman be found beneath his roof by the savages. Henry took a different view, and in his journal bitterly denounces the act. The travels and adventures of Alexander Henry are minutely described by him in his journal, which is one of the most interest- ing narratives of individual experiences descriptive of that stormy period. Henry was a keen observer, and his accounts of hunts and Indian customs are not only entertainingly told, but contain a vast amount of information. Like all the traders of this period Henry made Michilimackinac the base of his operations. Here he bought enough goods on a year's credit to equip four canoes, and hired twelve men to convey them to his wintering ground at Chequamegon. Until long after this period (1765) there was no coin of the realm in circulation at this outpost, and peltries were the medium of exchange. Beaver was the stand- ard, and all accounts were kept in beaver. If beaver furs were not available, otter and marten were accepted, on the basis of their pro- portionate value converted into beaver. The ruling Michilimackinac value of beaver was 2 shilling 6 pence per pound; otter skins, 6 shillings each; marten, 1 shilling 6 pence. This was the sort of currency that Henry agreed to pay in ex- change for his outfit, the amount being ten thousand pounds of good lis The .Story of the State. 119 and mercliantable beaver. The wages of his men were payable in the same kind of currency, being reckoned at a hundred pounds weight of beaver each. Indeed, specie was so scarce that when the frontiersmen went to a cantine to procure that which inebriates if too liberally partaken of, they carried with them a marten's skin to pay the reckoning. In purchasing provisions Henry laid in a liberal supply of In- dian corn and bear's fat, for it was on this frugal fare that the boat- men of that day subsisted. Each man was allowed a bushel of corn and two pounds of fat for a month's subsistence. Such a luxury as a pinch of salt was not expected, and certainly not supplied. Henry Ramsay Crooks. From an Oil Painting in the Possession of the State Historical Society. (One of the leading fur-traders in the Wisconsin region when the- American Fur Company monopolized the trade, was Ramsay Crooks. He was a Scot, but came to America when but 16 years of age. He first visited Wisconsin ini 1806. Irving, in his "Astoria," has graphically told the story of the great expedition with which Crooks was associated.) bought fifty bushels of maize at ten pounds of beaver per bushel. He paid at the rate of a dollar per pound for the tallow or fat to mix with the corn. Upon reaching Chequamegon Henry found the Indians, who occupied fifty lodges there, in a state of distress. The troubles between the English and the French had so interrupted their trade as to leave them in a state of destitution. They were naked and almost starving, and Henry distributed among them goods amount- ing in value to three thousand beaver skins. To repay him, the Indians went on a great hunt, covering a stretch of a hundred leagues in their pursuit of fur-bearing animals. 120 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. For two hundred years the curious amphibious animal which the French called the castor and the English the beaver, was Wis- consin's chief source of wealth. Alexander Henry's journal gives an interesting account of the method pursued in hunting this game in their houses under the water. "The common way of taking the beaver," he wrote, "is that of breaking up its house, which is done with trenching tools during the winter, when the ice is strong enough to allow of approaching them; and when, also, the fur is in its most valuable state. Breaking up the house, however, is only a preparatory step. During this opera- tion the family make their escape to one or more of their washes (holes dug under the banks as retreats in case of danger). These are to be discovered by striking the ice along the bank, and where the holes are a hollow sound is returned. After discovering and searching many of these in vain, we often found the whole family together in the same wash. I was taught occasionally to distinguish a full wash from an empty one by the breathing of the animals con- cealed in it. From the washes they must be taken out with the hands; and in doing this the hunter sometimes receives severe wounds from their teeth. While a hunter, I thought with the Indians that the beaver flesh was very good; but after that of the ox was within my reach, I could not relish it. The tail is accounted a luxurious morsel." It was a favorite pastime of Henry's to chase the raccoon. This is his description of the animal and its peculiarities: "It was my practice to go out in the evening with dogs to hunt this animal. The raccoon never leaves its hiding place till after sunset. As soon as a dog falls on a fresh track of the raccoon, he gives notice by a cry, and immediately pursues. This barking enables the hunter to follow. The raccoon, which travels slowly and is soon overtaken, makes for a tree, on which he remains till shot. After the falling of the snow, nothing more is necessary for taking the raccoon' than to follow the track of his feet. In this season he seldom leaves his habitation; and he never lays up any food. I have found six at a time in the hollow of one tree, lying upon each other and nearly in a torpid state. In more than one instance I have ascertained that they have lived six weeks without food. The mouse is their princi- pal prey. Raccoon hunting was my more particular and daily em- ploy. I usually went out at the first dawn of day and seldom returned till sunset, or till I had laden myself with as many animals as I could carry. By degrees I became familiarized with this kind of life; and had it not been for the idea of which I could not divest my mind, that I was living among savages, and for the whispers of a lingering hope that I should one day be released from it — or if I could have forgotten that I had ever been otherwise than I then was — I could have enjoyed as much happiness in this, as in any other situation." The Story of the State. 121 When the Indians returned from their hunt, they brought him quantities of furs, but demanded rum. Henry refused to give them any, whereupon they threatened to pillage his cabin. Henry's men fled, but he seized a gun and declared he would shoot the first In- dian who made a hostile move or seized anything in the hut. After a while the tumult subsided, the Indians left and Henry's cowardly retainers came back shame-facedly. Henry decided to take no more chances, and buried all the rum he possessed. After that the In- dians made no more trouble, but brought Henry their peltries and paid their debts. He joined them in their making of maple sugar in March, participated in their bear hunts and witnessed their strange ceremonials. When they went on the warpath against their Sioux enemies, Henry concluded to leave. He had accumulated 150 packs of beaver, weighing 15,000 pounds, and twenty-five packs of otter and marten skins. Fifty canoes of Indians, carrying a hun- dred packs of beaver that Henry was unable to purchase, accom- panied him when he embarked for Michilimackinac. This was the last time that Alexander Henry made Wisconsin his headquarters, altEough he continued in the fur trade for many years. He died at Montreal in 1824, aged 84 years. One of the most readable stories of the Northwest is Mrs. Mary Hartwell Catherwood's "White Islander." Alexander Henry is the hero of this tale, his adventures at Michilimackinac being the thread on which the incidents of the story are strung. The novelist pic- tures with graphic fidelity the stirring life in the woods and on the waters in this region a century and a quarter ago. Prairie du Chien— 1835— The Rolette Home on River Shore. CHAPTER VIII. CAPTAIN JONATHAN CARVER, THE TRAVELER. One of the first English travelers to explore the "Wisconsin region — and probably the most famous — was .Jonathan Carver. Some of his descendants live In Wisconsin to-day. Carver never made Wisconsin his home, but by virtue of a gift from Indians he claimed ownership of a large tract of land in the western part of the state and on the other side of the Mississippi river. He spent three yearu^ in traveling about this region and wrote a book that had a phe- nomenal sale in the old country. How eager people were to learn something about this then unknown country may be gathered from the fact that twenty-three editions of the book came from the press in rapid succession, and translations appeared in French, Dutch and German. Written in a bright, breezy fashion, and at the same time containing a great deal of information, it became the most popular book of travel of the day. The German poet, Friedrich Schiller, was inspired to write his poem "Nadowessie Chief's Death Song" by Carver's vivid description of Indian customs. Carver came to Wisconsin in the year 1766, but his book was not published till twelve years later. This was its title: THREE YEARS' TRAVELS THROUGH THE INTERIOR PARTS OF NORTH AMERICA, for More than Five Thousand Miles; Containing an Account of the Great Lakes and All the Lakes, Islands and Rivers, Cataracts, Moun- tains, Minerals, Soil and Vegetable Productions of the Northwest Regions of That Vast Continent; With a Description of the Birds, Beasts, Reptiles, Insects and Fishes Peculiar to the Country. Together With a Concise His- tory of the Genius, Manners and Customs of the Indians Inhabiting the Lands That Lie Adjacent to the Heads and to the Westward of the Great River Mississippi; and an Appendix Describing the Uncultivated Parts of America That Are Most Proper for Forming Settlements. By Captain Jonathan Carver of the Provincial Troops in America. It was an ambitious enterprise that this Connecticut soldier had in view when he began his 5,000 mile journey. Believing that the French had published inaccurate maps and likewise false accounts relative to the interior of the continent in order to deceive the Eng- lish, it was his purpose to journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific, make a correct map and tell the truth about the great interior coun- try. He was peculiarly fitted for his task by early training along the Indian frontier of New England. In the bloody massacre at Fort William Henry he narrowly escaped the scalping knife. Two savages had seized him, when an English officer clad in scarlet vel- vet breeches opportunely hove in sight, and they left him to secure the larger prey. He dashed into the woods and spent three miser- able days and nights without food and without shelter before he reached the walls of Fort Edward. 122 Tlic Story of the State. 123 Fitting himself out as a trader Capt. Carver reached the aban- doned and tumble-down fort that had borne the high-sounding title of Fort Edward Augustus (Green Bay) in September, 1766. A few families of easy-going French were living here, and he tarried oniy long enough to observe the surroundings and jot down a few notes about the vegetation and the soil. A few days later, ascending the Fox river, he reached the great town of the Winnebagoes on a small island at the entrance of the lake of that name. An Indian queen who was called Glory of the Morning ruled this village, and Capt. Carver enjoyed her hospitality for several days. He says that the queen "received me with great civility and entertained me in a very distinguished manner during the four days I continued with her," Despite her attractive name, the queen was not marvelously beautiful. "She was a very ancient woman, small in stature and not much distinguished by her dress from several young women that attended her," is the way Capt. Carver described her, and he added: "Her attendants seemed greatly pleased whenever I showed any tokens of respect for their queen, particularly when I saluted her, which I frequently did to acquire her favor. On these occasions the good lady endeavored to assume a juvenile gaiety, and by her smiles showed she was equally pleased with the attention I paid her." In departing from the village of Glory of the Morning Captain Carver made the queen a number of suitable presents, and received her blessing in return. He then proceeded along the Fox to the portage and thence down the Wisconsin river, or Ouisconsin as he spelled it. The great fields of wild rice that almost choked the former stream, and the myriads of wild fowl that fed on the suc- culent grain, attracted his attention. "This river is the greatest resort of wild fowl of every kind that I met with in the wholS course of my travels," he wrote. "Fre- quently the sun would be obscured by them for some minutes to- gether. Deer and bear are very numerous in these parts." From the time he left Green Bay till his canoe was beached at Prairie du Chien, Captain Carver had seen no trace of white men. Well built Indian towns greeted his view as he floated down the Wisconsin, but at Prairie du Chien he found the most notable town. "It is a large town and contain'S about 300 families," he wrote. "The houses are well built after the Indian manner and pleasantly situated on a very rich soil, from which they raised every necessary of life in great abundance. I saw many horses here of a good size and shape. This town is the great mart where all the adjacent tribes, and even those who inhabit the most remote branches of the Mississippi, annually assemble about the latter end of May, bringing with them the furs to dispose of to the traders. But it is not always that they conclude their sale here; this is determined by a general council of the chiefs, who consult whether it would be more condu- 124 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. cive to their interest to sell their goods at this place or carry them on to Louisiana or Michilimaekinac." It has been claimed for Carver that he was the first traveler who made known to the people of Europe the existence of the ancient mounds found in the Mississippi valley and long believed to have been the work of an extinct people. This is his description of what he conceived to be an ancient fortification, but since assumed to have been an elevation to keep the wigwams of the builders above the annual overflow of Lake Pepin: Capt. Jonathan Carver. (From Photographic Copy of Portrait in Third London Edition. Carver's Travels.) "One day, having landed on the shore of the Mississippi, some miles below Lake Pepin, whilst my attendants were preparing their dinner, I walked out to take a view of the adjacent country. I had not proceeded far before I came to a fine, level, open plain, on which I perceived at a little distance a partial elevation that had the appear- ance of an entrenchment. On a nearer inspection, I had greater reason to suppose that it had really been intended for this many centuries ago. Notwithstanding it was now covered with grass, I could plainly discern that it had once been a breastwork of about four feet in height, extending the best part of a mile, and sufficiently capacious to cover five thousand men. Its form was somewhat cir- cular, and its flank reached to the river. Though much defaced bj-- The mory of the State. 125 time, every angle was distinguishable, and appeared as regular, and fashioned with as much military skill, as if planned by Vauban him- self. The ditch was not visible, but I thought, on examining more curiously, that I could perceive there certainly had been one. From its situation also I am convinced that it must have been designed for this purpose. It fronted the co'untry, and the rear was covered by the river; nor was there any rising ground for a considerable way, that commanded it. A few straggling oaks were alone to be seen near it. In many places small tracts were worn across it by the feet of elks and deer, and from the depth of the bed of earth by which it was covered I was able to draw certain conclusions of its great antiquity." Carver spent the winter among the Sioux and explored Minne- sota to a considerable extent. They told him much about the coun- try to the west — of a great river that emptied into the Pacific; of the "Shining Mountains," within whose bowels could be found pre- cious metals, and much else that was new and wonderful. In their great council cave, they gave to him and to his descendants forever a great tract of land about 14,000 square miles in area, embracing the whole of the Northwestern part of Wisconsin and part of Min- nesota. At least this gift was afterwards made the basis for the famous Carver claim. The United States congress after long in- vestigation and consideration rejected the claim. Despite this action many persons were duped into purchasing land on the strength of Carver's Indian deed. In some of the counties of "Wisconsin there are still on file some of the worthless conveyances made out on this shadowy title. After spending some time in the Lake Superior region, Carver returned to Michilimackinac. In his little birch bark canoe he had made a journey of nearly one thousnd two hundred miles. He returned to Boston in the autumn of 1768 and proceeded thence to England. There ill luck pursued him. His great colonization schemes collapsed as fast as he planned them. In the great city of London this noted traveler died of starvation. CHAPTER IX. DURING THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. Oni-y the outer ripples of the Revolutionary war reached the borders of Wisconsin. The patriot struggle in the tidewater col- onies had been in progress two years h^fore news of it reached the few inhabitants of rhe scattered hamlets west of Lake MichigaiJ. Indeed, it is doubtful whether they would have known of it even then, or cared much about it if they had, but for the efforts of the British general at Detroit to stir up the Wisconsin Indians against the American "Long Knives," as the Kentuckians were called. Gen. Hamilton was known as the "hair-buyer general" because he was reported to have offered a bounty for every American scalp taken during the conflict. When his emissaries made their tempting offer to the Indians villaged along the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, they found no difficulty in persuading some of the latter to join the stand- ard of the English king. They were as ready to take the scalps of the American frontiersmen as twenty years before they had been to tomahawk the very men who were now enlisting their services. Chief among the men who entered into the plans of the British was Charles Gautier, a son of Charles Langlade's sister. Like his famous uncle, Gautier was a dashing son of the woods, who knew no fear and loved adventure for adventure's sake. The British gave him a captain's commission during the Revolutionary war. He spoke the language of all the Northwestern tribes fluently, and he went with war belts from village to village along the Fox and Wis- consin. At Milwaukee he experienced some difficulty in persuading the renegade Indians who made this village their headquarters to take up the tomahawk. So obstinate were they that Langlade concluded to make the attempt in person. A grand council was held at Milwaukee (then known as Milwacky) and the redoubtable leader used all the elo- quence at his command without avail. He then decided to resort to an expedient which he believed would appeal to the Indian tempera- ment better than any argument. Joseph Tasse's memoir of Lang- lade thus describes the episode whereby Langlade overcame Indian obstinacy: "He erected a lodge in the midst of the Indian village, with a door at each end; he then had several dogs killed, preparatory to the dog feast, and placed the heart of one of these animals on a stick at each opening. This done, he invited the savages to the dog feast, of which they are very fond. Afterwards he chanted a war song, and passing around the lodge from one door to the other, tasted at each a piece of the dog's heart. This signified that if 12G The Story of the State. 127 brave hearts beat in bosoms of the Indians, they would follow his example and accompany him to war. It was an ancient custom, and they recognized the force of Langlade's appeal; so one after another they chanted the old war song and directed their steps in large num- bers to I'Arbre Croche." The efforts of Langlade and Gautier to send the Wisconsin In- dians on the war path against the handful of men under the gallant Virginian, George Rogers Clark, had but meager i-esults. The In- dians whom they gathered for the expedition embarked in canoes, but when they reached St. Joseph they learned that Gen. Hamilton had been captured at Fort Vincennes by Clark's Virginians and Kentuckians. They returned home in disgust without a single scalp. In the Canadian archives at Ottawa are copies of correspondence preserved in the British Museum at London that contain much information with reference to these episodes in Wisconsin history. Among the letters are some that Gautier wrote to the British offi- cials detailing his experience in sending the Wisconsin Indians on the war path against the American frontiersmen. This son of the forest was readier with tomahawk and knife than with the pen, and his letters are somewhat obscure in meaning as well as uncertain in orthography. He gives minute particulars of the means he employed to inflame the Indians. This is a speech he made at one of their councils: "My brothers, I announce to you on the part of your fathers that if you do not hasten to see him this year, you will make him think that you are not his children and he will be angry. "He has a long arm and very large hands. "He is good, he has a good heart when his children heed him. "He is bad, h^ is terrible, he sits in judgment on all the Indians and French." Though none of the incidents of the George Rogers Clark expedition occurred on Wisconsin soil, they played a large part in determining Wisconsin's future. As a result of this expedition, Wis- consin is to-day under the stars and stripes instead of the banner oC St. George. When the Revolutionary war began all the Western forts were garrisoned by British soldiers. Clark formed the daring plan of capturing them by surprise, and succeeded in enlisting the cooperation of Patrick Henry, governor of Virginia. With a small force of frontiersmen, 153 men in all, he marched into the Illi- nois country, captured Kaskaskia and Cahokia without firing a shot and then secured possession of Vincennes. His force was so small that he could spare but two men to hold the latter post. Gen. Ham- ilton marched from Detroit to recapture it, with his British soldiers and an Indian rabble partly recruited from Wisconsin. Not know- ing how numerous — or, rather, how few — the Americans were, Gen. Hamilton besieged the fort with his force of thirty regulars, fifty volunteers and 400 Indians, and demanded its surrender. The two 128 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. plucky Americans sent back the defiant answer that they would sur- render if permitted to march out with the honors of war, otherwise they would defy the British to take the fort. Gen. Hamilton accepted the proposal and was astonished beyond measure when the entire garrison of two men marched out dY the fort. George Rogers Clark, when he learned that the British had recaptured Vincennes, determined on another bold stroke. The march of his handful of Long Knives, without provisions and with little ammunition, through an inundated stretch miles in extent, where they had to wade sometimes up to their necks in water, in weather so cold that their clothes froze as solid as coats of mail, is one of the most heroic episodes in the annals of American history, Clark had with him less than 200 men to undertake the capture of a well provisioned and equipped fort, supplied with artillery and defended by 500 soldiers and Indian warriors. Their march across the country, a distance of 175 miles, was attended with such hardships that it seemed as if human endurance could not meet the test. Clark detailed twenty-five picked men to shoot down those who would refuse to march. He also inspired the men by various expedients, such as having them join in singing patriotic songs. A journal of the journey has been preserved, from which a few extracts taken at random will indicate the nature of their laborious march through the inundated district: "Rain all this day— no provisions." "One of the men killed a deer, which was brought into camp. Very accept- able." "Marched on in the waters. Heard the evening and morning guns from the fort. No provisions yet. Lord help us!" "Plunged into the waters sometimes to the neck, for more than one league, when we stopped on the next hill of the same name (Momib), there being no dry land on any side for many leagues." "Many of the men much cast down, particularly the volunteers. No pro- visions of any sort, now two days. Hard fortune!" "Camp very quiet, but hungry — some aln^ost in despair." A story has been preserved by the members of Clark's family that well illustrates his fertility of resource when occasion demanded. The men had halted where the land was comparatively dry; they were hungry, cold and tired and they hesitated to plunge into the chill water. Among them was a sergeant whose six feet two inches of height contrasted strikingly with that of a diminu- tive drummer boy who had accompanied the men from Kaskaskia. Both were great favorites with the men. Knowing this, Clark "mounted the little drummer on the shoulders of the stalwart ser- geant and gave orders to him to advance into the half frozen water. He did so, the little drummer beating the charge from his lofiy perch, while Clark, with sword in hand followed them, giving the command forward march! as he threw aside the floating ice. Elated and amuse'd with the scene, the men promptly obeyed, holding their The Story of the State. 129 rifles above their heads and, iu spite of all obstacles, reached the high land beyond them safely." The narrative of the final capture of the fort and the uncondi- tional surrender of Gen. Hamilton is a stirring chapter — Clark's strategem of marching and countermarching his men around hills several times so as to give an exaggerated idea of the size of his command; his night attack on the fort; the flag of truce, and the order of Clark that Hamilton surrender or "depend on such treat- ment as is justly due a murderer"; flnally the unconditional sur- render of the garrison. The Little Drummer Boy and the Big Sergeant. (An Episode of the George Rogers Clark Campaign. Reproduced from English's "Conquest of the Northwest." Thus was conquered the Northwest. When the treaty of peace was signed that insured independence to the American colonies, Great Britain did not want to yield that part of North America now comprising Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, but the shrewd diplomacy of Benjamin Franklin, John Jay and John Adams — the American commissioners — in demonstrating that Clark's con- quest had placed their country in military possession of the region, prevailed, and Great Britain had to yield its claim. The notable exploit of George Rogers Clark created consterna- tion even in the remote forests of Wisconsin. At Prairie du Chien 130 LeaduKj Ecciits of Wisconsin Histurtj. a great quantity of fur had been stored in the old French fort. It was feared that the Big Knives had intentions of making a raid on these valuable stores. Langlade, who represented British interests at Green Bay, engaged to guard them. In the summer of 1780 lie was joined by an English trader from Michilimackinac, named John Long, who was accompanied by twenty Canadians and a large force of Indians. Long has left a journal narrating the incidents of his trip. "We arrived at Prairie du Ohien," he wrote, "where we found the merchants' peltry, in packs, in a long house, guarded by Captain Langlade and some Indians, who were rejoiced to see us. After rest- ing some time, we took out about 300 packs of the best skins and filled the canoes. Sixty more, which remained, we burned to pre- vent the enemy from taking them, having ourselves no room to stow any more, and proceeded on our journey back to Michilimackinac. About five days after our departure, we were informed that the Americans came to attack us, but to their extreme mortification we were out of their reach." Although not so stated by Long in his narrative, local tradition has it that the sixty packs of furs which he could not take along in his nine birch bark canoes were destroyed by setting fire to the old French fOrt wherein they had been stored. The year before the destruction of the old French fort at Prairie du Chien Gautier led a company of Wisconsin Indians against a trading post in Illinois called Le Pe, located where the city of Peoria has since Ueen built. The British commander at Michilimackinac feared that the Long Knives of George Rogers Clark would take and fortify this station, and at his instance Gautier led his warriors on a raid. The Indians applied the torch and then made their way back to Wisconsin without further attempts at molesting the Amer- icans. Another band of Indians from several Wisconsin tribes — Chlp- pewas, Sacs, Foxes, Menomonees and Winnebagoes — was led by a trio of French traders on a raid down the Mississippi river. Spain had declared war against Great Britain (1780) and these Indians were sent to attack some of the Spanish settlements on the west side of the river. Although the party numbered several hundred, nothing was accomplished beyond capturing an American boat filled with provisions and scalping a few settlers in the neighborhood of St. Louis. During the period of the Revolutionary war, the British had a number of vessels plying on the great lakes. One of them was actively engaged in cruising part of the time along the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan, as appears from the log of her captain. This collection of papers is now in the British Museum, labeled "Remarks on Board Her Majesty's Sloop Felicity by Samuel Roberts on Pilot- ing Her on Lake Michigan." Like most mariners of Kis day. Cap- The Story of the State. 131 tain Roberts was not an expert speller, but he faithfully jotted down the events of each day as best he could. His mission seems to have been dual — to trade for corn and to strengthen the allegiance of the natives to the British cause. One entry in his log, showing that there was at that time a trader named Morong (probably incorrect spelling) at Milwaukee reads thus, in part: "Remarks on Thursday, 4 Nov., 1779 — At 2 this afternoon Mr. Gautly returned with 3 indeans and a french man who lives at Mill- wakey, nam'd Morong nephew to Monsier St. Pier; Mr. Gautley gives them a present of 3 bottles of Rum & half carrot of tobacco, and also told them the manner governor Sinclair could wish them to Be- have, at which they seemed weall satisfeyed, he also give instruc- LANGLADE'S WISCONSIN INDIANS AFTER BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT. AFTER A SKETCH IN BLACK'S "OHIO." (The painted warriors whom Langlade had recruited in Wisconsin and Mich- igan secured hundreds of scalps to carry back to their lodges, after the half of Braddock's army had been mowed down by their ambuscade. The corpses were despoiled, and the Indians "ironically decked themselves out in grenadier caps, laced coats and epaulettes.") tions to Monsieur St. Pier to deliver some strings of Wampum and a little Keg of rum to the following & a carrot of Tobacco in gov- ernor Sinclairs name; likewise the manour how to behave; he also gave another small Kegg with some strings of Wampum with a car- rot of Tobaco to Deliver the indeans at Millwakey which is a mixed Tribe of different nations." The day before this liberal presentation of rum and tobacco. Captain Roberts made this entry in the sloop's log: "We sett the main sail & stood in shoar we just fetched in to Millwakey Bay; at 8 A. M. a very strong gale; we cam too in 4 fathoms watter; hoist out the Boat; sent Mr. Guntley & 4 hands on shoer with difficulty. Nothing more this 24 hours." CHAPTER X. THE MAGNA CHARTA OF THE NORTHWEST. Much difficulty was experienced by the American commissioners in securing recognition of tlieir claim to the Northwest, at the close of the Revolutionary war. The boundaries proposed by the court of France in 1782 would have given Wisconsin, as well as the rest of the territory north of the Ohio, to the English. One northern bound- ary that the American representatives would have been willing to compromise on would have given to the English one-half the pres- ent states of Wisconsin and Michigan. Geographical knowledge of this region was then very meager, and little was known of its resources. It was fortunate that the British ministers declined this proposition and chose instead the water boundary that now divides Canada from the United States. Following the definitive treaty that gave the Northwest to the United States there resulted a scramble among the original colonies ior the possession of this imperial domain. Virginia, Massachu- setts, Connecticut and New York claimed it in whole or in part, on the strength of royal charters. In the case of Virginia, the conquest of George Rogers Clark was used as an argument to fortify the claim. Finally, all the claimants ceded their real or alleged claims to the government, and the Northwest Territory was created by act of congress. Next to the declaration of independence, the Ordinance of 1787 is the most important document connected with the history of the United States. This organic act for the government of the North- west contained the germs of that which is purest and best and most beneficent in national legislation. Wisconsin was destined not to experience the full measure of this legislation until well along in the following century, but the salient features of the Ordinance of 178T are the essence to-day of what is strongest in its government. Many of the provisions contained in this remarkable document were then novel, and it is the greater evidence of broad statesmanship that their incorporation in the act was secured despite the narrow preju- dices of the times. Thomas Jefferson, Manassah Cutler and Nathan Dane h'ad potent influence in the framing of the document. Some of the provisions were these: Public Schools — "Schools and the means of education shall for- ever be encouraged." Freedom — "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servi- tude in the said territory." Union Forever — "The said territory and the states which may be formed therein shall forever remain a part of this confederacy of the United States of America." The Story of the State. 133 It was also provided that good faith should be observed toward the Indians; that no person should be molested on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments, and the ordinance also guaranteed to the inhabitants the writ of habeas corpus, trial by jury, proportional representation in the legislature, and the privi- leges of the common law. This was the basic law for the Northwest Territory — an area destined to become the very heart of the nation. Three thousand miles of navigable waters give form to this great region, and within the great lakes is stored "nearly one-half of the fresh water of the globe." In the carving of five great states out of this public domain of 266,000 square miles there is material for a chapter in which Wis- consin figures prominently. The Attempt to Carve the Northwest. Map Showing the Claims on Wisconsin and Other Northwestern Territory Made by Some of the Original Colonies. Ruins of Historic Fort Crawford. Prom a Photograph. PART IV. PIONEER DAYS IN THE TERRITORY. Gov. Henry Dodge as He Appeared in 1S36. From an Oil Painting by Bowman. CHAPTER I. FIRST SETTLEMENTS. In ATX Wisconsin, previous to the year 1800, tihere were not to exceed 200 white persons; but years before there had been planted the germs whence have sprung some of her cities. What constitutes the beginning of a permanent settlement is perhaps difficult of defi- nition; controversies as to who were the first permanent settlers of certain towns prove that disagreements may arise relative to this proposition, with arguments to fortify the contention of either dis- putant. It is so with many cFties that have developed in Wisconsin. Assuming, however, that the term permanent settler may be applied to the pioneers who made their habitations in certain localities with no known intention of removing thence, the first permanent settle- ments of Wisconsin may be enumerated as follows, the list em- bracing all in existence previous to the ushering in of the nine- teenth century: Green Bay — Augustin Langlade and his son Charles, with their families, 1764. Prairie du Chien — Bazil Giard, Augustin Ange and Pierre An- taya, 1781. Milwaukee — Jean Baptiste Mirandeau, 1789; Jacques Vieau, 1795. Portage — Laurent Barth, 1793; Jean Ecuyer, 1798. Kaukauna — Dominick Ducharme, 1790. Though not the first persons to erect habitations at these three places they were the first whose purpose was to remain. Traders had made these important stations their transient abode years before, but with the migratory instincts of their kind, had tarried but a brief period. Elsewhere, too, commercial rovers had erected a rude shelter, but they left before any vestige of permanency had attached to the spots chosen for their barter stations. They cannot therefore be counted among the first settlers of Wisconsin. Even their names are now forgotten. A Frenchman had established a trading post where Sheboygan now is, about 1779, or possibly earlier. At La Pointe there had been a succession of forest merchants, among them such famous travelers as Pierre Radisson (1658) ; Alex- ander Henry (1765); Michael Cadotte (1800). The huts of none of these men became the nucleus of a permanent settlement. Oldest of Wisconsin's settlements, Green Bay, has a history dat- ing back more than two centuries and a half. For a hundred and fifty years, the history of Green Bay may be said to have been the 137 138 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. history of Wisconsin. Tears before the Langlades concluded to make this gateway their home, these famous French partisans had frequently propelled their birch-bark canoes between this place and Michilimackinac. It is difficult to determine just when they con- cluded to establish themselves here permanently; the year 1764 is probably the correct date. The village grew but slowly; by the year 1785 there were but seven families here, comprising fifty-six persons, and this number included their Pawnee slaves. It appears that these slaves were treated rather as servants than in the degraded sense that the term slave would imply. A record of the first enumeration of the inhabitants of Green Bay has been preserved. The seven families included Charles Lan- glade, his wife, two Pawnee slaves and three domestics; one Lagral and his wife; Jean Baptiste Brunet, his wife, three children and a domestic; Amable Roy, his wife, two Pawnee slaves, a domestic and Jean Baptiste Le Due, an old trader who lived with them; Joseph Roy, his wife, five children and a domestic; a young man named Marchand, agent of a trading company of Michilimackinac, and four domestics. The houses occupied by Langlade, Grignon, Amble Roy and Marchand were located on the east bank of the Fox, and across the river were those of Joseph Roy, Lagral and Brunet. Nearly a quarter of a century elapsed before the census of Green Bay counted 250 persons. It is known that Prairie du Chien was regarded as a gathering place for the Indians of many tribes long previous to the planting of a village there. Located at the mouth of the great Wisconsin river highway, which, with the Pox, constituted the much frequented route that bisected the state, it was the naturally-located mart where the tribesmen of Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin could exchange their commodities. The early traders noted its advantage- ous position, and, as at Green Bay, erected a fort. The first forts were all built at trading centers; they were designed less as military strongholds than as stations for the trade in peltries. The chronicles of Prairie du Chien credit a Frenchman named Jean Marie Cardinelle and his wife with having made their home there for a time, as early as 1726. Mrs. Cardinelle survived her hus- band and half a dozen more later husbands, if tradition errs not. She lived to the good old age of 130 years, and was doubtless a widow oftener than any other woman who at any time made Wis- consin her home. In her old age the widow of Cardinelle grew garrulous, and loved to tell of her early experiences. She related that when she arrived at Prairie du Chien with her husband and an Indian slave (whom she subsequently married), "the buffalo were so numerous as sometimes to impede the progress of the three adventurers in their frail bark vessel, and they had to wait for the vast horde to cross the river before their canoe could pass in safety." The Story of the State. 139 Dr. Brunson, a local historian of Prairie du Chien, was inclined to doubt the accuracy of the date given by the Cardinelles as the year of their arrival, and he believed that the relict of many spouses was not as ancient as she believed herself. Dr. Brunson thought that the advent of the Cardinelles could not well have taken place earlier than 1767, and possibly even some years later. When the English traveler Carver visited Prairie du Chien in 1766, he found no white man there. At any rate his narrative men- tions none. The permanent settlement of Prairie du Chien is usually reckoned from the year 1781, and land titles date from this period. During this year a trio of Frenchmen came to the confluence of the Wisconsin with the Mississippi river and began what developed into a settlement. Their names were Bazil Giard, Augustin Ange and Pierre Antaya. Giard died at Prairie du Chien about 1819, at about 70 years of age, and left a large family. Antaya was also survived by a large family, most of them girls. Ange left the settlement in 1825 for the upper Mississippi. The beginnings of Portage were humble; they resulted from the necessities of travelers who used the Fox-Wisconsin route. This was the great highway across the state. The carry across the mile and a half of marshy stretch dividing the two streams suggested to Lawrence Barth, a trapper, the idea of furnishing transportation facilities for the boats of the voyagers. A horse and a vehicle for carrying these effects enabled him to do considerable business at the portage. Three years later there came to the portage another French- man, with improved facilities, and became Earth's competitor. Hav- ing diplomatically married a Winnebago woman whose tribe made this spot their home, the new transportation agent, Jean Ecuyer, was able to divert most of Earth's business. He flourished for a time, and others then entered the fleld. The transportation of traders' boats continued to be the chief business at the portage for noarly a quarter of a century. Pierre Paquette, who made the Port- age his headquarters for many years, was one of the best-known scouts and traders of the Northwest. Little is known of his early career. He flrst appeared ait the Portage when John Jacob Astor secured control of the Southwest company and merged it with the American Fur company. Paquette's services as Indian interpreter were frequently sought. He was the official interpreter at the mak- ing of treaties at Green Bay, in 1828, at Prairie du Chien in 1825 and Rock Island in 1835. He had the confldence of the Indians in unbounded degree; to them his advice was law. Marvelous stories are told of Paquette's remarkable feats of strength. "He was the strongest man I ever knew," Henry Mer- rill of Portage said of him. "He would pick up a barrel of pork as easily as another 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 140 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. by my clerk that he took it by the chimes and lifted it off the floor.'" B. L. Webb tells of this incident witnessed by him: A boat had arrived at Webb's warehouse, laden with sacks of wheat containing three bushels each. In transferring the grain to the warehouse, two men would take a sack, give it a swing and toss it to the floor, which was a little above their heads. Paquette witnessed the unloading for awhile, then stepped forward, seized a sack in each hand and tossed them to the floor without apparent exertion. Such athletic feats caused Paquette to become known as the "Modern Samson." Long after Green Bay and Prairie du Chien had become budding villages, Milwaukee had scarcely attained to the dignity of a ham- let. Jean Baptiste Mirandeau, who is credited with having been the first man who built a house here with the intention of remaining, was a blacksmith. He lived here a quarter of a century, and was buried near the intersection of Wisconsin street and Broadway. It must be admitted that the proof of the date of his coming is not wholly satisfactory. Jacques Vieau built a trading post of two substantial log houses on the south bank of the Menomonee river, a mile and a half from the bay. Several of his children were born here, among them Joseph, Louis, Amable, Charles, Nicholas and Peter. The latter Is still living, his home being at. Mukwonago. The elder Vieau became the father-in-law of Solomon Juneau, whom the old settlers of Mil- waukee like to mention as Milwaukee's first settler. Juneau was Vieau's clerk, and wooed and won his employer's attractive daugh- ter, Josette. It was as Vieau's clerk that he came to Milwaukee in 1818. He was the first land-owner here, for the others exercised squatter sovereignty merely. This fact has probably had some influence in crediting Juneau with having been Milwaukee's first per- manent setttler. CHAPTER II. VILLAGE LIFE A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. The genesis of Wisconsin's villages was Frencli. When the British were in military control, the settlements remained French. The close of the Revolutionary war did not disturb French charac- teristics. The Jay treaty of 1794, which stipulated that the British should absolutely surrender the Old Northwest to the Americans, made no difference in this remote region. There was, indeed, no appreciable change till after the war of 1812. The Americans were nominally in control, but French methods still prevailed. The French were easy- going at best, and the patriarchal rule that governed their com- munities tended to retard growth. The habitant, as he was called, was not over-thrifty nor over-industrious; he loved amusement, and as long as he could fill his stomach comfortably was averse to work more than was absolutely necessary. The French habitant was the opposite of the Anglo-Saxon pioneer who supplanted him. Love of social intercourse led these first settlers to build their cabins in close proximity to each other, along the river banks. As they patterned after the beaver and muskrat in locating their hum- ble structures of logs almost in the water, they derived the sobriquet of "muskrat Frenchmen," when the Americans came among them. The conveniences of the village community life were of the most primitive nature, but the careless, easy-going people managed to live contentedly and to enjoy themselves. The caleche or pony cart served in summer and the wooden cari'y-all, fancifully adorned, was used in winter as a vehicle. Buffalo robes served for seats, and the pleasure drives were enjoyed despite the jogging over the rough roads in springless vehicles. Tlie winter was the season for gaiety and merry-making. There were parties and dances, races on the ice and other diversions. The young men and young women were resourceful in devising means for passing the long months pleasantly. Agricultural pursuits were conducted on the rudest plan imag- inable. The old French plough was made of wood, except the share. The harness was of twisted raw-hide, and in place of the yoke famil- iar in Yankeeland, a rope was attached to the horns of the oxen. In most of the French villages of the Northwest, a hundred years ago, there was a "common field," used by all, and this enclosure was used for the benefit of all. "In this field, which sometimes contained several hundred acres," says a chronicle of the times, "each villager and head of a family had assigned to him a certain portion of ground for the use 141 142 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. of himself and family, as a field and garden. The extent of the field was proportionate to the number of persons or families in the vil- lage. The subdivisions were in due proportion to the number of members in each family. Each individual, or family, labored and reaped the product of his own allotment for his own use. If the enclosure became ruinous or was neglected contiguous to the plat of any family or individual, so as to endanger the general interest, that individual or family forfeited their claim to the use of the com- mon field." The use of this common garden field was regulated by a series of cast iron rules. They seemed to work satisfactorily, despite their in many respects arbitrary nature. "The season for ploughing, planting, reaping and other agricultural operations in the common field was regulated by special enactments. Even the form and man- ner of door yards, gardens and stable yards, and other arrangements for mutual benefit and the convenience of all, were regulated by special enactments of the little village senate. Nothing was better calculated to improve the simple and benevolent feelings of unso- phisticated human nature, to maintain the blessings of peace and harmony and the prevalence of brotherly love, than the forms of life and the domestic usages which prevailed in these early villages." Doubtless agriculture flourished little in Wisconsin a hundred years ago, because there was too much reliance upon the proceeds of the fur trade as a means of livelihood. This had as much influ- ence as the blighting paternalistic methods governing the pursuits of husbandry. Intricacies of court machinery had no part in the dispensing of justice — or dispensing with justice, either — at Green Bay or Prairie du Chien. A pompous old gentleman who drifted into the former community about 1792 exercised the functions of judge at the Bay. Whence Judge Charles Reaume derived his authority no one stopped to question. His rulings had all the force of a decision of the Su- preme court, and the simple villagers respected them as the law expounded by the court of last resort. Judge Reaume was an orig- inal character, and numberless are the stories that have survived about his judicial eccentricities. He had never heard of Blackstone. He governed as did the wise old patriarchs of old. On one occasion two Frenchmen who had quarreled about a trivial matter came to Judge Reaume with their grievances. He heard what each had to say and with the dignity due to the solemnity of the occasion, rend- ered his decision: "You are both wrong," he said. "You," pointing his index finger at the plaintiff, "you bring me one load of hay; and you," as the digit wandered in the direction of the defendant, "you bring me one load of wood. The case is settled." The man who dispensed justice at Prairie du Chien was known as Col. Boilvin, and was built after a similar pattern. It was sus- The Story of the State. 