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I sing of thee, Mackinac, my Mackinac, Thy lake-bound shores I love to see, Mackinac, my Mackinac. From Arch Rock's bright and shelving sttep To western cliffs and Lover's Leap, Where memories of the lost one sleep, Mackinac, my Mackinac, "Thy Northern shore trod British foe, Mackinac, my Mackinac, That day saw gallant Holmes laid low, Mackinac, my Mackinac. Now Freedom's flag above tliee waves, And guards the rest of fallen braves, Their requiem sung by Huron's waves, Mackinac, my M.ackinac." Bv REV J. A. VAN FLEET, M. A. ANN ARBOR, MICH.: COURIER STEAM PRINTING-HOUSK, 41 » 43 NORTH MAIN STREET. 1870, Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1870, by J. A. VAN FLEET, la the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan, 1 : •i ; PREFACE. In the preparation of this little volume, I have carefully exam- ined the following works : Holmes' American Annals, two volumes ; Robertson's History of America; Bancroft's United States; Bell's Canada, two volumes; Albach's Annals of the West; Lahnman's Michigan; Sheldon's Early Michigan; Historical and Scientific Sketches of Michigan ; Neill's Minnesota; Smith's Wisconsin, three volumes; Wynne's General History of the British Empire; Rogers' Concise Account of North America; Dillon's Early Settlement of the North-Western Territory; Heriot's Canada; Parkman's Pontiac; Parkman's Discovery of the Great West; Schoolcraft's Works, com- plete; Documentary History of New York, complete; Palmer's His- torical Register, 1814; Shea's Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi, — also, Catholic Missions; Hennepin; La Houtan, two volumes; Charlevoix, two volumes; Alexander Henry; Carver; Dis- turnell; Newcomb's Cyclopedia of Missions; American Missions to the Heathen; Geological Reports by Foster and Whitney, and by Professor Winchell ; Thatcher's Indian Biography, two volumes; Strickland's Old Mackinaw; Drake's Northern Lakes and Southern Invalids,— also, Diseases of the Mississippi Valley, by the same author. I am also greatly indebted to Messrs. Ambrose and William Davenport for a detailed account of the War of 1812 in its connection with this Island. These gentlemen were boys of from twelve to fifteen years of age at the time, and were eye-witnesses of all that passed. Their account agrees, in every important particular, with the oflici! returns of Commodore Sinclair and Colonel Croghan, but is, «. course, much more minute. tv PREFACE. Several other citizens of the place have likewise rendered valuable assistance in matters falling within the scope of their recollection. I also desire to acknowledge my obligation to Edgar Conkling, Esq., of Mackinaw City, for valuable notes and suggestions, and to H. R. Mills, M. D., of Fort Mackinac, and Rev. J. M. Arnold, of Detroit, for assistance in getting the work through the press. This book has been prepared to meet a want long felt and often expressed by the many who throng this Island in quest of health or pleasure during the summer. That it may accomplish this end, is the earnest wish of the author, J. A. V. Mackinac, July 4, 1870 red valuable tllection. I ng, Esq., of d to H. R. Detroit, for t and often >f health or s end, is the . A. V. CHAPTER I. JESUIT HISTORY. The first pole-faces who ventured into the region stretching around the great lakes, were Jesuit missionaries. Of these, the first who claim a notice here are the Fathers Charles Raynibault and Isaac Jogues. In 1641, these two men visited the Chippcwas at the Sault and established a mission among them, but Raymbault soon after fell a victim to consumption, and the eiiterprise was abandoned. Desperate Indian wars, which soon followed, prevented any further attempt to estab- OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. lisli missions among the Indians around the lakes for nearly thirty years. In the spring of 1668, the illustrious Father, James Mar- quette, was ordered to repair to the Ottawa mission, as that around Lake Superior was then called. Arriving at the Sault, he planted his cabin at the foot of the rapids, on the American side, and began his work. In the following year he was joined by Father Dablon, Superior of the mission, an J by their united exertions a church was soon built. This was the first perman- ent settlement made on the soil of Michigan. During that same year, Marquette repaired to Lapointe, near the western extremity of Lake Superior, leaving Dablon to continue the mission at the Sault. When he arrived at his new field of labor, he found several Indian villages, one of which was composed of Hurons, who, several years before, had dwelt, for a short time, on Mackinac Island. Previous to leaving the Sault, Marquette had heard vague reports of the " Great River," and had formed the design of one day exploring it and preaching the gospel to those far-off nations who dwelt upon its banks. That he might carry out this design, he obtained, while at Lapointe, an Illinois captive, and diligently studied the language, hoping that he would be permitted to visit that people in the following Fall. But in this he was doomed to disappointment. A war which broke out between the Sioux, and the Hmons and Ottawas, com- pelled the two last mentioned tribes to leave Lapointe and seek a new home. Marquette's lot was cast with the Hurons, who embarked in their frail canoes, descended the rapids of St. Mary's, and, " remembering the rich fisheries of Mackinac, resolved to return to that pebbly strand." Having fixed upon a place of abode, the missionary's first thought was the estab- lishment of a mission for the spiritual good of his savage fol- lowers. While making the necessary preparations for the erection of a chapel and the permanent founding of his colony, he dwelt on this island. The following extract is from a letter written by Marquette JESUIT HISTORY. br nearly nes Mar- 1, as that ;he Sault, Vmerican 'as joined eir united ; perman- Lapointe, ET Dablon etl at his 5, one of s before, rd vague design of se far-off arr^ out captive, voukl be But in ;h broke '■as, com- and seek )ns, who Is of St. ackinac, ed upon ic estab- ^■age fol- for the colony, arquette in 1671, and published in the Relations des yesuits of that year: " Michilimackinac is an island famous in these regions, of more than a league in diameter, and elevated in some places by such high clifls as to be seen more than twelve leagues off. It is situated just in the strait forming the communication between Lakes Huron and Illinois (Michigan). It is the key, and, as it were, the gate, for all the 'iribes from the south, as tlie Sault is for those of the north, there being in this section of country only those two passages by water, for a great num- ber of nations have to go by one or other of these channels, in order to reach the French settlements. " This presents a peculiarly favorable opportunity, both for instructing those who pass here, and also for obtaining easy access and conveyance to their places of abode. " This place is the most noted in these regions for the abundance of its fisheries ; for, according to the Indian saying, ' this is the home of the fishes.* Elsewhere, although they exist in large numbers, it is not properly their ' home,' which is in the neighborhood of Michilimackinac. " In fact, beside the fish common to all the chfr tribes, as the herring, carp, pike, gold-fish, white-fish, and sturgeon, there are found three varieties of the trout — one common ; the second of a larger size, three feet long and one foot thick ; the third monstrous, for we cannot otherwise describe it — it being so fat that the Indians, who have a peculiar relish for fats, can scarcely eat it. Besides, the supply is such that a single Indian will take forty or fifty of them through the ice, with a single spear, in three hours. " It is this attraction which has heretofore drawn to a point so advantageous the greater part of the savages in this country, driven away by fear of the Iroquois. The three tribes at present living on the Baye des Puans (Green Bay) as strangers, formerly dwelt on the main land near the middle of this island — some on the borders of Lake Illinois, others on the borders of Lake Huron. A part of them, called Sauteurs^ i«^^ I I 1 111. OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. had their abode on the main land at the west, and the others look upon this place as their country for passing the winter, when there are no fish at the Sault. The Hurons, called Eto- nontathronnons^ have lived for some years in the siime island, to escajje the Iroquois. Four villages of Ottawas had also their abode in this quarter. " It is worthy of notice that those who bore the name of the island, and called themselves Michilimackinac, were so numerous that some of the survivors yet living here assure us that they once h-'ul thirty villages, all enclosed in a fortification of a league and a half in circuit, when the Iroquois came and defeated them, inflated by a victory they had gained over three thousand men of that nation, who had carried their hostilities as far as the country of the Agnichronnons. " In one word, the quantity of fish, united with the excel- lence of the soil for Indian corn, has always been a powerful attraction to the tribes in these regions, of which the greater part subsist only on fish, but some on Indian corn. On this account many of these same tribes, perceiving that the peace is likely to be established with the Iroquois, haVe turned their attention t9 this point, so convenient for a return to their own country, and will follow the examples of those who have made a beginning on the islands of Lake Huron, which by this means will soon be peopled from one end to the other, an event highly desirable to facilitate the instruction of the Indian race, whom it would not be necessary to seek by journeys of two or three hundred leagues on these great lakes, with inconceivable danger and hardship. " In order to aid the execution of the design, signified to us by many of the savages, of taking up their abode at this point, where some have already passed the winter, hunting in the neighborhood, we ourselves have also wintered here, in order to make arrangements for establishing the mission of St. Ignace^ from whence it will be easy to have access to all the Indians of Lake Huron, when the several tribes shall have settled each on Its own lands. JESUIT HISTORY. cl the Others the whiter, , called Eto- same island, as had also the name of lac, were so re assure us I fortification is came and sd over three :ir hostilities th the excel- a powerful the greater rn. On this it the peace turned their o their own have made iich by this her, an event Indian race, ys of two or iconceivable signified to bode at this , hunting in red here, in ission of St. 5S to all the 1 shall have *' With these advantages, the place has also its inconveni- ences, particularly for the French, who are not yet familiar, as are the savages, with the different kinds of fisher}', in which the latter are trained from their birth ; the winds. '>\ the tides occasion no small embarrassment to the fishermen. " The winds : For this is the central r'^iut between the three great lakes which surround it, and ,.;iich soem inces- santly ..sing ball at each other. For no sooner h:i<% the wind ceased blowing from Lake Michigan than Lake Huron hurls back the gale it has received, and Lake Superior in its turn sends forth its blasts from another quarter, and thus the game is played from one to the other ; and as these lakes are of vast extent, the winds cannot be otherwise than boisterous, espe- cially during the autumn." From this letter we conclude that Marquette must have come to Michilimackinac in 1670, as he spent a winter here before the establishment of his mission. Point Iroquois, on the north side of the Straits, was selected as the most suitable place for the proposed mission, and there, in 1671, a rude and unshapely chapel, its sides of logs and its roof of bark, was raised as "the first sylvan shrine of Catholicity," at Mackinaw. This primitive temple was as simple as the faith taught by the devoted missionary, and had nothing to impress the senses, nothing to win by a dazzling exterior the wayward children of the forest. The new mission was called St. Ignatius, in honor of the founder of the Jesuit orde«-, and to this day the name is perpetuated in the point upon whicn the mission stood. During the summer of 1671 an event ocurred of no com- mon interest and importance in the annals of French history in America, but which, after all, was not destined to exert any lasting influence. Mutual interests had long conspired to unite the Algonquins of the west and the French in confirmed friendship. The Algonquins desired commerce and protection ; the French, while they coveted the rich furs which these tribes brought them, coveted also an extension of political power to the utmost limits of the western wilderness. Hence, Nicholas ^!i! lO OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. Perrot had been commissioned as the agent of the French gov- ernment, to call a general Congress of the lake tribes at the Falls of St. Mary. The invitations of this enthusiastic agent of the Bourbcn dynasty reached the tribes of Lake Superior, and were carried even to the wandering hordes of the remotest north. Nor were the nations of the south neglected. Obtain- ing an escort of Potawatomies at Green Bay, Perrot, the first of Europeans to visit that place, repaired to the Miumis at Chicago, on the same mission of friendship. In May the day appointed for the unwonted spectacle of the Congress of Nations arrived. St. Lusson was the French official, and Allouez his interpreter. From the head waters of the St. Lawrence, from the Mississippi, from the Great Lakes, and even from the Red River, envoys of the wild republicans of the wilderness were present. And brilliantly clad officers from the veteran armies of France, with here and there a Jesuit missionary, completed the vast assembly. A cross was set up, a cedar post marked with the French lilies, and the representatives of the wilderness tribes were informed that they were under the protection of the French king. Thus, in the presence of the ancient races of America, were the authority and the faith of France uplifted in the very heart of our Con- tinent. But the Congress proved only an echo soon to die away, and left no abiding monument to mark its glory. Marquette has left no details of his first year's labor in his new mission, but during the second year he wrote the following letter to Father Dablon. This letter has been published from the manuscript, by John G. Shea, in his ''Discovery and Ex- ploration of the Mississippi," and to him we are indebted for it^ " Rev. Fathek, — The Hurons, called Tionnontateron- nons or Petun nation, who compose the mission of St. Ignatius at Michilimackinong, began last year near the chapel a fort enclosing all their cabins. They have come regularly to prayers, and have listened more readily to the instructions I gave them, consenting to what I required to prevent their disorders JESUIT HISTORV. II ?'rench gov- ibes at the astic agent 2 Superior, lie remotest I. Obtain- t, the first Miamis at pectacle of he French 1 waters of eat Lakes, epublicans ad officers d there a cross was s, and the ;d that they lus, hi the ; authority our Con- ion to die y. ibor in his : following shed from /' and Ex- indebted ontateron- t. Ignatius pel a fort jularly to ons I gave disorders and abominable customs. We must have patience with un- tutored minds, who know only the devil, who, like their ances- tors, have been his slaves, and who often relapse into the sins in which they were nurtui-ed. God alone can fix these fickle minds, and place and keep them in his grace, and touch their hearts while we stammer at their ears. " The Tionnontateronnons .number this year three hundred and eighty souls, and besides sixty Outaouasinagaux have joined them. Some of these came from the mission of St. Francis Xavier, where Father Andre wintered with them last year ; they are quite changed from what I saw them at Lapointe ; the zeal and patience of that missionary have gained to the faith those hearts which seemed to us most averse to it. They now wish to be Christians ; they bring their children to the chapel to be baptized, and come regularly to