NON -T C D~C ULATIN G Mich. 1), 572. S4 A5S3 1900 I i MICHIGAN JRZFEIENC - 3 000 950 564 I W14I IltI I UM II..RLF LRENGE,, JUN 1g86 I < ",, r I I 1 -7 I- I , I 7, L -,, A SOUTHWVEST N'HCHIGIAlN '1 HISTORIC MICHIGAN LAND OF THE GREAT LAKES Its life, resources, industries, people, politics, government, wars, institutions, achievements, the press, schools and churches, legendary and prehistoric lore Edited by A.M., (Harvard), GEORGE N. FULLER, Ph.D. (Univ. of Mich.) Also An Account of SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN AND ST. JOSEPH COUNTY Edited by CHARLES A. WEISSERT VOLUME III Published by National Historical Association, Inc., and dedicated to the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society in commemoration of its fiftieth anniversary 0 \A I i. MICH4IGAN ' -TATE Llo"r~tt LANSING go h 1 533 - Preface The purpose of this history is to present within its limited scope as graphic a picture as is possible of the outstanding events in the region now included in southwestern Michigan from the earliest times of which there is record down to the present day industrial and agricultural development. By necessity, such presentation must be brief, and an effort has been made to place before the reader those phases of development untouched in previous works, and to utilize in the narrative new data unearthed from records, scrap-books, family records, papers of historical organizations and obtained by personal interviews with early pioneers. Historical materials are being daily discovered by societies and persons who are now far enough removed from pioneer times to find interesting research in what is to them an unknown and alluring mine of romance. The pioneer days of the United States have gone forever, and the actors of those scenes-strangers in a far-off time-have nearly all passed on "toward the Setting Sun," as the Indians beautifully expressed it. Had it not been for the inquiries of the patient few who gathered without financial compensation from the early pioneers their recollections and experiences we should today be unable to present facts drawn from the historical collections of several states: It is to be regretted that more local history was not recorded when.those who made it were living, but this neglect was probably not so much the result of indifference as it was-and is today-a failure to comprehend the fact that history is being created daily, and that the events of the present, while they seem through familiarity of little importance, will be eagerly reviewed by the delving historian of the future. Viewed from the broadest scope the greatest honors go to La Salle and his devoted associate, Henri de Tonti; to Nicholas Perrot and Sieur de la Forest and innumerable others. The accomplishments of these men are recorded in the archives of the country that benefitted through their perilous adventures in an unknown wilderness in which lurked murderous cannibals and beasts of prey. Of the outstanding events during the French and British regimes in Michigan, official records are available in many sources, and several historians of note have made use of them. A vast mine of material, however, remains ready for the historical explorer, particularly that type of explorer who will use dates and statistics and at the same time make the man of today regard the man of yesterday as a desirable acquaintance instead of an automaton with eternally boresome activities. The men who opened the new country -from the greatest pathfinder who sought to enlarge a kingdom to the humblest person whose ambition was only to find a place where he might pitch his tent and reside till the end of his days-were persons of extraordinary interest. They were idealists who had the courage to test their mettle in an untried field of high endeavor. Recording recollections of pioneers of southwestern Michigan counties was begun late, but a considerable amount of valuable material is available in those historically rich but very obscure volumes, the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections. In preparation of this volume these have been consulted. Several chapters, however, would have remained unwritten had it not been for the fact that during the editor's boyhood a number of venerable pioneers patiently replied to innumerable questions concerning the early days, and without hesitation, contributed information, some of which is presented herewith for the first time-notably the chapter on stage coach days-which is largely based on recollections of the late William Burroughs, Barry county. Indians, too, furnished data, particularly that concerning activities of the red men after they removed from the valleys of the St. Joseph, the Kalamazoo and Thornapple rivers. From time to time, while hunting or fishing, or visiting sugar camps, or the blacksmith's forge and gunsmith's bench or while u'nder a humble roof where old-time hospitality was being extended without thought of return, was obtained a large amount of colorful-material. In this volume the publishers include biographies of men of affairs in their respective communities. This is a valuable contribution to contemporary local history. The pathfinders have done their work. Today they are replaced by the community-builders, whose efforts are centered on social and industrial development and their various ramifications. Among these sketches the historian of the future will find a compendium of data from which to select materials. In a volume of limited scope, it is impossible to avoid disappointing some readers, but it is hoped that compensatory features will be found within the covers. Herewith is presented for the first time, a more extensive account of old Fort St. Joseph than has heretofore appeared in print. CHARLES A. WEISSERT. Table of Contents CHAPTER I-INTRODUCTORY REVIEW DRAINAGE OF SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN-THREE GREAT RIVERS-PRAIRIES, VALLEYS, FORESTS-RESULTS OF GLACIAL ACTION-ICE LOBES AND MORAINESCHAINS OF LAKES —SILICIOUS FORMATIONS-BEAR CAVE FALLS-TOPOGRAPHIC FEATURES-AN ANCIENT AND MODERN LURE —ABORIGINES IN SOUTHWESTERN MICHIGAN - INDIAN WARFARE- DREADED INDIAN INVADERS - AN INDIAN WATER AND LAND ROUTE —A FAMOUS PORTAGE PATH-RECORDS OF HENNEPIN AND CHARLEVOIX-KALAMAZOO A GREAT INDIAN TRAIL CENTER-OTHER IMPORTANT TRAILS - -— 1 — --— _ --- —-— _ —.-_-. --- — - 17-25 CHAPTER II-THE EARLY FRENCH EXPLORATIONS AND REGIME FAMED COMMANDERS AND GREAT MISSIONARIES — FIRST SETTLEMENT IN ( SOUTHWESTERN MICHIGAN-CAREER OF HENRI DE TONTY-rLA SALLE'S FORT ON THE ST. JOSEPH RIVER-HENNEPIN'S RECORD-LA SALLE'S JOURNEY ACROSS MICHIGAN-LA SALLE MEETS ADVERSITY-LA SALLE'S SECOND EX- PEDITION-INDIANS AT ST. JOSEPH VALLEY-REUNION OF LA SALLE AND TONTY -LA SALLE'S THIRD EXPEDITION-MURDER OF LA SALLE ---- 26-33 CHAPTER III-FORT ST. JOSEPH AND MISSION IN NEW FRANCE RIVALRY BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLANDI IN NEW WORLD-ENGLISH INFLUENCE WITH IROQUOIS —FRENCH SEEK AID OF MICHIGAN INDIANS-MAKE WAR ON IROQUOIS WITH SUCCESS IN 1687-NICHOLAS PERROT, EMISSARY FROM FRONTENAC-FRENCH INFLUENCE FELT IN KALAMAZOO VALLEY AMONG MIAMI INDIANS IN 1690 —JESUIT MISSION FOUNDED AT PRESENT SITE OF NILES AND FORT ST. JOSEPH ERECTED FOR rTS PROTECTION-FATHER ALLOUEZ IROQUOIS CONTINUE HOSTILE AND ATTACK FORT-FRENCH HOLD CONFERENCE OF INDIAN TRIBES AT MONTREAL-FRONTENAC TELLS PLANS FOR PROTECTION OF SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN-JESUITS OPPOSE PLAN OF CONSOLIDATING INDIAN TRIBES IN MICHIGAN, FEARING BAD INFLUENCE OF WHITE POPULATION AT DETROIT-INDIAN DEPREDATIONS AND BATTLES IN MICHIGAN-DESCRIPTIONS BY CHARLEVOIX-TEMPORARY PEACE WITH INDIANS IN 1726-FUR TRADE AT FORT ST. JOSEPH-INCREASE OF TRADE IN 1750-FRENCH AND INDIAN WARFRENCH SECURE AID OF INDIANS AGAINST ENGLISH-EARLY SUCCESSES OF FRENCH ARMIES - FINAL COMPLETE OVERTHROW OF FRANCE — FORT ST. JOSEPH UNDER BRITISH RULE-THE INCIDENT OF LIEUT. SCHLOSSE ---PONTIAC'S CONSPIRACY-THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION-GEN. CLARK PLANS TO TAKE FORT ST. JOSEPH. BUT IS DETERRED BY HIS INSUFFICIENT FORCECENSUS OF ST. JOSEPH POST IN 1781-CHEVALIER REMOVED TO MACKINAC --- HE APPEALS TO HALDIMAND-THE SPANISH CAPTURE FORT ST. JOSEPH-THE POST BURNED-END OF THE REVOLUTION ---— _-. _ — 34-112 xii TABLE OF CONTE1TS CHAPTER IV-MICHIGAN AND THE BLACK HAWK WAR KALAMAZOO COUNTY SOLDIERS —MICHIGAN POTAWATOMIES-ERECTION OF FORT HOGAN —HISTORIC CONFERENCE WITH POTAWATOM;ES-THE WORDS OF CUSHEE-WES-NOT A COMMENDABLE CHAPTER-GENERAL JOSEPH WHITE BROWNTHREATENED BLACK HAWK INVASION-CHICAGO CALLS FOR AID-AN INTERESTING MUSTER ROLL-CONFERENCE OF GENERAL BROWN AND POKAGON. ----................................................... -_............... 113-120 CHAPTER V-INDIAN TRAILS, MOUNDS, EARTHWORKS, VILLAGES AND CEMETERIES IN. KALAMAZOO COUNTY (By Edward J. Stevens) DESCRIPTION OF SIX TRAILS-MOUNDS IN VARIOUS TOWNSHIPS-EARTHWORK OR FORTIFICATIONS-GARDEN BEDS-INDIAN VILLAGES --- —-— 1 --- —--- 121-126 CHAPTER VI-THE KALAMAZOO VALLEY INDIAN INHABITANTS-SITE OF KALAMAZOO A RENDEZVOUS FOR INDIANS-TRADE OF KALAMAZOO RIVER FREE-ORIGIN OF NAME-OVERLAND ROUTE LED THROUGH VALLEY - DESCRIPTION OF EARLY BRITISH ROUTE-EARLY TRADERS-CONFERENCES WITH INDIANS AT KALAMAZOO-GENERAL WAYNEPOTAWATOMI VILLAGE IN PORTAGE TOWNSHIP DURING WAR OF 1812 -DESCRIPTION OF LIFE OF INDIANS OF THE VALLEY-HUBBARD HERE IN 1822 -TRADING POST ERECTED-WHO WAS RECOLLET?-INDIAN'S CORPSE IN PENRECOLLET A CONVIVIAL SOUL-RECOLLET'S DAUGHTERS DROWN-SAUGATUCK A RENDEZVOUS FOR INDIANS-LITTLEJOHN'S BATTLE LEGEND-JUDGE LITTLEJOHN'S CAREER-JAMES FENIMORE COOPER IN KALAMAZOO-TIFFIN CALLED MICHIGAN LANDS WORTHLESS IN REPORT TO CONGRESS —TITUS BRONSON, FOUNDER OF KALAMAZOO-BUILDS TAMARAC HUT IN KALAMAZOO-BRONSON BECOMES COUNTY SEAT-BRONSON WHITTLES IN JUDGE FLETCHER'S COURT ROOM ----------—................ 127-157 CHAPTER VII-THE WAR OF 1812; PASSING OF THE INDIAN POWER WILLIAM BURNETT, TRADER-BERTRAND AT PARC AUX VACHES-POTAWATOMIES HOSTILE TO AMERICANS-INDIANS DEFEATED AT TIPPECANOE-THE CHANDONIE AFFAIR-INDIAN POWER BREAKS WITII TECUMSEH'S FALL-POTAWATOMIES APPEAL FOR AID TO 13RITISII —BRITISH ON THE GRAND RIVERBRITISH SOUGHT AID FROM GRAND RIVER SAVAGES-NEWS OF PEACE REACHES MACKINAC-TREATIES OF SAGINAW AND CHICAGO ---- -. --- —--------- 158-168 CHAPTER VIII-TRADERS IN THE THORNAPPLE VALLEY: -THE INDIAN HUNTING GROUNDS TEz THORmAPPLE RIVER-THE FUR TRADERS AND TiHEIR PoS ---LOUIS MO1MU WAS FIRST TRADER-AUGUSTUS NEERS AN EARLY MAIL CARRIERCUlPPEWA VILLAGE NORTH OF MIDDLVILLLE — _ 169-176 TABLE OF CONTENTS xiii CHAPTER IX-FIVE NOTED INDIAN MISSIONS EFFECT OF CHICAGO TREATY ON INDIANS-SUPERNATURAL SOURCE OF GUN LAKE'S NAME-LEONARD SLATER SENT AS MISSIONARY-FIND LOUIS CAMPAU IN GRAND RAPIDS-SLATER PREACHED IN INDIAN LANGUAGE-IDENTIFIES COLONEL JOHNSON AS TECUMSEH'S SLAYER-NOONDAY PUNISHED UNRULY PUPILS-RECALLED NOONDAY'S LAST ILLNESS-GRISWOLD MISSION AT SELKIRK LAKE-SERMONS INTERPRETED BY MAW-BE-SE-STOP AT YANKEE SPRINGS TAVERN-VISITS CHIEF SAGINAW-NO CHANCE TO BACK OUTADDRESS SAGINAW'S BAND —INDIANS BECOME INTOXICATED-INDIANS "GIVE ONE EAR FOR GOD"-SELKIRK PREVENTS MURDER OF SQUAW-NOONDAY VISITS SELKIRK'S MISSION-SAGINAW LIKED MAW-BE-SE-OLD CHIEF SAGINAW MURDERED-MURDER IS SELKIRK'S SERMON SUBJECT-NO SALARY DURING ONE YEAR-ME-SHIM-MEN-CONING MISSION-SMALLPOX KILLS MANY INDIANS-MR. HICKEY CARRIES SURVEYOR'S CHAIN-"NO CHRISTIAN MAY ATTEND" —GAMBLER AIDS IN CHURCH BUILDIN —OKEMOS CARRIED SCALPING KNIFE-WAS IN BATTLE OF THE THAMES-SAWBA ONE OF THE LAST CHIEFS-REV. WHITE SUCCEEDS HICKEY —NOTTAWA MISSION IN CALHOUN COUNTY-MARY MANDOKA INTERPRETED SERMONS-INDIANS WERE GIFTED LISTENERS-THE THORNAPPLE MISSION-OLD CHIEF KEEPS HIS RELIGIONHICKEY LEADS A LQNG LIFE OF USEFULNESS --- — -—. --- -___.177-207 CHAPTER X-REMOVAL OF INDIANS OF SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED IN REMOVAL OF INDIANS — ---— 208-217 CHAPTER XI-EARLY ROADS AND TAVERNS DETROIT AND CHICAGO ROAD-WHITE PIGEON WAS LARGEST SETTLEMENTMORE ROADS WERE NEEDED-AUTHORIZE HASTINGS-BATTLE CREEK ROAD — STAGE LINE ESTABLISHED IN 1831-STAGE, AND MAIL ROUTES IN 1835 -BATTLE CREEK-HASTINGS STAGE LINE-HIRAM MERRILL WAS DRIVER — CHANGED AT BRISTOL'S TAVERN-STOPPED TO DRINK —DRIVEN OUT BY RAILROADS-ASAHEL SAVERY, FRONTIER TAVERN KEEPER-IN WHITE PIGEON IN 1827 —ENLARGED HIS HOTEL-SAVERY SHOWS HIS GENEROSITY-SAVERY THE PATHFINDER-SAVERY REVISITED WHITE PIGEON-YANKEE SPRINGS TAVERN -"WE ARE ALL YANKEES"-"NINE STORIES ON THE GROUND" —ROBBERIES IN THE WILDERNESS UNKNOWN-ARRIVE AT YANKEE SPRINGS-PLANK ROADS PROPOSED-TRAFFIC ON THE ST. JOSEPH AND KALAMAZOO RIVERS —KALAMAZOO STATE HOSPITAL -- -------- -.-............ -218-239 CHAPTER XII-SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION OF COUNTIES ALLEGAN - BARRY - BERRIEN - BRANCH- CALHOUN - CASS - EATON - KALAMAZOO - ST. JOSEPH - VAN BUREN-.-... ---~. --- —240-254 CHAPTER XIII-ST. JOSEPH COUNTY EARLY HISTORY EARLY SETTLEMENT -ORGANIZATION - INDIANS - CHIEF SANGANASH-CENSUS REPORTS-VILLAGES-CITIES-THE COUNTY IN THE WORLD WAR-GOLD STAR, LIST. --- —-. —. ---.. — ----—.-255-262 PERSONAL RECORDS ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED ----— i.-, ----. --- -- 263-307 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY REVIEW T HREE large rivers and their tributaries drain the great expanse of territory now known as Southwestern Michigan, and divided by imaginary lines into the counties of Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph, Branch, Calhoun, Kalamazoo, Van Buren, Allegan, Barry and Eaton. Highly developed socially, economically and industrially today, this was once a land as remote to the Easterners of several centuries ago as is the Arctic region to-day. Within its borders roamed savages, ready not only to kill the venturesome white intruder, but also to feast on his corpse. It was the country of unknown savages in whose hills were believed to be hidden riches awaiting development by the white man's genius. Covered with great forests in which opened here and there beautiful little prairies, this primeval land from prehistoric times grew richer in vegetation and fertility until the plows of the first settlers turned the rich soil upward and with little effort, except for clearing away the forest, brought yields so rich that it became indeed a Land of Promise. THREE GREAT RIVERS In central Michigan, in what is now Jackson county, rise the headwaters of the greatest rivers flowing west and east in the Lower Peninsula. Along them were deep, hard-trodden trails made so long ago the Indians themselves know nothing of those who first traced them. Within a few miles of each other on the highlands, reported by the earliest explorers as mountains, were the natal springs of the rivulets which united to form the St. Joseph, The Grand and the Kalamazoo rivers, flowing into Lake Michigan, and of the Huron and the River Raisin emptying into Lake Erie. By the Potawatomies, the St. Joseph was called the Sau-wau-see-be, a name having reference to the drowning of several women. The Ottawas called the Grand river, the largest stream in Michigan, the O-wash-te-nong, meaning the "Far Distant river." Its greatest branch, the Thornapple, which has headquarters in what is now Barry and Eaton counties, was known to the red men a the So-wan-que-sake, or "Forked river." Names of the three large rivers of southwestern Michigan emptying into Lake Michigan were different nearly two and one-half centuries ago than they are today. Franquelin's "Carte de la Louisiane," published in Paris in I684, shows a remarkable accuracy in locations of streams. The St. Joseph is the Riviere des Miamis; the Black river, the Noire; the Kalamazoo, the Maramee; the Black river (Ottawa county), the Iroquois; the Grand, the La Grande Riviere. The spelling of this early name of the Kalamazoo river is uncertain. Charlevoix, referring to it, calls it the "Meremek, * * * one of the streams emptying into the eastern part of Lake Michigan." The Riviere des 18 HISTORIC MICHIGAN Miamis was rechristened by Father Hennepin, who was with La Salle, the Riviere Saint-Joseph, according to the same authority. Maps during the British period of occupancy, show the Black river, north of the St. Joseph, as the Iroquois. The Kalamazoo, in a British descriptio'n of the road from Detroit to Fort St. Joseph in I77I, is styled the "Reccenramazoo river, or Pusawpaco Sippy, otherwise the Iron Mine river." This stream undoubtedly received its English name because of the existence of bog iron in such quantities along its shores that it was converted to commercial uses in the early days of Kalamazoo village. Before the advent of the first settlers, the stream was called the Kekalamazoo because of its fanciful likeness to a "bright, bubbling kettle." PRAIRIES, VALLEYS, FORESTS To the south of the Kalamazoo, east and west, lay a chain of small prairies, while along the valley of the St. Joseph extended the broad expanse of the level reaches now included in northern Indiana. In the long, curving valleys of these three rivers the geologists saw indications of an ancient land topographically far different from the one they found. To the north and south they found long ranges of undulating morainal hills, clothed with the rich verdure of hardwood forests interspersed here and there with tracts of pines. Along the rivers and bordering the numerous chains of lakes and rivers were tracts of marshlands, some forested, others covered with shrubbery and waving meadow grass in which grazed the buffalo, the elk and the deer. RESULTS OF GLACIAL ACTION In very few places in this region was bedrock visible, as it lies buried from IOO to 300 feet under sand, gravel and clay. Only where the streams have cut deeply through the morainal banks is sandstone or limestone revealed. Thousands and thousands of years ago in the glacial ages the advancing ice sheets pushed down from the region east of Hudson Bay a vast accumulation of rock and soil. The ice advanced slowly across the Great Lakes region and other parts of the United States, covering thousands of square miles, extending its southern limits until it crossed in several places the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. The land contours of the Great Lakes region guided somewhat the direction of the glaciers, creating the Lake Michigan lobe, the Saginaw lobe and the Erie-Huron lobe. Glaciers advanced at least three times over what is now southwestern Michigan. The earliest, it has been ascertained, came from the north, bringing with it drift copper from the Lake Superior region. The other two came from the direction of Georgian Bay. Between the ice periods there were intervals of warmth, extending probably over thousands of years, and during these epochs the ice was probably all melted away. It was during the last glacial advance that most of the moraines in southwestern Michigan were formed. How long ago they were formed few will venture to say, though one scientist declares that it might have been as late as eighteen thousand years ago. SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 19 ICE LOBES AND MORAINES The Lake Michigan ice lobe blanketed the western shore of the lake and extended into Indiana and Wisconsin. It included the lake border morainic system, paralleled successively south and east by the Valparaiso and Kalamazoo moraines. Extending from the northeast the contours of the Saginaw lobe covered the territory now embraced by Eaton county and the eastern portion of Barry county. Curved about the southwestern contour of this lobe is the Charlotte moraine, beyond which lies the Kalamazoo interlobate moraine, with the Kalamazoo now flowing at its foot, through what was once the bed of the great ancient river that carried away waters of the melting glacier. These moraines were created when the ice sheet halted between the Lake Michigan and Saginaw lobes, allowing time for the crushed soils and stones to accumulate. The hills of the moraines of southwestern Michigan often rise to over one thousand feet above the sea level. In Calhoun, Barry, Kalamazoo and Allegan counties morainal hills are conspicuous features of the landscape. In the region southeast of Battle Creek penetrated the contours of the Erie-Huron lobe. Between the moraines are plains of gravel and sand washed down by the glacial streams, one of which was a river of great size which followed the edge of the Saginaw lobe to where the city of Charlotte, in Eaton county, now stands. There it turned southwestward and crossed the Kalamazoo moraine below the site of the village of Bellevue. It was this stream that cut the large valley through which now flows the Kalamazoo river. When the Lake Michigan ice lobe receded past the Valparaiso moraine a new outlet for the glacial waters was opened, and the river flowed about ten miles northward from Kalamazoo, and there passed into a long narrow body of water called Lake Dowagiac, formed by a dam of ice and debris near the present city of South Bend, the discharging waters by way of the Kankakee valley flowing into the Mississippi. Thus was the area comprising southwestern Michigan prepared in prehistoric times for the fertility that produced the rich growth of wilderness vegetation and finally the agricultural crops upon which is based the prosperity of the present day. CHAINS OF LAKES Extending from the rolling hills of the territory now included in Branch county, to the sand dunes and the castellated till-cliffs of the Lake Michigan shore, were chains of numerous lakes, large and small, formed where waters collected in indentations left bf the receding glacier. From these flowed streams that eventually emptied into the great rivers mentioned in our narrative or into their tributaries. Nearer the shores of the great inland lake the rivers cut deeply into the land, their valleys showing successive terraces and lateral valleys through which arrive the tributary waters. In few places throughout the district is bare rock exposed. Near Bellevue, the great glacier planed away the soil to such a shallow depth that limestone rock is visible in layers. At Verona Mills, near Battle Creek, and farther up 20 HISTORIC MICHIGAN the Kalamazoo valley, sandstone is exposed in a number of places. Nor in other localities are outcroppings numerous. Five miles below Hastings, overlooking a beautiful bend in the Thornapple river, an overhanging ledge of porous sandstone protrudes from a high bank as if it were made purposely for a lookout's post. Such formations are so rare in southwestern Michigan that wherever they appear they are given wide prominence as scenic wonders. SILICEOUS FORMATIONS-BEAR CAVE FALLS Protruding from the high bank on the west side of the St. Joseph river in Berrien county are siliceous formations resembling rock. This material was burned by pioneers for lime with which to build the chimneys and foundations for the first cabins. Over one of these ledges several miles north of Buchanan, a little stream falls twentytwo feet forming what is claimed to be the only waterfall in southwestern Michigan. This is known as Bear Cave falls. TOPOGRAPHIC FEATURES Extending southward from the morainal hills of this region, were a number of prairies-the forerunners of the great flat lands of Indiana and Ohio. The unusual beauty of these level stretches greatly impressed the first white men, who carried back to civilization stories of the fertile fields that required no clearing and awaited only the plow to bring rich yields to the farmer. Scattered over these prairies were oak openings, which from a distance resembled orchards. The burr oak, in fact, is southwestern Michigan's own tree. It was the predominating element in the wild growths of the prairie lands. For some reason known only to Nature herself, this tree, short and scraggly, or soaring upward in rare instances with the fountain-like curves of the elm, was chosen for growth in the open lands. Back in the hill country, and on the uplands, covered by the primeval forest were towering growths of white oak, black oak, hickory, beach, and maple. Along the lowlands were enormous whitewoods, walnuts, and sycamores and several varieties of elms. The tall, spire-like tamarac was the marshland's distinguishing growth. On bluffs along streams, stood occasional clumps of pines with their dark, plumy branches interwoven. Alolng the streams and in the natural meadows bordering them were clumps of dark funereallooking cedars. Throughout the country also were scattered, especially along the shores of lakes, spruce and hemlock. On sandy stretches in the uplands and on the shores of some lakes were small strips of pineland-advanced guards of the great tracts of jackpines that covered the northern part of the peninsula. Gradually the waters left in indentations made by the glaciers have been evaporating, and today men walk where waters stood centuries, or even a century ago. The lowlands along streams and between systems of streams, blanketed with wild growths, are rapidly being drained and used for cultivation. Lakes are being lowered and the lands converted to cultivation or pasture, and rivers are being dammed, hiding their natural shores, but furnishing power to turn the wheels of machinery and cars, to light cities and to perform a thousand miracles SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 21 at the bidding of modern man. Dredgers in the marshlands have extracted from the depths bones and teeth of enormous size, which scientists declare are remains of the mammoth and mastodon, which roamed the region in prehistoric times, but no one will say how many thousands of years ago. Cultivators of fields also find skulls of buffalo and elk and baribou. The geologist finds in the glacial drift fossils of creatures that were alive in ancient seas millions of years ago. AN ANCIENT AND MODERN LURE Like the men of today, ancient man found much to lure him into this region. Throughout the river valleys and on the banks of lakes he roamed and lived and fought his battles for survival. Little is known of him today, though archaeologists are constantly striving to discover some new clues which will tear aside the veil of mystery that hides his past. Evidences of his occupation of southwestern Michigan in the shape of mounds of various sizes, earthworks and garden beds are left as memorials to puzzle investigating scientists. These are particularly plentiful in Kalamazoo county. In every locality are found stone weapons and implements used by the aborigines. In gravel pits and where streams have worn away banks have been found numerous burial places of Indians, some of such recent date as to contain iron implements, portions of old guns of French and British manufacture, trinkets made especially for trade with natives and also metal crosses distributed by the early priests. A notable discovery of skeletons with which were buried numerous crosses was made at Three Rivers. But the most valuable was that made at Bull's Prairie on the Thornapple river, five miles west of Hastings, where Mr. Ross Johnson, finding human bones protruding from the river bank after a spring flood, discovered an Indian cemetery in which were many burials. With the skeletons he found a large number of gorgets, ear-bobs, beads, a paint pot of white man's manufacture, and a large number of crosses, a discovery which will receive attention in another chapter. ABORIGINES IN SOUTHWESTERN MICHIGAN Who were the aborigines that inhabited what is now southwestern Michigan. Beyond those reported by the first French explorer, none are recorded. Lake Michigan was known as the Lake of the Illinois, because the Illinois tribe resides on its shores. What is now called the St. Joseph river appears in history in I675 as the River of the Miamis, because of the settlements of members of that tribe on its banks. Little else is known besides this fact. There is also a record that members of the same tribe resides along the "Maramec" river, now the Kalamazoo, designated on earliest maps as the "Maramee," believed to be a form of the same name. That the whole of southwestern Michigan, rich in game and in maple forests, and mild in climate, was the prize for which savage tribes had long been contesting soon became apparent to the first white explorers. To occupy this region meant a continual struggle for possession. INDIAN WARFARE Warfare was a part of the Indian's regular routine of living. The 22 HISTORIC MICHIGAN Indians, like white men, were great travelers. Tribes in the east and the west were in constant communication, while those of the south and those on the north of the St. Lawrence river were in constant communication. The Michigan peninsula was crossed by a great aboriginal highway, later called the Sauk Trail, which during early American possession became the Chicago Road, the first highway between Detroit and Chicago. This road crossed the southern portions of Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph and Branch counties. This trans-Michigan highway, however, was used more for warfare than it was for peaceful commerce. Nearly naked and painted in terrifying colors, the ferocious Iroquois, armed with bows and arrows and spears, swiftly glided along this path on their expeditions as far as the Mississippi, where they mercilessly slaughtered all who did not flee for their lives. Loaded with scalps, these militant barbarians made their way back to their strongholds on the shores of the lakes in what is now central New York state. From the west, war parties of Sioux came into Michigan. Prisoners were kept for slaves, or reserved for a worse end-to be slaughtered and eaten. DREADED INDIAN INVADERS The most dreaded of the invaders, however, were the Iroquois, of Five Nations, later enemies of the French and allies of the British. They terrorized the Miamis of Michigan, and when La Salle began his activities in the St. Joseph region 1679 to 1682, he found the Miamis temporarily relieved from attacks by the Iroquois because they had joined their former eastern enemy in attacks on the Illinois tribe. It was undoubtedly the plan of the Five Nations to exterminate the Miamis after conquest of the Illinois had been accomplished. The great trail across southern Michigan, therefore, was the main line of communication between the east and the west, with its important strategic point near the ford of the St. Joseph river, below the city of Niles, probably the site of the Miami villages that La Salle found and where were to occur some of the most important events in early Michigan history. AN INDIAN WATER AND LAND ROUTE About seven miles below this ford at "Parc aux vaches," now near the village of Bertrand, was the great portage between the St. Joseph and the headwaters of the Kankakee river, forming the strategic land link between the water systems of the St. Lawrence and Mississippi valleys. From times immemorial this combined water and land route had been in use. La Salle and the early Frenchmen who preceded him had heard of it from the natives and they naturally followed it on their exploring trips. Passing up the Ottawa river, the first explorers passed over the water route through the French river to Georgian bay, thence through the Straits of Mackinaw, down the eastern shore of Lake Michigan to the mouth of the St. Joseph river. The portage to the headwaters of the Kankakee led across land now embraced in limits of the city of South Bend. Weeks of steady paddling, with nights spent under scant shelters made this long journey SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 23 from Canada to Louisiana one of privation, peril and extreme hardship. Once the canoes were placed in the shallow pools forming headwaters of the Kankakee, the voyagers passed through a wonderful prairie country, thickly populated with deer and buffalo until the river, joined by the Des Plaines, became the majestic Illinois, which, along its entire course to the Mississippi, was populated with Indian villages. A FAMOUS PORTAGE PATH La Salle is credited with being the first white man who passed over this portage, which had been traversed by feet clad in moccasins for thousands of years. One of the most famous portage paths in America, this trail was said by early settlers to have been worn so deep that riders on horseback were careful not to let their feet in stirrups strike the earth on the sides. It traversed about three miles of undulating prairieland, richly covered with long waving grass and wild roses. There were numerous deep depressions where water collected and where buffalo and deer came to drink. Afar clumps of trees and lone burr-oaks dotted the landscape. RECORDS OF HENNEPIN AND CHARLEVOIX Two early descriptions of this historic portage have been left to us. The first was by Father Louis Hennepin, a Recollet priest, and historian of La Salle's first expedition. The other was written by Father Pierre Francois Xavier de Charlevoix, who passed over the portage forty-two years later. Charlevoix's account shows the footprints of civilization. When Hennepin returned to Europe he published several years later "Nouvelle Decouverte," an account of this remarkable penetration of the Great Lakes wilderness. He describes the passage of the explorers over the portage as follows: "The following morning we joined our men at the beginning of the portage. Father Gabriel had marked some crosses on trees so we should not again miss the place. We found there a great quantity of bones and horns of wild bulls and also several Indian canoes made of the skins of beasts. This portage lies at the farther edge of a large stretch of meadow land. At the western end there is a village of Miamis, Mascoutins and Oiatinons. Near this village the Illinois river has its source in some springs, about which the land is so marshy one can hardly walk across it. The head of this river is only a league and a half from the River of the Miamis, so our carry was not long. We marked the course with some trees to guide those whom we expected to follow us." Concerning the headwaters of the Kankakee, Hennepin says: "This river is navigable for bark canoes only within a hundred paces of its source, but it increases so rapidly within a short distance that it is as broad as the Meuse and Sambre joined together. It runs through vast marshes, but it makes so many turnings that after a whole day's journey we were only two leagues from where we started in the morning. This country is nothing but marshes covered with alder-trees and rushes." 24 HISTORIC MICHIGAN Writing in his journal under date of September I6, 1781, Charlevoix says there were two carrying places, the longest of which was over a league and a quarter in length. Informed that at this time of the year there was not sufficient water to float a canoe, Charlevoix chose the other route which was not so pleasant to traverse, but more convenient. "I went ashore on the right," he writes, "and walked a league and a quarter, first along the water-side and afterwards across a fieldan immense meadow entirely covered with copses of wood, which produce a very fine effect. It is called the 'Meadow of the Buffalo's Head,' because it is said a head of that animal of monstrous size was once found there. Why might there not have been giants among the brutes? I pitched my tent on a very beautiful spot called the 'Fort of the Foxes' because the foxes, that is to say the Outagamies, had not long ago a village there. "This morning I walked a league further in the meadow, having my feet almost always in the water. Afterwards I met with a kind of pool or marsh which had a kind of communication with several others of different sizes, but the largest was not over a hundred paces in circuit. These are the sources of the River Theakiki, which by a corrupted pronunciation our Indians call Kiakiki. Theak signifies a wolf-in I do not remember what language-because the Mohicgans, who are likewise called 'wolves,' had formerly taken refuge on its banks. We put our canoes, which two men had carried thus far, into the second of those springs, but we had scarce water sufficient to keep her afloat. Ten men could in two days make a straight and navigable canal which would save a great deal of trouble, and ten or twelve leagues of way, for the river at its source is so very narrow, and such short turns must of necessity constantly be made, that there is danger of damage every moment to the canoe." Strange it seems today to learn that parrots were common in this region. Charlevoix records seeing parrots "no bigger than a blackbird. Their head is yellow with a red spot in the middle; the rest of the plumage is green." KALAMAZOO A GREAT INDIAN TRAIL CENTER Farther inland many trails crossed the great Sauk path. Game and fish were plentiful near the lakes, and berries were abundant in marshes. Trails naturally led to sources of food supply, but these were auxiliaries of the great paths which led to Mackinaw, to the Wabash and Ohio valleys. Where Kalamazoo now stands was the greatest center of trails in southwestern Michigan. Eighteen paths are said to have converged at this point, many of which were in use when the early traders arrived. One of these, passing north and south, had its southern terminal near the site of the city of Fort Wayne. Entering southern Michigan, it passed historic Three Rivers, then crossed Prairie Ronde, in Kalamazoo county. The ford of the Kalamazoo river was where the city now stands. This was from times immemorial a center for Indians. The trail then crossed Gull Prairie, entered what is now Barry county, traversed the Yankee SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 25 Springs hills overlooking Gull lake, crossed Scales Prairie and the Thornapple river at a ford above Middleville and continued down the valley of that stream to Cascade, thence to Bock-wa-ting, the great Indian town on the rapids of the Grand, now Grand Rapids. OTHER IMPORTANT TRAILS Other important trails paralleled the Kalamazoo and Thornapple rivers from source to mouth, connecting with paths along the Huron and Raisin rivers. The trail along the Thornapple, known as the "Canada Trail," crossed Eaton county and joined the Huron river trail in what is now Jackson county. In the eastern part of Eaton county it was linked with another trail passing up the Grand river to its confluence with the Maple river. At this point were paths leading to the extensive Indian settlements of the Saginaw valley. The great Sauk Trail across the southern portion of Michigan and that leading from the Wabash region to the Rapids of the Grand were the most important aboriginal highways in southwestern Michigan. The rivers, of course, were dotted with birchbark canoes and pirogues cut from whitewood logs. None of the streams, however, were formidable barriers and the savages who invaded Michigan invariably stole along the forest paths and fell suddenly at some opportune time like wolves upon the villages or camps of their unsuspecting victims. In what is now Branch county, there were north and south trails leading from the Sauk pathway to favorite hunting grounds and settlements in this fertile region, well-watered with creeks and several large lakes. Such, therefore, were the long routes that must have tried the courage of the bravest French explorers and the soul of the most devout missionary priests. CHAPTER II THE EARLY FRENCH EXPLORATIONS AND REGIME KNOWLEDGE of the early wars of Indians in southwestern Michigan begins with entrance of the first Frenchmen in the wilderness. Long before historic annals were recorded, adventurers had worked their way far into the interior of the Great Lakes country, and their reports fired with desires the minds of the covetous representatives of the French king ever on the lookout for opportunities to entrench themselves more securely in the royal favor. What better chance was there than to expand the French power in the new continent where Spain and Holland and the great British rival across the channel were acquiring territory believed to contain fabulous wealth? Each successive ship that cast anchor at Quebec or Montreal brought men anxious for adventure and riches and priests hopeful of converting the savages and of extending the power of the church; the first were to bring to the unsophisticated natives of the wilderness the corrupt influences of European civilization, the latter were to point the way to salvation through the Cross. FAMED COMMANDERS AND GREAT MISSIONARIES Famed commanders and great missionaries were to leave their imprints in the history of the section of the Great Lakes region of Canada, included in our narrative. Marquette and his two companions were without doubt the first white men who extensively explored the St. Joseph river valley. Next came Rene Robert Cavelier, son of a wealthy merchant of Rouen, better known as Sieur de la Salle, who set out in July, I669, from his estate near Montreal with an expedition equipped at his own expense to explore the great river (the Mississippi) which the Indians reported as existing five hundred leagues westward. It was believed this river flowed into the Vermilion Sea, or the Gulf of California. This expedition resulted in the discovery of the Ohio and Wabash rivers. Seeing the necessity of strengthening the French hold on the country, into which England was endeavoring to extend her influence, La Salle explained to Frontenac, the GovernorGeneral, a plan by which the French might establish a line of forts from the Great Lakes region down the Mississippi valley to the Gulf of Mexico. Enthused by his project, La Salle, like Columbus when he was fired with the ambition to sail for the new world he believed to be beyond the Atlantic, went to France where he obtained approval of his project from the king and Colbert, the prime minister, providing he pay for the journey made in the interests of the Crown out of his own pocket. He was given command of Fort Frontenac at the head of the St. Lawrence. The winter of I678, La Salle spent at a stockade rendezvous on the Niagara river where he prepared for his journey to the "Lake of the Illinois," as Lake Michigan was then known. Here SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 27 he built the "Griffin," the first vessel that sailed the Great Lakes. She was square-rigged, of forty-five tons' burden and carried an armament of five small canuton. She was called the "Griffin" in honor of Count Frontenac, on whose crest was a figure of that mythical animal. The ship sailed August 9, 1679, carrying La Salle and his twenty-nine men on an enterprise of which the commander had for ten years dreamed. FIRST SETTLEMENT IN SOUTHWESTERN MICHIGAN In that crew of adventurers who were to establish the first settlement in southwestern Michigan were sailors, artisans, laborers, one Indian hunter of the Mohican tribe, and three Franciscan friarsFathers Louis Hennepin, historian of the expedition, Zenobe Membre and Gabriel Ribourde. With La Salle was another romantic and imperishable figure in the hiseory of the Middle West-Heuri de Tonty, son of Lorenzo Tonty, governor of Gaeta, who retired to France after the revolution in his native country. Henry entered the French army as a cadet, serving as such in 1668 and 1669. In the wars in Sicily, one of Tonty's hands was blown off by a grenade, and in place of this lost member he wore a hand of iron usually covered with a glove. It was while he was in Europe in 1678, that La Salle first met this soldier who was to become his trusted associate and afterward to search the western wilderness for his commander's body. Though Tonty was gentle and seemingly delicate in appearance, he proved himself capable of performing perilous undertakings where endurance and courage were requisites. Though he was a product of cultured Europe, Tonty readily adapted himself to life in the American wilderness where he was afterwards to die with efforts unappreciated. In 1685, he led the western Indians to join Denonville. After Cavelier's return, he went down the Mississippi in 1689. He accompanied the Quebec seminary missionaries down the Mississippi to Arkansas in 1699. The next year he traveled farther down the river to meet D'Iberville. He afterwards removed to Louisiana where he passed out of history. CAREER OF HENRI DE TONTY Again and again (luring his long service Tonty traversed the Great Lakes country and the ancient portage path between the St. Joseph and Kankakee rivers. For years after La Salle's death he carried on the fur trade at Fort St. Louis on the picturesque Starved Rock overlooking the Illinois river, La Frost, his partner, trading along Lake Michigan. Claiming the traders were violating their charter, the governor of Canada in 1702, seized Fort St. Louis, and Tonty, ruined by toss of his property, told his friends he was about to leave and never return. The Frenchmen and Indians begged him to stay, but he embarked in a canoe and disappeared. Shortly afterward the Indians set fire to the post. When the invading Spanish and an epidemic of sickness broke up D'Iberville's colony, Tonty, ill and aged, persuaded two Indians to take him back to the old fort on Starved Rock. It is said, in a contemporary account given by Jaques 28 HISTORIC MICHIGAN Matte, the great grandson of a soldier in the fort, to Matson, Illinois historian, that Tonty died in 1718 soon after arriving at the post, but not before he had received the sacrament and many Indians and Frenchmen had come to pay their respects. He was buried at the west end of Starved Rock, where for many years the French and Indians passing up and down the stream long after the post was gone, placed flowers on the grave. In this cemetery were buried two French priests, soldiers and civilians, but the waters washed away the earth and the early settlers saw many human bones protruding from the bank. Such was the adventurous career of one of the great figures in Michigan history who has received too little attention. LA SALLE'S FIRST EXPEDITION The "Griffin" landed La Salle and Tonty and their command at Green Bay, where La Salle found men whom he had sent in advance with a collection of furs. The "Griffin" with a cargo of furs was ordered back. La Salle and fourteen men started in canoes down the west shore of Lake Michigan for the mouth of the St. Joseph river. Henri de Tonty had been instructed to proceed from Michilimackinac down the eastern shore of the lake to the same destination. LA SALLE'S FORT ON THE ST. JOSEPH RIVER La Salle's canoes passed into the harbor of the St. Joseph river on November I. Quick to note a strategic position controlling the route connecting the water systems of the St. Lawrence and Mississippi rivers, the commander cleared a high bluff at the river's mouth and erected a stockade which he called Fort Miamis, named after the Indians whose villages were scattered along the river. After waiting twenty days, Tonty, who had been greatly delayed on account of lack of provisions, arrived with only ten of the twenty-one members of his party, the others having been left in the woods about ninety miles north to subsist by hunting. These men were afterwards brought in on the verge of starvation. HENNEPIN'S RECORD Hennepin, La Salle's historian, thus describes the building of the fort: "At the mouth of the river there was an elevation naturally placed for fortification. It was high and steep and of triangular shape, with the river on two sides and a ravine washed out by rains on the other. We felled trees on this elevation, cleared away the brush for a distance of two musket shots and began construction of a redoubt forty feet long and eighty feet broad. This we built of square pieces of timber laid one on the other. We also cut a great number of stakes about twenty-five feet long, which we intended to drive into the ground to make the fort more inaccessible on the river sides. We employed the whole of November in this work." Hennepin states that the explorers were obliged to subsist on the flesh of bears killed by the Mohican hunter. These animals were SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 29 very numerous in this region, because grapes were here unusually plentiful. The men found the food too fat and asked permission to kill other game, but La Salle refused, which caused considerable discontent. They continued work unwillingly on the fort. "This, together with approach of winter and the fear that his ship was lost, caused M. La Salle to be melancholy, though he tried to conceal it," wrote the priest. "We built a cabin in which we held divine service every Sunday. Father Gabriel and I preached alternately, taking care to use texts which would inspire courage, concord and brotherly love. Our sermons kept the men from deserting as they had planned." La Salle was now ready to depart for the Illinois country, where he hoped to obtain provisions before the Indians set out for their winter hunting grounds, but he lingered, awaiting arrival of the "Griffin" from Niagara. He cleared the ground in the vicinity of Fort Miamis, in order to insure unobstructed musketry fire. Though the horizon was scanned daily, the expected vessel did not arrive. It was not learned until afterward that she had met an unknown fate. La Salle sent two of his men to Michilimackinac to await and intercept the "Griffin." In eight canoes, the explorer and his party embarked for the long journey to the Illinois country. Paddling briskly up the St. Joseph river they arrived in the vicinity of the portage that led to the headwaters of the Kankakee. As they were not acquainted with the country, they were unable to discover the path until the skill of the Mohican hunter was applied to the task. Crossing the portage with canoes, baggage and implements, the explorers continued down the Kankakee and Illinois rivers to the site of the city of Peoria, near which La Salle erected Fort Crevecoeur (Broken Heart), which signified that he was despondent over the disloyalty of some of his men, the suspicious attitude of his men and the probable loss of the "Griffin," in which his money was invested and which he expected to bring supplies needed for his enterprise. Determined to return to Canada, La Salle, accompanied by four Frenchmen and the Mohican hunter, left Tonty in command of the fort and began on March 2, I68o, the return to Fort Miami. Here he found, on the 24th, the two men whom he had sent to Michilimackinac. They were without news of the "Griffin." Ordering the two men to report to Tonty, La Salle then began the first known journey of white men across the Michigan peninsula. LA SALLE'S JOURNEY ACROSS MICHIGAN The explorers' route, so far as can be ascertained by notes taken during the journey, lay along the highlands between the Kalamazoo and St. Joseph river valleys. Setting out March 25, they crossed the St. Joseph river on a raft and penetrated a region covered with shrubbery and forests. Several days later they arrived in an open country where they killed deer, bears and turkeys. The evening of the 28th, they encamped on a prairie near the edge of a forest. Suddenly the guard sounded an alarm and ferocious yells re-echoed throughout the 30 HISTORIC MICHIGAN wilds. The men seized their arms, but the enemy seeing them prepared, failed to advance. The explorers must have reached the borders of Prairie Ronde in what is now Kalamazoo county at the time of this episode. As La Salle, in his journal makes mention of passing through great meadows covered with rank grass, which they burned in an effort to throw the savages off their trail, there can be no doubt but that he crossed Prairie Ronde and Climax Prairie, then passed through Calhoun, Jackson, and Washtenaw counties to the Huron river where they made a canoe of elm bark and floated down until fallen timber obstructed their passage near the border of Wayne county. There they abandoned the craft, and thence they journeyed afoot to the Detroit river. After the surprise by the Indians, La Salle and his men found they were being followed. Their route lay through a marshy wilderness, which was probably the long, flat tract in the vicinity of the lakes east of Prairie Ronde. The night of April 2 was very cold and the explorers, who had not kindled a fire for several days for fear of attack, decided to undergo the risk to dry their clothes. Shortly afterward fearful screeches and yells re-echoed through the wilds, and the Frenchmen discovered a band of Mascoutens or Kickapoos, who had mistaken them for Iroquois, they informed La Salle. The explorers were permitted to proceed. Crossing the Detroit river on a raft, they journeyed through the woods to Lake Erie, where they obtained a canoe and paddled to the headquarters on the Niagara river where the "Griffin" had been launched. They arrived here on Easter Monday. LA SALLE MEETS ADVERSITY Though La Salle had partially satisfied his dream for explorationwhich he had cherished over ten years before he was to set out upon it, he was now to receive a blow that must have discouraged even a man of his intrepid character; he was told that not only had the "Griffiin" with furs valued at ten thousand crowns been lost, but that a ship from France carrying twenty-two thousand livres worth of his merchandise had been wrecked in the St. Lawrence. Nor was this all. La Salle was later notified by Tonty that nearly all the men left in the garrison at Fort Crevecoeur had deserted after destroying the post. They had also destroyed Fort Miamis at the mouth of St. Joseph and seized all La Salle's supplies at Mackinac, his lieutenant informed him. Eight of the deserters were proceeding to Albany, while the remainder were traveling down the lakes with the intention of killing La Salle. Adversity, which would have broken a less heroic man, seemed only to strengthen the determination of this great French adventurer. At Montreal he had succeeded in obtaining loans sufficient to outfit a new journey to the St. Joseph and Illinois rivers. With a party of loyal followers he left Fort Frontenac and hurried down the lake to meet the deserters who intended to kill him on sight. He killed nearly all the desperadoes and brought the survivors prisoners to Fort Froutenac. SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 31 LA SALLE'S SECOND EXPEDITION Accompanied by twenty-three men and Sieur La Forest, La Salle left Fort Frontenac on August IO, I680, for his second expedition to the St. Joseph and Illinois rivers. Leaving La Forest at Mackinac, with instructions to follow with the convoy, La Salle, with twelve men, hurried to the St. Joseph river. He first viewed the burned ruins of Fort Miamis on November 4. Here he left five men and a portion of his supplies, and proceeded rapidly across the portage to the Kankakee river and down the Illinois to join Tonty. They subsisted on buffalo meat, deer, geese and swans. La Salle passed that natural towering stronghold of rock overlooking a broad stretch of river-known today as Starved Rock, but called by La Salle the Rock of St. Louis. He had instructed Tonty to build here a fortification, but there was!no sign of a fortification on the summit. His trusted lieutenant and his men were nowhere to be seen. Instead, they discovered on the site of an Indian town farther down the river hundreds of human skulls fixed on poles-horrible souvenirs of a visitation of the Iroquois so much dreaded by the Indians of the Great Lakes region. At the ruins of Fort Crevecoeur, La Salle found intact a ship which had been built, but the Iroquois had stolen most of the nails and spikes which held the timbers together. In searth of Tonty, La Salle journeyed to the mouth of the river where he first saw the Mississippi. All the way he saw the ruins of villages destroyed by the Iroquois. Returning, La Salle left his canoes at the confluence of the Illinois and Kankakee rivers and traveled overland through deep snow to the mouth of the St. Joseph river, where they found that La Forest and his men had rebuilt the fort and cleared ground for cultivation. They had also prepared timbers for construction of a ship. This was in January, I68I. INDIANS AT ST. JOSEPH VALLEY The Indians of the St. Joseph valley had from earliest times been harassed by the Iroquois from the east and from the west by Sioux, but the enemy in the east was the most dreaded of all others. The Miamis, whose villages were near La Salle's fort, were believed to have at one time been members of the Illinois tribe, as there was an affinity of language and habits. Members of this tribe lived at that time in three villages: the one on the St. Joseph, another on the River Miamis, which flowed into Lake Erie and on the "Oubash" river. These were known as the Ouyatanons. In addition, La Salle found here fugitives of the Mohican and Abanakis tribes who had fled from the Iroquois. In the Miami towns he found Wampanoags, who had fought under King Philip. It was in i68I that a band of the Potawatomi tribe, later to become dominant in southwestern Michigan, located on the Chicago river. Their tribal locations changed from time to time in the Great Lakes region. They were a branch of the Algonquin tribe living in the Lake Michigan region. Nicolet found them at Green Bay in I634, and Father Allouez founded a mis 32 HISTORIC MICHIGAN sion among them in 1670. The Jesuit Relation of 1671 states that "They had been driven, by fear of the Iroquois, from their lands, which were between the Lake of the Hurons and that of the Illinois," the latter being Lake Michigan. These Indians, says Charlevoix, who visited them forty years later, were "anthropophagi, or man-eaters." When La Salle took possession of the country by establishment of the fort on the St. Joseph river, the Indians received protection from the Iroquois, who later learned, by disastrous contact with the French, to discontinue their murderous forays into this region. The Shawnees, living in the Ohio valley, also sought protection of the garrison of Fort Miamis. The Potawatomies again took up abode on the St. Joseph river in 171I, being accompanied thence by Father Chardon, their missionary. During the winter, La Salle visited the Indian towns and won the friendship of the savages, who were quick to recognize his value as a protector. A band of Outagagamies told him of the safe arrival of Tonty among the Potawatomies, and of the safe arrival of Father Hennepin, whom he had left with the Italian soldiers at Fort Crevecoeur. La Salle also drove out of the Kankakee region a party of Iroquois. REUNION OF LA SALLE AND TONTY In May, La Salle, and a portion of his men, embarked in canoes for a journey to Fort Frontenac. At Mackinac, La Salle and Tonty were reunited. The Latin temperaments of these men must have been stirred with emotion at this meeting. From Tonty, La Salle received a remarkable story of adventure, peril and hardship. The Italian explained that while he was visiting the Rock of St. Louis (Starved Rock), the garrison he had left at Fort Crevecoeur destroyed the place and fled. He told also of his encounter with the Iroquois war party, which destroyed the villages, the ruins of which La Salle had seen when he journeyed down the river in search of Tonty. The invaders, which included Onandagas and Senecas, he said, had nearly carried out a threat to kill him. Later he had made his way up the western shore of Lake Michigan to the Potawatomi settlements on Green Bay where he was sure of a welcome. LA SALLE'S THIRD EXPEDITION Together, the two leaders paddled the thousand miles to Fort Frontenac. In Montreal, La Salle again obtained supplies and prepared for another expedition by way of the lakes to Fort Miamis. Through the enterprise and daring of this great explorer, France has already made her first stroke to establish a firm grip on the great country between the St. Lawrence and Mississippi river basins. The French court had listened to La Salle's project to open this territory and to establish a line of forts at strategic points between the two rivers, affording a safe route between Montreal and Louisiana. He foresaw the future development of this wilderness, and in return for an offer of patriotic service, he was given the privilege of paying v ewir m icwer z Ldnuold nc k~ud ldwat ALLEGAN, MICHIGAN IN 1840 SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN from his own pockets the costs of securing for the French nation this vast territory, which it claimed but did not rightfully own. Among the "conges," or permits to trade, registered in the Palais de Justice, Montreal, is one made out to "Robert Cavelier de la Salle to equip two or three men entirely at his own costs to go into the country of the Kikapous, Outagamy, &c., but they are forbidden to trade with the Outaouas. (Ottawas). Copied and recorded at Montreal, September 4, I68I." In the autumn, La Salle was again at Fort Miamis. From this post he set out on December 21 for a voyage down the Mississippi river. In his party were twenty-four Frenchmen and thirty Indians, the latter including eighteen Abenakis and Mohegans. Tonty went in advance with six canoes. On April 9, I682, La Salle again realizing a portion of the dream which had inspired him for years, arriving at the mouth of the "Father of Waters," saw ahead of him the horizonless expanse of the Gulf of Mexico. Here, with ceremony, this explorer who had used his private fortune and braved perils heretofore never experienced by men of his time, set up a cross and took possession of the country in the name of his monarch, Louis XIV. He named the country Louisiana. La Salle became ill, but he sent Tonty to Mackinac to announce the discovery. He arrived at Fort Miamison August I. The following month he proceeded to Mackinac. A journey to Paris to tell the crown of his discoveries was interrupted by intelligence from the south that the Iroquois were preparing to attack the Indians of the Miamis and Illinois regions. Hurrying westward, La Salle and Tonty fortified the Rock of St. Louis. On the lowlands opposite soon congregated large numbers of Indians, including Miamis, Illinois, Shawnees and Abenakis from New England. Here La Salle engaged in a profitable fur trade, but his prosperity bringing rewards for the fruitless expenditures of years, was cut short when his friend Count Frontenac was recalled from his position as governor-general of Canada and replaced by Le Fevre de la Barre, who later became his enemy. MURDER OF LA SALLE In I683, the Iroquois prepared for war against the Miamis and Illinois and all the nations of the Great Lakes region and the French in Canada. Happenings on the St. Joseph river during the next few years must have been uneventful, for history has little to say. La Salle's career ended when he was murdered by some of his followers March I9, 1687. Tonty, his faithful follower, immediately began a long search for the followers of his commander, whose body found an unknown resting place in the wilderness into which his ambition led him. CHAPTER III FORT ST. JOSEPH AND MISSION IN NEW FRANCE RESTLESS and accustomed to habitual warfare, the Iroquois in their strongholds south of Lake Ontario, watching the growth of French power in lands into which they had, from earliest times, at will carried on predatory campaigns for plunder, scalps and slaves, foresaw the union of their natural enemies-the tribes of the westwith the white men and were quick to understand that the time was not far off when their incursions into these western fields of conquest must forever end. The distance their war parties penetrated into the country west of the Great Lakes region was amazing. When La Salle and his party, singing the Te Deum, embarked in the "Griffin" at Niagara there stood upon the shore watching the ship spread her white sails to the winds a party of Iroquois warriors returning with prisoners from an expedition against the Teton Sioux living four hundred leagues to the westward. Into this new country was carried the rivalry of France and England born and fomented centuries before Columbus crossed the Atlantic. Both nations watched with jealous eyes the progress each was making in developing the lands they claimed in the New World. The French charged the English with instigating attacks by the Iroquois. French and Dutch traders, representatives of great industrial nations, were able to supply the savages with goods cheaper than the English. Warning of English influence among the Iroquois, who were seeking to renew the war with the western Indians, M. de Denonville, the French commander, writing to M. de Seignelay under date of June 12, I686, says: "You may depend upon it, my lord, that the English are the principal fomentors of the insolence and arrogance of the Iroquois, adroitly using them to extend their sovereignty; uniting them like one nation in such wise that the English pretend to own nothing less than Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, the entire Saguinan country, (Saginaw river region), that of the Hurons, if they become their allies, and the whole territory towards the Micissippi. By the letter I have written to Sieur de la Durantais, whom I have appointed commander over all our Frenchmen at the Outaouas (Ottawas), you will again see, my lord, what measures I have adopted for the occupation of some posts in the Saguinan in order to encourage our Indians whom possibly he will collect from the most distant parts and at whose head he will march. As for our Outaouas, I do not expect anything from them, having naught else to ask them except to come and witness our actions. I have not considered it best this year to refuse twenty-five licenses (to trade), believing it of very great importance to have a number of Frenchmen among the Outaouas to control the Indians, and to pro SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 35 tect them against new expeditions on the part of the Iroquois. I, moreover, expect all those French to join me at a rendezvous I shall appoint for them when I march." (Paris Documents III. N. Y. Colonial Documents, Vol IX, p. 295.) Again referring to the English influence, which he held responsible for an expedition by Iroquois in the Saguinan region against "our allies the Hurons and Outaouas at Missilimakina," M. de Denonville, in a communication, October 8, I686, explaining the necessity of going to war against the Iroquois, wrote: "I advised your lordship of the expedition of the Iroquois at Saguinan * * * I have learned since then that the English have a greater hand in those expeditions than the Iroquois who struck the blow. Their artifices reach a point, my lord, where it were much better they had recourse to acts of hostility on the coast by burning our settlements than to do what they are, instigating the Iroquois to perpetrate against us for our destruction." Continuing his arraignment of the English, M. de Denonville charges: "They also employ the Iroquois to excite all our other Indians against us. They sent those last year to attack the Hurons and Outawas, our most ancient subjects; from whom they swept by surprise more than seventy-five prisoners, including some of their principal chiefs; killed several others, and finally offered peace and the restitution of their prisoners if they would quit the French and acknowledge the English. They sent those Iroquois to attack the Miamis, our allies, who are in the neighborhood of Fort St. Louis, built by M. de La Salle on the Illinois river which empties into the River Colbert, or Mississippi; those Iroquois massacred and burnt a large number of them, and carried off many prisoners with threats of entire extermination if they would not unite with them against the French. Colonel Thomas Dongan, governor of New York, has pushed this usurpation to the point of sending Englishmen to take possession in the King of England's name of the post of Misilimackinac * * * He is sending thirty Englishmen to take possession of Misilimackinac * * * and orders the Iroquois to escort them hither and to assist." French Canada prepared for war with the Iroquois. Sieurs du Lhu and de la Durantaye were ordered to fortify the two passes to Michilimackinac. M. du Lhu was stationed at "the Detroit of Lake Erie"; M. de la Durantaye at the "portage of the Taronto." Orders were sent for the Indian allies of the Great Lakes region and the Illinois to assemble at Niagara to serve under these commanders. The Illinois, under command of Chevalier de Tonty, were to march on the Iroquois from the rear. It was his war party that marched across southern Michigan. Toity was provided with twenty Canadians and eight canoes loaded with one hundred and fifty muskets for his savages. "I cannot sufficiently praise his zeal for the success of this expedition," writes M. de Denonville. "He is a lad of great enterprise and boldness, who undertakes a great deal. He left the fort of the Illinois last February to look for M. de La Salle at the lower end of the Mississippi; has been as far as the sea where he learned nothing of M. de 36 HISTORIC MICHIGAN La Salle except that some Indians had seen him set sail and proceed southward * * * He will have about twenty good Canadians with him to march at the head of the Indians; this, he hopes, will encourage them. He will have to march three hundred leagues overland for those Indians are unaccustomed to canoes." (N. Y. Colonial Documents. Vol. IX, p. 300),. Under the orders of the Marquis de Denonville, M. de Callieres, commanding a little army of Frenchmen and four hundred Indian allies from hundreds of leagues in the interior, including many from Michigan tribes, set out from Ville Marie (Montreal) on June 13, 1687, to carry the war into the Iroquois country. There were eight hundred regular soldiers and a similar number of militiamen. With the regulars were Chevalier de Vaudreuil, recently arrived from France to command the king's forces, and Captains d'Orvilliers, St. Cyr, de Troyes, and Valerennes. The militia was commanded by Captains Longueil Le Moyne, Grandville, Berthier and La Valterye. Their commander was General Duguay. This picturesque army of uniformed Frenchmen, carrying the colorful banners of the court of Versailles, and swarthy half-naked savages fantastically smeared with paint of various colors and decked out in the war paraphernalia of barbarism passed the rapids in long lines of canoes and bateaux and encamped on Isle Perrot, where the Christian Indians, awaiting, sang and danced the war song all night at a feast prepared of two lean cows and a dozen dogs "roasted hair and all." To the rendezvous at Catercouy at the foot of Lake Ontario, Sieur de la Forest brought news that M. de la Durantaye had seized thirty Englishmen who were on their way with some Iroquois to take possession on Michilimackinac, which the French had held a quarter of a century, and which was the entrepot. of all their commerce. The Englishmen were captured thirty leagues from their objective. They were discovered through Father Engelran, who learned of their presence through a guide who had gone ahead for provisions. At Toucharontion at the mouth of the Detroit river, Tonty and his band of western Indians, Durantaye and M. Du Luth met and captured another party of thirty Englishmen guided by hostile Indians also going to Michilimackinac. When the English warned the Iroquois the French were about to attack them, they hastily recalled to the defense six hundred warriors who had gone to attack the Miamis of the St. Joseph river and tribes in the vicinity of the Virginias. The Iroquois were seized with terror, but they prepared for a desperate defense. In the first battle the invaders were successful. The western Indians commanded by Tonty, M. du Luth and M. de la Durantaye, under M. de Callieres charged the Senecas who finally threw away their blankets and fled. Scenes of cannibalism followed. Writes M. de Denonville on August 25, I687: "We witnessed the painful sight of the usual cruelties of the savages, who cut the dead into quarters, as is done in slaughter-houses, in order to put them into the kettle. The greater numbaer were opened while SOUTItWEST MICHIGAN 37 still warm that their blood might be drank. Our rascally Outaouas distinguished themselves particularly by these barbarities and by their poltrooney, for they withdrew from the battle; the Hurons of Mackinac did very well, but our Christian Indians surprised all and performed deeds of valor. The Illinois did their duty well." (N. Y. Colonial Documents, Vol. IX, p. 339). The Senecas were dispersed and the invaders destroyed their crops of beans, corn and vegetables. They also found arms furnished by the English. Here to the joy of Tonty's Indians arrived seven recruits "bows in hand, naked as worms." On June 15, I688, representatives of the Onondagas, Cayugas and Oneidas came to Montreal to see M. de Denonville, and said they wished to be friends both of the French and the English, but independent of both, "because they held their country direct from God." They promised to observe neutrality. On June 8, I686, Indian deputies came and asked for peace in the name of all the Five Nations. The French thought Providence had intervened in their behalf. "God alone," wrote on August Io, I688, M. de Denonville to M. de Seigneley, "could have preserved Canada this year." This test of strength, which was a mere breathing period in the long struggle for the mastery of Canada, had given the French a vision of the gigantic task before them. The leaders were convinced that the colony could be defended against the Iroquois by co-operation of the tribes beyond the colony, provided officers and soldiers were stationed among them. They depended also on the posts at Fort St. Louis on the Illinois river, at Michilimackinac and at Hudson's Bay to establish close relations with the tribes for the purpose of assistance in time of emergency. Hostilities were soon resumed. The Michigan Indians were again to be summoned to aid the French. King Louis XIV authorized an attack by the Indians on the Iroquois and English and promised assistance to Sieurs Tondy and de la Forest, commanders in the west. Count de Frottenac decided to send Joliet and five or six Frenchmen into Michigan with an appeal to the Indians, to turn deaf ears to the English. Iroquois hunting parties were in the Michigan peninsula. "When you will not find water any longer in your lakes, the French will be no more and then my protection will fail you," read the Count's message. "If any of the French perish, the grass on the prairies will not grow in such abundance until they arrive. Behold what you abandon in order to place yourself at the mercy of him who has always deceived you." One of the emissaries whom Frontenac sent into Michigan Was a man who several years later became an influential figure among the Miamis in the Kalamazoo and St. Joseph river valleys. This was Nicholas Perrot. He left on May 22, I69o, carrying presents and messages. On October 29, there was held in Quebec, a great celebration commemorating the repulse of Sir William Phips' fleet. The warfare with the Iroquois continued, however, and the French, braving perils, continued to develop the fur trade with the Indians of the Great Lakes region. In January, 1693, Frontenac sent out an ariy 38 HISTORIC MICHIGAN which severely punished the Iroquois in their own country. On August 17, a fleet of two hundred canoes of Frenchmen and Indians arrived with peltries. Learning that the English, through the Mohegans, had sent presents to the Miamis, Fronte'nac decided to send French regulars and militia under Sieur de Courtemanche to expel the enemy in that country. The Indians returned home followed by the French under leadership of Sieur de Tonty, under whom were to serve Sieurs de Manteth, de Courtemanche, and de Argenteuil, the last to remain at Michilimackinac as lieute'nant to Louvigny. It was in I690 that the French influence was to begin to be a factor among the Miamis of the Kalamazoo valley. "The man named Perrot is to occupy (a station) in the immediate neighborhood of the Miamis in order to execute whatever will be ordered of him. This place is J called Malamet, and the great concourse of Indians who report thither, among whom this man possesses very considerable credit, induced the Count to -select him to be stationed between the Miamis and other tribes who might receive proposals from the English; a barrier which destroys all their designs." (Histoire de l'Amerique Septentrionale by De La Potherie. N. Y. Colonial Documents, Vol. III, p. 5I0). Recognizing the opportunity for making converts among the savages, who were assembling in the St. Joseph river valley to enjoy protection offered by the French at Fort Miamis, the Jesuits in the meantime had established a mission, not at the mouth of the river, but upstream at a point now embraced in the southern limits of the city of Niles. In the "Archives du Ministere de la Marine Correspondence Generale du Canada," is the "concession accordee au pere D'Ablon et autres missionaires sur la riviere des Miamis." Dated Versailles, May 24, 1689, the concession reads in part: "A concession is made to Father D'Ablon and other missionaries of the Company of Jesus, admitted in said country October I, I686, by Sieurs de Denonville and de Champigny, of a tract of land of five arpents fronting on the Riviere Saint-Joseph, previously called the Miamis and emptying into the Lake of the Illinois and Outagamis, and five arpents deep; and the right to erect a chapel and a house and to plant grains and legumes by Father D'Ablon and other missionaries and their successors, the right of possession forever being carried by the said concession." The necessity of erecting a fort to protect this mission and the French settlers and traders who would inevitably follow the priests, is discussed in a letter by Frontenac to the prime minister, dated October 20, I69I, when it is stated that Gardeur de Courtemanche has been sent to "Missilimakinak and the Miamis" under orders of Sieur de Louvigny to announce to the Indians of French victory over the English at Quebec and the success of the war in Europe. It was also proposed to send more agents among the tribes to promote French interests. Braving great dangers in passing the Iroquois lines which surrounded Montreal, Sieur de Courtemanche, destined to become a prominent figure in early southwestern Michigan history, made his SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN. 39 way westward with the "King's presents" for the Miamis. He was accompanied by Sieur de la Forest. Writes Frontenac: "The presence of French soldiers at Missilimackinac where Sieur de Louvigny has built a fort to safeguard the home of the Jesuit Fathers, makes it evident we should have another among the Miamis." (Descouvertes et 'Establissements de Francaise dans L'Amerique, Margery. Vol. V, p. 53). This establishment, with the post of Sieur de la Forest among the Illinois, Frontenac believed would bring closer relations with the tribes and gain allies for warfare. This new fortification on the main route between the Great Lakes and Louisiana was soon established. Documents authorizing its erection and giving details of its armament and personnel are lacking; they are undoubtedly buried in the archives in Paris. One of the first missionaries among the Miamis of the St. Joseph river was a figure whose name is imperishably fixed in history as an apostle of modern times. There has been considerable dispute over the place where Father Claude Jean Allouez, the "second Xavier," died after instructing, according to reports of the time, "More than one hundred thousand savages and baptizing over ten thousand." If we accept the statement of Charlevoix, who visited this mission in I72I,-and who should have been better acquainted with the facts of his time than he?-the bones of this missionary rest near the site of the old St. Joseph mission and fort. He says: "After La Salle and the Recollects had departed, the Chevalier de Tonty was left sole commandant among the Illinois, and Father Allouez, who had settled among the Miamis, had opportunities to visit them, but he soon perceived that their intercourse with the French raised many obstacles to their conversion and he returned to his mission on the St. Joseph where he died in I690." Father Allouez, whose labors ended amid the scenes traversed in I675 by Father Marquette on his last journey which ended in his death near a rude altar at the mouth of the "River of the Black Robe," or "Father Marquette's River," was born in St. Didier, France, on June 6, 1622. At the age of seventeen, he entered the Jesuit novitiate in Toulouse and completed his studies at Billom and Rodez. He was appointed a priest at Rodez in 1657 and left two years later for Canada. In August, I665, he started out to carry the Cross to the western Indians among whom he died. He had apparently been waiting for a sign from Providence that should lead him to undertake this work among the savages of the trackless wilds. After Father Allouez had waited a considerable length of time in Montreal for arrival of Indians from remote regions with whom he might return and carry on Christian work, the opportunity came with the arrival of a band of Nepissiriniens from the "Sault of Lake Superior." He wrote: "Finally God has been pleased to send the Angels of the upper Algonquins to conduct us to their country where we are to help them establish Our Lord's kingdom." Working amidst the Miamis, Father Allouez was subjected to hardships which ultimately resulted in physical decline and death. Pro 40 HISTORIC MICHIGAN longed fasting was included ihi the customs of the Miamis, and relief from superstitions which imposed such inconvenient obligations was acclaimed by the yoiung Indians, who were glad to listen to the "Black Robe's" religion. "God, however, obliged Allouez to undergo ja rigorous fast during a winter in which he accompanied the savages in the woods. Their nourishment for a long time consisted of roots dug by the women. But there was hardly enough of this food to supply all, for there were eighty cabins of Indians * * * The country he traversed with them consisted of damp prairies, swamps, and waterfilled valleys separated by hills covered with beautiful forests and drier earth. As the ice was not strong in that region, they were forced to wade in knee-deep water. * * *Food was so scarce the savages could not remain long in one place." (Les Relations des Jesuites). News that the Miamis had received presents from the English through the Mohegan exiles residing among them reached Frontenac in I692 and 1693, according to La Potherie's "Histoire de l'Amerique Septentrionale." Fearing that the Indians might give the rival nation free access to trade hi their country and thus prepare for the final ruin of Canada, Frontenac immediately dispatched a force of Frenchmen under command of Sieurs De Courtemanche and de Manteth to expel the English from the post on the St. Joseph, if they had already seized it, and to hold it if they had not. They were informed their first task was to fight, their second to trade. Shortly afterward, there was great joy in Montreal when there arrived from the west in two flotillas, two hundred canoes loaded with furs, and manned by Frenchmen and Canadians. For several years Canada had been awaiting for "this prodigious heap of beaver, reported to be at Missilimackinac." The merchants, farmers and others who had furnished capital for this enterprise, were on the verge of starvation, while they awaited returns on their investment. Indians from the Great Lakes region were asked to give accounts of the activities and attitudes of their tribes as regarded France and England. After being feasted the Indians returned homeward, carrying many presents. They were followed by the French under command of Sieur de Tonty, commandant of the Illinois, under whom served Sieurs de Courtemanche, de Manteth and D'Argenteuil. The Iroquois, continuing their predatory expeditions into the St. Joseph valley, dared to attack the east fort, but met with disaster when Sieur de Courtemanche and his soldiers surprising them, opened fire. While the Miamis were working in their fields, the Iroquois swooped down upon them capturing three women and three or four children, including the chief's son. They advanced undiscovered toward the French fort, and were sticking their guns through the palisades when Sieur de Courtemanche, rallying his garrison, opened fire so vigorously and effectively that the astonished invaders ran off in disorder leaving some of their men dead and shouting that they had intended to attack the Miamis and not the French. This war party consisted of between three and four hundred warriors. Retreating out of gunshot, the Iroquois invited the commander to visit their camp, where, they said, they would surrender their captured prisoners. De Courte SOUTTHrWEST MICHIGAN 41 manche, however, pledging no harm, invited them to come to the fort for an exchange of captives. "Both these conferences, carried on with high words and swaggering airs, were productive only of insults and the enemy withdrew." (De La Pothiere, N. Y. Colonial Documents, Vol. IX, p. 603). Determined to watch the retreating invaders, the valorous commander had them followed by scouts who discovered at the lower end of the river letters which led the commander to believe fifty of the enemy had been wounded in the battle. Seven or eight bloody spots where dead or wounded had been deposited were discovered among the bushes. Sieur de la Mothe, who commanded at Michilimackinac, hearing of the attack, sent word t tthe Miamis to enclose their villages with stout palisading and fight like brave warriors. With the Iroquois when they attacked Fort St. Joseph were several Huron prisoners, whom they brought along to be spectators. With a fleet of ten or twelve canoes in which traveled to Montreal a party composed of Potawatomies, Sacs, FolIes Avoines, Outagamis, -and Miamis of Maramek, or Kalamazoo valley, commanded by Sieur ". Nicholas Perrot, Sieur de la Mothe notified Frontenac that the Outagamis had Iroquois prisoners given them by the Ouiatanons of Chegagou (Chicago) with the intention of effecting an exchange. The letter also notified Frontenac that the Outagamis, hearing that several thousand Sioux were preparing to attack them, had left their country for the season with the intention of returning for the harvest. As these Indians intended to have a temporary rendezvous on the Wabash, he pointed out the danger of English and Iroquois influence. A conference, at which were present the visiting chiefs, was held in Montreal on August I6. Onanguisse, a Potawatomi chief, spoke first, Sacs and Folles Avoines following. Messitonga, or Le,bu a Miami from Maramek (Kalamazoo),, delivered the following address: "Though at a great distance I heard my father's voice; and have no other opinion but that of Onanguisse and of the others who come to speak, and no other thought than to make war against the Iroquois. When the Ciou (Sioux) kills me I bow my head and recollect my father has forbade me to turn my tomahawk against him." "I have not yet heard you. I complain that the Miami of the River Saint Joseph rescue by force from us and spare the lives of the Iroquois prisoners we are briiging home." "I am come here to ascertain whether it be by your order these sorts of violences are committed, as I have not heretofore understood your thoughts except by Perrot in whom we hesitate to place confidence, the French and Indians saying he is but a pitiful fellow. I come here to harken to you, and to offer you, as I did last year, my body covering your dead who were killed by the Iroquois, and to tell you hat you are Master of my tribe, Which is that of the Crane.' After this speech of confidence, the chief piesefte'd Prntfenac With:a beaver tobe and continued: "I have not been able to learn your thought from yotir dwn lips 42 HISTORIC MICHIGAN and I have heard your word only as Perrot repeated it to me from you. This has brought me down here." (N. Y. Colonial Documents, Vol. IX, p. 619). Sieur Perrot presented a robe for the Pepicoquis, a branch of the Miamis of Maramek, who sent word that they covered the French dead and the Miamis slain in the Iroquois country. The robe was stained red as an indication that the senders remembered the French who died for them, and that they were ready to avenge them. Onanguisse in private informed the French that it was not he but Perrot who had brought the Outagami, whose heart he believed false. They despised the French and the other nations also, he declared. Onontio, the French Father, replying, advised the chiefs not to strike a blow, declari'ng he would send messages of peace to the western tribes, warning them he would learn of any disloyalty through Perrot, his agent in the Peninsula. At this conference was revealed Frontenac's strategic plan of strengthening the defense against invasion of southwestern Michigan by uniting in one community the Miamis of the Kalamazoo and St. Joseph valleys. This plan he outlined to the chiefs of the Maramek Miamis and then ordered it consummated. Replying to the Miamis from Kalamazoo, Frontenac said: "As for you, Nangoussista and Macitonga, Miamis of Maramek, you are the chiefs of that great village and I believe you have visited me only with consent of the other chiefs. I will believe, as you say, that you have no other will than mine. Perrot told you that you must remove your fire from Maramek and unite with the rest of the Miamis in a place where you could oppose the enemy and make war on him. I can think only of the repose of my children. I can effect that only by the destruction of the Iroquois, and to accomplish that my children must live together so as to be able to execute with greater facility the commands I shall transmit to them. You told Perrot a year ago that you would come down to hear me. I sent you an answer by him, but he did not deliver it. You tell me now by that which you present me, that you have no other heart tha'n mine, I am going to explain my will to you, obey it." "Children, I will not believe the Miamis wish to obey me until they rrake, altogether, one and the same fire, either at the River Saint Joseph, or some other place adjoining it. I have got nigh the Iroquois, and have soldiers at Katarkou in the fort which had been abandoned. You, too, must get nigh the enemy in order to imitate me and to be able to strike him the more readily." "All my children tell me that the Miami are numerous, and able of themselves to destroy the Iroquois. Like them, all are afraid. What! Do you wish to abandon your country to your enemy? Will he not find you out in whatever corner you may hide. Should you not contest the entrance with him? * * * Your dead are no longer visible in his country; their bodies are covered with those of the French who have perished to avenge them." "Perrot is going up with you to conduct you to the place I desire you to follow him. Do as he desires you, and in obeying me you will SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 43 find a father who will, if necessary, sacrifice all his young men to secure you repose." "Regard not what Chichikati might have told you of Perrot. He is no slave. He it is whom I have sent with my message to you. I respect you too highly to place you under superintendence of a slave. It is I who wage war and not he. * * * I send Perrot to explain my intentions to your old men, and if you do not believe what he will tell you, he has my commands to leave you, and I will abandon you myself without thinking any more of your protection and without wishing to meddle with your affairs or your land." "For the purpose of inviting you still to persevere in the friendly sentiments you entertain toward your father and his nephews, I give you and your brother, chief of Chicagou, these two jackets, these two carbines and this powder and lead." The chiefs departed with the assurance that the French would press the war against the Iroquois without cessation. In October, it was revealed that the Hurons of Michilimackinac, while pretending to be loyal to the French, were negotiating for a separate peace with the Iroquois. Cadillac informed Frontenac at once. It was while the Miamis of Maramek were moving late in August, ar I696, to join their compatriots on the St. Joseph river, in compliance with wishes of Frontenac, that the Sioux invaders, for fear of whom the Outagamis had fled from their country the preceding year, swept into southwestern Michigan and attacked the migrating band of Kalamazoo Miamis. Learning that the Sioux had fallen upon their brethern, the Miamis of Saint Joseph pursued the invaders westward into their own country until they found them entrenched in a fortification. With the Sioux were a number of adventurous coureurs de bois, or bushlopers. The Miamis, after repeated attacks, were finally compelled to retire. While on the homeward trail, they met Frenchmen carrying arms to the Sioux. The angry Indians seized the guns and ammunition, but did not harm the white men. The Miamis informed the Ottawas of this occurence, and the latter immediately sent agents to Frontenac, through whose diplomacy a crisis was averted. The Miamis, however, singled out Nicholas Perrot as an object for reprisal. They were on the point of roasting this noted emissary of Frontenac's at the stake when he was saved by the Ontagamis. The Miamis were eventually pacified when the Frenchmen pointed out how much it was to their advantage to overlook the cause of the quarrel and to remain allies. This rupture with the Miamis revived complaints against the bushlopers, whose conduct among the savages shocked the French officials and brought despair to the priests laboring at the missions. Of them all, the bush-lopers wielded the greatest influence. Some of the complainants stated that these adventurers, many of. whom were fugitives from justice who found the wilderness a veritable sanctuary, changed Indian wives every eight days. They were notorious for their carousals, their unscrupulous dealings and disloyalty to the French crown whenever they found commerce with the English more profitable. During 44 HISTORIC MI CHlGAJ the preceding year the king had forbidden the Governor-General to permit any Frenchmen to go up to the Indian country to trade. (N. Y. Colonial Documents, Vol IX, p. 343). It was so necessary to counteract the riehacing influence of the English, however, that the Montreal authorities asked for a modification of this order, permitting a limited number of Frenchmen to go to the posts at Michilimackinac and the St. Joseph river. Accordingly there was adopted a proposal to maintain an officer and at least ten or fifteen soldiers at each fort to prevent the English from trading. It was also decided that the posts could not be maintained unless at least twenty-five canoe loads of goods Were sent there annually. These were called "conges"' and the Governor-General was permitted to grant them. These proved a resource to needy families of the upper classes who in turn sub-leased them to voyageurs, who penetrated far into the wilderness to purchase furs. It was recognized also that abandonment of the Michigan posts, maintained at great cost, would result in tempting the tribes to ally themselves with the English, in addition to depriving the missions of protection. Frontenac, in 1697, following advice of his associates, prepared to send into Michigan two more military expeditions. Lieut. D'Argenteuil was to proceed with a force of Michilimackinac. To the fort on the St. Joseph, he dispatched an officer who bore a family name that was afterward to shine in the annals of New France. This was M. Jean-Baptiste Bissot de Vincennes. These officers were provided only with enough provisions to last during the long journey. They understood when they left they were not to trade in beaver pelts. (Le Sieur de Vincennes, Fondateur de 'Indiana par PierreGeorges Roy, p. 36). The wisdom of this action was evident when it was learned that a Huron chief, "The Baron," had with thirty families migrated from Michigan to the vicinity of Albany whence he issued a standing invitation to his fellow tribesmen to join him under English protection. Near the close of 1697, the French heard rumors that the British were fitting out expeditions for the conquest of Canada. An Iroquois war party, led by "The Baron," the renegade Huron chief, was defeated by a force of Potawatomies, Sacks, Ottawas, and Hurons, commanded by the Huron chief, "The Rat," a friend of the French. This chief had prevented some of his tribesmen from following "The Baron" to New York. He had also kept the Miamis from listening to the treacherous chief who had only intended in the end to betray them under pretense of forming an alliance with them. The Rat accompanied Cadillac to Montreal with a flotilla of canoes containing three hundred Warriors of the tribes which engaged in the battle. For this victory, The Rat Was received with high favor by the Governor-General. Ottawa deputies complained that the annual allowance of ammunition had not been received, and bluntly told Frontenac that if the Indians continued to be neglected, they would come no more to Montreal. They were satisfied when told that it would soon be forthcoming. Fronteiac then dismissed his red allies- who had SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 45 been brought to Montreal by Cadillac when reports 'were received the British were outfitting an expedition for the conquest of Canada. In February, 1698, news was received in Montreal that the War of the Palatinate had ended with the Peace of Ryswick, signed by France and England September 20, I697. Under the enterprising guidance of Count de Frontenac, Canada had passed safely through trying perils, and gloom settled over the country when the great leader died on November 28, I698. Sieur de Champigny and Chevalier de la Callieres immediately became rival candidates to succeed Frontenac. The latter dispatched Sieur de Courtemanche to France in his interests, and the honor came to de Callieres, who had skillfully counteracted English intrigues among the Five Nations. To bring peace among the Indian tribes, far and near, who had accepted the war between France and England as an opportunity to give vent to long-standing hatreds and spring at each other's throats, was a perplexing task for the Chevalier de Callieres. He succeeded in impressing upon the Iroquois that the peace between the two nations meant peace among the tribes, and invited other nations to send delegates to a parley. At Montreal on September 8, I700, the Iroquois and several other tribes signed a treaty. The Rat, chief of the Thionmontate Hurons, said: "I have always obeyed my father, and I cast my tomahawk at his feet. All the upper nations will, I have no doubt, do the same. Iroquois, follow my example!" The Ottawa deputy from Michigan voiced The Rat's sentiment. In the meantime the western tribes who had sent no deputies to Montreal were fighting furiously against the Sioux, who had swept away an entire village of Miamis. The Governor-General, in order to bring the most powerful influences to bear on the Indians, sent to them through Sieur de Courtemanche and Father Anjelran invitations to attend a conference in Montreal in August, I70I. When a party of Iroquois hunters appeared in central Michigan in 1700 and destroyed beaver huts, they were captured by Ottawas and carried to Michilimackinac. The Iroquois promptly made complaint to de Callieres. On May 5, I701, the Iroquois chief, Teganissorens, appeared in Montreal and not only complained against the Ottawas, but protested against a projected French settlement at Detroit, saying the Iroquois had opposed an English settlement there. He also wished to know the truth of a rumor that France and England were again to go to war, referring to the impending War of the Spanish Succession. M. de Callieres informed the chief that the settlement at Detroit should cause no anxiety as it was to be maintained in interests of peace, adding that neither the Iroquois or England had any right to protest against an establishment in territory that belonged to France. "As for me," said M. de Callieres, "I intend to be master at home, but wish to be so only for the good-of my children. It is for their sake I am establishing a post at Detroit." He told the Iroquois he hoped if the nations again went to war the Five Nations would keep out and remain spectator. This happened on June I6, 7oQI. 46 HISTORIC MICHIGAN Within a few days between seven and eight hundred Indians representing tribes from the west and northwest were to arrive in Montreal for the peace conference in response to the invitations brought by Sieur de Courtemanche and Father Anjelran. News that the great expedition of savages was coming down the St. Lawrence in a flotilla of canoes was brought by M. de Villedonne,' a lieutenant of infantry. With the Indians were de Courtemanche and the priest. When these envoys arrived at Michilimackinac, they found that most of the Indians were away hunting. Runners were dispatched to inform them of the mission of the Frenchmen. Leaving the priest at the post to negotiate with the Ottawas and Hurons, de Courtemanche proceeded southward to his old post on the St. Joseph river. He arrived there on December 21, I700, having covered forty leagues on snowshoes. Here he found in addition to the Miamis, residents of long standing, Potawatomies, Sokokis, Foxes, Hurons and Mohegans. The Sokokis and Mohegans were refugees from New England. Here he succeeded in heading off war expeditions against the Iroquois, despite many protests. In every quarter he heard of preparations for war. The Ouyatanons, another branch of the Miamis, were singing the war-song against the Siouz and Iroquois. Continuing his mission, de Courtemanche continued up the west shore of Lake Michigan to the Bay (Green Bay), where he visited the Potawatomies, Foxes, Kickapoos, and Folles Avoines. Here he halted an expedition against the Sioux, who had recently assailed the Foxes. After a journey of four hundred leagues through the wilderness, de Courtemanche returned to Michilimackinac on July 2. Here he found that Father Anjelran had rescued Iroquois prisoners from the Ottawas. The priest and the prisoners started for Montreal, while de Courtemanche awaited arrival of the deputies he had not brought along. The French leader and Indians arrived in Montreal amid welcoming salvoes of artillery on July 22, I701, the day after three hundred Iroquois delegates stepped ashore from their canoes. Again that notable Michigan chief, The Rat, paid his respects to a GovernorGeneral of Canada. From the scenes of this narrative now passes that valorous Frenchman Augustin LeGardeur de Courtemanche, envoy to the Michigan Indians, commander of Fort St. Joseph during the attack by the Iroquois, and the Governor-General's trusted lieutenant. Too little is known of this pioneer of Michigan. M. Pierre-Georges Roy, archivist of the province of Quebec, in his report for I923-I924 records that after 1714, de Courtemanche was commander for the King in the "immense region" of Labrador where he died in I717, and that he was succeeded by his stepson, M. Martel de Berouage. The conference at which the treaty was signed presented one of the strangest scenes in the history of relations between civilized white man and barbarians. Plumed and painted and clad in the skins of beasts elaborately ornamented the red men, many of whom were getting their first impressions of the White Father's manner of life in the primitive city of Montreal, were strikingly contrasted with the French officials dressed in the costumes they would have worn in the court of Versailles. What better method could they have used to dazzle the SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 47 children of the woods? The French in this affair undoubtedly felt like actors in a comedy. To the savages for whose favor both the French and English were bidding, it was undoubtedly, serious, something sacred. All the deputies, before the conference, were granted a private audience with the Governor-General. Nearly all of them requested reductions in the prices of goods. Onanguice and Ouilemec, Potawatomi chiefs-the latter from the St. Joseph river,-said that not even rumors of disease in Montreal could keep them from accepting their Father's invitation to the parley. During the first convocation on August I, I70I, Kondiaronk, the Michigan Huron chief, better known as "The Rat," who had won the notable victory over the Iroquois and who was a firm friend of the French, became ill. Upon the influence of this chief, M. de Callieres had largely depended for success of the conference. Sitting in an arm chair in the midst of the delegates, he falteringly urged each tribe in turn to make peace for the good of the whole country. M. de Calliers pledged to him and the Indian allies the faithful support of France. The old chief died that night in Hotel Dieu, after receiving the last sacrament. With mournful pomp in which the GovernorGeneral and his aides and soldiers under arms and savages with blackened faces participated, "The Rat" was entombed in the church. In the midst of a great double enclosure outside the city, the final session of the conference was held on August 4. Into this space eighteen hundred Indians were seated. Drawn up in long lines were all the soldiers of the city. On a platform were seated M. de Champigny, the Chevalier de Vaudereuil, commander of Montreal, and the Governor-General. In addressing the copper-colored delegates who represented the thousands of savages in the vast inland wilderness, M. de Callieres said he had assembled them so that he might take the hatchets from their hands and settle in the future all their disputes. When they had once realized the contentment resulting from peace, he said, they would be glad to give up warfare. Nicholas Perrot interpreted the speech for the Miamis; Father Anjelran for the Ottawas and Algonquins; Father Garnier for the Hurons; Father Bruyas for the Iroquois; Father Bigot for the Abanakis. 