Читать книгу Memoirs of Milwaukee County, Volume 1 - Jerome A. Watrous - Страница 6

TRIBES, HISTORICAL INCIDENTS, ETC.

The Indians who inhabited the northern region east of the Mississippi at the beginning of historic times were, in language, of two great families, which are given the French names Algonquin and Iroquois. These are not the Indian names. In fact, from the word Indian itself, which is a misnomer — arising from the slowness of the early voyagers to admit that they had found an unknown continent — down to the names of the tribes, there is a confusion of nomenclature and often a deplorable misfit in the titles now fixed in history by long usage. The Algonquin family may more properly be termed the Lenape, and the Iroquois the Mengwe, which the English frontiersmen closely approached in the word, Mingo. The Lenape themselves, while using that name, also employed the more generic title of Wapanacki. The Iroquois, on their part, had the ancient name of Onque Honwe, and this in their tongue, as Lenape in that of the other family, signified men with a sense of importance — ''the people," to use a convenient English expression. The Lenape became a very widespread people, and different divisions of them were known in later years by various names, among which were the Sauks or Sacs, and their friends and allies, the Ottagamies or Foxes, these two divisions being practically one, and according to Dr. Morse, in his report of his Indian tour in 1820, were the first to establish a village upon the present site of Milwaukee.

When, as early, it is believed, as 1634, civilized man first set foot upon the territory now included within the boundaries of Wisconsin, no representatives of the Iroquois had yet been seen west of Lake Michigan — the members of that great family at that date dwelling in safety in the extensive regions northward and southward of the Erie and Ontario lakes. But the Algonquins were here in large numbers, and moving westward had checked the advance of the Sioux in the excursions of the latter eastward. Already had the French secured a foothold in the extensive valley oi the St. Lawrence, and, naturally enough, the chain of the Great Lakes led their explorers to the mouth of Green bay, and up that water-course and its principal tributary, Fox river, to the Wisconsin, an affluent of the Mississippi. On the right, in ascending this bay, was seen, for the first time, a nation of Indians, lighter in complexion than neighboring tribes, and remarkably well formed, afterward well known as the Menomonees.

This nation was of the Algonquin stock, but their dialect differed so much from the surrounding tribes of the same family, it having strange guttural sounds and accents, as well as peculiar inflections of verbs and other parts of speech, that for a long time they were supposed to have a distinct language. Their traditions pointed to an immigration from the east at some remote period. When first visited by the French missionaries, these Indians subsisted largely upon wild rice, from which they took their name. The harvest time of this grain was in the month of September, and it grew spontaneously in little streams with slimy bottoms, and in marshy places. This grain was found to be quite plentiful along the shore of Lake Michigan in Milwaukee county. When the time for gathering came the harvesters went in their canoes across the watery fields, shaking the ears right and left as they advanced, the grain falling easily, if ripe, into the bark receptacle beneath. To clear it from the chaff and strip it of a pellicle inclosing it, they put it to dry on a wooden lattice above a small fire, which was kept up for several days. When the rice was well dried it was placed in a skin of the form of a bag, which was then forced into a hole made on purpose in the ground. They then tread it out so long and so well that the grain being freed from the chaff was easily winnowed. After this it was pounded to meal, or left unpounded, and boiled in water seasoned with grease, and it thus became a very palatable diet, something of the nature of oat meal. But it must not be inferred that this was the only food of the Menomonees, as' they were adepts in fishing, and hunted with skill the game that abounded in the forests.

For many years after their discovery the Menomonees had their homes and hunting grounds upon or adjacent to the Menomonee river, which flows into Green bay. Finally, after the lapse of a century and a quarter, down to 1760, when the French yielded to the English all claims to the country, the territory of the Menomonees had shifted somewhat to the westward and southward, and their principal village was found at the head of Green bay, while a smaller one was still in existence at the mouth of their favorite stream. So slight, however, had been this change, that the country of no other of the surrounding tribes had been encroached upon by the movement.