prayers. " Plaving been obliged to go to St. Marie du Sault with Father Allouez last summer, the Hurons came to the chapel during my absence as regularly as if I had been there, the girls singing what prayers they knew. They counted the days of my absence, and constantly asked when I was to be back. I was absent only fourteen days, and on my arrival all assembled at chapel, some coming even from their fields, which are at a very considerable distance. , " I went readily to their pumpkin feast, where I instructed them, ai.d invited them to thank God, who gave them food in plenty, while other tribes that had not yet embrace to examine ;d change, so ut asking my dren, one of ^ult, without enry Nouvel my knowing e instructing •ne asked me It once, bap- ther children consolations ur life more his mission ; i I where minds are now more mild, tractable, and better disposed to receive instruction, than in any other part. I am ready, however, to leave it in the hands of another missionary to go on your order to seek new nations toward the south sea who are still unknown to us, and to teach them of our great God, whom they have hitherto unknown." While Marquette was thus engaged in the labors of his mission, his project for discovering and exploring the Missis- sippi had attracted the attention of the French government, and through the influence of M. Talon, the intcndant, a reso- lution had been formed to act in the matter at once. It is worthy of remark that the French, supposing that the Mississippi might empty into the Gulf of California, hoped in discovering that river to find also a short passage across the continent to China. Having once formed the resolution to go in search of the Great River, they were not long in making all needful prep- aration for putting it into execution. Sieur Joliet was designated as the agent of the French government to carry out the design, and Marquette was to accompany him. But little is known of Joliet except in his connection with this one enterprise, which alone is sufficient to immortalize his name. The following extract is taken from Shea's " Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley." It is from the pen of Father Dablon, and will give sufficient information concerning him to serve the present purpose : " They were not mistaken in their choice of the Sieur Jo- liet, for he was a young man, born in this country, and endowed with every quality that could be desired in such an enterprise. He possessed experience, and a knovv^ ledge of the languages of the Ottawa country, where he had speiit several years ; he had the tact and prudence so necessary for the success of a voyage equally dangerous and difficult ; and, lastly, he had courage to fear nothing where all is to be feared. He accordingly fulfilled the ex ctations entertained of him, and if, after having passed through dangers of a thousand kinds, he had not unfortunately been wrecked in the very harbor — his canoe having upset below T fTT t H OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. the Saut St. Louis, near Montreal, where he lost his men and papers, and only escaped, by a kind of miracle, with his life — the success of his voyage had left nothing to be desired." When the Ottawa flotilla of 1672 brought back from Qiiebec the news that his long cherished desire was about to be gratified, Marquette exulted at the prospect before him. It involved danger and hardship ; the way was blocked up by hostile Indian tribes, and his health was already imj^aired by the trials and privations which had fallen to his lot, but no con- sideration of personal safety could deter him from his purpose. ^ He even gloried in the prospect of martyrdom. Joliet, at lenyih, arrived at the mission, and together they spent the winter in making the necessary arrangements for the voyage. The following quotation is from Marquette's own narrative, as published by Shea : " The day of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, whom I had always invoked since I have been in this Ottawa country, to obtain of God the grace to be able to visit the nations on the river Mississippi, was identically that on which M. Joliet arrived with orders of the Comte de Frontenac, our governor, and M. Talon, our intendant, to make this dis- covery with me. I was the more enraptured at this good news, as I saw my designs on the point of being accomplished, and myself in the happy necessity of exposing my life for the salva- tion of all these nations, and particularly for the Illinois, who had, when I was at Lapointe du St. Esprit, very earnestly en- treated me to carry the woi'd of God to their country. " We were not long in preparing our outfit, although we were embarking on a voyage the duration of which we could not foresee. Indian corn, with some dried meat, was our whole stock of provisions. With this we set out in two bark canoes, M. Joliet, myself, and five men, firmly resolved to do all and suffer all, for so glorious an enterprise. " It was on the 17th of May, 1673, that we started from the mission of St. Ignatius, at Michilimackinac, where I then was. Our joy at being chosen for this expedition roused our Li JESUIT HISTORY, t$ his men and with his life — lesired." it back from was about to sfore him. It locked up by impaired by )t, but no con- 1 his purpose. % together they ments for the •quette's own f the Blessed been in this able to visit ally that on le Frontenac, ake this dis- is good news, plished, and for the salva- Illinois, who earnestly en- try. although we h we could as our whole Dark canoes, I do all and started from vheve I then roused our ^ courage, and sweetened the labor of rowing from morning till night. As we were going to seek unknown countries, we took all possible precautions, that, if our enterprise was hazardous, it should not be foolhardy. For this reason we gathered all possible information from Indians who had frequented those parts, and even from their accounts traced a map of all the new country, marking down the rivers on which we were to sail, the names of the nations and places through which we were to pass, the course of the great river, and what direction we should take when we got to it. " Above all, I put our voyage under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, promising her, that if she did us the grace to discover the great river, I would give it the name of Conception ; and that I would also give that name to the first mission which I should establish among these new nations, as I have actually done among the Illinois. " With all these precautions, we made our paddles play merrily over a part of Lake Huron, and that of the Illinois, into the Bay of the Fetid (Green Bay). The first nation that we met was that of the Wild Oats, (English, wild rice). I en- tered their river (Menomonie) to visit them, as we have -reached the gospel to these tribes for some years past, so that there are many good Christians among them. " I informed these people of the Wild Oats of my design of going to discover distant nations to instruct them in the mys- teries of our Holy Religion ; they were very much surprised, and did their best to dissuade me. They told me that I would meet nations that never spare strangers, but tomahawk them without any provocation ; that the war which had broken out among various nations on our route, exposed us to another evi- dent danger — that of being killed by the war-parties which are constantly in the field ; that the Great River is very dangerous, unless the difficult parts are known ; that it was full of fright- ful monsters, who swallowed up men and canoes together ; that there is even a demon there who can be heard from afar, who stops the passage and engulfs all who dare approach ; « V i6 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. lastly, that the heat is so excessive in those countries that it would infallibly cause our death. " I thanked them for their kind advice, but assured them that I could not follow it, as the salvation of souls was con- cerned ; that for them I should be too happy to lay down my life ; that I made light of their pretended demon ; that we would defend ourselves well enough against *^he river-monsters ; and, besides, we should be on our guard to avoid the other dangers with which they threatened us." Space will not permit us to describe the journey of the adventurers in detail. We can only say that they proceeded to the head of Green Bay, entered Fox River, which they ascended to the portage, crossed over to the Wisconsin, and on the 17th day of June, feeling a joy that could not be expressed, entered the Mississippi. From the Wisconsin they descended to the Arkansas, whence they returned, satisfied that the Father of Rivers went not to the ocean east of Florida, nor yet to the Gulf of California. Arriving at the mouth of the Illinois, they entered that river, by which route they reached Lake Michigan at Chicago, and, coasting along the western shore of that lake, arrived at Green Bay before the end of September. Here Joliet took his leave of Marquette and returned to Quebec, while Marquette remained at the mission to recruit his failing health befoi'e again entering upon his missionary labors. On his return, he had promised a tribe of the Illinois Indians that he would soon establish a mission among them, and this fact he doubtless communicated to his superiors at Montreal by the Ottawa flotilla of the following year. • The return of the fleet of canoes brought him the necessary order, and on the 25th oi October, 1674, he set out to establish his long projected Illinois mission. His former malady — dysen- tery — however, returned, and he was compelled, with his two companions, to winter on the ClMicago River. In the spring of 1675 he was able to complete his journey and begin his mission, but a renewed and more vigorous attack of disease soon satisfied him that his labors on earth were nearly done. „iiU JESUIT HISTORY. 17 tries that it ■ssurccl them lis was con- >wn my life ; t we would listers; and, ther dangers Lirney of the proceeded to which they )nsin, and on be expressed, sy descended lat the Father or yet to the Illinois, they ike Michigan of that lake, r. returned to )n to recruit missionary f the Illinois among them, superiors at year. • The essary order, establish his lady — dysen- vith his two In the spring nd begin his :k of disease nearly done. He could not die, however, without again visiting his beloved mission at Mackinac and bowing in the chapel of St. Ignatius ; he therefore set out, hoping that his failing strength would per- mit him to accomplish the journey. As he coasted along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, his strength gradually failed, and he was at last so weak that he could no longer help him- self, but had to be lifted in and out of his canoe when they landed each night. At last, perceiving the mouth of a river, he pointed to an eminence near by, and told his companions that it was the place of his last repose. They wished, how- ever, to pass on, as the weather was fine and the day not far advanced, but a wind soon arose which compelled them to return and enter the river pointed out by the dying missionary. They carried him ashore, erected a little bark cabin, kindled a fire, and made him as comfortable as they could. Having heard the confessions o'' his companions, f.nd encouraged them to rely with confidence on the protection of God, Marquette now sent them away, to take the repose they so much needed. Two or three hours afterward he felt his end approachii.g, and summoned his companions to his side. Taking his crucifix from around his neck, and placing it in their hands, he pro- nounced in a firm voice, his profession of faith, and thanked the Almighty for the favor of permitting him to die a Jesuit, a missionary, and alone. Then, his face all radiant with joy, and his eyes raised, as if in ecstasy, above his crucifix, with the words "Jesus " and " Mary " upon his lips, he passed from the scene of his labors to his rest in heaven. After the first out- bursts of grief were over, his companions arranged his body for burial, and, to the sound of his little chapel bell, bore it slowly to the spot which he himself had designated, where they committf-;! it to the earth, raising a large cross to mark his last resting placcf. This occurred on the i8th day of May, 1675, in the thirty-eighth year of his .i.ge. Two years later, and almost on the anniversary of this event, a party of Indians whom Marquette had himself in- structed at Lapointc, visited his grave, on their return from iKrtx iT" i8 OLD AND NE\V MACKINAC. i I • 1^ ^H ll ' their winter hunting grouiuls, and resolved to disinter their good Father and bear his revered bones to the mission of St. Ignatius, at Mackinac, where they resided. They therefore opened the grave, and, according to custom, dissected the body, .washing the bones and drying them in the sun. When tliis was done, & neat box of birch bark was prejDarcd, into which the l)ones were placed, and the flotilla, now become a funeral convoy, proceeded on its way. Only the dip of the paddles and the sighs of the Indians broke the silence, as the funeral cortege advanced. When nearing Mackinac, the missionaries, accompanied by many of the Indians of the place, went to meet them, and there, upon the waters, rose the " De Profun- dis," which continued till the coffined remains of the good Father reached the land. With the usual ceremonies his bones were then borne to the church, where, beneath a pall stretched as if over a coffin, they remained during the day, when they were deposited in a little vault in the middle of the church, " where," says the chronicler, " he still reposes as the guardian angel of our Ottawa mission." Thus did Marquette accomplisli, in death, the voyage which life had not enabled him to terminate. In the life of this humble and unpretending missionarj* and explorer there is much to admire. Though an heir to wealth and position in his native land, he voluntarily sej^arated himself from his friends, and chose a life of sacrifice, toil, and death, that he might ameliorate the moral and spiritual con- dition of nations sunk in paganism and vice. His disposition was cheerful under all circumstances. His rare qualities of mind and heart secured for him the esteem of all who knew him. He was a man of sound sense and close observation, not disposed to exaggerate, not egotistical. His motives were pure and his eflbrts earnest. His intellectual abilities must have been of no ordinary type ; his letters show him to have been a man of education, and though but nine years a mission- ary among the Indians, he spoke six languages with ease, and understood less perfectly many others. \Mi JESUIT HISTORY. t^ sinter their ssion of St. ;y therefore ed the body, When this , into which le a funeral the paddles the funeral nissionaries, ice, went to De Profun- of the good emonies his neath a pall ng the day, niddle of the jposes as the d Marquette not enabled ; missionary an heir to y separated ice, toil, and piritual con- disposition qualities of who knew observation, lotivcs were bilities must im to have s a mission- th ease, and With Marquette religion was the controling idea. The salvation of a soul was more than the conquest of an empire. He was careful to avoid all appearance of a worldly or national mission among the savages. On many a hillside and in many a shadv vale did he set up the cross, but nowhere did he carve the " Lilies of the Bourbons." His devotion to the " Blessed Virgin" was tender and all-absorbing. From early youth tc his latest breath she was the constant object of his adoration ; no letter ever came from his hand which did not contain the words " Blessed Virgin Immaculate," and it was with her name upon his lips that he closed his eyes in death, as gently as though sinking into a quiet slumber. Marquette was a Catholic, yet he is not the exclusive property of that people : he belongs alike to all. His name is written in the hearts of the good of every class. As an ex- plorer he will live in the annals of the American people forever. " He died young, but there are silvered heads Whose race of duty is less nobly run." The history of the mission of St. Ignace after its founder embarked on that voyage which immortalized his name, may i)e told in few words. Marquette was succeeded by Father Pierson, who, in 