'The speakers were loudly applauded. In responding, the Indian delegates declared they were making great sacrifices of private interests in signing a peace treaty to please the French. Some declared they had little faith in the sincerity of the Iroquois. Many of the Indians from the Great Lakes region were comically or grotesquely garbed, which undoubtedly caused suppression of many smiles. Onanguice, who spoke for the Potawatomies and Mississagues, regarded as a wise councilor, wore over his head the skin of the head of a young bull, the horns hanging over his ears. Thirty-eight delegates signed the treaty, after which the great peace calumet was handed to M. De Callieres, who smoked it, then passed it to M. de Champigny, M. de Vaudreuil and the dusky deputies to puff in turn. The priests then chanted the Te Deum. The conclave 48 HISTORIC MICHIGAN ended with a great feast at which three roasted oxen were served.Firing of cannon and fireworks completed this historic peace-makings event. In response to inquiries from the Iroquois, M. de Callieres explained that the settlement at Detroit was intended to block plans of the English who had plans of an establishment there. He also requested that the Iroquois remain neutral in another Anglo-French war. A year later the Five Nations sent delegates to thank the French for consummating the peace and to ask that Jesuit priests be sent to them. Europe now plunged into the war of the Spanish Succession, Queen Anne declaring war against Spain and France. While strengthening the defenses of Quebec, M. de Callieres died on May 26, I703. He was succeeded by M. de Vaudreuil. There were reports of English intrigues among the Iroquois. With the object of centralizing their influence among the Indians of the Peninsula and at the same time keeping them under a surveillance which would preclude the persistent influences of the English, the French, in I700, adopted a policy of concentrating the tribes in the vicinity of the newly established stronghold at Detroit. Here it would be easier to convert them to French customs and to win their loyalty to the king than it would be in scattered settlements in the deep forests and along lonely rivers. From the interior posts came successive reports of English intrigues among the savages. The French plan naturally brought protests from the Indians. When the Ottawas of Michilimackinac went to Montreal to bewail the death of M. de Callieres, they brought word that their tribesmen preferred to die rather than to move. Receiving intelligence that Mohawk deputies among the Hurons of Michilimackinac had invited the Hurons to remove to the English settlement at Orange, the French were convinced that "some adroit effort must be made to prevent them from becoming good friends," meaning the Ottawas, Hurons and other Indians and the Iroquois. The French offered goods at cheap rates and unlimited kindness if the Miamis would remove to Detroit (Paris Documents, Vol. VI, p. 7). The late M. de Callieres had invited the Miamis to unite at the River St. Joseph with the object of removing them to Detroit. Chief Quarante Sols, of the Hurons of Michillimackwas charged with intriguing with the English. Comments M. de Vaudreuil: "This intrigue seems too well-founded, although Sieur de la Motte (Cadillac) ridiculed the Jesuits when they notified him, saying it was a game to keep the Indians from going to Detroit." The dissatisfied chief was told he could not go to the English with whom France was at war. The Miamis of St. Joseph informed the GovernorGeneral that, though the Sioux had killed their fathers, they had decided not to attack their enemies without obtaining Onontio's advice. Vaudreuil informed them that the General Peace had terminated war among all the tribes, though this peace did not preclude resistance and defense against the Sioux. The concentration plan, however, was opposed by the Jesuits who had cause for anxiety when they foresaw the religious work they had accomplished among the Indians would be endangered by degrading SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN contacts in a settlement like Detroit, destined to become a rendezvous for dissolute individuals always found in frontier settlement. This opposition stirred the lasting enmity of Cadillac against the order. It resulted in forcing Father Claude Aveneau to leave the St. Joseph mission where he had been stationed nineteen years. The Jesuit fathers, however, loyally gave Cadillac valuable intelligence. How persistent English influences were at work among the Miamis of the St. Joseph river is revealed in a letter written from the Jesuit mission by Father Jacques Jean Mermet, April 19, I702, to Cadillac: "Although I have not the honor of knowing you I cannot omit writing to you about an important matter which concerns the welfare of the colony as well as of religion; and from that Sir, you may see the Jesuits are more friendly to you than you think unless you yourself will not honor them with your kind remembrance, and if I dare say so, with your friendship. Five of our Miamis are betaking themselves to the English for goods which they will bring this summer. They have never been more eager in hunting the beaver than since they received five belts from the English brought by Iroquois who come here. That is in order to get permission from our Miamis to establish a post freely three days from here near a river which is the source of the Ouabache, whence there is only one portage of half a league to get to this river here and another like to go to a river which runs down to Detroit. From thence the English would be able to go, or send from all sides the savages from our Lakes." (Cadillac Papers, Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. XXXIII, p. 1 8). (Father Mermet was one of the noted Jesuits, who taught at many missions in the middle west, stopping frequently at St. Joseph. He died in September, I726, and his remains were transferred December I8, 1727, with those of Father Pierre Gabriel Marest, and buried in the church at Kaskaskia). Father Joseph J. Marest, in a letter to Vaudereuil, August 14, I706, opposes removal of the mission on the St. Joseph, saying: "Sieur Menard will tell you how the people have set their hearts on continuing the war against the Hurons and the Miamis, but you know how importan't it is to preserve the post with the Miamis. If M. de la Mothe should draw the Miamis away from it in order to attract them to Detroit, he would do a vital injury to the country, and would draw down upon him war with all the tribes of the Lakes." In a document written by Vaudereuil in 1707, it is asserted that Cadillac had removed the Jesuits at the Miami mission and replaced them with Recollet priests. "The said Sr. de la Mothe has taken away the mission to the Miamis from the Jesuits and given it to the Recollets, claiming that he has the power to do so. He would not give any decision as to that, leaving it to what His Majesty may order; he is, however, bound to say that the Jesuits 'are much better fitted for carrying on missions to the savages than the Recollets are." Anxious to keep a monopoly of the fur trade, the French imperial government strictly prohibited commanders among the Indians from carrying on traffic. The appointment of Sieur de Vincennes to the St. Joseph post to strengthen French interests stirred the king, who 50 HISTORIC MICHIGAN seems to have cared more about the possible loss of a comparatively paltry revenue than he did about co-operating with M. de Vaudereuil in building more firmly the foundations of New France. The king's views of disapproval were set forth in a communication of M. de Pontchartrain to M. de Vaudreuil written June 9, I706: "His Majesty approves your sending Sieur Jonquieres to the Iroquois because he is esteemed by them, and has not the reputation as a trader, but you ought not to have sent Sieur Vincennes to the Miamis nor Sieur de Louvigny to Missilimaquina as they are accused of carrying on contraband trade. You are aware that Sieur de Louvigny has been punished for that, and His Majesty desires that you cause Sieur Vincennes to be severely punished, he having carried on an open and undisguised trade. * * * I will tell you plainly that if you are not more absolute in execution of the King's orders and more severe in the punishment of acts of disobedience, I shall not guarantee to you that His Majesty would be willing to allow you to occupy for any length of time your present post. * * * It would be desirable to retain the Miamis at Detroit. Nevertheless, should they persist and their reasons appear valid, you can permit them to return home; but I request you to confer with Sieur de la Motte Cadillac so as not to interfere with measures he may have taken for establishment of that post, and in that case you need not furnish them with a French chief. * * * The avowal you have made of having permitted -Sieurs de Mantez (Manteth), de la Couverte, and Vincennes to carry some merchandise with them in the voyages you authorized them to make to the Upper Country, is sufficient to create the belief that they had traded, especially Sieur de la Couverte, who is an arrant trader." (Paris Documents, VI). The King had evidently been informed of the weakness of his officers, for Cadillac records that "M. de Vincennes was sent to the Miamis with orders to pass through Detroit, addressed to M. de Tonty; the said M. de Vincennes having three boats laden with merchandise and more than four hundred jars of brandy; under the pretext of going to put an end to the war begun by the Miamis and Aouyatanouns against the tribes settled at Detroit and the Iroquois." He also records that "M. de Vincennes is now at Detroit with four hundred jars of brandy, where he keeps a tavern, having been forerunner of M. de Louvingy, mayor of Quebec." In the meantime, the English were using every effort to have the Iroquois resume the warpath against the French. The good faith of the French was demonstrated to the Five Nations, however, when Sieur de Tonty, commanding the fort at Detroit in the absence of Cadillac, sent Sieur de Vincennes to attack a party of Ottawas who were passing up the Detroit river on the way to Michilimackinac with some Iroquois prisoners they had captured in a skirmish with their old enemies at Catarocouy. Sieur de Vincennes routed the Ottawas and returned the recaptured prisoners to the Senecas. The Ottawas, however, wanted war with the Iroquois. Incensed because the French built the fort at Detroit they burned the houses of Cadillac, Tonty and Recollet priests. Seeing a war impending, M. de Louvigny was dis SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 51 patched to Michilimackinac where he succeeded in placating the Ottawas. Sieur de Vincennes took chiefs of that nation to Montreal where in August, I705, was made a settlement satisfactory to the Iroquois. The Ottawas, however, failed to keep their promises to deliver presents to the Five Nations in accordince with an agreement on reparations and the Iroquois were on the point of declaring war when Father Mermet, returning to Michilimackinac which the discouraged Jesuits had abandoned, averted a conflict by persuading the Ottawas to fulfill the agreement. War among the French allies nearly broke out when the Ottawas and Miamis engaged in hostilities. Several of the former were killed, and an appeal was made to Cadillac at Detroit, where, in accordance with his concentration plan, there were villages of Miamis, Ottawas and Hurons. The commandant, however, left for Quebec without settling the affair. In January, I706, de Tonty was relieved by M. Bourgmont, an ensign. The Indians became suspicious of the French, which grew stronger when the new commander proposed that the Ottawas, Miamis and Hurons join in a war on the Sioux. Imagining that the French and Miamis intended to attack them while pretending to make war on the old enemy in the west, the Ottawas suddenly fell upon the Miamis, killing several. The French retreating to the fort opened fire on the Ottawas, who suddenly retired. The Iroquois now threatened to make war on the Ottawas, but the diplomacy of M. de Vaudereuil prevented them. Ottawa chiefs, arriving in Montreal in June, I707, explained to the Governor-general that Sieur Bourgmont had refused six times to confer with him. Blame for the conflict was laid on Le Pesant, a chief. He was put in irons, but all the.chiefs threw themselves at Cadillac's feet and the prisoner was pardoned. It had been Vaudreuil's plan to give the offender to the Miamis for punishment, and the enraged nation from the St. Joseph constantly demanded that he should be delivered to them. These Miamis attacked the French while another band was traveling from the village on the St. Joseph river to Detroit where they intended to settle. Charlevoix declares that removal by Cadillac of the Jesuits, who had control of the savages resulted in the killing of three Frenchmen by the Miamis. Informed that these Indians, together with Hurons and Iroquois, intended to attack him, Cadillac prepared to make war on them but he decided instead to give them a feast, which to the primitive mind analyzed an act of weakness. The Miamis became insolent, and the commandant was finally obliged to march against them. The lack of foresight of the commander was a matter of considerable criticism, for when four leagues on his way, he discovered he had no power and was obliged to send a boat back for it. (Cadillac Papers, Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. XXXIII, p. 437). Arriving on the second day at the mouth of the river where the Miamis lived, the Frenchmen and Indians, numbering about four hundred, attacked the enemy's fort, which was described as "wretched with no more than sixty men in it." Sieur M. de Clerambault d'Aigremont, in a letter to M. de Pontchartrain gives little glory to the commander, writ HISTORIC MICHIGAN ing: "M. de la Mothe went forward and took shelter behind a tree of enormous girth and never quitted it until very late in the afternoon, when he betook himself out of cannon shot range from the enemy's fort, although they had no cannon." The fort was soon captured by the superior force, and the defenders sued for terms. Writing from Versailles on July 6, I709, Pontchartrain replied to d'Aigremont: "You did well to acquaint me with what you learned respecting the rupture between the Outawas and Miamis. Sieur de la Mothe Cadillac's conduct towards the latter does not appear blamable to me. On the contrary, it seems to me that he did what he could, and provided these last keep their promise, to surrender to him those of them who killed and plundered the French, or to come and settle at Detroit, nothing but what is good and useful will result from what he has done." (Paris Documents, VI, N. Y. Colonial Documents, p. 827). A plot of the Ottawas, Sacs and Foxes to leave Michilimackinac and attack the Miamis of the St. Joseph river is revealed in the excerpt from a letter written by Father Joseph D. Marest to the GovernorGeneral on August 14, I706: "I asked the savages if I could safely send a boat of Frenchmen to the River St. Joseph. They replied that I could and asked me to do so. Seeming to take an interest in the fathers who are there, the truth is, they do not feel at liberty to make war on the Miamis while the missionaries remain there, and for that reason prefer they should come to us. I had previously organized some Frenchmen to carry the news to the River St. Joseph, and to relieve our fathers if they were in any difficulty; but one of them has been so intimidated by the representations of his friends that he dares not trust himself among the savages. As affairs are, at present, I do not think the removal of the fathers is desirable, for the (St. Joseph) is the most important post after Michilimackinac; and if the Ottawas were relieved from the restraint imposed upon them by the existence of the mission, they would unite so many tribes against the Miamis that in a short time they would drive them out of this beautiful country." (Cadillac Papers, Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. 33, p. 267). Continuing, the missionary writes: "I have at last found another Frenchman who is willing to go to the River St. Joseph, and I hope the four will now depart immediately. We have reason to feel anxious concerning the safety of the fathers, on account of so many war parties going down on that side. At least we shall have news from St. Joseph, unless our men find too many dangers on the way. * * * I am sending off a boat to the St. Joseph river at the same time that the King's boat does down. There are, however, some French people who oppose it; but I look upon that as a matter in which the public interest is concerned. I have, however, granted them three or four days' delay to obtain news; it is necessary to humor them." It was while the power of the Miamis was weakened by the minor war with the Ottawas and the French that the Potawatomies migrated into the St. Joseph valley, adding another nation to the several already located there. Into this "cosmopolitan" stronghold of barbarians, SOYUTHWEST MICHIGAN Father Chardon, Jesuit missionary, followed his congregaton of Potawatomies. This is believed to have been between the years of 1707 and I71, and after Cadillac had taken away the Jesuit mission where Father Claude Aveneau had labored many years. Aveneau attempted to return with the Miamis in I7o7, but was prevented, according to the following excerpt from a letter written at Quebec, November 5, I708, by M. Raudot, Jr., to M. de Vaudreuil: "M. Raudot and I have the honor of giving you an account, in our joint letter, of everything concerning Detroit, and of the result of the affair of Pesant. If the Sieur de la Mothe had pursued my first objects and had been content to leave this savage at Michilimackinac as an outlaw, instead of inducing him, as he did, to come to Detroit, the savage would have remained among his tribe disgraced, and the Miamis would never have dreamed of attacking the French, for they only did so in order to revenge themselves on the Sieur de la Mothe, who had deceived them by promising them he would put the offender to death, and not doing so. The Miamis, My Lord, would never have attacked the French if the Sieur de la Mothe had not, last year, prevented Father d'Aveneau, their missionary, from returning with them with the view of putting a Recollect there. It is certain that this missionary with his influence would have diverted the savages of his mission from doing anything contrary to the welfare of the service. The Sieur de la Mothe will not agree to that, for, far from doing that, he defames them to your Highness as far as he can and injures them in the minds of the French and of the savages." (Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. XXXIII, p. 395). Father Claude Aveneau, successor of Father Allouez at the St. Joseph mission, was born in Laval, and came to Canada in I685. He died in Quebec September II, 1711. Alarmed at reports that English influences were gaining ground steadily among their savage allies in the Michigan peninsula, the French decided to call to Montreal the savages of the Upper Country, not only to obtain reinforcements, but to demonstrate to the Iroquois that the red colleagues were ready to fall upon them should they declare war. Under the high-sounding proclamation of "Philippe de Rigaud Marquis de Vaudreuil, Knight of the Military Order of St. Louis and Lieutenant General for the King throughout all New France," endorsed in Detroit March Io, 1711, officers and voyageurs were given lengthy and detailed instructions to bring down the savages. This order applied as follows to the Miamis of the St. Joseph river: "When the Sieur de Vincennes reaches Detroit he will find out the place where the Miamis are now settled, and if he can go to it in his boat by the great river, which is in Lake Erie, he will go; if not, he will proceed overland, sending his boat together with that of the Sieur Desliettes, to the St. Joseph river to wait, for him. In this case the Sieur Desliettes will put a man from his boat into the Sieur de Vincennes, so that the said Sieur de Vincennes may take two of his men with him by land, to accmpany him and to carry part of the King's presents, if necessary." 54 HISTORIC MICHIGAN "The Sieur de Vincennes, being fully aware of our intentions, and of the necessity of bringing some of the Miamis to us here, so that the other tribes may not have reason to fear them during their absence, will leave no stone unturned to bring some of them down here, especially chiefs and men of importance. * * * The Sieur de Vincennes will induce the Miamis and other savages, whom he may meet, to come by the St. Joseph river, so as to avoid passing through the Lakes. * * * The Sieur Desliettes, being appointed to take orders to the great river, where Companisse (Ottawa chief), is and to the Sakis, Poutouatamies and other savages settled on the St. Joseph river, will set out from Detroit as soon as the Sieur de Vincennes has taken his detachment, and will go to the great river where Companisse is, and will invite him to come to Montreal as well as the other savages with him. He will afterwards go to the St. Joseph river to explain our orders to the savages there, and will there act in concert with the Reverend Father Chardon, who is there and with Sieur de Vincennes when he arrives. Above all he will not forget to bring Oulamek down here, and in going back by the great river he will take Companisse and the others who have promised to come with him, and he will go together with Sieur de Vincennes, to the French river, so soon as they possibly can." (Cadillac Papers, Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. XXXIII, p. 50I). At the council which followed in Montreal, the Marquis de Vaudreuil told his savage allies he had called them there in the interests of peace. "My intention was, seeing you all here, to reunite your minds and to induce you to live together as brothers, so that forming but one and the same body, you may have henceforth but one and the same mind. * * * I will not repeat, what I have already said several times to you all separately, how much care I have taken since the general peace was concluded to keep you at peace and in union with the Iroquois." Under the Jesuit, Father Pierre Jean Chardon, the mission on the St. Joseph River again thrived, according to report on the conditions of the colonies made on September 8, 17II, by the Marquis de Vaudreuil. "I am sending Madame de Vaudreuil a letter from Father Chardon, the missionary at the St. Joseph river, which will show how greatly the savages are disposed to go there. The savages from Lake Superior go there every year, and this year the Frenchmen, whom I sent to the Upper Country to send down the savages there, met two boats returning from Orange (New York), laden with very fine goods, and with several belts to give to the other tribes." Peace among the savage allies of the French in the Michigan peninsula.was destined to be broken by the depredations of an insolent band of Mascoutens who frequented the upper St. Joseph river valleyprobably the territory now comprised in St. Joseph and Branch counties. This tribe and Outagamies had been paid by the English to destrby Fort Pontchartrain at Detroit, according to a report of M. Dubisson, who immediately dispatched Sieur de Vincennes to give full information to Vaudereuil. Two villages of these Indians were SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 55 destroyed, including one band, numbering one hundred and fifty men, women and children, which had wintered in the upper part of the St. Joseph river valley. "It is Heaven which has allowed these two audacious tribes to perish," writes Sieur Dubisson June 15, I712. They had received many presents and belts from the English to destroy the post of Fort Pontchartrain, by slaughtering us, and then certain tribes allied to us, to which the Hurons and Outaouis settled at Detroit were to be no exceptions; and then these wretches were to withdraw to the English, to be at their disposal for creating constant disturbances. * * * I was constantly exposed to a thousand insults. They killed hens, pigeons and other creatures belonging to the French, and yet I dared not say a word." (Cadillac Papers, Vol. XXXIII, Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. XXXIII, p. 537). The Outagamies and Mascoutins continued their depredations in the vicinity of the post, and Dubisson anxiously awaited arrival of Sieur de Vincennes and Miamis. Soon was fought one of the greatest Indian battles in the history of Michigan. The Indian allies of the French, incensed at the intruders, rallied to attack them. Vincennes returned from Montreal. Maquisabe, war chief of the Potawatomies of St. Joseph, arrived with news that four hundred savages were marching to destroy the enemy of the French. The Hurons insisted that enemy should be destroyed. "I got upon a bastion, and casting my eyes in the direction of the wood, I saw the army of the tribes of the south corning out, namely the Illinois, the Missouri, the Osages and the tribes more distant; with them was also Saguina, the Outtavois chief, and also the Poutouatamis, Sakis and some of the Malhominy. This army was marching in order with as many flags as there were different tribes." The Mascoutins and Outagamies came out of their fort, a pistol shot away from that of the French. In the battle that followed they were defeated and the survivors scattered. Those captured were carried off as slaves by the victorious tribes. War parties of savages had passed over the trails and up the streams of southwestern Michigan where took place in the "direction of the Grand river," the great battle in which Foxes and Mascoutins were nearly annihilated. The Jesuit mission on the St. Joseph river being on the route traversed by war parties from tribes in the remote west made it unsafe for Fathers Chardon and Haren to remain there and they were obliged to leave the mission until danger was passed. They withdrew to Michilimackinac where they joined Father Joseph Marest, who wrote, "It seems as if Providence had permitted that on purpose to furnish me with assistance which was absolutely necessary in the present state of affairs." Giving news of the great Indian battle in southwestern Michigan, Father Marest wrote in part to Vaudreuil on June 2I, 1712: "We had as yet ho news to tell you except that the Outaouas, of the Grand river, with the Potawatomies, of the St. Joseph river, had made a great attack on the Mascoutins. * * * Forty Mascoutins, with sixty women and more than one hundred children, are said to have been killed in the direction of the Grand river." 56 HISTORIC MICHIGAN In this battle the Potawatomies were commanded by Makisabe; the Ottawas by Saguina. During the war with the Foxes and Sacs, the Indians had withdrawn temporarily with the missionaries from the St. Joseph valley, according to a "Memoir on the Indians Between Lake Erie and the Mississippi," published in I718. "The Miamis and Potawatomies formerly resided with some missionaries at the River St. Joseph; it is not long since they were there. 'Tis a spot the best adapted of any to be seen for the purposes of living and as regards the soil. There are pheasants, as in France, and parroquets. The finest vines in the world, which produce a vast quantity of very excellent grapes, both black and white, the berry very large and juicy, and the bunch very long. It is the richest district in all that country. I believe they left it only because of the war between the Foxes, Sacs and Outaouaes, and all the other tribes of those parts." (N. Y. Colonial Documents, Vol. IX, p. 889). This war caused a turmoil among the savages of Michigan, which continued through successive years. Hatreds ins primitive breasts continued to smoulder, breaking out in skirmishes here and there, and the French with difficulty maintained peace among their turbulent allies. In the autumn of 1712, Sieur de Vincennes returned with the Miamis to his post on the St. Joseph river. (Archives du Canada. Correspondence General, Vol. XXXIII). There he remained as commander until 1715 when he joined a party of Miamis who had established themselves on the Maumee river near the site of Fort Wayne. A visit to Father Chardon's lonely mission in the wilderness along the St. Joseph is recorded in a letter by Father Gabriel Marest written November 9, 1712, to Father Germon. He writes in part: "I decided to go to the Potawatomi village on the St. Joseph river, which is in charge of Father Chardon. In nine days I made this second journey, which is seventy leagues. I traveled part of the time by the river which has a swift current, and part of the time by land. God preserved me in a special manner on this journey. A party of warriors, enemies of the Illinois, killed a hunter within a gunshot of the road I was traveling, and carried off another, whom they put into a caldron to make a war feast." "As I approached the Potawatomi village, the Lord rewarded me for all my troubles with one of those unforseen events which bring consolation to his servants. Several Indians sowing in the fields, seeing in the distance, informed Father Chardon of my arrival. He came to meet me followed by another Jesuit. What an agreeable surprise when I saw again my brother who threw himself upon my neck and embraced me! We had been separated fifteen years and had not expected to meet again. It is true I had set out to 'rejoin him, but that was at Michilimackinac, not more than one hundred leagues beyond God had undoubtedly inspired him to visit the mission at St. Joseph to make me forget in a moment all the toils I had endured. We both blessed the Divine Mercy which had led us to come from such great distances to give us consolation, which we felt, but could not ex SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' HOMECOMING-THREE RIVERS GEN. CASS' TABLE AT MARRANTETTE HOME-MENDON SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 57 press. Father Chardon shared in the joy of our happy meeting, and gave us all the entertainment we could expect through his kindness. After remaining eight days at the mission, my brother and I embarked in his canoe for Michilimackinac." (Les Relations des Jesuites). Returning to the St. Joseph mission, Father Marest spent a fortnight with Father Chardon, whom he characterizes thus: "He is a zealous missionary, with a rare talent for learning languages. He is acquainted with nearly all the savages near the Great Lakes, and has learned enough of the Illinois language to make himself understood, though he has acquired it only by contact with these savages who come by chance to the village, for the Potawatomies and Illinois are on good terms, and exchange visits. Their customs, however, are very different. The former are brutal and coarse; the latter are gentle. After saying farewell to the missionary, we ascended the River St. Joseph in order to make a portage at thirty leagues from its mouth." It was on October 28, I7I9, that M. de Vaudreuil announced to the Conseil de Marine the death among the Ouyatanons of Sieur de Vincennes, one of the most noted figures in the St. Joseph valley of New France. His band of Miamis were planning to return to the St. Joseph river when the commander expired in their midst. Deprived of his leadership, they decided to remain where they were. As there was danger of corrupting English influence among the Ouyatanon Miamis, it had been planned to have Sieur de Vincennes remove them to the St. Joseph river, from which he had followed them in I7I5. Vaudereuil continued his effort to remove the Miamis back to the St. Joseph. Under date of October 28, I719, he wrote: "I have designated Sieur Dubisson to command the post of the Ouyatanons and to use his influence to determine whether the Miamis would go to the River St. Joseph or remain where they are." (Public Archives du Canada. Correspondence Generale. Series CII I. Vol. XL, p. io8). He had received information that ten canoes of these Miamis had visited the English at Orange during the summer. The Indians remained where they were, and revered many years the memory of Sieur de Vincennes. "Thirty years after his death the French used his name to stir the hearts of the savages." During the year 1719 and I720, there was sent to command Fort St. Joseph a distinguished officer, who had won fame during an attack on Haverill, Mass., and in I715 when he led the French in the Fox Indian war. This was Jean Baptiste de St. Ours, Sieur Deschiallons. He was born in France in I670. He was the father of nine children. It was undoubtedly his record as an infantry captain made while serving against the Foxes under Sieur de Lovigny that won him appointment to command so strategic a position as Fort St. Joseph guarding the western gateway to the Michigan peninsula. He commanded Detroit in I729, Quebec in 1734, and Fort St. FredTe in 1738. He died in Quebec in I747. Sieur de Montmidy, a petty officer, was sent to relieve Deschialions. He was given a permit to proceed on May 21, 1T2I, "wtlh a 58 HiISTORIC MICHIGAN canoe in which he is to carry necessities to the post on the River St. Joseph. Registered May 27, 1721." It was not until June 5, however, that transportation from Montreal to the post was provided for this officer. On that day a conge, or permit was issued by M. de Vaudreuil to Sieurs Jean Garreau and Nicholas Catin to depart in a canoe with Laboissiere and Derochers to carry to the river Saint Joseph the Sieur Montmidy, commandant of said post, stores, provisions, &c." (Rapport de l'Archiviste de la Province de Quebec pour 1921-1922). Mascouten chiefs and ten warriors arrived on the St. Joseph on September I5 and demanded on behalf of their nation that the Potawatomies receive them peacefully. Sieur Montmidy reported to Vaudreuil by letter October 3. Previous to this time a number of Mascoutens and a chief arrived to state they had abandoned the alliance with the Foxes. Writes Vaudreuil: "As it was important to get the good will of the Kickapous and Mascoutins, who wish to establish themselves, I have ordered Sieur Montmidy to send the chiefs to Montreal." (Public Archives du Canada. Correspondence Generale. CII I, Vol. XLIV, p. 72). At this time the garrisons of Detroit, Mackinac, Miamis and St. Joseph were strengthened. In each was a small garrison and a commanding officer. The term of service was usually three years and unless a second term was granted the officers usually rotated. Trade was opening on the St. Joseph river. On July 15, was issued a conge, or permit to trade, to "men named Saint-Louis and Delauriers and four men to go in a canoe to trade at the post on the River St. Joseph." Into the St. Joseph country now came another noted figure in the military affairs of New France. This was Sieur Jean de Saint-Ange de Bellerive, a distinguished officer who had served in the army since 1685. He is credited with having conducted Charlevoix through the Great Lakes region and the west in I72I. A conge was issued to SaintAnge in Montreal on August 6 to depart in a canoe manned by four men to carry "to the post on the river Saint Joseph merchandise, stores and munitions from the magazines of the King." On the same day a similar permit was issued to Albert Baune also to "equip a canoe with four men to carry to the post on the Saint Joseph necessary merchandise and munitions." Father Pierre Francois Xavier de Charlevoix presents the first description of the St. Joseph river valley and the historic fort, which was a lonely outpost of civilization for nearly a century, the prize for which Indians and four nations fought until its ultimate fall. Charlevoix, a Jesuit, was sent to discover the "Western sea," and during his tour he visited all the military posts except those on Lake Superior. The Jesuit made his memorable entry into the St. Joseph river on the 6th or very early on the 7th of August, 1721, for it was about midnight when his catnoe passed into the river's mouth. Of the journey up stream to the fort he writes: "Nothing but excellent lands covered with trees of prodigious height under which there grows in some places. very fine capillaire." (Journal of a Voyage to North America Undertaken by Order of the SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 59 French King, Containing the Geographical Description and Natural History of that Country, Particularly Canada. Together with an Account of the Customs, Characters, Religion, Manners and Traditions of the Original Inhabitants. In a Series of Letters to the Duchess of Lesdiguieres. Translated from the French of Pierre Francois Xavier de Charlevoix. In Two Volumes, London, I76I). The stream, Father Charlevoix declared, was navigable for a great distance, and with headwaters not far from Lake Erie, he called it the principal water route between that lake and the foot of Lake Michigan. The only picture left us of this historic fort in the Michigan wilderness is the description by Charlevoix, who, writing from River St. Joseph under date of August I6, 1721, says: "It was eight days yesterday since I arrived at this post, where we have a mission and where there is a commandant and a small garrison. The commandant's house, which is a very sorry one, is called the fort, from its being surrounded with an indifferent palisado, which is pretty nearly the case with all the rest, except the forts Chambly and Catarocouy, which are real fortresses. They are, however, in almost every one of them some few cannons, or pateraroes, which, in case of necessity, are sufficient to hinder surprise and to keep the Indians in respect." "The River St. Joseph is so commodious for the commerce of all parts of Canada that it is no wonder it has always been frequented by Indians. Besides, it waters an extremely fertile country, but this is not what these people esteem it for. It is even great pity to give them good lands; which they either make no use of at all, or soon run out by sowing maize on them. The Mascoutins had not long since a settlement on this river, but have returned back to their own country, which is said to be still finer than this. The Poutewatamies have occupied successively several posts here where they still are. Their village is on the same side with the fort, a little below it and on a very fine spot of ground. That of the Miamis is on the other side of the river." "The Indians of both villages are mostly Christians but, as they have been a long time without any pastors, the missionary who has been lately sent them will have no small difficulty in bringing them back to the exercise of their religion. The River St. Joseph comes from the southeast and discharges itself into the bottom of Lake Michigan, the eastern shore of which is a hundred leagues in length, and which you are obliged to sail along before you come to the entry of this river. You afterwards sail up twenty leagues in it before you reach the fort, which navigation requires great precautions because when the wind is large, that is to say, westerly, which frequently prevails here, the waves extend the whole length of the lake. There is also good ground to believe that the great number of rivers which discharge themselves into the lake on the eastern side, contribute much by the shock of their currents against the waves to render the voyage dangerous. What is certain is, that there are few places in Canada where there are more shipwrecks." o0 HISTORIC MICHIGAN The irreverent Indians of this place showed no favor to the priest, for on the day following his arrival they stole some of his belongings. The Indians of this region were natural thieves and regarded everything they could seize as lawful prizes. If complaint was made to a chief, the article would be returned, and not only the "finder," who was without doubt the thief, ut also the chief, expected rewards more valuable than the recovered property. During his visit here, the reverend father was one night mistaken for a bear walking upright and was nearly shot. He writes: "On the evening of the first day, I run a very great risk of putting an end to all my travels. I was taken for a bear, and had very near been killed on this footing by one of my conductors. It happened in this manner: After supper and prayers were over, it being very hot, I went to take a walk along the banks of the river. A spaniel which followed me wherever I went, happened to plunge into the water in quest of something I had thrown into it without thinking. My people, who believed me retired to rest, and the more so as it was very late and the night dark, hearing the noise the creature made, took into their head that it was a roebuck swimming across the river. Two of them immediately set out with their muskets loaded. By good luck for me, one of the two, who was a hairbrained fellow, was called back by the rest who feared he would cause them to miss their prey, but his hairbrainedness might very easily have caused him not to miss me. The other advancing slowly perceived me at a distance of twenty paces from him and made no doubt that it was a bear standing on its hind legs, as these animals always do on hearing any noise. With this notion the huntsman cocked his piece in which he had put three balls, and, crouching close to the ground, approached me as softly as possible. He was just going to fire when I likewise began to think I saw something, but without being able to distinguish what it was. As I could not doubt, however, that this must be some of my people I asked him whether he took me for a bear. He made no answer and when I came -up to him, I found him quite speechless, and like a person seized with horror at the thoughts of what he was going to do." The fields around the fort were covered with sassafras to such an extent that the air was perfumed by the sweet-smelling shrubs, stated Charlevoix, who believed they were shoots of trees cut down in clearing the ground for the fort and the Indian towns. For a glimpse of the first towns of southwestern Michigan and description of the habits of the people who lived in them we are also indebted to Charlevoix. "The villages are irregularly built. The houses are in confusion. Some are round, some coe-shaped, others like tubs on posts. Some are covered with bark, others with clay and built with less art, neatness and solidity than those of beavers. Some of the cabins are fifteen or twenty feet broad and sometimes one hundred feet long with fireplaces to serve every thirty feet of space. Doors were suspended from above like the ports of a ship. Holes in the roof gave egress to the smoke. Some of the villages were surrounded with skillfully-built SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 61 palisades and redoubts. These palisades were double and triple with branches of trees interwoven among the piles." To the chief of the Miamis, Charlevoix paid a visit. This savage dignitary was tall and handsome, it was stated, despite the fact that he had lost his nose during a debauch. When he heard that the Jesuit was coming to see him he seated himself cross-legged like an oriental in an alcove of his cabin and affected an unbecoming haughty gravity. The priest was told he must do likewise if he did not want the chief to despise him. Here the Frenchman witnessed dances and games of various kinds including a la crosse contest between the Miamis and Potawatomies. Some of the Indians continued gambling games until they were stripped naked and had nothing more to lose. Charlevoix was favorably impressed with Piremon, chief of the Potawatomies, and with Wilimak, the orator. Piermon was sixty years old, prudent, and gave good advice. Wilamek, somewhat younger, was a Christian. Though well-instructed, he did not use his religion, Charlevoix discovered. When the priest reproached Wilamek for neglecting his religion, the Indian left abruptly, went to the chapel and prayed so loudly his voice "could be heard as far as the missionary's house. You can scarce anywhere meet with a more sensible man or a better speaker, and besides he is a very amiable character and sincerely attached to the French. Piremon is no less so, and I heard both of them speak in a council held at the commandant's where they said a great many very fine things to us." The excellent impression Charlevoix received of the Indians in these villages was shattered by the return of several tribesmen from the English colonies with a supply of intoxicating liquor they had received in return for furs. The savages then laid aside all things else and concentrated efforts in drinking the liquor. This lasted eight days. The carousing took place in both villages, and the revelry of these barbarians, who in wartime were reputed to be cannibals, shocked the good priest, who wrote that "Every night the fields re-echoed with the most hideous howlings. One would have thought that a gang of devils had broken loose from hell, or that the natives of the two towns had been cutting one another's throat." A number of natives were maimed in the brawls, and when Charlevoix told one of them who was suffering from a broken arm that he should keep sober in the future, he was informed the injury was of small consequence and that the patient would drink whenever "firewater" was obtainable. The priest was a helpless witness of the debauchery of scores of savages. The tremendous task confronting any missionary who might endeavor to convert them was understood by the priest. When he tried to induce them to permit no more liquor to be brought into their midst, he was cooly told: "It is you who have accustomed us to it. We are no longer able to dispense with it, and should you refuse to give us any, we would certainly go to the English for it. This liquor kills us and destroys us, we confess, but it is to you we owe tlis mischief, which is now past remedy." 62 HISTORIC MICHIGAN Charlevoix disagrees with the charge that the French alone are responsible for introducing this destructive influence among the red men. "It is without just grounds that they blame us alone," he declares, "for had it not been for the English, I do believe it possible to have put an end to this commerce in the colony, or at least to have reduced it to its just limits. It will perhaps soon be necessary to permit the French to carry on this traffic, taking proper measures to hinder the abuse of it; and the more, as. the spirituous liquors are much more mischievous than ours." It is to Charlevoix also that we are indebted for a graphic description of the life of these residents of southwest Michigan in remote times, and what he tells us of the remarkable care the savage mothers gave their children is an astonishing revelation when one considers the barbarous conduct of these wild people as adults. "The care which mothers take of children is beyond all expression," he declares, "and proves in a very sensible manner that we often spoil all by the reflections which we add to the dictates of simple nature. They never leave them; and even when they are ready to sink under the burden with which they load themselves, the cradle of the child is held as nothing. One would even think that this additional weight were an ease to them and rendered them more agile. Nothing can be neater than these cradles in which the child lies as softly as possible. But the infant is made fast only from the waist downwards, so that when the cradle is upright the little creatures have their head and half of the body hanging down. This posture, instead of making them decrepit, renders the body supple." After leaving the cradle these children were no longer confined. They roamed naked through the woods. This developed strength and agility, but they suffered from weak stomachs and lungs. In summer they spent much of the time in the water. Early they were taught to use bows and arrows, and the love of warfare was instilled in them. "To inspire children with honor," says Charlevoix, "the parents took care to conduct instructions in an indirect manner. The most common was to rehearse famous exploits of their ancestors or countrymen. The young were inspired to imitate them. To correct faults, the parents used tears and entreaties, but never threats, which would make an impression on minds imbued with principles that no one has the right to enforce on them anything. Mothers seeing daughters behaving badly burst into tears, and when the daughter asked the reason replied, 'You dishonor me!' This proved an efficacious reproof. Young girls were even known to strangle themselves for reprimands of their mothers. The greatest punishment the Indians inflicted on their children was to throw a little water into their faces. "Notwithstanding, since they have more frequent commerce with the French, some of them begin to chastize their children, but this happens only among those that are Christians, or such as are settled in the colony," declares Charlevoix. "The evil in training children was incorrect ideas of virtue and instillation of implacable ideas of revenge." These Indians the priest found to be naturally quite, and masters SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 63 of themselves. Superstition, and not depravity of heart, he declared, was the basis for some customs, which, compared with European standards of conduct, were immodest. "Born free and independent they are struck with horror at whatever has the shadow of despotic power, and very rarely deviate from certain maxims and usages founded on good sense alone, which holds the place of law, and supplies in some sort the want of legal authority. In this community all men are equal, manhood being the quality most esteemed amongst them without any perogative of rank capable of doing prejudice to the rights of private persons; without any preeminence from merit which begets pride, and which makes others too sensible of their inferiority. And though there is less delicacy of sentiment in the Indians than amongst us, there is, however, more probity with infinitely less ceremony or more equivocal compliments." "In a word, these Indians are perfectly convinced," continues Charlevoix, "that man is born free, and that no power on earth has a right to infringe on his liberty, and that nothing can compensate the loss of it." For these residents of the St. Joseph valley of two centuries ago, Charlevoix hands on to the generation of today the following recommendation: "I was still better received amongst the infidel Poutewatamies than amongst the Christian Hurons. These Indians are the finest men in all Canada, and are besides of the sweetest natural temper, and have been always our very good friends." Sieur de Villedonne, captain of infantry, was appointed the next year to succeed Monsieur Montmidy as commander of Fort St. Joseph. He was given permission on June I, 1722, to proceed from Montreal with three canoes to the post. Villedonne commanded Fort St. Joseph until May, 1725, when he was succeeded by another distinguished officer in the person of Sieur de Villiers. A report on the "Postes du Canada-Pays d'En Haut," gives the following personnel of the post on the St. Joseph river, 1723-1725: "Monsieur de Villedonne; Missionary, the Rev. Father Messager, Jesuit; officers, de Sabrevois, de Lingery, de Rigauld, de Viver, de Deschaillon, de Montigny, de Beauvoix; Robert Graton, surnamed Saint Ange, sergeant; Jean Colet, surnamed Colet; Julien Perdriere, surnamed Laforge; Francois Beaulieu, surnamed Beaulieu; Antoine Renauld, surnamed Pleumarais; Charles Henry de Rupalay, surnamed Gonneville; Paul de Rupalay, surnamed Rupulay; Francoise Lefeuve, surnamed Duplessy; Guillaume Lormier, Louis Levigne, surnamed Plante." (Public Archives du Canada. Amerique du Nord, Canada. Establissement des Divers Postes. Series CII III, Vol. XIII, p. I75). Sieur de Villiers obtained on May 28, 1725, autority to depart from Montreal for Fort St. Joseph with three canoes loaded with provisions and merchandise. Twelve men were to accompany him. On May 21, I726, Julien Lalouette was authorized to carry supplies to the "missionaries of the Company of Jesus" at Michilimackinac and Fort St. Joseph. Madame de Villiers, in the spring of I726, joined her hus 64 HISTORIC MICHIGAN band in the lonely wilderness post. Among the conges registered at Montreal was one issued by M. de Longueuil May 21, 1726, to "Madame de Villiers to leave with fourteen men to carry to Sieur de Villiers at the post on the River Saint Joseph necessary provisions, subsistence and effects." Sieur de Villiers dispatched Marin Hurtebise in the spring of 1728 to Montreal for supplies for the garrison. We find registered on July 6, permission for the "procurator" for said Sieur de Villiers to leave with five canoes each manned by five men. Four permits were issued for travel to Fort St. Joseph in I729. On June IO, the Reverened Father Dheu, superior of the Company of Jesus, was authorized to send supplies to "missionaries of the River Saint Joseph." On June II, M. de Beauharnois granted passage to "Sieurs Duplessis and Villiers, cadets in the troops of the King, to depart in a canoe manned by five men to carry provisions" to the fort. This year Sieur de Villier's wife again visited him. On June 12, she was also granted permission to leave with two canoes each manned by six men to carry "subsistence for the maintenance of Sieur de Villiers and his garrison." The canoes of the priest, the cadets and the commandant's wife totaled five, manned by twenty-two men. The fourth conge of the year, issued June 28, was a permit given to Sieur Reaume, "intrepreter for the King, to leave in a canoe with five men to ascend the River Saint Joseph and to continue his services in the said capacity as interpreter." The only conge registered in I730-date illegiblewas issued to Louis Prid'homme to carry provisions to the missionaries at the post. Peace, which proved only temporary, was made by M. de Ligny at Green Bay, with the chiefs of the Foxes and Sauks, June 7, 1726. It was planned that the commandant at La Pointe (Chegoiwegon), Lake Superior, should labor to sever the alliance of the Sioux with the Foxes by means of gifts and permitting them to hope that a missionary and Frenchmen might be sent among them. "The same thing should be written to the officer commanding the post at Detroit, and at the River St. Joseph, in order that the nations adjacent to those parts may be detached from the Foxes, and that these officers, in case of war, have a care that the way shall be stopped, and the Foxes prevented from seeking an asylum with the Iroquois, or in any other nation, where they may secret themselves. (Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. I, p. 22). How well this warning was heeded and how effective the French and their allies acted when the exigency arose will soon be seen. Sieur de Villiers, whose long tour of duty at this post is evidence of the faith placed in his fitness for commanding so strategic a position, and his garrison and Indian allies were called upon early in the summer of I730 to unite with other French commanders in the Great Lakes region in aiding the savages to defeat the Fox Indians with whom there had been occasional skirmishes since the war in the Michigan peninsula over a decade previous. They were the only tribe with whom the French could not establish friendship. SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 65 Writes the commandant at Detroit to the Marquis de Beauharnois. August 22, I730: "I have the honor to inform you that a savage from the St. Joseph river reports that two days before he left, two Mascoutin runners arrived who had come in haste to ask Monsieur de Villiers for help and powder, that they had taken only two days in coming from their place." (Cadillac Papers, Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. XXXIV, p. 67). The messengers brought news that the Fox Indians were fighting with the Potawatomies, Kickapoos, Mascoutens and Illinois. They were believed to have been on their way to join the Iroquois when they were attacked by the Illinois on the banks of Fox river. While the Foxes were entrenching themselves by digging holes in the ground, the Indians sent appeals to the French commanders at Chartres, Green Bay and St. Joseph. "The savage from the St. Joseph river says that Monsieur de Villiers is going to set out with all his people. He also adds that Monsieur de Villiers has done me the honor to write to me to ask for the assistance of our savages; but these letters have not yet come, and our savages will not set out until they do arrive, rather doubting this news. Father de Richardy, however, told me that he received a letter yesterday evening from Father Messager, the missionary at the St. Joseph river, who sends him the same news as that which this savage has told me, which gives ground for thinking the thing is true. The Poux (Potawatomies) seem quite determined to go there, and so do some of the Outaouas; but there are only a few Hurons because eighty of them remained out of the party that proceeded this spring. * * * The Fox Indians said they were expecting a large party of Iroquois in a short time which was to come and join them in order to help them to withdraw to their homes. * * * It is quite certain, sir, that the Iroquois who are great scoundrels and are always disseminating belts among all tribes, are instigated by the English and are very injurious to us." Assisted by the garrison from Fort Chartres, commanded by St. Ange, and by de Villiers from St. Joseph, and des Noyelles of Detroit, the Indians overpowered the enemy, slaughtering nearly all and torturing the captives. In this battle Sieur de Villiers had with him a force of fifty Frenchmen-probably almost his entire garrison at St. Joseph-and five hundred Indians. The faith of the Indian allies of the St. Joseph river in this battle, however, is questioned in a report on the state of Canada made in I730 by order of Monseigneur, the Count de Maurepas: "What can we think of the Saquis, Maskoutens, Kikapous, and the greater part of the Poutouatamis, all of the St. Joseph river, who have only formed an apparent league with us against the Fox Indiansrather with the object of protecting them than to destroy them. All these tribes together, united by their relationship to one another, are simply held back by fear; and, if they abase themselves now, it is in order to draw down supplies which they share with the Fox Indians. Can this be doubted, and was it not this which caused failure of the *:: ~:S 66 HISTORIC MICHIGAN expeditions of MM. Du Duissons, de Villiers, des Noyelles and Detroit? Is it to be believed that these tribes did not know of the retreat of the Foxes? * * * It is necessary for us to show ourselves powerful to these restless tribes (Fox Indians), and we must not count on their fidelity except insofar as we make them fear us. The Folles Avoines are the only ones on whom we can count, for the Poutouatamis of the St. Joseph river, the Saquis, the Mascoutins, the Quickapoux and Puants deserve as much punishment as the Fox Indians. They have not slain any French people, but they have supplied corn and stores for the purpose of slaying them. * * * One cannot be too careful in choosing the officers that are sent to command at the posts of Niagara, Detroit, the Miamis of St. Joseph river, Michilimackinac and the Point, for all the good order and prosperity which we aim at depends on that." In 1732, Sieur de Boishebert, commandant at Detroit, marched across Michigan on his way to attack the Fox Indians, who had taken up a strong position in a palisade on the shore of Lake Marameek, nineteen miles below St. Louis. With him were Hurons, Ottawas and Potawatomies. They retired when the enemy promised to come the following spring to Detroit or St. Joseph river. The French war with the Fox Indians continued through 1735, Sieur de Noyelle, of Detroit, commanding the expeditions against them. During the campaign a party of Hurons deserted the French, with the purpose of "eating up," they expressed it, some friendly Sakis residing on the St. Joseph river. The commandant at Fort St. Joseph at this time was Sieur Jacques Pierre Daneau de Muy, who was required to use all his powers of persuasion and diplomacy to save these savages from being attacked by the cannibals. De Muy, a distinguished captain of infantry, was more inclined to lead the life of a student than a soldier, but his career as commander of St. Joseph won commendation of M. de Beauharnois. While at St. Joseph De Muy, whose hobby was botany, made a collection of plants unknown in France. With medicinal herbs he cured savages of disease. He returned to France in 1736, carrying his plant specimens. Becoming an important trade center, the fort on the St. Joseph river attracted savages from great distances, who brought pelts to exchange with traders. The furs were shipped to Michilimackinac, the entrepot for the French posts at St. Joseph, and at the Point, Michipicoten, Nepigon, and Gamasettigoya on Lake Superior. It was to Michilimackinac that the voyageurs brought their furs and came to buy wheat and boats. This traffic was carried on during July and the beginning of August. The vessels carrying the huge stocks of pelts down the lakes made several voyages during the trading season. The Southern Michigan wilderness, with its innumerable lakes, ponds and rivers produced a rich yield of fur, which was marketed at Fort St. Joseph. The following conges to trade at this post, granted by M. de Beauharnois, are recorded in the Quebec archives: May 6, I739-Sieur Gatineau. One canoe manned by the follow I SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 67 ing men: Pierre Perignie (guide), Jouineau Latulippe, Louis Rocheleau, de Bastican; Jean de Tailly * * * Deasuniers, de Montreal; Leonard Lalonde, F. Mailhoit, Antoine Amiot, Louis Gatineau, Jr., Jacques Langoumois, de Bout-del'Ile. (The last five are to remain for the winter). June I9, I739-Sieur Hery. Twenty-eight men to be commanded by a man named Landreville. June 10, I74o-Sieur Gatineau. Five canoes manned by thirtytwo men. June I8, I743-Jean-Baptiste Pomainville. Four canoes manned by the following: Jean-Baptiste Pomainville, Jr., Joseph Coyard, of Chateauguay; Francois Derousson, Francois Dumay, Pierre (illegible), Jean-Baptiste Perreault, surnamed Duchesne, Jean-Baptiste Pridhomme, of Saint Sulpice; Jacques (illegible), Roch Chouint, Charles Bousquet, Francois Mariceau, Charles Quintin DuBois, of Repentigny; Michel Dufresne, Laurent Roy, Antoine Caty, of Pointeaux-Trembles; Ignace Texier, of Maska; Pierre Daunais, of Boucherville; Jean-Baptiste Vincent, Michel Brosseau, of Cote Saint Paul; Joseph Lafleur, Joseph Lafebvre Lassisseraye; Rene Lafantaisie, of River Saint Pierre; Pierre Ude (?), of Longueuil; Gabriel Lepine, of Ile Saint Ignace. May 17, I745-Jean-Baptiste Pomainville. One canoe manned by six men to carry with them Sieurs de Quindre and Marin, "farmers of that post, and their effects and merchandise necessary for trading." Roll of those engaged to go: Jean Baptiste Pomainville, of Chateauguay, conductor; Augustin Lemire, of Chateauguay; Idnance Prudhomme, Saint-Sulplice; Michel Bissonet, Jr., of Vincennes; Jealn-Baptiste Latrielle, Jr., and Pierre Cardinal, Jr., of Montreal. June Io, I745-Pierre Cardinal. One canoe and the following engages to carry "effects and merchandise" to Sieurs de Quindre and Marin: Pierre Cardinal, Montreal, conductor; Pierre Duguay, Louis Lavalle, Michel Bissonnet, Michel Petard (?), called Lalumiere, JeanBaptiste Desjardins, of Varennes; Jean-Baptiste Declos, of Point-auxTrembles; Pierre Trottier, of Pointe-Claire. June Io, I745-Jean-Baptiste Pomainville, guide, Chateauguay, one canoe and the following men to carry merchandise to Sieurs de Quindre and Marin: Francoise Rheaume, of Ile Perrot; Joseph Trottier and Francois Trottier, of Point-Claire; Ignace Texier, of Maska; Francois Gaumond, of L'Assomption. June Io, I745-Raymond Quenet. One canoe and three men: Francois (effaced), Jean Parc, Andre Lecourt. June 13, I745-Andre Prejean. One canoe and five men to transport provisions to Sieurs de Quindre and Marin: Andre Prejean, conductor, of Sources; Andre Louis, Francois Lalonde, of Soulanges; Noel Deniau, Joseph Ladouceur, Lachine. Trade must have flourished at the post for on July I, I746, we find that Sieur Laperriere Marin, who has returned to Montreal, is given a permit to return with two canoes and sixteen men to his establishment on the St. Joseph river. His guide was the veteran voyageur, -:f-:,00 G8' HISTORC MICHIGAN Jean-Baptiste Pomainville, of Chateauguay, whom we have already reQrded as making two.previous trips. With the canoes were: Bernard Laviolette, Louis Deslauriers, Joachim Premot, Jean Ridde, of Chateauguay; Francois Beauchamp, of L'Assomption; Francois Lefebvre, Pierre Giroux, Joseph Bissonnet, Gabriel Gervais, of Laprairie; Francois Brunet, surnamed Bourbonnais, Pierre Deschamps, of Ile Perrot; Pierre Deschamps, Pierre LeBer, Augistin Valiquet, of Hle Jesus; Nicholas Lajeunesse, of Detroit; Jean-Baptiste Latriele, of Montreal. April 22, I747-Sieur Hervieux. Three canoes with six men each. The crews: Francoise Binet, of Pointe-Claire; Jean-Baptiste Cauder (Coderre); Joseph Deneaux, of Bout-de-l'Ile; Pierre Brabant, Michel Deschamps; Joseph Montpetit, surnamed Potvin, of Ile Perrot; Francois, surnamed Bourbonnais; Gabriel Gibaut, of Cote Saint Paul; Pierre Lepine and Joseph (illegible), of Sorel; Francois Raymond, of L'Assomption; Jean Beauvais, of Longe-Pointe; Charles Boutin, surnamed Dubord, Francois Roy, and Jacques Laselle, of Montreal; Robin Jeanne, of Sault-au-Recollet; Antoin Potvin, of Ile Jesus; Pierre Lepine, of Sorel; Joseph (illegible), of Longeuil; Carpentier, of Montreal. When the traders went to St. Joseph in 1747, Sieur de Longueil cautioned them not to carry so large a supply as to tempt the Indians to seize the goods. In I748, it was stated that there was no need of more goods at this post. In 1748, the Count de la Glaissoniere instructed the commander at St. Joseph and other posts to keep accurate accounts of expenses and of distribution of gifts to Indians. He also asked for lists of names of voyageurs wintering at the posts, of couriers du bois, and of Indian murderers and malefactors who were to be arrested and punished. In I747, the Hurons plotted to massacre the garrison at Detroit, but their plans were frustrated by a squaw who heard of the conspiracy and revealed the information to the French. With difficulty the French kept their influence dominant with the savages of the Great Lakes region. The Sauteurs attacked French canoes, and from every quarter came reports of insults to the French. On the other hand, the Iroquois were continually seeking to weaken French influences in the country where they once murdered and plundered at will. A council of tribes was held at Detroit. "Among the Indians who are going home, there are many faithful ones who are most anxious to get back to their own country to labor. * * * They belong to the River St. Joseph and are principally Potawatomies, who are all allied with Miamis, Sacs, Foxes and Folles Avoines. * * * Their first harangue was delivered with energy to convince us of fidelity and attachment to the French for whom they would rather die than abandon," wrote M. de Boisherbert in a report on Indian affairs. (N. Y. Colonial Documents, Vol. X, p. 84). Sieur Laperriere Marin, commandant of Fort St. Joseph, reported on July 5 and 30, I747, that the English, through representatives of the Five Nations, were intriguing against French interests among the;;:::::: d * i SOUTWfEST MICHIGAN villages of the several tribes residing on the banks of the St. Joseph. He reported they were using every effort to bring about destruction of the post. Potawatomies were loyal, he said. Fifty Ouyatanons came to the fort to offer their services to the French. The French regime in North America was nearing its end. To the post of St. Joseph was now sent one of the most distinguished military leaders of New France, a soldier who was soon to add laurels to a name already conspicuous for bravery and enterprise. This was Francois Marie Picote, Sieur de Bellestre. It was he who is credited with commanding the Indians at Braddock's defeat and who surrendered Detroit and the whole of the Northwest to Major Robert Rogers when France yielded forever her domain in Canada in the fall of 1760. He was a chevalier of the Order of St. Louis, and a member of one of the oldest houses in Canada. He died in Quebec in I793. In 1747, Boisherbert, writing about Bellestre, then an ensign, says: "He is known and beloved by the Indians of St. Joseph. He is an ensign of excellent conduct, a brave fellow who pleases every one that is with him." In the latter part of this year Bellestre was appointed commandant at Fort St. Joseph. He was instructed to remain at Detroit under orders of Longueuil, the commandant, but he had the right to go to Fort St. Joseph and return so often as he pleased. It was proposed to send him at once with twelve soldiers to St. Joseph, but difficulties with the Hurons caused delay. In December, some Frenchmen and Indians arrived from the post and requested that de Bellestre return with them. He started back with them on December 15, I747. In I748, conditions required his presence at Detroit, whence he was dispatched at the head of an expedition against the Hurons. On April 24, 1748, M. de Bellestre arrived at Montreal with twelve chiefs from the St. Joseph river. He was accompanied also by Chief Mechoukima and thirty-four warriors from the Grand river. They had been called there to a peace conference, which M. de Longueuil thought necessary following the murder of several Frenchmen in the Saginaw region, where conduct of the savages was threatening. Four war chiefs of the Kickapoos and Mascoutens also arrived. Ottawas, Potawatomies, Hurons and Sauteurs united in pledging loyalty to the French. He must, however, have returned to the post for on June to, I749, there was issued in Montreal a permit for Madame de Bellestre to leave in a canoe manned by seven men to join her husband at "the post on the River Saint Joseph. Her escort was commanded by Pierre Leduc, who had with him: Alexandre Bissonnet, of Cap Saint Michel; Augistin Godin and Joseph Dussult, of Riviere-Jacques Cartier; Jean-Baptiste David and Jacques David, of Saint Michel; Francois Leblanc, of Petite-Cote. Preceding Madame de Bellestre on the long voyage was the trader Sieur Lefebvre and his employes: Joseph Barabe, of Varennes; Paul Massia, of Lachine; Francois (illegible), of Saint Jean; Louis Robert, of Boucherville; Laurent Truteau, of Montreal; Joseph Chretien, of Montreal. On July 30, Sieur de:i::: 70 HISTORIC MICHIGAN Peltreux obtained permission to leave Montreal with Saint Aubin, (illegible) and four Pouteouatamies." Sieur de Bellestre was succeded by Sieur de Blainville as commander of Fort St. Joseph. "He is the oldest ensign in the infantry and commands at the River Saint Joseph. He made the campaign with Monsieur de Rigaud when he captured a small English fort belonging to the Boston government." (Public Archives du Canada. Correspondence Generale. Series CIII, Vol. LXXXVII-I, p. 6I). It was in 1748, that a permit to trade at St. Joseph was granted to a man destined to become a notable figure in the history of the St. Joseph river valley-a man who was to become during more than thirty years' residence the first "leading citizen," merchant and landowner and a wielder of powerful influence among the Indians. He was ultimately to stir the wrath of Patrick Sinclair, the British commander. This was Sieur Louis Chevalier, to whom was issued a conge to trade on June 10. With him in one canoe departed: Paul Royer, Ile Perrot; Jacques Belzile, of Montreal; Pierre-Jean Venne and Francois Janvaure, of Assomption; Joseph Saint Denis, and Honore, of "the upper coasts." It was in June of this year also that Madame de Quindre departed from Montreal to join her husband. She and Madame Le Periere left with two canoes and the following voyageurs under guidance of Antoine Grenon: Jean-Baptiste Porier Desloges, Michel Grenon, Jr., Joseph Lefebvre, of Pointe-Claire; Francoise (illegible), Francois Bourbonnais, of Ile Perrot; Joseph Edmorid, of Bout-de-Ile; Paul Primot, of Chateauguay; Pierre Caritar, of Laprairie; Basil Juneau, (?) of Pointe-aux-Trembles; Joseph Bluteau, of Longe-Pointe; Joseph Lecour, of Laliberte, of the Riviere-des-Prairie. During the same month a permit was issued to Sieur Jean-Baptiste Lefebvre and the following to trade at St. Joseph: Paul Pickard, Lachine; Grandmaison, of Cote Saint Jean; Francois Auge, Amable Auge, Paul Labrosse, Charles Lefebvre, of Montreal; Pierre Dousette, of Sorel. Trade increased in the St. Joseph valley in I750 when four conges were issued to a total of twenty-four men. They were as follows: May 27-Nicholas Lefebvre. One canoe and Thomas Halle, of Saint Michel; Thomas Leduc, of Ile Perrot; George Minguy, of Montreal; Charles Laflamme, of Cote de Liesse. June I-Sieur Jean-Baptiste Marsolet. One canoe and Charles Parisien, of Ile Perrot; Pierre Pillet and Francois Pillet, of Repentigny; Louis Beauvais, of Salut-au-Recollet; Louis (illegible) and Pierre Halle, of Saint Michel; Francois Forcint (?), of LonguePointe. June 6-Sieur Porlier Langroipardiere. Two canoes and Pierre Champagne, of Laprairie; Joseph Boyer, of Laprairie; Louis Giroux, of Longeuil; Charles Lebeuf, of Chateauguay; Louis Santheu and Jean-Baptiste Pelletier, of Sorel; Francois Mire and Jean-Baptiste Danis, of Sainte Genevieve; Jean-Baptiste Sarreau, of Saint Michel; A SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 71 Joseph Hus, of Berthier; Louis Petit, called Rossingnol, of Montreal; Antoine Larivere, father and Joseph Larviere, son, of Pointe-Claire. June 17, I750-Sieur Saint-Ange Charly. One canoe to depart in charges of Charles Chevalier and Joseph Laviolette, of Chateauguay; Francois Deganais, of Ile Jesus; Moise Languedoc, of Varennes; Francois Gosselin, of Lachenaie; Pierre Raymond, of Chateauguay; Jean Echete (?), of Montreal. May 28, I75i-Sieur Hery. One canoe in charge of "one Dubois" and Jean Dauth, Baptiste Faviere, Francois Dauth, and Dominique (illegible), of Pointe-Claire; Charles Cardinal, of Lachine. June I6, I75I-Jean-Baptiste Lefebvre. One canoe and Thomas Leduc, Paul (illegible), Pierre Lafleur, of Ile Perrot; Louis Dedier, of Lac; Paul Massia, of Lachine; Jean-Baptiste Bellefeuille, of Montreal; Charles Sennet, of Saint-Leonard. June I, I752-Sieur de Clignancour. Three canoes and Joseph Patenaude, Pierre Marcil, Jean Sainte-Marie, Pierre Bariteau, of Sainte-Lambert; Joseph Grigore and Louis Latrielle, of Montreal; Antoin Pilon, of Bout-de-l'Ile; Augistin Goulet, Joseph Bouteillet, of Saint Sulpice; Jacques (illegible), Nicholas Bureau, Francois (illegible), of Laprairie; Jacques Gagne, Joseph Gagne, Jean Lavigne and Pierre Petit, of Varennes; Pierre Desrochers and Francois (illegible), of Pointe-aux-Trembles. Probably the last commander at Fort St. Joseph was Captain Louis Le Verrier, step-son of the Marquis de Vaudreuil, Governor-General of New France. He took command of the post in 1757 and remained there until the spring of I759 when he was promoted and transferred to Quebec. He returned to France with Vaudreuil whe'n Canada fell. The status of the post at this time was commercial rather than military. "The commandant is its farmer entirely or in part, at the pleasure of the governor-general; it is supported at the expense of the former, he has two thousand francs gratification and the interpreter five hundred francs. * * * The savages who come there to trade are the Poutewatamis, about four hundred men and a few Myamis. There may come from there four hundred packages of skins of cats, bears, lynx, otter, deer, stags." (Relations et Memoires Inedits, Pierre Margery, Paris, 1767, pp. 38-84). The author states that this post is on the same footing as that at La Baye (Green Bay), at which the "commandant is an officer interested in the lease and who runs it for his own profit and that of his associates. * * * It is farmed for nine thousand francs; all expense on the part of the king has been suppressed; there are neither presents, nor certificates, nor interpreters' wages; all cost is at expense of the lessee." Of the mission at Fort St. Joseph little is chronicled. Father Pierre du Jaunay was stationed there in I745. Five years later, Father John Batiste de la Morinie was known to be there. In I751, Father Louis Antoine Pothier, Jesuit, went to St. Joseph's mission and frequently visited the Illinois villages until his death in Detroit on July 6, I78I. 72 HISTORIC MICHIGAN Father de la Morinie was the last Jesuit missionary of St. Joseph. Portugal, France and Spain banished the Jesuit orders, and they were expelled from Louisiana on July 9, 1763, following action by the government in Paris. Among the Indians this order was received with consternation. Father de la Morinie was obliged to close the mission and to proceed to the Illinois where he took charge of the church of Ste. Genevieve. "This father who had come from Detroit, and Father de la Morinie from the Post St. Joseph, did not belong to Louisiana but to Canada. It was extreme want that obliged them to withdraw to the country of the Illinois, and they remained there only for lack of the necessary opportunities to return to their posts." (Les Relations des Jesuites, Vol LXX, p. 277). The conflicting interests of France and England in North America were rapidly developing to a point where the war which had long been foreseen could no longer be avoided. The time had come to decide the mastery of the great western wilderness so rich in undeveloped resources. Realizing that this conflict was inevitable, both nations had for years been playing a game to retain or to win alliance of the savage tribes. Of this fact the Indians were aware. With the English as friends of the Iroquois, the natural enemies of the savages of the Upper Country, it was not difficult for the French to form a firm alliance with the latter. The subject of boundaries between their American possessions caused grave differences between the two nations, and several bloody encounters in the wilderness, while peace still existed, led to outbreak of the French and Indian war, a supplemental conflict to the Seven Years War in Europe. Vaudreuil appealed to the savages and coureurs de bois of the northwest for forces to aid the French regular troops, and the response of the savages and half-civilized white men and half-breeds was enthusiastic. There now enters into the history of southwestern Michigan one of. the most notable figures of the French and British regimes. This was Charles de Langlade, frontiersman, friend of the savages, a picturesque product of the life of New France, a military leader for France against the English, and for the English against the Americans in the Revolution. Responding to Vaudreuil's summons were Potawatomies from the St. Joseph valley and Ottawas and Chippewas from the Kalamazoo and Grand river valleys. It was in "La Bataille du Malengueulee," as the French called the great conflict known as "Braddock's Defeat," that Langlade, commanding the savages, displayed his skill as a strategist of Indian warfare. Here also was M. de Bellestre, former commander of Fort St. Joseph. This great conflict took place near the French outpost and stronghold, called Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh). Braddock's army was beaten with a loss of six hundred soldiers killed outright. With the stubborn British general, who refused to accept advice to fight the Indians and French according to frontier methods, was George Washington. This battle was fought July 9, 1755. The French force consisted of two hundred and fifty regulars and Canadians and six hundred and fifty Indians. They were commanded by M. de I SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN t3 Beaujeau, who was killed shortly after the action began. Braddock also fell mortally wounded while bravely directing his troops. As a leader of savages in fighting under white man and against white men, Langlade in this conflict established a fame which impressed the British under whom he afterwards served. Wrote Thomas Anburey to General Burgoyne in 1777, from Lake Champlain: "We are expecting the Ottawas. They are led by M. de Saint Luc and M. de Langlade, both great partisans of the French cause in the last war; the latter is the person who, at the head of the tribe he now commands, planned and executed the defeat of General Braddock. (Journey in the Interior of North America; London, I791, Vol. I, p. 315). "The battle of the Monongahela was the most fierce and glorious in which savages ever engaged, and to them we give the glory of it, owing to their unerring fire." (Pouchot's Memoirs, Vol. I, p. 37). In 1757, Langlade led five hundred Indians from the Upper Country to strengthen Montcalm's army at Quebec. Included in the thousand Indians mobilized there were some residing five hundred leagues to the westward. They took part in the Fort George campaign, and minor engagements. Langlade was assigned late in 1757 as second in command to Louis Lienard Villemonde de Beaujeau at Michilimackinac. Beaujeau was brother of the French leader slain in the Battle of the Monongahela. In I758, Langlade and his Indian forces were again in a campaign near Fort Duquesne, which defeated an army under General Forbes. Conditions were fast developing which made many of the savage allies of the French dissatisfied. "May i6th. News from all the upper posts. * * * The commandant at Detroit is dying; the Five Nations go rarely to Niagara; there is a little fermentation and discontent against us among the Indians of St. Joseph, the Miamis and the Outias. The Folles Avoines have killed eleven Canadians at The Baye; missed the commandant, and pillaged a storehouse. A great many Indians have died at Michillimackinac. The commandant of Louisiana writes that they have had no ships from France for two years, and that he is greatly embarrassed having nothing to give the Nations." (New York Colonial Documents, Vol. X, p. 840). Discouraging conditions at Fort St. Joseph were the subject of pessimistic comment by Montcalm: "News from the St. Joseph River of October i (I758). Smallpox ravaged among the savages the past year, together with the artifices instigated in their midst by the English, have occasioned much fermentation among the savages of the Upper Country. This spirit has even spread among the Pouteoatamis, always attached to the French, the sole savage nation that has never been reproached for any murder. They have, however, wished to assassinate a Canadian, according to letters from M. le Verrier, commandant of that post. The news of the success of the battle of July 8 (Montcalm's defeat of General Abercrombie's army at Fort.Ticonderoga, July 8, 1758), restrained them." (Montcalm's Journal, Levis MSS. Vol. VII). Success of the French arms in several engagements in 1759 caused a reversal of sentiment among the fickle savages though the heroic force in New France, neglected by the King, was soon to be crushed. I - : 74 HISTORIC MICHIGAN In March came assurances of great affection among the savages of St. Joseph and other posts. On May II, 1759, Montcalm entered in his diary: "They say that Monsieur de Langlade is on the march with many savages from the region of Michilimackinac, to come, it is said, to our vicinity. * * * News from Saint Joseph: Monsieur le Verrier, who commands there, waits with impatience the return of the savages who are out hunting, in order to send them down according to orders of Monsieur the Marquis de Vaudreuil." It was in June that Langlade with twelve hundred savages paddling in scores of canoes left Michilimackinac to participate in the battle which was to result in lowering of the colors of the fleur de lis in New France. Before the decisive battle on the Plains of Abraham, Langlade saw a situation in the maneuvering similar to that in the Battle of the Monongahela, but his advice was unheeded, and the French army, which had fought heroically throughout the one-sided conflict, lost on September I3, 1759, its opportunity to defeat the invaders under Wolfe. (Wis. Historical Collections, Vol. VII, p. I4I). Vaudreuil, on September 3, I760, ordered Langlade to return to Michilimackinac. Writing under the date of September 9, Vandreuil notified M. de Beaujeau, commandant at Michilimackinac, of the capitulation of Montreal and the fall of New France in the following letter: "I notify you, Sir, that I was under the necessity of capitulating yesterday to General Amherst's army. "This city is, as you know, without defense. Our troops were considerably diminished and our resourses totally exhausted. "We were surrounded by armies which numbered not less than thirty thousand men. "General Amherst was on the sixth of the month within sight of the walls of this city. "General Murray had captured one of our suburbs and the army of Lake Champlain had advanced to Le Prairie and Longueuil. "Under these circumstances we had no hope of success even with great sacrifices of troops. I have wisely capitulated with General Amherst on conditions very advantageous for the colonists, particularly for the settlers at the post of Michilimackinac. "They have the right to retain their religion, their household goods, real estate, trade in furs. They will have the same rights as all British subjects. "The same rights are accorded to the military, and they may appoint attorneys to act for them during their absence. They and the citizens in general can either dispose of their property to the English or French, or take it with them when they leave the country. "They may keep their slaves, but they must return those which they captured from the English. "The English general has declared that the Canadians become British subjects which relieves the people from the 'Coutume of Paris.' (Special colonial laws). With regard to the troops, he requires that SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 75 they shall hiot serve in the present war and that they shall lay down their arms until they can be provided with passage to France. "You will then, Monsieur, assemble the officers and soldiers at your posts, have them lay down their arms and proceed with them to a proper seaport for embarkation for France. "The citizens and inhabitants of Michillimackinac will consequently pass under command of an officer whom General Amherst shall designate for this post. "You will send copies of my letter to St. Joseph and to nearby posts, assuming that there are soldiers remaining there who see that the residents fulfill its requirements. "I am looking forward with pleasure to seeing in France you and all your gentlemen. "I have the honor to be very sincerely, Monsieur, "Your very humble and very obedient servant, "VAUDREUIL. "To M. de Beaujeau, Commandant of Michillimackinac." (Archives Publiques du Canada, Serie A, Vol. VIII, pp. I70-I72). In a treaty signed in Paris in I763, France surrendered her possessions in North America east of the Mississippi river to England. New Orleans and territory west of the Mississippi had already been transferred to Spain. FORT ST. JOSEPH UNDER BRITISH RULE The French garrison at Michilimackinac was withdrawn in October I760, by Captain M. de Beaujeau, who, with his men, retired to the Illinois, but the ice stopped their passage and they were obliged to halt for six months among the Sakkis and Renards on the Fox river. (Les Denieres Annees de la Louisiane Francaise, Terrage, Paris, p. I9I). I91). Following capitulation of Montreal, General Amherst sent Major Robert Rogers to take possession of Niagara and Presque Isle, From Sandusky, Rogers dispatched Lieutenant Dietrich Brehm to the French officer at Detroit. His detachment marched into the town on November 29, and the oath of allegiance was administered to the inhabitants. It was not until September, I761, that Fort St. Joseph was garrisoned by the British. The Indians who had for generations been trained by the French to regard the English as their natural enemies, regarded their new masters with sullen hatred, and rumors of plots to surprise the posts already occupied and massacre the garrisons were heard by Captain Donald Campbell at Detroit. The English traders failed to understand the psychology of the savage mind, and some of them made no attempt to do so. Their attitude was that of the conqueror. The British government's policy in dealing with the savages at a time when every movement should have been conciliatory was stingy and uncompromising. It was thought necessary then to strengthen the garrisons, and Sir William Johnson, British superintendent of Indian Affairs, came to Detroit on September 3, to hold a treaty with the savages. II 76 70fI8STO1RIO MICHIGAN He occupied the house of M. de Bellestre, late French commander, "the best in the place." At a conference between Campbell and Johnson on the following day it was decided to garrison Fort St. Joseph with an officer and fifteen men. In his diary, Tuesday, September 8, i76r, Johnson records that he "was making out instructions and orders for the officers going to command at Michillimackinac, St. Joseph, Miamis, &c. On examining the goods intended for the present, many are found rotten and ruined by the badness of the boats, for want of a sufficient number of oil cloths, &c.; so that I shall be obliged to replace them, and add more goods to the present, the number of Indians being very great * * * Wednesday, 9th. Fine morning but windy. I ordered two small cannon fired at It o'clock, as a signal for them all to assemble. This day the light infantry and the Royal Americans, which are to garrison the forts at Michilimackinac, La Baye and St. Joseph set off with ten months' provisions." (Life and Times of Sir William Johnson, Albany, I865). This expedition, consisting of detachments of the Sixtieth and Eightieth Regiments marched to Mackinac under command of Captain Henry Balfour, arriving on September 28. After a conference with the Indians, Balfour left Lieutenant William Leslie with twenty-five privates of the Sixtieth or Royal American Regiment, and proceeded by boats to La Bay, afterward called Fort Edward Augustus, and to Fort St. Joseph. After being detained four days by contrary winds off the mouth of the Grand river, the expedition proceeded to La Bay. (Gorrell's Journal, Wis. Historical Collections, Vol. I, p. 25). On October I4, Captain Balfour left La Bay for St. Joseph. La Bay was left in command of Lieutenant James Gorrell. Captain Balfour arrived in Detroit November 22 from St. Joseph, and immediately set off for Niagara with Lieutenant Brehm, according to a message sent to Colonel Bouquet by Captain Donald Campbell. He writes: "The country can furnish us but little this year, so I shall have much trouble to assist the garrison and to add to our misfortune. The general disapproves of Major Walters sending the last ammunition he forwarded to me. I designed to send a large quantity of ammunition to the posts of Miamis, St. Joseph and Ouatinon, for the subsistence of the garrisons, as the transportation of provisions is so difficult. This I cannot do as I could not want for ammunition." (Archives Publiques du Canada, Serie A, Vol. XVII, p. 238). There were no disturbances at the posts in the Upper Country during the winter of I671 and I672, though storm clouds were gathering over the tepee villages scattered throughout the peninsula. Pontiac and his agents were indefatigably working to unite the savage tribes for the blow which was to fall on the English posts in the summer of I763. Gladwin took command of Detroit in August, retaining Captain Donald as second in command. Ensign Francis Schlosser was in charge of the post at St. Joseph, and reports of misconduct came to Detroit. Schlosser, the son of Captain Joseph Schlosser, builder of the fort on the Niagara frontier, was so young he was called "the *^ 1 ' ', -. '!. '; 1 ^ '! ' -. *! - i" SOUTHWEST MIWHIOAN 77 boy." He was exactly the wrong kind of person to fit into the motley social life of this old settlement of Frenchmen and savages. Nor could he get along with the traders. An appetite for liquor'was the basis of complaint against Schlosser. Residents of St. Joseph complained of Schlosser's conduct, and in informing Colonel Bouquet of conditions, Captain Campbell wrote April 26, 1762: "I have had a complaint against young Schlosser from St. Joseph's. I am afraid he never will do in that command. It requires judgment and temper to command one of these posts. The French inhabitants and Indians are so much connected that if you disoblige one of them, the other takes part. You may believe on his father's account, I shall do everything to save him. If the Indians make complaint against him, which they have not yet.done, I shall be obliged to relieve him, and report it to the general. * * * Sergeant Steines is with Ensign Schlosser at St. Joseph's. It will be impossible to relieve him at present, as I have not a sergeant to send in his place as I cannot spare one from this garrison, so if you will send one from the regiment, I will send him directly." (Archives Publiques du Canada, Serie A, Vol. XVIII-I, p. I4I). On the same date George Crogan at Fort Pitt, ordered Thomas Hutchins, Assistant Agent for Indian Affairs, to proceed from Detroit "in a battoe, or canoe with five hundred pounds of flour. * * * to St. Joseph's in order to examine into the state and behavior of the Indians, also to regulate and transact any business with them which may be found requisite for the good of the service and the promoting of his Majesty's interest and influence amongst the Indians in those parts." In a letter to Colonel Bouquet on June 8, I762, in which he explains that Mr. Hutchins has been sent on his way to St. Joseph's with two men and an interpreter, Captain Donald Campbell adds, "I sent a person to St. Joseph's to examine into the complain made against Ensign Schlosser. I gave him my best advice for his future conduct. He promises to me that I shall never have any future complaints against him, and the whole affair is made up for this time. Mr. Hutchins shows an inclination to be sent to one of these posts when he gets his commission. I should think him a proper person." (Archives Publiques du Canada, Serie A, Vol. XVIII-I, pp. 224-227). One of the traders at St. Joseph who returned with a damaging report about Schlosser's conduct was T. D. Hambaugh, who informed Colonel Bouquet in a letter June Io, 1762, that "I arrived here the 2nd. of this inst. from St. Joseph, where I might have made a better hand if Mr. Schlosser had not been so much against me. I have taken some goods from Mr. Callendar to try another to St. Joseph, and if possible, I intend to be down in the fall. I am with profound respect, Sir, Your Honour's Most Humble, Most Obedient Servant." The young commander, however, continued his convivial career despite the warning he had received from his superior at Detroit, and his promise to leave bottles and jugs alone. While in a hilarious con I, I:ii:~-.: ci —:. -; 78 HISTORIC MICHIGAN dition he vented his feeling of enmity against the French, as is illustrated by the following comical incident quaintly described by the trader T. D. Hambaugh, writing to Colonel Bouquet, October 13, 1762: "Since Your Honor desires me to know the truth of Mr. Schlosser's extravaganty's I am certain there has been several complaints made to Captain Campbell. But his greatest follies are still undiscovered, as often as he had any liquor or any person whatsoever will give him any (for refuses nobody all that it was an Indian), he generally gets what you call merry and then being an absolute master, gets into his head. In one of those fits he once ran into a Frenchman's house. The man being to bed, but by the noise he got up. Mr. Schlosser got hold of him and call'd for the guard, and afterwards told the people that he had orders to burn the fort, kill all the French and march off with his garrison. I only have alleg'd this one piece, altho I might many more relate of the same nature. "I am sometimes ashamed how the common French people talks, they admire the English would send a man of some sense to an outpost, and amongst so many Indians, and not a boy. "I beg your Honor's pardon for being extravagant myself, and beg leave to subscribe myself. "Sir, Your Honour's Most Humble and Obedient Servant, "T. A. HAMBAUGH." (Bouquet Papers, Vol. XIX, Michigan Historical Collections, p. 168). In the meantime the savage tribes, scattered throughout thousands of square miles, were plotting with a cunning which would have done credit to a civilized power, to deliver a surprise blow against their hated new masters, the British. Pontiac and his aides were to prove that it was possible for the red men, once they were united, to become a powerful organization, which could spread destruction and death. The British noted during the winter of 1762 and I763 indications of unrest among the Indians of the upper country. The actions of the savages were suspicious. Robert Holmes, commander of the Miamis, March 30, I763, reported that a Shawnee war belt of wampum had been delivered to the chiefs of the Miami Indians, who had in turn delivered it to the commander with the statement that "We were not to let this belt be known of till it arrived at Ouiatanon, and then we were all to rise and put the English to death all about this place, and those at other places. This belt we received from the Shawnee nation. They received it from the Delawares, and they from the Senecas who are very much enraged against the English." (Bouquet Papers, Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. XIX, p. 181). In May savages from many quarters began to rendezvous at Detroit. Thwarted in an attempt to massacre the garrison, the Indians laid siege to the fort on May Io. In rapid succession the smaller posts were captured, Fort Sandusky falling on May 16; St. Joseph's on the 25; Fort Miami, the 27; Ouiatanon, June I; Mackinac, June 2. On SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 79 the 27th of May a force of regulars and rangers coming from Niagara to Detroit, under command of Lieutenant Cornelius Cuyler, was attacked near the mouth of the Detroit river by a large horde of Indians. Most of the soldiers were killed. With the fall of Fort St. Joseph the career of Ensign Francis Schlosser, the bibulous "boy commander," who had humiliated the French residents during his tour of duty at the post, ended. His life was spared, though ten of his men were butchered without mercy. Schlosser's conceit was, to a great extent, responsible for the catastrophe which befell his command. Two, days before the assault, Louis Chevalier, the most prominent personage in the valley, where he had resided thirty years, warned him that the Indians intended to attack the fort, but the irresponsible commander scoffed at the idea. (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. IX, p. 368). To the fort, between nine and ten o'clock on the morning of May 25, there came nearly one hundred Potawatomies, who said their mission was to visit relatives. He was informed the visitors wished to come in and bid him good morning. At that time a Frenchman hurried in and notified Schlosser that some Indians had come with "ill designs." The commander hurried to the barracks to order his men under arms. He found this building full of savages, whereupon he ordered his sergeant to form the men while he himself assembled the French. The latter were already awaiting him in his quarters. He had been with them only a few minutes for a conference when a cry came from the barracks. At this signal, Indians in the room seized him, while those without made prisoner of the sentry at the gate. The savages rushed throughout the fort butchering right and left. They worked with rapid fury, killing within two minutes every member of the garrison, except Schlosser and three men. The post was then looted. (Archives Publiques du Canada, Serie A, Vol. XXVIII, p. 99). Leaving the fort in the hands of the French inhabitants, the savages, loaded with plunder, started for Detroit with their captives. As Louis Chevalier was present at the massacre, enemies spread the report that he was in some manner associated with the betrayal of the garrison. De Peyster investigated these charges with the result that Chevalier was exonerated and thereafter trusted by the officer. Through the aid of Chevalier, Richard Winston, a trader, and Mr. Hambaugh, his colleague, who had unfavorably reported to Colonel Bouquet concerning the conduct of Schlosser were saved. Winston remained hidden in the home of Chevalier just as Alexander Henry remained hidden in the home-of Charles de Langlade at the Mackinac massacre. That Winston was sensibly impressed with the danger through which he had passed and was humbly grateful for his escape is evidenced by the following woeful, but somewhat amusing letter, he wrote on June 19, I763, to traders in Detroit: "Gentlemen, I address myself to you all, not knowing who is alive or who is dead. I have only to inform you that by the blessing of God and the help of M. Louison Chevalier, I escaped being killed 80 HISTORIC MICHIGAN when the unfortunate garrison was massacred, Mr. Hambaugh and me being hid in the house of the said Chevalier for four days and nights. Mr. Hambaugh is brought by the savages to the Illinois, likewise Mr. Chim. Unfortunate me remains here captive with the savages. I must say that I met with no bad usage; however, I would that I was with some Christian or other. I am quite naked, and Mr. Castacrow, who is indebted to Mr. Cole, would not give me one inch to save me from death, who the day before the massacre here to pay me part of said debt, but since that denied in the presence of Mr. Chevalier that he owed me anything, until I produced his note, he then said his note was no order to pay any part of said debt to me. I am informed that Castacrow has information that Mr. Cole was killed on his way from Niagara. I have nothing to say concerning our enemy here but that they recommend to the savages at Detroit to quit their firing upon the fort at Detroit, that as the Six Nations began the war they might persist in it. We are informed that at Miamis Mr. Holmes and part of his garrison were killed, the other part being carried down the Wabash to join the garrison of Ouitinon and carried all to the Illinois. At Ouitinon there was not one killed but all taken prisoners." (Gladwin Manuscripts, Vol. XXVII, Michigan Historical Collections, p. 634). Two messengers whom Schlosser had dispatched to Major Gladwin at Detroit for a purpose that has not been revealed were captured and murdered by Pontiac's order when they attempted to pass Potawatomies stationed to intercept any Englishman who might attempt to reach the fort. "The Potawatomies, who, as I have stated, were in league with the Ottawas for annihilation of the Englishmen, and who, however, had not yet made much stir around the fort, keeping themselves, according to Pondiak's order, away off in the woods and on the shore of the lake and river, to stop all Englishmen, who might be under way to the fort, made two prisoners, who were men whom the commander of St. Joseph had detached from his fort to send here with letters to Mr. Gladwyn. They were taken to Pondiak's camp, who had them killed by his men." (The Pontiac Manuscript, Vol. VIII, Michigan Pioneer Collections, p. 286). Schlosser, the survivors of his little garrison, and several other captives, were taken by the Potawatomies to Detroit where a vast assemblage of Indians under Pontiac were besieging the fort. They arrived Friday, June Io, according to the Pontiac Manuscript: "The Potawatomies of St. Joseph, who had attacked the Englishmen at that place and had made themselves masters of the fort, after having killed a part of the garrison and taken the others prisoners, left the fort in keeping of the French settlers at that place and came, with their prisoners, who numbered seven and included the commander, to join the Potawatomies of Detroit and arrived in the night before at the village. Having learned that the Englishmen had two Indians of their nation as prisoners in the fort, they came about four o'clock in the afternoon with a Mr. Gammalin (Gammelin), to the foot of the fort for entering into agreement with the officers of the fort and t SOLDIERS FROM CAMP CUSTER IN THEIR FIRST PARADE IN BATTLE CREEK FRUIT MARKET-BENTON HARBOR PICTURE OF ELEVEN EARLY HASTINGS SETTLERS TAKEN 85 YEARS AGO SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 81 making an exchange by giving up the officers who commanded St. Joseph for the two Indians who were in the fort. This offer did not please the commander who wanted the Potawatomies to give up all the seven prisoners for the two Indians. They would not consent to the exchange and returned the way they had come, putting off the exchange." In making the exchange of prisoners, the British commander bargained shrewdly with the savages and "cheating" them according to opinion of the author of Pontiac's Manuscript, who says: "At ten o'clock the Potawatomies came for the third time to exchange prisoners, and gave the commander of St. Joseph and two soldiers for one of the Indian prisoners whom the English had. They were cheated in the exchange, for they demanded him who was called "Long Ears," who was most esteemed amongst them, and they received in his place a fellow named Nokaming (No-kan-ong), whom they looked upon as a knave; but the deception originated with this Nokaming who sent word to the commander not to give the Potawatomies the one of the two whom they would ask for, but to give him in his place, because the Potawatomies thought very little of him, while the other was highly esteemed in his nation, and if he kept him, the Potawatomies, who were anxious to have him, would give in exchange all of the prisoners. This advice, although coming from a savage, was appreciated and found good. He was given in exchange and "Long Ears" was kept, to have, by his means, other prisoners exchanged; but the Potawatomies were hardly satisfied with their bargain, when they saw their hopes frustrated." Ensign Francis Schlosser, safe inside the fort, was again with his colleagues. He had entered the army as an ensign with the Royal Americans in I789. When Sir William Johnson embarked at Niagara for Detroit on August 19, 1761, Schlosser and Ensign Holmes had command of four of the thirteen batteaux. That Schlosser was still at Detroit on April Io, 1764, is proved by a letter written on that date by "Ensigns Christie, Schlosser and Pauli" to General Bouquet asking to be reimbursed for losses in the Indian war, "which are too considerable for us to bear." Schlosser asked for the sum of "~ 87-10 sterling for Baggage and Stores." (Bouquet Papers, Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. XIX, p. 252). Schlosser then dropped into oblivion. His father, Captain Joseph Schlosser, a prominent officer, died in 1772, at Niagara where he was stationed at least a decade. The success of the savages in capturing the posts brought courage to the Indians and stirred exultation among the Frenchmen so lately conquered and supplanted. Before a court of inquiry held in Detroit on October I, 1763, Thomas Meares, soldier in the Sixtieth Regiment, captured at Presqu'isle, testified "That he had been soon after Captain Campbell's death-(he had been obliged to witness the torture and death of this officer)-brought to an Indian village on the way to St. Joseph's about four days' march, in which village he saw three Frenchmen (whose names he does not know, but will know their faces and their houses, having been there sometimes), come the day 82 HISTORIC MICHIGAN after Captain Dalyell's defeat in great haste, and heard them tell the Indians there, seemingly in great joy, how the English were beat and had great numbers killed, showing how they were brought in complaining of their wounds and many other demonstrations of joy." (Gladwin Manuscripts, Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. XXVII, p. 651). Though Fort St. Joseph was located in a strategic position in the midst of an important settlement, the British did not re-establish the permanent military garrison after the massacre, and the affairs of the community were entrusted by the British to Louis Chevalier, the most prominent personage of the St. Joseph river valley. (Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XVIII, p. 372). Not all the tribes were enemies of the British, but the greatest hotbeds of hostility were in the numerous villages that dotted the meadows and sloping prairies along the St. Joseph river. "This day two Saky's (Sauks) came in and informed the commandant that the Chippewas of the Isles about Michilimackinac had sent belts this winter to their nation, to the Folavin and Puante, to strike against us this spring, but they would not receive them. That Wassong and Mashoquise had tried to prevent that party from coming from toward St. Joseph that was here some time ago, but they would not be advised. They said they had lost a man last year and they would have revenge. That if they had known it sooner they would have advised us of it before they arrived, but they knew nothing of it till they had gone. That the Delawares and Shawanys had sent belts during the winter toward St. Joseph and La Bay to invite the nations thereabout to take up arms against us in the spring." (Diary of the Siege of Detroit, Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XVIII, p. 26I). As a result of a treaty with the savages at Niagara in the summer of 1764, the British were given the right to re-establish the fort at Mackinac, and Colonel William Howard was dispatched thence with two companies of regulars and a unit of artillerymen. They were accompanied by two companies of Frenchmen, whose influence was desired to pacify the savages. The schooner Gladwin conveyed provisions and munitions from Detroit to the post. On September I2, Lieutenant Sinclair was ordered to deliver another cargo of stores at the post and to sail "round Lake Michigan, steering up the River St. Joseph as far as you can, making throughout the whole voyage such remarks and observations as the importance of the service you are ordered on requires for the future navigation of those lakes, observing the same on Lake Huron, the whole of which you will report in writing to Lieutenant Colonel Campbell or officer commanding here on your return and receive from him directions for your further conduct." (Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XVIII, p. 27I). With the failure of Pontiac's plot to expel the English, the tribes, though tHiey hated their Anglo-Saxon masters, realized the advantages that peace with the white men would bring and they were content to bury the hatchets. In contrast with the aloofness of the British, the Latin temperament was responsive to that of the savages. The French coureurs du bois and voyageurs continued to dwell contentedly SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 83 in the Indian towns where their half-breed progeny were reared with those of the relatives of their Indian mothers. Across the Mississippi river at St. Louis the Indians were received with hospitality by the Spanish who were as eager to alienate the red men from their new masters as the English had been to alienate them from the French. But the Indians, who had already been made the tools of the European nations, now regarded the white men of all nations as self-seeking plotters endeavoring ultimately to rob them of their lands. How great an affection the Indians retained for the French is exemplified by the conduct of a chief of the Potawatomies of St. Joseph who punished savages for insulting and mistreating the French residents of Peoria. Writes M. de St. Ange, commandant of the Illinois, to M. Dabbadie, director-general and commandant for the King in Louisiana, August I4, 1764: "A certain Mitaminque, chief of the Potawatomi nation of St. Joseph, arrived here the 3oth of the past month. He reasserted his attachment for the French and assured me of the fidelity of his people. He informed me of a measure which he had taken with the Peoria at the camp of a band of Iowa, which is established on the bank of the Mississippi, on the occasion of insults offered to the French inhabitants of Peoria and the thefts of horses and slaves, which they had committed. He assured me that if this nation continued its brigandage it would draw upon itself the hatred of those attached to the French. He told me he had threatened them and had forced them to return all they had taken from the French. The conduct of this chief was confirmed by a man named Detailly. * * * I received and treated him with all the honor that his attachment and fidelity merited, and I pledged him to continue the same on all occasions. I have not failed to tell him as well as the other nations that the attachment they have for the French should not pledge them to continue the war against the English, that their father wished them to lay down their arms in order to make peace reign, and that they would truly prove their attachment only in acting on this decision. But I find them always in the same resolution; they are inflexible on this point and repeat in all their harangues that they will never renounce seeing their first father who has always treated them with kindness, and that they continue this war only to protect him; that, furthermore, they will not find the same advantage with the English, nor the same benefits under their government, since they have already experienced the tone of the master from them." (Illinois Historical Collections, Vol. II). The Spanish at "San Luis," through the medium of liberal gifts, rapidly gained favor of the savages. Saint Ange, in the service of that country, on May 2, I769, signed a report giving a list of tribes making the journeys from the headwaters of the Mississippi, the Wabash, the Illinois and the tributaries of the Missouri to that northern outpost of the Castilian monarch's territory. Among them were "Poutuatami, Sauteaux and Outaoua of the river of San Joseph and of that of Ilinneses." Among the tribes enumerated in addition were 84 HISTORIC MICHIGAN the "Kaskaskias, Kaokias, Peorias, Metchigamia, Pranquichia (Pian kishaw), Orinanon (Ouiatanon), Kickapu, Mascouten, Miami, Ayooua (Iowas), Sioux, Saks, Renards, Sauteu, Misouris, Little Ausages, Big Ausages, Canse (Kansas), Autocdata, Panimaha." (MSS. in General Archives of the Indies, Seville. Vol. XVIII, Wisconsin Historical Collections, p. 229). THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION BREAKS OUT When the Revolution broke out it was not difficult for the British to stir the Indians to attack the colonists, whom they had hated over a century. They were now able to give vent to the wrath they felt against the British since the fall of New France. The hated "Virginians" had for generations engaged in battle with the western tribes. Now the savages had an opportunity to turn against the traditional enemy as allies of the world's greatest nation. Again the moccasined feet of the plumed and painted barbarians traversed the old war trails toward the east, or paddled down the lakes from remote regions and up the waterways which gave access to the western frontiers of the colonies. To stir a thirst for blood among the savages was unnecessary. They were only awaiting removal of restraint to resume bloody depredations they had carried on under the French flag. The command of the Indians of the lake region naturally fell to Langlade, leader and tactician in the backwoods art of war in the Battle of the Monongahela. In an order issued at "Michilimaquenac, July 4, 1776, that memorable date in American independence, Captain Arent Schuyler de Peyster, commandant of the post, to take command of the savages and Canadians and report to the officer that commands the troops of the King in Montreal. * * * You will do your best to harass the rebels whenever you may encounter them, and in all matters you will conduct yourself with your customary prudence and humanity." (Miscellanies by De Peyster). The Potawatomies with other savages were mobolized as auxiliaries of the Canadian troops in the spring of I777. Langlade was commissioned by Captain De Peyster, commandant of Michilimackinac, to raise the Indian contingent. By June 4, Langlade was at Mackinac with sixty warriors. He left the next day for Canada, and immediately some Menominees deserted. Shortly afterward the Potawatomi warriors from St. Joseph arrived under command of Louis Chevalier, and were ordered to proceed and join Langlade. Still later there came Charles Gautier with a force of Saux and Foxes. Reporting to Carleton in Quebec on July 14, Langlade was sent to join Burgoyne's army at Lake Chaplain. He accompanied the general as far as Fort Edward, but the English commander's refusal to tolerate barbarities by his savage allies displeased them to such an extent that the tribesmen began deserting, though they had decided at a council to obey his commands. By August 6, few western Indians were left with Burgoyne. In October Gautier returned to Mackinac, and Langlade probably accompanied him. (Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XVIII, p. 357). f SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 85 The Spanish in the meantime were continuing their efforts to weaken the alliance of the Indians and British. With them worked the French in the Illinois settlements. Distribution of presents was continued at the stronghold at St. Louis. Among the tribes proceeding thence were the Potawatomies from the St. Joseph. They are thus described in a Spanish report of I777: "This tribe is composed of one hundred and fifty warriors. The name of the chief is Unan Guise (Oanaguise). They are located two hundred leagues from this post, on a river called San Joseph, which rises in a lake called Michigan, located at a distance of sixty or seventy leagues from the Misisipy. This tribe has been well affected to the French, but they are somewhat in revolt at present, and are evilly inclined, and cause many thefts in the district." (MSS. in General Archives of the Indies, Seville; pressmark, "Papeles procedientes de la Isla de Cuba"). The Potawatomies of this river were distrusted by the British and the Spanish of playing a double part, "possibly because of the influence of Louis Chevalier, who appears to have played a double part." (Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. II, p. I 6). That so important and long-established settlement like St. Joseph should go without molestation in the Revolution was not to be considered. It was a trading center in the heart of a wilderness well populated with savages. Its traders kept on hand a large amount of valuable goods. While George Rogers Clark, with his Virginian army, was conducting his victorious campagin through the Illinois country in 1778, St. Joseph was attacked by an expedition consisting of three hundred Frenchmen, Indians and half-breeds. The little army was organized by Paulette Meillet, a noted fur-trader of the Illinois valley. In some records he is called Paulette Maize. His men were enlisted in various French settlements. The spirit of '76 did not inspire the men in this expedition to enlist —it was the lure of plunder that might be obtained while delivering a blow apparently in the interests of the American freedom. This motley aggregation of unkempt and determined adventurers, garbed in the picturesque style of the barbarian and of the frontiersman, started from a point near Peoria, passed up the Illinois and Kankakee valleys and fell upon the settlement, capturing every one in the fortification and plundering the houses. This expedition is credited, in this blow for liberty, with stealing all the traders' goods and pelts stored in the warehouses. Verified details of this attack are lacking. One authority says that the invaders surprised the garrison, while another says that word had been received in advance, that the garrison resisted, but was overpowered after an assault on the stockade. They agree, however, that the force consisted of three hundred men. That this expedition was organized more for pillaging "than for patriotism, is evidenced by the fact that Congress refused to compensate the men who engaged in it." (Pioneers of Illinois, Matson). For information concerning activities of the Americans in the Illinois region and of the Spaniards in the Mississippi valley, the Mackinac commander depended on Louis Chevalier. So great was 86 HISTORIC MICHIGAN De Peyster's confidence in him that he "thought it necessary to render him useful by giving him some authority at St. Joseph's which he has hitherto exerted with the greatest discretion. * * * Mr. Chevalier at St. Joseph's holds the pass to Detroit, and can also give the first intelligence of the enemy's motion of the Wabash. This gentleman is so connected with the Potawatomies that he can now do anything with them. * * * A young Indian named Amiable at present at Montreal is his son. Some mark of distinction given to this young man and he with a few of his comrade Potawatomies at Montreal would be great service, as those of St. Joseph would never misbehave whilst any of their friends are down in the country." When Henry Hamilton in the autumn of 1778 raised the force which retook Vincennes only to be captured with all his garrison by George Rogers Clark in February, I779, De Peyster, commandant of Mackinac, ordered Langlade to have charge "from the Grand river as far as the St. Joseph, where are the Court Orielles and the Ganteaux (Sauteur), causing them to assemble without loss of time at St. Joseph.