143 pected, but not positively known, that lie actually possessed a vol- ume of statutes. If he did, he never referred to the book. The kind of law dispensed by the bibulously-inclined justice may be gathered from the following incident: A man named Fry was under suspicion of having stolen a calf. Col. Boilvin determined to uphold the dignity of the law and dis- patched his constable to arrest the suspect. He soon returned. "Here, sir," said the constable. "I have brought Fry to you, as you ordered." AUGUSTIN GRIGNON. From an Oil Painting in the Rooms of the State Historical Society at Madison. (Grignon was a grandson of the famous French partisan, Charles Langlade, and was a native of Green Bay. In the old fur-trading days he furnished the conveyances required by the boatmen in making the portage at the Kakalin rapids, on the Fox River. Grignon was the author of what is doubtless the most interesting and valuable of the early pioneer narratives. He dictated the recital to the late Lyman C. Draper, and it was published in Vol. 3 of the "Wisconsin Historical Collections.") The colonel gazed sternly at the man suspected of being the offender. "Fry, you great rascal!" quoth he. "What for you steal the calf?" "I didn't steal the calf," retorted the accused. "You lie, you great rascal!" shouted the justice as he shook his fist at the prisoner. "Take him to jail," as he waved his hand to indicate that the culprit was convicted beyond the shadow of a doubt. Then he turned to some boon companions who had wit nessed the trial, and remarked: "Come, gentlemen, come, let us take a leetle something." CHAPTER III. THE CAPTURE OF PRAIRIE DU CHIEN. Runners from the Ohio country came among the Wisconsin Indians when Tecumseh planned his great uprising. No difficulty was experienced in exciting them to hostility against the American I>ong Knives. One Menomonee chief, Tomah, refused to join the revolt. An incident Is related by James Biddle, a Pennsylvanian who was in Green Bay at this time, illustrating the character of this famous Indian. According to his narrative, Tecumseh came about 1811 to a council of the Menomonees, and in an impassioned speech sought to fire his hearers with his own ardor for war. He told of the many enemies he had slain whose scalps had adorned is belt, of the battles he had fought and the prowess he had shown. When the Shawanoe chieftain had ceased, Tomah arose by the coun- cil fire. With quiet dignity he referred to the words of Tecumseh and his boast of many enemies slain by his hands; he paused, and with great dramatic effect he said in a tone of intense pride: "But it is my boast that these hands are unsullied by human blood!" The incident narrated may not be based on fact, but the spirit of Tomah's reply certainly actuated this well-known chief, for he was successful for a time in preventing his braves from going on the war path. British intrigue, fortified by British rum, proved more potent later, and again the Indians of Wisconsin ranged themselves on the side of the British and against the Americans. In the bloody battle at the river Raisin, the ferocity of Wisconsin Indians mada that memorable massacre a name of horror along the frontier. At Tippecanoe, Wisconsin Indians shared in the defeat of the great Indian chieftain. Some time after the war of 1812 began, it became evident to th-? Americans that Prairie du Chien was an Important place to hold if the British allies were to be prevented from descending the Mis- sissippi and raiding the American settlements. Accordingly a force under Lieut. James Perkins was dispatched to hold the fort. They went slowly up the river in a gunboat that had been made bullet- proof, the force comprising about a hundred and fifty men, well- equipped with ammunition and a number of cannon. Their arrival surprised the inhabitants at the Dog's Prairie, as the British called the place. British agents had made the place their headquarters and had boasted that the Big Knives would not dare venture to this post on the upper Mississippi. One Robert Dickson, a red-haired Scot who was especially zealous in heralding Britsh supremacy, fled as the Americans approached, and carried the news to the command- ing officer at Michilimackinac. 144 The Story of the State. 145 There were some American sympathizers at the Prairie who heartily welcomed Lieut. Perkins and his men. Two of them issued an address urging the iuhabitans to show their friendship for the Americans. The report made by Dicltson was that they had issued "two flaming Epistles to the people of the prairie, exhorting them to claim the protection of the great republic before it is too late & a great deal of other stuff." The Americans lost no time in erecting suitable fortifications in anticipation of an attack. A commanding eminence was selected,, and soon the American flag floated in Wisconsin for the first time in its history. The stockade was named Fort Shelby, in honor of Ken- tucky's first governor, Isaac Shelby. It was afterwards charged by the British that the Americans were guilty of gross treachery towards a party of Winnebagoes on taking possession of Prairie du Chien. According to their account seven Indians of this tribe were wantonly butchered while eating a meal set before them by their captors. Afterward they cajoled four others within a log house and shot them through the openings between the logs. Fort Shelby was placed in good condition for defense and for additional security the gunboat was anchored in midstream just in front of the fort, the ominous iron throats of a half dozen cannon being visible from shore. The British prepared for effective measures when Dickson, the trader, brought them word of the American occupation of Prairie du Ohien. While he went among his Indian friends to raise a large force, companies of regulars and volunteers were being drilled at Michilimackinac and Green Bay for an attack on Fort Shelby. Lieut. Col. W. McKay was placed at their head. Dickson possessed unbounded influence over the Indians. He had married a sister of Red Thunder, a Dakota chief, and had on numerous occasions given the Indians great quantities of traders' supplies and provisions and thus won their friendship. The name of Red Head, as they termed him, was familiar from Lake Michigan to the headwaters of the Mississippi river. . He found no difficulty in raising a large force of warriors, and wintered at Garlic island, pending the arrival of McKay's force. With a parting British cheer, the boats containing the attacking expedition left Michilimackinac June 28, 1814, and soon reached Green Bay. The party that pulled up the Fox in bateaux comprised several companies of Canadian volunteers and one of regulars. The company of volunteers from Green Bay was made up of the follow- ing men: Sergeant — Laurent Filey. Corporal — Amable Grignon. Privates — Joseph Courvalle, Labonne Dorion, Alexis Crochier, Josepli Deneau, Narcisse Delaune, Pierre Chalifou, Jean B. Latouch, Pierre L'Allement, Etienne Bantiere, Francis Freniere, Pierre Grignon, Jr., Pierre Ochu. 146 Leading Events of Wisconsin Histori/. Joseph Rolette, a well-known trader from Prairie du Ghien, and Thomas G. Anderson accompanied the expedition in command of the volunteers. At the Portage, Dickson's painted rabble of five or Lewis Cass. (One of the heroic figures in the early territorial history of Wisconsin was Lewis Cass. Some of the most important Indian treaties, at Prairie du Chien, Green Bay and elsewhere, were negotiated by him. In 1820 he undertook an important expedition through Wisconsin to ascertain its resources. He was accompanied by Henry R. Schoolcraft, who wrote an interesting account of the journey and its results. The canoe trip Governor Cass made to St. Louis and back, to obtain military assistance when Wisconsin was threatened with the horrors of a general Indian outbreak, was a memorable one. He traveled 1,800 miles with great celerity, and his promptness undoubtedly prevented the war from assuming great proportions. Governor Cass, while minister to France, obtained copies of manuscripts which have done much to illuminate the history of Wisconsin and the Northwest during the French period.) six hundred Indians joined the Michigan Fencibles and Mississippi Volunteers, as the companies were called. The Indians were much impressed with the appearance of a brass six-pounder whose mouth The Story of the State. 147 yawned from the prow of one of the bateaux. A bombardier of the Royal artillery was in charge. It was a pleasant Sunday morning at about 10 o'clock (July 17) when the red coats of the regulars, the gaudy tasseled caps of the Canadians and the paint-bedaubed savage stragglers were espied from the fort. There was great commotion, for their appearance was unexpected. The officers of the garrison were about to depart on a pleasure drive, and the villagers were engaged in their cus- tomary peaceful avocations. Some of these latter made haste to seek shelter in the fort, while others fled for the country. Having pitched camp, the British prepared for sterner business. Capt. Thomas An- derson advanced toward the blockhouses, waving a flag of truce. He stopped in front of the strong oaken pickets, ten feet high, which enclosed the fort, and delivered the following message from Lieut.- Col. McKay, addressed to Lieut. Perkins: "Sir — An hour after the receipt of this, surrender to His Majesty's forces unconditionally, otherwise I order you to defend yourself to the last man. The humanity of a British olficer obliges me (in case you should be obstinate) to request you will send out of the way your women and children." The American commander was equal to the occasion. Without hesitation he sent back this curt reply: "Sir — I received your polite note and prefer the latter, and am determined to defend to the last man." The defiant answer was the signal for the commencement of hostilities. The brass six pounder was trained on the American gun- boat in the river, while the Indians and the Michigan Fencibles opened a brisk fire on the fort. Sheltered by the buildings of the village, the savages were able to annoy the garrison considerably, their shots cutting down the flag and wounding a couple of the men with bullets that sped through the port-holes. The firing from the fort did little damage. On the second day the bombardier again played his shot against the side of the gunboat. The garrison within the fort were filled with consternation when they observed the gunboat's cables were cut and that the boat was rapidly drifting away. It finally dis- appeared behind an island, with a flotilla of canoes filled with Indians in hot pursuit. The pursuers were joined by some of the Canadians and gave chase till the gunboat reached Rock Island, where reenforcements were met. The Americans, overestimating the force of the British, returned down stream and left Prairie du Chien and its garrison to take care of themselves. Had Lieut. Perkins realized in what straits the British were for ammunition, the desertion of the men on the gunboat would doubt- less not have discouraged him. The personal narrative of Capt. Anderson portrays the situation on the third day: 148 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. "Our cannon shot were nearly all gone. So I got a quantity of lead from the village and with a couple of brick made a mould and cast a number of three-pound leaden balls. Meanwhile the Indians were bringing in balls which the Americans had by their short shots scattered about the prairie without effect. Our stores of provisions were getting low, our ammunition exhausted." Reduced to this strait, the British commander decided to send red-hot shot into the fort with a view of setting it on flre. The gun was mounted within a hundred and fifty feet of the oaken pickets, and the balls were heated in readiness to throw into the fort. At this juncture a white flag was displayed by the Americans, and the following message came: "Sir — I am willing to surrender the garrison provided you will save and protect the officers and men, and prevent the Indians from ill-treating them." Lieut.-Col. McKay feared that if he accepted unconditional sur- render his Indian allies would massacre the entire garrison. They had chafed over the delay and were eager to take scalps. Prompted by motives of humanity he sent back word that he would prefer to have the Americans remain in the fort till 8 o'clock the next morning, when he would allow them to march out with the honors of war. Despite the vehement protests of the Indian allies, the humane Briton gave back to the Americans their weapons and a supply of ammunition, and permitted them to depart for St. Louis. The savages looted the houses in the village, but secured no scalps. The casualties on both sides, as shown by the reports of Col. McKay, were ludicrously few considering the amount of bullets and powder that had been consumed. None of the British were killed, and but few of their red allies were wounded. In the attack on the gunboat five Americans lost their lives and ten were wounded. Three soldiers within the fort were hit by bullets, but there were no fatalities. Col. McKay did not remain long at the fort. He rechristened It Fort McKay in honor of himself, and a month later made his way back to Michilimackinac, leaving Capt. Anderson in command. Not long after Capt. A. H. Bulger, of the Royal Newfoundland regiment, was sent to take command. Capt. Bulger fared but ill. The Indians were clamoring for supplies, for the war had engaged their time to such an extent that they had raised no corn for food, and they were without ammunition for the chase. Starvation threatened them. "A vast concourse of Indians of different tribes were assembled at this place when I arrived, and it was really a most distressing sight; men, women and children naked and in a state of starvation," Capt. Bulger wrote to headquarters. "Many of them had been from home all the summer fighting for us, and now, on the The Story of the State. 14^ approach of winter, to see them suffering all the horrors of want, without the power to relieve them, was distressing in the extreme." Despite Capt. Bulger's urgent demand for provisions and gun- powder, these supplies came but grudgingly and in insufficient quantities, and the Indians grew daily more numerous and more clamorous. Other troubles beset Capt. Bulger. The erratic trader Dickson grew restless under the strict discipline enforced by the captain, and found means to annoy him in numerous ways. On the last day of the year (1814), a mutiny broke out among the Michigan Fencibles. Capt. Bulger had gone to Ft. McKay suffering from a wound in the breast, and the arduous trip in an open boat had greatly impaired his health. He had therefore dele- gated the drilling of men to subordinates. The Fencibles grew exceedingly disorderly, and when on parade took turns in laughing and swearing at the sergeant major. Capt. Bulger gave orders to confine the next man guilty of talking or laughing under arms. Soon matters came to a ciisis. One of the Fencibles paid no attention to commands and when he was about to be taken to the ^uard house, resisted. His companions came to the rescue, and took the offender to the barrack room. "Who will dare come and take him?" they cried, and with drawn bayonets and knives stationed themselves at the door of the barrack room and swore to kill the first man making the attempt. Capt. Bulger acted with great promptness and decision. The long roll beat for the garrison to fall in, and the captain declared martial law and summoned a drum-head coUrt-martial. The offender was found guilty and sentenced to be tied to a gun and flogged. Other leaders of the mutiny were confined in a cell on bread and water. A garrison court-martial was assembled to try two men of the guard who had refused to arrest the culprit when ordered. The sentence of 300 lashes each was reduced by Capt. Bulger to half the number, the punishment being inflicted in presence of all the troops and militia. To guard against desertion, Capt. Bulger directed the Indians to bring in the head of the first man attempting to leave. Rumors of an expedition to recapture Fort McKay came from below, and as the garrison lacked both provisions and gun-powder, Capt. Bulger determined to go to Green Bay after some. The follow- ing proclamation which he issued to the traders and inhabitants of the settlement would indicate that the Creole population were strongly inclined to mix commercial thrift with patriotism. "To the Traders and Inhabitants of the Settlement of Green Bay: "You have now an opportunity of testifying to the world whether you are sincere in your professions of loyalty and attachment to 150 Leading Events of ^Yisconsin History. his Majesty's government. I understand that there is still a con- siderable quantity of wheat, as well as ammunition, in this place, and I have heard that some of you intend to hoard up those articles in hopes of obtaining an exorbitant price for them. This is ungen- erous, ungrateful to that government which protects you. ... I do not like your charging 5 and 6 dollars a pound for your powder, it does not look well. Such an exorbitant demand will stagger the confidence of government, and will make it be believed that yea wish to impose and extort. I know that the powder did not cost you more than 2 dollars and a half at Mackinac and you ought to be satisfied to receive 4 dollars a pound for it," etc. By dint of persuasion and threats Capt. Bulger secured some supplies and returned to Fort McKay. News of the treaty of peace did not reach the garrison until May, 1815, although the articles had been signed at Ghent five months before (Dec. 24, 1814.) Five weeks before the intelligence reached him, Capt. Bulger was busy- ing himself with the task of keeping his Indian allies in line. On the 18th of April a council was held. At this council many noted chiefs were present. Among those who declared undying hatred of the American Big Knives was Black Hawk, the Sac chieftain who seventeen years later led his band to destruction. The French called him L'Epervier Noir. Taking a war belt in his hand, he said: "My Father! You see this belt? When my great father at Quebec gave it to me, he told me to be friends with all his red children, to form but one body, to preserve our lands and to make war against the Big Knives who want to destroy us all. My Great Father said: 'Take courage, my children; hold tight your war club, and destroy the Big Knives as much as you can. If the master of life favors us. you shall again find your lands as they formerly were. Your lands shall again be green and the sky blue. When your lands change color, you shall also change.' This, my father, is the reason why we Sacs hold this war club tight in our hands, and will not let it go. "My Father! — I now see the time drawing nigh when we shall all change color; but, my father, our lands have not yet changed color. They are red — the water is red with our blood, and the sky is clouded. I have fought the Big Knives, and will continue to fight them till they are off our lands. Till then, my father, your red children cannot be happy." Doubtless the message conveying the news that peace had been declared proved welcome to Capt. Bulger, but it placed him in a try- ing position. Only a short time before he had used all his power to influence the Indians against the Big Knives. These had gone into the war on the promise that their lands which the Americans had taken were to be restored. Now Capt. Bulger was expected to instill pacific sentiments into the minds of the Indians, though their The Story of the State. 151 demands remained unsatisfied. His orders were to give up tlie post to tlie American government, and he received a letter from Gov. Clark of Missouri, asking liim not to evacuate the fort until the arrival of the Americans. Capt. Bulger concluded, instead, to leave at once. According to his official report, "great ferment and dis- content existed among the Indians in consequence of the report of peace." He wrote to Gov. Clark at St. Louis that "the presence of a detachment of British and United States troops at the same time, at Fort McKay, would be the means of embroiling one party or the other in a fresh rupture with the Indians." It appears from subsequent correspondence that Capt. Bulger feared to prolong his stay lest he might hazard the lives of his men. The Indians were beginning to gather at the Prairie in great num- bers; the trader, Dickson, was intriguing to undermine the com- mander's authority. Capt. Graham, one of Capt. Bulger's officers, was so affected by Dickson's instigations as to speak disrespectfully to his superior officer. He was ordered into close arrest. The situation was extremely critical, for the Indians were angry and sullen. Every precaution against treachery was taken. When Capt. Bulger went to the council house outside of the fort to meet the Indian chiefs, he told the troops that he might never return; in that event they knew what he expected them to do. It was agreed that if treachery were attempted, the flag over the council house would be lowered. This was to be the signal for turning the guns of the fort upon the Indians. Fortunately, treachery was not attempted. The council was conducted with great solemnity. Seventy chiefs and warriors were gravely seated on the ground so as to form three sides of a hollow square. The wampun belt which in 1812 had summoned the tribes to war was placed on the ground where all could see it; then it had been red, denoting war; now it was blue, symbolic of peace. After the elaborate ceremonials, the interpreter read the treaty of peace, article by article. The British commander, on con- clusion of the reading, took a tastefully ornamented calumet, and after a few wreaths of smoke had curled upwards, passed it to an Indian chief. The peace pipe passed from hand to hand. The reverberation of nineteen guns fired from the fort to announce that the war had terminated came to the ears of the assembled chiefs. They accepted the signal, and the war was at an end. On the 24th of May, 1815, the union jack disappeared from the flagstaff of Fort McKay. Thus ended foreign domination on Wis- consin soil. For ninety years the fleur-de-lis of France was the emblem of sovereignty in Wisconsin; during the next half century British red-coats ruled the stockades at the extremes of its bound- aries. In the year of its semi-centennial, Wisconsin will have been American soil, nominally, 115 years; in fact, eighty-three years. CHAPTER IV. YANKEE FUR TRADERS IN WISCONSIN. Cj.ose upon the heels of the American soldiers who occupied the Wisconsin forts, upon conclusion of the war of 1812, came sagacious Yankee traders. Obstacles were encountered which even their keen instinct for driving a shrewd bargain was powerless to overcome. In 1816 Maj. Morgan's four companies of riflemen left St. Louis for the upper Mississippi, and in the month of June erected a fort where they found the ruins of Fort McKay. William H. Crawford was then secretary of the treasury in the cabinet of President Monroe, and his name was given to the cluster of block houses. In July Col. John Miller and his regiment of infantry arrived at Green Bay and built Fort Howard, so named in honor of Gen. Benjamin Howard. The occupation of these posts was designed to effect the expulsion of the British fur-traders, whose machinations among the Indian hunters had caused the young republic much trouble. The factors whom the government placed in charge were unable to com- pete with the British agents, whose goods were better and cheaper, and the government trading posts proved unprofitable. It was finally concluded to leave the fur trade to private enterprise. Chiefly through the influence of John Jacob Astor the govern- ment was induced to pass an act excluding foreigners from partici- pation in the fur trade. Astor had several years before this attempted to gain a foothold in the fur country, but British influ- ences were too strong. His celebrated Astoria expedition passed through Wisconsin in 1809, in charge of Hunt and Crooks. Astor controlled the Southwest company, which was merged with his American Fur company, headquarters being established at Mack- inaw. It was here that furs were received from Green Bay and Prairie du Chien and packed to New York. The former was the depot of the traders whose operations extended along the Fox and upper Wisconsin. Prairie du Chien was a still more important mart, being considered neutral territory by the Indians. Members of hostile tribes never harmed each other if they met here, though the truce terminated if they chanced upon each other beyond its limits. With all his sagacity, Astor found many difficulties in the prosecution of the fur trade. The British traders were unwilling to yield the rich fur country to the Americans, and evaded the inhibition against foreigners by taking out licenses in the names of American clerks employed by them. The Indian trade required guns and blankets of a good quality, then obtainable only in Eng- 152 The Story of the State. 153 land. Astor was unable to get them and his inferior articles enabled the British traders to successfully inspire the Indians with contempt for the Americans and their goods. Astor's guns were made in Holland in imitation of those supplied by the British. It did not take the Indians long to ascertain their spurious character. The Indian is improvident, but he is keen enough at a bargain. The factor found his match when he tried to barter his com- modities for peltries. An anecdote told of Joseph Rolette, a famous trader of Prairie du Chien, well illustrates the point. A lady who visited Prairie du Chien in the early days of the territory remarked to him: Ebenezer Brigham. (During the Black Hawk war the Brigham place near Blue Mounds was a rendezvous for the settlers of the neighborhood. Ebenezer Brigham was the first permanent settler in Dane County. He came to Wisconsin seventy years ago; was a member of the Territorial Council from 1836 to 1841, and member of the Assembly the year Wisconsin became a State.) "Oh, Mr. Rolette, I would not be engaged in the Indian trade; it seeems to me a system of cheating the poor Indians." "Let me tell you, madame," replied he with great naivete, "it is not so easy to cheat the Indians as you imagine. I have tried it these twenty years, and have never succeeded." Necessity compelled the government to modify its orders re- ative to the exclusion of foreigners, licenses being issued to boat- men and interpreters who were able to fumiSh bonds for good behavior in the Indian country. Thus a large number of French Creoles entered the employ of the American Fur company. The fol- lov/ing spring (1817) the company brought to the fur country a larg3 number of American clerks, but more than half of them proved so inefficient that they were discharged at Mackinaw. 154 Leading Events of Wisconsin Historij. The great depot of the Indian trade at this period was Macki- naw. It was from this place that outfits were sent as far west as the head waters of the Missouri river. For this trade, and that of the Mississippi, the boats went by way of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. At little Kaukalin and at the famous Fox-Wisconsin portage the goods had to be transported by team, while the empty boats were taken up or down the rapids by the voyageurs. Augustin Griguon furnished the teams for this purpose at the former carry- ing place, and charged 20 cents per hundred pounds. At the Fox- Wisconsin portage, the charge was 40 cents per hundred pounds, and $10 for each boat. At Prairie du Chien a stop was' usually made for a season of convivial pleasure. It was an unwritten code of those old fur- trading days that on such occasions every trader must broach a keg of excellent wine. When the traders met here in the spring, they would feast right royally. They gave great dinner parties, and carousal was the order of the day. An account of the early days at the posts from the pen of an eye-witness gives this picturesque view of frontier society, as it then existed: "The traders and their clerks were then the aristoc- racy of the country; and to a Yankee at first sight presented a singular state of society. To see gentlemen selecting wives of the nut-brown natives, and raising children of mixed blood, the traders and clerks living in as much luxury as the resources of the country would admit, and the engages or boatmen living upon soup made of hulled corn, with barely enough tallow to season it, devoid of salt unless they purchased it themselves at a high price — all this to an American was a novel mode of living. The traders in this country were a singular compound; they were honest so far as they gave their word of honor to be relied upon, and in their business trans- actions between themselves seldom gave or took notes for balances or assumptions. It rarely happened that one of them was found who did not fulfill his promises; but when trading in the Indian country, any advantage that could be taken of each other in a transaction was not only considered lawful — such as trading each other's credit — but an indication of tact and cleverness in business. Two traders having spent the winter in the same neighborhood and thus taken every advantage they could of each other, would meet in the spring at Prairie du Chien and amicably settle all difficulties over a glass of wine." Most of the women at Prairie du Chien were the daughters of Indian traders. Their favorite beverage was tea, and despite its excessive cost, they would forego almost anything rather than miss a cup of tea. Prices of imported commodities were somewhat in- fluenced by the cost of home products. For instance, if flour sold at $8 per hundred pounds, hyson or young hyson tea was quoted at $8 per pound. When the price of flour fell to $6, tea would take a The Story of the State. 155 sympathic tumble to the same figure. The ruling prices were these: Onions, $9 per bushel; eggs, ?1 per dozen; soap, $1 per pound; calico, $2 per yard; clay pipes, 40 cents apiece; common tobacco, $2 per pound. The poor engages, or boatmen, were the ones most affected by the high prices, for they had nothing to exchange. The yearly wage was $83.33 and an equipment of two cotton shirts, one triangular blanket and a pair of shoes. For the pipes, tobacco and any other necessaries which the engage had to procure in the Indian country, he was compelled to pay the prices the traders charged. Most of them thus became heavily inv^olved in debt, and were unable to leave the country because the only means of transportation to Montreal was in the boats of the traders. In order to keep these men at their mercy, the traders encouraged them to run into debt. The contracts the boatmen were required to sign were of a cast- iron nature. They bound themselves "not to leave the duties assigned them by their employers or assigns either by day or night, under penalty of forfeiting their wages; to take charge of and safely keep the property put into their trust, and to give notice of any portending evil against their employers or their interests that should come to their knowledge." When an article was missed, invariably the trader charged it to the account of the engages, at a good round price. The method adopted by Astor to monopolize the fur trade in this region was as effective then as it has proved in more recent times in other branches of business. If some venturesome trader attempted to do business, the company would establish a post near by, sell goods at half their value, and when the opposition trader had been driven from the field, prices would shoot up again. One enterprising trader, a former clerk in the employ of the American Fur company, gave the company much trouble. This man, William Farnsworth, established himself at Sheboygan, and the usual tactics of the company failed to dislodge him. The secret of his success was a large supply of ardent spirits, a commodity that was pi'ohib- ited in the Indian trade. Finally, the company hired a band of Indians to seize Farnsworth's goods and whisky. The Indians came to the house, told Farnsworth they were brave men, and could neither be bribed nor intimidated in the execution of their designs. "I am brave, too," remarked Farnsworth, "and I'll prove it to you." As he spoke he rolled a barrel filled with gunpowder into the center of the room, placed it on end and knocked out the head. Taking a lighted candle he inserted it in the powder so that the light was a few inches above the powder, then complacently seated himself beside the keg and lit his pipe. It was more than the Indians had bargained for. They rushed out of the house, and never threatened Farnsworth after that. The 156 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. American Fur company likewise abandoned its fruitless efforts to crush him. For many years the agents of the American Fur company practically controlled the barter in furs in all the country between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river. Among their well-known representatives were Ramsey Crooks, one of the leaders of the Astoria expedition; John Lawe, an English Jew who operated in the Green Bay region; Augustin Grignon, grandson of the famous Charles Langlade. The posts of the company, advantageously located at meeting places and commanding sites, punctuated the water courses of the Wisconsin region. In 1821, goods valued at $15,000 were sent by the company to its Green Bay representatives. The same year the outfit of its agent at Prairie du Chien was valued at $25,000; goods valued at $11,000 were sent to the Lake Superior country, and the following year $19,000 represented the value of the outfits sent there. About 2,000 Indian hunters, supplied with guns and ammunition at these scattered posts, brought pel- tries to the factors to pay for the advances made to them. It has been estimated that about this time goods for the Indian trade brought to Wisconsin annually amounted to not less than $75,000 in value. The influence of the fur trade has been well described by Frederick J. Turner as "closing its mission by becoming the path- finder for agricultural and manufacturing civilization," for where the posts were located, the leading cities of the state have since been built. "The Indian village became the trading post, the trading post became the city. The trails became our early roads. The portages marked out the locations for canals, at Portage and Stur- geon Bay; while the Milwaukee and Rock river portages inspired the project of the canal of that name, which had an influence on the early occupation of the state. The trader often put his trading house at a river rapids, where the Indian had to portage his canoe, and thus found the location of our water powers." Among the cities that have been built on the sites of the trading stations and jack-knife posts, as the dependent stations were termed, may be enumerated Milwaukee, La Crosse, Green Bay, Prairie du Chien, Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Eau Claire, Black River Falls, Hudson, Racine, Two Rivers, Kaukauna, Peshtigo, Oconto, Fond du Lac, Oshkosh, Chippewa Falls, Kewaunee, Portage, Trempealeau, Madison, St. Croix Falls, Shullsburg, Rice Lake, Cassville, Menomonee. For many years the fur trade was Wisconsin's chief source of wealth. It continued such until the lead mine fever in Southwestern Wisconsin developed a new channel of industry and started the im- migration that brought thousands of settlers to the territory. CHAPTER V. RED BIRD'S UPRISING. Different tribes of Indians gathered at Prairie du Cliien in the summer of 1825 for a grand council, to make a general and lasting peace and to settle boundary disputes. The representatives of the government were Lewis Cass, governor of the territory, and Gen. Clark of Missouri. It was but a hollow peace, and signs were soon apparent that the Winnebagoes meditated trouble. About this time there was great excitement in the lead diggings of Southwestern Wisconsin, and prospectors were flocking into the country in great numbers, coming principally from the South. Alarming rumors multiplied, but owing to the presence of troops in the country, it was not believed the Winnebagoes would dare to take the war path. Unfortunately, an order came from Washington directing the garrison at Fort Craw- ford to abandon the old fort and proceed to Fort Snelling. The commander wasted no time in obeying instructions, leaving a brass swivel and some damaged arms for the defense of the place. The Winnebagoes supposed that the departure of the troops was prompted by fear. An event occurred in the spring of 1827 that greatly alarmed the people of Prairie du Chien. During the maple sugar season, one of the residents named Methode set up his sugar camp a dozen miles from the village, on the banks of Yellow creek. Prolonged absence of himself and family caused some of his friends to seek his camp, as they feared illness might have prevented their return. Near the mouth of the stream they cam6 upon the body of his dog, riddled with bullets. Where Methode had erected his rude dwelling of logs and boughs, the searchers came upon a mass of charred cinder. The five children, as well as Methode and his wife, had been killed — shockingly mangled — and their bodies thrown upon the blazing pyre. Suspicion pointed to a Winnebago hunting party. . When the American garrison evacuated Fort Crawford, they took with them to Fort Snelling two Winnebago warriors, detained as prisoners on a charge of theft. It began to be rumored among their kinsmen that the prisoners had been compelled to run the gauntlet and had thus lost their lives. The rumor was false, but led to serious consequences. There was just enough basis for the story to make trouble. During the latter part of May, 1827, Flat Mouth's band of Sandy Lake Ojibwas encamped within musket shot of the high stone walls of the fort. Here they entertained at a feast of meat and corn and sugar a few Dakota Indians, led by Toopunkah Zeze. The latter, 157 158 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. after smoking the peace pipe, rose to depart and treacherously fired their guns at their hosts. The soldiers pursued the assailants and captured some of them. Two of the Dakotas were turned over to the Ojibwas to be dealt with according to tribal custom. They were given a fair start and told to run for their lives. At a given signal the avengers started in pursuit. Fleet as the fugitives were, they BLACK HAWK WAR RELICS. IN POSSESSION OF STATE HISTORICAL, SOCIETY. (The uniform worn by Henry Dodge, shown in the group, is one of the interest- ing relics in the Museum at Madison.) could not escape the bullets of their pursuers, and both sank to the ground riddled with bullets. Located on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi river, in the vicinity of Trempealeau, was the village of a Winnebago chief named Red Bird. This Indian was well-known at Prairie du Chien, and was regarded as friendly to the whites. One night runners came to his wigwam to tell him that the two Winnebagoes at Fort The Story of the State. 159 Snelling had been executed. From this time Red Bird was the implacable enemy of the Americans. He at once prepared for ven- geance. The law of the tribe was that for every life taken, two enemies must be slain before vengeance was satisfied. With a com- panion called Wekau (the Sun) he paddled down stream in his canoe till he came to Prairie du Chien. After entering the house of Judge Lockwood and frightening the women, Red Bird and Wekau repaired to the house of a farmer named Registre Gagnier, brother of the village blacksmith. Here the kettle was boiling over the fire, and the hospitable farmer invited the two Indians to join the family at the table. With murder in their hearts the Winne- bagoes partook of the meal, and while meditating treachery smoked the pipe of peace with Gagnier. At an auspicious moment. Red Bird gave a signal and Gagnier fell dead as he received the contents of Red Bird's gun in his breast. An old soldier named Solomon Lipcap was hoeing weeds in the garden. A shot ended his career, also. Mrs. Gagnier seized a gun, leveled it at Wekau, and held him at bay while she escaped through a rear window with her 3-year-old boy tightly clinging to her back. She had to leave her infant daughter behind. This child Wekau scalped and left for dead. Great excitement was created by Mrs. Gagnier's startling news when she reached the village. A rescue party at once hurried to her house, only to find the mangled bodies of Gagnier, Lipcap and the little girl. The latter was alive, and survived her terrible wounds. She grew to womanhood, and some of her descendants yet live in Prairie du Chien. The alarm created by the savage work of Red Bird and Wekau was intensified when two keelboats arrived with the news of a fierce attack made on them the day before at the mouth of the Bad Ax river. Aboard were three dead men and four wounded boat- men. The sides of the boats were honeycombed with bullet perfora- tions, more than 500 shots having penetrated bow and sides. These boats had but a short time before left Prairie du Chien with supplies for the garrison at Fort Snelling. On their way up Indians had gone aboard, but had not molested the crew. When the keelboats returned, war yells greeted them on both sides of the stream, but no attack was made till they reached the Bad Ax. On an island toward which the boats had to drift in making the channel were gathered some of Red Bird's warriors engaged in the war dance over the three scalps brought by their chieftain. There was a strong east wind that carried the first keelboat rapidly towards the place where the Indians were. Unsuspicious of danger the steersman had lashed his steering oar, while the force of the sweeps sent the craft straight to the point of ambush. A volley of shots and the accompaniment of war-whoops apprised the boat- men of the danger, and they threw themselves flat upon the deck to avoid the hail of bullets. A little negro boy named Peter had his 160 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. leg shattered, but managed to crawl below. Under cover of the fusilade, two Indians swam to the boat, mounted the roof and tried to ground the vessel on a sandbar. One of them was peppered at till he fell into the river. A timely bullet hit the second Indian, and he fell into the boat. By this time the keelboat was perilously near the sand bank. An act of heroism saved the crew from the destruction that seemed inevitable. Observing the danger and realizing the necessity for prompt action a sailor who went by the sobriquet of Saucy Jack leaped to the bow, oar in hand, and moved the boat off into the cuiTent of the channel. Bullets whistled by his ears, but he kept his place till his pole had pushed the boat afloat. It was a marvel that he was not riddled, but not a bullet struck the brave sailor. A contemporary summary of the casualties states that thirty- seven Indians were engaged in this fight, of whom seven were killed and twice that number wounded. Nearly 600 of their bullets pene- trated the boat. But six of the crew were hit, two being killed out- right and two mortally wounded. But for the courage of Jack Mandeville, the sailor, doubtless all of them would have been massacred. The second keelboat was fired upon, but its crew escaped injury. The arrival of the boats at Prairie du Chien threw the inhabitants into a panic. The old fort and blockhouses were in a state of dis- repair, but the people hastened to strengthen the defenses. The old wornout muskets, left by the garrison, were turned over to the blacksmiths to put into as good condition as possible, while men and women piled a bank of earth around the rotton logs of the fort, and filled barrels with water in case an attempt was made to fire the fort. Ninety men and women capable of handling a musket were drilled for emergencies, and were divided between the block- houses. By sunset all the families had removed to the fort with their goods and chattels. A couple of couriers were dispatched to Fort Snelling to ask for help. One of the couriers was J. B. Loyer, an old voyageur. He was furnished with a horse and promised $50. His companion, Duncan Graham, was also given a horse and the promise of a reward of $20. In the region of the lead diggings the alarm was greater than in the immediate vicinity of hostilities. "A scene of the most alarming and disorderly confusion ensued," says the account of Col. Daniel M. Parkinson, an eye-witness. "Alarm and consternation were depicted in every countenance, thousands flocking to Galena for safety, when in fact it was the most exposed and unsafe place in the whole country. All were without arms, order or control. The roads were lined in all direc- tions with frantic and fleeing men, women and children, expecting every moment to be overtaken, tomahawked and scalped by the Indians. It was said, and I presume with truth, that the encamp- The Story of the State. 