1764, found it necessary to erect a new and more commodious church, as a large band of Ottawas had settled near. In the spring of 1677, prior to the transfer of Marquette's remains to the mission, Father Nouvel arrived and took charge of the Ottawa portion of the mission, leaving the Hurons to Father Pierson. In the followinof vear the mission was again consolidated, and Father Enjalran appointed mission- ary. This Father continued at the mission for several years, but after him we know little of its history. In 1706, the mis- sionaries becoming disheartened, burned down their college and chapel, and returned to Quebec. I \-y\i !i m 20 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. ^ CHAPTER II. FRENCH HISTOnV. Prior to 1679 little had been done toward exploring and colonizing the great Northwest, save by the humble disciples of Ignatius Loyola, but at that date commercial enterprise en- tered the field, and the missionary spirit took a subordinate place in the onward march of civilization. When Joliet returned from his voyage down the Missis- sippi, the young, energetic and adventurous Robert Cavalier de la Salle, then lord of Fort Frontenac, had already planned an expedition across the Great Lakes to the shores of the Pacific, hoping thereby to find a short passage to China. The news of the brilliant discoveries made by Marquette and Joliet kindled the sanguinary mind of this young enthu- siast, and induced him to redouble his exertions to carry out his design. With plans for the colonization of the Southwest, and commerce between Europe and the Mississippi, La Salle now visited M. de Frontenac, Governor General of Canada, and laid before him the dim, but gigantic, outlines of his pro- ject. He aimed at the extension of French power by the con- struction of a chain of fortifications at the most prominent points along the lakes and rivers of the West. Frontenac en- tered warmly into La Salle's plans, and advised him to apply directly to the King of France. This he accordingly did, and meeting with favor at the French Court, he obtained a com- mission for perfecting the discovery of the " Great River," dated May 12th, 1678, and signed by Colbert, and also the monopoly of the traffic in buffalo skins. He was, however, forbidden to carry on trade with the Ottawas and other tribes ii.. '1x111 FRENCH HISTORY. n ploring and Ae disciples nterprise en- subordinate the Missis- t Cavalier de ' planned an ' the Pacific, y Marquette oung enthu- to carry out ! Southwest, ipi, La Salle of Canada, of his pro- by the con- : prominent i-ontenac en- im to apply gly did, and ined a com- reat River," ind also the as, however, 1 other tribes of the lakes, who were accustomed to carry their furs to Mon- treal. On his return to Qiiobec, he found Father Louis Hen- nepin, a friar of the Franciscan order, " daring, vain and determined," says Lahnman, " ambitious to reap the glory of discovery, and not too scrupulous as to the means," who had been appointed by his superiors as acting missionary to accom- pany the expedition. Though beset by difficulties on every hand which would have appeared formidable to any man of moderate soul. La Salle now pushed forward with the utmost dispatch. Late in November he left Fort Frontenac, navigated Ontario in a little vessel of ten tons, and, having pushed as near to the Falls as could be done with safety, disembarked. Here the provisions, anchors, chains, merchandise, &c., must be carried beyond the cataract to the calm water above, a distance of at least twelve miles. Impeded by deep snows, gloomy forests and rugged heights, this task was not finished until the 22d day of January. During the remainder of the winter and the early part of the succeeding summer, a vessel of sixty tons burden, called the Griffin, was constructed, and other preparations perfected, for the prosecution of the enterprise. On the 7th day of August, 1679, amid the firing of cannon and the chanting of the Te Deum, the sails were unfurled, and the little vessel ven- tured out upon Lake Erie. In all, there were thirty-four men on board, mostly fur traders for the valley of the Mississippi. Among them vvas Hennepin, the journalist of the expedition, and two other monks who had joined them at the mouth of the Cayuga, where the Griffin was built. For three days she boldly held hev course over these unknown waters, where sail had never been seen before, and then turned to the northward " between the vejj[Jant isles of the majestic Detroit." Here, on either hand, was spread out the finest scenery that had ever delighted the Frenchman's eye. Verdant prairies, dotted with groves and bordered with lofty forests of walnut, chestnut, wild plum, and oak, festooned with grape vines, stretched away as far as the eye could reach. n inf! 22 Or.D AND NEW MACKINAC. Hennepin wondered that nature, withont the help of art, could have made so charming a prospect. Herds of deer and llocixs of swan and wild turkeys were plentiful. The bears and other beasts ami birds whose names were unknown, were, in the lanj^uage of the missionary, " extraordinary relishin<:f." This was twenty years before the settlement of Detroit. Passing on up the rircr, they entered the lake which they named St. Clair, from the day on which they traversed its shallow waters, and, at length, Lake Huron lay hi re them, like a vast sea, sparkling in the siui. Here again th. chanted a Te Dcum, as a thank-ofVering to the Almighty for the pros- perity that had attended them. The gentle breezes which now swelled the canvas of the GrifHn seemed to whisper of a quick and prosperous voyage to the head waters of the Huron, but soon the wind died a\' ay to a calm, then freshened to a gale, then rose to a furious tem- pest. The elements were at war. The raging lake threatened in her wrath to swallow the little vessel and all her crew. Even the stout heart of La Salle was made to quake with fear, and he called upon all to commend themselves to Heaven. Save the godless pilot, who was loud in his anathemas against his commander " for having brought him, after the honor he had won on the ocean, to drown, at last, ignominiously, in fresh water," all clamored to the saints. With the same breath La Salle and the missionary declared St. Anthony the patron of the expedition, and a score of others promised that a chaj^el should be built in his honor if he would but save them from their jeopardy. But the obedient winds \vei;c tamed by a greater than St. Anthony, and the Grifhn " plunged on her way through foaming surges that still grew calmer as she advanced." Woody Bois Blanc soon lifts the top of her pristine forests to the view of the anxious mariners. In the dim distance are the Manitoulines. Farther on, " sitting like an emerald gem in the clear, pellucid wave, is the rock-girt, fairy Isle" of Mack- inac. St. Ignace, the scene of Marquette's missionary labors, and the site of that chapel beneath which repose his peaceful ililijli FRENCH HISTORY. 23 ^f art, could r and Hocks bears and lowii, were, •elishiiifj." I of Detroit, which they traversed its je' re them, :hi chanted or the pros- invas of the nnis voyage id (Hed a\ ay furious te ni- ce threatened II her crew, ic with fear, to Heaven. ;mas against le honor he liniously, in same breath I the patron that a chapel s them from tamed by a d on her way e advanced." ne forests to tancc are the raid gem in e " of Mack- )nary labors, his peaceful ashes, is before them, and Peciuodeuong, where as yet the smoke of the calumet of peace has always ascended and the shrill war-whoop has never been heard, rises gradually and majestically from the crystal waters which cover but cannot conceal the pebbly depths beneath. It was a grand and im- posing scene that lay spread out before them. The following is from Hennepin : " The 27th, in the morning, we continued our course northwest, with a southeast wind, which carried us the same day to Alichilimackinac, where we anchored in a bay at six fathom water, upon a shiny white ''ottom. That bay is sheltered by the coast and a bank lying irom the southwest to the north ; but it lies exposed to the south vv.nds, which are very violent in that country. " MicLilimackinac is a neck of land to the north of the mouth of the strait through which the Lake of the Illinois dis- charges itself into the Lake Huron. That canal is about three leagues long and one broad. m * « « * * * " We lay between two different nations of savages ; those who inhabit the Point of Michilimackinac are called Ilurons, and the others, who are about three or four leagues more north- ward, are Ottawus. Those savages were equally surprised to see a ship in thei; country ; and the noise of our cannon, of which we made a general discharge, fdled them with great astonishment. We went to see the Ottawas, and celebrated mass in their habitation. M. La Salle was finely dressed, having a scarlet cloak with a broad gold lace, and most of his men, with their arms, attended him. The chief captains of that people received us with great civilities after their own way, and some of them came on board with us, to see our ship, which rode all that while in the bay or creek I have spoken of. It was a diverting prospect to see every day above six score canoes about it, and the savages staring and admiring that fine wooden conoe, as they called it. They brought us abundance of whitings, and some trouts of fifty or sixty pound weight. V' 24 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. " We went the next day to pay a visit to the Hurons, who inhabit a rising ground on a neck of land over against Michili- mackinac. Their villages are fortified with palisades of twenty-five feet high, and always situated upon eminences or hills. They received us with more respect than the Ottawas, for they made a triple discharge of all the small guns they had, having learned from some Europeans that it is the greatest civility among us. However, they took such a jealousy to our ship that, as we vmderstood since, they endeavored to make our expedition odious to all the nations about them. " The Hurons and Ottawas are in confederacy together against the Iroquois, their common enemy. They sow Indian corn, which is their ordinary food ; for they have nothing else to live upon, except some fish they take in the lakes. They boil it with their sagamittee, which is a kind of broth made with water and the flour of the corn, which they beat in a mortar, made of the trunk of a tree, which they make hollow with fire." La Salle remained at Mackinac until the second day of September, when he set sail for Green Bay. At this point, contrary to orders, he collected a cargo of furs, with which he dispatched the Grifiin to Niagara, while he himself, with a part of his men, repaired in bark canoes to the head of Lake Mich- igan. Here he anxiously awaited the return of his little vessel, but alas ! he waited in vain. No tidings ever reached him of the ill-fated bark, and to this day none can tell whether she was swallowed in the depths of the lake, destroyed by Indians, or made the prize of traitors. The loss of the Griffin was a very severe stroke upon La Salle, yet he was not discouraged. With inflexible energy, he pursued his course. From Lake Michigan he proceeded into the country of the Illinois, where he wintered. Early in the following spring he dispatched Hennepin to discover the sources of the Mississippi, while he himself retui"ned to Canada for new supplies, made necessary by the loss of the Griffin. In 1681 he returned, and in 1682, having constructed a vessel of a sizo .! ( FRENCH HISTORY. 25 le Hurons, who against Michili- 1 palisades of 1 eminences or n the Ottawas, guns they had, is the greatest jealousy to our 'ed to make our deracy together hey sow Indian ! nothing else to CCS. They boil roth made with it in a mortar, :e hollow with second day of At this point, with which he iclf, with a part of Lake Mich- bis little vessel, reached him of hether she was by Indians, or troke upon La ble energy, he proceeded into Early in the vcr the sources anada for new iffin. In 1681 vessel of a sizr* suitable for the purpose, he descended the Mississippi to the Gulf. Having completed the exploration of the Great River, his next step was to plant colonies along its banks, for which pur- pose he laboi-ed, but with only partial siccess, until 1687, when he was assassinated by one of his owi men. Some modern writers have stated that the first fort at Mackinac, which at that time meant little more than a trading house surrounded by a stockade, was built by La Salle in 1679, but the fact that Hennepin makes no mention of this, and that La Salle was prohibited from trading with the Indians of this region, would seem to be sufficient proof to the contrary. Be- sides, if we may take the testimony of Holmes' American Annals, this fort or trading post was first established in 1673. Of the oarly histoi^ of this post, subsequent to the date of La Salle's visit, we have only such information as may be gathered fiom the notices of travelers and others whose writings have come down to us. In i6S3 tlie Baron La Houtan, an ofl^cer of rare accom- plishmentb, visited this post, and from him we have the fol- lowing : ' At last, finding that my provisions were almost out, I resolved to go to Michilimackinac, to buy up corn from the Hui'ons and Ottawas, ***** ♦ ♦ * * * * I arrived at this place on the iSth of April, and my uneasiness and trouble took date from the day of my arrival : for I found the Indian corn so scarce by reason of the preceding bad harvests, that I despaired of finding half so much as I wanted. But, after all, I am hopeful that two villages will furnish me witii almost as much as I have occasion for. Mr. Cavalier arrived here, May 6th, being accompanied with his nephew, Father Anastase the Recollect, a pilot, one of the savages, and some few Frenchmen, which made a sort of a party-colored retinue. These Frenclmien were some of those that Mr. de la Salle had conducted upon the discovery of Mis- sissippi. They give out that they arc sent to Canada, in order "p M 1 1 — r~ I I, 1 : 26 Ol-n AND NEW MACKINAC, ill: 1 I ■ ( M 1 i! Si ! I to go to France, with some dispatches from Mr. de la Salle to the King ; but we suspect that he is dead, because he does not return along with them. I shall not spend time in taking notice of their great journey overland ; which, by the account they give, cannot be less than eight hundred leagues. " Michilimackinac, the place I am now in, is certainly a place of great importance. It lies in the latitude of forty-five degrees and thirty minutes. It is not above half a league dis- tant from the IlUnese Lake, an account of which, and, indeed, of all the other lakes, you may expect elsewhere. Here tlie Hurons and Ottawas have, each of them, a village ; the one being severed from the other by a single palisade ; but the Ot- tawas are beginning to build a fort upon a hill that stands ten or twelve hundred paces oft'. This precaution they were prompted to by the murder of a certait? Huron, called Sanda- ouires, who was assassinated in the Saginaw River by four young Ottawas. In this jlace the Jesuits have a little house or college, adjoining to a fort of a church, and inclosed with poles that separate it from the village of the Hurons. These good Fathers lavish away all their divinity and patience, to no pur- pose, in converting such ignorant infidels ; for all the length they can bring them 10, is, that oftentimes they will desire ])ap- tism for their dying cliiidren, and some few superannuated persons consent to receive the sacrament of baptism when they find tlicmselves at the point of death. The Coureurs dc bois have but a very small settlement here ; thougli at tlie same time it is not inconsiderable, as being the staple of all tlic goods that they truck with the south and the west savages ; for they cannot avoid passing this way, when they go to the seats of the Illinese, and tlie Oumamis, or to the Bay des Puans, and to the River of Mississippi. The skins, which they import from these dirtcrent places, must lie here some time before they are transportcil to the colony. Michilimackinac is situated very advantageously ; for the Iroquese dare not venture, with their sorry canoes, to cross the strait of the Illinese Lake, which is two leagues over; besides that the Lake of the Hurons is too J^ ilii FRENCH HISTORY. 