mm THE MAKING or WISCONSIN SMITH maiamaaammm Class F_11L Rook . S (b 5 CopghtN" COPyRIGHT DEPOSIT. c <= 3 ^ O o H ^ < < H 02 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN BY CARRIE J. SMITH FORMERLY TEACHER OF HISTORY RIVER FALLS STAIE NORMAL SCHOOL ILLUSTRATED A. FLANAGAN COMPANY CHICAGO . . r -"^ fuBHARt of 0^iN«' iESS \ 3 wo copies riBCvjivj-j APR 30 ii^OB COPYRIGHT 1908 BY A. FLANAGAN COMPANY CONTENTS I Wisconsin and the Eed Man 13 II Wisconsin's Pioneer— 1634-1635 35 III Two VoYAGEURS— 1654-1659 47 IV Wisconsin's First Soldier of the Cross — 1660-I66r ;.;; . . . : 56 V Claude Allouez. Father of Wisconsin Missions— 1665-1676 64 VI Perrot^ Prince of Forest Rangers — 1665-1699 76 VII The Mysterious River Flowing Southward— 1673 87 VIII "The House That Walked Upon the Water"— 1679 105 IX The Thorn IN THE Flesh— nPMr43 118 X Wisconsin Becomes English Domain — 1756-1763 137 XI Wisconsin's First English Traveler — 1766-1768 147 XII Revolutionary Days— 1775-1783 156 XII L The Northwest— 1780-1787 167 XIV The Taking of Prairie du Chien— 1814. . 173 5 Q CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XV The Story of Red Bird— 1827 180 XVI Early Settlements 192 XVII Black Hawk War— 1832 199 XVIII Our Xame axd Our Bouxdaries 223 XIX Territorial Events 236 XX Statehood and the Boundaries 250 XXI The Underground Railroad 257 XXII The Lost Dauphin 261 XXIII Civil War Incidents 265 XXIV Our Industries 278 XXV Our Government, Our People and Our Schools 295 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE New State Capitol at Madison 2 Eegions of Ice Masses (Map) 14 Some Mound Forms 16 Elephant Mound 17 Man-Shaped Mound 18 Wisconsin Indian Reservations (Map) 20 Menominee Wooden Mortar and Pestle 22 Indian Clay Vessel 23 Location of Wisconsin Indians (Map) 24 A Sioux Chief 26 Indian Weapons 29 Champlain 's Map, 1632 39 NicoLET 's Landing at Green Bay 42 The Wisconsin Eiver 48 Huron Birch-Bark House 52 Menard 's Route (Map) 59 Picturesque Rocks of Wisconsin 65 Soleil Presented to St. Francis Xavier Mission by Perrot. . 70 The De Pere Monument to Allouez 73 A Coureur de Bois • ■ • 77 Supposed Site of Perrot 's Winter Quarters, 1685-6 84 Louis Jolliet 88 Father Marquette 89 Marquette 's Manuscript Map 97 7 8 LIST OF TLLUSTEATIO^'S PAGE The Griffon 105 Egbert de La Salle 106 Henri de Tonti 110 A Sioux Warrior 112 Buffalo Drawn by Hennepin 115 A Fox Chief 120 The Dells of Wisconsin 128 Line of French Forts (Map) 138 Auuustin Grignon 143 Captain Jonathan Carver 149 Carver 's Wisconsin CIaim (Map) 154 George Eogers Clark 160 The Drummer Boy and the Sergeant 162 Conflict of Claims to the Northwest (Map) 168 Jefferson's Division of the Northwest Territory (Map)... 170 Solomon Juneau 193 Counties of Wisconsin in 1836 (Map) 197 Cession of 1804 (Map) 200 Black Hawk 203 Map of Black Hawk War 207 Black Hawk War Memorial, Fort Atkinson 218 Maps of Territory Now Including Wisconsin — A (1800-1809) 224 B (1809-1818) 225 C (1818-1836) 226 The Territory of Chippewau (Map) 227 Division of Northwest Territory According to Ordinance of 1787 (Map) 228 Wisconsin Territory, 1836 (Map) 229 The Capitol in 1869 232 The Capitol in 1904 233 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 9 PAGE Alexander Mitchell 237 Gov. James D. Doty 239 The Wisconsin Phalanx Long House Near Ripon 242 Plates of Laban 246 Map of Wisconsin 251 Eleazer Williams 262 A Farm in Northern Wisconsin 279 Winter Scene in a Logging Camp 282 Loading in the Woods 283 Hauling Logs 284 A Log Pond and Sawmill 285 Prospect Farm and Guernsey Calves 286 Creameries and Cheese Factories in Wisconsin (Map) 289 Governor Davidson 's Tobacco Field 292 State Historical Library, Madison 296 Main Building, University of Wisconsin 297 College of Agriculture, University of Wisconsin 298 University of Wisconsin Campus 299 State Normal School, Whitewater 300 Normal School at Stevens Point 306 INTRODUCTION This little volume appeals to me in a variety of ways. Not only is it a clear, comprehensive review of the main forces that have builclecl this common- wealth; not only is it history — but in a sense it is prophecy, for it is written for the young, and in them lie the disposition of coming events. I am glad of its advent. We need more state pride in the hearts of our people. A study of the history of the United States leaves the student with the impres- sion that the destiny of our country has been con- tributed to mainly by two states, Massachusetts and Virginia. Nobly have they done their share, but here in the Mississippi valley lies the great heart of the Nation, and Wisconsin lies very close to that heart. An honest pride in one's state, vocation and home is one of the most powerful incentives to meritorious action, a builder of desirable character and citizenship. We are a wonderfully composite people. Wiscon- sin has felt the influence of two great waves of im- migration that have wrought its transformation out of a wilderness of exquisite beauty. It received in pioneer days the choicest blood of New England and 11 12 INTEODUCTION the Middle States. These people gave iis our match- less state constitution and laid the foundation of our system of laws and state institutions. Most im- pressively did they stamp the love they bore for education upon the unfolding thought of the state. But the spirit of conquest was in them, and they moved on, in a large measure, to build the states to the west. Following came the sturdy farmers and artisans of northern and middle Europe — the Ger- man, the Scandinavian, the Bohemian — with their intense love of the soil, industry and thrift. Born conservators of fertility, they have brought Wiscon- sin to the forefront in the prosperity of her agricul- ture and the advancement of agricultural education. It is a pleasant picture to contemplate. In the great field of industrial conquest of mind over matter, the building up of a noble civilization, the firm establishment of law, order and liberty, no state in the Union has made a prouder record. It is one that should fill the hearts of our youth with hope, ambition and honest purpose. W. I). Hoard. Fort Atkinson, Wis. THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN CHAPTER I WISCONSIN AND THE EED MAN If we may believe the story of the rocks, Wisconsin is old, much older than most of America and Europe, for the northern part of its surface was almost the first land of the continent to be lifted above the ''waters that covered the earth." How many hundreds — nay, thousands — of years elapsed before this region was ready to be the dwell- ing-place of even the rudest savage, we cannot tell. We know that the land rose, sank beneath the waters, rose again and was covered, all but the southwestern portion, with vast masses of ice which plowed their way over its surface, scooping out hollows and val- leys which later were filled with water from the melt- ing ice. Thus was the land of the Badger State not only bounded on two sides by great fresh-water seas, but beautified, enriched and drained by more than two thousand lakes and many streams. The heat that melted the ice also made vegetation grow, thus in time covering the naked earth with for- ests and grasSj and it was ready for man. 13 REGIONS OP ICE MASSES WISCONSIN AND THE RED MAN 15 Who the first dwellers within the borders of Wis- consin were, and whence they came, history does not tell. They left no records on parchment, paper or stone of their origin or race. We can only guess about them, fancy, imagine and end by saying, ' ' We do not know. ' ' But we do know that when the first white man, on his way to find the Great Sea (the Pacific), set foot upon Wisconsin's soil, its fertile valleys were already fruitful with maize grown by the Red Man, its streams and forests teeming with fish and game which he skillfully made the victim of his bow, spear and net, its natural lines of travel marked by popu- lous Indian villages. Many have believed and many would still like to believe that these Eed Men were not the first comers, that a people of different race, manners and customs preceded them and were driven out by them ; but this belief seems not to be founded on facts. Its proof has rested upon the various mounds of earth scat tered over this and neighboring states, said to have been built by a peculiar people, who have been called, for lack of a better name. Mound Builders. That these mounds exist is true. Built upon the banks of streams and lakes or on neighboring high- lands are thousands of them — some mere piles of earth overgrown with grass, others rude outlines of bird, turtle, lizard, snake, squirrel, deer or buffalo, man and weapons (the club and spear), and still 16 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN SOME MOUND FORMS others in parallel lines Laving circles and corners, with high earthworks enclosed. Of the last-named forms the most famous, and the only one of its kind in Wisconsin, is that at Aztalan, Jefferson County, discovered about seventy years ago. It was long believed to have been a citadel for defense, its position on Rock River seeming to give color to this belief, but excavations made in recent years have shown that it may have been a burial or worship mound, or possibly both. Two bodies in a sitting posture have been found in it, and various fragments of earthenware — broken vessels varying in width from a few inches to three feet. The wall WISCONSIN AND THE RED MAN 17 making the enclosure is nearly three thousand feet long and the ridge, when first examined, was twenty- two feet wide. At regular intervals on the outside were mounds about eighty feet apart and forty feet in diameter. Of the man-shaped mounds, the most nearly per- fect one is that near Baraboo, Sauk County. This ^^ '''n /Ifiyiiv.'iyiyi'i'iHrJWTi'wi^ywii'i'iyiiw mMmi%^^ % i^mmmim///^ I if ELEPHANT MOUND represents a giant striding toward the setting sun, with a body one hundred eighty-four feet and a head thirt}" feet long. Who were the builders of these strange tumuli! For what purpose were they built — for worship, burial, defense, as dwelling-sites or as clan totems? Men have earnestlv searched and studied in their 18 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN desire to answer these ques- tions. They have dug into the depths of hundreds of the mounds, and are now practi- cally agreed that they are the work not of a peculiar race preceding the Indians, but of the Indians themselves; not, indeed, those whom the French explorers found dwelling here, for the mounds were even then old and the Indians denied all knowledge of them — their pur- pose or how they came to be — but of the forefathers of these and kindred tribes/ Wisconsin probably was oc- cupied by two or three differ- ent mound-building tribes, the common mound forms, found also extensively in other states, being burial sites, while the figures, peculiar to Wisconsin, may have been worship huts, dwelling sites, council houses or defensive earthworks. No positive statement concerning them can yet be made.' The fact that the Indians found here by the Euro- MAN-SHAPED MOUND 1 "That the mound-builders were Indians pertaining to or ancestors of the tribes inhabiting this country when discovered by Europeans is now too well established to admit of a reasonable doubt." — Cyrus Thomas, of the Bureau of Ethnology. 2 "It is a curious fact that the most flourishing cities of the southern half of the state, Milwaukee, Madison, Beloit, Waukesha, Fort Atkinson, WISCONSIN AND THE RED MAN 19 peans disclaimed all knowledge of these mounds and that they no longer built them is of no especial importance in determining their builders. Many modern peoples have dropped customs of their an- cestors, and, had no records been kept, would prob- ably" show total ignorance of them. Accepting, then, the results of study and research and discarding mere conjecture, we should drop from our history the term Mound Builder as meaning a distinct, singular race of people. If we use it at all, we should do so meaning simply mound-building Indians. So far as we know, then, the Red Man was the original owner of the soil of Wisconsin, if priority of discovery followed by settlement constitutes a basis of ownership for any but the white man. The Red Man it was who roamed at will over valley and forest, prairie and stream, raising his crops of maize, beans, squashes and tobacco in summer and hunting the buffalo, elk, moose, bear, deer and beaver in winter. He it was whom the white man slew, de- spoiled of his lands, drove beyond the confines of the state, or penned up within a few undesirable acres called reservations.^ By might, not right, did Pewaiikee, Sheboygan, Racine. Manitowoc, Prairie du Cliien, are located whore the presence of numerous 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 '" — Henry E. Legler. 1 There are in Wisconsin at the present time six reservations, com- prising a total of 337.624 acres. Where the Indian once owned all, he now owns a meager fraction, about 1-100. 20 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN "'fo curr J^A POlNTf the white man enter and possess the land, for he looked upon it and saw that it was good. That it was not the English but the French who be- gan this work of dispossession and spoliation is acci- dental, a mere matter of geography and not of superior morality. The French began, the English completed, and we, their descendants, en- joy the spoils. The belief that there is no good Indian but a dead one is responsible for many of the wrongs done the Red Man, greed may account for the remainder. That the Indian was and is a savage — cruel, crafty, ofttimes treacherous and faithless — is doubt- less true, but the white man has not always been kind, open, trustworthy and without guile even in his relations with his brother white man. The simple truth is, our ancestors wanted the val- leys o-f the Eock, the Wisconsin, the Fox, the Chip- pewa, the Mississippi, for their own use. To obtain these they must dispossess the original owners. This WISCONSIN INDIAN RESERVATIONS WISCONSIN AND THE RED MAN 21 they did, for the most part by fire and sword, by superior numbers and skill, not by honorable pur- chase and treaty. From the few representatives left within our bor- ders to-day (less than ten thousand, and that num- ber yearly decreasing) we can learn little of our first inhabitants, for the Indians are a people of legend and tradition handed down from generation to generation, and not of recorded history. If we would know of them — their life, manners, customs, beliefs — we must go to the records of the French ex- plorers and missionaries who first visited them, traded with them and lived among them. From scattered letters and journals of these men, we learn that Wisconsin was once the home of differ- ent nations of three of the greatest Indian stocks — the Iroquois, the Sioux, and the Algonquins. The Hurons, kindred of the Iroquois, yet harried and pursued with fury by these fierce savages, took refuge in the forests of northern Wisconsin, where they disputed the ground with the Chippewas, an Algonquin nation. The Algonquins were the most numerous of the Wisconsin Indians and also the most intelligent. To prove this latter assertion, we have only to cite the fact that Powhatan, King Philip, Tecumseh, Pontiac and Black Hawk were all of this stock. Of the many Algonquin tribes which made their home within our borders, the Menominees are the 22 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN only ones still living here. They are fine looking and of light complexion, the latter mark of distinction said by the French to be due to their eating so freely of the wild rice abundant in their lakes and streams. They used to believe that they had once been animals or birds and that they had been changed into human beings at the mouth of the Menominee River where MENOMINEE WOODEN MORTAR AND PESTLE Marinette now stands. At the death of any one of them a picture of the animal from which he was de- scended was painted on a board and placed at the head of his grave. The Pottawattomies, on the islands of Green Bay, were the most restless of the Algonquin tribes. Later we find them at Sault Ste. Marie, driven there by the Sioux. These are the Indians whose traditions gave to Longfellow much of the material for ''Hiawatha.'' WISCONSIN AND THE EED MAN 23 The Sacs (Saiiks) and Foxes (Outagamies), once friends of the French, became their bitter enemies. Against them and them only of the Algonquins the French for many years waged one of the most bar- barous of wars. They at first lived in the Fox River valley, but later the valleys of the Rock and Wiscon- sin were covered by their trails and dotted with their villages. The Mascoutens, the ^' Fire Nation," were an Algonquin tribe dwelling in the Green Lake re- gion. They have disappeared from the face of the earth, no trace of them having been discovered since the time of the Revolutionary War. The Kickapoos once lived on the Wisconsin River, l)ut long ago they journeyed south and became ab- sorbed in the Creek nation. Mightiest of Wisconsin hunters were the supple Chippewas, or Ojibwas, as they called themselves. They crowded out the Sioux from the Lake Superior region and forced them to remain near the Missis- sippi, St. Croix and St. Louis Rivers, but it took them INDIAN CLAY VESSEL 24 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN LOCATION OF WISCONSIN INDIANS nearly a century of bitter warfare to do it. The Chippewas had but one word for '' Sioux '^ and ' ' enemy. ' ' The Winnebagoes, of Sioux stock, occupied the region of Lake Winnebago. At present they are said to be the ^'poorest, meanest and most ill-visaged of Wisconsin Indians/' but originally they were war- like, of fine physique and great strength. WISCONSIN AND THE RED MAN 25 These, in brief, were the Indians of Wisconsin when the country was first visited by the French. We have only to glance at a county map of the state at the present time to get a fair idea of their location. That the Indians were not much more numerous than they were in those days before the white man had reduced their number, is due to famine and pesti- lence and their many wars. We know that tribe warred upon tribe, nation upon nation, kinsman against kinsman, as their white brethren have done through all time. But, cruel and savage as was their warfare, this did not reduce their numbers as did famine and pestilence. Disease naturally follows war, and in a settlement of savage people who know nothing of sanitation, fatal epidemics are unavoid- able. Winter was always a time of famine, for al- though the Indian raised crops of maize, squash and beans, his methods of farming were so crude that his harvests were not abundant. One of the earliest French explorers of Wisconsin spent a winter in a famine-stricken village and has left a description of it. Wlien the winter hunt failed, scores of men, women and children slowly starved to death. Letting to-morrow take care of itself, the Indian starved in what might easily have been a land of plenty. The story of Minnehaha, Laughing Water, of whose sad death from famine Longfellow sings so sweetly, finds hundreds of parallels in the history of the long, cold winters of Wisconsin before 26 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN A SIOUX CHIEF the white man possessed the land. Often these people escaped starvation only by eating acorns, bark, fur robes and ground bones. Contrary to general belief, the Indians were not a wandering race. They were, as a rule, devotedly at- tached to their native soil, and their villages were as WISCONSIN AND THE RED MAN 27 numerous in proportion to their numbers as are tlie cities of the white man. The Foxes and the Winne- bagoes lived in the same localities for many genera- tions, and when the former were driven out by the French, they tried again and again to return. It is true that they moved about some, but this was to find game and fish, and was within what were to them well-defined limits. The Indians were divided into clans, and each clan had its sign — bird, beast or reptile — this sign being called totem by the Algonquins. There were differ- ent tribes in the same clan, and they often spoke dif- ferent languages, but the members of a clan were always closely bound together. In the wigwam of a clansman, far from his own home, an Indian was as welcome as in his own village. The Indians had no settled form of government. True, they had tribal heads, called chiefs, but these chiefs could only advise, not command. Even the war chiefs had no more power, their real influence coming from their personal force or past achievements, not from delegated authority. They could say to their tribes only, "It would be better to do so and so.'' Should a war chief desire to undertake an expedi- tion against some neighboring or faraway tribe, he would fast for several days, then invite the young braves to a feast of dog-flesh at night, he himself, lowever, still fasting. After eating, the guests would form in a circle, whereupon he would suddenly leap 28 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN in among them and recite to them in loud, monoto- nous tones the wonderful deeds he and his ancestors had done, accompanying this recital with gestures expressive of shooting, tomahawking and scalping, usually slashing at a post that represented the enemy, but occasionally making a feint of attacking some one in the circle. Thus worked up to an excitement that bordered on madness, the warriors would follow his example, giv- ing their terrible war whoop with all the power of their savage lungs. This, the oft-referred-to war dance, was their enlistment for war. The next morn- ing, covered with war paint and adorned with feathers, they left the village, the war whoop still resounding, until, at a short distance out, they re- lieved themselves of their finery and stole through the forest in single file, stealthy, silent, swift. The weapons used by the Indian in warfare were the tomahawk, the war club and the bow and arrow. The first-named had a stone blade shaped like a hatchet and fastened to a wooden handle by means of thongs. War clubs were made in a similar man- ner, these being used to brain the foe in battle. The bow and arrow were the implements of the chase as well as weapons in war. Buffaloes were very numerous along the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers and on southern Wisconsin prairies. Elk, moose, deer and even caribou were found in the forests of the central and northern parts. Deer were hunted WISCONSIN AND THE RED MAN 29 all through the year, but the bear and the beaver were the principal objects of the winter hunt. To hunt the larger animals big parties often were formed, but small game was plentiful near INDIAN WEAPONS home. When wild ducks came to eat the wild rice in the Fox Eiver, they were snared with nets. Pigeons by the hundreds, swan, geese and even wild turkeys, were caught in nets spread in open places in the woods. 30 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN The Indian used nets in fishing, also, but spearing was practised when conditions were favorable. Whitefish, trout and sturgeon were al)undant. Feasts and ceremonials of various kinds were com- mon among the Indians. In these the calumet, or peace-pipe, played an important part. Its name sig- nifies its use, it being always the token of friendship and peace. In ^'Hiawatha'' Longfellow tells us that the adop- tion of the peace-pipe occurred somewhere in the vicinity of Lake Superior — that here the Great Spirit, Gitche Manito the Mighty, called the nations together in council. They came with painted faces and hearts burning with hereditary hatred. The Great Spirit was moved with pity. From the red 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 then told the warriors to bathe in the stream and wash the war paint from their faces and the blood from their hands ; to bury their war clubs and to make for themselves the pipe of peace. This they did. And departed each one homeward. WISCONSIN AND THE KED MAN 31 The Indians not only made tents, or tepees, of pelts, bnt they also built roomy cabins and forts of bark. For their cabins the Hurons drove into the ground long poles as thick as a man's leg, joined them by bending, and fastened them ^Yith strips of basswood bark. Cross-pieces a little less in diameter were interwoven between these poles, and the whole was then covered with fir or cedar bark. A door at each end gave entrance. The cabins were often large enough for several families. The forts were made of stakes planted in three rows. The outside row were as thick as a man's thigh and thirty feet high, the stakes in this and the second row being about seven inches apart. The second row, a foot inside the first, supported the first b}^ leaning over at the top. The third row, four feet from the first, was made of the trunks of trees fif- teen or sixteen feet high, placed very close together. Loopholes were cut in the timbers, the whole making a structure of strong defense. The Sioux made their cabins of buffalo skins, which they laced and sewed together. The Pottawat- tomies built theirs of mats made of reeds. The Indians of the Great Lakes were fortunate in having at hand and in great abundance the birch to furnish bark for their canoes. In ''Hiawatha" Longfellow describes how these canoes were made, — ''Give nie of yonr bark, O Bireli-Treel Of voiir volloW bark, O Birch-Tree! 33 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN I a light canoe will build me, * * * That shall float upon the river, Like a yellow leaf in autumn! " * * * With his knife the tree he girdled; Just beneath its lowest branches, Just above the roots he cut it. Till the sap came oozing outward; Down the trunk, from top to bottom, Sheer he cleft the bark asunder. With a wooden wedge he raised it, Stripped it from the trunk unbroken. ''Give me of your boughs, O Cedar! Of your strong and pliant branches. My canoe to make more steady, Make more strong and firm beneath me ! ' ' Down he hewed the boughs of cedar. Shaped them straightway to a framework, Like two bows he formed and shaped them, Like two bended bows together. ''Give me of your roots, O Tamarack! * * * * My canoe to bind together, So^ to bind the ends together That tlie water may not enter, That the river may not wet me! " Tf * * From the earth he tore the fibres, Tore the tough roots of the Larch-Tree, Closely sewed the bark together, Bound it closely to the framework. "Give me of your balm, O Fir-Tree! Of your balsam and your resin. So to close the seams together That the water may not enter, That tlie river may not wet me! " * * # And he took the tears of balsam. Took the resin of the Fir-Tree, Smeared therewith each seam and fissure, Made each crevice safe from water. WISCONSIN AND THE EED MAN 33 Thus the Birch Canoe was buikled In the valley, by the river, In tlie bosom of the forest. In the southern i)art of the state, where there is no birch, the Indians made "dugouts," canoes formed of the hollo wed-out trunks of butternut trees. They used the butternut in preference to lighter woods be- cause they believed it stood long contact with water better, and was less likely to be injured by the boulders and gravel they were often obliged to run over. Life among the Indians was not all made up of hunting, fishing and fighting. They had their games of chance and skill. In summer they played a kind of ball game called la crosse, from the crosse (racquet) used by each player to receive and return the ball. This game was not unlike a combination of modern tennis and football. The Eed Man was a born gambler, and in all his games of chance was inclined to play for heavy stakes. The Indians often made large bets on la crosse, but the dish game and "straws" were their favorite gambling games. Wisconsin Indians, in common with others of their race, had a religion, and, such as it was, followed it faithfully. They believed in good and evil spirits, and in almost every step they took prayed for the aid of the good spirit or sought to appease the evil one. They offered sacrifices with ceremonies, re- 34 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN minding us of the ancient peoples of Europe and Asia. During storms they would often throw a dog into the lake, saying to the manito, or spirit, ''That is to appease thee. ' ^ In Emerson's "Indian Myths'' is given the Win- nebago tradition corresponding to the Bible story of the creation of man and woman: ''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 fragment into a man. The woman was then 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 — manitos to convey prayers or supplications; to the woman a seed of every kind of grain was given, and to her were indi- cated the roots and herbs for medicine. Now the Great Spirit commanded the two to look down; and they looked down, when lo ! there stood a child between them. Enjoining the pair to take care of all the children they might obtain in the future, he created the male and female the first parents of all tribes upon the earth. He then informed them, in the Winnebago language, that they should live in the center of the earth. The Spirit then created the beasts and birds for the use of all mankind ; but the tobacco and fire were given to the Winnebagoes." CHAPTEE II WISCONSIN 'S PIONEEE— 1634-1635 In July, 1634 — twenty-seven years after the settle- ment of Jamestown, fourteen years after the May- flower anchored in Plymouth Bay, and two years be- fore Roger Williams fled from Boston into the wilderness — a canoe, with its prow turned up stream, was launched in the Ottawa River at Montreal. With steady, swift, sure strokes of the j^addles were the waters of the rushing current parted, and steadily, swiftly, surely did the canoe press forward, bearing to Wisconsin her first white visitor, Jean Nicolet. Who was he, and what sought he in this vast wilderness inhabited only by savage beast and still more savage man? What purpose was strong enough to give him courage to venture into this wild unknown, by a long and tedious waterway full of peril and hardship ? Jean Nicolet was a French youth of Normandy, son of a mail carrier. He came to New France in 1618, when the Quebec settlement was only ten years old and Montreal seven. He himself was very young, young enough to be filled with that spirit of adven- ture and daring which leads men through all dangers 35 36 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN and privations if only they may find the new, the un- trodden, the unexplored the same spirit that has ani- mated Arctic explorers for nearly two centuries. Champlain was then Governor of New France — a brave, daring, adventurous spirit, tempered with wisdom and judgment. A keen student of his fellow men, Champlain soon recognized in this stripling qualities which would make him an able lieutenant in furthering the governor's own ambitious plans, and he speedily found employment for young Xicolet. He sent him to spread French influence among the Indians, an honorable and dangerous mission. Strange as it may seem, the finest young men of France, coming to the New World, were sent to live among the Indians, to learn their language, to be- come their friends, not that they might advance their own interests, but that they might thus add to the glory and riches of the loved mother country by helping to extend her empire and her fur-trade. Nicolet was first sent to the Algonquins along the Ottawa Kiver about three hundred miles from Que- bec. Here, with no faces but the copper-colored ones of Indians about him, hearing not one word of his native tongue, he spent two years — years of hardshi}) and peril, for as usual the Red Men were wasteful and heedless of the future, the natural result being the winter's famine. Starvation is not a pleasant companion, but Nicolet did not lose courage, even though once for a period of seven weeks he had no WISCONSIN'S PIONEER 37 food but -the bark of trees, and at another time lie had not a morsel to eat for an entire week. Afterward Nicolet was stationed among the Nipis- sings, near the lake of that name. He lived with them many years, probably ten or twelve. During that time he became one with the Indians, learning their language and entering into their life, thereby gain- ing much influence over them. There must liave been much in his nature akin to theirs, or else not even the love of France would have been a sufficiently power- ful motive to induce him to remain away from the comforts of friends and home for over ten years. But in the course of time even his zeal and devo- tion began to flag, and he asked to be permitted to return to civilized life. His request was granted, and about 1632 he returned to Quebec, where he remained as clerk and interpreter for two years. Champlain was dreaming the same dream that Columbus had dreamed a century and a half before. That will-o'-the-wisp, a short route to the Indies and fabulous wealth, had lured Columbus to the discovery of a new continent, and the same delu- sion — a short highway to China (Cathay) and Japan (Cipango) — caused Champlain to have visions of fame, honor, and wealth for his country and himself. Through him it led the brave and devoted Nicolet into the very heart of Wisconsin, for Champlain, in common with others, believed that only a narrow stri]) of land separated the Great Lakes from China. 38 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN At this time the Indians were the source of all geographical knowledge of the New World west of the narrow Atlantic strip. Guided by their reports, Champlain drew a map, absurd and inaccurate of course, and this he gave to Nicolet in July, 1634, with instructions to proceed westward, making peace between the different tribes as he went, for it was to the interest of the French fur-trade that the Indians along the water route to the West should not be at war. We see from this map that something was known of Lake Superior and Green Bay,^ although some writers hold that Lake Michigan was meant by the latter. Lake Winnebago and the Fox Eiver had been heard of, but the knowledge of the general contour and relative location of these different bodies of water was, as may be seen, very inaccurate. The Mascoutens of the Fox River region and also another nation living near Green Bay were not un- known by report ; the latter were said to be a strange people of different language and customs from the Indians — "Men of the Sea," as they were called. Nicolet was given a special message to these people, for Champlain believed them to be the rich Orientals of his dreams. Nicolet was, indeed, well fitted for this perilous undertaking. His years of life among the Indians * This body of water was called Bay des Tuants (Bay of the Bad Smell) by the French who lirst came here. WISCONSIN'S PIONEER 39 had given him physical strength and endurance, a knowledge of their language and their habits, and influence over them, all indispensable to the task before him. The lack of any one of these qualities CIIAMPLAIN'S MAP — 1632 would have added many fold to the dangers of the enterprise and the possibility of its failure. His route was up the Ottawa, past his old station among the Algonquins, then up a branch of the Ot- tawa and by easy portage to Lake Nipissing, across this lake, and, for the time being his westward course abandoned, down the French Eiver to Georgian Bay. Being familiar with the language of the Hurons, with whom he now tarried a short time, he told them of the desire of their White Father to make peace be- 40 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN tween them and the Winnebagoes, the "Men of the Sea." Starting out again, this time with seven Indians, jDrobably Hurons, he went back to the French River, and there began his passage westward into the un- known. Slowly but surely, ever toward the setting sun, the gleaming paddles carried them, until they reached the Sault Ste. Marie, a river which connects I^akes Superior and Huron. Here at the rapids they rested. It is possible that Nicolet made short excur- sions from this point, and, so doing, saw Lake Su- perior, but that he explored it to any extent is not probable. Had he done so, some record of this great discovery would have been made, especially as his travels are very fully recorded in the annals of his time. On re-embarking, he turned to the south and reached the isle of Mackinac, from which he could see the vast expanse of Lake Michigonong — the first white man to gaze upon its waters. This lake has since been called by many different names — Mitchiganon, Lake St. Joseph, Lake Dauphin, Algon- quin Lake, and Lake of the Illinois — but finally Michigan, a corruption of the Indian Michigonong, prevailed. From Mackinac, Nicolet skirted the northern shore of Lake Michigan until he reached the mouth of the Menominee River, where Marinette now stands, and at last set foot upon Wisconsin's soil. Here he met WISCONSIN'S PIONEER 41 the Menominee Indians, a nnmerous Algonqnin tribe whose descendants to-day occnpy a reservation in Shawano and Oconto counties. These Indians, as has been said, were of light complexion, due, as the French thought, to their eating the wild rice of their rivers. Learning from them that he was ?iot far from the country of the mysterious ''Men of the Sea" whom he had come to seek, he was anxious to go on. He sent one of his Hurons in advance to tell them of his coming. In anticipation of meeting richly arrayed Orientals, Nicolet had brought with him a gorgeously embroidered damask robe, reminding one of Joseph's coat of many colors. In this he dressed himself, his heart beating high with anticipation and hope of at last realizing the dreams of his master and friend, the Father of New France. He thought he had reached China. Imagine, then, his feelings, when he stepped ashore at the head of Green Bay, repeatedly firing a pistol in the air to give dramatic effect to his landing, to see drawn up in motley array to greet him a crowd of squalid savages clad in moccasins and skins as were all the other Indians whom he knew so well ! He was wise enough, however, to conceal his disap- pointment and make the best of what was before him. His brilliantly flowered gown and mysterious fire and smoke greatly impressed the simple AVinnebagoes and they gave him friendly greeting. Their language WISCONSIN'S PIONEEE 43 (wliicli it is said no wliite man has ever learned) was of course unknown to him, but througli his Huron guides he made them understand the friendly feel- ings of their ^' White Father" toward them, and urged them to bring their furs to Montreal to ex- change for articles of value to them, and also to make peace with the Hurons. His overtures were received in the most friendly manner. The Indians of the surrounding region were summoned, and they made a great feast, as was their custom on such occasions. Some writers say that there were five thousand savages there to greet him, but this estimate is probably too large. But that the number was considerable or their appetites keen we may believe, for they consumed one hundred beavers, besides many deer and much other forest game. But Nicolet was not yet ready to return to Cham- plain with the report of his success and failure. He was at the head of Green Bay where the Fox River enters. He had heard much of this rich valley and had been told that the rivers abounded with fish and the land teemed with a large population, even as it does to-day. He determined to learn more of this valley and its people before turning homeward. He ascended the Fox Eiver to Lake Winnebago, crossed the lake, re-entered the river and ascended it until he reached an Indian village. Thus did he make the acquaintance of another Wisconsin tribe. 