161 ment of fugitives at the head of Apple river, on the first night of the alarm, was four miles in extent, and numbered 3,000 persons." At this time Wisconsin was part of Michigan territory, and Lewis Cass was governor. Rumors of impending trouble having reached the governor, he made the trip to Prairie du Chien in a canoe, arriving there on the Fourth of July. With the energy that characterized this rugged old frontier governor, Cass organized a volunteer company for the emergency, reentered his canoe and went on to Galena. Thence he dispatched another force to the assistance of Prairie du Chien, and continued on to St. Louis to enlist the aid of Gen. Atkinson, who was in charge of Jefferson barracks. Atkin- son promptly departed for the upper Mississippi. In the meantime. Col. Snelling had arrived with his men from the Minnesota country and Col. Henry Dodge had raised a volun- teer force of lead miners to carry the war into the enemy's country. These volunteers were mounted, and while they scouted along the banks of the Wisconsin river. Gen. Atkinson's force ascended in boats. At Green Bay, also, word had been received of the difficul- ties below, and Maj. Whistler was ascending the Fox with a volunteer force of Oneida and Stockbridge Indians. Whistler's forces encamped on a high bluff, where the ensuing year Fort Winnebago was constructed. Ferreted from their hiding places by Dodge's mounted volun- teers, and driven before them in frantic endeavors to escape, the Winnebagoes found themselves hemmed in between the forces of Whistler and Atkinson, and concluded to surrender. At midday an Indian came to Whistler's camp and seated himself on the ground beside one of the tents. Being asked the purpose of his coming, he pointed to the sky. "Do not strike," he said. "When the sun is there to-morrow," looking up to the place indicated by his uplifted hand, "they will come in." "Who?" "Red Bird and Wekau." Wrapping his blanket around him the Indian departed as quietly as he had come. The incidents connected with the surrender of Red Bird are graphically narrated by Col. Thomas L. McKenney, an eye-witness. This is the narrative in condensed form: "At about noon of the day following there were seen descending a mound on the Portage, a body of Indians — some were mounted and some were on foot. Three flags were borne by them — 'two, one in front and one "in the rear, were American, and one in the center was white. They bore no arms. On a sudden we heard a singing. Those who were familiar with the air said: 'It is a death song.' When still nearer some present who knew him said: 'It is the Red Bird singing his death ;Song!' 162 Leading Events of ^yuconsin History. "The moment a halt was made on the margin of the river, preparatory to crossing over, two scalp yells were heard. The Menomonees and other Indians who had accompanied us were lying carelessly about on the ground, regardless of what was going on, but when the scalp yells were uttered they sprang as one man to their feet, seized their rifles and were ready for battle. They were at no loss to know that the yells were scalp yells; but they had not heard with sufficient accuracy to decide whether they indicated scalps to be taken or given, but doubtless inferred the first. "Barges were sent across to receive, and an escort of military to accompany them within our lines. The white flag which had been seen in the distance was borne by the Red Bird. In the lead was Car-i-mi-nie (Walking Turtle), a distinguished chief, who said: Black Sparrow Hawk. From a Painting in Possession of the Wisconsin Historical Society. (While Black Hawk was a prisoner at Fortress Monroe, R. M. Sully, the well- known artist, painted his portrait. The portrait in the rooms of the Historical Society is a replica of the original.) 'They are here — like braves they have come in — ^treat them as braves — do not put them in irons.' " The rest of the story is told in a letter to secretary of War James Barbour: "All eyes were fixed on Red Bird, and well they might be — for of all the Indians I ever saw, he is without exception the most perfect in form, in face and gesture. In height he is almost six feet, straight, but without restraint. His proportions are those of the most exact symmetry. "His face was painted — ^one side red, the other intermixed with green and white. Around his neck he wore a collar of blue wampum, beautifully mixed with white, which was sewn on to a piece of cloth, the width of the wampum being about two inches — whilst the claws of the panther, or wildcat, distant from each other about a quarter The Story of the State. 163 of an inch with their points inward, formed the rim of the collar. Around his neck were hanging strands of wampum of various lengths, the .circles enlarging as they descended. He was clothed in a Yankton dress — new and beautiful. The material is of dressed elk or deerskin, almost a pure white. Blue beads were employed to vary and enrich the fringe of the leggings. On his feet he wore moccasins. "A piece of scarlet cloth of about a quarter of a yard deep, and double that width, a slit being cut in its middle, so as to admit the passing through of his head, rested, one-half on his breast beneath the wampum and claws, and the other on his back. On one shoulder, and near his breast, was a beautifully ornamented feather, nearly black, near which were two pieces of thinly-shaven wood in the form of two compasses, a little open, each about six inches long, richly wrapped around with porcupine's quills, dyed yellow, red and blue. On the tip of one shoulder was a tuft of horsehair,, dyed red and a little curled, mixed up with ornaments. Across the breast, in a diagonal position and bound tight to it, was his war- pipe, at least two feet long, brightly ornamented with dyed horse- hair, the feathers and bills of birds. In one of his hands he held the white flag, and in the other the calumet or pipe of peace." It was an interesting scene. "There he stood. Not a muscle moved, nor was the expression of his face changed a particle. He appeared to be conscious that according to Indian law and measur- ing the deed he had committed by the injustice and wrongs and cruelties of the white man. he had done no wrong. The law which demanded an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth so harmonized with his conscience as to secure its repose. As to death — he had been taught to despise it. His white jacket, having upon it but a single piece of red, appeared to indicate the purity of his past life, which had been stained by only a single crime; for all agree that the Red Bird had never before soiled his fingers with the blood of the white man, or committed a bad action. His war-pipe, bound close to his heart, seemed to indicate his love of war, in common with his race, which was no longer to be gratified." As the band struck up a hymn, Red Bird sat down next to the miserable-looking Wekau, a diminutive and misshapen specimen of ugly humanity. Taking some tobacco from an otter-skin pouch, he filled the bowl of his calumet and calmly began to smoke. His companions then addressed the military officers, saying they had surrendered the murderers to appease the wrath of the white men, and offered twenty horses in compensation for the three lives that had been taken. They asked that their kinsmen might not be put in irons. They were assured their request would be granted. Red Bird next stood up and stepped forward. "I am ready," he said simply. Then he paused, advanced a few steps and with great dignity added: "I do not wish to be put in 164 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. irons. Let me be free. I have given away my life — it is gone — like that." He stooped as he spoke, took some dust between his tumb and forefinger, blew it into the air and watched it melt from sight. "It is gone — like that," he repeated. He paused a moment, and added: "I would not take it back." To show that he left all things behind him and in token of submission. Red Bird threw his hands behind his back and marched up to Maj. Whistler. Escorted by a file of men, he was marched to a tent, with Wekau, and a guard was set over him. The rest of the Winnebagoes were given tobacco and provisions, and departed. When Gen. Atkinson's troops and Col. Dodge's mounted volun- teers came to the portage, the prisoners were turned over to them, and taken to Prairie du Chien. Here Red Bird died in prison. Wekau and another Indian named Chic-hon-sic were tried for murder and convicted. Preparations were made to hang them on the 26th of December. On Christmas day a pardon from the presi- dent reached the authorities. President Adams had signed the pardon Nov. 3. There is no doubt that but for the prompt measures taken by Gov. Lewis Cass, the uprising of Red Bird and his people would have led to disastrous consequences. The feeling of unrest among the Wisconsin Indians at this time was universal, and the Potta- wattomies were on the point of joining the revolt. Had Gov. Cass been less energetic, doubtless they would have done so, and a general Indian war would have occurred in the Northwest. Gov. Cass was a man cast in heroic mould. When he heard of the threatened outbreak he at once went to Green Bay, took a canoe with twelve voyageurs, ascended the Fox, portaged to the Wiscon- sin river, went to Prairie du Chien, thence to Galena and on to St. Louis. It was a hazardous journey, of more than a thousand miles. Had he not stirred the authorities to prompt action in dispatching succor to Prairie du Chien, no doubt all of its inhabitants would have shared the fate that befell the occupants of the isolated farm- house visited by Red Bird on his mission of revenge. First Norwegian Church in Wisconsin. - Muskego, 1S44. CHAPTER VI. LIFE IN THE DIGGINGS. With the keen scent of birds of prey, gamblers and other adventurers flocked to the lead diggings of Southwestern Wisconsin during the great mining excitement that occurred in the early 20's. As was the case later in California, gambling dens and grog shops were constructed in the midst of the cabins of the miners, and the fruit of the prospector's thrift often went into the coffers of the card shark. During the years when the lead mines were being developed the aggregation of cabins that dotted the region were the typical frontier camps of a mineral country, with their swagger and utter disregard of any law but their own — prototypes of the later gulch towns of the far West. Their names were characteristic, too, and some of them yet retain a place on the map of Wisconsin. Among them were Hardscrabble Diggings, Buncome, Snake Hollow, Shake-the-Rag-Under-the-Hill, Rattle Snake Diggings, Big Patch and other places with more euphonious, if less descriptive, names. It was about 1822 that the so-called discovery of the lead diggings in Southwestern Wisconsin occurred. For nearly two centuries the existence of the ore in that region had been known to white men, but the Indians were unwilling to let them penetrate to the mines. This was especially the case when the pushing Amer- icans began to travel from the Southern States to the upper Mississippi in quest of fortune. Before this Frenchmen had been given permission to work the mines to some extent, for the Indian was ever wont to fraternize with the representatives of this volatile race, but Americans were rigidly excluded. The introduction of firearms among the Indians had taught them the value of the lead as an article of barter. It was stated in a letter written to the secretary of war in 1810 by Nicholas Boilvin, agent at Prairie du Chien, that the quantity of lead exchanged by Indians for goods during the season was about 400,000 pounds. Doubtless none but Frenchmen had been at the mines previous to the war of 1812, but in 1816 a St. Louis trader named John Shaw succeeded in penetrating to the mines of the Fever river district by passing himself as a Frenchman. He was one of the traders who made periodical trips to Prairie du Chien, propelling the boats by means of poles and sails. It required from two weeks to a month to make the trip up the river, while the return journey occupied from a week to ten days. The boats carried miscellaneous supplies to Prairie du Chien, and their return cargo consisted principally of lead. Shaw saw about twenty smelting places, the mineral being smelted in the crudest way imaginable. This was Shaw's descrip- 165 166 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. tion of the process: '"A hole or cavity was dug in the face of a piece of sloping ground, about two feet in depth and as much iu width at the top; this hole was made in the shape of a mill-hopper, which was about eight or nine inches square; other narrow stones were laid across grate-wise; a channel or eye was dug from the sloping side of the ground inwards to the bottom of the hopper. This channel was about a foot in width and in height, and was filled Avith dry wood and brush. The hopper being filled with the mineral, and the wood ignited, the molten lead fell through the stones at the bottom of the hopper; and this was discharged through the eye, over the earth, in bowl-shaped masses called plats, each of which weighed about seventy pounds." Glowing notices of the richness of the lead mines of the Upper Mississippi appeared in St. Louis newspapers in 1822, and started a migration thitherward. In order to overawe the Indians, who would not let white men enter the district, the government dispatched detachments of troops from Prairie du Chien and the Rock Island forts. Finding that resistance would be futile, the Indians quietly submitted to the invasion of their mineral territory. Thus began, a few miles south of the present border of the state, what at one time was the leading industry of Wisconsin, as the fur trade had been up to that period. The newcomers were mainly from the Southern states and territories, and thus the first seeds of American origin in Wisconsin were the planting of men from Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri. They came by boat and in caravans on horseback. Soon the prospector's shovel was upturning the sod on the hillsides of Southwestern Wisconsin, the Indian occupants in sullen resentment biding their time for mischief. Galena became the center of the mining region. Some of the adventurers who came in the expectation of acquir- ing sudden wealth were doomed to disappointment. There were some who sought to avoid the rigors of a Northern winter by coming in the spring and returning to. their genial Southern climate when snow began to fiy. These tenderfeet were denominated "slickers" by the hardier miners, an appellation that was later transferred to the state of Illinois. Their superficial workings were called "sucker holes." Despite muttered threats from the Indians, and other dishearten- ing circumstances, population rapidly increased. Red Bird's dis- turbance caused a temporary exodus, but the frightened miners soon returned. How busily pick and shovel were plied may be gathered from the reports of lead manufactured. It was soon seen that negro labor could be well utilized, and some of the Southerners brought slaves to do the work. The population rapidly increased. In 1825 it was estimated that there were 200 persons; three years later fully 10,000, one-twentieth being women and about 100 free blacks. The Story of the State. 167 The lead product had increased in the same period from 439,473 pounds to 12,957,100 pounds. Most of the miners followed the Indian plan of smelting in a log furnace. It was a crude device, and there was much wastage. They likewise imitated the Indian mode of blasting — heating the rock and then splitting it by throwing water on it. "I saw one place where they (the Indians) dug forty-five feet deep," says the account of Dr. Moses Meeker, a pioneer of the period. "Their man- ner of doing it was by drawing the mineral dirt and rock in what they called a mocock, a kind of basket made of birch bark, or dry hide of buckskin, to which they attached a rope made of rawhide. Their tools were a hoe made for the Indian trade, an axe and a crowbar made of an old gun barrel flattened at the breech, which they used for removing the rock. Their mode of blasting was rather tedious, to be sure; they got dry wood, kindled a fire along the rock as far as they wished to break it. After getting the rock hot they poured cold water upon it, which so cracked it that they could pry it up. At the old Buck Lead they removed many hundred tons of rock in that manner, and had raised many thousand pounds of mineral or lead ore." During this period there came to Wisconsin some of the men who became most notable in its territorial history. Among them were Henry Dodge, afterwards governor,, who brought with him from Missouri a number of negro slaves; Ebenezer Brigham, pioneer of Blue Mounds; Henry Gratiot and Col. William S. Hamilton. The latter was a son of Alexander Hamilton, who was killed by Aaron Burr, in a duel. Some of the miners realized what in those days were con- sidered great fortunes. One man sank a shaft near Hazel Green on the site of an old Indian digging. "At four and a half feet he found block mineral extending over all the bottom of his hole," in the language of Dr. Meeker's narrative. "He went to work and cut out steps on the side of the hole, to be ready for the next day's operations. Accordingly, the next day he commenced opera- tions. The result of his day's work was seventeen thousand pounds of mineral upon the bank at night." After raising about a hundred thousand pounds, the digging was abandoned. Another prospector took possession and secured more than a hundred and fifty thousand pounds. Most of the lead that was smelted went to Galena, to be trans- ported thence to St. Louis and New Orleans. Long caravans of ore wagons, some of them drawn by as many as eight yoke of oxen, wore deep ruts into the primitive road that went by way of Min- eral Point and Belmont to this metropolis of the mines. About $80 a ton was obtained for the ore. About 1830 tariff agitation seems to have caused a great drop in prices. At this period the 168 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. federal government exacted from the miners what was known as a lead rent. The miners addressed a memorial to the secretary of war, whose department had control of the collection of the min- eral rents, complaining of excessive taxation. The claim was made by them in their memorial "that they have paid a greater amount of taxes than any equal number of citizens since the settlement of America!" The smelters were required to pay 10 per cent, of all lead manufactured and had to haul the rent lead a distance of fifty to sixty miles to the United States depot. It was not until 1846 that congress abandoned the leasing system. Doubtless the typical mining camp in Wisconsin when the lead excitement was in its heyday was Mineral Point. Its straggling lines of huts were ranged along a deep gorge, and at all hours the sound of revelry could be heard emanating from the saloons and gambling houses. Dancing and singing, with the accompaniment of rude music, and drinking and gambling furnished the enter- tainment for the wilder spirits. The town bore the appellation of the Little Shake-Rag, or Shake-Rag-Under-the-Hill. The origin of the peculiar name is explained by an early-day traveler in this wise: "Females," says this account of sixty years ago, "in consequence of the dangers and privations of the primitive times, were as rare in the diggings as snakes upon the Emerald Isle. Consequently the bachelor miner from necessity performed the domestic duties of cook and washerwoman, and the preparation of meals was indi- cated by appending a rag to an upright pole, which, fluttering in the breeze, telegraphically conveyed the glad tidings to his hungered brethren upon the hill. Hence this circumstance at a very early date gave this provincial sobriquet of Shake-Rag, or Shake-Rag- Under-the-Hill." About the time that Wisconsin became detached from Michigan, a well-known English geologist named George Featherstonhaugh visited the lead region. On his return to England he published a book of travels, wherein he gives an amusing account of his trip. It is interesting as showing the conditions that existed in Wis- consin at the time. The Englishman went to a tavern and was amazed to find that all the Southern gentlemen who had been attracted to the diggings were "ginnerals, colonels, judges or doc- tors." The tavern was full, so the postmaster invited him to sleep at his house. There was no extra bed, and he slept on the floor. "On awakening the next morning," Featherstonhaugh remarks in his book, "I found it exceedingly cold, and asked permission to have a fire lighted, which was very obligingly granted. Some wood was accordingly brought in, and just as I had got it nicely burning and was preparing to make my toilet, a dirty, unshaven but con- The Story of the State. 169 fident-looking fellow walked into the room with nothing but his nether garments on, and immediately turning his back to the fire, engrossed it all to himself. His free-and-easy way was not at all to my taste, and threatened to interfere very much with my com- fort. Under other circumstances I should not have hesitated to turn him out; but situated as I was, it was far from a safe pro- ceeding, or, indeed, a justifiable one. It was certainly very cold, and I should have been glad to have had the fire to myself; but I had been treated hospitably, and the least I could do was to be hospitable to others; besides, my barefooted friend had an air about him that imported something beyond the low swaggerer, something that smacked of authority. This might be the governor, or some great man en dishabille, so I thought it best to meet him in his own manner, by slipping a pair of pantaloons on, and then addressing him in a friendly manner. It was most fortunate that I acted just as it became me to do, for he soon let me know who he was. He was no less a personage than 'the court,' for so they generally call the presiding judge in the United States, and was beyond all question the greatest man in the place. He was, in fact, the personage of the locality for the moment, and it turned out that the postmaster had given him up his only bedroom, and that Tie had good-naturedly given it up for me for one night, and had taken the majesty of the law to sleep behind the counter in a little shop 170 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. where the postoffice was kept, with blankets, crockery, cheese and all sorts of things around him, and had, very naturally, com 3 to warm himself in his own quarters." One night behind the counter with the cheese and crockery was all the court was willing to endure, and the traveler was com- pelled to go to a tavern. The meals were not to the taste of the Englishman, but as Mineral Point depended for all supplies on what vas brought from a great distance by wagon, the bill of fare was necessarily restricted. Flour, which in the Atlantic states sold at $5 or $6 a barrel, was $14 in Mineral Point. Fresh meat was not obtainable, and everybody was too busy with pick and shovel to raise garden produce. Sleeping accommodations were likewise limited, each room being provided with five or six beds. A char- acteristic incident of the mining country is told in Featherston- haugh's narrative. Being obliged to pass the night at a tavern frequented by miners and gamblers, and knowing their habits of gambling until a late hour, he went as soon as he had supped to the only bedroom there was in the house, and selected one of the beds. Toward morning he was awakened by some one turning the bedclothes down with the evident purpose of turning in. Aware that no time was to be lost, he gathered the clothes up, assumed a boxing attitude and told the intruder that if he wanted that bed he would have to fight for it. The man was nonplussed at this unusual reception. "Stranger," he remarked, "you sartin don't kalkerlate on keep- ing all that are bed to yourself?" "Yes I do, and that you shall find." "Waal, then, if you are so almighty pertiklar, I swar I'll be as pertiklar as you, and I'll turn in 'ere." With that he went into a bed where three of his companions had turned in before him. The leading industry of Wisconsin flourished until the gold discovery in California proved a stronger magnet; unfriendly tariff legislation also influenced a decline of its importance. Inadequate transportation facilities also operated to prevent the successful prosecution of lead mining. In this age of myriad ribbons of steel radiating from every commercial center, it is hard to appreciate the difficulties encountered by the pioneers in transporting commodi- ties. There were then no railroads in the Northwest, and the great transportation projects all centered in canals. The lead industry and its transportation necessities influenced many of the early canal schemes which played a large part in the early politics of the ter- ritory. The Fox-Wisconsin route, as well as that of the greater Mississippi river highway, was used for the shipment of ore to a considerable extent. Observing that shot towers in Missouri were successful ven- tures, a Green Bay merchant named Daniel Whitney believed a The Stori/ of the State. 171 similar enterprise could be made financially profitable in Wisconsin. He organized a company, and they built their shot tower at Helena, on the Wisconsin river. This was in 1831. The tower was not com- pleted till two years later. It was built on the summit of a bold escarpment fronting Pike creek. A contemporary description of the tower gives these interesting details: "One hundred feet from the base of the rock there is a ledge or landing place; on this ledge rises the shot tower, of frame, eighty feet to the roof; of course the depth from the top of the tower to the base of the rock is 180 feet. A well or shaft has been sunk through the rock, which is of sandstone, 100 feet, and a lateral drift or entrance, ninety feet in length, seven feet high and six feet wide has been cut from the bank of the creek to the per- pendicular shaft." The daily output made by six hands was 5,000 weight of shot. The melted lead was converted into shot in this wise, as described by Clark Hickox of Dodgeville: "At the edge of the cliff stood the melting house, with two kettles in which mineral was prepared for dropping. A little to the east of this were an arch and a large kettle protected by a small roof. Here the lead was tempered by tne addition of arsenic, and run into pigs for further use, and here also the imperfect shot was remelted. The pigs thus obtained were used to give the requisite brittleness to the lead from which the shot was made. A small portion would suffice to temper a kettle holding 1,000 pounds of lead. The dropping ladle was perforated with holes of varying size, and when partly full of melted lead would be tilted gently sidewise, forcing the metal out in drops to form the shot, which falling 180 feet would assume a spherical shape and at the same time be cooled. At the bottom of the shaft the shot fell into the shot-cistern, filled with water, which served both to break the fall and cool the shot." First Newspaper Office in Wisconsin. Green Bay. 1836. CHAPTER VII. BLACK hawk's WAR. Intrusion by squatters upon hunting grounds assured to the Indians by the federal government was the main cause of the Black Hawk war in 1832. But for the craven cowardice of Illinois volun- teers, the disturbance would have ended shortly after its com- mencement, without serious consequences. During the fierce pur- suit across Wisconsin, the Sac warriors were hunted with relentless fury; women and children were remorselessly massacred; the nag of truce was disregarded, and starving men, willing to surrender, were shot and bayonetted, and even scalped. Black Hawk's band of a thousand people was annihilated in the end, less than two hundred of them surviving the war. The lives of nearly three hundred frontier rangers, and of women and children in the exposed fringe of settlements, was the price paid for the victory. "I liked my town, my cornfields and the home of my people. I fought for them," Black liawk said simply in after years. Long before actual hostilities began, trouble had been brewing between Black Hawk's Sacs and white intruders upon their territory. By the terms of a league of peace and amity established more than a quarter of a century before (1804), the chiefs of the great Sac and Fox confedei-acy had yielded to the government nearly all their land possessions east of the Mississippi river. The right of occu- pancy for hunting and cultivation had been given them until the government saw fit to place the lands on the market. Pursuant to this agreement, the Sacs under Black Hawk occupied a fertile tract at the foot of the Rock River rapids. On the sides of a bluff, com- prising about 800 acres, were the tribe's fields of corn, beans, pump- kins and squashes. Black Hawk's village was one of the largest Indian settlements on the continent, and was ideally located. Ex- cellent pasturage for their horses was afforded by the blue grass herbage; in the rapids of the river fish abounded; springs gushed forth from the bluffs. For a century, almost, the Sacs had made this spot their home. The graves of their forefathers were here, and made the soil doubly sacred. Covetous squatters began encroaching here. Land was plenty elsewhere, and the border was two- score miles eastward yet, but the restless frontiersmen were pushing ahead of the regular line of advance. The growing crops and the splendid situation tempted their cupidity. With cool disregard of Indian rights, the whites began to fence in the cornfields and even to occupy the lodges. Upon returning from a hunt Black Hawk found a white man's family comfortably occupying his own wigwam. For some time 172 The Story of the State. 173 enmity was confined to muttered threats, but soon trouble ensuea. Indian women were averse to climbing wliite men's fences, and lelt the rails down, and this led to personal encounters. In order to secure redress. Black Hawk went to Rock Island to present his grievances, but received scant comfort. He was advised to remove his band across the Mississippi river. This he refused to •do. When he returned, after an absence of one moon, affairs at the village were in worse condition than ever. Before returning he had sought the counsel of the Winnebago prophet. White Cloud, whose village was located some thirty miles up the Rock river. "Never give up your village," this crafty medicine man had warned him, "or the bones of your people will be ploughed up and scattered." The whites having appealed to the government, it was deter- mined to make a military display that would awe the Indians into compliance with the demand for removal. Gen. Gaines and a detachment of regulars appeared on the scene and commanded the Indians to move across the river. Black Hawk, who had not been consulted when the other chiefs of the confederacy signed the treaty that gave their lands to the government, stubbornly resisted the mandate at a council that was held. "We have never sold our country," he declared, "and we are determined to hold our village." "And who is Black Hawk?" angrily demanded Gen. Gaines. "I am a Sac! My forefather was a Sac, and all the nations call me a Sac!" proudly replied the chief. "I came here neither to beg nor to hire you to leave your vil- lage," retorted the officer. "My business is to remove you — peace- ably if I can, forcibly if I must." This broke up the council. During the night of the last day given him to comply with the order. Black Hawk removed his band to the west shore of the Mississippi, and touched the goosequill that betokened a treaty of peace. While Black Hawk was smarting from the indignities to which his people had been subjected, there arrived at his village a bearer of tidings from the British agent at Fort Maiden. Ne-a-pope, another chief of the Hawk's tribe, was the messenger. This chief, like the Hawk, had British affiliations. On his way back from Mai- den he had tarried at the Winnebago village of the Prophet, whose hatred of the Americans was intense. Ne-a-pope and White Cloud together fabricated a tale meant to stir Black Hawk to active hostilities. This false story Ne-a-pope now poured into the receptive ear of the Hawk. He said that "their British father would send them guns, ammunition, provisions and clothing early in the spring; the vessels were to bring them by way of Mil-wa-ke. The Prophet had also received wampum and tobacco from the different nations 174 Leading Events of Wiseonsin History. on the lakes — Ottawas, Chippewas and Pottawattomies; and as tor the Winnebagoes, he had them all at command; that all these tribes would fight for them, if necessary, and the British would support them." Lured by these false promises of aid, Black Hawk determines to attempt the rescue of his village in the spring. Before this he sought to arrange an interview with the Great Father at Washington to secure a peaceable adjustment, but his efforts were repulsed. He sought to enlist Chief Keokuk in his contemplated invasion, but the latter was friendly to the Americans, and declined nis overtures. Hoisting a British flag, Black Hawk's people crossed the Missis- sippi early in April, and began a march toward the village of the Prophet. His five hundred warriors bestrode their horses, while the women, children and old men carried provisions and equipage in a flotilla of canoes. Messengers came to them from Gen. Atkinson, at Rock Island, ordering their return. Defiant answers were sent back, and the party proceeded on to the Prophet's town on the Kock river of Illinois. Before going very far. Black Hawk realized that he was the victim of Ne-a-pope's deception. The allies who had been repre- sented as eager to take the war path failed to appear. Instead word reached Black Hawk that a considerable force of Illinois volunteers was hot on his trail. He determined to send a flag of truce and ascertain whether he would be permitted to descend the Kock river and return to the west side of the Mississippi river. While he was spreading his medicine bags regaling a visiting deputation of Potta- wattomie chiefs at a dog feast, word came that several hundred horsemen were encamping in a grove several miles distant. Accord- ingly he dispatched three of his young men with a flag of tinice to conduct the rangers to his camp. He sent five warriors to follow the trace messengers. The rangers had encamped in a clump of woods. They had par- taken quite liberally of whisky, and were in the mood to wipe the entire race of red men off the face of the earth. When they observed the truce messengers approaching, some of them jumped on their horses and took the three Indians prisoners. Then, observing the five braves who were watching events from some distance awaj% about twenty of the horsemen galloped madly in pursuit. Two of the Indians were overtaken, shot and scalped. Their three com- panions reached Black Hawk's camp with the news. When the chief heard the treatment accorded his messengers, who had borne a flag of truce, he raised the war yell of the Sacs, and in an impassioned harangue urged his braves to seek revenge for the cowardly attack. Most of his young men were absent, some ten miles away, but forty braves responded by seizing their weapons and giving an answering war yell. The Story of the State. 175 When the bearers of the flag of truce were taken prisoners, tney delivered the message sent by Black Hawk. Several horsemen at this juncture returned from the pursuit of the other live braves. They cocked their guns and fired at the three prisoners. One of them was killed; his two companions rushed through the crowd and hid in the brush. They were pursued. One white man who ventured too near their ambush was brained by a flying tomahawk. The Indian scalped him, mounted his horse and escaped. Having had a taste of warfare, the Illinois rangers concluded to finish the day by destroying Black Hawk's encampment. They, moved upon it at full gallop. The forty Indians saw several hundred mounted rangers advancing upon them, and determined to die bravely. With a yell, they charged and fired, as the enemy halted some distance from them. To the intense astonishment of the Indians, who had made a rush with every expectation that not one of them would live to tell of it, their fire was not even returned. The cowardly horsemen, in frantic confusion, turned their horses' heads and madly galloped away in helter-skelter fashion. Their dead and wounded were left upon the ground to the tender mercy o£ tomahawk and scalping knife. It was a spectacle most humiliating in all the annals of border warfare — twenty-five painted warriors hotly pursuing more than three hundred well-mounted and armed white men. "Never was I so much surprised in my life as I was in this attack," Black Hawk afterwards stated in an autobiography that he dictated while a prisoner in Jefferson barracks. "An army of three or four hundred, after having learned that we were suing for peace, to attempt to kill the flag-bearers that had gone unarmed to ask for a meeting of the war-chiefs of the two contending parties to hold a council, that I might return to the west side of ttie Missis- sippi; to come forward with a full determination to demolish the few braves I had with me; to retreat when they had ten to one, was unaccountable to me." It was a complete rout. The rangers were utterly panic- stricken. Had a handful of them made a stand at their camp in the woods, they could easily have repulsed their few pursuers. JNone of them stopped there, but madly went on towards the border settle- ments, scattering fear in all northern Illinois. Their exaggerated accounts created tremendous consternation, and the governor of the state energetically prepared to raise a large force of men to join tne regulars from Rock Island. The disastrous encounter with Black Hawk's band has become known as Stillman's defeat, from the name of the commander of the corps. It occurred May 14, 1832. Eleven whites were killed, tne Indian loss being limited to the three braves who were treacherously shot. Black Hawk secured much needed plunder in the deserted 176 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. camp, and his warriors were inspired to believe that they could con- quer any force of whites. Guided by friendly Winnebagoes, they moved towards Lake Koshkonong, in the impenetrable marshes of which their chieftain believed himself secure from attack. Before proceeding thence they attacked a fort on Apple river and raided isolated frontier cabins, adding a number of scalps to the eleven secured in their first encounter. In the mining camps of Wisconsin the Black Hawk raid caused tremendous excitement. Families in exposed places hurried to the centers of population, and the leading spirits of the community took energetic measures for defense. Henry Dodge, afterwards governor of the territory, was one of the men who went actively to the front, Bad Ax, Scene of Indian Attack on Keelboats. urging the people to arm and gather for defensive purposes. Hoon the following forts, as they were called, consisting of one or more block -houses and stockades, had been erected and equipped: Fort Union — Col. Henry Dodge's residence, near Dodgeville. Fort Defiance — Ait the farm of Daniel M. Parkinson, live miles southeast of Mineral Point. Fort Jackson — At Mineral Point. Fort Hamilton— At Hamilton's lead diggings, afterwards called Wiota. Mound Fort— On a high plain a mile and a half south of the residence of Ebenezer Brigham at Blue Mounds. Parish's Fort — At the farm of Thomas J. Parish, later calleQ Wingville. TJie Stonj of the State. 177 De Seelhorst's Fort — At the farm of Justus De Seeinorst, near Elk Grove. Stockades were also erected at Platteville, White Oak Springs, Old Shullsburg, Gratiot's Grove and John B. Terry's farm, Diamond Grove. Fort Union was headquarters, and here several hundred mounted volunteers assembled upon receipt of information that an attack upon Fort Mound was expected. The settlers in the mining country greatly feared that the Winnebagoes would join the aacs, as it was known they were disposed to aid the band that was now creating a reign of terror along the border. Black Hawk's plan of campaign was to send out detached parties to raid exposed places, the bands thereupon making for the marshes of Koshkonong; there they considered themselves safe. Three thousand volunteers gathered at Beardstown in response to the call of the govornor of Illinois. In Wisconsin, Col. Dodge was energetically gathering his volunteers. On the 16th of June occuiTed what became known as the Battle of Pecatonica. Tnough few men were engaged on either side, the fight was notable on account of the great loss of life in proportion to the number of combatants. Seven- teen Sacs who had massacred five men working in a cornfield were pursued by Dodge and twenty-eight followers. The Indians were overtaken on the banks of the Pecatonica, where they had sought the ambush of thickets and sand banks. As Dodge and his men were fording the river, the Indians fired a volley that killed three of the men and wounded another. Before they could reload, the volunteers were upon them. Every Indian was killed, the combat lasting but a few minutes. Arrangements were now made to join the forces from Illinois with those from Wisconsin, to corral Black Hawk in his lurking place at Koshkonong. Gen. Atkinson was in command, his force comprising a thousand men under Posey and Alexander; l,i;U0 under Col. Henry; 150 volunteers under Dodge; 450 regulars under Maj. Zachary Taylor. While plans were maturing to entrap Black Hawk at Kosh- konong, the chieftain and his band had quietly departed. The marshes and swamps of the region were inaccessible to their pur- suers, but were not tenable for any great length of time on account of the scarcity of game. In order to satisfy their hunger, the squaws dug roots, and finally the bark of trees was used for food. Black Hawk concluded that safety could not be secured east of the Mississippi river. Fearing that his encampment would be sur- rounded by the army in motion against him, he determined to reach the Wisconsin and proceed thence to the Mississippi. But for an unlooked-for mischance his plans would have suc- ceeded. Gen. Atkinson had dispatched Cols. Henry, Dodge and Alexander to Fort Winnebago to secure provisions. While returning 178 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. they came upon the fresh trail of the fugitives leading westward towards the Wisconsin river. Henry and Dodge took up the pursuit with celerity and came upon the band at Wisconsin Heights. The women and children were being transported to an island in the river, and to cover the retreat Black Hawk and his warriors made a stand. Firing began at once. Rain was falling, and it was found impossible to follow the Indians through the wet high grass of the bottoms. At sunset firing ceased. During the night Black Hawk's people escaped. Many of their old men, women and children were placed on a raft and in a few canoes in the hope that they would be allowed to drift past the guns of Fort Crawford, as non-combatants, without harm, it was a vain hope. When the miserable squaws and their children came within range of the guns, a volley of bullets tore through their midst. Nearly a score of the Indians were killed; another score met death in the rapid current of the river as they sought to escape to the shore. Some of the fugifives reached the woods and eitner starved to death or fell beneath the tomahawks of a party or Menomonees who had allied themselves with the Americans. The pursuit of Black Hawk to the Mississippi, after the contlict at Wisconsin Heights, was resumed with redoubled vigor. The trail of the fleeing Indians was marked by dead bodies — victims ot wounds and of starvation. The night of the battle a loud voice had been heard from one of the hills, addressing the militia in the Win- nebago tongue. It was Ne-a-pope asking the Americans to accept the surrender of their vanquished foes and pleading the privilege oi being permitted to cross the Mississippi. He was not understood, and in despair the Sacs resumed their disheartening retreat. The entire army of Gen. Atkinson was in full cry close upon the heels of their harried prey, but not until the Sacs came to the Mississippi were they overtaken. Here ensued the bloodiest conflict of the war, in the first days of August. Below the mouth of the Bad Axe river, the Indians began to cross. They had but a lew canoes, and it promised to be a work of some time to transport the band across. While so engaged there came up the river the steamer Warrior, having on board a number of men from Fort Crawford. Black Hawk waved a white flag from the shore in token of sur- render. The only reply was a shot from the boat's six-pounder, and a fusilade from the small arms. The despairing Indians answered in kind, but the men on tne boat were amply protected. But one of the Americans was wounded, while more than a score of the Indians were killed. Perceiving the hopeless situation of his people. Black Hawk determined to seek personal safety in the wild recesses of the Wis- consin dalles. A few faithful companions went with him. The fallen chief was seized with remorse at the thought of deserting his people, The Stori/ of the State. 