37 [r. tie la Salle to :ausc he does not e in taking notice the account they ;s. in, is certainly a itude of forty-five lalf a league dis- lich, and, indeed, ^'here. Here the village ; the one ade ; but the Ot- ill that stands ten ution tliey were on, called Sanda- iv River by four e a little house or iclosed with poles ins. These good ience, to no pur- )V all the length y will desire bap- \v superannuated iptism when they Jonrcurs dc bois igh at the same le of all the goods ravages ; for they to the seats of the Puans, and to the hey import from e before they are ; is situated very .'uture, witli their Lake, which is lie llurons is too rough for such slender boats ; and as they cannot come to it by water, so they cannot approach to it by land, by reason of the marshes, fens, and little rivers, which it would be very difficult to cross ; not to mention that the strait of the Illincse Lake lies still in their way." We are also indebted to La Iloutan for a map f,howing the location of the Jesuit establishment, and also of the French and Indian villages as they existed in 16SS. In 1695 M. de la Motte Cadillac, afterivards the founder of Detroit, commanded at this post. He thus describes the place at the time : " It is very important that you should know, in case you are not already informed, that this village is one of the largest in all Canada. There is a fine fort of pickets, and sixty houses, that form a street in a straight line. There is a garrison of well disciplined, chosen soldiers, consisting of about two liun- dred men, the best formed and most athletic to be found in this New World ; besides many other persons who are resi- dents here during two or three months in the year. * * * The houses are arranged along the shore of this great Lake Huron, and fish and smoked meat constitute the principal food of the inhabitants.- " The villages of the savages, in which there are six or seven thousand souls, are about a pistol-shot distant from ours. .^11 the lands are cleared for about three leagues around their tillage, and perfectly well cultivated. Tiiey produce a sufii- cicnt (juantity of Indian corn for the use of both the French and savage inhabitants." In 1699, Cadillac, perceiving the importance of a fort on tlie Detroit, repaired to Francj to present the subject to the consideration of Count Pontchartrain, the colonial minister. He was favorably received, and authorized to establish the pro- posed fort at the earliest date possible. This he accomplished in 1 701. With the exception of here and there a Jes.:it missionary 28 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. >ll and a few half savage coureiirs de bois, the region around Mackinaw was now forsaken by the French. A dispute soon arose between Cadillac and the Jesuits, the former insisting upon a concentration of French interests in the West, at Detroit, the lal^'er urging the French govern- iTient to reestablish Mackinaw. The Jesuits did all in their ^jower to prevent the Indians removing to Detroit, while Cadil- lac held out every inducement to prevail upon them to desert their villages and settle in the vicinity of the new fort, and so far succeeded that in 1706, as we have seen, the Jesuits became discouraged, burned down their college and chapel, and returned to Qiiebec. But, alarmed at this step, the governor soon prevailed upon Father James Marest to return, and shortly after, the Ottawas, who were becoming dissatisfied at Detroit, began to move back to Mackinac. Father Marest now did all in his power to prevail upon the French government to send M. Louvigny, a former com- mander, with a few soldiers, to reestablish the fort, but did not succeed until 1714? when the long wished for garrison and commander arrived, giving new life to the settlement. In 1 72 1, Father Charlevoix, the historian of New France, visited Mackinaw, and thus speaks of it : " I arrived the twenty-eighth (June) at this post, which is much declined since M. de la Motte Cadillac drew to Detroit the greatest part of the savages who were settled here, and especially the Hurons. Several Ottawas have followed them, others have dispersed themselves in the Isles of Castor ; there is only here a middling village, where there is still a great trade for peltry, because it is the passage or the rendezvous of many of the savage nations. The fort is preserved, and the house of the missionaries, who are not much employed at l^resent, having never found much docility among the Ottawas ; but the Court thinks their presence necessary, in a place where one must often treat with our allies, to exercise their ministry among the French, who come hither in great numbers. T have been assured, that since the settlement of Detroit, and the dis- Nl rol trJ foi HI iu:4itukuLi mf\ FRENCH HISTORY. 29 ion around the Jesuits, :h interests ch govern- ill in their 'hile Caclil- 1 to desert brt, and so lits became lapel, and e governor eturn, and satisfied at evail upon rmer com- nit did not * rison and t. fv France, , which is to Detroit here, and ved them, or; there 1 a great ezvous of , and the Dloyed at Ottawas ; ice where ministrv T have the dis- persion of the savages occasioned thereby, many nations of the North who used to bring their peltries hither, have taken the route of Hudson's Bay, by the River Bourbon, and go there to trade with the English : but M. dc la Motte could by no means foresee this inconvenience, since we were then in possession of Hudson's Bay. " The situation of Michilimackinac is very advantageous for trade. This post is between three great lakes : Lake Mich- igan, which is three hundred leagues in compass, without mentioning the great Bay that comes into it ; Lake Huron, which is three hundred and fifty leagues in circumference, and which is triangular ; and the Upper Lake, which is five hun- dred leagues." From the date of Charlevoix's visit, down to 1760, when it passed forever out of the hands of the French, the records of the establishment at Mackinaw are very meagre, and compar- atively devoid of interest. At the last mentioned date, we find the fort on the south side of the Straits, but the time of the removal to that point has not been given by any author at the writer's command. Hennepin, La Houtan and Cadillac, whom we have already quoted, describe it ^s on the north side, while Charlevoix says nothing bearing upon the question. Sheldon, in his History f Early Michigan, suggests that the I'emoval probal'y .ook place in 1714, when the post was reestablished. A brief notice of the war which ended with a transfer of Qiiebec with all its dependencies, not the least among which was Mackinac, will close the chapter. France and England being rivals in the Old World, could not be partners of the New. Had these two powers been sat- isfied to divide the American continent amicably between them, the history of Columbia would have been far difierent from what it is now. But when they crossed the Atlantic, they brought with them their hereditary enmity, and this enmity was strengthened by new issues which were constantly arising. V 30 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. Each desired undivided dominion over the North and West, and at times the struggle for supremacy was desperate. The Indians around the hd-ces were, almost without excep- tion, friendly to the French, while the " Five Nations," dwell- ing south and east from Lake Ontario, sided with the English. As early as i6S6, English adventurers, in quest of the rich furs of the Northwest, pushed up the lakes to Mackinac, but the French, imwilling that any portion of the Indian trade should pass into the hands of their enem-cs, made their visits to this region too hazardous to be oft repeated. The heart sickens in contemplating this portion of our country's history. Many a spot was stained with the blood of its unfortunate inhabitants. The forests were often lighted up with the conflagration of burning villages, and the stillness of the midnight hour was frequently broken by the shrill war- whoop, mingled with the shrieks ci' helpless women under the tomahawk or scalping-knifc. And these tragic scenes were too often prompted by French or English thirst for power. But ihially, after many years, during which, with onh- short intervals of peace, these scenes of blood had frequent repetitions, the British government determined to make a powerful eflbrt to dispossess the French colonics of this terri- tory. Military operations, however, were at first unfav Mable to the English cause. Many a red column of well trained and well armed regulars wavered before the rifles of the combined French and Indians, who fought concealed in thickets, or from behind a breastwork of fallen trees. But in 1759, victory turned on the side of the English, and the question was brought to a speedy and decisive issue. An English army, under the command of l^rigadier-General Wolf, succeeded, during the night of September •2th, in gaining the Heights of Abraham, at Qiiebcc, where, upon the following day, was gained one of the most momentous victories in the annals of history, a victory which gave to the English tongue and the institutions of a Protestant Christianity the unexplored and seemingly infinite North and West. FRKXCH IHSTORV, rth and West, pcratc. without cxccp- iitions," dwcll- h the English, est of tile ricii Macldnac, but Indian trade de their visits Tliough tliis victory was gained in vSeptember of 17:^9, it was not until September of 1760 that a final surrender of Can- ada, with all die French posts around the lakes, was made to the English, and not till vSeptember of 1761 that possession was taken of Mackinac by English .roops, as mentioned by Henrv in the following chapter. . ..,.|. )ortion of our the blood of Jn lighted up lie stillness of c shrill war- len under the enes were too )wer. h, with only had frequent to make a of this terri- unf:iv)rable 1 trained and ic combined :ets, or from 7S9, victory uestion was iglish army, succeeded, : Heights of \g day, was e annals of fue and the plored and ; f I I I •: i 32 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. CHAPTER III. CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC. With the change of jurisdiction narrated in the previous chapter, a new scene opens before us ; a scene in which the red men arc the principal actoi's. The victory on the Heights of Abraham, at Qiicbec, gave to England the possession of a wide extenc of territory, but that territory was one massive forest, inteiTupted only by prairies or lakes, or an occasional Indian cleared field, of small dimenh'ons, for maize. The em- blems of power in these illimitable wastes were the occasional log forts, with picketed enclosures, which, from time to time, had been constructed by the French, but more as trading posts than as military strongholds. What the English had gained by force of arms they took possession of as conquerors, and, in their eagerness to supplant the French, they were blind to danger. Some of these posts were garrisoned by less than a score of men, and often left dependent upon the Indians for supplies, though they were so widely remote from each other that, " lost in the boundless woods, they could no more be discovered than a little fleet of canoes scattered over the whole Atlantic, too minute to be per- ceptible, and safe only in foir weather." But, weak as were the English, their presence alarmed the red man, for it implied a design to occupy the country which, for ages, had been his own, and the transfer of the territory around the Great Lakes from the French, who were the friends of the Indians, to the English, upon whom they had been taught to look with dis- trust, could not, therefore, be regarded with favor by these tawny sons of the woods. The untutored mind of the savage ^'^^m lie previous which the :he Heights iession of a me massive occasional . The em- 2 occasional ne to time, ading posts they took to supplant hese posts often left ay were so boundless tie fleet of to be per- ik as were it implied been his eat Lakes ms, to the with dis- by these the savage ) * I CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC. 33 could not comprehend by what right the British flag was un- furled in the West. They could not understand liow the Eng- lish could derive any claim to the red man's forest from victories over the French. Hence, from the very first, the English were regarded with suspicion by the Indian. It would have been well had the conduct of the English been such as to allay these suspicions, but, unfortunately, it was not. The Indians and French had lived on terms of the greatest intimacy. They were often like brothers in the same lodge. " They called us children, and we found them fathers," said a Chippewa chief, and these feelings pervaded the bosoms of all the lake tribes. But the English were cold and repulsive toward the Indians. The French had made them liberal pres- ents of guns, ammunition and clothing, but the English either withheld these presents altogether, or dealt them out so spar- ingly that many of them, deprived of their usual supplies, were reduced to want, and thus a spirit of discontent was ^ fostered among them. But there were other grievances. The English fur traders were, as a class, ruffians of the coarsest stamp, who vied with each other in violence and rafacity^ and who cheated and plundered the Indians and outraged their families. The soldiers and officers of the garrisons had no word of welcome for them when they came to the forts, but only cold looks and harsh words, with oaths, menaces, and not unfrequently blows from the more reckless and brutal of their number. Another fruitful source of anxiety and discontent on the part of the Indians, was the intrusion of settlers upon their lands. Their homes were in danger. In spite of every re- monstrance, their best lands had already been invaded ; their hunting grounds would soon be taken from them, and the graves of their ancesters be desecrated by unhallowed feet. Some of the tribes were wrought up to the highest pitch of excitement and revenge by this constant invasion of their rights. Meanwhile, it must not be supposed that the French were mere idle spectators of passing events. Canada was gone, be- 3 34 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. || u I : yond the hope of recovery, but tlie\' still sought to revenge its loss by inflaming the resentment of the Indians, and in thi& they spared neither misrepresentation nor falsehood. They told them that the English had formed the deliberate design of rooting out their race, and for that purpose were already pen- ning them in with settlements on the one hand and a chain of forts on the other ; that the King of France had of late years fallen asleep ; that, during his siiunbers, the English had seized upon Canada, but that he was now awake, and his armies were even then advancing up the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, to drive the intruders fiom the country of his red children. These, and similar fabrications, made a deep impression upon the minds of the savages, and nerved them for the approaching contest. Yet another cause contributed much toward increas- ing the general excitement and dissatisfaction, and bringing the matter to an issue. A prophet came among the Delawares, and the susceptibility of the Indians to religious and super- "stitious impressions gave him a mighty influence over them. They were taught to lay aside everything which they had re- ceived from the white man, and so strengthen and purify their natures as to make themselves acceptable to the Great Spirit, and by so doing they would soon be restored to their ancient greatness and power, and be enabled to drive the enemy from their country. The prophet had many followers. From far and near large numbers came to listen to his exhortations, and his words, pregnant with mischief to the unsuspecting Eng- lishman, were borne even to the nations around the northern lakes. This excitement among the savasje tribes soon led them to overt action. In the spring of 1761, Capt. Campbell, then commanding at Detroit, learned that a deputation of Senecas had come to the neighboring village of the Wyandots for the purpose of instigating the latter to destroy him and his garri- son. Upon examination, the plot was found to be general, and other posts were to share the fate of his own ; but his prompt- ness