* * * Monsieur Gautier will go direct to St. Joseph, there addressing himself to Mons. Louis Chevalier in order to require him to assist Monsieur Ainse in assembling the Poutouatamies, while Gautier does his best to obtain intelligence of the situation of Monsieur Hamilton, making his report thereof to Monsieur Langlade." (Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XVIII, p. 37I). These Indians-Chippewas and Ottawas, who resided in the vicinity of L'Arbre Croche during the summer, spent their winters in the Grand river region. Langlade as early as 1775 had a trading post at Caboquashe at the confluence of the Grand and Flat rivers. That two hundred and fifty Americans, under Captain James Willing, an advance detachment of seven hundred men, had taken possession of the Illinois country, was the information that Louis Chevalier sent to De Peyster in August, I778. The following month De Peyster sent to St. Joseph a speech and belt to be forwarded to the Indians of Illinois, but Chevalier disapproved on the grounds that American influence was too strong for such a mission to meet with success. Early in September, De Peyster received an appeal from Hamilton asking for co-operation of Indians in an attempt to expel the Americans from Illinois, and he immediately announced that he intended-to send an express to the Grand river in an endeavor to stir enthusiasm among the young Indians to join Hamilton's force, and to order them to mobilize at St. Joseph. He also prepared to request Chevalier to assist Hamilton in every possible way. The Indians, however, were scattered among their camping grounds. De Peyster, in order to improve communications with St. Joseph asked that a small vessel be placed at his disposal. He had already armed the sloop Welcome for use on Lake Michigan, but receiving no favorable reply, he dismissed her. With the sloop as transport he could get a reply in eight days to his letters to St. Joseph, one month being required for a canoe. In the latter part of September, Langlade and his nephew, Charles Gautier, arrived at Mackinac to await De Peyster's orders. Provided SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 87 with goods with which to win favor of the savages and belts, the Frenchmen were sent off. Langlade to the Ottawas and Chippewas, who had gone to winter on the Grand river, Gautier to St. Joseph to take charge of mobilization of the savages and at the same time to ascertain Hamilton's route with the object of assisting him. De Peyster also sent his interpreter to St. Joseph's to bring back information. In order to obtain necessary transportation to this post, De Peyster was obliged to impress into service the only servants of some Mackinac families to man a canoe. As it was October, the winds made paddling very difficult. Owing to adverse gales, Langlade, Gautier and Joseph Ainse, the interpreter, did not arrive at the Grand river until November 13. On their return way they met Ottawa chiefs, who refused on such short notice to join the expedition. They promised, however, to be ready in the spring. Arriving at St. Joseph's on December 2, the three Frenchmen found that Louis Chevalier had arrived twenty-two days previously from Hamilton's army whence he had taken as many Potawatomies as he could muster among those not off for the annual winter's hunt. As unfavorable news of Hamilton's army reached Indians of the Grand river, eighty warriors, who had agreed to accompany Langlade, refused to leave and he returned to his post at La Bay. Gautier set out for his post on the Mississippi taking belts and speeches to persuade the savages to be ready in the spring. Shortly afterward De Peyster was informed that the Potawatomies with Hamilton had returned to St. Joseph's for the winter. Receiving word from Captain Lernault at Detroit in March, 1779, that he had reason to believe the post would be attacked, De Peyster advised the Grand river Indians to go directly to Detroit by a short cut across the country. He also sent from the Thunder Bay district the noted Chief Matchiguis and his band "to hearten the Indians about Detroit as the eyes of most nations are upon him." (Haldimand Papers, Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. IX, p. 379). News of the capture of Hamilton and his entire force by George Rogers Clark was received by De Peyster on April 24, I779. As the ice was early out of the rivers, early news from the Grand river was expected at Mackinac, but no traders of Indians arrived. Some squaws, however, brought a report said to have originated at the Grand river that the Virginians were building boats at Milwaukee and that the Ottawas and Chippewas had agreed to stay there until the Americans had captured Fort Michilimackinac and delivered it to the Indians' old friends, the French. Chippewas arriving from the Grand river on May 13, said this report had been spread by some "evil-minded Indians and that neither themselves nor the Ottawas would listen to the Rebels' belt." Langlade again arrived at Mackinac on May 12 with the information that a Canadian named Benclo with twenty horsemen were traveling through the Sauk country buying horses and telling the Indians three hundred men would soon come and capture La Bay. Langlade, however, believed that the horses were really intended for an expedition against Detroit. "X -- _ -.::~ -i"'.::: ~;:-:;:-:: i:'.:..;;`:::-::: -:^~::-': *: 88 HISTORIC MICHIGAN "I don't care how soon Mr. Clark appears provided he come by Lake Michigan and the Indians prove staunch and above all the Canadians do not follow the example of the brethren at the Illinois who have joined the Rebels to a man," wrote De Peyster. Receiving information from St. Joseph that an American expedition composed of seven hundred infantrymen was advancing up the Wabash toward Detroit and that Daniel Maurice Godefroy de Linctot, one of George Rogers Clark's officers, was proceeding with four hundred cavalrymen to capture Fort St. Joseph, Captain De Peyster, commandant of Michilimackinac, despatched his second in command, Lieutenant Thomas Bennett, early in July, I779, with a force of twenty soldiers and sixty traders and canoe Indians, to intercept the Americans. It was expected that the number of Indians would daily increase as the expedition paddled southward. De Peyster believed that if this report were false, the presence of a British force would win the confidence of wavering savages and cheer the inhabitants. In addition, Captain De Peyster purchased the sloop Welcome, loaded her with subsistance for Bennett's force, and with goods that could be used by him to advantage among the Potawatomies, Mascoutens, Kickapoos and Miamis on the river. De Peyster, while outfitting this expedition, sent the following order to Charles Langlade on July I, 1779: "Sir-You are required for the good of His Majesty's service to start from here and do your best to levy the people of Lafourche (l'Arbre Croche village of Ottawas commanded by Chief Lafourche), Milwaukee, the Puants and others along the shore of Lake Michigan, and then hasten to join Mr. Bennett at Chicagou; and, if Mr. Bennett has passed on, to follow him by rapid marches so as to catch up to him before he arrives at the Pee (Peoria), and work with him for the good of the service in accordance with the orders he has received from me." (MSS. in Wisconsin Historical Library). Lieutenant Bennett, commissioned in the Eighth Regiment, who commanded this expedition, had distinguished himself during the previous year when he was detailed to take a force to the great fur depot at Grand Portage, on the north coast of Lake Superior where British merchants asked for protection. In 1783, Bennett was promoted to a captaincy. He retired from the regiment in I791. De Peyster, for the purpose of stirring enthusiasm among the savages, visited the great Ottawa town of L'Arbre Croche on the Lake Michigan shore south of Mackinac. Here he addressed the savages on July 4, 1776, explaining the advantages to be derived from remaining firmly allied with the British. The major, who paused during his service for Mars to woo the Muses, afterward converted his speech to the savages into verse, the following of which-taken from his "Miscellanies"-demonstrates to what extent his efforts were rewarded: "I know that you have been told by Clark, His riflemen never miss the mark; In vain you hide behind a tree, If they your finger's tip can see, SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 89 The instant they have got their aim Enrolls you on the list of lame. But, then, my sons, this boaster's rifles, To those I have in store are trifles; If you but make the tree your mark, The ball will twirl beneath the bark, 'Till it one-half the circle cinc, Then out and kill the man behind." "To Detroit, Linctot bends his way; I, therefore, turn you from the Pey (Peoria), To intercept the chevalier. At Fort St. Joseph's, and O Post (Vincennes), Go,-lay in ambush, for his host, While I send round Lake Michigan, To raise the warriors-to a man;Who, on their way to get to you, Shall take a peep at —at Eschickagou (Chicago), Eghittawas smiles at the notion Of Kissegouit, brave Neotochin, Swift Neogad, fierce Scherroschong, And Glode, the son of Vieux Carong, Those runagades at Milwakie, Must now per force with you agree, Must with Langlade their forces join; Sly Siggenaak and Naakewoin, Or, he will send them Tout au diable, As he did with Baptist Point de Saible." In the meantime the Ottawas of the Grand river, who lived in a great village at "Bock-wa-ting" built on both sides of the rapids of that stream (now the site of the city of Grand Rapids), were wavering between British and American influences. The potentate of this village was Chief Kuigushkam, who was still holding sway when Louis Campau took up his permanent residence there in the early thirties. De Peyster, awaiting word from Bennett, learned that "The Indians join the Collier de Guerre (war-belt) fast; it is a yard and a half in length, and has a great medal tied to it as a reward for him who does the greatest action free from cruelty. The other chiefs on the march receive strings from Linctot, who requests them to remain neuter, and let him pass to Detroit with a body of horse. They sent me the strings and detained his messenger. Some Indians are just returned from the Falls of the Ohio where the Rebels have a fort. They killed four of their soldiers but did not scalp them. Whilst they were thus employed, another band from their village (i. e. the Grand river) upon a visit to the Rebels at Kaskaskias, they met on their return and shewed three kegs of rum, but declared they got no other presents." (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol IX, p. 39I). Receiving information that Clark's force consisting of five hundred men followed by a supply train hauled by two hundred oxen, was advancing, De Peyster, whose force had increased to five hundred, ordered that an effort be made to draw the Americans into an ambuscade. He was certain that Langlade with at least three hundred savages would arrive at St. Joseph. In addition, he despatched on the sloop Welcome as reinforcements for Bennett, a detachment of soldiers under Lieutenant George Clowes and an Indian contingent under Chief Matche 90 HISTORIC MICHIGAN quis, a notable figure in the St. Joseph and Kalamazoo river regions. Lieutenant Clowes is believed to have come to Mackinac with De Peyster in I774. When De Peyster was transferred to Detroit, Clowes was left in command of the two companies of the Eighth Regiment at Mackinac. In 1784, he joined his regiment in Quebec and returned to England. De Peyster believed that if the report of the American advance were false, Bennett's appearance with a force of soldiers at St. Joseph's would secure the good will of the Potawatomies who were reported to be wavering in their alliance with the British and thus "deter the Rebels from any attempt that way seeing they are much disturbed in thinking that the Indians would remain neuter and let them pass." (Haldimand Papers, Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. IX, p. 390). With the Welcome, De Peyster sent provisions and goods with which Lieutenant Bennett was to secure favor of the Potawatomies, Mascoutens, Kickapoos and Miamis. Arriving at St. Joseph's July 23, before the Potawatomies were assembled, Bennett immediately threw up an entrenchment, which was considered of size sufficient to withstand a superior number of savages. About a mile east of the gently sloping meadow on which stood Fort St. Joseph embraced within the present city of Niles the early settlers found a crescent-shaped earthwork, which some authorities believe might have been made by Bennett's force. Opponents argue, however, -that defensive warfare of that period called for nothing of that type. It is reasonable, however, to allow for the possibility that a portion of it might have been destroyed by the elements. The Potawatomies of the village of Terre Coupee prairie and the Petit Coeur de Cerf, probably on the west side of the river, immediately visited Bennett, declared their readiness to assist him and assured him that they regarded the enemies of their Father the King of England as their own. Nevertheless, the Potawatomies were lacking in loyalty to the English. As soon as possible Bennett sent Potawatomies and volunteers to Peoria, the Ohio and the Miamis villages in order to obtain information about movements of the Americans. They were ordered to bring back prisoners and to harass the enemy wherever possible. Two days after the party left for Peoria, they met some Potawatomies who so frightened or persuaded them to give up the journey that they returned to St. Joseph's. The party sent to the Ohio returned five or six days afterward with information that there were only a few Canadians at the place and no signs of an enemy. There was no news from the Miamis. While Bennett's men were scouting throughout the region for signs of an American advance, he caused to be seized as prisoners, Baptiste Point au Saible, a negro trader, who had been driven from Chicago earlier in the year by Langlade. Bennett found him located with his effects at the mouth of the Riviere du Chemin, now known as Trail Creek, at the mouth of which is now located Michigan City. This negro, whom Bennett suspected of being friendly with the Americans, was a free mulatto from San Domingo, associated with French SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 91 interests. Brought to St. Joseph, the negro, while a prisoner conducted himself so well he won Bennett's confidence. Corporal Tascon, who made the arrest, prevented the Indians from burning the trader's house, or from doing him any injury. He was permitted to take his packs of fur and other property with him to Mackinac where he was held prisoner. Freed, he re-established himself at Chicago where he remained until the end of the eighteenth century. Selling his property he moved to the vicinity of Peoria where he died later in I909. Said Bennett in his report: "The Negro * * * has many friends, who give him a good character. He informed me that Mr. Linctot some time before had left the Pee, with some thirty Canadians to join Mr. Clark at the falls of the River Blanche, to go to the Ouia, which intelligence we confirmed." Lieutenant Benlett's project of winning an alliance with the savages of St. Joseph's resulted in ultimate failure. Shortly after his arrival he told them in council that' he had heard they were in danger of "losing themselves," and that he hoped to "find them disposed to second the designs to which his fondness for them had prompted him; in short, he pressed them, by all that could touch the heart of an Indian, to show themselves grateful. Determined also by the invitation of the Ottawas and Sauteux (of the Grand river), and also by the words of their father, after two days of deliberation, they declared that they would follow the example of their brothers. After having smoked with their pipes of peace and received their belts they agreed to be of one mind. * * * Having reported the extreme distress of the Americans and the prodigious progress of the Royal Arms in the colonies and showed them the falsity of the pretended declaration of war between England and France for which design the Grand Couteaux (Big Knives-Americans) spread these false reports, he (Bennett) sent them back loaded with favors and asked them to remember their words." (Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. IX, p. 348). Four days later, Lieutenant Ben'nett met in council outside the British fortification an assemblage of the Potawatomies of the large village, of Terre Coupe and the Little Pilormeau, and Le Petit Bled, the War Chief, addressed the King's representative as follows: "My father, I do not come here with a mouthful of flattery and deceit. I do not come into your presence to hide my sentiments. On the contrary I come to tell them to you. Many which are in my heart my mouth cannot speak. "I am surprised, my father, that you are come to disturb the peace that reigns in our lands. I am pleased to see you with the pipe of peace which you offer us today instead of the tomahawk. "It is him who troubled the peace which we joined. It is him who made the division among us. It is him that we will make unhappy. It is he who is the subject of my surprise and of this speech. "You vainly try, my father, to make us liff our heads from the pillow to listen to you. It is folly to present us with this load which is too heavy for our hands; a mat would be better, and it is that you should offer us, but we will ask it of you. i" 92 HISTORIC MICHIGAN "This belt which I am going to show engages us to make this demand. It is from our French father and represents his members and bones scattered here and there, but which seem today gathered together and united against thee. Our ancient father, on giving it to us, said to us: 'My children, this belt is the knot which should bind and tie your hands. Except for us, remember never to unite for your enemies. If they are conquerors, content yourselves with giving them the pipe of peace and living peaceably with them, until the day that we reappear on your lands.' "I carry again the pipe of peace in the mouth, and I invite you to smoke it. It is filled with nothing that can be repugnant to your hearts. It is good to smoke it, and there is nothing bitter in it. On the contrary, it is sweet, very different from the pipe of peace which my chiefs as well as myself have, today, rejected as a mortal plague." This speech he addressed to the Ottawas and Sauteu: "I do not come to break the alliance between us, my brothers, I only come to show you my way of thinking in the same was that I have showed it to my father. "I confess to you that the red pipe presented to a party of my nation has been a poison to them as fatal as that of the venemous animal. This smoke has obscured the beautiful light and painted to us the shadow of death. "It is in the virtue of our union that they received your words and swallowed the poison. Their error has preceded yours. Deceived yourselves by the choice of a pipe, they have allowed themselves to be deceived. I repeat to you, my brothers, that this red pipe should never have been presented to us, but that which is instead of our alliance and which you have left among us by a misunderstanding, (he here gave four branches of porcelain). Nevertheless, I had notice to give it to you. In giving you this porcelain it is not to overthrow our lands. Take care at the same time of raising a mob. Keep a ready eye on those whom I have told you of. Cease to be fools; be prudent and wise." The speaker turned himself to his father: "I have the same thing to say to my father. Change thy plans, renounce thy projects which have been formed with neither prudence or wisdom. If you are stubborn and despise my councils, you will perhaps repent. Believe me, my father, and do not go farther." The speaker holding the branch of porcelain in his hand: "Our lands, peaceable until today, refuse to carry men who would destroy the peace which has reigned so long. They also refuse to carry thy enemies, my father, and be persuaded that if my ears are, deaf to thy voice they are also deaf to the Grand Couteaux (Big Knives) unless they say to me, 'Keep quiet and be a spectator in our quarrel, but do not mix in it. If you have the same thing to say to me, my father, I am ready to listen." He gave four branches of porcelain and finished the speech by telling his father all that the Grand Couteaux (Big Knives) had said to him. He assured him that their desire to be peaceable was the only motive which had brought him to speak in this way and that o SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 93 it was not hate. He added that the esteem which he had for his father compelled him to show him his danger as the enemies were the most numerous, he being by comparison but one mouthful for them. Then he finished by saying that Governor Hamilton had given him a pipe of peace, which he still keeps. However, he broke it in his engagement to take the tomahawk, that His Excellency had made him many promises which have not been executed; still he hopes that his father will accomplish them. Mr. Bennet's answer to the Potawatomies: "Your father at Michilimackinac having heard it said that his children, the Pous (Potawatomies) were in great fear of the Grand Couteaux (Big Knives) he is eager to send you help, accepted by some of your chiefs but which you refuse today. 'Go,' this good father has said to me, 'Go, throw off fear, my children, by offering them your arms and those of all who accompany you. I flatter myself, if they second your plans that they will recover their security and peace by destroying the principle of their terror.' "I am here, my children, charged with this office: I appear on your lands tomahawk in hand and this club, made for some men but which you see with less horror. Do not offer your regards today because they will serve as a reproach to the perfidy of your chiefs, and the truth broken by their false words. They were intended for your hands, but I dispense with you, my children, because you ask me to give into your hands an arm which cannot be taken except by a warrior's hand. "However, I know your good will has revealed your sentiments, for I have neither pretense nor imposture. "I also come to declare mine to you with the same liberty with which you declared yours, before I was obliged in the capacity of your father to prescribe your duty to you by two comparisons, so that you cannot lay on me the blame of your unhappiness which is only according to your ingratitude. "I cannot see you made to tremble by the threats (for instance of the Grand Couteaux) nor your minds beguiled by the falsehoods prepared as they have been. What I have said to your chiefs is the pure truth. I cannot convince you more by a long argument of your obligation to be faithful subjects. "I will show you the perfidious designs with which the Grand Couteaux formed on the conduct which they would have made you keep, as what I have to say includes all. "I ask you Potawatomies which of the two fathers do you prefer? The one who, attentive to your wants, has laid a heavy hand on you, is watching your safety and taking care of your days, or he from whom you have received no favors, who does not even know you except by the evils which he is watching to make you feel? "And you chiefs and nations, what would be your amazement if the youths of your village, carried away by a fanatical ardor, scorned your councils, hunted you from your lands, what part would you take? "Go, my children, go and ponder in drinking these drops of sweet milk, which I will willingly give you. What will you say to your:0 \ 0 0: t: fut:0 94 HISTORIC MICHIGAN father? Above all, remember, do not change your resolution (nor) neglect your fields, but gather together with care and thrift every grain of wheat. As for us, we are resolved to go where duty, honor and glory calls us. "This little mouth can perhaps choke those who dare to bite." Two days had already passed without discovering what effect was produced on their minds by this answer when it was discovered that respect and clemency are not always the most proper means to bring them back to their duty. Indeed, the chiefs of the first village followed by their young men, convinced by the last words of their father, came near him to seek preservation from evils which he had predicted for them. "I am ashamed, in thy presence, my father," said the chief of the village, "after having been a member of a council which one of my nation has held for the misery of the others. I have, however, forgotten what I had resolved to say to you, but I still declare that none of us have gone there nor taken part. I still assure you that instead of entering into their sentiments I am resolved, on the contrary, to execute punctually the words which I have given you in the presence of all my people. "I cannot easily persuade myself to answer their father that you be dignified by taking the name of my children, for without your words of assurance received in your general assembly I should not have known of your eagerness to second my intentions." "And thou, chiefs! If as I value today, your design in regard to me as your father and in this capacity you will conform to my will, why have you not risen up against the perfidy which offended me and declared in my presence that you have not participated in this perfidy?" This was excused because of the coarseness, or rather ferocity, of his nature. Their father continued in these terms: "I have a good heart, my children; it is open to every one who will make a place there, but your conduct toward me has rendered access difficult. You can now come only by two paths: I will show them to you, and, if you banish them from you, you not find them again. You only deserve the name of children, when you regard me as your good father, but your brothers are unworthy to participate in the favors of him who is now at Michilimackinac. I council you to go to him and tell him your wants. He will help you. He will provide for the needs of as many as remain faithful and grateful to him. I still consider that a part of you should accompany me on the road to Detroit, if I undertake it. There are only two courses which you can take, and these I propose to you." Having consulted among themselves as to the party they would take, such was the result of their deliberation: "You cannot doubt our fidelity. The War Chief has let you know satisfactorily by his song thy good will and ours. We pray you to observe that not being accustomed to going on the lake, and not having the necessary carriages, it is impossible for us to follow your advice. As for the latter we can easily execute it." "These difficulties are nothing, my children. You will have all SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 95 that is necessary for this road. It is absolutely necessary that you take it. I can do nothing. Your father at Detroit cannot relieve your wants. He, who is at Michilimackinac is the only one who can concern himself with you. Finally, if I had not feared to show myself to you, do you fear what I will do to you?" (Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. X, p. 348). These last words of Bennett's cleared the objections of the savages and they agreed to accept and follow his advice. Several Miamis of Coeur de Cerf village, (Heart of a stag) also shared in the sentiments. The Potawatomies of this region who had only a little over a decade previous been stirred by Pontiac to murder the English were not enthusiastic over the prospect of resuming destructive warfare. Two days after assuring Bennett of their loyalty, Petit Bled, head of the Potawatomies, informed the commander that whatever had been said was by way of compliment. The chief without hesitation also told Bennett that "they returned the detested hatchet and pipe, which were brought here only to render their villages miserable. He said they desired tranquility, but still insists that he held sacred the hatchet of his former father, the French king, and. would never quit it. As soon as he returned to his village the others came and made-an apology for their insolence. I gave them an answer such as I thought they deserved. Our scouts have all been frightened back by Indian reports. They all seem to be debauched by the thoughts of a French war." (Bennett's Report, Haldimand Papers, Michigan Historical Collectio'ns, Vol. X, p. 292). Describing the Indians as a "set of treacherous poltroons," Bennett informed De Peyster that there were not over twenty Indians in his camp who were not preparing to desert him. "Even Kewigushkum (Chief of the Grand River Ottawas), himself told the Potawatomies that he did not come of his own consent, but that he and his whole village were drove to it, this in consequence of threats from the Potawatomi Belts to the Ottawas and us." He was informed that Kewigushkum had told Petit Bled that upon leaving their village at L'Arbre Croche, the Ottawas had determined to go no farther than St. Joseph's and that he, like Petit Bled, favored the French. The Ottawas were ready to return. As Bennett had despatched overland to Detroit a messenger informing Captain Lernoult, commandant at the fort, of the pretended loyalty given by the Indians on his arrival, he did not want to interrupt any plans he might be ordered to carry out in consequence of sending such information. He, therefore, persuaded Indians to stay with an unfailing method-he yielded to their demand for five kegs of rum. As the messenger had been away fourteen days, his return wvas daily expected. The savages again became impatient. A number of them left, but others remained when the commander, driven to desperation, delivered two more kegs of "firewater." As the savages had already drunk more than was intended for them, this additional gift was unwillingly given. The commander, exasperated, informed them that if there was no other method of detaining them, he would rather be left alone with volunteers. 96 HISTORIC MICHIGAN While Bennett was in the midst of his difficulties with the savages, Langlade, in accordance with De Peyster's orders of July I, arrived with sixty Chippewas, who immediately demanded of Bennett rum in so haughty a manner that he not only refused to give them any, but started with his force to Mackinac when he learned that they had apparently joined him with no other intention than to devour the detachment's provisions, which were sufficient to last only fifteen days. Langlade was instructed to wait one day longer for the messenger from Detroit,. now absent nineteen days. Bennett proceeded to the mouth of the St. Joseph river where he "would not be importuned by the savages" and awaited word from Langlade. Notified by the French commander of the Indians that the messenger had not returned from Detroit, Bennett resumed his journey and within two days arrived at the great dunes which guard the mouth of the river "Okikanamayo" (Kalamazoo), where he sighted the white sails of the sloop Welcome bound for St. Joseph with the reinforcements under command of Lieutenant Clowes and the Indian chief "Michiguiss." He despatched "Mr. Hepe," a trader, in a canoe to the ship to inform the commander where the British was encamped, and that the detachment had left St. Joseph on account of shortage of provisions with the intention of returning so soon as supplies were received. By "Mr. Hepe," Lieutenant Clowes sent word that he had provisions aboard, and offered to furnish them if Bennett would send a canoe. Accompanied by as many volunteers as would go with him, the commander hurried back to the mouth of the St. Joseph "hoping yet to be of some service, aided by Lieutenant Clowes and Michiguiss with ten of his band. I made no delay till I arrived at the river where I found that the vessel had sailed, but being in hopes that she was tacking about with an intention to return, I encamped and sent Mr. Langlade again up to St. Joseph's to see if anything extraordinary had happened since our departure. Upon his return he informed me that affairs were in the same state as when we first left the place. Having waited two days and a half for the return of the vessel and having only seven days' provisions left I resolved upon returning to Michilimackinac. * * * I have the pleasure to inform you that the Canadians behaved with the greatest appearance of zeal for the service possible, and seem greatly disappointed in not having had it in their power to distinguish themselves. Also the soldiers who were of the party, I flatter myself I need not inform you of their eagerness to meet the enemy. Amiable, a young Ottawa chief, was the only Indian who returned with me. He seems no less zealous for ye good of ye service than ashamed at the dastardly, unsteady conduct of the rest of the Indians." (Bennett's Report, Haldimand Papers, Mich. Historical Collections, Vol. IX, p. 396). With Bennett to Mackinac went Louis Chevalier, who had greatly aided the British expedition during its occupation of southwestern Michigan. Despite this assistance, he was suspected of being sympathetic with the American cause. His career in the St. Joseph valley was nearing its end. Of the movements of the British and Indians in the St. Joseph :::S:: Am EATON COUNTY COURTHOUSE HIGH SCHOOL, CHARLOTTE MAIN STREET LOOKING SOUTH, CHARLOTTE SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 97 region George Rogers Clark and his army of backwoodsmen, from the frontier of Virginia and other colonies, had been informed by scouts and friendly Indians. To Clark, Bennett's expedition was a complete failure due to fear of the American army. Commenting in his journal on the operations of this force from Mackinac, Clark wrote: "Our movements during the summer had confused the enemy, consequently the commanding officer at Michilimackinac had sent an expedition via St. Joseph's to penetrate into the Illinois and to drive the Americans out of it. On their arrival at St. Joseph's, while Major Linctot was on his way up the river it was reported that an army was approaching. The Indians immediately fled from the English; being asked the occasion he was told they were invited to see them and the Big Knives fight, and as it was like to be the case, they had withdrawn to a height in order to have full view of the engagement. Finding little dependence on their Indians, they withdrew to the mouth of the St. Joseph's and formed a strong camp, but on their first learning this intelligence they had sent an express to Mackinac. A sloop being dispatched with provisions and coming within full view of their camp at the mouth of the river supposing that it was the Americans that had captured their friends at St. Joseph's and had taken post there, all the signs they could make could not bring the vessel back. She returned with the disagreeable news and the poor fellows had to starve until they could get an answer. In the meantime, Mr. Linctot (Major), knowing nothing of this had changed his route to the Weaugh, which caused a conjecture that the whole body of us was directing our course to De Troit, which caused much confusion through the whole. The summer was spent to advantage as we were careful to spread such reports as suited our interest. (Clark's Memoir, 1773-I778. Draper MSS-47). That Clark, commander-in-chief of the Virginia forces in the Western Department, did not give up his plan to capture and destroy Fort St. Joseph is shown by the following excerpt from a letter to Thomas Jefferson written at Louisville on September 23, 1779: "By my letters of the 24th of August you'll be made acquainted with my late disappointment in my intended excursion up the Ouabash. I have now a detachment of about two hundred and fifty of French and volunteer Indians and a few Regulars on their march to attack a British post at St. Joseph's near Lake Michigan commanded by a lieutenant and party where there is very considerable stores deposited for the purpose of employing savages. The party is commanded by Captain James Shelby. There is no doubt of his success as their route is such that there is but little probability of the enemy being appraised of them until it's too late. His order is to demolish the fortifications and return with the stores, &c." (Haldimand Papers, Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. XIX, p. 467). This letter was captured by the British. To it De Peyster, then commander at Detroit, added the following notation: "Sergeant Chapman reports that when Mr. Shelby endeavored to raise his volunteers they said they had no shoes and therefore would not go to St. Joseph's." 98 HISTORIC MICHIGAN CHEVALIER SUSPECTED BY THE BRITISH Baffled in their efforts to win the alliance of the Indians of the St. Joseph valley and alarmed by reports of machinations of native Frenchmen and Spanish agents, the British authorities turned their attention to the pioneer trader, Louis Chevalier, despite the fact he had warned the British commander Pontiac's savages intended to destroy the post-a warning that was ignored-that he had saved the lives of English traders during the massacre and had been a trusted agent of De Peyster, rendering great aid to Hamilton and to Bennett. Suspected of having some connection with the massacre at the post, he succeeded in clearing his name, and was entrusted with British affairs, being subject to orders from Detroit. When two of Cornelia A. Van Slyck's traders were wounded and their goods plundered at St. Joseph's, Major Henry Bassett, commander of the Tenth Regiment at Detroit, in a letter to General Thomas Gage, blamed Chevalier for the affair. He wrote under date of December 4, I773: " * * * I shall observe and execute your Excellency's orders, that affair of Venslick's, (Van Slyk), at St. Joseph's. I don't condemn the savages near so much as one Chevalier, a Frenchman, who is constantly there and I believe hurts us much in the esteem of the Indians. Your Excellency will see by the enclosed what the Indians have declared, but we have no other proof and this will not be sufficient in a court of judiction should I get and have him sent down to Canada. There is no one to prosecute him. He would soon come back, the rest of the Frenchmen that live here will ever be the cause of frequent murders committed by the savages on English traders." (Haldimand Papers, Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. XIX, p. 301). It was in August, 1778, that Henry Hamilton, commander at Detroit, who was afterward captured by George Rogers Clark, hearing of activities of Spanish and Americans, also became suspicious of Chevalier. "As to the Spaniards, however willing to take part against the English, I apprehend the depredations of the rebels in their neighborhood may make them backward in encouarging them, for I hear that some Spaniards were at a conference between some of the Indians from St. Joseph and the rebels at Kaskaskias, that they listened to what passed without saying a word till the rebel speakers went away, when they told the Indians not to listen to those people, for they were unable to fulfill the promises they had made them. * * * One Chevalier, a Frenchman, who lives at St. Joseph, has lately written to me and to Major De Peyster on the subject of the Potawatomies going to the Illinois to confer with the rebels and,Spaniards. He is the person to whom is attributed the assassination of several traders of St. Joseph and as I have not the least confidence in him, have sent his letters to Major De Peyster that he may compare his two accounts which I dare say will be found to vary. (Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. IX, pp. 465-467). General Haldimand, governor-general of Canada, however, was SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 99 well impressed with Louison Chevalier, son of Louis, who visited him in Montreal, and wrote favorably of the family on August 30, 1778, to Major De Peyster: "Louison, the son of Chevalier of St. Joseph, has been down here and behaved very well. I have sent a letter by him to his father, who I understand has great influence among the nations of that place. I have remarked to him my surprise that none of them have been down here this spring and the son has promised to come down here the next time in order to acquaint me with the reason of their absence. I recommend to you to write to Mr. Chevalier also upon the same subject and in the most earnest terms to endeavor to engage him heartily in the King's Service." (Haldimand Papers, Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. IX, p. 354). Between the month of August, I779, and July 30, 1780, Chevalier and Pierre Hurtibisse were employed as agents at St. Joseph for a general trading company composed of merchants of Michilimackinac. They, as well as all others concerned in the company, were forbidden from trading privately. On July 30, 1781, the company in "acknowledgement of certain persons," issued a statement "To annul all unlawful demands, we the subscribing proprietors and trustees of the said company, confess to have received payment in full for all the advances made for the crown at the Post of St. Joseph, in payment of services of men employed during that time. (Signed) J. H. Biron, E. L. Reilhe, C. Catine, Bte. Tabeau, C. Larehe, J. B. Guilley, Ette. Campion, M. Auge, Pre. Hurtebise, J. Sangreune." Following is the census report of "every woman, child and slave resident of the Post of St. Joseph" at the time: "In the house of M. Chevalier: Mr. Chevalier, Dauginne, Gibaut, Pieniche, Youtra Junior, Mde. Chevalier, Md. Youtra, her daughter, Raby Tany, Lizette Panise, Angelique Panize and his child. "In the house of Sieur Marcot: Marcot, Mad. Marcot and four children. "In the house of Mad. St. Germain: Mad. St. Germain, her daughter and her son. "In the house of Sieur Morin: Morin,'Md. Morin and three children, boys. "In the house of Mr. Caron: Mr. Caron, Md. Caron, Marianne Panize and her child. "In the house of M. Pre. Hurtebize and his employes: Mr. Pre. Hurtebize, Rolle, Lognon, Gervais. "In the house of Pieniche Chevalier: P. Chevalier, in war, his wife and three children. "In the house of Sieur Rode: Rode, his wife and child. "Names of private persons, each one in his house: Joseph Hurtebize, Youtra, Dursan, La Douceur, Langloy, Duchenen, Counol." (Haldimand Papers, Vol. X, Michigan Historical Collections, p. 406). Alarmed at the possibility of an attack upon Detroit from the Illinois by way of the St. Joseph post, the British turned their attention toward the settlement of uncertain savages and Frenchmen. With the region southwest of Lake Michigan in the hands of the Americans MICHIGAN STAiT* i *.iA: 100 HISTORIC MICHIGAN and that still farther west under dominion of hostile Spaniards, the Canadian government was confronted with the constant menace of expeditions against Mackinac and Detroit. These were the known objectives of the Americans. Removal of the inhabitants appeared to Lieutenant Governor Patrick Sinclair, of Michilimackinac, as the most effective solution of the situation at St. Joseph. He busied himself in making the defenses more secure, stores and materials being brought by the sloop "Felicity" and other small craft. He favored opening a line of communication between Niagara and Michilimackinac by way of Toronto. Concerning the situation at St. Joseph, Sinclair wrote to De Peyster at Detroit on February 15, I780, in part: "If a reformation can be brought about at St. Joseph's, where assistance from this place will always be intercepted and impaired while it remains in its present state as it lays so much in the way of our parties sent to cut off the supplies of any Rebel force directed against Detroit or Niagara. The Sieur du Gay carries a letter from me to Mons. Chevalier requesting that he will, with all His Majesty's subjects, remove this post with convenient speed. In this and all other matters evidently necessary, I shall promise myself your assistance and that of all the commanding officers on the communication." The British, restless under the constant threat of attack, decided to deliver a blow at the Spanish settlement of Pencour, as St. Louis, the most northern of the Spanish settlement was then known. This settlement, with its officials welcoming thousands of Indians annually from the remote regions of the west, northwest, the Ohio, the Wabash, the St. Joseph river valleys and from gates of the British stronghold at Detroit, was a tremendous impediment to the spread of English influence which was greatly needed at the critical point in the American Revolution. The revolting colonies, the British and the Spanish, with the French supporting the first and last named, were seeking favor of the Indian tribes. The tribes were astutely watching the game, but accepting in the meantime whatever was offered, regardless of who gave it. On February 17, I780, Patrick Sinclair, planning a surprise attack on St. Louis, ordered a "Mr. Hesse, a trader and a man of character, (formerly of the Sixtieth Regiment) to assemble the Menominees, Puants, Sacks and Rhenards, in the neighborhood and to take the post at the portage of the Ouisconsings and Fox rivers, there to collect all the canoes and corn in the country, for his own and for the use of nations higher up, who will be ordered to join him at the confluence of the Rivers Mississippi and Ouisconsing. Mr. Hesse is ordered not to move from his first stand until I send him instructions by Sergeant Phillips of the Eighth Regiment, who will set out from this on the loth of March with a very noted Chief Machiquawish and his band of Indians. * * * The reduction of Pencour, by surprise, from the easy admission of Indians at that place, and by assault from without for its defense, as reported, only twenty men and twenty brass cannon, will be less difficult than holding it afterward. To gain both these ends, the rich fur trade of the Missouri river, the injuries done to the traders, who formerly attempted to partake of it, and the large SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 101 property they may expect in the place will contribute." (Canadian Archives. Series B. Vol. XCVII, Pt. 22, p. 290). Seven hundred and fifty men, including Canadians, traders, Indians and servants left the fort at Mackinac on March Io to join the Indian force mobilized at Prairie du Chien, and proceeded down the river with them on May 2. In the meantime detachments were watching the rivers to intercept craft with provisions and products of the lead mines. A party of Menominees brought to Mackinac a large armed boat, which had been loaded at St. Louis; and which contained twelve men under an American commissary officer. From the lead mines they brought seventeen American and Spanish prisoners, from whom they seized provisions. They also intercepted cargoes of lead. Chief Machiquawish fired the western Indians with enthusiasm. Captain Langlade, with a band of Indians and Canadians, was ordered to join a party assembled at Chicago to make an attack by way of the Illinois river. Another detachment was sent to patrol the plains between the Wabash and Mississippi river watersheds. "Captain Hesse will remain at Pencour, Wabasha will attack Misere and the Rebels at Kacasia-two vessels leave this on the second of June to attend Machiquawish, who returns by the Illinois river with prisoners. Two small vessels remain at Milwake with some provisions after visiting the Pottawatimis side of the lake to give the Allarum expected at St. Joseph's, at least by Chevalier. * * * All the traders who secure the posts on the Spanish side of the Mississippi during the next winter have my promise for the exclusive trade of Missouri during that time-and that their canoes will be forwarded. The two lower villages are to be laid under contribution for support of their different garrisons, and the two upper villages are to send cattle to La Baye to be forwarded to this place (Mackinac) to feed the Indians on their return." * * * Thus wrote Sinclair to his superior on May 29, I780, unaware that nine days preceding the outlining of this program for distribution of spoils his expedition had been repulsed by the Americans at Cahokia and by the Spaniards valiantly defending St. Louis. (Canadian Archives. Series B, Vol. XCVII, Pt. 2, p. 349). The surprise which Sinclair had planned against these posts proved instead a surprise for the attacking parties. During the latter part of March, John Conn, a trader, came down the river to Pencour bringing a large quantity of munitions and supplies and information that the British were planning an expedition into the Illinois valley. Immediately the Spaniards called in the outlying forces, surrounded the settlement with cavalry videttes, erected as fortifications a stone house surrounded with a parapet and threw up entrenchments. Scouts were sent out to watch for the enemy. Captain Don Fernando de Leyba, commandant of the post of San Luis de Ylinoises, and of the infantry regiment of Louisiana, also built at one end of the town, at the expense of the inhabitants, a wooden tower armed with five cannon. With a force of twenty-nine veteran soldiers and two hundred and eighty residents of the vicinity, the commander, a cultured gentleman from Barcelona, awaited the enemy, who appeared May 26, at one 102 HISTORIC MICHIGAN o'clock in the afternoon. The attack began on the north side. The enemy, expecting no opposition, was received with a vigorous fire from the militia, while the veteran artillerymen, manning the guns in the tower, caused consternation in the attacking party which was quickly repulsed. Seeing that they could not capture a place so bravely defended, the enemy scattered over the country, destroying crops, killing cattle and committing atrocities on helpless persons who had not time to take refuge within the defenses. (Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XVIII, p. 407). At Cahokia, the enemy was also repulsed by the American garrison. Sinclair sent the sloop Felicity and a privately owned vessel into Lake Michigan on May 29 to land a party of Canadians and Indians to join the expedition sent to capture St. Louis and Cahokia. The vessels, however, arrived in time to meet one of the defeated divisions of the invaders retreating to Chicago. Wrote Sinclair to Haldimand on July 8, I780: "They fortunately carried with them a force sufficient to enable the party retiring from the Illinois by Chicago to pass with safety through a band of Indians in the Rebel interest and to embark with security, some in canoes and some in the vessels. The others retired in two divisions, one by the Mississippi, with Monsieur Calve, who allowed the prisoners taken by the Sacks and Outagamies to fall into the hands of the enemy. The other division penetrated the country between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi and are arrived here with their prisoners. Two hundred Illinois cavalry arrived at Chicago five days after the vessels left it. On the 26th of May, Mr. Hesse with the Winipigoes, Sioux, Ottawa, Ochipa, Iowa and a few of the Outagamies, Sacs, Mascoutens, Kickapous and Pottawatamies. * * * Twenty of the volunteer Canadians sent from this, and a very few of the traders and servants made their attack against Pencotur and the Cahokias. The two first mentioned Indian nations would have stormed the Spanish lines if the Sacs and Outagamies under their treacherous leader, Mons. Calve had not fallen back so early as to give them but too well-grounded suspicions that they were between two fires. Amons, Ducharme and others who traded in the country of the Sacs, kept pace with Monsieur Calve in his perfidy. They have long shared the profits arising from the lead mines and from the commerce with the Illinois. * * * The rebels lost an officer a'nd three men killed at the Cahokias and five prisoners. At Pencour sixty-eight were killed and eighteen blacks and white people made prisoners. Amongst them several good artificers. Many hundred cattle were destroyed and forty-three scalps brought in." (Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. IX, pp. 558-560). In the postscript of this letter Sinclair announces that he has sent an officer to remove Chevalier from St. Joseph to Mackinac with the "crew from St. Joseph's," stating: "No accident happened to any of the Indians or others in retiring. Monsieur Ducharme permitted two profligate Frenchmen in his charge as prisoners to go to the Illinois. Numbers of that stamp are brought in from the Indians with their consent and approbation and the whole are ordered to Mr. Ainses, call interpreter here, is sent to bring in the crew from St. Joseph's. Monsieur Chevalier is his SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 103 uncle and will come in, I believe, through favor and compulsion, if he is not encouraged to stay here." CHEVALIER REMOVED TO MACKINAC The removal of Louis Chevalier and the Canadian families was accomplished in the summer of I780 by Joseph Ainse, Chevalier's nephew. The mission was a delicate one for Ainse, who left with six canoes, each manned by three Canadians and twenty Courtoreiller Indians, chosen by him. These canoes were fully provisioned for the voyage by the general association, with the exception of four barrels of rum which Ainse took. The sum of ~I,200 currency was allowed by Sinclair for this expedition. All the inhabitants with part of their baggage were brought to Mackinac. The expenses incurred by Ainse, according to his statement, amounted to 2,244 livres and 20 sous. In settlement of this account, Mr. Ainse became involved in a controversy with Sinclair in which the latter was charged with refusing to make satisfactory settlement. Concerning Ainse's removal of Canadians from St. Joseph, Sinclair wrote to Haldimand on August 2, I780: "I sent him to St. Joseph's to bring in his uncle Mr. Chevalier and the other lawless and strange class of people at that place for many years settled for the sole purposes of overawing commerce and making themselves useful to whoever did most for their services, which were ever more ready for doing bad than good. "On this excursion, notwithstanding my caution to him not to incur expenses, he wished to repeat the usual profusion in which he had no small share-checked in that and finding himself not of the consequences he expected, he very imprudently listened to traders and Indians and engaged both to represent (I can hardly say their wish), but their demand to have the goods outside the fort at the discretion of each trader for the disposal of them. "Upon my absolute refusal of their request, he promoted discontent all he could and endeavored to circulate idle stories to intimidate such as, that Indian chiefs and bands were to go away without taking leave, &c., &c. "He was privy to councils held by Monsieur Chevalier under the guts of the fort without giving me notice. He was present and interpreted for one of the Ottawa chiefs who desired that Mr. Chevalier and Mr. Ainse should return to St. Joseph's and after my refusal of their request he was witness to one of these chiefs who had been means of bringing to me on that errand, declaring that notwithstanding my refusal, the Chevalier would go to St. Joseph's (in the) autumn. "I had no inclination to yield to the discontent of Mr. Ainse or to the refractory disposition of the Indian; therefore, I have secured during their stay here, Monsieur Ainse and Mr.. Chevalier in the fort and will oblige both to give bond for their future conduct before they are sent down. I keep some very bad people here for some time, being a stranger to what may happen below. Here they can do little harm until grain is ripe and I have secured all the provisions and goods." 104 HISTORIC MICHIGAN (Haldimand Papers, Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. IX, p. 569). On charges brought by Mackinac merchants Mr. Ainse was brought to trial and convicted in I790 of having embezzled government property. When Mr. and Mrs. Chevalier were brought to Mackinac, Sinclair stirred the wrath of Lieutenant D. Mercer of the King's regiment, by ordering that officer to give them a room in his house. This officer, already involved in a quarrel with one of the resident traders whom he had seized by the nose-resulting in his arrest-indignantly wrote to Major De Peyster in Detroit that as an "instance of further insult. * * * I have received a message from Lieutenant-Governor Sinclair that I must give up a room in my house to Mr. and Mrs. Chevalier. I must observe there is only one fireplace in the house. There are soldiers in possession of houses unmolested and yet an officer is to be thus abused without the possible means of doing himself justice. It was the house the baker lived in. * * * I have remonstrated without effect and denied being allowed the use of my tent." CHEVALIER APPEALS TO HALDIMAND Ainse, in requesting permission to go to Montreal, was released for the journey by Sinclair on condition that he give security for his good behavior and that he take with him Mr. Chevalier and family and as many other persons as would be possible. For this journey it was necessary for Ainse to take three canoes. Interesting glimpses of life in the St. Joseph settlement are given in Chevalier's petition to General Frederic Haldimand, "General and Governor in Chief of the Province of Quebec and the Territories depending thereon." It is a story of faithful service rewarded with injustice. The petition, dated October 9, 1780, follows: "The very humble address of Louis Chevalier, formerly merchant at St. Joseph and successively employed for a number of years by Messrs. the commandants of Michilimackinac to maintain the Indians in their duty and fidelity towards his Majesty. "The petitioner has the honor to represent that for thirty-five years he has settled at St. Joseph, where by his conduct and behavior under the two governments, he ventures to flatter himself to have obtained. there, the confidence and esteem of those who were the trustees of authority; that having made himself beloved by the Indians in this district, he has profited by the ascendency which he has had over their minds only to keep them in their duty and fidelity towards His Majesty and his government, since the conquest and cession of Canada. "That, for some years, there having been no commandant nor garrison at St. Joseph the different commandants had chosen him as the King's man in this district. Honored by the instructions to this effect and with the execution of their orders to which he has always conformed in the character of a true and faithful subject of his prince. "That last year Mr. Barmer (Lieutenant Bennett), with a detachment came to St. Joseph to endeavor to pacify the Indians and to encourage the good, reassure the weak, and bring back, if possible, the bad to their duty (Your excellency has been informed of the result of this step), the petitioner accompanied this officer on his return to SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 105 Michilimackinac. He was well received there by Major De Peyster and on his departure the commandant gave him an order to continue his care and to carry out the defined purpose. "That the petitioner had the consolation of seconding the views of this wise officer, by succeeding in bringing back their principals, so that all the nations of his post and the surrounding district, appeared, at the moment in the interest of the King. It was necessary to perfectly assure them that they approved of their proposal to go and strike at the post of Vincennes and at the Belle Riviere (Ohio); they consented to this unanimously. Then it was necessary to equip them, which was done partly by the advances made by the company and partly by the petitioner who advanced six thousand livres of twenty sous, and the petitioner was authorized by Major De Peyster to incur these expenses. One party composed of twenty-two men went towards post Vincennes, another one hundred and twenty men having with it M. Du Quindre and three Canadians went toward La Belle Riviere. The first party having doubtless been too much engaged was quickly met and repulsed by the enemy. There were six killed and four dangerously wounded. The rest of this party arrived at St. Joseph on the 24th of June last, nearly naked and all tattered. There has not yet been news of the second. "That the 25th of the same month, that as the petitioner set himself to console the afflicted and to clothe them, M. Ainse arrived, having received orders from Mr. Sinclair, with a detachment of Indians and Canadians, appeared at St. Joseph. They were notified by him that, either voluntarily or by force, he was to bring all the inhabitants of the post to Michilimackinac. The petitioned began to obey the orders. The others did so led by his example. Sixtyeight years of age, his wife of seventy having all his fortune in the neighborhood, ten houses; good lands, orchards, gardens, cattle, furniture, utensils and debts, of which he has made an entire sacrifice to obedience. "That being arrived at Michilimackinac he presented himself to the lieutenant-governor who received him politely at first, but afterward sent to search his boxes, he opened them in his presence and took all the papers they contained, which were all the letters of the commandants and their orders. He promised to return them, which he has not done. That after he confined him a prisoner in the fort and forbad him to leave it. "That after this treatment, which was as hard as unexpected, the petitioner asked for permittion to go down to this town, which was accorded him only after having furnished security to a large amount for his good behavior. "That as the conduct of the petitioner is not blameable, that he is as he has been and always will be faithful to his prince; he has good reason to claim the protection of your excellency which is never refused to the weak unjustly oppressed by the strong and in consequence he humbly hopes himself authorized to ask it. "To pray first.-To discharge him from the security he has given, i: a"~:~ 106 HISTORIC MICHIGAN having been unjustly considered as a suspected person at the same time that he went to show his fidelity in the most striking manner. "Second.-To order the advances which he has made by order of Major De Peyster be paid to him. "Third.-That he shall be permitted to return next spring to St. Joseph to gather the remains of his fortune and to order that his papers be sent to him. "He is led to expect all these things from the justice of your Excellency for the preservation of whom he will never cease to pray." (Haldimand Papers, Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. X, pp. 438 -440). With his claims supported by Major De Peyster, Chevalier, after great delay, received compensation from the British government. Concerning the later career of this first enterprising citizen of the St. Joseph valley, history is silent, except for the fact he was detained in Montreal until 1782. With the removal of Chevalier from St. Joseph, affairs at that place were without guidance until De Peyster sent thither Lieutenant Dagneau de Quindre, a native of Detroit. De Quindre was given leadership of the Potawatomies at his own request. He was taken into the Indian department of this district by Major De Peyster, who regarded him as one of his most trusted men. De Quindre was with the Potawatomies and Grand River Indians when the latter earlier in the year had gone to attack Post Vincennes. The leader fell ill on the way, and was unable to accompany the Indians who were duped by a Canadian trader who asked whether they were mad to attack their old friends, the French and to go against four thousand men in the post. They returned home, but a few proceeded to Vincennes where they found only twentythree Virginians. De Quindre was formerly a lieutenant in the French service and the English gave him a similar grade in their service. Writing from St. Joseph's on June 14, I780, to Sinclair, De Quindre commends Louis Chevalier as follows: "It is to his capacity and to his labors, Sir, I am indebted for the success that I have over the minds of the Poutowatamies and consequently it is for him to render an account of it. I give him this testimonial before you because he has too much dignity to claim it himself." (Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. X, p. 401). With the tyranical Sinclair at Mackinac, De Peyster had a misunderstanding, the source of which was the former's claim that the Detroit commander was infringing on his authority. "My disputes with Captain Sinclair are all chimerical, the mere product of his brain, for as God may judge, I never thought of entering into any with him, my sole study having been mutually to promote the end of our being at the posts," wrote De Peyster to Haldimand on October I, I780. "With regard to the Post of St. Joseph's and Saguina, I have ever pursued the method of my predecessors. The St. Joseph's Indians have a constant intercourse with this place. They come on horseback in four or five days, sometimes in great numbers, whereas they seldom or ever go to the post of Michilimackinac, except when sent for, be SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 107 ing unaccustomed to canoes on the lakes." (Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. IX, p. 615). With Chevalier and the traders gone, the Potawatomies at St. Joseph, whose ties with the British were none too strong became dissatisfied to such an extent that De Peyster saw the danger the British were in of losing their friendship. On September I7th, he declared in a letter to Sinclair that "unless the Potawatamies have traders amongst them they will in time become quite estranged or else become a great burthen to government at this post. Two hundred of them have just left this, after requesting that I would write to you to allow them traders. I have sent LeClerc amongst them as an armourer and they promised to bring in Mayett and his adherents who they say poison their ears. I sent them off empty handed till this service is performed." The Americans in the Illinois region were anxious to expand their conquests and strike the blow they had several times before intended for the St. Joseph's post. In the summer of I780, a mysterious Frenchman, said to bear a commission from Paris, appeared in the Illinois region and raised among the French settlements an expedition against Detroit. This officer was Colonel Augustin Mottin de la Balme. To his standard the natives flocked as if "he were the Messiah." In Vincennes and Kaskaskia he enlisted a large following. For the capture of Fort St. Joseph, he commissioned as leaders Jean Baptiste Hamelin and Thomas Brady, residents of Cahokia. (Illinois Historical Collections, Vol. II, p. xcii). Thomas Brady, a brother of Captain Samuel Brady, noted Pennsylvania Indian fighter, was a famous hunter of bears and panthers. In 1776, he took up his residence in Cahokia. The expedition which he and Hamelin commanded consisted of sixteen soldiers. They grandiloquently called it the "Western Division of the Continental Army." The force was made mostly of half-breeds who refused to undertake such a project unless a priest accompanied them. The Rev. Father Beson, an aged, bald-headed priest, agreed to join the expedition. Before the "army" left Cahokia, he offered prayer for success of the expedition, which was to undertake the perilous overland journey to St. Joseph four hundred miles distant. The route of the invaders was up the Illinois and Des Plaines rivers. At various hallowed spots Father Beson made the adventurers halt and pray and partake of the sacrament. Mass was said and songs of praise were sung amid wild surroundings. Where Bureau creek empties into the Illinois river, Father Hennepin had erected a cross. At the mouth of the Chicago river Father Marquette had erected a similar sacred emblem. At both these places Father Beson held religious services. According to reports, there were twenty-one men asleep in Fort St. Joseph when the invaders stole upon it during the night, rushed in and made them prisoners without resistance. Learning that two companies of British soldiers and Indians were coming, Hamelin and Brady and their followers hastily gathered what plunder they were able to carry and hurried off. (Pioneers of Illinois, Matson). 108 HISTORIC MICHIGAN With all the speed their pack-laden horses, carrying a total of fifty bales, were able to make, the Cahokians hurried along the trail to the Chicago river. Close behind them was a force of Indians and Canadians led by Lieutenant Dagneau de Quindre, who had been stationed near the post, and Etienne Campion, a prominent trader of Montreal, who had been licensed to carry on commerce in the upper country. At the Petit Fort, a day's journey beyond the Rivere du Chemin, said by one authority to be Trail Creek at the mouth of which Michigan City is how located, by another to be the Calumet river, the pursuers overtook the Cahokians on December 5, 1780, and summoned them to surrender. When they refused to do so, du Quindre ordered the Indians to attack them. The battle resulted disastrously for the Cahokians. After four were killed, and two wounded seven of the survivors surrendered, and three escaped into a woods. Brady was among the captives. Hamelin, described by the British as a "halfIndian," was among the slain. Brady and two companions were taken to Detroit for questioning by De Peyster. The others were taken to Mackinac by the Indians. "I look upon these gentry as robbers and not as prisoners of war, having no commission that I can learn, other than a verbal order from Maons. Trottier, an inhabitant of the Cahoes," wrote de Peyster to General Powell, January 8, I78I. "The rebels having long since quit all that country, Brady, who says he had no longer a desire of remaining in the rebel service, therefore, did not follow them, and informed me Colonel Clark was gone down to Williamsburg to solicit a detachment to join with a Spanish colonel in an expedition against this place (Detroit). When the heavy cannon and ammunition arrives, which I have returned wanting, I shall be ready to give them a warm reception should they be rash enough to attempt it." (Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. XIX, p. 291). Brady afterward escaped from the British and made his way back to his native state of Pennsylvania, where he raised a company for military service. After the war he returned to Cahokia where in I790 he was elected sheriff of St. Clair county. He also served as Indian agent and justice. He lies buried in the old churchyard in Cahokia. The death of Hamelin was followed with a curious piece of litigation in Cahokia. The old court records show that Nicholas Boismenu on April I9, 1781, in an action against the estate of Jean Baptiste Hamelin "Prays the court that M. Bte. Lacroix, in charge of the estate of Bte. Hamelin pay to him a dozen jugs of tafia (a popular intoxicating liquor of that period), which the late Hamelin owed him in exchange for a horse, which exchange was made with the plaintiff while they were going to St. Joseph. * * * The (men) named Ignace and St. Michael appeared and made oath they were witnesses when Hamelin made the exchange on the way to St. Joseph." These survivors of the expedition confirmed the plaintiff's story and the court ordered Lacroix to deliver eleven jugs "and in case there remains anything of the estate of the late Hamelin, said M. Lecroix shall be obliged to render account to the said Boismenu for the other jug of [WEST MICHIGAN 109 SOUTE tafia which remains due to him." (Illinois Historical Collections, Vol. II). The expedition of de la Balme, the adventurer, also ended in disaster. His objective had been Detroit, but he never- reached that place. After capturing the posts of Ouiatanon and Miami (near Fort Wayne), his force was surprised in the night by Indians under Little Turtle and scattered. De la Balme was slain, his papers captured and many of his followers killed. The final capture of Fort St. Joseph was now near. Though Hamelin and Brady had met disaster, there was being organized by the Spaniards in St. Louis, in co-operation with Indians, a powerful expedition which was to make the final capture of the place, carry off what goods had been left by previous plunderers and to depart with the British ensign. Important as this expedition was, very little information concerning it has been discovered. To the Spanish King it was a notable conquest which extended territorial claims; to the Americans it presented a difficult diplomatic problem in settlement of boundary lines on the western frontier; to the British it was merely the act of a band of marauders. It was, however, a military invasion of territory claimed by the British, and must be regarded as such for, insignificant as it may seem in comparison with other operations during the American Revolution, its results were far reaching. When Don Francesco Cruvat took command of the post of St. Louis, he immediately planned an attack upon the British probably in retaliation for the murderous foray against the post the preceding year. In January, 1781, there was organized a force of sixty-five militiamen, both Spanish and French, and about sixty or more Indians of the western tribes. Don Euginio Pirre, a captain of militia, was given command. Next in rank was Don Carlos Tayon, a sub-lieutenant. The third important personage was Louison Chevalier, the interpreter, who was without doubt the son of Louis Chevalier, of St. Joseph's. It is possible that he might have joined the Spanish because of the ill treatment suffered by his father from the British. A large quantity of goods and ammunition was carried along with which to buy passage through the Indian country on the four hundred mile journey to St. Joseph. It was doubtless through Chevalier's influence that the expedition passed on without being molested. Across the bleak snow-covered plains between St. Louis and Chicago the little army marched. Poorly equipped as these men must have been, such a winter's journey could not have been successfully consummated without hardships that try the stoutest hearts. Their line of march was probably up the frozen valley of the Kankakee river. Again the fort was captured by surprise, the white soldiers, some of whom were nearly as wild as their painted and feathered-decked allies, and the Indians, eager for loot, rushed through the settlement and captured" every person before resistance could be thought of. The object of the expedition was apparently a raid, for no force was left to hold the post. After gathering all the plunder that could be found in the settlement, the Spaniards and Indians started homeward, arriving I r 110 HISTORIC MICHIGAN early in March. It is said by some that the buildings of the post were ih flames when the invaders marched away. The Spaniards were elated over the success of this expedition, and used it as the basis for claiming territory east of the Mississippi. An account was published in the Madrid Gazette on March 12, I782. A translation of it was sent by John Jay, the American ambassador in Madrid to Washington. The Spanish had an ambition to hold the Mississippi valley, but Jay, Franklin and Adams protested the claim. The French, however, supported the Spanish. (Sparks Diplomatic Correspondence, Edition 1830, Vol. VIII, pp, 76, 77). Words of high commendation for the success of this expedition were written January 15, 1782, by Jose de Galvez, governor-general of Louisiana, to Don Bernardo de Galvez: "The King has received with the utmost satisfaction and gratification the information contained in the letter of Your Excellency of the 26th of last October, No. 28, in which referring to another letter written by the commandant of Ylinoeses to the governor ad interim of Louisiana he reports the profitable conquest of the post of San Josef, two hundred and thirty leagues from San Luis, which was occupied by the English. The King applauded the courage and prudent conduct of the captain of militia, Don Eugenio Pirre, commandant of the detachment which formed the attack; of the sub-lieutenant of the same, Don Carlos Tayon; and the interpreter, Don Luis Chevalier, employed in the expedition; and as proof of his satisfaction with their service he has designed to confer upon the first the rank of lieutenant in the army on half pay, and on the second that of sub-lieutenant on half pay, and to command that Your Excellency shall assign to the third such a gratification as shall appear appropriate." (MSS. in the Archives of the Indies, Seville; pressmark, "Papeles procedientes de la Cuba. Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XVIII, p. 430). Referring to the Spanish attack on St. Joseph, Major Arent S. De Peyster writing to Brigadier-General H. Watson Powell from Detroit on March I7, I78I, says in part: "The enemy returned (referring to Brady's expedition), or rather a fresh party arrived in St. Joseph's and carried the traders and the remainder of their goods off. Mr. Du Quindre arrived there the day after, but could not assemble a sufficient body to pursue them. Forty Indians had got together in a few days, but as the enemy had got too much the start they insisted upon his conducting them to Detroit in order to speak to me. * * * By this vessel I send down some Canadians, &c., who were taken in arms at the Miarmis and St. Joseph's, and by the next I shall send some who are rather dangerous people in this settlement." (Haldimand Papers, Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. XIX, p. 600). Greatly alarmed over the foray of the Spaniards and Indians, who had plundered the traders they had induced the British to send to the post after Chevalier had been exiled, the Potawatomies of St. Joseph's, Terre Coupe and Coeur de Cerf, hurried to Detroit where they met in council with Major De Peyster on March IIth, Assimut, presenting four strings of wampum, spoke as follows: "Father, I am hired by the Potawatamies at and near St. Joseph's SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 111 to acquaint you with the reasons of having suffered the enemy to carry off their traders. They came to St. Joseph's at a time when all the Indians were yet at their hunt, excepting a few young men who were not sufficient to oppose one hundred white men and eighty Indians led by Seguinac and Makewine, who deceived them by telling them that it was the sentiment of the Indians in general to assist the French and Spaniards. Had we assembled in time we would nevertheless have given them such a stroke as we gave those who came to St. Joseph's a few moons before. We, therefore, hope our father will take pity on us and not leave us to the mercy of the enemy, who threatens soon to come and destroy our women and children." Wawiaghtenon, chief of the Potawatomies of Detroit, speaks in behalf of his nation, the Ottawas and Chippewas and with six strings: "Father, I rise to speak in behalf of the Potawatamies of St. Joseph's. I desire in the name of our nation, the Ottawas and Chippewas that you will not abandon them to the mercy of the enemy. I am convinced that they were in no way in concert with the enemy, and, therefore, hope you will have pity on them." Major De Peyster then replied, presenting six strings of wampum: "Children-you see I call you children since it is the request of the nations present-I have at different times said so much to you on the subject of the traders and goods entrusted with you, by the government of Michilimackinac, that it is needless to say any more at present-my words have proven true. You have lost your traders and I have only to pity you-open your ears and attend now to what I am going to say. The Spaniards tell you they are in alliance with the French. They, therefore, offer you hands or threaten to destroy your women and children. Believe me-they can never destroy them until you are simple enough to shake hands with them. If you adhere to your alliance with the King of Great Britain and his Indian friends, nothing can hurt you. The Spaniards, in the time of your ancestors, by fair words when they failed by force of arms, got possession of an Indian country the other side of the Mississippi where they killed thousands of the inhabitants to get the stuff those bracelets and gorgets you are now wearing are made of. You have no such clay in your grounds at St. Joseph's, but you find fertile lands which will produce abundance of corn. If, therefore, you listen to these sugar-mouthed Spaniards, what would the spirits of your ancestors say if they knew their burying grounds were to be leveled by ploughs, and their bones disturbed for the Spaniards and Virginians to sow corn, &c., whilst you, their descendants, tamely came to Detroit to beg a little piece of land from the Ottawas to hide yourselves, which must be the case soon unless you are determined to stand firm as the oak, which grows upon your land. Do not be afraid to trouble the lands because there are Indians foolish enough to join them. If you are afraid, I am not. Therefore, to prevent yourselves the affront, return to St. Joseph's and bring to me the chiefs Seguinac and Makewine, or I will find others from Michilimackinac to do it. Do you not know that they are the outcasts of the nations? I once bought 112 HISTORIC MICHIGAN those renegade chiefs off in hopes that they would return to a sense of their duty. I am now determined no longer to spare them. "Whilst some of you look out for your enemies, let others fresh cover the graves of your ancestors, and raise the earth so high over them that no ploy can level them. Mr. Baby will furnish you with ammunition and such things as are absolutely necessary. You must not expect ornaments till you show yourselves, thoroughly deserving of them. "Children: The English always have treated you well, and the Indians on the other side of the Mississippi are so sensible of the goodness of the English father, that they have invited him to send troops to drive the Spaniards out of the country. They are now about it, and are helping those Indians to avenge themselves upon their enemies. Tell Nanaquoibe and Betagusach their old Michilimackinac father speaks to them. He begs they will also attend to what they will soon hear from him, who is at present at Michilimackinac, as they may expect to hear him soon." Wawiaghtenou replied: "Father! In calling to mind the bones of our ancestors, you draw tears from me, have pity of them, and I'll engage they will raise mountains over their graves." (Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. X, pp. 453-455). Haldimand in a letter to Sinclair on May 31, 1781, declared that protection of traders was dependent on the Indians. Referring to the situation at St. Joseph's he wrote: "In regard to sending traders to St. Joseph's you must be the best judge how far the conduct of the Potowatamy Indians merit indulgence, and you may permit traders to go, or restrain them, just as you find it necessary. To Potowatamys and all other Indians at trading posts may be informed that if they ever again permit the enemy to pillage the traders they may rest assured that a trader will never be permitted to return to them. Their being on a hunt, or any other evasive argument will not be any more admitted as an excuse." The American Revolution was now nearing its end. Cornwallis surrendered on October I9, 1781, and the situation as regarded the savages in the Great Lakes country changed immediately. Though the British retained interests in the Indian country, it became thereafter open ground for traders. ALTEGAN COUNTY COURTHOUSE SELKIRK INDIAN MISSION BISHOP MC COSKEY-SOUTHWESTERN REV. JAMES SELKIRK AND WIFE MICHIGAN PIONEER hltlratt.il. tl i., CHAPTER IV MICHIGAN AND THE BLACK HAWK WAR T HOUGH Michigan was measureably far removed from the stage on which was enacted the somewhat picturesque drama of the Black Hawk war, in 1832, the conflict was one that touched this state, then a territory, in no uncertain way, for here were quickened into decisive and active protest the patriotism and military vigor that indicated that the pioneer communities were ready to lend their aid in suppressing this new uprising on the part of the ancient foes, the Indians. KALAMAZOO COUNTY SOLDIERS Of such distinctive interest is the record that appeared in the Everts & Abbott History of Kalamazoo County (I880), as touching local conditions and activities in connection with this war, that there is all of consistency in reproducing the same in the present publication, as follows: "Curious as it may seem, the famous Black Hawk war seriously affected this far-away country. Soon after the ridiculous fiasco of Major Stillman near Rock river, in what is now Marion township, Ogle county, Illinois, in the latter part of May, 1832, the news spread rapidly that the United States army had been cut to pieces in Illinois; Fort Dearborn, at Chicago, captured, the garrison massacred; the settlers in northern Illinois all tomahawked and scalped; and the bloody and vicious Sac chief, at head of five thousand fierce warriors, was making fast time on the warpath straight for the flourishing settlements in Kalamazoo county! The excitement was intense; the military were at once called out, and preparations were made to 'pile a new Thermopylae,' or beat back the horde of advancing savages. Colonel H. B. Huston, the first merchant in Kalamazoo, left his desk and, ably seconded by Captain Harrison, who came of a fighting family, mustered all the men who could be spared, and hurried, with brief leave-takings, to the general rendezvous at Schoolcraft, then the largest and best business point it the county. Here, under leaders full of 'martial fire,' a hetrogeneous battalion of some two hundred men, mounted on every variety of farm horse, and promiscuously armed with the flint-lock musket of Bunker Hill, rifles that had'caused many a fallow deer and gobbling turkey-cock to bite the dust, uncertain shotguns and old holster-pistols, sabres that had seen bloody service under 'Mad Anthony' in the 'stirring days of old,' and powder-horns that would be a fortune to Barnum's Museum, set themselves in battle array and disappeared in smoke and dust toward the southwest, where lowered the ominous war cloud, ready to burst in flame and blood over a devoted land. After a long and weary ride, during which a number of jaded steeds and toil-worn warriors gave out and lingered by the:: . 14 HISTORIC MICHIGAN way, the command reached the embryo city of Niles, and sought a brief respite from the 'horrors of war,' in a sylvan camp a mile out of the frightened village. The village of Niles was filled to overflowing with the chivalry of Michigan, which had assembled from far and near, ready to do battle for wives and children trembling 'in their log-cabin homes.' In this pleasant camp the men of Kalamazoo county remained for two whole days, fighting mosquitoes and cursing the long delay of Black Hawk and his whooping braves, whom they expected to see 'come pouring forth with impetuous speed,' in all the horrid panoply of Indian war. But they came not; in fact, they were then fugitives, fleeing swiftly from the legions of Uncle Sam and the ravenous militia of Illinois, who came forth under Ford, and Lincoln, and Dement, to sweep the red-skinned devils from the fair prairies of the west. At the close of the second day in camp 'general orders' announced that the peninsula was safe, and the battalion would countermarch for home. * * * It is said that the boys took to the woods on the homeward march, and that scarcely a 'corporal's guard' reported to the rendezvous at Schoolcraft." MICHIGAN POTAWATOMIES The foregoing review was written in a spirit of genial facetiousness, but the Black Hawk warriors constituted more of a menace to the pioneers of southern Michigan than the account given in the preceding paragraph would imply. Furthermore, there came intimations and rumors to the effect that the Potawatomies of Michigan were about to join or give support to the sanguinary forces of Black Hawk. Apropos of the attitude of the Michigan Indians in this connection are the following extracts taken from a most able and valuable historical article prepared by S. C. Coffinberry and read at the annual meeting of the Michigan State Pioneer Society February 7, 1878. The general province of Mr. Coffinberry's article was the noting of incidents connected with the first settlement of Nottawa-Sippi prairie in St. Joseph county, and it is here possible to give only such extracts as have application to the Black Hawk war. The complete article appears in Vol. II of the second edition of the Michigan Pioneer Collections. "This tribe of Pottawattomies was continually involved in internal dissensions while the pioneers supplied them with intoxicating drink, until the frontier war, known as the Black Hawk war, commenced, at which period the members of the tribe had sunken into the most abject poverty and dissipation. At this crisis the notes of Indian war were sounded along the frontier settlement. The southern line of the Pottawattomi Reserve traversed Nottawa prairie east and west, near its center. That portion of the prairie south of the reservation line was among the first lands to be located by the immigrants to the northern portion of the county. Here, then, when the alarm of the Black Hawk war was given, the huts of the settlers were scattered along the southern margin, in the shadows of the beautiful groves and islands of this portion of the prairie, in close proximity with this band of debased Pottawattomies. It is not to be wondered at that the settler felt sensations of alarm, and that the mother drew her child closer SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 115 to her bosom, as they were aroused from their slumbers in their cabin by the wild shrieks of the besotted Pottawattomie as he galloped across the prairie to his wigwam, steeped in drunkenness. A panic seized the new settlement. Some families fled in haste, while others prepared for defense. Many are the anecdotes and traditions still current of the inglorious flight of many, while others remained to meet the emergencies and grapple with the vicissitudes and dangers of frontier life. Goods and valuables were concealed; cattle were sold at half their value, or abandoned and turned to the commons; crops left uncultivated and ungathered. * * * The militia was ordered out on Nottawa prairie and duly organized under the territorial law. Patrols were appointed and sentinels placed. * * * Couriers were dispatched to the adjacent settlements to sound the tocsin of war. * * * It was certain, from the various reports of these daring couriers, that the Pottawattomie Indians on the Nottawa reservation were instruments in the hands of Black Hawk, and that they were also collecting the implements and munitions of war, and would soon prove formidable foes in the approaching dangers which were to 'try men's souls.' These Potawatomies, it was true, could only muster about fifty warriors, enervated, enfeebled and trembling with dissipation and its concomitant diseases and infirmities, and although they had no arms, nor the means to procure them, still, their war-whoop might prove fatal." ERECTION OF FORT HOGAN Was any manner of jeopardy to the settlers to be expected from such a source? In the perspective of the years, the alarm and consternation that swept through the settlement seem little less than purile and ridiculous, but it is to be remembered that in earlier periods stark tragedy had often walked side by side with the Indians and that the memories of the pioneers had full recognition of this. Not here can be related again the story of Indian atrocities and of the grave injustice of the white men in their treatment of the Indians. It is sufficient to say that the fear and tumult in the pioneer settlement resulted in military preparations, in public assemblages, in firey speeches of patriotism and solemn deliberation, while the culmination came in about forty settlers giving about one and one-half days to the erection of Fort Hogan, on the lands of Daniel Hogan, near the east end of Nottawa prairie. From this point is resumed the narrative of Mr. Coffinberry. "At this time a large body of militia, under the command of General Brown, was massed at Niles, in Berrien county, slowly advancing toward Chicago, the rendezvous of the operative forces under General Atkinson. * * * It was determined to send an express messenger to Niles to beg General Brown to send a detachment of his volunteers and militia to Fort Hogan, to guard and protect the frontier settlement on Nottawa prairie. * * * While the labor was progressing at Fort Hogan, Cyrus Schellhous stole away to the Indian village on the reservation. He found the Indians almost destitute and laboring under a false apprehension that their white neighbors, taking advantage of the Black Hawk excitement, meditated an attack upon their village, 116 HISTORIC MICHIGAN with the purpose of driving them from their reservation and appropriating it to their use. He could not prevail upon them to send some of their leading men with him to the settlers to assure them of their peaceful intentions, and to receive assurances from their white neighbors that their intentions were misapprehended by the Indians. After a brief council of the Indians, in which the partisans of Cush-ee-wes and Sau-au-quett united, it was determined that if they were invited to an interview with the settlers by Captain Powers, they would send a deputation to such an interview." HISTORIC CONFERENCE WITH POTAWATOMIES The sequel of the efforts of Mr. Schellhous was that the interview or conference was finally held, at the cabin of Captain Powers, and "thus these humble and depressed representatives of a once numerous and proud people met the descendants of those who had driven them from their homes and run the iron plow-share over the graves of their fathers." Mr. Coffinberry continues as follows: "While there was a marked humanity, mingled with suspicion, in the countenances of those Indians as they approached, there was firmness in their step and pride and dignity in their bearing." Finally, and at considerable length, Cush-ee-wes spoke words of wisdom and understanding, through the medium of the interpreter, and his response when he was asked whether he did not receive messages from Black Hawk and whether he and his people had not armed themselves to aid the Sacs and murder all the settlers, was so noble and sententious that its reproduction here is justified: THE WORDS OF CUSH-EE-WES "The pale-face speaks not the words of wisdom. We are weak, you are strong. The weak are not fools to dare the strong. The Sac is the enemy of the Pottawattomie. There never was friendship between our nations. There were never good words between our people and the Sac nation. We had many wars, and the tomahawk was never buried between us. The Pottawattomie hates the Sac as the eagle hates the filthy crow. The pale-face speaks not the words of wisdom. We wished the pale-face to take many scalps of our old enemy, the cunning Sac. The few young warriors of our tribe who could still follow the warpath and not make a crooked trail, went with the white chief, Captain Hatch, to fight with our white brothers against our old enemies, the lying Sac. We thought that if the Sacs would come to Nottawa-Sippi to sound the war cry among our wigwams, our paleface brother would be our friend, and that together we would go on the warpath against him. We were weak, you were strong. We were not wise, for when the pale-face saw that our few, strong young warriors had gone with the white chief, Captain Hatch, to fight the Sac, then our white neighbors made war upon us. Then we feared the Sac, far away, and the pale-face near our own wigwams. Our men fled to the woods and our women and children hungered for food. The pale-face speaks not the words of wisdom. The red man would be the friend of the white man, and would fly to his cabin for shelter when -i - SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 117 danger comes, but the white man would not let him come; he raised the tomahawk against us. What has the pale-face to say? Let our white brother speak." NOT A COMMENDABLE CHAPTER The settlers assembled for the conference soon learned to a certainty that a few of the Potawatomies of the reservation had volunteered, with Captain Hatch, a trader among them, and several days previously had set forth to join the war forces at Chicago. Soon came the news of the capture of Black Hawk and the termination of the Sac war, and in retrospect we can not look upon the incidental attitude of the white settlers as noted in foregoing paragraphs as offering a medium for presenting a commendable chapter in Michigan history. GENERAL JOSEPH WHITE BROWN General Joseph White Brown, who was in command of Michigan military forces, assembled for service in the Black Hawk war, lived to the venerable age of eighty-seven years, his death having occurred at Tecumseh, Michigan, December 9, I880. He was long one of the most honored and influential citizens and pioneers of Lenawee county. General Brown was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, November 26, 1793, and in the same county his father, Samuel Brown, was born, of Quaker parents, in I750. In I799 the family home was established in Jefferson county, New York, where General Brown was reared and educated. The military activities of General Brown were initiated in his youth, and he rose to the office of lieutenant colonel of Regiment No. Io8, New York militia. In 1824 he came to Michigan Territory and established his permanent home at Tecumseh. In I829 he was commissioned colonel of the Eighth Regiment of Michigan militia, and in 1832 he was a general in the Black Hawk war. In 1835 he had command of Michigan forces in the so-called Toledo war, incidental to the contest relative to the Michigan-Ohio boundary. In I839 he was brigadier of the Michigan state guards and also examiner of West Point cadets. In 1836 he served as register of the land office at Ionia, and he was one of the commissioners assigned to locating the county seats of Hillsdale and Berrien counties. From 1833 to I837 he was associated with the operation of a stage line between Detroit and Chicago. In I816 General Brown wedded Miss Cornelia Tryon, of New Lebanon, New York, a beautiful, cultured and accomplished young woman, and he survived her by many years, her death having occured, at Tecumseh, March 6, I857. They became the parents of four sons and seven daughters. THREATENED BLACK HAWK INVASION It was in May, 1832, that there came to Michigan the news that Black Hawk and his forces intended to march through Michigan to Detroit and to kill every white person enroute. To prepare for protection against this invasion two companies were organized at White 118 HISTORIC MICHIGAN Pigeon, one in command of Captain Stewart and the other in command of Captain Powers. Fifty men were drafted for each company. Powers' command was to act as an observation corps on the edge of the Potawatomi reservation mentioned in preceding paragraphs, and Stewart and his men were to proceed to Chicago, but before the soldiers left White Pigeon came the news that the war had ended. The drafted men received eight dollars for one month's pay, and from the government each received forty acres of land. The company organized at Coldwater, Branch county, proceeded to Niles. Some of the members, with volunteers from Sturgis prairie, went as far as Door Prairie. The war excitement lasted two weeks. CHICAGO CALLS FOR AID When the message came from Chicago asking for aid, General Joseph W. Brown assumed command of the forces assembled at Niles, including regiments from Monroe and Lenawee counties. In a few days company after company marched along the Chicago road, each clad in backwoods garb and carrying primitive military equipment. Beniah Jones, Jr., of Jonesville, Hillsdale county, was major in command of a battalion comprising one company from Hillsdale county and two from Branch county. He called his battalion to march westward, and the command arrived at Niles May 25, 1832. Dr. Enoch Chase was surgeon and adjutant in Jones' command, the muster roll of which, lacking the Hillsdale county contingent, is here reproduced. AN INTERESTING MUSTER ROLL May 22, 1832, Major B. Jones received orders from General Joseph W. Brown to muster his battalion in the Third Brigade, Second Division, M. M. May 25, present on duty-Major Beniah Jones, Jr.; Adjutant Enoch Chase; Q. M., Edmond Jones; Surgeon, Enoch Chase, M. D.; Q. M. S., Abiel Potter;Ambrose Nicholson, staff officers. John Morse, Fife Major, sick; absent. Abraham F. Bolton, Captain First Company; John Allen, Lieutenant; Harvey Warner, Ensign. Non-commissioned officers-E. S. Hanchett, first sergeant; James McCarty, Isaac Enslow. Privates-Seymour Bingham, Jonas Tilapan, George Hanchett, Moses Herrick, William H. Cross, John Wilson, Philip Ledyard, Henry Johnson, James Craig, Martin Barnhart, Benjamin H. Smith, Robert Cross, Henry Van Hining, John Parkinson, James B. Tompkins, Joseph C. Corbus, Phineas Bunner, John Cornish, Hugh Alexander, Chauncey Morgan, Mr. Decrow, Marvin Hill, Newell Hill, Joseph H. Fowler. (Note on margin: "This company was mustered into service May 24 and dismissed June 3, 1832.") Second Company: (Hillsdale) omitted. Third Company-Seth Dunham, captain; Jeremiah Tillotson, lieutenant; Wales Adams, ensign. Non-commissioned officers-James M. Guile, first sergeant; Thomas Holmes, second sergeant; George W. Cable, third sergeant; Philip Omstead, first corporal; Frederick Lyons, second corporal. Privates-Horace D. Judson, Daupheneus Holmes, Elizer Lancaster, Isaac Smith, Daniel Smith, David J. Persons, David Clark, Moses Omstead, Joseph Edwards, Joshua Ramsdell, John G. Richardson, John Rose, Alfred S. Driggs, Sylvester Brockway. (Note on margin: "Mustered into service May 26, and dismissed June 3, 1832.") SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 119 The above is a true copy of the returns made by the captains of the several companies to me. Coldwater, June 4, 1832. ENOCH CHASE, Adjutant. The following memorandum appears on the back of the roll: Col. Bitman, Dr. I6 horses, to hay, stabling................................. $4.00 To house room......................................... 2.00 $6.00 Indorsement on back of roll: "Battalion roll, May, 1836. Mustered at Niles." According to the roll there were in Branch county fifty-six males capable of bearing arms-between ages of eighteen and forty-fivesome above latter age; some younger than eighteen. Women and children were in dismay. Troops returned and were mustered out in Coldwater, June 4. Later in the season came another alarm and in the draft of one hundred men from Jones' battalion fifty-six responded. Under command of Captain Bolton they camped several weeks on Coldwater river. War stopped immigration two years. Stages to Chicago halted for lack of business and the owners lost heavily. The line was reestablished by a firm headed by General Brown. 1832 was cholera year-no one dying in Branch county, but an entire family having died over the line in Calhoun county. CONFERENCE OF GENERAL BROWN AND POKAGON In connection with the mobilizing of his frontier military forces at Niles, as related earlier in this review, General Joseph W. Brown found opportunity to have a personal interview with a Potawatomi chief whose name merits a place of honor in the history of Michigan -Pokagon-and of this conference the following interesting record is available. Memories of the ferocity with which the Potawatomies participated in the war of 1812, were still vivid in the minds of those "minute men of 1832" who marched in varigated costumes in the little army led by General Brown. In the vicinity of Niles were numerous Indians. Near there was the aged chief, Leopold Pokagon, who had befriended survivors of the massacre at Fort Dearborn in Chicago. His village had been a shelter for the refugees. Shortly after arrival of the Third Brigade, Michigan militia, Brigadier-General Brown and his officers held a council with the chiefs of the Potaw'atomi tribe in a grove near the Carey mission, which had been conducted by the Rev. Isaac McCoy. The conference took place on Sunday May 22, 1832, a mile from Niles, the headquarters of the brigade. Colonel J. Stewart explained to the Indians the object of the meeting-and its relation to the hostility of the Sacs and Kickapoos under Black Hawk. In reply to General Brown, who questioned the Indians concerning councils held by them, he was told that the object was to promote the principles of 120 HISTORIC MICHIGAN temperance and religion among their families and that they had sent delegates to the Nottawasepi reservation (St. Joseph and Kalamazoo counties) and to the Ottawas to hold councils on the same subjects. Pokagon said he was a professor of religion and desired peace with all men. Asked why Potawatomies had not planted corn at Nottawasepi, he replied: "They drink too much. I sent them word to quit drinking and plant corn and live like white people. Everybody knows me, and knows Pokagon won't lie." "Do you know that the Sacs and Kickapoos are at war with the whites and have murdered a number of families?" asked General Brown. "We have heard they were at war, but have heard little about it." "Do you think yourselves able to protect yourselves and families against the Sacs and Kickapoos, should the whites remain at home, and the Sacs and Kickapoos come through your country?" "Here are the men of this reserve," replied the old chief. "You see them all. We can't protect ourselves. We can't go to war, but if they come here we will defend ourselves." Pokagon said the Indians were willing to send some of their young men with the American forces if their services were desired. The commander assured Pokagon that so long as the Indians remained at peace they should be protected the same as the white residents. "The president and governor are your fathers, and they will protect your children." Pokagon replied: "We are glad that our fathers will protect us, and I believe there is but one God, and that we are all brothers. I wish to remain at peace: I see no pleasure except in clothing my children and tilling my ground." The utmost good feeling was expressed by the Indians, which convinced General Brown that they were sincere, especially when a number of them, at the close of the council, volunteered to join the militia. CHAPTER V INDIAN TRAILS, MOUNDS, EARTHWORKS, VILLAGES AND CEMETERIES IN KALAMAZOO COUNTY By Edward J. Stevens, Secretary and Treasurer of the Michigan State Archaeological Society THE Indian trails in Kalamazoo county, where the first white men arrived, were very numerous.- There seems to have been six main trails. DESCRIPTION OF SIX TRAILS Ist. The trail that lead from Carey Mission at Niles to Thomas Mission on the Grand river crossed the northwest part of the county. It entered the county near the northwest corner of Section 31, Oshlemo township, crossed the township to the southeast corner of Section 13, turned north and followed the north and south section line to almost the east one-quarter post of Section I2. The train is here lost for four miles, but commences again on the west side of Section I9, Cooper township, and follows northerly across Sections 24, 13, 12 and I. 2d. What appeared to have been one of the principal trails ran across the county in a northeasterly direction. It entered the county near the southwest corner of Section 30, Texas township, turned southeast across Section 31, then nearly east, two miles to the north end of Mud Lake, thence northerly, passing the present Texas corner about one-half mile west, thence northeasterly between Crooked and Bass lakes, leaving Texas township near the northeast corner of Section I, thence across Sections 35, 36 and 25 of Oshtemo township, and follows the present Michigan avenue to its junction with the present Oakland Drive. It is presumed that from this point it followed easterly a trifle north of Kalamazoo avenue, but no authentic record actually places it there. The actual record again starts at about a quarter of a mile southwest of the old ford near the French trading past as located in 1821, in what is now Riverside cemetery. The trail then passes northeasterly and south of a chain of small lakes in Kalamazoo, Comstock and Rushland townships. On Section 22, Richland township, it turned nearly east passing about one-half mile south of Richland. Passing through what is now Yorkville, it headed around the southeast arm of Gull lake, then passed east for about three miles, where it turned northeast, on Section 22, Ross township, going around the south end of Stony lake; after making a swing to the north it passes east for about one mile on Section 14, Ross township, then turned southeast again and leaves the county near the southeast corner of Section 24, Ross township. A branch of this trail left it Hear the southeast corner of Section 32, Richland township, and ran nearly east to the northeast corner of Charleston township, where the record is lost, as the deputy United States surveyor in Charleston township left no record of Indian trails. 