In 1634 the Menomonees probably took part in a treaty with a representative of the French, who had thus early ventured so far into the wilds of the lake region. More than a score of years elapsed before the tribe was again visited by white men, or at least there are no authentic accounts of earlier visits. In 1660 Father Rene Menard had penetrated the Lake Superior country as far at least as Kewenaw, in what is now the northern part of Michigan, whence some of his French companions probably passed down the Menomonee river to the waters of Green bay the following year, but no record of the Indians, through whose territory they passed, was made by these voyagers. Ten years more — 1670 — brought to the Menomonees Father Claudius Allouez, to win them to Christianity. Proceeding from the "Sault" on Nov. 3, Allouez, early in December, 1669, reached the mouth of Green bay, where, in an Indian village of Sacs, Pottawattamies, Foxes and Winnebagoes, containing about 600 souls, he celebrated the holy mass for the first time upon this new field of his labors — eight Frenchmen traders with the Indians, whom the missionary found there upon his arrival, taking part in the devotions. His first Christian work with the Menomonees was performed in May of the next year. Allouez found this tribe a feeble one, almost exterminated by war. He spent but little time with them, embarking on the 20th of that month, after a visit of some Pottawattamies and Winnebagoes, "with a Frenchman and a savage to go to Sainte Mary of the Sault." His place was filled by Father Louis Andre, who erected a cabin not long afterward upon the Menomonee river, but the building, with one at a village where his predecessor had already raised the standard of the cross, was soon burned by the savages. The missionary, however, living almost constantly in his canoe, continued for some time to labor with the Menomonees and surrounding tribes. His efforts were rewarded with some conversions among the former, for Marquette, who visited them in 1673, found many good Christians among them.

The record of ninety years of French domination in Wisconsin — beginning in June, 1671, and ending in October, 1761 — brings to light but little of interest so far as the Indians in Eastern Wisconsin are concerned. Gradually the Menomonees and Pottawattamies extended their intercourse with the white fur traders. Gradually and with few interruptions they were drawn under the banner. of France, joining with that government in its wars with the Iroquois, in its contest with the Foxes and subsequently in its conflicts with the English.

The French post at what is now Green Bay, Wisconsin, was surrendered to the British in 1760, along with the residue of the Western forts, but actual possession of the former was not taken until the Fall of the next year. The land on which the fort stood was claimed by the Menomonees. Here, at that date, was their upper and principal village, the lower one being at the mouth of the Menomonee river. These Indians soon became reconciled to the English occupation of their territory, notwithstanding the machinations of French traders who endeavored to prejudice them against the new comers. The tribe was at this time very much reduced, having, but a short time previous, lost 300 of their warriors by the small-pox, and most of their chiefs had been slain in the war in which they had been engaged as allies of the French against the English. It was not long before the sincerity of the Menomonees was put to the test, however, as Pontiac's war of 1763 broke out and the post of Mackinaw was captured. But they continued their friendship to the English, joining with the latter against the colonies during the Revolution, and fighting on the same side during the war of 1812-15, When, in July, 1816, an American force arrived at Green Bay to take possession of the country, the Menomonees were found in their village nearby, very peaceably inclined. The commander of the troops asked permission of their chief to build a fort. "My Brother!" was the response, "how can we oppose your locating a council fire among us? You are too strong for us. Even if we wanted to oppose you we have scarcely got powder and ball to make the attempt. One favor we ask is, that our French brothers shall not be disturbed. You can choose any place you please for your fort, and we shall not object." No trouble had been anticipated from the Menomonees, and the expectations of the government of the United States in that regard were fully realized. What added much to the friendship now springing up between the Menomonees and the Americans was the fact that the next year — 1817 — the annual contribution, which for many years had been made by the British, consisting of a shirt, leggings, breech-clout and blanket for each member of the tribe, and for each family a copper kettle, knives, axes, guns and ammunition, was withheld by them.

Upon their occupation of the Menomonee territory it was found by the Americans that some of the women of that tribe were married to traders and boatmen who had settled at the head of the bay, there being no white women in that region. Many of these were Canadians of French extraction, hence the anxiety that they should be well treated, which was expressed by the Menomonees upon the arrival of the American force. The first regular treaty with this tribe was "made and concluded" on March 30, 1817, "by and between William Clark, Ninian Edwards, and Auguste Chouteau, commissioners on the part and behalf of the United States of America, of the one part," and the chiefs and warriors, deputed by the Menomonees, of the other part. By the terms of this compact all injuries were to be forgiven and forgotten, perpetual peace established, lands, heretofore ceded to other governments, confirmed to the United States, all prisoners to be delivered up and the tribe placed under the protection of the United States, "and of no other nation, power, or sovereign, whatsoever."