in sending information to the other commanders nipped ii . WV «p«««l CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC. 35 revenge it* and in this lood. They ate design of ilready pcn- l a chain of )f hite years h had seized armies were Mississippi, ed children, es&ion upon m^proachlng ard increas- nd bringing ; Delawares, and super- over them, hey had re- purify their rrcat Sjiirit, leir ancient ;nemy from From far tations, and :cting Eng- ic northern ed them to abell, then of Senecas ots for the his garri- cneral, and lis prompt- ers nipped the conspiracy in the bud. During the following year a similar design was detected and suppressed. But these were only the precursors of a tempest. In the spring of 1763 a scheme was matured, " greater in extent, deeper and more comprehensive in design — such a one as was never, before or since, conceived or executed by a North American Indian." It contemplated, — firsts a sudden and contemjDoraneous assault upon all the English forts around the lakes ; and second^ the garrisons hav- ing been destroyed, the turning of a savage avalanche of destruction upon the defenseless frontier settlements until, as many fondly believed, the English should be driven into the sea and the Indians reinstated in their primitive possessions. But before we further describe this conspiracy, let us turn our attention towards Michilimackinac, and note the events that were transpiring at that point. It is unnecessary to say that the Indians of this neighborhood as generally and as sincerely lamented the change which had taken place in public affairs as their iTiorc southern neighbors. While they were strongly attached to the old residents with whom they had so long lived and traded on the most amicable terms, they were very gener- ally prejudiced against the new comers ; and this prejudice was wholly due to the French, for, at the time of which we speak, the English had not taken possession of the post. We cannot better describe the feelings which actuated these Indians than by relating the adventures of Alexander Henry, the first Eng- lish fur trader who ventured to come among them. It was with difficulty that Henry obtained permission to trade at Michilimackinac, at the time, for, no treaty of peace having been made with the Indians, the authorities were justly appre hensive that neither the property nor lives of His Majesty's subjects would be very secure among them. But, eager to make the attempt which he himself afterward called prema- ture, he at length obtained the coveted license, and, on the 3d day of August, 1761, began his journey. Nothing worthy of note occurred until he reached the Island of La Cloche, in Lake Huron. Here the trader found a large village of Indians, 36 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. I in; Hi!' whose behavior was, at first, full of civility and kindness, but when they discovered that he was an Englishman there was at once a marked change in the treatment which he received at their hands. They told him that the Indians at Michilimack- inac would not fail to kill him, and that they had a right, therefore, to a share of the pillage. Upon this principle they demanded a keg of rum, ailding that if it was not given to them they would proceed to take it. Henry judged it prudent to comply, but on condition that he should experience no fur- ther molestation from them. From this point lie received repeated warnings of sure destruction at Michilimackinuc. Oppressed with a sense of danger, he knew not what to do. It was well nigh impossible to return, as he wi'.s advised to do, for his provisions -vA'cre nearly exhausted. At length, observing that the hostility oi .' ^ Indians was exclusively towards the English, while between tnci.. ■' his Canadian attendants there appeared the most cordial good will, he resolved to change his English dress for a suit such as was usually worn by Canadian traders. This done, he besmeared his face and hands with dirt and grease, aud, taking the place of one of his men whenever Indians approwched, used the paddle, with as much skill as possible. !•! .his manner he was enabled to prosecute his journey without attracting the smallest notice. Early in September he arrived at the Island of Mackinac, and here we propose to introduce the hardy adventurer to the reader, and allow him, in his voyageur's dress, to speak for himself: " The land in the centre of this island," he says, " is high, and its form somewhat resembles that of a turtle's back. Mackinac, or Mickinac, signifies a turtle^ and michi, or m/sst, signifies greats as it does also several^ or many. The common interpretation of the word Michilimackinac is, the Great Turtle. It is from this island that the fort, commonly known by the name of Michil'mackinac, has obtained its appellation. " On the island, as I had previously been taught to expect, there was a village of Chippewas, said to contain a hundred I? IbiilllL.,, CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC. 37 warriors. Here I was fearful of discovery, and consequent ill treatment ; hut after inquiring the news, and particuhu'ly whether or not any Englishman was coming to Michilimack- inac, they suflered us to pass, uninjured. One man, indeed, looked at me, laughed, and pointed me out to another. This was enough to give me some uneasiness ; but, whatever was the singularity he perceived in me, both he and his friend retired, without suspecting nic to be an Englishman. " Leaving, as speedily as possible, the island of Michill- mackinac, I crossed the strait, and landed at the fort, of the same name. The distance, . " ' the island, is about two leagues. I landed at four o'clock in the afternoon. " Here I put the entire charge of my effects into the hands of my assistant, Campion, between whom and myself it had been previously agreed that he should pass for the proprietor ; and my men were instructed to conceal the fact that I was an Englishman. " Campion soon found a house, to which I retired, and where I hoped to remain in privacy; but the men soon be- trayed my secret, and I was visited by the inhabitants, with gicatshow of civility. They assured me that I could not stay at Michilimackinac without the most imminent risk, and strongly recommended that I should lose no time in making my escape to Detroit. " Though language like this could not but increase my uneasiness, it did not shake my determination to remain with my property and encounter the evils with which I was threat- ened, and my spirits were in some measure sustained by the sentiments of Campion, in this regard ; for he declared his belief that the Canadian inhabitants of the fort were more hostile than the Indians, as being jealous of Indian traders, who, like myself, were penetrating into the country. "Fort Michilimackinac was built by order of the gov- ernor-general of Canada, and garrisoned with a small number of militia, who, having families, soon became less soldiers than ii Urtiitiiiiii i iiiii Dili 38 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. settlers. Most of those whom I found in the fort had originally served in the Fi-ench army. " The fort stands on the south side of the strait which is between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. It has an area of two acres, and is enclosed with pickets of cedar wood, and it is so near the water's edge that, when the wind is in the west, the waves break against the stockade. On the bastions are two small pieces of brass English cannon, taken some years since by a party of Canadians who went on a plundering expe- dition against the posts of Hudson's Bay, which they reacher' by the route of the river Churchill. " Within the stockade are thirty ho-jses, neat ii. their appearance, and tolerably commodious ; and a church, in which mass is celebrated by a Jesuit missionary. The num- ber of families may be nearly equal to that of the houses, and their subsistence is derived from the Indian traders, who as- semble here, in their voyages to and from Alontreal. Michili- mackinac is the place of deposit, and point of departure between the upper countries and the lower. Here the outfits nre prepared for the countries of Lake Michigan and the Mis- sissippi, Lake Superior and the Northwest ; and here the returns, in furs, are collected and embarked for Montreal. " I was not released from the visits and admonitions of the inhabitants of the fort, before I received the equivocal intelli- gence that the whole band of Chippewas, from the island of Michilimackinac, was arrived, with the mtention of paying me a visit. " There was, in the fort, one Farley, an interpreter, lately in the employ of the French commandant. He had married a Chippewa woman, and was said to possess great influence ovei the nation to which his wife belonged. Doubtful as totlic kind of visit which I was about to receive, I sent for this interpre- ter, and requested, first, that he would have the kindness to be pr^'sent at the interview, and, secondly, that he would inform me of the intentions of the band. Mr. Farley agreed to be presen': ; and, as to the object of the visit, replied, that it was iliii^ Hfft*^ ttWTv^LY »w»ae ,**, '» vw iw*v j" »■»«»■*•«■• ■ T "WW CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC. 39 originally : which is n area of od, and it the west, stions are me years ing expe- ' reachef' ii. their lurch, in lie num- Liscs, and who as- Michili- leparture le outfits the Mis- lere the jal. s of the intelh'- iland of fn\g me r, hitely irricd a cc ovei 10 kind tcrpre- s to be inform to be it was consistent with a uniform custom, that a stranger, on his arrival, should be waited upon, and welcomed, by the chiefs of the nation, who, on their part, always gave a small present, and always expected a large one ; but, as to the rest, declared himself unable to answer for the particular views of the Chip- pewas, on this occasion, I being an Englishman, and the In- dians having made no treaty with the English. He thought that there might be danger, the Indians having protested that they would not suffer an Englishman to remain in their part of the count, y. This information was far from agreeable ; but there was no resource, except in fortitude and p.itience. " At two o'clock in the afternoon the Chippewas came to my house, about sixty in number, and headed by Mina'va'va'- na, their chief They walked in single file, each with his tomahawk in one hand, and scalping-knife in the other. Their bodies were naked, from the waist upward, except in a few examples, where blfnkets were thrown loosely over the shoul- ders. Their faces were painted, with charcoal worked up with greaac ; their bodies, with white clay, in patterns of various fancies. Some had featbci-s thrust iuiough their noses, and their heads decorated with the same. It is unnecessary to dwell on the sensations with which I b<;held the approach o^ this uncouth, if .lot frightful, assemblage. " The chief entered first, and the rest followed, without noise. On receiving a sign from the former, the latter seated themselves on the floor. " Minavavana appeared to be about fifty years of age. He was six feet in height, and had in his countenance an inde- scribable mixture of good and evil. Looking steadfastly at me, where I sat in ceremony, witli an interpreter on either hand, and several Canadians behind me, he entered, at the same time, into conversation with Campion, inquiring how long it was since I left Montreal, and observing thai the Eng- lish, as it would seem, were brave men, and not afraid of death, since they dared to come, as I had done, fearlessly, among their enemies. 40 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. " The Indians now gravely smoked their pipes, while I inwardly endured the tortures of suspense. At length, the pipes being finished, as well as a long pause by which they were succeeded, Minavavana, taking a few strings of wampum in his hand, began the following speech ; "' Englishman, it is to you that I speak, and I dcmpncl your attention ! " ' Englishman, you know that the French kin '• ,ar father. He promised to be such ; and we, in rctum, promised to be his children. This promise we have kept. " ' Englishi lan, it is you that have made war with this our father. You are his enemy ; and how, then, could you have the boldness to venture among us, his children.'' You know that his enemies are ours. " ' Englishman, we are informed that our father, the king of France, is old and infirm ; and that, being fatigued with making war upon your nation, he is fallei* asleep. During his sleep you have taken advantage of him, and possessed your- selves of Canada. But his nap is almost at an end. 1 think I hear him already stiiTing and inquiring for his children, th.:; Indians ; and, Avhen he does awake, what must become of you ? He will destroy you utterly ! " ' Englishman, although you have conquered the French, you have not yet conquered us ! We are not your slaves. These lakes, these woods and mountains, were left to us by our ancestors. They are our inheritance, and we will part with them to none. Your nation suppc^os that we, like tiie white people cannot live without bread — and pork — and beef! But, you ought to know that He, the Great Si:)irit and Master of Life, has provided food for us, in these spacious lakes, and on these woody imu'^^^ainri. " ' Englishman, our father, the h\n^.:, if Fra-^ce. employed our young men to make war upon your natior, in this war- fare manv of them have been killed ; and it is our custom to retaliate until such time as the spirits o^ th'. slain are satisfied. But the spirits of the slain are to be satii^'^ed in either of two % mmm CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC. 41 3es, while I length, the which thev >f wampum I I dcmr>ud kin^, 'r ,:,ar 1, promised i^ith this our i you have You know r, the king igiied with During his :ssed you!- 1 think I ildren, ths ne of you? le French, ur slaves, ) us by our part with the white ^ef! But, Master of s, and on k'lnployed til is war- ustom to satisfied. ;r of two -•3 I ways ; the first is by the spilling of the blood of the nation by which they fell ; the other, by covering the bodies of the dead, and thus allaying the resentment of their relations. This is done by making presents. " ' Englishman, your king has never sent us a.iy presents, nor entered into any treaty with us, wherefore he and we are still at war ; and, until he does these things, we must consider that we have no other father nor friend, among the white men. than the king of France : but, for you, we have taken into con- sideration that you have ventured your life among us in the expectation that we should not molest you. You do not come armed, with an intention to make war : you come in peace, to trade with us, and supply us with necessaries, of which we are much in want. We shall regard you, therefore, as a brother ; and you may sleep tranquilly, without fear of the Chippcwas. As a token of our friendship, we present you with this pipe, to smoke.' " As Minavavana uttered these words, an Indian presented r e with a pipe, which, after I had drawn the smoke three ♦^imes, was carried to the chief, and after him to every person iti the room. This ceremony ended, the chief arose, and gave Me his hand, in which he was followed by all the rest. " Being again seated, Minavavana requested that his young men might be allowed to taste what he called my Eng- lish milk (meaning rum) observing, that it was long since they had tasted any, and that they were very desirous to know whether or not there were any difibrance between the English milk and the French. " My adventure on leaving Fort William Augustus, had left ■in impression on my mind, which made nic tremble when Indians asked for rum ; and I would therefore willingly have excused myself in this particular ; but, being informed that it was customary to comply with the request, and withal satisfied with the friendly declarations which I had received, I promised to give them a small cask at parting. After this, by the aid of my interpreter, I made a reply to the speech of Minavavana, M4 Ml llil I; 42 OLD AND NH:W MACKINAC. declaring that it was the good character, which I had heard of the Indians, that had alone emboldened me to come among them : that their late father, the king of France, had surren- dered Canada to the king of England, whom they ought to regard now as their father, and who would be as careful of thv, he other had been ; that I had come to furnish them with 11' essaries, and that their good treatment of ,ne would be an encouragement to others. They appeared satisfied with what I said, repeating e/i ! (an expression of approbation) after hearing each particular. I had prepared a present, which I now gave them with the u^^inost good will. At their depar- ture I distributed a small quantit}' of rum. " P jlieved, as I now imagined myself, from all occasion of anxiety, as to the treatment which I was to experience from the Indians, I assorted my goods, and hired Canadian interpre- ters and clerks, in whose care I was to send them into Lake Michigan, and the river Saint Pierre, in the country of the Nadowessies ; into Lake Superior, among the Chippewas, and to the Grand Portage, for the northwest. Everything was ready for their departure when new dangers sprung up and threatened to overwhelm me. " At the entrance of Lake Michigan, and at about twenty miles to the west of Fort Michilimackinac, is the village of L'Arbre Croche, inhabited b}' a band of Ottawas, boasting of two hundred and fifty fighting men. L'Arbre Croche is the seat of the Jesuit mission of Saint Ignace dc Michilimackinac, and the people are partly baptized and partly not. The mis- sionary resides on a farm, attached to the mission, and situated between the village and the fort, both of which are under his care. The Ottawas of L'Arbrj Croche. who, v/hcn compared with the Chippewas, appear to be much advanced in civiliza- tion, grow maize for the market of Michilimackinac, where this commodity is depended upon for provisioning the canoes. • *' The ne\7 dangers which presented themselves came from this village of Ottawas. Everything, as I have said, was in readiness, for the departure of my goods, when accounts 1 ! |i>>>^MMMuw. mm CONSPIRACY OF POXTIAC. 