10 99TT~qTVDT(1 NTTIc'TTITV A NT 1.iJ4.X..1i. V L iJ. I.Vl IX.JL AI l 3d. Another principal trail entered the county either in the southeast corner of Prairie Ronde township or near the south line of Section 7, Prairie Ronde township (the records, so far, are very scant), across Prairie Ronde township until the trail passes out of this township at the northeast corner of Section 25. From this point the record is complete across Brady, Pavilion and Climax townships, leaving the county at the southeast corner of Charleston township. On this trail were built three villages, Vicksburg, Scotts and Climax. This trail passed directly through the numerous fortifications, garden beds and mounds that were found by the early settlers on Climax prairie. 4th. Another trail that was very well marked in the early times started from the French trading post, skirted the hill along the northerly bank of the Kalamazoo river and then followed the present location of the Territorial road through Comstock and Galesburg, where the record is lost again, in Charleston township. 5th. A north and south trail entered the county on the south line of Section 33, Brady township, thence northwesterly, passing the present site of Vicksburg about three-quarter miles east, thence northerly, passing between Austin and Long lakes, thence following the present location of the Portage road and Portage street to the southeast corer of the Match-e-be-nash-i-wish Indian reservation at about the present location of Oak road. From here north the records are more or less tradition. It is known, however, that it passed through Kalamazoo, crossed the ford at the trading post and passed north along the east bank of the Kalamazoo river. 6th. A trail that was mentioned several times by the early settlers originated in Prairie Ronde near an Indian village, near Harrison lake, crossed the southeastern part of Texas township, thence northerly through the westerly side of Portage township, and entered Kalamazoo township by Section 32 and entered the Match-e-be-nash-i-wish reservation near its southwest corner and tradition says it followed what is now known as Oakland Drive to the village of Kalamazoo. This trail passed near the British Forge of I812, on what was known as the Axtell farm. There were many other trails, but they seemed to be, for the most part, entrances to village sites or cross trains connecting up with the main trails. MOUNDS IN VARIOUS TOWNSHIPS Pavilion township has had two mounds. One was on the east half of the northwest quarter of Section 3, was four feet high, twenty feet in diameter. When found by the early settlers it had an eighteeninch oak, and a small hickory growing up on it. It was opened in I876 by Henry T. Smith, and two skeletons, of evidently separate burials were found. They were lying crosswise of each other about eighteen inches apart. The lower one was a little beneath the original surface of the ground. Beneath the lower one was found charcoal and ashes on a bed of coarse gravel. The skeletons were much decayed and crumpled on exposure to air. The skull of the lower one was very:0::::f SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 123 thick. No other relics were discovered. A mound still stands, as a recent report says, on Section I6 of this township. Climax township had three or more mounds. One was located less than a mile east of Climax and was about two-thirds the size of the mound in Bronson park. A dwelling was later erected on the site and it was cut away, but no relics were found. In the northwest part of the village of Climax was found a conical mound forty feet in diameter and about five feet high. From its summit when Climax prairie was settled was growing a white oak tree two feet in diameter. Other mounds similar in size, stood on Sections I and 2. In some of these mounds portions of human skeletons were found. In I880 a few mounds in this township were in existence. In Kalamazoo township, only one mound, as far as known, was discovered-the one in Bronson park. This mound was very old when the United States deputy surveyor came to this location to run out the lines of Match-e-be-nash-i-wish Indian reservation, prior to I829. The Indians at that time seemed to consider it of ancient origin and one chief considered it a speaking rostrum. It was first opened in 1832, by Hon. E. Lakin Brown and Cyrus Lovel. No bones or relics were found, but a quantity of charcoal was discovered. It was measured later by Henry Little and found to be a perfect circle fiftyeight feet in diameter and a height at that time of four feet and nine inches. Its original height was somewhat greater. This mound was again opened on July 4, 1850, by Mr. A. J. Sheldon, but with what results history does not say. Comstock township.-The peculiar formation on an island, now owned by Henry Nicholson, in Section 22, was considered an Indian mound in 1831 by A. D. P. Van Buren. It was thus described by him: "It was diamond-shaped and twenty feet high and covered, by comparison, an acre or more. A maple tree thirty inches in diameter stood upon it in I83I." This formation has been examined by the writer and found to be almost a perfect triangle with very regular side slopes, its base lines being three hundred, two hundred forty and two hundred eighty feet and its height fourteen feet. As to whether this is artificial, nothing can definitely be said until it is examined by competent archaeologists and geologists. If it does prove to be artificial it is probably the largest in the state of Michigan. A 'small mound also mentioned by Van Buren, stood on Section 31 and was first seen by Mr. Ralph Tuttle, upon whose land it stood, in I830. It was twenty-five feet in diameter and two and one-half feet high. Oshtemo township.-There is a report that a small mound stood in the southeast part of this township but nothing definitely is known. Cooper township.-This township had several mounds. In I880 a small mound stood on Section 30, in timbered land, and on land then owned by A. R. Allen. It was twenty feet ift diameter. On opening it, human bones, apparently thrown promiscuously together, were found. These bones were reported as being of more than ordinary size. This probably was the burial spot of victims of battle, as several 124 HISTORIC MICHIGAN such mounds have been found in Wisconsin, with a record of who the Indians were and how they came by their death. Two small mounds were found on Section I6, on land formerly owned by A. D. Chappel. Many bones were found, probably those of battle victims, as three earthworks or fortifications were found nearby. The third mound is described as being on the "Governor Throop farm east of the river," but so far I have been unable to locate this farm. Richland township.-Six mounds were found about a mile north of Richland. Four were on Section 14 and two across the highway on Section I5. Three of the first group were forty-one feet in diameter and one of less than twenty feet in diameter. The two of the east group were twenty feet in diameter and were exact counterparts of each other. One of the first group was opened in 1837 by Colonel Isaac Barnes, but no relics were found. Later another of this group was opened and human bones were found. There were once one or two mounds in the southern part of this township, but so far I have been unable to ascertain their location. Undoubtedly there were many more mounds, and I believe that there are persons living that can locate them, perhaps still existing, as no mounds have been reported in Prairie Ronde, Schoolcraft, Texas, Waukeshma, Charleston, Ross and Alamo townships. EARTHWORK OR FORTIFICATIONS The principal earth works were found in Climax township. The largest one was located on the southeast quarter of Section 3, a trifle over a quarter of a mile south of Climax village. It consisted of an elliptical ditch, enclosing one and three-tenths acres of ground, on the summit of a small hill that is the highest land in the vicinity. The elliptical form was very perfect, its greater diameter being three hundred thirty feet and the lesser diameter being two hundred ten. The direction of the major axis was N. 30~ E. The old settlers called it a fort. A similar fort, but much smaller, was found on the northwest quarter of Section I. It consisted of a circular embankment about two feet high and enclosed an area of between one-fourth to one-half acre. There were no regular ditches, as in the first described earthworks, but at intervals were pits, from which the earth appeared to have been taken out for the embankment. The old settlers said it looked much like a huge circus ring. Three earthworks were found in Cooper township, on land once owned by A. D. Chappell, in Section 13. Many bones were excavated from these works. The records of these earthworks are very vague but I am sure that some one can give up the full particulars by publicity. GARDEN BEDS Garden beds were found in various parts of the county in Schoolcraft township, on Sections 7 and 8. It is recorded that there were over one hundred acres of them, as part of these according to J. T. Cobb, were in existence as late as i860. Around the mounds and earth SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 125 works in Climax township there were discovered by the early settlers five, and possibly more, distinct groups of garden beds. One group was a mile west of the "old fort," a larger group one-half mile east of the "old fort" on land formerly owned by Stephen Eldred. Another group was on Section I, oi. the Willow plain. The most distinct group, however, lay about forty rods south of the "old fort," on T. P. Eldred's land. They law in various directions and at different angles with each other, as if the land had been parceled out and worked by different owners. The paths between them were deep enough so that the plow would run out of the ground, in crossing them. Others nearly as distinct were found on land formerly owned by D. Lawrence, onehalf mile north of the "old fort." In fact, the whole country about Climax prairie seemed to have been parceled out and worked by these pre-historic farmers. In Portage township there was a group of beds in Section 12. In Kalamazoo township there was about ten acres, lying immediately south of what is now Bronson Park avenue. A remarkable one was perfectly circular, with paths corresponding with the spokes of a wheel. This was about one hundred feet in diameter and was overgrown with Burr-Oak trees when the first settlers arrived. These facts are from Mr. Henry Little. A half mile north of Galesburg was another group of beds. One of these beds was of very peculiar shape and was surveyed and mapped out by H. M. Shafter at an early date. In fact, Kalamazoo county was very well covered in places, with these mysterious evidences of culture. Schoolcraft and Blois examined many of these localities. INDIAN VILLAGES There were several Indian villages and camps in Kalamazoo county. One, probably the last one to be occupied, was located near Harrison lake, in Section 3, Prairie Ronde township. It had a population of about two hundred and fifty persons and was ruled by Chief Sagamond. Another, existing in 1812, was located on Section I2, Portage township. It is reputed to have been used as a retreat while the warriors were fighting the Americans. Its population was estimated at six hundred. Many white American prisoners were held here. Later a small village existed near Portage creek, in Section 3, Portage township. An Indian village once existed, presumably about where the Catholic church stands. It was ruled by an Indian chief by the name of Match-e-be-nash-i-wish after whom the Indian reservation was named. Nothing is known of this chief except that he was a party to one treaty with the United States government. From the various relics found, and the extent of their area, this must have been a considerable village. Probably it was one of the river commercial villages where barter was held. On the northern part of Section 17 there was.a camp site where the Indians lived, probably during strawberry season as large quantities of this plant were there even after the white man came. On Section I8 in Charleston township, there was once an Indian village. This was probably a permanent site, as numerous corn pits::~ ~~:: ~::: -—::;:::::,:i:: i. 126 HISTORIC MICHIGAN were found by the pioneers. On Section I6, Charleston township, was another site, probably permanent, as a cemetery was located nearby. On the northwest corner of Section 13, Oshtemo township, was an Indian village, permanent in nature, as these Indians remained on the land of Benjamin Drake, who settled here in I830. These Potawatomi Indians cultivated land on the same inclosure which Mr. Blake first made, and as they had previous possession they were not disturbed by Mr. Blake, but remained until they voluntarily removed. The Indians assisted Mr. Drake in building his house. These Indians made large quantities of maple sugar. There is reputed to have been either an Indian village or camp-site west of Gull lake in Richland township, but so far I have been unable to locate it definitely. There were several Indian cemeteries in the county. In Kalamazoo township were three, all within the confines of the present city. The first one was discovered in 1834, when excavating for the cellar of the River House. A great number of Indian skeletons and loose bones were unearthed and were thrown into the river. At the same time many kettles (m6st of brass) and other domestic articles were found. These relics were carried away by different persons, to be kept as curiosities. Another cemetery was located near the Catholic church and another near the present site of the Chase block. On Section II, Portage township, was located an Indian cemetery. On Section I6, Charleston township, was located one, and one or rather two were located on Section 9, of Prairie Ronde township. In one of these was buried Chief Saginaw, who was killed at Jackson and brought here for burial. CHAPTER VI THE KALAMAZOO VALLEY ROM earliest times the valley of the Kalamazoo river was inhabited by Indians of various tribes, who passed from the scenes, either because of conquest, or because other regions promised more food and security. Primeval man has left behind here evidences of his handiwork in the shape of mounds and garden beds. Along the terraces left by the great glacial river that once filled the valley, prehistoric man, before the eliminating processes of Nature relegated him to irrevocable oblivion, fought his battles with animals and with men as savage as any wild beast. Among the Potawatomies of this region of Oak Openings was the legend of a village of flint implement makers located on highlands overlooking a great lake which filled the valley south of the town of Paw Paw. This probably has reference to the great glacial lake, which geologists have found existed in that region thousands of years ago. On the highlands overlooking that valley are numerous shop and village sites of the men of the stone age. The first aborigines of this beautiful region of morainal hills and sloping uplands, prairies, meadows and lateral valleys from which tributaries poured their pure, spring-fed waters into the river, were man-eaters, and the wigwam villages, here and there, on the banks, were the scenes of cannibal feasts. According to early French reports the Sioux Indians once occupied this region, then the Mascoutens, but the first authentic mention is made of the Miamis, whom De la Potherie, the early historian of New France, described as the "Miamis of Muramek," the Kalamazoo river being then called by that name. Writing of the year I69o, he records the fact that these Indians had carried off eight Loups, who had accepted presents from the English. The French commandant at Michilimackinac, M. de Louvigny, ascertaining that four of these prisoners had been given to the Miamis of the St. Joseph river settlement, suggested that the remaining four be "put into the kettle" if they could not be brought to his post. The four Loups given to the St. Joseph savages were presented by them to the French commander there, who had been of great service. M. de Louvigny sent thirty-eight soldiers to secure the remaining four prisoners, but they, too, were given to the St. Joseph Miamis. The Loups were friends of the English and through them the Iroquois sought to undermine French interests. The recommendation that the prisoners should be eaten, therefore, was in accordance with a policy of terrorizing the French wished to encourage. Feasting on human flesh was a common custom among the Indians. Wishing to establish a firmer bond with the Miamis of "Muramek," whom they hoped would keep the Iroquois from entering the beaver trade in the Michigan peninsula, the French sent a present of fifty pounds of gunpowder to them. Four hundred of the natives im 128 HISTORIC MICHIGAN mediately started on the warpath, separating into four bands, each taking a share of the powder. In order to invoke supernatural power for the success of this expedition, the great chief of these early Kalamazooans, Ouagikougiaganea, caused a ceremony to be performed by medicine men and others before an altar on which was a rude idol made of bear pelts smeared with clay. These war parties were successful, and the victories were credited to the ceremonies they indulged in before leaving. Again we hear of the French adventurer Nicholas Perrot having great influence with the Miamis of "Malamek," and frequent mention of his association with them is made in the chapter on the St. Joseph river valley history included in this volume. As the site of the present city of Kalamazoo was a rendezvous for savages from prehistoric times down to the arrival of the first settlers, it is almost unnecessary to state that traders appeared here from the earliest times after the arrival of the first French explorers. Up and down the river the voyageurs paddled their canoes loaded with materials for barter and loads of peltries. It was sometime during, or after the French regime, that the River Malamek, or Maramee, as it is called on Franquelin's map, became known by several variations of a name which is today called Kalamazoo. The early settlers found a quantity of bog iron within the limits of the present city and converted it to commercial uses. That the early explorers were aware of these iron deposits is confirmed by the fact that a British report on the route to St. Joseph in 1772 mentions the "Reccanamazoo river, or Pusawpaca Sippy, otherwise the Iron Mine river." In later records the river is called the "Ki-ka-ma-sung," meaning "race of the boiling kettle." According to a legend the Indians living in a village west of Galesburg had each fall a contest in which the Indians placed a kettle over a fire and raced to the river and back. The object was to return before the kettle began to boil. The present spelling was derived from the last preceding version, which was "Kekalamazoo." That trade oti the Kalamazoo river was to remain free to all who wished to go there was the special instruction given, to Charles Langlade, of Green Bay, when Louis Herbin, in October, I755, sent him to take command of the whole Grand river valley. His headquarters were at Gabagouache, which was located at the confluence of the Flat and Grand rivers, now the site of the city of Lowell. It was here that Joseph La Framboise and later his wife, conducted a trading post. Langlade and his men were prohibited from trading elsewhere. He was also instructed to permit no trader to invade territory assigned to others. (Langlade Papers, Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. VIII, p. 2II). During the British dominion, the overland route traveled between Detroit, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph, Chicago, and the Illinois posts had become definitely established and was traveled by occasional detachments of troops, by mounted messengers between the King's garrisons and by hordes of savages of various tribes. Though there was, along the Kalamazoo river, a deeply worn trail which connected with an I I Obtsrvaltoryv Lr I 7: 7~ ~ -, I. SITE OF PRESENT POST TAVERN, TAKEN 1865 EVERY CITY OFFICIAL IN BATTLE CREEK IN 1914. TAKEN IN OLD COUNCIL CHAMBER SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 129 other pathway leading to the Detroit river, the British, in I772, had defined a different and longer route between Detroit and St. Joseph by way of Kalamazoo. From that place the distance to the Huron, or "Nandewine Sippy" river, is given as forty miles in a published description of the route. (Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. X, p. 248). A note states that "There is a village of Puttawateamees of six large cabins. The river at this place is about fifty feet wide and the water is generally from one and a half to two feet deep. When there are floods travelers are obliged to make rafts to cross it. The road in this place is bad." The remainder of the route to Kalamazoo was laid out as follows: Miles "To the Salt river or Wandagon Sippy........................ 12 "N. B. There is another village of Pittawattamees of five cabins. This river is never so high as to prevent people passing it. "To one of the branches of Grand river or Washtenon that falls into Lake Michigan.................................... 60 "There is another village of Pittawattamees of eight large cabins. "To Reccanamazoo river, or Pusawpaco Sippy, otherwise the Iron M ine river.............................................. 75 "N. B. There is another village of Pittawattamees of eight large cabins. This river cannot be passed in freshets on rafts. At other time one to two feet deep. "To the Prairie Ronde....................................... 30 "N. B. There is a small lake of about three-quarters of a mile wide and eleven miles long, abounding with several sorts of fish, such as Maskenongi, Whitefish, &c. "To the Fort St. Josephe...................................75 292 The "branch of the Grand river" was unquestionably the Sowanque-sake, or Thornapple, one of its largest tributaries, which rises in what is now Eaton county. Along this stream was what was known to early settlers as the "Canada Trail," a portion of which, deeply worn, was plainly visible in recent times in the woodlands near the north shore of Thornapple lake, a wide expansion of this beautiful river. This ancient pathway followed the river to the ford of the Grand river trail west of the site of the town of Middleville, not far from which was the "village of the Pittawattamees of eight cabins" on Scales' prairie. These Potawatomi habitations were near the ancient French trading post, or block-house directly on the great Indian trail between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids. The "small lake about three-quarters of a mile wide and eleven miles long" was evidently the ancient lake of which Long, Austin and Gourd Neck are the remains. Many lakes over a century ago were considerable larger than today, as the areas of tamarac-covered lowlands and quagmires surrounding them bear evidence. Early settlers were frequently told by aged Indians of days when lakes were 130 HISTORIC MICHIGAN larger and covered ground on which white man walked. The land separating these three bodies of water is only a few feet high. Deposits show it was once flooded. Though the total length of these lakes is not eleven miles, the estimate is fair because at the time it was made the country had not been surveyed and the information was based purely on the judgment of travelers. There were two traders on the Kalamazoo river in the winter of I795. As Numaiville is credited with establishing the post on the cemetery hill, it is reasonable that the trader, or traders, here in 1795, occupied the old post, the foundations of which were found up the river by pioneers. The names of these traders were Pepan and Burrell, and the document establishing their residence here proves that there resided here at that time "Bad Bird," or Mash-i-pi-nash-iwish, a famous Chippewa chief, signer of the Treaty of Greenville, after whom was named the Indian reservation which included the site of the city of Kalamazoo. It was in Kalamazoo that there met on February 9th, and again on the I th, Alexander McKenzie, messenger of the British government to the "Potawatamies of St. Joseph's and neighboring villages," and Baptiste Sanscrainte, who had brought General Anthony Wayne's message inviting "Bad Bird" to Greenville, Ohio, to the treaty conference. The men met at the home of Pepan, the trader, and again at the "home of Mr. Burrell." These meetings in Kalamazoo are thus described in Mr. McKenzie's report on March 5, 1795, to Alexander McKee, British superintendent of Indian Affairs at Detroit: "Having left Detroit on February 5th, I arrived at the house of a trader, named Pepan, on the Kekalamasoe river, who is furnished with goods by George McDougall, merchant of Detroit; where I found Pepan and Baptiste Sanscrainte inhabitants of the settlement of Detroit; they informed me they had just arrived from Fort Wayne and that the only newts there was the intention of the American army to come to Detroit on the opening of the navigation in the spring. I prevailed on those two to come with me to Kalamasoe in hopes I might discover the whole of Sanscrainte's business in this part of the country. On the Ioth we reached Mr. Burrell's where I met an Indian chief of the Chippewas called the 'Bad Bird.' He had been at Fort Greenville and had returned hither with Pepan and Sanscrainte. His information to me was that William and Zeans and a few Wyandottes from Sandusky was with General Wayne when he was there and that Williams in council spoke as follows: "'We have come from Sandusky to see you, Brothers, and to give you our hands and to let you know we are the first nation, and the commanding nation. And that we can bring all the other nations here to make a general peace with you. We have come to remain with you, Brothers, and you will point to us a place to sit upon until you rise or want our help. We will send all the other nations to come and make a final peace. We will assist you against the English, the Governor and the White Elk, or any forces that may come against you, or any of the nations that refuse to join us.' To which General Wayne replied: IITTmT-TTW'q1' MTO.TTTTVi A X1 1!q1.Q U 1. VV,Do. 1..L..XLk.llUAX..lA.L L. "'Brother, I do not want any of your assistance. All I want of you is peace, and to disperse that black cloud that has so long been hanging over our heads, and to make roads clear and white that have so long been bloody.' "On the IIth, in the evening, we arrived at Kekalamasoe and went to the house of Mr. Burrell, where Sainscrainte, after having drunk a little freely, produced the speech he brought from General Wayne to the Indians throughout all this part of the country, which was an invitation to all the chiefs and warriors to meet him at Fort Greenville on June I5th next, where he hoped to establish a firm and lasting peace. "Sanscrainte informed me also that he was employed for the United States at two dollars per day, and that Pepan had promised Colonel Hamtramck at Fort Wayne that he would advance anything that Sanscrainte might want on account of the United States. Sanscrainte likewise informed me that his instructions were to go to all the different nations and hold councils with them and the 'Bad Bird,' but finding an unusual fall of snow, they had determined to go to Maskegan where the Indians have a general rendezvous in the spring, and to take along with them from thence all those who may agree to go. "In obedience to my instructions I proceeded to St. Joseph's and the neighboring villages and found that none of the Potawatomies had gone to any of the forts except three or four insignificent people, who had no manner of influence and they appear to be as firmly attached as ever to the British government." (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. XII, p. I62). Mash-i-pi-nash-i-wish, or Bad Bird, was one of the greatest chiefs who followed Pontiac. According to Lyman Draper, the celebrated Wisconsin historian and antiquarian, "Matchekewis," a leader in the battle of Fallen Timbers, was the signer of the Treaty of Greenville, which followed on August 9, I795, "Mad Anthony" Wayne's great victory. Draper bases his statement on facts given him by relatives of "Matchekewis." The name "Matchequis" is without doubt a corruption of Mash-i-pi-nash-i-wish, Michigan Indian spokesman at Greenville. He was the captor of Michilimackinac in Pontiac's war in 1763; he accompanied Indian and Canadian forces in the American Revolution, and was with Langlade's expedition to St. Joseph in I799. (Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. VII, pp. I88-I93). This chief also commanded a band of Wisconsin Indians in the British expedition to St. Louis in 1780. He stood high in the favor of the British. A glimpse of him at Green Bay in 1788 is given by Grignon, a grandson of Langlade. Says Draper: "He was then dignified with the title of general prefixed to his Indian name, which he seemed to appreciate, for he wore a bright scarlet British dress coat, with epaulettes, and cut quite a figure. He was then getting old, and was a tall, and large-sized Indian. Young as Grignon then was, about eight years of age, he attracted his attention; and his grandfather, Charles de Langlade, told him of the St. Louis expedition, and Matchekewis having the chief command. Grignot adds 132 1HIBTOitC MCIGtOAN that his grandfather had a dislike towards General Matchekewis, remarking that he was unreliable and treacherous, brave and sanguinary -probably referring more especially to his treacherous conduct at the surprise of Mackinaw in 1763." That this famous Indian was an outstanding figure among the tribes of Michigan-the Ottawas, Chippewas and Potawatomies-is proved by the fact that the "Three Fires" sent him as their leading representative to the conference that ended in the Treaty of Greenville. According to Draper, the chief died while attending a treaty on the Maumee, such a pact being held at Fort Industry in the summer of I805. The most extensive information we have of Mash-i-pi-nash-i-wish is revealed by himself in his speeches at Greenville. That he was a red chieftain with a remarkably developed personality is shown by the sentiment, the eloauence, and the trusting spirit he expressed at this concourse of savages which was to bring peace after years of warfare with the hated "Bostonions" and "Virginia'ns," now welded into a powerful Union. With the "Bad Bird" at the treaty sessions were the trader Pepin, and Sanscrainte, the messenger whom Alexander McKee, the British official, had met on the Kalamazoo river. Below are given the addresses made by the chief during the conference with Wayne. Speaking for the three tribes to "Mad Anthony" Wayne, Washington's celebrated colleague and commander of the "Long Knives," the Indian in response to the general's welcoming words, said: "Elder Brother: I thank you, in the name of all the Ottawas, Chippewas, and Pottawatamies, for what you have this day told us; it is all very right and good." Replying, General Wayne said to the assembled Indians: "I take you all by the hand, with that strong hold with which brothers ought to salute each other. Tomorrow will be the anniversary of the day which gave peace, happiness and independence to America. Tomorrow all the people of the Fifteen Fires, with shouts of joy, and peals of artillery, will celebrate the period which gave them freedom. Nineteen times have the United States, already, hailed the return of that auspicious morn. Tomorrow, we shall, for the twentieth time, salute the annual return of this happy day, rendered still more dear by the brotherly union of the American and red people. Tomorrow all the people within these lines will rejoice. You, my brothers, shall also rejoice in your respective encampments. I called you together to explain these matters to you. Do not, therefore, be alarmed at the report of our big guns; they will do no harm. They will be the harbingers of peace and gladness, and their roat will ascend into the heavens. * * * " Mash-i-pi-tash-i-wish, the Chippewa chief, then arose and replied: "Elder Brother: I have heard your Wotds, and have received great pleasure from them. I never make long speeches; what I have to say, I say in a few words. Look at your warriors around you, and view ours. Does it not give yot pleasure to see us all et together in brotherly love? I,.~~ ::-i:,1_: i $: —:-j:~::; _:;li ~:::I:::::-:::!.: i.::; 8:W SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 133 "Elder Brother: You may believe what I say, and what I am going to say. As we are here on good business, our hearts must dictate what our tongues express. The Great Spirit knows when we speak truth, and punishes falsehood. As you have told us we are to rejoice, I have a favor to ask of you, compliance with which will prepare our hearts for the occasion. We would wish to rescue from death two of our young warriors, whom we brought in to you, and whom we hear are to die. I entreat you, in the name of all present, to spare their lives, and pray you to indulge us in this request. (He presented a white and blue string). "Brothers of the different nations present, listen to what our elder brother tell us, with attention; I am satisfied it is the truth. Listen to me also. * * * You now see them present, the representatives of their nations: here are the chiefs of the Ottawas, Chippewas, and Pattawatamies. We three are faithful allies, and one of us speaks for the whole, when in council. The words you spoke last winter are fresh on my memory. I know nothing of the treaty in question, which took place at Muskingum: the people who made it are present, and will be able to speak of it. My remote situation on Lake Michigan prevented me from being acquainted with it. "Elder Brother: I am very glad you have pointed out those of my nation who were at, and signed, the treaty of Muskingum. I did not know them before. That treaty did not reach us who live in Michigan. I am happy in having it explained. I thank you for expediting our good work. We wish much to return to our families, many of whom have died since we left home. "Elder Brother, and all you present, listen to me with attention! "When the Great Spirit made the world, he put me at Michilimachinac, where I first drew my breath. At first I was entirely naked and destitute; and, as if he had compassion on me, he pointed out to me the way to the white people. I followed his path, and found them below Quebec, at the falls of Montmorency. I was satisfied the Great Spirit pitied us, for you whites had all pity on us; and, hence, we always loved you. The Great Spirit has blessed you with greater Knowledge than we are possessed of; you are, therefore, entitled to great respect. When we first found the French whites, we took them to our fires, and they have lived among us ever since. (He presented a white string). "Elder Brother: You see all your brothers assembled here, in consequence of your messages last winter; at that time the Ottawas, Chippewas, Pattawatamies, some who call themselves Sauckeys, and the Miamis, heard your words. You remember, brother, I then told you, that I would withdraw the dark cloud from your eyes, that you might know us again. You see I have done so, for you now behold us all clearly. At the same time, I told you I would open both your ears, and my own, that we might hear each other clearly. Our ears are opened aceordingly, and we hear and understand accurately. I now speak to you with a pure heart. This white wampum testifies our sincerity and unanimity in sentiment. I now put your heart in its right place, as you did mine, that you may make known to the 134 HISTORIC MICHIGAN Fifteen Fires what I now tell you. (He presented a blue and white string). "Elder Brother: When I view my situation, I consider myself as an object of compassion. "Elder Brother: Listen to me; as I told you last winter, if we Indians have acted wrong, we are not entirely to blame. It was our father, the British, who urged us to bad deeds, and reduced us to our present state of misery. He persuaded us to shed all the blood we have spilled. You this day see me fulfil my promise. With this belt I cover all the slain, together with our evil actions. (He presented a white belt). "Elder Brother: Listen to me with attention. I speak in the name of all present. You see that I am worthy of your compassion. When I look upward, I see the sky serene and happy; and when I look on the earth, I see all my children wandering in the utmost misery and distress. I tell you this to inform you I have never moved my fire; that I still live where the Great Spirit first placed me. (He presented a belt). "Elder Brother: Listen! The Great Spirit above hears us, and I trust we shall not endeavor to deceive each other. I expect what we are about to do shall never be forgotten as long as we exist. When I show you this belt, I point out to you your children at one end of it, and mine at the other; and I would solicit the Fifteen Fires, and their women and children, to have pity on my helpless offspring. I now tell you that we will assist you to the utmost of our power to what is right. Remember, we have taken the Great Spirit to witness our present actions; we will make a new world, and leave nothing on it to incommode our children. (He presented a white belt). "Elder Brother: I now use this white wampum, that the words I utter may descend to the bottom of your heart, and that of the Fifteen Fires. "Elder Brother: I was not disposed to take up the hatchet against you; it was forced into my hand by the white people. I now throw it into the middle of the deepest lake, from whence no mortal can bring it back. "Brother: I have thrown my hatchet into a bottomless lake, from whence it never will return; I hope you will also throw yours so far that it may never again be found.-(He presented a string, blue and white). "Brother: After hearing all your words, my heart feels easy, and in its proper place. I do not speak to you about lands, for why should I? You have told us we might hunt upon your lands; you need not apprehend any injury from us; we will for the future, live and hunt in peace and happiness. "Elder Brother: You see before you all my war chiefs; they never go ahead of their commander; they ever obey and follow his orders; when I was here last winter, you expressed a desire to see them; you told me you would treat them well; but they say they have not seen this treatment; and inquire the cause of this alteration. (He presented a blue string). SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 135 "Elder Brother: Listen to what I now say; your younger brothers, that is, the Ottawas, Chippewas, and Pattawatamies, have told you, that they were but one people, and had but one voice; they have said the truth, and what I now say, is in the name of the Three Fires; you have asked of us the island of Michilimackinac, and its dependencies, on the main, where the fort formerly stood; they are ceded to you, forever, with the utmost cheerfulness; you have also asked a piece of ground, at the entrance of the straits, to cut your wood on, and for other necessary purposes; this is also granted to you; and I further add to it, the Isle de Bois Blanc, as an instance of our sincere disposition to serve and accommodate you. You know, brother, when the French formerly possessed this country, we were but one people, and had but one fire between us; and we now entertain the hope of enjoying the same happy relation with you, the United States. Your brothers present, of the Three Fires, are gratified in seeing and hearing you; those who are at home will not experience that pleasure, until you come and live among us; you will then learn our title to that land; you will then be convinced of my sincerity, and of the friendship and strength of our nations. "This, elder brother, is all I have to say at present. We all know that the good work of peace is accomplished. I only address these few words to you, that all nations present may again hear the sentiments of the Three Fires, and understand them perfectly. (He presented a blue and white string). "Elder Brother: I now see that all is settled: It affords us a great deal of pleasure. I hope you feel equally gratified. I repeat our entire satisfaction, that all present may know it. We, the Three Fires, have never done you any harm. With the same good heart I met you here, I will depart, and return home. You will find the truth of these words when you come and live among us... You must not believe ill of me. "Elder Brother: I hope that you will listen with attention to my words, and have pity on me. I have a request to make to you. You know I have come a great distance to assist in this good work, and, as it is now happily completed, I hope you will deliver to us our friend, whom you sent from hence into confinement. We would be grieved to leave him in durance behind us, for he has been friendly to us. This is the request of your brothers, the Three Fires." To the concluding words of General Wayne, Mash-i-pi-nash-iwish made the final address of the Indians, who had deeded away to the conqueror a vast tract of territory rich beyond expectation. Said General Wayne: "All you nations listen. By the seventh article of this treaty, all the lands now ceded to the United States are free for all the tribes now present to hunt upon so long as they continue peaceable, and do no injury to the people thereof. * * * All you, my children, listen to me. The great business of peace, so long and so ardently wished for, by your great and good father, General Washington, and the Fifteen Fires, and, I am sure, by every good man among you', being now accomplished, nothing remains but to give you a few;;:~~:-_ - ~:: ~::: 136 HIISTORIC MICHIGAN words of advice from a father, anxious for the peace and happiness of his children. Let me earnestly exhort you to restrain your young people from injuring, in any degree, the people of the United States. Impress upon their minds the meaning and spirit of the treaty now before us. * * * Restore to me as soon as possible all my flesh and blood which may be among you, without distinction or exception, and receive now from my hands the ten hostages stipulated by the second article to be left with me as security for their delivery. * * * I now fervently pray to the Great Spirit, that the peace now established shall be permanent; and that it may hold us together in the bonds of friendship until time shall be no more. I also pray that the Great Spirit above may enlighten your minds and open your eyes to your true happiness, that your children may cultivate the earth, and enjoy the fruits of peace and industry. * * * It is probable, my children, that we shall not soon meet again in public council. I take this opportunity of bidding you an affectionate farewell, and of wishing you a safe and happy return to your respective homes and families." Mash-i-pi-nash-i-wish thus spoke in reply: "Father: The good work being now completed, we are left without a subject to employ our conversation. You see your children the Ottawas, Chippewas, and Pattawatamies, around you. Those at home will be rejoiced when we inform them that, for the future, they will enjoy the protection of a new father. Our happiness is great in being permitted to address you by that endearing appellation. Father, since we have been here, some mischief has been done. We are entirely ignorant of the perpetrators. It grieves us much, and excites our anger and indignation. Time will discover to you and us those wicked disturbers, who richly merit punishment. I have to request you to license a trader to reside with your children at Ki-ka-na-ma-sung (Kalamazoo), where we shall pass the ensuing winter. I have never been guilty of stealing horses, nor shall I how commence the practice. But as I am an old man, I would ask you for one to carry me home. "Father: I have heard, and understand, all that you have said. I am perfectly satisfied with every part of it; my heart will never change. No prisoners remain in our hands in the neighborhood of Michilimackinac. Those two Frenchmen present (Messieurs Sans Crainte and Pepin), can witness to the truth of this assertion." (American State Papers, Vol. V, I832, pp. 562-582). Throughout the valley of the Kalamazoo river and its tributaries roamed the Potawatomi Indians before the war of I812. Among them were small settlements of Ottawas and Chippewas. Many of these Indians migrated back and forth, as seasons changed, between L'Arbre Croche above Grand Traverse Bay and the Grand, Kalamazoo, and St. Joseph valleys. In southwestern Michigan, however, the Potawatomies maintained permanent settlements. The region penetrated by the Grand, the Flat and the Thornapple rivers, was a favorite hunting ground, while the heavy forests of maple offered the best opportunity for making sugar. In the region now embraced in Kalamazoo, Calhoun and Branch counties there were numerous Potawatomi villages, especially at the SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 137 confluences of streams, which emptied into the Kalamazoo river. Throughout this region there are hundreds of beautiful lakes and cold streams in which fur-bearing animals thrived and where beavers made the dams, traces of which may be found today. Interspersed amoig the ranges of hills were small prairies where deer, elk and sometimes buffalo came to feed. Approaching the prairies were stretches of the park-like oak openings. Where Kalamazoo now stands no less than twelve trails converged, making the place a center of commu'nications for the savages. Within confines of the city have been uncovered three cemeteries from which have been taken skeletons and copper kettles. On the highest elevation in Climax Prairie-a slight elevation, there still remains traces of what was probably an elliptical earthwork. As this country was once inhabited by the Miamis, who were builders of defensive palisades, it is not unreasonable to believe that this was once the parapet of a stockade defending an Indian village. During the War of 1812, one of the largest Potawatomi villages in southwestern Michigan was located in what is now called Indian fields in Section 12, Portage township, Here the savages kept their women and children while they themselves were on the warpath against the Americans. The population of this village at that time was said to have been six hundred. In this they also kept some of the American prisoners. One of the captives, it is related, afterwards described this region as a land of wonders to his friends in the east causing some of them to come with the first pioneers. How the Indians lived in their wigwams, what they did in their communal life in those days is something virtually unknown today. Little has ever been written about it. One description of life of the savages of the Kalamazoo valley has been left in an obscure little volume published at Frankfort, Ky., in I842, by William Atherton, a survivor of General Winchester's army and captive one winter in the country now embraced without doubt within Kalamazoo county. This book, entitled "Narrative of the Suffering and Defeat of the NorthWestern Army Under General Winchester; Massacre of the Prisoners; Sixteen Months' Imprisonment of the Writer and Others With the Indians and British," contains the following romantic account of Atherton's captivity among the Indians "one hundred and fifty miles" from Detroit, and of his return journey in a canoe to the headwaters of the Kalamazoo river, thence over the portage to the headwaters of the Huron down which he was taken to a point opposite Fort Malden: "We were upon the road about two weeks; our sufferings were great from intense cold, and from hunger; we had nothing to eat but what the hunters could kill on the way. I rendered what assistance I could in catching raccoons and porcupines, for these were our principal living whilst on the road. I suppose we traveled one hundred and fifty miles before we reached our destination. We now began to fare a little better, though we sometimes still suffered with hungerit was either a feast or a famine with us. The Indians would eat up all the provisions with as much dispatch as possible, and let every; ~-; ~ - ~~I;::: ~~;~~ 138 HISTORIC MICHIGAN day provide for itself. Thus we spent our time for several weeks. "Here I will give an account of a very aged man whom I saw on our way out to this place. There were many families on the way at the same time-not only their wives and children but their young men. This caused me to think they did not expect any more war during the winter season. It seemed that when their actual services were no longer necessary, they were left to shift for themselves. This was in perfect character with all the doings of the British during this year. We had been traveling nearly a week, and our hunters were so fortunate now as to kill a deer. We encamped at the foot of a hill so as to be screened by it from the keen!northern blasts, and to have the benefit of the sun. During our stay in this camp, the old chief killed another deer, which, with raccoons and porcupines, afforded us plenty of food. The Indians made an offering of oil, and part of the flesh of the deer, to the Great Spirit, by burning it. This I took to be their thank offering for their success in finding a supply of provisions. Before they left the encampment, they burned some tobacco; the design of this I do not so well understand. "Soon after we began to march, I saw the marks of a cane in the snow, and as the Indians do not use them, I supposed we were overtaking some prisoners. The second day after I saw the cane tracks, we came up with a company of Indians, and here I saw the old Indian who had the cane. The moment I saw him my attention was arrested by his very grave and ancient appearance. His head was whitened over, I have no doubt, with the frosts of more than one hundred winters, and still he traveled, and kept pace with the horses and young men, from morning till evening. This was the most aged Indian which I saw during my sojourn with them. Their old men are much more vigorous and free from infirmity than ours. They walk erect, and command great respect from all the younger-their counsel is heard with profound attention and respect. "During the month of March the Indians sent to their town for corn. We fared better now, but the corn did not last long; so we were soon thrown back upon what game we could kill in the forests. "From what I could learn the Indians had adopted me into their family in place of a young man who had fallen in battle. Soon after we reached this, the place of our winter quarters, the father-in-law of my Indian captor dressed me up in Indian costume, made me a bow and arrows, and started me out with his boys to learn to shoot. I was then in the twelnty-first year of my age. This was our exercise during the cold weather, and afforded me much amusement, as I had none with whom I could converse. We had many a hunt through the woods with our bows and arrows, but I could not learn to use them to much purpose. Sometimes I was permitted to have a gun, and go on a hunting expedition, but was always unsuccessful-I could kill no game. I once saw the Indians proceed to kill a bear which had holed himself up for the winter. The scratches on the bark was the sign. They then surrounded the tree, and all being ready, they gave a loud yell; the bear appeared, we all fired instantly, and among hands the bear came tumbling down. Soon after this SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 139 our old chief killed a very large bear-one of uncommon size even in that country where they were large and plentiful. He brought home a part of it, and on the next day sent out three of his sons, an old man who lived in the family, and myself, to bring in the remainder. The snow was deep, and we had to travel three or four miles to the place. We took our loads and started to camp. The old Indian mentioned above had on snow-shoes in order to walk without sinking; the toe of one of his shoes caught in a snag which threw him face foremost into the snow, and being heavily laden with bear meat, the strap to which it was suspended came over his arms, and made it very difficult for him to rise. Without thinking where I was, and the danger I was in, I laughed at the old man struggling under the heavy pressure of his bear meat. Fortunately he did not perceive me. One of the young men shook his head at me giving me to understand that I was risking my life. I discovered that he was also amused, but was afraid to manifest it. Our hut was now well supplied with meat, the finest that the country could furnish. I flattered myself that we should not want soon again; but to my utter astonishment, our old squaw, my Indian's mother-in-law, sat up the whole night and cooked every ounce of it! And worse yet-to my great astonishment, the neighbors were called in next morning, bringing wooden dishes with them, and after many ceremonies, the whole was divided among the company, who ate what they could, and packed off the balance. "There were times when we were very scarce of provisions. On one occasion, I remember, we had for dinner a small piece of bear meat, which, I suppose, had been sent in by the neighbors. Our old mother cooked and placed it in a wooden bowl which was all the china we had. Our dog was looking on with interest, being nearly starved; and when the old lady turned her back, he sprang in upon the meat and started away with it in his mouth. The old squaw, with great presence of mind, seized him by the throat to prevent him from swallowing it. She succeeded, and replacing it in the bowl, we ate, and were glad to get it. The Indian women are doomed to a hard life. They do the drudgery. In removing fron one camp to another, they pack the goods and children-the men carrying only the guns. I have seen the women wade into the water to their waists in cold, freezing weather. "Of the mode of worship of the Indians, I speak only of the outer form: for I know but little of their object as I did not understand their language. There appears to be a similarity between them and the Jews. Their sacrifices and fasts are frequent. Their fasts are promptly and faithfully attended to. Only one member, however, of the family fasts at a time, which he does for several days together, eating nothing until the afternoon. * * * The old man was very fervent in his devotions, especially in his prayers. I never saw anything like idolatry among them. "They are particularly careful to entertain strangers. They are also very hospitable among themselves-they will divide the last morsel with each other. Indians traveling, find homes wherever they find wigwams. If there is only provision enough for one, the stranger -- 40o HISTORIC MICHIGAN gets it, and gets it freely. When any are fortunate in hunting, and it is known to them that others want provisions, they send them a part of theirs without waiting for them to send for it. "You have been presented with the manner in which we spent our time during the cold weather, until sugar-making came on; and now we found work enough. We removed to a beautiful grove of sugar trees, and near the center of it we pitched our camp, which is the Indian mode. We sooi made a quantity of sugar, and some of a fine quality. We used molasses and sugar with our venison and bear meat; and sometimes we made ur meal upon sugar and bear's oil, which was better living than the reader might suppose without being acquainted with the dish. "The Indians are sometimes very filthy in their diet. They will kill a deer, take out the entrails, rip them up, turn out the contents, shake them a few times in the snow, throw them for a few minutes upon the fire, and devour them like hungry dogs. When they kill a deer with young, the young are considered a choice dish. They roast them whole. They will eat every animal, and every part of it, from the bear to the polecat. "Shortly after the breaking of the ice, the old father, one son, and myself, left camp for an otter hunt. We ascended the river, placing traps where we discovered that otters had passed up and down the banks. This we did during the first day, leaving them until our return. We encamped during the first night on the bank of the river. We had nothing to eat. We spent the whole of the second day in hunting without any success; it was a cold rainy day, and we lay down the second night without a mouthful to eat. On the morning of the third day the old man left the camp very early, and about twielve o'clock returned, bringing with him two pheasants (partridges); they were put into a pot immediately. I feared my portion would be small as the Indians, when hungry, eat most enormously; but another pheasant was heard near the camp, which the Indian succeeded in killing. It was soon in the pot, and fearing lest the Indians should eat up theirs and then want mine, I did not wait until it was properly cooked before I went to work upon it. We soon devoured the three pheasants without either bread or salt. After this fine dinner we returned to camp again. We examined our traps but found no game. "The spring of the year now came-the ice and snow began fast to disappear-and I now began to think more of home than I had done during the cold season. When the sun began to shine warmly, and the birds to sing around me, I would often retire from the camp where I could think of home, and weep, without being discovered. During the time spent in these lonely retreats, which I sought often for the purpose of reflection, Shelbyville, Kentucky, the place of my home, would rise up in my mind with all its inhabitants and endearments. I would think of friends and youthful associates-of the green over which I had played when a boy at school-and of the church to which I gave my hand as a seeker of religion a few months before I left; and of my aged parents, who I knew needed my assistance. These reflections crowding upon me at once, together with 141 SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN the difficulty of making an escape, would at times almost overwhelm me with sorrow and despair. But the kindness and sympathy manifested toward me by the Indians, pattictllarly by the wife of the man who took me prisoner, took off a part of the burthen. This poor heathen woman, who knew nothing of civilization, and the softening influences of the Gospel, nevertheless showed that the tenderness and affection which the Gospel requires were deeply imprinted upon her heart. I had another source of comfort: I found among the Indians a piece of a newspaper printed in Lexington, Kentucky, which I suppose had wrapped up some of the clothes of some of Captain Hart's men, and thus fell into the hands of the Indians at Raisin. This I read over and over, again and again. I would frequently try to learn the Indians the letters and their sounds; this to them was very pleasing employment. "The Indians now began to prepare to return to Detroit. This was very encouraging to me, for I now began to indulge in a hope that one day I should yet be free, and reach my friends at home. All hands turned out to make bark canoes. We made two for each large family. In these canoes we ascended the river upon which we had for some time been encamped, until we came to the very head spring -I had no means of ascertaining the name of this river-we then took up our canoes and carried them three or four miles to the headwaters of a river that empties into Lake Erie between the rivers Raisin and Detroit. The ridge over which we carried our canoes divides the waters running into Lakes Michigan and Erie. After entering this stream, we advanced finely, finding fish in great abundance. I now began to feel quite cheerful, and things put on a different aspect. This was one of the most beautiful little rivers I ever beheld-I could see the fish at the bottom where the water was ten feet in depth-its beauty was much heightened by passing through several small lakes, the waters of which always enlarged-perhaps increased its waters one-half. These lakes were bordered round by various kinds of shrubbery bending over the water. It was now, as near as I could guess, about the first of May, and the scenes were indeed beautiful to one who had been freezing and starving in a northern winter, almost naked, and not turning, as he fondly hoped, his face homeward. * * * We encamped on this river several days, waiting, I suppose, for orders from the British. During this time I prepared for escape, but unfortunately for my design, the camp was on the wrong side of the river, and I could not take a canoe without being discovered. In a few days we continued our journey. Some of the Indians had been to a settlement and obtained about a half a gallon of flour, which they prepared in their homely way, but I thought it the best bread I ever tasted. * * * We encamped at night on an island not far from Malden. The next day we arrived, and the Indians took me into the town, where I passed for an Indian. It was very unpleasant for me to hear such swearing and profanity —I soon left, and returned to the camp. "In a few days we went up the rivet to the neighborhood of De 142 HISTORIC MICHIGAN troit, and pitched our tent near the spring wells on the bank of the Detroit river." Atherton was finally purchased by a Frenchman from the Indians who regretted to see him leave them. One of the associates of Tecumseh during the War of I8I2 was Chief Sagamaw, whose village was northwest of Prairie Ronde, which was crossed by the great trail that led from the Ohio and Wabash rivers to the "Rapids of the Grand," of "Bock-wa-ting." (Grand Rapids). Prairie Ronde, one of the most fertile spots in southwestern Michigan, was named by the early French voyageurs and hunters. This flat piece of land, studded with burr oak trees, including Gourd Neck Prairie from which it is separated by a piece of lowland, contains nearly three thousand acres. In the center was an "island" of timber containing three hundred acres. This was known as "Big Island." The Indians called this prairie "Wa-we-os-co-tang-scotah," or the "round fire plain." From spring until autumn this plain was covered with flowers, and its primitive beauty was something those who first saw it never forgot. Here amid the tall grass, shoulder-high, roamed deer and elk, and vast flocks of prairie chickens were continually circling about. Chief Sagamaw, who helped Chief Noonday of Grand Rapids, later of the Slater Mission at Cressy, Barry county, carry the body of the slain Tecumseh from the field during the Battle of the Thames, was one of the last of Michigan's great warriors. It was he who pointed out the spot where the British maintained a blacksmith shop during the war for repairing arms of the savages and sharpening tomahawks and scalping knives. It was Chief Sagamaw who welcomed Bazel Harrison, the first pioneer, who came from Clark county, Ohio, in 1828, and settled on Section 2, Prairie Ronde township. Sagamaw, who was rescued from a squalid life he and the remnants of his band were living on a peninsula in Gun Lake in the middle thirties by Selkirk, the missionary, afterwards settled on the bank of Selkirk lake. He is thus described in connection with the arrival of Harrison: "The next morning the whole party were up betimes, and while they were breakfasting around the cheerful fire in the clear, crisp air of early day, Sagamaw, the chief of the Pottawatomies, accompanied by ten or a dozen of his braves, all decked in gay costume, and faces resplendent with paint, came to their camp and made friendly overtures. Sagamaw was a magnificent specimen of the aborigine. His looks, his manners, his fine presence, and the evident good will which was apparent to all, inspired confidence in the palefaces, and they freely questioned him as'best they could by signs and the few words of Indian language they understood, as to where water could be had, and in regard to such matters as most interested our pioneers at that time. Sagamaw gave them all the information he could convey to them, and the result was that the Indians conducted Mr. Harrison and two others of the party across the prairie to the northwest side, where within the line of woods was a little lake, now known as Harrison lake. Mr. Harrison needed no further argument to convince him that this was the proper place for him to locate. He quickly returned, and the 13 SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 14 whole party were that night encamped on the bank of the little lake where for nearly half a century he has lived." The old British forge was described by Sagamaw to an early settler of Kalamazoo, who conducted him to the site while they were going to Prairie Ronde in 1833: "I had for companions, 'Sagamaw,' the village chief of some two score of Indian lodges, located on what is termed the 'North West Neck' of Prairie Ronde, and his interpreter, 'Durocher,' a mongrel, his mother a squaw, his father a Canadian Frenchman. The chief was a noble specimen of his race, reserved, and with little disposition to indulge in idle talk. Durocher, on the contrary, had many of the peculiarities of the Frenchman, a constant disposition to exaggerate, violent in his gesticulation, with a copious, and sometimes almost a furious flow of words. In passing a point of marsh land, distant about one mile from the present Axtell Farm House, the Indian pointed to a mound shaped spot of land, entirely surrounded by the marsh, and explained through Durocher, that there stood, during the last war with England, a shop, in which two men (one French, the other English), labored in repairing the guns of the Indians. He stated that the rude shop was erected, and the men paid by the British government and that the repairs were made for the Indians, free of any charge; that the shop was placed on that knoll or mound surrounded by wet marsh, as a protection to some extent, against fire. Sagamaw also stated that many Indians were at that spot, for weeks, obtaining repairs and making their simple arrangements, in anticipation of a great battle to be fought in the month of December, 1812, in the eastern part of what now constitutes the state of Michigan, and that their expectations were sadly realized in the bloody fight at Frenchtown, on the River Raisin, on the 23d day of January, 1813, where the very flower of the Kentucky soldiery, including the gallant company led on by Captain Hart, were butchered almost to a man. "Among the few who escaped the tomahawk and scalping knife, of the Indians, in that perilous fight, and who with a few others, was taken captive into Canada, was one of the pioneers of our county, and who still lives, a farmer on 'Gourd Neck Prairie'-the government has recently bestowed on him, for his services, a warrant for bounty land, and well might John McComsey waive his accustomed modesty and say with patriotic pride, in enumerating his military services, 'I was in the thickest of the fight at the Battle of the River Raisin.' "The Pottawattamies-to which tribe Sagamaw was attached, were all the allies of the British. As the old chief described what he had witnessed at, and around the spot where we then stood, with extended arm, he directed our eyes to the circular spot where the coal was burnt and prepared for the forge of the primitive workshop, and there, within the square of ground, upon which the shop once stood, could still be seen the charred block, on which the anvil had rested. To my inquiry, why were the Pottawattamies always the allies of the British, and the enemies of the Americans, came the ready answer, 'Our Father over the big water gave to the Indian plenty of powder, lead and blankets, and always accompanied the presents with the solemn I,;:-.~~-:i _6 i; s 144 HISTORIC MICHIGAN declaration that the Americans had ever intended to drive the Indians away west of the 'Father of Waters'." (Quarter Centennial Celebration of the Settlement of Kalamazoo, p. 63). It is a remarkable fact that a number of the largest cities today were established on the sites of Indian villages, or trading posts. The pioneer trader was the first business man. A letter written about I869 by Louis Campau, noted Grand river trader, who for years maintained a post at Kalamazoo, is evidence of this fact. Mr. Robison wrote: "Before and a short time after the War of 1812 there was a line of trading Indian villages from Ypsilanti to the mouth of the St. Joseph river, located as follows: At places where now are Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, Jackson, Battle Creek, Gull Prairie, Kalamazoo, Prairie Ronde, South Bend and St. Joseph-all of the Potawatamie tribe. There were trading posts at some of these places. At Ypsilanti, Mr. Schamber had a post; at Jackson, Mr. Baerotiea; at Kalamazoo, Mr. Lumaiville, (written by Mr'. Robinson, Numaiville), at Elkhart, Mr. Mordaunt; at South Bend, Mr. Bertrand, Messrs. Bennett & Brother were traders at Michigan City. When I passed through Kalamazoo in i827, there were only two log houses there." By the treaty of Chicago in 1821, made between the Ottawas, Potawatomies and Chippewas and General Lewis Cass and Solomon Sibley, representatives of the United States government, a large portion of southwestern Michigan was ceded to the government, with the exception of several reservations, two of which were tracts including the village of "Matchebenashshewish" on the "Kekalamazoo" river, the other including the village of Prairie Ronde. Each tract consisted of three square miles. Though the noted Chippewa ~chief had passed to the Happy Hunting Grounds nearly a decade and a half before the treaty was consummated, it is apparent that his name still clung to the village on the site of the city of Kalamazoo. This reservation, recorded on the first surveys of the region included all of Sections 15, x6, 17, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, and 29 of Kalamazoo township. The southern boundry paralleled what is now White's road. This reservation was probably surveyed in 1822. It was ceded back to the government in 1827. (American State Papers, Vol. VI, Indian Affairs, p. 258). When Titus Bronson, the eccentric personage who founded Bronson, which afterward became Kalamazoo, arrived in I829 he found that traders had long preceded him. "Kekalamazoo," the Indian town, had been widely known for decades in the Michigan peninsula. Various traders had frequented the valley, some of them having temporary residence, others making annual trips for bartering purposes. HUBBARD HERE IN 1822 Gurdon Salstonstall Hubbard, early trader and prominent Chicagoan, describes in 1822 a trading post, which was unquestionably the one the remains of which were found up the river by the first settlers. Mr. Hubbard wrote: "In 1820 I was at the mouth of the Muskegon river, also trading, and the year 1822 I spent at what is now Kalamazoo. There was no a OLD COURTHOUSE-VAN BUREN A,* I 0, r X: TICKET VOTED BY SOLDIERS IN THE FIELD IN 1864 NF,T COITRTTIOUSE-VAN J,UREN.1 d ROBINSON TAVERN BRISTOL TAVERN HASTINGS-BATTLE CREEK STAGE ROAD SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 145 town there then, only a trading post, which was, I think, about two miles from the center of the present beautiful and flourishing town of which Michigan is justly vain." (Incidents and Events in the Life of Gurdon S. Hubbard, Hamilton, i888). Hubbard, then, must be included among the early traders of this locality. In Chicago he was afterward an eminent personage. He was born in Windsor, Vermont, on August 22, 1802. Though not sixteen years old, Hubbard in 1817, entered the employ of John Jacob Astor, as a clerk under Ramsay Crooks, in charge of the American Fur Company's headquarters at Mackinlac. The company employed four hundred clerks and two thousand voyageurs. Hubbard was assigned to duties at the Chicago station of the company where he began an extraordinary career of hardship, adventure and heroism. He became a lifelong friend of Shau-be-na, the noted Indian chief. While at the Muskegon station, he nearly lost his life through hardship during the severe winter. He remained in the employ of the fur company until 1827. He took a prominent paft in the Winnebago war in 1827, and in the Black Hawk war in 1832. Later he engaged in the meat packing business in Chicago and also served as a member of the state legislature. This outstanding figure in the history of the northwest died on September I4, I886, after losing the site of both eyes. (Chicago Historical Society Collections, pp. 9-26). Rix Robinson, another noted trader of southwestern Michigan, was one of the earliest fur buyers, who preceded the settlers. He and his agents for years purchased pelts of the Indians occupying the valleys of the Grand, the Thornapple, the Kalamazoo and streams of lesser importance. Both he and Campau agree that the first trader they knew at Kalamazoo was Lumaiville, but Mr. Robinson says that the post was erected in 1828. Writing on December I2, I866, from his home at Ada (the confluence of the Thornapple and Grand rivers, long a rendezvous for Indians and voyageurs and Frenchmen, Mr. Robinson thus describes the post at Kalamazoo: TRADING POST ERECTED "The first little trading hut erected at Kalamazoo was on the north side of the river, and was erected by an old Frenchman named Numaiville, in the fall of 1823, who traded there that fall and winter of 1824 and in the spring returned to Mackinac. In the fall of 1824, I caused more substantial buildings to be erected and employed the same old man as clerk to trade for me a number of years, my own trading post being on the Grand river. This old Frenchman could not read a single word, but would keep his accounts by heiroglyphics, or imitation pictures, and rehearse it to me in the spring with almost exact accuracy in the name of the article or the price. * * *I continued to occupy the place by different clerks until 1837, when I closed up my Indian trade. I generally visited the post, once, and sometimes twice during the winter, but never remained there more than a day or two at a time. I sometimes kept men there-to trade the whole year round, but generally only the fall, winter and early part of the spring. In the month of May we generally left in our Montreal barges 146 HISTORIC MICHIGAN for Mackinac, and returned again in October. These Montreal barges in which my goods were brought into the country and in which felts and furs were taken out, were capable of carrying about eight tons in smooth water. They were propelled by oars, sometimes by a towline, sometimes by sails, always keeping near shore, camping at the mouth of some river nights, and lying still in rough water. In these barges my goods and peltries were transported to and from Mackinac for a number of years until vessels began to run on Lake Michigan, and my freight became so bulky I availed myself of the larger craft. My goods and articles of trade were furnished me at Mackinac, at cost and charges, by the late American Fur Company, they receiving my furs in return, under an arrangement between the company and me. "The Montreal barges were open boats and to protect our goods and furs from storms we used large oil-cloths." The last trader-a man whose name was often recalled with affection by the first settlers who found him here-was Recollet in charge of the trading post on the hill (now included in Riverside cemetery), which overlooked the river ford. His establishment consisted of a long log building with a broad stick chimney at one end. A few rods away was another log structure used for a warehouse. South of this was a large cache, or cellar, dug in the hillside. WHO WAS RECOLLET? Who was Recollet, or "Old Reckley," as the first settlers familiarly called him? History is silent concerning this old Frenchman, who passed unrecorded out of the life of Bronson, the wilderness hamlet. It is likely that he was the Jean Baptiste Recollet, who had a trading post at the mouth of the Muskegon river before the War of I812 and who carried in the spring of I812 a message from Muskegon to St. Joseph, swimming the Muskegon and Kalamazoo rivers and covering the entire distance without resting. (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. I, p. 286). Life and scenes in Kalamazoo in 1832, while Recollet was conducting his trading post, are described by the late Jesse Turner, who arrived when the population of the settlement consisted of Titus Bronson, Hosea B. Huston, Anthony Cooley, Marcus B. Hounson, Cyren (Cyrus) Burdick, Stephen Vickery, and Nathan Harrison, who operated the ferry across the first river. Mr. Turner surveyed the land along Arcadia creek for Anthony Cooley, who erected a shop. Mr. Turner's recollections were recorded as follows, in part: "The flats along Arcadia creek were all covered with tall hazel brush, and the Indian trail was along what is now Main street, passing off to the north beyond the United States Land Office, so as to cross the river at the ford near the old trading post. * * * One day some of us were standing in front of the clerk's office and heard a whooping down the trail; looking that way we saw an Indian coming like a buck up the trail running and every few rods giving a bound high above the hazel brush with a whoop at every jump. He stopped when he reached us and asked for whisky. He said he was poking round a stump when a massassauga sprang up and bit another's bare i i:~I i r — SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 147 breast. He wanted whisky to make him strong to run to Grand Prairie to get weeds to cure the snake bite. Vickery got him a big drink of whisky, telling him'to stop on his way back for more, for he wanted to see the weed. He ran off toward Grand Prairie and in a wonderfully short time came back with a handful of weeds-which I knew very well and would know today-got another drink of whisky and ran off to the wigwam to pound up the weeds into a poultice to apply to the snake bite. The bitten Indian got well. INDIAN'S CORPSE IN PEN "The old Indian known here as the doctor died just before I got here, and his corpse was sitting up against a tree with a three-cornered pen around it, a few rods from the trading post. His gun lay in the pen with him, and it was often borrowed from its owner for a day's hunt, and payment made for the loan by leaving a little tobacco with the corpse. The squaw of this Indian doctor afterward married a white man who had lived with the Indians ever since he was four years old, and was as perfect an Indian in all but color as any of them. His name was Johnson and he was said to be a cousin of Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky. The chief of the Potawatamies was Kopmosee. He was a youngish, smart, bright Indian. Rix Robinson used to let him have goods to trade to the Indians for furs. "Quite a number of Indians looked on as we raised the Hill Tavern at Comstock, but only one of them dared to take hold and help us raise for fear of the timbers falling on them. But one called Chippewa, took hold like a good fellow. "I bought a fraction of land on the river south of Toland prairie, near Hugh Shafter's (father of the late General William R. Shafter, conqueror of Santiago de Cuba). 'Twas a great camping ground for the Indians, and they had a pack of dogs that seemed like half wolves and would catch hogs, or chickens or anything they came across. We used to think they might tackle a white man if they met him alone. These dogs were always led by a big white one. I told Mr. Earl (Lyman Earl, a miller), I'd shoot that white dog the first chance I got, for he was the leader in all the mischief. He said, 'Don't do it. 'Twill make the Indians awful mad. They think a heap of that dog.' I said I'd shoot that dog the first chance I got. One night they had a wedding and lots of whisky; they were yelling like all possessed, but I heard a hog squeal in the woods, took my gun and went out, 'let strip,' and the white dog went down. I was a little scared, but broke a hole in the ice on the river, poked the dog under; that night it snowed and put out all the tracks so the Indians never knew what became of that white dog." RECOLLET A CONVIVIAL SOUL Recollet, the trader, was not a "teetotaler," nor were some of the pioneers. The elderly trader was a hospitable and convivial soul, and he kept "open house" for his new friends. The wilderness lacked any form of amusement, and if the settlers wanted any diversion they had D;~-~ —:7Of~ 148 HISTORIC MICHIGAN to furnish it for themselves. Mr. Turner thus describes a comedy enacted one night at "Old Reckley's" cabin: "We were a wild set in those days. One day Recollet, the trader, had just received some whisky from a batteau that had made the long voyage round the lakes and been poled up the river. He came over and invited the boys to come down in the evening and try it. M. B. Hounson, Nate Harrison, a man named Eaton, and a little shoemaker, Whittet, went to the trading house and I was in the party. The whisky was tried pretty thoroughly, and after an hour or two 'twas solemnly concluded the whisky wasn't strong enough, and must be boiled down. The dipper leaked so one of the boy's boots was pulled off and the whisky cooked in that. The game went on until the whole party except myself, were barefoot and bareheaded, and Recollet was blind drunk on a bench. Whittet proposed to climb the inside of the chimney, to look out at the top and see if the old Indian doctor was all right in his pen. He was a lively little fellow, so up he went, and bidding the Indian good morning, discovered that 'twas getting daylight. Just then Nate Harrison took a dipper of whisky and flung it on the hot coals, and down came Whittet who would have been terribly burned if he had not been jerked out. As it was his hair and eyebrows were singed off." (Michigan Historical Collections, Vol. XVIII, p. 573). The pranks of the merrymakers sometimes became too frequent for "Old Reckly," who sought protection by barring his door, and refusing admission. On one occasion they "smoked" him out by closing the broad chimney of the trading post. This brought the Frenchman to the door with tears streaming down his face and swearing with the oaths of two languages. Recollet's memory was cherished by the early pioneers. In the settlement were men seeking to elevate prices by "corers" on monopolies. When speculators tried to buy a boatload of salt from the Frenchman with the object of taking advantage of shortage to demand an exhorbitant price he refused the offer and sold it to the settlers himself. With Recollet was a partner who dressed in Indian fashion, but his name is not recorded. With characteristic politeness he said to a visiting settler: "We got no shair mine friend, but take a seat and ve disturb you not." RECOLLET'S DAUGHTERS DROWN From the first settlers there was handed down a pathetic story of the loss of Recollet's two daughters, "Who, as they grew up, became more the pride and idols of his heart. Year after year they unfolded new graces and new beauties and made the wilderness a merry place with their ringing voices and inextinguishable happiness. Like the waters of the Ke-Kenamazoo they loved so much, the current of their lives flowed sweetly, smoothly on. Fearless as Indian braves, lithe and sinewy as the wild deer, tireless as eagles and sure-footed as the scout, there was not a nook, hillside, or streamlet for miles around which they did not explore. * * * But at last the time came when the SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 149 father, who had long wrestled with the thought of separation, yielded to what he believed his duty, and determined that they should be educated, and fitted for a better life,-for he held 'the gray barbarian lower than the Christian child.' He went with them to Montreal and placed them in a convent. They were permitted twice to visit their old home, and finally, their education completed, they started once more homeward. But they were destined never to tread the old familiar hills. While on a brief visit to Mackinac they were both drowned, the boat in which they were enjoying an excursion being overturned by a sudden storm. When the sad tidings at last reached the aged father he became like one who, by a sudden stroke, is deprived of all hope and comfort. He remained here but a little time afterwards and disappeared, none knew whither." After Recollet left Kalamazoo he was succeeded at the trading post by Lephart. "Time was," Lephart assured the settlers, "when Robinso'n worked for me, now I work for him." Lephart remained a number of years. He had an extensive trade in tea and ammunition. A glimpse of the wonderful natural beauty of the wilderness setting of Kalamazoo has been left in A. D. P. Van Buren's memoir of Lois B. Adams, "poet, editor and author," an early literary figure of the settlement. "Often on a leisure afternoon, with herself and husband I would go down to the river along the old Indian trail that led along the stream to the old ford, where Indians and early settlers found a crossing place through the shallows from the east to the west bank. This was a very picturesque and lovely spot, and midway of the shaded and darkly wooded region, the prattling and winding Arcadia was crossed by a little bridge of a very rustic fashion, and a stretch of corduroy led across the swale to higher grounds on either side. There, on this bridge and upon the banks of the river we would enjoy the scenery and pick the lovely flowers that matted the mossy floor of the forest, Mrs. Adams at other times busying herself with fishing in the river. She knew the name of every wild flower: The hepaticas, wild phlox, trilliums, 'Dutchman's breeches,' wild poppies, mandrakes, lady-slippers, yellow and purple, the flowering prince's-feather, the blue lobelia, the tiger lily, and wild violets and many others. And all the flowering trees and shrubs from the peach-blossom like Judas tree to the white-thorn, wild plum, and the dogwood blossom, all seemed to have a story for her which she told with such delightful simplicity that I could not but regard her as the queen of them all." (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. XVIII, Second Edition, p. 316). SAUGATUCK A RENDEZVOUS FOR INDIANS Between Kalamazoo and Saugatuck where "Old Baldy," the great sand mountain guards the entrance to the river, which today, along its lower reaches, still preserves features of the wilderness landscape, were several Indian settlements. Saugatuck from remote times had been a rendezvous for savages. It was the place where the ceremonies of departure were performed before the long canoe journey to L'Arbre Croche was begun, and the point of arrival for the savages who had 150 1 EISTORIC MICHIGAN come for the winter's hunt and to make maple sugar. The beach at the foot of this great dune, which was the first landmark sighted by an approaching craft, was usually lined with canoes. It was here where the natives performed, before their departure each spring, that mournful rite known as the "Feast of the Dead." Among the traders located below the Kalamazoo settlement were: Bouchon, who had a post near the "Bouchon stretch," a long smooth section of the river below Allegan; Louis Campau's post at the coifluence of the Rabbit and Kalamazoo rivers (established in I825); the American Fur Company's post (probably conducted under supervision of Rix Robinson) at the "Peach Orchard" where an Indian village of considerable size was found by first settlers. Peach trees found here were undoubtedly planted by the red men. When the first white settlers came to Allegan county the Ottawa Indians occupied the river valley where deer, bear, wild turkeys and fish were unusually plentiful. The chief of the Ottawas was Macksaubee, well-known to the pioneers, who came with his band every autumn from the vicinity of Mackinaw to spend the winter in hunting, returning in the spring. These half-civilized savages had fought with the British in the War of I812, and they were still retained by the British government, which distributed presents annually to them. Many of them were medals commemorating their service against the Americans. When the first settlers arrived Macksaubee and his band, following custom, held powwows on the top of Mount Bald Head on which occasions they displayed the British flag. Seeing the Union Jack waving from the hill while the red men were engaged in festivities, Alexander Henderson and Henry Allert, captains of river flat boats, ascended the dune and seized the flag. The Indians did not resist. Macksaubee and his band were found by the first settlers encamped on the site of the city of Allegan. The Indians had a cornfield and garden on the ground near Bouchon's post. They were very kind to the white people, with whom they conversed through Prickett, a half-breed, brought by Elisha Ely, of Rochester, N. Y., who founded the townsite in I834. (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. III, pp. 301 -309). LITTLEJOHN'S BATTLE LEGEND The Kalamazoo river valley, together with Three Rivers, is commemorated in a legend based on tradition, by the last Judge Flavius J. Littlejohn, noted jurist and legislator of Kalamazoo and Allegan counties. According to the legend, Chief Wakazoo captured Mishawaha, daughter of Chief Elkhart, sachem of the Shawnees, during a battle on Prairie Ronde and held her prisoner at the Great Horseshoe Bend of the Kalamazoo river, near the site of the city of Allegan. In June, I80o, Elkhart with Shawnees from the Wabash and Ohio valleys, invaded the Potawatomi country, marching north to Three Rivers, the strategic key to the St. Joseph valley. Here the Indians entrenched themselves and awaited attack from the north. Wakazoo, with fourteen hundred Ottawa warriors, Pokagon with eight hundred Potawa SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 151 tomies, and Okemos and Seebewa with two thousand braves from the Grand river, joined to expel the invader. At Three Rivers, Elkhart entrenched his men between the Rocky and St. Joseph rivers, and massed another force on the northern side of the two peninsulas between the confluences of the rivers. Leaving his wigwams standing, he sent his women and children and aged men southward to Pigeon prairie. The Rock and Portage river mouths were blockaded by Elkhart's canoes. His force consisted of two thousand five hundred men. The force lying at the mouth of the Rocky river was commanded by Gray Wolf, suitor for Mishawaha, prisoner of Kakazoo. With Kakazoo's forces was "Dead Shot," a white hunter, and his friend and follower, "Lynx Eye," an Ottawa. These acted as scouts, as did Seebewa, aide of Okemos. Pokagon's chief scout was the famous Wakeshma, of Three Rivers. The day preceding the engagement, Pokagon sent two hundred men to reinforce a flotilla of canoes stationed near the mouth of Prairie creek. Okemos marched south on the east side of Portage creek, Kakazoo on the west side. Each took up positions a mile north of the Shawnee entrenchment. The scouts, working their way through Nottawaseepi prairie, penetrated the Shawnee lines, and after many thrilling experiences, returned with information revealing Elkhart's plans. Pokagon and Wakeshma, intending to surprise the invaders, advanced but plans were frustrated by a Shawnee hunter who discovered them. Elkhart sent five hundred warriors to the confluence of the Rocky and St. Joseph rivers to stop this advance, and massed his men on the two peninsulas facing southward. Gray Wolf had command of the detachment stationed along the Rocky river. His opponent was Kakazoo. Wakeshma discovered the blockade, and quietly led Pokagon's men across a ford forty rods above the mouth of the Rocky river. The Shawnees at this point fled and the attacking party set fire to the wigwams while a hot fire was opened on them from the entrenchment. At this time Okemos and his band, using captured canoes for a bridge, rushed into the battle at the same time that Wakazoo's detachment moved forward on the west side of Portage creek and engaged in a hand-to-hand fight. Elkhart's army was defeated, the Shawnees gave up their attempt to occupy the St. Joseph valley. "Death Shot" engaged in a knife duel with Gray Wolf over Mishawaha, and the white scout killed the enemy and won the prince's daughter. At the council that followed, Elkhart, on condition that he keep out of the region, was given the privilege of burying his dead. JUDGE LITTLEJOHN'S CAREER Judge Flavius J. Littlejohn was born in Herkimer county, New York, in July, I804. After graduating from Hamilton College in 1827, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in I830. Coming west with pioneers, he settled in Allegan in 1836. For some time he was engaged as surveyor, engineer and geologist. In 1841, he was elected to the House of Representatives in the Michigan legislature. In I845, he was sent to the Senate and elected president pro tem. He 152 HISTORIC MICHIGAN was again elected to the House in 1848 and I855. He became a "freesoiler," and ran in I849 as Whig candidate against John S. Barry, of Constantine, Democratic candidate for governor, by whom he was defeated by 4,700 votes. In 1858, he was elected circuit judge of the Ninth District comprising twenty counties lying along the east shore of Lake Michigan from Van Buren to Emmet. He was a man of integrity and stood high in the community in which he was an outstanding figure. He died April 28, I880. Fully two thousand persons gathered to attend his funeral services in Allegan. A special train carried thence members of the Kalamazoo bar and prominent citizens. JAMES FENIMORE COOPER IN KALAMAZOO The beauties of the romantic Kalamazoo river and of Prairie Ronde are described in "Oak Openings," a novel by that master craftsman of romantic narration, James Fenimore Cooper, who had considerable property interests in Kalamazoo. He made several journeys to the settlement in the early forties, visiting at Comstock Manor, the home of General Horace H. Comstock, the wife of the latter being his niece, according to Mrs. John den Bleyker, daughter of Nathaniel A. Balch, one of the founders of Kalamazoo. In the community also resided Mott Cooper, nephew of the novelist. General Comstock was one of the prominent builders of Kalamazoo county. He is described as a "courteous gentleman, which made him popular; he was a politician, which gave him party influence; he was considered wealthy which raised him still higher; but he took the highest rank of all from being the husband of a lovely woman, a lady of refinement and niece of James Fenimore Cooper." An old settler gave this glimpse of him: "His kindness and generosity to the early settlers were proverbial. He had a word of encouragement or material aid to all that were in trouble or want; and the lapse of forty-five years has not staled the memory of his generous deeds. The money that Comstock has given away would be a fortune now. He helped everybody that needed help, whether he knew he would get his money back or not." The general, it is said, died in poverty. While Cooper was visiting in Kalamazoo he became acquainted with Brazil Harrison, the county's first settler, who lived at Prairie Ronde. Harrison has always had the credit of being the prototype of Ben Boden, the "Bee Hunter," hero of "Oak Openings." He was known throughout the community as an expert in "lining up" bee trees. The broad acres of Prairie Ronde covered with flowers before the plow touched the rich heavy soil, attracted buzzing swarms of honey-gatherers, while patriarchial burr-oaks, hollowed with age, offered natural hives for storage. That Mr. Harrison was without doubt the original "Ben Boden" was the opinion of Mrs. J. B. Daniels, who recalled that Cooper, whom she met at Comstock Marnor, "spent hours talking with her and others concerning Judge Harrison, his family, pioneer history, his relations with the Indians, his bee-hunting proclivities and various other matters connected with the early history of Kalamazoo county. It was known that he was writing a book, the SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 153 scene of which was laid here, and he made no concealment of the purpose for which he sought his information, and stated openly the character he proposed to make out of Judge Harrison." Mrs. Daniels declared that Cooper afterward acknowledged her services by presenting her with a copy of "Oak Openings," at which time he told her that Judge Harrison was the original of the "Bee Hunter." She also declared that Judge Harrison told her he understood that he was the person Cooper had in mind when he created "Buzzing Ben," and that the novelist himself had told him so. This tradition that Cooper wrote the novel while in Kalamazoo is denied by his descendant, James Fenimore Cooper, publisher of "The Correspondence of James Fenimore Cooper," who writes: " * * * I have looked in the 'Correspondence of James Fenimore for Oak Openings' and find that it was written here at Cooperstown in January, 1848. If you have access to a copy of this book you will find many references to O. O. in the diary of 1848 printed in Vol II, at page 727, &c." (Michigan History Magazine, Vol. VIII, P. 579). Cooper township, Kalamazoo county, was named either for the novelist or for his nephew. How often the novelist visited Kalamazoo is not definitely known. It is believed he was here at least three times. CALLED MICHIGAN LANDS WORTHLESS Reports that the Michigan peninsula contained nothing but worthless land undoubtedly had much to do with the late settlement and development of the state. Earliest reports were that the interior consisted of a plateau and vast stretches of morasses. Later accounts, made after the War of 1812, described the land as swampy, and the report of the Edwin Tiffin, surveyor general, made at Chillicothe, Ohio, on November 30, 1815, in addition to branding Michigan as a land of hardship, says that the surveyors in the country were obliged to suspend "operations until the country shall be sufficiently frozen so as to bear man and beast-knowing the desire of the government to have the lands surveyed as soon as practicable, and my earnest importunities to urge the work forward-they continued to work, suffering incredible hardships, until today the men and beasts are literally wore down-with extreme sufferings and fatigue." This report was made by General Tiffin after Congress had appropriated two million acres of land to be selected in the Territory of Michigan to be given to the soldiers of the War of 1812. The original report was found in the records of the Commissioner of the General Land Office by William R. Bates, Pontiac, Michigan. (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. XVIII, Second Edition, p. 660). In the opinion of Tiffin, the land was not worth surveying, and of too little value to give to soldiers. He continues: "I think it is my duty to give you the information, believing that it is the wish of the government that the soldiers should have (as the act of Congress proposed), lands fit for cultivation, and that the whole of the two million acres appropriated * * * will not contain anything like one hundred part of that quantity or is worth the 154 HISTORIC MICHIGAN expense of surveying it. Perhaps you will think with me that it will be proper to make this representation to the president of the United States, and he may avert all further proceedings-by directing me to pay off what has been done and abandon the country. Congress, being in session, other lands could be appropriated in lieu of these, and be surveyed as soon as these in Michigan for when the ice is sufficiently strong to bear man and beast, a deep snow would still embarass the surveyors." Such was General Tiffin's view of what is today a rich section of southern Michigan. TITUS BRONSON, CITY FOUNDER That Michigan contained fertile lands, and was not wholly the region of terrors that early reports had spread gradually became recognized in the late twenties, and those individuals, ambitious to leave the long-settled communities, turned their faces toward the setting sun and by canal boat and ox-team, or on horseback or afoot, made their ways along the trails and rudely-built roads until they reached the irresistible spot which lured them to settle. The pathfinders who went before the flood of immigration began was composed of determined men, who scorned luxury. Many of them, for reasons known only to themselves, voluntarily severed ties with civilization to begin careers of unexpected hardships, and often of peril. They responded to that alluring and mysterious call which new countries have had since man saw his first dawn. In the old Yankee town of Breakneck Hill, Middlebury, Connecticut, rumors of the land of promise in Michigan came to a tall, lanky young man, slightly bent forward, with a homely, rugged and honest face. His ancestors had for six generations been mentioned in the history of the "Nutmeg state." Titus Bronson, future founder of Kalamazoo, ten years after attaining his majority-he was born on November 27, I788-decided to follow the example of many great Americans of whom he had read, and go into the western country. While in Talmadge, Ohio, Bronson met a Hoosier named Gilkey, grower of a new kind of potato he called the "Neshannock." Bronson bought some of them, planted them, and received a high price for the first crop. This started him on a career as an itinerant potato grower. Moving from community to community, Bronson raised and sold potatoes, until the new country was well supplied with "Neshannock." By the summer of 1824 this Yankee had progressed in his potatoplanting career as far as Ann Arbor. Returning to his native town in Connecticut, Bronson married on New Year's day, I827, Sally Richardson, whom he took at once to Talmadge, Ohio. Bronson returned in the summer to Ann Arbor, and it was probably then that he penetrated the interior of the state and discovered the site of Kalamazoo. To him this spot was the Arcadia of Michigan. While digging potatoes, Bronson's must have dreamed of founding a future city, for he is credited with exclaiming with enthusiasm: "Here is a fine place for a city! Here I will pitch my tent and spend my days! This will be a county seat." 11 I, % a.