The territory of the Menomonees, when the tribe was taken fully under the wing of the general government, had become greatly extended. It was bounded on the north by the dividing ridge between the waters flowing into Lake Superior and those flowing south into Green bay and the Mississippi; on the east, by Lake Michigan; on the south, by the Milwaukee river, and on the west by the Mississippi and Black rivers. This was their territory, though they were practically restricted to the occupation of the western shore of Lake Michigan, lying between the mouth of Green bay on the north and the Milwaukee river on the south, and to a somewhat indefinite area west. Their general claim as late as 1825 was north to the Chippewa country, east to Green bay and Lake Michigan, south to the Milwaukee river, and west to Black river. Henry R. Schoolcraft, mineralogist, whose "Narrative Journal," published in 1821, is replete with valuable information relative to this portion of the country, and gives the account of a trip made in 1819 by a party of which he was a member, says that on Aug. 26 of that year the party encamped at the mouth of the Milwaukee river, where they found "two American families and a village of Pottawattomies; it is the division line between the lands of the Menomonees and the Pottawattomies; the latter claim all south of it."

The Menomonee territory, as late as 1831, still preserved its large proportions. Its eastern division was bounded by the Milwaukee river, the shore of Lake Michigan, Green bay. Fox river, and Winnebago lake; its western division by the Wisconsin and Chippewa rivers on the west. Fox river on the south. Green bay on the east, and the high lands whence flow the streams into Lake Superior, on the north. This year, however, it was shorn of a valuable and large part by the tribe ceding to the United States all of the eastern division, estimated at 2,500,000 acres. This tract included all of Milwaukee, city and county, lying between the Milwaukee river and the shore of Lake Michigan. The following year the Menomonees aided the general government in the Black Hawk war.

Deserving a place in a notice of the Indian tribes of this part of Wisconsin is the nation known as the Pottawattomies, who in historic times laid claim to the major portion of what is now the county of Milwaukee. As early as 1639 they were the neighbors of the Winnebagoes upon Green bay. They were still upon its southern shore, in two villages, in 1670, and ten years subsequent to that date they occupied, at least in one village, the same region. At the expiration of the first quarter of the eighteenth century only a part of the nation was in that vicinity — upon the islands at the mouth of the bay. These islands were then known as the Pottawattomie islands, and were considered as the ancient abode of these Indians. Already had a large portion of this tribe emigrated southward, one band resting on the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan, the other near Detroit. One peculiarity of this tribe— at least of such as resided in what is now Wisconsin — was their intimate association with neighboring bands. When, in 1669, a village of the Pottawattomies, located upon the southeast shore of Green bay, was visited by Allouez, he found with them Sacs and Foxes and Winnebagoes. So, also, many years subsequent to that date, when a band of these Indians were located at Milwaukee, with them were Ottawas and Chippewas. These ''united tribes" claimed all the lands of their respective tribes and of other nations, giving the United States no little trouble when possession was taken of the western country by the general government. Finally, by a treaty entered into at Chicago in 1833, their claims, such as they were, to lands along the western shore of Lake Michigan, within the present state of Wisconsin, extending westward to Rock river, were purchased by the United States, with permission for the Indians to retain possession of their ceded lands three years longer, after which time this ''united nation of Chippewas, Ottawas, and Pottawattomies" began to disappear, and soon were no longer seen in southeastern Wisconsin or in other portions of the state. By this treaty of 1833 the territory comprised in the present limits of Milwaukee county came into legal possession of the pale-face, and the Indians who remained after 1836 did so by sufferance of their white brethren.

The Chippewas, who are mentioned here as close friends or allies of the Pottawattomies, when the territory now constituting the northern portion of Wisconsin became very generally known to the civilized inhabitants of the eastern part of the United States, were found in possession of that vast scope of country. Their hunting grounds extended south from Lake Superior to the heads of the Menomonee, the Wisconsin and Chippewa rivers, also farther eastward and westward. At an early day they were engaged in a war with the Sioux — a war indeed, which was long continued. The Chippewas persistently maintained their position, however — still occupying the same region when the general government extended its jurisdiction over the whole country south of the great lakes and west to the Mississippi. By treaties with them at different periods, down to the year 1827, the government had recognized them as the owners of about one quarter of what is now the entire state of Wisconsin. The same policy was pursued toward this tribe as with neighboring ones in the purchase of their lands by the United States. Gradually they parted with their extensive possessions until, in 1842, the last acre within what is now Wisconsin was disposed of. It was the intention of the government to remove the several bands of the Chippewas who had thus ceded their lands to a tract reserved for them beyond the Mississippi, but this determination was afterward changed so as to allow them to remain upon certain reservations within the limits of their old-time hunting grounds. These reservations they continue to occupy, located in Bayfield, Ashland, Chippewa and Lincoln counties. The clans are known, respectively, as the Red Cliff band, the Bad River band, the Lac Courte Oreille band, and the Lac de Flambeau band.