43 I had heard of ' come among e, had surren- they ought to ■ as careful of ' furnish them of .ne would satisfied with ' approbation) present, which t their depar- 1 all occasion perience from dian interpre- :ni into Lake ountry of the ippewas, and rything was ung up and ibout twenty le village of boasting of loche is the ilimackinac, The mis- and situated e under his n compared in civiliza- nac, where the canoes. 5 came from iiid, was in 1 accounts I arrived of its approach ; and shortly after, two hundred war- riors entered the fort, and billeted themselves in the several houses, among the Canadian inhabitants. The next morning, they assembled in the house which was built for the command- ant, or governor, and ordered the attendance of myself, and of two other merchants, still later from Montreal, namely Messrs. Stanley Goddard and Ezekiel Solomons. " After our entering the council-room, and taking our seats, one of the chiefs commenced an address : ' Englishmen,' said he, ' we, the Ottawas, were sometime since informed of your arrival in this country, and of your having brought with you the goods of which we have nSed. At the news we were greatly pleased, believing that through your assistance our wives and children would be enabled to pass another winter ; but what was our surprise, when, a few days ago, we were again informed, that the goods which, as we had exjjected, were in- tended for us, were on the eve of departure for distant coun- tries, of which, some are inhabited by our enemies! These accounts being spread, our wives and children came to us, cry- ing, and desiring that we should go to the fort, to learn, with our own ears, their truth or falsehood. We accordingly cm- barked, almost naked, as you see ; and on our arrival here, we have inquired into the accounts, and found them true. We see your canoes ready to depart, and find your men engaged for the Missijopippi and other distant regions. " Under these ciixumstanccs, we have considered the afiair ; and you are now sent for, that you may hear our deter- mination, which is that you shall give to each of oiu' men young and old, merchandize and ammunition, to the amount of fifty beaver-skins, on credit, and for which I have no doubt of their paying you in the summer, on their return from their wintering. " A compliance with this demand would have stripped me and my fellow-merchants of all our merchandize ; and what ren- dered the afiair still more serious, we even learned that these Ottawas were never accustomed to pay for what they received ,,;! ■ ill jii!!^^^ 44 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. on credit. In reply therefore, to the speech which we had heard, we requested that the demand contained in it might be diminished ; but we were answered, that the Ottawas had nothing further to say, except that they would allow till the next day for reflection ; after which, if compliance was not given, they would make no further application, but take into their own hands the property, which they already regarded as their own as having been brought into their country, before the conclusion of any peace, between themselves and the English. "We now returned, to consider of our situation; and in the evening, Farley, the interpreter, paid us a visit, assured us that it was the intention of the Ottawas to put us, that night, to death. He advised us, as our only means of safety, to comply with the demands which had been made ; but we suspected our informant of a disposition to prey upon our fears, with a view to induce us to abandon the Indian trade, and resolved, how- ever this might be, rather to stand en the defensive, than sub- mit. We trusted to the house in which I lived as a fort ; and armed ourselves, and about thirty of our men, with muskets. Whether or not the Ottawas ever intended violence, we never had an opportunity of knowing ; but the night passed quietly. " Early the next morning, a second council was held, and the merchants were again summoned to attend. Believing that every hope of resistance v/ould be lost, should we commit our l^erson into the hands of our enemies, we sent only a refusal. There was none without, in whom we had any confidence, ex- cept Campion. From him we learned from time to time, whatever was rumored among the Canadian inhabitants, as to the designs of the Ottawas ; and from him toward sunset, we received the gratifying intelligence, that a detachment of Brit- ish soldiery, sent to garrison Michilimackinac, was distant only five miles, and would enter the fort early the next morning. Near at hand, however, as relief was reported to be, our anxiety could not but be great; for a long night v% is to be passed, and our fate might be decided before the morning. To increase our apprehensions, about midnight we were informed iit'ijiitniiiiiaii ^m CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC. 45 ^vhich we had 2d in it might ; Ottavvas had allow till the ance was not but take into y regarded as try, before the I the English, ation ; and in 5it, assured us , that night, to ty, to comply susijectcd our with a view esolved, how- ve, than sub- > a fort ; and ith muskets. ce, we never ssed quietly, as held, and elievingthat commit our ly a refusal, ifidence, ex- ne to time, itants, as to sunset, we ent of Brit- distant only :t morning, to be, our ^^ IS to be •riling. To e informed that the Ottawas were holding a council, at which no white man was permitted to be present, Farley alone excepted; and him we suspected, and afterward positively knew to be our greatest enemy. We, on our part, remained all night upon the alert ; but at day-break to oiu* surprise and joy, we saw the Ottawas preparing to depart. By sunrise, not a man of them was left in the fort ; and indeed the scene was altogether changed. The inhabitants, who, while the Ottawas was pres- ent, had avoided all connection with the English traders, now came with congratulations. Tliey related that the Ottawas had proposed to them, that if joined by the Canadians, they would march and attack the troops which were known to be advanc- ing on the fort ; and they added that it was their refusal which had determined the Ottawas to depart. " At noon, three hun- dred troops of the sixtieth regiment, imder the command of Lieutenant Lesslie, marched into the fort ; and this arrival dis- sipated all our fears, from whatever source derived. After a few days, detachments were sent into the Bay des Puans, by which is the route to the Mississippi and at the mouth of Saint Joseph which leads to the Illinois. The Indians from all quarters came to pay their respects to the commandant ; and the merchants dispatched tlieir canoes, though it was now the middle of September, and therefore somewhat late in the season." Thus relieved froni his fears, Henry spent the winter at Michilimackinac amusing himself as best he could by hunting and fishing. But few of the Indians, he tells us, came to the fort excepting two families, one of which was that of a chief. These families lived on a river five leagues below and came occasionally with beaver flesh for sale. This chief was an exception lo the rule, for instead of being hostile toward the English, he was warmly attached to them. But, in this case the exception proved the rule to a demonstration. Henry thus speaks of him. " He had been taken prisoner by Sir William Johnson, at the seige of Fort Niagara ; and had received from that intelligent oflicer, his liberty, the medal usually presented 46 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. Ill Ml "!1 ■ to a chief, and the British flag. Won by these unexpected acts of kindness, he had returned to Michilimackinac, full of praises of the English, and hoisting his flag over his lodge. This latter demonstration of his partiality had nearly cost him his life ; his lodge was broken down and his flag torn to pieces. The pieces he carefully gathered up and preserved with pious care ; and whenever he came to the fort, he drew them forth and exhibited them. On these occasions it grew into a custom to give him as much ''quor as he said was necessary to make him cry over the misfortune of losing his flag. The command- ant would have given him another ; but be thought that he could not accept it without danger." Upon the opening of navigation, Henry left Michilimacki- nac to visit the Sault de St. Marie. Here he made the acquaintance of M. Cadotte, an interpreter, whose wife was a Chippewa, and desirous of learning that language, he decided to spend the succeeding winter in the family of his new found friend. Here also there was a small .fort, and during the sum- mer a small detachment of troops, under the command of Lieut. Jcmctte, arrived to garrison it. Late in the fall, how- ever, a destructive tire which consumed all the houses except Cadotte's, and all the fort supplies made it necessary to send the garrison back to Michilimackinac. The few that were left at this place were now crowded into one small house and com- pelled to gain a subsistance by hunting and fishing. Thus, inuring himself to hardships and familiarizing himself with the Chippewa tongue, Henry passed the second winter of his sojourn in the wilderness of the Upper Lakes. Early in the succeeding spring, 1763, he was visited by Sir Robert Dover, an English gentlemen, who, as Henry tells us, " was on a voy- age of curiosity," and with him he again returned to Michili- mackinac. Here he intended to remain until his clerks should come from the interior and then go back to the Sault. Leav- ing our hero at the moment of his arrival at the fort, we must again turn our attention to the tribes farther sor . "^ It is difficult to determine, ' says Parkman' which tribe < wa| mi^ rip(| tanj anc maj (jricl r elsij attil the upf wa I (liatlUktU^MliMi CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC. 47 cpccted acts ac, full of his lodge, y cost him n to pieces, with pious them forth o a custom y to make command- lit that he ;hilimacki- made the vife was a le decided lew found the sum- imand of all, how- s except r to send were left and com- ;. Thus, self with cr of his y in the t Dover, Jn a voy- Michili- s should Leav- ve must ch tribe was first to ra sc the cry of war. There were many who might have done so, for all the savages in the backwoods were ripe for an outbreak, and the movement seemca almost simul- taneous. The Delawares and Senecas were the most incensed and Kiashuta, chief of the latter, was perhaps foremost to apply the torch, but if this were the case, he touched fire to materials already on the point of igniting. It belonged to a greater chief than he to give method and order to what would else have been a wild burst of fury, and to convert desultory attacks into a formidable and protracted war. But for Pontiac the whole might have ended in a few troublesome inroads upon the frontier, and a little whooping and yelling under the walls of Fort Pitt." There has been some dispute as to the nationality of Pon- tiac. Some have made him a member of the tribe of Sacks or vSaiikies, but by far the greater number have placed him among the Ottawas. His home was about eight miles above Detroit, on Pechee Island, which looks out upon the waters of Lake St. Clair. Plis form was cast in the finest mould of savage grace and strength, and his eye seemed capable of penetrating, at a glance, the secret motives which actuated the savage tribes around him. His rare personal qualities, his courage, resolu- tion, wisdom, address, and eloquence, together with the hered- itary claim to authority which, according to Indian custom, he possessed, secured for him the esteem of both the French and English, and gave him an influence among the Lake tribes greater than that of any other individual. Early in life he dis- tinguished himself as a chieftain of no ordinary ability. In 1746 he commanded a powerful body of Indians, mostly Otta- was, who gallantly defended the people of Detroit against the formidable attack of several combined northern tribes, and it is supposed that he was present at the disastrous defeat of Brad- dock, in which several hundred of his warriors were engaged. He had alwtiys, at least up to the time when Major Rogers came into the country, been a firm friend of the French, and 48 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. received many marks of esteem from tlie French officer, Mar- quis de Montcalm. How could he, thei'., " the daring chief of the Northwest," do otherwise than dispute the English claim to his country ? How could he endure the sight of this pco^Dlc driving the game from his hunting grounds, and his friends and allies from the lands they had so long possessed ? When he heard that Rogers was advancing along the lakes to take possession of the country, his indignation knew no bounds, and he at once sent deputies, requesting him to halt until such time as he could soe him. Flattering words and fair promises induced him, at length, to extend the hand of friendship to Rogers. He was inclined to live peaceably with the English and to encourage their settling in the country as long as they treated him as he deserved, but if they treated him with neglect he would shut up the way and exclude them from it. He did not consider himself a conquered prince, but he expected to be treated with the respect and honor due to a king. While a system of good management might have allayed every suspicion and engendered peace and good will, a want of cordiality increased the discontent, and Pontiac soon saw' that the fair promises which had been made him were but idle woi'ds. The Indians were becoming more and more dissat- isfied, and he began seriously to apprehend danger from the new government and people. He saw in the English a bound- less ambition to possess themselves of every military position on the Northern waters, an ambition which plainly indicated to his far-reaching sagacity that soon, nothing less than undis- puted possession of all his vast domain would satisfy them. He saw in them a people superior in arms, but utterly desti- tute of that ostensible cordiality toward the Indians personally to which his people had been accustomed during the golden age of French dominion, and which they were apt to regard as necessary indications of good faith. There seemed no disposi- tion for national courtesy, individual intercourse or beneficial commerce of any kind. All those circumstances which made IMHI CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC. 