179 and he returned to share their fate. He arrived just in time to wit- ness the dreadful slaughter now known as the battle of Bad Axe, but in reality more a massacre than a battle. The militia and regu- lars had reached the river long before the few canoes possessed by the Indians could carry more than a few of them across. The story is best told in the words of Black Hawk: "Early in the morning a party of whites, being in advance of the army, came upon our people, who were attempting to cross the Mississippi; they tried to give themselves up; the whites paid no attention to their entreaties, but commenced slaughtering them. In a little while the whole army arrived; our braves, but few in number, finding that the enemy paid no attention to age or sex, and seeing that they were murdering helpless women and little children, determined to fight until they were killed. As many women as could commenced swimming the Mississippi, with their children on their backs; a number of them were drowned, and some shot, before they could reach the opposite shore." On an island in the river some of the warriors, who had reached it by swimming, made a final stand. The cannon of the Warrior sent a raking fire through their midst, and a hundred and fifty regulars who were transported to the island in the Warrior's boats, finished the work with their bayonets. The Indian loss by drowning was doubtless greater than by bullets — about three hundred in all. Those who had succeeded in crossing the river, about three hundred, and two score women and children who were taken prisoners, alone survived of Black Hawk's people. But a few months before they had counted a thousand warriors, women and children. The wretched fugitives had more woe in store for them. Their old-time enemies, the Sioux, fell upon them on the western banks where they had hoped to find shelter. Less than half the number of those who had crossed reached the villages of their kinsmen. The wretched chieftain of the vanquished Sacs fled after wit- nessing the awful slaughter at Bad Axe. Treacherous in their instincts, the Winnebagoes proved rene- gades to their Sac allies when the fortune of war turned against them. They had secretly leagued with Black Hawk when the struggle began, and at one time Gen. Dodge's volunteers would have been ambuscaded and doubtless cut to pieces in following a Win- nebago guide, but for a mere accident that led fo a cnange of route. The Winnebagoes now hastened to prove friendly to the whites, and to prove it brought Black Hawk a prisoner to Prairie du Chlen. One-eyed Dekora and a companion named Chaetar brought the prisoner, who wore a dress of white-tanned deer-skins. The one-eyed captor addressed the general in this fashion, as he pointed to Black Hawk and his fellow prisoner, the evil-iin History. population. From the year 1671, when St. Lusson with spectacular pomp took possession of the Wisconsin region, till in 1660 the fleur- de-lis was lowered in the forest stockades, twelve French governors had exercised jurisdiction: 1. Daniel de Remy de Courcelle (Knight), 1671-1672. 2. Louis de Buade, Count de Paluan and de Frontenac, 1672-1682, and again 16S9-1698. 3. La Febvre de la Barre, 1682-1685. 4. Jacques Rene de Brisay, Marquis de Denonville, 1685-1689. 5. Louis Hector de Calliere (Knight), 1699-1703. 6. Phillip de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil, 1703-1725. 7. Charles le Moyne, Baron de Longueuil, 1725-1726, and again in 1752. 8. Charles Marquis de Beauharnois, 1726-1747. 9. Rolland Michel Barrin, Count de la Galissoniere, 1747-1749. 10. Jacques Pierre de Taffanel, Marquis de la Jonquiere, 1749-1752. 11. Marquis Duquesne de Menneville, 1752-1755. 12. Pierre Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavegnal, 1755-1760. From the occupancy by the British of the tumble-down Fort St. Francis at Green Bay, rechristened Fort Edward Augustus by them, till Jay's treaty compelled British evacuation in 1796, the governors of this region followed each other every few years in this order: 1. Gen. Jeffrey Amheret, 1760-1763. 2. Gen. James Murray, 1763-1766. 3. Palius Emeline Irvine (three months), 1766. 4. Guy Carlton (lieutenant-governor), 1766-1770. 5. Hector T. Cramahe (president council), 1770-1774. 6. Guy Carlton, 1774-1778. 7. Gen. Frederick Haldimand (lieutenant-governor), 1778-1784. 8. Henry Hamilton (lieutenant-governor), 1784. 9. Henry Hope (president council), 17S5. 10. Guy Carlton, Lord Dorchester, 1785-1792. 11. John Graves Simcoe (lieutenant-governor), 1792-1796. The evacuation of this region left an immense territory to be governed by the United States as a national domain. Under the celebrated ordinance of 1787, provision was made for its govern- ment. Though constructively under the jurisdiction of American governors, what is now Wisconsin was actually ruled (if it could be said to have been governed at all) by foreign officers till 1796. In fact, until some time after the war of 1812, the scattered inhab- itants of Wisconsin did not know, and doubtless did not care, under what governmental jurisdiction they were. At Green Bay and Prairie du Chien two pompous functionaries claimed to hold com- missions as justices of the peace; this was the extent of government representation for many years. It would doubtless have puzzled even these commissioners of the law had they been asked to tell the name of the governor. Until given separate territorial rights, Wisconsin was an orphan in the neglectful charge, first of the Northwest territory, then of the territories of Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. These were the American territorial governors: The Story of the State. 185 1. Arthur St. Clair, Northwest territory, 1787-1800. 2. William Henry Harrison, Indiana territory, 1800-1809. 3. Ninian Edwards, Illinois territory, 1809-1818. 4. Lewis Cass, Michigan territory, 1818-1831. 5. George B. Porter, Michigan territory, 1831-1834. 6. Stevens T. Mason, Michigan territory, 1834-1836. 7. Henry Dodge, Wisconsin territory, 1836-1841. 8. James Duane Doty, Wisconsin territory, 1841-1844. 9. Nathanial P. Tallmadge, Wisconsin territory, 1844-1845. 10. Henry Dodge, Wisconsin territory, 1845-1848. Congress passed the act creating the territory of Wisconsin April 20, 1836, to take effect July 3 of the same year. Andrew Jack- son was president of the United States, and he commissioned Henry Dodge, who was a Democrat, as the first governor of the new territory; Charles Dunn as chief justice, and William C. Frazer and David Irvin as associates. George W. Jones was elected con- gressional delegate, and a legislature was chosen consisting of thirteen members of the council and twice that number of repre- sentatives. Their first session was held at Belmont, in Iowa county, beginning Oct. 25. The session of the legislature attracted to the little cluster of houses known as Belmont all the politicians of the territory. The total population of the territory at this time, including Iowa, was but 22,218; there were important matters to be determined, however, and the interest in the session was great. At this time not a rail had been laid in the territory; instead of riding to the capitol in a parlor car, with a bundle of passes in his pocket, the legislator came on horseback, or ii?. any sort of conveyance most convenient. It was a picturesque crowd of men, and some of the speeches that were made were picturesque too, judging from a specimen that has been preserved: "Mr. Chairman: I have waited patiently till the doctors and lawyers got through, to make a speech on the location of the seat of government. I was raised in the wiles of Ellinois, and 'ust to wear a leather huntin' shirt and sleep under a buffalo rug. I war edicated in the woods. The yearly part of my life was spent in trackin' Ingens; but it is harder tracken these gentlemen. We have envited the gentlemen to come up to the troft and argy the question on its merits, but as the Yankee said, they squerm and won't come up to the rack." Naturally, the legislation of greatest interest at the first session was the location of the territorial capitol. Land boomers were on hand with attractive plats of cities that existed on paper only, urging the selection of their townsites. A great scramble by rival towns ensued, and local feeling was wrought up to a great pitch of excite- ment. A list of the rival claimants included Belmont, Belleview, Cassville, Dubuque, Fond du Lac, Green Bay, Helena, Madison, Mineral Point, Milwaukee, Koshkonong, Racine, Wisconsin City, 186 Leading Events of Wiscon-siii History. Portage, Wisconsinapolis, Peru and Prairie du Chien. The points that were pushed most vigorously were Madison, Belmont, Fond du Lac and Cassville. By a vote of 7 to 6 the council determined upon Madison as the seat of government after a long and exciting struggle, and the house of representatives ratified the choice by a vote of 16 to 10. Ugly rumors were in circulation as to the arguments that proved most potent in the selection of the capitol. "On the adjournment of the legislature," says a contemporary account, "quite a number of gentlemen — I never learned how many imadison in 1836. Showing the Log Cabin In Which Vinnie Ream, Sculptress, Is Said to Have Been Born. —belonging to that body, went to their homes the owners of sundry corner lots in a new town, and the seat of government of Wisconsin was permanently located at Madison." It was the influence of James Duane Doty that located the capitol in the virgin forest between Lakes Mendota and Monona. He controlled about a thousand acres purchased by himself and the governor of Michigan, and he determined that this place should be selected for the capital of the state. Accordingly he hired a surveyor to accompany him, and they made the trip from Green Bay on horseback. The surveyor carried his compass and chain, and Doty a green blanket and a shotgun. The shotgun was an important part of the outfit, for upon it the two travelers depended for their forage. On the site of the future city they found a little The Storu of the State. 187 log cabin. From this nucleus the surveyor drew plans that dazzled the legislators with the magnificence of the future city for which they voted. No sooner had Madison been decided upon as the location of the capitol than the owners of the site started a boom that was intended to speedily build a city there. Elaborately engraved plans showing houses and costly public edifices were shown on these plans, and descriptions were given of seven cities located near each other in the region of the Four Lakes. Madison City was represented to be the metropolis; adjacent was the City of the Four Lakes; a short distance beyond and near each other, the maps and plans located the cities of North Madison, East Madison, West Madison, South Madison, City of the First Lake and City of the Second Lake. There was a splendid engraved plan of each of these cities, with all its "squares, streets, institutions and temples." Travelers who were attracted to the Four Lakes by these allur- ing pictures were greatly astonished to learn that these seven cities had shrunk by the time of their arrival to one small log cabin in the woods. "This was Madison City," says the amusing account of one of these travelers who sought to find the seven cities and found a hastily patched-up log hut consisting of one room about twelve feet square. "Humble as it was. It concentrated within itself all the urban importance of the seven cities we had come so far to admire, and to which — according to our engraved plans — Ninevah of old, Thebes with its hundred gates, and Persepolis were but baby-houses. Not another dwelling was there in the whole country, and this wretched contrivance had only been put up within the last four weeks." During the twelve years of Wisconsin's territorial era, the chief incidents were as follows: 1836— Seventh territorial legislature of Michigan met at Green Bay for the first and only time, and memorialized congress to form a separate territory west of Lake Michigan. The territory of Wisconsin established to take effect July 3: Henry Dodge, governor; Charles Dunn, chief justice; John S. Horner, secretary. Meeting of first legislative assembly at Belmont. Gold excitement at Kevi^aunee. First school in Milwaukee opened. Publication of Milwaukee Advertiser begun. Land office established in Milwaukee. Three banks incorporated, one at Mil- waukee, one at Dubuque and one at Mineral Point, all of which subsequently became bankrupt. Four million acres of land ceded by the Menomonee Indians by treaty. 1837 — Five Dostoffices established: at Chase's Point, Moundville, Madison, Elk Grove and Cassville, and one during the summer at Watertown. Laying of ihe capitol corner stone at Madison in July. Second legislative session held at Burlington (now Iowa). Nov. 6. Milwaukee and Rock River Canal company in- corporated. Imprisonment for debt abolished. 1838 — Census taken, showing population of 18,149 in that part of Wisconsin east of the Missisippi river. James Duane Doty elected delegate to congress, defeating George W. Jones and Thomas P. Burnett. State bank incorporated. Legislature met in IMadison for the first time. Congressional appropriation for a 188 Leading Events of M'isconsUi Uistbry. railroad survey from Milwaukee to Prairie du Chien. Eighty postoffices in oper- ation in the territory (twenty-seven have since been discontinued or have different names.) 1839 — Doty reelected delegate to congress, defeating Byron Kilbourn and Thomas P. Burnett. Great Indian battle in Northern Wisconsin between Sioux and Objibwas, 200 being killed. Fire and Marine Insurance company's bank (Alexander Mitchell's) opened in Milwaukee. First political state convention (Democratic) held at Madison, in June. 1840 — A population of 30,747 shown by the federal census. First divorce granted by the legislature. First brew of beer at Milwaukee. "Bridge war" at Milwaukee. 1841— Gov. Dodge removed from office by President John Tyler, and James Duane Doty appointed in his place. Bank of Mineral Point robbed by its officers, and about $200,000 loss sustained by depositors. Whig state convention held at Madison, in February, for organization. Henry Dodge, Democrat, elected as a delegate to congress, defeating Jonathan E. Arnold, Whig. 1842 — During a debate in the legislature James R. "Vineyard shot Charles C. P. Arndt dead; tried for manslaughter and acquitted. Another census taken, showing a population of 46.678. Gov. Doty refused to recognize the legislature, an(J congress appealed to. Proclamation of Gov. Doty asking for a vote on "the formation of a permanent government for the state of Wiskonsan"; for, 619; against, 1,843. Divorces refused for the first time in the history of Wisconsin legislation. 1843 — Henry Dodge elected to congress as a Democrat, defeating George W. Hickox, Whig candidate. Congress requested by the legislature to remove Gov. Doty for refusing to recognize them. 1844 — Nathaniel Tallmadge appointed governor in place of Doty. The Wis- consin Phalanx (a commune) established near the site of the city of Ripon (Ceresco Valley). Unsuccessful attempt in the legislature to restrict negro suf- frage. Belligerent nullification resolutions adopted and sent to congress, on ac- count of boundary disputes. 1845 — Henry Dodge again appointed governor. Resolution adopted by the legislature that th'e name of the territory should be spelled "Wisconsin." Mor- gan L. Martin elected delegate to congress, defeating James Collins, Whig, and Edward D. Holton, Anti-Slavery candidate. Mormon colony at Voree in Wal- worth county established by James Jesse Strang. 1846— Vote taken in April to form a state government, and the proposition carried by a large majority. A census taken showing a population of 155,217. Constitutional convention held. Congress authorized a state government, Auguft, Conflict between whites and Indians at Muscoda; four Indians shot. Enlistment of Wisconsin men in Illinois companies for the Mexican war. 1847— Constitution submitted to the people and rejected. Second constitu tional convention. A population of 210,546 shown by census. Milwaukee & Wau- kesha Railroad company chartered (first in Wisconsin). 1848— Constitution ratified by a majority of 10,000. Wisconsin admitted to statehood. May 29. Some of the episodes that occurred during Wisconsin's terri- torial history excited great interest outside the immediate locality, among them: The founding of a Mormon stake of Zion at Voree; the establishment of the Wisconsin Phalanx at Ceresco — a sort of Brook Farm experiment; the adoption of resolutions by the legis- lature declaring that if congress did not restore Wisconsin the boundaries guaranteed by the organic act governing the Northwest, it would become "a state outside the Union." CHAPTER IX. A MODERN UTOPIA. Out of a literary society's debate in the young village of South- port (now Kenosha) grew an interesting experiment in communism, that flourished for five years in Wisconsin. About the year 1843 a wave of what was called Fourierism swept over the country. Men of keen intellect were attracted by the Utopian plan of speculative writers who urged the formation of communities where perfect democracy would prevail. Horace Greeley's Tribune took up the attempt to "spiritualize washtubs and to put the pitchfork in the hand of philosophy." Among those who read the articles were a number of New England and New York pioneers who had made their home in Southport. They were people of intelligence and of thrifty character. The question was discussed at a meeting of the Franklin lyceum, whose membership included Charles Durkee, the first Free-Soil member of the United States senate; Louis P. Harvey, one of Wisconsin's war governors; Warren Chase, a conspicuous character in the early politics of the state; Lester Rounds, and many others who became well known in the subsequent history of the state. "Does the system of Fourier present a practical plan for such a reorganization of society as will guard against our social evils? ' was the topic of debate at a meeting of the Lyceum held one evening in November, 1843. Fourier was a Frenchman who had conceived a scheme for dividing mankind into groups, destined eventually to come under a unitary government with but one language, and one system. BaCh association, or phalanstery, according to his plan, was to comprise 400 families, or 1,800 persons, which number he had figured out included the entire circle of human capacities. "These should live in one immense edifice, in the center of a large and highly cultivated domain, and furnished with workshops, studios and all the appli- ances of industry and art, as well as all the sources of amusement and pleasure." The plan of Fourier contemplated this division of resources and product: Five parts to labor, four to capital and three to talent. This, in brief, was the Utopian scheme that appealed to the good people of Southport the beginning of the year 1844. A few leading men drew up a plan of organization, styled the association "The Wisconsin Phalanx" and found no difficulty in disposing of a large number of shares at $25 each. Ebenezer Childs of Green Bay was employed to select a spot suitable for the home of the Phalanx, and he recommended to the visionaries the purchase of a tract of 190 LcadiiKj Events of Wisconsin Eisiory. land in the valley of Ceresco. It seemed as if this place had been designed especially for such a community. Its sylvan attractiveness appealed to the artistic sense and love of nature, its fertile soil gave promise of splendid harvests, its water facilities and timbered hills invited the erection of mills and factories. With the sum of $800 ensconced in a wallet, "Warren Chase went to Green Bay and entered several quarter sections of the lands in the snug valley of Ceresco. In the meantime the Southport communists had been actively preparing to go to the land of promise. Tents had been secured, and provided with provisions, tools and cattle, the vanguard left Southport one Monday morning, with a parting cheer from Ruins of the Phalanx Long House at Ripon. From a Recent Photograph. their comrades. One Saturday evening the twenty persons who formed this advance guard — nineteen men and one boy — came to the banks of Silver creek and pitched their tents. They were on the site of the future city of Ripon. The next morning was Sunday, May 27, 1844, a date memorable in the annals of the Phalanx, for on this day they entered the valley destined to become their home. The season was well advanced, and early the next morning the pioneers of the new idea energetically began their settlement. While some of them broke ground for planting, others dug cellars and reared the skeletons of frame dwellings for housing the families thait were soon to come. A frost destroyed their growing vegetables, but undaunted they replanted corn and potatoes, beans, buckwheat and turnips. In their three tents they made shift to sleep with as The Story of the State. 191 much comfort as beds on the ground would permit, and they ate in the open air the meals cooked for them by an old Scotch sailor. The rough boards on which the viands were served was beneath the shade of spreading branches, and answered well enough for the purpose except when it rained; but they cheerfully accustomed themselves to eat in a standing position when it rained, because "they could thus shed the rain easier." The stars and stripes fluttered from a high liberty pole on the Fourth of July, and the little community celebrated the .day with much enthusiasm. By this time about twenty families were occupy- ing the half-finished houses. They ate at a common table, the base- ment of one of the liouses serving for kitchen and dining hall. A sawmill was constructed on the bank of Silver creek, and a dam was thrown across the stream, but winter set in before the mill could be operated. The oak boards for their houses and the shingles for the roof had all been made by hand. While the members of the Phalanx were shivering in their winter-bound valley homes, their leader was in Madison lobbying for a charter. The territorial legislators were somewhat nonplussed at being asked to grant a charter of such an unusual sort, but finally granted it, substantially as the Phalanx had agreed. These were the salient features: Property to be held in stock, numbered in shares of $25 each. Quantity of land limited to forty acres for each person belonging to the corporation. No person permitted to join except by unanimous vote of the Board of Managers (president, vice-president and nine council-men). Annual settlements of profits made on the following basis: One-fourth credited as dividend for stock; remaining three-fourths credited to labor. Free public schools to be maintained nine months of the year, capital paying three-fourths of the cost, and labor one-fourth. Toleration of religious opinion, no member to be taxed, unless voluntarily, for the support of any minister of religion. Protected by a charter, the Phalanx proceeded to exemplify the principles of Fourier. The "long house" was constructed, described as being 400 feet in length and consisting of "two rows of tenements, with a hall between, under one roof." This was the common dining hall, the place of amusement and the seat of culture. The families took their meals at the common table, but retired to their individual cabins when they pleased. Board at the phalanstery was reduced in cost to 63 cents per week. The "class of usefulness" was divided into three groups— agricultural, mechanical and educational. These were subdivided as necessity or convenience dictated. All labor was voluntary, but of course credit was given to each in proportion to actual work accomplished. An exact account of labor was kept. 192 Lcadliuj Events of Wisconsin History. There was a weekly programme for dividing the evenings between business and recreation: Monday evening — Business of the council. Tuesday evening — Meeting of the Philolathian society, with dis- cussion on current topics, and reading of "The Gleaner." Wednesday evening — Singing. Thursday evening — Dancing. Friday — No meeting. Saturday evening — Hearing of detailed reports from the foremen. "The Gleaner" was a paper, bearing this motto: "Let the gleaner go forth and glean and gather up the fragments, that noth- ing be lost." Enthusiasm and industry brought great prosperity — for awhile. Applications for membership poured in, but few were admitted. By the close of the second season thirty families were enrolled, and the property of the Phalanx was valued at $27,725.02. One hundred acres of wheat had been harvested, besides sixty of corn, fifty-seven of oats and other crops in proportion. Ceresco had been well named; Ceres, patroness of agriculture, smiled upon her own. The appraisal the year following gave a valuation of $32,564.18, and net profit of the year was $9,029.73. This gave a dividend to stock of 7% per cent, and of 7.3 cents per hour to labor. "There was a faithful attempt to carry out the complicated plan of Fourier with regard to the personal credits and the equalization of labor by reducing all to what was called the class of usefulness," says an account by Everett Chamberlain. "Under this arrangement, some of the more skillful workmen were able to score as many as twenty-five hours' labor in one day — a paradox in time-keeping which was exceedingly amusing to the skillful ones, and correspond- ingly perplexing to the unskillful, since everybody drew stock or cash on settlement day in proportion to his credit on the daily record." In his first annual report, the president noted that the Phalanx workers had performed in all one hundred and two thousand, seven hundred and sixty hours of labor, and found time besides to culti- vate vocal and instrumental music, and "our young ladies and gen- tlemen have occasionally engaged in cotillions, especially on wed- ding occasions, of which we have had three the past summer." While seemingly the experiment of the Phalanx was a proven success, the seeds of disintegration had been sown. Although the cost of board never exceeded 75 cents per week, the common table soon lost many of its diners, the families preferring to do their own cooking at home. The settlement of the lands adjacent awoke the spirit of land speculation in some of the thrifty members of the Phalanx; a couple of free love devotees came to the community and made a few converts, as did a lecturer on spiritualism. The com- The Story of the State. 193 munity also got into a tangle with the founders of Ripon, and the acute angles of that city's streets, with their three-cornered buildings yet attest the existence of this rivalry. In the end Ripon triumphed by using political influence and wresting the postoffice from Ceresco, the mail bags being carried in triumph to the newer settlement. There v/ere other internal troubles — a, difference of opin- ion as to the proper apportionment of work and emoluments. The end came in 1850, when authority was received from the legislature to disband. This was done, and nearly $40,000 was dis- tributed among the members. Gov. DoTY's Residence at Shantytown. (James Duane Doty was doubtless the ablest of Wisconsin's Territorial Gov- ernors, though by no means the most popular. He was a New Yorker and came West with Lewis Cass, whose secretary he was. In 1829 he made Green Bay his home. He was Governor of Utah Territory at the time of his death in 1865.) Another experiment in socialism that came to grief in Wiscon- sin was the Utilitarian association, located in Waukesha county. Its origin was in overcrowded London, where in 1843 a bookbinder named Campbell Smith urged the formation of communities to colonize tracts of land in the new world. All members were to con- tribute equally and live at common expense. A 200-acre farm located near Mukwonago was purchased, and Smith led his band thither in 1844. To these Londoners who had breathed the aid of crowded tenement houses, the idea of riding around a farm as large as Regent's park was inspiriting, and they came with high hopes and happy hearts. The community lasted about a year, and then dis- banded. This is the reason given by George Campbell, one of the communists: "The members were dissatisfied. There was no head to the concern, and everyone wanted to do as he chose. According to the 194 Leadinc) Eccitts of Wisconsin History. by-laws a meeting was held every evening after supper to decide what work should be done the next day. They did no good. 1 remember how Campbell Smith used to sit in his chair, smoking his pipe and say: 'Well, I guess we had better hoe the potatoes to- morrow; they need it,' and the others would sit still and never say a word. The result was that next morning the potatoes remained among the weeds. One would do this and another that. After awhile we realized that we couldn't farm, so we sold the tract, and everyone went his own way." Somewhat similar in scope to the Wisconsin Phalanx, though not as successful nor as long-lived, was the Spring Farm association. It had its origin in the village of Sheboygan Falls in the year 1845, and was a reflex of the same wave of socialism which brought into being the community at Ceresco. After a good deal of discussion on the subject of socialism, ten families agreed to try the plan of Fourier, and formed an association. There were differences of opinion at the start. Some of the members insisted on settling on the shore of Lake Michigan; others wanted to get away from civili- zation, and picked out a tract twenty miles inland. Being unable to reconcile their differences, the communists split. The lake shore association had a fitful existence and gave up the struggle. The Spring Farm association adopted the motto, "Union, Equal Rights and Social Guarantees," and planted its standard in a wooded spot whose springs of water gave to the community its name of Spring Farm association. The six families kept together for three years. Among them were farmers, blacksmiths and carpenters. They con- structed a unitary building twenty feet by thirty in dimensions, and comprising two stories. They had thirty acres of land under cultivation. "We dissolved by mutual agreement," one of the members explained in accounting for the dissolution. "We were not troubled with dishonest management, and generally agreed in all our affairs. The reasons for failure were poverty, diversity of habits and dis- positions, and disappointments through failure of harvest." Manitowoc county is at the present day the home of a com- munistic enterprise, started many years ago by a Catholic priest from Baden. It flourished for many years under his supervision, as he practically controlled its affairs and his people obediently fol- lowed his counsel in temporal as well as spiritual affairs. Since his death the principles of communism have been considerably modified. Of the numerous experiments in America on the pattern pre- scribed by Fourier and Owen, the Wisconsin Phalanx had the longest life, with but two exceptions. In material prosperity, it was exceeded by none. Although doubtless it was this prosperity that led to the break-up by introducing the spirit of cupidity among its members, there were other serious causes of disturbance. The joint The Story of the State. 195 boarding house idea was a source of contention. There was hut a small majority in its favor when the decision was reached to build the dwellings in unitary blocks adapted to a common boarding house instead of in isolated style adapted to the separate family and single living. Accounts are agreed that the community table was set with plain but substantial food, much like the tables of farmers in newly- settled agricultural regions. And' yet, despite the cheapness of the board to the boarders, the common table was soon surrounded with many empty chairs. "There is a difference of opinion in regard to board," President Warren Chase wrote to The Harbinger, Jan. 8, 1848. "Most of our families cook their board in their rooms from choice under present circumstances; some because they use no meat and do not choose to sit at a table plentifully supplied with beef, pork and mutton; others because they choose to have their children sit at the table with them, to regulate their diet, etc., which our circumstances will not yet permit at our public table; others because they want to ask a blessing, etc.; and others because their manner of cooking and habits of living have become so fixed as to have sufficient influence to require their continuance." \ I CHAPTER X. A TRAGEDY IN THE CAPITOL. Much acrimonious discussion was excited during tlie session of the territorial legislature in 1842 by the nominations for oflfice sub- mitted by Gov. Doty. On the 7th of February the bitterness thus engendered caused one member of the council to shoot a fellow member dead. James R. Vineyard represented Iowa county and Charles C. P. Arndt was the member from Brown. They were warm personal friends until the scramble for office led them to take oppo- Wisconsin's First Capitol. The Old Building at Belmont, Where the Legislature Met in 1836, is Still Standing. site sides. The governor had sent in the name of Enos S. Baker for sheriff of Grant county. A bitter debate followed. Arndt made a sarcastic statement concerning his colleague Vineyard, and the latter retorted in anger that the statement was a falsehood. Order was restored, and a motion was made to adjourn. Before the vote could be announced, a confusion of voices in the neighborhood of Vine- yard's desk interrupted proceedings. Words in a high key were passed, and most of the members arose to crowd around the dis- putants. "Order! order!" called out Moses M. Strong, another member. ■"Order ! order !" repeated the president. 19G Tlie Story of the State. 197 Amid much confusion the council adjourned. Arndt advanced again towards Vineyard's desk, demanding to know whether the latter had imputed to him falsehood in his remarks. "They were false," Vineyard retorted. Arndt struck Vineyard on the forehead. The report of a pistol followed, and Arndt reeled towards the fireplace. He fell into the arms of a fellow-memher and in five minutes was dead. Vineyard surrendered himself to the sheriff. His wife shared his incarceration in jail until his release on $10,000 bail. From his jail quarters. Vineyard sent his resignation to the council. It was not accepted; instead he was expelled by a vote of 10 to 1 and his seat was declared vacant. A grand jury returned a bill for man- slaughter. He was tried, and the jury acquitted him. The trial occurred in Green county. Vineyard having secured a change of venue from Dane on the ground of the prejudice of the people. CHAPTER XI. Strang's stake of zion at voree. DuRiiNG the concluding period of the territorial era, an attempt was made to establish a stronghold of Mormonism in Wisconsin. Had the plans of one James Jesse Strang been brought to fruition, all the followers of the Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith, would have congregated here to found a kingdom and to "establish an inherit- ance forever." The scheme miscarried; in the end Strang forfeited his life and his deluded followers were dispersed by violence. Utah became the Mecca of Mormonism. When the Mormons were building their famous temple at Nau- voo, some of the workmen were sent to the forests of Wisconsin to hew the timbers for the structure and' raft them down the Missis- sippi. As they passed the prairie La Crosse, they were attracted by the pleasant little coulees that nestle between the green hills eastward of the prairie. Elder Lyman Wight led a band of Mor- mons thither in 1843 and planted the first Mormon stake of Zion in Wisconsin. The little valley still bears the name of Mormon coulee; its name and a few crumbling ruins of masonry are all the vestiges that remain of the Mormon occupation. The people of the coulee and the rough traders of the prairie had frequent collisions, due in part to the rude attentions received by the Mormon women from the young men of the prairie. A bloody feud threatened to break out; the Mormons prevented it by abandoning their homes. Rafts were secretly constructed, and under cover of night they floated down the river to Nauvoo, after applying the torch to their deserted homes. Itinerant Mormon preachers sought converts among the people of Burlington, Racine county, early in the year 1845. An eccentric young lawyer named James Jesse Strang became interested in their talk and embraced Mormonism with great zeal. Strang's subsequent career as elder, revelator, prophet, seer, and finally as king, is one of the strange episodes of Western history. Before coming to Wis- consin, Strang lived in his native state, New York. During his boy- hood, he was regarded as a child of odd characteristics, and as he grew to manhood his eccentricities became more pronounced. While working on a farm, he borrowed law books and industriously applied himself to be admitted to the bar. His disposition was too restless to permit him to engage long in one occupation or to remain long enough in one place to take root. He became a rover; at one place he taught country school; at another practiced law; at a third edited a newspaper and secured appointment as postmaster. 198 The Story of the State. 199 Finally he Ijecame a temperance lecturer, and in 1843 came to Wis- consin, resuming the practice of law. Strang went into the Mormon movement with great energy. In January he was converted; in February he visited Nauvoo and was baptized by the seer Joseph Smith into the communion of Latter Day Saints. The young Wisconsin convert made so favorable an impression on the prophet that only a week later he was made an elder and received authority to plant a stake of Zion in Wisconsin. Six months later Strang was contesting with Brigham Young the headship of the Mormon church. A mob stormed the jail at Carthage, 111., in the month of June, 1845, and shot Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum to death. Before the distracted Mormons of Nauvoo had recovered their King Strang. From the Only Photograph Known to Be in Existence. equilibrium, Strang appeared among them urging them to follow him to his city of refuge in Wisconsin, which city he called Voree. He claimed that the slain prophet had designated him as successor in the office of seer, and had instructed him to build a temple and city in Walworth county, destined to become the strong- hold of Mormonism. To prove his authority he exhibited a letter from Joseph Smith, dated the day previous to the stormfng of the Carthage jail, and bearing the Nauvoo postmark. The letter was couched in the usual phrases that distinguish Mormon literature — an ungrammatical imitation of scriptural language. After a long preliminary statement, to the effect that "the wolves are upon the scent," and that the writer had listened to music low and sad, ' as 200 Leading Events of Wif^consin History. though they sounded the requiem of martyred prophets," the prophetic succesision is thus bestowed upon Strang: "And now behold my servant James J. Strang hath come to thee from far for truth when he knew it not, and hath not rejected it, but hath faith in thee, the Shepherd and Stone of Israel, and to him shall the gathering of the people be, for he shall plant a stake of Zion in Wisconsin, and I will establish it; and there shall my people have peace and rest, and shall not be moved, for it shall be established on the prairie of White river, in the lands of Racine and Walworth; and behold my servants James and Aaron shall plant it, for I have given them wisdom, and Daniel shall stand in his lot on the hill beside the river looking down on the prairie, and shall Instruct my people, and shall plead with them face to face. . . . And I will have a house built unto me there of stone, and there will I show myself to my people by my mighty works, and the name of the city shall be called Voree, which is, being interpreted, garden of peace; for there shall my people have peace and rest, and wax fat and pleasant in the presence of their enemies." With Brigham Young at their head, the Council of Twelve who controlled the Mormon Church, raised a great clamor; denouncing Strang as a pretender and his letter as a forgery. Altrough Strang gained a considerable following, they succeeded in expelling him from the city of Nauvoo and consigned him "to the buffetings of Satan until he do repent." Followed by his adherents, Strang went to the banks of White river and began to build his city of Voree. He established a weekly paper, The Gospel Herald; his printing presses turned out thousands of tracts; for distribution by his missionaries. About this time the people of Illinois were preparing to expel the Nauvooites, and in the "First Pastoral Letter of James, the Prophet," he urged the refugees to hasten from destruction to his city of promise in Wis- consin. He drew a lurid picture of the fate that awaited the wan- derers of Utah: "Let not my call to you be vain," he wrote. "The destroyer has gone forth among you and has prevailed. You are preparing to resign country and houses and lands to him. Many of you are about to leave the haunts of civilization and of men to go into an unex- plored wilderness among savages and in trackless deserts, to seek a home in the wilds where the foot-print of the white man is not found. The voice of God has not called you to this. His promise has not gone before to prepare a habitation for you. The hearts of the Lamanites are not turned unto you, and they will not regard you. When the herd comes, the savages shall pursue. The cloud which surrounds by day shall bewilder and the pillar of fire by night shall consume and reveal you to the destroyer. . . . Let the oppressed flee for safety unto Voree, and let the gathering of the people be here." TJie Story of the State. 201 Strang's pastoral letter did not affect the exodus from Nauvoo, but his words proved prophetic. Of 20,000 persons who crossed the Mississippi, less than half reached the wilderness of Utah. The route was strewn with the bleaching bones of those who fell by the way- side. The building of Voree went on with great energy. It was claimed by the Mormons that at one time its population numbered not less than 2,000 men, women and children. A great temple was planned and begun. Strang became known as the Prophet James, and, as Joseph Smith had done, professed to have visions and revelations. They proved exceedingly useful whenever any of his followers be- came discontented and threatened to create trouble. The prophet Joseph had, in the hill of Cumorah, in the state of New York, found metallic plates covered with strange characters. These he trans- lated, and the result was the Book of Mormon. The prophet James concluded that a similar performance in Wisconsin would demon- strate to the doubters his right to take Joseph's place. On the 13th day of September, 1845, he announced that in a celestial vision he had been shown a spot where an ancient record had been buried. He led four persons, Aaron Smith, Jirah B. Wheelan, James M. Van Nostrand and Edward Whitcomb, to an old oak tree, and told them 10 dig till a casket containing four metal plates was found. "The case," they afterwards testified, "was found imbedded in indurated clay, so closely fitting it that it broke in taking it out, and the earth below the soil was so hard as to be dug with difficulty, even with a pickax. Over the case was found a flat stone, about one foot wide each way, and three inches thick, which appeared to have i-ndergone the action of fire, and fell in pieces a few minutes after exposure to the air. The digging extended in the clay about eighteen inches, there being two kinds of earth of a different color and ap- pearance above it. We examined as we dug all the way with the ntmost care, and we say, with the utmost confidence, that no part of the earth through which we dug exhibited any sign or indication that it had been moved of disturbed at any time previous. The roots of the tree struck down on every side very closely, extending below the case, and closely interwoven with roots from other trees. None of these had been broken or cut away." The discovery of the three metal plates attracted thousands of curious persons to Voree. Strang called them the "plates of Laban," went into a trance and furnished the following translation of the mystic characters which he claimed were inscribed thereon centuries ago: "1. My people are no more. The mighty are fallen and the young slain in battle. Their bones bleached on the plain by the noonday shadow. The houses are leveled to the dust, and in the moat are the walls. They shall be inhabited. I have in the burial 202 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. served them, and their bones in the death shade towards the sun's rising are covered. They sleep with the mighty dead, and they rest with their fathers. They have fallen in transgression and are not, but the elect and faithful there shall dwell. "2. The word hath revealed it. God hath sworn to give an in- heritance to his people where transgressors perished. The word of God came to me while I mourned in the death shade, saying, I will avenge me on the destroyer. He shall be driven out. Other strangers shall inhabit thy land. I an ensign there will set up. The escaped of my people there shall dwell, when the flock disown the shepherd and build not on the rock. '•3. The forerunner men shall kill, but a mighty prophet there shall dwell. I will be his strength, and he shall bring forth the rec- ord. Record my words and bury it in the hill of promise. "4. The record of Rajah Manchore of Verito." This record of the ancient Rajah Manchore of Verito was mys- terious enough to awe Strang's followers and to more firmly en- trench his standing as a prophet. Subsequently he discovered eight- een additional buried plates, which he "translated." This transla- tion he printed in the form of a book, which he called the "Book of the Law of the Lord." The preface of this book, and its printed title, indicate what Strang claimed for it: BOOK OF THE LAW OF THE LORD. Consisting of An Inspired Translation of Some of the Most Important Parts of the Law Given to Moses, and a Very Few Additional Commandments, with Brief Notes and References. Printed by Command of the King at the Royal Press, St. James, A. R. I. From the preface: "Several books are also mentioned in the scriptures, not now found in the Bible, but of equal authority with it, which have been lost; as, for instance, another epistle of Paul to the Corinthian and the Ephesian churches, and the books of Iddo, Nathan and others, prophets of high rank in Israel. But of all the lost books the most important was the Book of the Law of the Lord. This was kept in the ark of the covenant, and was held too sacred to go into the hands of strangers. When the Septuagint trans- lation was made, the Book of the Law was kept back, and the book lost to the Jewish nation in the time that they were subject to for- eign powers. The various books in the Pentateuch, containing abstracts of some of the laws, have been read instead, until even the existence of the book has come to be a matter of doubt. It is from an authorized copy of that book, written on metallic plates long pre- vious io the Babylonish captivity, that this translation is made." After awhile Strang's ambitions expanded. He wanted temporal «s well as spiritual power; to be king as well as prophet. He selected Beaver island, in Lake Michigan, as the seat of his empire, and The Story of the State. 203 arranged to remove his faithful followers there. The first families went there from Voree in 1847, and in the course of a few years had gained considerably in numbers. The fishermen who made the island their home resisted the Mormon invasion bitterly, and a bor- der war ensued that was attended with some bloodshed. Finally the Mormons made themselves masters of the island and obtained con- trol of the county government. A Mormon sheriff could arrest a Oentile offender, bring him before a Mormon jury for conviction and tefore a Mormon judge for sentence. Strang secured his own elec- tion to the legislature, and was thus enabled to obtain the enact- men: of local laws that suited his scheme of government. |+-WrxpM^<;,\HT<5;i 1 + +>^i-^ -^ ^ i e- 1 <^ 1 1 I 3 t- -^ ^- ^ ..J One of the Voree Plates. (The metallic plates dug out of a hill near Voree were three in number, the mysterious characters engraved thereon being very similar. Strang called them the "Plates of Laban.") The 8th of July, 1850, was set for the coronation of Strang as king of St. James. Four days before this the settlement narrowly escaped destruction. The Gentile fishermen from the opposite main- land and the adjacent cluster of islands had planned a strategic uprising designed to lead to the expulsion of the Mormons. Their fleets were to gather in the harbor of St. James, ostensibly to cele- brate the Fourth of July, out in reality for the sterner work of at- tacking the Mormons. Having secured information as to their pur- pose, Strang made preparations for giving the fishermen a hot recep- tion. A cannon was procured in Chicago, and the Mormons were armed and drilled in anticipation of the attack. When the fleets came into the harbor, a party of Mormon spies boarded one of the vessels under cover of darkness and overheard all the plans for the attack. They drugged a keg of whisky and departed without detec- tion. In the morning the Mormons began firing a national salute. 