44 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN the Mascoutens, their name signifying ''land bare of trees." This village was probably near where Berlin, Green Connty, now stands, in a region of slightly wooded prairie. AVliile among these Indians, Nicolet learned of the Mississippi River, bnt either he did not understand them or the author of the Jesuit Relation of 1643 did not understand him, for in that we read that "had he sailed three days more" he would have reached the ''Great Sea." * The Indians may have told him that if he traveled up the river three days more he would reach a branch (Wisconsin) of the "great water" that flowed to the sea. This seems probable, for we know that had he paddled up the Fox for three days he would have reached the place where the Fox and Wisconsin riv- ers are separated by only a mile of easy portage, the location of the present city of Portage. It seems strange that Nicolet should have turned his face eastward after hearing this remarkable news, but we must remember that, after all, his chief mission was not to explore but to make peace between the Indians so that the French might without moles- tation extend their fur-trade. This he had accom- plished. But we cannot but regret that, being so near the mighty Father of Waters, he did not go forward and thus make the great discovery which would have amply rewarded him for the long and perilous journey of eleven hundred miles that he had made. WISCONSIN'S PIONEER 45 But this was left for others of his race to do, and he, as some authorities tell us, turned southward and visited the Illinois, returning after a short time to the Fox Eiver and Green Bay, there visiting the Pot- tawattomies, and thence home by the same route he had traveled a year before. He reached Montreal in July, 1635. The following Christmas, New France lost one of her greatest governors and Nicolet his best friend, for Champlain died. With him seemed to die the spirit of exploration among the French, for during the next twenty years no one appeared to follow up and reap the fruits of Nicolet 's achievement. The fact that the Iroquois were active in hostilities dur- ing tliis time may explain this in part. In 1637, Nicolet married a goddaughter of Cham- plain, and prepared after a score of years of savage life to enjoy the comforts of family and home at Three Rivers. In 1642, he was called to Quebec to act as commissary. Here, beloved by Frencllman and Indian alike, he spent his time performing the duties of his office and in ministering to the sick and afflicted, for he was a gentle, pious man, who de- lighted in serving humanity. On the evening of October 27, 1642, word was brought to him that some Algonquin Indians at Three Rivers were torturing an Indian prisoner. He hastily secured a launch and with four companions hurried up the St. Lawrence to the relief of the vie- 46 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN tim. The sudden uprising of a tempest November 1 filled the boat with water and Nicolet, being unable to swim, could not save himself. Dying bravely, as he had lived, he called to a companion, who was saved, * ^ I am going to God. I commend to you my wife and daughter. ' ' Thus passed away, while on an errand of mercy, Wisconsin's pioneer — a man brave, simple, sincere, full of piety and devotion to duty. To our shame be it said, his name is not blazoned on the map of our state. No lake, no stream, no village, no city, no county perpetuates the memory of him who blazed the path to the great West. There is some disagreement among historians as to the exact date when Nicolet visited Wisconsin, some arguing for 1638-9, others for that given in this chapter, 1634-5. Belief in the accuracy of the latter date is gradually gaining ground as the old records are more thoroughly searched. The parish register of Three Eivers shows that Nicolet was present in that parish both in 1638 and in 1639. Besides, as Sutte, author of ^^Life of Nicolet,'' says : **I cannot see any reason why Nicolet would have visited Wisconsin after the death of Champlain; after he had abandoned the life of the woods ; after he had got married ; after he had become an employe of the principal commercial company of Canada; * * * at a time when his presence at Three Rivers was so important both in winter and in summer." CHAPTER III TWO VOYAGEUES— 1654-3 656 The coming of Nicolet to Wisconsin was followed by greater events, but not immediately. As lias been previously said, Nicolet 's discoveries were deemed of so little importance that for twenty years no attempt was made to retrace the path he had made through the wilderness. The French were not colonizers, but fur-traders and .missionaries. Had the French gov- ernment enbouraged its colonists to adopt the agri- cultural life instead of urging them to roam the wilderness in search of furs or to convert the Indians to the Eoman Catholic faith, the history of Wisconsin might have been very different. As it was, those in authority counted the beaver skins and the number of baptisms and were content. Champlain the far-sighted was dead and a lesser man ruled in his stead as Governor of New France. The Iroquois, ever bitter foes of the French and their Indian allies, were on the warpath. They destroyed every one of the missions established among the Hurons with so much zeal, self-sacrifice and devotion. They menaced every mile of the trail from Quebec to the Sault Ste. Marie. Not until the worst of the 47 TWO VOYAGEURS 49 bitter struggle with the savages was over did French- men again turn their faces westward. The Jesuit Belation^ tells of two nameless voya- geurs who returned to Quebec in August, 1656, after a two years' sojourn in the Green Bay country. Who these men were we have no means of knowing except through a manuscript picked up in a London shop a century later. This manuscript, written by one Pierre Radisson, is a remarkable specimen of poor English and poorer spelling, our grammar and orthography, especially the latter, presenting insur- mountable difficulties to the Frenchman. In this journal, Eadisson states that he and his brother-in-law, Menard Grosseilliers, visited the Green Bay region in 1654-6 ; hence they may be the two unnamed voyageurs of the Jesuit Relation. He tells in a Yevy interesting manner how they visited the Ottawas, ''ye nation of ye stairing haires," and tarried with the famous Fire Nation (Mascoutens) on the Fox River, who received them as hospitably as they had received Nicolet a score of years before. These Indians Radisson describes- as " a f aire, proper nation ; they are tall and big and very strong. ' ' The two men also visited the Pottawattomies, spending a winter with them. They claimed to have made, while with the Mas- ^ During the reign of Louis XIV there were printed in France an- nually from 1632 to 1672. little pamphlets which told of the journeys and sufferings of Jesuit priests in the New World. These constitute our main authority for the pioneer history of the St. Lawrence, Missis- sippi and Great Lakes regions. 50 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN coutens, a canoe voyage to "ye greate river" (the Mississippi)/ If we may credit this account, these two voyageurs were the real discoverers of the upper Mississippi. But there are many weak points in the narrative. It is known that Radisson was in Three Rivers about a year before the time at which he says he and Grosseilliers returned from the West, and it is im- possible that they could have descended the Missis- sippi, as he asserts they did, for they were not gone long enough. It is therefore extremely doubtful whether these two explorers, in their first voyage, really went much farther than did their predecessor, tiean Nicolet. Their consiDicuous place in Wisconsin history rests not on their first voyage but on their second. In the spring of 1659, Radisson and Grosseilliers made a compact to "travel and see countreys.'' Radisson, though the younger, seems to have been the bolder spirit and to have assumed the leadership. They started out in the darkness of midnight, for the gov- ernor, for some unknown reason, was opposed to their enterprise. 1 "We are 4 moneths on our voyage, without doeing anything but goe from river to river," Radisson writes. "We met several sorts of people. By the persuasion of some of them, we went into ye greate river that divides itself in 2, where the hurrons with some Ottanaks [Hurons and Ottawas] and the wild men that had warrs with them had retired [an island in the Mississippi above Lake Pepin]. This nation [Mascoutens] have warrs against those of the forked river. It is so called because It has 2 branches, the one towards the West [the Missouri], the other towards the South [the Mississippi], which we believe runs towards Mexico by the tokens which they gave us." TWO VOYAGEUES 51 Their course as far as Sault Ste. Marie was iden- tical with that of Nicolet, but from this point, instead of turning southward, as did Nicolet, they went directly west to Chequamegon Bay, and are thus justl}^ entitled to the credit of having discovered Lake Superior. Their Huron companions, who had accompanied them all the way from the lower St. Lawrence, now left them in order to visit their kins- men in northwestern Wisconsin, some miles inland. The Frenchmen set about making themselves com- fortable and safe. To this end they began building a small fort, the first structure erected by white men on the shores of Lake Superior. In Radisson's jour- nal we read : ^^We went about to make a fort of stakes, which was in this manner. 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 bells, wch weare senteryes. Finally, we made an end of that fort in 2 days' time. ' ' The ^'wild men," as he called the Indians, came, but they proved to be friendly Hurons, who took the two adventurers witli them to their village, "five 52 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN distant. The white men which Eadisson describes greate dayes journeys" joined the winter's hunt somewhat minutely : ' ^ We heated downe the woods dayly for to discover novelties. We killed severall other beasts, as Orini- acks [moose], staggs, wild cows, Cariboucks, fallow does and bucks, Catts, mountains, child of the Devill; in a word, we lead a good life. The snow HURON BIRCH-BARK HOUSE increases daily. There we make racketts, not to play ball, but to exercise ourselves in a game harder and more necessary. They are broad, made like racketts, that they may goe in the snow and not sinke when they runne after the eland, or other beast. ' ' The snow increased indeed in great quantities and was so light that it would not bear the weight of the snowshoes. Their store of meat, in spite of the hunt. TWO VOYAGEUES 53 was soon exhausted, and the usual winter famine re- sulted. Eadisson writes of this time of suffering with much feeling : ^'The first 2 weeks we did eate our doggs. As we went back 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 get what the other did throw away after it had been boiled 3 or f oure times to get the substance out of it. * * * Finally we became the very Image of Death. Here are above 500 dead. It's time to come out of such miseryes.'' Wlien hope seemed at an end, for they had nothing but bark of trees and ground bones to keep body and soul together, the snow hardened, and they were able to secure a few animals, thus saving themselves from complete starvation. Later, the Frenchmen wandered into the Sioux country between the St. Croix and the Mississippi rivers. They returned to Chequamegon Bay some time in the early spring of 1660, wjience Radisson states that they went to the Bay of the North (Hudson Bay). But again he seems to have drawn on his imagination, probably relating as facts found out by himself the reports of the Indians. It would have been impossible for them to take this long jour- ney overland and arrive as they did in Montreal in August, 1660. They were laden with above three hundred robes of 54 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN castor (beaver) which they had obtained from the Indians in exchange for kettles, hatchets, knives, gar- ters, awls, needles, tin looking-glasses, little bells, combs, vermilion, necklaces and bracelets. It will be remembered that their voyage was not favored by the governor of New France. He there- fore resorted to the punishment popular with those in authority at that time, and quietly confiscated the larger portion of their furs, thus robbing them of the well-earned reward of splendid toil and incurring the anger of the voyageurs. This seemingly trivial circumstance had far-reach- ing results, for it cost the French the Hudson Bay country and its rich fur-trade. Grosseilliers went to Paris that fall to obtain justice. Disappointed in this hope, he returned to the New World, but not to continue in the service of France. He and Radisson now entered into an agreement with some Boston merchants to undertake a voyage to Hudson Bay in quest of the furs of that region, but the merchants failed to furnish the promised ships. Later, in 1664, we find the two hardy adventurers on their way to England to interest the king of that country in the Hudson Bay project. This brings us to the time of the writing of Radisson 's journal, from which we obtain our information of their con- nection with AVisconsin history. Though unreliable in parts, on the whole it is authoritative, besides be- ing* very interesting. TWO VOYAGEUES 55 Their subsequent experiences, now in the interest of England, again in that of France, their allegiance readily bestowed on the highest bidder, does not con- cern Wisconsin history, but it is interesting to note that the great Hudson Bay Company, which for two centuries controlled half the continent by its monopoly of the fur-trade, was the direct outcome of Eadisson's efforts with Charles II, the company being granted a monopoly by a charter given by that king in 1670. Grosseilliers died in New France in 1698, showing that he must have been forgiven and have returned to the service of his mother country. But Eadisson, the more daring and enterprising of the two, had done much more harm to France. He died in Eng- land in 1710, still regarded as the foe of his native land. CHAPTER IV WISCONSIN'S FIEST SOLDIEE OF THE CKOSS— 1660-1661 Picture an old man, silvered, aged and bent by hard- ships and privations, not by years (for barely fifty- five winters had passed over his head), tottering nnder the weight of heavy packs through swamps and forests. This is Rene Menard, Jesuit priest and missionary, Wisconsin's pioneer Soldier of the Cross. A Parisian by birth, when barely nineteen years of age he began his novitiate for the priesthood in the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits. As student and teacher he spent the next sixteen years, having distinguished himself in philosophy, theology and literature. As soon as he became a full priest, he was ordered to America (1640) to do missionary work among the Indians. To this end he immediately set about learn- ing the Algonquin language. The next year, being ready for service, he was sent among the Hurons, where he continued active missionary work for about nine years, or until the Iroquois, their bitter foes, entered upon their terrible warfare against these Indians which resulted in the total destruction of the missions and the flight of the Hurons westward. 56 WISCONSIN'S FIRST SOLDIEE OF THE CROSS 57 Menard then returned to Three Elvers, where he remained until 1656. Then, with others, he was sent to the Onondagas of New York, an Iroquois nation, and later to the Cayugas. These Indians were never friendly to the French; hence the post was one of great danger. But the greater the danger and suf- fering, the greater the glory of winning souls, and Menard went joyfully to his new field. His life in daily — nay, hourly — peril, the burning and drowning of captives before his eyes a common occurrence, the zeal of the devoted priest was in nowise abated. He saw, but shrank not, still working for the salvation of souls through baptism, rejoicing in every sprink- ling of the holy water that another soul was saved and Grod and the Church thereby glorified. In a joy- ful letter to his superior, he asserted that he alone had baptized four hundred Indians. But the discov- ery of a plot to kill all the missionaries led to their leaving in the darkness of night and returning to Three Bivers. Menard's missionary zeal had not yet abated, but now it was to be put to the severest test of all. He was told that he was to go to the Indians of Lake Superior, friendly Hurons who had fled for safety from the cruel Iroquois to the forests of northern Wisconsin. We read of this in a letter written from Quebec to the pope in the fall of 1660 : ''This summer a priest of the Society of Jesus left for a mission more than five hundred leagues from 58 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN Quebec. Seven Frenchmen joined this apostle : they to buy castors, he to conquer souls. He will surely have to sutler a great deal, and has everything to fear from cold, hunger, disease and the savages. But the love of Jesus Christ and the zeal for souls conquer all.'' That he himself realized the danger of his under- taking and its probably fatal outcome we know, for he wrote to a friend just before he left Three Rivers : ''I write to you probably the last word, and I desire it to be the seal of our friendship until eter- nity. 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 constitu- tion. * * * ^e were taken a little by surprise, so that we were unable to provide ourselves with clothing and other necessary things. But he who feeds the little birds and clothes the lilies of the valley will take care of his servants. Should we happen to die of misery that would be for us a great happiness." Wlien Menard speaks of their being taken by sur- prise, he refers to the fact that a large number of Ottawas who were at the French settlements were anxious to return to the upper country. Their haste gave Menard little time to prepare for the long journey if he would go in their compan}^ He did well to anticipate hardships — cold, hunger, peril — but these were not the worst that befell him. WISCONSIN'S FIRST SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 59 He could not have anticipated that the Indians would treat him as cruelly as they did. Old and infirm as he was, they made him carry heavy packs and would not allow him to cease paddling, even though his feeble strokes could do little service in speeding them on their way. Their route was by the Sault Ste. Marie to the Lake Superior region. Just after reaching the lake, Menard and three Indians were aban- doned by the com- pany, and then they did indeed suffer. They had nothing to eat except what they scraped up around an abandoned lodge and some ground bones. Some passing Indians threw them a few slices of meat, and these they ravenously devoured. Finally some Indians, kinder than the others, took pity on them and guided them to Ke- weenaw Point, a gathering-place of the Ottawas. They reached here October 15, 1660. Menard spent the winter among these Ottawas, of whom Ea- MENARD'S ROUTE (See page 61) 60 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN disson speaks as "the coursedest, nnablest, the most imfamous and cowardliest people that I have seene amongst fower score nations that I have fre- quented.'' They treated hmi cruelly, mocked at his teachings, and at last drove him out into the winter's cold. He made for himself a wretched shelter of pine boughs. Yet seated therein, this wonderful old man could write : "I can truly say that I have more contentment here in one day than I have enjoyed in all my life in whatsoever part of the world I have been." We may believe that his contentment came from within, in the feeling that he was giving his life for his God and his Church, for he could make but few converts among such a people. He did manage to baptize stealthily many infants, and converted about fifty adults, the first mission work done in Wisconsin. This meager result of the winter's work made him resolve to go to a village of the Hurons about two hundred fifty miles inland, for many of these Hurons had been baptized in the Christian faith before they fled from the pursuing Iroquois. It was to seek these lost sheep that he had come to Wisconsin's wilds. Undeterred by the terrible reports of hardships and dangers brouglit him by the three young French- men whom he had sent ahead to reconnoiter. Father Menard set out for the head waters of the Black Elver, the site of the village. WISCONSIN'S FIRST SOLDIER OF THE ("ROSS 61 ^^Tliis is the most beautiful occasion," writes he, *^to show to angels and men that I love my Creator more than the life which I have from him, and would you wish me to let it escape 1 ' ' As near as can be determined, Menard's route was southwest by trail from Keweenaw Point to Lac Vieux Desert on the boundary line between Michigan and AVisconsin, thence down the Wisconsin for many miles, then westward by trail to the head waters of the Black. He was accompanied by a French com- panion and a party of Indians. The Jesuit Relation in describing the journey says that the Indians abandoned the priest and his com- panion near a lake (probably Lac Vieux Desert), promising, however, to send them help. The two waited fifteen days, then abandoning hope of rescue and having found a canoe, started to paddle down the Wisconsin. Either in crossing the portage from the Wisconsin to the Black River or making their way around some rapids in the Wisconsin, Menard became separated from his companion and was lost. The writer of the Jesuit Relation thinks he was murdered by skulking savages, and yet pictures in moving words his death from exposure and starvation : ^^ Behold the priest left, abandoned; but in the hands of Divine Providence. God, no doubt, gave him the courage to suffer with constancy, in that extremity, the deprivation of all human succor when Q2 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN tormented by the stings of mosquitoes, which are exceedingly numerous in these parts, and so intoler- able that the three Frenchmen who had made the voyage declare that there was no other way of pro- tecting themselves from their bites than to run inces- santly, that it was even necessary that two of them should chase away those little beasts whilst the third was taking a drink. Thus, the poor Father stretched out on the ground or on some rock, remained exposed to their stings and endured their cruel torment as long as life held out. Hunger and other miseries completed his sufferings and caused this happy soul to leave its body, in order to go and enjoy the fruit of so many hardships endured for the conversion of savages.'' The supposition that the priest was murdered, and thus died the more merciful because quicker death, is supported by some circumstantial evidence, for his cassock and kettle were later found in the lodge of a Sioux. The good father had his wish — ' ' should we happen to die of misery, that would be for us a great happi- ness'' — for he gave his life for his faith. Lying un- buried in the wilderness, his body perished, but his spirit animated other devoted souls to follow in his footsteps, and in the years that followed we see these wandering black gowns in the forest, on the streams, everywhere that the Red Man wandered, oblivious of physical discomfort and danger, willing to endure WISCONSIN'S FIRST SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 63 all, even death, in order to win souls to their faith. Bancroft says, "Not a cape was turned, not a river entered in the new world, but a Jesuit led the way. ' ' This may seem to ignore the great pioneer work done by the voyageurs and coureurs de bois, their contem- porary wanderers, but it hardly overestimates the importance of these zealous men in Wisconsin's history. As Parkman says : ' ' These men aimed at the con- version of a continent. They were strong in a discipline that controlled not alone the body and the will, but the intellect, the heart, the soul, and the inmost consciousness. The lives of these early Canadian Jesuits attest the earnestness of their faith and the intensity of their zeal; but it was a zeal bridled, curbed and ruled by a guiding hand. Their marvelous training in equal measure kindled en- thusiasm and controlled it, roused into action a mighty power, and made it as subservient as those great material forces which modern science has learned to govern. . . One great aim engrossed their lives. "For the greater glory of God," they would act or wait, dare, suffer or die, yet all in unquestioning subjection to the authority of the Superiors, in whom they recognized the agents of Divine authoritv itself. ' ' CHAPTER V CLAUDE ALLOLTEZ, FATHEE OF WISCONSIN MISSIONS— 1665-1676 A SUCCESSOR to Rene Menard was not long wanting. Such was the zeal of the Jesuits and their devotion to Mother Church that no sooner did one fall by the wayside than another took up the burden and pressed bravely on. Three years before Menard died a martyr to his faith — that is, in 1658' — there had come to Quebec a Jesuit priest, Claude Allouez by name, of whom his superior in France had written: "He is possessed of a vigorous constitution, of a fine mind and disposi- tion, of good judgment and great prudence. He is firm in purpose, proficient in literature and theology, and eminently fitted for missionaiy work." That he would need a vigorous constitution, fine mind and disposition, good judgment, great pru- dence, and firmness in purpose should he undertake the work begun by the holy Menard, there is no ques- tion, although the value of proficiency in literature and theology may be doubted. As soon as he landed in Quebec lie began the study of the Huron and Algonquin tongues, as Nicolet had done before him. It was not until 1665 that he re- 64 CLAUDE ALLOUEZ 65 PICTURESQUE ROCKS OF WISCONSIN Courtesy of Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Ry. ceived marching orders. Word then came to him to take up the mission work begun by Menard among the Ottawas of Lake Superior. Accompanied by four hundred Indians who had come from that region QQ THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN to trade their furs, he and three other Frenchmen left Three Rivers on August 8, 1665. Like the other Jesuits of his time, he kept a careful account of his journeyings and his work, and it is from this we learn the particulars of his voyage. His presence was unwelcome to the Indians, so much so that he writes : ' ' The devil formed all opposition imaginable to our voyage. One of their leading men declared to me his will and that of his j)eoj)le, in arrogant terms and with threats of abandoning me on some desolate island if I dared follow them any further. ' ' Wliat Menard suffered, Allouez suffered, being compelled to carry heavy packs and to paddle all day long, and being given improper food or no food at all. Truly, his vigorous constitution and firmness in purpose were needed to prevent his sinking under the strain. The savages resorted to many devices to make him turn back, even going so far as to steal his clothes. As he says: ''I had great trouble to keep my hat, the rim of which appeared to them very good to protect themselves from the excessive heat of the sun. At night my pilot took a blanket that I had and used it for a pillow." We can imagine that he was glad indeed when they reached Chequamegon Bay, at the head of which was a large Indian village of seven different nations. Here, on the mainland, probably between the pres- ent sites of Ashland and Washburn, was built a rude CLAUDE ALLOUEZ 67 chapel of bark, the first house of Christian worship in Wisconsin. It was not far from the site of the fort built by Eadisson a few years before. From the long, narrow, sandy point of land which here extends into Lake Superior some four miles, Allouez named his mission La Pointe du Saint Esprit (Point of the Holy Spirit). Burning with zeal, the good father set to work to convert the Indians to the Eoman Catholic faith. At first, pleased with the novelty, the Indians seemed responsive to his teachings. There flocked to his bark chapel his immediate neighbors, the Ottawas and Chippewas, and from afar the Pottawattomies of Green Bay, the Kickapoos of western Wisconsin, the Sacs and Foxes of the Fox River country, the Illinois from still farther south, and even the savage Sioux of the western plains. But soon the novelty wore off, and then Allouez 's lot was indeed a hard one. His experiences were but a repetition of Menard's. The medicine men, upon whose field he was encroaching, especially disliked him, and he returned the feeling with interest. He writes of their idol- worship with the horror of a true son of the Church. As to their followers, he says : "For the rest, as these people are dull, they do not acknowledge any deity purely spiritual. They believe that the sun is a man and the moon is his wife ; that snow and ice are also human beings, who go away in spring and come back in winter; that gg THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN the devil dwells in snakes, dragons and other mon- sters; that crows, hawks and some other birds are manitos (spirits) and talk as well as we do, pretend- ing there are some Indians who understand their language just as some of them understand a little French.'' On the whole, his mission among these savages was not a success. He withstood four years of dis- couragement and ill-treatment, during which time he baptized some five hundred souls, mostly children. During these four years, he journeyed to the head of the lake, probably to where Duluth now stands, and also to the northern shores of Lake Superior, the latter voyage being made in a birch-bark canoe with two Indians as guides. He also made a return journey to Quebec in 1667, to ask for help in his mission. He remained but two days, taking with him on his return two more Jesuits as assistants. But still the mission did not prosper. His troubles with the medicine men reached a climax. He threat- ened them with the fires of hell, and one of them retaliated with weird incantations which were intended to bring about the death of the priest. Three hours of the ceremonies tired out the medicine man, but the Black Gown was still in good health. His enemies then attacked the chapel, tearing away the walls and stealing his personal propertj^. Allouez probably was not greatly grieved to receive orders from his superior to pass on to an- CLAUDE ALLOUEZ 69 other field. James Marquette, of whom we shall learn more later, was appointed to succeed hhn. The Pottawattomies, of Green Bay, attracted both by the mission and the trading-post (for La Pointe was both), had been among the visitors received by Allouez. They begged the priest to return with them and deal with some young Frenchmen who were molesting them. Yielding to their entreaties, he left La Pointe with them in November, 1669. The time of year was unfavorable for this journey. Floating ice, severe storms, danger of shipwreck, and hunger were the portion of the travelers, but, despite all hardships, they reached Green Bay, December 2, the eve of the feast of St. Francis Xavier. Allouez, therefore, named the mission he established St. Francis Xavier.^ Allouez reached the Green Bay region in a time of famine. This want of food was due, as he expressly states, to the shiftlessness of the Indians, and not to the barrenness of the land. There was abundance of game and fish, had they but had the industry to secure and preserve it, and the soil was so fertile that even their poor farming could not prevent the land from yielding good harvests. But 1 Two years later this was removed to the east side of the Fox River, at the first rapids, where the present city of Depere stands. In 1673 a fine church was built here. At the beginning of the last century, some workmen accidentally unearthed a silver soliel which Nicholas Perrot had presented to this church. It was buried in t6S7 when the mission was burned, there to remain until chance brought it to light in 1802. It is now in the possession of the State Historical Society at Madison. '0 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN the Indian made no provision for the future. Allouez writes of them: "These savages are without industry. They know not how to make even a bark dish, but use shells instead; they are un- commonly barbarous, and, having" only what they absolutely need, they show great avarice in disposing of their little wares." The St. Francis Xavier Mission was the center of spiritual work among the neighboring tribes — the Pottawat- tomies, Winnebagoes, Sacs, Foxes and Me- nominees. In 1670, Father Allouez founded a mission among the Foxes on the Wolf Kiver, a branch of the Fox. This mission he named St. Mark. He then retraced his steps and again entered the Fox River. This he ascended until he reached a trail leading across a prairie to a village of the Mas- eoutens, the Fire Nation, probably near the present SOLEIL PRESENTED TO THE ST. FRANCIS XAVIER MISSION BY TERROT CLAUDE ALLOUEZ 71 site of Berlin. He received a friendly welcome from these Indians, who prayed to him as a manito. He preached to them, telling them of the one and only true God. Here he established the mission of St. James. The Mascoutens seemed to be very familiar with a river which they said flowed south to the great sea, and which doubtless was the Mississippi. They talked much to Allouez about it, but he went no farther westward. He was a saver of souls, and not an explorer. His next journey was to the Menominees at the mouth of the river now known by their name. The mission of St. Michael was the fruit of his labor here. This was late in May, 1670. Instead of returning to the Green Bay mission, he went to Sault Ste. Marie, where he remained until September of the following year. Father Dablon, who had been laboring in the Lake Superior country, accompanied him to Green Bay. During this time, he, with other priests, had made surveys for a map of the Superior region. While doing so, he reported that they found copper in great abundance on Isle Minong (Isle Royale), but he complained that the Indians were so reluctant to give information about the copper that he had not yet found the source of the metal. He said the Indians told him the copper had first been found by four hunters on a certain island near the north shore of the lake. Wishing to boil their food, the 72 THE- MAKING OF WISCONSIN hunters picked up a few stones on the shore, heated them red hot and threw them into a bark vessel which they had filled with water, but to their surprise they found the '^stones" to be pure copper. Their meal over, they hurried away because of the lynxes and the hares, which were as large as dogs on this island, and which they feared might eat their provisions. They took away with them some of these ' ' stones. ' ' Scarcely had they pulled away from the shore, when they heard a deep voice, like thunder, crying, "Wlio are these thieves who steal the toys of my children?'' It was the God of the Waters, or some other mighty spirit. The four hunters rowed away in great ter- ror ; three of them soon died, but the fourth reached home and told the story. It was said that the island had no foundation, but floated with the wind, and no Indian dared land on its shores. Together Father Allouez and Father Dablon visited the St. James mission among the Mascoutens. The Indians told the priests still more of the great river, which "flows toward the south until it dis- charges itself into the sea, some of them even assert- ing that they themselves had followed the river to the sea, and there had seen white men like the French who hewed trees with large knives and had houses on the water." This information appears not to have impressed the good fathers sufficiently to induce them to set CLAUDE ALLOUEZ 73 out to see for themselves, for they turned back to Green Bay. Father Dablon did not long remain with the Green Bay mission, his place being filled by Father Andre. '^^ THE DEPEKE MONUMENT TO ALLOUEZ Near the Site of St. Francis Xavier ;Mission This priest and Father Allouez built the substantial church spoken of on page 69. In 1676, Father Allouez, obeying an order from his superior in Quebec, set out to work among the Illinois, and Wisconsin knew him no more. He died among the Illinois in August, 1689, having devoted his life for nearly a (quarter of a century to unselfish labors among savage peoples. 