'fficcr, Mar- Vorthwest," is country ? g the game es from the hat Rogers ic country, It deputies, 1 Sv^e him. length, to inclined to sir settling served, but e way and conquered and honor ^e aHayed a want of I saw' that but idle re dissat- from the a bound- ^ position indicated an undis- sfy them. I'ly desti- ersonally e golden egard as disposi- eneficial :h made the neigliborhood of the French agreeable, and which might have made their own at least tolerable, they neglected. Their conduct never gave rest to suspicion, while that of the French never gave rise to it. Hence the Indians felt, as Minavavana expressed it, that they had " no father among the white men but the King of France," and Pontiac resolved, as he had threat- ened, to " shut up the way." His plan, as we have said, was to make a contemporaneous assault upon all the British posts, and thus eflectually to extinguish the English power at a single blow. This was a stroke of policy which evinced an extraor- dinary genius, and demanded for its successful execution an energy and courage of the highest order. But »Pontiac was fuUy equal to the task. He was as skillful in executing as he was bold in planning. He knew that success would multiply friends and allies, but friends and allies were necessary to insure success. First, then, a council must be called, and for this purpose, at the close of 1762, he sent out his embassadors to all the dif- ferent nations. With the war-belt of wampum and the toma- hawk stained red in token of war, these swift footed messen- gers went from camp to camp and from village to village, throughout the North, South, East and West, and in whatever tribe they appeared the sachems assembled to hear the v ords of the great Pontiac. The message was everywhere heard with approbation, the war-belt accepted and the hatchet seized as an indication that the assembled chiefs stood pledged to take part in the war. The grand council assembled on the twenty-seventh day of the following April, on the banks of the little river Ecorce, not far from Detroit. The pipe went round and Pontiac stepped forth, plumed and painted in the full costume of war. He called into requisition all the eloquence and cunning of which he was master. He appealed to their fears, their hopes, their ambition, their cupidity, their hatred of the English, and their love for their old friends, the French. He displayed to them a belt which he said the King of France had sent him, urging 4 50 OLD AND XEW .MACKINAC. , I him to drive the English from the country and open tlic way for the return of the Frep.ch. He painted, in fjlowincf colors, the common interests o( their race, and called upon them to make a stand against a common foe. He told them of a dream in which the Great i>Ianiiou had ;:ppcared to a chief of the AbtMiakis, saying, '■' I am the Maker of heaven and earth, the trees, lakes, rivers, and all things else. I am the Maker of mankind ; and because I love you, you must do my will. The land on which you live I have made for vou and not for others. Why do you suffer the white men to dwell among you ? ^I children, you have forgotten the customs and traditions of y iprefathcrs. Why do you not clothe yourselves in skins, ao they did, and use the bows and arrows, and the sto'.e-pointed laiices which they used ? You have bought guns, knives, ket- tles and blankets from the white men, until you can no longer do without them ; aud what is worse, you have drunk the poi- son lire-water, which turns you into fools. Fling all these things away ; live as your wise forefathers lived before you. And as for these English — these dogs dressed in red, who have come to rob you of your hunting-grounds and drive away the game — you must lift the hatchet against them. Wipe them from the face of the earth, and then you will win my favor back again and once more be happy and prosperous. The children of your great father, the King of France, are not like the Eng- lish. Never forget that they are your brethren. Thc} arc veiy dear to me, for they love the red men, and understand the true mode of worshipping me." Such an appeal to the passions and prejudices of credulous and excited savages was well calculated to produce the desired eflcct. If the Great Spirit was with them, it was impossible to fail. Other speeches were doubtless made, and before the council broke up the scheme was well matured. Thus was ihe crisis hastening on. While every principle of revenge, ambition and patriotisn'. in the savages was thus being roused up to the highest pitch, and die tomahawk was already lifted for the blow, scarce a suspicion of the savage ^mm CONSPIRACV OF I»ONTIAC. 51 II tlie way iii!^ colors, 11 thcin to jfa dream lief of the cartli, the Maker of vill. Tlie for otliers. • on ? A4 lis of y skins, ac5 e-pointed lives, ket- 110 longer V the poi- all these fore you. vlio have- away the pe them vor back children the Eno- -"hej arc stand the rednlous ; desired ipossible fore the 'rinciplc 'as thus wk was savage design found its way to the minds of the English. Occasion- ally an English trader would see something in their behavior which caused him to suspect mischief, or " some scoundrel half-breed would be heard boasting in his cups that before next summer he would have English hair to fringe his hunting- frock," but these things caused no alarm. Once, however, the plot was nearly discovered. A friendly Indian told the com mander of Fort Miami that a war-belt had been sent to the warriors of a neighboring village, and that ihe destruction of himself and garrison had been resolved upon ; but when information of this was conveyed to Major (iladwyn, of De- troit, that officer wrote to General Amherst stating that, in his opinion, there had been some irritation among the Indians, but that the affair would soon blow over, and that in the neighbor- hood of his own' fort all was tranquil. Amherst thought that the acts of the Indians were unwarrantable, and hoped that they would be too sensible of their own interests to conspire against the English ; he wished them to know that if they did, in his opinion they would make a " contemptib'-^ figure." t "Yes," said he, "a contonptihlc figure I They would be the sufferers, and in the end it would result in their destruction." Deluded men ! Almost within rifle shot of Gladwyn's quarters was Pontiac, the arch enemy of the English and the prime mover in the plot, and the sequel proved how " contemptible " was the figure which the savages made ! From nortii to south and from east to west the work of extirpation soon began. Numbers of English traders, on their way from all quarters of the country to the different posts, were taken, and their goods made the prize of the conquerors. Large bodies of savages were seen collecting aroiuul the vari- ous forts, yet, strange to say, without exciting any serious alarm. When the blow was struck, which was nearly at the same time, nine out of the twelve British posts were surprised and destroyed ! It would doubtless be interesting to notice in de- tail these nine surprisals, but it is foreign to our purpose to give in full more than one, that of Michilimackinac. We may say, ? ! 1 ;i! , 1 I 5* OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. however, that in general quite as much was effected by strate- gem as by force, and that, apparently, by a preconcerted sys- tem indicative of the far-reaching superintendence of the great leader. This chapter may be appropriately closed with the follow- ing extracts from speeches made by Pontiac to the French cT Detroit diu'ing the siege of that place : " I do not doubt, my brothers, that this war is very trouble- some to you, for our warriors are continually passing and re- passing through your settlement. I am sorry for it. Do not think that I approve of the damage that i • done by them, and as a proof of this, remember the war witl. the Foxes, and the part which I iook in it. It is now seventeen years since the Ojibwas of Michilimackinac, combined with the Sa-^s and Foxes, came down to destroy you. Who theh defended you ? Was it not I and my young men ? Michinac, great chief of all these nations, said in council that he would carry to his village the head ot your commandant ; th? t he woidd eat his heart and drink his blood. Did I not take your part? Did I not go to his camp and say to him that if he wished to kill the French he must first kill me and my wai'viors.? Did I not assist you in routing them and driving them away? And now you think that I would turn my arms against you ! No, my brothers ; I am the same French Pontiac who assisted you seventeen years ago ; T am a Frenchman, and I wish to die a Frenchman ; and I now repeat to you that you and I are one — that it is for both our interests that 1 should be avenged. Let me alone. I do not ask you for aid. for it is not in your powe;; to give it. I only ask provisions for myself and men. Yet, if you arc in- clined to assist me, I shall not refuse you. It would please me, and you yourselves would be sooner rid of your troubles, for I promise you that as Soon as the English are driven out we will go back to our villages, and there await the arrival of our French father. You have heard what I have to say •; re- main at peace, and I will watch that no harm shall be doi e to you, either by my men or by the other Indians." UliteMikk "WW^ CONSPIRACY OF PONTIi«iC. 53 The following address was made ut a more advanced stage of the siege, when Pontiac had become anxious to secare the French as auxiliaries in the war. Throwing a war-belt into their midst, he said : " My brothers, how long will you suffer this bad flesh to remain upon your lands? I have fold you before, and I now tell you again, that when I took up the hatchet, it was foi your good. This year the English must all perish throughout Can- ada. The Master of Life commands it, and you, who know h m better than we, wish to oppose his will. Until n'^w I have said nothing on this matter. 1 have not urged you to take part with us in the war. It would have been enough h. fl you been content to sit quiet on your mats, looking on, wl-de we were fighting for you. But you have not done so. You call your- selves our friends, and yet you assist the English with provis- ions, and go about as spies among our villages. This must not continue. You must be either wholly French or wholly Eng- lish. If you are French, take up that war-belt and lift the hatchet with us ; but if you arc English, then we declare war upon you. My brothers, I know this is a hard thing. We are all alike children of our great father, the King of France, and it is hard to fight among brethren for the sake of dogs. But there is no choice. Look upon the jlt, and let us hear your answer." ~. 54 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. CHAPTER IV. MASSACRE AT FORT MACKINAC. The following description of Michilimackinac is taken from Mr. Parkman's very excellent work entitled " History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac." " It is drawn," says the writer,. " from traditional accounts, aided by a personal examination of the spot, where the stumps of the pickets and the founda- tions of the houses may still be traced." " In the spring of the year 1763, before the war broke out, several English traders went up to Michilimackinac, some adopting the old route of the Ottawa, and others that of Detroit and the lakes. We will follow one of the latter on his adven- turous progress. Passing the fort and settlement of Detroit, he soon enters Lake St. Clair, which seems like a broad basin filled to overflowing, while, along its for distant verge, a faint line of forest separates the water from the sky. He crosses the lake, and his voyageurs next urge his canoe against the current of the great river abo^ e. At length Lake Huron opens before him, stretching its liquid expanse, like an ocean, to the farthest horizon. His canoe skirts the eastern shore of Michigan, where the forest rises like a wall from the water's edge ; and as he advances northward an endless line of stiff and shaggy fir trees, hung witli long mosses, fringes the shore with an aspect of a monotonous desolation. In the space of two or three weeks. K his Canadians labor well, and no accident occurs, the trader approaches the end of his voyage. Passing on his right the extensive island of Rois Blanc, he sees, nearly in front, the beau- tiful island of Mackinaw — rising, with its white clifls and green foliage, from the broad breast of the waters. He does not steer , V. JUUm MASSACRE AT FORT MACKINAC. 55 towards it, for at that day the Indians were its only tenants ; but keeps along the main shore to tlie left, while his voyageurs raise their song and chorus. Doubling a point he sees before him the red flag of England swelling la/.ily in the wind, and the palisades and wooden bastions of Fort Michilimackinac stand- ing close upon the margin of the lake. On the beach canoes are drawn up, and Canadians and Indians are idly lounging. A little beyond the fort is a cluster of the white Canadian houses, roofed with bark, and protected by fences of strong round pickets. " The trader enters at the gate, and sees before him an extensive square ai*ea, surrounded by high palisades. Numer- ous houses, barracks, and other buildings form a smaller square within, and in the vacant space which they enclose appear the red uniforms of British soldiers, the gr v coats of Canadians, and the gaudy Indian blankets, mingled in picturesque confu- sion, while a multitude of squaws, with children of every hue, stroll restlessly about the place. Such was Fort .Michilimack- inack in 1763. Its name, which in the Algonquin tongue sig- nifies the Great Turtle, was first, from a fancied resemblance, applied to the neighboring island, and thence to the fort. " Though buried in a \vilderness, Michilimackinac was still of no recent origin. As early as 1671 the Jesuits had es- tablished a mission near tlie place, and a military force was not long in following, for under tlie French dominion the priest and the soldier went hand in hand. Neither toil, nor suiTer- ing, nor all the teri'ors of the v>'ilderncss could damp the zeal of the unduunled missionary ; and the restless ambition of France was always on the alert to seize every point of advan- tage, and avail itself of every means to gain ascendancy over the forest tribes. Besides Michilimackinac, there were two other posts in this nortlicrn region. Green Bay and the Sault Ste. Marie. Both were founded at an early period, and both presented the same characteristic features — a mission house, a fort, anil a cluster of Canadian dwellings. They had been originally garrisoned by small parties of militia, who, bringing U 1? I'l'l- ■ '!,: 56 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. i > their families with them, settled on the spot, and were founders of these little colonies. Michilimackinac, much the largest of the three, contained thirty families within the palisades of the fort, and about as many more widiout. Besides its military value, it was important as a center of the fur trade, for it was here that the traders engaged their men, and sent out their goods in canoes, under the charge of subordinates, to the more distant regions of the Mississippi and the northwest. " The Indians near Michilimackinac were the Ojibwas and Ottawas, the former of whom claimed the eastern section of Michigan, and the latter the western, their respective jjor- tions being separated by a line drawn southward from the fort itself. The principal village of the Ojibwas contained about a hundred warriors, and stood upon the island of Michilimack- inac, now called Mackinaw. There was another smaller vil- lage near the head of Thunder Bay. The Ottawas, to the number of two hundred and fifty warriors, lived at the settle- ment of L'Arbre Croche, on the shores of Lake Michigan, some distance southwest of the fort. This place was then the seat of the old Jesuit mission of St. Ignace, oiiginally placed by Father Marquette on the northern side of the straits. Many of the Ot- tawas were nominal Catholics. They were all somewhat im- proved from their original savage condition, living inlog houses, and cultivating corn and vegetables to such an extent as to sup- ply the fort with provision, besides satisfying their own wants. The Ojibwas, on the other hand, were not in the least de- gree removed from their primitive barbarism." At this time bot'i these tribes had recc ivcd from Pontiac the war-belt of black and purple wampum and the painted hatchet, and had pledged themselves to join in the contest. Before the end of May the Ojibwas or Chippewas received word that the blow had already been struck at Detroit, and wrought up to the highest pitch of excitement and emulation, resolved that peace should last no longer. Eager to reap all the glory of the victory, or prompted by jealousy, this tribe neither communicated to the Ottawas the news which had come .v,.