As will have been inferred from the foregoing, when the white men first visited what is now Milwaukee county it was with the Pottawattomie Indians that they had chiefly to deal. Hence the following description of that tribe, their habits, customs, etc., will be of interest in this connection. It is an extract from Bacqueville de la Potherie's History of America, published at Paris in 1722 and again in 1753. The author was a French historian of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and in 1697 he visited Hudson Bay as a royal commissioner:

"The Pouteouatemis [Pottawattomies] are their [the Illinois] neighbors; the behavior of these people is very affable and cordial, and they make great efforts to gain the good opinion of persons who come among them. They are very intelligent; they have an inclination for raillery; their physical appearance is good, and they are great talkers. When they set their minds on anything, it is not easy to turn them from it. The old men are prudent, sensible, and deliberate; it is seldom that they undertake any unseasonable enterprise. As they receive strangers very kindly, they are delighted when reciprocal attentions are paid to them. They have so good an opinion of themselves that they regard other Nations as inferior to them. They have made themselves Arbiters for the tribes about the Bay, and for all their neighbors; and they strive to preserve for themselves that reputation in every direction. Their ambition to please everybody has of course caused among them jealousy and divorce, for their Families are scattered to the right and to the left along the Mecheygan [Lake Michigan]. With a view of gaining for themselves special esteem, they make presents of all their possessions, stripping themselves of even necessary articles, in their eager desire to be accounted liberal. Most of the merchandise for which the Outaouas [Ottawas] trade with the French is carried among these people.

"The Sakis [Sacs] have always been neighbors of the Pouteoutemis, and have even built a Village with them. They separated from each other some years ago, as neither tribe could endure to be subordinate; this feeling is general among all the Savages, and each man is master of his own actions, no one daring to contradict him. These Peoples [the Sacs] are not intelligent, and are of brutal nature and unruly disposition; but they have a good physique, and are quite good-looking for savages; they are thieves and liars, great chatterers, good Hunters, and very poor Canoemen."

La Potherie also gives an account of Perrot's visit to the Wisconsin tribes, and of his success in inducing them to become allies of the French. Of Perrot's relations with the Pottawattomies we quote:

"On one occasion, among the Pouteouatemis, he was regarded as a God. Curiosity induced him to form the acquaintance of this Nation, who dwelt at the foot of the Bay of Puans [Green Bay]. They had heard of the French, and; their desire to become acquainted with them in order to secure the trade with them had induced these savages to so down to Montreal, under the guidance of a wandering Outaouak who was glad to conduct them thither. The French had been described to them as covered with hair (the Savages have no beards), and they believed that we were of a different species from other men. They were astonished to see that we were, made like themselves, and regarded it as a present that the Sky and the Spirits had made them in permitting one of the celestial beings to enter their land. The Old Men solemnly smoked a Calumet and came into his presence, offering it as a homage that they rendered to him. After he had smoked the Calumet, it was presented by the Chief to his tribesmen, who all offered it in turn to one another, blowing from their mouths the tobacco-smoke over him as if it were incense. They said to him: 'Thou art one of the chief spirits, since thou usest iron; it is for thee to rule and protect all men. Praised be the Sun, which has instructed thee and sent thee to our country.' They adored him as a God, they took his knives and hatches and incensed them with the tobacco-smoke from their mouths; and they presented to him so many kinds of food that he could not taste them all. 'It is a spirit,' they said, 'these provisions that he has not tasted are not worthy of his lips.' When he left the room, they insisted on carrying him upon their shoulders; the way over which he passed was made clear; they did not dare look in his face, and the women and children watched him from a distance. 'He is a Spirit,' they said; 'let us show our affection for him, and he will have pity on us.' The Savage who had introduced him to this tribe was, in acknowledgement thereof, treated as a Captain. Perot was careful not to receive all these acts of adoration, although he accepted these honors so far as the interests of religion were not concerned. He told them that he was not what they thought, but only a Frenchman; that the real Spirit who had made all had given to the French the knowledge of iron, and the Ability to handle it as if it were paste. He said that that Spirit, desiring to show his pity for his Creatures, had permitted the French Nation to settle in their country in order to remove them from the blindness in which they had dwelt, as they had not known the true God, the author of Nature, whom the French adored; that, when they had established a friendship with the French, they would receive from the latter all possible assistance; and that he had come to facilitate acquaintance between them by the discoveries of the various tribes which he was making. And, as the Beaver was valued by his people, he wished to ascertain whether there were not a good opportunity for them to carry on Trade therein.