74 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN The Depere mission became tlie center of the trad- ing and spiritual life of Wisconsin. It was sur- round by palisades within which were cabins, workshops and storehouses. Father Andre, who was left in charge when Allouez left, had won his way to the hearts of the savage children by his flute-playing. He thus taught them the canticles of the Church, and then marched them through the villages, preaching through song to their parents. Because these songs pleased the savages, the good father had an inspiration, *Ho combat their super- stition and idolatry by these innocent souls." The Relation of 1671-2 says : n* * * jjg composed canticles against the super- stitions of which we have spoken, and against the voices most opposed to Christianity, and, having taught them to the children by the sound of a soft flute, he went everywhere with his little savage musi- cians, declaring war against the jugglers [medicine men], the dreamers, and those who had many wives ; and because the savages passionately loved their children, and suffered everything from them, they allowed the reproaches, although biting, which were made to them by these songs, inasmuch as they pro- ceeded from the mouths of their children. It hap- pened sometimes that as the father was obliged in the heat of dispute to refute the errors of these superstitious people, and to convince the old men CLAUDE ALLOUEZ 75 of the falsity and silliness of their idolatry, it hap- pened, I say, that this troop of children tired of hearing snch disputes, threw themselves among them and, sounding their canticles, obliged their parents to be silent. This gave the father much joy, who saw that God made use of these innocent mouths to confound the impiety of their own parents/^ CHAPTER VI PEEROT, PETNCE OF FOREST EANGEES— 1665-1699 Heeetofore in our narrative we have given promi- nence to the Black Gowns, as the Indians called the Jesuit priests, and justly have we done so, for their efforts are indeed worthy of note. But our picture of early days in Wisconsin would be untrue to life did it not show the famous coureurs de bois ( rangers of the wood) well in the foreground, sometimes pre- ceding, sometimes accompanying these priests through the pathless forest. As to which class, la^Tiian or churchman, belongs the greater credit for pioneer work, we cannot deter- mine. One historian seems to give the palm to the latter; others claim that the priest simply followed the path blazed by the forest ranger. It is not neces- sary for us to take part in the dispute; rather let us yield due honor to both, for they were practically contemporaries. When Radisson and Grosseilliers, forerunners of the coureurs de bois, returned to Montreal in 1660, three hundred Indians accompanied them in canoes laden with furs. The sight of such riches to be had for a mere song roused the young Frenchmen there to the highest pitch of excitement. For the most 76 r, i A COUREUR DE BOIS 77 part unfettered by ties of home and family, guid- ed by naught but love of adven- ture, desire for wealth, or a wild fancy for the un- tried and un- usual, these youths — one by one or in compa- nies, sometimes with a Jesuit father and In- dian guides, sometimes with- o u t — t u r n e d their canoes westward. Wliat wonder that they rarely returned to civil- ization except for brief peri- ods! The forest life was free from restraint, thetrade in skins 78 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN profitable, and the Indians as a rule friendly, for the Frenchman, nnlike the Englishman, readily adopted the manners, dress and customs of his red-skinned companions. ''Painted and tattooed, with feathered hat and beaded garments, he daily danced with the braves or gravely smoked the calumet at the council of the tribe.'' The young Frenchman often allied himself still more closely with savage life by taking to himself for a wife a copper-colored maiden, sometimes one in each village he visited. No sense of morality restrained him, for, considering himself outside the pale of civilization, he was bound only by the law of selfish desire. His brief returns to the settlements were marked by great joviality and gayety. Surrounded by com- panions, rangers like himself, he drank and gambled and danced and sang the hours away as long as his money lasted, when he sought absolution for his sins from the village priest and at once resumed his life among the children of the forest, until his purse was again filled. Picturesque, daring, adventurous, hardy and shrewd, he was often of the greatest service to New France in dealing with the Indians, keeping them at peace with one another, so that the fur-trade might not be molested, and friendly to the French, so that the encroachments of the English on that trade, PERROT 79 already felt in the Hudson Bay country, might be more successfully resisted in the lake region. In spite of their service to the government, the king and the governors were rarely friendly to these adventurers, for the life of the woods attracted to it the finest young men in the colony, thus retarding its growth. But they did not dare to be too severe in imposing restraints, lest the ranger, who was a law unto himself, be drawn over to the service of the English, as were Eadisson and Grosseilliers. The prince of these forest rangers was Nicholas Per rot. The year that Father Allouez began his great mission work in Wisconsin, 1665, finds this youth — for he was barely twenty-one years of age — taking service as a sort of volunteer helper to the missionaries, one of his duties being to provide necessities. In that year we find him among the Pottawattomies of Green Bay, who received him gladly. It was of some of the young Frenchmen with him that these Indians complained to Allouez. Perrot tarried here for a time, then went on an errand of peace to the Menominees, who were threat- ening war against the Pottawattomies. On his return after pacifying the Menominees, the Pottawattomies tried to persuade him to remain among them, but he refused, knowing that they were actuated simply by the desire to keep control of the fur-trade with the French. Before long he left them in order to visit the Foxes 80 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN on the Wolf River, but, disliking their attitude toward him, he soon pushed on to the Mascoutens. These the Pottawattomies had attempted to influence against him. Perrot happened to overhear their agents telling lies about him and the French, and he managed to outwit them and conclude the treaty. For four years more Perrot remained among the Indians of eastern Wisconsin, and then returned to Montreal, in 1670. In the fall of that same year he was selected by the governor for the difficult task of bringing representatives of all the western tribes together at Sault Ste. Marie for the ceremony of announcing French sovereignty over their domains. He succeeded in inducing fourteen tribes from Wisconsin and the Hudson Bay region to send dele- gates for this purpose. The Foxes went as far as Green Bay, then turned back. The Mascoutens and Kickapoos declined to respond to his persuasions. De Lusson had been named as commander of the new country. The ceremony of taking possession was one well calculated to impress the simj^le sav- ages. In a hole dug in the ground was placed the base of a large wooden cross. Surrounding it were the magnificently dressed commander, his soldiers (among whom was Louis Jolliet) and the black- gowned priests headed by Father Allouez of Depere. With heads bared, the Frenchmen chanted a hymn. xVt its close, while a tablet of lead engraved with the royal arms of France was nailed to a cedar post near PEEROT 81 the cross, de Lusson lifted a sod, bared his sword, and proclaimed Louis XIV the Magnificent ruler over the country of the Great Lakes. When the shouting that followed this was over. Father Allouez addressed the Indians in the Algonquin tongue as follows : "It is a good work, my brothers, an important work, a great work, that brings us together in council to-day. Look up at the cross which rises so high above your heads. It was there that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, after making himself a man for the love of men, was nailed and died, to satisfy his Eternal Father for our sins. He is the master of our lives; the ruler of Heaven, Earth, and Hell. It is he of whom I am continually speaking to you, and whose name and word I have borne through all your country. ' ' But look at this post to which are fixed the arms of the great chief of France, whom we call King. He lives across the sea. He is the chief of the great- est chiefs, and has no equal on earth. All the chiefs whom you have ever seen are but children beside him. He is like a great tree, and they are but the little herbs that one walks over and tramples under foot. '^You know Onontio,^ that famous chief at Quebec; you know and you have seen that he is the terror of the Iroquois, and that his very name makes them 1 Indian name for the Governor of Canada. 82 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN tremble, since lie has laid their country waste and burned their towns with fire. Across the sea there are ten thousand Onontios like him, who are but the warriors of our great King, of whom I have told you. '''V\^ien our King attacks his enemies, he is more terrible than the thunder; the earth trembles; the air and the sea are all on fire with the blaze of his cannon ; he is seen in the midst of his warriors, cov- ered over with the blood of his enemies, whom he kills in such numbers that he does not reckon them by the scalps, but by the streams of blood which he causes to flow. He takes so many prisoners that he holds them in no account, but lets them go where they will, to show that he is not afraid of them. * * * ''But what shall I sa}^ of his riches? You think yourselves rich when you have ten or twelve sacks of corn, a few hatchets, beads, kettles, and other things of that sort. He has cities of his own, more than there are of men in all this country for five hun- dred leagues around. In each city there are store- houses where there are hatchets enough to cut down all your forests; kettles enough to cook all youi" moose, and beads enough to fill all your lodges. "His house is longer than from here to the top of the Sault — that is to say, more than half a league — and higher than your tallest trees; and it holds more families than the largest of your towns." This was not the end of the good father ^s lengthy PEEROT 83 liarangue, but we have given enough to show that the glory, power and magnificence of Louis XIV received able treatment at his hands. The ceremony concluded, the French left. The Indians celebrated their departure by stealing the royal arms. PeiTot now returned to the St. Lawrence and married, but, even so, he did not long remain in the settlements. He obtained from Frontenac, who in lieu of Perrot's recent services did not dare to refuse, a license to trade with the Indians of the Great Lakes. But this was not free from restric- tions. Perrot was permitted to take but one canoe of goods and to bring back all he could, by shrewd- ness or otherwise, persuade the savages to give in return. The ranger probably made several such trading-triiDs to the West during the next few years. In 1683, we learn from his Memoir e, he was ordered to proceed to the West and secure the Indians as allies of the French in a war they were planning against the Iroquois. Others had been sent on the same mission, but had failed. Perrot was so successful that he induced ^\e hundred of the Red Men to go with him to Niagara, only to learn, much to their disgust and his, that de la Bar re, now governor of New France, had made a treaty of peace with the Iroquois. There was nothing for them to do but to return with their war lust ungratified. In 1685, Perrot seems to have met with some 84 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN return for the services he had rendered the govern- ment, for he was made commander of Green Bay and its dependencies, wliich now also included the upper Mississippi country/ He at once went to Green Bay, then to the Missis- sippi, pitching his camp near the present village of idtt SUPrOSED SITE OF PEKKOTS WINTER QUARTERS, 1685-G Trempealeau. Here he built a few rude cabins and passed the winter of 1685-6. There were discovered here, in 1888, a large hearth and fireplace made of flagstones cemented with a clay mortar which undoubtedly were used by Perrot. In the spring, tlie ranger ascended the river to ^ The Mississippi liad been discovei-ed and partially explored in 1G73 by Jolliet and Marcpiettc See next chapter. PEEROT 85 Lake Pepin and built a barricaded post on the Wis- consin bank, which he named Fort St. Antoine. About the same period, or perhaps a little earlier, he built a similar post just a little north of the junction of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers, near the present city of Prairie du Chien. This he called Fort St. Francis, not forgetting the saints of his Church, layman though he was. Orders now came to Perrot again to rally the Indians for an expedition against the Iroquois^ not an easy task, considering what had happened before, but he succeeded in mustering a fairly large com- pany of savages, who accompanied him to Mackinac and thence to Niagara. They then proceeded against the Senecas, an Iroquois tribe. While the ranger was thus engaged, a number of Foxes, Mascoutens and Kickapoos, who, it will be remembered, had not joined in the ceremonies at Sault Ste. Marie, attacked the French at Green Bay, burning the mission house and the warehouses where Perrot had stored furs to await the cessation of the Iroquois troubles. As Perrot was not a rich man, the loss was a great blow to him. It was at this time that the priests buried the silver soleil, his gift, spoken of previously. In 1689, we find the bold ranger again at Fort St. Antoine on the Mississippi, engaged in a repetition of the ceremony which had taken place at Sault Ste. Marie in 1671. With as much pomp as he could 86 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN display, lie took possession of all the surrounding country in the name of the King of France. The next year he was given a piece of lead ore by the Miamis, an Illinois tribe, which gift resulted in his discovery of the lead mines of southwestern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, since the source of so much wealth. Near these lead deposits he built another barricaded post. In 1692, the scene of Perrot's activities was changed to Michigan, for again was his influence over the Eed Men needed, this time to counteract the efforts of the English, who were arousing the Indians to hostilities. This work of pacifying hostile Indians occupied him most of the time during the next seven years, at the end of which time, in 1699, the King of France ordered all western posts abandoned. Thus ended Nicholas Perrot's career in Wisconsin. His remaining years were spent on the banks of the St. Lawrence, in i^overty and bitterness of heart, for the government never allowed his claim for services rendered. He died in 1717, at the age of seventy-five, broken in spirit by the ingratitude of his king and his country. CHAPTER VII THE MYSTERIOUS EIVER FLOWING SOUTHWARD^ 1673 In bounding out the story of Perrot's life, it was necessary to carry our narrative past a very impor- tant event in Wisconsin's history. We now turn back to record a discovery upon the brink of which priest and forest ranger alike stood for forty years, partially knowing what lay just before them, but yet not making that knowledge certain. In 1634-5, Jean Nicolet heard from the Mascoutens of the great river that flowed into the sea, but the hearing did not move him to seek and find. Twenty years later they told the same story to Radisson and Grosseilliers, who claimed to have profited by the information and to have visited the river, but whose claim is probably false. Again, fifteen years later, these savages repeated the tale oft told, this time to a Black Gown, Father Allouez, and once again to him and a brother priest. Father Dablon, a year later; but, although the latter wrote of the river with an accuracy of detail that is wonderful, con- sidering that he never saw it, the two priests were busy establishing the spiritual empire of the Roman Catholic Church, with no thought of extending the earthly empire of the king, and they also turned 87 88 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN their backs upon the great discov- ery. It is not at all unlikely that these Indians told the same tale to the bold conreur de bois • Nicholas Per- rot, for they seem- ed never to tire of its repetition; but if they did tell it, it was not effective in leading him far- ther westward, for he personally knew nothing of the Mississippi until in 1685, twelve years after its dis- covery, he went to the banks of the stream as commander of the country along its border. It was reserved for two others, one an explorer, Louis Jolliet by name, the other a priest, James Marquette, accompanied by five other Frenchmen, to make the great discovery. To the first-named belongs the real credit of the discovery, for he was LOUIS JOLLIET THE MYSTEEIOUS RIVER 89 the leader of the expedition, so commissioned by the governor of New France. Had his canoe not been overturned and his papers lost just above Mon- treal on his return, to him and to him alone would have been given the praise which was his due. As it happened, Marquette's account of the voyage was saved and published, and thus to him has come all the glory of the enterprise. JoUiet was a real son of New France, for he spent but a short year of his life in the mother country. For a time he tried to be a Jesuit, but the life of a priest was not to his liking. He soon abandoned it and de- cided to become an explorer. To that end he began to study woodcraft and Indian dialects, both of which he quickly mastered. In 1669, he led a party of Frenchmen in a search for the copper mines of Lake Supe- rior and a shorter route from Montreal to the lake region. He seems not to have been father marquette 90 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN successful in his effort to find the mines, but he took a new route back, going past Detroit to Lake Erie, then to Lake Ontario and home. Near the head of Lake Ontario, he met La Salle, who was already searching for the ^' great river flowing southward." Jolliet advised him to go by way of Lakes Huron and ]\Iicliigan and the Fox Eiver, but he would not. He obstinately turned south, thus missing the river he sought, although finding one of its great tributaries, the Ohio. During the next three years, Jolliet made many journeys to the region of the upper lakes, one of them in company with de Lusson when the latter took possession of the country for the king. In the early winter of 1672, Count Frontenac, Governor of New France, in response to the expressed desire of his king, devised a plan for the discovery of the river so often spoken of by priest, forest ranger and Indian, and also of the South Sea into which it was thought the river might empty. To head this enterprise he chose Louis Jol- liet, a man well fitted for the task by natural qualifications and training. In December, Jolliet started out, carrying with him instructions from Father Dablon, superior of the Great Lakes missions, to James Marquette, priest at the St. Ignace Mission at Mackinac, to join the expedition. We have heard of this priest before. He was the THE MYSTEEIOUS RIVEE 91 one who took charge of La Pointe Mission at Chequamegon Bay when Allonez left for Green Bay, 1669. Marqnette labored here not much more suc- cessfnlly than had his predecessors, Menard and Allonez, so far as saving souls was concerned, but he added much to his linguistic knowledge, learning to speak six dialects within a few years. His work was brought to a sudden close by the onslaught of the savage Sioux, ''the Iroquois of the West," as he called them. Before these dreaded savages the Plurons and Ottawa s fled like startled deer at the hunter's approach, the latter to their old home on Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron, the former to Mackinac. This flight marked the end of the Mission of the Holy Spirit, for never again was there a mission established there by the Jesuits. Marquette accompanied the Hurons to Mackinac, and was doing his gentle, pious work among them when he received his orders through Jolliet to join the party to explore the Mississippi and find the South Sea. He was greatly pleased by these orders, for he had long desired to go farther west. He had already heard much of this river from some Illinois Indians visiting Chequamegon Bay. He says : ''AVlien the Illinois come to La Pointe, they pass a great river about a league in width. It runs from north to south and so far that the Illinois, who know 92 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN not what a canoe is/ have not heard of its mouth. It is hardly credible that this large river empties [into the sea] at Virginia; and we rather believe that it has its month in California. If the Indians who have promised to make me a canoe do not fail in their word, we shall travel on this river as far as possible." This exploration, he also says, he intends to make ''in order to open the passage to snch of our fathers as have been awaiting this good fortune for so long a time. ' ' The time was now at hand when his dream of exploration could be realized, and the priest's joy was intense. The long winter evenings were spent by Marquette and Jolliet before the hearth of blazing logs in the mission house, planning the voyage. They found out all that could be learned from the Indians, made a map of their intended route, and prepared sup- plies. The latter seem very meager — two birch-bark canoes, smoked meat and Indian corn — but the two doubtless relied much on the game and fish to be obtained along the way. On May 17, 1673, they began the journey. Their course through the Straits of Michilimackinac (Mackinac), along the shores of Lake Michigan and the Menominee River, was by this time well known. The Menominee Indians, upon learning the destina- 1 He probably means a larfje canoe. THE MYSTEEIOUS EIVEE 93 tion of the travelers, tried by the recital of all sorts of horrible tales to dissuade them from going. "They told me," writes Marquette, "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 engulfs all who dare approach." But the Frenchmen were not to be easily fright- ened. Marquette taught the Indians a prFiyer, and the party passed on down the familiar route to Green Bay, up the Fox River, carrying their canoes past its raging raj^ids, across Lake Winnebago and again into the Fox, the beauties of whose banks Father Dablon had so glowingly described. On June 7 they reached the village of the Mas- coutens. The Miami s, an Illinois tribe who had fled before the Iroquois, dwelt here in friendly relations with the Mascoutens, as did also the Kickapoos. We can imagine the delight of Marquette to see here the cross set up by Allouez three years before, and his greater delight to find it decorated with bows and arrows, deerskins and red belts — offerings which the Indians had made to the Great Manito of the French in gratitude for having, as they believed, averted a threatened famine. Jolliet called together a council of the Indians, told them of his plans, and asked for guides, which 94 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN were now necessary, for the explorers had reached the westernmost point thus far visited by the French. His request was readily granted, and they set out on June 10, accompanied by two Miamis whose style of hair-dressing — allowing a long lock to dangle over each ear — was much admired by Marquette. They followed the tortuous Fox in its winding course through the lakes and marshes until they came at last to the place where a bend of the Fox is separated from a curve in the Wisconsin by only a little over a mile of marsh, the narrow divide be- tween the two great water systems of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi. Legler well says of this : "A raindrop falling here may be carried down the latter stream [the Wisconsin] into the Missis- sippi River, and thence into the Gulf of Mexico ; 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.'' They had reached the portal to the Mississippi upon whose threshold Frenchmen had stood for two score years. The portage across this marsh was familiar to the Indians, so that the seven Frenchmen and their canoes were soon safely embarked upon the waters of the Meskousing, as Marquette calls it, whose cur- rent was to bear them — whither? Perhaps to the THE MYSTERIOUS RIVER 95 Gulf of California, perhaps to the South Sea, per- haps to the Gulf of Mexico. Time would tell. Parkman thus describes their four days' journey down this beautiful river: ''They glided calmly down the tranquil stream, by islands choked with trees and matted with en- tangling grape-vines ; by forests, groves, and prairies, the parks and pleasure-grounds of a prodi- gal nature ; by thickets and marshes and broad, bare sandbars ; under the shadowing trees, between whose tops looked down from afar the bold brow of some woody bluff. At night, the bivouac, — the canoes inverted on the bank, the flickering fire, the meal of bison-flesh or venison, the evening pipes, and slumber beneath the stars; and when in the morning they embarked again, the mist hung on the river like a bridal veil ; then melted before the sun, till the glassy water and the languid woods basked breathless in the sultry glare. ' ' On June 17, 1673, their gleaming paddles shot the two canoes into the broad current of the Mississippx. Their joy was inexpressible. But their journey was not yet ended; worse was yet to come, if they were to believe the tales told them by the Menominees. They may have been startled into a partial belief by "a monstrous fish,' which, ' ' says Marquette, ' ' struck so violently against our canoe that I took it for a large tree about to 1 Probably a cat-fish. 96 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN knock us to pieces," and again when they saw what 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. ' " The sight of large herds of buffaloes, seen for the first time on the Wisconsin, became quite common. In spite of all the strange animals encountered, the travelers pushed on, paddling steadily but cautiously by day and landing at night, after careful recon- noitering, to cook their evening meal, then anchoring in mid-stream till morning. For nearly two weeks they had seen no trace of human beings, when o^e day they saw footprints in the western bank and a well-beaten path. Jolliet and Marquette resolved to follow it. After walking about six miles, they came upon an Indian village. Attracted by their shouts, four old men, holding up peace-pipes, came to meet them. These Indians proved to be Illinois. Their reception of the strangers was kindly and a feast was prepared for the white men. The four courses served were Indian meal porridge, fish, roast dog, and buffalo meat, all of which but the third proving acceptable to the visitors, although fed to ihem bit by bit, as though they were birds or babies. After the feast the chief assured them that their presence added flavor to his tobacco, made the river more calm, the sky more serene, and the earth more beautiful. 2 Probably a tiger-cat. •^* - .4i^^g^^^ : LM oe. 5 ;a< 3 s t. ^1 IliNoij I' ■f ^/ /^ ^ / / 1 2 S 1 ? f l- s f 1 Jl 1 BASSIH D£ LA fLOR/Ot J- k.. FLORlOl i.-'ts MARQUETTE'S MANUSCRIPT MAP. ACCOMPANYING HIS JOURNAL, 1673 98 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN These new friends also tried to dissuade the Frenchmen from journeying farther southward, but without result. The voyagers embarked once more, Marquette carrying a peace-pipe given him by the chief, who told him that it would insure them kindly treatment from all Illinois kinsmen to the south. Again they were on the mysterious river flowing southward, passing now the mouth of the Illinois, where they saw the terrible monsters of which the Menominees had told, but the monsters were only painted ones.^ On a flat high rock were painted two of them, in red, black and green, each ''as large as a calf, with horns like a deer, red eyes, a beard like a tiger, and a frightful expression of countenance. The face is something like that of a man, the body covered with scales, and the tail so long that it passes entirely round the bod}^, over the head and between the legs, ending like that of a fish." These were sufficiently terrible to frighten the superstitious savages, and even to interest the Frenchmen to the extent of making them the subject of conversation until the attention of the explorers was attracted by a torrent of yellow water from the west pouring into the blue -Mississippi. "I have never seen anything more terrible," writes Mar- quette, but still they did not turn back, although their canoes were whirled about like straws, and were in danger of being overturned by the great 1 Probably idols. THE MYSTERIOUS RTVEE 99 trees that the inishing current brought down. This river we now know as the Missouri. They soon passed the mouth of another stream, this one entering from the east — the Ohio, or Beauti- ful River, as the Iroquois called it. As they glided ever southward, they found that the pests which made Menard's last hours so full of suffering had a broader field of activity than Wis- consin's forests, for they were attacked by myriads of mosquitoes. Suddenly, one day, they saw some Indians on the east bank. There was mutual surprise. The dis- play of the peace-pipe by Marquette met with kind response, and the party landed. It was evident that these Indians were in touch with Europeans some- where, for they had guns, knives, hatchets, and gun- powder in glass bottles. The Indians assured the explorers that they would reach the mouth of the river in ten days, which, as they were over one thousand miles up stream, indicates on the part of the Red Men either utter ignorance or a wish to deceive. Day after day the explorers paddled on, until they had traversed some three hundred miles more through the solitude of river, marsh and forest, when they reached the mouth of the Arkansas, where they saw a cluster of wigwams. Their reception was warm -but not friendly. In spite of the peace-pipe held up by Marquette, the young men of the tribe UOfC 100 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN set out in canoes and even waded ont to attack them, a war club thrown by one narrowly missing the. good priest's head, when the older men of the tribe, seeing the calumet, interfered. The Frenchmen spent the night here, in some fear, it is true, but morning found them safe. They went but a few miles farther down the stream. Their reasons for turning northward at this point were sound. They had gone far enough to prove that the Mississippi empties into the Gulf of Mexico, and they feared if they went farther they might be killed by the cannibal Indians to the southward or by the Spaniards, the story of their discovery remaining an untold tale. The return journey was begun on July 17. To paddle against the current in the burning heat of the July and August days was indeed a hard task, and it is no wonder that Marquette's health failed. The voyagers did not return by the Wisconsin-Fox way, but up the Illinois, a shorter route to Lake Michigan. They probably reached this lake by way of the Des Plaines and Chicago rivers. Following the west shore of the lake, they reached Sturgeon Bay, made a portage across, and reached the mission at De Pere the last of September, after an absence of four months and a journey of two thousand five hundred miles. During the following winter each wrote a .narra- tive of their experiences and discoveries, and each THE MYSTERIOUS RIVER 101 made a map of the country visited. xA.s has been stated, Jolliet was so unfortunate as to lose his rec- ords in the rapids above Montreal. He writes to Frontenac thus : ''I had escaped every peril from the Indians; I had passed forty-two rapids, and was on the point of disembarking, full of joy at the success of so long and difficult an enterprise, when my canoe capsized after all the danger seemed over. I lost two men and my box of papers within sight of the first French settlements, which I ]iad left almost two years before. Nothing remains to me but my life and the ardent desire to employ it on any service which you may please to direct." And thus, through accident and not because it is his due, has come to Marquette the fame of the dis- covery. His statue it is which adorns Statuary Hall in the Capitol at Washington as Wisconsin's noted citizen. His name it is which is perpetuated in a county within our borders, while Jolliet, the daring leader and real discoverer, has no memorial in mar- ble or in name. Illinois has in a way preserved his memory by naming a city for him, although doing him no especial honor in locating in that city her state prison. The story of the after lives of these two explorers is soon told. Marquette had promised some Illinois in his journey through their country that he would return to them. This his health would not permit 202 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN until October of the following year. Accompanied by two Frenchmen, he started to return along the western shore of Lake Michigan. Exposures to cold and storm brought on his old ailments, and he was obliged to spend the winter in a rude cabin not far from the present site of Chicago. In the spring he was so much better that he succeeded in reaching the great Illinois village on the Illinois River. He began his missionary work among the tribe, a work he had longed to do ever since he' first became ac- quainted with a few of them at Chequamegon Bay, but it was not to be continued. He became much worse, and, realizing that he could not long survive, he started back to Mackinac, along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, two servants with him. Most of the time he lay in the bottom of the canoe. He grew rapidly worse. That he fully realized his condition is evidenced by the old narrative : "The eve of his death, which was Friday, he told them, all radiant with joy, that it would take place on the 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 before 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 THE MYSTERIOUS RIVER 103 this he spoke so calmly and collectedly that you would have thought that he spoke of the death and burial of another, and not his own. ' ' His servants took him ashore at the mouth of the St. Joseph Eiver, May 18, 1675, and there he died. He was buried at this place according to his direc- tions, and a cross was erected to mark the spot. About a year thereafter, some Ottawa Indians, converts of the good priest, found the grave, opened it, cleaned and dried the bones after a custom of theirs, wrapped them in birch bark, and, in a pro- cession of thirty canoes, carried them to the mission of St. Ignace at Mackinac, where, with fitting ceremonies, they were buried in a vault in the church. This church was destroyed by fire in 1705. In 1877 a half-breed Indian, in clearing land at St. Ignace, came upon the ruins of a burned building. The village priest, familiar with the story of Mar- quette's life and death, surmised that these ruins might contain his remains. After diligent search, he found some human bones with fragments of birch bark. Some of these were re-buried and a fitting monument erected over them, some were given to various well-known admirers of the Jesuit priest, but the larger portion were put in a casket and sent to Marquette College, Milwaukee. The story of Jolliet's last years is even briefer, for but comparatively little is known of him. Upon 104 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN his return to Quebec, he was met by Father Dablon, Marquette's superior, who questioned him closely upon his journey, gathering material for a report which the priest sent to France. This report was published six years before Marquette's journal ap- peared in print. Jolliet's report had shown the French that the Mississippi empties into the Gulf of Mexico, thus proving false the theory held so tenaciously by them that this river would give them a clear route to the Pacific. Though disappointed in this hope, they substituted another for it, the discovery of the Mis- souri opening up new j^ossibilities of a way to the longed-for riches of the East. But, in spite of this acknowledged service to New France and the mother country, Jolliet met the same fate that befell others who had served France well — neglect and poverty. It is true that he was meagerly rewarded with the gift of the Island of Anticosti in the St. Lawrence. Here he built a fort and a home for his family, but two years later the island was taken by the English, and he with his wife and mother-in-law, while attempting to reach Quebec, were made prisoners by Phipps, the English commander. The Frenchman recovered his liberty, but not his property. Of his subsequent life almost nothing is known, even the date of his death being uncertain. CHAPTER YIII ''THE HOUSE THAT WALKED UPON THE WATER "—1679 At THE mouth of Cayuga Creek, not far from the present site of Buffalo and almost within sound of Niagara's plunging flood of waters, there was being- built in the winter of 1678-9, a sailing-vessel, the Griffon, which was to be the first ship to part the waters of the Great Lakes in the carrying trade be- tween the East and the West. On her prow was the carved image which gave her her name — a fabulous monster, half lion, half eagle, part of the Frontenac coat-of-arms. On her deck stood a man, cold and stern, shy, self- restrained and solitary, ambitious, arousing strong love and equally strong hatred, a foe to the Jesuits, who likewise hated him, yet an ardent son of the faith ; a man exalted by some historians, belittled and maligned by others — Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. By his side were two men, one an Italian, tall, 105 THE GRIFFON lOG THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN dark-skinned as an Indian, with curly black hair and fear- less, kindly eyes ; a man whom men, savage and civiliz- ed, loved at sight. He was the friend and devoted fol- lower of La Salle til rough good and evil report — Henri de Tonti. He it was under whose direc- tion the Griffon was being built. The other man wore a gray capote of coarse texture whose peaked hood hanging behmd his shoulders left his shaven crown to glisten in the sunlight; around his waist the cord of the Franciscan Order, and by his side the crucifix. AVe recognize a priest, Hennepin by name, whose broad nose, fiat lips, many-folded chin and twinkling, good-humored eyes make a picture that it seems dif- ficult to reconcile with the journey of hardship, toil ROBERT DE LA SALLE THE GRIFFON 107 and privation about to be undertaken. But the friar had always been fond of strange lands and strange peoples, if we may believe his own words about him- self. "Often,'' he says, "I hid myself behind tavern doors while the sailors were telling of their voyages. The tobacco smoke made me very sick at the stom- ach; but, notwithstanding, I listened attentively to all they said about their adventures at sea and their travels in distant countries. I could have passed whole days and nights in this way without eating." The Griffon was not a large ship, probably of about forty-five tons' burden. Five cannon peered from her port-holes. The crew numbered thirty-one. On August 7, 1679, with white sails spread she started westward. In three days she reached De- troit. Seventeen days more, during which she weathered a terrific gale on Lake Huron, sufficed to anchor her at Mackinac, where La Salle, clad in a scarlet cloak with gold lace trimmings, led the party ashore to return thanks for their safe deliverance from the fury of the elements. The}^ then turned the vessel's i^row westward tlirough the straits and across Lake Michigan to Green Bay. Great was the amazement and curiosity of the Pottawattomies over the "house that walked upon the water" — the first sailing-vessel ever seen on Wisconsin waters. The Griffon remained moored at Washington 108 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN Island, at the moutli of Green Bay, long enough to be freighted with the lieavy load of furs which La Salle's agents, sent west while she was building, had collected for him. The expedition, however, was not merely a commercial one; that it was so at all resulted from the fact that La Salle, who had ob- tained permission from the king and Frontenac to explore the Mississippi, must pay for the enterprise out of the profits of the fur-trade. To build the ship and equip it he had incurred many debts, and it was to cancel these that he now sent the Griffon, under the i^ilot's charge, back to Niagara with instructions to unload there, purchase more supplies and return with the vessel as soon as possible to the head of Lake Michigan. On September 18, favored by a light wind, she set sail and was soon lost to sight on the far horizon, never to be heard of more. Whether she met the fate shared by hundreds of vessels which have since tried to weather the gales of the Great Lakes, or whether her crew proved false to their trust, sunk her, and, laden with the plunder, were captured by the Indians, we cannot tell. ''She was gone, it mat- tered little how," says Parkman. Naturally it was not till several months afterward that La Salle knew that anything had befallen his vessel. He and fourteen of his men started out in canoes from Green Bay down the west shore of Lake Michigan, the next step in their journey to the unex- THE GEIFFON ]09 plored AVest. They themselves encountered fearful storms, born out of a clear sky, and were forced again and again to land. Early in October, compelled by need of corn and a violent storm, they put in at what is assumed to have been our Milwaukee Bay. Here was a village of the Pottawattomies. The Indians were gathered upon the shore, but La Salle, fearing that some of his men would steal his goods and desert to the natives, went farther down the shore despite the danger. Some of the party then cautiously made their way to the village, only to find it abandoned, the savages having been frightened away by the strange conduct of the Frenchmen in not landing. The voyagers helped themselves to corn^ but left suitable compensation for it. The next day the journey was resumed, and they soon rounded the southern part of Lake Michigan, reaching the mouth of the St. Joseph, where Marquette had died. Here Tonti, who with twenty men had come down the eastern shore of the lake, was to meet them, but it was twenty days before the young Italian ap- peared, his men decreased in number to ten, the remainder, because of scarcity of food, having been left behind. La Salle sent him back for the others. He set out with two men, but a violent storm over- turned his boat, and guns, provisions and baggage were all lost. The three returned, having only acorns 110 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN HENRI DE TONTI for food while so doing. Happily, in a few days the rest of the party arrived. Leaving a few men in charge of the rude stockade built here, with instructions to forward the supplies of the Griffon as soon as she appeared, La Salle, Tonti and Hennepin pushed on. On the shore of Lake Peoria, among the Illinois, THE GRIFFON HI La Salle Imilt a fort which he named Fort Crevecoeiir (Heai't])reak), but the heart of the builder was not yet broken, in spite of misfortunes and enemies — for he had enemies in the Jesuits because he had interfered with their fur-trade. A Wisconsin Indian in the darkness of night had slipped into tlie Illinois village, told the people that La Salle was a spy of the Iroquois and would betray them, and in the darkness of night slipped away again. Beset thus by treachery, by rebellion (for his men were becoming disloyal), by anxiety for the Griffon's fate. La Salle grew impatient. He resolved to leave Tonti in command and to go on foot twelve hundred miles to Montreal to find out what had become of his vessel. He sent Hennepin down the Illinois Kiver with instructions to explore the Upper Mississippi. The story of La Salle from this time on — a tale of daring, danger, hardship, suffering, privations and death — belongs to other states than Wisconsin. Tonti has little more connection with our history. Most of his companions deserted him after La Salle's departure, and in the fall the terrible Iroquois fell upon his friends the Illinois. Tonti nearly lost his life in trying to protect them, but they were not grateful. It seemed unsafe longer to remain among them; accordingly he and the five companions yet with him secretly left in a leaky canoe, their faces A SIOUX WARRIOR THE GEIFFON 113 turned toward Green Bay, the nearest point of safety. This journey adds one more to the tales of suffer- ing from hunger, cold, sickness and death by the way, but the brave men finally reached the Pottawatto- mies, all except Father Gabriel, who was treacher- ously murdered b)^ a strolling band of Kickapoos while he was praying in a secluded place. The Pottawattomies, friendly as ever, gave the little band shelter for the winter. In the spring, recruited in health and energy, Tonti crossed to Mackinac, where, to his great joy, he met his loved leader, La Salle, twelve months after their parting at Fort Creveca^ir. La Salle had his story of ill- fortune, plottings of enemies, hindrances and treach- ery to tell, but he retained his wonderful courage, and still held unfalteringly to his determination to explore the Great River. But, as said before, the relation of his subsequent explorations belongs not with Wisconsin's tales. We must follow Friar Hennepin a little longer, although his story belongs more to Minnesota than to Wisconsin.