-;: - 1 - SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 155 BUILDS TAMARAC HUT IN KALAMAZOO He built a hut of tamarac which he carried on his back. Some authorities state that Bronson spent the winter of I829-I830 in Kalamazoo. In 1830, Bronson's wife and oldest daughter, Eliza, in company with Stephen Richardson, the former's brother, passed through Ann Arbor in in a covered wagon drawn by oxen on their way to Kalamazoo. They endured many hardships in traveling over the trails and through the wilderness, fording bridgeless streams and making long detours round swamps and lakes. After the family reached Bronson's tamarac hut, his wife became ill. Early in the spring of 1831 Bronson erected a log house on his claim and entered in the land office in White Pigeon a claim for the east half of the southwest quarter of Section 15, town two, south of range eleven west. This was entered in Mrs. Bronson's name. Her brother, Stephen Richardson, at the same time entered for the west half of the same quarter section. As Bronson has chosen the land through which flowed Arcadia creek, it was supposed he intended to convert it into a farm. He afterward entered lands in other parts of the country in the office at White Pigeon. He later sold a quarter section on Climax prairie to Major Willard Lovell. The original plats of the "Village of Bronson" are three in number as follows: First plat, by Bronson and Richardson, recorded March 12, 1831; second plat (no proprietors given), probably a re-plat of the first one, recorded March 7, I834; third plat, by Titus and Sally Bronson, July 2, I834, recorded August I4, I834. This plat covered both the former ones. To the commissioner appointed to locate the county seat, Bronson promised to donate the following pieces of ground: One square of sixteen rods for a court house; one square of sixteen rods for a jail; one square of sixteen rods for an academy; one square of eight rods for common schools; one square of two acres for a public burial ground; four squares of eight rods each for the first four religious denominations that become incorporated in said village agreeably to the statute of the Territory. These gifts included what is now Bronson park with its Indian mound and stately burr-oak trees, which must have been saplings when the donor walked among them. BRONSON BECOMES COUNTY SEAT The report of the commissioners was approved by Governor Lewis Cass on April 2, 1831, and the county seat was established. Bronson had great faith in the future growth of his village. To newcomers he enthusiastically offered lots for sale. One old frontiersman, scoffing at the dreams of the founder, declared that within twenty years "the tired and hungry traveler wandering this way would not be able to find a solitary hut in Bronson." Indignant, Bronson replied prophetically: "In twenty years from this time you will see a large city here, and you will be able to go to and from Detroit in one day by the railroad cars." 156 HISTORIC MICHIGAN Bronson's peculiar traits of conduct displeased and irritated other residents in his rapidly-growing community. His manners were disagreeable because he denounced intemperance and land shark activities. In addition he was eccentric, and his oddities caused the breach between him and his fellow townsmen to grow wider. Moreover, he hated liquor. His enemies successfully carried out a plan to have the name changed in I836 to Kalamazoo. If Bronson had had any desire to leave the settlement, this act of his foes might again have started him on the westward trail. To Jesse Earle, of Galesburg, who inquired, "How are you, Mr. Bronson?" he replied: "Pretty well, pretty well, but its getting too thickly settled for me here; too many men around." Taking off his coat, he said: "I can't stand it. I shall have to go further west where there is more room." Many stories are told of Bronson' peculiarities of conduct. During a lawsuit over the construction of a sawmill which Bronson had ordered built, Bronson, forgetting what he was doing, whittled a cane, a book, and anything that he could get hold of. Running out of materials he went to a window where he began to cut the sash. Exasperated, Cyrus Lovell, his attorney, halted his plea and cried out: "Bronson! What are you doing there? Don't cut that window; you're the d —st man I ever saw!" Excited and in a dazed manner, Bronson replied: "Well, well, I don't know what I am about. This matter perplexes me so, I would rather have the life lease of a Frenchman than this pesky sawmill." WHITTLES IN COURT ROOM On another occasion, when Judge Fletcher in circuit court, declared that Bronson's justice court docket (he was a justice of the peace), "looked more like anything else than a justice docket," Titus rushed up, seized the docket and threw' it into the fire, exclaiming: "Well, well, if I can't keep a docket, I can raise potatoes." In 1836, not long after the name of the village had been changed, Bronson and his family again set out for the west. He went from Kalamazoo to Rock Island, Illinois. Later he crossed the Mississippi river to Davenport, Iowa, where for several years he owned a fine farm. He was prosperous, but the "sharks" whom he hated finally swindled him out of his title, and he was thrown upon his children for support. This probably happened in I842. Mrs. Bronson died at about this time. After residing with his daughter, in Henry county, Illinois, Titus started eastward in the fall of I852 to see again his relatives. Taken ill at his brother's home in his native town of Middlebury, Bronson died in January, I853. On the headstone in the old cemetery of that place there is this simple tribute, "A Western Pioneer, Returned to Sleep with His Fathers." Mr. Bronson had three children: Eliza, born in Talmadge, Ohio; a son and daughter, born in Kalamazoo. The son died in infancy. Cyrus Lovell, pioneer lawyer paid Bronson this tribute: "He kept everybody that came to his house, especially the ministers; was a friend to the religion of the Bible and to the human race; was just and liberal and ready always to do his share in every good work. SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 157 He was public spirited and patriotic. He furnished me his horse, saddle, and bridle, and powder-horn, ball-pouch, powder, balls and a rifle, and directed me to go and see what the matter was with Black Hawk in 1832. In short, Titus Bronson was an honest, good and useful man. He injured no man, but was often wronged. Kalamazoo would be just as large as she is now, if called Bronson. A rose by another name would smell just as sweet." (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol., pp. 363-375). L CHAPTER VII THE WAR OF I812; PASSING OF THE INDIAN POWER NE of the first genuine Americans to settle in the St. Joseph valley was William Burnett, of New Jersey, a trader who built an establishment on a bluff near the mouth of the St. Joseph river during the Revolution, or shortly afterward. The exact date of his arrival is uncertain. He arrived from Macki'nac with a large assortment of articles with which to trade with the Potawatomies, and returned thence with a large amount of fur received in exchange. The British commander at Mackinac called him into consultation and proposed that he enter into partnership with the firm of McBeth and Grant for the purpose of holding a monopoly of trade in the St. Joseph valley. This Burnett refused to do and he was then informed he could not return to trade there. Thereupon he accepted the proposal. Later he settled with his partners and would have nothing more to do with them. The British were still in control of St. Joseph, and when McBeth and Grant informed the commandant at Mackinac that Burnett had received overtures from Butler, an American Indian agent, Burnett was imprisoned and sent to Montreal where "he remained until he found an opportunity to come over to the United States and from thence returned to St. Joseph where he found his property destroyed by his clerks and what little remained he was obliged to give. to the Indians, as the most part of them had taken the part of the English." Burnett resumed trading at once. On the site of Niles, hnot far from where the Spaniards had recently captured Fort St. Joseph was a Potawatomi village over which ruled Aniquiba, a venerable chief. He had two children, one of whom was the noted chief Top-en-a-bee, and a daughter, Kakima, who became the bride of Burnett in 1782, the Rev. Father La Vi Deaux, Roman Catholic missionary, performing the ceremony. Thus allied with the Potawatomies, Burnett engaged in a thriving business. He led in person trading expeditions to distant places. He was known throughout the Kankakee and St. Joseph valleys. His business associates from time to time were John Kinzie, the Chicago trader, and Jean Baptiste, Point-au-sable, James May and others. Burnett had seven children, some of whom received good educations. In a petition drafted by six of his children for presentation to Congress it was stated that after his marriage he "cleared large fields, erected a valuable mansion house, barn, storehouses, &c., and cultivated the earth and traded with the Potawatomies and other nations of Indians, and that he never removed from thence except when he occasionally departed for his necessary business or for the purpose of advancing the interests of the United States of America, and increasing their influence with the chiefs and others of the Indian na SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 159 tions-interest which he greatly promoted in a variety of ways." Burnett was never again disturbed. His home was at the foot of a hill on the west bank of the river about two miles from the lake. The cabin was about four hundred feet from the water-front and commanded a magnificent view. As late as 1856 there were still growing apple, quince and cherry trees, which Burnett had set out. Burnett died in 1812, but the place and date of his passing is not known. It is recorded in several narratives of the Chicago massacre that an Indian, tomahawk in hand, was searching for Burnett. It is not likely that a man of Burnett's prominence-known to be a loyal American-should escape death in the midst of so many enemies. During the summer of 1815, Kakima, Burnett's wife, appeared at a council at Saginong, one of the principal towns of the Potawatomies and asked for a grant of land. She and her children were given the tract lying between the St. Joseph and Galien rivers a'nd Lake Michigan. The government, however, failed to, confirm this grant. It is not known where or when she died. (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. XXX, pp. 86-95). For many years there was visible on the site of Burnett's post a circular foundation of heavy masonry, which must have been the foundation of a blockhouse. Within it was found a chest in which were two ledgers covered with accounts. One of these books is in possession of the Northern Indiana Historical Society, the other is owned by the Michigan Historical Commission. BERTRAND AT PARC AUX VACHES One of Burnett's agents was Joseph Bertrand, who established a trading post at Parc aux vaches, a beautiful meadow where the buffalo came down to drink in the St. Joseph river. This spot, at the ford of the great Sauk trail between Chicago and the Detroit river, was about four miles south of Niles. A town of great promise grew up on this spot during the stage coach days. Today it is a small hamlet, with nothing suggestive of its antiquity or historic importance except to commemorate Bertrand's name. He, like Burnett, married a Potawatomi wife, and prospered. In the cemetery there is a tombstone recording that the wife of Joseph Bertrand lies below. According to tradition, Bertrand's house stood in what is now the river channel. This house was made of logs brought from the old mission church at Fort St. Joseph. This building is said to have been the only one in the settlement that the Spaniards did not destroy. After the Chicago treaty was signed in 1833, the town of Bertrand was platted, and so great was the boom that nine hundred acres were platted. Corner lots brought two hundred dollars each, which was a high price for those days. In 1836, the brick Roman Catholic church recently torn down, was erected. A tavern was erected, and the town laid claims to metropolitan recognition when Chicago was a mere hamlet on a mud flat. Shoppers came many miles to make purchases in this up-to-date town,. and merchants prospered. The church was a notable structure. In the spire was a bell donated by Father Sorin. The wife of General W. T. Sherman contributed candlesticks 160 HISTORIC MICHIGAN for the altar and other articles. The greed of real estate men who raised the price of lots four hundred per cent and of two other men who had the mail route changed to a point three miles above Bertrand completely wrecked what was once one of the most promising and prosperous towns of Territorial days. (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. XXVIII, pp. 128-I33). The St. Joseph valley was the heart of the Potawatomi country. About the year 1805, they refused the United States government the privilege of erecting a fort at the mouth of the St. Joseph river. This proposed fort was built instead on the site of the city of Chicago and was named Fort Dearborn. POTAWATOMIES HOSTILE TO AMERICANS The Potawatomies joined with others nations in hostilities against the United States. Their chiefs signed the treaty of Fort Harmar in I789 and their warriors assisted in the defeat of General Harmar in 1790. They also participated, so far as is known, in the battle which resulted so disastrously for General St. Clair's army. In the meantime the British were continually exerting every influence to keep intact the alliance they had with the savages during the Revolution. The defeat of the confederated Indians by General Wayne's army on the Maumee river in 1794 administered a blow to the savages which quieted them for several years. By the treaty of Greenville, made with Wayne the following year, the Indians of the Grand, Kalamazoo and St. Joseph river valleys were represented by Mash-ipi-nash-i-wish, or Bad Bird, Chippewa chief of the Kalamazoo village. Seeing the American power increase, Tecumseh, the Shawnee chief, endeavored to organize a confederation similar to the one with which Pontiac had tried to throw off the British rule. Of this conspiracy the Americans were aware. General William Henry Harrison, governor of Indiana Territory, on July 5, I809, wrote to the Secretary of War as follows: "The warlike and well-armed tribes of the Pottawattomies, Ottawas, Chippewas, Delawares, and Miamis, I believe, neither had, nor would have joined in the combination; and, although the Kickapoos, whose warriors are better than those of any other tribe-the remnant of the Wyandottes excepted-are much under the influence of 'The Prophet,' I am persuaded that they were never made acquainted with their intentions, if these were really hostile to the United States." Throughout southwestern Michigan runners carried the message of Tecumseh. In the meantime, the British in Canada were watching with secret satisfaction the impending war across the border. At a council between Harrison, Tecumseh and other chiefs at Vincennes in I8io, the Indians were defiant, one Potawatomi chief declaring he would stand by Tecumseh's plans. The following year, General Harrison ascertained that a portion of the Potawatomies were loyal to the Americans. I :&~: 1:s? a '~ '-i c / \ 0: 4 \ iss / e I K X:e-iV:C 4 KALAMAZOO STATE HOSPITAL SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 161 INDIANS DEFEATED AT TIPPECANOE Finding that the savages were determined to have war, Harrison with his army, advanced northward in Indiana and oh the morning of November 7, I8II, fought the Battle of Tippecanoe, a premature engagement, which disrupted the plans of Tecumseh and spoiled his plans. The savages returned to their villages completely defeated. They would have been completely disheartened had it not been for the encouragement of the British, who informed them that war between Great Britain and the United States was impending. The Indians were promised liberation if they would dig up the tomahawk and fight, as they had for the King during the Revolution. The beginning of the War of I812 found the Ottawas of the Grand and Thornapple rivers, the Potawatomies of the Kalamazoo and St. Joseph rivers rallying to the standard of the British. Their war parties were unloosed on the frontier settlements. They were with the British in the engagement at Maguaga and with General Brock when Hull ignomiously surrendered Detroit and the territory under its jurisdiction. They fought with tremendous ferocity. Their appearance just before the battle of Maguaga is thus described by a British spectator: "No other sound than the measured step of the troops interrupted the solitude of the scene, rendered more imposing by the wild appearance of the warriors whose bodies stained and painted in the most frightful manner for the occasion, glided by us with almost noiseless velocity, without order and without a chief; some painted white, some black, others half black, half red; half black, half white; all with their hair plastered in such a way as to resemble the bristling quills of the porcupine, with no other covering than a cloth round their loins, yet armed to the teeth, with rifles, tomahawks, war-clubs, spears, bows, arrows, and scalping knives. Uttering no sound and intent only on reaching the enemy, unperceived, might havg passed for the spectres of those wilds, the ruthless demons which war had unchained for the punishment and oppression of man." (War of I812, Richardson, p. 34). THE CHANDONAI AFFAIR During the war, there occurred an affair which greatly incensed the British and which caused a considerable stir in the St. Joseph valley. This was the killing of John B. Chandonai, of Mackinaw, an agent in the British service, by his nephew of the same name, in the American service. While the younger Chandonai was engaged in carrying despatches from Detroit overland to Chicago in company with the elder Robert Forcythe, his uncle was sent with thirty savages in canoes to intercept him and take him prisoner. The older Chandonai arrived at night with his force. In the morning he visited his nephew and made known his mission. Young Chandonai, with a double-barrel shotgun in his hands, declared he had no intention of surrendering, that he would not go with him and that he would not surrender. He drew a line in the salid, and warned his uncle that crossing it meant death. The elder man paid no attention to the 162 HISTORIC MICHIGAN warning, stepped over the line and was shot dead. The report of the gun roused the Indians who went to John's camp. He pointed to the line and explained that he had shot his uncle in self-defense. The savages held a council and accepted ten gallons of whisky as the price of permitting Chandonai to depart in peace. In addition they agreed to help bury the dead man. This affair took place near Mr. Burnett's orchard. The body was buried on the hill back of the camp. Chandonai placed a cross over the grave and left. The Indians returned to Mackinaw. (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. I, p. I23). Chandonai, who was a half-breed, saved the lives of American prisoners at the massacre of Fort Dearborn in Chicago. For a mule and the promise of ten bottles of whisky, he ransomed Mrs. Heald the wounded wife of Captain Heald. The Healds and John Kinzie, the Chicago trader, and his wife, were given refuge and protection in the villages of To-pen-a-bee and Pokagon on the St. Joseph river. Pokagon had advised peace, but his warriors could not be held back, and he was present when they murdered the Chicago garrison. When it was learned that the savage who had released Mrs. Heald regretted his bargait and was coming to reclaim her, To-pen-a-bee, Chandonai, Kee-po-tah and other friendly Indians, sent Captain and Mrs. Heald in a canoe up the eastern shore of Lake Michigan to Mackinac where they were delivered to the British commandant. INDIAN POWER BREAKS WITH TECUMSEH S FALL The massacre of soldiers of General Winchester's army at Frenchtown (Monroe) after the Battle of the River Raisin was largely the work of Potawatomies of southwestern Michigan. This and preceding victories and Hull's surrender at Detroit caused the savages to regard the British as certain victors. Captain 0. H. Perry's naval victory in Put-in-Bay, Lake Erie, on September Io, 1813, however, completely changed the military situation giving the Americans complete control of the lakes. Fort Malden, the British stronghold, near Amherstburg was now at the mercy of the guns of the American fleet, which was made still stronger by addition of the captured ships. Near Sandusky was General William Henry Harrison with an army ready to recapture Detroit and invade Canada. With him was the venerable Governor Shelby, of Kentucky, a hero of the Revolution, who had 4,poo mounted volunteers, all of whom were eager to avenge the massacre at the Raisin. A large number of horses were left on the Sandusky peninsula under guard, the men being ordered to fight as infantrymen. With Perry's fleet transporting the baggage, the army embarked in a long line of boats on September 25 to cross the lake, making the journey from island to island. On the 27th this imposing procession of one hundred craft, convoyed by sixteen warships, arrived on the mainland, and the troops disembarked in perfect order four miles below Fort Malden. With the drums thundering "Yankee Doodle," the old martial air of the Revolution, and fifes shrilly playing, Harrison's picturesque army marched into Amherstburg in parallel treets. The British under General Proctor and the Indian army un4er Tecumseh, after setting fire to the fort buildings, had fled. The 163 SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN ruins were still smoking when the American columns swung through the town. At the same time Perry's fleet was sailing up the river, the thunderous report of a heavy ship gun occasionally denoted that groups of Indians on the Michigan shore were being dispersed. In the meantime, Colonel Richard M. Johnson with a large force of Kentucky cavalrymen was proceeding up the Michigan shore. On the way they had passed the River Raisin battle ground, and the infuriated southerners pressed onward with no other desire than for an opportunity to fight the murderous enemy. By October 2, all preparations for pursuing Proctor and his force of retreating British and Indians were completed. The invading force consisted of Colonel Johnson's regiment of mounted men, Governor Shelby's volunteers and three companies of Colonel Bell's infantrymen. On Harrison's staff, serving as aides, were General Lewis Cass and Captain Perry, the victor of Lake Erie. Near the head of the column rode Governor Isaac Shelby, the victor over the British in the battle of King's Mountain in the Revolution. Near him rode the white-haired William Whitley, veteran of many Indian battles and famous southerner who was riding to his last fight. Three miles from Moraviantown the British, on October 5, finding the pursuers were steadily gaining, drew up for battle across a strip of land between a marsh and the River Thames. They selected for the engagement a beech woods in which the trees were lofty and thick with no undergrowth to impede maneuvering of cavalry or infantry. The British left, lying near the river, was supported by four pieces of artillery. In the marsh, at right angles to the road was a force of about 1,200 Indians, a large portion of whom were Potawatomies and Ottawas from southwestern Michigan. The British troops numbered about 600. Owing to the narrowness of the battlefield-about fifty rods-the American army was at a great disadvantage, as the whole force could not be utilized. Though Harrison had 3,000 troops, Proctor's choice of the field made it impossible for the American commander to use more than one half of his men. Harrison, however, met the situation with an admirable solution. Colonel Paull was sent ahead with one hundred and fifty regulars to advance between the river and road and to capture if possible the enemy's artillery. A party of friendly Indians was sent forward under cover of the river bank. Colonel Johnson's regiment, drawn up in close column, was ordered to charge at full speed as soon as the enemy had delivered his fire. The Kentucky volunteers, commanded by Major General Henney, was formed in three lines behind the mounted men, their formation extending from the river to the marsh. General Desha's detachment supported the left of Johnson's cavalry. General Shelby was stationed at the apex of the front line and Desha's men. At the head of the front line of infantry was General Harrison with his distinguished aides, Captain O. H. Perry and General Lewis Cass. With the word "Forward!" from General Harrison, and repeated quickly along the line by his subordinates, the units broke into motion. The trotting cavalry increased its speed to a furious gallop. The in 164 HISTORIC MICHIGAN fantry changed step into double time. Under the impact of hundreds of hoofs the ground shook. The horses, sensing the impending combat neighed and snorted. Their riders, thrilled with excitement, held their long knives, tomahawks, sabres, rifles and pistols in readiness to begin the work of death among an enemy whom they had long waited to meet. Toward the marsh, behind which lay the savage foe under Tecumseh, rode a band of twenty horsemen, whom Colonel Johnson had chosen for the "Forlorn hope." These men, unflinching heroes, rode forward-most of them to death-for they were to receive the volley which was to empty the Indians' muskets and give the cavalry an opportunity to rush upon them before they could reload. "Fire!" shouted a savage voice, and a cloud of white smoke belched forth from the swamp, followed with the crackling reports of hundreds of rifles. The twenty men of the "Forlorn hope" and their horses went down in a struggling mass. Among the dead was William Whitley, the brave old frontiersman, who two hours before his death had pursued, killed and scalped two Indians. In the meantime, the American cavalrymen spurred their horses and with a mighty yell, followed by the rushing lines of infantry, also yelling in appalling fashion, swept upon the foe before muskets could be reloaded. The British were stunned by the impact, and before they could resist, the cavalry had ridden through their ranks sabering right and left, and had reformed and charged through again from the rear. A sign of resistance meant sure death. The enemy had no time to fix bayonets. In the charge twelve were killed, thirty-seven wounded. Very few were shot, for the cavalrymen found use of the sabre and knife most convenient. Of the cavalry, Captain Jacob Elliston in particular distinguished himself. As the cavalry broke through the ranks of the Forty-first British regiment, an infantryman tried to fix his bayonet. With one stroke Elliston decapitated him. Another attempted resistance and again the sabre fell, severing the man's head. In the attack on the Indians, the captain nearly lost his life when an Indian grasped his bridle and attempted to tomahawk him. With one stroke of his sword, the savage was decapitated, and his scalp an instant later ornamented the Kentuckian's belt. The engagement between the Indians and Johnson's men was brief. In the charge, Johnson's horse stumbled over a log, throwing his rider. Seeing the enemy leader lying on the ground, Tecumseh, with tomahawk aloft, rushed out to despatch him. Johnson, however, drew a pistol and shot the chieftain through the heart. So soon as the Indians discovered their leader had fallen, they were ready to give up the fight. Six Americans and twenty-two savages fell within sixty feet of the spot where Tecumseh was killed. Following the charge of the cavalry to a point where hand to hand fighting with the Indians was possible, Governor Shelby arrived with the charging infantrymen. Seeing they were in danger of being slaughtered by an overwhelming force, the Indians broke and fled. Some of Johnson's cavalrymen, however, had got in their rear, and they rode down the sabred savages right and left. Thirty-three Indians were left on the field. SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 165 Had the British soldiers offered resistance, they would have been cut down to the last man. Proctor had fled in his carriage. All his baggage, however, was captured by a pursuing force, which was too weak to attack his guard. Had he been captured, nothing could have saved him from the Kentuckians who laid to him the horrible butcheries of Winchester's men. Proctor was afterwards severely censured and court-martialed for his conduct at this battle. This was an unjust reward for a leader who had rendered distinguished service. "No account has been taken of the valuable services he performed; with less than I,ooo whites and a very unreliable Indian following he destroyed three American armies as large as his own. Reinforcements he asked for were not sent. His soldiers became stale and dispirited because of neglect from headquarters. The defeat at Moraviantown was the inevitable result of this neglect. (Ontario Historical Society, Papers and Records, Vol. XVII, p. 12). In this battle the Americans recovered six brass field guns, which Hull had surrendered. Inscriptions on two of them stated they had been surrendered by Burgoyne at Saratoga. On the following day the Americans destroyed Moraviantown and the cornfields in the vicinity. It was alleged that the Indians living in it had been foremost in the River Raisin massacre. POTAWATOMIES APPEAL FOR AID TO BRITISH Discouraged, the Michigan Indians afterward returned to their villages along the St. Joseph, the Kalamazoo and Grand rivers. The chiefs realized that further resistance against a growing nation like the United States was folly and so advised their young men. The Potawatomies who returned to the St. Joseph valley after the Battle of the Thames, suffering from poverty, appealed to the British for aid at a council held at Mackinac on October 28, I814. The chiefs representing these Indians were Waindawgay and Mishpawkissh. The former said in part: "Father, I am instructed by your children to acquaint you that they were the first of your Indian children who took up the tomahawk against the Big Knives. They were amongst the first at Chicago, Detroit, River au Raisin, Defiance, and Fort Meigs, even so far back as Tepikano battle where several fell fighting under the Shawnee Prophet's banner. * * * At the River au Raisin, the Potawatamies composed the right of the army under General Proctor and when 300 of the enemy under General Winchester made an attempt to outflank the English Father the Potawatamies rushed upon them and cut those 300 into pieces in consequence of which the English Father gained a signal victory, for the remainder of the enemy surrendered. It is true that some of the Potawatamie nation have taken the Big Knives by the hand, but those people who have done so are men of no influence with the warriors of our nation. * * * Father, your children, the Potawatamies of the St. Joseph were compelled to take refuge at or about the St. Joseph river when they were abandoned by General Proctor. Since that time they have suffered great distress, especially last winter and they are repeatedly invited by the Five Medals '1 HISTORIC MICHIGAN to go to the Big Knives for ammunition. They preferred to suffer rather than treat with those bad people the Big Knives, who are the authors of their misery. * * * They trust you will continue to relieve them conformable to the promise made them by our Great Father's representative at Detroit at the time your children showed their fidelity and attachment with their brethren the Chippewas and Ottawas in taking up the hatchet. * * * You have been made acquainted with the deplorable situation of your children. They would have followed General Proctor when he abandoned Detroit, but they were prevented by the enemy who cut off their communication. Our powerful men and warriors implore your charitable hand and hope you will assist them with ammunition and clothing. Our women are almost naked, and no traders in that quarter can afford any article of clothing. St. Joseph's and its dependencies will furnish 400 men who are true to you." With Detroit in the hands of the Americans and the lakes in control of the fleet, the British commander at Mackinac found himself in a difficult situation. He kept contact, however, with the Indians, those in particular in southwestern Michigan on whom he relied for aid in defense against attack. BRITISH ON THE GRAND RIVER Learning the Indians of the Grand river were divided in their sympathies, Lieutenant Colonel McDonall, of Mackinac, sent Lieutenant Joseph Cadotte in 1814 to accompany Michel Coursolle, a trader, to that river with a supply of goods for the savages. Previous to that time, it had been learned that Isaac Burnet and an armed party had captured and carried as prisoners to Detroit three traders-Joseph Bailley, E. Lamorandie and D. Bourassa, "British traders between the Grand river and St. Joseph's on Lake Michigan." Burnet, it was claimed was a British subject. According to the testimony of Bailley at a court of inquiry held at Fort Drummond on October IO, 1815, was captured on the Grand river by "Jean Baptiste Chadronet (Chandonai), Isaac Burnet and B. Ducharme. * * * I was unwell at the time and the party came upon me by surprise. Chadronet presented his pistols at me and Burnet told me I was his prisoner in the name of the United States." (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. XVI, p. 332). When Cadotte reported at Mackinac McDonall was "so impressed with the necessity of seizing these worthless men who had repeatedly transgressed against their country" that he at once despatched Lieutenant Cadotte to bring them prisoners to Mackinac. "It, therefore, became of importance to rid the country of these pests, and Lieutenant Cadot was especially instructed to * * * spare Tno pains or expense in causing them to be made prisoners and sent in to Michillimackinac." Michel Coursolle, the trader, set out Ifor the Grand river on November 4, carrying goods valued at ~2,000. With him went Lieutenant Cadotte with presents for the savages. SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 167 "His first step was to assemble the Indians on whom he could depend and having distributed the presents, directed them to be in readiness in case he was attacked from Detroit. In communicating to them the orders which he had received to take Chadronet and Kinzie prisoners to Mackinac, he reminded them of their previous treachery to their Great Father, the King, whose subjects they were, and of their having both been in irons at Amherstberg. * * * He offered them 400 plus to bring them alive. The Indians replied that they knew these men had deterred the traders of their English father from coming amongst them and relieving their misery." They promised to capture them if possible. Cadotte distributed the presents and returned to Mackinac on January 25, "and received the thanks of the commanding officer, in public orders for his conduct." (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. XVI, p. 330). BRITISH SOUGHT AID FROM GRAND RIVER SAVAGES McDonall again sent Cadotte to the Grand river for the purpose of assembling the Indians for the defense of Mackinac. He arrived on March 26, and collected the warriors to tell them "that the King their great Father, had subdued his enemies in Europe and that all his forces would be turned against the Americans. To encourage them to accompany him he stated to them the exertions which they had been making all winter to strengthen the works at Mackinac, which were then so strong that they would be safe in the excavations and bombproofs, which had been made at Fort George and that American vessels durst not approach the guns." While at the Grand river, the Indians received reports on April 4 and 9 that peace had been concluded, but not ratified. * * * "As he (Cadotte) could not bring himself to credit the story, he in conformity to his orders, proceeded with eighty-four Indian warriors for Mackinac on the I2th of April and arrived on the 3d of May, when he learned that the first official news of peace had been received there two days before." (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. XVI, p. 330). NEWS OF PEACE REACHES MACHINAC The news of peace was brought to Mackinac from Sandwich by the schooner Mink, which arrived May I. The following day, Lieutenant Colonel McDonall sent messages to notify the Indians at L'Arbre Croche. The famous Ottawa chief Assigonack, or the Black Partridge, was dispatched with wampum and the pipe of peace to all the nations of the east shore of Lake Michigan, including the Grand, Kalamazoo and St. Joseph river valleys. TREATIES OF SAGINAW AND CHICAGO With peace signed and the Indians subdued, the Americans were now prepared to negotiate an advantageous pact with the Indians. General Lewis Cass at the Treaty of Saginaw obtained a cession of land from the Chippewas on September 24, I8I9. This tract is bounded on the south by a line commencing in the meridian line six miles south of the north line of Jackson county and running west to a point about four miles northeast of the city of Kalamazoo, and thence northeasterly::::::_I:~-:~: 168 HISTORIC MICHIGAN through the counties of Barry, Ionia, Montcalm and Isabella to the headwaters of Thunder Bay river in Montmorency county, and embracing all the land east not ceded by previous treaties. After obtaining this large slice of territory, another cession which included all of southwestern Michigan with exception of a few small reservations, was made between General Cass and Solomon Sibley with the Ottawas, Chippewas and Potawatomies in Chicago on August 29, 1821. This cession covers that portion of the state which is bounded on the south by the south line thereof, on the north by the Grand river, on the east by the west line of former cessions and on the west by Lake Michigan, excepting a small triangular parcel of land lying in the southwest corner of the state south of the St. Joseph river. This tract was afterward ceded by the Potawatomies at a treaty made with General Cass at the Carey mission, located on this land, on September 20, 1828, and then again by them in conjunction with the Chippewas and Ottawas by an additional treaty in Chicago on September 27, I833. These treaties embrace the counties of Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph, Branch, Hillsdale, Van Buren, and Allegan; also a part of Ottawa, Kent, Barry, Kalamazoo, Calhoun and Jackson counties. Among the reservations were the following: "One tract at Manguachqua village on the river Peble, of six miles square; one tract at Mickisawabe of six miles square; one tract at the village of Natowasepe of four miles square; one tract at the village of Matchebenashewish at head of the Kalamazoo river." (American State Papers, Vol. VI, p. 258). CHAPTER VIII TRADERS IN THE THORNAPPLE VALLEY-THE INDIAN HUNTING GROUND pHE Thornapple river, the principal branch of the Grand, or 1 -wash-te-nong, river had its source in a lake-dotted and spring-fed region which was from times immemorial the great hunting grounds of the Ottawas, who came annually from L'Arbre Croche, and towns in the vicinity of Mackinac to hunt along the southern streams and to make maple sugar. In great fleets of canoes, the savages came down the Lake Michigan shore camping at night and when the waters were too rough at some favorite sheltered nook on the dune-lined coast. To the savages of Mackinac and far beyond, the dark, game-haunted fastnesses of the valley of the So-wan-que-sake, or Forked river, held few secrets. Of all the rivers of the Lower Peninsula, there was none which penetrated a land better supplied with game of all kinds. To some of them it was known as the Me-nosso-gos-o-she-kink, meaning simply the "Forks." From its confluence.with the Grand to its headwaters in what is now Eaton county, the Thornapple flowed through a vast silent wilderness, breaking into silvery rapids at shallow places, and collecting in deep pools darkened by summer-long shadows of gigantic thickly-foliaged trees. Verdure covered islands, here and there, divided the murmuring shallow current. Far over stream leaned the silvery trunks of the sycamore and whitewood, equaled only in height by elms which over-topped the surrounding forest. Beneath the larger trees cedars added to the gloom of the shady depths. Scattered along the bluffs were jackpines, alone or in small groups with branches fraternally interlaced-as if they realized they were far south of their native habitat and in a land of strangers. Deer wandered into the water in herds to drink, the stags ready to "whistle" an alarm at the first scent of danger. Springs poured their babbling runs into the stream. Here and there the sound of tumbling waters indicated the presence of beaver dams across tributary streams. On the steep banks were "slides" made by otters. At night the wilderness re-echoed with the howl of the wolf, the scream of the panther, and the ghostly call of the great horned owl. With a roar like thunder, vast flights of pigeons crossed the sky, shutting out the sunlight in migrations which frequently lasted an hour. With almost human cries black bears called to each other; wild turkeys gobbled on the oak ridges; partridge boomed in the undergrowths, and the wood-ducks, which have the nesting habit of the wookpecker, flew back and forth between the stream and their homes in hollow trees. Amid the highest tree tops pounded the hammer bill of the cock-of-the-woods, a gigantic woodpecker, which was seen here no more after the great trees were cut down. Occasional swarms of bees went buzzing in black clouds through the tree tops in search of a natural hive. 170 HISTORIC MICHIGAN The forests were like great parks for the Indians burned away each year the underbrush to give clear view of distant game. Up this stream the Indians pushed their bark or hollowed-log canoes, making portages at the shallow "riffs" until they reached the Chick-se-nabish, or Little Thornapple, the northern prong of the "Fork." This stream had its source in what is now called Jordan lake, not far from the Grand river watershed. Others pushed o'n to Muski-so-wan-quesake, or Thornapple lake, which is an expansion of the river about a mile wide and two miles long. Into this lake the Thornapple receives the waters of the Nag-wah-tick, or Mud creek, which has its source in a chain of lakes to the northeast, and Highbank creek, which flows from the south. Below Thornapple lake, west of the confluence of the river and Cedar creek was a small prairie (now embraced in the Barr County Farm), on which was located during the American Revolution one of the largest Indian towns in southern Michigan. On the bank of the river early settlers found a corn-mill, which consisted of a boulder with hollowed top and pestle suspended from an overhanding branch. By pulling a rope attached to the branch the pestle was worked up and down, producing a good quality of meal. All along the river bank were evidences of Indian occupation. Near Quimby was found the cache of rough flint stones which belonged to an ancient arrowmaker. Flint and iron knives, "squaw" hoes bearing the stamp of British manufacturers, and brass tomahawks of French manufacture, together with brass and iron kettles and metallic ornaments have been dug up from time to time. Paralleling the river from the ford of the Grand River trail was the "Canada Trail," a deeply worn path, traces of which may still be seen in I925 in the woods on the north side of Thornapple lake. This trail passes a large spring, known as "Limestone Spring," near which the earliest pioneers found evidences of a kiln, which was either the work of Frenchmen or Indians. After the first settlers arrived at Thornapple lake in 1836, the Indian village was removed from the prairie to the mouth of Cedar creek half a mile eastward. Here were erected fifty huts made of poles covered with bark. The natives were mostly Ottawas, of which Per-nob-nago was chief, with Sawba and Packy-ty-yak as under-chiefs. In,this settlement were also Chiefs As-que-sah and Sundago, both long afterward known to white residents. The Indians removed from Oceana and Isabella counties in the early fifties. Sundago and his son, Moquis, lived many years near Elbridge. Sundago died shortly after the Civil war. Chief As-que-sah was born on the site of Hastings in 1800. With a desire to visit once more the scenes amid which he was born, the old chief in I876 paddled a dug-out canoe from Pentwater down Lake Michigan, thence up the Grand and Thornapple rivers to the lake where he found amid changed surroundings the pioneers whom he had known a quarter of a century previously. Erecting a wigwam near the mouth of Highbank creek, the chief prepared to spend the winter in trapping. He had, however, come back to his boyhood haunts to die. After a brief illness, he on February 20, I876, SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 171 responded to the call of the Great Spirit in whom he reverently believed. The funeral service was conducted by the Rev. I. N. Crittenden. His body was carried to a grave in Barryville cemetery by his old friends-Anson Ware, Barber Meade, and Friend D. Soules. Over his grave was erected a tombstone bearing this inscription: Indian Chief As-que-sah. February 20, 1876. Erected by an Appreciative Public. THE FUR TRADERS AND THEIR POSTS Though fur traders and voyageurs had long frequented the Thornapple valley, none of them were identified until Rix Robinson acquired from Madame Magdalene La Framboise a trading post half a mile below the confluence of the Grand and Flat, or Quab-i-quasha river, (Winding stream), the site of the village of Lowell. It was here that Charles Langlade also engaged in the fur trade before the American Revolution. Whether or no Joseph La Framboise, of Mackinaw, succeeded Langlade, has not been revealed. About the year I808 or I809, while La Framboise and his wife were near Grand Haven, an Indian, said to have been intoxicated, stabbed the trader in the back, killing him. With extraordinary courage, Madame La Framboise returned with her husband's body to the trading post and transacted business until the season was ended. Then she began the long canoe voyage to Mackinaw, taking along her husband's body. Some authorities state that the trader was assassinated in Wisconsin, but John S. Hooker, (Cape-squ-itt, or Sharp Voice), early Lowell resident, who associated in boyhood with Indians from whom he obtained information, confirmed the statement that the murder took place near Grand Haven. Mr. Hooker said that Madame La Framboise's cabin was thirty feet long, twelve feet wide. The logs were squared and laid together, but the ends, left in their natural state with bark remaining on them, extended a foot outward from the building. This cabin stood near a clear spring brook. The stones from the chimney were visible at a recent date. Madame La Framboise conducted a flourishing fur business until she sold the post in I821 to Rix Robinson, an agent of the American Fur Company. Returning to Mackinaw, she resided there until her death in 1846. In I83I, Danied Marsac, of Detroit, established a trading post on the south side of the Grand river not far from the mouth of the Flat. This he maintained until the Indian lands were thrown open to settlement. Land btr his cabin was donated by Indians on condition that he "break" twenty acres of "openings" for them. Marsac was related to Louis Campau, the noted first settler and trader who had established himself among the Grand Rapids Indians in I826. One of Campau's associates in Grand Rapids was Richard Godfroy, who traveled throughout the Indian villages buying furs. Mr. Godfroy, who bore a name well-known in New France, afterward engaged in business in Grand Rapids. He furnished a considerable amount of historical lore. He declared that an Indian chief told him that as early as I8o6, a man named La Framboise (probably the Flat river.:::: 9 172 HISTORIC MICHIGAN trader), had built a cabin at the "Rapids," on the west side of the river. The chief said the building was made of logs and bark, chinked with clay. The Indians claimed they assisted in building it. LOUIS MOREAU WAS FIRST TRADER The first trader in the Thornapple valley of which there is any record was Louis Moran, or Moreau, an agent of Robinson's. He conducted a fur-trading establishment in an old block-house on Scales Prairie, west of Middleville, and also at Bull's Prairie, a favorite haunt of the Indians on the river ba'nk nearly ten miles east of the former place. The builder of the block-house is unknown. The late Joseph Cisler, an early pioneer, said that it was erected early in the century by Charboneau, a trader. It stood on a small prairie studded like an orchard with burr oak trees. Near it was the Indian trail between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids. The Thormapple river ford was a short distance northeast. Near this block-house Louis Campau found growing some apple trees, which he transplanted to his land at Grand Rapids. This stout old building, two stories high, was built of pine logs hewed square with clay fillings between the timbers. The logs at the ends were continued into the gables. The floor consisted of hewed pine boards four inches thick. Built to be used as a fortification in time of emergency, the windows of the lower story were provided with shutters of four-inch timber which swung inward on heavy handmade hinges. The upper floor was lighted by apperatures, or loopholes, a foot square, and placed where they could command a wide area of ground. The building was about forty feet long. A partition made of hewed slabs divided the building in halves. Located at this partition was a huge wide chimney with fireplace made of sticks and clay opening into each room. While the building was in use as a trading post there-was no floor on the "lay-overs" or joists over the first story. A few rude boards placed across the timbers formed the upper "chamber." The roof was made of hand-shaved shingles laid on tamarac poles. The building had a barn-like appearance. Near the house was an outdoor cellar dug deeply in the ground. This was built up on the sides with stones laid in clay, and roofed with timbers covered with earth and sod. There was two doors on the north side of the building, two on the south. There were two lower windows on each end and a door at the west end. There was a door in the partition, on the north side of the fireplace. The description of this historic building was furnished by Gary Page to the late Milton F. Jordan, of Middleville. Near this building, called by the Indians "Skin Wigwam" were eight or ten dwellings of Potawatomies. This was known as the "Middle Village." The prairie on which this trading post and Indian village stood was a beautiful stretch comprising about sixty acres. It was later called Scales' prairie, named after Robert Scales, of Kentucky, who settled in this region in 1835. He was a contemporary of Moreau, the SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 173 trader. This little open space in the great surrounding forest was dotted with "islands" of burr oak trees, under which undulated before the breeze in long billows grass six feet high. Into this opening wandered attractive multitudes of bees, and one early explorer declared he counted three "bee trees" as he stood in one spot. Prairie chickens were continuously about. Moreau first conducted a trading post, which was established by authority of Rix Robinson on a small prairie named after Albert E. Bull, one of the earliest pioneers of White Pigeon and Schoolcraft. Educated in Harvard College as a surveyor, he came west after serving in the war against the Florida Indians. His home built on the prairie was considered a "mansion." Into it he placed his large library, which was brought in packs on horses. He died in the late seventies while visiting in his old home in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Bull's prairie consisted of about thirty acres of rolling land dotted with burr oaks and wild plum trees. This vicinity had long been a haunt of the Indians. Here they annually planted about seven acres of corn, which was described by Mr. Cisler as being whiter and softer than that brought by the pioneers. In order to preserve it, the Indians smoked it, then buried it in pits in the earth. This was probably the original maize. To prepare it for food, the squaws reduced the kernels to meal in a mortar made by burning a bowl into the end of a log. They often cooked it in a kettle with venison or other meat. The post was established at Bull's prairie in 1827. It stood on the riverbank, and commanded a long stretch of water. It was a small log cabin with a "stick" chimney at one end. It was about sixteen feet long and twelve feet wide. Moreau here traded "notions" for furs, and also kept a stock of whisky which he sparingly doled out to his coppercolored patrons. When Moreau concluded that the Indians in the vicinity had enough "firewater" he hastily buried his jugs in the ground in order to convince the insistent savages he had no more. When Mr. Bull arrived in 1836, this building was in ruins. Moreau, leaving this locality, either took charge of the old trading post on Scales' prairie, or resumed charge of it. At any rate, he was there in 1836, at which time so many persons began to travel the Grand River trail and he saw an opportunity to do a flourishing hotel business. He, therefore, gave up trading as furs were becoming scarcer each year, and fitted up the blockhouse as a tavern. The upper story was made habitable, and the loop holes were provided with glass windows set in rude frames. Here he continued business as a tavernkeeper until the stage route was changed several years later to a route farther eastby way of Yankee Springs to Dibble's and Leonard's Corners. Moreau was a stocky, dark-complectioned French Canadian, who originally came from Detroit, independent and thrifty. The first travelers in the wilderness always found shelter under his roof, but they paid big city prices for lodgings and food. Moreau exercised to the limit opportunities for extortion offered in a field where there was no competition. When one traveler objected to paying five dollars for the privilege of sleeping on the floor and eating a poor breakfast, the 174 HISTORIC MICHIGAN landlord politely informed him that, "It ees no sign of a zhentleman to dispute a bill." Here are other glimpses of Moreau written in 1835 by J. C. Holmes, of Detroit, who stopped at the tavern: "On the morning of the fifth day we rode to Kalamazoo. On the sixth day we rode to Louis Moran's (Moreau), a very comfortable hotel with a large chimney in the center; a ladder up against the chimney for ascending to the lodging apartment, which was the attic of the building. The floor boards of the attic were few and far between. The beds were filled with the coarsest of prairie grass, familiarly known as 'prairie feathers.' The meals furnished us at that house were excellent. "The seventh day we started early for Grand Rapids, thirty miles distant, where we hoped to arrive before dark. But the road for the whole distance was little better than an Indian trail. Soon after leaving Moran's we forded the Thornapple river, which was about two and one-half feet deep, and went north on the east side of the stream. The day was cold, and in the latter part of the afternoon snow began to fall. About four o'clock, having traveled all day without seeing a habitation of any kind, we again reached the Thornapple river near its mouth. Here we recrossed the river. It was usually two or three feet deep at this point, and this was the fording place, but ice had formed in the Grand river and in the Thornapple, which caused the water to rise several feet; and the ice was so thick we could not swim our horses across; nor was it strong enough to bear us up. Here wa~ a dilemma, but we must go forward, for there was no house on the back track between ourselves and Moran's thirty miles-a day's ride. "It was snowing fast, and the temperature of the atmosphere was falling rapidly. Seeing a small log house on the opposite side of the Thornapple, we called until we roused the inmates. We found they were two men, who were clearing a place at the junction of the Thornapple with the Grand river whereon to build a city. (The site of the village of Ada.) * * * "After spending a day and night there, and finding it would be impossible to visit Saranac, we left Grand Rapids over an Indian trail, through a dense forest on the west side of the Thornapple, and late in the afternoon arrived at Moran's house in the wilderness, where we had been so well cared for a few days previous. We engaged supper and lodging, and spent a very pleasant evening with guests of the house, several having arrived after ourselves. After supper a young man started up the ladder that led to the attic. The landlord, noticing him, told him to come down. The young man said he was sick, and wished to go to bed. Mr. Moran said, 'There is no bed for you; they are all engaged. If you are sick the place for you is on the floor with your feet to the fire.' The young man remonstrated, the landlord remonstrated, and said: 'You can lie here on the floor-if you do not like my accommodations, you can go to the next house.' ather than go to the next house, which was thirty miles away, he took is place on the floor with his feet to the fire." SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 175 After the stage route was changed and patronage suddenly ceased, Moreau went to Hastings where he engaged in the fur trade. On the banks of the river, on a small elevation, overlooking the Thornapple river ford to the Indian village on the north bank, stood Chase's log tavern, the first hostelry erected in the settlement. In order to provide Moreau with quarters, Mr. Chase built a "lean-to" where the Frenchman again received his former patrons. Moreau afterward engaged in business in Grand Rapids where he died. The old blockhouse on Scales' prairie was torn down in I859 by Benjamin Bray and Gary Page. Before its destruction it was said to have been used as a dwelling by at least one hundred families. Its heavy timbers were so solidly fastened with oak pins set in auger holes that teams of oxen with log chains were necessary to tear it down. AUGUSTUS NEERS, AN EARLY MAIL CARRIER One of the first men to penetrate the wilderness of Barry county was August Neers, a soldier in the Black Hawk war, who was afterward employed by the government to carry the mails from Detroit to Grand Rapids by way of Gull prairie and the Indian trail. Neers made his long journeys through the forest solitudes before Yankee Springs tavern was established. He traveled daily on his horse an average of forty miles. To the late William Riggs, Thornapple pioneer, and later a resident of Baraga, Neers recalled the days when elk were numerous on Gull prairie, and the abundance of game along the trails he traversed. Neers, Mr. Riggs said, was one of the surveyors who accompanied Dr. Douglas Houghton's exploring party and was present when Houghton was drowned on an Upper Peninsula river. Neers, cheated out of hotel property at Otsego lake, died in the county house at Gaylord in the early nineties. He was born in I805. He also told Mr. Riggs that early in the century the great Indian trail was traversed by Indians who came from great distances, and also by Chiefs Elkhart, Keewadin, Petoskey, Pokagon and Waukazoo, and their bands. CHIPPEWA VILLAGE NORTH OF MIDDLEVILLE Chief Chippewa and Chief Kan-au-bec were leaders of a colony of between two and three hundred Chippewas residing on Section I, Thornapple township, four miles north and one mile west of Middleville village. Chief Chippewa is recalled by Charles Williams, the first white child born in Irving township, as a tall, good-natured man, whose whole personality expressed nobility. His features were like those of an American. He lived in the only log house in the village and spoke good English. Ken-au-bec, an older Indian, supposed to have been chief of an extinct band, was the opposite of Chippewa in character. Tall, raw-boned, he stalked about in silence. Deep-set, treacherous eyes added to the sinister aspect of his ugly features. Chippewa dressed like a white man, but Ken-au-bec clung to the native garb and wore a huge circlet of feathers on his head. Ken-aubec was proud of the fact he had participated in the massacre at the burning of Buffalo, and sometimes boasted of the number of American scalps he had taken. This, however, brought him to a tragic end.:;.~~ ~ -. - 176 HISTORIC MICHIGAN While intoxicated near Pentwater in the late seventies, he made the mistake of boasting of his murders in the presence of several "lumberjacks," and his body with head crushed in with an ax was found on a railway track. The story of the chief's death was told to William Riggs by As-que-sah's son. The wigwams in Chippewa's village were placed in an irregular group. The village was infested with mongrel dogs and pet foxes and raccoons, for the savages were fond of taming certain wild animals. One of the favorites with the settlers was. Kelsey, Chippewa's son. In this village also lived Chief As-que-sah, one of the Thornapple lake Indians. Chippewa's band received abstracts for their land from the government in I849. They sold it to Julius Houseman in I864, but they were removed to Oceana county before their land was sold. Before removal, the Indians went to Wayland township, Allegai county, where they made canoes of whitewood logs. A wagon load of canoes was brought to Middleville and deposited on the river bank. One of these boats was forty feet long. Chippewa's canoe was twenty-two feet long and carried six persons in addition to a large quantity of luggage. With this fleet of light craft, the red men departed down the river on the long journey to their new home. Abstract records show that the United States government granted on April 5, I849, land patents in Section I, Thornapple township, to the following Indians: Maz-ke-ke-yah-shy, Qua-qua-to-sin, Ash-quesah, Kai-wis, Ke-me-seva, and Ahma-coose and wife, Ko-se-quo-quo, Ash-que-sah and wife, Wa-was-mo-qua and Kaw-we-go-cho-gah. Those who sold land on May Io, 1864, were: Kai-wis and wife, KitchO-qua, Kenes-wa and wife, Sagos-age, Ken-au-bec and wife, Ne-waqua, Me-con and wife, Bash-a-wago-to-que, Maz-he-ke-quack and wife, Kiniwa-a-gasha-go-que, Kenau-sau and wife, Bin-a-shi-qua, Ash-quasah and wife, Wa-was-mo-qua. On April 29, 1854, the government granted a land patent to Kenau-bec and Me-con. On May 16, of the same year, Ken-au-bec and wife, Mowh-na-qua, transferred the former's interest in the property to Me-con. Chippewa was not recorded as a landowner. He succeeded Ken-au-bec as chief. CHAPTER IX FIVE NOTED INDIAN MISSIONS THE treaty of Chicago left the Ottawas in Grand Rapids in an angry mood. Several members of the tribe were punished for being influential in signing the pact, which surrendered the Indian land. Among the chiefs was old Kewikushkam, prominently mentioned by Lieutenant Bennett, the British commander of the expedition sent to the St. Joseph valley during the Revolution. At this time there were two Indian villages at these rapids where the Owashtenong, ("Far Distant River"), broadened to pass over a geological barrier which had long resisted the erosion of the waters. On the shoals the red men found fish spearing easy and many mighty sturgeon and muskellunge were captured on their way from Lake Michigan to the spawning grounds far up the stream. On the southern side was a village of several hundred persons under Chief Max-ci-ne-ne, or the Wampum Man. This chief was silent and haughty and during his old age wore with great pride a suit of clothes and high hat which President Jackson presented to him in I836. He led the Indians in trying to adopt the white man's methods of living. He died after a sudden illness in I843. The chief of the other village near the rapids was one of the most noted of Ottawas, an associate of Tecumseh's and a leader in the Battle of the Thames in which the noted chieftain fell. This was No-no-qua-he-zich, or "Middle of the Day," commonly known as Noonday. Intellectually Noonday was one of the greatest Indians in the state's history. His influence was a powerful factor in bringing education and religion to his fellow tribesmen. He was the father-in-law of Max-ci-ne-ne. Another important chief was Muck-i-ta-o-ska, or Blackskin, who had the reputation of being an implacable foe of the Americans. He was said to have been leader of the band which burned Buffalo during the War of I812, and committed appalling atrocities on defenseless women and children. He died in I868. With the intention of preparing for establishment of the mission and blacksmith shop, the Rev. Isaac McCoy, Baptist missionary, who founded Carey mission at Niles, conferred with Governor Cass in Detroit in 1822, with the result that the missionary on July I6, was appointed to superintend the agents sent to carry out provisions of the treaty. Cass directed that liquor should be kept from the Indians. McCoy himself visited the Ottawas in I823, crossing the Grand river on May 30. The Indians, dissatisfied with the treaty, were not hospitable. Most of them were drunk with liquor some traders had brought. The chiefs were absent. McCoy returned to his mission on the St. Joseph. In the meantime a blacksmith shop was erected by the government. When he visited Grand Rapids in November, 1824, McCoy found the shop had been burned to the ground by the Indians who ~ I 4 178 HISTORIC MICHIGAN still felt great resentment against the white men. He went in search of Noonday, who was encamped on the banks of Parkegon-bish, or Gun lake, as it is known today, lying west of the high morainal sand ridges in what is now the western part of Barry county. This splendid sheet of water, the irregular silvery expanse of which spreads over many miles of heavily timbered country with long lines of blue hills lying east and west, and which had its outlet in a stream traversing miles of densely wooded marshland filled with game, had long been an attractive haunt in the heart of the Indian hunting grounds. The origin of its name is uncertain. It was known as Gun lake when McCoy visited it. It is said to have been called so because in the early times a French coureur de bois, crossing the lake with companions in a canoe, lost his gun in its depths. McCoy, however, explains the origin of the name as follows: SUPERNATURAL SOURCE OF GUN LAKE S NAME "In traveling from one of our stations to the other, we passed by a lake, which was supposed by the Ottawas to be the abode of spirits, who sometimes performed strange feats. It was by them called Gun lake because, as they said, a noise was often heard in it, like the report of a gun in the distance. In one place they said was a large heap of ashes, the summit of which rose almost to the surface of the water. They supposed it had probably been accumulating hundreds of years, by being carried from a fire which they thought might be kept up near it. It was said, also, that the trunk of a large tree had been standing in the water many years, the top of which extended a little above water. It was supposed to be held there by some supernatural agency, and, should any one have the temerity to approach it, his canoe would certainly be capsized- by an invisible hand. "At that time, (March II, 1827), it was reported that, on the margin of this enchanted lake, a tree had been set on fire, probably by lightning, the previous autumn, which had been burning all winter, from the top downward, until the stump of the tree was not more than ten feet high. The snow in the country had been, all winter, about two feet deep, yet, according to the spirit story, the earth had been bare for a considerable distance around this burning tree. Great fears were felt that when the fire should burn down to the earth, the ground would become ignited, and the fire be found to be unquenchable; it being evident, they said, that it was a kind of fire which water would not quench." (Baptist Indian Missions, McCoy, p. 302). Crossing the lake to Noonday's camp, McCoy found the chief in favor of having a mission established and both set out the next day for Grand Rapids where a mission site was chosen at a point south of the corner of West Bridge and Front streets. When McCoy started the following day for the St. Joseph river, Noonday, who was deeply interested in the opportunity his followers were to have for religious and educational knowledge, accompanied the missionary a considerable distance. Noonday was a great warrior in the War of 1812, but he was intelligent enough to know that reconciliation to American rule was the SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 179 keynote of living comfortably. He saw the futility of hoping to free the Indian country from the encroaching white settlers. Noonday, though advanced in age when McCoy came, was described as "six feet tall, well-proportioned, noble in appearance and possessed of great muscular strength." (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. XXXV, p. I45). Noonday's wife is thus described by Henry Little, Richland pioneer: "Her ladyship, Mrs. Noonday, was a short, dumpy, unassuming lady of the old school. Nature had not seen fit to make her very attractive by the bewitching, fascinating charms of personal beauty; and what little there might have been of feminine comliness in her features had been sadly marred by an ugly scar upon the left side of her face." LEONARD SLATER SENT AS MISSIONARY The school being built and "Thomas mission" established, the Rev. Leonard Slater, of Worcester, Massachusetts, son of Peter Slater, a member of the Boston "Tea Party," was appointed to the station in I826. He was born in Worcester on November I6, I802, and was educated for the Baptist pulpit. Shortly after receiving the appointment, the minister was united in marriage on May 29, I826, to Miss Mary French Ide, of Claremont, New Hampshire. After a long journey, a considerable portion of which was made on horseback, they arrived in Detroit, and they followed a blazed trail to Niles where they joined the Rec. Isaac McCoy and awaited their goods which had been sent round the lakes by boat to the mouth of the St. Joseph river. When the baggage arrived a considerable portion of it was found damaged by water. On the way to Grand Rapids, the missionary and his bride passed through Kalamazoo, crossing the old ford and ascending the hill on which stood Recollet's trading post. From this elevation they looked across the river valley spread in its pristine beauty before them. On every side spread the vast wilderness over which brooded a quietness that had laid upon the land during countless thousands of years. These young people, about to begin the Master's work among savages, whose butcheries in the late war had filled with horror their childish imaginations, were delighted with this scene. Mr. Slater never forgot it, and when it became in later years a cemetery he requested that he might rest there. Today he, his devoted wife and daughter Emily, are buried on that spot. When they arrived at Carey mission, two Indians rushed out and fired muskets into the air. It was explained that a chief had just died and that this'method was used to notify the deceased that he must not come back to trouble the living. In the spring of 1827, the Slaters settled at Thomas mission and began Christian work among one hundred and fifty Ottawa families. In the vicinity there were several hundred more savages. Louis Cass, greatly interested in the missions, several times visited them. Mr. Slater, in addition to teaching the Indians, was on December 22, 1832, appointed first postmaster of Grand Rapids by President Jackson, serving four years. 180 HISTORIC MICHIGAN FIND LOUIS CAMPAU IN GRAND RAPIDS When the Slaters arrived they found there also Louis Campau, noted fur trader, who had brought there his bride of eighteen, Sophie de Marsac, whom he had married in Detroit on August 9, I825. Mrs. Campau was a devout Catholic, and when the Baptist mission was started this addition "brought joy to her heart." Though these two Christian women, one an American Protestant, the other a French Catholic, could not understand one another's language, they were the only white women in the valley and they were delighted to associate together. Mrs. Campau, recalling those early days, said: "I so glad dear Mrs. Slater come. We the only white women here. We go back and forth to see one another often. I speak no word of English. Mrs. Slater, she speak no word of French. But we just sit and look at each other, and we make signs so we partly understand and we so happy!" (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. XXXVIII, p. 66). As the settlement grew in size, the opportunities for the Indians to get whisky became more numerous. A great influx of settlers came in 1833, and the demoralization of the red men was so discouraging that Slater decided to remove the mission to a more isolated place. Opposition to the mission by disreputable persons, including some traders, also influenced the missionary to leave. Kalamazoo and Barry counties were then undivided. The region northwest of Cull lake impressed Slater as the most desirable location. The' possibilities of good fishing pleased the Indians and they consented to go. Slater purchased from Calvin Hill a tract of one thousand acres, it is said. This land was sold in parcels to the Indians. Each owner received an annual allowance of cash from the government. This tract was located in the southern part of what is now Prairieville township. About fifty families accompanied Slater to the new mission site. Log houses were erected for each family. How intense had grown the animosity against the missionaries in Grand Rapids is exemplified by the experience of the Rev. Father Frederic Baraga, pastor of a mission in L'Arbre Croshe, who in the fall of I833, went to Grand Rapids to establish a mission. In sixteen months he baptized one hundred and seventy Indians. He built a school and mission, and was doing much to improve conditions among the Indians when the opponents of Slater thought it was high time to make the community too hot for him. The Indians were fast becoming drunkards, and selling liquor to them brought enormous profit. "Some wicked fur traders used to bring them liquor and exchange their abominable stuff for peltries or furs, which they got thus for a mere trifle. In their drunken orgies the Indians would howl like a troop of devils let loose from hell, fight, shoot, and kill one another. Against this nefarious traffic Father Baraga labored and preached, although by doing so he drew upon himself the hatred of the wicked fur traders and the drunken Indians. One night a number of the latter came to the missionary's cabin, howling, and intending, no SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 181 doubt, to wreak their ill will upon the defenseless missionary. But God protected His servant. Father Baraga, being timely warned of their approach by their infernal howling, quickly locked and barred his door and so their wicked intention was frustrated." (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. XXVI, p. 537). At the new mission Slater erected a building which was used as a church and mission school, and arrangements were made to teach the agricultural methods to the red men. In a belfry consisting of four posts set in the ground, was suspended the mission bell, which Slater brought from Grand Rapids. This bell he had purchased in Detroit in I830. It was sent round by boat to the mouth of the Grand river, thence by flatboat to the "Rapids." After the mission was abandoned, the bell was used it the old schoolhouse in Prairieville village until lost when that building was destroyed by fire about 1912. At the mission school both Indian and white children were taught. Among them was the late Philip Barber, Prairieville pioneer, and the late Cornelius Mason, noted hunter and Richland pioneer, who later became Slater's son-in-law. Mr. Mason, in I916, thus described the mission and dwelling: "The mission was a large building with a barn frame and shingle roof with a belfrey in the center. There was a porch in front, and two entrances. The building was sided with wide clapboards and painted. The bell was similar to the ordinary school-bell of today. The rope hung down behind the pulpit, which was placed on a rostrum in the center of one side of the building. Facing it were the "slips" or pews, which were plainly, but substantially made of ordinary boards. This building stood across the trail, or road, from the house of the missionary. "Mr. Slater's dwelling was located amid oak trees on a knoll about two hundred yards from the mission. It was a frame building-a good house for those days-substantially, but roughly built of clapboards and shingled. It had a porch on one end and steps at the doors. It stood higher than the mission house. Trails led from the mission to Battle Creek by way of Long and Gull lakes; also northwest toward Cressey where Chief Noonday lived in a cabin of logs." SLATER PREACHED IN INDIAN LANGUAGE Mr. Slater preached to the Indians in their own language. His relationship to them was like that of a father to his children. One of the most earnest Christians among the flock was the noble Chief Noonday. Next to him in importance was the sachem, Mascoh, who like Noonday, also took part in the War of 1812, serving on Captain Barclay's fleet, which was captured by Captain Perry's fleet in the Battle of Lake Erie. Mascoh proudly displayed in his cabin a large sword, which he said Barclay had given him in recognition of bravery during the engagement. While the fight was at its height, the ship was in danger of being blown to pieces by the powder on board. Mascoh voluntarily undertook the hazardous task of carrying ammunition from the magazine to the guns. He did this work so 182 HISTOI RIC MICHIGAN well that the commander presented him with a sword. Of this weapon, the sachem was extremely vain. Mascoh had two children, a daughter, and a son who was educated at the mission, and who served in the Union army in the Rebellion. Mascoh, after the mission was abandoned, removed to the Indian colony in Isabella county where he is said to have died at an advanced age. Among the Indians who are recorded in the Barry county register of deeds office as land owners were: Pam-ah-bego, Ach-wach-wa, Shon-ne-quom or Chen-go-shink, Papom-comba or No-tin-eka, Mokichewut or Ne-bench-zee, Mascho or Ma-ke-eae-zee, On-se-pe-ge-num or Mis-go-quoss, Tundaqua. Another well-known personage at the mission was Louis Generaux, said to have been a son of Louis Generaux, the noted French trader who had a post at the confluence of the Maple and Grand rivers. Generaux was a powerful man, who showed a very evil disposition while drunk. On one of these occasions he threw his father-in-law into a huge log fire, causing his death. He was imprisoned a year for this offense. The mission was constantly visited by relatives of the Indians who came from every quarter of the Territory and from Canada. Members of Slater's band also traveled afar, some going northward for the purpose of hunting, or participating in tribal conferences. All acknowledged the authority of Noonday. He and Pokagon were the last great chieftains of southern Michigan. Slater had converted him to the Christian religion, which he faithfully undertook to spread among his followers. Though Noonday was said to have been the chief who directed the burning and massacre at Buffalo, he denied this charge. He was, however, serving at the right of Tecumseh when that noted chief was killed by Colonel Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, during the Battle of the Thames in Ontario. This Noonday proved when he saw Colonel Johnson, then vice-president, in Washington. Noonday and Chief Sagamaw, of Prairie Ronde village, later of the Selkirk mission in Allegan county, were near Tecumseh when Colonel Johnson directing his charging Kentuckians, was thrown from his horse. Tecumseh, seeing the leader prostrate, rushed forward with uplifted tomahawk to slay him, but the officer drew a pistol and shot the Indian through the heart. "I seized him and with the assistance of Saginaw bore him from the field," declared Noonday. "When he fell the Indians stopped fighting and the battle was ended. We laid him down on a blanket in a wigwam, and we all wept, we loved him so much. I took him tomahawk and hat." IDENTIFIES COLONEL' JOHNSON AS TECUMSEH S SLAYER Asked how he knew it was Colonel Johnson who killed Tecumseh, Noonday said he identified the slayer when he accompanied General Cass to Washington to see President Van Buren. _ SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 183 "I went to the great wigwam (the White House), and when I went in I saw the same man I saw kill Tecumseh. I have never seen him since, but I knew it was he, I looked him in the face and said: "'Kene kin a poo Tecumseh,' meaning 'You kill Tecumseh'." Johnson replied that he shot with his pistol a powerful Indian who approached to slay him with a tomahawk, but did not know who it was. "'That was Tecumseh. I saw you do it'," replied Noonday. Whenever the chief related this incident, tears ran down his face. The mission Indians were great hunters and fishermen. When they took up their residence in Prairieville, the numerous lakes lying in the heart of a tract of oak openings were full of fish. Deer wandered about in herds, and bears were plentiful. The Indians were learning the rudiments of agriculture, and their children being educated like those of their white neighbors. The squaws were taught by Mrs. Slater how to do housework. Sundays religious meetings were held in the mission building, which Mr. Slater had erected. Here the pioneers also came to worship and to hear the Indian choir enthusiastically sing well-known hymns under direction of "Jonathan," an educated Ottawa. Mr. Slater preached in English for.the benefit of the white persons in the congregation and followed with a sermon in the Indian language. While on the way to Fort Malden in 1833 to receive the annual British presents, Noonday and his band stopped at Gull prairie where there was considerable excitement over the prospect of Black Hawk invading Michigan. Noonday said to Deacon Mason: "Me and my Indians will help the white folks if they need us." NOONDAY PUNISHED UNRULY PUPILS The first teacher in the mission school was Miss Susan Parker, sister of Amasa Parker, first settler of Barry county. She began her duties in 1838. She afterward married the Rev. Mr. Davis. Her death took place in Ann Arbor. She was succeeded by Frances, Slater's daughter, who became the wife of Cornelius Mason. Noonday often visited the school, and never let pass an opportunity to chastize an unruly pupil. From Noonday the Rev. Slater obtained his knowledge of the Ottawa language. Before preaching his sermon, he first recited it to Noonday for criticism of pronunciation. Noonday was also thoroughly in sympathy with ideals of the federal government. He publically stated to the residents at "Gull Corners" (Richland) that if the United States and England should again engage in war he would fight with the former. "You need not fear me or my tribe," he declared. He said the English had promised, return for aid in the War of I812, support for life. "They have not kept their word. They never did anything for us after we had done so much for them. We know you to be our true friends; and we shall always be yours." Though Noonday had no children of his own, he adopted several. One Sabbath morning he brought an adopted son to the mission say 184 HISTORIC MICHIGAN ing: "This is the morning that the Savior rose from the dead, and I wish to do something in memory of him." The fact that the landlord of the Prairieville hotel was selling whisky to the Indians brought complaint from Noonday to the Indian agent in Detroit, who urged the residents of Gull Prairie to prosecute such violations of the law. Joseph Merriman, of Yorkville, friend of Slater and Indians, had the tavern-keeper arrested, but the latter pleaded so earnestly for mercy that Mr. Slater settled with him after receiving his pledge that he would sell no more liquor to Indians. The man immediately turned about and had the missionary and Mr. Merriman put in jail in Hastings on the ground that they had no legal right to settle with him. After spending the night in jail, Mr. Slater succeeded in getting bail. Returning home he found a bondsman for Mr. Merriman. While awaiting the circuit court session in Hastings, Mr. Merriman received a note from Judge Ransom, requesting him to call at his boarding place. The judge told him to go home when he pleased. "I shall not allow your case to be called, and that will put a quietus on the whole matter," he declared. (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. X, p. 164). In accordance with treaty agreement, the government annually paid the Indians from eight to ten dollars each. This distribution, made at the mission annually in October, usually required about four days. During this time crooks, whisky sellers and assorted blackguards congregated in the vicinity with the object of fleecing the red men of these paltry remittances. On one occasion, the missionary found nearly all of the Indians drunk and their money gone within forty-eight hours after they received it. On another occasion, the indignant missionary, displaying the courage of his ancestors who participated in the Boston "Tea Party," appeared on the scene with an ax, smashed the liquor casks and routed the owners. As game grew scarcer, the older Indians went farther north to hunt. Establishment of a glove factory on Gull creek below the site of the present hamlet of Yorkville, caused hunters to scour the country for deer. The skinned carcasses were left in the woods to decay. This unchecked slaughter of the Indian's principal source of food soon exterminated the animals. "White man is hog and wants everything," commented one Indian. Mr. Slater was frequently summoned to Washington to transact business for his band. While there in 1852, Mrs. Slater became ill and died. The Indians deeply mourned her loss. She had long been their adviser in times of trouble and sorrow. She had nursed them during illness, and had taught the women the convenient household methods. In their households she had read to them the Bible, which they had accepted as expression of the will of the Master of Life in whom they had long believed. For two years, the missionary, with the help of his daughter Emily, conducted the mission until it was given up in I85:4, when they moved to Kalamazoo. Many of the Indians refused to leave the place, and Slater rode fourteen miles every Sunday on his horse, "Jack," to preach to them. I SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 185 When the mission broke up, many of the Indians removed to Oceana and Isabella counties whence others had migrated from southern Michigan in accordance with treaty provisions. Others joined small tribal colonies in VanBuren county, at Athens and Bradley. Noonday quietly lived in his log cabin until he died in the early fifties at the age of ninety-eight. He was buried by the side of his wife in the field south of the road running west of Holden's Corners. Here lie over one hundred members of the mission in unmarked graves, the plow passing over their moulding remains. A modest tombstone erected over Noonday's resting place was long ago carried off piece by piece by relic hunters. Noonday was visiting members of his tribe near Thornapple lake, east of Hastings, when seized by his last illness. RECALLED NOONDAY S LAST ILLNESS The late James Cutler, of Hastings, recalled the incident as follows: "About August I8, 1855, I looked up State street and witnessed an astonishing sight. Several Indans were driving a pair of their ponies, which were dragging into town what seemed to be a load of small trees. When this strange outfit stopped in the village, I investigated and found that it was a democrat wagon belonging to Mr. McClellan, who lived near the Indian settlement. The wagon was completely covered with arched branches underneath which lay Noonday, who had been taken very ill. He was being tenderly cared for. The Indians, they said, were conveying him to the home of his good friend, Selkirk, the missionary, who lived west of Gun lake. Noonday died at Selkirk's soon afterward." Leonard Slater, the devoted missionary, when the Rebellion broke out, joined the Christiar commission without salary, and was sent to care for ill and dying soldiers at the army hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. The work undermined his health, and he returned home to die. The end came on April 27, I866. The few Indians residing at the site of the old mission came to mourn at his burial, which took place by the side of his wife on the sightly hilltop where years before they had, as bridegroom and bride, filled with the enthusiasm of youth, watched the golden sunlight playing on the tossing branches of the primeval forest in the river valley. GRISWOLD MISSION AT SELKIRK LAKE With the intention of offering scattered bands of Indians an opportunity for social improvement, the federal government, in 1838 and 1839, granted subsidies to several religious denominations for establishment of missions. Bishop Samuel McCoskry, head of the western diocese of the Episcopal church, immediately accepted this as an opporunity to bring the benefits of Christianity to a miserable remnant of Potawatomies settled on a peninsula extending into Gun lake. The chief was the once proud and powerful Saginaw, or Sagamaw, colleague of Tecumseh, who as head of the Prairie Ronde village i. E; A 0Xfff; f '!;;ff EW 0>r'S 186 HISTORIC Ml:CHIGAN had, in 1828, extended the hand of welcome to Basil Harrison, Kalamazoo county's first white settler. Here Saginaw lived in degradation. He had three wives, and his followers, drunk whenever opportunity offered, sought to fight off starvation by hunting, fishing, and trapping. To this task Bishop McCoskry called the Rev. James Selkirk in 1838. This missionary, who had the training of a man of the world, was born in Claversack, New York, on November 15, I790. Early in life he learned the cabinet-making trade. His greatest desire in life being to acquire an education, he studied at every opportunity lessons which he pinned to the wall above his work bench. At night school, he recited them. After learning his trade, he visited France, England and Scotland. In the latter country he became a thirty-third degree Free Mason. Returning home he studied for the Methodist Episcopal ministry and was ordained. Later he became an Episcopalian, took holy orders and was ordained by Bishop Onderdonk, of New York. During the War of I812, Mr. Selkirk served as a private in a New York regiment. In I834, he came to Niles, Michigan, where he built the first church. The church was too poor to afford an organ, and the rector, bringing into play his skill as cabinet-maker, built a satisfactory instrument, which he tuned and played in his church. The degredation of Chief Saginaw is thus described by a pioneer: "I would say that the best specimen of Indian that I ever saw in those days was Sag-a-maw, chief of the Potawatomies in and about Kalamazoo county. He was a man of great and good sense, of noble bearing, of great integrity, and in every way a dignified gentleman. He was a great orator among his people. He was a true friend to the whites. I have heard him make speeches to his people, and, although I could not understand him, his manner and voice were very interesting, and the effect of his speech on his people was very great. He was the only Indian I ever saw who was polite and attentive to his squaw. When they came to the store at Schoolcraft to do their trading he would help her off her pony, and when they were ready to return he would place his hand on the ground by the side of her pony and she would place her foot in it and he would lift her with apparent great ease into her saddle, and no white man could have shown more respect and politeness. If he wished for any credit at the store he had it and paid promptly. Any Indian that he told us it was safe to trust was sure to pay us. He always told us never to trust his son, Cha-na-ba, who was a very worthless fellow." * * * They owned a reservation ten miles square which took in the eastern part of Gourdneck Prairie. * * * The wigwams were all built with a frame of poles covered with elm bark, with the exception of the wigwam of Chief Sag-a-maw, which was built for him by his friends, the early white settlers, of logs and covered with shakes." -(Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. X, pp. I65-I66.) In I836, Mr. Selkirk, at Bishop McCoskry's request, visited Saginaw and his band at Gun lake to offer them the benefits of a mission home. The chief requested time for considering the proposal. At h i~;nd: iI SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 187 a second meeting on the north bank of the beautiful lake five miles west of Gun lake, named in honor of the missionary, Selkirk lake, the chief agreed to settle there. One hundred and sixty acres of land were purchased from the government for mission purposes. During the summer of 1836, the missionary moved his family to his cabin on the north shore of the lake. His family consisted of his wife and his sons, James E., Jeremiah and Charles F. During the following summer he erected his first dwelling. This was constructed of hewn timbers set upright in morticed sills and plates. The first work of the Indians was erection of wigwams and a large arbor or bower house for religious services. The mission house was built the next year. Near it was the shop in which the missionary made the necessary furniture. SERMONS INTERPRETED BY MAW-BE-SE. Mr. Selkirk's sermons were delivered in English and translated into Ottawa by Maw-be-se, an Ottawa, whose American name was Adoniram Judson. He had been educated by Lewis Cass and was for some time employed in his service as an interpreter. Many pioneers regularly attended services. Saginaw was killed in a drunken quarrel in I845. He was succeeded as chief by Pen-ah-see, or "Gun Lake," whose career was ended when Osneke, a squaw, poisoned him'. He in turn was succeeded by Shapequonk, or 'Big Thunder," who accompanied a portion of the band in migration to Isabella county in the fifties. The Rev. James Selkirk was regarded by the Indians as a modern apostle. Under his tutorship the savages and their children learned the ways of civilization. He died on October 5, I877, and was buried in the mission yard by the side of his father, Jeremiah Selkirk, a soldier of the Revolution, who shared with his son the hardships of mission life in the wilderness. The following excerpts from the manuscript diary of the missionary give intimate glimpses of the difficulties he encountered in establishing his mission and of the numerous experiences, which must have tried his courageous soul at times when men of far inferior type were making headway in acquiring comforts and luxuries denied him. He thus describes the visit Mr. Selkirk and Bishop McCoskry paid to Chief Saginaw's band, the founding of the mission and glimpses of life there are thus described in the diary: STOP AT YANKEE SPRINGS TAVERN "We left our horses and carriage at the tavern of Mr. Lewis (the famous Yankee Springs tavern on the Kalamazoo-Grand Rapids stage road), and went on foot about two miles and found them a poor, miserable race. We talked to them also by an interpreter. The Rev. Mr. Slater was with us. The old chief's name was Saginaw; he had three wives with whom he lived, but he said but little to us and after a short visit we returned to Lewis' and took our teams and went on 188 HISTORIC MICHIGAN to the Rev. Mr. Slater's. We staid at his house that night and the next morning the Bishop gave me directions how to proceed and I started by wagon to Niles. In the first place, I hired a man by the name of Nelson Poland to labor and I purchased a yoke of oxen and a span of horses and made ready as fast as possible to move on to ground that would suit my purpose. "My father was with me at the time I started for Rev. Mr. Slater's. I supposed that he would rather go home to Rochester in the state of New York but I saw the old man look down and I asked him if he would like to go among the Indians. He answered me that he should like to go where I went. I told him to cheer up and that he should go with us. This, at once, cheered the old gentleman and I never saw a man more grateful than he was. "I left my daughter in Niles, the only one in the family. We got ready and started and we came on until night and found a good prairie where we could feed our teams and fix our wagon for the night. We built a large fire to cook our provisions and fixed our teams and slept as happy as I ever had done in all my life. In the morning, after breakfast we started again and got as far as Kalamazoo and staid at this place for the night. The next morning we left for Gull Prairie and arrived at Mr. Slater's about noon the same day. My oldest son went with me. As my father played the clarinet, my son took the violin and myself the French horn. We went out doors and began to play a march and the Indians came running from their habitations and gathered around us to hear our music. They were very much pleased and we played about twenty tunes to their great amusement. VISITS CHIEF SAGINAW "My hired man went to work for Mr. Slater while I looked up the land orn which to settle. I left my family at Mr. Slater's and went down to visit Saginaw and to look also for some good land that I might purchase for the Indians. I found the old chief at his wigwam. After I had given the old man a hand of tobacco which pleased him very much, he stated there was excellent land about six miles from that place. He stated that he would go with me and that I would see for myself, but as yet he would make no further promises. "I returned to Mr. Slater's and the next day I started for Saginaw's camp and found him all right for a tramp-in the woods. He had about eight Indians with him all dressed in their true Indian style with their rifles all charged so that if they came across game they could shoot it and have something to eat. I had to leave them a short time and ride around Gun lake. They took a canoe and paddled across the lake while I rode around the north part. It did not take me a great while to get alongside of them. They traveled directly west about four miles from the lake and we arrived at another beautiful lake at about twelve o'clock. They then struck a fire ohn the bank of this sheet of water, the shores of which were dry and as beautiful as could be. I, in the meantime, took off my port bags in which I had stowed a quantity of short cake. I distributed the cake among them which was enough for us all a hearty meal. SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 189 "After eating and lighting our pipes, we then attended to our business. They showed me the beautiful country around and indeed, the land was good and the water was excellent. I made up my mind at once and resolved to purchase the land and establish the mission. I found out the owners of the land, made a purchase sufficient to establish the mission and took. my family, together with my goods, and started for the woods." NO CHANCE TO BACK OUT "I had undertaken the task and there was no such thing for me to back out and when the Indians came on to the ground I should have company enough. My time was set. My days were now numbered, and if I was to do anything for the Indians in twenty years now was the time for me to commence. So I had put down my foot that no exertion should be wanting on my part to do the will of God. The time had got along in July and I labored on the land in breaking up some and fencing some. I had seen a few Indians and their chief but he had not given his promise to come on the land and live with me. He wished to con the matter over in his mind before he made up his mind on the subject. "I was busy about my new home and fixing up matters and things as they occurred to me and had much to do on a new place to get things to suit me and for the convenience of my wife who appeared to be a little more reconciled to her lot than she had been. Indeed, I deeply felt for her as it was a new matter for her to settle among Indians who were in the habit of getting drunk whenever they could get a chance. It was a matter of great trial to my wife. She had wept and mourned over her lot with a deep feeling of horror at the thought of leaving good society and having a people that was abandoned to the worst practice in the world and to engage in a cause that seemed utterly impossible of success. This was indeed trusting in God alone for help for if God was left out of the question nothing could be done to hope for the least success. ADDRESS SAGINAW S BAND "I had given the Indians a small talk upon their situation. I had told them of the changes that would occur and how good it would be for them to be prepared, and in the month of September, Saginaw with his band of men came over to see me and have another talk with me on the subject. I endeavored to treat him and his people well and made some preparation for dinner and after they had finished their meal, I rose up and addressed them very affectionately upon their condition and how the government viewed it and stated to them that this was a mission established by the government to see if they could not help them in such a way that it would raise them out of all their troubles and thus prepare them for that world to which we were all of us fast approaching. After I got through the old chief got up and remarked that he had never said that he would come on to this land but that now he was prepared to say that he would come on, and he remarked that 190 HISTORIC MICHIGAN what he said on this subject would come to pass. He came over once more, but I had no interpreter and could say nothing to him. Finally, in the month of November he came over Gun lake with all his band and settled with us and staid as long as he lived. "I was at work with Mr. Pollard when I first say them coming. The men were on foot and they arranged themselves in single file and the women and children were on horseback. There were about sixty in all men, women and children. They marched up on to the ground and unloaded their ponies. I then told Mr. Pollard to take the ox team and wagon and carry their things near some excellent springs of water. They saw me move their goods and were pleased that I had done it. The men went to work at once and erected their wigwams and the women built their fires and their camp was soon smoking and their fires were blazing, and by the time that the sun went down, they were all ready for rest. The next morning they arose bright and early to look around them and see what was to be done. I saw a number of them take down their rifles and fire them and then wipe them out clean and concluded in my own mind that they were going out to hunt some deer. They went out to hunt and before night came in with plenty of venison and I saw at once that they were very generous, for they distributed their meat around the camp and I received also a share. We then employed a surveyor who run out the land in ten-acre lots so that each could have a share and move on to their lots and fence them in, so that each knew where to go for their vegetables. INDIANS BECOME INTOXICATED "They behaved very well for a few days but as soon as they could get some 'excutawawbo' I saw that they were greatly given up to the habit of getting as they called it, 'squibby'- and I saw at once that the Indian traders were in the habit of getting liquor for them. They had not as yet seen the evil of their doings. It was now fall of the year and the Indians were expecting the pay-master along soon and they said that they would have to go to the Grand Rapids in order to get their money. I had so much to attend to that I declined going to the payment and my people were gone about three weeks before they returned home. I soon learned that they had saved no money and that their clothing was also gone, that they all looked down and felt miserable. On Sunday, I talked to them on the subject and told them that there was a very great wrong somewhere and that they must try to find out that wrong and correct it, for they were very much worse off after they had their money than they were before they had any. They replied that they hoped if I would go with them that they should be much better off than they were or than they had been and that I would assist them and save their money. I now had me a log house built and fixed it up for the winter. I also built a stable for my horses and oxen and went out to look at the marshes to find some hay. I traveled about four miles and found an excellent marsh where I got hay enough to last me all winter. (Probably Gun marsh.) SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 191 INDIANS "GIVE ONE EAR TO GOD" "We had as yet no house of worship and I visited their camps and with my interpreter got along very well and I preached the gospel to them and endeavored to persuade them to give up this vain world and strive to be for God. But little good was affected among them nor could anything be done for them so long as they would give themselves up to drinking ardent spirits. We had affected something thus far and we must wait and see what more could be done for this people. The first thing was to do something for their living so we calculated to break up for them some land and get some wheat in the ground and to keep up our meetings and perhaps the Lord would come among us and send his Holy Spirit and alarm those who were out of the Ark of safety. The Indians attended meetings very well for them and we had some hopes that in the spring of the year a revival would commence and that God would have mercy upon the Indians. But there was little done the first year among the people. Some time after this they remarked that they had agreed to give God one ear to hear what he said and keep one ear for themselves. But now this one spoke and said he had resolved to give both ears to God that he might speak all of his mind. "The first winter had passed away and the spring opened beautifully and it was time for the Indians to go out to their sugar bush. They wished to get there in time to make their troughs, and having all things ready they went off apparently a happy' people. There would be time enough after their sugar work had got through with for them to plant their corn and do other work as it might be necessary for them to do. The women were altogether the most industrious while the men attended to their guns and hunted in the woods for deer and other game. SELKIRK PREVENTS MURDER OF SQUAW "The Indians found that I was very much opposed to their getging drunk on the ground that I had bought for them, so they would pretend that they were going out to celebrate some of their rites but I was aware that drunkenness was their object and was determined to keep a look-out for them after they had gone three or four hours, so I had my horse saddled one day after they had left the camp about two hours and rode down in the woods where they had assembled. I found them in a most sorrowful condition, drunk and fighting. One of them took a long stick and struck at a squaw and had he not struck a stick and broke his club he would have killed her. I ordered some young men to arrest him and six of them clinched with him. They were standing by the side of a large log about three feet through and they tusseled together with all their might and finally all went down together on their heads beside the log and the first that got loose from the others took the first Indian by the hair of' his head and dragged him off and so on until they had cleared away the whole pile of Indians. They had now drank up most of their liquor and promised me that they would finish and come home and be sober men. They supposed:0:. *, ' g;: sf 192 HISTORIC MICHIGAN that this was a cunning trick. I now had found out their doings and begged of them to leave the stuff alone. I perceived that they had mended in some small degree and was in great hopes that they might see the evil of their doings and reform. NOONDAY VISITS SELKIRK S MISSION "The second year Noonday came to pay us a visit from the Baptist mission with two or three of their best men and he addressed the Indians in a very affectionate manner. He also created another chief and told him his duty and the duty also of his wife. Noonday had been a convert for some time and was very anxious for all the Indians that they also might partake of the blessings of the gospel. He stayed with us three or four days and behaved like a gentleman. I was truly pleased with him for he thought that there were other Christians in the world beside Baptists. Indeed, the Indians appeared to like our services well as we had them translated into their language. "By this time I had an interpreter by the name of Mawbese who was very good to interpret the English into Indian and he would keep sober and was always handy on the ground to interpret when I needed him. He is hnow gone to the World of Spirits. He stayed with us until my time had almost expired and went with two Indians a hunting and they left him in the woods not a half a mile from his wigwam where he died. He had a disease which probably after it had broken on the outside gathered again and the second time it broke on the inside and put an end to his life. Many sorrowed as he was a man whom they appeared to like much and in a general way he kept himself sober so that he had no disgrace on the cause of religion. SAGINAW LIKED MAWBESE "I recollect that Saginaw, our old chief, was much pleased with Mawbese as they were on the best terms. The old Indians that came to the mission were in the war against us and were paid by Great Britain for their services against us. I one day heard Noonday telling our Chief Penasee what a time he once had with our men in the War of I812. Two of the Indians had ascended a large tree well filled with leaves; it was a beach tree and the firing commenced rapidly. He said that he fired as fast as he could load his rifle, but soon he perceived that they saw the smoke of his rifle and fired a volley into the tree and upoln seeing this said Noonday, 'we made down the tree the best we could, and as it happened we got clear from any shots.' I thought this was lucky indeed. But now they saw differently. They found that we, Americans, had done right in standing our ground. He remarked that we had a great man to lead us in the victory. "The second year we cleared about twenty-two acres for their wheat and got it in in good season, the Indians helping some to log off the ground. The old Chief Saginaw endeavored to let the bottle alone, but the poor old man had such a thirst for liquor that it seemed almost impossible for him to break off. I recollect one day he had been away from home and lay with his daughter under the fence drunk VIEW OF BATTLE CREEK TAKEN IN 1865 BRIDGE AT NILES CASS COUNTY PIONEER MEMORIAL CABIN.....i. CASS AND BERRIEN COUNTY COURTHOUSES SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 193 and came to me in order to make his confession. I told him that I was sorry to see him going so fast to ruin. He told me that he was urged to drink, and if I said the word he would enter a prosecution at once against the man who sold it to him. I remarked to him that it was the only course that he could pursue. He went accordingly and took a summons for the "Gent" and obtained a judgment and costs against him for one hundred dollars. The man who sold the liquor to him has gone also to render up his account. OLD CHIEF SAGINAW MURDERED "We endeavored to show the Indians what we wanted of them; that it was not for our benefit that they labored but for themselves and sometimes they would work like men and do all in their power to do, for which I was sure to give them credit to encourage them to go ahead. The old chief endeavored to assist me all in his power and would leave liquor alone for some time; then again the temptation would come upon him like a whirlwind and he would give up to it. He thought that he should conquer it at last but we had been at the mission about five years and he concluded it best for him to be baptized as it might aid him much in living aright. Indeed, there was nothing against the old man but this one sin and he said that he would try to conquer it, but alas, for him. "I think it was the latter part of February that the Indians left their grounds for the sugar camps and Saginaw and a few Indians moved to a camp across the beautiful lake that lies in front of my house. They had been absent only a few days and one morning Saginaw's daughter came across the lake and told me that her father had been struck with a club in a drunken frolic and that his brains were knocked out and she wished me to go and see him before he died. I went accordingly across the lake to his wigwam and sure enough there he lay with his skull broken in, he breathing out his last breath. He knew nothing nor did he come to again. About twelve o'clock he breathed his last. "The chief's murderer was pointed out to me and he came up to me and said something to me, but I found that he was much intoxicated. I, however, told him that I would get a coffin made and that he must come with a hand-sleigh and bring the coffin and put the chief in it as soon as he died and that he must bring the corpse on a hand-sleigh up to the meeting house where I would preach to them on the occasion. "After they had brought the corpse up and gathered the Indians together, the wife of Keokeesecum, the daughter of Saginaw, came up to the coffin to look at her father. She stood and looked at him for a moment and then uttered an unearthly screech and seemed in great agony. She loved her father and it seemed like death for her to part with him. MURDER IS SELKIRK'S SERMON SUBJECT "The Indians gathered together and I preached to them on the subject and I trust that many of them laid it to heart. The son-in 194 HISTORIC MICHIGAN law by the name of Keokeesecum concluded that he would drink no more liquor and I believe that he kept well his word for he and his wife made a profession of religion and joined the church. They endeavored to settle the matter of their father's death for it was a sonin-law of the old chief by the name of Shuamus that struck the fatal blow. He was shortly afterwards imprisoned, but they found no bill against him. He lived only about one year after he had murdered his father-in-law." "The death of Saginaw was a sore affliction to us all for he took such a liking to us all that we could not help loving the old man for there was scarcely a day that he did not visit us and he would bring with him a little boy by the name of Jacob, his grandson, and was much pleased with the little lad and when we gave him something to eat, he would always give his grandson a part and he was a good natured man even when he was drunk and would harm no one. "I had to get my provisions from Kalamazoo. The roads were now through the woods and it would take me until late at night to get a load home. Sometimes my wagon would break and I would leave all in the road and come home in the night and the next day send the oxen down to haul home the wagon and then would have to build a log heap in order to fix my tire. NO SALARY DURING ONE YEAR "I had established prayer meetings which I held twice a week and the Indians were always there ready to assist me. All went on well at the mission but my pay was hindered, the Bishop having charge of it. I was one year without any money and when the Bishop came to see me I had nothing to eat. "It was our duty to live economically, as all did, and I labored with all the strength that I had in order to get along in the world as we ought. The Indians were good hunters and brought us in venison. They would often go to Gun lake and fetch us large pickerel. If the Bishop were coming, I would tell them that if they would bring me a large fat turkey, I would pay them well for their trouble. They were sure to comply. They began to see their privileges, and their conduct was much changed. They attended regular prayer meetings, which was a great help to them, and some of them were happy in their Savior. They saw there was true happiness in the service of God and they longed to have all their people taste how good and gracious the Lord was. The women sang delightfully and times were truly good with us. Now they are mostly moved away from us. They think back and rejoice in God for His great mercies toward them. They can now see how hard I had labored for their good and they write me and give me thanks for my labor in their behalf. "This has been called by all who were acquainted with it an excellent mission and I am bold to say that the Indians as a body have done better than any other mission got up among them. It was indeed a hard stand at the first on account of their loving ardent spirits, but: ~ ~~i: SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 195 by degrees it wore away so that they evidently saw their duty. We had the most hopes for younger lads who were coming up to get them to avoid the horrible practice of drinking liquor, and our success was excellent. "I built a church or rather took a house that I had built for my own family and fitted it up for a meeting house which answered for a season remarkably well, although we could not make it as light as we needed for fear that the boys would throw stones and break the glass. Therefore, we had no windows in the front part. The bishop furnished us with a good organ so that when we held service the chants went off beautifully in the Indian language." ME-SHIM-MEN-CONING MISSION The principal village in the late thirties of the Indians still remaining in the Grand and Thornapple river valleys was Me-shim-menconing, located on both sides of the Grand river at the mouth of Sebewa creek in Danby township, Ionia county, just below a large island. The population of this village was estimated by Hall J. Ingalls, who knew the Indians from boyhood, at six hundred. Here were the last remnants of once powerful tribes. On the east side of the river resided the Potawatomi chief, Anawando, and his followers. On the west side were pitched the wigwams of Nawgunequaw, the Chippewa, and his tribal supporters. Along each side of the river, so close that their green glooms cast shadows on the waters, were groves of thick-branched maple trees, which were dotted with sugar camps in the spring. Me-shim-men-conig was one of the few permanent Indian towns in southern Michigan. With an eye that proved they appreciated beauty of natural scenery, the red man had correctly named it "Pleasant valley along the banks of a broad waterway." In the rich bottom lands, these Indians, known for their adherence to ancient customs, planted their corn and vegetables. For their carousals they were known far and wide. Some of these sprees in which men, women and children are said to have participated, often lasted several days. Far into the night the tom tom was pounded until the last red man was too drunk to dance any more. Then followed the sleeps that ended in sobriety. In drunken brawls, many persons were injured, and several killed. One tragedy, however, had a sobering effect on the community, and probably brought the chiefs to a realization of the degree of degredation into which their followers had sunken. Kutnewedo, son of the Potawatomi chief, and Chemindewa, son of the Chippewa leader, were warm friends. Both were nearly of the same age. In the fall of I839, the Indians returned from the annual payment in Grand Rapids, and immediately celebrated the event with a great spree under some oaks on the west side of the river. They built a great fire, round which they danced, to the rhythmic beating of the tom tom. During the carousal, the friends, Kutnewedo and Chemindewa, both destined to become future chiefs, quarreled, and Chemindewa, being the stronger, threw Kutnewedo into the fire where I 1.96 196 ~iistOkuc kbnUHIGA he burnd to death. When the Indians became sober they called a council, found Chertiidewa guilty and banished him. Deprived of everything he owned except the clothes he wore, a pair of extra moccasins and a blanket he was turned out of the village. When he left his face was daubed with death colors: black and red; for the nearest of kin of the murdered man, according to Indian law, had the right to kill the slayer on sight. SMALLPOX KILLS MANY INDIANS Misfortune again smote the Indians in the fall of 1841, when, following return from another journey to Grand Rapids, smallpox broke out in the villages and swept away all but one hundred and fifty of their number. The scenes witnessed in the days of suffering were never forgotten, even among the white pioneers of the region. Indians, raving with delirium, leaped into the river and were drowned. For days the dead lay unburied. After the epidemic, they looked about for their chiefs. There were none. Nor was there anyone left to qualify for chief of the Potawatomies, but two Chippewas were found eligible for these high offices. Medayaemack and his brother, Menawquet, were installed with aboriginal ceremonies. If contact with the white man had brought degradation to these Indians, a new association was to bring to them the supreme gift of the white race-that of the Christian religion. At Charlotte in 1846, some of them heard preach at a camp meeting the Rev. Manassah Hickey, an enthusiastic young Methodist Episcopal pastor, destined to become a modern apostle among the red men. These hearers returned to the pagan stronghold converted, and when the missionary shortly afterward appeared in Me-shim-ne-cotling, he was not unknown. Accompanied by Mary Mandoka, of the Nottawa mission, and Joseph, his interpreters, the Rev. Mr. Hickey arrived among the pagans while they were in the midst of a carousal. They at first resented his appearance, but the missionary, through his interpreters, announced his good intentions, and mollified, they consented to hear him preach. They were so impressed with the white man's message, that they invited him to come again. The plea of "Ah-ne-me-ke-ahnine," the "Thundering Man," had touched their hearts and their good sense. He finally persuaded them to renounce their primitive manner of living and to take up farming and learn the ways of civilization. Hickey persuaded the chiefs to buy a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of land in the ox-bow of the river a short distance from the village. The land was purchased from Captain Fitch, who lived near Lyons. At first payment he accepted five ponies. The balance was paid in specie at the three following annual payments to the Indians. Among the other leaders of the band who favored moving to the new site were: Onewanda, Nacquet, Negumwatin, Sisshebee, Nikkenashawa, Whiskemuk, Pashkik, Squagun, Thargee, Chedskunk. SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 197 Among them also was Chief Sawba, a familiar figure in early Barry and Eaton county history. MR. HICKEY CARRIES SURVEYOR S CHAIN The Rev. Mr. Hickey carried the chain as a surveyor from Vermont cut the land into small parcels. A street was laid through the center of the land. At the end of the street was to be located the mission house and school. Each lot had river frontage for canoe landing. A contract was let to John David for erection of eleven log houses for which the Indians were to pay in ponies, furs and money received at annual government payments. Where to obtain funds for building the mission house was something that puzzled the missionary. Out of an annual salary of one hundred and fifty dollars, the pastor was supposed to board and clothe himself, buy books necessary to keep him efficient in his work, and also to feed and shoe his faithful horse. No matter how distasteful it might have seemed for a man who had chosen as his life-work the lofty ambition of saving men's souls, he was forced to depend for a portion of his food and shelter on the charity of his fellowmen, concerning which he said, "Had it not been for the hospitality, magnanimity and generosity of the pioneer settlers through whose neighborhoods I traveled, and in whose school-houses I very often preached, I could not have succeeded in my missionary work." Deciding to make an appeal in the neighborhood for aid, the Rev. Mr. Hickey held an evening religious service in a schoolhouse near Portland and as a result men volunteered to hold a "chopping bee" and cut logs for the mission house. The women in the congregation agreed to furnish a dinner of pork and beans, bread and butter. Merchants in the town donated nails and glass, lumber and lime. How the "sinners" helped also is related in an amusing account by the missionary. "One George Taylor, who had a sawmill in the village, became very much enraged when I asked him for aid in the enterprise," said Mr. Hickey, "and declared the Indians were a drunken, lazy and thievish set, saying it was useless to try to reform and civilize them. He refused aid, but changed his mind and in the presence of a crowd in a store made the following proposition: 'Now, though I have no faith in your cause, yet I will agree to give five hundred feet of lumber for your house, if you will preach here a sermon for me to such a crowd or audience as I shall select for you; there shall not be a single Christian, or professor of religion, but I will invite all the Sabbath-breakers, profane swearers, drunkards and gamblers for you to preach to.' I replied: 'I will agree to preach the sermon. No matter to me how hard a crowd of sinners you gather, so long as they are one step this side of the pit.'" "NO CHRISTIAN MAY ATTEND" Mr. Taylor immediately posted about the village notices that "Missionary Hickey will preach a sermon at the schoolhouse next 198 HISTORIC MICHIGAN Wednesday night to all sinners and hard-cases, and they, one and all, are invited to come and hear him. No Christian, or professor of religion, is to be present." "Wednesday night came and I rode into the village directly to Mr. Taylor's door," writes the missionary. "He had my horse cared for, and invited me into his house. I was offered supper, but declined to eat until after the sermon. We walked to the store where Mr. Taylor purchased two pounds of candles which he took to the schoolhouse for light. He had already, during the day, prepared pioneer, wooden candlesticks, which were hung about the schoolhouse. Mr. Taylor had his candles all lighted, which was an exception in those days, for often we had to preach with very few lights. The schoolhouse was crowded with people of all ages. When Mr. Taylor and I were walking up the hill toward the schoolhouse, he said: 'Now, Mr. Hickey, you will have many of the hardest cases out tonight to hear you, and I want you to preach to them; never mind me, give it to them the best you know how,' I replied: 'Mr. Taylor, I am to preach this sermon to you, and for you, for which you are to give five hundred feet of lumber.' Mr. Taylor said: 'Give me the introduction, and then preach to the crowd.' I replied: 'I shall give you introduction and sermon.'" "When the house was filled, I asked Mr. Taylor over to the desk, and asked him: 'Who will do the singing?' He replied, 'Give us oldfashioned Methodist hymns.' We did and the singing was heartily done. "We were then young in the ministry, had only been preaching three years, and while the audience was singing, we took in the situation. As we looked out over the assembly and saw the hardest class of sinners in all that region met to hear us preach, our knees trembled and smote together, but during the opening prayer He who called me from the plow on my father's farm, and who eighteen hundred years ago said to His disciples, 'Lo! I am with you always,' came near with His divine power and took fear from our heart. We preached with much zeal, and the audience was moved to tears. "Sermon over, benediction pronounced, Mr. Taylor took me by the hand and said, 'Missionary, did you ever see a better behaved congregation? If a dog of them had lifted his tongue I would have threshed the floor with him.' "While Mr. Taylor was speaking thus to me, Mr. VanHorn, who had not been to any religious meetings for seven years-except funerals-said: 'Taylor, do you expect to get off by paying only five hundred feet of lumber for such a sermon as that?' "'Well, what is that to you? I pay for this,' replied Taylor. 