204 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. the balls from the cannon skipping merrily over the water and going dangerously near the fishing smacks. A parley ensued. The Mor- mons gave warning that any hostile movement meant death and desl ruction of the entire fleet. Seeing that the Mormons were armed and in position to repel an attack, the fishermen became alarmed and sailed away without striking a blow. According to programme, Strang was crowned king on the 8th of July. The ceremonies, which were of an imposing nature, took place in the unfinished tabernacle of hewn logs. The king's council, the quorum of twelve, the quorum of seventy and the numerous minor orders of the ministry had their part in the pageant. King Strang ruled with autocratic sway. From his royal press he issued his commands in the form of the Book of the Law, which was now printed in full for the first time. The Northern Islander was printed as a weekly, and later as a daily newspaper. The tith- ing system was inaugurated and implicitly obeyed. The firstling of every flock and the first fruits of the field and orchard went to the royal storehouse. Women were required to wear bloomers. The use of intoxicants, tea, coffee and tobacco was prohibited. Polygamy was introduced, the king setting an example by increasing the num- ber of his -wives to five. Great improvements were planned. A schooner was built, a sawmill constructed and a great road to the interior of the island, called the King's highway, was laid out. The Rformons changed the nomenclature of the island's physical features to harmonize with the names in the Bible and the Book of Mormot A bill in the interior was dignified into Mount Pisgah. A crystal lake was called Galilee and the sti-eam whence its waters traveled lakeward received the name Jordan. The harbor Avas named St. James, and the cluster of cabins along its shore became the royal city of St. James, in honor of the king. One fine day the United States armed steamer Michigan cast anchor in the harbor of St. James, a boat manned by Uncle Sam's tars rowed to the shore and placed King Strang and the principal men of St. James under arrest on the charge of treason, counterfeit- ing the coin and interfering with the government mails. A vain search Avas made for a secret cave supposed to exist in Mount Pis- gah and believed to contain the tools of the counterfeiters, and the prisoners were conveyed to Detroit for trial. Strang conducted his own defense with much skill and made a powerful plea to the jury, representing himself as a martyr to religious persecution. He was acquitted, and returned to his insular kingdom in triumph. On frequent occasions the Mormons came into bloody conflict wit'h the Gentiles. A grand jury was called to meet at St. James, and the Mormon sheriff and his deputies went to Charlevoix to serve sum- mons on witnesses. Believing that the summons were a mere sub- terfuge to get them into the power of King Strang the fishermen The Story of the State. 205 resisted the authority of the sheriff. As the Mormons made for their boats in hot haste, a volley of bullets sped after them and wounded two of the men. The fishermen tumbled into their own boats and pursued the fleeing sheriff and his men. There ensued a race for life over the waters of the lake. The brawny oarsmen in the lear boats sent their craft through the water at a speed that made it impossible for the fugitives to escape to Beaver Island. The Mormons made for a vessel that opportunely hove in sight, as their only hope of escape from the shot that whistled over and around them. They reached it when they were almost spent, and the hu- mane captain gave them refuge. The angry fishermen demanded that the men be turned over to them, but the captain listened to the Strang's Castle. piteous pleadings of the Mormons, who knew that such a course meant certain death, and landed them unharmed on Beaver Island. While King Strang seemed in the height of his power, his reign was abruptly terminated by the bullets of assassins. His subjects were not all loyal, and two of them planned his death. Early in July, 1856, the Michigan steamed into the harbor, and King Strang prepared to pay the officers on board a visit. As he stepped on the dock Alexander Wentwoi'th and Thomas Bedford emerged from be- hind a woodpile and fired simultaneously, both shots taking effect. As he fell they struck him savagely with their weapons and ran aboard the vessesl to give themselves up. They were taken to Mack- inac, and after awhile secured their release. Neither of the assassins was ever brought to trial. 206 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. Strang's wounds were fatal. He asked to be conveyed to his city of Voree, and he lingered until he reached the spot where he had planned to build a great city of refuge for Mormondom. A few days later he died, surrounded by his numerous wives. He lies in an unmarked grave in the prairie beside White river. The kingdom of St. James went to pieces. The long-delayed invasion of the Gentiles followed soon after Strang's death. The printing office was sacked; the temple was destroyed; ax and torch leveled a goodly portion of the royal city. The Mormons were ex- iled and their homes were confiscated. Some sought refuge in the northern counties of Wisconsin; some drifted to Utah; others wan- dered elsewhere; the island thereafter became the home of the fisher folk, and their descendants live there to-day. CHAPTER XII. THE MIGRATION FROM OVER THE OCEAN. WiscoxsiN has been termed the polyglot state of the Union. But five states have a foreign-born population greater than that of Wis- consin, and in but one of these is the percentage as large. In .no state are more nationalities represented among the foreign groups of considerable size. The coming of colonists from trajns-Atlantic regions in numbers sufiicient to influence the history of Wisconsin began in the days of the territory. Before 1840 the chief elements of the population com- prised the non-progressive French Creoles, who hunted and bartered for furs; the Southern fortune seekers, who brought their negro slaves from Missouri and Tennessee into the lead regions; and the brawny and brainy New Englanders and New York men who became the pioneer farmers of the territory in the opposite southern zone of the state. Then came the forerunners of the army of Germans, Scandinavians and other Teutonic nations, whose coming has con- tinued uninterruptedly to this day, with an admixture of Celtic and Slavonian immigration. Many independent causes operated to turn this tide Wisconsinward, and at one time the thought was seriously entertained that a foreign state was to be founded here. The ideas brought hither from the Germanic countries of Europe have not denationalized Wisconsin, but they have profoundly affected its social, commercial and political life. Not alone in the grouping of nationalities in certain localities is Wisconsin peculiar, but also in the massing together of people from the same provinces and even towns of the old country. It indicates that the foreign colonization of Wisconsin was not a haphazard cir- cumstance; the cause was deeper than the restlessness of individ- uals. The people came in numbers sufficient to constitute a com- munity, impelled by local economic, political or religious conditions which they sought to escape. In the hamlets of the old world, the plan of migration was thoroughly discussed at public meetings and in private home gatherings; in many cases the leaders of the move- ment were sent ahead to do the pi-ospecting and report what they found in the new world. Thus little communities of neighbors were transplanted to the fertile soil of Wisconsin, and after the lapse of half a century many of them retain the distinctive customs they brought with them from the old world. Some of the towns of the state whose inhabitants are made up of people from particular dis- tricts of Germany are enumerated in a report of the State Histor- ical society, as follows: Germans— Lomira was settled almost entirely by Prussians from Branden- burg, who belonged to the Evangelical association. The neighboring towns of 207 208 Leading Events of ^S'isconsiti History. Herman and Theresa, also in Dodge county, were settled principally by natives of Pommeranla. In Calumet county there are Oldenburg, Luxemburg and New Holstein settlements. St. Kilian, in Washington county, is settled by people from Northern Bohemia, just over the German border. The town of Belgium, Ozaukee county, is populated almost exclusively by Luxemburgers, while Olden- burgers occupy the German settlement at Cedarburg. Three-fourths of the population of Farmington, Washington county, are from Saxony. In the same county, Jackson is chiefly settled by Pommeranians, while one-half of the popula- tion of Kewaskura are from the same German Drovince. In Dane county there are several interesting groups of German Catholics. Roxbury is nine-tenths German, the people coming mostly from Rheinish Prussia and Bavaria. Germans predominate in Cross Plains, the rest of the population being Irish. The German families of Mlddleton came from Koln. Carl Schurz. (Carl Schurz spent the first years after his coming to America, in Water- town, Wis. He was candidate for Lieutenant Governor of the State while a resi- dent of Watertown, and sought the nomination for Governor. He was appointed minister to Rome and never returned to Wisconsin.) Scandinavians — Important Norwegian groups are the following: New Hope and Amherst in Portage county; Oilman, Martel, Ellsworth and Hartland in Pierce county; seven townships in the western part of Waupaca county; Mt. Morris in Waushara county; Winchester and one-half of Clayton in Winnebago county; Christiana in Lafayette county; Coon in Vernon county. Swedes pre- dominate in Trenton, Isabel and Maiden Rock in Pierce county. Icelanders practically monopolize Washington island in the waters of Green Bay. There are large Norwegian settlements in Dane county. Polanders— The Fourteenth ward of Milwaukee is almost solidly occupied by Polanders, and they predominate in three other wards. Poles from Posen occupy a quarter of Beaver Dam. A colony of Poles from Danzig make Berlin Tlw Story of the State. 209 their home. There is also a Polish group in Stevens Point. Other solid Polish groups are found in the townships of Berlin, Seneca and Princeton. Warren township, in Waushara county, has a considerable colony of Poles. Swiss — Between 5,000 and 6,000 Swiss are massed in exceptionally prosperous colonies In New Glarus, Washington, Exeter, Mt. Pleasant, York and neighboring townships In Green county. Others may be found in the counties of Buffalo, Pierce (Union), Winnebago (Black Wolf), and Fond du Lac (Ashford). Irish— Irish groups are found in Bear Creek, Winfield and Dellona in Sauk county; Osceola, Eden and Byron in Fond du Lac county; Benton, Darlington, Gratiot, Kendall, Seymour, Shullsburg, and Willow Spring in Lafayette county; Lebanon in Waupaca county; Erin in Washington county; Emmet, Shields and Portland in Dodge county. Welsh— In Waushara county the town of Springwater, one-half of the town of Rose and one-half of Aurora are occupied by natives of Wales and their Immediate descendants. Spring Green, in Lake county, has a large colony of them. The whole of Nekemi, the greater part of Utica, Caledonia and Calamus are Welsh neighborhoods and likewise the Third and Sixth wards of the city of Racine. There are also large groups of Bohemians, Belgians, Finlanders, French-Canadians as well as English and Scotch settlements, scat- tered about the state. "When Milwaukee was but a small cluster of houses in the early 30's, Germans had made their home in the village, but it was not until a decade later that colonists began to arrive in considerable numbers from the fatherland. Political disturbances at home sent many of them over the ocean, and the low price of land and liberal laws of "Wisconsin attracted many of them to this territory. At one time there was considerable agitation both in this country and in Germany with a view to such concentration of German settlement and influence as to Germanize one of the states of the Union. "Wis- consin was by common consent regarded as the ideal place for car- rying this plan into effect. "Whether this agitation contributed materially to swing the German emigration to Wisconsin is doubt- ful except to the extent that the discussion of the project served to advertise conspicuously the natural advantages of the territory. "Germans can remain Germans in America," one enthusiastic promoter of the German-American state idea wrote in 1847. "They will mingle and intermarry with non-Germans and adopt their ways, but they can still remain essentially German. They can plant the vine on the hills and drink it with happy song and dance; they can have German schools and universities, German literature and art, German science and philosophy, German courts and assem- blies — in short, they can form a German state, in which the German language is as much the popular and official language as the English is now, and in which the German spirit rules." Between the years 1840 and 1848 pamphlets and books describ- ing the resources and favorable climatic conditions of "Wisconsin were circulated in great number in some parts of Germany, and undoubtedly greatly influenced intending settlers to seek the golden Northwest. In the Rhine region, in the "Wupper valley and in the 210 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. duchy of Brunswick these guides for emigrants found especially eager readers. Milwaukee soon became known as the German Athens of America, but the German population of Wisconsin was not confined to the chief city of the territory. The wooded sections along the lake shore and in the interior attracted large numbers of the homeseekers. The early German settlers were mostly of the Catholic faith, but in the early 40's Pommerania and Brandenburg, as the result of religious contentions, lost many of their people, and their leaders directed many of them to Wisconsin. They settled in Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Dodge and Washington counties. Evei-ywhere the Germans sought to win homes in the woods rather than on the prairies. James G. Percival, Poet. (During Wisconsin's early days of Statehood, James G. Percival served as State geologist. Mr. Percival was a poet and scientist of national reputation. He was a strange character, wholly given over to Intellectual pursuits and shunning all intercourse with his fellow men where it was at all avoidable. He was eccen- tric in dress; his house had but one entrance, and that was in the rear. He was never known to speak to a woman, and in many ways exhibited odd charac- teristics.) In the central counties of the state the Germans who penetrated and formed colonies were mostly from Pommerania, Mecklenburg, Holstein and other provinces of middle and North Germany. In the western part of the state, also, large German settlements were begun. The Sauk county German settlements owe their origin to a curious accident. Count Augustus Haraszthy, a Hungarian refugee, chanced upon a novel aboard the vessel that carried him to Amer- ica. Becoming interested in a description therein given of a trip from Green Bay to Prairie du Chien, he concluded to visit the The Stori/ of the State. 211 region. He induced a number of Germans to join him and founded the village of Sauk. Norwegians attach the same associations to the name Restau- rationen as do the New Englanders to the Mayflower. Aboard the little sloop Restaurationen, which left the ancient city of Stavanger, on the southwest coast of Norway, in 1825, were a few Quaker fam- ilies seeking escape from religious persecution. They left on the fourth day of July, and had a perilous and adventurous journey lasting fourteen weeks. The arrival of the little shell amazed the people of New York, who mai-veled that fifty-two persons would venture on such a voyage in so small a craft. Soon letters found their way to the Scandinavian peninsula, descriptive of the fertile lands in the new world, to be had for the asking. These letters were passed from house to house and were read with great interest. Emigration began to be discussed and plans formulated for crossing the ocean. When one of the wan- derers returned to his home to seek a wife, people traveled hundreds of miles to question him. Thus began the stream of Norwegian immigration that has given to Wisconsin some of its best citizens. Previous to the year 1840 there were but six Norwegian settle- ments in North America, and of these three were located in Wis- consin. The first Norwegian settlement in Wisconsin was the fourth in America. It was founded at Jefferson Prairie, in Rock county, by Ole Knudson Nattestad. With his brother and a companion they left their native valley in Norway, their entire equipment consist- ing of the clothes they wore, a knapsack and a pair of skees. They traveled over snow-crusted hills till they reached Stavanger, whence the little sloop Restaurationen had sailed twelve years before. Here they had to hide until they obtained passage for America on a yacht loaded with herring, as the government was trying to stem the tide of emigration and refused to issue passports. The story of this pio- neer trio is a romantic one. The fifth Norwegian settlement in America was planted in Waukesha and Racine counties in 1839, and was the result of graphic letters written home by the people at Jefferson Prairie. The Waukesha and Racine colony became known as the Muskego settle- ment. The emigrants paid $42 apiece for passage to Boston, and thence they made the journey by way of Buffalo to Milwaukee. It took then three weeks to come from Buffalo to Wisconsin in a mis- erable vessel "that leaked like a sieve and could scarcely hold together." In the Muskego settlement was printed, in 1847, the first Nor- wegian paper in America. It was called the "Nordlyset," Even Heg and James D. Reymert being the publishers. The third Norwegian settlement in Wisconsin, known as tha Koshkonong colony, was the sixth in America, and became the 212 Leading Ecciits of Wisconsin History. wealthiest rural Norwegian community on the continent. The set- tlement was begun in 1840. The following year it obtained consid- erable notoriety owing to the arrest in Norway of three counter- feiters who had manufactured their bogus money while sojourning in Koshkonong. To give the bills a worn look, the counterfeiters had secreted them in the soles of their shoes. Imprisonment fol- lowed detection. The Koshkonong settlement is said to be the largest community of Norwegian farmers in America. A true picture of pioneer life among the early Norwegian set- tlers is contained in an address delivered at an East Koshkonong celebration by the Rev. Adolph Bredesen: "The houses of our pioneers of fifty years ago were log cabins, shanties and dugouts. Men and women alike dressed in blue drill- ing or in coarse homespun, brought over from the old country in those large, bright-painted chests. In 1844, I am told, not a woman on Koshkonong prairie was the proud possessor of a hat. Some of Original Mitchell Bank Building— 1S39. the good wives and daughters of those days sported home-made sun bonnets, but the majority contented themselves with the old-country kerchief. Carpets, kerosene lamps, coal stoves or sewing machines, reapers, threshing machines, top-buggies and Stoughton wagons were things not dreamed of. If books were few, a family Bible and some of Luther's writings were rarely vranting, even in the hum- blest homes. If the people were not versed in some of the branches now taught in almost every common school, they were well grounded in the catechism, the Forklaring and the Bible history. Our mothers and grandmothers did not ruin our digestion with mince pie and chicken salad, but gave us wholesome and tooth- some fiatbrod and mylsa, and brim and prim and bresta, the kind of food on which a hundred generations of Norway seamen and moun- taineers have been raised." In some respects the most interesting story associated with Wisconsin's composite nationality is that of the Swiss colonies on T1ie Story of the State. 213 the Little Sugar river. These people came from Glarus. There the population had increased until the cultivated land of the valleys and the summer pastures on the Alps no longer furnished subsistence sufficient for them all. Food became so scarce that public meet- ings vi^ere held to discuss methods for inducing emigration. An. appropriation was made from the public treasury to defray the expenses of two representatives who were sent to America to locate a tract of land for those willing to leave their valley home. The men left in March, 1845, bearing with them written instructions. The minute directions thus committed to paper embodied an entire plan of government for the colony which it was proposed to estab- lish in the new world, with due regard to schools, churches, relief of sick and poor, provision for shelter, food and clothing; distribu- tion of land so as to give each settler proper proportion of pasture, timber and tillable land; cultivation of a certain tract in common; keeping of a journal recording principal events affecting the com- munity; recording vital statistics, and a hundred other matters, reg- ulating the conduct and aiming to promote the welfare of the wan- derers. The diary kept by the Swiss commissioners is unique; it tells in exact detail what they did and what they saw on their long journey half way across the continent, by stage, on horseback and on foot. Thirty miles from Mineral Point they selected a tract which they deemed suitable for the planting of a colony. The rocky slopes that fashioned the valley reminded them of their own mountainous Glarus, and they christened the spot New Glarus. They started to build huts, and awaited the coming of their kinsmen. On a rainy day in April, 1845, nearly 200 men, women and chil- dren gathered on the banks of the Linth canal to begin the long journey.. Arrangements had been made for but 140 persons. Two leaders and two spokesmen were chosen, and the colonists promised to obey them implicitly. Hardship was experienced from the start. Packed closely in an open vessel, a pelting rain succeeded by a blinding snow storm, added to their discomforts. The vessel was so small and the passengers were so many that there was no room for lying down, so after much distress the women and children were transferred, at Zurich, to covered wagons. "We arrived at Basle on the 18th," says the journal of Mathias Duerst. "The cold rain was falling in streams, and the utter wretchedness and discomfort were enough to chill the ardor of the strongest among the wet shivering men. The wagons containing our wives and children arrived about the same time, and although they had been packed in like a lot of goods, we were glad that they had not been exposed to the cold and wet as we had been." The rest of the journey was a continuation of this distress. Down the Rhine they slept on the bare boards of the vessel's deck. 214 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. skirmishing for provisions at the stopping places en route. On the way from Rotterdam to New Dieppe they encountered a terrific storm. While awaiting the ocean vessel at New Dieppe they camped on the shore in gypsy fashion. Many suffered from hunger on the way over on account of the worthlessness of the food provided for the ship's passengers. Two deaths occurred, and the sad burial ser- vice of the sea was followed by the consignment of the bodies to the depths of the ocean. The 'half-starved company arrived at Balti- more after forty-nine days of ocean travel. They stopped long enough to hold an indignation meeting and adopt resolutions con- demning the treatment they had received aboard ship, and then proceeded to St. Louis. "Then we experienced the greatest pleasure of our lives," wrote Mathias Duerst. "None of us had ever before rode on a railroad. The train took us to the Susquehanna river at Columbia, where we left the cars and loaded our baggage and persons on canal boats, which were to carry us to Pittsburg. We were packed in like a herd of sheep. Many could not even sit, but had to stand up the whole night." When the emigrants arrived at St. Louis, they were distressed to find no tidings of the two pioneers who had preceded them. It was here that they had expected to meet them and proceed to the promised land under their guidance. Two houses were rented and they crowded into them; two of their men were dispatched to seek their lost leaders. They searched over the wide prairies of Illinois and in the wooded belts of Wisconsin, and finally accidentally learned their whereabouts. Mathias Duerst's entertaining Journal sketches with grapnic fidelity the numerous adventures of the wan- derers. In the meantime the emigrants at St. Louis had become impa- tient and determined to make a search on their own account. They reached Galena the very day that Duerst arrived there on his way back to St. Louis. It was a joyful meeting. The party at once started for the new home in Wisconsin, the more robust of the men going ahead afoot, carrying their belongings on their backs, the rest of the party following more slowly. On the l&th day of August, 1845, the colonists arrived at New Glarus. They had brought with them the kettles and pots which they had used in Switzerland, and these were distributed. Huts were built and thatched with hay, and the men went energetically to work to begin their humble homes. Rules and regulations were adopted for the government of the colony, some of them being unique: "Every one is obliged to take the land which he draws by lot, and whether it be better or worse, to accept the same without protest." The Story of the State. 215 "The main street from east to west shall be thirty feet wide, but the other streets shall be only fourteen feet wide." "All creeks, springs and streams shall be the common property of all lot owners." "The colonists shall be obliged to assist each other in building houses and barns." "Should mineral be found, then the lot on which it is found shall revert to the society, and the owner shall receive therefor appropriate compensation." This was the beginning of one of Wisconsin's notable foreign colonies. One hundred and eighty-three persons had started on the 5,000-mile journey. They traveled by water all but a mere fraction of the distance. They counted 118 persons when they reached New Glarus. Most of the Belgian settlements are located in the extreme northeastern corner of the state. The coming of the pioneers was A Pioneer Milwaukee Brewery— 1S44. attended with hardships and adventures similar to those experi- enced by the vanguard of Swiss, German and Scandinavian colo- nists. They spoke French and the Latinized patios known as Wal- loon, and naturally drifted to the neighborhood of Green Bay, where lived French-speaking people. The first comers located in 1853, and they were followed by thousands of their countrymen. With the old-country customs and ideas, they also transplanted some of the village names, these being some of their settlements: Sucrerie, La Riviere Rouge, La Misere, St. Sauveur, Rosifere, Aux Flamand and Granlez. An episode that attracted much attention occurred in the year 1858 in the settlement of Aux Premier Beiges. Ad&le Brice claimed that while walking home from church, the Virgin Mary appeared to her and commanded her to build a chapel on the spot and devote her life to the service of her faith. Threats from the clergy and scoffing from the incredulous failed to shake her story, ajid the young girl persisted in offering her devotions on the sacred spot 216 Leading Events of M'isconsin History. where the vision occurred, until multitudes were attracted to the place. A small chapel was built, and annually on the anniversary of Ad61e Brice's vision, thousands go to the shrine from far and near to worship. Most Irishmen who came to the new world in the middle of the century preferred to remain in the cities. Early in its existence the city of Milwaukee had a considerable Irish element, whose leaders had much influence in politics. The Irish immigrants did not all remain in the cities, however, and several notable agricultural groups became established in adjoining counties. One was in Wash- ington county, and was appropriately named Erin. The first settler located there in 1841. For many years not one non-Democratic vote was cast in this town. There has been a transformation during the past decade in the population of the town, the original owners hav- ing been displaced by German farmers. The Germans are now in the majority in Erin, where once every inhabitant was a native of Ireland. The same chajige of nationality has been noted in several other settlements originally established by the Irish. The Welsh are also among the territorial pioneers of Wisconsin, and they have yet strong groups in some sections of the state. In the lead region a colony of Cornish miners became located during the mineral excitement. There are other national groups in Wis- consin, among them Italians, Bohemians, Dutch, Russian Jews and Finlanders. With the exception of the thrifty Dutch, their origin is of later date than the territorial era. PART V. FIFTY YEARS OF STATEHOOD. CHAPTER I. THE THIRTIETH STAR IN THE FIELD OF BLUE. By the admission of Wisconsin to statehood. May 29, 1848, the field of blue in the nation's flag received its thirtith star. The same year the infant state was called upon to cast its first vote for president of the United States, and by an interesting coincidence the voters had to choose between two former residents. Gen. Zachary Taylor had been stationed for many years as an army officer at Prairie du Chien (Fort Crawford) and Fort Winnebago, and had taken part in the Black Hawk war. He went from Wisconsin to win laurels on the battlefields of Mexico. Lewis Cass had served as governor of Michigan territory when Wisconsin was a part of it, and in many ways had identified himself with the material pros- perity of Wisconsin. Gen. Zachary Taylor was elected president, but Wisconsin cast its four electoral votes for Lewis Cass, Demo- cratic candidate. Statehood came to Wisconsin after much contention at home and in Congress. It was only after one constitution had been rejected that an instrument was framed which proved satisfactory. It was one of the most liberal constitutions that had up to that time been adopted by any state, and it has stood the test of fifty years — unaltered except in a few minor particulars. Long before congress listened to the appeal, there had been an agitation with a view to statehood. In conection with this subject, the people were much concerned about the boundaries of the future Btate. Wisconsin was the last child of the old Northwest territory, and perforce had to be satisfied to take what was left of the princely patrimony. According to the compact of 1787, the boun- daries of this state were to include what has become the Northern peninsula of Michigan, the northern tier of Illinois counties and that part of Minnesota east of the Mississippi river. Had the ordi- nance of 1787 been faithfully observed, the cities of Chicago, Duluth and St. Paul would now be within the boundaries of this state. In the latter days of the territory the people were chiefly concerned about securing their southern boundary rights, and the inhabitants of the Northern Illinois strip by popular vote decided that they were in cordial sympathy with the idea. The territorial council of 1843 adopted resolutions on the subject as fiercely belligerent as the sentiments which the fiery South Carolinians enunciated a dozen years later. ■ -r 219 220 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. "Should such an appeal to congress be ineffectual," these reso- lutions go on to say, "we could safely intrench ourselves behind the ordinance of 1787, fortified by the doctrine, well understood in this country, that all political communities have the right of governing themselves in their own way, within their lawful boun- daries, and take for ourselves and our state the boundaries fixed by our ordinance; form our state constitution, which would be repub- lican; apply for admission into the Union with those boundaries, and if refused so that we cannot be a state in the Union, we will be a state out of the Union, and possess, exercise and enjoy all the rights, privileges and powers of the sovereign, independent state of Nelson Dewey. First Governor of the State. Wisconsin; and if difficulties ensue, we could appeal with entire confidence to the Great Umpire of nations to adjust them." Congress paid no attention to this defiant attitude assumed by the territorial council. It was important that Illinois should be kept in close touch with the North, and to take her lake coast away would, in those days of water highways, tiave made the Missis- sippi river her avenue of commerce, and her interests Southern. Congress ignored the state sovereignty threat that came from a corner of the Northwest, and the framers of the fiery resolution cooled their ardor without attempting tO' secede. In April, 1846, a vote was taken to determine whether the ter- ritorial government should be replaced by a state government; The Story of the State. 221 12,334 votes were cast in favor of the proposition and 2,984 in the negative. A bill was then pending in congress to admit Wisconsin to statehood. This bill created a spirited debate, but after occa- sioning much controversy, finally became a law. Many of the leading men in the territory were members of the first constitutional convention, which met at Madison, Octooer 5, 1846. The membership comprised 125 delegates, and it is note- worthy as indicating the influences then preponderating in the poli- tics of the state that forty-two of them were natives of New York and eighteen of Vermont, together constituting half the member- ship. But twelve of the delegates were of foreign birth, seven of these being Irishmen, three Germans, one an Englishman and the twelfth a native of Jamaica. Their occupations also furnish an interesting index of certain phases of territorial life; there were 69 farmers, 26 lawyers, 7 mechanics, 6 merchants, 5 miners, 3 physi- cians, 2 lumbermen and 1 miller; the occupations of the others were not recorded. It may be added that the twenty-six lawyers practically controlled the proceedings. The people voted on the constitution the following spring and rejected it; For, 14,119; against, 20,233. This verdict was the result of a spirited campaign, in the course of which the proposed consti- tution was assailed with great vigor by stump speakers, following being seemingly the most obnoxious articles: 1. The article in relation to the rights of married women, giv- ing wives separate ownership of property. 2. The bank article, absolutely prohibiting any bank of issue and making it unlawful to circulate after the year 1847 any bank note, bill or certificate issued without the state, of a denomination less than $10, or after the year 1849 of a denomination less than ?20. 3. The boundary article, according to which the lower St. Croix valley was excluded. There were other articles that met with decided opposition. "They are seeds of evil which will produce an hundred fold," one distinguished orator prophesied. Indeed, if the words. of the stump speakers were to be believed, the adoption of the unpopular constitution meant "ruin to the peace, prosperity and happiness of the people." It was believed after the vote was taken that had the articles been submitted separately, they would all have carried, but the combined opposition was too strong. There was submitted at the same time, for a separate vote, a resolution granting equal suffrage and the right to hold office to "all male citizens of African blood" possessing the same qualifi- cations as white citizens. This was also rejected by a decisive vote: For, 7,564; against, 14,615. The adverse vote was particularly heavy in sections where there was a preponderance of foreign-born citizens. 222 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. Like the first constitutional convention, the second was composed of representative men, though but five delegates secured reelection. New Yorkers constituted a large element in the convention. The lawyers numbered nearly a third of the delegates, while the farmers comprised but slightly less than half of the entire membership. They met Dec. 15, 1847, and the present constitution was the result of their labors. In many respects, if not in most, the second constitution that was submitted to the people was similar to the rejected instrument, with the obnoxious clauses somewhat modified. There was one important addition, in that provision was made for the control of corporations. Leonard J. Farwell. Second Governor of the State "This power to alter or repeal every form of charter that can be granted by the state," one of the members afterwards wrote, "is by far the most important feature of its organic law. It is prop- erly recognized now as the very bulwark of public safety from the oppressive encroachments of monopoly. Its omission, either pur- posely or by oversight, from the first constitution, was a potent reason among the more thoughtful, for voting to reject the whole instrument." On the 13th of March, 1848, the electors ratified the constitution. The ballot was the essence of simplicity, containing the word "yes" or the word "no," according to the predilection of the voter. The vote was 16,797 in favor of ratification and 6,383 against. May 29th Wisconsin was admitted as a state. The first state legislature The Story of tJie State. 223 convened June 5, and two days later the state officers were sworn in and the territorial government ceased to exist. Derfiocrats were in control during the first state administi'ation. Nelson Dewey, the first governor, defeated the Whig candidate, John H. Tweedy, by a majority of 5,0S9. A year later he was reelected by 5,332 majority over Collins, Whig candidate. Two years later the Whigs succeeded in electing their candidate for governor, Leonard J. Farwell, by the narrow margin of 507 votes over Don J. Upham, Democrat; the rest of the Whig nominees were defeated. In 1854, the Democrats again captured the gubernatorial citadel, the suc- cessful nominee being William A. Barstow. E. D. Holton was anti-slavery -candidate and H. S. Baird was the Whig nominee. The latter polled only 3,304 votes, while the Holton ticket was given 21,886 votes. Barstow's plurality was 8,519. At the next election Barstow claimed to have been returned by 157 plurality, but gross frauds were discovered, and the Supreme court set aside his cer- tificate in favor of Coles Bashford, his Republican opponent. For twenty years following this election no Democratic candidate was chosen for the office of governor. Alexander W. Randall succeeded Bashford, and his successor was L. P. Harvey. Gov. Harvey met a tragic death in the South, and the lieutenant governor, E. Salomon, succeeded him. During the period beginning with statehood and terminating "With the commencement of the civil war, political feeling ran high. Many men availed themselves of the conditions incident to the formative epoch of a commonwealth, to reap riches at the expense of the taxpayers. The natural result was that numerous scandals came to the surface. The clamor of spoils politicians over the dis- tribution of offices added to the excitement in the public affairs of the new state. One of the episodes that attracted widespread atten- tion was the impeachment during Gov. Farwell's term of Judge Levi Hubbell. Charges were filed in the legislature alleging corruption and malfeasance in the performance of his duties, and a committee of the assembly promptly presented articles of impeachment. The ablest lawyers in the state were arrayed on the opposing sides, among them E. G. Ryan and Jonathan E. Arnold. The trial occurred in the senate chamber and was dramatic in incidents. The arraign- ment of the judge by E. G. Ryan was a masterpiece of powerful Invective and scathing sarcasm. Judge Hubbell was as ably de- fended by Jonathan E. Arnold and James H. Knowlton. On the 9th day of July, 1853, amid tense suppressed excitement a vote was taken and the judge was acquitted, not enough votes being cast for conviction according to the requirements of the constitution. Another public scandal that created much excitement resulted from the disposal of valuable land grants to railroads. An investi- gating committee reported, in 1856, that managers of one of the rail- 224 LaidiiKj Events of Wisconsin History. road companies had been "guilty of numerous and unparalleled acts of mismanagement, gross violation of duty, fraud and plunder. ' State officers, members of the senate and assembly and other offi- cials, including some of the leading men of the state, were impli- cated in the wholesale bribery which the lobbyists of the corpora- tion were instrumental in effecting. The investigating committee reported that stocks and bonds amounting to $175,000 had been dis- tributed among thirteen senators, and thirty-nine members of the assembly had shared stocks and bonds valued at $355,000. Three state officials were alleged to have received $10,000 apiece. Even the governor of the state was charged with benefiting pecuniarily from the giving of the land grants. An investigating committee learned that Gov. Bashford had been given bonds to the amount of $50,000 as a gratuity, but that the gift was made after the grant had been disposed of and not the result of a previous understanding. The colossal scale that characterized the corruption of state officials seems to have affected many men who had previously enjoyed a reputation for unimpeachable probity. It is related that the speaker of the assembly in virtuous indignation strutted through the corridors of the capitol holding aloft a roll of paper and loudly proclaiming that it was a list of officials who had been bribed by the railroad company. This dramatic proclamation created a panic among the legislators, and public excitement was intense. Suddenly the speaker's list disappeared and his voice was heard no more in denunciation of official corruption. It was believed that the appearance of a package of railroad bonds on his desk from some unknown donor had much to do with the disappearance of the list of unfaithful officials. During Gov. Barstow's term a scandal resulted fi'om the admin- istration of the Land department. In the fall of 1856 the legis- lature appointed an investigating committee, and a shocking state of depravity in public office was unearthed. Political favorites had been permitted to enrich themselves at the expense of the state and the public. The books in the offices of the treasurer and land commissioners were in hopeless confusion; vouchers were missing; public funds could not be accounted for, and numerous other irregu- larities were apparent. It was during Gov. Barstow's administration that the term "forty thieves" was applied to the lobbyists and officials who were shamelessly plucking the state to feather their own nests. At the capitol they established headquarters known as "Monk's Hall," and there the monks held high revel. The people were shocked at the brazen effrontery that was displayed, and sharp controversies arose. Despite official corruption and partisan connivance at all sorts of irregularities, the state made remarkable progress during the first decade of its career. It was an epoch of canal building, and The Story of the State. 225 much attention was paid to the Fox-Wisconsin and the Rock river canal enterprises. Both eventually resulted in failure and were prolific sources of litigation. Jan. 17, 1849, the first telegram was received in Milwaukee. In 1851 the first railroad train was run; the line was from Milwaukee to Waukesha, having been two years in course of construction. It was not till 1857 that rails spanned the state. In April of that year the road from Milwaukee to Prairie du Chien was completed and the Mississippi was thus com- mercially united with Lake Michigan. In 1850 the State university Isaac P. Walker, Senator. (Henry Dodge and Isaac P. Walker were Wisconsin's first United States Sen- ators. The latter was a brother of George H. Walker, one of Milwaukee's found- ers. For voting to give California and New Mexico a government that did not prohibit slavery, the Legislature of W^isconsin adopted resolutions instructing him to resign his seat. He declined to do this.) ■was formally opened. Emigrants came to the state in a steady stream; the population increased enormously, the count revealing nearly 100,000 more residents in 1850 than on the date of the state's assumption of statehood. Provision for the unfortunate classes, begun in territorial times, was amplified. Important laws supple- menting the constitution were passed, and the statutes were revised. By the time that Wisconsin was called upon to share in the struggle for the perpetuity of the Union, a more healthful moral tone pre- vailed in its public life than the beginnings of statehood, with their attendant scandals, had promised. CHAPTER II. RESCUE OF JOSHUA GLOVER, A RUNAWAY SLAVE. Some of the events of a political character that occurred during the early days of statehood deserve more than a casual mention. Among them were the following: An attack by a mob on the resi- dence of State Senator Smith of Milwaukee, on account of an obnox- ious liquor law; threatened civil war due to a contest for the pos- session of the governor's office, after a close and exciting election, in 1856; rescue of Joshua Glover, a fugitive slave, from the jail at Milwaukee; the birth of the Republican party. The Glover episode became a celebrated case elsewhere than in Wisconsin; here it stirred public excitement to fever pitch and pro- foundly affected the course of future events in politics. Joshua Glover was a runaway slave, who sought asylum in Racine in the early part of the year 1854. Racine was a way station on the route of the underground railway, and the abolition sentiment had made considerable headway among its people. The colored slave found employment in a mill. Learning his whereabouts, the Missouri master of the slave, one B. S. Garland, procured a process in the United States Disitrict court and proceeded to Glover's shanty in company with two deputy United States marshals. Glover was in his little shanty engaged in playing cards when his master and the marshals surprised him by their appearance. He jumped up, and as he resisted arresit, one of the deputies knocked him down with a club and leveled a pistol at his head, v/hile the others handcuffed him. In the words of Sherman M. Booth, whose subsequent connec- tion with the case gave him national notoriety, the slave "was knocked down and handcuffed, dumped mangled and bleeding into a democrait wagon, and with a marshal's foot on his neck taken to Milwaukee and thrust into the county jail." Pursuit having been anticipated, the officers made their way to Milwaukee by a circuitous route. The alarm had been given, how- ever, and it was soon learned that a negro accused of fleeing from his slave pen had been incarcerated in the jail at Milwaukee. When a hundred determined men landed by boat from Racine, formed in line and marched toward the jail, public excitement in Milwaukee grew intense. Great crowds congregated about the county jail and gathered in tne grounds adjacent to the courthouse. There a great indignation meeting was held that ended in the storming of the jail and the rescue of Glover. Sherman M. Booth, editor of The Free Democrat, who took a leading part in the courthouse meeting, according to the popular account of the affair rode up and down the streets on a white horse summoning the people to gather, shouting 22fi The Story of the State. 