^ His instructions were to explore the 1 As to the actual explorations made by this priest, there has been much discussion, owing- to the conflicting statements made by himself in two books, one of which was published before La Salle's death, the other afterward. In the first, he relates entertaininsly the incidents of his journey in the upper Mississippi country, probably very largely true to facts : in the second, lie makes the astoundins? declaration that he and his men explored the whole of the Mississippi from the Illinois to its mouth, and that to him. and not to La Salle, belongs all the glory of that exploration. It is unfortunate for the friar's reputation for truth that in the second he contradicts what he had explicitly stated in the first, besides hopelessly confusing and changing dates. 114 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN upper Mississippi, it being La Salle's plan — one wliicli lie afterward carried out — to explore the lower liimself. The three companions set out, floating down the Illinois, the friar still wearing the gray capote and hood and the cord of the Franciscan order. They fared sumptuously, for game was abundant, although Hennepin, never indifferent to the delights of eating, did complain of having neither seasoning nor wine to make his meals more palatable. When they had advanced some distance up the Mississippi, they stopped one day in April to mend a canoe. Suddenly a war party of naked savages came upon them. These proved to be Sioux setting out to attack the Miamis in revenge for the murder of the son of one of their chiefs. Hennepin was not slow in producing the peace-pipe, but they seemed to have little respect for this emblem of peace. To- bacco met with a little more favor, but did not pre- vent their making the three Frenchmen prisoners. Hennepin and his companions were forced to pad- dle across the river, upon the bank of which the Sioux camped for the night, the attack on the Miamis abandoned for the time being. The fate of the Frenchmen for a while hung in the balance, for the Indians were divided in opinion, some being for im- mediate torture and death, others deeming this course unwise, arguing that it would prevent tlie French from trading with them and their thus THE GEIFFON 115 l)ecoming possessed of the hatchets and guns of wliidi they had heard. The latter argument finally prevailed, bat the Indians forced tlie prisoners to go liome with them. This was pleasing to Hennepin, for it will be remembered that he dearly loved to see strange coun- tries, even if he must do so in q u e s t i onable company. They passed I^ake Pepin, which Hennepin called the Lake of Tears because here the old chief who had lost his son wept and howled over the priest, blaming him for their aban- donment of the attack upon the Miamis. They reached the chief village of the Sioux in the Mille Lacs region, Minnesota, after hardships of which Hennepin complains, but which do not appear to have been any greater than the Indians themselves endured. Hennepin was adopted by one of the chiefs as his son, but he was held almost as a slave. It was not at any time certain that the faction favoring death for the Frenchmen would not prevail, and therefore it BUFFALO DRAWN BY HENNEPIN IIQ THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN was thought best to escape if possible. One of the Frenchmen, having taken a dislike to the friar, re- fused to be a party to their plans. The other two stole away one night, but they were soon recaptured. Afterward, while on a buffalo hunt on the Wis- consin shore of the Mississippi, the Sioux were sur- prised by the appearance among them of Du Lhut, a fur-trader, and four companions. Du Lhut had heard of this hunting party which had with it three white men, and he had come to their rescue. He seemed to have great influence over these dreaded savages, and when he soundly berated them for holding Frenchmen captive and ordered their release, he was at once obeyed. Abandoning his cherished plan of exploring to the west to find the sea of salt of which the Indians had told him, he conducted Hennepin and his companions over the Wisconsin-Fox route to Green Bay. This journey was accomplished in safety, but it does not appear that Hennepin had a very grateful heart, for in one of his books he traduces Du Lhut, his rescuer, and actually claims that the bold trader was under his own protection while with the Sioux. The friar spent the winter at Green Bay, but the most important thing he records of the time is his renewal of his boyhood sport of skating. He re- turned to France in 1682, where he spent much time writing accounts of his travels, mostly fictitious, THE GRIFFON 117 maligning the names of La Salle and Du Lhut, both of whom had befriended him. He seems to have fallen into disgrace and to have been dismissed from his order, after which we hear of him in England and then in Eome, at which place he sinks out of sight. -^i ^ /j^fflTT -^ - CHAPTEE IX THE THOKN IN THE FLESH— 1712-1743 At the daT\Ti of the eighteenth century, the lilies of France, planted by wood ranger, priest and explorer, floated over the entire region of New France and Louisiana, from Quebec to the mouth of the Missis- sippi, and from the Alleghanies nearly to the Kockies. Even the haughty Iroquois, after almost a century of fiercest hatred of the French, were at peace, and, if not allies, were at least neutral. But there had already been sown the seeds of discontent, which later bore fruit in one of the wickedest, bloodiest wars of history, and finally in the trailing in the dust of the proud lilies and the loss by France of every foot of soil in the New World. This discontent had its rise in the system by which New France carried on her fur-trade. Monopoly was its curse. Because the trade was in the hands of a few who, at a large price, purchased from the gov- ernment the right of trading, restrictions were placed upon it and prices of goods given in exchange for furs were ruinously high. This latter fact might not have been discovered by the Indians had it not been that the English pursued an entirely different jDolicy. With them the trade 118 THE THORN IN THE FLESH 119 was open to all ; hence it was that competition made them offer better bargains to the Indians. In 1689, a French writer says, a beaver skin would buy eight ]:)Ounds of gunpowder at Albany, at Montreal only two ; it would bring forty pounds of lead at Albany, while Montreal buyers would give but thirteen ; and at Albany six gallons of fire-water would be gener- ously dealt out for the skin which at Montreal must be sold for one. The Indian was not long in finding this out, and he naturally wanted to sell in the highest market, Perrot, who thoroughly understood the Indians and the condition of affairs in the West, warned the government tliat the savages were beginning to mur- mur, but because of the belief that the link of friend- ship that bound the Indians to the French was so strong that it could not be broken, no change of policy was inaugurated. And this belief seems to have been well founded, if we except one tribe, the Foxes of Wisconsin, the thorn in the flesh of New France. These Indians were never friendly to the French. From the first, they had met every advance with haughty disdain. Allouez had not been kindly received by them. He had formed no very favorable opinion of their mor- als, being shocked at the number of wives each Fox had. The Foxes, in turn, had had 'Mmt a very poor opinion of the French ever since two traders in beaver skins had been among them." On his second 120 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN visit, lie learned that some of their number had vis- ited Montreal the year before and had been shame- fully treated by the soldiers. He says: ''Now they were determined to avenge themselves for the bad treatment they had received in the French settle- ments/' It will be remem- bered that the Foxes turned back at Green Bay after they had yielded to Perrot's per sua- sions to join in the ceremony of 1671 at Mackinac. He was the only French- man they ever liked, and their liking for him was based on gratitude, for he had once saved the life of the child of a Fox chief. Their feeling against the French probably had its roots in their passionate love for independence. They were wise enough to see what French mastery would mean in the end. As early as 1694, Count Frontenac heard that the Foxes were secretly hostile. He then wrote to the A FOX CHIEF THE THORN IN THE FLESH 121 king that these Indians were planning to seek a new home on the banks of the Wabash or the Ohio. He says : "The Foxes are a fierce and discontented people, in secret alliance with the English. If they remove to the Wabash with their affiliated tribes, the Kicka- poos and Mascontens, they will form there a nation of fifteen hundred warriors. Far away from their enemies, the Sioux, and in close contact with their Iroquois and English allies, they will prosper as never before. Other Indian malcontents will gather around them. They will become a great people, hold- ing the key to the valley of the Mississippi. The fur-trade will pass into the hands of the English, and French supremacy in the West will be at an end.^' Frontenac's prediction would doubtless have come true had the Foxes done as he thought they were intending to do, but for some reason they did not move to the Wabash, although later they did change their home. The French, to prevent the English from intruding on the fur-trade of the Upper Lakes, and to keep their countrymen and their allies from trading with the English, had built a fort at Detroit and per- suaded some of their closest allies — the Pottawatto- mies, the Hurons and part of the Ottawas — to settle around it. In 1712, the Foxes, Mascontens, Kickapoos and ;^22 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN part of the Sauks, though uninvited and unwelcome, came also. That is, the French later claimed that they were uninvited, but a manuscript of the times, recently published, seems to bear out the statement of the Indians that they came as invited guests, for it says, ' ' The commandant, wishing to draw the com- merce of all the nations to his post, had sent belts to the Mascoutens and Kickapoos to invite them to settle there, and they, having accepted the offer, came and built a fort at the place which had been assigned them." But the commandant, wishing to make it seem that his subsequent procedure was justified on the plea of self-defense, claimed that these Indians came for the express purpose of attacking Detroit. If this be true, it seems very strange that they should have brought along their women and children, and that they should have remained quiet from their arrival in early spring until May 11, during which time the garrison numbered but twenty men. By the latter date, the allies, who had been gathered into Detroit by messengers, even from as far west as the Mis- souri, had all come ; whereupon the French began to fire upon the startled Foxes. The surprised Indians protested: '^Wliat does this mean, my father! You invited us a little while ago to come and settle around you, and now you declare war against us. AVliat have we done? But we are readv. Know ve that the Fox is immortal." THE THORN IN THE FLESH 123 Their protest not being heeded, they retired behind their palisades and made ready for defense; the French should not find them an easy foe. Such was their reputation for valor that the Indian allies did not dare attack them, but tried rather to conquer them through hunger and thirst. The French built two scaffolds twenty-five feet high, and from these vantage points poured down such a fire upon them that the Foxes could not steal out for water. Thus beset, they became furious and made two or three desperate sorties, at one time firing hundreds of blazing arrows into the fort, thus setting fire to the thatched roofs and starting a blaze which the French subdued by putting wet skins upon the roofs. The allies became disheartened, saying that the Foxes could never be conquered — that they were braver than any other people. The commandant made a last desperate appeal to them, loading them with presents. This produced no effect, but when some of the Sauks now deserted to the French and related in what a condition the Foxes really were — "worn out with sickness, famine and constant fight- ing" — the courage of the allies rose again. The Foxes were indeed in a pitiable condition. They had now no resource but to raise the white flag of surrender and sue for peace, but not for themselves. "It is the life of our women and our children that I ask of you," said their envoy. But they sued in vain. The French were deter- 124 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN mined to destroy them root and branch, for only thus could they hope to keep the fur-trade of the great West unmolested. They would probably have suc- ceeded in the extermination of the whole camp and the war for the destruction of a people been of short duration, had not a heavy storm come up one night, nineteen days after the attack on the Foxes had begun. Under cover of the darkness the Foxes took their flight, but not all escaped. Twelve miles from Detroit a part of them were overtaken. It took five days more to conquer even these, with such desperate valor did they defend themselves. But the fight could have but one outcome, for the Indians were far outnumbered. Over one thousand were slain, those not killed outright being given over to the allies for torture and death, not even the women and children being spared. Truly it is not surprising that the commandant should not want to bear the responsi- bility for such an outrage, but we should hardly ex- pect him to place it on the God of the Christian; yet he says, ^'It is God who has suffered these two audacious nations to perish." Thus ended the first chapter of a struggle for inde- pendence on the one side and for extermination on the other. But it was only the first chapter, for there were yet Foxes, and while there were Foxes there would be undying hatred for France and undying desire for revenge. But the Red Men had learned wisdom. THE THORN IN THE FLESH 125 They must have help if they hoped to cope with the powers arrayed against them. In 1714 we find the Foxes in alHance with the Sioux, their hereditary enemies, against the Ilhnois, humble vassals of the French. So persistent were their attacks that in a few years the Illinois were driven from their home on the Illinois Eiver. The French became alarmed, as well they might. It was bad enough to have a bitter enemy in control of the chief waterway between the East and the West, the Fox-Wisconsin. By driving the Illinois away the enemy was now getting control of the other great channel. What was to be done? It was wisely suggested that the restrictions on the fur-trade be removed and it be made open to all, but wisdom did not prevail at the court of France. In- stead, the brutal and foolish policy of wiping the Foxes out of existence was determined upon, in spite of the protests of Perrot, now an old man of seventy, and of other men experienced in the affairs of the West. In accord with this determination, an expedition was fitted out in 1716, numbering eight hundred men, French and Indians. This was the first hostile army landed on Wisconsin soil. The Foxes were intrenched upon a small hill. Little Butte des Morts, near the present site of Neenah. ' ' Everybody believed, ' ' says Charlevoix, a writer of that time, ' ' that the Fox nation was about to be de- 126 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN stroyed; and so they themselves judged when they saw the storm gathering against them; they there- fore prepared to sell their lives as dearly as possible. ' ' One can but dimly imagine the scene : thousands of men, women and children tranquilly awaiting their doom ; the busy preparations for war, the few guns made ready, spears sharpened, the stone arrow- heads securely fastened to their shafts; the council fires around which the warriors crouched, row upon row, in solemn conclave; the long fastings, for the Foxes were very devout after their own fashion, and would often fast ten days at a time on the eve of battle; their incessant war dances, now slow and measured, now growing fast and furious until the forests rang with their wild songs and cries of defiance. ' ' The French besieged the fort and dug mines under- neath. Hunger and thirst finally drove the Foxes to make an offer of surrender, but this was refused. A second time they asked for peace, and this time the commandant granted it on condition that they re- lease all prisoners, replace by a slave every French- man killed by them, and pay all expenses of the war in furs. He declared that the allies agreed to this, but his statement seems to be contradicted by the fact that when, five years later, an attempt was made to unite them against the Foxes, they refused, saying, "It is difficult to place confidence in the French, who once before united the nations to assist in extermi- THE THOEN IN THE FLESH 127 nating the Foxes and then granted peace without even consulting the allies." But the Foxes did not keep the peace as faithfully as they might. Three of their hostages held in Que- bec died the next winter, and the only remaining one lost an eye. AVlien he came back the next spring with the commandant to reprove the Foxes for not having kept faith with the French, the Indians pre- tended to be very submissive. But, matching craft with craft, they were in reality preparing for war. They had begun the formation of the greatest league of Indian tribes ever known upon this continent. In 1721 Charlevoix says : "The nation which for twenty years past has been the most talked of in these western parts is the Outa- gamies or Renards [Foxes]. The natural fierceness of their savagery, soured by the ill-treatment they have received, sometimes without cause, and their alliance with the Iroquois, have rendered them formidable. They have since made a strict alliance with the Sioux, a numerous nation inured to war; and this union has rendered all the navigation of the upper part of the Mississippi almost impractica- ble to us. It is not quite safe to navigate the river of the Illinois unless we are in a condition to prevent surprise, which is a great injury to the trade between the two colonies [New France and Louisiana]." Tills was not all that the Foxes did. They man- aged, in one way and another, to attach to their cause 128 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN THE DELLS OP WISCONSIN Courtesy of Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Ry. all the Indians of Wisconsin except the Chippewas. The 8anks, who had been divided, a part for the THE THORN IX THE FLESH 129 Foxes, a part against, all joined the great league. The Winnebagoes soon followed, and even the peace- loving Menominees fell into line. Truly, the Foxes must have had infinite wisdom and patience to accom- plish all this ! The Sioux, as has been stated above, were fast allies, notwithstanding the efforts of the French to break the alliance, and the Foxes even appear to have won the friendly feeling of the Iowa Indians and the Chickasaws of the lower Mississippi. The coureurs de bois, since they were not per- mitted to trade legally, did so illegally, and did not scruple to furnish the Sioux and the Foxes with fire- arms, lead and powder. In 1720, the governor thus complains to the king : ' ' This contributes more than all else to foster the haughtiness of the Sioux and the Foxes. The latter are especially intractable and have a very bad influence upon the former. They have so prejudiced them against us with stories of our treacherous designs that the Sioux turn a deaf ear to all the persuasions of our officers. ' ' In order to understand how important to the French and how formidable this league was, we must remember that by this time there were many colonists in the Mississippi valley, that the French had a line of forts from Quebec to the lower Missis- sippi, and that they must keep this line unbroken if they wished to keep the two colonies united, for the English were already threatening along the Ohio, ready to take advantage of any break. 130 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN In the meantime the Foxes had kept np their con- stant warfare against the Illinois, in spite of the condition of their treaty by which they bound them- selves not to war npon the allies of France. They paused not until they had driven the very last tribe from the Illinois country. In 1726, however, a sort of peace was patched up in a meeting at Green Bay with delegates from the Sauks, Foxes and Winnebagoes. Soon afterward, in 1727, a French expedition was suffered to pass un- molested over the Fox-Wisconsin route, closed to them for some time, on their way to Lake Pepin to establish a trading-post among the Sioux. This was not a wise policy for the Foxes, as we shall see, for this post was later the means of their undoing. In 1728, charging that the Foxes had again broken faith by attacking the Illinois, the governor, without consulting the king, made a plan to destroy them. His company consisted of four hundred Frenchmen and nine hundred savages. Eeinforcements were expected from the Illinois country and from the Upper Lakes region. "The army toiled painfully over the usual route by way of the Ottawa River. In struggling through the wilderness, by narrow trails and difficult port- ages, the force was necessarily split into detach- ments ; but by July 26 all had reached the rendezvous on the shore of Lake Huron. Here mass was cele- brated before the reunited army. The place of wor- THE THORN IN THE FLESH 131 ship was a green prairie, smooth as a temple floor, walled in npon the one side by the dim arches of the forest, on the other by the glistening waters of the inland sea. In the center stood three priests clad in the stately vestments of their office ; before them an altar transported with infinite pains through tlie wil- derness. Roundabout was a motley host. Soldiers in uniform and Canadian hunters in their many- colored garb stood beneath the banners of France; scantily costumed savages crouched or lay flat on the ground, with eyes and ears intent upon the ^ great war medicine' of the French. After these pious exercises the multitude set out with new ardor to exterminate the Foxes, feeling that they had the blessing of God upon their efforts." The French, leaving Mackinac, soon arrived at the mouth of the Menominee River, where they landed, as they stated, to provoke an attack from the Me- nominees. They were successful in bringing on the attack and in putting the Indians to total rout, then re-embarked for Green Bay. They halted within a few miles of a Sauk village, then approached under cover of darkness. But alas for the glory they had expected to win by whole- sale slaughter! Only four victims were found, the rest, warned of their approach, having fled. The four, too sick or too old to take flight, were ruth- lessly tortured and burned. The AVinnebago village next reached also was de- 132 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN serted, except for a few women and one old man. The French burned the cabins and the corn, and their allies took the women as slaves and put the old man to death by torture. Truly, this was a righteous war ! No better success awaited the invaders at the Fox village; only two women and a girl remained upon whom to wreak their vengeance. Plowever, they passed over the country like a plague, laying it waste in order that, as the governor wrote, ''one-half these nations shall die of hunger and that the rest will sue for mercy. ^ ^ But what of the fleeing savages? In the glowing days of September four thousand of them might have been seen hurrying down the Wisconsin, the women and children in canoes, the warriors on foot, making their way through the thickets and swamps of its shores. They turned north at its mouth, ex- pecting the Sioux to aid them against the invaders, but they were disappointed. The selfish Sioux had been won over to the French by the establishment of the trading-post on Lake Pepin, and they turned a deaf ear to the fugitives. The Mascoutens and Kickapoos also deserted them. The Winnebagoes were finally received by the Sioux, who, it will be remembered, were kin to them. The Sauks went back to Green Bay, ready to be forgiven, but sore was the distress of the Foxes. They found a refuge for a time with the Towa Indians, but love of their old home irresistibly drew THE THORN IN THE FLEttH 133 them back to Wisconsin, and they, too, came, begging peace. The reply was a fierce attack upon their camp by French Indians. Later, another expedition was undertaken against them, at which time about eighty warriors and three hundred women and children were killed or captured, the prisoners all being put to death by torture. The French used to make excuses for their burning of human beings on the plea that they had learned it of the savages. ^' Among the wolves we have learned to howl," they said; but this would seem slight justification for burning innocent women and children. When we next see the remaining Foxes, they have retreated to the Illinois River, and there they take stand again. It was thought by the French that they were trying to join the Iroquois, not at all an un- likely supposition. Of course, another expedition was fitted out against them. There began a battle on August 29, 1730, which lasted twenty- two days. Outnumbered more than four to one, the Foxes fought bravely, desperately, but it was the story of Detroit over again. Weakened by hunger and thirst, they again took advantage of a heavy storm to steal away. Morning found the pursuers close upon their heels. The result is sickening to relate — two hun- dred braves and six hundred w^omen and children left dead upon the prairie. About sixty warriors were all that escaped. 134 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN It would seem that the Foxes were at last subdued, for the dead cannot rebel. But so long as a single Fox remained alive, so long was the murderous lust of France not satisfied. For two years we hear nothing of the scattered remnants of this brave people; then we learn that the few survivors, still clinging to old Wisconsin, are dwelling upon the Wisconsin River. It is not long before another expedition is sent against them (1731-2), this time made up of Christian Iroquois and Hurons. Unprepared for battle, the Foxes can make little resistance, and three hundred more men, women and children are added to the long list of victims. There now remained only about fifty or sixty war- riors to keep alive the memory of their wrongs. Of this number, some twenty, with thirty or forty women, went in despair to Green Bay and threw themselves on the mercy of the commandant. Kiala, their chief, was sent to Quebec and from there as a slave to Martinique, where his faithful wife followed him. The others were allowed to remain that winter, and were placed with some Sauks across the river from the fort. The next spring the gov- ernor ordered them all brought to Montreal or destroyed. In attempting to carry out this order the com- mandant attacked the Sauks, who would not give u]^ their guests. In the attack he lost his life, being shot THE THORN IN THE FLESH I35 by a twelve-year-old boy, Blackbird. Three days later the Sauks and Foxes again took to flight. The exiles wandered far, gathering up the few remaining Foxes as they went. They again sought refuge with the Sioux, but were refused, then among the lowans, but in vain. Finally they settled upon the Wapsipinacon Eiver in Iowa. It was not to be expected that they would be allowed to dwell here in peace. In 1734 another expedition was started out from Montreal to attack them, but it proved a failure and a temporary peace agreement followed. During the next few years treaties were made and remade, only to be broken. In 1741 the Foxes again made an alliance with the Sioux, showing that wis- dom and statecraft were not yet dead in them any more than were courage and desire for vengeance. In 1742 they are reported as submitting, but the French could not really claim a victory, for the Foxes, in spite of the great efforts put forth for over a quarter of a century to destroy them, num- bered still, even in 1736, one hundred warriors and seven hundred women and children, undaunted and defiant as before. It was not long before all that remained, except a few around the sites of Chicago and Milwaukee, moved to Green Bay, but later they returned to the Wisconsin, and then settled along the eastern bank of the Mississippi, from the Wisconsin Eiver south. 136 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN From this time on they do not seem to have gone on the warpath again, but they are evidently much feared, for the governors were constantly propitiat- ing them with presents. Thus this war of over half a century came to an end. Its bloody trail could be traced over four states — Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa. France had resorted to savage and cruel warfare and had put forth every effort to crush this enemy under her foot, but could never claim complete victory. In its purpose and conduct, the folly and the in- herent weakness of the policy of France in the New World had been strikingly shown. The Foxes, even at the lowest ebb of their fortunes, had had sym- pathizers among the other Indians, for these tribes could not but fear that should the French succeed in destroying the Foxes, their own destruction might ( ome next. Add to this fear the discontent caused by the condition of the fur-trade, and the insecure foundation of French empire in the West will be seen. This was indirectly contributed much to its final downfall. CHAPTER X WISCONSIN BECOMES ENGLISH DOMAIN— 1756-1763 The struggle between France and England was of long duration. In the Old World it had stretched through centuries, but it was not extended to the New until the natural expansion of the English fur- trade and settlement to the West and the occupation of the Mississippi valley by the French made the conflict of interests and claims only a question of time. The racial enmity existing between the two peoples made the colonists ready to espouse any quarrel of the mother countries, even had there been no local cause for irritation. But the fur-trade furnished abundant local irritation. Hence we need not be sur- prised that as early as 1690, when William, Prince of Orange, brought to the throne of England his great hatred for Louis XIV of France, the outbreak of hostilities between the two countries which fol- lowed his accession was duplicated across the Atlan- tic in what was known as King William ^s War (1690- 1697). Again, in Queen Anne\s War (1702-1713), did the colonists fight valiantly in tlie quarrel of the mother countries, and yet again in King George's War (17-t4-17-t8). 137 138 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN LINE OF FRENCH FORTS Embittered by these many wars and by the con- flicts growing out of the fur-trade and westward expansion, the colonists were getting ready for the final struggle. The result of this struggle was so BECOMES ENGLISH DOMAIN I39 plainly to be foreseen that lie who ran might read. The colonial policy of the two countries made for strength in the one case and for weakness in the other. France established a line of garrisoned posts from mouth to mouth of her two great rivers, the main oliject of which was commercial. Little organ- ized attempt was made to settle. On the other hand, the English were settlers, clearing the land, tilling the soil and building permanent homes. They came to stay, and stay they did. This difference in policy, with its logical outcome, was far-reaching in its effects, for it determined that "Wisconsin should be Anglo-Saxon instead of French in language, government, institutions, education and religion. The danger to France in the encroachment of the English along the Ohio was apparent to one, at least, of the governors of New France, Galissoniere, for we learn that in 1750, after his return to France, he warned the government that communication between New France and Louisiana was endangered. "The farming and home life of the British, he pointed out, prompted a growth that threatened to overcome all opposition and to gain for them the valley of the Ohio. Once the enemy had free access to the Mississippi, he stated, they would alienate the Indians who remained friendly to the French and would find their way to Louisiana, and, in the end, to Mexico. He proposed to settle ten thousand peas- 140 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN ants in the Ohio valley to resist these encroach- ments." But the king and his advisers paid little attention to him. They were no wiser than were those Perrot warned of the danger of their policy against the Foxes. Their folly cost them a kingdom, but so little was the worth of that kingdom realized, even after a century and a half of possession, that Voltaire, on its downfall, is said to have congratulated the king on having got rid of fifteen hundred leagues of snow ! No battles of this memorable struggle for the prize of half a continent took place on Wisconsin soil, but one of her citizens played an important part in it. Charles Langlade, the founder of the tirst perma- nent settlement within the borders of the state, may properly be called our first citizen, and he it was who took part in more than one of the battles of this war. Charles Langlade, born in 1729, was tli.e son of a Canadian gentleman, Augustin Langlade, and an Ottawa squaw, sister of the head chief. The family lived in Mackinac, where Charles was educated, very imperfectly, by the Jesuit priest of the mission, for the boy felt within him the call of the wild more strongly than the love for learning. His uncle, the Ottawa chief, took Charles with him on the warpath when the ]:>oy was but eleven, and thus early he learned his first lesson in savage war- fare. Because the Ottawas, defeated in two previous f BECOMES ENGLISH DOMAIN 141 expeditions, were successful in this one, tliey attrib- uted their success to the presence of young Charles, lie thus gained great influence over them, an influence that increased with his years. It is known that the Langlades, father and son, visited Green Bay often in the interests of their business, fur-trading, from 1745 on for a number of years, and that they claimed a tract of land on the Fox River. It was Charles Langlade who led the attack against the Sauks to revenge the killing of the French commandant by Blackbird. In 1752 Langlade was chosen to command an expe- dition against the Miami Indians on the Miami River. These Indians had been harboring English traders in their village, and the French determined to de- stroy it. Langlade with two hundred fifty Ottawas left Mackinac and reached the Miami region by the Lake Huron, Detroit and Lake Erie route. The attack was fierce and short. The village was de- stroyed and the chief slain, whereupon Langlade's cannibal followers cooked him in a kettle and ate him. Thus Langlade, as Bancroft says, ''began the con- test which was to scatter death broadcast throughout the world." During the next three years Langlade spent most of his time at Green Bay engaged in his regular busi- ness. In 1754 he married a young French girl who is described as "remarkably beautiful, having a 142 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN slender figure, regular features and very dark eyes. These physical gifts were allied to rare moral quali- ties, which secured her a general respect at Michili- mackinac and afterwards at Green Bay." Her life was not so happy as it might have been had she lived elsewhere, for her dread of the Indians was so great that the mere sight of them always gave her a severe nervous shock. From their own cabin door the Langlades could see a long distance down the river. The sight of an Indian canoe approaching threw the young wife into spasms of terror. ''They are coming ! They are coming ! ' ' she would cry. ' ' We shall all be massacred ! " It was often very difficult even for her husband to allay her terror. Shortly after his marriage — that is, in 1755 — Langlade was called upon to lead his savage army against the English at Fort Duquesne. It was here, as we know, that General Braddock, disregarding the words of young Washington, persisted in fighting according to established forms of warfare, and it was here that his obstinacy caused his terrible defeat and the death of half a thousand men. Langlade was in the thick of the fight and is cred- ited with having originated the plan by which Brad- dock was surprised and defeated. General Bur- goyne, under whom he afterward served in the Eevo- lutionary War, wrote of him as "the very man who projected and executed Braddock 's defeat." After this battle, Langlade returned to Green Bay BECOMES ENGLISH DOMAIN 143 and was given the superintendency of Indian affairs in the district of Michigan. Later, in 1757, he was made second in command at Mackinac. But the war was not over, and he was again needed at the front, this time to assist in tlie attack npon Fort WilHam Hen- ry, on Lake George. His braves glee- fully joined in the massacre which took place after the fort was captured. In 1759 we find him on the plains of Abraham with two hundred In- dians from Wis- consin — Ottawas, Chippewas, Sauks, Foxes and Menom- inees. It is report- ed that Langlade actually saw the British troops un- der Wolfe landing below the cataract preparatory, to climbing the heights, and that he hastened to the French com- mander and told him that if he would attack the Eng- lish immediately he could completely destroy the de- AUGUSTIN GIlIG>iOX Grandson and Biographer of Charles Langlade 144 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN tachment, but the officer delayed and thus lost a chance of saving the day. On the day of the famous battle on the plains of Abraham, when Wolfe and Montcalm both lost their lives, the one in victory, the other in defeat, Lang- lade is said to have fought furiously. It is said of him that "he seemed to delight to 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 degree 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 as calm amidst the cannonade and the whistling of bullets as if he had been tranquilly seated by the fire in bivouac." Quebec fell, and with it all hope of saving French dominion in America. The dragon of St. George replaced the proud lilies of France in the valley of the St. Lawrence and of the Mississippi to the east. Even before the treaty of peace was signed in 1763 the British flag floated over Green Bay, the fort being occupied in 1761 by a detachment of English soldiers, and the name changed to Fort Edward Augustus. The commander. Captain Bal- four, found the fort in a dismal, delapidated state. Langlade returned to Mackinac after the fall of Quebec, and he and his father took the oath of alle- giance to England's king. Charles was to continue as superintendent of Indian affairs at Green Bay, BECOMES ENGLISH DOMAIN I45 and the farm on the Fox River became the perma- nent home of tlie family in 1763 or 1764. Here Lang- lade lived out the remainder of his days. He seems to have won the confidence of the British commander at Mackinac, and the English evidently were wise enough to try to win his good-will and keep it. A letter from this commander, dated April 18, 1777, says: "I send you eighty pounds of tobacco, a sack of corn — ground, in order that the gentlemen may not compel their wives to grind it — two barrels of 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 twenty-three pounds of flour as a present. These, Monsieur, are all the gifts I am able to send you at present." During the American Revolution, Langlade and his braves performed the same service for the Eng- lish that they had for their French masters. For these services he received an annuity of eight hun- dred dollars, and a grant of three thousand acres of land in Canada, and was confirmed in his title to his Green Bay farm. He spent his old age here, busy, contented, happy. His grandchildren gathered about him, and he took great delight in telling them of the many battles — 146 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN ninety-nine, lie asserted — in which he had taken part.