'Mr. VanHorn, turning to me said: 'Well, I myself will give all the brick and lime for the chimneys and to point up that log mission house.' SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 199 GAMBLER AIDS IN CHURCH BUILDING "I thanked him. In due time he furnished the brick and lime he had pledged. Mr. William Arms, standing by, said: 'Mr. Hickey, I will make all the window-sash for your mission house.' This was before machinery was invented, or at least used in that locality to make window-sash, and he did all the work with his own hands. He was a good mechanic, but was said to be the shrewdest card-player and gambler in Portland." Many voluntary contributions of materials came from people of the vicinity, and work on the mission house progressed. The missionary personally worked at shingling and floor laying until his trousers were worn through at the knees. As he had no change of clothing nearer than Battle Creek, seventy miles away, he preached in the same pantaloons at mission, white people coning many miles to the services. 'I had to tie my handkerchief around my knee to cover the hole in my pants, and thus preached with my knee bandaged," wrote the missionary, "but, whether I limped or not during my sermon I cannot tell, and, as my interpreter is now dead, I cannot ask him." Under direction of Hickey, the Indians were taught the rudiments of farming. The missionary appealed to friends of the church for funds. Through financial assistance of a benevolent woman in New York, he was enabled to erect a double log house which served as church and school. Here John Compton taught the Indian children. The Indians became devotees of Christianity. In fervency they were seldom equaled by the white people of the neighborhood. Compton, in order to reach the school, often waded across the river, and the Indians named him "Te-cum-a-gaw-shee," meaning "Wade through the water." Into this community of satisfied red men came, to end his days, the ancient Chief Okemos, a chief of great renown, who bore on his head scars made by the "Long Knives" in the battle of Sandusky. He was born at or near Knaggs' Station on the Shiawassee river about I775. He was a Chippewa and claimed to be nephew of Pontiac. It is believed he took the war path in I79I. Okemos and his band resided near the place of his birth until 1837, when smallpox broke out and the steady influx of settlers into the hunting grounds scattered the game. Okemos' tribesmen then left for other parts of the country, and the chief became a mendicant, dependent on the pioneers for many a hearty meal for which he was grateful. OKEMOS CARRIED SCALPING KNIFE Okemos was not a warrior of imposing presence. He was about five feet four inches tall, lithe, active and intelligent and was undoubtedly brave. He was not an eloquent speaker. Before his band was scattered his usual costume consisted of a blanket coat, the usual Indian leggings, a belt in which was stuck a steel pipe-hatchet, or tomahawk, and to which was attached a sheath containing a heavy, ~: 0 t.t0 200 HISTORIC MICHIGAN long, bone-handled British hunting or scalping knife. On his cheeks, forehead and over his eyes were daubs of vermilion paint. His headgear consisted of a shawl wound into a turban. During his last years Okemos walked with quick, elastic steps. Okemos nearly lost his life in the battle at Sandusky, and to this encounter he owed his chieftainship. In narrating this experience, Okemos said: "Myself and cousin, Man-a-to-corb-way, with sixteen other braves enlisted under the British flag, formed a scouting party and marched from the River Raisin to the vicinity of Sandusky,,where one morning we saw twenty cavalrymen approaching us. Our ambush was on a slight ridge with brush in front. Although outnumbered by two, we concluded we could cripple the Americans at the first fire and then rush upon them with the tomahawk and finish their destruction. We waited until they were so near we could count the buttons on their coats and fired into them." The cavalrymen, with drawn sabres, rushed upon the Indians, cleaving heads right and left. Okemos said he and his cousin fought side by side, dodging from one cover to another. Within ten minutes after the Indians fired the first shot, the sound of a bugle echoed through the woods, and declared Okemos, "The road and woods were filled with cavalrymen. The plumes on their hats looked like a flock of thpusands of pigeons just hovering for a flight." The Indians were surrounded and cut down to the last man. Not one escaped the charge of the American cavalry, which left all for dead. Okemos and his cousin had their heads cut open and bodies pierced, for, said Okemos, the Americans leaned forward from their horses and pierced the chests of all the fallen Indians in order to make sure none would be left alive. Several days after the battle the squaws ventured on the field and examined the corpses strewn about. When they discovered signs of life in Okemos and his cousin, the women carried them in litters to a place of safety and nursed them. "All knowledge had ceased many moons before Okemos regained his senses," he declared. WAS IN BATTLE OF THE THAMES Being considered a favorite of the Great Spirit who had preserved his life, Okemos was revered by the Indians and made a chief. He had also participated in the battle of the Thames in which Tecumseh lost his life and the power of the Indians was broken. Said Mr. Hickey: "Okemos was second in command under Tecumseh at the battle of the Thames. He saw Tecumseh fall, and was himself wounded in this battle. When Okemos camped with us he wore a large silver ring in his nose. He and I argued three or four hours that Sunday night while others slept, but I believe he lived and died a pagan. On Monday morning, our camp broke up and we parted." It was after Hickey left Me-shim-men-coning that Okemos, lonely and homeless, spent much of his time there. Okemos preferred to - Q, 4: SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 201 abide by the religion of his ancestors. Among the red men he was an honored' figure. Among the white men the old chief was regarded with kindness, and treated hospitably. A few years before his death he relinquished his chieftainship to his son John. Not far from the mission apple orchard, and only a short distance from the brink of a high bluff overlooking a sudden, splendid, silvery stretch of the Grand-the Owashtenong, as the Indians called it-are two cemeteries one rod apart. In one are buried fifteen Christian Indians; in the other lie thirteen who died with their eyes turned toward the Happy Hunting Grounds. Among the latter lie the bones of Okemos. He was "gathered to his fathers" and buried there December 5, I858. Mr. Ingalls recalled that the chief's guns, belts, hunting knife, pipe and tobacco, together with bird's wings and provisions, were buried with him in a rude coffin, and that, in accordance with tribal rites, tobacco was burned at the grave. He said also that the missionary tried hard to convert Okemos, but the chief's heart hardened, and when asked to become a Christian responded with "Kaw," meaning no. His eyes were dull and he could not see, he told the missionary. Thornapple lake was the great rendezvous for red men of the various tribes. On its shores wigwams were always pitched. About ten miles west by south of Me-shim-men-coning lie bodies of water which are now called Tupper and Jordan lakes, forming the headwaters of the Little Thornapple river, which is itself the great southeastern branch of the Grand. Five miles south and east of Jordan lake, lying on the border of what are now Barry and Eaton counties, is a tamarac-surrounded lake with an island in the middle. Today this is called Sawba lake. It is the northermost of a series of lakes forming the headwaters of a picturesque little stream known to the Indians as the Nag-wah-tick, to the white men as Mud creek. This stream empties into Thornapple lake eight miles from Swaba lake. Though the headwaters of the Little Thornapple and the Nag-wahtick are only a few miles apart, they merge with the waters of the Thornapple, or So-wan-quesake, nearly twenty-five miles from one another. Between Me-shim-men-coning and the headwaters of these streams lay mile after mile of slightly rolling land, heavily timbered with beech and maple trees, through the glooms of which passed deepy-worn trails. Over them Indians were constantly passing. SAWBA ONE OF THE LAST CHIEFS Of the last few Indians remaining in the vicinity of Jordan and Sawba lakes was Chief Sawba. Constantly traveling up and down the streams and over trails, he became noted for his sociability with the white settlers. He was a Chippewa, and was described as tall, raw-boned and forbidding in appearance. His coarse, black hair was sometimes gathered in strands and tied with red ribbon or a piece of calico. His appearance was made comical by a high, silk hat on which was fastened a band of bright tin as an insignia of sovereignty. Sawba was not a favorite with pioneer women, for whenever he 202 HISTORIC MICHIGAN found the men were absent from a pioneer cabin, he terrorized the women by ransacking the cupboard and food supply, eating amazing quantities. During his visits in Vermontville, Sawba became enamored of Miss Naomi Dickinson, and desired to have her for a squaw. She treated his advances with disdain, however, and the love-sick chief then appealed to her father, offering him twenty ponies for Naomi, but again his attempt to win a white wife failed. In I845, it is recorded that Sawba buried his wife and her father on the north shore of Tupper lake. The aged man was buried in the ground, but the body of the squaw, bedecked with beads and ornaments, was placed in a sitting position within a pen of logs. Beside the body was a brass kettle, and some food to sustain her on the journey in the spirit land. School children and others often looked at the corpse. Eventually some of the children took the beads, two girls took the brass breastplate, nose-rings, ear-rings and ornaments. Sawba, coming a long distance to visit the graves, discovered the acts of vandalism, and quietly stalked into the schoolhouse where he silently scrutinized the girls, who were greatly terrified. He departed as quietly as he had come. He repaired the log pen about his wife's body, and was never again seen in that locality where he had roamed many years. The pen fell in ruins, and the bones of the dead were scattered. It is recorded by Indians in the north that "Old Chief Sawba was killed by white people near Mt. Pleasant shortly after the Civil war." REV. WHITE SUCCEEDS HICKEY Under supervision of the Rev. Manassah Hickey and John Compton, the Indians of Me-shim-men-coning prospered. The red men occupied forty-nine log cabins, each of which was located on a five-acre tract of land. Hickey was called into other fields to labor, and the Rev. Mr. White succeeded him. His wife died and he married one of the young teachers in the Indian school and they took up their residence in the mission-house. A new church and schoolhouse were erected. It is recalled that a Rev. Mr. Shaw, in making gestures while delivering the dedicatory sermon, accidentally knocked a lamp from the pulpit, and that the Indian interpreter through whom he was preaching, conscientiously reproduced the swing of the arm which swept off the lamp. By act of Congress in I856, the Indians were given lands in Isabella county, and it was decided to abandon the Indian town of Meshim-men-coning. Medayaemack and Menawquet, therefore, sold the land in the ox-bow of the "Pleasant valley along the banks of a broad waterway," and the last of the red men extinguished their fires and left forever these banks of the Owashtenong where slept their dead and where lingered memories of their former power. Some went to the lands farther north; others joined the remnants of Potawatomies and Chippewas residing in Van Buren county. -- Ii _-~:-i~ SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 203 NOTTAWA MISSION IN CALHOUN COUNTY Among the Potawatomies who had succeeded in escaping deportation with other Indians to the west were a few scattered families which settled on one hundred and sixty acres of land near the site of the village of Athens in Calhoun county. This land was considered a portion of Nottawa-sepe Prairie. In this settlement, the Methodist Episcopal church established in I840 a mission. A large log church and schoolhouse were erected. The. Indians' huts were made of poles covered with "shakes." One of the first pastors assigned to this station was the Rev. Manassah Hickey, who also preached at Thornapple lake and Me-shim-men-coning on the Grand river. Hickey, assisted by his sister and a teacher named Crane, conducted the church and school. The chief of this settlement was John Ma-gua-go, described by the early settlers as a man of excellent character. Mar-chee, a "medicine woman" in the tribe, was his sister. She was exceptionally beautiful in her younger days. Her second husband was Captain Hatch, the St. Joseph county Indian trader. After they separated, she married Buel Holcomb, from whom she also separated, though they lived together many years. Mar-chee was called as a doctor into the homes of many white settlers, especially those residing near Dry Prairie, and in the neighborhood of the mission. Her daughter, Pont-sig-na, by her Indian husband, was educated in Albion, but died before she was twenty years old. MARY MANDOKA INTERPRETED SERMON The Rev. Manassah Hickey had for interpretress Mary Mandoka, a comely Indian woman about thirty years of age. She had been educated in Albion, and she accompanied the missionary on his journeys to Thornapple lake where she also taught in the Indian school. An interesting glimpse of Mary Mandoka as she appeared in the mission church in the spring of 1847 follows: "We had got there early, and going into the log chapel seated ourselves and waited the gathering of the dusky congregation. Soon an Indian came in, and taking down a long tin horn that hung behind the door, he stepped out in front of the chapel and wound it so loudly and musically that we could hear the twanging notes pea! out, whisk off and die away in the distant arcades of the forest. Repeating this two or three times, he stepped back into the chapel and hung up his horn again. Soon these children of the forest began to assemble in the rude log church. Quietly, with the careful Indian tread, old and young came in and took seats. Some half hour later the Indian who had given the first summons to the church on the horn took the instrument, and, stepping to the front of the door, wound it as he had done before. The flock all assembled, Hickey took his stand by a small table, and Mary took a seat in a chair by his side, ready for her work.- They had hymn books and the New Testament, I believe, in the Indian language. To hear these quiet worshippers sing: "'Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing My great Redeemer's praise.' r: ~:: i 204 HISTOBIC MICHIGAN in the Potawatomi language, with its liquid accent and beautiful monosyllabic distinctness, when uttered by Indian lips, was a great pleasure to us. An Indian once said to Hickey: 'White men don't sing that hymn right. Indian would sing: "'Oh, for ten thousand tongues.to sing My great Redeemer's praise.' "After the hymns anid the prayer, Mr. Hickey began his sermon. He would deliver a sentence in English and then pause until Mary repeated it to the Indians in their own tongue. It was very interesting to us to sit in that room, the quiet of which seemed like the stillness of the forest about us. Very interesting, I say, to listen to Hickey's sonorous voice, as he pronounced his sermon, paragraph at a time in distinct English, and then listen to the same sermon given forth again and again by Mary's musical voice in the beautiful Indian language. As Hickey became animated, or emotional, his interpretress would also, until at times her feelings would so overpower her, that her head would fall back against the wall, her voice grow weaker, till her lips would move with no audible sound. Hickey would then stop until Mary revived. Then he would go on as before. INDIANS WERE GIFTED LISTENERS "Of the two sermons, his to the whites in English, and Mary's to the Potawatomies in Indian, I think Mary's was the most effective. She had the best listeners, and then her Indian words as they left her lips went more effectually to the hearts of her audience than Hickey's did to his because the Indians are more gifted as listeners. From the old patriarch of eighty years to the little Indian boy or girl, they seemed to feel that they were in the house of God. The very moment they entered the door of the chapel, worship began. They were in the presence of their Creator. They are worshippers to the menor born. "Mary left her husband, Man-do-ka, and went with another Indian to Canada. Mary had a sister named, Sarah, who was also educated in Albion. She belonged to the Slater mission, and was, I believe, interpretress for Rev. Slater. * * * Sarah was much more accomplished in education and the graces of our schools and society than was Mary. She was younger, and like Mary, was comely, but a more attractive woman. * * * Bam-me-no-de-no-kaid, signifying 'Storm Cloud,' came here from Canada, where he was born, brought up and educated as a Wesleyan Methodist. He was a government interpreter and business agent for the Potawatomies. He was highly esteemed by the Indians of the Nottawa mission. He did not live here, only came when business required. His home was with the Ottawas at Wayland, Allegan county. Jackson was a Chippewa. * * * He was better acquainted with the history and traditions of the Indians in Michigan than any other person in Michigan. He became dissipated some time before he died in Holland." (A. D. P. Van Buren, Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. X, pp. I48-I52). SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 205 THE THORNAPPLE MISSION With the intention of establishing a mission among the Indians at Thornapple lake, the Rev. Manassah Hickey in the summer of 1848 visited them and asked of Packy-ty-yak permission to preach. Through the missionary's interpreter, the chief said he would call his men together. He assembled all that his wigwam would hold. When Hickey was about to begin service, the chief demanded: "Where is the tobacco for us to smoke?" When told the minister had none he replied: "We shall not listen to you unless you furnish tobacco to fill our pipes so we make smoke while you speak." All then rose and filed out of the wigwam. The missionary hired a boy to obtain some tobacco in Hastings six miles away. With their pipes filled the Indians again sat down to listen to the missionary. "They seemed most of them very respectful," wrote the missionary. "I tnever furnished tobacco more than once or twice to Indians to secure their attention. This custom among them was strong. When any stranger appeared among them with his interpreter and requested the chief to call his people together and listen to him they always said, 'Furnish the tobacco!' " In 1849, the pagan Thornapple lake Indians attended a camp meeting in Eaton county about fifteen miles southwest of the lake. Here were assembled converted Indians from the Nottawa mission and from Me-shim-men-coning. Among the red men from Barry county converted was Chief As-que-sah, who afterward became a preacher. The old chief Packy-ty-yak refused to leave his village, but sent a messenger summoning Hickey to see him, saying: "I am very sick. I want to see you in my wigwam." The camp meeting was then closing, and the missionary, accompanied by the Rev. Fitch, traveled to Thornapple. At two o'clock in the morning they arrived at the home of a pioneer named Mudge, who entertained them until morning. In the meantime the Indians who were returning from the camp meeting had traveled all night and they were at the old chief's wigwam to welcome the missionary. "We found Packy-ty-yak as shrewd and cunning as an old fox," said the missionary. "We shook hands with him and sat down to listen to his speech, which was about as follows: OLD CHIEF KEEPS HIS RELIGION "'My white brothers, I was very sick when I sent for you, but as I lay here on my bed by great-grandfather came to see me from way off beyond the setting sun. He came into my wigwam, took out his pipe, sat down there beyond the fire, lighted his pipe, began to smoke and talk to me, saying very earnestly, 'My grandson, tomorrow two white men will come to visit you and ask you to give up your own religion and take the white man's religion. Now my grandson, you must not change your religion, but if your children in this village-::::'; ~- 206 HISTORIC MICHIGAN the younger Indians, want to change and take the white man's religion, let them do it, but you must die in the religion of your fathers and grandfathers who have gone beyond the setting sun to live where you soon must come. * * * Why, there is not so much difference in the white man's religion and the Indian's religion. The Indian religion says we must not steal; says also we must be kind to the sick among us, as your religion says the same. You white people have your great camp meetings; we Indians have our war dances, our green-corn dances and we have as good times in our Great Feasts as you do at your camp meetings, and there is not much difference in the two religions.'" Though the missionaries argued against the chief's statements, he refused to accept Christianity. The missionary writing on August I9, I895, declared he believed that Packy-ty-yak died a pagan. In this he was wrong. The old chief was converted about I854. By the side of the head-spring of a rivulet, which empties into the Thornapple river about three hundred yards away, a mission church and log school were erected. Here Hickey, with his interpreter and Mary Mandoka conducted services. Mary taught in the mission school which was attended by white children as well as red. The fine appearance of Mary attracted great attention among the settlers of Hastings. Mrs. Mary Gear, one of the earliest pioneers, thus recalled her: "She used to come here on her pony with other Indians. They would ride up to Herman I. Kappen's store and hitch their animals to the railing. There was a picket fence near the store and four or five steps led up to the entrance. This Indian woman wore a skirt of black broadcloth, trimmed on the bottom with colored beads and porcupine quills. Her moccasins were similarly ornamented. She wore a pure white blanket, and her long black hair hung down her back in one long braid." The mission, however, was in existence only a few years. During that time, however, many well-known missionaries preached in the church. Among them was the Rev. James Selkirk, of the Griswold Episcopalian mission west of Gun lake; also the Rev. T. T. Clark, the Rev. Mr. Thomas and Joseph Elliott, his interpreter, Chief As-que-sah and "Brother" Resin Sap. The mission, which stood in the rear of a beautiful sloping shore covered with a walnut grove at a point a mile below the lake called Indian landing, fell into decay. A heap of stones and a few scraggly apple trees mark the site. The spring, however, continues as it has for many decades, to contribute its steady stream of crystal-clear water to the nearby river. HICKEY LEAD A LONG LIFE OF USEFULNESS A long life of usefulness lay before the Rev. Manassah Hickey, who had freed the Indians from degredation and made them selfrespecting and inspired them with. a desire to become civilized. He held pastorates in Detroit and neighboring cities, and was then made successively presiding elder of the districts of Port Huron, Detroit SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 207 and Flint. In the latter city, he was thrown from a carriage and so severely injured his physicians declared he could not with safety resume ministerial work. This happened in 1872. Returning to Detroit, Mr. Hickey engaged in an insurance business. In 1878 and 1879, he was public librarian of Detroit. Though denied the privilege of following his chosen profession, Mr. Hickey, whenever possible, attended Methodist Episcopal conferences and participated in discussio'ns. He also preached innumerable funeral sermons and lightened the burdens of many Detroit pastors. He was a lifelong friend and admirer of General Lewis Cass. On two occasions he opened Democratic state conventions with prayer. Mr. Hickey was born on September 7, 1820, in Arcadia, New York, and was brought at an early age by his parents to Troy, Oakland county, where he grew to manhood. Converted at an early age, he decided to prepare himself for the ministry. After studying in Albion College where he was a member of the first class in Greek, he became a circuit rider. From 1845 to I849, he labored among the Indians of Nottawa, Thornapple lake, Meshin-men-coning and the Saginaw valley. "The whisky men were the greatest obstacles we had in converting the Indians," said Mr. Hickey. "They tried to prejudice the red men against us, and even told them that the clothes which we brought to the children were infected with smallpox. But we got the best of them in the end." Mr. Hickey was married in I852 in Ann Arbor to Miss Sarah Ann Bush. He died January 2, I903, in Detroit, aged eighty-two years. The solemn impressions made upon his heart by his mother, who died while he was a young boy, never left him. It was this influence which ultimately resulted in his conversion to Christianity. As the good missionary was about to leave this life, he looked up with a smile and whispered that the Lord was very near to him. "Coast all clear," he said. "Praise the Lord! praise the Lord!" He was buried in Elmwood cemetery, Detroit. CHAPTER X REMOVAL OF INDIANS OF SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN OLLOWING signing of the Treaty of Chicago in I821 and the second treaty in I833, which transferred one million acres to the United States, including the site of Chicago, the next task of the government was removal of the Indians to lands west of the Mississippi. By the treaty made on September 26, 1833, between the Potawatomies, Ottawas and Chippewas, they agreed to accept in payment for the great tract nearly one million dollars and about five million acres of land to which they agreed to move within three years. The following year preparations were made by the government to carry out transference of the savages to the west. In southwestern Michigan at that time there were numerous scattered, poverty-stricken bands of Potawatomies and Ottawas and a few Chippewas. The most of them resided in their ancient haunts along the St. Joseph river, especially in the vicinity of where Burnet and Bertrand had maintained their trading posts. West of the parc aux vaches was the Potawatomi village of Chief Pokagon. Here grouped at the head spring of a creek bearing today the chief's name were the cabins where this patriarchal Indian resided with a band of followers. Northward, across Terre Coup'e Prairie was Swoptock, the village of Chief To-pen-a-be, a leader as noted as Pokagon himself. Two miles eastward, on the bank of the St. Joseph river, and not far from the site of the old fort was the village of Matchkee. Two miles north of the site of Niles on a piece of land located in the bend of the stream was the home of Weesaw, the war chief. Near Buchanan was the village of Mish-a-qua-ka. South of Pokagon's village, over the line in Indiana, was the village of the noted Potawatomi chief, Menominee. When removal of the Indians was planned by the government, Pokagon obtained special permission from the government to be exempted from this order and remained in his former haunts living a pastoral life until his death. He was buried at Silver Creek church. Cass county. His son, Simon Pokagon, who became prominent as a writer of Indian lore, also resided in southwestern Michigan until his death on January 27, I899. He lies buried in the graveyard of the old church at Rush lake near Hartford. The cession of lands which their ancestors had claimed many generations and in which their dead were buried caused consternation and sorrow among the groups of Indians scattered throughout southern Michigan. In several instances this dissatisfaction resulted in slaying those who had been influential in deeding away the land. The Indians who resided in St. Joseph and Branch counties in particular were dissatisfied. I GRAVE OF SATUGENTASH-TH-REE, RIVERS Li RURAL FREE DELIVERY MONUMENT, CLIMAX, 1KALAMAZO(O COUNTNT FIRST MILLT AT TI-TREE RIVERS-FROM IDAGULERROTVPE OF 1839 REV. MANASSEH HICKEY-MISSIONARY LEONARD SLATER ---MTSSIONARY BARRY COUNTY SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 20D These Indians were identified with those of the Nottawa-seepe reservation, which included portions of St. Joseph and Kalamazoo counties. They were mostly Potawatomies, with a few Ottawas and Chippewas. They roamed in small groups throughout Cass, St. Joseph and Branch counties where numerous lakes and streams afforded them plenty of game and fish for subsistence. For ammunition and supplies they depended on a trading post established as early as I825 on the site of the city of Coldwater. The proprietors were Lorranger and Foster. Patrick Marantette, a noted figure in this region for many years and afterward prominent Mendon resident, was in charge of this while a mere boy. Over the great Sauk Traillater the route of the Chicago stage road-traveled annually many bands of Indians from the far west to and from the British post of Fort Malden, where they obtained annual presents for services during the War of 1812. Marantette's courage was tried by an experience which happened when Chief Black Hawk and his band passed the post. Indians crowded into the building. When a squaw offered to tell Marantette a dressed deerskin, he recognized it as his own property. When he tried to take it away from the woman, Black Hawk advanced with impressive mien and laid his lance across the skin either with the intention of stopping the dispute or claiming it as his own property. Marantette produced another deerskin, compared the price mark with that on the one in dispute. When Black Hawk saw the marks were similar, he exclaimed: "How! How!" and drove the squaw out doors. The Indians were so stirred by this incident that they bought nearly six hundred dollars worth of goods from the young trader, who ever afterward had the confidence of red and white men alike. Throughout this region forests were diversified with prairies. Coldwater Prairie, which was three miles long and one mile and one-half wide, was the largest prairie. Northward were Cocoosh and Bronson Prairies. At Coldwater was the small Indian village of Mick-ke-saw-be. There was another on Cocoosh Prairie. Through Coldwater ran the trail to Fort Wayne. Fifteen years after the country was settled, this broad path, six inches deep, was still visible. Another trail ran from Nottawa-seepe in St. Joseph through Bronson and Cocoosh to Suscopicon Prairie in Indiana. In September, 1833, Governor Porter of Michigan Territory, made at Nottawa-seepe a treaty with the Potawatomies to sell this reservation granted to them at the Treaty of Chicago in I82I, to the government. The Indians were greatly incensed. This reservation had been sold through influence of Chief Sau-au-quett, whose eloquence prevailed. He was nearly assassinated by Quansett. The quarrel was stopped by Marantette. The feud between the two Indians, however, continued. While the men were quarreling one day, Quansett's wife, believing he was in danger, stole up behind Sau-au-quett and stabbed him in the back. X f- A io0 HISTORIC MICHIGAN In St. Joseph County, a chief whom pioneers said was Sau-gan-ash, or "Billy Caldwell," the half-breed who saved many white persons from murder during the massacre of Chicago, was said to have been -assassinated because of giving this aid. His grave is pointed out not far from Three Rivers. The "Billy Caldwell" of Chicago massacre fame, however, was buried in the west, according to other authorities. In Cass county resided an old Indian known as Shavehead. For no other reason than to extort money from white men, this Indian; who had a wicked-looking face, collected toll from all who passed over the Chicago road. Asahel Savery, pioneer tavernkeeper of White Pigeon, and soldier of the War of 1812, gave this copper-colored grafter a beating with a "blacksnake" whip, and travelers were thereafter freed of this pest. Shavehead, when drunk, boasted of the part he took in the massacre of Chicago. While he was telling this story one day, he was overheard by a stranger who happened to be a survivor of the American troops. This man, with a gun over his shoulder, was seen, according to tradition, following Shavehead homeward. The Indian was never again seen, nor was his absence explained. His fate, however, was guessed by everyone. The Indian quarrels and murders stirred the settlers of Branch and St. Joseph counties, and they decided the red men must go. When it became apparent that the government was determined to move the Indians in 1836, the Indians held a council at Coldwater to discuss the project of removal. The Potawatomies came from far and near. Penaishees, the principal signer of the treaty creating the Nottawaseepe reservation, was the acknowledged chief. He was seventy-five years old and said he had little time left to live, either in the east or west, and would leave the question to the younger men for decision. The white men were severely denounced. Nothing was done, and the Indians continued to wander about. One of their friends was Marsh, the trader who had a post west of Coldwater. He carried on trade by sending into the Indian encampments his agents with ponies loaded with goods. They also carried whisky to the red men. Packs of furs were brought back on the ponies. This Marsh called "runnin' a derwin," though the meaning of the last word is unknown in today's vocabulary. In rounding up the Indians throughout the southern Michigan counties for removal, the government had a difficult task, as the hunted men and women hid in the woods and eluded capture. General Hugh Brady and a force of dragoons were sent into southwestern Michigan in 1840 to capture and remove by force the red men. Edward W. Barber, Eaton county pioneer, gives the following glimpse of the pursuit of Indians in his community: "Much excitement prevailed that summer among the whites for tear that the Indians inig4t resent their expatriation and massacre isolated settles; there was talk of building a defensive blockhouse at Vermntville but it turned out thaf the Idians wetie more sad than revengeful over the change. Goernment agents and soldieri, under direction of General Brady, scoured the woods to collect them for SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 211 removal. The Indians soon learned the troops were after them. A council meeting was held just west of the Bellevue settlement. * * * 'They were mounted on the backs of their ponies, huddled together as closely as they could stand, with the heads of their ponies all towards a common center. They were in deep, anxious consultation around their wisest heads. Soon they scattered like a flock of blackbirds. One company fled north, far into the forest. They had with them a sick squaw, which impeded their travel. They were overtaken and sought refuge in a dense swamp, which was surrounded by the cavalry, and after two or three days' siege, they were brought out of their hiding place and taken to Marshall, the place of rendezvous for those collected in this part of the state. From thence they were taken to their place of banishment beyond the Mississippi.' After the removal the woods seemed lonely. Capt. James W. Hickox, the first settler in Walton, once said: 'They had not been gone six months before we wished them all back. They helped us hunt and keep track of our cattle. If we lost an animal and described it to an Indian, he was sure to bring information where it could be found. When we had visitors, the Indians would furnish us with turkey or venison.' A silver dollar was the regular price for a deer, large or small." (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. XXIX, p. 348). Another band of Eaton county Indians made their escape into Canada under the lead of Chief Tuckamin, who resented the discrimination made by the government against his race. He had fought under Tecumseh in the Battle of the Thames, and very naturally he, with hundreds of others, went to Canada. Some of the Michigan Indians went in canoes to the Georgian bay country, where they settled. Others took up residence on Walpole island. In 1851, four of the exiles returned to Bellevue to visit old scenes and to see their old friends among the white settlers. During the round up by cavalry of Indians in Calhoun county, John Maguago, head man or chief, with his half-brother, Pamp-tepee, and their families, who were in hiding, gave up. The women and children and infirm were put into wagons. In Holderman's Grove, LaSalle county, Illinois, these two men and their families escaped from the soldiers and hid until search was given up. Then they made their way back to Calhoun county and settled at Athens, where their descendants reside today. Marcho-no-qua, John's sister, with her four children, went west, but returned the next year, as did also the families of Jacksone, or Whetstone, Te-tse and Seba-qua. The removal of the noted Chief Ba Beese and his band, well known in Hillsdale and Branch counties, where he was located when the first settlers arrived, is thus described by A. D. P. VanBuren: "They were found at a dance in the south part of Pittsford, and ere marched (by Bradys men) back to camp to gather up their valtabies. My father heard they were goinf and he and w boys mad fiaste to bid them a melancholy farewe. We had a fie pteh of melons and gathering a large quantity we placed them by the roadside. As the Indians passed along we gave one to each iman. They 212 HISTORIC MICHIGAN were deeply affected on leaving and many were the hearty handshakes given us. "Baw Beese endeavored to retain his customary calmness and self-possession, but nevertheless betrayed considerable emotion. As he took my father's hand his eyes filled with tears and he seemed to choke. 'Maybe go, maybe fight,' was all the expression he gave to his thought, and turning went his way." "They marched from here to Jonesville; thence west. * * * At the point where they embarked to cross Lake Michigan-I think it was a village at the mouth of the Kalamazoo river-it is said that Baw Beese could keep silent no longer, and rolling out a dry goods box, he mounted it and gave vent to his feelings in a speech which in eloquence and pathos was probably never excelled by one of his race. * * * He referred to the friendly relations that had always existed between his race and the whites, showed in burning language the injustice of his removal and complained that he was to be placed beside and classed with the red men of the west, who were enemies of the government, and whom he therefore could not call friends. He predicted that he would live but a short time in that far-off country, and he was right. He died a broken-hearted man a year or two after his removal."-(Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. XXVIII, p. 532.) A glimpse of General Brady and his soldiers in pursuit of the elusive Indians is given by Mrs. Helen Nichols Caldwell as follows: "Upon reaching Marshall he (her father) found General Brady there with four companies of soldiers to capture the Indians and send them on. Instead of going as agreed, they all ran away and were scattered in all directions. Some had been taken by Lieutenant Galt (among them an old Indian, Macmoot, who escaped), and all the Potawatomies in the state were on the move hiding from the soldiers. They were trying to escape to Canada. * * * I have heard by mother tell how frightened she was when General Brady came there. 'I was standing in the door in the twilight," she said, 'and saw a posse of soldiers coming at full speed and your father with them. My heart stood still for I thought something dreadful must have happened to him. They drew rein at the door, and I soon found out what they were after.' General Brady and staff slept at my father's and grandfather's, the soldiers built their campfire and slept outside."-(Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. XXI, Second Edition, pp. 305-306.) The scattered bands were gathered together at Kalamazoo for removal by Col. Thomas A. H. Edwards. On their way westward they camped several days on grounds north of the Michigan Central depot, where they were visited by large crowds of settlers who wished to bid them farewell. At Kalamazoo they were joined by other parties from the north and west. When all had assembled, the Ottawas and Potawatomies broke camp for their long march to the west. Their tents and household goods were loaded on the backs of ponies. The able-bodied went afoot. They reluctantly left the SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 213 land of their fathers, for they feared they would be attacked in the west by the Sioux, the enemies of their ancestors. "On leaving Kalamazoo, the Indians marched past the residence of Judge Ranson, for whom they had great respect. As they passed they doffed their ornamental headgear, and raised their right hands as a sign of farewell." Hardships and indignities endured by some of the Indians during the western journey will ever be a blot on the government agents, who had charge of them. At Peoria, the government, it is charged, broke faith with the Indians. It had been stipulated that they should be taken by land the entire distance together with their dogs and ponies. Here they were driven at the bayonet's point aboard a boat. The animals were sold for trifles or confiscated. The Indians were taken down the Illinois river to the Mississippi, thence up the Arkansas to the border of Kansas territory, where they arrived in an impoverished condition. At their destination they were disembarked under direction of Buel Holcomb, later of Athens. The agents did not dare to appear.-(History of Branch County.) One of the saddest tales of this forcible removal of the Indians is that of the old Chief Menominee, friend of Pokagon, and leader of a band of Potawatomies at Twin Lake near Plymouth, Indiana. This chief and his followers were trapped in a chapel by soldiers and forcibly taken away. The Indian agent had previously called a council to ascertain whether anything could be done to induce the Indians to leave of their own accord. When Colonel Pepper made his final appeal to Menominee, the chief rose, wrapped his blanket about him, displaying his skillfully worked leggings and moccasins, his white head bared, and replied: "The President does not know the truth. He, like me, has been imposed upon. He does not know that your treaty is a lie and that I never signed it. He does not know that you made my young chiefs drunk and got their consent, and pretended to get mine. He does not know that I refused to sell my lands, and still refuse. He would not by force drive me from my home, the graves of my tribes and my children who have gone to the Great Spirit, nor allow you to tell me your braves will take me, tied like a dog, if he knew the truth. My brother, the President, is just; but he listens to the word of his young chiefs who have lied; and when he knows the truth he will leave me to my own. I have not sold my lands. I will not sell them. I have not signed any treaty and I shall not sign any. I am not going to leave my lands, and I do not want to hear anything more about it." Compelled by a large force of dragoons to leave, the Potawatomies tearfully left their village after seeing the soldiers tear down their wigwams. On the way many of the unwilling travelers died. Their only comfort was that given by the Rev. Father Petit, devoted Catholic priest, who shared their hardships, ministered to the dying and consoled the sorrowing. Exposure during the journey resulted in death of this saintly man in St. Louis. His remains were entombed under the sanctuary in the chapel of the University of Notre Dame. 214 HISTORICg MECOAN It is not known where Menominee died, but it is believed he succumbed on the long march. About five hundred Potawatomies under Chief To-pen-a-be were also taken westward after assembling with other bands at South Bend. Scattered bands of Indians continued to reside in southwestern Michigan, drawing annuities, until I855, when new treaties were made by which the tribesmen agreed to accept lands in Oceana and Mason counties. Their reservation, known as "Injun Town," was twenty-five miles long and six miles wide. When the Rbellion broke out, these Indians, whose fathers had fought with the British against the Americans, loyally enlisted and fought. The following account of their settlement in the new reservation contains many names familiar in the history of counties of southwestern Michigan: "These towns were high and rolling in most parts, with deep river valleys and timbered with hardwood and pine. The crystalline streams were full of trout, grayling and bass. A short distance west was Lake Michigan, which could be reached by way of the river down to Pentwater. Bear, deer, mink, raccoon, fox, otter, fisher, muskrat and ducks, partridge and pigeons were plentiful in this last earthly happy hunting ground of the sad remnants of the Ottawas, Chippewas and Potawatomies, who had sold their rights on the Grand and Thornapple rivers. Barry county seemed to be a sort of dividing place for the remaining Indians, who were pushed out by progress. Part of them went north, and part went south and west beyond the "Father of Waters." This reservation was chosen with care-it was away from the white men and it was hoped that they would not encroach for many years. This was an Indian's wilderness paradise. In addition to the above mentioned game the great forests were alive with gray wolves, which brought from $8.00 to $Io.oo for each scalp taken. Wild berries grew in countless profusion, and the fertile soil was easily tilled by the squaws and old men, who cultivated potatoes and Indian corn. "The Indians assembled early in the fall of I857 at Grand Haven and were transported on the steamer Ottawa with their goods to Pentwater, about 700 or 806 of them. When they landed those who came from inland were so impressed with the great sand hills that they camped for some time round Pentwater lake before going to the reservation. It was remarkable to see them disport themselves in the sand hills: to see nearly nude figures lock arms and roll over and over from the top until they landed in the water. They found plenty of hunting and fishing. "In the summer of 1858, the propellor C. Mears brought the balance of the Indians from Grand Haven to Pentwater-about 500 to 6oo, making in all about 1,3o0. The men rode ponies along the beach. The principal chiefs were Peshoisky, whose other name was Henry Clay, or the orator; Cobmoosa, the Great Walker; Shaw-be-quong, or Wings, meaning that he could soar as an orator; Pay-baw-me, a Catholic and lay reader. Cobmoosa, being a pagan to the day of his death, was one hundred years old. Shaw-be-quong was an Episco SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 215 palian, and a good talker. Genereau was half French and an interpreter. He was a Methodist Episcopalian, but changed to Catholic and married Pay-baw-me's widow. Joseph Elliott, who with Genereat lived in Elbridge, was a full-blooded Indian and an interpreter. He was a Methodist, and it is said that he preached with considerable fluency. He gave the first sermon ever preached in Pentwater in C. Mears' boarding house, the 'boys' paying the tithe with pork and potatoes. "The government erected schoolhouses, one on the northwest corner of Sec. II, Elbridge, called the Pay-baw-me; one on the northeast corner of Sec. 17, called the Genereau; one on the northeast corner of Sec. 27, called the Cob-moosa, and one in Crystal, near the H. S. Sayles place, which has always been a favorite rendezvous of the red men. The government teachers were James Haley, a strict Irish Catholic, who came from Detroit; Mrs. H. S. Sayles, of Elbridge, and Eliza Foote, of Lansing. The Cob-moosa school was taught first by Rev. D.. R. Latham, John Bean, Jr., and Mrs. Arial Crosby in succession. The Genereau school was taught by W. H. Leach, D. W. Crosby and John Smith, the latter being an Indian. The Crystal school was taught by D. K. Foster, a half-breed, and by Charles Selkirk." In July, 1863, white settlers enlisted to serve in the RebellionOn July 4, a great celebration was held at the reservation. Lieut. E. V. Endress, First Michigan Sharpshooters, was present and delivered an eloquent plea to the Indians to enlist, Louis Genereau acting; as interpreter. Chief Pay-baw-me then spoke. Twenty-five young men responded by enlisting. These, led by Louis Genereau, Jr., stepped forward and were sworn into the United States service. On the following Sunday, Andress marched them all into Pentwater, accompanied by nearly all the Indians on the reservation. The scene at the steamer's departure was very affecting. Gray-haired old squaws took leave of sons, and young squaws shyly watched their departing braves. And also Indian mothers with papooses strapped on their backs took leave of husbands in the Indian manner. As the boat left the dock three hearty cheers were given and those departing responded. Some of the company won fame for gallant conduct. Others. never came back.-(History of Oceana County, pp. 44-45.) A number of Indians of the Kalamazoo valley residing in Allegan county on April I8, 1853, renounced their tribal laws and asked to become United States citizens in the following petition: We, the undersigned descendants of the Chippewa and Ottawa tribes of Indians, having been born in the State of Michigan, and always residing therein-being attached to the soil, where the bones of our fathers are laid-and being desirous of abandoning our ownrr system of laws and government, and of adopting the laws, habits of life, and government of the white people of the United States and of the State of Michigan, that we may enjoy the benefits of civilization and Christianity, and the privileges and civil rights of citizens and voters: do hereby with our chiefs, solemnly declare that we yield our laws and government up for laws of the United States and of Michigan; Ib 216 HISTORIC MICHIGAN that we mean to adopt the habits of civilized life, to clear land and cultivate the soil, to build houses to live in, and to have our children educated in the habits, customs, language and mode of living of the white men, our neighbors, and that in all things we mean to claim the protection of the laws of the government, and submit ourselves to the jurisdiction and control of the laws both in civil and criminal matters. Tabaschapichig. Lewis McSauby. Joseph Macksauba. Kiweiasang. William Bewitebigabaw. Joseph Armiguan. Francis Macksauba. Winsor Animiquum. Peter Shoshaguase. Paul Nisawaquat. Francis Wowangobo. Peter Oshoswoshquar. John Oshamoshquar. Kishigobinese Akiwendjigetose. Joseph Visewagat. George Shashawonipise. Peter Wawangabo. Paul Shoshaquashe. Poneit Wouatchenotin. Joseph -Oshawoshquar. Louis Matchikishig. Joseph Chawegoshgun. Paul Waukazoo. Daniel Wedigowish. James Prickett. James Shashaquase. John Oshaquashquar. Nenoiquar Oshawashquar. Wassa Zumby. George Weazhe. William Chinghah. Mutebe Sakendouinm. Michael Akibauozi. Lewis Akibemose. William Keshewose. John Akibemose. Joseph Shashaquashe. Agent Okinotsgo. Atoin Matchikishig. Peminawa Magatemini. Joseph Shashaxuase. Monitowe Oshawoshquar. State of Michigan, ss Allegan County On this I8th day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, personally came before the undersigned, a Notary Public, in and for the county aforesaid, Paul Wakazoo, Lewis Macksauba, Tobaschaapachig, Joseph Visagagway, James Pricket, chiefs of the Ottawa and Chippewa tribes; and Daniel Wedegowish, Wassa Zumby, George Weazhe, William Chinguah, Mutebe Salmdoim, Michael Akibauziae, Lewis Akibauzse, William Hithwase, John Atermase, Joseph Shashaquatae, Agent Okinotsgo, Atin Matchkishig, Penawa Mayateatine, Joseph Sharaquase, Awasikithig Akiandjitose, Minita Oscawaskqua, Robert Apiskabe, Joseph Masksauba, William Benwitaglawn, Joseph Armiguan, Francis Macsauba, Winsor Animquan, Peter Shashagum, Paul Nisaquaquit, Francis Waangoba, Peter Oshawshqua, John Oshawshque, George Washawanipi, Peter Wawagaba, Paul Shashaquashe, Ponit Warnitthenatin, Joseph Ashawashgua, Louis Mathekishy, Joseph Chawigo-kigm, James Shasha SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 217 qude, Kishigobanie Akindjiabe, John Asnawashaques, Niniuqua Othohawga; who by the oath of James Pricket, who acted as interpreter for them, were made known to me and who all severally acknowledged that they had executed the same freely, and for the purposes above expressed. ELISHA ELY, Notary Public. CHAPTER XI EARLY ROADS AND TAVERNS THE first great road authorized built in Michigan was the military highway between Detroit and Chicago, passing through the southern tier of counties. This road was surveyed along the old Sauk Trail before 1825. As this road was intended for possible movement of troops and transportation of supplies, it was laid out one hundred feet wide. So carefully had the Indians selected the route that few changes were necessary. When actual construction was ordered at a cost of $25,000 funds were scarce and the builders did little else than to cut the trees on each side of the trail and remove shrubbery. Here and there they laid "corduroy" across swamps, but most of the improvements were made by the emigrants when their wagons, often sinking to wheel-hubs in the mud, made travel impossible unless the use of ax and shovel were brought into action. Many were the wrecks of vehicles that lined this old highway into the "New country," and many were the tales of hardships that were carried back to eastern cities. The "Chicago trail," with the exception of a short section which was straightened in Washtenaw county, today follows the course of the Indian highway over which for hundreds of years traveled the savages on missions of peace and war. In I833, the government actually began to improve this road, but progress was slow, and the first workers did not arrive in St. Joseph county until I834. With the resumption of stage lines shortly after the Black Hawk scare was over, public demand made improvement necessary, and in a short time there was an improved road to Chicago. This highway divided at Ypsilanti, the northern section running through Ann Arbor, Jackson, Marshall and Battle Creek. The other bore to the southwest, and passed through Hillsdale county, thence westward through Coldwater, Sturgis, White Pigeon and Bertrand to the lake shore. Both of these trans-state highways were called "Territorial roads." WHITE PIGEON WAS LARGEST SETTLEMENT Between Detroit and Chicago the principal settlement was White Pigeorn in St. Joseph county. This town, which grew rapidly, was named after the Potawatomi chief Wah-bem-me, who gave up his life to warn the community of a plot to murder them. The first record of settlement here was in 1827, but tradition has it that pioneers were here before that year. The Indians of Michigan Territory, who had been allies of the British during the War of I812, believed that hostilities between the two countries would break out again, and this feeling was constantly strengthened by the annual trips for presents to Fort Malden, the British stronghold. While in Detroit, White Pigeon heard of a plot to kill the settlers and he immediately hurried afoot to/ SOUTHWEST MWIGIGAN 219 219 warn them of danger. He accomplishe his purpose, but died soon afterward from the physical strain. A handsome monument has been erected over his grave, and a grateful community keeps his name alive and praises his heroic act, which is not surpassed in frontier annals. White Pigeon prairie consists of one thousand acres, and the little settlement which sprang up there in 1827 became the goal of immigrants from the east. The hamlet flourished at a time when Chicago, or Fort Dearborn, as it was then called, was seldom mentioned. When the surveyors who had laid out the Chicago road returned to Detroit in 1825, they brought back reports of a wonderfully rich country they had visited. When the lands were thrown open to the public, the land office at Monroe was so rushed with applicants that it was removed to White Pigeon, which became the metropolis of the "new country." MORE ROADS WERE NEEDED With the increase of immigration, the demand for more roads became insistent and construction of highways was immediately authorized, though actual building was slow and expensive. In I829, an act was passed by the Territorial legislature authorizing construction of a road from Plymouth in Wayne county through Ann Arbor to Grand river, where the St. Joseph trail crosses the same; thence through "Cohwagiac" and Grand Prairies (Calhoun county) to the mouth of the St. Joseph river. Jehial Enos, of Grand. Prairie, was appointed one of the commissioners. An act was passed on June I8, 1832, to provide for a Territorial road from the mouth of Battle Creek to the mouth of the Kalamazoo river, across Gull Prairie, and thence following the river to its mouth. The same year-on June 22-an act was passed authorizing construction of a Territorial road from White Pigeon, via Prairie Ronde and Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids. The commissioners appointed to lay out this road were John S. Barry (afterward governor), Isaac N. Hurd and E. B. Sherman. In 1833, the Territorial legislature established a road beginning at the "Middle Village" (the Indian settlement at the old French blockhouse on Scales' Prairie two miles west of the present village of Middleville), in Barry county and running through the Gun river plain (in Allegan county), to the Territorial road near the forks of the Paw Paw. The commissioners named to lay out this road were William Duncan, of Prairie Ronde, Carlos Barnes, a captain in the Black Hawk war, and Cornelius Northrup. In 1833, construction was authorized for another highway, leading from Marshall to the "Rapids of the Grand." General Joseph W. Brown, famous as commander in the "Toledo war," and Black Hawk war, Lewis Campbell, Jr., and 0. Wilder, one of the founders of the village of Allegan, were named commissioners. With the admission of Michigan as a state, settlement rapidly increased and numerous roads were laid out and constructed. In 1837, 220 HISTORIC MICHIGAN a state road was established between Kalamazoo and the county seat of Barry County. Lloyd Jones, Sherman Cummings, of Comstock, and Mumford Eldred, an early settler of Gull Prairie, were named commissioners. At the same time there was authorized a state road to run from Marshall via Verona, now a portion of Battle Creek, and Gun Plains to Allegan. Charles W. Spaulding, prominent resident of Prairieville, Silas F. Littlejohn, of Allegan, and Cephas A. Smith the first prosecuting attorney of Calhoun county, were chosen commissioners. Another road was established, leading from Bellevue to Hastings. The commissioners were: Andrew L. Hayes, who came to Calhoun county in 1831; Reuben Fitzgerald, of Bellevue, and Levi P. Woodbury. A road was also laid out between Allegan and Howell. The commissioners were Guy C. Lee and Flavius J. B. Crane. AUTHORIZE HASTINGS-BATTLE CREEK ROAD Itn 838 a state road was established to run between Battle Creek by way of Hutchinson's Mills to Hastings. The commissioners named were Stephen V. R. York, of Johnstown; Rustin Angel, of Battle Creek, and John Meacham, of Bedford. On February I6, 1838, a state road between Kalamazoo and Niles was authorized, with Twin Lakes, on Section I6, town five south, range 15 west, a point in the line. Another road was established from Battle Creek to Grand Rapids by way of Gull Prairie. Isaac Barnes, George Torrey, afterwards editor of the Kalamazoo Telegraph, and Roswell Britain, were named commissioners. Another road was established from Kalamazoo to Hastings, with Mumford Eldred, Isaac Otis and John Mills as commissioners. Another road was established between Galesburg and Hastings. The commissioners were Hugh Shafter, father of General W. R. Shafter, Nathaniel Cathern and Reuben H. Sutton. In I840, a state road was established between Vermontville and Grand Rapids by way of Barry county. The commissioners were: William Stoddard, Charlotte; Levi Wheaton, Chester; Wait J. Sruie, Eaton county; Abner C. Parmelee, first register of deeds of Barry county, and William C. Henry, Grand Rapids merchant. For the purpose of completing the road between the Eaton county seat, through Vermontville to Hastings, thence to Grand Rapids the following commissioners were named in 1841: William B. Thorne, Calvin Hill, of Yankee Springs township, and Henry H. Broth, of Allegan. One portion of the road was to commence on the Thornapple river road in Yankee Springs and run by way of Long Lake to Allegan. STAGE LINE ESTABLISHED IN 1831 With opening of roads, lines of stage coaches were put into operation. These vehicles began to carry passengers as far as White Pigeon in 1831 under management of Asahel Savery, tavernkeeper of the settlement. In 1833, a man namer Sargent, carried passengers between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids, and Lucius Barnes started a ~:$i_:::.f: 0E =::; l::.I . SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 221 line between Marshall and Bronson (Kalamazoo) by way of Gull Prairie. The following year S. B. Davis & Company operated a line on the Territorial road as far as Kalamazoo. Several early stage lines in this region were operated from Detroit west into this region by Tillotson, Brown & Davis, General Bissell Humphrey and Patterson and Ward. Stages between Three Rivers and Grand Rapids were run at one time by the firm of Pattison and Wood. Some of these vehicles were of the large Concord type drawn by four horses, others of the "thoroughbrace" type were swung by from the running gear by leather instead of being held in place by springs. The drivers were skilled with the whip, and they took pride in delivering on time their heavily laden outfits at the taverns where meals were ready to be served and where horses were to be changed. "Among the noted drivers were Samuel T. Brown, Gull Prairie; a man named Hill, afterwards sheriff of VanBuren county; Bill Bliss, who died at Paw Paw; Loren and Hiram Gay, who subsequently went to California; John Morgan, - Green, who died in Kalamazoo; Samuel and John Carver, brothers of Marshall." (History of Kalamazoo County, I880, p. 167). STAGE AND MAIL ROUTES IN 1835 "Mitchell's Tourist Map of 1835 describes three principal stage routes in Michigan, namely, one from Detroit through Ypsilanti, Saline, Tecumseh, Jonesville, Coldwater, Niles, La Porte, and Michigan ACity to Chicago, on a thrice-a-week stage service was scheduled. * * * It appears from Blois' list (Michigan Gazetteer, Detroit, 1838, p. 97), there was a weekly mail between Detroit and * * * Jonesville and Marshall; Coldwater and St. Joseph; Niles and New Buffalo; * * * Marshall and Coldwater; Marshall and Centreville * * * Michigan City, Indiana, and Grand Haven; Battle Creek and Eaton; Battle Creek and Kent; Battle Creek and Schoolcraft; Kalamazoo and Saugatuck; Kalamazoo and the mouth of the Black river; Kalamazoo and Kent; * * * Cassopolis and Elkhart; * * * Centreville and Michigan City, Indiana; New Buffalo and La Porte, Indiana; Eaton and Ionia." (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. XXXVIII, p. 595). Along the state roads were taverns which became famous throughout the country. Notable were "The Old Diggins,". conducted by Asahel Savery at White Pigeon, and "The Mansion House," of Yankee Springs on the Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids road. The firm of Patterson and Ward was composed of W. G. Patterson, of Kalamazoo, and John K. Ward, of Battle Creek. They operated a line from Battle Creek and Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids by way of Gull Prairie, now Richland, Prairieville, Yankee Springs, Middle Village, Leonard's tavern, Peter McNaughton's tavern, the Oak Grove House, Whitneyville tavern, and Cascade. The same company started a stage line between Battle Creek and Hastings by way of the road which opened through Bedford, Johnstown, and Baltimore townships in I840. One of the men engaged in cutting this road through the wilderness was Hugh Shafter, of Galesburg. To connect with the Grand Rapids stage, William Seavey, afterward a soldier in 222 HISTORIIC MCHIGAN the Mexican war, began to drive a wagon which carried passengers and freight between Hastings and Whitneyville in I846. The demand for transportation to Grand Rapids became so great that Patterson and Ward established a regular line between Battle Creek and Grand Rapids by way of Hastings. BATTLE CREEK-HASTINGS STAGE LINE This occasion, which marked an important epoch in the growing settlement of Hastings, was made the occasion of great festivities. Almost the entire population of Barry county assembled at the Barlow House, as the first stage tavern was called (the first hostelry was Chase's log tavern on the Thornapple river bank), and awaited arrival of the stage from Grand Rapids and Battle Creek. The drivers planned to arrive in front of the hotel at the same time. This was carried out. The blasts of the horns sounded almost simultaneously. Both equipages came into view at the same time, each drawn by four galloping horses. The settlers held a big feast, followed with a dance in the dance hall of the hotel. This hall had an old-fashioned "swinging" floor, considered especially fine for dancing in those days. Through the ceiling protruded the muzzles of numerous bottles, which were supposed to improve the acoustic properties and make the music more harmonious. The coaches used on the road through the western part of Barry county were of the old Concord type and carried passengers inside and on the top. These equipages, drawn by four horses, made fast time over the roads, occasionally planked to make the worst places smoother. When the stage approached the taverns it was customary for the driver to blow a long blast from a horn and the sound reverberated for miles through the heavily timbered hills. This was done to impress the passengers, many of whom were "tenderfeet" from the east who rode in fear that the stage would be at any time attacked or held up by Indians, as the red men were frequently seen peering through the bushes as the stage went past. HIRAM MERRILL WAS DRIVER The stages used on the Hastings-Battle Creek route were of a different type. The body was enclosed differently from the Concord coach. As the body swung on leather thongs instead of springs, they were known as "thoroughbrace" stages. Hiram Merrill was one of the first drivers between the two settlements. He drove until 1852, when the company, which was also operating stages between St. Paul and St. Anthony, now Minneapolis, offered him a job on the latter line, which he accepted. He was succeeded by William Burroughs. "Elder" Green drove the Grand Rapids stage from Hastings to the Oak Grove House, whence it was taken on by Driver Ed Campau to its destination on the "Owashtanong," as the Indians called the Grand river. The stage left Battle Creek 'every day of the year at half past three o'clock m the morning, generally arriving at Hastings at ten elock. The fare to Hastings was $x.5o; to Grand Rapids, $2.5o. The road for ten miles north of Battle Creek was planked. Another SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 223 stretch of planking was in Barry county, a short distance south of Dowling. The road led through a rough country, and the passengers who sat on the rear seats were severely shaken up. A frequent passenger was Rix Robinson, an early fur trader of Grand Rapids. Mr. Burroughs recalled the time when Robinson became so angry at being jostled over the rough road that he threatened to whip the driver. CHANGED AT BRISTOL'S TAVERN The first change of horses after leaving Battle Creek was at Bristol's tavern, fifteen miles south of Hastings. This house was built by William P. Bristol in 1852, and was used as an inn until ten years later, when the Robinson House sprang into prominence, and was used until the extension of the Grand River Valley division of the Michigan Central railroad to Grand Rapids put all the state lines out of business. Mrs. Susan Carver Robinson kept this tavern. Other taverns sprang up along the stage road to cater to the wants of the travelers. One of these proprietors, carrying a decanter of whisky, used to meet the stage, pass around the drinks, and inquire if any of the passengers were looking for real estate. If any passenger assented, he was invited to stop off at the tavern for a week free of charge and look over the surrounding country. STOPPED TO DRINK Five miles southeast of Hastings is a spring located at the foot of an immense hill known as MacOmber's hill, where drivers always stopped to water their horses. It was an excellent place for a tavern, and two rival hotels were built by Allen Green, a well known pioneer character, and a man named Louks. A bottle of whisky was usually found in the long grass near the spring. The passenger poured out a drink, and left the money near the bottle. To this day the place is known as "Whisky Run." Whenever the stage stopped at this place the passengers turned out and the drinks were passed around. Many extraordinary incidents are recalled at these taverns. In them dances were held, and high revelry was often indulged in by residents of Hastings. Counterfeit money, which flowed abundantly in the new settlements, was also passed at taverns along the line. Green was known far and wide as an amusing personage. One day all the passengers patronized Louks' tavern and Green standing bottle in hand had no one to serve. Suddenly he walked into Louks' place, dropped upon his knees before the astonished passengers and said: "Oh, Lord; send some of these thirsty passengers over to try some of my poor whisky." He rose and walked out without saying a word. A roar of laughter followed from the crowd, and they immediately invaded Green's place, and patronized him libetally. DRIVEN orT BY RAILROADS With the coming of the railroad in i869 the stages beame things Of the past. The country taterns were compe ed to close, and the Wtage drivers engaged in other occupains. The stages were sold and takie to the far west for operation on the plains hei they ere agin tiperseded by railroads. 224 HISTORIC MICHIGAN ASAHEL SAVERY, FRONTIER TAVERN KEEPER In the village of White Pigeon, St. Joseph county, which nearly a century ago was the principal settlement between Detroit and Chicago, there is still recalled the memory of "Colonel" Asahel Savery, a soldier in the War of 1812, and noted romantic character of the Michigan frontier, whose tavern, known as the "Old Diggins," was a famous hostelry on the old Chicago stage road when the first emigrants were crowding along the wilderness trail to take up land in southern Michigan and northern Indiana. The "Old Diggins" was the goal of the landseekers, once they had left behind the thriving city of Detroit and turned westward the heads of their horses and oxen. Today Savery is a character in local mythology, which is growing dimmer as time passes on. Today, the schoolhouse in White Pigeon stands on the site of the tavern, the first building in the village. Born in Vermont, Savery made his way while a youth to Detroit. Soon after Savery had become initiated into the customs of life on the Michigan frontier, the War of 1812 broke out and he enlisted as a teamster in General Lewis Cass' army, forming with the commander an acquaintance which he afterward found advantageous. When the government men who surveyed the great military highway between Detroit and Chicago along the old Sauk trail, returned to Detroit, they told alluring stories of the marvelous fertility of the small prairies and "oak openings" of the St. Joseph river valley, and of opportunities to develop water-power on tributaries of that waterway famous since the days of La Salle. At the ford of the St. Joseph river, then known as the "grand traverse" is now located the little hamlet of Mottville. IN WHITE PIGEON IN 1827 One of the first men to head for the land of promise described by the surveyors was Asahel Savery, who arrived in "Pigeon" in December, 1827. With good business foresight, Savery recognized that the proposed town would be an important center of emigration, and he immediately rolled up logs for the "Old Diggins." In the spring a sign announced that Savery was ready to "Entertain man and beast." His tavern from the start became headquarters for important public transactions. Far and wide his fame spread. In August, I828, Savery was one of the first to greet General Lewis Cass on his way to Niles to purchase from the Indians congregated there some lands reserved in the Treaty of Chicago. Proudly the landlord renewed acquaintance with the leader under whom he had campaigned. With the general as interpreter was Joseph Parks, a white man once held captive by the Wyandottes, and eight other men from Detroit. He had in his train eight ponies, four loaded with silver with which to pay for the Indian lands, and four carrying two hundred pounds of calicos, ginghams and notions for presents after the deals were consummated. While crossing Sturgis prairie, Cass and his party had been entertained by the settlers with a bear feast, the general laying aside his dignity to participate in a jollification which followed SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN when bruin, roasted on a spit, was transferred to a long table under a tree. Intensely patriotic, Savery determined that July 4, I829, should not go unobserved in White Pigeon and he entertained with the simple fare of the pioneers forty guests at dinner. There was no oratory, no music, no firing of guns. An elaborate celebration was held on July 4, I832, Niles, Coldwater, Jonesville and other settlements being represented among the one hundred visitors. Music was furnished by men from Coldwater. A more elaborate celebration was held in 1835, when a large parade was disbanded in front of the tavern where liquid refreshments were ready-but the patriotic Savery was not there to extend greeting-afar in the nearly unknown south he was marching with the hosts of General Sam Houston's Texans to battle the Mexicans. ENLARGED HIS HOTEL Savery's business outgrew the capacity of his hewn log building, which he expanded by adding a frame structure. The frontier attracted a great variety of personages, some of whom could not fit into conventional society. Savery himself was a convivial soul. Kindred spirits gathered before his bar to drink from flowing bowl, and, according to tradition, laughter and song, and jig music of the fiddle, accompanied by rhythmic thumping of feet, sounded far into the night as the motley crowds of travelers, landlookers, trappers and frontiersmen emptied glass after glass in the room lighted by candles and blazing logs in the wide fireplace. Silent, enigmatic Indians stood in the background watching the scene. Mingling with the revelers was Savery with beaming face, ever popular, ever generous. Lured by cheap, fertile lands, hundreds of emigrants traversed the rough wilderness road into southern Michigan. The squeaking of the wheels of their covered wagons, drawn laborously by horses or oxen, could be heard long distances. To the rear of the wagons were tied cows, or horses. In crates piled on the high-laden vehicles cackled imprisoned fowls. From the hills of New England came descendants of the early Puritans-men and women schooled in primitive, isolated life. From central New York came sturdy experienced agriculturists in search of broad level lands easy to till. The race for lands was won by the swiftest. Settlers were obliged to file entries in the government land office in Monroe until June I, 1833, when the agency was moved to White Pigeon. Many were the races run to file claims, those on foot being out-distanced by competitors fortunate enough to own horses. SAVERY SHOWS HIS GENEROSITY No selfish man was Asahel Savery, the patriot, the generous and hospitable landlord. When he learned that both he and Hiram Powers wanted to file an entry on the same land in Nottawa, he refused to bid against his friend, or to accept an opportunity to reach the land office first. The men mutually agreed to give or take fifty dollars 226 HISTORIC MICHIGAN for the chance to file. Powers did not have enough money with which to pay the bonus and buy the land, and Savery accepted the offer, which provided Powers with enough cash to obtain another claim. Savery established the first stage line in southern Michigan, late in 1831, driving the vehicle himself between Tecumseh and Niles. Though a military highway one hundred feet wide had been surveyed between Detroit and Chicago in 1825, the road was not worked through St. Joseph county until after the Black Hawk war. Until that time the emigrants merely followed the Indian trail, cutting their ways through thickets, laying "corduroy" in marshes and bridging unfordable streams with logs. Gradually the trail became a fairly passable wagon road. The stage companies, at their own expense, also improved the road, and built bridges. In I833, the federal government began systematically to build the highway, the workmen reaching St. Joseph county in 1834. The cost of removing obstacles from the road and of building bridges fell heavily upon Savery. He wanted to obtain a contract for carrying the mails in his state, so he went to Washington in I832 to seek the aid of General Lewis Cass. The statesman, immediately recalling his army teamster and wilderness host, gravely introduced him to some of his colleagues as "Colonel Savery, of Michigan." He also saw to it that Savery obtained his contract. When the tavernkeeper arrived in White Pigeon, he was surprised to find news of his military sobriquet had preceded him, and he was ever afterward known as "colonel." Though Savery's tavern was well patronized, uncongenial influences were at work. White Pigeon was fast becoming too civilized for him. A newspaper, the "Michigan Statesman and St. Joseph Chronicle" (afterward moved to Kalamazoo, where it became The Gazette), had been established on December IO, I833. The stage had already become too slow for the progressive community. On January I, 1835, delegates from White Pigeon, Toledo, Lagrange, Michigan City, Bristol, Mottsville and Constantine held a convention in Savery's tavern to petition the federal government to build a railroad between Lakes Erie and Michigan. It was urged that the line should pass through White Pigeon. SAVERY THE PATHFINDER Shortly afterward, "Colonel" Slavery closed the "Old Diggins" and left for Texas, where he joined the army of Sam Houston and fought in all the battles of the "Lone Star State's" war for freedom from Mexico. Whether or not Savery's financial condition forced him to give up his enterprises has never been revealed. Nor is it known whether or not he sold the hostelry, or merely abandoned it as a liability. It is known, however, that a Doctor Rowley reopened the tavern, after Savery left, and that he in turn was succeeded by Daniel Howell. Savery's more practical associates remained in White Pigeon, developing the community, and prospered, but the famous landlord, whose last resting place is unknown, left behind him imperishable SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 227 footprints in the history of southern Michigan. He was a pathfinder, they were builders. From time to time Savery's old friends heard of him fighting in the early battles of the Mexican war, and returned veterans brought news that he was with the wagon transport train with Scott's victorious army in the march from Vera Cruz to the capital. Later came news that Savery had traveled overland with the "Forty-niners" in search of gold. Again they heard of him in the frontier mining camps in Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Nevada. As an Indian fighter and a pathfinder on the plains and in the mountains-for which his knowledge of woodcraft gained in the Michigan wilderness had splendidly equipped him-Savery became widely known throughout the west. In the late fifties, White Pigeon heard that its famous "rolling stone" had returned to Texas and "settled down." SAVERY REVISITED WHITE PIGEON During the Rebellion there appeared on the streets here a man who attracted attention by gazing at the buildings and asking for many persons who were dead, or who had left. News soon spread that "Ase" Savery had come back. Though many years older than when he enthusiastically erected the first building here, Savery declared that during all his wanderings he had cherished memories of his life in White Pigeon which he had come back to see once more. He recalled how he had hoisted the flag at the first Fourth of July celebrated in this country in 1828, when he entertained forty settlers with dinner at his tavern. Incidentally, this veteran of three wars, explained he had fled from Texas secessionists. During his sojourn here, Savery was entertained by surviving old friends and in families where the children on parental knees had heard anecdotes about "Ase" and the very early days. When Savery left White Pigeon, he said he was going back to Texas. YANKEE SPRINGS TAVERN Throughout Michigan Territory there was no personage more widely known during stage-coach days than William, or "Yankee" Lewis, genial landlord of the "Mansion House," a tavern "nine stories all on the ground," it the western part of Barry county. Travelers going out of Michigan sang the praises of hospitality extended by "Yankee Bill" and his estimable wife. Those who ate at his table longed to go back, and those en route into the new country looked forward with delightful anticipation to the feasts they were to find spread on the table and the comfortable beds in which the hardships of the trip were to be forgotten. Early in August, 1836, William Lewis and Mary Goodwin, his wife, three daughters and a son, and an adopted daughter, Flavia Stone, left the old home in Weathersfield, Wyoming county, New York, and started in a covered wagon for the Michigan wilderness. Mr. Lewis was thirty-five years old. The five children ranged in ages from two HISTORIC MICHIGAN to eleven. Mrs. Lewis, riding a gray saddle horse, accompanied the wagon, her husband driving the team day after day and preparing camp at night. After three weeks of traveling through an unknown country, which had become wilder as they penetrated farther into the Peninsula and neared their destination, the family, on August 26, halted in Yankee Springs to visit Calvin Lewis, Mr. Lewis' brother, who had preceded them three weeks earlier. Mrs. Lewis recalled the arrival as follows: "After leaving Detroit, the road was mostly through dense woods, Marshall, Battle Creek and Kalamazoo being marked with little clusters of houses surrounded by forests. After leaving Battle Creek we passed through Gull Prairie, now Richland, and there met Leonard Slater, located on the Indian reservation as missionary to the Potawatamie tribe. Leaving this place we plunged into the wilderness, and, the road having disappeared, we followed an Indian trail marked by blazed trees and journeyed eighteen miles farther through the woods without seeing a single habitation. Tired and travel-worn, weary and hungry, we halted at nightfall in a lovely valley in the wilderness, where a log house was in progress of erection. Living springs of clear cold water were gushing from a bank, and on a near-by poplar tree someone had fastened a shingle marked 'Yankee Springs.' "WE ARE ALL YANKEES" "In 1835, a young man by the name of Charles Paul, in company with the family of Henry Leonard, were eating their luncheon under the trees beside one of the springs. A stranger joined them, and it came out in conversation that they were all from the New England states, and one of the party said: "'We are all Yankees!' "At this suggestion, Charles Paul hewed the bark off the side of an oak tree and cut the words 'Yankee Springs' on it. The name clung to the place and was finally adopted by the township." (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. XXX, pp. 290-29I). The Lewis family received a hearty welcome from Calvin Lewis, who shared the log cabin of two rooms with his relatives. A quilt hung up served as a door. As no glass was available, boards were placed over the windows. Here William Lewis decided to settle, and he "located" a thousand acres of land most of which was covered with heavy timber. The!nearest neighbor was Calvin Hill, who resided eight miles distant. Indians were on every side. For miles in every direction stretched the unbroken primeval forest. As the Lewis cabin was on the great Indian trail-the only roadbetween Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids, many persons applied for shelter. William Lewis saw an opportunity for profit and prepared to entertain travelers. How well he did this is related by the daughter of the late Daniel Ball, one of the founders of Grand Rapids, who traveled over the road in 1836: "Alone he turned northward, spend SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 229 ing the first night at Yankee Springs where Mr. Lewis had a log cabin. My father in common with all travelers of that day always paid a glowing eulogy to the hospitality he received at Yankee Lewis' tavern. Mrs. Lewis had the best suppers, and there was the biggest of fires in the fireplace to welcome the hungry travelers. The next day he stopped at Mr. Leonard's on the Thornapple." (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. XXXVIII, p. 95). f'NINE STORIES ON THE GROUND As patronage increased, additions to the tavern were built until there were "nine stories on the ground,"-seven buildings in a row in front with two in the rear. The fame of the tavern spread rapidly, and travelers planned their journeys so that they might spend the night there. One hundred persons there at one time was not uncommon, while sixty teams were often counted there in one day. The ends of the first house received names. The southern half of the building was "Kalamazoo," the northern, "Grand Rapids." Writing of her life in the tavern while a child, the late Mrs. Mary M. Lewis Hoyt, the landlord's daughter wrote: "The Kalamazoo was considered the 'best room,' and was furnished rather better than the others and the better class of people occupied it, generally bridal parties, &c. * * * Together this husband and wife labored, their chief desire seeming to be to give happiness to those about them. With a hospitality that was proverbial and a generosity that cannot be measured by ordinary methods they greeted all who came. The man without money was treated as well as the man whose pocket bulged with the currency of that day. Ministers of all denominations, irrespective of creed, were entertained free of charge, but were expected to hold an evening service in our dining room, and men were sent to notify the neighborhood to that effect. * * * Lewis Cass was twice our guest, ex-Governor Felch, exGovernor Ransom, United States Senator Zach Chandler, Senator Charles E. Stuart, Judge Pratt-and, indeed all men of note who traveled in those days were at some time or other entertained there in the primitive style of the day. Royalty was once entertained at the Mansion House, and this occasion was memorable as being the first time that the table was set with napkins for each guest, word having been sent in advance of his coming. Almost the first guest I can remember was Douglas Houghton, then a young man. * * * ROBBERIES IN THE WILDERNESS UNKNOWN "Thefts and robberies were unknown, although large quantities of money were carried by travelers and it would have been an easy matter for it to change hands had there been the least desire for it. For example, every year large quantities of money were carried through from Detroit to Grand Rapids to pay the Indians at their annual payments. This money, $I5,000, was conveyed in an extra stage by a man named Lee, accompanied by an Indian interpreter 230 HISTORIC MICHIGAN named Provonsol. The money was all in specie and was carried in boxes about a foot square, very heavy, as I remember hearing. These boxes were set in the room at the south end of the old house. There was an outside door with an old lock and key to it. Two old guns they had were set up in one corner of the room and those men probably slept without a care or thought of being robbed." (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. XXX, p, 294). The following interesting glimpse of the stage road and tavern is given by the late George W. Thayer, who traveled over the highway in 1845: "At that time the railroad was completed only to Marshall. We took the stage from there to Battle Creek, then a new little village, but apparently thrifty. We spent the night at the Battle Creek House. At about four o'clock in the morning we climbed into a mud-wagon, called the Grand Rapids stage. We breakfasted at a log tavern, in one of the small and infrequented clearings that we meandered into. In the timbered land the road was cut out, but was not worked, only as the feet of the horses and the wheels of the wagons worked it into ruts and pitch-holes where roots and stones did not prevent, but it was not so very long before we came into the oak-openings, then so extensive in western Michigan. "No one of the present generation has personal knowledge of what the oak-openings were. They were inviting to the eye and to the pioneer. Large, fine oaks, generally white oaks, formed a forest of trees so far apart that a view could easily be had in all directions from forty to eighty rods. In the opening the track of the road wound about among the trees wherever the surface was most available, and where the few fallen trees could be avoided. "A pioneer would go onto his land in the late summer or early fall, build a log house of the smaller oaks, girdle a few acres of trees to prevent the leaves from growing in the spring and forming a shade, plow, drag in the crop of wheat among the standing oaks, and in the spring plant corn and potatoes, and secure a very fair crop of each. As soon as possible the pioneer would cut and burn the girdled trees, saving the finest ones for rails. ARRIVE AT YANKEE SPRINGS "As we moved slowly on, now and then a deer or two would be seen, and as the forenoon advanced we began to think and talk of what was to come and of dinner-Yankee Springs! That was the big oasis of the trip, so some good passengers said; there, good meals were served by the famed 'Yankee' Lewis and his wife. "We got there. Four log houses standing in a row, connecting end to end, a big barn, sheds, a large garden with vegetables and beds of flowers delighted the eye, and made us all look happier. * * * All log taverns had a bar-room, which, on entering, the most conspicuous object the eye. would discover would be two rows (one above the other) of plain, smooth glass decanters, each showing an outside well grimed with finger marks. These decanters were said SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 231 to contain some known brand of whisky, or gin. What was called 'Luke's Best' was the favorite. Luke Whitcomb was a famed Kalamazoo distiller. A number of bottles were required for the different qualities, as it was the custom to have what was called for, but, in fact, as a rule, each of the several bottles (the number was for display) contained one common grade of whisky costing twenty cents or so per gallon by the barrel. In most of the decanters would be seen floating some well-faded pieces of lemon. In spring and summer one decanter would have tansy sprigs. When a man took a meal the landlord would offer to treat, generally before going to the table, but when it was a cash transaction, the patron was expected to pay 6d, or 6%4 cents, Spanish silver, or 6 cents in the coin of the United States." (Michigan Pioneer Collectiotns, Vol. XXX, p. 655). That patronage of "Yankee Bill's" hotel increased as his fame spread. That accommodations so comfortable and meals so skillfully prepared should be found in a rude tavern in the heart of the wilderness amazed travelers. Near his hostelry, Mr. Lewis had a garden in which he grew for his table every known vegetable in the United States. A post office established in the tavern for many years served the surrounding country. A traveling circus once gave an exhibition here, and afforded entertainment for pioneers from every part of Barry county and the eastern part of Allegan. In 1846, Mr. Lewis represented Barry and Allegan counties in the state legislature. He maintained his tavern until the railroads made stage lines no longer tecessary. He died, aged fifty-one, in September, I856, and was, in accordance"with his request, buried on the hill overlooking the old tavern site. His body was removed and buried by the side of his wife in Alaska cemetery, Kent county. Mrs. Lewis, who lived to be eightythree, died March I, I888. Their daughter, Mrs. Mary M. Lewis Hoyt, long a prominent resident of Kalamazoo, died in the spring of 1922. She was born in Weathersfield, Wyoming county, New York, on October I, 1832. She was married on January 21, 1851, to Henry Hoyt, of Kalamazoo, who died on February 10, I9oo. George Torrey, an editor of the Kalamazoo Telegraph, who often patronized the "Mansion House" wrote the following which was widely published: "Did you ever go out to Grand River From Detroit to Kalamazoo, In a wagon without any kiver, Through a country that looks very new? If you are hungry and wish for a dinner, Breakfast, supper and lodging to boot, If you're a Turk, Christian or sinner, Yankee Springs is the place that will suit. The landlord's a prince of his orderYankee Lewis-whose fame and renown Far and near throughout Michigan's border, Are noised about country and town." The stage lines flourished until the coming of the Michigan Central railroad as far as Kalamazoo in 1846. The business of carrying 232 HISTORIC MICHIGAN freight in heavy wagons also proved profitable, and several companies undertook to furnish such service, limited though it was. One of the most profitable stage lines and one to pass with advent of the railroad was the one between Kalamazoo and St. Joseph, which was established in 1836. The line followed the Territorial road by way of Lawrence, and passed through the center of Van Buren county, distributing mail and carrying passengers. PLANK ROADS PROPOSED Pioneer roads were so muddy and rough that progress of stages and freight wagons was greatly hampered. This limitation in transportation held in check many industries, and companies were formed to build plank roads, which would greatly facilitate travel. These roads were built of timbers several inches thick laid on a graded roadbed. During the years previous to I850, many corporations were formed throughout the country for improving roads. The earliest of these organized in Kalamazoo was the "Kalamazoo and Three Rivers Plank Road Company," chartered, and approved by the governor, on March 17, I848. The following were incorporators: Evert B. Dyckman, Daniel L. Kimberley, D. S. Walbridge, Hiram Arnold, Edward S. Moore. Fifty thousand dollars capitalization was authorized. The road was constructed from Kalamazoo to a point several miles south of Schoolcraft. Completion of the railway from White Pigeon to Kalamazoo terminated the plank road's usefulness. The "Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids Plank Road Company" was chartered by an act approved March 25, I850. The incorporators were: F. I. Tanner, Theodore P. Sheldon, George W. Barnes, Isaac Moffatt, J. P. Woodbury, George Kendall, Charles A. Taylor, A. J. Diederick. The project was capitalized for seventy thousand dollars. This road's usefulness was terminated with completion of the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railway in I8pO. TRAFFIC ON THE ST. JOSEPH AND KALAMAZOO RIVERS The first craft to be used commercially on the St. Joseph and Kalamazoo rivers were the bateaux of the early traders. When the country was first settled, there were few roads, and the problem of marketing crops and of receiving merchandise to supply the rapidly -increasing population was one of the most important ones considered for solution. These two rivers with tributaries penetrating far into the fertile areas of southwestern Michigan afforded the first avenues of transportation. The settlers immediately began manufacture of huge flatboats, rudely built of hand-sawed or hewed timbers and boards. Into these were loaded wheat, flour, produce, lumber, hides and furs. This type of craft was exceedingly difficult to handle, but the currents of both streams were gentle and the awkward boats usually made the journey without mishap to their destination down stream, where they were sold to persons who wrecked them to salvage the lumber. On the St. Joseph river these boats were called "arks," which lived long SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 233 in the memories of the first pioneers who were obliged to depend entirely on these crafts for freight transportation. At Saugatuck and St. Joseph were houses owned by forwarding companies, which received goods for trans-shipment. The towns along the Kalamazoo river were greatly in need of transportation so soon as industries were established. In order to relieve this situation, a company was formed in Kalamazoo to operate a large flat boat on the river. In I836, Lucius Lyon, T. C. Sheldon, Justis and Cyren Burdick, Hosea B. Houston and Messrs. Sherman and Winslow formed a company, which built and operated a large flat boat, which was expected to make regular trips up and down the river. On the second voyage the ambitious crew ventured out on Lake Michigan a'nd the craft was wrecked. D. S. Walbridge, who settled in Kalamazoo in 1841, engaged in the wheat buying business and established in the following year a company, which built and operated a fleet of scows or flat boats. "From 1843 to 1846, D. S. Walbridge shipped large quantities of flour from Kalamazoo to Allegan by river in boats and arks. In the winter he would send it down in sleighs and take back pine plank to build his arks. They were built of sixteen-foot plank, thirty-two feet long and sixteen wide. Coming down they would attach two of these together, end to end, with oars attached as on a raft. Not much caulking was done, but they managed to keep one man bailing most of the time. At Allegan they would put on a double load and run to the mouth of the river. They were unloaded at D. S. Nichols' warehouse. In the spring of I846, one raft built at Allegan belonging to Otsego residents, went from there to the mouth with one thousand barrels of flour. Walbridge's boats would carry from Allegan three hundred barrels. Starting from the warehouse in Allegan, these boats would make the following points: Bushong, Fox Springs, the West Place, Stout's Landing, Swan Creek, Bear Creek Landing, Bailey's Landing, Wolf Skin, Rabbit River." The return voyage of these boats, laboriously pushed with poles, required seven days. This boat line proved successful until completion of the Michigan Central Railroad to Kalamazoo in 1846, and thence to Niles, which became the head of steamboat navigation on the St. Joseph river. The Michigan Central Railway, which opened the way for development of Southwestern Michigan was begun in I836, but before any considerable amount of work had been done, the company sold out to the state, which completed sections as follows: From Detroit to Ypsilanti, February 5, 1838; to Ann Arbor, October 17, I839; to Dexter, June 30, 1841; to Jackson, December 29, 1841; to Albion, January 25, 1844; to Marshall, August 13, 1844; to Battle Creek, November 25, I845; to Kalamazoo, February 2, 1846; to Niles, 1848; to New Buffalo, in the. spring of I849; to Michigan City, autumn of i850; to Chicago, May, 1852. The line afterwards called the Lake Shore, extending from White Pigeon to Constantine was completed in 1852; to Three Rivers, I855; 234 HISTORIC MICHIGAN to Kalamazoo, May, 1867; to Allegan, November 23, I868; to Grand Rapids, March I, I869. The line from White Pigeon to Kalamazoo, was called the Kalamazoo and White Pigeon Railroad; that from Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids, the Kalamazoo, Allegan and Grand Rapids Railroad. These were the two important railroads in the development of Southwestern Michigan, and gave an impetus to the growth which rapidly followed the opportunity for speedy shipment of agricultural products, and receipt of merchandise. KALAMAZOO STATE HOSPITAL By Dr. Herman Ostrander T HE Michigan Asylum for the Insane, now known as the Kalamazoo State Hospital, was established by Act 187 Public Acts of 1848 following the recommendation of Governor Epaphroditus Ransom. This act provided for an institution for the Deaf, Dumb, Blind and Insane, also, for a board of trustees who were empowered to select sites and erect buildings. In 1849 this board located the Asylum for the Insane at the village of Kalamazoo and the institution for the deaf, dumb and blind at Flint. Ten acres of land were donated by the citizens of Kalamazoo as a site for the asylum for the insane, located in what is now the heart of the city. In 1851 after a more careful survey of the situation and more mature deliberation it was decided that this tract was too small to meet the future needs of the institution and the present site comprising with subsequent additions 349 acres was selected. In 1855 pla'ns were completed and submitted to and received the approval of the Association of Medical Superintendents of Asylums for the Insane of America, an organization still in existence under the name of the American Psychiatric Association. Work on the erection of the buildings was begun the same year. The trustees at this time were Zina Pitcher, M.D., of Detroit; James B. Walker, of Flint; Israel Kellogg, and Luther H. Trask, of Kalamazoo. Up to 1857 the two institutions, the one at Flint and the one at Kalamazoo, were under one management. On the date mentioned they were placed under separate governing boards. The superintendency of the Asylum for the Insane was offered to and accepted by Dr. John P. Gray of the New York State Asylum at Utica at a salary of $800 per year out of which were paid his traveling expenses incident to his several visits to Kalamazoo. Dr. Gray resigned the position long before the completion of the Asylum and Dr. Edwin H. Vat Deu'sen, also of the Utica staff, was appointed to fill the vacancy. The report for I857-58 gives the officers of the institution as Luther H. Trask, Kalamazoo, president; J. P. Woodbury, Kalamazoo, secretary; Henry Montague, Kalamazoo, steward, and E. H. Van Deusen, M.D., medical superintendent. SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 235 On February i, 1858, the center building designed for administrative offices and officers' quarters burned to the ground, thus delaying and complicating plans for opening the institution. The first patient (a woman) was received on April 23, I859, but the institution was not formally opened for patients until August 29, I859. The first resident officers were: Dr. E. H. Van Deusen, superintendent; Dr. P. H. Loring, assistant physician; Henry Montague, steward, and Elizabeth Paul, matron. The first report of the institution, a biennial document of I859-60, contains the report of the trustees to the Governor and legislature and the reports of the superintendent, steward and treasurer. On November 30, I860, there were under treatment forty-seven men and sixtytwo women, a total of Io9. The period of Dr. Van Deusen's administration (I853-I878) was distinctly a period of construction and organization. The period of construction was prolonged by inadequate and belated appropriations. Public clamor made it seem expedient to open unfinished buildings and it was not until I864 that suitable quarters were completed Bor medical and business offices and residence for the officers. Prior to' this they had to be crowded into quarters intended for patients. The rapid filling to overcrowding of accommodations compelled continuous plans for expansion and the two large buildings (one for each sex) were built and occupied to overcrowding before relief came in the opening of the asylum at Pontiac in 1872. Dr. Van Deusen's plan of organization was masterly, his foresight was keen and prophetic, and his grasp of the problem of the insane was such that in his pioneer work in his chosen line of duty he blazed a trail that has inspired the wonder, the gratitude and the emulation of his followers. There were very few of the present day methods of caring for the insane that were not envisaged by Dr. Van Deusen. He lacked only the means and the opportunity of employing them. On retiring in 1878 he was succeeded by Dr. George C. Palmer, who had served as assistant superintendent for five years. To Dr. Palmer belongs the credit of establishing the colony plan of expansion and segregation-the first to be operated in America, the purpose being to furnish an outlet for the activities of the insane in an environment that would be homelike, at an occupation that would hasten the convalescence of the curable and make the incurable healthy, contented and comfortable residents of a hospital community. There are 350 thus colonized in smaller structures on these farms where they raise crops, care for herds of Holstein cattle, and thus furnish food for home consumption. Dr. Palmer resigned in I89I to become medical director of Oak Grove at Flint, Michigan. He was succeeded by Dr. William M. Edwards, a member of his staff. To Dr. Edwards belongs the credit of establishing a training school for nurses, of establishing receiving hospitals (Edwards Hospital for men and Potter Hospital for women), where all new patients are received and kept under observation and where intensive treatments are given. These were among the first hospitals of this type in the United States. Dr. 236 HISTORIC MICHIGAN Edwards also introduced physiological therapeutics such as hydrotherapy and massage. He also set on foot a movement that culminated in the establishment of a pathological department. Dr. Edwards served as superintendent from I891 until the time of his death in I905. He was succeeded by Dr. Alfred I. Noble, assistant superintendent of the Worcester State Hospital at Massachusetts, who began his duties in January, I906. During Dr. Noble's administration mechanical restraints were entirely abolished. Van Deusen Hospital was erected, a laboratory was built and a full time pathologist employed. A large industrial building for the employment of patients was begun. Dr. Noble was superintendent for ten years. He died suddenly in Detroit on his way to read a paper at a meeting of the Joint Board of Trustees at Pontiac, Michigan. On February I, I916, Dr. Herman Ostrander, assistant superintendent, was appointed to succeed Dr. Noble. At that time the physical plant comprised: I. Three hundred and forty-nine acres of land situated in the city of Kalamazoo, 128 acres of which was devoted to parks and covered by buildings and 221 acres of farm land, on which were located the two original large brick structures known as Female Department and Male Department, a receiving hospital for men (Edwards Hospital), a receiving hospital for women (Van Deusen Hospital) and the following named detached buildings for patients and employees: Fletcher Hospital for feeble and bedridden men, named after the late Hon. Niram A. Fletcher of Grand Rapids, a former trustee; Burns Building for able bodied men, named after Col. Robert Burns, a former trustee; Ward T, a wooden shack for tubercular men; Noble Lodge, a building for men nurses and married couples, named in honor of the late Dr. Noble; Monroe Building, a building occupied by women, named in memory of C. J. Monroe, a former trustee; Ward Tx, a frame hospital for tubercular women; Nurses Home, named after a former treasurer, Hon. Allen Potter; a store building, a bakery, greenhouse, cannery, carpenter shop, buildings for horses, cattle and other livestock and numerous small structures; an industrial building and home for men nurses and married couples in process of construction. 