227 the rallying cry: "Freemen, to the rescue!" Mr. Booth, in a recent address, denied many of the statements that have remained unchal- lenged for more than forty years. He said that he did not shout "Freemen, to the rescue!" and that he never advised the forcible rescue of Glover. What he did say, was: "All freemen who are opposed to being made slaves or slave-catchers turn out to a meeting in the courthouse square at 2 o'clock!" Ringing resolutions were adopted insisting on the slave's right to a writ of habeas corpus Sherman M. Booth. From, a Recent Photograph. and a trial by jury. A local judge issued such a writ, but the refusal of the federal officers to recognize its validity led to the bat- tering in of the jail doors. Glover's rescue gave rise to many legal complications and a great deal of litigation. The sheriff of Racine county arrested the slave-master and those who had aided in the capture of fhe fugitive, on a charge of assault. Garland obtained his release on a writ of habeas corpus.. In the meantime the underground railway had con- veyed the slave to Canada. Booth was arrested, and a grand jury found a bill of indictment against him and two others. He appealed 228 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. to the Supreme court for a writ of habeas corpus. The learned judges read long opinions declaring the Fugitive Slave law of 1850 unconstitutional. "They will never consent," Judge Smith declared, in referring to the right of the states in the enforcement of the law, "that a slave-owner, his agent, or an officer of the United States, armed with process to arrest a fugitive fi-om service, is clothed with entire immunity from state authority; to commit whatever crime or out- rage against the laws of the state; that their own high prerogative writ of 'habeas corpus shall be annulled, their authority defied, their officers resisted, the process of their own courts contemned, their territory invaded by federal force, the houses of their citizens searched, the sanctuary of their homes invaded, their streets and public places made the scenes of tumultuous and armed violence, and state sovereignty succumb — paralyzed and aghast — ^before the process of an officer unknown to the constitution and irrespoinsible to its sanctions. At least, such shall not become the degradation of Wisconsin, without meeting as stern remonstrance and resistance as I may be able to interpose, so long as her people impose upon me the duty of guarding their rights and liberties, and of maintaining the dignity and sovereignty of their state." In his speech before the United States court commissioner, Win- field Smith, Booth defended himself vigorously. He denied that he had counseled or aided in the escape of the runaway slave, but he made no secret of his sympathy with the feelings of the mob that forced the jail. "I am frank to say," 'he declared with emphasis — "and the prose- cution may make the most of it, that I sympathize with the res- cuers of Glover and rejoice at his escape. I rejoice that, in the first attempt of the slave-hunters to convert our jail into a slave-pen and our citizens into slave-catchers, they have signally failed, and that it has been decided by the spontaneous uprising and sovereign voice of the people, that no human being can be dragged into bondage from Milwaukee. And I am bold to say that, rather than have the great constitutional rights and safeguards of the people — the writ of habeas corpus and the right of trial by jury — stricken down by this fugitive law, I would prefer to see every federal officer in Wis- consin hanged on a gallows fifty cubits higher than Haman's." Before the Supreme court, Byron Paine made an argument In behalf of Booth that attracted attention all over the country. It was printed in pamphlet form and circulated on the streets of Boa- ton by the thousands. Charles Sumner and Wendell Phillips wrote the author letters of hearty approval and commending his force of logic and able presentation of argument. This pamphlet is now excessively rare; but half a dozen copies are now known to exist. Booth was discharged from imprisonment by the Supreme court on the ground of irregularities in the warrant. This did not end the- The Story of the State. 229 case. The United States Supreme court reversed the action of the state court. Booth and John Rycraft were tried in January, 1855, for violation of the act and were found guilty. The sentences imposed were: Sherman M. Booth — Imprisonment in the county jail one month; a fine of $1,000 and the costs of prosecution. John Rycraft — Imprisonment for ten days; fine of $200 without costs. Byron Paine. The owner of the rescued slave also brought suit against Booth for the value of Glover and obtained judgment in the United States District court for $1,000, representing the value of a negro slave as fixed by the act of congress passed in 1850. It is said that the liti- gation in which Booth became entangled as the result of the Glover episode ruined him financially. The Glover episode and attendant circumstances were potent factors in creating an abolition senti- ment in Wisconsin. In 1857 the legislature enacted a law "to pre- vent kidnaping," its purpose being to prevent the capture of fugi- tive slaves seeking asylum in this state. CHAPTER III. ON THE VERGE OF CIVIL WAR. Civil war threatened to convulse the people of the state in 1856 as the result of a bitter contest for the office of governor. No gov- ernor ever had "warmer friends or hitterer enemies than William A. Barstow. The Democrats renominated him in the fall of 1855, while the Republicans placed Coles Bashford in nomination. Many scan- dals during Gov. Barstow's term gave the Republicans an oppor- tunity to vigorously attack his administration, and such terms as the "Forty Thieves" and "Barstow and the Balance" passed into current language in the course of the campaign. The entire machin- ery of election was in Democratic hands. When the state canvass- ers declared Barstow reelected by a majority of 157, his opponents loudly pix)claimed that a fraud had been committed, and that the returns had been doctored in the interest of the governor. Party newspapers made such an outcry that political passions were inflamed to a point that threatened personal collision between the factions at the capital. Undaunted by the charges of fraud, Gov. Barstow prepai-ed for his installation. Early in January, seven companies of militia arrived in Madison, marched to the governor's residence and escorted him to the capitol, where two thousand persons awaited his appearance and that of the other state ofiicers. With much cere- mony they proceeded to the senate chamber, where the usual oath of office was administered. In the meantime Coles Bashford had quietly gone to the court- room of the Supreme court, and Chief Justice Whiton administered the oath of governor. Some of the most eminent attorneys of the state had ranged themselves on the side of Bashford, including Timothy O. Howe, E. G. Ryan, Alexander W. Randall and J. H. Knowlton. By their advice, Bashford proceeded to the executive office and formally demanded possession. Gov. Barstow refused to yield, and the contest was thereupon transferred to the Supreme court. Here much legal sparring ensued, Jonathan E. Arnold, Har- low S. Orton and Matt. H. Carpenter representing the governor who had nine points of possession. Tremendous excitement ensued all over the state. Partisans of the contestants prepared for the seemingly inevitable encounter by arming themselves; it seemed that an appeal to physical force would follow the appeal to the law. The result of the court's inquiry was awaited with intense concern by conservative men who feared the consequences. 230 The Story of tJie State. 231 The counsel of the contestant won at every point in their con- tention before the court, and finally Barstow withdrew from the case, claiming that political prejudices prevented fairness of treat- ment, and further denying the right of the court to go behind the returns. Forseeing the outcome he sent his resignation as governor to the legislature, hoping to prevent the seating of Bashford by installing as governor the duly-elected lieutenant-governor, Arthur McArthur. It was a shrewd move, but Bashford's lawyers were prepared for it. They held that McArthur could gain no rights to the office of goVernor through the resignation of a fraudulently- Gov. William A. Bakstow. elected incumbent. The court went on with the inquiry, and found gross forgeries of election returns. Their amended count gave Bashford a majority of 1,009, and they declared him entitled to the office of governor. Instead of yielding gracefully, McArthur announced that he would hold on at all hazards. On the day that the court rendered its decision, March 24, great crowds flocked to the capitol, with a grim and determined air that boded ill. The corridors leading to the executive office were packed with men favorable to Bashford and determined to maintain such rights as the court would allow him. AS he appeared, in company with the sheriff, who had the court's order in possession, a great cheer announced his coming to those within. Gov. Bashford rapped at the door and entered. He 232 Leading Events of ^yisconsin History. at once made himself at home by doffing his overcoat and hanging it on a peg, pleasantly remarking to Mr. McArthur that he had come to take possession. "Do you intend to use force in expelling me?" wrathfully inquired the young lieutenant-governor. "Not unless necessary," blandly interposed Bashford, "but I have been invested with certain rights, and I intend to exercise them." "I must regard your threat as constructive force," retorted McArthur, "and I leave under protest." With that he marched out, followed by his private secretary and other friends who had been by his side to hold the fort. As he Gov. Coles Bashford. marched out, the crowd jeered and thronged into the executive office to shake the governor by the hand. The enemy had been dis- possessed with scarcely a struggle and the unexpected ending made the crowd good-humored. Among Barstow's adherents outside an ugly feeling prevailed, and it was only by the wise counsel and per- sonal efforts of the cooler heads that their dispersal was secured. Had a conflict been precipitated, there is no doubt that dreadful consequences would have occurred. For a time the assembly refused to recognize the new governor, but finally did so. The lieutenant-governor resumed his place as presiding officer of tJhe senate, and the troubled waters subsided. The case was a notable one. For the first time in the history of the country had a Supreme court been asked to oust a governor The Story of the State. 233 and seat a contestant. The lawyers engaged in the case were among the greatest who ever practiced at the bar in the Northwest. Jona- than E. Arnold and J. K. Knowlton were regarded as lawyers of exceptional power; E. G. Ryan became chief justice of the Supreme court of the state, and so did Harlow S. Orton; Matt. H. Carpenter died a senator of the United States; Timothy Howe and Alexander Randall served as cabinet officers, each occupying the position of postmaster-general. Although the crisis passed without bloodshed, there is no doubt that it needed but a breath to fan the flame into tremendous pro- portions. "We had arrived at the verge of revolutionary times," the pri- vate secretary of Gov. Barstow afterwards wrote, "and were rapidly drifting toward the vortex wherein the entire fabric of our govern- ment was to be endangered. So highly had the passions of men been wrought up by the political contest in which we were im- J. H. TWEEDT. First Whig Candidate for Governor of the State. mersed, that it was at one time dangerously near a collision; and those who were then best cognizant of the prevailing feeling well knew that had a drop of blood been shed here — one life of a parti- san on either side been taken in anger, the flame of civil war would have broken out, and would have raged until quenched, as it al- ways has been and must be." CHAPTER IV. BIRTH OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IN WISCONSIN. "The Republican party had its birtli in the great Northwesi," said James G. Blaine in a speech delivered in Milwaukee in 1884, during his great campaigning tour while a presidential nominee. It has been claimed that Ripon, in the state of Wisconsin, was the baptismal font of the party that held uninte*-rupted control of the national administration for a quarter of a century following the commencement of the civil war, but this claim is disputed. The immediate impulse that led to the Ripon meeting of the party, on the last day of February in 1854, was the feeling excited by the Nebraska bill pending in congress. Three Whigs, one Free Soiler and a Democrat were responsible for the first attempt to create the Republican party. A. E. Bovey was their spokesman. The meeting was held in a little church building on College hill, in the village of Ripon, and here ringing resolutions were adopted in condemnation of the Nebraska Slavery bill. In its issue of Feb. 2, 1854, this notice appeared in modest type in The Ripon Herald: NEBRASKA. A meeting will be held at 6V2 o'clock this (Wednesday) evening, at the Congregational church in the village of Ripon, to remonstrate against the Nebraska swindle. Come all. MANY CITIZENS. Another meeting was held three weeks later, and at this time a suggestion was made that the new party which it seemed would soon be formed should be called the Republican party. This Initial meeting created the ripple that gradually radiated all over the country. A state convention was held in July and an organiza- tion was perfected. The fall of the year when these meetings set in motion the formation of the Republican party, Wisconsin sent to the national halls of legislation a delegation made up of a Republican majority and a Democratic minority. Oharles Durkee, a Free-Soiler, was elected United States senator, and thus national recognition was secured for the new party. Two years later the first National Republican convention was held, and John C. Fremont was nom- inated for president. 234 CHAPTER V. STRANGE STORY OF A SPURIOUS LOST PRINCE. From a magazine article printed in 1853 grew a romantic story that the long-lost dauphin of France had been located in Green Bay, in the person of one tueazer Williams. The question was seri- ously discussed in newspaper articles and editorials, and a book appeared entitled "The Lost Prince," giving in great detail the cir- cumstances purporting to prove the identity of the obscure Wiscon- sin villager as the heir to the throne of France. Fortified by numer- ous coincidences, the story seemed plausible, and many persons were led to believe that Louis XVII. had actually been found in a remote frontier settlement of America after the lapse of more than half a century following his mysterious disappearance from the Tower of the Temple. At the same time Williams claimed that, ten years before, the Prince de Joinville had visited him in Green Bay, had confided to him the secret of his royal birth and endeavored to extort from him a renunciation of his rights to the throne of France. Dreams of royalty had come to Eleazer Williams long before the visit of the French prince, in 1841. A decade or more before Wis- consin became a territory, Williams had developed the ambitious project of converting this region into an Indian empire. The plant- ing of the Stockbridge and Brothertown Indian settlements in Wis- consin resulted, but his hopes of a great Indian domain, where he might reign, were doomed to fade away unrealized. He was then a young man; he had lived until his fourteenth year among the St. Regis Indians and exerted great control over the Indians of New York. His mother, whom he repudiated in order to carry out his part as the son of the unfortunate queen Marie Antoinette, was a member of this tribe of Indians. His great-grandmother was a white woman, and through her Williams could trace descent from distin- guished Puritan ancestors. A survivor of the historic Deerfield massacre, she had been carried as a young girl into captivity, and spent her life among the Indians, becoming the wife of a chieftain. Early in his career, Eleazer Williams undertook evangelizing work among the Indians of New York, becoming successively Cath- olic, Congregationalist, and finally a priest of the Episcopal church. It was while thus engaged that he conceived the idea of removing the New York Indians to Wisconsin and there organizing a great federation of aborigines. In 1820 he made 'his first Western trip, but numerous obstacles prevented Williams from carrying out his plans. Persisting in his scheme, finally John C. Calhoun was per- suaded to favor it. That ardent Southerner was led to foster the 236 LeadiiKj Events of TT/.scohsih History. enterprise because he hoped that the founding of a great Indian confederation in this region would prevent the organization of more free states out of the territory of the old Northwest. Througih Cal- houn's aid Williams was thus enabled to make another attempt — this time under government patronage. It was necessary to secure the consent of the Menomonee and Winnebago Indians for the proposed migration to their lands. Wil- Eleazer Williams as a Young Man. From a Picture in "The Lost Prince." liams arranged for a great council of the tribes at Green Bay. Pre- liminary to the treaty, the Winnebago warriors entertained the visitors with a great war dance. The whole tribe was assembled in front of the agency house. An eye-witness, Gen. A. G. Ellis, has left a graphic account of the affair, in his "Fifty-Four Years' Recol- lections": "The war dance was a sight to test the nerves of the stoutest heart," says his account. "The Winnebagoes at that time were in The Storu of the State. 237 all their perfection of savage wildness; 2,000 of them — men and women, old and young — were massed in a circle, standing fifty deep; the whites, army officers, in the inner ring, and the warrior dancers, drummers and singers in the center. Twenty of their most stalwart young warriors took their places with not a thread of clothing save the breechcloth; but all painted in most gorgeous colors, and espe- cially the faces, with circles of black, white, red, green and blue around the eyes, giving the countenances expressions indescribably fierce and hideous; all armed with tomahawks, knives and spears. At first the dance was slow, to measured time of the drum and song; for there were a hundred singers, with the voice of the drummer, both male and female — the latter prevailing above the former. Soon they began to wax warm, the countenances assumed unearthly expressions of fierceness; their tread shook the solid earth, and their yells at the end of each cadence rent the very iheavens. None could endure the scene, unmoved, unappalled." Upon conclusion of the dance, the Winnebagoes prepared to depart; in an hour not one of them remained. With them vanished the dream of empire nurtured so fondly by Williams. A treaty was made with the Menomonees and small bodies of New York Indians were brought from New York, but the grand scheme of an Indian empire collapsed entirely. Williams made Green Bay his home, and here in 1823 he mar- ried pretty Madeline Jourdain. She was but 14 years old, and the match was of her parents' making, for her heart had been given to a young Frenchman whose poverty did not commend him to the old folks. For many years Eleazer Williams lived in obscurity. A chance remark that he resembled the royal Bourbons, it is believed, first gave to him the clue to his pretensions of later years. In 1841 the Prince de Joinville, a son of Louis Philippe, made a journey in America. In the course of his travels he went to Green Bay, and here is said to have occurred the celebrated interview that was made so much of in establishing the claims of Eleazer Williams as the long-lost dauphin of France. When the prince began his journey to the West, Williams was in New York. He hurried towards his old home to meet the royal traveler, and at Mackinac boarded the steamer whereon the prince was a guest. The attention paid by the prince to the missionary priest was so pronounced as to arouse the curiosity of the tourists on the boat. According to the account of Williams, written twelve years later, the prince requested him to come to his room at the hotel at Green Bay, as he had a communi- cation of great importance to make to him. What there occurred is best told in the words of Williams: "I found the prince alone, with the exception of one attendant, whom he dismissed. . . . The prince spoke to this effect: 238 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. "You have been accustomed, sir, to consider yourself a native of this country; but you are not. You were born in Europe, sir, an-d however incredible it may at first seem to you, I have to tell you that you are the son of a king. There ought to be much consolation to you to know this fact. You have suffered a great deal, and have been brougIS, DiVIS tu wiy of lh«Mr| ilary »ythont^"s of the UnUed Sfe S«.. •..' i..i|l.on» ..I- .|>.cl«, rtfv'lfa «> W "Hk »>" ^ropd^ «♦ ih* €n<7l»rS Copt of a Handbill, Picked Up in Georgia After the War. From a Reduced Facsimile in The Century. Learning that by making a detour he could find another road leading to Irwinville, Col. Pritchard determined to take it. So expeditious were the movements of the Michigan men that they reached the Davis camp about the same time that the Wisconsin men hove in sight from another direction. Each regiment mistook the other for the rebel escort of Jefferson Davis and sharp firing ensued. Before the discovery was made that Wisconsin and Michi- gan soldiers were firing upon each other, two of the latter were killed, and three men of the First Wisconsin severely wounded. A number of others received slight wounds, including an oflicer of the Fourth Michigan. The Story of tJie State. 275 Luck was with the Michigan men in apprehending Davis. They first reached the tents where the party was encamped and sur- rounded them. After the unfortunate firing, a woman came to the door of the largest tent and asked if her servant would be allowed to go for water. The rest of the story is thus told by an eye-witness, William P. Stedman, a member of the Fourth Michi- gan: "Consent was given, when out came a tall person, with a lady's waterproof overdress on and a small brown shawl on the head, a tin pail on the right arm and a colored woman leaning on the left arm. This tall person was stooping over as if to appear shorter; I at once concluded that it must be Davis in disguise. They started off east towards the creek, where the brush was very thick. As they were going they had to pass several soldiers who were straggling round the camp. I sat still on my horse, expecting that some of the soldires would halt them as they passed by; but such was not the case, for they passed all of the soldiers without being noticed. Then I galloped my horse around the north side of the tent and, passing to their left, halted them. Just at this time there came riding up to us two of our soldiers. They made a few remarks to the tall person. He turned his face a little towards me, and I saw his gray moustache. We told him his disguise would not succeed. Then Davis and the colored woman started back towards the tents. As Davis had got about half way back to the tent, we were met by some of our men, who had just discovered that Jefferson Davis had tried to escape in disguise." CHAPTER XII. ESCAPE OF WISCONSIN OFFICERS FROM LIBBEY PRISON. Five Milwaukee officers crept through the famous tunnel of Libbey prison, whence 109 Union prisoners escaped during the night of Feb. 9, 1864. Of these, Gen. Harrison C. Hobart, Gen. T. S. West and Adjt. Albert Wallber, with fifty-four others, suc- ceeded in reaching the Union lines after a series of remarkable adventures. Gen.. Hobart was one of the leaders of the enterprise, and was the man upon whom devolved the duty of closing the tunnel after the passage of the last man of the original party in the secret. This, in abridged form, and nearly in his own words, is the story of the escape as- told by Gen. Hobart to his comrades of the Wisconsin Loyal Legion: "On the ground floor of the building, on a level with the street, was a kitchen containing a fireplace, at a stove connected with which the prisoners inhabiting the rooms above did their cooking. Beneath this floor was a basement, one of the rooms in which was used as a storeroom. This storeroom was under the hospital and next to the street, and though not directly under the kitchen, was so located that it was possible to reach it by digging down- ward and rearward through the masonry work of the chimney. From this basement room it was proposed to construct a tunnel under the street to a point beneath a shed, connected with a brick block on the opposite side, and from this place to pass into the street in the guise of citizens. A knowledge of this plan was oonflded to about twenty-five, and nothing was known of the proceedings by the others until two or three days before the escape. A table knife, chisel and spittoon were secured for working tools, when operations commenced." Upon completion of the tunnel, which was barely large enough to enable a full-grown person to crawl through, the company waa organized and placed under Gen. Hobart's charge. In order to distract the attention of the guard, a dancing party with music was extemporized. As the first man emerged upon the street and walked away, seen by hundreds of his fellows, wild excitement was created, and they rushed down to the chimney and clamored for the privilege of going out. They would listen to no denial, and Gen. Hobart then held a parley and arranged that the rope by which the descent was made to the basement, after the last of the original party had passed out, should be pulled up for the space of one hour — ithen it should be free to all in the prison. Gen. Hobart had joined forces with Col. T. S. West, and they were the last of the party who crawled through. About 9 o'clock in 276 The Story of the State. 277 the evening they emerged from the tunnel, and cautiously crossing an open yard to an arched driveway, stepped out upon the street and -walked slowly away, apparently engaged in earnest conversa- tion. They passed through one of the main streets of Richmond, Gen. Hobart simulating a decrepit old man in exceedingly ill health and badly affected with a consumptive cough. Squads of soldiers whom they met sympathetically got out of the way of the supposed old man, who was clinging to the arm of his companion. Thus they reached the suburbs of the town and made for the country. While concealed in a ravine, a bloodhound appeared, but did not cross a brook over v/hich the two fugitives had jumped. They spent the night in a haystack and in the morning pursued their Gen. Harrison C. Hobart. From a War-time Photograph. way. By means of a long pole which reached the opposite shore of the Chickahominy river from the limb of a tree which they had climbed, they managed to get across that stream. In a neigh- boring forest they were alarmed to catch sight of a man watching them from behind a fallen trefe. They supposed tTiey had fallen into an ambush, but the man proved to be an escaped prisoner. By this time the escape was known and the country was alive with pursuers. They could distinctly hear the reveille of the rebel troops and the hum of their camps. Frequently the ninaways ran almost into the arms of the enemy. Once Col. West saw a sentinel sitting close by a railroad track, asleep, with his gun resting against his shoulder. They traveled all night to get away from the dangerous proximity, and when dawn came heard the bugle notes of the enemy's cavalry in 278 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. the pines close by. Without loss of time, they again fled as fast as they could go, momentarily expecting to hear the crack of rifle or the sharp command to halt. In the center of a dense chapparal they threw themselves upon the ground in utter exhaustion. In the shadow of friendly darkness the fugitives — weajy, hungry and footsore and guided in their course by the north star — made their toilsome way from wood to wood, sometimes almost running into the arms of their foes. A plantation darkey helped to extricate them from their perilous position. Gen. Hobart had gone to the negro's cabin, while his companions remained in con- cealment. He rapped and entered, and the negro said: "I know who you are; you're one of dem 'scaped officers from Richmond." Looking him full in the face and placing a hand to his shoulder. Gen. Hobart said: "I am, and I know you are my friend." The darkey's eyes sparkled as he repeated: "Yes, sir; yes, sir; but you mustn't stay here; a reg'ment of cavalry is right dar," pointing to a place near by, "and they pass dis here road all times of the night." Refreshed with a glass of milk and some corn bread, the weary fugitives were conducted to a secluded spot in a cane brake. The darkey explained that the rebel picket was posted on a narrow neck of land between two impassable swamps, and over this neck ran the main road to Williamsburg. The negro agreed to guide them through a long cane-break path around the picket — a most risky undertaking, for they had to pass between the cavalry reserve and their videttes, who were sitting upon their horses but a few rods in front. He then took thom around to the pike, about a mile beyond this last post of the rebels. Gen. Hobart and his companions had escaped Tuesday night. Early Sunday morning they were on the bank of the Diascum river, but found themselves unable to cross, though they managed to reach an island in the river. An attempt to construct a raft proved unsuccessful. The water was cold, and the men were too weary to attempt swimming across. At this juncture a young rebel rowed a boat up-stream and they lured him to the island. They pretended they were farmers from different localities on the Chick- ahominy and induced him to row them across the river. He seemed suspicious, however, and recrossed the river in great haste. Anticipating that the enemy's cavalry would soon be in hot pursuit, they decided to hide near the river bank. "The wisdom of this course was soon demonstrated," said Gen. Hobart in narrating the story. "The cavalry crossed the stream, dashed by us and thoroughly searched the country in front, not dreaming but we had gone forward. We did not leave our seclusion until about midnight, and then felt our way with extreme care. Tlie Stonj of the State. 279 The proximity of Williamsburg was evident from the destruction everywhere apparent in our path. There were no buildings, no Inhabitants and no sound save our own weary footsteps; desolation reigned supreme. Stacks of chimneys stood along our way like sentinels over the dead land." This is how Gen. Hobart and his companions finally came among friends. "For five days and six nights, hunted and almost exhausted, we had picked our way through suiTounding perils toward the camp fires of our friends. We knew we were* near the outpost of the Union troops and began to feel as if our trials were nearly over. But we were now in danger of being shot as rebels by scouting parties of our own army. To avoid the appearance of spies we took the open road, alternately traveling and concealing ourselves that we might reconnoitre the way. About 2 o'clock in the morning, coming near the shade of a dark forest that overhung the road, we were startled and brought to a stand by the sharp and sudden command: 'Halt!' Looking in the direction whence it proceeded, we discovered the dark forms of a dozen cavalrymen drawn up in line across the road. "A voice came out of the darkness, asking: 'Who are you?' We replied: 'We are travelers.' The same voice replied: 'If you are travelers, come up here!' "Moving forward, the cavalry surroundded us, and carefully looking at their coats, I concluded they were gray, and nerved myself for a recapture. It was a supreme moment to the soul. One of my companions asked: 'Are you Union soldiers?' In broad Pennsylvania language the answer came: 'Well, we are.' In a moment their uniforms changed to a glorious blue, and taking off our hats, we gave one long, exultant shout." CHAPTER XIII. AFTER THE WAR EVENTS OF THREE DECADES. From the arts of war to tne pursuits of peace seemed a long step, yet to the people of Wisconsin the transition was brief. On the 28th day of May, 1866, the Fourth Wisconsin Regiment of cavalry was mustered out after service of five years and a day — the longest term on record credited to a volunteer organization. Those of the soldier boys who came home resumed their avocations or drifted into others, and began where they had left off in the development of the commonwealth. The history of Wisconsin became akin to that of its neighboring states— the alarum of war was succeeded by the hum of industry. Prosperity and plenty smiled upon the people. Forests were leveled ana cities were built; steel ribbons lengthened in radiating bars from the common center — the state's metropolis; river falls and rapids were harnessed to machinery to supply the power for a thousand wheels; out of the earth were dug the ores most useful to commerce. Soon the industries of the commonwealth became diversified and were distributed among the world's three great sources of wealth and prosperity — agriculture, mining and manufacture. Thus has Wisconsin progressed for three decades. It would be indeed strange if during this period of half an ordinary life-time there had been no vicissitudes — internal troubles, political dissen- sions, disaster from vioience of the elements, financial panics from causes common to the people of the whole country. These there have been, and they have had their temporary effect in retarding the progress of the state. If some of these unpleasant episodes are given more in detail than the more important counter influences, it is because the narration of circumstances promoting the welfare of the state would prove a mere repetition. It is the exceptional circumstance that appears in boldest relief. For the second time in the history of the state, a member of the United States senate was, in 1866, requested by the legislature to resign his seat as Wisconsin's representative. The first senator from the state, Isaac P. Walker, had given umbrage by his vote not to exclude slavery from California. In the case of Senator James R. Doolittle, the cause of displeasure among his constituents was his course, during the bitter days of reconstruction, in standing by President Andrew Johnson. When the president's long quarrel with congress culminated in impeachment proceedings, but one more vote in the senate would have given the required two-thirds for the impeachment of President Johnson. Had Senator Doolittle voted in conformity with the wishes of the people whom he repre- 280 The Story of the State. 281 sen ted, Andrew Johnson would have been ousted from the presi- dency. Doolittle voted no. Two years previously the legislature of Wisconsin had adopted resolutions instructing him to resign the senatorial office. To this demand Senator Doolittle paid no attention; his term expired in 1870, and he was then replaced by Matthew Hale Carpenter. Senator Doolittle had served twelve years in the United States senate, during the most momentous period since the founding of the republic: "Before the war, when the question was the extension of slavery; during the war, the epoch of secession; after the war, when the issue was recon- struction." Senator Doolittle's attitude during the reconstruction days was the more irritating to his constituency in that he had been an able champion of Abraham Lincoln and his course. It was Senator Doolittle's ringing epigram that, delivered in the hearing of a vast assemblage, had provoked thunders of applause that frightened the conspirators intent upon defeating Lincoln: "Fellow citizens," were his words, "I believe in God Almighty, and under Him I believe in Abraham Lincoln." The Fifteenth amendment was ratified by Wisconsin March 9, 1869. Ever since the first Constitutional Convention, in 1846, the question of negro suffrage had periodically been raised to vex the people. By decisive votes the proposition had several times been snowed under. At the same time that the voters rejected the first state constitution submitted to them, they declined to grant colored men the right of suffrage, the vote standing 7,564 for and 14,615 against. The heavy adverse vote was due to the large element of Southerners in the southwestern corner of the state; here negro slaves had been held by men of influence, including the first governor of the territory. In the localities largely settled by Germans the vote against negro suffrage was also heavy, the antagonism of the Germans having been aroused by an unfortunate "attempt made in the convention of 1846 to couple the vote on foreign suffrage with that on negro suffrage." In the second Constitutional Convention the section on suffrage was restricted to white voters, by a majority of one. Such was the growth of the Free Soil movement that but a twelvemonth thereafter the legislature submitted the question of granting suf- frage to persons of African blood to a vote of the people. About 30,000 votes were cast for state officers at this election, but less than 10,000 voters expressed themselves on the suffrage question. Thus, while 5,265 voters were in favor of the law, as against 4,075 in oppo- sition, it was assumed that every blank vote was a negative one and that the amendment was defeated. For seventeen years this assumption was tacitly held to be correct, when the refusal of election officers in Milwaukee to accept the proffered ballot of 282 LcadiiKj Events of Wisconsin History. Ezekiel Gillespie, a colored man, led to a Supreme court decision that the amendment voted on in 1849 had undoubtedly carried and must be accepted as law. Thus Wisconsin, in the van of nearly all the other states, had given to colored men within its borders the right to vote. In the meantime, unconscious that universal suffrage was their law, the people of the state twice rejected a proposition to allow colored men to vote — in 1857, when the adverse majority was 12,000 out of a total vote of 60,000; and again in 1865, when 100,555 voters expressed themselves, and the opponents of negro suffrage had 8,059 majority. Many stumbling blocks were encountered by women in their efforts to secure legal recognition in this state. It was not until 1877 that the legislature passed a law permitting members of their sex to practice law. The year before that the Supreme Court of the state rejected the application of Miss Lavinia Goodell for admis- sion to the bar. E. G. Ryan was chief justice of the state at the time. "We cannot but think the common law wise in excluding women from the profession of the law," said the eminent jurist in the decree of refusal. "The profession enters largely into the well-being of society, and, to be honorably filled, and safely to- society, exacts the devotion of life. The law of nature destines and qualifies the female sex for the bearing and nurture of children of our race, and for the custody of the homes of the world and their maintenance in love and honor. And all life-long callings of women inconsistent with the order of nature, and when voluntary, are treason against it." A lobby of women convinced the next legislature that the views entertained by the chief justice were not founded on the rights of womankind, and a law was passed permitting women to practice law. Many Wisconsin women have availed themselves of the right thus obtained. In 1871, by legislative enactment, a college for women was added to the State University. Several unsuccessful attempts have been made to obtain from the legislature an order for the submission of a woman suffrage amendment to a vote of the people. Successive agitations have finally placed on the statute books a law permitting women to vote in school elections. In recent years a number of women have been chosen to serve as county superintendents of schools. Except as to the right of suffrage, the laws of Wisconsin do not discriminate against women, and the laws giving them property rights and rights as married women are regarded as in every way liberal. This is in marked contrast to the sentiments entertained fifty years ago, when one of five obnoxious articles that led to the rejection of the first constitution was that relating to the rights of married women. The Storij of the State. 283 It was an evidence of the marvelous development of the state's great resources that but fifteen years after Wisconsin became a state there were 142 residents whose personal incomes exceeded $5,000 per annum each. From 1863 till 1872 the federal government exacted an income tax. A tax of 5 per cent, 'v^as levied on all incomes from $600 to $5,000, 7 per cent, on incomes from $5,000 to $10,000, and 10 per cent, on incomes in excess of $10,000. Nineteen firms, according to sworn statements, did a business of more than half a million dollars annually, six others of more than a million dollars and three of two million dollars. In Miwaukee alone the tax upon all incomes in excess of $5,000 netted the gov- ernment $163,676. Some of the incomes, as the amounts were given under oath to the assessors, were evidence of the surprisingly large profits derived by business men during the war period and the years immediately following. Some of the larger ones are here given: Milwaukee— Alexander Mitchell, $132,000; L. H. Kellogg, $71,000; P. D. Armour, $50,000; B. P. Allis, $26,000; N. Engelmann, $30,000; M. D. Medberry, $36,000; John Nazro, $31,000; Guido Pfister, $34,000; Daniel Wells, Jr., $33,000; Fred Vogel, $34,000; Mark S. Tyson, $30,000; John Plankinton, $50,000; Rufus Allen, $21,000; Val. Blatz, $22,000; A. Green, $21,000; J. J. Higby, $20,000; G. G. Houghton, $22,000; R. P. Houghton, $22,000; Harrison Luding- ton, $22,000; James Ludington, $50,000; C. T. Bradley, $29,000; J. B. Martin, $33,000; W. H. Metcalf, $21,000. These were the incomes of $20,000 or more. But one brewer appears in the list. Elsewhere in the state the incomes were smaller, those reported at $10,000 or more being as follows: Kenosha— A. D. Loomis, $11,000; G. Truesdell, $10,000. Racine— Jerome I. Case, $10,000; James H. Kelley, $10,000; .Fred Weage, $17,000. Walworth— George Esterly, $40,000. Waukesha— Curtis Mann, $22,000. Notwithstanding the large individual incomes derived during the flush days of the period mentioned, it is doubtful if at that time there was a millionaire resident in Wisconsin. There are to-day forty or more men in the state who are counted owners of property worth a million dollars or more. It is an interesting fact that in every case the money has been made in Wisconsin, and that the men who amassed these fortunes, with few exceptions, came to the state without means. Immediately after the war railroad extension was carried on in the state at a remarkable rate. The attitute of the rail'foad magnates toward the people grew so arrogant that in a message to the legislature Gov. Cadwallader C. Washburn declared with emphasis that "many vast and overshadowing corporations in the 284 Lcadinij Events of Vi'iaconsin History. United States are justly a source of alarm, and the legislature cannot scan too closely every measure that comes before it which proposes to give additional rights and privileges to the railways of the state." He further recommended that "the granting of passes to the class of state ofTicials who, through their public office, have power to confer or withhold benefits to a railroad com- pany, be prohibited." By failing to heed the warning thus given by the governor, the Republicans were swept from power at the next election by a combination of "Democrats, Liberal Republicans and other electors of Wisconsin friendly to genuine reform." One of the planks of the platform was a promise to "protect the people against every form of monopoly or extortion." The farmers considered themselves aggrieved by discrimina- tions in railroad charges. The hard times of 1873-74 were popu- larly accredited to the- dominant party. William R. Taylor, a Democrat, was elected governor. The pendulum of politics made the sweep to the other end of the arc, and the passage of the famous "Potter law" followed at the next legislative session. This was a drastic measure, limiting transportation charges and regu- lating prices for freight, creating a railroad commission and making stringent provision for general regulation of railroad traffic. The roalroad officials openly defied the provisions of the law, and the presidents of the two leading railroad corporations of the state served formal notice on the governor that they would disobey them. "The law of the land must be respected and obeyed," Gov. Taylor responded in a proclamation to the people, inspired by the defiant attitude of the railroad officials. Long litigation followed. It attracted attention all over the country on account of the important principles involved — the power of the state to control corporations of its own creation. The railroad companies were beaten in the state and federal courts, and were compelled to acknowledge submission. Subsequently the law was materially modified. Not a drop of rain fell in all Northern Wisconsin from the 8th day of July till the 9th day of October in the memorable year 1871 — the year of terrible havoc by forest fires. It was an unprecedented drouth; it needed but a spark to ignite the parched earth, and at times it seemed as if the friction of the heel was sufficient to start a blaze on the leaf-covered ground of the forests. Wells became dry, swamps disappeared, streams became mere rills and finally ceased to flow altogether. Here and there fires broke out and were pre- vented from spreading, with the greatest difficulty. All the inhab- itants of the neighborhoods turned out to fight the incipient blazes; incessant calls at all times of day and night soon exhausted their energies. Haystacks melted away and fences became long lines of The Story of the State. 