^ On each succeeding birthday, the people of Green Bay raised a flagpole in his honor and greeted their first settler with rousing cheers and a salute of musketry. He died in 1800, still retaining the love of his savage followers, who called him, A-ke-wau- geJie-tan-so — ^'He who is fierce for land" — that is, a military conqueror. 1 One grandson, Augustin Grignon, dictated an interesting narrative of .his grandfather's life to the late Lyman C Draper, and it was published in Volume III of the Wisconsin Historical Collections. CHAPTER XI WISCONSIN'S FIEST ENGLISH TRAVELER— 1766-1768 The tale of the conception, execution and failure of Pontiac's great conspiracy has been oft told, but it has little direct connection with Wisconsin history. AVisconsin's Indians, with the exception of the Chip- pewas, a part of the Ottawas and the Milwaukee band, which was made up of the offscourings of sev- eral different tribes, had remained loyal to the Brit- ish, and thus were the means of bringing to naught the great scheme of the great chief. Had they not "overawed the Ottawas and curbed the Chippewas, the latter would have gone to the help of their breth- ren at Detroit and the success of Pontiac been assured. ' ' Thus the Indians of Wisconsin were the humble means of securing firm and peaceable possession of the Northwest to the British. Hebberd even goes so far as to assert that they thus helped to bring about the independence of the colonies, for had the Indians on the borders been unsubdued, he thinks the colonies would never have dared to separate from the mother country. However this may be, the conspiracy failed; the Indians, as a rule, gave their new masters a hearty 147 148 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN welcome, and the fur-trade, the only enterprise which the white man so far had carried on in Wisconsin, flourished. The French fur-trader had now to meet the competition of his English rival right on the ground, for the latter was no longer excluded and the former still roamed the forests at will. Settlement had not yet been attempted, but on the contrary was discouraged for the time being, it being deemed best, for many reasons, to "let the savages enjoy their deserts in quiet. ' ' But this great Northwest was far from being a desert, as the English government and people learned a few years later. A book published in 1778 gave an account of tlie travels in this region of Cai3tain Jona- than Carver, of Connecticut, in 1766-8.' It was much read, for men were anxious to know of this far-off land. Captain Carver was impelled to make the long and dangerous journey therein described by the desire to correct what he believed to be inaccurate maps and false accounts published by the French. It was his intention to travel from the Atlantic to the Pa- cific. That he did not reach his goal is true, but, if 1 The full title of this book was : 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. Mountains, Minerals, Soil and Veuetable I'roductions 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 History of the Genius, Manners and Customs of the Indians Inhabiting the Lands That Lie Adjacent to the Heads and to the \Yestward of the Great River ^Mississippi ; and an Appendix Describing the I'ncultivated Parts of America That Are :Most Pi-oper for Forming Settlements. By Captain Jonathan Carver of the I'rovincial Troops in America. WISCONSIN'S FIEST ENGLISH TRAVELEK 149 his account is to be credited, he did travel as far west as the Carver River, a branch of the Minnesota, about two hundred miles from the mouth of the latter. Lack of space forbids a detailed account of this traveler's jour- ney, interesting as it is. We must be content to note only in a general way the points of inter- est to readers of Wisconsin's history. Thi nk in g it safer to travel as a trader, Car- ver fitted him- self out with ar- ticles of barter. Thus equipped, he reached Fort Edward Augus- tus (Green Bay) in September, 1766. He found little to interest him here. A few French families, Langlade's among the number, were the only white inhabitants, the English having abandoned the fort soon after taking possession. /k^/iy^^J .J~f Mit -ict.£i^^-£, 4' A^'^^ '^-arrj X50 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN His next rest was at the great Winnebago town at the entrance of Lake Winnebago. He found the village ruled by a queen whom the Indians called "Glory of the Morning." The name, so suggestive of charm and beauty, evidently was a misnomer, judged by the white man's standards, for Captain Carver's description of her suggests little of at- tractiveness : "She was a very ancient woman, small in stature and not much distinguished by her dress from sev- eral young women that attended her. Her attendants seemed greatly pleased whenever I showed any token 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 gayety, and by her smiles showed she was equally pleased with the attention I paid her." Whatever she might lack in personal charm, her hospitality was unquestioned. Carver says, "She received me with great civility and entertained me in a very distinguished manner during the four days I continued with her." Eesuming his journey, after bestowing many pres- ents on the queen and receiving her blessing in return, he passed over the now familiar Fox- Wiscon- sin trail to Prairie du Chien. He stopped on the way to visit the great town of the Sauks near where Prairie du Sac now is, then a village of the Foxes WISCONSIN'S FIEST ENGLISH TKAVELER 151 near the present site of Muscoda, and finally reached the mouth of the Wisconsin on October 15. He thus describes the Indian village which he found here: "It is a large town and contains about three hun- dred families. 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, bring- ing with them the furs to dispose of them 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 conducive to their interest to sell their goods at this place or carry them on to Louisiana or Michili- mackinac. ' ' The horses here spoken of, the first brought to Wisconsin, came from the Indians of the lower Mississippi, who had obtained the animals in trade or otherwise from the Spaniards. The French, having to travel so much by water, never took horses with them. Carver was accompanied on this exploring expedi- tion by traders. They chose to spend the winter at Prairie du Chien, but he, in company with a French 152 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN voyageur and a Mohawk Indian, went np the Missis- sippi as far as Lake Pepin. He noted the mounds of this region and thus writes of them : "One day, having landed on the shore of the Mississippi, some miles below Lake Pepin, wliile 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 par- tial elevation that had the appearance of an entrenchment. On a nearer inspection, I had a greater reason to suppose that it had really been intended for this many centuries ago. Notwithstand- ing that it was now covered with grass, T 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 thou- sand men. Its form was somewhat circular and its flank reached to the river. Though much defaced by time, every angle was distinguishable, and appeared as regular, and fashioned with as much military skill as if planned by Vauban' himself. 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 country, and the rear was covered by the river; nor was there any rising ground for a considerable way 1 Vauban : a French military engineer. WISCONSIN'S FIEST ENGLISH TRAVELER 153 that commanded it. A few straggling oaks were alone to be seen near it. In many places small tracks 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.'' Spending the winter among the Sioux of this region, he explored much of Minnesota. From these Indians he learned of the "shining mountains" to the West full of gold and silver, and also of the Oregon (Columbia) River emptying into the Pacific, but he traversed but a fraction of the distance toward them. He left the Sioux in April, 1767, and with three hundred of them as companions visited their great cave at St. Paul, a cave where the bones of their ancestors lay and where they held their annual spring council. Here he delivered an address to them, and here, he asserted, he was given a grant to a vast tract of land, fourteen thousand square miles in extent, east and west of the Mississippi River. In later years Carver's heirs made three attempts to have Congress ratify this grant, but each attempt failed after long investigation by the Congressional committee. As a matter of fact, the grant seems very questionable, but the term "Carver's Tract" appeared upon maps of the United States for many years. There are now in certain western counties of the state deeds on file by which, under this grant, 154 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN CARVERS WISCONSIN CLAIM titles to tracts of land were conveyed, bnt these titles were, of course, worthless. To return to the explorer himself, he made his way back to Mackinac by way of the Chippewa and Lake Superior, after having explored the Minnesota River for two hundred miles. He was prevented WISCONSIN'S FIEST ENGLISH TRAVELER 155 from going farther west by his failure to get trading supplies. To go without these was to invite disaster. He reached Boston in October, 1768 ; thence he went to London. He had made a journey of over a thousand miles in a little birch bark canoe. Filled with enthusiasm by what he had seen, he projected vast colonization schemes as soon as he landed in England. But ill luck seemed to have marked him for a victim. Misfortunes overtook the great trav- eler and he died of starvation in 1780. Though we may question the value of his book beyond its breezy, entertaining style, one sentence in it deserves attention in the light of after events of which it seems the prophecy : ^*As the seat of empire from time immemorial has been gradually progressing toward the West, there is no doubt but at some future period mighty king- doms will emerge from these wildernesses, and stately palaces and solemn temples with gilded spires reaching to the skies supplant the Indian huts whose only decorations are the barbarous trophies of their vanquished enemies. ' ' CHAPTER XII EEVOLUTIONAEY DAYS— 1775-1783 Obstinate tyranny on the part of England's king and unwise colonial legislation on the part of Eng- land's Parliament brought about the successful revolt of the American colonies and the birth of a new nation dedicated to the principle that "all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." Wisconsin, with the rest of the territory bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio and the Great Lakes, became a part of the new nation, but as conquered territory, not as an independent, self-governing state. As said before, Wisconsin had but a minor part in the Revolutionary War, and that on the side of the British. Her handful of white citizens and her cop- per-colored savages fought with the Redcoats, not because they thought England's treatment of her colonies just, but because they knew nothing of the (luestion at issue, and when they learned of the war two years after it began the line of least resistance naturally led them to England's ranks. Besides, England offered them an incentive that could not fail to appeal to the savage hearts of the Red Men : 156 KE VOLUTION AEY DAYS I57 the British commandant at Detroit, General Hamil- ton, sent emissaries among them, offering a bounty on every American scalp taken. This was something they could understand, while ^'taxation without representation" would sound on deaf ears. Then, too, the British general chose his agents wisely. He sent among them Charles Langlade and his step-nephew, Charles Gautier, both of whom had great influence with the India^ns. The latter, like his imcle, was a son of the wild and spoke all the dialects of the northwestern tribes. No better man could have been chosen to carry the war belt from village to village. At one of his councils with the Indians he made the following speech, so reported by him in a letter to a British official: "My bi^others, I announce to you on the part of your father 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, he is terrible, he sits in judgment on all the Indians and French." Judging from the above, Gautier was not very ready of tongue, but he did not have a critical audi- ence, except when he addressed the renegade Mil- wacky (Milwaukee) Indians. These proved obdurate 158 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN and unmoved, so that he was forced to ask his uncle to come in person to appeal to them. Langlade's method of dealing with them is thus described : ^'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. "Afterward 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 brave hearts beat in the bosoms of the Indians they would . . . 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 numbers to L'Arbre Croche."' As a result of the combined efforts of the two men a considerable number of Indians gathered at Macki- nac ready for the hunt for the scalps of the Long Knives, as the Virginians under George Eogers Clark was called. The outcome of this expedition we shall see later. To George Eogers Clark is due the credit of winning the Northwest for the American colonies. He was the originator and the executor of the policy iL'Arbio C'roche : A villago near ^Mackinac REVOLUTIONARY DAYS 159 of expansion which has since extended the domain of the Stars and Stripes not only from ocean to ocean but even to the islands of the sea. At the outbreak of the Revolution the western posts were all garrisoned by British soldiers. The young Virginian persuaded Patrick Henry, then Governor of Virginia, to allow him to raise a com- pany of men to surprise and capture the posts north of the Ohio — Cahokia, Kaskaskia, \Jincennes, Detroit and Mackinac. He was made a colonel, and suc- ceeded in raising nearly two hundred men for the defense of Kentucky, then organized as a county of Virginia. The expedition set out in the early summer of 1778. Kaskaskia was the first point of attack. With not even a horse to carry supplies, they marched across stream and prairie, and, as planned, surprised the post, which surrendered July 4. Cahokia and Vincennes were gained by moral suasion through the efforts of a priest. Father Gibault, whom Clark had won over to the American cause. Thus in less than a month was the whole Illinois country secured for the struggling United States of America. Clark could ill spare men to gu^rd the posts taken, so he left but two at Vincennes, a captain and a private. About six months later General Hamilton marched from Detroit with eight hundred British soldiers to 160 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN recapture the fort. On the approach of the enemy the two sturdy defenders placed a loaded cannon at the gate, and the captain, lighted match in hand, called ''Halt !" The British forces halted, and Gen- eral Hamilton de- manded a surrender. The captain refused unless the garrison was accorded all the honors of war. After some parley this was granted. The sur- prise of the British may be imagined when out marched, with colors flying, two men — one officer and one private! It is to be hoped that General Hamilton saw the point of this American joke. But the story of Vincennes is not yet finished. George Rogers Clark has yet a word to sa}^ About a month after its re- capture, learning that Hamilton had retained less than one hundred men to garrison the post, and also that with these and five hundred Indians he intended to attack Clark at Ka ska ski a in the spring, the latter GEOUCiE ROGEKS CLARK EEVOLUTIONARY DAYS 161 decided that lie would rather be the attacking than the attacked party. Not waiting for spring, with less than two hundred men, he set out February 4, 1779, on a march which has few parallels in history, a march of two hundred miles across flooded rivers just escaping winter's icy grasp, and over prairies and swamps covered with ice, water and mud. Such a march might well daunt any but the stoutest hearts. When he reached the Little Wabash, Clark found that the floods had increased its width to a league. It took two days to get the men and ammunition across. One of the incidents of this crossing is traditional in the Clark family: ^'The men had halted, cold, hungry and tired, on land that was somewhat dry. They were reluctant to plunge into the icy flood. Clark, perceiving their reluctance, realized that they must somehow be filled with enthusiasm. He quickly thought out a plan. There was in his company a sergeant of great stat- ure, six feet two inches, and a drummer boy who was very small. Clark mounted the little drummer on the shoulders of the stalwart sergeant and gave orders to him to advance into the half frozen water. He did so, the little drumm.er beating the charge from his lofty perch, while Clark, with sword in hand, fol- lowed them, giving the command, 'Forward, march!' as he threw aside the floating ice. Elated and amused with the scene, the men promptly obeyed, holding their rifles above their heads, and, in spite of all 162 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN THE DRUMMER BOY AND THE SERGEANT obstacles, reached the high land beyond them safely.'^ The next obstacle was the Embarrass River. All day they waded about on the bank of the stream, seeking in vain for a place where they could cross. Weak from hunger, cold and fatigue, they waded through the mud until night found them on a small hillock only partially under water. The fort was only nine miles away, so near that the morning guns REVOLUTIONARY DAYS 163 wakened them from their uneasy slumbers. The dis- tance was not great, to be sure, but there was the flooded river across their path. They finally aban- doned hopes of fording it, and followed its course to where it empties into the Wabash. Here they built a few pirogues for the weak, the stronger wading through icy water breast high. But when they had crossed the main channel of the stream, they were not yet on dry land, for around them stretched a flood a league in extent. The men were starving, the weather so cold that their wet clothes became a frozen coat of mail, and it is no wonder that many of them threatened desertion. But they had to deal with one who knew no such word as fail and who feared no m^an. He ordered any man who refused to march to be shot. This touched the right chord, and the men, with an enthusiastic shout, pushed on. A few hours more and Vincennes was in full view — the garrison wholly ignorant of their proximity, as Clark learned from a captured hunter. Retreat was impossible, delay dangerous, the men but poorly equipped to attack a well-guarded post. Clark realized that strategy must supply what he lacked in men and equipment. Just before set of sun, in and out among the hills bordering the fort, he marched and countermarched his few men, so that the force seemed to be immense, especially as Clark's officers, on horses taken from the enemy, dashed back and forth, sending out ring- 164 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN ing commands as though directing a host. The colors on a tall pole appeared again and again at long inter- vals. It was like the march of supernumeraries on the stage of a theater, who appear, disappear and reappear as though countless numbers were in the march. The stratagem was a complete success. A sudden approach from an unexpected quarter brought them to a point where they could dig rifle pits within thirty yards of the walls, so near that the cannon could not be turned on them. In the morning the firing began. It was not long before Clark sent Hamilton — the ' ' hair-buying general, ' ' as the Americans called him because of the bounty offered on scalps — an order to surrender. The order said that he would receive the "treatment due to a murderer" if they stormed the fort. Hamilton haughtily refused to surrender, and fighting was resumed. The Americans, then as now the best marksmen in the world, actually shot out the eyes of the British soldiers who peeped through the loop-holes. Add to the impression made by such sharpshoot- ing the alarm caused by the news that the Americans had intercepted and tomahawked a party of Indians sent out from the fort on a scalp-hunting foray, and it is not surprising that Hamilton concluded to sur- render. The prisoners were accorded the honors of war. Hamilton was held a prisoner for some months. EEVOLUTIONARY DAYS 165 but was finally released by Washington. History does not record whether or not he appreciated this second American joke played on him. It was soon after this surrender that the Indians enlisted for service by Langdale and Gautier marched from Mackinac to St. Joseph, ready to cap- ture the scalps of Clark and his Long Knives. Much to their surprise and disgust they here learned that Hamilton had surrendered Vincennes and himself. There was nothing for them to do but to march back home minus their trophies of war. In 1780, the Wisconsin Indians — Fox, Sauk, Winnebago and Menominee — joined the Sioux to aid some forty British traders in an attack upon the Spanish post at St. Louis. ^ But the expedition failed, partly because of the promptness of the Spanish governor at New Orleans in making counter attacks on the English posts in the South, and partly, it is said, because of the counsels of Clark, who was at Cahokia when the expedition arrived. Colonel Vigo, of the St. Louis post, was a friend of Clark's, even furnishing him a large loan to aid the American cause. The Indians went back home, a second time disappointed in their desire to decorate their belts with white men's scalps. Clark naturally wished to finish the work thus far so successful by marching to Detroit, the last strong- 1 France had secretly ceded the tei'ritory west of the Mississippi to Spain in 1762. In 1779, Spain as well as France had declared war against England. 166 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN hold of the British in the Northwest, but a sufficient number of men could not be induced to undertake the expedition. Bitterly disappointed, he yet continued to serve his country. But good fortune seemed to desert him. He failed in a number of midertakings, the state of Virginia was ungrateful to him, old age and sick- ness came upon him, drink became his master, and he went to his grave "unwept, unhonored and un- sung.'' He had almost doubled the domain of the Stars and Stripes, he had won a territory of unsur- passed richness of soil, minerals and forest, and he reaped the reward that so many unselfish heroes before and since have reaped — ingratitude and neglect. Wlien the treaty of peace was made in 1783, the English envoys, contending that the territory of the Northwest was a part of Canada,^ did not want to yield to the demands of the Americans that it should be given to their country as conquered territory. But the diplomacy of Franklin, Jay and Adams secured what Clark had won, and the Northwest Territory became an integral part of the United States of America, her first acquired possession. ^ It had been made so for purposes of government by the Quebec Act of 1774. CHAPTER XIII THE NOETHWEST— 1780-1787 When the treaty of peace was signed with Great Britain in 1783, the United States succeeding in maintaining her right to the land known as the Northwest Territory, there had already been many disputes in the new nation regarding the ownership of the territory. , These disputes grew out of the lack of knowledge of the geography of the new continent at the time of settlement and the consequent carelessness and looseness in the charter grants made to the different companies promoting settlement. Because of the belief that the continent was but a comparatively narrow strip of land' bounded east and west by the two oceans, the king's grant in 1609 to the London Company, which settled Virginia, concluded with the words, ^'and all that Space and Circuit of Land Lying from the Sea-coast of the Precinct aforesaid up into the land throughout, from Sea to Sea, West and Northwest." The grant to the Plymouth Company in 1620, after specifying the parallels of latitude Avhich should 1 This belief seemed to prevail even later, in spite of the fact that the Tlymonth Company informed the homo government in 1635 that the continent was three thousand miles wide. 167 168 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN CONFLICT OF CLAIMS TO THE NORTHWEST bound it on the north and south, concluded, "and within all the Breadth aforesaid, throughout all the Maine (main) Lands from Sea to Sea." When the Plymouth Council in 1629 made a grant to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the land granted was to extend west in a direct line as far as the Pacific Ocean, and a similar concession was made to the Connecticut Com|iany in 1662 by Charles IT. New York had no charter rights which entitled THE NOKTHWEST 169 her to claim land to the westward, but nevertheless she had her claim. She asserted her right to the Ohio valley on the basis that she had acquired the Iroquois rights to the valley when she assumed a protectorate over that nation. Virginia supported her charter claim with Colonel Clark's achievements, asserting her right to the whole domain north of the Ohio, and Kentucky also, through military conquest. A glance at the map will show how Virginia, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut were claim- ing the whole or parts of the same territory, and that trouble was certain to come if a compromise was not effected. When the Articles of Confederation were under consideration, this conflict of claims was one of the obstacles to their adoption. Maryland, Pennsyl- vania, Delaware, Rhode Island and New Jersey, realizing that they were shut out from westward expansion, were jealous of the other more fortunate states. Maryland was especially obstinate, contend- ing with justice that none of the states had any valid title to the land, and urging that it be made part of the national domain. In fact, she utterly refused to join the Confederation until New York had ceded her claims to the national government and the other states had expressed a willingness so to do. New York set the example of unselfishness in 1780, and after Congress had made an appeal to the other 170 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN states to follow her example, Virginia yielded all but Kentucky in 1784 ; Massachusetts gave up her terri- tory in 1785-6, and Connecticut hers in 1786, all except a portion one hundred twenty miles long- south of Lake Erie, since known as the Western Reserve. Thus did the ter- ritory bounded by the Ohio, the Mis- sissippi and the Great Lakes become national d o m ain, and one obstacle to a more perfect union of the states was removed. The t e r ri t ory thus acquired must now be organized and provisions made for its gov- ernment. From 1784 to 1787 many plans were pro- posed, among them one by Thomas Jefferson which provided that the territory should be divided into ten new states. The names of these states were suggested in the plan — some from the Latin, some from the Greek, and some Latinized forms of the Indian names for the rivers. POLYPOTAI JEFFKKSOX'S DIVISIOX OF THE NORTHWEST TEKRITORY THE NOETHWEST 171 Slavery was to be prohibited after 1800. This pro- vision was stricken out of the plan, as were the high- sounding names. With these omissions, it was adopted l)y the Continental Congress. This plan remained in force until 1787, when a new one, the Ordinance of 1787, was drawn up by Nathan Dale of Massachusetts, assisted by Dr. Ma- nasseli Cutler, pastor for fifty-two years of the Con- gregational Church in Ipswich Hamlet, later Hamilton, Massachusetts. The latter was the agent of the Ohio Company, the object of which was to found a settlement in the West. Dr. Cutler went to New York, where Congress was sitting, to buy land for the company. Congress was anxious to sell the land in order to lessen the enormous debt under which the new nation was struggling. The new colony would serve as a defense against the Indians and the Spanish on the west. There was abundant reason, therefore, why the suggestions of Dr. Cutler, who came to buy a possible million and a half acres of land, should receive attention. He would make no purchase until the ordinance suited him. The clauses forbidding slavery and encouraging education were directly due to his influence. Indeed, it is quite probable that to this noble man is due the credit of these words in the ordinance : ^'Eeligion, morality and knowledge being neces- sary to the good government and the happiness of 17:2 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." The Ordinance of 1787, as finally adopted by Con- gress and immediately put into effect, is classed among the great documents of our history, taking- rank with the Declaration of Independence and the Emancipation Proclamation. Some one has well called it the Magna Charta of the Northwest. Daniel Webster says, "I doubt whether one single law of any lawgiver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of more distinct, marked and lasting character than the Ordinance of 1787." It furnished the basis for all subsequent organization of territories. Its clause forbidding slavery is substantially the thirteenth amendment of the national Constitution. Keligious freedom was guaranteed. The number of states to be made out of this terri- tory was fixed as no more than five and no less than three. When the number of inhabitants of any of the five possible sections should reach sixty thousand, the state might be organized and representatives sent to Congress. This ordinance was one of the last acts of the Continental Congress. The trials and failure of this body had been many, but this one act saved it from ol)livion. CHAPTER XIV THE TAKING OF PRAIKIE DU CHIEN— 1814 The year 1811 was marked by another uprising among the Indians of the Northwest, this time led by Tecumseh, a Shawnee chief, and his brother, called the Prophet. Actuated by the fear that the white men were destined to secure all the hunting- grounds of the Indians — a fear based on the many treaties that the Americans were negotiating, one by one, with different chiefs — Tecumseh, that wise and crafty statesman, formed a confederacy to resist such encroachment and spoliation by making it neces- sary for a nation to gain the consent of all the other nations before it could dispose of any land. The confederacy formed was a formidable one, but it came to naught through the Prophet's disobedi- ence of orders. Tecumseh was in the South among the Cherokees, and he had ordered the Prophet not to open hostilities while he was away. But, unheed- ing, the Prophet attacked the Americans under Gen- eral Harrison at Tippecanoe. The Indians were completely routed. Among these Indians were scat- tered bands from Wisconsin — Chippewas, Pottawat- tomies, Sacs, Foxes and Winnebagoes. This defeat weakened the confederacy so that it 173 2IMomt'> ''Keokuk, who has a smooth tongue and is a great speaker, was busy persuading my band that I was wrong, and thereby making many of them dis- satisfied with me. I had one conso- lation, for all the women were on my side, on account of their cornfields." On April 6, 1832, Black Hawk and about five hun- dred braves, with their wives and children, crossed the Mississippi Eiver, at the Yellow Banks, thus 208 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN invading the state of Illinois. The Prophet met him here. Black Hawk says of this meeting: "The Prophet then addressed my braves and warriors. He told them to follow ns, and act like braves, and we had nothing to fear, but mnch to gain. That the American war chief might come, bnt would not, dare not, interfere with us so long- as we acted peaceably. That we were not yet ready to act otherwise. We must wait until we ascend Rock Eiver and receive reinforcements, and we will then be able to withstand any army." Their intention was to stop above the Prophet's town on Eock River, raise a crop during that summer, and prepare for the warpath in the fall. The Pottawattomies, to whom Black Hawk had sent messengers asking for help, were divided in opinion — a majority under the influence of the chief Shaubena remaining neutral, while the hot-heads under Big Foot were fiercely desirous to go on the warpath. Shaubena himself set out to make a rapid tour of the settlements in the valleys of the Rock and the Illinois, warning them of approaching war. General Atkinson, with a company of regulars, had come north to enforce the demand of General Street for the Sauk murderers. He was at Fort Armstrong (Rock Island) when he learned of the invasion, seven days after it occurred. He at once notified Governor Reynolds that his force was too small for etfective work, and that volunteers must BLACK HAWK WAR 209 be called out. Some sixteen hundred responded to Governor Reynolds's call.^ General Atkinson sent two sets of messengers to Black Hawk ordering liim to withdraw at once to the west bank of the Mississippi River on peril of being driven there by force of arms. Black Hawk's reply to the war chief was, "If you wish to fight us, you may come on ! " On May 9 the army started to follow Black Hawk's trail up the Rock, the land force under General Whiteside, while Atkinson, with cannon, pro- visions, baggage, and three hundred men, followed in boats. Whiteside outdistanced Atkinson. When ]ie reached the Prophet's town, he found it deserted, but the trail up the river fresh, so he pushed on to Dixon's. Here he found two independent battalions under Majors Stillman and Bailey. These men objected to joining the regulars, being full of enthu- siasm and impatient of the slow advance of the army. They asked permission of Wliiteside to go forward as scouts, receiving which, they set out imder Stillman, May 13. Black Hawk, with about' forty of his braves, was holding council with the chiefs of Big Foot's faction of the Pottawattomies up the Rock River, some three 1 Abraham Lincoln was a captain in one of the regiments. .Jefferson Davis, lieutenant of Company B, First United States Infantry, was stationed at Prairie du Chien. but was absent from his company on furlough during this summer. Zachary Taylor was colonel of four hundred regular infantry gathered from Forts Crawford (Prairie du Chien) and Leavenworth. 