2. A colony situated three miles southwest of the main plant on a tract of 35734 acres of land, I57/4 of which are used for parks and buildings and 200 acres devoted to farming. At this colony farm are located Palmer Cottage, capacity of Ioo women, named for former Superintendent George C. Palmer, M.D.; Mitchell Cottage, capacity 100 women, named for former Trustee Charles F. Mitchell; Grosvenor Cottage, for fifty women, named for Ira Grosvenor, former trustee, late of Monroe, Michigan; Pratt Cottage, capacity fifty men, named for former trustee, Dr. Foster Pratt; Rich Building, named for former Governor Rich, built for a central heating plant, general dining room and kitchen and residence for em SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 237 ployees; beside these structures there are barns, stables and other necessary outbuildings for the housing of livestock, tools, and farm implements, etc. 3. A tract of land known as Brook Farm, situated three miles nort, consisting of 256Y2 acres, half of it being a black muck in the Kalamazoo celery district, on which are located a frame house, Trask Cottage, named for Hot. Luther Trask, one of the first trustees of the institution, for the housing of forty-five men patients; large barns and other necessary buildings for the housing of livestock and the necessary equipment for farming operations. The institution owns large herds of thoroughbred and high grade Holsteins that supply all the milk for hospital use from 3,500 pounds to 4,500 pounds daily. During the present administration the Industrial Building and Noble Lodge have been completed, a new up-to-date laundry built and occupied, a new fire-proof store constructed, plans have also been completed for the construction of fire-proof infirmary for too bedridden women and plans and operations are now under way for a new central heating and power plant to serve both the main plant and the Western State Normal. The service of the institution has been reorganized sufficiently to meet the requirements of an increased population and to keep pace with advancement of psychiatry and with progress in hospital methods. The executive head of the institution is the medical superintendent. The service is organized in two general divisions-(i) medical, (2) business and industrial. Under the former are conducted all those operations pertaining to the treatment and care of patients, to general sanitation and to extra mural service. Under the latter are conducted those operations pertaining to the physical needs of the plant,-heating, plumbing, laundering, repairing, building, farming operations, the requisitioning of foods and other supplies, etc. The outstanding features of the Medical Service are, viz: There is a staff of ten physicians, a pathologist, a psychologist, a psychiatric social worker, a dentist, a dietitian. The assistant medical superintendent is the clinical director and in immediate charge of the general operations of the staff. Staff meetings are held five days in the week. There is an accredited training school for nurses whose curriculum covers a three-year course and graduates are eligible to take the state examination for the degree R. N. At the receiving hospitals all patients are admitted, kept under observation and all intensive treatments given. Treatments are medical, physiological (massage, hydrotherapy, etc.), occupational, recreational and industrial. Instruction in massage and hydrotherapy constitutes an important part of the training course. Occupational and recreational therapy constitutes perhaps the most important department. Patients are instructed in manual arts and crafts. There is a trained director and a large corps of assistants. A school in occup 238 HISTORIC MICHIGAN tional therapy is conducted requiring six months' actual contact with patients as attendants followed by six months' intensive instruction in arts and crafts and pupils in this school are utilized in instructing patients. Diplomas are issued after the twelve-month period. Allied with occupation comes recreation as a form of treatment. This is under a director. Entertainments from the outside world are rare. Patients are taught to entertain themselves. The benefits to be derived flom physical culture, games, rehearsals, devising and making of costumes and production of plays, pageants, operattas, etc., is of highest therapeutic value to a mind gone astray. Many hundred patients are employed in the industries and farming operations as a most valuable therapeutic measure. Extra Mural Service.-The out-clinic department was established in March, I916, and since that date regular monthly clinics have been conducted in Grand Rapids, Jackson, Lansing and Kalamazoo, with occasional clinics in other cities of the hospital district. The purpose of clinics is to assist the community in the prevention and treatment of nervous diseases and of the various types of mental maladjustment. It is impossible to estimate accurately the results of this sort of work. Its value cannot be measured in terms of quantity alone. The direct benefit to the patients is shown by the percentage of cases reported as improved; as adjusted fairly well to their environment; as receiving treatment for physical diseases; or as cared for in the manner best suited to protect society. The benefit educationally and socially is evident in the interest shown by manufacturers who believe that their business success depends upon the mental as well as upon the physical health of their employees; by lawyers who feel that the relationship of social dependency and anti-social tendencies to mental disorders must be considered seriously; by educators who desire to have a better understanding of the mental hygiene of children; and by psychiatrists in other states establishing clinics who request our plan of clinic work. The permission granted by school authorities for survey of about Io,ooo children in Grand Rapids in an effort to estimate roughly the number of children under eleven years of age showing nervous symptoms, seems ample proof of the recognition of clinic work as of value in the prevention of nervous and mental diseases. The Social Service Department was organized September, I921, under the direction of a psychiatric social worker. This department features follow-up work among discharged patients, noting their home life, their readjustment to social conditions, proffering advice that might be helpful in this re-establishment in the family and community, suggesting changes in environment and employment when this seems advisable. It also stresses the placement in communities of unrecovered cases who would not be a social menace and who are able to work and contribute to their own support. In this way SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 239 the hospital's treatment and influence is extended to the out-patient, the family and community. The latter is specially benefited by awakening a sense of responsibility toward mental cases, by educating as to causes, treatment and prevention, and by instructing in after care. The foregoing is accompanied by the psychiatric social worker through home visiting, securing the co-operation of other social agencies and by educational talks before groups and to the general public. CHAPTER XII SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION OF COUNTIES ALLEGAN COUNTY. THE presence of large tracts of pine timber in the pioneer days of Allegan county made logging the early industry and lumber the primary attraction to settlers. Agriculture, except to supply the immediate needs of the few settlers, did not form an important part of the local economic system until after the timber lands had been cleared. Says Dr. George N. Fuller in his "Economic and Social Beginnings of Michigan," a work which gives interesting glimpses of the early life in the state: "The economical transportation of logs and lumber by water has always been an item of great value in the settlement of Michigan. It was specially so in the early days when economy in all things was a necessity. Easy transportation extended the service of one mill on a stream to all the settlements below, and the tributaries above a mill extended the availability of timber to their farthest reach. The cost of hauling logs overland confined early lumbering to their banks, leaving the intervening tracts to the day of the railroad; yet the amount of timber that could be easily reached by water was large, and much lumber was exported. At Allegan four million feet of lumber was cut in 1839 and rafted to Lake Michigan down the Kalamazoo river." The site of the village of Allegan was the point of convergence of several Indian trails, and its attractiveness to early settlers probably lay in its physiographical character. In I837, a prospectus of the village widely circulated set forth that "Allegan, from its various natural and acquired advantages, will doubtless rank ere long with the most populous towns of the West." The natural advantages spoken of were water power at the rapids of the Kalamazoo at that place, equal to the power formed at Rochester; its situation at the head of steamboat navigation from Lake Michigan; its healthful elevation above the river; the adjacent good farming lands; the abundant timber; the brick clay; the marl beds for lime; and the glass for sand. The founding of the village was made under the most auspicious conditions, the personal element entering strongly into them. In I833 -34 twenty thousand acres of land were purchased by a stock company of New York and Boston capitalists, and this company sent men at once to clear a site for a village. The county seat was secured to this embryo village, a mill was erected and a bridge put across the river at that point. Although the above mentioned prospectus dates the village as having begun in 1835, the first store appears to have been built in 1836. Not only was the chance for financial gahi an inducement to settlers and investors, but the true spirit of pioneering which found joy in the development of a new country lent zest to the undertaking. I WORLID WAR MONUMENT, DOWAGIAC CIVIL WAR MONUMENT, DOWAGIAC OLD HASTINGS HOUSE WHERE PASSENGERS CHANGED STAGES FIRST HOUSE IN HASTINGS BUILT BY SLOCUM H. BUNKER SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 241 As one man who refused $Ioo,ooo for his third interest in the property said, he wanted a home and "the luxury of helping build up a city." A boom in the village project occurred in 1836, about fifty frame buildings having gone up in that year, and the newspapers of Detroit and eastern cities commented much on the activities of Allegan. Allegan township in 1837 had a population of 621, and this, as was the case in Otsego, was principally concentrated in the village. In i838 the village had about seven hundred people, but the financial disturbances of this period retarded its growth materially to the effect that in I850 it had but few more inhabitants. Saugatuck was the first settlement of the county, it having received its first settlers in I830. In I834 William Butler platted a village on this site which he named Kalamazoo, a name soon changed back to Saugatuck, however, and in the same year other settlers erected a mill and a tannery. A postoffice was established in I835. Otsego, Gun Plains and Allegan were the next settlements in the county, all on the river. By the close of 1831 a number of settlers had established themselves at the rapids in the river at the site of Otsego, but it was five years before any considerable effort was made to put the village on its feet, a mill having been erected in that year. Otsego township in I837 had a population of 34I, of which number the village contained slightly less than half. Gun Plains, a village at the junction of the Gun river and the Kalamazoo, was commenced by settlers attracted by the extensive burr-oak openings at that point, and this area was the first in the county to be cultivated to any extent. Plainfield township, a strip six miles wide across the eastern end of the county, had a population of 317 in i837. Allegan county was established on March 2, 1831, under the territorial laws, was attached to Kalamazoo county for judicial purposes in 1833, and on August 25, 1835, was organized. In I837 the county had a population of 1,469 and in I840 one of 1,783. BARRY COUNTY Dr. George N. Fuller in his "Economic and Social Beginnings of Michigan" describes for us the early history of Barry county. As for the trails over which settlers might enter the county, there was an Indian trail which led from the Potawatomi village at Kalamazoo through Gull Prairie to the site of Yankee Springs, thence to Indian Middle Village and down the Thornapple river to its mouth at the site of Ada where it connected with the trail along the Grand river through the sites of Ionia, Grand Rapids and Grand Haven. This rotite, which led through the open country, seems to have been the favored one of the settlers after they left the Territorial road at Battle Creek or Kalamazoo for Grand Rapids. From Yankee Springs, lines of travel branched off eastward to 'Hastings and westward to Otsego and Allegan, and while the mode 242 HISTORIC MICHIGAN of travel in that day was arduous in the extreme, these trails nevertheless presented a means for the settlers to enter the new territory for which they were bound. The outpost of civilization in this county was a Baptist mission, which for some time enjoyed but little of success on account of the not infrequently unfriendly attitude of the Indians, who, under the influence of whiskey obtained from traders were wont to commit depredations of an annoying kind on the white settlements. In I827, however, Leonard Slater and his wife assumed charge of the mission, and although McCoy reported that the mission was in a state of dilapidation in I829, the Slaters undoubtedly had a strong and beneficent effect on the early settlement of the county. The settlement of Barry county was slow, for at the time the state was admitted to the Union in I837, the county had a less degree of settlement than any other in Michigan. It had about one-half the population of Eaton county, to the east, or of Ionia to the north. To the west, Allegan county numbered three times its population, and northward, in Kent county, there were over four times as many people. Immediately on the south were Calhoun and Kalamazoo counties, the smaller of which had a population twelve times greater than that of Barry. County government was not organized until two years after Michigan became a state, it having been attached to St. Joseph and Kalamazoo counties prior to that time for judicial purposes, although its township government began on March 23, 1836, when the township of Barry was created, embracing the entire county. What population there was at that time was apparently not well distributed, though all of the areas represented in the present townships excepting three seem to have received their first settlers by 1837, these three having been Barry, Hope and Baltimore, they having been handicapped originally by the presence of hills, swamps and heavy hardwood timber. In I838, the year before the organization of the county, the legislature divided the township of Barry into four equal townships, Barry, Thornapple, Hastings and Johnstown, but this cannot be taken as meaning equal distribution of population. Hastings township lay in the northeastern corner, and its center of population was Hastings, a very small place. The first township meeting was held at the house of Slocum H. Bunker, a resident of the township. In 1838, according to Blois' Gazetteer, "Hastings, a village on the Thornapple river, near the center of the county of Barry, is. said to be beautifully situated, possessing excellent hydraulic power, which is improved to some extent." The township of Thornapple contained two of the earliest settlements in the county, Yankee Springs and Middleville, the latter a favorite place with the Indians and deriving its name from its location half way between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids. Land at this site was said to have been purchased in I834 by a New York settler, who brought his family in the following year. A good many New Yorkers SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 243 came to the county in 1837, many of them settling in Johnstown township. The settlement of the county seems to have begun practically with the great wave of speculation in the lands of Michigan that came in full force in 1836. That year marked the beginning of one of the most widely known settlements in Michigan, Yankee Springs. This was situated in the openings near cool springs near the junction of Indian trails, and while never even a considerable village gained much renown through the hospitality of William "Yankee" Lewis, landlord of Yankee Springs Tavern, built "six stories all on the ground." Lewis was a native of Weathersfield, New York, and chose this site for an inn after having been in both Indiana and Illinois. His tavern became famous throughout the middle west, and he himself was a vigorous pioneer of the new state. He was a representative in the legislature from Barry county in 1846, and his influence probably attracted many settlers to the county. The beginnings of Hastings came in 1836, when a company was organized for the purpose of exploiting the water power and timber resources of that locality. This company bought the site chosen for the county seat, which was yet, in 1836, without settlers, for $3,000, and this became known as the "Barry County Seat Purchase." The three purchasers appear to have organized as a company subsequent to the purchase itself, as the Hastings Company, to found the village, and it is probable that Eurotas P. Hastings, as president of the Bank of Michigan, had something to do with financing the project. This company commenced at once to make improvements, first erecting a sawmill on a branch of the Thornapple, and the first frame house, erected in 1838, was constructed of lumber sawed in this mill. It is thought that the purchasers of the site of Hastings were Marshall men, and that town was for a time one of the points of supply for the embryo village. Mail reached the first settlers of Hastings from Gull Prairie, Kalamazoo county. The land and town-site speculation in Michigan in the thirties gave an impulse to the settlement of Barry county. The county was established as a territorial township on October 29, I829, was attached to St. Joseph county for judicial purposes in I829 and to Kalamazoo county in 1830, and was organized a county of the state on March 15, I839. In 1837 it had a population of 512 and in 1840 this had increased to I,078. The original area had one more range of townships on the west than has the present area of the county. BERRIEN COUNTY Although settlement in southwest Michigan was first begun in Berrien county, the French having been there very early in the history of the section, the position of the county so far west hindered its early growth materially. It was not until the Carey Mission was established in 1822-23, under the auspices of Governor Cass, that immigration to the county set in, and thereafter spread outward into the county from 244 EHISTORIC MICiIGAN the site of this mission, which was near the present city of Niles. There was as early as 1822 an immigration of about fifty persons to 'this mission from Fort Wayne. Outside of this mission colony and west of Tecumseh there were in I825 but seven white families in Berrien county. Settlement of the county began in earnest with the platting of Niles in 1829, and settlement soon followed throughout the remainder of the county. The importance of the site of St. Joseph was easily recognizable. The French and the American governments had always recognized it as a strategic location for a fort, and there was some sporadic settlement there early in the century, principally by fur traders. In I829 Calvin Brittain, a New Yorker who had for two years been a teacher at the mission, came to the site of St. Joseph and later laid out the village (1831). In the same year Berrien Springs was platted on Wolf's Prairie, and in the first year of its existence a sawmill was erected there. The county seat was removed from Niles to St. Joseph in I832, but in 1837 was moved to Berrien Springs as a more central location. A speculative venture in town settlement was made at Bertrand in I833 by a stock company, but although the site was propitious, the lots were held at too high a figure, which discouraged settlers from coming there. Berrien couhty was established October 29, I829, and was in that year attached to Cass county. It was organized on March 4, I831. In 1834 its population numbered 1,787; in 1837 it numbered 4,563; and in I840 it numbered 5,011. BRANCH COUNTY Dr. George N. Fuller has written of the early settlement of Branch county that the "comparative backwardness of Hillsdale and Branch counties had three principal causes. There was first the tendency of Tecumseh, Adrian and the other older settlements in the eastern part of the Territory to assimilate those immigrants who, while wishIing to get good lands, preferred a comparatively close neighborhood; secondly, there was the forest barrier against immigration from the south into the lower parts of these counties, combined with the presence of inviting prairies in the open country to the west, which gave St. Joseph and Cass counties a good start before the public land sales and the improvement of the Chicago road facilitated the influx of 'settlers from the eastern states; again, there was the power of concentration enjoyed by the thriving southwestern settlements, attracting such eastern settlers as might be willing to leave the vicinity of the older settlements. "At the time of the Cass expedition over the Chicago trail in I820, 'this whole section was a primitive wilderness, save for the Indians and a few French traders at the Indian villages and on the prairies and the banks of the St. Joseph. The Indian claims to the region were Ceded by a succession of treaties from I821 to 1833. The Indians retained a few reservations, the total area of which was not great; SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 245 but since they occupied some of the most attractive prairie land in the section, and since the character of the Indians was generally such that newcomers tended to avoid their neighborhood, these reservations were temporarily a retarding influence upon the spread of settlement in their vicinity. They were found chiefly at Coldwater in Branch county, in the northern part of St. Joseph, and in the southeastern part of Berrien. In Branch county, says Doctor Fuller, the first settlement was made, not from the east, but from Ohio. The choice of a location fell naturally upon prairie land, and the 'name of the settler was Jabez Bronson, a name soon attaching to the prairie and still remaining in the southwestern township of Bronson. This settlement was made in I828. The previous year Bronson had raised a crop of corn on White Pigeon Prairie in Cass county, and it is curious that with such early knowledge of that region he should have moved farther east. No sufficient reason, apparently, has been assigned; none can be found in his original occupation as a shipwright, hor was he of the hunter type of pioneer wishing to get away from his associates, for he located on the Chicago road, where his log cabin became known as "Bronson's Hotel." In the winter of I829-30 there were a half dozen families on the prairie, which became the nucleus of Bronson village. "The logical choice for the first settlers in Branch county would seem to have been the prairie about the site of Coldwater. This lay eastward from Bronson Prairie, also on the Chicago road, and would meet the first eastern immigration coming to the county. But the first settlement from that direction was not made there, and a reason appears apart from the fact of Bronson's approach from the west and the attraction which his vicinity might have for newcomers. On Coldwater Prairie, Indians were in possession of a large reservation made by the Chicago treaty of 1821. Several hundred Indians were gathered there, and though this land was ceded to the government in 1827, it was considerable time before they were removed. They were on the whole friendly, but their selfishness, vagrancy, drunkenness, and thieving made them undesirable neighbors. A settlement was made on Cocoosh Prairie at the extreme north of the county in I829. "By the year I830 the older settlements of this section had gained considerable strength. Of the younger counties, Branch had more settlers than Hillsdale, but these probably did not number more than a hundred. In the national census of I830 the population of Branch fails to appear independently; it is included in that of the township of Green, a large township comprising in addition to Branch the counties of Calhoun and Eaton and "all the country lying north of the county of Eaton; but the population of Green township together with that of Flowerfield township in St. Joseph county, with which it was included, numbered only one hundred and ten people. The population of the remaining area within the present limits of St. Joseph county was distributed between the two large equal townships of White Pigeon and Sherman." 246 HISTORIC MICHIGAN Branch, the first village of the county, was laid out in I83I, two years before the county was organized. This village had its inception in a purely speculative enterprise, a native of Connecticut having conceived the idea that since the county would undoubtedly soon be organized, there would necessarily be a county seat. Since there was at that time no village which could be utilized as the nucleus for such a seat of government, he determined the geographical center of the county, bought a tract of land covering three-quarters of a square mile, platted a village, and later was successful in having his village chosen as the county seat. It was pleasantly situated on high ground which rose from the Coldwater river, and although off the Chicago road, had many advantages to recommend it. The result was that he quickly disposed of his village lots, the surrounding farm land was soon bought up, and a sawmill and a gristmill were started. These mills attracted much attention to the village, for they were widely patronized. However, the inhabitants of Coldwater, platted a year later, gave the citizens of Branch keen competition for the site of the county seat, and so vigorous was this village that in 1840 the seat of county government was removed from Branch to Coldwater, where it has since remained. Branch county was established under the laws of Michigan Territory on October 29, I829, was attached to St. Joseph county in the same year, and was organized a county on February I, I833. In 1834 it had a population of 764, in 1837 one of 4,o06 and in 1840 one of 5,715. CALHOUN COUNTY Hoffman, in his "A Winter in the West," wrote from Marshall in I833 in eulogy of the natural beauties of the country in and about Calhoun county. He says that "for general healthfulness of situation, I believe it is agreed that the banks of the small lakes which so abound in the peninsula are-when these transparent bodies of water are surrounded by a sand beach, which is the case with about a third of them-among the healthiest. They are fed generally by the springs, and in many cases are supposed to have a subterranean outlet; while so beautifully transparent are their waters that the canoe suspended on their bosom seems to float in midair. These lakes abound with fish; and in some of them, of only a few acres in extent, fish have been taken of forty pounds weight. They generally lie imbosomed in the oak openings, and with their regular and almost formal banks crowned with open groves these silver pools might be readily taken for artificial trout-ponds in a cultivated park. I need hardly add that it is necessary to diverge, as I have, from the route generally traveled, to see. these scenic gems, so numerous, lonely, and beautiful. Not one in a hundred has a settler on its banks." The prairies in Calhoun county were smaller, less numerous, and not so well distributed as those in Kalamazoo county; and consequently attracted a comparatively small share of the southern immigration, having been settled later and principally from the east. Most of the prairie land, with the exception of Cook's prairie in the southeastern SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 247 part of the county, was in the west. Goguac Prairie, near Battle Creek, was of fair size, as was Dry Prairie, directly to the south end extending into Branch county. The settlement of these prairies was begun in 1831-32, and although slightly preceded by several river settlements, notably the one at Marshall, these prairie lands were quickly bought up, 1,440 acres on Dry Prairie having been entered in a single day, and the land of Goguac Prairie was all bought up before that on the river in the neighboring openings. All of the prairies early received a considerable number of settlers, who came principally from Vermont and New York. In 1832, settlement near Homer village was begun, attracting many Pennsylvanians, although there were a number of New Yorkers among them. The New York influence was reflected in the choice of names for Homer and Clarendon township, which were named for towns of the Empire state. The first settler of Cook's Prairie was also a New Yorker, having been a native of Cayuga county, that state. "Next to the prairie land," writes Dr. George N. Fuller, "the oak openings and the burr-oak plains were the settler's preference, not so much for the sake of the soil as for the relative openness as compared with much of the forested area, which made for ease of travel and immediate cultivation. The most of Calhoun was covered with blrrand white-oak openings. "The beauty of these plains and openings in summer must have been most pleasing to the settlers, whose reminiscences describe them variously as being like 'a sea of grass and flowers,' or like 'a vast field of ripe grain, with here and there an orchard.' Even in winter these plains had their charms. A traveler in Calhoun county writes: 'But, lost as I was, I could not help pausing frequently when I struck the first burr-oak openings I had ever seen, to admire its novel beauty. It looked more like a pear-orchard than anything else to which I can assimilate it-the trees being somewhat of the shape and size of fullgrown pear trees, and standing at regular intervals apart from each other on the firm level soil, as if planted by some gardener. Here, too, I first saw deer in herds; and half frozen and weary as I was, the sight of these spirited-looking creatures sweeping in troops through these interminable groves, where any eye could follow them for miles over the smooth snowy plain, actually warmed and invigorated me, and I could hardly refrain from putting the rowels into my tired horse, and launching after the noble game.' "In another place, the same writer exclaimed: 'What a country this is. Into land like this, which is comparatively undervalued by those seeking to settle on the prairie, a man can run his plow without felling a tree; and, planting a hundred acres, where he would clear but ten in the unsettled districts of New York, raise his twenty-five bushels of wheat to an acre in the very first season.'" The heavily timbered lands of Calhoun county were, of course, settled much more slowly than the plains and openings. Newton township did not receive a settler until I834, in spite of the fact that it was just off the Territorial road. Oak, beech, maple, ash, basswood, 248 HISTORIC MICHIGAN whitewood, and butternut abounded in this region, and there was some black walnut. Water power was a considerable influence in the location of the early settlements, and at Albion, Marshall and Battle Creek, power from the Kalamazoo was the real agent for centralizing population at these points. On Cook's Prairie the village of Homer was platted in 1834, principally on account of the water power furnished by a branch of the Kalamazoo at that place, but until the first mills were erected by a stock company in the years 1837-38 the growth was slow. However, in 1837, Homer boasted a store and about two hundred citizens. The attraction of Dry Prairie, which began to be settled about this time, seems to have been principally for agriculturists, as there is no mention of a village on the prairie for some years, and was in 1837 the least settled part of the county, the two southwestern townships, Athens and Burlington, having had but slightly more than six hundred inhabitants. The oak openings between the two prairies soon attracted purchasers, and by 1836 had a center of population in the township of Tekonsha. Dr. Fuller describes the beginnings of Marshall as follows in part: 'Marshall was largely indebted for the vigor of its early growth to the superior energy, foresight and practical wisdom of its promoters. Three factors in this personal element should be specially noted. Sidney Ketchum, the first actual settler within the limits of the present city, before coming to Michigan, resided in western New York. In the words of one apparently qualified to speak of him, his 'commanding presence, air of confidence and honesty, and ready command of most convincing language,' together with prime business ability, made him for this section 'the mighty moving power in all the financial matters of that early period.' Reverend John D. Pierce and Isaac E. Crary were close friends and co-workers throughout their long lives in the interests of Marshall and Michigan. Their chief services were rendered after this period, but they serve to illustrate types of Marshall men." In a letter to the editor of the Detroit Courier for November 6, 1833, a visitor to Marshall wrote: "One fact must ever give Calhoun the ascendency. I mean the character of the people. They are all well educated. * * * It is indeed almost incredible, but so it is, that in this spot have gathered as if by common consent a body of men from the eastern states who must have been the most prominent among their former associates. * * * They are doubtless induced to hazard the temporary inconvenience of a new settlement that they may insure to their children that independence which otherwise they could have hoped to enjoy only during the lifetime of their parents." Of Battle Creek and Albion, Dr. Fuller says: "Battle Creek, notwithstanding its excellent water power and the early rivalry to secure control of it, appears to have been slow in securing mills, and its settlement in this period was correspondingly tardy. A census of the male inhabitants said to have been taken by a contemporary in 1835 num GUTH-wB8 -mmIOHlfM bered about fifteen. The village was. comparatively late in platting (I836) and it saw no frame house erected until the last year of the period. A curious lack of enterprise is shown so late as 1845 by the apparent necessity, if true, of raising by subscription from the citizens a, sufficient fund to start a newspaper. A somewhat better impression is gained from the account given by Blois for 1838, crediting the village with a sawmill, two gristmills, two taverns, six stores, a saddlery, a cabinet manufactory, two smitheries, several machine shops and a banking association. It is worthy of note in view of the prominent part taken later by Battle Creek as a station oh the 'underground railroad,' that the Quakers appear to have formed a considerable part of its population as early as I836-37. "At Albion, though the lands covering the water power were purchased early, mills and the accompanying village beginnings apparently did not materialize until 1836. The impulse of I836 was due to the Albion Company, whose leading spirit came from Oswego county, New York. That year saw the first frame house. Mills were built, and in 1838 the village with some forty dwellings appears to have been in about the same stage of growth as Battle Creek. Its position a mile and a half south of the Territorial road was an initial handicap, but it was on the surveyed road from Marshall to Monroe and also on the located route of the Central Railroad. Albion College is said to have had beginnings in neighboring settlements as early as1 1835 but seems 'not to have been a considerable influence at Albion until I839; its establishment appears to have been largely due to the patronage of the Albion Company." Calhoun county was established under the Territorial laws on October 29, I829, and was attached to St. Joseph county in that year for judicial purposes. It the following year it became attached to Kalamazoo county, a connection which obtained until Calhouh was organized as a county on March 6, I833. In 1834 it had a population of 1,714, in 1837 a population of 7,959, and in 1840 one of 5,710. CASS COUNTY The surface of Cass county was undulating and contained numerous fertile prairies and oak openings, most attractive to settlers, and the first settlements in the county were determined by the prairies, the Chicago trail, a mission, and the presence of water power. The mission was located in the western part of the county, and was the attraction for the first settlements in that part of the county. In 1825 there was a settlement on Pokagon's Prairie, which received its name from the much respected Indian chief of that name, and in the following year occurred the first settlement oi Beardsley's Prairie, known as Edwardsburg. The settlement first mentioned was considerably north of the mission and some distance removed from the Chicago trail, to the east of Dowagiac creek near where a carding mill was started in I830. Adamsville, located at the junction of Christian creek and the Chicago road, was begun on account of water power at that point, 250 HISTORIC MICHIGAN and in the eastern part of the county the first settlement was Union, a village on the prairie crossed by the Chicago road. Some time later, in I829, the 'northern part of the county was reached by settlers at Little Prairie Ronde. The settlers of this place were from New Jersey originally, but came directly there from Union City, Indiana. It is stated in the "Economic and Social Beginnings of Michigan" that Cass county shared with St. Joseph in rapidity of settlement, but there was in the former, in this period, a lesser tendency to village formation. With three stages running weekly through Edwardsburg, that place apparently had superior advantages for concentrating population, and the progress of township organization reflects rapid rural growth there. The only other village founded in the county in this period was Cassopolis, started as a result of a struggle among several neighboring settlements for possession of the county seat. Although there was not a settler on the site of the village in 1831 when it was platted, it was at the geographical center of the county, a fact determined by a local lawyer, who thereupon bought sufficient land to plat a village, and later succeeded in having the county seat moved thither from Geneva where the Territorial legislature had located it upon the establishment of the county on October 29, I829. It was organized on November 4th of the same year. The population of Cass county was 3,280 in 1834; 5,296 in 1837; and 5,710 in 1840, which put it well up among the leaders in point of population in southwestern Michigan. EATON COUNTY The heavy timber which covered almost the entire surface of Eaton county in the early days discouraged many settlers from locating within its boundaries who might otherwise have done so. The soil was generally good, having been a sandy loam with a thick covering of vegetable mould, but the difficulties attendant upon preparing a few acres for cultivation were so great that most of the pioneers, except those who preferred a timbered farm, were wont to locate elsewhere, either on the prairies or the oak openings of other counties, a fact which accounts for the slow development of the county. There were, however, a few tracts of land free from the heavy timber. These were a narrow strip of oak openings across the southern border, and here and there a few scattered openings which were the first to attract settlers. The site of Charlotte, which was near the center of the county, was a beautiful prairie of nearly a section, a tract which had long been a favorite planting ground of the Indians. Here several trails met. Vermontville township, founded by a colony of Vermonters, was said to have resembled parts of the Champlain valley in the Green Mountain state, which probably influenced the choice of location. Other building materials were, however, to be found in the county in addition to timber, sandstone having been quarried in the northeastern part and limestone in the neighborhood of Bellevue. This last mentioned place, Bellevue, was the source of entrance into the county used by the first settlers, as there were openings in the SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN 251 heavy timber in that region, but later they left the road at Jackson and came into the county at the southeastern corner near the site of Eaton Rapids. There existed at that time an Indian trail from Marshall to Ionia through Bellevue and Vermontville, and so great was the necessity of a road for teams through the otherwise impenetrable forest that the early settlers subscribed money to cut a road through the timber over this Indian trail. The first post road in the county was established over the southern part of this road from Bellevue to Marshall. Communication of Eaton Rapids and Charlotte with the southern settlements was at first effected through Jackson, while pioneer relations of Bellevue and Vermontville with these southern settlements were carried on through Marshall. The site of Bellevue was chosen on account of the presence of water power, it having been situated on the bank of Battle Creek, and for its natural beauty. Its first settler arrived in June, 1834, and either in that year or the next a sawmill was in operation. The land on the site had been purchased by Isaac Crary in 1832, and the village was platted by him in I835. In 1832, likewise, the government surveyor of this district bought the land on the site of Charlotte, and in the next year secured the county seat for his site long before there was a settler there, the first family to come thither making its arrival in 1836 via Bellevue. Vermontville was distinguished by its good government and the culture of its inhabitants, Vermonters, who stressed the importance of education and religion. All but two were members of the Congregational church, and the church played an important part in the early life of the place. The leader of the settlement was Rev. Sylvester Cochrane, and the establishment of the village was not unlike a Puritan pilgrimage. Eaton Rapids, chosen as the site of a village on account of the rapids in the Grand river at that place, was a sawmill town, a mill having been in process of erection in 1837, in which year there were three houses there. Eaton county was established on October 29, I829, was attached to St. Joseph county in that year and to Kalamazoo in I830, and was reorganized under state law December 29, I837, when it had a population of 529. KALAMAZOO COUNTY The enabling act for Kalamazoo county, under date of October 29, I829, specified in part, "That so much of the country as lies south of the base line, and north of the line between townships four and five south of the base line, and west of the line between ranges eight and nine west of the meridian, and east of the line between ranges twelve and thirteen west of the meridian, be, and the same is, hereby set off into a separate county, and the name thereof shall be Kalamazoo." As soon as the county was organized, Governor Cass appointed John Allen and Calvin Smith commissioners to locate the seat of justice 262 HISTORIC MICHIGAN in Kalamazoo county, and they made a careful survey of the county to determine upon the location of the seat. In a letter to Governor Cass reporting their action, which was approved by him, they said in part: Two places upon the river, about the same distance from the center of the county, presented their claims for the site. These were examined with care, and not without anxiety. "A spot was at length selected, on an eminence near the center of the southwest quarter of Section fifteen, town two south, of range eleven west, owned by Titus Bronsou, Esq. Mr. Bronson has agreed to lay out a village, and place upon the proper records a plan or map thereof, duly acknowledged, with the following pieces of land, properly marked and set apart in said map or plan, for the public use: One square of sixteen rods for the courthouse; one square of sixteen rods for a jail; one square of sixteen rods for an academy; one square of eight rods for common schools; one square of two acres for a public burial ground; four squares of eight rods each for the first four religious denominations that become incorporated in said village, agreeably to the statute of the territory." The reasons which influenced the location of the county seat at this place are: 1st. It is on the bank of the river, which at this place is navigable, most of the year, for keelboats of several tons burden; 2nd. It is in the direct line between the two largest prairies in the county, viz: Prairie Ronde and Gull Prairie; about nine miles from the latter, and ten from the former, and with Grand Prairie two miles on its west; 3rd. Good roads may, with facility, be made from it into any part of the county. Four or five large trails set out from this place, leading to as many different places of importance on the St. Joseph and Grand rivers; 4th. The great Territorial road passes through it." This report was approved by Governor Cass on April 2, 1831, and on May I2th, following, John T. Mason, acting governor of the territory in the absence of Cass, issued a proclamation establishing the county seat at Kalamazoo. It became necessary from time to time with the growth of population to organize additional townships. In 1832 Richland was organized; Comstock was organized March 7, 1834; and on March 3, I836, the name of the township of Arcadia was changed to Kalamazoo, the name of the village of Bronson also changed to Kalamazoo. Pavilion township was organized March 23, 1836, as was Prairie Ronde township; Cooper township on March i, 1837; Climax on December 30, I837; Alamo on March 6, 1837, and in the same year the townships of Charleston, Portage and Texas; Ross on March 21, I839; Oshtemo on March 22, I839; Schoolcraft on February i6, 1842; and Wakeshma on March 25, 1846. Each of the above named townships comprises a Congressional township of land, and each township is subdivided into school and road districts. The city of Kalamazoo had its inception in the summer of I829, when, in June, Titus Bronson, following the St. Joseph trail, came hither from Ann Arbor. ST. JOSEPH COUNTY Immigration into St. Joseph county was from both the south and the east, the two streams blending, although the majority of immigrants SOUTIWEST ~MICHMIOAN2 253 were from the south until the completion of the survey of the Chicago road, when the evidence began to dispel the original doubts of the easterners as to the quality of the new country-doubts fostered by early and unfavorable reports by Monroe and Tiffin. In 1825 newspaper comment began to be made as to the excellence of the lands in St. Joseph county, and within two years settlers from the east and from Wayne county, Michigan, and Jennings county, Indiana, were settled on Pigeon and Sturgis prairies. The other prairies soon attracted settlers also, and in 1827 the site of Mottville on the St. Joseph river was selected for a mill by an Ohioan, a pioneer store making its appearance in the following year. Settlement was quite rapid, and by the end of 1829 the frontier had reached out to Nottawasepe Prairie near the Indian reservation. The trend of immigration was reflected in the establishment of the government land office at White Pigeon in 1831, and indicates that the village, which had been platted in 1830, was about in the center of early settlement. In the words of the traveler, Hoffman: "At White Pigeon, where I found quite a pretty village of four years' growth, I seemed in getting upon the post route from Detroit to Chicago, to get back once more to an old country." The village boasted a newspaper in 1834, the Michigan Statesman and St. Joseph Chronicle. Other villages platted about 1831 in the county were Centerville, Mottville and Constantine, while beginnings had been made at Three Rivers and Burr Oak. Of these villages, Dr. Fuller has written: "Centerville was platted (1831) on Nottawa-sepe prairie, one of the largest and most fertile in the southwest. A piece of land about onehalf a township in area was reserved in 1821 to the Potawatomi Indians, which was not open to settlement until two years after the Indian treaty of 1833; but south of the reservation a line of settlements began to form as early as I828-29; one of these was Centerville. These settlements were the first that were made in the northern part of the county. Among the first people to settle here were Virginians, of:whom the pioneer records make a point of saying that the traditional Virginian hospitality, freely extended, made the way easier for later comers. In the year of the founding of Centerville there came to the vicinity a little colony of thirty-two people from Ohio, led by a naftte of Vermont. The prevailing sources of the population-Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio-show the blending of the movements from the east and from below Michigan. "In contrast with these prairie villages, Mottville and Constantine represent the sawmill type of village. The former was chosen as a mill site in 1827 by a settler from Crawford county, Ohio; its early settlers were largely Ohioans. Constantine was platted in 18.3I at the junction of the St. Joseph with Fawn river at which time three families had gathered there from Ohio and Pennsylvania. The first gristmill in the county to be run by water was built there in 1830. From the same sources came the first settlers of Three Rivers, a site chosen also for its water power, though no village was laid out until 1836. A 254 HISTORIC MICHIGAN considerable immigration to the burr-oak plains which have given the name to the village of Burr Oak took place in I833." St. Joseph county was established on October 29, I829, and was organized on November 4, I829, in which year it had a population of 6,337, a number decreased to 4,606 by I840. VAN BUREN COUNTY The early pioneers found but little prairie land in Van Buren county, and this was a small corner of Little Prairie Ronde over the dividing line from Cass county, and thus it was that the early settlement of this county was somewhat slow. However, in common with Allegan county, Van Buren had much valuable pine timber, and hence the names of Pine Creek and Pine Grove township. In 1831, beginnings of a settlement, known as the "Pine Creek Neighborhood," were made at the junction of Pine Creek and the Kalamazoo river. Cutting off the pine along the creek was the motivating influence behind this settlement, but the number of settlers in the county was small, for although the timber was valuable and an asset to settlement in the openings, the land did not at once appeal to agriculturists, there having been but little development along this line for a decade after this time. In I849 Pine Grove township had but thirty voters. Lumbering on a small scale for local consumption was an important early industry. It was much facilitated by an abundance of water power, which was well distributed throughout the section on the main streams and tributaries of the Kalamazoo, the St. Joseph and the Paw Paw rivers. In Van Buren county, the first settlement was closely related with the older prairie settlements of other counties. The water power at the site of Paw Paw began to be improved by prospectors from Prairie Ronde, and it was natural that pioneer trade relations should have followed between the inhabitants of the two places. Van Buren county was established as a county of the territory on October 29, I829, and was organized as a county of the state on March i8, i837. In the latter year it boasted I,262 inhabitants, and three years later the number had increased to I,90o. 4 4 A/ "I r, 11"'."t 'O I'le" MARY S. CHAPIN EARLY TEACHERS' CONTRAcTr CHAPTER XIII ST. JOSEPH COUNTY T HE territory now included in the county of St. Joseph has been under the flags of foreign nations, and even under that of the United States has been a part of many different territorial subdivisions. The first vague claims of white men to this region were those of the then powerful Spanish nation, and dated from 1540 to I701. It cannot be said, however, that these claims had even a slight effect upon the virgin territory of the St. Joseph, because there was ho colonization, or even exploration during that time which can be accredited to the Spaniards. Life in the wilderness went on as before the sweeping claims were made-the Indian came and went with no thought of the white man to disturb his nomadic occupation of this forest empire. But though the Spaniards were making no effort to strengthen their evil hold on this northwest country, the British and French explorers and trappers were busily working their way along the principal water courses, the Great Lakes, the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, the representatives of each country laying claim to all the land their vivid imaginations could picture. On July 13, 1701, the Sachems of the Five Nations, asserting that they had driven from the middle west all Indian tribes hostile to them, or had at any rate subdued them, ceded to the English under King William III a "broad strip on the south side of Lake Erie" and extending westward. Thus the present St. Joseph county came under the British flag..The French, of course, ignored this cession of territory to the British, and made more and more forcible claims to it for their own side. Claims and counter-claims flew thick and fast, and the constantly increasing friction between these two powerful nations, augmented by the desires of each for the valuable fur trade of the northwest, as well as by territorial greed, inevitably resulted in war. The storm broke in 1756, and the French and Indian war, as it was called, was the occasion of much fierce and bloody fighting between the armies of these two old European rivals. At this time, the French undoubtedly had far better claims to this particular region, not only because of more extensive explorations, but also because of colonization at points not far removed, compared to the English colonies, from the site of St. Joseph county. Although white men had probably been up to St. Joseph much earlier, there is no positive knowledge of their having been there until i679, when La Salle passed this way. However, there is strong reason to believe that Father Marquette was here in I675. But while these first adventurous explorers found a virgin wilderness peopled by ignorant savages, the discoveries of archaeologists 256 HISTORIC MICHIGAN bring ample evidence that centuries earlier in the development of the world this country was inhabited by a race of men, the Mound Builders, who boasted a civilization the extent of which is now a matter of pure conjecture since this prehistoric race has left us but scant traces upon which to construct a picture of its accomplishments. But insofar as it affects our later history, the civilization of the Mound Builders is of relative unimportance, because the entire structure of our modern life has its origin here in the explorations of Marquette and La Salle. In I673, two years after French officers had taken possession of the territory of the northwest in the name of the King of France and the Christian religion, Marquette gathered around him a number of men at Point St. Ignace, and on May 13 of that year embarked on a voyage of exploration of the country west of Lake Michigan. He journeyed first to Green Bay, thence up to Fox river to an Indian village where Father Allouez had previously preached to the members of several tribes. From this village he portaged to the Wisconsin river down which he traveled to discover the Mississippi river on June I7, I673. After returning to St. Ignace at the conclusion of this expedition, he went to Illinois Indians, at their request, to establish missions among them, and worked among them until the failure of his health in 1675 necessitated his retirement. It was at that time that he selected as his homeward route the easy passage up the Kankakee and down the St. Joseph rivers. However, death overtook him on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the little river which now bears his name, and two years later his body was borne to St. Ignace by Indians. In I669, Robert Rene Cavelier Sieur de La Salle, explorer extraordinary of the French nation, undertook the series of explorations which resulted in the discovery of the Ohio and Wabash rivers. Upon his return to Canada, he laid before Frontenac, the governor-general, plans by which the French might establish a chain of forts and trading posts down the Mississippi river to the Gulf of Mexico. At the suggestion of Frontenac, La Salle went to France to have his project approved by the king and Colbert, Minister of Finance and Marine, both of whom saw the advantages to be derived therefrom, and sent him back to America with authority to carry out the undertaking. He was given command of Fort Frontenac, located on Lake Erie at the head of the St. Lawrence river, and from there, on November I6, I678, he sailed to Niagara Falls, where he engaged in the fur trade, probably to procure funds for the financing of his expedition. In the Niagara river he built the "Griffin," a small sailing vessel, in which he set sail for Green Bay in August of I679. From that point he sent the "Griffin" back with a cargo of furs which were to be exchanged for supplies. He now divided his force into two parts, one of which he placed under the command of Tonty, an Italian who bore the commission of lieutenant in the French army, and the other he himself commanded. Taking divergent routes, with the mouth of the St. Joseph river as the objective of each, the two parties left Green Bay, Tonty following the east shore of Lake Michigan, and La Salle the ST. JOSEPH COUNTY 257 west. On November I, 1679, La Salle arrived at the appointed meeting place where he was joined at the end of the month by Tonty. At the mouth of the St. Joseph he built Fort Miamis on the present site of the city of St. Joseph. From this fort he proceeded up to St. Joseph, and after one unsuccessful attempt so to do located the party at the headwaters of the Kankakee, over which he carried, thus being the second, if hot the first, white man to set foot on the soil of southwest Michigan. His knowledge of this portage seems to be proof that Marquette had preceeded him in this region. The principal effect of La Salle's work, as it pertains to St. Joseph county, was his formation of an Indian confederacy at Starved Rock, Illinois, which included the Shawnees, of Ohio, the Apenaki and Mohegan tribes from New England who had been driven from their homes by the Iroquois, and the Illinois. The federation had for its object defense against the powerful and warlike Iroquois who were the allies of England. The Miamis were at first reluctant to join the confederacy, but the eloquence of La Salle dispelled their doubts, and they consented to become a part of the alliance. At his suggestion they moved to the vicinity of Starved Rock and their abandoned lands were then occupied by Potawatomies from the Green Bay district. At La Salle's death, which caused the abandonment of Fort Crevecoeur at Starved Rock and the 'mission at that place, the Indian confederation slowly dissolved, some of the tribes returning to their former homes. Thus it was that the early English speaking inhabitants found the Potawatomies mingled with a few Miamis and Chippewas. The Miamis in general however, went to the territory around Fort Wayne, and to the adjacent regions in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. With the fall of Montreal on September 8, 1760, during the French and Indian war, Detroit, St. Joseph's and other frontier posts passed into the hands of the British, and by the Treaty of Paris, 1763, the English boundaries were extended to the Mississippi river. In the summer of 1779, during the American Revolution, General George Rogers Clark planned to move against the British posts at Detroit and St. Joseph's, but fearing his force was insufficient, and unable to increase it, he abandoned the project. Southwest Michigan had now been under the flags of France and England, not to mention the first Spanish claims to the region. In January, 1781, war having broken out in 1779 between England and Spain, a detachment of Spanish soldiers and Indians left St. Louis on a raiding expedition through the British territory, and captured Fort St. Joseph's on the present site of Niles. They took formal possession of the post and the surrounding territory in the name of the King of Spain, raised the Spanish flag, but not desirous of holding a post so remote from their base of operation, burned the fort to the ground and returned to St. Louis. As a result of the Clark expedition into the Northwest Territory, in which he captured the British posts at Vincennes and Kaskaskia, the present states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin were ceded to the United States at the Treaty of Paris at the close of the 258 HISTORIC MICHIGAN American Revolution. In I787, Virginia having given up her strong claims to the new territory in favor of the national government, the Northwest Territory was set up with General Arthur St. Clair as its first governor. In 1805, the Michigan Territory was created out of the old Northwest Territory, but its boundaries were not those of the present state at first, it having for a time embraced the territory as far west as the Missouri river, including the present states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and part of the Dakotas. St. Joseph county was established under the laws of the territory on October 29, 1829, and on November 4th, following the law for its organization was passed by the territorial legislature. Its population was small at that time, but this increased rapidly, until it had inhabitants to the number of 6,337 in the year 1837, the year Michigan was admitted to the Union as a sovereign state. However, the territory of this country had been in several other territorial subdivisions before this time. In addition to having been claimed by Virginia until 1778, it was claimed by Connecticut in 1776. In 1784 it lay in the proposed Metropotamia, which was never realized. In 1790, it was included in Knox county of the northwest territory, set off by the proclamation of Winthrop Sargent, governor. In I803, it became a part of Wayne county, Indiana Territory, and two years later became a part of the Michigan Territory, the capital of which was Detroit. On August 28, 1821, it was ceded by the Indians to the United States by the Treaty of Chicago, and in the next year became a part of Monroe county, Michigan Territory, which embraced all the lands ceded by this treaty. During the years I825-26 the land was surveyed into townships, and in the latter of'these two years the territory now included in St. Joseph county was detached from Monroe as a part of Lenawee county. At the time of the organization of St. Joseph, on November 4, 1829, the townships of the county were White Pigeoyn, Sherman, Flowerfield, Brady and Green. In 1831 Centreville was made the county seat, and in the following year Branch county was attached to St. Joseph for judicial purposes for one year. In 1833 the lands later included in Lockport and Fabius townships were detached from White Pigeon township and called Buck township. Lockport township was set off in I840, and others followed from time to time as the occasion demanded until there are now sixteen townships in St. Joseph county, as follows: Burr Oak, Colon, Constantine, Fabius, Fawn River, Florence, Flowerfield, Leonidas, Lockport, Mendon, Mottville, Nottawa, Park, Sherman, Sturgis and White Pigeon. The census returns for the county show that its population increased very rapidly until 1870, since which time it has remained practically stationary. In 1830 the population was 1,313; in 1840, 7,o68; in I850, 12,725; in 1860, 21,262; in 1870, 26,275; in 1880, 26,626; in 1890, 25,356; in I9oo, 23,889; in I9I0, 25,499, and in 1920, 26,818. The population of the various townships of the county, exclusive of village and city populations wer, in 1920: Burr Oak, 741; Colon, 768; Constantine, 649; Fabius, 716; Fawn River, 490; Florence, 566; Flowerfield,. 791; Leonidas, 916; Lockport, 647; Mendon, ST. JOSEPH COUNTY 259 680; Mottville, 40I; Nottawa, 809; Park, 707; Sherman, 757; Sturgis, 529; White Pigeon, 623. The village and city populations in I920 were: Burr Oak Village, 589; Centreville village, 70I; Colon village, 745; Constantine village, 1,277; Mendon village, 625; White Pigeon, 887; Sturgis city, 5,995, and Three Rivers city, 5,209. Thus of the total population of 26,818 in the county, 10,790 are rural or agricultural people and I6,028 are village or city dwellers. The prairie lands in the county first attracted settlers, Sturgis and Pigeon prairie being the first of these to claim inhabitants. Settlers came from Wayne county, Michigan and from Jennings county, Indiana. Although immigration in general had been retarded by early unfavorable reports on the territory of Michigan, the worth of the new lands gradually began to be realized throughout the country, a'nd settlers decided to give the Michigan lands a trial, at least. The wooded portions of the county did not attract them as much as did the prairies, and this was very natural. Stretching away for miles, the prairies of southern Michigan presented unbroken plains of fertile soil, where the pioneer had but to sink his plow and turn up the sandy loam without the difficulties of stone and stump to deter his progress. It is stated that in the very first season, a settler could plow up a large number of acres, sow it to wheat, and reap his twenty-five bushels to the acre. Once these facts became known, a knowledge broadcast by the newspapers of Detroit and copied in the east, the prairie land was quickly taken up. Then began the clearing of the forests, those who took out wooded land knowing that the underlying soil was Of equal value with the prairie land, once the timber was cleared away. In order profitably to handle the timber cleared from the land, mills were erected along the St. Joseph river, the year 1827 finding one on the site of Mottville, a village platted in 183I. The land office was located for a time at White Pigeon, an indication that St. Joseph county was, in 1831, the year of the establishment of this government land office, about in the center of immigration. White Pigeon was platted in 1830, and in the following year appeared Mottville, Centreville, Constantine; Burr Oak and Three Rivers were begun. The majority of the settlers came from Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Constantine was primarily a mill town, having been located at the confluence of the Fawn and St. Joseph rivers, the water power having been excellent at that point. The first grist mill in the county was erected at that site in I830. The site of. Three Rivers was chosen on account.of the water power, and while the beginnings of this city began several years earlier, it was not platted until 1836. One of the earliest settlers of the county was Patrick Marantette, who established his home 'near the present village of Mendon in the year 1833. He became one of the most prominent men in southwest Michigan, and his descendants are at the present time influential in the affairs of St. Joseph county. At the time of his arrival, the immediate section around Mendon wvas a forest wilderness, with a large number of Indians still in evidence. The father of Patrick Maran 260 HISTORIC MICHIGAN tette had been a well-known Indian trader in Detroit, and it was no trouble for the son to get along well with the Indians. Patrick Marantette married Frances Moutan, daughter of Francois Moutan, who had previously come to St. Joseph county to take charge of the Godfrois Indian trading post. North of Centreville there was in 1821 about half a township of land set up as a Potawatomi Indian reservation, and this land was not open to settlement until two years after the Indian Treaty of I833. One of the chiefs of the Potawatomies was Sanganash, a noble member of the red race, a friend of the white men, a wise counselor, who was murdered by his own tribe for agreeing to the removal of himself and followers out of the state. To him a fitting monument has been erected. On Thursday afternoon, October 19, I9II, the grave of Sanganash, this chieftain, was marked by the Abiel Fellows Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. The burial spot is on a high, sightly knoll in a forest overlooking the Prairie river and on the farm of John Fitch. About one-half mile distant from this place was the once flourishing village of Eschol, now but a memory to the oldest living settlers. Research on the part of Mrs. H. P. Barrows disclosed interesting facts concerning the once powerful lord of the forest. Sanganash was a friend of the early white settlers and was held in high esteem by them. He prevented many massacres by his counsel and adjuration but his life paid the forfeit as a result of this friendship for the whites. He was killed in 1831 by members of his tribe because he signed a treaty with the United States government to remove with his people, non-freeholders, to beyond the Mississippi river. According to tribal custom, Sanganash was placed in a sitting posture in a log pen above the ground, surrounded with food, pipes, bow and arrow. Later, and at the request of the settlers, he was given a decent burial, the whites attending to pay tribute to their friend. The quaintly inscribed and unpretentious marker was selected by Mrs. Barrows and Miss Lora Blood, a committee appointed by the regent of the chapter, Mrs. L. B. Perrin. The day was perfect and the grand old oaks furnished a canopy of beautiful autumn leaves while late violets peeped from the moss at the foot of the trees underneath which sleeps Sanganash, sturdy bronzed friend of the paleface. Sturgis, the larger of the two cities of the county, is located in Sturgis township. The prairie land which surrounds the city was the attraction which first brought settlers to the town, and its happy situation at the crossing of the Grand Rapids & Indiana railroad, a north and south line controlled by the great Pennsylvania system, and the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad, a part of the New York Central system, furnishing excellent transportation for the manufacturers of the city, has had much to do with its prosperity and solid growth. To the eye of the visitor, Sturgis presents an aspect of business that is sound. The bustle in the streets, and the general view he gets of the city leads him to believe that its population numbers in the neighborhood of ten thousand souls, and indeed the amount of com St. JOSEPH COTJUTYN 261 merce and manufacturing done in the city would be a credit to a city twice its size. Electric power and light is furnished by a municipal hydro-electric plant located on the St. Joseph river sixteen miles northwest of the city. This dam is an imposing work, and the plant develops fifteen hundred horse-power. The manufacturers of Sturgis are varied and important. The Kirsch Manufacturing Company is the largest curtain rod factory in the world. The Sturgis Manufacturing Company makes several products, including baby carriages and automobile accessories. Freeland Sons Company are large producers of steel tanks, and the Grobhiser Cabinet Makers factory does cabinet work of the highest grade, to mention but a few of the businesses of the city. The Sturgis Daily Journal owns a fine new building, and the newspaper which it publishes is one of the leaders in moulding thought in this section of the state. A good public library is located on Chicago street, centrally for all purposes, and is of great benefit to old and young alike. Three Rivers is a city of almost equal size with Sturgis, and is that city's chief rival for the trade of the county and surrounding territory. In the parlance of the traveling sales representative-it is a good city. Here also the amount of business done exceeds the expectations of the visitor. The city is located on the New York Central railroad and the Michigan Central railroad, and has everything that can be desired in the way of transportation. It boasts two banks, a free library, a hospital which is privately owned, and has an athletic field owned by the public. Its electric power is almost unlimited, a boon to the manufacturer, and it has one of the best gas plants in southern Michigan. Its public schools are of high order, the high school building being a $300,000 structure, thoroughly modern, and the curricula of the primary schools, of which there are four, and the high schools are up to the minute. The Daily Commercial, a newspaper of the first rank, published by William H. Shumaker, is a clean-cut, progressive newspaper. Its circulation is large and the equipment is modem. The village of Three Rivers was platted in 1836, as above stated, and was granted a charter in I855. It is now a city, and enjoys the privileges extended under the state constitution to all cities of its class. In I918 the city endorsed the manager-commission form of government, under which it now operates. Information concerning the part of St. Joseph county in the World war has been gleaned from the Three Rivers City Directory, published by Otto E. Luedders. The first quota of the county was 214, and on September 5, I917, the first contingent drawn by the selective draft was sent to Camp Custer. Drilling began there on October 22d, and as the men were fitted for active service they were sent over seas. A great many volunteered in the Michigan National Guard units, which became a part of the famous Thirty-second Division of the United States army, which won undying fame on the fighting front in France. Others there were who became members of Navy or Marine Corps units. On January 24, I918, the women of the county organized for na 62 HISTORIC MICHIGAN tional defense work, and the efforts of these loyal women, and also of the men of the county too old to serve in the armed forces, did much to bring ultimate victory to the American arms, for it has beet truly said, a great part of all war work has to be done by the civilian population, especially the all important phase of financing. Many St. Joseph county boys gave their lives in that titanic struggle, and a halo of honor will ever surround their names. Those who made the supreme sacrifice were: Harold D. Austin, Clyde C. Baer, Gustav G. Becker, William J, Behan, Robert B. Blood, Arthur F. Brown, Harold J. Cole, Fred Cross, Glen M. Eberhard, Simon Estes, Eugene Haas, Louis K. Hice, Earle L. Hill, Levi W. Hull, Raymond W. Johnson, John Klopfenstein, Reuben Krull, Earl McKenzie, George E. Milner, Clyde L. Mowery, Harold A. Myers, Harry F. Newman, Freeman J. Oldorf, Henry L. Parker, Underwood F. Pulver, Harry Rexford, Ralph Robbins, Floyd H. Rose, John Schrader, Eugene D. Smittendorf, George E. Soule, Arthur Stears, Lyall Stenberg, Robert E. Swartz, Donald A. E. Symons, Frank Van Fleet, Emery W. Van Selous, Russell W. Welty, Byron W. Wenzel, George 0. West, Marshall G. White, Clark Wood, and William H. Wood. Personal Records Homer L. Allard.-Well liked, thoroughly respected and in the enjoyment of the confidence of the people of Sturgis, especially for his helpful interest in civic affairs-this, in a measure, serves to visualize Homer L. Allard. Mr. Allard was born in Sturgis, June Io, 1867. His parents were of Puritan stock. Ancestors of the father came over with Lafayette. The father was born in Whitingham, Vermont, and came to Kalamazoo county, Michigan, in the early sixties. Homer L. completed the eighth grade at school, worked on a farm, and then became a cabinet maker. He entered into a contract with the city of Sturgis to illumine the city streets with gasoline. In I888 Mr. Allard went to Ludington, where for two months he played ball and in June of the same year went to Manistee, playing ball there two years. In 1890 he was at Marquette in the Iron-Copper League, and then returned to Kalamazoo, working there five years. In I896 he took to the cigar trade, purchasing a half interest in the Shoecraft cigar store and factory. He held this half interest five years, then disposed of it and went into the manufacture of stepladders for one year, but returned to cigars, and continued in the latter until January I, 1923. In 1907, Mr. Allard was elected alderman and served two terms, then became mayor, also serving two terms, and in 19I9 was sent to the state legislature for two years. On February 12, 1923, President Harding appointed him postmaster of Sturgis, which post he is now holding. Mr. Allard was a member of the commission which drafted the new charter for Sturgis. On May 27, 1909, he was married to May Howard, of Chicago, daughter of Lawrence and Sarah (Akey) Howard. Mr. Howard was captain of the Eleventh Michigan infantry and served with distinction during the Civil War. He is well known as a Republican. Mr. Allard is a Rotarian, Mason, Knight Templar, Elk, Eagle, and Pythian. Adam Elliott Armstrong, president of the Armstrong Machine Works, one of the important industrial and commercial concerns in the city of Three Rivers, was born on a farm near Toulon, Stark county, Illinois, October 6, 1876, and is a son of Abel and Annie (Reed) Armstrong, who were natives of Scotland, the father having become one of the substantial farmers and honored citizens of Stark county, Illinois. Adam E. Armstrong received the advantages of the public schools of his native county, as well as those of Toulon Academy. After his school days he continued his alliance with farm industry a few years, and he then joined his older brother, James W., in a machine shop in the city of Chicago, the business being conducted under the title of the Armstrong-Durst Machine Works and being engaged in the manufacture of bicycle spokes and nipples. Fourteen months later Mr. Armstrong came to Three Rivers, at the time when the Armstrong-Durst Machine Works removed its plant and business 264 HISTORIC MICHIGAN to this city, in May, I9oo. A few years later the business was sold to the Torrington Spoke and Needle Company, and Adam E. Armstrong then turned his attention to the manufacturing of moulds for concrete posts. He was thus associated in the developing of the D. & A. post mould, which is still widely used and which is manufactured by the D. & A. Post Mould Company. After disposing of his interest in this manufacturing enterprise Mr. Armstrong initiated the manufacture of an improved potato-digger invented by Charles R. Dodge, of Cassopolis, the manufacture of which is no longer carried on. The corporation now gives its entire attention to the manufacture of a new nad valuable steam trap, the same having been invented by Otto Arner. The Armstrong Machine Works was incorported in I907. In I908 Mr. Armstrong acquired his brother's interest in the business, and also that of Mr. Arner, its products being sold to consumers, to jobbers and other dealers, the while its trade extends throughout the United States and Canada. In March, 19I7, Fred McCally became a partner in the business and his helpful association continued until' his death in February, I9I9. In I920 Arthur L. Jones and Leonard D. Goff, formerly connected with the Three Rivers, or Sheffield, plant of Fairbanks, Morse & Company, acquired interest in the Armstrong Manufacturing Company, of which Mr. Jones is now the secretary and Mr. Goff the treasurer. Adam E. Armstrong is president of the company and Margaret F. Armstrong is its vice-president. At Toulon, Illinois, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Armstrong to Miss Margaret Fowler, and they have three children, Margaret Esther, Elizabeth Helen and Lawrence Fowler. The son is now (1925) a student in Kalamazoo College. Mr. Armstrong has proved not only one of the resourceful and influential forces in the industrial and commercial activities of Three Rivers, but has made himself known for civic loyalty and progressiveness. He is a Republican, and has served one term as a member of the city board of aldermen. He has membership in the local Exchange Club and the Sanganash Country Club, and he and his wife are active members of the Presbyterian church in their home city. George H. Arnold.-Jovial by nature, of a most pleasing personality and extremely conscientious in the discharge of his professional duties, George H. Arnold, attorney of Three Rivers, Michigan, enjoys universal popularity and with it a large and lucrative practice. At present he is city attorney and has been the prosecuting attorney and mayor. Mr. Arnold has been retained in most of the important litigated cases before the St. Joseph county court. However, he is a firm adherent of prevention and believes in recourse to court action only when absolutely necessary to the protection of his clients' interests. His theory of life and action lies in the superior method of adjusting all cases possible out of court, belieing it to be much better for client and all others concerned besides relieving the congestion that is in various sections of the country impeding the movements of courts and obstructing the flow of justice. Mr. Arnold was born a half mile east of Three Rivers, October 27, 1865, a son ST. JOSEPH COUNTY 265 of Otis and Sarah Jane (Gibson) Arnold. The father located in Three Rivers in 1833, coming from New York state. The mother came in I836 from Pennsylvania and shared the hardships of the early settlers while the Indians roamed the dense forests. Otis Arnold followed agriculture. George H. received his early education in the grade and high schools of Three Rivers and soon after leaving high school went to Chicago and entered the office of Callaghan & Company to sell law books and while there met many famous members of the American bar, among them Melville Fuller, who later became chief justice of the United States supreme court. He was with this company about two years, but returned to Three Rivers in I892 and has practiced his profession since with unvarying success. Although a Democrat in a normally Republican county, his popularity was evidenced by election to the office of prosecuting attorney three times. The citizens manifested further regard for him by electing him mayor and at present he is city attorney. During the World War he was county chairman of the war loan committee and assisted in all conservation and equipment activities put under way to win the war. Mr. Arnold was married to May Perry, of Mottville, Michigan, daughter of D. B. and Cornelia (Knorr) Perry, residents of that locality many years. No children came of the union but Mr. and Mrs. Arnold took to rear Effie Perry, a niece, giving her a splendid home and all the opportunities possible to a child of their own. Mrs. Arnold is a member of the Lutheran church. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias. Martin Edmund Aulsbrook.-Among the leading business men of St. Joseph county, a pillar of Sturgis, is Martin Edmund Aulsbrook, born in Plainsfield, Illinois, February 28, 1853. The father was born in England in I8IO and came to America in 1829, locating in Cincinnati, later going to Louisville, Kentucky, then to Illinois. The mother, Caroline (Smith) Aulsbrook, was a native of Vermont. Martin Edmund is a descendant in a line of furniture men, the paternal grandfather, John Aulsbrook, having been a furniture dealer and home builder in England, and the father a furniture retailer in this country. Martin Edmund Aulsbrook received his early education in Northwestern College, then located at Plainfield, now at Napierville, Illinois, then went in business with his father in Belle Plain, Iowa, but sold out and came to Sturgis in I882, starting in a small way to make bedroom furniture, in which line the company he heads yet specializes. Mr. Aulsbrook is interested in the Aulsbrook-Jones Furniture Company, the Grubheiser factory, which was taken over after the death of Mr. Grubheiser in 1920, and the Gartner-Jones Furniture Company at Goshen, Indiana. He has been president of the Aulsbrook-Jones company since its organization. It was formerly the Aulsbrook-Sturgis company, a partnership, but changed to a corporation eighteen years ago. Trade extends to every large city in the United States and the concern stands high in the industry. In 1877 Mr. Aulsbrook married Miss Julia Schultz. She was born in Iowa. There are two children by this marriage, Harry E. and Jessie A. The former mar HISTORIC MICHIGAN ried Leta Reins, of Detroit, and they are the parents of one child, William. Jessie A. married C. L. Spence, president of the Carbon Coated Paper Company, of Sturgis. They have two children, Janet and Edmund Aulsbrook Spence. The first Mrs. Aulsbrook died and on January I6, 1924, Mr. Aulsbrook was united in marriage to Mrs. Julia Burdick, formerly a resident of Menasha, Wisconsin, but more recently of Sturgis. Mr. Aulsbrook, a man of most estimable qualities, is a Rotarian, member of the Country Club and of the Masonic fraternity and is attached to the consistory of the Scottish Rite, having attained the thirty-second degree. He is president of the Citizens' State Bank of Sturgis. A man of liberal thinking and broad culture, Mr. Aulsbrook, free of dogmatism, inclines toward Unitarianism. General Harry Hill Bandholtz.-One of the native sons of St. Joseph county who have conferred honor and distinction on the state of Michigan and the United States is Major General Harry Hill Bandholtz, who was born at Constantine, this county, December 18, 1864, and who is a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of this section of the Wolverine state. In the public schools of Constantine General Bandholtz continued his studies until his graduation in the high school, as a member of the class of I88I. For a period of four years thereafter he was employed in various business houses in the city of Chicago. In a competitive examination held at Kalamazoo, Michigan, General Bandholtz was successful in winning a cadetship in the United States Military Academy, at West Point, and this institution he entered July I, I886. He was graduated as a member of the class of i890, and in that year initiated his service as second lieutenant in the Sixth United States Infantry. In 1897, he was transferred to the Seventh Infantry, he having previously served as first lieutenant in the Twenty-fourth Infantry. In 1899, he was made captain in the Second Infantry, and with this command he won advancement to the rank of major, and in this office his service was also with the Twenty-second, Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Infantry regiments, in the period of 1911-I6. In 1916 he was made a lieutenant colonel of infantry, and in 1918 he was advanced to a full colonelcy. In 1920 he was promoted to the grade of brigadier general of the United States Army, and in 1923 he was given the rank of major general, he having retired from active service November 4, 1923. General Bandholtz was-professor of military science and tactics at Michigan Agricultural College from September, 1896, to May, 1898. He was in active service in the Spanish-American war, took part in the battle of El Caney and received a citation for gallantry in action. He participated also in the fighting around San Juan Hill, he having been at the time adjutant in the Seventh United States Infantry. After the surrender of Santiago he was sent back to the United States to accept a volunteer commission which he had previously declined at Tampa, Florida, unless he were first permitted to finish the campaign upon which his regular regiment was about to enter. General Bandholtz served as major of the Thirty-fifth Michigan Volunteer Infantry from August 8, 1898, to March 21 of the follow ST. JOSEPH COUNTY 267 ing year. From March to July, I9oo, he was in command of the military district of Sagua la Grande, Cuba, and in this connection he superintended the first Cuban electio'n held in that district. In July, 1900, he went from Cuba to the Philippine Islands, where he continued in service somewhat more than thirteen consecutive years-until he was relieved in September, I913. He participated in the campaigns of the Second United States Infantry in central Luzon and on the island of Marinduque. When the situation on Marinduque was at its worst, he, with one companion, Lieutenant Campbell King, of the First Infantry, went into the camp of the insurgent leader, Colonel Maximo Abad, arranged for the latter's surrender, and returned to headquarters with him and his entire command. In June, I9OI, he was sent to Tayabas Province, and on the end of the following month he received the surrender of Colonel Mariano Castillo, with nearly 200 rifles. In 1902 the people of this province elected him their first provincial governor, and he has the distinction of being the only United States regular army officer ever thus elected by popular vote in the Philippines. He served one year as governor of Tayabas, and within this period he completely pacified and organized that province, which is the largest Christian province of the Philippine Islands. In I903 General Bandholtz was relieved as governor of Tayabas and appointed assistant chief of the Philippine constabulary, with temporary rank of colonel. This appointment was made by Governor' Taft, and Colonel Bandholtz was placed in command of the district of Southern Luzon. In a period of one hundred days he brought an end to the serious, wide-spread and long-existing insurrection under General Simeon Ola in the rich and populous Bicol provinces, and he finished the campaign by going alone into the camp of Colonel Antonio Loama and bringing him in, with his remaining seventy men and their arms. In the autumn of 1905, General Bandholtz was transferred to the command of the district of Central Luzon, with headquarters in the city of Manila. Within six months he had forced the unconditional surrender of the worst and most notorious outlaws that had ever existed in the islands, including Felizardo (killed), Montalan, Sakay, Villafuerte, Natividad, DeVega, Carreon and others. For this service he received a congratulatory cablegram from the United States secretary of war. June 30, I907, he was appointed chief of the Philippine constabulary, with the temporary rank of brigadier general, and this position he retained until he was relieved and ordered back to the United States, September I, 1913, at which time the entire Philippine archipelago was without a ladrone leader of any consequence. In I907 General Bandholtz was elected commander of the Veteran Army of the Philippines, the same being composed of the old soldiers who had been discharged but who still remained in the islands. In I908 he effected the amalgamation of this organization with the United Spanish War Veterans, and was rewarded with the rank of past commander-in-chief of the latter much larger organization. In I9I0 the Philippine commission, by unanimous resolution, requested his promotion to brigadier general in the regular United States Army. HISTORIC MICHIGAN In I913 he recovered the stolen plans of all the defenses of Manila bay, and in this connection the governor general of the Philippines again cabled the same recommendation. In 1914-I5 General Bandholtz was in command of the post at Fort Porter, Buffalo, New York, and in 1915-I6 he was in command of a battalion at Plattsburg Barracks, New York. July i, I916, he was appointed chief of staff of the New York Division, with the rank of colonel in the National Guard, and in that capacity he served six months on the Mexican border. He then returned with his division to New York City, where he served as senior inspector instructor until April, I9I7, when he was again appointed chief of staff of the New York Division, in which position he had charge of the details of its reorganization into the Twenty-seventh Division, at Spartanburg, South Carolina. During September, October and November of that year he was on the western front in the World War activities in Europe, where he served with the British forces in their drive on Langemarck, and with the French in their great Chemin-des-Dames drive of that year. On the I7th of November, 19I7, he was promoted brigadier general in the United States Army and was assigned command of the Fifty-eighth ("Gray," Maryland and Virginia) Brigade of the Twenty-ninth ("Blue and Gray") Division. He took his brigade to France in June, I918, and was in command thereof while holding the Gildwiller-Balschwiller sector, and in the beginning of the Meuse-Argonne offensive, until near the end of September, I918. On the 24th of September, I918, General Pershing appointed General Bandholtz provost marshal general of the American Expeditionary Forces, and in this capacity he promptly reorganized and brought to a high state of efficiency the provost marshal general's department and the military police corps, consisting of 1,405 officers and 40,670 men. He also had as one of his assigned duties the charge of the 48,350 German prisoners of war captured by the Americaan forces. His organization covered the British Isles, France, Belgium, Italy, Luxemburg and the occupied portions of Germany and Austria. For the efficiency of his organization he received commendatory letters from Generals Pershing, Liggett, Harbord, McAndrew and others. From August 9, I919, to February 9, 1920, he served as American representative on the Interallied Military Mission sent to Hungary by the Supreme Council to control the unauthorized Roumanian occupation of that country, and later as first United States Commissioner to that country. His services were highly commended by the State Department. General Bandholtz returned to the United States in March, 1920, and at the end of the following July he was promoted brigadier general of the United States Army and assigned command of the Thirteenth Infantry Brigade, at Camps Funston and Meade. In August, I92I, he was assigned the duty of organizing and commanding the newly created district of Washington, at the national capital, and was given also the special task of handling the serious coal miners' strike which the West Virginia authorities reported as having passed ST. JOSEPH COUNTY 269 their control. This he permanently settled within a week, without firing a shot or shedding a drop of blood. In addition to the usual-and numerous campaign and service medals, General Bandholtz has received the following named decorations: The United States Distinguished Service Medal; the French Commander of the Legion of Honor, and Croix de Duerre with palms; the Italian Commander of the Order of the Crown and also commander of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus; the Belgian commander of the Order of the Crown; the Montenegro medal for bravery and Order of Prince Danilao; the Grand Cross of the Crown of Roumania; and the Conspicuous Service Medal of the State of New York. Since his retirement from active service in the United States Army, General Bandholtz has maintained his residence in his old home town of Constantine, which is endeared to him by many gracious memories and associations and which accords to him a high mead of honor as a native son and distinguished soldier. Henry P. Barrows was long numbered among the prominent figures in industrial and commercial enterprise in the city of Three Rivers, St. Joseph county, where he is now living virtually retired, though he finds a goodly demand for his service in the manufacturing of high-grade tents, awnings and the upholstering of furniture, besides which he has been for the past several years the president of the Three Rivers Building & Loan Association. Mr. Barrows was born at La Grange, Indiana, August 24, I854, and is a son of Thomas and Eliza (Parkins) Barrows, the former of whom was born in 1824 and died in I886, he having for many years followed the trade of harness making. Mrs. Eliza (Parkins) Barrows was a daughter of Dr. John and Susanna Parkins, of England, where her father was a successful physician and surgeon. Mr. Barrows gained his early education in the public schools of La Grange, and he was a young man when he came to Three Rivers and engaged in the manufacturing of carriages and buggies, an enterprise in which he successfully continued until the automobile made the business no longer profitable, with the result that he retired in I9o8. In his formerly large and properous carriage manufacturing business he had as associates Frank Watson, a former postmaster of Three Rivers, and Dr. Lawrence D. Knowles, long one of the leading physicians and surgeons of this city. Mr. Barrows is a stalwart Republican and in former years was active and influential in local politics. He gave twenty-one years of loyal and effective service as a member of the Three Rivers board of education. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, including the Mystic Shrine, and also with the Independent Order of Foresters and the Modem Woodmen of America. He and his wife are zealous members of the Presbyterian church in their home city. As a young man Mr. Barrows wedded Miss Ida Rhodes, of Howe, Indiana, and she is survived by two children, Frances and Frank, the former being the wife of Fred L. Jones, of Kalamazoo, and Frank, a graduate of the Three Rivers high school and of Michigan Agricultural College, being now superintendent of a large manufacturing concern at Plymouth, this state. For res EHISTORIC MICHIGAN his second wife Mr. Barrows married Miss Anna Isabelle Willemin, who was born near Moore Park, St. Joseph county, and who is a daughter of Elias R. and Nancy Jane (Allen) Willemin. Elias R. Willemin was a direct descendant of a family of French Huguenots who came to America prior to the Revolution, in which great struggle for independence representatives of the family were gallant soldiers of the Continental Line. The mother of Mrs. Barrows was a descendant of a long line of Scotch Covenanters, and was of the sixth generation in direct descent from John Brown of Priest Hill, Scotland, who died a martyr to his religious convictions, his execution having been ordered by King James II of England. The maiden name of the wife of John Brown was-Isabella Weir, and in honor of this ancestress Mrs. Barrows received her second personal name, Isabelle. Two of the sons of John Brown came to America shortly after the tragic death of their father, and it is to one of these brothers that Mrs. Barrows traces her ancestry in a direct way, as a representative of the seventh generation in descent from the martyred John Brown. Mrs. Barrows is a charter member of Abiel Fellows Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, was regent of the same ten years, and while serving in this position she was instrumental in the placing of a consistent marker over the grave of Sauganash, an Indian who was a loyal friend of the early white settlers of Michigan, the Sauganash Country Club of Three Rivers having been named in his hotnor. Mrs. Barrows is also a member of Ruth Hoppin Literary Society and the local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, in which she has passed all of the official chairs. She is a well known and highly esteemed representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of St. Joseph county, her parents having come to this county from Pennsylvania, in 1848, and her father having obtained from the government a tract of wild land near Moore Park, the stage of his activities in developing one of the productive farms of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Barrows have one son, Harry Willemin Barrows, who was born, reared and educated in Three Rivers, and who represented St. Joseph county not only as a soldier on the Mexican border but also in gallant overseas service in the great World war, he being now at the parental home. J. Murray Benjamin, who is the cashier of the Farmers' Savings Bank, of White Pigeon, Michigan, and one of the most favorably known men of St. Joseph county, was born in White Pigeon September i6, I862. His father and grandfather came from the Catskill mountains of New York. The parents of Mr. Benjamin were William W. a'nd Mary Murray Benjamin and represent one of the oldest families in this section of the state. The paternal grandfather was Zerah Benjamin. J. Murray Benjamin attended grade and high schools at White Pigeon, taught school and tilled the soil for sixteen years. He entered the banking business in 1896 and in I904 was chosen cashier of the Farmers' Savings Bank upon its organization. Mr. Benjamin married Maud Calhoun of White Pigeon, daughter of Oscar and Alvina Calhoun, early settlers of Pigeon Prairie. They have one B"r. J Iloom l OcWtTNt 971 daughter, Agnes, the wife of Clarence M. Spore, of White Pigeon. Mr. and Mrs. Spore have one child, Marjory Jeannette. Mr. Benjamin is a Republican but has never entertained ambition for public office. He was offered the judgeship of probate court in I92I but declined. He is a member of the Masonic Order and Of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Benjamin is declared to be the best informed person on the history of White Pigeon Prairie. He has a fund of information concerning Indian tradition and the life of Chief White Pigeon from whom the section takes its name. Burr Oak Library.-The Burr Oak Library Association Was organized February 14, I908, the movement toward which was started by the Women's Club of Burr Oak. Until about two years ago the library was supported by this progressive organization of women of vision and by the contributions of other organizations sharing with it wholesome interest in the welfare of the community. Each member of the Women's Club gave a book, a substantial nucleus, and to this other volumes were added and the library today has over two thousand volumes, carefully selected, and offering the residents of the community the most wholesome companionship and the strongest intellectual comaraderie. Two years ago Burr Oak township made an appropriation for the association which has enabled it to take on a more rapid growth. Feeling the need of a new building, a special election was held recently to vote on the question, the project was approved and the association is naturally enthused over the prospects. The structure will be along the lines of a strictly modern community building, housing the library and affording ample accommodation and provision for recreation and for community activities. It will be a community building in all the term implies and will be so constructed and equipped as to anticipate the needs and demands of future years. Officers of the Burr Oak Library Association are George E. Lewis, president; Mrs. Charlotte Kelley, secretary; Paul Ahlgrim, treasurer, and Miss Minnie Loomis, librarian. William C. Cameron, M.D., prominently identified with the professional, social and civic life of White Pigeon and St. Joseph county, Michigan, and a student of history who is exceptionally well informed it local traditions, Indian folklore and anecdotes, was born in Indiana on November 27, I866. His parents, John and Mary Carlin Cameron, were early pioneers of Steuben county, Indiana. John Cameron came from Scotland in I838 and worked as a contractor on the Maumee canal. Mrs. Cateron was born in Ohio. William C. Cameron attended public school in Steuben county and won the Bachelor of Science degree in I889 from Tri-State College. He was graduated from Rush Medical College in I893 and practiced medicine two years in Metz, Indiana, then located in White Pigeon. Doctor,Cameron was married to Miss Cora Shore, of Angola, Indiana, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Shore. Mrs. Cameron was graduated from Tri-State College, class of 1890, with the Bachelor of Science degree, Two children have been born to Doctor and Mrs. Cameron. Bernadine, teacher of art in the public schools of Saginaw, and Don Bruce Cameron, who is 272 2"HISTORIO MICHIGAN practicing medicine in Sturgis, Michigan. Dr. William C. Cameron is a Republican, a member of the Masonic order and of the Presbyterian church. He is a member of the county, state and national medical associations; is surgeon for the New York Central railroad; a member of the school board and was vice-chairman of the county Red Cross chapter during the World war. During that period Mrs. Cameron was chairman of the local unit. The Camerons stand high in the affections and esteem of the people of White Pigeon and St. Joseph county. Rev. Granger D. Chase, who maintains his home in the village of Mendon, St. Joseph county, where he is pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, was born in Geauga county, Ohio, near the city of Cleveland, June 20, I864. He is a son of Charles E. and Annette (Ellis) Chase, both likewise natives of the Buckeye state, where they passed virtually their entire lives, both having been zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church and the father having been a blacksmith by vocation. In 1887 Rev. Granger D. Chase was graduated in the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He was soon afterward ordained a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church, and his first pastoral charge was at Pentwater, Michigan, where he remained one year. He was then transferred to the church at Traverse City, and thence he was next assigned to the Central Methodist Episcopal Church in the city of Lansing. His next incumbency was that of pastor of the Central church at Muskegon, and for six years he was superintendent of the Grand Rapids district of the Michigan conference of the Methodist Episcopal church. After passing a year as pastor of the church at St. Johns, Clinton county, and ten years at Charlotte, Eaton county, he was assigned, in I920, to the pastorate of the church at Mendon, impaired health having required him to abate the more strenuous service that had previously been his portion in larger fields of activity. In Ohio was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Chase to Miss Zella Davis, of Delaware, that state, and of the five children of this union two are living. Dudley died. at the age of seven years, Miss Jennifer was nineteen years of age at the time of her death, and Henry W. died at the age of twenty-three years. Stanley D., the surviving son, was attending high school when the nation became involved in the World war. He enlisted and saw three years of service, during which he was stationed at a base hospital in Rahway, New Jersey, as a member of the medical corps. He now holds a responsible position with the Olds Motor Company, in the city of Lansing. Louise, the surviving daughter, is a member of the class of I925 in the Mendon high school. Mr. Chase formerly maintained active affiliation with the Masonic fraternity, and in politics maintained an independent attitude. He is a man of high intellectual attainments, is well fortified in his convictions concerning matters of governmental and economic importance, and in his chosen vocation he has given large, able and consecrated service as a worker in the vineyard of the Divine Master and as the friend and helper of his fellow men. ST. JOSEPl COUNTY 273 William Clyde, who is successfully engaged in the agricultural implement business in the fair little city of Sturgis, St. Joseph county, is a native of this county, his birth having occurred on the homestead farm near Wasepi, March 9, 1878. He is the son of Samuel and Margaret (Davis) Clyde, the former having been born in the county Pyrne, Ireland, in I842 and the latter in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, in I844. In I896, Mr. Clyde was graduated in the high school at Mendon, and thereafter he devoted some time to reading law under the preceptorship of E. E. Harwood, present judge of the probate court of St. Joseph county. He was next employed in the lumber business of Beckley and Austin, lumber dealers at Mendon, and this alliance continued until he volunteered his services to the government for duty in the Philippine Islands. He was first stationed at Fort Sheridan, near Chicago, as a member of Company L, Fourth United States Infantry. He was in active service in the Philippines as a member of the forces commanded by General Lawton and later served for a short time in the quarter-master's department. He held a business position on the Island of Naro for several months during which he was the only white man on the island. After his return to the United States, Mr. Clyde was for a short time in the employ of the Ganahl Lumber Company of St. Louis, Missouri, and he next passed four years as an employee in the machine shops of the International Harvester Company, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In I909, he returned to Mendon, where he was employed one year by the Austin Lumber Company. September 26, I9IO, he established his present agricultural implement business at Mendon and later united it with his present business at Sturgis. Mr. Clyde politically believes in voting for principle and while he has had no ambition for public office, he gave twelve years of effective service as a member of the Mendon board of education. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, including the local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, in which his wife likewise holds membership, both being active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, Mrs. Clyde having been active in the work of women's clubs since I9IO. March 9, I9IO, was the date of the marriage of Mr. Clyde to Miss Emma Engle, of Colon, St. Joseph county, she being the daughter of George and Caroline (Loettgert) Engle, the former of whom was born on the government homestead in Colon township and the latter at the family home on the river Elbe in Germany, she having been eleven years of age at the time of the family removal to the United States. Mrs. Clyde was graduated in the Colon high school as a member of the class of I894, and thereafter completed a four years' course in the Michigan State Normal College at Ypsilanti. She was graduated in this institution and was granted a life certificate as a teacher in Michigan schools. For seven years Mrs. Clyde was actively engaged in teaching, her work having included service in the district schools and also in the village schools of Burr Oak, Michigan, two years as principal of the high school at Bancroft, Nebraska, and one year in the mathematical department of the high school at Plattsmouth, Nebraska, In I908 she was graduated in the training 274 2filsTOlIC MICHIGAN school for nurses maintained by the California Hospital in the city of Los Angeles. Thereafter she gave nursing service in connection with Los Angeles College settlement work, her assignment being to the Mexican district of Los Angeles. Mr. and Mrs. Clyde have two children, Ensign Engle, aged thirteen years (1924), and Mansfield Davis, aged five years. George A. B. Cooke. —So consistent is the following appreciative estimate of the character and services of one of St. Joseph county's most honored and distinguished citizens that it is considered best to reproduce the article in its entirety, as a valuable contribution to this history: Few citizens of St. Joseph county have wielded greater or more beneficent influence in the community than George A. B. Cooke, who has maintained his home in the city of Three Rivers for more than a half century and who is now living virtually a retired life with his daughter, Mrs. Victor Van Horn, after many years of earnest and fruitful endeavor. He came to this county when a young man and gained advancement through his own ability and well-directed efforts. As a newspaper editor and publisher, as an 'intcmbent of various offices of distinctive public trust, including that bf postmaster of his home city, and as a citizen of high civic ideals and utmost loyalty and progressiveness, he has made for himself a secure place in popular confidence and esteem. No citizen of St. Joseph county is better known than Mr. Cooke, and in points of sterling character and worthy accomplishment none is more distinctively worthy of representation in this publication. George A. B. Cooke is a scion of a family whose name has been identified with the annals of American history from the early colonial epoch, as the family was early founded in the state of New Jersey, being of staunch English lineage. Mr. Cooke was born at Belvidere, Warren county, New Jersey, on the 8th of February, 1842, and is a son of Colonel Joseph and Sarah A. (Bowman) Cooke, the former of whom was born on a farm near Hope, Warren county, New Jersey, on the 2ist of June, 1812, and the latter at Mifflinville, Columbia county, Pennsylvania, on the 9th of November, I816. William Cooke, father of Joseph, was likewise a native of Warren county, New Jersey, and was a son of Consider Cooke, who was a son of Elisha Cooke. The latter was a native of Massachusetts and was a son of William Cooke, who was a son of Jacob Cooke (2). The latter's father, Jacob Cooke (i), was a son of Francis Cooke, who was the founder of the family in America, whither he came with other of the historic Puritan band on the "Mayflower." His wife and children joined him later in the new world, and they made the voyage on the ship "Ann" in 1623. The family home was established in Plymouth colony, and there both Jacob (I) and his son Jacob died. The latter's son William died at Kingston, Massachusetts. Elisha Cooke, son of William, eventually emigrated from New England to New Jersey and settled in what is now the county of Warren. He became one of the substantial farmers of that county, where he continued to maintain his home until his death, which occurred in St. JOSEPH COUNTY 275 I799. He was the father of eighteen children, nearly all of whom attained to years of maturity. Consider Cooke, son of Elisha, was born on the 4th of February, 1745, and he married Sarah Bell. He continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits in Warren county, New Jersey, until his death. His son William likewise gave his allegiance throughout his active career to the great basic industry of agriculture, and his entire life was spent in Warren county, where, like his father, he was an honored and influential citizen of sterling character. He married Margaret McMurtie, who was born in Warren county, in I799, and who was a daughter of Captain John McMurtie, a valiant officer of the Continental line in the War of the Revolution. Captain McMurtie served as first judge of the court of Sussex county, New Jersey, after the close of the war and was a prominent figure in the public affairs of his section of the state. Mrs. Margaret (McMurtie) Cooke continued to reside in her native county until she was summoned to eternal rest. Joseph Cooke, son of William and Margaret (McMurtie) Cooke and father of him whose name initiates this sketch, gained his early educational training in the common schools of his native state and as a youth he entered upon an apprenticeship in the printing trade, at Belvidere, New Jersey. A year later he went to Newon, that state, and he completed his apprenticeship in the office of the Sussex Register. He had strong native powers and became a man of broad intellectuality. After the completion of his apprenticeship in connection with the "art" preservative of all arts he was engaged in teaching school for a time, and he also served as a county official of his native county. In 1848 he removed to Washington, Pennsylvania, where he became associated with Seth T. Hurd in the editing and publishing of the Washington Commonwealth. He continued as one of the publishers of this paper until 1853, when he purchased a printing plant at Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, where he continued editor and publisher of the Waynesburg Eagle, a Whig paper, until I857, after which he retired from active business. When the dark cloud of civil war cast its gruesome pall over the national horizon Joseph Cooke ardently espoused the cause of the Union, and in I862 he enlisted with the rank of Commissary Sergeant in Company A, Eighteenth Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry, with which he proceeded to the front. He participated in the various battles, marches and campaigns in which his command was involved and was finally captured by the enemy, after which he was held in duress in various southern prisons, including Andersonville prison, in which odious place he was confined for a period of six months. At the time of his capture his weight was two hundred twenty-five pounds, and when he was released he weighed only ninety-six, a fact that indicates the severity of the hardships and privations he had-to endure in the southern prison pens. Wasted in health, he received his honorable discharge, soon after his release, and he forthwith returned to his home in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. Soon after his return to that place he was appointed postmaster by President Abrahaom Lincolnt, and of this office he continued incumbent about twenty 276 2HISTOR~IC MICHIGAN one years. He continued to reside in Waynesburg until his death, in 189o, and his funeral was held on his seventy-ninth birthday. He held a commission of Governor Curtin of Pennsylvania as colonel of the State Militia during Curtin's administration as governor. Sarah Ann (Bowman) Cooke, wife of Colonel Joseph Cooke, was a daughter of Jesse and Sarah (Aten) Bowman, and, as already stated, she was a native of Mifflinville, Pennsylvania. Her father was born at Mount Bethel, Northampton county, that state, on the Ioth of June, 1769, and his marriage to Sarah Aten was solemnized in 1795. He was a son of Christopher Bowman, or Baumann, as the name was originally spelled, and the latter was born near Ems, Germany, whence he came to America in I754. He first settled in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where he remained for a number of years, and he then removed to Northampton county and settled on the banks of the Delaware river, where he maintained his home until late in life, when he removed to Briar Creek township, Columbia county, where he passed the remainder of his life. He married Susan Banks, who was of English and Scottish lineage and who was a member of one of the sterling pioneer families of the old Keystone state. Jesse Bowman devoted his active life to agricultural pursuits and he was one of the repre-. sentative farmers in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, where he died at an advanced age. His son, John H. Bowman, born March 13, I796, was the oldest of a family of ten children, and an uncle of George A. B. Cooke, through the marriage of his youngest sister, Sarah A., born a twin November 9, i816, who became the wife of Colonel Joseph Cooke, February 9, I841. John H. was one among the early settlers of Michigan. He came to St. Louis county, Michigan, from Columbia county, Pennsylvania, early in 1833, locating a farm between Rocky and Portage rivers, now known as the first ward of Three Rivers, where he built the first pretentious frame residence known in that day, rem9ving his family from Pennsylvania thereto in 1834. In November, I836, he platted the village of Three Rivers, giving to it its present hlame. He was a man of diversified activities, such as farming, merchandising and erecting and operating several flour mills in the county. He was a member of the state legislature two years. In 1845 removed to Colon, Michigan, retaining an interest in the Colon Mills and operating same until May, x855, when he went West on a tour of observation and while at Lexington, Missouri, was attacked by the cholera and died after a short illness. Mrs. Sarah A. (Bowman) Cooke died at the home of her daughter, Mary A. Bradley in Cleveland, Ohio, on the 6th of December, 190o, at the advanced age of eighty-five years. Of her five children the subject of this sketch is the eldest; Mary became the wife of Charles R. Bradley, about i865. He was a musician in Company I, Eighth Pennsylvania Reserves, and died about i885; she resides with a daughter, Mrs. Katharine Chamberlain, Rushville, Nebraska; Henry, at sixteen years of age, enlisted in 1862, was corporal in Company A, Eighteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, and was killed at the battle of Opequan, near Winchester, Virginia, under General Sheridan, September 19, 1864; Si. JOS3EPi COUiTY 2?7 Winfield S. was born in 1848, enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and Ninety-third Pennsylvania Infantry, on July I9, I864. About I870 he went to Salt Lake City, Utah, and later married there Laura Hunter. His family consisted of two sons, Joseph. H., a mining engineer, and Henry B., a graduate of the University of Utah, and a volunteer in the U. S. Navy, going to France as a marine in the World war of I918, Arthur I. born in 1853, married Arabella B. Adams in I875, resides in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania; is justice of peace and interested in farming and other business enterprises; his family consists of one son and five daughters, viz., Robert A., a civil engineer and a volunteer in the Tenth Pennsylvania Regiment in the Philippine War of I898, married and has three children: William, Joseph and Sarah; Sarah married Lewis Sayers, attorney of Waynesburg, Pennsylvania; four children, Lewis Jr., appointment to U. S. Navy in I923; Margaret, student in Chicago University, 1923; Charles and Sara; Bessie, Mary, Helen, a graduate of Waynesburg College and married to William Kent, a farmer at Brane, Pennsylvania; Louis, a graduate of Pittsburgh University, including a law course in I924. George A. B. Cooke was seven years of age at the time of the family removal from New Jersey to Washington, Pennsylvania, and when but ten years of age he began to assist in the work of his father's printing office, where he proved the consistency of the statement that the discipline of a newspaper office is equivalent to a liberal education. He familiarized himself with all details of the work of a country printing office and continued to be associated with his father's business until 1857, when he secured employment as compositor in the office of the Pittsburgh Gazette, in the city -of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. To amplify his knowledge of the printing business he served a virtual apprenticeship of two years in the wellequipped job department of this paper, and he then returned to his home in Waynesburg. His patriotic fervor was on a parity with that of his honored father, and both tendered their services in defense of the Union about the same time. In August, 1862, George A. B. Cooke enlisted as a private in Company H, One Hundred and Twentythird Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, with which he continued in active service until the expiration of his term of enlistment, and he was promoted from the ranks to the non-commissioned office of third sergeant. With the other members of his regiment he received his honorable discharge in May, I863. He took part in the second battle of Bull Run and also in the sanguinary engagements of Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. It is worthy of note that his father became a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, in which he himself has been a prominent figure, as will be more definitely indicated in another paragraph. In November, I863, Mr.:Cooke took up his residence in Three Rivers, Michigan, where he has since maintained his home and where he has made for himself a place of prominence and influence in civic and business affairs. In November of the year mentioned, he assumed the position of foreman in the office of the Three Rivers Reporter, and he retained this incumbency until 278 EHISTORIC MICHIGAN I868, when he purchased a half interest in the business, in which he was thereafter associated with Wilber H. Clute until January, I878, when he retired from the firm. While connected with the Reporter he introduced the first rotary job printing press into Three Rivers. He passed the greatest part of the following year in the East, and upon his return to Three Rivers he established a job printing office, to which he gave his attention until August, I878, when, in connection therewith he founded the Three Rivers Tribune, introducing therewith the first steam power printing press ever brought into the citya four-roller Campbell "Complete" press. He continued editor and publisher until 1895, when he disposed of the plant and business. Since that time he has lived virtually retired. He made of the Tribune one of the model country papers of Michigan, both in the matter of letter press and news and editorial functions. The aggressive policy and enterprising methods of Mr. Cooke were shown not only in connection with the specific business affairs of his newspaper and his job office, but also in the advanced stand maintained in the furtherance of all measures tending to further the best interests of the community and the able and effective influence given in support of the principles and policies of the Republican party, to which he has ever given an unqualified allegiance. In I890 Mr. Cooke was appointed postmaster of Three Rivers, and he continued incumbent of this office for four years, under the administration of President Harrison. He retired after the election of Grover Cleveland to the Presidency and had no hesitation in admitting himself to be an "offensive partisan". Mr. Cooke has at all times been zealous and unselfish in his civic attitude and through the columns of his paper as well as through personal influence he has done much to forward the commercial and social progress of his home city and county. He is a man of wellfortified opinions and has never lacked in the courage to uphold his convictions, but his genial and kindly nature has made him tolerant of the views of others, so that his antagonisms have not created objective rancor. He is known and respected by the people of St. Joseph county and now, free from exactions of active business, he finds the full and gracious measure of solace and enjoyment in the indulgence of much well directed reading and the companionship of friends who are tried and true. He served for a number of years as a member of the board of education, was a member of the village council about four years, prior to the incorporation of Three Rivers under a city charter, and he was the first secretary of the public library board of Three Rivers. He is one of the appreciative and valued members of Ed. M. Prutzman Post No. 72, G. A. R., and served several terms as adjutant and two terms as commander. In I9o9-io he was aide-de-camp on the staff of Commander-in-Chief of the G. A. R., $amuel R. Van Sant, of Minnesota. Mr. Cooke is a member of the Methodist Church of Three Rivers and has served on the board of trustees of the church. He was a member of the directorate of the old Three Rivers National Bank and also a stockholder and dire4tor of the First NatJiQpl Jeak i t this city. On the a34 f Feb STr. JSOSEP COUNTY 279 ruary, 1870, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Cooke to Miss Sarah M. Rice, who was born in Truckville, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, on the 7th day of November, 1840, and who was a daughter of Rev. John P. and Sally Ann (Kunkle) Rice, the former of whom was born on a farm near Hope, Warren county, New Jersey, and the latter near Blairstown, that state, a daughter of Philip and Maria Kunkle. Rev. John P. Rice was a local preacher in the M. E. church, as was also his father, Rev. Jacob Rice, who likewise was a native of Warren county, New Jersey, and a son of Christopher Rice. The latter was born in Hesse, Germany, in I757, and was an only son. At the age of nineteen he emigrated to America with a band of Hessian soldiers to assist the British forces in the Revolutionary War, but after the battle of Trenton, New Jersey, he deserted and joined the American forces and became a staunch supporter of the colonies. After the close of the war he settled near Hope, Warren county, New Jersey, where he was thereafter engaged in farming until his death. His son Jacob removed thence to Truckville, Pennsylvania, in the vicinity of which place he became the owner of a large farm. He married Sarah Cooke, a daughter of Levi Cooke, who was a brother of Consider Cooke, paternal great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, so that Mr. Cooke and his wife are of distant kinship in a collateral line. Rev. Jacob Rice and his wife continued to reside in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, until their death. Their son, John P., father of Mrs. Cooke, was a substantial agriculturist and business man of that county where he operated a woolen mill and conducted a general store. He was a prominent and influential citizen, was a local preacher in the M. E. church, as already stated, and late in life he sold all his farm land and business property and lived retired, at Hunlock Creek, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, until his death, at the age of eightyone years. His wife died at the age of fifty-eight years. Sarah M., wife of George A. B. Cooke, died at her home in Three Rivers, Michigan, February 15, I9I3, aged seventy-two years, three months and eight days. Her illness extended over a period of about two years, but not interfering with her household duties only partly until a month before her death, and she was confined to her bed only a few days, closing a happy married life of over forty-three years. She became a member of the M. E. church at the age of thirteen years and on coming to Three Rivers, joined the First M. E. Church by letter and remained an earnest, consistent Christian and member until her death. She was a member of the W. C. T. U., the Women's Foreign Missionary Society, the Ladies' Aid Society of the church, and was an active worker in all church interests so long as health permitted. She was a kind and loving wife and mother and was greatly interested in her grandchildren, whom she dearly loved and instructed in right living. She is survived by her husband, who will be eighty-three years of age February 8, 1925, and one daughter, Florence. Three children were born of this marriage: Joseph Rice, born at Three Rivers, Michigan, June 5, I871, and died at Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, while visiting his grandparents, November 23, I876, and is buried there; Anna Mar 280 HISTORIC MICHIGAN garet, born at Three Rivers, Michigan, July I, 1872, died at Three Rivers, December 19, 1878; Florence, born at Three Rivers, June 3, 1878. She is a graduate of Three Rivers High School and married Victor H. VanHorn, of Three Rivers, December 3, I902. He was born at Shickshinney, Pennsylvania, in 1878 and is a successful photographer in the lines of portraiture, science and commercial photography in Three Rivers, Michigan. Five children were born to this union: Robert Cooke, born at Kalamazoo, Michigan, December 2, I904; graduate of Three Rivers High School, class of I923, and is employed as local reporter on the Daily Commercial of Three Rivers; Bernard Santee, born at Three Rivers, Michigan, February 23, I906, graduate of Three Rivers High School, class of I924; George Wesley, born at Three Rivers, May 12, I908; Vivian Marye, born at Three Rivers, May II, I912, and Hugh Denton, born at Three Rivers, May 6, I915. Since 1917 Mr. Cooke has been spending the winter months at St. Cloud, Florida. Frank S. Cummings.-A rather extraordinary business career is seen in the life of Frank S. Cummings, of Centerville, Michigan, one of the best known and most respected citizens of St. Joseph county. It reveals a versatile nature and a capacity for public service equal in value and efficiency to that which has been displayed in private business. Mr. Cummings was born near Centreville November 6, I86o, the son of Charles and Hannah (Grinnell) Cummings, both natives of New York state. The mother was a graduate of Yates Academy. Solomon Cummings, a graduate of Dartmouth College, and a physician by profession, was a grandfather. The foundation of the Cummings family in America was laid by Isaac Cummings, who came from the north of Ireland in 1628. Charles Cummings engaged in farming, locating in Centerville, and eventually turning to undertaking and the manufacture of and dealer in furniture and undertaking furniture. Frank S. Cummings attended grade and high schools in Centerville and at the age of seventeen left school and began a business career that has been conspicuous for its success. He literally grew up in the funeral directing business and even at the age of thirteen years conducted a funeral, all details of which were supervised by him. He was associated with his father until the latter's death and since has been engaged in business by himself. In addition to being a funeral director, Mr. Cummings has been connected with Dr. Denton's sleeping garment mills for seventeen years as secretary and treasurer. This is a manufacturing establishment nationally known for the quality of children's sleeping garments produced. Mr. Cummings was registrar of deeds for St. Joseph county, I914-I6, and secretary of the district appeal board during the World war. For two years he was a member of the pardon advisory board during which period he helped pass on more than 3,00 applications for pardons. For several years Mr. Cummings was chairman of the Republican county committee and was delegate to the national convention of the party in rgo8 in Chicago. He was president of the village and a member of the school board and thus actively identified with public business. On ST. JOSEPH COUNTY 281 October i6, I890, Mr. Cummings was united in marriage to Eloise Stelle Peeke, of Centerville, daughter of Rev. and Mrs. A. Paige Peeke, the father in the Presbyterian ministry. Mrs. Cummings, a woman of rare graces, charm of manner and culture, died on October i6, 1922. Four daughters entered the Cummings home. Margaret Eloise, graduate of the University of Chicago, with the A. B. degree, is a teacher in the extension school of Western Normal at Portage, Michigan. Jean married George H. Collingwood, son of Judge C. B. Collingwood, of Ingham county. He is in the forestry service of the government stationed in Washington, D. C. They have four children, Charles Cummings, Thomas Peeke, Eloise Cummings and Jean Cummings, Jr. The third daughter, Deborah Provost Cummings, married James Edward Knott, of Ithaca, New York, who is teaching and studying at Cornell. They have one child, James Edward, Jr. Mrs. Knott is a graduate of Cornell with the A. B. degree; also of Michigan Agricultural College, specializing in domestic science. Mr. Knott was a county agricultural agent in Rhode Island. The fourth daughter, Josephine Starr Cummings, is a student at Western Normal, and also spent two years at Cornell. Mr. Cummings is a Mason, Elk and Pythian; a member of the Good Fellowship Club, and since the age of twelve a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, on the official board of which he has been a member. For eight years he was secretary of the county Historical and Pioneer Association, and is now its president. During her busy life, Mrs. Cummings was active in social and community affairs. In November, I924, Mr. Cummings was elected state senator from the Sixth senatorial district comprising Kalamazoo and St. Joseph counties by a majority of I6,602. Alexander Custard and his wife have both passed the psalmist's span of three-score years and ten, but in their vital and gracious personalities they give denial to the years that record their life journey, and are numbered among the active, loyal and progressive citizens of their attractive little home city of Mendon, St. Joseph county.Alexander Custard was born in Erie county, Pennsylvania, near the city of Erie, December 20, 1847, and is a son of Benjamin and Polly (Mellin) Custard, his parents having come to St. Joseph county, Michigan, in 1853, and having established their home on a farm near Mendon. Alexander Custard gained the most of his early education by attending the public schools at Mendon, and here, as a young man, he became associated with his brother Wesley, in the coal, lime and agricultural implement business, under the firm name of Custard Brothers. With this line of business enterprise Alexander Custard here continued his active alliance forty-five years, and the firm of Custard Brothers gained distinction of having been engaged in business for a longer period than any other in the same line of business in this section of the state. Alexander Custard retired from active business about the year 1912, and he and his wife are now residing in their ideal rural home on their fine farm adjoining the village of Mendon, the while they pass the winter months each successive year in Florida. Mr. Custard was distinctly a business man during the long period of 282 HISTORIC MICHIGAN his active career, and while loyal and public spirited as a citizen, he never manifested any desire for public office of any kind. Of genial and buoyant disposition, tolerant and kindly in judgment, interested in the vital affairs of the day, he has defied the passing years and has the appearance and vitality of a man many years his junior. He never has permitted himself to worry, and this he considers the only attitude that should be assumed if life is to be prolonged and made constant in gracious rewards. His counsel and advice in connection with business affairs are eagerly sought by young men of the community, and are given with utmost cordiality. He and his wife find that in all senses their lines are cast in pleasant places, as the shadows begin to lengthen from the golden west. Both are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church and both give political allegiance to the Republican party. June I8, I878, marked the marriage of Mr. Custard to Miss Ella S. Shepard, who was born at Charleston, Kalamazoo county, Michigan, July 8, I852, a daughter of Rev. Benjamin Harvey Shepard, a Baptist clergyman, was a close friend of the late General Shafter, of Spanish-American war fame, and when, at the inception of the Civil war, that distinguished officer organized a company and regiment for service in defense of the Union, Mr. Shepard was called into the regiment as its chaplain, he having thus served from I862 until he received his honorable discharge, in June, I866. Thereafter he continued his earnest and consecrated work as a minister of the Baptist church until his death, in 1876, at the age of fifty-six years. Mrs. Custard's early educational discipline included that of the high school at Ann Arbor, and she had just entered upon a college course when her mother died. Thereafter she was a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of her native state until the time of her marriage. Mrs. Custard is a woman of exceptional culture and high ideals. She has never ceased to be a student, and in the winter of I923-24 she applied herself to a thorough review of the French language, while at St. Petersburg, Florida. She has exceptional literary ability and has shown marked ability also in the making of public addresses, besides which she is the author of a book of enduring historical interest and value, the same being entitled "French Settlements in St. Joseph County." She has delivered numerous patriotic addresses, is an active and loved member of the Mendon Woman's Club, and was a delegate to the convention that formed the Michigan State Federation of Women's Clubs, besides which she was three times a delegate to the National Federation of Women's Clubs. For twelve years Mrs. Custard was a member of the lecture bureau of the Michigan Federation of Women's Clubs, and in this connection she visited and delivered addresses in many of the cities and towns of the state. She is a member of the Woman's Club of St. Petersburg, Florida, where she is also an associate member of the chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, in which her active membership is in the chapter at Mendon, Michigan, she having been' specially active in the work of this honored patriotic organization. Mr. and Mrs. Custard have one son, Leon, who resides ST. JOSEPH COUNTY 283 with them on the homestead farm, he having attended the Michigan Agricultural College, being a close and appreciative student of nature, and preferring the peaceful life of the farm rather than association with "the maddening crowd's ignoble strife." Bert A. Dickerson is serving efficiently as postmaster of his native village of Constantine, St. Joseph county, and his official preferment is but one of the many marks of his unqualified popularity in his native county. He was born April 8, 1878, and is a son of John J. and Caroline (Kusch) Dickerson, the former of whom was born in the state of New York and the latter in the vicinity of Constantine, Michigan, the father of Constantine's postmaster having long been numbered among the substantial representatives of progressive farm industry near the village of Constantine. After completing his high school course Bert A. Dickerson took a business course in a commercial college in the city of Ypsilanti, in I898. For eighteen months thereafter he held a position as bookkeeper for a business concern at Niles, and his subsequent experience included five years devoted to farm enterprise and the conducting of a furniture store at Constantine and later a music business at Three Rivers, where he was thus engaged about three years. He finally sold his business at Three Rivers and returned to Constantine, where he received appointment to the office of postmaster on the 23d of January, I923, under the administration of the late and revered President Harding. He has been influential in the councils and campaign activities of the Republican party in his native county, has served as township supervisor and township clerk, and as president of the municipal government of Constantine. He is one of the vital and progressive members of the Constantine Commercial Club, is affiliated with the Grange and the Knights of Pythias, and he and his wife are zealous communicants of the Lutheran church in their home village, he being president of the men's class in the Sunday school, the same having a membership of about fifty. He maintains affiliation also with the Masonic fraternity, and his local interests include his ownership of a well improved farm of I95 acres, four and one-half miles northwest of Constantine. His wife is a member of the local Woman's Club and of the Ladies' Aid Society of the Lutheran church. Mr. Dickerson wedded Miss Sarah Smith, of Vistuala, Indiana, and they have three children, Merrill, Everest and Sylvia. John Spencer Flanders, attorney-at-law, former city attorney, mayor and postmaster, has for many years been one of the influential citizens of Sturgis. He was born in that city February IO, i86I, a son of Jonathan W. and Elizabeth (Sutherland) Flanders. The father, a lawyer, came to St. Joseph county in 1841, practiced from I856 to I896, was president of the village of Sturgis and was a Democratic nominee for state senator and for secretary of state. John Spencer Flanders attended public school in Sturgis; was graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan in 1882; was associated with his father in law practice and from 1882 to I909 edited and published the "Michigan Democrat," a paper of general circulation 284 HISTORIC MICHIGAN in the county and district, in Sturgis. For twelve years he had charge of the public works department of the city during the development of the hydro-electric plant on the St. Joseph river, assisting in securing water rights and selling bonds for construction. In i909 he became city attorney and was mayor from I9OI to I903. While editing the paper he advocated the use of hydro-electric power and familiarized the people with the use of such power to such extent that when the vote was taken for the installation of a plant and the floating of a bond issue only forty-nine dissenting votes were cast. He was instrumental in selling these bonds at a low rate in three series, paying 3j/, 4 and 4Y2 per cent. Mr. Flanders in I894 was appointed postmaster by President Cleveland. He is a Rotarian and a member of the Country Club, Elks, Masons and Knights Templar. He is secretary and manager of the Sturgis Building and Loan Association, assisting wage earners in financing homes. On April 26, 1882, Mr. Flanders was married to Miss Henrietta Sturgis; who was born in Little Falls, Minnesota, June 15, I859. Her grandfather, Judge John Sturgis, came to Sturgis from near Detroit in 1827. He was the first to settle on Sturgis Prairie and was the first judge of the county court. The father of Mrs. Flanders was William Sturgis, who was born near Detroit April 14, 1817, and came to Sturgis when a boy, following agriculture and was a pioneer of Iowa, Minnesota and Montana, engaged in saw mill timber and mining operations. The mother, Rosanna (Steel) Sturgis, was born in Pennsylvania, April I6, I834. There were seven children. Henrietta was educated in the public schools of Sturgis, to which city she came at the age of fourteen, and was graduated from high school in the class of 1879. Mr. and Mrs. Flanders had one child, Henry Isham, born in i883, a practicing physician in Detroit until his death in 1917. Mrs. Flanders is a member of the Episcopal church, a member of the Woman's Club, Sorosis, St. John's Guild, Eastern Star and Daughters of the American Revolution. Leo B. Fletcher, one of the progressive exponents of modern farm industry in St. Joseph county, is a scion of both paternal and maternal ancestors who settled in this county in the pioneer period of its history, is a native of the county, and is now the only living representative of the immediate family. That he has secure place in popular confidence and esteem in the community that has ever represented his home is evidenced by the fact that he is now serving as justice of the peace in Mendon township, where his farm estate is situated, and is also representative of that township on the county board of supervisors. On the old homestead farm of his parents, in Mendon township, this county, Leo B. Fletcher was born September I8, I878, a son of Roderick E. and Frances I. (Lyman) Fletcher, both likewise natives of St. Joseph county, where the respective families were founded at an early period in the history of Michigan. Roderick E. Fletcher was born in the year I834, and continued his residence in St. Joseph county until the time of his death, he having been one of the substantial farmers and honored and influential citizens of Mendon township. For the ST. JOSEPH COUNTY 285 last five years of his life he was the oldest native-born resident of St. Joseph county. He was a son of John W. and Sarah (Knox) Fletcher, who came from Massachusetts and became early settlers in Nottawa township. Roderick E. Fletcher was a justice of the peace for thirty-five years, also a supervisor for years. John Wilkinson Fletcher, grandfather of Leo B. Fletcher, came to Michigan with his parents who settled in Wayne county in 1824. In 1826, J. W. Fletcher came farther west, and as far as Niles where the Carey Mission was located. He was with the party which accompanied the removal of the Indians to Iowa. In 1829 he located in Nottawa township, taking up I60 acres of land. He was a son of William Fletcher and a grandson of William Fletcher who was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He married Sarah Knox, daughter of Judge Knox, an early settler on Sturgis Prairie. His wife was the first white child born in Mendon township, this county, and was a daughter of Lewis B. and Mary (Weightman) Lyman, who came to this county from Batavia, New York, the long overland journey having been made with a team and what was known as a "democrat wagon." They left Batavia in February of one of the years of the early '4os. Lewis B. Lyman and wife made the trip in about a month, and arrived at the pioneer home of his parents, Calvin and Betsy Lyman, which is the next farm east of where Leo B. Fletcher now lives. Nearby was a log house which they decided to make their habitation. Calvin and Lewis B. Fletcher made a trip to Marshall and bought a door and window sash, and these were placed in the log house which became the home of Lewis B. Fletcher and wife on March 31 of that year, a little less than two months after leaving New York. Soon after they were established in their new home, their daughter, Frances I., was born, the first white child born in the township north of the river. Lewis B. Lyman soo'n engaged in the harness making business at Mendon, and eventually he became one of the leading general merchants of this section of the county. The public school discipline of Leo B. Fletcher included that of the Mendon high school, and he has never found it expedient to sever his allegiance to the great basic industries of agriculture, of which he is a vigorous and progressive representative in his native county. He is serving both as township supervisor and as justice of the peace, with status as one of the loyal and public spirited citizens of St. Joseph county. He has been a close student of history, particularly that of Michigan, and he takes deep interest in all that touches the welfare and progress of the fine old Wolverine state. He is a devout communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church. The father died in I916, and the mother in April, I924. The other two children, Lewis and Carl, are deceased, so that he remains as the only representative of the immediate family in St. Joseph county and the state of Michigan. His mother, a woman of fine intellectuality, kept a diary during a period of more than fifty years, and as the same recorded daily events of community and general importance, the compilation is one of enduring historic value. For more than half a century Mrs. Fletcher also made from newspapers 186 R86 1f8TO1UIC MICh1IGAN and magazines, clippings recording events and affairs, and these she carefully and effectively indexed in proper alphabetical order, so that the collection proves a treasure trove of information to which reference may readily be made, the work, assembled with much skill and discrifiitfiation, being sought as a reference mecca by high school students and others Who can nowhere else find so well arranged and valuable a record of events. This work had been started by her son Carl, who possessed remarkable literary ability, and this led Mrs. Fletcher to continue the work after his'death. Mrs. Fletcher was a woman of gracious personality, and her memory is revered by all who came within the sphere of her gentle and helpful influence. Leo B. Fletcher still permits his hame to remain enrolled on the roster of eligible bachelors ii his native county, where his circle of friends is limited ofrly by that of his acquaintances. Fred C. Ieyden, who is a director and one of the active executives of the Three Rivers Robe Tannery Company, has been a resident of St. Joseph county since 'he was a child of three and one-half years. He was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, May I4, I877, and is a son of the late Carl and Hattie (Horn) Heyden, the former of whom died in I893 and the latter in 1920. In his native land Carl Heyden had been employed as a coachman, but on coming with his family to the United States he engaged in farm enterprise near Moore Park, St. Joseph county, Michigan. He later removed to a farm west of Three Rivers, when his son Fred C. was a youth, and there he passed the remainder of his life, as one of the substantial farmers and highly esteemed citizens of his adopted county. Fred C. Heyden attended the rural school of the Corey Lake district, atid in the meanwhile had a goodly share of practical experience in connection with the work of the home farm. More than twenty years ago, in a conversation With Oliver T. Avery, of the Three Rivers Robe Tannery Company, that sterling and representative business man asked him if he would not like to assist in the tannery of the concern. Mr. Heyden made affirmative answer, but little thought at the time that he was forming a business connection that was destined to endure during the years that have since intervened. In 1920 Mr. Heyden became a stockholder in this comipany, and he is now a member of its board of directors, his advancement having been won by honest effort and by able service in advancing the interests of this corporation. Mr. Heyden is a Republican in national politics, but in local affairs he gives his support to men and measures meeting the approval of his judgment, irrespective of partisan lines. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, and is a devout communicant of the Lutheran church, as was also his wife, as well as his parents. January 19, I919, Mr. Heyden married Miss Carrie M. Stoldt, daughter of Carl F. and Sophia Stoldt, who Were born in Germany but who became residents of St. Joseph county, Michigan, many years ago. The happy married companionship of Mr. and Mrs. Heyden was destined soon to be severed, for Mrs. Heyden passed to the life eternal January 20, I92O, the one surviving child, Carl F., being accorded by the father the loVe ahd care of both a St. JOSEPH COUNTY 287 father and mother. Mr. Heyden has made the best of the opportunities that have been his and has worthily won his place as one of the representative business men of the city of Three Rivers. Holy Angels Catholic Church at Sturgis is now one of the wellordered and prosperous parishes of St. Joseph county, and to a record prepared by Aloysius McLoughlin the publishers of this work are indebted for the data used in the preparation of this review. Holy mass was celebrated for the first time in Sturgis in the year 1864 and in the home of Captain William McLoughlin and his noble wife, Caroline (Marantette) McLoughlin, at the corner of South Clay and West Congress streets. This mass was celebrated by Father C. Ryckaert, who continued to visit the mission u'ntil 1872, when he was succeeded in this service by Father C. Korst, of Coldwater. Mass continued to be said in the new home of Captain and Mrs. McLoughlin, on South Nottawa street, as well as in other village and rural homes of the immediate vicinity. Within this period futile attempts were made to build a church edifice, even though it must needs be of the most modest order. In I879, however, Mrs. Frank Cook, a zealous and devout communicant, took the initiative, and, placing her efforts under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph, she caused the work rapidly to take form. A lot was donated by J. J. Beck, Catholics and non-Catholics assisted most generously, and soon the twenty Catholic families had a chapel at Sturgis. The building was 30 by 60 feet in dimensions, of frame construction with white brick veneer on the outer walls. A marble altar was made possible through the generosity of Dennis Kane. The church was dedicated in May, 1879, by Rt. Rev. Bishop C. H. Borgess, of Detroit, who preached the dedicatory sermon, the text of which was: "The Church the House of God." A sacristy was added to the church within the pastoral charge of Father Korst. Within the period during which Father F. Schaeper directed the mission, a spire, a bell and stained glass windows were added. In the following year, the jubilee year of the church, the interior of the edifice was frescoed, a new lighting system was installed, and at the jubilee celebration the sermon was given by Rev. John C. Cavanaugh, president of Notre Dame University at South Bend, Indiana. In 1922 the mission became a parish and was separated from St. Edward's parish of Mendon, of which it had always been a part. The new parish gained as auxiliaries the missions at White Pigeon and Three Rivers. A house was purchased for a rectory, and the building was remodeled, and the requisite furnishings of the church were provided, in consonance with its importance as a parish church. This work was done under the direction of Father William Graeber, of Detroit, who became the first resident priest of Holy Angels parish. Donations by John Doyle afforded the nucleus of a parish library. A. F. Moreficy, Mrs. G. Schuler, Captain and Mrs. McLoughlin, and many other friends of Rev. Father Kauffman and Father Graeber, in Detroit, have made generous contribution to the furnishings and vestments of the church. The priests who have served Holy Angels parish are here designated by name, with 288 HISTORIC MICHIGAN accompanying periods of pastoral charge: Rev. C. Ryckaert, I864 -72; Rev. C. Korst, 1872-75; Rev. F. McKenna, 1872-75; Rev. J. Noll, 1875-80; Rev. Fathers Slane, Kroeger, Loughran and Kroll, 1880-84; Rev. C. Korst, I884-95; Rev. F. Schaeper, I895-I903; Rev. H. Kauffman, 1903-Io; Rev. G. Witteman, 1910-II; Rev. T. Kelley, 1911-22, and Rev. W. Graeber, 1922 to the present time. Father Graeber was born at Treverton, Pennsylvania, and is a son of William and Magdalene Graeber. He was ordained to the priesthood in Detroit, July 4, 1915, by Rt. Rev. Bishop Kelley, and thereafter served as assistant priest to Rev. Father Kessler, of the Church of St. John the Evangelist, in Detroit, until he was assigned to his present pastorate at Sturgis. Father Graeber reorganized the work and service of the parish, initiated a building campaign, placed the parish finances on a business basis, and through his wide acquaintance, added many beautiful accessories to the church. He has given noble service in vitalizing and co-ordinating the spiritual and temporal affairs of this parish, the membership of which now comprises I 8 families. Two priests have gone forth from Holy Angels mission and parish, Father Joseph Schuler, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Schuler, and Father Rosebrook. Earl G. Houghtaling is one of the representative young business men of the city of Three Rivers, St. Joseph county, and claims this historic old county of southern Michigan as the place of his nativity. In I912 he took a clerical position in the Three Rivers establishment of Carl Klocke, manufacturer of cigars and dealer in sporting goods, and in 1922 he purchased the business, which he has since continued with marked success. He is known as one of the progressive young men of his native county, is a Republican in politics, is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, his wife being a member of the ladies organization of the latter fraternity, and both being earnest communicants of the Catholic church. Mr. Houghtaling was born at Nottawa, St. Joseph county, August 13, I890, and is a son of Herbert E. and Belle (Mowery) Houghtaling, the former of whom was born in the state of New York and the latter in Ohio. Herbert E. Houghtaling, a carpenter by trade and vocation, died in I916, and his widow still maintains her home in St. Joseph county. Earl G. Houghtaling gained his earlier education in the public schools of Nottawa and Burr Oak, and thereafter completed a partial course in the Three Rivers high school. Shortly after attaining to his legal majority he became associated with the flourishing business of which he is now the owner. He married Miss Louise Marantette, who was born and reared in Mendon, this county, and who is a representative of one of the oldest and most honored pioneer families of this section of Michigan. She is a daughter of Patrick H. and Sarah (Ewing) Marantette, the former a son of the late Patrick Marantette, who established his home near the present village of Mendon in the year 1833, five years before Michigan became a state and when this section was a forest wilderness, with Indians still in evidence. The father of Patrick Marantette had been ST. JOSBLPH COUNTY 289 a prominent Indian trader in Detroit, and the fine old French family of Marantette has been one of marked prominence in Michigan history. Patrick Marantette married Frances Moutan, daughter of Francois Moutan, who had previously come to St. Joseph county to take charge of the Godfrois Indian trading post. Mr. and Mrs. Houghtaling have three children, Eileen, Robert and Barbara. Thomas Hiram Jacobs.-Mr. Jacobs, retired business man of Sturgis, Michigan, and one of the best known residents of St. Joseph county, was born in Sturgis, April I8, 1837, a son of Hiram and Phoebe Jenkins Jacobs, among the earliest settlers of Sturgis Prairie. They came from Genesee county, New York. Hiram Jacobs was vested with more than the usual views of men of the pioneer days as was evidenced by his many undertakings. As early as 1840 he built a commodious home in what is now the city of Sturgis, the structure yet standing and the oldest house in the city. In 1837 a rather amusing and interesting incident occurred involving Mr. Jacobs and placing upon him the designation of a man of courage and conviction. That year he was building a barn at a place a little west of the center of the present city of Sturgis. During the "raising" of the barn the crew demanded the customary whiskey and actually went out on strike. Rather than concede to the demands of the workers, Mr. Jacobs scoured the country for more men, the massive timbers went up, the old crew receded in its position and resolved that Mr. Jacobs had the right to be a "temperance man." It was distinctly a prohibition victory. Thomas Hiram Jacobs was of a family of nine children. Two brothers, Crebillion and John B., were also born in Sturgis, the former in April, 1833, the latter in April, I835. Crebillion Jacobs died August I, I916, at the age of eighty-three years and John B. Jacobs died July 20, I923, at the age of eighty-sevel, leaving Thomas Hiram the oldest living citizen of Sturgis born in that city. Mr. Jacobs married Mary Ann Hall, of Sturgis, born in that city in I841. She died March 2, I918. Mr. Jacobs, outside of a year at Michigan Agricultural College, had only the meager education afforded the early pioneers but by patient industry overcame the obstacles that beset the men of early days and thrift and industry enabled him to lead a happy and prosperous life. In the early 6o's he made a trip overland to the Pacific coast with an ox team. Returning he engaged in farming and mint cultivation. His farm was adjacent to Sturgis and as the city expanded it gradually absorbed his farm and he retired. He is now spending his declining years with his two sons and families who are bending every effort to add joy and comfort to his every day life. The sons are Theo. T. and Homer B. Jacobs. Theo. T. was born in Sturgis, December 8, I874, and was educated in the grade and high schools of his native city. He entered the University of Michigan and graduated in I898 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, since which time he has been engaged in. practice at Sturgis, Ijgi.. Homer B. Jacobs was born December 26, 1881, attended grade sciol in Sturgis and was graduated from high school in I900. He chose a commercial career, worked in a shoe store four years and on February 290 HISTORIC TMICHIGAN 14, I907, purchased the shoe business of F. L. Burdick and has been so engaged since. He also operates the "Serve Yourself" shoe stbre in Sturgis. Politically, Thomas Hiram Jacobs is a staunch Democrat of the old type. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Elks and in all probability is the oldest Elk and Mason in Michigan. Arthur L. Jones, secretary and office manager of the Armstrong Manufacturing Company, one of the important industrial concerns in the city of Three Rivers, St. Joseph county, was born at Otsego, Allegan county, Michigan, March 19, i886, and is a son of George Washington and Cora Cornelia (Piper) Jones, the former of whom was born in the state of New York and the latter at Otsego, Michigan. George W. Jones was for more than thirty years connected with the great railroad system now known as the New York Central lines, for which he was local freight agent at the time of his death, December 12, I898, his widow still being a resident of this city, where the fanlily home was established in the year I890. Arthur L. Jones was four years old at the time of the family.removal to Three Rivers, and here he gained in the public schools his early education, which was supplemented by his attending for one year the fine old St. John's Military Academy at Manlius, New York, in I9o5-o6. Prior to this, in the period of I902-05, he had been employed at the Three Rivers establishment of the Fairbanks-Morse Company, and upon his return from the military academy he resumed his association with this company, with which he remained until I920, his service having been in the capacities of accountant, assistant factory accountant, and plant auditor. In I920 Mr. Jones availed himself of the opportunity of acquiring a financial interest in the Armstrong Manufacturing Company, and of this corporation he has since continued the secretary and office manager. The concern is engaged in the manufacturing of steam traps and stands as one of the substantial and well ordered industrial corporations of St. Joseph county. Mr. Jones is loyally aligned in the ranks of the Democratic party, and an indisputable evidence of his personal popularity in his home city was given when he was elected to the city council, for 1916-17, notwithstanding that Three Rivers customarily returns a large Republican majority. Mr. Jones has served as a delegate to the St. Joseph county conventions of his party and also as a delegate to its state conventions. He is a director and the auditor of the Three Rivers Building & Loan Association, he was one of the promoters of the movement resulting in the city's gaining control of the Three Rivers Hospital, and he is secretary and assistant treasurer of the board of trustees of this institution. He is a member of the local Exchange Club and Country Club, is affiliated with various bodies of the Masonic fraternity, and both he and his wife are communicants of the Presbyterian church. In the World war period Mr. Jones served as a member of the registration board, was active in the advancing of the local drives in support of the government war loans, and was otherwise prominent in the varied patriotic activities of St. Joseph county. March I5, I9rO, WI It I,a6 ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.291 Mr. Jones wedded Miss Flora Mae Smith, of Three Rivers, and they are popular figures in the representative social life of the community, the while he is known as one of the vital, loyal and progressive citizens and business men of the younger generation in Three Rivers. William T. Langley.-It was given to the writer of this memoir to have known Judge Langley well in his college days and with him to have visited the old family homestead near Centerville, St. Joseph county. Thus, in retrospect, there is found a goodly measure of satisfaction in being here able to pay a tribute to the memory of an old and honored friend. Judge William T. Langley, a scion of a sterling family that was founded in America prior to the war of the Revolution, and the lineage is traced back to staunch English origin. William Langley was born in England, in the year I769, was a mason by trade, and it is a matter of family and historic tradition that he designed the Drury Lane theater in the city of London. He finally came to America, and here he designed St. Paul's Church, Protestant Episcopal, in the city of New York, as well as other important buildings of that period, he having died as the result of injuries that he received while working on the spire of St. Paul's church. Thomas William Langley, son of this pioneer architect and builder, was born in New York City, on the 2d day of July, I799, and after the death of his father he accompanied his widowed mother to Philadelphia, where he was reared to manhood. As a young man he became identified with the manufacturing of woolen goods, at Germantown, Pennsylvania, and later he conducted a dry goods establishment at the corner of Market and Second streets in the city of Philadelphia. In I832, as a measure of recuperation from a severe attack of fever, Thomas W. Langley jaurneyed to the west, by way of the Erie canal arid the Great Lakes. While he was in Detroit he learned of the exceptional beauty arid fertility of St. Joseph County, and upon visiting this county he was so impressed with its attractions and advantages that he forthwith purchased a tract of land, including the site of Centerville, the present county seat. Upon his return to Philadelphia his friends in that city insisted that he had left Pennsylvania as a sick man and returned a crazy man, se enthusiastic was he in praise of his 'new purchase of land in the Territory of Michigan. He arrived with his family in St. Joseph county October 3, 1832, and thus made settlement in a frontier district as a territorial pioneer of Michigan, the state having been admitted to the Union about five years later. He installed his family in the only house at Centerville, this having been a log hut, without doors, windows or floors. Within a period of about ten days after his arrival, however, he succeeded in erecting a double log house, duly equipped with doors, windows, floor, chimney and wide fireplace. Of, the indomitable energy and progressiveness of this able and honored pioneer, evidence is given in the record of his almost immediate achievement in advancing the interests of the community. Within three months Mr. Langley had pushed to completion at Centerville a log courthouse, a store building, and a blacksmith shop. Within a short tim ie therg 292 HISTORIC MICHIGAN after he caused to appear a flour mill and saw mill, and the aspiring new village also soon had a postoffice, a school house and a place for religious worship. In 1833 Mr. Langley opened his house as an inn or hotel, and in the same, entertainment was extended to many who passed through the county, as well as to many others, who eventually made permanent settlement here. It is uniformly conceded that Thomas W. Langley made larger and more important contribution to the early development of the county than any other one man. It was in the pioneer log homestead mentioned in the foregoing lines that judge William Langley, subject of this memoir, was born, the date of his 'nativity having been October I9, 1857, and he having been a grand son of Thomas W. and Julia (Woodworth) Langley, whose names shall ever have high place on the roster of the honored pioneers of St. Joseph county. Mrs. Langley was born in the state of New York and was a gracious and noble woman whose influence rested as a benediction upon -all who came within its sphere. In the public schools of his native county Judge Langley continued his studies until he had duly profited by the advantages of the Centerville high school, and in 1882 he was graduated, with high honors, in the Michigan Agricultural College, near Lansing. After his graduation he entered the profession of teaching and from 1885 to 1887 was in the St. Ansgar, Iowa, schools. From there he went to Superior, Wisconsin, where he was first principal and later superintendent and saw the school grow from a small institution under his direction until he had I5o teachers under his supervision. As a teacher he was preeminent, hundreds owe their success in life to his teachings and enthusiasm instilled into them. He resigned his position in I899. He was an officer in the St. Joseph Sunday school and always taught a Bible class. He then allied himself with the Sperry-Hutchinson Company, with which corporation he continued his connection nineteen years. Within this period he was for six years manager of the company's office in the city of New York, and he represented the company also in Connecticut and Minnesota. In I917 he resigned his position with this concern, this action having been taken so that he and his wife might devote their attention to the latter's venerable and enfeebled father, long an honored and influential citizen of St. Joseph county. In the World war period Judge Langley gave himself with characteristic zeal and loyalty to patriotic service, and was tireless in advancing the local campaigns in support of the government war loans, the work of the Red Cross, etc. In I920 his native county paid to him distinctive tribute of honor and appreciation, in electing him judge of its probate court. He forthwith entered upon an energetic and remarkably efficient administration of the affairs of this court, and he was in service as judge of the probate court of St. Joseph county at the time of his tragic death, in an automobile accident at Constantine, this county, December 7, I922. The people of the county manifested a uniform sense of sorrow and loss when this honored native son was thus called from the stage of life's mortal endeavors, secure in the high regard of all who knew him. ST. JOSEPH COUNTY 293 Judge Langley and his wife were deeply interested and concerned in the affairs of the St. Joseph County Pioneer and Historical Society, the work of which enlisted his services to an absorbing degree. He was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, Eastern Star, Knights Templar, a member of the Three Rivers Commandery and the State and National Grange, and for a number of years was president of St. Joseph County Stock Breeders' Association; was a stalwart advocate of the principles of the Republican party, and was elder and an active member of the Presbyterian church, as is also his widow, who still maintains her home in Centerville, where she has membership in the Grange, the Order of Eastern Star, the Ladies' Aid Society, the Missionary Society of the Presbyterian church, and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Mrs. Langley is a woman of accomplishments and gracious personality, and is a leader in the social and cultural activities of her home community. Judge Langley was a son of William Baderaque Langley and Julia Van Rensselaer (Woodworth) Langley, whose marriage was solemnized at Centerville, July I6, 1847. The father was born at Germantown, Pennsylvania, June 9, 1823, and thus was about nine years of age at the time of the family removal to Michigan. The mother was born at Broadalbin, New York, May 6, 1822, a daughter of William G. and Amanda (Ostrom) Woodworth. William B. Langley was long numbered among the representative exponents of farm industry in St. Joseph county, witnessed and assisted in the development of this section of Michigan from a frontier forest wilderness to a state of opulent prosperity, and was recognized as a leading citizen, a generous friend and a devoted husband and father. He died, at Centerville, March 21, I898, and his widow died in the city of Grand Rapids, this state, March 9, I914. September 9, 1885, recorded the marriage of Judge Langley to Miss Mary A. Yauney, daughter of James and Huldah (Fisher) Yauney, whose marriage was solemnized September 26, I85o. James Yauney was born at Ephrata, New York, September 14, I829, and he came to Michigan Territory and gained honors as one of the earliest settlers of St. Joseph county. In 1853 he journeyed to the gold fields of California, where he accumulated little gold but regained his health. He was the chief promoter of the organization of the St. Joseph County Pioneer Society, no meeting of which was complete without his presence. He was a member of the Presbyterian church at Centerville more than half a century, and was prominently affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. He had much literary talent and wrote many poems of high order. Mr. Yauney attained to the patriarchal age of ninety years, two months and eight days, his death having occurred December 22, I9I9, and a local paper having given at the time the following estimate: "James Yauney, the grand old man of Florence township, yea, St. Joseph county and state of Michigan, has gone to his reward, full of honors and years, fully ripe for the kingdom." Mrs. Huldah (Fisher) Yauney died in the year I88i, and was survived by three children: Christopher, Mrs. Clara Roberts, and Mrs: Mary 294 HISTORIC MICHIGAN A. Latgley. September 25, 1884, Mr. Yauney wedded Miss Sarah Elizabeth Beebe, and she too preceded him to eternal rest, her death having occurred in 1917. Judge Langley is survived by no children. His character was the positive expression of a strong, noble and loyal nature, and in all of the relations of life he "stood four-square to every wind that blows.".C iarles,Gordon Mahana, chief engineer of the great Sheffield plant of Fairbanks, Morse.& Company, long the most important industrial concernin.the city of Three Rivers, St. Joseph county, was born at Upion City, Branch county, Michigan, August I8, I88o, and is a son of Ezra.T. and Hattie R. Mahana,,who removed to Three Rivers two years after the birth of their son Charles G. In the public schools of Three Riyers Charles G. Mahana continued his studies until his graduationn the high school, as president of the class of I898. He then went ipto the shops of t.he Shffield Car Company, where he learned the trades of machinist and toolmaker. In this connection, by diligent study, he acquired also a thorough technical knowledge of and skill in mechanical drawing, and after completing his initiatory apprenticeship n the shops h ae was transferred to the engineering department. He continued his study of the various phases of mechanical engineering,and thus was well fortified when, in May, 1905, he assumed charge of the engineering department of a small motor-truck concern, the Fpur Wheel Drive Truck Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. -Eighteen months later Mr. Mahana returned to Three Rivers to assume the position of assistant chief engineer of the railway motorcar department of the Sheffield Car Company. All this time, as well as subsequently,i he continued his home studies in engineering, and thus he steadily gained advancement in the Sheffield organization, which eventually was absorbed by F-airbanks, Morse & Company, the great Chicago industrial corporation, which gave to the Three Rivers branch the title of- Sheffield plant'. InJuly,' 915, Mr. Mahana was made chief engineer of the railway motor-car department, and since July,, I921,, he has been chief engineer of the Sheffield' plant. His work in this capacity has broadened in scope and covers more than strictly engineering duties, by its including a considerable amount of sales promotion and educational work on practically all railroads throughout the country. This service on his part has' had special relation to the design, economics, care and maintenance of railway motor-cars. In this connection Mr. Mahana has the distinction of having-the widest. and most prolonged experience of all persons in the railway motor-car business, he having given virtually his entire active career to this line of enterprise. Aside from his manifold business- responsibilities, Mr. Mahana has found hit chief diversion through his affiliation with the time-honored Masonic fraternity, of the 'history and teachings of which he has been a close and appre — ciative student.:,He is past master of Three Rivers Lodge No. 57, F,. A. Mi.; past master of Nebuzaradan Council No. 37, R. & S. M.; and past commander of Three Rivers Commandery No. 29, Knights Teinplar. Upon his attaining membership in the Michigan Grand s'r Ot. SPH CJOTNhtTY I5 - Commandery of Knights Templar, in 1912, his services were called into play through various committee appointments, and at the annual conclave of the grand commandery held in the city of Saginaw in June, I920, he was started on the course of official advancement, through his election to the office of grand sword bearer. At the time of this writing, in December, I924, he is grand captain general of the Michigan Grand Commandery. He has been loyal, liberal and progressive in connection with civic affairs, and is serving as a member of the board of trustees of the Three Rivers Public Library, a record of which appears on other pages of this volume. The marriage of Mr. Mahana to Miss Ethel Adams Sidwell, of York, Nebraska, was solemnized June 28, 9gog, and they have one son, Charles Gordon, Jr. Mendon Public Library.-On a picturesque little knoll overlooking the beautiful St. Joseph river stands the fine Carnegie building of the public library in the village of Mendon, and it speaks well for the community that the institution has come to be looked upon almost as a public utility, the while its service is maintained at a high standard. It is pleasing to offer in this publication a brief outline of the genesis and upbuilding of this excellent library. The ladies of Mendon had organized a literary society, and finally, in August, I882, they expanded the sphere of their activities by organizing the Ladies' Library Association, with Mrs. H. C. Clapp as its president. In 1889, advantage, was taken of the new act providing for state aid in the establishing and maintaining of township libraries, and Mendon township elected a board of directors for a township library. The members of this board, David R. Beckley, R. A. Fletcher, James McCoy, I. J. McClellan, W. J. Hickmott and A. M. Townsend, met at the office of R. E. Fletcher on the 25th of April of that year and effected an organization, the following named officers having been elected: President, David R. Beckley; and secretary and treasurer, A. M. Townsend. On the i9th of the following July, as a nucleus for the future collection, the Ladies' Library Association presented to the new township library its collection of I97 books, together with two bookcases. This transfer was made by the officers of the Ladies' Library Association, namely: Mrs. E. Flanders, president; Mrs. Alexander Custard, secretary; and Mrs. Nettie M. Bennett, librarian. All of these ladies had given much time and energy to obtain the required number of popular signatures to bring the matter of a township free public library to a vote. For several years the township library was maintained in rented rooms at Mendon, and in the meanwhile the library received a substantial support on the part of the local public, so that it was found both expedient and possible to purchase many new books and provide proper cases for their care. In the spring of 1905, principally through the efforts of I. J. McClellan, secretary of the library board, and H. L. McClellan, clerk of Mendon township, was obtained from Andrew Carnegie a gift of $Io,ooo for the erection of the present library building, which is of brick construction, modern in architectural design and with the most excel 296 HISTORIC MICHIGAN lent of appointments and equipment, the new library having been opened to the public in May, 1906. The Mendon public library has, at the close of the year I924, a collection of 7,256 volumes, covering the best in all departments of literature, and its reading room offers to the public forty leading periodicals. The library has on file also many public pamphlets and other documents, and is claimed to have one of the best reference libraries in St. Joseph county. Mrs. Nettie Bennett was the first to serve as librarian of the township library, and was succeeded by the present incumbent, Mrs. Nellie E. Strickland. Mrs. W. J. Hickmott is president of the library board; Roy Olney is vice-president; Mrs. C. Calkins is the secretary, and these officers are likewise directors, as are also Clarence Rankert, Mrs. H. Auton, and 0. B. Graham. Of the first board of directors only one is now living — Mrs. W. J. Hickmott, who is now president-and of the officers of the former Ladies' Library Association the only survivor is Mrs. Alexander Custard, concerning whom specific mention is made on other pages of this work, in the personal sketch of her husband. Lawrence H. Niendorf is county clerk of St. Joseph county and is not only giving an effective administration of the routine affairs of this important office but has also contrived to inject in his service much of individuality and characteristically genial but effective resourcefulness. Mr. Niendorf is a popular member of the official family of St. Joseph county in the handsome courthouse at Centerville, and also has the distinction of claiming this county as the place of his nativity. He was born in the village of Colon, December 15, I890, and is a son of Charles and Jennie (Schellhous) Niendorf, his maternal great-grandfather, one of the sterling pioneers of the county, having given to the village of Colon its name, and the Schellhous family having been one of prominence and influence in St. Joseph county since the early pioneer days. The parents of Mr. Niendorf still reside at Colon, where the father is engaged in the drug business. In I9o8 Lawrence H. Niendorf was graduated in the Colon high school, and in 19IO he completed his course in pharmacy at the Ferris Institute, Big Rapids, this state. He thereafter continued to be associated with his father in the drug business at Colon until December 18, 1922, when he was appointed county clerk, to fill the unexpired term of E. E. Harwood, the latter having succeeded to the office of judge of the probate court upon the tragic death of Judge William T. Langley, a memoir to whom appears in this volume. Prior to his assumption of his present office Mr. Niendorf has served as village clerk of Colon and as township trustee. He is a stalwart in the local ranks of the Republican party, is commander of Columbia Commandcry No. I8, Knights Templar, at Sturgis, and he is affiliated'also with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He and his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church. In the World War period Mr. Niendorf was unflagging in his support of patriotic activities in his native county, where he served on committees in charge of drives in support of the government war loans, besides aiding in Red Cross campaigns. Mr. Niendorf married Miss Gertrude Sra JOSMIH COUNTY 2 297o Beyers, of Chicago, Illinois, and of this union were born three children, Dorothy, Charles and Virginia. The eldest child, Dorothy, is deceased, she having been ten years of age at the time of her death. Lawrence Niendorf, known to his host of friends as "Larry," had the distinction of gaining recognition in a two-page illustrated article that appeared in Liberty, the weekly magazine of the Chicago Tribune, under date of May 24, I924. From the article the following quotations are taken: "Larry's bid for glory lies in the fact that he condensed the divorce problem of the ages into seventy-nine words and set down ten commandments of married life in the compass of an ordinary business card. He is a matrimonial Moses, leading straying couples from the shadows of the divorce courts into the promised land of wedded happiness." The service of Mr. Niendorf as county clerk led to his formulating these ten commandments, which are printed on cards that he supplies to those applying to him for marriage licenses. The terse commandments are as here noted: "I. Keep up the courtship-let your wife know you appreciate her-keep trying to please her. 2. Fifty-fifty on the work, money, recreation; ninetyninety on the love. 3. Make your own home-don't live with relatives. 4. Let your wife run the domestic affairs without interference. 5. Remember the birthdays and the giftdays. 6. Beware the boarder. 7. Don't be a tightwad. 8. Keep smiling, even if you don't feel like it. 9. Send her on an occasional vacation. Io. Don't expect too much out of life." Nottawa Township Library.-The Nottawa Township Library is located in Centerville, Michigan. The nucleus of the library was started by the Ladies' club during the eighties, the members of the organization evincing a wholesome interest in the cause of education and the promotion of cultural interest. About thirty years ago the collection of books was taken over by the township (Nottawa) and since has been operated by this political subdivision. For several years the library was housed in the home of Mrs. Ada Jacox. Ten years ago the township rented suitable rooms, well located in Centerville and much interest is being taken in the library. There are about a thousand books in circulation. Mrs. Jacox has been the faithful librarian for twenty-eight years and has done much to promote interest in good literature and in systematic reading. The library is under the direct supervision of the township board and its maintenance comes from tax funds. Arthur W. Scidmore, M.D.-Member of an old and prominent family, Dr. Scidmore, a former member of the state legislature, enjoys an exalted place in the medical profession and in the social, fraternal, civic and cultural life of St. Joseph county, Michigan. The Doctor was born near Waterloo, Michigan, October 7, I867, a son of Abram and Hannah (Swartz) Scidmore. Abram Scidmore was reared in Saratoga Springs, New York, and came to Michigan in I840. He became allied with the Republican party at the time of its formation "Under the Oaks" in Jackson county, was a man of high ideals and unimpeachable character and a fervent admirer of the sainted Abra 298 mlHISTORIC MICHIGAN ham Lincoln. The senior Scidmore died in I879. His wife was born in Geneva, New York. Abram Scidmore followed agriculture, in which he was very successful. Arthur W. Scidmore attended the grade and high schools of Grass Lake and was graduated from high school in 1887. He matriculated at the University of Michigan, taking the medical course, and was graduated in 1890. The day following graduation he located in Three Rivers and has practiced his profession with uniform success since. The Doctor is a member of the St. Joseph County Medical Society, the Michigan State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. Politically, he is a "red hot" Republican and a staunch proponent of Republicaan philosophy and economics. Serving two terms in the state law-making body, elected in 1905 and 1907, Dr. Scidmore ardently advocated a bill providing a two-cent rate for railroads in Michigan. He was appointed by Governor Warner a member of the state board of registration for nurses, a position he held eight years. During the World War he went to the defense of his country, glad to sacrifice the lucrative practice he had developed. He entered Camp Custer, near Battle Creek, as lieutenant in I917 and came out of the service in I919 a major. Recently he opened a tourist camp for the convenience of automobile travelers, splendidly located, equipped and managed and reflecting credit on the city. The Doctor is public spirited to a pronounced degree, aiding every enterprise conceived and set in operation for the advancement of the material, social, moral and civic interest of the community. On November 5, I89o, he married Louie J. Parsons. Mrs. Scidmore was born in Phelps, New York, and was a mere child when her parents located in Jackson county, Michigan. She is a graduate of the Grass Lake High School, class of I888. Dr. and Mrs. Scidmore have one daughter, Margaret Gladys, who became the wife of Francis M. Fincher, head of the bond department of the Michigan Trust Company, of Grand Rapids. Dr. and Mrs. Scidmore are devout members of the Methodist church. Mrs. Scidmore is secretary of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society and for several years was secretary of the Michigan conference. She is an active member of. the Woman's club and was president of the Epworth League two years. For two years she was the presiding officer of the Woman's club. Dr. Scidmore is a member of the Masonic fraternity, of the Knights of Pythias and of the Country club. He and Mrs. Scidmore are personally popular and held in the highest esteem. i)J e 3t> \7 Dj William H. Shumaker has been editor and publisher of the Three Rivers Daily Commercial since I9I0 and has made this one of the leading papers of this section of Michigan, the while he has gained prominence and influence in the journalistic circles of the Wolverine state. Mr. Shumaker was born near Winona Lake, Indiana, December 9, 1874, and is a son of Henry and Mary J. (Hoffman) Shumaker, who were born in Ohio, of German ancestry, and who were young folks at the time of the removal of the respective families to Indiana. William H. Shumaker was five years of age when his parents established their residence in the county of Elkhart, Indiana, and his early ST. JOSEPH COUNTY 299 education was obtained in the public schools and the Tri-State College at Angola, Indiana. In I902 he took a position in a leading newspaper office at St. Johns, judicial center of Clinton county, Michigan, and after being associated there three years with the St. Johns News he went to Saginaw, where he gave five years of constructive service as business manager of the Saginaw News. In I9I0 he came to Three Rivers, where he has since continued the owner, publisher and editor of the Daily Commercial, which is independent in politics and thus voices the attitude of its owner. The Commercial is a clean-cut, progressive newspaper, with the best of letter-press and with well-ordered departments, devoted to general news and to the exemplifying and advancing of local interests. It has a large circulation and its office is modern in equipment and all general facilities. Mr. Shumaker is an active member of the local Exchange club and Country club, is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Elks, and he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Shumaker married Miss Carrie Mills, daughter of Wesley and Elizabeth (Jackson) Mills, her father being a prosperous farmer near New Paris, Indiana. Mrs. Shumaker was born and reared in Indiana, was there graduated in the Goshen High School as a member of the class of I895, and thereafter she continued her studies in the TriState College at Angola. She has been a valuable assistant of her husband in his journalistic career and is a leader in social and cultural circles in Three Rivers, the metropolis of St. Joseph county. She is a member of the Woman's Club, has been for several years treasurer of the Woman's Home Missionary Society of the southwestern district of Michigan, and she is active in civic affairs in her home community. Mr. and Mrs. Shumaker have one son, Robert Mills, who was graduated in the Three Rivers High school as a member of the class of 1924 and who is now (I925) a student in the Michigan Western State Normal School, at Kalamazoo. Miss Sue Imogene Silliman, the popular librarian of the Three Rivers Free Public Library, of which specific mention is made on other pages of this volume, was born near Gridley, McLean county, Illinois, and on both the paternal and maternal sides she is descended from sterling American pioneer families-Kline, Middaugh, Van Vleidt, Stoufer, Lee and Robbins, besides which she is able to claim descent in direct line from Sarah de Rapalje, the first white child born of European parents in New Netherland. She is a daughter of Arthur and Mary E. (Stoufer) Silliman, and she received in Three Rivers, Michigan, the major part of her earlier education. Here she was graduated in the high school as a member of the class of I888, and she took higher branches of study under the able preceptorship of Miss Ruth Hoppon, A.M., one of whose little girl pupils in the pioneer school which she had conducted in West Park, Michigan, in the early fifties having been Mary E. Stoufer, who later become the wife of Arthur Silliman and the mother of the subject of this review. Miss Silliman received in the Michigan state library, at Lansing, her first technical training in library work, under the effect 300 HISTORIC MICHIGAN ive direction of Mrs. Mary C. Spencer, and afterwards successfully passed the entrance examination in the library school of Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York. She attended the Winona Lake (Indiana) library school in I904-05-o6, and in the season of I908 and I9II the Chautauqua Library School of the Chautauqua assembly in Chautauqua, New York. In I902 Miss Silliman assumed the position of librarian of the Three Rivers Free Public Library, and besides successfully developing the library from the 4,000 volumes that were placed in rooms over the old postoffice to a fine collection of I8,ooo volumes housed in a beautiful and modern stone building erected for the purpose, Miss Silliman also organized the Cushman memorial library of the Methodist Episcopal church in Three Rivers, reorganized the public library at Constantine, and likewise the library of the Three Rivers public schools, this latter library being under the administration of seven high school honor pupils, who cover the class periods. These pupils are trained for their work by Miss Silliman, who also gives in the entire junior and senior high schools instruction in the use of general reference helps, besides acting as counselor on all questions pertaining to library work. The Three Rivers Public Library supplies traveling libraries to the small rural schools and smaller towns, besides maintaining book stations in the ward schools of Three Rivers, and all of this admirable service is given under the personal supervision of Miss Silliman. She has specialized in history, and as chapter historian of Abiel Fellows Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, she, assisted by the historical committees of the chapter, compiled vital statistics of St. Joseph county for the Michigan room of the Three Rivers library. As Michigan state historian, I9I7-20, Miss Silliman compiled the Michigan Military Records, which include the records of Revolutionary soldiers buried in this state; the record of thne:ensioners of Territorial Michigan; and the records, in all wars, of 'iigan men who were awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest decoration for valorp Concerning this splendid service, Hon. Newton D. Baker, who was then secretary of war, wrote: "Miss Silliman's work is a distinct contribution to history." For the state Miss Silliman compiled also the(fi 2 ) records of Michigan men who, in connection with the nation's participation in the World war, 1917-20, were decorated with the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross or the Distinguished Service Medal. In collaboration with Miss G. M. Krumm, of the celebrated Burton historical collection in Detroit, Miss Silliman compiled the military records of Michigan men whose ancestors fought in the American Revolution. Appointed by the American Red Cross as its historian for the St. Joseph county chapter, Miss Silliman compiled the war history of this chapter, as based on the records collected by Mrs. Charles P. Wheeler, director of women's work. In 1917 she was appointed, by Governor Sleeper, to the position of director of war records for St. Joseph county, and in this connection she compiled the military and genealogical records of 1,934 St. Joseph county men who served in the World War. As a special gift to the county posts St JO' SEPHI cOkUXT'y 0 301 of the American Legion, she presented to each a bound copy of the records of the St. Joseph county Gold Star men. Miss Silliman is a regular contributor to many of the Michigan newspapers and to the Michigan History Magazine. Among her most valuable contributions to the magazine mentioned are the articles bearing the following titles: "Paper Villages," "The Indian Treaty of 1821," "Major General Frank Dwight Baldwin," and "Governor John S. Barry." All of these productions are of surpassing historical value, because of the original research made by Miss Silliman and her eventual presentation of records that had never before been published. Miss Silliman is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, the Order of the Eastern Star, the Michigan Press Women, the Woman's Club of Three Rivers, and Abiel Fellows Chapter, D. A. R., in the work of which she is especially active. She served as regent of this chapter of the D. A. R. in the period of I92I-23, and in the national organization of the Daughters of the American Revolution she is now (I924-25) vice-chairman of the national committee of historic research and preservation of records. Is this gracious and popular Three Rivers librarian a busy woman, an enthusiast in her profession, a leader in cultural activities, and worthy of rank among those who have made large and valuable contribution to the recorded history of Michigan? To this question there can be but one answer, and that in the significant affirmative, as even the data of this brief review fully indicate. Charles Sanford Sisson, postmaster in the village of White Pigeon, one of the historic old towns of St. Joseph county, was born at Hastings, judicial center of Barry county, this state, May 24, I886. He is a son of Hudson L. and Miranda (Hosifstatter) Sisson, both of whom were born and reared near Hastings, the former of English and the latter of German ancestry, the father having long been numbered among the substantial farmers of Barry county. The efficient and popular postmaster of White Pigeon received his early education in the district schools of his native county, where also he attended for one year the high school at Freeport. In the meanwhile he had gained much of practical experience in connection with the activities of the home farm. After leaving school he continued his alliance with farm industry five years, and thereafter he was for eight years a mail carrier in the city of Hastings. In 1920 he engaged in the retail grocery business at White Pigeon, and this enterprise he continued until he was appointed postmaster, in April, I923, under the administration of the late and lamented President Harding. He is a stalwart in the ranks of the Republican party, is president of the Commercial Club of White Pigeon and he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Protestant church, Mrs. Sisson likewise having membership in the Royal Neighbors. Mr. Sisson wedded Miss Gertrude Geiger, of Woodland, Barry county, she being a daughter of Andrew. and Louise (Hickman) Geiger, who were born in Germany and who were children at the time when the respective families settled in Barry county,- where they were reared and educated and where their mar 302 HISTORIC MICHIGAN riage was solemnized. Mr. and Mrs. Sisson have five children: Kathryn, Kenneth, Lyle, Norma and Doreen. Sturgis Library.-The public library of Sturgis, Michigan, had its origin in a township library established in i846, giving evidence of early cultivation of intellectual interest in Michigan. It was conducted as a township enterprise until 1885 when it was taken over by the city, re-organized and the books removed to the Masonic block, of Sturgis, where they remained until I909 after the completion of the beautiful Carnegie library that year. The movement for a Carnegie library was inaugurated by the Women's Club and $Io,oo0 was obtained from the Carnegie Library Fund. A lot was purchased, and on September I7, I9o8, the cornerstone was laid with appropriate public ceremonies. Business was suspended in appreciation of the event. The new structure is located admirably on Chicago street, the main thoroughfare of the city, and is constructed of dark red brick with white stone trimmings. The various rooms are large and well heated and lighted. The total amount spent, including building and equipment, is $12,150. The number of circulating books at the present time is approximately 9,oo0. The library is a distinct credit to the community, and under its present policy is functioning admirably, the desire of the librarian and the governing board being that the library shall give the largest possible measure of usefulness as a cultural agency and disseminator of information. Of the governing body Homer B. Jacobs is president; Paul Wait, vice-president; M. P. Haines, secretary. Mr. Jacobs is also treasurer; Mrs. E. B. Gray is chairman of the book committee, and Mrs. Alida Patterson, librarian. Three Rivers Public Library.-The vital little city of Three Rivers, St. Joseph county, has reason to take pride in the scope and service of its well ordered Carnegie public library. The foundation for this library was laid in 1887, when interested citizens of liberality and public spirit collected a few hundred volumes, added them to the old township library and placed the same at the service of the local public. By 1897, the library had grown to such proportions and was giving such effective service that the township agreed to consolidate its library interests with those of the city. E. B. Linsley was the leader in the movement to advance the growth and service of the library, and in its behalf had expended more time, energy and promotive zeal than any other one citizen. Largely through his efforts Andrew Carnegie offered, in the year I904, to contribute $I2,ooo for the erection of a library building, under such conditions as those customarily imposed by him in such connections. Hon. Warren J. Willits donated the lot on which now stands the imposing building of the Three Rivers public library, the structure having been completed in I905, at a cost of $25,ooo0, and the building being one that would be a credit to a city of much larger population than Three Rivers. In contributing to the cause Mr. Carnegie increased his original donation. The building is constructed of vari-colored unfinished stone, is two stories in height and is of most attractive architectural design. It is well lighted, has an excellent steam heating plant and is distinctly modern in all ap ST. JOSEPH COUNTY 303 pointments and service. ' I addition to the regular library rooms there is provided also a Michigan room, a small lecture room, and study rooms which are free for educational purposes. The library now has available for circulation approximately i8,oo0 volumes, covering the best in the various departments of literature. The executive corps of the institution is as here designated: R. B. Linsley, president; Carl Klocke, vice-president; Mrs. Jennie Walton, secretary, and Miss Sue I. Silliman, librarian. In addition to the president, vice-president and secretary, the directorate of the library includes also C. G. Mahana. The first record of a library in Three Rivers is included in the report of the first meeting of the school board in October, 1837, when it was voted to appropriate "$ioo.oo to build a school building and $5.00 to purchase a library with a suitable case." Rosslyn Henry Van Buren.-It is interesting to note that the name, Van Buren, has gained more than usual prominence in American history. The subject's grandfather was a second cousin of President Martin Van Buren, and both he and Mrs. Van Buren can trace their ancestry to the Putnam family, a name made famous by the exploits of Israel Putnam of Revolutionary days. This descent entitled Mrs. Van Buren to membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution and established the eligibility of Mr. Van Buren to membership in the Sons of the American Revolution. Rosslyn Henry Van Buren was born near Centerville, Michigan, January 28, I877, a son of William H. and Carrie (Major) Van Buren. The father was born in 1847 and spent the greater portion of his life near Centerville having been at one time township supervisor and register of deeds of St. Joseph county, from I906 to I912. He died January 6, I9I7. The mother was born in I848 and resides with her son, the subject of this sketch. Rosslyn Henry Van Buren attended public school at Centerville and normal school at Ypsilanti and was graduated from the latter in 1897. The same year he went to Lansing to enter the office of Roscoe Dix, auditor general of the state and remained in the office until 900o when he returned to Sturgis and formed a partnership with Frank W. Wait, the firm name being the Wait-Van Buren Lumber Company, which continued until I908. The following year he organized the Morency-Van Buren Company for the manufacture of brass goods for plumbers and is president and treasurer of the organization and has been since its formation. On June 28, I9oo, Mr. Van Buren was married to Rebecca McCallum, of Lansing, daughter of Edward and Rebecca (Tracy) McCallum. Edward McCallum, when a young man, was an officer in the English army and while in the service was in charge of the laying of a cable through a part of the Black Sea during the Crimean war, the longest cable laid prior to the Atlantic cable. It was during this time that he met Miss Tracy, who was then a missionary from Andover, Massachusetts. The romance culminated in marriage, after which.they located in Qd Mission, Canada, then came on to Lansing. Mr. and Mrs. Van Buti have two children, Tracy, born March 27, 1902, a graduate in eflgi ring, of the University of Michigan, '24, and a daughter, Mary, 304 HISTOrIOC MIOHIGAN born October 6, Ig93, a student at the University of Michigan. Mr. Van Buren is an Elk and 32d degree Mason and Shriner, a Rotarian and member of the Country Club. He is a Republican and has found time to serve on the school board of Sturgis. Mr. and Mrs. Van Buren are supporters of the Episcopal church. John Major, grandfather of Mr. Van Buren, contracted the gold fever in '49 and make three journeys to California, one via isthmus, two by overland route. -During these journeys he was accustomed to keep a diary so accurate in its details that the reading of it makes one live over again the sturdy days of '49 and visualize the re-enactment of the days portrayed by Emerson Hough in "The Covered Wagon." Mr. and Mrs. Van Buren are much interested in the social life of Sturgis. They are held in the highest respect. Frank W. Wait is mayor of the city of Sturgis, Michigan, under the commission form of government, and has had considerable experience in public life. During the World war he was especially active in the various drives that made for the conservation of food, fuel; labor and mechanical resources and the sale of government securities. Mr. Wait was born in Sturgis, December 22, 1858. His father, Jonathan G. Wait, came to Sturgis in 1832, coming from New York state. The mother was Susan S. Buck, who came from Canada to Sturgis Prairie in 1822 at the age of seven. Her father, Geo. Buck, built the first house in the present corporate limits of the city of Sturgis. Jonathan G. Wait was in the furniture manufacturing business, a merchant, editor of the Sturgis Journal and state senator from 1860 to I866. In I839 he married Miss Susan Buck. The elder Wait died October 29, 1893, his widow on March 3, I909. Frank W. Wait was educated in the public schools and Hillsdale College, left college and became a traveling salesman for the furniture companv operated by his father, then engaged in the hard lumber business and operating in farm land. Mr. Wait now owns several hundred acres of fine farming land in southern Michigan. In I903 President Roosevelt appointed him United States marshal, and the post was held nine years. President McKinley named him attorney for the court of claims in 900o but he resigned shortly afterward. Mr. Wait is conspicuous in the civic life of the community and has been very helpful in many matters advancing the interest of Sturgis and surrounding territory. He was one of the guardians of the Industrial Home for Girls' at Adrian, appointed by Governor Rich in i894, but resigned in 1896.- On February 13, 1883, Mr. Wait married Ellen M. Fishback, of Oscaloosa, Iowa. They have two children, Isabella, wife of Hugh Allen, graduate of the University of Michigan and publicity manager of the Goodyear Company at Akron, Ohio, and Helen, now signgi in grand:opera -in South America. She is the wife of Umberto Gagliassr, foreign trade representative of the- General Motors Corporation. Mr. Wait procured the option on the dam site occupied by the hydro-electric company and donated the same to the city. He has been. instrumental in obtaining many factories for Sturgis. Mr. Wait is a:Mason, Odd Fellow, Knight of Pythias, Rotarian and Elk and a WEknd ST. JOSEPH COUNTY 305 member of the Country Club of Klinger Lake, Michigan. Mrs. Wait is a member of the Sorosis Club. Mr. and Mrs. Wait are liberal thinkers, and in religious thought are Unitarian. Christian Wilhelm was born January 9, I86o, in Hessen, Germany. He came to America in the spring of i88I, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, working at his trade as a cabinetmaker until I890, when he came to Sturgis, where he lived until his death, November 29, I917. Mr. Wilhelm became associated with Mr. Grobhiser in the furniture manufacturing business when he first came to Sturgis. In I907 Mr. Wilhelm withdrew from Grobhiser and formed a partnership with E. B. Stebbins and opened in Sturgis a furniture factory known as Stebbins & Wilhelm. In I909 Mr. Wilhelm purchased the interest of Mr. Stebbins and formed a new corporation known as the Wilhelm Furniture Company for the manufacture of furniture, specializing in library tables, bookcases and furniture novelties. He remained at the head of the Wilhelm Furniture Company, which grew rapidly from its start under the able management of Mr. Wilhelm. The Wilhelm Furniture Company is one of the largest in this section of the country and has added materially to the furniture prestige of Michigan. Mr. Wilhelm during his lifetime was prominent in business and political life in Sturgis. He was mayor of the city during the years of I908, I9o9 and I9I0. During his administration the hydroelectric dam was erected. He was instrumental in a great measure in the success of the project. He was an ardent supporter of Sturgis schools and served on the school board during the time the new school building was erected. Mr. Wilhelm married Miss Ann B. Ihrig, of Oil City, Pennsylvania, daughter of William F. and Mary (Maldona) Ihrig, both of whom were born in Berlin, Germany, and emigrated to America in the early fifties. Mr. Ihrig engaged in the oil industry in Pennsylvania and was very prominent in oil circles around Oil Creek, Pennsylvania. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wilhelm. Robert A. Wilhelm, born August 20, i888, married Anna Gage. They have three children, Christian, Lois and Robert, Jr. The father, Robert A. Wilhelm, is general manager of the Wilhelm Furniture Company. George Wilhelm was born June 12, I890, and died at the age of seven. Gladys I. Wilhelm was born April 4, I899, and was married to A. R. Spencer on June 22, 1920. They have two children, Barbara Ann and Laura Augusta. Mr. Spencer is sales manager and secretary of the Wilhelm Furniture Company. Christian Wilhelm was an ardent worker for all of the Masonic orders. He also belonged to the Odd Fellows. He was held in the highest esteem by his employees and by all citizens of Sturgis, who considered him their true friend. Jerry R. Woodward was born and reared in St. Joseph county, Michigan, and here initiated his activities -in the growing of: pepper — mint, of which line of industrial enterprise he was destined to become one of the leaders in the United States. He now maintains his residence at Mishawaka, Indiana, but is definitely entitled to recognition in this history of his native state. Mr. Woodward was born o — 306 HTISTOWIG MIOITIGAIS a farm at the foot of Portage lake, in Mendon township, St. Joseph county, August 23, 1859, and is one of the survivors in a family of eight children. Mr. Woodward is a son of Joseph and Maria (Tefft) Woodward, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of the state of New York. Joseph Woodward continued his residence in St. Joseph county until his death, in 1874, when he was sixty-eight years of age, his widow having long survived him and having passed to the life eternal March 4, I89o. Jerry R. and Walter M. Woodward were aged, respectively, fourteen and twelve years at the time of their father's death, and upon them devolved the care and support of their widowed mother and sister. The two sons, in 1884, began raising peppermint, and this gave them an appreciation of the possibilities in independent activity. In 1887 Jerry R. Woodward married Miss Cora Pomeroy, of Mendon, and two years later they removed to Mishawaka, Indiana, where Mr. Woodward and his brother, Walter M., began raising peppermint on a larger commercial scale, they, in fact, having been the first to take up this productive work on so extensive a scale. During the next few years, another brother, J. Warren, became associated with them and they operated under the name Woodward Bros. They acquired farms at Mishawaka, Indiana, Niles, Michigan, Starke county, Indiana, and the Hallwood Farm at Constantine, Michigan. In 1922 the interests of the J. Warren Woodward heirs in the Hallwood Farm were bought by R. E. Zimmerman, who had managed the farm from the first. The greatest interest of Mr. Woodward's life has been the development of muck lands and bringing them into fertility through drainage and cultivation. Mr. Woodward owns a summer cottage at Klinger lake in St. Joseph county, near the Hallwood farm, and there he and his wife remain each season until late in the autumn, their winters being passed in Florida. Mrs. Woodward suffered a severe illness in the summer of 1924, and on the 5th of October of that year her death occurred, in the hospital at Constantine, Michigan, this loss of his loved companion proving the maximum bereavement in the life of Mr. Woodward. The political allegiance of Mr. Woodward is given to the Republican party. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Mishawaka, as was also his wife, and he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. He is a charter member of the Miami Country Club at Mishawaka and has membership also in the Klinger Lake Country Club, in each of which connections he indulges moderately in golf. He is vice-president of the Mishawaka Trust & Savings Company. In conclusion of this brief tribute to a man who has made his life in the county worthy in all its relations, is given brief record concerning his children, to each of whom he gave the advantages of collegiate education: Grace, born April 2, I889, is the wife of Robert E. Zimmerman, of the Hallwood farm; May, born October 4, 1890, is the wife of W. Arthur Grove, of Riverside, Illinois; Beatrice, born April 25, 1895, makes her home with her father, she having been graduated in the training school for nurses that is maintained by St. Luke's hospital in Chicago; Logan P., who was born July 6, ST. JOSEPH COUNTY 307 I897, and who married Miss Ethelwyn Morgan, of Superior, Wisconsin, resides on his father's farm adjacent to Mishawaka, Indiana. Robert E. Zimmerman is manager and part owner of the widely known Woodward Brothers' mint farm, comprising more than 1,200 acres and one of the largest mint farms in Michigan. It is located two miles north of Klinger lake, one of the most beautiful summer resorts of southern Michigan. In I912 Mr. Zimmerman came to Centreville to take charge of the farm, which was originally a shallow lake known as Big Marsh. Mr. Zimmerman and his associates have constructed such a perfect system of drainage that by the opening and closing of a series of flood gates the water level can be maintained at any desired height, suitable for all climatic conditions, which insures a fine growth of mint each season. Mr. Zimmerman was born in Mishawaka, Indiana, May 22, I888, a son of William and Sarah (Tramer) Zimmerman. The father was engaged many years in tailoring. Robert Edward attended grade and high schools of Mishawaka and for six years was connected with the Mishawaka Woolen Manufacturing Company and in 1912 came to Centreville, St. Joseph county, Michigan. His wife was Grace Woodward, born near Mishawaka, the daughter of Jerry and Cora (Pomeroy) Woodward, both residents of Mishawaka. The marriage of Miss Woodward and Mr. Zimmerman was solemnized in 1912. They have two children, Robert, Jr., born July 13, 1915, and Donald, born November 25, 1917. Mr. and Mrs. Zimmerman are active in the social life of the community. They are active Republicans and are members of the county committee. He is a Mason, Knight Templar and an Elk, a Rotarian and a member of the Country Club of Sturgis, Michigan. Both are members of the Congregational church. Mrs. Zimmerman is a member of the Constantine Women's Club, of Constantine, Michigan, having been president two years. She organized the Mintdale Rural Club of Florence township, a community club dealing with social affairs of the community. Through the efforts of the club a community house costing $Io,ooo was built within the last year, and completely equipped. Mrs. Zimmerman has been president of the County Federation of Clubs and is active in state federation work. She was a delegate to the biennial Federation in Los Angeles in June, 1924. She is chairman of the county public nursing service. Mr. Zimmerman is president of the county Red Cross chapter and Mrs. Zimmerman is an energetic worker of the organization. Mr. Zimmerman is associated with men who are pioneers in the cultivation of mint. Jerry Woodward, father of Mrs. Zimmerman, was born near Mendon, Michigan, August 23, i860, and was one of the first men to appreciate the value of mint cultivation. In 1889 he went to St. Joseph county, Indiana, where he developed several tracts suitable for mint culture. His brothers, Warren and Walter, also became interested in the industry and in 1912 purchased the large farm managed by Mr. Zimmerman under the name of Woodward Brothers. Both Mr. and Mrs. Zimmerman are young people of unusual attainments and are highly respected in their community (in which they labor faithfully) for their personal excellencies and for their qualities of leadership. I ;4 1 1 I, 1 r, I , ( --- Lj 4 I,, I, , RIFEaNcc MICHIGAN~ REFERENCEt I -', m Bahamas !