285 ashes. A pall of smoke overhung the doooned country. In the cities of Green Bay, De Pere, Appleton, Oconto, Marinette and Kewaunee, and in many further south along the lake shore, the smoke obscured the sight of buildings a few hundred feet away, and seriously affected the eyes and lungs of the people. On the lake it seemed as if an immense fog had settled permanently, so opaque that the sun could not be seen in the brazen sky. Railroad travel became dangerous, for bridges were crumbling and great trees that had been gnawed by fire fell across the tracks and across highways. Trains at times were prevented from taking fire by run- ning them at an increased speed. Finally the fires made such headway as to create consternation and panic among the inhabitants of Brown, Door, Oconto and Shawano counties. Many dug habita- tions in the ground, covered the roofs with earth and sought refuge in these burrows; others crept into the excavations where a few months before their wells had been. In all the northern towns vol- unteer brigades took such precautions as their facilities would per- mit; in Green Bay the fire engines kept their streams in constant play on the buildings. On the fateful 8th of October the smoke-laden atmosphere was so stifiing that breathing became a painful effort. A hot southerly gale carried the heated air in fitful blasts, and with it went flames that carried destruction to the hives of industries and prosperous farms along its path, and death to their people. The roaring flames pursued the fleeing men, women and children, and their charred bodies by the hundreds strewed the blackened pathways. More than a thousand lives were lost in this terrible holocaust. While the doomed city of Chicago was in flames, in Northern Wisconsin thousands of acres were on fire. It was a whirlwind of flame that human agency was powerless to resist. On the peninsula the greatest loss of life and destruction of property resulted. Hel-e, as elsewhere, were witnessed the most terrible scenes. "At Peshtigo," says the vivid account of the late C. D. Robinson of Green Bay, "hundreds were saved by throwing themselves into the river. In the Sugar Bush there was no stream deep enough for such refuge. Men, women and children, horses, oxen, cows, dogs, swine — everything that had life was seized with pain, and ran with- out method to escape the impending destruction. The smoke was suffocating and blinding, the roar of the tempest deafening, the atmosphere scorching; children were separated from their parents, and were trampled upon by the crazed beasts; husibands and wives were calling wildly for each other, and rushing in wild dismay they knew not where. Others, believing the day of judgment was surely come, fell upon the ground and abandoned themselves to its terrors. All the conditions of the prophecies seemed to be fulfilled. The hot atmosphere, filled with smoke, supplied the 'signs in the sun, and 286 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. in the moon and in the stars'; the sound of the whirlwind was as 'the sea and the waves roaring,' and everywhere there were 'men's hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.' Of the village of Peshtigo there was not a vestige left standing except one unfinished house. Kewaunee, Ahnapee and Sturgeon Bay were sorely pressed, but were saved." But for prompt measures of relief, the horrors of starvation would have equaled those of the conflagration. From all parts of the country came substantial contributions, about a quarter of a million dollars of it in cash. From every county and nearly every city, village and neighborhood of Wisconsin came carloads of food and clothing. Messengers went afoot through the burned district, carrying provisions, and physicians supplied with medicines and liniments went with them. Other destructive fires in Wisconsin include the following: At Oshkosh, April 28, 1875; Marshfield, June 27, 1887; Iron River, July 27, 1892; Milwaukee, October 30, 1891 (a large section of the east side devastated); Fifield, July 27, 1893; Phillips, July 27, 1894. The most destructive cyclones and tornadoes that have visited the state were those at Racine, in 1883, which wrecked a hundred homes, killed nine persons and injured seventy-five others; at Hazel Green twenty years before that time, when the fatalities were the same, and at Viroqua in 1865. A summary of the principal cyclonic visitations is here given: Viroqua, June, 1S65, seventeen persons killed, 150 injured and many build- ings demolished. Hazel Green, August, 1872, nine lives lost and great destruction of property- caused in farming communities. Green Lake, July, 1873, severe hurricane in Green Lake county; eleven per- sons drowned in Green lake by the capsizing of boats. La Crosse, July, 1875, funnel-shaped cyclone 600 feet in vi^idth. Pensaukee, July, 1877, funnel-shaped, 1,000 feet in width; eight persons killed and property damaged to the extent of $300,000. Wautoma, July, 1877, funnel-shaped; very destructive. Mineral Point, May, 1878, inverted cone, width ranging from 700 to 10,000 feet; terrific roaring noise and immense destruction of property. Beloit, April, 1880, several persons killed and $75,000 property loss; every church steeple in the city hurled to the ground. Shopiere, April, 1880, funnel form, 500 to 1,000 feet wide; twenty-three build- ings demolished. Monroe county, June, 1880, shaped like an hour-glass; tremendous roaring noise; widespread destruction in farming districts. Wauwatosa, September, 1881, funnel-shaped, 2,000 feet in width; clouds like great sheets of white smoke dashed about in the wildest manner; more appalling to the sight than destructive in effects. Lind, September, 1881, funnel form. Montana, September, 1881, 1,000 to 1,500 feet wide; great property damage caused. Racine, May, 1883, 100 houses razed to the ground; nine persons killed and seventy-five injured. The Story of the State. 287 The English traveler Jonathan Carver, who made his famous journey to the Wisconsin region in 1766, describes in his narrative the effects of a cyclone in the Chippewa river country. The elements cut a path through the tangled virgin forest as clean and well- defined as ever did the axes of pioneers. The record of great disasters would not be complete without mention of the loss of life on the lake. That which cast a gloom over the people of the entire state — although Milwaukee families were affected principally — was the loss of the steamer Lady Elgin, which occurred Sept. 8, 1860. Of the 400 excursionists who left Milwaukee for a trip to Chicago, 225 found death in the waters. While the excursionists were gaily dancing or otherwise enjoying themselves, a fog settled over the surface of the lake and the Lady Elgin collided with the schooner Augusta. This was at a point opposite Winnetka Point, several miles from land. Some of the frantic passengers, as the vessel began to sink, jumped into the waves without method or reason; others crowded into the boats, and in the confusion swamped them; some tore away portions of the hurricane deck and a few floated to the Shore on these impro- vised rafts. For many days following the disaster, bodies of the unfortunate passengers were cast upon the shore. The statement has been made that there was scarcely a family in the Third ward of the city of Milwaukee that did not mourn a missing member. Following are the principal disasters since the war, on the lake and inland: April 8, 1868, burning of the Sea Bird on Lake Michigan; aU of the passen- gers and crew lost but two. Sept. 14, 1873, steamer Ironsides wrecked between Milwaukee and Grand Haven; twenty-eight persons lost their lives. Jan. 10, 1883, burning of the Newhall house in Milwaukee, the coroner's jury rendering a verdict that the Are was of incendiary origin. Eighty persons perished in this fire. October, 1886, wreck at East Rio of the limited express of the Chicago, Mil- waukee & St. Paul company; fifteen persons incinerated in the burning cars. Nov. 8, 1883, fall of the south wing of the capitol at Madison, during process of construction; seven of the workmen hurried in the debris. Oct. 29, 1887, sinking of the Vernon off Two Rivers, and every member of the crew but one drowned; a score of the bodies recovered by the crew of the life saving station. Thirty lives were lost. May 18, 1894, the schooner Cummings foundered in shallow water In Mil- waukee bay and six persons lost their lives. Thousands of persons on shore wit- nessed the futile efforts of the life-savers to rescue the sailors who climbed into the rigging when the boat sank. April 20, 1893, during a terrific storm fifteen workmen on the intake crib, off Milwaukee, lost their lives. They were forced to leave the air chamber of the crib because of the foul air, and as they opened the lock the waves dashed in, filled the well with water, and all but one of the workmen were drowned. January, 1895, unexplained disappearance of the propeller Chicora, which left Milwaukee for St. Joseph with a crew of twenty-five men and two passen- gers. It is believed that she sprang a leak during a fierce blizzard and went to the bottom. During the days of wildcat banking in territorial times, the people of Wisconsin sustained heavy losses; they suffered reverses when the hard times of 1873 swept over the country; but the climax of commercial adversity overtook them in 1893. The business panic of that year, which swept from one end of the country to 288 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. the other, engulfed about 200 commercial houses In this state, and two scores of banks were forced to close their doors. The panic began with a run on the banks, and the exciting scenes of disap- pointed depositors demanding admittance through doors that were closed were an almost daily occurrence during the month of July. The banks toppled like a house built of cards when the runs were in progress; securities that had been considered worth mil- lions shrank to thou.iands in actual value. In Milwaukee, five banks closed their doors; the Wisconsin Marine bank, popularly known as Mitchell's, was one of them. It had stood as the rock of Gibraltar since the early days of the territory, and when payment stopped across its counters, the gloom deepened in the business circles of the entire state. The five Milwaukee banks that failed had $13,700,000 of assets and but $11,700,000 of liabilities, and two of them — one of them Mitchell's bank — resumed business when the Gen. Lucius Fairchild. panic subsided. In but one instance was brazen dishonesty the cause of the wreck, and the culprit was sent to the penitentiary. Dishonesty of management was also charged in a few instances In other cities of the state, but on the whole unforseen and unavoidable conditions contributed mainly to the business disasters of the year. The stoiin cleared the business atmosphere and eventually led to more wholesome financial methods in commer- cial life. CHAPTER XIV. IN THE REALM OF POLITICS. Owing to the mistaken policy of its people in displacing their -congressional representatives as soon as they become experienced legislators, Wisconsin does not occupy the important place in the annals of national politics which the ability of its statesmen would otherwise have earned. Another reason why its influence in national affairs has been minimized is that in but one presidential campaign during the past half century has its electoral vote been regarded as a determining factor. Residence in pivotal states is of immense advantage to aspiring politicians, and has often enabled men of mediocre ability to secure precedence over other men whose native talent was ignored to serve party expediency. Reverting to the first cause, a list of Wisconsin's 166 congres- sional representatives shows that only seven have been reelected more than twice. The Southern policy of retaining the services of congressmen long enough to derive the benefit of ripened experience in debate and legislation long enabled the minority from south of Mason and Dixon's line to cope successfully with the numerical preponderence in opposition. The seven Wisconsin congressmen who served more than three terms each were: C. C. Washburn, Amasa Cobb, Nils P. Haugen, four terms each; Philetus Sawyer, Charles G. Williams, five terms each; Charles A. Eldredge, six terms; Lucien B. Caswell, seven terms. Despite the causes which have operated to diminish Wisconsin's influence in national affairs, there have been occasions when opportunities have come and have been taken to strike the keynote for the nation. In the early days of statehood a few determined men aided immensely in creating public sentiment on the slavery question by their courageous attitude in behalf of a cause then unpopular; the incidents connected with the rescue of a fugitive slave and the ringing declaration of the Wisconsin Supreme court justices on that occasion have been told. Pamphlets containing the forceful arguments of Byron Paine and the emphatic conclusions of Justice Smith were sold by the thousands on the streets of Boston. When the Greenback theory was sweeping all before it in the agricultural Northwest in the '70's, and politicians of all parties seemed eager to crook the pregnant hinges of the knee to the "rag baby," one man's courageous attitude in opposition changed the current of events. While his party associates chattei-ed with fear, Horace Rublee committed his party to advocacy of sound money. This attitute appealed with irresistible force to the Ger- mans, ever averse to financial methods that to them might appear 289 290 Leading Events of Wiseonsin History. questionable. What seemed a hopeless undertaking became a triumphant reality, the fiat money cause was hopelessly wrecked in this state and eventually in the entire Northwest. More recently, when the issue of silver money became a dominant one in politics, Wisconsin Democrats took the lead in the organization of a new party — the National Democracy. In propor- tion to number of votes, the largest majority against the free coinage of silver 'cast by any state was that given by Wisconsin. But for the unfounded belief that Illinois was a doubtful state and that the standard-bearer should therefore be selected from STAND BY IT! "The Little Red Schoolhouse." (Emblematic Device Used in Political Literature and on Banners During the Exciting Bennett Law Campaign of 1890.) that state, Gen. Edward S. Bragg of V\''isconsin would have been the presidential nominee of the National Democrats. In the Indianapolis convention of 1896 delegates from fourteen states expressed their preference for him. In national party conventions, both Republicans and Democrats of this state have on numerous occasions attracted the attention of the country. In the Republican convention of 1880, made mem- orable by Grant's solid phalanx of 306 supporters, Wisconsin led the stampede that resulted in the nomination of James A. Garfield for president. The battle of ballots had been in progress a full week when the break came unexpectedly, the Wisconsin delega- Tlie Story of the State. 291 tion's conclusion to vote for Garfield having been reached while the balloting was in progress. The incident is thus told by A. J. Turner, one of the delegates: "When the vote of Wisconsin was announced, the turmoil that had reigned supreme for a time was hushed for the moment as if in the stillness of death, and every eye was turned toward the Wisconsin delegation as if to inquire, 'What does that mean?' It is absolutely certain that no delegate outside of our own delegation suspected that anything of the sort was about to happen. They could not have done so, for we did not know we were going to do it ourselves scarcely a moment before. In a moment tue galleries and the convention itself were in the wildest uproar. It is doubtful if any such scene ever occurred in a convention before. The popular chord had been touched as if by the wand of a magician. Gren. Garfield, pale and dumbfounded, arose from his seat and challenged the right of any delegate to vote for him without his consent, a consent he had not given. "When it seemed likely that the entire convention was about to be stampeded to Gen. Garfield, Gen. Beaver of Pennsylvania, the grim and grizzly one-legged old soldier that he was, mounted his seat, and resting upon his crutch, waved his hand and gave the word of command to the immortal '306': 'Grant men, steady, steady!' The watchword was immediately taken up by the followers of the great commander, and quietly they passed the word: 'Grant men, steady!' down their lines, and the column was firm once more as the rock of Chickamauga, and gave ample evidence of Gen. Beaver's soldierly qualities when receiving the charge of a Confederate legion, such an one as Gen. Mahone would have led against his lines. It was inexpressibly grand. "What followed every one knows. Gen. Garfield was nomi- nated and triumphantly elected." In the Republican convention of 1888 the Wisconsin delegation cast a solid vote for Jeremiah M. Rusk for presidential nominee. The time was not auspicious for a Wisconsin candidate, despite the personal sentiment for the good gray governor of Wisconsin. The politicians were seeking a candidate in one of the doubtful states. At a critical moment in the balloting, the Wisconsin delegation added its votes to the column for Benjamin Harrison, and nominated him. Wisconsin, being the last state called in the alphabetical roll of states, was enabled to avail itself of this point of vantage to determine the result. In the Democratic convention of 1884, William P. Vilas was chosen permanent chairman. In that capacity it became his duty to notify Grover Cleveland of his nomination. So well impressed was the latter with the address of the Wisconsin orator that when he became president he chose Col. Vilas as a member of his official 292 Leading Events of Wisconsin Histonj. family. It was in the course of this convention that Gen. Edward S. Bragg's stinging allusion to the Tammany contingent created a furore that led to, if it was not the immediate cause of, Grover Cleveland's nomination: "We love him for the enemies lie has made." Twelve years later, in Democratic national convention, it was again Gen. Bragg who spoke for his party associates from Wiscon- sin, and this time his words were prophetic of doom. The silver men had carried the day, and the Wisconsin delegation had de- clined to vote. Gen. Bragg jumped upon a chair and facing the great audience he seemed a prophet of disaster, as he cried: "Wisconsin will fight under another banner and for another candidate." Gen. Zachary Taylor, elected president of the United States in 1848, was stationed in Wisconsin as an army officer during the territorial days, but was never a resident of the state. Matthew Hale Carpenter was elected president of the United States senate in 1873, and served during the session of the forty-third congress. Four presidents have chosen Wisconsin men for members of their cabinets. The portfolios held by them are here given: Alexander W. Randall, postmaster-general in the cabinet of President John- son, promoted from assistant postmaster-general upon the resignation of William Denninson. Timothy O. Howe, postmaster-general in the cabinet of Chester A. Arthur from Dec. 20, 1S81, till his death in March, 1SS3. William F. Vilas, postmaster-general in Grover Cleveland's first cabinet, beginning March 5, 1SS5; appointed secretary of interior upon the promotion of Lucius Q. C. Lamar to the bench. Jeremiah M. Rusk, secretary of agriculture in Benjamin Harrison's cabinet, serving during the entire administration. He was the first secretary of the- department after its conversion from a bureau to a cabinet position. Some important posts in the diplomatic service have been held by Wisconsin men, among them these: Carl Schurz, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Spain; appointed by President Lincoln in 1861. Alexander W. Randall, minister at Rome; appointed by President Lincoln. Rufus King, minister resident at Rome; appointed by President Lincoln. Horace Rublee, minister resident at Berne, Switzerland; appointed by Pres- ident Grant in 1870; resigned to resume editorial work in Wisconsin. Lucius Fairchild, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Spain; appointed by President Hayes. . ^ . Rasmus B. Anderson, minister resident at Copenhagen, Denmark; appointed by President Cleveland. . John Hicks, minister extraordinary and envoy plenipotentiary to Peru; appointed by President Harrison. Edward S. Bragg, minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary to Mexico; appointed by President Cleveland. „ .j ^ Ernst Dichman, minister resident in Columbia; appointed by President Hayes. , „ . . , Mortimer M. Jackson, consul-general to the British maritime provinces; appointed by President Hayes, after many years of service as consul at Halifax. Julius Goldschmidt, consul-general at Vienna; appointed by President Har- rison; consul-general at Berlin, appointed by President McKinley. Richard Guenther, consul-general at the City of Mexico; appointed by Pres- ident Harrison. ■, ^ Wendell A. Anderson, consul-general at Montreal; appointed by President Cleveland in 1885 and again in 1893. , ., „ . Jeremiah Curtin, secretary of legation at St. Petersburg, while Cassius M. Clay was minister at the court of the czar. William Rufus Finch, minister resident at Paraguay, appointed by Presi- dent McKinley The Fitoni of the State. 193 Jos. G. Donnelly, consul-general at Nueva Laredo, Mexico; appointed by President Cleveland. Consuls — John F. Potter, at Montreal; Charles Seymour, Canton; Thos. B. Reid, Punchal, Portugal; Frank Leland, Hamilton, Can.; Evan R. Jones, New- castle, Eng. ; W. W. Robinson, Tamatave, Madagascar; Chester E. Jackson, Antigua; William B. West, Gahvay; Hiram Tuttle, Montevideo; R. P. McBride, Leith, Scotland; Carl Jonas, Prague and St. Petersburg; Roger Spooner, Prague; William A. Rublee, Prague; Walter B. Gardner, Rotterdam; A. J. Reid, Dublin; Peter V. Deuster, Crefeld; George Keenan, Bremen; George R. Ernst, Reichen- berg; F. W. Kickbusch, Stettin; David C. Davis, Swansea, Wales; O. E. Dreutzer, Bergen, Norway; Edw. Cramer, Florence; Chas. W. Merriman, Brockville, Ont. ; Daniel E. McGinley, Athens. Charles Seymour is one of the oldest consuls in the diplomatic service. He went from La Crosse tO' Canton, China, in Grant's last administration and has served continuously since. During the anti-Christian riots, a number of years ago, it was due to his William Dempster Hoard. Governor, 1883-1891. energy and forethought that many Caucasian residents of the Orient city were saved from the fury of the Chinese fanatics. After many years of consular service at Cardiff, Wales, Evan R. Jones resigned his post a few years ago, stood for election to parliament and was successful. Carl Schurz was another diplomat who never returned to the state whence he was appointed. He took up his residence in Missouri after the war, served as United States senator and became secretary of interior in the cabinet of President Hayes. He was the last cabinet officer of foreign birth, the new law of presidential succession rendering citizens of foreign birth ineligible for cabinet positions. 294 Leading Ecoiis of Wisconsin History. The people of Wisconsin have voted in thirteen presidential elections, their preference on these several occasions as shown by the popular vote having been respectively for Lewis Cass, Dem.. Franklin Pierce, Dem.; John C. Fremont, Rep.; Abraham Lincoln, Rep. (twice); Ulyssus S. Grant, Rep. (twice); Rutherford B. Hayes, Rep.; James A. Garfield, Rep.; James G. Blaine, Rep.; Benjamin Harrison, Rep.; Grover Cleveland, Dem.; William McKinley, Rep. The electoral vote of the state was cast three times for an unsuccessful presidential candidate; Lewis Cass, John C. Fremont, and James G. Blaine. There have been eighteen governors of the state during its half-century of political existence, and eleven of them were natives of either New York or Connecticut. The first nine were young men, none of them more than 45 years of age, and four of these not older than 35 — while all of the last nine governors had passed the half-century milestone. When Wisconsin became a state, its population was made up largely of young men — a vigorous, ener- getic and intellectual group of pioneers, and naturally they were at the fore in public affairs. During the last quarter century the ■conservatism that maturity brings has shown its infiuence in politics as in other channels of life. The list of Wisconsin's governors is as follows: Term of service. Nelson Dewey, Dem 4 years Leonard James Farwell, Whig 2 years Wm. Augustus Barstow, Dem 2 years Coles Bashford, Rep 2 years Alexander Williams Randall, Rep 4 years Louis Powell Harvey, Rep 3 mos. Edward Salomon, Rep lyr. 9 m. James Taylor Lewis, Rep 2 years Lucius Fairchild, Rep 6 years Cadwallader Coldoon Washburn, Rep 2 years William Robert Taylor, Dem 2 years Harrison Ludington, Rep 2 years William E. Smith, Rep 4 years Jeremiah McLain Rusk, Rep 7 years William Dempster Hoard, Rep 2 years George Wilbur Peck, Dem 4 years William Henry Upham, Rep 2 years Edward Scofield, Rep 2 years Age at Resi- Place of time of dence. birth. elect'n. Lancaster Connecticut 35 Madison New York 33 Waukesha Connecticut 41 Oshkosh New York 40 Waukesha New York Z9 Shopiere Connecticut 42 Milwaukee Prussia 34 Columbus New York 45 Madison Ohio 35 La Crosse Maine 54 Cottage Grove Connecticut 54 Milwaukee New York 64 Milwaukee Scotland 54 Viroqua Ohio 52 Ft. Atkinson New York 63 Milwaukee New York 51 Marshfield Massachusetts 53 Oconto Pennsylvania 54 Several gubernatorial candidates were elected by narrow mar- gins when their party associates "fell outside the breastworks." These were: Farwell, Whig, in 1851, 507 majority; Bashford, Rep., in 1855, 1,009 majority; Randall, Rep., 1857, 454 majority; Ludington, Rep., in 1875, 841 majority. The unsuccessful candidates for gover- nor comprise the following list: Whigs— John H. Tweedy, 1848; A. L. Collins, 18-19; Henry S. Baird, 1853; E. D. Holton (Abolitionist), 1853. ^ ,„„„ ^ ^ Republicans— C. C. Washburn, 1873; William D. Hoard, 1890; John C. Spooner, 1892. ^„^_ ^ „ „ Democrats— Don A. J. Upham, 1851; William A. Barstow, 185o; J. B. Cross, 1857; Harrison C. Hobart, 1859 and 1865; Benjamin Ferguson, 1861; Henry L. Palmer, 1863; J. J. Tallmadge, 1867; C. D. Robinson, 1869; James R. Doolittle. The Story of the State. 295 1871; William R. Taylor, 1875; James A. Mallory, 1877; James G. Jenkins. 1879- Nicholas D. Fratt, 1S82 and 18S-1; Gilbert M. Woodward, 1886; James Morgan 1888- George W. Peck, 1894; W. C. Silverthorn, 1896. Greenbackers— Edw. P. Allis, 1S77 and 1882; Reuben May, 1879; William L Utley, 1884. Populists— John Cochrane, 1886; D. Frank Powell, 1SS8; Reuben May 1890- C. M. Butt, 1892; D. F. Powell, 1894. Prohibitionists— Theo. D. Kanouse, ISSO; Samuel D. Hastings, 1884- John M Olin, 1S86; E. G. Durant, 1SS8; Charles Alexander, 1890; T. C. Richmond 1892- John F. Cleghorn, 1894; Joshua H. Berkey, 3896. Socialist— Colin Campbell, 1877; Christ. Tuttrop, 1896. Nationalist— Robert Henderson, 1896. The Supreme court was not separately organized until 1853; previous to that year the judges of the Circuit courts were ex-officit> justices of the Supreme court. Following jurists have served as members of this tribunal: Chief Justices— Alexander W. Stow, Levi Hubbell, Edward V. Whiton, Luther S. Dixon, Edward G. Ryan, Orsamus Cole, William Penn Lyon, Harlow S. Orton, John B. Ca.ssoday. Associate Justices— Charles H. Larrabee, Mortimer M. Jackson, Timothy O. Howe, Hiram Knowlton, Samuel Crawford, Abram D. Smith, Byron Paine, Jason Downer, David Taylor, John B. Winslow, Silas U. Pinney, Alfred W. Newman, Roujet D. Marshall. Senatorial honors have been conferred by the legislature.^ of the state upon eleven men — four of them Democrats and seven Republicans. James R. Doolittle was twice elected as a Republican, and during his second term became a Democrat. He had been a Democrat up to six years previous to his first election. Matthew H. Carpenter was also a recent convert from Democracy when he became United States senator. Timothy O. Howe was the only United States senator from Wisconsin who served three terms, seven served two terms each, and fcur :were retired upon the expiration of their first term. But one of the senators from Wisconsin was born in this state; none of them were of foreign birth. This is also true of the eighteen governors of the state with two exceptions: William E. Smith, Who was born in Scotland, and Edward Salomon, who was born in Germany. The list of United States senators who have represented Wisconsin, with place of nativity and residence at time of election, is as follows: Isaac P. Walker, Dem., of Milwaukee, elected June 8, 1848, and reelected Jan. 17, 1849; born in Virginia in 1813. Henry Dodge, Dem., of Dodgeville, elected June 8, 1848, and reelected Jan. 20, 1851; born in Indiana in 1782. Charles Durkee, Rep., of Kenosha, elected Feb. 1, 1855; born in Vermont in 1805. James R. Doolittle, Rep., of Racine, elected Jan. 23, 1857, and reelected Jan. 22, 1863; born in New York in 1815. Timothy O. Howe, Rep., of Green Bay, elected Jan. 23, 1861, and reelected Jan. 24, 1867, and again Jan. 21, 1873; born in Maine, in 1816, where he served in the legislature previous to coming to Wisconsin.. Matthew Hale Carpenter, Rep., of Milwaukee, elected Jan. 26, 1869, and again Jan. 22, 1879; born in Vermont in 1824. Angus Cameron, Rep., of La Crosse, elected Feb. 3, 1875, and again March 10, 1881; born in New York in 1826. Philetus Sawyer, Rep., of Oshkosh, elected Jan. 26, 1881, and again Jan. 26, 1887; born in Vermont in 1816. John Coit Spooner, Rep., of Hudson, elected Jan. 28, 1885, and again Jan. 27, 1897; born in Indiana in 1843. 296 LradliKj Erciits of Wiseoiifiin Eistory. William Freeman Vilas, Dem., of Madison, elected Jan. 28, 1891; born in Vermont in 1S40. John Lendrum Mitchell, Dem., of Milwaukee, elected Jan. 26, 1S93; born in Wisconsin in 1S42. Some of the contests for senator attracted attention all over the country. In 1861 Timothy O. Howe, C. C. Washburn and Alexander Randall were contestants. It was a battle of giants. Randall's withdrawal elected Howe. Pour years before Timothy Howe had shown himself a statesman and not a truckling politi- cian. He could have been elected then had he yielded to the popular clamor and subscribed to the Calhoun doctrine of states' rights. Like Henry Clay, he would rather be right than be presi- dent, and without qualification he declared that the doctrine was wrong and full of danger to the Union — and he was defeated. His election in 1861 was a grand vindication. For eighteen years the people of Wisconsin kept him in the United States senate — the longest term in congress served by any Wisconsin representative except Philetus Sawyer, who spent ten years in the lower branch and twelve in the upper house of congress. The election of Judge HoTve created immense enthusiasm all over the state. In Mil- waukee, Green Bay and elsewhere, guns were fird in honor of the event. The novelty of a competitive oratorical contest was introduced in the election of 1869. The candidates were Edward Salomon, Matt H. Carpenter, Horace Rublee, C. C. Washburn and 0. H. Waldo. The suggestion came from the friends of Carpenter, who had faith in the persuasive fascination of his oratory. A great meeting was held in the assembly chamber and four candidates made speeches. Whether the speeches influenced the legislators or not is problematical. Matt H. Carpenter was elected by a narrow margin. When Carpenter sought reelection, in 1875, there ensued the most bitter senatorial contest in the history of the state. He had voted for the notorious congressional salary grab, and had defended his vote in a public speech. The Republican caucus chose him as its nominee, but enough Republicans bolted to prevent his election. The Carpenter phalanx stood firm to the bitter end, and a deadlock ensued. A coalition of the Democrats and Republican bolters was attempted in the interest of Judge Orsamus Cole, but a minority of the Democrats would not enter it on the gi'ound that Judge Cole had shown hostility to the liquor interests. Finally a com- bination wa« effected in favor of Angus Cameron, of La Crosse, who was elected. Four years later Carpenter again secured the election after a bitter campaign. It was a notable triangular contest, and more than a hundred ballots were taken, during many sessions of the Republicans in caucus, before Carpenter triumphed. In 1881 two senatorial elections occurred. Senator Carpenter's death while the legislature was in session creating a vacancy, and The Story of the State. 297 the expiration of Cameron's term anotlier. Philetus Sawyer easily defeated E. W. Keyes for the long term, to succeed Cameron. When Carpenter died, a contest of unparalleled rivalry was devel- oped. For many days the Republican caucus balloted fruitlessly. It was the winter of deep snows, and part of the time the legis- lators were snowbound at the capital, and delegations of lohbyists were unable to reach them. Among the candidates voted for were E. W. Keyes, Angus Cameron, Luther S. Dixon, J. M. Bingham, George C Hazelton, C. G Williams, William T Price, D. M. Kelly. J. V. Quarles, Charles L. Colby, Jonathan Bowman. Finally the battle became a joint attack of all the elements opposing Angus Cameron. The opposition united on Jonathan Bowman of Kilbourn City. The final vote resulted: Angus Cameron, 51; Jonathan Bowman, 49. For the second time Angus Cameron became United States senator after a candidacy of less than a week. The first two senators were! Democrats. Not until 1891 did the Democrats elect another. Mr. Vilas was chosen without opposition, but two years later there was a bitter contest between John L. Mitchell, J. H. Knight and E. S. Bragg. It attracted national atten- tion, chiefly owing to the reputation of Gen Bragg. When Wisconsin became a state its representatives in congress numbered only four — two in each house. Its delegation in the house of representatives is now ten. Following is a list of the men who have occupied seats in the lower branch of congress as representa- tives from this state, the districts represented being given in numerical order: Thirtieth Congress (1847-49)— William Pitt Lynde, Dem.; Mason C. Darling, Dem. Thirty-first Congress (1849-51)— Charles Durltee, Free-soiler; Orsamus Cole, Whig; James Duane Doty, Dem. Thirty-second Congress (1851-53)^Charles Durkee. Ind. ; Benjamin C. East- man, Dem. ; John B. Macy, Dem. Thirty-third Congress (1853-55) — Daniel Wells, Jr., Dem.; Benjamin C. East- man, Dem. : John B. Macy, Dem. Thirty-fourth Congress (1855-57)— Daniel Wells, Jr., Dem.; Cadwellader C. Washburn, Rep. ; Charles Billinghurst, Dem. Thirty-fifth Congress (1857-59)— John F. Potter, Rep.; C. C. Washburn, Rep. ; Charles Billinghurst, Dem. Thirty-sixth Congress (1859-61)— John F. Potter, Rep.; C. C. W^ashburn, Rep. ; Charles H. Larrabee, Dem. Thirty-seventh Congress (1861-63)— John F. Potter, Rep.; Luther Hanchett, Rep. (died Nov. 24, 1862, and Walter D. Mclndoe, Rep., elected to fill vacancy); A. Scott Sloan, Rep. Thirty-eighth Congress (1863-65)— James S. Brown, Dem.; Ithamar C. Sloan, Rep.; Amasa Cobb, Rep.; Charles A. Eldredge, Dem.; Ezra Wheeler, Dem. ; Walter D. Mclndoe, Rep. Thirty-ninth Congress (1865-67)— Halbert E. Paine, Rep.; I. C. Sloan, Rep.; Amasa Cobb, Rep. ; Charles A. Eldredge, Dem. ; Philetus Sawyer, Rep. ; Walter D. Mclndoe, Rep. Fortieth Congress (1867-69)— Halbert E. Paine, Rep.; Benjamin F. Hopkins, Rep. ; Amasa Cobb, Rep. ; Charles A. Eldredge, Dem. ; Philetus Sawyer, Rep. ; C. C. Washburn, Rep. Forty-first Congress (1869-71)— Halbert C. Paine, Rep.; Benjamin F. Hop- kins, Rep. (died Jan. 1, 1870, and David Atwood, Rep., elected to fill vacancy); Amasa Cobb, Rep.; Charles A. Eldredge, Dem.; Philetus Sawyer, Rep.; C. C. W^ashburn, Rep. Forty-second Conogress (1871-73)— Alexander Mitchell, Dem. ; Gerry W. Hazelton, Rep. ; J. Allen Barber, Rep. ; Charles A. Eldredge, Dem. ; Philetus Sawyer, Rep. ; Jeremiah M. Rusk, Rep. 298 Leading Events of Wiseonsiii History. Forty-third Congress (1873-75)— Charles G. Williams, Rep. ; Gerry W. Hazel- ton, Rep.; J. Allen Barber, Rep.: Alexander Mitchell, Dem. ; Charles A. Eld- redge. Dem. ; Philetus Sawyer, Rep. ; Jeremiah M. Rusk, Rep. ; Alexander S. McDill, Rep. Forty-fourth Congress (1875-77)— Charles G. Williams, Rep. ; Lucien B. Caswell, Rep. ; Henry S. Magoon, Rep. ; William Pitt Lynde, Dem. ; Samuel D. Burchard, Dem.; Alanson M. Kimball, Rep.; Jeremiah M. Rusk, Rep.; George W. Gate, Dem. Forty-fifth Congress (1877-79)— Charles G. Williams, Rep.; Lucien B. Cas- well, Rep.; George C. Hazelton, Rep.; William Pitt Lynde, Dem.; Edward S. Bragg, Dem.; Gabriel Bouck, Dem.; Herman L. Humphrey, Rep.; Thaddeus C. Pound, Rep. Forty-sixth Congress (1879-81) — Charles G. Williams, Rep. ; Lucien B. Cas- well, Rep.; George C. Hazelton, Rep.; Peter V. Deuster, Dem.; Edward S. Bragg, Dem. ; Gabriel Bouck, Dem. ; Herman L. Humphrey, Rep. ; Thaddeus C Pound, Rep. Forty-seventh Congress (1881-83)- Charles G. Williams, Rep.; Lucien B. Caswell, Rep. ; Geo. C. Hazelton, Rep. ; Peter V. Deuster, Dem. ; Edward S. Bragg, Dem. ; Richard Guenther, Rep. ; Herman L. Humphrey, Rep. ; Thaddeus C Pound, Rep. Forty-eighth Congress (1883-85) — John Winans, Dem. ; Daniel H. Sumner, Dem. ; Burr W. Jones, Dem. ; Peter V. Deuster, Dem. ; Joseph Rankin, Dem. ; ■Gilbert M. Woodward, Dem.; William T. Price, Rep.; Isaac Stephenson, Rep. Forty-ninth Congress (1885-87) — Lucien B. Caswell, Rep. ; Edward S. Bragg, Dem.; Robert M. La Follette, Rep.; Isaac W. Van Schaick, Rep.; Joseph Rankin, Dem. (died Jan. 24, 1886, and Thomas R. Hudd, Dem., elected in his place); Richard Guenther, Rep. ; Ormsby B. Thomas, Rep. ; William T. Price, Rep. (died Dec. 7, 1866, and Hugh H. Price elected in his place) ; Isaac Stephenson, Rep. Fiftieth Congress (1887-89)— Lucien B. Caswell, Rep.; Richard Guenther, Rep.; Robert La Follette, Rep.; Henry Smith, Populist; Thomas R. Hudd, Dem.; Charles B. Clark, Rep.; Ormsby B. Thomas, Rep.; Nils P. Haugen, Rep.; Isaac Stephenson, Rep. Fifty-first Congress (1889-91) — Lucien B. Caswell, Rep. ; Charles Barwig, Dem. ; Robert M. La Follette, Rep. ; Isaac W. Van Schaick, Rep. ; George H. Brickner, Dem.; Charles B. Clark, Rep.; Ormsby B. Thomas, Rep.; Nils P. Haugen, Rep.; Myron H. McCord, Rep. Fifty-second Congress (1891-93) — Clinton Babbitt, Dem. ; Charles Barwig, Dem.; Allen M. Bushnell, Dem.; John L. Mitchell, Dem.; George H. Brickner, Dem.; Lycurgus Miltiades Miller, Dem.; Frank P. Coburn, Dem.; Nils P. Hau- gen, Rep.: Thomas Lynch, Dem. Fifty-third Congress, (1893-95)— H. A. Cooper, Rep.; Charles Barwig, Dem.; Joseph W. Babcock, Rep.; John L. Mitchell, Dem. (resigned Feb. 10, 1893, and Peter J. Somers, Dem.. elected in his place); George H. Brickner, Dem.; Owen A. Wells, Dem.; George B. Shaw, Rep. (died Aug. 27, 1894, and Michael Griffin elected in his place) ; Lyman E. Barnes, Dem. ; Thomas Lynch, Dem. ; Nils P. Haugen. Rep. Fifty-fourth Congress (1895-97)— Henry A. Cooper, Rep. ; Edward Sauer- hering. Rep. ; Joseph W. Babcock. Rep. ; Theobald Otjen, Rep. ; Samuel S. Barney, Rep.; Samuel A. Cook, Rep.; Michael Griffin, Rep.; Edward S. Minor, Rep.; Alexander Stewart, Rep.; John J. Jenkins, Rep. Fifty-fifth Congress (1897-99)— Henry A. Cooper, Rep. ; Edward Sauerhering, Rep.; Joseph W. Babcock, Rep.; Theobald Otjen, Rep.; S. S. Barney, Rep.; James H. Davidson, Rep. ; Michael Griffin, Rep. ; Edward S. Minor, Rep. ; Alexander Stewart, Rep.; John J. Jenkins, Rep. Charles A. Eldredge became a national character on the floor of congress. He was known as the "Great Objector." Gen. Bragg added in congress to the reputation that had preceded him there as commander of the Iron brigade. His speecli which attracted most attention was a scatching denunciation of "coffee coolers" who were seeking pensions. Richard Guenther was one of less than half a dozen men who have represented districts wherein they did not reside. Gen. Bragg, after a bitter campaign in the old Second district, had been defeated for the Democratic nomination by Arthur K. Delaney. The district was overwhelmingly Democratic. Richard Guenther of OshkosJh, residing in another district, announced himself as a candidate in opposition, and local considerations created such a political revolt that he was elected by an immense majority. The Story of the State. 289 Doubtless the event that brought a Wisconsin congressman to the attention of the country more conspicuously than any other was the exciting episode that gave John F. Potter the sobriquet of "Bowie-Knife PoUer." During the exciting days when the country was on the verge of civil war, bitter words in congress sometimes led to dueling. On one occasion there was a personal encounter on the floor of the house. Potter went to the rescue of one of his colleagues, and his sturdy blows created havoc among the Southern fire-eaters. London Punch published a clever parody concerning this event, and Ralph Waldo Emerson has included it in the collection of poems edited by him. It was some time after this, and for an altogether different cause, that Congressman Pryor challenged Congressman Potter to^ mortal combat. The latter accepted the challenge, and as the challenged party, chose bowie knives as the weapons. This was more than Pryor had bargained for, and the duel never took place. Mr. Potter became known all over the country as "Bowie-Knife Potter." He is still living on the farm in Walworth county where he first made his home sixty years ago. The following have served as speakers of the assembly since the first session of the state legislature: Speakers — Ninian E. Whitesides, Belmont, 1848; Harrison C. Hobart, She- boygan, 1849; Moses M. Strong, Mineral Foint, 1850; Frederick M. Horn, Cedar- burg, 1851, 1854, 1875; James M. Shatter, Sheboygan, 1852; Henry L. Palmer, Milwaukee, 1853; Charles C. Sholes, Kenosha, 1855; William Hull, Potosi, 1856; • Wyman Spooner, Elkhorn, 1857; Frederick S. Lovell, Kenosha, 1858; Williara Penn Lyon, Racine, 1859, 1860; Amasa Cobb, Mineral Point, 1861; James W. Beardsley, Prescott, 1862; J. Allen Barber, Lancaster, 1863; William W. Field, Fennimore, 1864, 1865; Henry D. Barron, St. Croix Falls, 1866, 1873; Angus Cam- eron, La Crosse, 1867; Alexander M. Thomson, Janesville, 1868, 1869; James M. Bingham, Palmyra, 1870; William E. Smith, Fox Lake, 1871; Daniel Hall, Water- town, 1872; Gabe Bouck, Oshkosh, 1874; Samuel S. Fifield, Ashland, 1875; John B. Cassoday, Janesville, 1877; Augustus R. Barrows, Chippewa Falls, 1878; David M. Kelly, Green Bay, 1879; Alexander A. Arnold, Galesville, 1880; Ira B. Bradford, Augusta, 1881; Franklin L. Gilson, Ellsworth, 1882; Earl P. Finch, Oshkosh, 1883; Hiram O. Fairchild, Marinette, 1885; Thomas B. Mills, Black River Falls, 1887, 1889; James J. Hogan, La Crosse, 1891; Edward Keogh, Mil- waukee, 1893; George B. Burrows, Madison, 1895; George Buckstaff, Oshkosh, 1897 Three political events have occurred during the last decade whose results have attracted attention all over the country. In 1889 a member of the assembly from Iowa county introduced a compulsory school attendance bill, which subsequently took his name and became known as the Bennett law. Months after its passage it was discovered that one of its provisions required every child to be taught a certain amount of English. There are in the state many parochial schools conducted under the auspices of Lutheran and Catholic church organizations. The parents of chil- dren attending these schools became alarmed, believing that the state control of private schools was aimed at, and that parental rights were to be trampied upon. This was the section of the law that aroused their opposition: "No school shall be regarded as a school under this act, unless there shall be taught therein, as part of the elementary education of 300 Leading Events of Wiseonsin History. children, reading, writing, arithmetic and United States history in the English language." A tremendous upheaval fallowed. The Republican party was swept to overwhelming defeat at the next election. The Democrats promptly repealed the law. For many years t)he treasurers of the state had been in the habit of loaning the funds entrusted to them, retaining the interest. The attorney-general, in 1891, instituted suit to recover these Interest moneys. The treasurers made legal resistance, but were beaten in the courts. During the year 1893 judgments for nearly half a million dollars were entered against the three preceding state treasurers. The amount represented the sums received by the former state treasurers, and interest thereon at 7 per cent. Two state treasurers whose terms antedated thirteen years were released by the legislature from their obligations. In their case's the interest on the interest far exceeded the original amount. When the Bennett law ferment placed the Democrats in control of the state after having looked over the fence for nearly a quarter of a centuiT, they redistricted the legislative districts so as to insure control of the legislature even in case of a minority vote. The gerrymander had been a political expedient for many years, but now for the first time a Supreme court set aside a legislative apportionment as void on constitutional grounds. A test case was instituted for the purpose of obtaining a judicial decision. The language of the justices was exceedingly severe in character- izing the unfairness of the gerrymander. A special session of the legislature was called by the governor to reapportion the state. Another gerrymander was the result. Again was the Supreme court appealed to, and again was the apportionment set aside. The result of the treasury and the gerrymander cases influenced similar action in many states in all sections of the United States. CHAPTER XV. MAY RIOTS OF '86. In the early May days oi" 1886 a reign of terror existed In the city of Milwaukee. Idle workmen paraded the streets; men willing to work were urged to join the demonstration and in many cases compelled to do so; crowds armed with paving blocks, billets and .other improvised weapons of the street overturned hucksters' stands, invaded manufacturing establishments and even attacked them. As the riotous proceedings grew to large proportions and the city seemed about to be stretched at the mercy of a mob, a deadly fire from the rifles of state militiamen was poured into a •crowd of Polish workmen and ended the lawlessness which had threatened to grow beyond control. The incidents were contem- poraneous with the tragic massacre of the Haymarket in Ohicago. Off in the East there appeared about Christmastide the year before a cloud seemingly no larger than a man's hand; by spring- time the entire sky was overcast and the storm center was over Chicago and Milwaukee. Several years before, the Federation of Trades, in national convention, had adopted resolutions advising all labor organizations "to so direct their laws that eight hours should constitute a legal day's work on and after May 1, 1886." The Knights of Labor, hitherto a weak and struggling organization, took up the eight-hour cry, and soon developed an enormous mem- "bership. In Wisconsin the working classes were exceedingly responsive. Robert Schilling became state organizer, and his ener- .getic work resulted in an enormous accession of members. In their declaration of principles, the Knights advocated shortening the hours of labor "by a general refusal to work for more than eight hours." The slogan, "eight hours' work and ten hours' pay" appealed with irresistible force to the great mass of unskilled laborers especially. The Knights of Labor took into their fold all who called themselves workmen; even women were importuned to join and assemblies were organized for them. The Central Labor union, a Socialistic organization, joined in the agitation and also secured many members. At its head wa.? Paul Grottkau, editor of The Arbeiter-Zeitung. He had but recently ■oome from Germany, and threw himself into the movement with an energy that gave him a large and devoted personal following. Possessing a remarkable gift of oratory, he was able to sway liis followers as he wished. Thus, while the union had a membership materially smaller than the Knights of Labor, the workmen affili- ated with tbe organization were as conspicuous in the movement. When threatened anarchy was succeeded by order, the arm of the law fell heaviest on its members. 