210 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN miles north of where Stillman's men encamped on the afternoon of May 14. Finding that he could induce only about one hun- dred Pottawattomies to join him, Black Hawk was discouraged, and he says that at this time he had made up his mind to return west of the Mississippi when next summoned by General Atkinson (AAliite Beaver) to do so. Whether or not this be true, we cannot say, but events that now transpired caused him to act otherwise, whatever he may have intended. Hearing that there was a force of whites encamped three miles below, and thinking it was Atkinson's, he sent three of his young men with a white flag, asking the A^'liite Beaver to meet him in council. Some of Stillman's men, seeing them approaching nearly a mile away, rushed out upon them, helter- skelter, and ran them into camp. Black Hawk had sent five other braves to watch what happened. They, too, were sighted, pursued, and two of them killed. The fact that Stillman's men were probably intoxi- cated scarcely excuses such a violation of the rules of warfare. The other three Indians returned to tell Black Hawk of the disaster which had befallen them. He was hot with anger, and justly so. With his few warriors, less than fort}^ (for the Pottawattomie chiefs hastily returned to their homes), Black Hawk went forth to avenge his wrongs. The whites were three hundred strong, the Indians BLACK HAWK WAR 211 only about one tenth that number, but at the first volley of Black Hawk and his braves the whites fled as though the furies had been let loose upon them, fled until nightfall put an end to the chase but not the flight. These volunteers, panicstricken, ran madly on until they reached Dixon's, twenty-five miles away; and some of them did not stop even then, but flew on the wings of fear to their own firesides, spreading the direful tale that Black Hawk and two thousand bloodthirsty warriors were on the warpath, sweeping all before them ! It is not to be wondered at that Black Hawk con- ceived a very poor opinion of the bravery of the Americans, and that he should consider that war had been forced upon him ; that the whites, not he, were responsible for the bloodshed which followed. He says: * ' I had resolved upon giving up the war, and sent a flag of peace to the American war chief, expecting, as a matter of right, reason and justice, that our flag would be respected (I have always seen it so in war among the whites), and a council convened that we might explain our grievances, having been driven from our village the year before, without permission to gather corn and provisions which our women had labored hard to cultivate, and ask permission to return, — thereby giving up all idea of going to war against the whites. Yet, instead of this honorable course which I have always seen practised in war, I 212 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN was forced into war, with about five hundred warriors to contend against three or four thousand. ' ' But for this dishonorable treatment of a flag of truce, the Black Hawk War might never have been. Black Hawk, guided by friendly Winnebagoes, now hurriedly removed his women and children to the swamps of Lake Koshkonong in southern Wisconsin. Joined by parties of Winnebagoes and Pottawatto- mies, he then returned into northern Illinois, ready for active forays. Great was the consternation in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin over the reports spread broadcast by Stillman's men. Settlers hurried into the forts like chickens to cover. A remarkable incident of the panic is told : ''In the hurried rout that took place at this time, there was a family that lived near the river [the Iroquois, in northeastern Illinois]. They had no horses, but a large family of small children; the father and mother each took a child, the rest were directed to follow on foot as soon as possible. The eldest daughter also carried one of the children that was not able to keep up. They fled to the river, which they had to cross. The father had to carry over all the children at different times, as the stream was high, and so rapid the mother and daughter could not stem the current with such a burden. When they all, as they thought, had got over, they started, when the cry of poor little Susan was heard on the BLACK HAWK WAE 213 opposite bank, asking if they were not going to take her with them. The frightened father again began to prepare to phmge into the strong cnrrent for his child, when the mother, seeing it, cried out, 'Never mind Susan ; we have succeeded in getting ten over, which is more than we expected at first — and we can better spare Susan than you, my dear. ' *'So poor Susan, who was only about four years old, was left to the mercy of the frightful savages. But poor little Susan came off unhurt; one of the neighbors, who was out hunting, came along and took charge of little Susan, the eleventh, who had been so miserably treated by her mother. ' ^ Stillman's men showed still further cowardice. Atkinson left them to guard the wounded and the supplies at Dixon's, while he went on up the Rock. He was no sooner gone than they started for their homes, a second time deserting. Atkinson thereupon returned to Dixon's, ordering Whiteside to follow Black Hawk up the Kishwaukee River. But Whiteside's men refused to follow the trail beyond the state line, saying that they had enlisted for service in Illinois, not in Michigan Territory. So they abandoned the pursuit and returned to Ottawa, where they were mustered out of the service. Thus ingloriously ended the first campaign of the war. More volunteers were now called for by Governor Reynolds, and the government ordered General Winfield Scott to proceed from the seaboard to the 214 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN seat of war with one thousand regulars.' General Atkinson persuaded two hundred mounted vohm- teers to remain in service. General AVliiteside enlisted as a private soldier in this battalion. Within three weeks after Stillman's defeat, there were in the field about four thousand effective men. Black Hawk had divided his forces into war parties, he himself leading the largest, which con- sisted of about two hundred warriors. The engage- ments which followed were thus necessarily irregular and scattering, consisting of forays and chance encounters. On June 14, a party of eleven Sauks killed five white men on the Pecatonica River in what is now La Fayette County. Colonel Dodge, with twenty- nine men, overtook the savages the next day, and a battle ensued in which the Indians had eleven killed and the whites three. Dodge's force was made up of a free and easy set, animated by a love of adventure and hatred of the Indian. On June 24, Black Hawk's party attacked the fort on Apple River, but was repulsed. The woman and girls aided the little garrison by molding bullets and loading guns. Atkinson, who was still at Dixon's, learned that Black Hawk's main camp was still near Lake Kosh- konong, so he started up the Rock, June 27. They 1 Owins to sickness which attacked the army on the march, they did not arrive until after the war was over. BLACK HAWK WAR 215 found the Sauk trail still fresh, for Black Hawk, after the repulse at Apple Eiver, had fled east to the Rock and was now three or four days in advance of Atkinson. On July 2 the army arrived at Lake Koshkonong, only to find hastily deserted camps. Atkinson went into camp here, expecting a general engagement soon. He therefore sent out orders to all detachments to join them. Treacherous Winne- bagoes informed him that Black Hawk was encamped on an island in AYliitewater River a few miles east of his camp. From July 7 to July 9 he was sending scouts on wild-goose chases through the swamps of this region, but Black Hawk was already well on his way north. Discouraged by the adverse conditions prevailing, provisions being scarce and the troops worn out, many prominent Illinoisans now returned home. Atkinson despatched part of his army under Colonels Henry and Dodge to Fort Winnebago (Portage) for supplies, part to the mining regions to act as guard, while he himself went into camp and erected a stock- ade where the Bark empties into the Rock, the site of the present city of Fort Atkinson. While Henry and Dodge were at Fort Winnebago, they learned the true location of Black Hawk's camp, southeast of them on the Rock. They resolved to return that way, and, if possible, bring on an engage- ment. A^^ien they arrived, the enemy had again fled, and they found only a deserted camp. The Winne- 21fi THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN bagoes with them insisted that Black Hawk was at Cranberry (Horicon) Lake, and the commanders resolved to set out for that lake the next day. That afternoon a friendly Winnebago chief, Little Thunder, convinced them that they must go south and west if they would strike the trail of the tireless Sauk. They struck the trail about half way between the present cities of Watertown and Jefferson. It led west on almost exactly the line of the Chicago and Northwestern Eailway from Jefferson Junction to Madison. The trail was a difficult one to follow, the men often having to dismount and wade in the water and mud to their armpits. By sunset of the second day, eluly 20, they reached the northeast extremity of Third Lake, where they camped. Black Hawk was only seven or eight miles beyond. The next day they were hot on his trail, and in the afternoon overtook his rear guard on the banks of the Wisconsin. After half an hour of hot firing, the whites charged the enemy. The Indians finally retreated, joining the main body which was crossing the stream. After dusk, Black Hawk placed on a large raft and in canoes obtained from the AVinnebagoes a number of old men, women and children, and sent them down the river, hoping that the garrison at Fort Crawford (Prairie du Chien) would consider them as noncombatants and allow them to pass un- BLACK HAWK WAK 217 harmed. Brrt the x\mericans were not so generous. General Street sent out a force to attack them, and most of the numher were either killed or captured. Of the few who escaped to the woods, nearly all were massacred by a company of Menominee allies. Being unfamiliar with the country north of the Wisconsin, and insufficiently provisioned for a long march. Colonel Henry abandoned the pursuit for the time being and marched his force to Blue Mounds for supplies. Here he was joined, July 23, by Atkinson with his command. On July 27 and 28 the combined forces crossed the Wisconsin on rafts made from the logs of the cabins of Helena. They struck the trail about fixe miles northeast of the crossing. They found it led to the northwest, toward the Mississippi. They were now in an unknown country, but the trail was not difficult to follow, being marked by the bodies of dead Sauks who had died on the way, either from wounds or of starvation. There were abundant evi- dences that the fleeing savages were in the last extreme of hunger, for they were eating the bark of trees and the scant flesh of* their exhausted ponies. Black Hawk and his few almost starved braves reached the Mississippi about two miles south of where the Bad Axe empties into it. He tried to get across, but as he had only two or three canoes, the passage was necessarily slow. One large raft, filled with women and children, was sent down the east 218 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN side of the river, but it capsized, and nearly all aboard were drowned. In the afternoon, a sujDply steamer from Prairie du Chien appeared on the scene. Black Hawk waved a white flag as the steamer neared the shore. He called ont in the Winnebago tongue that they wished it; liiiiiiiiillji L. !■■■■■■■ ■ 1 BLA-CK HAWK WAR :ME:SI0RIAL. FORT ATKINSON.i to give themselves up, ^but, although a Winnebago on board correctly interpreted his request, the cap- tain affected to believe that it was a trick to entice 1 This is a large boulder of native granite placed on the corner of the ground included within General Atkinson's stockade, and bearing this inscrintion on a marble tablet : "Near this spot General Atkinson built a stockade in the Black Hawk War, 1832. To mark this historic ground the Fort Atkinson Daughters of the American Revolution place this memorial. 1006." The cannon ball at the left was unearthed in the excavation of a cellar near this spot. BLACK HAWK WAK 219 them into ambush, so ordered his men to fire. As a result, twenty-three more Sauks laid down their lives for a lost cause, and Black Hawk received one more lesson in the way Americans carried on war. Black Hawk, seeing that his cause was lost, gath- ered a party of ten braves, among whom was the Prophet, and recrossed the river as soon as the steamer, which was short of fuel, was out of sight on its return to Prairie du Chien. He then started east, intending to hide in the dells of the Wisconsin. The next day, feeling conscience-stricken at having deserted his friends, he returned, and. from a cliff near by witnessed the close of the battle of the Bad Axe, the death blow of the British Band. He turned into the forest and fled. The battle took place August 2, when Atkinson's forces came up with the Sauks on the banks of the Mississippi. The Indians fought with desperation, even though weakened by hunger and long marches, but there could be but one outcome. A few escaped by swimming to the west bank of the Mississippi, but many who, in despair, plunged in were drowned or picked off by the sharpshooters. The whites respected neither age nor sex, killing women and children with the same indifference with which they slew the braves. The carnage lasted three hours, the Indians losing one hundred fifty killed outright, probably as many more by drowning, while about fifty women and chil- 220 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN dren were taken prisoners. Seventeen whites were killed and twelve wounded. Of those who crossed the river, fully one half were massacred by a party of Sioux sent out by Atkinson to intercept them. Out of the thousand who had crossed the Yellow Banks in the spring, possibly a meager hundred fifty lived to tell the sorrowful tale of a misguided people. But what of the fleeing Black Hawk? His story is soon finished. He with the Prophet was delivered over by two Winnebagoes, ever treacherous as a nation and as individuals, to General Street at Prairie du Chien. They had tracked the fugitives to the dells of the Wisconsin. On September 21, 1832, a treaty of peace was signed at Fort Armstrong (Eock Island). Black Hawk and the Prophet, with other Indians, were to be held as hostages, pledges for the good behavior of the remnant of the British Band and their Winnebago allies. ♦Lieutenant Jefferson Davis was detailed to act as their guard when they were transferred from Fort Armstrong to Jefferson Barracks (St. Louis). An account of Davis 's life says : "He entirely won the heart of the savage chief- tain, and before they reached Jefferson Barracks there had sprung up between the stern red warrior and the young paleface a warm friendship which only terminated with tlije life of Black Hawk. ' ' BLACK HAWK WAR 221 The hostages remained at the Barracks through the winter, but in April, 1833, they were taken to Washington, where they had an interview with Presi- dent Jackson. He most emphatically told them that the Government would compel the Red Men to be at peace. They were then sent to Fortress Monroe, Virginia, for confinement, the same place that afterward held Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president, as prisoner. On June 4, 1833, Black Hawk and his fellow pris- oners were set free by order of President Jackson. They were then taken through the principal cities of the country on their way home, in order that they might be properly impressed with the importance and power of the whites, and thus see the hopeless- ness of any future attack. For several years Black Hawk lived quietly on a small reservation set apart for him and his followers near the head of the Des Moines Rapids, Iowa, and here he died, October 3, 1838, at the age of seventy- one.^ Thus ended in peace and quietness the life of one who had brought about one of the bloodiest of Indian 1 In July, 1839, an Illinois physician stole Black Hawk's body from its grave. The warrior's family complained, and Governor Lucas of Iowa, in 1840, caused the skeleton to be delivered to him at Burlington, then the capital of Iowa Territory. Later in that year the seat of government was moved to Iowa City, and the box containing the remains was deposited in a law office in that town. It remained here until the night of January 16. 1853, when the building and its contents were destroyed by fire. It had been intended to place the skeleton in the museum of "the Iowa Historical and Geological Institute, but the fire occurred before the removal could take place. 222 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN wars in the history of our state, and yet he cannot be blamed, for had he been treated with ordinary fairness and justice, the war need not have been. His own words are his best defense : ' ' Rock River was a beautiful country. I liked my town, my corn- fields, and the home of my people. I fought for them." CHAPTER XVIII OUR NAME AND OUR BOUNDARIES Scarcely had Black Hawk put his goose-quill to the treaty and peace become an assured fact, when set- tlers began again to pour into our borders. From Ohio, from New York, even from faraway Maine, they came, for the Erie Canal, completed in 1825, had made it easy for emigrants to push westward into the woods of Michigan, of which the Badger State was yet a part. Our territory had been successively a part of the Northwest Territory, from 1787 to 1800 ; of Indiana Territory, from 1800 to 1809 (Map A) ; of Illinois Territory, from 1809 to 1818 (Map B) ; and of Michi- gan Territory, from 1818 to 1836 (Map C). As Legler well says, "Wisconsin was an orphan in the neglectful charge, first of the Northwest Territory, then of Indiana, Illinois and Michigan Territories.'' But the people west of Lake Michigan, some twenty-two thousand in number, had long since tired of this government, which was almost no govern- ment at all, and had begun to agitate the matter of controlling their own affairs. Thev argued, in favor of this, that Detroit, the 224 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN seat of govern- ment, was over five Imndred miles away, with no communica- tion except by trails and water- ways, difficult at any time and impassable lialf the time ; that their votes could not reach De- troit before the question upon which they had voted was al- , ready past history, and that therefore they had practically no voice in the government. They also claimed that they needed a government of their own in order to insure prompt and effective protection against the Indians within and around their borders. In 1824, Judge Doty' drew up a bill for the organi- zation of the new territory under the name of Chip- pewau. This he sent with a petition signed by a large number of residents to United States Senator Benton, of Missouri, requesting him to get the matter before Congress. The boundaries of the new terri- er ap A (l.SOO-1800) ■I The same before whom Red Bird and his accomplices were tried. OUE NAME AND OUR BOUNDARIES •25 toiy, as defined by Doty, are sliown in the map on page 227. In spite of Judge Doty's persistent efforts in writ- ing letters to })rominent Congressmen, the matter was not deemed important enougli to be given consideration. In 1827, Judge Doty, in deference to the wishes of some, expressed a willingness to call the new terri- tory Wiskonsan, a corruption of the Indian name of the principal river. But still Congress did not appreciate the necessity for action. The next year, 1828, the people of Detroit, awakened to the fact that Michigan, which was already looking toward state- hood, was being narrowed in her possible bounda- ries, sent a pro- test to Congress, objecting most strongly to giv- ing up the terri- tory lying east of Mackinac; about that lying- west they cared nothing, in their ignorance re- map b (isoo-isis) 226 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN garding it as valueless. To this the people west of Lake Michigan were welcome. In order properly to understand Michigan's posi- tion, we must go back to the Ordinance of 1787. That Ordinance, we must remember, provided for five possible states to be formed out of the Northwest Territory, and even specified the boundaries of the same. That Ordi- nance made a due east and west line from the most south- ern point of Lake Michigan the northern boundary of tlie three lower states. But this most southern point was in terri- tory as yet unsurveyed, hence unknown. Therefore when Ohio became a state in 1802 she was given a •boundary "running from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan to the most northerly cape of Miami Bay on Lake Erie," a line extending, as may be seen, northeast and southwest. MAP C (1818-1836) OUE NAME AND OUR BOUNDAEIES 227 THE TEHKITOUY OF CHIPPEWAU When, in 1805, Michigan Territory was organized, it was given for a southern boundary the line de- scribed in the Ordinance, and in the upper peninsula all the land east of a north and south line through Mackinac. A glance at the map will show that the boundaries of Michigan and Ohio overlapped. The wedge-shaped strip in dispute averaged six miles in width and contained about four hundred fifty square miles, including the present site of Toledo. Congress ordered the boundary between the two surveyed in 1812, but the survey was not completed 228 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN until 1835, the whole question hanging, of course, upon the most southerly point of Lake Michigan. Congress finally solved the question by forcing a compromise upon the two. Ohio was to have the wedge in question, and Michigan, as compensation, was offered the whole of the upper peninsula, a re- gion geographically and legally (if the ordinance of 1787 was binding) belonging to Wisconsin. This was robbing Peter to pay Paul with a vengeance. Michigan did not want the northern peninsula, protesting that it was barren waste, that it naturally and rightfully l)elonged to the fifth state, that she had no common interest with the people of that region, it being separated from the southern part by insur- mountable natu- ral barriers half of the year. But Michigan wanted state- hood, and Con- gress alone could give h e r what DIVISION OF s h e w a n t e d ; NORTHWEST TERRITORY ACCORDING . -, TO ORDINANCE OF 1787 ll U C sho WaS OUE NAME AND OUR BOUNDARIES 229 WISCONSIN TERRITORY, 183G forced to yield, vriiicli slie did, tliougii very unwill- ingly, in Decemijer, 1836. Tims was Judge Doty 's territory of ' ' Cliippewan, ' ' or "Wiskonsan," or "Huron," as be called it in 1830, or Wisconsin, as it was named in 1834, shaved of a goodly portion on the northeast. As to how Indiana came to have a northern bound- ary even farther north than Ohio is equally interest- ing, but does not belong to the history of our state ; hence we shall not give it space. But how comes the northern boundary of Illinois to ])e much farther north than either of the others? We shall have to go to a meeting of Congress in 1818 230 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN to answer that. Illinois is asking to be admitted as a state. The bill, introduced by her territorial dele- gate, Nathaniel Pope, gives her boundary as pre- scribed by the Ordinance of 1787, a line due west from tlie southern point of Lake Michigan to the Mississippi. Suddenly Mr. Pope bethinks himself that Illinois ought to have more lake front, and he accordingly proposes an amendment to his bill, making 42° 30' her northern boundary, thus coolly appropriating a strip over sixty-one miles wide, a fertile district containing the sites of Chicago, Ga- lena, Freeport, Eockford and many other prosperous towns. His argument for this bold move is that if Illinois were to have no lake outlet, her interests would lie to the south and west, and in the event of the Union's being disrupted, his state would naturally join a southern or western confederacy in preference to a northern or eastern one. His argument prevails, strange as it may seem, for the as yet unformed territory in the north has neither voice nor friend in Congress. When Wisconsin was finally organized as a terri- tory, in 1836, she tacitly accepted 42° 30' as her southern boundary and her present northeastern boundary, although this latter had to be determined by later surveys. Almost immediately, however, she began to take steps for the recovery of her stolen ter- ritory on the south. Of this we shall speak later. The question of her spoliation on the northwest OUR NAME AND OUE BOUNDAEIES 231 also belongs to the period when the territory was asking for statehood, and will be taken up later. On Jnly 4, 1836, the new territory was organized at Mineral Point. President Jackson had appointed Henry Dodge of Dodgeville, of whom we heard in the Black Hawk War, as governor, for the term of three years, but he might be removed by the Presi- dent at any time. His salary was fixed at $2,500 a year. At the election the following October there were chosen thirteen members of the council (senate) for four years, and twice that number of representatives (assemblymen) for two years. Their salary was three dollars a day and the same sum for every twenty miles traveled each way from the seat of gov- ernment. The seat of government was fixed at Bel- mont, Iowa County, by proclamation of the governor. A chief justice and two associates were appointed by the President. District, probate courts, and jus- tices of the peace were provided for. The first legislature met in a story-and-a-half frame house surrounded by stumps, lead-miners' shafts, prospectors' holes and shanties. It is inter- esting to note that Governor Dodge's first message to this legislature, which met October 25, 1836, urged a memorial to Congress asking for an appropriation of two hundred fifty thousand dollars to improve the navigation of the upper Mississippi. He advocated the improvement of the Eock Eiver, and connecting 232 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN illE CAPITOL IN 18G0 it with the Wisconsin by way of the Four Lakes at Madison. He recommended a grant of land by Congress to aid in bnilding a railroad between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi, and also a grant by Congress of one township, the i3roceeds to be used in establishing an "academy for the education of youth. ' ' The most imx)ortant work of the session was the location of the capital. Some twenty towns, real and imaginary, immediately became candidates for the honor — Milwaukee, Racine, Platteville, Portage, Mineral Point, Green Bay, Fond du Lac, Belmont, Madison and Koshkonong among the number — and each had its advocates. The members of the legis- lature were besieged in season and out of season by OUR NAME AND OUE BOUNDARIES 233 men who lioped to reap advantage, financial or other- wise, from the location of the seat of government. Of the imaginary towns, which existed only on paper, Madison was one. Judge Doty, the one to whom Wisconsin owed her territorial organization, not only did not receive a place in the distribution of THE CAPrrOL IN 1904 the new territorial offices, but he even lost the judge- ship which he had hitherto held. He knew the state well, especially the southern and eastern portions, for he had traveled over nearly every mile of its extent. He was a sincere admirer of the beautiful Four Lakes region, and in his mind's eye had often seen a prosperous city on the narrow isthmus between Third and Fourth lakes. He had such faith in his vision that he persuaded Governor Mason 234 i'HE MAKING OF WISCONSIN of Michigan to join him in the purchase of twelve hundred acres of land around the present Capitol Park as a center. With a surveyor's help he platted a city there, which he named Madison, for Ex-Presi- dent Madison. With this plat in his pocket and determination in his heart, he started for Behnont as soon as the legis- lature convened. He was full of enthusiasm and arguments for his paper city, not the least powerful among the latter being the present of town lots to the legislators. It would seem that men even in those good old times had their price. At any rate, on every vote the imaginary Madison held its own against the real Milwaukee, Green Bay, Eacine and Platteville, and on the final vote secured the coveted prize. There were many reasons why the legislators should vote for Madison, aside from the great natural l)eauty of the site and Judge Doty's town lot gifts. There were three centers of settlement — Green Bay, Milwaukee, and the lead region. None of these sec- tions would yield its claims to the others; hence some compromise was necessary. Madison, midway ])etween the lake and the Mississippi River, was the most natural one. It might form the connecting link among the otlier sections and help to develop the interior of the state. The land in Capitol Park was deeded to Wiscon- OUR NAME AND OUR BOUNDARIES 235 sin Territory January 16, 1839, by its owners. Governor Mason and Judge Doty. Work upon the capitol was begun in June, and the cornerstone was laid July 4. The building when completed cost sixty thousand dollars. In 1857 it was decided to enlarge the building. The improve- ments were completed in 1869. But ten years had scarcely passed before the cap- itol was found inadequate, and in 1882 the legisla- ture appropriated two hundred thousand dollars to build two wings. While in course of construction the south wing collapsed, killing eight men. Up to 1904 nine hundred thousand dollars had been expended for additions and improvements. On February 27, 1904, a fire destroyed a large part of the interior of the capitol. Plans were already in progress for enlarging the building, and the fire simply hastened matters. The plans adopted in- volve many changes in the design. It is expected that the new building will be more modern, commo- dious and beautiful than the old. CHAPTER XIX TEERITOEIAL EVENTS The second territorial legislature met in Burlington, Iowa, in 1837. Two of its acts are worthy of men- tion, one establishing the University of Wisconsin, the other incorporating the Milwaukee and Rock River Canal Company. A memorial addressed to Congress asked that body to give twenty thousand dollars and two townships (nearly fifty thousand acres of land) to aid the university. Only the latter request was granted. The proceeds of this grant were the first endowment of our university. Land was also granted in aid of the Milwaukee- Rock River waterway, 1838, but owing to misman- agement, political quarrels and personal strife the canal was never finished. Its affairs dragged along until 1875. The third legislature met in the new capital in 1838. A few rude frame and log houses constituted the real city. Judge Doty's magnificent structures being as yet unrealized except on paper. The erec- tion of the capitol had been started, but it had not progressed beyond the basement. The legislators were reduced to all sorts of shifts for bed and board, and the outsiders who came fared even Avorse. 236 TEEKITORIAL EVf:XTS 237 ''Lucky was the guest wliose good fortiiue is vaas to rest his weary ]im])s on a straw or liay mattress." But in spite of conditions adverse to physical com- fort, there was no lack of enjoyment in the neT\' cap- ital, dancing and merrymaking wliil- ing away the even- ing hours. Railroads were as yet unknown, all travel being hj boat, horseback, or, in winter, by "French train." The year 1839 is memorable as marking the incor- poration of the Wisconsin Marine and Fire Insurance (^ompany. This company was (4iartered to do a general insuring and loaning business. The name "bank," rendered unpopular by the wildcat banking that led up to the panic of 1837, was not used, but this company was a bank in everything but name. The institution opened its doors in Milwaukee with a young Scot, Alexander Mitchell, as secretary. He soon became the center, the whole life of the concern, and the firm built up a large business. They issued ALEXANDER MITCHELL 238 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN certificates of deposit wbicli passed as currency, although the sole guarantee of their worth was Alex- ander Mitchell's signature. This signature came to be considered as good as gold simply because he paid every check promptly upon presentation. In a short time Mitchell became the proprietor as well as manager. To be sure, he was doing an ille- gal business, for he had no charter to do banking, but he prospered because he did an honest business. In those days of fraudulent banking he was con- spicuous. ^%en, in 1845, the legislature revoked his franchise, and he could no longer do business in this state, he paid his certificates in Chicago, St. Louis and other cities. "Mitchell's Bank" was always open. After a time even the territorial government itself had to borrow from him. In 1852, after the territory had become a state, a new banking law was passed, and Mitchell, paying his deposit certificates in full in gold, took out a regular bank charter and added "bank" to the name of his institution. His was the first real bank in Milwaukee. In 1841 Governor Dodge, Jackson's appointee, was removed by President Tyler, and Judge Doty was appointed in his place. Doty was an able man, but passionate and impulsive. He often aroused antag- onism by his manner, which was aggressive in the extreme. During the three years of his governor- ship there were stormy times in the territory, al- TEERITORIAL EVENTS 239 though not all the disturbances can ])e laid to him. One of these incidents was the darkest in the legislative history of the state. Governor Doty caused bitter feelings by his first message to the legis- lature. Later he sent in the name of Enos S. Baker for sheriff of Grant County to the council for con- firmation. One of the members moved to lay the nomination on the table, a motion made simply to re- taliate upon the gov- ernor. An excited de- bate followed. Two members, James Vineyard, of Grant County, and Charles Arndt, of Brown County, although the warmest personal friends, got into a quarrel. In a sarcastic manner Arndt made a statement concerning Vineyard, and Vineyard retorted that the statement was false. This caused excitement and confusion. Some one hastily made a motion to adjourn, but the noise of the quarrel drowned the voice of the speaker. Order was finally restored and the council adjourned. Arndt then advanced to Vineyard, demanding GOV. .ja:\ies d. doty 240 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN whether or not the latter had said his remarks were falsehoods. "They were false," asserted Vineyard. Arndt then struck Vineyard in the face ; Vineyard drew a pistol and shot his friend. In iiye minutes Arndt was dead. Only that morning" the two men had been seen with their arms about each other's shoulders. Vineyard surrendered himself to the sheriff, and sent in his resignation to the council. This body refused to accept it, expelling him instead. He was admitted to bail in the sum of ten thousand dollars. At his trial, which took place in Green County, Vine- ,yard was tried for manslaughter, pleaded self- defense, and was acquitted by the jury. Charles Dickens was then making his first visit to the United States. He read of the shooting in the newspapers, and thus refers to the account there giyen : "Public indignation runs high in the territory of Wisconsin, in relation to the murder of C. C. P. Arndt, in the legislative hall of the territory. Meet- ings have been held in different counties of Wiscon- sin, denouncing the practice of secretly hearmg arms in the legislative chambers of the country. We have seen the account of the expulsion of James R. Vine- yard, the perpetrator of the bloody deed, and are amazed to hear that, after this expulsion by those who saw Vineyard kill Mr. Arndt in the presence of TEEEITOEIAL EVENTS 241 Ids aged father, who was on a visit to see his son, r.ttle dreaming that he was to witness his murder, Jiidqe Dunn has discharged Vineyard on hail. The Miners^ Free Press speaks in terms of merited- rebuke at the outrage upon the feelings of the people of Wisconsin/ In his comments on this and sundry other clip- ]:>ings Dickens seems to regard as characteristic of our pioneer days what was but a solitary instance. One might think from his account that shootings in legislative bodies were a connnon occurrence in the West, whereas this case is conspicuous because of its rarity. One of the most interesting events of territorial days was an experiment in communism, made by an association known as The Wisconsin Phalanx, near the present city of Ripon. In old Southport (now Kenosha) was a debating society made up of pioneers from New England and New York. The doctrines of Fourier, a Frenchman, were then attracting much attention, and through the columns of Horace Greeley's paper, the New York Tribune, had reached even the western wilds of Wisconsin. Fourierism, in brief, was a system of living together in groups of four hundred families, or eighteen hundred persons. According to this plan 1 Charles Dickens's "American Notes," page 443. The italics are Mr. Dickens's own. 242 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN there should be one immense building in the center oi* the community, around it being the individual homes and a large region cultivated in common. The central building was to be the social and culture center of the group. All trades, occupations and THE WISCONSIN THALANX LONG HOUSE NEAR RIPON professions were to be represented in the community, so that its diversified needs might be supplied. A noticeable detail was the common dining-hall in which all should gather for the daily meals. The debating society in Southport discussed the plan, became interested in it, and finally determined to make the experiment. A few leading men drew up the plan, called the association The Wisconsin Phalanx, and sold shares in it at twenty-five dollars each. They purchased a tract of land near Ripon. TEEEITOEIAL EVENTS 243 Twenty persons from Southport constituted the advance guard of the community, entering the valley on Sunday, May 27, 1844. They started in to l)uild homes and plant crops. By July about twenty families had come. They ate at the common table in the Phalanx Long House, a building four hundred feet in length. Board was furnished at the extremely low price of sixty-three cents a week. They secured a charter from the legislature, and, thanks to the enthusiasm and industry of the mem- bers, the colony p^rospered. The second season saw thirty families enrolled in the Phalanx. But, notwithstanding the fact that the colony pros- pered, the experiment proved a failure. Board at the common tal)le never rose higher than seventy- five cents a week, and no complaint was made of the quality of the meals served; yet many families pre- ferred to eat at their own homes. Other causes came in to bring about dissatisfaction, the chief being, perhaps, the old argument against communism — that there is no reward for individual excellence. The indolent and the unworthy share in the rewards with the industrious and the worthy. Seven years saw the end. The farm, which had increased greatly in value, was sold, and the proceeds divided among the members. Wisconsin has claimed many notable men as her citizens, but only one among them has been prophet, seer, lawgiver and king in one. Such was James 244 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN Jesse Strang, known in his later years as King Strang. His l)eginnings in New York state were hnmble. Country schoolmaster, journalist, self-educated law- yer, editor, postmaster — a sort of Jack at all trades and master of none — he wandered about from place to place, began to lecture on temperance, and finally, in 1843, drifted with his wife to Burlington, Racine County, where he again hung out his shingle as a lawyer. The following January his roving fancy was caught by the words of some Mormon elders who were seeking converts in Wisconsin, and he became an enthusiastic Latter-day Saint. The next month he went to the Mormon settlement at Nauvoo, Illi- nois, for baptism. So rapidly did he grow in the new faith that in less than seven days he was made an elder and given authority to plant a stake of Zion in Wisconsin. He selected a place near the A¥liite Eiver in the eastern part of Walworth County, and named it Voree, ' ' Garden of Peace. ' ' Here he gathered many followers. In June he heard that Joseph Smith, founder and prophet of Alormonism, had been killed by a mob at Carthage, Missouri. Strang saw no reason why the prophet's mantle should not fall on his shoulders, but, realizing that the only way to bring that to pass was to place it there himself, he hastened to the sorrowing Mor- TEERITORIAL EVENTS 245 mons at Nauvoo, bearing a letter purporting to be written by Joseph Smith the day before his death. This letter contained not only the prophecy of his own death, but also these words : And now beliold my servant, James J. Strang, hath come to thee from afar. ... To him shall the gathering be, for he shall plant a stake of Zion in Wisconsin. . . . There shall my people have peace and rest and wax fat and pleasant in the presence of their enemies. But Strang was not alone in the desire for the prophet's mantle. Brigham Young made so vigorous a fight against him that Strang was rejected and banished. However, his eloquence — for he had a ready tongue — secured him a few hundred follow- ers, and accompanied by these he returned to Voree. Here he began an energetic regime. He established a printing-press, which he kept ever busy printing pamphlets to be sown broadcast ; he planned to build a magnificent temple, and he organized the church on the plan prescribed by Smith in the Book of Mormons, he himself being the head. But he was not content to be a mere administrator. He began to have visions, and in one of these, Sep- tember 13, 1845, there was revealed to him the secret burial-place of a series of copper plates inscribed with strange characters, written, as he claimed, long before the captivity of the Children of Israel in Babylon. These being found and dug up according to his direction, he went into a trance and translated them. He called them "Plates of Laban." 