-im(Miiii»i MASSACRE AT FORT MACKINAC. 57 to them nor their own resohition to make an immediate assault upon Michilimackinac ; hence the Ottavvas, as we shall also learn fron? Henry's account, had no part in that blood)' tragedy. There were other tribes however, which, attracted by rumors of impending war, had gathered at Michilimackinac, and which took part in the struggle. There is a discrepancy between the official report of Capt. Ethrington, commander of the post, and Henry's statement ; the former making the garrison to consist of thirty-five men, with their officers, and the latter, as we shall see, of ninety. We give the reader the facts just as we find them recorded, leaving him to reconcile this diflerence in his own way. Per- haps, as Parkman suggests, Henry intended to include in his enumeration all the inhabitants of the fort, both .soldiers and Canadians. We left Henry at the moment of his arrival at the fort. We must now allow him to go on with his story, for he is far better qualified for that task than we are. " When I reached Michilimackinac I found several other traders who had arrived before me, from difi'erent parts of the country, and who, in general, declared the dispositions of the Indians to be hostile to the English, and even apprehended some attack. M. Laurent Ducharme distinctly informed Major Ethrington that a plan was absolutely conceived foi destroying him, his garrison, and all the English in the upper country, but the commandant, believing this and other reports to be without foundation, proceeding only from idle or ill-disposed persons, and of a tendency to do mischief, expressed much dis- pleasure against M. Ducharme, and threatened to send the next person who should bring a story of the same kind a prisoner to Detroit. " The garrison at this time consisted of ninety privates, two subalterns, and the commandant, and the English mer- chants at the fort were four in number. Thus strong, few en- tertained anxiety concerning the Indians, who had no weapons but small arms. • w l-^^^'li! OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. " Meanwhile the Indians from every quarter were daily assembling in unusual numbers, but with every appearance of friendship, frequenting the fort and disposing of their peltries in sucli a manner as to dissipate almost any one's fears. For myself, on one occasion I took the liberty of observing to Major Ethrington that, in my judgment, no confidence ought to be placed in them, and that I was informed no less than four hun- dred lay around the fort. In return the Major only rallied mc on my timidity, and it is to be confessed that if this officer neglected admonition on his part, so did I on mine. Shortly after my first arrival at Michilimackinac in the preceding year, a Chippewa named Wa'wa'tam began to come often to my house, betraying in his demeanor strong marks of personal regard. After this had continued for some time, he came oii a certain day bringing with him his whole family, and at the same time a large present, consisting of skins, sugar, and dried meat. Having laid these in a heap he commenced a speech, in which he informed me that, some years before, he had ob- served a fast, devoting himself, according to the custom of his nation, to solitude and the mortification of his body, in the hope to obtain from the Great Spirit protection through all his days ; that on this occasion he had dreamed of adopting an English- man as his son, brother, and friend ; that from the moment in which he first beheld mc he had recognized me as the person whom the Great Spirit had been pleased to point out to him for a brother ; that he hoped that I woukl not refuse his pres- ent, and that he should forever regard me as one of his familv. '' I could do no otherwise than accept the present, and de- clare my willingness to have so good a man as this appeared to be for my friend and bu/ther. 1 offered a present in return Tor thatwhidi I liad received, wJiich Wawatam accepted, :'.nd then thanking me for the favor which he said that I had rendered liim he left -ne, and soon after set out on his winter's hunt. '' Twelve months had now elapsed since the occurrence of this incident, and I had almost forgotten the person of my brother^ wlien. on the second day of June, Wawatam came MASSACRE AT FORT MACKlNxVC. 59 again to my house, in a temper of mind visibly melancholy and thoufijhtful. He told me that he had just returned from his uointcring-ground^ and I asked after his health ; but without answering my question he went on to say that he was very sorry to find me returned from the Sault ; that he had intended to go to that jDlace himself, immediately after his arrival at Michilimackinac ; and that he wished me to go there along with him and his family the next morning. To all this he joined an inquiry whether or not the commandant had heard bad news, adding that, during the wintei, he had himself been frequently disturbed with the tioise of evil birds ; and further suggesting that there were numerous Indians near the fort, many of whom had never shown themselves within it. Wa- watam was about forty-five years of age, of an excellent char- acter among his nation, and a chief. '' Referring much of what I heard to the peculiarities of the Indian character, I did not pay all the attention winch they w^ill be fijund to have deserved to the entreat- ies and remarks of my visitor, I answered that I could not think of going to the Sault so soon as the next morning, but would follow him there after the arrival of my clerks. Finding him- self unable to prevail with me, he withdrew for that day, but early the next morning he came again, bringing with him his wife and a present of dried meat. At this interview, after stat- ing that he had severed packs of beaver, for which he intended to deal with me, he expressed a second *^'me his apprehensions from the numerous Indians who were around the fort, and ear- nestly pressed me to consent to an inin.cdiate departure for the Sault. As a reason for this particular request he assured me that all the Indians proposed to come in a body that day to the fort, to demand liquor of the commandant, and that he wished me to be gone before tliey sliould grow intoxicated. T had made, at the peri(xl to wh'jh I am no'.v referring, so much pro- gress in tlic language in wliicli Wawatam addressed me, as to be able to hold an ordinary covcrsation in it ; but the Indian manner of speech is so extravagantly figurative that it is only fpr- 1 ,|: • ; ;;' 1 ,: 6o OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. I '! :! I' for a very perfect master to follow and comprehend it entirely. Had I been further advanced in this respect I think that I shonkl liave cjathcred so much information from this my friendly monitor as would have put me into possession of the designs of the enemy, and enabled me to save others as well as myself; as it was, it unfortunately happened that I turned a deaf ear to everything, leaving Wawatum and his wife, after long and pa- tient, but inert'ectual eflbrts, to dejDart alone, with dejected coun- tenances, and not before they had each let fall some tears. " In the course of the same day, I observed that the In- dians came in great numbers into the fort, purchasing toma- hawks, (small axes of one pound weight,) and frequently de- siring to see silver arm-bands, and other valuable ornaments, of which I had a l.n-fre quantity for sale. These ornaments, how- ever, they, in no instance, purchased ; but, after turning them over, left them, saying that they would call again the next day. Their motive, as it afterward appeared, was no other than the very artful one of discovering, by requesting to see them, the particular places of their deposit, so that they might lay their hands on them, in the moment of pillage, with the greater certainty and dispatch. " At night I turned in my mind the visits of Wawatam ; but, though they were calculated to excite uneasiness, nothing induced me to believe that serious mischief was at hand. " The next day, being the fourth, of June, was the king's birthday. The morning was sultry. A Chippewa came to tell me that his nation was going to play at bag'gat'iway, with the Sacs or Saiikies, another Indian nation, for a high wager. He invitetl me to witness the sport, adding that the command- ant was to be there, and would bet on the side of the Chippe- was. In consequence of this information, I went to the com- mandant, and expostulated with him a little, representing that the Indians might possibly have some sinister end if. view ; but the commandant only smiled at my suspicions." The game of baggativvay, which the Indians played upon that memorable occasion, was the most exciting sport in whicli Mil M' MASSACRE AT FOUT MACKINAC. 6i t entirely. nk that I ly friendly designs of as myself; leaf car to ig and pa- cted coun- ears. at the In- ing toma- juently de- aments, of ents, how- iiing them : next day. r than the them, the t lay their he greater Vawatam ; »s, nothing land. the king's a came to way, with gh wager, command- ic Chippc- tiie com- nting that ii'. view ; ayed upon t in which the red man could engage. It was played with bat and ball. The bat, so called, was about four feet in length and an inch in diameter. It was made of the toughest material that could be found. At one end it was curved, and terminated in a sort of racket, or perhaps, more properly, a ring, in which a net- work of cord was loosely woven. The players wore not allowed to touch the ball with the hand, but caught it in this network at the end of the bat. At either end of the ground a tall post was planted. These posts marked the stations of the rival parties, and were sometimes a mile apart. The object of each party was to defend its own post and carry the ball to that of the adversary. At the beginning of the game the main body of tlie players assemble half way between the two posts. Every eye sparkles, and every cheek is already aglow with excitement. The ball is tossed high into the air, and a general stri.ggle en- sues to secure it a- it descends. He who succeeds stirts for the goal of the adversary, holding it high above his heac'i. The opposite party, with merry yells, are swift to j^ursue. His course is intercepted, and rather than see the ball taken from iiim, he throws it, as the boy throws a stone from a sling, as far towards the goal of the adversary as he can. An adver- sary in the game catches it and sends it whizzing back in the opposite direction. Hither and thither it goes : now far to the right, now as far to the left ; now near to the one, now as near to the other goal ; the whole band crowding continually after it in the wildest confusion, until, finally, some agile figure, more fleet of foot thiui others, succeeds in bearing it to the goal of the opposite party. Persons now living upon this island, who have frequently seen this game played by the Indians, and themselves partici- pated in it, inform the writer that often a whole day is insufficient to decide the contest. When such is the case, the following day is taken, and the game begun anew. As many as six or seven hundred Indians sometimes engage in a single game, while it may be played by fifty. In the heat of the con- 62 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. < \ m ''■' test, when all are runniii!^ at their p^rcatest speed, if one stmnblcs and falls, fifty or a hundred, wb.o arc in close pursuit and unable to stop, pile over him, forming a mound of human bodies, and frequently players are so bruised as to be unable to proceed in the game. This game, with its attendant noise and violence, was well calculated to divert the attention of ollicers and men, and thus permit the Indians to take possession of the fort. To make their success more certain, they prcvaileil upon as many as they could to come out of the fort, while at the same time their squaws, wrapped in blankets, beneath which they concealed the murderous weapons, were placed inside the enclosure. The plot was so ingeniously laid that no one suspected danger. The discipline of the garrison was relaxed, and the soldiers permitted to stroll about and view the sport, without weapons of defence. And even when the ball, as if by chance, was lifted high in the air, to descend inside the pickets, and was followed by four hundred savages, all eager, all struggling, all shouting, in the uni'estrained pursuit of a rude, athletic exer- cise, no alarm was felt until the shrill war-whoop told the startled garrison that the slaughter had actually began. Henry continues : '' I did not go myself to see the matcli which was now to be played without the fort, because, there being a canoe prepared to depart on the following day, for Montreal, I employed myself in writing letters to my friends ; and even when a fellow trader, ]Mr. Tracy, happened to call upon me, saying that another canoe had just arrived from Detroit, and proposing that I should go with him to the beach, to inquire the news, it so happened that I still remained, to finish my letters, promising to follow Mr. Tracy in the course of a few ininutes. Mr. Tracy had not gone more than twenty paces from my door, when I heard an Indian war-cry, and a noise of general confusion. Going instantly to my window, I saw a crowd of Indians, within the fort, furiously cutting down and scalping every English lan they found. In particular I witnessed the fate of Lieutenant Jeniette. t MASSACRE AT FOUT MACKINAC. 63 " T had, ill the room \n which T was, a fowlinji-piocc. loaded witli swan shot. This 1 iinincdiatcly seized, and held it for a few minutes, waiting to hear the drum beat to arms. In this dreadful interval I saw several of my countrymen fall, and more than one struggling between the knees of an Indian, who, holding him in this maimer, scalped him wliile yet living. " At length, disajjpointed in the hope of seeing resistance made to the enemy, and sensible, of course, that no ellbrt of my own unassisted arm could avail against four hundred Indians, I thought only of seeking shelter. Amid the slaughter which was raging, I observed many of the Canadian inhabit- ants of the fort calmly looking on, neither opposing the Indians nor sutfering injury : and, from tliis circumstance, I conceived a hope of finding security in their houses. " Between the yard-door of my own house and tliat of M. Langlade, my next neighbor, there was only a low fence, over which I easily climbed. At my entrance I found the whole family at the windows, gazing at the scene of blood before them. I addressed myself immediately to AI. Langlade, begging that he W'ould put me into some place of safety until the heat of the atVair should be over, an act of charity by which he might perhaps preserve me ^from the general mas- sacre ; but, while I uttered my petition, M. Langhule, who had looked for a moment at me, turned again to the window, shrugcfing his shoulders, and intimating that he could do nothing for me : " Qiie voudriez — vous que j'en ferais ? " " This was a moment for despair ; but, the next, a Pani woman, a slave of ISl. Langlade, beckoned me to follow her. She brought me to a door, which she opened, desiring me to enter, and telling me that it led to the garret, where I must go and conceal myself. I joyfully obeyed her directions ; and she, having followed me up to the garret door, locked it after me, and with great presence of mind took away the key. " This shelter obtained, if shelter I could hope to find it, I was naturally anxious to know what might still be passing without. Through an aperture, which alforded me a view of H OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. lljf:: tlic !irca of the fort, I l)chcl(l, in sliiipcs tlic foulest ;iti(l most terrible, the ferocious triumphs of barbarian conc[uerors. The (lead were scalped and hiau^led ; the dyinjjf were writhing anil shriekin