"At that time, there was war between that Tribe and their neighbors, the Malhominis. The latter, while hunting with the Outagamis, had by mistake slain a Pouteouatemi, who was on his way to the Outagamis. The Pouteouatemis, incensed at this affront, deliberately broke the head of a Malhomini who was among the Puans. In the Pouteouatemi Village there were only women and old men, as the Young Men had gone for the first time to trade at Montreal, and there was reason to fear that the Malhominis would profit by that mischance. Perot, who was desirous of making their acquaintance, offered to mediate a Peace between them. When he had arrived within half a league of the Village, he sent a man to tell them that a Frenchman was coming to visit them; this news caused universal joy. All the youths came at once to meet him, bearing their weapons and their warlike adornments, all marching in file, with frightful contortions and yells; this was the most honorable reception that they thought it was possible to give him. He was not uneasy, but fired a gun in the air as far away as he could see them; this noise, which seemed to them so extraordinary, caused them to halt suddenly, gazing at the Sun in most ludicrous attitudes. After he had made them understand that he had come not to disturb their repose, but to form an alliance with them, they approached him with many gesticulations. The Calumet was presented to him; and, when he was ready to proceed to the Village, one of the savages stooped down in order to carry Perot upon his shoulders; but his Interpreter assured them that he had refused such honors among many other Nations. He was escorted with assiduous attentions; they vied with one another in clearing the path, and in breaking off the branches of trees which hung in the way. The women and children, who had heard 'the Spirit' (for thus they called a gun), had fled into the woods. The men assembled in the cabin of the leading war Chief, where they danced the Calumet to the sound of the drum. He had them all assemble next day, and made them a speech in nearly these words: * * *

The Father of the Malhomini who had been murdered by the Pouteouatemis arose and took the collar that Perot had given him; he lighted his Calumet, and presented it to him, and then gave it to the Chief and all who were present, who smoked it in turn; then he began to sing, holding the Calumet in one hand, and the collar in the other. He went out of the cabin while he sang, and, presenting the Calumet and collar toward the Sun, he walked sometimes backwards, sometimes forwards; he made a circuit of his own cabin, went past a great number of those in the Village, and finally returned to that of the Chief. There he declared that he attached himself wholly to the French; that he believed the living Spirit, who had, in behalf of all the Spirits, domination over all other men, who were inferior to him; that all his Nation had the same sentiments; and that they asked only the protection of the French, from whom they hoped for life and for obtaining all that is necessary to man."

Perrot, accompanied by some Pottawattomies, made a voyage along the west shore of Lake Michigan in 1670, passing from Green Bay to Chicago. Two years later a similar voyage was undertaken by Allouez and Dublon, and as a result of these voyages an extensive fur-trade was established with the Indians. There is no data from which to estimate the quantities of furs purchased by the French at this early period, and sent to Europe, but this constituted almost the sole motive for "locating" in this wild, and till then unknown region. The French possessed the peculiar faculty of making themselves ''at home" with the Indians, and lived without that dread of their tomahawks which was so keenly felt by the pioneers of English settlements. Wisconsin remained in possession of the French, and constituted a portion of "New France," until 1763, when it was surrendered to Great Britain and became subject to her government. British authority was then exercised until the northwestern country was transferred to the American government in 1794. But during this period and until a number of years later little change took place in the region of which the city of Milwaukee is the metropolis. The Indian continued to hunt the deer and to trap the beaver unmolested, and bartered his furs at Green Bay or other convenient trading points, for the trifles or the "fire-water" of the trader.