246 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN 1^k,k^\ Thereafter when any of his followers became dissatisfied Strang had another vision, discov- ered another plate, and thus satisfied his easily deceived disciples that he was a real prophet. He discovered eigh- teen plates in all, trans- lations of which he later printed in a book un- der the title "Book of the Law of the Lord. ' ' AV i t h increase o f povzer came increase of ambition. He desired to be a temporal ruler as well as spiritual. This led him to search for a new home for his col- ony. His desire for an- other abiding-place was mcreased by the evident hostility of the Gentiles (as he and his people called all unbelievers in Mormonism) around. The Nau- voo community had been forced into an exile that finally led them across the great western plains to faraway Utah. Strang read the signs of the times A<\J•,vt^Plx:.\l^9, ■ \\]\..?l6,v:l\.6T?l i M'^^a^fi^ Jo) /3?>.Pi,N6QrM I PLATES OF LABAN TEREITORIAL EVENTS 247 and determined to lead his people awav before tliey were driven away. Beaver Island, in the waters between Lakes Huron and Michigan, was selected, and in 1847 the exodus from Voree began. Only fishermen inhabited the island, and these the Mormons drove away, though not without some bloodshed. They now set about building houses, roads, a mill, and a tabernacle. The soil of the island was exceed- ingly fertile and agriculture flourished. New con- verts came from the East, where elders had been sent to preach the doctrine, and the new stake of Zion flourished. The time now seemed ripe for Strang to realize his wildest dreams. One chapter in the ^'Book of the Law" prophesied that a man whose name was James should become their king. He proceeded to make this prophecy true by causing himself to be crowned as King Strang, July 8, 1850. Only four days previous to the coronation, July 4, the Mormons had foiled a plot of the Gentile fisher- men to destroy them. When the fishermen came to attack them they fovmd themselves greeted with can- nonballs, and wisely abandoned the attempt. King Strang ruled as a despot. His ''Book of the Law," now printed in full, was their bible. He de- manded and secured tithes, the firstborn of each flock and the first-fruits of the ground. Details of daily life were rigorously controlled. The women were 248 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN compelled to wear bloomers. Liquor, tea, coffee and tobacco were forbidden. For the first time plural wives were allowed. King James having five. But the king found himself no exception to the rule that Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. His enemies were plotting against him, and they enlisted the United States Government in their be- half. He was suddenly arrested, charged with trea- son, counterfeiting, and interfering with the govern- ment mails. Wlien taken to Detroit for trial he con- ducted his own case. He is described as ''intellec- tual, fluent in speech, and of suave manners." Such was the effect of his oratory upon the jury that they acquitted him, and he returned to his kingdom in triumph. Six years of kingship did Strang enjoy, then the bullets of two assassins laid him low. There were enemies in his own stronghold, for he was a harsh and autocratic ruler. One day in July, 1856, just as he was about to go aboard the U. S. Steamship Mich- igan, anchored in his harbor, to pay the officers a visit, two men stepped from behind a woodpile and fired at him.^ They beat him with their guns as he fell, then ran on board the vessel to surrender them- selves to justice. They were held prisoners for a 1 One of these men had been publicly whipped because he stood by his wife in her refusal to wear bloomers. TEEEITORIAL EVEATS 249 short time in Mackinac, but were then released without trial. Both shots took effect, but he did not die at once. He gave careful directions about the succession to and the government of his kingdom, then asked to be taken to Voree to die. Reaching here by a slow, tedious journey, he lingered but a few hours, nursed by his true wife, who had refused to follow him after he began to practise polygamy. He died July 9, 1856. He was buried at Voree (now Spring Prairie), but his grave is unmarked. To-day naught shows the resting-place of royalty but a grass-grown, uncared-for, sunken mound. When his life went out, the life of the kingdom went out. The Gentiles, fearful no longer, came with ax and torch, and the royal city was razed to the ground. The dwellers in the kingdom fled, some to Utah, some to northern Wisconsin, some we know not where, and the Gentile fishermen again entered into their own. CHAPTER XX STATEHOOD AND THE BOUNDAEIES In a preceding chapter has been told how Wisconsin lost the northern peninsula of Michigan, legally and geographically hers, because Michigan must be com- pensated for her loss to Ohio of a strip along her southern border. But Wisconsin did not yield the territory without a struggle. In 1842, and again in 1843, Governor Doty sent a message to the territorial legislature, demanding that the "birthright of the state" be at once re- stored to her by Congress. The message was referred to a committee, which committee in its report modestly suggested that Congress recompense Wisconsin for the loss of the upper peninsula b}^ building a railroad from Lake Michigan to the Mis- sissippi Eiver, by improving the Fox- Wisconsin waterway, by connecting the Fox and Eock rivers, and by constructing harbors on the western shore of Lake Michigan at Racine, Southport (Kenosha), Milwaukee, Sauk Harbor, Sheboygan and Manitowoc. The report goes on to say what would happen should these reasonable demands be refused: "We could then safely entrench ourselves behind the Ordinance of 1787 . . . and take for ourselves and 250 STATEHOOD AND THE BOUNDARIES 251 WISCONSIN Vom Official Records ''''^^ss^^,^,;^^ our state the boundaries fixed by that ordinance, form our state constitution, which should be repub- lican, apply for admission into the Union witli those boundaries, and if refused, so that we could not be a state in the Union, we would be a state out of the Union, and possess, exercise and enjoy all the rights, 252 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN l^rivileges and powers of the sovereign, independent state of Wisconsin, and, if difficulties must ensue, we could appeal with confidence to the great Umpire of nations to adjust them. ' ' Later on in the report so warlike a tone is assumed as to make it seem that the document must have been penned in South Carolina instead of in a state that twenty years afterward furnished its full quota of men to fight valiantly against the logical outcome of that very principle of state's rights now so bellig- erently proclaimed. Witness the closing sentence: Congress is called upon ''to do justice, while yet it is not too late, to a people who have hitherto been weak and unprotected, but who are rapidly rising to giant greatness, and who, at no distant day, will show to the world that they lack neither the disposition nor the ability to protect themselves." In the debate on this report the member from Milwaukee suggested that the document be called '^ A declaration of war against Great Britain, Illinois, Michigan, and the United States.'' As may be supposed. Congress paid no attention whatever to the report, and Wisconsin obtained neither the territory nor the internal improvements demanded; nor did she set up a state out of the Union, as she had so boldly threatened to do. In the convention held in Madison in 1846 to frame a constitution, the northeast boundary clause vras adopted as it read in the enabling act of Congress. STATEHOOD AND THE BOUNDAKIES 253 This constitution was rejected by the people, but not because of the boundaries. In 1847-8, another convention for the same purpose was lield, and wlien the constitution was finally sub- mitted to the people and adopted, the northeast boun- dary was identical with that named in the preceding one — that is, the present boundary. Thus did this dispute close with the state on the losing side. No question about the northwestern boundary arose until 1846. The citizens of the territory had always understood that the Mississippi Eiver to its source, and thence a line due north to the British possessions, formed the western limit of their domain. Had they had any idea that they were to be shorn of territory on that side also, it is probable that they would have sent powder and shot with the report of their committee to Congress. In 1846, Wisconsin's territorial delegate in Con- gress introduced a bill asking for an act to enable the people of the territory to form a constitution and a state government. This bill marked the Missis- sippi Eiver to its source, and thence due north to the British possessions, as the western boundary. Stephen A. Douglas, chairman of the committee on territories, oiTered an amendment cutting the state down to its present boundaries on the north- west, on the ground that the territory was too large for one state. After a rather stormy debate, the bill passed as amended. 254 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN In the constitutional convention of 1846, there was lieatecl debate on the bonndary line, but as the con- stitution was finally adopted, the line ran somewhat east of the present line. This constitution, as said l^efore, was rejected by the people. In the convention of 1847-8, the northwestern boundary, as adopted and submitted to Congress in the constitution, was west of the present line. It followed the St. Louis River to the first rapids, as does the present boundary, then ran southwesterly to the mouth of the Rum River (which empties into the Mississippi about twenty-five miles north of St. Paul), then followed the Mississippi down to 42°30'. Had this boundary been accepted by Con- gress, St. Paul and Stillwater would have been in Wisconsin, as would all of Ramsay and Washington counties, and parts of five others. Congress rejected this, however, and reaffirmed the line of the enabling act — the line as it now stands. Thus was Wisconsin again on the losing side. As previously stated, Wisconsin tacitly accepted, for the time being, the southern boundary she re- ceived in 1836, but some of her citizens had no inten- tion of being defrauded, without a protest and a struggle, of a strip of country sixty-one miles wide. Governor Dodge was one of these. In 1838, he addressed a memorial to Congress, reminding that body that the plain language of the Ordinance of 1787 gave the southern end of STATEHOOD AND THE BOUNDAEIES 255 Lake Michigan as the southern limit of the northern tier of states. Congress paid no attention. In 1839, a committee of the council reported reso- lutions declaring that Congress had violated the Ordinance. The resolutions, therefore, requested that the people of the section in question be asked to express their opinion on the subject of the boundary line. Strange as it may seem, the people of these four- teen northern counties were enthusiastically in favor of joining their fortunes with the Badgers, while the people of Wisconsin were either lukewarm or ox)posed to the annexation. Before 1841, Mr. Doty, as territorial delegate from Wisconsin, tried to get a bill before Congress changing the southern boun- dary, but the Illinois politicians were too sharp for him. They defeated every attempt to get the meas- ure before that body. After he became governor in 1841, he grew more enthusiastic than ever in advocating the pushing of the boundary line southward. In 1842, the people in the disputed tract, being again invited to vote as to their preference, cast five hundred seventy votes for and only one against joining Wisconsin ! In that same year, Governor Doty officially notified the governor of Illinois that the fourteen northern counties were within the jurisdiction of Wisconsin, 256 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN and that the jurisdiction of Illinois over the same was only "accidental and temporary." In spite of Governor Doty's spirited efforts to secure the disputed strip, the mass of the people of Wisconsin remained indifferent, and when the sub- ject of the southern boundary was brought up in the conventions of 1846 and 1847-8, that of 42°30' was accepted. Had Wisconsin secured her ancient boundaries, she would have ranked second to none but the Empire State in wealth and population. While the sense of injustice rankled in the breasts of some of her citizens for a few years, it was soon replaced by a loyal interest in the preservation of the Union, The war cloud threatened, and all questions but that of the Union were forgotten. No state was more loyal in its support than Wisconsin, who gave freely of men and arms when the struggle came. CHAPTER XXI THE UNDERGEOUND RAILEOAD In 1850, Congress passed a stringent Fugitive Slave act for the arrest and return of slaves escaping into northern states. Wisconsin was not on the direct road to Canada ; hence, though many of her citizens were intense abolitionists, little opportunity was given them to express their opinions in deeds. Racine was a station on the Underground Railroad, but the passengers were few in number. In 1854, however, an event occurred which raised the people of eastern and southern Wisconsin to a high pitch of excitement, and attracted considerable attention even in the eastern states. Joshua Glover was a runaway slave who was em- ployed in a mill a few miles north of Racine, on the Milwaukee road. One night in early March, Glover was playing cards with three other negroes in a cabin near the mill. Soon after dark there suddenly appeared at the cabin five white men — one of them, named Garland, from Missouri, and claiming to be Glover's owner and master, the others United States deputy marshals and assistants. The men attempted to take Glover, and he resisted. 257 258 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN In the struggle he was badly cut and bruised, and in the end was overpowered, put in irons and thrown into an open wagon. It was intended at first to take him to Eacine, but, fearing the action of the many abolitionists there, Garland and the officers decided to take him to Milwaukee. The night was very cold, and the sufferings of the wounded negro were thus rendered more intense, while the kicks of his former master did not tend to lessen his discomfort. In the early dawn the party reached Milwaukee and Glover was roughly cast into the county jail. No attempt was made to allay his pain for several hours, but finally a physician did volunteer to dress his wounds. Sherman M. Booth was the editor of a small news- paper in the city. A strong abolitionist, when he heard of Glover's arrest, which he did early in the morning, his indignation was great. All the morning he went about the city urging all freemen who were opposed to being made slaves or slave-catchers to attend a meeting in the courthouse square at two o'clock, and distributing handbills printed in his office. Many stirring speeches were made at this meeting, and resolutions were adopted affirming Glover's right, in common with all dwellers in the state, to the writ of habeas corpus and a trial by jury. Such a writ was issued by a local judge, but THE UNDEEGEOUXD RATLROAr 259 neither the Federal court nor the Milwaukee sheriff would recognize it. In the meantime, word of the arrest had been carried to Racine by one of the negroes present at the time of the seizure of Glover. Great excitement followed the recital of the news, and when it was learned that he was in Milwaukee, the sheriff of Racine with about one hundred excited citizens char- tered a steamer and set out for Milwaukee, reaching that city at about five o'clock in the afternoon. The Milwaukee crowd had just received word that the writ was not recognized as valid. This infuriated them. They marched to the jail, the courthouse bell adding to the excitement by its clamorous clang, and there demanded of the United States deputy marshal in charge that he release Glover. The marshal refused, and the crowd proceeded to help themselves. With ax and crowbar, they battered in the door of the weak structure, took Glover in charge just at sunset, and sent him, strongly guarded, to Waukesha. Here his wounds were dressed, and he was soon able to be sent to Racine, whence lie made his escape in a short time to Canada. Booth did not get off so easily. He was arrested for aiding a runaway slave to escape, and then re- leased on a writ of habeas corpus issued by the State Supreme Court. In a speech before the court com- missioner, he said: 260 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN *^I sympathize with the rescuers of Glover and rejoice at his escape. I rejoice that, in the first at- tempt of the slave-lmnters 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 writ of habeas corpus and the right of trial by jury stricken down by this fugi- tive law, I would prefer to see every federal officer in Wisconsin hanged on a gallows fifty cubits higher than Haman's.'.' It now became a struggle between the state and the United States courts, the first holding that the law (the Fugitive Slave Act) was unconstitutional. The affair dragged along until 1860, when Booth was again arrested, but was soon pardoned by the President. As a result of the Glover affair, the state legisla- ture passed a law in 1857 making it the duty of district attorneys to ' ' use all lawful means to protect and defend every person arrested or claimed as a fugitive slave." CHAPTER XXII THE LOST DAUPHIN It is a far cry from the throne of France to the wilds of Wisconsin ; yet in 1853 there dwelt in Green Bay one who claimed to be the heir to the throne of the Bourbons. After the downfall of the French monarchy, Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette, were held as prisoners of the French Republic in the Temple prison. With them were two children, one a girl, the other a boy of eight years. Wlien the king and queen were taken to the guillotine for execution, the children were left without a protector. The subsequent history of the daughter is known, but that of the son, the heir to the throne, has always been shrouded in mystery. It was supposed by many that he died in prison in 1795, but yet at the time many rumors of his escape were current. There lived among the St. Regis Indians of New York a young man, a quarter-breed. His great- grandmother had been a white woman, one of tlie survivors of the Deerfield (Mass.) massacre, who was carried into captivity, and finally, as she grew to womanhood among her captors, married to a chief- tain. This young man, Eleazar Williams by name, 261 262 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN was restless and ambitious. He had been successively a Eoman Catholic, a Congregationalist, and finally an Episcopalian missionary, but he was not satisfied with so limited a sphere of action. He conceived a scheme of removing the New York Indians to Wiscon- sin, and there, with the Wisconsin In- dians, forming a great Indian empire. He succeeded in in- teresting John C. Calhoun in his scheme, who favored it because he thought that such an empire might prevent the forming of any more free states out of the Northwest Territory. The lower Fox was decided upon as the most desirable place of meeting, and a great council of the Winnebago and Menominee Indians was called in 1821, and, this being unsatisfactory, an- other in 1822. The Winnebagoes withdrew from the second council, but the Menominees at last granted to the New York Indians joint ownership of all their lands. They had no sooner made this ELEAZER WILLIAMS THE LOST DAUPHIN 263 most extraordinary concession than they repented. Ten years of discussion and difficulties followed, but in 1832 Williams brought some Stockbridge and Brothertown Indians to the country east of Lake AVinnebago, and formed a settlement of some Onei- das and Munsees near the mouth of the lower Fox. Williams had made Green Bay his home, and here in 1823 he had married a young French girl fourteen years of age. He labored quietly enough among the Indians for some years. It is supposed that a chance remark about his resemblance to the royal Bourbons of France awakened his dormant ambition, but it was not for many years, not until 1853, in fact, that Williams began to pose as the long-lost dauphin, Louis XVII of France. Curiously enough, Williams was able to show on his person, even to the minutest detail, the various scars and marks which the lost prince would have borne if alive. In 1853, Williams wrote an account of himself, and there maintained that, twelve years before, the Prince de Joinville, the third son of King Louis Philippe, had visited him at Green Bay and had then acknowledged the royal birth of the writer and his claim to the throne of France. He relates with careful attention to detail how de Joinville, in the course of his visit, produced a document written in French and English, and asked him to sign it. Williams says: ''This was a solemn abdication 2Q4: THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN of the crown of France in favor of Louis Philippe. " In return for this great sacrifice, Williams states, he was to receive a princely mansion either in France or in this country, and a restoration of all the i^rivate property of the royal family. Williams declares that he refused to sign away his royal rights. Williams's strange silence for twelve years rather invalidates his claim, but his account when published attracted great attention both in this country and in France. Much was said and much was written on tlie subject, but there seems little evidence, except of a circumstantial nature, that the story was other than the product of the man's own imagination.' The Prince de Joinville, when shown the account, em- phatically denied having said or done what Williams reported him as saying and doing, and there the story rests. The royal claimant enjoyed a brief season of noto- riety, moved into a cottage built for him by admiring friends, was a nine days' wonder, then ceased to interest any one. He died in 1858, friendless and alone, in poverty and neglect. 1 "The Lost rrinco." by Hanson, is a story of Eleazar Williams, an( 'Lazarre," a novel by Mary Hartwell Catherwood. has the same hero. CHAPTER XXIII CIVIL WAR INCIDENTS It is not within the scope of this little volume to give in detail Wisconsin's part in the Civil War. Suffi- cient to say that the governor's call for a regiment brought immediate response from thirty-six compa- nies. Before the struggle ended, over ninety thousand men had been to the front, or one for every nine men in the state. As to their conduct in battle, General William T. Sherman's comment in his Memoirs may serve as testimony. He says : ''We estimated a Wisconsin regiment equal to an ordinary brigade." The Iron Brigade was composed of five regiments, three of them being from Wisconsin. It received its name in this wise : In the battle of South Mountain, in 1862, General McClellan was looking from his headquarters along the road toward the mountain. General Hooker came dashing up. General McClellan asked : "What troops are those advancing on each side of the road, near the gorge, under that murderous fire?" "That," was the answer, "is Gibbon's brigade of men from Wisconsin and Indiana." 265 2e6 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN ''They must be made of iron/^ said McClellan. "By the eternal !'' replied Hooker, "they are iron, and if you had seen them at second Bull Eun, as I did, you would know them to be of iron.'' From that time on the brigade bore the name of the Iron Brigade/ It earned its title. No other Wisconsin regiment suffered such terrible losses in killed and wounded. General E. S. Bragg says of them : ' ' Antietam closed a period of forty-five days dur- ing which we had fought or been under fire eleven days and had been engaged in four pitched battles. At Antietam the brigade was almost obliterated, but it was built up again, and kept up its reputation in succeeding campaigns." A conspicuous character in Wisconsin's war his- tory was Old Abe, the pet eagle of the Eighth Wis- consin Eegiment. He was captured when young by an Indian on the Flambeau Eiver. The story of his life is told by H. W. Eood in the Wisconsin Memorial Day pamphlet of 1904, from which the extracts following are made. "The wife of the man into whose possession the young eagle first came thus relates the incident: " 'Yes,' said she, 'I guess it was along in April when Chief Sky and a few other Indians came to our house up at Jim Falls and wanted to sell us a young bird they called an eagle. He wasn't old 1 Henry E. Legler. Cj' f ^■t% OLD ABE CIVIL WAR INCIDENTS 367 enough tlien to fly. I told them I thought it was a crow, but they declared it was an eagle. I told them I had no use for him, anyhow, but they were still anxious to make a trade. Then I said I'd give them the bag of corn there — oh, I guess there was about a bushel of it, — and so they took the corn and left the bird. As he couldn't fly, it was not much trouble to keep him. But it was not long before he could use his wings a little, and then he'd bother us about getting away. Sometimes he 'd get clear down below the falls, as much as half a mile away, and the children would have to keep running after him to prevent him from getting away from us for good. He got to be ugly, too, and we had to tie him up. ^' ^ After a w^hile he came to be so much of a plague that we made up our minds to get rid of him in some way. My husband took him down to Chippewa Falls and tried to sell him to some soldiers that were going to the war; but they didn't want him. After that he went down to Eau Claire and sold him to the soldiers there. I never saw him again. I've heard that folks have made a great deal of fuss over him since then. ' ' ' The bird was sold to the soldiers for two dollars and a half, and the company's name was changed to the Eau Claire Eagles. On the way to Madison to join the other companies the captain of the Eagles was offered two hundred dollars for the bird, but the would-be purchaser was told that the eagle was 268 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN not for sale. Later in the eagle 's life, the same reply was made to an offer of ten tlionsand dollars, and again to one of twenty thousand dollars. ^'A perch was made for Old Abe to stand on. It was in the form of a shield fastened like a slanting platform on the top of a five-foot staff. Six inches above the shield there was a crosspiece for a perch. The stars and stripes were painted on this shield, also the letters, '8th Eeg. W. V.^ A man was detailed to take care of Old Abe and carry him on the march. He wore a belt with a socket attached. Into this socket he set the bottom of the staff and held it erect with his right hand. In this way Old Abe was lifted np into plain sight above the heads of the men. His place in the line of march was in the center of the regiment by the side of the flag. He and his perch made quite a heavy load for the man who carried him. ''When the Eighth got to St. Louis, some of the southern folks there tried to make fun of Old Abe by calling him 'crow,' 'goose' and 'turkey buzzard.' He seemed not to like either the names or the crowd. He stooped, spread his wings, made a spring and broke the cord that held him, flew over the heads of his tormentors, flapped off several caps with his wings, and then, flying to the top of the chimney of an aristocratic mansion, looked down with a seem- ing contempt upon the people below him. He seemed to say, 'You see I am neither crow, goose nor baz- CIVIL WAR INCIDENTS 269 zard, but the American liberty bird ! ' This sudden dash for freedom created no small stir among the soldiers, especially those of Company C. They were afraid he was too much of a liberty bird to stay with them. But after an hour of sightseeing from his high perch he flew down to the ground and was easily caught by one of the men. ''Old Abe's daily degree of freedom in camp was as much as he could get out of thirty feet of stout cord. One end of this cord was tied to a leather ring around his leg, the other fastened to his perch. While on the march or in battle he was allowed only about three feet of this cord. He sometimes longed for more freedom, and, having a spite against the cord that held him, would keep biting it with his strong hooked beak till it was nearly cut in two. Then, with a sudden spring, he would break loose. "Once he broke away just as the regiment was starting on a march. He flew away up into the air, around and around. Everybody was excited. Many men left the ranks, running here and there where they thought he would alight, so as to catch him. Some of them went into the woods a mile or two away, thinking he might come do^rn among the trees. Ed Homaston, his keeper, persuaded the rest of the men to keep cool and let him manage the capture. He had the regimental colors put in a place where Old Abe could see them, and then got down beside them with his perch. Having enjoyed an hour 270 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN of good exercise, the runaway — or flyaway, perhaps I should say, — quietly settled to the ground beside the flag. After a bit of gentle coaxing he hopped up to his perch and was ready for the march to Memphis. ' ' He accompanied the regiment in all its marches and personally supervised thirty-six battles and skirmishes. He seemed to bear a charmed life, and Lowell's words concerning Washington, — Whose red surge sought but couM not overwhelm, — might well apj^ly to him, for though many enemies aimed their muskets at him as he soared high over the field of battle, he was never seriously harmed. His wild screams sounded above the din of battle and spurred the Wisconsin soldiers to fiercer conflict. Harper's Weekly has this to say of the now famous eagle : *^When the battle raged most fiercely and the enthusiasm of the soldiers was at its highest, then it was that Old Abe seemed to be in his element. He flapped his wings in the midst of the furious storm, and with head erect faced the flying bullets and the crashing shells with no sign of fear. Old Abe triumphs with the triumph of the flag, and seems in some measure conscious of his relationship with the emblem of a victorious republic.'' Mr. Rood tells how Old Abe was taken care of after the war : CIVIL WAE INCIDENTS 271 "In three years the term of service of the most of the men of the Eighth came to a close, and it was thought best to send Old Abe home with them. Then the question arose, What shall be Old Abe's home after this ? Some of the men were in favor of giving him to Eau Claire County; others suggested that he be sent to be cared for by the general government at Washington; and still others wished to present him to the state of Wisconsin. A vote was taken and it was unanimously decided that Old Abe should be given into the care of the state. And so at three o 'clock on the 26tli day of September, 1864, Captain Victor Wolf, of Company C of the Eighth, formally presented to the state of Wisconsin the famous war eagle Old Abe. Captain Wolf said he had been a good soldier, and had never flinched from duty either in the camp or the battle; that Company C had always taken good care of him, and that he hoped the state would do as well by him. Governor Lewis, in behalf of the state, received Old Abe and assured Captain Wolf that the state would ever be proud of its soldier bird and give him the best of care. ' ' A large room in the basement of the Capitol was fitted for Old Abe's use and a man was appointed to take care of him. Everything was done for his comfort. A pole was fastened to two posts in the park, and on pleasant days he was kept there in the open air. There he was visited by thousands of people from all parts of the country. ' ' 272 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN Old Abe was exhibited at many state fairs, also at the Centennial Exposition in 1876, and at the Old South Church Fair, in Boston, 1878-9. He lived until March, 1881. After his death his body was stuffed and placed in the rooms of the State Historical Society in the Capitol at Madison, and later in the Gr. A. E. Memorial Hall in the same building. Un- fortunately he was not saved when that building partially burned in 1904. One of the many interesting incidents of Old Abe's life after the war is thus told by Mr. Kood : ''One day about five years after the war I was standing on the street corner over there when I heard a man say to three or four companions he had with him, 'Say, boys, let's go over to the Capitol and see Old Abe. I was in the army with him, and I haven't seen him since the war. Come on, boys!' "Now, I just thought I would like to see this man meet his old friend the eagle, and so I walked quickly around another way to where he sat on his perch near the building. As the men came along they got sight of him before he saw them. The old soldier gave a peculiar whistle. Quick as a flash Old Abe straightened himself up and listened intently. He had evidently heard a familiar sound. The man gave the whistle again. Old Abe became excited. He looked all about to see whence that well-known whistle came. His eye was bright, his head erect, and he seemed all expectation. Just then the men CIVIL WAE INCIDENTS 373 walked up before him. He recognized at once the man who had been in the war with him, and showed his delight in many ways. The old soldier was delighted, too, to find that his feathered comrade had not forgotten him. Wlien he went up close Old Abe put his head in a loving way beside his face and seemed as pleased as a young kitten to be fondled and petted. This token of affection touched the old soldier's heart. He put his arms around Old Abe and the tears ran down his cheeks. 'Boys,' said he, 'I would not have missed this for a hundred dollars!' " Company F of the Seventh Wisconsin Regiment had an interesting experience at the battle of Gettys- burg, which Bret Harte has narrated in his poem "John Burns of Gettysburg." On that July day in 1863, when the fight was raging most fiercely, there came up to the men of Company F a quaint-looking old man who * * * wore au ancient long buff vest, Yellow as saffron — but his best; And, buttoned over his manly breast Was a bright blue coat, Avith a rolling collar, And large gilt buttons — size of a dollar — With tails that the country folk called * ' swaller. ' ' He wore a broad-brimmed, bell-crowned hat, White as the locks on which it sat. He looked like a soldier of the Revolution come back to fight his country's battles. He asked one of the men to lend him a gun, but was only laughed at. 274 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN Finally one of the officers handed limi a gun and ammunition. The poet thus describes what followed ; ('lose at his elbows all that day Veterans of the Peninsula, Sunburnt and bearded, charged away, And striplings, downy of lip and chin, — Clerks that the Home Guard mustered in, — Glanced, as the}' passed, at the hat he wore, Then at the rifle his right hand bore. And hailed him, from out their youthful lore, ' ' How are you. White Hat ? " " Put her through ! ' ' ' ^ Your head 's level ! ' ' and ' ' Bully for you ! ' ' Called him ''Daddy," — and begged he'd disclose The name of the tailor who made his clothes, And what was the value he set on those; While Burns, unmindful of jeer and scoff, Stood there picking the rebels off, — With his long brown rifle and bell-crowned hat, And the swallow-tails they were laughing at. 'Twas but a moment, for that respect Which clothes all courage their voices checked; And something the wildest could understand Spoke in the old man 's strong right hand, And his corded throat, and the lurking frown Of his eyebrows under his old bell-crown. Until, as they gazed, there crept an awe Through the ranks in whispers, and some men saw In the antique vestments and long white hair. The Past of the Nation in battle there. Near the close of the war the. First AVisconsin Cavalry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Harnden, reaped some renown through being selected to aid in the capture of the fleeing president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis. Realizing that his cause was lost, Davis was seeking escape either by the Atlantic or the Gulf. Unionists were closely watching all roads and fer- CIVIL WAE INCIDENTS 275 ries in Georgia, and Colonel Plarnden's detachment was sent to Dublin, on the Oconee River, with orders to march with the greatest possible speed, scouring the country as he proceeded. At Dublin the over-cordiality of the white people awakened the colonel's suspicions. About midnight a negro crept into his tent and told how a mysterious party of men, women and children had that day been ferried across the river. Becoming convinced that the negro's surmises as to the identity of the persons in the party were correct, the colonel with seventy cavalrymen started along the river road in pursuit, while he sent sixty men toward the seacoast. The colonel and his men did not have an easy ride. The road was one in name only, in places leading through creeks and swamps. A heavy rain the next morning added to the difficulty they had in following it. They rested a few hours that night, but three o'clock found them again in saddle, and, as they learned when they reached the Ocmulgee River, but three hours behind the fugitives. A leaky ferry delayed their crossing two hours. A little below the ferry, while they were feeding their horses, the advance guard of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry under Colonel Pritchard, bound on the same errand, came up. Colonel Harnden, by virtue of his two days upon the trail, claimed the right of way. Colonel Pritchard granted the justice of his claim, and the Wisconsin men pushed forward. 276 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN Colonel Pritcliard led his detachment by another route, but both squads came up to the Davis camp at the same time. Each supposing the other to be Davis ^s armed escort, commenced firing. Two of the Michigan men were killed and three of the Wis- consin men severely wounded before the mistake was discovered. . The Michigan men were the first to surround the Davis camp. A woman came to the door of one of the tents and asked if her servant might go for some water. "Consent was given, whereupon 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 it must be Davis in disguise. They started off east toward 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 soldiers 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 CIVIL WAR INCIDENTS 277 our soldiers. They made a few remarks to the tall person. He turned his face a little toward me, and I saw his gray mustache. We told him his disguise would not succeed. Then Davis and the colored woman started back toward the tents. As Davis 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."^ A word as to the loyalty and patriotism of our foreign-born citizens during this time of stress and strain may well be said. Germans, Scandinavians, Irishmen, Frenchmen and even Indians marched under the Stars and Stripes, adding the glory of their brave sacrifice to the fame of the Badger State. Incidents of individual bravery are numerous, but all fought nobly for the lionor of their adopted fatherland. 1 From account by William P. Stedman, Fourth Michigan Cavalry. CHAPTER XXIV OUR INDUSTEIES The history of Wisconsin since the war has been, on the whole, an uneventful one, unless grow^th and almost uninterrupted prosperity may be reckoned as events. During the last half century, the state has developed her abundant resources, trebled her popu- lation, improved her educational facilities, and multiplied many fold her material wealth. In the first two centuries of her history, Wiscon- sin's industrial life was summed up in two words — fur trade. Following this primitive industry, lead mining attracted thousands to the southwestern por- tion of the state, with visions of unbounded wealth, and the spade and pick displaced the trap, bow and gun. A quarter of a century of wasteful mining, however, seemingly exhausted the supply, and the industry was abandoned.