302 Leading Events of Wisconsin History. Between the leaders of the two organizations there was much bitter rivalry that found expression in the columns of their respect- ive newspapers. Personal antagonism did not, however, prevent common action in prosecuting the eight-hour movement. More than 3,000 persons attended a great preliminary mass meeting on the west side, and the aldermen were urged to manifest their sympathy by passing an ordinance fixing a day's work at eight hours for all day-laborers in the city's esmploy. Impressed by the demonstration, the aldermen complied with such haste as to suggest that political fear prompted their action. But one Paul, Grottkau. Leader of the Socialists in negative vote was recorded. It is worthy of note that but a few weeks later when the eight-hour day commotion had subsided, the same aldermen voted to repeal the ordinance. Shortly after, three large tobacco manufacturing firms acceded to the demands of their men and introduced the eight-hour schedule. It now seemed as if nothing could withstand the move- ment, and that on May 1 all employers would be compelled to inaugurate the new system. The organization of Knights of Labor assemblies went on at a remarkable rate. More than 10,000 mem- bers were counted in Milwaukee. At Marinette, Oconto and Peshtigo the men engaged in lumber industries joined the Knights in large numbers. The Story of the State. 303 Believing that the concession of an eight-hour day from Edward P. Allis, in whose immense works more than a thousand men were employed, would operate powerfully in inducing smaller con- cerns to follow, it was planned to ask Mr. Allis for such a work-day before the fateful first day of May. Coupled with this proposition was a demand for a 25 per cent, increase in wages. The request was presented in April. Mr. Allis agreed to eight hours for a day's work, but gave his reasons why he could not increase wages, except in the case of common laborers. Although a committee of employees, after a conference, decided that Mr. Allis was justified in his course, the radicals repudiated the agreement entered into by their representatives. The conservative workmen stood by their committee and the firm. The result was that many timid employers were emboldened to follow the same course in dealing with their employees. On all sides there was a feeling of suppressed excitement when May 1 dawned. In Milwaukee the idle workmen on this day in- cluded about 7,000 persons, mainly belonging to the following classes: Brewery employes, journeymen carpenters, shop tailors and their helpers, clothing cutters, cigarmakers, broommakers, and about 2,000 common laborers. The events of the subsequent few days increased the number to about 16,000. May 1 occurred on a Saturday. There was no demonstration, but the following day a monster picnic had been planned by the Central Labor union. Several thousand men marched, and a few red flags were carried in the procession — an omen of what was to come. Some of the mottoes and sentiments on banners and stand- ards tended to alarm people, who looked with forebodings to the events of the coming week: "Right and law often differ materially from each other." "The idolaters of the golden calf must be downed." "Keep yourself, and God will theni keep you. Realize this, man, and end your sufferings." "They used to call it overproduction; now we shall consume some more." "The Republic shall have no ruler; not even King Mammon." "Capital must come down from its high horse." "We have come to the cross-roads. Honest workmen will follow the way. Mark the rats. Eight hours." "Capital is the product of labor; not its master." Many other sentiments of like tenor were displayed. Monday dawned; a general strike at the breweries was ordered. A thousand men marched to Falk's establishment and insisted that the unwilling workmen must join them. In many establishments the workmen marclied out in a body; in most of them the demand was for higher pay and shorter hours. By evening 14,000 bread- winners were out of work. It was during the afternoon of this day that the first lawless- ness occurred. The unskilled Polish laborers had thrown them- 304 Leading Events of Wm-onsin History. selves into the eig-ht-hour movement with immense enthusiasm. They were deluded into believing that all wage workers would simultaneously quit work on the day agreed upon, and that none of them would resume work until the entire brotherhood of work- men were enabled to return on the same conditions. They loyally carried out what they regarded as their part of the agreement. When they learned that hundreds of workmen had remained at their places they became enraged. They believed they had been basely betrayed. In this temper, the few anarchists who lived In Milwaukee and made up in activity what they lacked in numbers, found the Polish workmen ductile material. The impressionable Slavs readily agreed that all workmen who had not struck for eight hours at the appointed time had proven false and must either abandon their jobs or suffer the consequences. On Monday afternoon, May 3, the trouble began. Some 1,400' men were working at the railway shops in the Menomonee valley. Several hundred Poles appeared here and called upon them to quit work. This the employees refused to do. A conflict seemed immi- nent; the handful of deputy sheriffs who came to the rescue deemed it suicidal to resist the riotous marchers, and induced the employees of the shops to leave the premises. The mob gave a shout of ex- ultation and marched to the city, augmenting in numbers as they proceeded. They followed the track of the Milwaukee & St. Paul railway, and reached the freight yards. A dash was made for tho freight warehouse, but the iron doers clanged in their faces, and their sticks and stones struck powerless against the unbroken wall of brick and metal. Some one shouted, "On to the AUis works," and thither the' mob pursued its march, the men yelling, "Eight hours," "Eight hours," as they went. While a self-constituted committee entered the main doorway to demand that all the men join the idlers, the crowd waited outside. In a few minutes the committee came out of the entrance in much haste and in miscellaneous disorder. The brawny muscle of the iron workers Vv^as the motive power that hastened their exit. A shout of anger went up and a hail of stones rattled against the sides of the Reliance Iron works. Sticks were brandished, and a simultaneous, but disorganized, move was made- to enter the main doorway. Bloodshed was imminent; at this junc- ture the doors of the main entrance were thrown wide open and in the shadow was seen a crowd of iron workers dragging a wriggling section of hose. An instant later a stream of hissing water en- countered the leaders of the assault, and men toppled helplessly all over the street. The catapult power of the stream shot some of the men clear across the street. Wet, bruised and discouraged, they picked themselves up; a few angrily advanced a second time to assault the defenders of the works, only to come in contact with The Story of the State. 305- the vigorous stream of water and to fly helplessly back into the arms of their companions. At this juncture two patrol wagons hove in sight, and a score of policemen jumped into the midst of the crowd and completed the rout by hammering right and left with their clubs of stout hickory. There was now the utmost consternation in the city. The authority of law trembled in the balance. Mayor Emil Wallber advised Mr. Allis to close his works and this was done. Gov. Jere- miah Rusk was notified by wire of the situation and, accompanied by his military advisers, hastened from Madison to Milwaukee on a special train. Several regiments of the National guard were or- dered to be ready to respond at a moment's notice. That night the authorities slumbered on the thin crust of a volcano. Long before the bells in the double towers of St. Stanislaus church struck the hour of 6 o'clock, Tuesday morning, men with sullen faces gathered in its vicinity. All carried clubs. At about 7 o'clock six or seven hundred men moved as if by preconcerted action in the direction of tae rolling mills in Bay View. On the way they came to a trench dug by sewer diggers. These men were compelled to join the strikers, and their shovels were labeled with chalk, in letters as large as their size would permit: "8 HOURS." At the railroad tracks one of the leaders mounted a sidetracked freight car and made an impassioned harangue. In the valley the smoke from chimneys denoted that men were busy in a number of establishments. These were unceremoniously entered and the work- men were forced to yield to the order, "Close down," and to march along. At the rolling mills the coming of the men had been espied from a distance, and an urgent message by telephone had been sent to the authorities at the Squadron armory. On receipt of the message, the firebells rang the signal agreed upon to call the militiamen to their duty. Before the National guardsmen had all responded and could be transported to Bay Blew, some hours, elapsed. The rolling mill officials in the meantime received a deputation of the mob, and to gain time kept them in consultation — ostensibly to decide upon conditions for shutting down the works. While this conference was in progress a man on the roof anxiously scanned the road leading cityward to give early notice of the coming of the militia. The crowd that surrounded the little office outside the fence-encircled iron works for some time patientlj' awaited the outcome of the conference, but finally grew demon- strative. At this juncture Robert Schilling, the recognized leader of the Knights in Wisconsin, appeared and made a speech coun- seling them to make no- lawless demonstration and bitterly attack- ing the anarchists who were spurring the deluded men on to 306 Leading Events of ^yisconsin History. their destruction. He had hardly ceased speaking when a train came speeding along, stopped, and emptied into the midst of the astonished workmen four companies of National guardsmen. There was a moment's hesitation, and the short sharp commands of the officers were almost drowned by the jeers of the crowd, now numbering at least a thousand men. What angered the crowd more than anything was the fact that one of the companies — the Kosciusko guard — was composed of their countrymen. As the soldiers were formed in line and marched through the midst of the increasing crowd, taunts and insults and raised sticks and clubs gave undeniable evidence of the warlike temper of the mob. Soon a stone whistled through the air and a Robert Schilling. Knights of Labor Organizer in 188G. member of the Kosciusko guard picked up his smashed helmet. As the crowd grew more demonstrative, it was deemed prudent to withdraw the militia to the area within, the high board fence. The huge gates were opened, and they marched in. The Kosciusko guard brought up the rear. As the last men were about to pass within the gates, a shower of stones and other missiles followed them. Many of them were struck in the back and on the head. As if by common impulse, the men turned, leveled their rifles at the crowd and a volley of bullets sped along. Many of the mob, as they saw the rifles aimed, threw themselves flat upon the ground, others sought shelter behind woodpiles and telegraph posts and fences. Notwithstanding, it seemed providential that the ground was not strewn with dead and dying. Many buildings in range of The Story of the State. 307 the rifles were perforated by the bullets, but not one person was. wounded by the volley. The gates were hastily shut, and the dis- orderly attack on the militia was converted into a siege. A few belated soldiers who came out to join their comrades were chased a long distance by some of the strikers, but escaped capture. Towards night the mob gradually grew thinner and dispersed. In the meantime, the Central Labor union had called its mem- bers to assemble at Milwaukee garden, which was regarded as the Socialistic headquarters. After listening to a speech by Paul Grottkau, the men formed in line, a thousand strong, and marched to Brand's Stove works. The firm had granted all the demands of the men; notwithstanding, the employees were compelled to throw down their tools and walk out. An attack on the bakeries was deferred until the day following. The police dispersed the second gathering. The city was now convulsed with terror. To add to the alarm, it was noticed that on doorways, on sidewalks and on the sides of houses adjacent to the streets mysterious figures and devices were scribbled in chalk. They were all of uniform character, except the numbers, like this: 3 5 8x 3198 5 8:30 4 .5354 X The marks were inoffensive enough, had they been understood; it was the method pursued by the Knights to notify their members of the date and hour of meeting of the respective assemblies; but this was not' known outside the ranks of the knights, and it was. assumed that the town was about to be put to the torch and all its inhabitants slaughtered. Following unsigned notice was scattered broadcast on the after- noon of May 5, and the leaders of the Knights of Labor conspic- uously wore blue ribbons on the lapels of their coats: "Every Knight of Labor is hereby asked by the Executiva board to keep away from all public meetings that are held at this time. Every member is ordered to wear a blue badge or ribbon as a token of peace and order. At the same time we request all Knights of Labor to remain at their work or at their homes, and in all cases assist the authorities in protecting life and property." It was too late. The feverish excitement of the last three days had carried many of the workingmen beyond control. The tragic end came on Wednesday. Early in the morning another crowd had gathered at the St. Stanislaus church corner, their purpose being to again march to Bay View. There the militia- men were still encamped, reinforced by some of the companies from the interior of the state. Gov. Rusk had sent word that in case of a repetition of mob tactics, the soldiers should shoot 308 Leading Events of Wiseonsin History. to kill. When the commanding officer, Maj. George P. Traeumer, saw the mob advancing up the road he massed bis troops so as to block the roadway. He waved his hand to the mob in warning not to approach nearer. The mob was then a thousand yards away. Either they did not understand the officer's warning, or were emboldened not to heed It as a result of the previous day's harmless volley. If they believed the soldiers would fire blank cartridges, they were quickly undeceived. Maj. Traeumer gave the word and two companies discharged their rifles in the direction of the mob. Panic seized the crowd as they saw their comrades fall, some dead and some terribly wounded. How many bullets took effect will never be known. As the crowd dispersed they carried their wounded with them. It is known that eight fatalities resulted. Among the dis- tressing casualties were the shooting of an old man of 70 while feeding the chickens in his yard, ajid of a young schoolboy, who was in the ranks of the marchers wjien the soldiers fired. The terrible events at Bay View ended the riotous demonstra- tions. Some of the anarchists and Socialists were arrested, and a few of them were sentenced to hard labor in the House of Correction on the charge of "riot and conspiracy"; among them was Paul Grottkau. Many leading Knights of Labor, including Robert Schilling, were also arrested for boycotting under the law of conspiracy, but the cases were not tried. The disturbances had lasted less than a week. The volley that struck down the mob at Bay View likewise killed the agitation for eight hours. Men returned to work without renewing their demands; factories and workshops resumed operations; but for many months thereafter a boycott was maintained, despite the arrest of a score of Knights for conspiracy. Members of the Kosciusko guard found themselves ostracized by their compatriots, and those in business were almost ruined. It took years to efface the enmity evolved by their response to duty when the call to arms was a summons to face neighbors and friends with leveled rifles. On numerous occasions have the chief executives of the state been asked to intervene in labor troubles by calling out the National guard. But twice, besides the May riots of '86, have they done so. In 1881, striking mill men at Eau Claire threatened to destroy the property of their employers. Gov. Wm. E. Smith dispatched several companies of miutia to the scene, and the "saw-dust war," as it was called, ended without bloodshed. It was in this same year that all the cigarmakers in Milwaukee went out on strike. In 1889 there was a serious strike of laborers at West Superior. Their attitude was so menacing that the governor deemed it pru- dent to send National guardsmen to the North Wisconsin metrop- olis. Their presence restored quiet. The Story of the State. 3)9 Early in Gov. Rusk's administration, railroad workmen em- ployed in the construction of the, Superior Air line grew violent because they had not received their pa,y and were on the point of starvation. Gov. Rusk was asked to call out the militia. He investigated the trouble, declared that the men were entitled to bread and not bullets, and compelled the contractors to live up to their agreement with the men. The great street railway strike of 1896, in Milwaxikee, attracted attention all over the country by reason of the remarkable boycott that was waged for several weeks. To enforce a demand for more wages, the motor men and conductors left their cars, and declared a boycott. The public sympathetically walked or rode in 'buses and ancient vehicles imported in great number from the towns and cities within a hundred miles of Milwaukee. There was no serious disturbance, and the strikers had the sympathy of the community in an unusual degree. When a car made a trip at irregular intervals the only passengers were policemen on guard duty. On some days (Sundays) not a car moved. Then came a boycott that bade fair to paralyze every industry in the city, and seemed to permeate and affect every business and channel of life. The result was a great reaction, and the strike, while seemingly won, collapsed. "This boycott is a marvel," wrote a newspaper correspondent. ■"Its like has never been seen before in this or any other country. The condition into which it has thrown a big busy city stands unique in the history of the world to-day. King Boycott is absolute master in Milwaukee. The 200,000 and more human beings who live and toil in this city are subject to his scepter. The first blow was aimed at the Street Railway company, and nobody cared. The sjTnpathetic people walked or rode in nondescript vehicles called omnibuses, and suffered inconveniences uncomplainingly. The next blow hit officers of the street railway company through their private enterprises, and only those directly interested suffered. Then the ban was placed on all who might offer aid and comfort to the enemy by riding on cars, doing business with its officers privately or doing business with people who bad ridden on the street cars. This final blow reached all walks of life, all enterprises, all avocations, and was extended even into the third and fourth generations and to relatives by marriage. In Milwaukee every man in the service of King Boycott is a spy upon his neighbor. The result is virtually a reign of terror. Business is throttled almost to the point of complete strangulation." CHAPTER XVI. THE GREAT BOOM ON THE GOGEBIC. Old maps of Wisconsin, dated years after territorial times and even long after assumption of statehood, mark the south shore of the Wisconsin river as the border of civilization. Until the last two decades Northern Wisconsin was considered a trackless wilder- ness, broken only by an occasional clearing made by a venturesome pioneer, some lumber camps here and there, and a straggling hamlet or two at long intervals. The remarkable development of the region within this comparatively short time is one of the notable epochs in the history of the state. The discovery of mineral wealth gave the first impetus of considerable magnitude to this rapid growth. It led to the extension of railroads where for miles there was not a sign of human habitation; cities were built in a night, and brought enterprises that added to population and material wealth; tillers of the soil followed in fewer but ever increasing numbers; to-day Northern Wisconsin is a region of prosperous towns and thrifty farms. The story of the great Grogebic boom, one of the conspicuous episodes in the development of Northern Wisconsin, is well worth telling. The discovery of high-grade Bessemer ore on the Gogebic range and the consequent unfolding of vast possibilities led to a specu- lative craze the like of which has had no parallel in Wisconsin. While it lasted, fortunes were made and lost within a month — a week — it might almost be said overnight. All sorts and conditions of men and women were seized with the mania to dump their dollars into the holes dug by the prospectors, not a few of which proved bottomless pits. The country merchant and the farmer invested blindly in mining stocks, and not a few mortgaged all they had to add a lot of certificates to their holdings; in the cities, business and professional men, ministers of the Gospel, underpaid clerks and servant girls joined in the grand scramble for riches. Men who didn't possess enough money to pay a week's board in advance organized companies capitalized for a million or two, and sold stock to credulous investors. Mines were sold at fabulous prices. The enterprising sellers developed from poor men to mining kings, were rated as millionaires, and spent their money with a prodigality that seemed to warrant the title. While the boom lasted, especially in the year 1886, there seemed no limit to the extravagant hopes entertained by fortune-seekers. "It is worth more to the people than to uncover the hidden gold of Capt. Kidd or to raise the sunken treasure of the Spanish Main," 310 The Story of the State. 311 were the enthusiastic words of John E. Burton at a great banquet given in Hurley. "Like a lightning flash of twining gold, for thirty miles its veins were streaked through imperishable granite, while nature, almost surprised at its lavish act, tenderly covered her treasure with a hanging wall of the gentle slates. Between the quartzite and the trap of the old Huronian belt, the unfolding of a beautiful law hid this boundless wealth more than a million years ago, to be found by some bold but favored son, whose daring deeds should be crowned and sceptered as a king in the jnetallic realm." The reign of the mining king was brief — but splendid. One fortunate prospector who jumped from a meager crust of bread to affluence that seemed limitless, spent money with reckless lavish- ness. The buttons of his coat, vest and trousers were diamond- studded, and the gems were of the rarest size and water. In each of a dozen towns on the range he owned a handsomely furnished residence. Another miner who esteemed himself worth millions evidenced his financial plethora on one occasion by paying $35,000 for a Chicago book store, merely to acquire a dozen books which he wanted for his collection. In the mining towns splendid brick blocks and palatial houses were constructed; newspapers were issued in sumptuous editions — one issue of The Gogebic Iron Tribune included twenty pages, was printed on tinted paper in handsome style and comprised 10,000 copies. Newspaper men were carried to the range in palace cars to view the properties; so were moneyed men from the East, who had been attracted by the stories sent abroad. Gogebic stocks be- gan to be quoted in New York and were listed regularly. Bulletins were issued daily. A stock exchange was opened in Milwaukee. The advertisement that the Gogebic range received was phenomenal. In an incredibly short time 15,000 persons had been attracted to the range. The building of Hurley and Ironwood demonstrates the rapid growth. The path that was blazed through a virgin forest from the right of way of the Lake Shore road to the Norrie mine — a distance of half a mile — less than two years later approximated the main street of a town of 4,000 inhabitants (Ironwood). The miner who opened up this property had only a short time before, in going by trail from Ashland to Bessemer, encamped overnight in an old log shack on the very site of the Norrie. For a distance of many miles and wholly beyond the limits of the vein of ore, prospectors dug pits and located mines. There was not a forty within half a mile of the range that was not honey- combed with pits ranging in depth from 10 to 150 feet. Beautifully- engraved certificates of stock in a hundred or more mining compan- ies were issued on the basis of future finds and were eagerly pur- chased by people whose knowledge of mining was limited to a small 312 Leadiiifj Events of Wisconsin History. vocabulary of technical terms. They coxild talk glibly about the "hanging wall," "running a level," "drifting the vein," "cross-cuts," and similar expressions, and they borrowed money from friends to invest in mining certificates that to-day are valuable only as sou- venirs. The boom on the Gogebic was not all based on great expecta- tions. Tremendous deposits of high grade ore were uncovered, and gave a real value to many properties. It was an era of vast railroad extension in the United States, and the displacement of wood by iron THE ORE VEIN ON THE GOGEBIC. FROM AN OLD MAP. (The section of a map of 1886 given above shows where the main properties were located, including the Norrie, which shipped a million tons of ore in one season, breaking the world's record; and the Aurora, a half share in which was sold for $600,000 in cash.) for structural purposes was assuming large proportions. Nor was the speculative boom based on fraud to as large an extent as was afterwards claimed by the thousands of victims who were unable to realize ten cents a share for what had cost them from a dollar to tea dollars and more a share. A great deal of the money that was sunk in worthless properties was expended in preliminary work. It was afterwards figured by an experienced miner that as much money was dumped into the pits dug by the explorers as was taken out by the profitable properties in legitimate mining. The aggregate must The Stori/ of the State. 313 be counted not in hundreds or thousands, tout in millions. Those who bought stock for a quick turn realized handsomely as a rule. Those who held on to stocks that seemed increasing, lost everything when the great crash came. An instance can be cited as illustrative of the opportunities for quick returns: A young man who had recently gone to the range from Mil- waukee was present when the blast was fired that uncovered a large deposit of ore. He rushed to a telephone and communicated with a companion: "Get an option on every share in the Blank mine that you are able to secure at current price, and do it as quickly as you can." Before the news of the discovery of the deposit had become known, a hundred dollars had purchased an option on a thousand shares of the stock at $6.25 a share. In less than a week the two young men had sold the stock at $10.25 a share, and divided a profit of $4,000 on a week's investment of a hundred dollars in cash. This was an actual transaction, and was but one of many. For awhile prosperity came to everybody on the range. Leav- ing out the salaried officials, the average pay of the men at the Nor- rie mine was $2.37 a day — ^and in this average, covering a period of six months, are reckoned the wages paid the surface men, who re- ceived $1.65 a day. Some of the miners made $180 a month. On a forty-mile run of the Lake Shore road, from Ironwood to Ashland, ore trains were run at express speed. This bit of railroad became the best-paying mileage in the United States. Eighteen tons of ore made up each car, forty cents a ton was charged for this short run to the ore docks, and sometimes the same car made the run twice in a day. Every car of the many that made up the numerous ore trains thus brought a revenue of $14.40 a day to the railroad company, or $1,440 for a hundred cars. It was reckoned that there was a profit of a dollar a ton for every ton of ore dug and sold dur- ing this period of prosperity. In one year the Norrie mine alone shipped a trifle less than a million tons of ore. Under such circum- stances it was not to be wondered at that those who were "on the ground floor" felt that they could afford such extravagances as wearing costly diamonds in place of ordinary buttons. The Colby mine yielded enormous profits. The Aurora tempted an Eastern syndicate to pay $600,000 for a half interest, or 20,001 shares. This was $30 for each share of $25 face value. They increased the shares to 100,000 and these fell to but $27 each after this enormous inflation. The $600,000 purchase money was deposited in cash in one of the Milwaukee banks. Such were the conditions that made everybody connected with the range consider himself a millionaire, or a prospective million- aire. In May, 1886, one year after the commencement of the boom, one of the range newspapers gave a summary of the values of the 314 Leading Events of Wisconsin Eintury. Gogebic mines that was regarded as entirely reasonable and con- servative in placing the total at $24,000,000. "The Gogebic range, which a year ago to-day was practically unknown and of uncertain and doubtful value," was the editor's comment, "is to-day estimated to contain more wealth than the en- tire assessed valuation of some of the oldest states in the Union." The several mine leases were estimated to be worth, as com- mercial property, the amounts given below: Mines. Aurora Iron King Ashland Norrie Pabst Bonnie First National and Geneva.. Blue Jacket Puritan Ironton Tontine Valley Mines (3) Colby Palms Anvil Gogebic Iron Prince Iron Sides Crown Point Brotherton Smith Iron Chief Minnewawa Germania Montreal Nimikon South Nimikon Value. $600,000 400,000 650,000 800,000 240,000 320,000 320,000 IGO.OOO'l 240,0001 180,0001 90,0001 480,000 3,000,000 150,000 175,000 120,000 40,000 55,000 50,000 150,000 125,000 100,000 200,000 400,000 250,000 150,000 20,000 Mines. Value. Kakagon 150,000 Bessemer. .. 100,000 Superior 125,000 Odanah (Puggawaugan) 200,000 Ryan 160,000 Moore 100,000 Wood 60,000 Amazon 200,000 Pence 200,000 Badger State 100,000 Caledonia 100,000 Laura 60,000 Lottie 20,000 West Ryan 50,000 Kennon 40,00( Northern Chief fee simple 1,500.000 Penokee & Gogebic Develop- ment Co. fee 2,000,000 Gogebic Iron Syndicate 1,000,000 Newport & Lake Superior Land Co. fee 1,WX>,000 Lake Superior Ship Canal Co. fee 5,000,000 Longyear & Co., and all others 2,000,000 Total value $23,465,000 The sale of the Bonnie and Iron King properties for $1,200,000 early in 1887 was noted as the third largest transaction up to :hat time. A colossal syndicate was planned to obtain possession of the richest mines on the range, and financiers of national reputation were interested in the enterprise. Before the plans were fully ma- tured, the great crash came, and values dwindled from millions to thousands. This was in the summer and fall of 1887. The previous winter the prices of stock had reached the highest notch. "With the opening of navigation in the spring, expected ore shipments "ould not be made from some mines because there was no ore there to ship; from others because there were no facilities for shipment. Lack of dividends created first suspicion and then alarm. There was a great crash; the speculator disappeared from the range and left the legitimate miner to develop the mineral wealth through slower and stabler processes. Years ago the scientist. Increase A. Lapham, intimated that vast deposits of iron lay buried in the range that crosses the boun- dary line of Wisconsin and the northern peninsula of Michigan. It remained for Nat Moore, a roving adventurer, to make the discov- ery that sent scores of prospectors to the region between Penokee The Story of the State. 315 Gap and Gogebic lake. His first trip to the Gogebic was in 1872, when he made a dangerous journey of a hundred and ten miles on snowshoes. It was some years later that he made another long and lonely journey through the woods, and following the path cut through the tangled forest by a hurricane, found clean hematite ore under the roots of a fallen tree. It was this circumstance that made Moore the pioneer of the Gogebic. Like John E. Burton, who be- came the promoter of the mining properties, he amassed in a couple of years a fortune estimated at several millions of dollars. Both men lost all they had made when the collapse came. Timothy O. Howe. Jeremiah M. Rusk. Alexander W. Randall. '^^^ William F. Vilas. WISCONSIN'S CABINET REPRESENTATIVES. (Alexander W. Randall served in President. Johnson's cabinet as Postmaster- General; Timothy O. Howe in President Arthur's cabinet in the same capacity, and William F. Vilas in President Cleveland's cabinet. The latter was trans- ferred to the head of the Interior Department. Jeremiah M. Rusk was Secretary of Agriculture in President Harrison's cabinet.) CHAPTER XVII. A. D. 1897. This, in outline, is fhe history of Wisconsin up to the year of its golden jubilee. It is a narrative that is in many respects unique. From the early daj^s of lawless forest commerce, through French dominion and British rule to the modem era of progressive Ameri- can statehood, there is a series of events as interesting in character if not as important in scope, as those which tell the story of the cavaliers of Virginia, the pilgrims of Massachusetts, or the fortune- seekers of California. There is no oracle to prophesy the future of Wisconsin. The commercial, as well as the political supremacy of the North Ameri- can continent is rapidly moving westward. When the Mississippi valley shall be the seat whence the determining influences upon the nation shall emanate, who shall venture to predict the share allotted to Wisconsin in guiding the destinies of the people? 317 INDEX. Adams, John, 129. Albanel, Father, 69. Alexander, Chas., 295. Allen, Thos. S., 259. Allis, B. P., 283, 295, 303, 305. Allouez, Claude, 18, 25, 58, 61, 64, 65, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71. Amherst, Gen. Jeffrey, 181. Anderson, R. B., 292. Anderson, Thos. G., 140, 147. Anderson, Wendell A., 292. Andre, Louis, 69. Ange, Augustln, 137, 139. Antaya, Pierre, 137. Aquipaguetin, Indian chief, 86. Armour, Phil. D., 283. Arndt, C. C, 188, 196, 197. Arnold, A. A., 299. Arnold, Jonathan B., 188. Astor, John Jacob, 139, 152. Atkinson, Gen., 161, 178. Atwood, David, 297. Babbitt, Clinton, 298. Babcock, J. "W., 298. Bailey, Jos., 269, 270. Baird, Mrs. H. S., 33. Baird, H. S., 223, 294. Baker, Bnos S., 196. Balfour, Capt., 107. Barney, S. S., 298. Barber, J. Allen, 297, 298, 299. Barstow, Wm. A., 223, 221, 230, 231, 233, 294. Barre, La Febvre de la, 184. Barth, Laurent, 137, 139. Barnes, Lyman, 298. Barron, H. D., 299. Barrows, A. R., 299. Barwig, Chas., 298. Bashford, Coles, 223, 224, 230, 231, 294. Beauharnois, Marquis de, 184. Beaujeau, Capt., 95. Beardsley, J. W., 299. Bedford, Thos., 205. Bertley, J. H., 295. Billinghurst, Chas., 297. Bingham, Jas. M., 299. Blaine, Jas. G., 234. Black Hawk, 23, 150, 162, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180. Blatz, Val., 283. Boisrondet, Sieur de, 84. Boilvin, Col. Nicholas, 142, 143, 165. Booth, Sherman M., 226, 227, 228, 230. Bouck, Gabe, 298, 299. Bourassa, Charlotte, 112. Bowman, Jonathan, 297. Bovay, A. E., 234. Braddock, Gen., 22, 113, 114. Bradford, Ira B., 299. Bradley, J. B., 283. Bragg, E. S., 254, 255, 290, 292, 297, 298. Brice, Adele, 215. Brickner, Geo. H., 298. Brigham, Ebenezer, 153, 167. Brown, J. S., 297. Brunson, Dr., 139. Buckstaft, Geo., 299. Bulger, Capt. A. H., 148, 149, 150, 151. Burns, John, 256, 257. ♦ Burnett, Thomas P., 187, 188. Burchard, S. D., 298. Burrows, G. B., 299. Burton, John E., 311, 312, 315. Bushnell, A. M., 298. Butler, Dr. J. D., 19. Butt, C. M., 295. Butterfield, C. W., 103. Cadotte, Michael, 137. Calhoun, John C, 235, 236. Callis, Gen., 257. Calliere, Louis de, 184. Cameron, Angus, 295, 297, 299. Campbell, Jas., 257. Campbell, Colin, 295. Campbell, Geo., 189. Cardinelle, Jean Marie, 138. Carlton, Guy, 184. Carpenter, M. H., 230, 246, 281, 295, 296, 292. Carver, Capt. Jonathan, 26, 122, 123, 124, 125, 139. Case, J. L, 283. Cass, Lewis, 146, 157, 161, 164, 1S5, 219, 294. Cassody, J. B., 295, 299. Caswell, L. B., 289, 298. Cate, Geo. W., 298. Catherwood, Mrs. Henry, 55, 121. Chamberlain, Everett, 189. Chamberlin, T. C, 11, 12. Chase, Warren, 189, 195. 318 Index — Continued. 319 Charlevoix, P., 19. Childs, Ebenezer, 189. Clark, C. B., 298. Clark, George Rogers, 26, 11&, 127, 128, 129. Clegharn, J. F., 295. Cobb, Amasa, 258, 289, 297, 299. Coburn, F. P., 298. Cochrane, John, 295. Colby, C. L., 297. Cole, Orsamus, 295, 296, 297. Collins, Jas., 188, 223, 294. Cook, S. A., 298. Cooper, H. A., 298. Courcelle, Daniel de, 184. Cramahe, Hector T., 184. Cramer, Edw., 293. Crawford, Wm. H., 152. Crawford, Samuel, 295. Crooks, Ramsey, 119, 156. Cross, J. B., 242, 294. Curtin, Jeremiah, 292. Gushing, Wm. B., 262, 263, 264, 2G5, 266, 267, 268. Cutler, Manassah, 132. Dane, Nathan, 132. D'Angouleme, Duchess, 241. Darling, Mason C., 297. Davidson, J. H., 298. Davis, David C., 293. Davis, Jefferson, 271, 272, 274, 275. Dekora, Indian warrior, 179. Delaney, A. K., 298. Denonvllle, Marquis de. 184. DePeyster, Arent S., 116. Deuster, P. V., 293, 298. Dewey, Nelson, 220, 223, 29!. Dichman, Ernst, 292. Dick, William, 28. Dick, Alonzo, 28. Dickson, Robert, 144, 145, 146. Dixon, Lr. S., 295, 297. Dodge, Henry, 158, 161, 167, 177, 178, 180, 185, 187, 188, 295. Donnelly, J. G., 293. Doolittle, Jas. R., 280, 281, 294, 295. Doran, John L., 246. Doty, J. D., 181. 182, 185, 186, 187, 188, 297. Downer, Jason, 295. Drake, Geo. C, 253. Dreutzer, O. E., 293. Ducharme, Dominic, 108, 137. Ducharme, Jean, 108. 115. Duerst, Mathias, 213, 214. Dunn, Charles, 185, 187. Du L'Hut, Daniel, 56, 78, 79, 87, 88. Durkee, Chas., 189, 234, 295, £97. Durant, E. G., 295. Eastman, Benj. C, 297. Ecuyer, Jean, 138, 139. Edwards, Ninian, 185. Ellis, A. G., 236. Eldredge, C. A., 297, 298, 289. Engelmann, N., 283. Ernst, Geo. R., 293. Esterley, Geo., 283. Btherington, Capt., 109, 110. Fairchild, Lucius, 244, 2.54, 292, 294, 299. Farnsworth, William, 155. Farwell, L. J., 222, 223, 294. Featherstonhaugh, Geo., 168. Ferguson, Benj., 294. Field, W. W., 299. Fifield, S. S., 299. Finch, Earl P., 299. Finch, W. R., 292. Four Legs, Indian chief, 9ff. Franklin, Benjamin, 129. Fratt, N. D., 295. Frazer, W. C, 185. Fremont, John C, 234. Frontenac, Count, 72, 80, 184. Gagnier, Registre. 159. Galissoniere, Count, 184. Gardner, W. E., 293. Garfield, J. A., 290, 291. Garland, B. S., 226, 227. Gautier, Chas., 126, 127, 130. Giard, Bazil, 137, 139, Gillespie, Ezekiel, 282. Gilman, Henry, 20. Gilson, F. L., 299. Glory of the Morning, 26, 123, 130. Glover, Joshua, 226, 227, 230. Goldschmidt, Julius, 292. Gorrell, Lieut. Jas., 107, 108, 109. Graham, Warren, &Z. Graham, Duncan, 160. Gratiot, Henry, 167. Griffin, M., 298. Grignon, Augustin, 91, 113, 143. Groseilliers, Medart, 24, 47, 48, 49, .50, 51. Grottkau, Paul, 301, 302, 307, 308. Guenther, Richard, 292, 298. Haldimand, Gen., 184. Hall, Daniel, 299. Hamilton, Gen., 126, 129. Hamilton, Wm. S., 167, 180. Hanchett, Luther, 297. Hanson, Dr., 241. Haraszthy, Count Augustus, 210. Harnden, Henry, 271. Harrison, Wm. Henry, 185. Harvey, Mrs. Cordelia, 2^1. Harvey, L. P., 189, 294, 223. Hastings, S. D., 295. 520 Index — Co nt i nu ed . Haugen, Nils P., 289, 298. Hazelton, G. C, 297. Hazelton, Gerry W., 297, 298. Heg, Evan, 211. Heg, Hans C, 246. Henderson, Robt.^ 295. Hennepin, Friar Louis, 19, 78, 79, SO, 81, 83, 86, 87, 88, 105. Henry, Alexander, 55, 118, 119, 120, 121. 137. Hickox, Geo. W., 188. Hickox, Clark, 171. Hicks, John, 292. Hoard, W. D., 294. Hobart, H. C, 276, 277, 278, 279, 294, 293 Hogan, J. J., 299. Holton, EJ. D., 188, 223, 242, 294. Hope, Henry, 184. Hopkins, Benj. P., 297. Horn, Fred. M., 299. Houghton, R. P., 283. Howard, Gen. Benjamin, 152. Howe, Timothy O., 230, 233, 292, 295, 29; Houghton, G. G., 283. Hoy, Dr. R. P., 19. Hubbell, Levi, 223, 295. Hudd, Thos. R., 298. Hull, Wm., 299. Humphrey, H. L., 298. Irvin, David, 185. Irvine, Palius Emeline, 181. Jackson, Andre^w, 185. Jackson, Chester E., 293. Jackson, M. M., 292, 295. Jay, John, 129. Jefferson, Thomas, 132. Jenkins, J. J., 298. Jenkins, J. G., 295. Joinville, Prince de, 235, 236, 239. Joliet, Louis, 66, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 103. Jonas, Carl, 293. Jones, Burr W., 298. Jones, Evan R., 293. Jones, Geo. "W., 185, 187. Jonquiere, Marquis de, 184. Jourdain, Madeline, 236, 240. Juneau, Solomon, 140. Kanouse, T. L., 295. Keenan, Geo., 293. Keogh, Edw., 299. Keokuk, Indian chief, 180. Kelley, J. H., 283. Kelly, D. M., 297, 299. Kellogg, L. H., 283. Kellon, D. H., 37. Keyes, E. W., 297. Kickbusch, F. W., 293. Kilbourn, Byron, 188. Kimball, A. M., 298. King, Rufus, 292. Knight, J. H., 297. Knowlton, Jas. H., 223, 230, 233, 205. La Follette, R. M., 298. La Fourche, Indian chief. 111. La Ilontan, Baron, 88, 106. Langlade, Augustin, 111, 137. Langlade, Chas., 22, 92, 111, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 126, 127, 137. Lapham, Increase A., 15, 16, 314. Larrabee, C. H., 295, 297. La Salle, Robert Cavelier, 18, 61, 63, 71, 78, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85. Lawe, John, 156. Leavenworth, Gen., 96. Leland, Frank, 293. Le Sueur, Pierre, 88. Lewis, J. T., 294. Lignery, Sieur de, 94, 95. Lipcap, Solomon, 159. Lockwood, Judge, 159. Loomis, A. D., 283. Long, John, 130. Louvigny, Sieur do, 93, 94. Lovell, F. S., 299. Loyer, J. B., 160. Ludington, Harrison, 283. Ludington, Jas., 283. Lynde, W. P., 297, 298. Lynch, Thos., 298. Lyon, W. P., 295, 297. McArthur, Arthur, 231. McBride, R. P., 293. McClellan, Geo. B., 234. McCord, M. H., 298. McDill, A. S., 298. McGinley, Daniel, 293. Mclndoe, Walter D., 297. McKay, Lieut-Col. W., 14b, 147, 118. McKenney, Col. T. L., 161. Macy, J. B., 297. Magoon, H. S., 298. Mallory, J. A., 295. Mandeville, Jack, 160. Mann, Curtis, 283. Mason, Stevens T., 185. Marin, Capt. Perriere, 97, 98, 99, 100. Marquette, Pere, 25, 63, 65, 68, 70, 71, 72, 106. Marshall, R. D., 295. Martin, Morgan L., 188. May, Reuben, 295. Meeker, Dr. IMoses, 167. Menard, Rene, 65, 66. Menneville, Marquis de, 184. Merriman, C. W., 293. Metcalf, W. H., 283. Miller. Capt. John, 152. Index — Continued. 321 Miller, L. M., 298. Mills, T. B., 299. Minor, E. S., 298. Mirandeau, Jean Baptiste, 137, 140. Mitchell, Alex., 257, 2S3, 297. Mitchell, John L., 295, 297, 298. Moore, N. D., 312, 314. Morgan, Jas., 295. Morgan, Maj., 152. Murray, Gen. Jas., 1S4. Nattestaad, Ole Knudson, 211. Nazro, John, 283. Nea-pope, Indian warrior, 173, 174, 178. Neill, E. D., 106. Newman, A. W., 295. Nicolet. Jean, 22, 41, 42, 43. 44, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77. Noble, Wm., 254. Olin, John M., 295. Orton, H. S., 230, 233, 295. Otjen, Thee, 298. Paine, Byron, 228, 229, 289, 295. Paine, H. E., 297. Palmer, H. L., 294, 299. Parkinson, Daniel M., 160. Pauquette, Indian trader, 112. 139, 140. Peck. Geo. W., 294, 295. Percival, Jas. G., 210. Perkins, Lieut. James., 144, 145, 147. Perrot, Nicholas, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, CI, 62. Pfister, Guido, 283. Pinney, S. U., 295. Plankinton, John, 283. Pontiac, Indian chief, 109, 110. Porter, Geo. B.. 185. ' Potter, John F., 293, 297, 299. Pound, T. C, 298. Powell, D. F., 295. Price, H. H., 298. Price, W. T., 297, 298. Pritchard, Col., 274, 275. Pryor, Roger, 299. Quarles, J. V., 297. Radisson, Pierre, 24. 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 137. Randall. A. A.. 223. 230, 244. 292, 294. 296. Rankin, Jos.. 298. Reaume. Judge Chas., 142. Red Bird, Indian chief, J58, 159, 161, 162, 163, 164. Red Thunder, Indian chief, 145. Reid. T. B., 293. Reid. A. .1., 293- Returning Cloud, 33. Reymert, J. D., 211. Richmond. T. C. 295. Ribourde, Gabriel, 84. Roberts, Samuel, 130, 131. Robinson, Chas. D., 32, 285, 294. Robinson, W. W., 293. Rolette, Joseph, 146, 153. Rounds, Lester, 189. Rublee, Horace, 289, 292, 296. Rublee, W. A., 293. Rusk, Jeremiah, 292, 294, 297, 298, 305, 309. Ryan, E. G., 223, 230, 233, 247, 248, 295. Rycraft, John, 230. St. Clair, Arthur, 185. St. Cosme, Father, 88. St. Lusson, 56. Salomon, Edward, 245, 249,, 294, 295, 296. Sauerhering, Edw., 298. Sawyer, Philetus, 289, 295, 296, 297, 298. Schilling, Rohert, 305, 306, 308. Schurz, Carl, 208, 293. Scoheld, Edw., 294. Seymour, Chas, 293. Shafter, Jas. M., 299. Shaw, Geo. B., 298. Shaw, John, 163. Shelby, Isaac, 145. Sherman, Wm. T., 2.>1 Sholes, C. C, 299. Silverthorn, W. C, 295. Simcoe. John Graves, 184. gmith, Aaron, 201. Smith, A. D., 228. 29.^. Smith, Campbell, 189. Smith, Henry, 298. Smith, Hyrum. 199. Smith, J. B.. 226. 242. Smith, Joseph, 199. Smith, Wm. E., 294, 295, 299, 308. Sloan, A. Scott, 297. Sloan, I. C, 297. Snelling, Col., 161. Spooner. John C 294, 29.5. Somers, P. J., 298. Stedman, W. P.. 275. Stephenson, Isaac. 298. Stewart, Alex., 298. Stow, Alexander, 295. Strang, James J.. 188. 198. 199. 200, 201. 202, 203. 204, 205, 206. Strong, Moses M., 196, 299. Sumner, D. H., 298. Spooner, Roger, 293. Spooner, Wyman, 299. Tallmadge, J. J., 185, 1S8, 294. Taylor, David, 295. Taylor, W. R., 284. 294, 295. Taylor. Zachary, 169, 177, 180, 219, 292. Tecumseh, Indian chief, 144. Thomas. O. B., 298. Thomson, A. M., 299. 322 Ftidev — Contintied. Thormaehlen, Anton, 251. Tomah, Indian chief, 144. Tonty, Henry de, 56, 75, 78. 80, 83, 84. 85. Toopunkah Zeze, Indian chief, 157. Traeumer, Geo. P.. 308. Truesdell, G., 283. Tuttle, Hiram, 293. Tuttrop, Christ., 295. Turner, F. J., 156. Turner, A. J., 291. Tweedy, J. H., 223, 294. Upham, D. A. J., 223, 242, 243, 294. Upham, W. H., 294. Utley, W. L., 295. Van Nostrand, Jas., 201. Van Schaick, I. W., 298. Vaudreuil, Marquis de, 184. Vieau, Jacques, 140. Vilas, Wm. F., 291, 292, 295. 297. Villiers, Sieur de, 95, 96. Vineyard, Jas. R., 188, 196, 197. Vogel, Fred, 283. Waldo. O. H., 296. Walker, Isaac P., 225, 280, 295. Walking Turtle, Indian chief, 162. Wallber, Albert, 276. Walllfier, Emil. 305. Washburn, C. C, 283, 289, 294, 296, 297. Washington, George, 22, 113, 114. Wekau, Indian warrior, 159, 162, 163. Wells, D. A., 298. Wells, Daniel, 283, 297. Wenthworth, Alex., 205. West, W. B., 293. West, T. S., 276, 277. Wheelan, Jirah B., 201. Wheeler, Ezra, 297. Whistler, Gen., 161. Whitcomb, Edw., 201. White Cloud, Indian prophet, 173. Whitesides, N. E., 299. Wliiton, E. v., 230, 295. Wight, Lyman, 198. Wight, W. W., 239. Williams, C. G., 289, 297, 298. Williams, Eleazer, ISl, 235, 23r,, 237, 23S. 239, 240, 241. Winans, John, 298. Winslow, J. B.. 295. Woodward, Gilbert M., 295, 29S. Wolfe, Gen., 115. Young, Brigham, 200.