^ But pioneers were already clearing the land along navigable streams and around the numerous lakes, and planting thereon crojDs of wheat, barley, rye, corn, and oats, thus laying the foundation of agri- 1 These mines have been reopened in the last ten years, and lead and zinc mining resumed on a large scale. Improved methods of mining and modern machinery are rapidly placing Wisconsin in an important position among the lead and zinc producinj,^ states. 278 OUR INDUSTRIES 279 cultural life and permanent settlement, for only when they began to till the soil did the pioneers bring their families and begin to build homes. Before this, Wisconsin was only a hunting-ground, a fur marketi3lace, a mining-camp. At the present day, while other industrial products A FARM IN NOJtTHERN WISCONSIN outrank in value those of agriculture, Wisconsin has no mean rank as an agricultural state. A glance at the following table will show that her average yield per acre in staple p-roducts is fully equal to, and in many instances above, that of her sister states in the upper Mississippi valley. Her average is much greater than that of the United States as a whole. 280 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN state o ^ P^ U O W K S-2.1 35.5 18.8 82.7 24.5 15.5 74.6 34.7 13.8 84.8 26.7 16.1 72.7 33.9 12.2 31 24.6 13.9 80.1 34.5 12.2 82.5 26.9 16.6 75 27.5 12.7 22.5 19.8 13.9 80.8 32.4 14.2 31 25.6 17.6 78.7 22 18.7 28.9 19.6 13.4 88.1 28 15.4 27.9 24.1 16.6 81.3 25.8 11.1 30.4 25 15.9 94.8 22.6 12.1 26.1 33.5 14.9 86.6 29.1 18.3 88.3 26.4 18.7 92.8 33.2 15.7 34.9 28.9 16.1 75.4 25.2 13.5 29.6 25.1 15.4 w C o « cd h 03 * 1.33 1.36 1.38 1.36 7.8 1.33 11.4 1..58 8 1.45 10.2 1.61 11.2 1.34 11.6 1.48 11.8 1.67 18 1.53 11.2 1.47 Michigan Ohio Indiana Illinois Missouri Iowa Kansas Nebraska South Dakota North Dakota Minnesota Wisconsin Average for U. S. 14.6 16.9 16.7 14.7 15 15.3 *12.7 15.4 tii.'i 14.7 15.3 18.1 709 806 615 635 670 1,349 797 ♦Average for years 1901-1905 inclusive. tAverage for the years 1901-1904 inclusive. § Average for the years 1900-1904 inclusive. **For the year 1905 only. No figures for other years obtainable. That good prices for these products have been realized is proved by the subjoined table, which shows the average earnings per acre for the years 1896 to 1905 inclusive : Michigan Ohio Indiana Illinois Missouri Iowa Kansas Nebraska South Dakota .... North Dakota Minnesota Wisconsin Average for U. S. |$31.08 36.92 I 34.15 I 39.26, I 34.96 I 30.521 37.72 I 31.90| I 30.10 33.771 30.56 39.09 43.31 56 70 31 44 9.011 8.54 9.261 8.971 $7. $7.r $52.98 64.27 50.09 8.361 11.541 8.461 9.41| 1 10.78| 40.28 8.00 00 541 15| 7 471 7. 72 6. 21 6. $11.64 11.61 10.81 .50|10.09|$6.79| 461 9.271 24 9.61 41 9.55 5.961 69. 7S iA7\ 5.191 5-42 7.57 6.45 9.30 5.04 7.46 6.32 7.12 9.74 5.68 8.65 8.29 7.87 9.71 8.56 11.91 7.98 8.17 11.83 11.55 10.35 8.10 8.58 9.45 11.54 104.82 The presence of vast areas of pine forests with their promise of untold riches for those who would OUK INDUSTRIES 281 fell the timber and make it into lumber, has deter- mined the industrial character of the northern and western portions of the state, and is still doing so. The last half of the nineteenth century has seen Wisconsin leading the United States in the lumber industry. For the past two decades she has outdone all the other states in the Union in the manufacture of lumber and timber products, but she cannot long hold the foremost place, for wasteful cutting and fail- ure to replant denuded areas are fast laying bare her lands, drying up her streams, changing her climate and destroying much of her scenic beauty. For- tunately, both the state and the nation have realized the danger, though tardily, and are striving to counteract the effects of selfish greed and wasteful methods by reforestation and stringent protective forest laws. The department of state forestry was created in 1903, and some forty thousand acres of land in four northern counties were reserved from sale and held as a forest reserve. In 1905, by a new act, a State Board of Forestry was created, and one hundred ninety-four thousand seventy-two acres more were reserved in seventeen different counties. In 1906, Congress passed a bill granting to the state for forestry purposes twenty thousand acres of vacant government land, thus increasing the total reserve to two hundred fifty-four thousand seventy-two acres. The two most important aims of forestry are ''to 282 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN conserve the forests by wise use and to protect the water supply." To secure these two ends, the state must acquire large forest areas at the headwaters of rivers, and restock all denuded areas as soon as the slash is destroyed. One of the important principles of forestry is that WINTER SCENE IN A LOGGING CAMP Courtesy of Edward Hines Lumber Company no land which is suitable for agriculture shall be permanently held under forests, so that it can be readily seen that the work of the Forestry Board in reserving forest lands, using as it does land fit for nothing else, is wholly beneficent. The timber will be judiciously cut from these lands from time to time, thus giving the younger trees room for growth, OUE INDUSTEIES 283 LOADING IN THE WOODS Courtesy of Edward Hines Lumber Company and at the same time affording employment to nearby settlers. The Forestry Board is co-operating with the national government to secure carefnl cutting of the timber on the Indian reservations also, and thus in all ways is endeavoring to build prosperity for the future, instead of greedily seeking only present gain. Pine, once so plentiful all over the northern and central sections of the state, is fast becoming scarce. A corresponding increase in the price has made the value of the diminished product as great as formerly. 284 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN An instance of this increase of value is related in connection with some Wisconsin Central lands. The pine was cut from this property at a good profit. A few years later, on this same land, another com- pany operated, cutting the timber rejected by the HAULING LOGS Courtesy of Edward Hines Lumber Company first company, and made a good profit. A little later, the same process was repeated by a third company, and still a good profit was made. In fact, the third company is said to have cleared as much money as tlie first, of course because of the increase in the value of pine. OUE INDUSTRIES 285 A IJM; roXI) AND SAWMILL Coui'tesy of Edward Iliiies Lumbei- Couipany It has been asserted that Wisconsin's forest indus- tries have ''built every foot of railroad and wagon road, every town, school and church, and cleared half of the improved land in north Wisconsin." This statement is, in all probability, largely if not wholly true. The Forestry Board has one other enemy to fight besides the ''lumber kings," and this is fire. Forest fires have aided in the destruction of large wooded tracts. In 1871 occurred one of the most disastrous • c ^ F^ OUE INDUSTEIES 287. in the liistory of the world. Not a drop of rain had fallen in northern Wisconsin from eJnly 8 to Octo- ])er 9 of that year. Wells dried up, rivers became mere rills or only dry beds. Everything was like tinder and needed only a spark to start a sheet of flame. The people of Brown, Door, Oconto, Shawano, Manitowoc and Kewaunee connties fought fires until their energies were exhausted. Many dug holes in the ground and crawled in for refuge from the flames, while others protected themselves in dried-up wells. On October 8, a hot southerly wind carried the flames for miles, and thousands of acres were on fire at once. Over a thousand people lost their lives, and nearly as many were crippled. The property loss cannot be estimated. The town of Peshtigo was wiped out of existence, only one unfinished house being left standing. Other forest fires have occurred since, but none so destructive as this of 1871, and none such are likely to occur again, for the forestry law makes the state forester also the state fire warden, with power to appoint deputies where they shall be needed. Over three hundred fire wardens have thus far been appointed, and they have done excellent work in posting notices, fighting forest fires, and warning the settlers against carelessness in burning brush. An industry which has shown marvelous growth during the last twenty years is dairying. The pio- neers in this work were Iliram Smith, of She])oygan 288 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN County, a practical farmer, and W. D. Hoard, of JefPerson County, editor of a paper devoted to dairy interests, and later governor of the state. These men, with a very few others, began to agitate the dairy question in 1870, and from then on, in season and out of season, urged the farmers of eastern and southern Wisconsin to substitute dairying for grain raising, on the plea that the conditions of soil and climate were better adapted to the former industry. One by one, the farmers began to adopt the ideas of these men. They improved their stock, built co- operative cheese factories, and before long the wisdom of their procedure was proved l^y substantial cash returns. Later, co-operative creameries for the manufacture of butter were advocated, and the farmers, made wiser by experience, more readily adopted this suggestion. The State Dairymen's Association was organized in 1872 with a membership of six. This association has steadily increased in numbers and influence, its labors being rewarded by seeing Wisconsin second in the Union in the value of her dairy products, being surpassed only by New York. A creamery or cheese factory at every cross-roads is now a prominent feature of the landscape in the eastern, southern and western sections of the state. Wis- consin is easily first in the United States in this respect. To the State Dairvmen's Association is due the OUR INDUSTRIES 289 ^ MAP SHOWING THE LOCATION ISStED BY \sl&. EXPT. STATION WiamiRYXFOOD COM. KKY NUMBER ■CHEtSr, FACTORIES 1640 •CREAMtUltS 1017 •COMBINED KACTORIES 40 » SKIM STATIONS . 260 •CO.NUtNSERIES 3 TOTAL 8969 credit of recommending and securing the inaugura- tion of the Dairy School in connection with the School of Agriculture at the State University, Madison, and to-day Wisconsin points with pride to the fact that not only was she the pioneer in this movement, but slie has the best dairy school in the world. 290 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN This association also recommended and secured an annual appropriation by the state legislature for a series of farmers' institutes, skilled .instruc- tion and inspiration to better methods being- brought through this agency to each farmer's door. From November 1 to April 30, these gatherings are held in different parts of the state. Improved methods of farming, as the direct effect of these institutes, show that expenditure of money for their support has justified itself. This association has secured the establishment of a Dairy and Food Commission, which commission not only has achieved much in strengthening state laws concerning the sale of fraudulent imitations of dairy products and prohibiting the sale of adulterated foods and drugs, but, through its system of inspec- tion of creameries and cheese factories, has done a great deal to secure and maintain a high grade of butter and cheese. To this association is due the credit of securing the passage of the state law making the elements of agriculture a branch to be taught in every common school in Wisconsin. Lack of space makes detailed accounts of each industry in the state impossible. Brief mention can be made of only some of the most important. The value of flouring and grist mill products is second only to that of lumber and timber products, these mills representing an investment of ten million OUR INDUSTETES 291 dollars. Wisconsin must yield to Minnesota the credit of having the largest milling center in the United States — Minneapolis — but she can claim the second and third — Superior and Milwaukee. Wis- consin flour not only has a market at home and in every state in the Union, but is sold in almost every village in the British Isles and northern Europe. Another important industry, paper and wood pulp making, claims an investment of twenty million dol- lars. Wisconsin ranks fifth among the thirty-four states which manufacture these two products. The chief seat of this industry is the Fox valley, the mills of which use one hundred thousands cords of logs annually; but the output of the mills on the Wisconsin and Marinette rivers also is large. At first, poplar wood was used for the making of pulp, but it has been displaced by spruce. Wisconsin mills can turn out two and a half million pounds of paper and pulp daily. The tanning of leather is another of the state's leading industries, Milwaukee claiming the largest tanneries in the world. About sixty per cent of the output of tanned hides goes to Boston, the center of the boot and shoe industry. The history of the tanning industry during the last fifty years is thus summed up by one of the largest firms engaged in the business : '^ Fifty years ago, this country was so rough and new that bark necessary for tanning could be fairly 292 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN carried by the workmen from the forest to the mill, but now to feed our immense system of tanneries it requires over thirty thousand cords of bark an- GOVERNOR DAVIDSON'S TOBACCO FIELD nually, carried hundreds of miles by a small fleet of vessels kept busy nearly all the months of navigation. ''It takes annually over forty thousand cattle hides, four hundred fifty thousand skins, and sixty thousand horsehides to keep our five big tanneries OUR INDUSTEIES 293 running, and more than thirteen hundred men are kept busy handling this vast amount of material. ^'From a modest beginning, fifty years ago, our company has grown so rapidly that instead of using two cords of bark per week, it uses now one hundred cords per day. Instead of working in fifty hides every six days, the great vats must now be ready for three thousand hides and fifteen hundred skins every twenty-four hours." Some idea of how this industry helps others may be gained from the fact that the Milwaukee tan- neries alone use one hundred thousand cords of hem- lock bark a year. This means the felling of at least five hundred thousand trees annually, thus employ- ing choppers, peelers, laborers and teams, besides vessel crews. An immense capital is invested in the manufacture of iron and steel products. Engines, agricultural implements, stoves and furnaces, hardware, pumps, nails, wire, brewing, malting and milling machinery, wagons, carriages and sleighs are only a few of the state's manufactured products into which iron and steel enter. The Lake Superior ore is the richest known, and its mining is an important industry. The period of wild speculation in the Gogebic mines in 1886-7 has been succeeded by a steady profit-making era, and the supply of ore bids fair to last for many years. The manufacture of malt liquors has been so per- 294 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN sistently advertised as the state's leading industry, and especially as that of Milwaukee, that it may surprise some to learn that malt liquors are only sixth in value of output among "Wisconsin's manufac- tured products, being outranked by lumber and timber products, flouring and grist mill products, foundry and machine shop products, dairy products, and leather products, in the order named. Geographically, Wisconsin is advantageously placed with respect to markets. Her railroads are accessible from all sections of the state. On the western border is the Mississippi River, a waterway that exercises a restraining influence on freight rates, even though its carrying trade is not great. From her ports on Lakes Superior and Michigan, the prod- ucts of the farms, factories, mines, mills and quarries of the state are shipped by water to the East. OHAPTEK XXV OUR GOVEENMENT, OUR PEOPLE, AND OUR SCHOOLS The constitution of Wisconsin was adopted March 13, 1848. The State Legislature consists of two houses, the Senate and Assembly. The Senate consists of thirty- three members elected for four years, and the As- sembly of one hundred members elected for two years. The legislative sessions are biennial, beginning on the first Monday in January of the odd-numbered years. Each member receives for his services during a regular session ^ve hundred dollars and ten cents for every mile traveled along the most usual route in going to and returning from the session. No stationery, postage or other perquisite is allowed. The executive power is vested in a Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, who are elected for two years. The administrative power is vested in a Secretary of State, Treasurer, Attorne}^ General, State Super- intendent, and Insurance Commissioner, elected ])y the people. Among other administrative officers, but appointed by the governor, are the Commissioner of Labor, 295 296 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN Census and Industrial Statistics, the Adjutant Gen- eral, the Quartermaster General, the Supervisor of Inspectors of Illuminating Oils, the Dairy and Food Commissioner, the Commissioner of Banking, the Superintendent of Public Property, and the Com- missioner of Immigration. Among the administrative boards, appointed by WrTT'^ i i ^ i 1 1 1 i i c fr r III III -%v mm STATE HISTORICAL LIBRARY, MADISON the governor, are the Fisheries Commission (seven members for six years) ; the State Board of Health (seven members for seven years) ; the Board of Uni- versity Eegents (one from each Congressional dis- trict and two at large for three years) ; the Board of Eegents of Normal Schools (nine members for three years) ; the State Board of Control (six members for OUR GOA^ERNMENT, PEOPLE, SCHOOLS 297 MAIN BUILDING, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN five years), which has cliarge of tlie Hospitals for the Insane at Oshkosh and Mendota, the State Prison at Waiipim, the State School for Dependent Children at Sparta, the State School for the Feeble-minded at Chippewa Falls, the Industrial School for Boys at Wankesha, the School for the Deaf at Delavan, the State School for the Blind at Janesville, the Wis- consin State Keformatory at Green Bay, and the Wisconsin State Tuberculosis Sanatorium at Wales ; the State Eailroad Commission; the State Board of Agriculture; the State Board of Forestry; the State Alining School Board; the State Civil Service Com- mission, and the State Tax Commission. The judicial department consists of a Supreme 298 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN Court : superior courts ; circuit courts ; courts of pro- bate (county courts); justices' courts; municipal courts, and police courts. The Supreme Court is composed of a chief justice COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN and four associate justices chosen at the spring elec- tion for a term of ten years. The superior court is presided over by a judge elected for a term of four years. The circuit courts, eighteen in number, are ])re- sided over by circuit judges chosen at the spring election for six years. The circuit court sits at least twice annually in each county. The court of probate is presided over by a judge OUR GOVERNMENT, PEOPLE, SCHOOLS 299 who also is chosen at the spring election for four years. Every male citizen of the United States above twenty-one years of age who has resided in the state one year and in the election district where he offers to vote at least ten days immediately preceding the election may vote at that state election. UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN CAMPUS AVomen may vote, under the same conditions as to age, residence and citizenship, on all school questions and at the election of school officers. All voting is by ballot on the Australian system. When Wisconsin became a state, the number of inhabitants was only two hundred fifty thousand, about one-tenth of the present number. When we 300 THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, WHITEWATER know that this is less than the population of Mil- waukee alone to-day, and that it represents an aver- age of only five persons to the square mile, as compared with forty-one to-day, we can appreciate how widely scattered the people w^ere. As we know, the earliest influence in the state was French, but soon the influx of other nationalities made it assume a different character. When the con- stitution w^as adojoted, settlers from New York were the ones who were the most influential in framing that document, although the influence of men from New England, and those from Virginia, Kentucky OUR GOVERNMENT, PEOPLE, SCHOOLS 301 and Tennessee in the lead-mining section, also was felt. The state early encouraged immigration, and has continued to favor it, for Wisconsin has natural resources and raw materials sufficient to support a population much larger than that which she has at present. Especially is this true of the northern and central portions. A writer in the Wisconsin Farmer in the early days of statehood asserted that northern and cen- tral Wisconsin were an "alternation of arid sand ridges and impassable marshes." For general agri- cultural purposes this land, even yet, is the poorest in the state; but three facts rob this statement of much of its force. First, the large cranberry swamps of the state are in this belt. The value of these swamps per acre is much higher than that of the best agricultural land. Secondly, this belt is the natural home of the white pine, which tree has made vast fortunes for many individuals and companies. Thirdly, this soil with proper culture produces large crops of potatoes of superior quality. The region is sometimes called the ''potato belt." Add to these facts that leading authorities on dairying are urging that northern Wisconsin may be made as rich a dairy section as any other portion of the state, and we may see the probability that this region will soon support a population as large as the others. 302 Ti'f^E MAKING OF WISCONSIN Since 1850, the commissioners of immigration have distributed pamphlets to immigrants landing in New York and to those embarking in foreign ports, and have advertised the advantages of the state in for- eign newspapers. In these and various other ways, a very desirable class of immigrants has been attracted to our borders, and has had a marked influence upon our industrial life, our social customs, and our political thought. When we know that the number of foreign-born citizens is one third that of the native-born, and that many of the native-born are but one generation removed from the foreign- born, we can appreciate how large this determining influence on our institutions must of necessity be. Such being the case, Wisconsin is fortunate in having induced so many Germans and Scandinavians to make this their home, the Germans numbering nearly forty-five per cent of all the foreign-born, and the Scandinavian about eighteen per cent. Many other nationalities have contributed to our popula- tion — Swiss, Dutch, French, Polish, Belgians, Bohe- mians, Cornishmen, and even Icelanders. In many cases these people have settled in groups, notably the Swiss in New Glarus on the Little Sugar Kiver, the Cornishmen in the lead region, and the Icelanders on Washington Island in Green Bay. AVlien they have not made communities by them- selves, these foreigners have readily assimilated with the native-born population, thus rapidly becoming OUR GOVERNMENT, PEOPLE, SCHOOLS 303 Americans. If tlie first generation have not learned tlie English language, their children have, for the state has placed the opportunity to secure an edu- cation in easy reach of all children within its boundaries, and a compulsory attendance law com- pels the parent or guardian to see that every child improves this opportunity. In justice to our foreign- born citizens, it must be said that there is little occasion to enforce this law, for in the main they are glad to have their children learn the language and attend a school, either parochial or public. The school system of Wisconsin did not spring full-grown from any one man's mind, but is the out- growth of years of thought and experience. The pioneers from New England and New York brought with them, along with their love for human liberty, freedom of speech and of conscience, their belief in free education for their children. It is mainly to their intelligence and forethought that Wisconsin owes her present high rank among her sister states, and her unsurpassed system of instruction for her people. Even before the territory became a state, many private schools, made up of the children of neigh- boring families, were established. These were the beginning of the public school system. Denominational schools — academies, colleges and seminaries — were inaugurated, but the population being scattered, and religious beliefs widely varying, 304 TH'E MAKING OF WISCONSIN adequate financial support was lacking. The state, ever beneficent toward education, later helped some of these institutions liberally. In 1836, the first territorial legislature passed no law regarding common schools, not because of lack of interest in the matter, but because the Michigan system prevailed, as it had while Wisconsin was a part of that territory, and there seemed no need for immediate change. At the second session of the territorial legislature a law was passed establishing the University of Wisconsin at Madison. This was the first step toward higher education, although the university had no existence except on paper until twelve years later. It now instructs a student body of nearly three thou- sand, and is recognized as a leading university in central United States. In 1839, for the first time, a law was passed insti- tuting a system of supervision of the common schools, but it was not until 1845 that a free public school was established. This was at Kenosha (then Southport), a village whose population was made up of people from New England and the Middle States. The great extent of Wisconsin and the rapidity with which immigrants poured in, overflowing its prairies, river valleys and forests, delayed for sev- eral years any well organized school system, but when the state constitution was adopted, provision OUR GOVERNMENT, PEOPLE, SCHOOLS 305 was made for free district schools and for adequate support and supervision of the same. Liberal grants of land were made, not only for the maintenance of these schools, but also for normal schools for the training of teachers. For the first few years, the income from the school fund was large enough only for the common schools ; hence no normal schools were established, there being an attempt in the meantime to give normal training in the university and in a few high schools and academies. This was so unsatisfactory that in 1865 the passage of a bill was secured making liberal allowance for distinctively normal schools. The first one was opened at Platteville in 1866, and the second at Whitewater in 1868. There are now seven of these schools, the others being located at Oshkosh (1871), River Falls (1875), Milwaukee (1885), Ste- vens Point (1894), Superior (1896). An eighth is to be opened at La Crosse in 1909. These schools have on an average over twenty-five thousand students enrolled annuahy. The system of free high schools, as it prevails at present, was established in 1875. Previous to this there were twenty-five independent high schools in cities, and nearly four hundred graded schools out- side of cities. Most of these schools reorganized as free high schools under the law, accepting state aid in their support. There are now in the state about two hundred of these schools having a four- 30G THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN years ' course, and forty having a three-years ' course. The state also maintains a school for the feeble- minded at Chippewa Falls, a school for dependent NORMAL SCHOOL AT STEVENS POINT children at Sparta, one for the blind at Janesville, one for deaf-mutes at Delavan, and an industrial school for boys at Waukesha. A system of teachers' institutes supported by the state has contributed largely to the progress and efficiency of the work of the common schools. This OUR GOVERNMENT, PEOPLE, SCHOOLS 307 system has been a matter of growth and adaptation, beginning in 1853 with what were known as ' ' tempo- rary normal schools" held in various localities by the state superintendent. At the present time, an able corps of instructors gives instruction to un- trained rural and grade teachers in every county in the state for two or three weeks every summer. These institutions have been beneficial not only in improving the scholarship in the common school branches and in promoting knowledge of better methods of instruction, but also in creating a spirit of professional pride and emulation. Bealizing the necessity for raising her common schools to the highest possible degree of efficiency, the state has organized and now maintains twenty county training schools for teachers. The legisla- ture has, at various times, appropriated money suf- ficient to pay two thirds of the running expenses of these schools. Their location has been determined by the counties themselves, any county securing one by voting the other one third of the expenses. The full number — twenty — has now been established. In these schools, teachers for the rural schools are being better fitted for their work. In connection with these, county agricultural schools have been established in several counties, the state here also aiding in paying the running ex- penses. Here the young men and women of the county may at slight expense receive training in the 308 TH'E MAKING OF WISCONSIN science and art of agriculture, manual training and domestic science. The state also has appropriated money to give aid to smaller communities maintaining graded schools of two or three departments. The law requires a higher standard of scholarship for teach- ers in these schools than in the common schools. In time, as the community increases in population, these schools grow into three- and four-year high schools. In conclusion, it may be said of our state: If fruitful soils are wanted, they are here; if clear, invigorating climate is desired, here it is found; if pure water is deemed a necessity, that necessity is found here in all its fullness; if ample rainfall is demanded, there is no lack ; if water-power is needed, many streams furnish it in abundance ; if sport with rod and gun is desired, here may be found the para- dise of hunters and fishermen; if scenic beauty is asked for, Wisconsin's wooded lakes and streams delight the eye; if good schools are necessary, here they are found, open and free to rich and poor alike. In short, Wisconsin's natural resources and beauties, her industrial facilities and educational advantages are unsurpassed by any state in the Union. The motto of the state is the watchword of her citizens— FOEWARD ! GOVEENORS OF WISCONSIN Nelson Dewey, Lancaster 1848-1852 Leonakd J. Farwei.l, Madison 1852-1854 William A. Barstow, Waukesha 1854-1856 Arthur Mc Arthur, Milwaukee. . . .Mar. 21-25, 1856 Coles Bashford, Oshkosh 1856-1858 Alex. W. Randall, Waukesha 1858-1862 Louis P. Harvey, Shopiere. . . .'.Jan. 6-Apr. 19, 1862 Edward Salomon, Milwaukee 1862-1864 James T. Lewis, Columbus 1864-1866 Lucius Fairchild, Madison 1866-1872 C. C. Washburn, La Crosse 1872-1874 William R. Taylor, Cottage Grove 1874-1876 Harrison Ludington, Milwaukee 1876-1878 William E. Smith, Milwaukee 1878-1882 Jeremiah M. Rusk, Viroqua 1882-1889 William D. Hoard, Fort Atkinson 1889-1891 George W. Peck, Milwaukee 1891-1895 William H. Upham, Marshfield 1895-1897 Edward Scofield, Oconto 1897-1901 Robert M. LaFollette, Madison 1901-1906 James 0. Davidson, Soldiers ' Grove 1906- 309 BADGER SONG. Words by Eben E. Rexford. Music by J. M. Stillman, Mus. Doc, Principal of the School of Music of Milton College, Milton, Wis. 3Iay be sung as a ^^ioio and Chorus. March time. M. M. J - lOIi-. ^ ^ PIANO or REED ORGAN. W^^^^ EEEg I =«=i ;d=t i ^fn Soprano. ^: :1=tt: iz-f Cres. -#-1- i 1. Oh, moth-er Wis-con - sin, we bring thee A trib - ute ofliom-age and 2. Wis - con- sin, thou true-heart-ed moth-er Of sons that went forth to the Contralto. ~=> :^ WbZZMZ yn Tenor. '■ — «' Cres. ^-pq — ^ — ^-^ — N — ^ -F* •^-w^€ #^-#- t=t: SE; ^=g=M=g^ 3. Oh, moth - er Wis-con - sin, thy hon - or Is dear to our young hearts to 4. Oh, Thou who art God of the na - tions, In Thee and Thy strength do we Bass. ^ r> N i3^B =K-*- n - m p i Cres^ Ji- -^ # L^ H— * » Cp ^_3 — ^_^_Lq f ^ L- Copyright, 1895. by H. W. Rood. By permission of H. W. Rood. Madison. Wis., from whom music may be ordered for ten cents. BADGER SONG— Continued. 1 3: And love for our home laid down their lives pride ; fray, land we sing for thy hon thee; or, mm --A- What What 3S -•— day; Thy dead sons were stead- trust; We know that Thine arm fast and loy - al, is al- might - y, Shall Our -^-•- ^-=1^= Ores, :Sff3 --^-0- g gift has thy boun - ty de - nied? pride thrills thy bos - om to - day! To - day from Thy he - roes the Fa - ther are nev - er of for- BADGER SONG-Continued. i m ^- Wa - ters ngot - ten; .« — ^^ -_^. ^ N ^ — ^- ■ •-; m d- To the lake that is fair Tho' dead, they shall live -I^ — I as a sea, in thy love, From thy And their hon - or, Fa - ther. We Be m love thee as loved they who died; led in ^ the path - ways of peace; I 5^ -^ hr \- b/^^ f — T^— -N- And And like for ^—-9 -&- : 1^- :l±t;!:-EEEEt=£ Cres. pines to thy prai-ries thy chil - dren u val - or be told while the ban- ner Come singing thy prais-es to thee. They died for is float-irg a - bove. E5^3EE^3 Cres -0-^0—0- -fc/— 5/- -0~-\-0 ^- SEEEE: them will we give all, if need be, thee, our most beau-ti-ful moth- er. '^=^: :K:i^=i=^- mm To guard the dear home of our pride. May the love of thy chil-dren in-crease. m j_. -d—*^^ — I ~g W 9'~ W U d^ I 5-i 3=^==f=t 5lt— ^' :d: t=a= P ifeij BADGER SONG— Concluded -i /"Chorus. Se ■^-HSd 4:n#:1: u -v-^ 9^0 All hail to our mother Wis-con - sin! Oh, join ev-'ry voice in the strain ! W =# £3^^:EE3=a: ^^■ n ±ni&: A— fr n t=f: S -^'-^ ^-^ !v*- #— # iiJ sr^ All hail to our mother Wis-con- sin! Oh, join ev-'ry voice in the strain! tv—^ i ^—•-^m-^ M-f^— :t= V— ^ Xzzz^w: =P -1— L# — #— *— i e-^#- r^ I :^-1^:^ :^=^=«=^ £r: 11=^=^=::='- ^s Cres. -$zi4v:^ /, iiit £^^ ^# 3 (S'- 9 Wis - con - sin, Wis-con-sin, for - ev - er! Oh, sing it a-gain a - gam a i A— ^ » -iN--fc f — • . #-^ — ^— r^ Ores. # ^ ■^^^^^^^, Wis - con -sin, Wis-con-sin, for- ev - er! HIGH SCHOOL HISTORIES Outlines of Ancient, Medieval and Modern History By S. Laura Ensign, Girls Latin School, Baltimore. These outlines are prepared for the use of teachers and pupils pursuing the study of history by the topical method. The outlines are adapted to any text or reference books to which the pupil may have access. Cloth, 268 pages of outlines, notes, maps; all difficult names respelled or diacritically marked. Revised and brought down to 1908. Price, 75 cents. Outlines of English History By S. S. Dodge, of the Chicago Public Schools. De- signed to aid teachers and students in the presentation, study, or review of English history. It aims to place before its readers a clear, continuous, interesting and suggestive outline of the social, political, intellectual and religious development of the English people from the earliest time to the present. The topical reviews, topics for written work, queer queries, etc., will be found both useful and suggestive. 129 pages. Price, 25 cents. Story of the Britons By H. M. Skinner. This is the first modern book to relate the legendary Story of the Britons for the thousand years before English History begins, carry- ing it on to the passing of Arthur and the Saxon Con- quest. 241 pages. Cloth. Price, 75 cents. A. Flanagan Co. :: Chicago Gibson's Junior History A new history of the United States for Rural Schools and In- termediate and Grammar grades of Graded Schools. Story, biography, geography and literature have been woven into the narrative, yet the mind is lead in proper and continuous order from the beginning to the end. The book may be made a reader, as it is full of that which appeals to young minds. PROMINENT FEATURES. — It shows how much we owe to the Egyptians, the Jew, the Greek, the Roman, the Italian, the Spanish and others for our history, Illustrations assist the text. Poems and other literary matter are selected to amplify. Maps are especially drawn, showing voyages, move- ments, discoveries, conquests, claims, explorations, territorial growth, etc. These maps are a very valuable feature. EXERCISES. — Each chapter is followed by a few well chosen questions, suggestions and notes upon the salient points in the chapter. INDUSTRIES. — The book is especially interesting in regard to industries, productions, inventions, discoveries, resources and kindred topics, in so far as they are of interest and importance in the history of the nation. This history is up to January 1st, 1908; is printed in large type, well bound. Cloth, 303 pages. Price, sixty cents. A. Flanagan Company, Chicago FIRST STEPS in English Composition By DR. H. a PETERSON Of the Crane High School - Chicago, Illinois Revised and Enlarged Edition THIS book, as was the first edition, is made for the eighth, ninth and tenth grades. Its illustrative selections and its material for practice have been compiled with rigid reference to the pupils in these years. It is primarily a practice book for actual writing, following an individual and progressive system. Distinctive Features The distinctive features of the first edition were, as is well known, different from those of all other text books in composition. That book was the result of class-room work. The method has been matured by six years of further use and is here presented in every detail. Additional matter has been brought under it. Contents A view of the contents may be had from the following list of chapters: I. The Visualization. II. Moving Pictures. III. Realistic Details. IV. and V. Environment Sketches. VI. Dialogue Sketches. VII. Inferences — Character Sketches. VIII. Paragraphs and Briefs. IX. Topic Sentences and Connecting Links. X. The Literary Description. XI. The Real Description— Including also letter writing, advertisements, telegrams, orders, technical forms, etc. XII. The Narrative. XIII. The Story. XIV. Capitalization. XV. Punctuation. XVI. Elementary Rhetoric. Each of these chapters contains a minimum of theoretical matter and a maximum of exercises. Principles of Composition The principles of composition are deduced from the study of literature and then applied to writing. And the literature thus used comprises the authors generally read by young pupils — Irving, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Lowell, Scott, Stevenson, Cooper, and a few of the best recent American novels. These studies form by them- selves, though collaterally, a system of instruction in literature which many teachers have already found interesting. Several principles of composition are shown to be identical with some principles of painting and a few rudiments of picture study are thus touched upon and illustrated. Literary Structure The principles of literary structure, though here adapted steadily to young children, are universal in their applicability and have been found of interest in the upper high school years and even in colleges. Special Edition for Teachers With the exception of two small foot-notes this book contains no "instructions to teachers"; giving such in text books has proved stultifying. Instead a special edition has been prepared for teachers containing an introductory essay, "The Teaching of English Com- position," which in both style and underlying doctrine is a notable contribution to the pedagogy of the subject. The book is carefully edited, well printed, and bound in cloth, 213 pages. Price 35 cents. A. FLANAGAN CO., Chicago ^n\ .7 1908